Pandemic-driven telehealth proves popular at safety net health system

As state and federal authorities decide whether to continue reimbursing for telehealth services that were suddenly adopted last spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a new study out of UC San Francisco has found that clinicians in the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) overwhelmingly support using these services for outpatient primary care and specialty care visits.

The results surprised the research team, which includes a number of clinicians at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), since they witnessed firsthand the difficulties that many of their colleagues and patients experienced when they had to turn to telehealth overnight. ZSFG is part of the San Francisco Health Network, where the survey was conducted, which also includes clinics run by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

"That transition was so painful for many people: to find a new way to provide medical care," said Anjana Sharma, MD, MAS, assistant professor of family and community medicine at UCSF and first author of the paper, published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. "We were surprised to see that 9 out of 10 clinicians expressed comfort with providing care by phone and video."

She said the team was also surprised at the concerns that providers expressed over whether they could accurately diagnose patients remotely. Almost 60 percent of those surveyed questioned the diagnostic safety of providing health care services over the telephone, and 35 percent had those concerns about diagnosing on video.

And there were other problems. Some 44 percent of clinicians reported that speech, hearing and cognitive barriers made telephone visits impractical. Significant portions also reported having patients who either did not have access to video (39 percent) or had no phone at all (38 percent), while 40 percent reported seeing patients who had trouble setting up video access because of language or educational barriers, and 35 percent reported patients without Internet.

Still, more than 90 percent of the clinicians surveyed said they planned to continue using phone and video to care for their patients after the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

For patients who can utilize the technology, particularly for follow-up care after a diagnosis has already been made, the benefits of telehealth are overwhelming. It saves time and money, especially for people who cannot easily get time off work to see the doctor or who may have childcare responsibilities. And, for those with access to video at home, the technology can make it easier to include other family members.

"People have been talking about telemedicine forever, but this transformation would have never happened if not for the pandemic," Sharma said. "It's the reimbursement flexibility that drove this to be possible."

State and federal authorities are currently debating whether to lower or potentially eliminate payments for video and telephone visits that have been reimbursed at near similar levels to in-person visits throughout the public health emergency.

"We do believe that video visits are higher quality and are probably safer for patients," Sharma said. "But we don't want to leave anyone behind. We're trying to say, 'both/and.' It makes sense to improve our video capacity for patients. But if telephone reimbursement goes away, that will be devastating for our patients."

###

Other authors include Elaine Khoong, MD, MS, Courtney Lyles, PhD, Triveni Defries, MD, MPH, Urmimala Sarkar, MD, MPH, Delphine Tuot, MD, Malini Nigagal, MD, MPH, and George Su, MD, all of UCSF.

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 UCSF's primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. UCSF School of Medicine also has a regional campus in Fresno. Learn more at ucsf.edu, or see our Fact Sheet.

This story has been published on: 2021-05-06. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.




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Catholic League

May 6, 2021



NEW YORK, May 6, 2021 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on President Biden's border problem:

President Biden is getting high marks for his overall performance, but if there is one issue that is dogging him, it is the crisis at the border. He even refuses to call it a crisis. Indeed, neither he nor his border-in-chief vice president has shown any interest in visiting the border.

Two new surveys spell disaster for the president on this subject. The Pew Research Center poll found that almost 7 in 10 Americans say Biden is doing a bad job dealing with the increasing number of migrants who are crashing our border. Most want more staffing and resources made available to handle the throngs of people, often unaccompanied children, who are seeking asylum. The majority also favor improving the safety and sanitary conditions facing these people.

The public knows that the situation is worse now than before. In fact, over the past year there has been a 20% increase in the share of Americans who say illegal immigration is a "very big" national problem.

A poll by tippinsights (TIPP), commissioned by the National Sheriffs' Association, found that 55% of Americans think the border crisis is making matters worse for migrant women, many of whom are forced into indentured servitude and prostitution. Almost 6 in 10 say that the increase in migrants who are suffering (e.g., drowning) is preventable. Half believe the southern border crisis is contributing to the spread of Covid.

Since Biden took office, he has issued almost 100 executive orders on immigration, approximately half of which reversed initiatives taken by the Trump administration. According to Rep. Scott Franklin, "What's happening to our border is unprecedented. We are on track for more illegal border crossings in 2021 than any time in the past 15 yearsperhaps ever."

Biden is not only out-of-step with the public; he is at odds with the bishops as well.

The bishops along the border of the United States and northern Mexico released a joint statement last month saying, "Undoubtedly, nations have a right to maintain their borders. This is vital to their sovereignty and self-determination. At the same time, there is a shared responsibility of all nations to preserve human life and provide for safe, orderly, and humane immigration, including the right to asylum."

The Pew survey suggests that the public and these bishops are pretty much on the same page. We need to protect our borders and improve conditions for migrants. It is Biden who is out of sync.

A Lexis-Nexis search of Donald Trump and "we must protect our borders" turned up 884 instances where his name appeared with these words in a news story. A search of Joe Biden on this measure turned up one (that was over a year ago, and it was conditional in nature).

We need to know why. Why is there such reluctance on the part of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to speak forthrightly about this issue? Why do they seemingly want to have more illegal aliens in our country? Moreover, Harris needs to stop with talk about "root causes." It is a dodge: If we treated every problem this way, it would be a prescription for paralysis.

At the very least, Harris needs to speak directly to those who are suffering, as well as to border patrol agents who are burdened by current policies. That, however, cannot be done from Washington, D.C.

Contact White House press secretary Jen Psaki: jennifer.r.psaki@who.eop.gov
Technology Innovation Institutes (TII) Directed Energy Research Centre (DERC) has partnered with Germanys Ruhr University Bochum and Helmut Schmidt University, Frances University Clermont Auvergne and National University of Colombia, Bogota.

The collaborations follow a series of rapid announcements at Technology Innovation Institute since the first Advanced Technology Research Council board meeting in August 2020. Directed Energy Research Centre is one of the initial seven dedicated research centres at Technology Innovation Institute. The strategic partnerships will advance breakthroughs across the field of directed energy and its sub-disciplines.

The partnership with Ruhr University Bochum involves research on radar systems, including ground-penetrating radar (GPR). In addition, by working alongside National University of Colombia in Bogota, the Centre will engage in innovative research within lightweight lightning protection and ground-penetrating radars with humanitarian objectives related to the detection and neutralisation of landmines.

Furthermore, the collaboration with Helmut Schmidt University, in Hamburg, and University Clermont Auvergne, in Clermont-Ferrand, will see work performed in numerical and statistical methods related to high-power electromagnetics.

Speaking on the partnership announcements, Dr Chaouki Kasmi, Chief Researcher at Directed Energy Research Centre, said: These partnerships form a critical aspect of our roadmap to become a leading research centre. Directed energy has an impact across many areas, including  healthcare, infrastructure, materials and the environment. The Centre is committed to harnessing the physics behind high energy systems for the benefit of society.

Dr Sebastien Lallechere, Associate Professor at Clermont Auvergne University, said: "Directed Energy Research Centre (DERC) brings together experts from all over the world to harness the power of acoustic and electromagnetic waves for widespread civilian and military applications, including industrial, medical and defence projects. Through pioneering research programmes, Directed Energy Research Centre is advancing the use of high-power technologies for a safer world."

Technology Innovation Institute is a pioneering global research and development centre that focuses on applied research and new-age technology capabilities. The Institute has seven initial dedicated research centres in quantum, autonomous robotics, cryptography, advanced materials, digital security, directed energy and secure systems.

By working with exceptional talent, universities, research institutions and industry partners from all over the world, the Institute connects an intellectual community and contributes to building an R&D ecosystem in Abu Dhabi and the UAE. The Institute reinforces Abu Dhabi and the UAEs status as a global hub for innovation and contributes to the broader development of its knowledge-based economy. -- TradeArabia News Service
A polyester fiber plant in the northern city of Hai Phong. Photo courtesy of Petrovietnam Petrochemical and Textile Fiber JSC.

India has decided not to impose anti-dumping duties on synthetic staple fibers imported from Vietnam saying they do not harm domestic production.

The trade remedies authority of Vietnam received a notice to the effect from the Indian Ministry of Finance Thursday.

India also decided not to impose anti-dumping duties on synthetic staple fiber originating or imported from China and Indonesia.

It had begun the anti-dumping investigation in January last year at the request of the Indian Manmade Yarn Manufacturers Association.

In December, its Directorate General Of Trade Remedies had recommended duties of $0.25-0.8 per kilogram, including $0.41 on Vietnamese products.

Vietnam exported $3.7 billion worth of fiber last year, down 10 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Exports to India fell 66 percent to $41 million.

Vietnams fiber industry suffered last year due to both the severe impacts of the pandemic and anti-dumping investigations by the U.S. and India and safeguard investigations by Turkey.
A medic holds a tube containing samples taken for the new coronavirus test in HCMC, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran.

The nation's ongoing Covid-19 community outbreak has spread to one more locality as Thanh Hoa Province reported an infection related to a group of Chinese experts.

The new case is a 42-year-old man who lives in Thanh Hoa Town of the north-central province.

He had come into contact with a group of Chinese male experts who tested positive with the coronavirus after returning to China later.

The experts had arrived in Vietnam early April and had been quarantined at a hotel from April 9-23 in northern Yen Bai Province, during which they tested negative thrice.

After completing their quarantine, the men began working at the Trung Bac A Company in the province and continued to have their health monitored for 14 days at another hotel by local medical staff. But they had breached the self-quarantine regulations, left their hotel and visited many localities in northern Vietnam. After they had returned to China, four of them were confirmed positive for the virus by Chinese authorities.

With the latest case in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam has recorded 121 Covid-19 community transmission cases since April 27. Before then, it had been clean for over a month.

Cases have been recorded in 15 localities: three cities of Hanoi, Da Nang, HCMC and the provinces of Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, Quang Nam, Dong Nai, Hai Duong, Yen Bai, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh, Lang Son Quang Ngai and Thanh Hoa.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Vietnam has registered 1,691 locally-transmitted cases aside from 1,400 imported cases.
Women in Hai Duong Province receive coupons for going to the market amid a Covid-19 outbreak on February 17, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Linh Bui.

A total 270 vulnerable, female-headed families in the northern province of Hai Duong will receive Covid assistance worth over $36,000 under a project funded by New Zealand.

Aid will be distributed to residents in five communes of Kim Mon District, hit hard by Covid-19 earlier this year. Priority is given to families with disabled people, with the total number of beneficiaries expected to reach 1,215.

The families will receive support to restore their livelihoods and purchase necessities like food, medicine, children's books, and cover tuition fees and/or healthcare services.

"Agricultural economists will complete a needs assessment to understand the demand for agricultural products or services, thereby providing livelihood products like seeds, breeds, fertilizer, or production tools suited to each family," a Friday press release from the New Zealand Embassy stated.

This is a new project carried out by New Zealand and East Meets West Foundation (EMWF), a U.S.-based nongovernmental organization focused on improving the health and wellbeing of communities in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

New Zealand Ambassador to Vietnam Tredene Dobson said this is the third Covid-19 relief project the New Zealand Embassy has supported in Vietnam.

In February and March, women operating in the informal economy of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Hai Phong, and Da Nang received the same aid to deal with the pandemic.
Medical staff disinfect K Hospital in Hanoi on May 7, 2021. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh.

The Health Ministry confirmed 46 new Covid-19 cases Friday evening  40 community transmissions and six imported infections.

The 40 community transmissions were recorded in Hanoi (24), Da Nang (5), Hung Yen (4), and one each in Hai Duong, Dien Bien, Ha Nam, Nghe An, Nam Dinh, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc provinces.

In Hanoi, the 24 patients are linked either to the infected Chinese experts in Yen Bai Province or cases confirmed at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the K cancer hospital, both coronavirus hotspots in Hanoi.

All 24 patients are being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Dong Anh District.

The five patients in Da Nang are linked to the outbreak at the New Phuong Dong Bar in the central city. They are being treated at the Da Nang Lung Hospital.

In Hung Yen, the four patients are related to the cases at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

The new patient in Hai Duong contracted the infection from another one confirmed earlier in the northern province.

The case in Dien Bien is a person who landed April 29 in Hanoi on Vietnam Airlines flight VN160. On May 2, after learning that there was an infected person on her flight, she made a health declaration and was quarantined in Dien Bien.

The case in Ha Nam is linked to the outbreak in the northern province, while the one in Nghe An had come into direct contact with an infected person at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi. The new cases in Phu Tho and Nam Dinh provinces are also linked to the hospital.

In Vinh Phuc, the new patient is an employee of a karaoke parlor in the provinces Phuc Yen Town.

The six imported cases were detected in HCMC, Da Nang, Quang Tri and Binh Thuan.

Nationwide, Vietnam has recorded 161 Covid-19 community transmissions in 19 localities since January 27.

Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long on Friday described the current outbreak as "very alarming."

He said that the outbreak was complicated with several hotspots, diverse sources of infection and different virus variants that were more infectious than ones found in earlier outbreaks.

"Controlling the outbreak might prove even more difficult in the coming time, with possible new hotspots and unknown sources of infection," he said.

At the Friday meeting on the Covid-19 fight, Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam said a major reason behind the latest outbreak was inadequate management of people entering Vietnam at centralized quarantine facilities, including hotels.

Some people who finished their 14-day centralized quarantine were not monitored properly for another 14 days as required, and they themselves failed to follow protocol, he noted. "Some even went to parties and karaoke parlors. Thats unacceptable."
Several localities are strengthening Covid-19 prevention measures as the nation records more community transmissions.

The central city of Da Nang has suspended on-site service at food and beverage establishments. Starting Friday, all restaurants and coffee houses will not serve customers on the premises. They can offer takeaways, instead.

City authorities have also advised residents to stick to online transactions as much as they can towards avoiding direct contact with people.

After recording five locally-transmitted cases in the latest outbreak, Da Nang had already stopped essential services including bars, dance clubs, karaoke and massage parlors, beauty salons and gyms. It has also put a hold on all cultural, art and religious activities.

Starting April 27, Vietnam has suffered a new Covid-19 outbreak in different clusters across the country. Previously, the nation had gone over a month without community transmissions of the virus.

As of Friday morning, 121 Covid-19 community transmissions had been recorded in 15 localities: the three cities of Hanoi, Da Nang, HCMC and the provinces of Ha Nam, Vinh Phuc, Hung Yen, Quang Nam, Dong Nai, Hai Duong, Yen Bai, Thai Binh, Bac Ninh, Lang Son, Quang Ngai and Thanh Hoa.

Quang Ngai, which has recorded one case, has applied social distancing across the province. It has banned gatherings of more than 20 people in general and of ten people or more outside workplaces, schools and hospitals. It also requires that a minimum distance of two meters is maintained between two people in public.

A leading tourist attraction in the province, Ly Son Island, has stopped receiving visitors.

The northern province of Bac Ninh has asked Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to let it apply social distancing restrictions from Saturday, after registering 12 community transmissions.

With 25 cases so far, major hotspot Vinh Phuc Province in the north imposed social distancing restrictions on Vinh Yen Town, starting Friday.

Over the past two days, several localities have come up with their own measures to limit public gatherings, including social distancing and suspension of non-essential services and outdoor activities.

As of Thursday morning, 21 cities and provinces, including Hanoi, HCMC and Da Nang, have asked students to stay at home and study online. A few plan to let students return to school next week, but most have decided to maintain online learning at home until it is safe enough to resume direct classes.
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Now both Iran and the United States have expressed a shared objective of returning to mutual compliance with the terms of the JCPOA.
The United States is concerned about Nguyen Thanh Nha, Doan Kien Giang, and Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao, three independent journalists who were arrested by Vietnamese authorities on April 20th, as well as their colleague, Truong Chau Huu Danh, who was detained in late December. All four were charged under Article 331 of the Vietnamese Penal Code, which forbids abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State. A conviction carries a 7-year prison sentence.

Truong Chau Huu Danh is one of the founders of, and a contributor to, the Facebook-based independent news outlet Bao Sach, or Clean Newspaper. According to the non-profit, Independent Organization Committee to Protect Journalists, at the time of Danhs arrest on December 17, 2020, Bao Sach had more than 100,000 followers on Facebook. It covered topics such as corruption and posted pictures of government officials suspected of self-serving dealings. The Bao Sach Facebook page was deactivated following Danhs arrest.

These four arrests of journalists are the latest in a troubling trend of detentions and convictions of Vietnamese citizens exercising their rights to free expression and speech as enshrined in Vietnams constitution, said State Department Spokesperson Ned Price in a written statement.

The United States calls on the Vietnamese authorities to release all those unjustly detained and to allow all individuals in Vietnam to express their views freely and without fear of retaliation. We urge the Vietnamese government to ensure its actions are consistent with the human rights provisions of Vietnams constitution and its international obligations and commitments, he said.

Press freedom is fundamental to transparency and accountable governance. Authors, bloggers, and journalists often do their work at great risk, and we urge governments and citizens worldwide to ensure their protection.
Jessica Segovia is the manager of clinical services at Nevada Health Centers. She has been on the front lines since day one of COVID-19. First she was organizing the drive-through COVID testing at Nevada Health Centers then she moved on to vaccines.

She teamed up with Elko County to get the community vaccinated against COVID, worked closely with the Elko County School District to make sure kids were vaccinated for school, and volunteered at community testing and vaccination events in Elko, Carlin, Jackpot and West Wendover.

Segovia said healthcare runs in her family.

My Dad being an OBGYN paved the path for me to realize that nursing was my passion. I always had a desire to help and care for others and even started my career in cosmetology as a result. I quickly discovered, however, that simply changing a persons hair color was not enough for me. I wanted to make a deeper impact on the lives of those around me and nursing perfectly allowed me to combine my passions for both the medical field and caring for others.

In May 2018 she received an Associates in Nursing from Great Basin College and was accepted into the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society. Two years later she graduated with a Bachelors of Nursing from GBC and achieved her goal of being on the Deans List.
The tentative budget for the new fiscal year does not include the estimated $10.2 million Elko County is receiving under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Minor said the county will wait for the money to arrive and to learn what the money can cover.

We need to see what kind of strings are on it, he said.

The budget packet presented to Elko County Commissioners on May 5 included the assessed valuation totals and population estimates from the Nevada Department of Taxation.

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The assessed valuations that include net proceeds of mines show Elko Countys valuation is up 9.59%. The valuation is nearly $2.53 billion, compared with a little less than $2.31 billion for the current fiscal year.

Valuations for the cities in the county were lower, however.

The valuation for the City of Elko is nearly $599.43 million, down 0.37% from $620.01 million in the current fiscal year. Carlins valuation is down 3.32% to nearly $40 million, compared with $40.12 million in 2020-2021. Wells has a valuation of $30.49 million, down 7.92% from nearly $33.12 million, while West Wendovers assessed valuation is $143.6 million, down 2.53% from $147.33 million.
Help India!



As the second wave of coronavirus is creating havoc across the country, stories of tragic loss have been far too frequent. What is lost in the stories of the tragedy are bigger stories of love and compassion between Indias two biggest communities  Hindus and Muslims. This is one such story of Muslims from Uttar Pradesh performing last rites, helping with funerals of Hindus who died due to Covid-19.

Aas Mohammad Kaif, TwoCircles.net

Support TwoCircles



Uttar Pradesh: The second wave of coronavirus has caused havoc across the country. Dead bodies pile up every day at crematoriums and cemeteries. Both state governments and Central government are facing severe criticism for the oxygen crisis and the lack of availability of beds in hospitals, with distress calls for help making rounds on social media.

While the government releases data on the number of cases and deaths due to Covid-19 every day, it doesnt paint the picture of grief and pain common citizens of the country are going through. Even family members and relatives are seen keeping a distance from the deceased.

In this hour of collective tragedy, stories of compassion and love often dont get told.

TwoCircles.net received reports from many places where people, especially from the Muslim community, played a leading role in performing the last rites of Hindus who fell victim to Covid-19.

One such case is from the Bijnor district of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Rajiv Chaudharys family lives in Kiratpur town of Bijnor district. His younger brother Chiranjeev Chaudhary passed away on April 23 due to Covid. Even though Rajiv Chaudhary runs a hospital, he could not save his brother.

Rajiv told TwoCircles.net that his brother was admitted to a hospital in Kiratpur earlier due to an infection in the kidneys.

Rajiv alleged that as his brothers health condition worsened, the hospital put up its hands and suspected him of being infected with Covid-19 but could not officially confirm it.

We did whatever we could, but nothing happened. We couldnt save him. They just handed over the dead body of my brother to us, he said remorsefully.

Rajiv said he was feeling helpless, till his Muslim friend Hassan Ali came to his rescue.

It was just me and Hassan who stood near my brothers funeral pyre near the Ganges. My aged father and nephew were standing at some distance. Some close relatives stood far from the funeral, he said.

Rajiv said that all this while when he was experiencing grief it was Hassan who stood close to him. He (Hassan) was fully involved with the funeral rites of my brother. He stood next to me and assured me that he stands with me in every difficulty that I face, he said.

Rajiv said that no amount of hate can divide him and his friend Hassan.

We understand everything. Today when Rajiv Chaudhary was in trouble, Hassan Ali was standing with him. This is what I want to tell the world, Rajiv said.

Hasan Ali hails from the Kazipada area of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking to TwoCircles.net, Hassan Ali said that, Rajiv is his friend and during his toughest time, if I could not stand with him, then friendship has no meaning.

Hasan said that while, death has to come for everyone, but in crisis, we do not have to leave each other.

Commenting on the issue, Congress leader Tariq Siddiqui of Lucknow told TwoCircles.net that, One receives such news of bonhomie and love from all across the country. I have myself been witness to this.

In another instance of members of the Muslim community lending a helping hand to Hindus, a few weeks ago, a woman named Maya Devi from Lucknow died due to Covid. As both her son and daughter-in-law were admitted to the hospital battling Covid-19, there was no one else in the family to perform her last rites.

Hearing this, three Muslim youth Zeeshan, Mehdi and Abid Raza not only shouldered her pyre but also performed the last rites according to the religious tradition of Maya Devi.

Nadir Rana of Muzaffarnagar talked to TwoCircles.net about an incident of brotherhood and love between the two communities from his area. A young man named Anubhav Sharma who used to run a dairy shop died here recently. Although his Covid report was negative, only five people of the family were allowed to attend his funeral. Mohammad Yunus also worked with Anubhav in the latters shop. He (Yunus) had a lot of affinity with Anubhav. He attended his last rites and did all the necessary tasks, he said.

On being asked about it, Yunus would say that Anubhav was like his brother and said although they belonged to two different religions but maintained that the relationship of the heart is bigger than this and he did what his heart told him, Rana added.

Such cases of bonhomie between Hindus and Muslims were also reported from Indore in Madhya Pradesh and Alwar in Rajasthan. In the national capital New Delhi, there have been reports of cases of shouldering of pyres of Hindus by Muslims.

Rajiv, who lost his brother to Covid-19, said that, It is politics which creates hatred.

We (the two communities) were never far from each other. Now during this crisis as people, as death has become rampant, people from both communities are helping each other. This is good. The crisis we are facing is big and we must help each other, he added.

People like Rajiv and Hassan have set an example of love and warmth by teaching lessons to those who spread hate.
Under the rationale of the coronavirus pandemic, Nevada Democrats last August rammed AB 4 through a Special Session of the Nevada legislature, requiring official ballots be mailed to all registered voters in the state before the November election.

Drafted by the Democratic Partys chief election lawyer in Washington D.C., AB 4 was mired in partisan controversy by making fundamental changes in Nevada election law less than 100 days before the November election.

Nevada Democrats now promote AB 321, which would set aside the pandemic-pretext for AB 4 and make universal mail-in balloting permanent. Nevada would be the sixth state  following Oregon, Washington, Utah, Colorado and Hawaii  to adopt universal mail voting systems.

AB 321 forces Nevada election officials to mail ballots to every registered voter, even if they dont request it. As documented in 2020, this leads to thousands of ballots being sent to the wrong address or potentially stolen from mailboxes of those unaware they were getting a mail ballot.

While a voter must request an absentee ballot to get one, AB 321 flips the process by flooding Nevada with unsolicited ballots and creating the opportunity for fraudsters to cast illegal votes.
Greater sandhill cranes are another very large bird that utilizes the region for courtship and child-rearing.

Ruby Valley has probably been a habitat for the big bird since the last glacial period, according to the refuge.

Spring is a wonderful time to bird at Ruby Lake National Wildlife refuge, said Lois Ports, Elko Bristlecone Audubon chapter president. The waterfowl are molting into their more colorful breeding plumage which makes identification so much easier. I especially enjoy the male ruddy ducks with their bright blue bills. The marsh wrens and common yellowthroats are singing in the reeds. [It is] just a great time to escape and go bird watching.

Bardolf said besides having a colorful bill color, male ruddy ducks also have interesting courtship manners.

Courtship includes hammering their bills, which makes bubbles in the water, she said. They are fun to watch and easy to see from the auto tour route.

According to Bardolf, there are birds at the Marshes all year long, but in May and into early June you are likely to see more variety and abundance.

Waterfowl will be in breeding plumage through July. The refuge is one of the main canvasback nesting sites in the western U.S.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been roundly condemned after suggesting on his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, that thousands of Americans had died after receiving a covid-19 vaccine, based on information gleaned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention VAERS system. Carlson, who has waged a personal war against vaccines and the efforts of the US government to encourage mask-wearing and social distancing, accusing officials of exaggerating the severity of the pandemic. Dr Anthony Fauci, the US leading expert on infectious diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, has termed Carlsons claims that covid vaccines are ineffective as a crazy conspiracy theory.

Carlson claims thousands died after covid jab

Carlsons latest assertion on 5 May has caused a huge backlash from the medical community, who have called the Fox hosts remarks dangerous and misleading. Tucker Carlson Tonight is aired during primetime in the US and is the most-watched news show on cable in the US with around four million viewers on average. "Between late December of 2020 and last month, a total of 3,362 people apparently died after getting the covid vaccine in the United States  3,362," Carlson said. "Thats an average of roughly 30 people every day. The actual number is almost certainly higher than that, perhaps vastly higher than that. Its clear that what is happening now, for whatever reason, is not even close to normal."

However, while Carlson is noted for his firebrand rhetoric, he is rarely attributed a firm grasp of the scientific content of the segments he hosts. A climate change denier who has described white supremacy in the US as a hoax, Carlson is a polarizing figure. On this occasion, Carlson clearly didnt carry out a quick check on the source of his science: The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in the US is designed to act as an early warning system for possible effects but it is open-source and anyone and everyone can report basically anything they like.

VAERS system "unverifiable"

As Dr. Paul Offit, the chair of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvanias Perelman School of Medicine told the Poynter Insitutes fact-checking source Politifact: If I get a vaccine, or I give my child a vaccine, and I believe that they have turned into the Incredible Hulk, then I can write up a one-page report online and submit it, and that then is included. And thats been done.

A disclaimer on the VAERS portal, hosted by the CDC, states: The reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable."

The CDC also points out that the inclusion of events in VAERS data does not imply causality." That, according to Dr Dana Mazo, an assistant professor of medicine who specializes in infectious diseases at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, consulted by Reuters for a fact-checking article in April, is the key factor.

The idea is that we are vaccinating millions of people, Mazo said, and, unfortunately, when you look at 96 million people, some of them might die, and they would have died if they hadnt been vaccinated.

The CDC also states that of the 245 million doses of covid-19 vaccines administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through May 3, 2021, the VAERS system received reports of 4,178 deaths among people who received a vaccine, representing 0.0017% of the total number of people vaccinated in the US.

A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records has not established a causal link to covid-19 vaccines, the CDC concludes.

Number of deaths from covid vaccine worldwide

However, the CDC does state on the same page that recent reports indicate a plausible causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and a rare and serious adverse eventblood clots with low plateletswhich has caused deaths.

The CDCs investigations and tracking systems have as of 4 May detected 23 confirmed instances of Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) among the 8.4 million doses of the J&J/Janssen vaccine administered in the US.

According to the World Health Organizations Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, the risk of TTS after being administered an AstraZeneca vaccine (sold under the brand names Vaxzevria and Covishield) is roughly 250,000/1 in the UK, and 100,000/1 across the EU.

A CDC report on cases in the US said it had reviewed evidence on 8 US reports of serious cases of unusual blood clots with low levels of blood platelets, one of which had a fatal outcome from a total of seven million people who had received the J&J/Janssen vaccine up to 13 April.

In Europe, the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported in late March that there had been seven cases of blood clots in multiple blood vessels (disseminated intravascular coagulation, DIC) and 18 cases of Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis" reported from a total of 20 million AstraZeneca doses administered in the UK and the European Economic Area, of which nine were fatal.

In every case, advisory bodies and experts the world over have been consistent in reiterating the same mantra throughout the global vaccination drive: the benefits of receiving a covid-19 vaccine significantly outweigh the potential risks of doing do.
Photo for illustration (Source: VNA)

The information was released by a representative from the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City announced on May 5.



A total of 1.5 billion VND will be offered to Vietnamese Cambodians and disadvantaged people in Cambodia and 1 billion VND to overseas Vietnamese and people in difficult circumstance in Laos.

Previously, Ho Chi Minh City presented 1.6 billion VND to Cambodia to support the country in its fight against the pandemic.

At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh Citys Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee will support 1.5 billion VND to the citys Border Guard High Command to carry out COVID-19 prevention work.

On the same day, the Ho Chi Minh Citys Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee visited and presented gifts to frontline forces in the fight against COVID-19 in the border provinces of Long An and Binh Phuoc. Each province received 1 billion VND for prevention efforts and 200 million VND for solar-powered lighting projects./.
Aerial photo taken on May 3, 2021 shows the Wanlyuyuan park and high buildings in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province. Haikou, an important city of China's "Belt and Road" initiative and also a core city for the construction of free trade port in Hainan Province, will greet the first China International Consumer Products Expo. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

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[ Editor: JYZ ]
BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China said Thursday that Australia has been for some time abusing the so-called "national security" reasons to further restrict and suppress China-Australia cooperation, which has gravely damaged the mutual trust between the two countries and undermined the foundation of normal exchanges and cooperation.

China has to make a necessary and legitimate response, and Australia must take full responsibilities for this, according to foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

Wang made the remarks in response to a query on the decision of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to indefinitely suspend all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue starting from Thursday.

The decision was made based on the current attitude of the Australian Commonwealth Government toward China-Australia cooperation, the NDRC said in a proclamation on its website Thursday.

"China has always been of the view that a healthy and stable China-Australia relationship serves the fundamental interests of both countries," Wang said, adding that China-Australia cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win in nature. Meanwhile, mutual respect and trust are the prerequisites for dialogue and pragmatic cooperation between countries," said Wang.

For some time, Australia, in disregard of China's solemn position and repeated representations, has been abusing the so-called "national security" reasons and intensified restrictions and suppression of China-Australia cooperation projects and existing achievements in the fields of economy, trade and humanities, Wang said. "This has seriously damaged the mutual trust between China and Australia, and undermined the foundation of normal exchanges and cooperation."

"China has to make a necessary and legitimate response, and Australia must bear all the responsibilities for this," the spokesperson said.

"We urge Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological bias; take an objective view of China's development and China-Australia cooperation; immediately return to rationality, correct its mistakes and change course; stop the irrational suppression of China-Australia cooperation; stop politicizing and stigmatizing normal exchanges between the two countries; and refrain from going further down the wrong path," he said. Enditem

[ Editor: JYZ ]
AMMAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Upholding the people-centered philosophy, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has kept the Chinese people as the top priority and striven to serve them wholeheartedly, Secretary General of Jordan's Communist Party Faraj Itmeiza has said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua on the occasion of the 100th founding anniversary of the CPC, Itmeiza praised China's comprehensive achievement under the CPC's leadership, noting that he could feel that the CPC and the Chinese people have been engaged in unceasing endeavors for a better future.

"What struck me the most was that some projects that usually take several years in other countries can be finished only in a few months or weeks in China," he said.

"It seems that China is in a race against time for realizing the best future for the Chinese people and humanity," he added.

Itmeiza, who has visited China twice in the past years, said that though some Western media slandered and misrepresented the facts about China, the reality he has witnessed is that "China is a large productive country and open to other civilizations and international dialogues."

The Jordanian party chief said that his party publishes a biweekly newspaper, including local, regional, and international reports, with China's latest development often available in the international section.

During the interview, Itmeiza highlighted the distinguished leadership of the CPC, the support of the Chinese people for the party, and the country's sustainable development plans as the pillars to China's achievement "miracle."

"It was apparent that the Chinese people were united under the CPC's leadership in eradicating extreme poverty as well as combating the COVID-19 pandemic," he added.

Notably, he spoke highly of China's contribution to the global fight against the pandemic, adding that China has also made its vaccines accessible as a global public good and provided humanitarian assistance to other countries, especially developing countries.

In terms of bilateral relations, Itmeiza said he looked forward to closer cooperation between the two countries and the two parties, and appreciated China's support and assistance to Jordan, especially in the fields of technology and education.

Suggesting other countries learn from the CPC's governance experience, he said that "it is not to fully copy it, but we have to act like China by first studying issues, and then adopting the positive sides to serve our country and people." (Video reporter: Ji Ze; video editor: Zhao Yuchao) 

[ Editor: JYZ ]
Screenshot shows the report published on Reuters website on Apr. 22.

China and Germany have stressed the need for Brussels to engage rather than isolate Beijing during a video conference, Reuters reported on Apr. 22.

"The European Union needs to engage with China despite many differences instead of opting for a more isolationist approach, " German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was quoted as saying.

Berlin's warning against disengagement among nations is in line with Beijings long-held position on global cooperation, said the report.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China and Germany, as major global economies, should keep the global industrial and supply chains smooth and stable. Cooperation should be enhanced in such fields as trade and investment, health care, clean energy, digital economy, and 5G technological security standards.

"China-Germany relations have generally remained stable since last year, " said Wang.

At the beginning of April, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying China and Germany should set an example of win-win cooperation.

Last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel co-chaired the 6th Round of China-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultation, during which the consensus was reached on the importance of solidarity and cooperation in jointly fighting COVID-19 and promoting the global economic recovery.

The stable development of the bilateral relations is not only in the interest of China and Germany, but also expected to forge stronger ties between China and Europe.

"In the EU, we have been describing China as a partner, competitor and systemic rival at the same time, " said Heiko Maas ahead of the virtual meeting with Wang Yi, "in all these three dimensions we need strong, sustainable communication channels with Beijing."

"De-coupling is the wrong way to go, " he said.

[ Editor: WXL ]
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JSC Ukrzaliznytsia and the Swiss company Stadler CIS AG have signed a memorandum of cooperation and localization of production of passenger rolling stock in Ukraine.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, the document was signed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Strategic Industries Oleh Urusky, acting chairman of the board of Ukrzaliznytsia Ivan Yuryk, acting board member of Ukrzaliznytsia Oleksandr Pertsovsky, chairman of the board and CEO of Stadler CIS AG Peter Spuhler and CEO of Stadler CIS AG Alexander Luft.

The report notes that according to the memorandum, the parties will jointly make efforts to develop passenger rail transport in Ukraine and attract funding. In addition, if Stadler CIS AG wins one of the tenders and receives an order for the supply of rolling stock for Ukrzaliznytsia, the company plans to consider the possibility of localizing production in Ukraine.

"We are interested in cooperation with the world manufacturers of railway rolling stock, we have proven ourselves in work on other railways of the world, including on a wide track. One of such potential partners is Stadler, which supplied rolling stock for the Belarusian railway. But our main condition of such a partnership is invariable - localization of production on the territory of Ukraine. After all, this is the attraction of additional funds to the economy and the development of heavy industry in our country," Yuryk said.

According to him, trains produced by Stadler can be used in suburban and regional passenger transportation, as well as in City Express projects.

"This year, the Ukrainian railway industry received the maximum budgetary support for the renewal of passenger rolling stock - the purchase of about 100 passenger cars and the modernization of the railway infrastructure. But in this regard, it is also extremely important to ensure the maximum level of production localization, which will create additional jobs for people and will give an impetus to the development of our economy. I welcome the start of cooperation between Ukrzaliznytsia and the Swiss company Stadler. We expect positive results of cooperation," First Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Dmytro Abramovych said.
A Ukrainian soldier was killed in Donbas on Thursday as a result of the shelling of Russia-occupation forces at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the press service of the Skhid (East) task force has reported.

"On May 6, in the area of the Joint Forces Operation, in the zone of responsibility of the Skhid task force, as a result of the shelling at the positions of our defenders by the armed formations of the Russian Federation, one serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received a bullet wound incompatible with life," the report said.

The Ukrainian side of the JCCC reported the OSCE representatives about the actions of the armed formations of the Russian Federation.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Stef Blok, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmes and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn have visited Luhansk region in the area of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) and promised to convey truthful information about the situation in Donbas to the European community.

According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, in particular, the foreign delegation made a trip to the entry-exit checkpoint Schastia. The event was also attended by Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Vasyl Bodnar, the leadership of the Joint Forces and the head of the region.

The foreign ministers inquired about the regulations of the checkpoint, the procedure for carrying out control and inspection operations, the level of passenger traffic, and the difficulties that citizens face when crossing the demarcation line.

Thus, the ministers were informed that for seven months of the operation of the checkpoint in Schastia, Russian mercenaries did not allow anyone to enter the temporarily occupied territory or leave it. The foreign delegation was also informed that Russian mercenaries often resort to provocations.

"For their part, the foreign ministers assured that they will definitely convey truthful information about the situation in Donbas to the European community and expressed full support on behalf of their governments," the report said.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine Osnat Lubrani supported the unanimous adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2573 of April 27, 2021 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, the press service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Ukraine has reported.

"I find it timely for a Security Council Resolution to place a primary focus on the destruction of critical civilian objects for the first time as we observe a worrying increase in attacks that affect vital civilian infrastructure in eastern Ukraine," the Coordination Office said, citing Lubrani.

It is clarified that the Security Council resolution strongly condemns attacks on civilian objects during armed conflicts, which are a significant violation of international humanitarian law.

"It demands all parties in armed conflicts to ensure that civilians and civilian infrastructure, including that which provides the essential services to the civilian population, are not targeted during attacks. In addition, the Resolution strongly condemns the denial of humanitarian access to people in need of assistance and urges all parties to protect civilian infrastructure, which is critical to the delivery of humanitarian aid, including for the provision of vaccinations and related medical care," Lubrani said.

She said that not enough efforts are currently being made to protect critical civilian infrastructure in eastern Ukraine.

"Over the past few days, we witnessed several grave attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in Donetsk region causing damage to a hospital as well as critical water infrastructure, which risks cutting off water supply to 1.1 million people on both sides of the contact line," the Humanitarian Coordinator said.

She called on all parties in the armed conflict in Donbas, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2573 (2021), to fully comply with their obligations in accordance with international humanitarian law.

"Strengthening the protection of critical objects and allowing the repair of damaged infrastructure is vital for the population affected by the conflict in eastern Ukraine," Lubrani said.
The joint visit of the Foreign Ministers of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg to Ukraine demonstrates a strong signal of its support, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sophie Wilmes has said.

She said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday that this is the first visit of the Benelux countries under the Belgian presidency, and it demonstrates how important it is for the three countries to be here, it sends a very strong signal showing their commitment, support and friendship to Ukraine.

Wilmes recalled that on Thursday she and her colleagues from Belgium and Luxembourg visited Donbas, where they met with the leadership of Luhansk region and the military.

She said that it is true that, as ministers, they read a lot of reports, meet with their colleagues, but this is not the same as being on the front lines, meeting with people who live there and have to defend the border. As she said, they were very happy to be there, on this side of the contact line, and she would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm their unwavering support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.

The minister said that the second Minsk Agreements are the only sure way forward and must be implemented by all parties.

"And, as I said, dialogue is the way forward, because no one is interested in seeing the escalation of the situation in Donbas. The Benelux and EU countries are confident that dialogue paves the way for a solution and resolution of the conflict," Wilmes said.

She said that the Benelux countries welcomed the Ukrainian government's efforts to keep Crimea high on the international agenda.

She also expressed hope that Ukraine will join the Istanbul Convention.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Stef Blok thanked the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine for the opportunity to be in Ukraine and express full support for it.

Blok said at a press conference that he was very impressed. This was the first time when he could visit the contact line.

He also thanked the Ukrainian government for excellent cooperation in the investigation into the shooting down of an MH-17 aircraft in July 2014 over Donbas.

This is a tragedy that affected both our countries. It is important to keep it on the agenda and to achieve justice for the relatives of the victims, the minister said.

In turn, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn pointed out that the Benelux countries continue to support the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. He stated that the Benelux countries highly value the work of the OSCE SMM and that they are concerned about the continued restrictions on the freedom of movement of the monitoring mission.

We saw that there is political will to move in the right direction, he said.

The Luxembourg Foreign Minister also indicated that three countries are taking part in the COVAX initiative, and recalled that the EU spent EUR 2.5 billion on it.

This is a lot, but I think that this is still not enough, and we must accelerate this initiative for all countries, including your country, and we will continue to do this, the minister said.

Asselborn also pointed out the importance of Ukraine being a member of the Istanbul Convention.
Ukraine has overcome the third wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has said.

"Finally, I can state that we have overcome the third wave of the pandemic. From tomorrow, there will not be a single region with a 'red' level of epidemic danger in Ukraine," he said on his Facebook page.

Stepanov said that, as planned, on Friday there will be a meeting of the State Commission on Environmental Safety, Manmade Disaster and Emergency Response, which can cancel the "red" level of epidemic danger in Sumy region.

The minister said that the third wave of COVID-19 claimed more lives compared to the first two, and during this period the healthcare system worked with tension, there was not enough oxygen in medical institutions.

"The late March and the early April were the hardest. The capacities at Lviv Chemical Plant [supplying medical institutions with oxygen] were overloaded and at some point some of the production capacities stopped. However, we managed to restore them overnight. We did not leave a single person without oxygen. For example, one of the city hospitals in Kyiv, before the pandemic, needed 3 tonnes of oxygen per month, and during the third wave  5.5 tonnes per day," he said.

According to Stepanov, at the peak of the epidemic, there were 44,000 patients in hospitals on oxygen therapy; while a year earlier there were 3,500 beds with oxygen in Ukraine.

At the same time, the minister recalled the need for further compliance with anti-epidemic measures.

"No 'barbecue' costs life and health. Therefore, take care of yourself, because the virus is just waiting for you to take off the mask," the minister said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, discussed with him a number of topics from the international agenda, including the situation in Ukraine, the website of the Russian president said.

"Netanyahu informed about the contacts of the Israeli side with representatives of Kyiv," the message says.

At the same time, the message does not specify what contacts, and what issues were discussed.

As reported, on April 23, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniychuk said the Ukrainian authorities offered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to become a mediator during the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow. The diplomat explained that this decision is due to the fact that Netanyahu has good relations with both President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

"I am glad to report that the prime minister did not say no. He said that he would try to do everything in his power. We are glad that Mr. Netanyahu did not reject this mission, but on the contrary, he showed his interest and willingness to help," noted Korniychuk.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky intends to support the provision of humanitarian aid to India due to the difficult epidemic situation in this country in connection with the spread of COVID-19, the website of the head of the Ukrainian state reported on Friday.

"I know that the government is considering the possibility of providing humanitarian aid to India. I confirm that I will sign a corresponding decree in the near future, and we will do everything to really help the people of India. I think that in the coming days, India will definitely receive humanitarian aid from Ukraine," Zelensky said during a meeting with Cyrus Poonawalla, founder and owner of the Serum Institute of India.
On Wednesday, May 12, at 14.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled "Dynamics of socio-political attitudes, assessments of Ukrainian population" according to the results of a monitoring survey of the population of Ukraine. Participants include Chairperson of the Board of the Social Monitoring Center Olha Balakireva, Director of the Social Monitoring Center Dmytro Dmytruk (8/5a Reitarska Street). The press conference will be available on the YouTube channel of Interfax-Ukraine. Admission of journalists requires registration on the spot.
The Youth Union of Long An Province also sent 30,000 medical masks, 2,500 litres of antiseptic sanitizer and four antiseptic sprayers to the youth unions of Svay Rieng and Prey Veng.

In addition, the Peoples Committee of Long An Province presented 400 gifts, including rice and instant noodles, to Vietnamese Khmer in the two provinces.

* The Vietnamese community in Laos has joined hands with Lao authorities to overcome the current COVID-19 outbreak by raising fund and donating cash, necessities and medical supplies to the country.

On May 3, LaoVietBank, a joint venture between the two countries' banks, has presented the Health Ministry of Laos with medical supplies worth more than 100 million kip (over US$10,000).

Branches of LaoVietBank in Laos provinces such as Oudomxay, Champasack, Savannakhet and others have also launched donation programmes aiming to donate medical equipment and food to local people in these provinces.

* Star Telecom (Unitel), a joint venture of Viettel in Laos presented the Lao Government with over 5 billion kip (nearly US$538.000) in cash along with technology solutions to improve the efficiency of COVID-19 prevention and control.

Unitel also assisted Laos Health Ministry in operating a national vaccination information system worth more than US$200,000.

In addition, the company transferred over 500 million kip to the Lao Ministry of Health's steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control and over 1 billion kip to the bank accounts of frontline medical staff in the capital city of Vientiane and the provinces of Champasak and Luang Prabang.

Venerable Thich Minh Quang and Buddhist dignitaries and followers in Phat Tich Pagoda in Laos as well as the Vietnamese Association in Vientiane provided free meals in some charity facilities in Vientiane.

* The Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Ho Chi Minh City announced on May 5 that it will spend VND2.5 billion (over US$108,000) from its COVID-19 prevention and control fund to support Vietnamese people in Cambodia and Laos who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

About VND1.5 billion will be sent to Vietnamese Cambodians and disadvantaged people in Cambodia and VND1 billion be sent to Vietnamese expats and Lao people.

Ho Chi Minh City previously handed over VND1.6 billion to Cambodia to assist the country in dealing with the pandemic.
The two-part campaign includes a photo contest which takes place from May 5 to July 5, 2021, and a writing contest from July 5 to September 6, 2021. The contest welcomes the participation of all people living in Vietnam.

The photo contest provides chance for those who have travelled to Japan to share their beautiful moments during their trip while the writing contest helps participants share their memories from their trips to Japan, or their plans to set foot in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Tourism cooperation between Vietnam and Japan is one of the highlights of the economic - trade cooperation between the two sides. In 2019, tourist exchange between the two countries reached about 1.45 million arrivals.

According to the statistics released in early 2020 by JNTO and the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in the past 10 years, Japanese visitors to Vietnam have increased continuously, with an average growth rate of 8 - 10% per year.

In 2019, Vietnam welcomed 952,000 Japanese tourists, an increase of 15.2% compared to 2018, this is the highest increase in many years, while Japan welcomed 495,000 Vietnamese tourists in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 27.3%.
The epidemiological curve of the coronavirus is finally starting to fall in Spain after two weeks stuck in a plateau. According to the latest report from the Health Ministry, which was released on Thursday evening, the 14-day cumulative number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants has fallen below 202 for the first time in a month. But the risk level is still high under the criteria established by the central government.

While the trend is positive, the uneven control of the pandemic from region to region and the ongoing high pressure on the healthcare system are prompting the experts to remain on alert. There are six Spanish territories in the governments extreme risk scenario, with a 14-day cumulative number of cases above 250 per 100,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, one in five intensive care unit (ICU) beds is occupied by a Covid-19 patient.

According to Thursdays report, there were 7,960 new coronavirus infections detected and 160 Covid-19 fatalities were added to the official death toll. In total, 3,559,222 people have been confirmed to have had the coronavirus in Spain since the pandemic began, while 78,726 people have died after testing positive for the virus.

To compound the precarious situation, the state of alarm that was put in place six months ago to give the countrys regions the legal framework needed to limit fundamental rights such as mobility is due to expire on Sunday. This will mean that restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of the virus, such as nighttime curfews and perimetral lockdowns, will only be possible if they are backed by the countrys courts. The epidemiologists consulted by EL PAIS warn that the pandemic is not over, and if the restrictions are slackened, there could be dangerous spikes.

There are some regions with major problems and we cannot downplay high incidences just because they are among younger people Daniel Lopez-Acuna, former WHO official

The epidemic is progressing well, but we still have a lot of fatalities and cases in the ICU, Fernando Simon, the director of the Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts (CCAES), explained at a press conference on Thursday. We continue to have very high hospital occupation.

The visible face of the government during the health crisis went on to express his optimism, however, and said that while an increase in mobility that is associated with a rise in transmission cannot be ruled out, he thought it to be unlikely.

Simon rejected the possibility of implementing homogenous rules across the country from May 9 onward, when the state of alarm ends, and called instead for the risks to be evaluated from region to region and action to be taken according to specific epidemiological situations. I would not consider equal measures for everyone, he said.

In Spain the vaccination campaign is moving along at a satisfactory speed, with 12% of the population having received the full protection offered by the vaccines being used. The more vulnerable sections of society are protected against the most serious effects of Covid-19 as well as the risk of death  81% of the over-60s, for example, have received at least one dose of a vaccine. But at the same time, community transmission is high in the vast majority of the countrys 17 regions, and there continues to be high pressure on ICUs. There are only six territories  the Canary and Balearic islands, Valencia, Galicia, Extremadura and Murcia  that are below 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over a 14-day period. In the Basque Country the incidence is as high as 478.

It is evident that we are not faced with a uniform situation, said Daniel Lopez-Acuna, a former director of emergencies at the World Health Organization (WHO). There are some regions with major problems and we cannot downplay high incidences just because they are among younger people. There may be a lower level of mortality, but there is still a problem with the severity [of the illness] and the occupation of ICUs.

In fact, while the average incidence in Spain has fallen, the occupation of Covid-19 patients in ICUs refuses to fall, and has for weeks now been hovering around the 20% level. That said, Simon insisted last night that the peak of hospital occupation has now passed and is starting to fall.

Alberto Infante, emeritus professor of international health at the Carlos III Health Institutes National Health School, pointed out that people with more serious symptoms spend more days in hospital. The treatments that we are applying help a number of older people  thats to say, the fatality rate has fallen, he explained. But they come out alive thanks to [being in hospital] for more time. As such, although there are fewer admissions because the vulnerable population is already protected, patients are staying in the ICU for more time. There is less rotation of beds and the occupation is not falling, he added.

According to the latest data from the Health Ministry, 2,212 people are hospitalized in the ICU due to Covid-19. Across the country, 22% of ICU beds are occupied by coronavirus patients, with the figure as high as 42% in regions such as Madrid. The number is in excess of 35% in Catalonia, Ceuta, the Basque Country and La Rioja. This means that there is a high percentage of ICU beds that are not being used for other pathologies, said Infante. And we could pay for that in the future in terms of excess deaths due to other causes because we havent avoided admissions due to Covid.

Key moment

Spain is experiencing this fall in incidence at a key moment in terms of controlling the pandemic. Without the state of alarm, the regions will have to rely on the blessing of the courts to keep restrictions in place, and epidemiologists fear that the time that these legal processes will take could interfere with attempts to keep the pandemic under control.

We cannot under any circumstance lift the restrictions from one day to the next in those regions that are above 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and that have intense levels of community transmission, warned Lopez-Acuna. When the legal coverage disappears, there will be a risk that we will have spikes from the end of the state of alarm because there will be more mobility and interaction. The experts also warn that the more the virus circulates, the greater the risk of new variants.

Spains regions have started to make moves to keep some restrictions in place, including nighttime curfews and limits on numbers at social meetings. At least seven regions are planning on keeping some of the existing measures in place, but for now only the Balearic Islands has secured backing from its high court to keep the curfew in place and limit meetings to six people beyond Sunday.

My fear is that from May 9 onward, we will understand the precautions to have been lifted along with the end of the start of alarm, added Infante. It is important to make an effort to explain to citizens that the pandemic is not over.

Epidemiologist Salvador Peiro, from a healthcare and biomedicine research foundation in Valencia, agreed that there is the threat of a spike associated with the reduction of restrictions, less social support for the measures, optimism and the loss of fear of meeting with vaccinated seniors. He added, however, that it is fairly unlikely that there will be outbreaks with the same mortality levels as in other waves.

At a meeting this week of the Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), which brings together the central Health Ministry and regional healthcare chiefs, the latter called for common guidelines to deal with the pandemic once the state of alarm is over, given that they fear a repeat of the judicial chaos seen last summer when there were a series of contradictory rulings across the country or even within the same region.

The central government, meanwhile, has been arguing that the existing legal framework is sufficient to keep the pandemic under control, and has offered to review the latest risk-level system approved by the regions as well as the coordinated actions associated with this indicator. The measures will only be recommendations, however, and will not be obligatory for each territory.

Test and trace

The experts are also calling for active testing and tracing of cases and contacts to continue. Peiro believes that Spain is headed toward a three-pronged approach: vaccinate as much as we can, enforce testing and outbreak control, and adjust policies in order to reduce the infectious episodes among youngsters. We cannot allow outbreaks such as the one in Valencias Ausias March university residence, with 120 people affected, because if you dont detect them, they create an uptick among young people and can make other strategies, such as vaccination, much more difficult.

According to the Health Ministrys latest report, around 1,850 diagnostic tests are being carried out for every 100,000 inhabitants, and the positivity rate is 6.68%  above the 5% level that the authorities have set to consider transmission of the virus under control. Contact tracing has fallen off the map from a media and healthcare point of view, said Lopez-Acuna. While it is true that fewer tests are being carried out as the incidence falls, we should take advantage of the situation right now to do more testing and seek out infections.

English version by Simon Hunter.
People waiting for their vaccine in San Pedro Sacatepequez, Guatemala. LUIS ECHEVERRIA / Reuters

The proposal by the administration of US President Joe Biden to waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines caused widespread division among European countries on Thursday. Spain has opted to unreservedly support the proposal, which is aimed at increasing access to the inoculations in poorer nations and stopping the pandemic in its tracks. France and Germany, meanwhile, have declared their opposition to the plan, on the basis that it will not solve the problem of distributing the vaccines and could in fact make it worse.

The backing by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was enshrined in an unofficial document that the Spanish delegation will present at the European summit due to be held on Friday and Saturday in Oporto, Portugal. The text states that intellectual property cannot be an obstacle to bring an end to Covid-19 and guarantee equitable and universal access to vaccines.

Spain is calling for an urgent consensus on the proposal to temporarily lift certain obligations under Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, known as TRIPS in English.

At the end of last year, India and South Africa presented a similar initiative at the World Trade Organization (WTO), but the proposal was blocked for months by members where the vaccines are being manufactured, such as the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States. The sudden change in stance by Washington on Wednesday has revived the debate and has brought new hope for those who are in favor of the patents being waived.

Waiving vaccine patents would not have any effect today. What is urgent is the export of vaccines Clement Beaune, French minister of state for European affairs

The Biden administration has openly raised the question of the temporary exemption of the TRIPS agreement and this announcement leads the path that was already begun by India and South Africa at the WTO, sources from the Spanish government stated.

The path, however, appears to be less clear than Spain was expecting. Germany, the country where BioNTech-Pfizer  so far the most successful vaccine  was developed, expressed its complete opposition to Bidens plan on Thursday. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that the protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and should continue to be so in the future. Berlin added that the waiver of patents, which would allow any pharmaceutical company to replicate the Covid-19 vaccines, could have serious implications for global production.

France, which has yet to develop a Covid-19 vaccine despite counting on powerful pharmaceutical companies, also reacted coolly to the proposal. Waiving vaccine patents would not have any effect today, said the French minister of state for European affairs, Clement Beaune. What is urgent is the export of vaccines, he continued, adding that this exportation is what the EU does, not the US.

The European Commission reacted in a similar way. The European Commission (EC) president, Ursula von der Leyen, diplomatically took up the gauntlet from Biden, and said that she was prepared to debate any pragmatic proposal aimed at improving the distribution of vaccines throughout the world. But she pointed out that the short-term solution would be for all major vaccine producers to allow for doses to be exported  a clear allusion to countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States which, either expressly or tacitly, are impeding these medications from leaving their territories. The EU, meanwhile, has permitted the export of 200 million doses, the same amount as have been distributed among the blocs 27 member states.

Spains position goes much further than that of the EC and is in clear conflict with Berlin and Paris. The document that the Sanchez government will be taking to the Oporto summit defends that the production and access to the vaccines should be increased exponentially and urgently. Spain points out that 11 billion doses are needed to immunize 70% of the world population on the basis of two shots per person. And that with the current level of production, estimated at between 6.5 and 8.5 billion doses a year, there will not be sufficient vaccines for the global population until 2023 or 2024.

The government of Pedro Sanchez considers these timescales to be unacceptable, both in terms of fairness and justice for developing countries, as well as healthcare reasons affecting the whole planet. No one will be safe until all of us are safe, the document states.

Spain is proposing that for the production process to be accelerated, and while the waiver of patents is negotiated, all mechanisms should be activated to promote and incentivize voluntary license agreements, which would allow pharmaceuticals to agree the production conditions among themselves.

English version by Simon Hunter.
A couple in Revolution Square in Havana. Yander Zamora / EFE

Continuity and change were the main themes of the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), celebrated in Havana in April. After 62 years at the helm, Raul Castro and the old guard of the PCC officially stepped aside to make way for a new generation of leaders headed up by the new First Secretary Miguel Diaz-Canel, whose mission is to enact the necessary economic reforms to make the Cuban model sustainable without changing the political system while guaranteeing the PCCs oft-alluded to historical continuity.

The challenge for Diaz-Canel is that most Cubans are more interested in change than in continuity, US academic William LeoGrande wrote in a recent article in World Politics Review. LeoGrande, a specialist in Latin American politics and US foreign policy, is well-respected within Cuba and co-authored Back Channel to Cuba, a book about the history of the secret negotiations between Havana and Washington stretching from the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower up to the Barack Obama era.

The US must not push Cuba toward Russia again, which could lead to old and dangerous alliances being renewed Carlos Saladrigas, director of the Cuba Study Group

Like the majority of businesspeople, analysts and politicians consulted for this article, LeoGrande believes that the most important game for Cuba will be played at home. Independently of what the US might or might not do, it is the authorities in Havana who for their own interests need to carry out profound changes to their economic model and open spaces for democratic participation in society. This is a view held by Joe Garcia, Obamas secretary of energy, and the director of the Cuba Study Group (CSG), Carlos Saladrigas, a leading figure in the Cuban exile movement in Miami, among other experts.

In any case, both have actively and passively lobbied the US administration of President Joe Biden to take decisive steps toward rapprochement with Havana, as Obama did, and facilitate the evolution of ties between the two countries. Up to what point should, or can, these changes go? How far should continuity reach? Can the US be of help if it takes the lead or would it be better for Biden to wait in the wings and see what happens in Cuba, without lifting the sanctions imposed by former president Donald Trump, even if that encourages a siege mentality? Has Cuba got time to wait? All of this is open for debate and there is broad consensus that the answers to these questions will be revealed in the coming months.

Biden has been in office for over 100 days and so far he has not lifted even one of the 240 sanctions imposed by Trump in the most aggressive blockade ever carried out, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, the head of the US department of Cubas Foreign Affairs Ministry, tells EL PAIS. On two occasions Washington has stated that Biden is not Obama and that Cuba is not a priority for the new administration. What is true is that today remittances to Cuba are restricted, the majority of daily flights are grounded, US visits to Cuba are prohibited, the US Embassy in Havana remains shuttered and the Helms-Burton law  which codified the regulations of the US blockade against Cuba  is still in force. Furthermore, Cuba remains on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, Trumps final pen stroke and enacted days before he left office.

A family watches the news of the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI / REUTERS

These are some of the things that need to change as soon as possible, says Cuban-American academic Arturo Lopez-Levy. If Biden wants to encourage the concrete reforms already approved in Cuba and promote transparency and internal debate in the patriotic Cuban camp, he needs to reopen dialogue in a drastic manner. It is impossible to deny the disastrous legacy of Trump.

Saladrigas concurs: It is important to broach the subject of Cuba as quickly as possible for two fundamental reasons. The first is humanitarian, given that the pandemic, the sanctions imposed by Trump and the ridiculous economic policies of the Cuban government have led the country to the brink of economic collapse, with a serious shortage of food and medicine, which could precipitate a new migratory crisis, he says. The second, according to Saladrigas, is strategic.

The US must not push Cuba toward Russia again, which could lead to old and dangerous alliances being renewed. Furthermore, beyond fostering the desired changes in Cuba, the continuity of hostility will only serve to further entrench the Cuban government by intensifying the abuse of human rights and making the already arduous task of enacting reforms more difficult and costly.

In February, the CSG presented the Biden administration with a document in which it advocated for the US to seek the full normalization of relations without asking for anything in exchange, but maintaining its stance against the absence of democracy in Cuba while also supporting those who are asking for greater economic and civil liberties. According to academic and former Cuban diplomat Jesus Arboleya, while the CSG claims that its proposals do not seek to promote regime change in Cuba, it is difficult to assume that this is not the genuine interest of the majority of its members. Despite this, he adds, the scenario the CSG hopes to achieve is perhaps the best possible one for co-existence between the two countries, where a high level of antagonism still prevails.

Although Cubans think we are the center of the universe, its not the case. We are not a priority Joe Garcia, former energy secretary under Obama administration

But it is the home front that matters most in Cuba. Everyone is agreed on this, including Cuban government employees, who talk about economic changes if not political ones. The latest Congress of the PCC opened the door for greater private initiative, the creation of small- and medium-sized businesses and wider margins of independence for state enterprises. But will that be enough?

Prominent Cuban economists, some residents on the island (Juan Triana, Omar Everleny, Ricardo Torres) and others abroad (Julio Carranza, Pavel Vidal, Pedro Monreal, Mauricio de Miranda) have been warning for some time that economic reforms are urgent and must be sweeping, not merely cosmetic, or the Cuban economy will crash. Diaz-Canel admitted as much recently when he said there was no time to think in the long term, although history and statistics demonstrate that the pace of reform in Cuba is traditionally rather slow.

Neither is there an abundance of time to reflect on what Biden might do. Lopez-Levy argues that internal policy calculations are what have up to now impeded rapprochement. The president has a Senate divided in half and a House in almost the same situation. Biden cannot afford to alienate a single senator, including the powerful Democrat Bob Menendez, who has made sanctions against Cuba a non-negotiable issue.

Menendez, adds Lopez-Levy, occupies a key post as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is a leading advocate for migratory reform, one of the principal election promises and priorities of the Democratic legislative agenda.

Obamas former energy secretary, the Cuban-American Joe Garcia, agrees, knowing very well the balances that the Biden administration must seek to maintain. Although Cubans think we are the center of the universe, its not the case. We are not a priority. In any case, Garcia believes rapprochement with Cuba will happen sooner or later. The promises Biden made were simple, forceful and will be kept: to eliminate the limits in remittances, open up travel, reestablish consular activity

Will it be enough? Probably not, the majority of experts consulted acknowledge. The demand, which is almost a plea, is unanimous: that Cuba has the nous to do what needs to be done and that the lives of Cubans are improved. And also that the US has the nous to lift sanctions on the island that are immoral and preventing the issue from moving forward.

English version by Rob Train.
By Bikash Sangraula, KYODO NEWS - May 8, 2021 - 01:53 | World, All, Coronavirus

As the international community focuses on the humanitarian crisis in India, a deadly coronavirus crisis is also unfolding in neighboring Nepal, leaving the small Himalayan nation in a battle it is ill-prepared to fight, public health experts say.

Nepal was among the first in Asia to start an inoculation drive, launching the effort in January, but it has been suspended since April as vaccines stopped coming from India, where the health system has collapsed under the burden of the pandemic.

The Indian government has temporarily banned vaccine exports to prioritize vaccinating its own population in a frantic effort to contain the rapid spread of the virus in a nation of over 1.3 billion people.

Nepal, which shares an 1,800-kilometer open border with India, saw daily new cases spike from below 500 in mid-April to over 9,000 in early May, with the COVID-19 positivity rate now close to 50 percent.

The nation had 9,070 newly confirmed virus cases on Thursday, taking the tally to 368,580, according to the Health and Population Ministry. The death toll reached 3,529, including 54 new deaths.

The new cases were confirmed out of 21,142 standard PCR and rapid antigen tests conducted on Nepalis.

"But tests are limited. Daily infection rate is certainly many times higher," Health and Population Minister Hridayesh Tripathi said in a television interview Thursday.

Contact tracing has become logistically impossible to continue, he added.

The government has taken measures such as putting under lockdown 50 of the country's 77 districts, closing most border crossings with India and suspending domestic and international flights.

But with just 600 ventilators and 1,700 ICU beds, the nation's weak health infrastructure is already overstretched at a time when experts warn that this surge will peak in a matter of weeks to over 200,000 daily infections.

"The curve is much steeper in Nepal than in India," said Anup Subedee, an infectious diseases expert in Nepal. "The virus reproduction rate in Nepal is among the highest in the world. A replay of scenes in Italy last year is already evident here."

In the absence of beds equipped with ventilators, critical COVID-19 patients are being kept in general ward beds, even in the capital Kathmandu.

"Patients in their 30s and early 40s are dying because there is no ventilator, ICU bed and oxygen," the U.S.-trained doctor said.

In Kathmandu, which has consistently accounted for half of daily infections, the only crematorium is overburdened. Makeshift funeral pyres have been set up on the banks of a river that flows by the revered Pashupatinath temple, now closed to worshippers.

At some hospitals in regions neighboring India, infected medical personnel are having to treat COVID-19 patients.

This worrying trend will continue for weeks, Subedee predicted. "The nation immediately needs 3 million vaccine doses to protect people aged over 55 and those who have significant co-morbidities," he added.

Facing a lack of vaccines, thousands of Nepalis at home and abroad have joined an online petition asking U.S. Ambassador to Nepal Randy Berry and the State Department to immediately release at least 12 million doses of vaccines to help resume inoculation efforts.

"America's timely action will save hundreds of thousands of people from unnecessary suffering and death and reduce the long-term impacts of poverty and lost development," says the petition, which has garnered more than 19,000 signatures since its launch Thursday.

Nepal began its inoculation drive thanks to a million doses of the vaccine known as Covishield that it received as a gift from India. Originally developed by major British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, the vaccine is produced by Serum Institute of India, a major Indian vaccine maker.

Buoyed by the gesture, which was followed by China's decision to gift Nepal 800,000 doses of Chinese-made vaccine, Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli announced ambitious plans in January to inoculate the population of 29 million by the end of April.

However, the plans faltered. So far, just 370,000 Nepalis have received both vaccine doses, while 2.1 million have received a single dose.

Nepal has paid Serum for an additional 2 million doses of Covishield, but half of this amount is yet to arrive. Plans to buy an additional 5 million Covishield doses from the Indian company stalled after India temporarily banned vaccine exports last month.

Under intense criticism for taking the pandemic lightly and for losing precious time to prepare for the second wave that has now overwhelmed Nepal's health system, Oli appealed for help earlier this week.

"We are of the view that vaccines and critical care medicines are global goods and everyone should have access to them," he said in a televised address on Monday. "I would like to request our neighbors, friendly countries and international organizations to help us with vaccines, diagnostic equipment and kits, oxygen therapy, critical care medicines."

Nepal is in talks with China, Russia and the U.N.-backed COVAX Facility to procure vaccines. Because of poor infrastructure for storing and delivering vaccines to vaccination centers, the Himalayan nation can only use Covishield, India's indigenously manufactured Covaxin, Chinese vaccines and Russia's Sputnik V, none of which need the subzero storage temperatures that some of the other vaccines require.

The United States announced last month that it would share 60 million doses of Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines with other countries as part of its vaccine diplomacy. As of now, there is no mention of Nepal in the list of prospective recipients of the doses.

"Our two nations have shared a long history of mutual cooperation, exchange and support. By ensuring timely delivery of vaccines for Nepal you will be adding an important chapter to that history," the petition to the U.S. ambassador says.
KYODO NEWS - May 8, 2021 - 04:25 | Japan, All, Coronavirus

The Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association on Friday opposed U.S. support for a temporary waiver of coronavirus vaccine patent rights held by pharmaceutical companies, saying such a move could exacerbate global shortages of vital components for vaccines and stoke anxiety about product quality.

Earlier this week, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said President Joe Biden's administration will support the idea of an intellectual property waiver to help expand global vaccine supplies as part of efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic.

Such a waiver is being discussed at the World Trade Organization, with its chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala welcoming Washington's stance.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus, who has already expressed support for the U.S. move, urged other countries to follow suit.

"I know that this is not a politically easy thing to do, so I very much appreciate the leadership of the United States, and we urge other countries to follow their example," the WHO chief said Friday.

The Japanese industry body argued that an intellectual property waiver would not necessarily guarantee the production of vaccines with quality equivalent to those currently available.

The group said it is concerned that noneffective products may circulate, and the risk of side effects could increase as well.

"We are deeply concerned that if vaccines are made in an uncontrollable environment, it will intensify scarcity of raw materials as well as further disperse and disrupt supply chains, possibly leading to a further delay in distributions," the association said in a statement.

With unequal availability of vaccines in many parts of the world, the Biden administration has been facing pressure from Democratic lawmakers and other countries to share the intellectual property to boost vaccine production.

Following the U.S. announcement of its support, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was absolutely in favor of a waiver on patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines, while Germany opposes the idea.

The government of Japan, where domestic vaccines for the coronavirus are not yet available, has not clearly shown its stance on the idea of a patent waiver.
The Japanese government said Friday it will strengthen restrictions on Japanese nationals and residents arriving from India, where more contagious coronavirus variants have been raging, and its two neighboring countries Pakistan and Nepal.

The tighter steps, effective from Monday, will include asking those entering the country from the three countries to stay at a designated facility upon arrival for six days and get tested for coronavirus on the third day and the last day during that period.

Currently, the isolation period at a designated facility for people traveling from about 35 countries and regions where variants have been reported, including India and Pakistan, is three days, with a coronavirus test administered on the third day. Those who test negative are asked to remain in self-isolation at home or other location for 14 days after arrival.

These come on top of submission of negative test results taken within 72 hours prior to their departure and a test upon arrival.

At present, Japan bans all entry of nonresident foreigners except for those given approval under "special exceptional circumstances."
New Delhi :

Residents of Delhi will soon get the much needed respite from the smog that has engulfed the city since four days as Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited is all set to sprinkle water aerially.

As per sources, earlier the Delhi government had asked the Centre to conduct aerial sprinkling of water. The move has finally taken shape after a directive was issued by the environment minister.

Representatives of the company and Delhi govt likely to meet tomorrow to discuss the details. #DelhiPollution  ANI (@ANI) November 10, 2017

The execution of the plan will take place after representatives from Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited and Delhi government meet on Saturday.





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New Delhi:

The Art of living International Centre organised Paigam-e-Mohabbat program aimed to bring normalcy in Kashmir in Bengaluru on Friday. The program was all about love and emotions.

The program brought together family members of slain militants, former militants, common Kashmiris and families of security personnel who have been martyred in the valley.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had organised this program and brought 100 Kashmiri families to Bengaluru.

Farook Ahmed Dar, a former militant and resident of Sopore town of Baramulla said, "Kashmir is a place of saints and Sri Sri will be able to bring peace back in Kashmir as saints have always been welcomed in Kashmir.

Sri Sri said that bringing everyone together on one platform was not an easy task, but, to make Kashmir paradise again, they needed to work hard and he is doing that.

There were some emotional moments when Priya Sankalp, wife of Martyr Lt. Col Sankalp broke down on stage remembering her husband who was martyred in Uri area of Kashmir.

Priya Sankalp said that she lost her husband in Kashmir conflict but today she is sitting with Kashmiris so that this conflict ends and no more lives are lost.

Speaking on this occasion ,Neha tripathi, wife of martyr Pramod Kumar who was commandant in CRPF and was martyred on 26 January 2016 in Srinagar said," I was very hesitant to come on this program when I heard Kashmiris are part of this but then I remembered my husband used to tell me that always be positive and I hope if by coming here I can make 5% Kashmiris to think that they are also part of India as rest of us then it will be a great success for me ".

Munir choudhary from Salamabad of border town Uri requested all to forget past and join hands together to regain the paradise.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that he didn't take any support from government of India for hosting this program and he is ready to talk to everyone in Kashmir including Hurriyat conference to bring normalcy back in Kashmir.

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New Delhi:

Google Doodle celebrates the 132nd birth anniversary of Anasuya Sarabhai. Ten things to know about the woman who was a pioneer of the women's labour movement in India:

#Affectionately addressed as 'Motaben' meaning elder sister in Gujarati, Anasuya Sarabhai was born in Ahmedabad on November 11, 1885.

#She belonged to the wealthy family of Sarabhai and Godarvariba and lost both her parents when she was only nine.

#At the age of 13, an unwilling Anasuya was married off by her uncle, leading to a short-lived and unhappy marriage.

#Anasuya went to England in 1912 to take a medical degree but switched to the London School of Economics when she realized the animal dissection involved in obtaining a medical degree, was in violation of her Jain beliefs.

#While in England, she got influenced by the Fabian Society and got involved in the Suffragette movement which was working towards obtaining the right to vote for women.

#In 1913, she returned to India where she effortlessly worked for the betterment of women and upliftment of the poor. She opened a school and decided to get involved in the labour movement taking on the cause of local mill workers after learning of their 36-hour work shifts.

#Anasuya Sarabhai helped mill workers organize a strike in 1914 in Ahmedabad for higher wages.

#In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi who was a close family friend came forward to support her and began a hunger strike on the workers behalf leading to justified 35% hike in wages. In 1920, Anasuya Sarabhai founded the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majoor Mahajan Sangh), the oldest union of textile workers in the country and held the position of its president till last breath.

#Anasuya Sarabhai holds a unique place in the history of country whose endless efforts later paved way for the foundation of the Self-Employed Womens Association of India (SEWA).
Mumbai:

After torching the car of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, the president of All India Hindu Mahasabha is all set to buy the property of Dawood Ibrahim which will be auctioned on 14th November. While talking to a News Nation correspondent in Mumbai, Swami Chakrapani announced that after buying the property in the auction he will replace it with a hi-tech public toilet, and will not only buy the property himself but also help other participants for buying it. He also added that he will give them 10 percent of the total amount of auctioned property.



This is not the first time when Chakrapani is interested in buying Dawood's property. In 2015 auction, Chakrapani won Dawoods car for Rs 32,000 and torched it in Ghaziabad in full public view.



After torching the car, Chakrapani also received threatening calls and messages from the underworld. In this case, a special cell of Delhi Police had arrested 6 men of Dawood Ibrahim gang including Junaid and Robinson.



The president of All India Hindu Mahasabha claims that after buying Dawood's property and torching it will send a strong message to him that in India the fear of his name does not exist anymore.



What Dawood and his aides did in Mumbai in 1996 I am replying to him and torching his car is the funeral of his fear in India, Chakrapani said.
New Delhi:

The Union Cabinet on Friday approved setting up of 'National Testing Agency (NTA)' to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions, an official release said.

The NTA would initially conduct entrance tests that are currently organised by the CBSE, while other examinations will be taken up gradually, it added.

Currently, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts 'National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)' on behalf of the Medical Council Of India and Health Ministry and the 'National Eligibility Test (NET)' on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC), an official said.

"It (the move) will relieve the CBSE, the AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education) and other agencies from the responsibility of conducting these entrance examinations, and also bring in high reliability, standardised difficulty level for assessing the aptitude, intelligence and problem-solving abilities of the students," the release said.

Also Read: Calicut University 3rd Semester Result announced; check here

The entrance examinations will be conducted online at least twice a year, thereby giving adequate opportunity to candidates to bring out their best, it added.

In order to serve the requirements of the rural students, it would locate the centres at sub-district/district level and as far as possible would undertake hands-on training exercise for the students, the release said.

The NTA will be given a one-time grant of Rs 25 crore from the government to start its operation in the first year and thereafter, it will be financially self-sustainable, it added.

It will be chaired by an educationist appointed by Human Resource Development Ministry.

The establishment of NTA, an autonomous organisation, will benefit about 40 lakh students appearing in various entrance examinations, the release said.

It will be established as a Society registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act, 1860.

In view of the need to have a specialised body in India like the most advanced countries, the finance minister in the Budget speech of 2017-18 had announced setting up of NTA to conduct all entrance examinations for higher educational institutions.
New Delhi:

Income Tax Department has carried out more raids at 40 locations in Chennai for the third day at Dr Namadhu MGR (Tamil newspaper) and Jaya TV offices and at the residence of Jaya TV Managing Director and Sasikala's nephew Vivek Jayaraman and his sister Krishna Priya.



The Income Tax department on Thursday morning raided the office of Jaya TV in Chennai over alleged reports of tax evasion. The Tamil channel is controlled by AIADMK and arrested party leader VK Sasikala, while it was founded by late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.



Sources claim that the searches were part of 'Operation Clean Money'. The tax allegation covers aspects like shell companies, dubious investments, fund flow, and fudging of accounts.

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New Delhi:

Thousands of radical Islamists protested in Islamabad demanding the removal of Pakistan's law minister Zahid Hamid over the omission of Prophet Muhammad in a recent constitutional bill.

Members of radical Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party started the protest march earlier this week at the main Faizabad crossing outside Islamabad.

The number of demonstrators increased to over 3,000 on Friday which disturbed the public life on the outskirts of Capital city. The police have to put barricades in order to stop protesters from entering the city.

The protesters shouted slogans against Hamid and claimed that he purposefully made the omission of Prophet Muhammad to appease the minority Ahmadis sect.

Addressing emotionally charged demonstrators, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the head of the Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah party, said they will not end their protest until the government sack Hamid.

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New Delhi:

Delhi government is planning to hire 500 buses to ensure smooth commute of public in national capital as more than 15 lakh private cars are expected to keep off road per day as soon as odd-even scheme kicks in from Monday.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government on Thursday evening announced to roll out odd-even scheme from November 13 to November 17. The scheme will be in place from 8am to 8pm. Women drivers and two-wheelers have been exempted from the odd-even scheme. The scheme has been imposed in view of the severe air pollution level in the city.

Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said, The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has also promised to provide 100 small buses during the period.

The Delhi transport minister has directed the state transport corporation to arrange at least 500 buses so the people can travel smoothly in the city.

According to Delhi Transport Corporation officials they are in talks with private players to arrange at least 500 additional busses to run in Delhi roads as odd-even scheme is imposed.

According to the official figures, DTC buses carry more than 35 lakh passengers every day.

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New Delhi :

Former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah has done it yet again. He has invoked the Kashmir issue and said, "The part which is with Pakistan belongs to Pakistan & this is India's part."

"If they want peace govt will have to talk to Pakistan & conclude that an autonomy be given to us as well as them," added Farooq Abdullah.

"A Pak Minister very rightly said that you forget that the part which is yours was acquired by an Instrument of Accession.

You forget Instrument of accession and say that the part is yours. If you talk about this being your part then remember the Instrument as well", said the National Conference (NC) leader.

On J&K interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma Abdullah said, "I can't comment much on that. He has held talks but talks alone is not the solution. This issue is between India & Pakistan. Indian govt must also hold talks with Pakistan govt because a part of Kashmir is also with them".

Reacting on Farooq's statement, MoS Jitendra Singh said, "National Conference had given up its demand for socalled Autonomy over 40 years ago when Sheikh Abdullah got himself reinstated as CM and conveniently accepted all the provisions of Indian constitution."

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New Delhi:

Delhi airport witnessed Ruckus after Jet Airways Delhi-Patna flight returned back to Delhi on Friday night after being diverted to Varanasi. The Jet Airways Delhi-Patna flight 9W 730 diverted to Varanasi due to non-availability of a taxiway at Patna Airport; the flight lands to Delhi.

The Jet Airways flight 9W730 departed from Terminal 3 at the IGI at 2.30 pm. Around 150 passengers were travelling to Patna from Delhi

#WATCH: Ruckus at #Delhi airport as Jet Airways Delhi-Patna flight was brought back to Delhi last night, after being diverted to Varanasi. pic.twitter.com/cPjPo4ZjGZ  ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2017

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Washington:

A US Marine Corps drill instructor was sentenced on Saturday to 10 years in prison for abusing more than a dozen Muslim recruits, one of whom died in 2016, US media reported.

Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Felix was convicted a day earlier of maltreatment of the recruits during their basic training at the Parris Island, South Carolina base.

A jury of eight fellow servicemen and women considered Felix, an Iraq war veteran, the most to blame of six instructors who ordered and participated in extreme hazing of the recruits, taunting them as terrorists.

Two of them were forced into industrial-sized clothes dryers and in one case the machine was turned on when they did not renounce their faith.

One of the recruits, Raheel Siddiqui died after a plunge over a third-story railing in March 2016 after enduring days of hazing worse than the normal high-pressure treatment given recruits.

The Marines called his death a suicide. In October, Siddiquis family sued the Marines for USD 100 million, saying he was driven by an unnamed superior through a door and onto a balcony where he fell to the ground below.

The sentence decided today, which also includes a dishonourable discharge, was harsher than the seven years in prison that prosecutors had recommended.

The case will automatically go to appeal per military regulations for judgments that involve lengthy prison sentences and dishonourable discharges.

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New Delhi:

US president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin chatted as they sauntered together for a brief photo session at 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting on Saturday.

However, the two also shook hands at a dinner which happened on Friday evening and again at the start of the main meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic.Trump is on the fourth leg of a 12-day tour of Asia.

Although, the White House cleared that two will not hold a formal meeting in Vietnam.

Donald Trump was expected to attend a slew of big meetings and private audiences with other world leaders.

Trump was not expected to have a formal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, it is possible that they have an informal encounter during the meeting.

Donald Trump pulled out the United States from the Pacific Rim trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He emphasized that he wants one-on-one agreements with other nations.

On Friday, the remaining 11 nations announced that they had reached a trade pact without the US.

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New Delhi:

Nibiru or Planet X has been creating a lot of buzz as conspiracy theorists claim that it will result in doomsday on Earth. Now, according to latest claims supported by a bizarre video, Nibiru is already leaving a mark in the skies.

According to conspiracy theorists, Nibiru will bring apocalypse on Earth when it enters our solar system.

The planet is believed to be 10 times the size of the Earth. It is thought that the planet will cause massive earthquakes and tsunamis across the planet due to its huge gravitational pull.

A doomsayer claims to have captured a video of Nibiru entering the atmosphere of the Earth, Express.co.uk has reported.

The video which has been uploaded on YouTube shows a glowing cloud formation in the sky, supposedly the dust trail of Nibiru.

It begins with an ominous message: Nibirus here. First dust and ash from Planet X comet tail enters Earths atmosphere.

Another so-called truther has claimed that the planet is already scattering dust and ash across Earth.

Nibiru has millions of miles of trash and comets. Its dragging everything with it, and we are starting to see this ash and dust that is entering our atmosphere," Conspiracy theorist Matt Rogers said.

With the sightings reported across the globe, many are convinced that the doomsday planet has arrived here already.

Nibiru expert and movie producer Yuval Ovadia recently shared what is claimed to be the real footage of the planet visible in the skies over Jerusalem. The video shows a massive bright light that can be seen as meteors trail off and fall towards the Earth.

Previously, Ovadia revealed several images claimed to show the planet visible in the skies. Which place on Earth is safe from Nibiru attack?

Conspiracy theorists have apparently managed to find out one place on Earth which would be safe when Nibiru attacks.

According to them, the sole place on the entire planet which will be safe from doomsday strike is or where humanity 'may remain unaffected' is Israel.

Discovery of new planet

Astronomers have found a new planet having 13.4 times the mass of Jupiter. The planet is circling around a star in the "bulge" of the Milky Way. Any new planet which is yet to be named officially is given the name Planet X.

However, this name has also been given to the mythical Nibiru system.

The new planet is currently called OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb. Its discovery has fired up believers of the Nibiru theory. They have claimed that the Nibiru will be on an approach path with the Earth between November 20 and December 20.

One user of conspiracy theory website Godlikeproductions.com, based in Australia, believes OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb could be the proof of Nibiru.

The user with the handle Daniel (D Alien) started a forum on the site entitled "Has Nibiru Been Hiding in the Heart of Our Galaxy All Along?," after learning of the news.

One person with the username Anonymous replied: "Looks like no one really knows what is out there."

Another with the username Anonymous Coward posted: "Please apply your mind.

"Nibiru is an ordinary planet that will never orbit near here again and it hasn't been hiding anywhere."

Details of the new planet were published in a paper posted on arXiv.org.

An international team of researchers led by Yoon-Hyun Ryu of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute in Daejon, South Korea, said in the paper: "We report the discovery of OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb, which is likely to be the first Spitzer microlensing planet in the galactic bulge/bar, an assignation that can be confirmed by two epochs of high-resolution imaging of the combined source-lens baseline object."

What NASA says about Nibiru?

US space agency NASA recently discovered a hypothetical Planet 9, which is believed to be 10 times bigger than the Earth, at the edge of our solar system. However, Nasa said it was not Nibiru, which "does not exist."

"If a planet is there, it's extremely distant and will stay that way, with no chance  in case you're wondering  of ever colliding with Earth, or bringing days of darkness, NASA said in a statement.

The Nibiru myth dates back to 1976, when writer Zecharia Sitchin claimed two ancient Middle Eastern cultures, the Babylonians and Sumerians, told of a giant planet dubbed Nibiru which orbited the Sun.

Calling the Nibiru myth an internet hoax, Nasa insists the conspiracy theorists are completely wrong.

Dr David Morrison, a Nasa scientist, said: "There is no credible evidence whatever for the existence of Nibiru. There are no pictures, no tracking, no astronomical observations.

"I can quite specifically say how we know Planet X or Nibiru does not exist and does not threaten Earth.

Firstly, if there was a planet headed into the inner solar system that was going to come close to the Earth, it would already be inside the orbit of Mars, it would be bright, it would be easily visible to the naked eye - if it was up there it would be easy to see it, all of us could see it."

Space boffin Dr Brian Cox has also insisted Planet X does not exist.

Associate Professor Jonti Horner, an astronomer at the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, said: "Ive never heard of anybody whos an actual astronomer talk about Nibiru before.

"Its basically an urban myth  its like having a biologist coming out and talking about werewolves and the Sasquatch being real. You just wouldnt hear it.

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The first shipment of COVID-19 relief materials from the Netherlands arrived in India on Friday. The shipment arrived with 449 ventilators, 100 oxygen concentrators and more.

In the prevailing situation of India these relief materials from the Netherlands landed in India are a part of humanitarian assistance. India in its fight against the second wave of COVID-19 is also suffering from the lack of medical supplies. Shortage of medical facilities have made the fight more difficult and its great that entire world is backing up India with their assistance. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi took it to his official Twitter handle to break the news. Bagchi wrote, Further strengthening our multifaceted cooperation. First of the shipment of 449 ventilators, 100 oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies from the Netherlands arrives. Over the coming days, remaining medical equipment would be shipped. Value this support from our friend Netherlands.

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Further strengthening our multifaceted cooperation. First of the shipment of 449 ventilators, 100 oxygen concentrators & other medical supplies from Netherlands arrives. Over the coming days, remaining medical equipment would be shipped. Value this support from our friend ???????? pic.twitter.com/P3zGZwW3X5  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 6, 2021

Not only this but several other nations, including the UK, US, Germany and Russia have also extended support to assist India in its fight. The second wave of COVID-19 hard hit the nation where other countries are supporting by enhancing its healthcare system.

Meanwhile, on Thursday India recorded over 412262 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

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Bhopal: The havoc of corona is increasing every day in Madhya Pradesh. Crime cases are also witnessing a spurt. Now, the crime that has come to light between all of this is from Gwalior. Hereafter marriage a wife has blackmailed her own husband for money. According to information received in the case, the woman got married three months ago. Now, in this case, the youth has alleged that his wife has been demanding Rs 20 lakh since the next day of marriage.

The woman threatened to kill the youth when he filed a petition for divorce. In the case, the youth has stated in his complaint that "in the past, he has filed a petition in the court seeking zero marriage.'' His wife video called and said, "Take it back, otherwise I'll get you killed." The entire case is said to be of Naugaja Road in the Inderganj police station area. Disturbed by the threat and blackmailing, the youth opened the case at the police station last Wednesday. As soon as the police officer heard him here, an FIR has been lodged on the complaint of the victim in view of the seriousness of the case. According to the information received, about 3 months ago, the youth had registered on the matrimonial website for marriage. Namrata Kumari from Jharkhand had contacted him 4 days after he was registered. After that, the two started talking.

Then on February 3, Namrata and Vikas got married at Arya samaj temple in Bhopal. In this case, the victim Vikas has said that "After getting married on February 3, Namrata told him on February 4 that she was going home. After which he got a call and Namrata called him to his house. When he reached Ranchi railway station, Namrata along with 10 to 15 of his companions took him to the home. In the meantime, he threatened to ask the family for Rs 5 lakh if he had to go safely. Vikas also said that one of his colleagues was calling him Namrata's husband and the rest were his companions. Now, the police are investigating the entire matter.

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Now Indian navy came into relief from Corona . Let us share that the Indian Navy has stepped up its Covid relief operation Samudra SetuII with ships from all three Naval Commands in Mumbai, Visakhapatnam and Kochi. Let us share that these are deployed for shipment of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) and associated medical equipment from friendly foreign countries in Persian Gulf and South-east Asia. On the Western seaboard, Indian Naval Ship Talwar entered the port of New Mangalore in Karnataka, ferrying two 27 tonnes of liquid oxygen tanks from Bahrain.

Here to be noted that four warships are also en route to Qatar and Kuwait, to bring around nine 27-tonne oxygen tanks and more than 1,500 oxygen cylinders from these countries. On the Eastern seaboard, INS Airavat, departed Singapore with more than 3,600 oxygen cylinders, eight 27 tonne oxygen tanks, 10,000 rapid antigen detection test kits and seven concentrators while INS Jalashwa remains deployed in the region, standing by to carry medical stocks at short notice.

However, here it is to be noted that the Landing Ship Tank of the Southern Naval Command at Kochi, is also on its way to Persian Gulf to bring three liquid oxygen-filled cryogenic containers. The deployment of nine warships as part of 'Operation Samudra Setu II' forms a part of the multiple lines of effort, by the Government of India and the Indian Navy to supplement the oxygen requirement in the country. It may be recalled that INS Jalashwa and INS Shardul had also participated in operation Samudra Setu last year to repatriate stranded Indian citizens from abroad.

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Today, the 160th birth anniversary of the great poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore is being celebrated across the country. Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861 at Jorsanko Haveli in Kolkata. Rabindranath Tagore's father's name was Debendranath Tagore and mother's name was Sarda Devi. Mahatma Gandhi gave Rabindranath Tagore the title of 'Gurudev'. Rabindranath Tagore used to write poems and stories from the very beginning. Tagore started using new prose and verses and folk language in Bengali literature. Rabindranath Tagore was active in politics. He was in full support of Indian nationalists. In addition, he was opposed to British rule. Let's know some interesting information about him.

Rabindranath was the thirteenth child of his parents. As a child, he was called 'Rabi' with love. It was only when he was very young that he lost his mother. He was mostly brought up by his servants and maids. Rabindranath Tagore's father wanted him to become a barrister. So Rabindranath Tagore's father sent him to study in England. At the age of 8, he wrote his first poem, and by the age of 16, he had also started composing works of art.

He wrote 'Bhikharini' in 1877 and 'Sandhya Sangat', a collection of poems in 1882. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for His poetry Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore was the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize. The award was placed under the protection of Visva Bharati University. It was stolen from there in 2004. It is Tagore who has written the National Anthem of India 'Jana Gana Mana'. He has also written the National Anthem of Bangladesh 'Amar Sonar Bangla'. Both Rabindranath Tagore and Albert Einstein discussed God, humanity, science, truth and beauty during the meeting.

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Saudi Arabia said on Friday that getting inoculated against coronavirus vaccine would be mandatory for all employees to attend their workplaces in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Saudi Arabia's state SPA news, citing the Ministry of Human Resources, reported that vaccination would be a "mandatory condition" for employees of the private and public sectors to be present in their place of work. The Ministry reportedly said it would clarify soon the procedure and date of implementation. The country has so far reported 423,406 coronavirus cases and 7,032 deaths.

Meanwhile, in Saudi more than 10 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 587 vaccination centers across Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Health has announced.

The ministry has also called upon everyone to quickly register via Sehatty Application and get the COVID-19 vaccine through vaccination centers spread across the Kingdom, underlining that the vaccines approved in Saudi Arabia are effective and safe.



The ministry reiterated that all concerned parties provide free vaccines as part of their contribution in implementing the national vaccination campaign, noting that all centers are available on the Sehatty app to enable citizens and residents to easily find the nearby centers and book appointments at times convenient to them.

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DHAKA: The Detective Branch of the Bangladesh Police on Thursday arrested Gaji Yaqub Osmani, Hefazat-e-Islam's central assistant publicity secretary, for his involvement in the violent carnage carried out by the militant outfit in Brahmanbaria district and across the country in March.

The 44-year-old is also the organising secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh's Brahmanbaria district committee.

The accused Hefazat leader has reportedly admitted to his involvement with the three-day long rampage by Hefazat in Brahmanbaria and across the country in primary interrogation, police said.

Earlier on April 19, The Detective Branch (DB) of the Bangladesh Police had arrested Mamunul Haque, Joint Secretary of the Hefazat-e-Islam militant outfit. The top militant preacher is in Tejgaon police station now.

In another incident, a rape case was filed against Jakaria Noman Fayezi, publicity secretary of the Hefazat's newly-dissolved central committee, in Chittagong's Hathazari upazila on Friday. Confirming the development, Abdullah Al Masum, additional superintendent of Chittagong Police, said the victim filed the case with Hathazari Model Police Station. In the case statement, the victim said that she became acquainted with Fayezi through social media in September 2019.

In November of the same year, Fayezi rented a house and forced the victim to come Hathazari to stay. Fayezi raped the victim many times over the next one year, the statement added. He was arrested from Chakaria upazila of Cox's Bazar on Thursday.

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Butwal, May 7

A local leader in the Butwal sub-metropolitan city, one of the biggest cities of the Lumbini province, has died of Covid-19 for want of a hospital bed.

The deceased is Nabin Thapa Magar, 44, a member of the local governments ward 7 committee.

Megh Raj Bhattarai, the personal secretary of Mayor Shiva Raj Subedi, says Thapa Magar breathed his last on an ambulance while efforts were underway to find a bed for him.

He had tested positive for the coronavirus around a week ago and was in home isolation. However, his health deteriorated on Thursday and was rushed to the Crimson Hospital in Manigram.

The hospital refused admission saying it did not have an ICU bed with a ventilator unoccupied. Then, he was taken to the Bhim Hospital in Bhairahawa and another private hospital there.

But, we got a bed nowhere, Bhattarai says, He died on the ambulance.

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Kathmandu, May 2

The Ministry of Health and Population has informed that the countrys Covid-19 tally has reached 336,030 as of Sunday afternoon.

The ministry says 7,137 new cases were confirmed in the country in the past 24 hours.

In this period, 16,147 swab samples were tested. So far, 2 million and 504,476 people have been tested in the country.

Likewise, in this period, 623 people underwent antigen tests for the virus, of which an additional 74 were found infected.

As of today, 48,711 cases are active.

In the past 24 hours, 1,612 people have achieved recovery whereas 27 deaths have been reported.

Of the total cases so far, 283,994 people have achieved recovery. Likewise, 3,325 died, according to the ministry.

Nearly 70 are quarantined across the country.
Thats one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

When Neil Armstrong took his first historic step on the moon on July 20, 1969, his words inspired the entire world for space research and exploration. It made what humankind hitherto thought was impossible possible, and let many young people dream of the stars.

Young people in Nepal are not alien to the thought although Nepals presence in space has not been recorded so far. For example, Dipesh Poudel always thought of space exploration to be something very cool and exciting when he saw it in movies. I dreamt of being an astronaut, to reach the dark side of the moon. With Curiosity and SpaceXs mission to Mars, his desire to be an astronaut grew bigger.

Though not an astronaut yet, Poudel today is working at Nepalese Space Research Association (NESRA) as the head of IT and design. NESRA is giving out information about space research, satellites and careers in the field. What we need is to first inform people, where we have a lot of gaps in, and then can Nepal take the leap in space exploration.

According to Poudel and others involved in the field, other forms of space research, though limited, have been practised in Nepal for a long time, and hence the field offers a lot of hopes to them. Yet, the practitioners say they have a lot of problems to move ahead from a general misunderstanding to other policy-level gaps.

Misunderstood sector

When one hears the term space research, they relate it to astronauts, rockets, planetary and interstellar explorations. But, it is not limited to that. Space research also includes satellites, says Jiten Thapa, a research and development engineer at Orion Space.

Meanwhile, Nanda Bikram Adhikari, an associate professor at the Pulchowok Engineering College under Tribhuvan University, adds, it also includes radar technology, weather satellites, navigation technology, aerial survey, communication and internet services as well as data centres.

A satellite image of crusher plants operating on the banks of the Indrawati river flowing through Indrawati rural municipality, Sindhupalchok. Uncontrolled riverbed mining has disfigured the river. Photo: Bikram Rai

Thapa and Poudel, who jointly organised Space Meet in July 2019 to introduce the field to the public, both agree that the common understanding of space research, and the realisation afterwards, makes it difficult for Nepal to get the human resources that it needs.

One of the major realisations in the event was that people are excited about space; they come with the expectation and hype of international outer space missions. But, their excitement and expectation died down when they realised that we were talking about satellites and research, based in Nepal, rather than space missions to Mars or international space stations, shares Thapa.

Stakeholders unanimously agree that there is a need for awareness and advocacy regarding space research in Nepal as well as the production of skilled human resources in the field.

The Pulchowk Campus is currently teaching Bachelors in Aerospace Engineering with its first batch in the third year. The course is also misunderstood. What the course does is give theoretical knowledge to the students, but it does not make them astronauts. The maximum we can expect from the course is to have skilled aeronautical engineers, who can contribute in research and design, explains Adhikari.

Problems in the field

Hence, even though Nepal wants to, space exploration from and in Nepal is difficult.

Adhikari says, For Nepal to have its own launchpad and embark on flights and space mission is rather difficult. First of all, the launchpad is built geographically close to seas and oceans. This is for safety purposes as rockets, when their missions fail, can be redirected or fall into the water bodies to avoid loss of lives and properties.

Hence, for obvious reasons, Nepal does not have its own launchpad, and he says it is not that essential. Even the largest of the countries who are active in space exploration are renting the already existing launchpads. There are other ways we can make contributions.

Nepal space research, particularly space exploration, has not bloomed because it neither gets enough budget for the research and infrastructure nor is it the priority of the government, says Adhikari. He adds that there is a need for a dedicated space research agency in Nepal.

The Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), the Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) and NESRA have been doing their part to encourage people to involve in science and space research. But, that is not enough. We need a separate independent agency dedicated to space research.

Adhikari, who was one of the first radar engineers to work at the Tribhuvan International Airport, says the lack of national policy has also discouraged Nepals progress. Last year, the government drafted and made public the National Satellite Policy. But that does not justify or support the progress we want to make in space research.

Though Nepals position in space research is nowhere near satisfactory, many from Nepal such as Lujendra Ojha, Surendra Adhikari, Abhas Maskey, and Hariram Shrestha have worked in and with NASA to make important contributions to space research and exploration, giving Nepal hopes.

Bigger hopes from satellite communication

Nepals first satellite NEPALISAT-1

Nonetheless, Thapa says that Nepal can make progress in terms of software design and applications, hardware designs and satellites. In fact, there have already been some developments in satellite technology in Nepal.

The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) was established in 1981 and a year later, Sagarmatha Satellite Earth Station was installed at Balambu, for telecommunication services.

However, it has been only a couple of years that Nepal took the next step and made some notable progress in terms of satellites. It includes NepaliSat-1 (made by Maskey and Shrestha) launched from the United States in April 2019 which was equipped to gather information on Nepals topography and earths magnetic field. Then, a team of students launched GARUDA, a 90-inch tall rocket made in Nepal, in New Mexico (USA) in March 2021.

Orion Space is working on its own picosatellite, Nepal PQ-1 or SanoSat, to send into space. It will soon be launched from the USA this year. The smaller satellite can be helpful to collect the minute details. For the best results, you send the satellites and form them into a constellation to coordinate and monitor the data regularly, Thapa explains.

Meanwhile, Nepal has two geostationary satellite spots that the International Telecommunication Union allotted in 1984, which have gone unused so far. The two spots are not exactly above Nepal; one is in Pakistan and another in Madagascar. But, one geostationary satellite above Nepal with other international satellites will be enough for the country, says Adhikari.

We have an indispensable resource at our disposal, that is Mount Everest and its height. For satellites to function properly, it is calibrated with the closest station. Since we have Mount Everest, we can set up the most accurately calibrated satellites and even rent the station on an international scale, explains Adhikari.

Space research can be a backbone for Nepals development. Such an imperative tool at hand, coupled with the properly made satellite policy, has diverse possibilities and will be fruitful, the researchers view.

What does it need then?

SanoSat-1 by Orion Space. Photo: Facebook/ Orion Space

But, Adhikari laments the governments telecommunication policy has been made in haste and hence not supportive of the implications of what satellite or space research has in store for Nepal. It was just enough to save the spot. We have to first invest in footprint analysis and get the data right on a national scale.

Thapa also says the role of the government is crucial for the development of space research in Nepal. Satellites are very expensive to make. They also need a great deal of time, at least two years. Without the governments support, the journey will be long and slow.

Nepal has not been able to conduct its own research regarding space, collect primary data or make the framework necessary, and one of the reasons is the lack of government involvement or priorities, says Adhikari.

But, there is hope and it can be done by making the people aware of the importance of space research and get them involved.

Poudel, who attended Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (AP SGW-24) organised by SGAC in 2017 from Nepal, says the event highlighted a huge gap in Nepali space research. In the event, they asked what policies Nepal has had regarding space research, and we just stayed there without an answer because Nepal did not have any.

Those who want to contribute can start by being a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council (UN Office of Outer Space Affairs). It is not necessary that you are a science student or particularly interested in space research. It welcomes people from all walks of life to diversify and make it inclusive.

Poudel, who is currently pursuing an MBA at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, plans to come back and work here in Nepal as he says there is a future for Nepal in space research.
In August 2020, for the first time in Nepal, a 60-year-old man was treated with plasma therapy for Covid-19, at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj, Kathmandu. After he became free from the coronavirus infection, interest in plasma therapy began to grow in Nepal as well.

The population of people receiving and giving plasma started growing thicker. Simultaneously, in various hospitals of Nepal, plasma therapy began for Covid-19 patients.

Soon after, in August itself, a Plasma Bank was set up in Nepal to collect the plasma units from Covid-19-recovered patients. The Lions Club and the Rotaract Club have supported the drive, with previous experiences of running the hotline for blood bank even before the Covid-19 pandemic.

At present, a Facebook group is in operation to connect the plasma donors and receivers. This is a non-profit campaign, being operated in joint efforts of Life Bank, Lions Club, Rotaract Club and Hami Nepal, says Life Banks Project Manager Shrishti Piya.

But Piya says, even though the interest has been skyrocketing since August last year, it is difficult to collect plasma units because they are not in contact with the infected. They also lack a working mechanism to know when the infected get released from the hospital, she adds.

Rise and fall and rise in the numbers

Dr Sajan Shrestha donates blood for a plasma therapy treatment for a Covid-19 patient, in Butwal, on Monday, August 24, 2020.

In October 2020, a total of 234 people requested the banks to find plasma for them, which is the highest monthly count the bank has got. It could not meet the demand but did whatever it could.

From the next month onwards, the number of coronavirus infections cases saw a steady decline and so did the demand for plasma. And, there was not much demand till January 2021.

But, after that, the demand gradually increased. There is more demand for plasma in the second wave of the epidemic, says Piya.

Till the end of April, there were only up to three or four daily requests for plasma. But, starting May, the demand has surged to 20-25 units of plasma daily, informs Piya. On the first three days only, there was a demand for 47 plasma units.

Donor-receiver imbalance

But, the number of plasma donors is still very low, she adds.

Looking at the ratio of donors to requests, it is 1 is to 10. We do not have reliable data on coronavirus infections and, with the lockdown in place, it has made it more difficult to find plasma donors, says Piya.

So far, 533 requests for plasma have been made under this campaign. Out of that, it has managed to provide only 150 units, says Piya.

How effective is plasma therapy anyway?

According to virologist Dr Sudip Khadka, a clinical trial of plasma therapy was conducted at the Mayo Clinic in the United States of America. It concluded that plasma has enough level of quality antibody for people to fight against the Covid-19. So, if the plasma with a certain amount of antibody is used, it is helpful in the early stages of the treatment.

The regulatory body, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the USA, has said that plasma therapy should be used only in appropriate cases with a complete record and studying the antibody, just like in the clinical trials. It also recommends pooling of the plasma units to bring uniformity in treatments.

It means the practice of extracting plasma and giving it to the infected for treatment, as practised now, is by no means scientific.
ITHACA, N.Y. - A new Cornell University-led study examines how temperature affects fishing behavior and catches among inland fisher households in Cambodia, with important implications for understanding climate change.

The research, which used household surveys, temperature data and statistical models, revealed that when temperatures rise, people fish less often. At the same time, the study's authors indirectly found that stocks of fish and other aquatic foods also rise with temperatures, leading to slightly larger catches each time peopled fished. Without careful analysis, it would appear that overall fish catches appear unchanged annually, when in fact, more nuanced dynamics are at play.

The study highlights why it's necessary when studying changing environmental conditions to include human behavior along with ecosystem responses; both are key variables when considering how climate change affects rural livelihoods, food production and food access.

The paper, "Fishers' Response to Temperature Change Reveals the Importance of Integrating Human Behavior in Climate Change Analysis," published April 30 in the journal Science Advances.

"This study underscores the importance of pulling human behavior into climate change modeling," said Kathryn Fiorella, an assistant professor in the Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences and Master of Public Health Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine. "To accurately predict the impacts of climate change, we need to know about the effects on ecological systems, and also the effects on people who use them."

In the study, Fiorella and colleagues used data provided by partner organization WorldFish, which collected survey data every two months over three years for households in Cambodia, which has the world's highest per-capita consumption of inland fish. WorldFish collected information on how often people fished, how much time they spent when they fished, and what method they used.

The researchers used remotely sensed temperature data over the same three-year period, which revealed a range of 24 to 31 degrees Celsius (75 to 88 degrees Fahrenheit). The researchers also controlled for rainfall and flooding.

"The temperatures in the range of the study compare to regional climate projections in the area, which suggest around a 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius [2.7 to 4.5 F] temperature rise above the average of 28 degrees Celsius [82.4 F]," Fiorella said. "What we observed is in range for what we might expect under climate change scenarios."

The researchers found time spent fishing per outing and the gear choices were not affected by temperature, but fewer people fished as temperatures rose.

They also analyzed fish catch. It turns out that, with effort holding constant, fish catch per outing went up as temperatures rose, which meant the ecosystem became a little more productive when it was warmer. The same pattern was true for other aquatic animals, like frogs or snakes, and aquatic plants. However, without factoring in effects of temperature on human behavior, it might have looked like temperature had no effect.

The researchers suspect that fishing frequency declined as temperatures rose due to competing interests. "These households have a suite of different activities they are engaged in at the same time," Fiorella said, noting many of them are rice farmers or run small businesses. At the same time, heat may also be a factor, she added.

Fiorella added that large swaths of the population migrate to cities or nearby countries for work, and these dynamics could be pulling them away from fishing.

"Ultimately," she said, "understanding both ecosystem responses and people's responses to temperature is going to be fundamental to understanding how climate change affects people who are directly reliant on the natural resources for their food and income."

###

Co-authors include Christopher Barrett, the Stephen B. and Janice G. Ashley Professor, and Elizabeth Bageant, a research support specialist, both in Cornell's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management; Naomi Schwartz, at University of British Columbia; and Shakuntala Thilsted, a nutrition expert with WorldFish.

The study was funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability and the WorldFish's Rice Field Fisheries Enhancement project, which is supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
FCW Insider: May 7, 2021

Four former government officials who played key roles in the first impeachment of former president Donald Trump discussed their experiences during a Public Service Recognition Week event.

A group of House Democrats want the Biden administration to pick up the pace on implementation of the Integrated Digital Experience Act.

DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas characterized the new effort to hire cybersecurity personnel as the largest of its kind in the agency's history.

Two GOP members of Congress are pressing the Justice Department and the Pentagon to reopen a probe into conflicts of interest between Amazon ex-employees and consultants and the government architects of a $10 billion cloud computing program.

Quick Hits

*** Washington Technology reports that some awards appear to be on the horizon in the General Services Administration's $50 billion STARS III contract. The governmentwide contract is used for agencies to buy a IT products and services from qualified small businesses.

*** New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report on Thursday detailing efforts to use fake comments to influence a proceeding about network neutrality at the Federal Communications Commission. The report found that almost 18 million of 22 million submitted comments were fraudulent. James also announced settlements with three companies fingered in the scam totaling $4.4 million in penalties and restitution.

*** The internal watchdog at the Department of Justice reported ongoing issues with the migration to a new, consolidated grants system called JustGrants which was put into place about six months ago. In a May 6 issue alert, the DOJ's Office of Inspector General detailed some of the issues that are hindering data migration but noted that help desk efforts, training and an extension for some transition deadlines have so far served to keep grant funds flowing and to keep grant application processes moving.
New Orleans, Louisiana--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2021) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until June 18, 2021 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS), if they purchased the Company's shares between July 6, 2020 and March 31, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period"). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

What You May Do

If you purchased shares of Emergent and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-ebs/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by June 18, 2021 .

About the Lawsuit

Emergent and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On March 31, 2021, post-market, news media outlets reported that the Company's employees at its Bayview facility had conflated or "mixed up" ingredients for the Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, ruining up to 15 million doses of the J&J vaccine, and that this occurrence was not an isolated event but was part of a history of manufacturing issues at the Company's plant.

On this news, shares of Emergent plummeted over 15% over the next two trading days, from a closing price of $92.91 per share on March 31, 2021, to close at $78.62 on April 5, 2021.

The case is Palm Tran, Inc. - Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1577 Pension Plan v. Emergent Biosolutions Inc. et al, 8:21cv955.

Story continues

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking to recover investment losses due to corporate fraud and malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com

1-877-515-1850

1100 Poydras St., Suite 3200

New Orleans, LA 70163

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83226
May 7 (Reuters) - Private-equity firm KKR-backed Pepper Money plans to raise about A$500.1 million ($389.38 million) in Australia's biggest initial public offering of the year so far, valuing the non-banking lender at A$1.3 billion.

The listing plan comes as near-zero borrowing costs and rebounding investor confidence spark hopes of record deals in merger and acquisition activity this year, and after a four-fold jump in initial public offerings (IPOs) in the first quarter.

Pepper Money shares will be offered at a price of A$2.89 per share, the company said in its prospectus, adding that it expected to list on the Australian Stock Exchange on May 25.

Established in 2000, Pepper Money provides home loans and commercial real estate loans to customers in Australia and New Zealand. It has forecast its total assets under management to increase 11.5% to A$16.8 billion in 2021.

Pepper Money's offering is set to overtake the A$408.6 million one from Australian Clinical Labs, a pathology provider owned by domestic private-equity firm Crescent Capital Partners, announced in April.

Earlier in May, Reuters reported that KKR was also seeking to raise A$352 million in an IPO of its majority-owned Australia Venue Co, in a deal valuing the pub group at A$903 million.

($1 = 1.2844 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Shruti Sonal in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
TORONTO, May 6, 2021 /CNW/ - Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation ("LIORC") (TSX: LIF) announced today its operation and cash flow results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

Financial Performance

In the first quarter of 2021, LIORC's financial results benefited from higher iron ore prices and pellet premiums, partially offset by lower volumes of pellet sales. Royalty revenue for the first quarter of 2021 amounted to $65.2 million compared to $47.6 million for the first quarter of 2020. Equity earnings from Iron Ore Company of Canada ("IOC") were $57.0 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared to $24.7 million in the first quarter of 2020. Net income per share for the first quarter of 2021 was $1.35 per share, which was a 86% increase over the same period in 2020. The adjusted cash flow per share for the first quarter of 2021 was $0.87 per share, which was 107% higher than in the same period in 2020, as a result of higher royalty revenues and the decision by IOC to pay a dividend. In the first quarter of 2021, LIORC received a dividend in the amount of $19.0 million from IOC.

Increased demand for iron ore by steel producers and a lack of expected growth of supply led to higher iron ore prices in the first quarter of 2021. Increased steel demand, partly as a result of stimulus spending on infrastructure and construction, resulted in higher steel prices and strong profit margins for steel producers, which in turn translated to increased demand for seaborne iron ore. According to the World Steel Association, global crude steel production in the first quarter of 2021 increased 10% over the first quarter of 2020, and crude steel production in China, which accounts for over 70% of all seaborne iron ore demand, was 16% higher in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter of 2020. At the same time, the expected growth in supply of seaborne iron ore did not materialize as the world's three largest suppliers of seaborne iron ore all reported lower production in the first quarter of 2021, compared to the last quarter of 2020. Iron ore production by Rio Tinto and BHP was lower by 11% and 5%, predominantly due to adverse weather in Australia, and iron ore production by Vale was lower by 19.5%, predominantly due to maintenance work at its S11D mine.

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IOC sells concentrate for sale ("CFS") based on the Platts index for 65% Fe, CFR China ("65% Fe index"). In the first quarter of 2021, the 65% Fe index averaged US$191 per tonne, an 85% increase over the average of US$104 per tonne in the first quarter of 2020. The monthly Atlantic Blast Furnace 65% Fe pellet premium index as quoted by Platts (the "pellet premium") averaged US$43 per tonne in the first quarter of 2021, up substantially from an average of US$29 in the same quarter of 2020, which had been negatively impacted by a reduction in demand from European steel producers due to COVID-19. Overall, the average price realized by IOC for CFS and pellets, FOB Sept-Iles, net of selling costs was approximately C$226 per tonne in the first quarter of 2021, compared to approximately C$145 per tonne in the first quarter of 2020.

Iron Ore Company of Canada Operations

Operations

Throughout 2021, IOC has continued to take measures in order to protect IOC's people and to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks within IOC's operations which could affect IOC's capacity to operate. These measures include limiting on-site presence of personnel to essential operational activities (remote work for administration and supports) and reducing the number of contractors on-site (favouring local rather than out-of-province when possible). In parallel, several protocols remain in place including strict approval processes for all travel between sites and out-of-province contractors, mandatory on-line health questionnaire linked to gate access, COVID-19 screening for all out-of-province contractors and employees and daily temperature checks at all site access points. As a result of these and other procedures and protocols, IOC has been able to continue to safely operate throughout 2021. The IOC saleable production (CFS plus pellets) of 4.0 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2021 was 8% lower than the same period in 2020, and 14% lower than the fourth quarter of 2020, predominantly due to the impacts of weather, loading unit availability on mine feed and reduced concentrator mill availability.

CFS production of 1.5 million tonnes was 6% lower than the same quarter last year and 33% lower than the fourth quarter of 2020 due to an increased focus on the production of pellets (the pellet plant returned to operating six lines in December 2020 resulting in a corresponding reduction in CFS), feed related issues from the mine (weather, loading unit utilization/availability), and concentrator reliability. Pellet production of 2.5 million tonnes was 10% lower than the corresponding quarter in 2020 and 2% higher than the fourth quarter of 2020, as reliability issues with filtering equipment, feed system motors and regrind mills restricted production throughput during the quarter.

Sales as Reported for the LIORC Royalty

Total iron ore sales tonnage by IOC (CFS plus pellets) of 4.1 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2021 was 12% lower than the total sales tonnage for the same period in 2020, and 6% lower than the fourth quarter of 2020, predominantly due to limited product availability, weather related delays and and equipment reliability. Pellet sales were 19% lower than the same quarter last year and 4% lower than the fourth quarter of 2020. CFS sales were consistent with the same quarter last year and 7% lower than the fourth quarter of 2020.

Outlook

Rio Tinto's 2021 guidance for IOC's saleable production (CFS plus pellets) remains at 17.9 million to 20.4 million tonnes. This compares to 17.7 million tonnes of saleable production in 2020. At the end of March, there was a significant fire event at the port in Sept-Iles which will impact shipments in the second quarter of 2021. However, the 2021 saleable production guidance for IOC remains unchanged and IOC expects that any sales tonnage shortfalls will be recovered over the remainder of the year.

The price outlook for seaborne iron ore remains robust. Since the end of the first quarter iron ore prices have strengthened. So far in April (April 1, 2021 to April 28, 2021), the average price of the 65% Fe index has been US$210 per tonne, or 10% higher than the average of the 65% Fe index for the first quarter of 2021. The pellet premium for April was US$66 per tonne compared to the average of US$43 per tonne in the first quarter of 2021. With a possible global economic recovery and a positive outlook for domestic growth in China, the near-term outlook for global steel production looks positive. While there is expected to be some increase in the supply of seaborne iron ore over the remainder of 2021, any increase should be absorbed by the strong demand. In addition, as a result of higher steel prices and strong profit margins and in order to keep up with the downstream demand for steel, steel producers are utilizing higher grade iron ore products, like those sold by IOC, in an effort to prioritize production efficiency.

LIORC is well positioned to continue to benefit from the strong iron ore pricing environment through royalty revenues and expected future dividends from IOC.

The LIORC cash balance at March 31, 2021 stood at $33.6 million before LIORC dividends payable on April 26, 2021 of $1.00 per share or $64.0 million. The net royalty from IOC was received by LIORC on the same date, maintaining the Corporation's strong cash balance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the Directors of the Corporation,

John F. Tuer

President and Chief Executive Officer

May 6, 2021

Management's Discussion and Analysis

The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the Management's Discussion and Analysis section of Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation's ("LIORC" or the "Corporation") 2020 Annual Report, and the financial statements and notes contained therein and the March 31, 2021 interim condensed consolidated financial statements.

Overview of the Business

The Corporation's revenues are entirely dependent on the operations of IOC as its principal assets relate to the operations of IOC and its principal source of revenue is the 7% royalty it receives on all sales of iron ore products by IOC. In addition to the volume of iron ore sold, the Corporation's royalty revenue is affected by the price of iron ore and the Canadian  U.S. dollar exchange rate. The first quarter sales of IOC are traditionally adversely affected by the general winter operating conditions and are usually 15%  20% of the annual volume, with the balance spread fairly evenly throughout the other three quarters. Because of the size of individual shipments, some quarters may be affected by the timing of the loading of ships that can be delayed from one quarter to the next.

Financial Highlights







Three Months Ended

March 31, ($ in millions except per share information) 2021 2020

(unaudited)





Revenue 65.7 48.3 Equity earnings from IOC 57.0 24.7 Net income 86.6 46.7 Net income per share $ 1.35 $ 0.73 Dividend(s) from IOC 19.0 - Cash flow from operations 42.7 10.7 Cash flow from operations per share $ 0.67 $ 0.17 Adjusted cash flow1 55.4 26.8 Adjusted cash flow per share $ 0.87 $ 0.42 Dividends declared per share $ 1.00 $ 0.35







1 This is a non-IFRS financial measure and does not have a standard meaning under IFRS. Please refer to Standardized Cash Flow and Adjusted Cash Flow section in the MD&A.

The higher revenue, net income and equity earnings achieved in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to 2020 were mainly due to higher iron ore prices, partly offset by lower sales of pellets. The first quarter of 2021 sales tonnages (pellets and CFS) were lower by 12% predominantly due to limited product availability, weather related delays and equipment reliability. Pellet sales were 19% lower and CFS sales were consistent with the same quarter last year. Pellet sales were lower mainly due to lower pellet production as a result of availability constraints on concentrate, as well as reliability issues with filtering equipment, feed system motors and regrind mills which restricted production throughput during the quarter.

However, the lower sales tonnages were more than offset by an increase in the realized sales price of pellets and CFS, resulting in royalty income of $65.2 million for the quarter as compared to $47.6 million for the same period in 2020. First quarter 2021 cash flow from operations was $42.7 million or $0.67 per share compared to $10.7 million or $0.17 per share for the same period in 2020. LIORC received an IOC dividend in the first quarter of 2021 in the amount of $19.0 million or $0.30 per share. Equity earnings from IOC amounted to $57.0 million or $1.35 per share in the first quarter of 2021 compared to $24.7 million or $0.39 per share for the same period in 2020.

Operating Highlights







Three Months Ended IOC Operations March 31, (in millions of tonnes) 2021 2020 Sales 1



Pellets 2.44 3.02 Concentrate for sale ("CFS")2 1.68 1.68 Total3 4.12 4.70





Production



Concentrate produced 4.40 4.69





Saleable production



Pellets 2.51 2.79 CFS 1.48 1.57 Total 3.99 4.36





Average index prices per tonne



65% Fe index4 $ 191 $ 104 62% Fe index5 $ 167 $ 89 Pellet premium6 $ 43 $ 29





(1) For calculating the royalty to LIORC.



(2)Excludes third party ore sales.



(3) Totals may not add up due to rounding.



(4)The Platts index for 65% Fe, CFR China.



(5)The Platts index for 62% Fe, CFR China.



(6)The Platts Atlantic Blast Furnace 65% Fe pellet premium index.

IOC sells CFS based on the 65% Fe index. In the first quarter of 2021, the 65% Fe index averaged US$191 per tonne, an 85% increase over the average of US$104 per tonne in the first quarter of 2020. Iron ore prices increased as strong domestic steel demand in China and the beginnings of a global economic recovery from COVID-19 increased the demand for seaborne iron ore. At the same time, the expected growth in supply of the seaborne iron ore did not materialize as large producers experienced lower output because of weather issues in Australia and maintenance issues at Vale's S11D mine. The monthly pellet premium averaged US$43 per tonne in the first quarter of 2021, up substantially from an average of US$29 in the same quarter of 2020, which had been negatively impacted by a reduction in demand from European steel producers due to COVID-19.

The average price realized by IOC for CFS and pellets, FOB Sept-Iles, net of selling costs was approximately C$226 per tonne in the first quarter of 2021 compared to C$145 per tonne in the first quarter of 2020. The increase in the average realized price FOB Sept-Iles in 2020 was a result of higher CFS prices and higher pellet premiums.

Standardized Cash Flow and Adjusted Cash Flow

For the Corporation, standardized cash flow is the same as cash flow from operating activities as recorded in the Corporation's cash flow statements as the Corporation does not incur capital expenditures or have any restrictions on dividends. Standardized cash flow per share was $0.67 for the quarter (2020 - $0.17). Cumulative standardized cash flow from inception of the Corporation is $34.39 per share and total cash distributions since inception is $34.39 per share, for a payout ratio of 100%.

The Corporation also reports "Adjusted cash flow" which is defined as cash flow from operating activities after adjustments for changes in amounts receivable, accounts payable and income taxes recoverable and payable. It is not a recognized measure under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). The Directors believe that adjusted cash flow is a useful analytical measure as it better reflects cash available for dividends to shareholders.

The following reconciles standardized cash flow from operating activities to adjusted cash flow (in millions).



3 Months Ended Mar. 31, 2021 3 Months Ended Mar. 31, 2020 Standardized cash flow from operating activities $42,686 $10,653 Changes in amounts receivable, accounts payable and income taxes payable 12,724 16,173 Adjusted cash flow $55,410 $26,826 Adjusted cash flow per share $0.87 $0.42

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The Corporation had $33.6 million in cash as at March 31, 2021 (December 31, 2020 - $106.1 million) with total current assets of $104.8 million (December 31, 2020 - $164.4 million). The Corporation had working capital of $22.4 million as at March 31, 2021 (December 31, 2020 - $31.0 million). The Corporation's operating cash flow was $42.7 million and the dividend paid during the quarter was $115.2 million, resulting in cash balances decreasing by $72.5 million during the first quarter of 2021.

Cash balances consist of deposits in Canadian dollars with Canadian chartered banks. Amounts receivable primarily consist of royalty payments from IOC. Royalty payments are received in U.S. dollars and converted to Canadian dollars on receipt, usually 25 days after the quarter end. The Corporation does not normally attempt to hedge this short-term foreign currency exposure.

Operating cash flow of the Corporation is sourced entirely from IOC through the Corporation's 7% royalty, 10 cents commission per tonne and dividends from its 15.10% equity interest in IOC. The Corporation normally pays cash dividends from its net income to the maximum extent possible, subject to the maintenance of appropriate levels of working capital.

The Corporation has a $30 million revolving credit facility with a term ending September 18, 2022 with provision for annual one-year extensions. No amount is currently drawn under this facility (2020  nil) leaving $30.0 million available to provide for any capital required by IOC or requirements of the Corporation.

John F. Tuer

President and Chief Executive Officer

Toronto, Ontario

May 6, 2021

Forward-Looking Statements

This report may contain "forward-looking" statements that involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Words such as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan", "intend", "should", "would", "anticipate" and other similar terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect current assumptions and expectations regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this report. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to vary significantly, including iron ore price and volume volatility, exchange rates, the performance of IOC, market conditions in the steel industry, mining risks and insurance, relationships with indigenous groups, natural disasters, severe weather conditions and public health crises, changes affecting IOC's customers, competition from other iron ore producers, estimates of reserves and resources, government regulation and taxation and cybersecurity. A discussion of these factors is contained in LIORC's annual information form dated March 4, 2021 under the heading, "Risk Factors". Although the forward-looking statements contained in this report are based upon what management of LIORC believes are reasonable assumptions, LIORC cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this report and LIORC assumes no obligation, except as required by law, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new events or circumstances. This report should be viewed in conjunction with LIORC's other publicly available filings, copies of which can be obtained electronically on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Notice:

The following unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements of the Corporation have been prepared by and are the responsibility of the Corporation's management. The Corporation's independent auditor has not reviewed these interim financial statements.

LABRADOR IRON ORE ROYALTY CORPORATION INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION









As at



March 31,

December 31, (in thousands of Canadian dollars) 2021

2020



(Unaudited) Assets





Current Assets







Cash and short-term investments $ 33,577

$ 106,091

Amounts receivable 71,194

58,336 Total Current Assets 104,771

164,427









Non-Current Assets







Iron Ore Company of Canada ("IOC")







royalty and commission interests 240,045

241,511

Investment in IOC 455,248

417,284 Total Non-Current Assets 695,293

658,795









Total Assets $ 800,064

$ 823,222



















Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity





Current Liabilities







Accounts payable $ 14,567

$ 12,533

Dividend payable 64,000

115,200

Taxes payable 3,791

5,691 Total Current Liabilities 82,358

133,424









Non-Current Liabilities







Deferred income taxes 128,690

123,430 Total Liabilities 211,048

256,854









Shareholders' Equity







Share capital 317,708

317,708

Retained earnings 284,648

262,000

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (13,340)

(13,340)



589,016

566,368









Total Liabilities and Shareholders' Equity $ 800,064

$ 823,222





























Approved by the Directors,

























John F. Tuer Patricia M. Volker



Director Director















LABRADOR IRON ORE ROYALTY CORPORATION INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME













For the Three Months Ended



March 31, (in thousands of Canadian dollars except for per share information) 2021

2020



(Unaudited) Revenue







IOC royalties $ 65,248

$ 47,615

IOC commissions 406

462

Interest and other income 65

222



65,719

48,299 Expenses







Newfoundland royalty taxes 13,050

9,523

Amortization of royalty and commission interests 1,466

1,625

Administrative expenses 771

557



15,287

11,705









Income before equity earnings and income taxes 50,432

36,594 Equity earnings in IOC 56,977

24,669









Income before income taxes 107,409

61,263









Provision for income taxes







Current 15,501

11,393

Deferred 5,260

3,220



20,761

14,613









Net income for the period 86,648

46,650









Other comprehensive loss







Share of other comprehensive loss of IOC that will not be







reclassified subsequently to profit or loss (net of income taxes







of 2021 - nil; 2020 - $40) -

(226)









Comprehensive income for the period $ 86,648

$ 46,424









Net income per share $ 1.35

$ 0.73











LABRADOR IRON ORE ROYALTY CORPORATION INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS





















For the Three Months Ended







March 31, (in thousands of Canadian dollars) 2021

2020







(Unaudited) Net inflow (outflow) of cash related







to the following activities



















Operating









Net income for the year $ 86,648

$ 46,650

Items not affecting cash:









Equity earnings in IOC (56,977)

(24,669)



Current income taxes 15,501

11,393



Deferred income taxes 5,260

3,220



Amortization of royalty and commission interests 1,466

1,625

Common share dividend from IOC 19,013

-

Change in amounts receivable (12,858)

(11,906)

Change in accounts payable 2,034

2,056

Income taxes paid (17,401)

(17,716)

Cash flow from operating activities 42,686

10,653













Financing









Dividend paid to shareholders (115,200)

(67,200)

Cash flow used in financing activities (115,200)

(67,200)













Decrease in cash, during the period (72,514)

(56,547)













Cash, beginning of period 106,091

77,859













Cash, end of period $ 33,577

$ 21,312











LABRADOR IRON ORE ROYALTY CORPORATION INTERIM CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN EQUITY















Accumulated







other



Share Retained comprehensive

(in thousands of Canadian dollars) capital earnings loss Total

(Unaudited)









Balance as at December 31, 2019 $ 317,708 $ 230,005 $ (10,376) $ 537,337 Net income for the period - 46,650 - 46,650 Dividend declared to shareholders - (22,400) - (22,400) Share of other comprehensive loss from investment in IOC (net of taxes) - - (226) (226) Balance as at March 31, 2020 $ 317,708 $ 254,255 $ (10,602) $ 561,361









Balance as at December 31, 2020 $ 317,708 $ 262,000 $ (13,340) $ 566,368 Net income for the period - 86,648 - 86,648 Dividend declared to shareholders - (64,000) - (64,000) Balance as at March 31, 2021 $ 317,708 $ 284,648 $ (13,340) $ 589,016

The complete consolidated financial statements for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021, including the notes thereto, are posted on sedar.com and labradorironore.com.

SOURCE Labrador Iron Ore Royalty Corporation

Cision

View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2021/06/c4121.html
Nathan Dickerman joins as President of Field Operations

Ouster, Inc. (NYSE: OUST), a leading provider of high-resolution digital lidar sensors for the industrial automation, smart infrastructure, robotics, and automotive industries, today announced that it has hired Nathan Dickerman as President of Field Operations to accelerate lidar adoption across its four end markets.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506006183/en/

Nathan Dickerman joins as President of Field Operations (Photo: Business Wire)

Nathan will be responsible for scaling Ousters business with a world class team that will execute on the companys go-to-market strategy. He will oversee worldwide sales and sales operations, partner and channel ecosystems, marketing, business development, and customer success. Prior to joining Ouster, Nathan served as the Chief Commercial Officer at Planet Labs where he built the go-to-market organization from scratch and scaled the company to win hundreds of new customers. He previously served in sales leadership roles driving revenue growth for large public companies including Autodesk, PTC, and IBM.

"I am immensely excited to have Nathan onboard to help accelerate our continued growth. He has extensive experience scaling commercial organizations and driving revenue for major technology companies. Nathan is bringing his winning playbook to Ouster to expand our customer funnel and help make us the leading lidar company across every vertical," said Ouster CEO Angus Pacala.

Ouster is investing heavily in its go-to-market teams. It currently sells to over 500 customers in over 50 countries across the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions, and continues to expand its global footprint. Ouster has grown its sales team by 50% since the beginning of 2021 to capitalize on the increasing demand for digital lidar and to grow its customer base across its four end markets.

Story continues

"The opportunities for digital lidar are vast," said Nathan Dickerman. "I'm excited to work with Ouster's leadership team to further educate the market about how the performance, cost and reliability of digital lidar can drive efficiencies, enhance safety, and improve business results for customers. Ousters success to date is just the beginning."

About Ouster

Ouster (NYSE: OUST) invented its digital lidar in 2015 and is a leading manufacturer of high-resolution digital lidar sensors used throughout the industrial automation, smart infrastructure, robotics, and automotive industries. Ousters sensors are reliable, compact, affordable and highly customizable, laying the foundation for digital lidar ubiquity across endless applications and industries. Already hundreds of customers have incorporated Ouster lidar sensors in current products or those in development for imminent commercial release. For more information, visit www.ouster.com, or connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding Ousters market opportunity and market positioning. Forward-looking statements give Ousters current expectations and projections relating to its competitive position, objectives, future performance, potential customers and business. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "project", "plan", "intend", "believe", "may", "will", "should", "can have", "likely" and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including: Ousters limited operating history and history of losses; the negotiating power and product standards of its customers; fluctuations in its operating results; cancellation or postponement of contracts or unsuccessful implementations; the adoption of its products and the growth of the lidar market generally; its ability to grow its sales and marketing organization; substantial research and development costs needed to develop and commercialize new products; the competitive environment in which it operates; selection of our products for inclusion in target markets; its future capital needs; its ability to use tax attributes; its dependence on key third party suppliers, in particular Benchmark Electronics, Inc., and manufacturers; ability to maintain inventory and the risk of inventory write-downs; inaccurate forecasts of market growth; its ability to manage growth; the creditworthiness of our customers; risks related to acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks of product delivery problems or defects; costs associated with product warranties; its ability to maintain competitive average selling prices or high sales volumes or reduce product costs; conditions in its customers industries; its ability to recruit and retain key personnel; its use of professional employer organizations; its ability to adequately protect and enforce its intellectual property rights; its ability to effectively respond to evolving regulations and standards; risks related to operating as a public company; and risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and other important factors discussed in the Companys final prospectus and definitive proxy statement, dated February 12, 2021, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), as updated by the factors disclosed in the section titled "Risk Factors" in its Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2021 and in other reports the Company files with or furnishes to the SEC. Any such forward-looking statements represent managements estimates and beliefs as of the date of this press release. While Ouster may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, other than as required by law, it disclaims any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause its views to change.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506006183/en/

Contacts

For Investors

Erica Bartsch

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For Media

Heather Shapiro

press@ouster.io
Rayonier Inc. RYN recorded first-quarter 2021 pro forma net income per share of 8 cents, meeting the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Also, the figure compares favorably with breakeven pro-forma net income per share reported in the year-ago period.

Results reflect a year-over-year decline in sales. Nonetheless, cost of sales and interest expenses decreased, thereby, aiding the bottom line. Revenues were down around 26% year over year to $191.4 million. In addition, the revenue figure lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $214 million.

Segmental Performance

In the first quarter, pro-forma operating income at the companys Southern Timber segment was $17.3 million, up from the prior-year quarters $15.1 million. Favorable demand spurring from sawmills and the export market along with limited supply due to weather conditions resulted in favorable saw-timber pricing in its markets. Moreover, higher average net stumpage prices and higher pipeline easement revenues resulted in the upside.

The Pacific Northwest Timber segment reported pro-forma operating income of $1.3 million against the operating loss of $0.9 million posted in first-quarter 2020. This was mainly due to higher sales and harvest volumes primarily due to additional volume from the Pope Resources acquisition. Also, a strong domestic lumber market drove the improvement in demand and pricing.

The New Zealand Timber segment recorded pro-forma operating income of $14 million, up from the year-earlier number of $5.4 million. Results gained from a rise in volumes, higher net stumpage prices and lower costs, partly negated by deferred carbon credit sales, high depletion rates and unfavorable foreign-exchange impact.

The Timber Funds segment reported pro-forma operating income of $0.4 million in the first quarter.

Real Estates pro-forma operating income was $1.7 million against the year-ago pro-forma operating loss of $1.9 million. This chiefly resulted from higher number of acres sold and an increase in weighted-average prices.

Story continues

The Corporate and Other segment reported pro-forma operating loss of $7.6 million in first-quarter 2021. The segment registered a pro-forma operating loss of $5.3 million in first-quarter 2020.

The Trading segment reported a pro-forma operating income of $0.2 million in the first quarter.

Rayonier ended first-quarter 2021 with $77.9 million in cash and cash equivalents (excluding Timber Funds), down from $80.5 million recorded as of Dec 31, 2020. Nonetheless, total long-term debt was $1.29 billion, down from $1.3 billion as of Dec 31, 2020.

Outlook

Management anticipates a significant increase in real estate activity in the current year and this will likely aid the company to achieve 2021 adjusted EBITDA in the upper end of its prior guidance of $285-$315 million.

Currently, Rayonier carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Rayonier Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Rayonier Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Rayonier Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Rayonier Inc. Quote

You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other REITs

PS Business Parks, Inc. PSB reported first-quarter 2021 core FFO per share of $1.67, in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. However, the reported figure decreased 2.9% year over year.

Boston Properties Inc.s BXP first-quarter 2021 FFO per share of $1.56 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.55. The quarterly figure also surpassed the mid-point of the companys guidance by a cent, highlighting better-than-projected portfolio performance and higher fee income.

Highwoods Properties, Inc.s HIW first-quarter 2021 FFO per share of 91 cents surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 87 cents. However, FFO per share declined 2.2% from 91 cents recorded in the year-ago period.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO)  a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021

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New Orleans, Louisiana--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2021) - Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until May 18, 2021 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Root, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROOT), if they purchased the Company's securities between October 28, 2020 and March 8, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period") and/or shares in connection with the Company's initial public offering ("IPO") conducted on or about October 28, 2020. This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

What You May Do

If you purchased securities of Root and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nasdaqgs-root/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by May 18, 2021 .

About the Lawsuit

Root and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information in its IPO Registration Statement and Prospectus and/or during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On March 9, 2021, multiple investor news resources reported that Bank of America Securities analyst Joshua Shanker initiated coverage of the Company with an "Underperform" rating concluding that it is unlikely to be cash flow positive until 2027, and that established market players would continue to impede the Company's profitability with superior telematics data and dominant market positions.

On this news, shares of Root fell $0.18 per share, or 1.46%, to close at $12.17 per share on March 9, 2021, representing a total decline of 54.93% from the Offering price.

Story continues

The case is Kolominsky v. Root Inc., et al., 21-cv-01197.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is one of the nation's premier boutique securities litigation law firms. KSF serves a variety of clients - including public institutional investors, hedge funds, money managers and retail investors - in seeking to recover investment losses due to corporate fraud and malfeasance by publicly traded companies. KSF has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.

Contact:

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner

lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com

1-877-515-1850

1100 Poydras St., Suite 3200

New Orleans, LA 70163

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83217
United States Steel (X) closed the most recent trading day at $25.96, moving +0.93% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.82%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the steel maker had gained 8.89% over the past month. This has outpaced the Basic Materials sector's gain of 8.18% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.31% in that time.

The company is expected to report EPS of $2.56, up 195.88% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.71 billion, up 125.09% from the year-ago period.

X's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.76 per share and revenue of $16.15 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +223.34% and +65.78%, respectively.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for X. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 21.98% higher. X is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, X currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 4.47. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 8.33.

Also, we should mention that X has a PEG ratio of 0.56. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. X's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.56 as of yesterday's close.

Story continues

The Steel - Producers industry is part of the Basic Materials sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 5, putting it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.



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United States Steel Corporation (X) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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Zacks Investment Research
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Finally, a deputy spotted a car behind an abandoned house on Gambo Creek Road. The deputy saw Marshall, who had been sleeping, pop up from the drivers seat. The woman was in the back seat bleeding to death, Clark said.

Marshall was taken into custody and the woman was flown out for emergency surgery. She has since mostly recovered from her injuries.

The woman initially told police that shed been the victim of a drive-by shooting in Westmoreland County, but soon changed her story to implicate Marshall. She continued to blame Marshall ever since.

Marshall initially told police that the woman shot herself. He claimed to have just happened to show up at the remote location in Dahlgren, got high and fell asleep while waiting for her brother to come take her to a hospital.

Clark argued that despite her initial story, the victim was clearly credible on the witness stand. She admitted to using and selling drugs at the time and said she was embarrassed about the person she was then, and he said the evidence overwhelmingly pointed to Marshall as her attacker.

But just because she was flawed does not mean she deserved to get shot, strangled and held a full day while bleeding, Clark told the jurors during his closing argument.
A cooler than average Mothers Day weekend lies ahead for Fredericksburg.

The forecast graphic shows the hallmarks of a progressive weather pattern, one which will result in changeable conditions over the next several days. A series of cold fronts and associated surface low-pressure centers will impact the Fredericksburg area this weekend. Each of these systems is being driven by the counterclockwise flow around an almost stationary upper-level low pressure centered over Hudson Bay up in Canada.

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Cold front No. 1 is crossing West Virginia this Friday morning and will reach Fredericksburg just about 5 this afternoon. Showers will precede this boundary, reaching western parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties around 2 p.m., perhaps accompanied by a few rumbles of thunder. A few peeks of sunshine early this morning will give way to cloudy skies well before the lunch hour. Temperatures look to top out in the upper 60s, several degrees below average for May 7.
Sure, we can make that happen, he said.

Those with the Joint Military Attache Service have trained at Dahlgren, Naval Support Facility Indian Head across the Potomac River in Maryland and at the Pumpkin Neck testing site across Machodoc Creek from the main side of the Dahlgren base.

They found out this is a great fit for them, Copeland said. Its far enough kind of off the grid that they can do all kinds of creative training. Were still working through that relationship, but having a link to State Department through the military is something I find very useful, and its a rewarding experience.

The captain also apologized for some recent work done by the Navys Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit at Pumpkin Neck. The team demolished two large pieces of ordnance, and even Copeland commented on how loud it was.

I apologize, he said, then used verbiage offered by Navy officials since Dahlgren became a Naval Proving Ground in 1918. Thats the sound of freedom.

Supervisor Jeff Stonehill was working on a roof, next to the water, when he just happened to look across and saw this huge mushroom cloud.

Oh, my God, he said, it just about blew us off the top of the roof, and then it did another one. But yes, that was quite impressive.

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Concealed permit holders pose no danger

to public

Shame on the editors for publishing the fact-free, emotion-laden letter from angst-ridden reader John Bufordi

[Concealed carry violates my rights, May 2]. He is delusional in thinking he is at risk of being killed by a Virginia Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) holder carrying a concealed firearm for their personal protection.

Some facts: The Virginia State Police (VSP) reported a total of 428 murders in 2019 (the last year for which statistics are available) for a statewide murder rate of 5.01 per 100,000 population.

Unsurprisingly, the murder rates were much higher in Democrat-controlled, crime-infested cities like Richmond (24.2), Portsmouth (16.9) and Norfolk (14.7).

In the four counties surrounding the City of Fredericksburg, the murder rate was 2.9 per 100,000, except for the city itself, where the rate was 10.5.
Disturbance with a gun leads to two arrests

EAGLE  Two men were arrested in Eagle on Thursday evening after Cass County sheriffs deputies responded to a disturbance involving a man brandishing a gun.

The disturbance was between two groups of people, according to Sheriff William Brueggemann.

It was around 10 p.m. when deputies were dispatched to a residence in the 200 block of First Street on a report of a man brandishing a gun. The deputies, assisted by Nebraska State Patrol troopers, made contact with four individuals at that address, who said they had been harassed earlier in the evening by another group of people who had left.

Following an investigation, it was determined that an individual who had been with the group that had gone to that residence had brandished a pistol with a silver slide. He then threatened the caller and his friends.

Deputies located that individual, Jason Harig, 47, at a nearby residence where they located an airsoft pistol matching a description given by the victims. The victims were able to positively identify Harig as the individual who had threatened them, Brueggemann said.
Video Only | Your family can enjoy an amazing experience starting tonight and for as many nights as you like over the next two weeks. Well send instructions on how to create the SLEEP SQUAD interactive experience using items you have at home and your imagination!

Video + Official Dreamtime Travel Kit | You get the same as above, but with this package you also get an official SLEEP SQUAD Dreamtime Travel Kit shipped to you that includes a dream journal, sleep mask, stickers, and a star projector. If you purchase this package now, you have access to the video for four weeks, and can expect Kit delivery in under two weeks.
With National Healthcare Week taking place next week, Methodist Fremont Health is making sure to give back to its workers.

Its a week where we honor all healthcare employees, and so we are giving our community an opportunity to join us and celebrate the great work of all employees within our hospital, Fremont Health Foundation Executive Director Shawn Shanahan said.

The hospital is preparing for its Honor a Methodist Fremont Health Hero event. Up until Saturday, May 15, members of the public can donate $25 to the foundation in honor of a Methodist Fremont Health staff member.

A couple weeks after the deadline, the foundation will host a celebration to honor all employees with a donation made in their name. Each employee will receive a framed recognition certificate, while the donor will have their name listed on a banner in the hospital lobby.

So its an opportunity for the donor to be recognized for recognizing the health heroes, and also a way for us to turn around and recognize the employee, Shanahan said.

Shanahan said the idea for the initiative came after the foundation received a number of phone calls asking what could be done to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Uniquely Yours Stability Support will have its Fifth Annual Summer Sizzle Clothing Drive.

The public is invited to the event to get free adult and childrens summer clothing.

Hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  or while supplies last  on Saturday, May 8 at Salem Lutheran Church, 401 E. Military Ave. The church is across the street from the U.S. Post Office in Fremont.

Masks are encouraged and social distancing will be followed.

We want to encourage people  just like we did with the Warmer Winter Free Coat Giveaway  if you know your neighbors or your friends or anyone else is needing clothing, come and get whatever you need, whatever your neighbors and friends need. Its totally free, said Robin Ritter, CEO of Uniquely Yours.

Ritter appreciates the nonprofit agencys association with Salem.

The team of UYSS is so incredibly blessed to have such an outstanding and collaborative partnership with Salem Lutheran Church, Ritter said.

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Salem provided much help with the agencys free coat giveaway in the winter amid the pandemic.
Dear reader,

Welcome to Gandhara's weekly newsletter. This briefing brings you the best of our reporting from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

If youre new to the newsletter or havent subscribed yet, you can do so here.

Economic dire straits

Afghanistan could face a worsening financial crunch as U.S. and allied forces head for a final exit later this year. Western donor funding still accounts for some 80 percent of its budget, and without it the Afghan government could collapse.

Frud Bezhan reports that the country is on its way to a full-blown humanitarian crisis: Afghanistans population of 35 million already faces rapidly rising displacement and a whopping 72 percent poverty rate.

A withdrawal of funding will have dire implications for women, in particular, in their attempt to access health care. And for the embattled Afghan Army, it could spell the difference between successfully subduing the Taliban and the alternative.

"A stoppage or sharp cutback in security aid would grievously damage the Afghan security forces -- and on the civilian side could lead to fiscal collapse," William Byrd, a developmental economist at the United States Institute of Peace, told us.

The ghost of bin Laden

This week I looked into why Pakistan still struggles to rein in Islamist militant groups a decade after the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and how its inability to come down on one side of the fence now puts its relationship with the United States in question.

Islamabad has found it hard to portray itself as a victim of terrorism rather than a perpetrator. And its the Pakistani people who end up paying the price for their countrys covert support for groups like the Afghan Taliban as homegrown militants threaten the daily lives of many.

Pakistan has acted against some militant groups that specifically target the state but has allowed groups that are key to its regional [ambitions] to remain active, Hussain Haqqani, a scholar and Pakistans former ambassador to Washington, told me, alluding to how the security establishment has long employed asymmetric warfare through Islamist militant groups to leverage its regional foreign policy against India and Afghanistan. There is still a long way to go, he said of Islamabads continued struggle with terrorism.

Taliban looks to divide and rule

Frud Bezhan reports on a sinister Taliban tactic to bolster its newly invigorated attacks with an aggressive political ploy to divide Afghan elites.

In addition to gaining key territory this week in a bold military push, the Taliban has been busy writing letters to political, ethnic, and tribal leaders requesting more personal peace negotiations. The militants are hoping these correspondences will further alienate Ghani in his already fractious relations with other power brokers.

The Taliban cannot attain victory in a war of attrition, Davood Moradian, an Afghan analyst in Kabul, told us. But its chances are much higher if it can prompt the political disintegration of the Afghan government followed by or in synergy with inflicting a major military blow.

Relocating the Pamir Kyrgyz

In a striking portrait of Afghanistans most remote ethnic community, Ron Synovitz writes about the Pamir Kyrgyz who live in Pamir valleys of northeast Badakhshan Province.

Their pastoral lives, given testimony in this photo series, are a constant struggle with harsh winters, few resources, and one of the shortest life expectancies in the world. Scores of Pamir Kyrgyz died last winter of illness and malnutrition.

Now Kyrgyzstans president, Sadyr Japarov, wants to relocate 1,500 of the nomads to his countrys Osh region. But many of the remaining nomads have reservations about the move.

Our request to the Kyrgyz government is that if they take us, it should be near a city, says 28-year-old Rakhmankul. They should not put us in an isolated mountainous place like the Pamirs. The children must be able to study and be educated there.

Afghan babys hopeful recovery

In a video report, we take you to meet baby Amena, who was shot and lost her mother just hours after her birth in a horrendous attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul nearly a year ago.

When she arrived at our hospital, her condition was very complex, recalled Najibullah Bina, a surgeon treating Amena. I and surgeons around the world had never faced such a patient before, he added. But I am optimistic that we saved her leg from amputation.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks newsletter, and I encourage you to forward it to colleagues who might find it useful.



If you havent subscribed yet, you can do so here. Until next week, I encourage you to visit our website and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Yours,

Abubakar Siddique

Twitter: @sid_abu



P.S.: You can always reach us at gandhara@rferl.org.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Saudi Arabia late on May 7, kicking off a two-day visit to a traditional ally but with whom relations have been strained recently.

Khan was invited by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Islamabad and Riyadh have said.

Islamabad sought Saudi Arabia's support over alleged human rights violations by India in the disputed territory of Kashmir, but Pakistan's insistence irked the kingdom, which is careful not to upset India, a key business partner and importer of Saudi oil.

Saudi Arabia then pushed Khan's government to repay a $3 billion loan and a $3.2 billion oil credit facility granted in late 2018, prompting

Pakistan to turn to China for financial assistance.

Prior to Khan's arrival, Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Saudi Arabia and spoke to bin Salman early on May 7, Pakistan's military said in a statement.

The two sides "discussed ways to enhance joint cooperation to maintain security and stability," Saudi state media reported.

Saudi Arabia was the first foreign country Khan visited after his election in 2018 and he has visited the kingdom five times since, most recently in December 2019.

Khan is due to meet Saudi leaders in the Red Sea city of Jeddah during his visit.

Khan's visit is expected to focus on the treatment of the 2.5 million Pakistanis working in Saudi Arabia and on enhancing economic ties with the Arab world's largest economy.

"I look forward to my visit to Saudi Arabia and hope my interaction with the Saudi leadership will further strengthen our bilateral relations and will open further avenues for building a strong economic partnership," Khan wrote in the Saudi daily Arab News.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa, dawn.com, GeoTv, and arabnews.com
The Pentagon has deployed more heavy bombers and fighter jets to ensure the protection of the withdrawing U.S. and coalition troops from Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on May 6.

"Less than one week in, the drawdown is going according to plan," Austin told reporters, adding that the international forces have sustained no direct attacks so far.

Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said that to defend the departing troops, six B-52 long range bombers and 12 F-18 fighters have been ordered for contingency support.

Austin and Milley's statements came as Taliban attacks on the government forces continued to escalate throughout Afghanistan amid the ongoing international pullout.

Milley said that while Taliban militants launch between 80 and 120 attacks every day against Afghan government targets, since the withdrawal began on May 1 "there have been no attacks against U.S. and coalition forces."

President Joe Biden last month ordered the final withdrawal of 2,500 U.S. service members and 16,000 civilian contractors, almost two decades after the United States invaded Afghanistan to remove the Taliban from power and pursue Al-Qaeda following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Biden set a deadline for the completion of the pullout on the anniversary of the attacks.

Although Washington will keep working closely with the Afghan security forces, the relationship will shift with the pullout, Austin and Milley told journalists.

Austin said America will continue to offer support through funding and military backing from U.S. bases and ships located hundreds of miles away -- the so-called "over the horizon logistics."

Milley said that despite concerns that the Taliban could topple the Kabul government following the international pullout, the collapse of the Afghan military should not be presumed.

"A lot of that is going to be dependent on the security conditions on the ground," said Milley.

The Afghan Air Force depends heavily on foreign technicians who are included in the 16,000 contractors that are being pulled out.

"The intent is to keep the Afghan air force in the air, and to provide them with continued maintenance support," Milley said.

On May 6 Taliban fighters captured Afghanistan's second-biggest dam and two Afghan army bases.

Dahla Dam, also known as Arghandab Dam, is located in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar, some 40 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Kandahar City.

The dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for Kandahar City, is now under Taliban control after months of fierce fighting in Kandahar, the militants' former stronghold.

"We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab," Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told the media.

Haji Gulbuddin, governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam "is now in the control of the Taliban."

Dahla Dam provides irrigation for about seven districts of Kandahar.

Local officials and the Taliban also said two government bases fell to the militants in the northern province of Baghlan.

The militants launched the attacks on the bases in the Baghlan-e-Markzai and Nahrin districts of the province late on May 5, the officials told TOLOnews.

The capture of the dam comes after heavy fighting erupted in the neighboring province of Helmand this week, prompting thousands of people to flee.

With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and TOLOnews
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Colorado's public option health care bill, known as the Colorado Option, is ready for Gov. Jared Polis' signature. The road to the governor's desk was winding and contentious, with the bill going through multiple adjustments to make it there.
Jimmy Sengenberger is host of The Jimmy Sengenberger Show on News/Talk 710 KNUS. He also hosts Jimmy at the Crossroads, a webshow and podcast in partnership with The Washington Examiner.
Five wounded throughout Chicago in one day, including 12-year-old, after violent weekend
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INDUSTRY INSIGHT

3 ways intelligent virtual assistants will drive citizen services delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic changed -- and the recovery will further change -- just about every facet of American life. Customer service and how people interact with companies and government agencies is merely another example.

For many, the most apparent impact of customer service issues came from how long it took to handle their requests. A Washington Post story from early in the pandemic reported that people hoping to defer mortgage or credit card payments, collect unemployment, cancel airline flights or locate missing shopping orders are all running into unprecedented waits for customer service by phone."

Based upon that experience, it is no surprise that one of the key facets of the American Rescue Plan is to ensure funding for modernizing technology across the federal government, a key priority for the Biden-Harris administration.

The art of the possible

Its said that necessity is the mother of invention, and the pandemic proved that point as government contractors and agencies alike created new best practices that are likely to endure well beyond the end of the global pandemic.

These include remote federal technology responsiveness, effective and secure citizen services at a distance, and greater access to accurate information without physical presence. Technology modernization is essential to the agenda of the Biden-Harris administration, especially with agencies needing to meet the high demands for citizen services.

Today, most citizen service needs fall into these five categories: answering questions, filling out and searching for documents, routing requests, translations and drafting documents. Whether it's filing taxes, renewing a driver's license or receiving health and human services support, intelligent virtual assistants can facilitate most of these service delivery needs. Most citizens want to interact with government easily and on their time, and IVAs provide 24/7 service without requiring a fully staffed contact center, giving citizens the information they need anytime, anywhere.

In many government agencies, IVAs that integrate their technologies with conversational artificial intelligence to personalize the citizen experiences (CX) achieve much more. Conversational AI improves service delivery, increases government workforce effectiveness and enhances the relationship between citizens and government.

Here are three benefits to IVAs:

1. Personalized CX that drives operational efficiencies. Citizens are ready for government to deliver the superior customer service often found in commercial companies. IVAs can boost the overall quality of any citizens interaction with a government agency, as well as deliver operational outcomes like increased efficiency and reduced costs. When deployed correctly, IVAs connect people, technology and processes, overcoming the limitations of less sophisticated technologies, like the dreaded "phone tree" experience.

IVAs, powered by conversational AI, aren't just getting citizens the essential information they need; behind the scenes, they're also feeding human agents and analysis applications to deliver better and faster outcomes while providing personalized and positive CX.

2. Reduced wait times. When citizens have a question, they could be relegated to long hold times via phone. IVAs can drastically improve citizens access to real-time answers and could even be used to formulate and fill out documents, especially for routine tasks. By deploying IVAs powered by conversational AI, government can deliver citizen services that automate everyday transactions.

3. Support for live agents to deliver more efficient services. Some federal agencies handle over 1 million calls every month from citizens. IVAs are expected to handle 20% of all citizen service requests by 2022. When citizens speak with a live agent these days, IVA tools are bringing agency representatives up to speed before they get on the line. Live agents that are complemented with an IVA already know whos on the line, what they need, and, in most cases, how to get it.

IVAs have the potential to have a significant impact on the way citizens experience and interact with government. While an IVA may not be a solution to all citizen service delivery problems, it is one powerful tool to increase CX outcomes and contact center efficiency. Implementing IVAs in citizen services may also help agencies leverage other emerging digital tools.

With increased use of IVAs and enhanced legacy systems, agencies can bring citizen services delivery up to consumer expectations and open up a new technology roadmap for the public sector.
"Its an ongoing process," she said.

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Michael Goggin, a vice president at the consulting firm Grid Strategies who previously touted the potential of underground lines during inclement weather, said that even 10 years a project of this size and scale would be difficult to imagine.

"The growth of renewable energy has made these very attractive," he said. "The cost of wind has come down dramatically. That and general efforts by corporations to move to renewable," he said.

Goggin suggested that part of that growth is residents growing weary of above-ground transmission lines and developers not wanting to go through the same rigmarole. "You dont have to go through protracted battles over permitting," he said.

In North Iowa, there have been some recent battles over wind energy but not specifically related to permitting.
It was a day to remember at Harding Elementary School on Friday afternoon.

Harding Elementary students, parents and staff have spent the past few weeks raising money for the Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank. On Friday, the school celebrated surpassing their goal of $3,500 of fundraising by more than $1,000.

In total, Harding Elementary raised $4,773.72 for the food bank, with staff and families coming together in a big way for the cause.

Shela Lang, a second-grade teacher at Harding, talked about how special the past few weeks have been.

Its just the most heartwarming experience, Lang said. The (Hawkeye) Harvest Food Bank is amazing with how many people they help.

It wasnt just teachers who felt how great it was to give back.

It was good! Second-grader Judy Carden said about how it was to help the food bank. A lot of people helped with it in my class and my whole grade.
Another point of focus for schools was improving the technology available to students. Michael Crozier, the superintendent for the Northwood-Kensett school district, said that it was a priority for them to replace the computers in the district.

Versteeg said the district has also already committed thousands of dollars to provide new technology to students.

Weve added to [previous tech purchases through ESSER funds] by buying several hundred thousand dollars worth of Chromebook laptops, Versteeg said. We want to continue to be a one-to-one district for students having a technological device no matter what grade or age you are.

Another common use of funding for school districts was to hire new staff or retain staff that the district may not have otherwise been able to keep on. Clear Lake plans on adding a variety of new positions.

Were going to add an elementary interventionist, a middle school reading teacher, a high school at-risk coordinator and a 6-12 interventionist, Gee said. We have a social worker who is just one day a week. Were going to now have that person four days a week.

Hampton-Dumont has plans to add staff for up to 60 students to accommodate students who prefer the virtual learning environment.
When she went searching for a student success teacher, she did not need to look far. Henry had her hand raised.

Before beginning in Osage, Henry taught in the student success/special education program in Decorah for seven years. She transitioned to the Area Education Agency before finding a new home.

My interest in this position is truly to support and teach the whole child, Henry said. The academic, physical and social-emotional go hand in hand to ensure a student has the knowledge, skills, and disposition to be successful. My past experiences and positions at the AEA and Decorah have revolved around this philosophy.

"My number one thought on the success of a child is a quote by Rita Pierson: 'Every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.' I strive to be this."

When she began teaching fifth grade in Osage post-COVID-19, it was her first year in general education. She already knew middle school can be a difficult time, with changing emotions and frustrations.
For the second night in a row, violence erupts in the citys suburb of Sheikh Jarrah. A dispute over properties between Jewish settlers and Palestinians is at the root of the issue. On Monday, Israels Supreme Court will hold a hearing over the issue. For the UN, the situation is very worrying.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Israeli police arrested at least 15 Palestinians following last night's clashes in East Jerusalem, triggered by the eviction threat against at least four Palestinian families.

The second straight night of rioting in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood was fuelled by a years-long land dispute between Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlers in the strategic district near Jerusalem's Old City.

The current violence is part of ongoing political and social tensions in the area, starting with the clashes that took place during Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayer, and which led to the death of young people on both sides.

Political instability has compounded the problem. In Israel, an opposition leader has been given a mandate to form a government (which would end the Netanyahu era) while in Palestine, scheduled elections were postponed.

Israel remains in high alert in anticipation of next week's Eid-al-Fitr celebration, which will mark the end of Ramadan, an event that traditionally attracts tens of thousands of Palestinians to the Haram esh-Sharif or Temple Mount.

According to Israeli police, Palestinian protesters set fire to a car and threw stones at a house occupied by Jewish settlers. Palestinians also traded insults with far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who visited the area to voice support for the Jewish settlers.

The dispute revolves around a long-running lawsuit over the homes of four Palestinian families, on land claimed by Jews.

Israel's Supreme Court had called on the sides to seek a compromise, but when that failed it announced it would hold a new hearing next Monday, which might spark more violence.

For Sheikh Jarrah's Palestinians, the expropriation of land is another step in the decades-long goal of Jewish settlers to drive Arabs out of East Jerusalem.

The Supreme Court will have to decide whether the Palestinians have the right to appeal against the decision of the district court which accepted the arguments made by the Jewish claimants.

The appeal process could take years.

This land is Palestinian land... and we, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, we cannot accept that this land is theirs. This land is ours, said 77-year-old Nabeel al-Kurd, one of those facing eviction.

In light of the situation, the United Nations has voiced concern over the violence and anti-riot police's use of water cannons spraying foul-smelling liquid.

UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland said developments related to the eviction of Palestine refugee families in Sheikh Jarrah and other neighbourhoods in occupied East Jerusalem were very worrying.

I urge Israel to cease demolitions and evictions, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian law, he added.
Students at Lincoln Intermediate in Mason City spent part of their Friday afternoon in the middle of the street. Literally.

Fifth and sixth graders got to grab their water bottles and head out to a closed portion of South Pennsylvania in front of the school and participate in a walkathon to raise money for the Lincoln Parent-Teacher Association.

PTA funds are often used for making purchases of items that enhance students' learning experience, but might not be a part the school's overall budget. According to Lincoln fifth-grade teacher Jaime McCormick, the PTA recently funded the addition of a number of ukuleles to the school's music department.

Classrooms that hit their fundraising goals were treated to frozen treats and a bit of socializing on the lawn after their walks. Students also participated in field day-type activities during the day.

Friends Gage Hoelscher and Sean Seltun, both in sixth grade, took part in the day's events after having helped to raise what Sean estimated to be about $5,000 through a donation campaign. The boys, who would normally be learning math or science class in the afternoon, said they were glad to be out of class for the day.
The State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the officers-involved shooting at the home, which is standard protocol, Tollie said..

Dark smoke rose from the house fire in the afternoon, and it drifted over the neighborhood along West Academy Street. Soot and burned leaves fell on streets in the area.

During the incident, police used their armored personnel vehicle, their bomb squad robot, members of their SWAT team, and at least one police dog.

Neighbors gathered on sidewalks and on their porches and looked toward the standoff as it lasted for more than two hours. During the incident, police blocked traffic on surrounding streets near where the standoff happened.

John Duell of Winston-Salem said he saw numerous police cars travel to the area during the incidents early stages.

Its the most action Ive seen go down in Winston, Duell who works at the NAPA Auto Parts store on Peters Creek Parkway. It looks like the whole police force is out here.

The neighborhood where the standoff and shooting happened is mostly safe and quiet for its residents, Duell said.

Crazy things happen, and crazy people happen, Duell said.

336-727-7299 @jhintonWSJ Journal photographers Walt Unks and Andrew Dye contributed to this story.

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UNCGs college of visual and performing arts has announced the following:

Jennifer Reis, assistant professor of arts administration, presented Making the Art Work: An Overview of Professional Practices in the Field of Creative Entrepreneurship for Adult Learners in the U.S. at the SouthArts Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit. Her presentation proposal, From the Board Room to the Classroom: Translating Strategic Planning Professional Practice into Project-Based Learning has been accepted for the 2021 Association of Art Administration Educators Conference in May.

Kailan Rubinoff, associate professor of musicology, was interviewed for the Philadelphia Baroque Orchestras Tempesta Talks series about her research on the historical performance movement in the Netherlands. The presentation was Early Music Goes Dutch.

Joan Titus, associate professor of musicology, presented her paper, Sounding the Soviet Mainstream: Musical Excess in Dmitry Shostakovichs score for Fall of Berlin, at the national conference for The Society for Cinema and Media Studies. The paper was part of a panel that Titus chaired, Sonic Relationships: Music and Sound in Cinema and Radio.
GREENSBORO  The $100,000 headed to the Montagnard Dega Association and its partners is one of the largest grant awards the group has ever received.

And among the most important, according to the group.

When I heard Congratulations, I wanted to let out a scream, said Liana Adrong, the nonprofits administrative coordinator and social worker, who announced the grant this week.

The money from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust will be used to help Asian American refugee communities rebound from COVID-19.

We are working every day to see how to effectively support nonprofits addressing this crisis, according to a statement on the charitable trusts website.

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It comes at a time when nonprofits across the board are already competing for a dwindling pool of charitable dollars.

This is such an amazing opportunity, Adrong said. We count on so many good partners, but our community members trust us best because we know our customs, traditions and languages. We are very appreciative of the help we are getting from Kate B. Reynolds.
GREENSBORO  Fighting the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Rebuilding and strengthening academics. Offering help to students with mental health needs.

As Guilford County Schools administrators prepare for an influx of money from the December and March federal pandemic relief bills, they are eyeing ways to use that aid to support those goals.

Between the two bills, the district estimates it could receive about $287 million. Thats equal to more than a third of the districts annual operating budget. Its also more than seven times what the district received from 2020s federal CARES Act relief bill.

The district does not need to spend all the money in the next school year. An estimated $89 million would need to be spent by September 2023, with the rest to be spent by September 2024.

Superintendent Sharon Contreras has held off adding the estimates for the COVID-19 relief money to her proposed 2021-22 budget, awaiting more specifics about what the district will get.

Instead, during a presentation to school board members at their last meeting in April, she highlighted some potential recommendations.
A prosecutor has said that Browns car ran into the deputies before they opened fire.

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Fosters order contained a brief description of the footage. The judge wrote that Brown attempted to flee the scene and escape apprehension and that at least one and as many as three officers fired their weapons into the vehicle operated by Brown.

During the April 27 hearing on the matter, Foster said he would not publicly release the footage because it could jeopardize the ongoing investigation into Browns death or threaten the safety of people seen in the footage.

Foster said the video must remain out of public view for at least 30 days, but he would consider releasing it after that point if investigations are complete.

Family members have so far only been allowed to view a 20-second clip from a single body camera. Family attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter told reporters last week that shots were heard from the instant the clip started with Browns car in his driveway and his hands on the steering wheel.

She said he did not try to back away until after deputies ran up to his car and began shooting, and he did not pose a threat to deputies. He finally decides to try to get away and he backs out, not toward officers at all, Cherry-Lassiter said.
RALEIGH  North Carolina Republican lawmakers want to toughen how school discipline is handled, but Democrats warn that a change could lead to more minority students being suspended and dropping out.

The N.C. House approved legislation on Thursday that removes language from state law listing violations not serious enough for a long-term school suspension. That includes inappropriate language, noncompliance, dress code violations and minor physical alterations.

Republican lawmakers argue that including those four examples in state law has hamstrung principals, causing them to be reluctant to give any kind of suspensions for those behaviors.

We should never be in a position where were condoning bad language, disrespect for teachers and administrative staff ... as just being a write-off, said Rep. John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican and primary sponsor of the bill. That has led to a bad, bad disservice for a decade to the kids who have been in our K-12 system.

Those four examples were added to the law in 2011 in a bipartisan effort to reduce long-term suspensions of more than 10 days. The belief was that if students were in school more, theyd be less likely to have poor grades and drop out when they fell behind.
BOONE  The sheriff was already running late to the office when a woman pleaded for him to stop. She wanted to pay her respects to the families of Sgt. Chris Ward and K-9 Deputy Logan Fox, but didnt have much to offer.

Less than a week ago in Boone, two deputies had been killed in the line of duty while performing what was supposed to be a routine welfare check. They were met with gunfire and killed after entering the home.

It isnt much, but I would like for them to have it, the woman told Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman on Tuesday.

She handed the sheriff a crumpled-up dollar bill, three quarters and a nickel, proudly noting it was her money. He seriously considered not taking it, realizing she was the one who needed it more.

Then it hit him.

Her gifts worth is not measured by the tactile touch of paper nor that of coin, Hagaman said. It was, after all, her gift  a gift that cannot be identified by ink and paper, nor that of forged metal. Its worth transcends any worth that we could ever ascribe. It is, however, the quiet and simple gift of hope, faith and love. These are the three attributes of our two fallen brothers.
Indian Buddhists in Ladakh celebrate the Panchen Lamas birthday, renewing the call for his release. Chinese authorities grabbed him and his family 26 years ago, and still hold him at undisclosed location.

Dharamsala (AsiaNews/RFA)  Buddhists in Ladakh and the Tashi Lhunpo monastery in Bylakuppe (Karnataka) joined Tibetans around the world to celebrate the Panchen Lama's 32nd birthday. The celebrations, held on 25 April, were accompanied by renewed calls on China to release him.

This was the first time that the Panchen Lama's birthday was celebrated in Ladakh. For Buddhists, this is a sign of renewed interest in his fate and that of the Tibetan cause.

Chinese authorities abducted Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family on 17 May 1995, three days after he was recognised as the Panchen Lama by the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Since then, he has been kept at an undisclosed location.

Traditionally considered the second highest ranking lama in Tibetan Buddhism, the monk plays a crucial role in the religion since, among other things, he is tasked with recognising the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama after the death of the incumbent.
Erasure culture

As a lawyer since 1980, I respond to the column I do not accept this portrait at Elon Law (May 2).

My initial response: Who runs Elon University School of Law, the students or the administration?

Student reaction to the placement or even existence of the portrait of former Mayor Jim Melvin is a gross overreaction indicative of our grievance-oriented society. Thinking that school officials moved it to a less prominent location for administrative reasons is risible. The move was due to student pressure. Again: Who runs Elon, the students or the administration?

When I was in law school, students did not poll minorities seeking their grievances and remedies for them. We did something novel: We spent our time actually studying law and preparing for the all-important bar exam.

I detest erasure, bit by bit, of my Caucasian heritage. It is what it is, good or bad. Why not erase Caucasian history all at once rather than in small increments?
From early on, local businesses provided food and coffee to the firefighters, among them the owners of the Party Palace and Gamers Cafe.

Many others offered their support as well, Doherty said.

"We can't express enough gratitude towards those businesses," Doherty said. "Our heart goes out to these uptown businesses that were affected by this. The whole historical nature of this facility is a crushing blow. Not only to Butte, but the state of Montana, and the United States."

Across the street, Dave Andrews, the general manager of Metals Sports Bar and Grill, was almost too choked up to speak.

My father worked there for 20 years in the basement, he said. So a lot of memories.

Jon Wick, owner of 5518 Designs on Main Street, woke to the news at 6 a.m. and grabbed the clothes nearest to his bed. Driving, he saw the smoke, and then the famous M&M.

It was heartbreaking, he said, the phrase echoed over and over among the mornings onlookers.

Wick doesnt tell folks the address when they ask where his shop is.
Christie Weseman, a certified nurse midwife at FamilyBorn Maternity and Womens Health in Kalispell, said she sees a lot of perinatal mood disorders in her practice.

When we have somebody walk in the door for the first time that has something that is clearly a much more complicated case, we know that we need psychiatric care for this person thats beyond the scope of our practice, Weseman said. What is really challenging was often it would take months to get this person into the appropriate care.

The new helpline, Weseman said, addresses that problem.

To be able to call somebody, get somebody that specializes in perinatal mood disorders to really help these women on the spot, is just amazing for us, Weseman said.

Though things are improving over the last few months, Weseman said the pandemic made things even more challenging because of the increased isolation, leading to lack of connection to social support networks.

Over the last few months Weseman has used the service a handful of times when someone comes into her office with risk factors or a history of symptoms that require higher psychiatric care.
Montana missed the opportunity to build 2,000 new affordable apartments and create 4,000 construction jobs with over $186 million in wages.

This year, there are 14 applications (six from small towns) for the federal tax credits totaling $81 million in construction. Unfortunately, only $29 million in federal tax credits will be awarded, which is only enough to fund 115 to 130 apartments.

HB 397, a state tax credit, would allow more of these projects  or 30 to 60 more apartments  to be planned this year alone. If signed into law, the state tax credit will double the number of apartments, with construction starting in 2022.

HB 397 could mobilize enough private capital to produce 18,000 homes and apartments and generate over $828 million in economic activity over 10 years.

Montanas continued economic recovery relies on a strong workforce. A strong workforce relies on homes that workers can afford to rent. HB 397 is based on a very successful federal program with a decades-long proven track record.
President Joe Biden campaigned on a promise not to raise taxes on middle-class Americans. But a little-known provision in his big social programs bill could do just that.

Tucked away in the American Families Plan, is a proposal to change the way capital gains taxes are paid on estates when people pass away. This seemingly small revision to a tax rule called stepped up basis could cause average Americans to pay more to Uncle Sam than they would under the current tax regime, in addition to upending estate planning for the nations affluent and uber-wealthy.

Our clients love paying more in taxes, joked Mallon FitzPatrick, managing director at Robertson Stephens Wealth Management. Theyre calling all the time.

The debate surrounding the measure shows just how difficult it can be to raise enough tax revenue solely on the most well-off to fund beefed-up spending on social programs without also hitting the wallets of those lower down on the income ladder.

While this bill is far from becoming law, there are some steps you should take right now to get a handle on your situation.

What Is Stepped Up Basis?

But first, a refresher: When people inherit assets, stepped up basisalso referred to as a step up in basisprovides big benefits.

Inherited assets have usually gained in value since the deceased purchased them (potentially decades in the past). These capital gains are taxable when the asset is eventually sold by the inheritor. Stepped up basis can minimize the tax bill.

Basis is a key concept to understand here. Lets say you bought a bunch of stock for $100,000 and a few years later sold it for $250,000. To understand how much youd owe in capital gains taxes, you need to know your basis, or what you originally paid for the stock. Its pretty simple in this example: Your basis is $100,000, and the taxable capital gain is $150,000.

For the better part of the past 100 years, the basis of an inherited asset is raisedstepped up, as it wereto the assets fair market value at the time of the original owners death. So lets say you held on to the stock and passed it down to your heirs as part of your estate.

After a few decades, its now worth $500,000. If you were to die and pass down the stock to your child, the basis would be stepped up from $100,000 to $500,000, equal to its current fair market value. Future taxes are then calculated based on this new value, saving your heirs potentially huge amounts of capital gains taxes.

This provision is currently enshrined in Section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code, which states the basis of an inherited asset rises to the fair market value of the property at the date of the decedents death.

Practically speaking, this means if your child immediately sells the stock, they would own no capital gains taxes on the transaction. But if they waited a few years to sell, and the stock gained in value to $600,000, they would owe capital gains taxes on $100,000thats the difference between the stepped up basis of $500,000 and the sale value of $600,000. But note that that $100,000 is still substantially less than the $500,000 their taxes would be calculated from if they had to use your original basis.

Bidens Stepped Up Basis Proposal

The two key components of Bidens tax reform include raising the top end of the capital gains rate to 39.6% and nixing stepped up basis. The feds aim to take in more than $110 billion over 10 years with both proposals.

The capital gains hike alone could potentially cause revenue to decline in the near term, according to an analysis by the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School. Thats because investors would change their behavior and delay selling stocks.

Thats why the stepped up basis portion of Bidens proposal is critical. We all pass away, eventually, at which point the U.S. Treasury taxes any capital gains from the sale of assets by estates and beneficiaries.

Getting rid of stepped up basis is seen as a big revenue raiser, said Dr. Will McBride, vice president for federal tax and economic policy at the Tax Foundation.

The bill includes an exemption of $1 million for individuals and $2 million for married couples, which is a dramatic increase from the exemptions offered by the Obama administration, which touted a similar proposal in 2015.

Eliminating Stepped Up Basis Could Raise Middle-Class Taxes

Despite this carveout, its not hard to see how eliminating the stepped up basis rule could turn into a middle-class tax hike, for all intents and purposes. Heres an example of how that could work.

Anne is a single middle school teacher living alone in Austin, Texas, who takes home $60,000 a year, making her an average American by earnings. Remember, Biden has promised not to raise taxes on those earning less than $400,000, so Anne doesnt pay much mind when the administration passes a series of tax increases.

Annes favorite uncle passes away, leaving her a beautiful beach house. The property was worth $300,000 when he bought it years ago, but now its valued at $1.8 million.

Under current law, Anne would inherit the property and the basis would be stepped up to $1.8 million. She could keep the house or immediately sell it without paying a dime in federal capital gains taxes.

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Under Bidens plan, the estate of Annes uncle would owe taxes on $500,000 worth of the propertys capital gains (whats left after factoring the $300,000 basis and the $1 million exemption), which are now assessed at death. If the estate couldnt come up with the funds to pay the bill, which would run about $100,000, they might be forced to sell the home.

In that case, its not exactly accurate to say that Annes taxes would not be impacted by the Biden administrations proposed changes. That $100,000 bill looks a lot like a middle-class tax hike.

What Should You Do Now?

The hypothetical case outlined above would be exceedingly raremost people dont have rich uncles with million-dollar homes. And the new rule is designed to capture tax revenue from very well-off people who may not have enough wealth to be subject to the estate tax, which only kicks in on estates valued at $11.7 million or more. (Interestingly, the Biden administration hasnt signaled it wants to lower that exemption.)

The prospect of raising taxes as the economy continues to recover from the Covid-19 recession will inflame tempers on Capitol Hill, and controversial legislation should have a difficult time in an evenly divided Senate. That means even if stepped up basis ends up in lawmakers crosshairs, it may not be completely liquidated.

That said, if youre planning out your estate, or expect to be the beneficiary of an inheritance, there are a few things you can do to prepare for whatever changes Congress makes to the tax code.

Gather Documentation

It can be difficult to keep track of an assets cost basis, which is one reason why the current rule exists. For instance, Annes basis on her uncles home would be higher if she had documentation proving he had paid for a new kitchen. The same is true for dividends and interest thats reinvested in a portfolio.

That may sound daunting, which is why Ed Slott, a certified public accountant (CPA) and well-known retirement expert, is dubious any such bill will ultimately pass.

Its a tax record-keeping nightmare, said Slott. Itll be impossible to figure out the basis, both original cost and improvements, for Grandma Mosess home.

For good measure, though, try to locate any documents and send them to your accountant for safekeeping, noted wealth manager Mallon FitzPatrick.

Think Creatively

Changing the stepped-up basis rule could cause a ripple effect. No one, after all, will sit around waiting to pay taxes.

For instance, lets take Anne. She could exclude $250,000 in gains from Uncle Sams talons if she both owned her condo and lived in it as her primary residence for 24 months out of the last five years. Perhaps shed reconsider living in Tampa a while to significantly lower her tax burden?

Mike Piper, a St. Louis-based CPA, foresees other moves. For instance, it may make less sense to own stocks in taxable accounts if your kin will owe taxes on all gains. That could, mean a shift back towards bonds, particularly municipal bonds, being the primary option for taxable accounts, he said.

Once youre in retirement, Piper noted, you might prioritize spending down your taxable account since itd be better for your heirs to inherit a higher portion of funds in your individual retirement account (IRA).

Folks might also make more use of tax avoidance strategies. Right now you can donate an appreciated asset to a qualified charitable organization and receive a deduction on the full market value, said Piper, thereby avoiding taxes on the gains.

Of course richer households could employ a slew of other options, including trusts, to pass assets to heirs while paying as little as tax as possible. Or you may want to divy up chunks of assets to your heirs before you pass, assuming their income wont exceed $1 million.

Stay Connected

Joseph Velkos, a Key Private Bank trust tax director in Cleveland, Ohio, received a lot of client calls during the election, inquiring what might happen if Biden were to win. He advised his clients to start gaming out plans now to be ready for whatever comes out of Congress.

Start the conversations with your advisor, especially if you have some level of wealth, Velkos said. Lay out the different scenarios and what you might do down the road.

If Annes uncle knows that shell likely face a big tax bill, he might consider adding a life insurance policy to his estate planning to help her cover costs, for instance.

Talk to any tax lawyer and theyll tell you the rules of the road are always changing. The key is to know how to drive even if you dont have a Porsche.

More from Forbes Advisor

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DECATUR  Matthew A. Anderson Jr. now faces a sentencing range of 45 years to natural life in prison after a jury convicted him of murder Thursday morning.

Anderson, 22, was found guilty of first-degree murder and the jury also found him guilty of personally discharging a firearm in the Jan. 4, 2019, death of 18-year-old Curtis T. Hairston. The victim was fatally wounded in a bathroom shootout in the former Long John Silvers restaurant on West Eldorado Street. Anderson was also badly wounded.

The finding that Anderson had used a firearm in the crime automatically adds 25 years to the sentencing range.

The trial had started with jury selection Monday in Macon County Circuit Court and got underway Tuesday. The jury got the case at 3 p.m. Wednesday, asked several questions which Judge James Coryell answered, and then went home for the day at 4:30 p.m.

They were back deliberating at 9 a.m. Thursday and, after asking one more question at 9:24 a.m. which the judge answered within two minutes, were back with their verdicts at 9:47 a.m.

The path to Thursdays conviction had been a long and convoluted one for Anderson, with some dramatic developments along the way. The court had been ready to try him in September but, on the eve of his trial, defense attorney Monroe McWard told Coryell he would have to seek a delay after Anderson suddenly changed his story.

The previous defense strategy had been built around the narrative that Anderson said had been jumped while at the restaurant. But Monroe said he had suddenly been presented with new information by his client that indicated Anderson, shot four times, had been acting in self-defense.

In his opening statement Tuesday however, Monroe did not specifically mention self-defense but told the jury he would argue that Anderson wasnt the shooter at all. The attorney said he would dispute the interpretation of evidence offered by eye-witnesses and surveillance video.

Because notwithstanding what you may think, there is no clear picture of Matthew Anderson with a gun, added Monroe, who was partnered by fellow attorney Mark Kevin Wykoff Sr.

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The jurors, however, clearly bought the version of events outlined by the prosecution, which was presented by Assistant Macon County States Attorneys Tammy Wagoner and Katherine Dowis. They said the surveillance footage, eye-witness reports and the case built by Decatur Police painted a clear picture of Anderson as a brutal killer.

Foreshadowing what the video would show to jurors, Dowis had said: You will see the defendant charge into the bathroom, pulling a gun out of his pocket then shots are fired You will see Mr. Hairston stumble from the bathroom and fall to the floor

The story that emerged from detectives investigations is that Hairston had met a Decatur man called Jaquarius L. West at Long John Silvers to trade illegal guns and then gone to the bathroom to discuss the deal. But in what police said was a set-up, West had suddenly left the restroom and Anderson had charged in and the gun battle began between him and Hairston.

Hairston was pronounced dead at Decatur Memorial Hospital the evening of the shooting after suffering bullet wounds to his abdomen and groin; two bullets were recovered from his body.

And Hairston, as portrayed by police, was far from an innocent man himself. He had been linked to drug deals in the Bloomington area and was a suspect in the Dec. 5, 2018 shooting death of Bloomington man Egerton Dover. If Hairston hadnt been shot to death in Decatur four days earlier, Bloomington police had said they planned to arrest him Jan. 7, 2019 in connection with Dovers murder.

Anderson is being held in the Macon County Jail following his conviction and is due to be sentenced June 23.

West, 20, is pleading not guilty to murder charges in Hairstons death and his case is scheduled for a pretrial hearing June 24.

Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid

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SPRINGFIELD  Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday announced that Illinois will scale back COVID restrictions May 14 and could have a complete reopening by June 11 if trends continue.

"The light that we can see at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter," Pritzker said during a a press conference. "For restaurants and bars and retail and weddings and public gatherings, this means higher capacity limits and a very hopeful move toward full reopening."

What's included in the 'bridge phase' Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday announced that Illinois will enter the COVID "bridge phase" on May 14. Here's what's included: Expand capacity limits in places such as retail stores, offices, theatres, ticketed spectator events, amusement parks and zoos up to 60%

Restaurants and bars could expand capacity in standing areas to 30% indoors and 50% outdoors

Outdoor farmers markets and other outdoor spectator events would be allowed to welcome 30 people per 1,000 square feet, up from 15, with indoor markets being unchanged

Limits will also be expanded for social events, with outdoor events having a limit of 500 people and indoor events being able to invite up to 250 people, up from the previous limits of 100 and 50 people respectively Even with the loosening of restrictions, the state will continue to follow CDC guidelines on masks and will continue to monitor caseloads in order to prevent another surge of the virus.  State Journal-Register

Thursdays announcement came as the state reached a new benchmark of having 55% of adults age 16 and over, and 80% of people age 65 and over, having received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. The daily number of new cases, hospitalization rates and intensive care unit usage have all been falling or leveling off.

This good news comes with a caveat, Pritzker said. We have all seen throughout this pandemic that this virus and its variants have proven to be unpredictable. Metrics that look strong today are far from a guarantee of how things will look a week, two weeks, a month from now. We saw that last August, and again last March.

Pritzker's announcement is certainly a major step towards post COVID-19 normality. But is it a bridge too far?

Macon County Public Health Administrator Brandi Binkley certainly isnt saying that, but she does offer a note of caution that we havent made it all the way across to the other side just yet.

I dont want people to have this false perception that we are completely out of the woods or that COVID is over or that nobody is suffering or losing their lives or their quality of life to COVID, Binkley said. Because that is happening.

She described the governors Restore Illinois plan, spearheaded by IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike, as being based on solid data and metrics and a roadmap that has earned her trust. And she can understand the pent-up frustrations of people worn down with the battle to contain the virus and anxious to know theres a timetable for reaching a brighter future.

Under the bridge phase  a transition phase between the current Phase 4 mitigations and the virtually complete reopening of Phase 5  certain capacity limits will be eased at various kinds of events. Restaurants will be allowed to increase from 25% to 30% of capacity, as long as people maintain six feet of distance from one another, while offices, personal care facilities and retail service counters can increase from 50% to 60% of capacity.

When the state reaches Phase 5, Pritzker said, virtually all mitigation restrictions will be lifted, although the state will still follow guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding wearing masks in large, crowded situations and maintaining safe social distancing.

Although Illinois has succeeded in getting a large percentage of its adult population vaccinated, IDPH reports that the daily rate of vaccinations has been declining as large segments of the population have been reluctant to receive their shots.

As of Thursday, the seven-day rolling average of daily doses administered stood at 70,063, down from a peak of nearly 133,000 per day in mid-April. But with the supply of vaccines now large enough to provide vaccines to anyone who wants one, Pritzker said he hoped that making them available through physicians offices will make it more convenient for more people.

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This is about making it as easy as possible for those who have not yet gotten vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19, he said.

Still, there remain pockets of society that remain hesitant, whether that be for cultural, political or religious reasons, and the Pritzker administration is continuing its public relations campaign to reach out to those communities.

Binkley says recent upticks in Macon County cases have been accompanied by the worrying news that vaccination rates are slowing.

Thats especially concerning in the light of new COVID variants arising and Binkley said anyone looking for a tragic example of what can go wrong need only glance at the news from India, where the virus rages out of control.

Ive heard the comment from a doctor here who said we have got to learn to live with COVID moving forward because the virus isnt going to go away, Binkley added. We have got to ensure that we are taking all the precautions and people are getting vaccinated. So yes, we are moving forward, and we need to move forward, but we also need to remember that COVID is still a thing.

Macon County reported two more COVID-related deaths on Thursday, a male in his 80s and a female in her 70s. Officials also reported 29 new cases. To date, the county has reported 10,640 positive cases and 193 deaths.

According to IDPH data, just under 29% of Macon County residents have been fully vaccinated.

Sangamon County, which includes Springfield, has the highest rate of vaccination with nearly 39% of its population fully vaccinated. But in Alexander County, which includes Cairo at the southern tip of Illinois, only 11% are fully vaccinated.

Joining Pritzker at Thursdays news conference was Dr. Rodney Alford, a Black pediatric and internal medicine specialist at Iroquois Memorial Hospital and a trustee of the Illinois State Medical Society.

I myself belong to that community that has vaccine hesitancy, he said. I belong to the Black and brown community. I belong to the conservative Christian community. I belong to the urban community. I now live in a rural community. But I am not hesitant to live without fear. I am truly free.

Although the rate of spread of the virus has been declining, IDPH continues to report a steady stream of new cases each day. On Thursday, the agency reported 1,778 new confirmed and probable cases over the previous 24 hours and 40 additional deaths.

The preliminary seven-day statewide average case positivity rate for cases as a percent of tests performed stood at 3.0 percent, the lowest it has been since March 27

As of late Wednesday night, 2,055 people in Illinois were reported hospitalized with the disease, including 483 patients in intensive care units and 243 on ventilators.

The announcement was made the same day Gov. Tim Walz said that Minnesota would be lifting COVID-19 restrictions just before Memorial Day. Kentucky and other states have announced similar plans.

Chicago officials have already announced plans to bring back the Chicago Auto Show in July and restart cultural events with safety precaution in place.

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A Florida judge has ruled that an Abingdon, Virginia, woman accused of dressing as a clown and gunning down a woman in 1990 will remain in jail before her trial later this year.

Sheila Keen-Warren, 57, remains incarcerated in the Palm Beach County Jail, where she faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the death of Marlene Warren, who was married at the time to Sheila Keen-Warrens husband. Earlier this year, her attorneys, who say she is innocent, asked a judge to release the woman before the trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

There is no reliable physical or testimonial evidence that she committed this crime, yet Ms. Keen-Warren has been incarcerated without a bond since Oct. 4, 2017, the womans attorneys wrote in a motion seeking bail.

In an order signed April 29, Palm Beach County Judge Scott Suskauer found that the nature of the circumstances of the offense, the weight of the evidence, the fact that Keen-Warren has access to finances that allow her to flee the area and her previous conviction for a crime of dishonesty led him to deny bond.

Keen-Warren was arrested in 2017 near her home in Abingdon, where she lived for several years.

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If we are going to close the digital divide before 2028, we first need to complete the work we are doing now, to identify the unserved and underserved areas and make sure we get them the speed they need by investing over $50 million a year into Virginia communications initiative, McClellan said, and work with our local governments to identify what is the right technology and what is the right model for their specific need.

Carroll Foy pledged to put more money into the program and create public-private partnerships so we can have virtual learning here in Virginia, before speaking about the need for more education funding.

McAuliffe said only 51% of Virginia homes have access to broadband and said it should be available to everyone. He pledged to make that happen if elected.

When asked about passenger rail, all five pledged to support expanding rail service to Bristol and stressed the importance for more rail service in other parts of the state.

McAuliffe has outraised his nearest opponent, Carroll Foy, nearly three times over, raising $9.9 million with $8.5 million on hand entering the final weeks of the campaign, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Carroll Foy has raised $3.7 million and reports $2.3 million on hand.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The prelate, 65, died after struggling with the disease for a month. His death follows that of Archbishop Emeritus Antony Anandarayar, of Pondicherry and Cuddalore.

Mumbai (AsiaNews)  The Catholic Church in India is mourning the death from coronavirus of two bishops within days of each other.

Bishop Basil Bhuriya of Jhabua (Madhya Pradesh), a 65-year-old Verbite, died yesterday from cardiac arrest at St Francis Hospital in Indore where he had been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 on 3 April. He was apparently recovering from the infection when he suddenly passed away.

Bishop Bhuriyas death follows that of Archbishop Emeritus Antony Anandarayar of Pondicherry and Cuddalore, also from COVID-19 on Tuesday.

These two deaths add to the heavy toll Indias Catholic Church is bearing in the past few weeks as the new wave of the pandemic sweeps across the land. As of yesterday, local health authorities officially reported 414,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths in just 24 hours.

Bishop Bhuriya was laid to rest in a funeral held today at Meghnagar Cemetery. After falling ill with COVID-19, he was in intensive care for weeks.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Bishop of Jhabua, a young bishop who served just six years and was loved by the people, said Bishop Chacko Thottumarickal of Indore speaking to AsiaNews.

He was a kind shepherd, and will be greatly missed, added the prelate, a fellow Verbite. After treatment, he tested negative, but his oxygen levels were low. We commend his soul to Our Merciful Father, and offer our condolences to the people of Jhabua, who lost their compassionate shepherd.

Before he became a bishop, Basil Bhuriya was a missionary who served in several parishes and taught for over nine years at the St Thomas Seminary in Mhow, said Father Joemon James, who is Verbite provincial superior for India

The prelate was a in the provincial administration of the SVD central Indian Province, Indore for two terms, he told AsiaNews. As a bishop he was known for his simplicity, unassuming nature and spirituality. I salute him for his inspiring life as the pastor of Jhabua diocese.

The Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, John Barwa, also spoke to AsiaNews about the late bishop: The Church at large, especially the Indian Church and the Society of the Divine Word in particular, have lost a young, energetic and beloved people's pastor.

As friends and companions we lived together from the first days of education until the final days of our priestly ordinations. He was a simple, hard working, dedicated pastor. He had a large heart for the poor and marginalised. The gap created by his passing will remain, forever.
A prominent defense attorney has accused the chief Superior Court judge for the district of unfairly maligning her and trying to embarrass her and interfere with her ability to practice law effectively, among other allegations.

Lisa Dubs, an attorney whose office is in Hickory but who takes cases throughout the surrounding region, asked in a lengthy court filing that Judge Robert C. Ervin not preside over any court proceedings involving Dubs. The filing says that Ervin has not acted impartially, has not given everyone the full right to be heard and has exhibited bias or prejudice against Dubs.

The crux of Dubs argument is a letter Dubs received from Ervin on March 22 referring to a session of court in Caldwell County in November and another on March 15 when Dubs had cases on the docket but didnt come to court. Ervins letter said that Dubs didnt communicate with either his office or the district attorneys office to say she wasnt coming.

These occurrences are not acceptable and my patience with this on-going problem is at an end, Ervin wrote.

In the letter, Ervin ordered Dubs to show up in court at 10 a.m. on the first day of each week that court is scheduled and to stay until her cases are addressed or she is excused by the presiding judge.
Unaccompanied minors in such a center could live there between a few weeks and a few months as they await being reunified with their parents, guardians, relatives or sponsors living in the United States.

Greensboro officials said in a prepared statement that neither the city nor county solicited the federal government to set up a site here. And any such site would not be part of the school system or social services.

"This will also come without incentives or any cost to the City or County," the city said in the statement, adding that DHHS "will solely make the decision what facilities it selects across the country."

The Greensboro site would serve as a way station that is better than the holding centers at the U.S.-Mexico border, Alston said. The U.S. government under both the Trump and Biden administrations has been criticized for operating centers that have held children in cage-like rooms and crowded conditions.

Alston said the site would be a temporary home for these children who need good living conditions while they seek their families.
Law officers from Catawba and Alexander counties attended funeral services for two Watauga County deputies who were killed in the line of duty.

A ceremony was held on the Appalachian State University campus for K-9 Deputy Logan Fox and Sgt. Chris Ward on Thursday in Boone.

Both deputies were shot and killed in Boone on April 28 when a wellness check of a residence turned into a violent standoff that left five people dead.

Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman said he and five others from his office decided to go to Watauga County to pay their respects and offer any assistance the county might need from them.

Its a bad, bad situation, Bowman said.

Bowman said the loss of the two deputies brought law enforcement from around North Carolina together to offer support to Watauga County.

Its been close to home, he said. I think it makes all law officers more aware of the calls that we go on. Our county will average three or four a week of wellness checks.

Catawba County Sheriff Don Brown also attended the funeral along with several command staff and deputies from his office.
India is currently dealing with a devastating second COVID-19 wave

New Delhi [India], May 7 (ANI): A shipment carrying 53 ventilators from Denmark landed here in India on Friday to support the country's fight against COVID-19.

"Taking forward our ties that is based on historical links and shared democratic values. Thank our friend Denmark for the shipment of 53 ventilators," the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi tweeted.

India is currently dealing with a devastating second COVID-19 wave that has swept through the nation, straining the country's health infrastructure and overburdening frontline medical workers.

Earlier in the day, a shipment containing 449 ventilators, 100 oxygen concentrators and other medical supplies from the Netherlands arrived in India.

Several countries around the globe including UK, Russia, and the US have extended support as India continues to struggle with the increase in its health infrastructure needs caused by the rising COVID-19 infections.

The member states of the EU are delivering medical aid following India's request for support as the country has witnessed a record surge in COVID-19 cases in the second wave of the pandemic.

The aid is being provided through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which is coordinated by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the European Commission. Several countries like Romania, Italy, Germany, France and Belgium have already sent in the supplies.

The European Commission on Wednesday announced that it will allocate an initial 2.2 million euros in emergency funding to respond to the surge of COVID-19 cases in India.

According to a statement by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, the funding will support the World Health Organization (WHO) for 6-month case management of COVID-19 patients, as well as strengthening laboratory capacity for COVID-19 testing. (ANI)
The 24-year-old had been living in Pakistan for two months (Facebook)

A UK resident murdered in Pakistan apparently repeatedly asked the police for protection, following death threats she received from a suspect.

Mayra Zulfiqar, a law graduate who lived in London, was found dead in a rented flat in Pakistan early on Monday with bullet wounds to her neck and arm, a post mortem revealed on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old moved to the city of Lahore in Pakistan two months ago after travelling to the country for a wedding.

Four men, two of them suspects, are thought to have broken into her flat early on Monday morning following a dispute and several death threats.

It is thought that she was friends with both suspects and that they had both wanted to marry her, reported the BBC .

According to Pakistans English-language newspaper Dawn , the victim submitted an application for police protection from suspect Zahir Jadoon, over concerns that he had threatened to kill her.

Officials have revealed that Zulfiqar had uploaded photographs of Mr Jadoon to social media following an argument. These apparently angered him.

Police confirmed they have opened first information report (FIR) on the case having received a complaint from Zulfiqars uncle, Lahore resident Mohammad Nazeer.

The FIR said that Mr Nazeer had discovered his nieces body after receiving a phone call from her father in London, to say that she had died.

Mr Nazeer also said that Zulfiqar had told him she had become involved in a dispute with two male friends. She had apparently refused both of their marriage proposals and as a result they had threatened her with dire consequences.

The police believe that Zulfiqars death was a crime of passion and one man has now been arrested in connection to her murder with the police continuing to search for the second suspect.

Sayyed Ali, an operations superintendent at Punjab Police, told Dawn that an unidentified caller had alerted the police of the murder. He added that forensic experts had attended and cordoned off the scene.

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Mr Ali said that Zulfiqar had been discovered in a pool of blood in her room with her mobile phone close to her body. Mr Ali confirmed: We have seized the mobile phone for forensic analysis.

Zulfiqar was a Belgian national of Pakistani origin who had been living with her family in the UK. The UKs Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said it was referring family inquiries to Belgian consular services.

This article was amended on 18 May, 2021. It was initially thought that Zulfiqar was a British citizen, however she was a Belgian national, resident in the UK, and we have amended the article to reflect this.

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Finland Flag (Photo/Credit: Reuters Image)

Helsinki [Finland], May 7 (ANI/Sputnik): A squadron of about 250 US Marine Corps will go to Finland to participate in a series of military exercises scheduled for June, the Finnish Air Force said on Friday.

The US Marines will partake in the Arctic Challenge Exercise 21 (ACE 21), held biennially among Finland, Norway and Sweden. The visit is under the US-Finland defense cooperation program, according to the statement.

"Karelia Air Command will host a squadron-level visit of United States Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet multi-role fighters and KC-130 tanker and transport aircraft at Rissala Air Base from 2 to 20 June 2021," the Finnish military said.

Finnish and American forces will fly training missions aimed, among other things, at practicing air combat and air-to-air refueling, according to the statement. The drills are expected to enhance fighter tactics and interoperability, as well as to share best practices with another F/A-18 squadron.

"The total strength of the detachment arriving in Finland is around 250 Marines," the statement read, adding that reservists will not be involved.

US troops and personnel will be arriving in Finland in phases beginning from mid-May, with the largest deployment expected in the last week of May. As a COVID-19 precaution, all personnel will be tested and quarantined before departure and tested again upon arrival in Finland. (ANI/Sputnik)
Representative Image

Washington [US], May 7 (ANI): New research by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln suggests that temperature can largely explain why the greatest variety of aquatic life resides in the tropics but also why it has not always and, amid record-fast global warming, soon may not again.

The bulging, equator-belted midsection of Earth currently teems with a greater diversity of life than anywhere else - a biodiversity that generally wanes when moving from the tropics to the mid-latitudes and the mid-latitudes to the poles.

Published in the journal Current Biology, the study estimates that marine biodiversity tends to increase until the average surface temperature of the ocean reaches about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, beyond which that diversity slowly declines.

During intervals of Earth's history when the maximum surface temperature was lower than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the greatest biodiversity was found around the equator, the study concluded.

But when that maximum exceeded 80 degrees, marine biodiversity ebbed in the tropics, where those highest temperatures would have manifested, while peaking in waters at the mid-latitudes and the poles.

Marine life that could travel considerable distances likely migrated north or south from the tropics during periods of extreme heat, said co-author Will Gearty, a postdoctoral researcher of biological sciences at Nebraska. Stationary or slower-moving animals, such as sponges and sea stars, may have instead faced extinction.

"People have always theorized that the tropics are a cradle of diversity -- that it pops up and then is protected there," Gearty said. "There's also this idea that ... there's lots of migration toward the tropics, but not away from it. All of that centres around the idea that the highest diversity will always be in the tropics. And that's not what we see as we go back in time."

Gearty, Yale's Thomas Boag and Stanford's Richard Stockey went back about 145 million years, compiling estimated temperatures and fossil records of molluscs -- snails, clams, cephalopods and the like -- from 24 horizontal bands of Earth that were equal in surface area.

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The trio chose mollusc records for multiple reasons: They live (and lived) around the globe, in large enough numbers to accommodate statistical analyses, with hard enough shells to yield identifiable fossils, with enough variation that their diversity trends might generalize to fish, corals, crustaceans and an array of other marine animals.

That data allowed the team to derive the temperature-diversity relationship across 10 geologic intervals that covered most of the elapsed time from the Cretaceous period through the modern-day.

"Temperature seems to account for a lot of the trend that we see in the fossil record," Gearty said. "There are certainly other factors, but this seems to be the first-order predictor of what's going on."

To investigate why temperature might be so influential and predictive, Stockey took the lead in developing a mathematical model. The model accounts for the fact that higher temperatures generally increase the amount of energy in an ecosystem, theoretically raising the ceiling on the biodiversity an ecosystem can sustain, at least to a point.

But it also factors in metabolism and the small matter of oxygen, which, by dissolving in water, makes aquatic life possible in the first place. Colder waters dissolve more oxygen, meaning that elevated temperatures naturally reduce the amount available to marine life and, by extension, potentially limit the biodiversity an ecosystem can support.

Higher temperatures also raise the metabolic demands of organisms, increasing the minimum oxygen needed to sustain active marine animals.

"That means you require more oxygen in warmer waters," Gearty said. "And if the amount of oxygen available is not satisfying that increase in metabolism, you won't survive in that environment. So, to survive, you'll need to move to another environment where the temperature is lower."

The team applied its model to numerous marine species with varying metabolisms. As expected, metabolism influenced how the population of a given species would respond to a rise in temperature, along with the temperature threshold beyond which that population would decline.

When the researchers averaged the effects of metabolism and oxygen availability across those species, they discovered that the resulting temperature-diversity relationship resembled -- and, in doing so, supported -- the one they derived from the fossil record.

"It shows a similar trend of this (biodiversity) increase and then decreases," Gearty said. "After many a day at the whiteboard just trying to figure out how to make it work, it all just came together very nicely at the end -- you know, a nice little bow on top."

Collectively, the study indicates that human-driven global warming could hit the inhabitants of tropical waters especially hard. The average surface temperature of tropical waters could jump by as many as 6 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2300, according to one projection.

And according to the fossil records analyzed for the study, similar temperature increases during the past 145 million years have sometimes permanently driven mollusc species from tropical waters. There are worrying signs that the expected trend is already underway, Gearty said.

Though the team had difficulty narrowing down the projected magnitude of the decline in biodiversity, Gearty said the worst-case projection called for the tropics losing up to 50 per cent of their marine species by 2300.

Some of the loss will take the form of migration. Yet the warming could spell doom for, say, corals and the thousands of marine species that they support, he said, as seen in the oft-fatal bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia.

"This (biodiversity loss) is already happening, and it will only keep happening unless we do something," Gearty said. "We can't really take back the buildup of carbon dioxide (in the atmosphere) that's already happened, so it's going to keep happening for some amount of time. But it's up to us to determine how long until it'll stop." (ANI)
With the dark red and black they are almost camouflaged. The visibility is decreased compared to the bright red or lime green, he wrote.

Hes right. I dont know why they changed. Concord Polices new paint schemes also seem to blend in. Of course when the lights and sirens are on they should be seen.

Asheville dude (from the opposite side of town than me) also likes to have a dope and a Moonpie.

No. 5

More about last week. Lots of people commented on my rant about the buggies left on the sidewalk at Target. Most agreed with me. A few others also mentioned they could be from the handicapped. The handicapped spaces are there and it would be certainly understandable if they left their buggies.

I went back out to Target this week and the sidewalk was clear. It was greatly appreciated.

We also heard praise from customers of Video Game World, a local business.

Lisa Tardo-Green, a nursing professor at Cabarrus College of Health Sciences, also let us know that Funko Pops are kind of like bobble-heads. She sent us a picture of a large-headed Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Still cannot get high-quality, reliable, high-speed internet service at home? You are not alone.

In fact, more than 500,000 North Carolinians do not have access to broadband because of a lack of population density or geographic barriers that prevent internet service providers from connecting to them.

The pandemic has shone a bright light on just how important broadband is for residents trying to work remotely, learn, visit with health care providers and connect with family and friends. It has become clear that broadband is not a luxury. It is critical infrastructure.

As we continue to recover from the pandemic, we know that expanding affordable, high-speed internet across the state and removing barriers to adoption are more urgent than ever.

The states investments in broadband must address these four items  infrastructure, affordability, equitable distribution and digital literacy, and that is why we need to gather better data on who is and who is not currently being served.
by Shafique Khokhar

In the Mental Government Hospital in Lahore, false accusations of blasphemy, the Nursing Superintend Khalida Suleri organized a group of Muslim nurses and occupied the church located inside the hospital. James Channan OP clarified the facts and informed the superior authorities of the Punjab police.

Lahore (AsiaNews) - In the space of four months in Pakistan there have been three episodes of false accusations of blasphemy against Christian nurses. It started with the incident of Nurse Tabita from Karachi then Mariam Lal and Nehwish Urooj from Faisalabad were accused of tearing a sticker and now another recent incident took place in the Mental Government Hospital, Jail Road, Lahore, in the province of Punjab, Pakistan.

On April 29, 2021, three Christian nurses Sakina Bibi, Jessica Khurram and Treeza Eric were on duty in the Mental Government Hospital, Jail Road, Lahroe and they were falsely accused that they were insulting Islam. The incident began the day before when one of the Christian nurses had shared a video of a person in which he had been speaking about the situation of Pakistan due to Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP) to a WhatsApp group of medical staff of the Hospital. The same video became the source of blasphemous charges against her along with two other Christian nurses.

In response the Nursing Superintendent Khalida Suleri organized a group of Muslim staff and went to the Church located inside the hospital and said their Islamic prayers organizing a rally against Christian staff while threatening Christian nurses.

The Hospital Church was allocated in 2019, at the requested of the Christian Nurses staff to the Secretary Health of Punjab, to allow staff and patients to celebrate Christmas in the premises of the hospital.

There are 700 employees working in the hospital among whom there are 339 staffers including 105 nurses who are Christian and they are given permission to pray for 30 minutes once a week by the hospital administration.

Christians in Pakistan have served their country in various fields, especially in education, nursing and in the field of charity. Since Pakistan was founded, Christians have played an important role in the field of nursing, having many hospitals that have set an extraordinary example of loving humanity towards those whom no one wants to care for or even touch. One of the great examples is the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Center (MALC) in Karachi, Pakistan, run by Dr. Ruth Pfau, who has been working in the field of leprosy control since 1956.

Country Coordinator of Human Liberation Commission Pakistan Holland, Nadeem Samuel said he found no offense against Islam in the video, and Mr. Aslam Pervaiz Sahotra investigated and asked Sakina and Jessica about this incident. According to the nurses, Mr. Samuel said, some Muslim nurses hate Christian nurses and face discrimination even in their work.

James Channan OP, a famous and well-known figure in interreligious dialogue, also met the nurses, clarified the real facts of this incident and promptly informed the higher authorities of the Punjab police. He asked the authorities to provide protection for Christian nurses. He also reassured the nurses for their safety. He also asked both sides not to make any further statements or complaints against each other. Christians will continue to use this auditorium for weekly worship as before.

Recently, the accused nurses were granted a month's leave from the hospital and thanks to the priest, social activist and government officials no charges (FIR) were filed for this bogus case. Now, with the intervention of government officials, Catholic priests and social activists, the church in the hospital is once again used for the church. But on the other hand, Christian nurses from Pakistan from different cities have come forward and started to raise their voices for their protection and dignity, expressing deep reservations about these cases of false blasphemy allegations.

Madam Rosaline, one of the senior nurse from Karachi along with other nurses have condemned this sad incident of occupying church and are requesting government to take notice against this type of incidents. Rosaline also said we the Christian nurses have been serving the country peacefully and have never discriminated on the bases of religion. The type of incidents brings unrest among the people and destroys the peace of the country and nations gets destroyed where there is violence against the innocent people. Minorities are the responsibility of the Majority; they are less in number but are doing great service to all. Nursing is a profession which is acknowledged and appreciated by all, but what has been done here in our country, Christian nurses have given the foundation of greatness to this field in Pakistan but now other nurses are destroying the peaceful atmosphere and are trying to harass Christian nurses so that we Christian nurses may leave the jobs.

Rosaline has also requested the Prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, Chief Justice and other government officials take the notice of this incident and uphold justice against the incident of Mental Hospital Lahore, providing protection to the Christian nurses everywhere in Pakistan.
Democratic lawmakers brushed aside criticisms Thursday from Republicans who said secret meetings of Democrats this week in Springfield were contrary to Democrats' promises for more transparency in redrawing of state and federal legislative maps.

"This is absolutely what people don't want to see  politicians picking the people they represent," state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said outside a fourth-floor room in the Capitol Complex where a WCIA-TV story on Wednesday showed Democratic members of the Illinois House filing in and out.

State Rep. Nicholas Smith, D-Chicago, told a WCIA reporter the closed-door meetings were where lawmakers were taking a look at "preliminary drafts" of potential new legislative districts.

Republican lawmakers said the report documented that Democrats, who hold super-majorities in the Illinois House and Senate and can exert control over the redistricting process, aren't following through with their pledges to conduct a more open process in the typically highly partisan process of map-drawing.

Republicans said Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat who has said he would veto an unfair map, shouldn't put up with the Democratic lawmakers' behavior. A spokeswoman for the governor didn't respond to a request for comment.

House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, and Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, chairwoman of the House Redistricting Committee, didn't deny Democratic lawmakers were legally meeting privately this week on redistricting.

But they said such closed-door meetings by Democrats and Republicans are common before they come together and meet publicly as part of the redistricting process.

"We're looking at all the information that has been brought forth in the public hearings, just like the other three caucuses are, evaluating what the different shifts in our population might look like," Harris said.

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Hernandez said the Democrats are "just following the process like we always have," adding Republicans "are doing the same. It's nothing new. It's not a secret."

Hernandez said the once-every-10-year process of redistricting, which is called for in the Illinois Constitution, is offering public participation "In a much better way" through about 20 public hearings, and a more open process than in past decades.

"Now it's into the stage of getting some input from legislators," Hernandez said. "It matters to hear from your legislators who are representing those district to hear what input that they have. It's just a matter of compiling."

But Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, a Redistricting Committee member, said the partisan status quo in the redistricting process has only given Illinois a bad reputation.

"Politicians should not be allowed to select their own voters," Spain said, looking down the hall at the locked door on the room Democrats had used. "Today, we actually get to see exactly where it happens. It is completely an injustice to democracy that we bear witness to this kind of action.

"This is the doorway to further corruption in the state of Illinois, and it needs to stop," Spain said.

Added Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, another Redistricting Committee member, "This map has huge consequences for the next 10 years, and if we see this kind of backdoor process play out, that is not one that empowers voters."

Republicans have called for the swift passage of a law creating a bipartisan commission to draw maps more fairly. Democrats have said there's not enough time for that.

Republicans also have advocated waiting until after June 30 to finalize maps, so both sides can have official Census data for map-drawing rather than the Census Bureau's estimated population through the American Community Survey.

Democrats haven't indicated a willingness to wait, despite this year's nationwide delay in releasing official tallies of population totals in individual communities and counties. That is because a delay beyond June 30 would allow for a process outlined in the constitution that could result in partisan control over the map-making process being determined by a coin flip.

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Inmar Intelligence is moving on from its anchor space in Innovation Quarter, but is not leaving downtown Winston-Salem.

Inmar said in a company blog posted Thursday that it is departing from a 242,000-square-foot headquarters building renovated from a vacant former R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. facility.

The company is taking about 177,000 square feet in the One West Fourth tower to the west. It is planning to complete the move by May 2022.

Inmar, founded in 1980, offers consulting and digital software services in the promotional, health-care and supply-chain industries. It has nearly 1,000 local employees and about 5,000 companywide.

It will occupy the second through fifth floors in the 13-floor One West Fourth building, representing 38.3% of the 461,500 square feet.

The company said the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a motivating factor for needing less space once it became clear that the majority of employees are planning to continue to work from home post-pandemic.

The pandemic provided an opportunity to explore a reimagined, transformed workplace that holds advantages for faster innovation, better client service and improved employee satisfaction, the company said in the blog.
Paul Michael Angells documentary Medicine Man: The Stan Brock Story, which is being screened at the 2021 RiverRun International Film Festival, is a wonderful and touching look at one mans quest to bring free health care to Americas most vulnerable populations, and an overall testament to one mans dedication to improving society.

One part expose of the life and career of British adventurer Stanley Brock, and one part investigation into Americas faltering health-care system, the documentary threads together biography with topical investigative journalism. It shows how Brock made the late-in-life transition from roving animal wrangler to roving medicine man. The film mixes archival footage showcasing Brocks celebrity past on the television program Wild Kingdom with new interviews about his company RAM and its traveling pop-up clinics.

The documentarys most compelling moments come from the on-the-ground footage captured at Brocks mobile health-care sites. We see everyday folks camping out for days for a chance to get everything from tooth extractions to tumors removed free of charge.

The filmmakers capture excellent interviews with down-on-their-luck Americans unable to get care without the help of Brocks intervention and some who emphatically disagree with the notion of universal health care.
On a December afternoon, I watched a harrier, a long-winged hawk, as it soared over Hanging Rock, heading northward. Suddenly, a raven began to trail the harrier, matching it wingbeat for wingbeat but gaining on it. The raven caught up and approached the harrier from just a foot or so above. The raven swooped down and tapped the harrier on the back, prompting the harrier to pull up and strike at the raven with its razor-sharp beak, but the raven drew back, out of the harriers reach.

The harrier resumed its flight northward, but the raven approached again, and again dropped down to peck lightly at the harriers back. The raven kept up this game, even after the harrier rolled over, mid-air and struck at the raven with its talons. Again, the raven drew back out of reach.

If a crow or jay were to have attempted such a feat, it would have uttered the most raucous calls the whole time.

But the raven carried out its taunt noiselessly.

This behavior was carried out in December, well outside the nesting season, so the raven could not have been protecting a nest or young.

The harrier preys on small mammals such as mice and voles, and small birds, so it didnt pose a direct threat to the raven.

So, what was its motivation?
Q: Why does Duke Energy have an $8 charge if you want to pay by credit card or even a debit card? Other services do not, including AT&T, Piedmont Natural Gas, and City of Winston-Salem for water. With the poor mail service, checks mailed may not get there by the due date.

B.M.

Answer: Jimmy Flythe, the west region director for government and community relations for Duke Energy Carolinas, explained the fees and what Duke Energy has done during the pandemic.

Credit and debit card convenience fees are paid by the customer using the service as defined in North Carolinas rules and regulations governing utility operations.

These fees cover the processing costs associated with handling credit card and electronic debit payments. No part of the convenience fee goes to Duke Energy.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we received approval to waive credit and debit card convenience fees for residential accounts only. And as of April 5, this fee has been eliminated for Duke Energy Carolinas residential customers. Non-residential customers have several no fee options including traditional mail and automatic bank draft.
A wise person once said, Most of us are busy preparing for the stage of life we just left behind.

As COVID in North Carolina seems to be on the wane  cross your fingers  and the state comes cautiously back to life, its inevitable that well examine our experience and glean some knowledge to use the next time we find ourselves living through a public-health crisis.

One bill currently before the state legislature seeks to rewrite the rules of patient visitation, avoiding the tragic situation of the many COVID patients who died while isolated, in hospitals or elsewhere. On the surface the bill sounds beneficial, but it may be concentrating on the wrong lesson.

The No Patient Left Alone Act, which the state Senate passed Wednesday, secures visitation rights for hospital patients and long-term care residents during a state public-health emergency, the Journals Richard Craver reported earlier this week. It would allow patients a designated visitor during a declared disaster or public-health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It would apply to hospitals, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, allowing a spouse, child, parent or other family member to be at a patients side. The bill also applies to long-term residents who might not be infected but are still isolated during the emergency.
Different outcomes

Americans disagree about many things, but dont we all agree that nobody should be deprived of liberty without a fair trial? The Journal recently reported that accused murderer Jabarius Jaon Ford has been languishing in the Forsyth County Jail since June 13, 2017 (Murder suspect to remain in custody, May 5). Before the pandemic, Ford had already been held for 2 years, without trial. Is this the system of justice we learned about in school?

Many jail inhabitants have been charged with less serious crimes than Ford. They remain locked up because they cannot afford bail.

Two people charged with the same crime can have very different outcomes. Those who can pay leave jail immediately and go home to live their lives and prepare for their court dates. Those who cannot pay bail remain in custody, often losing their jobs, homes, even their children. They are far more likely to plead guilty, regardless of innocence, and are found guilty more often and given longer sentences than people released on bail.

In jail they go without adequate treatment for medical, physical and substance abuse problems. Its violent, dangerous and full of COVID and other pathogens. If its not punishment, it sure sounds a lot like it.
by Melani Manel Perere

The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) has initiated projects for those most in need. With the country at a critical juncture, churches and parish facilities can be used in the vaccination campaign. The Church is trying to help the people most in need.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  Sri Lankan Christians are mobilising to help the authorities and fellow Sri Lankans stem the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, which in recent weeks has particularly virulent in South Asia, starting with neighbouring India.

The National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) is undertaking several aid and support projects for those most in need at this critical juncture of a human calamity that has swept the planet.

On behalf of the NCCSL, its Secretary General, Fr Maxwell Dos, offered condolences to the bereaved families of those who have died and has renewed his organisations commitment to solidarity with the people of our land with the aim of curtailing the transmission of the virus.

At a press conference held yesterday at NCCSL headquarters in Colombo, attended by the leaders of the countrys many Churches, NCCSL representatives asked the faithful to pray, especially for India, so that life and work may resume.

On the domestic side, the NCCSL urged fellow Sri Lankans to scrupulously adhere to the guidelines laid down by health authorities both at home and work.

Fr Maxwell announced his intention to allow places of worship and other church facilities to be used as vaccination centres, to encourage and accelerate the immunisation campaign, and accommodate people in quarantine or unable to remain in isolation.

For Bishop Keerthisiri Fernando of Kurunegala, of the Church of Ceylon (Anglican), another factor of concern is facilitating the repatriation of Sri Lankans stranded abroad.

For the bishop, in addition to economic support for families facing hardships or those who cannot work because they must place themselves in quarantine, it is necessary to provide all possible material and spiritual support to those who live in challenging and uncomfortable situations due to the pandemic.

We need to start a program to help people do their work and earn something, the bishop explained. This includes helping them sell their fruit and vegetables. To the end, we opened a small shop in Kurunegala where people can sell their goods.

Hopefully such support can go to the poorest and most marginalised people, whatever their religion or ethnicity, only because they are poor and need help.
Article In Brief

Wajiha Yousuf recently matched to the neurology residency program at the University of Pennsylvania. Here, she details the patient encounter that drew her to the specialty, her interest in health equity, and the nonprofit organization she began to help improve health literacy among migrant workers.

Wajiha Yousuf was born and raised in the Middle East but her father's job in finance meant that she moved around a lot and lived in several countries before her senior year of high school. Still, as a citizen of Pakistan, she wanted to shed her sheltered, comfortable life and spend her last year in high school in Karachi.

During her return to Pakistan she learned about extreme poverty, disparities in equity, and knew that she wanted to incorporate these experiences into what she decided to do in the world. She began teaching local children, many of whom could not afford to go to school, how to read.

Her strengths were definitely in science and she was accepted into Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar. It working with them drove me to medicine.

Yousuf considered pediatrics, but on her second day of her pediatrics rotation, she realized that she wasn't sure. The next rotation was neurology and she remembers thinking: Yes, this is a field that I want to wake up to every day.

One of her fiercest advocates was Salman Al Jerdi, MD, a neurologist who graduated from Weill Cornell in Qatar and did his residency in the US. He is so insightful, compassionate and funny, she said of her mentor. He taught us how to listen to our patients so that they feel heard.

Qatar is a country filled with migrant workers who arrive there to make a better living, Yousuf explained. Many are often there alone, and don't speak the native language. Dr. Al Jerdi always found a way to communicate with them, even when he did not speak their language, she said.

She took his lessons to heart. She remembers one migrant worker who showed symptoms of Guillain-Barre syndrome at the airport, and she was no longer able to speak or read. By the time she arrived at the hospital she was partially paralyzed but her respiratory muscles were still working.

One day, it looked like she wasn't smiling back with her eyes. Others around her didn't think she was any different. That evening, I saw the whole ICU team in her room and they had to intubate her. Her respiratory muscles shut down. She remained in the ICU for a month, and slowly recovered. But I realized that many people dismissed her for not being local and not speaking the language, and even being a woman. I wanted to change this attitude. Everyone deserves to be treated equally.

Yousuf observed that many of the migrant workers were not taking care of their health, and she began asking patients about their lifestyle habits and what health issues they have, and whether they take the medications they need.

We want to see whether taking advantage of the programhealth education, as well as grocery vouchers, tax credits, and cards to pay for calls to their familieshelps them take better care of themselves.WAJIHA YOUSUF

No one had ever sat down with them and asked them about high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, she said.

Yousuf started a non-profit organization, OneLife, to help improve health literacy among migrant workers. We want to see whether taking advantage of the programhealth education, as well as grocery vouchers, taxi credits, and cards to pay for calls to their familieshelps them take better care of themselves. 

She also became involved in stroke and multiple sclerosis research at the medical school. As part of the medical school program, students spent three months on clinical rotations in New York, Yousuf explained, and she knew that she wanted to do a neurology residency in the US.

The pandemic meant that she would return home and do her interviews online. She loved the response from the neurologists at the University of Pennsylvania who understood that she was interested in technology and health equities. She was sold on Penn but didn't want to get her hopes up. She knew an algorithm would seal her neurology residency. She was with her family and a few friends on Match Day and was shaking when it was time to click open the email.
What That Temporary Pause in the J&J COVID-19 Vaccine Means for Neurology Risks to Look for and How to Treat

Article In Brief

In the wake of blood-clotting disorders in six young women who had been vaccinated with the single Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine, neurovascular neurologists and hematologists address questions about assessing risks and managing the side effects.

Neurologists are getting queries from anxious patients in the aftermath of a nationwide temporary pause in administration of the single-shot Janssen/Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. As of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Janssen vaccine were administered around the country. Two days later, it climbed to 7.2 million doses.

The pause, requested by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 13, came in the wake of reports that six young women, ages 18 to 48, had developed serious blood clotting problems after receiving the vaccine. At press time, one woman had died, four others had not recovered yet, and one woman was discharged home.

The CDC and FDA said the pause was in effect until more is known about the unusual risk for cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) and thrombocytopenia, or low levels of blood platelets.

All of the six cases of CVST and low platelets involved such symptoms as headache, nausea, vision problems, abdominal pain and malaise, seizures and stroke that occurred between six and 13 days after the women received the vaccine. All of these women tested negative for a COVID-19 infection, and it was unclear which risk factors might have led to these serious blood clots that triggered stroke and other serious problems.

It makes me nervous when trials are fast-tracked, but this was critical in the pandemic situation. We are probably seeing safety signals that have not been identified because of the warp-speed of this process, said Jennifer Armstrong, MD, MPH, FAHA, an associate professor of pediatrics in the section of neurology at University of Colorado, who specializes in neurovascular disease. That said, she added: The amount of COVID-19 disabilities and death, including CVST and stroke, is higher than what we are seeing in the adverse events with the vaccine.

Understanding the Risk

So what should be done? We figure out what is going on, Dr. Armstrong said. The vaccine has still been a good, needed option for people, and most who have been vaccinated did not experience adverse events.

She and her colleagues have already received a dozen calls from worried patients, and the university has decided not to offer the Janssen vaccine until the pause is lifted. She is telling patients who have already had the vaccine to contact their health care provider if they develop headaches or visual changes that could be a red flag for CVST and a low platelet count.

The risk is rare but it is enough of a signal that we need to be cautious and pay attention to new-onset headaches or strokes in people who have recently gotten the vaccine, added Ryan Felling, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine who specializes in pediatrics and stroke. I don't think we know yet why this is happening, but it may be that the person's body is creating antibodies against the virus and that the antibodies are recognizing and attacking normal parts of the blood. I am cautioning all my patients until more is known.

Avindra Nath, MD, FAAN, clinical director of the division of intramural research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, also feels that these events may be an antibody-mediated phenomena. That there are only six people identified so far suggests that there has to be some susceptibility factor that we haven't identified yet, he said. It is like the perfect storm. These are all young women and they have high levels of estrogen. Other known risk factors for CVST include dehydration, obesity, and use of birth control pills. In these cases it might be the body's immune response to the vaccine that may be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Dr. Nath, a neurovirologist, added that he believes that the federal pause is the right thing to do. It could be an unusual antibody response to the spike proteins and not due to the viral vector itself. At this point, scientists don't have a clue, he said.

He and others stressed the importance of vaccination to prevent serious COVID19 infections. These vaccines have been a godsend; their success has been mind-boggling. I think these vaccines are safe given the risk of COVID-19 infection.

Stephan Mayer, MD, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at New York Medical College, and director of neurocritical care and emergency neurology for the Westchester Health Network, agreed. It is appropriate to stop and pause and let epidemiologists figure it out, he said. What if there is something about this vaccine that can activate coagulation? If you have clots in large venous channels that drain out of the brain and this channel is blocked, the pooled blood gets backed up. The surrounding tissue gets swollen and congested. The symptoms are typical of ischemic stroke.

Advise on Treatment

Meanwhile, federal officials warn that health professionals should be advised that patients who show up with symptoms of CVST and thrombocytopenia, and are assessed as having a vaccine-induced clotting event and low platelet count, should not receive low-molecular weight heparin or heparin for the treatment of CVST. This class of drugs could make matters worse when vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia (or heparin-induced thrombocytopenia) is added to the mix.

Mary Cushman, MD, a vascular hematologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center, professor of medicine and pathology at the Larner College of Medicine at University of Vermont, and medical director of the Thrombosis and Hemostasis program, conducts research on risk factors for blood-clotting disorders. She has also become a COVID-19 clinical trialist as vascular problems can occur in patients with the virus.

Neurologists need to be on the lookout for vaccine-induced CVST and thrombocytopenia, she said. The federal pause on use of the vaccine means that our system is working and this pause will allow the medical community to be aware and educated about what to do. People on the frontlines can't afford to miss this.

A quick and accurate assessment is the first step, said Gustavo Saposnik, MD, PhD, MPH, associate professor of neurology at St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto and editor-in-chief of the World Stroke Academy for the World Stroke Organization.

Assessing this rare but serious adverse event requires a team approach that often begins with a person showing up at the emergency department with a persistent headache, visual problems, and maybe stroke-like symptoms, Dr. Saposnik said. In addition, patients with vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia may also complain of abdominal pain, as clots can develop in the deep veins in the legs, pelvis, or lungs.

He said that physicians should take a medical and vaccine history, and if there is suspicion of CVST and low platelets, the work-up should include blood tests and markers such a D-dimer test that is generally elevated in CVST, but also in COVID-19 and other infections.

Dr. Saposnik recommends that physicians follow the guidelines for the management of CVST by ordering an MRI and magnetic resonance venography to look for clots in the veins. They should also determine whether the platelet count is within the normal range or not and consult a hematologist. The role of the hematologist should be to confirm this diagnosis with testing like PF4 antibodies, offer advise on the use of intravenous immunoglobulin as well as direct alternative anticoagulation treatments to heparin. Dr. Cushman said the antibody test may take a few days to get the results back and they need to make clinical decisions before they know the test results.

Treatments must be quickly administered, which is why the CDC and FDA sent out letters to health care practitioners throughout the country so that they are aware of the rare side effect, how to treat it, and how to report the events to the CDC's Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS).

The Federal Agency Response

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is investigating the cases involving the six young women who experienced adverse events. The FDA and CDC held public hearings with the ACIP on April 14, at which time Janssen's chief medical officer and head of global safety, Aran Maree, MD, shared data with the committee about these events and others identified in their clinical trials.

The company has already completed one phase 3 clinical trial of the single-dose vaccine, which is built on a human adenovirus vector delivery system. The study included data on 43,783 people who received the vaccine or a placebo injection. The second study that includes another 28,277 people and calls for two doses is ongoing and thus is still blinded. The company is also overseeing an open-label study in South Africa where they have delivered vaccines to 272,438 people and plan to treat and follow a total of half a million individuals.

Janssen also had recent data on a 25-year-old man who developed CVST and hemorrhage eight days after receiving his vaccine.

The April 14 meeting of the CDC's ACIP committee ended after more than four hours without a vote as to whether they have enough information to answer these two questions: Does ACIP have enough information to make interim age or risk factor recommendations for use of the vaccine? What recommendations does ACIP feel are appropriate given the current available information available on the Janssen vaccine?

The group was scheduled to reconvene toward the end of April to see whether enough information will become available to answer these questions.

This is not the first time this serious vaccine-related side effect has come up. In the UK and Europe, AstraZeneca, a company that also uses an adenovirus vector (from a chimp) has reported the same serious side effects. For instance, in the UK, where more than 20 million doses have been administered, there were 79 cases of serious blood clots (CVST and other types of clots) and 19 deaths, according to the European Medicines Agency. Fifty-one vaccine recipients were women and 28 men. Many European countries, including Germany, Denmark, Norway, and Austria, have put a temporary suspension on use of AstraZeneca's two-dose vaccine.

According to the CDC and FDA, the combination of CVST and low platelet counts has not been observed in the mRNA-based vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer, which became available in December. Most of the people in the US who have been vaccinated have received the mRNA vaccines. Dr. Cushman said that she is receiving calls from people worried about these adverse events after taking the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, and she is reassuring them that they have not seen these problems with these vaccines.

Janssen scientists are continuing to study these serious adverse events. While causality has not been fully established between these very rare events and our vaccine, we recognize that these events could represent an important potential risk with the Janssen vaccine, said Dr. Maree.

Henry H. Bernstein, DO, MHCM, FAAP, an ACIP/CDC member and professor of pediatrics at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, said that it is a credit to the VAERS, co-managed by the CDC and FDA, that this signal was identified. There is a real concern that the CVST and low platelets may be attributed to the vaccine, but we will need more information and do a risk/benefit analysis to come to any decision about how to address these potential problems and decide if and when the temporary pause should be lifted.

He added that these events are incredibly serious and have even resulted in death. Although extremely rare, the initial safety data suggest that these events are three times higher than the expected rates of these conditions in women 20-50 years of age.

We need as many people as possible vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine to develop an appropriate level of herd immunity and help put this pandemic behind us, said Dr. Bernstein.

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, MD, said that they have hypotheses about why these rare events are occurring on the heels of the vaccine in some patients. It may be a similar mechanism that we see with other adenovirus vector vaccines. This may be an immune response that occurs very rarely and leads to activation of platelets and these extremely rare blood clots, Dr. Woodcock said.

The vaccination triggers an autoimmune response and leads to the body's immune system attacking its own platelets or other parts of the coagulation system, she explained.
OBrien did just that.

His father was not a practicing Catholic, but he supported me. The day I left for the seminary, he took me down to the train station and said, If it doesnt work out, come home.

OBrien boarded the train to Denver. On Sept. 9, 1953, he entered St. Thomas Seminary as the youngest of his 35-member class. He had turned 18 just five days before. Eight years later, on May 23, 1961, he was ordained at St. Marys Cathedral in Grand Island. He was 25 years old.

His career begins

OBrien first served as a chaplain at St. Marys Hospital in North Platte. He then was assigned to Sidney as assistant priest at St. Patricks Church and as a teacher at the Catholic high school. You did whatever you were told, he said.

In 1961, he went to Eddyville and Amherst when the priest there was called into service during the Cuban missile crisis. I thought it would just be a couple of months, but then it became 11 months, and I never got back to Sidney, he said.

In Sept. 1, 1962, he was assigned to Grand Island as an assistant priest at St. Marys Cathedral and a teacher at Central Catholic High School.
Two teenagers say they were robbed at gunpoint Thursday night near Lincoln Northeast High School.

Officer Luke Bonkiewicz said they went to North 61st Street and Madison Avenue shortly after 7:30 p.m., where they talked to two teen boys, a 16- and 15-year-old.

They told police they had gone there to sell vape pens to some people theyd met on Snapchat. But when the buyers, two teenagers, got there, one pointed a black handgun at them while the other punched them multiple times.

Bonkiewicz said the thieves took the boys' wallets, AirPods, two vape pens and other property totaling about $235.

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He also noted the OPS board recently passed a resolution making clear that it knows that the district owns its pension debt.

Kolterman said it would take a majority vote of a future Legislature for the state to assume the debt. That would require the governors support or enough votes to override a veto.

If theres anybody who is thinking thats going to happen, Id like you to stand up and raise your hand, Kolterman said.

Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, whose district includes part of OPS, agreed with the assessment, saying it would be foolish for future state senators to take on that huge bill.

To say this is somehow a slippery slope is simply not the case, he said.

Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte was one senator who wouldnt rule out a future Legislature taking that step.

Somebody in the future will bring it when things get tough, and money will be transferred because urban outvotes rural, he said.
Lancaster County will contract with two national juvenile justice organizations to review the Lancaster County Youth Services Center and take a broader look at how to better handle juvenile detention.

The recent departure of Michelle Schindler, the long-time director of the youth services center, provides an opportunity to do an on-site review, which hasnt happened for more than 20 years, said Lancaster County Human Services Director Sara Hoyle.

Over the past quarter century, experts have learned much about brain development of young people and the impact of trauma, she said.

Not that theres anything wrong, its just that its been so long and there have been so many developments that have happened, she said.

Its also a good time to do a broader review of kids in detention, specifically looking at how to create the residential programs needed to help them.

About 75% of the young people at the detention center have already been through the court system and are awaiting placement in some kind of residential treatment or respite program ordered by the court, Hoyle said.

That means there are many young people in detention that should be somewhere else, getting the treatment they need, she said.
If you've got a big machine like the Z8 Automatic or S8, you're likely using it for customers in a waiting room or employees in a breakroom, so you don't want coffee that's too strong. Death Wish might be popular, but it isn't for everyone. Go with a light or medium roast that's not too acidic or bitter. When shopping for a home machine like the D6 or A1, you can be a bit pickier and get what suits your taste.
This is not a case that we will stop investigating before we take it to trial, Wilber said.

Wilber declined to provide additional facts about the case, including whether officials think Dehghanpour was abducted from the UNO campus or was sexually assaulted. Doty did say, however, that investigators dont think Dehghanpour and Christensen were acquaintances.

Hadley Mikovec, a Pottawattamie County Sheriff crime scene technician who helped on the case, said DNA technology has advanced significantly in the past four decades and advised law enforcement authorities to reconsider physical evidence they have and how a second look could be helpful in solving cases.

I would like to encourage the family and friends of homicide victims to never give up hope and to continue to work diligently with law enforcement agencies handling our investigations, she said. Let Firozehs case be an example that it is never too late to seek answers.

Wilber noted that its difficult to figure out what is valuable to test from the bags and boxes full of evidence officials may have and that the state crime lab is busy with several cases.
All three Nebraska congressmen are declining to say how they expect to vote when Republican House members decide whether to oust Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming from her House GOP leadership role.

Former President Donald Trump and his allies are demanding that Republicans replace Cheney as chair of the House GOP Conference in the wake of her continuing criticism of Trump for his claims disputing the 2020 presidential election results that ousted him from the White House and for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

"The 2020 presidential election was not stolen," Cheney has tweeted. "Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system."

During a closed meeting hosted by the American Enterprise Institute earlier this week, Cheney said: "What he (Trump) did on Jan. 6 is a line that cannot be crossed."

Trump is urging House Republicans to replace Cheney with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, a pro-Trump congresswoman.

Asked whether he will support continuation of Cheney's leadership role, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry replied: "Our conference will discuss this matter next week."
A legislative firebrand on Thursday called for Nebraska lawmakers to "maintain and defend" the U.S. and state Constitutions against federal "abuse of power."

Toward that end, State Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte urged the Executive Board to send Legislative Resolution 107 to the full Legislature. He introduced the nonbinding resolution, which was co-signed by 30 other senators and details alleged abuses in several areas, including gun rights and religious liberty.

"We ask this committee to advance this resolution so as we can fulfill our duty to petition our federal government for a redress of our grievances," he said. "I would appreciate that we do speak for all Nebraskans."

But there was little unity among those who testified at the Thursday hearing.

Supporters included Kathleen Kaugh of Omaha, who described the resolution as a statement of where Nebraska stands on the "insidious erosion" of constitutional rights. She pointed particularly to people's right to make their own health care decisions on vaccinations and masks.

"We are under attack, our individual rights and our rights as a state," she said.
"This is a bill that tilts the criminal justice system further away from being just, in the favor of prosecution, incarceration and conviction," said Cavanaugh, who is a defense attorney.

The filibuster was launched Thursday after an amendment was defeated that would have allowed an Omaha man, convicted in a slaying 21 years ago, another chance to argue he was wrongly sent to prison.

A group of advocates have called for the release from prison of Earnest Jackson, who was found guilty of first-degree murder while two co-defendants, including the purported shooter, were deemed not guilty based on their claims of self-defense.

"We just voted to keep an innocent man in prison," said Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha after the amendment's defeat.

Hilkemann said that while he sympathized with Jacksons case, adding it to his LB496 would have removed support for his priority bill, and likely led to a veto by Gov. Pete Ricketts. Wayne should have pursued the Jackson case in a bill he had introduced, Hilkemann said, rather than trying to attach it to his legislation.
Walton suggests that donors who think kids should have options should give without expecting a tax break. However, nonprofit organizations simply cannot raise enough funds to meet the demand from these families. So LB364 creates a mechanism. It has nothing to do with serving the needs of donors. It has everything to do with the needs of children, children who were not born into a reality where school options are readily available.

Many opponents to school choice, including several of our colleagues, benefited from choice as a child or currently exercise choice for their own children. Perhaps they cannot relate to the single mom who works two jobs but still struggles to cover living expenses, let alone the cost of escaping a school that is failing her children.

Maybe they've not met a father whose child has a special, unmet learning need but cannot afford another option because he himself did not receive an adequate education. Or they've not heard the story of a child who is constantly bullied for being different and begs not to go back to school each day.

As lawmakers, our job is to work in the best interest of all Nebraskans and those who cannot rely upon the privileges so many of us enjoy in particular.
And so its addressing many of the concerns that we, as a common council, have in our charge for addressing quality of life for residents, Jung said.

However, he continued, it really is only one piece of the puzzle ... by no means is this the whole plan.

One of the best parts of shared electric scooters is theyre fun, he pointed out. He quoted one constituent as saying: This is play with a purpose.

Scooter cap

The ordinance did pass with almost everything a scooter company could want.

Michael Covato, a representative from Bird, attended the Public Services and Works Committee meeting last week.

At that time, he indicated the company would prefer to come in with 300 scooters.

Will 100 be a problem? Jung doesnt think so. It is a pilot year, after all.

I believe it will work, Jung said. If it does, well add more and if we need to review the policy, this gives us an opportunity to do that.

Local government needs to be agile and take good ideas and run with them  or scoot with them, I should say, he said with a laugh.
Young adults and children are far less likely than older adults to get severely sick or die from COVID-19. But the increase in cases, many caused by variants, are leading to more reports of serious illness. Six people in their 20s died in Maryland from COVID during the last 10 days of April alone. And case rates for children have doubled since March, according to state figures.
1. Yes. Its important to keep my child as safe as possible. We plan to take advantage.

2. Yes. With the school district dropping its mask mandate, its a necessary step.

3. No. Local COVID cases are dropping. There is no good reason to vaccinate my child.

4. No. There hasnt been enough data on vaccinated children. I think Ill hold off.

5. Unsure. I havent decided yet whether to take part in the vaccine clinics.

Vote

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Simply amazing, is how Robin Davis, owner of Maxie Bs, describes these unique bars that are on her Greensboro, North Carolina, bakery menu all year long. They are both gluten-free and vegan, which delights many of our customers. We really developed them for this purpose  to provide a wonderful dessert item for people looking for either something vegan, gluten-free or both. If you dont need a vegan or gluten-free bar, you can also use all-purpose flour and butter instead, Davis says.

The crust and topping each have the same ingredients in the same amounts with a slightly different technique. Simply measure them out at the same time, but place the crusts dry ingredients in a food processor bowl and the toppings dry ingredients in a separate large bowl before proceeding as directed in the instructions.

Jam Crumble Bars

Yields: 8 bars

Crust

 cup gluten-free or all-purpose flour

 cup old-fashioned oats (do not use quick oats)

 cup chopped pecans

2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp packed brown sugar

 tsp baking soda

 tsp salt

 cup melted coconut oil or butter

nonstick cooking spray

Topping

 cup gluten-free or all-purpose flour

 cup old-fashioned oats (do not use quick oats)

 cup chopped pecans

2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp plus 2 tsp packed brown sugar

 tsp baking soda

 tsp salt

 cup melted coconut oil or butter

1 cups of your favorite berry jam

Preheat oven to 325F.

Set up food processor with knife blade attached. Measure out dry crust ingredients and place in food processor bowl; measure out dry topping ingredients and place in large bowl.

Prepare Crust: Pulse dry ingredients in food processor bowl to combine. Add oil and pulse just until ingredients are moistened.

Spray 8-by-8-inch metal, glass or ceramic baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line pan with 2 sheets of parchment paper going in opposite directions so that parchment extents 1 inch over all sides of pan. Spray parchment generously with nonstick cooking spray. Press crust mixture into bottom of pan.

Prepare Topping: Stir dry ingredients until well combined. Drizzle in oil and stir with fork just until a crumble topping is formed, but not a paste.

Spread jam evenly and almost to the edges on top of crust. Sprinkle topping evenly over jam to cover; lightly press topping into jam. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until edges are golden brown (center may still appear loose). Cool completely on wire rack. Use parchment to lift bar out of pan and onto cutting board. Cut bar in half, then cut each strip into 4 bars. Store bars in airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

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A La Crosse County man accused of illegally entering the U.S. Capitol building during a Jan. 6 riot is the fourth active-duty military member charged in the incident.

Abram Markofski, 24, was charged Monday in federal court with entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, violent entry/disorderly conduct, and parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a capitol building.

The criminal complaint says Markofski and 29-year-old Brandon Nelson of Dane County traveled to Washington, D.C., together Jan. 5 and stayed overnight. The following day, they attended a speech given by then-President Donald Trump and were part of a large crowd that descended on the Capitol. The crowd was protesting the certification of Electoral College votes that confirmed Joe Bidens victory over Trump in the Nov. 3, 2020, election.

Wisconsin National Guard spokesperson Joe Trovato confirmed that Markofski enlisted into the Army National Guard in July 2019 and holds the rank of private 1st class in the 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry.

Trovato said Thursday the Guard cant comment on individual personnel matters. He said incidents of Guard members charged with crimes are handled on a case-by-case basis.

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This is a murderer who would do it again, Fimples uncle Paul Brand told the court.

Brands was one of 26 victim/witness statements, several of which were read aloud. They described Fimple as a considerate and hard-working young man who was less than a month away from joining the U.S. Navy.

Anthony was a good kid, said another uncle, Mark Brand. He was protective of his younger sisters, soft-spoken and polite and respected his parents.

Several people who addressed the court asked Levine to impose a life sentence without parole. Paul Brand said life without parole would assure the family wont be pleading at a parole hearing down the road.

Fimples father, Gustav Fimple, asked the court to try to imagine the horror this monster inflicted on my family.

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He said the only thing that can assure justice is when I draw my last breath, Ill do it knowing that this monster has either died or will have died having never seen freedom again. I beg this court to deprive this murderer of my 19-year-old son of any hope.
Rodgers grew up in California, went to the University of California, Berkeley  the most liberal place on the planet, not counting Madison, Hands says  and Rodgers guest-hosted "Jeopardy," suggesting intellectual prowess. His trademark as a football player is smarts, catching opposing teams with 12 players on the field to earn a free play.

Favre grew up in Mississippi and went to the University of Southern Mississippi. He had a bit part in "There's Something About Mary," but isn't Hollywood like Rodgers is (he's engaged to a film actress). Sure, Rodgers used to date a NASCAR driver (from Beloit), but Favre owned his own NASCAR motorsports team. Favre is rural, hunts and fishes, and was known as a gunslinger as a player who often was at his best during broken plays that he winged with incredible success.
So far, 81.9% of Marylanders 65 and older have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Thats in addition to 66.8% of those between 50 and 64 and 50.3% of those between 18 and 49. In the youngest group of eligible recipients  16 and 17-year-olds  37.1% have received at least one shot.
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, 866-366-3723, uses a risk-based inspection reporting process for restaurants and other food handlers.

Calamus Run Farm, 672 Georgetown Road, Ronks, opening, April 30. Pass. No violations.

Country Pretzel Twists, 955 N. State St., Ephrata, April 30. Pass. An accumulation of dust and dirt on top of Avantco oven; cleaned and sanitized utensils located near three-bay sink are stored with food contact surfaces exposed to hand contact when retrieved by food employees. Blades on fan located over prep table contain static dust and has the potential to contaminate food below. Wood pretzel paddle is no longer a smooth, easily cleanable surface. Food facility has available chlorine sanitizer test strips; however, they are the wrong type. There are several broken, cracked and missing floor tiles throughout facility, rendering the floor not smooth and easily cleanable. Tape is being used to cover holes near threshold of storage room; repeat violation. Carpet mats are being used as a floor covering in the food prep area, which are not smooth easily cleanable surfaces; repeat violation.

Fisher's Sandwich Shack, 955 N. State St., Ephrata, April 30. Passed. Food handler not wearing a beard net.

Lapp Valley Farm Ice Cream, 955 N. State St., Ephrata, follow-up, April 30. Passed. Certified food manager certificate is not posted in a conspicuous location for public viewing.

Ridgetop Bakery, 955 N. State St., Ephrata, opening, April 30. Pass. No violations.

Singing Spring Foods, 1363 Valley Road, Quaryville, opening, April 30. Pass. No violations.

Taco To Go, 114 N. Third St., Columbia, April 30. Pass. No violations.

Brickers Famous French Fries, 120 N. Duke St., April 29. Pass. No violations.

D.Y. Little Beverage Distributor, 1224 Lancaster Ave., Columbia, April 29. Passed. No violations.

The Flour Child, 646 Union St., Columbia, follow-up, April 29. Passed. No violations.

J's Snack Stand, 101 W. Fulton St., New Holland, April 29. Passed. In downstairs snack bar, deeply scored bain-marie cutting board not resurfaced or discarded as required. A fly strip in the back of downstairs snack bar hung in close proximity to stored food has the potential to contaminate. Food facility is reusing plastic containers, which are intended to be a single-use article. A fly in single-use utensil container in upstairs snack bar; voluntarily discarded. Hood baffles in upstairs facility contains an accumulation of grease and need to be cleaned. Room fans contain an accumulation of static dust on covers and need cleaning.

Tabarek International Foods, 798C New Holland Ave., complaint, April 29. Passed. No violations.

Wawa 8129, 2837 Main St., Morgantown, opening, April 29. Passed. Hot water not available at hand-wash sink next to walk-in cooler; corrected at time of inspection.

Windy Lindy's Olde Columbia Pretzel Haus, 17 S. Second St., Columbia, April 29. Pass. Water leaking from the pipe beneath the middle bowl of the three-compartment sink. The garage door located of the food facility has a gap and does not protect against the entry of insects, rodents and other animals. Paper towel dispenser empty at the hand-wash sink in the food preparation area.

Adamstown Quick Stop, 2990 N. Reading Road, Adamstown, follow-up, April 28. Pass. Food facility does not have available quat sanitizer test strips or test kit to determine appropriate sanitizer concentration.

Brown's Concessions MFF3, 14 Jared Place, Lititz, April 28. Pass. No violations.

Comfort Inn, 24 S. Willowdale Drive, April 28. Pass. No violations.

Comfort Inn and Suites, 2343 Lincoln Highway East, April 29. Pass. No violations.

Fratelli Pizza, 848 E. Main St., Ephrata, follow-up, April 28. Pass. No violation.

Giant Food No. 6004, 1008 Lititz Pike, Lititz, April 28. Passed. Edging of perishable grocery freezer to be damaged and not in good condition. Deli: Caulking around hand-wash sink to have a buildup a black residue and is peeling. Floor behind fryer with buildup of grease, and interior cabinet and wheels of fryer with an extreme amount of grease/debris buildup. Small leak at the three-compartment sink under the third compartment. Wall under hand-wash sink between deli and produce prep unsealed from the wall. Mechanical warewashing equipment had an orangish and black matter buildup inside. Dairy: Raw eggs stored above drinks in the walk-in dairy cooler. Racks in walk-in cooler with buildup of green/black matter. Seafood: Small paring knife held together with electrical tape, which is not an approve material. Floor behind fryer with buildup of grease, and interior cabinet and wheels of fryer with an extreme amount of grease/debris buildup. Produce: Walk-in cooler fan guards with an accumulation of static dust. Bakery: Fan guards in walk-in cooler with an accumulation of static dust, floor under prep stations soiled and sprayer nozzle at three- compartment sink with a buildup of food debris and black matter. A chemical stored above food on the discount rack on the sales floor.

Gran Sabor Latino Inc., 123 N. Franklin St., opening, April 28. Passed. No violations.

Red Roof Inn, 2307 Lincoln Highway East, April 28. Passed. No violations.

Turkey Hill Minit Market No. 020, 936 Columbia Ave., April 28. Passed. One gallon of 1% milk beyond the sell-by date being offered for sale. The hand-wash sink in the back was blocked by a crate of sanitizers and cleaners and not accessible at all times for employee use. CBD Energy Shots and CBD Gummies by the Dinner Lady and CBD Energy Shots, CBD Drink Mix and CBD Gummies made by Reliva CBD Wellness, Natick, Massachusetts, contain an unapproved additive as specified in 21 CFR 170-180 relating to food additives; such products are under Food and Drug Administration regulation and at which time CBD is not recognizable as a safe substance to be added to food. The outside dumpster lids cannot be closed due to overflowing trash.

Aldi Foods No. 20, 830 E. Main St., Ephrata, April 27. Pass. Litter on walk-in cooler floor.

Parma Pizza and Grill, 301 Main St., Landisville, April 27. Pass. Static dust conduit fixtures near the fryers and inside the fryer cabinets.

Sheetz No. 478, 891 E. Main St., Ephrata, April 27. Pass. No violations.

Thom's Bread, 113A Butler Ave., follow-up, April 27. Pass. No violations.

Turkey Hill Minit Market No. 103, 2395 S. Market St., Elizabethtown, April 27. Passed. Commercially processed, refrigerated, ready-to-eat, time/ temperature-control-for-safety food, located in the reach-in cooler and held more than four hours, is not being marked with the date it was opened. Leaking pipe at the three-compartment sink from the sanitizing bay.

Wendy's No. 6442, 1117 Harrisburg Pike, change of owner, April 27. Commercially processed, refrigerated, ready-to-eat, time/temperature-control-for-safety food, located in the reach-in cooler and held more than 24 hours, is not being marked with the date it was opened. Leaking pipe at the three-compartment sink from the sanitizing bay.

Carter Macrae Elementary, 251 S. Prince St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Edward Hand Middle School, 431 S. Ann St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Fulton Elementary School, 225 W. Orange St., April 26. Pass. No violations.

George Washington Elementary School, 545 S. Ann St., April 26. Pass. No violations.

Hamilton Elementary School, 1300 Wabank Road, follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Lafayette Elementary School, 1000 St. Joseph St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Landis Valley Christian Fellowship, 2420 Kissel Hill Road, April 26. Passed. No violations.

Little Caesars Lititz, 235 Bloomfield Drive, Lititz, April 26. The person in charge does not have adequate knowledge of food safety in this food facility as evidenced by this noncompliant inspection. Door of hot holding unit not sealing tightly, allowing hot air to escape and not allowing products to hot hold and proper temperature. A cheese pizza in hot holding cabinet holding at 110 F rather than 135 F as required; product was discarded. Hand-wash sink in front of the house the faucet has a continuous leak. Wall below back of the house sink that is unsealed and open, making the wall not smooth and easily cleanable. Toilet rooms do not have a self-closing door. Commercially processed, refrigerated, ready-to-eat, time/ temperature-control-for-safety food, located in the walk-in cooler and held more than 24 hours, is not being marked with the date it was opened. Ceiling above oven with heavy accumulation of dust and grease buildup. Shelving at wing station, green rack by staged pizzas, metal rack above pizza prep area, interior of reach-in cooler, interior of round-o-matic, exterior of dough maker and door handle of the bathroom with a buildup of food debris/grease and not clean to sight and touch. Hand-wash sinks/toilets/urinals are not being cleaned as often as necessary to keep them clean.

Locust Hill Farm, 862 Valley Road, Quarryville, opening, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Pleasant Valley Country Store, 429 Sproul Road, Kirkwood, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Price Elementary School, 615 Fairview Ave., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Resurrection School, 501 E. Orange St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Reynolds Middle School, 605 W. Walnut St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Rosie's Pizzeria, 827 Lancaster Pike, Quarryville, complaint, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Ross Elementary School, 840 N. Queen St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.

Sacred Heart Parish School, 560 W. Walnut St., April 26. Pass. No violations.

Turkey Hill Minit Market No. 035, 298 Main St., Landisville, April 26. Pass. There is no ingredient statement for banana muffins, double-chocolate muffins, apple fritters, Danishes and cinnamon rolls. Trash, dead leaves and debris on the dumpster pad behind the dumpster receptacles. Dilites CBD Gummies, CBD Soft Gels and CBD Energy Shots by The Dinner Lady contain an unapproved additive as specified in 21 CFR 170-180 relating to food additives; such products are under Food and Drug Administration regulation and at which time CBD is not recognizable as a safe substance to be added to food. The dumpster lid being left open while not in use.

Wharton Elementary School, 705 N. Mary St., follow-up, April 26. Pass. No violations.
Asian American social justice groups and the family of a former Ephrata man stabbed to death in a Seattle suburb last month want prosecutors to charge the man accused in the killing with a hate crime enhancement.

The prosecutor's office, however, said the don't have the evidence to support such a charge.

While many details remain unknown, what is known is that attacks and hate crimes against (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) is on the rise, and we cannot rule out bias as a factor in this crime. We ask that the investigators look upon this death with a careful eye toward hate as a motivating factor," Connie So, president of OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates of Greater Seattle, said in a news release Thursday.

John Huynh, 29, was stabbed in the heart April 25 following an altercation with a neighbor in Bothell, Washington, where he lived, according to charging documents filed in King County Superior Court.

According to the documents, Ian Patrick Williams, 25, had given Huynh the finger and, when Huynh confronted him about it, stabbed him. After the attack, Williams ran to his third-floor apartment, telling his mother that he had been attacked by an "anti-masker," according to detectives.

Huynh family and supporters want the King County Prosecuting Attorneys Office to charge him with second-degree murder enhanced with a hate crime.

Casey McNerthney, spokesman for the the prosecutor's office, said in an email: "Our charging decision are based on evidence, and right now with the information that has been referred to us from Bothell Police (the investigating agency) we dont have evidence to prove a hate crime beyond a reasonable doubt. If we had that evidence, we would charge that crime."

The prosecutor on the case spoke with the family, McNerthney said.

Williams is charged with second-degree murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison in Washington. Washington's second-degree murder charge differs from Pennsylvania's, which carries an automatic penalty of life in prison without possibility of parole.

Because Williams does not have a history of felonies, sentencing guidelines  if convicted  would call for a sentence of between 12 years and three months to about 20 years in prison, according to McNerthney. A judge would ultimately decide the sentence.

And a conviction on a hate crime, if it were even possible, would mean less than a year, McNerthney said.

According to So's release, Huynh's killing comes against an increase in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans.

"Across the country, AAPIs have been spit on, harassed, accused of absurd conspiracy theories, verbally and physically abused, and even murdered  all in the name of ignorance and hate," the release said.

"As Asian Americans, we are so tired of all this hate and bias against Asian people, said Cathy Lee, president of Chinese American Citizens Alliance Seattle, "John Huynh did nothing to provoke Williams."

Two GoFundMe campaigns have been set up for Huynh and have raised more than $102,000 so far.

Williams remains in jail in lieu of $2 million bail.
A mixed martial arts fighter from Hawaii raped a 14-year-old girl three times over two days and told her to take the morning after pill, according to Susquehanna Regional Police.

Avery E.I. Sanchis, 23, of Hilo, raped the girl at a house in Conoy Township Aug. 7, then twice on Aug. 8, according to police. The girl told Sanchis to stop during two of the rapes but was too scared to say no when the second happened because of his strength - he picked her up and carried her into another room, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Sanchis is 5 feet, 11 inches, and 190 pounds, and a mixed martial arts fighter, but has not fought since December 2019, according to Sherdog, a website that covers the sport.

After the third rape, Sanchis took the girl's parents' car without permission and returned with a morning after pill and told her to take it, according to the affidavit. He told her he would not pay child care, it said.

It was not clear if the girl took the pill.

Sanchis' attorney, Andrew J. Levin, of Conshohocken, said on Thursday that his client "has lived his entire life as a law abiding citizen and looks forward to addressing these allegations in court."

The girl talked to police on Aug. 17 and in follow up interviews. A sample of Sanchis' DNA matched samples obtained from the girl's clothing and bedsheets where the assault took place, according to the affidavit. His DNA was obtained Nov. 25 after a Hawaii judge issued a search warrant.

Sanchis turned himself in on April 30. He is charged with three counts each of rape, statutory sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault and one count each of corrupting minors, indecent assault and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The charges were filed March 1.

Sanchis is free after posting bond for bail set at $100,000. A May 12 preliminary hearing before District Judge Randall Miller has been scheduled.
The Lancaster County Drug Task Force arrested a city man who was already facing trial on drug and weapons charges during a raid Thursday morning that turned up cocaine, marijuana, a gun and more than $10,000 cash.

As a result of Thursdays raid, Steven Gonzalez Morales, 20, was charged with drug and a weapons charge. He was being held at Lancaster County Prison unable to post $10,000 bail.

But the home in the 600 block of Poplar Street also happened to be that of the niece of Jessica Lopez, a prominent fixture of summer protests who is also suing a city police officer over claims he groped her during a 2017 drug arrest.

Lopez took to Facebook Live several hours after the raid, ripping into police because her 15-year-old niece was outside in her underwear.

The girl recounts what happened during several minutes of a 28-minute, profanity-laden video dominated by Lopez, who has her own legal entanglements with police.

The girl said she was awoken by banging on the door around 6 a.m. Thursday and went downstairs in her underwear and a T-shirt to the front door, where her younger brother already was.

They already have guns pointed at us. The doors already wide open.  Im on the steps telling them: Im 15 years old. I need to get pants on. ... Im doing everything theyre telling me to do. They told me no, the girl said.

She said she and her brother were directed to walk several houses down from theirs and made to sit on concrete steps for about five minutes until adults were brought over to them. The girl said she was in handcuffs.

These male offices, they shouldnt have the right to cuff us, search us, touch us, Lopez said. If you enter somebodys home and they are not properly dressed and there is no imminent danger  what was so hard about giving a child a pair of pants?

In much of the video, Lopez criticizes Lancaster city police and the citys administration, but video of the incident posted to social media shows the Lancaster County Special Emergency Response Team on hand.

It is a unit under control of the Lancaster County District Attorneys office, not city police.

District Attorney Heather Adams on Friday said SERT was assisting the Drug Task Force because high-risk warrants were being served on several people. Though Adams said the warrant had listed several people, only Morales had been charged as of Friday, according to online court records.

Information authorities had about activities at the house justified using SERT to serve the warrant, according to Adams.

The Drug Task Force had received numerous, recent complaints regarding drug and gun activity at that location, she said.

As for the girl, Adams said, Unfortunately once she appeared outside dressed in that manner, it would not be safe for SERT to allow her or any of the subjects to go back inside the residence until it was cleared and safe to enter.

Adams said the girl sat in a police car until the raid was over.

Lopez made no mention of drugs, cash or a gun being recovered.

Lopez, in the video, said the girl would be making a complaint.

Lopez also referred to her own suit and arrests during last summers protests. Shes charged with riot and related offenses, along with disorderly conduct, stemming from two different arrests that are awaiting resolution in Lancaster County Court.

Her federal civil suit, filed in 2019, is also awaiting resolution.

In it, Lopez claims Det. Nathan Nickel groped her breasts on the pretext of searching for drugs. Nickel has said in court documents he was concerned Lopez was trying to swallow drugs while in the back of his patrol car.

Though Lopez sued the city and Nickel, the city has been dropped as a defendant. Nickels attorneys have also asked a judge to dismiss the suit in a March 10 hearing; it is not clear when the judge may rule.
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HARRISBURG  Pennsylvanias public university system has agreed on a strategy to address racism on its campuses by building a more diverse staff and curriculum after students of color spoke out about feeling unsafe and overlooked.

The 20-member Board of Governors voted April 15 to establish diversity, inclusion, and equity priorities by collecting data on university demographics and establishing resources for change.

I kept thinking about all the graduates who could have benefited personally and professionally from greater faculty, staff, student, and curriculum diversity, Denise Pearson, vice-chancellor and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer, told the board.

Chancellor Daniel Greenstein, who oversees the network of 14 universities known formally as the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, said in a letter to Sen. Art Haywood (D., Philadelphia) the plan will involve the creation of precise goals, action steps, and evaluation measures.

Haywood and students of color had pressed the system to take urgent action amid a national reckoning on race and in response to racist incidents at its schools. The lawmaker said Spotlight PA reporting on discrimination and bias faced by students inspired the push, dubbed the ENOUGH initiative.

While the systems new framework is big on promises, it is currently light on specifics. Students who helped lead the initiative said the boards unanimous vote was heartening but that they will hold higher praise until they see results.

I was shocked in a good way, said Zuri Redmond, a student at East Stroudsburg University. Ill be more satisfied once everything is in place.

As Spotlight PA reported last year, students of color across the system  including at Shippensburg, Indiana, and Bloomsburg  have been subjected to racist incidents and racist social media posts from fellow students. At Millersville University in Lancaster County, two students posted a photo of themselves wearing charcoal facial masks as blackface.

And during meetings with system leadership, Haywood said he raised several examples with the chancellor of [students] being called the N-word and Zoom bombed with open racial epithets.

Administrators typically reacted to such incidents with soul-searching but little substance, students previously told Spotlight PA.

Nothing usually happens, Redmond added. The school gives a sort-of-kind-of apology and says Well look into this, and the students that do these things are not punished. Theyre not penalized.

Haywood also said there needs to be accountability.

Each university president  complained [to me] about their ability to address students who were involved in racial harassment, [saying that harassment] was consistently characterized as protected free speech, Haywood said. And the presidents feel like their hands are tied because theyre not getting support from lawyers.

Per a public-facing dashboard, underrepresented minorities  representing Hispanic/Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, and those of two or more races  accounted for just 10% of the systems faculty and staff in 2019.

That same year, the most recent with data available, underrepresented minority students made up roughly 20% of the systems enrolled undergrads and grads. (International students are in a separate category.) Nationwide, students of color represent nearly half of undergrad enrollments and a third of graduate school enrollments.

Hispanic people, who are among the fastest-growing college cohorts in the country, made up just 6% of the systems enrollments in 2019.

Greenstein said the low number of faculty members of color can be traced, in part, to the systems lack of graduate programs and sole research university, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Most professors go straight from graduate school to teaching, creating an in-house pipeline of talent, he said, and recruiting from elsewhere is complicated.

Faculty and staff, frankly, arrive in, you know, rural regions that are not super diverse, and so we need to provide more mentoring and support, he said.

The framework contained in Greensteins letter addresses these disparities with commitments to hire more faculty and staff of color, and nurture and retain more students of color, which Haywood lauded.

This has never been done before after decades of complaints from African American students, Haywood said.

Students of color who already attend the systems schools are encouraged to use a new bias and discrimination reporting tool. There are hurdles with this kind of self-reporting, though, with incidents of bias historically underreported.

Haywood said there are ongoing conversations between the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and the state system about how they defend [or support] school presidents when they want to take more aggressive action.

The success of the ongoing effort to improve the student experience and campus environments will be gauged, in part, by surveys of faculty and staff, Greenstein told Spotlight PA.

Measuring the changes in faculty demographics, on the other hand, is much more straightforward.

In almost exclusively white Tioga County, Mansfield University counts just six underrepresented minority faculty  four Hispanic, one Black, and one multiracial  for 1,663 students. Thats a 277:1 ratio.

At the moment, the state system is operating at a $52 million deficit and facing other longstanding financial challenges. Its planning a major redesign  potentially merging six colleges into two regional schools.

Enrollment also dropped 18% overall between 2010 and 2018, and the pandemic will likely only make matters worse.

Redmond, of East Stroudsburg University, said as more students reconsider in-person options after a year of profound disruption, universities will have to work even harder to bring them in and bring them back.

A lot more people my age are considering doing online school now because its cheaper, Redmond explained, and why go to a campus that doesnt support people that look like you or a campus that has these kinds of [racist incidents] going on?

Haywood said the state legislature, during the ongoing redesign of the system, has an opportunity to put more funding behind diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Greenstein said of the systems current push, Were not necessarily out in front or in the lead here, but I think this [plan] is a huge step for us.

WHILE YOURE HERE... If you learned something from this story, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can in the future at spotlightpa.org/donate. Spotlight PA is funded by foundationsand readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
Fewer than 100 mail voters in two ZIP codes in the Marietta and Mount Joy areas received return envelopes intended for other people due to a vendor error, county officials announced Friday.

The Lancaster County Board of Elections became aware of the vendor error Thursday, after voters in ZIP codes 17552 and 17547 began receiving their ballots Thursday, said Christa Miller, the countys chief registrar. Voters who applied to vote by mail in these ZIP codes will likely continue to receive ballots that may have errors on Friday, Miller added.

While the mail-ballot packet will be addressed to the voter, the envelope used to return the ballot in the mail may have a different voters name on it, meaning a voter who uses it could be voting on behalf of someone else.

To avoid this scenario, voters in the 17552 and 17547 ZIP codes are urged to check the back of their ballot return envelopes  beneath the Voters Declaration  to ensure it is their name. If it is not, voters must contact the Lancaster County Board of Elections office at 717-299-8293 to cancel their original ballot. A new ballot will be reissued through the mail or can be handled in person at the election office, Miller said.

This is the second vendor error to come to light this week, with approximately 2,700 county voters receiving the incorrect voting instructions intended for Delaware County voters, and telling them that they do not need to pay postage. Lancaster County voters are required to pay postage to mail their ballot in. They can avoid paying postage by dropping off their ballot at the Chestnut Street entrance at the Lancaster County Government Center at 150 N. Queen Street in Lancaster city during designated hours.

Obviously our office is extremely disappointed in what has happened and were not happy, Miller said. Were as unhappy as the voters are at this point.

Michigan Election Resources is the countys vendor responsible for printing, stuffing and mailing mail ballot materials. The Kalamazoo, Michigan-based company has taken full responsibility for the errors, Miller said.

This error occurred during the envelope-insertion process, said Matt Sandretto, the CEO of Michigan Election Resources. The high-integrity assembly process, as he called it, has a camera scanning all pieces that go into each envelope. In the event that there is mismatching information  such as in these instances  the machine stops. The technician then made an error when restarting the machine, leading to the error in fewer than 100 ballot envelopes, Sandretto said.

Michigan Election Resources is the mail ballot vendor for many Pennsylvania counties, including Lancaster, though Lancaster is the only one experiencing any issues, Sandretto said.

All of us are striving in both the county government and [Michigan Election Resources] are striving for zero errors, Sandretto added. With the volume of mail ballots today, any manufacturing always has the potential for errors no matter how hard we try One [error] is too many and that is why we strive every day to get it to zero.

This issue is limited to the fewer than 100 ballots in these two ZIP codes.

We dont have any evidence to think its a wider issue based on what we know right now, he added.

The Lancaster County Board of Elections is looking at all appropriate options to hold the vendor accountable for this, Miller added.

Voters should contact the Board of Elections office as soon as possible if they would like to vote by mail, Miller said. All voters voting by mail are encouraged to return their mail ballots by May 11 to ensure they are delivered by May 18. After May 11, voters are encouraged to deliver their mail ballot in person to the county drop box.

The more time we can get on this, the better, Miller said.

The county elections office will be open for any affected voters to receive a new ballot Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Leading up to the May 18 primary, the office will be open May 13, 14 and 17 until 8 p.m., May 15 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and on Election Day from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
When: Lampeter-Strasburg school board meeting, May 3, in person for members, Zoom for staff and YouTube for others.

What happened: The board approved, without discussion, its proposed final budget for 2021-22 with a 1.9% tax rate increase. The vote was unanimous with board member Scott Kimmel absent.

Background: At a finance committee meeting held April 26, the board reviewed the budget which projects revenues of $55.4 million and expenditures of $56.9 million. The $1.5 million deficit will be covered by the fund balance. The vote to approve the final budget takes place at the June 14 board meeting.

Tax: The increase follows no tax increase in 2020-21. The 1.9% falls below the state index of 3.5%. Millage increases to 17.25, up 0.32 mills. Homeowners of a $217,200 property, the median for the district, will pay about $70 more. In a separate action, the board approved engaging the Lancaster County Collection Bureau to collect tax payments.

Also: Included in the budget are plans for capital projects funded by a $3.8 million transfer to the capital reserve fund. The transfer is possible due to the early repayment of debt in 2020-21. Budget details including capital projects are available at l-spioneers.org on the business office page.

Academics: The board renewed a dual enrollment agreement with Millersville University and an early enrollment agreement with Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology to allow students to earn college credits. New Into Math textbooks by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for grades six, seven and eight will be purchased for $92,16147.

Other contract highlights: The board renewed an agreement with Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 for 55 days of professional development at $52,250. Among other services including hybrid learning instruction, Assistant Superintendent Andrew Godfrey explained, this renewal also can be used based on needs at the time, such as happened this year to help teachers address the different learning needs of students during the pandemic.
When: Lancaster City Council committee meeting, held virtually, May 3.

What happened: Council was given a proposal to remove seniority points from the promotion process in the citys police and fire bureaus. Council tabled further discussion until late May after the president of the local firefighters union said the move caught members off guard.

Whats next: The first reading of the change will be at councils May 25 meeting, with a vote in June.

Mayors case: The proposed amendment to the Civil Service ordinance would eliminate five points currently earned for seniority during the promotion process. We as a community are looking to elevate the very best into leadership positions because these are the folks that are making the day-to-day decisions that are in essence protecting the lives and property  (of) city residents, Mayor Danene Sorace said. Extra seniority points  and I understand that this is controversial  in my view do not level the playing field to make sure that were elevating that best person.

Council questions: Council member Janet Diaz said obviously we do want to make changes to diversity, but she said eliminating the points seems unfair to senior members. She asked whether there are state requirements for the police and fire promotion process. Some standard provisions must be in place statewide but there can be local variations such as the extra points Lancaster gives for city residency and second language proficiency, city Business Manager Patrick Hopkins said. Council member Amanda Bakay asked how often five points becomes a deciding factor for promotion. Five points is a lot because everybody is probably within a 1-to-3-point ratio of where theyre at on the scoring, Fire Chief Scott Little said. Council member Xavier Garcia-Molina asked what reaction has been among senior members. Sorace said the reaction has been mixed in both bureaus.

Union view: Geoff Stone, president of Lancaster Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 319, said the union should have been consulted sooner about plans to change a longstanding practice. And for you to say that (with) seniority points youre not getting the best person would be to say that you did not promote the best person.

Budget and finances: Council also received a report on last years finances. Hopkins said preliminary numbers show the city will see less than a $150,000 deficit, thanks to a variety of factors that worked out better than expected. The city got $850,000 in CARES Act funding. Building permits were booming. And money that the city got from real estate transfers was more than planned. Furloughs, hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies reduced expenses, he said. And some projects were put on hold, which also reduced spending.

Up next: Council will vote May 11 to seek a $250,000 grant from the state greenways, trails and recreation program that would be used for a northern section of Longs Park where a $1.1 million stormwater management project is planned, said Stephen Campbell, director of public works. The newly sought grant would be used to pay for things like bridges, a trail, boardwalks and signs to make the stormwater project as parklike and pedestrian-friendly as possible, Campbell said. Council is slated vote on resolutions to support fair public school funding in Pennsylvania and to condemn discrimination and violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
[The class] teaches us that we must continue to love our language, our beloved land from where we come from, our roots, to continue to support each other and to be human, said Mejia, 37, the Artesanas Mexicanas coordinator at the Creative Alliance. Her band, Conjunto Bruja, will perform at the marketplace this Saturday.
THE ISSUE: Law enforcement officers across the country have long used administrative or other traffic violations considered to be a low public safety threat as a gateway for searching vehicles and compiling incriminating evidence, Spotlight PAs Joseph Darius Jaafari reported recently. But these tactics are under renewed national scrutiny following the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright by police at a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 11.

We believe that redefining and limiting the criteria under which law enforcement officers can pull over a vehicle  reducing the overall number of traffic stops  would be a significant step toward protecting both citizens and the police.

The criteria for stops in place across much of the nation are not working in the best interest of Americans. And they lead to too many tragic outcomes for Black Americans and other people of color who are pulled over.

As Los Angeles Times columnist Robin Abcarian pointed out in an op-ed that appeared in the April 29 LNP | LancasterOnline Opinion section, Daunte Wright was pulled over for expired plates, Sandra Bland for failing to use her turn signal and Philando Castile for a broken taillight.

You know what happened next, Abcarian wrote. The two men were shot dead by police, and Bland died in jail a few days after she was verbally abused by the Texas state trooper.

None of these individuals posed a significant threat to public safety when they were pulled over. All should still be alive today.

Their deaths are sorrowful and infuriating reminders of why traffic stops must be reconsidered.

Are the roads safer because you stopped someone because of an expired tag or an air freshener? David Harris, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh who specializes in police training, asked in the Spotlight PA article. Traffic stops are the most common interaction police have with Americans and also they can be dangerous.

The potential dangers were further illuminated by Spotlight PAs examination of searches that followed Pennsylvania State Police traffic stops. That nonpartisan newsroom  powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer, with partners including LNP Media Group  explained how stops for minor offenses can lead to vehicle searches for almost any reason.

Pennsylvania State Troopers have been trained in recent years to look for more than 50 criminal indicators, including high car mileage, if the car is a rental, any amounts of money in the car, audible sighs, or if the driver is being overtly cooperative, Spotlight PA reported.

Overtly cooperative? The phrase damned if you do, damned if you dont springs to mind.

African Americans and Hispanics understandably live in fear of traffic stops and give their children strict lessons about how to comport themselves during a stop, hoping such guidance might someday save their life. Part of that guidance is often to be extremely polite and cooperative when theres an officer at the side window.

Yet we see that being overtly cooperative has itself been cause for a vehicle search during Pennsylvania State Police traffic stops.

What is a parent even to say to his or her child anymore?

There were other concerns, highlighted by Spotlight PA, about what could lead to a search during a traffic stop. Sweating, stuttering, or simply misstating something and then backtracking  officers can use these traits they perceive as incriminating evidence, it reported.

Sweating? Stuttering? Perhaps it would be easier to list what wouldnt serve as pretext for a vehicle search.

State police officials  and other law enforcement agencies across the U.S.  defend routine traffic stops and deploying the aforementioned tactics for vehicle searches by saying they can sometimes lead to significant drug or weapon busts.

But at what cost to the trust that must exist between the public and law enforcement?

In her op-ed, Abcarian pointed to some potentially positive reforms with traffic stops. The city of Berkeley, California, is advancing measures that would deprioritize traffic stops for low-level offenses and instead focus on dangerous driving. The city is also considering creating a special unit that would respond to mental health calls and perhaps even creating a new transportation department that would ... put civilians in charge of traffic enforcement, Abcarian added.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post last month, Yale Law School Professor James Forman Jr. and Yale student TJ Grayson argued against the continued use  upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court  of traffic violations as pretext for criminal law enforcement. They endorsed the creation of dedicated traffic agencies, staffed by unarmed employees, to handle road safety.

These traffic safety agencies should rely on automation  including speed and red-light cameras, they wrote.

Not enough progress has been made since last years necessary national protests calling for police reform. Advocates continue to rightly focus on police transparency and accountability; access to disciplinary records; widespread use of body cameras; redistribution of law enforcement funding and increased budgets for social services. Those are all complex issues.

We think one good step  and one that shouldnt be difficult to implement  would be to limit the reasons for traffic stops and make sure theyre no longer happening for minor offenses that pose little or no threat to the public.
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Russia Convenes UN Security Council To Discuss Ukraines Nazi Problem

May 6, 2021 (EIRNS)In New York yesterday, the Russian Federation Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia chaired a meeting of the UN Security Council convened under the Arria Formulaan informal meeting which must be convened by a member of the UNSCto discuss Ukraines neo-Nazi problem. On this occasion, Nebenzia said the 2014

Maidan coup triumphed after a very questionable bloodbath bringing to power a lot of extremists, criminals and revisionists, who from the very outset formulated their political agenda in a way that immediately put Russian-speakers to the fringes of the society demanding from them to renounce their identity and historical mindset or to face prosecution, violence or even death.

Nebenzia called particular attention to the May 2, 2014 incident in which neo-Nazi gangs set fire to the Trade Union Building in Odessa, killing at least 48 of the people trapped inside. He described that

For the residents of Odessa it was never a secret that the attackers were armed members and supporters of the ... Maidan Self-Defense and Pravyi Sektor [Right Sector] extremist groups. Nevertheless, for seven years the call of the UN Secretary-General for conclusive investigation remains unheard by Kiev and the perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice.

Nebenzia brought a number of witnesses to testify to the horrors of life under neo-Nazi dominance in Ukraine, among them a former police official from Odessa, two witnesses to that and other brutalities by neo-Nazis in Ukraine, a victim of the near daily shelling of residential areas on the Donbas, and a political activist forced to leave Ukraine by death threats to himself and his family. Nebenzia said it was necessary to bring forward this testimony,

because without knowledge of what this country is living through after the Maidan coup you will never be able to understand what really happened and why this crisis in Ukraine is far from over unless the West adopts a different approach towards Ukrainian nationalists and far right, the same approach, by the way, that it displays towards radicals and extremists in Europe and the U.S.

The eyewitness testimony, unfortunately, had little effect on the British Empires geopolitical intentions. Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, and Norway joined Britain and the United States in a joint statement: We regret this deliberate attempt to divert the attention of the international community from Russias ongoing destabilizing activities against Ukraine over the last seven years. We remain saddened by the tragic loss of lives in Odessa on the 2nd of May 2014. We urge Russia to stop politicizing human tragedies. But the statement did not demand that Kiev launch an investigation into that tragic loss of life in Odessa, or even mention the actions of neo-Nazi, treating the human tragedy of Odessa as if it were an accident by someone smoking in bed. Everything is either Russian propaganda or Russias fault, as Nebenzia predicted at the outset would be the case.

We urge Russia to immediately cease all of its aggressive and destabilizing activities and to de-escalate by fully reversing its troop buildup in temporarily occupied Crimea and along Ukraines borders without delay and to end its temporary occupation of the territory of Ukraine without delay, the Anglo-American statement went on.
EIR LEAD EDITORIAL FOR FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2021

Nuclear War Is Not an OptionMobilize for the May 8 Schiller Institute Conference

May 6, 2021 (EIRNS)In organizing for the Schiller Institute Conference The Moral Collapse of the Trans-Atlantic World Cries Out for a New Paradigm, this Saturday, May 8, organizers from the LaRouche movement internationally have increasingly found that the veil of obscurity imposed on the populations of the trans-Atlantic nations, by governments and by the whorish media, is beginning to shred. The insidious evil of the Malthusian Green New Deal is sinking inin part due to the mass circulation of the pamphlet The Great Leap BackwardLaRouche Crushes the Green New Deal Fraud. The rush for military confrontation with Russia and Chinafor even less reason than the illegal and immoral wars which destroyed Iraq, Libya, and Syriaare based on similar lies, and those lies are increasingly evident to serious people. Even the war-mongering New York Times ran an opinion piece calling the Biden Administrations provocations of China over Taiwan reckless, risking a catastrophic war. And most important, the writer asks the war hawks how many American lives they are willing to risk, noting that senior American statesmen (naming Stapleton Roy and Chas Freeman) have now warned that a war with China could be nuclear.

Nor is the media getting a free ride. Caitlin Johnston, who last month issued an article titled The rising threat of nuclear war is the most urgent matter in the world, on Wednesday reported on the disgusting interview of Secretary of State Tony Blinken by Norah ODonnell on CBSs 60 Minutes, on May 2, in which it was impossible to tell whether the interviewer or the interviewee was the more disgusting. Johnstone indicts ODonnell in her own words, simply by listing the questions, which included: Have you ever seen China be so assertive or aggressive militarily? And, Describe what you see is happening in Xinjiang that maybe the rest of the world doesnt. And, The Chinese have stolen hundreds of billions, if not trillions, of dollars of trade secrets and intellectual property from the United States. That sounds like the actions of an enemy. Consider the hypocrisy when the Chinese and Russian press are accused of being subservient to their governments.

But the war danger is palpable. Blinken is in Ukraine, discussing the process of bringing Ukraine into NATO, placing the war machine directly on Russias border. Russia called a meeting of the UN Security Council May 5 to present evidence and witnesses of the atrocities by murderous Nazi gangs in Ukraine since the 2014 Maidan color revolution. First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy called them hideous events that cannot leave any normal person indifferent. The response of the U.S. and British was a joint statement: We regret this deliberate attempt to divert the attention of the international community from Russias ongoing destabilizing activities against Ukraine over the last seven years.

The push for military confrontation with nuclear-armed powers, together with the Green New Deal, represent the concerted effort to restore the British Empire to its previous bloody glory, now with the U.S. as the dumb giant providing the brawn for the British warped brain. Malthusian depopulation is still the stated aim of the British Royal Family and its minions, whether by war, by pestilence, by famine, or by forced economic destruction through colonial looting or its modern form, Green New Deal.

The crisis is so enormous that people are beginning to shed their delusions that somehow they, the powers that be, will not let such a disaster happen. Creating the required density of citizens, internationally, who break those chains of delusion, and activate their creative powers on behalf of humanity and our posterity, requires the activation of the ideas generated by Lyndon LaRouche over these past fifty years. Bring everyone you can to the Schiller Conference on Saturday, where these ideas will be deliberated by leaders from around the world.
Bryant Temple Offers Mothers Day Tribute to Shelter Residents

Bryant Temple AME Community Development Corporation (CDC) will host a Mothers Day tribute on Saturday, May 8, for the women currently living in its shelter.

According to Pastor Dwaine A. Jackson, The event is the second opportunity for shelter residents to enjoy good food and fellowship in a safe, secure setting. The previous event took place last October in a supportive atmosphere that offered the women a sense that the community backed their efforts to rebuild their lives.

Since Fall 2019, the CDC has operated the womens shelter at its West Vernon Avenue location. With COVID restrictions in place, the women are able to stay in the shelter all day rather than leave the facility at 7 a.m., and return for the evening at 4 p.m., which had been the previous policy.

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The churchs Community Development Corporation provides case management services, general hygiene supplies and three meals per day to the residents. The program also accepts clothing donations for the women. To date, two women have moved on to permanent housing, and others to transitional housing. LAHSA, the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority, is the funding agency.

Both the previous Christmas celebration and the Mothers Day event were made possible by a generous benefactor, Tracy McConnico, who approached Jackson with the idea of offering the shelter occupants a feel-good experience.

A tent, erected in the church parking lot, will be beautifully decorated and feature tables and chairs so that the attendees are comfortable, said Jackson, who added that lunch and dinner will be served, games will be played and a basket filled with pajamas, slippers, and supplies will be given to each celebrant.

McConnico donated the tent and decorations, and local benefactors contributed the gift items. The women are excited and grateful. We are very thankful to have caring people in the community like Ms. McConnico who support our efforts, added Jackson.

To donate to the Bryant Temple CDC Womens Shelter, call the office at (323) 293-6201.
The PBS News Hour has this great new and lengthy piece about marijuana expungement laws and practices under the headline "As more states legalize marijuana, people with drug convictions want their records cleared." Regular readers know I have long been invested in these issues (see my 2018 article, "Leveraging Marijuana Reform to Enhance Expungement Practices"), and I am especially pleased that folks at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center worked with folks at the Collateral Consequences Resource Center to create the national map found in the PBS piece and reprinted here. I recommend the PBS piece in full, and here are some excerpts:

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana over the last nine years, and industry advocates have applauded measures to de-stigmatize the substance and bring major revenue to state coffers. But for people with lingering drug convictions like Michael, the news has raised more questions about what legalization means for their criminal records.

Currently in Virginia, you have to go through all these hoops and loopholes to actually have an expungement, Michael said. This may soon change. Like many other states that recently legalized marijuana, Virginia lawmakers included provisions in their legislation that over several years will allow for the automatic expungement of certain marijuana convictions, meaning people like Michael may one day see their records cleared without having to petition to do so.

Such measures signal a broader effort by lawmakers to right the wrongs of the war on drugs, a decades-long campaign by federal and state governments to crack down on use of illegal drugs that also helped incarceration balloon in the U.S. States have begun to legalize substances like marijuana that have disproportionately imprisoned Black and brown Americans over the last 50 years, affecting their access to employment, education and housing. Racial justice advocates argue that state legislatures should not consider legalization bills unless they include proposals to help people easily expunge their records, as well as eliminate some of the barriers to entry Americans of color face when looking for work in the cannabis industry.

But just as states did not legalize recreational marijuana overnight, the lingering effects of the war on drugs are not likely to quickly disappear. Though Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam pushed to make cannabis legal in the state by the beginning of July, for example, many expungement provisions in the legalization and record-sealing laws are not set to take full effect until 2025 as state police and courts need time to update their computer systems and processes.

As a result, many Americans with marijuana charges on their records are currently living in a grey area, cautiously optimistic about the wave of legalization taking place but unclear what it means for their future. [Politicians] are making strides toward being really liberal and legalizing [weed], and thats cool, but at the same time I served 10 years for this, said Harry Kelso, another Virginia resident who served time in prison for possession and distribution. So at some point, I feel like I deserve some reparations....

Pauline Quirion, director of the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) & Re-Entry Project at Greater Boston Legal Services and an adviser to Mass CultivatED program participants, said she thinks its a good sign when she works with clients seeking to seal or expunge their records because it means theyre focused on securing a career. She said that the adverse effects of a criminal record are evident from their experiences with the job search process. Some clients have applied for like 200 jobs and theyre rejected, but they keep applying, she said. So you have to have a lot of stamina to find employment....

David Schlussel, an expert on marijuana expungement with the Collateral Consequences Resource Center, said recent efforts to pass laws to expunge marijuana records in states such as Virginia, New Mexico, and Arizona signal a greater awareness of the harmful impact cannabis continues to have on communities targeted by the criminal justice system. He said that when states first began legalizing recreational marijuana 10 years ago, they rarely considered legislation that would help people clear their records. Campaign messaging to promote the new laws in states such as Colorado and Washington was usually driven by consumerism and tax benefits rather than racial justice. Schlussel said this began to change as lawmakers began to emphasize the necessity of racial justice in marijuana reform in their messages to voters, which in turn gave it more political capital.

More than 20 states have passed reforms related to marijuana expungement, Schlussel said, with outcomes ranging from automatic pardons for a broad range of offenses to the possibility of expungement for a narrower set of charges. But once these laws are on the books, states could very well face challenges getting a variety of marijuana charges expunged, he added. While states like New Jersey, New York, and New Mexico recently passed bills to automatically expunge a wide range of marijuana offenses from peoples records, others have pursued approaches that are resource-intensive and still include a number of hurdles for people who want their offenses cleared.

In Arizona, where recreational marijuana recently became legal, expungement is possible but not automatic. Julie Gunnigle, who ran unsuccessfully for Maricopa County attorney in the fall, said clearing Arizonans records is dependent on the support of county attorneys and the states attorney general, making it subject to the whims of politicians who may not necessarily be inclined to clear a broad swath of charges. Although Gunnigle praised the first-of-its-kind expungement law that recently passed along with legalization, she added that it is now going to be incumbent on leaders to find the folks who are eligible or those who are eligible to come forward and file these petitions if they want to get justice.
The Girl Scouts organization, founded in 1912, is well known for teaching important life and survival skills to girls.

Part of their goal, as stated on their website, is to improve their corner of the world. One way they do that has become a beloved tradition. They sell Girl Scout cookies!

Many people look forward to Girl Scout cookie season and have a favorite cookie.

Girl Scouts usually sell their cookies in person: door-to-door, in offices and businesses, on busy street corners and sidewalks. But the coronavirus pandemic has made selling the cookies harder. There are simply less people out in public.

Well, this year in one U.S. state some Girl Scouts will get around that face-to-face problem. Their cookies will be delivered by drones.

Google is using drones to deliver Girl Scout cookies to peoples homes in a Virginia community. The town of Christiansburg has been a testing ground for delivery drones. The tests are operated by Wing, a division of Googles corporate parent Alphabet.

Representatives from Wing told the Associated Press (AP) that the company began talking to local Girl Scout troops because of the pandemic. The troops have been having a harder time selling cookies during the pandemic because of restrictions.

Gracie Walker is an 11-year-old with Girl Scouts of Virginia Skyline Troop 224. Gracie told the AP that she is excited to be part of history. She says the drones look like a helicopter but also a plane.

Wing drones fly without a human pilot controlling them remotely. When a drone reaches the home, it drops the delivery on the front lawn.

Wing is also using the beloved Girl Scout cookies to build public support for drone delivery. The company is currently competing against Walmart, Amazon and others business.

However, there is not much evidence that people really want drone delivery services.

Amazon has also been working on drone delivery for years. In 2013, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in a TV interview that drones would be flying to customers' homes within five years. However, that date has long since passed.

A small study of people in Christiansburg appears to show that they are happy with the drones. But that study was done by researchers at nearby Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Also Wing helped to pay for the study.

Lee Vinsel is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and did the study. He said that neighborhoods in the area are easiest for drone delivery. That might not be the case for more crowded places, he added.

Federal officials started announcing new rules in early April. These new rules will allow operators to fly small drones over people and at night. Most drones will need to be equipped so they can be identified remotely by law enforcement officials.

But all these problems have not lessened Gracies drone delivery excitement. The Virginia Girl Scout said she hopes that people are going to realize drones are better for the environment.

And she adds, people can also just walk outside in their pajamas and get cookies.

Im Anna Matteo.

Matt OBrien wrote this story for the Associated Press. AP Retail Writer Joseph Pisani in New York contributed to this story. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English. Susan Shand was the editor.

___________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

cookie  n. a sweet baked food that is usually small, flat, and round and is made from flour and sugar

corner  n. the place where two streets or roads meet

drone  n. an uncrewed aircraft or ship guided by remote control or onboard computers

delivery  n. the transfer of something from one place or person to another

troops - n. the basic organizational unit of Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts under an adult leader

remotely - adj. technical : from a distance

front lawn - n. an area in front of a house

pajamas - n. a loose usually two-piece lightweight suit designed especially for sleeping or lounging

customer - n. someone who buys goods or services from a business


Four former police officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota last year are to face a federal civil rights trial.

A federal grand jury has decided to bring charges against the four accusing them of violating George Floyds constitutional rights. A grand jury is a group of citizens who study evidence to decide if there should be a trial in a legal case. The decision was made public Friday.

Floyd died after officers restrained him on the ground during his arrest on May 25, 2020. During the arrest, Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe in an incident which was filmed and shown all over the world.

The charges

Derek Chauvin is charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and excessive force.

Tou Thao and J. Alexander Keung are also charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure. The charging document alleges that the two did not try to stop Chauvin as he put a knee on Floyds neck.

All four officers, Chauvin, Keung, Thao, and Thomas Lane, are charged with failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Chauvin is also charged in connection with the arrest and restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Three of the former officers, Lane, Thao and Keung, appeared before the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis through a video link. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.

In April, a court in Minneapolis found Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter charges brought by the state of Minnesota. He is being held in a high security prison in the state as he waits for his sentence to be decided by a judge.

The three former officers named by the federal grand jury also face state charges in a trial planned for August. They are free after paying a bond to ensure that they appear for trial.

The incident

The charges are the result of the arrest of Floyd last year. The officers stopped Floyd after he was accused of trying to use false money at a store and acting unusually. Court evidence states that Floyd resisted being arrested.

Chauvin then restrained Floyd on the ground with his knee on Floyds neck for more than nine minutes. State lawyers say that Kueng placed his knee on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs during the arrest. The state lawyers also say Thao held a gathering crowd back and prevented them from intervening in the arrest.

Eric Nelson, Chauvins lawyer argued during his murder trial that the former officer acted reasonably in the situation. He said that Floyd died of existing health problems and was using drugs at the time. He also requested a new trial for Chauvin noting several issues. Among the issues was that the judge did not move the trial to another place although the incident caused violent protests in Minneapolis.

Floyds arrest was captured on video by many people who gathered around the arrest. The incident brought public anger and protests, both peaceful and violent, across the country against police use of force and racial inequality.

Im Mario Ritter, Jr.

Amy Forliti and Mike Balsamo reported this story for the Associated Press. Mario Ritter Jr. adapted it for VOA Learning English. was the editor.

________________________________________________

Words in This Story

allege v. to state without definite proof that someone has done something wrong or illegal

indictment n. an official written statement charging a person or persons with a crime

bond n. an amount of money that someone promises to pay if a prisoner who is permitted to leave jail before trial fails to return to appear for the trial

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Oregon has also dealt with what OHA Director Pat Allen has called "vaccine belligerency," an active opposition to not only being inoculated, but at times protesting those who choose to get the vaccine. Incidents have included the heckling by anti-vaccination hardliners of Bend high school students at a school-sponsored clinic.

Other steps are being taken to get more "impulse vaccinations" by offering shots without appointments. Many people across the country and in Oregon have expressed frustration with multiple, sometimes clunky websites required to make appointments. Now, it's possible to just show up and roll up a sleeve.

"The Oregon Convention Center is offering walk-in vaccinations starting Friday," said Charles Boyle, a Brown spokesman.

Both federal and state health officials have said that they will also increasingly find ways to get vaccine to people instead of people to the vaccine. This will include mobile clinics, pop-up sites and vaccination days at major employers.

Over the entire pandemic that began in China on Dec. 31, 2019, Oregon has had the third lowest per capita number of cases in the nation, at 4,432 per 100,000. Though the rise in infections has been sharp, Oregon's longstanding place near the bottom of cases and deaths means that its per capita number of cases pushed it no higher than 12th place.
A city government who says to the public ... that it wants to make the best public housing possible then quietly and outside of the public eye, behind closed doors, sets and implements policies that discriminatory, hurt people, said Annapolis attorney Joe Donahue, who represents the public housing residents. The city of Annapolis has repeatedly and deceptively chosen to treat these members of our city as second class citizens, and my clients are going to do everything we can to put a stop to all of that.
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CULDESAC  From her perch behind the counter of Jacques Spur Junction Cafe along U.S. Highway 95 west of Culdesac, Jean Ballard had a spectacular view of the goings-on in the area.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. speaks to Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Detachment 207 cadets during a leadership laboratory at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Mo., April 28, 2021. Brown highlighted his perspective on leadership and stressed the need for future leaders who can adapt to solve complex challenges.
India's neighbours close borders over virus rampage

Sri Lanka on Thursday became the latest of India's neighbours to seal its borders with the South Asian giant as it battles a record coronavirus surge.









Sri Lanka has reported 117,529 infections with 734 deaths since the start of the pandemic Ishara S. KODIKARA AFP/File



Bangladesh and Nepal have also banned flights and sought to close their borders with India, where a huge rise in numbers in the past three weeks has taken deaths past 230,000 and cases over 21 million.



All three countries are fighting their own pandemic surges, which Red Cross leaders have described as a "human catastrophe".



The Sri Lankan government banned flight passengers from India entering, as the country reported its highest daily toll of 14 deaths and 1,939 infections in 24 hours.



Sri Lanka's navy said it had stepped up patrols to keep away Indian trawlers, adding that on Tuesday it stopped 11 such vessels which had crossed the narrow strip of sea dividing the two neighbours.



Bangladesh halted all international flights on April 14 because of its own surge and shut its border with India on April 26.



It has reported 11,755 Covid-19 deaths and 767,338 cases, but experts say the real figures are higher in all South Asian countries.



Bangladesh has had 10 million vaccine doses from India, but the supply has been halted and the government is now negotiating to get Chinese jabs.



Nepal suspended international flights a week ago, until May 14.



Just two return flights a week are allowed to India, to bring back stranded nationals. Most border crossings are also closed and only returning Nepalis can use those still open.



Many hospitals in Nepal are overflowing with Covid-19 patients, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).



"Southern towns near the Indian border are unable to cope with the growing number of people needing medical treatment," it said. "Nepal is recording 57 times more cases than this time last month."



Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan are all experiencing record Covid-19 death rates, it added.



"We need to act now and we need to act fast to have any hope of containing this human catastrophe," said IFRC Asia-Pacific director Alexander Matheou.



"This virus has no respect for borders and these variants are running rampant across Asia."



Even the luxury tourist destination of the Maldives has tightened restrictions for Indian visitors, insisting on negative test results on entry.



India is the largest tourist market for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, both of which now face huge losses from the fast-spreading Covid-19 new wave.



Sri Lanka has reported 117,529 infections with 734 deaths since the start of the pandemic. The Maldives has reported 32,665 cases with 74 deaths.
This infant and his parents were incredibly fortunate that highly trained Customs and Border Protection officers were nearby to render immediate life-saving assistance to help paramedics save this precious young childs life, said Keith Fleming, acting director of field operations for Custom and Border Protections Baltimore field office.
CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California's state Capitol works and why it matters. Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers.
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Governments Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
Local

Cheshire to remain in jail without bond

CHESHIRE

Angelina County Commissioner Bobby Cheshire will remain in jail without bond, according to orders by Senior District Judge John Delaney.

Cheshire will remain in jail at least until the May 18 Angelina County grand jury has made a decision on whether or not to indict him, Delaney said. After the grand jury makes its decision, it will be up to John Peralta, the attorney representing Cheshire, to bring the issue back to court, Delaney said.

Rob Freyer, the prosecuting attorney, said Cheshire should not be given bail as he is a threat to all who cross him. If he were to be given bail, the prosecutor wanted strict conditions and increased bail amounts.

Peralta asked Delaney to issue a reasonable bail and said to call Cheshire a threat is a stretch.

He pointed to people accused of murder and the molestation of children who still were offered bail and said Cheshire hadnt done those things

Peralta opened the meeting by discussing Cheshires financial status and arguing Cheshire couldnt afford a high set bail. Freyer asked some questions in an attempt to dispute some of Cheshires claims.

Conversation then turned to incidents with his family, including his wife, children and in-laws. New charges were added to those filed against Cheshire for his actions in 2020.

Lufkin police charged Cheshire with criminal trespass of a habitation, shelter, superfund or infrastructure and assault causing bodily injury to a date, family or household member on top of the order to surrender for violating bond orders issued in April.

Bonds for each new charge were set at $5,000 a piece and each is classified as a misdemeanor.

Warrants issued by Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 Billy Ball detail the two incidents.

The first warrant, issued on Aug. 14, 2020, accuses Cheshire of committing the criminal trespass of a residence in which his ex-wife and children reside.

One child called law enforcement and told officers Cheshire was at the house and refused to leave, the warrant states. Cheshire told law enforcement he was there to visit his children.

The children told police Cheshire had come to visit the youngest child but the child did not want to go, according to the warrant. The children told police they allowed Cheshire to come in to visit with the youngest child as he had on previous occasions. The childrens mother was at work and unable to come home for another two hours.

Cheshires son told Cheshire he was not welcome and even retrieved a shotgun and demanded Cheshire leave, the warrant states. One child filmed several minutes of the incident and provided that film to police.

Cheshire asked for charges to be pressed against his son but police believe Cheshires son was protecting his life and home, according to the warrant.

When the childrens mother arrived, she told police there had been several issues with custody and would not force the children to see their father, according to the warrant. She requested police issue a criminal trespass warning against him.

The second warrant also was issued by Ball for an incident between Cheshire and his sister-in-law in which he attempted to take property previously owned by his late mother, according to the warrant.

Cheshire was not entitled to the property, according to the warrant, which stated he flung his sister-in-law across the room and bruised her arms when she attempted to keep him from taking the property.

Cheshire promised the court he would not have contact with his children, hed respect their wishes and hed respect restrictions placed on him for bond conditions if given the opportunity.

Delaney then asked Cheshire about the guns he owns. Cheshire had already remanded the care of the weapons he owned to others who he said would not give him the weapons if asked. He argued against detailing the weapons and their current homes in court and pleaded for his right to the Second Amendment multiple times.

He also said, pointing to Sheriff Greg Sanches who was right behind him, he didnt want this information spread publicly.

Ultimately, he did disclose a number of weapons he owned but would not say who is keeping them. Among those listed by Cheshire were multiple handguns, two shotguns, a few hunting rifles and some heirloom firearms.

Freyer said Cheshire was not being candid with the court and questioned Cheshire about specific guns, including some bigger weapons like an AR15 and a Mini-14. Cheshire said he owned a Mini-14 at one point but doesnt anymore and that he doesnt like the larger weapons. He also said hes owned hundreds of types of weapons in the past.
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They want people in decision-making roles to ask them how theyre feeling, what their thoughts are on ways they can improve their situation, she said. They value communication back and forth and they really want the perspectives of students to be taken into consideration and feel like their opinions matter.

While many found it harder to engage through virtual learning, and especially for those who were still learning virtually while some of their classmates were in-person, the focus groups found that students cared deeply about their schools and their learning and their grades, Belton said.

The fact that many of them were struggling with school and their grades was deeply concerning for them and contributing to a lot of the anxiety that they were feeling, she said.
A program aimed at supporting small businesses weather the pandemics economic storm received an additional $15 million following approval from the Dane County Board of Supervisors Thursday.

This is the third round of funding for the grant program, which is administered by Dane Buy Local.

Im pleased we are able to provide another round of grants to Dane County businesses, Supervisor Patrick Miles, District 34, said in a statement before the meeting. Because, while we can see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, many business owners are struggling from the effects of the last year. These grants will help them stay open and save jobs.

Dane County started the grant program last year with $800,000 in county dollars. With funding the county received through the CARES Act, Dane Buy Local oversaw $10 million in grants.

A second round of funding provided $4 million to businesses, though Dane Buy Local received $50 million in application requests.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said the city is regrouping after the City Council failed to approve the purchase of a site on the east side for a permanent mens homeless shelter and that all options are on the table.

At a press briefing Thursday, Rhodes-Conway said city staff will need to review what sites are available in Madison and evaluate if they would work for a shelter, how long it would take to open and the cost to renovate.

Were going back to square one, and were going to try again, said Rhodes-Conway while also expressing her disappointment in the councils 14-5 decision on Tuesday. Because of the budget impact, the measure required 15 votes of the City Council.

The mayor believes the councils vote will postpone construction on a shelter for at least another year and increase costs for housing homeless men this winter.

Its really unfortunate we have to deal with this setback, but we will press through and do all we can to make sure we are creating the system to serve our folks who are experiencing homelessness, Rhodes-Conway said.
When he was named interim last June, Thompson said he would be the UW Systems biggest advocate and toughest evaluator. He has done just that, but we need more of what we have gotten in the past 10 months. In our opinion, as leaders of statewide organizations who interface with political leaders daily, running his tenure through at least June 2022  to offer continuity during this current legislative session  perhaps the most important in our states history  would help leverage all that the UW System has to offer.

The UW System is one of the states largest employers and an economic driver. Having a trusted leader who has the best interest of Wisconsin at heart will not only make a big difference in the lives of Wisconsinites, but will also set the University of Wisconsin System up for future success. Whoever is the next president of the UW System will benefit from the work Tommy Thompson is doing right now. We should keep him for as long as we can.
Arent you embarrassed? Romney asked the 2,100 convention delegates. Im a man who says what he means, and you know I was not a fan of our last presidents character issues.

Romney was the only Republican senator to twice vote to impeach Trump, first for seeking political dirt from Ukraine on Joe Bidens son and then for inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Six other Republican senators also voted to convict Trump for his role in the January insurrection.

You can boo all you like, Romney told the convention crowd. Ive been a Republican all my life. My dad was the governor of Michigan and I was the Republican nominee for president in 2012. Romney only narrowly avoided being censured later in a convention vote.

Then theres Cheney, a Wyoming conservative, who as the third-ranking House Republican is also being ferociously attacked for criticizing Trump. She is likely to be removed soon from her leadership position.
Dear Editor: Since the editorials on gun control are piling up, it is time to get some facts out for the people.

It may surprise people to learn that Wisconsin already has laws that allow law enforcement to get involved when an individual is deemed a threat to themselves or others. Anyone advocating for new "extreme risk protection orders" (which are typically lacking in due process) needs to specifically explain why Chapters 51 and 55 of the state statutes are inadequate. Wisconsin has well-developed laws around mental health issues and mental health crises that already cover what gun control advocates claim to support. If better knowledge of Wisconsin's mental health laws were more common, polls would likely show significantly less support for superfluous "ERPO" proposals.

The second major gun control push from the governor is for "universal background checks." Again, the facts in this area are not widely known, which makes public polling on the question worthless. Multiple studies from both academia and government researchers show that criminals do not acquire guns through means that would be subject to these "universal" background checks. Neither the governor nor the Legislature have presented any evidence that this proposal would have any effect whatsoever on crime and violence in Wisconsin. The evidence that is available suggests that the proposal would have no beneficial effect.
Will Schwarz, left to right, founder of the Maryland Memorial Lynching Project, Nancy Goldring, president of the Northeast Towson Improvement Association, and Baltimore County Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Troy Williams, stand with a historical marker honoring Howard Cooper, who was lynched outside the Towson jailhouse when he was 15 years old. The Maryland Memorial Lynching Project partnered with the Equal Justice Initiative and Baltimore County to install the plaque honoring Coopers memory outside the old jail. The commemoration is part of the Equal Justice Initiatives national Community Remembrance Project documenting victims of racial violence. (Courtesy of Will Schwarz / Baltimore Sun)
Traditionally, the school district offered six sections of 4K but due to decreasing enrollment, five sections can be offered, Slack said. The measure will save the district over $53,800 next school year.

Slack mentioned the four-day, full-day format has been growing around the state. According to The Cap Times, the state considers 4K students as .5 or .6 of a full-time student in grades K-12 for budget purposes. Gov. Tony Evers proposed increasing 4K to a 1.0 format in his first biennium budget two years ago but the item did not pass the Legislature. Evers again proposed the full-day format in the 2021-23 biennium budget but Republican legislators have not indicated support for it.

Slack said funding might not come through in the upcoming state budget cycle but believes a full-day model could be funded by the state in the future.
The city maintained that the building could not be operated as a church because of building code violations, and had also found that work done on the buildings interior had been done improperly and without permits.

Police raided the would-be church in May 2019, after it had been open since March of that year. Though Schworck and Bangert reopened it in July 2019, after court prohibitions against them being there were lifted, the two were later evicted from the property by Kaur, again after the city had shut it down for the previous code violations.

A Dane County judge granted the eviction in October 2019, finding the pair had breached its lease with Kaur by illegally selling marijuana at the property.

Criminal charges remain pending against Schworck and Bangert in Dane County Circuit Court.

The eviction was the substantial burden placed on their religious practices, the pair maintained, but Conley said that without admissible evidence, no reasonable jury could find that the city and its officials were linked to the eviction, despite assertions from Schworck and Bangert that the city pressured Kaur to evict them from the building. And even assuming city officials treated the church unfairly during permitting or inspection processes, he wrote, theres no evidence linking that treatment to the eviction.
Madison police said Friday they are investigating a child enticement at Yahara Place Park on the East Side on Thursday night.

At around 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Madison police responded to a report of a child enticement at the park at 2025 Yahara Place, officer Michael Malloy said in a report.

A girl told police she had been approached by a white man in his 20s wishing to provide her a massage. The girl returned home and reported the incident to an adult, Malloy said.

The man was gone when officers arrived, but the investigation into the incident is continuing, Malloy said.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Madison police at 608-255-2345, or Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014, or P3Tips.com.

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
A proposed high-voltage power line between northern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin faces yet another legal challenge.

Environmental groups sued the Army Corps of Engineers in federal court Wednesday over its permit allowing utilities to place towers in the Mississippi River for the $492 million project known as Cardinal-Hickory Creek.

The National Wildlife Refuge Association, Driftless Area Land Conservancy and three other organizations say the agency violated federal environmental law by failing to take a hard look at the environmental consequences of the 102-mile line on public waters and lands, wildlife, recreation and property values.

The groups say the Corps did not conduct an independent environmental review, instead relying on the work of other federal agencies, and failed to look at alternatives.

The Army Corps of Engineers short-circuited the process by failing to look at the impacts of a huge transmission line with 20-story towers through key conservation areas, waterways and wetlands, said Howard Learner, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

A Corps of Engineers spokesman said the agency does not comment on litigation.

Report: Wind, solar energy cheaper than most Wisconsin coal plants Wisconsins two largest coal plants  in Rothchild and Oak Creek  are only slightly more cost-effective than renewables, according to the report. But that could soon change.
I think that investing in this now will not only save the state taxpayers money, which is very important, but more important and the ultimate goal of this is to give our youth, some whove had the most horrific starts in their lives, it will give them a chance and an opportunity to come back and hopefully have a happy, healthy and productive life as they move forward.

Borrowed funds

In approving the request from the Department of Health Services to expand the facility, lawmakers are making use of borrowing already outlined in the last state budget. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers already approved about $44 million in borrowing for the project, and Evers, through a veto, was able to shift $15 million in borrowing authorized for another mental health facility in northern Wisconsin that Republicans wanted to Mendota instead. Still, more will be needed in the state budget.

The project would also need to get final approval from the state Building Commission.
Other election-related bills wont come up for a vote in the committee without significant changes, Bernier said.

We have to take into consideration unintended consequences, Bernier said. I dont care that the governors going to veto the bills. Im going to make sure that if I vote yes on something, its something I can defend and support, whether this year, next year or under the next governor, whoever that will be. I am not going to pass through bad legislation thinking its going to get vetoed, and hoping that it does get vetoed.

Bernier said she has fundamental issues with some of the election bills. She said some bills have provisions that should be combined together, as well, making them premature for a floor vote. She said the committee process so far has been extraordinarily painful.

Bernier said she has felt pressured by her Republican colleagues to prematurely push forward the election bills, which she said have a number of problems that need to be ironed out. Her disagreement with her colleagues erupted into a rare public spat with Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, who called on her earlier this week to advance all the Senates election-related bills for a May floor vote.
The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board thinks both of the Oversight Boards main conclusions were correct. Yes, even presidents should be suspended if they encourage violence that leads directly to a deadly riot. And yes, the standards under which such decisions are made need to be transparent or else they will only add to the anger that suffuses American politics. Facebook needs clear policies, and a commitment to follow them.

The Trumpism driving the second big news item of the day, alas, was more clearly and painfully ominous. A day after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was heard trashing Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., for refusing to stay silent about Trumps continued lies about the election being stolen, there were several reports that a vote could be held within days to remove Cheney from her role as the No. 3 leader in the House GOP.

But lest anyone forget, none other than McCarthy himself was criticizing Trumps actions soon after the Capitol riot. On the floor of the House, McCarthy said: 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. These facts require immediate action by President Trump to accept his share of responsibility.
According to one published account on May 11, 2008, by April Vitello, the woman credited with creating one of the worlds most celebrated holidays probably wouldnt be pleased with all the flowers, candy, or gifts Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation  she felt it signified the purity of a mothers love. Jarvis, who never married and never had children, got the Mothers Day idea after her mother (Anna Reeves Jarvis) said it would be nice if someone created a memorial to mothers.
After the five-minute cooling-off period, Mathias appealed to lawmakers to pass the budgets, cuts and all, and fund the four-year schools. They are doing their absolute best with almost no help from us.

What Thayn said

Thayn said he took a Boise State philosophy class in 1978. He said he sat silently while the professor said man has never been able to define the nature of God. Following that line of reasoning, the professor challenged the premise of a nation built on God-given rights. Thayn said he couldnt stay silent, and told the professor that the Founding Fathers were able to define the nature of God, and build a government accordingly. He had absolutely nothing to say, but I got my F. Thayn also said his classmates laughed at him and ridiculed him several times during the semester.
TWIN FALLS  Despite some temporary high winds and a brief sprinkle of rain, more than a hundred people gathered for a National Day of Prayer event at City Park Thursday evening.

A local band played music in between local leaders taking turns addressing the crowd. Members of the state Legislature, as well as city and county representatives spoke at the gathering.

This includes Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, who before leading the group in a prayer, spoke briefly about the ongoing legislative session. He reiterated his support for the governor, and told the attendees the session could end next week.

Its been a very disruptive session, but I want you to know its almost over, Heider said.

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Mayor Suzanne Hawkins addressed the crowd first, and read a National Day of Prayer proclamation she signed during Mondays City Council meeting. Following this, the mayor read a few verses from the Bible and finished with a prayer.

Let us lead by example and carry forward our tradition of religious liberty, which protects all Americans rights to pray and to practice our faiths as we see fit, Hawkins said while reading the proclamation.
Effective management of water resources affects the vitality of communities and their ability to grow and develop. Respecting water rights is a central factor in the management of water resources. I have been a longtime opponent of federal agencies eroding states water rights practices. I have authored and introduced legislation in multiple congresses to prevent federal encroachment on the management of water resources, best controlled at the state and local levels. I am again backing legislation in this Congress to protect the private property rights of farmers, ranchers, states, cities and local conservation efforts from being trampled on by the federal government.

The federal government has a long history of attempting to seize control of private water rights, undermining state water laws throughout the West, including Idaho. Forcing multiple-use permit holders to turn over privately owned water rights to the federal government as a condition of permit renewal is one of the means employed to exert federal control over water resources. The Clean Water Act, the Federal Land Policy Management Act and wilderness designations have also been vehicles used to attempt to erode state sovereignty over water.
Roberts false report stirred immediate outrage among Murdocks media group, taking the entire country by storm, until Roberts meekly admitted 3 days later that Biden had no such plan. In the meantime, many politicians wedded to Fox News blew gaskets, threw unwarranted accusations at Biden and generally gnashed their teeth, including Idaho Governor Brad Little.

The fulminating over the fake beef news was just starting when Murdocks New York Post reported that Vice President Harris was slipping copies of her book, Superheroes Are Everywhere, into welcome bags being distributed to migrant kids coming across the border. This was, of course, another fake Murdock story, which the Post admitted in a tiny statement in the paper on April 27. Turns out the reporter resigned, claiming she had been ordered to write the falsehoods. Nevertheless, the story caused great outrage across the nation between the false report and the admission of fakery.
Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin's Education Task Force exists to examine indoctrination in Idaho education and to protect our young people, a project being compared to McCarthy's 1950s Red Scare. Having lived and taught in China off & on between 2000 & 2005, I see many disturbing parallels between McGeachin's 'Task Force' and the Chinese Communist Party's current Patriotic Education programs which uses nationalist sentiment to shore up its monopoly on power.

Chinas recent crackdown on Hong Kongs democracy reached the classroom. Teachers have been purged, curriculums purified, and textbooks rewritten to ensure that only the government approved versions of history are taught and the youth become unquestioning, loyal, obedient subjects to Beijing. In order to make sure citizens dont stray from the official version of its history, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the countrys top internet regulator, encourages citizens to report harmful online comments that contain historical nihilism. (source: https://qz.com/1995362/china-asks-citizens-to-monitor-harmful-history-comments-online/)
All five Democrats vying to become Virginias next governor took the debate stage in Southwest Virginia on Thursday, just shy of a month until voting closes in the June 8 Democratic primary.

Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe  who polls show is far ahead of the other candidates  fielded the most attacks throughout the night. Former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy took the most forceful swings at McAuliffe, calling him Virginias past.

Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond touted a long list of legislative victories; Del. Lee Carter of Manassas cemented his place to the left of the field; and Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who last month made headlines for comparing himself to Emmett Till, largely focused Thursday night on the policy questions at hand.

McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014-18, said during the hourlong debate in Bristol that he is the right candidate to take on the eventual Republican nominee, who he said would threaten liberal policies and Democratic control of the legislature.

The candidates met in far Southwest, an area where job growth has stalled. All five candidates agreed the area could benefit from intensified focus on economic development, and all agreed greater public spending on broadband would be key to improving life in the region and other rural parts of the state.
Most ambitious of all is the workforce housing of 168 units planned next to the Universal Advanced Manufacturing Center.

Last year, the new housing complex with 168 units was announced by the Dogwood Health Trust and the Gateway Wellness Foundation. The complex is intended to provide affordable housing for people who work in McDowell County. It will be built in cooperation with McDowell County, McDowell Technical Community College, McDowell Economic Development Association, the city of Marion and Housing Assistance Corp.

However, the cost of this ambitious project turned out to be more expensive than planned. The project went out for bids two weeks ago and came back costing $5 million more than it was estimated a year ago. This is due to building prices going through the roof. For example, the cost of a 2-by-4 piece of lumber was $2.50 a year ago. It is now $7.50, said Cotton.

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Dogwood has promised not to abandon the project but that they do need to reevaluate their funding options, said Cotton to the council. The options include delaying construction until prices come down, approaching HUD for a larger loan, doing a 4% tax credit plan, having higher rents on some apartments to offset the higher loan cost. Once these options are hashed out Gateway will reach back out to local partners to discuss next steps.
Credit: Shutterstock

Two female Australian comedians recently revealed they've been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

In an interview before her shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Fiona O'Loughlin alluded to lifelong challenges including disorganization and inability to sustain attention.

O'Loughlin, 57, described her diagnosis as a "seismic shift" in her life, and said medication has helped her immensely. But her struggle with focus will be a story familiar to many girls with ADHD.

And in an article published this week, Em Rusciano also revealed she's been diagnosed with ADHD. For Rusciano, too, treatment has been transformative. The 42-year-old wrote on Facebook:

"I don't feel the world coming at me at 100 all the time anymore. The constant sensory overload has stopped. I don't feel overwhelmed by life quite as much."

Comedian and former radio star @EmRusciano explains how she really feels about reality television, and, for the first time, reveals a recent medical diagnosis that has her questioning some of the longstanding views she's had about herself. https://t.co/TLzNnWceoE  Stellar (@StellarMagAU) May 1, 2021

While some of us might perceive ADHD as a condition that affects males (particularly boys), it affects girls and women too. And it's important to understand that the way it presents in girls can be quite different to the way it manifests itself in boys.

What is ADHD?

Best understood as a persistent, and sometimes lifelong, neurodevelopmental disorder, ADHD includes problems with sustaining attention, resisting distraction, and moderating activity levels to suit the environment (for example, sitting in a classroom).

Young people with ADHD vary considerably in their behaviors. A child might exhibit symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity (for example, fidgeting and squirming, or frequently leaving their seat in class), or inattention (careless mistakes, trouble focusing in class, difficulty keeping their belongings in order), or more commonly, both. Hyperfocus (an intense fixation on one activity) can also be a symptom.

Of course, these behaviors are common in childhood to varying degrees. Diagnosis is based on whether symptoms are excessive for the child's age, developmental level, and cultural background (parents across different cultures may differ in whether they see a child's behavior as hyperactive or normal).

A diagnosis is only made if there's clear evidence that the symptoms impair functioning across several life domains such as at school, at home and with friends.

Does ADHD look different in girls?

Researchers have only recently started to unravel the expression of ADHD in girls.

The way ADHD presents in girls and boys is in many ways similar, but there are a few noteworthy differences. Most importantly, while symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity are present across genders (with some studies showing more hyperactivity in boys), symptoms of inattention, which can be easier to overlook, are seen more frequently in girls.

Further, the onset of ADHD symptoms can differ across gender. Symptoms of hyperactivity tend to present early in school life. Inattentiveness, by contrast, has a slightly later onset. So girls with ADHD can often go undetected until academic and organizational demands increase in late primary and high school.

Girls with ADHD are also at higher risk of developing depression and anxiety than boys. If depression and anxiety occur at the same time as ADHD, it can be more difficult to diagnose ADHD.

A range of possible mechanisms have been implicated in the difference in ADHD expression between genders, from hormonal changes, to cognitive differences, to social factors. But we need more research to truly understand the reasons behind the disparity.

Boys versus girls

ADHD is the most common psychological disorder among Australian youth. The second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, published in 2015, reported 7.4% of 4-17-year-olds had ADHD over the previous 12 months.

Interestingly, more than twice as many boys have ADHD than girls. The disparity in prevalence may be a result of ADHD being historically viewed as a male disorder.

This gender difference in prevalence has prompted controversy about diagnostic criteria and brought the female expression of ADHD into sharper focus.

There's some suggestion the current diagnostic framework, developed on male-dominated samples, is inadequate for girls and sees more boys than girls get a diagnosis. Some researchers have suggested symptom thresholds for diagnosis in girls should be modified.

Are there female expressions of hyperactivity-impulsivity (for example, internal feelings of restlessness) that could be added to the diagnostic criteria? Should there be gender-specific cut-offs for current criteria (for example, a lower threshold for hyperactivity for girls)?

Until further research is conducted, the jury is out on any changes to the current system.

Importantly, many parents and teachers have long-held stereotypes of an ADHD child as a disruptive and hyperactive boy with difficulties staying still and keeping on-task. This perceptual bias influences who they recognize as potentially having ADHD and refer to treatment.

Research shows even when students display equivalent levels of impairment, teachers still refer more boys than girls for ADHD treatment.

Some signs of ADHD in girls

Does your child do the following more than other children of her age?

make careless mistakes

daydream or appear spaced out

fail to pay close attention to details

have difficulty remaining focused in class, reading, homework, conversations

doesn't seem to listen (appears distracted)

have difficulty organizing tasks and materials

is reluctant to engage in tasks that require mental effort (schoolwork, homework)

often loses everyday things

is forgetful in daily activities.

Keep an eye out for an increase in symptoms in late primary or early high school, as workload increases.

A good rule of thumb for when it's time to seek help is when a child is starting to fail, fall behind or perform significantly below their ability either in schoolwork, friendships or family relationships.

There's no cure for ADHD, but treatment aims to manage symptoms. Across genders, the first line of treatment for children is stimulant medication (such as Ritalin, Adderall or Concerta) and behavior management (parent training and classroom management).

As more research on female ADHD emerges, we can consider treatment modifications specific to gender.

For many girls, ADHD is a serious and debilitating illness. Ensuring girls are identified early and accurately and that they receive evidence-based treatment is crucial.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Baltimore City is always putting these things in and Im like, theyve got the worst schools, theyve got the worst crime and yet theyre trying to tell us what to do with our county, she said. Our counties are very different. One size does not fit all. Police reform is a huge problem in some jurisdictions, especially Baltimore City, and its a real problem. Our county is the safest county in the state. Our people here respect the police and our police respect the citizens.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Emerging evidence indicates that many currently defined aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) are unlikely to play any significant role in the generation of infectious aerosol that poses a risk to hospital staff. In a comment article published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, a research team from the University of Bristol discusses AGPs and the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in a healthcare setting.

Current UK infection control guidance for hospitals is centered on the basis that aerosols are only generated by specific medical interventions described as aerosol generating procedures (AGPs).

The comment article suggests it is becoming increasingly clear that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via aerosol is possible and might represent a significant transmission route. However, emerging evidence indicates that many currently defined AGPs are unlikely to play any significant role in the generation of infectious aerosol that poses a risk to staff.

More research is ongoing to measure other AGPs across a range of clinical settings. However, based on the research to date, a coughing patient with acute COVID-19 is likely to generate more infectious aerosol than many AGPs. This appears to be supported by the epidemiological evidence, which points to an increased risk of infection for ward medical staff (who care for patients who have difficulty in breathing and coughing patients with COVID-19) compared with intensive care staffalthough there is some limitation to the interpretation of that data such as patient mix, among other factors.

In light of this evidence, the researchers propose an end to the term aerosol generating procedure and instead focus should be on the risk in plain sight: close, physical exposure to people suspected, or known to have, COVID-19 for prolonged time or where ventilation remains poor.

Nick Maskell, Professor of Respiratory Medicine at the Academic Respiratory Unit and Bristol Medical School: Translational Health Sciences (THS), said: "We propose that clinicians follow an evidence-based framework that accounts for the major sources of risk, with a focus on physical exposure to patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 as the critical component.

"Additional factors known to be relevant in viral transmission, such as ventilation, proximity, and the length time of exposure to patients, should be included in assessing risk, while recognizing the changing epidemiology of infection with setting."

"Aerosol generating procedures: are they of relevance for transmission of SARS-CoV-2?," by Fergus Hamilton, David Arnold, Bryan R Bzdek, James Dodd, AERATOR group, Jonathan Reid and Nick Maskell, is published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

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More information: Fergus Hamilton et al. Aerosol generating procedures: are they of relevance for transmission of SARS-CoV-2?, The Lancet Respiratory Medicine (2021). Journal information: Lancet Respiratory Medicine Fergus Hamilton et al. Aerosol generating procedures: are they of relevance for transmission of SARS-CoV-2?,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00216-2
With soaring Covid-19 rates in poorer countries like India, pressure is on for Big Pharma to waive vaccine patent protections

Waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines is fiercely opposed by Big Pharma because they say it would set a precedent that could threaten future innovations, and insist the move would not speed up production.

Here are some of the consequences waiving the patent protection on novel coronavirus vaccines could have.

No immediate impact

The vaccine makers say patents are not the key factor impeding faster production.

"Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards, and sizable workforce needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine," said Michelle McMurry-Heath, head of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), an industry lobbying group.

Mastering the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology, which is the basis of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, buying equipment, conducting clinical trials, and setting up large-scale manufacturingall of this takes time.

"This is not happening in six, 12 or 18 months," Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said Thursday.

Vaccine production also is hampered by customs barriers and shortages of certain ingredients.

Moderna in October promised not to defend COVID-19 vaccine patents it holds, while Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca have pledged to sell the vaccine at cost.

US President Joe Biden was under intense pressure from world leaders which deplored the slow distribution of vaccines around the world even as 57 percent of US adults have received at least one dose

Waiving the patents "doesn't mean that countries like India could just speed up manufacturing hundreds of millions of doses," so it is "not going to hurt them materially in the months ahead," says Ian Gendler of the Value Line research firm.

The move may not even serve as a public relations boon for the companies that often face criticism for high drug prices.

"They're not doing it voluntarily," said Farasat Bokhari, a health economist specializing in competition at Britain's University of East Anglia.

"If the governments force them to do it, they would just be seen as having been dragged" along.

'Slippery slope'

Ron Cohen, head of New York-based biotech firm Acorda Therapeutics, warned that President Joe Biden is taking "the first step down a dangerous, slippery slope" by backing the patent waiver.

"How will new vaccines come," he asked on Twitter. Alzheimer's is a global crisis, as is cancer. "Which will be next to have patents broken when this precedent is set?" he asked.

Experts said the broader system of intellectual property protections is not fundamentally threatened.

But waiving patents for COVID-19 vaccines "sets the path and the precedent for removing it for other public emergencies in the future as well," Bokhari saidbecause it would remove the "incentives ... for firms to invest next time."

The vaccine makers say patents are not the key factor impeding faster production

Solving the problem

For Damien Conover, a pharmaceutical sector analyst at Morningstar, the patent waiver is "more optics" for the Biden administration, which "is showing support with the developing world, rather than really having a major impact."

Biden was under intense pressure from world leaders, which deplored the slow distribution of vaccines around the world even as 57 percent of American adults have received at least one dose.

"We still need to solve that problem," Bokhari said. "We need to see where the bottlenecks are, why is it that production is not increasing."

But he said the best way for the US government to help address vaccine inequity would be to establish licensing agreements between pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers in developing countries, which would include transfers of know-how.

Shyam Balganesh, intellectual property specialist at Columbia University in New York, favors pooling knowledge of COVID-19, since the virus is not going to disappear anytime in the near future.

While companies are reluctant to waive patents, that is no match for the efforts made by the governments that financed part of the research, facilitated regulatory processes and logistics, and given the fact that the pandemic has created an exceptional situation, he said.

Balganesh cautioned that the final outcome of the negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) remains unclear.

"Whether it's the pharmaceutical industry, that's saying that all hell will break loose, or whether it's the public health advocates who are celebrating this development, it's important to recognize that we don't know what the text of the resolution is going to be," Balganesh said.

How long the vaccine patent waivers will be in place, or whether COVID-19 treatments will be covered by the waiver are among the "wrinkles (that) have to be ironed out."

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 2021 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Which wound cuts deeper: the loss of an only child or loss of a spouse? A new study led by researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Fudan University suggests that Chinese parents find the loss of an only child to be approximately 1.3 times as psychologically distressing than the loss of a spouse. The findings are published in the journal Aging & Mental Health.

Older adults in China rely heavily on family support, particularly from their adult children. Filial pietythe Confucian idea describing a respect for one's parents and responsibility for adult children to care for their parents as they ageis a central value in traditional Chinese culture.

In the 1970s, China introduced a one-child policy to slow the population growth, resulting in hundreds of millions of families with only children. While the policy ended in 2016, its consequences will be felt for decades, particularly for families who experience the loss of a child.

"The death of a child has been recognized as one of the most challenging and traumatic events for a parent," said Bei Wu, Ph.D., Dean's Professor in Global Health at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and co-director of the NYU Aging Incubator, as well as the study's senior author. "Within the cultural context of China, the death of an only child is devastating not only due to the emotional loss, but also the loss of financial and instrumental support that is critical to older adults."

The death of a spouse is also recognized as a distressing life event, forcing older adults to navigate both the emotional loss and the shattering of a married couple's social and economic circumstances. In this study, Wu and her colleagues wanted to examine whether the loss of a spouse had a similar impact on psychological well-being as the loss of an only child, and whether the presence of one mitigated the absence of the other.

The researchers analyzed data from a 2013 survey conducted in Shanghai involving more than 1,100 adults, including 128 parents who lost their only child. The survey evaluated the impact of the loss of a spouse or child on participants' psychological well-being, including depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction.

They found that adults who lost their only child but have a living spouse had more psychological distress than those who lost their spouse but have a living child. This effect appeared to be stronger in women than in men.

Losing an only child resulted in 1.37 times the level of loneliness and 1.51 times the level depression as losing a spouse, and life satisfaction was 1.14 times worse for those who lost an only child vs. their spouse. Adults whose children and spouse were both alive had better psychological well-being than those who experienced loss.

"Our findings demonstrate that the loss of an only child carries more psychological weight than the loss of a spouse in Chinese culture," said Wu.

Wu and her colleagues recommend increasing access to professional mental health services for adults who experience loss, as well as developing culturally relevant interventions to address social isolation and loneliness among older Chinese adults.

More information: Yan Liang et al, Which wound cuts deeper: loss of an only child or loss of a spouse? An examination of bereavement in older adults within a Chinese cultural context, Aging & Mental Health (2021). Yan Liang et al, Which wound cuts deeper: loss of an only child or loss of a spouse? An examination of bereavement in older adults within a Chinese cultural context,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/13607863.2021.1913473
Image of one of a flexible mats of closely spaced sensors being developed at UC San Diego. These kinds of sensor grids are temporarily placed directly on the surface of the brain during some cancer and epilepsy surgeries. Credit: University of California - San Diego

Imagine describing a photograph of an oak tree growing in a meadow. Now imagine describing that same image while a section of your skull has been temporarily removed and a grid of sensors is resting directly on the surface of your brain. These sensors are recording where these electrical signals are rising from your brain. The goal is to create a customized brain map that helps the surgical team remove as much of a brain tumor as possible while minimizing possible damage caused by the physical act of removing the tumor.

You might ask: don't we already know the functions of the parts of the human brain? Don't we already have maps that link specific brain functions to particular regions of the brain?

Yes, modern medicine has maps; but human brains are not identical. In addition, the human brain often reorganizes itself in response to damage caused by things like the presence of a growing tumor. This adaptability makes the brain resilient, but it can also make planning tumor removal more difficult. That's where the sensors come in. When the person speaks and moves while the sensors are running, the surgical team can identify specific areas of the brain that are actually activated while these actions are being performed. This information helps the team build out a map of areas to avoid during the impending surgery.

A University of California San Diego team of engineers, surgeons, neuroscientists, and medical device developers is working together to create better customized maps prior to brain tumor removal surgery. In particular, the team is focused on improving the performance of the flexible mats of sensors that rest directly on the surface of the brain while not puncturing that surface.

These new grids of sensors are also being used to improve epilepsy treatments. For some people with epilepsy, treatment includes surgery where part of the skull is temporarily removed in order to apply gentle electrical stimulation directly to the surface of the brain. The sensor grids developed at UC San Diego are allowing surgical teams to record brain signals while applying the electrical stimulation. Additional work in this area could lead to better epilepsy treatments and perhaps help to uncover the root causes of epilepsy.

Engineers and physicians collaborate

The UC San Diego collaboration between engineers and physicians began more than six years ago, when electrical engineering professor Shadi Dayeh met Eric Halgren, a professor of neurosciences and radiology at UC San Diego Health. The two connected at a mixer organized to introduce engineers at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering to existing medical challenges and opportunities that might be addressed through engineering.

Fast forward to 2021, and the spark that Dayeh felt as he listened to Halgren's description of the need for better brain-surface sensors has grown into a dynamic collaboration between the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and UC San Diego Health. The team has created improved versions of sensor mats that read signals directly from the brain surface during surgery.

Reflecting on their ongoing collaboration, Halgren highlighted how unusualand welcomeit is to have a partner in engineering who can take a project from conception to clinical application.

Credit: University of California - San Diego

Shadi Dayeh and his team have, in fact, improved these sensor systems in multiple ways, and their work has been used in the operating room. For example, the team has increased the size of the sensor grids and also increased the density of individual sensors within the grids.

While previous generations of these sensors developed elsewhere have been useful in treating patients, "they undersample the brain activity," said Dayeh, who noted that you can't just place more existing sensors closer together or shrink existing sensor technologies. "We have turned to advances in materials science to allow us to make small contacts that can be stacked very close to each other. They display low noise, or higher fidelity, in recording these brain signals."

For both tumor removal and epilepsy treatments, a more tightly packed grid of sensors allows the surgeon to build a higher resolution, custom map of the brain.

In addition to the higher sensor density, the grids that Dayeh and his team create are more supple than other sensor grids. This flexibility allows the sensor grids to more closely follow the undulations of the surface of the human brain, which is important. Closer contact improves signal reading.

"I have been working with professor Dayeh for about six years now, developing advanced neural interface devices. What makes his lab really special is that he is truly doing bench to bedside work," said Daniel Cleary, a resident physician in the Department of Neurological Surgery at UC San Diego Health in a recent video interview showcasing the Dayeh lab.

"[Dayeh] designs devices using the most advanced engineering materials and electronics work, and then we are able to take those devices and test them in animals and see how well they actually work, revise the devices, and then subsequently take them into the operating room. This is really something special because it represents true translational medicine. There's a pipeline directly from devices to diagnostic and therapeutic advances," said Cleary.

Dayeh underscored the value of the partnership.

"Daniel Cleary has been a critical member in the translational efforts across engineering and medicine at UC San Diego," said Dayeh.

As part of the team's efforts to translate technological advances into the clinic, Dayeh is engaging the wider community of people who might one day elect to embedfor the long term rather than just during a surgerydevices that interface directly with the brain, the spinal column, or the nerves that extend out across the entire body. Systems that give people who have been paralyzed the ability to not only move limbs but feel what they are grasping are just some of the possibilities.

In an effort to increase public awareness of this work, Dayeh recently joined a conversation with UC San Diego bioethicist Michael Kalichman, who runs a series of public talks called Exploring Ethics. Their video conversation is titled "Neuromodulation: Diagnosis and Therapy for Brain and Spinal Cord Disorders."

"New technologies, like this one, hold great promise, but success depends on effective dialog with the general public about their worries and needs, as well as strategies to best meet those challenges," said Kalichman.

The video begins with Dayeh giving a summary of his team's work and how it fits into the larger research context. Dayeh and Kalichman go on to talk about issues related to the challenges of translating these kinds of technologies into the clinic. People watching the live video stream peppered Dayeh with specific questions about what might be possible by acting directly on the nervous system.

While many of the questions were too specific to be answered by an engineer on a video call, this intense interest from the general public motivates Dayeh's efforts to ensure everyone is at the table as this work continues. Patient voices and perspectives, for example, were a key part of a 2020 NSF-funded workshop he co-organized. The workshop focused on the current progress and gaps in the clinical translation of devices that interact directly with the brain, the spinal column or the wider nervous system (called "neuromodulation devices"). In particular, the workshop focused on the work being done in universities and startups and aimed to identify the infrastructure needed to fill the identified gaps in university research ecosystems.

Dayeh and his team have formed a startup of their own, with the goal of enabling a wider circle of clinicians to have access to the brain-surface sensor grids they are developing. Along the way, Dayeh intends to keep his work as inclusive as possible. "I think most successful approaches follow the model of involving the end user while designing the system. We do that here."

Explore further New brain mapping tool produces higher resolution data during brain surgery
A COVID-19 patient arrives at a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Nepal's main cities and towns including the capital Kathmandu has been in lockdown since last month as the number coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

Across the border from a devastating surge in India, doctors in Nepal warned Friday of a major crisis as daily coronavirus cases hit a record and hospitals were running out of beds and oxygen.

Nepal reported 9,070 new confirmed cases on Thursday, compared to 298 a month ago. The number of fatalities also reached its highest with 58 on Wednesday and 54 on Thursday, for a total of 3,529.

"Right now there are no beds available today in any hospital that is treating COVID patients," said Dr. Jyotindra Sharma, chief of Hospital for Advanced Medicine & Surgery in Kathmandu. "Even if any beds were made available, there is a huge scarcity of oxygen and we are not at the peak of this crisis."

At the hospital, one of the leading facilities in Nepal for treating COVID-19 patients, extra beds were crammed to accommodate more people. They've all been taken and the only way to get admitted is through a waiting list.

"In the extreme situation, people could be dying in the streets," Sharma said, adding it's "just not possible to immediately increase the capacity of the hospitals."

At the government-run Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, several COVID-19 patients were lying in beds set up on the veranda and hooked to oxygen cylinder. They're the lucky ones. Others were turned away because there's not enough space or equipment.

A COVID-19 patient receives oxygen in an ambulance outside an emergency ward as he waits for a bed to be allotted at a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Nepal's main cities and towns including the capital Kathmandu has been in lockdown since last month as the number coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

A COVID-19 patient waits to receive oxygen outside an emergency ward of a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Nepal's main cities and towns including the capital Kathmandu has been in lockdown since last month as the number coronavirus cases and deaths continue to rise. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha)

"We are under-prepared, under-resourced, and under-capacitated to perform any thing that is expected," said Dr. Bishal Dhakal, who has been working with coronavirus patients since the beginning of the pandemic.

A lockdown was imposed last month in major cities and towns, and Nepal this week stopped both domestic and international flights.

The government has pledged several times to increase the number of hospital beds and boost the treatment and preventive measures. However, there has not been any significant change.

Nepal began its vaccination campaign in January with 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca shots donated by India, but it had been suspended because of India's refusal to allow exports as its crisis worsened.

The vaccination resumed when China donated 800,000 doses, and Nepal is negotiating with Russia for supplies of the Sputnik V shots.

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 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wears a protective face mask with the EU stars as she waits for the start of the opening ceremony at an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders meet for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (Tiago Petinga, Pool via AP)

The European Union called on the United States Friday to start boosting its vaccine exports to contain the global COVID-19 crisis, and said that the U.S. backing of patent waivers would provide only a long-term solution at best.

"We invite all those who engage in the debate of a waiver for (Intellectual Property) rights also to join us to commit to be willing to export a large share of what is being produced in that region," said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

In the wake of the U.S. backing calls to waive patents on vaccine technology, French President Emmanuel Macron summarized the view from Europe when he said at an EU summit in Porto, Portugal: "You can give the intellectual property to laboratories that do not know how to produce it. They won't produce it tomorrow."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave the idea endorsed by U.S. President Joe Biden this week a guarded welcome, but he immediately added, "We believe it is insufficient. It should be more ambitious."

While the U.S. has kept a tight lid on exports of American-made vaccines so it can inoculate its own population first, the EU has become the world's leading provider, allowing about as many doses to go outside the 27-nation bloc as are kept for its 446 million inhabitants. Many EU nations, however, have demanded a stop to vaccine nationalism and export bans.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the closing ceremony of the EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders met for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool)

Von der Leyen said that any patent waiver "will not bring a single dose of vaccine in the short and medium term."

Macron said it was more important for Biden to work on exports. "The Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients" needed to make vaccines, the French leader said, referring to Washington and London. "Today, 100% of vaccines produced in the United States of America are for the American market."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said this week that the EU had distributed about 200 million doses within the bloc while about the same amount had been exported abroad.

"Around 50% of what is being produced in Europe is exported to almost 90 countries," von der Leyen said, and called on Biden and other vaccine producing regions or nations to step up their effort.

"We are the most generous in the world of developed nations. Europe should be proud of itself," Macron said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the opening ceremony of an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Luis Vieira, Pool)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, speaks with Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during the opening ceremony of an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Luis Vieira, Pool)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders met for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (Jose Coelho, Pool via AP)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, fist bumps Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during the opening ceremony of an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Luis Vieira, Pool)

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (Miguel Riopa, Pool via AP)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the closing ceremony of the EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders met for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, Pool)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders met for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (Jose Coelho, Pool via AP)

The EU is trying to regain the diplomatic initiative on vaccines after Biden put it on the back foot with his surprising endorsement of lifting patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines, seeking to solve the problem of getting shots into the arms of people in poorer countries.

EU leaders said they were ready to discuss the U.S. backing for proposals first submitted to the World Trade Organization by India and South Africa, but they said many other initiatives would be more effective at this point, ranging from ramping up production capacity to distributing raw materials. So far, they insisted, the issue of waiving patents is not a big problem.

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.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The EU voiced scepticism Friday over the United States' sudden push to waive COVID vaccine patents to boost supply to poorer countries, while defending its own record as the world's biggest exporter of doses.

"An IP waiver will not solve the problems, will not bring a single dose of vaccine in the short- and medium-term," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference at an EU summit in Portugal, using an abbreviation for "intellectual property".

That position was echoed by French President Emmanuel Macron, who stressed that the bigger problem was US and British export restrictions on vaccines and their raw materials.

"The Anglo-Saxons block many of these ingredients and vaccines," he told reporters. "Today 100 percent of the vaccines produced in the United States are for the American market."

That contrasts with the EU's export so far of more than 200 million vaccine doses, which von der Leyen has said shows Europe is "the pharmacy of the world".

Their remarks reflect European consternation at the US about-face this week to support the suspension of vaccine patents, as pushed for by the World Health Organization (WTO) and countries such as India and South Africa.

Most EU leaders said they were not opposed to a debate on the idea, although German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come out firmly against it, with her government stressing that intellectual property protection is a source of innovation.

"We should be open to this discussion," von der Leyen said.

Macron voiced the same opinion, but went on to express "doubts about how effective" suspending vaccine patents would be.

He said he and Merkel were "hand-in-hand" on the issue.

Unlike the EU, the terms of the US contracts prohibit the export of vaccines produced in America.

Dose manufacture is also regulated by a US Defense Production Act that restricts exports until Americans are vaccinated first.

EU officials briefing journalists in Brussels on the issue said the hoarding of vaccine inputs by other countries was a larger obstacle to increasing global vaccine production than IP protection.

'Will not fix things'

But, mindful of the risk of the EU being portrayed as a villain against the apparent generosity of the US stance, they stressed openness to Washington's announcement.

"I believe now the US should come forward and explain exactly the substance of their proposal," one EU official said. "We have not seen anything but a very general statement."

The official said that discussions should continue "with those that think that there might be problems with the intellectual property system" but added: "We have not been given a single example where capacity has been restricted because of the protection of patent or other IP rights."

Another official said that lifting patents, by itself, "will not fix things... it does not mean that you have access to technology or to knowhow".

The official likened it to being handed a recipe to cook a very complex dish"it doesn't mean that I will be able to actually produce the same effect".

Even if patents were lifted and technology forcibly transferred from the pharmaceutical companies making the vaccines, it would take "six to 12 months" for a facility to be operational, the official said.

And for such a step to be achieved through a rewriting of the WTO's existing agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, "we are gone for not only months... you get into years".

Additionally, the European Commission represents all 27 EU member countries at the WTO, and requires a mandate from them agreed by a weighted majority.

Butin a nod to the rejection from Germany and scepticism from Francethe first official said: "You don't want to enter into a negotiation where you already have signals that you are not supported by some of the member states."

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As U.S. health officials prepare to authorize Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use in younger children, a new poll shows that less than a third of parents would get their child vaccinated as soon as the shots are approved for kids.

Only 29% of parents of children under age 18 said they would get their child vaccinated "right away," according to data published Thursday by Kaiser Family Foundation.

Another 32% said they would wait to see how the vaccine is working before getting their child a shot, while the remaining parents said their child would be vaccinated only if their school requires it (15%) or they definitely wouldn't be vaccinated (19%).

Public health experts have said that vaccinating children is key to ending the pandemic.

Pfizer's vaccine is already authorized in the United States for people ages 16 and up, while two othersfrom Moderna and Johnson & Johnsonare authorized for those 18 and older.

The survey percentages did not stray far from what was seen among American adults late last year in another Kaiser survey. In that survey, 34% of adults said they would get a vaccine as soon as possible, and 39% said they would wait and see.

Those attitudes have shifted over time. The latest data, from April, shows about 64% of American adults say they've either already gotten a vaccine or would get one as soon as possible, while a further 15% say they will wait and see.

"We're in a new stage of talking about vaccine demand," Mollyann Brodie, executive vice president of Kaiser's Public Opinion and Survey Research Program, told The New York Times. "There's not going to be a single strategy to increase demand across everyone who is left. There will have to be a lot of individually targeted efforts. The people still on the fence have logistical barriers, information needs, and lots don't yet know they are eligible. Each strategy might move a small number of people to get vaccinated, but all together, that could matter a lot."

In Thursday's Kaiser survey, parents' intentions for their children typically mirrored their intentions for themselves. Among parents who have already received at least one dose or want it as soon as possible, three-fourths said they would get their children vaccinated right away (48%) or wait and see (29%).

The latest survey by the non-profit health research group was conducted April 15-29 among 2,097 adults.

Pfizer and Moderna are already testing their vaccines in children as young as 6 months old and expect to ask the FDA for emergency use authorization covering infants and children later this year. Pfizer expects to submit for emergency use authorization for children ages 2 to 11 in September, CNN reported.

As of Friday, nearly 45% of the U.S. population had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and nearly 33% were fully vaccinated, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among those 18 and older, about 57% have had at least one dose and nearly 41% are fully vaccinated.

Biden backs proposal to lift patent protections on vaccines

The Biden administration announced this week that it will support a controversial proposal to waive patent protections for coronavirus vaccines, while the drug industry warned such a move would actually dampen the development of vaccines.

The United States had been a holdout at the World Trade Organization over the proposal, which could give drugmakers around the world a look at the trade secrets of how the viable COVID-19 vaccines have been made, the Times reported. But President Joe Biden has come under pressure to throw his support behind the proposal, the newspaper reported.

Katherine Tai, the United States trade representative, announced the administration's support for the proposal on Wednesday afternoon.

"This is a global health crisis, and the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures," she said in a statement. "The administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines."

Tai said the United States would participate in negotiations over the matter, but that those talks would "take time, given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved."

Shortly after the decision was announced, the pharmaceutical industry issued a statement that assailed the extraordinary decision. Stephen Ubl, president and chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, called the announcement "an unprecedented step that will undermine our global response to the pandemic and compromise safety."

"This decision will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines," he said, adding that the move would have the effect of "handing over American innovations to countries looking to undermine our leadership in biomedical discovery."

But global health activists praised the administration's decision. It is "a truly historic step, which shows that President Biden is committed to being not just an American leader, but a global one," said Priti Krishtel, an executive director of the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge.

Still, the activists said a waiver alone would not increase the world's vaccine supply. It must be accompanied by a process known as "tech transfer," in which patent holders supply technical know-how and personnel.

"Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards and sizable work force needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine," Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, president and chief executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, told the Times. "Handing them the blueprint to construct a kitchen thatin optimal conditionscan take a year to build will not help us stop the emergence of dangerous new COVID variants."

Craig Garthwaite, a professor of strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, also noted that, unlike many drugs, the coronavirus vaccines are complex technologies that will be difficult to copy without the help of the companies that developed them.

"People think you're going to pick up this patent and read it like a cheesecake recipe, and make this awesome cheesecake," he told the Times. "You really want Moderna and Pfizer helping you."

Biden sets new goal as vaccination rates drop

As coronavirus vaccination rates start to slow in the United States, President Joe Biden set a new goal to deliver at least one shot to 70% of adult Americans by July 4 while he tries to convince the hesitant to get inoculated.

Some states are leaving more than half of their available doses unordered, so Biden also announced this week that his administration will now shift doses from states with less need to states with greater demand for shots, the Associated Press reported. He also called for states to make vaccines available on a walk-in basis, and he will tell pharmacies to do the same.

"You do need to get vaccinated," Biden said from the White House Tuesday. "Even if your chance of getting seriously ill is low, why take the risk? It could save your life or the lives of somebody you love."

Dr. Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research in California, told the Times he was "overjoyed" by the announcement. He had pushed for loosening vaccine allocation limits last month, when Michigan was struggling with a virus surge and could not get desperately needed extra vaccine doses.

The federal government's new flexibility will allow for states to respond rapidly when they see "the temperatures rising on the heat map of the country," Topol told the Times.

The United States is now administering first doses at a rate of about 965,000 per dayhalf the rate of three weeks ago, but almost twice as fast as needed to meet Biden's new target, the AP reported.

"I'd like to get it to 100%, but I think realistically we can get to that place between now and July Fourth," Biden said of his new goal.

His administration will target three areas as it tries to hasten the pace of vaccinations:

Adults who need more convincing to take the vaccine.

Those who have struggled or are in no hurry to obtain a shot.

Adolescents aged 12-15, once federal authorities approve vaccination for that age group.

Ahead of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's expected authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for kids aged 12 to 15, the White House is also developing plans to speed vaccinations for that age group. Biden urged states to administer at least one dose to their adolescents by July 4 and to deliver doses to pediatricians' offices and other trusted locations, with the aim of getting many young people fully vaccinated by the start of the next school year, the AP reported.

As of Thursday, the U.S. coronavirus case count passed 32.5 million, while the death toll topped 580,000, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University. Worldwide, over 156.1 million cases had been reported by Thursday, with more than 3.2 million people dead from COVID-19.

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More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on the new coronavirus

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In this April 14, 2021, file photo, medical workers tend to coronavirus patients in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Kenyatta National Hospital, in Nairobi, Kenya. Amid concerns over India, Kenya, which is coming down from a recent peak in cases, halted flights with the country for two weeks, while Nigeria suspended flights with India, Brazil and Turkey, fearing new virus strains could come in as it tries to bring down cases, particularly in Lagos, home to some 20 million people. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)

Countries worldwide wrestling with new coronavirus surges are trying to ensure they aren't hit by an India-style disaster. They face many of the same risks, including large populations that have shirked restrictions and fragile health systems shaken under the strain.

In a province along the Nile in southern Egypt, hospitals have been flooded with COVID-19 patients, a main hot spot in a third spike swelling across the country. Doctors in Sohag province warn the health system there could collapse, even as the government rushes in new supplies.

"My estimate is that there is no family in Sohag that does not have a corona case," said Dr. Mahmoud Fahmy Mansour, head of the province's doctors' union. "We lost five physicians in one week."

He said a scenario like India was a possibility, but "God willing, it is a very far possibility."

Long reluctant to impose new lockdowns, Egypt's government announced its strictest restrictions in months on Wednesday. It ordered cafes, restaurants, stores and malls to close at 9 p.m. and banned large gatherings for two weeks, as well as shutting down beaches and parks during the upcoming Eid el-Fitr holiday at the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Egypt isn't alone in seeing mounting new infections. Worldwide, more cases have been reported in the past two weeks than in the entire first six months of the pandemic, World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom said.

Ashraf Sayed a resident of the town of Monshah, where a surge in coronavirus pandemic cases is taking place, looks at a market on the top of a residential building, in Sohag, Egypt on May 2, 2021. In Sohag province, health workers have grown desperate. One doctor who chairs a major hospital there said the real number of infections is likely 10 times higher than the Health Ministry rate of 400-450 new cases a week. (AP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed)

India and Brazil accounted for a large part of that, "but there are many other countries all over the world that face a very fragile situation," he said. "What is happening in India and Brazil could happen elsewhere unless we all take these public health precautions."

India has been hit by a catastrophic surge of COVID-19 infections after its prime minister boasted of vanquishing the pandemic and following multiple massive crowding events. New cases and deaths skyrocketed nearly 30-fold during March and April. The health system has been overwhelmed, leaving patients desperate for oxygen and other supplies.

Wealthier nations, as they immunize more of their populations, are finding room to open up. But countries where vaccination has been slow or minimal face grimmer prospects. They must grapple with whether to lock down to thwart new surges and risk damaging their economiesall with the possibility of an India-style tragedy looming.

In this May 6, 2021, file photo, the body of a COVID-19 victim is wheeled in for cremation in a ground that has been converted into a crematorium in New Delhi, India. Countries fighting new surges of the coronavirus are trying to ensure they aren't hit by an India-style disaster. (AP Photo/Ishant Chauhan, File)

In Turkey, new cases surged nearly six-fold from the beginning of March, reaching a peak of more than 60,000 a day. The government imposed a three-week national lockdown on April 29 but exempted many sectors, allowing millions to keep going to work.

Numbers have fallen, but medical experts are calling for a 28-day full closure of all non-essential services, while only some 10 million of its more than 80 million people have been fully vaccinated.

"These restrictions were not the restrictions we called for," said Vedat Bulut, secretary-general of the independent Turkish Medical Association.

In Egypt, average daily new cases have doubled since early February to just over 1,000 a day and continue to rise, compared to earlier peaks of 1,400 to 1,600 a day last summer and in December, according to official numbers.

In this April 25, 2021, file photo, a relative of a person who died of COVID-19 reacts at a crematorium in Jammu, India. Countries fighting new surges of the coronavirus are trying to ensure they aren't hit by an India-style disaster. (AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)

The scope of the pandemic has been difficult to judge in the country of 100 million, most of whom live in densely packed cities along the Nile. Official figures report 234,015 cases, including 13,714 deadconsidered a significant undercount like elsewhere in the world.

In Sohag province, health workers have grown desperate. One doctor who chairs a major hospital there said the real figures are likely 10 times the Health Ministry rate of 400-450 new cases a week.

"The ministry is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Mustafa Salem, a Sohag lawmaker, said he has received dozens of calls from people desperate to find ventilators or intensive care unit beds.

When Ismail Abdallah fell ill last month, his family rushed him to a clinic, where without being tested he was told it was pneumonia.

In this April 24, 2021, file photo, a patient receives oxygen inside a car provided by a Gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in New Delhi, India. Countries fighting new surges of the coronavirus are trying to ensure they aren't hit by an India-style disaster. The health system has been overwhelmed, leaving patients desperate for oxygen and other supplies. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

Two days later, the 50-year-old farmer and father of seven had trouble breathing. At the hospital, he was confirmed with COVID-19, and his family scrambled to find a bed in packed ICUs.

"There were no available beds in the free ward," said a relative, Amr Mahrous. "We struggled to find a bed in the paid ward."

After two weeks in isolation at a hospital, Abdullah died last week.

The Health Ministry has beefed up facilities in the province, sending oxygen generators and ventilators and increasing the number of ICUs. It deployed more physicians and doubled medical teams to follow up with those isolated at home. Two vaccination centers have been set up and more are planned, and 100 teams mobilized to raise awareness.

The Health Ministry listed Sohag among five hot spots in the country - including Cairo, a metropolis of some 20 million people.

Amr Mahrous a relative of 50-year-old Ismail Abdallah looks at a photograph of him on his mobile phone in Egypt, Sunday, May 2, 2021. After two weeks in isolation at a hospital for COVID-19, Abdullah died last week. (AP Photo/Mohamed El-Shahed)

Health officials attribute the new spike to widespread ignoring of precautions. Throughout Egypt, mask wearing and social distancing are rare. Some cafes still serve waterpipes, shared among customers, despite government bans. Wedding parties and funerals still take place, and people crowd into marketplaces.

In Islamic Cairo, the capital's historic center, families go to communal prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Tens of thousands gather at night in the bazaar's narrow streets, shopping or sitting in cafes. Few wear face masks.

Hajah Fatima, 57, came from the southern province of Beni Sueif with her family and had "iftar," the meal ending the daytime fast, in a cafe next to the revered Al-Hussein Shrine.

"It's a custom," she said. "Corona? Nothing will happen to us except what God has decreed."

In this Jan. 11, 2021, file photo, a health worker in a protective suit runs past oxygen cylinders in a makeshift emergency unit for COVID-19 patients at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. In South Africa, with by far the largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Africa, officials warn of a new surge as the Southern Hemisphere's winter approaches. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

So far, more than 1 million people, or just 1% of Egypt's population, have been vaccinated, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly said Wednesday.

In the crowded Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, home to 2 million people, cases have risen swiftly. In March and April, infection rates surpassed 1,000 a daythe number Gaza previously recorded weekly. Daily deaths have doubled to a high of 20. The virus has killed more than 900 Gazans and sickened over 102,000, more than half of them this year.

"Hospitals are struggling to cope," the international aid group Doctors Without Borders warned this week.

The territory's Hamas rulers closed mosques and restaurants and imposed a nighttime curfew at the beginning of Ramadan to slow the outbreak. But it decided to lift those restrictions for the final 10 days of the holy month, alarming health officials.

This April 29, 2021, file photo, shows the deserted street leading to the iconic Galata Tower in Istanbul after the start of the latest lockdown to help protect from the spread of the coronavirus. Amid concerns over India, Kenya, which is coming down from a recent peak, halted flights with the country for two weeks, while Nigeria suspended flights with India, Brazil and Turkey, fearing new virus strains could come in as it tries to bring down cases, particularly in Lagos, home to some 20 million people. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

"We are concerned by the large-scale easing of the measures," said Rami Abadllah, head of epidemiology at the Health Ministry.

Amid concerns over India, Kenya, which is coming down from a recent peak, halted flights with the country for two weeks, while Nigeria suspended flights with India, Brazil and Turkey, fearing new virus strains could come in as it tries to bring down cases, particularly in Lagos, home to some 20 million people.

In South Africa, with by far the largest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Africa, officials warn of a new surge as the Southern Hemisphere's winter approaches.

Pakistan is in the midst of a third wave, with single-day fatalities hitting their highest of the entire pandemic on April 28, with 201 deaths.

Health officials added hundreds more hospital beds. Oxygen production had already been nearly doubled to 800 tons a day compared to last year. Still, at the surge's peak in recent weeks, it was using 90% of that production.

In this May 5, 2021, file photo, Nepalese men in personal protective suits cremate the bodies of COVID-19 victims while others extend the crematorium as the number of deaths rise near Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. Authorities extended a lockdown in the capital Kathmandu and surrounding districts by another week as the Himalayan nation recorded the highest COVID-19 daily infections and deaths. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

In this March 12, 2021, file photo a woman waits to receives one of the country's first coronavirus vaccinations, the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and provided through the global COVAX initiative, at Yaba Mainland hospital in Lagos, Nigeria. Amid concerns over India, Nigeria has suspended flights with India, Brazil and Turkey, fearing new virus strains could come in as it tries to bring down cases, particularly in Lagos, home to some 20 million people. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

A Palestinian COVID-19 patient receives oxygen inside the intensive care unit of the Gaza European Hospital in the Gaza Strip on May 6, 2021. Countries fighting new surges of the coronavirus are trying to ensure they aren't hit by an India-style disaster. In the crowded Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, home to 2 million people, cases have risen swiftly. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

In this May 5, 2021, file photo, people ignore social distancing and many do not wear face masks as they shop for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan after the government announced new restrictions, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Countries fighting new surges of the coronavirus are trying to ensure they aren't hit by an India-style disaster. Pakistan is in the midst of a third wave, with single-day fatalities hitting their highest of the entire pandemic on April 28, with 201 deaths. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)

The covered body of a man who died of COVID-19 lies inside a morgue of the Gaza European Hospital in the Gaza Strip, Thursday, May 6, 2021. In the crowded Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, home to 2 million people, cases have risen swiftly. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

New cases have eased slightly this week from a running average of around 6,000 a day.

"Thank God, we have so far managed to cope with this huge increase because of proactively building capacity of the entire system," Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said.

But he warned the country of more than 200 million could face an India-level disaster unless people adhere to precautions that have been widely ignored. The government has rejected calls for a lockdown but warns that could change.

"Be careful. For yourself, and your loved ones," he said in a tweet.

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With rich countries having bought up the majority of the world's COVID-19 vaccines, the rest of the world has relied on Indiaone of the world's largest vaccine producers and exportersto increase access to doses.

But now India's exportswhich include supplies for Covax, the global vaccine-sharing program, as well as bilateral donations and commercial agreements branded under its "vaccine friendship" programare being disrupted. India's devastating second wave has led it to redirect more of its vaccine production towards its domestic immunization program. With so many countries relying on India for supply, this is threatening vaccination progress globally.

The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, has hailed India's vaccine production capacity as "one of the best assets the world has today".

India is a key supplier to Covax. At the beginning of the year, Covax was forecast to deliver 2.3 billion doses to low-income and middle-income countries in 2021, with more than 1 billion of these produced by the Serum Institute of India, the single largest vaccine manufacturer in the world.

Of the 53.9 million doses shared around the world by Covax up to May 6, 19.8 million were exported from India, with a further 10 million Indian-made doses being supplied directly back to the country.

Changing priorities

At the start of the year, the Serum Institute's CEO, Adar Poonawalla, declared that India had more vaccine stock than it could physically administer. But the second wave has seen India's position quickly deteriorateand with it the prospect of the country meeting its commitments to Covax.

By mid-March, the Serum Institute was dedicating much more of its capacity to India than originally planned.

The Indian government has repeatedly stated that there's no export ban on COVID-19 vaccines, but consignments due to many countriesincluding the UKhave been delayed. Only 6 million vaccines have been exported since late March, compared to 60 million in the previous two months.

At the same time, the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered monthly in India has increased from 3.7 million in January, to 10.1 million in February, 50.6 million in March and more than 90 million in April. By May 6, over 162 million doses had been administeredthe third highest number in the world after the US and China.

There has been a clear effort to increase vaccination as India's second wave has materialized. Indeed, India's vaccination program was expanded at the beginning of May so all adults could register to receive a dose.

The world's pharmacy is out of stock

The second wave is not the only reason exports have dried up. The escalating crisis has also revealed critical production shortages: increasing demand is being met with dwindling supply. The seven-day average of doses administered fell from 3.6 million per day in early April to 1.7 million a month later.

This problem has been brewing since before the second wave. Back in February, Poonawalla warned that the Serum Institute wouldn't make 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses it was predicted to this year, but rather 400 million doses "if we're lucky". He therefore cast doubt on Covax's ability to supply over 2 billion doses to countries around the world by the end of 2021, suggesting 18 months was a more likely timeline.

Even if all of India's vaccine production capacity is dedicated to domestic supply in the coming months, capacity may still be insufficient. The Serum Institute has manufactured more than 90% of the vaccines administered in India so far, but its monthly production is estimated at only 60 million doses. The target of increasing this to 100 million doses has been frequently delayedfrom March, to April, May, June and now July. India's only other supplier, Bharat Biotech, has an estimated monthly capacity of just 5 million doses.

India's goal in January was to have ramped up production sufficiently to have fully vaccinated 300 million of its people by August. To achieve this now requires giving another 440 million doses, averaging over 3.5 million a day, over the next four monthsa tall order.

So what happens now?

According to Poonawalla, the absence of advance purchase agreements for the Serum Institute's vaccines slowed down its rate of production in 2020. However, such agreements have been more forthcoming in 2021. The biggest to date was announced on April 19, with advanced purchases of Rs 3,000 crore (US$406 million) to the Serum Institute and Rs 1,500 crore (US$203million) to Bharat Biotech. This money should enable them both to scale up production.

Other vaccines are also expected to be available later in the year. Russia's Sputnik V received approval on April 13, becoming the third allowed for use in India, with the first batch imported on May 1 and partnerships in place with Indian companies for local production. Johnson & Johnson's vaccine may be imported from July, with a local production partnership also in place. But the Novovax vaccine, which Serum Institute is manufacturing, reportedly won't be available until September.

With India struggling right now just to meet domestic demand, the immediate prospect of it making substantial vaccine exports looks bleak. Recognizing India's domestic crisis, Mexico has waived an upcoming delivery of 870,000 doses. The Serum Institute is also issuing refunds to some governments, is reportedly being sued by others, and has received legal notification from AstraZeneca over delays.

Insufficient and delayed supply from Indiapotentially for a number of monthswill be a major setback for Covax.

Recent donations of 500,000 and 1 million doses by France and Sweden respectively are drops in the ocean compared to the supply that had been expected from India. Moderna's new deal announced on May 3 to supply Covax with 500 million doses includes only 34 million in 2021.

The need to scale up COVID-19 vaccine production has never been more evident. But while that happens, countries besides India urgently need to step up their Covax donations. COVID-19 vaccination can then continue elsewhere as India fights its domestic crisishelping to prevent other countries experiencing such devastation.

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I find that you are gaslighting people who do not know me and my family in any way trust me you do not in regards to this topic, his Facebook post stated, adding that he is now receiving threats. [If] Something happens to me or my family for your incredulous statements, I ask all my friends to make sure you are held accountable for your actions.
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Post-pandemic, there is a historic opportunity to strengthen the NHS and improve health and care for all, according to a new LSE-Lancet Commission on the future of the NHS. The report is the first comprehensive analysis of the initial phases of the COVID-19 response and the main opportunities and challenges facing the NHS.

The NHS is internationally held up as a leading example of universal health care, but in widespread analyses, the Commission highlights how far the health of the UK population lags behind that of other high-income countries. The authors point to comparatively low funding for the health service, as well as the long-standing impact of poorly resourced social care and public health programmes on the health of the nation, driving inequalities, and leaving the NHS poorly placed to pick up the pieces.

The Commission, formed in 2017, brings together 33 leading research, policy, management, and clinical experts from the four constituent countries of the UK. It is published alongside four health policy papers published in The Lancet and The Lancet Digital Health, and an editorial from The Lancet.

The report warns against any further major reorganisation of the NHS, which would be disruptive and fail to deliver the intended benefits. Instead, it argues for building on the common strengths of the NHS, with a focus on investment, integration of existing services, and disease prevention, to improve health and care and reduce widespread inequalities.

Among the Commission's key recommendations is a call to increase funding via increased taxation, to help support resource management, recruiting and retaining staff, disease prevention, improving early diagnosis, continual improvement in care, and improving integration between health, social care and public health.

"Without concerted action and increased funding, we risk the UK falling further behind other high-income countries in health outcomes and life expectancy, continued deterioration in service provision, worsening inequalities, increased reliance on private funding, and an NHS that is poorly equipped to respond to future major threats to health", warns co-research lead of the Commission Dr. Michael Anderson from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK. "The NHS is under our custodianship and we have a responsibility to current and future generations to secure its long-term survival."

"For many decades the NHS was the envy of the world, and it remains one of the most comprehensive and equitable healthcare systems in the world. But for the NHS to be truly the envy of the world again, politicians will need to be honest with the public that this will require increased taxation to meet the funding levels of other comparable high-income countries", says Commission co-chair Professor Elias Mossialos from LSE, UK. "Given the major role of social circumstances in health inequalities, such as housing, employment, education and environment, it is crucial that this extra funding for the NHS and social care doesn't come from cuts to other public services and welfare budgets."

The NHS: a leading example of universal health coverage, let down by the erosion of social care and public health

"The NHS has been a world leader for universal health coverage for over 70 years, providing care based on need, not ability to pay, for over 66 million people from cradle to grave", says co-chair of the Commission Professor Alistair McGuire from LSE, UK. "It was envisioned as one element of a comprehensive welfare system, but decades of costly reorganisations, years of austerity, extreme cuts in funding to social care, and an erosion of public health capacity have widened inequality and left the NHS under-resourced and ill-prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic."

The COVID-19 response has shown many aspects of the health and care system at its best: health and care workers have responded with outstanding skill and dedication; the innovation in understanding treatments, vaccines, and mobilising the vaccination programme; the way hospitals worked together to expand critical care capacity; and the rapid expansion of remote consultations.

But the events of the past year have also exposed chronic weaknesses in the NHS, including poor coordination between sectors (eg, discharging people with undiagnosed COVID-19 from hospital to care homes), chronic underfunding, a fragmented public health service, and ongoing staffing shortfalls that pose a threat to the delivery and quality of care, particularly within primary care and mental health services. In England alone, there are approximately 200,000 staff vacancies combined across NHS and social care, with one in 12 posts in the NHS and one in 14 posts in social care unfilled.

"During the pandemic, the NHS has struggled in the face of poor decision making by government, including delayed implementation of social distancing measures, poor coordination with local authorities and public health teams, a dysfunctional track and trace system, and a lack of consultation with devolved nations", says co-research lead Dr. Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter, UK.

She continues: "Staff morale is at rock bottom because of real term pay cuts and the relentless workload, and the pandemic will leave a challenging legacy of additional mental health needs, a growing backlog of people waiting for elective care, and extra support needed for those living with the after-effects of COVID-19. The pandemic has also laid bare stark socioeconomic and racial inequalities in the UK, and the catastrophic consequences for health."

Health of the UK lags behind its European peers, with stark health inequalities

Despite seven decades of universal free health care, improvements in life expectancy have slowed markedly in all four UK nations since 2010, and the health of the population is now lagging behind that of many of the EU15 and G7 countries.

There are also glaring health inequalities in the UK between the richest and poorest and between ethnic groups, particularly for preventable illness. Men in the least deprived areas of England can expect to live 18.6 years longer in good health than those in the most deprived areas, while for women the difference is 17.9 years.

The UK has done well at improving oral health and some chronic diseases like diabetes and kidney disease, compared with the EU15 and G7 countries. But it has not kept pace for many other health outcomes, such as deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer survival, and infant mortality. The UK is also falling behind in terms of resources, with fewer nurses and doctors per person, and a lower number of hospital beds and medical equipment, than most EU15 and G7 countries.

The authors note that explanations for the UK's worsening relative performance and widening health inequalities include the squeeze on public finances since 2010 that affected many areas of public policy, particularly cuts in social care services, and the relatively high level of income inequality in the UK compared with other G7 and EU15 countries. Also important is that treatment continues to be prioritised over prevention, with funding for public health continuing to fall relative to NHS funding.

Recommendations for the NHSlooking to 2030 and beyond

Against this background, the Commission draws on evidence from across the UK and internationally, as well as lessons from the pandemic, to set out seven policy recommendation (panel 4) to secure the NHS' future as a better, fairer health service, and to strengthen its resilience to future health shocks and major threats to health (including an ageing population, the rise of multiple conditions, climate change, and antibiotic resistance). With recommendations to:

1. Commit to annual increases in funding of 4% in real-terms for the NHS, social care, and public health over the next decade, as well as an immediate additional uplift in funding for social care and public health.

2. Develop a 'spending wisely' framework to optimise how resources are managed across health and care services at national, local, and treatment levels.

3. Create a sustainable, skilled and fit-for-purpose health and care workforce, coordinated on a UK-wide basis and tied into NHS and social care expenditure plans.

4. Strengthen prevention of disease and disability with cross-governmental action and earmarked funding, and preparedness to protect against major threats to health.

5. Develop and enhance diagnostics and novel routes to diagnosis to improve treatment outcomes and reduce inequalities.

6. Enable the routine use of data to become a health and care system that learns from every patient encounter, generating evidence to promote innovation and better care for individuals and populations.

7. Improve integration across all sectors and providers of health and care services through, for example, strengthening primary care, removing the requirement to promote competition in England, and linking electronic health care records.

Put 1p on income tax, national insurance, and VAT to secure the future of the NHS and social care

The Commission points out that UK healthcare spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is lower than the G7 country average (UK GDP spent on healthcare: 10.3%, vs G7 average GDP spent on health 11.4% in 2019). And this is compounded by relatively low levels of welfare spending (UK 20.6% GDP vs EU15 average 24.4%, G7 average 23.3%).

In a new analysis of health and care spending projections, the Commission recommends that to achieve the other six recommendations and meet future demand, ensure staff pay keeps pace with average earnings, and to invest in capital to protect against major threats to health, that funding for the NHS, social care, and public health should increase by at least 4% every year in real terms over the next 10 years.

The Commission also calls for an independent analysis of health and care workforce and resource needs to ensure transparency in financial planning.

Alongside this long-term funding commitment, the Commission recommends a one-off injection in social care spending (3.2 billion in England in 2018/19 terms) and public health (also 3.2 billion in England in 2018/19 terms). This is needed for social care to improve financial protection for the most vulnerable, including making the means test for social care more generous by raising the point at which people have to pay for their own care from 23,250 to 100,000, and introducing a cap on care costs of 75,000. And for public health to reverse cuts in the public health grant, better allocate resources to ensure fairer funding that better matches local needs, and to secure sustained investment in the public health workforce against future threats.

The Commission estimates that to implement all these funding recommendations will cost 102 billion in total in real-terms, or 3.1% of gross domestic product in 2030, that could be achieved with the help of progressive, broad-based general taxation, that is backed by growing public support, and would leave the UK's tax burden slightly above the average of the G7 countries, but still below the EU15 average.

Based on tax revenue before the pandemic, the report proposes raising personal income tax, national insurance, and value-added tax (VAT) contributions by 1 British pence (1p) each by 2025-26, and increasing personal income tax and national insurance to 2p by 2030-31. The changes would be phased in along with rises to several other, smaller taxes, including corporate and wealth taxes. The authors note that the projections do not include the costs of responding to the pandemic and depend on economic growth.

"This report outlines an ambitious, long-term vision that looks beyond the election cycle", says Professor McGuire. "Our collective ambition should be as much about preventing ill-health and keeping people healthy as it is about treating people when they are sick. This means the NHS, social care, and public health working in partnership with other public services, civil society, and communities to improve the nation's health, and deliver a health system that is prepared for future health shocks. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that health and national economic prosperity cannot be disentangled, and health must be a key area as we rebuild post-COVID."

A Lancet editorial published alongside the report states: "The focus on universal health care must shift from providing the minimum finance required to deliver services, to the equitable provision of health, including public health security, healthy communities, and fully integrated health research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK's research system has made critical contributions to saving lives, but must be further strengthened and better coordinated with clinical care. A health system envisaged through the traditional view of an overhead delivering certain serviceseg, the NHS seen through the dimensions of workforce, products, money, and servicesis not enough to deliver health to a population or to protect a population from health threats. There is a real danger that the success of the UK vaccination programme is obscuring the scale of the reforms necessary to protect and strengthen the health of the UK population. Broader concepts of health and wellbeing must be placed at the centre of government policy. Investment in public services that reduce inequality is necessary to maintain and improve population health and protect the UK population from future health threats. Lessons from the UK and NHS show that universal health care is broader than health-care provision alone, and that a healthy population must be considered a prerequisite for health security and preparedness."

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In this April 12, 2021 file photo, people over age 60 line up to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the University Olympic Stadium in Mexico City. Mexico City's government announced on Friday, May 7, 2021 that public hospitals dedicated to fighting COVID-19 are experiencing their lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic and the city is slightly easing some restrictions, more than three months after infections peaked in the Mexican capital in January. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

More than three months after COVID-19 infections peaked in Mexico City, the local government announced Friday that the public hospital network dedicated to fighting the disease is experiencing its lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic.

One year after the country instituted a color-coded alert system for the pandemic, the capital for the first time moved from orange to yellow, another step down from the top category, red.

City officials placed occupancy rate in public hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 care at 16%, a welcome change from January, when a surge following the holiday season pushed some hospitals to their limits.

Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum said there was no scientific certainty to say why Mexico City finds it in much better place, but she listed a half dozen possible factors including greater discipline by citizens, expanded testing, a vaccination campaign, improved weather and the fact that many people in the city have already been infected.

Sheinbaum said 84% of the capital's senior citizens have been vaccinated and the campaign recently moved to the 50 to 59 age group.

The practical changes in the lowering of the alert level are minimal. Among them, the limits on capacity at businesses and movie theaters will increase somewhat, but remain below 50%.

There have been more than 42,000 test-confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the city of 9 million, though due to the limited availability of testing the real number is believed to be much higher.

In this Jan. 10, 2021 file photo, a patient is moved from an ambulance into the COVID-19 treatment center at Dr. Carlos MacGregor Sanchez General Hospital in Mexico City. Mexico City's government announced on Friday, May 7, 2021 that public hospitals dedicated to fighting COVID-19 are experiencing their lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic and the city is slightly easing some restrictions, more than three months after infections peaked in the Mexican capital in January. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

In this March 11, 2021 file photo, directed by a nurse, a COVID-19 patient, back center, stretches her arms as part of a fitness program in a field hospital built inside the Citibanamex convention center in Mexico City. Mexico City's government announced on Friday, May 7, 2021 that public hospitals dedicated to fighting COVID-19 is experiencing its lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic and the city is slightly easing some restrictions, more than three months after COVID-19 infections peaked in the Mexican capital. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

In this April 21, 2021, a coronavirus pinata sits in storage at Victor Ochoa's workshop in Mexico City. Ochoa says that sales of pinatas at his workshop have decreased by 90% because of the restrictions used to control the spread of COVID-19. Mexico City's government announced on Friday, May 7, 2021 that public hospitals dedicated to fighting COVID-19 are experiencing their lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic and the city is slightly easing some restrictions, more than three months after infections peaked in the Mexican capital in January. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

In this Feb. 15, 2021 file photo, people over age 60 wait in an hours-long line to get the AstraZeneca vaccine, on the day Mexico begins vaccinating its elderly population against COVID-19, outside a health center in the outlying Milpa Alta borough of Mexico City. Mexico City's government announced on Friday, May 7, 2021 that public hospitals dedicated to fighting COVID-19 are experiencing their lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic and the city is slightly easing some restrictions, more than three months after infections peaked in the Mexican capital in January. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

In this Jan. 12, 2021 file photo, the shadows of restaurant workers banging metal pots are cast on the street as more than a hundred employees from multiple restaurants block an intersection in the Polanco neighborhood to protest COVID-19 "red alert" restrictions that have closed on-site dining in Mexico City. Mexico City's government announced on Friday, May 7, 2021 that public hospitals dedicated to fighting COVID-19 is experiencing its lowest rate occupancy of the pandemic and the city is slightly easing some restrictions, more than three months after COVID-19 infections peaked in the Mexican capital. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

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Helping parents with depression or anxiety could also improve their ability to engage in potentially 'protective' forms of play with their children, which can reduce the risk of behavioral problems, new research suggests.

The finding comes from a granular analysis of 3,600 five-second clips, which researchers took from recordings of 60 mother-toddler pairs playing together. Mothers with minimal anxiety were more likely to play 'pretending' games with their children. Similarly, even when compared with the children of mothers with only moderate levels of anxiety or depression, those whose mothers had no such mental health challenges spent around 10% more time engaging in make-believe play.

The study focused on pretend play because this helps young children to develop essential social and emotional skills. If those skills are less well-developed, they may experience difficulties as they get older: for example, when trying to make friends or settle in at school. This can, in turn, impact further on behavioral development.

Tellingly in this context, the researchers also assessed the children for signs of behavioral problems two years after the first part of the study, and found some evidence that these were less common among children whose mothers engaged in more pretend play when they were toddlers.

Dr. Zhen Rao, from the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: "Parents are usually their child's first play partners, so they fulfill an essential role, through pretend play, in helping children to learn skills like how to communicate, control their emotions, and co-operate with others. The associations we found show that supporting families affected by mental health challenges may also enhance children's access to this important form of play."

Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at the University of Cambridge, said: "After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic and repeated lockdowns, we know that parental anxiety is rising. Now, even more than usual, it is critical that parents who are struggling with depression or anxiety receive appropriate support. As this study indicates, in the long run, it could significantly benefit their children, as well as them."

According to Public Health England, around one in three children live with at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress. Little is known, however, about how this affects parent-child play, and whether a resulting deficit in certain types of play affects the child's development.

For the study, researchers worked with the families of children aged between 24 and 36 months. All of the children involved were selected because routine health assessments had indicated that they were potentially vulnerable to developing behavioral problems.

The parents were given a bag of toys and asked to play with their child 'as they normally would'. Five-minute video recordings were made of each mother-toddler pair, and these were then split into five-second clips. The researchers documented instances of pretend play by both the mothers and children: for example, moments when they pretended to be eating food using a toy picnic set, or created make-believe characters using puppets.

The research also used a series of standard questionnaires, both at the outset and two years later, to measure maternal depression, maternal anxiety, and child behavior problems. Anxiety was scored on a scale of 0-21 and depression on a scale of 0-27. Behavior problems were documented using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).

In general, the researchers found that when mothers engage in more make-believe play, their children do as well. They also found that mothers with higher levels of anxiety do this less, although there was no similar association among mothers with depression.

The results also suggested, however, that children engage in more make-believe play if their mother has lower depression or anxiety. Overall, child pretend play fell by 1% for every unit increase measured in maternal anxiety, and similarly by 1% for every unit increase in maternal depression. Children whose mothers had 'moderate' anxiety (10-14 on the 0-21 scale) therefore typically engaged in imaginative pretend play for around 10% less time than those of mothers with no anxiety issues.

"This means that if there are two mothers who pretend play with the same frequency, but one has higher anxiety or depression level, the child of that parent will tend to engage in less pretend play," Rao said.

The study also found some limited evidence that children whose mothers engaged in more pretend play were less likely to exhibit behavioral problems two years later. The children's CBCL scores at the two-year follow-up fell slightly for each 1% increase documented in the mother's pretend play at 24-36 months. This suggests that pretend play may be a protective factor preventing the development of behavioral problems in children.

Further research is required to explain exactly why maternal depression and anxiety may cause children to engage in less make-believe play, but there are several potential explanations. For example, parents struggling with mental health challenges may be less likely to notice when a child is trying to engage them in a pretend activity, or may simply feel too negative to join in.

While the researchers stress that pretend play is only one mechanism through which maternal mental health may impact on children's outcomes, it may also be relatively easy to address. "Ideally, of course, we want to reduce anxiety and depression in the mothers, but we may also be able to provide advice or tools which support pretend play and reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for their children," Rao said.

The findings are published in the journal BMC Psychology.

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In this Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021 file photo, a medical worker poses with a vial of the Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine in Belgrade, Serbia. A key World Health Organization panel is set on Friday, May 7 to decide whether to authorize emergency of a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine. The review by a WHO technical advisory group potentially paves the way for millions of doses of a Sinopharm vaccine to reach needy countries through a U.N.-backed distribution program in the coming weeks or months. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, file)

The World Health Organization gave emergency use authorization Friday to a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China's Sinopharm, potentially paving the way for millions of the doses to reach needy countries through a U.N.-backed program rolling out coronavirus vaccines.

The decision by a WHO technical advisory group, a first for a Chinese vaccine, opens the possibility that Sinopharm's offering could be included in the U.N.-backed COVAX program in coming weeks or months and distributed through U.N. children's agency UNICEF and WHO's Americas regional office.

Aside from efficacy numbers, the Chinese manufacturer has released very little public data about its two vaccines  one developed by its Beijing Institute of Biological Products and the other by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products.

The Beijing shot is one the WHO advisory group considered for the emergency use listing.

"This afternoon, WHO gave emergency use listing to sign off on Beijing's COVID-19 vaccine, making it the sixth vaccine to receive WHO validation for safety, efficacy and quality," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhahom Ghebreysus said.

.The Sinopharm vaccine will join ones made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India, in receiving the coveted authorization from the U.N. health agency.

"This expands the list of vaccines that COVAX can buy and gives countries confidence to expedite their own regulatory approval and to import and administer a vaccine," Tedros said at a Geneva news conference.

Previously, a separate group advising WHO on vaccines said it was "very confident" the Sinopharm vaccine protects people ages 18-59. The group said it had a "low level of confidence" in the vaccine's efficacy for people 60 and over. Its members said they had "very low confidence" in the available data about serious side effects in that age group.

Sinopharm hasn't published its late-stage test results in scientific journals, so the WHO requested a breakdown of its data, which come mostly from the United Arab Emirates. A summary posted online by WHO suggests the vaccine is about 78% effective, with the caveat that all but a few hundred of the study volunteers were younger than 60.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which co-runs COVAX, welcomed the announcement.

"This means the world has yet another safe and effective tool in the fight against this pandemic," the alliance said. The public-private partnership said it was in discussions with several manufacturers, including Sinopharm, "to expand and diversify the portfolio further and secure access to additional doses" for countries in the COVAX program.

COVAX aims to send vaccines for free to 92 lower-income countries and to help another 99 countries and territories procure them. It was not immediately clear when the Chinese vaccine might be made available to the COVAX portfolio

The program, which has already distributed over 54 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines but faces limited supplies from Western countries and India, has been working hard to strike deals as part of its goal to procure 2 billion doses by the end of the year.

Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Program at Geneva's Graduate Institute, said the WHO decision on the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and other Chinese vaccines will "carry a lot of weight" because of limited information publicly available about them.

"The decision is also sure to be scrutinized all around for any whiff of political bias, and no doubt the committee members were very well aware of this," she said, noting that the decision could also be a boon for developing countries in need of coronavirus vaccines.

"If there is a greenlight, these vaccines could boost the thin stream of supplies that has been channeled through COVAX to date," she said, as the program has been hit hard by export bans limiting vaccine supply from India. India has kept those doses amid a surge of cases at home.

Moon also said if Chinese suppliers start channeling large volumes, "this would signal a step-change in their participation in global vaccine markets." Before the pandemic, India was a well-integrated player in the global health vaccine supply system, but China was not, she said.

WHO's decision on Sinopharm, months in the making, was particularly complex because the vaccine has not faced the high-level scrutiny of a rigorous medicines regulator like those in Europe and the U.S.

The WHO panel relied frequently on those Western agencies' findings when it came to vaccines that it has already approved emergency use.

Many officials in countries without such regulatory structures rely on WHO's emergency use listings to authorize vaccine rollouts for their populations.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese vaccines have already been delivered to dozens of countries around the world through bilateral deals as many scrambled to secure supplies after rich countries had reserved the vast majority of supplies from Western pharmaceutical makers.

While China has five shots in use, the majority of its exports abroad come from two companies: Sinopharm and Sinovac. A decision on Sinovac is expected next week, WHO said.

The Chinese vaccines are "inactivated" vaccines, made with killed coronavirus. Most other COVID-19 vaccines being used around the world, particularly in the West, are made with newer technologies that instead target the "spike" protein that coats the surface of the coronavirus.

Sinopharm said last month that over 100 million doses of its two vaccines have been used across the world.

Sinovac, by comparison, has shared relatively more data. Last month, a study published by a team of scientists in Brazil confirmed a previously reported efficacy rate of over 50%. A real-world study in Chile also last month found an efficacy rate of 67%.

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 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to be given to children ages 2 to 11 years could be sought from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by September, the company said Tuesday.

During a quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts and reporters on Tuesday, Pfizer also said it plans to apply to the FDA this month for full approval of the vaccine for use in people ages 16 to 85 years, The New York Times reported. Obtaining full FDA approval would allow the companies to market the vaccine directly to consumers. The approval process is expected to take months.

The Pfizer announcement came as the pace of vaccination in the United States has been slowing. "We are essentially nearing the end of vaccinating those that were willingly waiting to get in line to get it," Rupali Limaye, a public health researcher at Johns Hopkins who studies vaccine use, told The Times. "And so, the next push is going to be I think more critical than ever."

Full approval from the FDA could help boost confidence in the vaccine, especially among people who may have lingering worries about how quickly it was developed, Limaye said. "I think people still have concerns about it even if they know that no corners were cut," she said. "It will nudge people to say, "OK, it's been thoroughly vetted.'"

Pfizer also said clinical trial data on the safety of the vaccine in pregnant women is expected by early August. FDA emergency use authorization for the vaccine's use in children aged 12 to 15 years is expected by early next week, The Times reported.

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More information: The New York Times Article

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A hairpin loop from a pre-mRNA. Highlighted are the nucleobases (green) and the ribose-phosphate backbone (blue). Note that this is a single strand of RNA that folds back upon itself. Credit: Vossman/ Wikipedia

In a paper published today in Nature Communications, an international group of collaborators led by researchers at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh have identified a genetic cause of a rare neurological disorder marked by developmental delay and loss of coordination, or ataxia.

The disorder, scientists found, is caused by mutations in a protein called GEMIN5one of the key building blocks of a protein complex that controls RNA metabolism in neurons. No mutations in GEMIN5 were previously linked to any genetic disease.

"It's just like building a house," said senior author Udai Pandey, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, human genetics and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "You take out the most important brick at the base and the whole building falls apart."

GEMIN5 is part of a protein complex that regulates a slew of important cellular processes, including development of specialized outgrowths from nerve cells called dendrites and axons. Interestingly, mutations in another key protein of the complex, named survival motor neuron protein, cause a different devastating disorderspinal muscular atrophy.

To gather material for the study, Pittsburgh researchers contacted pediatricians, geneticists and neurologists from all over the globe, eventually collecting data from 30 patient families in 12 different countries.

Because isolating live neurons from people isn't possible, researchers had to come up with another way of getting samples for future testing. They collected blood samples from pediatric patients who were referred to neurogenetic clinics with undiagnosed neurological symptoms. Blood samples were then processed to isolate cells that, with careful tinkering in the lab, were reprogrammed into neurons.

After comparing genetic material of reprogrammed neurons from sick children with that of unaffected relatives, scientists linked neurologic manifestations of the disease to 26 mutations in the GEMIN5 gene that cause damage to the structure of the protein.

"Children came into the clinic with non-specific symptoms, such as developmental delay and abnormal gait. Their doctors ran all the possible tests, including assessing a child's metabolic function, to no availtheir conditions had no easy explanation," said Deepa Rajan, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, Pitt School of Medicine, neurologist at UPMC Children's Hospital and a co-first author of the study. "It was not until we did an extensive genome analysis that we found that these patients had mutations in the GEMIN5 gene."

"Many genetic disorders seem individually rare, but collectively they are relatively common," added Rajan, who also is director of the Neurogenetics Clinic at UPMC Children's Hospital. "We now are able to harness next-generation technology to help diagnose previously undiagnosed children, and each new gene discovery is the start of the journey to understanding each of these diseases better."

Additional experiments linked damage to GEMIN5 protein to disease manifestations more definitively. Scientists found that depleting an analog of human neuronal GEMIN5 protein in fruit flies was deadly if it happened in early stages of the fly's life cycle, or drastically delayed its development if such disruption happened later.

"The most exciting part of being a researcher is working on a project that directly helps families," said Pandey. "We are hopeful that because of our study, neurologists will now consider testing for GEMIN5 mutations and that labs will include GEMIN5 in their testing for ataxic disorders. Genetic diseases are challenging to identify and treat, but if we find a cure, it will make a massive difference in someone's life."

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Tens of thousands of tests: The campaign of the canton of Graubunden is the largest in Switzerland. Credit: Canton of Graubunden/Mattias Nutt

At its peak, the current COVID-19 pandemic has all but brought social and economic life to a virtual standstill. Although lockdowns and social distancing have proven effective in bringing down infection rates and COVID-associated deaths, they did so at considerable costs and thus at far unpredictable medical and psychological long-term effects. Rather than imposing mobility restrictions on the entire population and closing shops and stores, it would be much more desirable to effectively interrupt virus spread by isolating only those who are indeed infected.

What sounds simple in theory, however, is anything but straightforward in the real world. This is because COVID-19 is spread, to a large part, by asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic infected people who are not aware of their propagating a potentially deadly pathogen. Thus, an early detection of infected but symptomless individuals is key to containing the pandemic.

One way of achieving this is by encouraging a large fraction of the population to get tested repetitively by so-called PCR tests (for polymerase chain reaction), followed by asking positive cases to isolate. These tests are capable of sniffing out even minute amounts of viral RNA before the virus is causing any telltale symptoms such as coughing, fever or the like.

Getting ahead of the virus

In February 2021, the canton Grisons launched a voluntary repetitive testing program targeting the canton's mobile workforce, schools and health institutions. In their testing program, almost 50,000 persons are being tested once a week. This represents over 30% of the canton's mobile population, making the canton Grisons test campaign the largest one in Switzerland.

In 2020, Empa researcher Hossein Gorji together with collaborators at ETH Zurich, has developed a mathematical model to evaluate the effectiveness of possible mitigation strategies, including mass testing. Empa researchers are now collaborating with the canton Grisons to analyze the data collected in the course of the canton's mass testing campaign.

Although the data is still limited, as Gorji is quick to admit, the results are very encouraging: Among regularly tested individuals, the researchers observed a reduction in the incidence rate, that is, the number of infected individuals per 100,000, by 20 to 50%. What's more, the quite significant differences could be pinpointed to various business sectors: Lower reduction values were observed in the tourist industry, higher reduction among employees working in offices and factories. This makes perfect sense, says Gorji, because in tourism and gastronomy, employees would still have a rather large number of job-related social interactionsand thus a higher probability to contract the virus from people not enrolled in the testing program.

This effect is particularly pronounced in regions like Grisons; the canton welcomes almost 200,000 tourists during winter season, 20% of which come from abroad. Early analysis of school testing data seems equally assuring as the number of outbreaks among pupils and students dropped significantly after mass testing was initiated. Thus, mass testing seems to help contain the pandemic. Or, as Empa researcher Gorji puts it: "Repetitive testing puts us ahead of the virus by being able to identify and isolate hidden spreaders."

So what lessons did the researchers learn from the testing program in Grisons? Most important, the data suggest that mass testing works if done repetitively. Yet three things are crucial, adds Hossein Gorji, who is currently preparing a scientific paper about the data collected in Grisons: As many people as possible should be invited to test on a regular basis; the tests should be processedand virus carriers identifiedas fast as possible; and testing has to be continued over an extended period of timeotherwise virus transmission can bounce back to its previous level.

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More information: Analyses and detailed results by Dr. Hossein Gorji with graphical representations for download: Analyses and detailed results by Dr. Hossein Gorji with graphical representations for download: plus.empa.ch/images/2021-05-07  entests_grosseBilder
At least 50 components, perhaps as many as 100, go into the jabs including items like glass vials for shipping and syringesin addition to the vaccines' ingredients themselves

The new US position in support of lifting patents on Covid-19 vaccines has taken attention away from an equally significant change by Washington, which plans to open up trade in the raw materials used to make them.

After having recently taken heat for blocking such exports, Commerce Secretary Katherine Tai said Wednesday that the US government would "work to increase the raw materials needed to produce those vaccines".

The assertion was hidden at the bottom of the statement unveiling Washington's remarkable reversal of its position on Covid-19 vaccine patents, which coincides with a shortage of doses in emerging and developing nations as cases surge in some countries.

Long legal and economic policy debates likely lie ahead about waiving vaccine patents, particularly at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Meanwhile, the difficulties faced by some laboratories in obtaining components to manufacture vaccines look set to stymie the drive to ramp up production.

Two labs have recently spoken out about their difficulties, laying the blame at Washington's door.

Germany's Curevac said it could not secure supplies of certain materials from the United States.

Several days earlier, India's Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, called on US President Joe Biden to step in.

"Respected @POTUS, if we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the US, I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the US so that vaccine production can ramp up," the company's president Adar Poonawalla wrote on Twitter.

There is no actual embargo on exporting vaccine components. Instead, Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, invoked the Defense Production Actwhich normally concerns wartimeto confront the pandemic.

While it does not explicitly ban exports, it puts the US government first in line to buy certain products made in the country.

US officials have previously played down the possible effect of the law on global vaccine production.

"There's just more global manufacturing happening everywhere in the world than suppliers can currently support," a US official told a White House briefing late last month on condition of anonymity.

Dry ice and sorbitol

Over the past two months, a number of public and private actors have noted the shrinking supply of components needed to manufacture vaccines.

At least 50 components, perhaps as many as 100, go into the jabs.

They include items like the glass vials to ship them, as well as certain types of plastics needed for containers used in the manufacturing process.

Then there are the ingredients themselves.

Curevac is particularly concerned about nucleotides, a building block for the messenger RNA vaccines like the one it is developing.

The shortage of raw materials is hardly surprising as the pharmaceutical industry expects to double production to 10 billion doses this year.

Richard Hatchett, who heads the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which along with the World Health Organization and Gavi co-runs the Covax vaccine distribution initiative, spoke already in March of seeing "increasing signs of strain within supply chains".

Companies were "beginning to report spot shortages of critical materials, raw materials, critical consumables, even equipment that is necessary for vaccine manufacturing," he said.

He was speaking at a meeting of the principal actors in the sector, including WHO and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).

Already the consensus was that the free circulation of vaccine components was critical, given that a large number of countries are involved in their production.

OECD data from 2018 show how thoroughly component production is intertwined across the globe.

China dominates production of the glass storage vials, while the United States leads in the manufacturing of syringes.

France is a major producer of certain stabilisers like sorbitol, while Germany is big in the production of vaccine preservatives, and Mexico and China both are important manufacturers of additives that enhance the effects of vaccines.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands is a leader in the production of dry ice used to transport vaccines that need to be kept at ultra-low temperatures.

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 2021 AFP
Neonatal hypothermiawhich occurs when an infant's core body temperature falls below the normal range needed to maintain healthcontributes to approximately one million deaths each year, and countless cases of stunted growth, almost exclusively in low- and middle-income countries. To address this common but preventable condition, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, engineers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and colleagues in Rwanda developed the Dream Warmer, a low cost, reusable non-electric infant warmer to prevent and treat hypothermia. A new study from the team shows that infants who received treatment with the warmer had only an 11 percent rate of hypothermia compared to 29 percent of those who did not. Infant death rates also dropped, from 2.8 percent among infants who did not use the warmer to 0.9 percent of those who did. Results of the study were published in eClinicalMedicine from The Lancet.

"Infant hypothermia is a silent killer," says study leader Anne Hansen, MD, MPH of the Division of Newborn Medicine and Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children's, "but it's a modifiable risk factor, and this study shows that reducing it can have a large impact on survival and also likely on the long-term neurodevelopment of these babies."

Warmer was effective and safe

The primary aim of the study was to see if the warmer increased body temperatures in infants who are hypothermic or at risk of hypothermia due to prematurity or low birth weight compared to the standard of care in rural Rwandan hospitals.

Over the study period from November 2019 to July 2020, 464 infants at ten of the largest neonatal wards in Rwandan district hospitals used the warmer 892 times. Data was also collected on over a thousand patients on the neonatal ward who did not receive the warmer.

The study found that:

The rate of achieving a normal body temperature rose from 51 percent before introduction of the warmer to 67 percent after the warmer was introduced.

Use of the warmer did not lead to an increased rate of excessively high core temperatures.

The warmer caused no burns, rashes or other safety concerns, and no instances of incorrect warmer use were observed.

"This is a good option for treatment in setting where incubators are not the right solution, whether it is because they are too expensive, (about $100 compared with $5,000 for an incubator) require electricity, or require extensive training to correctly use and maintain," says Hansen, who adds that the warmer was specifically designed to complement skin-to-skin care, known as kangaroo mother care, either when it provides insufficient heat or if the mother needs to take a break. "And, the nurses needed only a couple minutes of training to prepare, use and clean it correctly because it is quite intuitive."

Ten years in the making

Dr. Hansen has been working in Rwanda for more than a decade to address these and other preventable causes of infant disease and death. She teamed up with engineers from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, to develop this low-cost, reusable infant warming mattress. The warmer contains 12 wax "candles" that are made of a material specially designed to melt at exactly skin temperature. When heated in boiled water, the candles melt and remain at body temperature for about six hours. Once they cool, the mattress can be cleaned and reused multiple times.

"The final design is a skin temperature heating pad that the infant can either lay on or be wrapped around the infant's back in addition to skin-to-skin care with the mother," says Hansen. Two smaller studies conducted by Hansen's team in Rwanda in 2016-2018 showed the warmer was effective, safe, and usable without needing an extensive training.

"Because treating neonatal hypothermia is relatively easy given the appropriate equipment, we hope this warmer can play a significant role in optimizing the health of these vulnerable infants in low- and middle-income countries," says Hansen, who is now partnering with others with the goal of distributing the infant warmer across Sub Saharan Africa as well as Haiti and Chiapas, Mexico.

Explore further Infant-warming device proven effective and safe in reducing neonatal mortality
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Tunisia ordered a partial lockdown from Sunday for the week-long Eid al-Fitr holidays, warning that any further increase in coronavirus infections could overwhelm specialist care facilities.

Announcing the measure on Friday, Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said Tunisia was going through "the worst health crisis in its history".

Mosques, markets and non-essential businesses will be closed under the new restrictions, which come as Muslims mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, Mechichi told reporters.

"Health institutions are at risk of collapse," Mechichi said, adding that medics were stretched to the limit, with around 100 people a day dying of COVID-19.

More than 500 people are currently in intensive care, an unprecedented number that has required medics to set up field hospitals, and the North African country is struggling to meet the demand for oxygen.

Under new rules, travel will be banned between regions, gatherings and celebrations prohibited, and a 7:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew imposed.

Tunisians are encouraged to leave their homes only for what is strictly necessary, government spokeswoman Hasna Ben Slimane said.

The Mediterranean country, with a population of around 12 million, has recorded more than 300,000 coronavirus cases and over 11,200 deaths.

Tunisia's economy has lurched from one crisis to another since the country's 2011 revolution, with GDP estimated to have contracted by a record 8.2 percent last year.

Mechichi had said several times in recent weeks that Tunisia is unable to afford to repeat the restrictions put in place in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

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 2021 AFP
If you represent a district which is mostly Democratic, why would you feel a need to listen to a minority of Republicans who feel a different way about something? If you compromise, youll be labeled a traitor, a coward, or a sellout for not standing up on principle, and youll be replaced by someone more extreme. And contrapositionally, if your voice isnt being heard in one area, or is declared unwelcome, why would you stick around? Why wouldnt you move somewhere you felt you mattered?
In this file photo dated Thursday, March 18, 2021, a pharmacy technician draws a does of the AstraZeneca vaccine ready for use at the Wheatfield surgery in Luton, England. People under 40 in Britain will not be given the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine if another shot is available because of a link to extremely rare blood clots, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said Friday May 7, 2021.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant, FILE)

People under 40 in Britain will not be given the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine if another shot is available because of a link to extremely rare blood clots, the government said Friday. It said the change would not affect the goal of giving all U.K. adults at least one vaccine dose by July.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said people aged 30 to 39 without underlying health conditions should receive an alternative vaccine, "where available and only if this does not cause substantial delays in being vaccinated." Last month it gave the same advice for people under 30.

"Any vaccine offered early is preferable to a vaccine offered too late," said Wei Shen Lim, who chairs the JCVI, an expert body that advises the government.

England's deputy chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, said the government expects to be able to follow the new advice and still meet its target of giving everyone over 18 a vaccine jab by July 31.

"We have to maintain the pace and scale of the U.K. vaccination program," Van-Tam said, adding that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective and "thousands are alive today" because they received it.

Britain has recorded more than 127,500 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. But recent infections and deaths have plummeted thanks to extensive lockdowns and a rapid vaccination program. Two-thirds of U.K. adults have received at least vaccine jab and almost a third have had both doses.

A majority have had the AstraZeneca shot, though Britain is also using vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech.

Several countries in Europe have chosen only to use the AstraZeneca vaccine on older people because of evidence there is a link to a type of very rare blood clot, accompanied by low blood platelet count.

In this Sunday, March 21, 2021 file photo a vial and syringes of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Sikh temple, in Luton, England. People under 40 in Britain will not be given the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine if another shot is available because of a link to extremely rare blood clots, it was announced Friday, May 7. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization said people under 40 without underlying health conditions should receive an alternative vaccine if its does not cause substantial delays in being vaccinated.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

British health officials say the risk from COVID-19 far exceeds any risk from the AstraZeneca vaccine for the vast majority of people, but the calculation is "more finely balanced" for younger groups, who tend not to suffer serious illness from coronavirus infections.

Up to April 28, Britain's medicines regulator had received 242 reports of blood clots accompanied by low platelet count in people who had received the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of 28.5 million doses given. There were 49 deaths.

Most of the cases occurred after the first dose, and health officials said there were no concerns about people getting second AstraZeneca shots.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, which is cheaper and easier to store than many others, is critical to global immunization campaigns and is a pillar of the U.N.-backed program known as COVAX that aims to get vaccines to some of the world's poorest countries.

The success of Britain's vaccination campaign is allowing the government to gradually lift lockdown measures. Later Friday, it's expecting to confirm that it will end a ban on overseas vacation travel, revealing a list of countries that U.K. residents will be able to visit starting later this month without having to quarantine upon return.

The "green list" of countries with low coronavirus infection rates is likely to include Israel, which has vaccinated most of its population, along with Malta and Gibraltar.

Foreign holidays are currently illegal under sweeping powers the British government has taken to restrict business and everyday life during the coronavirus pandemic.

The blanket travel ban is due to end on May 17. Pubs and restaurants in England can reopen indoor areas that day, and venues including theaters and cinemas can reopen to limited audiences. The other parts of the U.K.Scotland, Wales and Northern Irelandare following slightly different reopening timelines.

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 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A new study by Gary Young, a Northeastern professor, shows that doctors are often pressured to prescribe unnecessary MRIs procedures in order to funnel money to hospitalsthereby escalating the costs of healthcare. Credit: Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University

Close to 40 million Magnetic Resonance Imaging procedures are performed annually. These MRIs enable doctors to peer deep inside the body, helping them to diagnose ailments or diseases in a non-invasive way.

But the technology may also be exploited, according to new research by Gary Young, a professor of strategic management and healthcare systems. His study shows that doctors are often pressured to prescribe unnecessary MRIs procedures in order to funnel money to hospitalsthereby escalating the costs of healthcare.

"This isn't a gray area," says Young, who directs Northeastern's Center for Health Policy and Healthcare Research. "This is an area where these patients shouldn't be referred for an MRI."

Though MRIs are relatively harmless to the patient, Young notes that the willingness to authorize unnecessary imagings heightens concerns that other types of inappropriate proceduresincluding surgeriesmay be referred to patients inappropriately.

At the core of the problem, says Young, is an increasing trend of physicians accepting employment with hospitals.

"The changing organization of hospitals and physicians in this country is pretty dramatic," Young says. "Over the last decade, a very substantial percentage of physicians have moved from independent practice to hospital employment. That represents a very substantial change in the way healthcare services are organized in this country."

Such a shift is likely to further curtail physician autonomy, says Young.

"Physicians were organizationally independent of hospitals, they were not employed by hospitals, they didn't receive financial compensation from hospitals," Young says. "And that's changing."

The new dynamic potentially has positives, says Young, including an integration of healthcare that enables one-stop shopping for patients. But Young notes that the good is offset if hospitals encourage employee physicians to schedule unnecessary money-making procedures.

Based on access to all commercial health insurance claims in Massachusetts for 2009-16, including 30 million imaging procedures, Young's research team developed an algorithm to determine whether MRIs were prescribed appropriately. For example, patients suffering from lower back pain should not be sent for an MRI as a first resort.

"You don't refer them for an MRI because the likelihood that the MRI is going to reveal anything that's going to be clinically informative is very, very low," Young says. "What you should do for lower back pain is have them do physical therapy, home-based exercise, and rest. If the pain persists beyond physical therapy, beyond bed rest, then an MRI may become warranted. But the first step should not be an expensive MRI."

Young's study focuses on decisions made by 538 doctors who had moved from primary-care independent practice to hospital employment.

"We find that when they go from independent practice to hospital-employed practice, they actually begin to refer more MRIs overalland, most importantly, more inappropriate MRIs," Young says.

Unnecessary MRI referrals increased by more than 20 percent among those doctors that moved to hospital employment, the study finds.

Young says hospitals can subtly encourage or even pressure doctors to authorize MRIs, including guidelines that call for an MRI before the patient can be referred to a specialist.

"We know that many hospitals send their primary-care physicians statements on a quarterly basis about how much revenue they're helping the hospital to generate," Young says. "If you're a physician, the message is clear that they are benchmarking how well you are doing against your peers in generating revenue for the hospital."

Young's research appears in the current edition of Health Affairs alongside a complementary study of Medicare data that uncovered hikes in diagnostic imagings and laboratory services that were tied to what the healthcare industry refers to as "vertical integration"the takeover of physician practices by hospitals and health systems.

"We found that during the 201316 period, vertical integration between physician group practices and hospitals or health systems was associated with increases both in hospital sites of care for common diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests and in Medicare reimbursement rates," the authors wrote. "This study highlights how the growing trend of vertical integration, combined with differences in Medicare payment between hospitals and non-hospital providers, leads to higher Medicare spending."

Young's study takes the additional step of showing that physicians were more likely to prescribe inappropriate MRIs once they worked for hospitals compared to when they were members of an independent practice.

"I'd like to see studies that look at surgical procedures and the wider number of services that hospitals provide to see if they see the same pattern that we have observed," Young says. "If we find that pattern to be extended into other areas of hospital services, I think that's going to have to raise some very serious considerations on the part of policymakers and healthcare leaders to think about whether we need better oversight of hospital-physician integration."

More information: Gary J. Young et al. Hospital Employment Of Physicians In Massachusetts Is Associated With Inappropriate Diagnostic Imaging, Health Affairs (2021). Gary J. Young et al. Hospital Employment Of Physicians In Massachusetts Is Associated With Inappropriate Diagnostic Imaging,(2021). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01183 Christopher M. Whaley et al. Higher Medicare Spending On Imaging And Lab Services After Primary Care Physician Group Vertical Integration, Health Affairs (2021). DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01006 Journal information: Health Affairs
India's cremation sites have been overwhelmed by the surge in coronavirus deaths

A bold US bid to waive patents on much-needed coronavirus vaccines was strongly opposed by Germany on Thursday, threatening to derail the proposal that requires the consensus of World Trade Organization members to pass.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla meanwhile told AFP his company was "not at all" in favor of the measure, insisting intellectual property is not the main roadblock to more production and that building new plants would be counterproductive.

Rich nations have faced accusations of hoarding shots while poor countries struggle to get inoculation programs off the ground, with the virus surging across the developing world in contrast to the easing of restrictions in Europe and the United States.

The problem was highlighted as India, one of the worst-hit countries, registered record COVID-19 cases and deaths on Thursday.

Under intense pressure to ease protections for vaccine manufacturers, Washington's Trade Representative Katherine Tai said Wednesday that the US "supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines."

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the announcement as "a monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19."

The move was also praised by the African Union, Paris, Rome and Vienna as well as World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who previously voiced reluctance on the issue, said Brussels was ready to discuss the proposal.

Global death toll and coronavirus cases as of May 6 at 1000 GMT, based on AFP tallies

Momentum built as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he too supported the idea of a patent waiver, as Russia registered a single-dose virus shot called Sputnik Light.

But Berlin's decision to come out strongly against the proposal has now left its fate unclear.

"The protection of intellectual property is a source of innovation and must remain so in the future," a spokeswoman for Angela Merkel's government said.

Bourla, whose company developed the first vaccine authorized in the West with Germany's BioNTech, told AFP that it wasn't possible for other facilities to develop vaccines based on mRNA technology.

He cautioned firmly against disrupting current operations "with politically motivated announcements."

The US-Germany rift, a boon to big pharmaceutical companies, comes as more than 3.2 million people have died from the virus worldwide since the crisis began in late 2019.

Pharma stocks hit

Shares in vaccine manufacturers dropped after the EU and Russia followed the United States in signaling they are open to the idea of patent waivers for coronavirus vaccines.

A health worker collects a swab sample from a resident in Colombo, Sri Lanka

But the sell-off was less severe than the day before, which Gregori Volokhine of Meeschaert Financial Services credited to traders realizing the complexity of reaching an agreement at the WTO and German intransigence.

Supporters of the waiver say that easing patent restrictions will spur production of low-cost generic vaccines, helping poor countries that are struggling to immunize their populations.

Opponents argue it could erode pharmaceutical companies' profit incentive to develop new treatments.

India has been leading the fight to allow more drugmakers to manufacture the vaccines, as it faces a surge that has seen patients die in streets outside hospitals due to bed and medical oxygen shortages.

The country on Thursday reported almost 4,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 412,000 infectionsboth new records.

Eid celebrations hit

The crisis in India has sparked a chain reaction, with the WHO warning Thursday of a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Africa due to delayed vaccine supplies from the South Asian giant.

"The delay in the delivery of vaccine doses from the Serum Institute of India earmarked for Africa, the delay in the deployment of vaccines and the emergence of new variants means that the risk of a new wave of infections remains very high in Africa," it said in a statement.

A Covid patient in the ICU in a hospital outside Paris, France

The pandemic was also roiling Eid al-Fitr celebrations across Muslim-majority nations.

Egypt, which announced a partial shutdown of malls and restaurants, called off festivities for the holiday to curb the spread.

The country has now recorded more than 13,000 deaths, with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli saying it was suffering a "third wave."

Eid celebrations are also facing disruption in Malaysia, where new rules in the capital Kuala Lumpur will see only essential businesses allowed to operate and restaurant dining-in banned after daily cases topped 3,000 recently.

As Europe gears up for the summer holiday season, Israel was added to an EU safe list for countries whose nationals can freely travel to the continent.

The vaccine rollout is speeding up in Europe, with Germany aiming to offer vaccines to all children aged 12 and over by the end of August once a jab is approved for younger people by the European regulator, Health Minister Jens Spahn said.

And gyms, theatres and cinemas on Thursday welcomed Danes back thanks to a new round of COVID-19 restriction easing and a reliance on a "corona pass" indicating vaccination, past infection or a recent negative test.

Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

 2021 AFP


Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne today congratulated pupils and teachers from Gardiner Street Primary School in Dublin; Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire in Newmarket on Fergus, County Clare; and St Thomas National School in Rathowen, County Westmeath, during an online event celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Blue Star Programme, which is funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The three primary schools received a 10-Year Legacy Award, having participated in the programme since it began in 2011.

In a video message, the Taoiseach told the pupils: I am delighted that the creativity and energy of this sustained commitment to Blue Star is being recognised with the 10-year Legacy Award. I am deeply impressed with all the great project work by Blue Star pupils and teachers, all across the country, through the very difficult period of school closures.

Attending the online event, which also aimed to celebrate Europe Week, Minister Byrne said: Blue Star is an exciting project that allows our primary schools to learn about, and get creative on, our European identity and culture. I would like to say a big thank you to the three schools who have stayed with the programme over the last decade, and to all the schools participating this year.

A further 11 schools received a 5-Year Achievement Award and were also congratulated and thanks by the Taoiseach and Minister Byrne.

238 primary schools are participating in the 2020-21 Blue Star Programme. Over 1,000 schools have taken part since the programme began in 2011.

The objectives of the programme are to foster better understanding and knowledge of how the European Union affects our lives amongst Irish primary pupils through classroom projects and activities.

ENDS

Press Office

7 May 2021



Note to Editors

The Blue Star Programme is managed on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs by European Movement Ireland.

The 11 primary schools that received the 5-Year Achievement Award are as follows:

 Barefield National School, Co. Clare

 Whitegate National School, Co. Cork

 Scoil Naisiunta Ghort a Choirce, Co. Donegal

 Cloughfin National School, Co. Donegal

 St. Brigids Primary School, Co. Dublin

 Holy Spirit Senior Primary School, Co. Dublin

 Moyderwell Mercy Primary School, Co. Kerry

 Castledrum National School, Co. Kerry

 Camross National School, Co. Laois

 Tavneena National School, Co. Mayo

 Knockconan National School, Co. Monaghan
He emerged fully formed and just started doing this stuff, said Brandon Reintjes, MAMs senior curator. He never did a classical figure drawing class, or anything like that. Hes always been committed to abstraction and always been committed to process after that.

Earlier on, he experimented with color, but circled back to his beginnings with black-and-white, since it emphasizes the form more readily. (His father was a printer at the Carbon County News, which may be a factor as well.)

Similar but unique pieces

While all the work feels related, hes developed a number of different ways of making them.

Monochromatic Monolith appears to be a pure black canvas from a distance, but as you get closer you realize the surface isnt flat  its dense with shredded vulcanized rubber he harvested from a tire shop near his studio. The multi-step process involved black gesso, tape to imply a grid, and the piles of soft, curling rubber, that resulted in the final piece, which is like this null, or void area for sound and light absorbed into the blackness, he said. To him, it goes back to Thelonious Monk and his dynamic use of space. (He once said, the loudest noise in the world is silence.)
"And when I say no it means no," Doe wrote, according to charging documents.

"I cant take no asca [sic] answer sometimes," Beierle allegedly responded.

After the woman made the report to police, officers went to her home to collect evidence from the night in question.

In March 2018, detectives interviewed Beierle, who denied the assault, charging documents said. When asked if his DNA would appear in the test results from the collected evidence, he told detectives, "it shouldn't  unless she sexually assaulted me."

About two months after detectives had talked with Beierle, his DNA came back as a match to samples submitted to the Montana State Crime Lab from the evidence officers had collected from Doe's residence.

In a victim impact statement filed to Missoula District Court in February, Doe said Beierle took away her sense of trust and safety.
True to the slogan on its marquee, which said "we will get through this" at the outset of the pandemic, the Roxy Theater is reopening on June 4.

The first titles are Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, which won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director for Chloe Zhao; and Minari, writer-director Lee Isaac Chungs story of a Korean-American family who move to Arkansas.

Then on June 11, theyll present In the Heights, a musical drama from director Jon M. Chu based on Lin-Manuel Mirandas theatrical show.

For most of that first month, theyll have one film playing daily on two screens and a few more on the weekends so we can all get in the hang of going to movies together again, said Mike Steinberg, the nonprofits executive director.

The capacity will be limited to about half to allow for social distancing, and they felt comfortable reopening with local vaccination rates.

Just looking at what the numbers are in our county, and knowing a bit about our demographic and population that tends to come to the theater, we'll be looking at largely vaccinated audiences as well, he said.
He then ran over to help a man trying to get out of the truck where it had flipped over the railing and was hanging off the side of the bridge, he said. When the man was freed, Bauer said, he didnt say much, only pointing to the water toward a car seat and a little girl in a pink dress floating on her back, kicking, before she rolled over and was face-down in the water.
"For months, Rep. Simpson has been speaking with us about his sweeping dam-breaching proposal, touting transparency and an open process while telling us it was simply a 'legislative concept' for the Northwest delegation to consider," the lawmakers, who oppose breaching the dams, said.

"What he didn't tell us was that he has been coordinating for months with Oregon Governor Kate Brown's staff behind the scenes to shepherd his proposal through Congress with little to no support from Pacific Northwest representatives  Republican or Democrat," the lawmakers said.

"It's clear this proposal is not just a starting point, but rather a radical and fully baked plan he is actively seeking to put into law," they said.

The three Republicans also suggest Simpson's discussions with Brown could hurt an agreement signed last year by the governors of Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana to work together on solving an issue that has bedeviled the Northwest for decades.

The documents were released in response to a public information request by the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group that opposes Simpson's plan.
"The office of the Secretary of State has not received service of any legal documents related to the alleged lawsuit, and thus is unable to comment," a spokesperson for the Secretary of State said in an email late Thursday.

The state Supreme Court struck down the proposal in 2012 because it required justices to be elected from those districts. The new bill removed that requirement. Still, Thursday's lawsuit states, the 2012 Supreme Court decision found the original bill unconstitutional because it altered the state Constitution's arrangement of the court. The Constitutional Convention delegates intended for Supreme Court justices, who rule on statewide issues, to be elected on a statewide basis, while District Court judges would be elected on district-specific basis, the lawsuit states.

The lead plaintiffs are Sister Mary Jo McDonald, who has been involved in Butte's past pollution mitigation litigation, and former Clerk of District Court for Butte-Silver Bow County Lori Maloney, as well as Fritz Daily, a former Democratic lawmaker from Butte.
A generous surplus of huckleberries to the Blackfeet Tribe for donating about 1,000 extra COVID-19 vaccines to our northern neighbors in Alberta, Canada. According to the Associated Press, hundreds of First Nations members drove for hours to the border in hopes of receiving one of the doses. On the Blackfeet Reservation, an impressive 95% of eligible residents have been fully immunized. In the United States overall, the rate is about 30% of adults. In Canada, only about 3% of those eligible have been fully immunized.

Fully employed chokecherries to Gov. Greg Gianfortes decision to end Montanas participation in a federal unemployment program meant to help bridge the financial gaps for those who lost their job due to pandemic-related factors. At the same time, he announced a return-to-work bonus program that will use federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act to provide one-time payments of $1,200 to individuals who complete at least four paid weeks of work. The bonus program may indeed be a good incentive for those on the fence about returning to work. It could help cover child care costs, for instance, or make up for uncertain hours as businesses slowly return to full services. However, taking away the federal support shorts a lot of Montanans who, through no fault of their own, are struggling to find a job that matches their skills and pays enough to support a family.
By now, most Montanans are aware of the gun bill (House Bill 102) making guns everywhere, legal. This bill makes everyone unsafe  students, teachers and the general public. Guns in the hands of every person in every place is dangerous. How many mass shootings, suicides, murders and accidental deaths will be tied back to this law?

Im a strong supporter of gun rights, and see no problem with reasonable gun laws. Many laws regulate our society for the common good. No reasonable person objects to seat belt and helmet laws, or prohibiting guns in airports, so why more guns in colleges and in public buildings?

Safety is not about everyone carrying a gun, waiting for a shootout  it should be more about responsible gun laws, mental health services and the like.
Kristal Manning, the ministrys assistant director, presented him with gifts of appreciation, including a scrapbook filled with many cards sent to him, as well as a Waterford engraved crystal cross. The ministrys Charlie Bunn Food Pantry van was filled by attendees with canned food donations in lieu of gifts.

Rev. Silber gave a humble and emotional thank you to all who came to celebrate this day with him and his wife, Karen, Kaylor said. After nearly 11 years of exemplary service, Rev. Silber has stated that he is proud of his work, but felt it was time to retire. Bob has been planning ahead for years and setting ECCCM up for continued success under new leadership. He has stated that given the same support that he has been shown by his staff and board, the executive director-elect will be very successful at taking over the helm.

Silber will retire at the end of May. Manning will take over leadership of the ministry June 1.

In his retirement, Rev. Silber plans to relax for a year, but knows ultimately hell find himself in another position helping others, Kaylor said. Rev. Silber will be greatly missed, but no one deserves the rest from their labors more. Well done, good and faithful servant  we thank you for your exceptional service!
As I compose this column, Sue and I are in the middle of relocating, downsizing to smaller home responsibilities in our retirement. Moving is always an anxious experience, which many psychologists compare to the grief following a death in the family. Perhaps so, but I think you can simply chalk it all up to the occurrence of change. Change of any type is emotionally difficult  job, divorce, graduation, whatever. And while at first this column might appear to concern itself with justice, race relations or some other topic, it is really centered on the difficulty of adjusting to new circumstances and behavior.

It was on todays date, May 7, in 1700 that the notable Quaker William Penn began monthly meetings of slaves desiring emancipation. Without a doubt, this act was a major step toward the correction of an historically ethical wrong with unfathomable consequences. But it was a change that did not occur by a simple decision, even in the heart of one so devout and insightful of the Gospel as Penn. Penns personal history, as well as the Friends history with the issue of slavery and abolition is seldom recorded in text books.
I did many practice runs on my own before delivering it to the class, and did so well on it that Ms. Dear convinced me to enter the presentation for the FBLA regional conference. I spent the days leading up to the conference fine-tuning and updating my presentation, almost up to the last minute. It ended up being a worthwhile venture, as I placed second in the regional conference, which allowed me to compete at the state conference, where I also got second place.
Some parents who testified in support of the bill during legislative hearings said they wanted a medical exemption option because their children might need that medical documentation in the future to attend college or get a job that might not accept a religious exemption.

The state health department and the American Academy of Pediatrics opposed the legislation. This bill has the effect of making medical exemptions extremely easy to obtain in cases where they might not be warranted, said Dr. Lauren Wilson, a pediatrician and vice president of the Montana chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

5. Hearing aids for kids

Lawmakers passed a bipartisan measure that will require private insurers and the state employee health plan to cover hearing amplification devices and services for children 18 and under.

The new law wont affect a large number of people in the state, but supporters said it will make a difference in the lives of families who spend $6,000 every three to five years on hearing aids for their children.
Folks come to the Tamaracks Resort to connect with family, relax into a slower pace and experience what makes Montana so exceptional  the lands, waters, fish and wildlife that make our region one of the most beautiful and wildest in the Lower 48.

Our guests marvel at the mighty larches, delight in the clear, clean lakes and streams, and head out by horse or foot to experience the mountains. While they are here, they learn the names of lakes, waterfalls and creeks. They might see a moose, elk or black bear. They come back to the lodge having experienced something unique and priceless.

Thats why its so important to me, as a resort owner, that we do not lose or diminish the natural wonders in the Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys. Thats also why I support the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act, a bill that will permanently protect so many of the natural wonders our guests come to Montana to experience.

Last year amid the pandemic, Montana State Parks reported a 36% increase in visitors to Placid Lake and a 43% increase at Salmon Lake. Seeley Lakes Forest Service staff were already remarking in early July that it was one of the busiest summer theyd ever seen. We anticipate the same crowds this summer, and I dont think this pressure will wane in coming years.
The United Way, KWQC and the Quad-City Times are sponsoring the event.

Achieving the other goals will require boosting job training efforts to the unemployed and underemployed to obtain the skills required to secure available, high-paying and in-demand jobs, as well as securing additional funding for community health centers, Gellerman said.

"It's going to be about enhancing those programs that work. It's going to be looking at innovative approaches to some of our challenges," she said. "We can't do the same things and expect different results. And, it's going to be about uplifting those organizations working on the front line. ... How do we build the capacity of those organizations ... and aligning efforts?"

Wilson, who benefited from United Way-supported programs growing up in the Quad-Cities and was raised by a single mother, said she shudders every time she turns on the news to the violence occurring in the Quad-Cities.
The Pfizer document says any exposures during pregnancy should be reported, and defines such cases broadly to include instances where a pregnant woman is exposed to the vaccine "by inhalation or skin contact" or if a man who received the vaccine or was exposed to it "then exposes his female partner prior to or around the time of conception." Dr. Justin Brandt, an assistant professor at the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said that language is "far-reaching to protect pregnant women," and is relevant to certain other vaccines that contain live viruses, which Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine does not.

Dr. Shobha Swaminathan, an associate professor of medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, referred to the document's language as "generic" meant to cover cases of "any potential exposures, including possible accidental ones." Swaminathan said that "exposure" through inhalation or skin contact could refer to incidents where a pregnant woman was near a syringe of the product that accidentally broke. But in the case of COVID-19 vaccines, the degree of absorption from spilling the vaccine on your skin is "probably going to be negligible to non-existent," Swaminathan said.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) introduced the Authenticated Collections project, also known as DebiCheck, on 1 May 2021.

DebiCheck is a secure debit order payment system that allows consumers to electronically verify and approve debit orders.

This project forms part of the SARBs modernisation of the national payment system and seeks to address the increasing levels of abuse in the debit order payment system.

All new and renegotiated early debit order (EDO) mandates will now be originated in the DebiCheck payment system instead of the current system.

Early debit orders will only be processed through the DebiCheck payment system, while normal debit orders will still be processed later in the day as per current arrangements, the SARB said.

Before the new system came into place, consumers would provide a mandate to a company to collect money from their bank accounts.

The company would then implement a debit order and could take money from an account without any additional authorisation from the account holder.

Unsurprisingly, many rogue companies implemented debit orders without authorisation and stole millions from South African banking clients.

With the new DebiCheck payment system, a consumer must provide authorisation to their bank to allow a company to take money from their account.

John Anderson, head of schemes and industry payments at Standard Bank, provided details on how the new DebiCheck system works.

A DebiCheck debit order is one that you confirm, electronically on a once-off basis, at the start of your contract or if amendments are made on your existing contract, he said.

Its purpose is for you to confirm the details of the debit order with your bank before it is processed to your bank account.

The DebiCheck process works as follows:

Upon setting up a new debit order with a service provider, the bank will send the customer an SMS to approve the new DebiCheck mandate.

If the details of the contract are correct  like date, amount, and frequency of the debit order  the customer can electronically confirm the debit order mandate.

Only if the customer confirms the details, will the debit order be processed via the DebiCheck system against their account.

If the customer rejects the DebiCheck mandate, the debit order will not go through as a DebiCheck.

Should the customers confirmed details differ from the debit order collection request, the bank will not process the collection.

Confirming your debit order electronically ensures that you are in control of and aware of debit orders being processed to your bank account, said Anderson.

It also provides the company the comfort of knowing that you have acknowledged and are aware of these debit orders.

It further allows the bank to record the debit order information and to check the information before it processes the debit order.

All of this adds much needed layers of protection to the debit order process, Anderson said.

DebiCheck infographic

Now read: Debit order fraud in South Africa is worse than we thought
Eskom workers want a 15% salary increase despite earning significantly more than most of their counterparts in the private sector.

The power utility is currently in talks with the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and Solidarity regarding a wage deal.

The two biggest unions  NUMSA and NUM  are seeking a 15% wage increase while Solidarity wants a 9.5% increase for its members.

Eskom said these salary increases are unaffordable and asked the unions to revise their demands downwards.

Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha highlighted that their employee benefit expenses currently cost the company R33 billion.

With 44,772 employees, it means that Eskom employees receive an average salary package of R737,000 per year. This is significantly higher than most workers in South Africa.

Mantshantsha added that unions are also demanding medical aid contributions to 80%, doubling housing and vehicle allowances, and an expansion of the leave system.

Employees are demanding all sorts of things, like increasing previously agreed maternity leave, he said.

Mantshantsha said the unions current demands will add an additional 30% to their annual R33 billion employee benefit expenses, which is clearly unaffordable.

NUMSA and NUM, however, are sticking to their guns and argue that their pay demands are reasonable and affordable.

NUMs energy sector co-ordinator, Khangela Baloyi said Eskom can afford that amount of money.

This 15% increase is very reasonable, and it is achievable. We have done our calculations, we know how much money Eskom is making, where they are spending the most money and they need to cut their wasteful spending and pay workers a decent wage, said Baloyi.

Commenting on Eskoms financial woes, NUMs acting general secretary William Mabapa said the problems were manufactured by a management that was failing to do its job.

He argued that Eskom is wasting money on things which do not generate money for the company and could be cut.

He pointed to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) which he said are paid more for electricity than what Eskom sells it for.

NUMSA, in turn, attacked the ANC government, saying it is quite disgusting that we have a black government which is a shareholder at Eskom, but African workers at Eskom earn less than white workers for the same job.

Eskom has rejected the unions demands and said it was not in a position to table an offer in terms of a percentage increase to basic salary.

The Eskom wage negotiations have now reached an impasse and are teetering on the brink of collapse.

Mabapa said he was disappointed by the breakdown as he did not expect a chairman of a company to be controlled by the management of a company.

Commenting on the current situation, Eskoms Mantshantsha told MyBroadband the demands placed on the table by the three unions remain totally unaffordable.

This, he said, is especially so for a company which is not able to generate enough cashflow to operate independently and is forced to rely on the cash bailouts from the state to maintain its going concern status.

Eskom has requested the unions to revise down their demands ahead of it tabling an offer, he said.
We all know there are people who have a nice, lush yard and operate at a nice level that probably could make cutbacks without cutting into their lifestyles much, he said. Then there are others who have been using as little water as possible.

For now, the city's plan calls for public education on the water situation, including a new website feature that lets customers track their water use. They can sign up for high water use alerts. Unexpectedly high use could mean a leak.

Go to https://bit.ly/2SrKjGF to find the portal.

City Councilmember Pierre Washington also wants the city's up-to-date water usage posted. Then residents can see how their conservation efforts are paying off for the community.

"Just as motivation," he said.

Unlike other local cities, American Canyon has no local reservoir. It depends on the State Water Project.

That means the city has a direct interest in snowfall in the distant Sierra Nevada. Snow melt is stored in Lake Oroville in Butte County, released to run into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, pumped from Barker Slough in Solano County and piped through Jameson Canyon in the North Bay Aqueduct to the city.
Outdoor residential burning will be banned in Napa and five other counties starting Monday, as firefighting authorities prepare for the effects of a dry winter and a potentially dangerous wildfire season.

In a news release Wednesday, Cal Fire announced the suspension of burn permits in the Sonoma-Lake-Napa unit. All residential burning of tree branches, debris and similar landscape debris will be prohibited.

In addition to Napa County, the burn ban will cover Sonoma, Solano, Lake, Yolo and Colusa counties.

Authorities described the move as a response to steadily drier and hotter weather arriving earlier in the spring and summer  a pattern driven by climate change that has left woodlands increasingly prone to the massive wildfires that ripped through swaths of rural Napa County in 2020.

Last year, California experienced its most destructive fire season in the states known history, Cal Fire director Thom Porter said in the statement. Together, we must continue to adapt and evolve to be able to withstand the intensity of these fire, keeping in mind that the only way to minimize the damage they cause is through education, prevention and mitigation efforts. We are relying on the public to be ready.
Last month, the Attorney Generals Office said there should be a review of the death investigations during Fowlers tenure. He retired in 2019 after 17 years as the states chief medical examiner. Questions about some of his investigations were raised after his testimony as an expert witness for the defense during the murder trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. The officer was convicted of murder and manslaughter for killing George Floyd. Cellphone video of the murder captured the officer kneeling on Foyds neck.
+3 Napa home sales: prices soar, multiple offers the new normal Napa home sales and prices are on the rise, leading to a market where multiple offers are to be expected.

Thirty-five percent of Napas affordably priced rental apartments are reserved for seniors 65 and older, who Farrell said will account for about 30% of city residents by 2030, up from the current 16.6%.

While multifamily housing construction in Napa has picked up in recent years  from the completion of 282 apartments at The Braydon complex to affordably priced projects under construction like the Manzanita Family Apartments  city leaders also must grapple with a potential tripling of their regional housing commitments into the next decade.

A draft of Californias housing allocation formula from 2023 to 2031 would require the city of Napa to plan for adding 2,757 new dwellings  1,939 for itself and 80% of unincorporated Napa Countys 1,014-unit share. That total far outstrips the citys 835-unit commitment under the current eight-year window, which began in 2015.

California has mandated the Bay Area plan for 441,000 additional homes through 2031, more than currently exist across San Francisco, and the Association of Bay Area Governments is required to spread that commitment across 110 city and county governments.

State mandate for new Napa County housing grows Napa County had hoped that state-mandated housing numbers for the unincorporated county would fall, but they rose instead.
As the signatures that qualified the Gavin Newsom recall election for a statewide vote began arriving in big numbers at county recorders offices around California, the governor soon realized he could no longer ignore the threat.

Rather, it was time for him to speak up, and also to begin seeing this as the opportunity of a lifetime to establish a brand as a courageous, defiant Democrat who will not be intimidated.

Thats why just two days before the St. Patricks Day deadline for submitting signatures, Newsom began emailing past supporters regularly to declare he will not take the clear threat to his job and his future lying down.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register. Special offer: $1 for your first 6 months!

Im going to fight because theres too much at stake in this moment, he declaimed. I am not going to be distracted from the critical work (needed) to move us forward in California. That means getting more vaccines in peoples arms, more people back to work and more kids back in the classroom.

By listing those three categories, he essentially announced he would take on every theme the recall organizers have raised against him.
Armenia President receives Masdar's representatives

Ankara hopes Erdogan and Biden find common ground

Acting US Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker arrives in Yerevan

Candidate for Armenia PM: Heads of headquarters of Democratic Party are apprehended

More on COVID-19 and tense election campaign in Armenia, June 9 digest

Members of European Parliament call on Yerevan and Baku to start exchanging information for demining

Members of Armenian opposition Adekvad Union post posters reading "Antinikol" near government building

France says it will do everything it can to ensure Amazon is subject to minimum global tax

UN warns of likelihood of mass deaths from hunger and disease in Myanmar

Beijing accuses Washington of paranoid mania

Stanislav Zas: There are still risks of escalation of the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border

Trump supports Nigerian government decision to block Twitter access

Erdogan announces visit to Shushi with his family

Armenia ruling party MP Hamazasp Danielyan drops mandate

Armenia ex-president shares promised record about acting PM

Armenia acting PM ends campaign meeting in Gyumri with march, accompanied by many security officers

"Armenia" bloc holding rally in Yerevan

Opposition Bright Armenia Party leader inviting Nikol Pashinyan to a debate

Nagorno-Karabakh issue discussed within the scope of Russian-Turkish consultations in Moscow

168.am: Armenia acting PM in Gyumri, snipers on roof of city council

Armenian authorities forcing employees of educational institutions and nuclear power plant to attend campaign meetings

Putin-Biden meeting in Geneva to take place in 18th-century villa

Armenia opposition party leader: There are 1,837 Armenians who lost their extremities after war in Artsakh

Bright Armenia Party leader slams discourse over transferring acting PM's son in exchange of POWs

Leader of opposition Liberty Party says Armenia acting PM steals over $2,500 from budget every month

Headquarters of political party running in elections applies to Prosecutor General's Office and Police of Armenia

Armenia Ombudsman's Office, Central Electoral Commission hold discussion to guarantee citizens' suffrage

Armenia acting premier, "support group" employees visit Shirak Province

Tech Week Artsakh 2021 to be held in Stepanakert

Armenia Elections Oversight Committee: Such development of events might lead to clashes

2 citizens apprehended for electoral bribery in Armenia's Gavar

Republican Party of Armenia vice-president: Serzh Sargsyan disclosed an audio recording a little while ago

Dollar continues dropping in Armenia

Armenia High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, Ukraine deputy FM express willingness for cooperation

Turkeys Erdogan to visit Artsakhs Shushi

Armenia health ministry: 5 of 11 children with acute gastroenteritis are discharged from hospital

Azerbaijan MOD publicly admits that it is not well-established

Armenia independent MP: Acting premier is leading country to events similar to those of March 1, 2008

Russia resumes air communication with Armenia

Armenian man says Nikol Pashinyan 'liberated' Armenia's Etchmiadzin

Shooting in Russia, casualties and shooter are Armenian

Goris town deputy mayor on captured Armenia soldiers return: Negotiator was the Russian side

"I have the honor" bloc member: We must achieve Azeri forces withdrawal from Artsakh territories by talks

Vanetsyan: It was assumed that Armenia would recognize Karabakh in case of war

Lavrov: Turkey, Iran interests are considered when discussing unblocking of regional communications

Armenia PM contender: 2 of 3 principles of Karabakh conflict have been violated

Vanetsyan: Possibility of deeper Armenia-Russia integration should be considered after our coming to power

Russia FM: Nagorno-Karabakh status issue has yet to be agreed upon

Tuesdays fire at Yerevan landfill not put out yet

Armenia Ombudsman: Manipulating issues of return of captives during election campaign increases tension

Woman, 84, dies at Yerevan hospital after being attacked by stray dogs

99 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Blinken to Menendez: US will continue to take a look at possible suspension of aid to Azerbaijan

Security Council chief meets with head of Red Cross mission to Artsakh

Armenia MOD: Disoriented, captured soldier is in Stepanakert

World oil prices on the rise

Newspaper: Armenia ruling party is "singing its swan song

Newspaper: Armenia state institutions employees are warned not to attend ex-President Kocharyan's rallies

Researchers record highest level of CO2 emissions in history

Armenia ex-President Sargsyan: Russians have mainly fulfilled their obligations as ally

Armenia ombudsman considers election campaign climate "extremely worrying"

Palestinian leaders arrive in Cairo for talks on reinforcing ceasefire with Israel

Blinken: 'Hundreds' of US sanctions against Iran to remain in effect

Armenia MOD: Official investigation launched against 2 military unit commanders who were dismissed today

Armenian serviceman who was captured today has been returned

UN Security Council endorses Antonio Guterres who is running for Secretary-General for the second time

Armenia Prosecutor General's Office launches case on Armenian serviceman beaten by Azerbaijani soldiers

US is ready to provide technical support for delimitation of border between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Armenia 3rd President to Nikol Pashinyan: I'm giving that depraved 24 hours

"Armenia" bloc calls on Central Electoral Commission to respond to Nikol Pashinyan's calls for violence

Armenian National Congress Party member: People who talk about peace achieve the greatest victories

"Armenia" bloc member: Pashinyan dismissed regiment commanders because they refused to advocate for him

Armenia MOD: Incident between Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers took place a week ago

Armenia ruling Civil Contract Party holding campaign meeting in Ashtarak, led by Nikol Pashinyan (LIVE)

Soldier ends up on Azerbaijan territory, Baku starts trial against Armenia POW, Jun 8 digest

Head of Armenia's Geghamasar village endorses Robert Kocharyan, to manage bloc's territorial headquarters

"Armenia" bloc representative: I call on law-enforcement authorities to get ready to perform their duties

Armenia President receives acting high-tech and economy ministers and CEO of FAST

Armenia 2nd President says his bloc is against vendettas, supports justice

Armenia opposition party's candidate for PM Samvel Babayan makes call to citizens

Armenia ex-officials registration on "I have the honor" bloc electoral list is declared invalid

Karabakh President grants high state awards to relatives of policemen who fell in the war

Karabakh President meets in Yerevan with heads of communities of Kashatagh region

Armenia Central Electoral Commission: Advertisement of Robert Kocharyan's book is associated with campaign posters

Edmon Marukyan: Bright Armenia Party is only one that can become axis of government of national accord

Armenia former President Kocharyan on incumbent authorities: Psychology of flawed people

Armenia applies to ECHR to ensure respect of rights of Armenian POW captured today

Armenia opposition party's candidate for PM and citizen get into dispute

One dollar drops below AMD 520 in Armenia

Armenia 2nd President on the reason for country's defeat in the war and return of Armenian POWs

Armenia 2nd President: People will give evaluation during the elections

Three more remains retrieved during search in Artsakh

Homeland of Armenians political party members meet with Netherlands Ambassador

Armenia acting PM to voters: Prepare for civil revenge

Armenia ex-President Kocharyan: Authorities clumsiness, unprofessionalism, treachery brought current situation

Official: 3 deputy FMs of Armenia dismissed

Armenia MOD: Soldier ended up in area under Azerbaijan army control due to fog

Russia's Putin, Armenia 2nd President hold phone talks

Azerbaijan state prosecutor demands sentencing Lebanese Armenian Euljekjian to 20 years in prison

Search for remains of fallen soldiers continues in Artsakh
Among the changes announced by the administration Friday, government agencies implementing the rental relief program will be required to offer assistance directly to renters if landlords choose not to participate. Also, the waiting time for delivering the assistance to renters has been cut in half if landlords decide not to participate in the program.
YEREVAN.  The work on the captives issue is considered to be the most serious part of our daily work. In this regard, our Russian partnerthe Prosecutor of Russiais fully involved in the process; and using this channel, we are given the opportunity to both make adjustments to the lists, and, especially to pass information on torture, murder against them. Thus, to make a clear legal requirement, also together with our partner, so that this shall be followed by legal processes. Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan on Friday told this to reporters in the National Assembly of Armenia.

"They are based on the very evidence obtained in the framework of criminal cases; that is, the factual circumstances are recorded with these cases. We share this information with our Russian partners and, through their mediation, it becomes possible for Azerbaijan to take these issues seriously and realize its high responsibility," he added.

When asked how many Azerbaijani servicemen or officials the Armenian side has declared wanted, Davtyan responded: "Yes, we have a lot of pursuits. [But] I hope you all take this issue so seriously that you see that talking about it in public is not justified.

And to the remark that the Azerbaijani side publicly announces that, for example, it had declared Armenian ex-defense minister Seyran Ohanyan wanted, the prosecutor general responded: "It does not mean that if they speak [about it], we should do the same. We address the issue in the legal dimension and, naturally, we, evaluating the effectiveness of our work, come to the conclusion that publicly speaking about it will harm. We have always taken our countermeasures, all of which have yielded results. They [Azerbaijan] are not able to carry out any effective search for our citizens."
The sin of U.S. colonialism: Americas genocide against Native Americans

18:39, May 06, 2021 By Chi Wan ( People's Daily Online

Labeling itself as a lecturer in human rights, the U.S. has been fabricating lies about the human rights situation in other countries instead of engaging in introspection on its own genocidal crimes of the past.

American history is a history tainted with the blood and tears of Native Americans. After the U.S. was founded, it enforced fraudulent treaties on the Native Americans, which led to the expelling and killing of their peoples during the colonialists drive for Westward Expansion, a legacy that demonstrates the countrys well-trodden path of colonialism and human rights atrocities.

Indigenous peoples from numerous nations attend a protest in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 10, 2017. Hundreds of indigenous peoples from numerous nations protested and marched against the Dakota Access pipeline and President Donald Trump. The 3.8-billion-dollar Dakota Access pipeline begins in the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota and runs southeast into Illinois. The project has led to strong protests in North Dakota near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, as local bands are worried its construction and operation will pollute their drinking water and the natural environment and infringe upon the integrity of their cultural sites. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

The total population of Native Americans living in the U.S. dwindled from 5 million at the end of the 15th century to 250,000 by the beginning of the 20th century, despite the U.S. having expanded its territory to straddle the North American continent from sea to sea. These indigenous peoples were almost exterminated and lost the right to live on their ancestral lands.

In 1830, then U.S. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which compelled Native Americans to move from east of the Mississippi River to live on Indian reservations carved out of territories in the west. The westward migration of indigenous populations was overseen and controlled by the U.S. army and militia patrols. It was during this time when Native Americans were coerced to leave their homelands en masse, many of whom were either killed or injured during their relocation westward after suffering from appalling treatment at the hands of encroaching colonial settlers. These forced displacements were later referred to as the Trail of Tears.

According to a PBS report, the U.S. government built a series of stockades in between reservations and White settlements, having later dispatched troops to round up and force the Cherokee into concentration camps where they were kept as mere pigs in a sty. Once the tyrannized indigenous populations fled afield to safer lands, the White colonists went about looting their homes. In the end, 4,000 members of the Cherokee died of cold, hunger and disease on their way to faraway lands in the west.

By 1837, the Jackson administration had removed 46,000 Native American people from their land east of the Mississippi, opening up 25 million hectares of land for White settlers. The forced relocation of Native Americans has since been criticized by many scholars as an act of systematic genocide.

Generations of national and state leaders in the U.S. never bothered to take the human rights of Native Americans into consideration because they held a belief that American indigenous peoples were somehow inferior or, even worse still, nothing but animals in a wild land.

As a quote by George Washington, one of the founding fathers of the U.S., put it: When the gradual extension of our Settlements will as certainly cause the Savage as the Wolf to retire; both being beasts of prey tho they differ in shape.

The American leadership also came up with various "tricks" to enable the White colonialists to fully occupy American Indians land more effectively.

In 1814, then President James Madison issued a decree rewarding US$50 to US$100 for every Indians scalp. Some 50 years later, on Dec. 26, 1862, more than 30 religious and political leaders of the Dakota tribe in Minnesota were hanged under the order of then President Abraham Lincoln. The execution was the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

The U.S. government also did nothing to prevent the overhunting of buffalo, the main source of food for many indigenous tribes, which further compelled Native Americans living off of the land to retreat into reservations.

The Wounded Knee Massacre in December 1890 is considered to be the last major battle waged by the White colonialists in their attempt to conquer and subjugate the Native Americans of the Great Plains. The White invaders devastated the indigenous Americans in ways both physical and spiritual, having left them in a constant state of desperation, poverty, and marginalization.

It was only in 1924 when Native Americans were finally granted citizenship in the U.S. and, up until 1957, some states had continued to bar Native Americans from voting in local elections. Most Indian reservations situated across the U.S. are disconnected from the countrys economic lifelines and remain untouched in terms of their material development, while Native Americans have meanwhile found themselves among the poorest groups of people living in the U.S. today.

According to statistics from the Friends of Pine Ridge Reservation and Re-member, two websites that aim to help Native Americans living in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation located in South Dakota, 97 percent of the local population live far below the U.S. federal poverty line. Moreover, an 89 percent unemployment rate was identified in a 2005 Department of the Interior report.

Having a say regarding their own land was a fantasy in days past, and remains a pipedream in contemporary times as well. In 2016, without fully consulting local indigenous groups, the Dakota Access Pipeline, which crosses beneath the Missouri River just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, was approved for construction.

The Standing Rock Sioux believe that the pipeline not only presents a danger to their main source of drinking water, but also stands in flagrant violation of their rights and interests on the use of their sacred land. Countless protests were held to overturn the move. However, on April 9, 2021, CNN reported that the Biden administration decided not to shut down the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

After 200 years of history, the American colonists have come to build the most developed capitalist economy in the world, having paved over the perished souls of generations of Native Americans who lost their lives and livelihoods. Despite their horrific treatment in their own native land, indigenous Americans voices still go unheard today in the corridors of U.S. power.

The historical tragedy of Native Americans in the U.S. reveals the true color of human rights in the country  one characterized by the deprivation of a certain peoples human rights in order to satisfy the insatiable greed of the powers that be.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Not everyone can take an afternoon off, thats understood. But the spring meet is so limited  just 23 racing dates between April 22 and May 31  getting to Pimlico should be promoted as a fleeting opportunity to see the horses up close. And once Pimlico is redeveloped, according to plan, the spring meet might be even more limited. So you need to get there if youve always been meaning to.
Former chairman of the Urban Development Committee of Armenia Vahagn Vermishyan has filed a civil claim against Nikol Pashinyan. This is what Vermishyans attorney Alexander Kochubaev wrote on his Facebook page, adding the following:

Today my client and I filed a claim with the court against Nikol Pashinyan, demanding him to refute information deemed to be defamation, as well as publicly apologize for defecting the honor and dignity of Mr. Vermishyan and the good reputation that he has as a businessman. We have also asked the court to record a violation of the right to presumption of innocence. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, in the style that characterizes him, spread information deemed to be defamation and made a clearly groundless and irresponsible statement stating that he allegedly confers titles of merited figures in Armenia. First of all, there is no judicial act in force stating that Vahagn Vermishyan has anything to do with the incriminated act, and in the absence of such act, questioning the guilt of a person is inadmissible and immoral. Summing up, we can state that the prosecution against Vahagn Vermishyan is clearly political, and his imprisonment meets all the criteria of a political prisoner, in accordance with the characterization in international law. Nikol Pashinyan didnt forgive Vahagn Vermishyan for serving in office without returning funds and his actions for the State, the disclosure of schemes of involvement of the Prime Ministers family and close ones in corruption cases and the attempts to fight against those schemes. We call on Nikol Pashinyan to immediately apologize to Vahagn Vermishyan andn refute the information deemed to be defamation and sincerely declare why Vahagn Vermishyan is in custody.
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 07.05.21:

40 ISLAMISTS

https://news.am/eng/news/642523.html

The Prosecutor Generals Office of Armenia has declared a search against 40 Islamist militiamen who fought in Nagorno-Karabakh [Artsakh].

As Prosecutor General of Armenia Artur Davtyan noted, the factual data showed that Turkey selected mercenaries and helped transfer them to Azerbaijan before the start of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh.

An Armenian court has already sentenced two militiamen to life in prison. Now were looking for nearly 40 more militiamen and the heads of groupings who participated in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, he noted.

FRENCH MFA

https://news.am/rus/news/642652.html

https://news.am/rus/news/642654.html

French MFA has called for an immediate release of all captured Armenians.

In a tweet, the French MFA noted that the release of three Armenians by Azerbaijan is a positive gesture in this regard.

The French Foreign Ministry also tweeted a May 5 statement by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

The release has also been welcomed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Swedish FM Ann Linde.

She called on the parties to urgently complete the exchange of all detainees and bodies, as required by international humanitarian law.

PERSON FOUND DEAD

https://news.am/eng/news/642577.html

Person, 74, has been found dead at a Yerevan building courtyard.

The rescuers who had arrived at the scene carried this persons body to a waiting ambulance.

WB

https://news.am/eng/news/642428.html

The World Bank has expressed its readiness to become a free-of-charge co-funder for four of the 25 anti-crisis measures in Armenia and wants to provide $3,718,000 to these programs.

The overall goal of this grant is to help strengthen the resilience of those affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, and to promote social cohesion and employment in host communities.

MOSCOW

https://news.am/eng/news/642450.html

Armenian parliament speaker Ararat Mirzoyan will pay a visit to Moscow from May 16 to 18.

According to Lavrov, Armenian delegations are expected to pay several visits to the Russian Federation in the coming months.

The minister also noted that there is active development of the political dialogue and that there is also political dialogue at a high level.

COVID-19

https://news.am/eng/news/642596.html

As of Friday morning, 356 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 218,681 in the country.

Also, 17 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 4,209 cases.

The number of people who have recovered over the past one day is 1,034, the total respective number so far is 203,307.

INITIATIVE

https://style.news.am/eng/news/78809/kim-kardashian-and-cher-call-for-joining-educational-expansion-program-for-students-in-armenia-and-artsakh.html

Kim Kardashian, Serj Tankian, Cher & Eric Esrailian have called to join the Teach For Armenia initiative in expanding educational opportunities for students in Armenia and Artsakh.

On Thursday, May 6, Teach For Armenia will hold an online event #HopeForArmenia, dedicated to Teach For Armenias work to create access to educational opportunities for students of Armenia and Artsakh.

Teach For Armenias Nation-Builders program is an opportunity for committed individuals from all over the world to invest in the development of Armenia and Artsakh through education.
Acting Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Armenia Vahram Dumanyan has sent a letter to the Director-General of the UNESCO, expressing concern about the actions that Azerbaijan is carrying out at the Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral in the city of Shushi of the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).

The Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport reports that the letter states that during the large-scale military aggression unleashed against Artsakh on September 27, 2020, among other war crimes, Azerbaijan deliberately targeted the Ghazanchetsots Holy Savior Cathedral, destroying one of the two domes of the cathedral, in violation of the Second Protocol to The Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Moreover, the several photos and videos circulating on the Internet prove that the cathedral was vandalized after the cessation of hostilities and that the Azerbaijani forces damaged the second dome.

Recently, Azerbaijan removed the dome of the cathedral with the pretext of construction works, in an attempt to change the historical and architectural integrity of the monument and distort its Armenian identity.

Dumanyan stressed that there are numerous grounds to believe that Azerbaijan is blocking the entrances to Armenian cultural heritage sites in a premeditated manner in order to conceal the war crimes that it has committed. Moreover, Azerbaijan is actively leading a policy of falsification of historical facts, referring to Armenian cultural heritage sites in Artsakh as Caucasian Albanian.

Highly appreciating the major role of the UNESCO in the protection of cultural heritage, the acting minister called on the Director-General to condemn the attempts to destroy and appropriate Armenian cultural heritage sites.
Armenias acting Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan today received the delegation led by Director General of South Caucasus Railway CJSC Alexey Melnikov.

As reported the Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations, the acting minister attached importance to the cooperation between the ministry and the SCR and touched upon the joint programs that were postponed due to COVID-19 and have started being implemented.

Melnikov stated that a railway is considered a high-risk object around the world and also attached importance to the cooperation between the parties. He informed that the company has a recovery unit and offered to provide the companys specialists with training courses at the Ministry of Emergency Situations in order to view them as freelance employees of the ministry in the future. Piloyan welcomed the proposal and, in this context, the acting minister mentioned that the Ministry of Emergency Situations regularly holds training sessions with the personnel of the airport and emphasized that the SCR can also be involved in those efforts.

At the end of the meeting, the parties signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia and the South Caucasus Railway CJSC During Emergency Situations with Hazardous Cargo in the Railway Infrastructure. According to the document, the parties are committed to holding joint consultations or participating in the activities of the bodies and institutions of the parties, creating joint task forces, exchanging information and accumulated experience, etc.
The same goes for the court system. Kudos to Maryland Public Defender Paul DeWolfe, who wrote a letter urging judges to ban the symbols in courthouses after seeing thin blue line masks, pins and other clothing at courthouses in 15 jurisdictions. We agree with his sentiment that this politicizes the judicial process and denies defendants, particularly people who are Black, the appearance that their hearing is being conducted fairly and without bias. His attorneys have likely felt the discomfort of seeing these symbols and wondering if that would hurt their ability to defend their clients, whose resources are already limited and who likely feel as if the system is stacked against them. From the courts standpoint: Why give a reason for cases to be overturned? That only slows down the process and hurts the credibility of the system.
An investigation is underway to clarify the circumstances for the appearance of Nikol Pashinyans wife, Anna Hakobyan at a command point. This is what the Investigative Committee reported in response to Pastinfo Armenian newspapers inquiry, rejecting the provision of information and saying that the preliminary investigation is confidential.

Earlier, the source had reported that during the war, Anna Hakobyan was at the command point of the Defense Army of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and followed the hostilities from the command point and sometimes also interfered. Nikol Pashinyan also officially confirmed Hakobyans presence at the command point, saying that his family member was providing moral-psychological support to the commanders.

Pastinfo newspaper had sent a written inquiry to the Investigative Committee to find out whether the circumstances for the presence of Nikol Pashinyans wife at the command point during the war had become a matter of investigation, whether Pashinyans wife had the right to possess confidential information, what degree of confidential information she had the right to have, how that right was granted to her, by whom and when.

In response to the inquiry, the Investigative Committee reported that it cant provide information regarding the questions, taking into consideration the confidentiality of the preliminary investigation. The source reports that the Committee didnt refute that this has been investigated and said it simply doesnt find it appropriate to provide the public with information.
Mr. Flynn is correct on several levels but he is absolutely wrong on a big one. First, hes right it would be pricey. Northeasts promoters have been reluctant to assign a dollar-value to a ticket, but federal regulators have suggested it might be around $60 for the 15-minute trip between D.C. and Baltimore. Thats no $8 MARC ticket. But its also a bit misleading because Northeast Maglev is seeking private financing for the multibillion-dollar project, and so its backers are hoping that government funding might offset some of its operating costs and lower ticket prices. But whether that happens or not, its fair to expect it to be priced above Amtraks more comparable, but slower, Acela service (in the neighborhood of $46). But also keep in mind that Northeast expects maglev service to eventually connect to the lucrative New York City market with one-hour service. Today, high-end commuters regularly pay hundreds of dollars to travel by air  or $130 (if booked 21 days in advance) by Acela Express, which takes 2 1/2 hours.
Exiled Ted Hui loses fight over private prosecutions

The ex-lawmaker wanted the policeman who shot and seriously wounded a protester in Sai Wan Ho to face prosecution. File image courtesy of Cupid News

The judge said he had reason to believe that Ted Hui (pictured) had misled the court into believing he was leaving Hong Kong temporarily. File photo: RTHK

Jimmy Choi reports

The High Court has thrown out a bid by ex-lawmaker Ted Hui to resurrect prosecutions relating to the 2019 protests that the Department of Justice (DoJ) had taken over and dropped.



Hui, who recently fled Hong Kong while facing charges of his own, launched private prosecutions against the taxi driver whose vehicle ploughed into a group of protesters in Sham Shui Po, as well as a policeman who shot and seriously wounded a student protester in Sai Wan Ho.



A magistrates' court had given the go-ahead for the two cases, but then the DoJ stepped in and took over the prosecutions last August, before saying there was insufficient evidence and the cases had to be abandoned.



In rejecting an application for a judicial review, judge Alex Lee on Friday pointed to the fact that Hui had gone into exile overseas.



Lee said the former Democratic Party legislator had misled the courts and police into believing he was only leaving Hong Kong temporarily when he travelled to Denmark while on bail last November.



The court had cogent reasons to believe that Hui had not intended to face his trials for alleged protest-related offences, Lee said.



He added that not only had Hui failed to answer bail, but he had provided misleading information to the court in order to have his travel ban lifted, and this amounted to criminal contempt.



The judge said Huis conduct showed that he has no regard at all for the dignity and authority of the court and allowing his judicial review would have brought the administration of justice into disrepute.



Lee said his decision would not bar anyone from bringing civil claims against the taxi driver or the policeman.



After Denmark, Hui travelled to the UK and then later to Australia, where he said he would continue his activism.
Shareholders agreed to the Board of Directors recommendations for all proposed resolutions

Election of Dr. Alexandre LeBeaut and Asa Riisberg as Independent Directors

Dividend of CHF 2.00 approved

ST. GALLEN, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

At todays 93rd Annual General Meeting of Vifor Pharma Ltd., shareholders approved all proposed resolutions put forward by the Board of Directors. In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and in accordance with Ordinance 3 on measures to combat the coronavirus issued by the Swiss Federal Council, on the basis of Art. 8 of the new COVID-19 Act, shareholders were not permitted to attend the event in person. Shareholders exercised their rights exclusively through the independent proxy and 61.6% of the share capital was represented.

Shareholder approvals

Shareholders approved the Annual Report and the Annual Financial Statements of Vifor Pharma Ltd., as well as the consolidated Financial Statements of Vifor Pharma Group for 2020 by a large majority. The maximum possible 2022 remuneration for the Board of Directors and Executive Committee was also approved, as well as the 2020 Remuneration Report in a consultative vote. In addition, shareholders discharged the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for the business year 2020. A dividend of CHF 2.00, as proposed by the Board of Directors, was approved and will be paid to shareholders from 12 May 2021 on.

Dr. Alexandre LeBeaut and Asa Riisberg elected to the Board

The Annual General Meeting confirmed Chairman Jacques Theurillat and the other members of the Board of Directors, Prof. Dr. hon. Michel Burnier, Dr. Romeo Cerutti, Dr. Sue Mahony and Kim Stratton in office.

Dr. Alexandre LeBeaut and Asa Riisberg were elected as new members of the Board.

As previously announced, Dr. Gianni Zampieri and Gilbert Achermann did not to stand for re-election. The Board of Directors sincerely thanks them for their distinguished services for Vifor Pharma.

Remuneration Committee confirmed

Dr. Sue Mahony (Chairwoman), Prof. Dr. hon. Michel Burnier and Dr. Romeo Cerutti were re-elected to the Remuneration Committee for a term of one year.

About Vifor Pharma Group

Vifor Pharma Group is a global pharmaceuticals company. It aims to become the global leader in iron deficiency, nephrology and cardio-renal therapies. The company is a partner of choice for pharmaceuticals and innovative patient-focused solutions. Vifor Pharma Group strives to help patients around the world with severe and chronic diseases lead better, healthier lives. The company develops, manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products for precision patient care. Vifor Pharma Group holds a leading position in all its core business activities and consists of the following companies: Vifor Pharma and Vifor Fresenius Medical Care Renal Pharma (a joint company with Fresenius Medical Care). Vifor Pharma Group is headquartered in Switzerland, and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX Swiss Exchange, VIFN, ISIN: CH0364749348).

For more information, please visit viforpharma.com
Nominations open for first Simon-Edgar Statesmanship Award

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Nominations are open for the inaugural Paul Simon-Jim Edgar Statesmanship Award, which will honor an Illinois elected official who has displayed a pattern of public service characterized by vision, courage, compassion, effectiveness, civility and bipartisanship.

Southern Illinois University Carbondales Paul Simon Public Policy Institute partnered with former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar this past November to launch the award, which is named for the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, a Democrat, and Edgar, a Republican.

Media availability

Paul Simon Public Policy Institute Director John Shaw is available for interviews about the award and to discuss the central qualities of statesmanship, and why this is a crucial moment to honor these values in Illinois politics. Please email john.shaw@siu.edu to set up an interview. For more information about eligibility and the nomination process, visit PaulSimonInstitute.org/SimonEdgarAward.

The Paul Simon Institute is seeking nominations from the public. Nominees must hold or have previously held an elected position in Illinois at the state or local level. To nominate, write a brief letter explaining how the candidate has demonstrated statesmanship in their public service career.

The nomination deadline is June 15.

Letters may be submitted online at PaulSimonInstitute.org/SimonEdgarAward; by email to PaulSimonInstitute@siu.edu, or by mail to:

Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

Southern Illinois University

Attn: Simon-Edgar Award

Mail Code 4429

1231 Lincoln Drive

Carbondale, Illinois 62901-4304.

We are not seeking the perfect public servant, but a leader who has consistently endeavored to serve the public good and prepare his or her constituents for future challenges and opportunities, Edgar and Paul Simon Institute Director John Shaw wrote recently in a joint guest column.

The Paul Simon Public Policy Institute is a think tank at SIU Carbondale promoting better politics and smarter government and preparing students for careers in public service.
DUBAI (Reuters) - Amnesty International said on Friday Yemen's Houthi authorities must halt plans for forced virginity testing and release an actor and model the human rights group says has been detained on "spurious grounds."

Twenty-year-old Yemeni Intisar al-Hammadi was arrested in February at a checkpoint in the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthi group in Yemen's six-year conflict.

A judicial source previously told Reuters she had been charged with carrying out an indecent act and going against Islamic principles.

"Intisar al-Hammadi has regularly appeared in photographs online including in social media posts, without a headscarf defying strict societal norms in Yemen," Amnesty said.

Yemen has consistently been at the bottom of the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap index.

"Hammadi was arrested by plainclothes security forces at a checkpoint in Sanaa on 20 February," Amnesty said. "While detained, she was interrogated while blindfolded, physically and verbally abused, subjected to racist insults and forced to 'confess' to several offences, including drug possession and prostitution."

Amnesty said her lawyer was informed on Wednesday by a member of the prosecution team of plans to carry out a virginity test on her within days.

Amnesty says forced virginity tests are a form of sexual violence amounting to torture under international law.

"The Houthi de facto authorities have a deplorable track record of arbitrarily detaining people on baseless charges  to silence or punish critics, activists, journalists and members of religious minorities  as well as subjecting them to torture and other forms of ill-treatment," said Amnesty's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, Lynn Maalouf.

Houthi authorities did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Amnesty said Hammadi's lawyer in April was approached by a gunman who threatened him and asked him to drop the case.

The Houthi movement, which holds most of northern Yemen, ousted Yemen's internationally recognised government from power in Sanaa in late 2014.

(Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Bannekers Almanacs, filled with complex celestial calculations and reference information, served, the publishers trumpeted in the introduction, as proofs that people of color could produce works of genius. But looking at these books today, an even more profound purpose is evident. He shrewdly designed the books so that each page of almanac content was faced by a page of essays filled with his own enlightened thoughts on a wide variety of topics for the new country. He proposed a Department of Peace (equal to the Department of War), universal childhood education and ending the death penalty. But the most passionate essays he added to his almanacs addressed the horrors of slavery and racial prejudice. Interestingly, these were not from his own pen, but rather the writings or orations of British Prime Minister William Pitt, third U.S. President Thomas Jefferson, poets William Cowper and Thomas Wilkinson, and other prominent individuals. He thus gave wide voice to calls for racial justice, but deftly avoided personal attributions and backlash. Americas leading Black intellectual of the time invented his own way to bring his views on racial justice to public attention.
Canada ranked 15th on the list of 35 global markets expected to account for 90 per cent of non-hydro renewable energy construction through 2030, according to IHS.(AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Canada is big on talk and short on action when it comes to promoting renewable energy investment, according to researchers at IHS Markit.

The London-based analytics firm ranked the country below global peers including the United States, China, India and Brazil in a new report looking at the most attractive regions to invest in renewable energy. Canada ranked 15th on the list of 35 global markets expected to account for 90 per cent of non-hydro renewable energy construction through 2030, according to IHS.

The rankings are based on a combined score for offshore wind, onshore wind and solar photovoltaic that weighs the different technologies based on their expected levels of installations over the next decade. Researchers considered the current government's policy framework, market fundamentals, investor friendliness, infrastructure readiness, revenue risks and return expectations, ease of competing projects, and the overall opportunity size for each market.

The United States took the top spot in the first-of-its-kind ranking, owing in part to President Biden's plans for significant investment in alternative energy sources. Germany, where renewables account for the majority of energy produced, ranked second. Mainland China, which accounted for over half of the world's total non-hydro renewables additions last year, ranked third, despite tougher market access for foreign investors.

IHS global renewable market attractiveness rankings.

"The disconnect between ambition and action is one of the major reasons pulling down Canada's rank, despite it having strong fundamentals," Eduard Sala de Vedruna, executive director of global clean energy technology and renewables at IHS Markit, told Yahoo Finance Canada in an email.

Ottawa wants 90 per cent of Canada's electricity to come from non-emitting sources by 2030, with the goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.

"This is not backed by a predictable and long-term capacity procurement roadmap," Sala de Vedruna said. "So to improve its position, [Canada] needs to work on making its support mechanisms more robust and fixing its policy track record."

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Canada has long faced criticism for failing to live up to its global climate change commitments, and its carbon-intensive oil and gas industry. The latter has prompted some global asset managers to blacklist certain Canadian energy investments.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently upped Canada's carbon-cutting pledge to 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. The announcement last month came on the heels of a federal budget that included $17 billion in new spending and tax measures aimed at cleaning up industries and creating jobs to support a greener economy.

Sala de Vedruna suggests Canada develop an offshore wind power sector in order to diversify its sources of clean energy.

"The country already has two early-stage projects planned of which one has a contract," he said. "It's a question of taking those forward and starting to gain momentum."

Jeff Lagerquist is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on Twitter @jefflagerquist.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Negotiations between Iran and the world powers on how to revive the 2015 nuclear accord will resume this weekend, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said on Wednesday, adding that Iran's June 18 presidential election was a complicating factor. "I know that the negotiation will start again over this coming weekend," Sherman said during a virtual event organized by the German Marshall Fund think tank. "I think there's been a lot of progress made, but, out of my own experience, until the last detail is nailed down, and I mean nailed down, we will not know if we have an agreement," Sherman, one of the key U.S. negotiators for the original deal, said.
May 6MORGANTOWN  The City of Morgantown has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop its fire civil service commission from holding a disciplinary hearing about the change in shift differential pay next week.

In the filing, attorneys from Kay Casto & Chaney PLLC, which represents Morgantown, argue the commission does not have the jurisdiction to hold a disciplinary hearing when Morgantown corrects an erroneous pay practice, but that it intends to do so regardless.

"Treating this matter as a disciplinary action would allow the commission to force Morgantown to spend public money for unauthorized purposes and deprive the city council and city manager of control over their personnel rules, " the filing states.

In its filing, the city argues, as it did at the April 14 fire civil service commission meeting which was held to determine if the commission could hold a disciplinary on the issue, that the change in pay was a general reduction and the commission's authority doesn't "extend to a city manager identifying a longstanding pay practice that is not authorized by personnel rules and subsequently correcting it."

Teresa Toriseva, attorney for Morgantown's firefighters, who are members of International Association of Firefighters Local 313, called the filing the latest escalation in Morgantown's "war " against its fire department.

"This new filing is nothing but a last-minute attempt to stop the Civil Service Commission from even conducting a hearing, " Toriseva said in a press release. "It is a litigation tactic to avoid accountability. The city officials act as though they answer to no one. They have even asserted exactly this position during the previous commission meetingthat they can do whatever they want without review by anyone."

In March, Morgantown's firefighters issued a vote of no-confidence in city manager Kim Haws because they said he removed their shift differential paya small hourly bonus to employees who work the afternoon and night shiftsas retaliation for rejection of a settlement offer in a 2019 lawsuit over a holiday pay dispute.

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After the change, 47 Morgantown firefighters are now being paid about $2, 000 less a year, according to Toriseva.

The city said it is just correctly enforcing the rules after an employee compensation study found the error, and there is no retaliation.

Firefighters start their 24-hour shifts at 8 a.m., which is not one of the starting times that grants shift differential pay. Firefighters are Morgantown's only employees who work 24-hour shifts, and the shift differential pay rules are written with 8-hour shifts in mind.

As of Thursday afternoon, the request has not been assigned to a judge and no hearing has been set.

TWEET @DominionPostWV
Two men were taken to a hospital after the driver of a 1979 Corvette rear-ended another car on the outbound Dan Ryan Expressway on Thursday afternoon, closing several lanes of traffic for about an hour.

Shortly after 2 p.m., a 77-year-old Chicago man was driving the light blue Chevrolet Corvette south in the express lanes when he rear-ended a 2015 Buick Lacrosse near 35th Street, according to a statement from Illinois State Police.

After the crash, the 77-year-old pulled over to the shoulder and got out of the Corvette before it began burning.

That man and the Buicks driver, a 27-year-old from Justice, were both taken to a local hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening, state police said.

Three southbound lanes were reopened about 3 p.m. after being closed for about an hour.

The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but state police are investigating.
This spring, as more Americans are able to get vaccinated, theres hope the pandemic is nearing its end and life is slowly returning to normal. But for 4,500 Americans, the end of the pandemic could instead mean returning to prison.

The March 2020 CARES Act allowed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to expand the period of home confinement, which usually comes at the end of a sentence. As a result, thousands of incarcerated individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes were released from prison where COVID-19 swept through cramped facilities  to home confinement. Many were able to reunite with their families and find jobs.

But earlier this year, the Justice Department ordered that individuals under home confinement due to COVID-19 must return to prison when the emergency is lifted, putting 4,500 lives in limbo, awaiting an uncertain date when their return to normalcy is taken away.

Inmates near the end of their sentence may be able to stay home if the Bureau of Prisons grants permission, according to a recent USA TODAY report. And while the Biden administration extended the length of the COVID emergency declaration, that still might not help people with years left to serve.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons may decide to let inmates who have a short time left on their sentence to serve it at home.

The administration could get into a legal back-and-forth over the interpretation of the CARES Act. But a simpler path would be for President Joe Biden to grant clemency to those on home confinement who pose no threat to public safety. Reviewing the cases will be another step toward reducing unnecessary incarceration in America, which imprisons more people than any other democratic country with no added benefit to public safety.

The two of us experienced the justice system, and clemency in particular, up close. One of us worked as a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump on criminal justice and other policy issues. The other served nearly 22 years in prison for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense before returning home after Trump granted clemency, and later a pardon.

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Through these experiences, we have come to know people from diverse backgrounds who have made mistakes, but still have much to offer their families and our society. That is what we are seeing with many of the individuals under home confinement due to COVID-19.

Consider what home confinement has meant for Kendrick Fulton. In 2003, Fulton was convicted of a nonviolent drug offense and spent the next 17 years in prison. Last year, he was moved to home confinement and went to live with his sister in Texas, where he has found steady work. Fulton said in a recent interview: "Words can't really express how I feel to be home ... to get a job, to get a bank account."

Since his conviction, Fulton has taken responsibility for his crime, and is seeking clemency so he can move on and contribute to society. But Fulton now faces being sent back to prison and remaining there until his sentence expires in 2032  even though sentencing guidelines for the offense he committed have changed since he was convicted and today people committing a similar offense likely receive a far lesser sentence.

There are plenty of inmates whose stories parallel Fulton's: Miranda McLaurin is a disabled veteran who rebuilt her life in Mississippi and has now been able to spend time with her grandson; Robert Edwards works in Tampa for a retired police officer, he said, and lives with his mother; Dennis Alba is 71, spent nearly 20 years in prison, but now holds a steady job just a few miles from his California home. He has six years left on his sentence.

To prevent individuals like these from being sent back to prison, a congressional coalition wrote a letter to Biden, urging him to review their cases for clemency. The letter notes that the CARES Act did not require individuals on home confinement be sent back to prison, and that the Justice Department can modify the guidance issued by the last administration. But clemency would allow rehabilitated individuals to move on with their lives rather than serving home detention for the rest of their sentences.

Clemency should be carefully and fairly considered. But all the people under home confinement were released because they were determined to be safe, making them strong candidates.

The moral issue goes beyond these 4,500 Americans. In recent years, a diverse coalition from across the political spectrum has united for criminal justice reforms. Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act in 2018, reducing some excessive sentences and creating more opportunities for rehabilitation.

Biden ran on a platform to build on these criminal justice reforms. As he said in a proclamation commemorating Second Chance Month, We lift up all those who, having made mistakes, are committed to rejoining society and making meaningful contributions.

Biden should now extend that commitment to people under home confinement. Reviewing these cases for clemency will not only help transform the lives of thousands of Americans, but also continue the momentum toward a more sensible and fair criminal justice system.

As Americans look to move past the pandemic, lets ensure individuals who have made amends for their mistakes can contribute to our countrys future.

Alice Marie Johnson is the founder of Taking Action for Good, a nonprofit focused on advancing criminal justice through story telling, commutations and second chances. JaRon Smith is the executive director of the Center for Advancing Opportunity, a partnership between the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID sent thousands of inmates home. Give clemency to the deserving.
"100% of our focus is on stopping this new administration," McConnell told reporters on Wednesday. Scott J. Applewhite/AP

McConnell said on Wednesday, "100% of our focus is on stopping this new administration."

His remarks cast doubt on hopes for bipartisanship and prompted renewed calls to end the filibuster.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were among the lawmakers to renews calls for an end to the rule.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

After Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said his entire focus is on stopping President Joe Biden's administration, Democratic lawmakers renewed calls to end the filibuster.

Speaking of the GOP, McConnell told reporters outside his Kentucky home on Wednesday, "100% of our focus is on stopping this new administration," NBC News reported.

"We're confronted with severe challenges from a new administration, and a narrow majority of Democrats in the House and a 50-50 Senate to turn America into a socialist country, and that's 100% of my focus," he said.

Democratic members of Congress seized on the remarks as evidence that bipartisanship was not possible, and they stressed the necessity of ending the filibuster, a rule that requires a 60-vote supermajority to pass legislation in the 100-person Senate.

Read more: 9 hurdles facing Biden's $2.2 trillion infrastructure, jobs, and tax plan as Republicans pitch a less-pricey alternative

"The Constitution doesn't say anything about it taking a super-majority of 60 senators to pass a bill," Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted. "It's time to get rid of the filibuster so Mitch McConnell doesn't get a veto over the will of the people."

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California said McConnell is using "the same playbook he's used for years."

"Anyone expecting a return to some bygone era of bipartisanship isn't acknowledging the reality that we are in. We MUST eliminate the filibuster," he tweeted.

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The Senate is split 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote, and some Democrats have called for the end of the filibuster as the only way for the Biden administration to accomplish its agenda. Biden himself has said the filibuster has been "abused."

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"If we're going to achieve anything meaningful for working families we must use reconciliation, abolish the filibuster and pass legislation with 51 votes. We can't afford to wait," Sen. Bernie Sanders said in response to McConnell's comments.

But some moderates don't agree. Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have both refused to support the effort to abolish the filibuster, with Manchin saying it was designed to encourage bipartisan consensus, something that some progressives view as unrealistic.

"Please stop asking us about bipartisanship when this is what the leader of the other party is focused on," Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted in response to McConnell.

"Democrats can't repeat the mistake of 2009, we must abolish the filibuster & move legislation that helps us deliver progress for the American people," she said. "Let's grow a backbone."

McConnell's statements came the same week that former Republican Rep. Justin Amash, who joined the Libertarian Party in 2019, praised progressive Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for visiting his University of Chicago class.

Twitter

Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@insider.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Testing is essential for measuring learning loss and for determining how to reverse it. Many counties are planning to offer tutoring and live instruction this summer and testing in the spring would help to identify which students need nudging into these programs and subjects that should be prioritized for intervention. These offerings will have to be part of years of remediation to teach material covered too quickly, too poorly or simply never taught. Test results may also give pause to counties planning to divert limited staff and resources to permanent virtual academies. Communities need to know how poorly online education works before they invest further resources into these costly and logistically demanding programs.
May 6The BDN Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom, and does not set policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.

As Bangor Daily News columnist David Farmer wrote earlier this week, Gov. Janet Mills' plan for investing the more than $1 billion in pandemic relief funds that the state is expected to soon receive from the federal government is about people.

"While the language of the plan is typical of policymakers  heavy on words like workforce, research and development, and infrastructure  the heart of the proposal is much simpler and easier to understand," Farmer wrote. "The American Rescue Plan (which passed without a single Republican vote in Congress) and the governor's ' Jobs and Recovery Plan' are about people and making their lives better."

It may sound hyperbolic to say that these funds are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to re-envision Maine, such a description is pretty accurate.

The $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan, which was passed by Democrats in Congress in March, amounts to roughly a quarter of Maine's annual budget. Another $3.2 billion from the rescue plan will come to Maine for various recovery efforts, including significant support for COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, enhanced unemployment benefits, stimulus payments to families, and funds for businesses, counties and municipalities.

Together, this money will allow the state to make investments that have long been on wish lists but remained out of the realm of fiscal reality.

Mills, for example, proposes to make big investments in broadband, affordable housing, research and development, higher education and state parks. Such investments have been debated in Augusta for years and some funding has been allocated to these priorities. But, the scale of the rescue plan funds will allow the state to put substantial amounts of money to Maine's most pressing priorities  and those priorities must be focused on improving the lives of Mainers.

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Smaller, but no less important, investments would be made to expand access to childcare, to lower health care costs for small businesses, to sustain Maine's farming, fishing and forestry industries, to improve energy efficiency in homes and businesses, to attract and retain new workers and many other initiatives.

"This federal funding represents an unprecedented opportunity to address the longstanding challenges that have constrained our state's ability to thrive over the years. By encouraging innovative small business growth, investing in our workforce, and building essential infrastructure, like housing, child care and broadband, we can accelerate our recovery from the pandemic and build a stronger, more prosperous Maine," Mills said in a press release. "This plan will help us ensure that Maine is renowned as a place where you can get a good education, have a rewarding career that pays well, raise a happy and healthy family, and live comfortably in a community that you love."

As the governor explained Tuesday, her plan focuses on three goals: immediate economic recovery from the pandemic; long-term economic growth for Maine; and infrastructure revitalization.

We can quibble about some details about the plan, such as the choice to allocate federal funds to investments that could be made through bonds such as roads and bridges and R&D, and the need for oversight to ensure these funds are appropriately targeted and spent. But, overall, the governor's proposal, which is based on the 10-year economic strategy and recommendations from the Governor's Economic Recovery Committee, meets the three goals.

It is now up to the Legislature to consider the governor's proposal. In light of the federal funding and projections of state revenues being more than $900 million higher than expected in the next two years, Republicans in Augusta have proposed tax relief. This is complicated by the fact that the U.S. Treasury Department has said that American Rescue Plan funds cannot be used to pay for tax cuts.

Any changes the Legislature makes to this spending should be guided by the same goals, and an emphasis on improving the lives of Maine people.
The service file of Kim Potter, the former police officer who fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright at a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb, reveals some details about her time on the police force, but no recent information on her training on the force.

Wright, a Black man, was shot once and died after a traffic stop April 11. Officers initially stopped Wright because the car had an expired registration.

The city's police chief said he believed Potter, a 26-year veteran, mixed up her Taser and her handgun. The chief and Potter resigned two days after the shooting. Potter was arrested in April and charged with second-degree manslaughter.

Her next court hearing is May 17.

The city of Brooklyn Center late Wednesday released more materials from Potter's service file to The Associated Press. The file was released to AP through a request under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.

Potter received a chief's commendation in 2007 for her handling of a suicidal homicidal suspect and his 2-year-old daughter. A copy of the commendation said: Your actions assisted in the safe release of the child and the apprehension of the suspect without incident.

Other commendations were for Potter recovering a company's stolen computer in 2008; helping recover a child who was the subject of an Amber Alert in 2006; helping locate and arrest two bail-jumpers from Mississippi in 2006; and tracking down suspects in a home invasion robbery in 1998.

What we know about officer Kim Potter,who faces second-degree manslaughter charge in Daunte Wright's death

Despair is real among Black, brown Americans as police 'mistakes' persist, Daunte Wright killed

One note of praise for Potter in 2006 was based mainly on a citizen who called the department that year, praising her and three other officers for how professionally they conducted themselves during a high-risk stop and not like what he sees on the T.V. show COPS, according to the chief's notes of the call.

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The materials also included a four-hour suspension for Potter missing in-service training in 2000. The subject of the training wasn't given. Other discipline included a verbal reprimand in 2007 for Potter's work as part of a team focusing on violent robberies in part of the city. A supervisor wrote that Potter didn't do enough to make direct contact with people in the area.

The file also included reprimands for driving accidents in 1995, 1996 and 1998, respectively, including one where Potter spun out on wet pavement, hit a curb and caused up to $4,000 in damage to a squad car. The writeup in 1995, Potter's first year on the force, noted that she was backing a different squad car out of the police garage the next day and hit a city code enforcement vehicle.

Former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter was arrest April 14 in Minneapolis. Potter, a 26-year police veteran, was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Daunte Wright, 20.

In 2019, Potter was one of the first officers on the scene of a fatal police shooting when officers shot an autistic man, Kobe Dimock-Heisler, who had allegedly grabbed a knife, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Potter told two officers involved in the shooting to "exit the residence, get into separate squad cars, turn off their body worn cameras, and to not talk to each other," the newspaper reported, citing an investigative report from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Potter and other officers were awarded the Medal of Merit for their response in a house fire in 2014, according to KARE-TV.

Her file was the second released to AP since the shooting. The city released material on April 26 that showed Potter earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice from St. Marys College in Winona, Minnesota, and underwent law enforcement skills training at Alexandria Technical College before joining the Brooklyn Center Police Department in late February 1995.

Potter completed training courses in policy and procedures, firearms and felony stop procedures, among others, less than five months later, according to those documents.

Contributing: The Associated Press.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daunte Wright: Kim Potter file includes commendations and reprimands
Floridas Department of Health on Thursday announced 4,504 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state also announced 73 new deaths. Of those who died, 71 were residents.

The state has recorded a known total of 2,258,433 coronavirus cases and 36,257 deaths. Among those who died, 35,549 were residents and 708 were non-residents.

On Thursday, the state reported the results of 92,590 residents who were tested the previous day. The states percent positivity decreased from 5.16% to 4.99%. South Florida counties also held below 5% for the second consecutive day.

More than 6.6 million Floridians have completed the two-dose series of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna or have completed Johnson & Johnsons single-dose vaccine, according to Thursdays vaccine report.

COVID-19 in Florida

 Miami-Dade County reported 759 new cases and 11 deaths  putting its pandemic totals at 488,303 cases and 6,218 deaths.

In Miami-Dade, 397,524 people have received the first dose of Pfizer or Moderna; additionally, 887,225 people have either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or have completed the two-dose series of Pfizer or Moderna.

Percent positivity decreased from 4.88% to 4.7%. The 14-day average was 5.76% on Thursdays Miami-Dade New Normal dashboard.

 Broward County reported 448 new cases and seven deaths, putting its pandemic totals at 238,834 cases and 2,943 deaths.

In Broward, 242,032 people have received the first dose of Pfizer or Moderna and 609,511 people have either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or have completed the two-dose series of Pfizer or Moderna.

Percent positivity increased from 4.52% to 4.61%.

 Palm Beach County reported 259 new cases and three deaths, bringing its cumulative count to 144,615 cases and 2,781 deaths.

In Palm Beach, 180,498 people have received the first dose of Pfizer or Moderna and 487,540 people have either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or have completed the two-dose series of Pfizer or Moderna.

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Percent positivity decreased from 4.56% to 4.44%.

 Monroe County added 10 new cases and no deaths. Pandemic totals in the Keys are at 6,956 cases and 49 deaths.

In the Florida Keys, 11,501 people have received the first dose of Pfizer or Moderna and 25,949 people have either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or have completed the two-dose series of Pfizer or Moderna.

Percent positivity decreased from 3.83% to 3.44%.

Florida COVID-19 hospitalization

The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reports the number of patients hospitalized statewide with a primary diagnosis of COVID. The data, which is updated at least every hour, does not distinguish between the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units and those in acute-care beds, which require less attention from nurses.

Government officials use current hospitalizations to decide the next steps in fighting the pandemic.

As of 11:31 a.m. Thursday, the agency said there were 2,915 people hospitalized. Of these, Miami-Dade had 469; Broward, 405; Palm Beach, 219; and Monroe, one, the agency said.

According to Miami-Dades New Normal Dashboard, county hospitals have reported 493 COVID-19 patients, down from 502 on Tuesday. There were 58 new patients and 85 were discharged.

State hospitalization data doesnt always match Miami-Dades New Normal Dashboard data for various reasons, including the frequency of daily updates.
Grand Canyon officials wanted a dozen skilled volunteers to kill bison within the park. They got tens of thousands of applicants.

More than 45,000 people from across the country applied to kill and remove bison from Grand Canyon National Park, park spokesperson Kait Thomas told McClatchy News.

Grand Canyon seeks volunteers to kill bison within the park. Heres why

I just thought it would be a cool experience, James Vasko, a 27-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska, told the Associated Press. Im an avid fisher, hunter. Going to the Grand Canyon to hunt bison would be absolutely awesome.

Like Vasko, most applicants dont live near the Grand Canyon. Only about 15% of the applicants are Arizona residents, Thomas said. More than 11% live in Texas, and about 9% are from California.

All 45,040 people applied with the Arizona Game and Fish Department during a 48-hour window. People were then selected in a lottery draw.

The lottery  will send applicants to the park for provisional selection, the National Park Service said. Final selection will be contingent on meeting the volunteer qualification criteria.

During the 2021 season, there will be four five-day periods when volunteers will remove bison. Volunteers have to complete training on the first day and cant select which week they participate in.

People who are chosen are then responsible to gather three to five support volunteers to help them during the week. They can be family members or friends.

Volunteers also need their own camping equipment, firearms and non-lead ammunition.

Grand Canyon officials want the volunteers to be skilled and serious about the operation. Every volunteer is required to pass a firearms safety course and a marksmanship proficiency test.

You must show that you can handle your rifle safely and follow directions from a range master, the National Park Service said.

Volunteers also will need to haul bison carcasses, which can be very heavy. Bison can weigh up to 2,000 pounds. They will need to do this on foot.

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Additionally, volunteers must meet a number of other requirements, including:

Be a U.S. citizen 18 years or older;

Provide a photo I.D.;

Prove they are physically fit;

Pass a background check that shows no history of criminal or wildlife violations.

The volunteers are part of a five-year plan to reduce the parks bison population. The population has grown to about 600 bison in the North Rim, according to the National Park Service. Officials are hoping to reduce that number to less than 200 by killing or relocating them.

This action is necessary due to the rapid growth of the bison population and the transition from the herd using state and U.S. Forest Service lands into almost exclusively residing within Grand Canyon, National Park Service officials said. Impacts from grazing and trampling on water, vegetation, soils, and archaeological sites, as well as on visitor experience and wilderness character also necessitate action.

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A Hartford man was arrested Wednesday after he tried to stab his 62-year-old coworker then slashed his tires, South Windsor police said Thursday.

Karanja K. Thomas, 43, was charged with criminal attempt to commit second-degree assault of an elderly victim, second-degree threatening, second-degree reckless endangerment and five more offenses.

The incident took place around 8 p.m., Wednesday in the parking lot of Splash Pool Supply in South Windsor.

The two men, who work together at Macys Distribution Center, got in an argument, the victim told police.

After getting into their vehicles, Thomas threw a water bottle into the mans car which got lodged under the gas pedal, forcing him to pull into the parking lot at Splash Pool Supply.

Then, Thomas tried to stab [the] 62-year-old victim several times with a box cutter, police said. Thomas fled the scene after he slashed the victims tires. Surveillance video from area businesses and an eyewitness account confirmed the victims story.

Thomas was taken into custody and is held on $75,000 bond.

He was expected in court Thursday morning.

Jessika Harkay can be reached at jharkay@courant.com.
May 6Mark Harcrow celebrated his first anniversary as Palestine Police Chief on Tuesday.

It was a roller coaster of a first year fraught with social unrest in the streets, racially charged protests due to national headlines and unprecedented challenges.

"The biggest challenge we have faced since I took over has been the COVID-19 pandemic," Harcrow said. "With the pandemic, something we have not dealt with before in our life time, we really had to navigate staffing shortages due to quarantine rules and adjust how we were operating so we could still provide essential services, while keeping officers safe."

Harcrow and his department also felt the impact from the anti-police movements around the country following the murder of George Floyd last summer.

"We are really blessed to have a strong group of professionals in our agency that care about the people they serve," Harcrow said. "We also have a community that strongly support our staff and the jobs they do every day. Through all of this, we have worked to maintain trust and great relationships with our residents and businesses."

And then there was the record breaking winter storm, another first for the city of Palestine.

"Many of us had no power and no water at home, but we came to work every day and pushed through it," Harcrow said. "This was another instance where the community really came together and helped us get through a disaster."

Despite the challenges the department faced this past year, recruitment and retainment rates have been great.

"We faced COVID delays with the police academies, but were able to overcome that," Harcrow said. "Currently, we are in the final stages of hiring two applicants that will bring us to full staff. Going forward, I will have to work with city leadership to make sure our department is prepared for the increasing development. There is more growth happening right now in Palestine than I have seen in my lifetime. We have to make sure that our department continues to grow as the city grows."

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Harcrow has now had the opportunity to work with two Anderson County sheriffs, Greg Taylor, who retired in 2020 and Rudy Flores who took office Jan.1, 2021.

"Coming into this job, I knew we would be electing a new sheriff in the fall," Harcrow said. "Since Sheriff Flores took over in January, we have really worked hard at strengthening the relationships between our agencies. It's no secret that we have bad people and crime in our community. The Palestine Police Department and the Anderson County Sheriff's Office having a strong bond is really a force multiplier. We are now working as a team to address issues and improve the overall quality of life here in Anderson County."

"I believe Chief Harcrow is doing a great job. We have been able to forge an alliance and work on matters of mutual interest without any problems," said Anderson County Sheriff Rudy Flores. "He and his department have made themselves available to assist us in providing the best services possible for our community."

Overall, Harcrow has enjoyed working for the people of his hometown the most. Being Palestine's Chief of Police has been a dream come true to Harcrow.

"I am just a regular guy that is lucky enough to be able to serve people and a city that I love," Harcrow said. "Everyday when I walk through the doors, I am humbled. I never take that for granted."

Harcrow, who has been with the Palestine Police Department for more than a decade, was promoted to captain, and then assistant police chief, by his predecessor, Chief Andy Harvey. He served as interim police chief for six months prior to being named Palestine Police Chief on May 4, 2020.

A graduate of Palestine High School, Harcrow earned a bachelor's degree in criminology from the University of Texas at Arlington. He also holds a master peace officer license.
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A decade ago, when NFL agent David Dunn was trying to spring Carson Palmer out of purgatory with the Cincinnati Bengals, team owner Mike Brown issued a public statement that was clear and forceful: Not only was Palmer not going to be traded, Cincinnati wasnt even open to listening to offers.

Carson is central to what we do, Brown said.

Nine months after that statement  following Palmer's refusal to report to the Bengals and threats to retire  Brown caved, ending an ugly standoff by sending Cincinnati's longtime quarterback to the Oakland Raiders for draft picks.

For Palmer, it was the desired endpoint of a long and patient strategy. It was a plan hatched by Palmer and Dunn to reboot the quarterbacks career and resolve a miserable impasse between ownership and its jilted star. Part of what gets lost in the history is that it may have ultimately been Palmers replacement  then-rookie Andy Dalton  who ultimately was the key to unlocking the door out of town for the veteran. Indeed, if you listened to the Bengals owner after he did a 180-degree pivot and acquiesced to trading Palmer, the major change agent was discovering a well of confidence in his next quarterback.

The principal development [for trading Palmer] has been Andy Dalton, who has shown himself to be one of the best and most exciting young quarterbacks in the NFL, Brown said after trading Palmer. We have a good, young football team, and Andy can be the cornerstone of that team for a long time.

This is an important snippet to consider when it comes to Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. Not just because Rodgers has the same agent as Palmer or that the current standoff has some of the same hallmarks as the one 10 years ago. It's also because the circumstances that ultimately freed Palmer actually speak to most standoffs between elite quarterbacks and their teams.

Jordan Love is expected to see more meaningful snaps this spring. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Jordan Love can't get lost in Aaron Rodgers drama

Like the situation with Palmer and Rodgers, the initial reaction to any trade demand involving an elite quarterback is something along the lines of: If we do that, were destroying elite equity at the most important position on the field and also jeopardizing future success and our ability to remain employed.

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This is why elite quarterbacks are arguably the only players in the NFL who can consistently wield meaningful leverage simply by refusing to show up. Elite quarterbacks matter more than anyone. So they're held tightly and a franchise will attempt to navigate even the worst impasses. And in the rare cases that a team cant find any solutions to fix a situation (like in Palmer vs. the Bengals), they're allowed to scorch the Earth to the point that even an angry fan base can see there are no good options left.

Or a team hopes a promising alternative emerges at quarterback that can change the tenor of a trade demand.

Indeed, if there is anything NFL franchises love almost as much as a highly-paid elite quarterback, its much more cheaply paid young quarterbacks who might be the answer to the next 10-15 years at the position. The impasse between Palmer and the Bengals showed us that, when the matrix was suddenly changed by Dalton stepping into the lineup and looking like he was capable of immediately ramping up his development.

This is where Jordan Love can help Rodgers. If Rodgers sees his situation in Green Bay as irreparably broken, hes far more likely to get a trade if the Packers' brain trust and coaching staff feel like Love is ready to start developing the potential that made him a first-round pick in the 2020 draft. Thats the potential change agent in all of this thats still unknown. And its not like the Packers havent been thinking about it, given that management already said this was going to be an important offseason of ramping up Loves development.

This is the part of the tangled mess that is getting lost in the wash of Rodgers headlines  the fact that there is still a first-round pick on the roster who stands to get a lot of snaps and developmental attention when Green Bays organized team activities kick off on May 24. Beyond that, if Rodgers chooses not to show up for anything before training camp, it means Love could be the focal point at quarterback through the mid-June mandatory minicamp and pocket more than three weeks of starter-level snaps.

And if this standoff heads into July and August? Well at that point Love will have his Dalton opportunity in the form of a full training camp and a handful of preseason games to show the Packers that hes ready and capable of stepping in and starting his ascent to the starting spot in 2021. It's a development that would put Green Bay into a far more interesting quandary than where it finds itself now.

Is Jordan Love ready to take reins from Aaron Rodgers?

At the moment, Rodgers holds all the cards when it comes to the position. Regardless of what has been reported in some spaces, the Packers cant possibly believe that Love is ready to take over right now, or the team would have already traded Rodgers.

That doesnt mean Love cant showcase himself in Rodgers absence and give the franchise plenty to think about. That might even be preferable at this moment because barring Rodgers or the Packers waving a white flag, something else needs to change to move this forward. It could be a change that convinces Rodgers that his best future is to remain in Green Bay in 2021 or a change that convinces the Packers that its the right time to move on.

Maybe the Packers throw record-breaking money at Rodgers and commit to structuring his contract so that hes the unquestioned starter through at least the 2022 season. Maybe team president Mark Murphy steps in and brokers a peace treaty between the quarterback and general manager Brian Gutekunst, leading to Rodgers becoming a meaningful part of the front-end planning on offense (similar to Tom Bradys involvement in Tampa Bay). Or maybe Rodgers relents and returns, deciding that his legacy as a Packer is more important than his long-term job security and rift with management.

By the end of this whole saga, almost all of those scenarios will have been gamed-out by both sides. In the end, this whole thing might be solved by the one move that played such a significant part in triggering this crossroads: The drafting of Love to be the team's future.

If Rodgers stays away for the next few months, Love will become the focal point of this franchise on the field. And what he does with that opportunity may end up resolving the whole mess either by showing the Packers they have a second-year quarterback who is worth betting on right now, or by showing that Rodgers stance has been right all along  and that he should have always been cemented as the teams starting quarterback well beyond 2021.

More from Yahoo Sports:
As travel rebounds, and some international borders open to U.S. residents  especially, or exclusively, if you're fully vaccinated  you'll need to pack more than a suitcase to ensure safe trips during the pandemic's latter days, and far beyond.

After all, it's not quite a COVID-19-free world yet, nor will it be for a while. (And yes, I'm staring at those who traveled to dance parties and other superspreader events during the height of the pandemic.)

Since the world packs travel hazards besides COVID-19, from accidents to dangerous individuals and villainy targeting queer tourists, the National LGBT Media Association compiled some advice and resources for LGBTQ travelers to take into consideration. Bon (safe) voyage!

'Travelers are ready to explore': LGBTQ travelers leading the way to tourism recovery

Get insurance that covers COVID-19 (and yes, your spouse, too)

LGBTQ travelers may have concerns beyond COVID-19 as they return to travel.

Before booking that flight, cruise, hotel, or car rental, secure a travel insurance policy. Make sure it covers COVID-19 related calamities, including hospitalization and cancellations on either your end or that of the airline, cruise line, hotel, tour company, etc.  as many learned since March 2020, most policies did not cover everything.

For several years before the pandemic hit, I took out an annual individual policy with Allianz (they've added COVID-19 benefits to some policies), which I made one claim on during early 2019 for a doctor's visit in Singapore. The claims process was easy and paid out in a timely manner  a simple urgent-care illness situation that included medication.

When my husband joined me in Bangkok for just a week, I purchased a single trip policy from Travel Guard for him (which does not appear to cover COVID-19, as of now). LGBTQ-friendly insurance company Seven Corners offers policies for both singles and same-sex couples, and can even ensure you stay together if a medical evacuation is required for one partner  check out the video about clients Daniel and Felipe on their LGBTQ landing page. Seven Corners also offers policies covering COVID-19.

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Lastly, if you have homeowners insurance, inquire whether your personal property is covered against destruction or theft while traveling.

Geotag everything

Be sure to activate your phone, iPad and laptop's geolocation features. Worst-case scenario, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your iPhone's been stolen if it's suddenly five miles away from where you last left it and can deactivate the device (also, though: Don't leave your phone unattended).

I've learned it's an all-too-common practice for airlines to take bags off planes pre-departure if the vessel's too weight-heavy or may excessively tax its fuel supply. They won't always confess yours lost the lottery and where it's chilling, but Apple's new tracking device, AirTag, could find it.

Apple AirTag: Does it actually make life easier?

Know the LGBTQ laws of the land

Homosexuality is still illegal and even punishable by death in parts of the world. Some of these anti-LGBTQ laws entail toothless legislative holdovers, like Singapore's Penal Code Section 377A, which remains on the books despite ongoing legal challenges and an open, even thriving local gay scene (and entertainers like Drag Race Thailand queen Vanda Miss Joaquim).

As of April, countries with the death penalty on the books for same-sex relations include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northwest Africa's Mauritania, Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates.

Beyond the personal safety issue, there's also the question of whether to spend money in places inhospitable to LGBTQ people, either socially or politically, like Arkansas, Jamaica or Poland.

I'll admit, I like visiting Poland. But one night, casually taking photos in a Krakow gay bar, a young gay Pole lunged at me from across the room (he actually dove underneath a table, like a submarine missile, to make a straight beeline), asking why I was shooting in his direction, enraged. That was the last photo I took in a gay space. Alternately, to some, traveling to these places is a form of activism, while also supporting the local LGBTQ businesses and community.

People wear protective face masks with rainbow colors and dance during the 2020 Equality March on Aug. 29, 2020, in Krakow, Poland. Growing hostility toward the LGBTQ community in Poland drew a wave of protests.

Human Rights Watch maintains a series of online maps of countries with anti-LGBTQ and anti-gender expression laws. It also keeps track of places where there are age-of-consent disparities between same-sex and heterosexual couples. It's worth a look. So is travel blog Asher & Lyric's whopping 150-country list of best and worst countries for LGBTQ travel in 2021. Our own U.S. State Department boasts a fantastic resource page for LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) international travelers. There, you can find safety tips, how to reach U.S. embassies and consulates while abroad (Consular officers will protect your privacy and will not make generalizations, assumptions, or pass judgment, it promises) and a Transportation Security Administration information page for transgender passengers.

Google where you're going before booking tickets

Googling your destination and anti-gay could produce up-to-the minute news developments that may inform your plans. A Molotov cocktail attack in a Laguna Beach, California, gay bar in mid-2020, for example, is a pretty clear "maybe not right now."

Egypt has long been an LGBTQ travel fave, but in the past few years, the country saw an increase of disturbing anti-gay and anti-trans violence, harassment and detainment by the police.

Similarly, Indonesia keeps seeing waves of political crackdowns on and vilification of LGBTQ people  including raids of Jakarta bathhouses and, just this past August, a private gay party  while Indonesia's Aceh province is ruled by Sharia law and sees public lashings and life-destroying shamings.

Indonesia's island of Bali, however, is extremely LGBTQ-friendly and not informed by hateful fundamentalism. Go there, henny!

Show respect and be smart about PDA

Life isn't always a gay cruise or a strut down Santa Monica Boulevard.

In some cultures, public display of affection between people of any gender or sexual identity is completely frowned upon and offensive, so look that up and, even better, look around you once you arrive. Watch (nonchalantly, not in some creepy way) how locals behave before indulging in PDA (don't be surprised to see men affectionately holding hands like "Sex and the City" girlfriends in Arab countries or India; it's a cultural norm, despite the homophobia).

Conversely, if you're in a known gayborhood like Tokyo's Shinjuku Ni-chome or Mexico City's Zona Rosa, live out loud and flash the gayest smile you can.

Back up critical documents on iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive

I've never been pickpocketed (and probably jinxed myself writing that), but if this ever happens or you misplace important documents, a wallet, etc., have copies ready in the cloud, including booking numbers and, of course, travel insurance policy. iCloud, Dropbox, whatever  just make sure it's an encrypted service. Now you can more easily request replacements and access important numbers to cancel credit cards.

If you're legally married or partnered, have copies and cloud backups of your marriage license and anything related to power of attorney and medical access.

Watch out for the catfish  and sharks

It can happen anywhere in the world, including home, but apps and hookup sites are swimming with scam artists. In some countries, apps are used by homophobes and zealous anti-gay police to entrap, jail and torture LGBTQ people. In other cases, you could get robbed, especially in developing countries where tourists represent an easy mark.

If you do meet someone online, take precautions. In countries where locals target tourists, five-star hotels will often require visitors leave their IDs at the front desk and won't allow them to be retrieved until you give a sign-off by phone. If someone refuses to visit your five-star hotel,, that's a red flag. And if you do have a new "friend" over, put those valuables in the safe first.

Always keep medications on you

Don't put your PrEP in check-in luggage. I repeat: Do not put your PrEP in check-in luggage. Ever. If it's medication you need daily, you're risking missed doses should that bag get lost if the drug isn't readily available where you're headed. Keep them in your carry-on only.

Also, don't bring recreational drugs. Tourists will not be treated with leniency. It's a lesson you don't want to learn.

New York-raised entertainment and travel journalist Lawrence Ferber has contributed to publications including Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, The Advocate, NewNowNext, The NY Post and TripSavvy. He also co-wrote/co-created the 2010 gay romcom "BearCity" and authored its 2013 novelization.

The National LGBT Media Association is composed of the oldest and most established LGBTQ publications in the top U.S. markets.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Handout: Gay travel: How LGBT travelers can stay safe as COVID travel picks up
Im excited to continue bringing innovative solutions and a long-term vision to Congress, working to invest in the people and create a brighter future for all of our children, Trone said in a statement. As part of his announcement, Trone released a list of endorsements from more than 30 current and former elected Democrats in his district.
Liz Cheney takes aim at Trump and McCarthy in new op-ed, as ex-president endorses Stefanik to replace her (Getty Images)

Liz Cheney took aim at Donald Trump and Kevin McCarthy in a scathing new op-ed, as the ex-president endorsed Elise Stefanik to take her job.

The under fire congresswoman wrote in The Washington Post that the Republican Party was at a turning point and must decide to reject or accept the one-term presidents lies about the 2020 election.

Ms Cheney, who is being targeted by disgruntled members of the House GOP, has said Mr Trumps false claims to his supporters led to the US Capitol violence that was unleashed on 6 January.

Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work  confidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this, wrote Ms Cheney.

The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution.

Ms Cheney also criticised House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for (changing) his story on Mr Trumps role in the violence, having originally condemned it.

And she urged her party to steer away from the dangerous and anti-democratic Trump cult of personality in order to win future national elections.

History is watching. Our children are watching, she added.

We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.

Ms Cheneys op-ed comes as her future as the third most powerful House Republican is under threat, with a vote to remove her as conference chair expected as early as next week.

GOP lawmakers appear determined to force her out of the leadership position following her vote to impeach Mr Trump and her continued criticism of him.

Mr Trump has also announced his support for New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, an outspoken supporter, to replace Ms Cheney in the job.

Liz Cheney is a warmongering fool who has no business in Republican Party Leadership. We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First, wrote Mr Trump on his new blog.

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Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator!

Ms Cheney survived a vote against her in February 144 to 61, but appears to be in a weaker position this time around.

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Covid vaccine patent waiver: Who it impacts and what happens next
May 6The political tug-of-war over the existential question of Medicaid expansion in Alabama  fiscal costs vs. human assistance  has caused a dozen Calhoun County clergy and lay leaders to urge Gov. Kay Ivey to act.

On Thursday, Alabama Arise and the Cover Alabama Coalition sent Ivey a letter signed by 278 members of the state's faith community. In the letter, the clergy wrote that "hundreds of thousands of Alabamians are caught in the health coverage gap," and appealed to the governor's better angels because "we need the Alabama government to do its part to protect and provide care for those in need."

Medicaid expansion under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act has broken largely along party lines, with Republican Party-leaning states reluctant to enlarge the pool of residents eligible for federal health insurance. Alabama is one of the 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid.

The clergy who signed the letter cite well-known data. As many as 300,000 uninsured Alabamians  many who work but make too much to qualify for government aid  would gain health care coverage if Ivey and the Legislature expanded Medicaid. Expansion would include those Alabamians making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty limit, essentially closing the loophole that traps the working poor.

Moral issues rest at the center of the signees' concerns.

"My position is based on faith, not politics," the Rev. Tammy Jackson of Anniston First United Methodist Church, who signed the letter, wrote in a text message to The Star. "And if politics ever conflicts with my faith, I'm going to choose faith every time. I still love people who disagree with me, but I'm willing to receive criticism for doing what I think Jesus would do."

Besides Jackson, several others from Anniston First United Methodist Church signed the letter, including Associate Pastor Kyle Bryan. Also among the signees were the Rev. Michael Dunbar (Goshen United Methodist Church); the Rev. Stanley Easton (St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Jacksonville); the Rev. Matthew P. Headley (formerly of Weaver First United Methodist Church); the Revs. Laura Hutchinson and Nicki Arnold-Swindle (The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Anniston); Audrey Noel of Community Enabler Developer; Bishop Vernon Presley (Greater New Day Apostolic Church, Anniston); the Rev. Ross Reed Jr. (Macedonia Baptist Church, Anniston); and Pastor Anthony Cook (Christian Fellowship Bible Church, Anniston).

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Cook, a former editor at The Star, called Medicaid expansion "low-hanging fruit" that would immediately assist thousands of Alabamians. But he drew a direct correlation between his faith and the state government's responsibility.

"As a follower of Christ, one of the tenets near to my heart is the admonition to care for the least of these," Cook wrote in a text message. "Not only would (expansion) give them access to emergency care, but also preventative care, which would lead to an overall healthier Alabama."

Uninsured rate could drop 43%

Since passage of the ACA 11 years ago, lawmakers in the GOP-controlled state Legislature have remained concerned over how to pay for added enrollees. When first introduced, the ACA Medicaid expansion would see the federal government pay for 100 percent of the costs for a number of years, with state contributions gradually increasing but remaining far below the amount coming from Washington.

A recent University of Alabama at Birmingham study estimates Alabama's annual share might reach $250 million, though money from the Biden administration's American Rescue Plan Act earlier this year could lessen that amount.

This spring, the Legislature did not include expansion in the state's next fiscal budget.

"My personal position is when we have an answer on how to fund it, that's when we'll talk about it," State Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, chairman of the Senate budget committee, told AL.com. "If you talk to the feds, it doesn't cost us anything. But they are not looking at what we need to pay. They have never completely answered how much it will cost the state of Alabama to do it."

Here, the tug-of-war becomes not an argument about how to pay for additional costs, but a discussion of humanity.

In 2020, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published a study that showed Alabama's uninsured rate would fall by an estimated 43 percent if lawmakers agreed to expansion. No other state would enjoy a benefit that large, the study said.

Bryan, the Anniston First Methodist associate pastor, said he signed the letter because United Methodists "believe health care is a basic human right that every person is worthy of receiving, and so it's sort of a no-brainer for me."

He also waded into the issue's political scrum, pointing to his belief that funding expansion is a matter of wills and ways, not abject inability.

Former Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican and a physician, at one point was a mild proponent of expansion and floated the notion of paying for it with a tobacco tax hike. That idea dissolved, and Ivey hasn't budged.

"One of the consequences of living in a civilized society is paying taxes, and we don't love to pay taxes in the state of Alabama," Bryan said. "But the reality is if we want to provide the sort of social services and safety net that people need to ensure the sort of 'Shalom' that God talks about can be achieved, then we have to expect our leaders to make difficult and hard decisions, regardless of what their constituencies may or may not think is a good idea."

Many of the clergy who signed the letter serve congregations in voting districts that are overwhelmingly conservative, including most of those from Calhoun County. Alabama Arise released the letter  and its signatories  to the public Thursday. Congregations have been informed.

Bryan isn't overly concerned about criticism he and his colleagues may receive over their support of Medicaid expansion.

"The reality," he said, "is we cannot escape the social implications of Jesus' invitation to help make the kingdom of God a reality here on earth."

Cook, the former journalist, appealed directly to Montgomery.

"I've met Gov. Ivey, and I believe her to be a compassionate and reasonable person," he wrote. "I pray that she will set politics aside and do what's right for the State of Alabama."

Phillip Tutor  ptutor@annistonstar.com  is a Star columnist. Follow him at Twitter.com/PTutor_Star.
Reuters

President Joe Biden's order last week banning U.S. investment in certain Chinese companies is broader than a similar one signed by his predecessor Donald Trump and has a lower bar, making it easier to add more companies later. Legal experts say it also may help the administration avoid embarrassing defeats in court after a ban imposed near the end of the Trump administration failed to hold up against legal challenges. "It's broader in scope and it's a much lower standard for listing," said Washington lawyer Kevin Wolf, a former Commerce Department official, adding it should better withstand legal scrutiny.
Melinda Gates met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside her husband, Bill, in New York City and soon after said she was furious at the relationship between the two men, according to people familiar with the situation.

The previously unreported meeting occurred at Epsteins Upper East Side mansion in September 2013, on the same day the couple accepted the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award at The Pierre hotel and were photographed alongside then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

The meeting would prove a turning point for Gates relationship with Epstein, the people familiar with the matter say, as Melinda told friends after the encounter how uncomfortable she was in the company of the wealthy sex offender and how she wanted nothing to do with him.

Gates friendship with Epsteinwho for years was accused of molesting scores of underage girlsstill haunts Melinda, according to friends of the couple who spoke to The Daily Beast this week in light of the pairs divorce announcement, which had been weeks in the making.

Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Names Powerful Men in Alleged Sex Ring

The Daily Beast has learned that financial and public-relations specialists had been feverishly working on details of the pairs split for weeks before the couple announced their divorce on Monday.

After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage, the two said in a brief statement posted on Twitter. We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.

A representative for Bill and Melinda Gates did not respond to requests for comment for this report.

The ties between Gates and Epstein ran much deeper than the tech mogul first admitted. As The New York Timesreported, starting in 2011, Gates met with Epstein on numerous occasions. This was three years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting an underage girl in Florida; by then, accusations that Epstein exploited girls and young women were widely reported in the press.

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As the Times reported, two people close to Gates acted as intermediaries between the two: Boris Nikolic, a biotech investor and former adviser to Gates who was mysteriously named a backup executor in Epsteins last will and testament; and Melanie Walker, who worked at the Gates Foundation and served as a science adviser to Epstein. A person close to Walker told The Daily Beast she did not attend nor help set up any meetings between Gates and Epstein. Nikolic did not return multiple requests for comment.

Soon after Epsteins arrest in July 2019, Gates became one of many prominent people to face scrutiny over ties to the sex trafficker.

TheNew York Times revealed Gates had met with Epstein at a 2011 get-together at Epsteins Manhattan townhouse that included the financiers ex-girlfriend Eva Andersson-Dubin and her daughter. (Virginia Giuffre, a survivor of Epsteins sex ring, has accused Dubins hedge-funder husband, Glenn, of abusea charge he has strenuously denied.)

Indeed, the Times reported Gates visited Epstein multiple times from 2011 to 2013, and that Epstein had tried pitching a new charitable fund to JPMorgan honchos and to the Gates Foundation. In 2013, Gates also took a ride on Epsteins private jet (christened by tabloids as the Lolita Express), from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach, Florida, according to flight records reviewed by the Times. CNBC also reported that Gates rendezvoused with Epstein in New York in 2013.

When Gates first met Epstein, he was still Microsofts chairman and the second richest person in the world, with a net worth of $56 billion.

I met him. I didnt have any business relationship or friendship with him, Gates said in September 2019, as media coverage into his connections with Epstein were heating up. I didnt go to New Mexico or Florida or Palm Beach or any of that. There were people around him who were saying, Hey, if you want to raise money for global health and get more philanthropy, he knows a lot of rich people.

Every meeting where I was with him were meetings with men. I was never at any parties or anything like that. He never donated any money to anything that I know about.

One associate in the technology world whos attended the same events as Epstein, including a TED conference in Monterey, California, was surprised Gates had considered cultivating philanthropic ties with the late pedophile.

I cant make the claim that so many are claiming, the person told The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, referring to people in Epsteins orbit whove said they had no suspicions of Epsteins abuse. If you ask Bill Gates, hell say, Oh I had absolutely no idea he wasnt up to anything of the highest moral character. But I seriously doubted Epsteins moral character.

The people around him, the person added, referring to Epstein, had a varying spectrum of what they knew and what they didnt know and how they rationalized it.

This person wasnt surprised that Melinda Gates was put off by Epstein, saying a lot of people were uncomfortable with Epstein, completely independent of his sexual misconduct. He just was an obnoxious guy. He almost made a point of having bad manners, not paying attention at dinner I could see how anybody, even without suspicions, would not want to be around him.

Still, Epstein had a superhuman ability as a social climber, the one-time colleague of the financiersaid, adding that the photos displayed in Epsteins mansion of former President Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II were really obnoxious, especially if youre somebody like Melinda and hanging around with heads of state anyway. Then to have someone do this endless name-dropping

When he got up from the table at dinner, he wouldnt just get up. Hed tell you he had a call with a president of some country.

Epstein also reportedly had a habit of bragging that he was an unofficial adviser to Bill Gatesa claim the Microsoft founders representatives denied. One Times report indicates Epstein claimed to be a tax consultant for the tech magnate.

After his initial meeting with the financier, the billionaire philanthropist told Gates Foundation staff in an email: His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me. Asked about this message, Gates spokeswoman said he was referring only to the unique decor at Epstein's Manhattan mansion and Epsteins habit of spontaneously bringing acquaintances in to meet Mr. Gates.

The rapport between Gates and Epstein seems to have fizzled in the fall of 2014, sometime after Gates donated $2 million to MITs Media Lab. The labs former director Joi Ito, in an internal email unearthed by The New Yorker, claimed Epstein facilitated that donation. As the Times investigation noted: Mr. Epstein complained to an acquaintance at the end of 2014 that Mr. Gates had stopped talking to him, according to a person familiar with the discussion.

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Gates wasnt Epsteins only link to Microsoft. Walker, a neurosurgeon who worked for the Gates Foundation from late 2005 to 2013, had known Epstein since 1992. She told the Times that shed just graduated from college and Epstein had offered to land her a modeling job at Victorias Secret because he was an adviser to Les Wexner, the founder of the lingerie chains parent company, L Brands.

Walker once stayed in an Epstein-owned apartment in Manhattan while traveling to New York, and in 1998, she became the financiers science adviser. Within a few years, she moved to Seattle to be with her current partner, then-Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky, and was hired by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. There she met Nikolic, the Times report adds, and introduced him to Epstein.

For his part, Nikolic told Bloomberg News he was shocked to be named as a successor executor in Epsteins will, a position he quickly turned down. I was not consulted in these matters and I have no intent to fulfill these duties, whatsoever, he said in a statement released by his spokeswoman in August 2019.

Nikolic is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, where at least one faculty member received funding that was facilitated by Epstein. According to Bloomberg, Nikolic waxed enthusiastic about Epsteins financial advice in discussions with private bankers in 2014, ahead of a public offering for a genome-editing firm Nikolic had funded.

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Little is known about Nikolic and Epsteins relationship, though Bloomberg reported the biotech venture capitalist insisted they had no financial ties.

Meanwhile, Linda Stone, an ex-Microsoft VP, appears to have longer-standing ties to Epstein and vouched for him at MIT. Ito was introduced to Epstein in February 2013 by Linda Stone, a former member of the Media Labs Advisory Council, at a TED Conference in Long Beach, California, said one 2020 MIT report into Epsteins largesse reviewed by The Daily Beast.

He has a tainted past, but Linda assures me that hes awesome, Ito said in an email to three MIT staffers, according to the document. But, in June 2013, when a lab assistant raised questions about Epsteins checkered past, Ito asked Stone for help in avoiding a potential backlash over Epsteins donations to the MIT Media Lab. In an email cited in the MIT report, Stone advised Ito that Epstein had given a tremendous amount of money to Harvard and other scientists and it would be good to show that list.

Focus on his funding of Harvard, scientists, over many years, added Stone, whose tenure at Microsoft lasted from 1993 to 2002. She then mentioned Epstein aggressively funds science & tech & interesting people.

The report notes that Stone apparently believed Epstein when he insisted to her that he was wrongfully convicted, pointing both to his light sentence and his assertion that he had been cleared by a lie-detector test as evidence that he was truly innocent of the charges.

Epsteins address book contained multiple phone numbers for Stone andlisted Kelly Bovinoa former model who sources tell The Daily Beast was once part of Epsteins inner circleas Stones emergency contact. As The Daily Beast reported, Giuffre has publicly accused Bovino of aiding Epsteins trafficking scheme.

The tech insider who spoke to The Daily Beast noted Stone thrived on connecting people but that she has a lot of friends who are infinitely richer than Epstein. They added: I cant see anything Linda got out of it.

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Epsteins rolodex also had a variety of phone numbers for Nathan Myhrvold, Microsofts former chief technology officer. In July 2019, Vanity Fair reported the men were longtime friends, and that Epstein allegedly visited Myhrvolds investment firm, Intellectual Ventures, with young girls who were possibly Russian models in tow.

In 2003, Vanity Fair named Myhrvold as one of the many businessmen to dine with Epstein at his Manhattan townhouse, and the 2019 article cites a source who claimed Myhrvold openly discussed visiting Epsteins homes in Florida and New York.

A flight-records database shows Myhrvold traveled on Epsteins plane, in December 1996 and January 1997. Other passengers included Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz and GM, believed to be Epsteins alleged accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

When Giuffre sued Dershowitz for defamation in April 2019, her complaint alleged the famed lawyer attempted to throw Myhrvold under the bus. The document refers to Giuffre by her maiden name, Roberts. In May 2015 Dershowitz requested confidential settlement negotiations with Ms. Roberts lawyers in which Dershowitz sought to convince Ms. Roberts lawyer that Ms. Roberts was mistaken, and that the person to whom Epstein had lent Ms. Roberts was Nathan Myhrvold, not Dershowitz.

The lawsuit added that Giuffre was, and is, clear that it was Dershowitz, not Myhrvold, with whom she had sex.

Myhrvolds spokesperson told Vanity Fair: Nathan has no knowledge of or any involvement in the various crimes that Mr. Epstein is accused of committing.

He was never a client of his money-management business, and hes never done business with him of any sort, the spokesperson added. Back in the day Epstein was a regular at TED conferences and he was a large donor to basic scientific research, so while Nathan knew him and has socialized with him, thats exactly where their association ends.

Myhrvold did, however, take a trip to Russia with tech journalist and conference host Esther Dyson sometime in the 1990s, and spent time with Epstein there.

When reached by The Daily Beast, Dyson said that Epstein joined her and Myhrvold for a couple of days when their itineraries intersected in Sarov. The Microsoft executive had planned the meetup with the financier, she said.

One photo Dyson posted on social media of herself and Epstein is timestamped 1998. Another image of Myhrvold includes the caption: at Microsoft Russia in Moscow, April 98. This was the beginning of a three-week trip during which Nathan and a variety of hangers-on (including a bodyguard) explored the state of post-Soviet science.

Years later Dyson saw Epstein at Edge dinners and other events but says she didnt have much interaction with him.

I wasnt his category so to speak, Dyson told The Daily Beast. He liked rich people and scientists and there were a lot of them at [Edge] dinners.

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MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images; Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Mike Lindell is holding an in-person "Frank Rally" in Mitchell, South Dakota on Monday.

Lindell created Frank as a "free speech" social-media site after Twitter banned him.

But it launched instead as a blog spreading misinformation about voter fraud and coronavirus.

See more stories on Insider's business page.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is holding an in-person rally in South Dakota on Monday to promote "Frank," the website he billed as a social-media site but is so far a one-way platform where Lindell circulates baseless allegations of voter fraud.

The event, titled "Frank Rally," will take place at the Corn Palace in the town of Mitchell.

Lindell first announced the event on former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast.

He said that the event would be free and on a first-come, first-served basis, Inforum reported.

Read more: The MyPillow guy says God helped him beat a crack addiction to build a multimillion-dollar empire. Now his religious devotion to Trump threatens to bring it all crashing down.

The event will start with a set by comedian Joe Piscopo who made his name on "Saturday Night Live," followed by a speech by Lindell, which he told Bannon would last for up to 90 minutes.

Attendees will receive a free copy of his autobiography, "What Are the Odds? From Crack Addict to CEO," alongside a copy of his self-made film "Absolute Proof" which alleges voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"It's going to be fun for everyone, the whole town," Lindell told Bannon.

Event organizers told The Argus Leader that they expected around 2,200 people to attend.

Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump, has repeatedly pushed disproven voter-fraud conspiracy theories about the presidential election. He announced plans to launch his own social media site in March after Twitter banned him.

Lindell had billed the site as a "YouTube-Twitter combination" and said he had spent "millions of dollars" building the platform.

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But it was hit by multiple delays, technical problems, and what Lindell claimed was "the biggest attack ever" before Frank ultimately launched as a one-way channel in April.

The site features videos and articles, many written by Lindell himself, that largely focus on voter-fraud conspiracy theories. Some also spread misinformation about the coronavirus, with one article calling vaccines "a deadly depopulation bioweapon."

Lindell's choice of venue has come as a surprise

The Corn Palace seems like a strange location for what Lindell told Bannon would be Frank's "grand, grand opening to the world."

Mitchell has a population of less than 20,000. The Corn Palace describes itself as the town's "premier tourist attraction" and the world's only corn palace, built in the late 1800s to celebrate the crop.

It's open daily to visitors for free so they can admire its "uniquely designed corn murals," but it can also be hired out for events for $1,750 a day.

The Corn Palace is located in Mitchell, a South Dakota town with a population of under 20,000. Carol M. Highsmith/Buyenlarge/Getty Images

Lindell's rally is sandwiched between a Dakota Wesleyan University graduation ceremony and an event by the American Corn Hole Association.

Lindell told Bannon that he chose South Dakota partly because of its Republican governor Kristi Noem, who refused to introduce statewide mask mandates and lockdowns during the pandemic.

South Dakota Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson told Forum News Service that he didn't "agree with many of [Lindell's] debunked claims" about the 2020 election, but that "cancel culture is just as dangerous."

"We shouldn't stop him from coming to South Dakota just because his views are different than mine or yours," he added.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Minerals Technologies (MTX) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.17 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.07 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.13 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 9.35%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this maker of mineral, mineral-based and synthetic mineral products would post earnings of $0.95 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.08, delivering a surprise of 13.68%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Minerals Technologies, which belongs to the Zacks Chemical - Specialty industry, posted revenues of $452.6 million for the quarter ended March 2021, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 7.28%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $417.5 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Minerals Technologies shares have added about 29.7% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 11%.

What's Next for Minerals Technologies?

While Minerals Technologies has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

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Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Minerals Technologies was mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.19 on $443.35 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.58 on $1.72 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Chemical - Specialty is currently in the top 47% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.



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Immediately after Gov. Tim Walz announced his plan for fully reopening Minnesota, Republican Senate leader Paul Gazelka said the plan was "not good enough, not soon enough."

Context: Walz's timeline puts Minnesota in the middle of the pack when it comes to lifting restrictions and ditching masks.

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Most Republican-led states, especially in the South, have been without restrictions or with few restrictions for months.

Walz is also well behind neighboring states. Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota no longer have restrictions. But Illinois and Michigan still have mask mandates and business restrictions.

Wisconsin's restrictions and mask mandate, put in place by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, were struck down by its Supreme Court, thought some cities have kept their own restrictions.

Blue state of play: Walz's plan puts him near the front of Democratic governors in lifting restrictions, at least for now.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has been one of the more aggressive Democratic governors for easing restrictions. He is largely allowing counties to impose their own regulations.

Pennsylvania is planning to fully open on May 30, roughly the same pace as Minnesota. New York, California and Oregon will all lift restrictions to some degree throughout May and June.

But many other blue states still don't have a plan to lift all restrictions.

State of mask mandates: As of early this week, 17 states had fully lifted their mask mandates  and all of them except Wisconsin are led by Republicans.

Some Democratic governors, like those in Michigan and Pennsylvania, also have a 70% vaccination threshold for ending mandates  but both lag Minnesota on that metric.

The bottom line: Walz might not be moving quickly enough for Republican lawmakers in the state, but his new plan currently puts him among the more aggressive Democratic governors.

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An expecting mother was separated from her husband just as former President Trump's restrictions on visitors from six Muslim-majority countries went into effect. President Biden revoked the policy just in time for the couple to be reunited for the birth of their child. Jim Axelrod shares more.

Video Transcript

NORAH O'DONNELL: Our salute to extraordinary moms continues tonight with a Mother's Day celebration that almost wasn't. Here's CBS's Jim Axelrod.

- I haven't

JIM AXELROD: Donna [? Harbi ?] found love in the most unlikely of places five years ago: a refugee camp in Lebanon. An optometrist from Virginia, she was volunteering there when she met Michal [? Hamood, ?] a Syrian relief worker.

- Did you see each other again?

- It was WhatsApp. WhatsApp video, WhatsApp chat.

JIM AXELROD: She wanted him to come to the US and get married, but the Trump administration's Muslim ban prevented that.

- First time driving in Beirut.

JIM AXELROD: So she went back to Lebanon.

- It needed to be done, because we wanted to be together.

JIM AXELROD: Months later, this news.

- We found out we were expecting.

JIM AXELROD: Due to COVID and better health care at home, Donna left Lebanon to deliver in America. Alone and expecting in April, President Biden's reversal of the ban answered Donna and Michal's prayers. He got a visa and jumped on a plane, arriving here last month, just in time. Less than six hours later--

- I woke up and I was like, I'm cramping up. Literally less than 12 hours later, Evan was born.

JIM AXELROD: So the three of you were in a room and you're all holding your baby within hours of his getting here?

- Yeah. It's all still like a dream, honestly.

- Hi, Mama.

JIM AXELROD: A Mother's Day dream come true. Jim Axelrod, CBS News, New York.
May 7Two Niagara County men have pleaded guilty to forcing undocumented immigrants to working in their Mexican restaurant in Niagara Falls.

Roberto Montes-Villalpando, 60, of Sanborn, and Abraham Montes, 28, of North Tonawanda, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo to conspiracy to harbor aliens for financial gain and causing serious bodily injury on Thursday. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr.

Montes-Villalpando and Montes owned and operated El Cubilete Mexican Restaurant. Between December 2014 and late 2018, the restaurant was located at 9400 Niagara Falls Boulevard. In late-2018, the restaurant moved to 2050 Cayuga Extension in Niagara Falls. Montes-Villalpando managed the restaurant, supervised the staff, including wait and kitchen staff, made hiring and firing decisions, and determined payroll. Montes supervised the kitchen staff which included Victims 1, 2, 3, and 4, who were each natives and citizens of Mexico. The victimsnone of whom had legal status in the U.S.were employed by the defendants as cooks, food preparers, and dishwashers. In addition, the victims sublet a Niagara Falls apartment rented by Montes-Villalpando, according to Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meghan A. Tokash and Laura A. Higgins, who handled the case, with support from the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

Between Nov. 1, 2014, and Feb. 18, 2018, Montes-Villalpando and Montes recruited and hired undocumented foreign nationals who had entered the U.S. illegally to work for them. Montes-Villalpando and Montes enticed prospective laborers who lived and worked in Ohio, including Victim 1 and Victim 2, to work at El Cubilete by promising them better pay and fewer hours. During their employment, Victims 1, 2, 3, and 4 were paid less than required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and by New York State law, which required a minimum wage of $9/hour. According to analysis performed by the Department of Labor, Office of the Inspector General, the victims were underpaid in the following amounts respectively: Victim 1$5,386.60; Victim 2$8,513.44; Victim 3$61,665.40; and Victim 4$6,006.60.

Additionally, in February 2018, Montes punched Victim 3 in the nose and stated he would kill Victim 3. Montes then used a fire extinguisher to strike Victim 3 in the head causing him to fall to the ground. Victim 3 was transported to a hospital for medical treatment where he was diagnosed with a broken nose and a laceration on his head was closed with staples.

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 14 before Judge Vilardo.
Four canoe adventurers left the Minnesota headwaters of the Mississippi River on Tuesday with an audacious plan around a timeless act: Paddling a canoe. They, however, are propelling a 23-foot Wenonah nearly nonstop and as fast as possible the entire 2,300-plus miles of the river.

Coincidentally or not, they're in the wake of another foursome with Minnesota connections deep into its own attempt.

If both or either are successful, they'll arrive in the river delta around Pointe a La Hache, La., at the Gulf of Mexico about 18 days later and lay claim to the Guinness World speed record for a paddle of Big Muddy. Yet so much presents obstacles between now and then, from mercurial weather to water levels to their own stamina and well-being. Even barge traffic.

In an interview before the attempt that began just this week, leader Scott Miller of Minneapolis acknowledged the barriers but said the constant emotion during months of organizing, marathon training sessions and more amounts to a single thing: joy.

"There is a particular joy in undertaking a goal with other people in the outdoors," said Miller, 45, who paddled with friends 2,250 miles from St. Cloud to Hudson Bay in 2005. "And in particular there is something wonderful about going down a river. You never know what is around the corner. Your interest is always piqued."

That collective exuberance has fueled them close to the metro by now if their record attempt is on track.

Records set  and records attempted  on the Mississippi travel back to the first mark in 1937. Three men named Joe Tagg, Gerald Capers and Charles Saunders made the trip in 56 days, recorded by the Guinness keepers as the "Fastest Time to Row the Length of the Mississippi River by a Team." Most attempts have been by canoe, although the record guidelines permit an attempt by kayak, rowing boat or scull, too.

The current record of 18 hours, four days and 51 minutes was set by Bob Bradford of Michigan, and Clark Eid, then of Connecticut, on May 10, 2003. Miller said the two have been great resources and supporters, a common practice in the tight-knit worlds of niche endurance sports like long-distance paddling. For example, the record holders have provided their split times every 100 miles and other intelligence, which has helped Miller's crew dial in their own plan to see if it's got a shot.

Story continues

Not surprisingly, the record has roots in previous tries by canoe-loving Minnesotans.

In 1980, KJ Millhone of Minnetonka and Steve Eckelkamp lowered a 1978 mark by several days when the two completed the route in 35 days, 11 hours and 27 minutes. Since 2003, there have been at least three unsuccessful attempts, one again involving Millhone in 2018. Miller had organized an attempt with Millhone and two others in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic killed the plan.

Now, Millhone, 62, his daughter Casey and two others are gunning for the speed record, too. They launched in late April and are currently ahead of record pace.

Eid said he was "flattered" at the twin efforts to break their longstanding mark and recounted the taxing, sleepless days and risks seen and unseen.

"There is a lot of luck," Eid added, "but luck favors the well-prepared."

Honing a routineMonths of planning that began in 2018 was scuttled in 2020. Miller turned to the long-distance paddling community to recruit the current crew members. Some came with ties to the MR340, a popular 340-mile race on the Missouri River that he competed in last year. Crew member Perry Whitaker, 59, of St. Louis, is a 12-time finisher at the MR340.

Joel Ford, 36, of Fallston, Md., is a former team member of a U.S. national championship adventure racing squad.

Adam Macht, 36, who rounds out the Wenonah crew, works for an outfitter in Ely and has deep experience in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario.

Miller also has secured a support crew of 20 volunteers on water and onshore. Support boats will shadow the team once it's in St. Paul, with MR340 race director Scott Mansker at the helm. Marine radios will be used to communicate with commercial boat traffic, like barges big enough to eclipse the sun.

Mike "Moose" Dougherty is the uncle of Miller's wife, Heidi. He has helped coordinate logistics from land, scouting portages around dams, like the ones in Brainerd and Little Falls, and locking in on boat ramps where the paddlers will stop for planned breaks. Dougherty said several volunteers from out of state came in response to Facebook posts, and many have connections to Miller's days with Many Point Scout Camp in northern Minnesota.

In the canoe, the foursome has honed its routine with multiple long-distance training trips, including a final two-day affair in April, covering 264 miles from north of Aitkin to the metro. There also were training trips in St. Louis in March and last spring from the Twin Cities to Winona, always mindful of the watch and splits to hit. The four want to build a big lead at the start of their attempt this week.

"Dress rehearsals tried to mimic everything," Miller said.

The group operates in six-hour shifts before changing positions, with breaks planned at the shore at boat ramps or marinas to grab nutrition or gear or take a hasty restroom break. The canoe is customized with bulkheads that section off the middle from the bow and stern, allowing space for one paddler to rest or alternate with the second person mid-canoe, so a third paddle always is in the water, too.

For all the attention on speed, Miller said their paddle strokes will focus on efficiency. Employing a pedal-operated rudder will help, too. He said the journey marries his athleticism with his love of canoeing, and like any good athlete he has trained to operate economically while managing the physical stress. Like, say, a marathoner to a 10-kilometer runner, Miller said he's built for ultradistances as opposed to sprints.

"Obviously it's taxing 24/7, day after day, but in any given moment you are working harder when you run around your block," he said.

'The river decides'The control areas  training, organization, teamwork, logistics  have become second nature, according to Miller and Dougherty, with an emphasis on minimizing time. "Most things you can do on the river, so keep 'em moving," Dougherty added.

Elements like weather and water levels in the Mississippi and its tributaries that have torpedoed or bolstered other speed-record attempts are another thing. Water will be low in some places, high in others  and the higher, the faster the flow. In 2003, the Ohio River was at flood stage where it meets the Mississippi in southern Illinois, providing a "big push" to the eventual record setters, Miller said. This time around, the group anticipated some slow going these first few days out of the headwaters headed toward Bemidji. Of course, there, too, are numerable dams to portage; as many as 27 lock and dams to navigate between the metro and St. Louis; countless barges to avoid; and who knows what else. And that is part of the adventure.

Dougherty said the friendliness and kindness of support people and strangers met over time has stuck out above most else thus far. And with those gestures has come sage river wisdom. Mike Clark of Big Muddy Adventures in St. Louis has offered some.

"(He) said the river decides if you are going to break the record or not. I think there is a lot of truth in that," he added. "You have to be flexible and ready for whatever comes at you."

Miller thinks his group is prepared to have a say, too.

"There is something about the camaraderie of having a shared goal that no one is making you do," he said. "Everyone chose this as something they think is fun, and we're all in this together. Literally, in the same boat."
I understand exactly the sentiment that people are going to want more from the mayor than an expression  that shooting is unacceptable or that hes very concerned about it  but I do think that what hes trying to put together is the right strategy.
Nearly five months after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced the creation of the bipartisan Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, it's not been formed much less met.

Why it matters: Select committees are designed to address urgent matters, but the 117th Congress is now nearly one-quarter complete without this panel assembling. When she announced this committee, Pelosi described it as an "essential force" to "combat the crisis of income and wealth disparity in America."

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.

Pelosi has said privately she first wants to impanel a 9/11-type commission to investigate the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

A senior Democratic aide told Axios she'll then fill the select committee.

The Capitol siege panel has been delayed, though, by a partisan fight about its composition and the scope of its investigation.

The big picture: Wealth and income equality was at a record high before the pandemic.

It's only been exacerbated by the coronavirus.

The Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth is expected to be a prime perch for the party's emboldened more liberal wing as its members seek a more influential voice in the Democratic caucus.

It would consist of 15 House members, including six Republicans, and run through the end of the 117th Congress in January 2023.

The intrigue: Staff in the offices of several progressive members told Axios the promised committee was "a great selling point," as one termed it, as Pelosi campaigned to be reelected speaker.

It also fueled progressive support for the House rules package, since it was a promised component of the norms by which the chamber operates in each Congress.

This was supposed to be a sweetener for some House progressives who were on the fence about the package, a senior aide to a progressive member told Axios.

Be smart: The Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth would recommend urgent policies similar to those already provided by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

The latter is chaired by House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and was carried over from the 116th Congress.

It met March 25 and has issued numerous news releases.

More from Axios: Sign up to get the latest market trends with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free
A European brown bear. Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

A prince from Liechtenstein has been accused of poaching a large brown bear in Romania.

Environmental agencies have said the prince was supposed to kill a bear that was harming villages instead.

Romanian authorities are investigating the incident.

Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

A prince from Liechtenstein has been accused of poaching one of Europe's largest brown bears during a hunting excursion in Romania.

Environmental agencies have accused Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein of killing the bear, a 17-year-old known as Arthur by locals, during a four-day hunt for a young female bear that had been causing damage to farms, according to the Guardian.

The agencies said the 17-year-old bear was killed in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains.

"I wonder how the prince could confuse a female bear coming to the village with the largest male that existed in the depths of the forest," Gabriel Paun, the president of Agent Green, told The Guardian, adding that he believed the prince's goal was to "take home the biggest trophy."

Romanian authorities are investigating allegations that the hunt for the 17-year-old bear was not licensed and that some people involved did not have weapon permits, CNN reported, citing its Spanish TV affiliate, Antena 3.

The Associated Press reported that the prince had been granted a four-day hunting permit, and that on March 13 he paid $8,400 (7,000) to have a 17-year-old brown bear harvested. It's unclear if the permit was tied to a specific bear.

Brown bears are a protected species in Romania and trophy hunting is outlawed, but the environment minister can grant exceptions if bears are causing damage to properties or causing harm to residents, The Guardian reported.

Read the original article on Insider
The United Nations human rights office has strongly criticised a police raid against suspected drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro, amid allegations of abuse and extrajudicial executions.

The deadliest police operation in the city's history has left 28 dead, including a police officer.

Residents say police killed people who wanted to surrender and entered homes without a warrant.

Police have denied any wrongdoing, saying officers acted in self-defence.

Rio de Janeiro is one of Brazil's most violent cities, and vast areas are under the control of criminals, many of them linked to powerful drug-trafficking gangs. Security forces are often accused of disproportionate force during their anti-crime operations.

Thursday's raid in Jacarezinho, one of the city's largest slums known as favelas, was carried out by about 200 heavily armed police officers and included an armoured helicopter with a sniper. The area is dominated by Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, one of Brazil's largest criminal organisations.

A television helicopter filmed men jumping from rooftops, while desperate residents posted videos on social media showing intense shootouts as they claimed police had invaded their houses and used excessive violence.

Residents in Jacarezinho protested on Thursday after the deadly police operation

"There are boys who have been cornered in the house and want to surrender," one resident said, referring to the suspects. "And the police want to kill them. They have even killed some in front of us."

In another video, a resident filmed a police officer standing next to a house and said: "They're cornering [the suspects]. They don't want to let the boys surrender."

'Lots of pools of blood'

Maria Julia Miranda, a public defender, said residents told her a suspect was killed in the bedroom of an eight-year-old girl where there were blood stains on the floor and on her bed, and that the family had witnessed the alleged execution.

Story continues

Ms Miranda said she was "shocked" by seeing "lots of pools of blood... and walls with bullet marks" when visiting the favela. There was also evidence that the scenes of the killings were not preserved, she said, with bodies being removed. "On these cases," she added, "there was probably an execution."

A suspect is alleged to have been shot dead in this child's bedroom

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, said they had also received reports and images from residents saying that their houses had been invaded, and that the police had killed people when they already offered no risk.

"It's completely unacceptable," Jurema Werneck, executive director of Amnesty International Brazil, said in a statement. "Even if the victims were suspected of criminal association, which has not been proven, summary executions of this kind are entirely unjustifiable."

The level of violence caused shock even in Rio, which for decades has been plagued by high levels of crime and police brutality. Between January and March, 404 people were killed in police operations in the city's metropolitan area, according to official figures.

Almost all raids happen in communities where residents are mostly black and poor, and some of the victims are not even suspects. Critics say the operations are often badly planned and frequently end in bloodshed while allegations of misconduct by officers are rarely investigated, with impunity virtually the norm.

"This kind of operation doesn't dismantle criminal groups, it only causes pain and distrust," Igarape Institute, a Rio-based think tank, said in a statement. "The social impact of this case is still unknown but will certainly last for years."

Police show the weapons they say were seized during the operation

Amid widespread condemnation, the United Nations human rights office called for an independent investigation, describing it as a "long-standing trend of unnecessary and disproportionate" police operations.

"You have the institutions which control these operations... So, it appears that collectively, they are not succeeding in stopping these kinds of really disturbing, over-the-top, lethal operations. So something is clearly wrong there," spokesman Rupert Colville said in Geneva.

The officer killed was named as 48-year-old Inspector Andre Leonardo de Mello Frias, who was shot in the head while trying to remove a barricade set up by the criminals. Police have not yet identified the other people killed but said six suspects had been arrested.

Map

Rodrigo Oliveira, a police chief, defended the police's actions, saying that officers acted within the law. "The only execution that took place was that of the police officer," he said at a news conference where police displayed an arsenal of weapons that had been seized, including six assault rifles and a submachine gun.

Police say they launched the operation to serve 21 arrest warrants as part of a year-long investigation that suggested gangs were recruiting children, among other crimes. Experts again questioned the force used given that minors are used by criminals across the city.

"This is cruel, barbaric," Joel Luiz Costa, a lawyer from Jacarezinho, said in a video posted on Twitter. "Twenty-five people or more were killed. Did it end drug trafficking? Will this end drug trafficking?"

The raid happened despite a court ruling last June that restricted police action in poor areas of Rio during the pandemic unless it was deemed essential. The Rio state public prosecutor's office said it would launch an investigation while the police said they would also open an inquiry.

There has been no comment from far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. A former army captain, he supports changes in legislation that would protect officers from prosecution if they kill suspects, and has previously said that "a good criminal is a dead criminal".
Agentes de policia con mascaras protectoras pasan por la Torre Spasskaya del Kremlin en Moscu el 13 de marzo de 2021 (AFP via Getty Images)

Claims of Russian bounties against US troops in Afghanistan were linked to a Kremlin-backed spy team known as Unit 29155, according to reports.

The intelligence community released newly-declassified documents of its assessment to The New York Times after the Biden administrations review said they had "low to moderate" confidence in the intelligence.

Claims that Donald Trump did nothing about Russian bounties on American soldiers were leveraged by Joe Biden as a major election issue during the presidential campaign and tied to accusations that the Republican had consistently shown a deferential attitude to Vladimir Putin. Conservative commentators said the only low to moderate assessment meant the Biden administration had effectively walked back the bounties claim.

Reporting by theTimes suggests the Central Intelligence Agencys judgement was bolstered by traces of evidence left by a unit of the GRU Russian military intelligence service known for assassination operations.

The involvement of this GRU unit is consistent with Russia encouraging attacks against US and coalition personnel in Afghanistan given its leading role in such lethal and destabilising operations abroad, the National Security Council said in a statement provided to the newspaper.

Quoting officials and statements on two prior operations, theTimes identified the group as Unit 29155, which has been accused of involvement in explosions at ammunition depots in the Czech Republic and the assassination attempt of a Bulgarian arms manufacturer.

It has also been linked to the assassination attempt against former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.

The connection to the GRU in managing relationships with a Taliban-linked Afghanistan criminal network that first revealed allegations of a Kremlin plot to encourage attacks on US and allied troops, was highlighted by White House press secretary Jen Psaki when announcing the administrations findings.

Story continues

"The involvement of this GR unit is consistent with Russias encouraging attacks against US and coalition personnel in Afghanistan," she told reporters.

"So while theres low to moderate assessment of these reports, we felt it was important for our intelligence community to look into it."

The release of newly declassified documents suggests disagreement among different agencies within the intelligence community on whether to assign a "medium" or "low" level of confidence in corroborating the intelligence, which reportedly came from members of the criminal network detained in early 2020.

While they ultimately had "low to moderate" level of confidence in the bounties, they had "high confidence" in the associated but circumstantial evidence of ties between the criminal network and the GRUs Unit 29155.

We have independently verified the ties of several individuals in this network to Russia, the National Security Council statement to theTimes said.

Multiple sources have confirmed that elements of this criminal network worked for Russian intelligence for over a decade and travelled to Moscow in April 2019.

The Biden administration gave a warning, but issued no sanctions, against Russia for the bounties. Asked if the president had any regrets for attacking Mr Trump for not taking action based on the same intelligence, Ms Psaki said shes "not going to speak to the previous administration".

During the 2020 campaign, Mr Biden said the previous administration didnt "lift one finger" to respond to the bounties placed on US troops.

Not only has he failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin, Mr Biden said.

Read More

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Sennheiser has sold it's consumer electronics division to a Swiss company called Sonova that specializes in hearing care, Sennheiser has announced. Sonova said it made the 200 million euro ($241 million) deal to expand its aging demographic to younger customers, particularly in the wireless in-ear segment.

Even if they dont have hearing loss, most of them will gradually get hearing loss with age, and devices like Sennheisers allow us to have earlier consumer access to such people, Sonova chief Arnd Kaldowski told Reuters. The company said it would build on Sennheiser's HiFi expertise and "combine it with its own technology expertise and strengths in the field of innovative hearing solutions."

Switzerland-based Sennheiser announced earlier this year that it planned to "to secure a partnership to strengthen its market position in consumer electronics." That in turn would allow it to focus on its pro audio, business and Neumann (high-end microphone) divisions. As part of what the company called a "partnership," Sennheiser will completely transfer its consumer business to Sonova. Sennheiser said it had 600 employees in its consumer division, but made no mention of possible layoffs.

Under the joint Sennheiser brand, we plan to work together permanently to provide Sennheiser customers with first-class audio solutions and premium products in the future.

Sennheiser's Co-CEOs, Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser, said Sonova "not only shares our passion for audio and a commitment to the highest product quality, but also very similar corporate values." Sonova will gain permanent licensing to the Sennheiser brand, giving it an entry into the consumer headphone segment. "Combining our audiological expertise with Sennheisers know-how in sound delivery, their great reputation as well as their high-quality products will allow us to expand our offering," Kaldowski said.

The acquisition is unusual in the industry, but it makes it makes a lot of sense. Hearing aid companies have incorporated modern wireless tech into recent products, improving the sound quality and look of hearing aids, as we've seen over the last few years at CES. That in turn is helping reduce the stigma of hearing loss. At the same time, Sennheiser could possibly incorporate hearing tech into its consumer products.

Sonova is one of the top hearing care companies, with sales of CHF 2.9 billion ($3.2 billion) in 2019-20. Sennheiser, meanwhile, saw 2019 sales of 756.7 million ($914 million). The latter is as well or better known for its professional microphones, headphones, studio and concert products as it is for its consumer headphones and soundbars.
A high school teacher in Alaska has been put on administrative leave after a video showed her telling a class that George Floyd would still be alive if he had complied with police orders.

In a 15-minute YouTube video posted Apr. 29, a Lathrop High School teacher in Fairbanks is seen having a conversation with her class about black people being killed by police, including the death of Floyd, KUAC reported.

Im an old white lady and if the cops came up to me and said maam, put your hands behind your back, youre going to jailIm putting my hands behind my back, she said.

The teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave for racially insensitive comments and the incident is being investigated by the district, Principal Carly Sween said Friday, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Sween said she and Assistant Principal Clarice Mingo met with the students to talk about the incident and provide opportunities for them to reflect on the situation, the newspaper reported.

The teacher has not been publicly named by the school but is referred to in the video as Ms. Gardner.

In the video, the teacher also spoke about avoiding problems with the police by dressing a certain way.

Look at how you guys are dressed. Youre dressed nicely, she said. You dont look like thugs. You dont have your pants down around your knees.

Later on in the video, a parent interrupted the class and said she disagreed with the conversation in whole.

I feel like this is something that, you know like Ms. Gardner, I dont feel like youre really able to address with you being a white woman. You know I am a woman of color, the parent said.

Thats where youre wrong, the teacher responded.

I am a woman of color who has lived in the south, who was born and raised in the South, who has experienced racism firsthand, the parent said.

Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer who is white, was found guilty last month of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd.

Story continues

Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died while in police custody on May 25, and his death sparked an avalanche of protests across the nation. He died after Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyds neck for more than nine minutes, as three other officers didnt intervene.

A 17-year-old bystander took video of the incident, in which Floyd can be heard saying, Please, please, please, I cant breathe.

Floyd was arrested after being accused by a store employee of using a counterfeit $20 bill to buy a pack of cigarettes at a Minneapolis grocery store.

Following Chauvins conviction, other teachers have been suspended or put on leave due to their comments on Floyd and policing.

Howard Zlotkin, a science teacher at William Dickinson High School in New Jersey, was suspended after calling Floyd a criminal and having Black students write a paper on why Black lives matter, CNN reported.

The bottom line is, we make (Floyd) a f**king hero? Hes not a hero; hes like a criminal, Zlotkin said in the clip recorded by one of his students.

A Cypress College professor in California was also put on leave after challenging a student who called police heroes, KTLA5 reported.

In the video posted on YouTube, Braden Ellis said during a presentation: I think cops are heroes and they have to have a difficult job. But we have to have 

All of them? the teacher responded.

Id say a good majority of them, Ellis said, adding that there are bad people in every business.

A lot of police officers have committed an atrocious crime and have gotten away with it and have never been convicted of any of it, she said.

Youll never be white. Woman harasses Latino deputy in California traffic stop video

Teacher hit child with disabilities in the head three times during class, Utah cops say
The University of South Carolina is saying farewell to one of its top leaders while Louisiana State University is welcoming its new president.

William Tate IV, USCs executive vice president and provost, has been selected by LSUs Board of Supervisors to lead the school starting in July, according to a release.

This is a very pivotal time at our university, said LSU Board Chair Robert Dampf. We set about to find a great leader, and we found one.

USC president Robert Caslen congratulated Tate on the new job.

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When Tate takes over the reigns as LSUs president this summer, he will be the first Black man to lead the university in its 160 year history, outlets report.

For me, this position is all about what we can do to help students and give people access and opportunity in higher education, Tate said. Thats really in my DNA, how do we help people regardless of their background  we find the money, get you here and give you the opportunity to live your dream. I think there is no better place in the United States to come find your dream and to make it happen than right here at LSU.

Firsts are nothing new to Tate, who is also the only Black person to have served as USCs provost, The State previously reported. He joined the university system nearly a year ago, in July 2020, and was a finalist for university president in 2019.

As provost, Tate oversees curriculum and accreditation for all schools on USCs campus. Faculty and students describe him as intelligent, charismatic and a powerful public speaker, The State reported.

LSU started its search with 23 candidates before narrowing down to three and finally choosing Tate. He will replace Tom Galligan, the universitys interim president since January 2020.
Art



Polish Postwar Posters Collection in Puerto Vallarta



Poster for 'Ludzie Bez Skrzydel - Men Without Wings' (All images courtesy of Martin Rosenberg) Mexico City - Puerto Vallarta, in the wide Bay of Banderas, is mainly known for its sandy Pacific beaches, all-inclusive family resorts, and gay nightlife. Once a tiny elite port hosting the likes of Robert Redford and Elizabeth Taylor, it is now the country's most important beach destination after CancAn: a port of charming white buildings and red-tiled roofs made famous by the 1964 film The Night of the Iguana.



But the city is also a small cultural hotspot, with galleries selling decorative pieces, mostly high-end Mexican handicrafts, and kitsch paintings and sculptures by local artists aimed at retired American and Canadian expats, and the high volume of cruise ship traffic that called there before the pandemic.



Among all this lowbrow fare, one gallery, located a couple of blocks from the city's boardwalk, stands out for its modern design: a little treasure shop called Posters International. Owned by Martin Rosenberg, 72, it hosts one the largest collections of Polish postwar posters in the world. These graphic design masterworks include pieces by Henryk Tomaszewski, Roman Cieslewicz, Jan Lenica, and Franciszek Starowieyski, members of the Polish school of posters, as influential in global design as its Cuban counterparts.



Born in Brooklyn in 1942 to descendants of Russian and Polish Jews who fled pogroms in the 1920s, Rosenberg's mania for collecting started early: "I was an only child, so I played alone most of the time: Collecting stamps was a way to entertain myself," he told me.



Rosenberg's father was a welder who repaired battleships in the shipyard during the war and later became a carpet salesman for E.J. Korvettes in Queens, where the family moved. After studying anthropology at Arizona State University in Tempe and at New York University, Rosenberg eventually left his intellectual calling to find work at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, becoming CEO of the organization's Illinois chapter.



But his thirst for collecting was never quenched: He bought antiques, Chinese porcelain, and bronze sculptures before eventually turning his attention to vintage posters: "I thought, maybe I could discover an area of poster collecting that an archaeologist could appreciate. What could I find that others had not?"



As Rosenberg learned, the most famous poster schools in Europe - the French, Swiss, Italian or Danish schools of the late-19th and early-20th centuries - while groundbreaking, sophisticated, and influential, had produced thousands of copies of each piece, weakening their collectability.



In 1978, a year before the breakout of the anti-Soviet Polish Solidarity movement, he found what he now calls his collecting mission. He asked the saleswoman of a vintage poster store in San Francisco for something unique, and she took him to a back room and drew from an old filing cabinet a series of Polish posters.



Rosenberg was immediately impressed by their unique design.



Pieces from the Polish school of posters were scarce: From the end of the war until the late 1980s, the communist state maintained a strict censorship policy that monopolized the distribution and commissioning of printed media in Poland, and resources such as paper and ink were hard to come by. Posters that were bought and sold in the West were either smuggled out of the country or sold directly by the government, which made them rare.



And although the texts on the posters were censored, the design was not. Many posters were made to promote imported American films. The communist state required local artists to make them, and the artists often found ways to add their own oblique but powerful commentaries and veiled critiques of Polish history and life under the communist regime.



As a result, a form of public social discourse, which Rosenberg compares to Mexican muralism, yet mass produced, emerged. Posters transmitted the spirit of the Western film classics being shown - from Gone with the Wind to A Clockwork Orange - while also commenting on Polish society in dark and satirical ways. Polish artists also announced theater, music, jazz, opera, dance, sports, and circus events, as well as exhibitions. They designed for political parties, advertised products, and commemorated historical events such as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.



At the time of his discovery of the rich vein of art, Rosenberg was living in Chicago, home to one of the largest Polish communities in the world, and it was there that he met Krzysztof Dydo, the owner of a poster gallery in Krakow.



Drawn by his new passion, Rosenberg took biweekly Polish classes and started to visit the country every year from 1979 to 1990 to build a network of relationships, often meeting the artists themselves. Eventually, in 1981, he established a small gallery, run by local art students who realized the importance of the collection.



After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, Rosenberg brought the first major exhibition of Polish posters in the United States to the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.



Works from his collection have also appeared in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.



Rosenberg retired in 2000 and decided to dedicate his life to promoting his collection, which at its peak numbered 10,000 posters. He moved it to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, also a destination for American retirees, in 2010. His gallery was located downtown and became well known, especially among younger crowds: "My best customers are graphic and web designers," he told me, "drawn to vintage items, who realize the uniqueness of the pieces."



Eventually, he moved, along with his collection and his partner, to Puerto Vallarta four years ago to get closer to the sea.



Alan Grabinsky is a freelance writer and journalist based in Mexico City, covering Jewish life and urban issues for international media.



Original article - Puerto Vallarta, in the wide Bay of Banderas, is mainly known for its sandy Pacific beaches, all-inclusive family resorts, and gay nightlife. Once a tiny elite port hosting the likes of Robert Redford and Elizabeth Taylor, it is now the country's most important beach destination after CancAn: a port of charming white buildings and red-tiled roofs made famous by the 1964 filmBut the city is also a small cultural hotspot, with galleries selling decorative pieces, mostly high-end Mexican handicrafts, and kitsch paintings and sculptures by local artists aimed at retired American and Canadian expats, and the high volume of cruise ship traffic that called there before the pandemic.Among all this lowbrow fare, one gallery, located a couple of blocks from the city's boardwalk, stands out for its modern design: a little treasure shop called Posters International. Owned by Martin Rosenberg, 72, it hosts one the largest collections of Polish postwar posters in the world. These graphic design masterworks include pieces by Henryk Tomaszewski, Roman Cieslewicz, Jan Lenica, and Franciszek Starowieyski, members of the Polish school of posters, as influential in global design as its Cuban counterparts.Born in Brooklyn in 1942 to descendants of Russian and Polish Jews who fled pogroms in the 1920s, Rosenberg's mania for collecting started early: "I was an only child, so I played alone most of the time: Collecting stamps was a way to entertain myself," he told me.Rosenberg's father was a welder who repaired battleships in the shipyard during the war and later became a carpet salesman for E.J. Korvettes in Queens, where the family moved. After studying anthropology at Arizona State University in Tempe and at New York University, Rosenberg eventually left his intellectual calling to find work at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, becoming CEO of the organization's Illinois chapter.But his thirst for collecting was never quenched: He bought antiques, Chinese porcelain, and bronze sculptures before eventually turning his attention to vintage posters: "I thought, maybe I could discover an area of poster collecting that an archaeologist could appreciate. What could I find that others had not?"As Rosenberg learned, the most famous poster schools in Europe - the French, Swiss, Italian or Danish schools of the late-19th and early-20th centuries - while groundbreaking, sophisticated, and influential, had produced thousands of copies of each piece, weakening their collectability.In 1978, a year before the breakout of the anti-Soviet Polish Solidarity movement, he found what he now calls his collecting mission. He asked the saleswoman of a vintage poster store in San Francisco for something unique, and she took him to a back room and drew from an old filing cabinet a series of Polish posters.Rosenberg was immediately impressed by their unique design.Pieces from the Polish school of posters were scarce: From the end of the war until the late 1980s, the communist state maintained a strict censorship policy that monopolized the distribution and commissioning of printed media in Poland, and resources such as paper and ink were hard to come by. Posters that were bought and sold in the West were either smuggled out of the country or sold directly by the government, which made them rare.And although the texts on the posters were censored, the design was not. Many posters were made to promote imported American films. The communist state required local artists to make them, and the artists often found ways to add their own oblique but powerful commentaries and veiled critiques of Polish history and life under the communist regime.As a result, a form of public social discourse, which Rosenberg compares to Mexican muralism, yet mass produced, emerged. Posters transmitted the spirit of the Western film classics being shown - fromto- while also commenting on Polish society in dark and satirical ways. Polish artists also announced theater, music, jazz, opera, dance, sports, and circus events, as well as exhibitions. They designed for political parties, advertised products, and commemorated historical events such as the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.At the time of his discovery of the rich vein of art, Rosenberg was living in Chicago, home to one of the largest Polish communities in the world, and it was there that he met Krzysztof Dydo, the owner of a poster gallery in Krakow.Drawn by his new passion, Rosenberg took biweekly Polish classes and started to visit the country every year from 1979 to 1990 to build a network of relationships, often meeting the artists themselves. Eventually, in 1981, he established a small gallery, run by local art students who realized the importance of the collection.After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, Rosenberg brought the first major exhibition of Polish posters in the United States to the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.Works from his collection have also appeared in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.Rosenberg retired in 2000 and decided to dedicate his life to promoting his collection, which at its peak numbered 10,000 posters. He moved it to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, also a destination for American retirees, in 2010. His gallery was located downtown and became well known, especially among younger crowds: "My best customers are graphic and web designers," he told me, "drawn to vintage items, who realize the uniqueness of the pieces."Eventually, he moved, along with his collection and his partner, to Puerto Vallarta four years ago to get closer to the sea.



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This means while the state is receiving the same amount of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and a jump to 100,000 Johnson & Johnson doses, the supply wont matter without significant demand.

Next week, there could be a slight uptick if federal regulators expand the Pfizer vaccines emergency use authorization to include children ages 12 and older.

What comes next?

Most state-run vaccination clinics are closing by the end of May, with more targeted events replacing them to prioritize the hardest-to-reach populations and residents who, for a wide range of reasons, have yet to be vaccinated.

And these clinics are significantly smaller, said Avula, which means the output will not be the same as major sites administering 5,000 doses per day. A recent mobile clinic at a pet food processing plant, where the majority of workers do not speak English  a barrier that continually has clouded the registration process  65 people were vaccinated.

Thats pretty awesome because those are 65 folks that probably would not have gotten vaccinated otherwise, but I share that to illustrate that this is going to be a very different pace with a different kind of effort-to-reward ratio than weve seen over the last few months.
***

Brumfield stumbled on the case about four years ago as he dug through microfilm at the Library of Virginia, researching another story that had sent him back to 1951 newspapers.

You know how it is when you read a headline and read the lead and say, You know, I think theres something to this, he said. I started calling people, started emailing people, driving out to Goochland to try to find anybody who could remember anything about it. It was like this little child fell off the map after the first year.

Indeed, Brumfield found a number of stories about the case in The Times-Dispatch and other papers around Virginia and even the nation, as efforts were made to link the boy with other missing children. Nothing panned out.

Investigative leads fizzled; news coverage ceased. No one ever claimed the boy.

Its one of the most frustrating things Ive encountered, Brumfield said. I just dont understand. How could a child drop off a map like that?
I hope Ted Cruz enjoyed Danville as much as he enjoyed Cancun, Yarmosky said via email Thursday, taking a jab at Cruzs trip to Mexico while there were power outages in his state following winter storms earlier this year. I would note that Virginia is currently the number one state in the nation for business [over Texas], has the lowest unemployment rate in the mid-Atlantic, has vaccinated 60% of all adults [its actually 46% of the population having at least one shot and 33.3% fully vaccinated], has among the lowest COVID-19 case and death rates in the nation, and has brought in over $10 billion in capital investment during 2020  at the height of the pandemic. Like most Americans, I have no idea what Ted Cruz is talking about.
When Republicans meet this weekend to nominate their 2021 ticket, theres a theoretical chance that they could do something neither party in Virginia has ever done  nominate a slate entirely composed of women.

Dont count on that. Just based on the sheer number of candidates, its more likely the party will nominate an all-male ticket.

Still, Republicans have a record number of women running: two of the partys seven candidates for governor, two of the six candidates for lieutenant governor and one of the four candidates for attorney general. Those five candidates add up to one more female candidate than on the Democratic side.

Whether they realize it or not, all those candidates owe a historical debt to Hazel Barger of Roanoke.

In 1961, she was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. She was the first woman nominated by a major party for one of the states top three offices. At least three asterisks apply here. Barger wasnt the first woman to run for statewide office. She wasnt even the first woman nominated by a major party for statewide office.

In 1921, Virginias first statewide election after the ratification of the 19th Amendment, there were three women on the ballot.
A harried commuter rushes through a Tokyo station hoping to catch the next train home.

But first, a quick stop at a store to pick up a fresh head of lettuce. So fresh, in fact, that it is grown right there at the train station, cultivated using technology to ensure that it is raised under the most optimal conditions.

Tokyo-area rail operator JR East will soon make this possible -- and its stations greener while also cashing in on the indoor farming boom.

The company, officially known as East Japan Railway, borrowed the idea to grow vegetables indoors from German startup Infarm, which counts the rail operator as an investor. Infarm has partnered with the Japanese grocery chain Summit to grow produce using grow lights and sell it on-site.

Since January, a Summit Store in Tokyo's Adachi ward has grown lettuce and other vegetables in giant cases inside the location. At 213 yen ($1.94) per head of lettuce, its almost double the price of lettuce grown outdoors. The store plays up freshness as the selling point.

Infarm has also built indoor farms within stores run by Kinokuniya, JR East's upmarket supermarket subsidiary. A total of five Summit and Kinokuniya stores in the Tokyo area currently host these farms.

Now JR East is looking at expanding the operation to shopping complexes inside train stations. The equipment Infarm provides can be installed in a decentralized manner so that massive greenhouses do not occupy the spaces.

Indoor farming has grown in popularity as a way to limit the ecological impact of conventional farms, which account for 70% of the water used around the world. Global warming and desertification will diminish the area of arable land.

Shifting farms indoors is seen as a way to sustain the agricultural industry. Thanks to automatic controls, the facilities are able to curb the amount of water consumed. Vertical farming, in which crops are grown on walls, in urbanized places like Singapore that have limited farmland will be able to secure large amounts of space to grow food.

Infarm consumes 95% less water than that of an outdoor farm, the company says. Just 2 sq. meters of space can produce yield equivalent to a 250-sq. meters of farmland.
TOKYO (TR)  A 30-year-old man in custody for allegedly drugging and raping four women has been accused in a fifth case, police have revealed, reports Nippon News Network.

In 2018, Kenshiro Maruta, a former employee at Recruit Communications Co., is alleged to have sexually assaulted the fifth victim, aged in her 20s, at his residence in Shinjuku Ward.

Prior to the incident, Maruta allegedly plied the victim with a sleeping pill mixed into a drink at a restaurant.

Upon his arrest on suspicion of quasi-coerced intercourse, Maruta declined to comment on the allegations, police said.

According to police, Maruta targeted college students looking for a job. On a job-seeking app, he pretended to have graduated from a famous national university.

While dining at restaurants, he then coaxed or forced the victims into consuming drinks with sleeping pills.

This is medicine that is good for travel sickness, he reportedly told the victim in 2018 in referring to a sleeping pill.

Police first arrested Maruta last November. He was subsequently accused in three other cases.

An examination of his smartphone of the suspect by police showed him sexually assaulting dozens of women, police said previously.

Police also seized about 700 sleeping pills from the suspects residence.

Maruta has already been prosecuted in the first four cases.
Epworth United Methodist Church, 2447 Ave. B, wishes everyone a happy Mothers Day. The church is handicap accessible, and membership is not necessary to participate. The church is now open for worship at 9:25 a.m. on Sundays, and we will maintain social distancing. Even though the positivity rate for Iowa/Council Bluffs is down, masks are still required and are available for those who need one, and we have plenty of hand sanitizer. We will meet in the church sanctuary. If you are sick, please do not join us. The scripture for this coming Sunday is 1 John 5:1-6 and John 15:9-17. If you decide not to attend at this time, you can join us in worship at home through Facebook Live. There is a Bible study on Thursdays at 10 a.m. We are in prayer for all those affected by this virus. Prayer requests can be made at epworthumccb.org/about-us/our-values/. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office phone is 712-323-3124. You can check us out at Facebook.com/pages/Epworth.
According to the recent blood draw, Christensen has type A blood.

The Iowa lab then tested a sample from the left-handed glove and compared it to recently collected saliva from Christensen. The testing found that Christensen could not be excluded as a contributor to that DNA source.

The probability of finding this profile in a population of unrelated individuals, chosen at random, would be less than 1 out of 6.1 octillion, Doty wrote in the affidavit.

On Tuesday, Doty said, he spoke to Dehghanpours brother, who lives in London, for about an hour.

Giving the family answers is the most rewarding part of being able to solve the case, Doty said. He was shocked. He couldnt quite process it yet.

Chief Sheriffs Deputy Jeff Theulen said Dehghanpours elderly father is living in Tehran and that the Iranian government is in contact with him.

Wilber asked people with information about Dehghanpours disappearance, her life when she was at UNO or conversations they have had with Christensen over the years to call Doty at 712-890-2224 or CrimeStoppers at 712-328-STOP.

This is not a case that we will stop investigating before we take it to trial, Wilber said.
DeVine said Scott and the woman had at least one child together.

Bettendorf officers said the unnamed woman and her Mazda CX-9 were missing when they arrived.

Roughly 90 minutes later, dispatch received a call from Georgian Square about a vehicle idling in the apartment building parking lot, 985 Lincoln Road, Bettendorf. Scott and the unnamed woman were in her vehicle. After the woman got out of the SUV, she told officers Scott had a gun concealed in the car.

After an amicable conversation with Scott that included an officer complimenting Scott's coat, officers asked him to step out of the SUV. Scott responded by rolling up the SUV windows and ceasing the conversation.

After several requests, Scott is seen putting on his seat belt, at which time an officer drove a Bettendorf Police SUV in front of the Mazda to block it. The situation escalated as Scott refused to step out of the car and Thomas struck the driver's side window with a baton, smashing the glass on the third strike. Scott fired his handgun at almost the same moment Thomas made the third strike on the window.

DeVine said Thomas broke the window because he knew Scott had a gun, and even though Scott's escape was blocked by the police SUV, he still posed a significant threat.
DES MOINES  Trying to coax lawmakers to finish their 2021 legislative session, Gov. Kim Reynolds offered a plan Wednesday to accelerate income tax cuts, shift mental health funding from property taxes to the state and eliminate aid known as backfill to local governments.

It takes some of the best aspects of a number of bills and it delivers $400 million in tax cuts for Iowans, the governor said about her proposal. Now is the time to come together and take action, and thats exactly what Im asking the House and the Senate to do in the remaining days of the legislative session.

Its a thoughtful, pro-growth compromise on Iowa tax policy, said Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, who thanked the fellow Republican governor for her leadership.

She wants to get tax relief done for Iowans. The Senate Republicans agree with her, he said. We dont want to leave this session missing an opportunity to get money back into the pockets of taxpayers. This bill is the path to adjournment.

However, that path may lead the state too far, too fast for more cautious House Republicans, said Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford. Im not convinced that we can get there and do it properly, he said. The Legislature was scheduled to adjourn April 30.
Now its time to build a levee and its only fitting that we hire the Corp to be our contractor since in 2012, it was the Omaha District that went to D.C. and pled our case to save our levee in 2011, said Crain. They too were denied as we had been. But theyre building our levee now, and theyre going to build it right.

Congresswoman Cindy Axne, who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, said after the 2019 flood she worked to get relief for the communities in the region and secured $3 billion in funding.

Eight months later, Sen. Joni Ernst and I co-led the introduction of the levee act, which changed how the Army Corp could assess improvement projects like Hamburgs and give them the authority to move money to approve the projects without the approval of Congress, said Axne. A much-needed change that needed to be done.

Axne said the bill was included in the Water Resource and Development Act last year.
NORFOLK  Less than two weeks ago, we observed Memorial Day  a day set aside for remembrance of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice of their lives for the freedom we as Americans enjoy today. While some choose to say happy Memorial Day, it is far from that as we reflect solemnly, 
OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A player on Omaha's pro soccer team has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of using an online romance scam to swindle people out of more than $214,000.
State legislators overcame a filibuster on Friday and advanced a bill that will require DNA swabs to be taken from a person arrested for a violent crime like murder, rape or robbery.

LB496, also known as Katies Law, would make Nebraska the 32nd state that requires DNA samples to be taken of those arrested. It would expand an existing state law that requires DNA swabs of anyone convicted of a felony crime.

Sen. Robert Hilkemann of Omaha, who had a similar bill blocked from passage five years ago by then-Sen. Ernie Chambers, said this years bill was more narrowly drawn to include fewer felonies that would require DNA tests.

We're trying to be smart on crime, Hilkemann said, by not only taking fingerprints and photographs of someone arrested, but their DNA as well.

Police, he said, would be able to solve more crimes, including cold cases, if they get the DNA entered into a national database earlier, instead of waiting for a conviction.
"Unfortunately, we had to protect our loved ones from fellow Nebraskans," she said.

Dr. Michelle Walsh, president of the Nebraska Medical Association, objected to that part of the resolution as well. She questioned how lawmakers could reconcile a personal right to reject vaccinations with existing state laws requiring vaccinations for children in schools and day cares.

Opponents also included Sheri St. Clair of the League of Women Voters of Nebraska. She raised concerns that the resolution would support efforts to "suppress voting," such as by requiring voter identification.

"We're very disappointed to see this partisan resolution, which reinforces toxic rhetoric," she said.

The Executive Board took no immediate action on the resolution.
People march following the guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin on April 20, 2021, in Atlanta, Georgia. Photo: Elijah Nouvelage/AFP via Getty Images

The four Minneapolis police officers involved in the death of George Floyd were indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday on charges that they violated Floyds civil rights. Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao were all named in the indictment that was unsealed Friday.

Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, died on May 25, 2020, after being detained and restrained by police officers. Footage of Chauvin appearing to kneel on Floyds neck for over nine minutes prompted nationwide protests against police brutality.

The indictment states that Chauvin deprived Floyd of his legal right to be free from an unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.

CNN reports that Keung and Thao were charged with not intervening when Chauvins use of force went beyond what was necessary, and that all four officers face a charge of not providing Floyd with medical care.

Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison said in a statement, The federal government has a responsibility to protect the civil rights of every American and to pursue justice to the fullest extent of federal law. Federal prosecution for the violation of George Floyds civil rights is entirely appropriate, particularly now that Derek Chauvin has been convicted of murder under Minnesota law for the death of George Floyd.

Chauvin recently stood trial in Minnesota on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, second-degree manslaughter, and third-degree murder in Floyds death. On April 20, he was found guilty on all three charges and awaits sentencing later in June.

Keung, Lane, and Thao are scheduled to be tried by the state on August 23. The three face charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyds death.

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Jacob Wohl at CPAC 2020 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Photo: Shutterstock/Shutterstock

New York attorney general Letitia James announced Thursday that her office is filing a motion to join an ongoing federal lawsuit against Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman over robocalls they allegedly made in 2020 in an attempt to discourage Black people from voting. The right-wing operatives  who were already notorious for their outrageous political schemes  found themselves in deep trouble over the robocalls, which reached 85,000 phone numbers nationwide and led to criminal charges in Michigan and Ohio.

James wants to join an existing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that alleges Wohl and Burkman carried out a campaign that targeted Black voters with deceptive robocalls about the 2020 election. The attorney general also intends to sue Message Communications, Inc., the company Wohl and Berkman used to send the calls, and its owner Robert Mahanian.

In a press release, James said that an investigation by her office found that the duo reached about 5,500 New Yorkers with their calls and, in doing so, violated state and federal laws by orchestrating robocalls to threaten and harass Black communities through disinformation, including claims that mail-in voters would have their personal information disseminated to law enforcement, debt collectors, and the government.

The robocalls in question reportedly said, Hi, this is Tamika Taylor from Project 1599, the civil rights organization founded by Jack Burman and Jacob Wohl. Mail-in voting sounds great, but did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts? The CDC is even pushing to use records for mail-in voting to track people for mandatory vaccines. Dont be finessed into giving your private information to the man, stay home safe and beware of vote by mail.

Wohl and Burkman used misinformation to try to disenfranchise Black communities ahead of the election, in a clear attempt to sway the election in the favor of their preferred presidential candidate, James said in a statement. No voter should ever be subjected to such harassment or intimidation when exercising their fundamental right to vote.

If allowed to join the suit, James intends to seek a penalty of up to $500 per violation from the defendants, which could total $2,750,000, and they would be required to forfeit any profits made from the campaign.
Hotels and other tourism-centric businesses are recovering from a tough 2020, thanks to a resurgence of activity around Auburn University and Lee County.

I really feel like people are just itching to get out and go do things, said Cat Bobo, communications manager for A-O Tourism. This past weekend was (Auburn Universitys) graduation. We pulled the hotel numbers this morning just to check them out because we had heard from restaurants that it was an insane weekend.  It was an 89 percent occupancy over the two nights of graduation.

People stayed longer for this graduation and spent more nights in hotels, which is fantastic  it generated almost $1 million dollars in revenue in one weekend.

And downtown Auburns favorite tourist destination for lemonade is faring better this year.

Were starting to return to normal; were definitely seeing a lot of people getting out and walking around town that we were not seeing last year, said Michael Overstreet, who manages Toomers Drugs. We are improving every day, but were not quite back to where we were. We hope to be back to normal by the fall when students return.
Gov. Kay Ivey announced this week that Alabamas COVID-19 public health order will end May 31, and the state of emergency will end July 6.

For over a year now, Alabamians, like people around the globe, have made sacrifices and adjusted to a temporary new normal. We have learned much since last year, and this is absolutely now a managed pandemic. Our infection rates and hospitalizations are in better shape, and over 1.5 million Alabamians have had at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, Ivey said.

As we approach the 14th month of this pandemic, we are pleased that two-thirds of Alabama residents age 65 and older have been vaccinated, State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said.  While some barriers such as transportation remain, more than 1,300 providers in the state are administering safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine in communities throughout the state.

Local, state numbers

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) reported 314 new cases of COVID-19 Friday.

Lee County reported 22 new cases. Russell County had six new cases. Chambers County reported no new cases. Tallapoosa County had 13 new cases and Macon County reported one new case, according to Bamatracker.com.
Washington, PA (15301)

Today

Mainly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 64F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
The New York HERO Act is Launched to Protect Workers Even More Against the Spread of COVID-19

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo enforces a strict new law.

Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the New York Health and Essential Rights Act, or New York HERO Act (S.1034-B/A.2681-B). According to Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris and Assembly Member Karines Reyes, the bill, now a law, requires businesses to have enforceable safety standards to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 and other airborne diseases.

Too many workers have already sacrificed their health for our communitys benefit. The New York HERO Act will honor their efforts by giving workers the tools to protect themselves while on the job, said Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris. I appreciate the efforts of so many advocates and organizers who made this success possible.

The law itself doesnt outright say what the standards will be for businesses, but the department of labor will be required to consider different levels of exposure and the prevalence of the disease in developing new regulations. It's expected, however, that standards include face coverings and proper ventilation.

According to an article, companies with at least 10 employees will be required to allow workers to form special oversight committees tasked with monitoring the implementation and maintenance of the new standards. If the business violates the standards, however, it could face thousands of dollars in civil penalties  either from the state or litigation brought by employees.

The new law allows the state to fine businesses $50 for each day they havent created a new plan to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. Workers could also bring their employers to court for violations and collect up to $20,000 for damages unless the judge finds a reasonable excuse for the company failing to comply.

The NY HERO Act requires the Department of Labor and Health to implement enforceable minimum standards for workplace safety.
China condemns G7 joint statement concerning China affairs

Xinhua) 09:14, May 07, 2021

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. [Photo from the Foreign Ministry website]

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese spokesperson on Thursday said any attempt to meddle in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty, or tarnish China's image under various excuses is doomed to fail. It was in response to a recent statement by the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) concerning China.

The joint statement was issued by the G7 foreign ministers' meeting Wednesday. It expressed concerns over Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and situations in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. It also voiced support for Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly.

In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing the G7 meeting made groundless accusations against China. They openly meddled in China's internal affairs and resorted to bloc politics that turned back the wheels of history, said Wang.

"This constitutes a gross interference in China's national sovereignty and wanton destruction of the norms governing international relations, which goes against the trend of peace, development, and cooperation for win-win results," said Wang, adding China condemns such practice.

Issues related to Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong are all China's internal affairs, Wang noted. He added that China enjoys sufficient factual and legal basis for sovereignty and rights claimed in the Diaoyu and affiliated islands, the South China Sea islands, and the adjacent waters.

He also said Taiwan's participation in international organizations must be dealt with under the one-China principle.

As a group composed of developed countries, Wang said the G7 should contribute more to helping developing countries accelerate their development rather than drive conflicts and divergences to disrupt the process of global economic recovery.

As the G7 includes the countries hit hardest by COVID-19 and those with the most advanced medical technologies, the spokesperson said they should focus on international cooperation on anti-pandemic responses. They should also focus on the equitable distribution of vaccines instead of hoarding vaccines, and stop accusing other countries, interfering in their affairs, and disrupting the top priority of international cooperation on pandemic responses.

"We urge relevant countries to face their own problems, rectify their selfish behavior over pandemic responses, and stop abusing the concept of national security," Wang said. He added any attempt to meddle in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty, or tarnish China's image in disregard of basic norms of international relations is doomed to fail.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The American Petroleum Institute has called on the U.S. federal government to take note of Mexico's energy industry reforms as spearheaded by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, saying recent changes to industry legislation are violations of Mexico's trade commitments and also that they undermine investor confidence.

Reuters cited a letter by the industry lobby to the federal government, in which it laid out its concerns about recent amendments voted by the Mexican parliament.

"The common denominator of both laws is to hinder new private investment in the energy sector as well as destroy the value of already operating private assets in violation of Mexico's commitments," the API said, referring to Mexico's commitments under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The lower house of the Mexican parliament recently passed changes to an energy law that sought to boost the dominant position of Pemex on the domestic fuels market at the expense of private players.

The changes, if passed by the Senate, will give the Mexican government powers to restrict the activity of private companies in crude oil and fuel imports by revoking their permits if it deems their business activities threaten Mexico's economy and national security. Details about how this would be judged have not been included in the bill.

The proposed changes are part of a broader push by the Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador government to strengthen state control over energy markets. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court stopped another set of changes proposed by AMLO, this time regarding the electricity market, saying the changes would prioritize state-owned utility CFE over private companies, and that was unconstitutional.

Now, the American Petroleum Institute is insisting that what it calls violations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are included in the free trade commission meeting between U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Mexican Economy Minister Tatiana Clouthier.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Fuel sales in the United Kingdom surged at the end of last week to their highest level since the first lockdown in March last year, according to government data cited by Bloomberg, suggesting that the reopening that began last month is already resulting in higher oil demand and economic growth.

The UK started to gradually reopen on April 12, opening non-essential retailers, restaurants, and pubs for the first time in months as COVID cases are rapidly falling after more than half of the adult population have now received at least one shot of a vaccine. Restrictions on outdoor and indoor gatherings of people from different households will also be eased from mid-May, while the government is considering allowing vacations abroad to a restricted number of countries as early as this month.

The UKs reopening and the surge in fuel sales is a tangible proof that vaccine programs are the way out of the crisis, Tamas Varga, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates, told Bloomberg.

The UKs economy is expected to recover strongly to pre-COVID levels over the remainder of this year in the absence of most restrictions on domestic economic activity, the Bank of England said on Thursday.

People may also become more confident about spending. During lockdown some people have saved money as they been unable to spend as normal. Some of that money might be spent as restrictions are eased, the central bank said.

Demand growth is further boosted by a decline in health risks and a fall in uncertainty, as well as announced fiscal and monetary stimulus, according to the bank.

The signs of increasing oil demand and rebounding economy in the UK gives hopes to oil bulls that despite the COVID crisis in India and Brazil, major developed economies, including the United States, will push the global economy and oil demand higher.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
India's state-owned refiners are ordering their regular volumes of Saudi crude oil for June after the Kingdom reduced its prices for the world's third-largest importer, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation.

Saudi Arabia cut its official selling price for Asian clients earlier this month by between $0.10 and $0.30 in response to the surge in Covid-19 infections in India, which had a negative impact on its oil demand. Bloomberg noted this was the first price reduction of Saudi crude since December last year, reflecting weakening demand in the key Asian markets.

OPEC's largest producer announced oil price hikes for Asian buyers days after OPEC+ agreed to start adding barrels to their daily output, reducing a production curb that has had India repeatedly protesting against what it calls an artificial way of keeping oil prices high. The following month, Asian refiners and traders had to pay $1.80 above the Oman/Dubai benchmark average for shipments of Saudi crude.

In response, India ordered its state-owned refiners to reduce their orders for Saudi crude in May and look for alternatives in continuation of efforts to reduce its overwhelming dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

"We have asked companies to aggressively look for diversification. We cannot be held hostage to the arbitrary decision of Middle East producers. When they wanted to stabilize the market we stood by them," an Indian government source told Reuters in early March.

Now, Saudi Arabia has cut the price of its flagship Arab Light grade to $1.70 above the Oman/Dubai benchmark average. At the same time, Riyadh raised prices for U.S. buyers by $0.20 per barrel to reflect the U.S. economic rebound, which has pushed up demand for crude.

"This time there is no direction from the ministry to cut imports in June and unlike last time they (Aramco) have reduced the prices as well," one of Reuters' sources told the news agency.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Late last month, hundreds of people  all named Josh  met in Lincoln in a good-natured battle with pool noodles for the right to the name.

While a 4-year-old Josh eventually was crowned the winner, the Josh Fight also led to some charitable acts. Nearly a ton of food was donated to the Food Bank of Lincoln. And more than $14,000 has been raised for Childrens Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha.

Now, winemaker Josh Cellars is jumping into the fight. The American brand announced it will donate $30,000 to the Omaha hospital.

The Josh Cellars winery was created by Joseph Carr as a tribute to his father, Josh. Company officials said they were inspired by the generosity of fellow Joshes and decided to contribute to the cause.

It is my great honor to be able to share some of our resources with others who are working to make the world a better place, Joseph Carr said in a written statement.
In my last column, I spoke about the horrible cycle of voter suppression. Since that April article, the state of Georgia has created fresh evidence of the point of how far voter suppression has come. Other states appear to be moving to join Georgia, including Florida and Arizona.

Florida has approved new techniques to restrict voting, in particular to restrict use of drop boxes and voting by mail, and Arizona Republicans are recounting and attempting to challenge the 2020 vote.

In Georgia, the current leader of voter suppression in the nation, suppression supporters claim that they are making voting easier, which is both untrue and laughable. The Georgia law will limit usage of vote by mail and drop boxes, reduce early voting times and mechanisms, and remove the secretary of state from being a voting member on the Election Board.
Mrs Stephanie S. Sullivan, United States Ambassador to Ghana, has joined Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, to outdoor a new US Government food security strategy.



The US Global Food Security Strategy for Ghana (GFSS), a five-year interagency effort aims at increasing agricultural productivity, improve nutrition, and raise household incomes for millions of Ghanas agricultural workers.



A statement issued by the US Embassy in Accra, copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the first activity was expected to attract $261 million in private sector financing to boost Ghanaian agribusiness.



It said Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister of Food and Agriculture, also attended the virtual launch along with representatives of financial, agricultural, government, and private sector stakeholders.



It said under the GFSS, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was committing $19 million to support the initial activity, known as Feed the Future Ghana Mobilizing Finance in Agriculture (MFA).



The MFA activity, which will run for four years, seeks to increase access to agricultural finance in select staple and commodity value chains such as maize, groundnuts, shea, soy, mango, cashew, and other high-value export commodities.



The statement said the initiative would focus on facilitating transactions among buyers and sellers of the commodity crops and promoting exports.



Mrs Sullivan said the new programme was within the framework of the US and Ghanas long-standing partnership to improve food security, increase trade and investment flows, and support resilient and inclusive economic growth.



The US Government reaffirms its commitment to assist Ghanaians to achieve self-reliance by helping businesses reap higher revenues and by strengthening trade between Ghana and the United States," she stated.



"With the ability to access loans at lower affordable rates, micro, small, and medium agricultural enterprises, including women- and youth-owned businesses will be able to grow their businesses, expand into new markets, create good jobs, and export their goods.



The statement said the MFA activity would mobilize investment for Ghanas agricultural sector to become an engine of sustainable growth, self-reliance, and shared prosperity.



It would work to connect financial institutions, business advisory service providers, and agricultural enterprises, providing access to strategic partnerships, technical support, and smart incentives to help financing flow to where it was most needed and help more Ghanaians thrive.

Source: GNA









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Muntaka Mubarak, a member of the Muslim caucus in Parliament is urging the Ghana Education Service to enforce its rules to ensure that students in Senior High Schools suffer no discrimination due to their religion.



There has been a stand-off between the parents of some students of the Wesley Girls High School and the institution.



The schools decision to prevent the students from participating in the ongoing Ramadan fasting has been heavily condemned by some leading Muslim figures.



The Ghana Education Service issued a statement, ordering the school to allow the students carry out their religious obligations.



The Ghana Education Service, therefore, directs authorities of Wesley Girls High School as well as any other school to allow any such student who wishes to fast for any religious reason to do so.



The parents of such student are also directed to write to the school indicating that the school shall not be held liable for any health condition of the student as a result of the fast. Staff, students and the general public are to take note.



But this directive has been rejected by the school and the Methodist Church of Ghana.



In a statement, the church said it took a strong exception to the directive stressing that it cannot accede to the unilateral directive issued by the Ghana Education Service.



Speaking in a CitiNews interview, the Asawase MP charged the GES to implement its rules to safeguard the rights of the students.



He stated that enforcement of the rules will help the students practice their faith without any fear of discrimination.



We are worried about the sheer disregard to the concerns of others. We are worried about all the efforts we have made and the assurance by the presiding bishop. We are shocked. The statement they have issued has really sent a shock to us, and we believe that GES has to enforce the rules because failure to enforce the rules means everybody will have to do his own thing and I do not think that will augur well for the co-existence and unity of us as a country.



If GES fails [to enforce laws], they will be setting another bad precedent. I can bet you most of the Islamic schools will begin to have sharia as their rules. I think that GES must stand its grounds and enforce its rules.









Source: GNA









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Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, says claims by some members of the public that there is a culture of silence in the country are untrue.



He said government was working to satisfy the constitutional mandate required for the functioning of the country's democracy, the claim that there is a culture of silence in this country; you cant talk in this country, we all know that cannot be the truth, he told Journalists in Bolgatanga.



Mr Nkrumah was on a three-day familiarisation tour of the North East, Upper East, Savannah, Upper West and Northern Regions.



All of you here operate freely on your various media outlets, he added.



According to him, journalists were Witnesses to the various layers that the government is putting on one another to ensure that we continue to protect the space that we are working in.



The Minister underscored the need for journalists to highlight the positives in society to help in the process of nation building and noted that the job of journalists was not only to highlight the ills in society, but were also charged with the responsibility to speak about the right things that were ongoing in society.



Mr Nkrumah said the Akufo-Addo administration remained resolute at ensuring that the freedoms of expression and media as provided in the 1992 Constitution were upheld.



In fact the Kufuor administration where President Akufo-Addo was Attorney General, is the one that led the exercise to repeal the criminal libel law, and further opened the frontiers of freedoms of media beyond what the constitution had provided, he said.



Mr Nkrumah noted the Right To Information (RTI) bill which was in Parliament for more than 20years, was passed into law when President Akufo-Addo assumed office, saying That is another layer adding to the freedoms of media and freedoms of expressions that we enjoy.



He emphasized that It is important that we highlight these positives, because if we dont, somebody sitting somewhere may think that we are becoming a banana republic, but you are witnesses to all of these positives.



The Minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi, said it was only when journalists were free and operated without intimidation that they could work well, and provide information.

Source: GNA









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The Zulu Queen, Mantfombi Dlamini-Zulu, who died unexpectedly last week, has been buried in a private ceremony in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.



She was appointed regent of the country's largest ethnic group in March following the death of her husband King Goodwill Zwelithini.



The queen's death, at 65, has triggered a bitter family feud and a power struggle over the succession.

The family has dismissed rumours that she had been poisoned.



But the cause of the queen's death is yet to be announced by the royal family.



Her eldest son Prince Misizulu, who is seen as the favourite to become the next king, has called for unity in a speech.



"We have no doubt we will unite as a family. Let us emulate the king by being peaceful and continue to love all the queens," TimesLives quotes him as saying at his mother's memorial.



He also reflected on her qualities, adding "she was my strength, she was an extraordinary mother. She taught us love, respect and the value of hard work, the importance of honouring tradition".



The decision on who will now lead the Zulu nation of about 11 million people is yet to be made.



The throne does not have formal political power and the monarch's role within broader South African society is largely ceremonial. But the Zulu monarchy remains hugely influential, and has a yearly taxpayer-funded budget of more than $4.9m (3.5m).



Queen Dlamini-Zulu was buried at KwaKhangelamankengane Royal Palace in a town about 480km (300 miles) from South Africa's main city Johannesburg in the early hours of Friday morning after a night vigil.

Source: BBC









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With barely 48 hours to go, Achimota Mall has announced it has stumbled onto a new recipe for appreciating, pampering and literally spoiling mothers, during this years Mothers Day celebration.



Achimota Retail Centre (Achimota Mall) management says a superb blend of special body care treatment for mother, a series of exciting experiential engagements and some well-tailored giveaways should be enough to make this years Mothers Day an indelible occasion for any mother.



The mall has been busy all weeklong perfecting the recipe, and setting up to deliver what the Marketing Manager, Kobby Ampong, describes as a lifetime treat for all our mothers.



The recipe is unique..an extended version of what Mothers Day celebrations normally look like. This year, following all the anxieties and stress, brought by the COVID pandemic, we are giving our patrons and their families a therapeutic recreational package that should turn things around for everyone  especially our dear mothers, Ampong told journalists in an interview.



In what appeared to be a sneak line-up of what will happen at the Centre on Mothers Day and beyond, the Marketing Manager said, during the next couple of weeks, starting from this weekend, the malls ambience will switch to that of a pleasantly soothing family setting, generated by classic DJ music, special gourmet offering from food vendors, cultural shows, eye-popping magical and comic shows, acrobatic displays and Kizomba dance demonstrations, Kobby Ampong told journalists in an interview.













On Mothers Day itself, we will look out for five lucky mothers for special recognition and attention. Could be anybodys mother, but we will take over the spoiling business, and this will include offering them respective full-body massage sessions, courtesy of our massage experts, Body Basics and give them gifts of fabrics from MV Accessories, he disclosed.



He further disclosed that special rewards have been reserved for patrons who will be picked randomly for displaying exciting photographs of themselves and their mother along with a special message of appreciation for mother in front of their favourite ARC shop, or at a special Mothers Day Photobooth.



Every mother in Accra is entitled to be part of this exceptional Mothers Day episode, Ampong said, adding that the least a mother and child may take home is a souvenir photo memorabilia of a good time with family, which every mother visiting the mall (and their relations) can take at the special Mothers Day Photo Booth designed and erected for the purpose.



Located at Dome, off the Accra-Nsawam highway, Achimota Retail Centre, popularly known by patrons as the Achimota Mall has brought modern, secured one-stop shopping to the south-eastern quarter of the capital since 2015 and now serves diverse social categories from almost a dozen adjoining communities in the Ga East Municipal Area



The Centre is anchored by the popular food store chain, Shoprite and the general merchandise retailer, Game and offers customers an appealing variety of tenant mix comprising both international and Ghanaian brands with offerings in different retail categories including, fashion and clothing, electronics, grocery and a range of alluring delicatessen and eateries.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) have been directed to identify and demolish all illegal structures situated on waterways in their respective areas.



The Ministry of Works and Housing is asking the Assemblies to pull down such structures constructed without permit since they impede the course of water bodies, Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye, the Minister, ordered.



They should also follow due process in the way building permits were issued to developers to help check such illegal practices, which had over the years contributed significantly to the recurrent flooding in the country, he added.



Mr Asenso-Boakye, in an interview with the media, after inspecting the drainage system in some parts of Kumasi, estimated that about 400 structures were illegally sited on waterways in the Ashanti Region.



This trend must be nipped in the bud given the related negative consequences on the society, the Minister observed.

The Ministry, he said, was worried over the impudence with which some developers had encroached environmental buffer zones, warning that any official caught to have compromised his or her duties would be dealt with.



Mr Asenso-Boakye was in the Region for a three-day working visit, and accompanied by officials of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), as well as technical men and Heads of Departments and Agencies under the Ministry.



While in Kumasi, the Minister inspected the Asafo Market, South- Suntreso, Susanso and Atafoa drainage systems, which have a high deposit of solid waste, resulting in their blockage and recurrent flooding, especially in the rainy season.

At South-Suntreso, the delegation, including; the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr. Osei Assibey-Antwi, ordered the immediate eviction of a retail fuel dealer selling some of his products close to a stream.



Some gallons of fuel, belonging to the retailer, were also seized by officials of the NADMO and ordered to produce his business permit.



Mr Asenso-Boakye said the nation could not afford to destroy what nature had bequeathed the people, saying it was in the interest of all that the varied water resources were protected at all cost for posterity's sake.



He said there were plans in place to open up the drainage systems in the Kumasi Metropolis to stem the perennial flooding in some of the areas.



Mr Assibey-Antwi advised the citizenry to demonstrate a high sense of discipline in the management of environmental sanitation.

Source: GNA









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Senior Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Asah Asante has spewed venom on the government regarding its fight against illegal mining.



He accused the government of knowing the people involved in illegal mining.



He stated that the illegal miners are not "ghosts" but rather are members and supporters of the various political parties.



Speaking on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Dr. Asah Asante was displeased with the way illegal miners or galamseyers have a leeway to operate despite the several warnings and actions by the government to stop them.



He believed until the government removes her political lenses and deals with the illegal miners, the war against illegal mining, otherwise called galamsey, will continue to be greatly challenged.



The Senior Political Science lecturer called on the Akufo-Addo government not to spare any person involved in galamsey, irrespective of their political affiliations.



"We know those engaged in this; a lot of them are party folks. I state it categorically. This is according to research; party folks and some foreigners are involved in this. So, we know those doing these activities."



"Why can't we fish them out and prosecute them?" he questioned.







Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has stressed that remarkable track record of the Akufo-Addo government in fixing problems, means the government is on course to tackle economic challenges brought about by the effects of the coronavirus on world economies.



Prices of commodities such as oil have shot up dramatically worldwide, and in Ghana, a section of the population has also been lamenting about the sudden price hikes in cement and iron rods, which industry players explain is due to international effects of the pandemic.



Dr. Bawumia has however, assured the Ghanaian citizenry that the primary responsibility of the Akufo-Addo government is to solve problems and the government has the track record to overcome the present challenges.



"We are four months into our four year mandate. The job of government is to fix problems. This is what we have been doing since 2017," Dr. Bawumia wrote on his Facebook page.



He added: "The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the global economy and caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement and iron rods as well as overall cost of shipping."



"Nevertheless, it is very important to place the performance of our government over the last four years after inheriting an economy with no meat on the bone on record."



"Ours is a government that listens and cares. The facts and data speak for themselves."



The Vice President then listed a number of problems the Akufo-Addo government has fixed in the last four years, which included positive economic indicators, social interventions to ameliorate the suffering of the people, job creation, improved agriculture, critical infrastructure development, digitization, among others.



Below is the full post by the Vice President:

Your browser does not support iframes.

Source: Office of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia









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Bono Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Kwame Baffoe affectionately called Abronye DC says National Security must keep an eye on Conveners of the #FixTheCountry demonstration.



He claims they have a mindset of 'coup plotters', adding that their activities are a threat to the country.



National Security must start investigating them since they have the mindset of plotting a coup . . . the Conveners of the #FixTheCountry demonstration are planning something . . .  he said in an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie.



Abronye DC explained that, a similar demonstration happened in Nigeria and later the authorities found out that the Conveners were coup plotters. We wont allow this to happen in this country.



Police injunction against #FixTheCountry demo



The Accra Regional Police Command had indicated that it cannot permit the march after receiving the campaigners letter to that effect.



The police secured a restraining order from an Accra High Court, presided over by Justice Ruby Aryeetey to stop the planned protest.



This follows an affidavit filed by the police against the Conveners of the protest march pursuant to Section 1 (6) of the Public Order Act, 1994 (Act 491).







However, according to the Conveners, they will disregard an unconstitutional conduct of the police to the effect that they cannot proceed on their May 9 march due to COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings.The group said in its letter to the police that the event, which is a single-purpose one, is being organised on the back of a string of consistently broken promises by successive governments; and in the exercise of our democratic rights as citizens to express our frustration over perennial governmental incompetence, refusal, and/or inability to fix the country.The organisers said they believe, "as does the President, that democracy is not a spectator sport, adding, We are committed to improving the substance of governance in this country by ensuring that the ordinary voices of Ghanaians provide a mechanism to hold elected officials accountable.There comes a point where enough is enough. Just fix the Country!!! Thats our only message. We have had it with purposeful deceit and the absence of truth and genuine accountability in how this country is being governed," the group said.But NPPs Abronye DC maintained that, the country will not tolerate any uprise that will lead to something else. The Conveners must be investigated.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Spokesperson for Vice President Dr. Bawumia, Dr. Gideon Boako has appealed to Ghanaians to exercise patience and watch the Akufo-Addo government deliver on her promises to improve their lives.



There have been public agitations over President Nana Akufo-Addo's performance in his second term.



Social media has gone awash with incessant calls on the President to fix the country.



#Fixit or #fixthecountry has been the trending message on social media after news broke that there is going to be increment in fuel prices.



The citizens have begun to complain bitterly about the President failing them, stating his administration has worsened their plight.



Addressing the issue on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Dr. Gideon Boako noted that the government hasn't abandoned her promises.



He explained that Ghana's development is a gradual process, therefore Ghanaians should continue to repose their confidence in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his government as it's only a "matter of time" and Ghanaians will wake up to see the development they desire.



He asked the citizens to support the President in his efforts to send Ghana to the promised land.



"We're humans. Our desire is to do the will of the people but, as human as we are, we have setbacks. We can't do it all. However, whatever stage we reach in doing the best for the people, we believe we need the help of the people and when we go astray too, the people should correct us . . . So, we need the help and support of every Ghanaian," he said.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Head of Monitoring Unit at the Forestry Commission, Charles Owusu has joined the #fixthecountry crusaders to tell President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to up his performance and address the challenges of Ghanaians.



There is currently a public outcry over the administration of the President.



Many Ghanaians have begun complaining bitterly about how the President is steering the affairs of the country.



The President has been told to fix the country because he seems to have relaxed and also making bad decisions which are badly impacting the lives of Ghanaians.



Hashtag 'fix the country' or 'fix it' has been generated by social media users to convey their grievances to the President.



Celebrities like musicians; Captain Planet, Kwaw Kese, actor cum politician John Dumelo, actress Efia Odo, Lydia Forson, broadcaster Nana Aba Anamoah among others have all added their voices to the crusade.



The #fixthecountry crusaders have threatened to embark on a demonstration to register their displeasure with the President's administration.



Speaking on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Charles Owusu shared the sentiments of Ghanaians complaining about the President's performance in his second term.



He stated that the populace's concerns are legitimate because they voted the government into power and if things are going south, they have every right to complain.



"To whom much is given, much is expected. You are the ones that we've given power to. We've given you the power because we love and have confidence in you. So, if things are not going well, we have every right to complain and ask you to do the right thing for us," he said.



Charles Owusu advised the President to hasten his steps and take measures to improve the lives of Ghanaians.



"We will tell the government that you have done some good things but we plead you will hasten to do more good works because we really need help . . . Things are delaying. The government must quicken herself and do things quickly," he stressed.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Mr Anthony Akoto Ampaw, Lead Counsel of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2020 Presidential Election Petition, has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to review election results coalition processes.



I believe that the EC itself and other stakeholders need a closer review of the actual processes and procedures that they took in arriving at the final Coalition of results in the 2020 Elections. And to see whether there is the need for some reforms, Mr Akoto Ampaw stated in his submission at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana) Roundtable dubbed, Presidential Election Petitions and their Impact on Africas Democracy.



I can see quite clearly that there may be some reforms to the CI (Constitutional Instrument) 127; looking at it, I can see that from this experience. But I am saying that given the issues that were brought before the Court, frankly speaking, the Court had very little opportunity to make any recommendations for reforms. Mr Akoto Ampaw said.



He noted that if one had a case of this nature before the Highest Court, and the case raised substantial issues of facts, then one could expect that in coming out with a judgement, the Supreme Court apart from making a decision, would make recommendations based on some of the issues of facts that were raised in the cause of trial.



But honestly, I am of the view that legally speaking, there was no case before the Supreme Court, he said.



He noted that where a substantive grievance was brought before the Court, even if the Court should rule against the petitioner, the Court might see the need to make recommendations.



Dr Dominic Akuritinga Ayine, a member of former President John Dramani Mahamas Legal Team in the 2020 Presidential Election Petition, in a rebuttal, noted that even a Justice of the Supreme Court, who was part of the panel of judges that sat on the case, said there was a reasonable cause of action in the case that was brought before the Court.



Dr Ayine maintained that what Mr Akoto Ampaw was saying was not what the Court said.



He said the ruling of the Apex Court in the 2020 Presidential Election Petition had dampened his faith in the Judiciary.

Source: GNA









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Mr Mahama Ayariga, Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, and six others, accused of procurement breaches in respect of an ambulance acquisition have been acquitted and discharged by an Accra High Court.



Ayariga and six others were freed after the court upheld a submission of no case filed by lawyers of the accused persons.



The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central and six others were charged by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) breaching the procurement Act .



Accused persons case, is one of the cases filed by the OSP before the court presided over by Justice Mrs Afia Serwa Asare- Botwe.



Accused persons were being held on seven counts of conspiracy, abetment, contravention of the procedure for request for quotation, using public office for profit and transfer of foreign exchange from Ghana through an unauthorised dealer.



The seven accused persons denied all the charges and were admitted to bail.



The seven were accused of acting together to import an ambulance without following due processes under the procurement Act.



Mr. Ayariga was standing trial together with Hajia Hawa Ninchema, Sumaila Ewuntomah Abudu, Alex Vadze, Alhaji Abdul-Mumuni Jesewunde, Mary Stella Adapesa and Mumuni Yakubu Nambe.

Source: GNA









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An African wild dog crosses a small channel in the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Swamps, rivers and lakes, on the other hand, are usually hardly surmountable obstacles. Credit: Dominik Behr

The world's largest terrestrial conservation area is located in southern Africa and covers 520,000 square kilometers spanning five countries. A study from the University of Zurich now shows that the endangered African wild dog mostly remains within the boundaries of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) when dispersing, thus highlighting the relevance of such a large-scale conservation initiative for maintaining key wildlife corridors of threatened species.

Dispersal is an important process governing the persistence of wild animal populations. Upon reaching sexual maturity, individuals usually disperse from their natal home range to search for suitable habitat and mates for reproduction. As such, dispersal promotes gene flow among populations, allows rescuing small and isolated populations, and enables the colonization of unoccupied habitats. In human-dominated landscapes, however, dispersing animals find it increasingly difficult to cross densely populated areas that separate suitable habitats. For this reason, the identification and preservation of wildlife corridors has become of utmost importance for conservation authorities worldwide.

In southern Africa, the governments of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe have agreed to preserve an unprecedented network of wildlife corridors, connecting up to 35 already-existing national parks, game reserves and other protected areas. The Kavango-Zambezi Conservation Area (KAZA) spans roughly 520,000 square kilometers, making it the world's largest terrestrial conservation area. But do the boundaries of the KAZA match the dispersal behavior of the species it seeks to protect? Researchers at the University of Zurich sought to answer this question by studying the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), the most endangered and most mobile species in the KAZA.

Critically endangered large predator

African wild dogs currently number around 6,000 free-ranging individuals acrossa few remaining populations in southern and eastern Africa. Wild dogs live in packs of up to 30 individuals that are led by one dominant couple. After reaching sexual maturity, wild dogs disperse in an attempt to find potential mates and suitable territory to settle. Similar to wolves, wild dogs can cover hundreds of kilometers during this journey.

African wild dogs in the Moremi Game Reserve in northern Botswana. The animal in front has a GPS collar that records the distance travelled during migration. Credit: Arpat Ozgul/UZH

"We wanted to find out how and where dispersing wild dogs move and investigate whether the different populations within the Kavango-Zambezi Conservation Area are able to connect with each other," says David Hofmann, first author of the study and Ph.D. student at the Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies. For this purpose, the UZH research team put GPS collars on several wild dogs and used the tracking data to find out which habitats dispersers prefer to cross and ultimately to predict which areas contain suitable wildlife corridors.

Very few corridors outside the conservation area

The results suggest that most of the identified wildlife corridors are located within the KAZA, with northern Botswana appearing to act as a central hub for dispersing individuals. Another important corridor connects national parks in Angola and Zambia. "While the corridor still runs through areas that are largely unprotected, the KAZA initiative does intend to place these zones under protection," says Hofmann. "There's still potential for expansion though as several suitable dispersal routes remain currently uncovered by the KAZA."

Wildlife corridors for dispersing wild dogs inside and outside southern Africas Kavango-Zambezi conservation area, the worlds largest terrestrial conservation area. Credit: UZH

Not all areas are equally suitable for establishing wildlife corridors. In some countries, dispersers encounter little obstacles during dispersal, whereas in countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe, high population densities and associated activities hinder animal movements. The researchers have thus urged that these country-specific differences have to be taken into consideration when implementing the KAZA initiative.

Lions and elephants also stand to benefit

The statistical methods and movement data employed in this study will not only be of use to decision-makers involved with the KAZA initiative, but can also be used to create new protected areas or to modify existing zones. The researchers' findings emphasize that the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area largely meets the needs of dispersing African wild dogs, thereby making an important contribution to conserving this endangered species in southern Africa. "Ultimately, expanding the network of wildlife corridors doesn't just help African wild dogs. Other species that live in the same ecosystem such as lions, elephants and cheetahs are also likely to benefit," says Hofmann.

About the KAZA initiative

Southern Africa is home to the world's largest terrestrial conservation initiative: the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA). Stretching across Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the KAZA covers an area of around 520,000 square kilometers, making it larger than Germany, Austria and Switzerland combined. This unprecedented initiative seeks to connect a total of 35 already-existing national parks, game reserves and other protected to preserve a dense network of wildlife corridors for populations of endangered species. The KAZA will be formally established based on an international treaty between the participating African countries.

Explore further Camera traps reveal extraordinary wildlife

More information: Do protected areas cover movement corridors of their most mobile, protected species? Journal of Applied Ecology. 7 May 2021. Journal information: Journal of Applied Ecology Do protected areas cover movement corridors of their most mobile, protected species?. 7 May 2021. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.13868
This work lays out nicely how a phenomenon once thought to be particularly human turns out to be closely tied to behavior shared with species separated from humans by tens of millions of years, said UCLA professor Greg Bryant. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Human laughter is common, but it's a somewhat mysterious part of our evolution. It's clear to evolutionary scholars that we laugh as a part of play, signaling our cooperation or friendliness. But how did laughter evolve? And are humans the only ones who do it?

Not a chance: Animals laugh too, researchers have observed.

In a new article published in the journal Bioacoustics, primatologist and UCLA anthropology graduate student Sasha Winkler and UCLA professor of communication Greg Bryant take a closer look at the phenomenon of laughter across the animal kingdom.

The pair combed through the existing scientific literature on animal play behavior, looking for mentions of vocal play signalsor what might be thought of as laughter.

They found such vocal play behavior documented in at least 65 species. That list includes a variety of primates, domestic cows and dogs, foxes, seals, and mongooses, as well as three bird species, including parakeets and Australian magpies.

"This work lays out nicely how a phenomenon once thought to be particularly human turns out to be closely tied to behavior shared with species separated from humans by tens of millions of years," Bryant said.

The researchers looked for information on whether the animal vocalizations were recorded as noisy or tonal, loud or quiet, high-pitched or low-pitched, short or long, a single call or a rhythmic patternseeking known features of play sounds.

There's much existing documentation of play-based body language among animals, such as what is known as "play face" in primates or "play bows" in canines, the researchers noted.

Since what constitutes "play" in much of the animal kingdom is rough-and-tumble and can also resemble fighting, play sounds can help emphasize non-aggression during such physical moments, the article suggests.

"When we laugh, we are often providing information to others that we are having fun and also inviting others to join," Winkler said. "Some scholars have suggested that this kind of vocal behavior is shared across many animals who play, and as such, laughter is our human version of an evolutionarily old vocal play signal."

While Winkler and Bryant say that further observation and research into vocalizations would be fruitful, they also note that such observations can be hard to come by in the wild, especially for animals whose play sounds might be quieter.

Paying attention to other species in this way sheds light on the form and function of human laughter, the researchers write, and helps us to better understand the evolution of human social behavior.

Explore further Ability to identify genuine laughter transcends culture, study finds

More information: Sasha L. Winkler et al. Play vocalizations and human laughter: a comparative review, Bioacoustics (2021). Sasha L. Winkler et al. Play vocalizations and human laughter: a comparative review,(2021). DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2021.1905065
A pair of contemporary Cambodian houses: The house in the background is made from wood and modern materials. The house in the foreground was built traditionally from organic materials such as wood and thatch. An international research team has unveiled where such organic-made homes once stood in the Greater Angkor region and how many people lived in each dwelling. Credit: Alison Carter

Long-running archaeological research, boosted by airborne lidar sensing and machine-learning algorithms, finds that Cambodia's Greater Angkor region was home to 700,000-900,000 people.

The sprawling city, which thrived from the 9th to 15th centuries, has slowly revealed its forest-hidden past to archaeologists, but its total population has been a mystery.

The new estimate, made possible by a study designed at the University of Oregon, is the first for the entire 3,000-square-kilometer mix of urban and rural landscape. The findings published May 7 in the journal Science Advances.

The finding is vital for potentially helping cities under pressure of climate change, said co-author Roland Fletcher of the University of Sydney and director of the Angkor Research Program, a collaboration with Cambodia's Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor.

"We predominantly are living in giant low-density cities around the world that are similar to Angkor, which displayed serious vulnerability to severe climate change," Fletcher said. "We really need to know the mechanics of how Angkor worked and what people were doing to get some idea of how referable those experiences are to the risks that we face in our future."

With the combined data, including that from several decades of research by international and Cambodian researchers, the new study revealed population details of Angkor's ceremonial city center, the metropolis extending outward like modern suburbia and embankments incorporating agricultural areas. Angkor was a low-density city, with its population spread out across a wide area.

An initial population estimate was for 750,000 residents in an area of 1,000-square kilometers around central Angkor, Fletcher said. In this area are stone religious temples, including Angkor Wat that attract tourists.

Beyond the stone temples of central Angkor were homes and locations of supporting structures, all made of organic materials reclaimed by the jungle, said UO archaeologist Alison K. Carter, an expert in fine-grain archaeological research who has conducted fieldwork in Cambodia since 2005.

Carter was co-lead author with Sarah Klassen, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia. The two planned and designed the study while Klassen was a visiting scholar at the UO with support from the Office of International Affairs' Global Oregon Faculty Collaboration Fund. In all, 14 long-active Angkor researchers collaborated.

Klassen brought machine-learning to the project, deploying a multilayered statistical analysis that merged data from historical archives and maps with details obtained of lidar scans of the region in a project led by co-author Damian Evans of the French Institute of Asian Studies, in 2012 and 2015.

Lidar, which is short for light detection and ranging, is done by sending laser pulses groundward from aircraft. It captures details of ground by ignoring ground clutter such as forests. The new data, Klassen said, "really transformed our understanding of the landscape."

Lidar documented and mapped 20,000 features not seen before, adding to a previous database of 5,000 locations, said Klassen, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leiden.

"When you are on the ground in the main parts of the city center it is quite forested," Carter said. "As you walk around you can tell there is something in the landscape around you, but you cannot see anything clearly. Lidar gave us a beautiful grid of mounds and depressions, which we think were little ponds."

As initial lidar images were being transmitted, researchers at the Angkor field station stayed up into the early morning hours to watch, Fletcher said.

"It was absolutely fabulous," he said. "We had earlier radar data, but the amount of new information was staggering, especially because the lidar images captured the entire region in great detail."

The new data have been organized into different periods of Angkor's growth, particularly in the lifetimes of kings who were most influential to infrastructure changes, said Carter, who heads the UO's Southeast Asian Archeology Lab.

Lidar showed where houses, which had been built on mounds and elevated on posts, had stood. Researchers estimated that five people lived in each household and extrapolated that data to assess the region's total population.

"We looked at the growth of the city of Angkor over time," Carter said. "We found that different parts of the city grew in different ways. The way we think about population growth in cities and suburbs today is probably the same for Angkor."

The study's findings enhance the "comparative understanding of premodern urbanism," said co-author Miriam T. Stark, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

"Studying Angkor's population is important for envisioning the future's urbanism with respect to global climate change," Stark said. "Angkor was a tropical city that persisted through centuries of political and climatic volatility. Tracking its history and tipping point could help urban planners understand some kinds of constraints that face increasing numbers of the world's cities."

Klassen's machine learning contributions initially were published in a 2018 study in PLOS ONE.

"In this new paper," she said, "we introduced statistical learning paradigms and our archaeological case study and dataset. We then explored four classical mathematical approaches to find statistically significant predictors to date temples built in different locations in the region."

That led to a historical model for temples built between the modern-era years of 821-1149 within an absolute average error of 49-66 years.

"This was critical for our study, because it allowed us to see how the metropolitan area developed in comparison to the civic-ceremonial centers," Klassen said. "It also allowed us to estimate populations connected to the temples and see how those population changed over time."

Population information paves the way for better understanding Angkor's economics and resilience, said co-author Christophe Pottier of the French Institute of Asian Studies, who has researched the site for 30 years.

Periods of growth covered in the new study occurred between 770 and 1300.

Future research, Fletcher said, will more deeply examine the expansion of population clusters.

"What was the population of Angkor prior to this sample period? We have to get below all of the current structures with archaeology to predict and model earlier periods," he said.

Klassen and Carter's contributions are crucial to future research, Fletcher said.

Several of the new study's co-authors, including Carter, Evans and Stark, and other collaborators have questioned the conception that Angkor depopulated quickly due to climate pressures in the 15th century.

"We can tell from our archaeological data that that were still people on the landscape, and there is evidence of modifications being made to temples into the 16th century," Carter said. "Our work isn't really designed to answer the timing question for the shift of population away from this area, but it probably happened much slower than long thought."

Explore further Archaeologists use airborne lasers to solve mystery of Angkor's demise

More information: Sarah Klassen et al, Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex, Science Advances (2021). Journal information: Science Advances , PLoS ONE Sarah Klassen et al, Diachronic modeling of the population within the medieval Greater Angkor Region settlement complex,(2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf8441
The Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Credit: 123rf.com

The landmark Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson upheld the doctrine of "separate but equal," but for many decades after that segregation was enforced in virtually all aspects of life, including the military.

"Segregation, Integration, and Death: Evidence from the Korean War," a new study from Rice University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), examines whether segregation or integration led to unequal fatality rates on the battlefield.

Researchers Connor Huff, an assistant professor of political science at Rice, and Robert Schub, an assistant professor of political science at UNL, studied records of soldiers' deaths during the first half of the Korean War, when troops were segregated, versus the second half, when troops were integrated. They collected data on racial composition and size of military units, and the number of deaths of white and Black soldiers.

The study found that Black and white soldiers' fatality rates were similar, regardless of whether they were serving in segregated or integrated units. Historical details of the Korean War help explain the surprising lack of racial discrepancies.

"Throughout much of the Korean War, the U.S. military was underprepared and undermanned," Huff said. "Military commanders were putting soldiers where they were most necessary, and the need for battlefield contributions seems to have overridden any of the discriminatory behavior that could have led to different fatality rates between white and Black soldiers."

Huff said he and Schub "did notice more variation in deaths by race over a given time period. For example, one month there might be higher fatality rates among white soldiers, because white troops went into battle and sustained heavy losses, and the next month the same thing might happen to Black soldiers. However, this variability disappeared once troops were integrated."

The study will appear in an upcoming edition of the journal International Organization.

Explore further Death of female soldiers does not diminish support for war

More information: Connor Huff et al. Segregation, Integration, and Death: Evidence from the Korean War, International Organization (2021). Connor Huff et al. Segregation, Integration, and Death: Evidence from the Korean War,(2021). DOI: 10.1017/S002081832100014X
Military experts in the US expect the body of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket to fall to the surface some time over the weekend

China said Friday the risk of damage from a rocket falling back to Earth was "extremely low", after the United States warned it could crash down on to an inhabited area.

Military experts in the US expect the body of the Long March 5B rocket, which separated from Beijing's space station, to come down some time around Saturday or Sunday, but warned it was difficult to predict where it will land and when.

But Beijing downplayed the risk of danger.

"The probability of causing harm to aviation activities or (on people and activities) on the ground is extremely low," foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Most of the rocket components would likely be destroyed upon re-entry into the atmosphere, he added, saying authorities "will inform the public of the situation in a timely manner".

China has poured billions of dollars into space exploration in efforts to reflect its rising global stature and growing technological might, following in the extra-terrestrial footsteps of the United States, Russia and Europe.

As fevered speculation over the rocket's trajectory back to Earth pinballed across social media, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday said the US military had no plans to shoot it down.

"We have the capability to do a lot of things, but we don't have a plan to shoot it down," Austin told journalists.

Hopefully, he said, the rocket will land "in a place where it won't harm anyone... the ocean, or someplace like that".

Even if the rocket or parts of it do fall from the sky, without breaking up on re-entry, there is a good chance it will just splash down into the ocean on a planet made up of 70 percent water.

But Austin suggested that the Chinese were negligent in letting the rocket body fall out of orbit, saying those who were in the "space domain" should "operate in a safe and thoughtful mode".

Diagram of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket, part of which is expected to make an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere Saturday or Sunday.

'Nation of science'

Space has become the latest theatre for the big power play between China and the United States.

The launch of China's first module of its "Heavenly Palace" space station in Aprilhousing life support equipment and a living space for astronautswas a milestone in Beijing's ambitious plan to establish a permanent human presence in space.

President Xi Jinping called it a key step in "building a great nation of science and technology".

With the retirement of the International Space Station after 2024, China's could become the only space station in Earth's orbit.

Although Chinese space authorities have said they are open to foreign collaboration, the scope of that cooperation is as yet unclear.

The European Space Agency has sent astronauts to China to receive training in order to be ready to work inside the Chinese space station once it is launched.

China also said in March it was planning to build a separate lunar space station with Russia.

The facility, planned for either the surface or in the orbit of the Moon, would house experimental research facilities and would be Beijing's biggest international space cooperation project to date.

The Long March rocket is not the first time China has lost control of a space craft as it returns to Earth.

The space laboratory Tiangong-1 disintegrated upon re-entry into the atmosphere in 2018, two years after it had stopped working, though Chinese authorities denied they had lost control of the ship.

 2021 AFP
On April 29, China launched the first module of its "Heavenly Palace" space station

China's rogue rocket is in an uncontrolled free-fall towards Earth and no one knows where or exactly when it will burn through Earth's atmosphere, but the risk of debris hitting an inhabited area remains very small, experts told AFP Friday.

What happened?

On April 29, China launched the first module of its "Heavenly Palace" space station, a milestone in Beijing's ambitious plan to establish a permanent human presence in space.

The module was propelled by a powerful Long March 5B rocket, whose first stage is currently descending Earthward.

If Chinese ground engineers have no control over the booster stage's trajectory, it is not due to a technical failure or some unexplained glitch. The rocket was designed that way.

From a low Earth orbit, bodies are drawn gradually by gravity towards the surface of the planet.

Such objects are usually consumed by heat as friction from an increasingly dense atmosphere increases on approach.

But the Long March rocket is so massiveup to 18 tonnesthat is it unlikely to burn up entirely.

"Given the size of the object, there will necessarily be big pieces left over," said Florent Delefie, an astronomer at the Paris-PSL Observatory.

"If the rocket is composed of materials that don't separate on re-entry, it's even riskier," he added. "That would appear to be the case for the Long March 5B."

From a low Earth orbit, bodies are drawn gradually by gravity towards the surface of the planet

This was no doubt clear to Chinese flight engineers.

"The Chinese should have anticipated a controlled re-entry with a retrorocket, which is what the Russian did when they removed the Mir station from Earth orbit," explained Nicolas Bobrinsky, head of engineering and innovation at the European Space Agency.

Likely scenarios?

Given the rocket's altitude 150 to 250 kilometresits re-entry is very difficult to anticipate.

Because lower levels in the atmosphere are more prone to variations in density, "we can't really say exactly when that will happen," Bobrinsky said.

As of late Friday, European time, it was forecast that re-entry would happen between 21:00 GMT Saturday and 0700 GMT Sunday. That range will continue to narrow in the coming hours.

"But even one hour before impact, the level of uncertainty will be high," Bobrinsky said.

One thing is sure: the spent booster is orbiting on an inclination to the equator of about 41 degrees. This means that any debris will fall within 41 degrees North and 41 degrees South, which includes the tropics and a generous band on either side.

Greece, Spain and north Africa are within that belt, as are most of the United States and China. France and Germany lie outside it.

"The chances of debris landing on an inhabited zone are tiny, probably one in a million," said an expert from the European Space Agency

The most likely landing zone is water, simply because nearly three-quarters of the surface of the planet is covered by oceans.

"The chances of debris landing on an inhabited zone are tiny, probably one in a million," said Delefie.

Even if fragments of the rocket do land on buildings, the speed of impact will be relatively slow at about 200 kilometres per hour (125 miles per hour). By comparison, a meteorite can reach speeds of 36,000 km/hr as it hurtles towards Earth.

Has this happened before?

In 2020, debris from another Long March rocket fell on villages in the Ivory Coast, causing structural damages but no injuries or deaths.

Since the launch of the first satellite in 1957 by the Soviet Union, tonnes of rocket stages, satellites and instruments have been sent into space.

NASA estimates that there are about 34,000 objects of at least 10 centimetres (four inches) in diameter circling Earth's today.

Since the beginning of the space age more than 60 years ago, some 6,000 objects have made an uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, and only once has any debris struck a human being. Even then it did not result in injury, according to Stijn Lemmens, an expert at ESA.

 2021 AFP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Physicists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg (FAU) have for the first time been able to prove a long-predicted but as yet unconfirmed fundamental effect. In Faraday chiral anisotropy, the propagation characteristics of light waves are changed simultaneously by the natural and magnetic-field induced material properties of the medium through which the light travels. The researchers obtained proof that this is the case by conducting experiments using nickel helices at the nanometer scale. Their findings have now been published in the academic journal Physical Review Letters.

Light is transmitted as sine waves consisting of crossed electric and magnetic fields and interacts with matter. This interaction can be influenced, in particular, by external magnetic fields. One of the most well-known examples of this magneto-optical activity is the Faraday effect: if light is directed through a magnetic medium, such as a crystal, the polarization plane of the light waves tilts at a certain angle. This phenomenon is caused purely due to the magnetic field and becomes more pronounced if the light passes through the medium again in the opposite direction. The rotation effect can only be neutralized if the direction of the magnetic field is changed as well.

The opposite effect is seen in the natural optical activity of chiral mediums without a magnetic field, in which the rotation of the polarization plane is canceled out when the light passes through the medium once more in the opposite direction. Chiral means that molecules or figures have a mirror image which cannot be superimposed onto it simply by rotation. Examples are a human's left and right hands or snail shells with spirals running in opposite directions. Sugar molecules are also chiral. The way they interact with light can be used, for example, to determine the concentration of sugar in grapes.

Following in the footsteps of Louis Pasteur

Scientists have been aware of both phenomenanatural and magnetic optical activityfor more than 150 years, and for almost the same time, scientists have been sure that a combination of the two must exist. "Even Louis Pasteur, the famous French scientist, tried to prove a correlation using various different experiments," explains Vojislav Krsti, Professor of Applied Physics at FAU. "Of course, Pasteur didn't have the sensitive instruments for measuring frequency which we have today. But even using this technology, proof has still remained elusive, largely due to the fact that no one has designed a suitable experiment setup."

An international collaboration led by Vojislav Krsti has now succeeded where Pasteur and many other researchers have failed. They have become the first to confirm "Faraday chiral anisotropy' in an experiment, providing one of the last missing pieces in fundamental magneto-optical theory. Their success was due to a unique experiment setup based on nickel helices. The researchers produced spirals spiraling in a clockwise and and in an anticlockwise direction, similar in form to Italian fusilli pasta, at the nanometre scale by vaporizing nickel and bringing atoms back together on a revolving disk. "The rotation of the disk means that the nanostructures take on a screw shape instead of forming into pillars as is usually the case," explains Krsti.

A 'forest' of helices as a chiral medium

For the experiment itself, a "forest" of magnetic nickel helices was set up on a layer of silver. In one part of the experiment, only anti-clockwise spirals were used, and in the second only clockwise ones. The helices acted as a chiral medium, and the layer of silver reflected the beam of light directed at it. "The fact that we reflected the light instead of simply directing it through the medium was a deciding factor," says Vojislav Krsti.

The idea behind the experiment was that if the light passes through the helices both on the outward and the return journey, and if the direction of the magnetic field is changed with a great degree of precision, then in theory the two fundamental effects should cancel each other out, no matter whether the helices are clockwise or anti-clockwise. If both phenomena influence each other, however, then a net signal should be left over which behaves in the opposite fashion for clockwise and anti-clockwise helices. Krsti notes, "We did indeed measure a net signal just like this, thereby proving the correlation of the chiral and magnetic effect. It was one of those 'Eureka!' moments every researcher dreams of."

Astro research in the laboratory and impulses for quantum electronics

With their research, the researchers led by Vojislav Krsti have not only succeeded in providing experimental proof of a magneto-optics theory which has long been predicted. Their approach also means that researchers will be able to research certain astrophysical phenomena on Earth. It is thought, for example, that Faraday chiral anisotropy takes place in magnetized gas clouds in which certain astroparticles modify the light spectrum radiated out by galactic and intergalactic media. The findings could also give new impulses for further study of quantum technologies for electronic switches, as the described optomagnetic process is also found analogously during electronic excitation in solid bodies.

Explore further Study provides detailed look at intriguing property of chiral materials

More information: Jose M. Caridad et al, Detection of the Faraday Chiral Anisotropy, Physical Review Letters (2021). Journal information: Physical Review Letters Jose M. Caridad et al, Detection of the Faraday Chiral Anisotropy,(2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.177401
Satellite-based measurements of factors such as soil moisture offer great potential for agricultural insurance. Credit: iStock / koto_feja

Extreme weather poses increasing challenges to the agricultural sector. New insurance models based on satellite data may reduce the risk of drought for farmers, writes Robert Finger.

Climate change is increasing drought risk to many areas. Droughts already cause massive yield losses on a regular basis, and coping with this risk is becoming increasingly important to farmers. In addition to the use of irrigation systems and drought-tolerant crops, crop insurance could potentially play a major role. The global agricultural insurance market is growing rapidly, but few options focus on drought.

One promising approach to better drought insurance models that is yet to receive due attention involves the use of satellite data. The quantity and quality is increasing steadily, and well-validated, high-resolution data products are often freely available. This allows drought events globally to be monitored efficiently and in near real-time.

Objective, pragmatic and efficient

In a perspective piece in Nature Food, we examined the potential of satellites for drought risk crop insurance. Satellite-based measurements open up new possibilities, in particular for index insurance. In this alternative to traditional insurance models, the payment is based on an objective index rather than the actual damage to the crops. If a parameter that is being monitored (e.g. by satellite), such as soil moisture, falls below a critical level, the payout is made automatically.

This mechanism is especially suitable for drought, as this usually affects large areas: it ensures that farmers receive compensation quickly and unbureaucratically, even if crops fail at the same time throughout an entire region.

In addition, cultivation that was previously uninsurable, such as grassland and pasture, can be insured using satellites. The risk of drought here is high, but traditional loss adjustment methods are simply too expensive to apply to them. Spain and France, for example, already offer the first satellite-based insurance policies for grassland. This is highly relevant also to Switzerland, where grassland makes up more than 70 percent of all agricultural land.

Measuring plant growth from afar

Satellites can serve as a basis for insurance in a number of ways; they can determine vegetation indices, which can be correlated with crop losses in the event of drought, and soil moisture and evaporation from plants and the land surface (evapotranspiration) can also be measured efficiently. These variables are useful indicators of drought and resulting yield losses, which makes them suitable for drought insurance. However, they are not yet used in practice.

This form of insurance not only covers loss of production, but also might cover possible additional costs, such as from more intensive irrigation. If the payout is based on a regional drought index rather than actual yields, farmers will have an incentive to continue irrigating and producing, despite nearly complete insurance protection.

Blind to certain damage

Of course, these new opportunities also come with potential problems. Satellites do not reliably capture every single instance of damage in a field; consequently, an insurance may not cover all loss of income. In the worst case, insured farmers would be at a disadvantage to those without insurance; they would pay the insurance premium, but still incur the damage. However, a combination of good databases and well-designed insurance schemes could help reducing such problems.

Satellite-based monitoring data holds considerable potential for effectively lowering drought risk. Authorities could facilitate such insurance models by giving all those involved better access to relevant data sources. Improved access to satellite data and new insurance models also go hand in hand with the growing relevance of "smart farming" in agriculture.

Explore further A new drought monitoring approach
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

The explosion of satire in the Georgian period saw philosophers worry mockery could lead to abuse, research shows.

The "age of politeness" was also the age of ridicule, and this led to a "crisis of civility", according to the new book.

Satire, caricature and comedy thrived in 18th century Britain after censorship was relaxed. This led to moral panic as critics worried it would corrupt public debate. People worried about abuse in a similar way as they do about online rudeness today.

The study shows how philosophers of the time nevertheless defended the use of ridicule to expose arrogance and hypocrisy and hold the powerful to account. Uncivil Mirth, by Dr. Ross Carroll from the University of Exeter, examines how leading thinkers of the period tried to enlist ridicule for causes that served the public good, such as religious toleration and the abolition of the slave trade.

Dr. Carroll said: "This was not just an era of polite wit. Things were more complicated, and the assumption everyone was civil doesn't fully capture what happened in public life during the Enlightenment. Ridicule was sometimes used in a radical and aggressive way to tackle major social problems and individuals seen as dangerous."

"It was thought a blanket ban on rude speech would only benefit the powerful. At the same time there were worries that an increase of ridicule in public speech could lead to citizens gratuitously humiliating each other and wounding those who deserved at least basic respect."

Dr. Carroll examined correspondence between philosophers, their unpublished notebooks and their published texts, including their more satirical works. The aim of the book is to reconstruct the philosophical debate surrounding the uses and limitations of ridicule as an everyday practice of conversation and persuasion, whether in debating clubs, coffee shops, or in interactions between masters and domestic servants.

The debate was begun by Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury earned notoriety for maintaining that ridicule could be used anywhere and applied to anything, even to religion. He went so far as to champion it as a better method for disarming fanatics than persecution or legal sanctions. Shaftesbury reckoned that persecution created martrys, while laughing at people showed they posed no threat. In his Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times in 1711 Shaftesbury rehabilitated ridicule from the charge of incivility and demonstrated its general usefulness against the bigoted and proud.

Dr. Carroll said: "The Enlightenment wasn't just the era of politeness, but more a period when people repeatedly called for politeness in public debate precisely because it was lacking. Ridicule, on the other hand, was not inherently civil or uncivil, inclusive or exclusionary. There were nuanced differences of style and content."

Shaftesbury thought the social value of ridicule was so great that preserving its free use in debate was among the most critical tasks that philosophy could perform. A wide range of other philosophers followed his example by writing about the power of ridicule to unsettle prejudice, demarcate the boundaries of sociable behaviour, and attack entrenched systems of thought and power. They ranged from the philosophical sceptic David Hume to his Aberdonian critics Thomas Reid and James Beattie, to enthusiastic defenders of the rights of man such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Alexander Geddes. All engaged in intense handwringing over the damage that even well-intentioned ridicule could cause to civility and social peace.

Explore further Satire has a history of informing during times of crisis
Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace

Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana is carrying out combined tests to prepare for the arrival of Ariane 6, Europe's next generation heavy-lift launch vehicle.

The first Ariane 6 fairing has already arrived at the Spaceport from Europe. It is 20 m high and 5.4 m in diameter and is being integrated with a mockup payload to test equipment and procedures inside the assembly building.

Ruag Space in Emmen, Switzerland manufactures each entire large half-shell in one piece from carbon-fiber composite which is 'cured' in an industrial oven. This reduces cost and speeds up production. Fewer parts allow horizontal as well as vertical assembly of the closed fairing and the launch vehicle, which is particularly important for Ariane 6.

A blue metal scaffold on the right of the picture, called the 'strongback," encases the fairing. There is one for each half-shell to hold each steady and to maintain the shape of the fairing while it is being raised vertical, and during assembly.

The mockup payload stands on its payload adaptorthe black cone. This is the interface between the bottom of the payload and the rocket. The adapter cone is fixed to a permanent dock on the ground.

Before this combined test, the French space agency, CNES, updated the existing Ariane 5 assembly building with a new integration dock, composed of a large white frame, with two mobile platforms adjustable to any level and accessible by fixed stairs and platforms.

This assembly building has two halls: one for integration of the fairing on the Ariane 5 rocket, and an encapsulation hall where the payload is stowed in the fairing. This encapsulation hall is a spacious clean room for Ariane 6.

A new door 26 m high has been installed at the entrance of the building to make room for the integrated fairing, payload and adapter to move on its trailer to the Ariane 6 launch zone.

This activity is one of many extensive 'combined tests' which are being carried out in a team effort at the Spaceport by ESA, CNES, ArianeGroup, Avio and other industry partners. These tests will prove the systems and procedures that will prepare Europe's new Ariane 6 launch vehicle for flight.

Explore further Early combined tests mimic Ariane 6 liftoff
Mount Sinabung releases volcanic materials during an eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Friday, May 7, 2021. Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. (AP Photo/Sastrawan Ginting)

Indonesia's rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted Friday, spewing a thick column of volcanic ash 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) into the sky.

Villages near the volcano in North Sumatra province have been relocated after past eruptions, and there were no further evacuations or casualties from the new blast. People have been advised to stay 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the crater's mouth and to be aware of ashfall and avalanches of volcanic debris.

Activity at the volcano was increasing, with at least 15 smaller eruptions recorded in the past week, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post.

"The potential for eruption is still high. There will be more eruption in the near future," Putra said.

Sinabung is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, and some 30,000 people have been forced to leave nearby homes in the past few years.

Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is located on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Ocean.

Mount Sinabung releases volcanic materials during an eruption as seen from a school yard in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Friday, May 7, 2021. Sinabung is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. (AP Photo/Sastrawan Ginting)

Explore further Indonesia's Sinabung volcano unleashes new burst of hot ash

 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
A cross-section of an 18.5 million-year-old fossil of Ampelorhiza heteroxylon. Credit: Nathan Jud/Provided

An 18.5 million-year-old fossil found in Panama provides evidence of a new species and is the oldest reliable example of a climbing woody vine known as a liana from the soapberry family. The discovery sheds light on the evolution of climbing plants.

The new species, named Ampelorhiza heteroxylon, belongs to a diverse group of tropical lianas called Paullinieae, within the soapberry family (Sapindaceae). More than 475 species of Paullinieae live in the tropics today.

Researchers identified the species from fossilized roots that revealed features known to be unique to the wood of modern climbing vines, adaptations that allow them to twist, grow and climb.

The study, "Climbing Since the Early Miocene: The Fossil Record of Paullinieae (Sapindaceae)," was published April 7 in the journal PLOS ONE.

"This is evidence that lianas have been creating unusual wood, even in their roots, as far back as 18 million years ago," said wood anatomist Joyce Chery '13, assistant research professor in the School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a corresponding author of the paper.

"Before this discovery, we knew almost nothing about when or where these lianas evolved or how rapidly they diversified," said first author Nathan Jud, assistant professor of plant biology at William Jewell College and a former Cornell postdoctoral researcher.

Panama was a peninsula 18.5 to 19 million years ago, a volcanic landscape covered with tropical forest in North America and separated from South America by a Central American seaway. While these forests contained North American animals, the plants mostly descended from South American tropical plants that had dispersed across the seaway, Jud said.

"The fossil we described is the oldest macrofossil of these vines," he said, "and they were among the plants that made it to North America long before the Great American Biotic Interchange when large animals moved between the continents some 3 million years ago."

In the study, the researchers made thin slices of the fossil, examined the arrangements and dimensions of tissues and water conducting vessels under a microscope and created a database of all the features. They then studied the literature to see how these features matched up with the living and fossil records of plants.

"We were able to say, it really does look like it's a fossil from the Paullinieae group, given the anatomical characteristics that are similar to species that live today," Chery said.

During their analyses, the researchers identified features that are characteristic of lianas. Most trees and shrubs have water-conducting tissues (which transport water and minerals from roots to leaves) that are all roughly the same size when viewed in a cross-section; in vines, these conduits come in two sizes, big and small, which is exactly what the researchers discovered in the fossil.

"This is a feature that is pretty specific to vines across all sorts of families," Chery said.

The two vessel sizes provide insurance for a twisting and curving plant, as large vessels provide ample water flow, but are also vulnerable to collapse and develop cavities that disrupt flow. The series of smaller vessels offers a less vulnerable backup water transport system, Chery said.

Also, cross-sections of the wood in trees and shrubs are circular, but in the fossil, and in many living vines, such cross-sections are instead irregular and lobed.

Thirdly, on the walls of those vascular vessels, they found long horizontal perforations that allow for water to flow in lateral directions. That is a distinguishing feature of lianas in the soapberry family, Chery said.

In future work, now that they can place the lianas of Sapindaceae to 18.5 million years ago, the researchers intend to continue their investigation of the evolutionary history and diversification of this family. Chery also plans to investigate how wood has evolved in this group of vines, including identifying the genes that contribute to lobe-shaped stems.

Explore further Scientists say vines strangle carbon storage in tropical forests

More information: Nathan A. Jud et al. Climbing since the early Miocene: The fossil record of Paullinieae (Sapindaceae), PLOS ONE (2021). Journal information: PLoS ONE Nathan A. Jud et al. Climbing since the early Miocene: The fossil record of Paullinieae (Sapindaceae),(2021). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248369
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2)assistant professor Amy Castro Baker set out to answer this question: What would happen to a person in or near poverty who received no-strings-attached guaranteed payments every month? And the answer, at least from one pilot program, was even more promising than she imagined when she and her research partner Stacia West, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, were selected to coordinate and evaluate the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), the nation's first mayor-led guaranteed income demonstration.

Launched in February 2019 by Michael Tubbs, then the mayor of Stockton, California, SEED gave 125 Stockton residents, selected randomly from neighborhoods at or below the city's median household income, $500 per month for 24 straight months (unconditionally and with no work requirements). Preliminary findings were released this past March from the first year of the experiment (pre-COVID, from February 2019 to February 2020). They showed, among other things, that recipients of the cash experienced reduced income volatility, showed improved mental health, and, perhaps more surprisingly, were likelier to find full-time employment. (Post-COVID data will be released next year.)

Castro explains the pushback that she encounters regarding universal basic income. "That is the biggest pushback we get: If you give people money, no strings attached, they're going to stop working. We never thought that would happen because that's absurd. Who can live on $500 a month anywhere, let alone California? But what we did see was that the $500 created a new kind of cognitive capacity where people could take risks in the economy that they couldn't take before, because they had a cushion and their wellbeing was in a healthier space."

While people have indeed argued over the years that government money is a disincentive to work, others have insisted that living in poverty is more of an impediment than it is a motivatoran idea that the SEED data would seem to support. Per the findings, the $500 monthly payments "removed material barriers to full-time employment and created capacity for goal setting and risk taking, once basic needs like food and utilities were covered." In February 2019, 28% of the SEED recipients had full-time employment; one year later, that number jumped up to 40%. In contrast, the control group (Stockton residents who participated in the study but did not receive monthly payments) saw only a five percentage point increase in full-time employment over the same one-year period.

The data also ran counter to a longstanding assumption among critics that people will spend any government money that's not integrated into a specific social welfare program on drugs or other vices. In Stockton, people spent their SEED cash on basic needsless than 1% was spent on alcohol or tobacco. "The thing about guaranteed income is that it pushes back at a lot of things that make people very uncomfortable," says Erin Coltrera, SEED's research and program officer. "It requires trusting people. And especially in this country, there's not a lot of trust of folks who experience poverty."

And that's where Castro Baker believes the hate comes from. "I'm white but the pushback I hear a lotboth from trolls and commentaryis really rooted in anti-Blackness," the Penn professor says. "We spent many years in the U.S. attaching shame and blame to the safety net." But buoyed by the promising Stockton data, and now spearheading a new center at Penn that will analyze similar pilot programs in other U.S. cities, she plans to continue to drive the conversation forward. "What's been most surprising about the pushback is that when it comes, it's very ugly," she says. "But the support far outweighs the pushback."

Currently about 40 mayors, from American cities both big and small, have joined a new group called Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI), founded last June by Tubbs and the Economic Security Project, which together with SP2 in October established the Center for Guaranteed Income Research. Castro Baker and West will colead the Penn center, which has the stated goal to "consolidate the key learnings from the pilots taking place in MGI member cities, to address knowledge gaps in the contemporary understanding of guaranteed income's impact for Americans, and to allow the organization to layer data with anecdotal evidence in federal advocacy."

One big factor for the momentum swing was Andrew Yang's calls for every American adult to receive $1,000 monthly payments from the federal government during his 2020 presidential campaign, bringing the idea of universal basic income (UBI) from the fringes of the internet into dinner table conversations. (Castro Baker makes sure to draw a distinction between UBI and guaranteed income, with the former going to everybody and the latter generally targeted "to reach households at or below a particular income threshold" or certain populations.) More recently, President Joe Biden Hon'13's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan showed how much further policymakers are willing to go to fight poverty through stimulus payments and child tax credit expansions. "But really, this is something that activists and researchers have been working on for decades," Castro Baker says, pointing to the Great Recession between 2007 and 2009 as "this tipping point where people are now working more and making less. And if you're under 35, you're part of the first generation to do economically worse than your parents. We keep trying to fix a new economy with old tools. And it's not working. And then the pandemic, of course, has cracked this wide open."

Castro Baker first encountered the idea of guaranteed income at graduate school at Penn, but she wasn't always a staunch believer in it. Her tune only changed when she began to do research with West six years ago. "We kept writing about mortgage foreclosure, the gender wealth gap, the racial wealth gap, and she kept saying, 'Amy, we have to talk about guaranteed income,'" Castro Baker recalls. "I said, 'No, we're not talking about that. No one's going to publish our papers.' We had arguments about it constantly as we were writing. And I finally gave in. She was right  It was probably a failure of imagination in terms of what I thought people would tolerate. I just didn't think people were ready for itand I was totally wrong."

Before Castro Baker was convinced of the merits of guaranteed income by West, West was convinced by none other than Dolly Parton. While driving home one day, West, a Tennessee native, heard an NPR interview with the country music icon, who discussed her plan to give unconditional monthly cash payments to families who lost their homes in the 2016 Great Smoky Mountain wildfires. "And I was like, 'Oh my god, Dolly Parton is doing guaranteed incomeliterally for the first time since 1982 in the US, and never in the context of an environmental disaster.'" West called Parton's foundation and offered to analyze the effects of the payments. She found that people were able to save their money or put it toward rebuilding their homes as intended.

"It all comes down to income inequality driving so many of our social problems," West says. "A person with an addiction that has money can go to treatment. A person with an addiction that has none is going to have so much worse outcomes. Looking at all of these social problems, I'm like, 'Well shit, if people just had money, that would probably fix it, right?'"

Studying the real-world implications of guaranteed income wasn't such a no-brainer for West's academic mentors, who told her she'd never get tenure that way. Castro Baker had similar conversations when she and West were weighing whether to work with SEED. "I was told explicitly by many senior people in my field, 'Do not touch this project. You do not have tenure. You are risking your career. This is crazy.'"

They decided to send in a letter of intent anyway, not really expecting to be selected as the research team. "We're not economists; we're social scientists," Castro Baker says. "We're early career. We're junior scholars. But we kept looking at it and said, 'Why not throw your hat in the ring?'"

After several meetings in 2018, they were selected to run the first modern basic-income experiment in the US since the 1970s, filling Castro Baker with "equal parts terror and excitement."

Soon the question shifted from why not? to now what?

Just as the timing seemed right for this kind of income experiment, so did the place. Once known as the foreclosure capital of the country, Stockton was walloped by the subprime mortgage financial crisis more than a decade ago and has yet to recover. About one in four residents now lives in poverty. Castro Baker also calls the north-central Californian city a potential bellwether for the country due to its diversity and population of roughly 300,000.

Harder to figure out than the why and the where was how to conduct the experimentand present the findings in the most compelling way. Plus, Castro Baker was suddenly confronted with the "huge ethical implications" about which residents to pick to receive the payments and to be in the control group. "It's really a question of whose economic future are you going to change," she says. "Suddenly decisions ordinarily made by researchers in the privacy of their office or in conjunction with colleagues was a political process and a public process." Soliciting feedback from the Stockton community, Castro Baker and West revised their plan to ensure that anyone over 18 had an equal chance of being chosen after applying but that the selections would come from residents who live in a neighborhood with a median income at or below $46,033, because of a "tremendous desire to make sure the money wouldn't get taken back by the government in taxes."

Interaction with Stockton residents continued to be vital for their "mixed-method" randomized controlled trial, which combined quantitative and qualitative data, the latter of which relied on people filling out surveys (a long-form one every six months in addition to monthly surveys via text message) as well as "in-depth interviewing in people's homes and communities, and what we would call short-form ethnography," Castro Baker says. "The best science, when it comes to social science, is the science that's rooted in context and community. And you can't do that from your office. It was just as valuable for us to collect the stats as it was to spend hours and hours sitting with people and hearing their experiences of how they made sense of guaranteed income."

While West led the quantitative side of the study, she was pleased to let Castro Baker focus on the qualitative components, calling her partner "one of the most brilliant qualitative scientists in the US right now" because of how she can pull narrative threads through hard data. Coltrera agrees with that assessment, saying, "I think Amy really is one of the only people in the country that can do this work this way." That's one of the main reasons why Coltrera, who has been a teaching assistant for Castro Baker and a Penn adjunct professor, uprooted her life in Philadelphia to relocate to Stockton to work as SEED's research and program officer. But it took plenty of not-so-gentle persuasion. "Oh my god, I told her she was absolutely nuts!" Coltrera recalls as her first response to the job offer. But "the more Amy pitched what SEED could possibly do, the more I kept thinking this is the kind of work I want to be doing because it gets at the root of so many of the social problems we face in social work every day."

Coltrerawho's since transitioned into a similar role at the Center for Guaranteed Income Researchwas also swayed by Castro Baker's emphasis on "what a social worker would bring to the table." Coltrera quickly learned why, conducting home visits to manage 300 relationships and deal with logistical challenges such as dropping off gift cards to compensate people for filling out surveys (since the SEED payments were no-strings attached, this part of the experiment was not mandatory); helping to troubleshoot the devices that participants used for those surveys and debit cards through which SEED funds were distributed; and generally just "making sure they feel heard, they feel connected, and they know that we're still here." Sometimes, Coltrera adds, the participants simply wanted to talk. And they still do, texting Coltrera just to touch base even though she's now back in Philadelphia full time. (Before COVID, she was in Stockton about 80 percent of the time; from about May 2020 through this past February, she split her time between Stockton and Philly more evenly due to the pandemic.) "Our hope is they feel this is reciprocalthat we're not just mining them for their lives and information," says Coltrera, citing "horror stories about research on populations where they don't get to feel like they're part of their own narrative."

"One of the neatest parts for me was actually working with the control group," she adds. "These are folks not getting the money and are doing it because they know there's fundamentally something important happening here and they want to be a part of it."

For Castro Baker, seeking out such a high level of community engagement wasn't just the right thing to do but an important way to "move the needle around poverty and justice" because "scientists tell terrible stories." Giving Americans the opportunity to hear directly from Stockton residents, some of whom shared their experiences with the press, "really jolted the narrative and ground the data into real stories," she says. "It's been really powerful to have those two things next to each other." National media brimmed with such stories this spring. One Stocktonian told the Atlantic that the SEED cash allowed her to pay off some credit card debt, buy groceries without going to a food bank, and secure a new apartment after a fire. Another told USA Today that she used the money to pay bills, buy her kids gifts, and fix her car so she could keep working.

Two particular stories from SEED participants stood out the most to Castro Baker. One was told to her by a dad, struggling to pay his bills, who was suddenly able to buy his daughter a prom dress and shoes. "What that meant in terms of dignity, that he was able to show up for this child in a way he couldn't before, you can't even measure that," she says. "And for the teenager being able to participate in a normal rite of adolescence, those types of dignity things that took place within the experiment are incredibly powerful."

The other involved someone who was able to get dental work done, allowing them to smile more and move their hand away from their face during conversations. "That's about what it means to be human," she says. "And the idea that something so small, like $500, can shift that for someone is pretty remarkable."

Much of Castro Baker's work can be framed through the lens of her childhood"a phenomenal childhood," she says. "But the struggle to make ends meet, that is my story." She grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where her dad was a toolmaker and her mom had a range of different jobs, from cleaning houses to working retail. They were both smart, Castro Baker says, but had trouble getting ahead in the blue-collar city marked by industrial decline. "I really saw firsthand what it was like watching my parents work and work and work, and it was never enough," she says.

The oldest of four, Castro Baker shared a room with all three of her siblings for parts of her life. At times, other families moved into their home because they didn't have a place to stay. She became the first in her family to go to college, matriculating at Cairn University, a small Christian school in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. From there, she went on to earn a master's in social work from Penn, where she spent much of her time working with the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Homeless Health Initiative, which provides free health services to families living in local emergency housing shelters.

Castro Baker continued to practice social work after graduating from Penn, primarily in West Philadelphia, and "realized you can spend a whole career telling everybody how big and bad every social problem is, but at a certain point you kind of have a responsibility to do something about it." After getting a PhD from CUNY Graduate Center at Hunter College (where she studied the impact of mortgage foreclosure on women while raising two now-teenage kids), she briefly worked as an assistant professor of social work at the University of Wyoming before Penn drew her back in 2015 with a full-time faculty job offer and the opportunity to study social inequities and predatory lending markets, especially as it pertains to women and minorities. "If you want to sort of push the boundaries and ask big questions and maybe do things in a non-traditional way in terms of research, Penn rewards that type of innovation," she says. "So it's a good home for me."

She also thinks Penn is a good home for the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, pointing to SP2's commitment to social justice and Provost Wendell Pritchett Gr'97 in particular as a champion of this kind of work. "What's been really exciting," she says, "is how nimble Penn has been in responding to the scale of the project" as the number of MGI pilot programs that the center is running continues to grow. Those include Pittsburgh; New Orleans; Saint Paul, Minnesota; Richmond, Virginia; Oakland, California; Newark, New Jersey; Patterson, New Jersey; and Gary, Indiana. (Other mayors who are part of MGI include those from four of the country's seven most populous citiesLos Angeles's Eric Garcetti, Houston's Sylvester Turner, Philadelphia's Jim Kenney, and San Antonio's Ron Nirenberg ASC'01.)

"We're the first ones to finish one of these experiments, so people keep calling us, saying help us," Castro Baker says. "Not many researchers right now in the country are working on this. So the idea behind the center is to create a cohesive body of science around cash, such that as policy proposals are coming into multiple tiers of government, we'll have a body of science to back it up."

The center will both expand on the Stockton study and draw lessons from it. One of the main lessons? "Oh my gosh, it's really hard to give people cashreally hard," says West, who recently moved from Tennessee to Philadelphia in January to colead the center (and because she and Castro Baker are now partners in life as well as in research). "You can't just write checks to people. We're contacted by incredibly well-meaning nonprofits from across the country who want to do guaranteed income right away. But there's so much work that goes into building trust in the community, into choosing the right disbursement mechanism based on the population, into dealing with people losing SNAP or TANF benefits. It's really not as simple as it looks."

As for adaptations, the center's leaders would like to see more data about whether guaranteed income works the same in different parts of the country (West is particularly interested in the rural South) and for different subpopulations (Castro Baker is curious about women and caregivers). "What we don't want is a bunch of replication where every city is targeting the same population and asking the same questions," says West, adding that she hopes over the next three years, the center will be able to provide a "sample of around 2,000 people spread across the US, instead of just one sample of 125 in California." Castro Baker adds, "One of my fears as a scientist is the political momentum is moving faster than the data. So my job and my team's job is to make sure the science catches up to the political momentum, so we don't have big, expensive policy mistakes. There's a ton we don't know about guaranteed income."

One question that continues to loom large is how governments would pay for this. And while they each have their own ideas"We know that budgets are moral documents and you can tax corporations and incredibly wealthy people at the rates they should be taxed," West saysthey're not ready to answer big policy-related questions about how UBI or guaranteed income might affect the broader economy at the federal, state, and local levels. "I'm an applied social scientist, so I don't look at labor market or macroeconomic effects," Castro Baker notes.

Her SP2 colleague, Ioana Marinescu, has studied the latter and concluded in a Wharton Public Policy Initiative paper published in 2019 that "giving people cash with no strings attached has only a small negative effect on work, and can improve educational and health outcomes, especially among the most disadvantaged. Paying for such a program, however, is not a trivial matter. As political appetite for UBI is growing, a new UBI program is more likely to be implemented at the state level than at the federal level." (The Penn Wharton Budget Model analyzed UBI in 2018. Using its own set of econometric assumptions, it estimated three ways to finance a program at the federal level: with deficits, a payroll tax, and with transfers funded by external sources. "Under all three scenarios, a Universal Basic Income program dampens hours worked, capital services, GDP, and Social Security revenues.")

As a self-described "pragmatist," Castro Baker tends to focus on the art of the possible, and has felt encouraged that US mayors are looking to take matters into their own hands to fight for the roughly 10.5 percent of Americans in povertyand the many more who are "hovering just over that line where they cannot get ahead and don't qualify for the safety net either."

She's similarly optimistic that basic income has for many years garnered bipartisan support, from Andrew Yang to Richard Nixon. "On the left, people see guaranteed income as a solution to structural injustice," she says. "On the right, it's more about a push for efficiency and the idea of more libertarian strains of thought saying the government shouldn't tell you what to do when you have needs; you're an expert on your own life."

In addition, students in her SP2 policy analysis courses have developed more "intolerance and impatience around justice" each year, Castro Baker says. And now the pandemic has "exposed the fractures in our economy that have been there for decades. People have not recovered from the Great Recession, and the pandemic has just amplified it."

Yet through all the suffering that COVID-19 has caused, and the looming economic threats that lie ahead, Castro Baker believes change may finally be on the horizon. "On the one hand, we're watching poverty skyrocket because of the pandemic. And the ways in which we're exacerbating the gender and racial wealth gap in the time of the pandemic is terrifying to me," she says. "But at the same time, it's forcing a conversation about how we want the economy to work and what we want the safety net to look like that's been a really long time coming.

"So I have a lot of hope."

Explore further Guaranteed income increases employment, improves financial and physical health
In this May 20, 2018, file photo, Nepalese veteran Sherpa guide, Kami Rita waves as he arrives in Kathmandu, Nepal. Rita, 51, an ace Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest Friday for the 25th time breaking his own record for the most successful ascents of the world's highest peak. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)

A Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest for the 25th time on Friday, breaking his own record for the most ascents of the world's highest peak.

Kami Rita and 11 other Sherpa guides reached the summit at about 6 p.m., Department of Tourism official Mira Acharya said.

They are the first group of climbers to reach the summit this year and were fixing the ropes on the icy route so that hundreds of other climbers can scale the peak later this month.

Everest was closed to climbing last year on both its southern side, which is in Nepal, and its northern side, which is in China, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Nepal has issued climbing permits this year to 408 foreign climbers despite a surging COVID-19 outbreak.

China has opened the northern slope to only a few dozen mountaineers who will be tested for the coronavirus and must keep their distance while climbing.

Rita, 51, first scaled Everest in 1994 and has been making the trip nearly every year since then. He is one of many Sherpa guides whose expertise and skills are vital to the safety and success of the hundreds of climbers who head to Nepal each year seeking to stand on top of the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) mountain.

His father was among the first Sherpa guides, and Rita followed in his footsteps and then some. In addition to his 25 times to the top of Everest, Rita has scaled several other peaks that are among the world's highest, including K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu and Lhotse.

He was at Everest's base camp in 2015 when an avalanche swept through, killing 19 people. After that tragedy, he came under intense family pressure to quit mountaineering, but in the end decided against it.

Forty-three teams have been permitted to scale Everest during this year's spring climbing season and will be assisted by about 400 Nepalese guides.

Each May, there are usually only a few windows of good weather at the summit during which climbers can attempt to scale the peak.

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A cake pan filled with marbles is one of the sampling tools designed and built by Tongs team. This is installed at a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) facility. Credit: NASA/Daniel Tong

Valley fever is a dangerous threat to human healthand cases are on the rise in the arid southwestern United States, as wind from increasing dust storms can transport the fungal spores that cause the disease. Valley fever is caused by the Coccidioides fungus, which grows in dirt and fields and can cause fever, rash and coughing. Using NASA research and satellite data, the World Meteorological Organization is refining its Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System to help forecast where dust risk is greatest.

George Mason University's Daniel Tong, one of the first scientists to discover the link between dust storms and Valley fever, leads a NASA-funded team to track the airborne spread of Valley fever across the United States for the first time.

There are about 15 thousand cases of Valley fever in the U.S. each year, and approximately 200 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Funded by NASA's Earth Science Division, Tong's team is helping track disease risk for epidemiologists, health care providers and public health decision makers.

"Our paper was the first one to reveal the positive relationship between dust storms and Valley fever," said Tong. "So now we're asking the question: How can we detect that dust in the air?"

Tong and his team are combining NASA satellite data and high-end computer modeling with homemade dust catchers made of pans for baking cakes and marbles. Previously, on-site dust sampling was only available through expensive monitors, such as the ones used by the CDC. When they needed more sensors to cover exposure across a wide area, the team realized they could develop their own methods to capture the airborne dirt for a fraction of the cost.

One such method involves filling a store-bought baking panthe kind used to bake a homemade birthday cakewith marbles. As wind passes over the uneven surface of the marbles, the interrupted flow causes the air to release the dust and spores it's carrying. As the sediment falls through the layers of marbles to the bottom of the pan, it's protected from being picked up by wind again, stored safely until the scientists come to collect several weeks' worth of samples at a time.

The MODIS instrument on NASAs Terra satellite captured this image of thick plumes of dust stretching from northern Mexico into Texas and New Mexico on March 31, 2017. The Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory and Assessment System by the World Meteorological Organization now has a Pan-American node that is incorporating NASA Earth observations like these. Credit: NASA/NASA LANCE/Jeff Schmaltz

The dust samples are sent to George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, with research support from George Mason University's Institute for a Sustainable Earth. It is one of the few institutes in the country that can conduct DNA sequencing to identify the Coccidioides fungus in dust.

While the team gathers data on the ground, NASA satellites are hard at work getting the view from above. Tong's team uses data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments aboard the NASA satellites Terra and Aqua. These data show likely habitats for this fungus because they monitor vegetation and soil moisture, revealing where conditions are ripe for fungal growth and spread of arid dust.

Currently the team is using that information on local plant growth as a measure to identify likely dust source areas. They're working to shed more light onto the physical and biological processes for the fungus's spread, which Tong says is important information for scientists and health officials to have. But tracking dust storms' movement through air is easier with the help of NASA's Earth observing instrumentslike MODISwhich can also detect the light reflected from the tiny particles as they're swept across the country. These true color dust observations from MODIS even helped to "train" models developed by the team to assess how the frequency of dust storms is changing.

"We have a satellite-trained algorithm developed with support from NASA to look at the long-term data of dust storms," Tong said. "We were surprised to see dust storms in the American southwest increasing 10 times faster than the global level over the last few decades, causing increasing risk to local communities."

Through the 1930s, dust storms in the Western U.S. famously destroyed farms and forced families to abandon homes. "Climate change is bringing that threat back," warned Tong. "Global climate models predict the west and southwest will become drier and drier, meaning we could have dust bowlsplural."

Tong says that with more dust storms there will be more instances of Valley fever. For reasons that are not well understood, some people are more susceptible to the effects of Valley fever than others. Only 40 percent of people infected have symptoms, and 8 percent of those go to the hospital. "There's no vaccinethe fungus lives with you for the rest of your life," said Tong. "Those infected are paying about US $50,000 per hospital visit, and a quarter of those people have to go ten times or more."

Dust in the air in Arizona and other southwestern states is not just a concern for air quality  it can also carry the fungus which causes Valley fever, an infectious and potentially severe disease. Credit: NASA/Tom Gill

Tong's team collaborates with the federal CDC as well as state and local public health officials in New Mexico, California and Arizona. As the threat of Valley fever rises, local health officials hope Tong's research will continue to uncover ways to track its dangerous spread.

"Now that we're beginning to understand the risk to public health, the scientific community is really coming together," said Tong. "They're very curious, going out of their own way to help. I feel very lucky to have this support."

The team is working with local agencies to place the sensors in areas with frequent dust storms to see where Valley fever might be affecting the most people. Local health agencies like the Pinal County Public Health Department in Arizona and community physicians are already incorporating these data to inform health and safety measures like increased testing and public education.

Next, the National Weather Service (NWS) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) are working to incorporate this research to improve dust forecasting for everything from air quality to visibility for transportation. "We aim to bring longevity to this project," Tong said, "so people can continue using this research to protect public health in the future.

For communities in the southwest, that means informing public health decisions in the face of increasing dust storms in the future.

Explore further A combined map of almost 15,000 dust storms on Mars
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Australia, the driest inhabited continent, is prone to natural disasters and wild swings in weather conditionsfrom floods to droughts, heatwaves and bushfires.

Now two new Flinders University studies of long-term hydro-climatic patterns provide fresh insights into the causes of the island continent's strong climate variability that affect extreme wet or dry weather and other conditions vital to water supply, agriculture, the environment and the nation's future.

For the first time, researchers from the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) at Flinders have revealed a vegetation-mediated seesaw wetting-drying phenomenon between eastern and western Australia.

The seesaw phenomenon covered in a new paper in Earth's Future is characterized by eastern Australia gaining water, while western Australia is losing water, and vice-versa being reset by strong La Nina-induced continent-wide wetting.

"The seesaw phase seems to depend on vegetation cover anomaly prior to the strong La Nina event, and can be explained by subsequent vegetation and soil moisture interactions," says lead researcher Dr. Huade Guan, Associate Professor in Hydrology.

"This finding provides society with valuable reference for managing forest, water, and disaster risks in the wake of a next strong La Nina-induced continent-wide wetting in Australia," says co-author Flinders University Professor Okke Batalaan.

Rainfall on land has its moisture source mostly from evaporation in oceans. Sea surface temperature variationin the tropical Pacific in rhythm with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, and in the northern Indian Ocean represented by Indian Ocean Dipoleprovides a lead-up of several months for predicting overall drought or wet condition in Australia.

In another lengthy NCGRT study lasting over more than a decade, Flinders researchers evaluated the impacts of sea surface temperature variations in Southern Hemisphere oceans on rainfall in South Australia. They found a seven-year lead ocean-atmosphere oscillation for precipitation patternswhich may help prepare South Australia for future extreme weather conditions, the Frontiers in Earth Science paper says.

"This long-running study, beginning with a postgraduate project (by Dr. CP Rofe in 2009), revealed a seven-year lag precipitation teleconnection with a large-scale ocean-atmosphere oscillation index known as Southern Annular Mode, or Antarctic Oscillation," Associate Professor Guan says.

"We filled the teleconnection with a 27-season lag correlation between sea surface temperature off the coast of South Australia and the Southern Annual Mode, and a two-season lag correlation between rainfall in SA and sea surface temperature."

Other co-authors Dr. Wenju Cai (CSIRO and Flinders alumnus) and previous visiting scholars Dr. Lingli Fan and Dr. Jianjun Xu (Guangdong Ocean University) confirmed this oceanic teleconnection dominant between 1979-1998.

"Focusing on this period, we were able to delineate an oceanic pathway showing how the sea water temperature anomaly associated with the South Annual Mode propagated from the southern Pacific Ocean to South Australian seas in about 27 seasons.

"This sea temperature anomaly propagation only existed in 1979-1998 when the Pacific Ocean was in a certain stage, known as the positive phase of Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO)."

With this teleconnection, the team successfully "hindcasted" the 1988 and 1999 droughts in SA without ambiguity with seven-year lead time, Associate Professor Guan says, adding that the next positive phase of IPO will further test this theory to support water resource and agricultural planning in South Australia.

The Earth's Future study confirmed four consecutive periods of seesaw wetting and drying between eastern and western Australia in the past five decades, based on analyses of GRACE satellite-derived terrestrial water storage and extended datasets by co-author and Flinders Ph.D. student Ms. Ajiao Chen.

"These findings support the idea of better stormwater harvesting and other environmental measures to prepare for a drying phaseand more disaster risk and adaptive land management in the wake of a strong La Nina-induced continent-wide wetting in Australia.

"Reducing vegetation cover right after the wetting episode might reduce the risk of heatwaves and bushfires in the later dry stage," researchers say.

More information: Ajiao Chen et al, Seesaw terrestrial wetting and drying between eastern and western Australia, Earth's Future (2021). Ajiao Chen et al, Seesaw terrestrial wetting and drying between eastern and western Australia,(2021). DOI: 10.1029/2020EF001893
JERUSALEM  Yitzhak Arad, a Holocaust survivor and scholar who was the director of Israels Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial for more than two decades, has died at the age of 94, the center said Thursday.

Arad served as chairman of Yad Vashem from 1972 to 1993 and remained involved in the center until his final days, serving as the vice-chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, it said.

He was born Yitzhak Rudnicki in 1926 in a town that was then in Poland and is now part of Lithuania.

His parents were among the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. He managed to escape and joined the Soviet partisans in 1943, at the age of 16. He remained with them until the end of the war, fighting the Nazis in Belarus and Lithuania.

He emigrated to Israel in 1945 and served in the Israeli military, mainly in an armored brigade. He went on to become a widely published scholar of World War II and the Holocaust, lecturing at Tel Aviv University and as a guest professor at Yeshiva University in New York.
FORT EDWARD  Coronavirus has continued to spread in the Washington County Jail in the last four weeks, with 20 inmates now ill.

It started with four cases in mid-April. All of them were asymptomatic and were discovered in a routine test before a scheduled transfer to another jail.

Since then, corrections officers have administered 661 tests, have quarantined inmates and stopped movement into the jail.

But the virus is continuing to spread.

Nineteen men and one woman in the jail have now tested positive, said Sheriff Jeff Murphy.

None have required hospitalization.

The staff has been tested repeatedly, too, and three staff members tested positive last week, he said.

All of them have recovered.

The New York State Commission of Correction has inspected the jail twice during the outbreak, Murphy said, describing the inspectors as having approved the jails systems.
JOHNSBURG  New York state has acquired 1,263 acres of land in the Warren County town of Johnsburg, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.

The parcel includes Huckleberry Mountain, a peak that tops 2,400 feet. Cliffs on its south and southwest sides face the taller Crane Mountain, which is already part of the state Forest Preserve.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation purchased this property from the Open Space Institute for $770,000 from the states Environmental Protection Fund.

The newly protected land adjoins Wilcox Lake Wild Forest, which includes Crane Mountain, a popular, publicly accessible mountain peak that also provides access to cliffs for climbers. The Huckleberry Mountain parcel contains a wide range of wildlife habitats, including Crystal Brook, a cold-water stream with brook trout, cliff faces that are a preferred nesting place for the endangered peregrine falcon, and a wetland complex that is home to an active heron rookery.

The Huckleberry Mountain property was a priority acquisition under the states Open Space Conservation Plan and the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest Management Plan. DEC will manage this parcel and is developing a unit management plan to determine the best use for the trails and recreational access for Huckleberry Mountain, according to a news release.
GLASSBORO  Rowan University announced Thursday it will require students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine before returning to campus in the fall, joining colleges across the state with similar mandates, and will offer up to $1,000 for students to do so.

Our message today is simple. We believe the path to normalcy is through widespread vaccination, and we want our entire community to commit to reaching the goal of widespread vaccination. If we work together, we can reach this goal and offer the Rowan University experience that our students and employees deserve, Rowan President Ali A. Houshmand wrote in a letter to the college community Thursday.

Rowan said it wants to help New Jersey reach its goal of vaccinating 70% of eligible residents and will provide an incentive to students to get their shot: a $500 credit for fall 2021 classes. Residential students will receive an additional $500 credit toward their housing bill. Part-time students will receive a prorated credit based on the number of courses taken in the fall.

The incentive program includes all students who already have been vaccinated. The requirement and incentive apply to all students who will live on campus, in affiliated housing or attend classes in person.

+5 Stockton latest college to require students get COVID-19 vaccine GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP  Stockton University will require students to be vaccinated against COVID
I support the jockeys. I am not looking for them to put their lives at risk if they feel like its putting themselves in jeopardy. But I think in those situations they are going to be able to use the whip.

A whip rule instituted last year in California allows a maximum of six strikes with hands off the reins, no more than twice in succession, with the crop used in an underhanded position at or below the jockeys shoulder level. Theres no limit on the number of times a rider can strike a horse on the shoulder with both hands on the reins.

Kentucky adopted new whip restrictions Monday, which allow for six overhanded strikes in a race, with riders required to give the horse a chance to respond after two. Underhanded or backhanded use is permitted only in the final 3/8-mile, and do not count towards the six-strike limit.
Photo: Francis Mwiinga Maingaila

Lusaka, Zambia  Zambian authorities must thoroughly investigate the recent attack on two reporters (including Francis Maingaila above) and ensure that the press can work freely and safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.



On May 1, supporters of two factions of the ruling Patriotic Front political party violently clashed at the partys headquarters in Lusaka, the capital, and unidentified members of the crowd attacked Francis Mwiinga Maingaila, a reporter at the privately owned news website Zambia 24, and Nancy Malwele, a reporter at the independent New Vision newspaper, according to Maingaila, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and a Facebook post by the independent broadcaster Phoenix FM.

Attackers kicked Malwele, causing a minor injury to her leg, and she was able to escape from the scene, according to those sources. Maingaila told CPJ that a group of about 10 people stole his camera, wallet, and phone, and punched and kicked him when he resisted. He was left with swelling on his face and eye, he told CPJ.

Police have opened an investigation into the attack, Maingaila said.

Zambian police must ensure that those who assaulted journalists Francis Maingaila and Nancy Malwele are speedily identified and prosecuted, to send an unequivocal message that violence against journalists will not be condoned, said Angela Quintal, CPJs Africa program coordinator, in New York. Journalists must be free to do their jobs safely and without fear, especially ahead of the countrys August election, when the political temperature will likely increase.

The fight broke out when Patriotic Front members who did not support Chishimba Kambwili, an opposition leader who recently returned to the party, stormed the partys headquarters and attacked Kambwilis supporters, according to news reports and video of the confrontation shared on YouTube.

Maingaila told CPJ that party officials and police watched and did not intervene while he and Malwele were assaulted. He said that after he identified himself as a journalist, the attackers seized his camera and phone, saying they wanted to stop him from publishing information about the violence.

Following the scuffle, Maingaila said he told party officials about the attack, and they advised him to submit a list of the missing items. He then sought medical attention at a nearby hospital and was discharged later that evening. His phone, camera, and wallet have not been returned as of today, he said.

During a World Press Freedom Day commemoration in Lusaka yesterday, President Edgar Lungu referred to the attack and condemned the violence against journalists, urging the police to arrest those responsible, according to the local news website Zambia Reports.

Following the presidents speech, police invited Maingaila to give a statement about the attack, according to the journalist and reports. Maingaila told CPJ that he gave the statement today, and that the director of the Criminal Investigations Department directed police to ensure that all suspects were arrested.

Zambia police spokesman Esther Katongo told CPJ in a phone interview that the investigation was ongoing, and that more information would be available as it proceeded.
Half or more of the violations were remedied by February. By the end of last month, company Chief Ken Barbagli said all of the problems had been addressed, but the state hasnt signed off on it yet. He added the firefighters believe Buena officials are urging the state to keep the violations open while they pursue their effort to close the volunteer company.

Around the time last fall that state inspectors were looking for problems at the Landisville Volunteer Fire Company, the National Fire Protection Association was analyzing a new survey on the possible causes of the loss of volunteers critical to ensuring fire protection for most Americans.

The NFPA said that volunteer recruitment and retention has been steadily decreasing for three decades  dropping from 8 volunteers per 1,000 people in 1987 to 5.8 in its 2018 US Fire Department Profile.

The survey by the National Volunteer Fire Council found that two-thirds of fire departments are struggling to retain volunteers and nearly all blame it on the need to commit to responding at all hours and to undergo hundreds of hours of training.
INCIDENTS AND THREATS

Moscow Court To Hear Navalny Lawsuit Against Kremlin Spokesman

A Moscow court has agreed to hear a libel lawsuit filed by Aleksei Navalny against Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov over comments he made linking U.S. spies with the jailed opposition politician. Open Media group quoted a representative of the Presnensky district court on May 5 as saying that Navalny, who is serving a prison term in a penal colony, will be able to take part in the hearing if he wishes and if the judge agrees to it. The date of the hearing into the lawsuit filed by Navalny in late March is yet to be determined. It is the second lawsuit Navalny has filed against Peskov in defense of his "honor, dignity, and business reputation."

Why Russia Is Betting On Rutube As A YouTube Alternative

Amidst a court fight over whether or not jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalnys offices and organizations should be banned as extremist, the Russian government is attempting to promote a Russian video-hosting service as an alternative to YouTube, a U.S. video-sharing platform that has brought the Navalny movements exposes on alleged government corruption to tens of millions of viewers.

Russian Court Rejects RFE/RL Journalist's Appeal Of 'Foreign Agent' Designation

A court in the western Russian city of Pskov has denied an appeal by RFE/RL contributor Lyudmila Savitskaya contesting her inclusion on Russia's controversial register of "foreign agent" media. The Pskov court ruled on May 5 that Savitskaya's inclusion on the Justice Ministry's list was lawful. Savitskaya's attorneys said they would appeal the ruling. Savitskaya and four other people -- RFE/RL contributor Sergei Markelov, human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov, artist and activist Darya Apakhonchich, and Pskov newspaper editor Denis Kamalygin -- were included in the "foreign agent" media list in December 2020.

'They Tortured Him': Wife Of Detained Crimean Journalist Yesypenko Demands His Release

The wife of detained Crimean journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko is demanding his immediate release and called his arrest a "deliberate attack on freedom of speech." Kateryna Yesypenko said her husband had been tortured with electric shocks and falsely accused of being a spy. Yesypenko, a freelance contributor to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, was detained by Russian authorities in Russia-annexed Crimea on March 10. On May 5, Ms. Yesypenko told the Crimean Human Rights Group that a second criminal charge had been filed against her husband.

How Russian Publication Meduza, Recently Declared As A Foreign Agent, Is Trying To Survive

Following the labeling of Russian media outlet Meduza as a foreign agent, all advertisers have immediately dropped their contracts with the publication. Meduza is now forced to launch a fundraising campaign to keep working and pay journalists' salaries. The publication has also given up its office in Riga, got rid of freelance journalists and cut salaries of staff journalists. See also -- May 6 Washington Post editorial on foreign agents Meduza and RFE/RL. (in Russian, Current Time TV)

Every Year I Want To Quit. How Journalists In Russian Cities Resist Government Pressure, Low Salaries And Burnout

According to the Reporters Without Borders 2021 World Press Freedom Index, Russia is ranked in 149th place, and, given recent trends, could drop even further next year. It is difficult not to leave the profession when journalists are prosecuted and declared foreign agents. Some do leave; others take time out and come back. Current Time TV reached out to several journalists across Russia and tells their stories of passion and courage. (in Russian, Current Time TV)

Case Against RFE/RL Correspondent Over COVID Reporting Dismissed By Russian Court

A Russian court has dismissed a case against RFE/RL correspondent Tatyana Voltskaya, who was charged with the distribution of "false information about the coronavirus" over an article she wrote about a lack of ventilators for COVID-19 patients in St. Petersburg. Voltskayas lawyer, Leonid Krikun told RFE/RL that the Gatchino City Court in the northwestern Leningrad region ruled on May 4 that there was no crime committed by the reporter. Investigators initially demanded a criminal case be launched against Voltskaya regarding her article published on RFE/RL's North.Realities website in April 2020.

Russian 'Foreign Agent' Journalist Turns Tables On Officials With Campaign Contributions

A Russian journalist labeled as a "foreign agent" has turned the tables on several local lawmakers in the northwestern region of Pskov, sending them money to incriminate them under the controversial law. Denis Kamalyagin, the chief editor of the Pskovskaya gubernia newspaper who was labeled a "foreign agent" by the Russian Justice Ministry in December, said on May 5 he transferred unspecified amounts of money via his mobile phone to the region's governor, the mayor of the regional capital, Pskov, and a lawmaker representing the region in the Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma. Kamalyagin told Dozhd TV and the media outlet Meduza that he transferred the money in January and informed the Justice Ministry about it in a report that he must provide regularly as "a foreign agent."

A Siberian Muckraker Exposed Massive Oil Theft. Now Russia Wants To Imprison Him For 11 Years

From the time Eduard Shmonin was a young man, he always wanted to be a gangster. But disillusionment with Russia's criminal world came quickly for the Sverdlovsk region native after he served two years in prison for burglary in the 1990s. Shmonin, now 50, instead decided to get into journalism -- a profession that he quickly determined was inextricable from local battles over money, resources, and influence. The business model he adopted involved digging up dirt on officials and industry players -- and then publishing it or withholding it, depending on the bidder. Now prosecutors have asked a court to sentence Shmonin to 11 years in prison on charges of blackmail and distributing pornography -- allegations linked to media operations he ran in Russias oil-rich Khanti-Mansi Autonomous District in western Siberia.

Czech Who Criticized His Country On Russian State Media Was In Fact A Rossiya 24 Reporter

Russian state-run TV channel Rossiya 24 aired an episode about difficulties in relations between Russia and the Czech Republic, in which one of the characters, a Czech citizen named Milos Fleischhans, criticized Prague's position in the conflict, and accused Czech media of unprofessionalism, saying there is only hysteria: Russians are coming, everything is bad and over for us. Fleischhans was introduced as a Czech "expat" who has lived in Moscow for 6 years who now was concerned about losing the Russian clientele of the Czech company where he works. However, a Moscow-based correspondent for Czech Radio, Ivana Milenkovicova, discovered that, at least in 2019, Fleischhans was a correspondent for the Russian state agency Rossiya Segodnya (which includes RIA Novosti and RT), and attended the Livadia-2019 forum in December 2019 as a Prague correspondent for Rossiya Segodnya. (in Russian, Current Time TV)

Chronicling The Bloody Belarus Crackdown Is An Imperative For This Online News Editor, Despite Pressure

Maryna Zolatava, editor in chief of Belarus most popular news website, the independent outlet Tut.by, was working the editorial desk on August 9 when reports came in of unrest on the streets of Minsk after the Presidential election polls closed. "The recollections from August 9 are seared into my mind," Zolatava told RFE/RL's Belarus Service in a recent interview, describing the scene "when our reporters in the field began calling in to the editorial office to tell us what was happening in the city." "Explosions, gunfire.... I couldn't believe the things the reporters were telling me," As of today, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, 481 journalists were detained in 2020, twice as many as the previous six years combined.

Noted Belarusian Lawyer Who Defended Independent Journalists Leaves Country

Belarusian lawyer Syarhey Zikratski, who has defended independent journalists during the ongoing police crackdown on dissent following a disputed presidential election last year, has left the country for Lithuania after his license to practice law was withdrawn in late March. Zikratski announced his decision to leave Belarus in a Facebook post on May 3, saying that while abroad he will "do everything" he can "to change the situation in Belarus."

Russian Lawyers, Activists Sound Alarm Over State Pressure On Prominent Defense Attorney

Attorney Ivan Pavlov, who specializes in cases involving state secrets, was questioned in Moscow and is under investigation for allegedly disclosing classified information about the ongoing investigation of former journalist Ivan Safronov. Safronov is accused of giving classified information about Russian arms sales to the Czech Republic, which he denies. At a court hearing, a judge granted a prosecution request that Pavlov be barred from using the Internet or communicating with witnesses in the Safronov case. More than 80 Russian journalists, writers, historians, and translators have issued an open letter in support of Ivan Pavlov.

HRW Says Proposed Changes Threaten Freedoms In Kyrgyzstan

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says legislative amendments being considered by Kyrgyz lawmakers would put the political opposition and human rights groups at greater risk in the Central Asian nation. The rights group said in a statement on May 3 that the amendments -- proposed by the Interior Ministry and approved by Kyrgyz lawmakers in the first reading last month -- would broaden the scope for the criminal prosecution of organizations deemed extremist" to include those found to incite political enmity, along with national, ethnic, or racial enmity, and to make financing such extremist organizations a criminal offense.

WATCH: USAGM: Global Disinformation vs. Democracy
A Davenport man was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday for child pornography charges, according to a news release from the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Chad Michael Oxley, 38, will also serve seven years of supervised release after his prison term and will be required to pay $100 to the Crime Victims' Fund and $9,000 to the victims of his crime.

The Davenport Police Department received a tip in January 2019 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children concerning a video containing child pornography that had been uploaded to Google in December 2018. The tip was traced back to Oxley, and officers began investigating him.

In February 2019, police found several cellphones in Oxley's residence while conducting a search warrant. The cellphones had many images and videos of child pornography, as well as chat sessions in which Oxley was posing as a female and exchanging child pornography with others.

At the plea hearing on Nov. 16, 2020, Oxley agreed he received more than 600 images and videos of child pornography.
"Together we are making the sacrifices and taking the steps that will reopen our businesses and allow for increased community activities," she said. "We continue to ask those who have not yet received COVID-19 vaccine to please consider doing so, as vaccine supply is plentiful and vaccination is the key to reducing the transmission of COVID-19 and associated hospitalizations."

McKnight urged the public to still act as though the virus is still present. The health department asks residents to continue wearing masks, social distancing, and getting vaccinated.
But the House GOP plan leaves out really meaningful pieces, Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said. Among them is the gradual shift of funding mental-health services from local property taxes to the states general fund as a way to provide a more equitable system while saving $100 million for property taxpayers.

However, his counterpart, Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls, D-Coralville, said the property tax relief in the Senate plan would be offset by ending the state aid known as backfill to cities and counties to help make up for local revenue they lost in a 2013 statewide property tax cut.

Whitver said he was pleased that House Republicans appear to have embraced their plan to eliminate the 2018 income tax triggers, which would allow state income tax cuts to occur sooner. But he said thats not enough. Senate Republicans also want a quicker phase out of the state inheritance tax and dont like the House idea of returning surplus tax collections via a credit on state income tax returns.
When he was in office, former President Trump made great use of his Twitter account. Twitter's rules allow the user who generates the original message to manually block others from republishing it or responding to it.

Trump blocked several users from interacting with his Twitter account. They sued. The Second Circuit held that Trump's comment threads were "public forums" and he violated the First Amendment by using his control of the Twitter account to block the plaintis from accessing his comment threads.

On April 5, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear an appeal from the U.S. Court of Appeals from the Second Circuit. Then, in a two-sentence order, vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and directed it to dismiss the case as moot because Trump no longer is president. But what is most interesting about the Supreme Court's two-sentence order, was that Justice Clarence Thomas led a concurring opinion. It sets out what Thomas feels were important issues not considered by the Court of Appeals.

Thomas' concurrence appears to be either a shot across the bow of Twitter, Facebook, Google and Amazon, or a GPS showing the issues the court wants raised in future cases against the giant digital platforms  or both.
In 2023, the income tax is scheduled to be reduced to 6.5%  making it more competitive in the region. The caveat is, for the rate reduction to occur, it must meet two stringent revenue triggers. First, state revenues must surpass $8.3 billion. Second, revenue growth must be at least 4% during that fiscal year.

Lowering the income tax should not be hindered by the 4% growth trigger. Repealing the revenue triggers would reduce a major roadblock to income tax relief and provide more certainty for taxpayers.

Iowa is in direct competition with 49 other states for businesses, jobs and people. Our neighbor, South Dakota, does not tax individual or corporate income, and is a direct economic competitor. Recently, TEF Iowa interviewed Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss, Ph.D., and in responding to a question regarding what policymakers should be doing in terms of economic policy, Goss states that Iowa needs to "take steps that will make your tax system and regulatory system more competitive."

"We have to think about competition," stated Goss, and he referenced that both businesses and people are more mobile, and tax and regulatory climates will impact the states competitiveness.
The burdens of informal leadership

Companies prioritize hustle cultures and encourage employees to take on informal leadership roles. But these good eggs need to be protected from being exhaustedand its their formal leaders responsibility to support and energize them. 

BUFFALO, N.Y.  Ambitious employees in informal leadership roles can get burned out when they dont receive support from their bosses, according to new research from the University at Buffalo School of Management.

Recently published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, the study found that while its commonly assumed that informal leaders are satisfied by their unique status and recognition from others, they could lose motivation from overwork and a lack of support.

To maintain their status and fulfill others expectations of them, informal leaders face increased demands to keep claiming their leadership status, says Paul Tesluk, PhD, professor and dean of the UB School of Management. If formal leadership support is low or absent, informal leaders can struggle to fulfill necessary team needs and feel less control over decisions, skills and resources, which results in greater levels of exhaustion.

The researchers conducted a series of four studies across 202 people in 52 work teams to investigate factors that make informal leaders feel dissatisfied at work. First, they issued a survey that examined how formal leadership support helped moderate employees informal leadership status and their satisfaction at work. Second, they conducted a series of interviews to investigate when and why informal leaders experience dissatisfaction, and identified energetic activation as a potential mediator. Studies three and four tested the mediator under different formal leadership conditions.

Their findings challenge the results of other studies on informal leadership, which presume that employees naturally benefit from taking the lead.

Existing business education and training encourages employees to be extra milers and do their best to assist colleagues and organizations, says Tesluk. As a result, companies prioritize hustle cultures and encourage employees to take on informal leadership roles. But these good eggs need to be protected from being exhaustedand its their formal leaders responsibility to support and energize them.

Tesluk says organizations can encourage and retain their overachieving employees in a number of ways.

One way to recognize the contributions of informal leaders is certainly through promotions or bonuses, but more importantly, informal leaders need to experience psychological trust with their managers, which supervisors can foster by providing mentoring and support when coordinating with peers and clients, reducing workloads where feasible and granting more autonomy in decision-making.

Tesluk collaborated on the study with UB School of Management graduate and the studys lead author Chia-Yen (Chad) Chiu, PhD, associate director of the Centre for Workplace Excellence at the University of South Australia; Jennifer Nahrgang, PhD, the Palmer Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business; Ashlea Bartram, PhD, research fellow at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, and Jing Wang, PhD, lecturer at the Torrens University Australia Chifley Business School.
Recently, the Iowa House voted to ban "vaccination passports" (that is their made-up word for vaccination cards). Banning the use of the vaccination requirements is just another loony edict from the out-of-control Republicans in the Iowa Legislature.

Americans have a strong sense of their individual liberties, and rightly so. Mask-wearing and requiring vaccinations (fueled by FOXs misleading bloviators) has become a lightning rod of controversy over individual liberty versus public safety.

So what personal freedoms are we entitled to? Generally, we are entitled to individual rights as long as they do not infringe on the rights of others.

For example, you have a right to be naked in your own house, but you do not have a right to go naked in a public park.

You have a right to practice archery in a safe area, but you do not have the right to practice archery in the grocery store.

And you have a right to think vaccinations are unnecessary. But schools, hospitals, employers and other countries have an obligation to ensure the safety of others by requiring vaccinations. This is a long-standing precedent.
Instead, she has found herself increasingly at odds with most of her party as Trump keeps insisting, without credible evidence, that fraud kept him from reelection. Cheney survived a leadership vote in February, but Republicans in the House are preparing for another next week, with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., emerging as a top candidate to replace her.

Despite the political risk facing Cheney, Wyoming's two Republican senators, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, weren't riding to her defense, either.

The Wyoming delegation doesn't always agree except on countering the Biden administration, Barrasso said in a statement when asked about Cheney's situation.

He didn't answer a question about why he didn't join her in disputing Trump's false claims that fraud deprived him of victory.

Lummis, who was Wyoming's congresswoman for four terms before Cheney, didn't respond at all when asked if she would stand up for Cheney.

Political peril hasn't kept Cheney from doubling down, in a Washington Post editorial Wednesday, on saying Republicans should reject Trump's false claims and support appointment of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
This means that while the state is receiving the same amount of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines and a jump to 100,000 Johnson & Johnson doses, the supply wont matter without significant demand.

Next week, there could be a slight uptick if federal regulators expand the Pfizer vaccines emergency use authorization to include kids ages 12 and up.

What comes next?

Most state-run vaccination clinics are closing by the end of May, with more targeted events replacing them to prioritize the hardest-to-reach populations and residents who, for a wide range of reasons, have yet to be vaccinated.

And these clinics are significantly smaller, Avula said, which means the output will not be the same as major sites administering 5,000 doses per day. At a recent mobile clinic at a pet food processing plant, where the majority of workers do not speak English  a barrier that has continually clouded the registration process  only 65 people were vaccinated.

Thats pretty awesome because those are 65 folks that probably would not have gotten vaccinated otherwise, but I share that to illustrate that this is going to be a very different pace with a different kind of effort-to-reward ratio than weve seen over the last few months.
Horrified by the scale and senselessness of the violence and the fact that several young children witnessed it, an army of volunteers, community members, faith leaders, business representatives and many others have united to help the Belt Atlantic residents through their grief and trauma.

A big family dinner is being held on Saturday, from 2 to 6 p.m., in the field where the shooting unfolded to honor the victims and do something nice for residents. About 50 businesses have donated food and other items for the event, which is expected to draw about 300 people. The event will follow funeral services for Hill and her daughter at 11 a.m. at United Nations Church, 214 Cowardin Ave.

Several of Shy-Shy Hills friends at The Belt Atlantic said the big dinner event, on the day before Mothers Day, will be a fitting holiday tribute to Hill, who had wanted nothing more than to be a mother and had been one for only three months before she and her child were killed. It would have been her first Mothers Day as a parent.
Henrico County investigators have arrested a suspect in Tuesdays double shooting that left a woman dead and a man critically injured outside the Extended Stay America motel near West Broad Street and Glenside Drive.

Kevin K. Mitchell, 34, was charged with a half-dozen offenses including second-degree murder, malicious wounding, two counts of felony use of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Mitchell, who police said has a registered address in Richmond, is accused of shooting the man and woman just before 9 p.m. Tuesday outside the Extended Stay America in the 6800 block of Paragon Place. After being called to the scene, police found the victims together near the staircase between the first and second floors.

The woman, Ashley Nicole Tolliver, 33, died after being transported to a local hospital. The man, whom police did not identify, sustained life-threatening injuries and remains in critical condition.

Police apprehended Mitchell on Thursday evening in the 6900 block of Forest Avenue, which is in a commercial area about 1.5 miles away from the Extended Stay and on the opposite side of Interstate 64. It was unclear whether Mitchell was staying at one of the nearby motels.
Belsches has received a $10,000 grant from Virginia Humanities to support her research and script development for a Randolph documentary, which she also will produce and direct. Footage for the documentary was filmed Thursday.

Although Randolph primarily is associated with Henrico County, she was a lifelong resident of Richmond, living in Carver and Jackson Ward. Randolph never married and had no biological children of her own. But working with the courts, she boarded up to 70 troubled juveniles, including 17 who stayed with her simultaneously, Belsches said.

She also was among the founders in 1917 of the Colored Branch of the Red Cross, an affiliate of the whites-only Richmond chapter of the Red Cross, Belsches said.

Her Encyclopedia Virginia entry on Randolph quotes Samuel Chiles Mitchell, a professor at Richmond College (now the University of Richmond), stating: Her work ranks with that of Booker T. Washington. It has lacked the spectacular element that attaches to the great principal of Tuskegee; but in significance it surpasses, in some ways, even his achievements. Virginia Randolph has done the common thing in an uncommon way.
Caring Heart currently provides training and employment for 58 mothers at its family and development center, Charbonneau said. Almost 100 children attend day programs, including 28 who live at the center. The organization distributes clothing and shoes and feeds more than 170 every day.

Our grocery bill is crazy, said Charbonneau, who lives at the center.

Caring Heart has grown to have 65 employees and an annual budget close to $500,000. It offers sponsorships for children in which the children correspond with their sponsors, and it is raising money to acquire another house to expand its residential program.

Financial support is all through individuals around the world, which is pretty amazing, said Charbonneau, who is scheduled to return to Kazakhstan next week.

Saule, who comes to the center daily but lives with a foster family, is doing really well, Charbonneau, and is looking to a future of good work herself. Her education thwarted by her disability, Saule might pursue a high school equivalency diploma so that she can enter a college program and work toward her goal of learning how to make prosthetic limbs and serve those in need in Kazakhstan.
Carters figure includes $1 billion in spending for colleges and universities to produce more students with degrees in tech fields. Carter said job growth should come from growing Virginia businesses.

McAuliffe responded by saying he wrote the bid to get Amazon to come to Virginia. While McAuliffe was part of the team that put the deal together, officials within the administration of Gov. Ralph Northam spearheaded the effort. The McAuliffe administration started the process at the end of his administration.

Over 230 cities across this country wanted it. Were talking 25,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000, McAuliffe responded. And guess what? No upfront money and not a penny of state money can be spent until we get the tax revenue in from the new jobs.

That is a very good deal, McAuliffe said.

Petersburg

The city of Petersburg and its troubles became a topic of pointed discussion.

Asked about food insecurity, Carroll Foy spoke about growing up in Petersburg, which has dealt for decades with high rates of poverty. Petersburg faced a high-profile financial crisis that began in 2008 that by 2011 had left the city with no reserves.
The trio will have an opportunity to have a sustained effect  perhaps for a decade or more  in 2023, when delegates and senators run in new districts that are certain to expand the power in Richmond of Virginias blueing suburbs.

The millions of dollars with which Bills has become the Daddy Greenbucks of state politics represent some of his profits from his nearly two-decade-old hedge fund, Bluestem Asset Management LLC, named  perhaps appropriately  for a durable long-stemmed grass found on the Great Plains.

It is persistent, Bills said of this native grass, and persistence is important in investment, too.

The power that naturally accretes to the wealthy and elite, as Bills put it, is something that he had to earn, starting as one of six children of a U.S. Air Force pilot posted to a base at Hampton, where Bills finished high school and would meet his future wife, also an Air Force brat.

Initially, because of the cost, college didnt seem an option  Bills had mastered welding and might have headed to a job at the giant shipyard at nearby Newport News  but he was admitted to the University of Virginia under a program for the best and brightest and was graduated in 1978, completing a degree in economics in three years.
Research News

Two UB researchers receive investments from Empire Discovery Institute

By CHARLOTTE HSU

Two UB drug development and discovery projects have received investments from the Empire Discovery Institute. One project focuses on an immunotherapy platform  developed by UB pharmacy researcher Sathy Balu-Iyer and his team  that could benefit patients who are receiving gene therapy for a variety of diseases. The other will seek to design a therapy for multiple sclerosis (MS) that leverages a novel drug target discovered by a team led by UB medical researcher M. Laura Feltri. The institute will advance both efforts through its Medicines Discovery Award Program, a competitive incubator and accelerator program designed to identify and advance promising early-stage drug discovery into early proofs of concept. Successful projects will exit the program as either a licensing transaction to a strategic pharmaceutical partner or as an Empire Discovery Institute-created startup company. Empire Discovery Institute is a nonprofit New York drug discovery and development accelerator created to translate important academic discoveries into new medicines for commercialization by providing strategic support and pharmaceutical development expertise. Established with $35.4 million in initial funding from Empire State Development, it works in partnership with research labs at UB, the University of Rochester and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Sathy Balu-Iyer. Photo: Douglas Levere

TIPS immunotherapy platform UB principal investigator: Sathy Balu-Iyer, professor of pharmaceutical sciences, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Investment: $250,000 This project seeks to develop an immunotherapy platform that could improve treatment outcomes for patients receiving gene therapy for rare disease conditions such as hemophilia and Pompe disease. Gene therapy holds great promise for treating a variety of diseases. However, these therapies are delivered using vectors that can include inactivated viruses, and patients sometimes have immune responses to the vectors and against transgene products, which can decrease treatment efficacy. The UB immunotherapy platform  called Tolerance Inducing Phosphatidylserine (TIPS)  is designed to prevent, reduce or reverse immunogenic reactions to gene therapies that leverage adeno-associated viruses (AAV) as the vector. Because people are commonly exposed to various forms of wild AAVs, some patients have developed enough immunity to AAV that their immune systems attack AAV-delivered gene therapy. UB has a portfolio of patent applications tied to the TIPS technology. The investment will support preclinical research in Balu-Iyers lab, and by contract research organizations. In addition to potential applications tied to gene therapy, the TIPS platform also holds potential for improving treatment for autoimmune conditions such as Type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis and allergies, among others.

M. Laura Feltri. Photo: Sandra Kicman

A novel multiple sclerosis drug target UB principal investigator: M. Laura Feltri, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Neurology, and acting director of the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB Investment:$250,000 This project seeks to design and develop a therapy for MS, leveraging a novel drug target discovered by Feltris team. Within the central nervous system, a coating called the myelin sheath protects nerve cells, akin to the coating around electric wires. When this protective layer is damaged, the body will make repairs. In patients with MS, this process, called remyelination, becomes inefficient over time. The focus of the project is on developing a treatment to correct the remyelination repair function in MS patients. This will involve synthesizing, testing and optimizing compounds that could inhibit the novel drug target that Feltri and colleagues have identified. The investment will support this work in Feltris lab, and by contract research organizations. In MS, damage to the central nervous system causes problems that can include fatigue, numbness, weakness, dizziness, blurred vision and difficulty walking. Symptoms vary between patients, and can range from mild to severe. The Multiple Sclerosis International Federation estimated in 2020 that 2.8 million people globally have MS. Western New York has a high prevalence of MS, with a 2013 statement from the upstate New York chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society noting that diagnosis rates in the region were double the U.S. average.

New translational research partnership
But he can rest assured: The crises will come.

For one thing, the record numbers of unaccompanied children crossing into the United States from Mexico will have to be addressed.

After weeks of relying on the same, overcrowded facilities used under Trump, the administration has succeeded in moving most of the children to better facilities. But thousands of immigrant children in jeopardy isnt something the administration wants to be dealing with, and the overall situation on the border still could turn worse.

Another potential crisis is vaccine exports. Some Americans might be hesitant to stick out their own arms, but how will they feel if Biden starts giving away American doses? The administration initially rejected pleas from India that it export COVID-19 vaccines or lift U.S drug firms patent protections, citing its responsibility to take care of Americans first.

But as Indias death toll from the coronavirus pandemic rose, China rushed in with well-publicized medical aid and U.S.-Indian relations slid toward a crisis. So the Biden administration reversed itself, announcing this past week that it would ship millions of doses of AstraZeneca vaccines, which havent been approved for U.S. use.
Clean the Bay Day, Virginias long-running annual litter cleanup, will return this spring. But instead of a day, it will be a weeklong cleanup across Virginia from May 31 to June 5. In 2020, the event sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) became another casualty of COVID-19  canceled for the first time in its 31-year history. Organizers say the new format allows anyone to safely participate and in their own way, whether by planting native plants, picking up trash or installing a rain barrel. Have a few minutes free? Grab a trash bag and gloves and do a litter cleanup in your neighborhood. Want to get out of the house with the kids? Do a cleanup in a local public park, Kristin Webb, CBF Clean the Bay Day coordinator, said in a statement. Before 2020, the foundation reports that volunteers used to pick up more than 100,000 pounds of litter at cleanup sites across Virginia on the first Saturday in June. But why restrict the event to one week? Every day should be Clean the Bay Day. To find out more or to register to participate, go to: www.cbf.org/clean

One event that wont return this year is the beloved Chincoteague Pony Swim and carnival. For the second consecutive year, this uniquely Virginia event has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bottom line, too many unknowns to take a chance, Hunter Leonard, president of the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Co., wrote in a Facebook posting. Every year, an estimated 40,000 visitors descend upon the Eastern Shore seaside town for a week of pony-related activities immortalized by Marguerite Henrys 1947 childrens classic, Misty of Chincoteague. The volunteer fire department owns the wild steeds and keeps them on neighboring Assateague Island. During the last week of July, the firemen round up the ponies to swim across Assateague Channel to Chincoteague, where they hold an auction to control the size of the herd and to raise money for their company. In July, an auction of some wild ponies still will take place  but online, like last year. The only other time the event was scrubbed was during World War II. This has been a rough year for everyone. So many people have suffered unimaginable losses but Im so confident that we all will bounce back in 2022 and that it will be the best year ever!!! Leonard posted. We hope so  were looking forward to the resumption of this cherished tradition.
Patel told investigators that as he closed his store, a white U-Haul truck with a man and woman inside drove by several times. Patel said that after he finished closing, he went to his car, carrying a green bag that contained his bank deposit bags, snacks and beer. A man tried to tug the bag away from him, Patel said, and pepper-sprayed him.

Patel said he let go of the bag and saw the man run away with it and get into a white U-Haul truck.

According to the prosecution summary, Nelson said she had been in the church parking lot for some time when Narcisse ran up, jumped in and told her to go. She headed back to the hotel but was stopped by police  at which point Narcisse leaped out of their rental truck and ran.

Officers found a can of pepper spray in the truck and a green tote bag containing snacks outside it, prosecutors said.

According to prosecution statements at earlier hearings, search warrants, and a town statement last year, Narcisse ran behind the Holiday Inn after Nelson was stopped. Officers could not find him until a woman called Christiansburg police and said a man was at her mothers residence in the 100 block of Windsor Drive. He wanted a ride to the Super 8 motel and an Uber had been called.
Later during the symposium, panelists further discussed the implications of so much funding, and where it needs to be spent. Andy Kegley, executive director of Helping Overcome Povertys Existence, said the needs his human services organization caters to were exacerbated by the coronavirus.

Our budget for people in sheltered emergency housing prior to last March was about $30,000 a year, Kegley said. We would use a local motel to house homeless folks.

By late summer, HOPE was serving 45 households in three different motels throughout its service area of Galax and Bland, Carroll, Grayson, Smyth and Wythe Counties.

We had one motel, a little 16 unit motel here in downtown Wytheville, it was absolutely full, Kegley said. We were exploring some of the CARES Act money being able to be used to actually purchase that motel.

But problematically, people could not find anywhere affordable to move out of the motel from, prolonging their stays 90 days or more, and increasing the costs associated to HOPE, he said. That issue further underscores the need for affordable housing,
Steve Crandall, co-founder of Devils Backbone Brewing Company and a pioneer of Virginias craft beverage industry, has died following a three-year battle with cancer, the Nelson County-based brewery announced Wednesday. He was 64.

Crandall was diagnosed with cancer in 2018. According to a statement from his wife and Devils Backbone co-founder Heidi Crandall, Steve Crandall always maintained hope through his treatment and surgeries.

Steve was a loving husband, father, grandfather, community business leader, scout master, entrepreneur, custom home and commercial builder, and founder of Devils Backbone Brewing Company, Heidi Crandall said in the statement. But this is just a tiny part of who Steve was.

Crandalls leadership and his efforts to lobby for legislation helped transform the brewery and the craft beverage industry into the juggernaut it is today.

In an email to the Nelson County Times, Director of Economic Development and Tourism Maureen Kelley said Crandall made many contributions as a member of the Nelson County Economic Development Authority. Devils Backbone was the first location of the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild, she said.
In each round, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated, and each delegates vote for that candidate will be doled out to their next pick, until any one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.

Further complicating matters is that the state GOP will weigh each vote differently according to the locality from which it came. The weight of each vote will be determined by the number of delegates that ultimately show up to vote, matched against the turnout of their locality in the 2020 election.

Anderson said counting will start with the attorney generals race, followed by the contests for lieutenant governor and governor.

This is politics, so dont be surprised if that changes, Anderson said.

The counting process will be livestreamed on the partys website, and the party says voters will be able to watch the results as they unfold.

Itll be self-evident where the races are going. People will be able to see in real time when we realize who is our nominee for attorney general  anybody watching the livestream will know, Anderson said.

Anderson said he hopes to announce the results of the gubernatorial nomination contest on Tuesday, though it could stretch to later in the week.
Duluth, MN (55816)

Today

Plenty of sunshine. High near 65F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 57F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Six Republicans hope to earn a part-time salary to preside over the state Senate starting next year.

The job is lieutenant governor. And the $36,321 salary isnt the draw, its holding an office that puts the occupant one step from the governors mansion.

The lieutenant governor votes to break ties on most legislation in the Senate. Many Virginia governors once held the job, among them current Gov. Ralph Northam, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Democrats Doug Wilder and Chuck Robb and Republican John Dalton. The last Republican to hold the office was Bill Bolling, who served as lieutenant governor from 2006 to 2014.

Here, in alphabetical order, is a final look at the six candidates for lieutenant governor Republican delegates will consider during Saturdays convention. Voting will be held at locations across the state and could take several days to tally. All six hope that, should they win the nomination, enough voters in Virginia are turned off by exclusive Democratic control in Richmond that theyll elect the first Republican to win statewide since 2009. (Democrats will choose their nominee for lieutenant governor from six candidates in a June 8 primary.)

Puneet Ahluwalia
All five Democrats vying to become Virginias next governor took the debate stage in Southwest Virginia on Thursday, just shy of a month until voting closes in the June 8 Democratic primary.

Former Gov. Terry McAuliffe  whom polls show is far ahead of the other candidates  fielded the most attacks throughout the night. Former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy took the most forceful swings at McAuliffe, calling him Virginias past.

Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond, touted a long list of legislative victories; Del. Lee Carter of Manassas cemented his place to the left of the field; and, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who last month made headlines for comparing himself to Emmett Till, largely focused Thursday night on the policy questions at hand.

McAuliffe, who served as governor from 2014-18, said during the hourlong debate in Bristol that he is the right candidate to take on the eventual Republican nominee, whom he said would threaten liberal policies and Democratic control of the legislature.

The candidates met in far Southwest, an area where job growth has stalled. All five candidates agreed the area could benefit from intensified focus on economic development, and all agreed greater public spending on broadband would be key to improving life in the region and other rural parts of the state.
Republicans make the same mistake. They rate themselves at 7.11 when voters see them further right at 7.45  and their most recent presidential candidate even further right. Of the seven Republican candidates for governor, Pete Snyder has done the best job of rounding up endorsements from high-profile people who worked for Trump; that might serve him well enough with Republican delegates this weekend but could prove a burden in a general election campaign where voters have already made it plain they consider Trump far too conservative for their tastes.

Furthermore, both parties do a terrible job of understanding the other side. Democrats see Republicans way far to the right at 8.23  much further right than voters as a whole do. Likewise, Republicans see Democrats nearly off the scale on the left at 1.47 when voters as a whole dont agree. And then we wonder why people hate politics? Both parties are out of touch with where voters are  and neither party understands where voters see the two parties.

On balance, that ideological self-rating seems good news for Republicans  voters seem ideologically inclined their way if only the party can pull itself back from nominating candidates too far to the right.

How big an if is that?
The European Union is planning new rules on foreign investment to boost production autonomy for sensitive strategic goods within the bloc. The measures are bound to hit China, with relations that were rapidly improving last year between the two now on a downward spiral since Biden assumed the U.S. presidency.

The European Union unveiled a plan to cut its dependency on foreign suppliers, essentially targeting the Chinese, in six strategic sectors including raw materials, pharmaceutical ingredients, and semiconductors.

EU officials have drawn up a list of 137 products of high dependency, and about half of those imports originate in China. The plan advises the bloc to diversify its supply chain to reduce dependence on one single foreign supplier, as well as to support better European small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Europe also needs to take the lead in setting standards for batteries, hydrogen, offshore wind, safe chemicals, cybersecurity and space data to ensure the competitiveness and resilience of EU industries, the paper said.

Planned EU measures to remove some trade distortions through foreign subsidies would also affect China. Under the current system, subsidies granted by non-EU governments like China do not face the same vetting as those from EU nations.

Companies have been free to use foreign subsidies to buy up businesses here in Europe. Some have been able to undercut their competitors in public tenders not because they are more efficient, but because they get financial support from foreign countries. And thats not fair, said EU Vice President Margrethe Vestager. It has to stop.

If approved, the rules would grant the EU agencies new powers to block foreign companies from making acquisitions in Europe if they were beneficiaries of government subsidies.

"Europe is open for business, but come and do it in a fair and transparent manner," EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said.

According to research by European consulting firm Datenna, out of 650 Chinese investments in Europe since 2010, roughly 40% have high or moderate involvement by state-owned or state-controlled companies

Just in February, China officially became the European Unions top trading partner, trumping the United States, which has long held that status.

But those relations quickly worsened over Chinas treatment of its Uyghur population.

According to the EU's statistics office, Eurostat, the export of EU goods to China grew by 2.2% and China exports to the EU grew by 5.6% in 2020. At the same time, EU exports to the US fell by 8.2% and EU imports from the US fell by 13.2%.

We could now start to see those numbers change as Europe jumps in line with Biden against China, even if they resisted the same from Trump.

The new EU measures come as the ratification of a business investment deal with China hangs in the balance. The European Union and China approved a controversial investment agreement in late December after seven years of negotiations.

The deal was only pending ratification by the European Parliament, but in March, the European Union imposed sanctions on four Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses. In response, China imposed counter-sanctions that targeted several high-profile members of the European Parliament, three members of national parliaments, and two EU committees.

The deal faced staunch opposition by EU lawmakers and human rights activists. The Biden administration publicly voiced its displeasure, as well.
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Data from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health shows the current seven-day average for ICU hospital beds in use is 68.4%. The seven-day average for acute beds in use is about 81.8%. The data reflects hospital occupancy for Anne Arundel Medical Center and the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center, but it is a moving metric, as the hospitals can add or reduce capacity as needed.
We were all pretty homogeneous about politics, Rice continued. Well, today, [there are] 26 different channels. You pick your team and you go listen to that. You dont even hear the other side. It riles everybody up.

Rice said that some people now dont even watch TV but follow the news through social media.

All of people get on social media and just trash each other constantly, Rice said. Go look at my Facebook page, for Gods sake.

He added that the day he leaves office, he plans to leave social media.

I promise you this: the day I am out of politics, I will never have another social media account again, Rice said. I call social media gossip at the speed of light. Thats what it is. Theres no responsibility and theres no accountability. Its just people throwing garbage at each other with no thought or remorse about it.

Rice called social media awful and terrible. He said he wished it would all go away but then added that social media was not going away.

But if its going to be there, it needs to be there for everybody, Rice continued. You should not censor conservative voices and let just liberal people speak.
 Spotlighting effectiveness of home confinement under CARES Act and concerns about OLC memo disruption | Main | Split(?) Sixth Circuit panel clarifies disparity between actual sentence and sentence under current law can be proper compassionate relief factor 

May 7, 2021

"Marijuana legalization and expungement in early 2021"

The title of this post is the title of this great new report authored by David Schlussel that was assisted in various ways by folks at Collateral Consequences Resource Center and Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (DEPC) at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Here is the abstract to the report:

Early 2021 was an unprecedented period for policymaking at the intersection of marijuana legalization and criminal record reform. Between February and April, four states enacted legislation legalizing recreational marijuana. In conjunction with legalization, these states (New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Virginia) also enacted innovative criminal policy reforms  including the automatic expungement of an exceptionally broad array of past marijuana convictions  along with a variety of social equity provisions. These new laws mitigate past harms of the legal system while also supporting economic and social opportunity for people with a record in several ways. First, in all four states, expansive automatic expungement provisions will remove the burden of a criminal record from many individuals, while raising the bar on standards for marijuana record relief nationwide. These states also incorporated more general criminal record reforms into legalization, benefiting people with different types of criminal records in their efforts to reintegrate into society. Finally, these four states specifically addressed racial disparities in marijuana criminalization by directing tax revenue and business opportunities for legal marijuana to individuals and communities disproportionately affected by criminal law enforcement. This report and an accompanying infographic summarize the groundbreaking criminal reforms enacted this year as part of marijuana legalization and situate them in the national context.

The infographic referenced here as well as other links and materials related to this topic can also be found in the report pages for both DEPC here and CCRC here. In addition, this recent PBS News Hour piece, headlined "As more states legalize marijuana, people with drug convictions want their records cleared," discusses these issues further.

A few recent related posts from Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform:

May 7, 2021 at 12:38 AM | Permalink

Comments

Nonviolent marijuana offences should in general be expunged. The exception I would make would be for large-scale traffickers. Someone who was caught with (say) 50kg of Marijuana, at a time when that was illegal under whichever state law, is likely to be a dangerous person and should be treated as such.

Posted by: William C Jockusch | May 8, 2021 8:49:42 PM

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 Covering some interesting developments in some Capitol riot prosecutions | Main | "Marijuana legalization and expungement in early 2021" 

USA Today has this lengthy new piece highlighting the administration of home confinement in the federal system during the pandemic and the worries about a Justice Department memo which could return offenders to prison. I recommend the piece in full, which is headlined "Inmates sent home during COVID-19 got jobs, started school. Now, they face possible return to prison." Here are some excerpts:

In the weeks and months since he was sent home, RJ Edwards found a job, bought a car, got an apartment for him and his mother and started working toward a bachelors degree in computer science....

Edwards, 37, is among the more than 24,000 nonviolent federal prisoners who have been allowed to serve their sentences at home to slow the spread of COVID-19 inside prisons. But a Justice Department memo issued in the final days of the Trump administration says inmates whose sentences will extend beyond the pandemic must be brought back to prison.

Advocates urged the Justice Department to rescind the memo, which was issued by the agency's Office of Legal Counsel. They say it defeats the whole idea of rehabilitation and contradicts President Joe Biden's campaign promise to allow people with criminal pasts to redeem themselves. "They let us go, and we reintegrate, and then it feels like nothing matters. All the hard work you put in, it doesnt matter. Were just a number to them," said Edwards, who has five years left to serve.

During a congressional hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, raised concerns about sending people back to prison, especially those who have been following the rules. Of the 24,000 prisoners who were allowed to go home, 151  less than 1%  have violated the terms of their home confinement and three have been arrested for new crimes. "This highlights how effective home confinement can be," Grassley said....

Reincarcerating people who, for the past year, have been law-abiding would disrupt their rehabilitation and would do little to improve public safety, according to a letter more than two dozen groups sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland last month. "Establishing community ties and deepening family connections are known to be significant positive factors for reducing recidivism," according to the letter. "Disrupting that process would mean disrupting safe re-integration into society and damaging networks that are vital to improving public safety."

Keeping people behind bars is also costly. In 2018, the annual cost of housing just one federal prisoner was about $37,000 or $102 per day....

In the past year since they were sent home, the majority of these inmates have finished their sentences or have met the criteria to stay on home confinement. As of mid-April, 4,500 inmates on home confinement would not have qualified if not for the pandemic, although many of them are likely to meet the criteria in the next months. About 2,400 have more than a year left in their sentence, [BOP Director Michael] Carvajal told lawmakers.

A little more than 300 have five years left to serve. That includes Edwards, who was sentenced to 17 years for wire fraud. He was sent home in July. By August, he found a job.
The alleged mastermind, Ng Yu Zhi, has been charged with a range of suspected crimes from faking the purchase and sale of nickel to falsifying transfers from Citibank and account statements that showed millions in funds. (PHOTO: REUTERS/Edgar Su)

By David Ramli, Yoolim Lee, Chanyaporn Chanjaroen and Alfred Cang

(Bloomberg)  Technology startup investor Vickers Venture Partners has been caught up in the allegedly fraudulent nickel trading scheme of a Singaporean businessman and his Envy Global Trading, prompting a review by the city-states monetary authority.

Vickers would be the highest-profile investor yet to have fallen victim to the suspected US$740 million swindle, which Singaporean authorities have said could be the biggest investment fraud the financial hub has ever seen. The alleged mastermind, Ng Yu Zhi, has been charged with a range of suspected crimes from faking the purchase and sale of nickel to falsifying transfers from Citibank and account statements that showed millions in funds.

Licensed fund managers must have policies to manage risks, including proper checks before investments, MAS said in an emailed response to Bloombergs queries on Thursday. We are performing a supervisory review of Vickers Venture Partners (S) Pte Ltd. to ascertain that it has met these requirements.

Vickers Ventures founder Finian Tan said in a reply to Bloombergs query that he was a personal investor in the receivable financing funds floated by Envy Global Trading, which authorities believe involved false contracts. Two Vickers funds were also investors in companies with exposure to the same trade, he said, adding that the initial due diligence process did not raise any red flags.

Tan also confirmed that Ng is among investors in a company that made a small investment in Vickers and another company that put a small amount in one of its seven funds. A representative for Ng didnt immediately respond to an emailed query.

Vickers has US$953 million of assets under management, including co-investments. Its founder and chairman was an early investor in Chinese technology giant Baidu Inc. Vickers said in 2020 it received US$200 million in commitments for its sixth fund, which is targeted at US$500 million.

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We are expecting this year to be the best ever year for both funds even if we have to write off the RFEGT investments to zero, Tan said in a statement, referring to the receivable financing investment. As venture capitalists, we swing for the fences. And when mistakes occur, we should of course try to minimise them.

Tan said his funds ability to hit a home-run by taking risks has allowed it to produce outsized returns in the past. If we slow down our swing and can no longer hit home-runs, then we are done for.

The fraud allegations against Ng center on his dealings at Envy Asset Management and Envy Global Trading, companies he controlled and where he was a director. Of the more than S$1 billion (US$749 million) that was invested in the companies, S$300 million was transferred to Ngs personal account while an estimated S$200 million remains unaccounted for, prosecutors alleged in court proceedings last month.

While investors received payments worth S$700 million, theyre owed another S$1 billion based on the face value of outstanding contracts, prosecutors said.

Singapores High Court last week approved KPMG LLP as the interim judicial manager of three companies that are linked to the case.

 2021 Bloomberg L.P.
A recovering US economy and the coronavirus crisis in India helped boost Chinas trade data in April, but volumes are probably close to a cyclical peak, analysts said.

Exports grew by 32.3 per cent last month from a year earlier to US$263.93 billion, up from the 30.6 per cent growth seen in March, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed. This was above the median result of a survey of analysts conducted by Bloomberg, which predicted 24.5 per cent growth.

This was the 10th consecutive period of export growth, although the fact that exports grew by just 3.5 per cent in April last year due to the impact of the coronavirus is a factor in the size of the increase this year.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Imports grew by 43.1 per cent in April from a year earlier to US$221.07 billion, up from the 38.1 per cent growth in March, and just below the Bloomberg survey, which predicted 44.4 per cent growth.

This was the seventh consecutive period of import growth but, again, the import drop of 14.2 per cent in April last year means the latest figures started from a low base.

Chinas total trade surplus stood at US$42.85 billion in April, compared with US$13.8 billion in March.

Chinas export growth again surprised on the upside. Two factors likely contributed to the strong export growth. First, the US economy is booming, boosting global demand. Secondly, the Covid crisis in India caused delays in production, therefore some orders were shifted to China, said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

We expect that Chinas export growth will stay strong into the second half of this year, as the two factors will likely continue to favour Chinese manufacturers. Exports will be a key pillar for growth in China this year. It also helps the yuan to perform well among emerging market currencies.

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Indias total coronavirus infections have exceeded 21 million, of which about 7 million have been added since mid-April.

And analysts at the Huatai Securities said that there were rising risks that the massive surge of cases in India might spread to Southeast Asian countries, which then would pose a great threat to the production and economic recovery in the region.

But for China, this may mean that the countrys share in global trade is likely to continue rising in a month-on-month manner and export growth is more sustainable, they said on Friday.

According to Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura, the growth of Chinas exports to India surged by 144 per cent year on year in April.

The stimulus in developed economies, especially the US, sustained demand for products manufactured in China, while the worsening Covid-19 pandemic in many emerging markets, including India and the Asean, have also benefited Chinas exports in two ways: it has made those emerging markets countries less competitive against China, and, in some cases, these emerging markets have had to rely on China for personal protective equipment and other products to combat Covid-19, said Lu.

Headline trade growth picked up last month thanks to favourable base effects. But in seasonally adjusted terms, exports continued to level off, and the rebound in imports stalled

Julian Evans-Pritchard

But Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics, highlighted that Chinas exports continued to level off and the rebound in imports stalled last month in seasonally adjusted terms, partly showing supply constraints, which were most visible in the electronic sector.

Headline trade growth picked up last month thanks to favourable base effects. But in seasonally adjusted terms, exports continued to level off, and the rebound in imports stalled. This partly reflects supply constraints, which are most visible in the electronics sector. But we think that demand is probably close to a cyclical peak too, said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.

Looking ahead, we think trade volumes are probably close to a cyclical peak. Admittedly, the current supply constraints should ease over the coming quarters. But at the same time, vaccine roll-outs and looser social-distancing restrictions in developed markets will start to reverse the pandemic-induced surge in demand for Chinese exports.

Meanwhile, Chinas domestic recovery is levelling off, and a tighter policy stance means that the composition of output looks set to shift toward services and away from credit and import-intensive sectors like industry and construction.

Unfortunate but what does Chinas halt of Australia dialogue channel mean?

In terms of trading partners, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) remained the largest in the first four months of the year, followed by the European Union, the United States and Japan.

Chinas exports to the Asean rose by 42.16 per cent to US$41.096 billion in April compared with a year earlier, while imports from the Asean rose by 40.64 per cent to US$31.375 billion.

Chinas exports to European Union rose by 23.81 per cent to US$39.918 billion in April compared with a year earlier, while imports rose by 43.28 per cent to US$26.794 billion.

Amid their ongoing dispute, which escalated further on Thursday as China indefinitely suspended all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, exports to Australia rose by 19.74 per cent to US$5.25 billion in April compared with a year earlier, while imports rose by 49.31 per cent to US$14.865 billion.

In April, Chinas trade surplus with the US rose to US$28.11 billion from US$21.37 billion in March. The April surplus was 22.92 per cent up compared with a year earlier.

Chinas imports from the US rose by 51.65 per cent to US$13.94 billion in April, while exports rose by 31.16 per cent to US$42.05 billion.

In the first four months of the year, Chinas trade surplus with the US was US$100.68 billion  58 per cent higher than US$63.676 in the same period of last year, according to the Chinese customs data.

The stimulus in developed economies (especially the US) sustained demand for products manufactured in China, while the worsening Covid-19 pandemic in many emerging markets, including India and Asean, have also benefited Chinas exports in two ways: it has made those EM countries less competitive against China, and, in some cases, these EM have had to rely on China for personal protective equipment (PPE) and other products to combat Covid-19.

More from South China Morning Post:

This article China trade: India coronavirus crisis, recovering US economy boosted figures, but cyclical peak looms first appeared on South China Morning Post

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SIOUX CITY -- Four years ago, when social distancing wasnt in our vocabulary and outdoor concerts filled summer calendars, a newly blonde Alanis Morissette played Battery Park.

She performed plenty of her hits, worked the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino stage and hinted at what was about to come: a stage version of Jagged Little Pill.

The show opened on Broadway Dec. 5, 2019, got great reviews and, like other live shows, closed the following March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since then, the production won a Grammy for best musical theater album and was nominated for 15 Tony Awards.

And what about Morissette? What has the last year been like for her?

Abject trauma, she says during a Zoom interview. If Im being really honest, its been really, really challenging in so many ways. Its been a huge social, relational, spiritual, cultural, economic political fart storm over the last while, but there are so many silver linings.

Among them: The Great North, an animated Fox series in which Morissette plays  who else?  Alanis Morissette, a 16-year-old girls imaginary friend who only appears in the Aurora Borealis.
First China International Consumer Products Expo to be held in Hainan

10:44, May 05, 2021 By Zhao Peng, Cao Wenxuan ( People's Daily

Photo shows the venue of the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center, Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (People's Daily Online/Zhang Mao)

The first China International Consumer Products Expo, or Hainan Expo, is scheduled to be held from May 7 to 10 in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan Province. Vast numbers of domestic and international consumer products will be exhibited at the event.

It is reported that the exhibition will cover a total area of 80,000 square meters, including 60,000 square meters of international exhibition space.

So far, 1,193 international brands from 69 countries and regions have confirmed their participation, including L'Oreal, Remy Martin, Shiseido, Kao, Johnson & Johnson, Dell and Swarovski.

"I used all my duty-free shopping quota in Hainan's Sanya a couple of months ago, and I'm planning to go all out at the upcoming Hainan Expo since I heard the consumption made at the event is not included in the 100,000-yuan ($20,485) duty-free shopping quota," said a woman surnamed Wang from Beijing, who has just booked her second flight to Hainan this year. "I'll focus more on baby care products and cosmetics this time," she added.

Thanks to the offshore duty-free shopping policy that Hainan adopted July the last year, consumption has become an important part on the agenda of tourists visiting the province. According to customs statistics, a total of nearly 1.79 million tourists consumed 17.75 million pieces of duty-free products in Hainan, which leads to a duty-free shopping volume of 13.57 billion yuan. The three figures increased 355.7 percent, 327.7 percent and 176.8 percent from a year ago, respectively.

During this year's Spring Festival holiday, the sales volume of Hainan's duty-free shops doubled from two years ago.

Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the Communist Party of China Hainan Provincial Committee, said on a recent press conference that the offshore duty-free shopping volume of the province might exceed 60 billion yuan this year.

As China's per capita GDP hits $10,000 and the country enters a new phase of consumption upgrading, the Chinese people are having an increasing demand for high-quality commodities.

Last year, the country imported 1.57 trillion yuan of consumer products, up 8.2 percent year on year and outrunning the growth of the import of goods in the same period. In the first quarter this year, China's cross-border e-commerce platforms imported 138.7 billion yuan of products, up 15.1 percent.

Goldmax, a formula brand from New Zealand, has put its products onto the shelves of multiple duty-free shops in Hainan Province since it was introduced to the Chinese market by GOVKING Group, a Chinese infant formula and supplement retailer, in 2008.

"We are confident that we'll attract more consumers at the Hainan Expo," said Wu Suguo, president of GOVKING Group.

Over 20,000 professional buyers are expected to gather at the Hainan Expo, and the expo is about to witness 200,000 visits. Thirty-four delegations formed by 31 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, as well as Xiamen and Dalian, two cities under separate state planning, will attend the expo to exhibit their quality products and time-honored brands.

"Chinese consumers have a very strong demand for a better life, as well as high-quality and healthy consumption," said an executive of Johnson & Johnson China. The company is confident about its high-quality development in China, the executive added.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Bianji)
Hogan said that such challenges, categorized as adverse childhood experiences by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, could affect a childs sense of safety and stability. Theyre also linked to health problems, mental illness and substance abuse in adulthood, and can hinder job opportunities later in life, Hogan said.
Forbearance and other government supports like stimulus checks and expanded unemployment benefits have so far kept homeowners from falling into delinquency on their mortgage payments. During the last recession, the collapse of the housing bubble and subprime mortgage crisis led to a spike in mortgage delinquency rates in the first few years of the downturn, followed by a gradual improvement over the last decade. But in 2020, mortgage delinquency rates actually took a noticeable turn downward in the months after the pandemic struck and the passage of the CARES Act. From January to June 2020, the percentage of mortgages that were 30+ days delinquent each month dropped by more than half, from 3.1% to 1.4%. Put another way, mortgage delinquency rates declined at the same time that job loss and economic uncertainty were at their highest.
The owner of a California bar was arrested on suspicion of selling made-to-order fake COVID-19 vaccination cards to several undercover state agents for $20 each in what officials said Friday is the first such foiled operation they are aware of nationwide.

The plainclothes agents from Californias Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control were told to write their names and birthdates on Post-it notes. They say bar employees cut the cards, filled out the identifying information and bogus vaccination dates, then laminated the finished product.

Vaccination cards are being used in some places as a pass for people to attend large gatherings. The European Union is considering allowing in tourists who can prove they have been vaccinated.

Acting on an an anonymous tip from the San Joaquin County Sheriffs office, four undercover agents went to Old Corner Saloon in the town of Clements several times in April and bought four fake laminated vaccination cards, officials said.

They returned to the small-town bar this week and arrested the bars owner. Agents say they found another two completed cards and 30 additional blank cards along with a laminator and cutting device.
A first salute from a lower rank? No. Still, it was real to us, and its on record as his first salute, the father wrote on Reddit. After he received his commission, he went to flight school to become a chopper pilot. His first real salute came from the E-6 who greeted him at the front gate.
You could call the message near a Hanover County gateway a sign of the times in a nation with a growing intolerance for different political views.

The yellow background and red, black and blue lettering are hard to miss. So is the message.

HANOVER COUNTY

HOME OF PATRICK HENRY

CONSERVATIVES...WELCOME HOME

LIBERALS...?...THANKS FOR VISITING

Obscured by a plank beneath this message is the script identifying the sign as the handiwork of the Patrick Henry Tea Party.

First and foremost, it must be said that whatever signal the sign sends, its protected by the First Amendment. And from a county standpoint, it appears to be in compliance.

Tim Wilson, a code compliance officer for Hanover County, said his review of a photograph of the sign indicates that it appears to fall behind the ditch line and behind a Virginia Department of Transportation information sign. Based on these factors, I believe that the sign is out of the right-of-way, he said.
DES MOINES  The Iowa House gave final approval Thursday to controversial legislation that would ban teaching certain concepts as part of diversity training and school curricula to address parent complaints of indoctrination of students.

Along with sending House File 802 to Gov. Kim Reynolds for her signature, the House approved a handful of budget bills that Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, said will help move the Legislature closer toward adjournment.

Although Republicans control the House, Senate and governors office, he conceded there is not agreement on the budgets. However, Grassley doubts Iowans expect their elected representatives to always agree.

Sometimes you look at Washington, D.C., everyone just falls into lockstep with one another, he said. If (Iowans) thought we just came down here and we were in lockstep on every single issue, through every step of the process, I don't think they would think that was good government. I think Iowans would expect us to not agree on every single issue.

An amended, HF 802 would ban those providing diversity and inclusion training at state and local government entities from teaching certain concepts, such as that the United States or Iowa was fundamentally or systemically racist or sexist, said Rep. Steve Holt, R-Denison.
DES MOINES -- During floor debate Friday, an Iowa legislator spoke for the first time publicly about sexual abuse she experienced as a child.

It was something that I felt a lot of shame for. I was very confused. I was afraid to speak out, Rep. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Ottumwa, told colleagues Friday during debate on Senate File 562 that addressed the sexual exploitation of minors.

It is only as an adult that she has found the courage to talk openly about being abused by a babysitter, she said before the House voted 84-2 to approve legislation eliminating Iowa's statute of limitation on criminal actions involving sexual abuse of children.

Under current Iowa law, criminal charges in child sex-abuse cases must be brought within 15 years after the victim turns 18.

If we set an arbitrary number, a number of years that allows a perpetrator to gain the kind of immunity against being prosecuted, what would or should that arbitrary number be? Westrich asked. What would be fair to a child who has been violated? Five years? Twenty years? Fifty years?

Like many victims of abuse, Westrich, a first-term lawmaker who owns a small manufacturing firm, said she forgot about the abuse until hearing someone else talk about being abused as a child.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced Thursday afternoon that he has directed the South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce to terminate the states participation in all federal pandemic-related unemployment benefit programs effective June 30.

South Carolinas businesses have borne the brunt of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, McMaster said. Those businesses that have survived  both large and small, and including those in the hospitality, tourism, manufacturing, and healthcare sectors  now face an unprecedented labor shortage. This labor shortage is being created in large part by the supplemental unemployment payments that the federal government provides claimants on top of their state unemployment benefits. In many instances, these payments are greater than the workers previous paychecks.

McMaster said that what was intended to be short-term financial assistance to people struggling due to the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement and actually incentivizes workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace.
When I was a kid and raging about how awful someone was, my Mom would say, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." Mom was right, even though I never thought so mid rage. The same is true when trying to catch those reluctant to vaccinate. Its time to try some incentives.

In todays hyper partisan environment, imagine what would happen if the government mandated the COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend school or keep a job. The scream machine would kick in full volume, and It just wouldnt work.

Also, even though kids are currently required to be vaccinated for other diseases to attend public school, and many jobs require physicals, including drug tests, to be hired and to keep employment, todays politicians dont have the will to use a vinegar approach. But what about using a little honey to provide incentives for the reluctant?

If were ever going to travel safely mask less farther than our backyards, we need about 70% or more Americans vaccinated, and so far, we have less than 35%. At that rate, this country may never reach herd immunity.

Im not sure why there is hesitancy to take a vaccine that has proven to save lives. It may be caused by fear of side effects, or mistrust in government, or sheer vaccination lunacy, but the only way to return to normal is to vaccinate are way back.
This might be one of the most disappointing jobs reports of all time. Thats how Nick Bunker, the economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab, summed up the new monthly employment numbers released Friday. After a strong month of hiring in March, payrolls grew by just 266,000 workers in April, and the unemployment rate rose slightly. The general reaction among economists and journalists was one of shock and bafflement; going in, analysts had expected a burst of 1 million new jobs or more, as vaccinations picked up and the unemployment rolls shrank. As University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers put it, This is a big miss that changes how we think about the recovery. Before, it looked like the economy was on track. Now, its unclear.

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The awful numbers will unquestionably add fuel to the debate over whether generous federal unemployment benefits are now holding back the labor market. Businessesespecially restaurantshave been complaining for weeks that they cant find enough workers to hire, claiming that Americans are choosing to stay home and collect checks from the government. The surging number of unfilled job postings online has suggested that those complaints might be more than anecdotal. But skeptics had pointed to the strong March job numbers as a sign that the labor shortage might not be that bad, and noted that many Americans may actually be choosing to stay home because of COVID fears, or because theyre still saddled with child care responsibilities.

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This report contained some additional signs that employers really are facing a labor shortage. The average weekly hours of workers in the hospitality industry shot up, suggesting that business owners are asking their staff to pull longer shifts. Average hourly wages also popped higher, pointing to the fact that employers have been willing to increase pay. The fact that hiring slowed even as the vaccine rollout accelerated could also be a piece of evidence that, yes, jobless aid, rather than the health concerns, is whats discouraging some people from looking for work.

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Setting nuances aside, the headline number is so bad that it seems all but certain that conservatives will seize on these figures. Republican governors in Montana and South Carolina already responded to complaints from businesses by announcing this week that they would pull their states out of the federal unemployment programs early. Im pretty sure more red states will soon follow suit.

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But for everyone who isnt a Republican politician whos made up their mind anyway, I beg you: Please be cautious about overinterpreting this one report. Jobs data can be a bit erratic, and is often heavily revised. The Bureau of Labor Statics reported that the country actually added 146,000 fewer jobs in March than it previously thought, and 68,000 more in February. Beyond that, this report is simply strange. As New York Times reporter Ben Casselman, who follows jobs data as closely as anybody, put it: At first glance I have no idea what to make of the jobs report. Not just that it was weak, but the particular way it was weak, is perplexing. For starters, the labor force actually grew by 430,000, more than in March, which is not what youd expect if workers were staying at homethe unemployment grew because more people were looking for jobs.

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At the same time, the leisure and hospitality industry, the loudest complainer about labor shortages, actually added more jobs compared with March, adding 331,000 new workers compared with 206,000 the month before. It was other sectors where hiring was shockingly low. There were also big employment declines among grocery stores as well as courier and messenger services, suggesting that part of the issue is that industries that bulked up during the pandemic are now shrinking back down to normal.

Its possible that this jobs report is more than a fluke. And if states or the federal government want to offer workers a financial carrot to take a job by allowing them to collect some of their unemployment benefits as a return-to-work bonuswhich Montana is doing in conjunction with cutting off aid at the end of Junethat wouldnt necessarily be terrible. But thered also be no serious harm if policymakers just waited another month to see if hiring bounces back in May before making any rash decisions about curtailing unemployment benefits. Many Republicans obviously arent going to have that much patience. But hopefully some leaders in this country will.
First came Montana. Now comes South Carolina. Republican governors have begun to pull their states out federal unemployment programs created in a response to the coronavirus in a move meant to appease business owners whove spent weeks claiming that the generous federal aid has created a shortage of workers willing to accept jobs during the continuing public-health crisis.

On Tuesday, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced that his state would replace the federally funded unemployment programs, which provide an extra $300 a week in benefits, with a one-time $1,200 bonus for people who choose to go back to work. Americans are supposed to be eligible for the enhanced jobless benefits until September, but the state will cut them off in June. Montana is open for business again, but I hear from too many employers throughout our state who cant find workers. Nearly every sector in our economy faces a labor shortage, Gianforte said in a statement.

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The second domino fell Thursday afternoon when South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster directed his states department of labor to also end its participation in the federal programs by the end of June. As of mid-April, the last period with full data , about 169,000 Palmetto State residents were receiving some sort of jobless aid. Unlike Gianfortes, McMasters announcement doesnt mention any sort of return-to-work bonus. Instead, his letter essentially suggests that federal UI has become a hammock for workers that its time to cut down.

What was intended to be short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace. These federal entitlements pose a clear and present danger to the health of our States businesses and to our economy. Since the Biden administration and Congress appear to have little to no comprehension of the damage being done and no appetite to terminate the federal payments, the State of South Carolina must take action.

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For those wondering why South Carolina and Montana have the power to just cut these unemployment programs short at will, the answer is pretty straightforward. While these benefits are federally funded, states were required to opt into and administer the schemes, and they have the legal right to opt out. It wouldnt be very surprising if other red states followed suit.

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As far as the morality of all this goes, well, I for one would argue that its a transparently callous move to prod a bunch of people back into work before the public-health threat is over, especially in South Carolina, where the vaccination campaign seems to be rather lackadaisical. At the moment, just 37 percent of the states residents have had at least one shot, compared to 45 percent nationwide and a high of 61 percent in New Hampshire. Hopefully the numbers pick up by the end of June for, you know, the sake of human health and decency. (Montana, at just 41 percent with at least one shot, is at least doing a tiny bit better.)

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As for the idea that UI is actually fueling labor shortages: Its possible, but its also clearly not the only factor. Its true that many, may businesses, particularly in the hospitality industry, are complaining that they cant find enough staff to hire as they try to reopen at the moment. As I wrote last month, there are now more job openings listed online than before COVID, and there is some evidence that job searching has fallen off. However, the extent to which people are holding off on going back to work because unemployment benefits pay better than the jobs that are available is unclear. That may be the case in some instances, and some businesses have discovered that they can quickly fill their openings by, you know, raising their wages (magic, right?). But its also possible that many workers just dont want to risk catching COVID while working in a cramped kitchen, or have kids at home they need to take care of. If those are the bigger factors, youd expect any shortages to ease up as vaccinations roll along or school districts reopen. And even if unemployment benefits are making hiring marginally harder, politicians should be weighing that against peoples sense of safety. But, as they largely have throughout the pandemic, some GOP governors are now very clearly putting health concerns aside to appease the business community. (Not that Democrats havent been guilty of that at times as well, but there are degrees here.)

Montana, at least, seems to be going with a carrot-and-stick method to nudge people back to work. I fear a lot of conservative officials may prefer the South Carolina approach and just whip out a stick.
In March, Sir Elton John made headlines for tweeting at Phoebe Bridgers that if she didnt win at least one Grammy, he was going to hit someone. Superfans, or stans, making public threats of physical violence isnt really rarejust look at the Twitter mentions of anyone who has ever written a less-than-glowing review of a pop faves new album. Those impassioned threats, however, are often made anonymously, not by 74-year-old rock legends. Elton John, of course, isnt like most fans. Hes one of the most successful artists of all time, with a career spanning almost six decades, 30 studio albums, and enough Grammy nominations and wins of his own that they occupy an entire section on his Wikipedia page.

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But Elton John is still absolutely, unequivocally a fan in his own right. Despite possessing immense success and enough wealth that he could disappear off the face of the earth if he chose to, he instead dedicates his life to championing new music and young artists. One way he does this is through his show Rocket Hour on Apple Music, where he interviews musicians, plays music he loves, and talks about, well, just music, pretty much. Rocket Hour has been on for a few years and has almost 300 episodes, and it doesnt seem likely that John will wrap it up anytime soon.

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The artists Elton discusses or plays on the show often come as a sweet surprise. Last year, with the release of her solo record Petals for Armor, John shouted out Hayley Williams, calling Paramores After Laughter one of the most underrated albums of all time, delighting emos everywhere. Later that year, he invited Williams onto the show to discuss her new EP. John isnt choosy or exclusionary in who he listens to, interviews, or discusses, and a playlist of artists hed played up to episode 150 showcases that: all genres, artists, decades get a look into. From Grace Jones to Blur to The Beach Boys, to Kaytranada to Muse to Bleachers to Tom Petty, the playlist is a couple of thousand tracks long. It shows a man who isnt scared of learning, even at his big age.

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This shouldnt really be extraordinary: Elton John is a musician, so why shouldnt he love new music? But its often the case that the older musicians get, the crankier they become about  everything. Gene Simmons of Kiss famously said that he is looking forward to the death of rap, and just recently, The Misfits Glenn Danzig said that woke bullshit was killing punk rock.. Green Day, weirdly, put out a whole ad campaign that took a stab at trap beats and Swedish songwriters, while one-hit wonder, 90s boy band Hanson called Justin Bieber chlamydia for the ears. Its the circle of life: You get big, people start to hate you; you get old, you hate whatevers new. The Killers Brandon Flowers, admirably, recently expressed regret in an interview with Phoebe Bridgers for talking shit about other artists, confessing to apologizing to John Mayer.

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Artists, particularly older ones or those in alternative genres, are often prone to a particular gatekeeping that comes with a blindspot for anything popular, young, or even tangentially associated with rap music. That, too, is where its hard to give older (and predominantly white male) artists the benefit of the doubt or allow them to claim the excuse of being curmudgeonlythe dismissal of a historically Black music genre like rap or anything associated with it wholesale just reeks of racism. Its not surprising that in Danzigs freakout about woke bullshit, he failed to acknowledge that Lil Nas X had recently sent an Ozzy-level moral panic shockwave through conservatives for grinding on the devil. Elton John, on the other hand, reveres hip-hop and other genres dominated by Black artists. He collaborated with Young Thug on a track in 2018, and in a July 2019 interview with Complex, he shouted out both him and Khalid, saying, Weve seen time and time again that reluctance from the establishment to embrace the new when something fresh comes along and threatens the status quo. And thats what hip-hop did. He went on to say that hip-hop does what new music should do: shake things up and confuse or scare the regime. (Shake things up by, say, giving Satan a lapdance maybe?)

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Elton Johns unabashed embrace of new musicof all music, reallyis endearing. He joins other revered music lifers like Paul McCartney and David Bowie, legends in their own right who could have done what all old, successful dudes often do: give up, stop learning, stop growing. David Bowie once said that Lorde was the future of music, while McCartney famously collaborated with Kanye West and Rihanna and more recently with artists like St. Vincent, Phoebe Bridgers, and Beck on a remixed version of his latest album, McCartney III. While not everyone is as outspoken as Danzig in dismissing things they hate, its rare to see an older artist love new music with such genuine enthusiasm.

Like McCartney, Johns involvement with supporting newer musicians extends beyond shoutouts on Rocket Hour. In April, he worked with British pop artist Rina Sawayama on an updated version of her track Chosen Family, a tender homage to queer families. With Johns piano and voice threaded through, the collab refreshes the track, and at a time when music by and about gay artists still can send much of the US into panic, it remains radical to celebrate queerness. His choices are often bold, but its his work with artists that many refuse to take seriously that is most enjoyable. In 2013, John appeared on Save Rock and Roll, Fall Out Boys comeback single after a lengthy hiatus. Save Rock and Roll was a huge departure for Fall Out Boy musically, and it was a risk for both the band and John. Of course, John fully committed to the pop-tinged song and its success, even appearing in the video, wearing a blood-spattered white suit. He pays, it seems, zero mind to what another artist or critic might consider uncool.

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These are just a few examples of Johns fandoms and proteges, and a more comprehensive list of his collaborations is as diverse as his own music taste: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Engelbert Humperdink, Gary Barlow, and Kate Bush, to name a few. Hes appeared onstage with Lady Gaga, Christine and the Queens, and Ed Sheeran. Recently, he was quoted in a British Vogue cover story gushing about Billie Eilish, comparing her to Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan. In the same story, he also praises the ways that Kesha and Lady Gaga have worked to dismantle abuses of power in the music industry. In March, he even appeared in Demi Lovatos YouTube documentary series, calling her perfect. Johns taste is broad, and he appears to have zero sense of hierarchyanyone with a love of music, in his eyes, can be a genius.

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For many of us, Elton John has long seemed like a kindly uncle figure, someone ever-present and fairly chill. Its easy to perceive him as kinda goofythe Lion King and feather boa guy, the man with good vibes and bops our nans enjoy. We forget that once, particularly for the era he came up, he was groundbreaking, even controversial. Elton John, born Reginald Kenneth Dwight to very normal parents in Pinner in 1947, was a quick learner and a talented musician who just loved music. He was at once flamboyant and shy, plagued with mental health and addiction issues while hiding his sexuality. He came out publicly twice: first as bisexual in the 1970s, and then as gay in the early 90s. This was a big deal then, and it still is an important moment in music history. Hes dedicated much of his life to advocating for HIV and AIDS research, launching the Elton John AIDS Foundation the same year he came out himself.

Artists like Glenn Danzig or the similarly conservative alt-legend Morrissey need to cling onto the ghost of their relevance and edginessits all they have. Elton John is unique in how hard he rides for new musicians, and he can do it because he does not give a fuck about seeming cool. He doesnt need to! He just really, really loves music. So much. All of it.
This piece originally appeared in the Conversation.

For people who have never thought about it before, it might sound reasonable to require trans kids to wait until theyre adults before they can receive certain forms of care known as gender-affirming treatmentwhich is what legislation that just passed in Arkansas does. But this type of legislation actually prevents kids from accessing treatment before and during a crucial period of development: puberty.

When I was researching my book The Trans Generation: How Trans Kids and Their Parents are Creating a Gender Revolution, I observed how not all trans kids can access the care they want or need during this critical stage of life. This unequal access to gender-affirming health care, which occurs across state lines and socioeconomic divides, could cause two classes of transgender people in the United States to emergethose who are able to take hormone blockers, and those who arent able to do so. Those in the latter group can endure more financial hardship, physical pain and mental anguish later in life, while becoming much more vulnerable to discrimination and violence.

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For decades, kids who didnt conform to the gender expected of them were forced to endure treatments designed to cure their gender nonconformity. This form of therapy, called reparative or corrective, typically involved instructing parentsand sometimes teachersto subject children to constant surveillance and correction. If a child acted in ways that didnt align with gender-expected behaviors, psychologists told caregivers to withhold affection and mete out punishments.

For example, in the 1970s, a boy with the pseudonym Kraig was a patient at UCLAs feminine boy project, a government-funded experiment that sought to evaluate ways to reverse feminine behavior in boys. Kraig was subjected to shame-inducing treatments, with therapists counseling his father to beat Kraig when he failed to conform to masculine norms. He ended up committing suicide as an adult.

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In recent years, however, there has been what transgender studies scholar Jake Pyne has called a paradigm shift in treatment. An ever-expanding body of research shows that family support, social acceptance and access to supportive health care produce the best outcomes for transgender kids.

In 2011, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health took a position against gender-reparative therapy, stating that any therapy that seeks to change the gender identity of a patient is unethical. Changes to the law have followed suit. For example, in 2014, California passed the Student Success and Opportunity Act to ban reparative therapy and require schools to permit transgender children to participate in activities and to access spaces and facilities according to their self-determined gender categories.

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As corrective or reparative programs have lost legitimacy, publicly and privately funded gender clinics featuring affirming models of treatment for trans kids have sprung up across the U.S. Affirming treatment focuses on enabling kids families to embrace their childs gender identity, and supporting them in dealing with any resulting discrimination or mental health issues. This treatment model doesnt steer patients toward any particular gender identity. However, if a child makes the decision to transition to another gender, a number of medical interventions are available.

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According to the clinical literature surrounding gender-affirming practice, the first goal of medical treatment is to buy time for the child or young person. This is done through puberty-suppression therapy, via hormone blockers. The thinking goes that by delaying the onset of puberty, gender-nonconforming kids wont be rushed into a decision before they experience the irreversible development of secondary sex characteristics. The second goal is a more normal and satisfactory appearance. To accomplish both goals, access to hormone blockers is crucial.

For example, most children who have been assigned female at birth and take hormone blockers will not need top surgery. Meanwhile, children who have been assigned male at birth and take hormone blockers wont need to later mitigate or reverse characteristics spurred by puberty: a deeper voice, facial hair, and a visible Adams apple and other results of male puberty that cannot be reversed. Having the opportunity to take hormone blockers has been linked to reduced mental health vulnerability in transgender adults. Children who are taking hormone blockers can decide to stop doing so at any time. They will then go through puberty consistent with their assigned sex at birth.

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Transitioning is possible after going through puberty, but its much more difficult for trans people to look the way they want to look. Its also a lot more expensive. This is where the divide opens up. Not everyone has supportive parents, good health insurance or doctors who are able to provide puberty-suppression therapy. Nor does everyone live in a state with progressive legislation.

When conducting research for my book, access was a big theme that emerged. At the age of 16, Nathan, for example, hated his post-pubescent body so much that he engaged in self-harm. (The names used in my book are pseudonyms, as required by research protocol.) The top surgery he so desperately needed was out of reach because his family simply couldnt afford it. His mom, Nora, describes being terrified that Nathan would kill himself because of this lack of access.

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Its all because of this damn top surgery, she told me. And I am literally terrified, because I know for a fact that once he gets this done hes going to be a totally different child. And it kills me that I cant do anything.

Seven-year-old Esme, on the other hand, knew very clearly from a young age that male puberty was not what she wanted and felt able to communicate this to her parents. And because of her parents support and access to affirming health care, she told me shes planning to take hormone blockers when shes old enough. Later, shell take cross-sex hormones, which will result in the development of secondary sex characteristics consistent with her self-defined gender identity. Whether Esme chooses to be openly transgender or not as an adult will be mostly up to her; her physical appearance wont mark her as trans.

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Then there are the ways poverty and race are intertwined. Because Black, Native American and Latino trans kids are disproportionately likely to be living in poverty, theyre less likely to have access to crucial treatments at a young age that will make it easier to be a transgender adult. And trans kids who are nonbinarymeaning they dont feel like theyre strictly male or femalealso face challenges in accessing affirming health care. Many medical professionals continue to see trans health care within a binary model: Patients are transitioning to either male or female. For example, Stef, whos 14 years old and nonbinary, told me they had a far easier time accessing puberty blockers when they were asserting that they were a girl than when they subsequently adopted a nonbinary identity.

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Ultimately, these disparities in access have repercussions.

For example, research indicates a significant improvement in quality of life among adult transgender women who have undergone facial feminization surgery, which involves surgically altering facial bones and soft tissue to conform to female gender norms. However, this is an expensive and painful procedure that transgender girls can forgo by simply undergoing puberty suppression treatment. Of course, some trans people dont understand themselves to be trans early enough to advocate for themselves. And thats OK. But the majority of transgender children remain invisibleunable to articulate their feelings and longings because of unwelcoming and unsupportive environments.

Now, the availability of gender-affirming health care for teens is under threat in ways that go beyond insurance, cost and familial support. In states like Arkansas, its a societal rejection of treatment that is, for some trans teens, a matter of life or death.
On April 20, 2017, Ledell Lee was executed by the state of Arkansas for murder, with Lee insisting to the end that he was innocent of the crime. A new test of DNA evidence in the case, which the state refused to do before executing him, points to a different suspect than Lee.

Lee was put to death four years ago as part of a rush in which Arkansas tried to execute eight people in 11 days, so that the state could use scarce lethal injection drugs before they expired. In that mad dash, four men were executed, three had their executions stayed, and one was granted clemency. Lee was one of the four put to death after Neil Gorsuch, in his first vote as a member of the Supreme Court, joined a 54 ruling to allow the execution to proceed. Even then, Lees case was considered one of the most seriously flawed, with a distinct chance that the state would be putting an innocent man to death.

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That decision to allow the execution to go forward is looking worse and worse. Last week, the ACLU and Innocence Project released the results of DNA testing that was requested prior to Lees execution but was only permitted to go ahead after a lawsuit was filed by Lees sister last year. Those results demonstrated that another mans DNA was found on the murder weapon, a wooden club, and on a shirt that had been wrapped around the murder weapon. The unknown mans DNA, however, was not found in the FBIs national criminal database.

Five sets of fingerprints found at the scene of the crime that did not belong to Lee were also entered into a national database but also yielded no result. The Arkansas State Crime Laboratory has yet to test those fingerprints against its own database. Six hairs from the scene were also tested. Lee was excluded as the source of five but could not be excluded as the source of the sixth, though such mitochondrial DNA profiles may be shared by thousands of individuals in a given population, the Innocence Project noted.

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The reason mitochondrial DNA profiles arent unique and may be common to thousands of people in a community is that they are shared by everyone in a common maternal lineeven very distant cousins across different generations, a representative from the ACLU said. She continued:

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In small communities or ones where many residents share some common ancestry, two people may share an identical mitochondrial DNA profile even if they have no idea that they are distantly related. So while mitochondrial DNA can be used to exclude someone as a potential source of a hair, or to narrow down a pool of potential candidates, it cant be used to positively identify the source.

While this phase of the litigation and court-ordered DNA testing is now concluded, the investigation into the case remains open due to the possibility of a future database hit to the unknown male DNA or unknown fingerprints from the crime scene, Nina Morrison, senior litigation counsel at the Innocence Project, said in a statement last week. We are hopeful that one or more of these forensic law enforcement databases will generate additional information in the future.

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The case now appears to be in limbo, but the murder weapon DNA from a man who is not Ledell Lee adds to one of the many, many flaws in the case against him. As I wrote last year:

Lees first trial ended in a hung jury. At his second one, his lawyers did not bring up some of the potentially exonerating testimony and evidence raised in the first, including alibi testimony from Lees family members. In that second trial, a jury of 11 white Arkansans and one black Arkansanin a county where nearly one-third of residents were blackfound him guilty after a four-day trial and three hours of deliberation. The conviction came one week after the racially charged O.J. Simpson verdict, and one witness alluded to that verdict by recalling a conversation she had last week, when they let O.J. Simpson go.

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Lees case also relied heavily on shoe-pattern forensic evidence that was later demonstrated to also be heavily flawed. The flaws in the case continued through the appellate process. Lees initial appellate attorney appeared drunk in court and later acknowledged that he had substance abuse problems. More importantly, he never introduced evidence that Lee was intellectually disabled and never won testing on the DNA samples that now point to the likelihood of a different suspect.

Earlier this week, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson insisted that he did his duty to carry out the law following the Supreme Courts ruling in 2017. Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, meanwhile, dismissed the DNA evidence and still insisted that Lee had committed the 1993 murder of Debra Reese, for which he was executed.

The sad fact is that Arkansas should not have executed Lee and further evidence indicates that another man may have committed the crime. Yet Lees family still must wait for definitive proof of another suspect, which may never come. Either way, advocates for continuation of the death penalty should have to contend with the nightmarish facts of Lees case as long as executions continue to occur in the United States.
This article is adapted from Mushroom Clouds, the third episode of Slow Burns new season.

After 9/11, something we now call the Bush doctrine began to show up in the presidents speeches. Its principles went more or less like this:

 Dont wait to be attacked; take pre-emptive action.

 Dont be afraid to act unilaterally.

 There should only be one superpower in the world.

 And there are sides.

The Iraq war would be the first test of those principles.

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Everybody oughta be given the benefit of the doubt. But over time, its going to be important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity, Bush said in November 2001. Youre either with us or youre against us in the fight against terror.

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The last time the U.S. went into Iraq, in the Gulf War, it was to defend a country under attack. America was part of a coalition of nearly 40 allies. Some American officials at the timelike Paul Wolfowitz at the Defense Departmentwanted regime change in Iraq. But that wasnt the U.Ns missionso it didnt happen.

A decade later, influential people inside the Bush administration thought Saddam Hussein being against the United States was reason enough to overthrow him. But the public, Congress, the U.N., and potential alliesthey all needed more. And the administration wasnt yet rejecting the need for international support, even if it was headed that way. So it needed that casus belli, a cause for war serious enough to bring all those groups on board.

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Theyd eventually settle on WMD, but first, the administration tried a different approach.

Jane Green, the chief of the CIAs Iraq group at the time, told me that people at the CIA, including Director George Tenet, had gathered that Iraq would be a priority for the administration, even before 9/11.

There was a wide feeling among us that the incoming President Bush, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and Vice President Cheney all had reason to want to redress what they felt was the failure during the Gulf War of leaving Saddam in power.

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The 9/11 attacks only increased the administrations desire to do something about Iraq. If Iraq had been involved in the attacks, launching a war on Saddam would count as self-defense. That would be as clear-cut a casus belli as you could ask for.

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Some members of the administrationmost prominently Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, and their deputiesstarted trying to connect 9/11 and Iraq almost immediately. Green remembers Cheney coming to Langley to hear the CIAs assessment.

Cheney hated the briefing, she said. The bottom line was we didnt think that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11. And he believed the opposite.

Cheneys displeasure was a bigger deal than it should have been, because of an unhealthy dynamic between the administration and the CIA.

At that point in time, the agency was very focused on what was called the first customer, which meant the president, Green said. To be able to have the ear of the first customerto tell him the truth about whats going on in the world and what we felt about it in terms of analytic conclusions, that was the gold standard. And to have the vice president disparage what our work said was very threatening.

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By the first anniversary of 9/11, a majority of Americans thought that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks.

To maintain its relevance, the CIA began to adjust. Those changes started out smallbut they quickly added up to something bigger.

What had been a very careful, analytic element turned into something that was much more aggressive in terms of digging up data points that might possibly be interpreted as showing a connection between Saddam and al-Qaida, Iraq and al-Qaida, recalls Green.

Heres how the CIA human intelligence process usually works: CIA field officers collect information from primary sources. Those sources could be anyone, from a trustworthy longtime asset to a guy more or less off the street. Every source has his own agendas and biases. Analystslike the group Jane Green ledthen decide if the sources intelligence is credible and if its relevant. Based on that determination, they deliver a rundown for decision-makers.

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Cheney didnt trust the CIAs track record on Iraq. He wanted to get as close to the raw intelligence as he possibly could, and he asked for it to be sent his way unfiltered. After 9/11, he treated that raw intelligence like his own personal Twitter feed.

The unfiltered intelligence Dick Cheney was mainlining was  not always reliable. The CIA didnt have good sources inside Iraq at the time. Field officers were under pressure to pass along more and more information. So Cheney was getting some unverified intelligencestuff that wouldnt normally make it to the vice presidents desk.

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Information could also flow the other way. High-level officials, especially at the Department of Defense, sometimes brought their own leads to the intelligence agencies. Gary Greco, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer, has a name for these sources.

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Entrepreneurs: information entrepreneurs. You get all kinds of people, you know, whispering in the ears of senior decision-makers on their views on things, he says.

One notorious information entrepreneur? Ahmad Chalabi, the wealthy and influential Iraqi in exile whose life mission was to topple Saddam. Jane Green still cant get over a piece of information she says Chalabi was pushing.

A woman who came over to the U.S. claiming that she had been Saddams second wife. Shed been standing in the Republican Palace and saw a really tall guy walk by. She was standing with one of Saddams sons and she asked [him] who is that tall man? And he said, well, thats Osama bin Laden. It was totally made up, she says. And it was very hard for us to convince people who wanted to believe that reporting that it was just flat out untrue.

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Another piece of information that Gary Greco traces back to Chalabis Iraqi National Congress is the idea that one of the 9/11 hijackers, a man named Mohammed Atta, had met with an Iraqi intelligence official.

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On Meet the Press in December 2001, Cheney said, Its been pretty well confirmed that [Atta] did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April.

This was the kind of evidence Cheney needed to make the case he wanted to make. The trouble is, it didnt seem to be true.

Facial comparisons showed that the person photographed meeting with the Iraqi official wasnt Atta. Flight records indicated that Atta wasnt in Prague at the time of the meeting. The CIA and the Czech intelligence service agreed: The meeting never happened. Cheney was undeterred. He kept talking about Atta in Prague publicly.

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Regardless of what Cheney believed, the mainstream view at the CIA was that there just wasnt much of a link between Iraq and Osama bin Laden. Saddam had given some aid to anti-Israel groups, but none to al-Qaida. There was no evidence that high-level operators from Iraq and al-Qaida had any real relationship with each other.

More to the point, the idea that Saddam was in league with Osama bin Laden just  didnt make any sense. Saddam saw al-Qaida as a potential threat.

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Saddam was consistently a secular guy that was in it for himself, Jane Green says, and he knew that the rise of al-Qaida and the extremist elements of Sunni Islam was designed to undercut people like him.

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But again, the administration wouldnt let it go. The Saddamal-Qaida link was like Groundhog Day. The CIA would debunk the idea, and the next day, senior officials like Paul Wolfowitz would start asking all over again.

Within the CIA, there were analysts who were willing to be more  forward-leaning on the Saddamal-Qaeda links. Green: I was told, come on, Jane, its Iraq. Meaning, you know, if he didnt do this and then he did something else. So, you know, why not we just say this. 

Cheney and Wolfowitz liked these analysts findings better than the ones coming from Jane Greens group. There were internal battles over whose analysis would win the day. George Tenet, the CIA director, seemed like he was doing his best to give the White House what it wanted.

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But even the more aggressive CIA analysts wouldnt go far enough for the Bush administrations Iraq hawks.

When the CIA wouldnt tell them what they wanted to hear, Wolfowitz and Cheney did their information shopping elsewhere. The Department of Defense set up its own intelligence project, staffed by people who were willing to get creative. It was called the Policy Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group.

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Basically, its job was to look at all of the intelligence that was out there and try to decide what terror groups were up to and how they might confederate, what the worst-case scenarios were. But in practical terms, what [it] really was, was lets figure out every single way we can to tie Saddam Hussein to these terror groups, Robert Draper, a New York Times Magazine reporter and the author of To Start a War, says.

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The Defense Department group became infamous for making something that was nicknamed the Beautiful Mind scroll, a reference to the Russell Crowe movie about a schizophrenic mathematician. The main character spends a lot of time writing complex equations on chalkboards and windows.

The Pentagon groups version was a literal piece of parchment paper, with Saddam Husseins name at one end and Osama bin Ladens on the other. In between was where the Beautiful Mind happened.

There would be all of these squiggly lines that would be connected to this or that occasion, this or that meeting. This was the rumor, Draper says. It goes to show you the kind of effort that was made to establish these links conclusively. It was truly an obsession.

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Its a little ironic: Conspiracy theorists love to talk about the Bush administration, and what really happened on 9/11. But the Bush administration had its own conspiracy theorists, with their own crazy charts. And they, too, wanted to talk about what really happened on 9/11.

All this IraqAl Qaida talk, even if it was baseless, made an impact. Especially on one very important decision-maker.

President Bush himself somehow became convinced that there was some kind of association, some kind of ties between Saddam and terror groups. Its hard to know how and why he came to this conclusion, Draper says. It seems instead that just the daily accretion of discussion about Saddam and terrorism, combined with Bushs gut instincts that Saddam was an evildoer, somehow swayed him.

All the dog-whistling in the media from the administration had an effect, too. By the first anniversary of 9/11, a majority of Americans thought that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks.

Even CIA Director George Tenet eventually wrote to the Senate Intelligence Committee that there were links between al-Qaida and Iraq. When he wrote that, he was going against the consensus within his own organization.

But in the end, without the CIAs full backing, the administration wasnt willing to put 9/11 at the center of its case for war with Iraq. Which meant it needed to rest on something else.

Listen to this full episode of Slow Burn below, and subscribe to Slow Burn on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Join Slate Plus for your ad-free feed.
Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist, tells me that 60 million people report an interaction with the police annually. Paired with the news that only a small portion of law enforcement officers have been vaccinated against COVID-19, its a number that puts the subject of policing as a public health issue into perspectiveone more example of the various dangers police pose to communities.

The Washington Post contacted 40 police departments nationwide, and of those, only five reported vaccination rates higher than the general public. Reasons as to why cops arent getting vaccinated are as murky as they are in the general population. It could be a matter of hesitancy or of access. The New York Post reported that NYPD officers arent getting vaccinated because they want the one shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine instead of going back for a second dose. Or it could be policy. Departments arent declaring vaccination mandates, which is a complicated process, and powerful police unions are upholding it as a private personal matter. In places like D.C., its possible that an officer got vaccinated in a nearby jurisdiction. The Washington Post analysis also discovered that some large departmentslike Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Houstonarent tracking how many officers were receiving vaccinations. (The Post notes that in some cases the rates are reflective of broader vaccination rates in the departments county.)

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I spoke with Feldman, the inaugural health and human rights fellow at the Harvard FXB Center for Health & Human Rights. The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.

The vaccination rates within police departments nationwide are pretty low. What does that mean for community health, considering how often police come into contact with civilians?

The first thing to know is that the vaccines not only do a really good job of preventing disease, but they also provide some protection from transmitting it to others. So police who are not vaccinated having contact with communities, especially those with low vaccination rates at this point in the rollout, is concerning. Theres about 60 million people who report having at least one contact with police in a given year. Theres also about 10 million arrests that happen in a year.

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And these contacts are going to be disproportionately lower income people, Black people, and other people of color. These are the same communities that have been dying and hospitalized at the highest rate. Theyre also communities that have struggled to get access to vaccinationand thats not a question of hesitancy. Its a question of are the vaccines being made available locally.

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These are all concerns and those issues come together when thinking about police not getting vaccinated.

60 million people a year report having contact with police is a really high number. What are some of the ways in which people come into contact with police?

The data comes from whats called the Police Public Contact Survey that is an add on to the Census. They break it down into two broad categories: Contacts that are initiated by the civilian and contacts that are initiated by police. This includes everything from your car being damaged, or something was stolen from your home, and you need to file a police report for insurance reasons to someone being shot by police and everything in between.

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As you get into the police-initiated contacts, and contacts where there was either use of force or arrest, you tend to see those kinds of acts are more likely to involve lower income people and Black people.

What do you know about hesitancy among police officers to get vaccinated?

I dont think there have been specific surveys of police asking them these questions. So I dont think we know in a systematic way. But what I can tell you is that there have been, in many States, first responders, including police, who were in the first priority category or close to it. In many cases, they were offered the vaccine much earlier than the rest of the population.

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When you look at the demographics and politics of police officers, they are often younger. And, in general, we see a lower vaccine uptake among younger populations because they dont believe that they are susceptible to the worst effects of the virus. And if you have a lot of white men with conservative politics represented among police, you see the same since that demographic in the general population has pretty high vaccine hesitancy. Therefore its not surprising to me that youd see a similar pattern happening in police departments.

Its been reported that NYPD officers arent getting vaccinated because they want the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Departments arent mandating vaccinations, either. Some arent tracking vaccination rates within their forces and, in D.C., the police chief has said its possible that an officer got their shot in a nearby jurisdiction. Could this bureaucratic murkiness affect the continued spread of COVID-19?

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It is possible that police officers are being vaccinated through means other than their department. If the department doesnt ask for proof of vaccination, they would not know who received doses outside of their system. But I do think hesitancy is a major issue among police and the high proportion of officers turning down vaccines means they are largely remaining unvaccinated. In many states, police were included in the first few priority groups. Vaccines were only readily available through their departments, and there was not yet a choice of vaccines since J&J had not been approved.

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I expect that employer vaccine mandates will become more common this fall and winter. They will be a contentious issue throughout the US, including among police officers but not limited to them.

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There were discussions last summer during the anti-racism protests about how police officers were very scantily masking. What does this, plus the low vaccination rates, say about how police navigate society?

Some people hold up an ideal of policing as this institution that upholds public safety, that keeps people safe, and prevents death. But if you look both at low vaccine uptake and reluctance to wear masks, that tells another story. So many more people have died of COVID than have died of interpersonal violence. Police like to tell us that they keep communities safe from things like shootings and assault, but they are not doing much to guard us from more severe health risks. Police also like to draw attention to how dangerous their job is and point to officers who are killed on the job by civilians. And in 2020 the leading cause of death for police officers was COVID-19.

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So even within their own workforce and institutions there is much larger risk of COVID than of violence. Theres this ideological filtering that happens where this tough orientation using state violence to subdue communities, especially Black communities, is something they embrace. This idea of their profession being under physical threat from members of the public is something they embrace. But you dont see them reckoning with this pandemic, which poses a much greater threat.

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What is the impact on the communities that they police?

We dont have great data on the exact role that policing has contributed to the overall pandemic. But we can certainly see things like increased fear if youre being arrested or approached closely by a police officer, whos potentially unvaccinated and perhaps unmasked and an increased risk of infection. I expect this to break down even further trust between communities and police. Its an actual cause of harm in itself.

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There have been moves across the country to decrease the role that police play in addressing various social problems ranging from mental health crises, to homelessness, to quality of life violation.

You cant change policing culture so easily to make them embrace more public safety and public health goals. But one thing that policymakers can do and that activists can push for is reducing the number of contacts between civilians and police. You dont need a police officer with a gun to come when you just need to fill out an insurance form. You dont need a police officer to come when theres an alleged $20 counterfeit bill. This can all be addressed by other civil servants and health workers who have a different orientation towards health and harm.
Most of the attention focused on Facebook this week has centered on the companys oversight board and its decision to permit the platforms ban of Donald Trump. Meanwhile, a weirder controversy about Facebooks ads and privacy policies has been playing out between the social media giant and encrypted messaging service Signal. Signal initiated the spat on May 4 when Jun Harada, the companys head of growth and communication, posted on the Signal blog about a set of ads that Harada said Signal had tried to run on Instagram. Instead, Facebook blocked the ads and shut down Signals advertising account.

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The ads themselves were designed to promote Signals end-to-end encryption by highlighting how much data other companies, like Facebook, collect about their users. In screenshots published with Haradas post, the ads are tailored to the individuals viewing them by using details ostensibly provided through Facebooks own advertising platform. So, one example ad in the blog post reads: You got this ad because youre a teacher, but more importantly youre a Leo (and single). This ad used your location to see youre in Moscow. You like to support sketch comedy, and this ad thinks you do drag. Another informs the reader You got this ad because youre a K-pop-loving chemical engineer. This ad used your location to see youre in Berlin. And you have a new baby. And just moved. And youre really feeling those pregnancy exercises lately.

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Harada wrote that by using the information that Facebook collects to target ads in the ads themselves, Signal was hoping to show you the personal data that Facebook collects about you and sells access to. Its a clever way to use Facebooks own advertising infrastructure to highlight just how much the platform knows about users. In fact, that lack of clarity is exactly why many data protection regulations and rules have focused on transparency requirements for companies that collect and process dataso that their customers know exactly what is being collected and why and have the ability to access that data themselves.

But downloading a large file of all the information Facebook has collected about you (which you can do!) is probably not something that most people are going to bother with, much less combing through it. So catchy, highly visible representations of that data like the mocked-up Signal ads are an interesting and potentially valuable tool for raising peoples awareness about their digital privacy. Its no wonder that Facebook would be unhappy with them.

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Except that, according to Facebook, Signal never actually tried to place those ads on Instagram. In response to the post, Facebook issued the following statement: This is a stunt by Signal, who never even tried to actually run these adsand we didnt shut down their ad account for trying to do so. If Signal had tried to run the ads, a couple of them would have been rejected because our advertising policies prohibit ads that assert that you have a specific medical condition or sexual orientation, as Signal should know. But of course, running the ads was never their goalit was about getting publicity.

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In response, Signal then tweeted: We absolutely did try to run these. The ads were rejected, and Facebook disabled our ad account. These are real screenshots, as Facebook should know. The tweet was accompanied by two screenshots showing that a Facebook ad account had been disabled. Facebook spokesperson Joe Osborne replied (again on Twitter) that the screenshots were from early March, when the ad account was briefly disabled for a few days due to an unrelated payments issue. And reiterated, The ads themselves were never rejected as they were never set by Signal to run. The ad account has been available since early March, and the ads that dont violate our policies could have run since then. Indeed, Facebook has permitted some very specific ads that make use of the companys data on individuals in the past. For instance, t-shirt company Solid Gold Bomb notably advertised personalized t-shirts to Facebook users featuring slogans customized using their personal details (e.g., Never Underestimate A Woman Who Loves Stephen King And Was Born In April, or Im a VET who EATS BEEF and sings KARAOKE.)

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The back-and-forth between Facebook and Signal is so bizarre that its hard to know what to make of it. Clearly, one company is lying (or, at the very least, stretching the truth) about what happened, but why? Returning to the original Signal blog post, its striking (to me, at least) that Harada never quite comes right out and says that Facebook blocked the ads or disabled Signals ad account, though the post definitely heavily implies that thats what happened. For instance, Harada wrote: We wanted to buy some Instagram ads.  The ad would simply display some of the information collected about the viewer which the advertising platform uses. Facebook was not into that idea. And following that sentence was a screenshot of an ad account having been disabled. A later sentence reads: Being transparent about how ads use peoples data is apparently enough to get banned; in Facebooks world, the only acceptable usage is to hide what youre doing from your audience.

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But nowhere in the post does Harada say explicitly that Signal actually did try to buy these ads or end up having its account blocked. On the other hand, the later May 4 tweet from the Signal Twitter account says explicitly that the company tried to run the ads and they were rejected and resulted in Signals ad account with Facebook being disabled. That makes it hard to write this all off as a big misunderstanding or a misleading blog post that stretched a hypothetical situation. Its a strange reminder of just how hard it is to know who to trust when it comes to online privacyand also how complicated these issues really are.

Its true that if Signal had tried to run these ads, some of the sample ones they included in their blog would seem to violate Facebooks policy on ads not containing any personal attributes, including assertions about a persons race, ethnic origin, religion, beliefs, age, sexual orientation or practices, gender identity, disability, medical condition (including physical or mental health), financial status, voting status, membership in a trade union, criminal record, or name. So, for instance, according to Facebooks own guidelines, its OK to include in an advertisement the line Find Black singles today but not Meet other Black singles near you and fine to advertise Depression counseling but not permitted to say in an ad, Treat your anxiety with these helpful meditations. I can understand some of Facebooks rationale for keeping these attributes out of advertisementsthe possibility that other people might see those ads, for instance, and learn personal details by accident or form incorrect assumptions. And if Signal is lying about being blocked from running these ads, I can certainly understand Facebooks frustration about being criticized for something it didnt do.

But I also think that the best way Facebook could respond to this whole strange saga, instead of fighting with Signal on Twitter, would be to steal this idea and run these ads (or some version of them, probably minus the Signal logo) themselves to make clear to their users just how many personal details they knowand how truly transparent theyre willing to be about that knowledge.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
During the ferocious 2017 battle over the repeal of net neutrality protections, the Federal Communications Commission received a whopping 22 million public comments. But that doesnt mean 22 million Americans had strong feelings about the issue, according to a new report from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

James investigation found that the comments were riddled with fraud. One New Yorker who commented in favor of the appeal turned out to be dead. A single 19-year-old college student apparently filed 7.7 million comments arguing against the repeal. And a broadband industry group spent millions to submit more than 8.5 million fake comments supporting the decision.

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Many of these fake comments were the responsibility of lead generation firmscompanies intended to help policy campaigns drum up public support and comments. Instead, the report found, three lead generation firms fraudulently submitted comments themselves. And net neutrality wasnt their only targetthey also submitted millions of fake comments across more than 100 other advocacy campaigns to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and various federal and state legislators.

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Net neutrality was approved in 2015 after the FCC ruled in favor of the Open Internet Order, but was repealed in late 2017 during the Trump administration. The debate over net neutrality attracted an unprecedented amount of interest from the public. At one point, the FCC thought that it was facing a DDoS attackbut it turned out the site was just deluged by fans of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. Once in place, the repeal faced legal challenges, but it was upheld by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in a 2019 ruling.

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Proponents of net neutrality argue that regulation classifying internet service providers as utilities ensures they wont cut off services, block content, or prioritize specific traffic on their networks. In other words, they see net neutrality as a must to keep open and free access to the internet. Those against the policy argue that ISPs already value a free internet. Former FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell claims that classifying ISPs as utilities would expose them to heavy-handed regulation that will raise costs (and ultimately consumer prices) and slow the pace of investing to improve the network.

That the 2017 net neutrality comments were compromised isnt a new revelation. Work from the Pew Research Center, machine learning analysis, and journalists have long questioned the legitimacy of many of the comments submitted to the FCC on the topic, especially because they were split pretty evenly between pro and con, while polls conducted around that time found that about 80 percent of Americans supported maintaining net neutrality.

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The report also outlines recommendations to improve the transparency and accountability of FCC rulemaking proceedings, which allow the public to weigh in on draft proposals of regulation changes. For instance, it suggests mandating that lead generation vendors receive express, informed consent before submitting a public comment on someones behalf.

The New York AG report includes comments from people whose names were used without their permission. One expressed disgust that somebody stole [their] identity and used it to push a viewpoint that [they] do not hold. One 10-year-old boys name, address, and valid e-mail was used without his or his parents permission. One other victim may have summed it up best: These are the kinds of actions that make the population lose faith in the system.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
ARCHIVED - 7,960 new cases and 160 deaths across Spain in last 24 hours: May 6 Covid update



Spains pandemic continues its decline, according to the latest government figures published on May 6.

The latest figures published by the Spanish health ministry reveal that Spains accumulated incidence rate, number of deaths, and hospital admissions have dropped slightly as the number of confirmed new cases continues to fall and the number of vaccines administered rises.

A further 7,960 new cases and 160 deaths were reported across Spain on May 6, an increase in cases from the previous day (May 5), but still lower than the 10,143 new cases confirmed a week earlier.

The figures also represent a drop of seven deaths from the previous 24 hours and a decrease in the countys 14-day incidence rate.

Spains accumulated incidence rate now stands at 202 cases per 100,000 people, down from the 205.2 per 100,000 on the previous day on May 5.

The latest figures bring the total number of cases reported to date in Spain to 3,559,222 and the number of deaths to date to 78,726.

The continued drop in Spains cases has also seen the number of people hospitalised with the virus fall. There are now 8,900 people admitted to hospital in Spain, 232 fewer than the day before, and 2,212 patients in intensive care units, 19 fewer than on Wednesday.

The number of intensive care beds occupied by patients with the virus remains high across Spain at 22.1 per cent, but is a drop from the 22.25 per cent reported on the day before.

Madrid remains the region with the highest number of intensive care beds occupied, at 43 per cent, followed by the Basque Country at 38 per cent. Murcia and Extremadure are the two regions with the lowest number of intensive care beds occupied by people with the virus, at 5 per cent.
The sole reason a lot of people get fiscal sponsors isnt because we dont have the knowledge  its because we dont have the capacity to do it, and thats why we pay them to manage our finances so we can focus on the meat and potatoes, which is serving the community and our programs, said Kim Sauer, co-founder of a program called Fearlessly Loving Yourself.
On the morning of April 20, police began investigating the whereabouts of Cook after receiving a call about a family member concerned about her welfare. Family reported that they had not had contact with Cook since Saturday, three days prior, and that at that point she had indicated she had moved out from living with Pettus. However, the couple  who Wakamatsu testified it is not clear if they are married or not  were together that Sunday.

Police went to Pettus apartment, where they entered after knocking and receiving no answer. In the front rooms, the house seemed to be in good order. Then as they made their way into the bedroom, Wakamatsu described the home as in complete disarray. In the bedroom, officers located Cooks body, covered with a bunch of clothes, towels and other items.

Police left the apartment to obtain a search warrant. After obtaining the warrant, they re-entered the apartment. After uncovering her body, police found Cook had two T-shirts and a plastic bag on her neck and she suffered several stab wounds.
On April 17, 1952, President Harry Truman signed a bill proclaiming the National Day of Prayer into law. President Ronald Reagan amended the law in 1988, designating the first Thursday of May each year as the National Day of Prayer.

Thirty-six years later, the tradition is still going strong in the North Platte Valley. The mayors of Gering, Scottsbluff and Terrytown held the annual prayer breakfast for the community Thursday, May 6.

The event was led by the mayors, with contemporary Christian music performed by Summit College students and prayers led by Rev. Dr. Tyson Lambertson from The Rock Church and Pastor Tim Hebbert from Gering Zion Church.

The guest speaker for the event was Pastor Scott Mathis, who had served at Mitchell Berean Church for 19 years before starting SONrise Church in Torrington, Wyoming, in 2011 and then becoming the president of the Berean Fellowship of Churches in 2016.

In line with the events theme of Love, Life and Liberty, Mathis message began with a short history lesson on President Abraham Lincolns faith in the midst of the Civil War and transitioned into a discussion on Christian persecution, the hardships everyone has faced within the last year and how Christians should rise above it all to help others know Jesus Christ.
As the global pandemic halted travel, shuttered restaurants and closed bars, Nebraskas tourism sector shrunk under the pressure.

Now, with vaccinations increasing and the economy recovering, Nebraska Tourism Commission Director John Ricks told local tourism officials things are looking up.

We hadnt done really well for the last 13 months, Ricks told a crowd of local government officials and business people during the Salute to Tourism event at Hotel 21 & Company on Thursday.

Ricks rebuffed the idea that tourism was in its recovery now. He said his agencys balance sheet, which he said included a lot of negative balances, suggested the recovery was dependent on positive returns.

While 2020 was a bust, Ricks said 2019 was a record year. Between the success of the Passport program and a good draw from people who live along the Front Range, Ricks said 2019 was a model year. On the other hand, Ricks estimated the industry shrunk by 40% in 2020 and lost millions in revenue.

However, a return to 2019 highs is coming, Ricks said.
No. 1: What is the function of each team member?

Does your team do a lot of brainstorming? You have my sympathies, but you will probably have to be in the office to make this work. On the positive side, you will get donuts. Team members who do a lot of deep, focused work and benefit from the relative quiet of home get no donuts, but they do get naps.

Either way, avoid any questions regarding the nature of your function, like, What do you do here, anyway? An honest answer, at home or at the office, will certainly get you fired.

No. 2: What is the location of each team member?

Here the authors provide a real aha moment for management. Theres no point in making employees report to the nearest office, they write, if everyone they work with is in another city. This brilliant insight could save you the pain of coming into the office every day if the office is in Houston, Texas, and you live in Nome, Alaska.

(If your manager is stubborn and insists that all employees must come back to the office, you do have a great negotiating point. Agree to come in every day, but demand that your manager pay for your dog team.)

No. 3: What is the structure of the organization?
Becoming a parent was the most profound, all-encompassing event in my life. While I loved and still love my husband, Jimmy, the birth of a child ignited inside me a new type of overwhelming love: motherly love. Though I knew that parts of both of us had combined to create a new human being, I also knew that she was a new life, totally independent of us, who was created through a miracle by God.

Jackie Gingrich Cushman Jackie Gingrich Cushman writes a weekly human-interest column for Creators Syndicate that focuses on current events and political issues.

Our first child, Maggie, is now an adult, but I still vividly remember the day she was born. A rather uneventful labor changed course during her delivery, when the doctor announced that the baby was having problems breathing and took her out of the room. My husband followed them. I felt secure in the knowledge that he would ensure her safety, and he did.

Our first night home on our own with our new child was sleepless for all of us. She cried almost constantly; we were exhausted and frightened. But we all made it through the night. Less than two years later, we were blessed with a second child, Robert, whose entrance into the world was a bit more dramatic. After a scare with a prolapsed umbilical cord and an emergency C-section for which I was put under general anesthesia, he was born. An hour later, I woke from sedation for a few seconds and saw my husband giving me a thumbs-up; I knew all was right and that I could go back to sleep.
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Leader of the Opposition Hon. Edwin Astwood has criticised the Governments new policy which makes it mandatory for foreign workers to be vaccinated in order to get their work permits renewed.





Astwood, the territorys former Minister of Health, said during his tenure it was not his intention to force vaccination.





Speaking at the House of Assembly on Thursday, April 29, he said: "In my time I never wanted vaccination to be mandatory for anyone.





"I wanted to continue to encourage people to show them the good reasons, the wonderful reasons why you should take the vaccination.





He said he also does not like the rule ordering unvaccinated workers in the civil service to be tested every week.





"If we had a simple testing method that you could just blow into a container or so, non-invasive, I can see you saying that. But to have a Q-tip pushed up your nose every week, I do not agree with that, he stressed.





Astwood said although it is the Governments prerogative to put in place measures it deems fit for the protection and safety of the populace, he does not agree with several measures.





"That is something that I wouldnt have recommended, but that is just me. No matter what Public Health England said or no matter what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said or Pan American Health Organization, I wouldnt have recommended for our people in the Turks and Caicos Islands.





"Those two moves I do not like, but again it is the Governments prerogative to put in their measures. I want to go on record saying that I dont like those two methods put in place, he

argued.





Astwood called on the Government to stick to the measures that have been proven to work.





He said: "I see what you are trying to cure, but mask wearing, social distance and these are the things that work.





"We can do more. We cannot just be lazy about it, I was one of the first people in the Turks and Caicos Islands to get vaccinated.





"I do not agree with making vaccinations mandatory. Just like how salvation is offered to us freely and every Sunday and throughout the week, pastors try to convince people to accept the Lord Jesus and to accept God, we should be doing the same... God never made it mandatory that you have to accept him.





Astwood underscored that there are pros and cons and people should not be coerced into taking anything against their will.





"Persons with work permits, if you want to enter the TCI you have to be negative. You can be tested when you arrive in the TCI to know that you didnt bring anything in.





"And while they are here, we have to encourage them to be vaccinated. Persons may have different religious or spiritual beliefs or personal beliefs.





During its meeting on April 21, Cabinet approved the development of an official Turks and Caicos Covid-19 Exit Strategy through a structured vaccination programme.





It includes amendments to the Immigration Ordinance making vaccination mandatory for all work permit holders by July.





On April 26, Hon. Rachel Taylor, Minister of Education, Labour and Employment, said the Government will be enforcing this policy.





This came as the Government grappled with the possibility of having a large batch of expired Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on its hands as vaccination uptake rates slowed.





On April 30, the TCI Human Rights Commission said it does not believe the Governments recent policies have contravened any rights enshrined in the territorys constitution.





They have, in fact, been implemented for the protection of the public in this time of emergency, are reasonable and proportionate and "in the best interest of the greater good.





The commission released a report to media on its examination of the Governments latest pandemic regulations as agreed to in a Cabinet meeting on April 21.
The money, the revenue that this fee would generate are dedicated, they can only be used for the authorized expenses, Campbell said. We do not have legal discretion, if you will, to use them for other reasons so they are very bound for this very important purpose.
The study included several restoration recommendations, including plant control, waterfowl management, bottom screening, watershed management and septic tank controls, but stated dredging is the only long-term solution.

In 1992, about 83,000 grass carp were introduced to the lake for plant control, Gilkerson said. The carp controlled the milfoil but also ate all the beneficial vegetation, he said.

+4 Flourishing milfoil at Lake Sacajawea to face fishy foe soon A canoe trip across the north end of Lake Sacajawea sends recreators gliding atop what appears to be an underwater pine forest.

To reduce the number of grass carp, the advisory council helped push for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife approval to fish them out, Gilkerson said.

Theyre still in there, theres not many, he said. People that live along the lake theyve told me they see fewer and fewer grass carp. So, I think eventually theyre going to be gone.

Increased amounts of toxic algae have been found in the lake since the 2000s, including cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. The algae thrive in warm, nutrient dense water and can be harmful to people and animals.

The Silver Lake Flood Control District lowered the lake by three feet in 2018, attempting to flush and refill it with fresh water in the winter. Gilkerson said the lake took longer to refill than expected and the move didnt have the effect they hoped.

Silver Lake to be lowered in attempt to improve water quality Silver Lake is empty of people, despite temperatures reaching the 90s over the last week. The water may look clean, but signs posted around th

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With indoor dining restrictions lifted, state dismisses Stuffy's case; restaurant still owes $540K in fines Stuffy's hearing against the state was delayed again, but the restaurant's supporters remained committed.

Rowley said she could not apply for loans to get through the shutdown because she has not owned her business long enough to prove financially sound to most lenders. She bought the restaurant in August 2020.

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She said she received one grant that helped, but didnt offer enough funds to stay closed during the entire indoor dining ban.

Rowley said her decision to offer indoor dining wasnt made for political reasons, but to keep her business open and support her employees. Rowley owns Bear Country Catering in Kalama and said shes dreamed of owning a brick-and-mortar eatery.

She questioned why larger chains like grocery stores  where people are not forced to distance  could stay open throughout the pandemic, but her restaurant  where people are seated 6 feet apart  was closed periodically.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to The Daily News.

Its not like I dont have respect for the rules, she said. You can catch this virus anywhere, but you can shut down a small business and not give any help when big box stores stay open?

Stuffys fights

Stuffys was cited for 53 infractions and fined $954,000 over nearly two months during the states indoor dining ban, according to state records.
Offering bachelors degrees in Longview will help keep graduates from moving away and allow businesses to recruit locally, said Economic Development Council Vice President Lindsey Cope.

I think LCCs leadership in listening to the community and industries needs for these types of programs shows their commitment to our local area, she said. A lot of other places arent as motivated to move as quickly as Lower Columbia College has been on a lot of these programs that are going to make a huge difference in our community.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to The Daily News.

Students in the program will gain the knowledge and skills needed to effectively lead and manage others in a wide variety of settings, the release states. The program includes behavioral and leadership theory, professional communications, project management, workplace and environmental safety, conflict resolution, theories of decision making, change management and ethics.

Diversity, equity and inclusion is included throughout the program, Jackson said.

LCC really wants to train leaders who have cultural competence that are responsive and can lead and manage diverse workgroups, she said.
If you go

Cowlitz County Event Center

What: Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines

When: By appointment or walk-up; 2-4 p.m. Sunday

Where: 1900 Seventh Ave., Longview

Cost: Free

Info: Must be 16 or older. Second doses will be prioritized.

Longview outreach site

What: Moderna COVID-19 vaccines

When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Where: St. Rose Parish Center, 701 26th Ave., Longview

Cost: Free

Info: Must be 18 or older. Register between 9 a.m. to noon at bit.ly/3aKVHE3; or 1-4 p.m. at bit.ly/3vw3ttq; or call 360-431-1662 for assistance

Clark County site

What: Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Woodland High School, 1500 Dike Access Road, Woodland

Cost: Free

Info: Register online at bit.ly/32WBpTz or call 888-225-4625 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Gurugram district administration on Thursday announced the launch of a dedicated WhatsApp COVID-19 helpline to provide residents access to critical information and a central repository of all COVID-19-related resources.

The helpline has been developed by a group of volunteers, private sector organisations and with the support of various departments within the Gurugram District Administration, a statement said.

The helpline is free to use and is available in Hindi and English, it added.

The service is an integrated offering built on the WhatsApp Business API and will directly connect citizens to official and verified sources of information and medical services, thus enabling quick access and helping the administration streamline its relief efforts.

ALSO READ: Bolo Indya ties up with MyGov India to help create awareness on Covid-19

The helpline provides updated information about critical resources in the user's proximity such as RT-PCR centres and camps, online doctor consultations, status of availability of beds, registering oneself as a COVID-19 patient and care centres among other resources.

The helpline also has services of MyUpchar, Meddo and Dunzo integrated for the benefit of users.

It has been developed by Infobip and Day Technologies are the technology providers, and is enabled by WhatsApp. The initiative has also been supported by The Dialogue and Deepstrat who are providing critical support to DC Gurugram in triaging citizen requests.

Using this (service), COVID patients and their families can reach out to us for help. We will try and provide the best possible care at home. I also thank partners like WhatsApp for stepping forward and supporting us in building this platform. Any organisation that wants to use this to deliver care to our citizens are most welcome to join us," Yash Garg, Deputy Commissioner and Chairperson of District Disaster Management, Gurugram, said.

WhatsApp Head of India Abhijit Bose said the company remains committed towards ensuring that people have access to verified sources of information through its platform.

"We are thankful to the Govt. of Haryana and the District Administration of Gurugram for giving us the opportunity to support their efforts. We encourage people to access the helpline for the latest COVID-19 related information in their city," he added.
In what can only be described as being in the right place at the right time, a doctor on board a flight to Hawaii was able to save a premature baby that was born mid-air using his wits, along with other objects on the plane  and an Apple Watch. The incident occurred during a flight to Honolulu, when the newborn Raymond Moungas mother Lavinia went into labour in the washroom, as reported by KHON2. Mounga didnt even know she was pregnant, so the arrival of the baby who was born at 29 weeks instead of 40 weeks, was a surprise for everyone on board.

Read more: ECG on Apple Watch helped save a 61-year-old man from Indore: Heres what happened

Luckily, there were three nurses on board, from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) department at North Kansas City Hospital, who responded to the in-flight call for emergency help along with a family physician who was on the same flight. I went back there first, and she is holding a baby, underneath the toilet almost. And so Im yelling, Mimi! Theres a baby, and its little!' said one of the nurses to KHON2.

The doctor also said that since the mother had delivered the baby prematurely, there was no equipment on the plane that could be used to keep him warm. Using some resourceful thinking the four medical staff made baby warmers from bottles using a microwave. Another important part of keeping the baby healthy and alive  monitoring his vitals, was done by using an Apple Watch to keep an eye on his heart rate, the doctor had stated.

The report says that once the plane landed in Honolulu with the lucky baby alive and well on board, he was rushed with his mother to the Kapiolani Medical Center  they met their saviours a couple of days later. He will remain at the NICU where is being treated until he is healthy enough to go home, according to the news service.

Also read: A phone call from his Apple Watch saved a cyclist hanging from a tree over flooded UK river

This isnt the first time that weve heard of Apples capable smartwatches working in the nick of time to save lives  in March, we learned about a man who fell into a frozen river and was saved by his Apple Watch that called firefighters in the nick of time. In January, a UK cyclist was saved by his Apple Watch after he was left hanging above a flooded river, while in October last year, the ECG function on the Apple Watch helped save a 61-year-old man in Indore who realised something was wrong and got operated safely, as well as another 13-year-old from Oklahoma who was alerted in time about a serious undetected heart condition.
It is with tremendously sad hearts that we tell you that our beloved Piano Pat passed away peacefully last night, the Sip n Dip Lounge posted Wednesday on its Facebook page. We loved her very, very much. Our hearts are broken. Rest In Peace beautiful music girl.
Credit: University of Southern California

When New York City announced it would be greatly expanding outdoor dining in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, questions abounded. How was a city clogged with cars and buses, where the sidewalks are too narrow for people to carry unfurled umbrellas, going to suddenly accommodate thousands of tables and chairs in its preciously limited outdoor space?

Very successfully, it turned out. By cutting off some streets to car traffic and capitalizing on more limited late-night and weekend bus routes, the city was able to secure more outside dining space for more than 10,300 restaurants through its (now permanent) Open Restaurants program. That move outdoors signals how restaurants in other high-density, space-limited cities might be able to modify their dining spaces to prevent disease transmission, says Alexa Weintraub, a junior majoring in geodesign at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

"I think there's a lot of potential for restaurants to continue expanding and coming up with innovative ideas for outdoor dining in the future," she adds.

For the final project of her "Geospatial Technology Management for Sustainability Science and Sustainable Development" (SSCI 402) course, Weintraub used geographic information sciences (GIS) tools to create a StoryMap an interactive web map with elements such as text, video or imagesthat analyzed how New York's bus routes were affected by Open Restaurants and its companion program Open Streets: Restaurants. Through these programs, several neighboring eating establishments apply as a group to have a whole street closed to vehicle traffic, freeing up additional street space for tables and chairs. Weintraub's map, "Eating on the Streets: A New Pandemic Lifestyle," analyzed restaurant and transportation data to display other potential locations for Open Streets restaurants throughout New York's five boroughs.

Weintraub's work also landed her a spot as one of 10 finalists in the student category of the 2020 ArcGIS StoryMaps Competition for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), sponsored by GIS technology company Esri and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

"Alexa's project was very current and practical. People are thinking about making dining on the street a permanent solution even after the pandemic is over, but nobody has looked in depth at how are we going to do it, and where," said Leilei Duan, a lecturer with the Spatial Sciences Institute who teaches the SSCI 402 course.

Sustainable design

Duan's course focused closely on the UN's 17 SDGs, which range from eliminating poverty to ocean conservation. Weintraub's map was tied to SDG 8, which calls for decent work and economic growth, important considerations in New York, where restaurants are a major source of both income and employment. Although her project addressed one industry in one city, it has broader lessons for sustainability and city planning, Duan says.

"The framework and methodology Alexa used can be used in L.A., as well," she says. "And she's not just thinking about how we're going to help small businesses get back on track, but beyond this, to the question, "Once we get out of COVID, how will we change our previous habits?'"

Changing habits doesn't have to be unpleasant, Weintraub says. Open dining is not only good for restaurants and tax coffers; it provides diners with a different way of interacting with their town.

"Being able to sit outside, you can be more intertwined into the city while also dining at anywhere from a five-star restaurant to a quick place to grab a bite to eat," Weintraub says.

New York made its Open Restaurants program permanent. Whether L.A. decides to follow suit with its equally rich and geographically more complex restaurant scene remains to be seen.

Explore further New York City halts indoor dining over pandemic spread
Suturable fiber strain sensor. The sensor includes two conductive fiber electrodes in double helical structure with a hollow core. Credit: Lee et al. (Nature Electronics, 2021).

Implantable electronics are among the most promising healthcare technologies, as they can help to remotely monitor specific biological processes associated with a patient's health. While researchers have developed a variety of implantable devices over the past decade or so, existing technologies have several limitations that can prevent their widespread use in clinical settings.

The first factor preventing the large-scale implementation of existing implantable technologies is the structural mismatch between these devices and most organs/tissues in the body, which typically have complex 1D or 3D structures. Secondly, reliably fixing soft electronic devices on organs that are moving or pulsating has so far proved to be highly challenging.

Researchers at Daegu-Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST) in South Korea and ETH Zurich have recently developed a new fiber-based strain-sensing device that could overcome the limitations of existing implantable electronics. This sensor, presented in a paper published in Nature Electronics, comprises a capacitive fiber strain sensor with an inductive coil for wireless readout.

"The main objective of this work was to overcome the practical limitations of existing implantable electronic devices," Jaehong Lee, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore. "To achieve this, we developed an implantable electronic device (specifically, a wireless strain sensor) made of suturable fiber, which significantly improves the structural mismatch of existing planar implantable devices and fixation issues."

The strain sensor created by Lee and his colleagues is made of two conductive fiber electrodes placed within a double helical structure with a hollow core. When a tensile strain is applied to the two fibers, they straighten, which changes a specific electrical property of the sensor (i.e., its capacitance).

"We can monitor the applied strain by wirelessly measuring the change in capacitance of the sensor," Lee said. "Based on the hollow core in the sensor, the double helical conductive fibers can be rapidly straightened out under the tensile strain, achieving a higher sensitivity than that of existing capacitive strain sensors. More importantly, the strain sensor in this work can be directly sutured itself onto target tissues or organs based on its unique structural advantage, which provides a stable fixation for long periods of time."

Lee and his colleagues evaluated their implantable sensor by running a series of mathematical analyses and simulations. They found that the device performed remarkably well. Moreover, its performance could be modulated or adapted to meet the needs of specific applications.

The sensor developed by this team of researchers could help to overcome the main practical limitations of existing implantable devices (i.e., structural mismatch and stable fixation). In contrast with other solutions developed in the past, in fact, this new device could be directly sutured onto target tissues or organs.

In the future, this recent study by Lee and his colleagues could thus inform the development of more efficient and reliable electronics to monitor specific biomechanical signals inside the human body. For instance, the researchers' device could prove valuable for personalized rehabilitation in orthopedic applications and for examining sport-related biomechanics.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is first demonstration of a suturable electronic system for biomedical applications and we believe that this will be a large step towards clinical applications of implantable electronic devices," Lee said. "As a next step, the sensing system should be made bioresorbable, to remove the requirement for a second surgery to remove the implanted device after use. Therefore, we are now working on advancing the fiber-based implantable sensor to a fully bioresorbable system."

Explore further Sensor tracks cortisol levels in real time

More information: Stretchable and suturable fibre sensors for wireless monitoring of connective tissue strain. Nature Electronics(2021). Journal information: Nature Electronics Stretchable and suturable fibre sensors for wireless monitoring of connective tissue strain.(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-021-00557-1

 2021 Science X Network
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At any given time that Houston Police Department decides we no longer need a car attendant, we no longer need a car attendant supervisor, we no longer need a truck driver, we no longer need a typist, that does not mean that the city of Houston has decided to defund the police, he said.

The amendments failed, as the Democrats denounced what they called partisan rhetoric and a move for state control over large cities.

Raymond, however, the Democrat joint author on the bill from Laredo, defended HB 1900. He said raising funds is how we improve other functions, like education and health care.

"You invest more in training our law enforcement officers, not less," he said. "Thats how you make it better."

Leaders from some of Texas biggest cities have declared that they are against the bills, including Austin interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon. He said there are instances where local governments need to increase funding on other services or initiatives and that wont always negatively impact police departments.

These decisions must be made at the local level by our community when and to the degree needed to help build and maintain trust, Chacon said at the bills committee hearing.
The Tier 1 NEPA study that was done is fundamentally flawed, in that it has not considered any analysis concerning the shore-side construction and quality of life impacts of selecting this corridor versus any other corridor. The study did not indicate whether the proposed bridge would be a replacement bridge, or a parallel and additional bridge. The criteria presented in developing the objectives of the long-term impact of selecting the existing corridor in the Purpose and Need Statement have not been sufficiently developed to execute a FEIS/ROD and exclude all other corridors.
That means creating a new generation of good-paying union jobs that guarantee Americas workers family-sustaining wages, quality health care and retirement security that weve earned. And, it means tackling the climate injustice, racial injustice and economic injustice that disproportionately hurt working people while benefiting the elite few.

The American Jobs Plan is poised to do exactly that, creating good union jobs by rebuilding our countrys capacity to provide for its people  from fixing our roads and modernizing our energy grid to educating our kids and caring for our retirees.

However, investments alone are far from sufficient. In order to shift the balance of power in favor of working people, we need to rewrite the fundamental rules of the economy. Thats why President Biden called on Congress to strengthen our freedom to organize on the job by finally passing the PRO Act.
As she looks at the business transition, Alexander, who has been teaching under Young for the last 10 years, said, She has taught me so many things over the years and now it is my turn to hopefully teach and inspire as many people as I can. I see this as an opportunity to start something new and achieve my dream of owning my own studio. This opportunity has me nervous but mainly excited for the future that A-List Dance Academy will bring for me and the students we will be teaching.

For Young, she plans to take life day by day, she said. Until she came down with symptoms, Young had never heard of ALS; however, she said shes hopeful that by her sharing her story she can help someone else.

If I can be of any help to anybody with ALS, Im just a phone call away, she said, adding that she appreciates the prayers of support. Please pray for my family that they will be blessed with comfort.

While Young battles ALS, her mother fights Parkinsons Disease. Young and her husband, Jeff, had moved in to care for her, but now Jeff has become a caregiver to both women while also working full time for Franklin County Public Schools.
In the lieutenant governors race, Hala Ayala, Mark Levine, Sean Perryman and Xavier Warren all live in Northern Virginia (although Warren grew up in Pittsylvania County). The only two exceptions are Andria McClellan of Norfolk and Sam Rasoul of Roanoke, about whom we shall have more to say later.

In the attorney generals race, incumbent Mark Herring is from Northern Virginia, challenger Jay Jones of Norfolk isnt. Most of the partys establishment has endorsed McAuliffe, Ayla and Herring, who would become the states first all-Northern Virginia ticket. (Northam backs Jones for attorney general).

Dont look to Republicans for regional diversity. Of their 17 candidates for statewide office, the only one from this part of the state is former Roanoke sheriff Octavia Johnson, whose candidacy for governor is not taken seriously.

Depending on whom Republicans nominate, its possible every single candidate for statewide office will be from Northern Virginia. Given the Republican strength in rural Virginia, its surprising theres not a candidate from that part of the state, but there isnt.
Security researchers Thursday disclosed a new critical vulnerability affecting Domain Name System (DNS) resolvers that could be exploited by adversaries to carry out reflection-based denial-of-service attacks against authoritative nameservers.

The flaw, called 'TsuNAME,' was discovered by researchers from SIDN Labs and InternetNZ, which manage the national top-level internet domains '.nl' and '.nz' for the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively.

"TsuNAME occurs when domain names are misconfigured with cyclic dependent DNS records, and when vulnerable resolvers access these misconfigurations, they begin looping and send DNS queries rapidly to authoritative servers and other resolvers," the researchers said.

A recursive DNS resolver is one of the core components involved in DNS resolution, i.e., converting a hostname such as www.google.com into a computer-friendly IP address like 142.250.71.36. To achieve this, it responds to a client's request for a web page by making a series of requests until it reaches the authoritative DNS nameserver for the requested DNS record. The authoritative DNS server is akin to a dictionary that holds the exact IP address for the domain that's being looked up.

But with TsuNAME, the idea is that misconfigurations during domain registration can create a cyclic dependency such that nameserver records for two zones point to each other, leading vulnerable resolvers to "simply bounce back from zone to zone, sending non-stop queries to the authoritative servers of both parent zones," thereby overwhelming their parent zone authoritative servers.

As to how this happens, it all boils down to recursive resolvers being oblivious to the cycle and not caching cyclically dependent name records.

Data gathered from the .nz domain found that two misconfigured domains alone led to a 50% increase in overall traffic volume for the .nz's authoritative servers. Google Public DNS (GDNS) and Cisco OpenDNS  which were abused to target .nz and .nl domains in 2020  have since addressed the issue in their DNS resolver software.

To mitigate the impact of TsuNAME in the wild, the researchers have published an open-source tool called CycleHunter that allows for authoritative DNS server operators to detect cyclic dependencies. The study also analyzed 184 million domains spanning seven large top-level domains and 3.6 million distinct nameserver records, uncovering 44 cyclic dependencies used by 1,435 domain names.

"Given that NS records can change at any time, there is no permanent solution," the researchers cautioned. "In other words, if a DNS zone has no cyclically dependent NS records at time t, it means that this zone is not vulnerable at only that particular time t. We therefore also recommend that registrars run CycleHunter on a regular basis, for instance, as part of their domain name registration process."
KEARNEY  Teaching too much about sex and gender identity could hurt young Nebraskans.

That was the message from the Protect Nebraska Children Coalition, which has thrown up a red flag about elements of comprehensive sex education in the Nebraska Department of Educations proposed overhaul of health education standards.

Its clear this approach to sexuality is far from what Nebraskans would want for their children, said Jenna Derr, a family medicine physician from Kearney during a press conference at Kearneys Ramada Inn. Four people attended the press briefing, which was one day before the Nebraska Board of Education meets in Kearney. The meeting will be 9 a.m. Friday (today) at Holiday Inn in Kearney.

The sex education portion of the proposal attracted an overflow crowd Monday night at the Kearney Public Library.

Gov. Pete Ricketts warned at that gathering the sex education standards are dangerous, but they can be halted if people speak out against them.

The only way to stop it, to fight it, is if regular ... Nebraskans say, Enough is enough. We are not going to let this happen in our country, Ricketts said.
Ashworths efforts play a direct role in keeping the community safe, Aguilar said.

If you follow the history of railroads in Grand Island, theres always been issues with crossings and problems with the railroad going through Grand Island, he said. Having her around and helping to teach safety is immense for our community.

Aguilar added, All the young people are going to benefit from that for years to come.

Ashworth worked for Union Pacific Railroad for 37 years, mainly as a dispatcher, and has been active with Nebraska Operation Lifesaver since 2010.

In her free time, she hosts railroad safety education programs across the state.

Ashworth has given more than 715 presentations and has reached an estimated 6,300 people at multiple venues, according to Operation Lifesaver Nebraska coordinator Carol Daley.

Among her efforts, she raised funds and got support from Union Pacifics Harriman Dispatch Center for a poster contest in 2014 to better educate students about the importance of railroad safety.

The posters were then displayed at Gretna Public Library as a way to share that message with the community.
HOLDREGE  Gage Huston is shooting for the stars. Or maybe even Mars.

The Holdrege High School senior always has had a love for space and technology. He will continue to pursue that passion as he begins his career with the United States Space Force.

According to the U.S. Space Force website, the USSF is the newest branch of the Armed Forces, established Dec. 20, 2019. It was established within the Department of the Air Force, and its mission is to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint forces.

Gage knew he wanted to join the military since he was a child.

His brother was in the U.S. Marine Corps, and both of his grandfathers served in the Army. Gage did extensive research before deciding which branch was the best choice for him.

He even reached out to a recruiter in 2019, but he was told he was too young to start the process. He was able to join the Delayed Entry Program in 2020.
Not to say that there are zero roads or bridges in the United States that could use a little repair.

But theres just no reason to believe that the existing surface transportation funding levels in the United States are inadequate.

Kevin Drum had a similar reaction, writing that U.S. bridges are in  sort of OK shape. This new pundit view highlights data showing that the quality of U.S. infrastructure has not deteriorated recently and that our international infrastructure ranking is middling (to use Drums phrasing), not rock-bottom. Robert Krol from the Mercatus Center at George Mason came to this view earlier, noting last year that The condition of major highways and roads is stable. Furthermore, there are fewer bridges in poor condition today than there were five years ago.

There are two problems with this: the data and the backward-looking nature of the analysis. Take bridges, for example.

The new pundit view is correct that official measures suggest the share of bridges in poor condition has declined. Roughly 60,000 of the nations more than 600,000 bridges were in poor condition in 2009, according to Federal Highway Administration data. By 2020, that number had fallen to 45,000  even though the number of bridges in the country had grown slightly.
Will Georgia Voters Take Advantage Of More Choices?

Political leanings in our country have never been more firmly rooted in as they are in 2021.



The only era in our past when we have been more divided as a country was during the Civil War.



It seems those who lean right have little room for compromise. The same goes for those who lean left. Its their way or no way.



Yet, there has always been a group that sees things from the middle. That political group has certainly grown smaller of late but they have always existed.



You can call this group Libertarians or independents, but make no mistake, the middle ground has been left out in the cold. For years this group of Americans has often had to select from one side or the other of the two-headed political monster which runs our country.



A recent court ruling in Georgia, however, may open the door for more choices. A U.S. District Court has struck down Georgias five percent petition rule for the US House.



The ruling invalidated the petition requirement for independent candidates and nominees of minor parties when it comes to seeking office for the U.S. House. The law had been so tough for independent candidates to conquer that no third party has managed to obtain ballot access in the general election for the U.S. House since the law was created in 1943. No independent candidate has done so since 1964.



Back in the early 60s, the deadline for petition signatures was October, no filing fee was required and boundaries for U.S. House districts followed county lines, which made it easier to obtain signatures for a designated office.

Election law experts said this was actually a tough case to win because in 1971 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law.



The lawsuit was brought by the Georgia Libertarian Party in 2017 and finally made its way before a judge years later.



Ballot access experts have also pointed no other state has such a restrictive law. All other states except Alabama, has had minor party or independent candidates for U.S. House on the ballot in either 2018 or 2016 or both years. Alabama last had one in 2014, a far cry from Georgia.



The suit was brought against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. At the time, the Secretary of State had oversight of Georgia elections. That has changed in recent months since some far-right leaning GOP officials did not like how Raffensperger said there was not wide-spread voter fraud in the state in the 2020 general election.



The state has not decided if it will appeal the decision. The original deadline was April 23 but that date has been extended.



The judge in the case asked both sides to offer a compromise until the appeal was heard. The Georgia Libertarian Party suggested a $6,000 filing fee or 500 signatures. The state did not submit a compromise for those figures.



The states argument that citizens are somehow better off without more choices on the ballot has always been laughable at best and outright absurd and Unamerican at the worst. To try and say that more candidates on a general election ballot would be confusing to voters also flies in the face of logic.



In the primary election, there is often a double-digit number of candidates in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. There hasnt seemed to be much confusion when it comes to several candidates running in these instances.



It seems elected Republicans and Democrats agree on very little these days. One thing they have been in agreement on, however, is denying Georgia voters a third (or fourth) choice.



If this ruling holds up then Georgia voters will likely have additional choices. Whether voters are able to break out of their habit of selecting between only Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb remains to be seen.



The recent court ruling was long overdue and something that ballot access advocates have cheered. More choice is always a good thing. It doesnt matter if its more choices for a home, a car, a job or among those running for elected office.



Monticello native Chris Bridges has contributed to The Monticello News since 1988. You can email comments about this column to pchrisbridges@gmail.com.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 75F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Dan Valerius thanked God for the freedom to come together for public prayer. He asked for comfort for victims of COVID-19, especially those suffering in India as cases surge to the worst levels seen globally since the start of the pandemic, and for harmony in the nation.

Marlene Richmond asked God to do a great and mighty work in our families.

Mary Valerius thanked God for everyone across the nation joining on prayer and asked discernment and understanding for everyone.

At one point during the service, Culley was so moved he laid prone on the ground. When I feel moved, I lay down, he said.

Culley thanked everyone for attending and Perry County Sheriff Steve Bareis for allowing them to have a service at the courthouse.

Within minutes of the end of the service, raindrops began to fall.

Culley, who is well-known for Least of the Brethrens food pantry, has hosted National Day of Prayer since 1987 when he lived in West Frankfort. He said the event was cancelled last year because of the pandemic. Culley would have liked to see 20 or more people attend the service, but he was thankful for those who came.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker backtracked Thursday on one of the most controversial components of his budget proposal, saying improved revenue projections will allow the state to meet the goal in its education funding formula and increase school funding by $350 million over the current year.

Pritzker has faced a pushback from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle when he introduced in February a $41.6 billion state spending plan for the budget year beginning July 1 that would hold funding for elementary and secondary schools flat for the second straight year.

With the May 31 deadline for approving a budget fast approaching, Pritzker said Thursday revised revenue forecasts show the state will have enough money to cover an increase that meets the goal established in an overhaul of the states school funding formula that was signed into law by his predecessor, Republican Bruce Rauner.

That means that parents, students and educators can breathe a sigh of relief, Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Chicago. As an education advocate myself, I am really all too happy that our improved economic and fiscal condition allows us to increase educational funding.
The collaboration will extend to the lower grade levels in District No. 95 in the form of SIU students who will read to or tutor students. Booth called the elementary districts students exposure to the university community pivotal.

Our students look up to SIU students, and it will be important for our educators to lean on the researchers and professors at SIU as we continue to work to serve our students in the coming years, he said.

SIU Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori Stettler said the new agreement benefits both SIU and the school district.

Its a very coordinated effort which means a lot of our offices now understand how important the middle school and elementary school pipeline is to recruitment and retention of students, she said.

Booth said one of the highlights of the program is exposing young students to possibilities they may not have otherwise considered.
Providing wireless internet service where there was no access before using existing community assets such as water towers or nearby ETV towers provides a bridge to broadband, said Jim Stritzinger of the ORS. We were able to go into rural Allendale County and in 61 days we had 1,000 homes with internet access.

Thats tremendously exciting because its replicable. If you can do it in rural Allendale County, you can do it anywhere.

ORS Executive Director Nanette Edwards said the projects success was the result of dedicated stakeholders.

"This project could never have come to fruition without an incredible amount of willingness on so many people's parts to do whatever they could to help," Edwards said. "Everybody involved understood how important it was to this community to bring internet connectivity here as quickly as possible, and everyone gave of themselves and their time to make it a reality."
Republicans gained three Senate seats in the November election and have a 30-16 advantage in the body.

The proposal allows so-called open carry of guns for people who undergo training and background checks to carry guns hidden under a jacket or other clothing.

Senators made changes to the bill. One lowered the number of bullets to 25 that someone must fire at a target in an accuracy test to get a permit. It is now 50 shots. Supporters of the amendment said the lack of ammunition recently makes it harder to find enough bullets.

Other changes included eliminating the $50 fee the State Law Enforcement Division charges to get a permit and reducing the number of days that court clerks have to report any charge or other issue that could revoke a permit to the state police to five days. It is currently 30 days.

The bill heads back to the House, which passed it in March. If the members approve the Senate changes, it heads to the governor. If they don't, then a small group of lawmakers will try to work out the differences.

Thursday's debate began with Sen. Marlon Kimpson reminding senators he has been pushing his own gun bill for five years without success.
COLUMBIA  An Army trainee has been arrested and charged with dozens of crimes after authorities say he boarded a South Carolina school bus with a gun Thursday and held the driver and elementary students hostage before letting them off the bus.

During a news conference, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the incident started at around 7 a.m. near Fort Jackson, the U.S. Army's largest basic training facility, located in Columbia. The trainee, dressed in physical training clothes, ran off post and escaped with a rifle from the installation, Lott said. Deputies then started receiving calls about someone standing on a nearby interstate flagging down cars.

The trainee, whom Lott identified later Thursday as Jovan Collazo, then went to a nearby bus stop where children were waiting to be taken to Forest Lake Elementary School, Lott said, and boarded the bus himself, armed with the rifle.

He told the bus driver he didn't want to hurt anybody; he wanted him to drive him to the next town, Lott said.

Video that Lott played during a late Thursday news conference showed Collazo boarding the bus, shouting at the driver to close the door and drive. He was on board with the students and driver for a total of six minutes, the sheriff said.
Plan your telephone call to say hello to mom this Sunday. Better yet, if possible, make a visit with a card or even some flowers or maybe some brownies or a special treat. Moms deserve to be treated special.

Take her out to lunch or dinner if possible. It doesnt have to be Sunday, maybe Saturday would work better. Tell mom what she means to you. Let her know that you love her and that you give thanks for all she has done for you. Let her know she was a good mother and that you are grateful for everything. Moms need to hear it and youll be glad for everything you do for your mother.

However, you may not be so fortunate. My mother Eula Hinkle Mollette, passed away many years ago. My sons mother Karen Mollette passed away in 2002. The years go by quickly. For too many, Mothers Day can be a sad day because mom is no longer here. All you have is your many memories and too often memories are filled with mixed emotions. You remember what was wonderful but you may start thinking about all you wish you had done or could do if you had her today. If you have your mother today then celebrate in every way you can.

Sadly over 200,000 women are in prison or jail in the United States today. Eighty percent of these women have minor children. Mothers Day is a painful day for these women and their families.
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No response to Smith from Jennings was included in the Star-Tribunes record request.

Smith did not return a call seeking comment Friday.

The district has since told the Star-Tribune that the decision does not need trustee approval.

Based on advice from the Boards attorney, variance requests are not required to be voted on by the Board of Trustees because they are operational in nature, Southerland wrote in an email April 28 after declining to take phone calls from Star-Tribune reporters. The Superintendents path forward takes into account questions voiced by Trustees during the April 19th, Board Meeting Special Session. The Board of Trustees could take action within a public meeting to affirm or modify the actions of the Superintendent.

District officials have not explained publicly how the decision was made or why the boards approval was initially sought if it is not required, as administrators now say. Nor have they made themselves available to reporters, declining to speak on the phone since the announcement was made. Officials have provided scant details via email.

Trustees are expected to discuss the mask exception at a meeting Monday, though the agenda for that meeting was not yet available as of 1 p.m. Friday.
Cheyenne businessman and lawyer Darin Smith is strongly considering entering the 2022 House race against Rep. Liz Cheney, he confirmed Thursday.

He would join state Sen. Anthony Bouchard and state Rep. Chuck Gray in challenging Cheney in the primary.

This is not the first time Smith has run for Wyomings lone House seat. Smith ran in the 2016 primary, finishing fourth with 15% of the vote and raising over $95,000, according to Federal Election Commission numbers.

He said he did not make an effort to raise much money for that race.

Im super confident I could fundraise this type of fight, he said Thursday.

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If he does end up running, he will likely enter the race branding himself as one of the people.

Im not a politician, he said. Im a fourth-generation Wyomingite.

On Cheney, Smith said, She can go back to her state and represent them.

Cheney opponents in Wyoming have criticized her for spending years of her life in Virginia. But the biggest criticism she now faces concerns her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Yandels mom, Adela Rodriguez, said they were OK but still a little shaky from the shooting as they left the campus.

Both of the students who were shot were being held at the hospital, and one of them might need surgery, said Dr. Michael Lemon, trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

Still, both students were in fair condition and could be released as early as Friday. One of the students had wounds in two limbs and might have been shot twice, he said.

Its an absolute blessing that they werent hurt worse, Lemon said. The adult was treated and released for a bullet wound that went through an extremity, the doctor said.

Schools would be closed districtwide to give students time to be with their families, and counselors would be available starting Friday, said Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin.

This is the worst nightmare a school district could ever face. We prepare for it," Martin said, but you're never truly prepared.

Police tape surrounded the school, which has about 1,500 students in sixth through eighth grades, and small evidence markers were placed next to spots of blood on the ground.
We are annoyed when a severe storm warning is issued, and then nothing happens. But far better that way than if a storm did occur without warning.

Reading the political tea leaves would suggest that American democracy is at risk as never before; and we in Wyoming are not immune from what conservative writer Anne Applebaum has described as the seductive lure of authoritarianism.

Whether or not we agree with the policy positions of Congresswoman Cheney, all should be grateful that she is standing up for the principles and practices of American democracy against an avalanche of untruths. The most blatantly obvious lie, the one that strikes at the heart of our form of democracy, is that the 2020 election was stolen.

More ominous still, the big lie is metastasizing into a broader, deceitful campaign against the practices of liberal democracy.

The fury over Congresswoman Cheney provides an opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of liberal democracy in contrast to illiberal democracy.

Liberal democracy means a representative form of government distinguished by political parties, separation of powers, and rule of law; at its best, guaranteeing to each citizen the equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of property as codified in a constitution.
Orlando Octave is vibrating on what is for him a new philosophical frequency.

Octave recently embarked on a spiritual journey. The groovy soca artistes open search for truth and enlightenment led him through the teachings of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism then eventually towards the Hebrew Israelites  a group who believe they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites written of in the Torah and Bible.

Octave was introduced to their teachings by a friend in 2014. He developed a deeper understanding for the groups philosophy during a pilgrimage he made to Israel in 2016.
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The safety and effectiveness of Chinese vaccines are earning recognition across the world, says Chinese Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Fang Qiu.

China has offered 100,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.
Xi holds phone conversation with UN chief

Xinhua) 08:25, May 07, 2021

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday.

Noting that the United Nations (UN) has gone through rare and complicated situations in recent years, Xi said multilateralism has received more and more support as a result.

Pursuing multilateralism is inseparable from the United Nations, international law and cooperation among countries, Xi said.

The world needs genuine multilateralism, Xi said, adding that all countries should act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, refrain from pursuing unilateralism and hegemonism, and should not use multilateralism as a pretext to form small circles or stir up ideological confrontation.

China will continue to support the work of the United Nations and that of Secretary-General Guterres, and uphold genuine multilateralism, Xi said.

Xi stressed that the most important task for the international community remains fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the world should strengthen cooperation and reject political manipulation.

Noting that major countries should set an example by providing more public goods, Xi said that China has provided vaccine assistance for more than 80 developing countries and exported vaccines to more than 50 countries.

China has decided to offer vaccines to the UN peacekeeping operations and the International Olympic Committee, and will continue to actively support COVAX and make continuous efforts to eliminate the "vaccine divide," Xi added.

Noting that the global campaign to tackle climate change is of great importance, Xi said China has announced that it will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, which is a much shorter time span than many developed countries would spend.

China has taken the initiative to do that, instead of doing it passively, Xi said, adding that action speaks louder than words.

China will make its utmost efforts and contribution to addressing climate change in light of actual possibilities, and will continue to actively promote international cooperation in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, Xi said.

He stressed that China has done its best to promote South-South cooperation and provide assistance for developing countries, adding that this is China's consistent practice as well as its moral responsibility.

Many of the initiatives put forward by China, especially the joint Belt and Road construction, are based on such considerations, Xi said, adding that the Chinese always keep their words and do what they say.

Noting that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, Xi said China has scored a complete victory in poverty alleviation, achieved significant strategic results in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and embarked on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country.

As this year also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the People's Republic of China's (PRC's) lawful seat in the United Nations, China will hold grand commemorative activities, Xi said.

China is ready to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations, and continue to push forward the implementation of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Xi added.

For his part, Guterres congratulated the CPC on its centenary, and the PRC on the 50th anniversary of the restoration of its lawful seat in the United Nations.

The United Nations, he said, highly appreciates China's great achievements in the country's poverty alleviation, as well as its firm support for multilateralism and the work of the United Nations, speaks highly of the targets for the intended nationally determined contributions and major measures announced by China to tackle global climate change, and thanks China for its important contributions to the international cooperation in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to achieving fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in developing countries and promoting the recovery and growth of the world economy.

Guterres said he fully agrees that all countries should practice genuine multilateralism on the basis of the UN Charter and international law, adding that China is vital to the international multilateral system.

The United Nations, Guterres said, looks forward to closer cooperation with China in such fields as world peace and security, biodiversity protection, climate change response, and assistance for developing countries to achieve sustainable development, so as to take the UN-China relationship to a new height.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
There is a very bright light shimmering at the end of the vaccine tunnel. Now that we appear to be approaching that wonderful day when everyone can be vaccinated, the people who are our sitting Opposition, the United National Congress, want to know the cost. This cost they query regarding vaccine purchase, be it Sinopharm/Johnson and Johnson, or otherwise, could negatively affect their political image. Always remember, political image is everything.
Conductor Kathleen Kelly, an alum of Arizona State University, wrote a poem about the blessing of being able to connect with people over Zoom and other platforms.

At that point we were all sort of naive about Zoom and connecting that way. Now were all exhausted with it.  But in that moment it was the way to see your friends and your loved ones and reach out to them and be in contact when it felt so isolated, Heggie said.

But it was Ginsburgs words that touched Heggie most deeply.

Weve all lost loved ones through this, he said, ticking off a list of COVID casualties that included Broadway playwright Terrance McNally, with whom he collaborated on several operas, and Joel Revzen, the former Arizona Opera conductor. But Ginsburgs death hit me really hard because she and I had been friends for eight years. She came to all of my premieres. I would see her in Washington. She invited me to the Supreme Court several times. She was just very special. And she loved music and she loved opera.
That boxed mac and cheese from the grocery store cant compare to preparing homemade mac and cheese. Sure, you can make the boxed stuff in a few minutes, maybe add a few unexpected ingredients that go great in mac and cheese, and you'll have an easy dinner on those busy weeknights. But why settle for processed cheese and stale noodles when you can achieve the most flavorful and creamiest mac and cheese with this recipe?

It only takes an hour to create this gooey, creamy mac and cheese masterpiece, crafted originally at Manhattans venerable Murrays Cheese. This recipe does call for some handiwork by grating your own cheese rather than buying the pre-grated cheese from the store. But if you take the time to grate the cheese yourself, it will help you get that smooth, creamy texture that youll want for your mac and cheese every time you make it.

Alina Stallone, the kitchen manager at Murrays Cheese, chose a fairly classic lineup to add to her recipe: cheddar, Fontina and Gouda. She then took things one step further by adding a fourth secret cheese.
Ducey, however, pointed out that the measure does allow police to hang on to property even before a conviction if it is evidence of a crime. They just cant sell it unless and until theres a conviction.

And then theres the financial side to all of this.

The law was used to seize close to $27 million in cash and property in 2019, according to Rep. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, who sponsored the legislation. And he said police and prosecutors love the law because they use the proceeds to supplement their own budgets.

Some of these departments have begun to use this type of seizures and this type of practice to fund their agencies, he told colleagues during legislative hearings. To me its terrifying to think that, here we are, the ones that should be appropriating money to these folks to do their job, to do the good job of law enforcement, and weve created a system that incentives them, oftentimes, with regards to when they may take property from somebody, sell it and get to keep the proceeds.

Grantham said he does not doubt that police and prosecutors do use the law to go after major criminals.

But he said that of the nearly $27 million seized in 2019, more than half of that was made up of items worth less than $1,000.
Marquez Peterson said she is concerned about the environmental impact of carbon emissions, but as public utility commissioners, regulating climate change is not what we were put here to do.

She said the Corporation Commission could revisit the rules after examining utility studies on the cost of renewables and other generating resources.

Tovar countered that amendments supported by Peterson had drastically changed the draft rules, and she and Kennedy said they could no longer support them.

Time lost, a look ahead

Kennedy cited the more than three years of workshops, hearings and meetings among stakeholders to come up with the new rules.

Today we have taken all the hard work that was put into the draft and gutted it, Kennedy said. Standards drive technology; technology doesnt drive standards. The lowest rates arent always just and reasonable if you look at the big picture.

Tovar said the commissions retrenchment from the originally proposed rules sends the wrong message at a time when companies are looking to move to the state.
Unfortunately, no prolonged period of  wet conditions is seen over at least the next 10 days, a pattern that we desperately need, given the very poor water supply, the centers report said.

The National Weather Services forecast is for below-normal rainfall from May 15 through May 21 across the entire river basin, except for southwest Arizona and Southern California. There, rainfall is likely to be at normal levels.

By contrast, in May 2015, the lower 48 states had not just their wettest May but their wettest month since records started being kept in 1895. Parts of Colorado  home of the rivers headwaters  got 200% to 400% of normal rainfall that month.

Grim outlook for Lake Mead

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, in its latest forecast that looks 24 months ahead, predicted on April 15 that the most probable scenario for Lake Mead is for it to stand at 1,067 feet at the end of December.

If that forecast holds through the rest of the year, the federal government will declare its first round of significant, mandatory cutbacks of water deliveries for the CAP. Thats what its supposed to do when Lake Mead falls below 1,075 feet at the end of a year.
If one of these options is selected, we will work with the design team contracted by the City and the City staff to resolve any issues in a timely manner, the zoo said in a press release. We look forward to Mayor and Councils decision on Tuesday and to working cooperatively with the City of Tucson to carry out that decision.

Kozachik, though, stuck to his guns, questioning the staffs cost estimates to redesign and build the expansion, which the council capped at $5.5 million.

It will give material for the two opponents, Andres Portela and Miranda Schubert, who are challenging Kozachik in the August Democratic primary. Both put out statements celebrating the council's decision and criticizing the process that led to the community conflict over land use in the park.

After congratulating the activists who forced the change, Schubert wrote: "The fight to save the heart of Reid Park, no matter the outcome, has been exhausting and eroded the sense of trust and optimism many residents should have for their city and its future. If preserving access to public spaces had been a guiding priority from the beginning, this fight would not have been necessary."
Those door-to-door surveyors are asking people if they voted in the last election and whether they did it in person or by mail.

Ken Bennett, the Senates liaison to the audit, has said that no one is going to be asked how they voted. But Karlan said just the activity itself is problematic.

The description of the proposed work of the audit raises concerns regarding potential intimidation of voters, she wrote.

Karlan said the federal Voting Rights Act specifically prohibits anyone acting in an official capacity from intimidating, threatening or coercing any person in voting or attempting to vote. And sending people who are acting on the governments behalf, particularly into minority neighborhoods, she said, has the clear danger of crossing that line.

Past experience with similar investigative efforts around the country has raised concerns that they can be directed at minority voters, which potentially can implicate the anti-intimidation prohibitions of the Voting Rights Act, Karlan told Fann. Such investigative efforts can have a significant intimidating effect on qualified voters that can deter them from seeking to vote in the future.

An aide to Fann, R-Prescott, said he did not know when she will submit a response.

State Senate Republicans ordered the audit after Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Maricopa County, where Biden received 45,109 more votes than Trump. That was enough to give the Democrat a 10,457-vote edge statewide and Arizonas 11 electoral votes. Arizona voted Republican for president every year since 1952 except in 1996 and 2020.
The Arizona Maricopa County audit seems to be on our letter writers minds and they have a lot to say. Check out these letters and more in this edition of Letters to the Editor.
OPINION: "This doesnt impact people who can go to their vet and pay to have their dog vaccinated, but it does impact those in our community who are least able to afford the protections for their pets," writes Tucsonan Stephen Kimble.
A man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a reduced charge in connection with a fatal shooting at a westside motel in February.

Johnny Little Cook, 43, admitted to shooting Xzavior Frost on Feb. 24 while both were staying at the Budget Inn, 802 W. Skelly Drive.

The charge was filed in federal court in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Courts 2020 McGirt ruling dealing with tribal jurisdictions.

Cook is an American Indian, and the crime occurred within the Muscogee Nation reservation, which qualified the crime for federal rather than state prosecution.

Witnesses told police Cook emerged from a bathroom in one of the motel rooms and began shooting a semi-automatic pistol at Frost.

He later told investigators that he felt threatened by Frost, but prosecutors say he was not provoked.

A grand jury named Cook on March 24 in a two-count indictment alleging first-degree murder in Indian Country and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence that resulted in death.

Prosecutors filed an amended charge of second-degree murder against Cook on Wednesday in line with the plea deal.
A man who previously faced up to life in prison after pleading guilty to strangling his wife will now face up to 17 years behind bars after admitting guilt to the same killing.

In a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Brandon Joseph Smith, 37, admitted Wednesday that he strangled his wife, 34-year-old Cynthia Mayfield, on March 4, 2019, at their home east of downtown Tulsa.

Smith reportedly told detectives afterward that he snapped and strangled her after she assaulted him.

Smith was initially charged in Tulsa County District Court with second-degree murder. The charge was later upgraded to first-degree murder before Smith entered a blind plea Jan. 24, 2020, to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter.

Smiths state charges were dismissed entirely July 30, the same day prosecutors agreed with his attorneys that his case met the criteria for closing under the McGirt U.S. Supreme Court ruling the same month.

The ruling, and subsequent state appellate court rulings, determined that Oklahoma did not have the jurisdiction to try crimes involving American Indians in most of the eastern half of the state because corresponding tribal reservations were never disestablished by Congress.
Tulsa Police Officer Mike Cawiezell, who works with Larkin in the Crime Gun Unit, is heard telling Reed on the recording that we always catch our guys after finding Carpenters identity. Behenna pointed to the comments as a sign of bias, though the officers said they simply wanted to reassure Reed and his mother that they would do their jobs.

Cawiezell also said Reeds then-girlfriend told him she was terrified for Reeds safety and that of her daughter after the shooting. She said her daughter identified Carpenter as the person who called out to her while she was walking to ask her if she knew him.

Reeds mother, who was present during Larkins interview with her son, testified Wednesday that her son was being honest when he identified the shooter. Larkin said he acted quickly to have a case opened because he was worried about possible violence against Reed or his family members.

Youve made it sound like a vindictive thing, Larkin told Behenna, saying he had no personal issue with Carpenter and simply wanted to find who shot Reed. Larkin initially said he did not recognize Reed but acknowledged that records showed he was Reeds arresting officer on an unrelated incident in 2005.
A woman serving a suspended sentence for her part in a 2015 Creek County murder has been charged with first-degree murder in Indian Country for the same crime.

Katherine Elaine Freeman, 33, was charged by federal criminal complaint about six weeks after her brother, Arnold Dean Howell Jr., was charged similarly in Tulsa federal court.

The two are among hundreds of state cases being transferred to federal court after the U.S. Supreme Courts McGirt ruling and subsequent state court decisions determined that Oklahoma courts dont have the jurisdiction to prosecute them.

Both Howell and Freeman were initially arrested in connection with the stabbing death of Michael Mondier Sr., 67.

Howell, 28, has been serving a life-without-parole sentence after pleading guilty in state court in March 2017 to first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

Freeman, originally charged with first-degree murder, pleaded guilty in 2017 in state court to an amended charge of accessory to murder after the fact.

Freeman received a 25-year prison sentence with all but the first 22 months of the term suspended.
Thats my therapy, Coon said. Thats what has helped me most.

Along the way, hes formed strong bonds with others in the veterans advocacy community nationally.

Several of his good friends will be in attendance Saturday.

They include Desmond Doss Jr., son of late Medal of Honor recipient Desmond Doss Sr. whose story was told in the movie Hacksaw Ridge; and family members of Lori Piestawa, the U.S. militarys first Native American woman killed in action.

Were one big military family who believe in making sure what our loved ones have done for this nation is not forgotten, Coon said.

Looking back over the six years since his son died, Coon is proud of what has been accomplished in his memory.

Its been one long, glorious trip to see this event happen and see this national memorial coming to Oklahoma, and be the first of its kind, Coon said.

For a grieving father, he added, its been fulfilling.

Ive met so many people, Coon said. If I had to do it again, Id start from day one and do the same thing.

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The Tulsa Metropolitan Area Planning Commission last month unanimously approved a rezoning application for the property to allow for the new use. City councilors, who have final say over whether the project goes forward, discussed it during a Wednesday committee meeting.

Councilor Lori Decter Wright, who represents the district where the senior housing project would be located, said she supports it 100%. She reminded her colleagues that the citys Affordable Housing Strategy has identified the need for at least 4,000 more affordable housing units.

If you think of that from an economic standpoint, thats at least 170, or if there is a couple living there, even twice as many folks to shop at the grocery stores, and frequent the restaurants, use the gas station, use public transportation, Wright said. So I think it is a very good use.

Councilor Jayme Fowler said city officials often talk about making data-driven decisions and questioned Wright about whether that same approach was used in vetting Exact Capital.
Dozens of people, many citing a perceived increase of low-income housing in the area, have signed form letters against the development. District 2 City Councilor Jeanne Cue, whose district includes the Crowne Plaza building, has spoken against the project.

Legal counsel for ORU, whose campus is directly across the street, has filed a formal protest petition against the application. According to the petition, ORU owns more than 20% of the street frontage directly opposite the frontage in the proposed amendment and more than 50% of the area directly within 300 feet of the area included in the proposed zoning map amendment.

If a valid protest petition is filed against any proposed zoning map amendment, its passage would require a favorable vote of three-fourths of the members (seven of nine) of the City Council, said Susan Miller, director of the Tulsa Planning Office.

An attempt to reach an ORU attorney was not immediately successful.

We are not buying this property with any subsidized financing from the government, said Andy Golubitsky, VSUSA director of development. We are buying this building, and many others like it, with traditional financing. 
Avail, which has a pickup lot a shuttle ride away from OHare International Airport, said bookings have grown roughly 150% so far this year compared with the same period last year. Some of that is due to launching in new cities over the past year and travel recovering. But Business Operations Director Alex David said he thinks the massive lack of cars in the rental industry is helping. Vehicle listings were also up 150% as of March.
The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals previously ruled in another death-row case, that of Shaun Michael Bosse, that jurisdictional claims can never be waived and can be brought up at any time.

A Stephens County jury convicted Bench in 2015 of first-degree murder in the beating death of Braylee Henry, 16.

Henrys body was found in June 2012 on the Bench family property after she told others that she was going to a convenience store.

Bench was arrested while driving Henrys car in Custer County.

Attorneys for Bench claim that he was mentally ill at the time of Henrys death.

Bench claimed in his post-conviction relief application that the state of Oklahoma did not have the right to try him for murder because he is a member of the Choctaw Nation and the crime occurred within the Chickasaw Nation reservation.

Last summers McGirt Supreme Court ruling that the Muscogee Nation reservation had not been disestablished means crimes involving American Indians that occurred within much of eastern Oklahoma were not the jurisdiction of the state but rather federal or tribal authorities.
First District Congressman Kevin Hern on Friday called for Wyomings Liz Cheney to resign as chair of the House Republican Conference, the Houses third-ranking GOP leadership post.

Hern is the first member of Oklahomas all-Republican House delegation to go public with opposition to Cheney, whose opposition to former President Donald Trump and what she calls The Big Lie  that Trump was cheated out of the 2020 presidential election  has put her at odds with many in the GOP, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.

While everyone has their own styles and methods, one thing is constant: a good leader must be willing to go to bat for all they lead  even if it means personal sacrifice, Hern said in a written statement.

Congresswoman Cheney has proven that she will put her own interests over those of whom she was elected to lead as Conference Chair, Hern continued. In the press, Cheney has made it clear that her self-interests outweigh the interest of the Conference and the interest of the people we represent. This failure of leadership leaves me no choice but to call for her resignation. If she does not resign, I will vote to remove her from her leadership position.
OKLAHOMA CITY  Oklahoma will get a refund for its $2.6 million purchase of hydroxychloroquine, a drug former President Donald Trump claimed could be used against COVID-19.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter announced Friday that he reached an agreement with FFF Enterprises, a private pharmaceutical wholesaler based in California.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health purchased the drug at the onset of COVID-19 after the Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization for it as a treatment for the virus.

The agency bought hydroxychloroquine pursuant to Gov. Kevin Stitts executive orders declaring an emergency during the pandemic.

After the FDA revoked the emergency use authorization, the Oklahoma State Department of Health asked Hunters office to get involved.

The state alleged the purchase price may have been excessive pursuant to the Oklahoma Emergency Price Stabilization Act, according to a mutual settlement agreement.

The company denies allegations related to the pricing of the product, according to the agreement.
She said lawmakers need to focus on solving real problems.

This is a waste of our time, she said.

Sen. Kevin Matthews, chairman and founder of the 1921 Race Massacre Centennial Commission, said he was disappointed that Stitt signed the measure.

He said the measure is subjective and a slap in the face of the curriculum created to teach about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The story will continue to be taught, he said.

It is my hope we would address the fear in what I believe is the backlash to the Black Lives Matter movement and address the killing of unarmed black people at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve them, rather than to continue to be reactionary instead of addressing the real issue behind this fear, Matthews said.

The commission also said in its statement Friday evening that despite this effort to squelch the truth-telling and discussion of our past  we will not be moved. We are more dedicated than ever to our mission and we will not accept the ill-conceived constraints that this law seeks to impose through misdirection and deception.
Among the top 41 wealthy nations, the U.S. is the only country without a mandated paid leave program for new parents.

American lawmakers have taken a hands-off approach, amending the 1993 Family Medical Leave Act only a few times for minor changes. Most changes extend the non-paid leave to care for military members who have suffered injuries.

The act was revolutionary for its time, considering the only previous protection for working mothers was the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act. That only required companies treat pregnancy like a disability rather than outright fire women.

The Family Medical Leave Act provides workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a sick family member, for an employees own health problems or for the birth of adoption of a child. It promises employees the same or equivalent job upon return.

While that was progress, it didnt mean the problem was solved. It was just a first step.

The financial strain prevents many parents from taking the full time necessary. The caveat of an equivalent job led to workers being shuffled to different departments or responsibilities they never wanted.
As designed this system is ripe for fraud, the report says.

The grand jury outlined a clear agenda for change, including statutory reforms from the Legislature and more intense independent oversight from the schools legal sponsor and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

Among other things, the report calls for:

Immediate disclosure and reconciliation of Epics Student Learning Fund expenditures and acknowledgment that they are public funds.

Reimbursement to the state of any student funds that were not spent to benefit students.

An investigation of Epic by the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency.

Publication of operating contracts for any outside school management companies working with Oklahoma charter schools and a legislative comparison of management fees.

Conflict-of-interest disclosures and competitive bidding requirements for school management organization companies.

Prohibitions of public employees performing tasks for the benefit of private education management companies and of the use of public funds on advertising or marketing.
Against the advice of the education departments legal counsel and Superintendent Joy Hofmeister, the boards majority voted in agreement with the charter school association.

Tulsa and Oklahoma City districts have the most to lose because they sponsor most of the states charter schools, but statewide online charter schools extend the funding threat to all districts. The move puts traditional districts in competition with its charters over limited available funds.

State board members voting in favor were Trent Smith, Estela Hernandez, Brian Bobek and Jennifer Monies.

A court will determine whether the board has the power to redistribute taxes in this way. Other pending legal challenges are allegations the state board violated the open meeting laws and conflicts of interest on the issue.

Regardless of the legal outcome, it is not in the states interest to have so many districts at odds with the states governing board.

State education board members make difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions. But, to be so out of sync with so many school leaders indicates a troubling fundamental schism.

We hope the board members can listen more to public school officials and find common ground to avoid these types of costly lawsuits.
One government report last week showed that wages and benefits rose at a solid pace in the first quarter, suggesting that some companies are having to pay more to attract and keep employees. In fact, the number of open jobs is now significantly above pre-pandemic levels, though the size of the labor force  the number of Americans either working or looking for work  is still smaller by about 4 million people.
I would not be surprised at all that, in the end, the jobs lost in Tulsa to Amazons presence would have exceeded 100 to 1.

Why is it our Republican-led city and state officials cannot see that some business models brought into our communities have nothing but a negative effect in the long run?

Amazon is just another community destroyer like Walmart that decimated small businesses in towns across our state and nation.

It will be extremely hard to undo this problem because we seem to be creatures easy to spoil and more easily sold.

Annual advertising expenditures in the U.S. of $280 billion are not made by stupid people. Gotta have that new $1,000 iPhone!

If you want your grandkids to have jobs in Tulsa spanning more than just niche markets, you had best do as the World article suggests: Only buy from Amazon what you cannot find local.

Those retail businesses provide many entry-level jobs for many people young and old.

Charles Pratt, Tulsa

Retroactive
The grand jury report blasted Epic Charter Schools own governing board for "failure in fiduciary duty" to its students and in accounting to the state of Oklahoma. #oklaed

Read the Multicounty Grand Jury interim report
Eight fourth graders in Vietnam were given emergency aid after they took anthelmintics at their school on Friday.

Dang Phuc Tho, principal of An Nghiep Elementary School in Tuy An District, Phu Yen Province, said that a local medical center ran a program to administer the drugs to the school's students on Friday morning.

The eight students have recovered after treatment, said Dr. Nguyen Van Tai, deputy director of the health center, said on Friday afternoon.

After taking the anthelmintics, a few grade-four students vomited while a number of other students developed the same symptom later," Tho said.

We called the health center for help and they quickly took the eight students to their facility for emergency care."

Tho added that when he came to the center to follow up on the situation, all the eight students had recovered and been allowed to return home.

About 350 out of the school's 372 students had taken anthelmintics before the eight students began vomiting.

After the incident, the school decided not to let the remaining students take the drugs, he said.

The anthelmintics were provided by a unit of the Ministry of Health for the south-central and Central Highlands regions, said Dr. Tai.

Other students in the district had taken them during the past two days and no problems arose until the eight students vomited, the doctor said.

We have sent the remaining 20 anthelmintics tablets to the provincial Center for Disease Control for examination, and we have temporarily suspended the anthelmintics provision program for students in the district pending the centers conclusion, Dr. Tai said.

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Ho Chi Minh City authorities have locked down an alley after a man retested positive for COVID-19, a source and the director of the local Department of Health told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.

The alley in question is located at 359 Le Van Sy Street, Ward 13, District 3, the source said.

The man tested positive for the novel coronavirus when he carried out procedures to leave Vietnam.

He has been identified as T.H.T., 22, who hails from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang but stays at 359/1/31A Le Van Sy, Ward 13, District 3.

T. had visited two locations in the district on May 1 and 5.

He has been sent to a field hospital for COVID-19 treatment in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City.

This is a positive retest, Nguyen Tan Binh, director of the municipal Department of Health, told Tuoi Tre.

T. had entered Vietnam and been isolated for COVID-19 treatment in Ha Tien City under Kien Giang Province for two weeks in March, Binh elaborated.

After the treatment, he was required to self-isolate at home for another two weeks but left his place of residence in Ho Chi Minh City and got tested himself as part of the immigration procedures, for he wanted to leave Vietnam.

The man has not finished his self-quarantine as required, the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Disease Control said.

Sixty-one households including 210 people live in the alley, according to local authorities.

The Ministry of Health has yet to confirm this case as a COVID-19 patient.

Vietnam has recorded 3,091 coronavirus patients as of Friday afternoon, with 2,560 recoveries and 35 deaths, according to the health ministry.

The country has registered 121 local infections in over a dozen provinces and cities in this fourth wave that started in April 27.

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A medical worker died in Vietnam on Friday after being given the first shot of AstraZeneca vaccine a day earlier, according to the Ministry of Health.

The medical worker was a 35-year-old employee at Tan Chau Regional General Hospital in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, the health ministry said in a notice on Friday.

She died of anaphylaxis after being administered the first shot of AstraZeneca vaccine, it added.

Anaphylaxis is a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction that occurs rarely after vaccination, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website.

This is the first time a person has died post-coronavirus vaccination after Vietnam started its mass inoculation on March 8.

The medical worker was carefully screened before her injection on Thursday morning, Dr. Tu Quoc Tuan, director of the An Giang Department of Health, was quoted as saying in the health ministrys notice.

She suffered anaphylactic shock after getting the shot.

Her hospital quickly responded to the incident in accordance with Vietnams standardized protocols for postvaccinal complications.

Doctors at Tan Chau Regional General Hospital consulted their peers at the higher-level An Giang General Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City via videoconference.

The patient was then transferred to An Giang General Hospital while the Ministry of Health required Cho Ray to second senior doctors to help the hospital deal with her complication.

But she was pronounced dead on Friday.

This is a very rare case in COVID-19 vaccination [in Vietnam], the ministry said.

Vietnam immunized almost 106,000 people against COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the total number near 748,000, the health ministry said in a separate report on Friday morning.

Those inoculated were medical staff and other frontline workers.

Thirty percent showed allergic reactions, most of which were injection site pain, fever, headache, vomiting, dizziness, and hypotension.

Vietnam is now using only AstraZeneca shots to inoculate its population after having received almost one million doses via purchase and the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme so far.

The Southeast Asian nation has registered 3,137 COVID-19 patients, including 41 local cases on Friday, as yet, according to the health ministry's data.

Recoveries remain at 2,560 and virus-related deaths at 35.

The country has recorded no additional fatalities for months.

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Breakout UK reality show The Circle has been surprisingly axed by Channel 4 after three seasons.

The Circle has been a huge hit for young audiences and has grown successively over three seasons on Channel 4, consistently outperforming slot averages, the broadcaster said in a statement.

Were incredibly proud to have worked with Studio Lambert North and Motion Content Group to invest in such an innovative show and to have given it a springboard for its international format success.

In much the same way as when we originally commissioned The Circle, Channel 4 has a responsibility to continually look at how we reinvent and create space for new ideas, and so we have decided not to commission the show for a fourth season.

Wed like to thank Studio Lambert, Motion and all those involved for The Circles huge success over the last three series.

Emma Willis hosts the series in which participants communicate only via a social media platform. Not meeting face-to-face, they can play as anyone they wish  anyone can be anyone in The Circle.

Its not clear if the show may continue with another broadcaster or Netflix, which screens the US edition.

Source: Digital Spy

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Former Farmer Wants A Wife participant Matthew Eric Goyder has been convicted on possessing and sharing child sex abuse images and videos.

Goyder, who appeared on the show when it screened on Nine in 2016, was arrested last year after chatting to an undercover police officer and sending two videos.

Police later seized a hard drive and laptop containing more than 4000 images and videos of children being abused.

Judge Karen Shepherd said the material overall was of the utmost depravity and which depicts serious sexual abuse of children.

In his letter to the court, Goyder said he took full responsibility for his actions and that he was totally appalled and deeply ashamed for what he had done.

The court heard Goyder also had mental health issues and had suffered a hypoxic brain injury in 2019.

Judge Shepherd noted Goyder had taken steps to rehabilitate himself and had already been punished to a point by the media attention on the case.

He was sentenced to two years in prison and must serve at least half the term before he can be eligible for parole.

Source: news.com.au

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An 81-page urgent action plan delivered to the White House last week by a public-private task force noted that enriching ransomware criminals only fuels more global crime, including terrorism. But the authors stopped short of advocating a ban on ransom payments, saying paying up can sometimes be the only way for an afflicted business to avoid bankruptcy. U.S. officials call ransomware a national security threat, and some lawmakers are calling for immediate financial relief for stricken local authorities short on IT resources and running vulnerable systems.
(AP)

Three people have been shot after a young girl brought a gun to her school and opened fire at her classmates.

The girl, who is in sixth grade and aged 11 or 12, was in the hallway when she pulled the firearm from her backpack and began shooting at Rigby Middle School in Idaho, USA.

It comes after a student was shot dead by police after opening fire on officers at a high school in Tennessee in April.

On Thursday, students in Idaho heard gunshots and screaming and told of seeing blood on the hallway floor when police escorted them out of the classroom.

Lights and computers turned off during the attack and students lined up against the wall, one pupil said.

The child shooter was disarmed by a female teacher who held her until police arrived.

Student Yandel Rodriguez, 12, said: Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher. We were doing work and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises.

Then there was screaming. Our teacher went to check it out and he found blood.

Yandels mum Adela Rodriguez said they were OK but still a little shaky from the shooting as they left the campus.

AP

The girl, who has not been named, is from nearby Idaho Falls and was taken into custody.

Two students and one staff member were shot in the limbs and are expected to survive, according to officials.

Police say they are investigating the motive behind the attack and where the child got the weapon.

Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin said: This is the worst nightmare a school district could ever face. We prepare for it but youre never truly prepared.

Police tape surrounded the school, which has about 1,500 students from sixth to eighth grades, and small evidence markers were placed next to spots of blood on the ground.

Jefferson County Prosecutor Mark Taylor said decisions about criminal charges would not be made until the investigation is complete but that they might include three counts of attempted murder.

Story continues

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At least 53 people have been injured during clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

The violence at the major holy site, sacred to Muslims and Jews, is an escalation of weeks of violence in Jerusalem that has reverberated across the region.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said 53 people were wounded at the compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem.

It said most were wounded after being hit in the face and eyes by rubber-coated bullets and shrapnel from stun grenades.

Israel said six police officers were wounded.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians and wounded a third after the men opened fire on a base belonging to Israel's paramilitary Border Police force in the occupied West Bank.

It was the latest in a series of deadly confrontations in recent weeks that has coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks in east Jerusalem, which is claimed by both Israel and the Palestinians.

At the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israel blocked off a popular gathering spot where Palestinians traditionally socialise at the end of their day-long fast.

The move set off two weeks of clashes before Israel lifted the restrictions.

But in recent days, clashes have resumed after Israel threatened to evict dozens of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

The US said it was "deeply concerned" about the heightened tensions and called on all sides to work to de-escalate them.

It also expressed concern about the threatened evictions.
TORONTO, Feb. 1, 2021 -- A traveller wearing a face mask shows his test certificate at the exit of a COVID-19 testing site at Toronto International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on Feb. 1, 2021. Canada's Ontario required all international arriving passengers to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival starting on Monday to stop the spread of COVID-19 variants. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Zou Zheng via Getty Images)

Transport Canada has confirmed that two air travellers have been fined for presenting fake COVID-19 pre-departure tests when arriving in Toronto.

One individual "altered" a COVID-19 test documentation and boarded a flight from the U.S. to Toronto on April 3, and was fined $2,500.

The second traveller was fined $6,500 after altering a COVID-19 test document and also making a false declaration to the air carrier about their health status when travelling from the Dominican Republic to Toronto on Feb. 8.

Air travellers are prohibited from knowingly providing false or misleading COVID-19 test documentation under the Interim Order Respecting Certain Requirements for Civil Aviation Due to COVID-19.

Travellers to Canada must get a negative COVID-19 test results within 72 hours of boarding a flight to Canada.

"The Government of Canada continues to strongly advise Canadians that this is not the time to travel," information from the federal government reads. "Transport Canada will continue to investigate incidents reported to the department and will not hesitate to take enforcement action where it is warranted."

Anyone who fails to comply with the Interim Order could be subject to fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

Previously issued fines under the Interim Order include:
University of North Georgia (UNG) students Ketsia Malala and Robbie Griffin originally thought a study abroad was just out of their financial reach. But this spring both grabbed onto their overseas opportunities after winning the Fund for Education Abroad (FEA) scholarships.

"I was really happy and excited," said Malala, a junior pursuing a degree in management. "It was nice to succeed and know my efforts didn't go to waste."

Only 91 flexible scholarships totaling more than $350,000 were awarded by FEA to students of color and first-generation college and community college students from across the nation. Griffin and Malala were the only two students from a public or private school in Georgia to receive scholarships.

Their accomplishments also mark the second time in a row that two UNG students won FEA scholarships. Last year, Uriyah Davis and Phillip Ly became the first two UNG students to win the national scholarship.

"The FEA scholarship removes the barriers that many otherwise academically prepared students face when financing studying abroad," said Dr. Victoria Hightower, assistant director of the nationally competitive scholarships office and associate professor of history. "We are grateful for our colleagues in the Center for Global Engagement for bringing this scholarship to students' attention and encouraging students to apply and helping to mentor them through the process."

Griffin, a freshman pursuing a degree in strategic and security studies, said winning the scholarship lifted a financial weight from his shoulders.

"It was a lot of work to apply, and it was stressful to wait for the news," said Griffin. "Finally getting the award was a huge relief. It made me optimistic and excited for the future."

His and Malala's futures involve trips abroad in summer 2022. The FEA allowed students to defer their scholarships because of travel disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Malala will head to South Korea while Griffin will study in Athens, Greece.

Griffin said he is looking forward to the experience for a couple of reasons. As a member in UNG's Corps of Cadets with plans to commission as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, he said his internship at the Research Institute for European and American Studies will aid him with his career.

"The intelligence community is based around working with international partners," said the 21-year-old from Augusta, Georgia. "I can learn to collaborate with the people in Greece and then bring back what I learn from them."

Griffin, whose grandfather immigrated to the United States from Greece, also plans to delve into the country's culture and reconnect with his family.

"I plan to immerse myself in the country, meet local people, try the food, and see the sights," he said. "And I have spoken to my family over there. I might be able to see them and stay for a weekend."

Malala plans to apply for an internship program in South Korea and hopes to stay with a host family.

"I want to understand the business environment there and learn about the culture firsthand," said the 20-year-old who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa, and now lives in Buford, Georgia.

Malala hopes to put her education and skills to work in a professional setting. She also believes it will push her outside of her comfort zone.

"I will have to learn to adapt to a new environment and thrive," she said. "And I believe the whole experience will give me an advantage over others when I start to apply for jobs after graduation."

Students interested in learning more about nationally competitive scholarships, including Gilman or FEA, should contact ncs@ung.edu for more information. Students interested in learning about study abroad opportunities through various programs may visit UNG's Center for Global Engagement.
For the first time in a long while, some positive news has emerged regarding Turkey-Israel relations. According to the Turkish media, the invitation extended to Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz to attend the Antalya Diplomacy Forum to be held in June was seen as a new chance to improve relations.

According to Sabah, it can be said that this invitation was expected after Arab countries normalized their relations with Israel. In fact, the signing of the agreement between Israel and Turkey in June 2016 and the paying of a $20 million compensation to the victims of the Mavi Marmara incident could have been a new beginning for the relations, but regional power projections prevented this. The two former allies engaging in a new geopolitical struggle in the Eastern Mediterranean had undesirable consequences for both.

Normalization of relations between Turkey and Israel is one of the main goals of Azerbaijans foreign policy, which even aims to further this into trilateral cooperation. This is because soured relations between its strategic partner Turkey and its ally Israel have created certain discontent in foreign policy for Azerbaijan as well.

While the concerted efforts of the 90s were beneficial to the trilateral cooperation, the currently existing breach in the relations of the trio creates difficulties in achieving the desired results. Azerbaijani Presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev's statement that Baku is ready to host the trilateral summit of Turkey and Israel aims to revive the coordination and joint activity of the three countries. This is entirely possible given the recent thawing of relations between Turkey and Israel.

The Azerbaijan-Turkey-Israel trilateral relations established in the 90s should be considered exemplary as the earliest trilateral cooperation established in the South Caucasus region. Cooperation at that time had several important dimensions: to have a more powerful position in regional balance, to expand military and energy cooperation and to ensure inter-diaspora cooperation in the West. When we look back at the cooperation between diasporas, a successful struggle was carried out against the aggressive attacks of the Armenian diaspora, especially in the U.S. Congress.

Even though Turkey-Israel relations in the region were interrupted for various reasons after 2010, Azerbaijan maintained its relations with Turkey and Israel in a consolidated manner.

Turkey and Israel made important contributions to Operation Iron Fist. Turkey's unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) Bayraktar TB2 and Israel's drones Harop contributed to the breaking of the defense line of the Armenian army, which occupied Azerbaijans territories, and to the Azerbaijani army's successful liberation operation. Azerbaijan effectively used a combination of both countries modern technologies. Israel did not heed the objections of Armenia against selling weapons to Azerbaijan and, after a short time, Armenia recalled its ambassador, which it appointed with the hope of increasing support for Yerevan. On the other hand, Azerbaijani Jews living in Israel carried flags of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Israel together while celebrating the outcome of the Second Karabakh War.

Turkish and Israeli companies are working together to rebuild areas liberated from the Armenian occupation in Azerbaijan. Intergovernmental economic commissions' meetings between Turkey-Azerbaijan and Israel-Azerbaijan were held nearly at the same time. Planning to expand its preferential trade agreement with Turkey, Azerbaijan decided to open a diplomatic trade and tourism representation office in Israel. Israels Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi welcomed Azerbaijan's plan to open a center in Israel to promote tourism and commerce, calling it an important step toward opening an embassy in Israel.

Baku's meditation record

In fact, Azerbaijan has successfully maintained relations with disputing parties in the past. In some instances, the country even managed to mediate between the disputing parties. Azerbaijan also contributed to the normalization of relations between Turkey and Russia in 2016. Chiefs of general staff of the U.S. and Russian Federation, as well as the NATO secretary-general, met in Baku several times in order to negotiate international and regional disputes. In this sense, Baku, as a city of successful negotiations, can be the first location of a meeting between the foreign ministers of Israel and Turkey.

Moreover, in response to the balance of power formed in the region after 2010, successful trilateral cooperation mechanisms had been established by Turkey and Azerbaijan. These can be listed as Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Pakistan, Azerbaijan-Turkey-Iran and Azerbaijan-Turkey-Turkmenistan. Some of these trilateral collaborations have had successful results in solving problems between states in a diplomatic way. Tripartite mechanisms offer an important platform for the peaceful solution of problems between states. In this context, this triple platform will play an important role in resolving issues between Israel and Turkey.

Based on past experience, tripartite cooperation in diaspora activities is a necessity and can achieve successful results. This is necessary at a time when multiple lobby and diaspora organizations in Washington, along with enemies of Turkey, are brutally attacking Turkey in the U.S. Congress. It is not a coincidence that U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time used the term "genocide" regarding the 1915 events. In this sense, it is necessary to increase the number of friends and reduce the number of enemies in order to counteract new moves. This definition is valid both in interstate relations and in relations between diasporas.

Regional power struggle

Both Turkey and Israel will benefit from cooperating in the Eastern Mediterranean. A delimitation agreement will be greatly beneficial for the two countries. Besides, Turkey is the shortest and cheapest route for delivering Israeli natural gas to Europe. The basic principle of international relations is based on the existence of permanent interests, not constant friendships and enmities. When we act on this logic, countries, as per their interests, can be friends and enemies. Today, it may be in the interest of all three states to revive the trilateral cooperation of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Israel. Only the right time and place need to be determined to normalize relations.
That would have been fine except for one thing: Brown didnt have a firearm owners identification card, which the state requires for any resident to buy or possess a gun or ammunition. The card, which requires a $10 application fee and is good for 10 years, is available to anyone 21 or older, except for felons, mental defectives, drug users, undocumented immigrants and the like. She was charged with a misdemeanor.
On June 20, snap parliamentary elections will be held in Armenia. The move will ease tensions in the country but will fail to end political divisions and solve structural troubles such as poor economic situation, weak judiciary, and the fragile army, Eurasia regional expert Emil Avdaliani writes for Eurasia Review.

The decision to hold elections followed months of protests when all the former presidents of Armenia, the current president Armen Sarkissian, leadership of the Armenian Church and large parts of the top leadership of the armed forces acted in concert to oppose the Pashinyan government. They all blame him for the countrys defeat in the Karabakh war. Pashinyan enjoyed widespread popularity in the first two years of his rule. However, expectations for fundamental changes proved to be too high given Armenias weak state institutions, polarized political culture, and corruption. Additionally, those who appeared in the government with Pashinyan mostly came from Armenias civil society, which meant they had only limited policy development experience. The human toll and economic troubles from the pandemic coupled with the war with Azerbaijan, questioned Pashinyans competence. His position was undermined both at home and abroad. Still, no clear alternative to Pashinyan exists.

According to the polls, Pashinyans My Step faction remains the countrys most popular political party with 33% support. Second is Prosperous Armenia, the faction led by former President Kocharian. Both have 3%, while the former ruling Republican Party has only 1%. The figures show Pashinyan is still wanted, but political apathy is also on the surge when nearly 44% of Armenians do not support any party and 45% of the population disagrees with the general direction the country heading into. This suggests that in the longer run there is political vacuum, space for a new political force to emerge.

Elections will be competitive, but Pashinyan is likely to win. After all, despite all of his mistakes, Armenias military losses are a result of a slow degradation of Armenias military potential before his coming to power and the general change in the balance of power, namely, Azerbaijans rapid growth as a military power; the latters exponential military ties with Turkey, and Russias opportunistic behavior during the 2020 war.

New elections may well ease tensions, but the structural problems facing Armenian politics will remain. Deeper flaws, such as a lack of accountability, a lack of an independent judiciary, and a weak parliament, will negatively affect any new government. Additionally, Armenian politics remains highly polarized and personalized, which limits the room for real political changes in the fabric of the countrys management. Long-standing problems with corruption, unemployment, emigration and an ineffective economy will remain.

Geopolitical Ramifications

And here Russias position matters as it is in a fortunate position to favor both sides of the aisle. Russia does not need to fully support the overtly pro-Kremlin candidate, because in reality every plausible ruling entity in Armenia will become increasingly dependent on Moscow. Take, for example, Bright Armenia headed by Edmond Marukyan. The party is known for its moderately pro-European attitude. However, after the 44-day war  Marukyan called for the creation of a second Russian military base in the country.

Thus, Russia is in a perfect position. With one masterful blow in November 2020, Moscow physically placed itself in the only territorial conflict in the South Caucasus, where it previously had no direct influence. With its peacekeepers in Karabakh, and Armenian army and the general public demoralized and confused after the 2020 fiasco, Russia is Armenias only hope. As argued above, this becomes increasingly clear for the entire political spectrum of Armenias political elite.

Thus, the election results will not entail major changes in foreign policy. Nevertheless, the results will be of great importance for the Armenian-Russian relations and Armenias geopolitical maneuvering. The political parties are now itching in favor of closer ties with Russia, which could change the very fabric of bilateral relations. Russia can insist on deeper integration of Armenia into its favorite economic organization  Eurasian Economic Union (EEU). Better trading conditions for Russian companies could be sought and more modern Russian weapons could be supplied in return.

Regardless of who wins the upcoming election, the structural troubles besetting Armenia will remain in place. A weak judiciary, military and the parliament will hinder the prospects for a quick solution to the traumas the country has been through since early 2020. The political landscape will remain viciously personalized, which would preclude potential cooperation between the parties to limit internal political pressure.
Closer ties between Turkey and Egypt will make a significant contribution to regional peace and development, senior Turkish officials have said underlining the positive atmosphere in recent "frank and in-depth" diplomatic talks to mend ties broken over a decade, Daily Sabah writes. Responding to questions from reporters in Istanbul following Friday prayers, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey currently is trying to regain and resume its historic unison with the people of Egypt. "It would be sad to see them in solidarity with Greece," Erdogan said, referring to Athens and Cairo's joint hydrocarbon efforts in Eastern Mediterranean.

Regional issues concerning both countries were also addressed during the meeting, Cavusoglu said, adding that the issues of Libya, Syria, Iraq and the Eastern Mediterranean are important for all countries, including Egypt. In addition, Turkey and Egypt never cut relations completely and had connections through certain other channels, including intelligence and diplomacy, he said, adding that now contact is maintained through deputy foreign ministers and that a full normalization would benefit both sides.

Earlier this year, Turkey said it had resumed diplomatic contact with Egypt and wanted to improve cooperation after years of tensions that began with the disruption of relations in 2013. On April 15, Cavusoglu announced in a live broadcast that the two countries had agreed that the channel first opened between Turkish and Egyptian intelligence would continue through the foreign ministries. Cavusoglu said Egypt had invited the Turkish side for the visit in early May, which is to be held at the deputy foreign minister level. After an inter-delegation meeting, Cavusoglu expressed his willingness to meet with his Egyptian counterpart as well. The top diplomat also recently announced that the countries have discussed appointing envoys.

Relations between Turkey and Egypt deteriorated after Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi toppled the countrys first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in a coup after only a year in office. Ankara has maintained its position that a democratically elected president cannot be deposed by a military coup and thus, has voiced its criticism of el-Sissi and his backers, including the West and some of Ankaras rivals in the Gulf region. The Egyptian government, on the other hand, urged Turkey not to intervene in an issue that it considers to be the country's internal affairs. The dispute led to a deadlock in bilateral relations for many years.

Recently, however, signs of a possible reconciliation have come from both countries, particularly due to the changing dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Turkey-Greece crisis over the regions energy resources. The two countries exchanged positive signals that pointed to establishing contacts and dialogue, including the possibility of holding talks to demarcate their maritime borders in the Eastern Mediterranean. Experts point out that cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean would benefit both countries while changing the region's balances.
The Parliament of Armenia approved the amendments to the Electoral Code of the country in the second reading. The changes were approved by 81 votes in favour. There were no deputies who spoke out against or abstained.

According to the amendments proposed by the ruling My Step party, the passing barrier for parties is reduced from 5 to 4 per cent, and for blocs of three parties, it is raised from 7 to 8 per cent. For alliances of four or more parties, it is raised to 10%.
The Presidium of the Organization of War, Labor and Armed Forces Veterans of Azerbaijan has sent an appeal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov.

"Dear Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, addressing you on the eve of the 76th anniversary of the historic Victory over fascism, we, veterans of the Second World War, expressed our concern over attempts to portray Armenian accomplices of Hitler's Nazism as heroes. That address dealt with the shameless praise of Nazi killers both in Armenia itself and in the information and cultural space of Russia, which pays tributes to the millions of people killed by the Nazis," the Azerbaijani veterans said in the first place.

"With pain in our hearts, we drew your attention to the fact that Armenia is using Russian resources to justify the leaders of the Armenian SS punitive legion Drastamat Kananyan and Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan, also known as notorious generals Dro and Nzhdeh. An accomplice of the Nazi regime, a friend of Hitlers and Himmlers, Nzhdeh is elevated to the rank of heroes in the well-known media. In addition, a presentation of a book called Conversations with Garegin Nzhdeh or a monument to mark the 125th birthday anniversary of Nzhdeh took place in Moscow. The paradox is that, according to the organizers of this event, Nzhdeh's ideas are more relevant today than ever and should be actively promoted in modern society," the noted.

"It would be appropriate to remind them again that in 1948 Nzhdeh was sentenced to imprisonment for 25 years as a war criminal and was in the Vladimir Central Prison in 1957. He was never acquitted and the court upheld the previous verdict. Despite this, every year the Armenian diaspora of Russia organizes a visit to Nzhdehs grave in Vladimir, at the cemetery of Prince Vladimir, and holds a ceremony to honor the memory of this fascist executioner. The question is even raised of erecting a memorial complex to this Nazi accomplice at the above-mentioned cemetery.

Expressing our deep gratitude to you, we would like to emphasize that you did not disregard our last year's appeal and, as can be seen from the response we received, appropriate work was carried out with representatives of local Armenians. This was probably why an attempt to perpetuate the memory of this Nazi murderer in Russia was thwarted last year. Along with this, in Armenia itself, two weeks after the celebration of the 71st anniversary of the Victory over Nazi Germany, an official ceremony of unveiling a monument to Garegin Nzhdeh took place in the center of Yerevan. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, who had stood next to you at the parade in honor of the Victory over fascism in Moscow a year before, personally participated in the ceremony of perpetuating the memory of the fascist murderer," the statement reads.

"Dear Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, you have repeatedly stressed the inadmissibility of rewriting and distorting the results of the Second World War. It was at the initiative of the Russian Federation that the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 70/139 on Combating the glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to the escalation of modern forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Paragraph 4 of this document states that the UN General Assembly expresses serious concern about the exaltation in any form of former members of the Nazi movement, neo-Nazism and the Vaffen SS organization, including the erection of monuments and memorials, the holding of demonstrations to glorify Nazism, the Nazi movement and neo-Nazism, as well as the declaration of persons who fought the anti-Hitler coalition and collaborated with the Nazi movement as participants in the national liberation movement or their glorification," the added.

"Armenia, which joined this resolution and introduces itself as a strategic ally of Russia, is creating a large-scale cult of persons committed to the fascist regime, those who contributed to the execution of Soviet soldiers and civilians, including representatives of the Armenian people themselves. We are surprised that there is no reaction to this in Russia itself, which has always expressed its attitude to similar events in other countries. We do not understand the reason for granting a special right for such behavior to Armenia, which issues commemorative coins and films in honor of Nazi criminals Dro and Nzhdeh. A street and a metro station in Yerevan are named after Garegin Nzhdeh. There is Drastamat Kananyan Street. Today, next to the compound of government buildings and headquarters of Armenias ruling party, there is also a monument to Nzhdeh," the statement reads.

"We would also like to bring to your attention that another monument to fascist Nzhdeh was erected in the once Armenian-occupied Khojavand district, which is currently the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers. The dismantling of this monument is important. The presence of such a monument on the territory of Azerbaijan is unacceptable not only from the point of view of the moral values of our state and people, but also of the entire mankind, and cannot be accepted," they stressed.

"The heroism of Soviet people is still deeply revered in Azerbaijan today. As before, 9 May is one of the most important public holidays. We, who have felt all the pain and suffering of the war against fascism, people who have lost relatives and friends in battles, watch with a pain in our hearts the creation of a heroic halo of Nazi criminals. We are outraged by the overt disrespect for the memory of the people  the inhabitants of Armenia who died in the name of our once common homeland and all peace-loving humanity. We are confident that, while remaining committed to the blessed memory of the victims of the Second World War, we must reunite efforts in the fight against common evil on the example of the ideology of fascism propagated by Armenia," Azerbaijani veterans concluded.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States would prefer a "more stable and predictable relationship" with Russia.

"We would prefer a more stable, predictable relationship with Russia and, indeed, President Biden has made that clear to President Putin," Blinken said in the interview with ICTV.

The U.S. secretary of state expressed hope that "Russia understands that our preference would be for a more stable, predictable relationship," adding that ultimately that is up to Russia, by its actions or non-actions.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the normalization of relations with Egypt.

"We have very cordial relations with the Egyptian people. There is a historical relationship between the Egyptian and Turkish peoples. We strive to continue our historical alliance with the Egyptian people, based on our brotherhood. We are sad to see that Egyptians were forced to support Greece. But a new process has started, and in the course of this process, our intelligence services and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have begun negotiations, " the Telegram channel Voice of Turkey quotes the president as saying.
Georgian businessman Levan Vasadze has announced his plans to enter politics.

Vasadze received an education in the U.S. and Russia and spent his earlier years in the two countries. He has been living in Georgia with his family since 2009.

Vasadze said that initially he will found a civic movement which will later change into a political party.

He said that entering politics was a very hard decision for him. However, political, economic, cultural, social and ideological crisis pushed him to do so.

"The last drop was the recent signing of the EU-mediated document by Christian Danielsson by Georgian political parties which allowed the release of criminals and pointed at a decrease of state sovereignty," Agenda.ge cited Vasadze as saying.
Georgian director Buba (Ramaz) Khotivari has passed away. The President of the Georgian Film Academy was 74 years old. The Prime Minister of Georgia expressed his condolences on the death of the famous director.

"I express my deep regret in connection with the death of the famous Georgian director Buba Khotivari. He has faithfully served Georgian culture for many years and contributed to the development of Georgian cinema. I sympathize with the family, friends and relatives of Buba Khotivari," the website of the country's government reads.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili rejected an opposition request to veto amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses.

Earlier, the Georgian parliament introduced amendments to the Code to toughen the punishment for petty hooliganism and resistance to the police. Oppositionists expressed outrage at the changes and asked Zurabishvili to veto them. They believe the amendments violate free speech and target anti-government demonstrations.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called Israel "not a country, but a terrorist base" during a speech on Al-Quds Day, an annual show of solidarity with the Palestinians, Daily Mail informs.

Tensions have been running high between the two arch-foes following a series of maritime attacks, an explosion at an Iranian nuclear facility and the assassination of a top nuclear scientist that Tehran blamed on Israel.

The Islamic republic does not recognise the Jewish state, and supporting the Palestinian cause, as well as armed groups such as Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, has been a pillar of Iran's foreign policy since its 1979 revolution.

"Israel is not a country, but a terrorist base against the nation of Palestine and other Muslim nations," Khamenei said in live televised remarks, Daily Mail informs.
Offering the promise of a summer resembling something close to normal, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday that he will further ease coronavirus-related restrictions May 14 as a precursor to a full reopening as soon as June 11.

The light that we can see at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter and brighter, Pritzker said, though he cautioned that an unexpected resurgence of COVID-19 in the next few weeks still could delay the planned reopening.

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Meanwhile, some Chicagoans aged 12 to 15 could be fully vaccinated by June, the citys top health official said Thursday while predicting youths across the city could start getting their first Pfizer vaccine shot as soon as the day after the federal government gives its approval.

The city has been preparing hospitals, pharmacy chains and its own mass vaccination sites for when the Pfizer vaccine obtains emergency use authorization for 12 to 15-year-olds in the U.S., public health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said. That day could come next week, The Associated Press reported, with FDA approval likely coming next week and the CDCs adoption of that recommendation anticipated soon after.

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On Friday, Illinois public health officials reported 3,321 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 36 new deaths. That brings the states totals to 1,351,497 cases and 22,171 deaths. Officials also reported that there were 73,526 doses of the vaccine administered on Thursday. The seven-day rolling average of daily doses is 65,750.

Heres whats happening Friday with COVID-19 in the Chicago area:

7:45 p.m.: Chicago street vendor in ICU after contracting COVID-19 days before he was scheduled to get vaccine: Its the most vulnerable that keep getting infected

All through 2020, Felipe Vallarta was hesitant to start selling his corn, tamales and churros at a busy intersection in the Rogers Park neighborhood.

Though he needed the money, Vallarta feared that he and his wife, who helps sell the Mexican snacks, would contract the coronavirus.

The couple decided to finally set up shop again in their usual spot in early March, when things started to get better, said Zenaida Castillo, Vallartas wife.

But just days before Felipon, as many of his loyal customers know him, was scheduled to get his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, he contracted the coronavirus. Hes now in critical condition in the intensive care unit at a Glenview hospital.

Siento pura tristeza, I feel pure sadness, said Castillo as she peeled a mango to prepare a fruit cocktail for a customer.

Even as vaccines become more easily available and Chicago moves toward opening up further, COVID-19 cases continue to hit low-income Latino and Black communities, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the citys health commissioner.

The two communities continue to be the hardest hit by COVID-19 and also have the lowest vaccination rates in the city, despite efforts to boost inoculation numbers.

Read more here. Laura Rodriguez Presa and Joe Mahr

6:35 p.m.: Despite sharp drop in demand for shots, wheels keep turning on Chicagos CTA COVID-19 vaccination bus

Carrie Travis had about 40 minutes to find a human home for two doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine and one shot of Johnson & Johnson.

Standing on West North Avenue outside the Chicago Public Librarys North Austin branch parking lot, Travis, a registered nurse with the Chicago Department of Public Health, struck out more than not toward the end of a Friday afternoon vaccination event. She introduced herself to one man who kept walking with no attention paid toward the Chicago Transit Authority bus behind him that served as a makeshift Vaccination Station. Another said he already got vaccinated back in February.

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And a manager at the barber shop next door said he wouldnt have sent his employees home early had he known the event had Pfizer and not just J&J, as they wanted the vaccine but were wary of the latter brand following an 11-day pause last month because of extremely rare cases of blood clotting.

But by 1:40 p.m., with 20 minutes to spare, Travis found someone for each of the three leftover doses, which needed to be used that day because the vials were punctured. No waste under my watch, she said.

The final triumph happened when Wanda Dean, a 52-year-old Austin resident, was walking by the splashy blue-and-red bus that had its LED sign blinking, Chicago is my kind of town. Dean told Travis she already got her shot but then continued, What do you have left? When she heard there was Pfizer, Dean responded, Ill go get two people. Then she walked home.

Just before the Vaccination Stations 2 p.m. closing, Dean and her 82-year-old mother were seen in the distance forging their way across the sidewalk. They joined Deans 34-year-old daughter, who Dean also lives with and had told to go on ahead for a Pfizer shot.

It wasnt hard at all, Dean said. I was just hoping we didnt run out of time.

Dean was guiding her mother, who leaned on a stroller, readjusting it when needed to skate over the cracks. When they turned into the parking lot with the bus, staffers rushed over to support the 82-year-old and pulled up a chair with a blanket so that she didnt have to step onboard the vehicle for a shot.

Theyre here, Travis said. What they do to get their shot. Look at that.

Deans family was part of a small group of people who participated in the citys weekly walk-in vaccination bus event at the Austin CPL parking lot. CDPH has been parking a decorated CTA bus with a full inoculation setup inside throughout neighborhoods with lower uptake of the vaccine, starting with a March 31 kickoff in South Shore that inoculated 98 residents. CDPH did not immediately respond to a request for totals from later vaccination bus events, though Fridays site appeared much less trafficked.

Read more here. Alice Yin

2:40 p.m.: Teachers look back on the year of pandemic educating, from virtual learning to fights over reopening schools

When Roberto Clemente High School English teacher Mueze Bawany received an email from Chicago Public Schools with a certificate for Teacher Appreciation Week attached, his first reaction was, Is this from one of my students trying to prank me?

The digital accolade was legit  a small gesture of gratitude for a teacher who, like his peers across the nation, has endured the unprecedented and inordinately grueling experience of trying to educate students during a pandemic.

Bawany said he doesnt need any extra praise. Hed prefer the shout-outs be extended to his students at the West Town high school and their families.

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Every day, I hear from students who want to make it to my class but they couldnt, because their dad has COVID, or they cant get out of their shift at the grocery store and they need to work to help support their families, Bawany said. Every day, I wake up and think, this is a miracle, that I work at a job where Im caring for peoples most prized possessions, their children.

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Of course, there were times during this most difficult of school years that some teachers didnt feel enthusiastic or appreciated.

Forced to shift abruptly to remote instruction at the onset of the pandemic, teachers were bombarded with criticism about the inadequacies of virtual learning. While coping with their own fears about safety, they witnessed angry parents marching past school buildings and demanding the return of in-person instruction as the virus continued to rage. Some endured the decisions of ambitious administrators and school boards who insisted teachers provide remote lessons from empty classrooms, long before the return of students.

Now, with the end of the turbulent school year in sight, most Illinois schools having finally welcomed students back into the classroom at least part-time. And many teachers, while weary, are looking back on the year with a sense of pride and accomplishment, and a note of optimism.

Read more here. Karen Ann Cullotta

2:30 p.m.: Would you rent a car from a stranger? With rental prices sky high, car sharing companies get a boost.

A Memorial Day trip to hike and bike at Mississippi Palisades State Park seemed like an easy pandemic getaway  until Autumn Wolfer tried to book a rental car to drive there.

Including insurance, some rental car companies wanted as much as $900, she said.

So Wolfer, 43, of Chicagos Ravenswood neighborhood, checked out Turo, a car sharing company that lets people rent from individuals rather than companies like Hertz and Avis. Renting a 2020 Chevrolet Equinox from someone in Wicker Park cost just $250, she said.

Were paying $50 for the campsite. Paying $900 for the car just seemed kind of silly, she said.

Rental car companies that sold hundreds of thousands of vehicles when the COVID-19 pandemic kept people home are now struggling to bring in enough new cars, leading to higher-than-usual prices and, in some destinations, limited options. For travelers, that means planning ahead or considering alternative options, from renting a strangers vehicle through a car sharing service to driving a U-Haul.

Read more here. Lauren Zumbach

1:20 p.m.: More than 100 in quarantine after four COVID-19 cases at River Forest school

After receiving confirmation of several cases of COVID-19 at Roosevelt Middle School, officials at River Forest District 90 have asked more than 100 people to quarantine.

Students and staff at Roosevelt, 7560 Oak Ave., returned to full in-person learning on April 26. Since that time, the district has learned of four confirmed cases of COVID-19, which has required 128 people associated with the school to quarantine.

Officials did not say whether the confirmed cases were students, staff or a combination of both.

Read more here. Steve Schering, Pioneer Press

12:10 p.m.: 73,526 vaccine doses administered, 3,321 new cases and 36 additional deaths reported Friday

Illinois public health officials on Friday reported 3,321 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 36 new deaths. That brings the states totals to 1,351,497 cases and 22,171 deaths.

There were 101,005 tests reported in the previous 24 hours and the seven-day statewide positivity rate as a percent of total test fell to 3.1% as of Thursday.

There were 73,526 doses of the vaccine reported administered on Thursday. The seven-day rolling average of daily doses is 65,750.

Chicago Tribune staff

8:30 a.m.: US unemployment rises to 6.1% as hiring slows, workers scarce

Americas employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers as the economic recovery strengthens.

With viral cases declining and states and localities easing restrictions, businesses have added jobs for four straight months, the Labor Department said Friday. Still, the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1% from 6% in March.

At the same time, optimism about the economic recovery is growing. Many Americans are flush with cash after having received $1,400 federal relief checks, along with savings they have built up after cutting back on travel, entertainment and dining out over the past year. Millions of consumers have begun spending their extra cash on restaurant meals, airline tickets, road trips and new cars and homes.

Read more here. Associated Press staff

7 a.m.: A graphic artist from Evanston used pandemic slowdown to expand his hot sauce business while giving back to the community

Verzell James, a graphic artist from Evanston, has long had a passion for hot sauce.

But when things slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to shift his passion into a full-fledged business.

Now, James, 59, is reaching out to restaurants and stores to see who might be interested in carrying his small-batch hot sauce, called Awe-Sauce.

James has made hot sauce in his spare time since 1994, the spring after he first moved to Evanston. He and his wife had a small patch of lawn behind their house and they didnt feel like lugging the lawn mower up and down from the basement storage room.

So, they started growing peppers and experimenting with recipes.

But it wasnt until the start of the pandemic last year that he decided to really see who might enjoy his blends of heat and flavor.

When COVID hit it actually slowed the world down enough for me to catch up, said James, a graphic artist and writer who owns and operates his own business, JAM Graphics and Publishing.

Now, James said, hes driving all over the Chicago area, handing out five-packs of his most popular varieties and talking to business owners about working with him.

If I talk to them now, when its time for them to open up fully then theyll have Awe-Sauce on the table, he said.

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Read more here. Genevieve Bookwalter, Pioneer Press

6 a.m.: Violations of ICE detention standards found at southern Illinois jail

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security inspector generals office detailed several violations at a southern Illinois jail that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, according to a report released Thursday.

An inspection of the Pulaski County Jail revealed the facility didnt consistently enforce the use of facial coverings, social distancing and other precautions that would have mitigated the spread of COVID-19. Between February 2020 and February 2021, the jail had 111 cases of COVID-19.

The Ullin facility had an average daily population of 107 detainees at the time of the inspection, with a maximum capacity of 216 inmates, according to the report. At the time of the inspection, the jail housed about 113 detainees.

In its report, the inspector generals office noted the jail did not have procedures in place for chronic care nor did it conduct routine wellness checks of detainees held in segregation. The failure to have a color-coded visual identification system based on the criminal history of detainees cause the housing of a detainee with significant criminal history with detainees with no criminal histories. The mistake was revealed to jail officials by an inmate.

The inspector general also noted ICE did not specify times for staff to visit detainees and could not provide documentation that it completed facility visits with detainees during the pandemic.

The inspection of the Pulaski County Jail was conducted through the viewing of surveillance video from areas within the facility including housing units and of specific use of force incidents involving detainees. In addition, ICE personnel, jail officials and detainees were questioned by investigators by telephone and video conferencing.

In its report, the inspector generals office noted ICE has agreed to five recommendations designed to mitigate all the problems pointed out in the report.

Pulaski County Sheriff Randy Kern was unavailable for comment when his office was contacted by The Associated Press.

Associated Press staff

6 a.m.: Police from around Illinois gather to commemorate officers who have died

After a difficult year for Illinois police, officers from around the state gathered at the Illinois Police Officers Memorial outside the state Capitol on Thursday to remember those who died in the line of duty.

Sixteen Illinois officers were killed in the line of duty between 2019 and 2020. COVID-19 killed several of those officers in 2020. In 2019, multiple officers were killed in traffic accidents or by gunfire. Six other officers who lost their lives in previous years also were honored.

I wanted to say how happy I am to be here. But that seems inappropriate to use that word. Id be really happy if we didnt need to be here today. If there were no more names to be added to the wall, said Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs.

This was the first time the ceremony was held at the memorial since it was renovated. In addition to a statue with the names of Illinois line of duty deaths surrounding it, a wall with various inscriptions and a thin blue line on the ground was added.

The memorial ceremony has been annually since the early 1990s. Among the new names being added to the memorial are McHenry County Deputy Jacob Keltner and Fulton County Deputy Troy Chisum. Keltner was shot and killed in March 2019 while executing a search warrant in Rockford. Chisum was shot responding to a disturbance call in June 2019.

Ben Szalinski, The State Journal-Register, via Tribune Content Agency

6 a.m.: Will County hires former census worker to be equity director for COVID-19 vaccinations

Will Countys new vaccine equity manager is hopeful her work with the U.S. Census Bureau and reaching out to hard to reach communities will become a foundation in the countys vaccination efforts.

Vinita Voss joined the Will County Health Department this week in the newly created post. Voss most recently worked as a health equity manager for the Spanish Community Center in Joliet and was a partnership specialist with the U.S. Census Bureau, focused on reaching out to traditionally undercounted communities in Will County.

We have a wonderful foundation and framework that we built from the census, she said.She said trusted messengers such as community based organizations and churches will play a key role in the countys vaccination efforts in the Black and Latino communities.

Voss hiring comes months after a coalition of community based organizations released a letter criticizing the Will County Health Departments handling of the vaccination roll out. The coalition, which included the Spanish Community Center, lobbied for changes including the hiring of a vaccine equity manager.

Read more here. Alicia Fabbre, Daily Southtown

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In case you missed it
This year, Victory Day in Georgia will not be celebrated in the capital's Vake park because of the ongoing renovation work. The memory of the victims of the Great Patriotic War will be honoured in Veterans' Culture and Rest Park (Kikvidze), Tbilisi City Hall reports.

Traditionally, Georgians and Tbilisi residents celebrate May 9 in Vake Park.

In 1941-1945, about 700,000 Georgians went to the front, half of whom died or went missing. Georgian Meliton Kantaria became one of the three soldiers who hoisted the Soviet flag over Reichstag. On May 10, 2016, a monument in his honour was erected in Tbilisi.
Armenian President Armen Sarksyan does not want to support any of the parties participating in the parliamentary elections, the presidential administration informed.

"Recently, speculation has been spreading on social networks, on telegram channels and on news sites that Armen Sarksyan is pursuing political goals and patronizing certain forces, and also calls for boycotting the June 20 early parliamentary elections. These publications have nothing to do with reality, " the press release reads.
The Presidents of Russia and Uzbekistan Vladimir Putin and Shavkat Mirziyoyev held telephone talks, discussed the fight against the pandemic, the conflict in Central Asia and exchanged congratulations on Victory Day.

The two leaders expressed the need to step up joint efforts in the fight against coronavirus, in particular, they discussed the production of Sputnik V in Uzbekistan.

They also touched upon the recent conflict on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and welcomed its peaceful settlement. The presidents of the Russian Federation and Uzbekistan are ready to provide support in stabilizing the situation.
U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price confuted the CNN report that the Biden administration is weighing unfreezing $1 billion in Iranian funds that the country could use for humanitarian relief.

"Reporting suggesting we are weighing the release of Iranian funds as a unilateral gesture to Tehran is not true, which we made clear prior to publication," Ned Price wrote on Twitter. "As we have said, any substantial move by the U.S. would have to be part of a process in which both sides take actions."

A meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission or Iran nuclear deal will be held in Vienna on May 7.
A dialogue process will be initiated between Ankara and Washington to find a solution to problems that rose over Turkeys exclusion from the F-35 fighter jet program, Turkish Defense Industry President Ismail Demir said.

The dialogue process will begin within the framework of this partnership to ensure that our rights regarding our aircraft are not lost and that a solution is found in a way that does not go against the spirit of alliance with a law-based approach, he told the members of the Board of Directors of the Association of Economic Correspondents on May 7.

We said that no country can be excluded from the F-35 program unilaterally. The last letter from the U.S. justified us, he emphasized.

There is a legal basis for Turkeys exclusion from the F-35 program because this partnership is based on a memorandum of understanding, he said.

No partner can say that it removes the other partner, according to the agreement, Demir noted. According to this text, the removal of any partner is only possible by the unanimous vote of all partners or the subject country withdraws by its will, he said, adding that none of this has happened on the issue on the U.S. decision to exclude Turkey from the country.

In a letter written last month, Americans confessed this in some way, because they said that they withdrew from this memorandum of understanding and that they would continue with a separate memorandum of understanding, Demir stated.

So the U.S. aimed to avoid the memorandum in practice, but it was not possible legally, the official said.

But on the other hand, they have the will to continue our contacts and dialogues on this issue, Demir said recalling that the U.S. was earlier silent to Turkeys demands for meetings and was only making statements to the press.

A conversation chain will be opened now, Hurriyet cited Demir as saying.

In the agreement, there is a sentence that the parties should resolve among themselves in the event of a dispute, he said and added, A ground had not been established for the parties to speak among themselves until now. At least this ground has now been opened.

He recalled that Turkey had made a certain contribution to the program, but the return is interrupted now, and they want to negotiate how much this value has been exploited.

Ankara had ordered more than 100 F-35s and has been making parts for it, but in 2019, Washington announced it was taking Turkey out of the F-35 stealth fighter jet program over Ankaras purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

The U.S. claimed that the Russian S-400 would compromise security on the F-35s, but Turkey said these fears were baseless and has repeatedly proposed setting up a commission to clarify the issue.

In December, the U.S. imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey over the S-400s, targeting its defense industry and top sector officials.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that some of his country's moves undermined world order and other countries' faith in Washington's commitment to abiding the international law.

Everyone should be held accountable for loyalty to the commitments we voluntarily assumed, Blinken said at the UN Security Council meeting. This also applies to the United States. I know that some of our actions in recent years have undermined a rule-based order and forced others to wonder if we are still committed to it. "

The Secretary of State noted that under the rule of President Joe Biden, the United States is gradually returning to multilateral formats and working in cooperation with other countries.
Foreign-invested wood and timber enterprises are contributing a significant chunk to the nations export turnover.

To strengthen cooperation between these and domestic companies, the adoption of new policies seeks agreement among experts and other stakeholders.

To foster a successful timber export industry, experts advise a strong cooperation between FIEs and domestic businesses.

Kuka Home, a fully Chinese-invested company has started construction of a wood-furniture processing factory after only six months of signing a lease contract for more than 12 hectares of land in Dong Xoai Industrial Park III in the southern province of Binh Phuoc. According to Li Binh, in charge of the factorys construction, the company has invested in a system of factories in industrial zones in many provinces of Vietnam, including in the southern province of Dong Nai, to produce wood for export.

Exports of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) last year continued to show their superiority over domestic ones. By the end of 2020, Vietnam had more than 3,600 enterprises directly involved in exporting timber products, with an export value of $12.31 billion in 2020.

Among these, 653 FIEs account for 18 per cent of the total number of export enterprises. The export value of these companies reached $6.07 billion, accounting for 51 per cent of the total export value from timber products.

No competitive position

FIEs continue to play an important role in Vietnams timber and wood product exports as more of them invest in the industry, thus becoming an important component of Vietnams exports from this sector. Last year, the export turnover of the entire wood industry increased by 16.2 per cent compared to 2019.

The export value of these FIEs is especially high in southern localities like Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Ho Chi Minh City. Binh Duong is the leading province in terms of last years export value in the wood industry, reaching $5.68 billion and accounting for 47 per cent of the total export value of the country.

In which, FIEs reached $3.85 billion, accounting for 68 per cent. Meanwhile, domestic businesses only raked in $1.8 billion, holding 32 per cent. Dong Nai ranked second and hit $1.62 billion, or 13 per cent of the total.

The increase of FIEs participation in the wood industry is a direct result of preferential policies and investment attraction measures by the government and partly the result of new-generation free trade agreements, as well as the favourable geographical position of the Asia-Pacific economic region. The tensions within US-China trade also created opportunities for Vietnam to receive capital flows from China in this industry.

The export growth of Chinese wood processors also shows that the financial scale and production capacity of FIEs are far ahead of domestic players.

Capital and production capacity are both important factors that drive growth for FIEs in the wood processing industry, said Nguyen Liem, general director of wood product exporter Lam Viet JSC.

For instance, investments of $5 million are huge for Vietnamese companies, but $10 million, or even $15 million, are still small for an FIE.

A contract for 100 containers will be produced in 15 days, explained Liem when talking about the production capacity of Chinese players.

They carry out all operations very quickly, install equipment, and import raw materials before they produce around the clock, he added.

According to Liem, Chinese enterprises investing in Vietnams wood processing sector are mostly manufacturers with decades of experience, who produce goods of medium quality but in large quantities for export.

Compared to FIEs, Vietnamese businesses are not in a competitive position, said Liem, who has worked more than 10 years at an FIE within the industry.

Before Chinese wood manufacturers were investing in Vietnam, US buyers already knew them. As the US-China trade war broke out, many Chinese wood processors invested in Vietnam to open factories. They dragged American buyers to their new location and signed large quantity contracts. Even the leaders of some large corporations in the US noted that their representative offices in Vietnam are now often bought by from Chinese-owned companies.

One unified system

The wood industry is witnessing a common phenomenon: the more developed, the higher the risks. Currently, Vietnam ranks second in Asia in the export of wood and timber products, with a rapid growth rate of about 17 per cent per year.

Businesses exporting wood products to the US market are under pressure from an investigation by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) regarding allegations of using illegally harvested or traded timber.

The Vietnamese government is trying to create an open policy mechanism to attract investment. But on the other hand, the government is also trying to control under- and shadow investments.

Tran Le Huy, vice chairman of the Forest Products Association of the central province of Binh Dinh, noticed that the wood industry is lacking an appropriate mechanism to spread the strengths of FIEs. Meanwhile, the spillover effect only occurs when there is a suitable mechanism allowing domestic businesses and FIEs to exchange information and experiences.

Huy believed that allowing FIEs to be official members of wood associations will create a unified system between both sides. This will contribute to better positioning and mitigating risks in foreign investment activities, while at the same time, building a sustainable Vietnamese wood industry in the future and helping to bring domestic players closer to the market, Huy explained.

However, in the middle of the pandemic, the business environment of Vietnam remains highly appreciated by foreign investors. Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that Vietnam has become the first choice for FIEs in the region, with 136 economies investing in the country with the total investment capital of over $400 billion.

According to Loc, with over 70 per cent of Vietnams export value coming from FIEs, these enterprises are also the main driver of export growth, bringing Vietnamese-made goods into global supply chains.

If local and overseas companies are not symbiotically linked, it will be difficult to bring pervasive value, Loc said, adding that the government should create a symbiotic environment between foreign and Vietnamese enterprises, and must encourage domestic ones to participate in the supply chain besides FIEs.

At this point, there are basic conditions to connect FIEs with their domestic counterparts effectively. The countrys Strategy for Socioeconomic Development 2021-2030 stated that foreign direct investment will continue playing an important role in national development.

The total registered capital within the 2011-2020 period reached over $278 billion, an average increase of nearly 6.9 per cent per year, accounting for 22.8 per cent of the total social investment capital.

Therefore, the economy backed by foreign investment capital develops rapidly, according to the strategys report. Meanwhile, the 10-year socioeconomic development strategy and the 5-year plan emphasise the strengthening of the links between FIEs  especially multinational corporations  with local suppliers.

Ha Cong Tuan - Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

Regulations on product quality and timber traceability of the importing countries have become a common trend but are also an excuse for resolving trade relations. During the investigation under the US Trade Act about the alleged use of illegally harvested and traded timber, a representative of the USTR consulted the Vietnamese government and opened hearings to gather opinions of both parties. Most said that the US accusations were not satisfactory. Therefore, the US has not yet made any official conclusions. The issue, however, could become a big story of the trade relationship between the two countries, which could force Vietnam to find a suitable solution to ensure more balanced trade. The states role is especially important in providing solutions to problems with the US market. Meanwhile, those who are exporting to the US need to comply with the laws in this market. Trade relations in a market economy must be two-way. Therefore, there are things that must sacrifice certain interests to receive certain goods of the partner country as a trade-off for a suitable and balanced trade relationship.

VIR

Strategic market identification sought for stronger wood trade Vietnams wood industry is leaving behind a successful 2020, ready to embrace the new advantages that some of last years signed and effective trade agreements bring with them.
Vietnam is to continue speeding up disbursement of public investment, with a focus on infrastructure development, in a bid to spur on economic growth and create more space for private enterprises.

Public investment to spur faster growth.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) on April 20 sent a document to ministries, agencies, and localities nationwide asking them to report barriers in their activities involving disbursement of state budget capital allocated to them for 2021.

They are also requested to report the results of public investment disbursement, including sums disbursed and that having failed to be realised, as well as proposed solutions for boosting such disbursement.

The solutions include two groups, with the first on policies about investment procedures and plan, site clearance, and construction, and the second on project implementation, said MPI Deputy Minister Tran Quoc Phuong, who signed the document. Boosting public investment will help grow the economy, attract more private investment, and create more employment for local workers.

The MPI will collect all ideas and solutions and then make official proposals to the government in public investment disbursement for this year and beyond, which must ensure goals, high quality, and effectiveness in the use of this type of capital.

The ministry has also required ministries, agencies, and localities to report to it their 2021-2025 mid-term public investment plans, in terms of total needed capital, how to allocate the capital, proposed projects, and estimated results for the period.

The MPI is the first ministry to implement Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinhs order to boost public investment disbursement as one of the key solutions to stimulate national economic growth. The order was made on April 15 during PM Chinhs first government cabinet meeting after the governments new personnel group made a debut at the recent 11th session of the 14th National Assembly.

The government orders heads of ministries, agencies, and localities to be directly and comprehensively responsible for the implementation and disbursement of public investment as planned, he said.

Boosted disbursement

According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), in the first quarter of 2021, total disbursement of state-funded projects, mostly infrastructure ones, remains low, at VND60.75 trillion ($2.64 billion), reaching 11.95 per cent of the initial plan and 13.17 per cent of the plan assigned by the prime minister. In which, foreign-funded capital disbursement hit only 0.66 per cent.

Many localities achieved high disbursement rates, including Thai Binh (43.24 per cent), Bac Ninh (30.2 per cent), Hung Yen (28.67 per cent), Thanh Hoa (27.79 per cent), and Ha Nam (27.63 per cent), and the Ministry of Public Security (31.62 per cent). Up to 31 ministries, central agencies, and localities including Hanoi have yet to boost disbursement.

A few weeks ago, showing up its strong efforts to realise this type of capital, Hanois authorities decided on using its own budget to invest over VND1.75 trillion ($76.3 million) into five infrastructure projects vital to local residents of its outskirts. For example, one of the projects worth VND463 billion ($20 million) is constructing a 1.1km road in Xuan Dinh area, which is home to hundreds of thousands of residents including many foreign nationals.

This road will also be connected with a road leading to Samsungs $220 million research and development centre currently under construction and to some overseas-backed property projects under construction including British-backed Refico Real Estate Groups Kosmo Tay Ho.

It is calculated that over the next five years, Hanoi will need about VND482.8 trillion ($21 billion) worth of public investment for its infrastructure projects. A resolution for the 2021-2025 public investment plan has also been adopted by the citys authorities.

According to a report adopted at the recent 13th National Party Congress, over the next five years, public investment will be effectively restructured and reduced in the total development capital structure.

Public investment will be focused on key sectors of the economy, key works and projects which have spillover effects and can create socioecomomic development momentum, and create breakthroughs in attracting capital from domestic and foreign private sources under the form of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the report stated.

All loans must be strictly controlled in order to invest into socioeconomic infrastructure. Inspection in all public investment activities will continue being launched so as to prevent corruption and wastefulness.

Each percentage of public investment rise will create 0.06 per cent economic growth in Vietnam.

In late 2020, the National Assembly passed a plan for boosting public investment for 2021. Accordingly, total capital from state coffers for this year will be VND477.3 trillion ($20.75 billion).

This sum will be earmarked for many projects. For example, nearly $700 million will be used for national target programmes, just over $650 million for the project on constructing the North-South Expressway; $202 million for land compensation and resettlement for Long Thanh International Airport; over $121 million for developing coastal roads; and nearly $205 million for supporting localities in implementing some key new infrastructure ventures.

According to the MPI, in 2021, these new investment capital sums, in addition to capital attracted from private investors, will help to complete the construction of the eastern cluster of the North-South Expressway project, the national coastal road line, connection road lines, airports, and seaports.

The MoF reported that in 2020, nearly $17 billion, equivalent to 82.8 per cent of the plan allocated, was disbursed, while the figure as of end-November was only $14.3 billion, equalling 70.1 per cent. This is the highest ratio of disbursement in 2016-2020  with 80.3 per cent in 2016, 73.3 per cent in 2017, 66.87 per cent in 2018, and 67.46 per cent in 2019. Most of the capital has been invested in infrastructure works.

Vietnams economic growth hit 2.91 per cent last year, significantly fuelled by a boost in public investment, which has helped create massive employment and consumed a great deal of materials  increasing the performance of many key products in the economy such as electricity, steel, and cement, according to the General Statistics Office.

International calls

A number of high-profile international organisations are calling for Vietnam to boost public investment into socioeconomic development, with a focus on infrastructure works which will help Vietnam improve its economic competitiveness and attract more foreign investors  who are seeing weak infrastructure development as one of the biggest obstructions against their performance in the country.

The World Bank looked into the countrys fiscal stance, stating that the fiscal balance was in surplus for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. In the first quarter of 2021, the government collected $17.55 billion of revenues  up 3.2 per cent on-year, while total spending decreased by 0.4 per cent on-year to $14.9 billion, resulting in a fiscal surplus of over $2.6 billion, which is 29 per cent higher than a year ago.

Such a surplus will help Vietnam have more resources to increase public investment. Implementation of public investment [in the first quarter] was on track with a disbursement rate of about 13 per cent, equivalent to the one achieved in the first quarter of 2020, the World Bank said in a recent report. After three years of fiscal consolidation, the authorities acted decisively and accelerated the disbursement of the public investment programme.

Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which has raised its forecast for Vietnams economic growth to 6.7 per cent in 2021 and 7 per cent in 2022, citing many key drivers including the strength of accelerated public investment, revived domestic consumption.

There is room to further increase public investment spending as a share of GDP. Higher public investment spending can be achieved by utilising savings from rationalising current outlays, while improving efficiency and prioritisation, said a recent ADB report on Vietnam. Efforts should focus on closing Sustainable Development Goals gaps in roads, electricity and water sectors that have positive externalities and can crowd-in private sector investments. Investing in adaptive and digital infrastructure as currently being considered could boost growth and aid with the targeting of social assistance programmes and financial inclusion.

MPI Deputy Minister Phuong told VIR that amid existing massive difficulties caused by COVID-19, accelerating public investment will be among the best solutions to fuel the economy and enable it to hit the economic growth rate of about 6.5 per cent this year, and public investment will also have great impacts on the countrys attracting more private sectors.

It will take years to complete procedures for a project under the PPP format, so for the time being public investment is a feasible solution, Phuong added.

VIR

Disbursement of public investment at record since 2016, still misses Govt target The disbursement of public investment was estimated at VND398 trillion as of the end of December, meeting 82.8 per cent of the Governments plan  the highest rate in the 2016-20 period, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
The global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has made the world realize the limitations in the current supply chain, which shows an over reliance on just one link, which is a plausible reason for the collapse of the system.

Fig.1: Exports & Imports of countries (%), August 2018-February 2121. Source: Haver Analytics

The current ongoing pandemic is also providing the time to ease pressure on Vietnamese trade as restructuring of the Global Supply Chain is being dealt with. Only those countries that are well-prepared and have successfully controlled and contained the pandemic will be able to see a good outcome and macroeconomic stability in the future by an improved marketing strategy.

Break in supply chain

The repeated closure of the border, and immigration restrictions during the current pandemic have caused trade activities and global value chains to be disrupted or broken, especially the important supply chains to the US, China, Japan, Germany, and the European Union (EU). All these countries are reeling under the havoc being caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, manufacturing and business facilities of 1,000 of the world's largest suppliers have upto 12,000 units in Covid-19 quarantined areas, most of which are located in China.

This explains why there is a breakdown in the Global Value Chain (GVC) that is seriously affecting trade activities for almost 50% of international trade. In addition, the application of digital transformation in manufacturing and business activities has made countries increase automation, in order to improve production capacity and withdraw from the GVC, so as to localize the economy. The disruption of Global Supply Chains is also due to sanctions inflicted during the US-China trade war, along with rise of protectionism. The industries in the world are overly dependent on China, so the leading countries tend to withdraw from what is considered the factory of the world.

Closer linking of the supply chain with the value chain is essential for ease of control. The US-China trade war had partially initiated and spurred this process when China thought it needed a strategy to undermine America's leading role in global trade. The pandemic is not the only reason that has caused a change in the structure of the Global Value Chain, though it may perhaps have been the catalyst to speed up the process. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, intensive production of imported raw materials for exports has decreased sharply. Looking back over the last 30 years, the decentralized production system has been effective and has made a great contribution to GVC, but it still depends on the ability to trade, transport, and implement different trade policies of each country.

At the same time, a new form of production in the Global Value Chain is gradually emerging. With the development of digital technology, multinational companies are moving closer to consumer markets to reduce transportation costs, and increase sales. The production activities of supply chain units will have to be restructured, forcing companies to consider strategies to reduce production fragmentation where cheap labor is available.

Raising Vietnamese trade

Vietnam had a record trade surplus of USD 19.1 bn in 2020, although the US remains the largest export market with a trade surplus of USD 62.7 bn. Meanwhile, the trade deficit with the largest importer of China was at USD 35.4 bn. When looking at the trade activities of East Asia and the Pacific (EAP) countries, it is easy to see that Vietnam has the highest growth in import and export value (Fig. 1). In exports, ASEAN-5 countries export more goods and services to the US than China and other major trading partners, while importing the most from China (Fig. 2). These trends are similar to the trade statistics of Vietnam in 2020.

Fig. 2: Exports & Imports of ASEAN-5 with selected partners (%), 2019-2020. Source: To Cong Nguyen Bao et al (2021), data extracted from WB (ASEAN-5 countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam).

The Covid-19 pandemic has also created an opportunity for Vietnam to access and thereby participate more strongly in the Global Supply Chain, so that it can become a new nucleus in the Global Value Chain. There are some factors that can contribute to this process. First, Vietnamese exports have now risen to approximately 53.4%. Second, labor costs in Vietnam are lower than in China. Third, the business environment and competitiveness in Vietnam has improved since 2020, ranking the country at 70th place, up 23 places compared to 2010.

However, raising Vietnamese trade to new levels will not occur overnight, but will require systematic planning in preparing the right solutions as well as resources. As the world is facing a multitude of challenges in unforeseen and uncertain ways, such as the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of unilateralism, growing geopolitical rivalry between major countries, and the coming of the digital age, many factors need careful consideration.

There are now five basic principles that can shape the strategy for Vietnamese trade. First, we need to improve the business environment and enhance competitiveness. Second, we need to enhance our involvement in the global supply chains. Third, we must improve out value-added products for exports in the value chain. Fourth, we must apply digital technology to all our economic activities. Fifth, we need to make cognitive changes so as to adapt better to the world markets.

SGGP

Value sharing and opportunities for Vietnamese suppliers in global value chain Multinationals corporations and foreign-invested enterprises increasingly focus on sustainability in their cooperation with local suppliers,
At the same time, countries dependent on tourism revenue are pressing to admit more visitors. Most Caribbean countries are open to Americans, pending negative coronavirus tests  and some European countries are not far behind. Travel restrictions in Greece, where tourism accounts for around 25% of the countrys workforce, were eased in mid-April, allowing for fully vaccinated travelers from the United States, Britain, Israel and European Union member states, among other places, to visit without quarantining or providing negative coronavirus tests. (A broader reopening is planned for later this month.)
A number of wind power projects are facing difficulties as taxation agencies have stopped VAT refunds.

A representative of an enterprise said that since February the enterprise has imported VND1 trillion worth of equipment to implement a wind power project and has paid nearly VND100 billion to the local budget, equal to 10 percent of VAT of imports.

The enterprise has also paid hundreds of billion of dong in VAT for other projects. Therefore, it is expecting to get a tax refund worth trillions of dong.

However, the enterprise has been informed by the tax agency that it wont get the tax refund because its project is in a conditional business field and it does not have an electricity operating license.

The enterprise therefore has proposed amending the VAT Law and adjusting the provision on the conditions for enterprises in conditional business fields to get a VAT refund if they dont have an electricity operating license.

We want the law to allow VAT refunds if enterprises have a PPA (power purchase agreement) instead of an electricity operating license, the representative said.

Many other wind power project developers have also asked for help.

Van Phong Power Company and Nghi Son Thermopower Company have repeatedly complained about tax refunds for their Van Phong 1 and Nghi Son 2 projects, with the capacity of 1,320 MW and $2.5 billion for each project. Both of them are under construction.

A hydropower company director said he had heard that the General Department of Taxation had released a document dated on February 25 on checking and reclaiming tax refunds from projects that had submitted dossiers before receiving electricity operating licenses.

A provincial taxation body has been asked to collect back VAT refunds, including imposing fines on tax arrears. The fine is 0.03 percent of total tax amount since the days of the refund.

He said the tax arrears collection and the fine will cause very serious consequences to the operation of projects, and may lead to enterprises bankruptcy.

Unreasonable rules

In documents to the PM, the National Assembly Steering Committee and relevant agencies, the Vietnam Energy Association pointed out that the requirement on obtaining electricity operating licenses to get tax refunds cannot be implemented.

In documents to the PM, the National Assembly Steering Committee and relevant agencies, the Vietnam Energy Association pointed out that the requirement on obtaining electricity operating licenses to get tax refunds cannot be implemented.

Under Document 10/VBHN-BTC 2018 that guides the implementation of some articles of the VAT Law, power projects are conditional business projects and can receive tax refunds only after they get an electricity operating license.

However, under Circular 21/2020/TT-BTC dated September 9, 2020, the electricity operating license is only granted after the investment of the projects is completed and official acceptance for the work is given.

This means that power projects cannot get a VAT refund during the investment period. Power projects all require huge investment capital and are implemented during long periods, so they need VAT refunds in the first period of investment, which can help them implement the projects.

Thus, the promulgated regulations on VAT refunds to support projects under the investment period are not applicable to power projects. Therefore, the purposes and the spirit of the amendment of the VAT policies cannot be reached, the document of the energy association said.

This shows the inadequacy, inconsistency and unfeasibility of regulations on VAT refunds for projects in conditional business fields.

The Vietnam Energy Association therefore has asked appropriate authorities to amend relevant legal regulations, remove inadequate and unfeasible content, and allow power projects in particular and key projects in general to get VAT refunds during the investment period.

This would create favorable conditions for investors to implement projects per the spirit of the Resolution 115/NQ-CP.

Regarding the proposal by the two investors of Van Phong 1 and Nghi Son 2 BOT projects, in the document to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) , the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) states its view about the requirement on an electricity operating license.

The ministry says the currently applied Law on Electricity as well as the power sector do not have provisions on business licenses in conditional business fields, or certificates on meeting requirements to be eligible for doing business in conditional fields.

Under the Law on Electricity, an electricity operating license is only required for the operation period, and is not required during the construction period.

An electricity operating licenses is not a business license in conditional business fields, and is not a certificate for meeting requirements to be eligible to do business in conditional fields, the MOIT document said.

According to the ministry, Van Phong 1 and Nghi Son 2 BOT projects have been observing the regulations on VAT refunds during the construction period and they have received tax refunds many times.

The BOT (build, operate, transfer) contracts of these projects are guaranteed by the Government, so stopping VAT refunds will seriously affect their cash flow, the commercial operation schedule, and the success of the projects.

The ministry also warned that the requirement on electricity operating licenses and the refusal of the VAT refund proposal may lead to problems in legal procedures and the Governments responsibility in project guarantees.

In conclusion, MOIT asked the MOF to instruct taxation agencies to continue to give VAT refunds to the projects.

Luong Bang

The risks of wind power development Wind and solar power are sustainable energy sources that are prioritized for development.
Vietnam assumed the Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in April. Recently, Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang gave the press details on what was achieved during Vietnams Presidency of the UNSC.

Deputy Foreign Minister Dang Hoang Giang

What did Vietnam achieve in its month of UNSC Presidency?

The month of Vietnams Presidency of the UNSC was a success, as reflected across three aspects. The first was the co-ordination as the chair of the council. During April, we had a sizable workload, with nearly 30 ambassador-level meetings and dozens of working-level ones, to discuss a wide range of issues from across all continents. Vietnam proposed and got approval from the UNSC for 10 documents, including four resolutions. This affirms our role in co-ordination, exchange and dialogue, maintaining consensus and unity among the members of the UNSC.

Second was Vietnam's contributions to the discussions and operation of the council. With a constructive viewpoint and stance, based on the UN Charter and international law, Vietnam clearly stated its stance and point of view on issues considered and discussed at the UNSCs meetings to promote dialogue, increase confidence and try to resolve conflicts and issues from around the world.

The third was the proposals and initiatives Vietnam was interested in and promoted during the month. With a joint approach towards conflict prevention and resolution, we launched three high-level discussions on conflict prevention, resolution and handling. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a High-level Open Debate on 'Cooperation between the UN and Regional Organisations in Enhancing Confidence-Building and Dialogue in Conflict Prevention and Resolution'. Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son hosted two Ministerial-level Open Debates on 'Mine Action and Sustaining Peace: Stronger Partnerships for Better Delivery' and 'Protection of Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Civilian Population'.

The sessions took place successfully, receiving attention from countries with high-level participation, with many important documents approved, promoting the content we care about.

How did our country achieve such success?

First and most important was careful preparation. Taking such a position requires preparation from many months ago, covering all the content and the agenda, including close consultation with members of the UNSC and the UN member countries in dealing with the issues.

Second is the support of member countries of the UNSC to Vietnam. This support shows countries attach special importance to the position and role of Vietnam in recent years. The proposals and initiatives put forward by us with the arguments were strongly supported by other countries.

Thirdly, our initiatives and activities during the month received the close attention of Party and State leaders. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc directly presided over the UNSC session, while leaders from concerned ministries, agencies and localities also participated in all key activities during the month of the UNSC Presidency.

Another point is the unanimous participation of ministries and sectors. Just before the month as President, the Ministry of Defence deployed the Level-2 Field Hospital No. 3 to take on their duties at the UN Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan. This shows we also contribute by way of concrete action.

What were the difficulties encountered during the month serving as the UNSCs President and how did we solve them?

Taking the presidency role was a challenge in itself. Serving as UNSC President, we had to co-ordinate and reconcile different views among various groups of countries, especially major countries, to reach a common consensus and solve urgent problems.

It was not easy to have a successful proposal and push forward with priorities and initiatives during the month. Although they were of general interest, these were all new issues and there were still many differences when going into detail. The good news is that we overcame these difficulties so that during the month, all countries agreed to consider solving the problems posed, and all 10 documents were overwhelmingly approved by the council.

During the remainder of its term of UNSC membership, what should Vietnam do to promote the successes achieved in April?

As a non-permanent member of the UNSC, with a desire to contribute to the general work of the council and the UN, and as an active and responsible member of the international community, we will continue to work together with other countries to seek solutions to maintain a peaceful international environment and ensure global security. This is a common goal from now to the end of 2021 that we will continue to carry out.

In such a process, the most important thing is to try to maintain solidarity and consensus among the UNSC. For some complex issues at the council, we need to be steadfast in our stance and principles to protect our national interests, while handling them skillfully and satisfactorily to promote dialogue, solidarity and consensus at the UNSC, contributing so that any decision of the council is based on the UN Charter and international law, including the principles of independence, autonomy and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. Above all, we want the UNSC to continue to be the most important agency in maintaining international peace, stability and security.

VNS

Vietnam's imprints in UNSC presidency month Vietnam continued its success as President of the UN Security Council in April 2021. This was the second time Vietnam assumed this role as a non-permanent member of the Security Council in 2020-2021 tenure.
Vietnam always attaches much importance to and wants to deepen its special friendship with Cuba, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong has said.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong

He made the affirmation during his phone talks on May 5 with First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (CPC) and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez.

The Vietnamese Party chief affirmed the consistent solidarity between the two Parties, States and people for the just cause of the Cuban Party, State and people and objecting sanctions and hostile policies against Cuba.

The sound relations between the two Parties lay a political foundation, and play an important role in boosting relations between the two countries, he said, adding that Vietnam stands ready to share renewal experience with Cuba.

He suggested the two sides work closely to effectively carry out high-level agreements to edevelop the Vietnam  Cuba relationship into a deep, practical and sustainable fashion.

During the talks, Trong congratulated the CPC on its successful organisation of the 8th National Party Congress, and Diaz-Canel on his election as the First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

He expressed his strong belief that the CPC will continue to lead the Cuban people to overcome formidable challenges and realise the goals set at the 8th National Party Congress so as to build a prosperous and sustainable socialist nation.

Conveying his regards to former First Secretary of the CPC Raul Castro, Trong spoke highly of the latters contributions to the Cuban peoples revolutionary cause as well as the special Vietnam-Cuba friendship.

The Vietnamese Party, State and people always respect Cubas support for Vietnam during the struggle for liberation in the past and the process of national construction in the past six decades, the leader stressed.

Diaz-Canel, for his part, described the phone talks as a vivid illustration for the special and faithful friendship between the two nations.

He said the CPCs new leadership will do their utmost to consolidate and develop the Vietnam  Cuba relations, which were established and nurtured by President Ho Chi Minh and President Fidel Castro.

He also informed the Vietnamese leader about Cubas progress to update the socialist socio-economic development model despite difficulties caused by embargo and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Diaz-Canel congratulated Vietnams recent achievements, and thanked the Vietnamese Party, State and people for assisting their Cuban counterparts in the past years.

He expressed his confidence that under the leadership of the CPV, the Vietnamese people will successfully realise the Resolution adopted at the 13th National Party Congress, as well as the goal of wealthy people and a strong, democratic, equitable and civilised country.

Trong took the occasion to invite Diaz-Canel and Raul Castro to visit Vietnam. Diaz-Canel also conveyed Cuban Party and State leaders invitation to Trong to pay a visit Cuba at a suitable time.

Cuban newspapers spotlight talk between Party chiefs of Cuba, Vietnam

The phone talk between General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and President of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez on May 5 was a highlight of Cuban newspapers on May 6.

Granma daily newspaper, the official voice of the PCC, reported about the talk between the two Party chiefs of Cuba and Vietnam in a front-page article.

It noted that the two leaders reiterated the intention to continue strengthening the special relations of friendship and cooperation between the two nations, Parties and Government, which are the enduring legacy of Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro Ruz and legendary revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.

Prensa Latina state news agency cited a press release of the PCC noting that during the fraternal telephone conversation, the Party chief of Vietnam congratulated Diaz-Canel on his election as the First Secretary of the PCC Central Committee.

General Secretary Trong also conveyed his regards to former First Secretary of the PCC General Raul Castro Ruz.

During the talk, Diaz-Canel informed the Vietnamese party leader on outcomes of the eight National Congress of the PCC, which took place on April 16-19, and expressed his gratitude to Vietnam for its support for Cuba in the fight against the US economic, trade and financial sanctions.

He also wished Vietnam success in implementing the Resolution adopted at the 13th National Congress of the CPV, Prensa Latina reported.

Other news agencies and online newspapers like the Cuban News Agency (ACN), Cubadebate, Juventud Rebelde and Canal Caribe also made extensive coverage on the first phone talk between Diaz-Canel as PCC leader and the Vietnamese Party leader Trong./.VNA
After taking on a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan in November 2019, the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2 had to extend its stay, scheduled for one year, to nearly 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties that came with it.

However, with great will and determination, the blue beret medical soldiers overcame the difficulties and completed their mission.

Staff at the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2 receive online training on COVID-19 prevention and control. (Source: Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations)

So said Major Cao Thuy Dung, Chief Nurse at the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2, after returning to Vietnam on April 24 together with other hospital staff.

After taking on a UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan in November 2019, the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2 had to extend its stay, scheduled for one year, to nearly 18 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulties that came with it.

However, with great will and determination, the blue beret medical soldiers overcame the difficulties and completed their mission.

When we heard that the hospital and its staff would be staying longer in the area, many of us felt depressed, Captain and Dr Nguyen Viet Phuong, Head of the Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases Department and Head of the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2s COVID-19 Treatment Team, told the Vietnam News Agency. I didnt know when I would return to my family and the motherland. But, as soldiers, we pulled ourselves together and clearly defined our new mission. We understood that it is common for UN peacekeeping mission to extend their tours in normal conditions, so doing so during a pandemic was nothing out of the ordinary.

Overcoming the difficulties from COVID-19

COVID-19 first hit South Sudan in April 2020 and the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2 faced a shortage of medical equipment and supplies from the outset.

Cargo from Vietnam began to dry up, while local resupply was not possible because of South Sudans border closures and the suspension of international and domestic flights.

South Sudan had been heavily damaged by a decade of conflict, with people facing difficult lives and poor health conditions. The country was already quite fragile before the COVID-19 tsunami struck.

We had to save every single mask and piece of medicine to ensure pandemic prevention and patient treatment, and we knew that patient numbers would increase sharply as the pandemic spread, said Lieutenant Colonel and Dr Vo Van Hien, Director of the Level-2 Field Hospital No. 2.

Vietnams second Level-2 Field Hospital is located at Bentiu, a site that protects civilians and is known for its difficulties. Here, UN officers are constantly rotated between units, so could potentially carry disease and infect others. Insufficient facilities and medical equipment to screen for disease made the situation even worse, not to mention that environmental hygiene was generally poor.

Given these hardships, the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2 established a quarantine camp with the necessary medical equipment, which stood ready to perform emergency medical procedures and receive and treat COVID-19 patients.

Despite the insufficiencies and hardships, the hospitals hotline remained open 24/7, so that all cases could be reported, said Dr Hien.

The hospital frequently organised training sessions and drills for emergency situations, created a safety protocol for all staff and officers at the hospital, and drafted combat readiness plans to save the unit as well as its officers and staff in case danger presented itself.

Recalling one unforgettable memory from his 18 months at Bentiu, when a Mongolian officer was diagnosed with pleural tuberculosis, Dr Nguyen Viet Phuong said that according to UN protocols, the officer should have been transferred to a higher level hospital or even sent home. But given the circumstances, he had to remain in the country and was treated at the hospital. His condition improved significantly with the necessary treatment.

That delighted not only the patient but also the entire Mongolian battalion, who all expressed their appreciation towards the Vietnamese doctors.

He was the longest-staying patient in the department, said Dr Phuong. Given the lack of equipment, we all worked together to provide him with the best treatment we could.

According to Dr Hien, the Level-2 Field Hospital No 2 received a lot of compliments from the UN Missions management units in Juba and Bentiu for the medical services it provided.

Determined to fulfil the assigned mission

Now safely back in Vietnam, hospital staff will never forget their days in such harsh working conditions.

Dr Nguyen Van Quynh teaches the medical staff at Bentiu Hospital in South Sudan how to use the anaesthesia equipment. (Source: Vietnam Department of Peacekeeping Operations)

The emergence of the global pandemic quickly become the greatest challenge for all UN peacekeeping operations around the world and especially in South Sudan.

There were times the hospitals staff felt confused and concerned as the political and security situation in the local area became tense and the pandemic more complex, or when members of the hospital or relatives back home became sick. All had a significant influence on the mental well-being of staff.

Amid the hardships and challenges, however, the blue beret medical soldiers united to overcome the circumstances and fulfil the noble international mission of preserving peace - a new but lofty mission for the Vietnam Peoples Army.

At Bentiu, despite the many difficulties we faced, such as the pandemic, being away from home in a harsh environment for a long period of time, and facing shortages of materials, we always bore in mind the traditions of the Vietnam Peoples Army over the past 76 years, with the motto Every mission will be completed, all difficulties can be overcome, said Senior Lieutenant and Dr Tu Quang, Head of the Level-2 Field Hospital No. 2s Air Rescue Team.

Wrapping up 18 months of being away from family and home, Uncle Hos peacetime soldiers are extremely proud to have been part of the noble mission of the Army and of Vietnam. In particular, contributing to the multilateral international mission represented sacrifice and dedication on the part of Vietnams female soldiers.

It is a great honour for me to be a soldier of the Vietnam Peoples Army during peacetime, taking part in international duties and contributing to protecting the Fatherland from afar, said Chief Nurse Major Dung. This gave me a chance to contribute to boosting the prestige and position of the country as well as the image of Vietnamese women in the eyes of international friends./.

VNA
Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang had phone talks with his Canadian counterpart Harjit Singh Sajjan on Thursday.

Minister of National Defence Sen. Lt. Gen. Phan Van Giang talks over phone with Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan on Thursday.  VNA/VNS Photo

They said bilateral defence co-operation has grown toward effectiveness, with both sides implementing their memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the collaboration and achieving encouraging outcomes in training, peacekeeping and maritime security.

Sajjan lauded Vietnams role in ASEAN, as well as the blocs role in leading and fostering the establishment of multilateral security co-operation mechanisms.

He also took the occasion to commend the efforts of the Vietnamese Government and army in COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

Giang said the new leaders of Vietnam will press ahead with the nations foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification as well as defence policy of peace and self-defence, contributing to regional and global peace.

He said Vietnam wants to enhance relations with Canada on the basis of equality and mutual benefits.

Both ministers agreed to further bilateral defence engagements in existing areas in line with the MoU with a focus on delegation exchange, dialogue, consultation, training, defence industry, peacekeeping, and marine security. They also mentioned joint research regarding possibilities for the sides to co-operate in military medicine to combat COVID-19.

On the same day, Giang held phone talks with Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Chansamone Chanyalath.

The two ministers noted that amid the complexity of the COVID-19 pandemic, national defence co-operation between the two countries was still actively implemented, focusing on areas such as border management, training for officials, providing health check-ups and treatment and support in COVID-19 prevention and control.

Minister Chansamone thanked the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence for sending experts and medical equipment to help Laos fight COVID-19.

Minister Giang said Vietnam would strive to help Laos overcome difficulties and soon resume normal life for people. The Party, State and Peoples Army of Vietnam attached great importance to the special solidarity and comprehensive co-operation with Laos with national defence co-operation one of the top priorities, he said.

VNS

Minister vows support for Lao ambassador to promote defence ties The Minister of National Defence, General Ngo Xuan Lich, received Lao Ambassador to Vietnam Sengphet Houngboungnuang in Hanoi on January 20,
According to reports from the public security agencies of 39 provinces and cities, a total of 1,343 Chinese people have entered Vietnam illegally.

Talking to the media on the sidelines of the Governments monthly press conference on May 5, Lt. Gen. To An Xo, Chief of the Office of the Ministry of Public Security, said that about 150,000 people have entered Vietnam so far this year, including about 110,000 via land border and about 40,000 people by air. These people are foreign experts who came to Vietnam for business and Vietnamese expatriates.

The police handled and prosecuted 49 cases with 141 people.

Lt. Gen. To An Xo, Chief of the Office of the Ministry of Public Security.

The control of people entering illegally in Vietnam belongs to the responsibility of the border guard and relevant agencies from the central to local levels. Handling this problem requires the involvement of the entire political system, the general said.

"People who illegally enter Vietnam violate our sovereignty and pose a high risk of carrying pathogens into Vietnam, affecting the employment of Vietnamese people. Therefore, it is necessary to drastically prevent illegal entry," he said.

Regarding measures to handle the situation, Mr. Xo said that on May 4 the Minister of Public Security issued an order on nationwide review and inspection to detect foreigners who enter Vietnam illegally. In addition, the border forces have intensified inspection over the border area. The police force will trace and prosecute people who enter Vietnam illegally as well as Vietnamese who give a hand to these people.

Those who enter Vietnam illegally, if not injected with Covid-19, will be sent back to the place of origin. Hotels that do not comply with the regulations may have their operating licenses withdrawn, or be subjected to administrative penalties, or even criminal sanctions.

The Ministry of Public Security is currently seeking measures aimed at clarifying methods and tricks used by people to bring illegal entrants into the nation, in an attempt to halt the potential spread of Covid-19, General Xo said.

Initial investigations show brokers are making use of online social networks to connect with people who are seeking to enter Vietnam illegally. A number of detainees have revealed that most illegal entrants are looking for employment, although some have unknown reasons for wishing to enter.

According to the General, it is imperative to tighten control of illegal entrants who pass through guesthouses, hotels, and other types of accommodation. In addition, relevant forces need to reinforce check-points and prosecute brokers as well as illegal entrants to serve as a deterrent to others.

Despite continued vigilance, there remains a huge number of illegal entrants passing through border areas in the northern and southwestern regions, especially on land. Tightening control of these border areas to prevent new COVID-19 cases is therefore proving to be a great challenge, he said.

Thu Hang

HCM City to tighten surveillance to ferret out illegal entrants from abroad amid COVID fears HCM City is tightening surveillance to detect illegal entrants from other countries, its Peoples Committee chairman, Nguyen Thanh Phong, said at a meeting of the city Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control on April 26.
Two Deputy Ministers of Health will go to Japan and Russia to receive the transfer of vaccine technology from foreign partners, according to the Governments monthly press conference on May 5.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said that the use of a vaccine passport will commence only when community immunity is reached through vaccination, meaning 70% of the population is vaccinated against Covid-19. However, there is insufficient evidence of a preventive efficacy against SARS-Cov-2 variants.

The Ministry of Health will coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to study and propose that the Government decide on the application of the vaccine passport at an appropriate time, based on the principle "safety for the people is the top priority". No type of vaccine is 100% effective, Thuan said.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan.

Regarding the entry of foreign experts, Thuan said that Vietnams policy is not to prohibit foreign experts from entering the country for business. However, related agencies have to propose the right people who are "really effective" for the work and socio-economic development of the country.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has asked to reactivate a five-member group that includes representatives from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Health, Public Security, and Transport, to consider and approve the entry of foreign experts.

As for Covid-19 vaccines, Deputy Minister Thuan said: "Under the drastic direction of the Prime Minister, we are trying our best to get the vaccine as soon as possible, from direct and indirect channels such as Vietnamese embassies overseas, companies and organizations."

From now to early 2022, Vietnam expects to get 39 million doses from COVAX Facility, which are enough for 19.4 million people categorized as subjects of priority, and 30 million doses of AstraZeneca. The Ministry of Health is negotiating with Pfizer to purchase an additional 31 million doses this year or next year. In addition, Vietnam will receive about 2 million doses from other organizations.

Mr. Thuan said that some foreign partners will transfer vaccine technology to Vietnam. The Prime Minister has assigned me to go to Japan and Mr. Truong Quoc Cuong (Deputy Minister of Health) to go to Russia to receive technology transfer and negotiate to buy more vaccines from Russia and Japan."

In May, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners will hand over the latest Covid-19 vaccine production technology to Vietnam, which is owned by Pfizer and Moderna.

In Vietnam, two local organizations, Nanogen Biotechnology Joint Stock Company and the Nha Trang Institute of Vaccines and Biologicals (IVAC), are urgently testing their Covid-19 vaccines under the assistance of the Ministry of Health.

Deputy Minister Thuan once again affirmed that besides vaccinations, it is important to implement the 5K measures (in Vietnamese) of the Ministry of Health  Khau trang (face mask), Khu khuan (disinfection), Khoang cach (distance), Khong tu tap (no large gatherings), and Khai bao y te (health declaration).

Hong Nhi - Tran Thuong

Another road for Covid-19 vaccines Western nations have the capacity in terms of economic potential and the legal and moral aspects to promote access to vaccines on a global scale.

Vietnam's aims to have 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine While negotiating with foreign vaccine providers, Vietnam will accelerate vaccine purchases to ensure that all people have access to Covid-19 vaccines.
A 35-year-old female medical worker in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang died on May 7 of anaphylactic shock after receiving a dose of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine a day earlier.

Illustrative photo (Source: VNA)

Doctor Tu Quoc Tuan, Director of the provincial Department of Health, confirmed the death late on May 7, making this the first death from adverse reaction to COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam since the country started its inoculation drive using primarily AstraZeneca doses in early March.

The woman was working at Tan Chau Region General Hospital and received the vaccine shot on May 6.

After the injection, the patient went into shock and was treated by the Tan Chau Regional General Hospital in accordance with the protocol. The hospital also consulted with experts and doctors from the An Giang Province General Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City via the online consutation system regarding the treatment.

She was then transferred to the An Giang Province General Hospital, and the Ministry of Health instructed the Cho Ray Hospital to send intensive care specialists there to provide emergency assistance, but the patient did not survive.

The official cause of death was registered as anaphylaxis, with an underlying condition identified as an allergy to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

The health ministrys notice said this is an extremely rare incident in regards to COVID-19 vaccinations.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long called the woman's family to send his condolences and sympathies for their loss as well as the loss of An Giangs frontline healthcare forces.

Earlier on May 6, Long along with three of his deputies received AstraZeneca doses, stressing the need to ensure a safe vaccination programme.

The Ministry of Health has established a steering committee for safe immunisation, which brings together leading experts and professors in all relevant fields to be ready to assist localities in handling any situation arising during the vaccination drive, Long said.

As of May 7 morning, 747,827 people in Vietnam, mostly frontline workers and medical staff, had received COVID-19 vaccine shots./. VNA
Every day, I hear from students who want to make it to my class but they couldnt, because their dad has COVID, or they cant get out of their shift at the grocery store and they need to work to help support their families, Bawany said. Every day, I wake up and think, this is a miracle, that I work at a job where Im caring for peoples most prized possessions, their children.
If it were not for Moses mother, the world would have never known the great law-giver who led Israel from captivity and gave us the Ten Commandments. It was she who hid him in the reeds at the river to save his infant life and it was she who cared for him in Pharaohs court.

How many mothers have petitioned God for the birth of a child, as Hannah prayed in the presence of Eli, the prophet? Without her prayer, Samuel would not have been born, and would not have been present to anoint David, the king of Israel.

In the fullness of time, in an obscure Galilean village, another young woman lifted up her eyes to heaven and sang, My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His handmaiden; for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For He that is mighty has done to me great things, and holy is His name. (Luke 1:46-49). Without Mary we would never have known Jesus, and the world would remain lost in its sins without a Savior.

Paul referred to the importance of a mothers faith when he wrote to his young protege, Timothy: For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. (2 Timothy 1:5).

This Mothers Day we honor all our mothers who have shaped us and made a better world. It also stands as a challenge to all those young women who give birth to the next generation and shape the future of the world to come.

Bill Tinsley reflects on current events and life experience from a faith perspective. His books are available at www.tinsleycenter.com. Email bill@tinsleycenter.com.
The relief package will do little for job growth because the economy is already operating at near full employment, it noted.

The PWBM analysis of the American Jobs Plan concluded that its spending portion would decrease GDP by 0.33 percent in 2050, and the tax provisions would discourage business investment and thus reduce GDP by 0.49 percent in 2050.

It also pegged the price tag for the American Jobs Plan at $2.7 trillion, not the $2.3 trillion claimed by the Biden administration.

The PWBM analysis of the American Families Plan puts the cost at $2.5 trillion, $700 billion more than the White House claims, and concludes that it would increase government debt by almost 5 percent and decrease GDP by 0.4 percent.

In sum, Washington plans to spend more than the entire federal budget (which is roughly $6.5 trillion) to rescue an economy that is already recovered, with the ultimate effect that the rescue will shrink the economy in the long run.

In technical parlance, the word for this is insane.

Andrew Cline is president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a free-market think tank in New Hampshire. He was editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader for 14 years. He wrote this for InsideSources.com.
The impending withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan carries significant implications for Korea. No one surrounding President Joe Biden is talking about pulling Americas 28,500 troops from South Korea or even cutting the numbers somewhat, but you have to wonder if thats on their minds.

The reasoning is simple. Donald Trump said during his presidency he was ordering home the remaining American troops from Afghanistan. The Pentagon stood fast, saying it couldnt do it right away. But now Biden is fulfilling Trumps demand. And remember, it was Trump who often questioned the need for keeping any U.S. troops in South Korea. So, how can we be sure Biden wont come around to the same line of reasoning?

No, Bidens not going to fall for this notion right away. The U.S., thank goodness, has come to terms with South Korea on how much Seoul should contribute to keeping U.S. forces on U.S. bases in the South. The Americans and Koreans finally agreed South Korea would contribute somewhat more than $1 billion this year, way down from Trumps absurd demand for the South to fork over $5 billion.
WATERLOO  This years FridayLoo Summer Concert Series returns Friday with a new addition: A mobile COVID-19 vaccine clinic offering free walk-up doses.

People can choose one-dose or two-dose options from UnityPoint Health, according to the news release. People who choose the two-dose option can schedule follow-up appointments three weeks after their first shot. UnityPoint will ask for photo ID and insurance information, but those items are not required to get vaccinated, according to a news release.

Friday Loo starts May 14 from 5:30-9:30 p.m. at downtown Waterloos Lincoln Park. The years first performer will be Wildcard, a band that plays modern and old-school country music with some rock n roll flare. The group previously opened for national artists like Florida Georgia Line, Rodney Atkins, Shenandoah and David Allen Coe, the release said.

Friday Loo is one of the communitys favorite summer events and we are thrilled to come back together, showcase the renovated Lincoln Park and celebrate summer, said Jessica Rucker, executive director of Main Street Waterloo. (The planning committee has taken) necessary precautions to create a free, fun atmosphere all while keeping everyone safe.

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WATERLOO  Difficulty in getting construction materials is delaying plans to renovate part of a Hawkeye Community College building for a bookstore.

A Barnes & Noble-branded bookstore is proposed for a portion of the Brock Student Center. The 2 p.m. Thursday deadline for contractors to turn in sealed bids came and went at the college without any submissions.

Dan Gillen, Hawkeyes vice president of administration and finance, noted at a special board of trustees meeting later in the day that officials were forewarned the bids might not materialize. Architects on the project had been in communication with two potential bidders.

Those two companies notified our architects today that they would not be bidding, he told trustees. The reasons reported to Gillen were that it is currently difficult to get construction materials and so the Aug. 6 deadline for completion spelled out in the bid documents doesnt provide enough time.

He suggested that any materials shortages may be a recent issue. Gillen noted that no similar concerns were expressed about securing materials when Hawkeye sought bids for renovation of Grundy Hall earlier this spring. The board approved a $13.8 million contract with Peters Construction of Waterloo March 24 on that project.

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Xi says ready to guide development of China-Cuba ties with Diaz-Canel

Xinhua) 08:34, May 07, 2021

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that under the new circumstances, he is ready to work with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to strengthen the guidance of the development direction of China-Cuba relations.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told Diaz-Canel, also first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee, in a telephone conversation that he is willing to consolidate and develop friendly relations between the two countries, and jointly open up new horizons and make new contributions to the cause of socialism.

On behalf of the CPC and the Chinese people, Xi once again congratulated the successful convening of the Eighth Congress of the PCC, and Miguel Diaz-Canel's election as first secretary of the PCC Central Committee.

The Eighth Congress of the PCC has made strategic deployment and planning for the development of the cause of the PCC and the country at present and for a time to come, which is of great significance to Cuba's socialist cause, Xi said.

Xi said he believes that under the leadership of the new PCC Central Committee led by Diaz-Canel, the PCC and the Cuban government will lead the Cuban people to forge ahead in unity and steer the cause of socialism with Cuban characteristics towards new achievements.

Xi also asked Diaz-Canel to convey his cordial greetings to Comrade Raul Castro.

China and Cuba are good friends, comrades and brothers, bound closely together by their common ideals and beliefs, Xi said.

The Chinese leader said that in recent years, he and Diaz-Canel have reached many consensuses on developing China-Cuba relations in the new era, which have helped push forward the development of bilateral relations.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, and is the first year for China to implement its 14th Five-Year Plan and embark on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country, Xi said, adding that this year also marks the 60th anniversary of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro's announcement that the Cuban Revolution had socialist characteristics.

This year is also a year in which Cuba continuously promotes the renewal of its economic and social model and makes important strides in building a prosperous and sustainable socialist country, Xi said.

The CPC stands ready to strengthen communication and discussion with the PCC on major theoretical and practical issues, Xi said, adding that China is willing to take the joint building of the Belt and Road as an opportunity to steadily push forward practical cooperation between the two sides in various fields.

China will maintain close communication and coordination with Cuba on important international and regional issues, and firmly safeguard world peace, fairness and justice, Xi said.

China will, as always, support Cuba in defending its national sovereignty and independence and following a socialist path that suits its national situation, and jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.

For his part, Diaz-Canel conveyed Raul Castro's best wishes to Xi, and briefed the Chinese leader on the Eighth Congress of the PCC.

He said the congress focused on Cuba's economic development, the Party building and the policies towards cadres, which has formulated new plans and policies for updating Cuba's economic and social model, and strengthened the country's belief in sticking to the path of socialism.

Diaz-Canel spoke highly of the historic achievements made by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC in the past 100 years.

He underlined China's great achievements in building a modern socialist country under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, expressing his firm belief that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, China will eventually achieve greater progress.

Diaz-Canel said he appreciates China's long-term and firm support for Cuba's just cause, including its timely assistance to Cuba's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

Cuba firmly supports the one-China policy and opposes all acts of interference in China's internal affairs, he said.

The PCC is willing to strengthen the exchange of experience with the CPC in running a country, make good use of mechanisms such as the Cuba-China intergovernmental commission for economic and trade relations, and promote practical cooperation in such areas as jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to push forward the relations between the two parties and the two countries.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The announcement Thursday, which came just days before the Pfizer vaccine is expected to receive approval for use in children ages 12 to 15, should allow private doctors offices and small medical providers to order vaccines themselves. It may also open the door to more doctors offering the shots in their offices across the state, though challenges remain, such as the ultra-cold storage required for Pfizer vaccines.
Lubbock, TX (79423)

Today

Mostly clear. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. Low 72F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
2. Get out all the gunk

"Use a putty knife, brush and skewers to get all of last year's gunk out, Serritella says. That includes the inside cover, sides and bottom of the grill. This will make sure that nothing burns off right onto your food.

Soak a few old dish towels in the hot water and dish soap solution and wipe down all areas of the grill. Then spray the inside top of the grill with a solution of 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water. Think of this like cleaning a dirty pan before you are ready to use it to cook.

Let sit for at least a half hour, then wipe down the inside and outside of the grill with warm water, to remove any of the leftover char from last year, dirt that may have blown in or bugs that were trapped.

If you cook with a charcoal grill, make sure to remove any residual ashes, says Octavius Nelson, owner of Bobby's BBQ in Fountain Inn, South Carolina.

"A lot of people leave the ashes in there and cook on top of them next time, but that can rust out your grill box, he says. It's best to remove the charcoals after every use, once the grill cools down."

Remove your grill's drip tray if you have one (most gas grills do)  this is what catches any dripping grease  and re-cover with foil before you place it back.

3. Prep your grill grates

Once you've done a deep clean, it's time to prep your grill. Nelson recommends oiling the grates of the grill to counteract any rust that may have built up.

"If you're an experienced griller, put some cooking oil on a towel after your grill is hot and rub the grates to wipe it down, he says, If you're more of a beginner, take the grates off your grill before you light it, and rub the oil on them cold. Then put them back on, heat up your grill and use a grill brush to clean them off.

Grillers can also do a pre-burn with the oil grates for about 10 minutes before cleaning, to burn off any excess, Serritella says.

4. Cover it up

Grills are made to withstand the elements, but getting a cover and protecting your equipment between uses will prevent the need for frequent heavy-duty cleaning.

"If rain gets in your grill, it could get moldy, says Nelson. A cover will also help keep critters and bugs out, especially bees.

Make sure to wait until your grill cools down to cover it each night.
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Sydney, May 6, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Empire Energy ( ASX:EEG ) (EEGUF) has agreed to acquire an 82.5% interest in Exploration Permits EP167, EP168, EP169, EP198 and EP305 (together the "Vendor Tenements") from Pangaea, a company founded and owned by Mr Paul Fudge, an established company builder and hydrocarbon project operator.The Vendor Tenements complement our existing acreage in the Northern Territory's the Greater McArthur Basin and Beetaloo Sub-Basin. Netherland, Sewell and Associates, Inc ("NSAI") has independently assessed a best estimate Prospective Resource of 22.8 TCF gas and 630 MMbbls liquids net to the acquired 82.5% interest in the Vendor Tenements.NSAI has also independently assessed 2C Contingent Resources in the Pangaea interests in the Vendor Tenements of 130 BCF gas and 2.9 MMbbls liquids.A transformational acquisition for EmpireThe transaction is transformational for Empire and will support our goal to reach commercialisation through:- An enhanced opportunity to create the leading onshore NT energy company: the acquisition of Pangaea increases Empire's 2C contingent resource to ~171 BCF and best estimate prospective resource to ~37 TCF of gas and 657 MMbbls of oil;- Enhanced drill ready location inventory: ~$110 million (gross) has been spent on the Pangaea properties to date providing Empire with an inventory of appraisal and horizontal drilling locations across a well-defined subsurface data set; and- Further pathways to gas markets: Pangaea's assets are located adjacent to the Amadeus Gas Pipeline, which connects to Darwin and to the Northern Gas Pipeline and on to east coast markets. This complements Empire's plans to produce gas from its Carpentaria Project into the McArthur River Mine Gas Pipeline. Pangaea's acreage is in close proximity to existing road and rail infrastructure, which materially enhances accessibility for development work at the earliest time.To view the video interview, please visit:About Empire Energy Group Ltd

Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators.

Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006.
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Vancouver, May 6, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Join Ellis Martin for a conversation with Don Mosher, Vice President of Capital Markets for Desert Mountain Energy ( CVE:DME ) ( OTCMKTS:DMEHF ).Desert Mountain Energy is a resource company actively engaged in the exploration and development of Helium and Rare Earth Gas properties in the American Southwest with a substantial land holding at the Holbrook Helium Project in Holbrook, Arizona, the world's best address for Helium with prolific historic production.The company intends on becoming completely vertically integrated, producing helium from their wells in Arizona for delivery to off take candidates within the region. The consumption of helium along with recent prices has proliferated as its uses in the medical world, in computers and other arenas has grown. Mr. Mosher provides us with an overview of the company and an update on the Holbrook Helium Project. We discuss the fundamentals of the helium market and why it's an interesting potential investment opportunity.To listen to the Interview, please visit:About Desert Mountain Energy Corp.

Desert Mountain Energy Corp. is a publicly traded exploration and resource company focused on the discovery and development of rare earth gas fields in the US. The Company is primarily looking for elements deemed critical to the green energy and high technology industries.


Appoints Head of Business Development

Perth, May 7, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Deep Yellow Limited ( ASX:DYL ) ( FRA:JMI ) ( OTCMKTS:DYLLF ) is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Mirco as the Company's Head of Business Development.Mr Mirco is an experienced corporate finance and business development executive, with a successful and proven background in financing, M&A, and risk management. Through his time at Paladin Energy Limited he worked closely with the current Deep Yellow management and technical team, and will bring the extensive uranium experience and knowledge gained during this time to this role.Mr Mirco spent over ten years at Paladin (2008-18) holding senior roles in both Treasury and Corporate Development. He played an integral part in the inorganic growth of Paladin in the latter years, leading to execution of M&A opportunities and asset sales. In addition, Mr Mirco led the project debt financing for Paladin's mine developments.At Deep Yellow, Mr Mirco will be responsible for advancing the Company's inorganic pillar of its growth strategy, working in close association with Managing Director and CEO John Borshoff. He will be focusing on targeted and advanced M&A opportunities to establish a project pipeline for future development. Successful delivery of this objective will play a key role in delivering the Company's strategic goal of establishing a multi-platform, 5-10Mlb pa, lowcost uranium producer.Mr Mirco will also be responsible for leading and progressing development funding as the Company's Namibian flagship Tumas Project advances with its DFS currently underway. In this regard he will be involved in securing the project financing required to transition the Project into production.Commenting on the appointment of Mr Mirco, Deep Yellow Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said: "Andrew is well-known and highly-regarded by the management and technical team of Deep Yellow and industry peers. We are fortunate he has accepted the role of Head of Business Development for the Company.Andrew will spearhead our efforts on executing advanced M&A opportunities to establish a project pipeline for Deep Yellow and, at the appropriate time, will also be responsible for securing project financing for Tumas, to ensure development of this exciting project remains on track.The time to act on the M&A front is now and we need to deliver on our stated objectives and, together with development of the Tumas Project, place the Company in a strong position ahead of the looming supply shortage forecast for the post-2023 period."About Deep Yellow Limited

Deep Yellow Limited (ASX:DYL) (OTCMKTS:DYLLF) (Namibian Stock Exchange:DYL) is a differentiated, advanced uranium exploration company, in predevelopment phase, implementing a contrarian strategy to grow shareholder wealth. This strategy is founded upon growing the existing uranium resources across the Company's uranium projects in Namibia and the pursuit of accretive, counter-cyclical acquisitions to build a global, geographically diverse asset portfolio. A PFS has recently been completed on its Tumas Project in Namibia and a DFS commenced February 2021. The Company's cornerstone suite of projects in Namibia is situated within a top-ranked African mining destination in a jurisdiction that has a long, well-regarded history of safely and effectively developing and regulating its considerable uranium mining industry.


Airborne Electromagnetic Survey Commences at Big Lake

Brisbane, May 7, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Alligator Energy ( ASX:AGE ) is pleased to announce that it has commenced mobilisation of its contractor to undertake airborne electromagnetic data acquisition at the Big Lake Uranium (BLU) Project in South Australia.The purpose of the survey is to delineate interpreted palaeochannels within the Eyre formation of the Tertiary sediments that would form a favorable environment for uranium deposition. SkyTEM Australia were selected to complete the survey utilising the SkyTEM 304 system which is proven to deliver accurate data from the top few metres to depths of up to 350 metres. A total of 1,350 line kilometres are proposed, over north south lines spaced at between 400 and 500 metres, to cover the prospective target area (Refer Figure 1*).The project was granted funding under the South Australian Governments Advanced Discovery Initiative (ADI) scheme. Following a stage 2 application to the scheme in March 2021, the company was awarded $152,400 towards its "Greenfields exploration for ISR uranium deposits in the Cooper Basin".Funding is provided as part of the South Australian Government's Growth State Agenda, with the aim to accelerate mineral discovery through innovative exploration and research projects in regional and frontier terrains throughout South Australia.Alligator has previously advised the market (ASX announcement: 28 January 2021 and September 2020 Quarterly Activities Report) that difficulties were being experienced with COVID interstate travel restrictions for planned work on the Big Lake Uranium Project. Specifically, suitable geophysics crews were reluctant to travel from their home base (mainly WA) and at times Alligator's geologists were unable to enter South Australia from QLD. As a result the proposed work program planned for the Earning Period (to 21 July 2021) specified in the Big Lake Uranium Share Sale Agreement executed on 4 December 2019 could not be completed. This proposed work program is intended to cover both a geophysics survey and a drilling program based on the targets identified from the survey.Alligator and the Shareholders of Big Lake Uranium Pty Ltd have now agreed an extension to the Earning Period from 21 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 to enable completion of the proposed work program (Proposed Variation). In lieu of granting this extension Alligator has agreed to the payment of a variation consideration in the form of a one-off cash payment of $30,000 within 10 business days of the Proposed Variation becoming into effect.The Proposed Variation extends the time to satisfy the Milestone for the relevant Performance Shares (see Appendix A), which are categorised as the Acquisition Shares. This constitutes an amendment to the terms of those Performance Shares and any change to or amendment of the Performance Shares requires prior ASX and Shareholder Approval. Alligator will be engaging with the ASX to seek a waiver from this requirement on the basis that the extension was required as a result of a 'force majeure' event created by the COVID pandemic. Should a waiver not be possible then the Company will determine the appropriate timing of a shareholder meeting to secure the requisite approval prior to 21 July 2021.Greg Hall, Alligator CEO said"We are hugely excited to commence airborne exploration of the Big Lake project, and we see the program as a key step to advancement and testing of a conceptual new ISR field in South Australia. The intention is for the survey to allow focused first pass drill testing in Q3 2021.The South Australian ADI scheme is an excellent program with strong competition for funding and shows the department's committed and ongoing support towards the mineral industry with a combined $10m in grants to be awarded as part of the scheme. We are proud to be operating in two outstanding supportive Australian jurisdictions of South Australia and the Northern Territory for our uranium exploration programs."Big Lake Uranium OpportunityAlligator entered into a Share Sale Agreement with Big Lake Uranium Pty Ltd (BLU) in 2019 which provides the opportunity to earn 100% interest in the Project. BLU is a privately-owned company and is a holder of Exploration Licence 6367 in the Cooper Basin South Australia which was granted on 23 July 2019.- South Australian jurisdiction - Existing uranium production, with strong Government and public familiarity, excellent regulator experience and uranium concentrate logistics- Shallow sandstone hosted deposits - In Situ Recovery (ISR) - deposit style is amenable to rapid and low-cost exploration, and exploitation- Strong Uranium endowment in region - crustal scale heat anomaly - uranium rich basements - uranium present within drainage channels - host to world class ISR deposits- Untested model of familiar mineralisation setting - Source: U rich basement rocks - transport: systems allowing fluids from uranium bearing basement rocks into sandstone basins - trap: hydrocarbons (gas) providing reductant for uranium deposition. Similarities with the Kazakhstan, Texas and Wyoming uranium fields- Known uranium - oil and gas well gamma logging showing uranium - one previous explorer found anomalous uranium, but failed to test the paleochannel modelThe Big Lake Project is targeting sandstone hosted uranium in the Moomba Gas Fields, South Australia.The Big Lake Project targets REDOX and roll front uranium mineralisation within paleochannels of the Lake Eyre formation. The model is for uranium to be sourced from distal uranium rich rocks and transported as oxidised fluids through paleochannels. The area is located on the margins of deep-seated dome structures associated with known gas reservoirs within the Moomba Gas Fields of South Australia.Initial work completed by BLU included proprietary isopach modelling that identifies variations in basement lithology depths, the location of constraining ridge lines and hydrocarbon influenced domes. The modelling of basement topography has allowed interpretation of hydraulic pathways through potential paleochannels. This formed the basis for the area selection and planned geophysics within the Cooper Basin.One phase of uranium exploration was previously conducted in the region. This program targeted known gamma anomalies identified in historic oil and gas wells. Anomalous uranium was intersected, however the program failed to test the interpreted paleochannels along which uranium is believed to have been transported and deposited within roll-front and REDOX environments. The signatures of these existing anomalies are deemed typical of oxidised tails, indicating future exploration would need to be down hydraulic gradient of these intercepts. This next phase of work is designed to accurately identify and map these favourable channels allowing considered drill testing of the concept.*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Alligator Energy Ltd

Alligator Energy Ltd (ASX:AGE) is an Australian, ASX-listed, exploration company focused on uranium and energy related minerals, principally cobalt-nickel.

Alligator's Directors have significant experience in the exploration, development and operations of both uranium and nickel projects (both laterites and sulphides).
The decision is also sure to be scrutinized all around for any whiff of political bias, and no doubt the committee members were very well aware of this, she said, noting that the decision could also be a boon for developing countries in need of coronavirus vaccines.


Operations Update

Melbourne, May 7, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Vintage Energy Ltd ( ASX:VEN ) is pleased to provide an update on activities relating to Vali-2 in the Cooper Basin and Nangwarry-1 in the onshore Otway Basin.Cooper Basin - ATP 2021 (Vintage 50% and operator, Metgasco Ltd ( ASX:MEL ) 25%, Bridgeport Cooper Basin Pty Ltd 25%)The Vali-2 well reached total depth at 3,240 metres on Sunday 2 May without any safety incidents. This was a very well executed drilling operation lead by the Schlumberger rig team and the contractor group as a whole.A number of gas shows in the Toolachee and Patchawarra formations and Tirrawarra Sandstone were observed during drilling and these are currently being evaluated by the wireline logging program. As detailed previously, the primary objectives of Vali-2 were to assess the potential for gas in the Toolachee Formation four-way dip closure, that was not tested in Vali-1 ST1, and to appraise the extent of the Patchawarra Formation gas accumulation discovered in Vali-1 ST1.The positive news to date is that gas shows in the Patchawarra Formation, that are supported by preliminary wireline log results, are in line and consistent with those observed in Vali-1 ST1, with the Toolachee Formation also showing early encouraging signs.Otway Basin - PEL 155 (Vintage 50%, Otway Energy Pty Ltd 50% and operator)Data is being analysed from the downhole gauges that were retrieved from Nangwarry-1 in late April. Once the test data is analysed the Joint Venture will estimate updated volumetrics for the Nangwarry reservoir, which will in turn be independently verified.The current gross recoverable estimates for Nangwarry-1 carbon dioxide are: Low of 7.8 Bcf (3.9 Bcf net), Best of 25.1 Bcf (12.6 Bcf net), High of 82.1 Bcf (41.1 Bcf net) (refer ASX release dated 31 August 2020).R&D Tax Incentive ReceiptThe Vintage cash position has been positively impacted by research and development tax incentive receipts totalling $1.7 million. These receipts related to eligible R&D expenditure incurred in the Galilee Basin during FY19 and FY20.About Vintage Energy Ltd

Vintage Energy Ltd (ASX:VEN) has been established to acquire, explore and develop energy assets principally within, but not limited to, Australia, to take advantage of a generally favourable energy pricing outlook.


Tamboran Launches Inaugural Sustainability Plan

Sydney, May 7, 2021 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Tamboran Resources Limited today released its inaugural Sustainability Plan, outlining the Company's wide-ranging set of commitments and actions to achieve its vision of playing a part in the global energy transition to a lower carbon future through the development of a large-scale, clean, low CO2 natural gas resource in the Beetaloo Sub-basin in the Northern Territory of Australia. Pursuant to its vision, Tamboran aims to become a producer of gas with net zero emissions for its equity share of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions when the Company initiates sale of natural gas.Tamboran believes that operating in a sustainable manner is central to achieving the Company's core strategy and objectives. The Sustainability Plan includes six pillars that define its purpose, principles and values with relation to sustainability. These are:- Health and Safety: Putting the health and safety of our people, contractors and community first through effective systems, culture and secure operations;- Climate Change: Playing an effective role in the transition to a lower carbon economy through the production of low CO2 natural gas resources;- Environment: Applying leading technologies to promote efficiency and minimise environmental impacts;- People: Attracting, developing and retaining a diverse, inclusive and competent workforce;- Community: Partnering with our local and host communities to share value through the creation of local jobs and business opportunities; and- Economic Sustainability: Generating economic growth and value for our investors, employees, customers and communities through sustainable production of affordable gas resources and distribution to multiple markets.These pillars align with selected Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the United Nations.Tamboran will select appropriate sustainability practices, set measurable performance targets and report progress against those targets. Tamboran believes this strategy will enable it to achieve both the Company's vision and its sustainability objectives."We are pleased to share our Sustainability Plan, which highlights our vision and priorities. We aspire to play a part in the global transition to a lower carbon, more sustainable future and look forward to building on this report over time, based on stakeholder feedback," said Joel Riddle, Managing Director and CEO of Tamboran Resources. "Operating sustainably is very relevant to how we impact the environment, local communities and is vital to generating long term value for all our stakeholders".To view the Sustainability Plan, please visit:About Tamboran Resources Limited

Tamboran is a natural gas company focused on supporting the net zero energy transition by developing clean, low-CO2, unconventional gas resources in the Northern Territory, Australia. Tamboran's key assets are a 25% working interest in EP 161 and a 100% working interest in EP 136 which are located in the Beetaloo Sub-basin.



The Company is focused on developing early-stage, unconventional gas resources within its portfolio which are located in the Beetaloo Sub-basin in the Northern Territory. Tamboran Resources Limited is headquartered in Sydney, Australia with a global management team leveraging a significant depth of experience in the successful commercialisation of unconventional hydrocarbons throughout North America. The team brings a wealth of knowledge, including modern shale reservoir assessment, as well as cutting-edge drilling and completion design technology.
Pastry chef Nicole Guini was previously at Blackbird, where she won Pastry Chef of the Year at the 2019 Jean Banchet Awards. The pioneering West Loop restaurant closed after 22 years in June due to the pandemic. Guini continued to work at sister restaurants Avec and The Publican, also owned by One Off Hospitality, until just last month.
Tickets are $20 and went on sale Friday morning for two seatings. They include a seat for the show and a Macys swag bag with a $10 store gift card. Tickets (sold as seatings for two, four and six people) do not include food or drinks. Diners must purchase an entree during the show. A special drag brunch menu will feature colorful drinks. No word yet if Mrs. Herings 1890 recipe chicken pot pie or the Frango mint chocolate ice cream pie will be available.
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The actor-turned-rapper also known as Donald Glover has been slapped with a lawsuit for alleged copyright infringement over his critically-acclaimed single 'This Is America'.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - Rapper Childish Gambino has been hit with legal action over allegations of copyright infringement regarding his Grammy Award-winning single "This Is America".

Emelike Nwosuocha, who performs as Kidd Wes, claims the 2018 chart smash bears striking similarities to his own tune, "Made in America", which he posted on music platform SoundCloud in September 2016, and on YouTube shortly thereafter.

He even registered the track with officials at the U.S. Copyright Office in May 2017, and was stunned to discover how closely Gambino's "This Is America" resembled his own release, arguing the chorus is "unmistakably substantially similar, if not practically identical."

In court papers obtained by TMZ, the plaintiff alleges Gambino's rapping style is also a rip off of his own, as are the lyrics in "This Is America" 's refrain.

He is demanding significant damages from Gambino, real name Donald Glover, and his song co-writers, Ludwig Goransson, and Jeffery Lamar Williams, better known as Young Thug. Label officials who released the tune, including bosses at Jay-Z's Roc Nation, are also named as defendants in the case.

Representatives for Gambino and his collaborators have yet to comment on the lawsuit.

"This Is America", which tackled gun violence in the United States along with other social issues like racism, won four Grammys in 2019 for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance, and Best Music Video.

Childish Gambino made history as the first hip-hop artist to win Golden Gramophones for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
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The former Posh Spice recalls meeting Beyonce Knowles years ago and the 'Crazy in Love' hitmaker telling her how much she was inspired by the 'Wannabe' group.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - Beyonce was "inspired" by the Spice Girls, according to Victoria Beckham.

Victoria has recalled meeting the "Crazy in Love" hitmaker "a few years ago" and her telling her how much the "Wannabe" group made her "proud" to be female and be in a girl band.

The 47-year-old fashion designer told "Dear Media's Breaking Beauty" podcast, "I met Beyonce a few years ago and she actually said to me, 'It was the Spice Girls that inspired me and made me want to do what I do and made me proud to be a girl. I'm proud to be who I am.' " "And when someone like Beyonce, who is so iconic and such a strong woman, says that she was inspired by the Spice Girls, I think that that's quite something."

Beyonce formed Destiny's Child in 1990 with Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland while the Spice Girls were formed in 1994.

The latter - also made up of Melanie C (Sporty), Geri Horner (Ginger), Emma Bunton (Baby), Mel B (Scary) - popularised the feminist slogan "girl power" after being told they would never be successful because girls only buy records by the opposite sex.

The Spice Girls plot to reunite for a new tour, but it's unclear whether or not Victoria Adams will join her bandmates as she's busy with her venture in the fashion industry.

David Beckham's wife recently explained why she was reluctant to reunite with her bandmates.

In a letter to her future self in Britain's Vogue magazine, she admitted it was seeing Elton John perform that made her realise she'd never be passionate about music.

"Watching your dear friend Elton John on stage in Las Vegas," she wrote. "As if it were the first time, and you realised this was like oxygen for him. It was a life-changing moment - while singing and dancing was fun for you, it wasn't your passion."
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The girl, who posted a clip of her video call with the 'Friends' star after matching him on Raya, comes to her own defense, claiming older Hollywood stars preyed on younger women.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - The 20-year-old TikTok user, who went viral for posting a private FaceTime call she had with "Friends" star Matthew Perry last year (20), insists older stars are taking advantage of young women on dating apps.

Kate Haralson tells Page Six she made it clear she was 19 when she matched with 51-year-old Perry on Raya in May 2020, and she went public with their online chat because she wants dating app users to know they are prey for older Hollywood stars.

"A lot of people were saying I'm a bully and mean for posting this, and it made me feel kind of bad, but at the same time, I feel like a lot of guys in Hollywood are talking to all these young girls and it's something that I think a lot of people should be aware of," the personal assistant tells the publication.

She claims that Perry asked to move their conversations from Raya to FaceTime after matching with her, and admits she thought it would be "funny" to chat with him, but their conversation quickly became uncomfortable.

"I was not really thinking anything of it...," Haralson adds, "but it kind of felt weird talking to someone my dad's age and it just felt not right, especially when he knew how young I was."

The blonde claims the actor asked her, "Am I as old as your dad?" and then laughed when she said he was actually a year older.

Haralson posted a clip of the FaceTime call with Perry to her TikTok account earlier this week (beg03May21) and admits she had no idea it would become such a big deal.

"I didn't expect it to blow up as fast as it did," she says, revealing she quickly took the video down.

She says she was inspired by another viral video shared on TikTok by a user named Nivine Jay, who posted a personal video of Ben Affleck after they matched on Raya.

Six months after matching with Haralson on Raya, Perry announced he was engaged to 29-year-old literary manager Molly Hurwitz.

Meanwhile, the 20 year old tells the Post she is still on Raya and hasn't been kicked off yet.
I saw a man come from the doorway of the restaurant and run toward Lombardos back, a witness told police, as reported in the Tribune. I looked away for a moment and then came the shots and Lombardo fell and then every one started first one way and then another and the men with guns were running around the corner and policemen running toward the men who were shot.
WENN/Avalon Celebrity

In celebration of their son's milestone, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex invite people to donate and help bring the COVID-19 vaccine for vulnerable families around the world.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are celebrating Archie's second birthday. Commemorating their first child's very special day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex let out a new photo of the birthday boy who was adorably holding balloons.

The royal couple released the cute sepia-toned snap of Archie on Thursday, May 6 on their Archewell Foundation website. In the picture, the toddler can be seen standing with his back to the camera while holding a bunch of balloons and looking up at them. The post, however, was titled, "Join Us in Advocating for Vaccine Equity on Archie's Birthday."

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry offered a new photo of Archie on his 2nd birthday.

In the post, Meghan and Prince Harry thanked everyone for their birthday wishes. "We have been deeply touched over the past two years to feel the warmth and support for our family in honor of Archie's birthday," the pair noted.

The twosome also acknowledged those who have donated to charities on their son's behalf. "Many of you donate to charities on his behalf, and mark the occasion by giving back or doing an act of service - all through the goodness of your hearts. You raise funds for those who need it most, and continue to do so organically and selflessly," they praised. "We remain incredibly grateful."

Celebrating Archie's birthday in a special way, Meghan and Harry invited others to donate and help bring vaccines to people in need. "As of today, around 80 percent of the nearly one billion COVID-19 vaccine shots that have been given were administered in wealthier countries," they pointed out. "While we may feel that normalcy is around the corner, we remind ourselves that in much of the world, and especially in developing countries, vaccine distribution has effectively yet to start."

"We will not be able to truly recover until everyone, everywhere, has equal access to the vaccine," the royal couple stressed. Encouraging people to raise more funds for the cause, they added, "And with that intention, we are inviting you to contribute whatever you can - if you have the means to do so - to bring vaccines to families in the world's most vulnerable places."

Near the end of their message, Meghan and Prince Harry admitted, "We cannot think of a more resonant way to honor our son's birthday. If we all show up, with compassion for those we both know and don't know, we can have a profound impact. Even a small contribution can have a ripple effect." They concluded by saying, "Together, we can uplift, protect, and care for one another."

Members of the British royal family including Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, as well as Prince William and Kate Middleton have sent well wishes for Archie's birthday on their social media accounts. On Thursday, the Queen marked her great-grandson's birthday with a tribute post on the Royal Family Instagram page. "Wishing Archie Mountbatten-Windsor a very happy 2nd birthday today," hers read.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, in the meantime, shared a photo of Harry cradling baby Archie via the Clarence House's account. "Happy birthday to Archie, who turns two today," they simply noted. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, on the other hand, wished their nephew a happy birthday on their official Instagram page using a family photo from Archie's July 2019 christening.
TLC Celebrity

The former '19 Kids and Counting' star is released from the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas after being granted conditional bail.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - Josh Duggar is breathing in the fresh air again despite his child porn charges. Days after he was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Arkansas, the former reality TV star has been released from jail.

In pictures obtained by Daily Mail, the 33-year-old walked free from the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville on Thursday, May 6. Donning an untucked white-and-red checkered shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, he seemed to have grown a bit of a beard though he was wearing a blue face mask.

Josh did not speak to reporters as he walked into the outdoor sunshine. He was accompanied by his attorney Travis Story, who said his client would be handed over to LaCount Reber and his wife Maria as soon as some additional paperwork was completed at his law office. "We've got a really good case," he told reporters, without elaborating.

Josh was arrested on April 29 and was subsequently charged with possession of child pornography. In follow-up report, it's said that authorities found two-minute clip on his computer of two underage females and a male who performed sexual acts on the children. 65 images of a female "consistent with child pornography" were also found on his device.

Josh's request for release on conditional bail was granted at a bond hearing on May 5. Upon his release, he's going to be placed at home confinement at the house of pastor LaCount and his wife Maria, who acknowledged that they do not know Josh well but are good friends with his father.

Josh can't return to his family home because there are six minor children that live in the house and is not allowed to go to his parents' house, where there are other minor children. He, however, has unlimited access with his six kids as long as wife Anna Duggar is present.

Still, the former "19 Kids and Counting" star is not allowed to be around any other children. Additionally, his travel is restricted as he cannot leave the Western District of Arkansas without permission from the court and is only allowed to leave the Rebers' house to go to see his family, go to church, employment, medical care and legal appointments under monitoring via GPS.
Movie

The latest sneak peek for the long-awaited sequel to the 2018 hit horror movie sees the Abbotts venturing out to find more lives worth saving following the deadly events at home.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - "A Quiet Place Part II" is finally coming later this month, a year after it was pushed back from its original release date. To remind fans what to anticipate in the sequel to "A Quiet Place", Paramount Pictures has now released a final trailer for the upcoming movie.

Similar to the first trailer, the latest sneak peek again opens with a throwback sequence when the monster apocalypse began, this time from Lee Abbott's (John Krasinski) point of view. From there, the video jumps to the present where Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) and her three children are back on the outside world after abandoning the farm, where they settled in for quite some time.

The Abbotts are running into some new people, including Cillian Murphy's Emmett and Djimon Hounsou's character, who have built a safe haven of their own. But instead of holing up in the new place, Evelyn appears to be ready to risk her own life to find more people worth saving out there.

According to the official synopsis by Paramount, "Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path."

The video also serves as an invite for movie fans to return to theaters as it features a review on Fandago which read, "This is the experience theatres were made for."

Krasinski, who returns as director for the sequel, also urges people to watch the movie in cinemas. "It's very exciting to be able to come back to the theaters to see 'A Quiet Place II' because it was always designed for theatrical experience," he says in a new featurette. "The second movie is much bigger. It's much scarier movie.

Blunt also gushes about the movie, "It's such an inspired sequel." She adds, "The world expands in this one, because they have to venture out." Of why people should watch it in theaters, she says, "It's a horror movie, you want to watch it in the dark, jump and leap and gasp together. So I'm really excited for you guys to see it."

"A Quiet Place Part II" is coming only in theaters on May 28.
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After 'an exhaustive search and review of the evidence,' police determine based on Saniyya Dennis' last phone calls that the college student might have taken her own life.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - 40 Cal's missing daughter is believed to have died of suicide. More than ten days since the rapper's daughter Saniyya Dennis was reported missing, police determine that the college student might have taken her own life.

During a press conference on Thursday, May 6, New York officials announced they came to the conclusion after conducting an extensive investigation into the teen's whereabouts. "An exhaustive search and review of the evidence has been done and it appears that this poor girl took her own life," Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told reporters.

Supporting their claim, Flynn said that investigators spoke to two people who were communicating with Dennis on the day she was last seen. One of the individuals, a male friend, said that the college student had expressed suicidal intent following a breakup with her boyfriend earlier that day. The friend told investigators they continued to talk on the phone for several hours, and Dennis had seemingly reconsidered her initial plans to kill herself.

At around 11 that night, Dennis allegedly threw her personal items into a garbage can, shortly before her bus card was swiped twice. She was tracked to a bus where she reportedly got off near the Niagara Falls Visitor Center and security cameras showed her in the park about a quarter after midnight.

At the time, the 19-year-old was still communicating with her male friend via text and a phone call and allegedly told him that she planned to jump off. However, she later informed him that she had phone conversation with her mother and was heading back to Buffalo. At around 1:30 A.M., Dennis' phone had left the cellular network.

Flynn, however, noted, "Without a body, without an autopsy being done, we're never going to definitively know. All I can do is present you with what I have and what I presented ... everything that I had ... to her parents."

Prior to this, 40 Cal expressed his frustration at police's alleged lack of attempts to find his missing daughter. "I'm really frustrated and upset about how this case is being handled," he said on "BNC News". He claimed that authorities had been dragging their feet in search efforts while he and his friends as well as his family have stormed Buffalo streets passing out flyers and knocking on doors.

The rapper added the case was given to university police and claimed "they fumbled" because they weren't equipped to handle a situation such as this. Cal also shared there's a video that shows his daughter in the elevator with a man. After waiting days for the footage, Cal asked the police who the man was. He claimed the authorities hadn't even begun investigating the unknown person.

Meanwhile, University Police Chief Peter Carey said in a statement earlier this week, "Our one and only goal in this investigation is to locate Saniyya and reconnect her with her family. Understandably, emotions are high right now, but I want to be clear that our department will not rest until Saniyya is found... I understand the desire for new details about this case is high, but to ensure the integrity of this multi-agency investigation, we are limited in our ability to share further information at this time."

Dennis was reported missing from SUNY Buffalo State College since Saturday, April 24. She was last seen leaving her residence hall around 11 P.M. On April 29, 40 Cal took to his Instagram page to enlist his fans' help to find his daughter.

"My daughter Saniyya is missing out of Buffalo State College ....," he posted along with a picture of Dennis in a green gown. He even offered a $10,000 reward for "anyone with any helpful info" about his daughter's whereabouts.

40 Cal has not responded to police's conclusion of their investigation. As of Thursday, he kept reposting people's messages about his missing daughter as well as fans' words of condolences to him and his family.
Instagram Celebrity

According to an LAPD detective, a witness testified that the 'Dior' rapper was ambushed by masked men when he was in the shower and got kicked after he was shot.

May 7, 2021

AceShowbiz - More details of Pop Smoke's final moments have been unearthed, one year after his tragic death in an armed robbery. According to an LAPD detective who took the stand during a hearing for one of the murder suspects on Thursday, May 6, the slain rapper was ambushed in the shower.

Recounting a witness' testimony, Det. Christian Carrasco said in the court that the Brooklyn star was taking a shower at an Airbnb in Los Angeles on February 19, 2020 when masked men stormed through the curtains of a second-story balcony. One intruder was believed to have pressed a black semiautomatic firearm to the forehead of a woman who was with Smoke in his bedroom that night while the others rushed into the adjoining bathroom.

Hours after the incident, the woman told detectives "she heard a struggle coming from the shower area and heard Mr. Jackson screaming. Mr. Jackson ran out of the bathroom and then she heard a loud pop and [heard] Mr. Jackson fall to the ground," Carrasco relayed the story. "Two other individuals began to kick him."

Smoke, who was injured but still alive at the time, later, "gets up and run downstairs," the detective continued testifying. "She hears two more pops. She follows Mr. Jackson, sees him on the ground and screams for Michael (Durodola) to call 911."

Smoke, who was born Bashar Barakah Jackson, was taken to a local hospital, where he underwent a major surgery called a "left thoracotomy," but he suffered a "rapid" decline and couldn't be saved. He was only 20 years old. The "What You Know Bout Love" spitter was buried at Green-Wood Cemetery.

The Thursday preliminary hearing was held for one of the suspects, 19-year-old Corey Walker. Other men identified as suspected killers are Keandre D. Rodgers, 18, Jaquan Murphy, 21, and two unnamed juveniles who were ages 15 and 17 at the time of the incident.
CHICO, Calif. - The Chico Fire Department responded to an early morning structure fire at Izakaya Ichiban on the 2000 block of Notre Dame Boulevard at around midnight that heavily damaged the business.

Fire crews noticed heavy smoke and fire coming from the roof of the small strip mall building. Upon entering the business, firefighters noticed fire coming from the kitchen area, according to Chico Fire Battalion Chief Jim Lucanic.

Crews were quickly able to get hoses into the structure. They contained the fire to just Izakaya Ichiban within 12 minutes of the arrival of the first units.

No injuries were reported but the damages to Izakaya Ichiban were severe enough for the restaurant to announce a temporary closure until further notice.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
GRIDLEY, Calif. - Nearly six months ago someone gunned down William Tull. The family is pleading to Gridley police to step up the investigation.

On Nov. 22, 2020, around 6:30 p.m., that's when someone opened fire on Tull near Washington and Laurel streets in Gridley. That killer is still on the loose.

RELATED: Community uneasy after man shot and killed in Gridley

"We want somebody who knows what they're doing," Rhonda Tull, William's mother said. "We don't want to be a practice run."

"My fiance was shot down right here," Roxanne Rodriguez, the fiance of William said.

The family thinks he was walking to town to grab a bite to eat.

Tull was shot multiple times right next to some storage units. Bullet holes are still visible in the area.

"That's crazy to think that somebody who you were with every day - something so horrible can happen to them that you have no clue," Rodriguez said.

Tears streaming down their faces, loved ones say they have questions for Gridley police. Action News Now took their questions to the police department.

"How come they didn't know what kind of vehicle it was?" asked Rhonda.

"The video I viewed showed a dark sedan but it was hard to tell which format, what maker model," Lieutenant Ruben Quihuiz, of the Gridley Police Department. "There were suspicions potentially of what kind of vehicle, but it was never anything positive."

The family is also wondering about the investigation itself.

"They didn't have forensic come down here to do anything," Rodriguez stated.

Lieutenant Quihuiz said they did collect evidence, the problem is waiting for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to process it.

"They get a lot of evidence from several agencies for crimes against people," Quihuiz said. "We too are in line with everybody else in terms of how priority goes."

And based on home surveillance video  where you can hear what sounds like gunfire, and see some sort of activity in the upper left corner.

Quihuiz said he believes two people had to be involved in Tull's death.

While the investigation goes on, the family will continue to visit Tull's memorial hoping justice is served.

"Our pain will go on forever it will never stop," Rhonda said, also describing her son as kind and humourous. Tull used to be a safety inspector for PG&E and lived in Gridley for most of his life.

Rhonda and Rodriguez emphasized they do not mean to bash Gridley police, they are just wanting answers.

The family said everyone is welcome to come to a memorial for Tull's birthday on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at Laurel and Washington streets.

Gridley police said they call the DOJ every week to check up on the evidence for Tull's case.
OROVILLE, Calif. - Police said they have one man in custody after shots were fired in a south Oroville neighborhood.

Officers said 10 shots were fired on Ontario Ave. and Florence Ave. in Oroville.

Action News Now is working to learn what or who the suspect was shooting at.

No injuries have been reported, however, bullets hit multiple cars.

The incident happened down the street from Wyandotte Academy and Central Middle School. No schools were put on lockdown as they were let out early due to COVID-19 precautions, and police say this is an isolated incident.

This is a developing story. Action News Now will keep you updated with new information on-air and online.
Globally, e-commerce has witnessed a growth surge in the pandemic times. With lockdowns and restrictions on movements due to COVID-19, e-commerce saw a dramatic rise in its share of all retail sales, from 16 per cent to 19 per cent in 2020, as per UNCTAD, the United Nations Trade and Development body. Overall, global e-commerce sales jumped to $26.7 trillion, UNCTAD said.

Also read: How companies are creating the window shopping experience for online commerce?

Throughout most of 2020, e-commerce players continued to grow their operations as retail outlets remained shut. We saw hitherto purely retail players set up their e-commerce operations spanning across categories  from apparel to household goods to groceries to beauty brands.

With India in the grip of a second COVID-19 wave, retail outlets are once again faced with curtailed operations. Several states and cities are currently under lockdown or restricted movement, which has made consumers once again turning to e-commerce platforms. As per government regulations, during the pandemic times, e-commerce players can deliver on essential commodities in areas under lockdown/ curfew.

Not just the metros and Tier 1 cities, but Tier 2 and 3 cities are also beginning to contribute majorly to e-commerce sales. According to an ICICI securities report, Tier 2 and 3 cities clocked 46 per cent share of the overall e-commerce volumes in Q4 of 2020, compared to 32 per cent in the same period in 2019.

Groceries, Essentials & Food Delivery:

To meet the growing demand, pure play delivery companies and logistics firms are on a hiring spree and are expected to bring on board over 150,000 people every month.

According to a report by Ken Research, the Indian e-commerce logistics industry is expected to register a positive five-year CAGR of 23.6% in terms of revenue during the forecast period FY2020-FY2025, to reach Rs 492.4 billion by 2025.

With hotels and restaurants not allowed to have dine-in guests, takeaway services and home delivery are keeping the business alive. Food delivery players like Swiggy, Dunzo and Zomato have beefed up their ground level operations. For at least the next three months they are expected to see a spurt in new hirings to meet customer demand. Both Swiggy and Amazon were seen to run special promotional offers during IPL 2021 (which has been postponed due to the pandemic) to woo customers and to increase engagement with them during the tournament.

Commenting on the situation, Kabeer Biswas, CEO & Co-Founder, Dunzo, said. We have a significant responsibility towards the cities and communities that we serve. In times like these, we can exercise our true potential to create local impact. In the last month of the ongoing pandemic, as cities went back into lockdown, we at Dunzo have been ensuring that our cities remain safe and accessible during the lockdown  whether it is delivering essentials, medicines, or any other consumables that people may need.

He further said, At the same time, we know that our delivery partners have been absolute warriors in the last year and beyond. All partners have been equipped with masks, sanitizers, trained on social distancing, and other protective and preventive measures and are continuing to operate in a conscious capacity. We are also ensuring that there is social distancing at our partnered merchant stores and that orders are structured in a way as to prevent crowding at the location.

Sharat Krishnan, Head of Marketing, Melorra, remarked, Customer experience has been at the forefront of all initiatives at Melorra  this was true before the pandemic happened and even now when we are witnessing a lockdown during the second wave. We have been growing and innovating since the commencement to ensure that we bring the convenience of access to lightweight and trendy jewellery to our customers. E-retail is picking up in a big way once again and with Melorra, customers can expect a safe and hassle-free shopping experience. We ensure that customers receive our packages in a completely safe and sanitized manner. Even with upcoming festivals such as Akshay Tritiya, we are offering new collections keeping in mind the best interest of our customers and also providing them the comfort to shop from anywhere.

Tibin Anthony, VP, CEO & Founders Office, Housejoy, added here, India has once again adopted to fight the second wave of the pandemic with stricter lockdown measures and curbs on activity. Although this means some initial inertia, what it has also done is to cause a surge in e-commerce activity. This is especially true for at-home services such as fumigation, cleaning, etc. This is tough time for everyone and at Housejoy, we stand by our customers during this phase. Their safety and ensuring that they get the best-in-class services are the top priority for us right now. We are prepared to meet the increase in demand and are operational across Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and Mumbai. We have always maintained and followed all the COVID protocols while servicing our customers. Just like last year, we have ramped up our efforts now as well.

Speaking about how the online grocery store has been carrying out its business operations during the pandemic, a Grofers spokesperson said, Right from the onset of the pandemic, we have continued to leverage our web and mobile platforms to update consumers regarding city-wise developments, enabling us to remain transparent about logistical constraints in case of supply chain bottlenecks. Apart from this, we have been consistent in posting content across our social media channels to keep our consumers updated, informed and engaged. In terms of business, we are essentially witnessing a surge in demand in the markets that have been affected by the second wave. This is primarily due to the behavioural shift amongst consumers towards e-grocery, in the last 12 months. While the second wave has not triggered panic buying as yet, we remain cautious by ramping up our capacities  both in terms of the physical capacity of stocks and people across markets  to serve our consumers in a safe, secure and timely manner he concluded.

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Gary Knell, Chairman of National Geographic Partners has decided to step down from the organization owned by Disney. Knell joined the organization in 2014 as President & CEO and then as Chairman from March 2018 till date. He has been associated with the organization from 7.5 years till now.

"I wanted to reach out to let you know that I have decided to leave National Geographic at the end of May, having effectuated the transition of Nat Geos media and business entities into The Walt Disney Company, cementing the partnership with the Society toward future growth", Knell said in a LinkedIn post.

"It has been a wonderful journey to reimagine this 133-year-old institution in new structural ways and help unleash the power of its storytelling with the largest media company in the world. With Disney at its back, the National Geographic Society is well positioned to further its mission-driven not-for-profit work with a newly energized purpose and direction".

Knell also revealed that he will be engaging in a number of new initiatives with an intention to harness his experiences in global media, education, technology and social impact to continue to help make a difference.

Before joining National Geographic Partners, he was associated with NPR as President & CEO where he oversaw the fiscal, operational, and journalistic integrity of NPR.

Knell was also associated with Children's Television Workshop from 1989-1996 as Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and has spent 13 years working with Seasame as COO & CEO of the company. Prior to this he has also been a part of The WNET Group of New York Media for 7 years as Senior Vice President & General Counsel.
Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. Its not clear why Lane, who held down Floyds legs, is not mentioned in that count, but evidence in the states case shows that Lane had asked twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.
Havas Group Indonesia has appointed Sumit Kanungo as Group Strategy Director effective immediately. In this role, Sumit will lead the growth strategy for the group and report to Satyajit Sen, CEO of Havas Group Indonesia and Charu Aggarwal, Chief Strategy Officer for SEA and India.

We are thrilled to have Sumit join our team. He brings strong strategy and insight that will guide Havas Indonesia in determining the most meaningful media mixes for our clients, said Satyajit Sen, CEO of Havas Group Indonesia. Sumits background will help us continue delivering sound strategies and identifying ways to elevate our clients brand presence in Indonesia.

Charu Aggarwal, Chief Strategy Officer for SEA and India added, At Havas we are all about creating a meaningful difference across businesses, brands and people. Tapping into the trends of tomorrow with proprietary studies like Prosumers and Meaningful brands, Sumit will blend our intelligence toolbox with the cultural nuances in Indonesia to deliver MX experiences that resonate with consumers and deliver business results.

I am excited to join the Havas Indonesia team to continue evolving Havas unique offerings that will bring benefits to our existing and prospective clients, said Sumit. With the rapid digital transformation across the globe, strategy and insight will provide the pathway to success. Finding ways to connect people and brands in a meaningful way is now more important than ever.

Sumit joins the agency with over two decades of experience in strategic planning and buying, he has launched and built large brands across various categories like Food and Beverage, Personal care, Homecare, Healthcare and Fintech. Across his career he has led multi-location teams and managed blue-chip clients working at Starcom Mediavest Group, Crest (Platinum Advertising), Lintas Media Group, Emami Ltd., and Mediaedge: CIA (MEC) India to name a few.
Indias largest online storytelling platform, Humans of Bombay, joined hands with Gurugram based NGO Hemkunt Foundation, to start a fundraising campaign for Covid-19 Relief in the country. With the help of these funds, Hemkunt Foundation is committed to providing O 2 Cylinders, free of cost, across the country. The cylinders are being distributed to those in need by conducting drives and hospital tie-ups.

Through the #HelpIndiaBreathe fundraising campaign, the Humans of Bombay community has been able to raise over INR 1.6 Crore in less than 6 days. The partnerships goal is to crowdfund INR 3 Crore in the next one week.

Fundraiser link - https://www.ketto.org/ fundraiser/ HOBforHemkuntfoundation

Speaking about the fundraiser, Ms. Karishma Mehta, Founder & CEO - Humans of Bombay said, At Humans of Bombay, we have always promoted a community-first approach. Our nation is fighting an unprecedented battle against COVID-19, and so it is imperative now more than ever to come together in solidarity. The extraordinary generosity shown to our Fundraiser will bolster Hemkunt Foundations tremendous efforts in providing free Oxygen across India. While we have been extensively sharing the Fundraiser with our own community of 2.7 Million+ people via our socials, we urge more and more people to come forward and donate to the cause. Every bit will go a long way in saving lives. We are confident that together we will  India will overcome.

Harteerath Singh, Community Development Director at Hemkunt Foundation said, We are thankful to team Humans of Bombay for stepping up to help us in such a big way. We believe that the O2 For You by Hemkunt Foundation project is a worthy cause that will do a great deal of good for many people. This is our time to save lives, it really is now or never. We are working round the clock and will continue to do so until we win the battle over coronavirus.
Federal Office of Public Health

Bern, 07.05.2021 - The Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) has decided that the COVID certificate will be developed using the solution proposed by the Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication (FOITT). The system for issuing a forgery-proof COVID certificate on request to anyone who has been vaccinated, has recovered from or has recently tested negative for coronavirus will be available by the end of June 2021.

The FOITTs solution is compatible with the EUs Digital Green Certificate, secure, uses the simplest possible technology, and is developed using open source code. This was a decisive factor in the selection.

This decision means responsibility for the technical implementation of the certificate will move from the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) to the Federal Department of Finance (FDF). The FOPH is responsible for the content specifications, while the FOITT is in charge of technical implementation.

Involvement of the medical profession, pharmacists and other stakeholders

The Swiss Medical Association (FMH) and PharmaSuisse are involved in the project. Doctors surgeries and pharmacies that already work with e.g. a HIN solution to securely identify and administer patient data should be able to continue to do so via an interface without having to change systems. Other stakeholders are involved in implementation of the COVID certificate, including certificate issuers, verifying bodies and data protection and security experts who are testing the solution.

User friendly, secure and EU compatible

The certificate must be user friendly, simple to issue both on smartphones and on paper, and quick to check. It must be designed so that data protection and security requirements are met and that personal data are not stored centrally. It will also be compatible with the EUs Digital Green Certificate. Switzerland is also involved in the WHO project to develop an internationally-recognised certificate (Smart Vaccination Certificate).

In recent weeks, the FOPH has scrutinised two technical implementation solutions for the COVID certificate. A total of 52 proposals were submitted in the initial phase.

The Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication is currently finalising the solution and will provide detailed information at an upcoming technical press briefing.

Address for enquiries

Federal Office of Public Health, Communication, media@bag.admin.ch

Publisher

Federal Office of Public Health

http://www.bag.admin.ch



General Secretariat FDHA

http://www.edi.admin.ch




Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research

Dubendorf, St. Gallen und Thun, 07.05.2021 - Since February 2021, the canton of Grisons is using saliva-based PCR mass testing within its mobile workforce as a potential means to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce infection rates. Empa researchers are now leading the analysis of data from the first eight weeks of the testing regime. They observed a reduction in the incidence rate between 20 and 50%, depending on the business sector, and a noticeable reduction in the test positivity rate among those who were regularly tested. This suggests that viral propagation can indeed be contained through regular mass testing.

At its peak, the current COVID-19 pandemic has all but brought social and economic life to a virtual standstill. Although lockdowns and social distancing have proven effective in bringing down infection rates and COVID-associated deaths, they did so at considerable costs and thus at far unpredictable medical and psychological long-term effects. Rather than imposing mobility restrictions on the entire population and closing shops and stores, it would be much more desirable to effectively interrupt virus spread by isolating only those who are indeed infected. What sounds simple in theory, however, is anything but straightforward in the real world. This is because COVID-19 is spread, to a large part, by asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic infected people who are not aware of their propagating a potentially deadly pathogen. Thus, an early detection of infected but symptomless individuals is key to containing the pandemic. One way of achieving this is by encouraging a large fraction of the population to get tested repetitively by so-called PCR tests (for polymerase chain reaction), followed by asking positive cases to isolate. These tests are capable of sniffing out even minute amounts of viral RNA before the virus is causing any telltale symptoms such as coughing, fever or the like. Getting ahead of the virus In February 2021, the canton Grisons launched a voluntary repetitive testing program targeting the canton's mobile workforce, schools and health institutions. In their testing program, almost 50'000 persons are being tested once a week. This represents over 30% of the canton's mobile population, making the canton Grisons test campaign the largest one in Switzerland. In 2020, Empa researcher Hossein Gorji together with collaborators at ETH Zurich, has developed a mathematical model to evaluate the effectiveness of possible mitigation strategies, including mass testing. Empa researchers are now collaborating with the canton Grisons to analyze the data collected in the course of the canton's mass testing campaign. Although the data is still limited, as Gorji is quick to admit, the results are very encouraging: Among regularly tested individuals, the researchers observed a reduction in the incidence rate, that is, the number of infected individuals per 100'000, by 20 to 50%. What's more, the quite significant differences could be pinpointed to various business sectors: Lower reduction values were observed in the tourist industry, higher reduction among employees working in offices and factories. This makes perfect sense, says Gorji, because in tourism and gastronomy, employees would still have a rather large number of job-related social interactions  and thus a higher probability to contract the virus from people not enrolled in the testing program. This effect is particularly pronounced in regions like Grisons; the canton welcomes almost 200'000 tourists during winter season, 20% of which come from abroad. Early analysis of school testing data seems equally assuring as the number of outbreaks among pupils and students dropped significantly after mass testing was initiated. Thus, mass testing seems to help contain the pandemic. Or, as Empa researcher Gorji puts it: "Repetitive testing puts us ahead of the virus by being able to identify and isolate hidden spreaders." So what lessons did the researchers learn from the testing program in Grisons? Most important, the data suggest that mass testing works if done repetitively. Yet three things are crucial, adds Hossein Gorji, who is currently preparing a scientific paper about the data collected in Grisons: As many people as possible should be invited to test on a regular basis; the tests should be processed  and virus carriers identified  as fast as possible; and testing has to be continued over an extended period of time  otherwise virus transmission can bounce back to its previous level.

Address for enquiries

Dr. Hossein Gorji

Laboratory for Multiscale Studies in Building Physics

Tel. +41 58 765 44 81

mohammadhossein.gorji@empa.ch



Dr. Ivan Lunati

Laboratory for Multiscale Studies in Building Physics

Tel. +41 58 765 41 11

Ivan.Lunati@empa.ch



Kommunikationsstelle Coronavirus Kanton Graubunden

kfsmedien@amz.gr.ch

Publisher

Federal Laboratory for Materials Testing and Research

http://www.empa.ch




Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

Bern, 07.05.2021 - On Friday 7 May 2021, the head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Ignazio Cassis held an official working meeting in Geneva with Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne. Bilateral relations between the two countries and multilateral cooperation were the main topics of discussion.

During the meeting, Mr Cassis and his Australian counterpart highlighted the good relations between their two countries. Switzerland and Australia are celebrating the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year..

On this occasion, we have the intention to consolidate our bilateral relations, intensify exchanges and explore new areas of collaboration, said the federal councilor Cassis.

Multilateral cooperation and international news

Mr Cassis then offered his congratulations to Australian Mathias Cormann on his election to the post of secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Both Ministers expressed their willingness to continue to strengthen multilateral cooperation in these areas, which can already be described as dynamic and effective.

Turning to international affairs, Mr Cassis presented to his counterpart Switzerland's China Strategy 202124, which was recently adopted by the Federal Council. The two ministers also discussed the extremely worrying situation in Myanmar, relations with the Pacific islands and the Pacific Islands Forum.

After three previous telephone contacts, the meeting between Ms Payne and Mr Cassis took place in person, with both ministers stressing the value of being able to re-establish personal contacts after more than a year of the pandemic, and reiterating the importance of collaboration and international institutions in managing the COVID-19 crisis.

An important partner for Switzerland

Australia is an important partner for Switzerland in many areas such as the economy and trade, but also in education and research, including polar research. In addition, Australia is home to one of the largest Swiss communities abroad, numbering almost 26,000 at the end of 2020. Switzerland and Australia share many fundamental values, such as democracy, the rule of law, the strengthening of human rights and protection for minorities. These are all areas where cooperation at the multilateral level is strong and effective, and the two ministers expressed their intention to continue to strengthen it.

Address for enquiries

FDFA Communication

Federal Palace West Wing

CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland

Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53

Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55

E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch

Twitter: @SwissMFA

Publisher

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs

https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html




Alton, IL (62002)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
There has been a push in recent years to harness more renewable energy, but questions remain about how those practices will impact farmers.
North Dakota State University is collaborating with Mobile Recon (MR) Systems and HNO (Hamilton Native Outpost) Aerial Spreader on a venture to seed cover crops with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), especially in small areas that are difficult to seed with a tractor  such as in a saline seep or wetland.

The university was awarded an APUC grant to research the venture.

The objective of the project is to demonstrate the effectiveness of using UAVs to plant cover crops, said John Nowatzki, NDSU Extension agricultural machine systems specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.

The MR UAV flies the HNO Aerial Spreader over the field, and seed is rolled out from under the spreaders hopper.

The application rate on the seed can be varied.

The aerial spreaders application rates (pounds per acre) can be varied from low-rate cover crop mixes interseeded into production row crops up to higher application rates of diverse native grass and forb mixes, said Keith Knepper, co-founder of Aerial Spreader Drone Services (ASDS).

NDSU will be examining whether the seed is evenly distributed as the UAVs fly over and roll out seed at the NDSU Agronomy Seed Farm at Casselton.

Well be measuring how even the seed can be spread from three different MR UAVs across the flight pattern, Nowatzki said. As the UAVs fly over, well collect seed in containers to measure that.

They plan to compare the evenness of the seed spread at different heights above the soil.
Students perspectives should be heard when making important decisions about our daily lives - especially when those decisions affect our education.

We are the A+ Student VOICES Team, a student advocacy group of Alabama high school students from different districts across the state. Founded in 2018 by A+ Education Partnership and VOICES for Alabamas Children, we work to ensure our voices are heard in rooms where important decisions are made. Previously, weve gone to D.C. to speak to a national conference on citizenship, met with State Superintendent Dr. Eric Mackey, and participated in local advocacy to ensure AP classes stay in one of our members schools. Currently, our main focus is creating an official student advisory council for the State Board of Education.

This year, in light of COVID-19, we developed a statewide student survey to gather information about how Alabama students are doing, specifically with COVID-19, mental health, and how they feel their voices are heard at school. We had 169 respondents from over 25 different schools,representing a wide variety of perspectives. Heres what we learned:

Mental Health

Our government and school leaders are attempting to address students rapidly declining mental health. However, the opinions of the students themselves are often not included in the decision-making process.

Our survey results were clear: our schools discussions on mental health are either insufficient or nonexistent.

55.6% of students surveyed said that their school does not address mental health or make their mental health a priority. Not only that, but 56.8% of students do not feel comfortable talking to a school counselor.

Students offered many comments like, school is the biggest negative contributor to my mental health. One comment even stated that, school almost drove me to kill myself.

Student mental health is an issue for many students, and the solutions to these issues are not always easy. Its important that our leaders continue to find creative ways to address students needs.

Covid-19 and School

Our statewide survey of students revealed other important data:

70.8% of students surveyed noticed that their teachers have appeared more stressed due to the pandemic and, in response, have felt more stressed themselves.

68.1% of students claimed that they learned more material with in-person learning even though 59.9% of students expressed that they have more work to accomplish with online schooling.

With 59.5% of our survey respondents learning negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that we have a lot of work to do together.

The Necessity For A Student Advocacy Group

The need for student concerns to be heard and understood is vital during COVID-19 and beyond. Additionally, students have continued to fight deteriorating mental health within schools, and this issue is not helped by the fact that many of us dont feel heard or represented within our schools. Establishing student boards at the state level and in local schools that talk directly with decision-makers would help us to identify student issues and address them collaboratively.

The responsibility of voicing student perspectives is too often delegated to a form of elected student government (SGA) within schools. However, less than a quarter of students surveyed said that they felt represented by this body within their own schools.

Over 75% of our respondents said an alternative student group outside of SGA was necessary to represent students and offer solutions to issues in schools.

Additionally, 80% would want to be or would consider being a part of an alternative student group.

This group would allow students to give more input into important decisions, including things like school policies, lesson plans, the availability of school counselors and other mental health resources, virtual and in-person learning, and other important student needs. This input could also assist in halting some of the negative educational impacts of Covid-19 because students would be able to clarify what we have and have not learned, giving teachers a baseline for what needs to be covered next year.

As students, we have a level of insight that people who have never experienced school during a pandemic, national school shootings, or in this age of technology could ever have. It is time to start not only listening to us, but also welcoming us to the table. We know what we need. Only when students are truly heard will there ever be real change.

This op-ed was written by the A+ Student VOICES Team. Our members: McKinley Beavers (Blount County), Tatum Courington (Washington County), Kistrall Crusoe (Montgomery County), Brianna Davis (Coffee County), Jazmin Faulkner (Elmore County), Mia Johnston (Montgomery County), Kaitlyn Knowles (Blount County), Morgan McKinney (Etowah County), Caileigh Moose (Jefferson County), Olivia Patterson (Morgan County), Jack Roberts (Jefferson County)
A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air, according to indictments unsealed Friday.

The three-count indictment names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Specifically, Chauvin, Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and excessive force. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care. Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the arrest and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and J. Kueng appeared via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.

Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyds death and is in Minnesotas only maximum-security prison as he awaits sentencing. The other three former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Fridays federal court appearance.

Floyd, 46, died May 25 after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judges refusal to move the trial due to publicity.

Nelson had no comment on the federal charges Friday. Messages left with attorneys for two of the other officers were not immediately returned, and an attorney for the fourth officer was getting in an elevator and disconnected when reached by The Associated Press.

Floyds arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked protests nationwide and widespread calls for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.
The GOP-led restrictions cleared the Texas House on Friday, starting with the a key vote at 3 a.m. It followed hours of debate that started the day before, and lawmakers are now likely to begin negotiating a final version of the legislation that will need approval before heading to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who signaled an eagerness to sign it.
The Alabama Legislature has given final approval tonight to a bill to legalize and regulate medical marijuana.

The Senate voted 20-9 to accept changes made when the House approved the bill earlier today. That sends it to Gov. Kay Ivey, who could sign it into law.

Gina Maiola, press secretary for Ivey, said in an email tonight, As with any piece of legislation that reaches the governors desk, we look forward to thoroughly reviewing it. We appreciate the debate from the Legislature on the topic. This is certainly an emotional issue. We are sensitive to that and will give it the diligence it deserves.

Alabama would be the 37th state to legalize medical marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The bill would set up an intrastate system to regulate medical cannabis from the cultivation of the plants to the sales of products at licensed dispensaries at up to 12 locations around the state.

Doctors could recommend medical marijuana products for chronic pain, nausea and weight loss from cancer and HIV/AIDS, depression, Crohns, Parkinsons, epilepsy, autism, panic disorder, PTSD, sickle cell anemia, spasticity caused by certain diseases or a spinal cord injury, Tourettes Syndrome, and terminal illnesses.

The sponsor, Sen. Tim Melson, R-Florence, is an anesthesiologist and medical researcher. He said people in Alabama who have not found relief from traditional medicines should have a chance to try medical cannabis. This is his third year to sponsor the bill.

Sen. Larry Stutts, D-Sheffield, an OBGYN, argued against the bill tonight. Stutts, a longtime opponent of the legislation, said he believes the bill will lead to more illegal use of marijuana. He said the products should go through the same approval process as prescription drugs.

It also legitimizes the idea for teenagers that this is OK, this is safe, this is medical. I dont believe thats true, Stutts said.
The owner of a San Joaquin County, California, bar was arrested and charged this week with selling fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards, authorities said.

The arrest Tuesday of Todd Anderson, 59, followed an investigation by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which began in April after the agency received complaints that fake cards were being sold at the Old Corner Saloon in Clements.

Undercover agents were able to purchase four fake vaccination cards at the bar for $20, according to ABC spokesman John Carr, who noted that it was the first case of its kind the agency has investigated.

The San Joaquin County Sheriffs Department assisted with the arrest, during which Anderson was found to be in possession of materials related to the distribution of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards and an unregistered firearm, officials said.

Anderson was charged with three felonies, including forgery of a government seal, identity theft and having an unregistered firearm in a public place, according to Elisa Bubak, a spokeswoman for the San Joaquin County district attorneys office.

Bubak said the identity theft charge was attached because Pfizer, Moderna, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other entities were all represented on the vaccination cards. Anderson also was charged with one misdemeanor count of falsifying medical records.

Where theres an opportunity and a need, people fill it, Bubak said of the case.

The arrest comes amid a larger conversation about vaccine passports and other efforts to require people to provide COVID-19 vaccination records for things like concerts, sports, travel and even employment. The concept has been met with fervent opposition, even though inoculation records for other infectious diseases have long been required in certain sectors  including school and travel.

In recent weeks, marketplace websites such as OfferUp, eBay and Shopify also have come under scrutiny as potential outlets for the sale of fake cards, with the National Association of Attorneys General issuing letters to the companies condemning the practice.

A spokesperson for OfferUp confirmed Thursday that posts with vaccination cards are prohibited on the site and that the company typically finds and removes them in less than an hour.

But combating counterfeit vaccination cards may be an uphill battle. In March, the FBI issued a public service announcement warning that the sale of fake cards with a government logo on them is a crime and urged people not to post photos of their cards on social media. Already, tens of thousands of people have shared images of their cards on sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Anderson, the Clements bar owner, has been released on $380,000 bail and will be arraigned May 18, according to the D.A.s office. The ABC is also considering disciplinary action against the bar, Carr said, which could include the suspension or revocation of its liquor license.

Calls to the saloon Thursday went unanswered.
Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) took an important step by announcing it will move forward with a plan to eliminate menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. This is a welcomed and long overdue decision, but it cannot stop there. We need these dangerous products off the market now.

In Alabama, 1,600 kids under 18 become new daily smokers each year. As a pediatrician practicing in Birmingham, I see these kids in my practice, and I cant help but notice what stands out: My Black patients are much more likely to be smoking menthol-flavored cigarettes than my white patients. This trend is not just anecdotal: Ninety percent of Black smokers are menthol smokers, and they get hooked when they are young, as a result of the tobacco industrys aggressive marketing tactics that target Black communities.

Our federal government did the right thing last week, but it must be followed with quick, comprehensive action. By removing menthol products once and for all, we can help protect Black children and adolescents from becoming addicted to tobacco and from developing tobacco-related diseases in adulthood.

This disproportionate dependency of Black children and adolescents on menthol cigarettes is not by accident. An abundance of scientific research indicates that Black neighborhoods have much higher numbers of tobacco retailers and more pervasive tobacco marketing  particularly the promotion of menthol products. Sadly, the tobacco industrys efforts have worked: Only 29 percent of white smokers use menthol cigarettes compared to the nearly 90 percent of Black smokers.

The tobacco industrys scare tactics have also been effective at pushing a concern that prohibiting menthol cigarettes will somehow add to the over-policing of Black communities. While I understand and agree with serious issues stemming from the impact of police brutality on Black families, I do not agree that eliminating menthol cigarettes will make things worse. Companies making the products and stores selling them will be subject to the rules, not the people who use them. The FDA does not have a police force. This argument is just one more example of the lengths the industry will go to in order to keep Black communities addicted to menthol.

As a pediatrician with expertise in adolescent health, I can tell you that tobacco use almost always begins during the adolescent years. Among Alabama high schoolers, the percentage of students who report smoking cigarettes was 7.1 percent, significantly higher than the national average (4.1%). Menthol makes it even easier too. It has a cooling effect that makes the cigarette smoke less harsh and suppresses coughing. The numbers dont lie: Nearly 72 percent of Black teens (ages 12 to 17) who had ever used a tobacco product smoked menthol cigarettes.

When I look at the research and combine that with what I see in my community and in communities across this country, I feel strongly that eliminating menthol can help address the health disparities in who suffers and dies from tobacco use. The results of one study showed that eliminating menthol tobacco products would save 300,000 lives, including 100,000 Black lives. A Canadian study found that, when they banned menthol cigarettes, it led to more people quitting smoking altogether than switching to other cigarettes.

The pandemic has only further exposed the inequities in our health care system; COVID-19 impacts Black families more than other demographics, and smokers more than non-smokers. Smoking is also a major cause of underlying conditions like heart disease and diabetes that disproportionately impact Black Americans and make them more vulnerable to COVID-19. There is no question that prohibiting menthol would help discourage smoking and further support the lifelong health and well-being of Alabamas Black communities.

This is one single policy change that will have a long-lasting impact on the health of Black communities in our state and across the country. I applaud FDA for moving in the direction of progress, and now there is an urgent need to act. The health of our young people depends on it.

Dr. Tamera Coyne-Beasley is a pediatrician in Birmingham, Alabama, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is also past president of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine.
President Joe Bidens sweeping plan to tackle poverty nationwide includes measures that aim to help Alabama teachers, parents and children.

The federal government already has directed billions of dollars of aid to Alabama schools, businesses and health care systems over the past year; the Biden administration says, though, that much more work is needed as the country recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and addresses long-standing inequities in education, the workforce and health care.

The $1.8 trillion American Families Plan proposes $109 billion to go toward two years of free community college for students across the country and $39 billion for two years of tuition at minority-serving colleges for students with a household income of less than $125,000.

According to an analysis from the White House, Alabama students eligible for Pell Grants -- currently about 100,000 -- could see their awards increase by about $1,400. During the 2021-22 school year, the maximum Pell Grant award was $6,345.

Nationally, about one-third of undergraduate learning happens at public, two-year colleges. Many community college students qualify for Pell Grants, meaning many already study essentially for free. Research on the benefits of free community college is mixed -- according to recent studies focused on some states that have experimented with efforts, more students earn associate degrees, but fewer complete bachelors degrees -- but educators agree that more people overall seek post-secondary education through such programs.

The plan also proposes free, high-quality pre-school to all 3- and 4-year-olds in the state.

This is the long-term solution that we feel like we need for child care, said Katie Hamm, acting deputy assistant secretary for early childhood and development at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, of the child care and early child education portion of the package.

Alabama currently has a nationally-renowned pre-school program that reaches about 37% of 4-year-olds in the state -- but the plan proposes expanding funding in order to help other children in the state access a program and pay a $15 minimum wage to child care workers.

The plan proposes a $9 billion investment in teacher workforce development. Such an investment might help address Alabamas shortages in content areas such as special education, which new state-funded incentives proposed in the current education budget do not address.

Affordable child care is a barrier for many working parents in the state; the White House cites an average cost of $7,600 annually for Alabama families.

The plan proposes that low- and middle-income families pay no more than 7% of their annual income to child care. The plan would also continue child care tax credits approved in pandemic relief bills that helped people earning up to $400,000 a year.

Child care is actually one of the worst-paid jobs in America, said Caitlin McLean, of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of Southern California at Berkeley. Only 2% of all occupations in the United States earn less than childcare workers, who earned $11.65 an hour on average in 2019. As a society, we have been asking early childhood educators to put so much on themselves into this work for wages that are not even livable in most states. And its been even worse during this pandemic.

Before Bidens current proposal, Congress passed the largest-ever investment in childcare, with $39 billion toward child care and $1 billion toward Headstart programs through the American Rescue Plan. Alabama received $282.2 million in expanded child care assistance and $451.3 million in child care stabilization funds.

The American Families Plan also aims to expand access to paid family leave and paid school meals, efforts the administration says will help keep more women in the workforce and improve maternal, infant and child health and wellness.

A 2019 investigation by AL.com uncovered staggering inequities in care for mothers and children and high maternal mortality rates, particularly for Black women.

To pay for measures, Biden has proposed an increase in the marginal income tax rate for the top 1% of American income earners and increases in capital gains and dividend tax rates for those who earn more than $1 million a year.

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville has called the plan a Democratic partisan wishlist, saying that, for one, he does not think a paid community college degree will help more students get a job after graduation.

Sen. Richard Shelby similarly has said the proposalss expanded definition of infrastructure is too broad.

The Columbia University Center on Poverty & Social Policy has estimated that the child tax credits, earned income tax credits, meal money and community college aid included in the proposal, if passed, would reduce the national poverty rate in 2022 by 23% and the child poverty rate by 47.4%.
Huntsville police Officer William Ben Darby today was convicted of murder for shooting and killing Jeff Parker, a suicidal man, three years ago.

A Madison County jury found Darby guilty after about two hours of deliberations on Friday morning, returning a verdict that left local police in the first stages of shock.

Circuit Judge Donna Pate ordered that Darby be taken to the Madison County jail from the courtroom. He was released on a $100,000 bond just over two hours later, records show.

Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard this morning welcomed the verdict. Im not saying it was a pleasant day, he said at a press conference, but the facts bore out there was nothing justified about this encounter.

An update: A juror fainted this morning and had to go to the hospital. An alternate replaced that juror. That means deliberations had to start from the beginning. Judge Donna Pate says they got started around 9:15.  Ashley Remkus (@aremkus1) May 7, 2021

Darbys defense attorney Robert Tuten said he looks forward to appealing the case and believes the verdict wont stand.

The jury got it wrong, Tuten said at a press conference outside his office.

Darby was on duty when he shot and killed Parker on April 3, 2018. Parker called 911 that afternoon and said that he was armed and suicidal.

When the first two officers got to Parkers west Huntsville home, they found him sitting on a couch with a gun to his own head. The first officer, Genisha Pegues, testified against Darby and told the jury that she was de-escalating the situation before he got there.

Darby testified that he shot Parker in defense of himself and other officers because he feared Parker might shoot them.

Body camera video showed Darby grab a shotgun from his patrol car and sprint to the house. Less than a minute later, he shot Parker in the face. Darby testified that he had to take over the situation from Pegues, a senior officer, because he believed she was putting herself in danger by talking to Parker.

Darby walked up to the house and shouted for Pegues to point your fu**ing gun at him, bodycam video showed. Darby repeatedly shouted for Parker to drop his gun. Darby fired the fatal shot 11 seconds after entering the house, according to the video.

In closing arguments, Tuten told the jury that Darby had to shoot. He said if Parker had decided to turn his gun on the police, it would have taken twice as long for the officers to return fire.

Madison County prosecutors saw the case differently. Tim Douthit, an assistant district attorney, argued that Darby killed Parker because the man didnt follow his orders to drop the gun.

Tim Gann, Madison Countys chief trial attorney, said that Darby violated his oath to serve and protect.

An innocent man was murdered, Gann told the jury. He called for help and he got Ben Darby.

In a case that has divided city and county leaders, Huntsville police issued an immediate response.

We are in the first stages of shock, said Chief Mark McMurray in a statement emailed to the news media. While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer.

Officers are forced to make split-second decisions every day, and Officer Darby believed his life and the lives of other officers were in danger. Any situation that involves a loss of life is tragic. Our hearts go out to everyone involved.

The Huntsville City Council voted to dedicate $125,000 in public money for Darbys criminal defense. In 2018, when approving the first $75,000 in support, the city resolution said Darbys shooting was within the line and scope of his duty. The council voted without seeing the bodycam footage.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle has said the shooting was within policy and that he disagreed with the district attorneys office.

While I respect the jurys opinion, said Battle today, I disagree with the verdict.

We recognize this was a hard case with a lot of technical information to process. Officer Darby followed the appropriate safety protocols in his response on the scene. He was doing what he was trained to do in the line of duty. Fortunately, Officer Darby has the same appeal rights as any other citizen and is entitled to exercise those rights.

District Attorney Rob Broussard this morning said the evidence was off the charts. He was not justified in any way.

Broussard said the case was not a reflection on Huntsville police or local law enforcement. We have as good of law enforcement as any community could ever hope to have, he said.

Broussard said Parker showed zero hostility or aggression during the encounter, and that Officer Pegues did what you would hope for from police. She was trying to help this man. As for Darby, he said: He had maybe no business being a police officer, truthfully. He was not wired for it  pretty clear.

Pegues and Justin Beckles, the second officer who arrived at Parkers home on the day of the shooting, have both since left the Huntsville Police Department. After the shooting, they were both sent to remedial training, while an internal police department review cleared Darby of wrongdoing.

Tuten said he believes that Darbys appeal will be successful and that the case will clarify Alabama law regarding on-duty police shootings and will impact the way law enforcement protect Alabamians and perform their duties.

We look forward to the appeal of this case, he concluded.

Parkers brother Bill Parker, speaking at a press conference on the courthouse steps, said that he hopes the city of Huntsville will improve its response to people who are suffering from mental illness.

Bill Parks, a longtime friend of Jeff Parker, said the city should re-evaluate its policies and procedures for police responding to mental health calls.

We cant bring Jeff back, he said.

Martin Weinberg, an attorney representing Parkers family in a lawsuit against Darby and the city, thanked the DAs office for prosecuting the case. He said he expects the lawsuit will move forward now that the criminal trial is over.

The fight for justice does not end today, Weinberg said.

AL.com reporter Lee Roop contributed to this story.
The lawsuit against a man from a prominent Tuscaloosa family in the death of Megan Rondini, a former college student who killed herself after alleging she was raped, can move forward, according to an Alabama Supreme Court ruling issued Friday.

Rondini was a UA student from Texas when she reported to police she was raped by T.J. Bunn in 2015.

Bunn worked at ST Bunn Construction Company, which is across the street from the Innisfree Pub, where Rondini reportedly became drunk, or was drugged, before being raped for 30 minutes in July of that year.

Rondinis story became public in a June 2017 BuzzFeed story, as told by her parents, family and friends.

They claimed the 20-year-old was mistreated by Tuscaloosa County investigators, the university and DCH Regional Medical Center. Rondini left Tuscaloosa and took her own life in February 2016.

In an earlier lawsuit filed on behalf of parents Michael and Cynthia Rondini, the documents identified T.J. Bunn, the Tuscaloosa man implicated in the alleged sexual assault of Rodini, as being part of a family that is well connected and powerful in the Tuscaloosa community, and were major financial supporters of UA.

The Rondini family settled with UA on the second anniversary of their daughters death.

Bunn had filed a motion in federal court saying that because Rondini took her own life, that automatically prevented him from being liable in her death.

For example, experts explained, if a person was injured in a car wreck and later committed suicide as a result of that car wreck, Alabama and most other states typically say that the person who caused the wreck is no longer responsible.

In this case, however, the Alabama Supreme Court decided that when it comes to sexual assault, if theres enough evidence to show the sexual assault happened and the victim then commits suicide, the alleged assailant can still be held liable for the sexual assault.

In the Supreme Court ruling, it says the federal court had concluded that Rondinis family had produced substantial evidence that Bunn had sexually assault her, said Rondini attorney Leroy Maxwell of Birmingham law firm Maxwell Tillman.

We all knew that was a fact,' Maxwell said Friday. Bunn made a technical argument, not an innocence argument, he made a technical argument saying since he killed herself, he should no longer be responsible for damages,' Maxwell said.

The Supreme Court, however, said if someone hurts someone intentionally and they commit suicide, the assailant can still be held responsible for her wrongful death. They literally did exactly what we asked the court to do and cited the exact case law from our brief,' Maxwell said. This is a huge day for her family, an emotional, big day for them.

Efforts to reach an attorney for Bunn were not immediately successful.
One week after community members, organizations and governmental leaders gathered to collect soil near the site of the 1923 lynching of James T. Scott, the historic marker recognizing his murder has vanished.

The Community Remembrance Project of Boone County, Missouri contacted law enforcement soon after learning about the markers removal.

The incident is under investigation by the Columbia Police Department.

More: Columbia leaders remember James T. Scott, victim of the last recorded lynching in Boone County

A mob of more than 1,000 people, including a Columbia City Council member, dragged Scott  a Black University of Missouri employee  in the early morning hours of April 29, 1923, from the old Boone County Jail at Eighth and Walnut streets to his death at the Stewart Road Bridge, which is no longer standing.

The memorial marker is located near an entrance to the MKT Trail.

Nick Foster with the Community Remembrance Project said he learned about the markers removal Thursday evening.

It remains unclear who cut away the plaque.

Some of us who are members of the CRP were alerted of it by a ( University of Missouri) professor who was told of it by a friend, Foster said.

That friend was riding a bike on the trail when they discovered the markers removal. This person also took pictures and sent them to the MU professor, who relayed them to the Community Remembrance Project.

I went to the marker soon after learning of it and even looked around to see if I might find it, Foster said. Sometimes when people do this kind of thing, they will throw the marker into the woods or whatever.

Cutting away the marker would have taken heavy equipment, such as an acetylene torch, since it was a thick metal, he added.

It appears it has been sheared away. It is a clean cut across the pedestal, Foster said. I called the police and the police in turn have talked to the park rangers and I expect to hear from them today (Friday).

The historic marker was installed Sept. 30, 2016, in the area of the MKT Trail Plaza at 501 S. Providence Rd. The markers original installation was supported, purchased and donated to the city by the MU Association of Black Graduate and Professional Students.

The cutting away of the marker only highlights the need for the kind of work being done by the Community Remembrance Project, Foster said.

We want to be careful about assuming what anyones motivation is, but it is hard to imagine it is anything other than fear and even hatred, he said. We just cast a spotlight on the need for continued work.

More: James T. Scott headstone to be unveiled

Foster is still processing his feelings about the markers alleged criminal removal.

I think that disappointment is my overriding feeling about it, he said. It really is a shame that someone felt compelled to do something like this.

This act is not going to deter the Community Remembrance Project or other groups with similar goals from continuing their work.

In fact, I would say it strengthens our resolve, Foster said.

The soil collected last week was put into jars to be displayed at the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, the Black Archives of Mid-America in Kansas City and the Boone County Government Center.

These discussions around the events of our past are an important step toward moving forward, City Manager John Glascock said last week in a statement. Having constructive and open conversations around the history of racism in Columbia will help us confront the challenges we face today.

Scott was jailed due to an allegation of assaulting a 14-year-old white girl in Boone County. There wasnt an investigation into the alleged crime, and race played a key role in the presumption of guilt for Black men.

The mob that led to Scotts murder was comprised of members of the Missouri National Guard and students at MU.

Its important for us to keep that before us all the time, Foster said at last weeks memorial event. Remember him as a person. Its an awful story, but it needs to be repeated what happened that day.

The Tribunes Langston Newsome contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Marker recognizing lynching of James T. Scott vanishes one week after memorial event

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(c)2021 Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

Visit Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo. at www.columbiatribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
President Joe Bidens American Families Plan could help more than 100,000 Alabama families afford health care coverage, but the cost of the ambitious proposal could make it a hard sell in a divided U.S. Congress.

Bidens team released detailed facts sheets for each state early Thursday after unveiling the plan in the eve of his 100th day in office. Changes to the Affordable Care Act would enable up to 58,000 Alabamians to get health insurance coverage, according to that breakdown. Another 97,000 would save hundreds of dollars on premiums every year.

The plan would also provide paid leave for families after birth or adoption or to handle family and medical emergencies. Other elements include funding for early childhood education, community college and tax credits.

Biden said the plan would be funded by taxes on investors and high-income Americans. Conservative members of Congress, including those from Alabama, are opposed to the plan.

The American Families Plan is not about helping American families, it is about redefining what it means to be an American family  allowing for big government to infiltrate Alabamians homes and daily lives, said Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, according to WSFA.

About one in 10 people in Alabama lack health insurance. It is one of twelve states that havent expanded Medicaid to adults earning $17,000 a year or less. Alabamas Medicaid program doesnt cover adults without children and only covers caregivers who earn less than $4,000 a year, the countrys second lowest eligibility limit.

Black Alabamians are less likely than whites to have health insurance. Coverage rates increased after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, but began to fall again during the presidency of Donald Trump.

Biden has made moves to strengthen the Affordable Care Act during his first few months in office. He created a special open enrollment period designed for those who lost jobs during the pandemic.

The American Rescue Plan opened eligibility for subsidies to make health insurance more affordable. It also made some plans less expensive, and even free, for people with low incomes. It also included incentives for states like Alabama that have not expanded Medicaid that would reduce its share of the cost from 10 percent to 5 percent. So far, Alabama officials have not opted to expand and take advantage of the extra funding.

The COVID pandemic has exposed health care inequities in places like Alabama. Although testing and treatment for the virus itself was covered by insurance and federal funds, many of those most at risk for hospitalization and death had underlying conditions and inadequate access to health care.

The plan would not provide all Alabama residents with health coverage if state leaders dont expand Medicaid. But the new provisions would help families find affordable coverage. The Biden plans reduce the amount families spend on health insurance from 0 to 8.5 percent for at least two years.
About 20 people gathered Friday afternoon at the Tuscaloosa County Sheriffs Office to protest the departments use of police dogs on a suspected shoplifter that nearly cost the man his arm.

A handful of protesters wore shirts saying Dogs are pets, not weapons, and carried signs saying Black Lives Matter, and Stop Police Brutality. Several cars honked in show of support while driving up the busy thoroughfare in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The btie occurred on March 5, 2021, when Derek Stokes was accused of shoplifting at the Walmart on Skyland Boulevard in Tuscaloosa. Stokes fled from an off-duty Tuscaloosa police officer but was bitten by a dog from the Tuscaloosa County Sheriffs Office.

Stokes told AL.com he had submitted to the deputy and was in the process of letting them handcuff me, when the dog bit him.

Stokes said he spent 36 days in the hospital, during which he underwent five surgeries to save his arm from amputation after the bite. At one point, Stokes arm was grafted to his stomach during his treatment, he said, while his other hand was shackled to the hospital bed and he was kept a medical prisoner, without being allowed to contact his family who were searching for him.

So far, no charges have been filed against Stokes related to the incident, and protesters who gathered Friday demanded that the K-9 handler who released the dog on Stokes be fired, that all body cam and surveillance video footage of the incident be made public, and that the Tuscaloosa Sheriffs Office pay Stokes medical bills to recover from the bite wounds.

The protestors gathered under the shaded trees of Greensboro Avenue in front of the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse and marched down the 7th Street sidewalk past the Sheriffs Office headquarters to Lurleen Wallace Boulevard while chanting justice for Derek, Black lives matter, and no justice, no peace.

Organizer Deanna Reed said she was spurred to action when hearing about his encounter with the police.

I dont know Derek at all, but when I heard his story and saw the pictures, I saw my neighbor, I saw my friend, I saw my cousin, I saw people that I know, Reed said. It was very disturbing.

Stokes wife and father attended the protest, with his father James Stokes saying his sons treatment was inhumane.

We dont need dogs to attack humans, James Stokes said. Theyre not for that. Theyre for hunting or tracking.

They need to pull the dogs back. A dog can do just as much damage as a gun.

Derek Stokes did not attend the rally, but watched part of it on a video call.

The Tuscaloosa County Sheriffs Office did not immediately return emails seeking comment Friday. When AL.com first reported on the incident, the Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Jessica McDaniel said that the deputy had ordered Stokes to comply multiple times before releasing the dog to bite him. The sheriffs office has accused Stokes of trying to assault the dog, though no charges of any kind have been filed.

The sheriffs office still has not responded to AL.coms requests for its K-9 deployment policy or for bodycam video of the incident, the name of the deputy or dog involved, nor whether there was an internal review of the incident.

Police apprehension dogs are specially bred and trained to pursue and bite suspects who run or resist, sending an average of 3,600 people to emergency rooms nationwide every year.

AL.com, working with three other news outlets in 2020, found suspects are typically unarmed and can face life-altering, permanent injuries in relation to misdemeanor, non-violent offenses.

The protesters gathered Friday said the incident with Stokes shows lack of accountability for police.

It just shows how the system is so closed to protect the police officers even when theyre in the wrong, said Lisa Young president of the Tuscaloosa Branch of the NAACP.

Reed said that protests will continue until a resolution is reached.

Ultimately we realize that the power is with the people, Reed said. If we want to see change, and demand change, its going to take us coming together, organizing and calling for that accountability, which is what were doing today.
Walker McGinnis, a longtime Huntsville educator, announced his resignation Thursday from the Huntsville City Schools board of education due to health reasons.

McGinnis said his resignation, submitted under doctors strong advice, will be effective May 30.

The problem is, Im just getting too old, said the 74-year-old McGinnis. Theres a time and a place where its time to go and we have come to that. I just got out of the hospital at noon today and its just not working out.

McGinnis, the boards District 4 representative that includes Huntsville High School, said he had been dealing with health issues for about a 1 years.

Its time for me to move on to focus on my next chapter and focus on my health and family, McGinnis said.

The Huntsville city council will appoint a successor to complete McGinnis term, which ends next year. In 2019, following the resignation of board member Pam Hill, the council interviewed interested applicants for her position and unanimously voted to select Carlos Mathews. Mathews last year won his first full term on the board.

McGinnis retired from Huntsville City Schools after 36 years. He served as assistant principal at Grissom High School and Whitesburg Middle School and principal at Chapman Middle School.

He served for 7 years as a speaker on special education and Section 504 issues nationally and 20 years as a signal corps officer in the Alabama National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves.

The Huntsville City Schools has been a very dear part of me, McGinnis said in a statement he delivered at the boards work session Thursday. I think Ive served in about every little post an administrator could serve throughout the system. Its been to my benefit for all of that to have happened. I grew more than I gave. I have had the opportunity to know some outstanding people over my four decades of working in this system. I have never wanted to go anywhere else.

He also complimented Superintendent Christie Finley and the progress the school system has made in recent years.

I am further encouraged about the future of this system because of the people in current positions now, McGinnis said. We have an outstanding staff. Christie, youre to be complimented for picking these people out and showing all their talents. I cant say anything but good things for Huntsville City Schools.

McGinnis said he was also looking forward to spending more time with his four grandchildren.

I wish you all an affectionate farewell, he said in concluding his statement.
About 1:30 p.m., the ambulance was taking a patient in serious, but not life-threatening, condition to the University of Chicago Medical Center when it made contact with a car near East Garfield Boulevard and South Indiana Avenue, said Larry Langford, Chicago Fire Department spokesperson.
A 9-year-old was wounded early Friday when someone fired shots into a west Birmingham home.

The citys West Precinct officers were dispatched at 2:30 a.m. to a residence at 4730 Avenue T on a report of gunfire. They arrived to find the child injured.

The child was taken by Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service to Childrens of Alabama. His or her injuries are not life-threatening, said Sgt. Rod Mauldin.

Mauldin said investigators are still trying to determine the circumstances around the shooting. It wasnt immediately clear whether the child was struck by a stray bullet or if the home was specifically targeted.
The suspect in Thursdays deadly shooting inside a vehicle at a Fairfield gas station was released from jail less than two months ago in a separate capital murder case.

Travec Brandon Ard, 24, was taken into custody Thursday evening, charged with capital murder in the slaying of 25-year-old Desi Montell Carter, who lived in Stockbridge, Georgia.

Jail records indicate Thursdays fatal shooting happened during a robbery. The suspect and the victim were inside a vehicle together when the slaying happened, authorities said.

Jefferson County sheriffs deputies responded at 11:12 a.m. to a report of a person shot at a Fairfield convenience store at the intersection of Milstead Road and Woodward Road. When they arrived, they found Carter inside a gray Dodge Charger that rolled into the back of a Ford Explorer, said Sgt. Joni Money.

Carter was pronounced dead inside the vehicle at 11:24 a.m.

Witnesses said the Explorer was parked at one of the stores gas pumps when the Charger pulled in as if to refuel. Moments later, witnesses heard gunfire inside the vehicle and saw a man running away.

Ard was taken into custody about 5:30 p.m. Thursday near UAB Hospital. He was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 9:52 p.m. and is being held without bond.

Authorities credited the public with helping to quickly solve the case. Without the public stepping up and providing us with information, we would have never been able to develop a suspect so quickly,' Money said. This is the partnership we have been working to build with the citizens of Jefferson County. It appears that we are on the moving in the right direction.

Ard was already awaiting trial in the 2019 killing of 21-year-old Brandon Rosario during a robbery.

Rosario, who was awaiting the birth of his first child when he was killed, was found dead in a Birmingham street and his stolen vehicle recovered in the parking lot of a downtown apartment complex.

Brandon Rosario was fatally shot during a robbery in Birmingham in 2019.

Ard was released from the Jefferson County Jail on March 15, after he was granted a bond with strict requirements, in Rosarios death. And, that bond had been ordered revoked on Thursday after Carter was killed.

Ard was one of two suspects charged in Rosarios death. His co-defendant, Jasmine Roberson, is charged with murder. She was released from jail on Aug. 16, 2019 after posting $100,000 bond. Both Ard and Roberson were found in Rosarios car hours after the victims body was found.

Ard had been repeatedly denied his requests for bond until January 2021. It was then that Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Streety, who had previously opposed Ards release, set Ards bond at $250,000 with electronic monitoring. Defendant shall remain on total and absolute lockdown and is not permitted to leave his identified residence,' the judge wrote.

In his order, Streety said Ards attorneys advocated for his release on bond, citing his ties to the community as his family lives locally and he would live with his mother. The judge noted that the defense argued there had been a disparagement in treatment of Ard compared to his co-defendant, who had been granted bond.

Roberson was initially charged with murder, but a grand jury later upped that charge to capital murder. Despite the newer, more severe, charge, Robersons bond was never modified, and she remains free awaiting trial.

Though courts are reluctant to set bond in cases of this nature, the law requires the court to review each case on its own merits and determine the appropriateness of setting a bond,' Streety wrote. As such, the court had determined that equity in the process is of concern and though reluctant, the court finds it necessary to set bond in this matter to that which is consistent with bond set in the co-defendants case.

As a condition of bond, in addition to the electronic monitoring, Ard was ordered to have no contact with Rosarios family, his co-defendant, or any witnesses in the case. He was prohibited to from all social media and was to only leave his residence for legal appointments.

Streety on Thursday issued an order revoking Ards bond after being made aware of allegations that Ard was involved in an incident which involved threats of violence to a family member. Also, for a yet to be clarified reason, defendant was transported to a local hospital for medical services due to emotional, psychological or behavioral issues. Defendants bond is hereby revoked.
An injured horseback rider was airlifted out of Oak Mountain State Park Friday morning after a fall along one of the parks trails.

Pelham police and firefighters responded before noon to the Shelby County park after a male rider suffered a leg injury when a horse got spooked and threw the rider. The rider suffered a serious leg injury, but the injury is not life-threatening.

The Special Operations Team from the Pelham Fire department was called to the technical rescue. Because the injured rider was far along the riding trails, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys Aviation Unit then responded to assist in extracting the injured rider from the park.

An injured horseback rider was airlifted out of Oak Mountain State Park on Friday, May 7, 2021. (City of Pelham)

The helicopter lifted the rider off the trails and landed a short distance away near Highway 119 and U.S. 31. The rider was then taken by ambulance to a local hospital.

The horse was found and is OK. Pelham officials said they are thankful for the ongoing partnership with ALEA.
Decatur police arrested 17 people Wednesday after raiding an illegal gambling den Wednesday, authorities said Thursday.

After receiving a number of complaints of illegal gambling at 1222 21st Ave. SW in Decatur, police executed a search warrant Thursday and seized 26 gambling machines, three guns, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and more than $20,000 in cash.

Three of the 17 people arrested were charged with gambling and other offenses. Eleven of those arrested were only charged with loitering, although police said the investigation is ongoing and more charges could be filed.

Those arrested were:

Keithan Swoopes: Promoting Gambling and Switched Tag - $600 bond

Perez Foster: Promoting Gambling, Marijuana II, Loitering, four failure to appear warrants - $2,900 bond

Renardo Aldridge: Promoting Gambling and Marijuana II - $600 bond

Tonya Billings: Loitering, Illegal Possession of Prohibited Liquor and Carrying a Pistol w/o a Permit - $900 bond

Cordarrell Mason: Loitering and three failure to appear - $1,800 bond

Desmond Aldridge: Loitering and Marijuana II - $600

Tara Dillard: Loitering - $300

Mary Patrica: Loitering - $300

Vaita Jones: Loitering - $300

Gladis Alba: Loitering - $300

Jaquez Scruggs: Loitering - $300

Walter Orr: Loitering - $300

Jose Sanchez: Loitering - $300

Donna Moore: Loitering - $300

Antwan Fuqua: Loitering - $300

Martez Jackson: Loitering - $300

Jurion Dajuan Johnson: Loitering - $300
If youve ever wondered what it was like to be on Christopher Columbus famed ship, the Pinta, youre in luck. Sort of.

While what happened to the real Pinta ship after it left Columbus helm is unknown, a replica of the ship can be seen in Bayou La Batre through May 9, right behind St. Margarets Catholic Church.

When you turn into 13790 South Wintzell Ave. in the city, you can easily see that the replica is no ship in a bottle. According to ninapinta.org, a website dedicated to the history of Columbus ships, as well as the companys replicas, the ships deck is 85 feet long and weighs 101 tons. Its actually 15 feet longer and 8 feet wider than the original, but this is so people can tour it.

Its the first time in eight years that the Pinta has been docked in Bayou La Batre, which is the ships home Homeport, according to their Facebook page.

The Pinta has been traveling around for 11 years, according to Stephen Sanger, skipper of the ship. Usually, another ship, the Nina, would be docked alongside the Pinta but the Nina was damaged last year during hurricane season. The Nina has been traveling around since 1992.

Were always on the move, Sanger said. You always leave with great stories.

Columbus has been the center of controversy in recent years. Theres been growing pushes to get rid of depictions of him, as well as declaring Columbus Day, held annually in October, Indigenous Peoples Day instead. Many people behind these movements argue that Columbus arrival wasnt as welcoming to the Native population as whats taught in school.

Sanger said that while people can learn about Columbus during their tours, most of the information told is about conditions on the ship back in the 15th Century and current conditions today.

We talk about what life was like back in the 15th Century. Its really important to get an understanding of and appreciate what it took to come across the ocean, Sanger said. Were a teaching platform and we always will be.

Self-guided tours are available every day until the 9th, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., but 30 minute guided tours can also be scheduled as well. To schedule a tour, call 1-787-307-9051. Guided tours must have a minimum of 15 people in the group and they cost $4.50 per person.

A reservation is not needed to do a self-guided tour. It costs $6.50 for adults, $6 for seniors, $5.50 for people between the ages of four and 16. Anybody under the age of four can get in for free. Cash is preferred for payment, but you can pay by a card as long as you meet the $20 minimum.

Huntsville and Decatur will be among future stops for the Pinta, according to Sanger.

To follow the journey of the ships in Alabama and beyond, check out their Facebook.
The Alabama Attorney General has launched impeachment proceedings against one of the states sheriffs.

Steve Marshall on Friday announced he filed an information of Impeachment and Prayer for Ouster against Clarke County Sheriff William Ray Norris. The information, filed with the Alabama Supreme Court on April 27, is not a criminal charge. Norris was served notice of the filing on Friday.

Efforts to reach Norris, who has served as sheriff since 2011, were not immediately successful.

The Attorney Generals Office began investigating Norris last year, which led to Marshall seeking the sheriffs removal from office. Norris is accused of four instances of corruption in office and 11 instances of the commission of crimes involving moral turpitude. However, some of the specific allegations are alternate forms of charging the same conduct.

The corruption allegations include:

 Using his public office or official position to obtain personal gain for himself or a family member through the acceptance of thousands of dollars of payments from a business owned by an individual who received approximately $139,462.00 in payments from the Clarke County Sheriffs Office between August 2018 and August 2019

For soliciting thousands of dollars of payments from an individual who was subject to supervision and inspection by the Clarke County Sheriff under state law and by contract

 Using his public office or official position to obtain personal gain for himself or a family member through the acceptance of thousands of dollars of loan payments from an individual whose business provided food to the Clarke County jail as a subcontractor

 Using his public office or official position to obtain personal gain for himself through the acceptance of money and insurance benefits to facilitate a heavy-equipment lease contract, where the money and insurance benefits were provided by the owner of a business who received approximately $139,462.00 in payments from the Clarke County Sheriffs Office between August 2018 and August 2019

The commission of crimes involving moral turpitude include:

 Filing a false 2019 Statement of Economic Interests form that omitted his business activities and business associations

 Perjury in the second degree for filing a falsely sworn 2019 Statement of Economic Interests form that omitted his business activities and business associations, where the false swearing was with the intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of their duties

 Filing a false 2019 Statement of Economic Interests form that omitted his households sources of income and other compensation

 Perjury in the second degree for filing a falsely sworn 2019 Statement of Economic Interests form that omitted his households sources of income and other compensation, where the false swearing was with the intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of their duties

 Perjury in the second degree for filing a falsely sworn 2019 annual report under the Fair Campaign Practices Act omitting approximately $12,700.00 in contributions from sixteen different sources as well as numerous expenditures, where the false swearing was with the intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of their duties

 Filing a false 2019 annual report under the Fair Campaign Practices Act omitting approximately $12,700.00 in contributions from sixteen different sources as well as numerous expenditures

 Filing a false 2018 Statement of Economic Interests form that omitted his ownership of real estate for investment or revenue production purposes and that concealed his actual indebtedness to banks operating in Alabama

 Filing a falsely sworn 2018 Statement of Economic Interests form that omitted his ownership of real estate for investment or revenue production purposes and that concealed his actual indebtedness to banks operating in Alabama, where the false swearing was with the intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of their duties

 Filing a falsely sworn 2018 annual report under the Fair Campaign Practices Act omitting numerous post-election expenditures, including an expenditure to a family member, where the false swearing was with the intent to mislead a public servant in the performance of their duties

 (Alternate pleading of the previous specification) Filing a false 2018 annual report under the Fair Campaign Practices Act, omitting numerous post-election expenditures, including an expenditure to a family member, and,

 Willfully failing to file a tax return for the year 2019

Marshall is not yet releasing any additional information. He said under the Alabama Constitution, the state Supreme Court will consider the charges against Norris. A court date is set for June 2.

Under state law, Norris may remain in office until the impeachment trial. If found guilty, he would be removed from office. Any possible criminal proceedings must be brought separately, and it wasnt immediately clear if criminal charges would be filed against him.
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STAR students named during ceremony at Dougherty County School System

Alan Mauldin / Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin Seating was limited due to COVID-19 restrictions for a Thursday ceremony honoring STAR students from Dougherty County Schools. Alan Mauldin / Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin A Thursday ceremony honored Dougherty County School System STAR students. From left, Barbara Rivera Holmes, president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce; STAR students Davon Davis, LiTrell Dante Stamper and Brystan Carthon, and Schools Superintendent Ken Dyer were part of the ceremony.

ALBANY  Instead of having a luncheon and an entourage of supporters, Dougherty County School System STAR students received their recognition in the School Boards meeting room Thursday. But the setting didnt mar their accomplishments.

The three high school students selected as DCSS STAR students earned the highest score on the SAT for their respective campuses. STAR students also must be in the top 10 or 10% in their senior classes.

The STAR students and teachers announced during the Thursday ceremony were Brystan Carthon and his former teacher, Cory Moore, of Westover Comprehensive High School; Davon Davis and his former teacher, Jasamine Dixon, of Dougherty County Comprehensive High School, and LiTrell Dante Stamper and his former teacher, Tracy Stolze, of Monroe Comprehensive High School.

Traditionally, students and teachers are honored during a luncheon sponsored by the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, however, participation Thursday was limited to the students, teachers and a principal from each school.

The district plans to hold a district student celebration at a larger venue later in the year.

Davis, who is a dual-enrollment student at Albany State University, said his effort from four years of high school paid off.

Ive done a lot working to be here  sleepless nights studying, a lot of work  and these have allowed me to be where I am today, he said. I am so determined to accomplish my goals I have set for the future.

Davis, who has a 4.062 grade-point average has almost completed his college credits for an associates degree in political science, has been awarded a presidential scholarship to attend a college in Florida. He said hes not sure yet which one.

Davon is probably the hardest-working young man I have ever had the opportunity to teach, said Dixon, who taught Davis in middle and high school and is now social studies coordinator for the Dougherty County system. He was such a great student I followed him to high school.

He has preserved over so much in his life. I am so excited to see what he has accomplished and to see all of the great things he will accomplish in his future.

Each student and teacher was presented with a certificate and a plaque by Schools Superintendent Ken Dyer and Chamber President and CEO Barbara Rivera Holmes during the brief ceremony.
Food and drink investor Cerea Partners is more than 85% of the way to its target for its first full mezzanine fundraise since its management team bought the firm out from Unigrains.
Demand for natural gas and specifically for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is increasing as the world looks for lower cost and lower polluting fuel sources. Southwest Louisiana is a player on a national scale. Driftwood LNG will soon become part of that picture.
A 12-year-old boy was taken to the hospital in critical condition after he was shot Thursday evening inside a South Side home when a gun a friend was playing with went off accidentally, officials said.
Robin Baudoin rode out Hurricane Laura inside a bathroom at her home at 2046 Louise St. in Sulphur. She said she could hear her roof being torn off during the storm and her chimney being slammed in the courtyard.
We are in a dire and extreme condition as a country, where one of our two major parties is moving toward a total power-grab and a re-directing of our entire system of government. The left is positioning itself and has made significant headway already to control all branches of government in perpetuity. The days of "thinking through" differences are over as far as the Dems are concerned.

In a recent article, the author, Jonathan Tobin, expressed alarm about the appointment by Pres. Joe Biden of Sarah Margon for the post of assistant sec'y of state for democracy, human rights, and labor. Tobin concludes, "On this nomination, there can be no compromise. Supporters of Israel  be they Republicans or Democrats  are obligated to vote against her." This conclusion is assuming that this is another issue, like issues throughout American history, where wise and probing minds on both sides of the aisle can put aside partisan interests for the good of our country or the good of some ally or the enactment of a wise policy. Not only is Tobin's assumption naive, but that view actually advances the cause of the power-grabbing Democrats. There is no longer an underlying unity and a common commitment to and belief in our American heritage.

Our government is under siege. The Democrats do not have goodwill. The freedom of the people is at stake. Not only Israel, but the entire USA is threatened as never before by the Democrats, who have yielded to the far left. Truman did not yield to the left led by Henry Wallace in 1948, but in 2020, Pres. Joe Burdensome signed a formal pact with Sen. Bernie Sanders last summer before the election. In this writer's opinion, that 110-page document was the tipping point, where the Democrats became the Democratic Communist Party of America (DCPA).

Although "Boynie" (writing this in my best Brooklyn accent) insists that his "Democratic Socialism" is not authoritarian, people like me insist that his statement is either a lie or some intellectual equivocation. Just as Henry Wallace in 1948 loved the USSR but was repudiated by Pres. Harry Truman, Sanders also has been infatuated with Soviet-style communism all his life. The fact is that when the federal government gradually or with singular rapidity takes over the means of production, the net result is and will always be authoritarian.

When we see the government striving to add two free years of college for all, develop vaccine passports, dictate modes of transportation in the name of energy control vis-a-vis climate change, implement a national curriculum inculcating racist stereotyping of the majority of the population, pack the Supreme Court, manipulate social media, portray all legislation about election integrity as racist and illegitimate, and force the spending of trillions of dollars on the country without input from the opposition party, we know we no longer have a party that even pays lip service to the Declaration of Independence with its assumptions of natural rights. Nor does it love and respect all the people as is affirmed by the Gettysburg Address ("of the people, by the people, and for the people"). Taking a knee is pathetic and immature. What we see in the Democratic Party today is a vicious power play as that party attempts to reverse American history and bipartisanship.

What we now see is not just a 50-50 split between two parties (which have an underlying consensus about the socio-political unity and purpose of our country), but a 50-50 split between Americans and an anti-American, despotic mentality.

Oh, Jack, you must be exaggerating  the "Democratic Communist Party of America"? C'mon, this is the party of the New Deal, the party that brought us Social Security, and banking regulations, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. This is the party that was anti-Castro under Kennedy and fought the commies under the lib Lyndon Baynes Johnson. How can you say it is "communist"? Isn't that a hysterical charge?

When we see the labeling of all Trump voters as "racists," when we see not one Dem speaking out against the demented protesters against Kavanaugh (not one Dem called for order in the Senate chamber), and the continuous insistence that those burning and looting all over the USA last summer were primarily peaceful protesters, then it is apparent to all that they are leading a revolutionary downward spiral of society. These events, which the Dems are justifying, and the woke attacks on the founders and icons of the USA, and the basic ideas of liberty and property rights, and contempt for parents and the nuclear family all smell like and look like living excerpts from the Communist Manifesto of 1848.

Here are a few quotes from the Manifesto:

The family must disappear: "The bourgeois family will vanish as a matter of course when its complement vanishes, and both will vanish with the vanishing of capital. Do you charge us with wanting to stop the exploitation of children by their parents? To this crime we plead guilty." Don't you see sending kids for abortions without parental notification as an outcome of this communist sentence? Or insisting on children having rights to have hormone-blockers without adult permission (even physicians must accommodate them) is an uncamouflaged attack on the family?

Disruption of society is necessary: "Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property, and on the conditions of bourgeois production; by means of measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionizing the mode of production." Don't you see that the Democratic borrowing and maniacal expansion of the federal government under a variety of excuses represents complete acceptance of this principle from the Manifesto?

Bourgeois capitalism is exploitative: "Of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of Modern Industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product."

Today's updated Marxism substitutes for "the proletariat" those who believe in gender fluidity, intersectionality, re-distribution of the wealth, elimination or "re-imagining" of policing, children selecting hormone-blockers without parental approval, an unlimited haven in the USA for the dispossessed and hurting people of the world (open borders), and unlimited marijuana for those who just "need a little break" from the stresses of everyday life. To these revolutionary and disturbed persons, any other views are inherently exploitative and emanate from the false values of our country's founding and our Judeo-Christian heritage.

Yes, we are at a tipping point, and if the Republican senators see their entire fight in terms of their ability to manipulate the rules of order in the Senate, and keeping the filibuster intact, then they have misread the proverbial "handwriting on the wall." While they rehearse on how best to maneuver within the context of Robert's Rules of Order, the DCPA will have taken over forever.

Image: Chris Dodds via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.

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We live in an era of striking disunion in the United States of America. The bosses of the Republican Party are so separated from the rank-and-file members of the party that sometimes it seems that they came to Earth from a different planet. The bosses of the Democrat party are so separated from ordinary Americans and so close in their ideology to the Socialist International that one wonders whether the processes of socialist transformation in America are reversible.

The Republican meritocracy was replaced by the plutocracy of the Democrats, but the process did not stop there. What's happening?

Several years ago, a new term was introduced in political philosophy  tyflocracy. It was introduced by analogy with the word "democracy." Demos () in Greek is people, and kratos () is power. So democracy is the rule of the people. The word tyflocracy comes from the Greek word "tyflos" (o), which means "unseeing." This does not mean the blind, but precisely the one who does not see. The ones who do not want to see. The ones who have closed their eyes. This means that the government does not see, does not hear, and does not want to know anything about how its country's citizens live. The government is preoccupied with only one problem: how to maintain its own power at any cost.

Tyflocracy is a form of government in which the government is in an asymmetric war with its own people.

What they are doing in Russia with dissidents in general and Navalny, in particular, is not following the law. It is a war with their own people. It is a sovereign tyflocracy.

Navalny's prolonged execution is neither the first nor the last in the history of Russia. Nemtsov was executed. Magnitsky was executed. Politkovskaya was executed. Now it's Navalny's turn. Some rulers of Russia were quite merciful and noble people. They executed unwanted political opponents so they would not suffer for a long time  quickly, and without losing the moral authority of the subjects still at large. But that was in the distant past. The country's current leadership lacks the mercy of the enlightened nobility. It needs the victim to die in agony.

From the American point of view, both Putin and Navalny are not America's friends. There is not even a certainty that there are any ideological differences between them, except for their diametrically opposed views on corruption. The correct way out for Russia would be to use the bit of political folklore, well known in the West, that politicians, like diapers, should be changed regularly and for the same reason.

Why did the conversation lead us to Russia? Because if Russian tyflocracy is evident, then here, in America, any sane person can easily find the symptoms of the coming sovereign tyflocracy. Here in America, with rare exceptions, the process of changing political diapers in Washington has not only stalled, but practically stopped.

Always and everywhere, the tyflocracy protects only its own. In Russia, you must be an active member of the United Russia party, and then you will get away with almost everything. In America, you must be an active member of the Democrat party or its militant wings (Antifa, BLM), and then you can get away with anything.

When exactly did American meritocracy begin to turn into a tyflocracy? If for Russia, the answer to this question is more or less clear, for America, it is not so simple. At the moment, we can say with certainty only that the level of confrontation between the federal government and Americans correlates with the level of leftism of the current inhabitant of the White House.

The American intelligence services are openly jealous of the Russian intelligence services, and they are trying with all their might to emulate the "achievements" of Putin's Russia. For example, they have done something that even the KGB did not think of: they use the resources of the USPS to collect information about conservatives and other dissidents on social networks.

By the way, the notorious Baikalfinancegroup actually has appeared in America  under a different name, but the idea remains the same. (It should be noted that, as in the case of Navalny, there were practically no ideological differences between Putin and Khodorkovsky. They have plenty of differences  primarily political, but not ideological).

The Global Resource System company was organized in September last year. On the evening of Biden's inauguration day, it received 4% of the world's internet from the new administration (for comparison, the entire U.S. government uses half of that number of internet addresses). This company does not even have a website. No one ever picks up the phone. There is a large office building at the registered address; however, neither security nor the front desk has ever heard anything about this company. As of January 20, 2021, this company controls more internet addresses than AT&T or Comcast. The American branch of Baikalfinancegroup is flourishing, having received an unprecedented portion of internet real estate for private use.

Many Russian-speaking Americans have long felt like time travelers. Since the '70s and '80s, they have seen lies on TV and in newspapers. There exists somewhere an invisible and omnipotent Glavlit (Soviet Censorship Office). Persecution of dissidents and non-conformists, including criminal prosecution, is now the norm. Add to this list the insanity of decrepit leaders.

Finally, both Putin and the American left are moving toward the same goal: the complete elimination, marginalization, and criminalization of the opposition.

Let us note another indispensable attribute of tyflocracy: the rewriting of history. Everyone is familiar with the practice when, during Stalin's time, entire newspaper runs were confiscated to remove unwanted people from history or retouch photographs already published. The hardest part is cleaning up those stories that have already become widely known. In America, for example, there is the story of top feminist Margaret Sanger.

Recently, the president of America's premier abortion corporation, Planned Parenthood, erupted in the New York Times with an article where she denounced Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger. She condemned the racism, eugenics, and white suprematism of the founder. When conservatives  including yours truly  have used the same arguments over the years, we have been dragged through the mud. It turns out that the conservatives were right. Sanger's fight for birth control, which Planned Parenthood would turn into the pursuit of abortion after her death, was actually the "most humane" way to dispense with the "unfit" population of America, not a struggle for women's rights.

The saga of public self-flagellation of feminists is a logical continuation of the war with its own people. The system makes it abundantly clear that only open-hearted confession (no matter the subject) and, thereby, demonstrating unquestioning obedience to the latest general party line is the key to success. At the same time, political bosses are by and large not interested in what exactly your frank confession consists of. Many use this and choose something innocent (from their point of view)  for example, confession of non-traditional sexual orientation. The left is interested in control and only control, and leftists do not allow any discrimination on how exactly a person demonstrates his unconditional loyalty to leftist dogma. On the contrary, leftists give unprecedented freedom to choose the method of political self-flagellation, self-humiliation, self-submission, self-serfdom, and other components of political self-auto-da-fe.

However, leftists are in a hurry. Trump's lesson has not been in vain: leftists know they have a minimal window of opportunity to build post-American America. From the point of view of the party of (D)eceit, an advanced tyflocracy in America must be established before the 2024 elections. The commissars are afraid that those many millions who long for America as founded will have their say.

Gary Gindler, Ph.D., is a conservative columnist at Gary Gindler Chronicles and founder of a new science: Politiphysics. Follow him on (soon-to-be-suspended from) Twitter.

Image via Pixnio.

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Back in February, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was stripped of her committee roles, despite her expression of "regret" for some of her more extreme views. One of the charges against Rep. Greene is that she has supported QAnon, whose central claim is that there exists an elite whose members exercise political power and who indulge in promiscuity and other corrupt forms of behavior.

In a Washington Post article co-written by Isaac Stanley-Becker and Rachel Bade, Greene was dismissed as having endorsed the "baseless theory" of QAnon. Stanley-Becker and Bade devoted most of their article to critiquing QAnon rather than addressing Greene's policies, including her unwavering support for the police. Yet without evidence to corroborate it, the Post authors rejected the central claim of QAnon: that a powerful cabal of elitists, some with a history of pedophilia and other corrupt practices, exists within the Democrat party and the media that support it.

Maybe liberal journalists don't know corruption when they see it. Perhaps they don't believe that promiscuity or prostitution is "corrupt." Or that using cocaine and other illegal drugs is "corrupt," or even that sex with underage persons is "corrupt." By that definition, the press can maintain that liberal politicians are not corrupt, so they can dismiss QAnon's thinking as a "baseless theory."

A Time magazine story of April 16 offered a similar critique of certain conservatives who purportedly view "former President Donald Trump as a messianic figure battling a cadre of deep-state operatives." This is a good example of rhetorical fudging: is it that Trump is viewed as a "messianic figure" or that he is "battling ... deep-state operatives"? I don't know any conservatives who view the former president as a "messianic figure," but there are plenty who see him as having battled the Deep State -- and for good reason.

Most of us know corruption when we see it, and we know there is an element of truth in QAnon's charges. It goes back a long way  to the Kennedys, the Clintons, and hundreds of lesser figures. We were disgusted when, in March 1962, Marilyn Monroe offered herself up as a "birthday present" for President Kennedy in front of an approving audience of Washington liberals. And we were disgusted by the repeated accusations of Bill Clinton's philandering and sexual assault, including those by Juanita Broaddrick, Leslie Millwee, Paula Jones, and Kathleen Willey  this in addition to Clinton's admitted affairs with Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers. One must ask the same question one asks of JFK and of his brothers: how many other illicit affairs were there, and why do liberals like Kennedy and Clinton so often stoop to this level?

The national media don't view the Kennedys, Clintons, or Bidens as corrupt, and electronic media may be systematically covering up their evidence. If one Googles "most corrupt Democrats," the result will be pages of results on "Trump corruption." It appears that Google and other high-tech players are suppressing information about the corruption of the liberal elite.

According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, this sort of search result is the result of computer algorithms, as if algorithms wrote themselves. Concealing corruption is corrupt, and abetting that concealment, as the national media have done for decades, is also corrupt. It's an endless web of corruption, lying, and deceit. It's liberals who are most often caught up in such practices because maximum personal freedom  the very opposite of human liberty  is the goal and promise of liberalism. Liberal politicians and the media are in on it together, but anyone who points this out is a "conspiracy theorist."

In fact, there is overwhelming evidence of D.C. corruption. Bill Clinton as much as admitted to sexual activity with a young intern in the Oval Office, and he reportedly traveled aboard Jeffrey Epstein's "Lolita Express" "at least 26 times." Rep. Anthony Weiner, husband of Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's closest aide, resigned from Congress after repeatedly "sexting" suggestive photos of himself to women.

Didn't Rep. David Wu resign his seat over charges of making inappropriate advances toward a young woman? Didn't Sen. Al Franken retire following charges of improper sexual behavior? Aren't there accusations that Joe Biden sexually violated Tara Reade and acted inappropriately with eight other women? Didn't Barack Obama admit to using cocaine on multiple occasions? Wasn't D.C. mayor Marion Barry videotaped by the FBI smoking crack cocaine? Didn't Rep. Barney Frank hire a male prostitute to live with and work for him, during which time the individual reportedly operated a prostitution ring out of Frank's apartment? Didn't New York A.G. Eliot Spitzer resign after being implicated in a prostitution scandal? Have there not been calls for New York's Gov. Cuomo to resign in response to charges of inappropriate sexual behavior?

It is impossible for any fair-minded person to deny that widespread corruption exists among our nation's leaders, particularly among those in the Democrat party? Since that is the central claim of QAnon, how can QAnon be dismissed in toto as a conspiracy theory, as it has been in the liberal press?

Followers of QAnon pose definite accusations that, with enough work, can be verified or dismissed. Forbes made an effort to verify Tara Reade's charges against candidate Biden and found a number of people who appeared to corroborate Reade's story. Yet the charges were quickly dismissed by the liberal press, who then raised questions about Reade's competency and motives. The charges were never followed up by the Justice Department. Despite corroborating evidence, Reade found few who would listen to her  indeed, she found herself under attack for attempting to expose the Democrat candidate.

Another of QAnon's key charges is that the political elite are globalists who wish to create a New World Order governed by the elite themselves. In order to do this, they must weaken the U.S. militarily and economically.

No informed person can deny that U.S. military power declined under Obama/Biden or that Biden intends to shift funding away from the U.S. military. It may be that the Biden family is willing to sell out their country for a few million dollars, but much greater principles are at stake. A fundamental tenet of the left's thinking is that America must not continue as the world's pre-eminent military and economic power. As Obama liked to say on his American-guilt tour, America is not the equal of any nation on Earth  it is worse because of its history of imperialism, genocide, and greed. That belief was the basis of the Obama/Biden foreign policy, and it seems to be the basis of Biden/Harris policy as well.

Is the QAnon charge of globalist bias accurate or not? Can QAnon's thinking in this instance be dismissed as a conspiracy theory?

Time's reporter worries that conservatives who share "elements" of QAnon thinking are getting elected to local office. Again, there's the rhetorical nuance of dismissing those with vaguely defined "elements" of a certain way of thinking. A more thoughtful analysis would consider the actual policies of these candidates.

Democrats have treated Marjorie Greene the same way they have Rep. Lauren Boebert, Tara Reade, and others whose ideas and testimony threaten their interests. It is up to the American people to support those who are truthful and courageous, and to see beyond the bogeyman of "guilt by QAnon association." Certainly, in one respect, QAnon is correct: many of the Washington elite are corrupt, and their corruption needs to be exposed.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

Image via Pickpik.

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According to Campus Reform, Michelle DeJohnette, a San Diego Community College District adjunct faculty member, is now running an anti-racist daycare facility. DeJohnette, who is currently completing a joint doctoral program in education at San Diego State University and Claremont Graduate University, is studying "critical theory, culturally responsible pedagogy, anti-bias/anti-racist education, and issues of equity in early childhood education, focusing on preschool." She is applying her knowledge of Critical Race Theory and equity by attempting to teach it to toddlers at Village Kids Family Child Care in San Diego, where she is the director. The day care service's Twitter and Facebook pages both provide resources discussing anti-racism in preschool education.

Speaking of education, here is the definition of "pedagogy": the theory and practice of learning.

And here is the definition of "equity": justice according to natural law or right; specifically: freedom from bias or favoritism.

Village Kids Family Child Care (or VKFCC as noted on its website) accepts kids aged from infants to about five years old. The theory and practice of teaching toddlers "critical theory, culturally responsible pedagogy, anti-bias/anti-racist education, and issues of equity" in a sane world would be this: don't do it. Why instruct kids to be hyper-aware of their own  and their peers'  skin color before they are able to tie their shoes? "Teaching" them that there are two kinds of people in this world, oppressors and the oppressed, is itself a form of oppression. It is likely to hinder or prevent their minds from dwelling on kids' things and therefore from developing properly over time. Natural law is an important concept, but one that shouldn't be taught in this context or at this age level.

Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and all the other leftist dogmas are antithetical to the concept of natural law/rights. They are based on...and directly lead to...bias and favoritism.

"Progressives" can't wait to teach their perversions of reality and morality to young children. They want all-encompassing sex education in early grade school. They want drag queens to read to your kindergarteners. And they want to start preaching "social justice" and "critical race theory" in pre-school.

What's next? Anti-racist prenatal care? Planned Parenthood pre-abortion classes to teach your never-to-be-born baby about systemic racism and the white, patriarchal society he will never see? "Before you terminate your fetus, teach it about intolerance and marginalization!"

Photo credit: Fotos_PDX CC BY 2.0 license.

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A small sign that cancel culture may have peaked, at least in book publishing, is worth noting. The president of Simon & Schuster, Jonathan Karp, has announced that his firm will ignore a petition from its staff (reportedly, 216 employees and thousands of sympathizers) demanding that plans to publish an autobiographical memoir by former V.P. Mike Pence be canceled.

Thomas Lipscomb, a publishing industry veteran, takes note and celebrates the act of courage in the Asia Times:

[T]he internal petition being circulated by Simon & Schuster employees is far more extensive. It is demanding categorical censorship irrespective of any underlying editorial merit. It wants to employ a heckler's veto to override the judgment of some of the finest editors in publishing in multiple imprints, even extending it to canceling totally independent distribution clients. Simon & Schuster's president, Jonathan Karp, announced that his firm would go forward and publish Mike Pence's memoir. In the same letter he reminded his employees " we come to work to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make, and one that runs counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives." Simon & Schuster's petitioners have now reached outside their own community looking for "solidarity" throughout publishing for their position.

President Karp's assertion of the importance of publishing a diversity of voices is welcome, particularly since such thinking was lacking just four months ago:

On January 7, Simon & Schuster decided not to publish US Senator Josh Hawley's The Tyranny of Big Tech. It was quickly picked up by Regnery and scheduled for spring publication.

Is Hawley beyond the pale but Pence barely acceptable? Or is there a new commitment to resisting those who would narrow the range of discourse? We don't know.

What stood out for me, though, was the insight on the role of independent bookstore-owners in pushing cancel culture:

[W]hile the number of independent bookstores is actually growing, book sales in this area, after impressive growth in the early 2000s, have fallen back to 1990s levels. The occasional cancellation of a controversial book is not "Orwellian," as an understandably irked Senator Hawley called it. It is a commercial byproduct of concerns about irritating a vitally important distribution chain into a limited number of book outlets. With the activist liberal inclinations of many booksellers, one or two of those can dampen the sales of hundreds of a publisher's own new titles and those of its distribution clients as well  and for more than one season. That can be a tremendous competitive handicap.

Your friendly local independent bookstore may be worse than Amazon when it comes to censoring book publishing. At least when Amazon acts to ban a book, it is highly visible and can be protested  and, on occasion, Amazon can back away from censorship.

What gives Lipscomb hope is the precedent of an earlier wave of book cancelation that crumbled, thanks in part to his own actions:

This has happened before as well. In the aftermath of Watergate, a number of publishers organized a "don't buy books by crooks" movement. No publisher was supposed to publish any book by members of the disgraced Richard Nixon administration. Later a separate activist group in Washington, DC, created posters, bumper stickers, even T-shirts. I was president of Times Books at the time, then the New York Times Book Company. My editors thought this was ridiculous. How was history served by stifling the various testimonies that might emerge? We broke the boycott and published a book by Nixon's chief of staff, H R Haldeman. Haldeman's The Ends of Power went to the top of the best-seller list and to the front page of every major newspaper with its revelations. The dam broke ... we were soon followed by memoirs from John Ehrlichman and others, almost all best-sellers. It was a reminder that successful publishers serve the interests of their markets, not their own staffs' predilections.

I wish I could be more confident that history will repeat itself. The media today are far more homogeneously left-wing and devoted to the destruction, not just the defeat, of their enemies. And generations of brainwashed products of left-wing higher education have been weaned away from any understanding of the Constitution and the importance of civility.

I'll keep watching S&S and Amazon, and all the other organs of cultural dominance over which the left exercises control. Let's hope Mr. Lipscomb's optimism is warranted.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.
The day is coming when China's navy, already the largest in the world by number of ships, will be patrolling the Atlantic Ocean, its missile-carrying submarines able to be offshore of any power it wishes to target and its hunter-killer subs free to follow any ships China might want to sink. As our scientific and technical expertise declines relative to China's, thanks to elevating skin color and other identity politics factors over merit, and as the U.S. Navy prioritizes diversity training over technical competence, the qualitative edge our fleet is supposed to have almost inevitably will decline.

In an interview with the Associated Press, General Stephen Townsend

said Beijing is looking to establish a large navy port capable of hosting submarines or aircraft carriers on Africa's western coast. Townsend said China has approached countries stretching from Mauritania to south of Namibia, intent on establishing a naval facility. If realized, that prospect would enable China to base warships in its expanding Navy in the Atlantic as well as Pacific oceans. "They're looking for a place where they can rearm and repair warships. That becomes militarily useful in conflict," said Townsend, who heads U.S. Africa Command. "They're a long way toward establishing that in Djibouti. Now they're casting their gaze to the Atlantic coast and wanting to get such a base there." (snip) "The Chinese are outmaneuvering the U.S. in select countries in Africa," said Townsend. "Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. They are hedging their bets and making big bets on Africa."

China's base in Djibouti enables its ships to patrol the Middle East oil region, the Indian Ocean, and East Africa's coast. China has been on a major trade and aid offensive in Africa, buying up vast quantities of resources and offering huge loans under its Belt and Road Initiative to indebt African countries to it, while building infrastructure to facilitate further economic ties with Africa. Meanwhile, Chinese consumer goods flood Africa.

Now, with China targeting West Africa, not just trade, but military balance of power calculations will be changing in China's favor if the plans come to fruition.

"The Atlantic coast concerns me greatly," [General Townsend] said, pointing to the relatively shorter distance from Africa's west coast to the U.S. In nautical miles, a base on Africa's northern Atlantic coast could be substantially closer to the U.S. than military facilities in China are to America's western coast. More specifically, other U.S. officials say the Chinese have been eyeing locations for a port in the Gulf of Guinea. The Defense Department's 2020 report on China's military power, said China has likely considered adding military facilities to support its naval, air and ground forces in Angola, among other locations. And it noted that the large amount of oil and liquefied natural gas imported from Africa and the Middle East, make those regions a high priority for China over the next 15 years. Henry Tugendhat, a senior policy analyst with the United States Institute of Peace, said China has a lot of economic interests on Africa's west coast, including fishing and oil. China also has helped finance and build a large commercial port in Cameroon. He said that any effort by Beijing to get a naval port on the Atlantic coast would be an expansion of China's military presence.

General Townsend earlier made similar warnings to Congress:

China's "activities in Africa are outpacing those of the United States and our allies as they seek resources and markets to feed economic growth in China and leverage economic tools to increase their global reach and influence," Gen. Townsend testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee April 22. In prepared remarks, he noted that Beijing has pledged to deliver some $60 billion in infrastructure and development loans to an array of African countries in recent years. He also said the goal of Chinese military operations in Djibouti are to create a "platform to project power across the continent and its waters."

The 20th century was known as "The American Century." One fifth of the way through the 21st, that label seems increasingly inappropriate.

Image: Kremlin.ru, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

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For Democrats, the ideal world is to have three castes  Big Government overlords who know everything and benevolently do the central planning; a cadre of loyal Big Corporate cronies who share their technology and silence their critics; and...peasants  a huge class of people, every last one of whom is dependent on the government for bodily survival. Beggars, after all, are easiest to please, which is the surest means of creating permanent blocs of Democrat voters. Hard work and individual initiative, after all, are for kulaks  hoarders, wreckers, saboteurs, and counterrevolutionaries, as Stalin, more or less, used to say.

That's what's behind the far-left notions of universal basic income, which is a favorite of the Democratic Socialists of America crowd, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Based on the past several stimulus packages passed, complete with small packets of "stimulus" cash handed out to the public through the IRS, they've been pilot-fishing this idea for about a year now and getting ready for bigger things.

Just one problem: Nobody wants to work anymore. Huge labor shortages are appearing in the workforce, with most economists attributing the problem to government stimulus payouts, including supplemental checks for the unemployed. That makes it more attractive not to work than to actually work. Work under such conditions is for suckers. And small businesses in particular, hardest hit by the coronavirus, as well as the ugly prospect that they can capriciously be shut down again while bigger corporate rivals won't be, are looking at a multiple-whammy on the labor front. If the COVID shutdowns didn't get these small businesses, this labor shortage brought on by stimulus handouts will.

Issues and Insights has an excellent write-up of how the labor shortage is happening based on Democrat policies. That isn't the only bad Democrat policy driving the labor shortage; another is Joe Biden dropping all requirements for receiving welfare, returning to the multigenerational model of welfare as a lifestyle choice, promoted by the Democrats.

Fortunately, one by one, the red states are starting to notice. Better still, their governors are saying "no."

Here's one:

HELENA, Mont.  Montana is ending its participation in the federal unemployment program that gives people extra weekly unemployment benefit payments as the state struggles with a worker shortage, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Tuesday. Beginning June 27, unemployed workers in the state will no longer receive $300 in weekly extra benefits funded by the federal government through Sept. 6. The state will launch a new program to give bonuses to unemployed workers who return to work.

Here's another:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  Floridians receiving unemployment benefits will soon have to provide proof that they're looking for a job, according to statements made by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday. DeSantis lifted the requirement that people receiving benefits look for work early in the pandemic when unemployment was rising and few were hiring. But DeSantis has lifted restrictions on businesses, and the unemployment rate is below the national average. "Normally when you're getting unemployment, the whole idea is that's temporary, and you need to be looking for work to be able to get off unemployment," DeSantis said at a news conference. "It was a disaster, so we suspended those job search requirements. I think it's pretty clear now, we have an abundance of job openings."

Here's yet another:

South Carolina plans to stop some of its federally-funded unemployment benefits to address "ongoing workforce shortages," according to the South Carolina governor's office, leaving many out-of-work residents without any support at all. The state joins Montana, which announced a similar move this week. "This labor shortage is being created in large part by the supplemental unemployment payments that the federal government provides claimants on top of their state unemployment benefits," Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement on Thursday. "What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic has turned into a dangerous federal entitlement, incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace."

There might be more coming up soon.

These governors are making a decision to not turn their able workforces into Layabout America by making it more profitable not to work than to work, which is the Democrat master plan.

Work will continue as the smarter option in these states, both for the workers and for the sustainability of the economy, as well as the tax base, something Democrats think comes from billionaires.

What the red-state governors are doing takes guts. Nobody likes to turn down a federal handout. But obviously, President Trump's example has been to teach them to have guts. These decisions will foster some discontent and media handwringing, with lots of individual sob stories, given the easy deal it is not to work.

But probably not as much as the media reports.

As Albert Camus once wrote: "Without work, all life goes rotten." Living without purpose, and with the government check substituting for a father, is quite likely at least one reason why we are seeing a resurgence in crime from the welfare and government-dependent classes. It's also an open invitation to illegal aliens, who will eventually take such jobs.

Meanwhile, recall the outrage that thenpresidential candidate Mitt Romney drew during his mean-minded private claim that "the 47%" of Americans stuck on welfare can't be helped. His private remarks, which nevertheless got out, drew outrage because deep down, people want to work, particularly if they don't have work. National Review writer Kevin Williamson drew flak, too, for claiming that the depressed areas of the Midwest were full of people who, because they didn't move, deserved what they got.

The stellar hiring spree, with rising wages, and a booming economy, brought on during the Trump years, was proof positive of the merits of making it more attractive to work than not work. The economic revival of the Midwest during those Trump years stunned even the biggest skeptics who gave up the Rust Belt for dead.

If not working is more profitable than working, then people will do the former. It's natural; it's following one's own self-interest. But it's no way to sustain an economy. If an economy is to grow, and workers are to find a way up the economic ladder, then work has to be made more attractive than not working. Universal income schemes have failed in places like Finland, and like all socialist policies, they will fail everywhere they are tried. To Democrats, though, not only does that not matter, but they actually like it. They want to convert formerly productive American workers into those reliably Democrat easy-to-please beggar voters.

These states are seeing right through them, and working instead to make their state economies prosperous and sustainable. No wonder so many people are fleeing blue states and moving to them.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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Why is most of the Arctic ice still there with all the doom-and-gloom predictions over the last 100 years? You know the ones: that global warming would cause the ice to melt rapidly and coastal cities to be destroyed?

At the end of April 2021, Arctic Sea ice was 5,340,000 square miles. This was 158,000 square miles above the record low and 328,000 square miles below the 19812010 average. It is more than 94% of the average, which is not even close to being gone, as is continuously predicted when leftists seek to scare the public with repeated warnings that coastal cities will soon be gone. See the data here.

And we are told the science is settled? I looked at only the following made-up doom-and-gloom predictions from the New York Times and Washington Post, as they were used by other news outlets as sources. Why do so many of their articles end up not being true? Here are a few from a hundred years' worth, collected by the website alienbasecamp.com:

The question is again being discussed whether recent and long-continued observations do not point to the advent of a second glacial period, when the countries now basking in the fostering warmth of a tropical sun will ultimately give way to the perennial frost and snow of the polar regions - New York Times - February 24, 1895

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot.... Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers, he declared, all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone... Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. - Washington Post 11/2/1922

A mysterious warming of the climate is slowly manifesting itself in the Arctic, engendering a "serious international problem," - New York Times - May 30, 1947

Greenland's polar climate has moderated so consistently that communities of hunters have evolved into fishing villages. Sea mammals, vanishing from the west coast, have been replaced by codfish and other fish species in the area's southern waters. - New York Times August 29, 1954

Col. Bernt Balchen, polar explorer and flier, is circulating a paper among polar specialists proposing that the Arctic pack ice is thinning and that the ocean at the North Pole may become an open sea within a decade or two.  New York Times - February 20, 1969

Get a good grip on your long johns, cold weather haters--the worst may be yet to come. That's the long-long-range weather forecast being given out by "climatologists." the people who study very long-term world weather trends. Washington Post January 11, 1970

The United States and the Soviet Union are mounting large-scale investigations to determine why the Arctic climate is becoming more frigid, why parts of the Arctic sea ice have recently become ominously thicker and whether the extent of that ice cover contributes to the onset of ice ages.  New York Times - July 18, 1970

A number of climatologists, whose job it is to keep an eye on long-term weather changes, have lately been predicting deterioration of the benign climate to which we have grown accustomed.Various climatologists issued a statement that "the facts of the present climate change are such that the most optimistic experts would assign near certainty to major crop failure in a decade," If policy makers do not account for this oncoming doom, "mass deaths by starvation and probably in anarchy and violence" will result. New York Times - December 29, 1974

"Scientists ponder why World's Climate is changing; a major cooling is considered to be inevitable  New York Times May 21, 1975

Greenhouse Effect Culprit May Be Family Car; New Ice Age by 1995?...As the tropical oceans heat up (due to increased greenhouse gases), more of their moisture is evaporated to form clouds. The increasing pole-tropic wind systems move some of these additional clouds toward the poles, resulting in increased winter rainfall, longer and colder winters and the gradual buildup of the polar ice sheets. This phenomenon has come to be widely recognized by climatologists in recent years. What most of them do not recognize is that this process may be the engine that drives the 100,000-year cycle of major ice ages, for which there is no other plausible explanation....we may be less than seven years away, and our climate may continue to deteriorate rapidly until life on earth becomes all but unsupportable.... New York Times - Larry Ephron , Director of the Institute for a Future - July 15, 1988

"But it does not take a scientist to size up the effects of snowless winters on the children too young to remember the record-setting blizzards of 1996. For them, the pleasures of sledding and snowball fights are as out-of-date as hoop-rolling, and the delight of a snow day off from school is unknown." - Dr. Michael Oppenheimer of the Environmental Defense Fund New York Times - January 2000

Everyone should remember that while the media, scientists, educators, politicians, and others were constantly switching from an existential threat of warming to an existential threat of cooling, that crude oil use was exponentially rising, the population was exploding, and CO2 was increasing rapidly. Therefore, there is no correlation among the variables.

Why would anyone seek to destroy industries that have helped billions of people improve their quality and length of life and employ tens of millions of people when there are no scientific data to support the destruction? The only reason I can think of is that politicians and others want the people to become subservient to the powerful government run by radical leftists who are consumed with having power.

Will the media ever ask questions and report facts, or will they just keep repeating talking points and dire predictions, like wooden puppets, while the Biden administration seeks to destroy the U.S. economy and leave us vulnerable to our enemies like China, Russia, and Iran?

It is easy with the internet to do research on the climate, so the question is, why don't journalists do any unless they don't care about anything but power for the government run by Democrats?

The left constantly says it is OK to censor free speech because you aren't allowed to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. Then everyone who yells "existential threat of climate change" should be censored, because all these people are essentially yelling "fire" with no evidence.

Shouldn't Kamala and others who are intentionally lying by blaming the border crisis on climate change be censored by social media outlets if they care about disinformation? Why would parents send their unaccompanied children to a country they have been told is one of the biggest villains in contributing to the existential threat of climate change if that is why they are sending them? Would they send their children to the country that Kamala and others are saying has been racist for over 400 years?

The truth hasn't mattered to most of the media for a long time, and long before Trump. They spend most of their time campaigning for and contributing to Democrat candidates as they lobby for their radical leftist agenda.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.

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Two men were taken to a hospital after the driver of a 1979 Corvette rear-ended another car on the outbound Dan Ryan Expressway on Thursday afternoon, closing several lanes of traffic for about an hour.
What should be the libertarian position on whether to impose quarantines to reduce the incidence of the coronavirus?

One argument is that we should do no such thing since a quarantine is equivalent to house arrest. It is a violation of our rights to bodily integrity, and in this case, it is imposed upon people who have not committed any crime whatsoever.

On the other hand, we cannot allow the "Typhoid Marys" of the day to spread their diseases, even if they lack any vestige of mens rea. We have to protect ourselves in any case, and forced quarantine seems to be the only means to do so.

No, carriers of the coronavirus have not committed any crime. However, harboring the disease and mixing among the general population can be said to constitute a threat, and the law should not be limited to prohibiting only actual invasions or trespass. It should also proscribe threats thereof.

Suppose a libertarian in otherwise good standing were to support forced quarantines for the coronavirus. Or to make this an actual competitive horse race, let us posit, God forbid, a much more serious contagious threat that will take place a hundred years from now. Would such a theorist be misunderstanding libertarian theory?

Murray Rothbard ("Mr. Libertarian") never wrote about COVID. But we can extrapolate from his publications and interpret him as taking a different position on this issue. He states:

It is important to insist, however, that the threat of aggression be palpable, immediate, and direct, in short, that it be embodied in the initiation of an overt act. Any remote or indirect criterion  any "risk" or "threat"  is simply an excuse for invasive action by the supposed "defender" against the alleged "threat."

And again:

Once one can use force against someone because of his "risky" activities, the sky is the limit, and there is virtually no limit to aggression against the rights of others. Once [one] permit[s] someone's "fear" of the "risky" activities of others to lead to coercive action, then any tyranny becomes justified.

Lew Rockwell, another leading libertarian theorist, agrees with Rothbard:

When we apply what Murray says to the coronavirus situation, we can answer our question about forced quarantines. People are not threatening others with immediate death by contagion. Rather, if you have the disease, you might pass it on to others. Or you might not. What happens if someone gets the disease is also uncertain.

Where our "lock 'em up" libertarian theorist departs from these two leaders of the libertarian movement is on the precise meaning of "palpable, immediate, and direct." All Austrian economists adhere to subjectivity, one of the foundations of the entire praxeological school. Hayek goes so far as to write: "And it is probably no exaggeration to say that every important advance in economic theory during the last hundred years was a further step in the consistent application of subjectivism."

Thus, I think, there is room for disagreement, while agreeing fully on the non-aggression principle of libertarianism. That is why libertarians can start from the same principles, all deducing from them in an entirely logical, rational, and reasonable manner, yet come to radically different conclusions.

It is as if Rothbard and Rockwell were maintaining that the statutory rape age ought to be X, and some other libertarian maintains it ought to be Y, where both X and Y lie somewhere in between 16 and 21. Principles alone cannot settle issues of this sort.

In similar manner, posit that A is running at B with a knife, yelling he's "gonna kill" B. B has a gun and can shoot A. But how close does A have to be to B before the latter is justified in shooting the former in self-defense? Five miles? One mile? 200 yards? 50 feet? What is the precise point at which B may properly shoot A and claim self-defense? I don't know. I think we need (private!) courts to make such determinations. All I am saying is that legal principles alone cannot determine the precise spot at which offense becomes defense. We need prudential judgment, and competent libertarians may properly disagree in cases of this sort.

On the other hand, Chuck Schumer made threats against two Supreme Court judges. Schumer's threat of physical violence against them was not "palpable, immediate, and direct," nor was it embodied in the initiation of an overt act. I conclude that these Supreme Court judges are not entitled to shoot the senator. However, in a free society, Schumer should pay a lesser penalty for this act of his (I'm now abstracting from all other issues, such as abortion rights, the legitimacy of the Supreme Court, etc.). Threats, too, are proscribed by the NAP. A, even when 10 miles away from B, should also pay a lesser penalty for this threat of his.

The bottom line here is that whether a quarantine is justified depends upon an empirical issue, one that cannot be solved by pure adherence to libertarian theory. Namely, exactly how much of a threat is COVID or any other such disease to innocent people? If the threat is very serious, then a quarantine is justified; if not, then not. The point is that quarantines cannot be ruled out of court per se, at least not by libertarian theory.

Image via Pixabay.

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Import prices for ferrous scrap in Vietnam increased during the week to Friday May 7 on bullish sentiment in the spot market, and they could break the $500-per-tonne-cfr-Vietnam mark for bulk cargoes, industry sources told Fastmarkets.

Japanese H2 scrap cargoes were offered at $480-490 per tonne cfr Vietnam, up $10 per tonne week on week. But not many cargoes were offered because sellers are awaiting the result of the Kanto Tetsugen auction next week before entering the spot market again.



One transaction was heard concluded at $480 per tonne cfr north Vietnam for a bulk Japanese H2 cargo. Market participants indicated that prices were around $475-480 per tonne cfr south Vietnam.



Japanese sellers said both domestic and export prices were quiet because the countrys Golden Week holiday ended on May 5 and work resumed on Thursday May 6.



Many Vietnamese buyers are waiting for Japan to return from its holiday, as well as the next Kanto Tetsugen auction result, before purchasing more cargoes, a buyer in Vietnam said.



Japanese heavy scrap was offered at $520-530 per tonne cfr Vietnam.



Hong Kong-origin H1&H2 (50:50) material was offered at $475 per tonne cfr Vietnam earlier this week, but offers were later withdrawn due to the volatile spot market.



Domestic scrap prices have increased by 500 Dong per kg ($21.68 per tonne), with Type 2 scrap being sold at 9,650 Dong per kg. Special scrap is being sold at 11,150 Dong per kg, while Type 1 scrap is being offered at 10,850 Dong per kg.



Domestic scrap is still much cheaper, so import prices are really very high now, a scrap buyer in Vietnam told Fastmarkets on Friday.



Long steel prices have also increased, with sellers hiking offers by 300 Dong per kg since last week.



A major steelmaker is offering 12-32mm CB300-V/SD295 and CB400-V/SD390 rebar at 16.78 million Dong per tonne, excluding value-added tax. These are for deferred payments of seven days; buyers making immediate payment will pay 50,000 Dong per kg lower.



The mill is also offering 6mm CB240-T wire rod at 16.93 million Dong per tonne and 7-8mm CB40-T wire rod at 16.88 million Dong per tonne, all excluding VAT.



Fastmarkets weekly price assessment of steel scrap H2, Japan-origin import, cfr Vietnam was $475-480 per tonne on Friday, an increase of $5-10 from $470 per tonne a week earlier.



Offers for deep-sea cargoes of heavy melting scrap 1&2 (80:20) from the United States were at $490 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week, with market participants expecting offers to increase further toward the end of the week.



A transaction was heard concluded at $485 per tonne cfr Vietnam for a deep-sea cargo from the US West Coast to a Japanese buyer, although this could not be confirmed directly by the counterparties.



There were unverified reports that a seller in the United Kingdom had offered a bulk cargo of HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $475 per tonne cfr Vietnam, although this could not be confirmed by the seller.



Fastmarkets weekly price assessment for deep-sea bulk cargoes of steel scrap, HMS 1&2 (80:20), cfr Vietnam was $485-490 per tonne on Friday, up by $10-15 from $470-480 per tonne a week earlier.



Sellers offered US-origin cargoes of containerized HMS 1&2 (80:20) at $440-450 per tonne cfr Vietnam this week, with buyers bidding at $440 per tonne cfr Vietnam.




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Food security ensured with fine harvests

China Daily) 08:56, May 07, 2021

Soybeans are harvested in Heilongjiang province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Li says healthy production supports stable economic, social development

China will further promote stable grain production and step up its ability to ensure food security, participants in the State Council's Executive Meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, decided on Thursday.

Thanks to a succession of bumper harvests in recent years, the country has had an ample supply of major agricultural products and ensured basic self-sufficiency in cereal grains as well as absolute grain security, officials said.

There is a solid foundation for another good harvest this year. The area planted in winter wheat increased for the first time in nearly four years, and the crop is in better shape than it had been in previous years, officials said.

Summer crops are expected to have another bumper harvest. Spring plowing and sowing has progressed smoothly, and the area planted in early-season rice remains stable. The intended farmland devoted to grains for the year will expand, with area in corn increasing from the previous year.

"Stable grain production and greater ability to ensure food security have provided a solid underpinning for promoting stable economic and social development and responding to the impact of COVID-19. Annual grain output should remain at no less than 650 billion kilograms this year," Li said.

Policies including minimum purchase prices for rice and wheat and subsidies for corn and soybean producers will remain and be refined. Central budgetary investment and proceeds from the transfer of land-use rights at the provincial level will be tilted toward major grain-producing counties.

Grain procurement, reserves and market regulation will be enhanced to ensure supply and keep prices stable. Grain storage and logistics facilities will be improved, and the scale and mix of grain reserves further refined.

"For a country as big as China, appropriate grain reserves are indispensable. The central government should assume responsibility in this regard, and subnational authorities should also play their due part," Li said.

The plan for a new round of high-standard farmland development will be implemented, and 100 million mu, equivalent to 6.67 million hectares, of high-standard farmland with high resilience during droughts and floods and high yield stability will be cultivated this year, officials said.

The underpinning role of science and technology in agricultural production will be reinforced. A sound commercial breeding system will be established, and seed industry enterprises will be nurtured and expanded. The research, development and extensive application of practical and efficient farming machinery and equipment will be supported.

"As urbanization picks up speed, it is imperative to increase our grain supply capacity. We must leverage market-oriented mechanisms, broaden supply channels and boost grain supply microcirculation to ensure sufficient provision of diverse varieties and maintain the stable operation of the grain market," Li said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Members of the Chicago police marine unit were dispatched to near Navy Pier a little before 6:20 a.m. Friday to investigate a call of a body in the water near there, according to police spokesperson Karie James. The marine unit recovered the body of a woman who appeared to be in her 30s, police said in a media notification.
(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 7 - No Italian region is high-risk for COVID contagion in the latest weekly monitoring of the health ministry and the Higher Health Institute (ISS), for the second straight week.

Italy's colour-coded regional COVID classifications are set to improve on the basis of new figures which showed incidence down despite a slight rise in the Rt number.

Italy will become even more a low-to-moderate yellow zone and no region will be high-risk red as Val d'Aosta turns from red to orange.

Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata, meanwhile, are set to go from orange to yellow.

Italy will probably have only two orange regions, Sicily and Val d'Aosta, while it is still uncertain whether Sardinia will stay orange.

The colour changes come into effect next Monday. Health Minister Roberto Speranza will issue ordinances to this effect later Friday.

"The curve is falling in all regions and autonomous provinces," said ISS chief Silvio Brusaferro. "We are also starting to see a drop in the mortality curve," he added. He said the average age of contagion had dropped to 41, and there were more infections in the 0-9 year range too. Health ministry prevention chief Gianni Rezza said the situation was improving but still the utmost caution was required. He noted that ICU cases were under the critical threshold of 30% for the first time, at 26%. Rezza added that "perhaps COVID will become endemic like influenza".

(ANSA).




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Once, she says, Bobick ordered her to jump from the ships deck 15 feet down to a concrete dock to aid in mooring. Although she suffered both immediate and lasting damage to both feet and ankles, Bobick told her to tough it out, says the suit, until the trip was over.
A Jersey fishing leader has called for a show of good faith from France after dozens of French vessels descended on the islands capital on Thursday.

The hours-long protest saw about 60 boats approach the port of St Helier in an escalation of a row over post-Brexit fishing rights, while two Royal Navy warships monitored the situation.

The UK Government says it will now work with France and Jersey to resolve the dispute before it escalates further.

The push for a diplomatic solution comes as a Jersey fisherman was unable to land his fresh catch in France on Thursday after reportedly being intimidated and harassed.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Don Thompson, president of Jersey Fishermens Association, said the incident followed some pretty extreme threats from the French.

Our expectations were that things probably werent going to get out of hand, but on the other hand if you consider a Government-level threat to sever electricity ties that would have meant hospitals being shut down, he said.

In other parts of the world if something like that happened to Iran or Russia or other countries, other states, that would be considered almost an act of war.

Earlier this week, French maritime minister Annick Girardin said Paris would cut off electricity to Jersey  which gets 95% of its power supply from France  if the fishing licence dispute was not resolved.

The authorities in Jersey have promised further talks to help resolve the row, but the French government hit out at a British failure to abide by the terms of the UK-EU trade deal and warned it would use all the leverage at our disposal to protect the fishing industry.

The European Union also accused Jersey of breaching the deal signed by the UK and Brussels.

Mr Thompson added: The real hardship genuinely is on this side and Im seeing my colleagues going out of business, fishermen that have done nothing else all their life, made a commitment to the industry since they were very young, having to sell their boats and walk away from the industry.

He called for a show of good faith from France in what is a highly political situation affected by the repercussions of the Brexit referendum.

Jersey people didnt even vote, didnt even have the right to vote in Brexit. Everything thats happened here in the way that weve become a third world state is entirely by default and its really unfortunate that we seem to be coming under the spotlight and being accused of using the Brexit scenario to our advantage when actually the opposite is true.

Fellow Jersey fisherman Josh Dearing, who owns seafood company The Jersey Catch, told PA that some fishing areas can be quite contested between the Jersey and French fleets.

French fishing vessels outside the harbour at St Helier, Jersey, on Thursday (Gary Grimshaw/Bailiwick Express/PA)

Recalling the protest by French fishermen, he said: It was quite frightening to be honest it was really a worry for our fleet and what might have happened.

Looking out on to the horizon you could see loads of like lights from the vessels themselves, red flares as they were making their way down towards the St Helier harbour and it was just a mass of white lights really.

Asked what a good solution to the issue would look like, Mr Dearing said it was a really tough subject because everyone has a right to fish and make a living.

He added: Its a very hard job. But its a very sensitive subject and the rules are the rules and unfortunately those that dont have those rights or those records are unable to fish these areas that are ours.

Mr Dearing, who moved to Jersey after living in Maidstone in Kent, said the decision to send two Royal Navy warships to oversee the situation was absolutely brilliant.

We were so exposed, such a small island, and having those two boats out there, although they kept their distance, must have had some sort of presence to stop anything from getting too out of hand.
The Governments approach to the partial return of foreign holidays suffers from an excess of caution and will delay the travel industrys recovery, sector leaders have said.

Travel bosses demanded greater clarity over the formation of the green list of destinations and urged ministers to find ways to reduce the costs of Covid testing for holidaymakers and lengthy queues at the border.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Friday that just 12 countries and territories are on the green list of destinations that people in England will be permitted to visit from May 17 without self-isolating on return.

Meanwhile, popular European destinations such as Spain, Italy, France and Greece are on the amber list.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of travel trade organisation Abta, said this represented a slower and more cautious approach than previously outlined which would delay the industrys recovery.

He added: We understand that public health is the Governments priority, and it was always expected that the return to international travel would be gradual, but the Government must use the next review to open up travel to more destinations, using the traffic light system to manage risk.

Mr Tanzer also said the Government should provide grants to businesses such as travel agents and tour operators to support them through what will continue to be difficult times ahead.

EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren called on the Government to provide clarity about which countries could be added to its green travel list.

The decision to put so few European countries into the green tier is simply not justified by the data or the science and is inconsistent with the approach to reopen the domestic economy, he said.

He added: So, we call on Government to provide transparency on decision-making and clarity on when we can expect other European countries to join the green list so that consumers and airlines alike can plan for this summer.

Mr Lundgren also urged the Government to drive down the cost of testing and remove it for green countries.

Green really should mean green, he said.

Mr Lundgren said easyJet will be increasing its flights to green list destinations and launching new routes where possible.

British Airways (BA) chairman and chief executive Sean Doyle said: Whats clear is that with high levels of vaccination in the UK being matched by other countries, we should see more destinations going green before the end of June.

But he added: Its disappointing to hear that despite the stringent safeguards introduced for travel from amber list countries, the Government is now suggesting travellers avoid these.

We cannot stress more greatly that the UK urgently needs travel between it and other low-risk countries, like the US, to restart the economy, support devastated industries and reunite loved ones.

He said BA would be laying on additional flights from England to Portugal.

Airlines UK, an industry body which represents UK carriers, said the Government must make major additions to its green list of travel destinations at the next review point in three weeks.

Chief executive Tim Alderslade said: This is a missed opportunity and, with so few countries making it on to the green list, represents a reopening of air travel in name only.

By contrast, the EU has said vaccinated people will be able to travel without restrictions, which leaves the UK at risk of falling behind and not opening up international travel to key markets across Europe as well as the United States.

Brian Strutton, general secretary of pilots union Balpa, accused the Government of an excess of caution over its handling of the planned return of foreign holidays, adding that it is extremely disappointing for everyone who works in the travel sector and the millions of people who are desperate to jet away on holiday or business.

Almost all tourist hotspots in Europe including Spain, France and Greece are in the amber category, which is as good as red as far as most tourists are concerned, with potential 10-day quarantine needed on return, he said.

Mr Strutton added: Tourists are sat gazing at the amber light, revving their engines, desperate to travel safe in the knowledge that their jabs will protect them. The Government must flick those amber lights to green as soon as it possibly can.

Heathrow Airports chief executive said the Government must urgently address the unacceptable situation at the UK border where travellers face long immigration queues.

John Holland-Kaye said: The Government should help people plan ahead by publishing a list of countries expected to be on the green list for the summer holidays so that passengers are not faced with high prices for last-minute bookings.

The Government also needs to urgently address the unacceptable situation at the border, where passengers can wait for longer than their flight to the UK.

Long immigration queues are an inevitable result of under-resourcing, not an inevitable result of extra checks.
Older black adults remain the ethnic group least likely to have received a coronavirus jab, with figures suggesting around three in 10 have not been vaccinated.

The lowest rates were estimated among those aged 50 and over identifying as black Caribbean and black African, at 66.8% and 71.2% respectively, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

This compares with 93.7% of white British adults, with estimates for all ethnic minority groups lower than this.

Rates were also estimated to be lower in people of Muslim or Buddhist faiths, those who do not speak English, those living in more deprived areas and disabled people.

(PA Graphics)

It is the second time the ONS has published analysis on vaccination rates in older people broken down by age, sex, ethnicity, religious affiliation, disability and deprivation.

It analysed data from the National Immunisation Management Service (NIMS) on people over 50 between December 8 and April 12, linking it to peoples NHS numbers.

Differences in geography, socio-demographic factors and underlying health conditions do not fully explain the lower vaccination rates among ethnic minority groups, the ONS found.

Statistical modelling showed the odds of not having received a dose of a vaccine were 7.4 times greater for people from black Caribbean backgrounds compared with people of white British ethnicity.

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After adjusting for age, sex, socio-demographic characteristics and underlying health conditions, the odds were still 5.6 times greater.

For people identifying as black African, the unadjusted odds were six times greater, while the adjusted odds were 3.4 times higher.

The ONS also found a relationship between proficiency in English language, as recorded in the 2011 census, and vaccination rates.

Estimated rates were 75.3% among those who do not speak English at all, 75.9% for people who do not speak English well, and 92.7% for those whose main language is English.

(PA Graphics)

The vaccination rate among people living in the most deprived areas of England was 87.8%, compared with 94.5% in the least deprived, the ONS said.

Disabled people who reported being limited a lot in their day-to-day activities had a vaccination rate of 89.3%, compared with 92.3% for non-disabled people.

The lowest rates among religious groups were for those who identified as Muslim (78.8%) or Buddhist (83.3%), while the figures for people identifying as Christian or Hindu were 93.2% and 92% respectively.

The ONS said lower take-up could reflect access problems.

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Hugh Stickland, head of strategy and engagement at the ONS, said the lower rates are broadly similar to the groups who express vaccine hesitancy, adding: However, the reasons for lower uptake are likely to be complex, including for example being unable to travel to a vaccination centre.

Separate statistics released by the ONS on Thursday show that 7% of adults in Britain reported vaccine hesitancy between March 31 and April 25.

This is a fall from 9% earlier in the year, from January 13 to February 7.

Black or black British adults were the most likely ethnic group to report vaccine hesitancy, and younger adults were more likely to do so than older people.

Three in 10 black or black British adults reported hesitancy, as did 13% of adults aged 16-29.

The ONS defined hesitancy as adults who have refused a vaccine, say they would be unlikely to get a vaccine when offered, and those who responded neither likely nor unlikely, dont know or prefer not to say when asked.

Caroline Lucas, vice-chairwoman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on coronavirus, said community engagement has shown it is possible to overcome deep-seated mistrust but it must be done at the grassroots level rather than imposed by Whitehall.

She added: The pandemic has already exposed deep inequalities in our society.

Dividing people into the vaccinated and unvaccinated through schemes like vaccine passports risks making this worse and alienating the communities where vaccine take-up is already low, particularly if they are used to restrict access to everyday services. That must not be allowed to happen.

Dr Ben Kasstan, a medical anthropologist at the University of Bristol, said the data raised urgent questions about the delivery of the vaccination programme in ethnic and religious minority communities and lessons learned.

He said: Putting issues in accessibility aside, policymakers need to look at how long-running issues of trust and social exclusion may be being directed towards the coronavirus vaccine programme, and thinking intersectionally across race, religion, and socioeconomic status will be essential as we move forward.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is extremely confident the party is heading back into power at Holyrood  although she conceded winning an overall majority of MSPs there is a very, very long shot.

As early results started to come in from Thursdays Scottish Parliament elections, the Scottish First Minister downplayed the prospect of winning a majority.

However, she insisted it was an extraordinary achievement for her party to win an historic fourth term in power.

The First Minister spoke out as she arrived at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, where votes are being counted.

The coronavirus pandemic means that traditional overnight counting was abandoned, with the results of seats instead being announced over Friday and Saturday.

Speaking about the prospect of the SNP winning 65 seats or more in the Scottish Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said: A majority has always been a very, very long shot.

The SNP won an unprecedented Holyrood majority in 2011, under Ms Sturgeons predecessor, Alex Salmond.

But Ms Sturgeon said: The Holyrood system is a proportional representation system, in 2011 we effectively broke that system.

So it would be good to do, but I have never taken that for granted.

That has always been on a knife edge, a small number of votes in a small number of seats.

So we will wait and see how the votes pan out over today and tomorrow.

But at this stage in the results, and there is a long, long way to go, I am feeling extremely happy and extremely confident that we are on track in the SNP for a fourth consecutive election victory and to have the ability to form a government.

And that is an extraordinary achievement for any political party.

Her comments came as the SNP made the first gain of the Holyrood campaign, winning the East Lothian seat  which had been held by Labours Iain Gray.

Meanwhile Deputy First Minister John Swinney said that the SNP would be the leading and largest party in the new Scottish Parliament  though he too said it is still too early to say if the party will win an overall majority.

Mr Swinney, also the Education Secretary in the Scottish Government, comfortably held his Perthshire North seat, increasing his majority over the Tories.

His was among the first handful of seats to declare as votes were counted after polling day on Thursday.

He said: It is an enormous pleasure to see the prospects of the return of an SNP government for a fourth historic term, given the scale of the vote that my party is experiencing the length and breadth of the country.

With the SNP having used the election campaign to push for a second independence referendum, Mr Swinney vowed he would do all that I can to ensure that the people of Scotland have a choice on their future as they should have.

Ballot boxes arrive at the Inverness Leisure Hall (Trevor Martin/PA)

While he said there is a long way to go before all the results are known, Mr Swinney insisted it is beyond any doubt that the SNP will form the next government.

He added: That is an absolutely gigantic feat for the Scottish National Party to have achieved, to be on the brink of a fourth continuous term.

The first seat to be declared in the race for Holyrood was Orkney, with Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur holding on to the constituency for Willie Rennies party.

Minutes later, the SNP held Aberdeen Donside, with councillor Jackie Dunbar taking the seat previously filled by Mark McDonald  who resigned from the party after allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards women.

Early results suggest turnout among voters is up from the last election in 2016.

The SNP went on to hold the Western Isles seat, with sitting MSP Alasdair Allan returned for Ms Sturgeons party, polling 7,454 votes.

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It also held the Clydebank and Milngavie seat, with newcomer Marie McNair elected to replace Gil Paterson, who stepped down from Holyrood.

Ms McNair was successful after securing 17,787 votes.

The SNP narrowly held the Banffshire and Buchan Coast constituency, with candidate Karen Adam winning 14,920 votes, just ahead of Conservative Mark Findlater on 14,148 votes.

Previously held by Stewart Stevenson, the SNP had a majority of 6,683 in the seat in 2016, but that has been cut to just 772 after a 10.3% swing to the Tories.

At the Glasgow count, Scotlands Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said members of an anti-vaccine party made a beeline for him due to his skin colour.

Derek Jackson, right, and Liberal Party supporters were at the Glasgow count (Neil Pooran/PA)

Derek Jackson, standing for the Liberal Party in Glasgow Southside, arrived at the count with supporters wearing black suits and yellow stars with unvax written on them, and claimed to be satirising fascist SNP hate laws.

After they approached Mr Yousaf, members of other political parties joined the SNP to confront them.

Speaking to reporters after the incident, Mr Yousaf said: What Im always struck by is voices of good always outweigh the voices of hatred.
The SNP has held all four Glasgow constituencies which were declared on Friday.

Along with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, Bill Kidd and Bob Doris will return to Holyrood for the SNP.

Another four constituencies in the Glasgow region are due to declare results on Saturday, along with the regional list.

Ms Sturgeon was re-elected in Glasgow Southside, where she went up against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.

The First Minister won 19,735 votes, compared to Mr Sarwars 10,279  a majority of 9,456.

Afterwards, she said: At this stage I am extremely happy that the SNP appears to be on course for a fourth consecutive election victory and to be on course to have the privilege of forming a government again.

If that is indeed the outcome of this election I pledge today to get back to work immediately to continue to steer this country through the crisis of Covid, to lead this country into recovery from Covid, and then, when the time is right, to offer this country the choice of a better future.

Elsewhere, Mr Yousaf won the Glasgow Pollok constituency with 18,163 votes.

Scottish Labours Zubir Ahmed came second with 11,058 votes.

The Justice Secretary said he was delighted with the result, adding: I promise I will continue to serve with the utmost dedication.

SNP also held the Glasgow Anniesland seat as incumbent MSP Mr Kidd saw off a Labour challenge.

Mr Kidd won 17,501 votes, ahead of second-placed Scottish Labour candidate Eva Murrays 10,932.

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In his victory speech, Mr Kidd thanked SNP activists for their work, saying they had done a fantastic job.

He said: I have to say that being elected again is something Im extremely proud of.

Its something that you can never be sure of, youve got to put in the effort and make sure it gets there.

The SNPs Mr Doris was re-elected in the Maryhill and Springburn constituency with 16,428 votes. Labours Kieran ONeil came second with 8,504.

He thanked his family  saying family comes first  and other candidates for a robust campaign.
The Facebook (FB) oversight boards decision to uphold an indefinite ban on former President Trumps account renewed calls for antitrust action against the social media giant Wednesday. But one lawmaker spearheading the charge to reshape the countrys antitrust law says Trump should be banned permanently.

Speaking to Yahoo Finance, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D, MN) said Trumps refusal to admit defeat in the 2020 presidential election, and continued lies about election fraud are reason enough to ban him from social media platforms, altogether.

He is the ultimate conveyor of misinformation, he's a disinformer in chief. He is the one that basically still will not admit that he lost the election and keeps putting out theories that literally undermine our democracy itself, Klobuchar said. Its not like hes changed his tune in terms of undermining democracy.

MAY 5th 2021: Facebook's ban on former President Donald Trump's account will continue following a decision issued by its independent Oversight Board. - File Photo by: Dennis Van Tine/STAR MAX/IPx 2016 4/17/16 Donald Trump campaigns in Staten Island, New York City. (NYC)

Klobuchars criticism isnt limited to Trump. As chair of the Senate Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Antitrust, she has frequently spoken out against what she sees as the unchecked power and influence of Facebook and other big tech firms. She said the oversight boards ruling to punt the ultimate decision back to the social media giant was yet another sign of the companys outsized reach.

When you have monopolies, they have less of an incentive to develop the bells and whistles to protect people's privacy, and to do something about misinformation, due to public pressure. They are doing this now when it comes to vaccine misinformation and the like, she said.

Facebook established the oversight board in 2018, in response to heavy criticism about political bias in moderating content on its platforms. The 20-member panel made up of former political leaders, journalists, and human rights activists was appointed by Facebook and tasked with deliberating the companys content decisions. While the company has maintained the boards independence, it is funded by a $130 million trust from Facebook, and critics argue its decisions hold little weight, given that the panel can only offer recommendations on policies.

Anti-monopoly law

Klobuchar has called for a complete overhaul of current antitrust enforcement. Earlier this year, she introduced the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act, which proposes to change existing law by requiring government agencies to regularly examine merger effects, and calling for the standard for enforcement to be reset. It also shifts the burden of proof on dominant firms in merger cases to prove that the acquisition wont hurt competition, and arms antitrust enforcers with additional policing tools.

You make it easier for [regulatory] agencies to look at those mergers and prove out that there's a problem with competition. But [the proposed bill] also says, as we did with the AT&T (T) breakup, why don't you make it easier to look backwards and look for that exclusionary conduct, she said.

Klobuchar explores the evolution of U.S. anti-monopoly law in her new book ANTITRUST: Taking on Monopoly Power from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age. She condemns corporate consolidation and argues that monopolies have consistently hurt American consumers and the economy throughout history, from Standard Oil to Big Pharma.

Through history, our capitalist system, which I strongly support...has rejuvenated itself with checks and balances from antitrust. That was a breakup of Standard Oil that was the breakup of AT&T, she said. If you look at this from a pure capitalist standpoint you come out in favor of allowing competition and allowing our economy to thrive but not having big monopoly gateways in so many different areas.

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita
Prosecutors said Daniels and a co-offender, both brandishing knives, went over to the mans home and broke down the door. A fight broke out and Daniels began stabbing the man in the back while the other attacker stabbed him in the arm and leg.
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Union home ministry sent a 4-member team to review the law and order situation in the state, led by an additional secretary-level officer

The Trinamul Congress supremo also asked the BJP not to create unrest and accept the fact that it had lost the election.  PTI

Kolkata/New Delhi: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused some Union ministers of trying to instigate riots in the state after the BJPs defeat in the Assembly election on the pretext of visiting saffron party workers injured in the post-poll violence.

The Trinamul Congress supremo also asked the BJP not to create unrest and accept the fact that it had lost the election. Speaking at Nabanna, the state secretariat, she said: Not even 24 hours have passed since I took again, and letters have started pouring in as Union ministers resumed visits. Political rallies have been banned due to the Covid-19 pandemic here, so I dont know why some Central ministers are unnecessarily visiting villages and trying to provoke riots.

The CM added: I request them not to worsen the situation through their provocation. I ask the BJP to show restraint, accept the mandate. This is happening as they havent been able to accept the peoples verdict.

Meanwhile, in a move that is bound to further escalate tensions between the Centre and the West Bengal government, the Union home ministry on Thursday sent a four-member team to review the law and order situation in the state, led by an additional secretary-level officer. This was done after the MHA sent two letters to the state government seeking a detailed report on the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

In Kolkata, the chief ministers remarks came hours after a violent attack allegedly by TMC workers on the convoy of minister of state for external affairs V. Muraleedharan in West Midnapore. The minister, however, escaped unhurt but a car in his motorcade, that included pilot cars from the state police, was vandalised by an armed mob at Panchkuri. The MoS was going to visit the family of a slain BJP worker and other injured.

He later tweeted: TMC goons attacked my convoy in West Midnapore, broken windows, attacked personal staff. Cutting short my trip. We could not visit the house of @BJP4Bengal Karyakarta, Biswajit Mahesh, who was killed in the post-poll violence at his village Markundachak. Police advised us not to go after the attack on my convoy at Paanchkuri.

Mr Muraleedharan added: @BJP4India will not be threatened by Un-Democratic forces. Our fight against perpetrators of violence will continue in Democratic means. Arrived at Debra to meet workers of @BJP4Bengal who have been brutally attacked, whose houses have been destroyed by TMC goons.

At Nabanna, Ms Banerjee said, referring to the troubled zones: We have marked some areas as black spots where unrest is spreading after the BJP has won by transferring police officials, including superintendents of police, due to their organisational inefficiency.

She also announced her governments compensation of Rs 2 lakhs for the family of each person killed in the post-poll clashes.

At Dinhata in Cooch Behar of North Bengal, former TMC MLA Udayan Guha, who lost to Nishith Pramanik of the BJP this time, was injured in the right hand while two of his security personnel suffered head injuries after saffron party workers beat them in an attack.

Ms Banerjee also offered jobs of home guards to one family member each of all five villagers killed in the paramilitary forces firing at Sitalkuchi in the district during the elections.

Earlier, in New Delhi, while seeking a detailed report on the violence that erupted after counting on May 2, the MHA asked the state government to take steps to stop the violence without any delay. A second letter was sent by the MHA on May 5, the day Ms Banerjee took the oath as CM. In his second letter on May 5, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla said: I remind you no report has been submitted despite my asking for details on the post-poll violence on May 3. Non-compliance of this second letter will be taken seriously.

On May 5, after taking the oath, Ms Banerjee had pointed out that the law and order machinery in the state was under the control of the Election Commission and hence she could not be held responsible for it. She had claimed all police officers in key positions were also appointed by the Election Commission. The MHA had asked the chief secretary why adequate measures to stop the violence had not been taken so far. There are fresh reports which suggest that post-poll violence has not stopped. Immediate measures should be taken to stop the violence and a report should be sent immediately, the home secretary said in his letter.
In his words: "I am just a professional writer, which means I don't do blogs and try and get money for whatever I write."

It is a fact that she has packed the staff and advisory phalanx of the PMs office with her friends and people she agrees with politically

Ms Symonds is accused, apart from crony appointments of interventions in policy areas that affect the country, decisions that very many Conservatives and people in government are convinced that BoJo would not have taken had it not been for her prevalent influence. (Photo: AP)

I lived in glass houses,

--- but confess I had no stones

I stepped out of those kitchens

--- and rattled those marrow bones

I stood in the ruins of the church

---- the one with the broken spire

O Sage, O Saint, O soothsayer

---- O blessed prophetic liar!

From The Love Song of Wroro K. Gumby-Hara

By Bachchoo

We live in enlightened times, my friend witness the fact that Boris Johnson has moved his girlfriend into 10 Downing Street, the official residence of Britains Prime Ministers.

This is perhaps an honest if unconventional move. Boris announced his engagement to 32-year-old Carrie Symonds before their baby boy was born. So, Ms Symonds went from being a former adviser on his staff and lover to First Girlfriend.

I call it a relatively honest, if not permanent, setup as former Prime Ministers have had unacknowledged mistresses while living in Downing Street with their wives. There was the confessed dalliance of John Major with one of his ministers and then the alleged one-night stand of Tony Blair with Rupert Murdochs wife Wendy Deng -- and others going back further into history.

Ms Symonds, having moved into Downing Street, has proved to be a different fettle of kitsch. Recent Prime Ministers with kids have found the flat above the official rooms of 10 Downing Street constraining and have spread themselves to a connected upstairs flat of the adjoining 11 Downing Street. What the Chancellors of the Exchequer, whose right it is to live in Number 11, have thought of this I dont know, but thats now a matter for Rishi and Mrs Sunak. Perhaps gratitude for being appointed supplants territorial discomforts.

Carrie was very rude about the decor of the flat she inherited from previous PM Theresa May, saying she was appalled by its furniture and wallpaper, calling it a John Lewis nightmare. She commissioned a designer named Lulu Lytle to refurnish and refurbish the place. I am no expert on interior decor, but pictures of the redecorated flat and Ms Lulus handiwork are, for me. the best definition of that elusive word kitsch that I have ever seen.

The redecoration cost 200,000. So why, when the world is in the throes of a deadly plague, am I devoting space to this idiocy? Because it is now alleged that some Tory donors had paid for this extravagance, and that makes BoJo beholden to these benefactors on the principle that there is no such thing as a free lunch. This scandal, the significance of which is yet to be established, may cause BoJo to be found guilty of lying to Parliament about the settlement of the redecoration bill, thus breaching the ministerial code -- a matter for resignation.

Now the commentariat, even in right-wing BoJo-supporting publications such as The Spectator, are getting worried about the influence of the First-Girlfriend in the affairs of the country. Her bad taste in decor and the consequent threat to BoJo aside, it is a fact that she has packed the staff and advisory phalanx of the PMs office with her friends and people she agrees with politically.

Her overseeing several of these crony appointments had led to the resignation of the previous Svengalish adviser, Dominic Cummings, who after his ejection from Downing Street is taking his revenge by leaking damaging information to the press on BoJos dealings. For instance, there was the leak of a phone and text correspondence between tax-dodging Singapore Sir James Dyson and BoJo in which the PM asked for the manufacture and delivery of ventilators for the Covid crisis and agreed to Dysons demand to waive the taxes his employees would have to pay. The meanness of billionaires, even when discussing the alleviation of a world health crisis, is unfathomable. Couldnt Dyson have paid the tax from his profits? Can the PM really step in and, with Chancellor Sunak, waive taxes on a select band of people?

Ms Symonds is accused, apart from crony appointments of interventions in policy areas that affect the country, decisions that very many Conservatives and people in government are convinced that BoJo would not have taken had it not been for her prevalent influence. The contention is that if Ms Symonds wants to influence or dictate policy, for instance on green issues to which she is commendably dedicated, she shouldnt do it through the conjugal bed, but through the ballot box.

She allegedly caused BoJo to interfere in a parliamentary-sanctioned cull of badgers. He banned the cull which environmentalists now say has disastrously decimated the hedgehog population.

Her trivial influence was demonstrated when she insisted that BoJo interrupt and leave an important scientific meeting on Covid to demand that he immediately get in touch with The Times to refute a story in the newspaper that Carries affection for their dog Dilyn had cooled since she insisted on adopting him. Not a shaggy-dog story!

The criticisms of Ms Symonds unconstitutional influence has been characterised by her supporters in the press as the grumblings of old-school, sexist Tory dinosaurs who are afraid of intelligent women.

As an anti-Tory dinosaur and no supporter of Dominic Cummings or his hypocritical revenge and as someone who has never had -- or has had through vast experience to overcome -- a fear of intelligent women, I beg to disagree. BoJo was elected on some particular policies and democracy demands that he concentrate on those and not on the concerns of an unelected paramour.
Sandoval pleaded guilty in 2020 to bribery and tax charges. He admitted to taking at least $70,000 in government-supplied cash from Maani in return for acting as SafeSpeeds protector in the state Senate, and was cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of leniency when he died in December of COVID-19 complications.
You are the owner of this article.
Services for Mabel McCrackin McGee, 92, of Tyler were held Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 2 p.m. at Stewart Family Funeral Home Chapel in Tyler and Rev. Brandy Stevens officiated. Burial followed at Goodgame Cemetery near Athens under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Mabel McGee passe
Only offered on the hardtop Mustang , the Grande included wood trim in the cabin, such as on the doors, the dash, and near the glove box, as well as vinyl seats and special lights on the doors. The exterior was further customized with new side mirrors and a vinyl hardtop roof that looked like leather.Ford didnt build too many of these - the American manufacturer produced a little over 22,000 Mustang Grande units in 1969 before dropping the output to some 13,500 cars a year later.So it goes without saying that a 1970 Ford Mustang Grande isnt that easy to find, especially in a condition that allows it to be restored to factory specifications.And yet, someone on eBay claims they have one, as seller azdaboog has listed a 1970 Mustang Grande that has recently been pulled from a barn where it spent its last two decades.A quick look at the photos in the gallery shows everybody this Mustang doesnt come in its best shape, but on the other hand, theres nothing that a thorough restoration shouldnt be able to fix. At least, thats what we can tell at a quick visual inspection, but you should still check out the car live before the purchase.Sold as a rather high-optioned model, this Mustang comes with air conditioning, power steering, and power brakes. Under the hood, theres a 302 V8 engine that still works, and the best news is that no parts are believed to be missing.Given its current condition, this 1970 Ford Mustang Grande doesnt come with a hefty price tag, as the seller expects to get just $3,300 for it. Its parked in Iowa should you want to inspect it live.
So companies out there have tried all kinds of approaches to convince us that flying is still as safe as it gets, despite the invisible enemy that the planet has been fighting with for over a year. Some have turned to safety dances, others are eliminating the middle seat, and most require passengers to keep a mask on during the whole flight.But the captain of American Eagle flight 4798, operated by Republic Airways for American Airlines , has found the best way to make everybody on board feel comfortable and relaxed: he reportedly ordered pizza for everybody when the flight was diverted to a different airport due to severe weather.More specifically, the E175 took off from Key West, Florida and was heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, but got diverted on its way to the destination due to severe thunderstorms.The aircraft was eventually redirected to Charleston, where the captain and everybody else on board had to spend nearly an hour and a half on the ground waiting for the bad weather to pass and then be able to get back on route to the original destination.Fortunately, the captain found the best way to keep the crowd busy: he ordered pizza for everyone on board, therefore providing passengers with a treat they didnt really expect when booking a ticket.While we dont know if anyone had anything to object to given the face mask requirement, the pizza certainly made the flight more comfortable especially because everybody on the aircraft spent nearly six hours together  the plane took off from the Florida airport at 14:30 EDT and eventually touched the ground in Charlotte at 20:06 EDT after leaving Charleston at 19:18 EDT.
Godspeed up there, Thomas. Well see you back on ???? in a few months. Thanks again for a once in a lifetime experience ????????????  Coldplay (@coldplay) May 7, 2021

This was clearly a PR stunt but it was an excellently done one. Coldplay linked up with the International Space Station (ISS) and spoke with Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut for the European Space Agency (ESA). Each band member had specific questions about life in space, which Pesquet graciously answered, drawing, whenever he could, comparisons between that experience and being on tour.Video of the chat is available below. Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, and Will Champion were clearly nervous about the chat and the premiere. After all, its not everyday that you get to talk to a real astronaut in space. Even when youre part of Coldplay.Pesquet spoke about the most cringe-inducing misconception found in space-themed movies (spoiler, its all about how quickly astronauts suit up and head outside the space station or shuttle) and waxed poetic about how Earth, seen from space, has no borders and no divisions, hence theyre constructions of the mind. As for alien sightings, hes yet to have any.At the end of the chat, Pesquet played the single Higher Power and the video hed been sent in advance for the first time ever. It was then transmitted back on Earth via satellite for the premiere, which counted as an "intergalactic premiere" or, as both ESA and Coldplay said later, as an extraterrestrial transmission.Right now we aren't able to play for anybody on Earth, so we thought we'd just play for you, Martin told Pesquet. It's like our one-man concert.A one-man concert indeed, but one watched live by millions of people from all over the world. 2020, for all its shortcomings, is really bringing out the creative side in all of us.
SUV

Of the 2,000-odd examples, at least one of them is damaged all over according to the description of chassis number 1C4SDJH94MC682200. Appraised at $89,806 in terms of retail value and currently sitting on a $57,500 bid with two hours of bidding left on Copart , the sorry-looking people carrier shows only 479 miles (771 kilometers) on the clock.The auction website doesnt go into detail about how the crash happened, but the driver-side CV axles and wheels appear to have sustained the brunt of the impact. Based on the driver-side paintwork damage, this Durango SRT Hellcat also appears to have crashed into a largeLittle damage is featured on the passenger side and out back, and the structural integrity of the safety cell offers a clue in regard to the impact speed. As for the most intriguing detail about this 710-horsepower gentle giant, the front seats kick protector is missing for some reason or another.Based on the number of car vloggers that buy wrecks to fix them for the sake of views, its hardly surprising the Durango SRT Hellcat currently stands at $57,500 although you can buy a pretty nice R/T Scat Pack Widebody 50th Anniversary for that money. Still, the most important components that can be salvaged from this SUV are the engine and tranny.The 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI V8 without a FEAD Basics Kit (accessory drive) and pre-1976 vehicles Engine Kit retails at $15,000 or thereabouts depending on the vendor, and the TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic based on the ZF 8HP is pretty expensive even as a junkyard part. Also worthy of note, the rear axle and limited-slip diff are worth a few bucks as well.If you were to choose between a crashed Durango SRT Hellcat or any other vehicle for $57,500, how would you spend your hard-earned greenbacks?
This one celebrity endorsement aims to stand out from the rest, by shining the light on regular people. Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters are lending their voice, music and image to Ram Trucks , in a series of spots that will, surprisingly, highlight regular people.Spotlight is a new multimedia campaign introduced by Stellantis for the Ram Trucks, and the first video from the series, Rock Star, has been released. You will find it in full at the bottom of the page.Despite what you might think going into it, youre wrong. The video isnt about Grohl and the Foo Fighters living the rock star life with help from Ram, but about the real rock stars: everyday heroes. Whether theyre parents, educators or caretakers, theyre the builders of tomorrows world and, as such, in charge of the most difficult mission: that of nurturing, educating and motivating young minds.The first video is set to the Foo Fighters Making A Fire and its release is timed to coincide with two other projects Grohl is currently involved in: the unscripted series From Cradle to Stage, which was inspired by his mother, and the documentary What Drives Us. The latter is both a Ram endorsement prompted by the 90s Ram van the band drove back in the day and a love letter to every musician that has ever jumped in an old van with their friends and left it all behind for the simple reward of playing music.The first ad pulls at the heartstrings with images of adults inspiring children to follow their dreams, with images of the mighty Ram interspersed. Grohl himself is shown at the wheel of his Ram 1500 , as well as by his mother, the woman who helped make him a rock star.Two more videos, called Overtime and Best Part, will follow.
During a recent public Zoom meeting which, in part, dealt with the passing of a new bill on distracted driving, Sen. Brenner was in his car. It was initially parked but he, ever the slick man, turned on a home backdrop, put his seatbelt on, and was on his merry way.You can see a snippet of the video at the bottom of the page. Perhaps more hilarious than the fact that the meeting had, among others, the topic of the new law on distracted driving, is the fact that Sen. Brenner assumed his fake home backdrop worked in fooling anyone. Here was a man convened to discuss the possibility of harsher fines on those who use their phones while driving, doing pretty much the same thing.To the Columbus Dispatch , Sen. Brenner denies any wrongdoing. He doesnt say why he used the home background in the first place, if he wasnt doing anything wrong, but he does say this: he did more than one Zoom meeting like this. Plus, he was wearing his seatbelt and was paying attention to the road.To him, he says, doing video calls is no different than taking a phone call. On video calls, I'm not paying attention to the video. To me, it's like a phone call, he tells the media outlet.Except that its not and he doesnt (pay attention to the road). In this very short video below, you can see him look at the screen several times, just like he would look at a phone while texting . Which qualifies as distracted driving everywhere else, not just in Ohio.Research has shown that checking your phone while driving keeps your eye and undivided attention for an average of 4.6 seconds . A lot of things can go bad in such a small timeframe.
kW

Husqvarna seems to be going full speed ahead on the e-mobility track, with two electric scooter models now joining the E-Pilen motorcycle. Vektorr is the sit-down version, while Bltz is the stand-up alternative. This way, more people can have access to different types of electric 2-wheelers and choose whats best for them.The Vektorr Concept is the first electric scooter ever built by Husqvarna. It looks like a standard scooter, with no innovative design features that stand out, and it comes in the same minimalistic color scheme as the entire range. According to the brand , its meant to be a practical and compact solution for urban rides. Full-details about the specifications have not been revealed yet, but we do know that the new e-scooter will have a maximum speed of 28 mph (45 kph) and a range of up to 59 miles (95 km).For those who are not keen on speed and prefer a more laid-back approach, Husqvarnas stand-up scooter looks like an interesting option. This type of scooter works well especially in urban environments with busy traffic and has the added benefit of being noise-free, compared to other electric 2-wheelers. The Bltz concept has a range of up to 25 miles (40 km) and a top speed of 12 mph (20 kph).These two scooters are introduced after the brand presented the E-Pilen electric motorcycle, with a 62-mile (100 km) range and an 8power output. We will have to see whether the Vektorr Concept also comes with swappable batteries, like E-Pilen.For those of you who happen to be near Mattighofen, Austria, you can take a closer look at Husqvarnas Vektorr and E-Pilen Concepts, at the PIERER Mobility AG exhibition in the KTM Motohall.
Meanwhile, Chicago and Illinois are entering a new phase of the pandemic with more activities becoming available and summer events being announced daily. Those expanded activities present a host of new questions: What are you comfortable doing? What kind of outings will you choose to be a part of? We want to hear from you  tell us here.
A New York Attorney General investigation Thursday found that 18 million of the 22 million comments submitted to the FCC during the 2017 rollback of federal net neutrality rules were fake, with millions of fraudulent comments funded by a broadband industry campaign.

Why it matters: Federal agencies are required to take public comments into account while developing regulations, but gaming the system with fake comments distorts public opinion and compromises the process' integrity.

Driving the news: Attorney General Letitia James outlined a "secret campaign" by an industry trade group and three companies to influence the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of the net neutrality rules in 2017.

According to her report, Broadband for America  a coalition of major internet service providers and trade groups  paid $4.2 million to generate and submit 8.5 million fake comments.

BFA hired six companies, known as lead generators, that were supposed to solicit comments by using prizes like gift cards. Instead, the AG's office found, the lead generators fabricated responses using real consumer names without their consent.

The AG's office notes that it has not found evidence that the broadband companies involved in the campaign"had direct knowledge of fraud."

Yes, but: There was fraud on both sides. The office said a 19-year-old college student submitted 7.7 million comments using fake names in support of the net neutrality rules using automated software.

Another 1.6 million comments using fake names were submitted in support of net neutrality, but the AG office said it hasn't found the source of those comments.

The big picture: Fake comments are not just a problem at the FCC. High-profile regulatory changes have become breeding grounds for comment wars, as advocacy and industry groups try to out-comment each other to show consumers are on their side.

The AG's office found some of the lead generators involved in the broadband campaign also submitted more than a million comments and messages in other federal agency rulemakings and petitions to federal and state officials.

Three lead generators  Fluent, React2Media and Opt-Intelligence  agreed to a $4.4 million settlement with the AG's office as well as behavioral changes.

What's next: The report also recommends policy changes to deter fraudulent comments in future rulemakings:

Agencies should adopt technical safeguards to protect against unauthorized, automated bulk submissions and hold advocacy groups and vendors accountable for comments submitted on behalf of individuals.

Advocacy groups should ensure they have obtained consent from consumers before submitting comments on their behalf.

Lawmakers should strengthen laws to deter the submission of deceptive comments.

What they're saying: Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the FCC, said the fake comments were troubling at the time of the FCC's repeal because it was clear something was wrong.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has pledged to sign legislation passed recently by state lawmakers that would allow execution by firing squad as an option for prisoners on death row if lethal injections are not available.

Why it matters: While the U.S. has been shifting away generally from capital punishment  Virginia recently became the first southern state to outlaw it  South Carolina is moving in the opposite direction.

The bill was approved by the state House this week and now returns to the state Senate. It is likely to become law in the next few days, the New York Times reports.

It has been 10 years since South Carolina last executed an inmate on death row, and lawmakers argue this is because pharmaceutical companies have refused to sell states the drugs to carry out lethal injections, per NYT.

The bill would also bring back the electric chair as an option if the state cannot obtain lethal injections.

There are currently 37 people on South Carolina's death row, three of whom have run out of appeals. Legal proceedings are expected to delay any immediate executions.

What they're saying: State Sen. Richard A. Harpootlian (D), who introduced the measure, believes a firing squad is more humane than current practices. He argued against electrocution saying, Its an extraordinarily gruesome, horrendous process where they essentially catch on fire and dont die immediately, per NYT.

Similar arguments have been made against lethal injections, which appear to be the most humane alternative yet could cause the inmate to suffer for an extended period of time.

In 2018, four prisoners in Tennessee asked a federal judge to allow them to choose a firing squad because the firing squad significantly reduces a substantial risk of unnecessary and severe pain.

The big picture: Only 24 states have a death penalty law in place. Fewer than 50 death sentences have been imposed each year for the past six years.
British naval vessels dispatched to break a French blockade, Scottish nationalists attempting to break away from the U.K., and working class voters in the northeast breaking for the Conservatives after voting Labour for six decades.

Why it matters: That was just one day in the topsy turvy reality of post-Brexit Britain.

Driving the news: Thursday was the U.K.'s first major election day since 2019, with ballots cast for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and local governments across England.

Polls have just closed in what Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called the "most important election in our lifetime."

Sturgeons Scottish National Party is certain to win, but an outright majority would strengthen her calls for a re-run of the 2014 independence referendum, in which Scots voted 55% to 45% to stay within the U.K.

Sentiment has shifted since the 2016 Brexit vote, which Scots overwhelmingly opposed. The latest polls suggest a new referendum would be a close run affair, with the pro-independence camp promising a return to the EU if successful.

What to watch: Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to block a second referendum, but if Sturgeon does win a majority, he may feel the need to change his answer from never to not now, James Johnson, a former Downing Street pollster, tells Axios.

80 miles south of the Scottish border, in Hartlepool, Johnsons Conservatives are poised to pick up a seat that has been held by Labour since 1964.

A brick in the red wall of Labours northern heartlands, Hartlepool voted for Brexit by a 70% to 30% margin.

Johnson re-drew Britains political map by picking up dozens of such seats in the 2019 "Brexit election." But losing Hartlepool in his first major electoral test would be a painful blow for new Labour leader Keir Starmer.

The Conservatives' strong position coming into the election indicates this realignment, the Boris effect, is really about something much deeper than Brexit," says Johnson, the pollster. "Its about a values divide," with Labour now seen as the metropolitan party.

The big picture: Boris Johnson has bounced from crisis to crisis over the past year, but by sprinting ahead of the EU on vaccinations, the prime minister bolstered his own popularity and the Brexit cause.

The Brexit aftermath has been less kind to Arlene Foster, who resigned last week as First Minister of Northern Ireland.

Her Democratic Unionist Party backed Brexit but felt betrayed when Johnson struck a deal that put a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K.

Brexit is among the factors driving up tensions in Northern Ireland, with violent scenes from Belfast last month evoking the Troubles era.

One scene few would have predicted is a confrontation in the English Channel between two stalwart allies.

How it happened: French fishermen protesting post-Brexit limitations on their access to the waters around Jersey blocked the island's main port this morning.

French fishermen protesting post-Brexit limitations on their access to the waters around Jersey blocked the island's main port this morning. London then dispatched two naval vessels to Jersey, a U.K. territory. The French government, which had threatened to cut power to the island over what it sees as illegal fishing restrictions, responded with two patrol boats of its own.

Between the lines: Fishing rights took on a major symbolic status during the Brexit fight. Johnson has also long vowed that post-Brexit Britain would flex its muscles internationally.
Armen Grigorian, the secretary of Pashinians Security Council, said opinion polls show that roughly one in three Armenians plan to vote for the party.

These numbers are a certain indication of possible election results, Grigorian told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. We also have a high percentage [of support] among undecided citizens.

Lets wait and see. Its hard to make a forecast but we are going for the elections to once again receive the peoples mandate, he said.

Pashinian first expressed readiness to hold the early elections in December amid angry protests triggered by Armenias defeat in a six-week war with Azerbaijan. Opposition forces blamed him for the defeat and demanded that he hand over power to an interim government.

Pashinian and his team said on February 7 that they see no need for snap polls because of what they called a lack of public demand. The anti-government protests resumed on February 20 before the Armenian militarys top brass added its voice the opposition demands for the governments resignation.

The prime minister announced on March 18 that the polls will take place after all. They are unofficially slated for June 20.

Grigorian ruled out the possibility of post-election power-sharing agreements between Civil Contract and opposition blocs led by former Presidents Robert Kocharian and Serzh Sarkisian. But he was less categorical about possible coalition deals with other opposition forces.

I think it will be more logical to discuss such issues after the election results, added the official.

Civil Contract teamed up with other Pashinian allies to participate in the last elections held in December 2018. Their My Step bloc garnered 70 percent of the vote at the time.
Ter-Petrosian revealed on Wednesday that he floated the idea at a March 25 meeting with Serzh Sarkisian and Robert Kocharian. He said Kocharian rejected it out of hand while Sarkisian did not express any opinion. He said he is publicly repeating my proposal because he believes Pashinians reelection would spell further trouble for Armenia.

Both ex-presidents swiftly turned down the proposal, saying that they are planning to enter other alliances ahead of the snap parliamentary elections expected in June.

Whatever they say, an alliance of the three former presidents of the republic would still be the only way to ward off the danger of a reproduction of Pashinians criminal and nation-destroying regime and avoid new disasters, Ter-Petrosian said in his latest article posted on Ilur.am.

Ter-Petrosian also revealed on May 1 he held a separate meeting with Sarkisian and proposed that their political parties set up an alliance without Kocharians participation. He claimed that he put forward a draft joint declaration saying, among other things, that Kocharian is driven not so much by the countrys interests as revanchist motives.

My second proposal did not succeed either because it was rejected by Sarkisian, wrote the 76-year-old ex-president who had served as Armenias first president from 1991-1998.

He said he has disclosed details of his contacts with Sarkisian and Kocharian in hopes of generating public pressure on them.

Sarkisians office confirmed the rebuff in a statement issued later on Friday. It said he told Ter-Petrosian that the bilateral alliance cannot be effective.

The office insisted at the same time that at their May 1 meeting Ter-Petrosian did not show Sarkisian the draft declaration publicized by him.

Ter-Petrosians readiness to team up with the two other ex-presidents is remarkable given the long history of mutual antagonism between them. For many years he was highly critical of his successors policies and track records.

The three men met in October for the first time in decades to discuss ways of stopping the war in Nagorno-Karabakh. Ter-Petrosian and Kocharian offered to jointly travel to Moscow for urgent talks with Russian leaders.

Pashinian reportedly refused to authorize them to negotiate on behalf of his administration. He later questioned the sincerity and seriousness of the ex-presidents initiative, prompting angry reactions from them.

Like other opposition figures, all three ex-presidents blame Pashinian for Armenias defeat in the six-week war. Ter-Petrosian said in March that Pashinian must step down and at least temporarily leave the country to end its post-war political crisis. The prime minister reacted scathingly to that statement.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - As it stands now, police can seize assets like money on suspicion of criminal activity and can keep it.

It's been totally legal, but a new state law will change all of that. The government will only get to keep the property if there's a criminal conviction.

Police taking property like money from someone because they suspect there's a crime is called civil forfeiture. That money then would go to the police department or agency who seized it.

This new law is aimed at protecting people by requiring law enforcement to prove there's a crime.

You may remember Jerry Johnson. "I think people are starting to recognize that there needs to be some kind of change," Johnson said.

He's the North Carolina man who runs a trucking business and had $39,500 seized from him at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport by Phoenix Police when they suspected him of money laundering.

He told Arizona's Family the money was for a new semi-truck for his business he planned to buy at an auction.

Not only has he not been charged with any crime, but he also still doesn't have the money back and is going through the appeals process right now.

But this week he has a new outlook.

"It gives me a lot of hope. Im very optimistic now," Johnson said.

Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2810 into law, which will ensure people will not get their property permanently taken without criminal conviction.

"IN so many cases the government has done seizures, done these civil forfeitures and haven't charged people with a crime," said attorney Russ Richelsoph.

Richelsoph has worked several of these civil forfeiture cases and said a problem has always been how law enforcement agencies benefit from seizing money and belongings.

"The money gets to be used for equipment, used for salaries, uses for special projects so the agencies that are seizing this money before had a huge incentive to go after the money," he said.

Arizona's Family asked Phoenix PD what it used Jerry Johnson's nearly $40,000 for. A spokesperson told us they couldn't comment on the case due to pending litigation, but that the judge did find probable cause for seizure and money laundering, due to Johnson being unable to prove the money was all his.

Johnson and his attorney said part of the money was his and the other part was loaned to him by his uncle.

Phoenix police also told us how the department uses the funds is dictated by either the county attorney or attorney general's offices.

While the bill may not help Johnson's case because it happened prior to the new law taking affect, he believes his case made a difference.

"Maybe my case was the reason to help push this reform out there," Johnson said.

The Governor's Office said this new bill will become law 90 days after the legislature adjourns.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5/AP) -- A temporary pause on the Arizona GOP election audit ordered by a judge Friday is off after the Arizona Democratic Party says it will not post a $1 million bond that the judge requested to cover any expenses that the Senate is caused by the halt.

The price tag was too steep for the party to bear, Democrats said, letting the audit continue while leaving in place the judges orders that the Arizona Senate and its auditors follow state law on ballot secrecy and voter privacy. A statement from Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Teran called the $1 million bond, "laughable" citing the lack of transparency as to the actual cost of the audit.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury ordered the Senate auditors to produce their training materials and policies before a Monday hearing, and ordered them to strictly follow state law as they do a hand recount of 2.1 million ballots.

The audit is being conducted on behalf of Republicans who control the state Senate, who have hired Cyber Ninjas, a cybersecurity firm with no election experience owned by a man who shared unfounded allegations of election fraud on his since-deleted Twitter account.

The part of the order that would have halted the recount between 5 p.m. Friday and noon Monday wont be enforced because the Arizona Democratic Party did not want to risk $1 million for the brief halt, attorney Roopali Desai said.

The reality is there are many parts of Judge Courys order that are really important and that were really applauding, especially the fact the auditors are being required to produce policies, procedures and training materials on how they do the audit, Desai said.

All those things are going to happen, regardless of the $1 million bond, she said. The bond was limited to this issue of halting the audit for this short period.

A lawyer for the Senate, Kory Langhofer, had asked that any halt be delayed so he could immediately appeal.

Desai had urged the judge to act, saying the Senate outsourced the audit to Cyber Ninjas and the company was just making things up as they went along. She said theres no evidence the audit was following state law on ballot secrecy or security.

2:28 Arizona elections chief calls for investigation into audit The Arizona Secretary of State wants the state attorney general to investigate the security lapses at the site of the election audit.

The Senate has told us that they are running this so-called audit, but they had abdicated their duty entirely to rogue actors who are making a mockery ... of our election laws and our procedures, Desai told the judge. Theres no safeguards in place. Theres no proper training, theres no procedures, no rules.

Among Desais concerns was the use of blue pens by people counting ballots, which emerged as the recount was set to begin Friday. State law bans black and blue pens from ballot counting rooms because those colors can be read by machines and voters are instructed to use them.

Coury said he doesnt want to micromanage another branch of government, but the court must protect the constitutional rights of voters.

Let me be very clear  the audit will proceed, Coury said.

Also on Friday, Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs sent a letter to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, asking his office to investigate potential violations of Arizona law over the Senate's audit.

Security lapses plague Arizona Senate's election audit at State Fairgrounds There is a lack of security at the building where the documents and machine are housed.

Hobbs response is following an article from Arizona's Family on Thursday regarding security issues at Arizona Senate's election audit at the State Fairgrounds.

Arizona's Family Investigative team uncovered a number of security lapses at the State Fairground site where the audit is taking place, raising questions about the efforts being made to secure and protect the process and Maricopa County voters.

The Arizona Democratic Party and the lone Democrat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors filed suit on Thursday saying Senate GOP leaders are failing to uphold their promises to maintain ballot secrecy and voter privacy. Those assurances were given by Senate President Karen Fann and Judiciary Committee Chairman Warren Petersen earlier this year when a judge ordered the county to hand over all 2.1 million ballots and the machines used to count them.

Repeated reviews of the election results have found no issues that would overturn Bidens narrow victory in Arizona. Last month, Maricopa County released the results of two new audits of its equipment that showed no malicious software or incorrect counting equipment and that none of the computers or equipment were connected to the internet.

Experts on election administration and security have expressed alarm at the Senates audit, which they say isnt following standard procedures to transparently and accurately count votes.

Cyber Ninjas owner Doug Logan has said his personal views are irrelevant because hes running a transparent audit, with all activities captured on camera and some of them livestreamed online.

But hes refused to reveal whos counting ballots or allow the media to observe the process. Hes acknowledged that the $150,000 the Senate agreed to pay him wont cover his costs, but hes refused to say the audits price tag. Cyber Ninjas is accepting donations from a fund organized by a conservative cable channel, One America News Network, but Logan wont disclose the donors.

If we go through here, and we dont find any fraud, I will be ecstatic. Im going to love that, and I want to be able to tell people that, Logan told reporters Thursday night. If we go through here and we find fraud, I want to fix it, so that our countrys democracy works.

People who doubt the election havent been convinced by the overwhelming evidence to date that it was fair, so theyll be unlikely to have their concerns assuaged even if Logan declares everything was above board, said Tammy Patrick, senior adviser at the Democracy Fund and a former Maricopa County elections official.

Theres absolutely nothing thats going to convince them of that fact, Patrick said during a call with reporters Friday. So to what end are we doing this, really?
A large majority of COVID-19 cases in Baker County over the past two weeks or so were people younger than 40, a significant increase from the rate of cases in that age range earlier this spring.

For the period April 15-30, almost 71% of the countys 78 new cases were people 39 or younger, according to the Baker County Health Department.

For the period March 23 through April 2, that age group accounted for just 28% of the countys cases.

Starting in early April the number of cases in county residents younger than 40 began to rise.

From April 3-21, that group had 55% of the new cases.

Meanwhile the number of cases among people 70 and older  the group most likely to become severely ill or to die  has plummeted.

Of Oregons 2,508 deaths attributed to COVID-19 during the pandemic, almost 76% were 70 or older. In Baker County, 13 of the 14 people who died after testing positive for the virus were 70 or older (the one exception is a 59-year-old man who died on Feb. 2).

The 70-and-older age group accounted for 17.5% of Baker Countys new cases from March 23 to April 2. The groups share dropped to 9.9% from April 3-21, and to just under 2% from April 15-30.

During the latter period there were no cases in the county among residents 80 and older, said Holly Kerns, a public information officer for the county.

Total cases includes people who tested positive for COVID-19 as well as presumptive cases  people who had symptoms consistent with the virus and were in close contact with someone who tested positive but havent tested positive themselves. The county does not list positive tests and presumptive cases separately.

The 70-plus age group also has the highest vaccination rate in Baker County, with about 65% of county residents in that group fully or partially vaccinated, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

Although vaccination rates for county residents younger than 40 arent available, the total number of residents in that age group who are partially or fully vaccinated is 777. Thats 13.7% of the total people vaccinated in the county.

Younger residents, with the exception of health care workers, first responders, teachers and other school employees and some other groups, werent eligible to be vaccinated for most of the winter.

Everyone 16 and older is now eligible.

The largest increase in new cases in Baker County since April 15 was among people in their 20s. That group, which accounted for 4.4% of cases from April 3-21, jumped to 21.6% from April 15-30.

That was the second-highest percentage of any group during the period, behind only people in their 30s, who totaled 25.5% of the countys cases.
The ornate box turtle, about 5 inches long and streaked with yellow beams, was listed in 2009 as threatened in Illinois, a state where the prairie habitat the turtles depend upon is almost completely gone. Long-lived, terrestrial and found in more than a dozen states, the ornate is one of two species of box turtles in Illinois. They could once be found in about half the states counties. Now researchers believe the turtles are down to 10 counties.
On the other hand, do we really want to celebrate in such a big way the first person to begin the invasion, displacement and killing of the First Nations people already living here? Whether or not DuSable personally hurt anyone, he started a migration and is a symbol of all the losses that followed.
Last week the superintendent of Fairfax School District could not comment on whether the district was actively using the services of Fagen, Fr
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Governor Cooper Issues Executive Order to Relax Outdoor Mask Mandate and Ease Mass Gathering Limits

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Video of the Week: State of the State Stories

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Starting today, Governor Roy Cooper's Executive Order relaxing outdoor mask requirements and easing mass gathering limits take effect. The Order is set to expire June 1. With stable trends and continued vaccination success, the state hopes to lift more restrictions then.Under the new Executive Order, masks will no longer be required outdoors and gathering capacity limits will increase to 100 people indoors and 200 people outdoors.said Gov. Cooper.Masks are still required indoors but are not mandated outdoors. NCDHHS still strongly recommends outdoor masking in crowded areas and higher-risk settings where social distancing is difficult.With vaccine widely available across the state, all North Carolinians over 16 can receive their shot with little to no wait. To date, the state has administered over 7.1 million doses quickly and fairly. 49% of adults have received at least one dose, and 40% of adults are fully vaccinated.Read Executive Order No. 209 and the Frequently Asked Questions about eased statewide restrictions.Read the Press Release on lifted pandemic restrictions.View the Slides from the COVID-19 briefing.Visit Find a Vaccine Location to find a vaccine clinic near you.Visit HERE (English) or HERE (Spanish) to learn more about the state's vaccine distribution.Call 888-675-4567 for the state's COVID-19 vaccine hotline.Last week, Gov. Cooper and NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Cohen outlined a timeline to lift pandemic restrictions. With stable trends and continued vaccination success, the state hopes to lift more COVID-19 restrictions by June 1.said Gov. Cooper.The state wants at least two-thirds of adults to be partially vaccinated as soon as possible. When two-thirds of adult North Carolinians have received at least one dose and trends remain stable, public health experts believe there'll be enough protection for people to live more safely with this virus. The state anticipates easing some of the current restrictions by June 1.Read the Press Release on the timeline for lifting COVID-19 restrictions.On Monday, Gov. Cooper delivered his third State of the State address. His speech highlighted North Carolinians' resilience throughout the pandemic and urged legislators to work together on critical issues like Medicaid expansion, raising teacher pay, investing in workforce training and solidifying the state's infrastructure. He also urged investments in K-12 and higher education, and clean energy to fuel future economic development and job growth.said Gov. Cooper.Throughout the speech, he recognized North Carolinians from across the state who have stepped up to help their communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Read the Press Release on the State of the State.Read the Governor's Full Remarks from the State of the State.View Gov. Cooper's Zoom conversations with his guests.Read the Biographies of Gov. Cooper's guests.On Monday, Gov. Cooper, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, Senator Dan Blue, Speaker Tim Moore and Rep. Robert Reives gathered to celebrate the new Apple campus announcement.This will be Apple's first entirely new campus in the United States in over 20 years. They will invest over a billion dollars and create over 3,000 jobs with an average salary of $185,000 in Research Triangle Park.The campus is expected to generate over $1.5 billion a year in economic impact, and Apple plans to create a $100 million fund to support North Carolina schools and community initiatives across the state.Read the Statement from Gov. Cooper and legislative leaders about Apple.Watch a Video welcoming Apple to North Carolina.
Of course, the alderman at-large also took part in many public hearings that could be long, contentious and heavy on emotion while light on actual proper policy discussion. Such was the case with a hearing before the vote on the Hindu Temple on the far West Side back in the 1980s, the hearing on the Planned Parenthood facility on the far East Side, and a proposal for an off-track betting facility that ended up locating in North Aurora rather than Aurora.
Photos: Rhett Butler

Dr. Mark Moss believes in the School of Dental Medicines mission to address the needs of underserved communities and to train the future leaders of dentistry.

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This post appears here courtesy of ECU News Services . The author of this post is Ken Buday Growing up in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Dr. Mark Moss listened to the advice of his parents, who told him of the importance of education to his future.The associate professor in the East Carolina University School of Dental Medicine decided on dentistry without a full realization of its importance.Moss said.Moss landed at ECU four years ago, drawn to the mission of the School of Dental Medicine he said.Moss said he bases his research and teaching on six core tenets: invitation in that meaningful learning occurs through choice, not mandate; possibility to envision the future and challenge the status quo; ownership to recognize his role and to encourage others to recognize their roles; dissent, meaning to embrace doubts and reservations about change; commitment to a larger purpose and foster commitment in others; and gifts or assets that can be used to make the best contributions.Moss said.Moss said he teaches to help others move forward to solve today's problems.he said.With Drs. Mike Webb and Dave MacPherson leading the way, Moss is among a team at the dental school to receive a $3.1 million Health Resources and Services Administration grant designed to improve resident training for care of pediatric and elderly patients, those with mobility issues and other complex health problems, and those with mental, emotional and behavioral challenges. The goals include assessing and treating the needs of vulnerable populations, expanding pediatric dentistry training to a rural location, and developing tools and training for population health management.Moss said.The grant matches Moss' passion for providing dental care to those with special needs.he said.Moss said there is no secret to good dental care.he said.Throughout his career, Moss said he has had a very important person by his side.he said.What do you like to do when not working? I like to go hiking and kayaking. Bird watching is a favorite hobby."Schitt's Creek"Tree pruning in the forestSudokuLow country shrimp boilOne thing most people don't know about me: I am a fan of the Grateful Dead's music.
This post appears here courtesy of the LifeZette . The author of this post is David Kamioner The vagaries of politics are such that sometimes all it takes to ride out a storm is to wait until the news cycle moves on. It helps if you're a Democrat and thus the press doesn't want to cover the story anyway.Remember the governor and lt. governor of Virginia, both Democrats, and their scandals of a couple of years ago? Specifically black face and rape? Their political epitaph was written. They are still in office.Not only Cuomo, but Trumpist Republican Matt Gaetz may benefit from the short attention span of the media. Any shiny object with a chance to slam conservatives and the press gaze will avert from even a bureaucratic killer like Cuomo or a perv like Gaetz. Fox is producing a special on Cuomo's fall from grace. But as they admit, the fall may not be a mortal wound.FNC:Dean said.He will continue to operate this way. Odds are now he survives this scandal and the indirect murder of thousands.
Already battered by long shifts and high infection rates, essential workers struggling through the pandemic face another hazard of hard times: employers who steal their wages.

When a recession hits, U.S. companies are more likely to stiff their lowest-wage workers. These businesses often pay less than the minimum wage, make employees work off the clock, or refuse to pay overtime rates. In the most egregious cases, bosses dont pay their employees at all.

Companies that hire child care workers, gas station clerks, restaurant servers and security guards are among the businesses most likely to get caught cheating their employees, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of minimum wage and overtime violations from the U.S. Department of Labor. In 2019 alone, the agency cited about 8,500 employers for taking about $287 million from workers.

Major U.S. corporations are some of the worst offenders. They include Halliburton, G4S Wackenhut and Circle-K stores, which agency records show have collectively taken more than $22 million from their employees since 2005.

READ ALSO: With brain implants, the 'future's gonna be weird'

Their victims toil on the lower rungs of the workforce. People like Danielle Wynne, a $10-an-hour convenience store clerk in Florida who said her boss ordered her to work off the clock, and Ruth Palacios, a janitor from Mexico who earned less than the minimum wage to disinfect a New York City hospital at the height of the pandemic.

Companies have little incentive to follow the law. The Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division, which investigates federal wage-theft complaints, rarely penalizes repeat offenders, according to a review of data from the division. Public Integrity obtained the records through a Freedom of Information Act request covering October 2005 to September 2020.

The agency fined only about 1 in 4 repeat offenders during that period. And it ordered those companies to pay workers cash damages  penalty money in addition to back wages  in just 14% of those cases.

On top of that, the division often lets businesses avoid repaying their employees all the money theyre owed. In all, the agency has let more than 16,000 employers get away with not paying $20.3 million in back wages since 2005, according to Public Integritys analysis.

Some companies are doing a cost-benefit analysis and realize its cheaper to violate the law, even if you get caught, said Jenn Round, a labor standards enforcement fellow at the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University.

The federal data provides a revealing  though incomplete  look at a practice that pushes Americas lowest-paid workers further into poverty. The data doesnt include violations of state wage-theft laws or cases where employees sued. And it misses all the workers who dont file complaints, either because theyre afraid to or are unaware of their rights.

But some economists say wage theft is so pervasive that its costing workers at least $15 billion a year  far more than the amount stolen in robberies.

Companies are more prone to cheating employees of color and immigrant workers, according to Daniel Galvin, a political science professor and policy researcher at Northwestern University. His research, based on data from the Census Bureaus Current Population Survey, shows that immigrants and Latino workers were twice as likely to earn less than the minimum wage from 2009 to 2019 compared with white Americans. Black workers were nearly 50% more likely to get ripped off in comparison.

READ MORE: This Yankee moved to Texas to run for Congress and it obviously didn't go well

Through much of the Jim Crow era, the federal government ignored racial disparities in pay. It wasnt until the Great Depression that Congress first tried to establish a national minimum wage and overtime pay for workers. To get Southern Democrats to vote for the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Northern Democrats agreed to exclude agricultural laborers, nannies and housekeepers from the laws protections. In the South, most of those workers were Black. Out west, a large number were Mexican American.

Congress amended the act during the 1960s and 1970s to cover most of these excluded workers, but their employers often flout the law anyway. Galvin reports in his forthcoming book, Alt-Labor and the New Politics of Workers Rights, that the lowest-paid workers lost roughly $1.67 per hour  about 21% of their income  to wage theft from 2009 to 2019.

Yuri Callejas, a 40-year-old single mother, cleaned hotel rooms at a Fairfield Inn & Suites franchise in Pelham, Alabama. Callejas complained to her boss that he was paying her only $9 an hour when she was hired at $10 an hour, according to a lawsuit filed in January 2020 in federal court. Though she said she was working more than 40 hours a week, she wasnt getting paid overtime, either, according to the complaint.

Her boss refused to change her pay rate, the complaint said, so she quit. Her accounting of how much she was owed: $1,272.

With help from an attorney at Adelante Alabama Worker Center, Callejas sued the owner of the hotel, AUM Pelham LLC. The company denied that Callejas was hired at $10 an hour or that she worked overtime, but it agreed to a settlement. Company owner Rakesh Patel did not respond to requests for comment.

Callejas walked away with $2,500 in back wages and damages. But that didnt wipe away the memories of her struggle.

Every time I paid my bills, she recalled, I never had enough money.

Isaac Guazo, an economic justice organizer for Adelante Alabama, said fewer workers have reported wage theft during the pandemic, but that doesnt mean its happening less.

Its the opposite, actually, he said. Workers will tolerate a lot more abuse right now because its so hard to find another job and they need to pay rent.

Ruth Palacios and Arturo Xelo, a married couple from Mexico, disinfected COVID-19 patient rooms at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. They worked seven days a week for months, Palacios said, but werent paid overtime. At the start of the pandemic, they earned the local minimum wage of $15 an hour, she said, but after a few months, their boss lowered their pay to $12.25, she said.

The little guys have to speak up because people  the bosses  are taking advantage of their workers, Palacios said in a video call from her home in Queens.

Palacios, Xelo and two of their former co-workers filed a federal lawsuit against the contractor that hired them, BMS Cat, in January. The company did not respond to requests for comment. In court records, it denied that it paid the cleaners less than the minimum wage or that it owed them overtime pay. The hospital did not respond to requests for comment, either.

___

Danielle Wynne rang up customers at a Circle-K gas station in Brevard County, Florida, during shifts that started at 4:30 a.m. and ended in the early afternoon. Before and after clocking in, Wynne said, her manager made her work for free, according to a lawsuit she filed in federal court in February 2020. She counted cash in the register, brewed coffee, cleaned the store, set out condiments and refilled the lottery machine  all while off the clock.

The unpaid work added up to about $1,250 in one year, according to the court filing. For someone earning $10 an hour, thats about three weeks of pay.

Wynne said in court records that she didnt complain at the time because she was scared of her vindictive boss.

Circle-K Stores denied the underpayment allegations in court filings, though it ended up settling the case for $2,500 in October. But data from the Labor Department shows that the company repeatedly takes wages from its employees, with few repercussions.

Federal investigators caught Circle-K stores underpaying employees 22 times since 2005, most recently in February 2020. The total: $54,069 taken from 120 employees. But the Labor Department only fined the company four times and ordered it to pay damages to employees in two cases. In six cases, the company didnt pay all the money it owed employees, known as back wages. The agency closed those cases anyway without further action.

Circle-K Stores did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Public Integrity found that Labor Department investigators are just as lenient with other repeat offenders.

The oilfield services company Halliburton illegally withheld $18.7 million from 1,050 employees, Labor Department records show, but staff investigators never ordered the company to pay cash damages on top of the back wages. The department fined Halliburton in only three of eight cases it brought against the company.

Halliburton declined to comment on the cases. But in a 2015 statement to Inside Energy, a spokesperson for the company said it had misclassified employees as exempt from overtime pay.

The company re-classified the identified positions, and throughout this process, Halliburton has worked earnestly and cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Labor to equitably resolve this situation, wrote Susie McMichael, a public relations representative for Halliburton.

G4S Wackenhut and its subsidiaries, which provide security services to companies and courthouses, illegally denied nearly $3.3 million to 1,605 employees. Federal investigators never ordered the company to pay damages to employees and only issued a fine in nine of 47 cases, totaling less than $41,000. Though G4S Wackenhut later repaid employees in nearly all the cases, it didnt pay full back wages on two occasions, and the Labor Department closed those cases anyway.

Sabrina Rios, a spokeswoman for the company, said most of the money owed involved G4S subsidiaries that were under independent management. She added that the claims do not reflect the companys business practices and that some of the cases date back more than 22 years.

The company worked with the DOL in order to investigate each case and made appropriate payments to the individuals totaling about $3.3 (million), she wrote.

A Labor Department official said the agency orders companies to pay damages when appropriate, determined on a case-by-case basis. Fines are usually assessed when a company repeatedly, or willfully, breaks the law. The department tries to resolve cases administratively to avoid taking employers to court.

The department exercises its prosecutorial discretion in determining whether to litigate specific cases, based upon careful consideration of our priorities, resources, and mission, Jessica Looman, principal deputy administrator for the agencys Wage and Hour Division, wrote in a statement.

Nancy Leppink, former head of the Wage and Hour Division during the Obama administration, said the agency doesnt have enough lawyers to take every employer to court when they dont pay up. Although the division hired 300 new investigators during her tenure, it had only about 787 to enforce wage theft laws as of February.

Thats about one investigator per 182,000 employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, far below the one investigator per 10,000 workers recommended by the United Nations International Labour Organization.

Leppink, now commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, said she pushed investigators to demand cash damages for workers in every possible federal case. For example, if an employer took $1,000 from an employee, the agency could demand that amount in back wages and an extra $1,000 in damages.

If all you do is collect wages, why would a company bother complying until (an investigator) walks through the door? she said.

While the percentage of cases with damages jumped during Leppinks tenure, it has never surpassed 15%, the data shows. The agencys decision about whether to pursue damages sometimes is dictated by the strength of the evidence, the urgency in getting workers their back wages, and the level of noncompliance by the employer, Leppink said  and sometimes simply by a lack of staff resources.

Last year, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration ordered federal investigators to stop seeking damages in most cases for workers. In April, the Biden administration reversed that decision, Looman said.

Lawyers who represent workers in wage theft cases say they often discourage clients from filing a complaint with the Labor Department because they rarely get paid damages or see quick results. The typical case took 108 days to investigate, according to the agencys data.

___

At a 2015 hearing in Philadelphia, a law professor from Temple University told the City Council that employers stole wages from tens of thousands of Philadelphia workers every week. The professor, Jennifer Lee, was pointing to findings from a study by the universitys Sheller Center for Social Justice.

This tells us that wage theft is no accident, Lee told city lawmakers. Its not a few bad apple employers or a few new businesses that dont understand the law, but rather a calculated approach by employers to maximize their profits on the backs of their workers.

The hearing helped launch a local wage-theft law that allows workers to get their money back more quickly than they would by filing a complaint with the state or federal government.

The ordinance, which went into effect in 2016, sets a 110-day limit for city staff to investigate and close a wage theft case. It also gives workers three years to file a complaint with the city, compared with the two-year statute of limitations under federal law. And the penalties are steep. The city can revoke or deny local permits and licenses to companies that steal wages.

Legal experts and community groups point to strong local wage theft laws as an effective way to get around lax enforcement at the federal level and in some states. Chicago passed such a law in 2013. Minneapolis followed in 2019.

But other workers rights advocates want to see federal reforms, considering that the Labor Department protects the largest number of workers. They want Congress to boost funding to the Wage and Hour Division so it can double the number of investigators, hire more attorneys and take on additional wage theft cases. They also want lawmakers to extend the federal statute of limitations beyond two years.

Leppink, the Minnesota labor commissioner, said the federal government could revoke franchise licenses and federal contracts from companies with a history of wage theft.

At the very least, the Wage and Hour Division can order employers to pay damages in every possible case, said Jennifer Marion, a former policy adviser with the division.

If you know you are likely to pay double than what you owed, she said, that changes everything.

___

This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative newsroom in Washington.

Alexia Fernandez Campbell is a senior reporter at Public Integrity. She can be reached at acampbell@publicintegrity.org. Follow her on Twitter at @AlexiaCampbell. Joe Yerardi is a data reporter at Public Integrity. He can be reached at jyerardi@publicintegrity.org. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeYerardi.

___

Got a tip for AP? Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org
The India Association of Southeast Texas is reaching out to area residents to take part in its India COVID-19 relief fund.

According to the association, the country has seen a much steeper second wave averaging some 350,000 new cases and about 4,000 deaths as a result of the virus each day.

However, the association says, many of the deaths could have been prevented as they are caused by a lack of medical-grade oxygen.

Related: Gift from Jordanian King flows through Port Arthur

To help address those issues, the association is asking for donations for four different funds.

The association itself has its own COVID-19 relief fund with a target set at $80,000, which would be used to reach out directly to caregivers in India with the utmost accountability and providing medical supplies.

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Individuals also are encouraged to donate to the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, which is donating oxygen concentration units to Indian Hospitals; SEWA International USA, which is working with Johns Hopkins Medical students to create a national initiative; and the Desi Physician Moms Foundation, which is sending oxygen to India.

Should the association reach its $80,000 goal, additional funds will be spread across these organizations.

Related: Chinese association donates masks to health providers

Information on how to donate through the associations PayPal account or by-mail can be found here.

kaitlin.bain@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/KaitlinBain
While many are getting vaccinated and looking ahead to better days in the U.S., the fight is nowhere near over for India.

India hit 20 million coronavirus cases this week, according to the New York Times, amid a growing surge across the country. The crisis overseas is deeply impacting Texans, especially those from the country or with roots there, with one nonprofit group getting ready to send supplies to the most at-risk residents.
Bedford, PA (15522)

Today

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
His Three As Maintenance, which along with lawn care offers auto detailing, saw its roster of about 330 residential customers whittled at one point last year to 50, McCaskill said. With so many homeowners seeing incomes reduced and having to make decisions about what bills to pay, lawn care fell to the bottom of the list of necessities, he said.
In the past, women were only serving in positions of spiritual leadership alongside male rabbis in Orthodox synagogues in Israel.

Rabbanit Shira Marili Mirvis was appointed as the sole spiritual leader and halachic authority at the Shirat Tamar Synagogue in Efrat. Rabbanit Shira has made history as she is the first woman ever appointed to the role. Up until now, Orthodox women who were appointed as leaders would serve alongside male rabbis.

Mirvis being appointed created a powerful landmark for Orthodoxy in Israel. Women have been advancing in spiritual and halachic leadership positions for many years but never made it to the full communal leadership position until recently.

Earlier last month, the Shirat Hatamar synagogue voted, and 83 percent supported Mirvis to be appointed.

Many times in my life I missed having a female Torah figure until the penny dropped that I can be that figure for other women, Mirvis said in an interview with Army Radio.

She also shared a key moment that made her realize that she wanted a woman to tell her what she should do in matters of religion. At her fathers funeral a member of the burial society told Mirvis that she should not tear her clothes, she decided to tear them anyways. She knew that were many tensions in her life and as a feminist woman in the Orthodox community she would not be treated the same as me or have the same opportunities.

Mirvis, a mother of six, will graduate in June from a 5-year course at the Susi Bradfield Womens Institute of Halakhic Leadership a division of the Ohr Torah Stone institute. The institute runs a course for women in communal leadership and halacha.

Mirvis has been an active member in her community in the recent years where she participated in a program by the Beit Hillel spiritual leadership organization answering questions on halacha. She also volunteers in the Efrat community that assists women during the ritual mikveh immersion and is a member of the local burial society. Rabbanit Shira has also served as the head of a religious study center.

Shira also teaches a very popular weekly Talmud vlog and serves as a trusted adjudicator of halachic issues which have made her highly sought after both within her Efrat community and on the internet.

Rabbi Kenneth Brander, president and dean of Ohr Torah Stone had this to say about Mirvis being appointed:

The chance to witness Rabbanit Shira Mirvis take on this role represents an important moment as we recognize that the place of women in Jewish leadership can go fully hand in hand with halacha and our mesorah tradition.

Oded Revivi, head of the Efrat municipal council, also praised Mirvis being appointed saying it was a natural and welcome process and we can expect many other women to follow her lead.

The Conservative Jewish stream The Masorti Movement in Israel praised Rabbanit Shira via their Facebook page with a post that read when you break the glass ceiling you do it for generations of women for whom spiritual leadership roles in the Jewish people are possible and worthy goals that they can aim for.

The WIHL director Rabbanit Devorah Evron also chimed in and had this to say:

There is no doubt that this is a large step both for her, personally, but also for the place of female Torah leadership in Jewish communities in Israel and worldwide.
Bangladesh police escort photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol from the Benapole border area 53 days after his disappearance, May 3, 2020.

In an online video of his sermons that went viral, a Muslim preacher called for journalists to be slaughtered in Bangladesh, where conservative ideology keeps shrinking the space for freedom of speech, a global media group said in a report this week.

The preacher and madrassa teacher, Wasik Billah Nomani, delivered the sermon in the presence of thousands of people, repeatedly vowing to slaughter journalists after establishing the caliphate, the International Federation of Journalists said in its South Asia Press Freedom Report 2020-21.

The preacher, a prominent activist with the hardline Hefazat-e-Islam group, was arrested in the city of Mymensingh on April 11 for allegedly making provocative statements in his sermons, but social media is overflowing with Islamic lectures replete with hate speech, IFJ reported.

The times have become increasingly challenging for the media in Bangladesh as Salafist (Orthodox Islamic) ideology is spreading and taking root under a so-called secular regime, the report said.

The increasing influence of a right-wing Salafist ideology is ... taking firm root in all sections of society and poses a challenge to freedom of expression and other democratic values, it said.

That trend that has been underway for almost a decade in Bangladesh.

After Hefazat-e-Islam called for the hanging of atheists during a huge gathering in Dhaka in 2013, more than 10 writers, activists and secular thinkers were hacked to death over the next four years. The wave of blogger killings caused some intellectuals to flee the country and many more to self-censor.

Responding to the report, Mustafa Jabbar, the minister of Post and Telecommunications, told BenarNews that he partially agreed with its findings.

That is true, extremist Islamist groups are massively using social media sites to organize themselves, he said.

Controlling such extremist activities is a challenge for us. We are trying to contain it through law because containing it through technology is tough, Jabbar said.

Death on the job

Journalists in the country already labor under broad anti-defamation laws, leading to dozens of arrests and allegations of torture behind bars. Moreover, three journalists  Iliyas Hossain, Julhas Uddin and Borhan Uddin Muzakkir  were killed in the line of duty over the past year, the IFJ said.

Muzakkir, 25, a reporter for the news website Barta Bazar and Bangladesh Samachar, was shot in the throat as he covered street clashes between two factions of the ruling Awami League party in southern Noakhali district on Feb. 19.

Uddin, 35, a local television correspondent and vice president of the Dhamrai Press Club, was stabbed to death in Dhaka on Sept. 2, 2020.

Hossain, 45, a correspondent for the local Bangla daily newspaper, Dainik Bijoy, was hacked to death in a suburb of Dhaka while returning home from work on Oct. 11, 2020.

Photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol, who went missing for nearly two months before spending seven more in custody, spoke to BenarNews on Thursday about his ordeal.



Kajol went missing on March 10, 2020, and turned up in police custody after a 53-day disappearance before being sent to jail. He was released on bail in December.

Kajol, editor of the biweekly magazine Pakkhakal, said he had not returned to work or recovered from the trauma of his incarceration.

I have lost everything. Now I am passing my days with serious fear, he told BenarNews. Though I feel it is my new life, I am still confused about my future.

In January, Kajol told the Daily Star about his disappearance followed by seven months behind bars under the Digital Security Act.

It felt like I was in a grave. It was a very small enclosed space with no windows, he told the Bangladesh newspaper. My eyes were tied, my hands were cuffed behind, and my mouth was gagged for all 53 days up until I was dropped off to Benapole. I only kept count of the days.

I feel like I have died and come back.

Kajol also discussed his time spent in two Bangladesh jails over the seven months of his incarceration.

The Jessore Central Jail was good ... they were humane. Dhaka Central Jail was the exact opposite, he told The Daily Star. There were inmates who could get restaurant food delivered to them, whereas I could not even see my son once. he said.

Colleagues help photojournalist Harunur Rashid Rubel after he was attacked by Hefazat-e-Islam supporters during their clash with police while they staged a protest in Dhaka, April 2, 2021. [BenarNews]

Missing for four days

The only good news in a bleak year for Bangladeshi journalism, which was compounded by the coronavirus pandemic, was the Nov. 1, 2020, recovery of journalist Golam Sarwar, who went missing four days earlier. Heavily bruised and stripped of his clothes, Sarwar was found unconscious on the ground near a bridge in Chittagongs Sitakunda upazila.

Sarwar, who works for a local news portal, went missing following the publication of an article about the alleged involvement of a ministers family involved in a land grabbing case.

A video clip capturing his rescue shows a barely conscious but deeply traumatized Sarwar begging for relief from torture. He is heard saying: Bhai, please dont beat me. I wont write news anymore! the report said.

Minister Jabbar challenged the reports claims about Sarwar and other journalists.

There were no incidents of harassing journalists of any mainstream media, as the government believes in freedom of the press, he told BenarNews as he responded to questions about the IFJ report.

He also said that the allegation of a government crackdown on media during the coronavirus was totally wrong.

The IFJ released its report on Wednesday, just two days after World Press Freedom Day when eight rights organizations sent a letter urging the United Nations to address the Bangladesh governments increasingly violent crackdown on media freedom.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) released the letter sent to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

It asked that she and other U.N. experts publicly and vigorously express concern over attacks on the media, including arbitrary arrests and torture, and use all possible means to urge the Bangladeshi authorities to protect and respect freedom of expression.

Bangladeshi authorities have used the draconian Digital Security Act against people questioning its handling of COVID-19, including writer Mushtaq Ahmed, who died in custody  of natural causes, according to the government  and cartoonist Ahmed Kabir Kishore, released on bail in March, who said both he and Mushtaq Ahmed had been tortured in jail.

Khwaja Mia, the secretary of Bangladeshs Information Ministry, rejected the groups allegations by pointing to the number of newspapers and television stations operating in the country.

This indicates how much the government believes in the freedom of the media, he told BenarNews.

IFJ challenged a similar statement by the Information Ministry that numbers make the case for press freedom.

The official version, that the 1,227 daily newspapers with a total of 10 million daily circulation, are enjoying more freedom than many developed countries across the globe as stated by Information Minister Mohammad Hasan Mahmud on March 29, 2021, seems to be in stark contrast to the realities on the ground for journalists in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshis wait for a ferry in the nearly submerged Manpura island in the Bhola district at the mouth of the Meghna River near the Bay of Bengal. Aug. 22, 2018.

More than 1 million people will be displaced from low-lying areas along Bangladeshs southern coast as sea levels rise, experts predict, although encroaching waters have already forced thousands to uproot permanently from their seaside homes.

Bangladesh is especially susceptible to sea-level rise because it is a low-lying country crisscrossed with rivers and already experiences frequent flooding during the summer monsoon season, a new study by the American Geophysical Union said. The study, based on mathematical models, predicts that 1.3 million people will be displaced by the year 2050.

According to the new model, the districts in the south along the Bay of Bengal will be the first to be impacted by sea-level rise, causing a migration that will ripple across the country and affect all 64 districts. Some migrants will likely be rejected by the existing residents  or displace them  triggering further migrations, said the report published in late March.

Climate-related migration has already started, said the chief executive of the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network, a Khulna-based NGO, citing a study done by his organization in 2009.

Our study finds at least 124,000 people temporarily and an additional 15,600 people permanently migrated from greater Khulna district in Southwest Bangladesh and some parts of greater Barisal districts, Hasan Mehedi told BenarNews. They ended up in Khulna city, Satkhira town, Jessore town, Chittagong city and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, he told BenarNews on Friday.

Sea water has destroyed cultivable lands, he said.

You can only see saline water fields and shrimp ponds. Shrimp cultivation is not labor intensive, he said. Another big problem is the crisis of sweet and drinking water. The sea water has contaminated both surface and groundwater.

Many areas of the southwestern part have already gone under sea water. The frequency of the cyclones and other disasters has intensified, Hasan said.

The United States Geological Survey, a government agency, noted the role of climate change in exacerbating disasters.

With increasing global surface temperatures the possibility of more droughts and increased intensity of storms will likely occur. As more water vapor is evaporated into the atmosphere it becomes fuel for more powerful storms to develop.

More heat in the atmosphere and warmer ocean surface temperatures can lead to increased wind speeds in tropical storms, it said.

Climate summit

During a virtual climate change summit hosted by the United States last month, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her nations concern, and was joined by the Philippines and Indonesia, in urging developed economies to make good on a 2009 pledge of $100 billion per year to support emerging nations.

Bangladesh spends about $5 billion, or about 2.5 percent of its GDP, on adaptation to climate change and resilience-building measures, Hasina said.

Focus is needed on the green economy and carbon-neutral technologies with provision of technology transfer among nations, said Hasina, the current chairwoman of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, a partnership of 48 countries considered the most threatened by climate change.

Ziaul Haque, a director at the governments Department of Environment, said the Paris Agreement had recognized the issue of internal displacement and migration induced by climate change and sea-level rise.

Bangladesh has been facing this consequence because of the increased level of carbon emissions of developed countries. As soon as the developed economies cut carbon emissions we would get rid of the dangers, inundation of our coastal land would stop, said Haque, who has represented Bangladesh at United Nations climate talks since 2006.

In Bangladesh, the coastal southwestern region would be the first to be victimized by the rising sea as the region is hardly two meters above sea level. Climate-induced internal migration and displacements have been taking place already, he told BenarNews.

Bangladeshis walk along a flooded road in Dhaka, July 22, 2020. [BenarNews]

Hafiz Khan, chief of Dhaka-based NGO Center for Climate Justice, told BenarNews that the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (Loss and Damage Committee) had formed a task force in 2015 to determine how climate affects migration.

The task force, he said, submitted a report to the committee.

But the developed countries and the affected countries have not been able to come to a consensus on the mechanism to deal with the climate-induced migration and displacement, Khan told BenarNews.

We have to be very vocal on the issue of climate-induced migration and displacement, which would take place in Bangladesh and other affected countries and the small island states. The developed countries must shoulder the responsibilities of these hapless people, he said.

Nurul Quadir, who represents Bangladesh on the Loss and Damage committee, said Dhaka played a key role on the issues inclusion in the 2016 Paris Agreement.

Our country is hardly five meters (16 feet) above sea level. So, sea level rise would inundate much of our coastal land  this is a reality, he told BenarNews.

The people living in those areas would take refuge at the slums in different cities. In the future, this climate induced internal migration and displacement would be our big challenge, he said.

Bhola Slum

In the Pallabi neighborhood of Dhaka, at least 10,000 families from Ilishya in southern Bhola district  the only island district in Bangladesh  have set up a shantytown called the Bhola Slum.

The slums residents moved to the nations capital after the Meghna River covered their homesteads, near where it flows into the Bay of Bengal.

Thousands of people from Ilishya and other coastal districts live in this Bhola slum. The Meghna washed away our homesteads. The people continue to come to Dhaka every day, Md Mizan, 40, who now works as a fish hawker, told BenarNews.

Many people are going to Chittagong and other parts of Dhaka, too. Unless river erosion stops, people will continue to come to Dhaka, he said.

Ainun Nishat, a leading climate researcher and environmentalist, said rising sea levels would leave thousands of people in Bangladeshs coastal areas homeless.

He said he expected that some nations, including Sweden and Australia, would accept some of those displaced by the sea.

But developed countries would not agree to take climate refugees from densely populated countries like Bangladesh. This is the problem, he said. We have to raise our voices.
I would like the lawmakers in Springfield to take another look at that, Lacey said. Even if they cant allow more money for eminent domain, at least give the people more options, better programs, more assistance when it comes to things like that.
Protesters wear protective face masks as they demand that Papuas political prisoners be released without conditions, in front of the Supreme Court building in Jakarta, June 15, 2020.

Indonesias military and national police chiefs visited the rebellious Papua region Friday, in a rare joint trip to discuss security there with field commanders after insurgents dealt government forces setbacks, including assassinating an army general last month.

Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto, head of the armed forces (TNI), and Gen. Listyo Sigit Prabowo, the chief of police, arrived together on Thursday night as a firefight with the separatist rebels flared up in Papuas Ilaga district. Ilaga is in Puncak, a regency where insurgents have mounted deadly attacks lately.

On Friday, the chiefs met in nearby Mimika regency with leaders and members of a joint military-police counter-insurgency task force, before the two were scheduled to return to Jakarta in the late afternoon, officials said.

Rebels opened fire at government security forces in Ilaga on Thursday night, setting off a gunfight that lasted two hours, said Senior Commissioner M. Iqbal Alqudusy, spokesman for Operation Nemangkawi, as the task force is known. Hundreds of residents fled their homes to safety, he said.

They fired shots to lure police and frighten the people in Ilaga, but soldiers and police were on standby there, Iqbal told BenarNews. It was sporadic gunfire.

There were no casualties or fatalities and today people are going about their activities as usual, he said.

Meanwhile, Papuans reported that internet service had been cut for the past week and telephone service was patchy in the remote and largely underdeveloped region in far-eastern Indonesia.

The two chiefs landed in Papua 10 days after President Joko Jokowi Widodo ordered a crackdown on the rebels after they gunned down Brig. Gen. I Gusti Putu Danny Nugraha Karya during a roadside ambush in Puncak on April 25. He headed the Papua operation of the State Intelligence Agency.

The commander and the police chief gathered with task-force members to strengthen the synergy between the two forces and provide encouragement for the personnel here, Iqbal said.

Hadi told a parliamentary hearing on Thursday that he and Listyo were going to Papua to communicate directly with personnel in the field.

We do get reports all the time regarding the latest situation, but of course we really need direct communication and discussions with the commanders on the ground, Hadi told lawmakers.

Last month, the Indonesian government designated the Free Papua Movement separatist group and its armed wing, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), as terrorists.

That happened after the TPNPB claimed responsibility for killing Putu Danny as well as two teachers, a motorcycle taxi driver and a 16-year-old in separate incidents in April. The rebels said the civilians worked as spies for the government.

They also killed a police officer during a gunfight on April 27.

Although Jokowi had ordered government forces to intensify operations against the rebels, no additional troops were being deployed to Papua, according to military spokesman Col. Djawara Whimbo.

We will not dispatch more personnel. If we send new personnel, it will be to replace those who left, he told BenarNews.

A plan to send to Papua 400 personnel from Infantry Battalion 315  an army unit dubbed Satans Forces  was part of a normal rotation of troops in and out of the region, he said. The unit got its nickname from having seen action decades ago in former conflict zones, including East Timor and Aceh.

They are not special forces, Whimbo told BenarNews. The unit has been in Papua for a long time, so its just a rotation.

At present, there are around 7,000 military personnel deployed in Papua, he said.

'Striking fear into West Papuans'

Britain-based Papuan separatist leader Benny Wenda said the government is mounting some of the largest military operations in the region in years.

The new military operations are already striking fear into West Papuans across the country. This is state terrorism, he said in a statement posted this week on his groups website.

In late 2020, Wenda announced the creation of a West Papua interim government and appointed himself president.

He urged the international community to take action.

We are about to witness another massacre in West Papua. You have the power to intervene and help us find a peaceful solution to the crisis, he said.

In Papua, a community leader, Samuel Tabuni, urged the government to protect the people.

We should never allow civilians to become victims. I fear that unarmed people will die senselessly, he told BenarNews by phone from the region.

He said the conflict had displaced many Papuans and robbed them of their livelihoods.

They cant work, they cant go to the fields, he said. When they are sick, they cant go to hospitals. They cant go to school because they are afraid.

Internet disruptions

Melyana Ratana Pugu, a lecturer in international relations at Cenderawasih University in Jayapura, the capital of Papua province, said internet service had been down for a week.

There is no signal here at all. I can only make calls and they were often cut off, she told BenarNews.

Im wondering whether we are still Indonesian citizens when the internet is restricted, she said.

On Sunday, the state-owned Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), said internet connections in Papua were disrupted because of damage to an underwater fiber-optic cable network on April 30.

The company said telephone and short-message services had been restored but internet connections were being gradually fixed.

We will continue to work so that quality services can return to normal, Telkom spokesman Pujo Pramono said in a statement.

Indonesia blocked internet services in Papua during deadly rioting and widespread anti-government protests in 2019  when the TNI and national police chiefs last paid a joint visit to the region.

More than 40 people were killed during the 2019 unrest, which was sparked by the perceived harsh and racist treatment of Papuan students by security forces in Java, the seat of the central government in Jakarta.

In 1963, Indonesian forces invaded the Papua region  which makes up the western half of New Guinea Island  and annexed it.

Papua was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a U.N.-administered ballot known as the Act of Free Choice. Many Papuans and rights groups said the vote was a sham because it involved only about 1,000 people.
A teller helps a customer with a transaction at a branch of the CIMB Niaga Syariah bank in Jakarta, Feb. 17, 2010.

Muslims in Indonesias Aceh province will be required to patronize Islamic financial services beginning next year, due to a local bylaw that has led several banks to shutter their traditional operations in the Sharia-ruled region, but one Muslim customer is suing to stop the trend.

Lawyer and activist Safaruddin said the closures hurt customers because Islamic banking doesnt allow interest-bearing loans  unlike at conventional banks  and borrowed money has to be in the form of a trade or business agreement.

There is not a single provision [in the bylaw] that conventional banks must close. Thats a misperception, Safaruddin, who is suing three state-owned banks for stopping their traditional services in Aceh, told BenarNews.

This may be a small thing but it affects us directly.

Non-Islamic banks provide better services, said the lawyer who filed his suit last December.

Unlike their conventional peers, Islamic banks do not charge interest. Under the sharia banking system, a borrower shares profits or losses with the bank rather than paying interest.

The Islamic financial system employs the concept of participation in the enterprise, utilizing the funds at risk on a profit-and-loss-sharing basis, said the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance.

That means an Islamic bank earns a share of whatever profit a borrower makes, in addition to being repaid the loan, according to the website of Helen Ziegler & Associates, a firm that advertises jobs in Saudi Arabia.

The Aceh bylaw, or qanun, on Islamic financial services was passed in 2018. It requires all banks to operate based on Islamic principles. The bylaw came into force in January 2019 and banks were given until January 2022 to start operating according to the sharia system.

Aceh is the only province in Indonesia that practices sharia law.

An Islamic criminal code in place throughout the province regulates mixing of the sexes, gambling, drinking and selling liquor, sex outside marriage, rape, sexual harassment, and homosexual sex. People found guilty of those offenses are punished by caning in public.

To free Acehnese from usury

State-owned Bank Negara Indonesia, Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia are shuttering their traditional operations in Aceh. Their individual Islamic units have merged nationwide into Bank Syariah Indonesia, and will be replacing their conventional service banks in Aceh.

Malaysias CIMB Niaga and Indonesias largest private bank, BCA, have converted their branches into Islamic operations.

And last month, Bank Panin decided to close its sole branch in Aceh for good.

The bylaw applies to Muslims, while non-Muslims can submit themselves to the law, it states.

It also stipulates that any Muslim or any Muslim-run entity that does business with government institutions must do so through Islamic financial services. Those violating the law could be fined, have their operations suspended or lose their business licenses.

Aliamin, a member of a team that drafted the bylaw, denied that it prohibits conventional banks in Aceh.

The aim of the qanun is not to shut conventional banks, but first of all, to free the Acehnese people from being consumed by usury, Aliamin, a business and economics lecturer at Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, told BenarNews.

Article 6 of the bylaw does stipulate that Acehnese Muslims are prohibited from using conventional banks, but it stops short of an outright ban on non-Islamic banks, he said.

The head of the Aceh Ombudsman, Taqwaddin Husen, said the provincial government must be fair to non-Muslim customers.

Aceh is not 100 percent Muslim. There are non-Muslims and there are non-Muslims who do business with non-Muslims, Taqwaddin told BenarNews.

Why cant we be tolerant? If there are no financial institutions other than Islamic ones, that [is like] forcing them out. This is something to think about.

Could be boon for businesses

Achris Sarwani, the head of the Aceh office of Bank Indonesia, the countrys central bank, said any institution shutting operations was making a business-related choice.

It is a decision made by respective organizations, banks and companies, Sarwani told BenarNews.

Bank Panin, which is leaving Aceh, said in a statement in April that it would close its branch in the province permanently, even though it had its own Islamic unit, PT Bank Panin Dubai Syariah Tbk.

The strategy of our subsidiary is in line with technological trends and other considerations. At the moment we dont see a need to open a branch in Aceh, Panin spokesman Jasman Ginting said.

The head of the provincial administrations economic bureau, Amirullah, said the transition to Islamic banking may have had some glitches but will be complete by January.

We are still on track for the full implementation of the qanun by Jan. 4, 2022, he told BenarNews.

Meanwhile, an expert on Islamic economics said the bylaw could prove to be a boon for businesses in Aceh.

The qanun mandates that financing of small and medium-sized enterprises by Islamic banks should reach 20 percent by 2020 and 40 percent by 2022, said Syiah Kuala Universitys M. Shabri Abdul Madjid.

This profit-sharing financing will definitely boost the business sector which in turn will boost economic growth, Shabri told BenarNews.

But sources at some Islamic banks in Aceh told BenarNews that sharia-compliant financial institutions had difficulty achieving the 20 percent target the target and they needed more time to adjust.
Malaysian teenager Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam uses her phone to check the comments on her TikTok video, in Kuala Selangor, Malaysia, April 29, 2021.

A 17-year-old Malaysian girl who complained on TikTok that her teacher had joked about rape is now receiving threats and afraid to return to school, she told opposition leader and former education minister Anwar Ibrahim at an online forum on Thursday.

Ain Husniza Saiful Nizams video went viral, sparking a nationwide debate on sex education and institutional misogyny, with many girls raising their voices over similar incidents. But many people criticized her too.

I am afraid to go to school. This is a school that I used to love, with teachers that I love, Ain said at the forum organized by Anwar and moderated by political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ul Haque, whos better known as Zunar.

But amid backlash from her viral video, she said she had asked herself: Where are those teachers that I care about? Dont you care about me as your student?

Ain, who is a senior, described what happened at school in a TikTok video she made and posted on April 24. She said that a class on health education led by a male teacher was discussing how young people have a right to stand up against sexual harassment.

He was making a couple of jokes, but it seemed normal at first. Then we were talking about how there are a lot of laws protecting minors from sexual abuse or sexual harassment, Ain said in her narration, according to a transcript by the Reuters news agency.

And then he said, guess what, If you want to rape someone, do not rape those below 18 years old, rape those above 18 years old. He really said that. And the girls were like, quiet, but the boys, they were laughing, like it was so funny to joke about raping someone.

The video was widely watched, and, overnight, Ain became a household name. Scores of girls began to contact her talking about similar incidents, she said.

Many told her they feared being shut out by their schoolmates if they complained, she said. Some said they did report sexist incidents but no action was taken, Ain said.

Then Ain, too, began to be ostracized by her schoolmates after she filed a police report about her teacher. One student threatened to rape her. Ain filed a police report about that threat as well.

Others, like Harry Tan, secretary-general of the National Union of Teaching Professionals for Peninsula Malaysia, described what happened to Ain as an isolated incident.

How is this a widespread problem? Wheres the data, how many schools are we talking about? Tan retorted when asked about the issue in a TV talk show on Astro Awani on Wednesday.

And days before he became Malaysias police chief, Acryl Sani Abdullah  then the deputy police chief  said the rape threat against Ain may be a joke by her classmate.

Needs to be immediate action

Education Minister Radzi Jidin had said last week that his ministry would not tolerate jokes about rape and that the matter was being taken seriously.

But Anwar, who was education minister from 1986-1991, said Radzi should have strongly condemned the incident from the start.

I have not heard them say that such behavior is not acceptable.  I have not heard any stern warnings be issued, Anwar said.

When there is a fear of going to school, there needs to be immediate action. It should not be ignored, as if its the students own problem for missing out one or two weeks of school.

Anwar said he would start making noises if he did not hear by next week what action the ministry or the police were taking.

He lauded Ain for speaking out.

We should applaud Ains courage in raising awareness and continue to talk about these issues. Education must teach morals and values, he said.

During the forum, which was broadcast live on Facebook, people posted comments criticizing Ain for appearing with Anwar and accused her of politicizing the issue. She responded saying sexism was a universal problem.

This is not about politics, this is about all of us together, you adults out there coming together to help us kids because schools nowadays are not safe, she said.

You as adults need to take responsibility and ensure that schools are safer for us, thats all.

Ains been supported by scores of citizens, equal rights groups and NGOs and lawmakers.

We, the undersigned are extremely disturbed and appalled by the horrible and dangerous comments and threats made by the public towards Ain, said a statement signed by 50 NGOs, 821 individuals, 14 members of parliament, and two opposition political parties, that was shared online on May 1.

Still, Saiful Nizam Ab Wahab, Ains father, said his daughter may have to move to another school.

Its just that after all that happened, there are many things that Ain has to consider, so that she can continue to study in a conducive environment Saiful told news site Malaysiakini on Wednesday.
Members of the Royal Malaysian Navy search the sea for missing sailors from the USS John S. McCain off the Johor coast in the Singapore Strait, Aug. 23, 2017.

Malaysia will allow Boustead Naval Shipyard (BNS) to resume construction of littoral combat ships for the countrys navy, the defense minister said Friday, despite its failure to deliver on schedule and an unfinished probe into missing funds in the billion-ringgit project.

The move will preserve 1,600 local jobs and more than 400 small and medium-sized businesses owned by Malay Muslims, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a statement, which did not say anything about the past delivery delays or corruption allegations.

The Defense Ministry wishes to announce that the cabinet meeting on May 5 decided that the Boustead Group could resume the construction of LCS which was stalled since 2019, he said. Littoral combat ships (LCS) are small, fast warships designed for shallow coastal waters.

BNS was awarded a 9 billion ringgit (U.S. $2.18 billion) contract in 2014 to design, build and deliver six of the ships for the Royal Malaysian Navy, with the first one due in April 2019.

At an August 2020 parliamentary debate, Ismail Sabri acknowledged that none of the LCSs had been completed, despite the government having paid 6 billion ringgit ($1.46 billion) so far.

The following month, former deputy defense minister Liew Chin Tong told lawmakers that Putrajayas special investigation committee on procurement, governance and finance had discovered that 1 billion of the 6 billion ringgit paid for the warships could not be traced.

A month later, Liew called for the government to investigate the missing funds, adding that the money should be returned so the LCS project could be completed.

Once the parties involved are brought to justice, the government should consider injecting funds to ensure the project can be completed for the navys use, to continue protecting the sovereignty of our waters, he said.

Delayed by COVID

In November 2020, BNSs parent company, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd, even filed a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission on possible irregularities in the project.

This stands testimony to the BHICs group commitment in fighting corruption and bribery at all levels of the organization and in all its business dealings, Ramlan Mohamed Ali, the groups chairman and a retired navy chief, said in a statement at the time.

But a parliamentary probe into the matter was soon suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic and the state of emergency declared by Malaysias king to rein in surging infections.

We were only able to have one or two proceedings in December last year related to the probe, Parliaments Public Account Committee (PAC) chairman, Wong Kah Woh, told BenarNews on Friday.

The panel was scheduled to call a Royal Malaysian Navy admiral on Jan. 12, followed by former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Jan. 13, Wong said. Malaysias king declared a national emergency that very week  the countrys first in more than 50 years.

I disagreed that the emergency could put everything on hold, but I have been informed there is a legal opinion from the Attorney Generals Chamber, so everything is put on hold until the parliament is convened, Wong said.

In August 2020, as he answered questions in parliament about the non-delivery of ships, Ismail had said the ministry was considering terminating the contract with BNS, among other options.

On Friday, he noted that doing so would have adverse effects on the Armed Forces Fund Board, the military pension fund. The fund owns 59.4 percent of Boustead Holdings, according to Bloomberg News.

Indirectly it would affect soldiers who are contributors, should the project be halted, while the banking institution which has financed the project would suffer losses. For the record, Boustead Naval Shipyard Group is a government-linked company, managed by mostly Malay Bumiputera, he said, referring again to the countrys majority ethnic group.

Separately, the Royal Malaysian Navy received the second of four Chinese-built Littoral Mission Ships in March, under a contract signed by Putrajaya and the China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co Ltd in 2017.

The ship, KD Sundang, arrived at the RMN Naval Base in Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu in the state of Sabah in early March, two months after the first ship, KD Keris.

The remaining two ships from the Chinese company are to be delivered by October and December, respectively, according to Navy officials.
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G7 needs to be far more inclusive to tackle global challenges: UK expert

Xinhua) 09:03, May 07, 2021

The first in-person meeting in two years of the Group of Seven (G7) foreign and development ministers ended Wednesday in London, Britain. Click to see what expert has to say about G7.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Hart said as many as 12 public safety entities can all have centralized operations in the building, with room for more. Use of the facility is voluntary, so police or fire departments that want to consolidate may choose to do so, while others can remain as they are.
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It was a difficult decision because we knew what was involved both financially and because as a female you put yourself through a lot, Trahey said. As a couple it was a lot to decide to go through this journey together. We were nervous but very, very excited when we made that decision because we felt we were as close as possible to getting what we wanted.
Acting Features Editor

Jennifer Huberdeau is the acting features editor. Prior to The Eagle, she worked at The North Adams Transcript. She is a 2020 New England First Amendment Institute Fellow and a 2010 BCBS Health Care Fellow.
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.
Francesca Paris is The Eagle's data and public records reporter. She was previously the North Adams reporter. A California native and Williams College alumna, she has worked at NPR in Washington, D.C. and WBUR in Boston. Find her on Twitter at @fparises.
SHEFFIELD  Three contenders for two seats on the Planning Board are navigating an election year in which the cannabis industry has stirred passions across town, and the board in March stopped the plans of two growers.

Incumbent Caitlin Marsden McNeill is running for a second, three-year term. Challengers are Robert Robbie Cooper and Sam Stolzar.

Town elections will be held from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, at the senior center, 25 Cook Road.

All the candidates are 37, and have young children and careers.

McNeill said that the Planning Board is crucial to a town with extensive agricultural land in which the preservation of rural New England charm has to be balanced with businesses and development.

How to develop with integrity and intention rather than suburban sprawl, she said. How do we foster and encourage new business and a vibrant economic base?

McNeill is not only interested in scrutinizing the pot industry, but she is looking to the next incursion  communications companies looking to install 5G broadband cellular systems, and is working on those regulations now for a town vote in July. She says she also is passionate about board meetings being accessible to the public.

Cooper said his interest in running for a seat is not specifically a reaction to recent controversies around pot growers, though he, too, wants solid regulating there.

I dont want to take a rigid approach to pot, he said. I want to look at it more objectively. I think the industry could be good for the region, but I dont think there should be an open door.

He says he feels strongly that the town needs affordable housing for young families, and businesses that cater to younger people. He says he is pro-business. And since he plans to remain in Sheffield and raise a family, he generally wants some input into what goes on.

Stolzar said virtual meetings during the coronavirus pandemic made it possible for him to participate. His opposition to two pot growers seeking permits in a family neighborhood in Ashley Falls is what inspired him to run, since the industry will continue seeking permits in Sheffield.

People in the industry are saying that Sheffield is going to be the epicenter of growing in Massachusetts, he said.

Noting a new location sought by one grower whose permit was rejected by the board, Stolzar said its hard to find a place remote enough that wont make people upset.

I dont think it matters where [the grower] decides to put it, he said. Growing cannabis has an effect on an area.

Stolzar also says he is less inclined to object to pot retailers in a commercial district, and that he is working with a citizens group that is revising cannabis bylaws for a June 7 townwide vote.

He, too, says its not just the cannabis industry he wants to see reasonably regulated, but all industry.

Theres a difference between outrageous growth and smart growth, he said.

Uncontested seats on the ballot are incumbents William F. Tighe (moderator, one year), Rene C. Wood (Select Board, three years) and Martin C. Mitsoff (library trustee, three years).
Amanda Burke covers Pittsfield City Hall for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise. Find her on Twitter at @amandaburkec.
Romanian investigative journalist Catalin Tolontan speaks during an April 12 interview with the Associated Press at the Elvire Popesco cinema in Bucharest, Romania.
Boyertown Mayor Marianne V. Deery, second from left, presents proclamations to, from left, Brent Rothermel, a volunteer; and Ed and Terry Hudon, owners of The Medicine Shoppe in Boyertown, for working together to vaccinate more than 30,000 people.
As the first ever Black woman to hold the Miss Universe Canada title 2020 recipient Nova Stevens, is calling out the racist remarks that she has received online.

On Tuesday (May 4), Stevens went on to her Instagram account to address all of the negative comments she has received.

With all that has been going on in the world, 'black lives matter,' 'Asians are human,' you would think this would bring us together. Instead, it looks like some people are still stuck in their ignorant and racist ideologies, Stevens wrote in a lengthy Instagram caption.
Saniyya Dennis, the Buffalo State student who disappeared last month, may have committed suicide officials said Thursday (May 6), according to CBS News.

At this time, we believe that Saniyya traveled alone from the Buffalo State College campus by NFTA bus to Niagara Falls State Park where the evidence suggests that she took her own life during the early morning hours of Sunday, April 25, 2021, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said in a statement

All evidence indicates that Saniyya ended her own life, but the investigation into her disappearance will not be closed until she is found, Flynn said.

Although authorities have not found the 19-year-olds body, they were able to track the timeline leading up to her disappearance.

RELATED: NJ Anti-Violence Activists Daughter Kidnapped And Killed

CBS News reports Dennis got into an argument with her boyfriend over the phone on April 24. The DA said after trying to contact her boyfriend multiple times and could not reach him, she called another male friend and talked about killing herself.

According to CBS News, Flynn said Dennis was last seen throwing away "personal items that would lead someone to believe that she was not returning to the dorm." It was unclear what the personal items were.

Flynn stated video from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority showed Dennis took a bus to Niagara Falls State Park by herself and she was last seen on video spotted by park cameras along a trail at 12:17 a.m. on April 25.

At 12:19 a.m., the male friend called her and they spoke for 45 minutes, Flynn said. Around 1:20 a.m, Dennis text messaged the same male friend and said she had talked to her mother and was on her way back to Buffalo Several minutes later, her phone left her cellular network, according to CBS News.

CBS News reported dogs searching the area in Niagara Falls State Park lost Dennis' scent near the water's edge.

"Looking at Niagara Falls, the area is just filled with rocks," Flynn said. "If what I believe happened, happened, we may never find the body. She may be caught in the jagged rocks there."

During a news conference last Friday, Dennis family members said it was uncharacteristic of her to suddenly disappear.

"My daughter is a Black honor roll student at the college and has no tendency of doing nothing, said Calvin Byrd, Dennis father. We're all baffled as to what's going on.

Keyora, Dennis' sister, said this was "not of her nature."

Saniyya worked two jobs. She was a mechanical engineer major. She was very focused on her studies, her sister said. "She was a good friend. A good person. She has a good heart.

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said the search for Dennis will continue.

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide please call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text TALK to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
Residents of Iredell County, N.C., are fighting to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and they now have the support of one of his descendants.

According to the Raleigh News & Observer, the fourth great-nephew of Lee, Rev. Robert Wright Rob Lee IV, is joining a multiracial lawsuit to remove the statue of Lee in Statesville, N.C. In a statement, Rev. Lee said the statue was a celebration of white supremacy and racism.

On March 2, it appeared the Iredell Board of County Commissioners was ready to remove the statue but two weeks later reversed course. The Iredell Free News reports commission Chairman James Mallory said the earlier 4-1 vote had been misconstrued and the commissioners had expressed only a willingness to work with the United Daughters of the Confederacy if the group decided to move the statue.

RELATED: Georgia Legislature Is Making An Effort To Replace A Confederate Statue With One Of John Lewis

The United Daughters of the Confederacy, which was founded 1894, erected Confederate statues all over the South. They are reportedly refusing to have the statue removed from Iredell County.

A May 4 lawsuit, filed by residents and the local chapter of the NAACP, is asking for the statue to be removed and to be banned from being relocated to any county-owned or controlled property.

Lee led the Confederate army during the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, in which Southern states seceded from the United States over upholding slavery. He surrendered along with his 28,000 troops at Appomattox, Va., in April 1865 to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a task force this week that will study reparations through financial compensation and community programs for descendants of enslaved people in America.



On Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, the board voted unanimously to form a 15-member African American Reparations Advisory Committee, including Black San Franciscans who have suffered displacement, homelessness, incarceration or other issues.

The appointments of this reparations advisory committee is an historical event, as I am unaware of any other legislated body in place to prioritize injustices and create a true reparations plan in a package for Black people, said Board President Shamann Walton.

The committee will have two years to devise a plan to show how a citywide reparations program would work,to make whole those who have been wronged or who continue to suffer harm from past wrongs.



San Francisco has the opportunity to lead the way in addressing the harm that far too many African Americans families have experienced, said Sheryl Davis, director of the citys Human Rights Commission.



RELATED: Chicago Suburbs Black Residents Explain Why Reparations Are Owed To Them



At one time, San Franciscos Black community was larger. However, gentrification and higher living costs have changed the demographic makeup, the AP reports. Although African Americans are just five percent of the total population, they make up 35 percent of the homeless population.



San Francisco would become the largest city to embark upon a reparations program for its citizens. Evanston, Ill, a Chicago suburb, approved $10 million in reparations for its Black residents in March. Also, last the city council in July Asheville, N.C., voted unanimously in support of reparations as well.



RELATED: North Carolina City Council Approves Plan For Reparations
A Tennessee state lawmaker is drawing criticism for defending a Constitutional provision that determined how enslaved Black people would be regarded by law, saying that it was intended to end slavery rather than uphold it.



Republican Rep. Justin Lafferty, while debating a bill that would ban critical race theory in schools, argued that the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787, was actually an attempt to move away from what came to be known as the peculiar institution.



He called it a direct effort to ensure that Southern states never got the population necessary to continue the practice of slavery everywhere else in the country by limiting their Congressional representation, The Hill reports.



The Three-Fifths Compromise was an agreement between Northern and Southern delegates of the U.S. Constitutional Convention that three-fifths of the enslaved population would be counted to determine taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. Most historians agree that, if anything, the agreement gave more power to slave states, which did not relinquish people from bondage until they were forced to as a result of the Civil War.


The Tennessee General Assembly has reportedly banned the teaching of critical race theory through a law that comes at the very end of a legislative session to withhold funding from public schools that teach about white privilege.

According to USA Today, Republicans introduced provisions that ban schools from instructing students that one race is responsible for the past actions against another, race privilege, or that the United States is fundamentally racist.

The ban comes amidst similar actions in other states, including Idaho and one proposed in Texas.

RELATED: Tennessee State Legislator Claims Constitutional Agreement Tried To End Slavery

According to Britannica, critical race theory is an intellectual movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of color.

On Wednesday (May 5), the bill prompted a long and spirited debate on the Tennessee Senate floor, where the chamber's three Black women each spoke out against the ban.

Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, argued the bill promotes revisionist history, while Sen. Katrina Robinson, another Democrat, told her colleagues she was "deeply and profoundly offended" by it.

Sen. Page Walley of Bolivar was the lone Republican to vote against the measure. From the floor, he acknowledged that everyones stories need to be told.
He needs those boots to work. I looked it up for him, and I found a pair that he wanted at a different Walmart. But, why should he have to depend on the luck of having somebody sitting there who is kind enough to do it for him? Thats not fair to that guy, Wells said.
Bill again joins Glenn Beck, this time with a focus on the Biden economy. The president, Bill opines, is going to be every bit as bad as Jimmy Carter, the man he just visited in Georgia. The current administration is throwing trillions of dollars at projects endorsed and embraced by the radical left. In sum, Bill believes that President Biden 'doesn't have a blanking clue.' Feel free to fill in the blank with the expletive of your choice.

Bill and Glenn also discuss the astoundingly mismanaged border and why the chaos is making lots of mobsters quite happy. It's a bizarre situation that involves the Border Patrol, drug trafficking, the mob, and America's poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

On the bright side, very soon the only people wearing masks in New York City will be criminals  just like the old days!
For another 'angle' on 'Killing the Mob,' the latest book in the Killing series, Bill sat down with our old pal Laura Ingraham on her podcast, The Laura Ingraham Show, to lay the blame on Biden's open border policy for accelerating organized crime in the United States.



The President of the United States is actively helping organized crime this very moment, says O'Reilly. When Joe Biden came in, in 24 hours, he dismantled Donald Trump's border policy that made it more difficult for migrants to come to the United States and more difficult for narcotics to be smuggled in here from the Mexican cartels. That's a fact. No dispute.



Now, O'Reilly contends, President Biden doesn't know what is going on day to day, and "whether he's diminished and cant understand it, or doesn't care... it doesn't really matter now." It is not a mistake that since Biden took office illegal immigration is up big. OReilly explains how the mob allows drug cartels to operate today, and that Central American drug cartels directly benefit from Bidens border policy changes - of course, to the detriment of U.S. citizens.



Listen below for more, and check out 'Killing the Mob' wherever books are sold. All of this violence that is taking innocent lives can be now directly linked to organized crime in America...but Biden has made their job much, much easier. -- @BillOReilly on The Laura Ingraham Show. Subscribe to @QuakeMedia to listen: https://t.co/d7bzEEp2jv pic.twitter.com/eOWhTAtG8f  Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 7, 2021


My question is simple: why is it voter suppression to require ID, proof of residency, in order to vote?

Thats what the Democratic Party is asserting, that identification is racist. So, I guess Canada and Mexico are racist countries because, as Ive stated, citizens of those countries must show ID to vote.

What this is really about is how African-Americans are being used to downgrade election security. For some reason, the left does not want a disciplined electoral system where safeguards are put in place to make fraud difficult.

Black citizens are no different than white citizens. Securing personal identification is easy. This entire controversy is contrived and insulting to African-Americans! Or am I wrong?
The woman said Dubose directed her to a place she initially believed to be police station and that he was writing something down in a notebook of hers as they drove, court records said. He placed the notebook down before directing her down a dark, garbage-strewn alley, then threatened to kill her if she tried to flee or scream, the affidavit said.
This system is currently being field-tested at IIT Madras Institute Hospital

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras researchers have developed BlockTrack, a first-of-its-kind blockchain-based secure medical data and information exchange system for a mobile phone-based application. This system is currently being field-tested at IIT Madras Institute Hospital.

The project has been undertaken with CSR support from Infosys originating during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. BlockTrack aims to securely digitise healthcare information systems while ensuring the protection of sensitive personal information and medical records by decentralising the control and ownership of patient data, through a blockchain-based innovation. The BlockTrack innovation is now protected through a provisional IP filed with the Indian Patent Office.

The Android version of the application has been developed separately for both patients as well as doctors. BlockTracks algorithm generates identification codes for users and ensures uniqueness across boundaries with very little chance for duplication. It opens up the promise of universal and transferable healthcare information management with a strong emphasis on data privacy and tracking the spread of infectious diseases across geographies.

BlockTrack allows the interoperability of systems from multiple hospitals, institutes, and healthcare organisations. It integrates medical supply chain management and proactive tracking of the spread of contagious infections. The patient can choose to visit any healthcare facility which is on BlockTracks blockchain network without having any concerns about duplication of records or re-registrations.

BlockTrack is developed by a team led by Prof Prabhu Rajagopal, Lead Faculty, Remote Diagnostics, Center for Nondestructive Evaluation (CNDE), Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Madras.

Prof Rajagopal said, BlockTrack is an exciting project that depicts engineering innovations that have disruptive potential to transform multiple domains.

Prof K VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, said, This will enhance and enable the efforts of health systems to efficiently track disease spread and maintain confidentiality while storing personal data in a network.

Dr Rebecca Punithavalli, Chief Medical Officer, IIT Madras Institute Hospital, who had supported pilot trials, said, Technology in the medical field is required at all levels. BlockTrack will truly solve the purpose as technological assistance in time of need.

Shashwat Pandey, Mobile App Development Lead, added, We are glad that our efforts have finally resulted in possibly the first-ever Healthcare centric DApp (Decentralised Application) with features like universally unique IDs, interoperability and non-duplicity of records.
With the rising cases of COVID-19 in this second wave, it is even more imperative to ensure no vaccine gets wasted due to lack of refrigeration or poor infrastructure.

On a regular basis, almost all businesses and industries depend on commercial refrigeration to function properly. The commercial refrigeration industry is indispensable. Providing solutions and transforming the industries, it has been creating an impeccable impact. Facing challenges and obstacles, the industry has been working as an ally, providing the best of class products.

The medical industry's technical advancements in the last few years have been nothing short of remarkable. These game-changing technologies have had a positive influence on the pharmaceutical industry and its products. The future of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry that we foresee will be nothing like what we have now. Commercial refrigeration has seen innovation time and again and helped businesses grow. Almost all business, including restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, and department stores depend on commercial refrigeration for their daily operations. It would be an understatement to conclude that refrigeration has played a significant role. Many sectors, including healthcare, have evolved as a result of advancement in this industry.

Commercial refrigeration is a broad and complex portfolio. If we categorise it into different segments, every refrigerator requires its own set of technologies and features. On a wider level, however, the refrigeration mechanism remains the same. A blood refrigerator, for example, requires a specific temperature to keep the blood bags secure, but the basic system remains the same.

With the rising cases of COVID-19 in this second wave, it is even more imperative to ensure no vaccine gets wasted due to lack of refrigeration or poor infrastructure. According to RTI, it has been revealed that around 44.78 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines were wasted in India till April 11.

Considering the current market scenario, providing refrigerators to the pharmaceutical industry is at the topmost priority for commercial refrigeration companies. Recently, the companies have developed COVID-19 vaccine freezers. With IoT-enabled and temperature-based monitoring system, these freezers with a temperature range from 2 Deg Celsius to -20 Deg Celsius and 86 Deg Celsius are equipped with advanced features to maintain the efficiency and efficacy of the vaccine. The products are intended to be a solution, allowing government agencies to reach out to the most remote parts of the world without having to wait for infrastructure to be built.

A vaccine refrigerator requires a very critical application. If a vaccine freezes, the potency is gone which may not be known. To ensure and provide quality performance, we need to understand the requirement for each vaccine and experts are coming forward to develop the best-in-class products. These portable COVID vaccine carriers are adhering to the current need of the industry.

When it comes to biotechnology refrigerators, a lot of research and experimentation goes behind it. Precision temperature control is the most critical factor and a challenge to deal with. When we look at it from Indias perspective, there are places that are so far away that even buses are not accessible. But it is imperative that vaccines are available at every nook and corner of the country. A lot of the rural areas are still facing erratic power fluctuations which makes it challenging for refrigerators to work in such areas. Companies do extensive research and analysis on geographical issues, and they feel compelled to contribute to the betterment of individuals.

As a result, advances in pharmaceutical and healthcare technology aid in extending people's lives. As technology advances in various industries, there are several prospects emerging in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries as well. As all of the groundbreaking goods associated with this nexus have shown, refrigeration is an indispensable supporting mechanism and using cutting-edge, emerging technology to improve healthcare. Considering Indias peculiar challenges, the commercial refrigeration companies are always working on innovation and providing the best of solutions to pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

Sanjay Jain, Director, Elanpro, Gurugram
Mainly Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province & Ringing Trips to Bahrain
The 23rd edition of the Encounters South African International Documentary Festival will be held virtually from 10 to 20 June 2021. The lineup will include films, webinars, debates and Q&A with local and international directors.

2020 Encounters announces Festival Award winners The 2020 Encounters South African International Documentary Festival concluded with the announcement of the Festival Award winners at an awards ceremony, which took place via Zoom on 30 August 2020...

Many of the features in this years festival programme have been directed by talented women directors  from Chile the Oscar-nominated The Mole Agent  an endearing, funny and touching film about an 83-year-old spy who infiltrated an old age home to discover its secrets. Its been called: The most beautiful spy movie ever made. Chilean director Maite Alberdis nuanced look into the world of espionage doesnt just open our eyes to this little-seen world but offers an extraordinarily gentle opportunity to reflect on the ageing process itself and how we treat the elderly.The groundbreaking documentary Ailey, which chronicles the Black experience through dance. It is a celebration of the beloved African-American dance company Alvin Ailey, which took South African audiences by storm when they performed here some years ago. This is a classic documentary portrait of the companys founder, who rose from poverty to become one of the icons of contemporary dance.Stray, by director Elizabeth Lo, explores the refugee crisis around the world, but with an interesting take. Using an invisible camera, audiences follow a pack of stray dogs through the streets of Istanbul, understanding the plight of some of the worlds most vulnerable citizens. Its a beautiful film with hidden layers that moves beyond simple storytelling, creating an entirely new genre of documentary and challenging our perception of our part in this unfolding and seemingly never-ending human crisis.Since its inception, Encounters has always highlighted documentary filmmaking from the rest of Africa. But excitingly this year Encounters goes even further by bringing together a programme that includes documentaries from all four corners of the continent, travelling across Africa through the eyes of its great filmmakers.In the highly anticipated The Last Shelter, by Malian director Ousmane Samassekou, we journey to the Malian city of Goa on the edge of the breathtaking Sabel Desert, where audiences get an inside look into the infamous House of Migrants. The film has just won the top prize at Copenhagens International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) and opens at Hot Docs In Toronto this week.Another African documetary to look forward to is the powerful Downstream To Kinshasa  the first-ever Congolese film to be selected at the Cannes Film Festival  where director Dieudo Hamadi follows survivors of the Uganda-Rwanda war downstream as they trek from the Congo river to the capital Kinshasa to make their voices heard, demand dignity and fight to get their long-overdue compensation from the government.Then from there, we follow the story of a Ghanaian man who lives two very different lives in King Bansah and His Daughter. Cephas Bansah comes from Ghana and lives in Ludwigshafen on the Rhine. In Ghana, he is King for about 200,000 members of the Ewe, whereas in Ludwigshafen he runs a car workshop. His daughter Katharina, whose mother is German, was born and raised in Ludwigshafen. For the first time after many years, Katherina accompanies her father to his kingdom in Ghana. She wants to get in touch with that part of her identity, recharge her spiritual batteries and find out if she wants to succeed to the throne someday. On this journey, Katherina sees her father with new eyes and realises the meaning of her Ghanaian heritage.More films and events will be revealed in the coming weeks as we lead up to the festival.
The Vumela Fund announces an investment in innovative food technology

Co-founder and Chairman KK Combi says: On a trip to Beijing, I realised the importance of speed to service customers on the move and in a small space. This planted a seed and triggered my desire to turn a dream into reality. Back home the ancient and hygienic way of frying created a foundation for new thinking. This brought on the advanced fryer technology that can now be seen in leading branded stores in South Africa. The many iterations of the fryer evolution had held my beady eye for ten years and when the opportunity came, we founded our business in 2015.



I saw the need to take the open fryer out of fast-food retail. I felt the focus should shift to advanced fryer technology. My experience of driving a business opened the door to Pick n Pay where we tested the fryer in a live environment. This meant serving customers fried food in three minutes, shares co-founder and CEO Ari Jacobson.



Vumela and Edge Growth understood us; the hard road Kombo King had taken to get to this position to be able to demonstrate globally unique technology. The stream of blue-chip customers meant the business was at a point where financial backing was required and they stepped in.

Vuyiswa Nzimande, Principal at Edge Growth and lead dealmaker explains, Consumer-centric product offerings are key to attracting customers in a highly competitive convenience food market. We view Kombo King fryers as an enabler to its clients to differentiate themselves in terms of quality, consistency and speed of service while increasing the clients value proposition.

Our commitment to investing in innovative entrepreneurship, is demonstrated in investments that offer unique technological advancements to competitive and job creating industries. The opportunity to invest in Kombo King is exciting and in line with FNBs SME Development strategic objectives that are focused on job creation, local manufacturing and the long-term sustainability of innovative SMEs, says Heather Lowe, SME Development Head for FNB Business.

The Vumela Fund, established by FNB Business and Edge Growth, has announced a new investment in Kombo King (Pty) Ltd, a proudly South African kitchen equipment supplier focusing on the fried food niche market.The unique technology has created a strong competitive advantage. Kombo King fryers offer retail stores savings in electricity usage, oil usage, kitchen space and the opportunity to increase in spend per customer from faster service and increased menu offerings. The Kombo King fryers are a proudly South African manufactured product which has an opportunity to increase the quality of food provided in the value market.The Vumela Fund, managed by Edge Growth, has taken the opportunity to support an acquisition that will boost capacity and create new partnerships, resulting in sustained long-term growth.The investment is good news for Kombo King and will underwrite great savings for retailers in a market still recovering from the Covid-19 lockdowns. Just 3 minutes to your favourite dish? A double win for the consumer too.
A new Cape Town Takealot distribution facility and pickup point is planned for the multibillion-rand Richmond Park development in Milnerton. The new facility will initially be 6,700m and include two expansion opportunities with the potential to reach approximately 17,000m, providing Takealot, South Africa's biggest online retailer, with the flexibility to expand in line with its growth.
Prosecutors said Arevalo gave another member a gun used in a 2012 Chicago murder. He also was involved in a drive-by shooting in 2015 where his passenger was killed when a rival gang shot back, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Gary T. Bell.
The foundation acquired the structure, formerly two buildings and now one at 16 Indiana Ave., in 2012 for $1 a year in a 25-year lease with the city, Pazour said. Museum officials talked about moving the museum, in the old jail at 153 S. Franklin St., to the Indiana Avenue address and to whats now the gallery, which is adjacent at 20 Indiana Ave., and preserving the jail and connected residence as a historic site, because its around 150 years old.
Its usually not a good day when you go to court. Sometimes its the worst day of your life, Sersic said. For most people, it may be their first time in court and they feel like they have to defend themselves in front of a judge after weeks or months of stress. Courtrooms can be a scary place for people who are unfamiliar with its proceedings.
We fell in love with this brother, and were gonna ride with him on this project. Everything he told me he was going to do, he did it. And hes still doing it, Grant said. He shook my hand that day and broke down crying. He was overwhelmed with what he knew God was going to do in his life.
NEW YORK  A recently released bombshell Human Rights Watch (HRW) report has made waves around the world. For the first time, the New York-based non-governmental organization has categorized Israel as an apartheid state guilty of crimes against humanity.

The 213-page study goes into detail about a range of racist laws and policies carried out by successive administrations, concluding that there is an overarching Israeli government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem.

The report accuses the state of Israel of widespread institutional discrimination and of denying millions of Palestinians their fundamental rightssolely because they are Palestinian and not Jewish. It further notes that, across Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, it has sought to maximize the land available for Jewish communities and to concentrate most Palestinians in dense population centers.

Prominent voices have warned for years that apartheid lurks just around the corner if the trajectory of Israels rule over Palestinians does not change, said the organizations executive director, Kenneth Roth. This detailed study shows that Israeli authorities have already turned that corner and today are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.

Perhaps most importantly, Human Rights Watch is now openly calling for global action to end the repression. The report asks the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute those involved in Palestinian persecution. While not explicitly endorsing the Boycott, Divestment and Sactions (BDS) movement, Human Rights Watch directly advocates that [s]tates should impose individual sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against officials and individuals responsible for the continued commission of these serious crimes, and for businesses to cease business activities that directly contribute to the crimes of apartheid and persecution.

A big splash

The report was widely covered across the world and has been heralded by Palestine solidarity activists, with experts seeing it as a potential turning point in the struggle for Palestinian sovereignty. It was inevitable that Human Rights Watch would have to declare Israel an Apartheid state and, from what I hear, Amnesty International is going to be next to say it, Asa Winstanley of the Electronic Intifada told MintPress. It puts Israels backers in a difficult spot because Human Rights Watch is really part of the establishment so they cannot just dismiss it and it makes it impossible to ignore It is harder for them to say Human Rights Watch is anti-Semitic, but theyre trying it anyway, he added.

Trying indeed. Michigan Congresswoman Lisa McClain tweeted that Human Rights Watch has shown again how they have an anti-Israel agenda, suggesting they instead focus their attention on China or Irans repressive governments. Hostility and hypocrisy are HRWs hallmarks when it comes to Israel, wrote the American Jewish Committee. The Jerusalem Posts editorial board was equally condemnatory, denouncing what they saw as the cynical appropriation of the suffering of the victims of the actual apartheid regime. Other Israeli journalists described the report as a disgrace to the memory of the millions who suffered under that policy [apartheid] in South Africa. The news even made enough waves to force a response from the White House. Press Secretary Jen Psaki replied that [a]s to the question of whether Israels actions constitute apartheid, that is not the view of this administration.

Organized spontaneity

Yet much of the online anger at the report was actually manufactured by an Israeli government-sponsored app, Act.IL, which organized supporters of the Jewish state to act in sync to create an artificial groundswell of opposition to it. The app, which reportedly has a budget of over $1 million per year, instructed users to leave combative comments on Facebook, Twitter, and popular news outlets, and to like and promote others who did the same.

Human Rights Watchs Facebook post announcing the reports release has received over 1,400 comments, hundreds of them written in a similar, scathingly negative tone. One that the app directly told users to signal boost, for instance, described Palestinians as a people indoctrinated with hate for Israel and Jews for over 100 years, and claimed they were paid salaries to murder Israelis. It also presented the 1967 war and occupation as a humanitarian effort to bring electricity and other infrastructure to Arabs.

Today, @hrw issued a report concluding that Israel is committing the crime of Apartheid. In response, Israel's propaganda app has "missions" targeting news sources with talking points and graphics, including one image attacking lead author @OmarSShakir.#Courage2FightApartheid pic.twitter.com/EpKU44KamY  Behind Israel's Troll Army (@AntiBDSApp) April 27, 2021

Another mission Act.IL gave its users was to promote a Facebook comment attacking the report as nothing more than hate speech and calling its lead author a rabid anti-Zionist and Israel hater.

Act.IL is one of the chief tools in Israels online public relations enterprise. The app debuted in 2017 and is part of what Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan called an Iron Dome of Truth. Our cell phones are the number one weapon against us, he explained, noting that public opinion in the U.S. was beginning to turn against them. While most of the apps nearly 20,000 users are volunteers, a core of them are paid operatives, with many students receiving scholarships as a reward for their work.

The app has been designed to feel like a game, with points assigned for completing missions such as sharing pro-Israel videos, reporting anti-Israel content, signing petitions, or attending online seminars. Users can track their progress on leaderboards, earn badges and prizes, and chat with other members of the community. While it might feel like Animal Crossing or World of Warcraft for some, its creators see this very much as a new front in the war against Palestine. Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked categorizes BDS as another branch of terrorism in the modern age, and has been an important voice in taking the fight to a new front.

There is also an online toolkit full of folders of responses to typical questions and issues that arise. Users can, for instance, go to the BDS folder to find stock replies to their arguments. Or they can go to a specific folder to find articles, images and videos they can use to demonize Hamas.

The missions are organized by outlet, so users can, for instance, target only Facebook, Telegram, or other platforms they are most familiar with. At the time of writing, there are 10 missions each to complete on Facebook and YouTube, 30 on Instagram, 25 on Twitter.

One current challenge is to upvote an answer to a question on Quora that asks about the validity and purpose of checkpoints in the West Bank. The answer claims they are purely about protection from terror attacks, and claims that Red Crescent ambulances are used to ferry bombs around the area. Other missions include pressuring an online store to remove a bag with a message stating Make Israel Palestine Again.

It is quite astounding how openly they do it. But, of course, when you see a comment online, you wouldnt necessarily think that it was coming from the Israeli government, but this is essentially what is happening, Winstanley said. Israel is not the only state to do this, but they do it fairly successfully.

For all this, however, it is clear that Act.IL has a serious problem with user retention and lacks the volunteer numbers for it to be truly game changing.

Controlling the message

In a time of heightened awareness about foreign government interference online, it is particularly surprising that these operations can be openly carried out across virtually every major platform. Big tech companies like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are constantly deleting tens of thousands of Russian, Chinese, Iranian and Cuban accounts belonging to what they claim are organized, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.

In an effort to gauge the legality of its operations, MintPress reached out to Facebook, YouTube, Quora, and other big platforms used by Act.IL. We received no response from any of them. While this is particularly noteworthy  as these companies have teams of public relations representatives and are extremely forthright and timely with responses on other issues  it is perhaps not surprising. Facebook especially has long been working closely with the Israeli government in deciding which voices to censor. As far back as 2016, Ayelet Shaked boasted that Facebook removed 95% of the posts her office asked them to. Yet when Shaked herself called for a genocidal war against Palestine and its women, who give birth to little snakes, not only did the post remain online, it received thousands of likes and was widely circulated.

The concern is that Facebook is adopting Israeli policy and terminology when it comes to defining what incitement is, said Nadim Nashif, co-founder of 7amleh, the Arab Centre for the Advancement of Social Media. 7amleh was therefore dismayed when last year, Facebook appointed former Israeli Minister of Justice Emi Palmor to its Oversight Board, the council having the final say in the moderation of content on the platform used by 2.6 billion people worldwide. In her role as justice minister, Palmor was directly implicated in the persecution and subjugation of Palestinians.

Earlier this year, an Israeli Defense Forces soldier attempted to sue a Palestinian-American activist living in California over an allegedly slanderous Facebook post condemning her for participating in ethnic cleansing. Remarkably, the plaintiff attempted to convince a California judge to apply Israeli law to the incident, despite the fact that both she and the defendant are American citizens.

Inside the world of academia, professors critical of Israel have found themselves pushed out of the profession. In 2007, prominent critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein was denied tenure at DePaul University for political reasons. Seven years later, the University of Illinois unhired Steven Sailata for his comments denouncing Operation Protective Edge, the 2014 Israeli attack on Gaza. Emails showed that wealthy donors put significant pressure on the university to pull the plug on him. More recently, Cornel West was blocked from a tenured job at Harvard this year, despite having previously held tenure at Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Being the faculty advisor for the Palestinian student group was the one that probably went outside of the line for many Harvard staff, West told Krystal Ball and Kyle Kulinski. Its a joke. Its ridiculous. Its ludicrous. Its preposterous that it wouldnt have something to do with politics.

Top media figures have also paid the price for their support of BDS. CNN fired commentator Marc Lamont Hill after he made a speech at the United Nations calling for a free Palestine. Meanwhile, journalist Abby Martin was blocked from speaking at a conference at Georgia Southern University last year after she refused to sign a contract promising to renounce BDS. Georgia is one of dozens of U.S. states to have anti-BDS legislation, essentially forcing any would-be recipient of public contracts or funds, including government employees, to sign a pledge not to boycott Israel. Martin is currently suing the state of Georgia.

Perhaps the greatest PR victory for the Israel lobby in recent years was its defamation campaign against British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. The lifelong pacifist, anti-racist campaigner was transformed into a raging anti-Semite in the minds of many, thanks to a massive propaganda onslaught. In the three months before the 2019 election, there were 1,450 articles in national British newspapers linking Corbyn with anti-Semitism, chiefly because of his support for Palestinian liberation. Much of this was orchestrated by Israel and its lobby, which worked closely with journalists and politicians keen to see the socialist politicians demise. The media blitz succeeded. When media researchers asked the public what percentage of Labour members faced official complaints over anti-Semitism, the average guess was 34%. The actual answer was less than 0.1%; and more than half of those complaints were made by one person. Corbyn lost the election and the U.K. chose Boris Johnson.

Winstanley, whose documentary How they brought down Corbyn premiered last week, told MintPress:

The most effective propaganda strategy against [Corbyn] was the fabrication that he was an anti-Semite on the basis of his past criticisms of Israel and his Palestinian solidarity. In my view, the maliciously fabricated anti-Semitism crisis against the Labour Party was the main factor in his [being deposed] as Labour Party leader. Without this factor, he would have made it to Number 10 Downing Street and become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Apartheid states

While Human Rights Watchs report is new, the charge of apartheid is not. In 2017, a United Nations report clearly and frankly concludes that Israel is a racist state that has established an apartheid system that persecutes the Palestinian people. Earlier this year, Israeli human rights organization BTSelem also used the word apartheid, claiming that Israel had established a regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

In the wake of World War Two and the Holocaust, Israel was created by the United Nations in 1947, cutting a section of territory from the British mandate of Palestine to form a new state. While it was immediately recognized by the international powers, Arabs who lived in the region were dead against it, leading to a war in 1948. David Ben Gurion and the founding fathers of Israel immediately began a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the local population, razing their villages and forcing them to flee. Today there are more than 5 million Palestinians registered as refugees.

While many defenders of Israel today balk at the comparison to apartheid South Africa, the two countries were close friends for much of the late 20th century, seeing themselves as similar settler colonial projects surrounded by hostile nations. Furthermore, leaders of the African liberation movement saw themselves as part of the same struggle as those in Palestine. We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians, Nelson Mandela said in 1997. I have witnessed the systemic humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children by members of the Israeli security forces, said Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a statement endorsing BDS. Their humiliation is familiar to all black South Africans who were corralled and harassed and insulted and assaulted by the security forces of the apartheid government, he added.

A turning tide

The Human Rights Watch report is the latest reference point showing Western public sympathies swaying towards Palestine. During the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination race, a number of top-tier candidates very publicly shunned the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, refusing to attend the AIPAC conference. Last week, the Pilsbury family called for a global boycott of the food company that bears its name. As long as General Mills [which owns the Pilsbury brand] continues to profit from the dispossession and suffering of the Palestinian people, we will not buy any Pillsbury products, they stated, denouncing the building of a factory on illegal settlement land.

Advocates for Palestine hailed Human Rights Watchs study. Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies wrote:

There can be little doubt that much of HRWs decision to issue this report now was based on the recognition that not only is it no longer political suicide to call Israeli apartheid what it is, but that we are now at a tipping point whereby failing to call out apartheid risks losing credibility for a human rights organization. Its a huge victory for our movement.

The battle, however, is far from won, and it is clear that the Israel lobby will continue to fight to hold back the tide until it is insurmountable.

Feature photo | Graphic by Antonio Cabrera

Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams.
Let me assure you when someone asks, Do you think America is a racist country? in all honesty they could care less about your response! Heres why. President Biden was asked that question. Biden is no dumb man. He is a smart politician. Anyone with an ounce of intelligence could have answered for him. No matter what his true feelings might be, he is not going to alienate millions of voters by responding with a yes! Why ask an astute politician a question that he can only answer one way? First, America is still struggling with an acceptable definition. Second, I believe power and money play a stronger role in our country than the dictionary version of racism. People with ample resources could care less about racist attitudes. Last of all, questions of racism usually imply that someone is asking about white and minority relationships. Yet, there can be so-called racism within families of the same ethnicity. Why in the same religious groups we have the titles Orthodox and Reformed?


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Homing in on the smallest possible laser

At extremely low temperatures, matter often behaves differently than in normal conditions. At temperatures only a few degrees above absolute zero (-273 degrees Celsius), physical particles may give up their independence and merge for a short time into a single object in which all the particles share the same properties. Such structures are known as Bose-Einstein Condensates, and they represent a special aggregate state of matter.

An international team of researchers led by physicists Dr Carlos Anton-Solanas and Professor Christian Schneider from the UNiversity of Oldenburg has now succeeded for the first time in generating this unusual quantum state in charge carrier complexes that are closely linked to light particles and located in ultrathin semiconductor sheets consisting of a single layer of atoms. As the team reports in the scientific journal Nature Materials, this process produces light similar to that generated by a laser. This means that the phenomenon could be used to create the smallest possible solid-state lasers.

The work is the result of a collaboration between the Oldenburg researchers and the research groups of Professor Sven Hofling and Professor Sebastian Klembt from the University of Wurzburg (Germany), Professor Sefaattin Tongay from Arizona State University (USA), Professor Alexey Kavokin from Westlake University (China), and Professor Takashi Taniguchi and Professor Kenji Watanabe from the National Institute of Materials Science in Tsukuba (Japan).

The study focuses on quasi particles that consist of both matter and light, known as exciton-polaritons - the product of strong couplings between excited electrons in solids and light particles (photons). They form when electrons are stimulated by laser light into a higher energy state. After a short time in the order of one trillionth of a second, the electrons return to their ground state by re-emitting light particles.

When these particles are trapped between two mirrors, they can in turn excite new electrons - a cycle that repeats until the light particle escapes the trap. The light-matter hybrid particles that are created in this process are called exciton-polaritons. They combine interesting properties of electrons and photons and behave in a similar way to certain physical particles called bosons. "Devices that can control these novel light-matter states hold the promise of a technological leap in comparison with current electronic circuits," said lead author Anton-Solanas, a postdoctoral researcher in the Quantum Materials Group at the University of Oldenburg's Institute of Physics. Such optoelectronic circuits, which operate using light instead of electric current, could be better and faster at processing information than today's processors.

In the new study, the team led by Anton-Solanas and Schneider looked at exciton-polaritons in ultrathin crystals consisting of a single layer of atoms. These two-dimensional crystals often have unusual physical properties. For example, the semiconductor material used here, molybdenum diselenide, is highly reactive to light.

The researchers constructed sheets of molybdenum diselenide less than one nanometre (a billionth of a metre) thick and sandwiched the two-dimensional crystal between two layers of other materials that reflect light particles like mirrors do. "This structure acts like a cage for light," Anton-Solanas explained. Physicists call it a "microcavity".

Anton-Solanas and his colleagues cooled their setup to a few degrees above absolute zero and stimulated the formation of exciton-polaritons using short pulses of laser light. Above a certain intensity they observed a sudden increase in the light emissions from their sample. This, together with other evidence, allowed them to conclude that they had succeeded in creating a Bose-Einstein Condensate out of exciton-polaritons.

"In theory, this phenomenon could be used to construct coherent light sources based on just a single layer of atoms," said Anton-Solanas. "This would mean we had created the smallest possible solid-state laser." The researchers are confident that with other materials the effect could also be produced at room temperature, so that in the long term it would also be suitable for practical applications. The team's first experiments heading in this direction have already been successful.

The study is a result of the "unlimit2D" project led by Christian Schneider, which is funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The experiments were conducted at the University of Wurzburg.

###

This story has been published on: 2021-05-06. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Chinese foreign ministry on suspension of all activities under framework of China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue

Xinhua) 09:13, May 07, 2021

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China said Thursday that Australia has been for some time abusing the so-called "national security" reasons to further restrict and suppress China-Australia cooperation, which has gravely damaged the mutual trust between the two countries and undermined the foundation of normal exchanges and cooperation.

China has to make a necessary and legitimate response, and Australia must take full responsibilities for this, according to foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

Wang made the remarks in response to a query on the decision of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) to indefinitely suspend all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue starting from Thursday.

The decision was made based on the current attitude of the Australian Commonwealth Government toward China-Australia cooperation, the NDRC said in a proclamation on its website Thursday.

"China has always been of the view that a healthy and stable China-Australia relationship serves the fundamental interests of both countries," Wang said, adding that China-Australia cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win in nature. Meanwhile, mutual respect and trust are the prerequisites for dialogue and pragmatic cooperation between countries," said Wang.

For some time, Australia, in disregard of China's solemn position and repeated representations, has been abusing the so-called "national security" reasons and intensified restrictions and suppression of China-Australia cooperation projects and existing achievements in the fields of economy, trade and humanities, Wang said. "This has seriously damaged the mutual trust between China and Australia, and undermined the foundation of normal exchanges and cooperation."

"China has to make a necessary and legitimate response, and Australia must bear all the responsibilities for this," the spokesperson said.

"We urge Australia to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological bias; take an objective view of China's development and China-Australia cooperation; immediately return to rationality, correct its mistakes and change course; stop the irrational suppression of China-Australia cooperation; stop politicizing and stigmatizing normal exchanges between the two countries; and refrain from going further down the wrong path," he said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The Arizona Republican Party is violating a federal statute by turning unsecured election ballots over to a private company, one with the ridiculous name of Cyber Ninjas. If the name doesnt give you a clue that this outfit is bogus, how about the fact that its headed by Doug Logan, who has made a career lately out of spreading baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud, and is currently the target of a huge lawsuit over comments he has made about voting machines. But not to worry, the Department of Justice has sent them a stern letter. A stern letter? Thats it? Why are our federal officials so timid and cowardly when it comes to enforcing federal law? Trump broke one federal law after another during his four years in office and was never charged with anything. I dont think he even got the stern letter.
The Republican Party, once known for compassionate conservatives, is now neither compassionate nor conservative. Known for family values they now have no values and care only about their and Trumps family. Once fiscal conservatives, they now only oppose spending when its someone other than themselves proposing it. Once known for protecting religious freedom, they really only protect Christian freedom, the others are on their own. Their once famous ideology and identity is now just a bad case of situational ethics. The one constant has been their desire to tell everyone else how they should live their lives while they do whatever they please.
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Education Minister Cliff Cullen reiterated on Thursday that his government will not use Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act, to shut down rural schools.

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Education Minister Cliff Cullen reiterated on Thursday that his government will not use Bill 64, the Education Modernization Act, to shut down rural schools.

These comments came during an afternoon question-and-answer session with reporters, which was conducted entirely over the phone.

Cullen said at the outset that he wanted to use this session to clear up any misconceptions that members of the general public might have about his governments approach toward education, including the impact Bill 64 might have on rural communities.

One recurring concern that parents and educators have brought up in relation to the bill is that the government will use it as an opportunity to close down smaller schools with little oversight, since this piece of legislation would dissolve all local school boards in favour of a single provincial authority.

Additionally, Bill 64 does not include a ban on school closures or a time cap on school bus trips, even though those measures have been codified into Manitoba law since 2008.

In mid-April, Waskada School teacher Katie Thom told the Sun that one of her biggest fears with regard to Bill 64 is that their modest K-12 institution will be shut down and combined with a nearby entity, especially if the decision is left in the hands of someone who doesnt live in the community.

"We only have around 68 students," she said on April 13. "So if a finance person in Winnipeg is looking at numbers when they start making all of these changes, theyre going to see a tiny school of 68 and think hmmm  what are we going to do with that one?"

However, on Thursday, Cullen went out of his way to assure concerned citizens like Thom that the province wont pursue this course of action if Bill 64 passes, using his own personal schooling history to hammer this point home.

"I graduated in a class of 18 (people), my dad spent many years as a bus driver, so I know what its like to be the first on and the last off of a school bus," he said.

Cullen provided the Winnipeg Free Press with similar comments in early April, stating that the notion that the government plans to shut down rural schools is being "created by school boards."

Additionally, Cullen reminded reporters on Thursday that the Progressive Conservative government has pledged to build 20 new schools by 2030, and even recently indicated that this process could be sped up by five years.

However, Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew told the Sun that he simply doesnt believe Cullen will keep his word on this issue, especially since it isnt backed up by the language contained within Bill 64 itself.

"In Manitoba law, there is a protection against closing rural schools. The protection is that you have to consult extensively with the local community before you close a school," he said on Thursday.

"If they were so serious about not closing schools, then why wouldnt they keep that protection as part of this new education law theyre proposing?"

Kinew also said that this school closure issue points to a broader concern about Bill 64, where rural educators and parents think their voices will be snuffed out without any local representation.

Even though Bill 64 would install school community councils at every institution, Kinew believes that these volunteer-led organizations are a poor substitute for elected school boards, and will end up wielding very little power compared to a centralized education authority.

"How is your voice going to be heard better when youre part of one massive province-wide bureaucracy?" Kinew asked. "It just doesnt make common sense."

The legislature is expected to vote on Bill 64 this coming fall.

 kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @KyleDarbyson
A plan to have Manitoba teachers vaccinated in North Dakota has morphed into having vaccine doses shipped north, Premier Brian Pallister said Friday.

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A plan to have Manitoba teachers vaccinated in North Dakota has morphed into having vaccine doses shipped north, Premier Brian Pallister said Friday.

The original plan, announced last week, would have seen teachers and school staff head south of the border to North Dakota to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The plan received criticism from the Manitoba Teachers Society, though.

"My friends at the Manitoba teachers union thought that was disrespectful, it wasnt meant that way, it was meant to try to show, frankly, our governments respect for the work of teachers and help facilitate those who could travel 45 minutes to get a vaccine," Pallister said.

On Friday morning, Pallister said the provincial government was waiting on permission from the White House to have doses shipped from North Dakota to Manitoba instead.

"I would have preferred we make the vaccines available quickly for those who are able to travel to North Dakota, apparently that wasnt well-received," he said.

Its "unprecedented" to have an American state shipping vaccine across the border, Pallister said, so federal approval from the White House is needed. North Dakota made the request last week and is in active discussions with the American federal government.

"This introduces bureaucratic delays were waiting on an answer from the White House," he said.

"Our hope would be if we can get a truck down there, get the vacancies up here, thats better, but I knew at the start that plan would take a while to get approval."

The teacher plan follows a previous announcement Manitoba truckers would be able to get vaccinated in North Dakota. Approximately 1,000 truckers had received a dose so far, according to Pallister.

 The Brandon Sun
The Branson Board of Aldermen on Thursday (now postponed to July 28) will consider an ordinance that would require face coverings in public spaces. The aldermen might approve it, disapprove it, or approve an amended version. Would you be in favor of some form of mandatory face covering ordinance in the city of Branson?

You voted:
The scene where wealthy socialite Rose clings to a floating door after her beloved Jack dies in the freezing waters of the Atlantic is one of the most memorable scenes in the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic." But what was previously unknown is that this scene was inspired by the true-life story of one of the six Chinese who survived the 1912 disaster.

It is this tidbit and other surprises that characterize the documentary "The Six," a movie about the six Chinese men who survived the sinking of the purportedly unsinkable ocean liner. The documentary, which is currently playing in movie theaters around China, was the brainchild of an American in Beijing called Steven Schwankert, who is the chief researcher and co-creator of the documentary. He has also authored a book about that subject with the same name.

"Originally the idea for the story was mine," Schwankert told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview. "While director Arthur Jones was unsure if there was anything new about 'Titanic' that could be discovered, after discussing the topic with Chinese friends, we agreed it was worth doing some research to see if there was enough material for a documentary and a book."

"The idea of bringing Titanic and China together in a meaningful way for the first time was too compelling to pass up. James Cameron's film 'Titanic' was such a big hit here that the chance for Chinese audiences to know that there were Chinese on the ship and learn their stories was a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said.

"We knew early on that James Cameron was aware of the Chinese men's story because he filmed a scene from 'Titanic' of a Chinese man being rescued from the water. That scene was not included in the final film, but it was the inspiration for the Jack and Rose ending that so many fans know and love," Schwankert said, adding that it took him and his team about two years to get the famous director's attention and secure an interview.

Once they had Cameron on board as executive producer, Schwankert said, Cameron was very cooperative and helped them get permission to use footage from "Titanic" in the documentary. Cameron himself even appears in the documentary as a commentator.

As for the financing of the ambitious project, Schwankert revealed that "The Six" is completely a Chinese production. At first, he and Jones paid for bits of travel and research on their own, before LP Films of Shanghai and producer Luo Tong took on the project and QC Media later joined as a producer and distributor, he said.

Schwankert traveled around different continents and countries -- the United States, Canada, Britain, and China -- to learn what had happened to the Chinese survivors after their rescue. Notebook in hand, he asks probing questions and acts as a sympathetic bystander and active participant, journalist and even detective to painstakingly piece together the puzzles of the fates of the six Chinese survivors.

As opposed to the other Titanic survivors, the fates of the six Chinese men were shrouded in mystery. Before they boarded the ill-fated ship, little was known about them, and after they were rescued, people believed they had behaved dishonorably by taking away seats from women and children in the lifeboats. But Schwankert set the record straight.

"Many people believe the Chinese men on 'Titanic' were stowaways, either on the ship itself or in lifeboats; they were not. Nor were they part of 'Titanic''s crew. They were fare-paying passengers, just like every other third-class passenger. There are other claims that they dressed as women to enter lifeboats. There is no evidence of that, even as the claim has persisted for over 100 years," Schwankert said.

Some of the research methods Schwankert and his team used to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the six Chinese survivors, like tracking down their descendants, figuring out the survivors' escape means and their later whereabouts were compelling. For example, to prove some of his hypotheses, Schwankert agreed to an experiment to see himself what it is like to experience hypothermia and had a lifeboat reconstructed at a school in Beijing with some students playing "stowaways" by hiding under the benches.

Regarding the most pressing challenges he faced when making "The Six," Schwankert explained that it involved identifying the six survivors at the outset.

"The biggest challenge was beginning with a list of names that really told us nothing. We had Chinese names that were romanized, so we didn't know where these men were from, what dialect of Chinese they spoke, or what their Chinese names were. That made our progress quite slow when we started out," he said. But he and his team persisted, identified the six men, and traced their whereabouts after the rescue.

"By the time we were finished, about 20 researchers had assisted us with our work. That included genealogists, and researchers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Arthur (Jones) and I are historical optimists: We believe we're going to find material when we set out to find it. We never believe anything is 'lost to history' -- that's just an excuse that people use instead of admitting they ran out of resources or time," Schwankert said.

Talking about the most intriguing discovery during his investigation into the truth behind the six Chinese survivors, Schwankert said it was "the situation in Collapsible Lifeboat C," but he didn't want to give away any spoilers for those who haven't seen the documentary yet.

"However, I can say this: when a mystery endures for more than a century, people expect that the answer must be complex. In this case, it was even simpler than we had expected. The problem was that no one had bothered to examine the situation objectively, and therefore, the solution was not obvious," he said.

When asked what the reactions of the Chinese survivors' descendants were to finding out more about their ancestors who had survived the "Titanic" disaster and sharing their stories, Schwankert admitted it was difficult for the families to learn something about their relatives from strangers. "I think they were pleased to learn more about their family history but struggled to understand why their loved ones hadn't shared those bits of information with others themselves," he said.

A case in point was Tom Fong, the son of Fang Lang, the last Chinese survivor to be rescued after clinging to a floating door who had been rather secretive about his past with his family. Fong compared his father's life to a book, with him being familiar with the last quarter of it, "and there's like three quarters of the book that I never knew about him."

Moviegoers have reacted well to "The Six," Schwankert reported, although he admitted that since it's a documentary, it's difficult to expect it to become a commercial hit. One of the reasons for its popularity, though, might be that it addresses current social problems that may resonate with many Chinese moviegoers.

Over a century ago, the six Chinese survivors suffered from prevailing anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. The situation does not appear to have improved much today, with anti-Asian hate crimes being widely reported by the media.

"I think 'The Six' shows that these are not new problems, and therefore, we can't think they are going to get resolved quickly," Schwankert said. "But hopefully with greater understanding, we can continue to learn more about each other and see our differences as strengths, rather than as points of tension."

Besides overcoming discrimination to fulfill their dreams, a series of hardships awaited them after being rescued: battling poverty, accepting back-breaking work, trying to reach countries that were not interested in having them, Schwankert said, which is why he said at the end of the documentary that escaping the Titanic disaster was by no means the greatest obstacle the six Chinese survivors had to overcome in their lives.

Yet Schwankert said he hoped "The Six" was meaningful. "They deserved for their stories to be known as much as any other Titanic passengers."
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Iam sitting in a church hall with 15 women and one teenage boy and we are chanting over, under, over, under, over, under while facilitating good conversations between bits of Bangalow palm. This is odd. But this is also soothing, hypnotic even. We are basket weaving. Our instructor, Sydney fibre artist Catriona Pollard, has demonstrated random weaving using Bangalow palm inflorescence  the dried stalks and stems of the palms flower head. The technique is like a good conversation, she says, two people take turns talking and listening. Each piece must play an equal part: we take a tendril from one and weave it diagonally into the other, over, under, over, under, over, under, then we take a tendril from the other and weave it back into the first. Neither piece dominates the conversation. Pollard has warned that well have a crisis of confidence in this workshop, held in Mosman on Sydneys lower north shore. We might decide that whats unfolding in our hands is so terrible it is fit only for a green bin  but, she says, we must move through that emotion. And, she adds, we will not go home empty-handed. We might go home with a basket. But the palm pieces might talk to us and say they want to be sculptural instead, perhaps a wall hanging. Its about being open and letting it flow, allowing the material to speak. My green-bin moment comes a couple of hours into the workshop. My generally jangled nerves have settled. Im in a trance-like state trying to weave two pieces of inflorescence together. But their conversation has stalled. Ive created something that looks as though it was scooped from a backyard swimming pool and left to decay in a pile of rubbish someone forgot to take to the dump. From left: Spirit Woman, a 1.25-metre wide work by Tracey Deep; Lorraine Connelly-Northeys Narbong (String Bag); Yvonne Koolmatries Eel Trap, 1997, which was shown at the Venice Biennale. Credit:Spirit woman by Tracey Deep, recycled hemp fibre, 100x25x125cm, Photography by Nicholas Watt; Narbong (string) bags by Lorraine Connelly-Northey; eel trap, 1997; Sedge Rushes (Lepidopsperma Canesens) by Yvonne Koolmatrie. How cruelly maligned basket weaving has been. Underwater basket weaving has long been a punchline for sneering at academic courses thought to be less than rigorous. Former prime minister Paul Keating derided Labor members opposed to his reforms as Balmain basket weavers. But basket weaving is an honourable, ancient craft undergoing a contemporary boom. The work of South Australian artist Yvonne Koolmatrie, who has revived traditional fibre-weaving techniques using sedge rushes from along the Coorong and Murray rivers in Ngarrindjeri country, was included in Australias representative exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 1997. Her art  eel traps, cockle baskets, as well as contemporary pieces  is in major collections.

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Victorian Lorraine Connelly-Northey draws on her Indigenous heritage and weaving techniques to turn found materials such as corrugated iron, wire and feathers into artworks that reference traditional items such as coolamon baskets and dilly bags. And Sydney sculptor/fibre artist Tracey Deep weaves discarded and natural materials into forms pulsing with rhythm. Growing up in central NSW, Catriona Pollard created mini art installations in her bedroom using stones, shells, wood and leaves. Ive just walked my entire life in nature, she says. Every day she admired a basket hanging in the hallway, a gift from a Papua New Guinean friend to her father. But it wasnt until 2011 that she had her basket epiphany during a workshop at the Sturt school of arts and design in Mittagong. I left that going, this is what I want to do.  Its just such a busy digital life that when you grant yourself permission for a day to learn something creative, its transformational. Rather than consuming new materials, Pollard uses foraged and discarded plants, including the Bangalow palm, the wonga vine and the creeping fig. Doing so is also a way of connecting with nature, a reminder that we are surrounded by beauty but are not observing it any more. The slow accumulation of material becomes part of Pollards process. I cant just wake up and go, Oh, I think Im going to twine some vines today. I spend days and days collecting. Just recently I spent a day battling leeches and flies and mosquitoes, collecting vines on a property up in the Blue Mountains. Pollard, 52, has had multiple solo exhibitions and interior designers commission her to create pieces for some of Sydneys most beautiful homes. She is the Northern Beaches Councils 2021 Eramboo artist in residence and, these days, regularly holds her own workshops. For the first time, she has a studio (in Terrey Hills, adjacent to the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park) and her apartment is not strewn with green waste. Pollard has turned her back on her former career as a public relations consultant to focus full-time on her art. Its just this extraordinary, joyful experience.

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One of Catriona Pollards creations, titled As the Stars Move Through the Midnight Sky. The conversation in my hands is starting to flow. I have woven a third piece of palm into my creation and can see now how the pieces might conceivably become a basket. I consider where I might hang it in my home. I wonder where I might forage for my own inflorescence so I can continue fiddling. What is lovely is the ability to play, says Cheryl Kennedy, an artist from Castlemaine in Victoria with whom I am sharing a work table. A basket is starting to emerge in her hands. When you are creative and not looking at the end result, thats when magic happens. I think of the classes my mother sent me to when I was a kid: holiday macrame workshops, painting classes, a puppetry course at a repertory theatre. There was such simple, absorbing pleasure to be had in the act of creating  looping and knotting twine, mixing paint colours, making crazy papier mache puppets. Why should children have all the fun? Its just such a busy digital life that when you grant yourself permission for a day to learn something creative, about exploration and play not perfection, its transformational because you probably havent done that since you were five years old, says Pollard as she takes over from my fumbling to form the base of my basket. She recalls teaching a woman who had recently emerged from a divorce. She had this pivotal moment during the workshop that her life was worth so much more than heartache and grief, that it was about creating space and moments where she can connect to joy and wonder.

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If you thought publishing was a sedate business, think again. Craig Munros lively account, Literary Lion Tamers, is full of eccentric characters, entrepreneurial derring-do, financial ruin, creative brilliance, emotional breakdown, obsession, intrigue, imprisonment and untimely death.

When A.G. Stephens was editor of the Bulletin Companys book list around the turn of the 20th century, for example, his overworked boss J.F. Archibald, editor of The Bulletin, suffered a manic episode. The tragicomic symptom of his illness was that "he suddenly began paying contributors far above the usual rate for their poetry" and ended up in Callan Park Asylum.

The Angus & Robertson editor Beatrice Davis wrangled Xavier Herbert and his writing with her charm and persistence. Credit:

The first of four figures who shape Munros book, Alfred Stephens started his working life in gold-rush Queensland as a journalist and newspaper editor. In one of Munros many pinpoint descriptions, he was at 20 "the proud possessor of a full beard, an eye for the ridiculous, and an argumentative personality".

From Gympie to London Stephens found work before joining The Bulletin, the hub of Australian political and literary journalism. He became "Australias most important early literary critic" and later published his own journal, The Bookfellow, despite dire financial circumstances and his own eventual breakdown.
Filming the lynching sequence, Jenkins notes, was the only time he has walked off a set in his career. The way I filmed all these scenes was, what is the least amount of coverage I need? What is the least amount of time we need to spend on this to communicate it to the audience? he says. But yeah, I walked off set. I walked off set, didnt say anything to anybody. I just walked off. Our conversation comes just days after the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder and manslaughter of George Floyd. Floyds death, after Chauvin pinned him to the pavement with a knee on his neck, triggered waves of protest around the world and has pushed America deeper into an uncomfortable examination of its heavy-handed and racist policing culture. Am I causing more harm than good by going back into this period? Barry Jenkins As a country and culture examined its conscience, one side was already closing down the other by insisting that tempers were too hot to properly and objectively examine the issues. Its too soon, is the common refrain. But, in an echo of the circular argument around gun control in the wake of mass shootings that has choked change in an ideological bottleneck, it begged the question: if not now, when? I can only speak about myself in this case, which is that I almost didnt make the show, Jenkins says. And it wasnt for reasons of craft or aesthetic. It was reasons of, does anyone want to see this? Are there people who actively do not want to see this? Am I causing more harm than good by going back into this period, un-earthing some of these bridges? I think to get past that point, I had to understand what I was doing.

For me, it was about the very political conversation were having, the four years that I worked with this project, the Make America Great Again slogan which you heard most often, Jenkins says. When I hear that phrase, it makes me realise that there is a cavity, theres a vacuum, to peoples understanding of America. Because if were speaking to this idea of the good old times of America then clearly youre erasing experiences of my ancestors. Central to Americas examination of its own history in the context of black slavery is a deep discomfort with the images that serve now as the surviving record of it. And looking at those images is hard, Jenkins says. Tougher still is going to those real-life locations where black lives were enslaved, broken and in many cases destroyed, and trying to frame artistic images as a storyteller. Chase Dillon as Homer and Joel Edgerton as Ridgeway in The Underground Railroad. Credit:Amazon As a filmmaker, in the moment I can feel certain things, but I know that its a work of art, and I also know that things Im seeing dont have a certain level of veracity, Jenkins says. But I do know the history rooted in truth. I remember watching Roots and I cant even remember what it was I felt. You know, standing in a cotton field, where it is very, very clear that my ancestors were born and died there, and by talking about history in intellectual terms, this is history in very emotional terms, he says. Its so incredibly visceral, and I think I set out to make a piece  whether its completely a picture or somewhat fact  Im hoping to create that same visceral experience. To make history not a thing that is apart from us, but that is a part of us.

One of the underlying issues with modern Americas reckoning of its own history is the slipshod manner in which it is taught. As with Australias teaching of Indigenous history, school textbooks are often inadequate. In the directors notes for the series, Jenkins said black history is taught pithily, shoddily and heinously in American schools. Director Barry Jenkins walked off the set during a particularly harrowing scene in The Underground Railroad. Significantly, Jenkins saw television as an educational tool with infinitely greater potential than a textbook. And with that in mind he hoped that The Underground Railroad might open a window to understanding for a generation of students whose conversations are taking place in digital spaces. People are watching more than theyre reading these days. Its unfortunate, but they are, Jenkins says. Its not just my job to fill in the vacuum of the American education system. But I do know some kids are more likely to encounter these images than they are to encounter very detailed accounts of American history in a textbook. So, a key reminder for the uncertain: there was no underground railroad in the literal sense. It might seem absurd to make that point so bluntly, but Jenkins admits he was slightly worried that some segments of the audience might interpret the shows use of the railroad as a narrative device as a literal re-telling of history.

I was talking with Colson Whitehead, and he put it so beautifully, he said: what is the difference between fact and truth? And he was speaking about the adaptation from the book to the show, Jenkins says. Colson said, you havent taken every detail from the book, thatll be taking all the facts. But you have taken the essence of every element of the book, that will be the truth. What that does then is it gives he and I the freedom to pull from all these different moments in American history and we can speak to many Black folk thatve had this very tense, this very antagonistic relationship  not through our choosing  with America throughout Americas history, Jenkins says. And we can then speak to almost a larger experience of Black folks in America. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Jenkins significance as a filmmaker lies not just in his body of work: the Oscar best picture-winning Moonlight, the acclaimed Netflix television series Dear White People and the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning film adaptation of James Baldwins novel If Beale Street Could Talk. Of those projects, however, Moonlight remains significant for the manner in which it fundamentally changed how black skin is lit and photographed in cinema. I dont think Moonlight was the first film, it certainly wasnt the first film to treat black skin this way; it just landed in such a very loud, visible place that it was see-able, Jenkins says.

Jenkins credits cinematographer James Laxton  who is a filmmaker, he says, we both grew up as film students  and also the work of ground-breaking cinematographers such as Malik Hassan Sayeed, who shot Clockers for director Spike Lee, and Cesar Charlone, who shot City of God for co-directors Fernando Meirelles and Katia Lund. James and I, when we were film students, we were being taught in a camera and lighting class, and we would start making our films and wed be saying, but this doesnt look good, this doesnt look good at all, Jenkins says. But when wed go back and wed watch Clockers or wed watch City of God, wed be like, no, I want our shit to look like that. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video They did not get their chance, Jenkins says, until Moonlight, a film based on Tarell Alvin McCraneys unpublished semi-autobiographical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, for just $US1.5 million. Which feels like nothing, but hell, we were making feature films for $15,000, says Jenkins, laughing. It was either take this depiction of black skin that I grew up with in my life, or maybe we have just enough resources to try and fix it. And fix it they did. Laxtons lens captures Pierre in streaks of sunlight and surrounds him with a beautifully warm brown-gold halo. Mbedu is shot in either beautiful caramel light or a haunting blue-grey, as the film lurches from fantasy to outright horror.

For the 116-day shoot, Jenkins says he had to let the different elements of the production, led by Laxton, Friedberg and Eselin, build their own micro-productions. The fear behind the scale is that the individual moments dont get the attention they deserve, Jenkins says. Prepping a show like this is by far the most difficult part of the task. You just cant prep the entire show. At a certain point, youre going to lose a thread, and youre going to be scrambling to catch up to it. Caesar (Aaron Pierre) and Cora (Thuso Mbedu) in The Underground Railroad. Credit:Amazon I dont think you can apply an auteur-ist theory to a show like this, its just too much damn material for any one person to control, he says. There was just no way to hold an idea from point A to point Z every step of the way. James [Laxton] had to take it from D to F and then Caroline [Eselin] had to take it from N to Q and so on. It was a really beautiful process. In the third episode of the series, Martin (Australian Damon Herriman), who gives shelter to Cora, speaks of the savagery that man is capable of when he believes his cause to be just. That one line seems to encapsulate both the story of The Underground Railroad and its larger themes: that this is not just about slavery, but also about immigration injustice, and war crimes, genocide, and the Holocaust.

The history of Africans in America is such a clear example, such a clear investigation or excavation of the words that Damon says in that scene, Jenkins says. This is what makes the show in some ways universal. There are people all over the world who have been disenfranchised. There have been genocides committed against people all over the world. And I think theres a common theme to those genocides. Sheila Atim plays Coras mother, Mabel, in The Underground Railroad. Credit:Amazon And I think, too, of the lies that man is capable of telling when they believe the results of their cause to be right, Jenkins adds. I think thats why these vacuums in American history have existed. For me, the show is not necessarily about the encapsulation of blackness but when I read the book what stuck out for me was this notion of parenting, something I hadnt seen in stories of American slavery. Loading Cora is sort of running for her freedom, but trying to vanquish slavery is not the goal of the show; shes trying to understand why her mother abandoned her, shes trying to fill this hole in her heart, he says. To me, this was about re-contextualising my ancestors who I think are responsible for one of the greatest acts of collective parenting the world has ever seen.
Fed up with signs advertising ladies fashions or claiming that Diamonds are forever, Richards, a former local newspaper subeditor and a self-confessed pedant, established his society and set up a website providing advice on the proper use of the much abused punctuation mark.

The usefulness of the apostrophe was memorably made clear when Kingsley Amis, challenged to produce a sentence whose meaning depended on a possessive apostrophe, came up with three versions of the same sentence: Those things over there are my husbands; Those things over there are my husbands, and Those things over there are my husbands.

John Richards, who has died aged 97, was once described as the Don Quixote of the grammar world, as founder and proprietor of the Apostrophe Protection Society (APS), which he established in 2001 in an attempt to save an endangered species.

Visitors were supplied with a pro forma letter that could be customised and sent to offenders: Dear Sir or Madam, it began. Because there seems to be some doubt about the use of the apostrophe, we are taking the liberty of drawing your attention to an incorrect use.

To begin with, the society counted just two members: Richards and his son Stephen, and in its first few weeks scored only one victory  getting Richards local library to correct its sign for CDs. But following the publication, in The Daily Telegraph, of an article about his crusade headlined Greengrocers grammar sends a purist bananas, he was inundated by requests for interviews and received thousands of supportive emails from around the world.

One correspondent wrote: I applaud the foundation of the Apostrophe Protection Society. This is long overdue  I suggest that the misuse of commas be attended to at the same time. On a recent visit to Australia, I read in a pub lavatory a notice asking people to refrain from putting, among other things, babies, nappies down the toilet. 

Apostrophe on a street sign in Birmingham, England: now you see it... Credit:Getty

By the end of 2001, Richards fame had spread far and wide and he was awarded the tongue-in-cheek Ig Nobel prize at Harvard University for his efforts to protect, promote and defend the grammatical difference between plural and possessive.
When the local church was listed for sale in the north-west Victorian town of Carapooee, it seemed only a miracle could save it from falling into private hands.

Locals built the Pebble Church, as it is known locally, from nearby quartz stone and it opened for worship in 1870.

The church in Carapooee was acquired by residents last year. Credit:Simon Schluter

But in 2019 dwindling attendance led to the churchs deconsecration and closure to the public, sparking a local campaign to buy the much-loved Gothic-style building.

Megan Barham, whose husband is a descendent of the original builders of the church, submitted an expression of interest to the Anglican Church, while others rang local families for donations.
Animal Justice MP Andy Meddick said although the party secured a commitment from the Victorian government to crack down on stores and markets flouting the law at the time, the taskforce was failing to identify and act on fur mis-labelling. Were seeing more and more examples of mis-labelled fur in our cities ... in some cases the same items that formed our initial investigation are still currently for sale, he said. Theyre not moving fast enough. A government spokesperson said Consumer Affairs Victorias investigation into claims that animal fur products were incorrectly labelled were ongoing. Forensic testing found the trim of these boots bought at the Queen Victoria Market was not 100 per cent sheepskin but mink and muskrat. We take businesses making false or misleading representations about goods very seriously and Consumer Affairs Victorias work continues to stamp out this kind of activity.

Opposition consumer affairs spokesman Neil Angus said the government had known about the issue for years, but had done nothing. This jacket sold at the Queen Victoria Market was labelled as 100 per cent leather and polyester but its fur trimmed hood was found to contain raccoon dog fur. If the practice of mis-labelled fur items being sold in Victoria is continuing, then it is clear the government has dropped the ball and not done enough to sort this situation out, he said. Labor must ensure that retailers are selling products that are correctly labelled, so Victorian consumers know exactly what they are buying. Forensic testing of items sold at the Queen Victoria Market last year found items sold as faux fur were real. This included a jacket with a fur-trimmed hood labelled as 100 per cent leather, and polyester being found to contain raccoon dog fur.

A laboratory test of sheepskin boots sold at the market labelled with having a sheepskin trim were found to include mink and muskrat. Another item found to include fox fur didnt have a label at all. Mr Meddick said a recent visit to Queen Victoria Market found the same items were still being sold. Three NSW local councils, including Sydney, recently banned fur at their markets and venues. The Animal Justice Party, together with advocacy group Collective Fashion Justice, is now planning to lobby Victorian councils to do the same to put pressure on the state government to act. Beige fur key ring tested as fox fur sold at Alexandra Australia without a label. Credit:Alexandra Australia Consumer laws make it illegal to make false or misleading representations about products, with criminal penalties of up to $500,000 for individuals and $10 million for companies.

Products with fur from cats, dogs and some endangered animals are banned from entering Australia. But raccoon, raccoon dog, mink and muskrat are not banned. It is also no longer required to list the fibre content of a product and there are no mechanisms to determine the source of imported fur. It means mis-labelling breeches are rarely uncovered and consumers are left in the dark. Mr Meddick said a total ban was the only way to ensure fur from tortured animals wasnt being sold as frequent investigations showed cruel conditions throughout the industry. The Alexandra Australia cuffs, which retailed at $90 each but are on sale for $29, were chosen to be tested as part of the investigation due to their low cost. The brand sells other fur items.

A laboratory test found the cuffs, which come in blue, red and black, had features ... most consistent with raccoon dog. Loading Raccoons are mammals native to north-America, while raccoon dogs  named for their similar appearance, but part of the wild dog family  are prominent throughout Asia and Europe. Undercover investigations in China have shown they are kept in cages for months waiting to be processed and can be killed through gassing, anal electrocution, or by being skinned alive or bludgeoned to death. Anal electrocution is performed to create maximum fear in the animals so that adrenaline makes their hair stand straight when they die.
Australia was again called upon to commit to a 2050 net zero target and increase its near-term emissions reduction goals during a meeting of the Group of Seven wealthy nations attended by Foreign Minister Marise Payne this week.

A UK government official with direct knowledge of the talks in London said one of the reasons Australia was included in the so-called G7 Plus meeting was so climate could be addressed, and that pressure was brought to bear on Australia to increase its climate action.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab with his Australian counterpart, Marise Payne, at his residence in London on Wednesday.

It was made clear to Australia during the meeting that the UK, as host of the COP26 United Nations climate talks in Glasgow in November, expected to see all OECD nations commit to achieving net zero emissions targets by 2050, said the official, who could not be named as they were not authorised to speak publicly.

The UK also wanted to see Australia improve on its current 2030 target of reducing emissions by between 26 and 28 per cent and assist in the global effort to raise financial assistance for developing nations to respond to climate change.
The upcoming China International Consumer Products Expo in Hainan will be a new opportunity for Switzerland to attract more Chinese consumers purchasing quality luxury products without going abroad, Swiss Ambassador to China Bernardino Regazzoni said on Thursday.

"We made efforts to bring all these goods to the Hainan expo, as the broadest possible example of all what Switzerland produces in quality luxury goods," Regazzoni told Xinhua in an exclusive interview prior to the opening of the expo. Switzerland is the event's only guest country of honor.

Noting that there is a growing trend of purchasing luxury goods in China, especially in Hainan, Regazzoni sees the expo as a good opportunity for Switzerland as his country is a global leader in consumer and luxury goods.

The event will be the first international expo to be held in Hainan since China last June released a master plan to build the island province into a globally influential and high-level free trade port (FTP) by the middle of the century.

"It's a big honor to be the guest country of honor at the first edition of the expo," said Regazzoni, noting that Hainan's full vision of building an FTP will, in the long term, attract more Swiss companies to make investments and start joint ventures.

There are many Swiss companies already established in China. In Hainan, Swiss investors are not only tapping into the duty-free sector, but also the pharmaceutical industry, Regazzoni added.

He noted that the presence of Swiss companies in China, which has lasted for many decades, is about producing in China for the Chinese market.

Speaking of Swiss-China relations, Regazzoni said that bilateral bonds have been pioneering in a pragmatic way as the two countries established diplomatic relations as early as 71 years ago, as well as a free-trade agreement and an innovative strategic partnership.

In 1950, Switzerland became one of the first Western nations to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the then newly founded People's Republic of China. Both have since enjoyed long-term exchanges and cooperation, yielding remarkable fruits.

These pioneering moves highlight the history of bilateral relations, which the Swiss ambassador expects to deepen. He also expressed hopes for building dialogues that are more open and sincere toward each side.




Defence Minister Peter Dutton has defended the use of hotels to quarantine returning Australians, saying it had worked right around the country despite snap lockdowns being enforced five times since the start of the year.

Plans to quarantine thousands more international arrivals at two facilities outside state capitals in Victoria and Queensland have stagnated as negotiations between state and federal governments remain deadlocked.

Construction magnate John Wagner pitched a plan to house 1000 travellers at a pop-up site near Wellcamp Airport on the outskirts of Toowoomba, west of Brisbane. Mr Wagner has pledged to cover the cost of building the centre.

The Victorian government has proposed accommodation at Mickleham, north of Melbourne, which it wants the Commonwealth to chip in for.
The next stage of the Gold Coast light rail, linking Broadbeach and Burleigh, will secure a $126 million federal rescue package when the budget is handed down on Tuesday.

A contract dispute between the Queensland government and builders, John Holland Group, has triggered delays and a budget blowout on the light rail extension.

Stage three of the Gold Coast light rail has suffered a budget blow out an d construction delays.

Before the October state election, the 6.7 kilometre extension was expected to cost $709 million and take 3 years to build. All three levels of government agreed to chip in to get the project finished by 2024.

Shortly after Labor won power again, the state entered contract negotiations with John Holland which have stalled.
London: The Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM) that was scheduled for Rwanda in June has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite urgings from Australia and Britain not delay the meeting a second time.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has obtained a letter sent by Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland to member states on Friday. The secretariat is the overarching body that supports 54 Commonwealth member nations.

The Queen, Britains then Prime Minister Theresa May, second left, Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat, left, and Baroness Patricia Scotland, attend the formal opening of the CHOGM in 2018. Credit:PA

The postponement follows a risk assessment conducted by the World Health Organisation in recent weeks that scored the risk of holding the conference a four out of five rating  with five being the highest possible risk.

Baroness Scotland said the decision had not been taken lightly but that travel bans and vaccine inequity made it necessary.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech SE have asked US regulators for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine, which may help ease vaccine hesitancy in the community.

The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorisation of their vaccine in late December. Since then, Pfizer has distributed 170 million doses in the US, with the goal of delivering 300 million doses by the end of July.

If the FDA grants full approval, it could also help raise confidence in the vaccine and potentially help to offset worries by some Americans that the shot may have been produced too quickly.

The full approval would also shift the legal status of the shot, clearing the way for employers and other organisations to mandate vaccination, Peter Marks, director of the FDAs Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said.
Washington: As coronavirus-ravaged countries such as India scramble to secure more COVID-19 vaccines, the United States is facing an altogether different challenge: it is rapidly running out of people willing to get vaccinated.

In the early days of the US rollout, competition for vaccine slots was so intense that securing an appointment was compared to scoring Bruce Springsteen tickets. Some Americans flew interstate to get vaccinated while others waited at pharmacies at closing time in the hope of being granted a spare dose.

Now the biggest problem is a lack of demand rather than supply. According to the Centres for Disease Control, the US recorded 1.8 million administered doses on Wednesday, US time, significantly down on a peak of 4.6 million on April 10.

A poll released this week by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 13 per cent of Americans say they will definitely not get vaccinated, 6 per cent say will do so only if forced and another 15 per cent are still taking a wait and see approach.
Lansdale, PA (19446)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 67F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 67F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
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For two consecutive months, Walmart-backed has processed more than a billion transactions on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

It maintained its top position in the pecking order of UPI apps, followed by Google Pay. In April, processed 1.18 billion transactions on its platform amounting to Rs 2.34 trillion, thereby capturing more than 45 per cent market share in terms of volume of transactions on UPI.

In March, it had processed 1.19 billion transactions amounting to Rs 2.31 trillion.

On the other hand, Google Pay registered 905.96 million transactions in the same period, amounting to Rs 1.9 trillion, thus capturing a market share of 34.3 per cent in the UPI space.

Last month, it had processed over 957 million transactions worth Rs 2.01 trillion.

The drop in transactions processed by and Google Pay in April is in sync with the fall seen in UPI and various other digital payment platforms during the month. Retail digital payments saw a dip in April after a rise in Covid infections resulted in lockdown-like situations in many parts of the country. UPI saw a 4.3 per cent dip in transaction volume and a 2.22 per cent dip in transaction value.

Among other large players in the UPI apps space, Paytm Payments Bank processed 320.78 million transactions in April, amounting to Rs 36,859.20 crore. It has a market share of 12 per cent in the UPI space as far as volume of transactions processed is concerned.

E-commerce giant Amazons payment application Amazon Pay processed 49.12 million transactions in April worth Rs 4,272.47 crore.

PhonePe continued to gain share in UPI transaction volumes. Google Pay and Paytm both lost some share and accounted for 33.5 per cent and 14 per cent of the transaction volumes, respectively, in April. WhatsApp volumes continue to be sluggish, at 0.2 per cent share, and hasn't progressed as expected at the time of its much-awaited launch, said Shishir Mankad, managing partner and head - financial services, Praxis Global Alliance.

A little over a month ago, NPCI came out with guidelines on capping the volume of transactions that third-party application providers (TPAPs) or UPI apps can process on the UPI. NPCI had said that the volume of transactions that TPAPs can process on the UPI platform should not exceed 30 per cent, during the preceding three months, on a rolling basis, effective January 2021. Also, existing players with higher market share, in terms of volume of transactions, such as the likes of PhonePe and Google Pay, will have an additional two years to comply with the directives.
Ltd, flagship company of Aditya Birla Group, reported a higher-than-expected consolidated net profit of Rs 1,775 crore in March quarter, down 45 per cent from the corresponding period last year even as net sales jumped. The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs 3,243 crore in March 2020.

Net sales of the Aditya Birla Group company stood at Rs 14,405 crore in the final quarter of FY21, up 33 per cent from same period last year on strong demand for the commodity.

As per Bloomberg estimates, the companys topline was expected to be at Rs 13,460 crore, while the bottomline is estimated to be at Rs 1,644 crore in the period under review.

Tax expenses worth Rs 865 crore ate into the company earnings in the period under review, in turn dragging the bottomline.



In the corresponding period last year, the nearly Rs 2,000-crore deferred tax credit provided firm support to the company's bottomline taking the profits to over Rs 3,000 crore.

UltraTech, during the quarter, reduced net Debt/EBITDA ratio to 0.55x from 1.72x as on March 31, 2020, which is in line with its endeavour to maintain optimal capital structure. EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and ammortisation.

The loan repayments have been made through free cash flows that the company has generated during the year, despite the challenging circumstances and severe business interruptions during Q1FY21, informed the company via release.

Meanwhile, the company raised $400 million (approximately Rs 2,900 crore) by way of issuance of unconditional, unsubordinated and unsecured USD denominated notes (in the form of Sustainability Linked Bonds), due 16th February, 2031 at 2.8 per cent per annum, payable semi-annually on August 16 and February 16 of each year, commencing from August 16, 2021 as per applicable laws. The Bonds are listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited.

On capacity expansion, the company's Board had earlier sanctioned capacity expansion plans of 19.5 million tonne through a mix of brown field and green field expansion covering 5 integrated cement plants and 12 grinding units.

"Most of the orders for equipment have been placed and civil work has also commenced at these locations," informed the company.

Commercial production from these capacities is expected to go on stream in a phased manner, during FY22 and FY23.

Going ahead, the company said, while rural and semi-urban housing continue to drive growth, pick-up in government led infrastructure aided incremental cement demand. Pent-up urban demand is also expected to improve.

Meanwhile, the company is closely monitoring the impact of the second wave of the pandemic on its operations. With its focus on operational efficiencies and cost control, UltraTech is better prepared for any resulting slowdown in the economy, it said today.
You are here: China

China's Ministry of Public Security has vowed to intensify crackdown on the spread of pornographic content online, especially crimes related to child pornography.

Public security authorities nationwide will continue to fight against the distribution of pornography through short video, livestreaming, social media and online gaming platforms, the ministry told a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

According to the ministry, Chinese police have apprehended more than 700 suspects in over 600 cases involving pornography and publication of such illegal contents since the start of the year.
Amazon Indias Covid Warriors are helping colleagues and the community with critical resources amidst the medical emergency that has accompanied the country's second Covid-19 surge.

In the midst of Rashmi's mother's battle with Covid-19 at a Mumbai hospital, authorities asked her family to make their own arrangements for oxygen as the facility was running out of stock. In Bengaluru, Prashant faced a similar race against time as he desperately tried to hunt down oxygen concentrators for his father, who had not been able to get a hospital bed and was fighting the virus at home. For Abhishek, based in the US, the emergency and anxiety spanned continents as he sought oxygen support for his father-in-law in Delhi.

For each of these Amazon employees (names changed), it was a colleague  an Amazon Covid Warrior  who stepped in to help.

As a second, deadlier wave of Covid-19 engulfs India, workplaces around the country have turned into a melting pot of emotions, from distress to despondence. At Amazon, employees have stepped up to help colleagues in need, and what began as heartfelt individual offers of assistance has turned into a full-fledged cause. A dedicated group of Covid Warriors who are reaching out to offer aid and collaborate across the country to support those who require urgent medical help.

The team works round the clock and directly with HR and Benefits teams, ready to go above and beyond their call of duty to support colleagues, their families, and friends. From helping to find hospital beds, plasma donors, ambulances and isolation centres, to addressing queries on claims, insurance, leave and salary advances, these warriors are doing everything it takes to help fellow Amazonians and their loved ones.

A big shout-out to all Amazonians acting as Covid Warriors -- truly inspired by so many stories of compassion and grit as they help their colleagues and their families in every possible way, even saving lives,Amit Agarwal, global senior vice president and country head, Amazon India, tweeted on Friday.

The group now spans 18 cities and is made up of over 600 volunteers, with a plan to offer support in an additional 11 cities soon. These city bands work together to ensure a coordinated response for those in need across Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. The other cities include Trivandrum, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mangalore, Indore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Jaipur and Salem. Each citys warrior band has a leader, a clear operating model, and rosters with a division of responsibilities and duty shifts. This decentralized framework is braced with central support from subject matter experts in HR, Employee Benefits, Compliance, and other departments. They share regular updates and drive process improvements based on the Warriors feedback.

Our employees are coming together to selflessly help each other in this time of crisis, said Deepti Varma, director, human resources,  has enormous collective strength as a community, and the Covid Warriors programme is leveraging the strength and support from fellow colleagues to fight together.

Beyond the messages of gratitude, there are spirit-lifting outcomes. One Covid Warrior shared a story of a man from Noida with a severe Covid infection, whose oxygen levels had fallen below 70. His wife had exhausted all her options in hunting for hospitals with available beds and had reached out to Covid Warriors in desperation. The warrior who took her call kicked off a frantic search for hospital beds, calling on personal contacts for help. After trying non-stop for over two hours, the warrior found a Customer Service colleague in Delhi who managed to convince a hospital to send an ambulance. The patient is now recovering well.

Amazon has also joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerces Global Task Force to bring in ventilators to help India combat Covid-19. These include 1,000 Medtronic ventilators to be delivered to India. Amazon is fully funding the first lot of 100 ventilators. They will be sent to the hospitals with the most urgent needs.

Amazon in collaboration with USIBC is working with NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), who are defining the distribution plan for these ventilators.

Amazon had also announced that it is sponsoring the supply of 100 ICU ventilator units costing$3.8 million from the US.
Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from COVID-ravaged next week, Australian Prime Minister said on Friday, as state officials reported that an outbreak in appeared to be contained.

Morrison stood by his decision to impose a biosecurity order last month barring all travel to and from India, a policy that drew heavy criticism from lawmakers, expatriates and the Indian diaspora.

Morrison said the travel ban, which was controversially backed by jail terms and financial penalties for anybody who attempted to circumvent it by flying via a third country, had prevented Australia's hotel quarantine system from being overwhelmed.

"The order that we have put in place has been highly effective, its doing the job that we needed it to do, and that was to ensure that we could do everything we can to prevent a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia, Morrison told reporters.

Australia will charter three repatriation flights between May 15 and May 31, prioritising around 900 people deemed most vulnerable, Morrison said. The government estimates around 9,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents are in



ALSO READ: Banning Aussies in India from returning home a new low for Scott Morrison

Prospective travellers will need to return a negative COVID-19 test, and will be required to undertake the standard 14-day hotel quarantine imposed on incoming travellers.

Morrison said his government is unlikely to allow the resumption of direct commercial flights from in the near term and has instead asked state authorities to accept additional repatriation flights.

The Australian leader, who has rejected suggestions the hardline approach will damage the country's bilateral relations with India, said he will speak with his counterpart Narendra Modi later on Friday.

outbreak stable



New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian, meanwhile, said New Zealand's decision to partially suspend a travel bubble with Australia as a result of new infections in was an "overreaction."

State health officials were still trying to track the missing links in the case of a 50-year-old man who was diagnosed earlier this week with an Indian variant of COVID-19 that he passed on to his wife.

Genomic sequencing had linked the case to a returned traveller from the United States, but there was no clear transmission path between the two people.

However, state health officials reported on Friday that more than 13,000 tests conducted over the past 24 hours had found no additional cases, easing concerns about a wider outbreak.



Berejiklian on Thursday imposed new social distancing restrictions in greater Sydney, including mask wearing on public transport and limits on home gatherings.

With many people expected to gather over the weekend for annual Mother's Day celebrations, the restrictions are scheduled to remain in place until Monday morning.

We may never find that missing link, Berejiklian told the Nine Network "Today" show about the Sydney case, the first in NSW in more than a month.

"Thats why we ask everybody to come forward and get tested. Every time theres a positive case, we can match it to see if its part of the same strain."
Prime Minister on Friday sought Australia's support to seek a temporary waiver from certain provisions of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement. The waiver is aimed at ensuring that more countries get equitable access to vaccines and medicines for Covid-19.

"Spoke with my friend Scott Morrison MP to thank him for Australias solidarity and support for Indias fight against the pandemic. We agreed on the importance of ensuring affordable and equitable access to vaccines and medicines, and discussed possible initiatives in this regard," Modi said in a tweet.

The development comes in the wake of the US backing temporarily suspending intellectual property protection for Covid-19 vaccines. The US will also actively participate in the World Trade Organizations (WTOs) negotiations to make that happen.

Soon after the announcement of support from the US, New Zealand and the European Union also expressed their willingness to back the waiver. However, some countries, including Australia, continue to oppose the proposal of India and South Africa at the WTO for a temporary waiver under TRIPS.

In a telephonic conversation, Modi and the Australian PM Scott Morrison MP agreed on the need to ensure affordable and equitable access to vaccines and medicines for containing Covid-19 globally. "The leaders took note of the progress made in the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership since the Virtual Summit held on 4 June 2020 and discussed ways to further strengthen cooperation and foster people-to-people ties," an official statement said.
The West Bengal government on Friday told the Supreme Court that there should be a uniform vaccination policy and the new differential pricing mechanism in the latest phase of inoculations must be scrapped, according to media reports.

It said the Centre must take immediate steps to ensure vaccines are made available and given to states free of cost.

Chief Minister Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking increased supply of medical oxygen for Covid-19 treatment.

Banerjee also said that the Centre hiked oxygen allocation for other states out of the total production in Bengal, despite its enhanced requirement.

The chief minister said daily consumption of oxygen in her state has gone up to 470 MT in the last 24 hours and is expected to increase to 550 MT per day in about a week.

"I would request you to kindly have the allocation of medical oxygen reviewed and instructions issued for an immediate allocation of at least 550 MT per day of MO," she said in the letter to Modi.

Any allocation less than the requested amount will not only adversely affect the supply, but may also result in loss of lives of patients in the state, Banerjee said.

The government of India has increased allocation of MO to other states, from the total production in West Bengal, during the last 10 days from 230 MT to 360 MT, keeping allocation for us constant at 308 MT per day despite its requirement of 550 MT," the CM added.

After taking oath on Wednesday, the chief minister had said: "Our first priority is to control the Covid situation."



Banerjee hald a meeting on the pandemic situation at state secretariat Nabanna soon after leaving Raj Bhavan.




A mathematical model prepared by advisers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggests Indias outbreak could peak in the coming days, but the groups projections have been changing and were wrong last month.

The teams most recent forecast puts them more in line with at least some other scientists, who have suggested a mid-May peak for India.

India reported a record 412,262 new infections and 3,980 deaths on Thursday, with experts saying that the reported figures likely underplay the real toll because the nations crematoriums and hospitals have been overwhelmed. That makes the assessment of any peak particularly complicated.

Still, estimates may become crucial because Modi has been avoiding a national lockdown, choosing instead to allow states to implement their own restrictions to curb the spread.



Our predictions are that the peak will come within a few days, Mathukumalli Vidyasagar, professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Hyderabad, said by email Thursday, referring to a model prepared with Manindra Agrawal, a professor from IIT Kanpur. As per current projections, we should hit 20,000 cases per day by the end of June. We will revise this as needed.





chart

In April, Vidyasagars team wrongly predicted that the wave would peak by the middle of last month. That was due to incorrect parameters as the pandemic was changing rapidly, even wildly, until about a week ago, he wrote on Twitter at the time.

More recently, he told Reuters that the peak would be between May 3-5, and then the 'India Today' publication that it would come on May 7.



Scientists are largely agreed that the coming few weeks will be difficult for India. A team at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore used a mathematical model to predict about 404,000 deaths will occur by June 11 if current trends continue. Indias death toll from the pandemic has already crossed 200,000.

Infections have surged by more than 300,000 cases for 15 straight days, pushing Indias total tally past 21 million. Some experts blame the sudden surge of Indias second wave on a new variant that has emerged in the country.

Anuradha Mittal, a pediatrician with the Kailash Hospital in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, got Covid last month despite receiving both her shots earlier this year. She said that about 50 other doctors in her network had a similar experience. Probably the viral load is very, very high in the hospitals we work in and the mutants have a role to play, Mittal said.

Scientists worry that new virus mutations can become the next blindspot that can stretch the pandemic for the entire world, as strains from countries like India reach other nations.
India on Friday reported a net increase of 78,766 in active cases to take its count to 3,645,164. Indias share of global active cases now stands at 19.69 per cent (one in 5). The country is second among the most affected countries by active cases. On Friday, it added 414,188 cases, the most added by any country in a day, to take its total caseload to 21,491,598. And, with 3,915 new fatalities, its Covid-19 reached 234,083, or 1.09 per cent of total confirmed infections.

With 2,370,298 more Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered on Thursday, Indias total count of vaccine shots so far reached 164,973,058. The count of recovered cases across India, meanwhile, reached 17,612,351  or 81.95 per cent of total caseload  with 331,507 new cured cases being reported on Friday.
The conducted raids at two restaurants in the national capital and recovered over 100 concentrators, used for treatment of COVID patients, officials said on Friday.

According to the police, 96 concentrators were recovered from Khan Chacha Restaurant and nine were seized from Town Hall restaurant, both situated in the Khan Market area.

The recovery of over 100 concentrators comes after the arrest of four men -- Gaurav, Satish Sethi, Vikrant and Hitesh from south Delhi's Lodhi Colony area on Wednesday for allegedly indulging in black marketing of oxygen concentrators.

After the arrest of the four men, the police had recovered 419 oxygen concentrators that were meant to be sold in black market.

Police said during interrogation, Hitesh disclosed that they were hoarding oxygen concentrators in these restaurants following which raids were conducted at the joints at the Khan Market area and the equipments were recovered.

The owner of these two restaurants is a man named Navneet Kalra, police said, adding that his involvement is being investigated.

Kalra also owns another restaurant where police had conducted raids and recovered oxygen concentrators on Wednesday.

Earlier, the police had said that Nege Ju Restaurant and Bar in central market Lodhi Colony was found open on Wednesday.

A man was found working on a laptop at the restaurant who was later found taking online orders for oxygen concentrators, police had said earlier.

Police had searched the restaurant premises and recovered 32 boxes of oxygen concentrators, one box of thermal scanner and one box containing N 95 masks, the officer had said.

"A case was registered and four accused persons were arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur had said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed about their warehouse in Chhatarpur, following which a search was conducted and 387 more units of oxygen concentrators were recovered which were being sold at exorbitant prices in black market, the DCP had said.

Invoices of these oxygen concentrators were recovered. MRP stickers displaying a price of Rs 69,999 per concentrator were also recovered.

(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.)
Health Minister Jens Spahn on Friday defended another U-turn by Germany on the vaccine, saying making it available to all adults who want it would protect more people against COVID-19 more quickly.



Spahn announced late on Thursday that Germany would make available to all adults, subject to consulting a doctor, and allow people to get a second shot as soon as four weeks after the first.



The move comes with an eye to the summer holidays and coincides with the rapid passage of legislation that would free those fully vaccinated from social distancing measures imposed to fight the pandemic.



Germany had previously limited the shot from the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker to people over 60 after post-vaccination monitoring found rare - and sometimes fatal - cases of blood clotting, with younger women disproportionately affected.



Before that, its vaccine oversight body had said the shot could not be given to the elderly because of a lack of data from clinical trials.



With 70% of older people now inoculated and Germany's vaccination drive gaining momentum, Spahn said the latest step on would offer a vaccination option to people who would otherwise have to wait.



"We are convinced this offer is attractive for those who would otherwise not get vaccinated so quickly," Spahn told a news conference, adding that 1 million AstraZeneca doses would be sent to doctors' practices next week.



THE SOONER, THE WORSE?



The decision by the federal government follows moves by several German states to make AstraZeneca more widely available and comes as the pace of giving shots of mainstay vaccines from BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna picks up.



The share of the population that has received a first vaccine shot has reached 31.5%, with 900,000 getting a dose on Thursday, putting Germany "in the fast lane" by standards, said Spahn.



He said the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic "appears to be broken" while Germany's top public health official, Lothar Wieler, said infections were falling across all age groups thanks to social distancing and the progress on vaccinations.



Confirmed cases rose by 18,485 on Friday, with 284 fatalities, while the seven-day incidence fell to 125.7 cases per 100,000 people, data from the Robert Koch Institute showed.



However, experts criticised the decision to allow people to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine at shorter intervals, saying studies had shown its efficacy to be only around 55% with a four-week gap and 80% with a 12-week delay to the second shot.



"We have to make it clear that if people shorten the gap between AstraZeneca doses to enjoy greater freedom of movement sooner, they are doing so at the cost of their immune protection," said Carsten Watzl, professor of immunology at the Dortmund Technical University.



Spahn said this was a decision that people should take with proper advice, a view seconded by Robert Koch Institute head Wieler.



"We know that the longer the gap before the second shot the better the protection," Wieler said. "This is an informed decision people can take in consultation with their doctors."
In a relief to people, the



on Friday announced that carrying a COVID- 19 positive report will not be necessary for admission of patients to in the state.

Before this, it was mandatory to carry such reports for admission in Gujarat

The state Health and Family Welfare Department issued a circular, in which it asked all the to "entertain and give treatment" to all those "suspected patients having symptoms" of and stop insisting on a positive report.

The circular asked hospitals to admit all the suspected COVID-19 patients, whether coming in ambulances or in private vehicles.

Several citizens had earlier complained that patients arriving at hospitals in vehicles other than the state-run ambulances (of 108 ambulance service) were being turned away.

The circular said that the Supreme Court, while hearing a suo motu PIL on the situation, has recently directed the state government to have a "uniform policy for admission of COVID patients in hospitals".

The state government issued these new guidelines for hospitals in view of the SC order dated April 30, the circular said.

It also made it clear that hospitals must not deny admission to a patient just because he belongs to another city or state.

The circular asked hospitals to makeavailable medicines and oxygen "to all the needy patients".

Any hospital found guilty of violating these new guidelines will face action under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 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.)
Over 414,000 fresh cases reported

India reported 414,188 fresh infections on Friday, taking the cumulative caseload to 21.4 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 3,915 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 234,083. The active caseload is at 3.6 million, while the total recoveries have surged to 17.6 million. As many as 165 million shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, 2.3 million were given on Thursday. Read more here

AIIMS Rishikesh is trying to find out if Gayatri Mantra helps Covid patients

Researchers at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh have been carrying out a clinical trial since February this year to see if chanting the Gayatri Mantra and doing pranayam can help in the treatment of Covid-19, a report in ThePrint said. Pranayam is a breathing exercise popular in Yoga, while the Gayatri Mantra is a religious hymn often chanted during meditation and Hindu religious ceremonies. The study is being funded by the Department of Science and Technology, which is part of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Read more here

Maharashtra brings on theatre artists to urge people to follow Covid protocol

The Maharashtra government is planning to employ theatre artists to spread the word on following Covid protocol, a report in ThePrint said. The theatre artists will be used to urge people to hold small weddings, celebrate festivals and religious events cautiously, and wear masks at all times. They will also address hesitancy in getting vaccinated. A budget of Rs 5 crore has been allocated for the project. The state tourism and cultural affairs department will implement the idea across the state's 36 districts in both cities and rural areas. Read here



EXPLAINED: What does the IP waiver for Covid vaccines mean?

The intellectual property (IP) waiver will open up the production of Covid vaccines that are currently in use on a larger scale in middle-income countries. Currently, vaccines such as those developed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson are being mostly produced in high-income countries. Production by middle-income countries has been happening through licensing or technology transfer agreements. Some experts argue that a waiver will help in ramping up the production of vaccines globally. Most analysts expect the increased production to take at least a few months; it is likely the agreement will be targeted by the WTOs next ministerial conference in end-November. Read here

EXPLAINED: How long should you wait between Covid vaccine doses?

The central health ministry recommends an interval of four-eight weeks between two shots of the Covishield vaccine, an explainer in The Indian Express said. An interval of four-six weeks is recommended for Covaxin. An interval is recommended as the first dose generally induces an immune response about three weeks later, but it can take up to eight weeks or longer for the antibodies to mature and become fully functional. Read here
Amid surge in COVID-19 cases across state, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Friday informed that the government has decided to cap the price of CT-Scan and Digital X-Ray in hospitals and labs.

"Since CT- Scan or X-Ray is becoming increasingly necessary to detect COVID-19 infection, the state government has decided to cap the price of CT-Scan and Digital X-Ray in private hospitals and labs at Rs 1,500 and Rs 250 respectively," the Health Minister tweeted.



Since CT- Scan or X-Ray is becoming increasingly necessary to detect Covid-19 infection, Government has decided to cap the price of CT-Scan and Digital X-Ray in private hospitals and labs at 1,500 and 250 respectively.  Dr Sudhakar K (@mla_sudhakar) May 7, 2021

While in another tweet he said the Centre has also increased the state's allocation of Remdesivir to 2,62,346 from May 10 to May 16.

"Karnataka's allocation of Remdesivir has been increased to 2,62,346 from May 10 to May 16. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Sadanand Gowda for their continued support to strengthen state's battle against Covid-19 pandemic," Sudhakar said.

In light of the dangerously rising cases, Karantaka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa on Thursday announced a two-week covid curfew.

As many as 49,058 new COVID-19 cases, 328 deaths and 18,943 discharges were reported from in the last 24 hours. The total cases stand at 17,90,104, including 17,212 deaths and 5,17,075 active cases.
: The on Friday rejected a plea of private labs challenging the recent decision of the State government to reduce the cost of RT-PCR Covid-19 test from Rs 1,700 to Rs 500.

The court said that prima facie the government has arrived at rates of RT-PCR tests after conducting a market study.

Noting that the charges in many of the other States in the country, including Haryana, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, were within the same range, Justice N Nagaresh said, "Therefore, I do not find any reason to pass an interim order."



Counsel for the Kerala government informed the court there were several complaints that the rate of the RT-PCR tests in the State was the highest in the country at Rs 1,700.

He pointed out that the labs in many other other States in the country were charging only Rs 400-500.

Claiming that they were not heard before the government decided to reduce the rate, the petitioners said it was arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice.

The petitioners asserted the new order goes against the order of the apex court where labs were permitted to charge a rate prescribed by Indian Council of Medical Research.
Despite a growing rate of increase in Covid-19 cases and a higher proportion of samples testing positive, on average, since mid-February 2021, central and state governments did not act to impose more restrictions, upgrade health facilities and control the rise in Covid-19 cases, our analysis shows.

On May 1, 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that India would track Covid-19 hotspots on the basis of active cases in a district, the time it takes for confirmed cases to double, and testing and surveillance feedback. Starting from February 1, 2021, restrictions on public gatherings were relaxed, according to an order by the MHA, which added that guidelines to track containment zones and maintain social distancing should be enforced by local authorities.

Meanwhile, India's average doubling time of cases had been increasing since the end of July 2020, and reached a peak of 710 days on February 11, 2021. From then on, the doubling time started shrinking--from 522 days by February 28, 346 days by March 15 and 139 days by March 31, indicating that Covid-19 cases were growing fast.

All this while, states allowed large gatherings such as the Kumbh Mela and did not strictly enforce distancing, mask wearing and other guidelines. As of May 3, Covid-19 cases were doubling in India every 35.7 days. Its case numbers were increasing by over 300,000 and deaths by 3,500, on average, every day even as the media has been saturated with stories of undercounting of deaths and case numbers.

Just like the doubling time, India's average Covid-19 Test Positivity Ratio (TPR)--the proportion of positive tests in all samples tested for Covid-19 across the country--reached a low of 1.58% on February 11, 2021, after which it has been steadily increasing. The TPR reached 2% by February 28, 3% by March 16 and crossed 5% on March 27.

If a district consistently has a TPR greater than 5% or a TPR that is increasing, it is likely that the virus is spreading and the district is not testing enough people, we had reported in September 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) says the pandemic is under control if the TPR is under 5% for a period of two weeks. India's TPR was 21.5% as of May 3, 2021.

Even with an increasing average TPR and falling doubling time, gatherings continued across the country. For instance, even though the doubling time of Covid-19 cases in Uttarakhand decreased from 1,670 days on February 27 to 1,062 days on March 8, the state hosted the Kumbh Mela, a religious gathering, where at least 3.5 million people congregated on April 12, 2021, according to estimates. As of May 3, the doubling time of Covid-19 cases in Uttarakhand was 22 days and its TPR is 17%. Similarly, restrictions in some districts were put in place in Chhattisgarh by Holi on March 28, even though the doubling time of cases had started shrinking consistently by March 4 and had reached 104 days on March 28, down from a peak of 987 on February 14, data show.

Between December 2020 and April 2021, despite the warning signs, dedicated Covid-19 facilities and oxygen-supported beds for severe Covid-19 facilities fell 6%, we reported on April 22.

We analysed the doubling time and TPR of 15 states with the most active Covid-19 as of May 3, 2021. We have also considered two states that saw mass gatherings due to elections (Assam) and government-sponsored events (Uttarakhand) in our analysis. To calculate the doubling time and TPR, we use a seven-day average to smooth daily ebbs and flows in cases and testing. We use data from COVID19.org for the calculations in this story.

To be sure, the doubling time and TPR are not the only measures to track a pandemic and experts point to a number of factors that can help understand the trajectory of cases and take corrective action. "I do not like using doubling time solely as a metric. A comprehensive evaluation of the multiple epidemiologic measures--effective reproduction number [Rt, the number of people infected by one Covid-19 patient, on average], test positivity rate, predictions of infections and deaths in two weeks and healthcare capacity estimates--should have driven policy decisions not just one metric. And in this case, all metrics were pointing to an uptick and the potential for a second surge since February," said Bhramar Mukherjee, professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at the University of Michigan in the US.

As of May 6, India has 3,573,092 active cases and has reported 230,223 deaths due to Covid-19.

Doubling time in many states fell before India's average

The doubling time helps understand how quickly the pandemic is spreading in a state. As fewer new cases are reported, the doubling time keeps increasing. As doubling time plateaus, it tells us that the number of new cases is steady, but as this indicator starts reducing, it is an alarm that each day is seeing a surge in new cases.

India's current doubling time of 35.7 days is "shockingly low" and "at a rate not seen since around the peak of the September wave", said Maxwell Salvator, who works at the Centre for Precision Health Data Science at the University of Michigan, and is part of Mukherjee's Covid-19 study group. The doubling time might fluctuate or be unreliable when total case counts are low, but becomes more robust as case counts increase in size, which makes the current reduction in doubling time even more troubling, he added.

On multiple occasions last year, the health ministry announced an increase in the Covid-19 doubling time (see for instance, June 2020 and October 2020) to show that they were successfully dealing with the pandemic. It was only on March 23, 2021 that India's average doubling time of 202 days was reported publicly, at least 40 days after this number had started dropping, our review of the health ministry's press releases since February 11 has found.

Health is a state subject. Even when the central government publicly mentioned that Covid-19 cases were increasing in some states, few additional precautions were instituted in those states by the Centre or by the state governments concerned. On February 27, a week after India's doubling time had started falling, the health ministry advised eight states to refocus on surveillance and stringent containment in districts that saw a spike in cases. This included West Bengal where elections to its legislative assembly were announced the previous day, followed by massive gatherings at rallies and road shows for the next two months.

Maharashtra was the first state where the doubling time stopped increasing and then started to drop, by the second week of February.

By mid-February, the doubling time of COVID-cases had started falling in Delhi, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.

By the third week of February, the doubling time started dropping in states such as Telangana, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. In Assam, the doubling time started increasing on March 3, but dropped again within two weeks of declaration of elections, by March 9.

The doubling time has reduced the most in Assam and Andhra Pradesh between January and March. As of May 3, Andhra Pradesh has 17,222 cases daily, on average, 300 times the 55 average cases daily between February 12 and 18. In Assam, average daily cases have increased 400 times from 7.5 between February 10 and 16 to 3,254 as of May 3.

The doubling time in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat started reducing gradually towards the end of February while in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the doubling time fell in the first week of March.

For the rest of the states, the doubling time started reducing in the beginning of March.

Kerala is an outlier, with its doubling time not increasing in 2020, until the beginning of February 2021. The doubling time started to rise in February, but it dropped again from mid-March.

West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, and Odisha are some of the states with the highest effective reproduction number, and recent trends suggest that this value is no longer increasing or coming down, Maxwell said, adding that sustained elevated Rt values are "troubling". "These, combined with increasing test positive rates, and with relatively low levels of testing as in West Bengal, indicate to me that serious, immediate interventions are needed," added Maxwell.

Most states have a higher TPR than the peak of the first wave

The TPR helps estimate the undercounting of Covid-19 infection, which in turn gives an idea of how much control the state has over the spread of the pandemic, according to Professor Menon. India's current TPR of 21.5%, as of May 3, is 13 percentage points higher than India's highest TPR during the last peak in September 2020.

Because the TPR has been substantially lower for a sustained period, the current high rate indicates two things: First, that the virus is spreading at a terrifyingly high rate, and second, that not enough testing is being done, said Maxwell.

Yet, the current TPR calculations might be based on unreliable data. "At present, the data for tests conducted and confirmed cases are corrupted and questionable. There is rampant undercounting, so it is difficult to make inferences from the TPR with any level of certainty," said Gautam Menon, professor of physics and biology at Ashoka University in Haryana.

As of May 3, all 17 of the analysed states have TPR over 5%. All of these states, except Maharashtra, have current TPRs higher than the TPR of the peak of the first wave in 2020.

Most experts predict the peak of Covid-19 cases in India to occur around mid-May. "I believe this prediction is reasonable. I've seen several different models reach this conclusion, alongside some of our internal modeling. It's important to keep in mind that the peak of Covid-19 related deaths is on a lag so while cases may continue to decline, we expect daily deaths to increase for another couple weeks, peaking near the end of May," said Maxwell, in an email reply on May 3.

He added: "[N]o state is out of the woods by any means Any state that hasn't already instituted interventions such as curfews, discouraging any event that draws large crowds and lockdowns should do so. People should be wearing masks, practicing proper hygiene, and physically distancing to the extent that it is possible--and national, state, and local governments should be doing what they can to empower their citizens to engage in these practices, such as providing masks, soaps and sanitizers and working with healthcare institutions to expand test and vaccine availability." On May 4, the health ministry reported that some states such as Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat were showing early signs of improvement.
The administration on Friday said that the news of gangster Chhota Rajan's death is "wrong".

Rajan was found COVID-19 positive in the on April 22 and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on April 24.

"News of death of inmate Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje @ s/o Sadashiv Nikalje is wrong," Director General (Prisons) Sandeep Goel said.

Rajan, 61, is lodged at the high security prison since his arrest after deportation from Bali in Indonesia in 2015.

(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.)
Delhi Chief Minister (CM) on Friday said that the national Capitals oxygen shortage problem has now been resolved, according to media reports.

The CM also added that he aims to vaccinate the entire city within the next three months.

He made these remarks while addressing a high-level meeting with his Cabinet ministers to discuss the Covid crisis, which has taken thousands of lives in the city over the past few weeks in a deadly second wave.

Now there is no lack of oxygen in Delhi. We should have enough oxygen beds so that no patient is deprived, he said in the meeting.

The meeting was reportedly attended by the deputy chief minister, health minister, health secretary, and district magistrates. The CM gave orders to vaccinate all within the next three months in order to curb the possibility of a possible third wave.

According to media reports, district magistrates have been asked to visit 2-4 vaccination centres on a daily basis.

He added that the Delhi government will announce a free-of-cost vaccination drive for all media outlets in the city.

The Delhi government has been in a tussle with the Centre over the past few weeks over matters related to oxygen supply. On Friday, a Supreme Court Bench, headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud, ordered the Centre to supply 700 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen to Delhi on an everyday basis. The court warned that it would take action against officials if they failed to comply with the order.

"If nothing is to be hidden, let it come before the nation how allocation and distribution is done transparently by the Centre," the Supreme Court said. "The centre continues to be in contempt for not supplying 700 metric tonnes of oxygen to Delhi."



We want 700 MT oxygen to be supplied to Delhi on daily basis and we mean business. It has to be supplied and we dont want to be coercive. Our order will take time to be uploaded by 3 pm. But you proceed and arrange the oxygen, said Justice DY Chandrachud, according to Bar and Bench.

Kejriwal had earlier stated in a news briefing that if Delhi gets an adequate supply of oxygen, that is, 700 metric tonnes a day, the government will be able to set up 9,000-9,500 beds in Delhi. "We will be able to create oxygen beds. I assure you that we will not let anyone die to a shortage of oxygen in Delhi," he had said.

The Supreme Court had stayed a Delhi High Court order by which show cause notice over contempt of court was issued to the Centre for failure to supply adequate oxygen to the national Capital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to Chief Ministers of Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim on the COVID-19 situation in their states, the Government of India sources said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Manipur has 2,991 active cases currently while Sikkim has 2,256 and Tripura has 2,292.

Earlier on Thursday, the Prime Minister has spoken to Chief Ministers of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand about the COVID-19 situation in their states.

He had also spoken to Lieutenant Governors of Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir about the COVID situation in the two union territories.

With a total of 4,14,188 new COVID-19 cases being recorded in the last 24 hours, India again reported its highest single-day spike on the second consecutive day. The cumulative count of cases in the country reached 2,14,91,598, informed the Union Health Ministry on Friday.

Also, as many as 3,31,507 recoveries were recorded in the last 24 hours, pushing the total recoveries count to 1,76,12,351. The country registered 3,915 new COVID-related deaths which took the total death toll in the country further up to 2,34,083.

(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.)
Rajasthan reported 18,231 new COVID-19 cases and 164 fatalities on Friday, pushing the state's infection tally to 7,20,799 and the death toll to 5,346.

State capital Jaipur reported the highest number of 48 deaths and 4,902 new cases, according to an official report.

A total of 5,16,306 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the state so far, and the number of active cases stands at 1,99,147, it said.

Health Minister Raghu Sharma said the state government has planned to procure 50,000 oxygen concentrators this month to address the shortage of the life-saving gas.

An order has already been placed for 1,250 oxygen concentrators. The first lot of 100 units is arriving in Jaipur on Friday from Russia, and by next week, a total of 1,250 concentrators will reach the city, he said.

"We hope to procure 50,000 concentrators in the month of May," Sharma said.

He said a committee of three IAS officers was looking into the procurement process, and it has spoken to concentrator manufacturers in India, Russia, China, and Dubai.

Sharma said the state requires 615 MT of oxygen but the Centre has allotted only 270 MT. There is also the problem of transportation due to long distance and shortage of tankers, he added.

The minister said the procurement of the oxygen concentrators will ease the requirement of the gas in the state.

He also visited the ESI hospital during the day to review the arrangements at the facility.

(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 Friday said it will not leave citizens in lurch as it refused to interfere with the High Court order asking the Centre to increase the daily allocation for the state from 965 MT to 1200 MT for treating COVID-19 patients.

A bench of justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said the high court order of May 5 is a well calibrated, deliberated and judicious exercise of power.

It refused to accept the Centre''s contention that if every high court starts passing orders for allocating oxygen, it would make the supply network of the country unworkable.

The bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Centre, that it has read the sequence of events and it can say that it is well calibrated, deliberated and judicious exercise of power after taking into account the number of COVID-19 positive cases. We will not interfere with it.

It said the order does not preclude the Centre from considering the representation of the state government and work out a mutual resolution mechanism of supplying 1200 MT of liquid medical (LMO).

Mehta said every state needs but his concern is that if all the high courts start directing LMO allocation of the said amount then it will be a big problem.

The bench said it was looking at the wider issue and we will not keep citizens of in lurch.

It said the high court had not passed the order without considering the facts and circumstances and it is based on the projection of COVID-19 cases made by the state government itself of minimum 1165 MT of LMO.

The High Court has furnished adequate reasons for passing the ad-interim order having regard to the fact that projection of demand made by the state was a minimum of 1165 MT of LMO. The direction of the High Court is only ad-interim and it does not preclude a mutual resolution mechanism between the Centre and the state, it said.

It added that the High Court has considered the death of people in Chamarajanagar and Kalburgi among other places due to shortage of oxygen and added, Judges are also human beings and they are also seeing the suffering faced by the people. The High Courts will not simply shut their eyes.

The Centre in its appeal filed on Thursday had said that the High Court has passed the order based on purported shortage of oxygen in the city of Bangalore and it will have a cascading effect and result in total collapse of the system of the supply network of LMO.

The high court had noted that the required quantity of LMO was not allotted to the state and directed the Centre to increase the allocation to 1200 MT of oxygen.

It had said that the Centre has not offered any explanation as to why buffer stock of LMO was not created despite the directions of the top court.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the Modi government of having failed the people of the country in handling the pandemic and demanded that an all-party meeting be convened immediately on the COVID-19 situation.

The battle against the pandemic transcends political differences and everyone has to fight it together as a nation, she said at a virtual meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

She also demanded that a meeting of the the standing committees must be convened to ensure collective action and accountability to combat the pandemic better.

Launching a fierce attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi charged that India is crippled by political leadership that has no empathy for the people and has failed the people of the country.

"Let us be absolutely clear -- the system hasn't failed. The Modi government has been unable to constructively channelise India's many strengths and resources. I say this categorically - India is crippled by a political leadership today that has no empathy for the people. The Modi Government has failed the people of our country," she told the MPs.

She said the Congress firmly believes that fighting the pandemic is not a 'Government versus Us' battle but a 'Us versus Corona' battle.

"This battle transcends political differences. We have to fight this battle together as a nation. In that spirit, as a first step, I believe that the Modi government must urgently call an all-party meeting on the COVID-19 situation," she said.

"The Congress Party also demands that standing committees must be convened to ensure collective action and accountability to combat the pandemic better," she said.

Gandhi told the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to bring to the notice of the Presiding Officer the Report of Standing Committee on Health presented in October 2020 and demand that he take action on the recommendations of the report.

"The situation brooks no delay. Tackling this crisis requires able, calm and visionary leadership," she said.

The nation, she charged, is sinking under the weight of the Modi government's indifference and incompetence and told party MPs that this is the time to rededicate themselves in the service of our people.

The Congress chief said the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Committee was being held in extraordinary circumstances, with India being in the grip of a deadly health disaster.

She said thousands have died and millions are scrambling to access basic healthcare, life-saving medicines, oxygen, and vaccines.

It is heartbreaking to see people battling for their lives in hospitals, on roads, waiting in vehicles, far too many for want of any medical help at all, she said.

"And what is the Modi government doing? Instead of alleviating their suffering and pain, it has abdicated its fundamental responsibilities and duties towards the people," she lamented.

She also alleged that the government's vaccination policy is inequitable and will exclude millions of Dalits, Adivasis, Other Backwards Classes, as well as the poor and the marginalised.

"It is utterly shocking to see the Modi government abdicate its moral obligation and its sworn duty towards the people," she said.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The world is fast becoming ever more reliant on China for vaccines, with Indias raging virus outbreak stifling its ability to deliver on supply deals, even as the U.S. tries to position itself as a champion of wider access.

Over the past few weeks, leaders of some of the globes most populous nations have sought more shots from China despite concerns about their effectiveness. Demand is expected to rise even further if the World Health Organization, as expected, authorizes vaccines from Chinas Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd., allowing developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to access them through Covax, the global vaccination effort.

China has become not just the largest exporter, said Yanzhong Huang, a China specialist and senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. In many countries it has become the only option.

Chinas reliability as a vaccine supplier is increasing its geopolitical clout at a time when the U.S. and the EU have been slow confronting the global pandemic as Covid hot spots rage out of control in India, Brazil and elsewhere. Compounding the difficulties, Indias crisis has dried up vaccine supplies and prompted many countries to turn toward China. Amid this backdrop, the U.S., for months preoccupied with its domestic vaccination push, has come under intense criticism for hoarding shots at the expense of a global response.

Covid-Fighting Arsenal

President Joe Biden made it clear this week that the U.S. intends to start playing a more active role. On Wednesday, the U.S. threw its weight behind a movement to waive patents on Covid-19 vaccines to allow other countries to manufacture them. Hes vowing that the U.S. will become an arsenal for fighting Covid-19 globally as outbreaks elsewhere in the world risk spawning dangerous variants that could prolong the crisis. The administrations efforts so far include plans to give away 60 million doses of AstraZeneca Plcs shot and to ramp up production of doses made by Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Johnson & Johnson.

In the meantime, countries from Uruguay to Senegal to Indonesia have few places to turn apart from Beijing -- and China is making the most of it.

The country has already shipped out about 240 million doses, more than all other nations combined, and has committed to providing another 500 million, according to Airfinity Ltd., a science information and analytics company. India, the worlds third-biggest supplier after China and the European Union, had exported 67 million doses to nearly 100 countries until the devastating Covid-19 outbreak prompted it to halt most deliveries in recent weeks.

The WHO is weighing data on Chinese vaccines before a decision on clearance, which is expected in days or weeks. Access to the shots will provide a boost to the WHO-backed Covax effort, which relied heavily on the Serum Institute of India before the clampdown on exports.

Covax has shipped more than 50 million doses to 121 countries and territories, well short of its goal and just a fifth of what the U.S. has administered domestically. A new pact with Moderna has expanded Covaxs portfolio, but only a fraction of the 500 million doses it pledged will be available this year.

WHO authorization of Chinese vaccines could make an immediate difference for governments waiting for that stamp of approval before giving them to citizens. Sri Lanka, for instance, has so far used less than 1% of its 600,000 Sinopharm shots on foreign Chinese workers.

Some experts, though, are worried about the potential public-health impact of widely deploying Chinese vaccines that have demonstrated lower efficacy rates than those made Pfizer and Moderna. And Chinese shots have already been hampered by a lack of trial data and a preference for vaccines from the Western companies.

The WHO approval of Chinese vaccines will, in the medium term, help to strengthen Chinese power and authority within the region, said Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at the City University of Hong Kong and editor of several books on global health and foreign policy. However, the low efficacy rate of the Chinese vaccines means that this is an easily contestable position if the Western countries can ramp up their own supplies.

Seize the Moment

Thats all the more reason for China to seize the moment while it can. Foreign Minister Wang Yi vowed last week that China would provide vaccines to countries that had been dependent on India during a call with counterparts from South Asian nations.

On the same day, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe secured an agreement to enhance military cooperation with Bangladesh. The country later approved emergency use of the Sinopharm shot after 15 million doses it paid for from the Serum Institute failed to arrive.

Last month Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to oppose vaccine nationalism in a call with Indonesia leader Joko Widodo, whose government green-lit Sinopharm for emergencies soon afterward. Indonesia also secured as many as 15 million more shots of Sinovac.

In plain view, Indias export ban has made Indonesia increasingly dependent on vaccine supplies from China, said Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia.

Other countries have had to play nice with China on geopolitical spats.

Indias export delays deprived the Philippines of its biggest vaccine order at a time its sparring with China over a territorial dispute. President Rodrigo Duterte rebuked his top diplomat this week for an expletive-laced tweet denouncing Beijing over the spat while his government negotiates with Sinovac for a monthly delivery of as many as 4 million doses.

China remains our benefactor, Duterte said. Just because we have a conflict with China doesnt mean to say that we have to be rude and disrespectful.

Confident of Supplies

Some countries relying on Chinese vaccines such as Chile have moved relatively swiftly. However, worries persist about their potency: A Chilean government study found in April that Sinovacs vaccine is 67% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections and wards off 80% of fatalities. In Israel, meanwhile, Pfizers mRNA shot was found to be 92% effective in preventing symptomatic Covid-19 infections and 99% effective at preventing deaths -- though its harder to transport and must be stored at ultralow temperatures.

India is confident it can ramp up supplies again in a few months once the current outbreak is contained, according to a Foreign Ministry official in New Delhi who asked not to be identified. The government sees China trying to exploit Indias crisis but is confident that other countries understand its predicament, the official added.

The shipments are being repurposed for domestic purposes given the demand, said Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi. We have already stated that our external supplies would be done keeping in mind our domestic requirements.

Meanwhile, from Pakistan to Brazil and Africa, many ordinary people have expressed a lack of confidence in Chinese vaccines. In some areas of Africa, which is using shots from the U.S., India, Russia and China, skepticism on vaccines mirrors that in parts of the developed world.

We are being told that these vaccines are meant to get rid of Africans, so for now I will watch and observe those that have been inoculated, said Passmore Mwanza, a 29-year-old worker in Zimbabwe. I dont want to be part of an experiment of an outcome I dont know.

 2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Worlds most-vaccinated nation slaps curbs as cases rise

Seychelles, which has fully vaccinated over 60 per cent of its population has reintroduced restrictions to curb the fresh surge in cases. This indicates a long haul for the world, which has bet big on vaccinations to bid good bye to the virus. The country has shut schools, barred household gathering among several other measures. The number of active cases in the nation rose to 1,068 on May 3 from 612 on April 28, according to the health ministry. The Indian Ocean archipelago, which has a population of about 98,000, is dependent on tourism for much of its foreign exchange and acted quickly to begin vaccinations in January. Read here





Let's look at the global statistics Global infections: 156,088,575 Global deaths: 3,256,675 Nations with most cases: US (32,605,019), India (21,491,598), Brazil (15,003,563), France (5,789,283), Turkey (4,977,982). Source: John Hopkins Research Center

US vaccine patent surprise roils global pharma industry

Pharma executives reacted with anger and their stock prices tumbled worldwide as Biden announced that he will support sharing vaccine technology so that there will be equal access across the world. Joining the US, France and China signalled a willingness to take part in the debate at the World Trade Organization (WHO). The US and Europe have been strong supporters of Intellectual Property (IP) protections at the WTO, particularly as a way to enforce problems like Chinese patent infringement. Read here

New York City plans a $25 million programme to put artists back to work

New York City is launching a new program to provide funding to artists for public works, an effort to lend financial support to artists whose income plummeted during the pandemic and who have clamored for government relief. Officials said the city will spend $25 million on the program, which is expected to create jobs for more than 1,500 artists in New York City. The program, the City Artist Corps, will give money to artists, musicians and other performers to create works across the city, whether through public art, performances, pop-up shows, murals or other community arts projects. Read here

Asia's medical tourism catches cold

As travel restrictions forced medical tourists to stay away, the pandemic has dealt a massive blow to revenues of large hospital chains in Southeast Asian countries as profits plunged. Hospitals in Asia and other emerging regions have attracted overseas patients by offering advanced health care for cheaper prices than in developed countries. Worldwide, the market for medical tourism shrank 48 per cent in 2020, according to a UK-based market research firm. Some of the largest hospital chains in Bangkok suffered heavy losses as profits plunged. Travel restrictions were responsible for up to a 75 per cent decrease in Malaysian medical tourism revenues last year. Read here
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian state refiners on Thursday placed orders for regular supplies from for June, after reducing purchases this month, drawn by lower prices by the world's top oil exporter, four sources said on Thursday.

The refiners - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd - normally buy 14.8 million-15 million barrels of Saudi oil a month.

"This time there is no direction from the ministry to cut imports in June and unlike last time they (Aramco) have reduced the prices as well," said one of the sources.

has cut the June official selling prices (OSPs) of all crude grades it sells to Asia.

It set the June OSP for the flagship Arab light crude at $1.7 a barrel above the Oman/Dubai average for Asia, down 10 cents from May and its first price cut since December last year, sources told Reuters.

India, the world's third-biggest oil importer and consumer, imports more than 80% of its oil needs and relies heavily on the Middle East.

Earlier this year New Delhi blamed cuts by the Saudis and other oil producers for driving up crude prices as its economy tries to cope with the pandemic and advised state refiners to cut purchases.

India urged refiners to diversify crude sources to cut reliance on the Middle East and directed them to reduce intake of Saudi oil. The refiners cut purchases by over a third in May.

Another source said Indian refiners cannot continue with the cuts from on a sustained basis as the companies have to lift the volumes under annual contracts.

No immediate response was available from the companies.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Chris Reese and Matthew Lewis)

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
It will be a while before its fully understood why India has been so swiftly and so disastrously engulfed by the But there is one thing for sure: Indias problem is now the worlds problem.

India shut down too abruptly when the virus arrived, and then was too quick to reopen. In March 2020, the country was locked down at four hours notice though it did not yet have many cases. Millions of people, many of them migrant workers, were left stranded without food and shelter. Facing economic disaster, the government reopened the country before the pandemic really took hold.

What is happening in India now is quite similar to what the United States experienced in its surges. The Indian states where deaths started to mount again in March and April simply closed their eyes and hoped it would go away. After all, Indias first virus wave receded, for reasons that remain unclear.

To make matters worse, states in India have very limited resources of their owna lockdown costs money, especially if you want to avoid inflicting enormous pain on the poorand the central government has not offered to pay the bill. (In America last year, the Trump administration was much more generous in comparison.

Not surprisingly, state governments opted to drag their feet until it was impossible to avoid taking action. In the meantime, the disease made its way throughout the country, and new mutations appeared. With the national government unwilling to take ownership of the problem, no one was really tracking how the new variants behaved. Too little, too late is the story of the current outbreak.

The government is now beginning to stir, but it still appears reluctant to embrace a national strategy.





ALSO READ: Covid surge could peak in coming days, predicts model by PM Modi's advisors

Yet it is evident that India needs a new, centrally coordinated lockdown now, perhaps targeted at the areas where there is already a large enough quantum of infections (infections are still concentrated in less than quarter of the countrys districts), and progressively moving to cover wherever needed.

One reason the response is still slow is the fear of what would happen to the economy and especially to the poor with the return of lockdowns. The central government could speed it up by promising life-sustaining cash transfers to anyone with any kind of government-issued identity in places that are locked down. This should be paired with restrictions on movement between districts. The time to do this is now.

The same goes with vaccination. The central governments position is that vaccination is open to all (if you can find a shot), but either individuals or states will need to pay for it. The result will be that those who can afford it will get vaccinated and some states will cover the rest, but people elsewhere will be on their own. Making free vaccination available to everyone, and dedicating enough administrative muscle and human resources to make it happen will reassure the country in its panic and may protect the world.

Other governments, too, were slow to react to Indias unfolding disaster. The Biden administration announced it would send vaccines and emergency help to India only in late April, more than a week after the daily case load exceeded 300,000. The problem is now so huge that what can be done from the outside is relatively minor. Of course that should not stop the United States and Europe from sending vaccines, oxygen and money to India or from lifting bans on exports of ingredients for making vaccines. A life saved is a life saved.

But the world needs to look beyond India and avoid yet another mistake of timing. We cannot afford to repeat the experience of the first wave, when we didnt realize just how quickly a virus can travel. Neither should nations be lulled into a sense of false security by the progress of vaccination campaigns in the United States and Europe.



ALSO READ: US backs Covid-19 vaccine IP waiver; global pharma companies irked

The B.1.617 variant first found in India is now spreading well beyond the country. In India, some vaccinated people seem to be getting infected. It would be foolish to assume that better vaccines available in the West will necessarily save us. Leaders and scientists need to figure out what should be done to combat variants, which may include booster shots, new vaccines, masks and slowing down reopenings.

Most critically, however, we should anticipate the possibility that the virus will spread through Africa, where a vaccination campaign that had barely started is now endangered by the situation in India, which stopped exporting vaccines many countries were relying on.

This would bring disaster in countries where oxygen supplies and hospital beds are extremely limited. The United States and Europe need to get ready to act quickly when necessary. This means shipping and making vaccines as fast as possible, and perhaps even more urgently, this means investing in global surveillance and testing, and being prepared to ship oxygen and equipment and to provide financial support for people in lockdown.

Getting ready now might give us a fighting chance to avoid a repeat of Indias nightmare.

(Drs. Banerjee and Duflo won the Nobel in economic science in 2019 for their approach to alleviating global poverty. The views expressed are personal.)
As the country reels under the severe impact of the second wave of Covid, key states such as Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Chhattisgarh and the capital city are getting lower vaccine doses than they require, suggests a latest report by State Bank of India's (SBI's) economic wing, authored by Dr. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, their group chief economic adviser.



ALSO READ: Access to foreign Covid-19 vaccine a long haul, say Indian companies

Given that vaccination could be the only driver as of now to contain the disease, SBI's economic wing did an disaggregated analysis to estimate the ideal share of each State in total vaccines based on distribution parameters including population over 18 years, total deaths, Covid cases and deaths in States and juxtaposed it with the vaccine distribution.

Maharashtra, the report said, should have a share of 17.8 per cent in the total vaccine allocation. However, as per the current data, its share is only 10.1 per cent. Even if we include the vaccine doses in the pipeline, the share is going to rise marginally to 10.2 per cent which will still be below the required doses, the report said.



On the other hand, Rajasthan, Kerala, West Bengal and Gujarat, according to the report, have received more vaccine doses than needed given their population, Covid cases and share in deaths. Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Bihar and North Eastern States are the states where vaccination wastage is quite high, the report said.

Thus such states with a lower share have to procure a large number of vaccines in future from the manufacturers to fill the gap. However, we also need to understand that there will be always be a gap in ex-ante and ex-post vaccine distribution given the spread of Covid has been almost difficult to predict, Ghosh said.



ALSO READ: Key Covid-19 indicators surged from Feb 2021 but govts failed to act

That said, estimates that India has given 160.5 million doses of vaccine, with around 131 million people having taken the first dose and 31.5 million fully vaccinated taking both doses. The percentage of people who have taken double dose to total vaccination doses, according to Ghosh, is now around 19.5 per cent. However, the daily vaccine doses given is now at an average of 17 lakhs per day compared to an average of 28 lakhs per day in April.

"Given this trend, we believe India can only be able to vaccinate 15 per cent of population by Oct21 (which is required for herd immunity given the other countries trend) but only if we are able to vaccinate around 55 lakhs daily in September and October," Ghosh said.



Meanwhile, the policymakers, on their part, are trying to help manufacturers ramp up the manufacturing capacity of essentials needed to fight the pandemic.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a recent announcement opened a Rs 50,000 liquidity window exclusively for companies involved in providing vaccine, oxygen, ventilator etc. Bank of Baroda (BoB) sanctioned Rs 500 crore to Adar Poonawalla-controlled (SII) that is producing the Covishield vaccine.

Covid reaches hinterland

Another worrying trend, according to Ghosh, is the rise in Covid infected cases in rural India. The share of rural districts in new cases increased to 45.5 per cent in April and 48.5 per cent in May compared to 36.8 per cent in March.

When looked district wise, there is a clear shift visible with Maharashtras rural districts being maximum affected in March (11 of 15 worst-affected rural districts from Maharashtra) to now spread to other States including Andhra Pradesh (5 in top 15 worst affected rural districts), Kerala (2 districts), Karnataka (1), Rajasthan (1) and Maharashtra having 6 now, Ghosh wrote.

The one state that has shown improvement is Chhattisgarh, which had 3 rural districts in top 15 during March and has no district now in the top 15 worst affected rural districts.




Over 125 lakh metric tonne has been procured in so far in the ongoing rabi marketing season.

An amount of Rs 21,472 crore has been paid to the farmers so far, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Friday.

I am happy to share that despite the challenge of #COVID-19, we have procured more than 125 Lakh MT till date and paid Rs 21,472 crore to our farmers, Singh said in a tweet.

He further said, Our procurement agencies are working hard to ensure timely lifting and payment.

A few days ago, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu had said the state government is expecting a total arrival of 130 lakh tonne of crop.

Earlier, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had extended the cash credit limit (CCL) for for the ongoing procurement season. The RBI had extended the CCL of Rs 2,953.46 crore till the end of May.

With this, the sanctioned limit of Rs 21,658.73 crore had been enhanced to Rs 24,612.19 crore, a state government statement had said here earlier.

(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.)
has reacted sharply against a joint communique issued by foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries that criticised Beijing's increasing presence in the East and South seas.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin strongly condemned the outcome of the G7 meeting in London, reported NHK World.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday in London, representatives from the G7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, had condemned Chinese actions in East and South seas.

Wang denounced the G7 nations in a news conference, saying their move is an interference in China's sovereignty and runs counter to the current trend of peaceful development and cooperation.

Wang also reiterated China's stance on its territorial claims in the East and South China seas, saying they are based on legal grounds, reported NHK World.

Wang also opposed the G7 ministers' support for Taiwan's meaningful participation in World Health Organisation forums and the World Health Assembly.

He said that Taiwan's participation in organisations, including the WHO, must be handled in accordance with the "one-China" principle.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said the G7's unanimous support is especially meaningful ahead of the WHO's annual assembly scheduled for later this month.

Ministry officials said Taiwan will keep deepening its cooperation with G7 member countries in order to contribute to global health and people's well-being, as well as peace, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region, reported NHK World.

claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the south-eastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.

Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.

In the communique, G7 Foreign Ministers voiced their opposition to any unilateral actions that could undermine the rules-based order regarding Chinese aggression in East and South China Seas.

They also expressed concern about alleged human rights violations and abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and other areas, reported NHK World.

(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 top American civil rights leader has urged President to release 60 million vaccine doses for India, which is battling a devastating second wave of the pandemic.

The vaccine has not been approved by the US and is unlikely to be used by the Biden administration.

Biden had recently said that he intended to give vaccines to other countries.

At a news conference in Chicago, American civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson said he would speak to Biden to immediately release 60 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines to India.

Mass level vaccination is said to be the only cure to the current public health crisis in India, he said.

"They are human beings. As the wind blows, if we don't stop it today, it'll spread around the world, he said.

Expressing concern over the current situation in India, Rev Jackson said he will personally speak to the healthcare industry to donate oxygen concentrators and cylinders to India and follow up with the pharmaceutical giants to ensure therapeutic supplies to the country.

Other Indian Americans from the Chicago area echoed similar sentiments.

"It is everyone's duty to help India flatten this COVID-19 surge as we live in a world that cannot be separated by borders," said Dr Vijay Prabhakar, the chairman of American Association of Multiethnic Physicians.

"Based on the current projections some of the models are suggesting, there may be 1 million deaths by the end of August. As we know, that would be a tragic humanitarian crisis, said Dr Srinivas Reddy, the trustee of Chicago Medical Society.

(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.)
Pakistani Prime Minister on Friday left for for a three-day visit to discuss bilateral relations between the countries.

According to Dawn, it is expected that Khan's visit will serve to improve "strained" relations between and that were shaken in the recent past due to several reasons.

The Prime Minister Office said, "Imran Khan, is visiting on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who struck a conciliatory tone towards the kingdom's arch-nemesis Iran last week, saying he sought good relations after the rivals held secret talks in Baghdad. Iran welcomed Saudi Arabia's change of tone."

Prime Minister Khan is accompanied by a delegation, including the foreign minister and other members of his cabinet.

The Prime Minister's consultations with the Saudi leadership will cover all areas of bilateral cooperation, including economics, trade, investment, energy, job opportunities for the Pakistani workforce, and welfare of the Pakistani diaspora in the kingdom. The two sides will also exchange views on regional and issues of mutual interest, reported Dawn.

During the visit, the Prime Minister will also meet the Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Yousef Al-Othaimeen, Secretary-General of the World Muslim League Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa and the Imams of the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Madina. Khan will also interact with members of the Pakistani diaspora in Jeddah. He will also raise the issue of Islamophobia in the West, including a recent resolution of the European Parliament that called for the withdrawal of GSP plus status of

The PMO's press release further said and Saudi Arabia had long-standing and historic fraternal relations, rooted deep in common faith, shared history, and mutual support. "The people of Pakistan hold the custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in the highest esteem. The relationship is marked by close cooperation in all fields and mutual collaboration on regional and issues, in particular those faced by the Muslim Ummah. Saudi Arabia is a member of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir," it added as per the Dawn.

According to a Pakistani local media report, "Pakistani-Saudi relations have been complex all along but since 2015, when the Pakistani parliament restricted the military from participating in the war in Yemen, its relations with Saudi Arabia have soured. Military conflict in Yemen is said to be one of the reasons behind strained relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan."

Last year Pakistan had expected Riyadh to support it in dealing with India over the Kashmir issue. In particular, Pakistan had sought a supportive meeting with the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC. After Saudi Arabia turned down the request, Pakistan repeated its demand, which in turn resulted in Riyadh calling for repayment of a 1 billion USD loan. Consequently, Pakistan repaid the loan while using the amount obtained under a new loan this time from China.

(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 Washington, D.C.-based think-tank said that the US federal government is likely to run out of borrowing room and breach the limit after October 1.

"The Treasury's updated guidance means that the 'X Date' will likely arrive after the start of fiscal year 2022," Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the date when the federal government will no longer be able to pay its bills in full and on time.

"That would realistically allow Congress to address the limit as part of an appropriations package and potentially pair that move with a longer-term reform of the statute to eliminate financial risk from these recurring episodes," Xinhua news agency quoted Akabas as saying.

Akabas also cautioned that the unique fiscal environment of a pandemic adds unprecedented uncertainty to any limit forecast.

"While uncertainty is perhaps greater than ever before, the way to minimize short-term financial risk remains the same: acting on the debt limit soon," he said.

The updated forecast came after the Treasury Department said on Wednesday that it may take certain "extraordinary measures" to continue to finance the government on a temporary basis if the debt limit is reinstated on August 1.

"In light of the substantial Covid-related uncertainty about receipts and outlays in the coming months, it is very difficult to predict how long extraordinary measures might last," the Department said, noting extraordinary measures could be exhausted much more quickly than in prior debt limit episodes.

As part of a two-year budget deal passed by Congress in August 2019, the federal debt limit was suspended through July 31, 2021.

If lawmakers cannot reach another agreement before then, the ceiling would automatically be reinstated on August 1 and the Treasury wouldn't be able to raise additional cash from the sale of government securities.

As of today, the US national debt has exceeded $28.25 trillion.

--IANS

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(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.)
Shares of hit a new high of Rs 276.80, as they rallied 11 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday after the company's consolidated net profit more than doubled to Rs 52 crore for the quarter ended March 2021 (Q4FY21), on the back of higher operating income. The company had reported a profit of Rs 24.86 crore in the year-ago quarter.

is a globally leading engineering company with a bouquet of sustainable solutions for bioenergy, compressed biogas, critical process equipment and skids, breweries, industrial wastewater treatment and high purity water.

The companys income from operations during the quarter under review jumped by 91 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 567 crore from Rs 296 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margins improved by 233 basis points (bps) to 13.21 per cent from 10.88 per cent in Q4FY20.

The company said order intake during the quarter stood at Rs 650 crore. The consolidated order backlog as of March 31, 2021, was at Rs 1,748 crore (FY20 order backlog at Rs 1,083 crore), which comprised 85 per cent domestic orders and 15 per cent international orders, it said.

The management said the activity levels have remained positively elevated with continued traction in enquiries across several business verticals, including some significant order wins.

bagged a prestigious breakthrough order from Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) during the quarter for setting up the CBG project at Badaun in Uttar Pradesh. The company also won an order from Godavari Biorefineries to set up India's largest capacity syrup-based ethanol plant in Karnataka.

On the domestic Bioenergy front, ethanol blending with petrol at an all-India level has reached more than 7.4 per cent in the first five months of the ethanol supply year 2020-21. This is the highest-ever recorded ethanol blending level at an all-India basis, the company said. The government, in order to extend renewables usage across the nation, recently allowed the direct sale of ethanol as a fuel for compatible automobiles. Like petrol and diesel, the Center has allowed the sale of E-100 directly to compatible vehicles, it said.

At 10:10 am, the stock was trading 10 per cent higher at Rs 273 on the BSE, as compared to a 0.86 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. In the past three months, it has zoomed 103 per cent as against a 2.7 per cent decline in the benchmark index.
regulator has come out with a special procedure for action on expulsion from membership of stock exchanges and clearing corporations.

Under this procedure, the (Sebi) will not provide an opportunity for a personal hearing to the stockbroker or clearing member, according to a notification issued on Wednesday.

This framework will also be applicable in the case of termination of depository participant agreement by the depositories.

On receipt of intimation from exchanges or clearing corporations regarding the expulsion of its trading or clearing member, will issue a notice to such stockbroker or clearing member calling upon the noticee to make its submission within 21 days through a written reply, along with documentary evidence, as to why the certificate of registration, granted under the rules should not be cancelled.

"No opportunity of personal hearing shall be granted while disposing of the proceedings under this regulation," said, adding it will pass an order within 21 days from the date of receipt of written submissions.

While passing such an order, the regulator can impose such conditions upon the entity as it deems fit to protect the interest of the investors or the securities market.

The entity concerned need to satisfy the factors -- maintenance and preservation of records, redressal of investor grievances; transfer of records, funds or securities of its clients; the arrangements made by it for ensuring continuity of service to the clients; and defaults or pending action.

From the date of cancellation, the entity concerned will return the certificate of registration and will not represent itself to be a holder of the certificate for carrying out the activity for which such certificate had been granted.

Further, it will "cease to carry on any activity in respect of which the certificate had been granted".

The entity will have to transfer its activities to another person holding a valid registration certificate to carry on such activity and allow its clients to withdraw or transfer their securities and funds held in its custody or to withdraw any assignment given to it, without any additional cost to such client, Sebi said.

In addition, the entity will have to make provisions with regard to liability incurred or assumed by it.

A copy of the order passed under this regulation will be sent to the noticee and also uploaded on the website of Sebi.

The intimation of the cancellation of the certificate of registration will be sent to the stock exchanges or the clearing corporations or the depository, as the case may be.

To give effect to this, the regulator has notified the Sebi (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2021. The new rule has come into effect from May 5.

In a separate notification, Sebi has notified rules, whereby intermediaries will have to pay fees only through an online payment gateway and done away with the physical mode of payment to encourage digital payment.

(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.)
Shares of moved higher by 8 per cent to Rs 1,185, their fresh record high on the BSE, in intra-day trade on Friday. The stock has gained 11 per cent in the past two trading days after the company reported its best-ever performance across metrics such as revenue, Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation), and net profit (excluding exceptional items).

At 12:11 pm, traded 6 per cent higher and was the top gainer in the Nifty50 pack of stocks. The benchmark index traded 0.40 per cent higher at the same time, meanwhile, its BSE counterpart Sensex was up 0.30 per cent.

With the past two days' gain, has now rallied 97 per cent since the Finance minister presented the Union Budget 2021-22 on February 1. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex is up 6.3 per cent during the same period.

Tata Steel reported a higher-than-expected consolidated net profit, attributable to owners of the company, at Rs 6,644 crore in the March quarter (Q4) of FY21 as against a net loss of Rs 1,481 crore in the corresponding period last year. Revenue from operations jumped 39 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 49,977 crore on the back of higher steel prices and strong volumes, leading to strong operational gains.

Tata Steels consolidated EBITDA for Q4FY21 came in at Rs 14,184 crore, up 48 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 196 per cent YoY. Tata Steel's standalone operations reported EBITDA/tonne of Rs 27,775/tonne while the European operations reported EBITDA/tonne of US$66/tonne.

The management has guided for an increase in the June quarter (Q1FY22) realisations by Rs 6,000-7,000/tonne and spreads to improve by Rs 4,000-4,500/tonne on a sequential basis.

Given the strong results, analysts now believe that Tata Steel will likely report an even-better April to June quarter performance as steel prices continue to rise. We estimate the impact of iron ore sales at Rs 600/tonne sequentially. Its cash cost per tonne rose 8 per cent QoQ to Rs 36,318. With spot steel prices around Rs 9,000/tonne, higher than the Q4 average, Q1FY22 is poised to be even better, said global brokerage CLSA in its report.

With captive iron ore availability, Tatas India operations are a play on steel prices, said brokerage Motilal Oswal Financial Securities. "Given the prevailing higher prices, we expect the margin to be strong. We estimate Q1FY22 EBITDA at Rs 17,500 crore (+23 per cent QoQ), with standalone EBITDA/t of Rs 33,370/t. While Tata Steel Europes EBITDA should be strong in FY22E, sustenance would be key to meeting cash outflow requirements (capex, debt, and interest). Deleveraging should remain strong, despite the resumption of growth capex. We expect net debt to decline by a further Rs 18,800 crore in FY22E to Rs 63,800 crore," it added.

China's withdrawal of export rebates could drive a structural change in the international steel market; this could translate into lower Chinese exports and support global steel prices for longer, as per analysts at Antique Stock Broking.

"International iron ore prices remain elevated which would push up the cost curve for non-integrated players. Domestic steel prices are at a discount to import parity prices allowing companies to push through price hikes. Iron ore integration in the domestic operations enables the company to capture the increase in steel prices in profits," they said in a result review.
For more than 20 days, 56-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Rakesh Kumar, has been performing the last rites of people who had no one to cremate them at the national capital's Lodhi Crematorium amid the devastating second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

Since April 13, Kumar had performed last rites of more than 50 bodies and assisted in the cremation of at least 1,100 bodies at the crematorium.

Kumar, posted at Hazrat Nizamuddin police station, even postponed his daughter's wedding which was scheduled to be held on May 7. Kumar said that he does not want to leave his post.

"DelhiPolice ASI Rakesh 56yr old, father of 3, lives in PS Nizamuddin barrack. On duty at Lodhi Road crematorium since 13 April, has helped over 1100 last rites, himself lit pyre for over 50. Postponed daughter's marriage due yesterday to attend to covid duties," wrote on its Twitter handle.

"I have helped nearly 1,100 people. I have taken both shots of vaccines and taking all precautions. I have postponed my daughter's marriage to help people here," Kumar told ANI.

Commissioner SN Shrivastava also praised Kumar and tweeted: "COVID time has thrown up some real heroes. ASI Rakesh deserves highest degree of praise and encouragement. Infact it is men like him who keep the society going. Something that many need to learn @LtGovDelhi @HMOIndia @PMOIndia."

India is currently facing an unprecedented rise in the daily numbers. Amid the surging casualties due to the deadly covid-19 virus, health infrastructure has been crumbled. But in this chaos, there are many warriors like Kumar who are working day and night just to defeat the virus.

(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.)
Tata Steel Ltd is quoting at Rs 1171.7, up 6.43% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The stock is up 329.35% in last one year as compared to a 60.01% spurt in NIFTY and a 215.46% spurt in the Nifty Metal index.

Tata Steel Ltd gained for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 1171.7, up 6.43% on the day as on 12:49 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is up around 0.53% on the day, quoting at 14803.35. The Sensex is at 49183.71, up 0.48%. Tata Steel Ltd has risen around 27.58% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Metal index of which Tata Steel Ltd is a constituent, has risen around 17.66% in last one month and is currently quoting at 5095, up 3.81% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 362.64 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 271.76 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 1177.5, up 6.25% on the day. Tata Steel Ltd is up 329.35% in last one year as compared to a 60.01% spurt in NIFTY and a 215.46% spurt in the Nifty Metal index.

The PE of the stock is 11.47 based on TTM earnings ending March 21.

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The pandemic has exposed larger questions about the governance of and accountability to its residents. A city with multiple centres of power has been unable to create even one centralised service or helpline number that would end the crowdsourcing and scrambling for assistance. It seems that has too many governments and not enough governance, argues our lead editorial

The Tejas is a light multirole fighter with Gen-4 technology and innovation, such as its unique aerodynamic configuration, the use of composite materials and its advanced avionics. With its design in Indian hands, it can be easily modified into variants, such as a naval fighter or a lead-in fighter trainer, writes Ajai Shukla

The experience gathered from the series of talks with the agitating farm union leaders and the interaction with genuine farmers in the grain markets should help the government in strategising the culmination of the prolonged farm agitation, notes our second editorial
The (BJP) has hit out at Chief Minister for his remark that Prime Minister did not listen to him during a phone call over the Covid-19 situation.

On Thursday, Modi spoke to the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the Covid-19 situation. Soren tweeted about the telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister at Thursday midnight and received criticism from the BJP.

"Respected Prime Minister called today. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki baat'. It would have been better if he had talked about work done and listened to the other side," Soren tweeted at 11.19 p.m. on Thursday.

Within an hour, Assam Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, tweeted: "Your tweet is not only against basic dignity, but also to make fun of the suffering of the people of the state for whom the Prime Minister called you to know about. You have lowered the dignity of the Chief Minister's post."

Wishing that Chief Minister will retract his statement, Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, tweeted: "In my experience as a Chief Minister for several terms, Honourable Prime Minister has always been sensitive to the concerns of the states, particularly the northeast. I disagree with and I hope he retracts his statement."

Former Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Babulal Marandi, tweeted: " is a failed Chief Minister. Failure in governance. Failure in tackling Covid-19 in the state. Failure to assist people. To hide his failures he demeans the office he holds. Wake up and work, Hemant Soren. The clock is ticking."

BJP General Secretary (Organisation), B.L. Santosh tweeted: "This is the level to which some politicians are stooping. PM calls and has detailed talk regarding Covid-19 crisis and this Chief Minister tweets so. Lacks minimum grace required for the position he holds."

--IANS

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(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.)
has held up approvals for import of wifi modules from for months, driving companies such as U.S. computer makers and and Chinas Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and to delay product launches in a key growth market, two industry sources said.

Imports from of finished electronic devices - like bluetooth speakers, wireless earphones, smartphones, smartwatches and laptops - containing wifi modules are being delayed, the sources said.

The Communications Ministrys Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) Wing has withheld approval since at least November, according to the sources, who were familiar with lobbying efforts by firms seeking clearance.

More than 80 such applications by U.S., Chinese and Korean firms have been pending with the WPC since then, one of the sources said. Even applications from some Indian firms, which bring in some finished products from China, are awaiting WPC approval, the sources added.

Dell, HP, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and did not respond to requests for comment.

The communications ministry did not respond to a request for comment either. And both sources said the government had still to respond to representations made by industry lobby groups and individual companies.

Indias hard stance on Chinese imports comes amid Prime Minister Narendra Modis call for greater economic self-reliance.

His nationalist policies have helped boost the growth of smartphone assembly in the South Asian nation, and the sources believe the governments intention is to persuade companies to locate more of their production of electronic devices in

The governments idea is to push companies to manufacture these products in India, one of the sources said.

But tech companies are caught in a difficult situation - making in would mean big-ticket investments and a long wait for returns, on the other hand the government-imposed hurdle on imports means a potential loss of revenues.

India previously allowed companies to self-declare wireless equipment, a move that made imports easier, but new rules in March 2019 mandated firms to seek government approval.

While Indias market and export potential have turned it into the worlds second-biggest mobile maker, tech analysts and industry insiders say it does not yet have the size or scale for companies to invest big in making IT products and smart wearable devices.

Wary of Tech

The long delay in WPC approvals also underscores Indias strategy to cut Chinas influence in its tech economy, especially after a border clash with Beijing last year though tensions have eased since.

Modis government this week omitted Chinese gearmaker Huawei from a list of participants in its 5G trials, though European and Korean rivals were permitted.

And once 5G deployment begins in India, New Delhi will likely block mobile carriers from using Huaweis telecoms gear, Reuters previously reported.

U.S. firms Apple, Cisco and were last year caught up in Indias border tensions with China, as Indian ports held up imports of their products from China.

In another example, reported by Reuters late last year, Indias tight control of quality clearances for electronic goods from China slowed the import of an Apple iPhone model.

Now that firms have obtained safety clearances from Indias quality control agency, getting WPC approval has become the main obstacle to importing electronic devices from China.
India has welcomed the US support for a relaxation in the norms of the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement to ensure quick and affordable access to Covid-19 vaccines and medicines for developing countries.

"We are hopeful that with a consensus based approach, the waiver can be approved quickly at the WTO (World Trade Organisation). The waiver is an important step for enabling rapid scaling up of manufacture and timely availability of affordable Covid-19 vaccines and essential medical products," a commerce ministry statement said.

ALSO READ: Arvind Subramanian, Justin Sandefur tell US to end Covid-19 'vaccine apartheid'

In view of the global health crisis and the need to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, India and South Africa in 2020 had proposed in WTO a relaxation in the norms of the agreement on TRIPS. The proposal has received the support of over 120 countries.

During his recent phone call on April 26 with US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told him about India's initiative at the WTO, which was aimed at the benefit of humanity.

ALSO READ: 'COVID-19 shared problem; what you call aid, we call friendship': EAM S Jaishankar

The United States on Thursday announced the support for waiving intellectual property (IP) protection for Covid-19 vaccines. The decision is a breakthrough in India and South Africa's attempts to get World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries to agree to such a waiver to fight the pandemic equitably.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai stated the Biden-Harris administration has decided to announce the support. "This is a global health crisis and the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic call for extraordinary measures. The administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines," Tai stated.

Also read: US to support India-South Africa WTO proposal to waive off patent protection rules on Covid-19 vaccines

After the US support, European Union will be the only major trade bloc that continues to oppose the move at WTO. Tai has indicated the US administration will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the WTO needed to make that happen. "Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved," the statement said.

Also read: US companies form global task force to help India combat COVID crisis

ALSO READ: COVID-19 news: Centre allocates foreign aid among states, UTs
The Supreme Court (SC) has on Friday asked the Centre to ensure it supplies 700 MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to the national capital everyday until further orders. The order comes amid criticism of the Centre for supplying less oxygen to Delhi than the demand. The national capital is facing oxygen shortage because of a steep rise in COVID-19 cases, with many patients losing their lives as hospitals run out of oxygen.

Supreme Court refuses to entertain the petition filed by the Centre, against the direction of Karnataka High Court's May 5 order directing supply of oxygen to the state to up to 1200 MT per day from the sanctioned allocation of 965 MT. a ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

Taking note of the submission by the Delhi government on the deficient supply of LMO, a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud warned it will pass orders against officials concerned if 700 MT of LMO is not supplied daily. The apex court had recently stayed contempt proceedings against central government officials initiated by the Delhi High Court over the issue.

Also read: New Covid strain: Delhi makes 14-day quarantine mandatory for those coming from Andhra, Telangana

As the Centre complies with the SC order, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday thanked the Centre for supplying Delhi with 730 metric tonnes of oxygen and requested hospitals to increase COVID beds that they had to cut down due to shortage of the life-saving gas in the past few days.

If 700 MT of daily oxygen supply is ensured by the Centre, Delhi government can set up around 9,000-9,500 more oxygen beds, he said.

The Delhi High Court had last week issued a show cause notice to Centre for not supplying 490 MT oxygen to Delhi as per its order or 700 MT as per the Supreme Court's order. It had also sought the personal appearance of Centre's officials.

Meanwhile, in another setback to the Centre, the SC on Friday refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court order, asking the Centre to increase the daily liquid medical oxygen (LMO) allocation for the state from 965 MT to 1200 MT for treating COVID-19 patients.

A bench comprising justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said the High Court order of May 5 is well calibrated, deliberated and judicious exercise of power. The SC refused to accept the Centre's contention that if every High Court starts passing orders for allocating oxygen, it will throw the supply network of the country haywire.

Also read:COVID-triggered 'black fungus' cases reported in Delhi; what's this 'dangerous' fungal infection?

Also read: India reports highest 4.14 new Covid-19 cases, 3,915 deaths in 24 hours
Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government on Friday told Supreme Court that there should be a uniform coronavirus vaccination policy across the country and the central government must take immediate measures to ensure that vaccines are provided to states free of cost.

The West Bengal government, in an affidavit to the apex court ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on the COVID vaccine policy next Monday, said, "States cannot made to negotiate and bargain individually on vaccine prices. States will be compelled to allocate funds for vaccines, which will have a crippling effect on an already stretched health infrastructure."

The new differential pricing mechanism of the COVID-19 vaccines in the latest phase of inoculations must also be scrapped, it added.

India's apex court had earlier this week raised questions about the pricing of COVID vaccines in the country and had directed the Centre to revisit its policy, saying it would cause chaos.

Supreme Court on Monday compelled states to negotiate with manufacturers on grounds of promoting competition and making it attractive for new vaccine makers would result in "serious detriment" to those being vaccinated.

"Prima facie, the rational method of proceeding in a manner consistent with the right to life (which includes the right to health) under Article 21 would be for the central government to procure all vaccines and to negotiate the price with vaccine manufacturers," it added.

Many states, after the Centre opened vaccinations to all adults on May 1, complained about differential pricing in its new policy.

Last month, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had tweeted, "One nation, one party, one leader shouts BJP all the time but to save lives they can't have one price for vaccine. Every Indian needs free vaccine, regardless of age, caste, creed, location. GoI must fix ONE price for Covid vaccine irrespective of who pays - Centre or the States."

One nation, one party, one leader shouts BJP all the time but to save lives they can't have one price for vaccine. Every Indian needs free vaccine, regardless of age, caste, creed, location. GoI must fix ONE price for Covid vaccine irrespective of who pays- Centre or the States. - Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) April 22, 2021

Until April, the Central government was buying COVID-19 vaccines Covishield and Covaxin from manufacturers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, respectively, and distributing them to states for free.

However, under its new policy for the third phase of vaccination, manufacturers will have to supply 50 per cent of total manufactured doses to states and private entities, who will be responsible for vaccinating those between 18 and 44 years of age. The rest of the doses can be sold at cheaper rates to the centre, which still is inoculating healthcare workers, frontline workers, and all above 45 years of age.

Also Read: India's COVID-19 cases to peak in coming days, reduce to 20,000 per day by June-end: forecast

Also Read: Dentists recommend changing toothbrush after recovering from COVID-19; find out why

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: Over 90 lakh doses still with states, UTs, says HealthMin
After being urged by the Delhi High Court earlier today to consider relaxing cash transaction cap of Rs 2 lakh to help COVID patients, the central government issued a gazette notification facilitating cash payments over Rs 2 lakh to hospitals for COVID treatment a short while back.

All hospitals, nursing units, dispensaries and COVID care centres will be able to accept cash over Rs 2 lakh from the patient's family. The exemption will be applicable on all transactions made between April 1 and May 31 this year.

Secton 269ST of The Income-tax Act, 1961, prohibits any cash transanction over Rs 2 lakh in a single day. The provision, introduced in 2017, also has penal provisions for violation of the concerned section.

ALSO READ: COVID-19 surge: Karnataka imposes 14-day lockdown starting May 10

A gazette notification from the Ministry of Finance said, "The central government, in exercise of powers conferred by clause (iii) of Proviso to Section 269ST of the Income-tax Act, 1961, hereby specifies hospitals, dispensaries, nursing homes, COVID care centres or similar other medical facilities providing COVID treatment to patients for the purpose of Section 269ST of the Income-tax Act,1961 for payment received in cash during 01.04.2021 to 31.05.2021, on obtaining the PAN or Aadhaar of the patient and the payee and the relationship between the patient and the payee by such hospitals, dispensaries, nursing homes, COVID care centres or similar other medical facilities."

It is evident from the notification that for the purpose of cash receipt over Rs 2 lakh, three conditions need to be fulfilled. PAN and Aadhaar of the patient is must. If the payment is being made by a relative of the patient, then PAN and Aadhar of the payee will be mandatory for such payments. Also, relationship of the payee with the patient has to be declared.

ALSO READ: COVID-19 impact: LIC relaxes claim settlement requirements

CA Ved Jain, former president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), told Business Today, "Considering the crisis of the century, the approach should be very liberal. The circular should have given a general exemption without any condition."

"Now from where patient gets PAN, Aadhaar if it not readily available. Immediate treatment is far more important. There may be cases where not one but many relatives will be contributing for treatment of one patient. How this condition will be complied with in such a situation," Jain added.

Earlier today, the Delhi High Court heard a plea seeking relaxation to section 269 ST of the IT Act, 1961. The court asked Ministry of Finance to apprise it of the matter on Monday.

ALSO READ: Arunachal Pradesh imposes night curfew for entire month
RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) organised online and offline protests against Bill Gates and Bill Melinda Gates Foundation against the Microsoft co-founder's reported statement that he is not in favour of sharing vaccine formula with India and other developing countries. The Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman, in a statement issued in the US, said the Foundation wants no barriers to stand in the way of equitable access to vaccines, including intellectual property, which is why it supports a narrow IP waiver during the pandemic.

The SJM wanted the government to permit to use licence under Section 100 or compulsory licence under Section 92 of Patents Act to scale up production of medicines like Remdesivir, Faviracire, Tociluzumab and new medicines like Molnupiravir. They called for facilitation of technology transfer of vaccines including the trade secrets to all potential manufacturers to scale up the production of Covaxin and Covishield.

The protestors asked the government to license vaccine production widely to more pharma companies with technological capabilities, instead of a few companies, provide regulatory clearance to start local production of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, impose price ceiling on COVID-19 medicines and vaccines taking into account the cost of production based formula, transfer the technologies for the production of medicines and vaccines globally. They also articulated the need to waive off IP and facilitation of technology transfer in all relevant international forums at the global level and accelerate diplomatic efforts at G7, G20 and other groupings.

They accused that while developed countries, who were also trying to block IPR waiver for COVID vaccines and medicines, have amended their stance and have announced support to India and South Africa's proposal in WTO, the stance of MNCs and their representative Bill Gates is far from being positive. "They are making all out efforts to maximise their profits by exploiting the worst situation faced by the humanity, especially developing and poor countries," Vikas Chaudhary, Convenor, Delhi State, said.

Protesters were carrying placards deploring Bill Gates' statement and favouring patent free access to vaccine and medicines.

Gates Foundation's Suzman stated that from the earliest days of the pandemic, the foundation has been working to address the other barriers standing in the way of COVID-19 vaccine supply, including building up manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries, facilitating technology transfers between companies, securing raw materials, and financing procurement and delivery so that safe and effective vaccines make it to people everywhere.

"We are committed to supporting the continued expansion of vaccine manufacturing capacity in countries around the world, including on the African continent. This will not be an immediate fix, but it is important to prepare for future outbreaks. Getting vaccines to everyone who needs them is one of the causes Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates have committed their lives to. The Gates Foundation will use its resources to ensure that work continues and succeeds," the statement added.

Also Read: Old tales of Bill Gates' relationship with ex-girlfriend resurface after divorce

Also read: Bill and Melinda Gates file for divorce, end their 27-year-old marriage
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that his country's COVID-19 vaccines are as reliable as Russia's iconic Kalashnikov rifle, reports news agency TASS. Till now, Russia has indigenously developed four COVID-19 vaccines, including the Sputnik V.

Addressing a video conference with Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova on Thursday, Putin said, "Our medications are based on technologies and platforms that have been used literally for decades. They are also very modern and up-to-date, and undoubtedly, they are the most reliable and the safest."

"They are as reliable as an AK-47. By the way, it wasn't us who said that, this was said by a European specialist. And I think that he is certainly right," TASS quoted the Russian President as saying. The 'AK-47' is one of the most well know guns in the world having been used by various groups across the map.

Putin made this statement on the day Russian medical authorities gave regulatory approval to a single-dose version of the country's Sputnik V vaccine. The single-dose version of the COVID-19 vaccine is being called Sputnik Light. It is identical to the first dose of the two-dose Sputnik V vaccine. Sputnik Light is yet to complete advanced clinical trials.

Last year, Russia had faced criticism from the international medical community for authorising Sputnik V before the advanced trial of the vaccine had even started.

Public perception regarding the Sputnik V vaccine started to change after the data from the advanced trial was published in medical journal The Lancet. The paper published in The Lancet had stated that the Sputnik V vaccine "appears safe and effective" and was 91 per cent effective in preventing coronavirus infection.

Sputnik V is among the three COVID-19 vaccines that have been granted emergency use approval in India. Dr Reddy's Laboratories has partnered with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) for the procurement and production of Sputnik V in India.

EpiVacCorona and CoviVac are the other two COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by the Russian regulators before completing large-scale testing.

Also read: COVID-19 crisis: PM Modi making 'mockery of democratic principles', says P Chidambaram

Also read: Moderna hikes 2021 COVID-19 vaccine sales forecast to $19.2 bn




Underworld don and gangster Rajendra Nikalje, also known as Chhota Rajan, is still alive.

He was admitted to AIIMS on 26 April after being tested positive for COVID-19.

According to news reports, it was said that Chhota Rajan has died due to Covid-19.

However, as per news agency ANI, Chhota Rajan is still alive. "He is admitted at AIIMS for treatment of #COVID19: AIIMS official," it said in a tweet.

Underworld don Chhota Rajan is still alive. He is admitted at AIIMS for treatment of #COVID19: AIIMS official (File photo) pic.twitter.com/gvAgKDuPqC - ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

Rajan, 61, has been lodged in New Delhi's high-security Tihar prison since his arrest after deportation from Bali, Indonesia in 2015.

Last year, Rajan was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist J Dey in 2011.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was investigating 68 cases against him, out of which conviction was ordered by courts in 4 cases and charge sheet had been filed in 35 cases and, said people familiar with the development.

Also Read: India's COVID-19 cases to peak in coming days, reduce to 20,000 per day by June-end: forecast

Also Read: Dentists recommend changing toothbrush after recovering from COVID-19; find out why

Also Read: COVID-19 vaccine: Over 90 lakh doses still with states, UTs, says HealthMin
Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. rose nearly 3 per cent in early trade after the company announced that it open Advanced Design Centre for Mobility Products in UK. The auto major announced the setting up of Mahindra Advanced Design Europe (M.A.D.E) in the West Midlands, U.K.

The stock opened with a gain of 1.4 per cent today at Rs 757.60 on BSE. It has given 24 per cent returns over the last six months and risen 90 per cent over the last 12 months. On a year-to-date basis, the auto major has gained around 6 per cent.

The company informed that M.A.D.E is a strategic enhancement of Mahindra's global design capabilities and renews its commitment to bring to its customers, sophisticated, authentic SUVs with an unmissable presence. M.A.D.E will further sharpen Mahindra's distinctive product designs and differentiated technology offerings to further its safe, thrilling, yet efficient connected car experiences.

"M.A.D.E will contribute and leverage the skills, experience, and expertise of this network of design talent. It will also support the creation of highly skilled design roles, drawing from Coventry University, Royal College of Art, and other design colleges in the U.K. and Europe," the company added.

"Mahindra is poised to enter a new, exciting era to build upon our rich 75 years of automotive history to bring unique customer-centric products to the Indian and global markets. A key lever to make the business future-ready is to significantly strengthen design capability across automotive, farm equipment and two-wheelers globally," said Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.

"M.A.D.E will contribute to all future automotive and mobility products including Born EV SUVs and be a resource available to Mahindra Group companies. It will give us a quantum leap in both capacity and capability in the design space," he added.

M.A.D.E. will be operational from July 1st, 2021. The new Centre of Excellence (CoE), will be a part of the Mahindra Global Design Network that includes the Mahindra Design Studio in Mumbai, India, and Pininfarina Design in Turin, Italy.
Global real estate advisor, CBRE has confirmed that following an off-market process, Midwest Holding AG has sold The Moxy Dublin City to The MHL Hotel Collection for a price in the region of 35m.

The hotel benefits from its association with Marriott Worldwide being branded as the Moxy Hotel and the first Moxy in Ireland. Whilst this was an off-market sale, the process attracted strong interest from a significant number of established domestic and international property investors, hotel funds, and private equity companies. CBRE says the process highlights that the level of international interest remains robust for Dublin as an attractive location for hotel investment.



The Moxy Dublin City enjoys a position fronting Sackville Place and Marlborough Street, immediately behind the new Clerys development. The hotel, which opened in October 2019 comprises 157 stylishly designed bedrooms with extensive bar/restaurant space on the ground floor.



The MHL Hotel Collection is the second largest hotel group in Dublin city centre with approximately 1,400 bedrooms across seven hotels. It also owns hotels in Galway, Limerick and Enniskerry (Powerscourt).



Commenting on the sale, Senior Analyst at CBRE Ireland, Alexandra Sheeran said, "The Moxy Dublin City is the first major deal to close in just over a year in the Dublin Hotel Market. The level of interest shown from investors gives us great confidence for future transactions in Dublin and its new owners MHL, will benefit considerably from the major developments planned in the immediate area including the redevelopment of Clerys Department Store and the exciting plans Hammerson have for their Dublin Central site."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
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Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that under the new circumstances, he is ready to work with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel to strengthen the guidance of the development direction of China-Cuba relations.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, told Diaz-Canel, also first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) Central Committee, in a telephone conversation that he is willing to consolidate and develop friendly relations between the two countries, and jointly open up new horizons and make new contributions to the cause of socialism.

On behalf of the CPC and the Chinese people, Xi once again congratulated the successful convening of the Eighth Congress of the PCC, and Miguel Diaz-Canel's election as first secretary of the PCC Central Committee.

The Eighth Congress of the PCC has made strategic deployment and planning for the development of the cause of the PCC and the country at present and for a time to come, which is of great significance to Cuba's socialist cause, Xi said.

Xi said he believes that under the leadership of the new PCC Central Committee led by Diaz-Canel, the PCC and the Cuban government will lead the Cuban people to forge ahead in unity and steer the cause of socialism with Cuban characteristics towards new achievements.

Xi also asked Diaz-Canel to convey his cordial greetings to Comrade Raul Castro.

China and Cuba are good friends, comrades and brothers, bound closely together by their common ideals and beliefs, Xi said.

The Chinese leader said that in recent years, he and Diaz-Canel have reached many consensuses on developing China-Cuba relations in the new era, which have helped push forward the development of bilateral relations.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, and is the first year for China to implement its 14th Five-Year Plan and embark on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country, Xi said, adding that this year also marks the 60th anniversary of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro's announcement that the Cuban Revolution had socialist characteristics.

This year is also a year in which Cuba continuously promotes the renewal of its economic and social model and makes important strides in building a prosperous and sustainable socialist country, Xi said.

The CPC stands ready to strengthen communication and discussion with the PCC on major theoretical and practical issues, Xi said, adding that China is willing to take the joint building of the Belt and Road as an opportunity to steadily push forward practical cooperation between the two sides in various fields.

China will maintain close communication and coordination with Cuba on important international and regional issues, and firmly safeguard world peace, fairness and justice, Xi said.

China will, as always, support Cuba in defending its national sovereignty and independence and following a socialist path that suits its national situation, and jointly promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said.

For his part, Diaz-Canel conveyed Raul Castro's best wishes to Xi, and briefed the Chinese leader on the Eighth Congress of the PCC.

He said the congress focused on Cuba's economic development, the Party building and the policies towards cadres, which has formulated new plans and policies for updating Cuba's economic and social model, and strengthened the country's belief in sticking to the path of socialism.

Diaz-Canel spoke highly of the historic achievements made by the Chinese people under the leadership of the CPC in the past 100 years.

He underlined China's great achievements in building a modern socialist country under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, expressing his firm belief that under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi at the core, China will eventually achieve greater progress.

Diaz-Canel said he appreciates China's long-term and firm support for Cuba's just cause, including its timely assistance to Cuba's fight against the COVID-19 epidemic.

Cuba firmly supports the one-China policy and opposes all acts of interference in China's internal affairs, he said.

The PCC is willing to strengthen the exchange of experience with the CPC in running a country, make good use of mechanisms such as the Cuba-China intergovernmental commission for economic and trade relations, and promote practical cooperation in such areas as jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to push forward the relations between the two parties and the two countries.
For emerging Asian economies figuring out how to decarbonize their economies, Japan has a unique solution that may come in handy  carbon dioxide-free thermal power generation, the head of countrys largest electric utility said.

In an interview with Caixin, Satoshi Onoda, president of JERA Co. Inc. said the company is open to cooperating with China on power generation that uses hydrogen and ammonia fuels, two pillars of Japans zero-emission plan. The goal is the same so lets step forward together, he said.

Onodas invitation came after East Asias largest and second-largest economies joined the global race for decarbonization. China pledged in September to bring its carbon emissions to a peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, whereas Japan in October promised to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Onoda observed that the two countries are on different paths to achieve these goals.

"China is a vast country, so it is possible to build a lot of renewable energy facilities in the desert and mountainous areas, thus flatting fluctuations, he said, referrring to the intermittant generation problem that plagues renewable projects.

Meanwhile, in Japan, it is difficult to completely replace all conventional power sources with renewable energy due to the countrys geography and climate. Therefore, it makes sense to gradually introduce carbon dioxide-free fuels like hydrogen while maintaining existing thermal power generation facilities. At the same time, carbon dioxide-free power generation can help augment total electricity output.

JERA was founded in 2015 as a 50-50 joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc., known as TEPCO, and Chubu Electric Power Co. Inc. to create an independent group to operate their thermal power plants and consolidate their respective liquefied natural gas (LNG) procurement arms into a single entity. This integration was prompted by the earthquake in 2011 that led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which shook up the countrys nuclear power industry and shredded TEPCO's reputation.

Today, with 27 thermal power stations, JERA is Japans largest power utility, responsible for more than 10% of the country's overall carbon dioxide emissions. The company surprised the industry in October by unveiling a decarbonization roadmap just weeks before Prime Minister Yoshihide Sugas made his decarbonization pledge. JERA plans to gradually develop its ammonia-fueled power stations before starting to work on hydrogen-fueled stations, with the goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

JERA also has an eye on expanding its offshore wind power generation business, another pillar of Japans carbon neutrality goal. The Tokyo-headquartered company is participating in three offshore wind power projects in Taiwan and hopes to use the know-how it has gained in future projects off the coast of Akita, Japans potential offshore wind power hub.

Onoda says the company hopes to eventually expand overseas, including in Southeast Asia, Australia, and the U.S. He believes JERAs unique transition model could resonate with emerging Asian economies in particular. We can help those countries that are actively pursuing energy policies, such as Bangladesh and Vietnam, not just as a single project but as a portfolio.

Contact reporter Chen Lixiong (takehiro.masutomo@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

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Top U.S. general says no attack against U.S. forces in Afghanistan since drawdown started

Xinhua) 10:23, May 07, 2021

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley testifies before the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., the United States, on Feb. 26, 2020. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said the U.S. military would deploy six additional B-52 bombers and 12 F-18 fighters to offer contingency support during the withdrawal.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Taliban had not launched any attack against U.S. and coalition forces since the drawdown began, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Thursday.

"There have been no attacks against U.S. and coalition forces since the retrograde began on or about May 1, and that is also consistent for the past year," Milley said during a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Taliban continued its attacks against the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

At least 11 Afghan security forces members were killed in militants' attacks in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday night, Afghan authorities confirmed on Thursday.

Both Milley and Austin reaffirmed that U.S. assistance for the ANSF would continue after the withdrawal. "We hope through our continued support, the Afghan security forces can be effective ... but we expect that this will be a challenge for them," said Austin.

Milley told reporters that the primary objective for the U.S. military in Afghanistan at this point is to complete a safe and coordinated withdrawal no later than September.

The handover ceremony of a key operating base of the U.S. forces is held at Camp Antonik in Helmand province, Afghanistan, May 2, 2021. (Afghanistan's Ministry of Defense/Handout via Xinhua)

According to Milley, a military base in Helmand, Afghanistan had been closed, and approximately 60 C-17 transport aircraft had departed with various equipment. "Over 1,300 pieces of equipment have been transferred either to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction or to the ANSF for their use."

The top general said the U.S. military would deploy six additional B-52 bombers and 12 F-18 fighters to offer contingency support during the withdrawal.

The military earlier had sent B-52 bombers and extended the deployment of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to the region to increase force protection. The White House said last week that elements of an Army Ranger Task Force would also temporarily deploy to Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden in April announced the withdrawal would begin on May 1, the deadline date for a full U.S. withdrawal under an agreement reached between the former Donald Trump administration and the Afghan Taliban.

The Taliban had warned of consequences if the Biden administration fails to follow through that deadline.

About 3,500 U.S. forces and 7,000 NATO troops will be withdrawn before Sept. 11, the day which is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the United States into the war in Afghanistan.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
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The Iraqi Ministry of Health said Thursday that Iraq is still in danger despite the recent decrease in daily COVID-19 infections.

"The past few days witnessed a relative decrease in COVID-19 infections, but this does not mean that the pandemic has been contained," the ministry's spokesman Sayf al-Badr told the official Iraqi News Agency (INA).

"The threat of the pandemic still exists, and the neighboring countries and the world are still suffering as well," al-Badr said, adding that the emergence of the new double mutant variant firstly identified in India poses a new challenge.

Al-Badr stressed the importance of citizens' compliance to the health-protective measures, including social distancing and receiving vaccines available in the country.

Al-Badr's comments came as the ministry reported between 4,500 and 6,000 daily COVID-19 infections during the past days, down from 7,000 to over 8,000 in the previous days.

The health ministry reported on Thursday 6,233 new cases, raising the total infections to 1,098,187.

It also reported 33 new deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 15,673, while the total recoveries in Iraq climbed by 7,093 to 986,134.

A total of 9,565,625 tests have been carried out across the country since the outbreak of the disease in February 2020, with 40,987 done during the day.

Iraq has been pushing forward its vaccination drive after its drug authority approved the emergency use of China's Sinopharm vaccines and other COVID-19 vaccines.


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Maldives former president and parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed was injured Thursday in an explosion in capital Male, authorities said.

Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla said in a tweet that Nasheed was receiving treatment at the ADK Hospital in capital Male. "We will keep the public informed on (former) President Nasheed's condition as we receive updates," she said.

"Police are currently active on the scene and we urge the public to refrain from going to that area for the time being. We will keep updating the public," Maldives Police said in a Twitter post.

Local media reports said the explosion originated in a motorcycle parked close to Nasheed's car near his residence in the capital. The explosion went off as Nasheed was entering his car, injuring him as well as his bodyguard and a bystander.

Nasheed, 53, became Maldives president in 2008 after winning the country's first multi-party elections. He became parliament speaker, the second most powerful position in the country, after his party won the elections in April 2019.

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has strongly condemned the attack. "Cowardly attacks like these have no place in our society. My thoughts and prayers are with (former) President Nasheed and others injured in this attack, as well as their families," he said in a statement on Twitter.
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The birthrate in the United States fell 4 percent last year, marking the biggest annual decrease in decades, suggesting "the coronavirus pandemic has taken the country's already existing downward trend into overdrive," The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The latest provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed the birthrate in 2020 dropped for the sixth consecutive year. The steepest decline occurred in the last part of the year, when the first babies conceived during the U.S. outbreak would have been born.

Before the pandemic, American women were already having fewer children, doing it later in life or choosing to not have children at all. The newly released data indicated a sharpening of that trend. The U.S. birthrate fell across races, ethnicities and almost all age groups.

Roughly 3.6 million babies were born in the United States in 2020, a decline from about 3.75 million in 2019. It is the lowest number of births since 1979. It is also the largest one-year drop in births, in percentage terms, since 1965, the year the baby boom ended, Philip N. Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, was quoted as saying.

"While the pandemic may have accelerated the decline, it did not cause it; the slowdown had been ongoing for decades before the pandemic," reported the Post. Even before the coronavirus's onset, the birthrate had fallen to 1.73 births per woman, after peaking in 1957 at 3.77 births per woman. It dipped in 1980, increased slightly a decade later and has since continued on a steady decline.

"Some of the things that might be driving down birthrates in the long run -- like economic insecurity, the cost of health care, housing, child care and education, and our awful work-family policies -- are probably things that were exacerbated in the last year," Cohen said.

By disrupting American society in so many ways, the pandemic has led some people to hold off on plans, experts believe, with the prospect of children more daunting in the face of job losses, closed child-care centers and schools and social isolation, according to the report.

"It also slowed down the social metabolism, so there was less social interaction, and that means less sex, less coupling and marriage and pregnancies," Cohen said. "I'm sure there is both a conscious and unconscious element to this, and we just don't have enough data yet to know for sure what that balance is."
Do you have an athlete in mind that contributes to the team or sport, holds sportsmanship and team spirit, has epic playmaker moments and/or in general makes the the sports fun? If yes, please make your nominations for our edition of Athlete Spotlight.

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Could tiny houses be coming to Beaufort? Owner of Carteret County Home property eyes it as option
A processional approaches the Holmes Convocational Center for the funeral services of Watauga County Sheriff's Deputies Sgt. Chris Ward and K-9 Deputy Logan Fox in Boone, N.C., Thursday, May 6, 2021. The two deputies were killed in the line of duty. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
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A Chinese spokesperson on Thursday said any attempt to meddle in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty, or tarnish China's image under various excuses is doomed to fail. It was in response to a recent statement by the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) concerning China.



The joint statement was issued by the G7 foreign ministers' meeting Wednesday. It expressed concerns over Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong, and situations in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. It also voiced support for Taiwan to participate in the World Health Assembly.

In response, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily press briefing the G7 meeting made groundless accusations against China. They openly meddled in China's internal affairs and resorted to bloc politics that turned back the wheels of history, said Wang.

"This constitutes a gross interference in China's national sovereignty and wanton destruction of the norms governing international relations, which goes against the trend of peace, development, and cooperation for win-win results," said Wang, adding China condemns such practice.

Issues related to Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong are all China's internal affairs, Wang noted. He added that China enjoys sufficient factual and legal basis for sovereignty and rights claimed in the Diaoyu and affiliated islands, the South China Sea islands, and the adjacent waters.

He also said Taiwan's participation in international organizations must be dealt with under the one-China principle.

As a group composed of developed countries, Wang said the G7 should contribute more to helping developing countries accelerate their development rather than drive conflicts and divergences to disrupt the process of global economic recovery.

As the G7 includes the countries hit hardest by COVID-19 and those with the most advanced medical technologies, the spokesperson said they should focus on international cooperation on anti-pandemic responses. They should also focus on the equitable distribution of vaccines instead of hoarding vaccines, and stop accusing other countries, interfering in their affairs, and disrupting the top priority of international cooperation on pandemic responses.

"We urge relevant countries to face their own problems, rectify their selfish behavior over pandemic responses, and stop abusing the concept of national security," Wang said. He added any attempt to meddle in China's internal affairs, undermine China's sovereignty, or tarnish China's image in disregard of basic norms of international relations is doomed to fail.
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Back in 2014, we wrote about the embryonic animation scene in Jamaica. The industry was drawing support from the local government and the World Bank, which saw its potential for creating employment among the young.

Seven years on, that initiative is in full swing. Jamaicas animation production continues to grow, and its profile is rising. A pillar of the industry is Kingstoon Animation Conference and Film Festival, which wrapped up its (virtual) fourth edition on April 25. The event has announced the winners of its competitive section, which are listed below.

The competition is split into two strands, one international, one focusing on emerging talent in the region. Kingstoon aims to showcase and create opportunities for animation artists from Jamaica and the Caribbean, and this goal is reflected in the prizes on offer.
Opening

This Hyundai Verna that you see in the pictures isnt a new-gen version of the 2018 ICOTY model. But one thats been bestowed with a fresh design, outstanding novel features, and newer powertrain options, such as the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that we have here. With the surfacing of the crisp new Verna from the Korean carmaker, competition in the C-segment has heated up considerably. So is it worth your attention? Heres the gist.

Appearance Exterior

Differentiating this Verna from the outgoing model is the large glossy black grille with a distinctive matrix design that cascades on to the piercing headlamps that sport newer LED lighting elements. These are further complemented by the sharp angular ridges on the bumper and chin. In profile, the frantically sloping roofline coupled with the edgy 16-inch dual-tone wheels gives the Verna a fast-coupe stance. As for the rear, the tail lamps now have attractive internals. But its the bumper that excites the most with the mesh shapes that taper off on both ends, and the faux diffuser thats aligned next to twin chrome exhaust tips. Phew, this Korean is chic!

Appearance Interior

Above all, the changes made to the updated Verna almost make the cabin look all-new. To start with, the all-digital instrument cluster has some serious upmarket flair about it. Similarly, this Turbo variant is enthusiastically wrapped in black materials, with red seams on the upholstery and bright red trim highlighting the redesigned air vents. Sadly though, the new cabin continues to get hard plastics.

Other than that, everything else is the same. As a reminder, space isnt a concern in the Verna. Sprucing up the comfort levels in the front are cushy seats that hold you in place exceedingly well, they have my favourite cooling function and offer good support overall. My only grime being the lack of under-thigh support for taller occupants.

As for ingress at the rear, it isnt devoid of some flexing (challenging for the elderly), but once seated, the well-cushioned bench is decently accommodating, with an appropriately angled backrest and just about enough legroom. Yet, limitations such as the shortage of under-thigh support and tight headroom plague it markedly.

Be that as it may, the deep boot can easily consume two large suitcases or a few medium-sized ones, with still more for some soft/shopping bags. In the features department, Hyundais BlueLink connected features are now available, along with a sunroof, six airbags, and a tyre pressure monitoring system. Plus, theres wireless charging, electric mirrors and windows, front/rear parking sensors, a rear camera, and an Arkamys player that sounds extremely well.

Performance Drive

As a part of the update, Hyundai revamped the entire powertrain line-up of the Verna to take in the new 1.5-litre petrol and diesel, and the one thats being reviewed here, the three-cylinder 118bhp/172Nm 1.0-litre Turbo GDi petrol engine that uses a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox with paddle-shifts to power the front wheels. Thanks to pristine engineering, the only instance when one experiences the three-cylinder din is under full-bore acceleration.

Interestingly, this three-pot feels eager to let loose of its horses the minute one slots into D and releases the brakes. Thats because, with 172Nm of torque unleashed from just under 1,500rpm, it makes driving in the city extremely relaxed. Now, only feathering the throttle is required of you to keep the momentum flowing seamlessly. Again, as the needle crosses 2,000rpm, the motor feels more alive than ever as the turbo spools up purposefully to offer a linear performance delivery till the 6,500rpm redline.

Also adding to the effortless aura is the dual-clutch automatic gearbox which shifts gears, both up and down, smoothly and without any lags. Plus, it cleverly selects which gear to be put to use after being able to precisely read the throttle input. Its almost always slotted in the correct gear, be it your intent to cruise or overtake swiftly. Nevertheless, we noted that this gearbox upshifts when closer to rev-limit, regardless of it being slotted in D or S mode. The latter mode may not shove you into the seat when you floor the accelerator pedal, but the response is certainly more entertaining, especially when you can take control of the gearshifts via the paddle-shifters.

Hyundai has tweaked the suspension setup in the Turbo variant to offer a taut ride quality with a controlled body-roll. At slow speeds, there is an underlying firmness due to which its occupants feel the atrocities of the road surface. But as expected, highway speeds make for better bump absorption, wherein undulations, irregularities, and even the edgier bumps are negotiated without a sweat and zilch suspension noise. Plus, it never scraped over any speed-breaker we put it through, which says a lot for a sedan.

Likewise, its light steering is also direct (less than two-and-half turns from lock-to-lock), and unlike the Hyundais of yore, responds more progressively around the dead centre. Plus, it weighs up fittingly as the momentum rises. The outcome? Throwing this sedan spiritedly around bends will have a huge grin pasted on your face afterwards. With all these go-fast specials, it's only befitting of us to expect more bite from the brakes, but it wasnt the case.

Conclusion

As a product, this Hyundai Verna scores quite well on all counts. For now, its offered in a single, fully-loaded SX (O) trim that retails at Rs 16.65 lakh (OTR Mumbai). In short, it looks exceedingly sharp, has a long list of features, is reasonably spacious, and offers a pliant ride. The only drawbacks being the tight rear headroom for tall occupants and some ingress discomfort. Both arent deal-breakers as such. Whats impressive is that it not only fits the bill as a comfortable family car but also doubles up as a drivers car when youre in the mood. All thanks to its formidable powertrain and smashing dynamics. Sorry ladies, but I can already tell that the men will jump at this proposition!

Pictures by Kapil Angane

Hyundai Verna  9.20 Lakh Onwards

Hyundai | Verna | Hyundai Verna
Photo: BCSC BCSC chair CEO Brenda Leong received $139,120 on top of her base salary of $434,748 in 2018

Over $600,000 in so-called retention bonuses paid to B.C. Securities Commission executives in 2018 have turned out to be for naught after efforts to create a national regulator have been turfed.

The bonuses to several executives were made in the 2017-18 financial year. They were portrayed as a means to retain the executives while the Capital Markets Authority Implementation Organization (CMAIO) was in the midst of developing legislation to create a national securities regulator, then known as the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory (CCMR) system

BCSC chair CEO Brenda Leong received $139,120 on top of her base salary of $434,748 while then vice-chair Nigel Cave got a $104,640 bonus on top of his $327,000 salary.

Glacier Media asked the commission if the bonuses would be repaid.

The payments were conditional on the individuals continuing to work at the commission for a specified period of time during the transition, not on the condition that the Capital Markets Regulatory Authority would be created, stated spokesperson Brian Kladko. Having fulfilled that condition, there is no basis to request that those payments be repaid.

No other provinces reported such bonuses, however.

The CMAIO has been fraught with problems, most notably matters around provincial jurisdiction and acceptance.

The constitutionality of a national securities regulator was challenged by the Quebec government, but in November 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled otherwise. Nevertheless, Quebec and Alberta continued to oppose the idea.

The CCMR would have created standard legislation for securities, as like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

But on March 31, the CMAIO board paused further work on the plan.

CMAIO is implementing an orderly pause of its operations and has taken steps to preserve knowledge, assets and work product, CMAIO stated. CMAIOs work can be resumed at a future time when there is greater certainty around Cooperative System launch timelines.

CMAIO continues to strongly support the establishment of the Cooperative System and encourages the participating governments to move ahead with the Cooperative System, which will provide significant benefits for Canada.

Two days after this statement, Quebecs Finance Minister Eric Gerard said he welcomed the decision.
Photo: Vancouver Coastal Health

The age of British Columbians who are eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine is dropping quickly, with those 40 and older becoming eligible by next Tuesday.

As of Thursday, those 49 and older are eligible to book their vaccination appointment. During Thursday's press conference, Health Minister Adrian Dix encouraged all adults in the province to register online or by phone, as those who are registered will be contacted when they become eligible to book.

The province's age-based vaccine rollout, utilizing the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, has encountered some delays over the past couple months, as the supply of vaccine from the federal government has not always come as promised. But last week, Dr. Bonnie Henry said the supply of vaccines, particularly the Pfizer one, will be ramping up significantly through May.

With the vaccines that we have been receiving this week, we're now in a place where we can move very quickly down these age groups, Dr. Henry said Thursday.

Beginning Friday, those 46 and older can book vaccination appointments, followed by those 43 and older on Sunday. Everyone 40 and older will become eligible on Tuesday. Every adult in the province is expected to have access to their first dose of the vaccine by mid-June.

Over the past 24 hours, B.C. set a new record for most vaccines administered on a single day, at 52,266, bringing the total doses administered to just under 2 million. Dix said that daily record will continue to be broken in the coming days as the supply of vaccine increases.

Separate from the age-based rollout, the province has also been vaccinating workers in specific industries, starting with firefighters, police officers and school staff. On Thursday, grocery store employees in the Fraser Health region also became eligible for the vaccine.

Interior Health began vaccinating all staff in the Central Okanagan School District last week, and on Thursday, the health authority said school staff in other Interior districts are also being offered the vaccine now as well.

Additionally, more than 200,000 extremely clinically vulnerable British Columbians have also been vaccinated, separate from the age-based rollout.

Pharmacies across the province were also given an undisclosed number of doses of AstraZeneca vaccine over the past month, for British Columbians 30 and over. The vast majority of these have now been administered and Dr. Henry said Thursday that it's unclear when more supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine will be delivered to the province.

The first British Columbian case of blood clotting linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine recently occurred, but Dr. Henry maintained Thursday the vaccine remains a safe and effective option.
Photo: Joe Whittle/High Country News Linda and Rick Desautel sit outside their home near Inchelium, Wash

Two weeks after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Sinixt hunting rights, the head of the American tribe that launched the case is still excited.

I think my feet have finally hit the ground, said Rodney Cawston, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. This is really exciting for us  it was really exciting for our people. It was an amazing day Friday when we received the decision.

But while Cawstons phone has been ringing with messages of congratulations, he still hasnt heard from any official level of the Canadian government since the ruling. Politicians and the legal experts are still trying to come to terms with the implications of the decision

Nothing like normal communication or anything yet, but its still very soon, he told the Valley Voice. So if they dont talk to us, well reach out to them.

He said the Colville Confederacy had some meetings with government while the Desautel case moved up the courts, but not at the level weve needed to with the appeals, there was too much unknown, he said. Now with the Supreme Court ruling, it will have to go forward.

There is a very steep learning curve here. I think until we start working with the different ministries, we dont know what we are going to encounter, he says. This is all very new.

Supreme Court ruling

Richard Lee Desautel was charged in 2011 after he came to Canada from his home in Washington State with the express purpose of challenging the provinces hunting laws. He shot an elk in the Slocan Valley, and then called conservation officers to turn himself in.

That began a decade-long grind through the courts to recognize his right to hunt as an Aboriginal person in his nations traditional territory.

On April 23, the top courts judges ruled Desautel was exercising his constitutionally protected Aboriginal hunting rights  even though he didnt live in Canada. The decision backed up the ruling by the first trial judge, who threw the initial case out on constitutional grounds.

Because the doctrine of Aboriginal rights arises from the simple fact of prior occupation, the Aboriginal peoples of Canada under section 35 (1) are the modern successors of those Aboriginal societies that occupied Canadian territory at the time of European contact, even if they are now outside Canada, said the majority ruling.

The trial judge also found that the modern-day practice of hunting in this territory, as [Desautel] did, is a continuation of this pre-contact practice, they continued. Setting aside the periods in which no hunting took place, there was no significant dissimilarity between the pre-contact practice and the modern one. As a result, [Desautel] was exercising an Aboriginal right protected by [Section 35 (1) of the Canadian Constitution].

But the ruling wasnt unanimous, with some judges ruling the Colville Confederated Tribes base in the US precludes them having rights in Canada.

The constitutional protection of Aboriginal rights contained in section 35 (1) of the Constitution Act 1982 does not extend to an Aboriginal group located outside of Canada, said Suzanne Cote in the minority opinion. And even if it did, [Desautel] cannot establish that he was exercising an Aboriginal right to hunt in the Sinixt traditional territory in British Columbia, as the modern groups claim lacks continuity with the pre-contact groups practices. Accordingly, [Desautels] claim must fail and he should not be exempt from the Wildlife Act provisions under which he was charged.

Reaction cautious

Besides initial reactions, not much has been said by officials since the ruling. BCs Indigenous Affairs Minister Murray Rankin was cautious in his first comments. While he called the ruling a strong decision, he told CBC the court was very careful to say that it applied only to the facts of that [Indigenous hunting rights] case, and was very reluctant to speculate about what it means in other contexts."

He said his government would be sitting down with the Sinixt and Okanagan Nation Alliance, an intervenor in the case, to discuss next steps.

And a Kootenay political anthropologist and scholar said the decision may not change the ultimate status of Sinixt rights to the land.

Sinixt still have no First Nation government recognized by Canada and are still precluded from entering into government-to-government relationships with BC and Canada, says Lori Barkley. This also means there is no mechanism to participate in the contemporary land claims process, despite their filing a land claim decades ago and creating contention in Sinixt traditional territory.

In sum, [the ruling] affirmed Sinixt Aboriginal rights of Sinixt living on the Colville Reservation in the US to use the land, but did not recognize Sinixt rights to the land itself, nor to be consulted on what happens to it regardless of which side of the border they live.

And local Sinixt also pointed out the ruling does not help their legal status.

We take note that the Supreme Court of Canada affirms our ongoing connection to the land of our ancestors, stated Sinixt Smum iem Matriarch Marilyn James. However, it is one thing to acknowledge our hunting rights in our tum xula7xw (homeland), and another to accord us our unceded rights to our land.

The Desautel case only deals with Sinixt from the Colville Confederacy of Tribes as non-residents of BC to use the land without hunting or other licenses, James said, something the Autonomous Sinixt in BC had already established prior to this case.

The Colville Confederated Tribes of the US, who initiated the Desautel hunting case, have repeatedly stated that this case will automatically reverse Sinixt extinction. Unfortunately, this is simply not the case, she added.

Expectations of change

While intervenors and legal observers differ on the implications of the Desautel case to wider Sinixt rights, Cawston says his government eventually expects to have the right to weigh in on issues like resource management, environmental protection, and the establishment of reserve lands for the Sinixt.

Thinking about dual citizenship, Aboriginal land claims  those are all things we want to work on in the future, he says. At the same time we know there are many issues that have taken place, the protection of natural resources or archaeological or cultural sites, ancestral graves sites things we want to begin working on as soon as possible.

But he cautions that theres a long way to go before they get to that stage. The CCT wants to start off on the right foot, simply holding a celebration of the legal victory in Canada once the pandemic fades. He says the tribal council wants to reach out and build relations with the regions First Nations communities, including ones who also claim rights to the Sinixt traditional lands.

We want to reach out to the other First Nation reserves in Canada, because we know were not the only Sinixt  there were others enrolled in Canada, he says. We want to reach out to them and come together, and work with other reserves as well because we want to have a strong confederacy of our Sinixt people, both from the US and Canada. So thats one of the first things we think about.

Theres years of work ahead for both sides, Cawston says. But he sees the CCT eventually having a cooperative and productive presence in the West Kootenay.

I would expect so and if there is anything that impacts natural resources or the interests of the tribe, that we do receive notice as early on as possible, to allow for us to comment before anything is moved forward, he says. Really looking at a government-to-government relationship.

Were doing as much as we can to be a good neighbour but we have a long way to go. We dont want to come up as a negative force. We want to be viewed in a way we can be helpful to each other, in protecting the environment, doing what we can to improve water quality, habitat, anything we can do together.

Cawston can even see the day when the CCT has a government office in the West Kootenay.

That is a dream of mine and many of us we want to work towards establishing government offices in Canada now that our people have the opportunity to go back and forth. It opens up opportunity for many of our people for creating reserve land, if possible, if we can explore that, and some of our people can move back to traditional areas we came from.

Working it out

It may take years to work out just how  or even if -- the US-based Sinixt can have a legal and political presence on their traditional lands in Canada.

The Supreme Court offered no guidance on that matter. While outlining the requirement for government to establish a new relationship with a non-resident Aboriginal group, it would only say: It is for the parties themselves to decide how they wish to proceed.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced growing pressure Friday to impose a strict nationwide lockdown, despite the economic pain it will exact, as a startling surge in coronavirus cases that has pummeled the country's health system shows no signs of abating.

Many medical experts, opposition leaders and even Supreme Court judges are calling for national restrictions, arguing that a patchwork of state rules is insufficient to quell the rise in infections.

Indian television stations broadcast images of patients lying on stretchers outside hospitals waiting to be admitted, with hospital beds and critical oxygen in short supply. People infected with COVID-19 in villages are being treated in makeshift outdoor clinics, with IV drips hanging from trees.

As deaths soar, crematoriums and burial grounds have been swamped with bodies, and relatives often wait hours to perform the last rites for their loved ones.

The situation is so dramatic that among those calling for a strict lockdown are merchants who know their businesses will be affected but see no other way out.

Only if our health is good, will we be able to earn, said Aruna Ramjee, a florist in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru. The lockdown will help everyone, and coronavirus spread will also come down.

The alarming picture has gripped the world's attention, just as many developed countries are seeing vaccinations drive down infections and are beginning to open up. India's surge has served as a warning to other countries with fragile health systems  and also has weighed heavily on global efforts to end the pandemic since the country is a major vaccine producer but has been forced to delay exports of shots.

Infections have swelled in India since February in a disastrous turn blamed on more contagious variants as well as government decisions to allow massive crowds to gather for religious festivals and political rallies. On Friday India reported a new daily record of 414,188 confirmed cases and 3,915 additional deaths. The official daily death count has stayed over 3,000 for the past 10 days.

That brings the total to more than 21.4 million COVID-19 infections and over 234,000 deaths. Experts say even those dramatic tolls are undercounts.

Over the past month, nearly a dozen of Indias 28 federal states have announced some restrictions, but they fall short of a nationwide lockdown imposed last year that experts credit with helping to contain the virus for a time. Those measures, which lasted two months, included stay-at-home orders, a ban on international and domestic flights and a suspension of passenger service on the nation's extensive rail system.

The government provided free wheat, rice and lentils to the poorest for nearly a year and also small cash payments, while Modi also vowed an economic relief package of more than $260 billion. But the lockdown, imposed on four hours notice, also stranded tens of millions of migrant workers who were left jobless and fled to villages, with many dying along the way.

The national restrictions caused the economy to contract by a staggering 23% in the second quarter last year, though a strong recovery was under way before infections skyrocketed recently.

Some who remember last year's ordeal remain against a full lockdown.

If I had to choose between dying of the virus and dying of hunger, I would choose the virus, said Shyam Mishra, a construction worker who was already forced to change jobs and start selling vegetables when a lockdown was imposed on the capital, New Delhi.
Photo: The Canadian Press Mohamed Nasheed

Police in the Maldives said Friday an explosion that wounded former President Mohamed Nasheed and four others including a British national was an act of terrorism and they are attempting to identify four possible suspects. Australian police said they are ready to assist the investigation.

Nasheed, 53, was wounded in the blast outside his home Thursday night as he was about to get into his car, police said. He was in critical condition in an intensive care unit after life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs, ADK Hospital said in a statement Friday evening.

Nasheed has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law.

Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed said police are treating the blast as an act of terrorism against the former president. Two of Nasheed's bodyguards and two apparent bystanders, including a British citizen, were also wounded, he said.

Police have not detected any military-grade components in the explosives used, Hameed said. They are trying to identify four possible suspects but no arrests have been made, he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. Photos circulated on social media showed a ripped-up motorcycle at the scene.

Nasheed is the current Parliament speaker and was the first democratically elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago, serving from 2008 to 2012.

Current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said in a televised speech that Australian Federal Police investigators will arrive on Saturday. The Australian police force said it will assess what assistance they can provide the investigation.

The Maldives is known for its luxury resorts but has experienced occasional violent attacks. In 2007, a blast in a park in the capital wounded 12 foreign tourists.

Violence has been blamed on a rise in religious extremism. The Maldives has one of the highest per capita numbers of militants who fought in Syria and Iraq alongside the Islamic State group.

Maldives authorities announced in January that eight people arrested in November were found to have been planning to attack a school and were in the process of building bombs in a boat at sea. Police said they also conducted military training on uninhabited islands and recruited children.

Hameed said it was not known whether the attack on Nasheed was linked to that group.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of wilfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao.

Specifically, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and Kueng are also charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure, alleging they did not intervene to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd's neck. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Floyds arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked protests nationwide and widespread calls for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.

Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the arrest and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Lane, Thao and Kueng made their initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.

Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyds death and is in Minnesotas only maximum-security prison as he awaits sentencing. The other three former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Friday's federal court appearance.

Floyd, 46, died May 25 after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judges refusal to move the trial due to publicity.

Nelson had no comment on the federal charges Friday. Messages left with attorneys for two of the other officers were not immediately returned, and an attorney for the fourth officer was getting in an elevator and disconnected when reached by The Associated Press.

To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe that an officer acted under the colour of law, or government authority, and wilfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights, including the right to be free from unreasonable seizures or the use of unreasonable force. Thats a high legal standard; an accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officers part isnt enough to support federal charges.

Roy Austin, who prosecuted such cases as a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justices Civil Rights Division, said prosecutors have to prove that the officers knew what they were doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.
 Flash

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected claims that the United States is entering a cold war with China, the Financial Times (FT) reported.

During a visit to London, the U.S. top diplomat said he resisted "putting labels on most relationships including this one, because it's complex," referring to U.S.-China relations.

According to the FT report on Wednesday, Blinken also said the United States recognized that countries have complicated relationships, including with China, and that his country did not believe other countries' economic relationships with Beijing "need to be cut off or ended."

He said the U.S. administration was pursuing the right strategy by saying the United States did not want a cold war and did not want countries to pick sides.
Photo: The Canadian Press Flag of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the conviction of a youth found guilty of sexually assaulting another teenager in a case involving alcohol and capacity to consent.

A 15-year-old boy was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl during a beach party in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough in 2016.

The two teenagers, friends from school, were drinking at the party and had intercourse a short distance from a bonfire.

The girl told police she did not remember the sexual activity.

The trial judge found the girl was not capable of consenting to sex and that the boy, beyond a reasonable doubt, knew or was wilfully blind to this fact.

In its decision today, the Supreme Court concluded the verdict was reasonable.
The B.C. government announced the official launch of a province-wide app that will help direct young people to mental health and addiction services.

The Foundry BC app, funded by the provincial government, will allow people between the ages of 12 and 24, and their caregivers, to access a wide-range of services online, including virtual counselling sessions.

Foundry BC has 11 centres across the province, including in Kelowna, but the app will let others in more rural settings access some of these services that are offered at these 11 locations. The app can be found on the Apple App or Google Play stores.

Services that can be found through the app include drop-in and scheduled counselling, primary care, peer support and group sessions.

The announcement comes after a 12-year-old Vancouver Island girl, Allayah Yoli Thomas, died from an overdose last month.

It's unspeakable that a person so young, with so much ahead of them, is taken in this way, said Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

We are mourning across British Columbia this very hard past year, the loss of over 1,700 people to the overdose crisis, and that someone so young is in our hearts today is something that informs our work today.

Malcolmson said it's still too early to know what the gap in services was that led to Thomas' death, but she noted the government is working to provide more supports to B.C. youth struggling with addiction.

Last month, Kelowna's first publicly funded long-term youth treatment beds were opened.

Steve Mathias, executive director of Foundry, says the app has been five years in the making, and already, more to 1,000 young British Columbians have used the app during its soft launch period which began in March.

Many of the coping strategies that we encourage young people to use during non-pandemic times have been greatly limited if not eliminated during the lockdowns that we've seen for young people in not only Canada but internationally, said Mathias.

So we've been left in many ways to quickly find opportunities to have young people stay connected and to access to those services that they would normally access in person, to access those virtually.

The B.C. government has provided about $1.6 million to support the Foundry's virtual services, including the development of the app.
Photo: Google Street View

A 39-year-old man is in custody after he allegedly robbed a New West bank at knifepoint and then crashed a carjacked getaway vehicle in Burnaby.

Burnaby RCMP got a call for a two-vehicle collision in the 5700 block of Marine Way about 4:50 p.m. Wednesday and then another call shortly after for a fight in progress in the Market Crossing parking lot, according to spokesperson Cpl. Brett Cunningham.

He said the fight appeared to be an attempted carjacking in progress, and police arrested a 39-year-old Vancouver man.

Officers then discovered New Westminster police were looking for the man in relation to a bank robbery and carjacking about half an hour earlier.

About 4:30 p.m., the suspect had allegedly entered the Vancity on Sixth Street, pulled a knife, demanded money from the tellers and made off with a certain amount of cash, according to New Westminster Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Sanjay Kumar.

Outside the bank, Kumar said the man had allegedly tried unsuccessfully to carjack one vehicle before successfully commandeering a second one.

He drove into Burnaby, and thats where he crashed," Kumar said.

NWPD is investigating whether the man is also linked to a recent string of other bank robberies in the Lower Mainland.
Photo: The Canadian Press Rona Ambrose is shown during an interview with The Canadian Press in Ottawa, Thursday, May 18, 2017. New judges will have to commit to take training in sexual assault law, thanks to a new law that received royal assent last night. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

Rona Ambrose says she had no idea it would take so long and require such determination to see that new judges are properly trained in sexual assault law.

Four years and three attempts later, Bill C-3 received royal assent in Parliament on Thursday evening.

The legislation will require new federally appointed judges to agree to take training, including learning about rape myths and stereotypes and how to make sure biases about race, gender and other social factors do not influence their decisions.

It will also require judges to put their reasons on the record when ruling on sexual assault cases.

The legislation originated as a private member's bill that Ambrose presented in 2017 while she was interim Conservative leader, but after it received cross-partisan support in the House of Commons, it stalled in the Senate.

Ambrose said there were certain senators who purposely tried to hold up the bill with the intent of quashing it. These individuals, whom she did not name, posed questions and made statements about the bill that she says were sexist and misogynistic.

"There were senators who knew that they could hold it up. They said things like, 'This will sway the legal system in favour of victims,' which was the most bizarre thing I've ever heard because it was just about education, and things like, 'This is just another part of the Me Too movement,' " she said in an interview Friday.

"It was misogyny, without a doubt. Sexism and misogyny, and from corners I didn't expect."

The Liberal government supported her original bill, but because of the stalling tactics employed in the Senate, it died when Parliament was dissolved for the 2019 election.

The Liberals revived it last year, making it a government bill that could not be killed in the Red Chamber.

Justice Minister David Lametti said the new law will help ensure survivors of sexual assault are treated with respect and dignity in their interactions with the criminal justice system.

"We expect that these changes will have a broad and positive impact that reach beyond sexual assault matters," he said Friday.

"Judges will benefit from new tools and perspectives that they can apply in all of their work."

Lametti gave full credit to Ambrose for championing the passage of this legislation, which she has continued to do even though she is no longer involved in federal politics.

"Rona's ongoing support and collaboration were important to getting this bill through the parliamentary process, and I wanted to thank her, personally, for her commitment to this issue and to this legislation."

Looking back over the long road to royal assent, Ambrose said she was emotional when she learned the bill had finally passed.

Her thoughts were with the victims of sexual assault who have reached out to her over the last four years, many of whom disclosed their painful experiences, including triggering and re-victimizing ordeals within the justice system.

It was these women's stories that kept her driven to ensure federal judges are properly applying Canada's laws when it comes to sexual assault and rape victims.

"This isn't the be-all and end-all that's going to solve all kinds of things, this is just a small thing that we needed to do, but it's incredible that a small thing took so long to get done," Ambrose said.

"Because the truth is institutions are pretty opaque at times. We're seeing that with the military now too and with the RCMP  there are a lot of great things about our institutions, but willingness to reform themselves is not one of them."

The bill was sparked by some high-profile rulings that led to public outcry. Alberta judge Robin Camp asked a sexual-assault complainant in 2014 why she couldn't keep her knees together; Halifax judge Gregory Lenehan said "a drunk can consent" while acquitting a taxi driver of sexual assault on a passenger in 2017.

Camp resigned from the bench after the Canadian Judicial Council eventually recommended he be removed. Lenehan was cleared of misconduct, though a committee examining his decision said his words were "ill-considered."

The new law will only apply to federally-appointed judges and training will not be mandatory for those already on the bench, in order to respect the principle of judicial independence.

However, the training will be available for all judges who wish to take it, Lametti said.

"We can't force judges who are currently sitting to undergo training, but we do hope that this will create a positive environment to receive that training, and hopefully we will, with time in particular, have a much better-equipped bench that will instill confidence in Canadians."

Some provinces have begun taking steps toward adopting similar mandated or voluntary training programs for judges, including Prince Edward Island, which passed legislation in 2018, and Saskatchewan, which committed to developing a training program for judges, lawyers and other justice system professionals in 2019.

Ambrose said she hopes all the provinces and territories will pass legislation similar to the new federal law, although she is aware of intense push back from the legal and judicial community in many jurisdictions that has made this challenging.

She plans to continue working with any province that wish to make courtrooms a safer and more sensitive place for victims.

"Some of the things that judges have said and some of the mistakes that they've made are just unacceptable for people who hold those positions," Ambrose said.

"To me, the easiest way to rectify that is to make sure they have the right education and training, so yeah, I'm going to keep pushing for it at the provincial level because that's where a lot of these cases are."
Photo: The Canadian Press Ally Thomas, 12, seen in an undated family handout photo, died on April 14 from a suspected overdose. Her family says they are frustrated more public supports weren't available when they tried to get her help. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Adriana Londono,

British Columbia's minister of mental health and addictions say a suspected overdose death of a 12-year-old girl from Vancouver Island is driving the government "to do more and do better."

But Sheila Malcolmson says she needs to learn more details about the case of Ally Thomas, who died April 14, before commenting specifically on what the government can do.

Malcolmson made the comment during a news conference to announce the new Foundry BC app, a portal for people ages 12 to 24 to access counselling, primary care and peer support.

Ally's mother, Adriana Londono, says her daughter had overdosed three times before her fourth fatal "cry for help."

Londono says the family tried to get her support but was only given a list of counsellors, an avenue Ally wasn't willing to take.

She says the family was told by government staff that Ally was too young to qualify for rehab because she was under 14.

The Children's Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"It was extremely frustrating, there was nothing we could do," Londono said in an interview on Friday.

"Ally was frustrated too. She was crying for help but she didn't get the help she needed."

Malcolmson said the government is working "as hard as we can" to build a system of care that offers a variety of different supports, including the app.

"This is a terrible story that just re-strengthens our commitment as a government to build the kind of addictions and mental health care system that anybody can access," Malcolmson said.
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BUA Cement announces plans for bond sale

07 May 2021

Nigerias BUA Cement has announced plans to sell a second tranche of bonds under its NGN200bn (US$525.6m) programme to finance its expansion plans, following the release of the first NGN115bn tranche last year.



Yusuf Binji, CEO, noted that the amount of the sale will depend on its funding needs but did not give an expected time for the sale.



The company plans to expand capacity in the country to 20Mta from 11Mta. "We will only export our excess capacity if the Nigerian market is not able to take up what we are producing," said the CEO. "Demand has been extremely strong in the last one year."

Published under
Saudi Arabian producers report 15% decline in net profit

07 May 2021

Saudi Arabian producers listed in the main market saw an estimated 15 per cent decline in total net profits to SAR892.5m (US$237.9m) in the first quarter of 2021, compared to around SAR1.05bn in the year-ago period, according to Al Eqtisadiah.

Four companies reported growth during the quarter, while the remaining 10 saw a decline. Najran Cement recorded the highest growth in net profit at 51.4 per cent, followed by Arabian Cement Co (+48.6 per cent) and Al Jouf Cement (+15.4 per cent). However, Tabuk Cement saw the biggest decline in net profit, decreasing by 75.6 per cent to SAR7.1m.

Revenues also decreased 1.5 per cent YoY to SAR2.94bn from SAR2.29bn.

Published under
 Flash

A batch of anti-epidemic supplies has been largely collected and will be sent to Nepal as soon as possible, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked whether China will provide Nepal with anti-epidemic assistance as the COVID-19 epidemic in Nepal has worsened rapidly in recent days, with the number of confirmed cases reaching a new high.

Wang said that as friendly neighbors and strategic cooperative partners, China and Nepal have joined hands to help each other and written a new chapter of China-Nepal friendship since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Noting the recent severe situation in Nepal, Wang said China understood the challenges Nepal was facing and would continue to do its best to provide support to the Nepali side.

At the recent video conference of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on COVID-19, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China will provide Nepal with a new batch of anti-epidemic supplies.

At present, the batch of supplies is almost complete and will be sent to the Nepali side as soon as possible. Meanwhile, local governments and sectors of Chinese society are also actively donating needed supplies to Nepal, the spokesperson said.

"We believe that under the leadership of the Nepalese government and the joint efforts of all parties, the Nepalese people are sure to overcome the pandemic at an early date and see their lives and production return to normal," Wang said.
UK hit by cement shortages

07 May 2021

UK contractors and domestic retail buyers are both facing steep prices rises and supply shortages for cement amidst a booming recovery in construction activity.



UK distributor, NYEs Building Suppliers, contacted all customers to warn that "there are now issues with cement from all manufacturers. We are working hard every day to maintain supply for our customers but it is tough and will only get worse before we see it get better."



Part of the problem has been a disruption to production activities. According to Rex Nye, NYEs Managing Director, "The shortage is due to factory breakdowns and over-ordering at the same time. One manufacturer's plant broke down in April and others need to have a shutdown in June."



As a result, the building supplier is imposing allocations on all its customers, limiting orders to 30 bags per day for trade customers and five bags per day for retail.



On pricing, the company warned: "Prices are increasing across multiple product groups and some of the increases are sudden and very sharp."



Meanwhile, the Construction Material Price Indices for All Work increased by 7.8 per cent on a YoY basis (March 2020 to March 2021), according to the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.



However, this aggregated construction material price index hides larger price movements for some specific products and materials, with concrete reinforcing bars prices, for example, rising 19.8 per cent over the same period.

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11th Judicial District Attorney Linda Stanley addresses a throng of reporters during a press conference Wednesday. Stanley and Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze, right, shared the podium and spoke about the arrest of Barry Morphew, 53, charged with first degree murder.
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Two nominations from Hamilton County, Beck Knob Cemetery and Price-Evans Foundry, and one nomination in Marion County, Big Hill Fire Lookout Tower, are among seven nominations to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Tennessee State Review Board will meet to examine the proposed nominations on Wednesday, May 19 at 9 a.m. The board is a function of the State Historic Preservation Office, which is under the Tennessee Historical Commission. The meeting will be held via WebEx. Information on attending the meeting remotely can be obtained by visiting the National Register webpage or the calendar of events.



The Board will vote on these seven nominations from across the state:

 T-201 Aircraft Hangar  Coffee County

 Beck Knob Cemetery  Hamilton County

 Price- Evans Foundry  Hamilton County

 Big Hill Fire Lookout Tower  Marion County

 Twinton Fire Lookout Tower  Overton County

 Overton Park Court Apartments  Shelby County

 Chuck Swan Fire Lookout Tower  Union County



Copies of draft nominations to be examined at the meeting can be found on the National Register webpage.



Those nominations that are found to meet the criteria will be sent for final approval to the National Register of Historic Places in the Department of the Interior. The Tennessee State Review Board is composed of 13 members with backgrounds in American history, architecture, archaeology or related fields. It also includes members representing the public. The National Register program was authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The public is invited to attend the WebEx meeting.



For more information about the National Register meeting contact Rebecca Schmitt at Rebecca.schmitt@tn.gov .
EPB has selected 10 winners from Hamilton County Schools for the third annual ArtSpark Goes to School challenge. The high school students were honored on Thursday during an event at EPBs downtown building. Throughout the month of May, their work will be displayed in the EPB windows at the corner of Market St. and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The student artwork has also been used to beautify EPB utility boxes located across the community. With the completion of this years ArtSpark program, EPB will now have 25 utility boxes wrapped with student artwork. The following students contributed their work for this years project:

Center for Creative Arts  Faith Daan, Hope Daan, Olivia Gonzalez



Central High  Breanna Long

CSAS  Jack Buffington

Hixson High  Diana Huynh, Ashlyn Sowers

Sale Creek High  Taylor Emerson

Soddy Daisy High  Lillian Dent, Sarah Tindell

EPB ArtSpark Goes to School partners include Hamilton County Schools, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, River City Company, ArtsBuild and Public Art Chattanooga. The program engages high school students through STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) where students learn about electricity while creating artwork for public spaces. The students used digital cameras, professional graphic design and photography software to design their artwork with the help of their art teachers and design experts.



Our student-artists have engaged in a simulated professional process that supports our goal of every student graduating Future Ready including planning their work, receiving feedback through conferencing, and submitting requested revisions, said Claire Stockman, Hamilton County Schools Content Lead for Visual & Performing Arts. With the support of our excellent teachers, these students have created beautiful and compelling public art that will inspire viewers for years."



ArtSpark helped energize students and provided a bright spot in what has been collectively one of the most challenging school years for students, teachers, and parents in decades, said Eric Keller, CSAS teacher. The anticipation of the competition results coupled with the real-life application of these designs being displayed publicly created an exciting classroom environment.



The students created artwork to fit EPB utility boxes based on this years theme Community Sparks. Students were asked to create a design that showed the power of working together to make our community stronger.



My idea for this project was to make a picture of people of different colors coming together in peace and in harmony and showing love for each other, said Sale Creek High student Taylor Emerson. I wanted it to show equality which means leaving no one out. My artwork represents a strong community that is there for each other and that we can care for each other as well. It shows a strong bond that we can have together as people.



We received outstanding artwork from Hamilton County high school students, said Kelvin Boyd, EPB Marketing Specialist. It was difficult to pick just ten from a record 166 entries. A panel of judges of community partners made the decision using a rubric without knowing the students names or which schools they attended. Despite having to go virtual because of the pandemic, this project grew 100% from last year.



EPB has created vinyl wraps from the winning student designs which will cover utility boxes for at least a year. The locations this year are in the Bluff View Art District, Downtown Chattanooga City Center, the MLK Community, the North Shore, the Riverfront and the Southside.



This years ArtSpark theme resonates on many levels during a year filled with many challenges, said Laurie Allen with the UTC Arts-Based Collaborative. The increased participation in this years program not only reflects the meaningful experience ArtSpark provides students but also the importance of real-world learning opportunities in and through the arts.



EPB and its partners are dedicating this years contest to the late Dr. Joel Baxley, the former director of Visual Art Education at UTCs Southeast Center for Education in the Arts, who helped start the student ArtSpark Goes to School program. His wife, Nancy, shared remarks in his memory at the event.



Dr. Joel Baxley would be proud to see the impact and growth of this program, Ms. Allen said.


A team of Chattanooga Police officers are embarking on a 270-mile cycling tour to honor all law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty and remember the survivors left behind.The Chattanooga Police Department team is participating in the 2021 Law Enforcement United's Road to Hope ride along with other officers from across Tennessee. The CPD team has raised $18,000 for LEU and to support their ride. This year CPD Officers are riding from Clarksville to Chattanooga. This is a change from the traditional routes that the cyclists take which culminates at the Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington D.C.The change is due to event restrictions currently in place in the nation's capital.The CPD team departs Police Services Center promptly at 2 p.m. this Sunday.
Soddy Daisy passed the fiscal year 2021-2022 budget on the final reading at the commission meeting Thursday night. The tax rate will be certified by the state of Tennessee in late summer; however, the budget was created using the rate of 1.3524 per $100 of assessed value, which is unchanged from the current year. Purchases planned in the coming budget include a dump truck, a salt spreader, a knuckle boom truck, police cars and radios for the fire department.

Reappraisals of property are done every four years and values have increased significantly.

City Attorney Sam Elliott said that although values have gone up, the city has to receive the same amount of money coming in from property taxes as the year before. This is accomplished by lowering the tax rate. He said that reassessments do not create any new revenue for the city.

Soddy Daisy is one of the hottest areas in Hamilton County, said Commissioner Gene Shipley. The city is growing every month as evidenced by the amount of building permits issued. In April, he said, the value of the permits was $1,620,000. The increase in housing will eventually benefit Soddy Daisy by bringing in more sales, income and property taxes, said City Manager Burt Johnson.

Realtor Jennifer Lively presented plans for one of the new housing developments, a neighborhood of attached houses that is being built at the intersection of Dayton Pike and Ducktown Street. The development will be on 35 lots, with 33 units and two lots reserved for a common area for community use with a pavilion and picnic tables. A fence and trees will surround the development. There are three floor plans, starting at 1,335 square feet at $314,000.

Ms. Lively assured concerned Soddy Daisy residents that the Homeowners Association agreement will prevent the units from becoming rentals. To help the increasing traffic on Dayton Pike, the entrance will be from Ducktown Road and the developers will add a turn lane to the existing street.

Mayor Nunley said the fast pace of building in Soddy Daisy is both good news and bad news. The infrastructure is being taxed, he said, with increased traffic and the need for more sewers, which are currently under a moratorium.

One resident questioned the commissioners about another proposed development that she feared would be designated as Section 8 subsidized housing. Mayor Rick Nunley said that the first step would require the property to be rezoned. He said the developer will be at the planning commission meeting next Wednesday at 10 a.m. and that the public is welcomed. What is decided at that meeting will later have to come to the commissioners for approval.

An ordinance passed on first reading to rezone six lots on West Parkway and five lots on Pine Street to R-1 Single Family zone, thereby prohibiting any mobile homes from being put there. Two tracts of land located at 8504 and 8506 Dayton Pike have had split zoning of C-2 Local Business and R-5 Mobile Home district. They were both rezoned to C-2 which was a matter of cleaning up the past zoning issues.

The city manager was given approval to spend $22,000 for equipment for the police department, $19,470 for a vehicle that will be shared by the police and fire departments, $17,000 for asphalt that was used in road work and $45,000 and $35,600 to pave parking lots. Renewal of a contract with Priority Waste for garbage service for five years was approved as was the renewal of a contract with Southeast Tennessee Development District which provides services and advice for the city government for $15,350. A resolution also authorized adding the purchasing co-op Houston-Galveston Area Council, to the list of authorized purchasing sites in order to get the best prices for items used in all city departments.

The city is planning a Fourth of July celebration for Saturday, July 3. There will be a car show, several vendors and music in the park until 8 p.m., said Vice Mayor Robert Cothran. The suggestion of having a parade will be considered.
Twin brothers Rahim and Karim Sadruddin, 35, were sentenced on Friday to 50 months in federal prison for a fraud involving a touted textile plant for Pikeville that never opened and a scheme selling tarps to the government.

They appeared before Judge Travis McDonough.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, the Sadruddins each agreed to plead guilty to an Information charging them with two counts of wire fraud involving a Presidentially declared major disaster and emergency in violation of a section of federal law and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Prosecutors said the Sadruddins were charged as part of a scheme greater than $30 million to defraud the Federal Emergency Management Agency, TVA and the state of Tennessee related to the procurement of tarps for hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, and the fraudulent acquisition of state and federal grant funds for the purpose of establishing the textile plant.

They will be under five years of supervised release after serving their sentences and must each pay $300 in special assessments.

Also, as part of their guilty pleas and plea agreements, they will forfeit numerous items, including houses, a vehicle, bank accounts, and other items of personal property that were obtained with proceeds of the fraud.

They will also be required to pay full restitution in the amount of over $7 million to the state of Tennessee, TVA, and FEMA.

Prosecutors said from April 2017 through January 2019, the Sadruddins "devised and participated in a scheme first to defraud the state of Tennessee and TVA by providing false information to win a bid for over $3 million worth of grants to build a textile manufacturing plant and provide jobs to the citizens of Pikeville in Bledsoe County. Once they began to wrongfully receive the Tennessee and TVA grant funds, they used the money to buy tarps in order to satisfy a separate $30 million contract with FEMA, in which they pledged to provide tarps to citizens in Puerto Rico following the devastating hurricanes in that region  Hurricane Maria and Hurricane Irma.

"As part of the contract, the defendants pledged to obtain tarps from Trade Agreements Act (TAA)-compliant countries and to provide tarps that met FEMA specifications. Instead, the defendants used the funds fraudulently obtained from the state of Tennessee and TVA to purchase tarps from China  a non-TAA-compliant country  that did not meet the contract specifications.

"The defendants falsified records suggesting they had legally procured the tarps and that the tarps met the agreed-upon specifications. Subsequent inspection of the tarps and documentation the defendants provided revealed the existence of the fraud and the noncompliance with the specifications of the contract.

"Once the fraud was uncovered, FEMA was forced to halt performance of the contract, and only a fraction of the tarps intended for the hurricane victims reached Puerto Rico."

The sentencing was announced by Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee Francis M. Hamilton III. He said, These defendants defrauded federal agents and the citizens of Tennessee. Their duplicity deprived the victims of the hurricanes in Puerto Rico necessary equipment. The sentences imposed today reflect the seriousness of their crimes and our offices commitment to prosecute those engaged in major fraud offenses."

Special Agent in Charge Joe Carrico of the FBI Field Office said, Today's sentencing announcement is significant and highlights the FBI's collaboration with our partner agencies as we hold these defendants accountable for knowingly and wittingly creating a fraudulent and deceptive scheme against the citizens of Tennessee. We remain committed to aggressively pursue those whose intent is to victimize the very ones they proclaim they want to help,

Jill Matthews, Deputy Inspector General for TVA, said, TVA strives to better the lives of the people of the Tennessee Valley through many means, including economic development grants aimed at bringing investment and good jobs to the region. The TVA OIG would like to thank the United States Attorneys Office, specifically Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Neff, Tennessee Comptrollers Office, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Department of Homeland Security OIG for working hand in hand with our office to investigate this fraudulent activity. Federal and State partners have a direct stake in ensuring that neither taxpayer nor Valley ratepayer funds are used for fraudulent purposes, and we are pleased that those who would defraud TVA and the people of the Tennessee Valley will see that such a choice comes with consequences."

Joseph V. Cuffari, Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security, said, DHS OIG remains committed to working with our law enforcement partners to identify and investigate individuals who scheme to defraud disaster victims. Todays sentencing sends a clear message that Federal funds intended to help those victims will not fall into the hands of greed-driven criminals.

The United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee partnered with many other federal, state, and local law enforcement and administrative agencies to conduct the investigation in this case. The agencies involved included the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Tennessee Valley Authority Office of Inspector General (TVA OIG), Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), Tennessee State Comptrollers Office, and the 12th Judicial District Attorneys Office.

Assistant United States Attorneys Steven S. Neff and Gretchen Mohr represented the United States.
Members of the Tennessee State Legislature:

We are writing today to voice our disdain and dismay over the offensive comments given by Rep. Justin Lafferty, who stated on the House Floor in reference to the Three-Fifths Compromise that it, "was a direct effort to ensure that southern states never got the population necessary to continue the practice of slavery everywhere else in the country." He then implied this was for the purpose of ending slavery. Other legislators were complicit in this effort by giving Rep. Lafferty a thunderous applause at the conclusion of his polarizing and offensive comments.

We would like to set the historical record straight on a few matters of contention. First, the institution of slavery was America's original sin. Through the similarly abhorrent practices of Imperialism and Colonialism, members of the human family were captured; imprisoned; tormented as they boarded disease infected vessels during the Atlantic Slave trade where millions perished during this Middle Passage; were placed on auction blocks where they were traded and bartered according to physical features; were given new names, beliefs and forced into cultural assimilation; were regarded as economic property; served as domestic laborers who worked for no pay, were lent to the service of others; or were sold outright, despite having families and semi-autonomous communities.

A familiar story that is native to Tennessee that clearly illustrates these sins against humanity is Alex Haley's Roots. It tells the story of Kunta Kinte, who lived out many of the experiences described above. It is an award winning book that sparked an award winning miniseries. The Alex Hayley house in Henning, Tn. is part of the Tennessee Historical Marker system. In case the copy of this book is checked out at the library and archives, we'd be glad to forward you a copy to all legislators at the earliest possible opportunity. It is one of the most definitive works on the horrors of slavery ever produced in this nation.

Moreover, at the Constitutional Convention itself, the delegates argued over two weeks on how to deal with this peculiar institution. Were slaves to be fully counted as one whole person and dare to believe they were equal to everyone? Should they be regarded as property and possessions, like axes, mules and plows? Do you only count male slaves? Along the course of that intense and extensive debate it was decided to appease the Southern delegates and to count the slave as three-fifths of a person so that they might gain more advantageous voting position in the yet to be unseated Congress.

We do concede to Rep. Lafferty, that the Convention did vote to outlaw the Atlantic slave trade by 1808. Yet they were already late in this endeavor because we see that William Wilberforce had been working on banning slavery in England for nearly 20 long years. We can also witness that there were many in America who stood for abolition and manumission, including several of those serving at that very Constitutional Convention.

Likewise, to assert that the Three-Fifths Compromise served as a precursor to ending slavery is just a disingenuous falsehood, as fallacious as the revisionist arguments put forth by the Dunning School after the Civil War. Along the course of the next half century, America almost tore at the seams because of the institution. That is why you had a Missouri Compromise; Nullification Crisis; Compromise of 1850; Bleeding Kansas; and four long and bloody years of Civil War.

And even when the question had been decided on the battlefield, the inferiority index was again put into place with the Deconstruction of Reconstruction; black codes; Jim Crow, Separate but Equal; and segregation. Also as a byproduct of this was the implementation of a mass incarceration system that many like Michelle Alexander has branded as slavery by another name and the new Jim Crow because of the disproportionate arrest, conviction and incarceration of people of color, as well as a for-profit prison industry that rakes in over $200 billion a year.

So we must say to Rep. Lafferty and all of those who struck up the band in cheering him on over these comments, your actions are demeaning, debasing, and dehumanizing. Your caricature is unfit, unjust, and unbecoming. The good book puts it this way, "Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people." Slavery was an inhumane practice which was rooted in an immoral principle, the complete an utter subjugation of human beings that were forced to bow down to a superior class. We say repent of these transgressions and offer and issue an immediate retraction of these comments to the citizens of this state and international community who now believe these comments are representative of the State of Tennessee.

Finally, we at the Tennessee Poor People's Campaign will continue to stand against this type of systemic racism. We stand against abject poverty; it was shameful that the Legislature cut unemployment benefits at a time when we sit on a record surplus while simultaneously voting yourselves a raise. We reject the false narrative you have sought to profess. And yet, we do see some light of hope because we know the hearts of people can be changed. John Newton was once a slave ship trader. He then had a conversion of faith. He would be moved to pen Amazing Grace as a testament to his coming out of the darkness and into the marvelous light. It is our prayer and hope that Rep. Lafferty, and this legislature that has been so deeply intertwined in harming the people of this land, may begin to undertake such a change. Somebody is hurting our people. Its gone on far too long. And we can't be silent anymore.

Forward Together, Not One Step Back,

The Tennessee Poor People's Campaign

Eric Atkins, Rev. Gordon Myers, Amanda Messick, Lisa Rung, Brady Watson, Cynthia Parker, Rev. Edith A. Love, Lakethen Mason, Judith Pedersen-Benn, Rev. Tricia Dillon Thomas, Mary Bricker-Jenkins Linda Cataldo Modica






Chief Deputy Austin Garrett made a surprise visit to East Brainerd Elementary School with a special delivery in recognition of National Teacher Appreciation Week on Friday.

While visiting the elementary school, Chief Deputy Garrett met third grader Jimmy Green, who showed interest in law enforcement moving Chief Deputy Garrett to deputize him as Hamilton Countys newest Junior Deputy Sheriff.

The third grader was presented with his own Junior Deputy Badge.

We recognize the incredibly difficult job that teachers do each and every day educating and caring for our children, stated Chief Deputy Garrett.

Their job has been further complicated with the pandemic and the challenges they have faced and continue to face since last year. As we recognize National Teacher Appreciation Week, we wish to acknowledge our unwavering support and recognition of our educators.

The youth of today is tomorrows law enforcement professional.
Governor Brian Kemp on Friday signed House Bill 286, which will prohibit local governments from defunding the police in the state of Georgia.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Athens), was signed into law just outside of Athens Houston Gaines (R-Athens), was signed into law just outside of Athens - a city which, alongside Atlanta , has recently considered proposals to slash local police budgets

Rep. Gaines said, "Georgia is now one of the only states in the nation with a law explicitly protecting law enforcement officers from being defunded."

Click HERE to watch the full bill signing ceremony, or read Rep. Gaines' full remarks below:





Thank you, Governor. Im honored to be here and appreciate Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith for having us. Its awesome to see so many men and women in law enforcement here this afternoon. And, I want to say thank you for what you do - keeping our communities safe.





Here in Georgia, we back the blue. And thats why were here today - to say loud and clear that we support law enforcement, and that were going to keep families in our state safe.





I want to thank the many folks who worked together to make this bill a reality. On the House side, I see members here today who helped us move this bill through the process. And I want to thank in particular, Senator Randy Robertson who carried this piece of legislation in the Senate. As a law enforcement veteran, Randy understands why this legislation is so important.





I also see folks from the Police Benevolent Association and want to thank them for their support from Day 1 - and I know we have folks with the Sheriffs Association and Police Chiefs Association, as well. Thank you for all you do.





Over the last year, weve seen radial calls to defund the police in cities across the nation. In cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Portland - where local governments have slashed police budgets, crime has skyrocketed. Now those cities are working to restore that funding, and Im glad to see them come to their senses - but its too late for the crimes that have been committed, the damage that has been done to those communities, and the lives lost.





Georgia, too, has seen calls to defund the police. Over the last several months, Atlanta and Athens have considered proposals to slash police funding. In Atlanta, an effort to cut $73 million from the police budget only failed by one vote on the city council. Last year in Athens - just down the road in my hometown, there was a proposal by county commissioners to cut 50% of the police budget.

And thats why I brought this bill forward. When the proposal to cut 50% was released, I heard from folks across the political spectrum concerned - I knew we had to do something. Listen, I support local control - but when you have local governments that are out of control, I knew we had to act.





While were fortunate these proposals didnt pass the first time around, we cant let it happen. Take a look at Atlanta right now - murders are up 60% and shootings are up 51% year to date.





Now is the time to invest in law enforcement. We need to increase the pay of our police officers, add money in the budget for more resources, and stand by those who keep our communities safe. Because the reality is: defunding the police is a radical movement that will endanger our families and our law enforcement officers alike.





House Bill 286 will protect families across the state. Public safety is not a partisan issue - its one we can all agree on, and thats why this legislation is so critical.





Today, were making it clear that we wont allow the defund the police movement to take a foothold in Georgia. Were going to protect public safety in Georgia.




Bill Gates and Melinda Gates are all over the news due to the news of their divorce  but we cant forget about their kids. Melinda and Bill Gates daughter, Jennifer Katharine Gates, is an accomplished equestrian, and shes currently going to med school. Not only that, but shes engaged. And it seems her fiance is quite wealthy. Heres what we know about Jennifer Katharine Gates net worth compared to her fiances.

Is Bill Gates daughter engaged? Jennifer Katharine Gates has a wedding ahead

Nayel Nassar and Jennifer Katharine Gates after the Longines Grand Prix de New York | Alexis Anice/ALeA/Getty Images

Bill Gates daughter, Jennifer Katharine Gates, is already making a name for herself. As the oldest of Melinda and Bills kids, shes set an example as an excellent equestrian and medical school scholar. And shes talked about what it was like growing up with brilliant parents who hoped to do good in the world.

As a young kid, they always talked to me like I was an adult and werent willing to shy around difficult conversations, Jennifer told Sidelines Magazine.

The 25-year-old has plenty to look forward to in the future as well. Shes engaged to Nayel Nassar, a fellow equestrian from Chicago who spent much of his life in Kuwait, People reports. The two seemed to bond over their love of the sport, and they also both attended Stanford University. Nassar popped the question in January 2020, and Jennifer, of course, said yes.

What is Jennifer Katharine Gates net worth?

Bill and Melinda Gates's daughter Jennifer Gates engaged to Egyptian show jumper Nayel Nassar https://t.co/VoUk9GO8Nr  The National (@TheNationalNews) January 30, 2020

RELATED: What is Melinda Gates Net Worth? How Did She Earn Her Money?

Theres no secret Bill and Melinda Gates are ultra-rich. Melinda has a reported net worth of around $70 billion, while Bills hits $124 billion thanks to his contributions to Microsoft. But what about Jennifer?

So far, Jennifer is still in school, so she hasnt accrued nearly as much as her billionaire parents. But it seems she still has an impressive net worth many would love to see. Her net worth currently stands around $20 million.

While many might suspect Melinda and Bill Gates daughters and son will inherit all of their parents money someday, thats not the case. The couple said theyll give each of their kids $10 million, and theyll give the rest of the money to charity. They want to ensure they instill hardworking values in their children so they can go and make a difference in the world.

We want to strike a balance where they have the freedom to do anything but not a lot of money showered on them so they could go out and do nothing, Bill explained.

How much is Nayel Nassar worth?

Jennifer Katharine Gates and Nayel Nassar during Madrid-Longines Champions | Samuel de Roman/Getty Images

While Jennifer Katharine Gates has a lot of money, it seems Nassars net worth is even more. People notes Nassar had a wealthy upbringing, as his Egyptian parents have an architecture and design firm in Kuwait. In 2009, they relocated to the U.S. And according to The Daily Biography, Nassars net worth is somewhere between $20 million and $100 million, though the exact amount is unknown. Its quite possible the young equestrian currently has a higher personal net worth than Jennifer.

It doesnt seem to be about the money for these two, though. Theyve been together since late 2016 or early 2017, and they share their love of horses. Bill Gates daughter even traveled to Kuwait with Nassar in 2017.

We cant wait to hear more about Jennifers upcoming wedding. For now, well continue to see plenty of social media photos of the happy couple!

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Fans are amped for the Dexter revival. Its been nearly a decade since the Showtime series went off the air, ending with Dexter Morgan fleeing Florida and starting anew in Oregon. The revival will pick up on his life since then, but not much else is known about it.

Michael C. Hall (Dexter Morgan), however, has offered up some information about the show in an interview, sharing tidbits about Dexter Season 9 and more.

Michael C. Hall at an event | Getty Images

Dexter is coming back to TV in 2021

In the years after Dexter ended, Hall said in several interviews that he had been approached about reviving the show but never found any of the ideas interesting enough to pursue. However, that changed in 2020, when the Dexter team floated the idea at the center of the upcoming revival.

Hall confessed to the website Louder Than War in April that the story is much more intriguing than past ideas.

I was pleasantly surprised that a story emerged that felt worth telling, he said. I wasnt surprised that it came back in that theres been an appetite for it, both from some fans, but also from the network. Oh, he didnt die, lets do more, lets find out what happened to him. But I think the surprise was that a story emerged that felt worth telling.

Showtime announced in October 2020 that it had approved the revival, with plans to release it in the fall of 2021.

RELATED: Dexter: Michael C. Hall Addresses the Extremely Dissatisfying Finale and Hopes for the Revival Series

Michael C. Hall on the plot of the Dexter revival

Since the revival announcement, the crew members have kept the details close to their chests, leaving fans to piece information together through casting news, social media posts, and Internet theories.

Hall also seems reticent to discuss the revival, but he did tell Louder Than War that Dexters life will look totally different.

As far as what I can reveal about the new show is, I dont want to say much, other than as you can imagine given where we left him his life is completely recontextualized, he continued. Hes in a different place leading a different life surrounded by different people. And the fact that Im talking to you from Concord, Massachusetts suggests that its not all going to be sun and sand.

It was previously reported that the revival is set in the fictional town of Iron Lake, New York and that filming will occur in parts of Massachusetts. In Iron Lake, Dexter will face villain Kurt Caldwell (Clancy Brown), the unofficial mayor of the town.

Powerful, generous, loved by everyone  hes a true man of the people. If hes got your back, consider yourself blessed. But should you cross Kurt, or hurt anyone that he cares for, God help you, reads his character description (via TV Line).

RELATED: Dexter Fans Notice Something Disturbing in Background of Season 9 Teaser

Fans have to wait a few more months until the Dexter revival premieres. But in the meantime, you can stream Dexter Seasons 1-8 online now.

RELATED: The Dexter Revival May Not Definitely Be the End of the Show, Says Michael C. Hall
Actor Josh Duhamel has seen his share of stunts after being part of the Transformers film franchise and in his new role as a superhero in Jupiters Legacy.

Fans have seen him fight Decepticons, scrap with Dan Fogler, and face down sharks in Discovery Channels Capsized: Blood in the Water.

Recently, he flew to an island to shoot a new movie with Jennifer Lopez. But according to Duhamel, his recent tango with the water almost killed him.

Josh Duhamel poses for portrait at the 2nd Annual Mammoth Film Festival on February 07, 2019 in Mammoth, California | Michael Bezjian/Getty Images for 2019 Mammoth Film Festival

Josh Duhamel replaced Armie Hammer in J.Los new film

After a scandal broke out on social media in January about Armie Hammer, he exited several projects that were in production, including Shotgun Wedding. Enter Josh Duhamel.

The actor replaced Hammer in the role starring opposite Jennifer Lopez in a romantic comedy about a destination wedding gone wrong.

Duhamel and Lopez play Darcy and Tom, a couple who get cold feet right before their large wedding  an event that gets further thrown off course when everyone is taken hostage.

Duhamel traveled to the Dominican Republic to shoot the film just weeks after being hired. And thats where he encountered his brush with death.

RELATED: Jennifer Lopezs Last Instagram Post Hits Different Amid Her Breakup From Alex Rodriguez

A wave nearly pulled Duhamel off a cliff

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon welcomed Duhamel via Zoom to chat about Shotgun Wedding and Jupiters Legacy. After praising Lopez and joking about his sweaty appearance in the upcoming movie, Duhamel spoke about a wave that almost took him out. And it was his day off.

Right below where I was staying  where my green room was  theres this beautiful little cove, he said. Duhamel explained that earlier during their shoot, the waters at the cove were calm, and he was able to jump in and swim across to the beach. That changed.

About a week later, this place was completely different because it was now like the ocean was tumultuous that day. And the waves were crashing 30 feet in the air. Well, this rogue wave comes up as Im videotaping this thing and literally washed me over the edge of this cliff, he recalled.

Duhamel said the only thing that saved him was a bed of sharp, craggy coral. But it turned me into hamburger on many parts of my body afterward. He called it one of his near-death experiences in life, and he shared video footage on the show.

Duhamel is a caped crusader in Jupiters Legacy

Shotgun Wedding wont arrive in theaters until June 2022, but fans can see Duhamel next in Jupiters Legacy on Netflix. His character is Sheldon Sampson, a.k.a. The Utopian, the leader of the Union of Justice. As an elder and parent in the superhero bunch, hes wearing the weight of years of service to humanity.

Fans will see Duhamel don a white uniform and Thor-like hair as patriarch of this clan. Viewers will meet the entire dysfunctional Sampson family who  along with having powers  harbor resentments, feelings of inadequacy, and other issues that test their unity.

Based on Mark Millar and Frank Quitelys comic book universe, the story is sure to be full of drama, deception, and power plays. Eight episodes land on Netflix on May 7.
Comedian Tom Arnold and his sister Lori Arnold are opening up about their troubled past  including Loris reign as a drug queenpin who helped kickstart the meth epidemic in the Midwest. The siblings story is explored in the new discovery+ docuseries Queen of Meth.

Tom Arnold says his sister created the meth world

Tom Arnold and Lori Arnold | discovery+

RELATED: Breaking Bad: The DEA Was Heavily Involved with Getting Meth Production Just Correct Enough, Science Adviser Says

Tom and his younger sister grew up in the 1960s in the working-class town of Ottumwa, Iowa. Their parents split up when they were kids, with their mother leaving them to be raised by their father. But in their teens, their wild child mom reentered the picture, and Lori began heading down a path that would eventually end in a DEA bust and a lengthy prison sentence.

Lori was really kind of a pioneer, retired DEA agent Art Vogel explains in the series, which premieres May 7.

Like the people who created the tech world in Silicon Valley, my sister created the meth world, Tom says of his siblings role in fueling a drug epidemic that would eventually devastate Iowa and surrounding states.

Along the way, this female Walter White raked in millions, first by importing meth from California, then by manufacturing it herself.

We would order P2P, which came in 55-gallon drums from Albuquerque, she recalls. And that makes the real methamphetamine. That is the Breaking Bad methamphetamine.

Lori had plenty of willing buyers for her product, especially in economically depressed Ottumwa. At one point she was making $200,000 or more every week and owned a popular bar, a ranch, bright red Jaguar, and multiple racehorses.

The Roseanne actor and his sister had a challenging childhood

Meet one of America's most notorious drug queen-pins.



Lori Arnold made a name for herself in the drug trade nearly 30 years ago, but she'll always be remembered as the #QueenofMeth. Watch exclusively on #discoveryplus on May 7. pic.twitter.com/f1vhtJCMCw  discovery+ (@discoveryplus) May 4, 2021

While Lori was building her drug empire, her older brother Tom was building a successful career as a comedian. Stand-up gigs led to a meeting with Roseanne Barr, who would soon become a huge star in the sitcom Roseanne. Roseanne hired Tom as a writer on her sitcom; hed also appear in multiple episodes as the character Arnie Thomas. The two married in 1990 and divorced in 1994.

In Queen of Meth, both Tom and Lori, along with their brother Scott, discuss their difficult childhood and relationship with their mother, who they say thought nothing of sharing drugs and alcohol with her kids.

I was a full-on alcoholic very young, Tom explains. But that was nothing compared to what his sister experienced.

Lori married  at her mothers insistence  at age 14. Her husband was 23. Now, she recognizes the relationship as inappropriate and abusive, but she says at the time she felt it was normal.

Queen of Meth Lori Arnold went to prison in 1991

Eventually, authorities got wind of Loris drug empire. Federal agents closed in, and her arrest made headlines, in part because of her connection to Tom and his then-wife Roseanne.

I think the feds were doing it because the feds wanted a big bust, and I was Tom Arnolds sister, she says.

In 1991, she was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

I have a lot of regrets, she says. The Queen of Meth title, its not something to be proud of.

Queen of Meth is streaming on discovery+ beginning May 7.

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Luke Gulbranson dropped a bomb on the Summer House cast but also reunion host Andy Cohen when he said producers told him to ask Hannah Berner to visit him in Minnesota.

Gulbransons reveal not only shocked the cast, but it brought Berner to tears and she stormed off stage. The conversation focused on Berners anger toward Gulbranson when he did not return her affections last summer. She shared that Gulbranson asked her to go to Minnesota to meet his parents. I was upset that this person in my life had confused me, Berner said during the reunion. Gulbranson is seen shaking his head, which is when he delivered the blow.

Paige DeSorbo, Hannah Berner, Ciara Miller, Luke Gulbranson, Lindsay Hubbard during the Summer House reunion | Heidi Gutman/Bravo

Luke Gulbranson breaks the fourth wall

Theres something I wanna clear up with the Minnesota reference, he said. Im clearly gonna break the fourth wall and I apologize. But this is something I have to say. Sorry guys but, I was produced and asked to ask you to go to Minnesota. I should have never asked you that. Berners eyes widened when she heard the news.

I should have said no, Gulbranson added. Paige DeSorbo exclaimed, What? Plus, Cohen said, That is not true. Carl Radke is heard in the background adding, Thats not true.

RELATED: Summer House: Ciara Miller Reveals Luke Gulbranson Ghosted and Blocked Her for 8 Months

Berner rose from her seat in tears. That is most f**ked up thing ever. She walked off the stage and is heard sobbing.

Did Luke Gulbranson invite Hannah Berner to Minnesota?

The cast looked stunned as Berners cries are heard backstage. Gulbranson looked stunned too but shrugged. That really f**ks with someones emotions, she is heard backstage. F**ing a**hole.

Oh my God, Luke, Cohen said shaking his head looking annoyed. I mean  that is not true. Adding, Luke I dont believe you because you were like telling producers after we wrapped that you were trying to find dates to go and so you were really following through with it.

Flashbacks showed how often Gulbranson talked to Berner about going to Minnesota with him, which occurred on more than one occasion.

RELATED: Summer House: Kyle Cooke Shades Hannah Berner Moments Before the Reunion

I mean, she was close to your family, right? Cohen said to Gulbranson. Another flashback showed Gulbranson on FaceTime with his family and he called Berner into the frame to say hello.

Hey listen Im not trying to be the bad guy, Gulbranson said. Im clearly sorry about it. And I feel bad. And I wanna apologize to Hannah and I will apologize to her about it.

Do Luke Gulbranson and Hannah Berner kiss and make up?

Gulbranson decided to apologize to Berner in private. He goes to find her backstage to talk to her during the reunion. Thats the meanest thing that a guy has ever said to me, Berner said to herself before Gulbranson found her.

You wanted her to come but it wasnt the right time to ask her to? a producer is seen asking Gulbranson backstage. Is that what youre trying to say?

Gulbranson replied, Yeah, I mean Id definitely invite Hannah to Minnesota. Adding that he sees her as one of his best friends. But it wasnt the right time for that, to ask her that, he added.

RELATED: Summer House: Hannah Berners Shocking Podcast Episode Resurfaces of Her Making Dangerous Mental Health Jokes

At first, Berner didnt seem keen to speaking to Gulbranson once he found her. But they ended up embracing and he apologized. But is all well that ends well?
Females are strong as heck, and were not just talking about Kimmy Schmidt. There were several characters kidnapped by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne during this Netflix original series.

That includes one of the main characters best friends, named Cyndee Pokorny. Heres what we know about the Mole Women from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Netflixs Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt episode titled Kimmy Finds a Liar! | Eric Liebowitz/Netflix/Universal Television/NBCU Photo Bank

Kimmy Schmidt from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was 1 of the Indiana Mole Women

Netflixs original series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, told the story of a little girl in a big city. After being kidnapped and released, Kimmy Schmidt decides to move to the Big Apple in search of a new life and new experiences.

After moving to New York, Kimmy tried her best to avoid and suppress her past, even going by Kimmy Smith for several episodes. Eventually, she revealed her identity, started going to therapy, and even attended Colombia University. Still, she kept in touch with some of the other Mole Women.

RELATED: From Daveed Diggs to Tituss Burgess, Here Are a Few of the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Actors Who Made It Big on Broadway

Who was Kimmy Schmidts best friend in the bunker?

Kimmy wasnt alone in the bunker. The main characters best friend, prior to meeting Titus Andromedon, was her fellow mole woman, Cyndee Pokorny, portrayed by actor Sara Chase. Like Kimmy, Cyndee was lured into the Reverends van when he was a young girl.

He allegedly told Cyndee that he had baby rabbits in his van and, to avoid being rude, this character went inside. These characters were rescued years later, Cyndee still wearing her braces.

As one of Kimmy Schmidts best friends, and as her Secret Santa, Cyndee gave Kimmy a gift before she went back to Indiana. Then, Kimmy Schmidt returned to her hometown to testify against the Reverend with her friends.

Cyndee visited New York City and Kimmy a few times, even stopping her wedding because it was making Kimmy cry. This character also became fairly good friends with Titus, who understood what it was like to live with Kimmy.

RELATED: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: From Im Gonna Be Famous To Pinot Noir, Here Are Some of Titus Andromedons Greatest Hits

There were other Mole Women kidnapped by the Reverend

Kimmy and Cyndee werent the only ones alone in the bunker. One mole woman, Gretchen Chalker, actually voluntarily joined Richard Wayne Gary Waynes church. Down in the bunker, she and Kimmy werent exactly friends.

Even in New York, these two had disagreements about Gretchens habits of following, creating, and leading churches. There was also Donna Maria Nunez, who created her own Mole sauce based on her brand. Although she could speak English, she chose to speak Spanish both inside and outside of the bunker.

Cyndee returned for the Netflix original interactive episode, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend. Episodes of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are available for streaming on Netflix, as is the interactive episode Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend.
The European Patent Office (EPO) announces that German scientist, professor and entrepreneur Karl Leo has been nominated as a finalist in the "Lifetime achievement" category of the European Inventor Award 2021. Leo's pioneering work with organic semiconductors led to the development of highly-efficient organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display technology. The full impact of Leo's innovations can be seen across the electronics industry, with OLEDs providing enhanced image brightness, colour resolution and power efficiency in the latest models of smartphones and other electronic devices we use every day.

Leo, an internationally renowned physicist, is also an entrepreneur who, over the course of his career to date, has co-founded numerous start-ups in Germany's Silicon Saxony' tech region. He has channelled his research breakthroughs into commercially successful electronics and photovoltaics businesses and his achievements in the field of organic semiconductors have even earned him the nickname Organik Papst - the Pope of Organics'.

"Throughout his prolific career, Karl Leo's ingenuity and business acumen have driven him to develop powerful technology that, today, is used by millions of people worldwide," says EPO President Antonio Campinos, announcing the European Inventor Award 2021 finalists. "His effective use of intellectual property rights has supported him, enabling Leo to found companies and commercialise inventions across multiple sectors."

The winners of the 2021 edition of the EPO's annual innovation prize will be announced at a ceremony starting at 19:00 CEST on 17 June which has this year been reimagined as a digital event for a global audience.

The organic spark

As a self-professed basic researcher, Leo's work stems from a fundamental curiosity that is nevertheless grounded in practical applications. This passion began at a young age when Leo's affinity for repairing electronics earned him the nickname the technician' among family members. His early fascination with household electronics later ignited his interest in semiconductors, which became the focus of his undergraduate thesis on solar cells at Freiburg's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in 1985. His first exploration of semiconductors motivated him to think about how electronic devices could be improved through the unique properties of semiconductors - such as the ability of diodes to pass current more easily in one direction.

Leo's PhD and early post-graduate career concentrated on inorganic semiconductors: semiconductors composed of non-carbon-based materials such as silicon or gallium arsenide. Leo would ultimately solidify his impact in the field of organic semiconductors when he accepted a full professorship in optoelectronics at Technische Universitat Dresden (TU Dresden). At the time, his colleagues were researching organic semiconductors (composed of carbon-based materials) as an emerging alternative to more expensive inorganic components in electronic devices. While organic semiconductors were affordable, flexible and recyclable, they were still considered impractical, due to their poor electrical conductivity and short lifespan.

Leo noticed that few people had considered doping' for organic semiconductors - adding tiny amounts of substances that produce freely moving electrons to boost a material's conductivity. Doping was already a common technique to increase the conductivity of inorganic semiconductors, for example, by adding traces of boron, arsenic, phosphorus or gallium to silicon wafers. Leo and his research group set out to see if this technique could also apply to organic semiconductors. They took basic organic semiconductor materials, such as lithium phthalocyanine-containing compounds (used for the blue colour on German autobahn signs) and added small organic molecules with electron-withdrawing properties such as bathophenanthroline. Using a vacuum evaporation process, the researchers then heated the base materials (in a powder form) until they evaporated, resulting in condensed semiconductor films.

The breakthrough came in 1998, when the highly talented PhD students Martin Pfeiffer and Jan Blochwitz in his team were able to create an organic semiconductor LED requiring only one-fifth of the voltage previously needed. Leo's organic semiconductors were more sustainable than inorganic semiconductors due to their high efficiency, long lifespan, low-energy production process and potential to be recycled. Motivated by these initial outcomes, Leo's team worked to refine the process even further. "We discovered that it was possible to raise the conductivity of organic semiconductors by a factor of one million or more, in some cases. We also realised that it could be used for devices, organic light-emitting diodes, solar cells, transistors and more," says Leo.

Commercialising basic research

Leo's work has always been fuelled by a passion for research and an innate curiosity. His successes have also depended on an entrepreneurial spirit. Over the course of his career to date, Leo has co-founded numerous start-ups in Germany's Silicon Saxony' tech region. He recognises the value of IP protection in this process, noting that "no investor will invest in a technology company without a solid intellectual property base".

In 2001, for example, Leo co-founded the German start-up company Novaled AG to commercialise OLED technologies and materials. Leo was named in a patent application filed by Novaled for a transparent, thermally stable and easy-to-produce OLED with unmatched power efficiency, and the European patent was granted in 2006. This European patent laid the basis for Novaled's PIN OLED technology, which was introduced in flat-screen displays and OLED lighting with double the efficiency of any competitor on the market. Leo's PIN OLEDs eventually attracted Samsung, which acquired Novaled in 2013 for EUR 260 million.

In 2004, Leo, his team of researchers, and the University of Ulm began adapting the semiconductors to organic solar cells, hoping to bring similar success to this field. In 2006, they filed a patent application in the name of Heliatek GmbH. Leo is co-founder of the solar technology spin-off which has created the world's first industrial-grade ultra-light, sustainable and flexible organic solar film that can be mounted on buildings that cannot physically or legally carry conventional solar modules.

The organic semiconductor field-form transistors Leo hopes to bring to market next could have many practical applications for electronic circuits in displays, solar energy and even bioelectronics. As a professor and business co-founder, the 60-year-old has never stopped striving to advance the field of organic semiconductors. "I see opportunities beyond what has been achieved today," he says.
Researchers at ETH Zurich have succeeded in turning specially prepared graphene flakes either into insulators or into superconductors by applying an electric voltage. This technique even works locally, meaning that in the same graphene flake regions with completely different physical properties can be realized side by side.

The production of modern electronic components requires materials with very diverse properties. There are isolators, for instance, which do not conduct electric current, and superconductors which transport it without any losses. To obtain a particular functionality of a component one usually has to join several such materials together. Often that is not easy, in particular when dealing with nanostructures that are in widespread use today. A team of researchers at ETH Zurich led by Klaus Ensslin and Thomas Ihn at the Laboratory for Solid State Physics have now succeeded in making a material behave alternately as an insulator or as a superconductor  or even as both at different locations in the same material - by simply applying an electric voltage.

Graphene with a magic angle

The material Ensslin and his co-workers use bears the somewhat cumbersome name Magic Angle Twisted Bilayer Graphene. In actual fact, this name hides something rather simple and well-known, namely carbon  albeit in a particular form and with a special twist. The starting point for the material are graphene flakes, which are carbon layers that are only one atom thick. The researchers put two of those layers on top of each other in such a way that their crystal axes are not parallel, but rather make a magic angle of exactly 1.06 degrees. Thats pretty tricky, and we also need to accurately control the temperature of the flakes during production. As a result, it often goes wrong, explains Peter Rickhaus, who was involved in the experiments as a postdoc.

In twenty percent of the attempts, however, it works, and the atomic crystal lattices of the graphene flakes then create a so-called moire pattern in which the electrons of the material behave differently than in ordinary graphene. Moire patterns are familiar from television, for instance, where the interplay between a patterned garment and the scanning lines of the television image can lead to interesting optical effects. On top of the magic angle graphene flakes the researchers attach several additional electrodes which they can use to apply an electric voltage to the material. When they then cool everything down to a few hundredths of a degree above absolute zero, something remarkable happens. Depending on the applied voltage, the graphene flakes behave in two completely opposite ways: either as a superconductor or as an insulator. This switchable superconductivity was already demonstrated in 2018 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA. Even today only a few groups worldwide are able to produce such samples.

Insulator and superconductor in the same material

Ensslin and his colleagues are now going one step further. By applying different voltages to the individual electrodes they turn the magic angle graphene into an insulator in one spot, but a few hundred nanometres to one side it becomes a superconductor.

When we saw that, we obviously first tried to realize a Josephson junction, says Fokko de Vries, who is also a postdoc in Ensslins laboratory. In such junctions two superconductors are separated by a wafer-thin insulating layer. In this way, current cannot flow directly between the two superconductors but rather has to tunnel quantum mechanically through the insulator. That, in turn, causes the conductivity of the contact to vary as a function of the current in a characteristic fashion, depending on whether direct or alternating current is used.

Possible applications in quantum technologies

The ETH researchers managed to produce a Josephson junction inside the graphene flakes twisted by the magic angle by using different voltages applied to the three electrodes, and also to measure its properties. Now that thats worked as well, we can try our hands at more complex devices such as SQUIDs, says de Vries. In SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference device) two Josephson junctions are connected to form a ring. Practical applications of such devices include measurements of tiny magnetic fields, but also modern technologies such as quantum computers. For possible uses in quantum computers, an interesting aspect is that with the help of the electrodes the graphene flakes can be turned not just into insulators and superconductors, but also into magnets or so-called topological insulators, in which current can only flow in one direction along the edge of the material. This could be exploited to realize different kinds of quantum bits (qubits) in a single device.

A keyboard for materials

So far, however, thats just speculation, Ensslin says. Still, he is enthusiastic about the possibilities that arise from the electrical control even now. With the electrodes, we can practically play the piano on the graphene. Amongst other things, the physicists hope that this will help them to gain new insights into the detailed mechanisms that bring about superconductivity in magic angle graphene.
Portions of a fallen SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket are believed to have fallen somewhere between Odessa and Reardan

DAVENPORTBOOM! What sounded like a bomb going off to Sami Guhlke hit the skys soundwaves as the Reardan resident walked with her dog to pick up eggs from her family farms chicken coop three miles south of town after the sun set March 25.

45 seconds later... BOOM! A second clapthen 45 seconds after that, a third BOOM!

At first I thought something went wrong at Fairchild (Air Force Base), Guhlke said.

As it turned out, Guhlke wasnt the only person, locally or regionally, to hear the boom. In fact, many people captured its origin on camera across the state. Some surmised that a meteor had entered the atmosphere. Other folks wondered if the world was about to end, venting their fears on Facebook.

Neither idea was correct. The phenomenon was space junk from a falling SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that would fall across Eastern Washington and send a professional meteorite hunter Washingtons wayand eventually, to Lincoln County.

In fact, at least five pieces, including the engine, are believed to have fallen somewhere between Odessa and Reardan.

One catch: No one has found the pieces yet.

But it hasnt been for lack of trying.

Wards hunt for space junk

Robert Ward is a professional meteorite hunter based out of Prescott, Arizona, who has traveled the world in search of meteorites, space rocks and junk thats crashed back to Earth. When Mike Hankey, a software coder and the operations manager for the American Meteor Society, collected eyewitness accounts of the March 25 phenomenon and compiled data on where the pieces could have landed, he alerted Ward.

Three days later, Ward arrived in Yakima to begin his hunt for pieces from the rocket that was originally launched March 4 as part of Elon Musks plan to put satellites into space that can provide broadband internet globally through a program called Starlink. Over the next few weeks, he found three 200-pound tanks just east of the Columbia River in Grant County, one of which came very close to hitting someones trailer.

He took two of the pieces back to Arizona in the bed of a Ford F-150. The third was confiscated by the Grant County Sheriffs Department.

Thanks to his work with Hankey, who has been conducting all this work remotely in Maryland, and NOAA meteorologist Ken Howard, Ward deduced that five or six pieces of the rocket, including the combustion chamber, had fallen farther eastlikely between Odessa and Reardan.

The team was able to surmise the Lincoln County location by tracking where the pieces went dark; which occurs because its not going fast enough to ionize the air around it, which makes it not bright and land no further than a couple miles away, Hankey explained.

The heavier the piece, the farther east it would likely fall, Hankey said, due to the inertia it takes to slow objects down. The heaviest piece may have bypassed Lincoln County altogether and headed toward Idaho, or farther due north.

Its like when youre driving and trying to brake in a car, Hankey said. You leave more distance between you and the car ahead of you if youre in a larger car, because it takes more time to break in the heavier car.

Ward headed over to Lincoln County after his successful discoveries in the Yakima/Grant County area.

I went up there (to Eastern Washington) on two separate trips for three weeks total, Ward said.

He spent time in Reardan, Davenport, Odessa and Harrington, chatting with local farmers about his mission and hunting across the county for any trace of the junk.

One local farmer that Ward interacted with was Trea Nonnemacher, whose family farms about 5,000 acres just east of Davenport off Jannett Road. Nonnemacher said the family was driving home April 3, when they saw a man walking around Hein Road. It was Ward, who explained his mission.

He wasnt on private property. He kind of flagged us down and told us the whole story, Nonnemacher said. He said the engine likely landed in one of our fieldshe pointed toward Reardan from where we were standing.

After chatting for about an hour, Ward left to continue his hunt, then returned to the Nonnemachers farmhouse the next day to touch base.

He talked to my kids a little bitand gave them a DVD. It was a documentary on space that hed help make, Nonnemacher said. He was really great with the kids, and he said hell go and talk at schoolshes a very, very nice man.

The Arizona-based meteorite hunter version of Indiana Jones has preferred to rely on farmers for intel on where the rocks may have landed. He didnt talk much to authorities or local government figuresthough he noted that would be a good idea.

The Lincoln County Commissioners hadnt heard that pieces likely fell hereneither had the Reardan Police Department or town clerk. Sheriff Wade Magers had heard rumors, but nothing reported to the sheriffs office. The Davenport Times learned about the story through an article in the Seattle Times, though Ward said he had planned to reach out soon when contacted. The Odessa Record was similarly in the dark.

To many, the local angle of the phenomenon remained a mystery.

But despite many interactions with local farmers, Wards search has yet to prove successful. However, a recent turn of events may provide more insight into where the Lincoln County trash-turned-treasures may have landed.

Hanford observatory captures fireballs on camera

When Dr. Michael Landry read the April 26 Seattle Times article, he realized his department could be of assistance.

Landry is the head of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) owned by California Institute of Technology located in Hanford, which is near Richland. Landry emailed Hankey on April 24, who has been conducting all this work remotely in Maryland, and told him that his observatory captured the re-entry arc of the rocket heading northeast.

Through the video, Hankey said the team will be able to better locate the objects using radar and constrain the line that the pieces headed.

In these events, theres 100 fireballs that result, Hankey said. In the video, theres 12. The one that lands furthest away is the brightest and heaviest object.we can figure out the altitude of the fireballs in the video and figure out the maximum distance it could (have landed).

So, if you heard the boom, youre close to where this happenedlikely within 50 kilometers, Hankey added.

What to look for

Though recent technological advancements and Hankeys assistance from the LIGO Hanford Observatory will help in the hunt for where in Lincoln County these items may have crashed, Ward said farmers keeping an eye out when plowing may be the bestor onlyway any of any pieces being discovered in the vast wheat fields of the county.

If you hit any parts, the telltale sign is the ablation from the atmosphere, Ward said. It will have a very rough surface and be discolored from the heat.

Its possible a farmer could stumble upon a piece weighing hundreds of pounds. Its also possible the metal will have made such a strong impact that it will have left just a hole in the ground.

Ward said if any pieces are reported in Lincoln County, he plans to be back here to inspect. But for now, the discovery of spaces unwanted items in the wheat fields of Eastern Washington is left to meteorologists working remotely and the farmers who call the county home.
Indian Territory Genealogical and Historical Society members Diane Kendall, left, and Shirley Pettengill are keeping open the genealogy room at Northeastern State University on Monday afternoons.
Memorial Service for Carol "Sue" Woods will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at Hawkins Baptist Church in Alex, OK. Carol "Sue" Woods, of Alex, OK passed away on Saturday May 29, 2021 at the age of 76 in her home surrounded by her family. Sue was born June 15, 1944 in Scipio, 
Oppressive Structures

To gain an understanding of why the Churchs role in political protest is required, we must gain an understanding of the oppressive socio-economic and political structures. Unless we can see the oppressive nature of these structures in Kenya, we will never value the place for social action of the Church. What are these structures and how do they perpetuate injustices against the citizens?

These are political and economic structures in the government of Kenya whose role ideally is to serve the citizens. Unfortunately, what we have sensed in the past from these structures is the ability to wield their power to unleash structural violence against their citizens. Quite often we dont seem to see this as violence because of our narrow definition of the same. Violence is not necessarily bloody, but this kind is equally messy and deadly. Structural violence refers to social and personal violence arising from unjust, repressive, and oppressive national or international political, economic and social structures in which the system generates repression, abject poverty, malnutrition, and starvation for some members of society while other members enjoy opulence and unbridled power.

For instance, the marketization of all economic spaces in Kenya has rendered new graduates coming out of the universities (both public and private) jobless. This is due to what Greenaway in his reflection on Adam Kotskos book on Neoliberalism Demons calls neo-liberalization of markets. He defines neoliberalism as a self-reinforcing and self-justifying system  a theology that replaces a providential God with the invisible and all-knowing hand of the market.(Kotsko, 2018) According to Greenaway, this free marketization of access to jobs, healthcare, education, etc. works in such a manner that leaves those locked out of it to have themselves to blame, and not the system, or one another. It is ones fault that they did not compete enough in the capitalist-laden system.

On the flip side, some young people turn to Christian religious structures to find God for meaning and purpose in their lives. Among the young, especially, anxiety and depression seem rampant and young people are held up as politically disillusioned, increasingly turning their back on both political processes and institutional religion(Greenaway, 2018). Church worship is presently reflected in many churches in Nairobi, Kenya is mainly characterized by pomp, the hype that works at the moment to instill a sense of hope. However, this sense of hope is short-lived and most likely vanishes from the worshipers experience shortly after the end of the service.

Thus, we ought to deliberately and intentionally seek to reclaim our prophetic role by incorporating biblical lament back in our worship experience. This is because:

Lament helps us process pain (Psalm 10:1-9)

Biblical lament works to restore humanity in our sense of being during our church fellowship meetings. Our choice of songs and liturgical words need to have a human face in them that recognizes that we are humans who feel pain due to our experience. The progression of biblical lament starts with a recognition of ones intense pain encapsulated in a sense of estrangement from God amid the oppressors arrogance.

Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide in times of trouble? In arrogance, the wicked hotly pursue the poor; let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised vv 1-2.

This estrangement from God is real for most Christians in Kenya today. Especially those who might not be knowing what to eat today, or where to start looking for work tomorrow. They feel their alienation from God as well as the pressure of the oppressors mounting behind them. It is okay to acknowledge this feeling as it helps us to psychologically come to terms with our local experience. Failure to acknowledge that pain might quickly turn into denial which will lead us to either of the following two extremes:

On the one hand, is that we might end up suppressing pain through false rhetoric and empty hype in the church that is not consistent with the living experience of many. On the other hand, we might be filled with despair especially in the face of the reality of the oppressors schemes that they have devised. Realize that oppressive structures have schemes laid down to oppress the poor and vulnerable in the society. Such schemes are evil genius that seeks to inflict pain and suffering on the masses. It is an utter pretense for the church not to be cognizant of this evil mastermind by the socio-economic and political systems of the state!

The oppressors believe that they are untouchable. Seemingly in Kenya, they are untouchable. They flout all the laws of this country and still walk freely making more threats against the poor and innocent Kenyans. Every day in the experience of mwananchi (citizen) is a constant reminder that he or she is being waylaid by the oppressor. The prideful arrogance and impunity witnessed in the country via social, and mainstream media is a sign for the poor and oppressed that they have nowhere to run to for justice.

We ought to acknowledge and incorporate this reality in our worship songs, prayers, Scripture reading, etc. We should not suppress the pain of any kind whatsoever, even if it emanates from unjust structures. Doing that allows for suppression of emotions that are to the soul what nerves are to the body. If the church is going to facilitate the healing of emotions that have been hurt due to unjust and oppressive structures, then biblical lament is a great emotional resource when incorporated into our worship content.

Lament helps us identify with Jesus (Ps 10: 14  15)

The incarnation of Jesus Christ is a living and vivid indicator that God identifies with the poor. The biblical narrative is replete with the theme of justice which communicates the idea that God always identifies with the oppressed. The Psalmist in our passage this morning cried out Arise, O LORD; O God, lift your hand; forget not the afflicted v 12. God hears and never forgets the cries of the afflicted. It may seem during difficult moments, socially, economically, or politically that God has forgotten his people. However, that thinking is not a reality to the economy of God whose pursuit is for justice to befall his people.

How does God respond to the affliction of his people? He sees it! But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you, the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless v 14. Biblical lament connects people to the idea that God is a lover of justice and will revenge on behalf of the oppressed to restore a just society.

Lament helps hearers discern what justice is required, but more than this, it is essential for sustaining a prophetic imagination that energizes communities to secede from, and speak truth to the prevailing consciousness of the powers that be (Williams, 2014, p. 3).

The level of incapacity for churches in Kenya to engage and challenge powerful structures in our society is partly because of failure to see God on the side of the oppressed. Not only does God side with the poor through Jesus incarnation but also, he is standing waiting to punish the wicked oppressor. The Psalmist acknowledges this fact in the following statement: Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none v 15.

Notice the violence with which God is unleashing revenge on the unjust oppressor. The violence by the state evidenced on the cross is a sign of the injustices of this world. It is with this violence that the oppressor will receive his due on the day of Gods justice. This helps restore hope to the oppressed even though only for the moment. But at least it does help us understand when God talks about vengeance.

Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall sleep; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly. Deut. 32:35

Therefore, to develop a fitting discipleship model that addresses injustice questions in the church, worshippers need to be familiar with the lament itself. This is an acknowledgment that people have been treated unfairly because they are a minority, weak, vulnerable, powerless, jobless, orphaned, etc. The spiritual resource that reminds us that Jesus was treated equally but eventually overcame is helpful. A realization that Jesus did not overcome by suppressing his feelings is also a breakthrough. He overcame by questioning God: My God, my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? Ps 22:1.

Lament is packaged in words of my groaning. Those words need to be incorporated in our liturgy, songs, prayers, scripture reading, and public responses in the context of the African worship experience. Words of groaning help us identify with the injustices meted on Jesus and help us realize that we have a part in sharing in Jesus suffering, yet not without protesting to the powers that be, just like Jesus. Therefore, for more holistic discipleship in worship, we ought to focus more on Jesus on the cross and identify with his pain, and not on the empty cross that has been used as an instrument of inflicting pain by the state for many centuries.

Lament helps us protest for justice, (Ps 10:16  18)

As the saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied. Each time I am walking in the streets of Nairobi, I purpose to observe people. I have particularly noticed a pattern of behavior whereby people walk with heads bowed down, or in parks where you find people gazing at nothing, lost in deep thoughts. I can read despair from the faces of many Kenyans, both young and old. Suppression of pain does not help; it only leads to more misery and eventual depression.

All the while the Church is gifted by God with an opportunity to stage a political protest leveraging on biblical protest. This is packaged in words like those of the Psalmist:

O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted, you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more. (vv 17  18).

It is acceptable to name forms of injustice in the church. In naming injustice, lament serves as a form of prophecy, speaking Gods truth to the world, which can often interrupt doxology (Ex 2:23-25) to call into question old power arrangements that had long been legitimated and unquestioned (Williams, 2014).

When lament is removed from our public spaces of worship it becomes widely accepted that the Church is comfortable with the status quo. Williams adds that If justice questions are improper questions to God, they soon appear to be improper questions in public places (Williams, 2014). If we cannot interrogate injustices in church, then we will not question the same in the corridors of power and public spaces given for us to engage in.

What follows is that Christians begin to spiritually legitimatize oppression through a call for prayer days, and false repentance on behalf of the countrys leadership. This might lead to sheer obedience to the state, and eventually, the people despair.

The political struggle that led to what we call the second liberation in Kenya was led by civil rights organizations in collaboration with individual clergymen (Patel, 2001). The late 1980s leading to the early 1990s saw a stream of street protests outside the Kenyan parliament and other government offices as people pushed for a constitutional review (Tarus & Gathongo, 2016). Sacred places were brought out in the public as women staged hunger strikes at Uhuru Park for days agitating for the release of political prisoners who had been locked in detention torture chambers without trial.

Many of these religious groups and leaders suffered and some died in the process. But the fruit of their protest started in churches and taken out to confront powers that bore fruit. In 1992, Kenya had the first multi-party elections after the constitutional review that saw a significant change in Kenyan politics.

Unfortunately, this is not the case today, over 30 years later. We are seeing elements of the Church being accused as siding with the oppressor. The few individual voices of dissent and protest against the government are being wished away as negative energies and soon disappear into oblivion.

Need for a Political Theology

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As I conclude, I suggest that we create a political theology that is authentically African, and biblically faithful. Thus, we need to create a political theology in our Kenyan churches that allow Christians to safely utilize biblical lament as an emotional resource for processing pain. This will help us identify with Jesus ministry on earth which is relevant for Kenya today. Lastly, this theology will catapult us onto the public spaces where we can protest against oppressive structures. That is our social action. By this, we will redeem our prophetic role as a church to be the city on a hill for many Kenyans today.

Martin Munyao is lecturer of theology, missions, and African Christianity at Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a former Global Research Institute (GRI) scholar at Fullers Center for Missiological Research, where his research focused on the intersection of Migration, Interfaith Engagement and Missions, which is the title of the book he is currently working on.

References

Greenaway, J. (2018, November). Neoliberalism Demonizes All of Us. Sojourners. https://sojo.net/articles/neoliberalism-demonizes-all-us

Kotsko, A. (2018). Neoliberalisms Demons: On the Political Theology of Late Capital. Stanford University Press.

Patel, P. (2001). Multiparty Politics in Kenya. Revista Ciencia Politica, 21(1), 154173.

Tarus, D., & Gathongo, J. (2016). Conquering Africas Second Devil: Ecclesiastical Role in Combating Ethnic Bigotry. Online Journal of African Affairs, 5, 815.

Williams, A. (2014). Biblical Lament and Political Protest. Cambridge Papers, 23(1).
When a loved one dies, local churches often mobilize to provide meals and funeral services. But spiritually rich grief care is more than printing bulletins and delivering casseroles. Death invites each of us to acknowledge our finitude and recognize the depth of Gods kindness to us in Christ Jesus. How can these lessons we learn from loss shape our church culture? What can churches do to become more grief-aware?

In this episode, Daniel Harrell and author Clarissa Moll discuss how the diversity of the churchs gifts can provide vital support for grieving people after a loss. Daniel and Clarissa talk about the challenges of pastoring through personal grief, how Jesus meets us uniquely in suffering, and how congregations can grow in their empathetic care for hurting people in their midst.

A unique mixture of devotional conversation and nuts and bolts practicality, this episode offers listeners encouragement as they welcome grief into the pews each week. Special guest, John Witvliet of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship discusses the value and vitality of funeral worship and why the Psalms are a great place to start when designing a service in memory of a loved one.

Surprised by Grief is a production of Christianity Today

Produced by Mike Cosper

Written by Daniel Harrell and Clarissa Moll

Edited and mixed by Mark Owens

Music by The Porters Gate
Like many in America, evangelicals in Ukraine feel under siege.

It may be why people are starting to elect themin record numbers.

Ukraine has become the epicenter of a global spiritual battle, said Pavel Unguryan, coordinator of Ukraines National Prayer Breakfast.

Today, as never before, our nation needs unity, peace, and the authority of Gods Word.

Their perceived threats are coming from all directions.

From the east, Russia recently amassed 100,000 soldiers on the border.

From the west, the European Union pushes LGBT ideology.

And from within, corruption is rampant.

On each issue, evangelicals align well with Ukrainian voters.

The shortage of good leaders is so intense, parties are starting to recruit in the churches, said Unguryan. Honest and responsible politicians are easiest to find there.

Last October, more than 500 evangelicals were elected to all levels of government. One even heads a major cityRivne, in western Ukraineas mayor.

With evangelicals comprising only 2 percent of Ukraines 40 million people, it is a significant achievement.

Image: Courtesy of Conservative Movement of Ukraine

Two-thirds (65%) of the population identify as Orthodox Christians (split across three groups), 10 percent as Greek Catholic, and a further 8 percent as simply a Christian.

But the piety does not translate to politics. Ukraine ranks 117th out of 180 nations in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Indexthe second-lowest ranking in Europe.

As a result, 78 percent of Ukrainians distrust state officials, and 71 percent distrust politicians, according to a 2020 poll by the Razumkov Center.

But the church is trusted by 63 percent, second only to the army, trusted by 65 percent. Once reviled as a sect, evangelicals have benefited also from the overall social sense of refuge in the church.

I see my career as the means to advance the values of Jesus, working for the sake of my fellow Ukrainians, said Unguryan, elected to parliament in 2008.

Why not go when God opens the door?

A Baptist from Odessa on the Black Sea coast, Unguryan chairs For Spirituality, Morality and the Health of Ukraine, an inter-party parliamentary caucus that includes more than 100 of the nations 450 lawmakers.

It began as a simple Bible study.

Image: Courtesy of Conservative Movement of Ukraine

But if anti-corruption sentiment yielded a harvest of evangelical politicians, anti-Russian sentiment gave it birth.

First elected in 1998, Oleksandr Turchynov, a Baptist from Kiev, became a trusted lawmaker in Yulia Tymoshenkos Fatherland party. As Tymoshenko, the former prime minister, languished in jail as a political prisoner, protests erupted in 2014 when then-President Viktor Yanukovych resisted government decisions to align with Europe.

Turchynov was elected speaker of parliament and appointed interim president when Yanukovych fled. As Russian forces occupied the Crimea and surrounding provinces that same year, he armed the Ukrainian resistance while petitioning the United Nations.

Russian propaganda called Turchynov the bloody pastor, but it backfired, said Ruslan Mailuta, a Ukrainian consultant with the World Evangelical Alliance.

Ukrainians viewed him with respect, as an evangelical who stood up for his country.

Until that point, many evangelicals were drawn to Russian president Vladimir Putins rhetoric for conservative values. But currently, while the pro-Russian Opposition Bloc for Life holds 15 percent of seats in the Ukrainian parliamentconcentrated in provinces on the eastern borderMailuta said very few evangelicals support the party.

The reason is partly geographic.

Following World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution led to eastern Ukraines absorption into the Soviet Union. The western region, held by Poland, experienced 20 additional years of religious freedom, until Russias joint 1939 invasion with Nazi Germany.

In the interim, revival broke out in the west, and afterward Christians were persecuted by the Communist regime. Since then, evangelicals have drawn their strength from regions closer to Europe, with a pro-Western orientation.

A little over a year ago, Turchynov, Unguryan, and other believers launched the All-Ukrainian Council on a date to commemorate the entire nation-state, and evangelical service therein. January 22 was the 100th anniversary of the Act of Unification that briefly brought the eastern and western halves of Ukraine into political unity.

Image: Courtesy of the Conservative Movement of Ukraine

Known in English as the Conservative Movement, the council brought together the older Council of Evangelical Protestant Churches, representing Baptists and Pentecostals, with the Ukrainian Inter-Church Council, representing newer denominations. Other parachurch and civic organizations also affiliated, so that practically all Ukrainian evangelicals can now speak with one voice.

The group is not a formal union, and Mailuta said that cooperation across denominations does not come easily to Ukrainian evangelicals. Neither is it a political entity, as the memory of Soviet repression discipled believers away from public engagement, especially in the older generations.

But if Russias aggression inadvertently legitimized evangelicals in the public eye, and popular frustrations over corruption lent them political support, there is a third feature that may divide the movement, even as it unites them.

All evangelicals are conservative, said Mailuta, nominated by Ukraine to serve on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

But family values can quickly become political.

Stirrings of evangelical cooperation began about a decade ago, focusing first on prayer, and then on social service. Mailuta cofounded a network to help orphans. Unguryan worked in youth ministry.

A fourth leading evangelical figure, Nikolay Kuleba, started out in child welfare.

Today, he is the Presidents Ombudsman for Children, and was the only high-level official to survive the 2019 change in administration.

Former President Petro Poroshenko hired him after defeating Tymoshenko in 2014. Current president Volodymyr Zelensky, a career comedian, kept him in his post.

Unlike in the United States, political parties in Ukraine tend to form around individual figuresnot ideologies. Kuleba advises evangelicals to serve through them all.

Believers need to be in the government, he said.

But it needs to be a calling, and you have to work hard to be prepared.

After the recent elections, Kuleba gathered the winning evangelical candidates and asked them to ask God: What is your purpose for me here?

Image: Courtesy of Conservative Movement of Ukraine

Many are motivated to challenge the European agenda to normalize abortion and LGBT identity. But within government, Kuleba said, the Bible cannot confront these issues directly. As activists develop sexual education curricula, however, he urges the church to do the sameand design it for society as a whole.

As officials work with parents and teachers, they can promote biblical values.

Faith must follow relationship, Kuleba said. I preach Christ through my actions, and faithfulness in my job.

His current focus is on a spate of TikTok suicides that shocked Ukraine.

But unlike what is happening in neighboring Hungary and Poland, Kuleba urges Christians to not rally behind a single politician or party. Thinking also of the US, he says it is a big mistake to think this can change things.

Join with many [parties], and influence them from within, he said. Then your values can spread across the political spectrum.

Ukrainian evangelicals have been burned before.

In the mid-1990s, then-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko tried to court the evangelical vote, winning much appreciation. By the end of the decade, he was arrested on international money laundering charges.

And in 2005, Nigerian pastor Sunday Adelaja led one of Europes largest megachurches in Kyiv in strong support of the Orange Revolution that confronted Ukraines corrupt oligarchic holdover from Soviet rule. A few years later, though he was not personally convicted, his churchs reputation was soiled by reported leadership involvement in a financial Ponzi scheme.

Might the Conservative Movement become a political party?

I do not have such expectations, said Unguryan.

But with God, all things are possible.

The grandson of a persecuted pastor, he recognizes the traditionally strong evangelical distaste for politics. But standing aside achieves nothing, and Unguryan has been hard at work to cement Ukraines public Christian heritage.

In 2011, his caucus sponsored an act to declare the year of the Peresopnytsia Gospel on the 450th anniversary of the first Ukrainian vernacular translationon which presidents swear their oath of office.

In 2013, the caucus sponsored an act establishing the national celebration of the 1,025th anniversary of Ukraines conversion to Christianity.

In 2016, Poroshenko became the first president to attend Ukraines National Prayer Breakfast. That same year, the caucus sponsored the historic Orthodox nations act to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

Image: Courtesy of Conservative Movement of Ukraine

Evangelical efforts to organize yearlong events eventually coalesced into the Conservative Movement. With branches in every region of Ukraine, not one of its 10 committees directly addresses political involvement.

Introducing people to the teachings of Jesus, Unguryan said, will change the country much faster than the activities of a party.

Committees for family, education, business, culture, leadership, and mediawith prayer and fastingreveal an agenda far more comprehensive than politics.

But given the Russian threat, Unguryan asks for the help of the West. Not only is this politically necessary for Ukraine, Protestant churches are being shut down in the occupied regionsas once before.

And though the Conservative Movement is an evangelical initiative, he desires a broad social coalition including the Orthodox and Catholic faithful.

In 2017, he helped inaugurate National Thanksgiving Day.

Ukraine needs to implement practical Christian values into the daily life of society, said Unguryan. Only on this unshakable foundation we can achieve success and build a powerful state.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Conservative Movement includes the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. It includes the Ukrainian Inter-Church Council.

[ This article is also available in . ]
The Failure of the Light

We've all had that nerve fraying moment when we flip a light switch on, and the bulb blows out in this bright flash that blinds you before the darkness covers the room. Have you ever noticed what you said? If you're like me, you started yelling for someone to bring you a light bulb because the light bulb had blown out.

Notice what you don't say. You don't say, "The darkness killed another light bulb." No, the light bulb blew out. The darkness didn't kill it. The light failed.

I've been thinking about this story a lot lately. Every time I turn on the television, there is some expert telling me how "dark" these days are. We are politically divided like never before in the history of our nation. (Well, the Civil War comes to mind, but no one seems to remember that part of our history). We are failing to address the racial, economic, housing, healthcare -- fill in your own -- crisis.

These are indeed dark days, but not because the darkness has won. The light has failed. Heres the hard truth. If it's dark in our nation, it's because those who are supposed to be light have failed to be that light. Darkness, no matter how black and thick, doesn't have the power to put out the light from a single match. Have you ever been in a dark room and lit a match? The whole room lights up. One little match pushes all of the darkness away.

These are indeed dark days, but not because the darkness has won. The light has failed. Heres the hard truth. If it's dark in our nation, it's because those who are supposed to be light have failed to be that light.

I think this is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 5 when He called His followers the "light of the world." What Jesus was calling His followers to do was impossible. How can a rag tag group made up of fishermen, tax collectors and women convince the entire world  every race, tribe, and ethnic group  Jesus is the Christ? You can almost imagine the looks on the disciples faces when they were gathered in upper and Jesus tells them they will be His witnesses to the ends of the earth. Each one of them was thinking the same thing  were going to need more people.

Its the same thing we think in our churches every time we gather to worship. Yes, we agree the world needs the gospel, but if were going to reach the world, were going to need more people  a lot more people.

Maybe not.

Maybe what we need is a few brighter lights, people who can push the darkness back wherever they work, attend school or the neighborhoods they live in. Christ-followers who live with a grace-filled hospitality toward their neighbors. Christ followers who offer grace-filled friendships to anyone they meet. People who dont spend time cursing the night but focus on turning on another light.

That is, after all, the way it happens. Thats the way its always happened. One person tells another person. One person brings another person. Before long, an entire neighborhood is reached. After a few more months of one person reaching another person, you can reach an entire town. The mathematical progression is stunningly simple. If each Christ-follower brings a friend to follow Christ, the whole world can be reached in a matter of a few years. Think about it, in about thirty years-time, the early church had reached most of the Roman Empire. So much so, the Empire was beginning to see the early church as a threat to their power.

Maybe what we need is a few brighter lights, people who can push the darkness back wherever they work, attend school or the neighborhoods they live in. Christ-followers who live with a grace-filled hospitality toward their neighbors. Christ followers who offer grace-filled friendships to anyone they meet. People who dont spend time cursing the night but focus on turning on another light.

Everyone is complaining how dark the times are now. Every politician is complaining about how divided our nation is. One tribe blames another tribe who blames another tribe. Everyone is demanding justice. Everyone is looking for equality. Conversations are angry. Friendships are broken. The pandemic, vaccines, quarantine, to wear a mask or not, job losses, school closing, a presidential election -- this past year has been enough to bring the clouds into anyone's days. Add to that the usual stresses of life, and these times are dark indeed.

But the darkness isn't winning. The light is failing. Most people don't think their little light will make any difference. The darkness is too great. In truth, the smallest lights make the greatest differences. In fact, the blacker the darkness the greater the impact of the light.

But you do have to let your light shine. No matter how small your light and no matter how thick the night. The darkness can't overcome the light.

So, if it's dark -- and it is -- it's not the victory of the darkness. It's a failure of the light.
My Seminary Now course on Paul and the New Perspective on Judaism (click the link)

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I unpack the new perspective on Paul in a fresh and accessible way, explaining how it is rooted in a more accurate view of Judaism. The Jewish understanding of obedience to the law was not about earning ones salvation, but about covenant and grace-based faithfulness.

Seen this way, there is continuity between the Old Testament understanding of law and grace and the work of Christ.

Watch the 2-minute trailer and view the course FREE with a 7-day trial.

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Biden's National Day of Prayer proclamation excludes the word 'God'

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President Joe Bidens proclamation in honor of the National Day of Prayer is facing criticism from conservatives because it does not include the word God.

Biden, a Catholic, issued a presidential proclamation recognizing the National Day of Prayer Thursday. He invited the citizens of our Nation to give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings.

As the president noted, Congress, by Public Law 100-37, as amended, has called on the President to issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer.

On this National Day of Prayer, we unite with purpose and resolve, and recommit ourselves to the core freedoms that helped define and guide our Nation from its earliest days, the proclamation reads.

We celebrate our incredible good fortune that, as Americans, we can exercise our convictions freely  no matter our faith or beliefs. Let us find in our prayers, however they are delivered, the determination to overcome adversity, rise above our differences, and come together as one Nation to meet this moment in history.

Biden also credited prayer for powering moral movements, including essential rights against racial injustice, child labor, and infringement on the rights of disabled Americans.

Additionally, the president attributed the creation of a Nation of remarkable religious vitality and diversity across the generations to the right of all Americans to pray guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

It did not take long for prominent Christian conservatives to realize that Bidens message, released Wednesday, did not include the word God.

By contrast, former President Donald Trumps most recent proclamation recognizing the National Day of Prayer in 2020 included the word God 11 times. Former President Barack Obamas most recent National Day of Prayer proclamation issued in 2016 featured the word God twice.

Joe Bidens National Day of Prayer Proclamation has been released and it doesnt even mention God once! Christian Broadcasting Network Chief Political Correspondent David Brody commented on Twitter. How do you release a proclamation about prayer and not mention God at all? Of course it mentions climate change & racial justice. Truly, this is pathetic...and not surprising.

Joe Bidens National Day of Prayer Proclamation has been released and it doesnt even mention God once! How do you release a proclamation about prayer and not mention God at all? Of course it mentions climate change & racial justice. Truly, this is pathetic...and not surprising! pic.twitter.com/czOQx3ioHj  David Brody (@DavidBrodyCBN) May 6, 2021

When discussing the role that the healing balm of prayer can play in our lives and in the life of our Nation, Biden addressed the crises and challenges of our time. According to Biden, these challenges include a deadly pandemic, the loss of lives and livelihoods in its wake, a reckoning on racial justice and the existential threat of climate change.

Conservative radio host Todd Starnes, author of the book God Less America, also weighed in on Bidens omission of the word God from his proclamation.

Regarding Bidens godless National Day of Prayer proclamation: The problem with the Democrats is that they dont believe that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, he wrote on Twitter. They believe we are endowed by the government.

Regarding Biden's godless National Day of Prayer proclamation: The problem with the Democrats is that they dont believe that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. They believe we are endowed by the government.  toddstarnes (@toddstarnes) May 6, 2021

Bidens National Day of Prayer Proclamation also did not include any Bible passages.

Trumps 2020 proclamation included a reference to 1 John 5:14, which declares that when we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

Bidens proclamation did include a quote from John Lewis, the late congressman and civil rights activist, who described human beings as the most dynamic link to the divine on this planet.

The National Day of Prayer was first established in 1952 when President Harry Truman signed into law a joint resolution establishing a National Day of Prayer. Every president since Truman has issued a proclamation recognizing the occasion.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed an amended version of the law establishing the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer.

On Thursday night, national faith leaders will join President Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence in participating in a National Day of Prayer celebration hosted by Pray.com.
And we have 500 women on our client roster whose babies are due in the coming months.

If called beyond prayer, we need financial assistance in rebuilding, the centers founder and vice president of its board of directors, Christine Dennis, said in an interview with Peoria-based diocesan newspaper The Catholic Post.

The centers contents, including diapers and baby supplies, were lost to the fire, and the center needs material assistance.

Fire investigators believe the fire was intentionally set but under control by 3 a.m., a local news station reported. No one was injured in the fire.

The Peoria Fire Department responded to the fire at Peoria Womens Care Center around 2:40 a.m. on Monday and said most of the fire was contained in the front room, but damage was done to the entire building.

An Illinois pregnancy center was set ablaze in an act of arson during the early-morning hours of May 3, causing an estimated $250,000 in damage as the pro-life center scrambles to find a permanent location.

Womens Care Center is a pro-life chain founded in 1984 and now has 33 centers across 12 states. Its goal is to help pregnant women choose life for their babies, have healthy pregnancies and become self-sufficient.

The Womens Care Center in Peoria serves around 13 women per day, performs 1,000 ultrasounds annually and saved 596 babies from abortion last year, according to its website. The center in Peoria was established in 2013.

Despite their losses from the fire, Peorias Womens Care Center continues its mission to help pregnant women.

Our doors are open. We just dont have any doors, Connie McClure, director of client care at the burned center, told the official newspaper of the Diocese of Peoria.

The center is searching for a temporary site to operate until the original location is rebuilt. The headquarters in South Bend, Indiana, has sent a mobile unit to service patients in a parking lot nearby for the time being.

It may look a little different, but weve made a promise we will be there to support them, McClure said.

Dennis said good will come from the tragedy through the rebuilding process, according to The Catholic Post. She stated that they are saddened but not crushed.

We take care of our women No. 1. And when we take care of them, everything else falls into place, she said.

McClure said counselors were already speaking to some of the centers 500 clients the morning of the fire to promise them their care would continue as their due dates approach.

According to WMBD, fire investigators announced Monday that the cause of the fire was arson, and the investigation will be aided by both the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal and the Peoria Police Department.

At the scene of the fire, Peoria Fire Chief Tony Ardis told media that places like the Womens Care Center are often targeted for arson.

Pregnancy resources centers offer pregnancy testing, STD testing, ultrasounds, parenting classes, baby gear, pregnancy-related items, employment assistance, maternity housing and referrals. In the past, other pro-life pregnancy centers have been attacked for their pro-life beliefs.

The abortion industry often claims pregnancy resource centers offer services that are deceptive and harmful to women, pro-life group Live Action reported.

A pro-life womens healthcare center in Texas was vandalized in 2019 as words like liars and fake clinic were spraypainted on the side of the building.

A report declassified this year by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security classified both pro-life and pro-abortion extremists on a list of domestic violent extremist groups motivated by a range of ideologies and galvanized by recent political and societal events in the United States who pose an elevated threat to the homeland in 2021.
Son of megachurch Pastor EA Adeboye dies in his sleep at 42

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The family of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the world-renowned general overseer of the Nigeria-based Redeemed Christian Church of God, is now grieving after the sudden death of the megachurch leaders third child, Oluwadamilare Temitayo Adeboye, on Tuesday.

It is with a deep and heartfelt sense of loss, we announce the departure of our beloved son, brother, husband and father, Oluwadamilare Temitayo Adeboye. Who went to be with the Lord on the 4th of May, 2021, the church announced in a statement Thursday.

Oluwadamilare, who was 42 when he died, was also a pastor like his father, who was named one of the world's 50 most powerful people in 2008 by Newsweek. According to This Today, the younger Adeboye was one of the regional youth pastors in RCCG serving in Eket, Akwa-Ibom.

He reportedly had no apparent health issues and simply went to bed after a preaching assignment then failed to wake up on Tuesday, according to his wife, Temiloluwa, with whom he fathered three children.

His life was well lived as he served the Lord without reserve, giving effortlessly and leading fearlessly. He was crowned by the Lord with blessings of 3 seeds and a beautiful wife. Though shaken, our anchor remains Jesus Christ in whom we have the assurance that we will one day meet in a place where there is no pain, the church said in their statement in which they also asked for privacy and prayers for the family.

Leke Adeboye, Oluwadamilares younger brother who also works with the RCCG, quoted Isaiah 57:1 from the Amplified version of the Bible on his social media, noting: The righteous man perishes [at the hand of evil], and no one takes it to heart; Faithful and devout men are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous person is taken away [to be spared] from disaster and evil.

In a statement Thursday, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari also offered prayers for the Adeboye family.

My deepest sympathies to the family of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), on the passing of his son, Pastor Dare Adeboye. I pray that God Almighty will grant the departed rest, and comfort grieving family, friends and associates, he noted on Facebook.

Adeboye, according to Newsweek, is one of the most successful preachers in the world. He told the publication that his church has outposts in 110 countries. In Nigeria alone, where he claims some 5 million members, his church has 14,000 branches. Some 360 RCCG churches can be found in Britain, with about the same number spread across cities in the U.S., such as Chicago, Dallas and Tallahassee, Florida.

The 79-year-old Pentecostal leader once accused some U.S. preachers of being condescending toward him and his church.

"I've been going to America now since 1979, almost 40 years. When we get there and all these big, big men, talk to us, they always ask a question 'and how can we help you?' It's a polite way of saying, 'I know you have come to beg,'" Adeboye noted in 2015. "And I have always told them 'no, no, no. The only help I need from you is to come to Nigeria and see what God is doing. That's all.'"
Tennessee House passes bill to ban state funding of schools that teach critical race theory

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The Tennessee House of Representatives has approved legislation that would ban the states public schools from teaching concepts associated with a controversial topic known as critical race theory.

The Tennessee House voted by a margin of 69-20 Tuesday to adopt a Conference Committee report reconciling the differences between House Bill 580 and Senate Bill 623, corresponding bills related to the issue of public education.

Section 51, one of many amendments to the education bill included in the Conference Committee report, forbids public schools from teaching students that an individual, by virtue of the individuals race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously.

Advocates of critical race theory have described it as a framework through which scholars seek to understand systemic racism, cultural perceptions of race, and how to counter prejudice. Scholarship on the theory traces racism in the U.S. through the legacy of slavery, the civil rights movement and recent events.

The amendment also prohibits public schools from promoting concepts asserting that an individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individuals race or sex, that an individuals moral character is determined by the individuals race or sex, or an individual, by virtue of the individuals race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.

It would also ban the use of curriculum that subscribes to beliefs that an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individuals race or sex, that a meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex, and that this state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.

It continues: Promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government, promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class or class of people or ascribing character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individuals race or sex would be prohibited as well.

The second part of Section 51 stresses that schools might include supplemental instructional materials that provide the impartial discussion of controversial aspects of history and the impartial instruction on the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion, or geographic region in their curriculum.

Schools that violate Section 51 might have state funds withheld until the school proves to the state that it has addressed the violation.

Section 51 will take effect upon becoming a law and applies to the 2021-2022 school year and all subsequent school years.

While the amendment never explicitly uses the phrase critical race theory, the concepts it prohibits public schools from teaching are frequently championed by social justice advocates, Marxists and progressives who support critical race theory.

Other concepts banned by Section 51 include the contentions that the rule of law does not exist, but instead is a series of power relationships and struggles among racial or other groups and that all Americans are not created equal and are not endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, including, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

As the Discovery Institutes Christopher Rufo, one of the most outspoken opponents of critical race theory, explained, The legislation, which moves to the Senate, would prohibit schools from promoting race essentialism, collective guilt, and state-sanctioned racism.

BREAKING: The Tennessee State House passes a bill banning critical race theory indoctrination in public schools. The legislation, which moves to the Senate, would prohibit schools from promoting race essentialism, collective guilt, and state-sanctioned racism. The fight is on. pic.twitter.com/RtIVb8lcyQ  Christopher F. Rufo ?? (@realchrisrufo) May 5, 2021

The Tennessee effort to ban critical race theory comes as several additional states have passed similar legislation. Late last month, Gov. Brad Little, R-Idaho, signed into law HB 377, which made Idaho the first state in the nation to ban critical race theory.

Earlier this week, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., declined to veto legislation banning critical race theory from state agencies, enabling the measure to become law.

The debate about critical race theory occurs in the context of divergent viewpoints about American education among progressives and conservatives. Last year, former President Donald Trump issued an executive order forming the 1776 Commission, warning of a radicalized view of American history that lacks perspective, obscures virtues, twists motives, ignores or distorts facts, and magnifies flaws, resulting in the truth being concealed and history disfigured.

Earlier this year, shortly before he left office, the 1776 Commission released a report denouncing the 1619 Project, a historical framework that attempts to view all of American history against the backdrop of the arrival of slaves on American soil in 1619. Almost immediately after taking office, President Joe Biden dissolved the 1776 Commission.
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In recent years, the number of Christians identifying as Christian Socialists or Christian Communists has skyrocketed in a way not seen in over 40 years. Sarah Ngu, in her 2020 article Why These Young American Christians Embrace Socialism wrote the following: Over the past three years, some American Christians have rediscovered this tradition and found themselves gravitating to socialismin all its varieties, from democratic socialism to full-fledged communism. Gary Dorrien, a professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary, writes The revival (of Christian socialism) is a Christian flank of the current upsurge for democratic socialist. For the most part, the orthodox Christian community has remained silent about this growing trend, seemingly oblivious to the dangers. Its time we acknowledged how the Trojan Horse of Socialism entered the Church, and fight back.

First, doctrine and history make clear that Biblical Christianity and Socialism and/or Communism are in opposition on fundamental levels. The intellectual forefather of Socialism, Karl Marx, taught this about Christianity: The social principle of Christianity preaches cowardice, self-contempt, abasement, submission, humility. Marx further asserted The more of himself that man gives to God, the less he has left of himself. Like all future communist and socialist leaders who follow Marx, he believed: Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, and the soul of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opiate of the people. (Communist Manifesto, the Bible of Communism).

The history of the socialist war against Christianity is instructive. The League of the Militant Godless was developed by early Soviet leaders like Leon Trotsky and Lenin. Its slogan tells volumes: The struggle against religion is the struggle for socialism. In just over 15 years, the League boasted 3.5 million members and included a hundred ethnicities. This was while Soviets in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were executing tens of thousands of Priests, millions of Christians, demolishing churches and ruthlessly suppressing Christianity. The official literature of the Comintern (International Communist Front), stated One of the most important tasks of the cultural revolution affecting the wide masses is the task of systematically and unswervingly combating religion  the opiate of the people.

Ben Gitlow was a top figure in the early Communist Party (USA), and twice ran as Vice President of the US on the Communist Party ticket in 1924 and 1928. He left the Communist Party in 1929, and began hearings before Congress about Communist infiltration in America starting in 1939. According to Gitlow in answering Congress about the Communist united front technique of infiltrating America: the tactic of the united front adopted by the Communists in 1922 after they realized that their militant policy for instigating a revolution in Germany and then throughout Europe and the world had failed.. The united front tactic enabled the Communists to greatly increase the effectiveness of their infiltration activities. The aims were to first build pro-Soviet sentiment in America. Second, to set conditions for Communists to capture trade unions. Third to Spread Communist propaganda, incite discontent amount the people, undermine the loyalty of the American people and to divide them on religion, national, racial, and economic lines.

Importantly, Gitlow said this about infiltration of the Christian Church in America: the united front policy enabled the Communists to widely expand their infiltration activities on the religious field because instead of using the Communist Party directly (on Christian organizations), they used united-front organizations not directly connected to the Communist Party. Communist Party USA leader Manning Johnson told Congress that deceit about the anti-Christian nature was a major policy of the Communist Propaganda. According to Johnson: (Communists) made fine gestures and honeyed words to the church people which could be will likened unto the sea nymphs luring millions to moral decay, spiritual death, and spiritual slavery. An illustration of this treachery, I might point out, is smiling, sneaky Earl Browder, for example, who was vice chairman of the American League Against War and Fascism, greeting and praising ministers and other church workers participating with him in the united front anti-war activities, while secretly harboring in his heart only contempt for them and for the religion that they represented.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and no longer commands the worldwide Comintern. However, Communism as a worldwide movement continues. The ideology spawned during those decades made substantial inroads into the Church and academia (an estimated 18% of American Professors today identify as Marxist). United Methodist Reverend Lindsey Joyce provides a window into the modern infiltration: Socialism gave me a politics that finally provided clarity.. It wasnt about my individualistic faith or spiritual gifts. Christianity centers around individual spiritual redemption, while socialism is about the collective and material. Communist Christian Dean Dettloff is indicative of the fraud being promulgated to soften and revive Communism within the Church. Dettloff claims the worst abuses in history have actually been committed by people who are devoted to Jesus Christ. This glosses over the upwards of 100 million people who died under 20th century communism, a number that dwarfs almost 2000 years of alleged Christian abuses.

The Church can no longer remain silent. The Trojan Horse of Socialism and Communism, wheeled in to the US in the 1920s, is a growing enemy within. Neither Communism, nor Socialism can be reconciled with Christianity, and its time to voice that truth boldly and loudly. We fight back with spiritual weapons and in Christian love, but against this threat we must fight back.
Laura Lentz makes first public statement following husbands infidelity, Hillsong firing

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Months after Hillsong Church fired her and her husband following his moral failures and infidelity, Laura Lentz has opened up for the first time about what shes learned about herself in this challenging season.

Lentz took to Instagram on Wednesday for the first time since October to share a photo looking upward toward several tall palm trees. The wife of the celebrity pastor Carl Lentz started her caption off by explaining how symbolic the trees are to her current season.

They are strong, can weather the biggest storms, they always grow upwards, she wrote, equating those facts to Freedom, righteousness, reward, resurrection.

I have taken time away from social media because it was not good for my soul, I have blocked & deleted more people & comments than I can count, she continued.

Lentz and her husband were the focus of many headlines following his cheating confession last November and termination by the Australia-based international church network.

The attention on her family brought out negativity. And in her post, she maintained that Trolls are cowards, SOME Christians are anything but kind, gracious, or loving but that wont stop me from growing upwards & getting stronger.

I have learnt a lot about myself over the past few months. now more than ever I know the kindness of God, His grace, forgiveness & strength, she continued. I have found true friendships the ones who have been with me on the mountaintops are the same ones who are with me during my darkest valley!!

Carl Lentz, who led all Hillsong campuses across the east coast of the United States, was often pegged a celebrity pastor in mainstream media. His friends and congregants included A-list stars such as Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kevin Durant, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner and others.

He is also credited for baptizing Justin Bieber in the bathtub of former New York Knicks player Tyson Chandler. But following the scandal, Bieber publicly distanced himself from Hillsong, saying that he was never a member of the church and that his pastor has always been Judah Smith of Churchome.

Laura Lentz's post continued by saying: I will not forget who abandoned us, but I choose to keep my heart free of bitterness & remain thankful for those that have stayed & loved us. I dont want to judge others nor do I want to be judged.

She concluded the statement with a powerful quote about treating people with grace.

One thing a friend told me during this time is, I would rather be accused of being too gracious toward someone, over being accused of judging someone too harshly, she wrote. I want to be known as a woman who sees the good in people & truly loves people unconditionally. She included the hashtags #youcanonlychangeyou, #lovewins, #growupwards.

In a statement sent to The Christian Post in 2020 by Hillsong, Hillsong Global Senior Pastor Brian Houston revealed that Lentzs termination was due to leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures.

The church then launched an investigation after additional details of his affair with a Muslim designer and actress were made public.

The Lentzs have been married for 17 years and they have three children together.

Carl Lentz admitted to the affair in an Instagram post after his firing from Hillsong.

When you lead out of an empty place, you make choices that have real consequences, he wrote. I was unfaithful in my marriage, the most important relationship in my life and held accountable for that. This failure is on me, and me alone and I take full responsibility for my actions.

Houston, who founded Hillsong in 1983, first announced Lentz's termination in an email to staff and members of Hillsong East Coast on Nov. 4.

I know this will come as a shock to you, but please know that this action was not taken lightly and was done in the best interests of everyone, including Pastor Carl, Houston, whose church has locations across the globe, wrote in the email.

Houston said how much he and his wife appreciate Lentz, his wife and all of their work with Hillsong over the past decade.

In his post, Lentz said that he and his family gave all they had to serve and build Hillsong NYC over the years. But now, he will focus on rebuilding his family.

I now begin a journey of rebuilding trust with my wife, Laura, and my children and taking real time to work on and heal my own life and seek out the help that I need, Lentz stated.

I am deeply sorry for breaking the trust of many people who we have loved serving and understand that this news can be very hard and confusing for people to hear and process. I would have liked to say this with my voice, to you, in person because you are owed that. But that opportunity I will not have. So to those people, I pray you can forgive me and that over time I can live a life where trust is earned again."
SC Episcopal diocese elects first female bishop amid $500 million legal battle over church property

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The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina, which is still in the midst of a yearslong legal battle with a breakaway group over several church properties, has elected its first female bishop.

The Rev. Canon Ruth Woodliff-Stanley won the election on the second ballot at a special meeting of the convention held by the diocese on Saturday, beating out four other candidates.

On the second ballot, Woodliff-Stanley received 13 votes in the Lay Order, which required at least 10 votes to win, and 26 votes in the Clergy Order, which required at least 18 votes to win.

Molly Hamilton, director of communications for the diocese, told The Christian Post that a few canonically-required consents are still needed from the Standing Committees and bishops of The Episcopal Church before Woodliff-Stanley can begin working.

We expect this to occur in the coming two to three months, noted Hamilton, who directed CP to a letter that Woodliff-Stanley wrote to the diocese while still a candidate for bishop.

In her letter, Woodliff-Stanley detailed her church leadership ground, ties to South Carolina, and past work with regional bodies that experienced division.

Ive worked with dioceses experiencing conflict and schism and comprehend the scope and magnitude of the challenges ahead, wrote Woodliff-Stanley. I understand the ministry of a bishop to be humble and holy work, joyful and collective work we do together on behalf of Jesus.

In 2012, then-South Carolina Diocese Bishop Mark Lawrence and a majority of the diocesan leadership voted to leave The Episcopal Church, due to theological differences and the reported poor treatment of Lawrence by the denomination.

Since then, there have been extensive legal battles over the $500 million worth of property and the trademarks of the diocese between the breakaway group and those still loyal to The Episcopal Church.

In 2017, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in favor of The Episcopal Church and its local group, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, concluding that at least 29 of the 36 properties belong to the national denomination.

However, in June 2020, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edgar Dickson, who had been tasked with enforcing the ruling, instead issued an order concluding that each parish owned their own properties.

Hamilton of the Episcopal Diocese told CP that, at present, both sides are waiting for the state Supreme Court to determine whether they will uphold their earlier ruling.

The Federal Court ruled in September 2019 in favor of our diocese granting that The Episcopal Church in South Carolina is the historic Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina with all rights to the name, trademarks, and the diocesan seal, Hamilton explained.

The opposing side has appealed that ruling and all appeals are currently awaiting the South Carolina Supreme Court decision on the state property issues.
John Piper shares how Christian parents can protect children from 'state indoctrination'

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Pastor and author John Piper has weighed in on how Christian parents can best protect their children from state indoctrination in societies where children are forced to learn "unbiblical views of what is true and false, and right and wrong, and beautiful and ugly.

Recently, an individual from Sweden wrote into Piper's DesiringGod website, asking the pastor how to parent well in a country he described as coercive and socialist in a lot of ways.

We must send our children to school, or the government threatens to take them away from us, the reader said. Christian schools are practically illegal, and a school may have a Christian profile, but its a meaningless title. These few Christian schools are still not allowed to be religious or teach a Christian worldview. Theyre still forced by law to abide to the same teaching plan as secular, atheistic schools to give children a secular education and must even teach our children LGBTQ as a positive norm.

In response, Piper first stressed that God has assigned to parents, and not the state, the rearing and shaping of the minds and hearts of the children in the knowledge of God and in how to live that out in the world.

According to Scripture, the government is to have the good of its people at heart (1 Peter 2:14), which implies that it will have a compelling interest in whether its people are educated  at least educated enough to make society function, Piper said. However, this interest becomes evil when it preempts the more foundational right of the family to educate its children, he said.

Governments should find a way to encourage an educated populace by respecting the rights of families and promoting multiple avenues of all kinds of lower and higher education, as parents seek out ways to partner with those who have expertise in equipping their children to function wisely and morally and productively in the world, he added.

For Christian families living in countries like Sweden that require state education with all of its indoctrination of the modern worldview, Piper offered three suggestions.

First, seek freedom and move elsewhere; second, keep children home  although Piper acknowledged that in certain countries, governments have removed the children from the home in such cases  and third, send the kids to school, but still educate at home and church.

[A] radically Christian education at home, alongside the state education (which is going to be diametrically opposed in many ways), will be needed in order to build into the childrens lives two deep and unshakable convictions, he explained.

Piper also emphasized the importance of a healthy church life and God-honoring peers, adding: We must band together as Christian parents to help each other provide the kind of alternatives for our children and young people that they can enjoy, so that when theyre offered alternatives that would not be healthy from their non-Christian peers, they are able to stand.

There is no safe place in the world to raise children  not in America, for sure, not in Sweden, not in China, not in North Korea. Theres no safe place to raise Christian children  children who will treasure Christ above everything. Only God can work the miracle in the hearts of our children that we long for, he said.

So with all of our teaching, and all of our modeling, and all of our friendships in church, and all of our rejoicing, we must pray without ceasing for the miracle of regeneration in our children.

Homeschooling is illegal in several countries, including the Netherlands, Germany and Spain, and heavily regulated in others.

In 2018, the 12-year-old son of a Christian couple was forcibly removed from their home in Norway by government officers in response to their decision to homeschool him. The parents had pulled him from a public school after he was bullied.

In 2010, a 7-year-old boy in Sweden was removed from his Christian parents for being homeschooled.

In a 2020 issue of Harvard magazine, Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Bartholet argued in a piece titled The Risks of Homeschooling that the U.S. should similarly enact a presumptive ban on homeschooling. Bartholet asserted that most homeschooling families are conservative Christians who she says hold to extreme religious ideologues and question science and promote female subservience and white supremacy.

Steven Craig Policastro, founder and executive vice president of the International Association for Creation, told The Christian Post in 2019 that in recent years, the most significant change in state-sponsored resistance to homeschooling has been a shift from attempts to ban homeschooling to extremely oppressive regulations.

Opponents of home education have realized that since they are unable to make homeschooling illegal, they can at least attempt to place extremely burdensome regulations on parent-led, home education to make it difficult or nearly impossible, Policastro said.

There also are constant attempts by school districts all over the country to require things of homeschool students and parents that are not required by law. There are times in which the school districts do not properly know the law, but in other instances, the school board leaders do not care and they want their regulations mandated regardless of the law.
Amazon, public libraries pressured to ban trans-critical book highlighting harms to teen girls

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Public libraries and retail giant Amazon have faced increasing pressure to ban a book that's critical of transgender ideology amid what the author calls a rising culture of censorship.

To the surprise of many, Amazon refused to stop selling a book by Wall Street Journal contributor Abigail Shrier, titled, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, despite a high-pressure campaign by employees who are demanding its removal.

Corporate media outlets supportive of the transgender movement also expressed their disappointment in Amazon's decision not to pull the book, running such headlines as: "Amazon will not remove book advocates say endangers transgender youth," "Amazon overrules employees calls to stop selling book questioning mainstream treatment for transgender youth," and "Amazon Refuses to Stop Selling Anti-Trans Book."

Canada's, CTV News reported Monday that a trans-identified parent in Ottawa is attempting to get the Ottawa Public Library to remove the book from its shelves. The mother, who claims to be on the "trans spectrum" and to have a 6-year-old gender-nonconforming child, sent a letter to the library complaining about the book. The library, however, has refused to remove it on the grounds of intellectual freedom.

"I sent this letter to Ottawa Public Library along with 204 signatures about the transphobic book, Irreversible Damage, by Abigail Shrier in their circulation. Their response is attached. Selecting material is NOT neutral and 'intellectual freedom' is different than hate speech," the trans-identified woman, Elm Klemic, complained on Twitter.

As somebody who identifies within the trans spectrum and as somebody who has a trans child as well, it hit close to home and I was really outraged about it, Klemic told CTV News. The main theory in this book is that trans youth dont know themselves, and cant, shouldnt be allowed to transition.

The news outlet also interviewed a program manager from the Ottawa Public Library who said the institution investigated the complaint and decided not to remove the book just because the ideas in it are unpopular among some. The library already has a waitlist of 30 people who want to read the book, the program manager added.

In response to the backlash in Canada, Shrier described the alarming shift in norms in the culture  that the baseline expectation today is that unpopular ideas and speech must be censored and resisting calls for censorship is what is seen as surprising.

"And it isnt only the activists who are pushing for censorship  but journalists  journalists! Those whose lifes work depends on a culture of free expression," Shrier wrote on Substack.

Amazon, which said earlier this year it wouldn't sell books on its platform that frame LGBT identity as a mental illness, reviewed Shrier's book and found that it did not violate its content policy. Amazon, however, subsequently banned Ryan Anderson's 2018 book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment.

Before Shrier's book was released last year, the online retail giant prohibited her publisher from purchasing ads to promote the book.

The Irreversible Damage author recounted Thursday an exchange she had with a Seattle Times reporter who reached out to her for comment after a single Amazon employee accused the book of being "hate speech." The Seattle Times journalist reportedly asked her: "Well ... I see contagion, epidemic, dont you think that tends to diagnose [transgender-identifying people with a mental illness]?"

Are you seriously going to pull out random words from my book? Shrier replied, adding that those words refer to social phenomena such as peer-to-peer fads and trends.

Irreversible Damage explores how, for the first time in approximately 100 years in clinical diagnostic history, the predominant demographic of people with gender dysphoria is teenage girls. Until recently, the extremely rare condition was seen almost exclusively in young boys.

Teenage girls today do not have traditional gender dysphoria, the book argues, and have gotten mired in an internet-fueled peer contagion, a thesis that dovetails with a 2018 study from public health researcher Lisa Littman.

"What happened to us  as thinkers, journalists, Americans? Our commitment to free expression, codified in the U.S. Constitutions very First Amendment, once webbed American culture like tree roots through the earth. Now it strikes us as so much useless netting," Shrier posited.








Facebook bans LifeSiteNews after reporting deaths from US gov't vaccine database

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A nonprofit pro-life news website has been permanently booted from Facebook after the social media giant accused it of publishing false information about COVID-19 that could contribute to physical harm over an article citing United States government information on people who died after receiving the vaccine.

LifeSiteNews reported Tuesday that its Facebook account appears to have been permanently unpublished for violating the social media platforms community standards on misinformation that could cause physical harm.

The social media platform says that it removes pages that post content that discourages vaccinations. In justifying the ban, Facebook cited an April 9 article with the headline COVID vaccines can be deadly for some.

That particular article highlighted an open letter that Dr. Hooman Noorchashm sent to the Food & Drug Administration and Pfizer warning about the dangers of administering COVID-19 vaccines to people who have or have had the disease.

The doctor argued that those who have or recently had the disease have viral antigens present in the endothelial lining of blood vessels and other tissues. If such antigens are present, the doctor argues that immune response will be triggered by the vaccination and target the tissues, inflaming and damaging them. He argued that a result could be the formation of blood clots that might result in significant complications.

His immunological hypothesis appeared to be bolstered by recent data showing that the side effects from the vaccine were three times more likely to be seen in those who previously had the virus.

The Telegraph reported Sunday that the figures came from King's College ZOE app, which has logged details from over 700,000 vaccinations and found those with a prior infection were far more likely to report side effects than people who have not had the virus.

The LifeSiteNews article lists the information of several anecdotal cases of middle-aged and elderly people whose deaths were tabulated in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) as contracting the coronavirus and dying soon after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

However, the LifeSiteNews article doesnt specify if the vaccine caused the deaths in question.

The report also mentioned that local news reporting shows other cases of people who earlier contracted the virus and died after receiving the vaccine. One example was a 36-year-old who died from multi-system inflammatory syndrome. One doctor cited in an article linked to by LifeSiteNews cautioned against tying the 36-year-old's death to the vaccination, calling such an observation preliminary.

We are working with the CDC to see how vaccines can play in all directions, Dr. Stephen Threlkeld told WREG Memphis. We dont have any data to suggest the vaccine has any effect in either direction.

The Christian Post reached out to Facebook for comment on the action taken against LifeSiteNews. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that it removed the page for "violating our COVID-19 policies.

Facebooks COVID-19 and Vaccine Policy states that the platform seeks to protect people from harmful content and new types of abuse related to COVID-19 and vaccines.

Based on input from experts in health communication and related fields, Facebook says that it is also taking additional steps amid the pandemic to reduce the distribution of content that does not violate our policies but may present misleading or sensationalized information about vaccines in a way that would be likely to discourage vaccinations 

In a lengthy segment about how some Americans have died after receiving the COVID shot on his Fox News show Wednesday, Tucker Carlson observed how differently the public officials and the press are treating this vaccine rollout and the risks associated with it versus previous public health responses.

He noted that in 1976, the U.S. government vaccinated 45 million people with a swine flu vaccine, and 53 people reportedly died after receiving that shot. That program was stopped because of it as authorities deemed it too risky, he said.

Contrast that with what is happening now, Carlson said. This time, our health authorities have reserved their energy for anyone who dares to question vaccines. LifeSiteNews, a nonprofit news organization, just found itself permanently banned from Facebook. Why? Because it reported government numbers from the VAERS database.

Carlson further added that popular podcaster Joe Rogan was criticized in the media for asking whether young, healthy people should receive the COVID vaccine.

If American citizens are going to be forced to take this vaccine or any other medicine, they have an absolute right to know what the effects of it might be. And they have an absolute right to ask that question without being silenced or censored or mocked or given the finger, Carlson said. No amount of happy talk or coercion or appeals to false patriotism can change that.

The Facebook ban is not the first time LifeSiteNews has been banned from a major social media platform because of its content on COVID vaccines.

Earlier this year, video streaming platform YouTube closed LifeSiteNews channel on similar grounds.

Despite disagreeing with LifeSiteNews' presentation of the science and ethics surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines, National Catholic Bioethics Center bioethicist Edward Furton slammed the move.

YouTube is not staffed by scientists, but by engineers and technicians who understand little to nothing about scientific matters, he said in a February interview with Catholic News Agency.

Far worse, they favor a liberal ideology that supports abortion not only here at home but throughout the world. They believe that there is a universal right to kill the unborn. Such a view revokes their claim to moral superiority over others.

Censorship by big tech is one of the greatest threats to the principles of democracy that we have seen in decades, he added. This is done solely for the purpose of controlling information and preventing the free discussion of ideas among their fellow citizens.

A leaked video from July 2020, months before the U.S. government approved a COVID-19 vaccine, shows Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing concern about the safety of COVID vaccines.

But I do just want to make sure that I share some caution on this [vaccine] because we just don't know the long-term side effects of basically modifying people's DNA and RNA, he said, according to journalist Sharyl Attkisson. [B]asically the ability to produce those antibodies and whether that causes other mutations or other risks downstream. So, there's work on both paths of vaccine development.
Franklin Graham warns Biden: 'Omitting God is a dangerous thing'

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Prominent evangelist Franklin Graham took to Facebook Thursday to criticize President Joe Bidens failure to include the word God in his presidential proclamation recognizing Thursdays National Day of Prayer.

I was deeply saddened to read that President Biden is the first president to omit the word God in his proclamation, wrote the 68-year-old son of legendary evangelist Billy Graham, who called on Congress and President Harry Truman in 1952 to issue the first National Day of Prayer proclamation.

It is hard to believe we have come this far.

Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, warned that omitting God is a dangerous thing.

He is who we as individuals and as a nation need to call on for help. He created us and made salvation possible for us through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Prayers to anyone or anything else are to no avail.

Bidens omission of any reference to a deity led to an outcry among some notable Christian conservatives.

[W]e need to call on God, not just some generic Gods or some power in the air, but on God, Himself, the Creator who made and created this earth and who sent his son Jesus Christ from heaven to this earth, to save mankind from sin by dying on a cross and God raised him to life, Graham asserted on Fox News Primetime Thursday.

According to Graham, Theres no one else to pray to except to God.

Graham contends that Biden did not craft the proclamation, suggesting that it was a White House staffer who wrote the message and may not have even ran it by him.

After the televangelist indicated a desire to give the president the benefit of the doubt by claiming that I dont think Joe Biden would have approved that one, host Pete Hegseth asked if Graham had a message for people who doubt the power of prayer.

God answers prayer. He hears prayer. He listens to prayer. But weve got to approach God in the right way, Graham replied. We have to confess our sins and ask for His forgiveness and  not go to Him with  dirty hands, so to speak, but with a clean heart.

As Hegseth noted, the tradition of a National Day of Prayer dates to 1775, when the Second Continental Congress set aside a day for Americans to pray to be ever under the care and protection of a kind providence as they began the struggle for independence.

Presidents have issued proclamations in honor of the National Day of Prayer since 1952. Since 1988, the National Day of Prayer has been observed on the first Thursday in May.

In contrast to Bidens proclamation, last years National Day of Prayer proclamation by then-President Donald Trump featured 11 references to God. Former President Barack Obamas final National Day of Prayer proclamation in 2016 included two references to God.

Thursday was not the first time Graham has spoken out against an action taken by the Biden administration or the Democratic-controlled 117th United States Congress.

Last month, he took to Facebook to criticize the Biden administrations State Department for authorizing U.S. embassies around the world to fly the LGBT pride flag alongside the American flag.

As the 117th Congress began in January, Graham accused the Democratic majority of shaking a fist in the Creators face by adopting rules eliminating the use of gendered terms such as mother and father.

Over the past four years, Graham is among many conservative evangelical leaders who informally engaged with the Trump White House.

He compared Republicans who voted to impeach the former president following the U.S. Capitol riots to Judas. Prior to the election, Graham warned that attacks on Christian businesses would intensify should Biden win.
Juror wrongfully dismissed for listening to 'Gods guidance' in lawmaker's fraud case, court rules

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A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a juror was wrongfully dismissed from a trial for saying the Holy Spirit influenced his views in the case after deliberations began.

The juror was removed from a fraud case involving former Congresswoman Corrine Brown, D-Fla, for saying that his Father in Heaven influenced a belief that Brown was not guilty.

The congresswoman, who served in the House of Representatives from 1993 until 2017, faced 18 felony counts related to fraud, ethics and tax offenses. She was accused of conspiring to defraud donors of over $800,000 in contributions to a charity that claimed to provide scholarships to poor students. Authorities allege Brown misused her position in Congress to engage in the conspiracy.

In a decision released Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the juror's removal was wrong and, in the process, vacated the guilty verdict against Brown and called for a new trial.

Chief Judge William Pryor, a George W. Bush appointee, authored the majority opinion of the decision, writing that the district judge abused his discretion by dismissing the juror and further concluding that this removal violated Browns right under the Sixth Amendment to a unanimous jury verdict.

Jurors may pray for and believe they have received divine guidance as they determine another persons innocence or guilt, a profound civic duty but a daunting task to say the least, wrote Pryor for the majority.

Juror No. 13s vivid and direct religious language  read in the light of his other statements  suggests he was doing nothing more than praying for and receiving divine guidance as he evaluated the evidence or, in secular terms, provided an explanation of his internal mental processes  all consistent with proper jury service.

According to Pryor, the removal of the juror, "who listened for Gods guidance as he sat in judgment of Brown and deliberated over the evidence against her," deprived Brown of a "unanimous verdict of a jury of ordinary citizens."

Judge Charles Wilson, a Clinton appointee, authored a dissent to the majority, being joined by three other appeals court judges, who argued that the juror removal was a tough call, and one the district court did not take lightly.

The majority casts the district courts decision as misconstruing religious expression while failing to safeguard the right to a unanimous jury verdict. On this record, I cannot agree, wrote Wilson.

 from the district courts superior vantage point, it was necessary to ensure that a verdict was rendered based on the law and evidence  a principle that is foundational to our system of justice.

The First Liberty Institute, which helped represent the dismissed juror, released a statement on Friday, celebrating the appeals court decision.

We are grateful that the court reaffirmed the strong standard required to dismiss a deliberating juror, said Lea Patterson, a counsel with First Liberty, in the statement.

No American should be disqualified from fulfilling their civic duty as jurors simply because they believe that God answers prayer.

Brown was released from prison last April during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic after serving less than half of her five-year sentence. Her attorney argued that his client was vulnerable to the coronavirus because of her age and underlying health conditions.
Illegal immigrant sex offenders released due to Biden's detainer policy

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Dozens of criminal illegal immigrants were released in Texas, including at least two sex offenders, due to the Biden administrations guidance to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement regarding deportations.

In March, more than 36 inmates at the Bexar County jail with ICE detainers were not picked up [by ICE] and had to be released to the streets of San Antonio, Fox News' San Antonio affiliate reported.

Instead of being deported, the convicted felons were released in Bexar County, which has a population of 2 million people. The felons' charges range from assaulting a police officer, family violence and drug-related charges. Other felons released in the state are sex offenders.

Sources within law enforcement and ICE told Fox San Antonio that the U.S. Marshals Office is having to release detainees, allegedly because ICE will not pick them up.

That includes two sex offenders with ICE detainers, who were both released from the custody of the U.S. Marshals after they served their state time or settled their state proceedings, one in Del Rio, the other in Austin, Fox San Antonio reporter Yami Virgin said.

Sources at the U.S. Marshals tell us that in some districts, deputies now release the detainees to probation officers and then onto the streets since ICE wont honor all of their own detainers and pick them up, Virgin added.

Federal agents are not picking up the offenders despite the fact that there are ICE detainers saying that they must do so, she added. Instead, these criminals are going free and walking the streets right here at home.

Aristides Jimenez, the former agent in charge of South Texas Homeland Security Investigations, told the outlet that detainers are intended to keep criminals out of local communities.

How its done is by allowing ICE officers to take custody of a criminal alien within the confines of a jail, Jimenez said.

Virgin described detainers as the way the federal government asks state and local law enforcement to notify ICE when an undocumented detainee or inmate is to be released. Under normal circumstances, ICE picks them up and sends them back to their country of origin, she added.

However, the Biden administration has taken a different approach to immigration enforcement.

Theyre basically telling the state and locals to just release them into the community, Jimenez added.

When ICE is not responding, underscore the importance of information sharing and good public safety and policing between state, local and federal entities, he added.

According to Fox San Antonio, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stopped deportations for 90 days, starting back on Feb. 18.

The Feb. 18 guidance identifies three priorities for civil immigration enforcement and removal.

The guidance urges ICE officials to prioritize the removal of those believed to have engaged in terrorism or espionage, crossed the border since Nov. 1, 2020, and were convicted of an aggravated felony or participation in a street gang or a transnational criminal organization.

Deportations of individuals that do not fall into one of these three categories require preapproval.

In a statement to Fox San Antonio, ICE stated that the guidance provided to them by the federal government focuses on the agencys stated interim priorities, and does not prohibit the arrest, detention, or removal of any noncitizen.

The report comes as Texas and Louisiana are suing the federal government over this issue.

The lawsuit alleged that the Feb. 18 memorandum and a previous memorandum issued on the first day of the Biden administration established a two-tier system that led federal immigration authorities to rescind detainer requests relating to incarcerated criminal aliens, to not issue detainer requests even for individuals subject to mandatory removal, and to release individuals from federal detention facilities.

As a consequence, dangerous criminal aliens are being released into communities, the lawsuit continued.

The lawsuit accuses federal immigration officials of breaking federal law by refusing to take custody of aliens convicted of serious crimes, specifically referring to drug offenses or crimes of moral turpitude.

Examples of crimes of moral turpitude listed include evading arrest with a vehicle, failing to stop and render aid after being involved in an automobile accident, theft, and crimes in which fraud is an ingredient.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to invalidate portions of the Feb. 18 and Jan. 20 memorandums and require the federal government to take custody of criminal illegal aliens as mandated by federal law.

Paxton is not the only Texas official sounding the alarm about immigration enforcement policies.

When asked about the allegations that convicted felons are being released by ICE and not deported, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that [t]hese allegations are outrageous and irresponsible and reckless and dangerous.

Lives of people in this country are at risk if the allegations are true that felons are being released, he said.

Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, told Fox San Antonio that two coyotes transporting 15 people in their truck were released even though they had ICE detainers.

The interim guidance will remain in effect until the Biden administration issues new enforcement guidelines. The new guidelines are expected in the coming weeks.
Texas town votes to become largest 'sanctuary city for the unborn,' ban abortion in most cases

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One of the largest cities in Texas has become the most populous city in the country thus far to outlaw abortion within the citys limits and become a sanctuary city for the unborn.

In a referendum Saturday, a supermajority of voters in the city of Lubbock, Texas, voted to approve an ordinance making it unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the City of Lubbock, Texas.

More than 62% of voters in the city of more than 250,000 residents voted to approve the referendum, while less than 38% voted against it.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Mark Lee Dickson, the founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn movement that lobbies nationwide to pass ordinances banning abortion at the local level, cheered Saturdays landslide victory for the pro-life movement.

I think it says a lot because Lubbock is the 11th-most populated city in the state of Texas and the 83rd most populated city in the United States of America, he said.

The push to make Lubbock a sanctuary city for the unborn was instigated by Planned Parenthoods plans to build an abortion facility in the West Texas city.

Dickson told CP that Planned Parenthood did come into Lubbock, they opened up, they started performing abortions on April 15, just a few weeks ago. And Planned Parenthood also poured a whole lot of money into this election.

They  pushed a campaign  to  prevent this ordinance from being passed, and at the end of the day, they ended up losing that election, he added. Respectfully, I would congratulate them on their  campaign effort. But since this was a landslide election, its very obvious that the people of Lubbock have spoken. I am expecting that Planned Parenthood will obey  the laws of the city and  not perform abortions within the city limits of Lubbock, Texas.

As Dickson explained, it was concern about a Planned Parenthood moving into another Texas city that launched the sanctuary cities for the unborn movement first place.

There was an abortion facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, that at one time was looking at crossing the border to Waskom, Texas, he said. Waskom, Texas, is a small city that has  great churches, it has great restaurants, and I just felt like an abortion facility would be a great stain on that city because an abortion facility is a place that murders innocent children on a regular basis.

So, I reached out to the mayor, and he didnt want an abortion facility coming into the city. So they decided to pass an ordinance outlawing abortion within the city limits, Dickson continued.

Following Waskoms lead, 22 Texas cities have passed similar ordinances: Naples, Joaquin, Tenaha, Gilmer, Westbrook, Rusk, Colorado City, Gary, Big Spring, Wells, Whiteface, East Mountain, New Home, Ackerly, Grapeland, Goldsmith, Carbon, Gorman, Murchison, Latexo, and now, Lubbock.

The Nebraska cities of Hayes Center and Blue Hill have also become sanctuary cities for the unborn.

All cities at this point, with the exception of Lubbock, have outlawed abortion through their mayor and city council, Dickson explained. I think this is the appropriate way it needs to be done  through the mayor and the council the people have elected.

The activist said that the referendum in Lubbock was afforded by the Lubbock City Charter.

Im glad that we had the opportunity to put it for a citywide vote, he said. But in normal circumstances, we shouldnt have to do a citywide vote.

Now all these ordinances, Ive been involved with the drafting of those, he continued. And so how this process works is that people in these cities have  expressed interest to see abortion outlawed, and I work with those residents in those cities and do my part to help them accomplish that goal.

The referendum vote comes after the city council voted against the ordinance in November due to concerns that it could result in a lawsuit challenging the measure's constitutionality.

The ordinance bans most abortions in the town, except in cases when a woman's life is at risk. The measure also allows family members of women who receive abortions to sue anyone who assisted, according to Reuters.

It is unclear when the measure will take effect in Lubbock.

In May 2020, the ACLU sued seven cities that passed sanctuary for the unborn ordinances. According to Dickson, those cities were represented at no cost to taxpayers by Jonathan Mitchell, the former solicitor general for Texas.

After three months, the ACLU withdrew their lawsuits, and so those lawsuits did not cost the cities or taxpayers anything, and abortion remains outlawed in every city that was sued, he claimed.

However, Dickson lamented that when the city of Omaha, Texas, received an open record request from the ACLU after outlawing abortion, their attorney got scared and walked the ordinance back to a non-binding resolution.

After withdrawing the lawsuits, the ACLU claimed that the seven cities we sued quickly backed down and revised their ordinances to allow pro-abortion organizations to operate within the cities and stop calling them 'criminal.'

According to The Marshall News Messenger, the lawsuits were dropped after cities amended ordinances that explicitly criminalized the organizations.

The ACLU is mulling its legal options in Lubbock and believes the measure is unconstitutional as there are fears it could impact abortion access in West Texas as the city serves as a medical hub in the region.

Dickson believes that pro-life activism has taken on new importance now that the federal government has come under complete control of the pro-choice Democratic Party.

Stressing the need to do everything we can to stand up and be a voice for life for the sake of unborn children who are dying daily, Dickson emphasized that the sanctuary cities for the unborn movement proves that we can do things on the local level and we can get the job done.

The referendum in Lubbock was not the only victory for the pro-life movement to come out of Texas on Saturday.

In a special election to replace the late Republican Rep. Ron Wright, who formerly represented Texass 6th Congressional District, two Republicans advanced to the runoff election. That ensures that the seat will remain in the hands of the GOP. Democrats had hoped to flip the district, which has become increasingly competitive in presidential elections.

According to Daily Kos Elections, former President Donald Trump won the district by 3 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election, after winning it by more than 12 percentage points in 2016.

Susan Wright, the widow of the late congressman, and Jake Ellzey will face off head-to-head after taking the top two spots in Saturdays jungle primary.

The national pro-life grassroots organization Susan B. Anthony List endorsed Wright and cheered the results of Saturdays election.

Susans outspoken advocacy for the unborn and their mothers, her strength of character and her extensive experience as a community leader make her deeply suited to represent the deeply pro-life state of Texas, asserted SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser.

We are confident she will prevail over her opponent and look forward to seeing her stand up against the extreme pro-abortion Biden-Harris-Pelosi agenda in Washington, which is radically out of step with Texas values. Susans voice will be yet another outstanding addition to the historic class of pro-life women serving in Congress.

As the SBA List has noted, the 117th U.S. Congress has a record 31 pro-life women serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. That number will rise to 32 if Wright is elected.
Trump speaks at pro-life summit, calls Biden one of the most 'radical' presidents Cruz, Rubio, DeSantis also address SBA List event

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Addressing a crowd of pro-life activists, former President Donald Trump reportedly described his successor, President Joe Biden, as one of the most "radical" presidents in United States history.

Trump was one of several rumored 2024 presidential hopefuls who addressed the Susan B. Anthony Lists Pro-Life Leaders Summit in Palm Beach, Florida, this week.

At the event hosted by the prominent pro-life advocacy group, which was closed to the press, Trump criticized the current administrations policies on abortion and criticized his political opponents.

The Federalists Mollie Hemingway summed up the former presidents speech in a Twitter thread Monday.

According to Hemingway, Trump said Biden is one of the most extreme and radical presidents weve had and hes not even aware of it.

Says Biden is one of most extreme and radical presidents weve had and hes not even aware of it. Jokes that Biden wasnt doing great, academically, even when he was in his prime.  Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 4, 2021

Additionally, Hemingway said Trump devoted a portion of the speech to condemning all of Bidens actions in support of abortion, noting Biden was kept in [the] basement for campaign, kept quiet about what hed do.

Hemingway further noted that Trump joked about how large Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosis mask was during Biden's address to a joint session of Congress last week. She reported that Trump said it 'hurts vaccine acceptance when Democrats wear bigger and bigger masks after vaccination."

Trump also claimed that the media treated him differently verses how they are handling the Biden presidency. He called the difference in media treatment for the new president "egregious," according to Hemingway.

Hes now condemning all of Bidens actions in support of abortion, noting Biden was kept in basement for campaign, kept quiet about what hed do.  Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 4, 2021

He just pointed out that VA Gov. Ralph Northam got in more trouble for blackface than he did for saying babies who are born should be allowed to die if mother chooses, and that he thought that was [the] opposite of [the] way it should be, she added.

As described by Hemingway, Trump's remarks addressed comments made by Northam during a radio interview in January 2019. Discussing a bill that would allow abortion up to the moment of birth, the Virginia governor expressed support for the measure. He even suggested that women should have the option to abandon their newborn children if they have deformities.

Explaining that third-trimester abortions are done in cases where there may be severe deformities, where there may be a fetus thats not viable, Northam outlined a hypothetical scenario:

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. 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.

Just days after Northam made those remarks, a decades-old picture of the governors medical school yearbook page surfaced. The page featured a picture of two individuals, one in blackface and the other in a Ku Klux Klan hood. One of the individuals was presumably Northam. While the yearbook page led to calls for Northam to resign, he remains in office more than two years later.

Other speakers at the Pro-Life Leaders Summit, as Fox News reported, included Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. All of those politicians are rumored to be considering presidential bids in 2024.

The Fox News report included excerpts of the speeches that DeSantis, Cruz and Rubio planned to give.

DeSantis speech highlighted his appointment of Florida Supreme Court justices who respect the rule of law and religious liberty. In addition, the governor touted his record signing legislation that empowers families and sends a clear message that we will do everything we can to protect the unborn.

Building a culture of life requires us to champion policies that fight for our most vulnerable, DeSantis argued. Today is about applauding the tireless work of advocates like the Susan B. Anthony List team who defend life with vigor.

Cruz, who previously sought the Republican nomination for president in 2016 after being elected to the Senate in 2012, slammed the pro-abortion policies of the Biden-Harris administration.

Defending the right to life is one of the most important responsibilities an elected official has," Cruz was quoted as saying. "Not only do Joe Biden and Kamala Harris fail to embrace that responsibility, they pander to pro-abortion activists at every turn  even though a large majority of Americans believe abortion should only be legal under certain circumstances or completely illegal.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are on the wrong side of history when it comes to abortion, and their views dont reflect what Americans want, Cruz continued.

Rubio, who also ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, seconded Cruz, alleging that the Biden administration is dominated by pro-abortion radicals who want to make it easier than ever to deny freedom to the unborn. The Florida senator vowed that he would never stop protecting the rights of those yet to be born.
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Dear Chuck,

Our best friends are on the brink of a divorce. A financial mistake occurred several years ago, and theyre slowly working their way out. But the wife is struggling to forgive. Any advice?

Financial Bitterness

Dear Financial Bitterness,

This is a far bigger problem than simply fixing their finances. A divorce usually leads to a financial and emotional disaster. My hope is that this advice will help you give them guidance to save their marriage.

The Big Picture

Financial stress is a leading cause in marriage conflicts. Breaking up may not solve the issues. The average cost of divorce in 2019 was $12,900. This varies depending on location, child support or custody, alimony, and if it was settled outside of court or in a trial.

I know of several marriages that are in serious danger of failing because apologies and forgiveness were not implemented early on. When this happens over a period of time, a woman feels unloved and loses respect for her husband, or a husband does not get the respect he needs and is unable to show her love. It is what Dr. Emerson Eggerich calls The Crazy Cycle.

Marriage requires time and commitment. Men and women need to learn how to voice their emotions and listen well. It prevents bitterness from taking root. Some basic communication skills are important, and Drs. Lee and Leslie Parrot are great guides in this area.

Learning to Forgive

My wife, Ann, and I try to live by this simple little saying:

The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest. The first to forget is the happiest. But make no mistake, the first step is usually the hardest.

Ford Taylor has a tool he calls the Six-Step Apology. He says that it saves marriages and relationshipseven those that appear beyond repair. Saying the words in each step is key. The process can lead to a change in behavior that can save or grow relationships. Learn the steps. Use them. Model and teach them to children. See what happens.

1. State the offense. Whatever you said, or they said you said, repeat it back.

2. Admit your error. You are right. I did that. I was wrong.

3. Apologize. I am sorry. Or, I apologize.

4. Seek forgiveness. Will you forgive me? Or, When you can, will you forgive me?

5. Grant accountability. I give you permission to hold me accountable not to behave this way anymore.

6. Ask if there is more. Is there anything else that Ive done that I need to apologize for?

Believers know that we are to forgive one another. Many of us grew up memorizing some of the verses. In fact, shortly after Ann and I were married, we attended a newlywed Bible study and were encouraged to memorize Ephesians 4:32: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

But, forgiveness is step 4 in Fords method. It comes after stating the offense, admitting the error, and apologizing. That may seem insignificant unless you are the one whos been hurt. If you are in that position, those steps prepare you to forgive, forget, and move on. It takes humility to begin the process.

You can have a financially healthy marriage, but unless you learn to apologize and forgive, you will fall short of what God intends. We are to forgive as He forgives. Or think of it this way: We forgive because He forgives. When we choose to do so, we are able to experience peace and wholeness in our relationships. We obey Him and trust that He will work it all together for good.

Paul told the Colossians: Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (Colossians 3:12-14 ESV)

I am glad to know your friends are working out of a financial mistake. Christian Credit Counselors may be able to provide more help. If needed, refer them here.

PROMO: Money and Marriage book

My wife, Ann, and I wrote a book, Money Problems, Marriage Solutions, that I would encourage your friends and you to read. In the book, we present seven keys to peace in marriage and help couples unite and conquer to resolve financial issues together.
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People dont fake depression. They fake being okay.

I perked up as this wise meme materialized on my Instagram stream.

These are challenging times. I suspect there are many who fake a fine, thanks when their finances may be shriveling. After all, millions have lost their jobs. Small businesses are folding. Mandatory lockdowns are intensifying loneliness.

People are hurting.

The antidote is Jesus commandment for us to love one other (John 13:34-35). What a timely message, given how COVID season is spiking mental health symptoms.

At the same time, as the meme reminds us, hurting people may exude an A-OK air. Others carry themselves in such a sullen manner it may unnerve our best intentions.

So, how are we to minister Gods love to these individuals?

In honor of May as the Mental Health Awareness Month, Id like to share insights from my tenure as Director of Counseling Center at the Los Angeles Dream Center, which might help you represent Jesus to suffering souls who hide their pain. (Note, however, that because psychologists are forbidden from disclosing clients identities, the following are fictitious characters).

1. A hard exterior reveals a hurting interior.

To outsiders, the clients we served at the counseling center seemed calloused. But because therapists are trained to listen with copious compassion, we offered them a safe spaceand as we validated our clients pain, they granted us the privilege of peeking into the heart-wrenching backstories they had buried from the world.

Just like Phen. He cultivated a reputation as a hardened parole who joined a gang at 13 and spent his 20s in prison. Thats where he found Jesus. In therapy, Phen unburdened his guilt and acute grief because his younger sister died of an overdoseafter he introduced her to drugs.

How does this translate into your life?

Treat people with hardened exteriors as candidates for sharing Gods love. I recommend a blend of compassion, curiosity, and playfulness as you interact with themperhaps something open-ended, such as, Hows 2021 for you so far? Any fun plans in the works, just to spite COVID? Drawing from the Internal Family Systems model, a theory I utilize in my practice, I can attest how curiosity and compassion can unlock doors to someones inner world.

2. The power of a little a week

Sessions at the Dream Center Counseling Center ran from 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the format. Most clients saw their therapists once a week. This means they received roughly an hours worth of understanding every weekpiddly, really, since each week consists of 112 waking hours (assuming 8 hours of sleep per night). But our Center also functioned as a training center for graduate students who would only stay for a year before moving on to another assignment. Still, year after year, our clients faithfully endured these changes, terminating with their old therapists and resuming therapy once the new set of therapists checked in.

Because of love. First Corinthians 13:8 explains, love never fails. Love is so powerful, even a little dose of it brings much gladness.

What does this mean for you? It means consistency counts, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Say theres a particular cashier at your grocery store who tends to bark at her customers. Maybe you can offer her a sincere smile this week. How about following it up with a friendly five-minute check-in next week? Maybe, despite her gruff demeanor, you come prepared the next week to greet her with a polite inquiry if theres anything you could do to make her day brighter. And if, a week later, you ask if you can pray for her, your persistent attentiveness might disarm her enough to answer in the affirmative.

Remember, Zechariah 4:10 warns us not to despite small beginnings.

3. Seeing a therapist is not a sin.

Noah is one of the counseling centers many memorable clients. His recovery program at the Dream Center mandated him to receive 12 therapy sessions.

Which he never missed.

But Noah hardly left any space to explore his emotional world.

From the moment he sat down until his session expired, Noah preached to his therapist. He emphasized how Jesus had completely healed his addiction. He insisted how faith for a brighter future was all he needed. Whenever his therapist inquired about his well-being, hed grin and bellow Scripture (the joy of the Lord is my strength) or Christianese (too blessed to be stressed).

Ive since met other believers like Noah. They may not say it explicitly, but their attitude loudly announces their apprehension about counseling. Perhaps they deem it sinfulas though having a therapist betrays their faith in God. Yet, notice how 1 John 3:4 defines sin: Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. Is it lawless to ask the help of a Christ follower who is trained in psychology to properly suture our emotional wounds? The short answer is a stout no, but you are welcome to further examine why Christians are free to seek therapy. It might boost your conviction that counseling can be Gods chosen vessel to heal the suffering people in your world. Check Focus on the Family, Christian Counselor Directory, or New Life Live for nationwide lists of Christian therapists.

Look around and youll spot some of the desperate folks who fake their feelings away.

But lets celebrate the Mental Health Awareness Month by pursuing them with Gods love.
Xi sends congratulations to first China International Consumer Products Expo

Xinhua) 10:53, May 07, 2021

Photo taken on May 6, 2021 shows a drone performance for the first China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Pu Xiaoxu)

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent a congratulatory message to the first China International Consumer Products Expo.

The expo, which opened on Thursday in Haikou, Hainan Province, will see the participation of nearly 1,500 enterprises from around 70 countries and regions.

Xi said the expo, serving as a global platform of displaying and trading high-end consumer products, is conducive to all countries sharing opportunities provided by the Chinese market and conducive to global economic recovery and growth. It will also enable China to offer the world more quality consumer products, Xi added.

It is hoped guests and participants of various sectors would have in-depth communications regarding cooperation to better benefit peoples of all countries, Xi said in the message.

China is ready to give play to the advantages brought by the Hainan free trade port in comprehensively deepening reforms and putting up the highest-level opening-up policies on a trial basis. China is also ready to deepen bilateral, multilateral, and regional cooperation and work with all sides in building a better future for humanity, Xi added.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
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Bill and Melinda Gates announced this week that they are divorcing after 27 years of marriage. Forbes reports that their split could yield the largest divorce settlement on record, eclipsing the $35 billion breakup of Amazons Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott. Yesterday we learned that they have hired a team of high-profile lawyers to handle their divorce.

The couple created the $50 billion nonprofit Gates Foundation, one of the biggest philanthropies in the world. It gave $5.1 billion in 2019 to fight poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. While the couple has pledged their continued commitment to the foundation, the New York Times reports that people in its orbit worry that an acrimonious split by its founders could cloud the nonprofits plans.

In other words, the marital struggle of a single couple could affect billions of people they have never met. Their story is a parable for our day.

God loves the family

I have been writing lately about the priority of personal morality for our public witness. The same is true for our public relationships. Many years ago, a wise counselor in the ministry told me, The best way you can love your church is to love your wife. And the best way you can love your wife is to love your Lord.

God loves the family. In fact, he invented it. He knew that it is not good that the man should be alone, so he made a helper fit for him (Genesis 2:18). His Fifth Commandment teaches children to honor your father and your mother (Exodus 20:12). His word likewise calls parents to teach his word diligently to their children (Deuteronomy 6:7). And he calls husbands and wives to love and serve each other (Ephesians 5:2128) with honor and integrity (Hebrews 13:4).

Jesus first public miracle was not walking on the water or raising the dead but blessing a wedding (John 2:111). His commitment to marriage was inviolate: What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:6).

However, we cannot give what we do not have. Since love is the first fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), I cannot unconditionally love my wife unless I can share with her the unconditional love of God. She and I can truly forgive each other, encourage each other, and support each other to the degree that we experience and share the forgiveness, encouragement, and support of Jesus.

The danger of 'Friends'

My wife often reminds those she teaches that a strong marriage is the best example we have of the kind of relationship God wants us to have with him. His word likens the union of husband and wife to the union of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:32). A day is coming when the new Jerusalem will come out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2; cf. 19:7).

It is no surprise that Satan is attacking Christians marriages and families these days. He knows that sexual sin not only devastates our spouses and childrenit also devastates our witness. And it is more endorsed by our culture than ever.

As I noted recently, secular society today is committed to the lie that personal authenticity is the pathway to personal and social flourishing. This authenticity extends to sexual relationships of all kinds. Evangelicals often focus on LGBTQ issues, but Gallup estimates that only 4.5 percent of Americans self-identify as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. Heterosexual sex outside of marriage is tempting for far more people in our sexualized society.

For example, an estimated 51.1 million people watched the final episode of Friends when it aired on this day in 2004. The sitcom debuted ten years earlier, telling the stories of six friends who struggle with young adult life in New York City.

Heres one reason for the shows long-running popularity: its obsession with sex. A journalist calculated that the six characters had sex with eighty-five different people who appeared on the show. This number does not count the sexual encounters that are implied but not described in a script.

Of course, Friends did nothing to warn of the damaging consequences of sex outside of marriage. In fact, a study published in the American Journal of Pediatrics criticized the show for glamorizing sex while hardly mentioning its downsides, such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. And the consequences of divorce are clear and damaging as well.

Renewing our vows

My mentor was right: the best way to love my wife is to love my Lord. Todays National Day of Prayer has chosen a perfect theme for our time: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17).

Our intimacy with Jesus empowers and protects our intimacy with our spouses. His promise is clear: Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8). Jesus assured us, Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit (John 15:5a). However, he also warned us that apart from me you can do nothing (v. 5b).

Are you abiding in Jesus today? When last did you draw near to God in Scripture, prayer, confession, and personal worship? When will you again?

When Janet and I were married in 1980, our pastor led me to make these vows my commitment to her:

I give to you the pledge of my love and of my trust.

Whatever may be our blessings, or our troubles,

I give myself to be yours, and yours alone

For as long as we both shall live.

As I was preparing this Daily Article, the Holy Spirit led me to repeat these words to Jesus.

And to invite you to do the same, right now.

Originally published at the Denison Forum
Former Tavistock psychiatrist explains why he blew the whistle on gender clinic

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A Tavistock whistleblower whose detailed report raised concerns about the treatment children with gender identity struggles received at the London gender clinic recently detailed the various ways the NHS Trust attempted to silence him.

Dr. David Bell, a psychiatrist, said he feels vindicated by the court ruling against the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust last December that was brought, in part, by Keira Bell, a 24-year-old formerly transgender-identified woman who was a patient at the clinic as a teenager.

The decision held that minors age 16 and younger are not capable of giving informed consent to experimental practices such as puberty-suppressing drugs and cross-sex hormones in pursuit of changing their physical appearance to look more like the opposite sex. The clinic is appealing the ruling and the matter will be heard this summer.

Bell, a practicing psychoanalyst, wrote a 2018 report about what was occurring in the Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), a clinic within the Tavistock facility. His report said clinicians were fast-tracking young adults into medicalized gender transitions without fully exploring the contributing factors that led to their psychological distress.

I felt concerned that wed moved away from the values [of care] the Trust has embodied for so long, Bell told The Guardian of the verdict against the Tavistock clinic, adding that he's shocked by how little has changed since the ruling regarding the management structure of the institution.



What has changed feels like window-dressing, he said.



Among the findings in the high court's ruling was that the clinics record-keeping was substandard, and it hadn't adequately maintained data regarding how many patients were being treated who are autistic. Those findings mirrored the concerns Bell had previously raised in his 2018 review, which was first set in motion when 10 members of the GIDS staff spoke to him about their own alarm about what they saw happening.



One of the concerned staffers recounted how an 8-year-old child was referred to an endocrinologist for the experimental drugs. Another staffer reportedly told him: I could not go on like this  I could not live with myself given the poor treatment the children were obtaining.

Yet when he submitted the report, the Trust was not receptive. Instead, they were defensive.

I believed I was doing the right thing, he said of his efforts to document the unscrupulous practices. I never doubted that, and most of my colleagues in the adult department supported me, so when I went up to my floor at the Tavistock, I could be oblivious and get on with my work. The real betrayal wasnt of me personally, but of the Trusts duty to whistleblowers and to its wider mission.

The institution, however, tried to squelch his voice, he said. They did this by telling media outlets that Bells claims were historical and that the clinic was following proper protocols, the Guardian reported. The tactics they used were sinister, he added.

When Bell tried to obtain relevant data from GIDS to write his report, he received no answers. He was subsequently sent an unpleasant letter from the Trusts chief executive informing him that the clinic and its staff were under no obligation to reply to him. Bell maintains that the clinic didn't have the data in question (due to poor record-keeping) nor did they want him to have access to any records they did have.

After he submitted his 2018 review, the clinic removed a book, for which he had written the introduction, from its library. The clinic also sent a GIDS staffer to spy on him when he spoke at a conference in Manchester about de-transition  the process formerly trans-identified individuals go through to return to their birth sex. Bell was eventually told that he was not allowed to speak publicly or write about anything not connected to his employment within the NHS.

In November 2018, he received two letters threatening disciplinary action, accusing him of bullying, though he was not told whom he had bullied. The letters additionally asked him to agree not to speak anymore with the Trusts director of child safeguarding.

In his interview with The Guardian, Bell raised warnings about the use of puberty blockers for children suffering from gender dysphoria. Such drugs are used to cease puberty growth in otherwise physically healthy children. He vehemently rejects assertions from transgender activists that hormone suppressants simply buy patients time to decide whether they wish to continue with a transition.

The child will never want to come off the hormones and 98% do now stay on them. This could be a dangerous collusion on the part of the doctor. The body is not a video machine. You cant just press a pause button. You have to ask what it really means to stop puberty, he said.

The whistleblower psychiatrist believes that a case like Keira Bells was inevitable and that care for distressed young people should be carried out locally. Gender dysphoria clinics should be part of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and available nationwide, Bell said. At the moment, children who are suffering extreme distress in relation to their bodies are sent to the Tavistock and the problem then goes away at local level, where psychotherapy services are on their knees.



Earlier this year, Marcus Evans, another Tavistock whistleblower who was a consultant psychotherapist on an internal review that the clinics medical director led, detailed his own reasons for exposing the troubling culture within the facility where minors were being persuaded to pursue experimental transgender medical practices. Following the Trusts board and council of governors approval of the internal report, Evans resigned, accusing the NHS Trust of possessing overvalued belief in GIDS expertise.



"As a mental health practitioner who is proud to be in the business, I'm really quite ashamed ... this is political belief and ideology over rational, scientific argument," Evans said of the Tavistock clinic's practices in an interview with Triggernometery.



Evans noted that trans activist groups had an outsized influence in an institution that should be governed by medical science and that the issue of gender dysphoria was highly politicized.



"Once your decision-making is based on a pre-existing belief structure, maybe embedded within the clinicians, maybe met by some of the parents ... you're not in a clinical environment," he said.






Harry Potter event canceled over JK Rowling's comments on gender: 'Causing distress'

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Organizers of a book festival in New Zealand have canceled an event featuring the popular children's book series Harry Potter over past comments on the transgender debate made by author J.K. Rowling.

The news website Stuff reported that the upcoming Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival, an annual event scheduled to occur this weekend in New Zealands Wellington Region, decided to remove a Harry Potter-themed quiz because of the past comments on gender and women's rights made by Rowling.

This action comes as this years book festival is slated to focus on the phenomenon of cancel culture.

The term cancel culture refers to the effort embraced by many in popular culture to silence people with unfashionable views on certain topics by boycotting their products or canceling their engagements with organizations or events.

According to Stuff, this years festival will feature a panel discussion hosted by veteran broadcaster Ian Fraser examining the phenomenon of cancel culture and its impact on New Zealand art and literature.

In response to the outcry over the inclusion of the Harry Potter-themed quiz in the program, the festivals board chairman, Peter Biggs, stressed that decision to pull the quiz event was not made lightly.

However, the festival elected to nix the segment after consulting with members of the LGBT community, the literary sector and local supporters.

The overwhelming response was there was a risk around causing distress to particular members of the community and that was the last thing we wanted to do, Biggs said. We always thought Booktown should be an inclusive, welcoming place for everyone, so we took the decision not to go with Harry Potter.

Rowling, a self-described feminist, came under fire last year for comments that critics have deemed transphobic.

Addressing an op-ed that contained the phrase people who menstruate in the headline, Rowling sarcastically tweeted: Im sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? The point of that tweet was to highlight that the correct word for those people is women.

In a separate Twitter thread sent out on the same day, Rowling pushed back on the idea that sex isnt real.

If sex isnt real, theres no same-sex attraction. If sex isnt real, the lived reality of women globally is erased, she wrote.

I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isnt hate to speak the truth.

Additionally, Rowling has criticized the use of cross-sex hormones.

In an early July tweet, she specifically warned that the long-term health risks of cross-sex hormones have now been tracked over a lengthy period, adding these side effects are often minimized or denied by trans activists.

In December, Rowling revealed that she had received heartbreaking letters from women who regret taking cross-sex hormones.

She stressed that everybody should be free to live a life that is authentic to them, and that they should be safe to do so. However, the author illustrated a need to have a more nuanced conversation around womens rights and around the huge increase in the number of girls and young women who are seeking to transition.

While most people who spoke with Stuff about the decision to pull the Harry Potter quiz from Booktown expressed support for the decision, one resident of Featherston held a divergent view.

Jenny Whyte, a lesbian and feminist activist, accused the book festival of trying to capitalise on the current fad of cancel culture.

Featherston Booktown has a session selling tickets to a panel discussing cancel culture, so theres an irony certainly, she added.

In addition, Whyte said that she shared some of Rowlings views, describing them as quite compassionate and reasonable. She said that the fact that a world-famous writer from London faced pushback in tiny little Featherston over her views encapsulates the whole madness of [cancel culture] quite well.
Puerto Rico bill seeks to ban conversion therapy for minors

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The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, is considering legislation that would ban the controversial practice of sexual orientation "conversion therapy" for minors.

Also known as reparative therapy or sexual orientation change efforts therapy, the practice involves helping those with unwanted same-sex attraction.

The legislation, known as P.S. 184, is now in the Puerto Rican Senate and would prohibit the practice for minors. The bill was introduced in February and is still pending a vote.

Bishop Daniel Fernandez Torres of Arecibo is among the legislation's ardent critics, warning in an interview with LifeSiteNews that if passed, it would effectively outlaw Catholic Church teaching.

What will happen to a parent who asks his son or daughter why she thinks or feels that, instead of immediately saying, live as you feel or want? the bishop asked.

What will happen to a father who goes with his children to church, where they receive the teachings of the Catechism on the natural family and Gods creation? Will he be considered a child abuser for that?

Torres went on to explain that the bill had other negative consequences, such as only allowing support for a minor to live a sexual orientation or gender identity different from the natural one.

As written, health professionals should only take action toward affirmation of homosexuality or transgenderism in kids, even if children only were to experience temporary confusion, he continued.

Supporters of the proposed ban include the Madison, Wisconsin-based atheist legal group, Freedom From Religion Foundation, which released an action alert on Tuesday in both English and Spanish.

Conversion therapy is a dangerous and discredited practice aimed at altering a childs sexual orientation or gender identity, often basing the therapy in religious shame and guilt, stated FFRF.

Many governmental health organizations have denounced the practice as both physically and psychologically traumatizing. Individuals who endure this so-called treatment are at a higher risk for suicide and depression.

In March 2019, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo A. Rossello signed an executive order that prohibited medical facilities seeking to be licensed by the Health Department from conducting such therapies.

I firmly believe that the idea that there are people in our society who need treatment because of their gender identity or whom they love is not only absurd, it is harmful to so many children and young adults who deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, the governor said at the time, as reported by The New York Times.
A Chinese rocket that recently sent a core module to China's Tianhe space station is headed back to Earth as debris  but scientists are unsure where the waste will happen, according to CBS News.

The 46,000-pound Long March 5B launched the module into orbit on April 28, but the core has since gone off on an undetermined flight path after separating from the rest of the rocket and is unpredictably orbiting the planet at over 17,000 miles per hour.

Related: Elon Musk Issues Dire Warning About Planned Mission to Mars

Scientists are reportedly uncertain where the parts of the core  which was built to withstand high temperatures  will land, although several U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Space Command and 18th Space Control Squadron, are tracking the body's location.

"U.S. Space Command is aware of and tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B in space, but its exact entry point into the Earth's atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry," Lt. Col. Angela Webb, U.S. Space Command Public Affairs, told CBS News on Tuesday.

U.S. officials expect the debris to fall on Earth on Sunday, but experts say the debris is most likely to fall into the ocean, which covers more than 70% of the planet, or a remote area.

According to Space.com, the conundrum highlights larger issue at hand: orbital debris. Currently, there are 2,033 rocket bodies in Earth's orbit  546 of which belong to the U.S. and 169 of which belong to China (a majority  1,035 rocket bodies, to be exact  belong to Russia). While U.S. rockets normally fire their engines to target re-entries over the Southern Pacific Ocean so that the debris doesn't impact populated areas, China has experienced issues with re-entry in the past, and specifically with the Long March 5B.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki addressed the matter, saying, "The United States is committed to addressing the risks of growing congestion due to space debris and growing activity in space, and we want to work with the international community to promote leadership and responsible space behaviors."

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
A teen and her mother were charged for allegedly hacking into the computer accounts of hundreds of students to cast fake votes at a homecoming queen contest, ABC News reported on Wednesday.

Emily Grover, an 18-year-old student at Tate High School Pensacola in Florida, is being charged as an adult and could face up to 16 years in prison if convicted for unauthorized use of technology.

The teen and her mother Laura Carroll are accused of casting a total of 246 fake votes for the homecoming queen election. Investigators said they found that 117 of the votes came from the same IP address that was traced to Carroll, according to a warrant affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Carroll worked as an assistant principal at Bellview Elementary School in Pensacola. She reportedly had authorized access to FOCUS, the districts computer program that contains personal information about students, including their ID numbers, medical histories and test scores. The program also gives access to a third-party vendor called Election Runner, which students at Tate used to cast votes for homecoming court in October, according to ABC News.

Grover, who has since been suspended from her high school, allegedly used her mothers FOCUS account to cast votes for herself using other students names, the outlet reported. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said that Grover and her mother accessed 372 high school records  most of which belonged to Tate  beginning August 2019, NBC News added.

As a result, the police department launched a four-month investigation into the incident, which ultimately led to the two womens arrests in March. Both women have been charged with felony offenses against users of computers, computer systems, computer networks and electronic devices.

According to an affidavit, Grover emailed the district superintendent, saying I have never been in trouble but I was recently suspended for 10 days for unauthorized use of technology, for using my mom's password and looking at information I should not have seen in FOCUS.

Randall Etheridge, an attorney representing both women, told ABC News that he had filed a written not-guilty plea with the court and requested a jury trial. Both Carroll and her daughter are scheduled for an arraignment in Pensacola on May 14.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
(Bloomberg) --

Pfizer Inc.s chief executive said that low- and middle-income countries had opted not to order the companys Covid-19 shot, in a letter posted online after the Biden administration said it supported waiving patents to expand global access to vaccines.

We reached out to all nations asking them to place orders so we could allocate doses for them, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a letter addressed to Pfizer employees. In reality, the high-income countries reserved most of the doses. I became personally concerned with that and I reached out to many heads of middle/low-income countries by letter, phone and even text to urge them to reserve doses because the supply was limited.

Most low-and middle-income countries he contacted decided to place orders with other vaccine makers either because the underlying technology used in Pfizers shot was still untested, or there were local production options available, Bourla wrote.

He said some countries didnt ever approve the vaccine, which Pfizer developed with its German partner BioNTech SE.

Waiver Debate

On Wednesday, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the U.S. would support efforts to reach a deal on waiving intellectual-property protections for Covid-19 vaccines, in a reversal of longstanding policy. Proponents of the move say it could expand access, though critics say there is no current capacity to begin producing cheaper versions of vaccines like the one made by Pfizer.

In a letter responding to the public debate over the proposal, Bourla said that Pfizer and BioNTech use a tiered pricing model for their vaccine. Middle-income countries are asked to pay half what the highest-income nations do, while low-income countries are offered the shot at cost. Such tiered pricing was pioneered by Gilead Sciences Inc. as it commercialized its HIV drugs.

Pfizer and BioNtech are on track to deliver 3 billion doses this year to more than 116 countries, Bourla said, and that the 450 million doses delivered to date have been heavily weighted toward higher-income countries that pay the most. In the U.S., the two-dose regimen is priced at $39.

Read More: U.S. Trade Chief Meets Pfizer, AstraZeneca About Vaccine Supply

Bourla expects 40% of doses, or more than 1 billion, will go to middle- and low-income countries this year. We expect the supply balance to weigh in their favor in the second half of 2021, he said, and to have virtually enough supply for all in 2022.

Next year, the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership will likely be able to deliver 4 billion doses, he said.

Pfizer Supply

Although Pfizer hasnt been shown to charge the most for its vaccine, and has adjusted prices down for less wealthy countries, it isnt the cheapest product. For example, documents show that Colombia paid about $12 a dose for Pfizers vaccine, and South Africa agreed to buy doses for about $10 each, bringing full regimens to $24 and $20, respectively.

Meanwhile, South Africa committed $5.25 a dose, or $10.50 for each full regimen, for AstraZeneca Plcs vaccine, in line with the companys pledge to sell the product at cost. South Africa halted its rollout of the Astra vaccine after it showed low efficacy against the coronavirus variant spreading there.

Still, logistics may be as important an issue as price.

Ezekiel Emanuel, a medical ethics and health policy professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine still poses challenges for countries without robust infrastructure to maintain it at ultra-cold temperatures.

Its the most difficult to handle of them all, he said, and that adds to the problem. Its not only low-income countries that were hesitant to take that up.

U.S.-Pharma Friction

Bourla met virtually with the U.S. trade representative last week. In the letter, he said that such a waiver threatens to disrupt Pfizers ability to manufacture the shots at scale given raw materials are in short supply.

I worry that waiving of patent protection will disincentivize anyone else from taking a big risk, he said. The recent rhetoric will not discourage us from continuing investing in science.

Separately, the U.S. trade chief held a meeting with AstraZenecas Ruud Dobber, who runs the companys biopharmaceuticals business unit. The executives argued that the fastest way for the U.S. to help developing countries is to release its own stockpile of vaccines, including the tens of millions of doses of AstraZenecas two-shot regimen, which hasnt yet been authorized for use in the country.

Emanuel, who served on Bidens transition Covid advisory board, said that a patent waiver isnt the most effective way to quickly build enough supply for the rest of the world.

Giving the patent is like sharing a recipe, and the know-how is cooking it, and getting everything right, he said.

Moderna Inc., a competitor to Pfizer, is not enforcing its own patent for the duration of the pandemic. Emanuel said that hasnt contributed to a significant surge in supply from other manufacturers.

We know the patent isnt the critical element, its production, Emanuel said.

2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Brett Coomer, Staff / Houston Chronicle

NRG Energy has moved its sole headquarters to Houston, no longer sharing dual residence with Princeton, New Jersey.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner was pleased about the Thursday announcement, noting that the move has been in the works for a minute with NRG president and CEO Mauricio Gutierrez. Houston has committed through a partnership with NRG to purchasing 100 percent renewable energy, he said, and is a good city for business.
I think it's safe to say that I'm not Travis Scott's biggest fan  or really a fan at all.

The stans will say I'm not listening hard enough, and the rest will say "he's from Houston, how could you not support Travis?" Granted, his music isn't made for my demographic, but lately, it seems all of his actions  music-related and otherwise  are performative.

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For a man who believes that it's "all about the creative process," Scott's releases and collaborations are always overhyped and underwhelming. I'll give credit where it's due, the man is quite literally a marketing guru, and his fans eat it up every time  but that doesn't make all of his endeavors good.

Here are seven reasons Travis Scott isn't as great as you may think.

1. Astroworld

Scott bringing back Astroworld Festival to Houston for the third time could be seen as successful, but I see it as exploitative. Why would a ticket to a music festival cost nearly $400? That only begins to scratch the surface of ticket prices, as VIP-style tickets went for over $1,000. For those who weren't alive when Astroworld actually existed in Houston, know that charging $365 for entry was not a part of the now-defunct amusement park's mission.

2. The music

While he still tries to incorporate elements of an older Houston into his work, channeling Screwed Up Click and DJ Screw and utilizing the moniker Astroworld as his own, as a Houstonian, I have never felt deeply connected to any of Scott's projects. Sure, "Rodeo" was semi-decent, but I think many get caught up in the idea of a project being "different" and "experimental," when the reality is, it's just not that good.

3. The music, again

Furthering my original point about Scott's music, he's simply overrated. What is most captivating about Scott as an artist is that he drills home the concept of nostalgia, and he's able to create an atmosphere for his fans that successfully takes away from the lyrics. I think Scott can create an experience  a mosh-pit ambience that fans can't forget.

4. CACTI

The rapper's Agave Spiked Seltzer drink wasn't the tastiest of ranchwater-style drinks. The drink had a lot of potential but missed the mark by a whole lot. I sometimes sit and wonder, did Scott taste CACTI himself and approve of it?

5. Brand collaborations

Every merchandise collaboration or Air Jordan release is either 1) very ugly or 2) always sold out. I don't think I'd ever be interested in buying any of his horrid shoes but because of how rapidly his clothing and merchandise sells out, it begs the question, are you truly meeting the needs of your fanbase?

6. Giving back to the City of Houston

Sure we see Scott popping up in H-Town for a food drive here and there, but does he really care for the city as he claims to? His pop-ups always seem to be PR-motivated, but never really genuine. Is it really giving back if it's just a few Instagram posts?

7. McDonald's

What quite literally began my trail of Travis Scott disdain was his food collaboration with McDonald's. Outside of the food just being gross, the Travis Scott meal offered nothing spectacular. Although the promotion for the rapper's meal ended months ago, you could very easily walk into McDonald's today and still get the meal.
BENZIE COUNTY  U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman visited Benzie County on Thursday, meeting with a variety of people and organizations as he got a first-hand look at how some of the CARES Act funding for the area was spent.

Bergman, R-MI 1st District, started his day in Benzie County at the Benzie County Sheriff's Office, at the flagpole for a prayer session for the National Day of Prayer. That event, featured an introduction and welcome by Sheriff Kyle Rosa, followed by words from National Day of Prayer organizers.

I had an incredible day in Benzie County talking with business owners, employees, local leaders, veterans and so many other folks about the challenges theyve faced and the future ahead," Bergman said in a written statement to the Record Patriot. "We talked about how CARES Act funding helped so many survive the shutdowns as well as affordable housing and the importance of our effort to expand high-speed, broadband across our rural and remote communities."

Later, the congressman joined the members of the community for lunch at Lucky Dog Bar and Grill. During lunch, the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance hosted a discussion led by Kirstie Sieloff, director of government relations with Traverse Connect. The discussion included topics like highspeed broadband initiatives, affordable housing and needs of workers and businesses.

Bergman then made a visit to the Benzie Bus to look at changes and equipment made using CARES Act funding in 2020 to help the keep the buses running and employees safe during the pandemic. These changes included a service truck and trolley, as well as dispatch software to help dispatchers work remotely, as well as Wi-Fi hotspots to help overcome the challenges of inconsistent broadband coverage in Benzie County.

Bergman also had praise for how the 1st Congressional District was weathering the pandemic and the challenges faced living in it.

The resilience of our 1st District workers is unparalleled. I work every day to learn more about the issues they are facing, and Im proud to continue my fight for the future of all of our neighbors across the 1st District, he said.

Bill Kennis, executive director of Benzie Bus and chair of the Benzie County Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Committee, said it was an honor to have Bergman visit. Kennis was representing the Benzie County Chamber of Commerce during the visit.

"It was an honor to have a quality visit with our representative who showed great empathy for our broadband challenges in the community," Kennis said. "Benzie Bus has dispatchers working remotely from home and could only achieve that with expensive Wi-Fi hotspot technology with speeds barely adequate for dispatching GPS and database access needs."
Courtesy photo

Kathy Day Faulkner is thrilled to finally see the fruits of her labor in book form.

She Asked Crazy Horse Why , a historical fiction for children ages eight and above, is now available at Amazon.com in both paperback and eBook formats. Faulkner foresees her book as supplemental reading material for middle grade students.
The top political consultant to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was arrested Thursday on allegations that he participated in a scheme to solicit money and campaign contributions for state hemp licenses issued by Millers Texas Department of Agriculture.

The consultant, Todd Smith, ultimately took $55,000 as part of the scheme, an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by The Texas Tribune says. Smith and others involved in the scheme are alleged in the warrant to have solicited a total of $150,000 to guarantee a license, including a $25,000 upfront cost for a survey that they said was required to get a license in Texas. Some of the money would also go toward funding unnamed political campaigns, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit alleges that Smith committed third-degree felony theft.

Reference

Read the affidavit against Todd Smith here.

(2.7 MB)

Todd Smith created by words and his conduct, a false impression of fact that affected the judgment of others in the transactions to obtain a hemp license and/or conduct a survey that was never attempted by Todd Smith," the affidavit says.

The allegations were investigated by the Texas Rangers' Public Integrity Unit, which is responsible for looking into claims of public corruption.

Smith was arrested Thursday and booked into Travis County jail at 9:23 p.m., according to Kristen Dark, a spokesperson for the county sheriffs office. Smith was released at 2:59 a.m. Friday on a personal recognizance bond. Bail was set at $10,000.

IN HOUSTON: NRG Energy is placing its headquarters solely in Houston

Smith did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Friday morning.

The affidavit says Smith used another person as a middle man between himself and those interested in getting licenses. The affidavit does not provide much information about the middle man other than that he was introduced to Todd Smith by a friend in August 2019.

The affidavit includes the account of one man who wanted to get involved in the hemp industry and met the middle man at a social gathering in August 2019. The affidavit says the middle man told the license-seeker that he was working directly with senior leadership at the TDA and that he needed $150,000.00 in cash, with some of the money going toward campaign contributions, in order to receive the guaranteed hemp license.

The license-seeking man agreed to the deal, setting off a chain of events that included a November 2019 visit to Austin where he handed the middle man $30,000 cash in a car outside El Mercado, a Mexican restaurant in downtown Austin near the TDA offices, according to the affidavit. Williams went through an alley to take the money to the TDA headquarters before returning to the car and collecting Vinson for a scheduled meeting at the offices.

The affidavit says the license-seeker learned later that month that he was not guaranteed a license, despite the scheme that had been proposed to him. He reached Smith via phone, who denied any knowledge but did admit to receiving a $5,000.00 gift from the middle man, according to the allegations.

READ ALSO: Texas' larger cities would face financial penalties for cutting police budgets under House bill

The hemp licenses were opened as a result of House Bill 1325, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in 2019 and allowed the states farmers to legally grow industrial hemp. Hemp is a cousin of the marijuana plant that contains low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive element in marijuana known as THC.

Smith has previously been under scrutiny for blurring campaign and official lines. The Austin American-Statesman reported in 2018 that Smith told a San Antonio businessman he could get a TDA appointment if he donated to Millers campaign  then Smith asked the businessman for a $29,000 personal loan.

Years earlier, Miller created four new assistant commissioner positions and gave one of them to Smiths wife, Kellie Housewright-Smith. The positions had annual salaries exceeding $180,000, making them among the highest-paid employees at the TDA.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
A sport utility vehicle loaded with marijuana bundles crashed in west Laredo, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

A man identified as Alfredo Guerra-Armendariz was arrested in relation to the case. He was charged with possess with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute the marijuana.

Criminal actions such as these show how dangerous these transnational criminal organizations operate and how recklessly they put public safety at risk. Even when faced with dangers, our agents strive to protect our nations borders and keep our communities safe, said Chief Patrol Agent Matthew Hudak.

The case unfolded at approximately 5:40 a.m. Wednesday, when Border Patrol agents observed about 10 people crossing the Rio Grande near Markley Lane. Agents said they observed the people float downriver along the U.S. riverbank with what appeared to be large bundles of narcotics.

At about 5:55 a.m., agents observed people loading bundles of suspected narcotics into a Chevrolet Tahoe. The Tahoe then drove south on Anna Avenue. Agents then activated the units emergency lights to pull over the vehicle. However, the driver refused to stop.

Agents then observed the Tahoe crashing into a utility pole and some portable restrooms on Anna, just south of Burnside Street. The impact caused the utility pole to fall on top of the responding service vehicle, according to Border Patrol.

An inspection of the vehicle yielded six large bundles of marijuana. The contraband weighed 450.84 pounds and had an estimated street value of $270,504. No injuries were reported.

Agents then arrested a man who attempted to flee from the crash site. Authorities identified him as Guerra-Armendariz. He was transported to the Laredo North Station for further investigation. Drug Enforcement Administration special agents took over the investigation. He allegedly agreed to provide a post-arrest statement.

Guerra-Armendariz stated that he was aware that he was transporting marijuana by floating the bundles of marijuana down river and loading the bundles of marijuana into the Chevrolet Tahoe. Guerra-Armendariz stated that he was recruited by a third party to transport marijuana from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to Laredo, Texas, state the affidavit.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP)  Oilfield equipment that emits smog-causing pollution would be targeted by New Mexico environmental regulators under a proposed rule made public Thursday by the state Environment Department.

The release of the proposal marks the next step in a process that started nearly two years ago as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other top Democrats in the state announced their intentions to curb emissions across the oil and natural gas sector. The state created a working group made up of industry, environmentalists and other experts to help in crafting the regulations.

The rules proposed by the state Environment Department are part of a two-pronged approach, which Environment Secretary James Kenney touted as the most comprehensive effort in the U.S. to tackle pollution blamed for exacerbating climate change. State oil and gas regulators adopted separate rules earlier this year to limit venting and flaring as a way to reduce methane pollution.

The Environment Department opted to remove all exemptions from an earlier version of its rule that was drafted last year. The proposal also includes minimum requirements for operators to calculate their emissions and have them certificated by an engineer and to find and fix leaks on a monthly basis.

New Mexico is home to part of the Permian Basin, which is one of the worlds most productive oilfields. Environmentalists had been pressuring the state over the past several months not to allow any exceptions, pointing to elevated levels of emissions in New Mexico's oilfields.

The Environment Department's rule will apply in counties with high ozone levels. Currently, this includes Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Lea, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan, and Valencia counties.

Kenney said the state considered the reductions that could be achieved in volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides by including all types of wells, even those with low potential for emissions.

From a science-based perspective as well as a public health perspective as well as an environmental perspective, it was the right thing to do, Kenney said of removing all of the exemptions.

While the industry generally supported the rules adopted by the Oil Conservation Division, the Environment Department's proposal spurred some concerns Thursday.

Leland Gould, chairman of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said the industry group and its members are committed to protecting the health and environment of the communities where they operate and they support sound, science-based regulations to reduce methane emissions and ozone levels.

As we review the rule in detail, we will look for opportunities to engage the department with industrys technical professionals to encourage greater innovation and cost-effective solutions, consistent with other regulatory requirements, he said, noting that responsible energy development will continue to pay dividends when it comes to supporting state spending and the overall economy.

State officials pointed to what they described as an unlevel playing field when it comes to industry and the government. There are seven inspectors for more than 50,000 wells, meaning regulators will lean heavily on technological advancements for monitoring oil and gas operations. Kenney said that will include aerial inspections, the use of special cameras and infrared drones.

The state expects the rule, once adopted sometime next year, to lead to reductions in ozone-causing pollution that would equal taking 8 million cars off the road every year. Methane emissions also would be reduced as a result, Kenney said.

We will ensure compliance with these rules because public health is at stake, he told reporters during a briefing.

The proposed rule also establishes emission reduction requirements for equipment like compressors, turbines, heaters and other pneumatic devices.

If companies violate the rules, they could be hit with notices of violation, orders to comply and possibly civil penalties.

Kenney acknowledged that the rules will come with a cost for operators. Advocates for the industry have raised concerns about the rules pushing development across the border into neighboring Texas, which shares a portion of the Permian Basin.
Jacksonville Police

ACCIDENTS

 Nash A. Powell, 21, of Palmyra was cited on a charge of improper lane use after the car he was driving struck a parked car at 10:38 p.m. Wednesday in the 300 block of South Diamond Street.



Calhoun County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Charles H. Gilbert, 71, of Pearl was booked into Greene County Jail at 7:22 p.m. April 30 on charges of driving under the influence and obstructing justice.



Greene County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Jack L. Green, 31, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 12:51 p.m. Sunday on a charge of manufacture or delivery of cannabis.

 Ashley M. Belless, 38, of Canton was booked into Greene County Jail at 1:46 p.m. April 29 on a Jersey County arrest warrant accusing her of possession of a controlled substance and a Greene County warrant accusing her of failing to appear in court.

Carrollton Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Chelsea A. Herder, 28, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 7:47 p.m. Wednesday on a Jersey County arrest warrant accusing her of retail theft and criminal trespass to property.

 Douglas G. Smith, 42, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:52 p.m. Sunday on a domestic battery charge.

 Tracey Lynn Smith, 50, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:21 p.m. Sunday on a domestic battery charge.

 Heather M. Gibson, 37, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:18 p.m. April 30 on a charge of driving while license is canceled.

 Joseph M. Angle, 36, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:48 a.m. April 30 on a charge of possession of methamphetamine or an analog substance.

Greenfield Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Amanda K. Boyd, 33, of Jacksonville was booked into Greene County Jail at 5:20 a.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, manufacture or delivery of cannabis, possession of cannabis and possession of a controlled substance.

Roodhouse Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Dylan M. Kinkead, 29, of Beardstown was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:44 p.m. Saturday on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended.

White Hall Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Austin K. Williams, 23, of Winchester was booked into Greene County Jail at 1:15 a.m. Thursday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

 Nathan A. Daniels, 38, of Winchester was booked into Greene County Jail at 2:43 p.m. Saturday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a narcotic instrument and possession of adult-use cannabis in a motor vehicle.



Pike County

Sheriff

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Buffy N. Burbridge, 27, of Griggsville was arrested at 1:26 a.m. Thursday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of fentanyl and possession of adult-use cannabis in a motor vehicle after the car she was driving was stopped on Illinois Route 107 near Griggsville.

 Anna M. Sutton, 33, of Quincy was arrested at 10:05 a.m. Thursday on charges of possession of methamphetamine and possession of hypodermic syringes after police served a search warrant at a Baylis residence. She also was charged with obstructing justice after police said she tried to destroy evidence. Cory E. Sutton, 38, of Quincy also was arrested on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.



Scott County

Winchester Police

ARRESTS, CITATIONS

 Jordan E. Brown, 21, of Winchester was booked into Greene County Jail at 4:25 p.m. April 30 on a home invasion charge.

 Darrell W. Thompson, 32, of Winchester was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:03 p.m. April 29 on a domestic battery charge.

Compiled by David C.L. Bauer
Illinois will make its biggest jump toward normality next week and could be on track to reopen fully as early as June 11.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday that the entire state will move into bridge phase on May 14. The phase further relaxes business restrictions and limitations on crowd sizes, including for dining and social and spectator events.

Vaccination rates in Illinois have out-paced national efforts, and Pritzker said the states COVID-19 cases have stabilized after a few upticks. The state also is expanding vaccine administration to private doctors and small medical providers.

Im pleased to announce that the concerning upward movement of cases and hospitalizations we were seeing a few weeks ago have stabilized  a testament to the lifesaving, community-protecting power of vaccinations, Pritzker said.

Some 60% of adults in Illinois  including 85% of those 65 or older  have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

More than 9.7 million vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois as of Thursday, but health officials have expressed concern about a slowdown in the number of people seeking vaccination.

Vaccine hesitancy isnt so much about the science and the logic. It is about emotion and fear and lack of trust. While agreeing with the science, we need to address the fear and lack of trust quietly, confidently and with empathy for those who are hesitant, said Dr. Paul Pedersen, chief medical officer at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington. Among those competent to discuss this empathetically are community physicians. We have a unique relationship with our patients and our communities to be able to help dispel the hesitancy. Arming us with vaccine in our offices will only enhance that capability.

Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike said vaccination will be particularly crucial as summer events reopen.

If youve been vaccinated, talk with your friends and co-workers about getting vaccinated, Ezike said. Research shows that health care providers, as well as friends and family, are who most people look to when deciding to get vaccinated. Wear your mask, avoid large crowds, and get your shot.

.

Total cases in west-central Illinois counties as of Thursday, according to individual county health departments, and vaccination rates, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, were:

Brown County

701 total, 687 recovered, seven deaths

Two new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 21%; 65 or older: 69.77%

Cass County

1,986 total, 1,935 recovered, 33 deaths

Two new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 34.28%; 65 or older: 71.94%

Greene County

1,422 total, 1,367 recovered, 48 deaths

Five new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 24.39%; 65 or older: 57.08%

Jersey County

2,684 total, 2,611 recovered, 49 deaths

22 new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 33.02%; 65 or older: 76.97%

Macoupin County

4,833 total, 4,509 recovered, 111 deaths

Three new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 31.23%; 65 or older: 75.89%

Morgan County

3,948 total, 3,788 released from restrictions, 102 deaths

Nine new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 33.26%; 65 or older: 75.19%

Pike County

1,754 total, 1,698 recovered, 47 deaths

Fully vaccinated: 24.94%; 65 or older: 63.62%

Sangamon County

18,530 total, 234 deaths

39 new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 38.58%; 65 or older: 82.98%

Schuyler County

709 total, 673 recovered, 16 deaths

Seven new cases.

Fully vaccinated: 31.3%; 65 or older: 67.34%

Scott County

477 total, 471 recovered, one death

Fully vaccinated: 25.62%; 65 or older: 62.82%

Statewide, 1,778 new cases of coronavirus disease and 40 deaths were reported Thursday, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

There have been 1,348,176 cases and 22,136 deaths in Illinois.
A suspect driving a stolen ambulance crashed into a Texas Department of Public Safety unit in La Salle County, according to authorities.

At about 12:34 p.m. Friday, Texas DPS received a call from the Webb County Sheriffs Office regarding an Angel Care Ambulance Service unit that was stolen from the tourist center on mile marker 18 of Interstate 35.

An Encinal Police Department officer observed the stolen ambulance traveling north on Interstate 35 and attempted to stop the vehicle. A pursuit ensued after the driver refused to stop.

Several law enforcement agencies assisted in the pursuit. The suspect tried to avoid an attempt by authorities to stop the vehicle when he intentionally collided into a DPS trooper in his marked unit at the intersection of I-35 and FM 133 in La Salle, according to Encinal police.

DPS said the trooper had no serious injuries but was still taken to a hospital in San Antonio via air. The driver was arrested and taken to the hospital as well. DPS said they are only handling the crash investigation.

Local, county, state and Federal agencies came together in the best, most effective way possible in this incident. The Encinal Police Department sends our best wishes and prayers for the DPS Trooper involved, Encinal police said in a statement.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Climbing El Capitan and the famous big walls of Yosemite National Park got a bit harder Friday.

The park added red tape to cut through before climbers can begin the physically grueling and mentally demanding feat of inching up vertical granite walls that take days to conquer and require spending the night suspended on tiny platforms hundreds or thousands of feet above Yosemite Valley.

Climbers will need to secure free permits before they can attempt multiday climbs on El Cap, Half Dome, the Leaning Tower and other big climbs beginning May 21.

The long-rumored plan will inevitably cause grumbling in the mecca of American rock climbing and among a culture that embraces freedom. But it could help limit the number of climbers on classic routes that have become more crowded as the sport has grown exponentially in popularity.

I think were going to have a lot of climbers whining and complaining because they were gifted this thing that they think is a right and it was really a privilege, said Hans Florine, who with 170 ascents has climbed the 3,000-foot (914-meter) face of El Capitan more than anyone. We were given incredible rag-tag Wild West privileges for the last 40 years in Yosemite. All theyre asking is to let us know youre there.

The two-year pilot program will put climbers on par with backpackers who have been required to get wilderness permits for decades to spend the night in protected backcountry areas of national parks and forests. Unlike hikers, though, the climbing permits will not at first be rationed on a quota basis that limits how many people can be on a designated route each day.

Jeff Webb, the wilderness manager for Yosemite, said the program will measure for the first time how many people are doing overnight or multiday climbs to see what areas are getting the most use and could eventually lead to limits on certain routes, such as The Nose on El Capitan.

The park will seek voluntary compliance but could fine climbers who break the rules, Webb said.

Yosemite is not the first park to require permits for multiday climbs. Zion National Park in Utah and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Rocky Mountain National Parks in Colorado also have permit systems.

Daniel Duane, a climber and author of El Capitan: Historic Feats and Radical Routes, said there was a certain sadness to the development because it was a reminder of an era when Yosemite's signature climbs weren't crowded.

Some climbers used to camp for months in the park and climb every day. City dwellers could call a friend on Thursday to plan a last-minute trip, drive all night from San Francisco or Los Angeles and hit the rock on Friday morning.

One of the kind of weird and wonderful mysteries of Yosemite forever has been that you could just show up there, he said. You could drive up to the base of El Cap ... and start climbing. And the Yosemite Valley climbing lifestyle has been kind of a miracle in that way."

But the rise of climbing gyms has created a huge generation of new climbers that has led to the sport being included in the summer Olympics this year for the first time. Films about the feats of a few rock stars on El Capitan have captured the imaginations of moviegoers and put them on the edge of their seats as if they were standing on sliver-width ledges and gripping tiny cracks on the sheer monolith thousands of feet above the valley.

Free Solo, which portrayed Alex Honnolds climb up El Capitans Freerider route with no rope or protection, won the best feature documentary Oscar in 2019. The Dawn Wall, documenting Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgesons epic 19-day ascent without any aid  using only ropes to catch their falls  similarly riveted audiences.

When Duane was planning an overnight climb with this daughter last year on the south face of Washington Column, friends warned that they wouldnt be alone. He heard stories of five parties being on the route and five more waiting in line to start climbing.

Although he canceled the trip because of the coronavirus pandemic, he said that type of situation "sucks for all parties involved.

While he's not opposed to the change, Duane said permit reservations required four to 15 days in advance will remove any spontaneity and will be seen as another slap by climbers who have often been odds with the park administration.

Climbers are not crazy to have felt that some really substantial part of park culture just wishes they would go away, he said. This little step, as benign as it seems and, frankly, as sensible as it seems, definitely raises those concerns for all of us.

Corey Rich, cinematographer of The Dawn Wall, who has spent his professional career hanging off the side of Yosemite's largest cliffs as an adventure photographer, said the move would be polarizing among climbers.

The loss of freedom is a bummer for him but it seems like a necessary evil as the sport evolves and grows and will help protect the walls they all cherish.

I'm also one of these old dogs that will have to learn the new trick of how to apply for a permit the next time I go up El Cap, Rich said.
A jewelry store in Katy is under investigation for multiple felony theft cases.

LOAN SCAM: Texas bar owner accused in PPP loan scam

According to court documents, the jeweler owes nearly $4 million to a business for watches that were never delivered, as first reported by Matt Dougherty at KHOU.

The store, ALKU Modern Jewelers in Katy, has had multiple customers come forward and allege they were swindled out of their money. The owner, Santiago Mora, is facing federal charges for wire fraud and identity theft and could be facing more charges in the coming days.

Mora told one customer that he'd be able to acquire two rare watches  a Rolex Daytona with a white dial and black dial  for both of which he paid $26,300, per KHOU. The customer says they never received the watches.

Another customer reported purchasing an engagement ring with a check and never receiving the piece of jewelry.

Now, upon approaching the store, customers are met with a closed building that has an eviction notice out front and left with no real way of contacting the owner.

Dougherty also reported that Mora's teenage daughter was missing. Eventually the teen was found and was possibly in the hands of a cult, Mora's lawyer Sam Adamo told KHOU.

STAYING VIGILANT: 'Tugs at victim's heartstrings': Houston FBI agent warns of romance scams leaving victims penniless

Adamo told KHOU that the store owner was a "hardworking man" and that he had succumbed to personal issues as of late, including a heart condition that left him hospitalized.

The business currently has an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau, and the Fort Bend Count's Sheriff's Office is looking into multiple felony cases against Mora, which have already been presented to the district attorney.

The Better Business Bureau says if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The BBB offers this advice when it comes to scams: "Resist the pressure to act immediately. Shady actors typically try to make you think something is scarce or a limited time offer. They want to push victims to make a decision right now before even thinking through, asking family members, friends or financial advisors."
The Texas House on Thursday voted to financially penalize the state's largest cities if they cut their police budgets.

House Bill 1900 comes after a year of civil rights advocates calling on cities to reduce what they spend on policing and to reform police behavior. Those calls were spurred by high-profile deaths at the hands of police like George Floyds in Minneapolis and Mike Ramos in Austin.

READ MORE: Houston police department has new reform policies. Here's what they entail.

Among Texas' largest cities, only Austin cut its law enforcement funding last year, though almost all of that decrease came from an accounting shift of money that still allows traditional police duties to remain funded, but potentially in different city departments. Still, the city's response to some activists' calls to "defund the police" prompted harsh and immediate backlash from Republican state leaders, who have pointed to fast-rising homicide rates throughout the state and country as a reason to maintain police funding levels.

Gov. Greg Abbott became laser-focused on Austins budget and backing the blue, making legislation to punish cities that decrease police funding one of his emergency items this year.

On Thursday, after two hours of heated debate, HB 1900 was preliminarily approved on a 91-55 vote. It still needs a final vote on the House floor before it can move to the Senate. The Senate's related bill, which would require an election before cities could decrease police funding, passed out of the upper chamber last month.

HB 1900 was authored by Republican state Reps. Craig Goldman, Will Metcalf, Greg Bonnen and Angie Chen Button and Democrat Richard Pena Raymond. If a city with more than 250,000 residents was determined by the governor's office to have cut police funding, the bill would allow the state to appropriate part of a citys sales taxes and use that money to pay expenses for the Texas Department of Public Safety. Such cities would also be banned from increasing property taxes or utility rates, which could have been used to compensate for the reapportioned sales taxes.

The bill does allow cities to cut police department budgets if such a decrease is proportionally equal to an overall city budget decrease. Cities can also get approval to cut police budgets if expenses for one year were higher because of capital expenditures or disaster response. The bill would also let neighborhoods annexed in the last 30 years to vote to deannex themselves from a city that has decreased funding to its police department.

As municipalities across this nation are defunding their police departments, are taking money away from the police budgets and putting them elsewhere in their city budgets, this bill makes sure that in the state of Texas, that is not going to be allowed, Goldman, a Fort Worth Republican, said on the House floor Thursday.

State Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, however, argued that lawmakers speaking about the bill had failed to address "the elephant in the room."

"This summer we saw protests in the streets, we also saw elected officials decide to make decisions because of police brutality," she cried. "We refuse to improve policing in this state. Instead, we attack those who are trying to take care of our citizens."

READ ALSO: Texas officials say murder conviction for George Floyd's death 'is only one step' in police reform

She denounced the Legislature for failing to move the Texas George Floyd Act, a sweeping set of reforms on police behavior and accountability which has stalled. The House and Senate have each passed standalone bills on individual proposals within the omnibus bill, like restricting police chokeholds and barring arrests for fine-only traffic offenses.

Several other Democrats offered amendments to add exceptions for when a city could cut police department funding. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio offered leniency so city council members wouldn't opt against a necessary increase in police funding for fear they could not turn it back the next year. Last week, Austin's state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez moved to eliminate the 250,000 population bar which Democrats argued only punished larger, more liberal cities. And state Rep. Jarvis Johnson of Houston filed multiple amendments, including to not punish cities for cutting civilian positions within law enforcement agencies. He said Houston Police Department has more than 1,200 civilian jobs, including janitors and other positions he listed off.

At any given time that Houston Police Department decides we no longer need a car attendant, we no longer need a car attendant supervisor, we no longer need a truck driver, we no longer need a typist, that does not mean that the city of Houston has decided to defund the police, he said.

The amendments failed, as the Democrats denounced what they called partisan rhetoric and a move for state control over large cities.

Raymond, however, the Democrat joint author on the bill from Laredo, defended HB 1900. He said raising funds is how we improve other functions, like education and health care.

"You invest more in training our law enforcement officers, not less," he said. "Thats how you make it better."

Leaders from some of Texas biggest cities have declared that they are against the bills, including Austin interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon. He said there are instances where local governments need to increase funding on other services or initiatives and that wont always negatively impact police departments.

These decisions must be made at the local level by our community when and to the degree needed to help build and maintain trust, Chacon said at the bills committee hearing.

In Austin, the police departments total funds were slashed by a third last year, but only about 7%, or $31 million, was cut immediately and instead put toward other public services, like housing and mental health. The rest of the money was put into transitionary funds to shift some police duties into civilian city jobs and evaluate if more responsibilities could be transferred in the future. Since then, the City Council has moved the citys crime lab, along with its funds, out of the police department.

GOODBYE: Farewell to Art Acevedo, the LeBron James of performative self-promotion

Republican lawmakers have linked Austins policies to an increase in crimes, but experts have pointed out that during the last year crime rates have increased across the country, including in some Texas cities like Fort Worth which have increased police budgets. And Austin police officials have noted that rising homicide rates started before any budget discussions, similar to nationwide crime trends.

Two weeks ago, the Senate approved Senate Bill 23, authored by state Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, which would require cities or counties to hold an election before reducing police funding. That bill was first heard, but not voted on, in the House State Affairs Committee Thursday morning. Civil rights advocates and city leaders have criticized the proposals, arguing that local governments should be in charge of these budgetary decisions.

Nick Hudson, policy and advocacy strategist with American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, argues that HB 1900 is the most aggressive of bills proposed against cities and that it would leave the power to penalize local governments on an office directly under supervision of the governor, rather than with voters, like SB 23 does.

The measures related to annexation and tax rates are really some of the most punitive among the bills that seek to punish cities for reducing law enforcement budgets, Hudson said. It is unusual that Texas House would want to give the governor more power, after they expressed concern about the governor's handling of federal COVID relief money.

Police union leaders have supported the bill, saying that reducing funding makes their work more difficult.

What you're actually doing is causing officers to do twice as much or a lot more than what they were doing before, Chris Jones with the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas said during the committee hearing of the bill. I know this is kind of a controversial topic, but we think it's important to understand that there's going to be crime and there's going to continue to be needs  You're not going to have a civilian be able to go in and break a bar room fight.

Jones also supported the idea of putting this to a vote, as SB 23 proposes, saying that it will allow citizens to have a say.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
The fight over Senate Bill 7 is reaching past Texas all the way to Hollywood.

The bill, which would drastically alter voting accessibility in Texas, passed through the Texas House of Representatives early Friday morning. Now, celebrities are weighing in and urging followers to fight the bill with their wallets via Twitter.

HERE IN HOUSTON: Meet the Houstonian making city council meetings more accessible

The chain reaction seems to have started with Kevin McHale, an actor from Plano best known for playing Artie Abrams in "Glee."

"Tell the Texas GOP: Dont mess with Democracy. Help [Texas Democrats] fight back," McHale wrote on Twitter with a link to Texas Democrats donation page to fight Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6.

Thus, McHale basically created a form letter for Hollywood's politically engaged to copy and paste into Twitter.

Canadian band Tegan and Sara weighed in.

... As did other "Glee" star Jenna Ushkowitz.

SENATE BILL 7: 63 Texas civil rights groups target GOP voter suppression bills

Paul Bettany, an English actor known for playing Vision in multiple Marvel films and "WandaVision," doubly made his feelings known.

And then Emmy winner and fictional vice president Julia Louis-Dreyfus quoted Bettany.

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If it passes, Senate Bill 7 will limit early voting hours, ban drive-thru and overnight voting, and limit the number of polling places in Texas' largest counties under the guise of "election security." (Texas has only prosecuted 174 cases of voter fraud since 2005  a minuscule portion of the more than 93 million ballots cast since then, according to the Houston Chronicle editorial board.)

No telling if this game of celebrity hot potato for our voting rights will make a difference in the end.
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IRCC is no longer accepting applications for the new PR pathways for international student graduates.

Canadas new International Graduate stream reaches cap IRCC is no longer accepting applications for the new PR pathways for international student graduates.

Canadas new International Graduate stream reaches cap IRCC is no longer accepting applications for the new PR pathways for international student graduates.

Canadas new International Graduate stream reaches cap IRCC is no longer accepting applications for the new PR pathways for international student graduates. Shelby Thevenot Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canadas new International Graduate stream for English-speakers has reached its limit of 40,000 applications.



The quota was reached today, May 7, at 1:01 PM Eastern Standard Time. This and five other new streams for essential workers and French-speaking international graduates launched yesterday at around 12:00 PM EST.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced it would be launching the six streams on April 14. The purpose of the streams is to provide additional immigration pathways to international graduates and essential workers living in Canada during the pandemic. IRCC is aiming for some 90,000 individuals to gain permanent residence through the streams. The focus on offering more permanent residence pathway to those in Canada is a function of such individuals not facing the same level of coronavirus-related disruptions as immigration candidates overseas.

Find Out if Youre Eligible for Canadian Immigration

CIC News has prepared a special FAQ on the immigration streams available here.

IRCC expects to process 40,000 of these applications this year. The department has set a goal of landing 401,000 new immigrants in 2021.

The quotas for the streams were set as follows:

Over 5,000 applications have been submitted under the English-speaking Workers in Canada streams (out of a total cap of 50,000 applications). Uptake for the French-speaking streams has been low so far, but this is partly a function of the streams not having caps and a generous deadline of November 5, 2021.

English-speaking streams will remain open until November 5, or when caps are met, whichever comes first.

Why such high demand for English-speaking International Graduate stream?

There was a large demand for the graduate stream due to a high number of temporary residents in Canada, and lower selection criteria.

There could be up to 1.5 million work and study permit holders currently in Canada. A large share of them are work permit holders, but there are also about 530,000 study permit holders.

The eligibility criteria allowed for candidates to have a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) of 5. To compare, most candidates under the popular Canadian Experience Class (CEC) need a CLB 7. In addition, graduates did not need one year of work experience to be eligible under the stream that hit its cap today. Generally speaking, at least one year of Canadian work experience is needed for such graduates to be eligible for other immigration programs, such as the CEC.

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Looking forward: What is needed to restart international travel to Canada? Theres still a lot of work to be done, says Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino.

Looking forward: What is needed to restart international travel to Canada? Theres still a lot of work to be done, says Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino.

Looking forward: What is needed to restart international travel to Canada? Theres still a lot of work to be done, says Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. Mohanad Moetaz Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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As more and more Canadians are receiving vaccines for COVID-19, it may be time to look at what is needed to safely reopen the border for international travel.



Health Minister Patty Hajdu says that Canada is looking to come up with a form of certification that may allow vaccinated Canadians to travel abroad.

In an interview on CBC Radios The House, Hajdu said, Canadians are going to want to travel and just like there have been changes in other kinds of travel requirements over the years as a result of a number of events, Canadians need to be prepared to be able to travel internationally. And well make sure that they are.

Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino confirmed at a virtual press conference, that the immigration department is involved in discussing the introduction of a vaccine passport.

Canada needs to be at the international tables where there are discussions around setting a universal standard for vaccinations to promote the safe travel of those who have been vaccinated, he said, This is work that is ongoing. My department is playing a role in that, but were also doing it in conjunction with Health Canada. Certainly we are envisioning a post-vaccinated world. In the grand scheme it is a positive thought, but theres still a lot of work to be done.

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What are other countries doing?

Many of the discussions in other countries around international travel has focused on the idea of vaccine passports or digital certificates for those who were vaccinated. These documents can be used to prove to a border official of another country that the holder has in fact received the COVID-19 vaccine.

European Union (EU) officials this week proposed to ease restrictions to its 27 member states. The EU is currently only open to a few countries that have low COVID-19 rates. However, the EU commission believes that following this suggestion, that list will expand.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that it is time to revive tourism in Europe. The proposal will allow entry to those who received vaccines that are approved by the EU, such as the Pfizer vaccine, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.

Time to revive  tourism industry & for cross-border friendships to rekindle  safely. We propose to welcome again vaccinated visitors & those from countries with a good health situation. But if variants emerge we have to act fast: we propose an EU emergency brake mechanism.  Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 3, 2021

The U.K. and Israel are both also looking to adapt some form of a vaccine certificate. The U.K. is looking to use its National Health Service (NHS) mobile app, and Israel are looking to use its Green Pass for international travel. The Green Pass allows Israelis to visit restaurants, gyms, concerts and sporting events.

What about Canada?

In the CBC Radio interview, Hajdu insinuated that Canada may adapt the already functioning ArriveCAN mobile app as a vaccine certification.

All travellers to Canada are required to use the ArriveCAN app. Before they board their flight, or before they arrive by land, travellers are required to submit their travel information, contact details, their quarantine plans, and a COVID-19 self-assessment test.

Travellers to Canada are required to take a COVID-19 test prior to travelling. They must also take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and on the eighth day of their 14-day quarantine. In addition, they must stay at a government-approved hotel for three days upon arrival, while they wait for their test results.

In the ArriveCAN app, travellers must enter a trip reference code. They will get this code when they book their government-approved hotel.

Canada will need to introduce such measures as well as other requirements before it is ready to welcome travellers from abroad.

Whats needed in terms of lessons learned is the sooner we get to a set of standards in terms of what will reassure the travelling public that it is, in fact, safe to fly by air once again. That seems like its far from now, but that is also a reality that the last thing trade, travel, tourism will deal well with is different kinds of forms, requirements, and measures ahead, said Solomon Wong, President and CEO of Intervistas Consulting Inc., during a virtual conference hosted by the Wilson Centers Canada Institute.

At the same conference, Melissa Haussman, a political science professor at Carleton University, said that before the Canada-U.S. land border reopens, both nations must have reached a certain vaccine threshold where the countries are satisfied with each others efforts. At this point, discussions on reopening the border may begin.

When will Canada ease or lift travel restrictions?

Canada currently has travel restrictions in place for travellers of all countries including the U.S. until May 21, 2021. However, these restrictions are expected to be extended beyond that date. Travellers to Canada must abide by additional measures such as COVID-19 testing requirements as well as a three-day hotel quarantine period as part of the 14-day quarantine requirement.

Global Affairs Canada (GAC) maintain that Canada will ease restrictions in due course.

The Government of Canada continues to take an evidence-based, cautious and gradual approach to easing travel restrictions for foreign nationals and travel advisories for Canadians, GAC said to CIC News in an email. At this time, there are no specific plans to change Canadas travel advice and advisories and we will continue to update our advice as the situation evolves.

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 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
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On April 30, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that indoor capacity for restaurants and hair and nail salons in New York City would be allowed to increase to 75% on May 7 and that gyms and fitness centers could increase capacity to 50% starting on May 15.

Cuomos announcement came just one day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio notified the public that the city would be fully reopened by July 1. This is going to be the summer of New York City, the mayor said during a press conference. Were all going to get to enjoy the city again, and people are going to flock here from all over the country to be a part of this amazing moment.

While the citys reopening would be a major boon to its economy, which has been severely damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, some health experts are unsure if reopening the city so quickly is a wise decision, considering the disparities in vaccination rates and new COVID-19 variants that have yet to be fully analyzed. Many of the citys residents who have lived through the worst of the pandemic, which has resulted in 32,760 deaths as of May 6, are also feeling anxious and apprehensive about whether or not a summer reopening is the best course of action  and several elected officials, public health experts and epidemiologists have similar reservations.

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams slammed both the governor and mayors announcements that COVID-19 restrictions would be rolled back, arguing that they have not given enough justification for doing so. Enacting complicated new ordinances on short notice, without clear health data presented as justification, undermines confidence that these decisions are being guided by public health and not politics, Williams said in a statement published on May 3. When the science indicates safety  such as finally restarting 24/7 subway service  these reopenings can be celebrated. But when it does not  such as bringing city workers back in-person or lifting most capacity restrictions in just over two weeks  those decisions should be scrutinized and leadership questioned.

De Blasios rationale for reopening the city is based on vaccination projections, which indicate that a large majority of the citys residents will be vaccinated by July 1.

It just seems poorly thought through and almost a little reckless, Dr. Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, told The New York Times, arguing that the citys vaccination rates do not currently justify the reopening and could result in a rise of new cases.

Vaccination rates among New Yorkers have also begun to lag, with Black and Latino residents vaccinated at much lower rates than others. As the Times recently noted, In one ZIP code that includes Canarsie (in Brooklyn)... 35 percent of adults have received at least one dose. In some areas of the Upper West Side and Hell's Kitchen, (in Manhattan) the total is over 75 percent. In hard-hit neighborhoods such as Corona, Queens residents still struggle to get the time away from work needed to get vaccinated.

I think that the timing is odd, given the serious decline in the rate of vaccinations, Nash said. Why would you want to push toward opening up when your public health situation is going in the opposite direction?

Regardless of health concerns, the city feels confident that it will be able to continue to make progress as long as residents continue to comply with the current COVID-19 restrictions in place.

Im feeling some cautious optimism based on where the numbers are headed right now, particularly with respect to cases, but also hospitalizations and deaths, city Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said during an appearance on Inside City Hall.

Chokshi urged New Yorkers to continue to adhere to safety protocols, get vaccinated and not let their guard down as the city inches closer to a full reopening. We cant mistake progress for victory, said Chokshi.

Dr. Danielle Ompad, an associate professor of epidemiology at New York Universitys School of Global Public Health, told City & State that she also feels that the city could be successful in reopening as long as New Yorkers continue to take precautions such as wearing masks and social distancing, especially if they are not vaccinated. However, Ompad says that many people may not be willing to continue following guidelines due to pandemic fatigue. I wish more people were vaccinated before we (decided to) open up, Ompad said.

Recently discovered mutations of the COVID-19 virus, which are still being studied by epidemiologists, are also a concern as the city moves toward reopening. We dont know very much about new variants, Dr. Wafaa el-Sadr, an epidemiologist at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, told the Times. Yes, there needs to be expanded sequencing in N.Y.C. on random sample of positives in order to avoid jumping to conclusions based on limited data.

Ompad agreed that much more research needs to be done to further assess the existing variants and any new ones that might emerge. This virus is still evolving, Ompad said. Right now, the vaccines are relatively protective against the variants but that could change. And we also anticipate that we are going to need boosters. So that means that we're going to have to go through vaccination all over again.

Despite the citys push to return to its pre-pandemic state, Ompad says that New Yorkers dont need to be so quick to skirt safety protocols theyve adopted over the past year. When the policy changes, it doesn't mean that you have to change your behavior to be more risky, she said. You, as an individual, can say, I am not comfortable with that, there's still transmission going on and I am going to still do certain things to protect myself.
Democratic lawmakers and organized labor are pushing legislation in the final weeks of the legislative session to crack down on wage theft in the construction industry, which labor activists say is costing thousands of individual workers anywhere between $50 and $170,000 each per year. It all comes down to the idea of whether contractors should be legally responsible for any wages withheld by subcontractors. It's not just about the members of the unions, New York State Building and Construction Trades Council President Gary LaBarbera said in an interview. It's about protecting all workers.

The construction and real estate industries oppose the legislation in its current form, which they say would harm the state recovery from the pandemic. Democratic state lawmakers and organized labor groups like the state AFL-CIO, however, say that action against wage theft is long overdue, especially considering how it affects workers who are disproportionately people of color and immigrants.

We're setting up a system where it will be a level playing field, said Assembly Labor Chair Latoya Joyner of the Bronx, who co-sponsored the bill with state Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos of Queens. This definitely is a racial justice issue, and we want to right the wrong that has been going on for far too long. The legislation passed her chamber in January, but has yet to pass the state Senate Labor Committee. Call my colleagues, Ramos said at a May 6 press conference in Manhattan. We need them to sign on so that we can call for a vote. The legislation appears to be about a dozen votes short of getting through the Senate based on the number of its co-sponsors.

However, a much more expansive crackdown on wage theft that would have allowed property liens against all private employers did pass the chamber two years ago by a 42-20 margin. Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed that bill, which has not been reintroduced in the state Legislature this year. A spokesperson for the governor did not respond to a request for comment by publication time on his position on the current legislation.

Cuomos damaged political position amid ongoing scandals and Democrats newly won supermajorities in the state Legislature could mean that big business leans less on the governor this time around. Were forced to work on the details, said Lewis Dubuque, executive vice president of the New York State Builders Association. A carve-out for all residential construction and reducing the statute of limitations from six years to somewhere closer to one year are two changes the association is pursuing, according to Dubuque. The real estate industry has similar concerns, according to James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York. While we recognize that wage theft is a serious issue that must be addressed, we remain concerned about the fact that this legislation would harm small contractors and significantly increase construction costs at a time when we must stay focused on advancing a strong economic recovery, he said in a statement.

While the number of Senate co-sponsors from New York City outnumber those representing other areas of the state by a two-to-one margin, the fate of the bill will likely come down to the number of senators from across the state who sign on as co-sponsors and vote for the bill. They have just a few weeks left to decide whether they ultimately agree with the notion that a contractor should not only be responsible for wage theft by the subcontractors they hire, but also the subcontractors of the subcontractors. Why are we holding the contractor liable in that regard? Mitch Pally, chief executive officer of the Long Island Builders Institute said in an interview. My delegation is well aware that we are adamantly opposed to the bill in its current form.

This article has been updated to include a statement from James Whelan, president of the Real Estate Board of New York, and to include details on the legislative sponsorship of the current wage theft bill.
The local news crisis can be tough to describe in national terms, because no two places are exactly the same. Though its been a difficult year for regional journalism, following a difficult decade, its a diverse media ecosystem, and though industry-wide challenges are rooted in similar trends, every outlet has faced battles of its own. Local news comprises many things: newspapers, public radio, television, blogs, newsletters, andas CJRs newest digital magazine highlightspirate radio stations, text message chains, internet forums. Different outlets had different fates this year. Radio and television stations fared better than newspapers. Nonprofit publications of all mediums soared while many for-profit outlets foundered. Many communities lost a trusted source of information; others lost outlets that were already on the way out; and, as bears mentioning, some communities havent had a local news source for a long time. Still, there are many outlets that survived the year, providing their communities with valuable information. As vaccinations continue to spread across the US and local communities reopen businesses and events, local publications across the country are taking stock and trying to make sense of the past year as they look to the future.

Last September, I spoke to Doyle Murphy, editor at the St. Louis alt-weekly, The Riverfront Times. For a time, Murphy whittled down the staff to himself and a web editor, keeping the paper alive, but barely. In September, hed been able to hire back some of his staff. This spring, he has re-hired even more. We were pretty well strapped for resources before, Murphy says. And now, it feels better, maybe. But its still a struggle. Murphy describes the past year as being broken all the way down, a process that inspired importantbut sometimes painfulrebuilding at the Times.

One year ago this Saturday, Lisa Scagliotti launched a hyper-local publication called the Waterbury Roundabout when her local Vermont newspaper shut down. She looks back at the past year as a learning experience. What are the things that we learned that we want to hold onto? Scagliotti asks. And what are the things that we miss that were going to want back?

Murphy mourns one such loss: the margin to cover important stories that matter to smaller numbers of people. He thinks about things like local theater reviews; even as theaters reopen, local arts coverage draws a smaller audience than other stories might. Its easier for me to justify coverage when a ton of people are going to be looking for a story, Murphy says. Its a much tougher argument to make when youre trying to make the case for every dollar that you have. I want to see that stuff in the paper again.

Elsewhere in St. Louis, Sylvester Brown Jr., a writer at The Americana newspaper for Black communities in St. Louisis grateful for the sort of coverage that the paper was able to provide during a pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. The American had a chance to demonstrate its value, Brown says. The Black community needed to find trusted sources. Theyre getting news everywhere, but The American has an almost one hundred year history of serving the Black community. Our role has been validated and it has reinforced the importance of hearing about us from us. After a year of covering COVIDs effect on Black residents in St. Louis, Brown thinks about his role as a local journalist differently, realizing his value in contributing to the historical record as well as documenting the present. I like to think in the future, if Im long gone, somebody could be looking back and trying to figure out the reality of COVID, and theyll see these stories. Theyll see how people actually felt about it and talked about it and lived with it and lived through it.

Scagliotti feels similarly about the value of the Roundabout, a value that has become more evident as the startup publication has gained traction and trust. People know us now, Scagliotti says. And they are relying on us. People want to give us ideas. At the same time, theres also the blowback. People are criticizing us now, so I guess were a real newspaper.

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Even while many local outlets have re-established their value within the communities they cover, they face real questions of sustainability: for Scagliotti, that pressure is especially tangible. Im able to pay our contributors and freelancers and the photographer that I work with, and Im taking a very small paycheck, but its not a real paycheck. As things get back on their feet, were hoping that we can get this local news operation back on its feet, she says. Talk to me in six months or so.

The Journalism Crisis Project aims to train our focus on the present crisis, tallying lost jobs and outlets and fostering a conversation about what comes next. We hope youll join us (click to subscribe).

EXPLORE THE TOW CENTERS COVID-19 CUTBACK TRACKER: Over the past year, researchers at the Tow Center have collected reports of a wide range of cutbacks amid the pandemic. Now theres an interactive map and searchable database. You can find it here.

CONTRIBUTE TO OUR DATABASE: If youre aware of a newsroom experiencing layoffs, cutbacks, furloughs, print reductions, or any fundamental change as a result of COVID-19, let us know by submitting information here. (Personal information will be kept secure by the Tow Center and will not be shared.)

Below, more on recent media trends and changes in newsrooms:

FREELANCERS SHARE RATES: On Monday, The Freelance Solidarity Projecta union made up of digital media workers launched a website with a crowd-sourced anonymous document sharing rates across the industry. By openly sharing what we get paid, were establishing a database of existing standards; by comparing disparities and inequities, were taking the first step we need to fight for better working conditions, the project tweeted. (For CJRs new digital magazine, Maya Binyam asked Whats the difference between freelance writers and gig workers? )

MEREDITH SELLS LOCAL TV STATIONS: Meredith Corp sold its local broadcast divisionwhich includes seventeen television stationsto Gray Television, Poynter reported on Monday. As a result of the deal, Gray will become one of the top three local broadcasters in the US.

HEARST UK CUTS BACK: In the UK, magazine publisher Hearst announced that it will pool or shut down as many as one in five staff jobs, along with closing Town and Country magazine, the PressGazette reported.

JOURNALISM JOBS AND OPPORTUNITIES: Poynter has put together a list of places to search for journalism jobs and internships. MediaGazer has been maintaining a list of media companies that are currently hiring. You can find it here. The Deez Links newsletter, in partnership with Study Hall, offers media classifieds for both job seekers and job providers. The Successful Pitches database offers resources for freelancers. The International Journalists Network lists international job opportunities alongside opportunities for funding and further education.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Lauren Harris is a freelance journalist. She writes CJR's weekly newsletter for the Journalism Crisis Project. Follow her on Twitter @LHarrisWrites.
In Arizona, the 2020 election still isnt over. Well, it isthe votes were counted, counted again, and certified months ago; Biden won the statebut Republicans in the state senate have insisted on auditing every ballot cast in Maricopa County (which gave Biden his victory margin), ostensibly to address constituents questions about election security, but really to stoke Trumps Big Lie of massive fraud. To conduct the audit, lawmakers contracted Cyber Ninjas, a Florida firm whose CEO has suggested that Trump won Arizona. The process began two weeks ago, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. So far, the auditors have worked through about ten percent of ballots cast; they have to conclude their work by next Friday, when the venue will be needed for high-school graduations. One reason the process is taking so long is that the auditors are checking that ballots werent flown in from Asia byyes, reallychecking the paper for traces of bamboo. This week, the Justice Department warned that the whole sorry enterprise might be illegal. In the days following the election, I wrote that early efforts to overturn the result were hard to cover, because of the jarring tonal clash between their amateurish absurdity and the very real threat they posed. Six months on, thats still true.

The Arizona audit (or, as some have called it, fraudit) has been a tough story for practical reasons, toojournalists have been barred from the room. On day one, Jen Fifield, a reporter at the Arizona Republic, got inside as a registered observer, but she was prohibited from taking notes or photos; when she stepped out to post occasional updates, she was told that wasnt allowed. Kyra Haas, of the Arizona Capitol Times, likewise tried to get in as an observer, but was escorted off the premises; she was told first that her registration hadnt gone through, then that she needed letters of recommendation. (Fifield was not asked for letters.) A few days later, officials agreed to allow a press pool comprising a rotating reporter, photographer, and videographer to sit in a makeshift press box above the floor. (The Veterans Memorial Coliseum seats fifteen thousand people.) Last Friday, Ryan Randazzo, a pooler on duty for the Republic, tweeted a photo of a former state lawmakerwho was on the ballot in November, lost, and was pictured in the crowd outside the US Capitol on January 6participating in the audit. Randazzo was swiftly kicked out, on the grounds that his photo included a ballot, even though none of its markings were visible; Republican officials have also chided journalists for zooming in on the faces of auditors.

From the Existential Issue: Digital journalism didnt have to be this way

The same restrictions have not been extended to One America News Network, a pro-Trump channel that is providing an official livestream of the audit. (Christina Bobban OAN host who previously volunteered to work on Trumps post-election legal push and fronted an OAN documentary about the Arizona election heisthelped raise funds for the audit.) Julia Shumway, a reporter with the Capitol Times who has also done pool duty at the audit, tweeted last weekend that Gateway Pundit, a right-wing blog, has had preferential access to the room, too. Basically, it seems like theres one set of (restrictive) rules for local and national nonpartisan media, Shumway wrote, and another for right-wing outlets.

The Arizona audit isnt an isolated insanity. Trump and his allies have glommed onto a forthcoming audit of a local race in Windham, New Hampshire, where a recount revealed an error that Trump wants to turn into a national scandal. And Republicans around the country arent just litigating the 2020 election; theyre busily proposing restrictive new voting laws predicated on the same set of lies. Right-wing outlets have had preferential access there, too: yesterday, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, excluded reporters from a bill-signing ceremony that was broadcast live on Fox & Friends. Whats going to be different about Floridas election in 2022? Brian Kilmeade, a host, asked from the studio. What are you about to sign? Across the screen, DeSantis picked up a pen and scribbled his signature on what he called the strongest election-integrity measures in the country; he then picked up a poster full of talking points and showed it to the camera as Steve Doocy, another host, exclaimed, You came with graphics! Erik Wemple, a media critic at the Washington Post, called the signing an impeccably produced propaganda show. (Fox said it didnt know DeSantis would be signing the bill on air and that it did not demand exclusive access; Wemple countered that the failure to make thoroughgoing plans to accommodate other media outlets is a de facto act of exclusivity.)

Then, early this morning, the Texas legislature advanced a voting bill, after hours of Democrats trying to block the process. The Democrats succeeded in stripping out some of the bills most restrictive provisions, but others remain; even more troubling is the fact that the final text isnt settled yet, and, as the Texas Tribunes Alexa Ura reports, the measure may now be rewritten behind closed doors. Greg Abbott, the states governor, is expected to sign the final bill; its unclear if hell do so on Fox, but he did recently use Fox to sow nonsense about the Green New Deal being to blame for failures of the states energy grid during a deadly cold snap, before he deigned to address the states press corps. The pattern is clear: create political theater for right-wing audiences while keeping journalists with tough questions out of the room.

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How should reporters wrap their minds around this routine, and the whole dance of disenfranchising voters? Asserting the centrality of race is key. As I wrote recently, after Republicans in Georgia passed a voting bill, coverage should address not just the single Big Liethat the election was stolenbut the collection of liesthat the election was stolen and therefore something must be done about itwhile adopting a standard of zero tolerance against any unfounded efforts to make voting harder. As Jessica Huseman, the editorial director of Votebeat, wrote last month for the Daily Beast, we should be less concerned with comparing states voting policies to each other, because in many cases they arent comparable, and instead ask a simple question: Would this bill make voting in this state harder to access than the current rules do?

Below, more on voting and big lies:

But who audits the auditors?: Robert Anglen, of the Republic, reports that a kind of audit of the audit is taking place on social media, where right-wingers are tracking livestreams and reporting irregularities via the messaging app Telegram. A chat page tied to the official audit efforts has become a virtual hub, with administrators telling patriots to say something if they see something, Anglen writes. Posters across the country have responded with messages about UV lights, blue pens, fingerprint scans, black-shirted figures near counting tables, ballot handling, half-filled boxes and lagging cameras that could derail efforts to prove the election was rigged.

Robert Anglen, of the Republic, reports that a kind of audit of the audit is taking place on social media, where right-wingers are tracking livestreams and reporting irregularities via the messaging app Telegram. A chat page tied to the official audit efforts has become a virtual hub, with administrators telling patriots to say something if they see something, Anglen writes. Posters across the country have responded with messages about UV lights, blue pens, fingerprint scans, black-shirted figures near counting tables, ballot handling, half-filled boxes and lagging cameras that could derail efforts to prove the election was rigged. Fury, Elise: Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, is set to be ejected from her leadership role due to her insistence on calling out the Big Lie, and its increasingly clear that Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican and vocal Trump booster, will replace her. Yesterday, Stefanik appeared for interviews on right-wing shows hosted by Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, who are both former Trump advisers; she explicitly backed Trumps focus on election integrity and election security, and endorsed the Arizona audit in the name of transparency.

Liz Cheney, the third-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, is set to be ejected from her leadership role due to her insistence on calling out the Big Lie, and its increasingly clear that Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican and vocal Trump booster, will replace her. Yesterday, Stefanik appeared for interviews on right-wing shows hosted by Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, who are both former Trump advisers; she explicitly backed Trumps focus on election integrity and election security, and endorsed the Arizona audit in the name of transparency. Maximum peril: Sarah Ellison, Jonathan OConnell, and Josh Dawsey, of the Post, profile Chris Ruddy, whose pro-Trump network, Newsmax, crested in popularity after giving airtime to the Big Lieand is now in legal jeopardy because of it. Ruddy, until recently the most quotable man in Trumps orbit, is now keeping his head down, the Post reports, as his company faces the threat of potentially disastrous lawsuits from voting technology companies that claim they were defamed by Newsmaxs copious spewing of baseless election-fraud claims.

Sarah Ellison, Jonathan OConnell, and Josh Dawsey, of the Post, profile Chris Ruddy, whose pro-Trump network, Newsmax, crested in popularity after giving airtime to the Big Lieand is now in legal jeopardy because of it. Ruddy, until recently the most quotable man in Trumps orbit, is now keeping his head down, the Post reports, as his company faces the threat of potentially disastrous lawsuits from voting technology companies that claim they were defamed by Newsmaxs copious spewing of baseless election-fraud claims. Foxitus: Yesterday, a lawyer for Anthony Antonio, who is facing charges related to his participation in the insurrection at the Capitol, told a court that Antonio became hooked with what I call Foxitus or Foxmania after losing his job during the pandemic and watching the network constantly. The lawyer said that Antonio believed lies that were fed to him about the election. (CNNs Hannah Rabinowitz and Marshall Cohen note that many defendants have so far tried to blame Trump for their actions at the Capitol on January 6, with little legal success.)



A programming note: Were continuing to roll out our latest issue of the magazine, which asks the question What is journalism? In an entirely digital project, composed of five chapters, were confronting the assumptions we make about our workso much so that weve referred to this as the Existential Issue. Today we encourage you to read the introduction by Kyle Pope, the editor and publisher of CJR, and check out Chapter 5: Why Bother? And as a bonus, come by Galley, our discussion platform, for a panel on right-wing media and manipulation, featuring Emily Bell, Haley Mlotek, and other CJR contributors.



Other notable stories:

ICYMI: Facebook Oversight Board punts on Donald Trump ban

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Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop.
A small plane crashed into a Mississippi home, killing one of the homes four occupants and three Texas residents who were flying to a university graduation ceremony, authorities said Wednesday.

A National Transportation Safety Board investiator was en route to Hattiesburg, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of the Mississippi capital of Jackson, to investigate Tuesdays crash, which caused a fire, the agency said.

Authorities werent aware of any distress calls from the Mitsubishi MU-2B-60 but have yet to review air traffic recordings, agency spokesman Peter Knudson said. He confirmed an investigator was being sent to the scene.

Police and the coroners office identified the dead as Gerry Standley, 55, of Hattiesburg; and two adults and a toddler from Wichita Falls, Texas: Louis Provenza, 67; Anna Calhoun, 23; and Harper Provenza, 2, news agencies reported.

Standley worked full-time for a paving company and was assistant pastor at his church, according to a webpage to raise money for funeral expenses and replacement of belongings lost to the fire.

His wife, Melinda, division manager for the police departments 911 center, their daughter Arrianna and grandson Eli all got out of the home with minor injuries, it said. The couple had celebrated their 22nd anniversary last month.

Provenza was a neurosurgeon at United Regional Physician Group and a graduate of Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans.

We are so very saddened about the loss of Dr. Louis Provenza. He has touched the lives of so many and will be greatly missed, the medical group said.

Calhoun was a junior studying biology at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls said public relations director Julie Gaynor.

They were on their way to see a family member graduate Wednesday from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, according to a message on the schools website.

My heart breaks for our student and her family, and for our community members and their family, University President Rodney D. Bennett said.

The plane had flown out of Wichita Falls and was preparing to land at Bobby L. Chain Municipal Airport in Hattiesburg when it crashed at 11:22 p.m. Tuesday, starting a fire, Knudson said.

Aircraft in the Mitsubishi MU2 family, including this plane, have been involved in more than 100 accidents going back to the early 1980s, according to databases of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Hattiesburg police initially said two people died; later Wednesday morning, they raised the toll to four.

The plane can hold a crew of two, plus six passengers.

About the photo: Hattiesburg police surround a burned automobile and a damaged home after a small plane crashed late Tuesday night in Hattiesburg, Miss., Wednesday May 5, 2021. Emergency officials in Mississippi say multiple people were killed when the small plane crashed into a home. (AP Photo/Chuck Cook)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A lot of us put off our summer vacations last year because of the COVID-19 situation. We were supposed to travel to Los Angeles to hang out with our in-laws, who were coming from Japan. That all fell through, of course, and my husband and I spent a lot of quality time in our back yard and on our front porch instead.

But with more people getting vaccinated and holiday hot spots starting to open up again, we are feeling that old summertime wanderlust.

Are you thinking about a beach vacation? A road trip out west? A week in a cozy cabin in the woods? Shopping and dining in the big city?

Or are you just not ready to head out on an adventure yet? (That is OK, too!)

Just spending some quality time with my family without the worries of work and school sounds like a vacation to me. Doing so in a different location would be the icing on the cake. Now I just need to pick a spot 
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- About to be deposed House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney actually voted more often with former President Donald Trump than either Rep. Jim Jordan or Rep.. Elise Stefanic, who Trump has endorsed to replace Cheney as Chair.

FiveThirtyEight gave Cheney a Trump Score of 92%, Jordan 88% and Stefanik 77%. Voteview had rated Rep. Stefanik more liberal than 98% of Republicans in Congress.

When Rep. Stefanik was first elected in 2014 to her upper New York district she was considered moderate to liberal. The Adirondacks district had previously been represented by Democrats. 30 at the time, Stefanik was the youngest female Rep. in Congress until Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez had been elected.

In the 2016 Presidential election Stefanik initially endorsed John Kasich and wouldnt even say Trumps name, referring to him only as the partys nominee. After graduating from Harvard, Stefanik had worked in then President George W. Bushs White House and then for Rep. Paul Ryan.

After being elected to Congress, Rep. Stefanik became co-chair of the Tuesday Group caucus, composed of moderate Republicans.

She voted with Democrats in opposing Trumps withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. She had also initially called for the resignation of Trumps EPA Director Scott Pruitt. Additionally, Stefanik opposed Trumps withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.

Now Rep. Stefanik has established shes more of an ambitious, power-hungry opportunist than a moderate, by propagating Trumps Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen and going on Steve Bannons podcast to endorse the sham, discredited, illegitimate and unsecure Arizona recount-recount audit led by a conspiracy charlatan.

The results in Arizona had already been legitimately recounted and audited, as had the results in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Results confirmed that President Biden defeated Trump soundly both in the Electoral College and popular votes, and it wasnt even close. Sixty court challenges to the results were lost. Many of the Judges ruling were Trump appointees, but they put the law, Constitution and Country before the fake Trump Orange Lamb God.
CLEVELAND, Ohio Theres nothing dry about the Cleveland Orchestras latest In Focus series episode.

The title, Style and Craft, suggests an erudite lesson, but the pair of works by Ravel and Britten released on the Adella platform Thursday night from Severance Hall is in fact openly lush and elegant, anything but academic.

The Ravel, certainly, is warm and intimate. In a treat attributable to these unusual times, principal oboe Frank Rosenwein joins pianist Carolyn Gadiel Warner in a bright, refreshing performance of Ravels Sonatine, an early work originally conceived for solo piano.

On a slightly darkened stage, Rosenwein brings an abundance of color to a work already overflowing with melody. He finds new shades at every turn, shifting organically from plaintive or melancholy to bubbly or pointed, and always enjoys sensitive support from Warner. In Focus may be an orchestral series, but this is chamber music at its finest.

Brittens Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge is no less welcome, especially in the account given by the strings under associate conductor Vinay Parameswaran. Theirs is another reading packed with personality, a showcase of Style and versatility.

No two variations sound even remotely alike here. Brittens genius is on full display as Parameswaran and the strings imbue each section with concentrated character, and informed camera-work guides viewers through the piece with insight.

The theme itself is almost cinematic in their hands, rich and resonant. Elsewhere, its the same: heightened. Where Britten marches, the orchestra rumbles. Where he dances, it goes angular and off-kilter. Where he sings, the strings glow, producing blazes that are luminous and densely layered.

At every step, Parameswaran seems to know exactly what he wants, and the players seem to want exactly the same thing. Truly, in this case, for both the conductor and the musicians, everything is in focus.

REVIEW

Cleveland Orchestra

What: Vinay Parameswaran conducts Ravel and Bridge

When: Online now through Aug. 6

Where: adella.live

Tickets: $35 monthly subscription required. Go to adella.live or clevelandorchestra.com.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  Parents concerned about their childs babysitter set up a hidden camera in their home, which recorded the woman striking the toddler in the face, reports say.

Elaina Priore, 21, is now facing misdemeanor charges of assault and endangering children, WBNS Channel 10 reports. She is accused of striking the 20-month-old girl in the face multiple times on April 28.

Emmanuel Olawale, a lawyer representing the parents, tells WCMH Channel 4 that the parents had noticed their daughter would cover her face when they tried to pick her up. That led them to installing the camera.

Olawale says the video shows the girl wake up as Priore is looking at her cellphone. When the girl tries to look at the phone as well, Priore strikes her in the face, Olawale tells WCMH. The child reportedly is struck at least two more times.

Olawale says the child doesnt cry when struck, indicating it might have happened before.

Theres no way for the parents to know or the baby to report it, Olawale tells WCMH.

WBNS reports Priore pleaded not guilty to the charges on April 29. She has been released on bond.
BROOKLYN, New York  A 4-year-old boy should be well-supplied with SpongeBob SquarePants popsicles for a while.

The young boy named Noah managed to order 51 cases of the popsicles on Amazon, having them shipped to an aunts house. But it was his mother, Jennifer Bryant, who still got stuck with the bill ... $2,618.85.

That was a problem for Bryant, according to her friend, Katie Schloss. In a post on Instagram, Schloss says Bryant, the mother of three children, is a social work student at New York University. Amazon would not take back the popsicles and the bill was more than Bryant could afford.

Schloss set up a GoFundMe page to help Bryant pay the bill. As of Friday morning, it had raised more than $10,600 from more than 400 donors.

Bryant posted her thanks on the page, writing, As a parent to a child living with ASD (austim spectrum disorder), all additional donations will go toward Noahs education and additional supports. We cannot thank you enough. Truly.

In addition, NBC New York reports Amazon, upon learning of Bryants situation, agreed to donate the cost of the order to a charity of the familys choice.
COLUMBUS, Ohio  Ohio officials announced this week that about 60,000 doses of naloxone, a medicine that reverses opioid overdoses, are being sent to ZIP codes in 23 counties demonstrating the highest need.

The medicine will cost around $2.5 million in state funds and comes on top of regular doses of naloxone stocked in each county.

The states naloxone blitz aims to ensure communities have more of the medicine for the spring and summer.

Last year we saw that surge in overdoses in the spring in Ohio and across the country, said Lori Criss, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The pandemic and economic shutdown associated with it was likely a factor in the uptick, she said.

In general during the pandemic, people were maybe feeling more disconnected from other people than usual, Criss said. I think the risk of people using alone or not reaching out for help was certainly part of the challenge. There was increased anxiety and uncertainty and fear. Those can be triggers for relapse for substance use. For those not using opioids, to use fentanyl accidentally, if its whats available, theyre at higher risk for an overdose death.

Fentanyl is a substance thats made cheaply and is more addictive and deadly than other opioids, such as heroin. Its now added in with non-opioid drugs, such as methamphetamines.

In Northeast Ohio, 3,468 doses are being sent to Cuyahoga County; 1,105 to Lake County; 1,036 to Summit County; 701 to Lorain County and 272 to Ashtabula County.

Cuyahoga Countys allotment comes just after Franklin Countys, which is 4,679 doses. The allocations are based on overdose deaths and overdose-related emergency room visits, then weighted to the population.

Cuyahoga County

In Cuyahoga County, the naloxone nasal spray doses went to the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County, which is distributing it to businesses and community members in the ZIP codes.

Ideally, it would be amazing if every single person carried naloxone in case they had an opioid overdose because they would have a lifesaving tool in their pocket, said Beth Zietlow-DeJesus, the boards director of external affairs.

The reality, however, is that law enforcement and health care workers administer most doses, she said.

People who use alone can die when no one is present to get naloxone. Officials in the mental health and addiction community tell people that if theyre not ready for recovery, to at least use with someone else to prevent overdose and death.

Because substance use disorders are very complicated, a person may not stop using a drug because theres fentanyl, Zietlow-DeJesus said. But they also dont want to die.

The board also distributes fentanyl testing strips that people can dip into a small amount of drugs. If the drugs test positive for fentanyl, they can alter their usage, such as first taking a test shot of the fentanyl-laced drugs before using the rest, Zietlow-DeJesus said.

Or they can use less, which results in less fatalities, she said.

Last year, 5,001 overdose deaths statewide were tracked by Harm Reduction Ohio, a nonprofit that mails naloxone directly to people and is receiving 9,000 doses from the state in the latest blitz. This was a record.

In Cuyahoga County, the record was 2017, when 727 people died. In 2020, there were 602 fatalities.

If trends continue as theyve been this year, the county will break another record: 758, Zietlow-DeJesus said.

Criticisms of racial bias

The effort has been criticized for racial bias in the Columbus and Cincinnati areas.

In Cuyahoga County, ZIP codes with the highest Black overdose death rates per 100,000 residents will get naloxone: 44125, which covers Garfield Heights, Valley View and Cuyahoga Heights and has a Black overdose death rate of 90.8 per 100,000 residents; 44106, which covers part of Cleveland and Cleveland Heights and has a Black overdose death rate of 87.1; and 44104 in Cleveland, which has a Black overdose death rate of 61.5.

The figures are annualized averages over the last 2.5 years, said Dennis Cauchon, president of Harm Reduction Ohio.

The reason the Black overdose death rate is watched closely, Cauchon said, is because opioid overdose deaths are no longer only a problem in predominantly white communities. With the mixture of fentanyl in cocaine, Blacks are increasingly dying.

Blacks now have higher overdose death rates than whites, Cauchon said. The naloxone effort is still aimed at whites, who have had the highest overdose rates for several decades. But that is changed as fentanyl has moved into cocaine.

Read more:

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Ohio House Republicans decline to change law to reflect same-sex couples adoptions of children
CLEVELAND -- Ive lived in Ohio for more than 40 years and I love it here. So it pains me to say it, but I live in a failed state. A failed state is a state where the government doesnt serve the needs of the people. A failed state is a state where honesty is unimportant. A failed state is a state where the populace tolerates or supports corrupt and dysfunctional leadership. A failed state is a state where violence is used to achieve political objectives. A failed state is a state where working people cant get work and the work they get is insufficient to allow them to live a decent life. A failed state is a state where people die of preventable or treatable disease.

Despite rich resources, a great tradition of contribution to our nations history, agriculture, industry, science and culture, Ohio has become a failed state. The U.S, Census Bureau says 13% of Ohioans live in poverty. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 4,000 Ohioans die of drug overdoses every year. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports Ohioans life expectancy is 77 years, seven years less than that of Italy, three years less than that of Taiwan and two years less than in Albania and Lebanon, as recorded by Worldometers.

Were in the midst of a killer pandemic. Ohios governor, Mike DeWine, has done his best to try to deal with the epidemic by following the advice of physicians and scientists in the Ohio Department of Health. But the departments respected director had to quit her job after her family was threatened by armed protesters who thought they knew better how to deal with epidemics than she did.

In the meantime, the brilliant minds in both houses of our state legislature passed legislation (Senate Bill 311) that would have forbidden the Ohio Department of Health from having any authority for prevention of disease! They failed to override the governors veto, as several lawmakers could not attend after they or family members contracted COVID-19.

But they havent given up. Revised legislation to limit the authority of the Ohio Department of Health (Senate Bill 22) will go into effect in June. In the middle of this pandemic that has already claimed nearly 20,000 lives in our state, many Ohioans and many of our elected officials reject the recommendations of experts to mask. Freedom in the failed state of Ohio seems to be conflated with aggressive indifference to ones neighbors and disregard of science.

The Ohio legislature that wrote both SB 311 and SB 22 includes an accused criminal. Last year, the Speaker of the Ohio House, Republican Larry Householder; the former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matthew Borges; and three other politically connected Ohioans were arrested for participation in an alleged $60 million bribery scam to bail out some nuclear energy plants. Yet this past November, Mr. Householder still won re-election to his House seat. Failed states are often led by characters like these, and citizens in failed states vote for characters like these.

We shouldnt be surprised, then, that this past November, more than half of Ohios voters cast their ballots in favor of a president whose catastrophic failure to address the COVID pandemic contributed to the more than 500,000 American deaths and more than one million COVID cases in Ohio. Our state favored a narcissist who lies as easily as he breathes, who boasted to Billy Bush of assaulting women and who, after he lost a fair election, encouraged citizens to disrupt the workings of Congress. Citizens in states that are failing seem to admire blustering blunderers like that.

I dont know what it will take for Ohio to stop failing, but to start, we must learn to value truth and science over fantasy and wishful thinking, and weve got to do a much better job electing our representatives and leaders.

Dr. Michael M. Lederman is a professor of medicine at Case Western Reserve University. The views expressed are his own.

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BYESVILLE, Ohio -- A recent congressional hearing that featured Greta Thunberg and Ohio-based environmental activist Jill Hunkler was filled with misinformation and anti-fossil fuel propaganda. As an executive in the oil and gas industry, and resident of Ohios shale counties, I feel compelled to correct the record. Heres the truth about the industry.

Lets start with jobs. According to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, as of the third quarter of 2019, the oil and gas industry employed more than 208,000 Ohioans.

That means there are 208,000 Ohioans putting food on the table because of the oil and gas industry. It means there are 208,000 Ohioans paying property and income taxes that support Ohio schools, police, and fire departments. If these jobs disappeared, wed all feel the effects of it.

As for the safety of oil and gas jobs, a 2019 report on worker safety by the American Petroleum Institute shows the industry places a premium on worker safety. Industry initiatives to ensure the safety and care of our employees have resulted in a 41% decrease in the incidence rate of nonfatal injuries and illnesses since 2008. As of 2017, the oil and gas industry experienced 1.7 incidents per 100 full-time workers. This is well below the rate of the wider U.S. private sector, which experiences 2.8 incidents per 100 full-time workers.

Next, lets consider the community impact of the oil and gas industry. An independent study by Cleveland State University which was commissioned by JobsOhio shows that from 2011 through the second quarter of 2020, the industry invested an estimated $90.6 billion into Ohio  much of which was invested in Ohio shale counties in eastern Ohio. Public records data from county engineers show that between 2011 and the first quarter of 2017, the industry spent $300 million in eight Ohio counties to improve 630 miles of roads. Millions of dollars more have been spent by the industry to support schools, food pantries and other philanthropic causes. Ohioans would notice if the billions of dollars we invest in their communities disappeared.

What about the industrys impact on emissions? Between 2005 and 2015, Ohios power sector cut its CO2 emissions by 37.7%, or 50 million metric tons annually, per U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Ohio led the nation in reducing emissions by a wide margin. Why? Because during that time frame, Ohio drastically increased its use of natural gas to power our homes and businesses. The widespread use of natural gas has been so effective in reducing CO2 emissions from power generation that U.S. CO2 emissions were hitting 25-year lows even before the pandemic began.

And to top it all off, theres no evidence to support the oil and gas industry as the cause of health issues such as the body aches and nausea Hunkler claimed to have experienced. The University of Cincinnati spent years studying the impact of fracking on air and water quality in eastern Ohio. The results? They found no link between fracking activities and drinking water contamination. Furthermore, researchers took air samples near oil and gas production sites in Belmont, Guernsey and Noble counties. They tested them for 63 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde and found that none of the air sample averages exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency levels of health concern. The evidence is clear: Fracking does not pose health risks to local residents.

If your goal is to provide well-paying and safe jobs in eastern Ohio, support the oil and gas industry, because weve created hundreds of thousands of them. If your goal is to increase community investment in eastern Ohio, support the oil and gas industry, because we have invested and continue to invest billions of dollars in those communities. If your goal is to drastically reduce CO2 emissions, support the oil and gas industry, because were leading the way in reducing emissions here in Ohio and across the country.

David Hill is president of David R. Hill Inc. in Byesville, Ohio.

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A bipartisan group of dedicated Ohio lawmakers and educational experts spent years crafting a fair, middle-of-the-road school funding reform plan aimed at protecting school districts from drastic swings in state funding while making the system more equitable. The plan was designed with input from school districts big and small, rural and urban, rich and poor -- and it got their buy-in. Its chief GOP sponsor, Limas Robert Cupp, last year became speaker of the Ohio House.

How popular was the plan? In December, the Cupp-led House passed the plan on an 87-9 vote, a stunning affirmation of its worth.

But Senate Republicans, speaking through Sen. Matt Dolan, a Chagrin Falls Republican, last year had other ideas. Dolan said school funding should be debated as part of this years state budget debate. So the Senate didnt act on the bill, at that time co-sponsored with Cupp by then-Rep. John Patterson, an Ashtabula County Democrat.

Now, the Ohio Fair School Funding Plan is back, part of House Bill 110, the two-year state budget bill. And again, the House, in a strong affirmative vote, sent the plan intact as part of its version of the budget over to the Senate. Where Senate leaders have, again, greeted it with anything but enthusiasm.

That needs to change. The Ohio Senate should embrace this plan. The well-being of more than 1.5 million Ohio public school students depends on it.

Whats the Senates issue with school funding reform -- legally speaking, 24 years overdue in Ohio? Absent a better explanation, it appears Senate Republicans are again moving the goal posts, as they did last year.

The one noticeable difference between that 2019-20 General Assembly and todays is that the Senate has a new president, another Lima Republican, Matt Huffman. And Huffman is clearly skeptical of school funding as proposed in the Cupp-Patterson bill, complaining about school administrative costs in a March cleveland.com story.

Management bloat is a universal problem. Heres the real school-funding issue in Ohio:

Whether an Ohio pupil lives in Greater Clevelands Orange City School District (median adjusted gross income $101,941 last year, highest among Ohio districts) or the Youngstown district (median AGI: $21,644 last year, the lowest), she or he is entitled to a quality education.

This was the crux of the 1997 Ohio Supreme Court ruling finding Ohios property-tax-reliant school-funding system unconstitutional.

Poor districts simply cannot raise as much money even with identical [property] tax effort, the Ohio Supreme Court said at the time.

The General Assembly has a constitutional duty to create an equitable system  as the Cupp-Patterson plan seeks to do.

Huffman has assigned Sen. Louis W. Blessing III, a suburban Cincinnati Republican, to review school funding proposals. (As a House committee chair, Blessing helped stall passage of a pro-consumer payday loan reform bill.)

The last thing Ohios school-funding mess needs is more studies; the Supreme Court ruled when George Voinovich was governor and Bill Clinton was president. The crafters of the Fair School Funding Plan, including Cupp, spent years working on it. A state Senate review amounts to reinventing the wheel.

Then theres this: Huffman is a strong supporter of school vouchers  that is, using Ohios education budget to help Ohioans afford to send their children to nonpublic schools.

The Fair School Funding Plan keeps vouchers, but funds them directly, instead of out of local school district budgets. That will bring more fairness to local school finance. And it may bring more state scrutiny to how voucher money is spent, something many voucher supporters like Huffman likely do not want. (Huffman couldnt be reached for comment.)

The House-passed version of Ohios proposed budget -- HB 110 -- includes the Cupp-Patterson Fair School Funding Plan, in full. The Ohio Senate should quit the stalling and enact the plan, in full. What parents, pupils and taxpayers want is action  now  to ensure constitutionally funded public schools, not more Statehouse speeches, studies or promises.

About our editorials: Editorials express the view of the editorial board of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer -- the senior leadership and editorial-writing staff. As is traditional, editorials are unsigned and intended to be seen as the voice of the news organization.

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Perseverance, tenacity, time, patience are all needed for first-degree family of olim (non-Israeli citizens with family that recently made an aliyah) to travel into Israel. There are lots of forms, documents, COVID-19 tests (both serology and swabs) and permissions to be granted. All of th
1st batch of CanSino COVID-19 vaccines in bulk arrives in Pakistan

Xinhua) 11:09, May 07, 2021

ISLAMABAD, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The first batch of China's CanSino COVID-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased in bulk has arrived in Pakistan, the CanSino Biologics Inc. said on Thursday.

Having arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday, the bulk vaccines will be packaged locally to support Pakistan's fight against COVID-19, the company told Xinhua.

On Monday, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said that the local production of the single-dose CanSino COVID-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country to facilitate its vaccination drive.

The start of the local production of the CanSino vaccine will gradually make Pakistan largely self-sufficient in meeting its COVID-19 vaccine needs, he told local media.

In late March, the first batch of finished CanSino COVID-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased from China arrived in Islamabad.

Earlier, the third phase trials of the CanSino vaccine had been conducted in Pakistan and it is the second Chinese COVID-19 vaccine that Pakistan approved for emergency use in the country.

Currently, Pakistan is facing a third wave of COVID-19 and the positivity rate has seen a sharp rise, forcing the Pakistani authorities to continue tightening the anti-pandemic measures and facilitating the vaccination drive.

A total of 4,198 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Pakistan during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 845,833, out of which 18,537 died and 743,124 recovered, according to the data released by the country's health ministry on Thursday.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Earl Pike, executive director of University Settlement, from left; Scott Villani, chief strategy officer of the NRP Group; and Kanika Williams, a resident of Slavic Village, discuss the current status and future goals of Broadway Rising during a virtual Cleveland Leadership Center lunch break series event May 5. Broadway Rising is an initiative of University Settlement and the NRP Group to bring affordable housing, business space and a new University Settlement location to the residents of Clevelands Slavic Village neighborhood.
Clinton, IA (52732)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 6) - After returning from a three-month medical leave in April, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said he may be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the coming weeks.

Ano, who underwent heart surgery twice during his medical leave, said his doctors already cleared him for vaccination.

Baka next week or next, next week pa, because meron pa naman akong antibodies sa katawan (It might be next week or next, next week, because I still have antibodies)...The doctors already gave me the clearance to go on with my vaccination, he told CNN Philippines News Night.

Ano was the first Cabinet member to get infected with COVID-19. He caught the virus twice, first in March last year and the second in August.

He took a leave of absence in January following the advice of his doctors to rest and to further undergo tests.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 5)  President Rodrigo Duterte has asked the Chinese Ambassador to withdraw China's donation of 1,000 Sinopharm vaccines to the Philippines, after he was criticized for taking the unregistered doses.

"Sabi ko tanggalin mo na lang [I said just forget about them]," the President said during his address to the nation Wednesday night. "You withdraw all Sinopharm vaccines - 1,000 of them - 'wag ka na lang magpadala ng Sinopharm dito para walang gulo [Do not send Sinopharm vaccines here anymore so we can avoid trouble]."

The President also apologized to the public for choosing to be vaccinated with Sinopharm. He said medical experts had reached out to him about the danger of his taking a dose not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

"We are sorry for the things you are criticizing us for, we accept responsibility," Duterte said. "We are sorry, you are right, we are wrong."

However, the President also pointed out that the use of the Sinopharm vaccine is allowed under a compassionate use permit which makes it legal.

He added that the vaccine has also been used in other countries such as Brazil, and that his doctor advised him to take it.

"'Yung tinurok sa akin [What was administered to me], it's a decision of my doctor and all things said, this is my life," Duterte added.
He told us that he wanted corners that played with a dog mentality. He just want dogs out there on the island," junior Alexander Smith said of his new position coach.
Democrat Joe Neguse ranked as the most bipartisan member of Colorado's House delegation in the last Congress, according to the latest index released this week by the nonpartisan Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

Former U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, however, produced by far the most bipartisan record among the state's D.C. denizens during the two years before voters sent the Yuma Republican packing.

Neguse, of Lafayette, landed in the top 10% of House members on the scale, which measures how often lawmakers' legislation attracts co-sponsors from across the aisle and how often they sign on to bills sponsored by members of the other party.

In contrast, Ken Buck, the Windsor Republican who recently finished a two-year term as chairman of the Colorado GOP, was the least bipartisan member of the delegation, finishing in the bottom 10% of House members.

The report measured bipartisanship for the 116th Congress, in session in 2019 and 2020, using a complicated formula that also compares members to averages accumulated over the 28 years the scholars have been assessing the trait.

Gardner lost a bid for a second term last fall to Democrat John Hickenlooper despite a consistent history in the Senate of crossing the aisle  a record he touted on the campaign trail, in ads and debates. As he has for most of his years in the Senate, Gardner finished near the top of the pile for the chamber.

The new report determined that senators from both parties performed above the historical average, with Republicans doing somewhat better at bipartisanship in the GOP-controlled chamber, on average, than Democrats. The reverse was true in the Democratic-controlled House, where members of the majority party scored higher than minority Republicans, and members from both parties doing just barely better than historic numbers.

Although partisan combat between the parties and their leaderships reached a crescendo during the 116th Congress, individual members of Congress worked on legislation with their opposing party counterparts with surprising frequency, said Dan Diller, the Lugar Center's policy director. The Bipartisan Index scores show that despite the embittered partisan climate, members still sought out bipartisan partnerships in the run-up to the 2020 election  usually below the radar of the national news cycle.

Maria Cancian, dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy, saw encouraging signs in this year's report.

Our democracy has been tested in untold ways over the last year, with Congress often seeming unable to act on behalf of the common good, she said in a statement. But according to the Bipartisan Index, an evidence-based tool, our lawmakers are collaborating in many areas  an encouraging sign despite our hyper-partisan politics.

With a score of 1.26380, Neguse, serving his first term, was the 41st-most bipartisan House member.

I full-heartedly believe we must work to turn down the temperature in our politics, Neguse said in a statement. In Congress, Ive worked in a bipartisan manner with my Republican colleagues, inviting them to our state to see first-hand the Colorado experience and working to craft legislation wherever we can find agreement. We believe our willingness to work with anyone has helped secure victories for our communities, by having nine bills enacted into law, the second-most of any House office, and helping us solve the challenges our district and our state are facing.

Neguse was also ranked one of the most effective lawmakers in the last Congress by the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt Universitys nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking, and he was the House member with the second-highest number of bills signed into law, according to GovTrack.

At the other end of the spectrum on the Lugar Center's index, Buck was the 413th-most bipartisan member over the last two years, with a score of -0.95169.

Ironically, Buck and Neguse cross the aisle regularly to sponsor legislation together, including a bill to designate the 600-acre site of the Amache internment camp in southeastern Colorado, where more than 7,000 Japanese Americans were held during World War II, as a national historic site.

Perhaps pointing to the limitations of the index, some of Buck's other work with Democrats  including on antitrust legislation with Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline, co-founding the bipartisan House Reformers Caucus with Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York and working with Rep. Barbara Lee of California on the House War Powers Caucus  aren't reflected in the raw numbers. A spokeswoman for Buck declined to comment on the Lugar Center's latest report.

The other House members from Colorado fell in between Neguse and Buck in the 437 House-member ranking, including the delegate from Washington, DC.

Democrat Jason Crow finished in 63rd place with a score of 1.01193. The Aurora Democrat was followed by Republican Scott Tipton, who finished in 102nd place with a score of 0.64690. The five-term incumbent from Cortez lost a primary last summer to Lauren Boebert, who attacked Tipton for cooperating too much with Democrats, including by sponsoring legislation with Neguse to benefit his district.

Democrats Diana DeGette of Denver and Ed Perlmutter of Arvada finished fairly close together, in 178th place and 185th place, respectively, with scores of 0.21696 and 0.19111, again respectively.

Further down the rankings toward Buck's position, Colorado Springs Republican Doug Lamborn was the 328th most bipartisan House member with a score of -0.35018.

Before Neguse came along for the 116th Congress, Republican Mike Coffman held the bipartisan crown among Colorado's House members, right up until his 2018 defeat by Crow.

Coffman  who was only out of office for about a year until he was elected mayor of Aurora  was the 16th-most bipartisan member of the 115th Congress, from 2017-2018, and the 25th-most bipartisan member of the congress before that. In both instances, the moderate Republican finished well above the next-best performing Colorado lawmaker  Democrat Jared Polis, who was elected governor the same year Coffman lost his House seat, and who finished in 119th place in the 115th Congress and in 111th place for the 114th Congress.

But Gardner was Colorado's bipartisan superstar, in recent years at least, finishing in fourth place in the last Congress with a score of 2.65591  just behind Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and ahead of Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.

Alaska Republican Lisa Murkowski finished second and  marking her eighth consecutive year atop the rankings  Maine Republican Susan Collins, who won re-election last year in a state that had been considered a battleground, topped the list. What's more, Collins yielded the highest bipartisanship score  4.584  since the scholars started keeping track in 1993.

Gardner finished just a notch lower, in fifth place, for the previous 115th Congress, spanning 2017-2018. That ranking marked a big jump for Gardner, however, who came in 36th on the charts for his first two years in the Senate during the 114th Congress, from 2015-2016.

Colorado's senior senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, routinely finishes closer to the middle of the pack of 100 senators, coming in 44th place in both the 116th and 115th congresses with score of 0.47966 and 0.18292, respectively. In the 114th Congress, Bennet landed in 22nd place  14 spots above Gardner, who had yet to switch into full bipartisan mode  with a score of 0.545378. Bennet finished in 35th place in the 113th Congress, with a score of 0.046977, the same year Gardner's predecessor, Democrat Mark Udall, finished in 45th place with a score of -0.13999.

Critics of the index argue that its methodology can mask the most nakedly partisan behavior, giving a veneer of reasonableness to some of DC's most zealous standard-bearers for their side.

But Lugar Center founder former six-term Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar, who was unseated in a 2012 Republican primary under criticism he worked too easily with Democrats, argued in a statement that the index measures something important.

"The Founders of our Republic were realists who understood the power of factionalism, parochialism, and personal ambition," he said.

"They understood that good intentions would not always prevail. Accordingly, they designed a system to check abuse and prevent power from accumulating in a few hands. But they knew that the efficient operation of such a Republic would require a great deal of cooperation. They knew that it would require most elected officials to have a dedication to governance, and they trusted that leaders would arise in every era to make their vision work.

"In this spirit, we encourage members of Congress to more frequently open themselves to the possibility that colleagues from the opposite party may have good ideas that are deserving of consideration."
The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
Danville, IL (61832)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Disclosure: Dell is a client of the author.

One of the things that makes Dell Technologies World, which took place this weerk, unlike other vendor events is the amount of non-vendor content. One year, the company had former President Bill Clinton talk about what was going on in the world; another time, a big topic was about how the next big thing in tech would be robotics; this year there was a Q&A with Bill Nye answering science questions for kids, and an interesting discussion on how life on Earth may have come from Mars.

But the session that caught my attention was moderated by Jenn Saavedra, Dells head of HR, with Adam Grant, a psychologist and the youngest tenured professor at the Wharton School, as the main speaker. Grant is an expert on motivation and meaning, and since I did much of my undergraduate and graduate work in Manpower Management, a related topic, I found his presentation fascinating.

Here are some of the highlights, with lessons for those in the business world.

The managers Kryptonite

Grant opened with a problem Ive seen kill some big companies: an unwillingness by companies to challenge their assumptions. Back in the early 1990s, I was working at ROLM Systems after Siemens bought ROLM from IBM. Every quarter Siemens would bring a product to us for review, and wed reject it. It would send out an engineer who almost always believed he was more intelligent than we were. Wed present our facts; the engineer would grudgingly agree, and fly back to Siemens. Hed be reassigned; a new engineer would fly out and repeat the process; and the outcome would be the same. This happened three times before Siemens disbanded our group, brought out the product we rejected, and crashed the company.

In his presentation, Grant talked about the need to challenge assumptions. He referred to managers like those at Siemens as mental fossils  once they took a position; it was set in stone. That rarely turns out well, because none of us ever has all the information we need up front; things can change dramatically (as in the past pandemic year) and fast

To avoid that kind of pitfall, Grant argued that companies should question assumptions and hire people who do the same. This isnt the same as hiring people who cant make decisions  thats a very different problem. Its about making sure the managers you hire dont think of themselves as prosecutors or preachers, but as people constantly looking for the correct answer and accepting they may not have it.

Escalating commitment

Compounding the problem are terrible managers that recognize things arent working, and instead of revisiting the strategy, they double down. Ive referred to argumentative theory or confirmation bias in this regard; the more common phrase is throwing good money after bad. This arises when managers dont understand the concept of sunk cost and believe they can overcome a bad decision by over-executing on it.

In contrast, Grant talked about imposter syndrome, which is generally portrayed as a bad thing. Imposter syndrome, when someone thinks they are unqualified for their job and questions every decision they make, becomes more common the higher you go in a company. Grant argued that managers with a workable form of this problem (they arent completely indecisive) perform far better over time than those that take an early position and dont change. As a 19th-century Prussian field marshal said: No plan survives contact with the enemy. If you arent willing to adjust to changing conditions, intelligence, performance, staffing, environmental issues, or leadership, you will likely fail.

Confidence is essential in a leader because it engenders confidence in the plan. But, according to Grant (and I agree), you should never be so confident you dont recognize your weaknesses or the changing environment around you.

Speed and direction

Back when I was doing competitive analysis, I attended Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) meetings. In one memorable session, the speaker pointed out that companies tend to be excessively focused on speed. Often, before a firm has a clear direction, it starts working furiously  only to find its going in the wrong direction exceptionally fast. He argued that you want to take your time assuring the direction before you hit the accelerator.

Grant suggested you want to balance speed with continuous reevaluation of direction because the goal, road, and what you are driving may change along the way. We live in a fluid world; the ability to constantly adjust to changing conditions is critical to success.

The importance of a challenge network

When I was at IBM, I wrote one of the definitive papers on the cause of the firms collapse in the early 1990s. One problem was that the CEOs office had become isolated because executives learned that it would harm your career if you gave negative information, but you did well if you stuck to the positive.

Running the company was John Akers, who was thought to be one of the most brilliant leaders IBM had ever had on paper. But he was so isolated that he didnt see problems coming, wound up leaving in disgrace and was blamed for crippling one of the oldest and most well-regarded companies in the world.

Grant called out this problem and argued that a successful manager creates a challenge network  people who arent afraid to call things as they see them instead of telling a manager what they want to hear.

This reminds me of a story I heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the radar station that picked up the incoming planes. When the radar operator reported the planes, his superior denigrated him and told him to stand down. That was because everyone, except one notable analyst, believed there was no way Japan would dare to attack. Not challenging your assumptions can be lethal in instances like this.

Wrapping up

Grant this week offered a fascinating look at bad managerial practices I, and Im sure you, have had to deal with in our careers. He argued that the best managers accept they can make mistakes while identifying those mistakes and correcting them before they become worse problems.

He closed with three rules:

Think like a scientist, treat beliefs as hunches and test them over time to assure the underlying assumptions and overarching policies remain viable. Build a challenge network of qualified people you trust and who are comfortable telling you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear. (This is not easy). Take the time to rethink what you are doing. If you are going in the wrong direction, going faster instead of changing direction will only make things worse.

The ability to foster and graciously take criticism is a skill that needs to be developed. Grant is correct; the best managers, and the most successful people in life and work, are those that develop that skill early.

If you attend Dell Technology World, check out some of these off-topic subjects, you can learn a lot, and the topics can be fascinating. And check out this Ted Talk from Grant: The office without a**holes; it is worth your time (particularly if you want to avoid the dreaded A**hole Pandemic).
Earnest Washington, Jr., 74, of Dallas passed away on May 30, 2021. Funeral will be held on Saturday, June 5, 2021 at Saintville COGIC in Dallas at 10:30 a.m. Burial to follow in Little Bethel in Duncanville. Emanuel Funeral Home of Corsicana will handle funeral arrangements.
Mirador, the Chinese subsidiary of the Mirador Group, has announced it will unveil its anti-aging skin care brand, Le Mont Charmant, at the 2021 China Beauty Expo (CBE).



Related: Sky Organics Launches Organic Skin Care Collection

Le Mont Charmant's products include:

Ultra Regenetic Stereoscopic Repair Lyophilized Powder Essence: said to target wrinkles and improves skin elasticity

Ultra Regenetic Repair Kit: includes a reparative powder essence and a purifying facial cream said to to fight signs of aging and prevent collagen degeneration.

Le Mont Charmant was created by the Mirador Health Centre in Switzerland, an anti-aging clinic of the Mirador Group.
Weather Alert

The National Weather Service in Little Rock has issued a * Flash Flood Warning for... North Central Pope County in central Arkansas... South Central Newton County in north central Arkansas... Northeastern Johnson County in western Arkansas... * Until 525 PM CDT. * At 356 PM CDT, Doppler radar indicated thunderstorms producing heavy rain across the warned area. Between 1 and 3 inches of rain have fallen. Flash flooding is ongoing or expected to begin shortly. HAZARD...Flash flooding caused by thunderstorms. SOURCE...Doppler radar. IMPACT...Flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other drainage and low lying areas. * Some locations that will experience flash flooding include... Dillen, Bertha, Walnut, Fort Douglas, Haw Creek Falls Campground, Sand Gap and Treat. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Turn around, don't drown when encountering flooded roads. Most flood deaths occur in vehicles. In hilly terrain there are hundreds of low water crossings which are potentially dangerous in heavy rain. Do not attempt to cross flooded roads. Find an alternate route. A Flash Flood Warning means that flooding is imminent or occurring. If you are in the warned area move to higher ground immediately. Residents living along streams and creeks should take immediate precautions to protect life and property. && FLASH FLOOD...RADAR INDICATED
On today's installment of celebrity headlines that sound like a bizarre game of Mad-Libs, K9 Magazine cover model and reality star, Kim Kardashian has found herself at the center of a massive art-world controversy with alleged ties to the importation of an ancient Roman statue purportedly looted, smuggled and illegally exported, from Italy, according to new court documents.

Known as "Fragment of Myron's Samian Athena," the marble and limestone statue, which dates back to the 1st or second century, A.D., and depicts the lower half of a figure wearing flowy robes, was reportedly seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in June 2016, according to the civil forfeiture claim filed in California on Friday. Allegedly addressed to Kim Kardashian dba [doing business as] Noel Roberts Trust, in Woodland Hills, California, the statue was purportedly part of a 40-item shipment of "Antiques & Modern Furniture & Decorations Objects," which was worth a total of roughly $745,000 and weighed approximately five tons, CNN reported, noting that the aforementioned trust is an entity linked to Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's US real estate purchases.

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The item was seized following conflicting information surrounding its origins, seemingly describing two different statues, one document claiming the item originated in Germany, while the other alleged it came from Italy. Amid the confusion, Italy's Ministry of Cultural Heritage sent an archeologist to the United States to assess the sculpture in question, who reportedly concluded that the item was constructed in a classical Peplophoros style (early to mid-Roman Empire), which represents a copy of an original Greek sculpture. Considering this appraisal, the Italian ministry is requesting that the American government ensure that all efforts be made for the return of the ... statue to Italy, the filing says.
Former President George W. Bush said immigration should be dear to all religious people and immigrants should be viewed with a loving eye during a conversation Thursday with Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore and American Enterprise Institute's Yuval Levin.

It depends on where you start your philosophy from, the 74-year-old Bush, who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009, said.

I start mine from all lives are precious, and were all Gods children.  If thats how you view immigration, then you dont view them with a hostile eye. You view them with a loving eye. And a loving eye doesn't mean tearing down a border wall. [It] means treating people with respect.

The George W. Bush Institute, National Immigration Forum and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention hosted the panel discussion titled Immigrants and the American Future.

Source:The Christian Post
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a juror was wrongfully dismissed from a trial for saying the Holy Spirit influenced his views in the case after deliberations began.

The juror was removed from a fraud case involving former Congresswoman Corrine Brown, D-Fla, for saying that his Father in Heaven influenced a belief that Brown was not guilty.

The congresswoman, who served in the House of Representatives from 1993 until 2017, faced 18 felony counts related to fraud, ethics and tax offenses. She was accused of conspiring to defraud donors of over $800,000 in contributions to a charity that claimed to provide scholarships to poor students. Authorities allege Brown misused her position in Congress to engage in the conspiracy.

In a decision released Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that the juror's removal was wrong and, in the process, vacated the guilty verdict against Brown and called for a new trial.

Source:The Christian Post
"God's Not Dead" and "Hercules" actor Kevin Sorbo has urged churches of all sizes to back faith-based and God-glorifying films, especially in a culture that has an ever-increasing anger toward Christians.

I get stopped, and 80% of the time people say, Please make more movies like ['Gods Not Dead'], Sorbo revealed in an interview on Abby Johnsons hit podcast, "Politely Rude."

Its amazing  pastors will stop me and say, You can reach so many people. I'm a pastor of a small church. And I go, I dont care how small your church is. We need your support.

I shoot 3, 4 million dollar movies. That's the catering budget on 'Pirates of the Caribbean' or Avengers.' Those are $300 million movies," he continued. "The only way we can get these [faith-based films] out there is if we have the magic that we had for 'God's Not Dead,' where a $2 million budget makes $140 million movie. That was powerful word of mouth, and we need that. We need churches of all sizes to say Hey, go see these movies.

Source:The Christian Post
Yes, I am sure my money is invested in companies I trust.

I'd like to invest in more ethical companies but I don't know how.

I'd like to invest more in ethical companies but I don't think the returns are as good.

I don't know where my money is invested.

Vote

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A former Waterbury resident pleaded guilty this week in connection with her alleged distribution of child sexual abuse imagery, federal prosecutors said.

Jessica Pickering, 27, a former Waterbury resident, waived her right to be indicted Thursday and pleaded guilty before Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport.

She is released on a $100,000 bond and is staying with family in Queens, N.Y., pending sentencing  which the judge scheduled for Aug. 4.

Pickering faces 5 to 20 years in prison.

In October 2020, Pickering joined a group on Kik  a social media application  that was geared toward those with a sexual interest in children, prosecutors said.

Pickering communicated with an FBI employee who was covertly monitoring the group. In that exchange, prosecutors said, Pickering said she had access to three minors, ages 7 and younger.

On Oct. 20, 2020, Pickering posted two live videos to the group that showed child sexual abuse images of a male toddler, prosecutors said. She later sent the FBI agent two more videos of child sexual abuse involving the same child, prosecutors said.

The next day, Pickering withdrew from the group. Prosecutors said Pickering states she felt an immense amount of disgust for herself after what she did the other night.

Law enforcement arrested her on a federal criminal complaint on Oct. 27, 2020.

Cases of child exploitation can be reported at www.cybertipline.com.
3 1 of 3 Contributed / Connnecticut State Police Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed /Connecticut State Police Show More Show Less 3 of 3





WATERBURY  State police arrested a 54-year-old Missouri man Wednesday, after he was reported to have drawn a gun during what they described as a road rage incident.

Troopers responded to a 911 call reporting an active road rage incident between two tractor trailers on Interstate 84 headed west near Exit 23 just after 3:30 p.m., state police said.
An unsanctioned COVID vaccination clinic in western Connecticut was shut down in February after investigators discovered an untrained state representative was handling and preparing vials of vaccine.

The state Department of Public Health also suspended Kent-based High Watch Recovery Center, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center that oversaw the clinic, from holding any new vaccination clinics until it complied with state regulations.

DPH investigators showed up at Heritage Village in Southbury, the largest retirement community in the state, early on the morning of Feb. 4 to find personnel from High Watch running a mobile clinic for 200 residents.

High Watch had failed to inform the state it was going to be running a mobile clinic in Southbury and didnt have approval to do so, said DPH spokesman Maura Fitzgerald. The rehabilitation center had no prior experience hosting a mobile clinic, she said.

The state eventually decided to stop sending first doses to High Watch for about a month, resuming shipments of the vaccine in early April, records show.

The Connecticut Mirror has obtained the investigation report, internal DPH e-mails about the incident and correspondence between the state and High Watch officials and their attorney. The records for the High Watch investigation were requested on Feb. 22 under the state Freedom of Information Act; they were released by state officials on May 5.

While the vast majority of the states vaccination clinics have been conducted without incident, the issues with High Watch at Heritage Village and a separate investigation into how a CVS in Waterford was vaccinating New York residents show there have been isolated problems that state officials do not publicly discuss during their bi-weekly press conferences about the pandemic and vaccine distribution.

A spokeswoman for DPH did not immediately comment on the High Watch investigation Thursday morning.

In a six-page letter to High Watch officials and their attorney, the head of the DPH Facilities and Licensing Unit, Barbara Cass, outlined a broad range of problems her investigators uncovered at the Southbury clinic, beginning with the fact that the companys vice president of communications, Jason Perillo, was opening vials of Moderna vaccine and preparing shots even though he was not trained or licensed to do so by DPH.

Perillo is a Republican state Representative from Shelton and a former EMT whose license expired in 2018, DPH officials noted.

Every single individual handling vaccines was trained to do so by our chief medical officer at High Watch, Perillo said in an interview Thursday night. Id go so far as to say we were given one-on-one training.

In addition to finding Perillo preparing the vaccine, investigators found 10 vials of Moderna vaccine  the equivalent of about 100 doses - unattended on a counter, another 18 vials in a portable cooler with no monitoring temperature gauge, which is required by the CDC, and a box of syringes left unattended.

Perillo said that the vials of vaccine had been out of the refrigerator for at least an hour and a half when investigators discovered them. He also acknowledged that he was not a licensed health care professional but said he was trained by a physician from High Watch to prepare and administer the vaccine. He said he had been routinely opening vials and preparing shots at clinics High Watch was running at its Kent facility.

In another room, investigators discovered five unlabeled and unattended syringes containing a cloudy white liquid that Perillo told them was the first batch of Moderna vaccine. Investigators also noted the presence of at least two people in a hallway who had been vaccinated but were not being monitored for adverse reactions, as required by the CDC, and poor social distancing among the elderly residents who were waiting to get vaccinated that morning.

DPH officials halted the Heritage Village clinic until they could get personnel from Waterbury Hospital to take over the clinic on Feb 4. The clinic was delayed until Waterbury Hospital personnel arrived and completed vaccinating nearly 300 people. The state also asked Waterbury Hospital to come back several weeks later and administer the second doses.

In an email to DPH staff following the spot visit, vaccine coordinator Benjamin Bechtolsheim ordered them to ensure that High Watch officials received the second doses they needed for their regular clinic in Kent but then to cut them off.

We basically just want to give him enough doses to wind down commitments and then quietly exit the program, Bechtolsheim wrote in a Feb. 15 e-mail to both Cass and DPH Chief of Staff Adelita Orefice.

Amen

By mid-February, High Watch had administered more than 4,000 doses out of an office in downtown Kent. Although the drug and alcohol rehabilitation clinic could be viewed as an unlikely vaccinating partner for the state, it was a good match because DPH had very little vaccine coverage in the rural Northwest corner of Connecticut.

Perillo said it was Heritage Village officials who first contacted High Watch about holding a mobile clinic at the Southbury facility. In e-mails and letters to DPH officials, High Watch CEO Jerry Schwab said they were expecting help with the clinic from the Heritage Village ambulance service that didnt materialize.

Unfortunately, at this particular mobile Southbury site, High Watch was promised assistance from the Heritage Village Ambulance Service, which it did not receive, Schwab wrote. Notwithstanding, High Watch does not dispute this finding and has decided to discontinue holding any further mobile clinics.

Shipman and Goodwin attorney Joan Feldman, who represented High Watch in the aftermath of the Southbury clinic debacle, wrote a letter to DPH Chief of Staff Adelita Orefice and Cass downplaying Perillos role at the clinic and emphasizing that High Watch had stepped up to help the state reach an area sparse on vaccinators.

The one compliance issue that High Watch is aware of involves one retired High Watch EMT preparing vaccine (BUT NOT ADMINISTERING THE VACCINE) for administration by a licensed practitioner, Feldman wrote. This retired EMT completed the vaccine administration training provided by the High Watch Medical Director who was a trained Skills Validator pursuant to DPH guidelines.

Feldman then reminded DPH officials that High Watch had already administered more than 4,000 doses at its Kent clinic since late January.

It is our hope and expectation that DPH will take into consideration the current circumstances, the fact that there was no bad faith, that all other aspects of the States vaccine program have been strictly adhered to, there is a great need for vaccines, and that access is limited in the subject area, Feldman wrote.

But DPH officials werent buying it.

There is no retired EMT status, you are either current or expired. Mr. Perillos EMT certification expired in 2018, DPHs Office of Emergency Services Paramedic Director Raffaella Coler wrote in a Feb. 18 e-mail to Cass.

The Commissioners Order states that you must complete an approved training by the Department. There is no record of Mr. Perillo completing any department approved training, she added.

Casss one word response: Amen.

Plea for more vaccine

DPH officials also canceled a mobile clinic High Watch had scheduled in Shelton a week after the Heritage Village clinic. On March 3, DPH conducted a site visit at the centers Kent location, and on March 5, High Watch submitted its corrective plan.

High Watch informed DPH officials that as part of their corrective plan, they were immediately removing its Director of Communications (a retired EMT) from any further involvement in its vaccine administration program.

Only High Watch licensed physicians and nurses will be involved and responsible for the safe administration of vaccine, Schwab wrote.

High Watch is experiencing a very high demand for its vaccine services and is eager to respond to the needs of this community for vaccination. Upon submission of our plan, we welcome swift direction and communication from DPH regarding our ability to restart our process for making appointments for vaccinations, Schwab said.

The letter also addressed the issue of vaccine being left unattended or unrefrigerated.

Vaccines will never be left unattended by the administrating clinician, Schwab wrote. Specifically, effective 3/5/21, High Watch will adopt the checklist for the safe handling and storage of vaccine as set forth in CDC guidance.

DPH officials responded within three days and approved the corrective plan of action, but Cass said first doses would not be available again to High Watch until early April.

In the meantime, she wrote, High Watch should schedule no new patients and honor all scheduled first and second dose commitments.

The clinic should not expect to get additional doses for further clinics until after April 5th, Cass said. Vaccine supply is limited, so DPH will not be able to restart High Watchs participation in the network , that is, provide vaccine allocation for new first dose appointments - until after April 5th.

Perillo said that High Watch never stopped vaccinating people, although by now  like most vaccinators  the supply far outweighs the demand.

We still have the clinic open right now, Perillo said. Were kind of facing the same thing that everybodys facing, that in January it was mobbed and people were banging down the doors to get vaccinated, and now, unfortunately, were kind of twiddling our thumbs.
Connecticut is a small state and already has an international airport with service to nearly anywhere you might need to go. Were also close to New York City and its plethora of air travel options. Still, theres no question that something has been lacking.

The economic center of Connecticut is not in Hartford; its along the shore in Fairfield County and New Haven, home of a burgeoning bioscience sector and, of course, Yale University. Bradley International Airport is too far out of the way to serve as a reliable option for residents on the coast, and New York City airports, while closer, are a logistical nightmare.

Thursdays announcement of an agreement to build a new terminal on the East Haven side of Tweed New Haven Regional Airport to go along with an extended runway and new commercial service ought to put an end to those worries. A revitalized Tweed will serve as an economic engine for the region and the state, and that it will happen with primarily private funding should count as a win for state leaders.

Tweed has long made sense as an expansion candidate, but was hamstrung by a state law that banned an extension of its runway that would make commercial service possible. With that law tossed out by a federal court in 2019, and the appeals process finally running out last year, the path was cleared for a new era. When completed, the airport would have the capacity for 500,000 to 750,000 passenger departures a year.

Avports, which has years of experience running operations at Tweed, is spending its own money  some $70 million over the next two years  and the centerpiece will be a new 74,000-square-foot terminal. Still, this is the definition of a public-private partnership, one that officials say could be a model for smaller cities nationwide. Theres a clear demand for more service, and its been a difficult balancing act to get all parties on board with the plan.

As always, theres the question of local opposition. Though East Haven Mayor Joe Carfora was on hand Thursday to celebrate the deal, there could still be push-back from local residents, as well as on the New Haven side, who would much prefer a quieter airport to an economic engine for the region.

Those complaints shouldnt be enough to stifle a deal, but they cant be ignored, either. Its a welcome sign that both cities mayors believe this to be a good deal that will benefit each community as well as the region. Without local buy-in, a deal of this magnitude becomes that much more difficult.

Connecticut has no shortage of economic challenges that will not go away with the addition of a new air-travel option. Still, this is an important step and one that should be celebrated. Southern Connecticut both needs and deserves an airport suitable to its status. If were going to grow the state economy, we need the infrastructure to do it. The deal to expand Tweed is a major step in that direction.
The small but growing population of banks with specialized charters, coming against the backdrop of the increasing banking ambitions of fintechs and big techs, has led the Federal Reserve to propose uniform guidelines for requests to establish accounts and obtain services at the 12 district banks of the Federal Reserve System.

The move comes in the wake of an increase in what the Fed calls novel charter types being authorized or considered around the country. Among these are limited-service national bank charters, the payments bank charters suggested by former Acting Comptroller Brian Brooks, and special state charters such as Wyomings crypto banks. The proposal does not cover state-chartered industrial loan banks nor the fintech charter of the Comptrollers Office. (None of the latter have been granted as it remains under legal challenge.)

While permission to open Fed system accounts rests with each district bank, the proposed guidelines would reduce the potential for forum shopping across Reserve Banks and mitigate the risk that individual decisions by Reserve Banks could create de facto System policy for a particular business model or risk profile, the central bank stated in a preamble to the proposal.
Ah, jury duty! Everyones favorite civic responsibility. Codified in our founding documents as the only mandatory constitutional duty for individual citizens, about 32 million Americans are summoned for jury duty every year. As an employer, you have a legal responsibility to ensure your employees are available to fulfill this obligationbut what exactly does that mean?

Although the selection process for jury duty generally takes a day or two, if selected, your employee could be required to serve on a jury for several weeks, or even months. Without a proper plan in place, this can be disruptive for any organization.

In this blog post, well guide you through the federal and state regulations that govern time off and compensation for employees serving jury duty. Well also give you tips for putting a communication plan in place to let your employees know what they should do if they receive a summons letter.

Am I Legally Required to Allow My Employees to Report for Jury Duty?

Short answer? Yes.
Kankakee, IL (60901)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

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A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Local

Pasquotank still waiting for judge's order on video disclosure; commissioners seek law change to allow quicker release of body camera footage

Hammett

Pasquotank County is ready to disclose the full body camera footage of Andrew Brown Jr.s fatal shooting by sheriffs deputies to Browns family once it receives a copy of a judges written order to do so, the county manager said Thursday.

Pasquotank still has not received the written court order from Superior Court Judge Jeff Foster outlining the specifics releasing the body camera footage in Browns April 21 shooting death, County Manager Sparty Hammett said.

On April 28 during a court hearing in Elizabeth City, Foster granted a petition filed by attorneys for Khalil Ferebee, Browns adult son, for disclosure of the footage to Browns immediate family, and to one attorney licensed to practice in North Carolina.

In his ruling from the bench, Foster directed the Pasquotank Sheriffs Office to make the footage available to Browns family within 10 days but only after any of the deputies faces or their identifying badges or nameplates were blurred or redacted.

Pasquotank Sheriff Tommy Wooten has said three deputies fired at Brown while serving a drug-related search warrant at his residence at 421 Perry Street. All three remain on administrative leave with pay while the State Bureau of Investigation conducts an investigation into Browns shooting death.

Hammett said the county has to wait on Fosters written order because it will outline how the body camera footage is disclosed to Browns family.

There is nothing that we can do until we get the word, Hammett said. It is all in the judges court. Everyone heard what (Foster) said in the courtroom, but until we actually get the order, we dont know anything about the timing.

The 10-day deadline imposed by Foster is Saturday and Hammett said the county started working on the facial redaction of the deputies involved the day the judge made his ruling.

The county has to wait on the specifics of the written order because Foster may outline specifically when the county can release it, not only within the 10 days but he could put a specific time in the order, Hammett said.

We will meet any deadline from the court, Hammett said. Whatever the judge indicates in his (written) order, we will be prepared to disclose it to the family.

In a related development, Pasquotank commissioners adopted a resolution Thursday calling for changes to state law that would allow quicker release to the public of law enforcement body camera footage.

While Foster ordered the body and dash camera footage of Browns fatal showing be disclosed to Browns immediate family and one of their attorneys, he rejected a petition calling for its immediate release to the public. Foster ruled that a group of media companies seeking the videos release didnt have standing under the states body camera law to make the request.

The law, which requires a court order like the one Foster is supposed to issue for any video release to happen, has been much criticized in the wake of Browns death and has been the subject of daily protests in Elizabeth City.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Lloyd Griffin III referred to those protests in a county press release announcing the boards vote to support quicker release of law enforcement body camera footage.

Over the past 16 days, the commissioners have heard the calls, the chants, the emails and watched the protest rallies. We are listening, Griffin said.

He said commissioners and Wooten agreed that releasing the body camera footage to the public would have been best for transparency.

Unfortunately, the law does not allow us to make that decision, Griffin said. While all of us took an oath to follow the law, we also have a duty to try and change a law thats imperfect. Today is the first step in that process.

The resolution will now be forwarded to state lawmakers, the countys press release states.

The Pasquotank Board of Commissioners and staff will work with their local state representatives and reach out to our colleagues in all cities and counties across the state to encourage them to support their own resolutions supporting this change for transparency, the release states.
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 71F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

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Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 71F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
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Dalton, GA (30720)

Today

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Designed for Everyone: How COVID-19 conversations could change higher education for the better
KINGSTON, N.Y.  The Kingston City Land Bank says it has made it easier for interested buyers to qualify to purchase one of the three houses c
The following items are based on information provided by officials in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
Wren Lail, 4, looks on as his father, Brad, gets a coronavirus vaccination in the former Best Buy store at Hudson Valley Mall in the town of Ulster, N.Y., on Thursday, May 6, 20201. The Lails live n Saugerties.
Two 'Wall Street Music Hall' signs are displayed outside 323 Wall St. in Uptown Kingston, N.Y., on Wednesday, April 29, 2021.
U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, is interviewed by reporter Paul Kirby at the Daily Freeman office in Kingston, N.Y., on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020.
Ashland, KY (41101)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

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Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.
The Biden administration is proposing a family plan that would require paid maternity leave, include compulsory pre-kindergarten, and assist low-income households with childcare expenses.

In Christianity Today's "Quick to Listen" podcast, they delved further into Biden's initiative, discussing everything from what it is attempting to fix to Who it is attempting to support? What reforms do Christians regard as victories for their own family and neighbors, and where do they object or criticize.

If passed in its current form, Biden's "American Families Plan" will include universal childcare for both three and four-year-olds, provide young people for two years of free community college, cover the price of childcare for low-income households, establish a $15 minimum wage for early childhood educators, mandate 12 weeks of paid maternal, family, and personal sickness leave, and provide a permanent summer food program for low-income children.

Rachel Anderson, a resident at the Center for Public Justice who leads the Families Valued project, spoke with global media manager Morgan Lee and executive editor Ted Olsen on why paid family leave hasn't caught on in the United States, why many churches are interested with early childhood education, and why family policy advocates sometimes hold opposing views about whether or not parents can work.

Interview Highlights:

Biden's plan calls for a national policy of paid family, medical and sick leave. It makes several promises about childcare, including finding a way to cap the cost of care at 7% of a household income and finding a way to provide universal pre-K.

Biden plan offers options to help parents who want to work but can't afford to leave the job to care for a child. The "Family Medical Leave Act" gives job protection for a new parent or caregiver for 12 weeks after a child is born.

"The benefits can be seen in birth weights, infant mortality rates and health care visits," Anderson says, "among other benefits."

Anderson commented that "the package is all of the above because there are a lot of needs and things going on in a parent's and a family's life."

In the previously announced "American Jobs Plan," Biden also called for expanding long-term care and access to home and community-based services for those who are aging and disabled. Biden plan offers options to help parents who want to work but can't afford to leave the job to care for a child.

"There was an attempt to offer something universal or near-universal," she said.

When asked about "what does a healthy Christian view on public policy look like," CPJ's Rachel Anderson said that "religion is often part of the motivation and ethic of care that providers offer."

On other countries similar program, Anderson said that the U.S. only initiated its family policies many decades ago, while other countries started in the 1950s and 60s and expanded them.

"The U.S. is one of the few industrialized nations that don't have paid family leave, which has material benefits for children and parents, "she adds.

As for the enactment of a uniform Pre-K program, Anderson said that it will "squeeze out the diversity of programs that already exist for young kids and that are more locally based."

Anderson said, however, that she has some "disappointment" with the Biden administration's plan "at the moment" because "I don't think they've contemplated enough the way that childcare can happen in partnership with local faith-based organizations."

She noted how many parents send their children to schools associated with their traditional religious beliefs, and that many childcares are "in a family-based setting." Religion, or a set of religious beliefs, "is often part of the motivation and ethic of care that providers offer," Anderson said.

The Biden administration, however, doesn't seem to have given enough thought to consider working with local faith-based organizations to provide children with the kind of education parents would want for their kids.

On the sudden interest of the government to invest in the family unit, Anderson said: "From a public standpoint, the family is nurturing the next generation of citizens: workers, teachers, neighbors. We have an important public interest in supporting family life and family caregiving."
On New Year's Day last year, Melinda Gates told her Instagram followers that her heart was full as she 'celebrated' her long marriage to Bill, wishing a happy anniversary to 'the man who keeps me dancing through life'.

What a shock it was, then, when we heard this multi-billionaire couple are divorcing after 27 supposedly happy years together.

Now Melinda says her marriage is 'irretrievably broken', and the dancing has stopped.

In a pandemic that has sent divorce rates soaring, especially among older couples, the marital travails of this privileged pair struck a sad chord with many.

If the Gateses, with their unimaginable advantages, can't make it work, who can?

Members of the family are said to be 'furious' with Bill (pictured). Daughter Jennifer, 25, has admitted they've all suffered a 'challenging stretch of time'

Despite the honeyed words of the carefully crafted statement the couple released, their separation was reportedly 'not friendly'.

Members of the family are said to be 'furious' with Bill. Daughter Jennifer, 25, has admitted they've all suffered a 'challenging stretch of time'.

By the time they met, Bill was already the world's youngest billionaire and the boss of one of the world's fastest-growing companies. Melinda was a humble product manager.

That imbalance seemed to change when together they set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pouring billions into Third World countries to combat poverty and disease.

Finally, it seemed, Melinda had an equal role: he providing the brains and the energy, she the compassion. And yet to be honest, this partnership was never truly equal. History will remember Bill as one of the great tycoons of all time, she as his wife.

The warning signs of Bill's odd behaviour came early when, aged 38 and contemplating marriage, he clinically weighed up the pros and cons of their union on a whiteboard.

Bill and Melinda Gates receive the Lasker Award September 20, 2013. Now Melinda says her marriage is 'irretrievably broken', and the dancing has stopped

The warning signs of Bill's odd behaviour came early when, aged 38 and contemplating marriage, he clinically weighed up the pros and cons of their union on a whiteboard. Pictured, the couple with their three children

Yet marry they did and raised three children, Bill aghast when Melinda decided to quit her job to care for their kids, while he worked 16 hours a day.

No one knows what goes on inside any marriage, least of all one stuffed with bodyguards, jets, staff, houses and cars: where privacy is the rarest commodity, where wealth brings everything you could wish for but also intrudes on every aspect of your life.

But perhaps there is a clue. Bill named the vast estate he built in Washington 'Xanadu 2.0' after the sprawling residence of Charles Foster Kane in the 1941 film Citizen Kane, a tycoon of similarly immense means (based on Press baron William Randolph Hearst), but who was miserable with it.

Meanwhile, when Bill and Melinda were courting, they bonded over F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragic novel The Great Gatsby. Two artistic classics of the 20th century. And what do they have in common?

They both tell of the strange emptiness at the heart of the lives of very rich people, and how, in the end, all that money can bring pomp, but not pleasure  and luxury, but not love.

Halle feline her age

Desperate ex-Catwoman Halle Berry, 54, releases pictures of herself wearing an eye-wateringly skin-tight leopard-print body suit  with matching boots  and declares with a feline snarl: 'One of the benefits of ageing is you start not to give a f*** any more.'

No surprises that after Halle's comet of a career burned itself out, she is forced to court attention in other ways.

Desperate ex-Catwoman Halle Berry, 54, releases pictures of herself wearing an eye-wateringly skin-tight leopard-print body suit

Cash and Gary! The BBC doles out dosh

HMRC, we learn, is pursuing Gary Lineker for a near-5 million tax bill it claims the footie pundit owes.

He has been in dispute with the taxman for a year, accused of being a 'disguised employee' to minimise  legally, but controversially  his income tax and national insurance by paying himself through a company.

Gary disputes the amount and insists he has done nothing wrong.

All this as we learn Graham Norton pockets almost 4 million, much of it paid by us.

Whatever their tax arrangements, the amount paid to these two stars and so many others by the BBC is frankly obscene  especially when the Corporation is at the same time snatching free licences from its older viewers.

Meanwhile, we are switching off in droves. Adults are watching far less on the BBC than they were a decade ago, and around 450,000 under-75s have tuned out altogether.

To use a metaphor Gary would understand, it's time to blow the full-time whistle on the licence fee.

Westminster wars

Boris and Carrie head for the voting booths, she wearing a trendy frock made by sustainable brand O Pioneers, crafted out of leftover fabric. Could this floral monstrosity have been made from the discarded curtains after the makeover of the No 10 flat? Maria in The Sound Of Music would have been proud!

A Labour reshuffle would likely lead to the swift exit of the nervous, frizzy-haired Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds, the most underwhelming occupant of that office in living memory. How can we trust a woman with the UK's economy when she can't even book herself a decent hairdresser?

A spectacularly well-timed PR triumph for Boris to send the gunboats to Jersey. But it made me wonder: why can't they show similar speed getting the Navy to stop the record numbers of migrant dinghies crossing the Channel?

Marvellous news that Sir Michael Hintze has given 100,000 to the Mail's Remember Me campaign for a national memorial to the Covid dead in St Paul's Cathedral.

And I do remember him, having once sat next to this charismatic philanthropist during a gala fundraiser when he lent me his (gorgeous) jacket as I had to take a call outside in the cold.

A true gentleman, sparkling eyes, a wonderful wit  and, as I discovered later, alas also a happily married father-of-four.

New Zealand's elite female weightlifters have been told to 'be quiet' about their concerns over transgender athlete Laurel Hubbard competing at the Tokyo Olympics this summer.

With respect to the transgender community, you have to look hard for trans men  who were born female  taking on other chaps for Olympic gold.

Good news that both parents of the bride and groom will now be named on marriage certificates, but bad news that newlywed couples will no longer receive hand-written wedding certificates and instead be sent a version online.

Wheres the fun in that? When it all goes wrong, you cant tear up an email and throw it in his or her face.

Royal round-up

How wonderful that Meghan was able to turn a love poem she wrote to Harry on the birth of their son Archie, two, into a childrens book celebrating the special bond between father and son.

The couples daughter is due in a few weeks, but I doubt there will be a sequel. Meghan is perhaps not the best person to write about the special love between fathers and daughters, given that she isnt on speakers with her own dear poorly dad. I doubt even Oprah would swallow that one.

Well done Harry for helping to raise almost 40 million in the star-studded Vax Live concert, aimed at providing free Covid vaccinations to poorer countries. Harry wants jabs delivered to everyone, everywhere in an act of our shared humanity. Fine words, but they seemed a little iffy given the message on the screen behind him: Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.

Harry and Megs made a lot of noise about their stifling life as royals. But the truth is no one would be interested in them without the titles they still tout around.

Meghan makes sure to use hers on her new childrens book. The decent thing would be to relinquish their titles altogether, rather than exploiting them.

A triumph for Tess

How bravely honest of the plus-size model Tess Holliday to announce to her 2.1 million Instagram followers that, despite looking fulsomely fabulous on the cover of Cosmopolitan, she is not ashamed to have previously suffered from anorexia.

Declaring herself finally free from that cruel illness, Tess is now a bouncy size 22. Whatever treatment she used, Im glad its worked.
We learned this week that the Duke of Edinburgh died of old age. Hardly a startling revelation.

He was, after all, 99 and had suffered from various ailments including a heart condition for which he had been admitted to hospital a few weeks earlier. But the official death certificate signed by Sir Huw Thomas, the head of the royal medical household, made no mention of that. It declared simply that the cause of death was old age. GPs are usually discouraged from doing that.

When the British Geriatrics Society commissioned a study of 4,300 deaths over a period of two years, it found that only 98 of them were attributed solely to old age by the doctors who signed the death certificates. If the grandest doctor in the land is prepared to do just that, it suggests there might be an interesting change afoot.

We condemn torture when it is inflicted by humans. Why should we condone it when nature is to blame and we have the means to end the suffering painlessly?

Newscaster John Humphrys and his wife Edna on their farm in Trelech, near Carmarthen

Forgive me for stating the obvious but the only absolute certainty in life is death. Its how we approach dying where the uncertainty creeps in. Dylan Thomas told us to rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Yet all too often the rage comes from those who want their lives to end, because their suffering is unbearable and incurable. And that rage is often directed against our heartless laws that do not allow doctors to help them.

As I wrote in these pages last year, my own father was one of them. Now there is real hope that the law will be reformed.

When Sir Huw made his announcement, the politician in charge of the NHS, Matt Hancock, was writing to Sir Ian Diamond, the National Statistician, asking if he had any figures on how many of us kill ourselves after being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Hes already made it clear that he thinks there should be another debate on the legality of physician-assisted suicide. He has just said as much to a private meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on assisted dying.

The last time Parliament voted on it they threw it out with a hefty majority. That was seven years ago and the public mood has changed sharply since then. Opinion polls say more than eight out of ten want change.

The last survey by the Royal College of Physicians showed that most doctors are still opposed to a change in the law, but if you add in all those who say they should be neutral it seems clear even doctors are having second thoughts.

Lets be clear: we are not talking here about legalising euthanasia, which was introduced in the Netherlands 20 years ago. Far from it. The former Labour Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, who proposed the new law here, wants it to become legal for someone suffering from a terminal illness and who is likely to die within six months to be able to choose to end their lives sooner. Doctors would be allowed to help them without the fear of facing prosecution.

There is a single word that sums up the case for change. Compassion. To be diagnosed with a terminal illness such as motor neurone disease is to be condemned to death through slow torture without the slightest hope of having the sentence commuted.

We condemn torture when it is inflicted by humans. Why should we condone it when nature is to blame and we have the means to end the suffering painlessly?

The answer from many of those opposed to assisted dying is, quite simply, that life is sacred. Many doctors quote the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm. Their sworn duty, they say, is to save life rather than end it.

The reality is that doctors often deliberately end lives. Those who do can also defend their actions on religious grounds. Arent we told that the Christian God is, above all else, a God of mercy?

When my former wife left hospital after doctors confirmed she had terminal cancer and only months to live, she was given a large bottle of diamorphine to take home. She was advised to use as much as she felt she needed.

The message could not have been more clear. If the pain becomes unbearable you have the ability to end it. She chose not to. She was able to rely on something even more powerful than morphine: the love of our daughter who cared for her night and day. But when the end finally came, in a wonderful Marie Curie hospice, the doctors and nurses told us they would increase the morphine until she slipped painlessly away. They helped her die.

So why should the doctors caring for someone suffering from, say, motor neurone disease not be allowed to do the same? They know what the end will be and so do its victims. A slow and agonising death. Unable to move. Unable to swallow. Unable to breathe.

Why should they have to beg their loved ones to take them to Switzerland to die, knowing that they are committing an illegal act if they are deemed to have assisted in that death?

That, when everything else is stripped away, is all the Falconer law is proposing. Granting someone who is capable of making the judgment the right to seek help to do something that will bring an end to their suffering.

Opponents say it would be just the start of a slippery slope. But thats why we have laws and it has taken us a long time to get to the stage where our lawmakers might, just might, now take this modest but vital first step.

The former Tory Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell was one of those who were opposed to any legalisation. He now says his view has changed completely.

Rather than moralising over generalised concerns, we must examine whether our current laws bear up under scrutiny, protect our citizens and respect their dignity. If they dont, Members of Parliament surely cannot stand by and consign dying people to a miserable and undignified fate which our constituents would not choose for themselves.

Mr Mitchell speaks for many.

Watch out, 007, the CIA has got you in its sights

Bond may think hes learned a few tricks since Q first taught him the ropes, but I wonder how hes managing to cope with imposter syndrome

My secret source in the production office of the new James Bond movie tells me they are seriously worried. With only months to go before its due to hit our cinemas, our friends across the water have dropped a bombshell. The CIA has come up with something that could prove lethal for the movies success.

It has just released a new recruitment video which will make 007 look about as relevant to the world of modern espionage as a biplane is to a nuclear bomber.

The star of the video is no pale, stale male who thinks woke is the opposite of sleep. She is so much more than just a spy. She is an intersectional cisgender millennial officer. Try that for size, Mr Bond!

And theres much more where that came from.

Bond may think hes learned a few tricks since Q first taught him the ropes, but I wonder how hes managing to cope with imposter syndrome. His CIA comrade has not only conquered it but no longer internalises misguided patriarchal ideas. She proudly tells the world: I am a walking declaration I am unapologetically me.

Are you getting the picture, Mr Bond? Your macho posturing is even more outdated than the hidden machine gun on your first Aston Martin.

So no, Mr Bond, you are not going to die. You are going to be cancelled.
What would Boris Johnson have to do, I wonder, for his critics to take him seriously? For weeks he's been battered by dreadful headlines, culminating in the Mail's revelations of his alleged use of donations to pay for the redecoration of his Downing Street flat.

Day after day, his critics hammered away at the issue of so-called sleaze.

Then came Thursday, the largest round of local elections since 1973. And the result could hardly have been clearer: another thumping victory for Teflon Boris. Whatever you think of him, Mr Johnson's record speaks for itself. He just keeps on winning.

Originally dismissed as a joke candidate, he was twice elected as a Conservative Mayor of supposedly Left-wing London.

Then, as the front man of the Leave campaign, he became the face of the greatest political shock of my lifetime, overturning the conventional wisdom to take us out of the European Union.

Whatever you think of him, Boris Johnson's record speaks for itself. He just keeps on winning. Originally dismissed as a joke candidate, he was twice elected as a Conservative Mayor of supposedly Left-wing London

In 2019, he won the Tory leadership, won a crushing majority in the General Election and secured a new Brexit deal with the EU. And now, despite the terrible Covid death toll, he has presided over the most successful vaccination programme of any major Western country.

His Tory rivals, such as David Cameron and George Osborne, have faded into the shadows. But Mr Johnson is still there, the most consequential political figure of the age.

Like Margaret Thatcher, another divisive vote-winner known by a two-syllable nickname ('Maggie'), Boris has imprinted himself on the national imagination. His blond hair and boisterous delivery are immediately recognisable to millions of people who take little interest in politics.

It was telling that during his Hartlepool walkabouts, he said nothing of consequence, cannily deciding that it was better to say nothing than to risk a self-defeating gaffe.

His familiar shambling silhouette and bonhomie were all that was needed.

As all the world knows, Mr Johnson idolises Sir Winston Churchill. There's a lot of wish-fulfilment in that, but the comparison is not quite as ridiculous as his critics suggest. To the priggish liberal Left, Churchill was a vulgar populist: an adventurer, not a statesman. He drank too much, told tall tales, made off-colour remarks and played to the gallery. Like Mr Johnson, he was no stranger to money trouble

To his bien pensant critics, Mr Johnson is the devil incarnate, at once a clownish buffoon and a malevolent conspirator. To prigs and puritans, his rackety love life, jokey asides and indifference to rules are a standing affront.

Yet somehow, to their baffled fury, he keeps winning elections. How does he do it?

One obvious answer is that the Prime Minister is a far cannier operator than his critics realise.

He has presence, spirit and a sense of humour, as well as a gambler's instinct and a ruthless sense of opportunism. And as Hartlepool's result suggests, he has the common touch, a priceless gift for a politician.

His critics claim he has ripped up the rulebook of British politics, riding roughshod over tradition and precedent. But I am not sure about that.

The most interesting parallels are with two earlier populists who, like the current Prime Minister, inspired extraordinary enthusiasm among millions of ordinary people. The first is Benjamin Disraeli, a crowd-pleasing dandy who served twice as PM in the 1860s and 1870s. Like Mr Johnson, 'Dizzy' was ferociously ambitious

A glance at our history suggests that he is an eminently familiar figure, whom our predecessors would immediately have recognised. With his generous girth, shambolic private life and conspicuous flaws, he recalls Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare's roguish anti-hero.

But as his recent excursion into gunboat diplomacy in Jersey shows, he is very good at playing John Bull  the old caricature of the stout, patriotic, freedom-loving Briton, never happier than when sticking it to the French.

In many ways, Mr Johnson is a very 18th-century figure. It's easy to picture him crashing around Hanoverian London, his wig askew over his blond mop, his buttons bursting from all that roast beef. You can easily imagine the shrieks of outrage from the European thinkers of the day  and the cheers of approval from the London crowds.

Perhaps there's an even better comparison  the swashbuckling Lord Palmerston, who was twice Prime Minister in the 1850s and 1860s. Palmerston was a man of prodigious sexual appetite, who earned the nickname 'Lord Cupid' and was rumoured to have molested one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting. It's often said that he died at the age of 80 while deflowering a parlour maid on a billiard table, though this story, sadly, may not be entirely true

One of his biographers, Andrew Gimson, has even compared him with our first PM, Sir Robert Walpole, who took office 300 years ago and ran Britain's affairs for the next 21 years.

Like Mr Johnson, Walpole was a hard-nosed opportunist who disguised his ambition beneath an earthy exterior. Despite his political acumen, he played the part of the country squire to perfection, ostentatiously opening his gamekeeper's letters before turning to his paperwork.

In Walpole's own words, he was 'no saint, no spartan, no reformer'. And to cap it all, his mistress, Molly Skerrett, was fully 25 years his junior. Sound familiar? As this analogy might suggest, Mr Johnson is simply the latest incarnation of a long tradition.

Our political past is littered with adventurers, rule-breakers, showmen and mountebanks, including some of the greatest leaders in our history.

Like Mr Johnson, Sir Robert Walpole was a hard-nosed opportunist who disguised his ambition beneath an earthy exterior. Despite his political acumen, he played the part of the country squire to perfection, ostentatiously opening his gamekeeper's letters before turning to his paperwork

As all the world knows, Mr Johnson idolises Sir Winston Churchill. There's a lot of wish-fulfilment in that, but the comparison is not quite as ridiculous as his critics suggest.

To the priggish liberal Left, Churchill was a vulgar populist: an adventurer, not a statesman. He drank too much, told tall tales, made off-colour remarks and played to the gallery.

Like Mr Johnson, he was no stranger to money trouble. In the 1920s, for instance, he went vastly over budget on his country house, Chartwell. After two years of work, Churchill had spent the equivalent of about 6 million today.

He was no longer on speaking terms with his builders, and his finances were in such a mess he had to beg for an emergency bank loan.

And this at a time when as Chancellor, he was supposed to be balancing Britain's budget!

Churchill was a gambler, who loved to stake his future on wild throws of the dice. That sounds like the current PM, too.

When Mr Johnson suspended 21 Tory MPs over Brexit, tried to prorogue Parliament and staked everything on a winter election, most people thought he was mad  including me. But he was proved right, and those of us who doubted him were wrong.

In stark contrast to the ultra-cautious Theresa May, he had the guts to hurl the dice, and the voters rewarded him for it.

But the most interesting parallels are with two earlier populists who, like the current Prime Minister, inspired extraordinary enthusiasm among millions of ordinary people. The first is Benjamin Disraeli, a crowd-pleasing dandy who served twice as PM in the 1860s and 1870s. Like Mr Johnson, 'Dizzy' was ferociously ambitious.

'If I become half as famous as I intend to be,' he once said, 'I must have riches and power.'

A shameless opportunist, Dizzy was no saint. His critics called him a 'mere political gangster', without 'principles or honesty'.

But working-class voters loved his unapologetic patriotism. In the masses of England, wrote one observer, Disraeli had 'discerned the conservative working man as the sculptor perceives the angel prisoned in a block of marble'.

For generations afterwards, winning the support of Disraeli's 'angels in marble' has been the Holy Grail for Conservative leaders. Margaret Thatcher managed it in the 1980s. And now Mr Johnson is doing it again.

But perhaps there's an even better comparison  the swashbuckling Lord Palmerston, who was twice Prime Minister in the 1850s and 1860s.

Palmerston was a man of prodigious sexual appetite, who earned the nickname 'Lord Cupid' and was rumoured to have molested one of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting.

It's often said that he died at the age of 80 while deflowering a parlour maid on a billiard table, though this story, sadly, may not be entirely true.

No less an observer than Karl Marx called Palmerston 'an exceedingly happy joker' who 'ingratiates himself with everybody'. 'When unable to master a subject, he knows how to play with it,' said Marx. 'If wanting in general views, he is always ready to weave a web of elegant generalities.'

Remind you of anybody?

Like Margaret Thatcher, another divisive vote-winner known by a two-syllable nickname ('Maggie'), Boris has imprinted himself on the national imagination

Yet the masses adored him. As the architect of gunboat diplomacy  and it is telling that Mr Johnson sent gunboats to tackle the French fishermen blockading Jersey this week  Palmerston was the bluff, hearty incarnation of British patriotism.

One observer spotted him visiting the Great Exhibition in 1851.

'The moment he came in sight,' he wrote, 'throughout the whole building, men and women, young and old, at once were struck as by an electric shock. 'Lord Palmerston! Here is Lord Palmerston! Bravo! Hurrah! Lord Palmerston for ever!' '

Watch any footage of Mr Johnson visiting working-class constituencies like Hartlepool, and you see a similar reaction. People clearly enjoy meeting him.

Even if they aren't Tory voters, they call him 'Boris' and ask for selfies.

They see him as one of them: a flawed human being, struggling to find the cash for his girlfriend's redecorating bill. A man of appetites and ambition: an inveterate optimist who loves his country and is determined to stick up for it abroad.

None of this means Mr Johnson is invincible. After all, every politician mentioned above lost elections  even Churchill, crushed in the Labour landslide of 1945.

Despite this week's victories, it is quite possible that the wheels will fall off Mr Johnson's bandwagon. One day, perhaps, his own MPs will tire of the scandals and squabbling  though after Thursday's results, not for some time.

Right now things look rosy. Summer is coming. Covid is in retreat. The economists are predicting the biggest yearly boom since World War II.

And while the Conservatives are riding high, a humiliated Labour Party is sinking into more poisonous infighting.

Whisper it if you dare, but perhaps the secret of Boris Johnson's success is something his critics have never dreamed of considering.

Maybe, just maybe, he's pretty good at politics.
For a hundred years Labour has been one of the two great political parties of Great Britain. It may have governed less often than the Conservatives but it has long been established as a major force in our politics.

Its first prime minister, who led a short-lived Labour minority government in 1923, was Ramsay MacDonald, the illegitimate son of a farm labourer and a housemaid.

Labours next prime minister was Clement Attlee, whose post-war administration introduced the National Health Service, and (foolishly) nationalised key industries. He was the public school and Oxford-educated son of a wealthy solicitor.

That 1945-51 Labour government showed how the party was a successful coalition of middle-class intellectuals and working-class doers. On the one hand, there was Stafford Cripps, product of Winchester. On the other, Ernest Bevin, who was born in poverty in Somerset and left school at the age of 11.

Many traditional Labour voters no longer think that metropolitan clever clogs stand for the values in which they believe  of which Brexit is by far the most significant

For most of its history, Labour has succeeded as the party of working people and a section of the middle-class. Of course there were ups and downs  in the early 1980s it was briefly taken over by the Hard Left  but this broad alliance has endured.

Until now. If the December 2019 election marked an earthquake for the party, with its worst performance since 1935, the panoply of elections on Thursday probably represented its Krakatoa.

Its not too much to say that it is very hard, though not absolutely impossible, to state with any confidence that Labour has a future as a major political party. Large swathes of its traditional working class supporters in the North and Midlands deserted it in 2019 for the Tories. More jumped ship on Thursday.

Hartlepool was the epicentre of the upheaval. This depressed town, one of the very poorest in Britain, is now Tory for the first time since 1964, when Roy Orbison and The Candy Men were top of the pops, and the film My Fair Lady was about to be released.

There was a swing of 16 per cent from Labour to Conservative this week, and the winning Tory candidate, Jill Mortimer, won 52 per cent of the vote. Its true that she garnered some support which had gone to the Brexit Party in 2019, but the reduction of almost 9 per cent in the Labour vote implies a significant defection to the Tories.

So Hartlepool follows those once seemingly impregnable Labour Red Wall seats which tumbled to the Conservatives in 2019  places such as Bassetlaw, Blyth Valley, Bolsover, Leigh, and Tony Blairs erstwhile constituency of Sedgefield.

Hartlepool happens once to have been the seat of the former prime ministers right-hand man, the quintessentially metropolitan smoothie Peter Mandelson, who was the subject of a probably apocryphal story that he once mistook fish-and-chip shop mushy peas for guacamole.

The electors of Hartlepool may have put up with Lord Mandelson for 12 years, but on Thursday they blew a raspberry at the Labour candidate, Paul Williams, a GP in neighbouring Stockton, who (like Mandelson) is a passionate Remainer.

Since nearly 70 per cent of voters in Hartlepool backed Leave, it seems little short of lunacy for Labour HQ to have chosen a Remainer whom the Brexit-inclined burghers of Stockton had given the heave-ho in 2019.

But there is more to it than that. Though she comes from about 30 miles away in North Yorkshire, Jill Mortimer is a down-to-earth type who could easily relate to Hartlepool folk. Dr Williams, born down south in Kent, is your typical Labour middle-class intellectual in the mould of Sir Keir Starmer.

A former Labour MP suggests to me that many northern working-class voters see Labour as an elitist party of the university educated and privileged whereas Tories, once viewed as elitist and out of touch, now appear to be normal.

In other words, the old alliance between the intellectuals and many ordinary people, which has sustained the Labour Party for more than a century, is fracturing, at any rate in the Midlands and the North.

A former Labour MP suggests to me that many northern working-class voters see Labour as an elitist party of the university educated and privileged

A revolution has taken place which was precipitated by Brexit. Many traditional Labour voters no longer think that metropolitan clever clogs stand for the values in which they believe  of which Brexit is by far the most significant.

And so we see not only the extraordinary spectacle of a Tory being elected in a town such as Hartlepool, but also the amazing sight of a 30ft inflatable Boris Johnson being raised at the end of its pier.

Can you imagine any previous Conservative prime minister being celebrated in this way? If anyone had been rash enough to put up an inflatable Margaret Thatcher in Hartlepool or any other northern town, it would have been punctured or torn down in a matter of seconds.

That is the enormity of what has happened. It appears not to matter one whit that Boris is an old Etonian, Oxford-educated toff. He speaks to the concerns and the values of many people whom the grandees of Labour have (as Jill Mortimer pointed out yesterday) taken for granted for far too long.

Boris Johnson transcends class  and class is in any case becoming less of a determinant of how many people vote. The old loyalties to Labour are breaking down, and it is very difficult to see how they will be restored.

What has happened in Hartlepool was reflected in dozens of results in local elections which, as I write, are still coming in. Tory advances are by no means limited to the north of England.

The Conservatives have seized Harlow in Essex from Labour. In the Midlands they have taken Dudley, as well as Nuneaton and Bedworth, from no overall control. I have no doubt there will be further rich prizes.

Tory strategists will no longer be thinking of how they can hang on to Labour strongholds won in 2019 and on Thursday. They will be seeking to build on these gains by attracting more traditional Labour voters. This could be just the beginning.

Can Labour do anything to save itself? Remember that it has already virtually been wiped out as a UK party in its former bailiwick of Scotland, and seems very likely to be in third place behind the SNP and the Tories when final results of the Scottish parliamentary elections are announced.

Labour remains the stronger of the two main parties in London (where its mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan, seems likely to win against a rather weak Tory opponent) and in several large cities such as Liverpool and Manchester.

But annihilated as it is in Scotland, and driven back in large parts of the North and the Midlands, Labour is getting perilously close to the point where it can no longer legitimately describe itself as a national party.

Would sacking Keir Starmer help? Its true that he comes across as wooden, even robotic, and has unconvincingly wrapped himself in the Union Flag in a futile attempt to win back disgruntled Labour voters.

However, its far from clear that there is a more plausible leader waiting in the wings, though Sir Keir would be wise to freshen up his lacklustre front bench if he is able to find any brighter and more persuasive politicians loitering on his back benches.

What is certain is that he should ignore the predictable calls from the deluded Labour Left to re-embrace Corbynism  and the nutcase policies which took the party to a catastrophic defeat in 2019.

Idiotic Left-wing Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle lost no time tweeting: Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well . . . or not? Corbynite MP Richard Burgon said: We are going backwards in areas we need to be winning. Labours leadership needs to urgently change direction.

1959: When the Tories last won Hartlepool Religious epic Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, opened in cinemas Cliff Richards Living Doll was the top selling single in the UK Goldfinger, the seventh novel in Ian Flemings James Bond series, was published The first section of the M1, between Junction 5 (Watford) and Junction 18 (Crick/Rugby), opened Postcodes were invented The original two-door Mini roared on to British roads Legendary jazz club Ronnie Scotts threw open its doors. Advertisement

Yes, but not in the direction he wants! If Sir Keir were to heed their stupid advice, Labour would become an even more marginal and electorally unsuccessful party than it is at the moment.

His problem is that he is leading at least three parties: the Hard Left lunatics; the unhappy, Brexit-supporting Red Wall voters, who are leaving in droves; and Remainer, metropolitan progressives who cant bear Boris Johnson.

His best bet is probably to concentrate on the third group, and the so-called Blue Wall seats  prosperous constituencies on the outskirts of English cities whose voters are disproportionately young, more socially liberal, and Remainer-inclined.

In these Tory-held suburban seats  places like Chingford, Wycombe, Altrincham and Boris Johnsons own constituency of Uxbridge  Labour or the Lib Dems outperformed their national swing versus the Tories in both the 2017 and 2019 elections.

It might work. But is this a national strategy? It will hardly win back the Red Wall voters. In fact, it would repel many of them. If Boris succeeds with his policy of levelling up (whatever that exactly entails) these people may well never return to Labour.

There are good reasons for believing that once the bonds that held Labour together have been severed  the alliance between intellectuals and traditional supporters  the party will be irrevocably weakened.

And yet I recall how in the heyday of New Labour between 1997 and 2001, many pundits doubted that the Tories would ever form a government again. They were said to be irredeemably toxic and poorly led. In the cities and towns of northern England they had barely any MPs.

Anyone predicting then that Tony Blairs Sedgefield constituency, and Peter Mandelsons Hartlepool seat, would in 20 years fall to a Conservative Party led by a swashbuckling, rackety old Etonian would have been marched off to see a psychiatrist.

So strange, unforeseeable things happen in politics. Labour may appear finished but it is an old party  one could fairly say, a great movement  and it may still have the resources to re-invent itself so that it can learn how to speak to a changed electorate.

I hope so. I am not being pious when I say that governments need strong oppositions. In the high summer of New Labour which I have mentioned, it felt as though one was living in a one-party state. Tony Blair could do anything  and of course he eventually tricked us into a foolish war in Iraq.

I would certainly prefer to live in a one-party state headed by Boris Johnson than one led by Tony Blair, but I would much rather not live in one at all. The Press must hold the Prime Ministers feet to the fire, but a strong and coherent opposition is also needed to undertake that role.

Maybe after losing four general elections on the trot, and having been already out of office for 11 years, the Labour Party will finally get its act together. If not, we must hope that a new force will emerge from its ashes.

In a hysterical moment a month after the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001, Tony Blair told the Labour conference: The kaleidoscope has been shaken, the pieces are in flux, soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us reorder this world around us.

The more sedate Keir Starmer might adapt those frenzied words to his predicament. The political kaleidoscope has certainly been shaken, and Labour is in pieces. A sceptical country waits to see whether anyone can put this once great party together again.
Three years in the making, the BBCs three-part adaptation of aristocratic author Nancy Mitfords novel The Pursuit Of Love finally comes to the screen this week. An immediate hit when it was published in 1945, the book sold 200,000 copies within a year.

Nancy, one of the six famous Mitford sisters, could trace her family line back to the Norman Conquest and the story, set between the wars, is loosely based on them.

It revolves around the eccentric Radletts who live at the Alconleigh estate. Beautiful but naive Linda, the second eldest of seven children, is the heroine  desperate to follow her heart and escape her repressive father Matthew.

Its told through the eyes of her cousin Fanny, who sticks by her through thick and thin as Lindas life becomes a catalogue of romantic misadventures.

With a stellar cast, stunning costumes and an electrifying soundtrack featuring T Rex, Roxy Music and The Who, the show is sure to turn a new generation on to the delightfully bonkers Nancy Mitford and her sisters...

Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit Of Love has been adapted for a three-part BBC series. Pictured: Lily and Emily (top left) as young Linda and Fanny with Dominic West as Uncle Matthew (right) and the Radletts

TEEN SPIRIT REAWAKENED

Run everywhere and behave like an animal  those instructions were buzzing around Lily Jamess head as she filmed Lindas teenage scenes.

Both Emily Beecham and I play characters who start out much younger  Linda is 17  and that was a challenge, says Lily, 32.

The key to it was to be utterly committed to what you believe in, to be in the moment. You dont walk anywhere, you run, you show enthusiasm.

'And as the young Radletts are quite feral theres this animal quality that we harnessed too.

Lily James said she and Emily had to harness the young Radletts' animal quality. Pictured: Lily as Linda in her late teens

Emily, 36, says she simply cast her mind back to her own teenage years in order to play the young Fanny Logan. I found it so easy to get into the headspace of a young person  it felt like yesterday, she laughs.

The awkwardness, trepidation and excitement all mixed together. I remember being so excited about venturing out and experiencing life when I was her age.

A BELLIGERENT OLD STICK-IN -THE-MUD

Dominic Wests character Uncle Matthew, Lindas father (pictured) was based on Nancys real father David Freeman-Mitford

With an intense dislike of foreigners, a draconian approach to childcare and an absolutely appalling attitude to women, Dominic Wests character Uncle Matthew, Lindas father (based on Nancys real father the Honorable David Freeman-Mitford, later 2nd Baron Redesdale), is as politically incorrect as he is bad-tempered.

Hes outrageous, says Dominic. His attitude to life is so not what most people think today. What saves him, and what made him appeal to me, was the fact that he has a warm heart, hes a bit of a softie.

'Also, while hes clearly a belligerent old stick-in-the-mud, theres an endearing comedy about him which means you cant help but laugh at him.

He hunts his children with bloodhounds for fun and when Linda  his favourite child  leaves home without his permission he threatens to give her a damn good thrashing.

He has a particular hatred of Germans too, adds Dominic. He fought in the Great War and takes great pride in an entrenching tool hung on the wall at his home that reminds him of how he once killed ten of them.

BEST FRIENDS, BUT POLAR OPPOSITES

Lily said Linda and Fanny complement each other, despite being polar opposites. Pictured: Emily Beecham and Lily James as Fanny and Linda

One is feisty and free-spirited, the other cautious and careful. Yet the friendship between Linda Radlett (Lily James) and her cousin Fanny Logan (Emily Beecham) is the beating heart of The Pursuit Of Love.

Theyre polar opposites, says Lily. Yet they see things in each other they dont have in themselves, so they complement each other.

On the surface Fanny appears to be the poor relation, abandoned as a child by her parents and firmly in the shadow of her more outgoing cousin. Fanny wouldnt be half the person she is without Linda, says Emily.

Fannys life generally becomes more enhanced around Linda, everything becomes a bit more exciting and vivid. She has this different personality that breaks out when shes around her cousin.

Fanny is constantly being abandoned by Linda but still loves her dearly. Sometimes they go through years of barely being friends at all, but they always find each other again.

THE HEIGHT OF FASHION

Costume designer Sinead Kidao and her team supplied 1,200 costumes for the series. Pictured: Andrew Scott makes his entrance as the Radletts flamboyant neighbour Lord Merlin

Dressed in polka-dot silk pyjamas and moving elegantly across the dance floor to the sound of T Rexs Dandy In The Underworld, Andrew Scotts character Lord Merlin makes an unforgettable entrance in the show.

Its that unique hand-made outfit that makes the scene so striking, and the Sherlock and Fleabag star is quick to praise the productions costume designer Sinead Kidao.

All the clothes in the drama are incredible, says Andrew, whose bohemian aristocrat, a neighbour to the Radletts, becomes a mentor to Linda.

The 30s were one of the most stylish periods of all time and I think Sinead has done the most amazing job bringing it to life.

The sister of Irish writer and actress Aisling Bea, Sinead and her team supplied 1,200 costumes, while Lindas sparklers came from jewellers Bulgari.

Many of the clothes are bespoke, with designs inspired by detailed descriptions in Nancy Mitfords novel, particularly Lindas outfits when shes living in Paris in episode three.

She becomes an early disciple of French style, going on trips to the Galeries Lafayette department store and the big fashion houses of the time, explains Lily James.

Shes taught the ways of Parisian chic and one particular design, this beautiful Chanel-like outfit, is quite extraordinary. Sinead is a real visionary.

STATELY SETS

Badminton House in Gloucestershire (pictured) was used for the set of the cinema room and one of the dining rooms at the grand house of the Radletts neighbour Lord Merlin

Badminton House in Gloucestershire (above) and a former bottling factory in Bristol may be poles apart, but they were both crucial locations for The Pursuit Of Love.

Badminton provided the cinema room and one of the dining rooms at the grand house of the Radletts neighbour Lord Merlin, as well as Uncle Matthews study and Fannys bedroom at Alconleigh. It also provides the interior for scenes set at the Ritz Hotel in London.

The production team used other stately homes too, but for scenes that couldnt be re-created in these grand piles the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol were used. Parts of Paris were also re-created here, including the iconic Gare du Nord railway station.

We combined the factory with some clever CGI to create the Gare du Nord, says executive producer Frith Tiplady. Basically the team got very inventive very quickly.

... AND THE WOMAN WHO BROUGHT IT ALL TO THE SCREEN

Emily Mortimer who wrote and directed the adaptation, said she loved the book as a teenager. Pictured: Emily as Fannys mother The Bolter

Emily Mortimer not only wrote and directed the adaptation, but appears in it as Fannys fickle mother The Bolter.

I loved the book as a teenager, but the whole Mitford phenomenon fascinated me, she says. The book still feels shocking and radical, which is amazing as it was written in 1945. Its full of love and romance but it has an edge.

She says the story raised questions then, and will have us asking them again now.

Its not just a dusty book from the 1940s, it feels relevant. Its a relationship between two girls, one of whom has devoted herself to the pursuit of love, the other is much more careful.

'Is it better to have loved and lost or is it better to have never loved at all? Thats still a good question! We go on an adventure with these girls and ask ourselves if were a Linda or a Fanny. Its about love and romance  but with a bit of a punk-rock soul!

It was Emilys father Sir John Mortimer, creator of irascible TV barrister Rumpole Of The Bailey, who first introduced her to the writings of Nancy Mitford, and its thanks to him that Emily was brought up steeped in the British literary giants.

Ive grown up with a huge love and respect for the written word, she says.

You dont get opportunities very often to speak great dialogue like my dad wrote, so when you do it feels like an amazing opportunity. He loved these books and I hope Ive captured what he saw in them.

The Pursuit Of Love starts tomorrow at 9pm on BBC1.
The hidden city of mountains: 8D Chongqing

11:12, May 07, 2021 By Wei Deng ( People's Daily Online

China's economy grew 18.3% year on year in Q1 of 2021. The recovery has begun in the second half of 2020, and China became one of the earliest countries to recover from the pandemic. During the COVID-19 time, Scott from the United Kingdom was in China. In the second half of 2020, he began to travel in southwest China. Produced by People's Daily Online West USA Inc., the docuseries "Viewing China from Afar " was released online recently, among which the episode The Hidden City of Mountains: 8D Chongqing documented Scott's travel in Chongqing in 2020, showcasing the colorful and dynamic Chongqing in various aspects.

How does the China Railway Express reach Germany from Chongqing? How does the monorail go through the building? How exciting is it to ride the Airbus? How special is the cave hot pot? Under the guidance of Chongqing's internet celebrity Shuai, Scott visits the famous attractions of Chongqing to learn about its history and feel the charm of this "magical 8D city".

In the distance, it appears to be a mountain. From a closer look, it is a city. This is Chongqing, a city on the mountain and a mountain within the city. You think that you are taking the elevator on the first floor to go upstairs, but after going up a dozen floors, you realize that you have then arrived at the first floor; the taxi app shows that the driver is 1.5 kilometers away from you, but it takes him half an hour to get to you; you think that the movie Spirited Away is just a fairytale, but the dreamlike Hongya Cave is a real existence; you think Chongqing is hidden in the mountains of southwest China, but Chongqing's freight trains can travel directly to Europe. Chongqing is a modernized city and a city on a river. Chongqing is also a city of noodles and hot pot, a maze, a river flowing out of the mountains, and a magical 8D city.

In the story, Scott and Shuai taste the 400-year-old authentic Chongqing noodle dish and cave hot pot. They visit the famous scenic spots of Shibati, Liziba and Chaotian Gate, which show the "old memory" of Chongqing. They also enjoy the night scene of this mountain city, which is known as one of the top 3 nights skylines in China. As Scott exclaims at the end of the episode: Chongqing is a magical city, a city of the future.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
One of the nation's most prominent Afro-American television journalists died last Sunday in Pittsburgh at the age of 74.

Loran Mann, who was also a minister for the Church of God in Christ (COGIC), was remembered and honored by local community figures and broadcasters on Monday, reports Christianity Today.

"He was a lion of the Gospel," Episcopal Bishop Dorsey McConnell, who collaborated with Mann on social justice matters, said to Trib Live.

McConnell added that Mann was a "pastor's pastor" whose influence cut through both racial and denominational lines.

According to the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, Mann was a trailblazer who encouraged numerous people of color to pursue careers in the media. While shepherding his growing Pentecostal flock, he worked as a disk jockey, then a TV news anchor, and finally a radio station general manager.

Dee Thompson, one of the Black Media Federation's members, said that Mann was "one of the first Black journalists in radio and television in Pittsburgh."

"Loran was a leader of publishing, not just in the Black community in Pittsburgh, but also in the larger community. Not only in Pittsburgh, all around the country."

A Brief Look At His Life

Loran was born on August 8, 1946, in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was one of William and Johnnie Lee Mann's seven children. When he was 13, his family migrated north as part of the Great Migration, as thousands of African-Americans left ethnic terror in the segregated South in search of economic opportunities in Northern and Western towns.

Mann had his first writing position at the Pittsburgh Press when he was 15, delivering typed news from reporters to editors and back. He majored in sociology and minored in journalism at the University of Pittsburgh, and pondered if he, like his father, could be called to ministry.

Mann opposed the notion of ministry until he wrecked his motorcycle and fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into the side of a church a short time later.

"There won't be a third chance," a voice said which Mann believed as God's.

At the age of 20, he attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained in COGIC in 1966. He thought it was the end of his broadcasting career, but he was mistaken.

In 1968, he was traveling in an elevator with James Psihoulis (a local legend also known as Jimmy Pol), owner of a local radio station, host of a polka music show, and composer of the Pittsburgh Steelers' iconic war song. "I'd like to bring you on the radio," Psihoulis said when he noticed Mann's deep, warm accent.

Mann expressed interest in doing that as well.

He was the first Black disc jockey several residents in Western Pennsylvania saw at station WZUM. He went to KDKA and became the first Black radio show anchor in the country a couple years back. He assisted the stations in integrating their songs, blending the best of R&B and rock 'n' roll from the time period.

Mann made the transition to broadcasting in 1975, joining WPXI-TV, a local NBC station in Pittsburgh. He was a field reporter who spent the day in the neighborhood in a TV bus, searching for news and covering it live.

At the same time, Mann was pastoring a small church in East Liberty that he had established, a Black community that had been culturally ravaged by "white flight, redlining, and city planning." Just 19 participants attended the first service of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ. The church, on the other hand, quickly developed into a vibrant community.

From Mondays through Fridays, Mann appeared on TV news from 5:15 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., before turning his focus to the church.

In the 1990s, he said: "I do the whole gamut of religious duties. I teach a Tuesday evening Bible class and every Thursday night I am at choir rehearsal. I am an organist and I like to do a feature every Sunday with the choir. Friday is pastoral service where I deal with the congregation as a family. Of course, I do preach sermons."

When working at Channel 11, he was called upon to fulfill religious roles on occasion. He was once ordered to marry two TV station workers just on spur of the moment, and he did so in the audience. In another day, he was forced to bury a neglected and deceased child on Easter Sunday.

People seemed to react to Mann's pastoral involvement, according to a station manager. They would open up to him even though they had no idea he was a minister.

However, not everybody was pleased with the pastor-news reporter. A guy arrived at the station with a meat cleaver and a .25-caliber gun in 1990. He said he was going to kill Mann to the cab driver who dropped him off. The driver called the cops, and the guy was quickly apprehended.

Mann said his job at the church was influenced by his background as a TV reporter.

"As a reporter you see the world as it really turns-the murder, the violence, corruption, rampant disease. All these things are referenced in the Bible and I see it first hand," he said. "Everyday as a reporter I'm dealing in predominantly bad news. But when I come before my congregation I always have Good News."

Mann left the television industry in 1996. He reported on a murder whilst standing outside in the rain on his last day.

His Final Years

Many COGIC churches were particularly hard hit when the pandemic struck in 2020. However, because of Mann's television background, the Pentecostal Temple did stronger than others. The church was one of the first to implement online worship.

On Facebook Live, the 73-year-old Mann stood on the stage as the camera was set up, then stared through the lens like the expert he was, saying, "I'm so glad you've tuned in tonight," in the same rich voice that once prompted Jimmy Pol to give him a career.

Mann was named to COGIC's governing board of 12 elders the next year, taking up responsibilities for the global church's 8.8 million members, which had been ravaged by COVID-19. In March, he was sworn in as President.

When he died on May 2, he was due to preach. The cause of his death is yet to be revealed.
The wronged are usually out for vicious revenge in TV dramas, stewing in self-pity and plotting how to get even.

But Katherine Kelly's latest project is a quiet appreciation of those who don't rail against the awful things that have happened to them  they put their best foot forward and attempt to move on.

Innocent II, a four-part follow-up to 2018's Innocent but with a completely new story and setting  is about a former teacher, Sally, who was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of one of her pupils.

Yet she's intent on simply getting on with things despite being the victim of a huge miscarriage of justice. While this is a tale of a woman treated very badly, Katherine says the way Sally deals with it is both intriguing and realistic.

Katherine Kelly stars as wrongfully convicted teacher, Sally, in ITV's four-part series Innocent II

'She's traumatised and vulnerable but thinks, "I have to get out of bed. I don't want to, but I need to." She moves forward in a quiet, stoic way and that's something I recognise with many women in my own life.

'A lot of stuff has happened to them but they just push through. I haven't seen very much of that unshowy strength on screen and that's why I wanted to play Sally. She's a quiet heroine.'

Innocent, which starred Lee Ingleby as a man wrongfully convicted of killing his wife, was ITV's most-watched drama of the year and this second series, again rooting for the underdog, may well be just as big.

We learn that Sally, the head of English at a school in Keswick in the Lake District, had taken Matty Taylor, a promising 16-year-old student from a troubled home, under her wing.

But when he was stabbed to death with a broken cider bottle, a witness claimed Sally and Matty were having an affair. Lacking a watertight alibi, Sally was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in jail.

The series starts five years later, when new evidence shows Sally was six miles away at the time of the murder. But the declaration of her innocence doesn't mean she can go back to her old life.

Her husband Sam (Jamie Bamber) divorced her while she was in prison and is preparing to marry Karen, a former family friend.

Sally finds an unlikely ally in DCI Michael Braithwaite, who is determined to catch Matty's Killer. Pictured: Shaun Dooley as DCI Braithwaite

Her old colleagues, meanwhile, refuse to let her come back to the school, a decision upheld by the governors, led by Karen. But Sally is determined to return, to get Sam back and to help find out who really killed Matty. And that's where she finds an unlikely ally.

DCI Michael Braithwaite (Shaun Dooley) is determined to catch Matty's killer now Sally's in the clear, and he too is nursing heartache after a family tragedy. The two bond as they try to help each other, but for everyone else it appears that Sally's arrival home is like a bomb going off.

'What's interesting is that in some ways all the characters are innocent, but they've still had this massive thing happen to them,' says Katherine, who first found fame in Coronation Street and has since won acclaim in Mr Selfridge and Gentleman Jack.

'You look at every character and think, "It's so hard for you."

'Sally still sees Sam as the love of her life. I'm not sure I could have the same sort of forgiveness, but I admire it. I'm very good at not looking backwards. I don't ever think, "Oh, I wish I'd done that."

Katherine said after the year we've been through, like Sally, viewers can appreciate getting our freedom back. Pictured: Katherine as Sally

'And I think that after the year we've been through we can all, like Sally, appreciate getting our freedom back. I was highly conscious of the backdrop of everything that's been going on.

'There's a scene when she's released from prison and goes clambering up a hill, where she's blossoming before our eyes.

'She's in this beautiful landscape and realises life is precious, so she isn't going to dwell on those five years. She wants to get on with it.'

Innocent II was filmed as Katherine herself was having to pick herself up after separating from her husband, IT consultant Ryan Clark, and a move from London back to her hometown of Barnsley in August.

Her scenes were put back so she could settle her children, Orla, seven, and Rose, four, in their new schools, before she flew to Dublin where all the interior scenes were shot.

'We'd originally been due to film it in March, and then it was moved back to September. But my children were starting a different school then and the producers were very good in accommodating that,' she says.

Creator Chris Lang, the man behind Unforgotten, says the idea for the story first came to him as a childhood nightmare.

'I used to read lots of books about the war and kids being separated from their families, and I used to have this nightmare that I'd been away and my mum and dad had new kids and didn't remember me. The idea of your life staying the same while the person you love has moved on is terrifying.'

The setting of Keswick, where the exterior scenes were filmed, is important to give the feel of a small town as well as for its cinematic backdrop.

'In a place like this, Sally's return will be marked. She's in a goldfish bowl, which adds to the intrigue,' says Chris.

'I'm interested in characters who aren't monsters, but who are weak and sometimes make dreadful mistakes. This is an important lesson right now.

'We've got to show understanding and compassion; to see how people can fail but they don't have to be destroyed for it.'

Innocent II is on ITV later this month.
It was announced earlier this week that actress Olivia Williams would be taking over the role of Camilla Parker Bowles in the fifth season of The Crown, which will cover the most volatile period of the couple's relationship: before and after Princess Diana's death.

But the British star's own life has been equally dramatic, from being plucked from obscurity to star in a sexy romp with Kevin Costner to being scandalously dumped 14 days before her wedding to fellow actor Jonathan Cake.

The actress, 52, from London, came from ordinary beginnings and was on the verge of giving up on the career when she was named 'the most beautiful women to come on screen in the last ten years' by Kevin Costner in 1997.

He picked her to star in his $90-million uber-flop The Postman, in which the two had a raunchy sex scene.

Since then, her rising star has been on the up-and-up, with roles opposite Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense, Carey Mulligan in An Education and even a guest appearance as Matt Le Blanc's love interest in Friends.

She has also found love with long-term partner and Holby City actor Rhashan Stone, who supported her as she battled pancreatic cancer having been misdiagnosed for four years.

Olivia Williams. 52, from London, is set to take over the role of Camilla Parker Bowles in the fifth season of The Crown, which will cover the most volatile period of the couple's relationship: before and after Princess Diana's death

She will have personal insight into the character, having met Camilla after her marriage to Charles, by which time she had become the Duchess of Cornwall (pictured together in 2017)

The actress was plucked from obscurity by Kevin Costner and chosen to star in his $90-million uber-flop The Postman, in which the two had a raunchy sex scene (pictured)

Olivia, who is the younger of two sisters, was educated at South Hampstead High School for Girls, where fellow The Crown actress Helena Bonham Carter was in the year above.

She then read English at Newnham College, Cambridge where she met long-term boyfriend Jonathan Cake, who was also actively pursuing an acting career.

She applied to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School but remained convinced that, like her parents and sister had, she would pursue law as a career.

She began working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and quickly landed the role of Jane Fairfax in the 1996 TV film of Emma.

Since then, her rising star has been on the up-and-up, with roles opposite Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense, and even a guest appearance as Matt Le Blanc's love interest in Friends

But she was devastated when the role lead to a six-month period of unemployment, and she considered throwing in the towel.

Meanwhile, her personal life disintegrated, when partner Jonathan ended their seven-year relationship, two weeks before their planned wedding.

It was then she auditioned for Kevin Costner's 1997 flop The Postman, and told The Independent landing the role was 'mainly down to luck'.

She explained: 'I got home to several thousand messages from my agent's assistant saying Kevin wanted to speak to me, when would I be in? I invented a pressing engagement that would keep him waiting a little longer while I paced around the flat practising how I would say 'Hello.'

She began working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and quickly landed the role of Jane Fairfax in the 1996 TV film of Emma (pictured)

'He called, said he liked my audition tape and would I do another. For some bloodyminded reason I refused, and the conversation ended cordially, but rather awkwardly.'

Kevin insisted she fly to LA and handed her the role after he described her as 'one of the most beautiful women to come on screen in the last ten years'.

But after the film was released, rather than throw herself into another filming project, Olivia instead decided to travel to the rainforest to study bespectacled bears with her best friend.

Upon her return, she found her star was rising and she went on to star opposite Bill Murray in Rushmore as a sexy teacher who the two main characters are enamoured by, followed by the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense.

She has also found love with long-term partner and Holby City actor Rhashan Stone, who supported her as she battled pancreatic cancer having been misdiagnosed for four years

Despite being in a 'hinterland of miserable singledom', she has since starred in a string of Hollywood films, including The Sixth Sense and X-Men: The Last Stand.

Meanwhile she began dating Rhashan Stone, whom she had met years before at the RSC, and within 18 months the couple were married with a daughter.

But she didn't stop working, telling The Guardian: 'as soon as Roxana was born, my acting dream came true: I got offered three jobs, two of them with no auditioning. All three were unturndownable, so even though my child was six days old, I took them all.'

She starred in An Education, won critical acclaim for her part in Ghost Writer and portrayed a bohemian mother travelling across America in Hanna.

When she was a young aspiring actress, her personal life disintegrated when partner Jonathan ended their seven-year relationship, two weeks before their planned wedding (pictured together)

Despite her resume of highly successful films, she previously said one of the reasons she isn't a household name is because she refused to play the Hollywood game.

In a 2012 interview with the Evening Standard, she said: 'I have been in a situation where I was literally being chased around the sofa and asked to get down on my knees by a studio boss.

'I suppose it is flattering to be offered the opportunity to sleep your way to the top, and be able to refuse it.

'It comes down to how much you want a job and my answer is always not that much.'

Kevin insisted she fly to LA and handed her the role after he described her as 'one of the most beautiful women to come on screen in the last ten years' (pictured together in t he film)

Upon her return, she found her star was rising and she went on to star opposite Bill Murray in Rushmore as a sexy teacher who the two main characters are enamoured by, followed by the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense (pictured with Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense)

She believes holding out for her full fee cost her a role as the Bond girl in Die Another Day, a role which went to Rosamund Pike.

And she refused to move to Los Angeles, instead choosing to stay in London and work from the UK.

She revealed: 'I love the place to go and visit and I love working there, but I haven't got the stamina to maintain myself at the level required to be a regular attendee at award ceremonies and premieres.'

In October 2014, she began to feel unwell after a long summer filming the TV series Manhattan in New Mexico and was diagnosed with lupus.

Despite her resume of highly successful films, she previously said one of the reasons she isn't a household name is because she has refused to play the Hollywood 'game'

While filming The Halcyon in London, Olivia had tests for colon and bowel cancer, which both came back negative - two years later, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer

But, after a year of medication and close scrutiny, she was discharged with a note that said she did not have lupus.

The symptoms persisted into 2016, and, while filming The Halcyon in London, she had tests for colon and bowel cancer, which both came back negative.

She continued trying to see doctors to push for a diagnosis but found in 2017, it began to affect her work.

By February 2018, while filming Counterpart in Berlin, the symptoms became so constant and unmanageable that, during a small gap in filming, she made an appointment for a colonoscopy.

The actress is now happily married to the Holby City actor Rhashan, who has supported her through her cancer battle (pictured together in 2008)

The results came back normal, and she gave up coffee, sugar, alcohol and gluten and never ate after 6pm.

Finally, a CT scan showed a mass taking up half her pancreas and she had half my pancreas, spleen, gallbladder and a big chunk of her liver removed.

In 2019, she was announced ambassador for the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK and she has since been a vocal advocate for the organisation.

It was announced last week Olivia had landed arguably her biggest role yet as Duchess of Cornwall for the fifth and sixth series of The Crown.

She will have personal insight into the character, having met Camilla after her marriage to Charles, by which time she had become the Duchess of Cornwall.

Olivia will play Camilla Parker Bowles in the fifth season of The Crown, which will cover the most volatile period of the couple's relationship: before and after Princess Diana's death (pictured, Camilla in 1992)

Olivia takes over the roles from Emerald Fennell (who won an Oscar last month for her film Promising Young Woman), who played Camilla for the past two seasons of the award-winning Netflix series.

She shot what's known as a 'chemistry test' with Dominic West, who to see if they were compatible on screen together, before she was offered the role  one that's right at the heart of the drama.

She'll join the rest of the 'Royal Family', including Imelda Staunton as the Queen; Jonathan Pryce as the Duke of Edinburgh; Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret, and Elizabeth Debicki as Diana.
Ensuring the service is as good as the food is a crucial part of running a successful restaurant, but as these photos prove, not all customers deserve the best.

In a gallery collated by Bored Panda, people from around the world who work in hospitality revealed the terrible behaviour exhibited by some of their customers.

Some refused to tip and gave fake money and even their phone numbers to the waiting staff instead, while one diner said he would have tipped a waiter 'if they had been straight.'

Others showed poor restaurant etiquette by leaving disgusting tables for staff to clean, smoking indoors, leaving a soiled nappy and even dining barefoot in front of the other patrons.

Write off! Instead of leaving a gratuity, a diner scribbled a message on a napkin and made a crude comment about the server's cleavage

Let's hope they never come back! One left a disgusting table with a dirty diaper for the waiting staff to clean up after them

Diners were shocked when a group of ten left rubbish strewn all over the floor and tables after departing

A racist restaurant customer in Virginia left a note that read 'we only tip citizens' on his receipt

That would put anyone off their meal! A rude customer was spotted dining barefoot in a restaurant

Shouldn't you be quarantining? A customer who had tested positive for Covid-19 still dined at the restaurant and waited until he had paid to reveal it to the staff

Bitter taste: One customer found it funny to dip the waiter's tip into a glass of water and to cover it with a slice of lemon

Hands off! Staff at one restaurant in the US had to write a note on their tip jar warning patrons not to help themselves

Up in smoke! This woman decided to have a crafty cigarette, despite the no smoking policy

Entitled much? A veteran claimed they should be the one to receive a gratuity as thanks for eating out after serving their country

An entitled customer refused to tip because the restaurant asked patrons to wear face masks during the pandemic

Not lovin' it! Parents let their unruly children fill the bins with barbecue sauce and ketchup at McDonald's and got angry at others customers who complained

One woman who was waitressing to fund her higher education was disheartened to find this fake bill with a picture of Donald Trump
An American expat has sparked outrage among Australians by suggesting ways to improve their own country.

Adam Foskey shared his opinions in a recent TikTok video titled: 'Some things Australia needs to learn from America.'

Mr Foskey, who lives Down Under, said card payment machines should be offered at petrol pumps in Australian service stations, a common fixture in American gas stations.

He also called for Mexican restaurants in Australia to serve free corn chips and dips, which are widely available on an unlimited basis across the US.

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American expat Adam Foskey (pictured) has sparked outrage among Australians by suggesting ways to improve their country

Mr Foskey believes overhead traffic lights that hang over streets should be installed across Australia, just as they are in American cities.

He said Australian supermarkets should stock a wider variety of flavours for food such as breakfast cereal, citing his love for pumpkin spiced Cheerios which are only available in the US.

'Paying at the pump  we need to normalise that. Saves time, saves energy,' Mr Foskey said in the video.

'Free chips and salsa at Mexican restaurants  so when you sit down you're immediately greeted with a basket of chips and two free sauces, and that's unlimited throughout the night.'

'Next up we have selection of food flavours in grocery stores  let's increase the selection PLEASE, because sometimes I just need my bowl of pumpkin spiced Cheerios.

'And lastly we have hanging traffic lights  let's put those traffic lights over the street so people eight cars back can see what's going on and be in the know.'

Well-intentioned or otherwise, Mr Foskey's observations - which have racked up 96,700 views since they were uploaded online less than 24 hours ago - have drawn harsh criticism from viewers.

Mr Foskey said Australia should offer card payment machines at petrol pumps in service stations, a common fixture in American gas stations (stock image)

'Australians actually like each other though. We don't mind going into the petrol station and talking to the attendant,' one woman replied.

'How about you worry about America first, buddy,' said a second.

'Come back to me when you guys have gun control, free healthcare and Paypass debit cards everywhere,' added a third, referencing America's notorious reputation for violent crime and mass shootings.

Australian gun control legislation was transformed in 1996 after the Port Arthur shooting, when lone gunman Martin Bryant opened fire on shop owners and tourists with two semi-automatic, leaving 35 dead and 23 wounded in southern Tasmania.

While laws vary from state to state, rules remain strict across the country and owners are required to carry a firearm licence,

Mr Foskey also believes overhead traffic lights that hang over streets should be installed across Australia, just as they are in American cities

Licence holders must demonstrate a 'genuine reason' for holding a gun which does not include self-defense.

There have been 236 school shootings in the US since 2010 alone.

Others hit out at Mr Foskey's claim that Mexican restaurants in Australia should serve food for free.

'Wait, so American restaurants can afford to give free stuff, but they can't afford to pay a reasonable wage?' one person wrote.

Mr Foskey called for Mexican restaurants in Australia to serve free corn chips and dips, which are widely available on an unlimited basis across the US

He also said Australian supermarkets should stock a wider variety of flavours for food such as breakfast cereal, citing his love for pumpkin spiced Cheerios which are only available in the US

In America, tipping is often the primary source of income for those working in service and hospitality industries, where basic pay can be as low as $2.13 (USD) an hour.

That's the minimum an employer is required to pay a 'tipped' employee in direct wages if $2.13 combined with tips equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25 (USD) per hour, according to the US Department of Labor.

Waiters and other restaurant staff can earn three to four times more from tips than wages, USA Today reported in 2015.

In Australia, where the federal minimum wage is $740.80 per week which equates to roughly $19.49 (AUD) an hour, tipping is optional and the exception as opposed to the rule.
A nutritionist has shared her favourite recipe for one-tray baked pumpkin soup, and she said it's the perfect dish for autumn lunches when you're in a rush.

Rebecca Gawthorne, from Sydney, explained that soup is one of the best things you can feed yourself if you're in a rush but want a nutritious dish, as they are often packed full of vegetables without you even realising it.

'This super easy one tray baked pumpkin soup is my new favourite meal,' Rebecca posted on Instagram.

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A nutritionist has shared her favourite recipe for one-tray baked pumpkin soup, and she said it's the perfect dish for autumn lunches when you're in a rush (Rebecca Gawthorne pictured)

'This super easy one tray baked pumpkin soup is my new favourite meal,' Rebecca posted on Instagram (soup pictured)

To make the dish, you'll need some pumpkin, garlic cloves, ginger, a brown onion, chickpeas, chilli flakes, cumin, turmeric, olive oil, coriander and coconut milk.

You'll also need around 45 minutes to spare and the dish should last several days in the fridge for meal prep, if stored correctly.

To make the soup, simply pre-heat the oven, line a baking tray with baking paper and chop up your veg before spreading it over the tray.

Rebecca said you should bake it for around 40 minutes or until the pumpkin is 'golden' in colour.

To make the dish, you'll need pumpkin, garlic cloves, ginger, a brown onion, chickpeas, chilli flakes, cumin, turmeric, olive oil, coriander and coconut milk (veggies pictured in the oven)

How to make Rebecca's one-tray oven baked pumpkin soup INGREDIENTS Rebecca shared the simple recipe (finished result pictured), which is filled with veg Serves 3-6 2 cups pumpkin, diced 4 garlic cloves, peeled 1 knob ginger (about 3cm), peeled 1 large brown onion, peeled and chopped 1 tin chickpeas, drained 1 Tbs chilli flakes 2 tsp cumin 1 Tbs turmeric 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped 1 can coconut milk METHOD 1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with paper. 2. Spread pumpkin, garlic, ginger, onion and chickpeas over tray. Sprinkle with spices and oil. 4. Bake for 40 minutes or until they turn golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 5. Set 1/2 of the baked chickpeas aside. Then, place remaining baked veggies in a high speed blender with coriander and coconut milk. Blitz until creamy. 6. Serve into bowls, top with chickpeas and garnish with coriander and chilli flakes if desired. Enjoy! Source: Rebecca Gawthorne Advertisement

Hundreds who saw the simple recipe were impressed and said they couldn't wait to try it for themselves (pictured cooking)

Then, just remove the tray from the oven, set half of the chickpeas aside and blend the remaining vegetables in a high speed blender with the coriander and coconut milk until they're creamy.

Finally, serve the soup in bowls, top it with the remaining chickpeas and garnish with coriander and chilli flakes.

Hundreds who saw the simple recipe were impressed and said they couldn't wait to try it for themselves.

'This looks perfect, I'm going to try it,' one commenter wrote.

'Yum, thanks for the inspiration,' another added.

A third wrote: 'Obsessed with pumpkin soup and definitely going to save this recipe'.
Carrie Symonds joined fiance Boris Johnson at the polls yesterday, wearing a 395 dress that fashion insiders suggested may have been picked for its 'woke' credentials.

The Prime Minister and his fiancee put on a united front as they cast their ballots at Methodist Central Hall in London amid the dramatic fallout from their lavish flat refurbishment.

And now it has emerged that Miss Symonds, 33, wore a 395 dress from a 'woke' London fashion label that boasts of being environmentally friendly and supports women in the 'male-dominated' fashion industry.

The Liberty print dress comes from O Pioneers, which has become a favourite of fashion editors because of its commitment to sustainability.

It specialises in using past season or end-of-line fabrics and off-cuts which might otherwise end up in landfill. The label, set up in trendy Camden, north London, uses local seamstresses rather than having items made abroad.

Carrie Symonds joined fiance Boris Johnson at the polls yesterday, wearing a 395 dress that fashion insiders suggested may have been picked for its 'woke' credentials

The 395 dress from a 'woke' north London fashion label that Carrie Symonds wore to vote yesterday

The label's website says it supports women and 'female-led businesses'.

The couple smiled and waved for the cameras as they voted yesterday, amid intensifying scrutiny over the 58,000 refit of their Downing Street residence.

Miss Symonds was said to have been the driving force behind the lavish refurbishment as she was reportedly keen to dump a John Lewis furniture nightmare inherited from Theresa May.

It has since transpired that Britain's top civil servant Simon Case only discovered Boris Johnson wanted a charity to pay for his Downing Street flat makeover when he read about it in the Daily Mail.

Former royal aide Mr Case decided to look into the matter further and discovered that Tory donor Lord Brownlow of Shurlock Row had been lined up to chair the planned Downing Street charity and had asked two other peers to join the board.

Mr Case had a meeting with the potential trustees, former Thatcher adviser Lord Powell and senior Labour peer Baroness Jay, to find out what was happening.

Mr Case is now conducting one of several investigations into how the costly redecoration of the Number 11 residence was funded.

Miss Symonds, 33, and the Prime Minister went to Westminster's Methodist Central Hall yesterday to cast their local election vote

A Cabinet Office spokesman confirmed: 'The Cabinet Secretary only became aware of the Trust in late February.'

The inquiry follows a string of revelations in the Mail suggesting a 58,000 cost overrun may have been paid originally by the Conservative Party before being covered by Tory donor Lord Brownlow.

Mr Johnson told Ministers that he had settled the bill with his own money, but has ducked questions about who originally paid out when the work at 11, Downing Street was completed last year.

Failure to declare donations is an offence under electoral law, punishable by fines of up to 20,000.

The Electoral Commission last week opened a formal investigation into the funding of the lavish refurbishment of the couple's official flat.

'We are now satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred,' announced the watchdog.

It has sweeping powers to demand documents and interview witnesses under caution. Failure to comply or tell the truth is a criminal offence.

No serving prime minister has ever been interviewed under caution in relation to an alleged breach of the law.
You can now have a tub of espresso martini and chocolate mudcake flavoured ice cream delivered right to your door in time for Mother's Day.

The team of gelato lovers at Ice Cream Gifts are behind the innovative pints of dessert.

The espresso martini flavour was launched alongside another boozy offering, baklava and orange blossom, in time for Sunday.

You can now have a tub of espresso martini and chocolate mudcake flavoured ice cream delivered right to your door in time for Mother's Day

'Yum, Mother's Day sorted at my house,' one woman said after eyeing off the new baklava flavoured pint.

But the dessert lovers also have booze-free flavours on their ever-changing menu including Ferrero Rocher, Milo and brownie and Biscoff.

There is also a Caramilk and Kit Kat option which has proven very popular with their 17000 Instagram fans.

'Can confirm this is delicious,' one woman said.

Others spammed the company's post asking if they could deliver to the Gold Coast.

Currently Ice Cream Gifts, which is a sister company to Dessert Box, only delivers to Sydney and Wollongong.

Each gift of ice cream comes in a box with a cute card with instructions on how to 'enjoy your gift'.

The team of gelato lovers at Ice Cream Gifts are behind the innovative pints of dessert

But the dessert lovers also have booze-free flavours on their everchanging menu including Ferrero Rocher, Milo and brownie and Biscoff

Step one, open your box, the card reads.

Step two, take out the ice cream and let it rest for ten minutes or until you can just slightly squeeze the pints.

Step three, grab a spoon and enjoy.

The Mother's Day offering from the ice cream company comes after the team at Dessert Box gave donuts a boozy makeover, adding a slick Rose glaze to your favourite pastry in time for Mother's Day.

The donuts come as box set which includes three heart-shaped donuts, three special Rose glazed donuts, some chocolate and a bottle of Petite Petale French Rose, courtesy of Jimmy Brings.

The boxes are just $69 and can come with a cute personalised message to help mums know how their kids really feel.

Currently Ice Cream Gifts, which is a sister company to Dessert Box, only delivers to Sydney and Wollongong

The team at dessert box have given donuts a boozy makeover, adding a slick Rose glaze to your favourite pastry in time for Mother's Day

The sweets lovers at the dessert box say the donuts are the perfect way for mum to enjoy some alcohol without the kids knowing.

They describe the boxes as game changers for the annual celebration of mums - which falls on May 9 this year.

And it appears the newly released Mother's Day has already sparked plenty of interest.

'They put wine on a donut - I have never been more excited,' one woman said of the Rose glazed pastries.

'My mum would love these,' said another.

'You guys can share the grog and I will have the donuts,' one mum wrote on a post showing off the Mother's Day box.

Others tagged their siblings - to get them to put in for the gift.

The boxes are just $69 and can come with a cute personalised message to help mums know how their kids really feel

The donuts come as box set which includes three heart-shaped donuts, three special Rose glazed donuts, some chocolate and a bottle of Petite Petale French Rose, courtesy of Jimmy Brings

'This is perfect for mum, her two favourite things, wine and donuts,' one woman said.

Others left huge hints on the post.

'This mumma would love this,' one woman said.

'I want Rose flavoured donuts for Mother's Day - how good would that be?' said another, even less subtle mum.

'Well, wouldn't this add a buzz to our brunch,' said another.

Others said if they get flowers after seeing the rose flavoured donuts they would be 'super upset'.

The post showing off the boozy donut box had 558 likes in less than four hours.

The box is one of 34 Mother's Day offering from the Aussie, family-owned business.

The rose donuts are a limited time offering for Mother's Day.
A New Zealand animal rescue shelter is begging dog lovers to foster adorable puppies abandoned by their owners.

The Saving Hope Foundation in Silverdale, 30 kilometres north of Auckland on the country's North Island, is in dire need of temporary homes for the Staffordshire terrier pups after their pregnant mother was found wandering the streets.

Volunteer Bronte Anderson shared an impassioned plea on Facebook, saying the rescue centre is full with more dogs expected to arrive over the weekend.

Ms Anderson told Daily Mail Australia the shelter is also desperate for donations to fund the animals' care.

A New Zealand animal rescue shelter is begging dog lovers to foster adorable puppies (one pictured) abandoned by their owners

The Saving Hope Foundation in Silverdale, 30 kilometres north of Auckland on the country's North Island, is in dire need of temporary homes for the Staffordshire terrier pups

She said the bulk of funding currently comes straight from the pockets of the charity's founder, Janine Hinton.

Ms Hinton told Daily Mail Australia she has 'about 200 dogs' in her care at any one time.

'It's just crazy,' she said.

'We need more fosters and funds. We had a mum come in yesterday with five puppies and we spent the whole day trying to save the life of one of the puppies who sadly passed away last night.'

Ms Hinton said she has seen dogs arrive at the shelter with broken legs, severe malnourishment and injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.

'It's just heartbreaking,' she said. 'I'm so tired of it.'

The rescue centre is full with more dogs expected to arrive over the weekend

The puppies were born at the shelter after their pregnant mother (pictured) was found wandering the streets

Those interested in lending a hand can apply by filling out a form on the shelter's website.

Dozens have already pledged their support online, with one woman saying she is happy to take two.

'I would take them all if I could,' said another.
When making a cup of you should never pour milk in the cup first, use hot water that's been boiled more than once or rush a good brew.

But according to Yorkshire Tea's leading tea taster, Suzy Garraghan, who lives and works out of Yorkshire in the UK, the rest is up to you.

The veteran tea drinker has been tasting brews professionally for over 12 years - she sat down for a virtual cuppa with FEMAIL on Thursday to discuss the do's and don'ts of a proper brew.

Yorkshire tea's leading tea taster, Suzy Garraghan, shared her tasting tips with Femail

The veteran tea taster likes hers served the colour of a Werther's original

Yorkshire Tea's experts say you should always use freshly boiled water when making a cuppa

The biggest no, no is using pre-boiled water, according to Suzy who admits she is 'quite liberal when it comes to tea making'.

She likes to boil fresh water each time and says if you boil the same water more than once the oxygen becomes depleted which can leave the tea tasting flat.

The next thing most people do wrong is rush the brew.

'I hope you're not just brewing it for 30 seconds at home,' she said.

Before revealing the optimum amount of time needed to brew a good cup of tea is four minutes, if you drink it with milk and two minutes if you enjoy it black.

'Milk really compliments Yorkshire tea,' she said, whether it be cow's milk or a plant-based alternative.

She said the longer it is left the more likely the malty flavours developed on the bush in East Africa will come through.

The expert says dunking a biscuit into a cup of tea is perfectly acceptable

Suzy, pictured in the tea tasting room, tastes one thousand brews every day

Suzy also doesn't believe in 'bashing around the teabag' when the tea is brewing, preferring to give it a light twirl with her spoon before removing the bag from the cup.

This is when you should add the milk to the tea.

Milk is added last because water needs to be 100C for the tea to brew properly and adding milk to the cup first would bring the temperature down too far.

Suzy tastes a thousand teas each day, slurping the warm liquid from her tasting spoon before swirling it around her mouth and over her tongue.

Poll Where do you sit on the Yorkshire tea colour scale? Why bother The whole cow Nan's house Werther's original Just peachy No! That's coffee Where do you sit on the Yorkshire tea colour scale? Why bother 1 votes

The whole cow 2 votes

Nan's house 7 votes

Werther's original 27 votes

Just peachy 18 votes

No! That's coffee 4 votes Now share your opinion





'You can feel you like tea long before you can put an attribute to it,' she said.

'It is very much a sensory experience, drinking tea.'

The core rules about milk, fresh water and brew time are the only three Suzy is really set on - she loves when people make tea the way they like it.

The idea of reusing a teabag and keeping it on a saucer for later didn't phase the veteran tea taster.

Neither did the idea of dunking a biscuit into a steaming cup of her favourite brew.

'Unless it is a chocolate biscuit, but that is because I don't take sugar in my tea,' she clarified.

Adding ice to cool it down, or waiting for the temperature to drop on its own are both valid options as is adding cool water.

'You might want to make it a bit stronger if you are going to add ice or cold water,' she said - because more liquid means weaker tea.

Each teabag can properly service 330mls of water, she said, so if you have a bigger cup more is needed.

She has been a taster for 12 years and travelled all over the world with her job

They have three varieties available in Australia including Yorkshire Tea, Proper Strong and Yorkshire Gold which is their special edition brew

Suzy doesn't just taste tea, she also travels the world, mostly to East Africa and India to buy tea and build relationships with producers.

She overseas the farmers picking the crops and checks in on the oxidisation process which transforms the tea leaves into the drinkable beverage loved by most of the world.

'Tea is the second-most commonly drunken beverage in the world after water,' she revealed.

Yorkshire Tea is the number one brand in the UK. They have three varieties available in Australia including Yorkshire Tea, Proper Strong and Yorkshire Gold which is their special edition brew.
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Two Duchesses made a foray into publishing this week, with Kate Middleton releasing a volume of photography charting people's lives during the pandemic, while Meghan Markle announced her first children's book.

It's unclear how Meghan's book, which goes on sale next month, is going to perform, but Kate is already reigning supreme in the publishing stakes with her book Hold Still becoming an instant bestseller.

To mark the release, the Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is meeting with contributors at the National Portrait Gallery and this morning launched a royal treasure hunt in collaboration with the Book Fairies organisation.

Kate, along with judges of the Hold Still competition and participants, have left 'copies at places that gave us hope during lockdowns' around the UK, with a letter from the royal tucked inside.

Wearing a bespoke red coat from Eponine, who charge 1,650 for similar styles, Kate was filmed placing a copy next to a fountain outside Kensington Palace.

The mother-of-three, a keen photographer, started her campaign during the first lockdown last year to ask the public to submit images which captured the period and the result is Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020, features 100 final 'poignant and personal' portraits selected from 31,000 entrants.

The proceeds from her book will be equally split to support the work of the National Portrait Gallery and Mind, the mental health charity while Meghan's is believed to be a commercial venture.

To mark the release of her photobook Hold Still, the Duchess of Cambridge, 39, is meeting with contributors at the National Portrait Gallery and this morning launched a royal treasure hunt in collaboration with the Book Fairies organisation

The royal book fairy! The mother-of-three launched a royal treasure hunt today as she joined her fellow Hold Still judges in leaving copies of her photography book hidden around the UK with a letter tucked inside

Kate Middleton visited the National Portrait Gallery as well as the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel today as she launched the photobook

The judges and participants of the Hold Still contest have been given a copy to hide in their local community. Each has been wrapped in a colourful ribbon and bears The Book Fairies sticker on the front (pictured, one person hides their copy in a mystery location)

The Duchess appeared animated as she arrived at the gallery in central London today, cutting a striking figure in a vibrant red coat from London boutique Eponine.

The piece, which is from their Autumn/Winter 2018 collection but hasn't been seen on the Duchess in public before, features a mandarin collar and pretty button detailing.

The Duchess paired the striking coat with simple brown accessories, including her new DeMellier micro-handbag, and opted for a pleated tan midi skirt beneath the coat.

Online, the 295 bag is described as a 'perfectly proportioned statement piece' which can fit 'handbag essentials' including 'most phones' as well as keys and a small purse.

Her long brunette locks were styled into her signature bouncy blow dry style as she placed the book onto the ground.

During the visit, Kate met with Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, who has confirmed that the final 100 Hold Still images will become part of the Gallerys national Collection.

The Duchess also saw examples of other photographs from the Gallerys Collection which demonstrate how photography has been used since the 19th century to document individuals experiences and key moments in our nations social history.

She also met with Hold Still entrants, Lotti Sofia, Niaz Maleknia and Claudia Burton, whose photographs feature in the book, to hear more about the stories behind their photographs and their love of photography.

As she marked the launch of her photobook earlier today, the Duchess visited the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London where she was given a tour by Catsou Roberts, Director of Vital Arts for Barts Health NHS Trust

During the tour, Kate learned how the Royal London Hospital commission art by its award-winning Arts & Health service, Vital Arts, and display it throughout its wards, waiting rooms and corridors to enhance the environment and, in turn, improve the patient and staff experience

The Duchess could be seen carefully studying several pieces of the artwork as she spoke with Catsou during the tour of the hospital

The Duchess saw examples of arts projects and installations at the hospital delivered by the Vital Arts programme during the tour

Meghan Markle's first book The Bench The Duchess of Sussex , 39, revealed this week she is publishing her first book, called The Bench Kate's book has been released days after the Duchess of Sussex, 39, revealed this week she is publishing her first book, called The Bench, which is set to hit shelves next month. The story is inspired by a poem Meghan wrote for Harry on Father's Day the month after Archie was born and will explore the 'special bond between father and son' as 'seen through a mother's eyes'. A publicity release said Meghan, who chose to use her title on the cover of the book, wanted the story to be told through an 'inclusive lens' and will feature a 'diverse group of father and sons'. In one illustration, a red-headed soldier wearing an American-style Army cap is seen holding his young son aloft as a woman watches on crying from a window. This is a likely reference to her and Harry, who served in Afghanistan with the Blues and Royals. The words read: 'This is your bench, Where life begins, For you and our son our baby, our kin.' Popular culture expert Nick Ede told FEMAIL that the Duchess would've likely been paid between a 250,000 to 500,000 advance to write the book The book will go on sale on June 8 priced at 12.99 (though it's already been reduced to 9.99 at Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones) and is illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson. Popular culture expert Nick Ede told FEMAIL that the Duchess would've likely been paid between a 250,000 to 500,000 advance to write the book. Sources told Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl Meghan plans to write more books in the future, revealing: 'She wanted to have a go at writing a childrens book first and depending on the success of this, there will be more. She is also keen to write books for adults too.' In one illustration, a red-headed soldier wearing an American-style Army cap is seen holding his young son aloft However royal experts have questioned if it will be popular among children. Speaking to True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat, Angela Levin - author of Harry: Conversations with the Prince - said the subject matter of Meghan's tale is 'not interesting' to children. 'Children's books are directed at children. They like elephants, they like nasty tigers. They do not want a lecture about how different your relationship is with your father, whatever level of society you are at,' she claimed. Advertisement

Later, she visited The Royal London Hospital to hear how art is commissioned by its award-winning Arts & Health service, Vital Arts, and displayed throughout its wards, waiting rooms and corridors to enhance the environment and, in turn, improve the patient and staff experience.

The Duchess saw examples of arts projects and installations at the hospital delivered by the Vital Arts programme.

She also heard more about how the National Portrait Gallery has collaborated with the hospital to bring workshops to young patients and their families through the Gallerys Hospital Programme.

Kate spoke with a small group of hospital staff who told her about their experiences of working throughout the pandemic, and showed examples of some photographs which have been taken by staff from Barts Health NHS Trust to document this period in history.

At the peak of the second wave, The Royal London was caring for COVID-19 patients from across North East London including 150 patients who required critical care, and treated more than double the number of COVID-19 patients they did during the first wave.

The Duchess also viewed a framed portrait of Melanie, March 2020 by Johannah Churchill, which appears on the front cover of the Hold Still book.

The portrait, which has been gifted to The Royal London by The Duchess and the National Portrait Gallery, will hang in the hospitals main corridor as a reminder of the phenomenal efforts of NHS staff throughout the pandemic. Further portraits will be given to locations around the UK for public display over the coming months.

Kate's book, created in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, is available in UK bookshops and online from today, one year since the project was first launched.

Earlier today, The Book Fairies shared photographs of the Duchess as she placed the book outside Kensington Palace, tweeting: 'We are delighted that The Duchess of Cambridge has not only harnessed the power of The Book Fairies today but became a book fairy herself to hide copies of Hold Still!'

Another tweet from The Book Fairies, an organisation set up in 2017 which encourages people to share their books, revealed one of the Hold Still books had been wrapped in a green ribbon and hidden outside a hospital.

Other Hold Still participants and judges were quick to reveal snaps as they hid their copies of the book for others to find.

One person in Bishop Auckland posted an image of the book nestled in a flower bed, while another person shared images of a copy hidden in Northern Ireland.

The Book Fairies is a literary movement which urges readers to share books which they have read and enjoyed by leaving them in public spaces for others to find. Book fairies leave literary gifts all around the UK, and worldwide, every day, and to date have distributed over 300,000 books.

And it wasn't long before members of the general public started finding Kate's books in different locations across the UK.

Twitter user Richard Ovenden shared a snap as he found a book on his daily walk and posted a photograph of the letter written by the Duchess within.

It reads: 'Dear Finder, The Hold Still book documents a photograph project which captured a portrait of our nation as we lived through the first Covid-19 lockdown last year.

'The images tell the stories of the challenges we all faced, but also how we came together in the most extraordinary times.

'I am proud to have worked closely with the National Portrait Gallery on this project and thrilled that the Book Fairies across the country are returning the images to the communities at the heart of Hold Still.'

Signing the letter off, 'Catherine', she wrote: 'Once you've finished looking through the book, please leave it somewhere else in your community for the next person to enjoy.'

Meanwhile the book immediately shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller list.

As well as being number two on the charts overall, the photo book was number one in the Art, Architecture & Photography.

Net proceeds raised from the sale of the book will be split between the mental health charity Mind and the National Portrait Gallery.

The funds will help to support arts and mental health projects across the UK, including Mind's work in local communities and the National Portrait Gallery's education and community projects.

Earlier this week, Kate shared a video which flicked through the pages of the book to their Instagram, with the caption: 'Coming this Friday #HoldStill2020'.

The fast-paced video shared by the Cambridges on Instagram showed the different pages of the Hold Still book, and some of the 100 portraits that were selected.

Excited royal fans praised the Duchess's work, as some said she was 'smashing it'. 'Wonderful. I love the way this woman goes about her business,' one said.

The new book includes an introduction from Kate, in which she explains why launching Hold Still was so important to her.

She writes: 'When we look back at the COVID-19 pandemic in decades to come, we will think of the challenges we all faced  the loved ones we lost, the extended isolation from our families and friends and the strain placed on our key workers.

'But we will also remember the positives: the incredible acts of kindness, the helpers and heroes who emerged from all walks of life, and how together we adapted to a new normal.

'Through Hold Still, I wanted to use the power of photography to create a lasting record of what we were all experiencing  to capture individuals' stories and document significant moments for families and communities as we lived through the pandemic.'

She goes on: 'For me, the power of the images is in the poignant and personal stories that sit behind them. I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak to some of the photographers and sitters, to hear their stories first-hand - from moments of joy, love and community spirit, to deep sadness, pain, isolation and loss.

'A common theme of those conversations was how lockdown reminded us about the importance of human connection and the huge value we place on the relationships we have with the people around us.

As she marked the launch of her photobook earlier today, the Duchess visited the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London

During her visit to the hospital she learned about how art is commissioned by its award-winning Arts & Health service, Vital Arts, and spoke with members of staff about working in the pandemic

The Duchess was animated as she studied photographs and spoke about the publication of her Hold Still book during a visit to the hospital in Whitechapel earlier today

Kate was animatedly as she chatted with staff members about the importance of art within the hospital earlier today

The Duchess, who has been working on the Hold Still project for over a year, gestured widely as she launched the Hold Still book with a visit to the hospital today

Meanwhile the mother-of-three could be seen scrolling through an iPad as she chatted about the publication of the book earlier today

Kate, who has been working on her Hold Still project for a year, appeared in high spirits as she spoke with members of staff at the hospital

Kate was given a tour of the hospital as she learned more about the Vital Arts programme and saw examples of arts projects and installations at the hospital delivered by the scheme

During her visits today, the Duchess gave a lesson in how to perfect mask makeup, with a soft smokey eye and bold eyeliner and brows (pictured)

The photograph of nurse Melanie Senior, taken by Johanna Churchill, which Kate chose to be the cover of her new photobook, is on display at the Royal London Hospital

And earlier, Kate visited the National Portrait Gallery where it was confirmed the final 100 Hold Still images will become part of the Gallerys national Collection

The Duchess could be seen touching her hand to her heart as she saw a picture of the late Sir Captain Tom Moore in the pages of the photo book

During her visit today, Kate met with Hold Still entrants, Lotti Sofia, Niaz Maleknia and Claudia Burton, whose photographs feature in the book, to hear more about the stories behind their photographs and their love of photography

The mother-of-two could be seen gesturing as she spoke about the book, which was released earlier this morning and is already the top of the Amazon bestseller list

The Duchess spoke with the curator as she saw a large photograph of Sir Captain Tom Moore alongside during a visit to the archive in the National Portrait Gallery

The Duchess also saw examples of other photographs from the Gallerys Collection which demonstrate how photography has been used since the 19th century to document individuals experiences and key moments in our nations social history

Kate seemed particularly interested in the archives at the National Portrait Gallery, where she was animated while speaking with members of staff

The mother-of-three could be seen chatting with curator Magda Keaney during a visit to the archive in the National Portrait Gallery in central London to mark the publication of the 'Hold Still' book

'Although we were physically apart, these images remind us that, as families, communities and as a nation, we need each other more than we had ever realised.'

She concludes by thanking everyone who took the time to submit an image, adding: 'Your stories are the most crucial part of this project.

'I hope that the final 100 photographs showcase the experiences and emotions borne during this time in history, pay tribute to the awe-inspiring efforts of all who have worked to protect those around them, and provide a space for us to pause and reflect upon this unparalleled period.'

As well as showcasing the final 100 images and the stories that accompany each of them, the book - which has been put together with support from the Co-op - will look back at highlights from the community exhibition which took the portraits to billboards and outdoor poster sites in 80 towns, cities and areas in October 2020.

The Duchess appeared animated as she arrived at the gallery in central London today, cutting a striking figure in a vibrant red coat from London boutique Eponine

The Duchess donned a medical face mask as she chatted with staff of the National Portrait Gallery during the appearance earlier today

Kate opted for her usual natural makeup for the occasion, and styled her long brunette locks into her signature bouncy blow dry (pictured)

The Duchess carried a 295 trendy micro-handbag from DeMellier for the occasion, with stunning gold detailing across the buckle (left and right)

During the visit, Kate is set to meet Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, who has confirmed that the final 100 Hold Still images will become part of the Gallerys national Collection

The Duchess, who has been working on her Hold Still project for over a year, appeared animated as she chatted with staff at the National Portrait Gallery today

During her visit today, Kate met with Hold Still entrants, Lotti Sofia, Niaz Maleknia and Claudia Burton, whose photographs feature in the book, to hear more about the stories behind their photographs and their love of photography.

Over the course of the project the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including a Black Lives Matter protester holding a sign reading: 'Be on the right side of history.'

Another of the snaps was a black and white image showing a man embracing his daughter, while one shows a child kissing their godmother through a window.

Meanwhile others featured a student holding her exam qualifications, and a young girl seen drawing a huge rainbow onto a window pane.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, director of The National Portrait Gallery said: 'The public response to Hold Still, which was spearheaded by our Patron, the Duchess of Cambridge, has been phenomenal.

The Duchess of Cambridge donned a medical facemask as she visited the National Portrait Gallery earlier today to mark the release of her new book

Kate Middleton could be seen browsing her phone as she made her way to the gallery in central London today

The mother-of-three could be seen adjusting her facemask as she settled into the car journey on the way to the gallery

The Duchess smoothed down her facemask as she travelled to the National Portrait Gallery to launch the book today

'The photographs submitted have helped to create a unifying and cathartic portrait of life in lockdown. We are honoured to have been able to share a selection of these photographs with the nation, first through the online and community exhibition and now through this new publication.

'The proceeds raised from the book will help us to continue to care for and share our national Collection and to provide free access, inspiration and learning, through the work we do at the Gallery and our UK wide community and education projects.

'Hold Still is an important record of this extraordinary moment in our history  expressed through the faces of the nation  and we hope will remain so for generations to come.'

Let the search begin! The Duke and Duchess shared a video of Kate placing a copy of the book outside her home of Kensington Palace

Copies of the book have been hidden around the country by the Hold Still judges and participants in different locations that 'gave them hope' during lockdown (pictured left, a book hidden in Bishop Auckland, and right, on a distinctive bench)

Another tweet from The Book Fairies revealed one of the Hold Still books had been wrapped in a green ribbon and hidden outside a hospital

Excited social media users were quick to share snaps of their photobooks hidden in various locations across the country (left and right)

And it wasn't long before members of the general public started finding the hidden books, with one revealing the letter written by the Duchess and tucked within

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, added: 'The coronavirus pandemic is a mental health emergency as well as a physical one. The devastating loss of life, the impact of lockdown, and any recession that lies ahead means there has never been a more crucial time to prioritise our mental health.

'This inspiring collection of portraits illustrates the impact of the pandemic in all its complexity, but also how creativity, art and human connection can help us find meaning in unprecedented challenges.

'Thank you to everyone who submitted a portrait to tell such a moving and deeply human story of the pandemic. And to the National Portrait Gallery and The Duchess of Cambridge for choosing Mind as a joint beneficiary of proceeds from the sales of this book.'

Kate (pictured), a keen amateur photographer, wrote the introduction to the book, which showcases pictures from her Hold Still campaign of 2020

Earlier this week she shared a glimpse of her photography book Hold Still (pictured) ahead of its release today

As well as being number two on the charts overall, the photo book was number one in the Art, Architecture & Photography

Kate's book has been released days after Meghan announced she would be releasing a children's book, which will be published on June 8 by Random House, inspired by a poem she wrote for Prince Harry at the time of the birth of their son Archie.

It will be illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson, who called it a 'celebration of the relationship between father and son.'

Kate's book has been released days after Meghan announced she would be releasing a children's book, which will be published on June 8 by Random House, inspired by a poem she wrote for Prince Harry at the time of the birth of their son Archie.

It will be illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson, who called it a 'celebration of the relationship between father and son.'

The book showed portraits taken during the pandemic (pictured), and will be released on Friday online and across UK bookstores

The new book includes an introduction from Kate, in which she explains why launching Hold Still was so important to her

The announcement comes after the UK marked the one-year anniversary of the first national lockdown earlier this week. Pictured: an image from the new book

A publicity release said Meghan, who chose to use her title on the cover of the book, wanted the story to be told through an 'inclusive lens' and will feature a 'diverse group of father and sons'.

In one illustration, a red-headed soldier wearing an American-style Army cap is seen holding his young son aloft as a woman watches on crying from a window. This is a likely reference to her and Harry, who served in Afghanistan with the Blues and Royals. The words read: 'This is your bench, Where life will begin, For you and our son our baby, our kin'.

In another, a father and son can be seen from a birds-eye view as they rest together on a park bench.

Sources told Vanity Fair's Katie Nicholl Meghan plans to write more books in the future, revealing: 'She wanted to have a go at writing a childrens book first and depending on the success of this, there will be more. She is also keen to write books for adults too.'

Net proceeds raised from the sale of the book (pictured) will be split between the mental health charity Mind and the National Portrait Gallery

Over the course of the project the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including one of a young girl seen drawing a huge rainbow onto a window pane, which made it into the book (pictured)
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan reportedly wants blasphemy laws passed globally in the height of violent protests in their country.

The International Christian Concern (ICC) reported last week that Khan has enticed countries who are a majority of Muslims to act together for the passing of blasphemy laws to pressure Western countries from speaking out against Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

According to ICC, Pakistan's blasphemy laws are one of the most notorious in the world due to its "harsh punishements." The blasphemy laws of Pakistan are actually used to persecute religious minorities in their country.

"Pakistan's blasphemy laws are among the world's most notorious for their harsh punishments and rampant misuse as tools for the persecution of religious minorities. The laws are systematically used to oppress Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and others, serving as a social, political, and legal muzzle on those who do not subscribe to the majority belief in Islam," ICC said.

"Khan's call for the expansion of blasphemy laws around the world comes as the TLP, a radical political party, is calling for the French ambassador to be expelled from Pakistan after French President Emmanuel Macron defended the free speech rights of a French magazine following its publication of a cartoon depicting Muhammed," ICC added. "The calls have turned violent, now being supported by protests reacting to Khan's refusal to eject the French ambassador."

As previously reported, Pakistani Christians were actually worried that they will experience persecution due to calls made by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan supporters to the Pakistani government to expel the French ambassador.

"Christians (could be) symbolically targetted in this unrest and in the violence that is going on. One of the challenges for Christians in Pakistan is that they are often seen as a Western religion. They (TLP) have animosity towards Western ideas, so Christians could potentially be caught in the crossfire of that, or they could be targeted," revealed by The Voice Of The Martyrs Media Relations And Message Integration Chief Todd Nettleton in an interview with Mission News Network last month.

In early April, two Christian nurses received death threats and faced blasphemy charges after being accused of scratching a sticker with Quran verses in Pakistan's Civil Hospital. The nurse, Maryam Lal, and a third year student, Navish Arooj, were accused by a Muslim co-worker for vandalizing the hospital wall that had Quran verses on it. The police arrested the nurses and then charged them with blasphemy.

Another Christian, Pastor Raja Warris, was actually charged with blasphemy in January for a post made in Facebook. Warris posted that "Muslims claim to be critical of Islam" and was bashed for it by the Muslim community. Although Warris removed the post and apologized for offending Muslims, police officials filed blasphemy charges against Warris for "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings."

According to the ICC, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) published recommendations last week to the Department of State to designate Pakistan as a "Country of Particular Concern for its severe and ongoing violations of religious freedom."

ICC highlighted that the blasphemy laws used to "oppress religious minorities" was one of the leading causes why the USCIRF recommended Pakistan's classification.
Prince Harry 'knew what he was doing' by agreeing to his and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview and 'wanted to rock the boat', a royal expert has claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex sent shockwaves through the Royal Family in March when they accused the Firm of institutional racism, alleging one member of the family questioned what colour their son Archie's skin would be.

Harry, 36, also claimed Prince Charles, 72, and brother Prince William, 39, are 'trapped' within the system, and that his father stopped taking his calls post-Megxit.

Speaking to Page Six, royal biographer Ingrid Seward said the Duke 'knew what he was doing', adding: 'I can swear to you that, and he wanted to rock that boat.

Prince Harry 'knew what he was doing' by agreeing to his and Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview and 'wanted to rock the boat', a royal expert has claimed

'Quite why, I don't understand, but he did want to. And then he did, and I don't think he's surprised by the repercussions or that he regrets it for a moment.'

Ms Seward, whose latest book Prince Philip Revealed was published six months before the Duke of Edinburg died aged 99 on April 9, admitted she is puzzled as to why the couple chose to open up to Oprah.

She also said she finds it 'difficult to understand' what point Meghan, 39, was trying to make when she claimed she felt suicidal while pregnant with Archie, but palace staff allegedly ignored her pleas for help.

'You don't go to the HR department in the UK. You go and see a doctor, or you say to your husband, "Darling, I feel dreadful, I need you to find someone",' Ms Seward suggested.

'Harry was in therapy himself, so he must have known people.'

During the Oprah interview, Harry, 36, claimed Prince Charles, 72, and brother Prince William, 39, are 'trapped' within the system, and that his father stopped taking his calls post-Megxit (pictured at Vax Live on May 2)

She also suggested that the Duchess struggled within the confines of the Royal Family because she has always 'had a voice' and felt she'd suddenly been put in a 'straitjacket'.

Ms Seward added that she doesn't believe Harry explained the basic principles of being a royal to his wife-to-be, and how it differs to being a celebrity in the sense that it's 'not about you, it's about the monarchy'.

Meghan and Harry now reside in a $14million Montecito mansion in California, and yesterday marked Archie's second birthday by asking for $5 donations to aid global distribution of the Covid vaccine.

The couple urged vaccine manufacturers to 'temporarily suspend' intellectual property rights in order to help those in developing countries gain access to jabs.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have urged supporters to make a donation to a vaccine equity campaign to mark their son Archie's second birthday

William and Harry, who reunited briefly at Prince Philip's funeral last month, are expected to meet again in the summer when they unveil a new statue to Princess Diana at Kensington Palace.

Insiders hope the July 1 event - done to commemorate what would have been their mother's 60th birthday - will help mend their relationship, which Harry said in the Oprah interview is currently 'space'.

However, royal expert Russell Myers has questioned whether the visit will take place, commenting: 'Some quarters of the family did give him a frosty reception and perhaps that did shock him somewhat.'

He went on to say how the Duke of Sussex may use the birth of his daughter, who is expected to arrive in the summer, as a 'convenient excuse' not to 'face the family'.

According to a new poll, the Sussexes' approval ratings have fallen again to their lowest-ever levels following Prince Philip's funeral.
A former death row reporter who spent 12 years witnessing nearly 300 men die has revealed some inmates actually look forward to their execution because they see it as a 'release'.

Michelle Lyons started out as a reporter at the Huntsville Item in America's death penalty capital, Texas, before becoming the spokesperson for the state's prison system.

She witnessed her first execution at 22 in 1998 - two years prior to her becoming a journalist and joining the paper - and admitted she became less adept at 'compartmentalising' it as she got older and became a mother, at which point she found herself feeling more empathetic towards inmates' families.

Michelle told how some criminals on death row actually looked forward to their execution, while others used their last statements to apologise for the pain they'd caused.

Michelle Lyons spent 12 years witnessing nearly 300 men die and revealed some inmates actually looked forward to their execution

Appearing on This Morning today, Michelle - who has written a book about her experience called Death Row: The Final Minutes - added that she believes there are some serious problems with that the way the death penalty is imposed in the US.

She told hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary: 'I think in Texas especially, during the time I was witnessing executions, that [the death penalty] was overused.

'A lot of that has been alleviated because Texas has since introduced life without parole, so really drastically the population on Texas death row has dropped.

'But that being said I do think that there are some serious problems with the way the death penalty is imposed. There is a real problem with the access to DNA testing; I do not believe that an inmate should have to jump through so many hoops in the court system just to get DNA tested.

'To me, whether you support or you're against the death penalty, you should want to make absolutely sure that the person being punished committed that crime, and that should not include someone going to court for three to five years just to get that test.'

Michelle started out as a reporter at the Huntsville Item in America's death penalty capital, Texas, before becoming the spokesperson for the state's prison system

As a prison reporter, Michelle was given a 'seat' at every execution in the state, so when she took the job she knew that was part of the role - but in her first year there were four times the average number of lethal injections carried out.

'In every given year up until that time, there would maybe be 10 executions in a year, so in my mind, maybe I'll witness 10 executions this year,' she recalled.

'In that first year in 2000, there were 40 executions in Texas that year, which is something no one ever could ever have predicted.

'At that time I was 24 and I had witnessed one a couple of years previously... It was a just a massive number in such a small amount of time, but that's how I started.'

After a year at The Huntsville Item, she left in 2001 to become the spokesperson for the Texas prison system, and in that role she got to know the inmates much more closely.

Michelle insisted an inmate's final hours are 'nothing like the movies', and told how they are given the opportunity to make a final statement before the lethal drugs are dispensed

'I was then the person facilitating the interviews with them, so I was seeing them week after week - so to see them in the hours before they're being executed sometimes was difficult,' she explained.

Michelle added that there were some inmates she felt she wouldn't have given the death penalty to had she been on the jury, believing they could be redeemed.

She told how she was initially very good at 'compartmentalising' that aspect of her job and not letting it affect her, because she was focused on proving her worth in the early days of her career.

Michelle said: 'It truly was later on after it became apparent that I began to have a much more difficult time with it, because that's when I really considered not only what the victim's family was going through, which I had always considered, but what the inmate's family was going through.

'Here you have a woman who's watching her child die in front of her, and that's when I especially started struggling with it. It was as I got older and knew more about life and how fragile it was.'

Asked by Alison if she had ever witnessed an inmate 'feel' anything when the lethal dose was administered, she said she never saw an expression of pain but a couple of inmates did tell her they could 'taste it' and it was 'nasty'

Michelle insisted an inmate's final hours are 'nothing like the movies', and told how they are given the opportunity to make a final statement before the lethal drugs are dispensed.

'That's where things could change,' she said. 'Everything else was very regimented but in those last statements, that's when sometimes they would apologise to the victim's family for what they had done, or to their families for putting them through that.

'Some would profess their innocence, and then you had some who were very angry and made very ugly statements. At that point you really don't know what's going to happen.'

When she left the job in 2012, Michelle had files and files of notes, which she has since compiled into a book

Her role, having been with the inmates in their final hours, was to relay their demeanour to journalists - and in some cases, she claimed the prisoners looked forward to their death.

'One of the cases I will not forget is a man who, he was a biker, he rode motorcycles when he was younger and free, and for him he looked forward to the execution because it was a type of a release,' Michelle recalled.

'So his last statement was spent really saying, "I'm free, I'm getting out of here," and he quoted the lyrics to a song called The Road Goes On Forever and the Party Never Ends. So that's when you really could not predict what was going to come in that last statement.'

Asked by Alison if she had ever witnessed an inmate 'feel' anything when the lethal dose was administered, she said she never saw an expression of pain but a couple of inmates did tell her they could 'taste it' and it was 'nasty'.

When she left the job in 2012, Michelle had files and files of notes, which she has since compiled into a book - describing the process of writing it as 'cathartic'.

'I would picture faces and last words and family members but I couldn't put it together in a very cohesive way,' she explained. 'Writing the book forced me to go through these files and really remember it and put it all back in an order that I could make sense of and really move past it.'

Asked about her opinion on the death penalty now, Michelle said she very much views it on a case-by-case basis.

'I think it's such a complex issue. When I was there what pulled at me was that I just wanted people to see both sides of the argument, because I saw the pain that the victim's families went through in having someone they loved taken from them, but I also saw the pain that the inmate's families went through, because they also had nothing to do with this crime,' she explained.

'For me it really is such a case by case basis; you have crimes where an individual has murdered a child, you have serial killers, I don't see the redemption there.'
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The Duchess of Cambridge cut an elegant figure in a vibrant red coat from Eponine as she arrived at the National Portrait Gallery today to meet photographers featured in her Hold Still book as it topped the bestseller list on its first day today.

Kate Middleton, 39, a keen photographer, started a campaign during the first lockdown last year to ask the public to submit images which captured the period.

Her new book Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020, features 100 final 'poignant and personal' portraits selected from 31,000 entrants.

The Duchess looked stunning as she arrived at the gallery in central London earlier today, stepping out of the car in a bespoke vibrant red coat from Eponine, which is price on application only.

The London boutique is a favourite of the mother-of-three's, who previously wore a 1,650 coat and a top and skirt costing 1,200 from the brand in 2016.

She paired the striking coat with simple brown accessories, including a trendy new 295 micro-handbag from DeMellier and a pleated tan midi skirt.

Earlier this morning, the Duchess revealed the judges of the Hold Still competition, as well as the participants, had left '150 copies at places that gave us hope during lockdowns' in collaboration with the Book Fairies organisation.

Kate shared a video as she placed the book, which has shot to the top of the bestseller list, next to a fountain outside Kensington Palace, writing: 'Let the search begin! Weve joined @the_bookfairies for the day to share copies of Hold Still around the UK with you. Each copy is adorned with a gold book fairy sticker, gold ribbon, and has a letter from The Duchess tucked inside. #HSbookfairies.'

Kate Middleton, 39, cut an elegant figure in a vibrant red coat from Eponine as she visited the National Portrait Gallery today as her photobook Hold Still was released

Earlier this morning, the Duchess revealed the judges of the Hold Still competition, as well as the participants, had left 'copies at places that gave us hope during lockdowns' in collaboration with the Book Fairies organisation

Kate looked stunning in the vibrant red coat, which she paired with brown accessories, during her visit to the gallery earlier today

The Duchess appeared animated as she arrived at the gallery in central London today, cutting a striking figure in a vibrant red coat from London boutique Eponine.

The piece, which is from their Autumn/Winter 2018 collection but hasn't been seen on the Duchess in public before, features a mandarin collar and pretty button detailing.

The Duchess paired the striking coat with simple brown accessories, including her new DeMellier micro-handbag, and opted for a pleated tan midi skirt beneath the coat.

Online, the 295 bag is described as a 'perfectly proportioned statement piece' which can fit 'handbag essentials' including 'most phones' as well as keys and a small purse.

The Duchess went on to visit the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, to mark the publication of the Hold Still book

During her visit to the hospital she learned about how art is commissioned by its award-winning Arts & Health service, Vital Arts, and spoke with members of staff about working in the pandemic

The Duchess of Cambridge was animated as she spoke about the publication of her Hold Still book durin a visit to Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel earlier today

Kate was animatedly as she chatted with staff members during the visit to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel earlier today

The Duchess, who has been working on the Hold Still project for over a year, gestured widely as she launched the Hold Still book with a visit to the hospital today

Meanwhile she could be seen scrolling through an iPad as she visited the hospital earlier today

The Duchess appeared in high spirits as she spoke with members of staff at the hospital earlier today during a visit to mark the launch of her photobook

Kate was given a tour of the hospital as she learned more about the Vital Arts programme and saw examples of arts projects and installations at the hospital delivered by the scheme

Her long brunette locks were styled into her signature bouncy blow dry style as she placed the book onto the ground.

During the visit, Kate met with Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, who has confirmed that the final 100 Hold Still images will become part of the Gallerys national Collection.

The Duchess also saw examples of other photographs from the Gallerys Collection which demonstrate how photography has been used since the 19th century to document individuals experiences and key moments in our nations social history.

She also met with Hold Still entrants, Lotti Sofia, Niaz Maleknia and Claudia Burton, whose photographs feature in the book, to hear more about the stories behind their photographs and their love of photography.

The Duchess of Cambridge views a photo of Captain Tom Moore alongside Curator Magda Keaney during a visit to the archive in the National Portrait Gallery in central London to mark the publication of the 'Hold Still' book

The Duchess also saw examples of other photographs from the Gallerys Collection which demonstrate how photography has been used since the 19th century to document individuals experiences and key moments in our nations social history

Kate seemed particularly interested in the archives at the National Portrait Gallery, where she was animated while speaking with members of staff

The mother-of-three could be seen chatting with curator Magda Keaney during a visit to the archive in the National Portrait Gallery in central London to mark the publication of the 'Hold Still' book

Later, she visited The Royal London Hospital to hear how art is commissioned by its award-winning Arts & Health service, Vital Arts, and displayed throughout its wards, waiting rooms and corridors to enhance the environment and, in turn, improve the patient and staff experience.

The Duchess saw examples of arts projects and installations at the hospital delivered by the Vital Arts programme.

She also heard more about how the National Portrait Gallery has collaborated with the hospital to bring workshops to young patients and their families through the Gallerys Hospital Programme.

Kate spoke with a small group of hospital staff who told her about their experiences of working throughout the pandemic, and showed examples of some photographs which have been taken by staff from Barts Health NHS Trust to document this period in history.

The Duchess appeared animated as she arrived at the gallery in central London today, cutting a striking figure in a vibrant red coat from London boutique Eponine

The mother-of-three opted for tan and brown accessories for the occasion, allowing her bright coat to be her statement piece for the day

The Duchess donned a medical face mask as she chatted with staff of the National Portrait Gallery during the appearance earlier today

Kate opted for her usual natural makeup for the occasion, and styled her long brunette locks into her signature bouncy blow dry (pictured)

The Duchess carried a 295 trendy micro-handbag from DeMellier for the occasion, with stunning gold detailing across the buckle (left and right)

During the visit, Kate is set to meet Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, who has confirmed that the final 100 Hold Still images will become part of the Gallerys national Collection

The Duchess, who has been working on her Hold Still project for over a year, appeared animated as she chatted with staff at the National Portrait Gallery today

During her visit today, Kate will meet with Hold Still entrants, Lotti Sofia, Niaz Maleknia and Claudia Burton, whose photographs feature in the book, to hear more about the stories behind their photographs and their love of photography.

At the peak of the second wave, The Royal London was caring for COVID-19 patients from across North East London including 150 patients who required critical care, and treated more than double the number of COVID-19 patients they did during the first wave.

The Duchess also viewed a framed portrait of Melanie, March 2020 by Johannah Churchill, which appears on the front cover of the Hold Still book.

The portrait, which has been gifted to The Royal London by The Duchess and the National Portrait Gallery, will hang in the hospitals main corridor as a reminder of the phenomenal efforts of NHS staff throughout the pandemic. Further portraits will be given to locations around the UK for public display over the coming months.

The Duchess of Cambridge donned a medical facemask as she visited the National Portrait Gallery earlier today to mark the release of her new book

Kate Middleton could be seen browsing her phone as she made her way to the gallery in central London today

The mother-of-three could be seen adjusting her facemask as she settled into the car journey on the way to the gallery

The Duchess smoothed down her facemask as she travelled to the National Portrait Gallery to launch the book today

Kate's book, created in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery, is available in UK bookshops and online from today, one year since the project was first launched.

Earlier today, The Book Fairies shared photographs of the Duchess as she placed the book outside Kensington Palace, tweeting: 'We are delighted that The Duchess of Cambridge has not only harnessed the power of The Book Fairies today but became a book fairy herself to hide copies of Hold Still!'

Another tweet from The Book Fairies, an organisation set up in 2017 which encourages people to share their books, revealed one of the Hold Still books had been wrapped in a green ribbon and hidden outside a hospital.

Other Hold Still participants and judges were quick to reveal snaps as they hid their copies of the book for others to find.

Let the search begin! The Duke and Duchess shared a video of Kate placing a copy of the book outside her home of Kensington Palace

Earlier today, the Duchess of Cambridge launched a royal treasure hunt as she left copies of her photography book hidden around the UK with a letter tucked inside

Kate (pictured), a keen amateur photographer, wrote the introduction to the book, which showcases pictures from her Hold Still campaign of 2020

One person in Bishop Auckland posted an image of the book nestled in a flower bed, while another person shared images of a copy hidden in Northern Ireland.

The Book Fairies is a literary movement which urges readers to share books which they have read and enjoyed by leaving them in public spaces for others to find. Book fairies leave literary gifts all around the UK, and worldwide, every day, and to date have distributed over 300,000 books.

Meanwhile the book immediately shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller list.

As well as being number two on the charts overall, the photo book was number one in the Art, Architecture & Photography.

Net proceeds raised from the sale of the book will be split between the mental health charity Mind and the National Portrait Gallery.

Each of the free copies has been wrapped in a colourful ribbon and bears The Book Fairies sticker on the front (pictured, another person hides their copy in a mystery location)

Copies of the book have been hidden around the country by the Hold Still judges and participants in different locations that 'gave them hope' during lockdown (pictured left, a book hidden in Bishop Auckland, and right, on a distinctive bench)

Another tweet from The Book Fairies revealed one of the Hold Still books had been wrapped in a green ribbon and hidden outside a hospital

Excited social media users were quick to share snaps of their photobooks hidden in various locations across the country (left and right)

The funds will help to support arts and mental health projects across the UK, including Mind's work in local communities and the National Portrait Gallery's education and community projects.

Earlier this week, Kate shared a video which flicked through the pages of the book to their Instagram, with the caption: 'Coming this Friday #HoldStill2020'.

The fast-paced video shared by the Cambridges on Instagram showed the different pages of the Hold Still book, and some of the 100 portraits that were selected.

Excited royal fans praised the Duchess's work, as some said she was 'smashing it'. 'Wonderful. I love the way this woman goes about her business,' one said.

Earlier this week she shared a glimpse of her photography book Hold Still (pictured) ahead of its release today

As well as being number two on the charts overall, the photo book was number one in the Art, Architecture & Photography

The new book includes an introduction from Kate, in which she explains why launching Hold Still was so important to her.

She writes: 'When we look back at the COVID-19 pandemic in decades to come, we will think of the challenges we all faced  the loved ones we lost, the extended isolation from our families and friends and the strain placed on our key workers.

'But we will also remember the positives: the incredible acts of kindness, the helpers and heroes who emerged from all walks of life, and how together we adapted to a new normal.

'Through Hold Still, I wanted to use the power of photography to create a lasting record of what we were all experiencing  to capture individuals' stories and document significant moments for families and communities as we lived through the pandemic.'

The book showed portraits taken during the pandemic (pictured), and will be released on Friday online and across UK bookstores

The new book includes an introduction from Kate, in which she explains why launching Hold Still was so important to her

She goes on: 'For me, the power of the images is in the poignant and personal stories that sit behind them. I was delighted to have the opportunity to speak to some of the photographers and sitters, to hear their stories first-hand - from moments of joy, love and community spirit, to deep sadness, pain, isolation and loss.

'A common theme of those conversations was how lockdown reminded us about the importance of human connection and the huge value we place on the relationships we have with the people around us.

'Although we were physically apart, these images remind us that, as families, communities and as a nation, we need each other more than we had ever realised.'

She concludes by thanking everyone who took the time to submit an image, adding: 'Your stories are the most crucial part of this project.

The announcement comes after the UK marked the one-year anniversary of the first national lockdown earlier this week. Pictured: an image from the new book

'I hope that the final 100 photographs showcase the experiences and emotions borne during this time in history, pay tribute to the awe-inspiring efforts of all who have worked to protect those around them, and provide a space for us to pause and reflect upon this unparalleled period.'

As well as showcasing the final 100 images and the stories that accompany each of them, the book - which has been put together with support from the Co-op - will look back at highlights from the community exhibition which took the portraits to billboards and outdoor poster sites in 80 towns, cities and areas in October 2020.

Over the course of the project the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including a Black Lives Matter protester holding a sign reading: 'Be on the right side of history.'

Another of the snaps was a black and white image showing a man embracing his daughter, while one shows a child kissing their godmother through a window.

Meanwhile others featured a student holding her exam qualifications, and a young girl seen drawing a huge rainbow onto a window pane.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, director of The National Portrait Gallery said: 'The public response to Hold Still, which was spearheaded by our Patron, the Duchess of Cambridge, has been phenomenal.

Net proceeds raised from the sale of the book (pictured) will be split between the mental health charity Mind and the National Portrait Gallery

Over the course of the project the Duchess shared a number of her favourite images on the Kensington Royal Instagram page, including one of a young girl seen drawing a huge rainbow onto a window pane, which made it into the book (pictured)

'The photographs submitted have helped to create a unifying and cathartic portrait of life in lockdown. We are honoured to have been able to share a selection of these photographs with the nation, first through the online and community exhibition and now through this new publication.

'The proceeds raised from the book will help us to continue to care for and share our national Collection and to provide free access, inspiration and learning, through the work we do at the Gallery and our UK wide community and education projects.

'Hold Still is an important record of this extraordinary moment in our history  expressed through the faces of the nation  and we hope will remain so for generations to come.'

As well as showcasing the final 100 images and the stories that accompany each of them, the book - which has been put together with support from the Co-op - will look back at highlights from the community exhibition which took the portraits to billboards and outdoor poster sites in 80 towns, cities and areas in October 2020

Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, added: 'The coronavirus pandemic is a mental health emergency as well as a physical one. The devastating loss of life, the impact of lockdown, and any recession that lies ahead means there has never been a more crucial time to prioritise our mental health.

'This inspiring collection of portraits illustrates the impact of the pandemic in all its complexity, but also how creativity, art and human connection can help us find meaning in unprecedented challenges.

'Thank you to everyone who submitted a portrait to tell such a moving and deeply human story of the pandemic. And to the National Portrait Gallery and The Duchess of Cambridge for choosing Mind as a joint beneficiary of proceeds from the sales of this book.'
Meghan Markle's new book is better suited to adults than children and has a 'very dull' cover, according to a royal expert.

The Duchess of Sussex, 39, revealed this week she is publishing her first book, called The Bench, which is set to hit shelves next month.

The story is inspired by a poem Meghan wrote for Harry on Father's Day the month after Archie was born and will explore the 'special bond between father and son' as 'seen through a mother's eyes'.

A publicity release said Meghan, who chose to use her title on the cover of the book, wanted the story to be told through an 'inclusive lens' and will feature a 'diverse group of father and sons'.

The Duchess of Sussex, 39, revealed this week she is publishing her first children's book, called The Bench, which is set to hit shelves next month (pictured with Archie and Harry in 2019)

In one illustration, a red-headed soldier wearing an American-style Army cap is seen holding his young son aloft as a woman watches on crying from a window. This is a likely reference to her and Harry, who served in Afghanistan with the Blues and Royals. The words read: 'This is your bench, Where life begins, For you and our son our baby, our kin.'

The book will go on sale on June 8 priced at 12.99 (though it's already been reduced to 9.99 at Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones) and is illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson.

Speaking to True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat, Angela Levin - author of Harry: Conversations with the Prince - said the subject matter of Meghan's tale is 'not interesting' to children.

'Children's books are directed at children. They like elephants, they like nasty tigers. They do not want a lecture about how different your relationship is with your father, whatever level of society you are at,' she claimed.

The book will go on sale on June 8 priced at 12.99 (though it's already been reduced to 9.99 at Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones) and is illustrated by bestselling Californian artist Christian Robinson. Royal expert Angela Levin branded its cover 'very dull'

'This is a book for adults, not for children. Children are not interested in being told all of that. Also, it is a very dull cover.'

Discussing the titles Harry and Meghan are using for their new ventures, like the book, royal expert Wesley Kerr added: 'Her title is that she is the Duchess of Sussex.

'"Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex" [the pen name Meghan has used for her book] is what a divorced person would use, so that's quite interesting to use that title.

'It is very interesting to see that in their many appearances, their titles are used. When Harry did an appearance [at Vax Live] this week it was Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex.'

It is not known if Meghan has received an advance for the book and whether any of the proceeds will be donated to charity, but a branding expert has suggested it would have already netted her 500,000 following a 'bidding war to secure her first venture'.

Speaking to True Royalty TV 's The Royal Beat, Angela Levin - author of Harry: Conversations with the Prince - said the subject matter of Meghan's tale is 'not interesting' to children

Popular culture expert Nick Ede told FEMAIL that the Duchess of Sussex would've likely been paid between a 250,000 to 500,000 advance to write the book.

Levin also told the programme that she thinks it is a shame that the Royal Family have not been able to use up-to-date images of Prince Harry and Meghan's son Archie to celebrate his second birthday.

'I think it's a real shame... that they haven't got lots of pictures of him becoming a toddler,' she said.

'I thought it was very sad because I think that whatever has happened, your family should be able to see the photograph of a child. Even if you don't want them to have any influence whatsoever, that the one photograph is of him as a tiny baby.'

During the episode Levin praised the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 'brilliant' new media strategy, which included the launch of a YouTube channel.

She said it's helped ensure they can control press coverage, adding: 'I think it's brilliant because, as we know, Prince William hated the press, based on how he believed they treated his mother.

During the episode Levin praised the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's 'brilliant' new media strategy, which included the launch of a YouTube channel and their tenth anniversary video (pictured)

'I think Catherine has helped him over that by learning how to take photographs herself, putting the children out there clapping for the nurses and front liners. So, she gives them a bit in the hope that they then leave them in peace. And because they're so charming and so natural, then people don't want to hide behind a bush and take [photos] because the public wouldn't like that.'

Royal correspondent Russell Myers added that the Cambridges' new video celebrating their tenth anniversary is a good move.

'At the end of the day it is PR... bringing in this family feel, opening this window into the world so that you get just enough and that is why it is a genius move from them,' he told host Kate Thornton.

'They are thanking their supporters for over 10 years of their marriage, which is why they released it. But it is saying we will give you a little bit - but leave us alone for the rest of it.'

Kerr revealed that the Queen is still very active in carrying out her duties, something he suggested is 'keeping her going' after losing Prince Philip last month (pictured on a videolink from Windsor Castle during a virtual audience at Buckingham Palace on April 27)

Talking about Prince William and Prince Harry and whether they will be at the unveiling of their mother's statue together in the summer, Levin said: 'It has taken them from 2017 to agree how this statue should be designed and who should design it, and it would be so sad if they weren't actually there to see the unveiling.'

Meanwhile Kerr revealed that the Queen is still very active in carrying out her duties, something he suggested is 'keeping her going' after losing Prince Philip last month.

'[She is] meeting ambassadors, [with] the ambassador in London [while] she's at Windsor. She actually really enjoys that,' he said.

'She thinks it's her duty. [She's] still talking to the Prime Minister once a week, still red boxes twice a day with dispatches, documents to sign, one in the morning and then a night box which is always finished by the next morning.

'I think that this routine is her life and is partly what keeps her going.'

The Royal Beat is available on True Royalty TV.
When Raya launched as the elite members-only dating app in 2015, it vowed to provide singles with the utmost privacy and exclusivity  a move that earned it the nickname 'celebrity Tinder' and had dozens of stars flocking to sign up.

But six years later, the celebrity-loved dating app has hit a snag thanks to another popular app: TikTok, where members are now outing their A-list matches by publicly posting their cringe-worthy private messages for millions of people to view.

In the last few weeks alone, Matthew Perry, 51, and Ben Affleck, 48, have had to suffer the humiliation of having the video chats they allegedly had with young women they met on the elite app shared on TikTok as part of a growing trend.

Their exposure contradicts the first rule of Raya, which is, according to members, 'not to talk about Raya.'

The app's guidelines state that 'every member is expected to follow our simple rules or respect, trust, and privacy,' and its creators have put in place several security measures to ensure that those rules are closely observed by all members.

If users take a screenshot, they are sent a warning. A second offense can then see them booted from the app altogether. Any members who flout the privacy rules will also be removed  a rule that the app put into full effect when it kicked off member Kate Haralson, 20, after she exposed her conversations with Friends star Perry.

However, the recent exposure of A-list dating activities has proven that Raya's strict regulations aren't enough to stop its celebrity users from having their most intimate romantic lives thrust into the public eye.

The viral outings have raised questions over whether the app can continue to attract the same caliber of famous members, which are rumored to have included the likes of Cara Delevingne, Demi Lovato, Harry Styles, and many more.

Not so secret? Raya, an elite members-only dating app, is having issues with users going public with their celebrity matches

Shh! Raya states that 'every member is expected to follow our simple rules or respect, trust, and privacy,' and members who flout the rules will be removed

Any hopeful members looking to sign up for the app still have to face an extremely rigorous vetting process, and it has been reported that there is currently a waitlist of around 100,000 people.

The secretive dating app for 'creatives' requires potential members to fill out an application that includes their location, work, place of employment, and Instagram handle.

If they have any friends who are on the app, they can be used as referrals, however these simply serve as an added credential, and by no means guarantee that your application will be approved.

While the application is easy to fill out, getting approved is far more difficult. The New York Times reported in 2019 that Raya has an acceptance rate of about 8 percent, making it slightly harder to get into than Harvard Business School.

The app explains that 'applications are assessed based on algorithmic values and input from hundreds of committee members spread throughout the world.'

Decisions timelines range from one day to a few months, depending on the person, and members are required to pay $9.99 per month for membership fees.

Exclusivity has always been a key aspect of Raya. During an interview with the New York Times, its founder Daniel Gendelman, 37, said that he always intended it to be used by a niche, and very elite crowd, explaining that he wanted to cater specifically to high-profile people, artists, and creatives.

Too late? Kate Haralson, the TikToker who shared Perry's private video conversation with her earlier this week, revealed on Friday that she has been kicked of Raya

Cringe: Haralson, 20, shared a clip of the FaceTime conversation Perry, 51, allegedly had with her last May, claiming he asked her: 'Am I as old as your dad?'

'I tried to solve a big problem for a small amount of people,' he said at the time, while insisting that acceptance to the app was not, as some assumed, based solely on extraordinary wealth, supermodel looks, and fame.

A number of celebrities have joined Raya over the years, likely drawn to its exclusivity, and its promise that all members will have the same expectation of privacy, though that hasn't stopped several star from talking about their own experiences on the exclusive dating app.

Amy Schumer, 39, met her former boyfriend Ben Hanisch on Raya, while Drew Barrymore, 46, revealed last year on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen that she 'got stood up by a guy who owned a restaurant' after matching with him.

Though she didn't name names, Barrymore said she saw so many celebrities swiping through Raya that it 'was like looking through an Us Weekly.'

Paul Mescal, Sharon Stone, Channing Tatum, Owen Wilson, and Emilia Clarke are just some of the A-listers who have reportedly had memberships at one time or another.

Former Vanderpump Rules star Stassi Schroeder said that she got kicked off Raya in 2016 for dishing about matching with Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. She later shared that she got removed not once, but twice for talking about it in interviews.

Busted: Earlier this week, Nivine Jay, 29, posted a video that Ben Affleck, 48, had allegedly sent her after she had turned him down on Raya thinking that his profile was fake

Real: Rumors that Affleck has been on the dating app following his divorce from Jennifer Garner in 2018 have been rife, though it was unclear up until now if it had been a fake profile

Weighing in: Chrissy Teigen shared her thoughts on the alarming trend on Twitter Thursday

Kate Haralson, the TikToker who shared Perry's private video conversation with her earlier this week, revealed on Friday that she has been kicked of Raya.

'I should have expected that would happen,' Haralson, 20, told Page Six. 'I feel fine about it. I never really used it anymore anyways.'

The personal assistant shared a now-deleted video on TikTok of her FaceTiming with Perry after they matched on the elite app last May, when she was 19.

'When you match w Matthew Perry as a joke on a dating app and he facetimes you and plays 20 questions with you,' she captioned the clip.

In the 16-second video, Perry is seen smiling as he asks his potential date, 'Do you always play with your hair this much?' to which she responds, giggling: 'I guess so.'

Haralson told Page Six that she wanted to show how older men in Hollywood are 'taking advantage' of younger women on dating apps.

'A lot of people were saying I'm a bully and mean for posting this, and it made me feel kind of bad, but at the same time, I feel like a lot of guys in Hollywood are talking to all these young girls and it's something that I think a lot of people should be aware of,' she told the outlet.

Raya fans: Before Amy Schumer, 39, was married, she met her former boyfriend Ben Hanisch on Raya

Whoops! Former Vanderpump Rules star Stassi Schroeder said that she got kicked off Raya in 2016 for dishing about matching with Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte

Candid: Drew Barrymore, 46, admitted she was stood up by a guy she met on the app. She said she saw so many celebrities on Raya that it 'was like looking through an Us Weekly'

Haralson claimed the FaceTime exchange happened last May, which is when Perry is said to have briefly split with his current fiancee Molly Hurwitz, 29, whom he had been dating since 2018.

She said she had matched with other celebrities before but wouldn't 'ever talk to older guys.' However, she thought talking to the Friends actor 'would be funny.'

Haralson, who said she felt 'uncomfortable' at times during the call, alleged that Perry asked her at one point, 'Am I as old as your dad?' She claimed she told him he was only about a year older than her father, which he 'laughed off.'

Elite: Raya founder Daniel Gendelman, 37, said that he always intended for the app to be restricted to a small, very niche group of users - noting that he wanted it to feel more like a dinner party than a dating app

'I don't think he minded that,' she said. 'It kind of felt weird talking to someone my dad's age and it just felt not right, especially when he knew how young I was.'

However, Haralson said she decided to delete the video because she thinks Perry is a 'nice guy.' She stated that they never met up in person, though he allegedly told her that she could maybe one day 'get a COVID test and come over.'

Halston said that she was 'inspired' by Nivine Jay, who posted a video that Affleck had allegedly sent her after she had turned him down on Raya thinking that his profile was a fake.

'Thinking of the time I matched with Ben Affleck on Raya and thought it was fake so I unmatched him and he sent me a video on Instagram,' Jay, 29, captioned her TikTok video about the experience.

In the Instagram video, the Batman V Superman actor is seen speaking directly to the camera, attempting to confirm his identity, as he asks: 'Nivine, why did you unmatch me? It's me.'

Rumors that Affleck has been on the dating app have been rife for the past couple of years, though it was unclear up until now if it had been a fake profile.

The actor officially divorced his ex-wife Jennifer Garner in 2018, and has enjoyed a few romances since then with SNL producer Lindsay Shookus and most recently actress Ana de Armas.

Famous faces: Channing Tatum (left) and Harry Styles (right) have allegedly used the exclusive dating app when they were single

Not for her: Sharon Stone recently explained why she won't use the app anymore. 'People kept pretending they were things they werent on Raya. Like straight,' she said

Swiping: Demi Lovato, Emilia Clarke, and Cara Delevingne (left to right) have also reportedly used Raya at one time or another

It's unclear if Jay has been removed from the app for calling out the star.

On Thursday, Chrissy Teigen weighed in on the worrying new trends for stars, as she tweeted: 'I agree celebs shouldnt be making these creepy desperate video replies on Raya but its tacky to release private messages. Ya both wrong, congrats.'

Whether the Perry and Affleck's recent embarrassments have prompted other star Raya users to flee the app remains unclear; the dating site has yet to issue a comment on the matter, and, as ever, its membership is kept a closely-guarded secret.

However there is no doubt that its ability to offer its most high-profile members total privacy is currently in question, and it remains to be seen how, or if, the app will prevent any future breaches.

Still, membership on Raya remains a highly sought-after 'asset', although one current user admitted that this may well be due to the fact that joining the app has become something of a badge of honor among elitist circles.

'Honestly, the people on the app don't really appeal to me that much,' the unnamed person said. 'It's a lot of guys boasting about how great they are, and oftentimes I'll get matched with someone who is thousands of miles away from me, which seems a bit useless.

'But it's still something fun to talk about (privately!), and it makes me feel as though I'm a little bit special, even if that isn't true at all.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to Raya for comment.
The Biden administration's move to loosen patent restrictions protecting Covid vaccine makers' secret formulas is unlikely to increase the global supply on its own, because it could take months or even years for nations like India and South Africa to build and outfit the necessary facilities and secure raw materials experts say.

And they suspect the controversial play may be an empty threat to pressure firms to take other steps toward getting shots to poorer countries.

Pfizer's CEO, Albert Bourla, warned on Friday that waiving patents could lead to a global race for the scarce raw materials required to make vaccines, potentially compromising the safety of the shots.

'It will unleash a scramble for the critical inputs we require in order to make a safe and effective vaccine,' he wrote in a letter posted to LinkedIn.

'Entities with little or no experience in manufacturing vaccines are likely to chase the very raw materials we require to scale our production, putting the safety and security of all at risk.'

U.S. support for waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines could be a tactic to convince drugmakers to back less drastic steps like sharing technology and expanding joint ventures to quickly boost global production, lawyers said on Thursday.

'I think the end result that most players are looking for here is not IP waiver in particular, it's expanded global access to the vaccines,' said Professor Lisa Ouellette of Stanford Law School.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday supported a proposal to waive World Trade Organization intellectual property (IP) rules, which would allow poorer countries to produce vaccine for themselves, but the decision is being starkly criticized by companies like Pfizer, and its utility is being questioned by experts around the world.

Experts worry that researchers making new additional Covid vaccines (of which there are about 60 in development) will lose funding for their work if they know they won't be able to license them to offset the cost, the waiver could cost the U.S. drug manufacturing jobs and generally de-incentivize future innovation.

Shares for Pfizer fell slightly (by about 0.08 percent) Friday morning after slipping nearly one percent on Thursday following the Biden administration's announcement.

Shares for competitor Moderna - which said in October it would not enforce its vaccine patents - plummeted 12 percent on Thursday before recovering. By Friday morning, shares for the firm were up by nearly two percent.

Experts warn that waiving patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines won't immediately increase the vaccine supply because poorer countries would need to train people to make them, outfit expensive factories and secure raw materials - which could take years

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he does 'not at all' support the play to temporarily waive patent rights

Shares for Pfizer fell slightly (by about 0.08 percent) Friday morning after slipping nearly one percent on Thursday following the Biden administration's announcement

Shares for competitor Moderna - which said in October it would not enforce its vaccine patents - plummeted 12 percent on Thursday before recovering. By Friday morning, shares for the firm were up by nearly two percent

'I genuinely think it's pretty marginal,' in terms of the benefits, Rachel Silverman, a policy analyst with the Center for Global Development, told the Washington Post.

'I think it will not have disastrous effects. I don't think it will do much to speed production.'

While Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla has hit out at the Biden administration's move, calling it 'wrong' and telling the AFP he is 'not at all' in support of waiving patents, Moderna's CEO has shrugged the issue off.

Stephane Bancel said he 'didnt lose a minute of sleep' over the patent waiver issue during a quarterly earnings call.

He acknowledged, however, that he's concerned the waiver could hamper motivation for future innovation from the biotech sector, according to the Boston Globe.

That's becoming the chorus from the biotech sphere as well as experts and attorneys who deal with the World Trade Organization (WTO), which is fielding the international negotiations over patent waivers.

Their message is coalescing around the prediction that waivers probably won't do much harm or good in the immediate future, but could ease future access to Covid vaccines, or undermine innovation.

The Biden administration made good on a campaign progress by supporting the waivers, but the move has created a rift between Biden and European allies like Germany

So far COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed primarily to the wealthy countries that developed them, while the pandemic sweeps through poorer ones, like India.

The real goal, though, is expanded vaccine distribution.

'If it is possible to increase the rate of scaling up production, this potentially would give the manufacturers a greater incentive to come to an agreement to make that happen,' Ouellette said.

Vaccine makers like Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTEch have argued that patents have not been a limiting factor in supply.

New technology and global limits on supplies are frequently cited as challenges, and both Moderna and Pfizer nevertheless have steadily boosted supply forecasts.

'There is no mRNA in manufacturing capacity in the world,' Moderna Chief Executive Stephane Bancel said on a conference call with investors on Thursday, referring to the messenger RNA technology behind both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine.

'This is a new technology. You cannot go hire people who know how to make the mRNA. Those people don't exist.

'And then even if all those things were available, whoever wants to do mRNA vaccines will have to buy the machine, invent the manufacturing process, invent verification processes and analytical processes.'

Unless, that is, the firms have to share the know-how to for the equipment and manufacturing they use too.

Even then, there's the danger that releasing all this information would make it easier for counterfeit or unsafe vaccines to be made.

'Already, there have been reports that with the Pfizer vaccine of counterfeits and fakes in other countries. When you release the IP, the shots might not be controlled to standard, [new facilities] might make bad vaccines,' warned Jamieson Greer, a partner at the intellectual property law firm King & Spalding who specialized in WTO disputes and trade policy in an interview with DailyMail.com.

That in turn could further compromise trust in the safety of vaccines, and discourage still more people from getting the shots.

To increase vaccine production capacity significantly within two years, the Biden administration would need to do much more than waive patents, including providing funding to find and build new manufacturing sites, and backing technology and expertise transfer to the new manufacturers, said drug supply chain expert Prashant Yadav.

Moreover, the U.S. government must guard against allowing foreign companies to use COVID-19 vaccine makers technology to compete in areas outside of COVID-19, which are likely to be more lucrative in the long term, said Thomas Kowalski, an attorney at Duane Morris who specializes in intellectual property.

Once a competitor has the technology, restrictions on use are difficult to enforce, he said.

'That know how would be used for other things,' added Greer.

'We've already lost pharmaceutical manufacturing jobs to China and India. Allowing them to take our IP with no consequence...Everyone had been saying for years, "lets not give China our IP." Now going to facilitate it?'

The pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing industry employs about 148,000 people in America, according to DataUSA.io.

Professor Sarah Rajec of William & Mary Law School said she did not think a waiver itself would do as much as the signal from the United States, a stronger supporter of corporate intellectual property, that patent rights take a backseat to the urgent needs of the world population during the pandemic.

Rajec said Biden's support for a waiver 'pushes the drug companies to be more open to partnerships, and other licensing on favorable terms, in a way that perhaps they otherwise wouldn't be.'

Drugmakers argue that they have already struck significant partnerships, sharing technology with competitors who they might not have linked up with if not for the pandemic.

'Our position is very clear: this decision will further complicate our efforts to get vaccines to people around the world, address emerging variants and save lives,' Brian Newell, spokesman for pharmaceutical industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement.

European patent attorney Micaela Modiano said that even if the waiver is adopted, vaccine makers are likely to negotiate for some payment, if less than what is generally paid in licensing arrangements. Her firm Modiano & Partners represents Pfizer but has not worked on any COVID-19 related matters.

'I would imagine that the pharmaceutical companies are already and will continue to lobby significantly to make sure that if this waiver proposal passes, that it just doesn't pass as such, but that they receive some sort of financial compensation,' she said.
A well-run company is likely to perform better and avoid errors and scandal, but judging management competence can be a tough task for individual investors.

You can sift the evidence in financial statements and announcements, and glean what you can from whatever is in the public domain, and this will be useful research.

But although company bosses have to be transparent and follow rules on certain financial and regulatory matters, they are always understandably keen to put a favourable gloss on their actions and business strategy.

Investing in successful management: A well-run company is likely to perform better and avoid errors and scandal

The rise of 'responsible' investing, or what is referred to as ESG - meeting certain environmental, social and governance standards - has made investors more focused on how companies are managed, or 'governed'.

On the bosses' side, while some believe driving staff mercilessly gets the best out of them, others now put greater stock in creating a happy environment - even to the extent of actively screening out toxic staff from the workplace

Ultimately, investors have to learn as much as they can, and make the best call possible about how a management team is doing under the circumstances.

We asked financial experts what detective work investors should do and the clues they might follow to find out about a company's management practices.

What should you look out for when assessing a company?

1. Track record: A sound financial situation and record is the most basic test of management competence, and perhaps the best and simplest place to start.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, says: 'While certainly not an exhaustive list, potential investors should look out for measures such as successive years of earnings and profits growth, the company's financial health (net cash or net debt position), the valuation compared to peers (the price/earnings ratio) and, depending on the individual's need for income, whether a dividend is being paid and the company policy on dividends is progressive.

We explain how to research stocks here and how to make sense of a balance sheet here.

Richard Hunter: 'Management failings often become apparent after the fact and, in some cases, too late for investors to react'

2. Future prospects: Forecasting is hard, but you can look at the current circumstances of a company and extrapolate to a certain extent what is likely to happen if it continues on its current path.

Hunter suggests the following list of questions you should consider when weighing up whether to invest.

'Does the company have a unique selling point in terms of the goods or services it provides?

'Is there a high barrier to entry for new competitors (or a 'moat', as Warren Buffett would say) which therefore strengthens its position?

'Is its current success transitory (such as high fashion, which can change quickly) or is it entrenched (such as household goods and energy, both of which have strongly defensive qualities)?

3. Strategy: You can form opinions about the judgement of the management team based on what they say about where the company is heading and how they plan to get there.

'A clearly defined and long term strategy helps investors to understand the main focus of the business, and also focuses minds within the company too.' says Laith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell.

'Long term decision-making means managers aren't cutting corners to boost profits now, at the expense of the longer run interest of the business.'

Khalaf cites the following mission statement from fantasy figurine maker Games Workshop as a good example of management setting out its intentions in absolutely clear terms.

'We have a simple strategy at Games Workshop. We make the best fantasy miniatures in the world, to engage and inspire our customers, and to sell our products globally at a profit. Our decisions are focused on long-term success, not short term gains.'

Management practices: Some bosses actively create a happy working environment - and even screen out toxic staff

4. Leadership: You need to keep an eye on maverick bosses, warns Khalaf.

'There can be a fine line between marked out as a visionary or a maverick,' he says.

'Tesla chief executive Elon Musk is walking that tightrope right now, with dubious dabbling in cryptocurrencies and regular tweeting taking attention away from Tesla's core automotive business.

'[Frasers Group's] Mike Ashley is another chief executive who has occasionally been judged to have stepped over into the maverick camp.'

5. Family ownership: 'Companies where founding families are still heavily invested tend to have personal ownership of the products they are selling to customers, which tends to foster higher levels of accountability,' says Khalaf.

'AG Barr is a good example, where the Barr family still owns a good chunk of shares and has representation on the board, after founding the company in 1875.'

However, Peter McLoughlin, head of research at Rowan Dartington, suggests one of the checks investors make on boards is that there are no relatives on it, because it is better if directors are independent.

Laith Khalaf: 'There can be a fine line between marked out as a visionary or a maverick'

6. The board: Arguably the easiest way for ordinary investors to gain insight into the management of a company is by researching the composition of its board, according to McLoughlin.

It is important that the chief executive and chairman are separate, he says. Check that a former chief executive has not become the chairman, or that they have not combined the roles and taken on both jobs.

Also, McLoughlin says you should put the names of the chief executive, the chairman and the non-executive directors - particular the lead non-exec - into a search engine and read their CVs.

You want to be sure non-executive directors are fully independent, and have not worked together with the other board members in the past, he explains.

'You do want dissent to some of the decisions being made.'

McLoughlin adds that the board should be not so big it is likely to be unwieldy, with about eight to 10 people being about right.

Meanwhile, you should check whether the management owns shares in the company themselves because if they do it's a sign they believe in its future.

7. Setting pay Find out how the management sets pay targets, advises McLoughlin.

How much they reward themselves can be a negative sign, and you should check the difference between what the chief executive gets and what the workforce is paid, he explains.

McLoughlin says there have been cases of 'obscene' levels of pay at the top, which reveal a divergence of interest between the management and the firm's shareholders and employees.

8. Diversity: It is positive when women and people from ethnic minorities are represented on a board, according to McLoughlin.

'It's great to increase diversity on a board over time,' he says. 'The board has to make sure it's the right people.'

Peter McLoughlin: 'You do want dissent to some of the decisions being made'

He notes that if there is a small group of women who are on a lot of boards, that raises the issue again of people knowing each other, and their independence.

McLoughlin believes it is important to increase diversity from the bottom up, to nurture talent among people who could be promoted in the future, as well as improving diversity at the top on the board, and if a company is doing both these things simultaneously that is a good sign.

9. Corporate buzzwords: 'There's a certain inevitability that businesses of a certain size will all look to the same sources for inspiration, and unfortunately this is often consultancies rather than employees or customers,' says Khalaf.

'It's not a good sign when these buzzwords overwhelm communications to shareholders.

'It suggests that management have little flair for plain speaking, or worse, they are just repeating cornfed gobbledygook because that's what everyone else is doing.'

Meanwhile, the same might be said for marketing jargon. When senior management appears to have fallen under the spell of this department, it is an indication it has been given too much sway within a business, and possibly too big a budget.

Or, bosses might have recently overpaid for outside marketing consultants and be trying to justify their huge bill.

What can go wrong? Management disasters from the past

Spotting the cracks can be hard, but some are more obvious than others and have become notorious with hindsight.

The most famous cases relate to bosses whose behaviour was at odds with the company's goals, explains Hunter.

He cites Gerald Ratner calling a product sold by his jewellery chain 'total crap' in the 1990s, or warning signs at Royal Bank of Scotland under former boss Fred Goodwin before the 2008 financial crisis.

On the latter, he says: 'Not only was the company involved in an ill-advised 50billion takeover of ABN Amro, but he also orchestrated the building of a major new complex in Edinburgh in an effort to showcase the company's lofty ambitions.'

Fred's folly? RBS's Gogarburn complex outside Edinburgh

Hunter goes on: 'Unfortunately for investors, one of the reasons for equities being regarded as higher risk investments is that management failings often become apparent after the fact and, in some cases, too late for investors to react.

'This in turn is a reason for the tired, but tried and tested suggestion of not keeping all of your eggs in one basket.

'A diversified portfolio is designed to offset weakness from any one company in terms of trading or management misdeeds, by having a number of other companies which together can pick up most of the slack caused by the underperformance of just one company's shares.'
Liberty Steel is in talks to secure a 200million cash lifeline that could keep its 12 plants and 3,000 employees in the UK safe until it can raise more money.

The company, run by tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, is in discuss- ions with California-based investment group White Oak Global Advisors.

This is the same group that bailed out Libertys operations in Australia earlier this week.

Sanjeev Gupta's Liberty Steel is in discussions with California-based investment group White Oak Global Advisors to secure a 200m cash lifeline

Although negotiations with White Oak are still at an early stage, some preliminary documents have already been drafted.

Liberty has been in crisis since the collapse of Greensill Capital in March.

It is also being sued by Tata Steel after defaulting on payments owed following its 100million purchase of Tatas speciality steel business in 2017.

Greensill was the largest lender to the GFG Alliance, Guptas wider group of companies that includes Liberty.

The 49-year-old magnate had used Greensill to finance the rapid expansion of his global steel, hydropower, engineering and aluminium empire.

He had been dubbed the saviour of UK steel after buying ailing plants in Newport, Rotherham and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire, among others.

But Gupta has been struggling to arrange funding to keep all of his companies  including his UK steel operations  afloat.

This week he set up a restructuring team that has been given carte blanche to sell off underperforming parts of the empire.

A source close to Liberty said the cash injection from White Oak would allow Libertys UK arm to return to full production  which would help it take advantage of strong steel prices.

Doing this would speed up the companys recovery from the inside and make it more attractive to other potential backers further down the line, the source said.

Credit Suisse would need to approve the deal with White Oak, as it has a claim on Libertys UK arm.
Sainsbury's has hired the former boss of John Lewis to head up its clothing and Argos businesses.

Paula Nickolds, 48, was handed almost 1million when she left John Lewis in January 2020 following a 25-year career at the retailer.

From June she will become managing director of Sainsbury's 7.8billion general merchandise and clothing business, which includes Argos, Habitat and Tu Clothing.

Golden goodbye: Paula Nickolds, 48, was handed almost 1m when she left John Lewis in January 2020 following a 25-year career at the retailer

Britain's second largest supermarket has tried to shift the focus back on to the grocery business in recent months, but said the division was 'critical to support the retailer's ambitions in food'.

Nickolds joined John Lewis as a graduate trainee, advancing to managing director in 2017 before leaving last year.

Sainsbury's has made major changes to its general merchandise business in recent months, cutting 3,500 jobs and closing 420 Argos stores as customers shop online or use click-and-collect.

Chief executive Simon Roberts described Nickolds as 'a highly respected, talented and experienced retail leader'
The boss of Next said he was hopeful that life was returning to normal after the reopening of shops sparked a surge in sales.

Raising full-year profit guidance for the second time in two months, Lord Wolfson said: 'The relief from this lockdown feels more optimistic. It feels like this might genuinely be the end of it.'

Julian Dunkerton, meanwhile, his counterpart at Superdry, hailed 'the light at the end of the tunnel'.

Next Boss Lord Wolfson, left, and Superdry founder Julian Dunkerton, right, have both spoken of their relief as the easing of lockdown restrictions has brought shoppers back in their droves

In the three weeks after stores reopened on April 12, sales at Next were 19 per cent higher than in the same period of 2019, before the pandemic struck.

Sales in the 13 weeks to May 1 were 75million higher than expected and just 1.5 per cent below the same period of 2019.

The solid figures came despite the closure of all of its 491 stores for ten of the 13 weeks before April 12.

In that time, the company benefited from strong online sales of homeware, childrenswear and third-party fashion brands including Reiss and Levi's, sold through Next's Label platform.

Next raised profit guidance to between 680million and 755million.

But Wolfson, 53, warned that the stellar performance of the past few weeks would fade. 'What we're seeing at the moment is pent-up demand that I don't think is necessarily indicative of what is to come,' he said.

'After previous lockdowns we saw an initial surge after stores opened which then eased, and we expect something similar.

'I don't think we should read too much into the past few weeks but I think it does seem to show that many consumers have been saving and are keen to spend.

'It's too early to say quite how this will pan out in the long term but it is obviously a promising sign for the recovery.'

Next shares rose 1.8 per cent, or 148p, to 8274p. Superdry shares did even better, jumping 28.1 per cent, or 77.5p, to 353.5p, as it reported a 0.8 per cent increase in revenue to 118.3million in the 13 weeks to April 24.

Dunkerton, 56, the co-founder of Superdry, said: 'The early signs following the reopening of our UK stores are encouraging, as lockdown restrictions start to lift. We can clearly see the light at the end of the tunnel.'
Christians from all over India call for prayer as COVID-19 continues to kill many due to its second surge.

The International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that Christians in India seek the international community for prayer and assistance for being overwhelmed with COVID infections.

"The international community has been called upon to assist India as the crisis continues to unfold. Oxygen, vaccines, and other desperately needed medical equipment has been promised by the U.S., U.K., and other countries," ICC stressed.

ICC cited a report from Premier Christian News that hospitals are already denying incoming patients since they are already serving maximum capacity.

"People dying are in ambulances because they were picked up too late. One ambulance was turned away by four hospitals. Four hours later, the person in the ambulance died," ICC quoted South Asian Concern Chair Ram Gidoomal in an interview with Premier Christian News.

Gidoomal added that cremation services are on hault since there are so many dead, wood has gone scarce.

"There is not enough wood to burn the bodies, which is part of the cremation procedure. There are queues. Normally, when you come from a Hindu family, you want the body to be burned and cremated as soon as possible. I cannot put it into words. It is heartbreaking," he added.

ICC revealed from a NPR report that a new COVID-19 variant, named B.1.617, is causing the second surge in India and is a "more contagious" strain.

The America Magazine similarly reported the need to "pray for the people of India" because the country is suffering an "unimaginable COVID-19 outbreak.

"We have a massive collapse of the whole [health care] infrastructure. Tell people to pray for India as a nation and the people of India; they definitely need prayers," called out Prashant Director Father Prakash in an interview with American Magazine.

Prashant, according to American Magazine, is a Jesuit Center for Human Rights, Justice and Peace that's located in India's industrial City Ahmedabad. Prakash told the American Magazine that the cases started rising in January and escalated like "no country in the world has experienced so far" come March.

The American Magazine said Prakash believes the official death toll of 196,000 people in India is "substantially undercounted" since a source from a local hospital told the priest that death records are 10 times higher than what the government has recorded.

Prakash told the American Magazine that the national goverment "seem frozen by the scale of the calamity" despite being forewarned months ahead on "the peril of a second wave of the pandemic." Prakash said the government is "abdicating its authority" amidst the "pathetic breakdown of a whole system."

The American Magazine also cited a Catholic News Service interview with New Delhi's Holy Family Hospital Director Father P.A. George who called the conditions in India a "disaster beyond the imagination" and asked people for prayers so they could "save some lives."
Rio Tinto was rocked by a massive revolt over the pay handed to its disgraced former boss as boardrooms felt the full force of a new shareholder spring.

On a day of investor anger, more than 60 per cent of votes at the mining giant's AGM were cast against the remuneration report in the biggest rebellion of the year so far.

The backlash was echoed elsewhere - including in votes at BAE Systems and Indivior  amid a wave of criticism over corporate excess in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated lives and livelihoods.

Disgraced: Rio Tinto ousted boss Jean-Sebastien Jacques last year amid an outcry over the destruction of a sacred Aboriginal site in Western Australia

It has prompted talk of a new 'shareholder spring' of bruising encounters similar to those in 2012.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'Shareholders, public and private, continue to take a tougher line on boardroom behaviour.'

And now backlash is spreading Astrazeneca, Cineworld and Ocado look likely to be caught up in the shareholder spring as the backlash over fat cat pay intensifies. The companies are due to hold their annual general meetings next week, with Astra first on Tuesday. The drugs giant has been praised for rolling out a Covid-19 vaccine at no profit but it is under fire for a wrong and ill-judged increase in pay to chief executive Pascal Soriot. Under a long-term bonus plan, the Frenchman, 61, could soon get up to 650 per cent of his 1.3million salary, rather than 550 per cent  taking the maximum payout from 7.2million to 8.5million. Neville White, of Astra shareholder EdenTree Investment Management, said the package tarnished the companys pandemic achievements. City stalwart Legal & General, meanwhile, waded into the pay row at Cineworld, saying it would vote against the re-election of board members including chairman Alicja Kornasiewicz because of its concerns. And advisory group Pirc has branded Ocado boss Tim Steiners 7million pay packet excessive and unacceptable and urged shareholders to rebel. Fellow adviser Glass Lewis also said executives would receive extremely large payouts regardless of performance.

Rio Tinto ousted boss Jean-Sebastien Jacques last year amid an outcry over the destruction of a sacred Aboriginal site in Western Australia.

He was stripped of bonuses worth 2.7million before leaving but still saw his total pay rise 20 per cent to 7.2million  the biggest package he received as chief executive.

The 49-year-old is in line to collect a further 1.1million 'golden goodbye' this year after leaving the company on January 1.

And he was allowed to keep shares awarded under a long-term bonus plan worth 27million.

The pay deal prompted outrage among investors, with less than 40 per cent of votes in favour of the pay report at its twin AGMs in London and Perth.

The scale of the rebellion suggested big battalion investors had joined forces with private shareholders to voice their anger.

Although to vote was non-binding, analysts said it was a wake-up call for the board, as well as for other firms facing growing demands for action on issues including pay, climate change and corporate governance.

Justin Urquhart Stewart, co-founder of investment manager 7IM, said: 'Previously you would find it was just private investors who are the ones to rebel, while institutions wanted a quiet life.

'But that theme is changing and now environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues have moved from being a nice-to-have to something that clients are looking for.'

Rio provoked outrage when it blew up two 46,000-year-old rock shelters in Juukan Gorge to expand an iron ore mine last May.

The disaster, which earned it the nickname 'Rio TNT', prompted an Australian parliamentary inquiry.

Jacques stepped down 'by mutual consent' while chairman Simon Thompson is due to depart within the next year.

Head of corporate relations Simone Niven and head of iron ore Chris Salisbury were also ousted. Shareholders in Perth, who stood up to question Thompson and the board, referred to the Juukan blast as a 'mess' and a 'disaster'.

Thompson told investors at the AGM that he was 'ultimately accountable' for the rock shelter scandal.

He defended the company's decision not to strip the executives of more pay and insisted it was 'appropriate' given they were also 'forfeiting their jobs'.
Hunter and Joe Biden's brother Jim partnered with CEFC in 2017, in a deal that was meant to generate billions of dollars

Hunter Biden's emails reveal his close relationship with the Chinese-American secretary who worked for him when he went into business with the man he called the 'spy chief of China.'

The mysterious young assistant wrote the president's son flirty messages, sent him opposition research for Joe's White House run and encouraged him to draw funds from the company's accounts when the joint venture collapsed and even ended up with Hunter's military dog tags.

In 2017 Hunter went into business with Patrick Ho, secretary general of Chinese oil giant CEFC.

Hunter described Ho in a call recording on his abandoned laptop as the 'spy chief of China', and the Chinese businessman was later surveilled by US law enforcement as a foreign intelligence threat before he was convicted of bribery in 2018.

After launching his multi-million-dollar joint venture with CEFC, Hunter was assigned a 29-year-old Chinese-American assistant, JiaQi Bao, who quickly struck up a close and intriguing relationship with her Biden boss.

At first, emails show the New York-based Bao diligently scheduled flights, hotels and even doctor's appointments for the president's son.

But mysteriously, the young assistant also sent him opposition research to help Joe Biden's 2020 election bid, urged him to take cash from the joint venture's accounts as the business collapsed and wrote flirty and personal messages and even ended up with Hunter's military dog tags in her New York apartment  the same tags he can be seen wearing in home-made porn videos he recorded on his laptop.

DailyMail.com did not find any explicit photos or videos of the assistant.

DailyMail.com can reveal flirty messages between Hunter Biden and a young woman JiaQi Bao secretary who worked for him when he went into business with the man he called the 'spy chief of China.' Bao, then age 29, sent him opposition research to help Joe Biden's 2020 election bid, wrote flirty and personal messages and ended up with Hunter's military dog tags

In one flirty and personal message Bao wrote that she ended up with Hunter's military dogt ags in her New York apartment  the same tags he can be seen wearing in home-made porn videos he recorded on his laptop. DailyMail.com did not find explicit photos or videos of Bao on Hunter's laptop

The young secretary, JiaQi Bao, was assigned to Hunter after partnering with Chinese oil giant CEFC in a multi-million-dollar deal, and diligently scheduled flights, hotels and even doctor's appointments for him

A Senate probe highlighted links between Hunter's Chinese backers and the country's spy machine, and reported that his dealings with the Chinese 'raise criminal financial, counterintelligence and extortion concerns'.

The joint venture collapsed the following year when CEFC's secretary general Patrick Ho was arrested and later convicted of bribery in a US federal prosecution

But it is still unclear whether Bao was aware of Hunter's partner's alleged links to the intelligence services at the time  as the New York-based clerical worker has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Hunter and Joe Biden's brother Jim partnered with CEFC in 2017, in a deal that was meant to generate billions of dollars and create a string of oil and gas projects in the Middle East and Europe.

But the joint venture collapsed the following year when CEFC's secretary general Patrick Ho was arrested and later convicted of bribery in a US federal prosecution.

Ho was suspected of working with the Chinese intelligence services, and had been monitored by federal law enforcement under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, court documents revealed.

The Senate homeland security and finance committees issued a joint report in September 2020 scrutinizing Hunter's business deal with CEFC, noting the company's deep ties to the Chinese government and concluding that the millions of dollars transferred from the firm to Hunter and his uncle 'raise criminal financial, counterintelligence and extortion concerns.'

In November, then finance committee chair Senator Chuck Grassley wrote to the Department of Justice, demanding an investigation into Hunter's business dealings with his corrupt foreign billionaire backers.

The president's son admitted in December last year that he is currently the subject of an FBI investigation, reportedly for tax crimes, though it has been reported that investigators are also scrutinizing his foreign dealings.

Hunter himself seems to have believed his business partner's ties to Chinese intelligence agencies  telling a friend in an audio recording on his laptop that Ho was the 'spy chief of China'.

As Hunter's joint venture with the Chinese began to crumble that month amid the arrests of its two leaders, Bao wrote one of her most surprising emails encouraging him to take funds from the coffers of one of Hunter and CEFC's joint corporate vehicles called Hudson West. 'I'm a bit hesitated to say this to you, because I don't want you to misunderstood me as a messed up bad girl. However, for your benefit, I can't hold it back to myself,' Bao wrote in the March 26 email marked 'confidential'

After partnering with Chinese oil giant CEFC in the multi-million-dollar deal, Bao was appointed as his secretary and assistant, acting as a go-between for his Chinese business partners, translating documents and performing clerical work for Hunter in the joint venture.

According to Bao's LinkedIn page, she has worked as an analyst and assistant in finance and private equity in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and New York since 2011.

Her Chinese-American family are based in Arizona, and she studied at the state's university before taking a masters at top Beijing university Tsinghua.

Her LinkedIn page does not mention CEFC or the joint venture with the Bidens, only listing 'Hedge Fund / Asset Management / Financial Services' as her job from February 2016 to July 2019.

Their correspondence in emails obtained by DailyMail.com from Hunter's abandoned laptop were at first purely professional, with Bao booking plane tickets and hotel rooms and translating reports on Hunter's oil and gas ventures into Chinese for his CEFC business partners.

But in November 2017, just weeks after Bao's first email to Hunter, Ho was arrested in New York on charges of bribing the president of Chad for oil rights.

After the arrest, Bao wrote Hunter an email asking for information about the case 'as a learning opportunity'.

'I just don't get it, why the US has the legitimacy or the authority to sue when whatever involved is not happening in the U. S. and no U. S. company is involved?' she wrote.

'In case if someone really should sue, it should be Hong Kong or the African country government as it involves its citizen...how is this has anything to do with the U. S.? Or something happened in the U. S. and through a U. S. bank ? Or some international lawy that every country follows?

'So the US government thought he did, based on the U. S. government's standard, might be his dealing with whatever various circle(s)/companies he close to, or a personal matter, may or may not related to CEFC...why the US government is so certain of the linkage?'

She ended the message by lavishing compliments on the president's son, writing: 'Many thanks for having been the most amazing and understanding boss, and the most charismatic friend and coconspirator-in-mischief.'

According to Bao's LinkedIn page, she has worked as an analyst and assistant in finance and private equity in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and New York since 2011. Her Chinese-American family are based in Arizona, and she studied at the state's university before taking a masters at top Beijing university Tsinghua

After the joint venture had dissolved, Bao emailed Hunter with a conspiratorial message encouraging him to help his father run for president and listing talking points to combat criticism of Hunter's dealings with the Chinese. 'Trump advocate's stupid book with exaggeration and fabrication on your business connection with Chinese or that NYTimes article mentioning a retired Hong Kong official trying to reach you/Uncle Jim when need help have no relevance whatsoever!' she wrote

Bao listed negative stories about Trump for Hunter to use, including allegations of selling citizenship to corrupt Chinese officials, his alleged links to a Chinese-owned Florida 'prostitution parlor', and letting human rights violations slide in negotiations with China. Bao also attacked Trump's trade war with China, slamming it as 'a complete failure thus far, resulting in tremendous loss to Americans'

By January 2018 Bao was becoming more familiar in her emails to Hunter, telling him: 'One of my New Year's Wishes is that you could drink less I will do anything and everything to make you happy so that alcoholic beverages' widely believed mythical function as a stress reliever won't be an excuse for indulgence!

'You have such a charismatic personality and I know you are a super nice person that I'm naturally draw to, so you know, I have your best interest at heart and I want to do something for you to show my appreciation.'

Bao's messages became strangely obsequious, even emailing Hunter to tell him not to pay her for the whole month of February because she took four vacation days to see her family.

Hunter and Joe Biden's brother Jim ( pictured in 2008) partnered with CEFC in 2017, in a deal that was meant to generate billions of dollars and create a string of oil and gas projects in the Middle East and Europe

'I'm taking too many days off on February, I really should not waste your money like this,' the diligent assistant wrote. 'Please do not pay me any salary for the month of February.'

In one striking email Bao revealed that she had Hunter's military dog tags and asked him to visit her New York apartment to pick them up.

Hunter wears the tags in several naked selfies on his laptop, as well as in home-made porn videos shot with prostitutes which he uploaded to his Porn Hub account. Bao does not appear in any explicit pictures or videos on the laptop.

'Your doggy chain necklace: I thought I would simply bring it to you whenever I see you during your last trip in NY, but you were too busy and that didn't happen. Please let me know when and where I should bring it to you or how would you like it to be delivered,' Bao wrote to Hunter in March 2018.

'I think the most convenient way might be to simply pick it up whenever you are in NY next time. For the meanwhile, it is in a safe place awaiting for you.'

As Hunter's joint venture with the Chinese began to crumble that month amid the arrests of its two leaders, Bao wrote one of her most surprising emails encouraging him to raid the coffers of one of Hunter and CEFC's joint corporate vehicles called Hudson West.

'I'm a bit hesitated to say this to you, because I don't want you to misunderstood me as a messed up bad girl. However, for your benefit, I can't hold it back to myself,' Bao wrote in the March 26 email marked 'confidential'.

'Here is my two cents: Whatever money from Hudson West, please take them, take as much as possible, or figure out a way to spend them for your own benefit.

'It doesn't matter whether the left-over operational fund for Hudson West is labeled as 'personal goodwill / loan' or 'non-recourse' 'recourse' 'borrowing/drawing'...just take it and keep as much as possible.

'If you do not take that money, the money would ended up become 'nobody's money.' So it is better to use it for good. 'Nobody's money' means they take away whatever you give up to no body knows where in the system it will end up and whomever stranger might simply take the money for granted.'

Hunter left his MacBook Pro laptop at a Wilmington, Delaware computer repair shop in April 2019 and never returned for it. DailyMail.com authenticated its content with firm Maryman and Greenfield saying it found 'no evidence' of fabrication by Russians or anyone else

A breakdown of Hunter's expenses at the Yale Club in May 2018 totaling $16,578.69

In an earlier email Bao also encouraged Hunter to add personal bills into his expenses reports for the joint venture. 'I included your Yale Club Quarterly Contribution starting from last year up to the latest one, not sure if the accounting department will let this go, but let's try,' she wrote. 'Don't worry about our drinks, it's on me, no need to be included in this report'

Delaware company filings show the Biden-CEFC joint venture corporation, Hudson West III, was dissolved in November 2018, eight months after Baos email recommending Hunter take any remaining money in its accounts.

According to last years Senate committee report, payments to Hunter from the corporation continued through September 2018.

The report also says that between January 2018 and October 2018, Hudson West III wired Jim Bidens consulting firm Lion Hall Group a total $76,746.15 with the memo, office expense and reimbursement.

Wire orders on the abandoned laptop show Hunter also transferred about $1.4 million of funds from his company Owasco to his uncles consulting firm between August 14th 2017 and August 3rd 2018.

In an earlier email Bao also encouraged Hunter to add personal bills into his expenses reports for the joint venture.

'I included your Yale Club Quarterly Contribution starting from last year up to the latest one, not sure if the accounting department will let this go, but let's try,' she wrote.

'Don't worry about our drinks, it's on me, no need to be included in this report.'

After the joint venture had dissolved, Bao emailed Hunter with a conspiratorial message encouraging him to help his father run for president and listing talking points to combat criticism of Hunter's dealings with the Chinese.

'Trump advocate's stupid book with exaggeration and fabrication on your business connection with Chinese or that NYTimes article mentioning a retired Hong Kong official trying to reach you/Uncle Jim when need help have no relevance whatsoever!' she wrote.

After the arrest, Bao wrote Hunter an email asking for information about the case 'as a learning opportunity'. She ended the message by lavishing compliments on the president's son, writing: 'Many thanks for having been the most amazing and understanding boss, and the most charismatic friend and coconspirator-in-mischief'

Hunter's laptop is brimming with evidence of apparent criminal activity by him and his associates including drug trafficking and prostitution. This photo of him grabbing a unidentified woman's hair was recovered from his laptop. DailyMail.com did not find explicit photos or videos of Bao on the laptop

Bao listed negative stories about Trump for Hunter to use, including allegations of selling citizenship to corrupt Chinese officials, his alleged links to a Chinese-owned Florida 'prostitution parlor', and letting human rights violations slide in negotiations with China.

Bao also attacked Trump's trade war with China, slamming it as 'a complete failure thus far, resulting in tremendous loss to Americans'.

Under the heading 'Uncle Joe 2020', the former assistant encouraged Hunter to tell his father to 'lead by example', 'bring back sensibility', and emphasize his experience and age as a strength.

Bao's suggestions appear to fit with China's foreign policy at the time. Joe Biden was expected to have a less confrontational policy towards China, and appeared to be preferred by the Chinese government over Trump.

Bao did not respond to requests for comment.
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Student areas in Nottingham, Manchester and Durham were the worst-hit places in England in the second wave of Covid with up to one in five people getting sick, MailOnline can reveal.

Figures showing the areas hardest hit by coronavirus between September and April reveal that a staggering 18 per cent of the population was infected in Fallowfield.

The Manchester neighbourhood has a population of around 12,000 people and saw 2,202 people test positive for the virus in the second wave.

Fallowfield is a well-known student area with a University of Manchester campus and halls of accommodation where young people were notoriously fenced in during the November lockdown and ripped down the metal barriers in protest.

Durham City, Hyde Park in Leeds and the Park & Castle in Nottingham all also saw more than 15 per cent of their populations infected.

Hyde Park Corner & Woodhouse Cliff in Leeds, and Arboretum, Forest & Trent University, and Lenton & Dunkirk in Nottingham  also student areas  were in the 10 worst-hit places in the country, too.

Dr Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the university of Reading, said students may have higher rates because they live in large, mixed households and use public transport often  but he said it was impossible to know whether the fact they were students actually made Covid outbreaks worse.

Three non-student places in the top 10  Sheppey East in Kent, where the Kent variant emerged and the second wave began, and Bastwell and Little Harwood in Blackburn.

The Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall, is the only place not to have officially recorded a single case of Covid since September. To avoid identifying people, the Department of Health doesn't record infections if there are fewer than three a week.

Fallowfield in Manchester had the highest infection rate in the country over the course of the second wave, at 18 per cent. Only three places in the top 10 were not student areas  Sheppey East in Kent and Bastwell and Little Harwood in Blackburn

Students at halls in Fallowfield, Manchester, protested in fury after the university tried to fence them into the accommodation and control who went in and out of the campus (Pictured: A demonstration on November 5)

Students on the Fallowfield campus  now seen to be the worst-affected part of England during the second wave of Covid  tore down the fencing put up around them by security services

Data broken down into the smallest possible areas  known as middle-layer super output areas (MSOA)  show that every corner of England saw cases in the second wave.

Of 6,791 MSOA areas the Isles of Scilly was the only one to officially record no infections, although the council there said there were one or two in January.

Durham City had the most positive tests, with 2,492 in a population of 14,473 people  an infection rate of 17 per cent, the second highest in the country.

Durham is also a student-heavy area in an inner city, something common to most of the worst-affected places.

Covid is known to be more dangerous in cities because populations are larger and people live closer together, share public transport and visit the same places  such as busy supermarkets or pubs  more often.

And infection rates have regularly been highest among people in their 20s, with almost one in 100 people in that age group infected in the first weeks of January.

Dr Clarke said students are going to be more mobile than the general population and they have large networks because they live in mixed, often large, households with different social or family groups.

He told MailOnline: Theyre not as social as they would normally be and many of them are at home, but there has been evidence of student mixing and student parties.

'[In areas with high infection rates] I would expect a high number of houses of multiple occupancy, people working in densely populated work environments like factories, and use of public transport.

'There is an elevated risk for students because of the way they have to live, and an elevated risk in areas of low socioeconomic status. Theres not necessarily one higher than the other.'

On whether the student population was the risk or simply the urban lifestyle combined with random chance, he added: 'Its really impossible to say because we know that areas of lower socioeconomic status that arent student areas also have problems.'

Department of Health data show there were 22 areas of England where at least one in every eight people caught coronavirus during the second wave.

Almost all of them were in the Midlands or the North of England and most in cities, with areas in Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Birmingham, Merseyside and Bradford. Two areas of London and one in Kent were the only southern places.

Students DO follow social distancing rules... and may be more compliant than middle-aged adults An Office for National Statistics report published in December found that university students said they were following social distancing rules and appeared to be even stricter than the general public. It found in surveys in October and November that students said: 9 out of 10 'always or very frequently' maintained 2m social distancing; 72-91% did not have visitors inside their homes; 9 out of 10 'always or frequently' thoroughly washed or sanitised their hands after leaving a shared space. Many said the regulators had negatively affected their quality of life and made them feel lonely or isolated. The ONS said: 'The Student Covid Insights Survey (SCIS) shows that students follow coronavirus guidance in much the same way as the general public; however, students were more likely not to have left their home or accommodation in the seven days prior to being surveyed than the general public.' Source: Office for National Statistics Advertisement

At least nine areas saw 15 per cent of their entire population test positive.

And the figures don't even show the whole picture  NHS Test & Trace has admitted it may only catch around half of the true number of infections because many people get no symptoms, some don't come forward for tests and some tests give wrong results.

The MSOA areas with the most positive tests relative to their population between the start of September and the end of April were:

Fallowfield Central (Manchester)  2,202 cases (18 per cent)

Durham City  2,492 (17 per cent)

Hyde Park (Leeds)  1,382 (16 per cent)

Sheppey East (Kent)  1,401 (16 per cent)

The Park & Castle (Nottingham)  1,331 (16 per cent)

Bastwell (Blackburn)  1,154 (15 per cent)

Little Harwood (Blackburn)  1,408 (15 per cent)

Hyde Park Corner & Woodhouse Cliff (Leeds)  2,051 (15 per cent)

Arboretum, Forest & Trent University (Nottingham)  1,883 (14 per cent)

Lenton & Dunkirk (Nottingham)  1,521 (14 per cent)

The three non-student areas on the list are Bastwell and Little Harwood in Blackburn, and Sheppey East in Kent.

Sheppey is believed to be the birthplace of the Kent variant as it is known now, and cases there exploded in October and November before scientists realised there was a new fast-spreading strain of the virus there.

Much of the county was under only loose lockdown rules before the November lockdown and cases surged wildly before anything was done to control the outbreak.

At its height, the outbreak in Swale  the area containing the Isle of Sheppey  saw 1.3 per cent of its population test positive in a single week in December.

The reason behind the high rates in Blackburn is less clear.

The Blackburn with Darwen authority was England's Covid hotspot on more than one occasion and Bastwell and Little Harwood are in the centre of the town. Densely populated neighbourhoods in low income parts of towns and cities are known to have been harder hit all over the country.

Although outbreaks appear to have been worst in areas with large student communities, the links between student living and Covid cases are unclear.

A study by Cambridge University found that students didn't appear to trigger outbreaks in the towns or cities around them but that the opposite happened.

Spikes in cases among the students tended to come after the local infection rate had already risen, the study found.

Some were caught having house parties and flouting social distancing rules, with reports of police breaking up large gatherings and fining people in Lancashire, Reading and Hertfordshire, among others.

But many insisted they had stuck to lockdown rules, with the Office for National Statistics concluding in a survey in December that students actually might be better at sticking to social distancing than the general public.

The report said: 'The Student Covid Insights Survey (SCIS) shows that students follow coronavirus guidance in much the same way as the general public; however, students were more likely not to have left their home or accommodation in the seven days prior to being surveyed than the general public.'

Students in Nottingham, where three of the 10 worst-hit areas were, said they were made 'scapegoats' and unfairly blamed for outbreaks in the city.

Nottingham Trent University student Josh Hughes, 21, told NottinghamshireLive in March: 'It is clear that students have been made scapegoats by some in society yet children in schools are not looked at with the same attitude.'

This was a claim backed by the National Union of Students, which said the pandemic has had 'harsh' effects on students.

'The pandemic has had detrimental impacts on all of us, but most harshly on students,' said an NUS spokesperson.

'Alongside the threat of the virus itself, students have been through turmoil over the past year, only to be scapegoated and disregarded by government and institutions time and time again  despite following all the rules responsibly and stepping up to support other students, staff and local communities.'
An Iranian couple fleeing religious persecution, a Venezuelan mother escaping political violence, and an Ecuadorean family who just want a better life: these are just some of the migrants being temporarily housed in a pair of California hotels for nearly $500,000 a month.

DailyMail.com was given exclusive access to the two properties in El Centro which sits in a remote border sector so overwhelmed by illegal crossings that the local detention center can no longer hold them all.

As part of a scheme funded by the State of California and FEMA, 100 rooms have been reserved at the Ramada at $90 per night, and another 90 were booked at the Travelodge at $71 per night, to take in asylum seekers.

Unlike a similar scheme in Arizona and Texas - which involves five hotels run by ICE at a cost of $89million - the Californian shelters are being managed by staff from Catholic Charities San Diego, aided by the Department of Social Services.

Hotel Asylum: DailyMail.com was given exclusive access to two California hotels where migrants are being temporarily being housed after crossing into the United States illegally

Migrant families are being transported to a Travelodge and Ramada hotel in El Centro, near the US-Mexican border. Pictured: An Ecuadorian family arrives at their room the Travelodge

The government-funded scheme is being managed by a San Diego-based Catholic charity which has set up migrants with COVID-19 testing, accommodation, and meals

Case manager Alberto Dilla, 31, from El Centro, explained: 'Every day, we get an email from Border Patrol telling us how many people they're bringing.

'The van comes to the Ramada and they have Covid tests. Anyone who is positive stays to quarantine there for 10 days.

'Everyone else gets taken to the Travelodge where we give them food, a place to sleep and arrange travel for them to wherever they want to go.'

Shelter manager Cassandra Castro, 35, from Calexico, added: 'We just try to make sure they have everything they need before they go on to their final destination.'

The hotel shelters have been up and running for three weeks. Arriving families are provided with a pack containing basic hygiene items such as toothpaste and shampoo, as well as cartons containing lunch and dinner  prepared for them by a local branch of Denny's.

Larger families are given double queen rooms, while couples and single parents with children are given rooms with king beds.

Staff also help the asylum seekers with their travel plans: the charity operates daily shuttles to Yuma and San Diego airports and funds the onward journeys itself or via a partner called Miles4Migrants which uses donated airmiles to book flights.

After asylum seekers are released from the US Customs and Border Protection custody, they are taken to the Travelodge, where 90 rooms have been reserved for migrants at $71.66 a night

They are first taken to the Ramada to be tested for COVID-19. Those who are positive are required to quarantine there for 10 days

As a result, most of the families stay for 48 hours or less.

Many arrive with nothing and all have their shoelaces removed while detained so the charity also provides clothes and toys  all sourced via donations.

So far, 712 migrants have passed through the hotels according to Catholic Charities San Diego CEO Vino Pajanor, while up to 48 newcomers arrive each day.

Catholic Charities San Diego case worker Alberto Dilla, 31, says Border Patrol agents inform the charity via email of how many migrants are coming in everyday

A formerly quiet 70-mile section of the border, the El Centro sector saw 21,759 single adults in March alone, along with 939 families and 1,047 unaccompanied minors - increases of 119 per cent, 18 per cent and 46 per cent on the same month in 2020.

As a result, the Imperial County Detention Center can no longer handle the influx -with some of the asylum seekers telling DailyMail.com they had been placed in cells meant for 30 people that are now holding 70.

Single men and women are expelled immediately under Title 42, but President Biden's announcement in January that families would be released into the US instead has contributed to the surge.

Venezuelan Yorevelis Garcia, 35, a single mother to nine-year-old daughter Mya, said her Boston-based cousin had told her to pack her bags after hearing from coyote traffickers that Title 42 is over.

'My cousin [in Boston] called me a few days ago and said the coyotes [traffickers] are saying Title 42 is over and it's time to come,' she told DailyMail.com.

'She said now is the time so I grabbed a backpack and my daughter and came to the border.'

The mom-of-one told how her cousin paid coyotes $2,300 to get her across the border. First, she was driven in a van filled with 28 people to a remote spot.

Families are provided with a welcome pack containing basic hygiene items such as toothpaste and shampoo, upon their arrival at the Travelodge

Because many of the asylum seekers arrive with nothing and all have their shoelaces removed while detained, they are provided with clothes and toy  all sourced via donations

Pictured: A welcome location at the Travelodge where refugees receive food, a room, help with transportation and clothing after they are released from custody

Jessica Guzman, 27, and her daughters Nicole, 9, and Kayla, 6, rummage through the donation bins for clothing

Traffickers then cut away a section of the border fence using a metal cutter and the group embarked on a waterless trek through the desert until Border Patrol found them.

She tearfully recounted how she had been forced to flee Venezuela in 2018 after violence broke out over the contested election of President Nicholas Maduro.

An opposition supporter, she was badly beaten by a gang of government thugs who burned her on the arms and legs with lit cigarettes and threatened to have her killed.

With Mya, she traveled first to Peru and then on to Chile and Colombia before arriving in Mexico where she made ends meet by working a $50-a-week job in a taco shop.

Yorevelis said she had twice tried to claim asylum at the US border  talking to guards in Nogales and Mexicali, only to be turned back.

This time, she is more hopeful. Yorevelis said: 'It's been years since I saw my cousin so I'm very excited.

'I know this is a long process and I could still be deported but I hope I will get asylum and a good education for my daughter.'

Larger families are given double queen rooms, while couples and single parents with children are given rooms with king beds. Pictured above is Yorevelis Garcia, 35, who decided to relocate to the US from Venezuela after learning President Biden had rolled back border restrictions

The single mother-of-one, pictured holding up her passport, told DailyMail.com, told how her cousin paid coyotes $2,300 to get her across the border. She now plans to travel to Boston to reunite with her relative

According to charity CEO Vino Pajanor (left) 712 migrants have passed through the hotel program so far. Shelter manager Cassandra Castro (right) 35, says the charity has been working to ensure asylum seekers have everything they need before they are taken to their final destination

Others told DailyMail.com that the dangerous journey had been a last resort.

Graphic designer, 'K', 42, asked not to be named for fear of attracting attention from the Iranian authorities.

He told how he paid $35,000 to people smugglers to get him and his 40-year-old pregnant wife to the US after years of religious persecution and beatings meted out by regime heavies.

A Christian convert, he said his life in Tehran involved constant death threats and intimidation and that two years ago, he and his wife lost their first unborn child after she was beaten up by police thugs while pregnant.

Their month-long journey to the US included using fake passports to fly to Istanbul and then on to Mexico City where they caught an internal flight to Mexicali.

Inside, charity workers assist migrant families in obtaining food and clothing and also help them arrange travel plans

Coyote guides then brought them through the desert to the border fence  after climbing over and hiking for miles, they were picked up by Border Patrol.

K, who was traveling to Los Angeles to join his uncle, said: 'Everyone here has been very kind to us. It was too dangerous to stay in Iran. I couldn't bear to lose another child so I hope we will be able to have a life here.'

Like K, most of the men are given GPS ankle tags before being released so authorities can keep tabs on them and ensure they make their court date.

Also tagged was Carlos Jerez, 29, a construction worker from Ecuador who had paid $9,500 to cross the border with his wife Jessica Guzman, 27, and daughters Nicole, nine, and Kayla, six.

Jessica said their life in Ecuador had become unbearable after she suffered a stroke while pregnant with Nicole and was left unable to work.

The Imperial County Detention Center in El Centro has been flooded with new arrivals every day, they can no longer handle the influx, DailyMail.com has learned

She said the family faced constant discrimination due to her disability and are hoping for a new life in New York where they will be able to get a good education for the two girls.

The 27-year-old said she is grateful for the help the family has received so far and thought it boded well for their new life.

She said: 'I never expected that we would be treated so kindly and get so much help  I am completely grateful and thankful to God because we wouldn't have got all this without Him.

'All of this is for my children. I hope that in New York, my husband will be able to get a good job and my daughters will be able to go to school again.'
The top U.S general for Africa is warning that a growing threat from China may come not just from the waters of the Pacific but from the Atlantic as well.

U.S. Gen. Stephen Townsend, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Beijing is looking to establish a large navy port capable of hosting submarines or aircraft carriers on Africas western coast.

Townsend said China has approached countries stretching from Mauritania to south of Namibia, intent on establishing a naval facility. If realized, that prospect would enable China to base warships in its expanding Navy in the Atlantic as well as Pacific oceans.

'Theyre looking for a place where they can rearm and repair warships. That becomes militarily useful in conflict,' said Townsend, who heads U.S. Africa Command. 'Theyre a long way toward establishing that in Djibouti. Now theyre casting their gaze to the Atlantic coast and wanting to get such a base there.'

US General Stephen Townsend, who heads US Africa Command, says China has designs on naval ports on the western coast of Africa, which would give the nation easy access to the Atlantic Ocean

Townsend, seen during a tour of Baghdad in 2017, says China could pose an increased military threat to the US if its successful in Africa

Townsend's warnings come as the Pentagon shifts its focus from the counterterrorism wars of the last two decades to the Indo-Pacific region and threats from great power adversaries like China and Russia. The Biden administration views China's rapidly expanding economic influence and military might as America's primary long-term security challenge.

U.S. military commanders around the globe, including several who may lose troops and resources to bolster growth in the Pacific, caution that China's growing assertiveness isn't simply happening in Asia. And they argue that Beijing is aggressively asserting economic influence over countries in Africa, South America and the Middle East, and is pursuing bases and footholds there.

'The Chinese are outmaneuvering the U.S. in select countries in Africa,' said Townsend. 'Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. They are hedging their bets and making big bets on Africa.'

China's first overseas naval base was built years ago in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and it is steadily increasing its capacity. Townsend said as many as 2,000 military personnel are at the base, including hundreds of Marines who handle security there.

'They have arms and munitions for sure. They have armored combat vehicles. We think they will soon be basing helicopters there to potentially include attack helicopters,' said Townsend.

China has approached countries stretching from Mauritania to south of Namibia as it seeks an increased military presence

Analysts say the ports could be used by the Chinese military to rearm warships or host aircraft carriers

For some time, many have thought that China was working to establish a Navy base in Tanzania, a country on Africa's eastern coast, that has had a strong, longstanding military relationship with Beijing. But Townsend said it appears there's been no decision on that yet.

He said that while China has been trying hard to get a base in Tanzania, it's not the location he's most concern about.

'It's on the Indian Ocean side,' he said. 'I want it to be in Tanzania instead of on the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic coast concerns me greatly,' he said, pointing to the relatively shorter distance from Africa's west coast to the U.S.

In nautical miles, a base on Africa's northern Atlantic coast could be substantially closer to the U.S. than military facilities in China are to America's western coast.

More specifically, other U.S. officials say the Chinese have been eyeing locations for a port in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Defense Department's 2020 report on China's military power, said China has likely considered adding military facilities to support its naval, air and ground forces in Angola, among other locations. And it noted that the large amount of oil and liquefied natural gas imported from Africa and the Middle East, make those regions a high priority for China over the next 15 years.

Henry Tugendhat, a senior policy analyst with the United States Institute of Peace, said China has a lot of economic interests on Africa's west coast, including fishing and oil. China also has helped finance and build a large commercial port in Cameroon.

China's first overseas naval base was built years ago in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa

Townsend said as many as 2,000 military personnel are in Djibouti

He said that any effort by Beijing to get a naval port on the Atlantic coast would be an expansion of China's military presence. But the desire for ocean access, he said, may be primarily for economic gain, rather than military capabilities.

Townsend and other regional military commanders laid out their concerns about China during recent congressional hearings. He, along with Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, and Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, are battling to retain their military forces, aircraft and surveillance assets as the Pentagon continues to review the shift to great power competition.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is conducting a global posture review to determine if America's military might is positioned where it needs to be, and in the right numbers, around the world to best maintain global dominance. That review is expected to be finished in late summer.
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Almost half of all over-50s in England have now been fully vaccinated against coronavirus and as many as two-thirds have been covered in parts of the country leading the way, the latest official figures show.

About 10.5million people in the age group had received both vaccine doses across England by May 2  a rate of 47 per cent  according to NHS statistics.

But, as has been the case throughout the rollout, analysis by MailOnline shows uptake has varied.

Some 93 of England's 315 local authorities have already seen more than half of their over-50 populations receive a top-up shot but in 26 areas it is fewer than four in 10 and in two authorities the rate is below 30 per cent.

Eastbourne in Sussex had the highest vaccination rate, dishing out second doses to 64 per cent of people in the age group.

After Eastbourne, the highest rates were seen in the Isles of Scilly (63.0 per cent), Wyre (61.2 per cent), Mid Suffolk (57.9 per cent), East Suffolk (57.8 per cent) and Bassetlaw (57.2 per cent).

Rates were lowest in London, where ministers are worries that hesitancy is stopping people come forward for a jab when they are invited. Just 22,637 out of 88,187 over 50s in Newham, south London, have had their second dose  an uptake rate of just 25.7 per cent.

More than two thirds of people aged 50 and above in parts of Sussex are now fully vaccinated against Covid, NHS England figures suggest

Professor David Livermore, a medical microbiologist at the University of East Anglia, told MailOnline that despite some areas still lagging behind, there was enough in the vaccination data to safely ease Covid restrictions more quickly than is being laid out in Boris Johnson's ultra-cautious roadmap out of lockdown.

The next relaxation is not due for another 10 days  when foreign travel will resume and pubs and restaurants will be allowed to offer indoor service  but social distancing and mask-wearing will remain in place until at least June 21.

Of the ten areas with the lowest full vaccination rate for over-50s, nine were in the capital. They were: Newham (25.7 per cent), Tower Hamlets (28.2 per cent), Hackney (30.1 per cent), Westminster (31.7 per cent), Southwark (32.7 per cent), Hammersmith and Fulham (32.9 per cent), Kensington and Chelsea (33.5 per cent), Lambeth (33.8 per cent), Lewisham (35.0 per cent) and Corby in Northamptonshire (35.0 per cent).

Experts believe high ethnic minority populations, who have been found to be far more hesitant about the vaccines than white Brits in London's inner-city boroughs are partly behind the low figures.

Just two thirds of black Caribbean Brits have taken up the offer of the Covid vaccine compared to nearly 95 per cent of white adults, according to Office for National Statistics data released yesterday.

And separate Public Health England data also shows just 65 per cent of black over-50s have had a first dose of the vaccine compared to 93 per cent in the White population.

In total, the UK has dished out 34million first jabs and 14million adults are now fully vaccinated. Statistics show two areas of the country have fully vaccinated fewer than 30 per cent of their over -50s, both of which were in London.

Professor Livermore told MailOnline: 'I definitely think lockdown could and should be lifted more swiftly than is being done.

'It has considerable human and economic costs and we are now in a position where over 70 per cent of people have some immunity from vaccination or prior infection and it is spring, when winter respiratory viruses decline anyhow.'

Britain confirmed 2,613 Covid cases and 13 deaths on Thursday, as an array of studies showed the number of people getting sick with the virus is continuing to fall.

Official testing sites picked up slightly more positive results than last Thursday  a 6.9 per cent rise on the 2,445  but the daily death toll fell by 41 per cent on a week ago, when it was 22.

Another 404,226 people got their second vaccine dose yesterday, with another 139,097 being given the first jab. This means 16.3million people are now fully immunised and a further 34.9m have been given one.

Vaccines and lockdown are working so well tumbling hospital admissions mean hospitals can close their surplus intensive care wards set up especially for Covid patients, a leading medic claimed today.

Dr Rupert Pearse, from the Intensive Care Society, said: 'Obviously it varies around the UK, but colleagues across the country tell me most surge ICUs have now closed. The surge area at my hospital is still open but only has a handful of patients. There are less than 10 patients [now] and at one point we had more than 150, so that gives you an idea of the scale.'
Two great-great-grandchildren of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller Sr. are pouring millions of dollars into an effort aimed at supporting people on the front lines fighting new oil and gas development.

Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case have created the 'Equation Campaign' and pledged a combined $30 million of their personal wealth to the effort.

Among the causes they are supporting are protests against the Keystone pipeline, in the Dakotas, and activists fighting the replacement and expansion of the aging 'Line 3' oil pipeline in northern Minnesota.

Another $5 million was pledged by other sources so far, with an ultimate goal of raising $100 million.

The name of the effort comes from the idea that reducing demand for fossil fuels is only half of the 'equation' when it comes to addressing global warming; the other side of the equation is cutting off the supply.

Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Rockefeller Gill Case, both great-great-grandchildren of the oil baron John D. Rockefeller, have launched a fund to support protests against fossil fuels

John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil and died in 1937, age 97, the richest man in the world

'The industry has said that the number-one challenge to building new pipelines is local opposition,' said Lambert, who describes herself as an artist, philanthropist, and the mother of two young children.

'These groups have amazing results, but they are seriously under-resourced.'

Lambert and Case's initiative is the latest in a long-running effort from the Rockefeller family to address their family's history.

Their great-great-grandfather opened his first oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1863.

Within a few decades, Standard Oil controlled 90 per cent of petroleum production in the United States.

The company was split up by the Supreme Court in 1911, with offshoots such as Exxon and Chevron forming from the remnants.

The family's direct involvement in fossil fuels ended at that time, although some of the around 270 descendants of John D. Rockefeller work in the field, or have investments in the area.

The new Rockefeller initiative will support protests, including that against the Keystone pipeline

The Keystone pipeline has drawn activists from all across the country, seen protesting in 2013

In 2003 Neva Rockefeller, an economist at Tufts, and John D.'s great-granddaughter, co-sponsored a resolution at Exxon's annual shareholder meeting demanding the company study climate change's impact on its business.

Members of the Rockefeller family have since invested heavily in initiatives to highlight climate change, and in 2016 Exxon took the family to court, accusing them of funding a conspiracy against their company.

Many of the climate liability lawsuits against Exxon have been tied up in procedural wrangling over whether they belong in state or federal court.

The family is divided on whether to support activism against fossil fuels.

In 2018 David Kaiser, another great-great-grandchild, told New York Magazine: 'If Exxon's stock price suffers, the whole family will lose money.'

Ariana Rockefeller, a 38-year-old competitive equestrian rider who runs an eponymous fashion brand, called the campaign by her relatives 'deeply misguided,' and told CBS in 2016: 'I don't think denouncing a family legacy is the best way to go about doing this.'

John D. Rockefeller Sr and his only son, John D. Jr, are seen on Fifth Avenue

The Premcor refinery in Lima, Ohio (above) was the first refinery built in Ohio by Standard Oil in the late 1800s, when the region was the world's largest producer of oil

The new campaign will fund all aspects of blocking new development, including lawsuits, protest activities, public relations, social-media campaigns, and legal support when people are arrested or blocked from exercising their First Amendment rights of speech and assembly.

In addition to trying to cut off the flow of a major source of greenhouse-gas emissions, a key goal is to support the local and Indigenous people who often suffer the most from oil and gas development in their backyard.

Lambert and Case said they decided to focus on oil and gas development because other donors, including some in the Rockefeller constellation of philanthropies, are already working to reduce the use of coal.

Also, just as coal appears to be on the wane, drilling for other fossil fuels has started accelerating.

'At the time we were thinking about this, oil and gas production were ramping up at a terrifying speed,' Lambert said.

'Not many groups were focused on stopping that expansion.'

Lambert and Case also offered a more personal reason for the choice of how to spend some of their inheritance.

'I feel a particular moral drive to utilize the funds that came from oil and gas extractions to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle,' says Case.

Lambert added: 'This is oil money that came from the earth, and we're investing it back in the earth.'

When John D. Rockefeller Sr died in 1937, aged 97, he was the richest man in the world.

He and his wife Laura had four daughters and one son together. The son, John Davidson Rockefeller Jr, had in turn one daughter and five sons.

One of John Davidson Rockefeller Jr's sons, Laurance, a noted conservationist and businessman, had eight grandchildren - of whom is Case is one.

Another, David, chairman and chief executive of Chase bank, who died in 2017, had six children: one of his sons, Richard, is Lambert's father.

Lambert has a master's degree in environment and natural resources and a background in climate and energy planning, and spends her time guiding retreats for environmentalists.

Case is an architect whose Rhode Island-based company, Truth Box, specializes in sustainable design.

Native American drummers protest in March 2017 against the Dakota Access oil pipeline

Casey Camp of the Ponca Nation (left) shakes hands with Piscataway Indian Nation Chief Billy Redwing Tayac at a demonstration against the Keystone XL pipeline at the US Capitol on April 22, 2014

Lambert said the groups they are funding have 'an incredible moral authority,' which gives them power, and the Equation Campaign is designed to help them unleash the potential of that power.

Other donors to the Equation Campaign include the Open Society Foundations, the 11th Hour Project of the Schmidt Family Foundation, and the David Rockefeller Fund.

The Equation Campaign is housed at the Rockefeller Family Fund, which is also the campaign's fiscal sponsor.

One of the campaign's grantees is the Center for Protest Law and Litigation, which among other causes supports protestors fighting the replacement and expansion of the aging 'Line 3' oil pipeline in northern Minnesota.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the group's director and co-founder, said local authorities are often aligned with corporate interests.

In the case of Line 3, the Canadian company Enbridge established a fund to reimburse local Minnesota sheriffs' departments for time spent ostensibly on public safety at protest sites, says Verheyden-Hilliard.

In reality, she says, the fund provides a financial incentive for local law-enforcement officers to harass peaceful protestors.

The situation affected Verheyden-Hilliard in a very personal way.

She says that while driving to a recent protest with actress and activist Jane Fonda following in a car behind her, she was pulled over for failing to use her turn signal far enough in advance of the intersection where she made the turn.

The stop was pure harassment, Verheyden-Hilliard says.

The sheriff's deputy let her go after examining her driver's license, but he then followed her for 15 miles through winding country roads, she says.

A graphic shows the descendants of oil baron John D. Rockefeller and Laura Spelman Rockefeller. Laurance Spelman Rockefeller is the grandfather of Case while David is the grandfather of Lambert

A spokesperson for Enbridge said that as part of the permitting process, the state of Minnesota required Enbridge to fund a public-safety escrow account, overseen by an independent manager, to reimburse counties for public safety needs related to the Line 3 project.

Verheyden-Hilliard said a $160,000 grant from the Equation Campaign was crucial in helping to get her organization up and running last year, and a $340,000 two-year grant is on the way.

One of the great things about the fund, she says, is that it responds quickly when problems flair up at protest sites.

'The Equation Campaign is uniquely positioned to identify emergent needs and act quickly,' says Verheyden-Hilliard.

'Time and momentum matter. Getting funds to a movement at a time when it will make the most difference is extraordinarily important.'

The Equation Campaign also helps grantees connect with other donors, says Verheyden-Hilliard.

It connected the Center for Protest Law and Litigation with the Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice, which is providing an additional $500,000 over three years.

Katie Redford, executive director of the Equation Campaign, says the campaign, launched in January 2020, also has provided support to groups fighting the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Grants are often unrestricted, she says, to help the groups it supports remain nimble.
Voting in Scotland's strangest election since devolution has ended, with the results expected in the next few days.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the counting of votes for the 2021 Holyrood election will take place over a number of days, with all results expected to be declared by Saturday evening.

Counting usually begins immediately after the polls close at 10pm and continues overnight, with results declared in the early hours.

But the need for social distancing among count staff has meant votes will be tallied from Friday morning.

Nicola Sturgeon, pictured at her Glasgow Southside vote yesterday, has said another pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, including the Greens and Alba Party seats, should be enough to let Scots vote again on whether they want to leave the UK

Ballot boxes began to arrive at count locations shortly after 10pm including at the P&J Live arena in Aberdeen.

One of the first boxes delivered to the venue, from an Aberdeenshire Council polling station, broke open as it was taken from the van transporting votes  but none were lost during the mishap.

Dozens of First Bus vehicles were lined up queuing into the arena at around midnight with counting not commencing until 9am.

This year's election, while conducted under the constraints of coronavirus rules, is also considered to be one of the most important since the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999.

On Thursday, two voters in Glasgow North West said they were temporarily turned away from a polling station because a ballot box was 'too full'.

Nadeem Basharat, 37, said he and his partner Joanne Basharat, 34, went to Jordanhill Parish Church polling station at around 8.30pm and were told they could not cast their vote at the time.

He said he was told ballot box 52 was too full and he was told to 'come back by 10pm', by a steward who was 'quite vague'.

He told the PA news agency: 'We went home and waited and got there for about 9.30pm and managed to get in, ballot box 52 was still pretty full, like it had just been pushed down and not a new box.

'It looked like there were people there who didn't manage to vote first time around.'

A spokesman for Glasgow's Returning officer said: 'The sheer size of the regional paper meant some ballot boxes became full. We were able to deliver replacement boxes, but in this case some voters were asked to wait outside before voting.

'The presiding officer is confident that all voters who were asked to wait were ultimately able to vote.'

With the SNP set for another five years in government, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will no doubt ramp up the pressure on Westminster to grant the powers for another vote on Scottish independence.

Her opponents in the Tories, Labour and Liberal Democrats have stressed the importance of focusing on Scotland's recovery from coronavirus instead.

But the SNP leader and her party have said no referendum will be held until after the immediate health crisis is over, and they insist powers gained through independence would actually improve the recovery in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon has said another pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, including the Greens and Alba Party seats, should be enough to let Scots vote again on whether they want to leave the UK.
Female soldiers will be able to wear their hair in ponytails and braids while in all uniforms, the US Army has announced.

In a press released Thursday, the Army revealed they had updated their grooming policy to approve the new hairstyles to make things 'more practical for our female soldiers'.

'It allows them flexibility in a tactical environment, while maintaining a professional appearance in garrison,' the release read.

Female soldiers were previously required to wear their hair up in a bun.

It has recently been claimed by some soldiers that tight hair buns can trigger hair loss and other scalp problems for women.

Larger buns needed to accommodate thick or longer hair can also make a combat helmet fit badly and potentially impair good vision.

Female soldiers will be able to wear their hair in ponytails and braids while in uniform, the US Army has announced. The Army released these two photos in a press release Thursday, showing new acceptable hairstyles for women

Female soldiers were previously required to wear their hair up in a bun. It has recently been claimed by some soldiers that tight hair buns can trigger hair loss and other scalp problems for women

Under the new policy, hair must 'be neatly and inconspicuously fastened or secured in either a bun, single ponytail, two braids or a single braid' which 'may be worn down the center of the back in all uniforms'.

However, female soldiers are prohibited from having that 'extend past the bottom of the shoulder blades while at the position of attention'.

The update comes just three months after the US Army announced a slew of other changes to their grooming policies for female soldiers.

The Army announced women would be able to wear earrings, lipstick and nail polish while in uniform.

Army Sgt. Maj. Brian Sanders told reporters at the time that the panel recommending the new grooming changes considered a variety of factors, including cultural, health and safety issues.

'At the end of the day, our women are mothers, they're spouses, they're sisters, they definitely want to be able to maintain their identity and thats what we want to get after,' he stated.

Under the new policy, hair must 'be neatly and inconspicuously fastened or secured in either a bun, single ponytail, two braids or a single braid' which 'may be worn down the center of the back in all uniforms'

In a press released Thursday, the Army revealed they had updated their grooming policy to approve the new hairstyles to make things 'more practical for our female soldiers'

The update comes just three months after the US Army announced a slew of other changes to their grooming policies for female soldiers. The Army announced women would be able to wear earrings, lipstick and nail polish while in uniform

The changes were made in the wake of a directive by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who ordered a new review of military hairstyle and grooming policies last July.

Despite increased flexibility in the grooming standards of female soldiers, male members of the US Army will not be allowed to wear earrings and they still have to shave.

However, men will be able to wear clear nail polish and be able to dye their hair.

The colors for both genders are limited to 'natural' shades. Prohibited colors include blue, purple, pink, green, orange or neon.

'These aren't about male and female,' said Sgt. Maj. Michael Grinston, the Army's top enlisted leader during a Facebook Live presentation in February.

'This is about an Army standard and how we move forward with the Army, and being a more diverse, inclusive team.'
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The cost of travel to potential 'green list' destinations soared last night as Downing Street prepared to unveil a list of countries British holidaymakers will be allowed to visit when the international travel ban lifts on May 17.

Flights to popular Portuguese resorts more than doubled in price for May 17 following suggestions the European holiday hotspot may be among a 'handful' of destinations to immediately offer quarantine-free travel.

Other places tipped to make the first 'green list' are Malta, Iceland, Israel and Gibraltar.

Most of Europe  including France, Spain, Greece and Italy  is expected to be 'amber' in a blow to eager travellers, though it is hoped many could turn green by the end of June as the traffic light system is reviewed.

The initial 'green list' - understood to contain less than a dozen destinations - will be finalised by Cabinet ministers this morning before being unveiled at a Downing Street briefing led by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

But despite insiders warning there will be a 'very small' number of countries subject to the loosest rules when the ban on non-essential travel lifts, demand for flights to possible 'green list' nations has surged.

British Airways is charging 530 for a flight from Heathrow to the Algarve, Portugal, on May 17, compared to 234 for passengers flying the same route two days earlier.

A Ryanair flight from Stansted to Portugal's capital Lisbon on the day overseas leisure travel restarts is 152, compared with 15 on May 16.

EasyJet is charging 234 for a flight from Luton to the Algarve on May 17, but just 73 the following day.

Among the countries tipped to make the first 'green list' are Malta, Iceland, Israel, Gibraltar and possibly Portugal. Pictured: Tel Aviv in Israel

Flight prices to 'green and amber list countries' ahead of announcement: Green list countries: Portugal (Lisbon): - BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 324 - Ryanair flight from Stansted for May 19: 262 Malta: - BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 130 - Ryanair flight from Stansted for June 4: 94 Israel: - BA flight from Heathrow to Tel Aviv for May 17: 210 - Ryanair (N/A) Gibraltar: - BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 165 - easyJet flight from Gatwick for May 17: 94 Jamaica: - BA Heathrow to Kingston for July: 599 - Budget flights (N/A) Barbados: - BA flight from Heathrow for May 18: 393 - Budget flight with 370 Grenada: - Indirect BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 1,687 Morocco: - BA flight from Heathrow for May 29: 443 Amber list countries: Spain - BA flight from Heathrow to Barcelona for May 17: 113. - Ryanair from Stansted: 13 Turkey - Pegasus flight from Stansted to Dalaman on May 23: 124 Greece - BA from Heathrow to Athens for May 18: 327 - Ryanair from Stansted to Athens for May 19: 126 France - BA flight from Heathrow to Nice for May 18: 236 - Ryanair from Stansted to Marseille on June 1: 20 Cyprus - BA flight from Heathrow on May 19: 95 - Ryanair flight from Stansted for May 21: 83 Iceland: - BA flight from Heathrow to Reykjavik for June 25: 67 - Ryanair (N/A) Advertisement

Airlines increase prices in line with demand, indicating that many holidaymakers are hoping Portugal is categorised as a low-risk destination for coronavirus.

England will adopt its traffic light system when the travel ban lifts on May 17, with destinations placed on green, amber and red lists depending on the perceived threat of Covid infection from abroad.

The 'green list' - deemed the most low risk - has been drawn up based on data about the global Covid picture from advisory body The Joint Biosecurity Centre.

But holidaymakers returning from these countries will still be required to take two tests, one within three days of flying back to the UK and another within 48 hours of arrival. This will apply to vaccinated as well as unvaccinated passengers.

Holidaymakers from amber countries will have to take a second post-arrival test on day eight as well as self-isolate at home for ten days.

Arrivals from red countries will have to quarantine in hotels at their own expense for 11 nights.

Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country's population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country's access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

There is speculation the 'green list' may feature destinations such as Malta, Gibraltar and Israel, while the Maldives, the Seychelles and several Caribbean islands look set to miss out.

Portugal has been 'borderline' for most of the week but Downing Street insiders were last night confident it will be included, the Times reported.

Whitehall sources say the green list could also contain several 'obscure places that people won't realistically visit'.

Most of Europe - including including France, Spain, Greece and Italy  is expected to be 'amber'.

However, it is hoped many popular holiday destinations will be added to the 'green list' by the end of June as the traffic light list is reviewed. One source said 'things are going in the right direction' for this to happen.

No plans for the resumption of foreign holidays have been announced by the UK's devolved administrations.

The Prime Minister has been under pressure to accelerate the resumption of foreign travel due to the success of Britain's vaccination programme, with more than half of the UK's population now inoculated.

Former ministers yesterday urged Mr Johnson to ensure 'as many holiday destinations as possible' are placed on the initial 'green list.'

David Jones, the former Secretary of State for Wales, said: 'Aviation and the travel industry are major elements of the country's economy and should be supported by speeding up the lifting of travel restrictions.

'The government should also  consistent with safety  ensure that as many holiday destinations as possible are put on the green list. British people are keen travellers and the time has come to restore their freedom.'

Ex-transport minister Theresa Villiers added: 'The green list needs to be based on a rigorous scrutiny of the evidence to ensure we don't jeopardise the huge success of the vaccination programme.

'But as popular holiday destinations see case numbers falling, there should be some headroom to start to safely lift travel restrictions.'

People walk outside St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, as Malta may be one of the countries added to the 'green list' today

The list will be finalised by Cabinet ministers this morning before being unveiled at a Downing Street briefing in the afternoon led by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. Pictured: Gibraltar

Tourists sunbathing in Praia do Camilo, Lagos, Faro district, Algarve, Portugal

Mr Shapps is expected to reveal the long-awaited traffic light system for travel tomorrow

British tourists won't need tests from May 17, says Gibraltar British holidaymakers were today handed a much-needed boost after Gibraltar confirmed UK tourists will not need to be tested for Covid-19 following May 17. Chief minister Fabian Picardo said the Rock will offer a 'great British staycation in the Mediterranean' after travel restrictions are eased in Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown. The British Overseas Territory, close to the south coast of Spain, became the first nation to fully vaccinate its entire adult population in March. Gibraltar is home to 33,000 people and has had 4,286 cases as well as 94 deaths. Mr Picardo told Sky News: 'Gibraltar has an open frontier with Spain and the rest of the European Union, and we don't require PCR testing for those who come across our land frontier. 'We therefore don't think it would be appropriate for us to require PCR testing of those who are coming from the United Kingdom, which has a higher vaccinated population and a lower incidence of Covid than the rest of the European Union.' Advertisement

Earlier this week, Mr Johnson warned that putting lots of countries on the travel 'green list' from May 17 could risk a jump in cases from abroad.

The Prime Minister has maintained Downing Street will be 'cautious', with Health Secretary Matt Hancock and chief medical officer Chris Whitty said to be among those pushing for quarantine-free states to be kept to a minimum.

'We do want to do some opening up on May 17 but I don't think that the people of this country want to see an influx of disease from anywhere else,' Mr Johnson said on Monday.

'I certainly don't and we have got to be very, very tough, and we have got to be as cautious as we can, whilst we continue to open up.'

Mr Johnson's comments were met with scrutiny by travel experts, who claimed there is 'no danger of an influx of disease' into Britain considering the proposed precautions.

Paul Charles, CEO of travel consultancy The PC Agency, told MailOnline: 'The reason why testing has to be done by every passenger pre-departure to the UK, and after arriving here, is to help weed out any infections or variants. There have been very few cases or variants in recent weeks since these measures were put in place.

'The Prime Minister needs to focus on protecting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk in the travel and tourism sector, and open up overseas travel safely, and progressively, from May 17. '

Meanwhile, Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, called on destinations used by business travellers not to be overlooked.

He said: 'The BTA is watching closely for the green and amber traffic light countries. Whilst we all look forward to a holiday, it's vital for the UK economy that business travel destinations are included on the green list as soon as it is safe to do so.'

The Prime Minister has been under pressure to accelerate the resumption of foreign travel due to the success of Britain's vaccination programme. Pictured: Boris Johnson on Monday

Former ministers yesterday urged Mr Johnson to ensure 'as many holiday destinations as possible' are placed on the initial 'green list'

Tui will offer 20 Covid tests for holidaymakers travelling to green list Tui will offer coronavirus tests for a fraction of standard prices to 'make travel a possibility' once restrictions are lifted on May 17. The UK's largest holiday company said its cheapest package - made up of a lateral flow test and PCR test - will be available for just 20. The tests will be requirements for people returning to or visiting England from green list destinations under the Government's traffic light system for international travel from May 17. Passengers from green list countries - expected to include Malta, Jamaica and Portugal - must get a lateral flow or PCR test no more than 72 hours before flying into the UK. They must also get a PCR test once they have landed. The Government is set to provide free rapid Covid test kits to those travelling abroad so they can avoid the hassle of finding one before they returned, Whitehall sources claimed. But arrivals would still have to pay at least 50 each for the gold-standard PCR test on landing. The package from TUI would cover both tests. Advertisement

Earlier this week a shift in Government travel advice gave an apparent a hint of what destinations could be on the upcoming 'green list.'

Tourists visiting a number of popular summer hotspots do not face a level of risk for coronavirus that is 'unacceptably high', according to the latest updates from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The FCDO is not advising against non-essential travel to Portugal (excluding the Azores), Spain's Canary Islands or the Greek islands of Rhodes, Kos, Zante, Corfu and Crete.

There is no guarantee that the 'green list' will match the FCDO's travel advice, but the latter indicates the Government's current evaluation of the risks to tourists.

Meanwhile Tui, the UK's largest holiday company, announced it will offer customers coronavirus tests for a fraction of standard prices.

The cheapest package - aimed at people returning from green destinations - will be available for just 20, and consist of a lateral flow test and PCR test.

PCR tests alone typically cost 120 each, although several travel companies offer them for 60.

Tui said it is 'subsidising the cost of testing to help customers travel again this summer'.

There are fears that testing requirements will make summer holidays unaffordable for many families by adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of a trip.

Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said the announcement of 20 packages is 'great news - but only for Tui customers'.

He urged the Government to 'reduce the cost of testing across the board, rather than have consumers rely on a system that is currently fragmented and flawed'.
An outrage reportedly sparks in a settlement in Pakistan after a Muslim man's attempts to rape a 10-year-old Christian girl.

The Union of Catholic Asian News reported that protesters clashed with local police in Pakistan after receiving news that a Muslim man attempted to rape the child in Karachi, a southern port city of Pakistan.

As per UCA News, the brother of the child's teacher molested her when she went to their house on Tuesday for tuition. The child, the youngest among six siblings, was able to escape and call for help.

"The culprit took advantage of his sister's absence and tried to rape my daughter. She ran out crying and shouting for help," the victim's mother told UCA News in an interview.

The girl's family and neighbors heard her call for help and surrounded the molester's house before alerting the police about the situation. Hundreds came to the rescue of the girl and beat the Muslim offender. There were so many people things went out of control such that a mob already gathered by the time the police came and the road was already blocked.

UCA News cited Station House Officer Haroon who said the mob threw "pelted stones at the police" and wounded at four of them such that "police resorted to aerial shots to disperse the mob."

Besides the police, the victim's family also had to be accompanied to the hospital for medical attention. A lawmaker then accompanied the family to the police station to file a formal complaint.

Legal aid would be provided to the victim and her family, as well as, other assistance they may need by Karachi Archdiocese's Commission for Justice and Peace Coordinator Kashif Anthony.

"We need to educate our people that protest and demonstration is their right but they must not do any harm to innocent people and must not take the law into their own hands," Anthony told UCA News in an interview.

Similarly, the Sindh Assembly through its Catholic member Anthony Naveed denounced the very violent outcome of the situation.

"We need to show restraint during the protest and desist from any violent activity. I am also thankful to the administration of the hospital and police for their cooperation," Naveed said, adding that the neighborhood has normalized after speaking to "higher authorities."

"I have spoken to higher authorities. The situation is getting back to normal now," he disclosed.

A local social activist explained to UCA News that the Christians rescuing the victim turned into a mob because Muslims now outnumber the area and because the suspect's family have been living in Essa Nagri, the name of the neighborhood, for a very long time.

"Now there are more than 1,000 houses of Christians where only 20-25 Muslim families are living in peace and harmony. The family of [the suspect] have been living in Essa Nagri for more than 30 years," Mission and Action for Social Services President Dr. Liaquat Munawar said.

Munawar went on to explain that 80 Christian families moved to Essa Nagri in 1962 in search for jobs. The said Christian families particularly chose Essa Nagri because Essa meant "Jesus" in Arabic.
The luxury rental market in New York City is quickly bouncing back from pandemic doldrums, while prices in London continue to tumble, new data shows.

In Manhattan's most expensive neighborhoods, rents rose 5.9 percent this year through March, while prime central London saw prices fall 14.3 percent in the same period, according to data from Knight Frank.

While New York City has been buoyed by the improving U.S. economic outlook and vaccine rollout, London's market continues to suffer under international travel restrictions.

'There's a general greater optimism in the U.S. market,' Kate Everett-Allen, head of international residential research for Knight Frank, told Bloomberg.

Luxury rental prices in Manhattan (blue) are rebounding while they drop in London (grey)

International travel restrictions have put a damper on the London rental market. Above, the change in passengers at Heathrow (red) is compared to rental property availability (blue)

'What we've seen in London, and we've seen it in New York, in the last few months is that the number of leasings is starting to tick upwards and the rate of declines in rents is really starting to slow,' she said.

Both London and New York have been taking steps to ease pandemic restrictions in recent months, though New York has arguably moved more aggressively, with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo battling over who can lift restrictions more quickly.

In London, luxury rental supply has spiked due to the closure of the short-term rental market, but demand has been curtailed by international travel restrictions.

However, analysts at the estate agency and consultancy see the trend nearing a bottom, and predict London rents could soon rise.

'As the UK continues to unlock the economy and people take staycations, the flood of short-let properties that came onto the long-let market will begin to recede and rental value declines will eventually reverse,' said Tom Bill, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, in a statement.

'Question marks remain around international travel, which affects the demand side of the equation, although rules should start to ease from next month,' he added.

Tourists are seen by London Bridge last month, as travel remains restricted in the UK

Large crowd of tourists are seen at the Times Square in March as the city reopens

The agency notes that a trend toward an urban exodus during the pandemic has begun to reverse, with some renters choosing to move closer to central London to take advantage of lower rents.

'There has always been a group of people living on the periphery of central London who couldn't afford to go in any further,' David Mumby, head of Prime Central London lettings at Knight Frank, said in a February note.

'That has changed and we're seeing movement from areas including Wandsworth and as far away as Croydon into Chelsea and South Kensington.'

In New York, median rental prices have begun to rebound in both Manhattan and Brooklyn, according to data from Douglas Elliman.

However, overall Manhattan rental vacancies were up 9 percent in March from a year ago, and prices were down 14 percent.

In Brooklyn, median rents were down 10 percent from a year ago, but up from January lows.
A male passenger, 29, has died while a female driver, 23, is in hospital after their car crashed into a stationary truck.

The collision occurred on the Pacific Highway near Macleay Valley Way in Bellimbopinni on the mid-north coast of NSW on Friday.

The man died at the scene, the woman was rushed to Port Macquarie Hospital and a male truck driver was uninjured.

Car and truck have collided occurred on the Pacific Highway near Macleay Valley Way NSW

Police are still looking into the circumstances surrounding the crash and have identified any of people involved.

Northbound lanes are closed on the Pacific Highway just past Macleay Valley Way.

NSW Traffic tweeted that drivers should use Macleay Valley Way to rejoin the highway at Eungai.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg passed the buck to Nick Clegg over how to deal with Donald Trump's social media ban.

The former Lib Dem leader, who has been Facebook's head of global affairs since 2018, will make the final call on whether to reinstate the former US President's social media accounts.

Mr Trump was banned from Facebook and sister site Instagram in January in the midst of the Capitol Hill riot - in which his supporters stormed the Congress building demanding his election defeat be overturned.

Five people - including one police officer - died in the attack.

Social media mogul Mr Zuckerberg responded by banning Mr Trump from the two platforms.

He later issued a statement calling the riots 'shocking' and saying the 'risks' of allowing the politician back on the platform were 'too great'.

As a freedom of speech row brewed, Mr Clegg is said to have pushed for an independent group - named 'Oversight Board' - to decide whether to allow Mr Trump back on the social media sites.

And he got his wishes, when, at a meeting to discuss the ban in January, Mr Zuckerberg said: 'I defer to you, Nick'.

Social media mogul Mark Zuckerberg (pictured right) put Nick Clegg (pictured left) in charge of handling Donald Trump's Facebook ban, according to reports. The former Lib Dem leader, who has been Facebook's head of global affairs since 2018, will reportedly lead the decision-making process on whether to reinstate the former US President's social media account

Mr Trump was banned from Facebook and sister site Instagram in January in the midst of the Capitol Hill riot - in which five people died

According to the New York Times, Mr Clegg, who spent five years as the UK's deputy prime minister in a coalition government with David Cameron, pushed for an independent group, saying: 'People would prefer we are not making those decisions.'

Earlier this week the board announced Facebook was right to block Trump from its platform.

But it stopped short of calling for a permanent social media ban on the former US president.

Instead, the board put the ball firmly back in the court of Facebook's owners, by saying it was for them to decide the ultimate outcome within six months.

Mr Clegg has been put in charge of making the final call, Facebook confirmed to MailOnline today.

'The panel's decision requires Facebook to impose a penalty on Trump that is not indefinite, and Nick will lead the decision-making process in what to do next,' a spokesperson said.

However it will leave Mr Clegg in a decision-making minefield - caught between those who argue for the right to free speech and the others pushing the importance of clamping down on hate speech.

Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and dean of its School of Information said Facebook did not want to make the decision itself, because 'it's politically loaded'.

He said 'They kick it down to the oversight committee and the oversight committee says, "We don't want this, you decide".'

He believed Facebook was likely seeking a decision from the oversight board that would shield it from criticism.

But he said the board had then 'punted on the hard question' of Trump's long-term access to Facebook.

'The fact that the one time they had a chance to actually do something they took the coward's way out doesn't bode well for the oversight board,' said Farid.

Mr Farid said he supported Facebook's ban of Trump, both for downplaying the deadly coronavirus pandemic and for his words on January 6 to his supporters - who later stormed the US Capitol.

Mr Trump was banned from Facebook and sister site Instagram in January in the midst of the Capitol Hill riot - in which five people died. Pictured: Donald Trump supporters storm the Capitol building in Washington DC in January

Mr Zuckerberg responded to the Capitol Hill riots in a statement on the platform calling the riots 'shocking' and saying the 'risk' of allowing the politician on the platform were 'too great'

Meanwhile, Sarah Roberts, an assistant professor of information studies at University of California, Los Angeles, said: 'Zuckerberg has pretty famously made these comments about not wanting to be in the business of being the arbiter of truth.

'It's not like you can just kind of throw up your hands.'

Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi agreed, saying: 'It's a little ridiculous that you set up a board to provide a check, and it puts the power and responsibility back on Facebook.'

At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, US lawmakers unleashed torrents of criticism at the leaders of the top social networks, and promised new regulations to stem rampant online disinformation.

Mr Zuckerberg, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, and Google's Sundar Pichai faced a barrage of questions from lawmakers who blamed their platforms for drug abuse, teen suicides, hate, political extremism, illegal immigration and more.

Democrats in the US slammed the platforms for failing to stem misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines and incitement ahead of the Capitol riot on January 6.

Republicans revived complaints that social networks were biased against conservatives.

The tech CEOs said they were doing their best to keep out harmful content.

'We believe in free expression, we believe in free debate and conversation to find the truth,' Dorsey said.

'At the same time, we must balance that with our desire for our service not to be used to sow confusion, division or distraction. This makes the freedom to moderate content critical to us.'

Mr Dorsey advocated establishing open protocols to serve as shared guidelines for social media platforms when it comes to regulating content.

Mr Zuckerberg confirmed his belief that private companies should not be the judges of truth when it comes to what people say.
A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to her Idaho middle school, shot and wounded two students and a janitor and then was disarmed by a teacher Thursday, authorities said.

The three were shot in their extremities and were expected to survive, officials said at a news conference.

The janitor was identified as Jim Wilson, a 'very loved Rigby Middle School custodian,' according to a GoFundMe set up to aid his medical expenses.

The active shooting incident began at Rigby Middle School in Rigby, Idaho, around 9am Thursday morning when the shooter opened fire, causing teachers and students to flee for their lives.

Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson says the girl pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School in the small city of Rigby, about 95 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park.

Students react after a school shooting at Rigby Middle School in Rigby, Idaho on Thursday

People embrace after a school shooting at Rigby Middle School on Thursday

Students walk past police tape after a school shooting at Rigby Middle School in Idaho

Jim Wilson, a janitor at Rigby Middle School, was wounded in the shooting at the school on Thursday

A female teacher disarmed the girl and held her until law enforcement arrived and took her into custody, authorities said, without giving other details.

EastIdahoNews.com is reporting that the heroic teacher is Krista Gneiting, identified by multiple parents.

A GoFundMe account that has raised over $14,000 in appreciation of Gneiting states that she is a math teacher at the middle school.

Authorities say they're investigating the motive for the attack and where the girl got the gun.

She is from the nearby city of Idaho Falls, Anderson said. He didn't release her name.

According to EastIdahoNews.com, the suspect was first incorrectly identified by law enforcement as being male.

Krista Gneiting, a middle school math teacher, is being identified as the teacher who helped disarm the shooter while waiting for police to arrive

People embrace outside the high school where people were evacuated after a shooting

Children stand outside of the high school where people were evacuated after the shooting

Alela Rodriguez, left, walks with her son, Yandel Rodriguez, 12, at the high school on Thursday

Dr. Michael Lemon, trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, said Wilson, the janitor, was treated and released for a bullet wound in an extremity. The bullet went cleanly through the limb, he said.

A GoFundMe for Wilson has already exceeded it's $10,000 goal with almost $14,000 collected by early Friday.

Both of the students who were shot were being held at the hospital overnight, and one of them might need surgery, Lemon said.

Still, both students were in fair condition. One of the students had wounds in two limbs and might have been shot twice, he said.

The age and identity of both the suspect and victims have not been revealed.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Sheriff's Office for more information.

A woman and children sit together at the high school where people were evacuated

Authorities say they're investigating the motive for the attack on Thursday

Alicia Willis walks away with her son at a high school where people were evacuated

Students and teachers were evacuated from the middle school to the high school with parents being told to collect their children from there.

Emotional parents and children were seen hugging and embracing as they were reunited at the high school.

Any students not collected would be sent home by bus, the district said.

Police were called to the school around 9:15am after students and staffers heard gunfire. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded, and students were evacuated to a nearby high school to be reunited with their parents.

Police tape marks a line outside Rigby Middle School following the shooting

Police stand with a youth outside Rigby Middle School following the shooting on Thursday

A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to school, shot and wounded two students and a janitor

A victim appears to be taken into an ambulance following Thursday's shooting

'Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher  we were doing work  and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming,' 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez said. 'Our teacher went to check it out, and he found blood.'

Yandel's mom, Adela Rodriguez, said they were OK but 'still a little shaky' from the shooting as they left the campus.

'Today we had the worst nightmare a school district could encounter,' Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin said.

Martin said schools would be closed district-wide to give students time to be with families, but that counselors would be available starting Friday morning.

Rigby Middle School has about 1,500 students in sixth through eighth grades, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

'I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in today's tragic events,' Gov. Brad Little said in a prepared statement. 'Thank you to our law enforcement agencies and school leaders for their efforts in responding to the incident.'

Police tape surrounded the middle school, and small evidence markers were placed next to spots of blood on the ground. Investigators interviewed faculty and staffers individually.

Students embrace after a school shooting at Rigby Middle School in Rigby, Idaho on Thursday

Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson said the shooter is from Idaho Falls

Lucy Long, a sixth-grader at Rigby Middle School, told the Post Register newspaper in Idaho Falls that her classroom went into lockdown after they heard gunshots, with lights and computers turned off and students lined up against the wall.

Lucy comforted her friends and began recording on her phone, so police would know what happened if the shooter came in.

The audio contained mostly whispers, with one sentence audible: 'It's real,' one student said.

Lucy said she saw blood on the hallway floor when police escorted them out of the classroom.

Idaho Governor Brad Little said he was 'praying' for all those involved.

'I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in today's tragic events,' he tweeted.

'Thank you to our law enforcement agencies and school leaders for their efforts in responding to the incident. I am staying updated on the situation.'

Prosecutor Mark Taylor told Local News 8 that the shooter could be charged with three counts of attempted murder, depending on the results of the investigation.

The attack appears to be Idaho's second school shooting. In 1999, a student at a high school in Notus fired a shotgun several times.

No one was struck by the gunfire, but one student was injured by ricocheting debris from the first shell.

In 1989, a student at Rigby Junior High pulled a gun, threatened a teacher and students, and took a 14-year-old girl hostage, according to a Deseret News report.

Police safely rescued the hostage from a nearby church about an hour later and took the teen into custody. No one was shot in that incident.

Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson addresses the media during a press conference

Meanwhile in Albuquerque a middle school was plunged into lockdown after a teacher reported seeing a student carrying a gun into the building.

There were no shots fired and no injuries reported in that incident. Police say that the suspected gun was actually a cell phone, according to KOB 4.

Thursday's incident marks the latest in a string of mass shootings across America in recent months.

VIDEO: One person is in custody after three people were shot at a middle school in Rigby, Idaho. https://t.co/sc39eW5Key pic.twitter.com/iHNTK9mtZP  CBS2 News (@CBS2Boise) May 6, 2021

Back on March 16, Robert Aaron Long, 21, is accused of killing eight people - six of them Asian women - in a series of attacks at three Atlanta spas.

The following week, gunman Ahmad Alissa then allegedly shot dead ten people including a police officer, in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

Biden Executive Actions on Guns Crackdown on 'ghost guns,' which are built from kits

Tighten requirements on pistol braces that allow for more accurate shooting

Department of Justice will publish 'red flag' legislation for the states

Investment in evidence-based community violence interventions

DoJ will issue an annual report on gun trafficking Advertisement

The next day, a shooting at a Southern California office building left four people dead, including a child.

Eight people were shot and killed at the FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis earlier this month.

According to EdWeek, there have been six school shootings in 2021 prior to Thursday's attack.

In total, these incidents left two school employees and one student dead.

Since 2018, there have been 65 shootings in schools across the country.

One of the deadliest school shootings in American history was the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.

Gunman Adam Lanza entered the school in Newtown, Connecticut, shooting 27 dead inside and injuring many more.

In light of this year's spate in gun violence, Joe Biden has unveiled a series of executive actions designed to curb gun violence following the string of shootings.

The six actions include: a crackdown on the proliferation of 'ghost guns,' which are built from kits; tighten requirements on pistol braces that allow for more accurate shooting; the Department of Justice will publish 'red flag' legislation for the states; invest in evidence-based community violence interventions; and DoJ will issue an annual report on gun trafficking.

Biden said mass shootings are a 'public health crisis' and argued he was not trying to impinge on the Second Amendment - a claim gun rights groups and Republicans have made against the introduction gun control laws.
The Government is planning to lift the face mask requirement for secondary school pupils in England despite opposition from unions.

Gavin Williamson told the Telegraph that the Government planned to remove the measure at step three of its road map out of lockdown, which will be no earlier than May 17.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make the announcement on Monday, according to the newspaper.

The Government is planning to lift the face mask requirement for secondary school pupils in England despite opposition from unions

Current guidance states face coverings should be worn by pupils and teachers in classrooms where social distancing cannot be maintained, but it is not mandatory.

It is expected pupils will still be encouraged to wear masks in corridors and other communal areas.

It comes as a group of unions and scientists wrote to Mr Williamson calling for face coverings to remain in schools until at least June 21, describing the measure as 'an essential part of the wider system of control in schools'.

Mr Williamson told the Telegraph: 'As infection rates continue to decline and our vaccination programme rolls out successfully, we plan to remove the requirement for face coverings in the classroom at step three of the road map.'

He added: 'Removing face masks will hugely improve interactions between teachers and students, while all other school safety measures will remain in place to help keep the virus out of classrooms.'

But many teaching unions have called for masks to be kept.

Gavin Williamson said that the Government planned to remove the measure at step three of its road map out of lockdown

Kevin Courtney, of the National Education Union, said: 'Everyone is looking at the data and I think some schools will continue to use face masks after May 17 and the NEU would support schools in making that decision.'

The letter to Mr Williamson, from five unions representing teachers and support staff, as well as scientists, public health experts and parents, highlights concerns about the risks of developing long Covid, warning that an estimated 43,000 children and 114,000 school staff are thought to be suffering from the condition.

The letter said: 'To strip these necessary protections, when there are already too few mitigation measures in schools, and when rates of Covid-19 are still significant, would have consequences for the health of our children and their parents as well as their communities.'

A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'As infection rates continue to decline and our vaccination programme rolls out successfully, we plan to remove the requirement for face coverings in the classroom in line with step three of the road map.

'Virus transmission in schools continues to drop, with the latest data showing a significant decrease in students and staff testing positive and cases isolated quickly thanks to our twice-weekly rapid testing programme.'
Rudy Giuliani is making cuts to his team as he continues to battle legal woes in the face of rising costs.

President Trump's former lawyer laid off some staffers and independent contractors in recent weeks as the ex-NYC mayor looks to reduce expenses.

Politico reports that Giuliani does have a part-time driver now in Eric Ryan, who is the son of Giuliani's rumored girlfriend Maria Ryan.

Giuliani stepped out on Saturday in Manhattan with Ryan - his rumored 56-year-old girlfriend and former alleged mistress.

Giuliani, who was wearing a face mask, was seen arriving at a cafe close to his apartment on the Upper East Side where he was met by Ryan.

Ryan, who stepped down as CEO of a New Hampshire hospital in December, has reportedly been dating Trump's personal lawyer since 2018.

Rudy Giuliani (right) is cutting down the size of his entourage as his legal woes mount

Giuliani, who was wearing a face mask, was seen arriving at a cafe close to his apartment on the Upper East Side where he was met by Ryan

His part-time driver, Eric Ryan, is the son of Giuliani's rumored girlfriend, Maria Ryan (pictured)

Giuliani has previously denied allegations he had an affair with Ryan while still married to his third wife, Judy Giuliani.

Ryan was named as Giuliani's alleged mistress in court documents filed back in 2018 amid his divorce from Judy.

Giuliani denied there was proof of an affair despite being spotted spending the night together at an upstate New York hotel.

Giuliani referred to Ryan as an 'associate' earlier this year when he admitted to billing Trump $20,000 per day to dispute the election results - despite previously denying demanding money for his legal services.

Giuliani spearheaded Trump's effort to overturn election results in swing states, but he was never paid for his work

Rudy Giuliani's Manhattan home was the subject of a raid in New York last week

He told the New York Times in January that his associate - who he named as Maria Ryan - had sent an email to at least three Trump campaign officials in November demanding payment.

Rudy Giuliani's divorce from Judy has proven in the past to be a major drain on his bank account.

In 2019, the Washington Post reported that he pays $42,000 in alimony to Judy each month.

The filings showed Giuliani earned $7.9 million in 2016, $9.5 million in 2017 and $6.8 million in 2018.

The FBI executed a search warrant at Giuliani's apartment in Manhattan on April 28

Giuliani is under investigation for allegedly violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act

Giuliani's advisers are pushing the former president's aides to dip into his $250 million election defense fund to pay his ex-lawyer, who is now under federal investigation.

The New York Times reported Tuesday about the pressure campaign, which comes on the heels of the FBI searching Giuliani's home and office space last week.

Giuliani is under investigation for allegedly violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

Last week, his home and office were raided in Manhattan and his electronic equipment were seized as part of the investigation into whether the 76-year-old acted as an unregistered federal agent and lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs.

The investigation was prompted by a case against two Soviet-born men who assisted Giuliani in attempts to dig up incriminating information in Ukraine against Hunter Biden, who was on the board of an energy company there.

Giuliani is under investigation about whether the 76-year-old acted as an unregistered federal agent and lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs

During the late stages of campaigning in the 2020 election, photos that showed Hunter Biden with drug paraphernalia, along with documents and emails, were released to The New York Post by Giuliani.

The authenticity of the information and how Giuliani came to obtain it were immediately called into question; he claimed the media has been targeting him since.

Giuliani is also being sued by voting machine companies Dominion and Smartmatic over false claims he made about the devices flipping votes from Trump to Joe Biden.

The Times reported that while Giuliani spearheaded Trump's effort to overturn election results in swing states, he was never paid for his work.

The paper previously reported that Trump balked at the $20,000-a-day fee an assistant to Giuliani asked the ex-mayor be paid for election-related efforts.

Trump did, however, reimburse Giuliani for more than $200,000 in expenses, the story said.

Giuliani's son Andrew, who worked for the Trump White House, told ABC News he believed his dad should be compensated.

'I think all those Americans that donated after November 3, they were donating for the legal defense fund. My father ran the legal team at that point. So I think it's very easy to make a very strong case for the fact that he and all the lawyers that worked on there should be indemnified,' Andrew Giuliani said.

'I would find it highly irregular if the presidents lead counsel did not get indemnified,' he added.
A huge huntsman spider and its babies has been seen running across a dashboard in a video shared by the car owner, who was advised by viewers to simply set his vehicle on fire.

The huntsman ran along the dashboard toward the filming owner, with dozens of its offspring following.

A Sydney man returned to his car to find a pregnant huntsman had made itself at home on his dashboard, surrounded by dozens of babies

'Look at them go!', the man exclaims, as the spider family rapidly runs across the dashboard.

The huntsman tries to climb up the windscreen but slips, instead taking cover on an air-conditioning vent.

HUNTSMAN SPIDERS Are not venomous Are not dangerous to humans even though they look scary Live for more than two years Are sometimes called 'tarantulas' even though they are not related to the South American tarantula Eat cockroaches and insects Are timid and like to hide in dark crevices of bark or rocks Are genuinely frightened of you Advertisement

The video was posted to YouTube, with many viewers expressing their disgust at the furry intruders.

'Just burn the whole car down at that point', one viewer said.

'Get the blowtorch!', a second agreed.

'Time to have a bonfire ASAP. That car is not worth it', a third commented.

A spokesperson from Pest Control Sydney previously told Daily Mail Australia that huntsman spiders are known for entering cars and living within the dashboard.

'Huntsman spiders can usually be found on tree trunks, under stones, under bark, on the windows and walls inside your home', she explained.

She said the best thing to do in this scenario was to lightly spray the spider, wait for them to die and then organise a pest removal specialist.

Last month another Australian man was confronted with a huntsman spider hiding under his door handle.

A man named Lachie posted the footage to his TikTok account, with the video receiving over 50,000 views by horrified users.

'This is my worst nightmare and I'm not living in Australia,' one viewer commented.

Huntsman spiders are extremely common across Australia and despite possessing a painful bite their are not venomous and cannot kill a human.
Taxpayers in the United States are spending $140,000 a month on Secret Service protection for Donald Trump's adult children - despite them not being entitled, by convention, to protection.

A Washington DC think tank, Citizens for Ethics in Washington (CREW) obtained the data for February via a Freedom of Information Request.

In the 30-day period, the transportation amounted to $52,296.75, and hotel costs totaled at least $88,678.39, according to the records.

Among the costs were $62,599.39 for the hotel stay of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner's security agents while the couple went on a 10-day vacation to Utah, immediately on leaving the White House.

Security then followed them, in just February, to Miami and Bedminster, New Jersey.

Ivanka Trump is seen being assisted by a Secret Service agent in New York City in February

The 39-year-old is seen again in New York City, with her protection, in February

Donald Trump Jr. also spent time in New York City, Long Island, and Upstate New York, with his travel costing taxpayers at least $13,337.

Eric and Lara Trump spent much of the month of February in New York at the Trump Briarcliff property, with some short trips into Queens, one trip to Miami and two to Palm Beach, which cost the Secret Service at least $12,742.

The Secret Service is normally tasked with protecting serving officials.

Only former presidents and their spouses, and their children aged under 16, are given protection for life.

Malia and Sasha Obama lost their Secret Service detail shortly after their parents left the White House, The Washington Post reported.

However, Trump negotiated a deal before his January 20 departure, by which his four adult children - Donald Jr, 43; Ivanka, 39; Eric, 37; and Tiffany, 27 - would have their protection extended for six months.

Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner, and Eric's wife, Lara, were also given a security detail.

The extension was also granted to three of his officials - former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former national security adviser Robert O'Brien.

Donald Trump Jr is seen with his Secret Service agent shadowing him in March in New York

Eric Trump is seen in New York City, with his security detail - still paid for by U.S. taxpayers

The extension comes after a presidency which saw the Secret Service stretched, staffing the largest number ever of full-time security details  up to 42 at one point, according to former senior administration officials.

CREW said that the $140,000-a-month, which amounts for $4,700 a day, was likely an underestimate.

The Secret Service 'did not provide records of spending at Trump businesses, which is the most controversial aspect of the extended protection,' CREW added.

The watchdog has previously reported that the Trump family, while in office, took 12 times as many trips at the Obamas, with the taxpayers footing the security bill.

'While it may be tempting to put the story of the Trump family's profiteering in the past, we cannot until they have actually stopped directing taxpayer money into their own bank accounts,' said CREW.

'Thanks to Trump's unusual extension of their protection, they've got a few more months to continue the grift.'
Two women are recovering after being shot while enjoying a weekend stroll along a scenic lake.

Both women suffered minor shotgun pellet injuries while walking beside the Clutha River in Alexandra, New Zealand on May 2.

Detective Sergeant Paul Slater of Queenstown Police confirmed the bizarre incident unfolded about 11am last Sunday.

'The (two) men responsible spoke to the injured women when they realised what had happened,' Detective Sergeant Slater said.

Officers want to speak to two men (pictured) in relation to the incident in Alexandra, New Zealand on May 2

Clutha River in Alexandra, New Zealand (pictured) was the scene of a bizarre incident on May 2 where two women were shot when enjoying a scenic walk

'They offered assistance, however they left the scene in their boat and have not yet been identified.'

Both ladies were later treated at the Alexandra Medical Centre for minor pellet injuries to their shoulder and lower leg.

Police were then made aware of the incident, according to the NZ Herald.

It is understood the men, who were in a group, were shooting from a boat at the time of the 'freak accident.'

Officers want to speak to two men in relation to the incident and are also seeking witnesses.

They have since released images of the two men they wish to speak to.

Detective Sergeant Slater also said the incident should remind people to always stay vigilant during bird hunting season.

'Anybody handling a firearm should always treat it as loaded,' he said.

'That means always pointing the firearm in a safe direction and checking your firing zone.'
There's no turning back for AGL as the Liddell power plant prepares for a post-coal future.

Diversified engineering firm Delta Group has been awarded the contract for the first stage of closure, decommissioning and demolition planning for Liddell, AGL said on Friday.

For 50 years, the Liddell power station has produced around 8000 gigawatt hours of electricity annually, powering more than one million average Australian family homes.

Diversified engineering firm Delta Group has been awarded the contract for the first stage of closure, decommissioning and demolition planning for Liddell, AGL said on Friday (stock image)

'Preparing for Liddell's closure is a bittersweet moment for AGL - the station and its people play such an important role in Australia's energy supply,' AGL Chief Operating Officer Markus Brokhof said.

'Australia's future energy needs will be delivered through a combination of technologies - gas, hydrogen, pumped hydro, renewables and firming technologies and industrial developments.'

AGL plans to develop the NSW site into an energy hub of solar storage systems, grid-scale batteries and a waste-to-energy facility as part of the company's commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.

Delta will help identify specific risks and controls at Liddell for decommissioning, asset salvage, remediation and demolition.

The engineering contractor worked with Engie Australia in Victoria's Latrobe Valley on the closure of the Hazelwood power station.

'We hope to bring a variety of skills and experiences to support AGL's transition program and the Hunter Valley community, Delta chief executive Jason Simcocks said.

The first stage of works will conclude in mid-July 2021.

The first unit at Liddell will close in April 2022. The remaining three units will close in April 2023, supporting energy supply throughout the 2022-23 summer months.

The Morrison and Berejiklian governments are chipping in funding for EnergyAustralia to build a new gas-fired power station in NSW to support affordable and reliable power beyond 2023.
The government's controversial India travel ban will be lifted on May 15 but anyone infected with the virus will be kicked off repatriation flights.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday the biosecurity order had 'done it's job' and would not extend beyond the May 15 review date.

One repatriation flight per week will be organised by the government to help 1,000 Australians return home by June.

The Federal Government will use the Howard Springs quarantine facility (pictured) in the NT to exclusively house Australian travelers fleeing Covid-ravaged India from May 15

Scott Morrison (pictured left) announced Australian repatriation flights from India will begin on May 15 as 9,000 Australians are stranded in India after travel ban

Trapped Australians can also sort out their own flights once the ban is lifted, previously facing fines and jail time if they tried.

Mr Morrison confirmed a meeting of cabinet's national security committee on Thursday agreed not to extend the travel ban.

'That biosecurity order is working exactly as it was intended to, and that will remain in place with no change until May 15,' he said.

'The national security committee of cabinet has confirmed it will have done its job by then, and as a result we see no need to extend it beyond that date.'

Mr Morrison said it was unclear how many of the stranded 9,000 citizens contracted the virus in India, but they would be refused entry on the repatriation flights.

A worker helps cremate the bodies of Covid-19 victims on the banks of the Ganges river as India continues to battle the world's largest Covid outbreak

Travellers will need to return a negative Covid test if they want to board the reparation flights from India (pictured: Workers attempt to extend crematorium as number of people who died from Covid increases)

'We have rapid antigen testing in place to give ourselves a greater sense of surety that if we are bringing people back to Australia we are minimising the risk of Covid cases of being brought into the country,' he said.

The new measures will require passengers to return both a negative Covid-19 PCR test and a negative Rapid Antigen test before boarding.

Returning Australians will be taken to the Howard Springs facility near Darwin to undergo mandatory quarantine - with up to 200 passengers on the first flight.

The number of Covid-19 positive cases in the Howard Springs has fallen to 21with positive cases associated with previous flights from India on track to reach zero by May 14.

Up to 200 passengers could be on the first flight, which will likely depart after the temporary travel ban is lifted. Pictured: Passengers from an Air India flight arriving at New Jersey in the United States.

Scott Morrison has pledged to lift the capacity of Howard Springs (pictured) from 850 to 2000 beds this month

One flight per week that will transport Australians from India back home to later isolate at the Howard Springs Facility (pictured)

The number of Covid-19 positive cases in the Howard Springs Facility (pictured) has fallen to 21 with cases from previous flights from India on track to reach zero by May 14

Northern Territory Chief Minister Michael Gunner said these measures help Australians return home from India safely, while ensuring the case load at Howard Springs remains manageable.

'The Territory always stands ready to help our fellow Australians and we were there to help those first Aussies home from Wuhan at the start of this pandemic,' he said.

'There is a humanitarian crisis in India and we have the gold standard facility with the health care heroes the country needs at our Centre for National Resilience to help get Australians home safely.

The future of direct flights out of India to Sydney is also being worked through with the NSW government.

In April the government banned Australians from returning as India continues to battle the world's worst Covid-19 outbreak.

More than 350,000 Covid cases were recorded in India on Wednesday alone. Pictured: a banquet hall temporarily converted into a coronavirus ward in New Delhi

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said some of those stranded were 'in great danger' and would be prioritised when flights were approved. Pictured: Wreath lies on the coffin in Jammu

The controversial decision threatened a five year jail sentence or $66,000 fines for anyone who breached orders.

Australians trapped overseas may wait many months, with some states reluctant to boost their intake.

Western Australia announced on Thursday the cap on returned travellers would be limited to 530, having been 1,025 before the latest lockdown.

'That's a significant reduction but we're going to be very precautionary with our hotels,' Premier Mark McGowan said.

India recorded 412,262 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday - the world's biggest single-day increase since the pandemic began.

The numbers come after Australia's announced it's initial support package to India which included including 500 ventilators, a million surgical masks, 500,000 P2 and N95 masks, 100,000 goggles, 100,000 pairs of gloves, and 20,000 face shields.

India's Covid-19 crisis spiked out of control this week with daily deaths exceeding 3,000. Pictured: relatives wearing PPE perform the last rites before cremation of relative who dies
The Victorian government will spend almost $88 million to fix some of the damage caused by police use of barrister Nicola Gobbo as a secret informer.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes on Friday released a plan to implement the 54 recommendations of the Lawyer X royal commission related to the government, as well as a $87.9 million funding package.

The plan also outlines a framework agreed to by the parties responsible for the implementation of the remaining 57 recommendations.

Gangland lawyer Nicola Gobbo, known as Lawyer X, with convicted drug importer, Tony Mokbel (above)

Commissioner Margaret McMurdo oversaw the nearly two-year inquiry, sparked by the revelation that Ms Gobbo, a prominent gangland barrister, was a registered informer for Victoria Police and handed over tips about her clients.

Ms McMurdo recommended the government appoint a special investigator to determine if there's enough evidence to charge Ms Gobbo and Victoria Police officers over the affair.

She also recommended there be independent external oversight of Victoria Police using human sources, a clear legislated framework on the registration and use of informers and assurances of appropriate funding for corruption watchdog IBAC.

Ms Symes said the government has already acted on 10 recommendations that had a three-month deadline.

Victorian Attorny-General Jaclyn Symes hs confirmed the government will fund the Lawyer X recovery plan

This includes the appointment of former New Zealand judge Sir David Carruthers to independently oversee the rollout of recommendations.

The attorney-general said the government has begun identifying suitable candidates for the role of special investigator and will make the appointment in the middle of 2021.

Legislation to support the role being introduced will also be introduced to parliament in the second half of the year.

Work is also underway to develop legislation to reform the disclosure and human source management frameworks.

"The Commission made serious and significant findings - getting to the bottom of matters that go to the heart of our criminal justice system. We will act on each and every one of them," Ms Symes said in a statement.

"We've already made substantial progress, but there's a long way to go. Our response and implementation plan sets us a clear pathway to deliver long-lasting systemic and cultural change."

Ms Symes will report annually to the Victorian parliament on the implementation of recommendations until complete.
Keir Starmer faced fury from both wings of Labour tonight after he said he 'takes responsibility' for the elections meltdown.

Finally surfacing nine hours after the Hartlepool by-election defeat kicked off a dismal day, a clearly rattled Labour leader said the party had been 'talking to ourselves' rather than voters.

But Sir Keir is now facing a battle for the party's soul as Corbynites demand a lurch to the Left - and centrists complain he has nothing to say to ordinary people.

Hard-Left figures have been queuing up to warn the leader he will be 'out of a job' unless he stops 'flag-waving' and returns to more Socialist policies.

Centrists have also delivered a withering assessment, with gripes that he 'lacks skills' and the party is in a 'bubble' talking about things no-one else cares about.

But sources close to Sir Keir insist the brutal defeat in Hartlepool - a constituency the party has held for nearly 50 years - together with evidence of a dire showing in English councils merely demonstrate the need to 'accelerate the programme of change'.

Former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson listed the results of decades of general elections in a striking interview on BBC Radio 4's Today - pointing out that Tony Blair's three victories were the only positive outcomes since the 1970s.

Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary under Mr Corbyn, tweeted: 'Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool.'

MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle took to Twitter to question his party's attempts to change its image

Richard Burgon, who was shadow justice secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, said the party 'urgently' needed to 'change direction'

As Labour plunged immediately into a bitter civil war, former leader Jeremy Corbyn said Sir Keir needed a 'bolder vision'

Labour is facing a disastrous Super Thursday in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer's (pictured today) bid to rebuild after the losses the party suffered in 2019

Sir Keir holed up in his Westminster office with close aides as he considered his next move after the election pasting

A host of left-wingers attacked Sir Keir after the appalling showing at elections across England.

But New Labour stalwart Lord Adonis also gave a damning verdict, saying while Sir Keir was a 'nice man' he lacked 'political skills at the highest level'.

'I supported Keir to replace Jeremy. There was no one else credible and retrieving the leadership from the hands of the Marxist far-left was the first step towards electability,' he wrote in a blog.

'I hoped that Keir, an effective ex-public prosecutor, might have sufficient leadership capacity and modernising social democratic vision to reshape Labour.

'Unfortunately, he turns out to be a transitional figure  a nice man and a good human rights lawyer, but without political skills or antennae at the highest level.'

Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary under Mr Corbyn, tweeted: 'Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool.

'Not possible to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership. Keir Starmer must think again about his strategy.'

Richard Burgon, who was shadow justice secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, said the party 'urgently' needed to 'change direction'.

'Incredibly disappointing defeat in Hartlepool. We are going backwards in areas we need to be winning,' he said.

'Labour's leadership needs to urgently change direction. It should start by championing the popular policies in our recent manifestos  backed by a large majority of voters.'

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Keir's got to be given his chance and I've said that all the way along.

'I'm not going to be one of those people treating (him) the way they treated Jeremy (Corbyn)  always challenging him, coups and all the rest.

'Keir now needs to sit down and think through what happened in this campaign, and what I've been saying to him is you need to demonstrate to people the sort of society you want to create, the policy programme that will achieve that society, and you need to get back to that real grassroots campaign.

'We must never again send our candidates into an election campaign almost naked, without a policy programme, without a clear view on what sort of society you want to create.

'That's the sort of thing that we need now.'

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said the loss was 'staggering and worrying' and clear evidence that the strategy of the last year had not worked.

'Disconnection from our heartland communities will only deepen unless they can look at Labour and see a party with clear, bold policies that understands and speaks for them,' he said.

The Corbnite grassroots group Momentum described the Hartlepool by-election result as a 'disaster'.

Co-chair Andrew Scattergood said: 'A transformative socialist message has won in Hartlepool before, and it would have won again.

'Starmer's strategy of isolating the left and replacing meaningful policy with empty buzzwords has comprehensively failed.

'If he doesn't change direction, not only will he be out of a job  but the Labour Party may be out of government forever.'

MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle took to Twitter to question his party's attempts to change its image.

He said: 'Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well... or not?'

The comment was a clear reference to a leaked strategy document which suggested Labour must make 'use of the flag, veterans, dressing smartly' to win back voters in red wall seats in the party's former industrial heartlands.

He added later: 'If Keir wants to be a 'British Biden' he should learn from USA Democrats, where policies united the party, the left was brought into top table not pilloried, reforming polices are presented as common sense and Uncle Joe speaks for woke liberals and blue collar left at same time.'

Labour NEC member Luke Akehurst said the party was in 'our own little bubble' talking about things the public 'don't care about'

Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle has publicly mocked his party's election strategy

Sir Keir said: 'I take full responsibility for the results, and I will take full responsibility for fixing things.

'We have changed as a party, but we haven't set out a strong enough case to the country.

'Very often we've been talking to ourselves instead of to the country and we've lost the trust of working people, particularly in places like Hartlepool.

'I intend to do whatever is necessary to fix that.'

Challenged on whether that meant moving to the Left or Right, Sir Keir flannelled about stopping 'quarreling amongst ourselves'.

'This is not a question of left or right. It is a question of whether we are facing the country,' he said.

'We have changed as a party but we've not made a strong enough case to the country, we've lost that connection, that trust, and I intend to rebuild that and do whatever is necessary to rebuild that trust.'

Lord Mandelson, a former Labour MP for Hartlepool, said he felt 'fairly gutted' at the result in Hartlepool and also 'a mild fury'.

'I feel sad, disappointment above all, for the excellent campaign workers and party staff and volunteers and our excellent candidate, Paul Williams, who fought such a strong campaign,' he said.

He added: 'I also feel, I have to say, a mild fury, that the last 10 years of what we have been doing in the Labour Party nationally and locally has brought us to this result, because that is above all fundamentally an explanation of what's happened today.'

Lord Mandelson went on: 'What I would say is this, and remind the party we have not won a general election in 16 years.

'We have lost the last four, with 2019 a catastrophe  the last 11 general elections read: lose, lose, lose, lose, Blair, Blair, Blair, lose, lose, lose, lose.

'We need for once in this party to learn the lessons of those victories as well as those defeats, and I hope very much that when Keir and his colleagues in the shadow cabinet say this means that we have got to change direction that they actually mean it.'

Lord Mandelson insisted that Brexit had not been raised with him once on the doorstep.

'The one thing they did raise with me however is Jeremy Corbyn  he is still casting a very dark cloud over Labour. Labour voters are not letting this off lightly, he still gets them going on the doorstep,' he said.

'One person said to me 'Sort yourselves out, sort yourselves out. You picked the wrong brother and you ended up with Corbyn so that's goodbye to you. When you've sorted yourselves out, we'll look at you again'.

Shadow minister Steve Reed was sent out to shore up Sir Keir's position, insisting the party was getting a better reception on doorsteps.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast he said: 'We're going to see a lot more results throughout today and Saturday and over the weekend, from elections right across the country, so we'll have a clearer picture at the end of that period, and I suspect the results are going to be patchy.

'Certainly from my door-knocking  places like Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire  the reaction on the doorstep to me as a Labour campaigner has been a lot warmer than it has been in recent years, but that isn't enough if it's not translating into votes.

'So I think people understand the leader has changed, they don't understand the party has changed, because we haven't yet done enough to prove that.'

Mr Russell-Moyle was an ally of Mr Corbyn before joining the shadow frontbench under Sir Keir.

He stepped down as the shadow minister for air quality and the natural environment last July.

His resignation came weeks after he apologised to author JK Rowling for writing an article where he accused her of 'using her own sexual assault as justification for discriminating' against trans people.

In 2018, he hit headlines after he was suspended from the Commons for picking up the ceremonial mace in protest at a Brexit vote being deferred.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle reacted furiously after the Government whip formally postponed the vote - because then-PM Theresa May was facing a humiliating defeat.

The mace is the symbol of the authority of the House and during sittings is placed on the table next to the despatch box in front of the Speaker.

In 2019, Russell-Moyle joined thirteen other Labour MPs on Westminster Bridge, next to the Houses of Parliament, in a protest against Brexit under the banner 'Love Socialism Hate Brexit'.

Counting is now underway in the Hartlepool by-election as the Tories try to win the seat from Labour
A New Zealand supermarket's chip aisle has gone up in flames - with staff suspecting the blaze was started as part of a TikTok challenge.

A team of 60 firefighters were called to the Countdown supermarket in Henderson, Auckland when the fire ignited just before 8.30pm on Thursday.

Police have confirmed the incident is being treated as arson while workers at the store told the NZ Herald they were aware of a social media craze where young people were setting chip packets on fire.

It is not yet clear how the fire started but it's believed a group of youths were involved.

A fire broke out in the chip aisle of the Countdown supermarket in Henderson, Auckland on Thursday night

The supermarket was closed on Thursday as police and fire investigators continue to work on the scene.

Shocking footage shows flames of up to three metres high roaring up towards the ceiling with the aisle now being left black and covered in debris.

Shoppers and staff were evacuated as smoke started billowing throughout the mall on Thursday night.

The store announced on Facebook on Friday morning no staff had been injured as a result of the fire.

The store has been closed on Friday while police and fire authorities investigate. Nobody was injured during the incident

'Following a fire last night, our Henderson Store is closed as we assess the extent of the damage,' the supermarket said.

'Our store team are all safe and we're providing them with support as needed. We're also making sure any food that can be is donated to our local food rescue partner Fair Food.'

The rest of the shopping centre has since reopened.

A Countdown spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they are working with authorities to determine the cause of the fire.

'We have been working closely with the Police and Fire Emergency to understand the cause of the fire in our Henderson store,' they said.

'While we cant comment on the motives behind the event, were obviously disappointed that people may have intentionally started a fire in one of our stores.

'The Police have since opened a criminal investigation. We have provided them with CCTV footage from our store and will continue to support their investigations.'

A supermarket in the US reportedly caught alight after a group of youths tried the TikTok challenge.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has boasted of signing the '1776 pledge' that opposes the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools, as the debate over the ideology deepens across the nation.

'Teaching our children & grandchildren to hate their own country & pitting them against one another on the basis of race or sex is shameful & must be stopped,' Noem tweeted on Monday.

The Republican added: 'I'm proud to be the 1st candidate in America to sign 'The 1776 Pledge to Save Our Schools.''

Noem is widely considered to be eyeing the 2024 presidential race, but she insisted to local news outlets that 'candidate' referred to her campaign for re-election as governor next year.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has boasted of signing the '1776 pledge' that opposes the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) in public schools

It comes amid a national debate over CRT, a theoretical framework which views society as dominated by white supremacy, and which critics say reduces people to the categories of 'privileged' or 'oppressed' based on their skin color.

Defenders argue CRT merely examines the ways in which race and racism influence American politics, culture and the law, and say it is vital to eliminating racism.

The 1776 Pledge was launched as an attempt to counter the 1619 Project, which posits the true founding of America in 1619, when the first African slaves arrived, rather than 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Noem argued that the 1776 Pledge asserts the 'truth' about America's history, 'that we are fighting for freedom, not based on slavery.'

'Critical race theory is not appropriate for our kids to learn, and to have in our school systems,' Noem said in an interview with Fox News.

'We want our honest history, our real history, our patriotic history to be taught to our kids so that we can continue to protect America,' she added. 'It's the most special country in the world, and it's something that our kids deserve to have long into the future that we had the opportunity to grow up in.'

Noem argued that the 1776 Pledge asserts the 'truth' about America's history, 'that we are fighting for freedom, not based on slavery'

Meanwhile in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton, also a Republican, spoke out in praise of voters in a suburb of Dallas who voted overwhelmingly in favor of school board candidates opposed to CRT.

In Saturday's election in Southlake, candidates opposed to the new curriculum won the two open seats on the Carroll Independent School District board in a landslide, with nearly 70 percent of the vote.

'I'm really grateful for these parents, I hope more people will speak out. That's the only way we will save our country, the only way we'll save our kids,' Paxton told Newsmax in reaction to the vote.

'It's encouraging that parents are getting involved like this and they care about issues just like this, that they want race to be treated with respect instead of disdain like the Democratic Party has pushed us to,' he said.

'Instead of dividing us, it should be something that makes us realize that while we all have different backgrounds, there's a reason that we're all here, and God created all of us and that matters,' added Paxton, who has been under indictment since 2015 on securities fraud charges, which he denies and calls politically motivated.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, also a Republican, spoke out in praise of voters in a suburb of Dallas who voted overwhelmingly in favor of school board candidates opposed to CRT

Republican state lawmakers in a number of states, including Texas, are pushing bills that would ban teaching CRT in public school classrooms.

The Texas legislation would go even further by discouraging Texas students from discussing current events or controversial public policy issues.

Last week, the Texas Senate passed Senate Bill 2202, which bans teaching that 'one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex' or that 'an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.'

The state House is due to consider a parallel bill, HB 3979, as soon as this week.

Teachers' organizations oppose the bills, which they say are too vague and would muzzle teachers from discussing critical race theory.

'The language in the bill about what may be considered controversial is broad, and determining if a teacher has violated this part of the statute is subjective,' teacher's union Texas AFT said in a statement.

'For example, educators could be subject to disciplinary action if they discuss concepts such as implicit bias or critical race theory, which has been held up as a model best practice in the field,' the teacher's union added.

In recent months, legislators in Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and West Virginia have all put forward bills opposing critical race theory.

On Wednesday, the Arizona House of Representatives advanced a bill that would ban teachers from discussing controversial issues in schools unless teachers give equal weight to divisive topics. Violations would result in $5,000 fines.

Republican state Rep. Michelle Udall, who chairs the House Education Committee, dismissed arguments that the bill seeks to ban conversations on racism.

'We cannot allow children in our public schools to be taught that their skin color or ethnicity or sex somehow determines their character or actions. No forms of racism should be allowed to enter our classrooms,' Udall said. 'Biased teaching needs to be stopped.'

Chris Kotterman with the Arizona School Board Association opposed the bill, arguing the bill's language is too vague and create continuous arguments over what is appropriate to teach and what is not appropriate.

'The foundational argument is that there is some movement that teaches students, white students specifically, that they need to feel bad about the past sins of the country. That's trash. There's no one with any creditability that's teaching that to students,' Kotterman said.
A man allegedly involved in a shocking gang rape of a woman in Sydney's north-west last month has been extradited to NSW.

Three men are accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the 37-year-old woman over several hours on Anzac Day.

Police say the woman had met the men at a Rouse Hill pub the night before, and was then taken to a Riverstone home where the alleged group sex attack occurred.

Three men are accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the 37-year-old woman over several hours on Anzac Day (stock image)

The woman sought medical treatment at Blacktown Hospital on April 26, before contacting police.

NSW detectives, with help from Queensland Police, arrested a 31-year-old man at Amberley, Brisbane on Wednesday.

The man was extradited to NSW overnight and will appear before Central Local Court on Friday.

A 26-year-old man was arrested at a home in Riverstone and a 35-year-old man at a Valley Heights home on Tuesday. A number of items were seized from the Riverstone home.

All three men have been charged with six counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.

The 26 year-old appeared at Blacktown Local Court on Wednesday where he was granted strict conditional bail to reappear at the same court on July 1.

The 35-year-old appeared at Blacktown Local Court on Wednesday and was formally refused bail to reappear at the same court on July 2.
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Leigh Ann Bauman, 44, has been charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder after police obtained a recording of the realtor allegedly trying to hire a hitman to kill her mother-in-law

A glamorous Missouri realtor charged with plotting to pay a hitman to murder her mother-in-law allegedly sent a chilling text to her own daughter telling her that her grandmother would soon be dead.

Leigh Ann Bauman, 44, was arrested in March after a former friend allegedly provided police with secret recordings of the blonde discussing her sinister plot.

According to court documents, Bauman - who a prominent realtor in the Lake of The Ozarks - divorced her ex-husband several years ago, and believed he and his mother, 74, were going to fight for custody of her two children.

Bauman was released from prison on a $400,000 bond and is awaiting trial on a charge of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

On Tuesday, a Miller County judge granted Bauman's terrified former spouse an order of protection for himself and his children.

'My daughters, my family and I have endured so much emotional and psychological damage from Leigh Ann Bauman's actions over the past 15 years,' Bauman's ex wrote.

'She has made numerous threats to destroy me, personally and professionally'.

Bauman's ex claims that she drinks heavily, previously pulled a gun on a pizza delivery driver, and subjected him to physical and emotional abuse.

The petition also included a claim that Bauman had sent a text to her daughter prior to her arrest which read: 'Just because your grandma WILL die soon, please do not throw your REAL mother under the bus.'

Bauman allegedly sent a chilling text to her own daughter telling her that her grandmother would soon be dead

Bauman is a notable member of the Lake of The Ozarks community, and has touted her love of Botox, Trump and Jesus

On her Facebook page, Bauman describes herself as a realtor, an artist, an entrepreneur, and a 'pistol packing cheer mom'

Bauman's mother-in-law still fears for her safety after becoming the target of the alleged murder-for-hire plot.

'I'm scared to death... she wouldn't hesitate to hurt her daughters to get even with me, and she wouldn't hesitate to hurt my children because she knows it would destroy me,' the mother-in-law stated during an initial hearing after Bauman's arrest in March.

Bauman is a notable member of the Lake of The Ozarks community, and has touted her love of Botox, Trump and Jesus.

On her Facebook page, Bauman describes herself as a realtor, an artist, an entrepreneur, and a 'pistol packing cheer mom'. She frequently posts online about her 'track record of success.'

Her LinkedIn account mentions an acting and modeling career, with appearances on Days of Our Lives and in a Nike commercial

Prior to her arrest, the blonde bombshell began dating Italian powerboat racer Serafino Cazzani, 61, who is vehemently standing by her.

'She often cooks for her elderly neighbors, helps them clean up, and even drives them to church... She may not be perfect but she clearly is kind, has a good heart, and is well intended,' Cazzani cooed in an interview with The Daily Beast.

Indeed, Bauman has amassed a loyal crew of supporters who say the former friend who reported her to the cops cannot be trusted.

Cazzani claims the friend-turned-informant - identified only as 'CK' in court documents - 'encouraged, betrayed, and entrapped' Bauman by recording her when she was intoxicated.

'You're drunk with your friend one night and say, "Yeah I hate my boyfriend." Next thing you know the friend goes to the cops and says: "She's planning a murder," Cazzani stated.

On her Facebook page, Bauman describes herself as a realtor, an artist, an entrepreneur, and a 'pistol packing cheer mom'. She frequently posts online about her 'track record of success'

Blonde ambition! Bauman's LinkedIn account mentions an acting and modeling career, with appearances on Days of Our Lives and in a Nike commercial

Another friend concurred, telling The Daily Beast: 'At the end of the day, you're relaxing and having a few drinks and there's somebody egging you on. The next thing you know, it's "Let's push the record button." How could this person just give this to police and they act upon it? Something's rotten in Denmark.'

CK is awaiting her own trial on a felony charge of receiving stolen property.

A probable cause statement on that case claims CK 'has many aliases on her criminal history report with two social security numbers' and that she 'holds three citizenships'.

Bauman's supporters say CK manipulated the Missouri realtor by recording her in an attempt to 'gain leverage' in her own pending criminal case'.

Bauman has amassed a loyal crew of supporters who say the former friend who reported her to the cops cannot be trusted

While Bauman's fans say she was framed, one local has described the bubbly realtor as a 'narcissist' and an 'opportunist'

Bauman initially approached CK because she had gone to pick up her children but they reportedly refused to go with her, according to court documents seen by 13KRCG.

Prosecutors say Bauman texted CK asking : 'Do you know anybody?'

CK replied asking Bauman if she was asking where to get marijuana but Bauman allegedly replied, 'No, I want a hitman, somebody to get rid of her [her mother-in-law]'.

After CK asked Bauman if she was serious, the realtor replied saying 'she knew it was wrong as a Christian, but she would go to church and ask for forgiveness after it was done.'

On a subsequent evening, Bauman is said to have called CK asking her to come over to her house.

CK recorded a conversation in which they claimed to have found the hitmen Bauman requested.

'Oh okay, that's a reasonable price,' Bauman is alleged to have said after finding a killer-for-hire for $1,500.

Bauman told CK that she would go to the bank the following day - March 4 - but she was interviewed by troopers after CK informed on her.

Court documents say she 'gasped' and blamed everything on CK claiming she was a 'hustler' who was trying to get money from her.

She also called her friend, the mayor of Lake Ozark Gerry Murawski - who is also in hot water after admitting to having sex with a young prostitute in 2015.

Bauman reportedly left partway through her police interview for a Botox appointment. When she returned, she denied planning to have her mother-in-law killed. Despite protesting her innocence, she was taken into custody and arrested.

While Bauman's fans claiming she was framed, there are others in the Lake of the Ozarks who are siding with her ex.

'I don't think anyone who knows her or who knows of her is surprised by the arrest,' one local told The Daily Beast.

They claimed Bauman was a 'narcissist' and an 'opportunist'.

'It's very much all about her and what benefits her,' the associate added. 'She just used people for her own personal gains.'

If convicted Bauman faces up to a decade behind bars. Her trial date has not been set.

If convicted Bauman faces up to a decade behind bars. No trial date has yet been set
Australian motorists have a habit of buying cars brand new that are about to be replaced.

The Ford Ranger ute was Australia's number one bestseller in April for the first time since 2017 even though an all-new shape is coming in 2022.

While the Toyota HiLux has been Australia's top selling car since 2016, the Ranger has on some rare occasions outsold it, including in July, August and September last year.

The Ranger, however, hasn't been the overall bestseller in Australia since September 2017.

Australian motorists have a habit of buying cars brand new that are about to be replaced. The Ford Ranger ute was Australia's number one bestseller in April for the first time since 2017 even though an all-new shape is coming in 2022

Australia's bestsellers 1. Ford Ranger: up 226 per cent to 5,021 2. Toyota RAV4: up 135.8 per cent to 4,506 3. Toyota HiLux: up 80.5 per cent to 4,222 4. Toyota LandCruiser: up 98.2 per cent to 3,177 (including 2,595 of the 200 series wagon) 5. Mitsubishi Triton: up 424.1 per cent to 2,458 6. Mazda CX-5: up 263.1 per cent to 2,353 7. Toyota Corolla: up 73.5 per cent to 2,073 8. Mitsubishi ASX: up 482.8 per cent to 2,028 9. Hyundai i30: up 188.5 per cent to 2,005 10. Isuzu D-Max: up 163 per cent to 1,999 Source: Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data comparing April 2021 with April 2020 Advertisement

In April, 5,021 Rangers were sold, with sales tripling or surging by 226 per cent compared with a year earlier, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries data showed.

The Ranger had a clear edge in the 4x4 stakes, with 4,671 of them sold in April compared with 3,315 for the equivalent four-wheel drive HiLux.

A new model in 2022 will also form the basis of the next Volkswagen Amarok.

Australia has a long tradition of outdated cars, that are soon to be replaced, being the number one on the sales chart - whether locally-made or imported models had more buyers.

Motoring expert Toby Hagon, the editor of EV Central, said Australian motorists felt assured that an outdated model would be more reliable.

'Sometimes you'll end up with the last of the line being the best equipped throughout that car's life,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'There's another argument to be made that some people just don't like buying a new model because of the uncertainty of whether there might be some engineering issues or reliability problems with it.'

Ford had managed to keep the decade-old Ranger fresh with a series of new models in the range from the FX4 Max to the Wildtrak X and the Raptor X.

'Ford's been doing a bit with Ranger recently, little tweaks and changes to increase its appeal,' Mr Hagon said.

'They're constantly tinkering with the model lineup to try and make it more appealing and get someone who has a four, five, six-year old one to step into a new one.'

Even on the used car market, Ranger prices have soared with average values for three-year models climbing by 38 per cent since the start of the pandemic to $39,800 as global new car shortages push up secondhand prices, Datium Insights data showed.

The HiLux, which dominates the tradie end of the ute market, has been Australia's bestseller every year since 2016 and maintained the top spot in 2019, even though a substantially facelifted model was due out in 2020

The HiLux, which dominates the tradie end of the ute market, has been Australia's bestseller every year since 2016 and maintained the top spot in 2019, even though a substantially facelifted model was due out in 2020.

Secondhand HiLuxes has risen in price by 29 per cent since the start of last year to $37,200.

In 2012 the Mazda3, the first-ever imported car to be number one in Australia, was the bestseller for the second year running, even though an all-new shape was due to arrive in late 2013.

Mr Hagon said special runout deals and a short-lived shift to smaller cars had boosted Mazda3 sales, before the Toyota Corolla took over as the bestseller.

In 2012 the Mazda3, the first-ever imported car to be number one in Australia, was the bestseller for the second year running, even though an all-new shape was due to arrive in late 2013

'Around about that time, we were also seeing a pretty fundamental shift in the new car market,' he said.

An Australian-made car hasn't been the top-selling vehicle since 2010, when the VE Holden Commodore was No. 1 in the same year imported car tariffs were reduced to 5 per cent from 10 per cent.

The Commodore was Australia's undisputed bestseller from 1996 to 2010, thanks to strong fleet sales and the presence of local industry protection.

During that time, the VS Commodore was the annual bestseller in 1996 even though the all-new VT Commodore was due in 1997 - the first completely new shape since 1988.

In 2005, the VZ Commodore (pictured) was Australia's bestselling car even though the all-new VE model was due out in 2006  the first all-new shape in nine years

In 2005, the VZ Commodore was Australia's bestselling car even though the all-new VE model was due out in 2006  the first all-new shape in nine years.

That was the era of the Monaro coupe, the Adventra SUV wagon and the Crewman dual-cab ute.

'There was a lot of interest, a lot of focus on Holden - the Commodore benefited from that,' Mr Hagon said.

While the Commodore was phased out last year and hasn't been locally-made since 2017, average used prices have risen by 23 per cent since early 2020.

Australian-made cars have also historically been the new bestseller, even though a substantially facelifted model was due in the following year.

The ageing EB Series 2 and ED (pictured) Ford Falcons took line honours in 1993 even though the sleeker EF Falcon was due out in 1994

The ageing EB Series 2 and ED Ford Falcons took line honours in 1993 even though the sleeker EF Falcon was due out in 1994.

The VX Commodore was the bestseller in 2001 despite the fact the substantially facelifted VY Commodore was due out in 2002.

That ended a decade ago when motorists began shifting more to SUVs and fleet buyers allowed drivers to choose the car they wanted rather than be assigned one.

'The Australian car industry was changing,' Mr Hagon said.

Toyota LandCruiser sales in April have doubled to 3,177, compared with a year earlier, even though the 200-series wagon is being replaced by an all-new 300-series shape, that reportedly won't have a V8 option

'We were tending towards SUVs, import tariffs were being reduced, suddenly imported cars were starting to get more appealing to a lot of people.'

In 2021, the ban on Australians travelling overseas for a holiday has seen demand surge for four-wheel drives, including one that is being replaced this year.

Toyota LandCruiser sales in April have doubled to 3,177, compared with a year earlier, even though the 200-series wagon is being replaced by an all-new 300-series shape, that reportedly won't have a V8 option.

The larger four-wheel drive was Australia's fourth most popular new car last month.

Even used models are soaring in value with prices for a four-year-old version climbing by 18 per cent since the start of the pandemic in early 2020, Datium Insights data showed.
At least 60 people within Joe Biden's White House have ties to a liberal Washington DC think tank which does not disclose its funding, according to reports - leading to questions about the power of progressive 'dark money'.

The Center for American Progress was founded in 2003 by John Podesta, Bill Clinton's chief of staff and a counselor to Barack Obama.

It is one of a number of lobbying groups and policy organizations which do not disclose how they are funded, leading to concern about who is behind their significant power and influence.

Some of the best-known 'dark money' groups are the NRA, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the Heritage Foundation and the American Bankers' Association.

Biden's chief of staff, Ronald Klain, was on the board of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the advocacy arm of the Center for American Progress, from 2011-13.

Ron Klain, one of Biden's closest allies and now chief of staff, was on the board of a think tank

Biden, seen Thursday in Louisiana, has hired many people with connections to CAP

Klain was Biden's chief of staff when he was vice president, and before then served as Vice President Al Gore's chief of staff.

Of the 60 CAP alumni known to be serving in or nominated by the Biden administration, 21 of them were affiliated with the think tank until this year, an analysis by Insider showed last month.

They include Denis McDonough, head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, who was Obama's chief of staff, and became a senior fellow at CAP.

Carmel Martin, deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council for economic mobility, and Kelly Magsamen, chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, also worked for the group.

Biden and Klain have worked together for years; Klain worked for Vice President Al Gore

Hillary Clinton is seen with John Podesta, her campaign chair and CAP founder, in July 2016

Center for American Progress and other 'dark money' groups The CAP was founded in 2003 by Podesta Both Republicans and Democrats accuse each other of profiting from 'dark money' - making their opponents seem shadowy and untrustworthy. 'Dark money' literally means money which is not declared. According to Open Secrets, which attempts to shed light on it, the term 'refers to political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown.' Dark money only came into existence in 2010, with the Citizens United ruling, which effectively ended the rules by which all political donations had to be registered. Since then an estimated $1 billion has been spent by dark money groups  mainly on television and online ads and mailers. Some of the best-known dark money groups are the NRA, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, the Heritage Foundation and the American Bankers' Association. Washington's leading liberal think tank, the Center for American Progress, was founded in 2003 by John Podesta, Bill Clinton's chief of staff and a counselor to Barack Obama. CAP has had outsize influence on Democratic policies for years. The group had close ties with the Barack Obama administration, helping with both policies and personnel, according to media reports. A 2005 proposal from CAP foreshadowed Obama's Affordable Care Act. Planned Parenthood is a healthcare non-profit-making group that was founded in 1942 and traces its beginnings to the birth control movement and the opening of the first birth control clinic in 1916 in Brooklyn, New York. The group is now the largest single provider of abortion in the US. In 2019, Planned Parenthood pulled out of the federal family planning program rather than abide by a Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions. That was despite about a third of its funding - amounting to about $16.2 million in 2019 - coming form the federal govermne. NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was established in 1909 in response to violence against black people in America. Today, it is the largest civil rights organization in the country with more than 2 million activists. Media Matters for America was founded by conservative-turned-liberal activist David Brock in 2004. It describes its role as 'monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media'. Both the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund are environmental advocacy groups. Advertisement

The executive vice president for policy at CAP, Mara Rudman, said the number of associates and friends of the group in the White House was a cause for celebration for them.

'It's a win-win for us,' she told Insider.

'It's no surprise to many of us that we have a lot of talented people that we feel very fortunate to draw in and would expect or hope that the skills and abilities of those people are embraced by a progressive administration.'

Another 'dark money' group with influence in the Biden White House is Media Matters for America, a left-wing media watchdog.

Jennifer Granholm, the Energy Secretary, served as a senior adviser to the group from January 2017 until November 2020, receiving monthly retainer payments from the group totaling over $200,000, according to her financial disclosure report analyzed by Fox News.

And two more organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, are also benefitting from their senior figures entering the White House.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator Michael Regan served as associate vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Biden climate advisor Gina McCarthy, who led the EPA under the Obama administration, was president and chief executive officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Denis McDonough, currently Veterans Affairs Secretary, was a senior fellow at CAP

Biden climate advisor Gina McCarthy, who led the EPA under the Obama administration, was president and chief executive officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council

Critics point to the power of Arabella Advisors, a D.C.-based consulting firm, which manages the four 'dark money funds' that have poured billions into left-wing groups.

CAP Action Fund has received $1.4 million from Arabella Advisors, Fox reported.

Media Matters has been given nearly $1 million, and the Environmental Defense Fund and its advocacy arm have taken in $3 million from funds in Arabella's network.

'From his White House climate czar to his chief of staff, White House Counsel's office and even his own press secretary, Joe Biden has filled top positions in his administration with people who worked for groups that are part of the massive Arabella Advisors liberal dark money network; they have more influence over judicial nominations, extreme environmental policy and other issues than anyone else,' said Caitlin Sutherland, president of Americans for Public Trust.

The issue of 'dark money' is a feature of American political life, and something which Biden has vowed to combat.

Michael Regan, head of the EPA, previously worked at the Environmental Defense Fund

During the election, Christian right groups, many with close links to the Trump administration, spent at least $280 million.

Their money was spent on campaigns against the rights of women and LGBTQ people across five continents, openDemocracy found.

Politico reported that last month Trump's supporters hosted a meeting to strategize how to make better use of 'dark money' to further their own campaigns.
China has accused the Australia of 'insane suppression' and cut off all economic talks after Victoria's Belt and Road deal was torn up.

China's Ministry of Commerce in Beijing Mei Xinyu blamed the deteriorating relationship on the 'wildness of Australian politicians'.

'I cannot predict what further wild things the Australian side will do,' he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused Australia of having a 'Cold-War mentality and ideological bias' towards China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin accused Australia of having a 'Cold-War mentality and ideological bias' towards China

The dialogue was created in 2014 as a way for Australian politicians to meet with Chinese officials and discuss investment and trade deals - though it had begun to deteriorate after the last meeting was held in 2017

'We urge the Australian side to cast aside the Cold-War mentality and ideological bias, view China's development and China-Australia cooperation in a truly objective light, return to the rational track without further delay and correct its mistakes,' he said.

'It should stop the insane suppression targeting China-Australia cooperation, stop politicising and stigmatising normal exchange and stop going further down the wrong path.'

Beijing's National Development and Reform Commission announced on Thursday it would 'indefinitely' suspend the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue.

The dialogue was created in 2014 as a way for Australian politicians to meet with Chinese officials and discuss investment and trade deals - though it began to deteriorate after the last meeting was held in 2017.

The move to suspend the dialogue is viewed as retaliation to the Australian Government's decision to scrap the $1.5 trillion Belt and Road Initiative that was struck between Victoria and China.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne announced on April 21 the government would not pursue the Belt and Road Initiative because it was 'inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy.'

China has imposed heavy tariffs on a number of Australian exports as tensions between the two countries continue to grow (pictured, freighters are loaded with coal at Hay Point, Queensland)

She also criticised the suspension of the economic dialogue between the two countries as a step too far.

'We have been very clear that we were willing and able to participate in an ongoing strategic and economic dialogue - that is ultimately a decision for China,' she said.

'Australia is very ready to engage in dialogue with our counterparts at any level.'

Trade minister Dan Tehan also expressed disappointment over the downward spiral in diplomatic relations with China.

'We want to have a dialogue with China, we want to be able to work through our differences,' Mr Tehan said.

'We have a very important economic relationship, which has helped both countries. It has lifted millions out of poverty in China, it helps our standard of living here in Australia.

China blocked imports of most Australian goods - including coal, wine and barley - after the government called for an investigation into the coronavirus, which emerged in central China in late 2019

'Our hope is we will be able to have a dialogue over time and work through these differences.'

Tensions have continued to grow between Australia and China since last year.

China blocked imports of most Australian goods - including coal, wine and barley - after the government called for an investigation into the coronavirus, which emerged in central China in late 2019.

Chinese ministers have also refused to take calls from their Australian counterparts.

Relations have also soured between China and Australia's neighbouring nations as the country continues to assert claims over disputed territories, including Taiwan.

Earlier, Scott Morrison chose his words carefully as the prospect of military conflict between China and Taiwan continues to grow.

China has warned Australia it must fall in line with its policy to 'reunify' the disputed island of Taiwan if it wants to trade to return to normal. Pictured: Chinese Navy personal stand gaurd

Taiwan has warned it is preparing for a 'final assault' from Beijing and has called on support from Australia.

The prime minister was circumspect when asked whether Australia stood with Taiwan.

Australia abides by a 'One China' policy in its engagement with Taiwan, meaning there are no formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.

But Canberra maintains trade, cultural and other exchanges with Taiwan separate from mainland China.

Mr Morrison said Australia 'always honoured all of our arrangements in the Indo-Pacific' and singled out its alliance with the United States.

'We're very cognisant of the uncertainties in our region and I'm not one to speak at length on these things, because I don't wish to add to any uncertainty,' he said.

Pressed again on whether Australia stood with Taiwan, the prime minister replied: 'We have always stood for freedom in our part of the world.'
A burglar forced open an emergency door and walked around a quarantine hotel for eight minutes as staff allegedly played on their phones.

Police are investigating the break in at the Intercontinental Hotel on Collins Street in Melbourne that occurred about 4.10pm on Sunday.

This latest breach follows claims there was a litany of failures in Victoria's quarantine system under former general manager Matiu Bush.

A robber has forced open an emergency door and walked around the Intercontinental Hotel in Collins Street in Melbourne (pictured)

The burglar reportedly wandered around for eight minutes as staff sat on their phones at the hotel (pictured)

The man forced opened an emergency door to the hotel before walking around undetected and then running away, the Herald Sun reported.

'It is not believed he gained access to any rooms during the short time he was in the hotel. He left the scene on foot via the same door,' police said.

A whistleblower claimed to that newspaper that staff were too preoccupied on their phones to notice the intruder.

They only became aware of the breach as the burglar was fleeing the hotel eight minutes after breaking in.

There have reportedly been other break-ins at quarantine hotels in Melbourne.

Bush, the former Victorian head of infection control, was stood down on Wednesday for breaching infection protocols, including refusing to get a Covid test or wear a mask properly.

Bush started working for Victoria's hotel quarantine program in June 2020 just as a horror second wave of Covid-19 infections, which killed 801 people, hit the state.
Former attorney-general Christian Porter is seeking to strike out parts of the ABC's defence in defamation proceedings concerning historical rape allegations.

Former attorney-general Christian Porter is seeking to strike out parts of the ABC's defence in defamation proceedings concerning historical rape allegations.

The public broadcaster's defence contains material that is 'evasive or ambiguous' and/or scandalous, according to an application filed on behalf of Mr Porter.

The ABC filed its defence on Tuesday evening but it is yet to be released by the Federal Court.

Mr Porter in March launched defamation action against the ABC and journalist Louise Milligan for publishing what he says are 'false accusations' he was the subject of historical rape allegations.

The woman at the centre of the allegations died in June 2020.

Since the report's February 26 publication, the West Australian MP has changed roles from attorney-general to industry, science and technology minister.

Mr Porter's application, filed Wednesday and published Thursday afternoon, seeks to strike out one paragraph of the defence and three schedules.

It also seeks an order preventing publication of the three schedules until further order of the court.

The material in the schedules is of a scandalous, frivolous or vexatious nature, is evasive or ambiguous, or are otherwise an abuse of the process of the court, Mr Porter's application claims, referencing phrases in Federal Court Rules.

The court is also asked to order the ABC to provide more information on certain denials outlined in the defence.

The parties are due to face off virtually in court for the first time on Friday morning, before Justice Jayne Jagot.

While the report referred to an unnamed cabinet minister, Google searches for Christian Porter after the article's publication spiked to a greater extent than any other male frontbencher, his lawyers state in court documents.

By March 3, a Google search of 'who is the minister accused of rape' would return Mr Porter's name, and Mr Porter was widely identified on platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, the lawyers say.

Mr Porter revealed himself as the subject of the allegations on March 3.

Milligan is also accused of directing her Twitter followers before March 3 to the #cabinetminister hashtag, through which Mr Porter was identified by members of the public.

The public broadcaster's defence contains material that is 'evasive or ambiguous' and/or scandalous, according to an application filed on behalf of Mr Porter

Mr Porter is seeking aggravated damages, costs and removal of the article and related material on the internet.

In another document published on Thursday, the ABC said the allegedly defamatory article received 264,658 unique page views before Mr Porter revealed himself as its subject.

More than half came from NSW and Victoria, while 26,710 were in the MP's home state.

The article was accessed another 22,575 times nationwide between the beginning of Mr Porter's March 3 press conference and April 25.
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Labour council leaders toppled today as the Conservatives starting building their own 'Blue Wall' in the North East and marched further into Labour's working class heartlands as Sir Keir Starmer's party continued to struggle.

Conservative Ben Houchen was re-elected as Tees Valley Mayor with a whopping 73 per cent of the vote, up from 40 per cent in the 2017 election, while Labour leaders in Sheffield, Oldham and Harlow were among 120 of its councillors in England to lose seats so far. In contrast, the Tories gained 95 seats and the Lib Dems gained five.

Labour group leaders lost their seats in Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire - the latter being where Labour was expecting a better result, but ended up seeing a Tory hold and majority extension.

The Tories took Northumberland for the first time since the 1970s, which had been under no overall control but was traditionally Labour before that, as well as getting shock new councillors in traditionally Left-wing communities in Sunderland and on Tyneside.

After the Northumberland result came in this morning and the Tories returned an MP for Hartlepool for the first time in 62 years in a landslide vote, supporters took to social media to declare: 'The Red Wall is now The Blue Wall.'

With just 29 of the 122 councils declaring so far, Boris Johnson described the early election results as 'very encouraging' for his party as any Labour revival were already dealt a crushing blow after an awful polling day.

Labour-run Harlow was turned from red to blue as Essex voters threw out Sir Keir Starmer's councillors in six of its seven wards while in the south of the county, the Tories won six more seats, increasing its majority over Labour to nine in Thurrock.

In Dudley, Labour won just three seats, down from 11, with the Tories winning all the remaining 23 seats as they also made major inroads in the West Midlands. It was the same picture in Nuneaton and Bedworth, where Labour only won one seat after a number of their councillors were voted out.

Boris Johnson's party also chipped away at Labour's gigantic majority in Sunderland, one of its true strongholds in England, taking 18 seats as Sir Keir Starmer's party took a battering at the polls yesterday. In the city's Ryhope ward, a former docker area, the Tories took it with a 38% swing away from Labour.

In Newcastle, Gateshead and Tyneside they also struggled, losing seats to the Tories as well as the Green Party, Lib Dems and Independents, but the areas remained under Labour control with reduced majorities. Newcastle's Labour leader Nick Forbes admitted the party was facing a bleak night as they lost seats across the North East.

Sir Keir Starmer was given a bloody nose as:

Labour lost its Hartlepool seat, which has returned a Tory MP for the first time in decades;

Tories win 23 of the 26 seats on Dudley Council - up 11 seats since 2016 - as Labour is almost wiped out there;

The party lost Harlow Council to the Tories, who also gained Northumberland, Redditch and Nuneaton councils;

Labour held strongholds of Oldham, Newcastle and Sunderland but lost significant numbers of seats, especially to the Tories but also the Green, Lib Dem and independent candidates;

In Scotland, the SNP gained East Lothian from Labour and Ayr from the Tories, winning 38 of the 47 seats declared with four going to the Lib Dems, two to Labour and three to the Conservatives;

Former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, lost her seat to Angus Robertson in Edinburgh Central, which he declared an 'emphatic and unparalleled victory' for the SNP

In Wales, after 14 seats had been declared Labour had nine, the Conservatives four and Plaid Cymru one;

Only one of Wales' so-called red wall seats, the Vale of Clwyd, fell to the Welsh Conservatives, while Labour sources are also confident of unseating the former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood in Rhondda.

English Local Authorities English County Councils Scottish Parliament Welsh Parliament

The Tories finally gained Northumberland County Council after a decade of no overall control and previous Labour dominance dating back almost 5 decades

A disappointed and under pressure Sir Keir Starmer leaves his house in north London after it was announced that the Conservative Party have won the Hartlepool by-election as a victorious Boris Johnson fixed a leaky pipe during a visit to Severn Trent Academy in Coventry

Dudley is turned almost entirely blue after Labour took an absolute pasting

The Tories also made inroads into Wolverhampton overnight, taking five new seats from Labour

Labour lost control of Harlow in Essex, losing six of its seven seats as voters rejected the party's candidates at the polls

Labour also lost all but one of its seats in Nuneaton and Bedoworth, with the Tories clearing up on a bad night for their rival party

Brexit meant that Ukip's seats on Thurrock council have been wiped out by the Tories, who increased their majority over Labour overnight

Southend remained under no overall control but the Tories edged towards one as Labour lost a seat

Labour has held Oldham and Rochdale, but Greens, Tories and Independents made inroads

Staunchly Labour Sunderland was held by the party, but the Tories and Lib Dems made big gains in one of the party's heartlands

On South Tyneside, every seat in 2016 was Labour - the party has held it but lost seats to the Tories, the Greens and an independent

Labour held Newcastle, but lost seats as traditional voters moved away from Sir Keir Starmer's party

In Stockport, Greater Manchester, there was no overall control, with the Lib Dems enjoying the best night among the main parties

The Tories have won Hartlepool, and a comparison between today and 2001 show how Labour has lost many of its heartlands

Conservative Ben Houchen (pictured with his wife Rachel today) was re-elected as Tees Valley Mayor with a whopping 73 per cent of the vote, up from 40 per cent in the 2017 election

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford looks at Independent election candidate for Cardiff West, Captain Beany, as they wait for the election results

Tories take a wrecking ball to Labour's Red Wall AGAIN with historic Hartlepool by-election win by 7,000 votes  as Keir Starmer vows 'no excuses' Jill Mortimer (pictured after being declared the victor) will now serve as the constituency's MP in Westminster after she trounced Labour contender Paul Williams Boris Johnson delivered a devastating hammer blow to Sir Keir Starmer today as the Tories romped to an historic victory in the Hartlepool by-election. Labour has held the seat since it was created back in the 1970s but Sir Keir was left humiliated as the Conservatives piled up a majority of nearly 7,000 - overturning the previous margin of 3,500. Jill Mortimer will now serve as the constituency's MP in Westminster after she trounced Labour contender Paul Williams. 'Labour have taken the people of Hartlepool for granted for too long... people have had enough,' she said in her speech. The official announcement of the result was made just after 7am but Labour had already conceded defeat hours earlier, with shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon telling Sky News that 'we are not close to winning this'. The victory by 15,529 to 8,589 votes shows that Boris Johnson's realignment of the British political landscape is continuing, with more of the so-called Red Wall collapsing. The 16 per cent swing is believed to be the biggest to a governing party in a by-election since the Second World War. It heaps pressure on Sir Keir amid a growing revolt from hard-Left activists. A senior source admitted this morning that Labour had 'not changed nearly enough' to woo voters and insisted there will be no 'excuses'. The party is now bracing for further bad news as the votes are counted in England's council and mayoral battles following 'Super Thursday' elections. Questions are being asked over the choice of a Remainer former MP as the Labour candidate in Brexit-voting Hartlepool. As brutal recriminations begun, Corbyn allies Diane Abbott and John McDonnell were among those demanding a more left-wing approach. Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle tweeted: 'Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well... or not?' Corbynite MP Richard Burgon said: 'We are going backwards in areas we need to be winning. Labour's leadership needs to urgently change direction.' Advertisement

The Tories are also celebrating after wrestling Harlow Council in Essex from Labour and gaining control of Nuneaton & Bedworth, Redditch and Dudley councils in the West Midlands, all three of which previously had no overall control.

The Tories won several Labour seats while also cutting the gap in other seats with strong Labour majorities as they saw swings of up to 30 per cent in some contests causing yet more grief for Sir Keir.

The swing towards the Tories came as the party delivered a devastating hammer blow to Labour today as the Tories romped to an historic victory in the Hartlepool by-election.

In Ryhope in Sunderland, the Tories increased their vote share by 30 per cent to beat Labour, while in Newsham, Northumberland, the Tories increased their vote share by 25.7 per cent to take the seat before the council fell.

Other parties also chipped away at Labour council wards, with the Liberal Democrats boosting their vote by an astonishing 55 per cent to win Pallion in Sunderland from Sir Keir's party. Meanwhile, the Green party saw their vote jump by 43.9 per cent as they took West Park in South Tyneside from Labour.

A Labour source said leader Sir Keir Starmer would 'take responsibility for these results'. They added: 'We've said all along the North East and the Midlands would be difficult. We also said the places declaring Thursday would be particularly difficult.'

While Nick Forbes, Labour leader of Newcastle City Council, said results were promising in his city but admitted the party was facing a bleak night in other parts of the country, as was proved when the results began to come in.

The Conservatives won all nine of the seats being contested in Redditch, the first council result of the night, gaining seven seats from Labour.

There was no change of control, with the Conservatives holding 25 seats on the new council and Labour just four, losing both their leader and deputy leader.

They did however take control of Nuneaton & Bedworth after winning 13 of the first 14 seats declared.

Harlow also went to the Conservatives for the first time since 2008, with Conservative Harlow MP Robert Halfon sharing his pride at the result.

He said: 'Proud of @HarlowTories Councillors. Won 11 seats, including 7 from Labour as well as defeating the Harlow Labour Council leader,' he tweeted.

'Harlow Council now under @HarlowTories @Conservatives control for only the second time in the history of our town.'

Nuneaton's Conservative MP Marcus Jones expressed his joy after the Conservatives gained control of Nuneaton and Bedworth Council from Labour.

'I'm delighted that @NuneatonMatters and @BedworthTories gained a massive 11 seats and will now take control of @NBBCouncil,' he posted on Twitter.

'A missive (sic) effort by all concerned. Thank you to everyone that supported the Conservative candidates.'

As results started to come in, a Labour source said: 'We've said all along the North East and the Midlands would be difficult.

'We also said the places declaring Thursday would be particularly difficult.

'But the message from voters is clear and we have heard it - Labour has not yet changed nearly enough for voters to place their trust in us.

'We understand that. We are listening. And we will now redouble our efforts.

'Labour must now accelerate the programme of change in our party, to win back the trust and faith of working people across Britain.

Counting gets underway for the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch Constituency and Regional votes in Inverness for the Scottish Parliament

Votes are now being counted for the local and mayoral elections at the Wavertree Tennis Centre, Liverpool, with results expected later

Liverpool elects first black female mayor Liverpool has elected its first black female mayor as Labour held on to the role despite corruption allegations. Joanne Anderson was named as the successor to Joe Anderson on Friday, after the former mayor chose not to stand following his arrest as part of a Merseyside Police fraud investigation. After her victory, Ms Anderson, no relation to her predecessor, apologised for the previous administration, referring to the findings of a report by local government inspector Max Caller, which included themes of bullying, intimidation, 'dubious' deals and 'jobs for the boys'. Speaking after she was declared the new mayor, Ms Anderson said: 'The first thing I want to do is apologise to the city for what's happened in terms of the Caller investigation and what's happened under the previous administration. 'I've stood up because I want to make this right and I will do everything in my power to make it right.' She pledged to give the city an 'accountable and transparent' authority that the 'people of Liverpool deserve'. Commissioners appointed by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) are taking over some of the city council's functions for the next three years following the report. Independent candidate Stephen Yip, founder of children's charity Kind Liverpool, came in second place in the mayoral race with 32,079 votes to Ms Anderson's 46,493 after second round votes were counted. Previous mayor Mr Anderson, who had been in the role since its creation in 2012, announced on New Year's Eve he would not stand for re-election. Three female candidates, councillors Wendy Simon, Ann O'Byrne and Anna Rothery, had been in the running to stand for Labour but in February the party announced it was reopening the selection process and did not invite the previous candidates to apply. Advertisement

'People don't want to hear excuses. Keir has said he will take responsibility for these results - and he will take responsibility for fixing it and changing the Labour Party for the better.'

Newcastle's Labour mayor Mr Forbes said: 'I think Labour has been offering a message of hope throughout this election campaign.

'But it has been a very strange campaign because of Covid. I have spoken to people on the doorstep in the last few days who haven't wanted to come out and vote even though they are Labour supporters because they are self-isolating.

'And of course we have had the national campaign around the vaccinations and at times like this people do tend to rally to the government of the day, whatever colour it is.

'But there is no doubt there are warning signs for Labour in what starts to look like a difficult set of election results for us here tonight.

'We need to be the change makers. We need to be the people who are offering hope for the future. We need to be the party that people can trust with future generations' opportunities.

'And that message isn't quite breaking through yet, probably because of Covid and a very difficult year for election campaigning but we must redouble our efforts to get that message across to voters for next year's elections.

Meanwhile in Hartlepool, shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon, who led the Opposition party's campaign to hold the North East town, said it looked clear that Labour had not 'got over the line'.

Shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire also admitted the party's message had not been cutting through.

'We've got a great team who cannot wait to be able to cut through more and I hear what people are saying, it's not cutting through, I get that,' she told BBC's Question Time.

'I think that's a lesson for the Labour Party that we're going to have to take into account.'

But in a sign of the discontent on the Labour left, MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle appeared to mock the party's attempts to change its image.

He said: 'Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well ... or not?'

The comment seemed to be a reference to a leaked strategy document which suggested Labour must make 'use of the flag, veterans, dressing smartly' to win back voters in red wall seats in the party's former industrial heartlands.

Nick Forbes, Labour leader of Newcastle City Council, said results were promising in his city but admitted the party was facing a bleak night across the country

Hilton Dawson (left), of The North East Party sits with party supporters as they wait for the count process to begin in the Hartlepool Parliamentary By-election

Welsh Labour exceeds expectations Welsh Labour appears to have exceeded expectations as counting for the Welsh Parliament election continues. Only one of Wales' so-called red wall seats, the Vale of Clwyd, fell to the Welsh Conservatives, while Labour sources are also confident of unseating the former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood in Rhondda. Changes to ensure social distancing at venues means counting for all constituencies may not finish on Friday, which would see the process being adjourned until Saturday morning. Some regional counts also look set to be pushed back to Saturday. At the start of the election campaign, polling suggested Labour was facing its worst ever result and was at risk of winning as few as 22 of the Senedd's 60 seats, a loss of seven from 2016. After voting polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, party sources said retaining all of its seats in the Senedd remained 'a massive challenge'. But on Friday evening, confirmed results as well as indications from parties contesting seats across the country means Mark Drakeford's party is confident of ending up just short of an outright majority once again. Advertisement

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she hoped and expected that Boris Johnson would not block another independence referendum on the back of another strong showing from her party.

'When we get to that point we will take the action, introduce the legislation that would be necessary for an independence referendum, and if Boris Johnson wants to stop that he would have to go to court,' she told Channel 4 News.

'I hope and expect that wouldn't happen because actually Boris Johnson is not exempt from the rules of democracy.'

She added: 'If this was in almost any other democracy in the world it would be an absurd discussion.

'If people in Scotland vote for a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, no politician has got the right to stand in the way of that.'

The SNP has won the vast majority of the seats declared so far, including the key seat of Edinburgh Central, formerly held by Ruth Davidson.

Former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson overturned the Conservative majority of 810, taking 16,276 votes after record numbers of voters turned out in the Scottish capital.

Mr Robertson, who led the SNP at Westminster before losing his Moray seat at the 2017 general election, said: 'This result is an emphatic and an unparalleled victory for the SNP in Edinburgh Central.

'We have just won the seat of the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives and recorded the best ever SNP result.'

Ms Davidson has stood down from Holyrood and will take up a seat in the House of Lords.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour's Daniel Johnson won the first seat of the election for his party, holding Edinburgh Southern.

He won 20,760 votes to SNP candidate Catriona MacDonald's 16,738.

The Scottish Conservatives took 5,258 votes and the Scottish Liberal Democrats 2,189.

Liberal Democrat Alex Cole-Hamilton retained the Edinburgh Western seat with 25,578 votes, giving a majority of 9,885.

The SNP's Sarah Masson was in second place with 15,693 votes.

Turnout at all three Edinburgh constituencies counted on Friday was higher than at any other Scottish Parliament election.

#StarmerOut: Keir Starmer becomes subject of humiliating memes as fury builds over Labour's loss in Hartlepool by-election and faces more pain at the polls today

Labour leader Keir Starmer became a figure of ridicule this morning as he was subjected to an avalanche of memes urging him to stand down after party stronghold Hartlepool was won by the Tories.

As #StarmerOut began to gain traction on Twitter the 58-year-old was likened to a clown and suggested to be so weak he could be defeated by a feather.

Another teasing image mocked him up as Rick Moranis's bumbling character in film Honey I Shrunk The Kids, this time titled 'Honey I shrunk the Labour Party'.

And he was even photoshopped so he replaced Boris Johnson in the humiliating picture of him waving flags stuck on a zipline.

A more niche ribbing featured the The League of Gentlemen's Creme Brulee member Les McQueen looking deflated caption as if it was Sir Keir visiting Hartlepool.

It came hours after Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle took to Twitter on Thursday night to question his party's attempts to change its image.

Starmer was mocked up to look ridiculous in many of the memes slating the Labour leader

This meme put his head on a picture of Boris Johnson looking absurd stuck on a zipline

Another meme showed former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn laughing and drinking alcohol

One meme about Starmer showed a scene from the League of Gentlemen TV show

One picture posted online showed praise for Jeremy Corbyn spoiling a ballot paper

He said: 'Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well... or not?'

The comment seemed to be a reference to a leaked strategy document which suggested Labour must make 'use of the flag, veterans, dressing smartly' to win back voters in red wall seats in the party's former industrial heartlands.

Labour's new strategy was based on extensive focus groups conducted in places from Watford to Grimsby last September alongside UK polls. It was suggested displays of patriotism are needed to reinforce the idea the party has changed and to win back losses in the 2019 election.

Mr Russel-Moyle became the first Labour MP to publicly question Sir Keir and his strategy.

One meme of Sir Keir showed him in the Houses of Parliament made up to look like a clown

This image on Twitter made him look like he was too weak to beat a feather in the boxing ring

Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle has publicly mocked his party's election strategy

Labour are facing a disastrous Super Thursday in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer's bid to rebuild after the losses the party suffered in 2019

The result in Hartlepool Jill Mortimer, Conservative 15,529 (51.88 per cent of total vote, up 22.96 per cent on 2019) Paul Williams, Labour 8,589 (28.69 per cent, down 8.99 per cent) Sam Lee, Independent 2,904 (9.70 per cent) Claire Martin, Heritage 468 (1.56 per cent) John Prescott, Reform 368 (1.23 per cent) Rachel Featherstone, Green 358 (1.20 per cent) Andrew Hagon, Lib Dem 349 (1.17 per cent, down 2.97 per cent) Advertisement

The Brighton MP was an ally of previous leader Jeremy Corbyn before joining the shadow frontbench under Sir Keir.

He stepped down as the shadow minister for air quality and the natural environment last July.

His resignation came weeks after he apologised to author JK Rowling for writing an article where he accused her of 'using her own sexual assault as justification for discriminating' against trans people.

In 2018, he hit headlines after he was suspended from the Commons for picking up the ceremonial mace in protest at a Brexit vote being deferred.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle reacted furiously after the Government whip formally postponed the vote - because then-PM Theresa May was facing a humiliating defeat.

The mace is the symbol of the authority of the House and during sittings is placed on the table next to the despatch box in front of the Speaker.

In 2019, Russell-Moyle joined thirteen other Labour MPs on Westminster Bridge, next to the Houses of Parliament, in a protest against Brexit under the banner 'Love Socialism Hate Brexit'.

Hartlepool is expected to be the first major result announced after a raft of elections across the UK, with Boris Johnson hopeful of snatching the seat from Labour which has held the constituency since its inception in the 1970s.

Counting is now underway in the Hartlepool by-election as the Tories try to win the seat from Labour

The Labour Party has held Hartlepool since the constituency's inception back in the 1970s

The Tories were increasingly confident of victory in Hartlepool - and saw it as a result which would steady Mr Johnson's premiership after a tumultuous few weeks littered with various rows.

The defeat for Sir Keir piled the pressure on his leadership and reignite questions over whether he can reverse Labour's fortunes ahead of the 2024 general election.

Labour sources were downbeat about the party's chances in council elections in England as they said they expected some 'grim' results this morning.

Early declarations in some council seats in the north east of England suggested Labour was struggling.

Sir Keir was said to be preparing a brutal reshuffle of his shadow cabinet within days, with shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds and shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth tipped for demotion.

He was sounding out high-profile figures, including former work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper, about a possible return to the Labour frontbench.

Frontbenchers regarded as strong media performers such as shadow schools minister Wes Streeting are being tipped for promotion.

Sir Keir has said he will 'carry the can' if the local election results go badly, but he is expected to try to revitalise his top team amid concerns many of them have been under-performing.

Another being lined up for the sack is thought to be shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz, with a reshuffle pencilled in for the next week.

In a sign that Sir Keir was expecting a difficult set of results, a Labour source said: 'These were always going to be tough elections for Labour. Keir has always been honest about the mountain we must climb to rebuild trust to win the next general election.'
A 68-year-old Brisbane man has been hospitalised with serious injuries while another man is in custody after an alleged assault on the driveway of a Brisbane apartment complex.

The man was found on the driveway with serious facial and upper body injuries when police were called to the Kedron Brook Road address about 6:30am on Friday.

'He's been taken to the Royal Brisbane hospital for treatment,' duty officer Mick Ackery from Queensland Police told reporters on Friday.

Brisbane police were called to the scene of a violent dispute on Kedron Brook Road, Wilston at 6.30am on Friday

Police said a 39-year-old Mitchelton man, found at the scene, was assisting with inquiries.

It's believed a weapon was used in the alleged assault, and officers are trying to establish if the two men knew each other.

A 39-year-old man was located at the scene and is assisting police.

A crime scene is in place and witnesses are urged to come forward.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton says Andrew Laming would be criticised no matter what he did as the Queensland MP prepares to return to federal parliament.

Dr Laming returns to Canberra next week following a month of medical leave he took after multiple women alleged he had harassed them.

Before the break, Prime Minister Scott Morrison forced the Brisbane MP to apologise to two women and had him undertake a short online empathy course.

The Liberal National Party MP will resign at the next election while cabinet ministers have stopped short of calling for him to go now.

Andrew Laming returns to Canberra next week following a month of medical leave he took after multiple women alleged he had harassed them

Dr Laming's vote gives the coalition government a one-seat majority on the House of Representatives, but Mr Dutton says that's irrelevant.

'Well that's just not a question, he is going to be in parliament, he has been elected to represent the people of Bowman for three years,' Mr Dutton told reporters on Friday.

'You'd be critical if he wasn't going to attend parliament because that's what he was elected to do, and he's able to do that, and he'll be there on Monday.'

The defence minister also questioned a protest planned against Dr Laming at Cleveland in the MP's electorate of Bowman on Saturday.

Mr Laming accused Alix Russo (left) of misappropriating funds at a homeless charity, while Sheena Hewlett (right) said she was forced to contact police after claiming Mr Laming hid in the bushes and took photos of her in a public park

Mr Dutton said the people involved had 'affiliations' and were not 'community members'.

'People who criticise him would be well served as they have a look at his record and look at what he's been able to deliver for his local community,' he said.

'He's made mistakes and importantly owned up to them.

'If there is a politically-based rally against him then the organisers no doubt will be upfront about their affiliations and who they're representing, as opposed to the local community.'

Dr Laming last week revealed he had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder while on medical leave.

Ms White said the MP took a photo of her underwear as she was restocking a fridge in 2019

The MP said his condition explained some of his behaviour towards women.

Two female constituents have accused him of abusing them online. One said the abuse left her suicidal.

The backbencher has also been accused of taking a photograph of a woman at her workplace without her consent as she bent over with her underwear visible.

Police investigated the matter but no action was taken. Dr Laming denied any inappropriate behaviour.

Last week, another three women made fresh allegations about the MP's 'creepy' behaviour making them feel uncomfortable.

Dr Laming's office said he 'comprehensively rejected' those allegations.
A Utah man charged with assaulting cops during the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6 told a judge to 'come f*** with me' during his Zoom court hearing on Thursday.

Landon Kenneth Copeland, 33, invited his mother and several of his friends to view his court hearing before his repeated bizarre outbursts while a bewildered court administrator continually tried to mute his microphone, outlets reported.

Copeland's hearing comes as the FBI said they are still after the 'worst of the worst' four months in to the investigation and prosecution of alleged rioters. More than 440 people, including Copeland, have been charged with taking part in the violence.

'You people f**ked this up. You're going to give me a psych eval. I don't like 70 percent of my income going to the government. F**k all of you!' Copeland screamed at Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather.

Before his hearing even began, Copeland was seen shouting and interrupting while other accused rioters appeared before the judge, Daily Beast reported.

'I object!' Copeland screamed during another defendant's hearing when a defense lawyer criticized Donald Trump, according to NBC reporter Scott MacFarlane. The court then muted his microphone.

A trail of digital evidence led FBI investigators to a Utah man whom they believe assaulted police during the breach of the United States Capitol on January 6

Landon Kenneth Copeland, 33, was caught on video entering the Capitol grounds and stood at the front of a line of rioters shouting at officers

He then allegedly shoved another rioter into an officer which caused the cop to fall to the ground  resulting in officers equipped with riot gear to push forward against the crowd

Copeland then allegedly grabbed one of their riot shields and pushed against the police line, grabbing an officers jacket and shoving them

After cops pepper sprayed the crowd, including Copeland, he allegedly retaliated by throwing a metal fence at cops

When Copeland was interviewed by the FBI, he admitted to attending the Stop the Steal rally and confessed to fighting with police officers

When Copeland was unmuted, he interrupted the court again when a defense lawyer for another defendant blamed Fox News for the alleged radicalization of the rioters.

The lawyer had said his client had 'Foxitus' after watching six months of Fox News during the pandemic, Daily Beast reported.

Copeland began to yell that he was 'going to tell the truth' as he launched into another outburst.

During yet another dramatic haranguing, Copeland said: 'I'm a vet. You owe this to me. You've all f**ked this up. You're a robot to me. You can't come get me if I don't want you to. F**k all of you. F**k all of you.'

Copeland also told court clerks: 'You are evil.'

His attorney Ryan Stout tried to silence his client multiple times throughout his repeated outbursts and argued that his client was 'in crisis,' WUSA reported.

According to the outlet, Copeland also yelled at Judge Meriweather: 'You're going to give me what the (expletive) I want! You're going to do what the (expletive) I tell you to do! I'm in the middle of the desert! You can't (expletive) find me!'

The judge then put him in a separate Zoom room so that he could no longer interrupt the proceeding, Daily Beast reported.

'I wanna talk in open court you motherf**kers!' Copeland said.

At one point, Copeland asked: 'Is any of this negotiable? I used to be a free man until you locked me up.'

MacFarlane tweeted that Copeland kept unmuting himself after being muted by court officials and even hung up on the court three times during his hearing before reappearing.

At some point, the court then took an hour-long break so court officials could discuss how to proceed through Copeland's incessant interruptions, Daily Beast reported.

After Copeland's ranting, the judge ordered him to receive a mental health evaluation before continuing his hearing on May 18, WUSA reported.

Copeland had said during the hearing that he had been shot while serving in the military in Iraq and prosecutors acknowledged that he has previously said he suffered from PTSD, according to Daily Beast.

'In my conversations with him, I don't think he's being intentionally belligerent. I don't think he's competent to proceed right now,' his lawyer added.

Copeland has been charged with assaulting police officers, obstruction of law enforcement, knowingly entering restricted buildings or grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

According to his criminal complaint, Copeland was caught on video entering the Capitol grounds and stood at the front of a line of rioters shouting at officers.

He then allegedly shoved another rioter into an officer which caused the cop to fall to the ground  resulting in officers equipped with riot gear to push forward against the crowd.

Pro-Trump protesters gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, breaking windows and clashing with police officers

Violent rioters, loyal to then-President Donald Trump, storm the Capitol in Washington

Trump supporters face off with police at the Capitol Building following the 'Stop The Steal' rally where they assembled to protest the 2020 election results

Supporters of President Trump who were trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election clash with police as the crowd storms the US Capitol

The largest number of people charged in relation to the deadly riot come from Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida, in that order

Copeland then allegedly grabbed one of their riot shields and pushed against the police line, grabbing an officer's jacket and shoving them.

In another video that was posted to Instagram, Copeland and other rioters were allegedly seen grabbing a metal fence police had put up as a barricade.

Cops then used pepper spray against the crowd, including Copeland, who allegedly retaliated by throwing the fence at cops.

Copeland admitted to 'getting into a scuffle' with police to an acquaintance of his who was interviewed by the FBI on February 11.

He was arrested by federal agents on April 29 and had been granted a pre-trial release which may now be in jeopardy after his outbursts.

Copeland is the fifth man from Utah to be arrested

When Copeland was interviewed by the FBI, he admitted to attending the Stop the Steal rally and confessed to fighting with police officers.

'According to Copeland, he felt that police officers were trying to 'penetrate the line' of the protesters and 'steal' individual members of the crowd,' the complaint reads.

Copeland claimed to the FBI that he did not enter the Capitol building.

NBC News noted that the investigation into the Capitol rioters is one of the largest criminal investigations in American history and continues to grow.

'We're not done rounding up the worst of the worst. We're not slowing down,' one law enforcement official told the outlet.

FBI officials have not identified who planted two pipe bombs at the headquarters for both the Republican and Democrat national parties on the night before the riot.

The outlet reported that more than 440 people have been charged with taking part in the deadly riot. Prosecutors have started to offer plea deals to some of them.

People who have been charged come from all but six states so far. Those states are Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming.

The largest number of people charged in relation to the deadly riot come from Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida, in that order. Copeland is the fifth person to be arrested from Utah, according to KUTV.

According to NBC News, a total of 44 of those arrested, or 10 percent, are military veterans like Copeland.

Some women have been arrested in relation to the deadly riots but men outnumber women among those arrested by 7 to 1, the outlet noted.

The average age of those who have been arrested is 39, according to the Program on Extremism at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Nearly 90 percent of the alleged Capitol rioters were arrested in part because of photos and videos they posted to their own social media accounts, NBC News reported.

Copeland himself made comments on Facebook as recently as April 28 - after he had been granted his pre-trial release - in which he allegedly urged others to return to the Capitol with guns. That post was read during his hearing on Thursday.

'So that everyone knows I go to see the FBI and a judge tomorrow,' Copeland wrote, according to Daily Beast.

'I guess peacefully protesting at the Capitol is now illegal and they are trying to hunt us all down to try and teach us a lesson.'

He continued: 'Unfortunately, only one option remains when we return. We bring guns and take the Capitol building without intention of being peaceful. This ends with the government bombing their own people. I had hopes it wouldn't.'
A new private school will allow students to decide what and when they learn, doing away with classrooms, timetables, and sirens.

The Studio School in Perth, set up by All Saints' College, will cater students from Years 10 to 12 - and cost $13,000 a year.

The new college said it hopes to offer a personalised model of education and introduce students to 'the real world'.

New private school run by All Saints College (pictured) will allow students to decide what and when they learn

Students will not have a structured day, but will work in a co-working space with other students and a teacher.

Teachers will also be called 'teacher-mentors', All Saint's College head of teaching Esther Hill told 6PR.

'A day would look essentially like stepping into a co-working space where there are a number of students and mentor teachers who are supporting the work of those students,' she said.

Poll THIS SCHOOL MODEL WILL WORK AGREE DISAGREE THIS SCHOOL MODEL WILL WORK AGREE 16 votes

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'You might have a meeting with a mentor that you've arranged off-site or you might have a meeting with a mentor that's coming into the studio school space.

'It's really varied and flexible.'

Ms Hill said students would work with an industry partner on projects that align with their interests, and would have the option of studying for the ATAR as well.

'Students are capable, they've got passions they've got interests,' she said.

'It's really focused on those students who are independent, confident, passionate about a particular area and wanting to do school in a really different kind of way.'

Describing the school as 'boutique', Ms Hill said the first intake would be 40 students with an expectation to grow to 120.
A bizarre video has emerged of a shirtless man storming a laundromat and repeatedly throwing his possessions into a washing machine.

Police were called to a Gold Coast laundromat in Pimpama Shopping Centre just after 8pm on Thursday after reports of a stolen car being driven into a window.

Officers on the scene were told a male entered the adjacent laundromat and was acting suspiciously.

The man is seen removing his clothes and shoes and throwing them into a washing machine

In the video, the man removes his clothes and shoes before throwing the items into a washing machine and slamming the doors.

He then sits on the laundromat floor to put his shoes and socks back on, but remains shirtless, wearing only a pair of brown shorts.

Security guard Wayne Heneker told Daily Mail Australia he was on his regular patrol at the shopping centre when he noticed a man inside the laundromat.

'He was rolling around on the ground for about 20 minutes', Mr Heneker said, adding the man appeared to be drunk.

'Then he took off on foot and ran down the back of the centre where the service trucks enter and then straight down the train line.'

Police arrived at the Pimpama Shopping Centre just after 8pm on Thursday following reports a stolen car had been driven into a window

Mr Heneker said the shopping centre was quickly becoming a hotspot for young people to congregate in large numbers at night.

'We've been experiencing some hooning issues in the area, young people with nice cars in crowds of almost 100 people,' he said.

Officers found the man 20 minutes later as he entered the drive through of a fast food outlet.

The 30-year-old man from Oxenford was charged with one count of drug driving and will appear in court next month.
President Joe Biden's proclamation of the annual National Day of Prayer failed to include the word 'God', an omission that is drawing criticism from some religious leaders.

Biden, a devout Catholic, typically ends his public remarks with the phrase 'May God bless you all, and God protect our troops' - but his proclamation for Thursday's Day of Prayer contained no such acknowledgement of a higher power.

'Prayer has nourished countless souls and powered moral movements  including essential fights against racial injustice, child labor, and infringement on the rights of disabled Americans,' the proclamation read in part.

'Let us find in our prayers, however they are delivered, the determination to overcome adversity, rise above our differences, and come together as one Nation to meet this moment in history,' it continued.

President Joe Biden's proclamation of the annual National Day of Prayer failed to include the word 'God', an omission that is drawing criticism from some religious leaders

The omission of God drew critical headlines in the Christian press, and Franklin Graham, the evangelical Christian preacher, spoke out to express disappointment.

'This is the National Day of Prayer. Of course we need to call on God, not just some generic gods, or some power in the air, but on God himself the creator,' Graham told Fox News.

'There's no one else to pray to except to God,' he added.

Graham speculated that the proclamation might have been written by a staffer and not even reviewed by Biden, saying 'I don't think Joe Biden would approve that one.'

'Omitting God is a dangerous thing. He is who we as individuals and as a nation need to call on for help,' Graham wrote in a Facebook post. 'Prayers to anyone or anything else are to no avail.'

Franklin Graham, the evangelical preacher, spoke out to express disappointment

The National Day of Prayer, observed on the second Thursday of May each year, is a tradition dating back to the founding of the country, and was codified in its current form in a 1952 law.

The tradition welcomes people of all faiths to participate by praying for the country's leaders and people, and give thanks for freedoms and blessings.

By law, the president is required to issue a proclamation declaring the observance, and prior proclamations from Barack Obama and Donald Trump contained multiple references to God.

Trump's invocation of God in the proclamations increased over the course of his term, with five mentions in 2017 and 2018, seven in 2019, and a staggering 12 in 2020.

All of Obama's proclamations mentioned God at least once, and some as many as three times.
A former reality TV star who became addicted to drugs and was busted with a vile collection of child pornography containing material of the 'utmost depravity' has been jailed.

Matt Goyder, 30, was sentenced to two years jail in the District Court of Western Australia over his possession of 4118 images and videos showing the sexual abuse of children and babies.

WA District Court Judge Karen Shepherd said the material Goyder possessed showed 'high levels of perversion and debauchery'.

Convicted pedophile Matt Goyder shot to fame in 2016 after finding love with ex-Zoo Weekly model April Vaughan on the Channel 9 show. He spiralled when it ended, sliding into a haze of meth and steroids before suffering a heart attack and brain injury - then being caught trying to distribute child sexual abuse material of 'the utmost depravity'

Matt Goyder spent 13 months in a Perth rehabilitation program

Judge Shepherd paused several times while reading out the abuse inflicted on the children, one of whom she believed to be younger than six months, The West Australian reported.

The WA District Court heard most of the images involved 'penetrative activity between a child and another child or an adult'.

Goyder sat covering his face with his hands during proceedings.

He was arrested in February 2020 after being caught in a police sting when he tried to send videos to an undercover officer from the WA Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team using WhatsApp.

Officers raided the property where Goyder was staying in East Perth and seized several mobile phones and electronic devices.

Goyder, a helicopter pilot, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing the material in May 2020.

The court heard grim details of Goyder's dramatic decline since appearing on Channel 9's Farmer Wants a Wife in 2016.

He was apparently dumped by his 'wife' Zoo model April Vaughan before the show finale and turned to methamphetamine to cope, the court was told.

Former reality television show contestant Matt Goyder confessed to possessing and distributing child sex abuse material online

He became a Lifeline ambassador after he spoke out about his battles with anxiety, depression and PTSD.

But in 2019 Goyder overdosed on meth and also took steroids, which led to a cardiac arrest.

He was rushed to hospital but suffered a hypoxic brain injury after being deprived of oxygen.

The court heard instead of abstaining, Goyder returned to drug-taking which fuelled his increasing risk-taking behaviour.

Judge Shepherd said the sentence she handed down took into account Goyder's early guilty plea, his remorse and his mental health issues, the fact he had no criminal record and his efforts with rehabilitation.

He spent 13 months at Shalom House, a faith-based facility in Perth.

After he faced the Perth Magistrates Court in 2020, a trembling Goyder told reporters: 'I am seeking help to address my issues, including my substance abuse.'
A pool builder spared jail for raping a sleepy woman who mistakenly thought he was her casual lover has been sent to prison by appeal court judges.

Matthew Patrick Fisher, now 25, was sentenced in November 2020 to a three-year community corrections order after being found guilty of rape in January 2018.

The NSW District Court jury was unable to reach a verdict on a second count and the Director of Public Prosecutions later directed there be no further proceedings in respect to that charge.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday dismissed Fisher's conviction appeal, and in a majority decision, allowed a crown appeal against the 'manifestly inadequate' sentence.

A pool builder spared jail for raping a sleepy woman who mistakenly thought he was her casual lover has been sent to prison by appeal court judges (stock image)

Instead, he was jailed for five years with a non-parole period of three years to date from Friday.

'The sentence imposed must indicate to the community at large the seriousness of sexual assault on a sleeping woman who is a stranger to her assailant,' said Justice Christine Adamson.

'Excessive use of alcohol by a sexual offender will not mitigate the objective seriousness of non-consensual sexual intercourse against a vulnerable complainant.

'The consequences for the complainant were devastating and enduring.'

The woman, who had been in an 'on-again off-again' intimate relationship with a man, had gone back to his place with a group of people celebrating his birthday.

She testified that after going to sleep in his bed about 3am, she was woken up when the doona was pulled off her and a man, whom she assumed was her lover, performed oral sex on her and then they had intercourse.

Fisher told the jury he had gone into the dark bedroom feeling sick, saw someone was under the blanket, got on the bed himself and went to sleep on top of the covers.

He claimed he was woken by the other person touching him sexually, saying 'he did not know who the person was and it did not cross his mind to find out'.

They kissed and he gave her oral sex before they had intercourse for around 20 minutes.

The woman only realised the man was not her casual partner when he left the dark room and she gauged his height was different (stock image)

The Crown contended Fisher did nothing to identify himself to the complainant, before or during either act of intercourse.

She consented to those acts under the mistaken impression that she was having sex with her lover and Fisher knew she was not consenting, having consciously deceived her by entering the bedroom and failing to announce himself.

It was only when he was leaving the bedroom that she could gauge his height and realised he was not her lover, whom she immediately texted.

Fisher's barrister unsuccessfully argued the guilty verdict was irrational and inconsistent with the failure to agree on the second count.

But the appeal court said the jury was persuaded Fisher had no reasonable grounds for believing the woman consented when he carried out the first act.

But some jurors may not have been have persuaded that, by the time of the conduct which constituted the second count, he had no such grounds, given her apparently positive response to the oral intercourse.

While Justice Elizabeth Fullerton agreed with Justice Adamson in allowing the sentence appeal, Justice Paul Brereton found while the penalty was lenient and merciful, it was not so manifestly inadequate that it was 'plainly unjust'.
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The result in Hartlepool Jill Mortimer, Conservative 15,529 (51.88 per cent of total vote, up 22.96 per cent on 2019) Paul Williams, Labour 8,589 (28.69 per cent, down 8.99 per cent) Sam Lee, Independent 2,904 (9.70 per cent) Claire Martin, Heritage 468 (1.56 per cent) John Prescott, Reform 368 (1.23 per cent) Rachel Featherstone, Green 358 (1.20 per cent) Andrew Hagon, Lib Dem 349 (1.17 per cent, down 2.97 per cent) Advertisement

Keir Starmer is said to be planning a move out of London as a senior frontbencher quit with a withering attack on the 'London-based bourgeoisie' who have taken over the party 'with the support of brigades of woke social media warriors'.

Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, quit as a shadow defence minister in the wake of Labour's disastrous election meltdown that saw it surrender Hartlepool to the Conservatives.

It came as Mr Starmer insisted he 'takes responsibility' and is 'bitterly disappointed', a sources told the Guardian he was planning to move the party from the capital.

A clearly rattled Labour leader said the party had been 'talking to ourselves' rather than voters - insisting he is ready to do 'whatever it takes' to 'fix' the problems.

The humble comments in a TV clip came as Sir Keir finally surfaced nine hours after the extraordinary by-election defeat in Hartlepool kicked off a disastrous day of results.

He is now facing a battle for the party's soul as Corbynites demand a lurch to the Left - and centrists complain he has nothing to say to ordinary people.

Stepping down tonight, Mr Mahmood, 59, who has been a Labour MP for 20 years, said Labour must recognise it is seen as 'a party that has lost its way' in places that were once 'unfailingly loyal'.

'It is only by engagement on a local level, meeting eye to eye with voters and hearing their concerns, that we will fix that,' he said,.

'I will be doing so not from the Labour front bench, but walking the streets of my constituency as a backbencher and talking face to face with the people I have the honour to serve. '

He added: 'The election of a Conservative MP in Hartlepool for the first time in the constituency's modern history is yet another wake-up call for my party.

'Peter Mandelson once enjoyed a 17,500 majority here. Now the Tories are deep into what was once safe Labour territory - the industrial heartlands of the North - with a 7,000 majority of their own.'

Mr Johnson hailed an extraordinary Tory surge as he visited Hartlepool after taking the rock-solid Labour seat for the first time in a by-election.

Flanked by his new MP Jill Mortimer, a jubilant PM said voters believe he can 'deliver' following the latest devastating hammer blow to the Red Wall.

Council results are also looking like a catastrophe for Labour, with a slew of losses and Conservatives taking control in former strongholds such as Northumberland, Nuneaton and Dudley.

As pressure mounts on Sir Keir, Lord Mandelson warned that returning to Socialist 'la la land' will not help.

The ex-Cabinet minister said Jeremy Corbyn was 'still casting a very dark cloud over Labour', adding: 'He still gets them going on the doorstep.'

And Sir Keir gave little sign he is about to cave in to the hard-Left demands despite offering a grovelling admission of failure.

Instead he is believed to be preparing a radical reshuffle of his shadow cabinet within days as he desperately tries to restore links with working class voters.

Stepping down tonight, Mr Mahmood, 59, who has been a Labour MP for 20 years, said Labour must recognise it is seen as 'a party that has lost its way' in places that were once 'unfailingly loyal'.

Boris Johnson's Conservative Party sweeps aside Labour in Hartlepool as the Tories take seat from Labour for first time since 1974 creation

Sir Keir Starmer stayed tight lipped as he left his London home after the Conservatives piled up a majority of nearly 7,000 in an extraordinary result - overturning the Opposition's previous margin of 3,500

Flanked by his new MP Jill Mortimer (right) in Hartlepool, Boris Johnson said voters believe he can 'deliver' following the latest devastating hammer blow to the Red Wall

Boris Johnson helped with fixing a leak pipe on his post-election visit to Coventry this afternoon, as he celebrates a stunning set of Super Thursday results

The victory by 15,529 to 8,589 votes in Hartlepool shows that Boris Johnson's realignment of the British political landscape is continuing, with more of the so-called Red Wall collapsing

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Jill Mortimer (pictured after being declared the victor) will now serve as the constituency's MP in Westminster after she trounced Labour contender Paul Williams

Mother who brought up three children while running B&B becomes Hartlepool's first female and Tory MP The Conservative candidate who has won a historic victory in the Labour 'Red Wall' seat of Hartlepool is a mother who juggled three children while running a B&B. And she admits that she will now have to find a home in the town, as she currently resides about a 40-minute drive away in Thirsk. Jill Mortimer, a Tory councillor, describes herself as an 'accidental' cattle farmer and mature law graduate. Ms Mortimer, who is in her mid-fifties, said she fell into agriculture about 20 years ago to try to earn some money to keep her family. But in a huge career change she decided to read law at Teesside University, where she worked alongside two of her three children, and became a barrister. She has also ran a bed and breakfast and has been a landowner up in her rural home land of North Yorkshire. Yet Mrs Mortimer used to live for a number of years in the Cayman Islands. It emerged during campaigning for the Hartlepool by-election seat the mother of three had lived there. Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner tried to attack her along these lines, painting her as having 'links to tax havens'. But she was left red-faced when Conservative Party chairman Amanda Milling explained the reason she was in the tropical islands. Ms Rayner sent a letter to Ms Milling saying 'it is being reported that your candidate... spent time living in a tax haven where her former husband worked as a banker'. She said: 'I am sure I do not need to remind you that businesses that set up in places like the Cayman Islands tend to have a very specific motivation for doing so: namely, to avoid paying their fair share of taxes that contribute to running the public services we all rely on in this country.' But Sir Keir Starmer's deputy was humiliated when Ms Milling replied Ms Mortimer 'was in Cayman with her family because her then husband was a REGULATOR, working on counter-fraud, anti-corruption, and anti-terrorist financing'. Ms Milling accused Ms Rayner of making 'an eye popping error' as she labelled it a 'slur'. Mrs Mortimer has previously admitted she is a bit of a busy-body. She told Teesside Live earlier this year: 'Being a councillor (for Hambleton in North Yorkshire) has been fantastic. 'I'm a bit of a busy-body - the type of person who enjoys sorting things out for everyone else and I'm very persistent. 'I want to use that experience to be a champion for the people of Hartlepool. I want to bring greater investment, jobs, apprenticeships and regeneration to the town.' But she came under fire from Labour after admitting she hadn't 'spent a lot of time' in the constituency. She admitted she did not know much about Liberty Steel and has had limited interaction with the press since. Elsewhere Mrs Mortimer was the Tory candidate for Leeds East at the 2019 election but lost to Labour's Richard Burgon. The first ever Conservative MP for Hartlepool called her by-election victory today a 'truly historic result'. Giving a victory speech after the result, she said: 'I am incredibly proud of the campaign my team and I have run in Hartlepool - it is based on local issues of real concern to the community here, and I would like to thank all of the people of this great town who have responded so positively to it. 'I'm also immensely proud to be the first Conservative MP in Hartlepool for 57 years. Not only that, I am the first woman ever to be elected as MP for this town. 'It is a truly historic result and a momentous day. Labour have taken people in Hartlepool for granted for too long. 'I heard this time and time again on the doorstep and people have had enough and now, through this result, the people have spoken and have made it clear it is time for change.' Advertisement

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds and shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth tipped for the axe.

He is sounding out high-profile figures including former work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper about a possible return to the frontbench.

'I take full responsibility for the results, and I will take full responsibility for fixing things,' Sir Keir said.

'We have changed as a party, but we haven't set out a strong enough case to the country.

'Very often we've been talking to ourselves instead of to the country and we've lost the trust of working people, particularly in places like Hartlepool.

'I intend to do whatever is necessary to fix that.'

Challenged on whether that meant moving to the Left or Right, Sir Keir flannelled about stopping 'quarreling amongst ourselves'.

'This is not a question of left or right. It is a question of whether we are facing the country,' he said.

'We have changed as a party but we've not made a strong enough case to the country, we've lost that connection, that trust, and I intend to rebuild that and do whatever is necessary to rebuild that trust.'

Ms Mortimer said her victory - with a 7,000 majority after overturning the Opposition's previous margin of 3,500 - showed that 'Labour have taken the people of Hartlepool for granted for too long'. 'People have had enough,' she added in a speech at the count.

The victory by 15,529 to 8,589 votes shows that Mr Johnson's realignment of the British political landscape is continuing, with more of the so-called Red Wall collapsing. The 16 per cent swing is believed to be the biggest to a governing party in a by-election since the Second World War.

It heaps pressure on Sir Keir amid a growing revolt from hard-Left activists.

The party is now bracing for further bad news as the votes are counted in England's council and mayoral battles following 'Super Thursday' elections.

Questions are being asked over the choice of a Remainer former MP as the Labour candidate in Brexit-voting Hartlepool.

As brutal recriminations began, Corbyn allies Diane Abbott and John McDonnell were among those demanding a more left-wing approach.

Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle tweeted: 'Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well... or not?'

Corbynite MP Richard Burgon said: 'We are going backwards in areas we need to be winning. Labour's leadership needs to urgently change direction.'

Conservative Ben Houchen was re-elected as Tees Valley Mayor with a whopping 73 per cent of the vote, up from 40 per cent in the 2017 election, while Labour leaders in Sheffield, Oldham and Harlow were among 120 of its councillors in England to lose seats so far. In contrast, the Tories gained 95 seats and the Lib Dems gained five.

Labour group leaders lost their seats in Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire - where Labour was hoping a to make gains, but ended up ceding ground.

The Tories won all nine of the seats being contested in Redditch, the first council result of the night, gaining seven from Labour. They took control of Nuneaton & Bedworth from Labour after winning 13 of the first 14 seats declared. The Conservatives also seized control of Harlow Council from Labour, and gained a seat to take overall control in Northumberland - as well as taking charge in Dudley.

However, despite the massive gains in Red Wall areas there were a few setbacks for Mr Johnson. The Tories lost control of Remain-voting Cambridgeshire after shipping eight seats - five to the Lib Dems, two to Labour and one to an independent.

The mayoral contest in the West Mids is looking miserable for Labour, while sitting MP Tracy Brabin securing the West Yorkshire mayor job could leave Sir Keir facing another challenging by-election in Batley & Spen.

Mr Johnson - who also viewed a large inflatable effigy of himself near the count - said in 2019 voters wanted him to 'get Brexit done' and 'we delivered on that'.

Now people were giving him a mandate to 'get on with delivering with everything else'.

'It's a mandate for us to continue to deliver, not just for the people of Hartlepool and the fantastic people of the north east, but for the whole of the country,' the premier said.

'If there is a lesson out of this whole election campaign across the whole of the UK is that the public want us to get on with focusing on their needs and their priorities, coming through the pandemic and making sure we build back better.'

He insisted the UK was reaping the benefits of having pushed through the departure from the EU.

Sir Keir holed up in his Westminster office with close aides as he considered his next move after the election pasting

Jill Mortimer pulled off a stunning victory over Paul Williams in Hartlepool (picture together at the count)

Ms Mortimer's majority of 6,940 was a huge turnaround from the 3,500 margin that Labour's former MP Mike Hill won by in 2019

'This a a place that voted for Brexit. We got Brexit done and then we are able to do other things thanks to that,' he said.

'It's thanks to Brexit that we have been able to go ahead with the freeport in the whole of Teesside, do things like take back control of our borders.

'We are able to deal with things like the European Super League and, of course, we are able to do things a bit differently when it comes to the vaccine rollout that has been so important and enabled (us) to deliver that faster than other European countries.'

Stopping off at Severn Trent Academy in Coventry on his way to Hartlepool this afternoon, the PM said: 'I know that the results have been coming in since this morning and there's clearly a lot more to go, and it's early days, but it's a very encouraging set of results so far.

'I think that's really because we have been focusing, as a Government, on our priorities, the people's priorities, and bouncing back from the pandemic as much as we can and getting through it.

'It's been very nice to be here at Severn Trent talking to them about the 500 Kickstarters they're employing, which is I think what everybody wants to see as we go through towards the end of the roadmap  really making sure that we're getting people into work, getting the economy bouncing back very, very strongly in a way that I know it will.

'Anyway, I'll be saying a bit more later on in Hartlepool.'

The Conservatives were increasing bullish about Hartlepool as they got the vote out yesterday, despite trying to manage expectations publicly by claiming it was 'looking tough'.

Meanwhile glum Labour activists had complained they were suffering from 'Long Corbyn' and on track for disaster.

Pensions Minister Guy Opperman predicted on Twitter shortly after the polls closed that Jill Mortimer would win the seat for the Conservatives.

Amazingly, a shock poll by Survation earlier this week that showed the Tories 17 points ahead underplayed the final margin.

In interviews this morning, Conservative Party chair Amanda Milling credited Mr Johnson's personal appeal. 'He is popular but he has also delivered... we made the promise at the general election that we would get Brexit done. That is very much what we did last year.'

As Labour plunged immediately into a bitter civil war, former leader Jeremy Corbyn said Sir Keir needed a 'bolder vision'.

'Tory gains are bad news for jobs, the environment & public services for the many not the few,' he tweeted.

'With millions not voting, these results show a loss of hope. We must offer a bolder vision to transform people's lives & give them the confidence to strive for a more equal world.'

The Corbynite grassroots Momentum group said the result was a 'disaster' and warned Sir Keir could soon be 'out of a job'.

Co-chair Andrew Scattergood said: 'A transformative socialist message has won in Hartlepool before, and it would have won again.

'Starmer's strategy of isolating the left and replacing meaningful policy with empty buzzwords has comprehensively failed.

'If he doesn't change direction, not only will he be out of a job  but the Labour Party may be out of government forever.'

Diane Abbott, who was shadow home secretary during the Corbyn era, tweeted: 'Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool.

'Not possible to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership. Keir Starmer must think again about his strategy.'

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Keir's got to be given his chance and I've said that all the way along.

'I'm not going to be one of those people treating (him) the way they treated Jeremy (Corbyn)  always challenging him, coups and all the rest.

'Keir now needs to sit down and think through what happened in this campaign, and what I've been saying to him is you need to demonstrate to people the sort of society you want to create, the policy programme that will achieve that society, and you need to get back to that real grassroots campaign.

'We must never again send our candidates into an election campaign almost naked, without a policy programme, without a clear view on what sort of society you want to create.

'That's the sort of thing that we need now.'

Lord Peter Mandelson, a former Labour MP for Hartlepool, said he felt 'fairly gutted' at the result.

'I feel sad, disappointment above all, for the excellent campaign workers and party staff and volunteers and our excellent candidate, Paul Williams, who fought such a strong campaign,' he said.

He added: 'I also feel, I have to say, a mild fury, that the last 10 years of what we have been doing in the Labour Party nationally and locally has brought us to this result, because that is above all fundamentally an explanation of what's happened today.'

Lord Mandelson went on: 'What I would say is this, and remind the party we have not won a general election in 16 years.

'We have lost the last four, with 2019 a catastrophe  the last 11 general elections read: lose, lose, lose, lose, Blair, Blair, Blair, lose, lose, lose, lose.

'We need for once in this party to learn the lessons of those victories as well as those defeats, and I hope very much that when Keir and his colleagues in the shadow cabinet say this means that we have got to change direction that they actually mean it.'

Lord Mandelson insisted that Brexit had not been raised with him once on the doorstep.

'The one thing they did raise with me however is Jeremy Corbyn  he is still casting a very dark cloud over Labour. Labour voters are not letting this off lightly, he still gets them going on the doorstep,' he said.

'One person said to me 'Sort yourselves out, sort yourselves out. You picked the wrong brother and you ended up with Corbyn so that's goodbye to you. When you've sorted yourselves out, we'll look at you again'.

Another former Cabinet minister, Lord Adonis, gave an even more damning verdict.

'I supported Keir to replace Jeremy. There was no one else credible and retrieving the leadership from the hands of the Marxist far-left was the first step towards electability,' he wrote in a blog.

'I hoped that Keir, an effective ex-public prosecutor, might have sufficient leadership capacity and modernising social democratic vision to reshape Labour.

'Unfortunately, he turns out to be a transitional figure  a nice man and a good human rights lawyer, but without political skills or antennae at the highest level.'

Shadow minister Steve Reed was sent out to shore up Sir Keir's position, insisting the party was getting a better reception on doorsteps.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast he said: 'We're going to see a lot more results throughout today and Saturday and over the weekend, from elections right across the country, so we'll have a clearer picture at the end of that period, and I suspect the results are going to be patchy.

The scale of the changes in key areas was laid bare in charts produced by Election Maps UK

Former No10 chief Dominic Cummings launched an extraordinary Twitter diatribe against both Sir Keir and his former boss Mr Johnson

A jubilant Boris Johnson (pictured on a stop at Severn Trent Academy in Coventry on the way to Hartlepool) said he would keep fighting for the 'people's priorities' after he dealt another devastating hammer blow to the Red Wall

Hartlepool residents give their verdict on by-election result Residents of Hartlepool were quick to give their views after hearing of Jill Mortimer's historic by-election win on Friday. One local said Labour would have to 'climb to the moon and back' to recoup what has been lost while others spoke of disillusionment with the party. Sheena Keers, 43, who works in the care sector, said: 'I am really happy with this result. 'Things need to change in Hartlepool. I feel very let down by the Labour Party. 'I am happy the Conservatives got in because we need more for this town. 'At the moment it's just going further and further down hill. Under the Conservatives, more money will be pumped into the town. Residents of Hartlepool were quick to give their views after hearing of Jill Mortimer's historic by-election win on Friday. Sheena Keers, 43, who works in the care sector, said: 'I am really happy with this result' 'It's also great that MP Jill Mortimer is the first woman MP. I think it's a really positive thing, but we will just have to see. 'There's nothing Labour can do to turn this round now. Everything has to change.' She added that she does not like Keir Starmer and said Boris Johnson 'made the effort' to visit the town in the run-up to the by-election. 'I love Boris. He's had a massive effect on the voting up here,' she added. But Hartlepool pensioner Elizabeth Lyth, 76, a retired primary school teacher, said she was 'appalled' by the result. 'Historically the Conservatives have done nothing for the North East,' she said. Hartlepool pensioner Elizabeth Lyth, 76, a retired primary school teacher, said she was 'appalled' by the result 'Yesterday a 90-year-old neighbour of mine had a fall in his garden and he was left on the concrete for three hours before an ambulance arrived. 'I am not blaming the ambulance service at all. 'This Conservative government has been in power for 11 years and they have done nothing to improve the situation. 'I think people in Hartlepool have abandoned the Labour Party because they are not thinking about it from a moral view point. 'These days people are much more affluent than they were. 'They don't believe the issues impact them. I think there's an element of 'I'm all right Jack' and that's why they've voted Conservative.' She added that she didn't think Labour had the 'right candidate' and said the result had a 'lot to do with Brexit'. Liam Carr, 29, works in a shoe repair shop in Hartlepool town centre Liam Carr, 29, works in a shoe repair shop in Hartlepool town centre. He said: 'Everyone saw this result coming. 'I agree with Labour's policies but I don't have confidence in them to follow through. 'I don't think anyone knows how it will pan out with the Conservatives, we'll just have to see what happens. 'I'm not sure what Labour can possibly to do turn things round. It will be many years before that happens. 'I didn't vote but I actually think having the Conservatives in power will work out for the best. 'There needs to be some kind of change in this town. 'It's hard in the North East. Everyone knows that, and it's only going to get harder.' He added: 'I think Brexit had a role in all this. The Brexit Party did very well in Hartlepool. 'Everyone supported it up here, and now they are supporting the Conservatives instead.' Philip Spence, 67, who worked as a cooked meat butcher before he retired, voted for the Monster Raving Loony Party. Philip Spence, 67, who worked as a cooked meat butcher before he retired, voted for the Monster Raving Loony Party He said: 'I think the result is absolutely shocking. The Tories closed the Sure Start centres down. 'I think they have something against the working man. 'People would say my vote was a wasted vote because the MRLP were never going to get in but we all have the right to a democratic vote. 'I think one of the reasons the Conservatives have got in is because of support for the Brexit Party. 'When that collapsed people started voting Tory instead. 'I have always voted Labour in the past but I have not voted for them this time as they have lost their direction. 'At one time they were all for the working man. Now all the main parties treat it as a job and aim to make as much money as possible.' 'I don't think anyone cares anymore. 'I was born in the 1950s and everyone cared back then. 'Keir Starmer hasn't been given much of a chance yet but I don't think he's concentrating on the issues that matter. 'The main issue up here is unemployment. 'My grandson is 21 and it's taken him three years to get a job. 'Before this election Labour had a mountain to climb. Now they will have to climb to the moon and back to recoup what they have lost.' Mr Spence's wife Susan, 58, added: 'The Conservative win was a foregone conclusion. Mr Spence's wife Susan, 58, added: 'The Conservative win was a foregone conclusion 'I'm not very happy about it at all. I would prefer someone who lives in the town. 'The focus is all on the Marina area and there are other places that need attention. 'We lived on Rodney Street in Hartlepool for 32-years but we had to move out because of drug addicts. 'I feel very let down by Labour. They have ruined the town. They became lazy and didn't work hard enough. 'I don't think there is anything they can do to turn it round now. People have become disillusioned with them.' Advertisement

'Certainly from my door-knocking  places like Sheffield, Nottingham, Bristol, Milton Keynes, Hertfordshire  the reaction on the doorstep to me as a Labour campaigner has been a lot warmer than it has been in recent years, but that isn't enough if it's not translating into votes.

'So I think people understand the leader has changed, they don't understand the party has changed, because we haven't yet done enough to prove that.'

Meanwhile, former No10 chief Dominic Cummings launched an extraordinary Twitter diatribe against both Sir Keir and his former boss Mr Johnson.

In a brutal assessment, he wrote: 'KS is a beta-lawyer-gamma-politician, like ~all in SW1 he obsesses on Media Reality not Actual Reality, he's played the lobby game (badly) for a year WITHOUT A MESSAGE TO THE COUNTRY, now the pundits will a/ savage him, b/ tell him he needs to focus on them more, more exclusives!'

He added: 'A measure of how bad KS is: until I googled yesterday I didn't know who Shadow CHX is & when I looked at photo I had 0 recognition, she never touched my consciousness in a year'

Mr Cummings also took aim at the current No10 operation - with whom he has been engaged in a bitter war of words.

'We have a No10 & Opposition who see their job as Media Entertainment Service & neither knows how to be this better than TB/Mandy. Neither will try to be a government,' he wrote.

In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon faces a nervous wait to find out if the SNP has won a Holyrood majority - seen as crucial to her hopes of forcing a second independence referendum.

The coronavirus pandemic resulted in last year's elections being delayed by 12 months.

That means that two years' worth of polls took place across the UK yesterday, making for a bumper crop of results.

Voters have had their say on the make-up of English councils, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd as well as in a wave of mayoral contests, including in London.

A Labour source said this morning: 'We've said all along the North East and the Midlands would be difficult. We also said the places declaring Thursday would be particularly difficult.

'But, the message from voters is clear and we have heard it. Labour has not yet changed nearly enough for voters to place their trust in us.

'We understand that. We are listening. And we will now redouble our efforts. Labour must now accelerate the programme of change in our party, to win back the trust and faith of working people across Britain.

'People don't want to hear excuses. Keir has said he will take responsibility for these results  and he will take responsibility for fixing it and changing the Labour Party for the better.'

The Hartlepool by-election outcome was triggered when former MP Mike Hill resigned in March amid sexual harassment allegations.

Respected elections expert Professor Michael Thrasher said the results so far were a 'nightmare' for Labour and 'the slide appears to be continuing'.

He told Sky News that voters had 'simply migrated from Labour to the Conservatives'. 'That is a hard thing for voters to do but but we saw it in 2019 and we are seeing it again in 2021,' he said.

Voter turnout in the contest in Hartlepool was 42.55 per cent - a relatively high number for a Westminster by-election.

Hartlepool was held by Labour with a majority of 3,595 in 2019, even as other bricks in the 'Red Wall' crumbled  in part due to the Brexit Party splitting the Tory vote.

Both Mr Johnson and Sir Keir made three visits to Hartlepool during the campaign in a sign of the importance the by-election represents to their parties.

Opinion polls suggested the Tories were on course to win the seat for the first time ever, with one survey putting the party 17 points ahead of Labour.

Mr Johnson sought to dampen expectations ahead of polling day as he said the contest looked like it would be a 'very tough fight'.

Sir Keir said during the campaign that his rebuild of the party would take longer than 12 months.

He stressed he had taken over the leadership after the party's worst general election result since 1935 and 'we've got to rebuild into the next general election  that is the task in hand'.

Sir Keir said: 'This is the first test and we go into that test fighting for every vote, but I never thought we would climb the mountain we have to climb in just one year  it is going to take longer than that.'

However, losing ground instead of gaining it at 2021 elections would represent a devastating set of results for Sir Keir as he tries to lay the foundations for a general election victory in 2024.

He said on Wednesday that he would take responsibility, regardless of how the elections play out.

'I take full responsibility for everything the Labour Party does, including the elections whatever they are tomorrow,' he said.

'And for me it's very important  it's the same approach I took when I was director of public prosecutions running the Crown Prosecution Service for five years, which is when things go right, the leader takes the plaudits; when they don't go right, the leader carries the can and takes responsibility.'

Sir Keir's allies last night said they were expecting civil war to break out in the party if election results are as gloomy as forecast by some opinion polls.

Alan Milburn, a Labour Cabinet minister under Tony Blair, told BBC Newsnight that the elections should not be seen as a referendum on Sir Keir's leadership because it was 'always going to be a long, hard battle back' after the party's 2019 collapse.

However, Mr Milburn said 'this is the time to inject new blood' into the shadow cabinet because some of its current members are 'barely visible'.

He warned the party is in a state of 'crisis' and said: 'The truth is that the Labour Party, and social democratic parties, they need to reinvent themselves.

'It's not a question of just rebuilding - it's a process of reinvention. There needs to be a big programme change, a big policy change and I think a big procedure change.'

Shadow public health minister Alex Norris said Labour did not expect to recover from its 2019 general election loss within 18 months.

Asked whether Sir Keir would be to blame for a defeat in the Hartlepool by-election, Mr Norris told Sky News: 'No, not in the slightest. Let's not prejudge it, for one.

'But what Keir is going to be very clear about, what we are clear about as a Labour Party is that this is going to be a no-excuses election for us.'

But in a sign of the discontent on the Labour left, MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle appeared to mock the party's attempts to change its image.

He said: 'Good to see valueless flag waving and suit wearing working so well or not?'

The comment is a reference to a leaked strategy document which suggested Labour must make 'use of the flag, veterans, dressing smartly' to win back voters in 'Red Wall' seats in the party's former industrial heartlands.

Bullish Conservative MPs who had been on the ground in Hartlepool claimed they had noticed a 'clear swing' towards their party as they predicted a bad set of results for Sir Keir.

'If you thought the bottom of Labour was Corbyn then you are wrong,' one told MailOnline.

Labour activists doorknocking in the constituency sounded relentlessly glum.

'We are suffering from Long Corbyn,' one senior figure said in a grim coronavirus analogy. 'It is going to be really difficult... we will find out tonight whether we have hit bottom.'

The elections came after Mr Johnson faced a number of weeks of damaging headlines over the Covid crisis, a Whitehall lobbying row and controversy over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Many senior Tory figures believed the rows were only of interest in the 'Westminster bubble' and they will be hoping that they are proved correct after the nation went to the ballot box.

Meanwhile, in Scotland the SNP will be hoping to have strengthened its position in Holyrood as Ms Sturgeon pushes for a re-run of the 2014 independence referendum.

A number of opinion polls in the run up to 'Super Thursday' suggested the SNP was on course to win a majority.

Ms Sturgeon believes winning a majority would give her a mandate to hold another border poll.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly rejected calls for another independence vote, arguing the first one was supposed to be a once in a generation event.

But Ms Sturgeon believes an SNP majority would force the PM to reconsider.

The SNP leader said after the polls closed tonight that it had been 'an election like no other' as she laid down the gauntlet to Mr Johnson on independence.

She said: 'At this election the SNP have also offered the people of Scotland the opportunity to choose their future once the Covid crisis has passed.

'If, when the ballots are counted, there is a parliamentary majority for that choice then when the crisis has passed that democratic mandate must be respected.'

Authorities have found it difficult to predict when results will come in because they are unsure how long counting will take because of social distancing requirements.

The results of all of the UK's elections are not expected to be finalised until Monday.

Most of the seats in the Holyrood election are expected to count during the day on Friday, with results starting at lunchtime and peaking in the evening.

However, some areas are expected to count votes during the day on Saturday, with results due from lunchtime.

Results from the eight regional proportional representation top-up seats are expected on Saturday night.

Counting for the Welsh Assembly elections is expected to take place on Friday with results in the afternoon and evening.

In London, the result of the race for City Hall may come on Saturday but it could potentially be Sunday as Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan tries to secure a second term by defeating Tory rival Shaun Bailey.

A giant inflatable representation of Boris Johnson was put up outside the by-election count in Hartlepool

Left, Diane Abbott, shadow home secretary under Mr Corbyn, tweeted: 'Crushing defeat for Labour in Hartlepool.' Right, MP for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle took to Twitter to question his party's attempts to change its image

In London, the result of the race for City Hall may come on Saturday but it could potentially be Sunday. Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan is hoping to secure a second term by beating Tory rival Shaun Bailey, pictured arriving at a polling station with his wife Ellie today

The Tories are expected to find out on Friday night if Ben Houchen has held on as Tees Valley mayor, in what is seen as a key race and a barometer for how the party is performing in the former 'Red Wall' constituencies that Labour lost to the Tories in the 2019 general election.

The parties will face another by-election if Labour MP Tracy Brabin succeeds in her bid to become West Yorkshire mayor, as expected.

It means she will stand down from her Batley and Spen constituency, which she held in 2019 with a small majority of 3,525 over the Tories.

Labour figures have suggested the party could delay holding a by-election until the autumn in a bid to avoid losing another brick in the 'Red Wall'.

The results of 39 police and crime commissioner elections in England and Wales are expected to be announced across Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
A woman who helped her samurai sword-wielding boyfriend after he killed a Sydney home invader has avoided any jail time.

Hannah Quinn, 26, was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order after she was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact.

Blake Davis was jailed for at least two years and three months after chasing and striking the ice-fuelled armed robber Jet McKee in the head with a sword in Forest Lodge in August 2018.

Hannah Quinn (centre), 26, was sentenced to a two-year community corrections order after she was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact

The 31-year-old was acquitted of murder but found guilty of the hip-hop artist's manslaughter.

Quinn assisted Davis including cleaning up her partner's eye, checking into and paying for overnight accommodation in the city and at Pennant Hills.

The length of her accessorial assistance was less than 48 hours, and was at 'the very lowest end of the range of seriousness,' her defence submitted.

Justice Natalie Adams accepted Quinn stuck with the 'love of her life' out of misguided loyalty and because of her emotional attachment.

'Nothing she did that weekend showed any plan to indefinitely go on the run,' Justice Adams said.
Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron are set to hold emergency 'peace talks' to end the 'Battle of Jersey' after French fishermen threatened to blockade Calais.

The world leaders, who control Europe's two largest armies, will try to restore their 'brotherly' relationship amid the post-Brexit chaos.

Meanwhile a fishing leader from the island called for a 'show of good faith' from France after 'some pretty extreme threats'.

President of Jersey Fishermen's Association Don Thompson said 'the real hardship genuinely is on this side and I'm seeing my colleagues going out of business'.

The row over Channel fishing rights escalated last night after furious French skippers threatened to block UK goods from entering Calais.

About 70 French trawlers staged a protest at Jersey's capital St Helier yesterday, before beating a retreat after two Navy gunships arrived.

The standoff came after some French boats were refused licences to fish in Jersey's waters under post-Brexit rules.

In response, French minister Annick Girardin warned Paris could cut off electricity to Jersey.

The comment has led to former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt calling for a 'halt' to the AQUIND Interconnector project between France and Britain.

The Portsmouth MP said the 1.2billion project to transport power from the Continent to the UK should stop.

Boris Johnson (left) and Emmanuel Macron (right) are set to hold emergency 'peace talks' to end the 'Battle of Jersey' after French fishermen threatened to blockade Calais

About 70 French trawlers (several seen above) staged a protest at Jersey's capital St Helier yesterday, before beating a retreat after two Navy gunships arrived

The standoff came after some French boats were refused licences to fish in Jersey's waters under post-Brexit rules. In response, French minister Annick Girardin warned that Paris could cut off electricity to Jersey. Pictured: Saint Helier

Why are Jersey and France warring over fishing rights? What were the pre-Brexit arrangements for fishing waters? Until January 1 this year, the UK was subject to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). That meant that fleets from EU states had equal access to the the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of other countries. EEZ areas stretch 200 nautical miles from the coast of each state, or to a maritime halfway point between neighbouring countries. The British fishing industry had long complained that the arrangements meant EU fleets were plundering what should be their catch. What has changed? The post-Brexit trade deal sealed between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen before Christmas gave EU fleets transitional rights to UK fishing waters. The EU fishing quota for UK waters was reduced by 15 per cent this year, and will go down another 2.5 percentage points each year until 2026. From that point the UK will in theory have the right to ban the bloc's fishing fleets altogether, although there will need to be annual negotiations. Crucially for the current situation, UK and EU vessels now require a licence to fish in each other's waters. What are the French angry about? A row has erupted over the specific regulations introduced by the Jersey government to implement the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. They require French boats to demonstrate they have a history of fishing in Jersey's waters in order to get licences, with Jersey adamant that is what the TCA sets out. However, the French authorities claim these 'new technical measures' for accessing waters off the Channel Islands have not been communicated to the EU. As a result they have been dismissed as 'null and void'. There are also disputed allegations that Jersey has been dragging its heels in approving licences for boats that have applied. So, what could happen now and would it ever REALLY end in war? There is a huge amount of sabre-rattling going on, with the UK deploying the navy to counter an extraordinary blockage by French fishing vessels. French ministers have been backing their fishing fleet, threatening to cut power to the Channel Island in retaliation. When such confrontations develop there is always the risk of a miscalculation and real clashes. Boris Johnson has urged the French to use the 'mechanisms of our new treaty to solve problems' rather than resort to threats. There are rumours of a call between Mr Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, although No10 said there is nothing arranged yet. Advertisement

Government officials have said relations between Britain and France were 'not where we want them to be' after the face-off in the Channel.

Mr Johnson and Mr Macron are understood to be speaking in the next few days to try to salvage the alliance.

A senior government source told the Times they were both hoping to 'dial down the rhetoric' before the G7 summit in June.

The insider said: 'We're a bit like a pair of brothers. We're the closest allies and there is no fundamental unhappiness but things are bumpy.'

President of Jersey Fishermen's Association Don Thompson said the incident followed 'some pretty extreme threats' from the French.

'Our expectations were that things probably weren't going to get out of hand, but on the other hand if you consider a Government-level threat to sever electricity ties that would have meant hospitals being shut down,' he said.

'In other parts of the world if something like that happened to Iran or Russia or other countries, other states, that would be considered almost an act of war.'

Mr Thompson added: 'The real hardship genuinely is on this side and I'm seeing my colleagues going out of business, fishermen that have done nothing else all their life, made a commitment to the industry since they were very young, having to sell their boats and walk away from the industry.'

He called for a 'show of good faith from France' in what is a 'highly political' situation affected by the repercussions of the Brexit referendum.

'Jersey people didn't even vote, didn't even have the right to vote in Brexit. Everything that's happened here in the way that we've become a third world state is entirely by default and it's really unfortunate that we seem to be coming under the spotlight and being accused of using the Brexit scenario to our advantage when actually the opposite is true.'

The first physical standoff ensued yesterday when a flotilla of tiny French fishing vessels took to Jersey where two Royal Navy ships met them.

HMS Tamar and HMS Severn are expected to return to the mainland today after the retreat by the French vessels.

But in a sign the row is far from over, the fishermen last night threatened to blockade Calais, saying they would stop British goods from entering the EU unless all of their boats were allowed to fish in Jersey's waters.

Up to 8,500 trucks travel through the French port each day. Oliver Lepretre, chairman of the Northern France fisheries committee, said: 'The fishermen are saying that if we don't get what we want, we will go and block Calais.'

Mr Lepretre said a protest was possible 'within a few days' and trawlers from Normandy could carry out copycat action at the port of Cherbourg.

He said Eurocrats at the European Commission 'needed to move their a***' and trigger the retaliatory measures laid out in the Brexit agreement struck with Britain last year.

He added: '[The British] are blocking our boats by any means possible.'

A Government source hit back, saying: 'The difficulties the French claim to have should be resolved by dialogue, not endless blockades.

'We also have a newly ratified trade agreement with appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms if needed. This sort of disruption benefits no one.'

Britain is asking French trawlers to provide electronic tracking data from 2012 to 2016 to prove historical fishing links to British and Channel Islands waters.

But Mr Lepretre said many French vessels were not fitted with GPS technology at the time.

He added: 'We knew that there would be problems with fishing. We said that a war would come from French fisheries.'

Mr Johnson said he was 'pleased that the situation in Jersey has been resolved'. The Prime Minister thanked the Royal Navy for its 'swift response', adding: 'The UK will always stand resolutely by the people of Jersey.'

Locals watch as French fishing boats leave Jersey waters following their protest in front of the port of Saint Helier, with a Royal Navy ship in the background

French fishermen said they were ready to restage the Battle of Trafalgar as they descended on the harbour this morning. But by 1.30pm navigation charts showed the armada had given in and was sailing back towards their home waters

He had earlier voiced his 'unequivocal support' for the actions taken by Jersey's government.

A Government spokesman added: 'We are pleased that French fishing boats have now left the vicinity of Jersey.

'Given the situation is resolved for now, the Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels will prepare to return to port in the UK.

'We remain on standby to provide any further assistance Jersey requests.'

It is understood Mrs Girardin is refusing to speak to Environment Secretary George Eustice over the issue. And Paris has yet to trigger the official Brexit dispute resolution mechanism.

France's hardline Europe minister Clement Beaune, a close ally of president Emmanuel Macron, dismissed the deployment of Navy gunships, saying: 'We won't be intimidated by these manoeuvres.'

In response to Britain's move, the French maritime authority for the Channel sent a pair of armed police patrol boats to Jersey 'to ensure the protection of human life at sea'.

During yesterday's protest at St Helier, local fishermen said flares were let off and some of the French boats entered the harbour for around an hour.

Footage posted online apparently shows a French boat ramming the stern of a Jersey vessel.

An onlooker at the port in Jersey captured the moment a British vessel (right hand side of image) is forced to spin around to avoid a side-on collision with a French boat seen hurtling towards it. The brown French vessel does end up smacking into the side of the British boat without causing significant damage

The skipper of one French vessel even claimed they were ready to 'restage the Battle of Trafalgar', but another, Ludovic Lazaro, soon announced the blockade was over, adding: 'Now it's down to the ministers to find an agreement. We are not going to be able to do much.'

Eurocrats backed France in the row, claiming Britain had created 'additional conditions' for issuing licences to French trawlers.

European Commission spokesman Vivian Loonela said the rules were a breach of the Brexit treaty.

The Jersey government has said that of the 41 French boats that applied for licences last Friday, 17 were unable to provide the evidence needed to carry on fishing in the island's waters.

Dimitri Rogoff, president of the Normandy fishing committee, said: 'Fishermen shouldn't be the ones blockading Jersey to get what they want.

'If we don't obtain our goals, the minister needs to turn off the lights.'

The French government last night said it was acting in a 'spirit of responsibility' in response to a 'British failure' to abide by the terms of the Brexit trade deal.

The Liberal Democrats yesterday criticised the Government's 'gunboat diplomacy', adding: 'When our governments disagree we should resolve our differences with grown-up conversation and negotiation, not with cannons in the Channel.'

Meanwhile Portsmouth MP Ms Mordaunt wrote to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to stop the AQUIND Interconnector.

She told the News: 'Recent events are further evidence that the interconnector is not in our national interest.

'It will make us less resilient, it's a strategic error and it potentially will undermine further negotiations that we may wish to have with the EU and certainly member states.'

She also described the threat to cut off electricity to Jersey by France's maritime minister Ms Girardin as 'sinister'.
Shocking CCTV footage from New Zealand shows a police officer allegedly kicking a handcuffed suspect in the head while he's lying on the ground.

The video, which has been circulating on social media, shows the moment two officers arrest a 44-year-old man in an alleyway in Christchurch.

The man can be seen being handcuffed and restrained on the ground, allegedly kicking out at the two cops in resistance - before the male policeman appears to punt the suspect in the head, leaving him dazed.

'Come on dude, stand-up, you're alright,' the police officer can be heard saying in the clip.

Shocking footage from New Zealand shows a police officer allegedly kicking a handcuffed suspect in the head while he's lying on the ground

Canterbury Police say they were called to Madras Street in Christchurch on two different occasions within a short period of time after reports of a drunk and disorderly man on March 2.

The man 'began to actively resist the attending officers and was taken to the ground in an attempt to keep everyone involved safe,' Metro Area Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said.

The footage shows the man, restrained on the ground lying on his stomach before he's turned over by police.

The suspect then starts kicking out at the officers as they attempt to stand him up.

He then kicks out and appears to hit the male police officer in the face, as the cop responds and purportedly punts the handcuffed man's face.

Police say the officer was attempting to put his boot on the man's shoulder but he missed, kicking his head.

'Police then tried to assist the man to his feet, and he has allegedly kicked an officer in the head. The second officer attempted to control the man but was also allegedly kicked in the head by him,' Superintendent Todd said.

'Following this, one officer attempted to place the sole of his foot on the man's shoulder, however the man has moved, causing the officer's foot to connect with his head once.'

The 44-year-old man appears dazed as police sit him up after the male cop allegedly kicked the suspect in the face

Social media was divided over the footage, with many slamming the cop but some defending his actions and asking people what they'd do in the same situation.

'Some will scream brutality for sure, but ah well, love to see them handle the situation better,' one person tweeted.

'If I'd stomped on that coppers face like you're about to see I'd be going to jail for a very long time and it would be an attempted murder charge. What that cop did was a stomp down on his face, raking his boot up the nose, that could've killed him,' another disagreed.

Police say the video doesn't show the full story and it was a 'fast-moving and dynamic situation'.

Both officers were treated for minor head injuries following the arrest.

The 44-year-old will be sentenced in late May for assaulting police and resisting police and disorderly behaviour.
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A man who was being sought by police as part of the investigation into the murder of PCSO Julia James has been identified, with officers no longer seeking information about him.

Mrs James, 53, was found bludgeoned to death in woodland near her home in Snowdown, Kent, on April 27, shortly after leaving the house with her beloved Jack Russell that afternoon.

Kent Police released a photo earlier on Friday of a man they said could be of 'crucial importance' to the investigation.

But the force said the man has now been identified and they are no longer appealing for information about him.

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Richards said: 'I can confirm we have identified the man in the photo and we no longer need the media to run his image, nor do we need further information about him at this time.

'It remains that we still need to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time between 1pm and 4.30 pm on Tuesday 27 April 2021, as well as anyone local who may have seen something out of place at the time or who came across someone who made them feel uneasy - such as feeling compelled to cross the road or change the route they were walking.

'Despite identifying this individual, we are still keen to hear from those who have information that may help us.'

Earlier today, Chief Constable Alan Pughsley said the force does not know who the killer is, if they are a man or woman, what weapon was used nor what the motive was. A post-mortem revealed Mrs James died from significant head injuries.

Earlier, Mrs James' husband Paul broke his silence to write 'I miss you so much Luvly xxx' under an image of the two he shared to Facebook.

Mrs James, 53, (pictured) was found bludgeoned to death in woodland near her home in Snowdown, Kent, on April 27. A post-mortem revealed she died from significant head injuries. Pictured: Detectives released a picture of Mrs James with her Jack Russell in the same clothes she wore when she died. The dog was found next to her body

Mrs James was found near her home in Snowdown, Kent, on April 27. Pictured: Police continuing their search around the Spinney Lane area yesterday.

The man in the picture is of 'crucial importance' to the investigation as he was 'at an incredibly relevant area the day after the murder', Kent Police's Assistant Chief Constable Tom Richards said in a press briefing (pictured) today

Paul James, 57, changed his Facebook profile picture to he and Mrs James, and commented underneath it: 'I miss you so much Luvly xxx'.

It is believed to be the first time Mr James has commented publicly since Mrs James died.

He also used a 'Help us find #justiceforjulia' frame around the picture - which Mrs James' son in law Chase Coles said more than 8,600 have added to help the family's appeal.

Kent Police yesterday expanded their search area around the small village and have been looking for clues at several locations, including the woodland.

Mrs James had finished her shift and headed out from home with her Jack Russell at around 3pm - her body, with her loyal dog sat next to it, was found at 4pm on Tuesday, April 27

The image of the man - which shows him wearing a black hoodie and carrying a duffle bag - could mark a major breakthrough for baffled Kent Police, who have had to call in other forces for help to crack Mrs James' (pictured) case

Paul James, 57, changed his Facebook profile picture to he and Mrs James, and commented underneath it: 'I miss you so much Luvly xxx'

It is believed to be the first time Mr James has commented publicly since Mrs James, 53, was found bludgeoned to death in woodland with a 'severe traumatic injury' near her home in Snowdown, Kent, on Tuesday, April 27

And Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to 10,000 for information leading to the conviction of Julia's killer.

Commenting on the reward on Facebook, Mr Coles wrote: 'Huge thank you to Crime Stoppers who are now offering a 10,000 reward for anyone with crucial information.

'Please, we have to keep sharing all we can! Someone knows something! Julia was taken from us in such a barbaric way. No family should have to endure this.

Detectives 'do not know the motive of the attack' or if killer was a random stranger A number of key issues were raised at a press conference into the murder yesterday afternoon: 'Motiveless attack' Assistant Chief Constable of Kent Police Tom Richards said detectives investigating the murder of PCSO Julia James are still are not aware of a motive and have not made any arrests. Speaking eight days after the incident, he told a press conference he is keeping 'an open mind', adding: 'I do not know the motive of this attack. I do not know if it's somebody she knew. 'I do not know if it's a stranger attack, of course that possibility is particularly frightening to local residents.' Appeal for witnesses He said he wants to hear from people who were in the location on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. 'We're genuinely interested in any information. If anybody has got any concerns, any suspicions, we really want to hear about it,' he said. 'Most experienced investigators' working on the case ACC Tom Richards said the PCSO Julia James case is 'a hugely challenging investigation', adding: 'Of course in many, many such investigations we have a suspect right from the outset or very, very early on.' He said the 'most experienced investigators' are working on the case. 'It's why we're keeping that open mind and we're looking at every single possibility, but of course it's why I'm appealing today for as much assistance from the public as possible. 'I think the public are one of our most important assets in this investigation. 'They've been absolutely fantastic in their support, but I do need that to continue. 'I'm hoping the picture we've released today might just spark a memory in someone,' he said. Murder is 'number one priority' for force Kent Police is treating the case of murdered PCSO Julia James as its 'number one priority', the force's assistant chief constable Tom Richards has said. Speaking at Folkestone Police Station on Wednesday afternoon, he told reporters: 'I'm confident we're going to put absolutely every effort into it, we're meeting with the family, we're giving them those reassurances, this is the number one priority for Kent Police at the moment. 'This type of attack is incredibly rare, we're not linking it to any other offences which makes it a particularly difficult investigation. 'But we've got the very best staff working and every resource necessary dedicated to this inquiry.' Advertisement

'We need to find the inhuman and absolute evil person responsible before it happens again! They cannot be allowed to walk among us!'

A special 'Justice for Julia' Facebook page was also set up on Thursday in an attempt to 'Turn Facebook blue for Julia' to keep her at the forefront of people's minds.

While Kent Police does not know what the murder weapon is, Chief Constable Pughsley told BBC Radio Kent that Mrs James was killed in the 'most brutal of circumstances'.

When asked whether the killer had struck before, Mr Pughsley said: 'I hope not.'

The chief constable said he has asked national police forces to help in their investigations to take the pressure of worn out Kent officers who are working '24 hours, seven days a week'.

He said the National Crime Agency has been drafted in to investigate the 'style of the attack', as well as the killer's motive.

Other officers will help with door-to-door inquiries for the next four to six weeks, he added, while some work on the 'painstaking' inch-by-inch finger search of the scene where Mrs James' body was found.

He said: 'It's a massive case. As you would imagine we throw absolutely everything at every murder and this is a murder of Julia in the most brutal of circumstances on April 27.

'So pretty much since that time we've had hundreds and hundreds of officers and staff working 24 hours, seven days a week

'We're about to go to national police forces to ask for some help on that, that went out on my behalf yesterday.

'And as you would expect pretty much every single chief constable in the land is offering whatever assistance they can to help find the murderer.'

He said the force doesn't know the motive for Mrs James' murder, but said they have 'a really wide mind to why this has happened'.

Mr Pughsley added: 'We do not at this time have a focused suspect.

'We have lots of lines of inquiry, lots of people to think about, lots of work to do.

'But we need to just get that little bit of luck, little bit of public information, little bit of forensic examination to come back to identify this individual so we can capture him or her.'

When asked why he's reaching out to national forces, he replied: 'So there's probably three things.

'The style of the attack. We've got expertise from the national crime agency who have been really helpful with regards to motive and/or any other reason this person may have done that, so there's some specialism coming in from the NCA.

'We've got lots of detectives doing house to house and investigative work.

'But also, as much as they don't want to, they need a little bit of a rest every now and again.

'So we've got detectives coming in from other forces to help us for the next maybe four to six weeks.

'And then we've got the painstaking, but incredibly important, inch-by-inch finger search of the scene which as you know was a massive rural area.

'We are looking for that tiny piece of evidence whether it be on an exit route or an entry route or somewhere along the way to identify and again tie in the murderer.

'As for the suspect, we are not narrow on that.

'We are looking anywhere for the suspect, whether or not he or she travelled into the area, whether they're from the area, whether they're a Kent resident, whether they're further afield.

'It matters not to us. We are looking wide and broad for him or her.'

He said the force is 'not 100 per cent sure' on what weapon was used to kill Mrs James.

Officer were seen to enter the former Snowdown Colliery at around 1pm yesterday afternoon as part of their search

Earlier today, Chief Constable Alan Pughsley said Kent Police does not know who the killer is, if they are a man or woman, what weapon was used nor what the motive was

He added: 'It was a severe traumatic injury to Julia but it would be wrong to talk about what style of weapon was used until we: One, have the suspect and two, have some more detail about the weapon that was used.'

When asked if the killer has struck before he said: 'To be fair, I don't know. That's a brutally honest answer. I don't know.

'Because we don't know yet who the killer is.

'I hope not and we're going to do everything we can to try and capture this person as quickly as we possibly can.'

Appealing to Mrs James' killer, he said: 'You will never ever ever completely get away with this.

'You'll have to keep looking over your shoulder and at some stage we'll be there to get you and we will get you. The best thing you can do is hand yourself in'

On Tuesday police patrols stopped a total of 449 cars and spoke to drivers and passengers who could have information.

The force yesterday released a map of the local area, saying they remain keen to hear from anyone who was inside a red section of fields between 1pm and 4.30pm on the day Mrs James was murdered.

Mick Duthie, director of operations at charity Crimestoppers, announced a reward of up to 10,000 for any anonymous information that leads to the conviction of Mrs James' killer.

Police vans parked outside a former colliery site near PCSO Mrs James' home as the police search for clues in relation to her death

'The public, like our charity, have been horrified at this heart-breaking loss of such an innocent life. Our thoughts are very much with Julia's family and friends at this terrible time,' he said.

'Crimestoppers is here to help people who  for whatever reason  won't or can't speak directly to the police, but want to do the right thing. By contacting our charity with information, we guarantee that you will stay 100 per cent anonymous.

'We're not interested in who you are and will never ask for your details  all we want is information, however small, that might help find those behind this murder.

'Julia's life has mercilessly been taken away. If you know who was involved, please remember our charity's unique service guaranteeing your anonymity is here for you.

'Crimestoppers has been taking crime information since our charity began in the late 1980s. Every day over a thousand people contact us online and over the phone.

'By contacting us, you can help  anonymously  to have the person behind Julia's murder face up to the consequences of their violent actions and you may even prevent someone else from coming to harm.

Search teams yesterday expanded their perimeter and could be seen examining hedgerows and a field around a mile away from a white forensic tent where Mrs James' body was found

'Our UK Contact Centre is open 24/7 on 0800 555 111 or you can use our simple and secure anonymous online form at www.crimestoppers-uk.org.'

Earlier this week, it emerged a driver spotted a car dangerously parked near the PCSO's home shortly before she was killed.

Sheila Tanton, 68, drives past Snowdown - the quiet hamlet near Dover where Mrs James was brutally murdered last week - from her home in Elvington every Tuesday and Thursday when visiting her mother in Canterbury.

She has now revealed that she noticed a black estate car near the entrance of a disused coal mine - which was searched for the first time by police yesterday - just a few hours before the attack is thought to have taken place, between 3pm and 4pm on April 27.

Ms Tanton said: 'I didn't really pay much attention at the time but I know it was a black estate car. It looked pretty new as it was lovely and gleaming.

'It stuck in my memory because of how stupidly it was parked on a blind bend on double yellow lines.

'I thought someone might go into the back of it on the corner on the bridge over the railway line. It didn't have hazard lights on and there was no one in the car.

'It was 12.50pm on the Tuesday when I was driving to Canterbury.

'It's been playing on my mind and I've been racking my brains on what I saw when I passed here on the day she was killed. I will be reporting this to the police.'

Kent Police declined to comment on Ms Tanton's discovery, after detectives insisted they would not provide a 'running commentary' on the investigation.

The car was parked around 30 yards from an entrance into Snowdown, where Mrs James lived.

Detectives began searching the disused Snowdown Colliery, which is right next to where the black estate car was allegedly parked and is 400 yards from Mrs James' home, for the first time yesterday.

Officers were seen inside the old coal mine - which closed in 1987 - searching around the multiple derelict buildings.

Two marked Kent Police Land Rovers and a Ford Kuga from the Rural Task Force were parked in the entrance to the eerie setting.

Two were seen peering inside the corrugated iron roof of an outbuilding for clues.

The red brick buildings, many of which are covered in graffiti and have windows smashed in, are surrounded by spiked fencing and razor wire.

Signs warn 'DANGEROUS BUILDINGS. KEEP OUT,' and 'These premises are protected by dog patrols,' with 24 hour CCTV in operation.

A large team of officers continued their search for clues yesterday as the murder investigation rumbled on

But the six-foot high, rusted entrance gate is easily jumpable and the private property is popular with urban explorers.

The report of a black car follows a police notice warning of a man in his 60s in a black BMW who approached two dog walkers down a quiet country lane in nearby Nonington on March 16.

He offered them cigarettes in exchange for their pooches and asked if they wanted rid of them anyway - leading police to warn of dog abductors and call for vigilance.

Meanwhile, it emerged this week that detectives believe Mrs James left her home only around an hour before she was found bludgeoned to death.

The 53-year-old had taken her beloved Jack Russell Toby out for a walk when she was brutally attacked.

Detectives hunting the killer have tested the dog for forensic clues to try and track down her murderer.

Police had not previously revealed what time she left the house in the quiet hamlet near Dover, where she was working that afternoon, before her body was discovered at 4.08pm.

But a new appeal for information leaflet now suggests Mrs James set off just after 3pm once she finished her shift.

It was only around 60 minutes later that members of the public found her dead on a public bridle path on the edge of Ackholt Wood, and called the police.

The new flyer being handed out locally reads: 'Kent Police is keen to speak to anyone who is yet to come forward with information about the murder of PCSO Julia James.

'Julia was found next to Ackholt Wood, near to Aylesham Road, Snowdown, at around 4pm on Tuesday 27 April 2021.

'She had been out walking her dog having left her home in The Crescent nearby just after 3pm.'

It again urges anyone who was in the remote area on Monday or Tuesday who may have seen anything unusual or suspicious to call Kent Police.

The force yesterday released a map of the local area, saying they remain keen to hear from anyone who was inside a red section of fields between 1pm and 4.30pm on the day Mrs James was murdered

Police also released a picture of Mrs James with Toby wearing the same clothes she was in before she was bludgeoned to death on a remote country footpath.

Mrs James' nephews Ryan and Dan have said their aunt's 'smile and humour could light up the darkest of rooms'.

They wrote in a heartbreaking tribute on a bunch of flowers left in Aylesham's historic market square: 'Auntie Julia. We all miss you so very much.

'Your smile and humour could light up the darkest of rooms. Words can't describe how much we all miss you.

'The world is most certainly a better place for having you in it. All our love. Ryan and Dan.'

Another floral tribute had a card titled 'with fond memories of sister-in-law' which read: 'Words can't say how much we will miss you. A beautiful soul inside and out. Rest in peace. Robert and Sharon.'

Kent Police's East Kent Task Force Team also left a bunch of flowers. Their tribute read: 'PCSO Julia James. Thank you for your service. You are truly missed from your police family.'

It was accompanied with the #justiceforjulia hashtag which is being used on social media to help keep the murder in the public eye.

Another card read: 'With heartfelt condolences from the women of Reclaim These Streets Deal. R.I.P Julia.'
Former President Donald Trump praised the Federal Election Commission on Friday for dropping its inquiry into whether he violated campaign finance laws over hush money payments worth $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels, and blasted the case as 'phony'.

Four of the six bipartisan FEC commissioners were split in their votes on Thursday, meaning that, without a majority backing the inquiry, the case was dropped. Trump, however, is still on the hook with the state of New York, who is investigating the Trump Organization over tax issues.

The payment to Daniels was never reported on Trump's campaign filings. Trump's disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen claimed that he was ordered to make the payment to the porn star to prevent her from disclosing an affair two weeks before the 2016 election.

Cohen was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to making the payment to secure a non-disclosure agreement from Daniels, among other charges. Trump denied the affair.

In a statement issued on Friday morning, Trump called the case 'phony' and blasted both Cohen and Michael Avenatti, a former lawyer for Daniels who represented her in her lawsuit against Trump.

'It was a case built on lies from Michael Cohen, a corrupt and convicted lawyer, a lawyer in fact so corrupt he was sentenced to three years in jail for lying to Congress and many other things having nothing to do with me,' Trump said.

'I thank the Commission for their decision, ending this chapter of Fake News. Between two sleazebag lawyers, Michael Avenatti and Michael Cohen, we were able to witness law and justice in our Country at its lowest.'

While the campaign finance case has ended, Trump faces investigations of his business practices by the Manhattan district attorney and the New York attorney general.

Cohen is cooperating with a civil suit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is investigating corruption within the Trump Organization.

He also has been interviewed at least eight times by Manhattan DA Cy Vance, whose initial probe focused on how the company accounted for hush-money payments that Cohen arranged for Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, before the 2016 presidential election.

That part of the investigation has been dropped. But the investigation into Trump's finances continues. And while the case is civil, it could lead to criminal charges, hefty fines and back taxes.

Stormy Daniels, 42, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 after he married Melania and she gave birth to their son, Barron. Trump denies the affair.

In a statement issued on Friday morning, Trump called the case 'phony'. 'It was a case built on lies from Michael Cohen, a corrupt and convicted a lawyer, a lawyer in fact so corrupt he was sentenced to three years in jail for lying to Congress and many other things having nothing to do with me,' he said

Cohen was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to making the payment to secure a non-disclosure agreement from Daniels, among other charges

FEC commissioners were split on the campaign finance case. Such cases are notoriously hard to prove and prosecute.

Democrats Shana Broussard, the current FEC chairwoman, and Ellen Weintraub, argued it should have proceeded as there were grounds to believe that campaign finance laws had been breached.

'To conclude that a payment, made 13 days before Election Day to hush up a suddenly newsworthy 10-year-old story, was not campaign-related, without so much as conducting an investigation, defies reality,' they wrote.

'Several of our colleagues instead voted to dismiss the allegations,' the joint statement continued. 'The Commission therefore did not have enough votes to pursue well-grounded charges that the former President of the United States knowingly and willfully accepted contributions nearly 5,000% over the legal limit to suppress a negative story mere days before Election Day.'

Republicans James 'Trey' Trainor and Sean Cooksey voted no, arguing that Cohen had been dealt with and there was nothing for the FEC to pursue.

'In sum, the public record is complete with respect to the conduct at issue in these complaints, and Mr. Cohen has been punished by the government of the United States for the conduct at issue in these matters,' Trainor and Cooksey said in a statement.

'Thus, we concluded that pursuing these matters further was not the best use of agency resources,' they continued. 'The Commission regularly dismisses matters where other government agencies have already adequately enforced and vindicated the Commission's interests.'

Democrats Shana Broussard (left), the current chairwoman, and Ellen Weintraub, argued that the case should have proceeded as there were grounds to believe that campaign finance laws had been breached

Republicans James 'Trey' Trainor (left) and Sean Cooksey voted no

Republican Allen Dickerson (left) recused himself from the case, while independent Steven Walther did not vote

Republican Allen Dickerson recused himself from the case, while independent Steven Walther did not vote.

The FEC first launched the inquiry in 2018 after nonprofit government watchdog Common Cause filed a complaint against the Trump campaign.

The payment to Daniels was far in excess of the legal limit for individual contributions for president, which was then $2,700.

Cohen also arranged for a $150,000 payment by American Media Inc. to Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate, earlier in 2016, in what is called a 'catch and kill.'

Trump has long argued the payments to Daniels and McDougal were a private matter and did not amount to campaign finance violations.

On Thursday, Paul Ryan, an executive at Common Cause, said the case proved that there was 'dysfunction' within politics.

Porn star Stormy Daniels attends the 2019 Adult Video News Awards at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 26, 2019 in Las Vegas

'The FEC's nonpartisan career staff attorneys recommended that the Commission find reason to believe that Trump, his campaign committee, and the Trump Organization committed the violations alleged in Common Cause's complaints,' Ryan told The Washington Post.

'Today's announcement that the FEC will not be holding Trump accountable for his campaign finance violations is just the latest display of dysfunction at the FEC.'

Daniels, 42, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims that she had an affair with Trump in 2006 after he married Melania and she gave birth to their son, Barron.

Trump denies the affair.

Daniels sued Trump for defamation in 2018 after he dismissed her claims she was threatened to keep their tryst a secret as 'a total con job.'

The judge threw the case out and Daniels was later ordered to pay Trump more than $293,000 in legal fees.

Cohen has admitted making the $130,000 payment and was sentenced to three years in federal prison for lying to Congress, tax evasion and charges relating to payments to Daniels and other women.

'It was my own weakness and a blind loyalty to this man that led me to choose a path of darkness over light,' Cohen said of Trump in court in 2018.

On his podcast 'Mea Culpa' in February, Cohen said sorry to Daniels for the 'needless pain' that was caused by the scandal.

On Thursday, Cohen tore into the FEC's decision to drop the case, claiming the money was paid on Trump's orders.

'The hush money payment was done at the direction of and for the benefit of Donald J. Trump,' Cohen told the Post. 'Like me, Trump should have been found guilty. How the FEC committee could rule any other way is confounding.'
A truck driver has been charged with dangerous driving after he allegedly mowed down a group of five mates - leaving two fighting for life - before driving on for 23km.

Victoria Police charged the 64-year-old heavy haulage truck driver with two counts of dangerous driving causing serious injury on Friday.

The truck driver allegedly failed to stop to help the injured pedestrians after the crash near the intersection of City Road and Power Street at Southbank about 7pm Thursday night.

His employeer K&S Group said he 'maintains he was unaware of the incident'.

'Our thoughts are with the people and families of those involved,' K&S CEO Paul Sarant said on Friday.

Paramedics are seen swarming the scene on Thursday night (pictured)

The company said in addition to the police investigation it was undertaking an internal workplace health and safety investigation into the incident.

'We're advised the driver maintains he was unaware of the incident'.

'He has been working for the company for nearly 10 years and was on his way to the depot in a company truck at the end of his shift.'

While performing a left-hand turn, the B-double tanker is believed to have allegedly cut the corner and mounted the footpath before taking out the traffic light, which fell to the ground.

Four men and a woman, all believed to be aged in their 20s to 30s, suffered lower body injuries in the crash and were taken to hospital.

Two of the men are critically injured, while the three other pedestrians are in a serious but stable condition.

A motorist who saw the crash followed the truck as it continued to travel along Power Street.

A man cradling a woman in his arms is seen speaking to paramedics at the scene on Thursday night, which left five people in hospital

The information they relayed helped police track down the truck at Truganina in the city's outer west and arrest the driver.

'It appears that he's cut the corner and in doing so he has taken out a traffic control signal pole as well as a group of pedestrians,' Detective Sergeant Darren Williams said.

Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp described the crash as 'horrendous' and said she had contacted Roads Minister Ben Carroll and local state MP Martin Foley to discuss 'urgent safety measures'.

'We need to work together to fix this intersection and make it safer for Southbank residents and workers,' she tweeted.

Horrifying images from the scene shows medical equipment strewn across the road as paramedics desperately tried to help the group, with a battered traffic light showing the force of the impact.

Nearby residents recalled hearing harrowing screams as people rushed to help those injured.

Images from the scene (pictured on Thursday night) show total devastation, with a traffic light smashed to the ground and bicycles abandoned as Melburnians fled the horror

Pictured: The Southbank intersection where the truck allegedly smashed into the pedestrians and a traffic light

One witness told 9 News the sound of the crash was like a bomb going off.

'It was one of the loudest bangs I've ever heard,' he said.

He then described the intersection falling silent for 'about 10 seconds' before people started screaming.

He then rushed over to help along with a nearby doctor who lifted up a traffic light which had fallen down.

'Unfortunately for this young female, it was crushing her pelvis - as the doctor lifted it up I've picked her up and just put her on my lap, on the side just to wait for help,' he said.

The two men in a critical condition were taken to The Alfred hospital, with one suffering extensive low leg injuries.

The others, who also suffered lower body injuries, were taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The truck driver, from Wyndham Vale, has been remanded in custody and will appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Saturday.
Workers at cereal giant Kellogg's have been given Friday afternoons off over the summer as part of plans to boost employees' mental health.

Between May and September, the company is offering office-based staff the chance to finish work at noon on a Friday, and field sales teams can take half a day on a weekday, provided they have completed a full week's hours.

Kellogg's chief Chris Silcock says the move will improve employees' mental and physical health in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It had already launched other initiatives to support its 430 UK employees, including 'meeting-free' Friday afternoons and allowing them an extra day's annual leave.

Kellogg's employs 380 people from its MediaCityUK offices based in Salford (pictured)

The cereal giants' chiefs have allowed workers to take Friday afternoons off in a bid to improve workers' mental health following the Covid-19 pandemic. File picture

Chris Silcock, head of Kellogg's UK, said: 'We have a long history of offering flexible working and the past year has shown us how crucial that really is.

'We introduced summer hours 18 years ago but I believe after the last 12 months, this year it's more important than ever before.

'Our colleagues' wellbeing is one of our main priorities and we hope that offering Friday afternoons off as part of our summer hours scheme will allow people to switch off and take that time to do something they really enjoy - whether that's reconnecting with friends, picking up a hobby or simply unwinding.'

Kellogg's UK employs almost 380 people at its office in MediaCityUK, Salford, and has a further 50 in its field sales team.

The 115-year-old American company was founded in Michigan in 1906, trading under the name Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company.
India's second wave of coronavirus is a threat to the world and needs to be urgently brought under control, the country's main opposition leader has said.

Rahul Gandhi issued the dire warning as he called on Prime Minister Modi to begin a second national lockdown as cases and deaths continue to soar to record levels.

Mr Gandhi said India's huge and genetically diverse population provides 'fertile ground' for the virus to mutate into more infectious and deadly forms, causing devastation not just within its borders but across the globe.

India has already produced one Covid mutant that is thought to be more infectious than previous strains and which has spread overseas, but high infection rates mean the virus has plenty of chances to mutate again and become more dangerous.

Mr Modi has so-far resisted calls to go into a second national shutdown fearing the economic impacts, and has instead relied on states to decide their own measures while focusing nation efforts on distributing medicines and ramping up vaccines.

But a growing chorus of politicians, medical experts and judges has warned he is running out of options as the country's healthcare system stretches past breaking point with no end to the surge in sight.

Today, the country logged 414,188 new cases - a record - bringing its total to 21,491,598, along with 3,915 deaths for a total of 234,083, both of which are almost certainly under-estimates.

Researchers at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation warned on Thursday that the true toll is likely 700,000 and could top 1million by the end of the month, having doubled in just over six weeks.

India's second wave of Covid is a threat to the world because it increases the chances that mutant forms of the virus will emerge and must be controlled, the country's main opposition leader has said (pictured, a Covid ward at a hospital in Delhi)

India has already produced one new Covid mutant that is thought to be more infectious than previous forms, but a high infection rate increases the chances it will mutate again

Staff at a Covid hospital in Delhi treat and elderly patient as India today reported another record one-day case total and one of its highest-ever death counts

Calls are now mounting for a second nationwide shutdown as cases and deaths show no sign of slowing with the country's healthcare system stretched past breaking (pictured, doctors on a Covid ward in Delhi)

The bottom yellow line shows the official death toll. The estimated true Covid death toll is the larger yellow line in the middle, and estimates of how the true toll will increase in the coming months is shown by the dotted green line

'India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form,' Mr Ghandi said.

Tweet every 30 seconds for oxygen or hospital bed in India Pleas for oxygen, hospital beds, ventilators, access to intensive care units and even Covid-19 tests have inundated the Twitter feeds of Indian users in recent weeks. Analysis by Reuters of Twitter data shows one tweet is being sent every 30 seconds by someone using #SOS or the word 'urgent' in relation to Covid, as they appeal to social media for help. The pleas on Twitter only provide a small glimpse into what is happening in the world's second-most populous nation, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has come under criticism for its handling of the crisis. While Twitter is not as widely used as Facebook or WhatsApp in India, it is proving to be a more valuable tool during the pandemic, largely because of its re-tweet function that can quickly amplify pleas for help through users' networks of contacts. 'Twitter is having to do what the government helpline numbers should be doing,' wrote Twitter user Karanbir Singh. Advertisement

'Allowing the uncontrollable spread of the virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world.'

Researchers' calculations on India's true death toll are based on a statistical model that takes into account 'excess mortality' data - meaning deaths that occur above established averages.

The figure will therefore include deaths that are missed in government counts, such as in India which only includes deaths in hospital and with a positive test - despite both hospital beds and test kits being in short supply.

But the data is controversial because it also mops up a lot of deaths that are either not directly related to Covid, or have nothing to do with the virus at all.

Based on their calculations, India will top 1million Covid deaths by May 27 having taken until April 12 to reach 500,000.

Another model, developed by the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, estimates that the official toll could be above 400,000 by early June.

Their analysis suggests government's figures will hit 404,000 by June 11, having doubled from around 201,000 on April 27 - again, a little over six weeks.

It means India could end up with the world's highest Covid death toll, even if excess mortality isn't taken into account.

America currently has the world's highest official toll, which stands at 594,000.

India officially reported 414,188 new cases of virus today, another one-day record which takes its overall toll to 21,491,598.

It also reported 3,915 deaths, among its highest one-day tolls, bringing the overall total to 234,083.

With daily tolls consistently breaking records, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing pressure to declare another nationwide lockdown, as he did during the first wave.

Until now, Mr Modi has relied on individual cities and states to decide their own lockdown measures, while concentrating national resources on distributing medicines and vaccines.

India today reported more than 414,000 new Covid infections, taking its seven-day average (pictured) to almost 390,000

Medics wearing PPE attend to Covid patients on the emergency ward of a hospital in Delhi amid the country's brutal second wave of virus

Calls are growing for a full second national lockdown in India as state and city-wide measures do not appear to be slowing the spread of the virus

Opponents of Modi, medical experts and judges say there are few alternatives to a second national shutdown as the country's healthcare system stretches beyond breaking point

India also reported 3,915 deaths today, taking its seven-day average of deaths to 3,700, as shown on this graph

But with the crisis showing no sign of slowing and the country's healthcare system stretched past collapse, medical experts, political opponents and some Supreme Court justices have said nationwide measures appear to be the only solution.

Over the past month, nearly a dozen out of India's 28 federal states have announced less stringent restrictions than the nationwide lockdown imposed for two months in March last year.

Modi, who held consultations with top elected leaders and officials of the worst-hit states on Thursday, has so far left the responsibility for fighting the virus to poorly equipped state governments.

Dr. Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, said a complete, aggressive lockdown is needed in India just like last year, especially in areas where more than 10% of those tested have contracted COVID-19.

Rahul Gandhi, an opposition Congress party leader, in a letter to Modi on Friday reiterated his demand for a total lockdown, warning 'the human cost will result in many more tragic consequences for our people.'

He said the government should not worry about the economic cost of a shutdown and provide critical financial and food support to the poor.

Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a public-private consultancy, acknowledged that different states were experiencing different intensities of the epidemic, but said a 'coordinated countrywide strategy' was still needed.

A man wearing PPE watches the cremation of a person who died from Covid in New Delhi

The body of a Covid victim is taken for cremation at a site in New Delhi

The body of a Covid victim is prepared for cremation at a site in Allahbad, northern India

According to Reddy, decisions need to be based on local conditions but should be closely coordinated by the center. 'Like an orchestra which plays the same sheet music but with different instruments,' he said.

Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, also suggested that a complete shutdown in India may be needed two to four weeks to help ease the surge of infections.

'As soon as the cases start coming down, you can vaccinate more people and get ahead of the trajectory of the outbreak of the pandemic,' Fauci said in an interview with the Indian television CNN News18 news channel on Thursday. He did not provide specifics of what a shutdown should entail.

He said it appears there are at least two types of virus variants circulating in India. He said B117, which is the U.K. variant, tends to be concentrated in New Delhi and that the 617 variant is concentrated in the worst-hit western Maharashtra state.

'Both of those have increasing capability of transmitting better and more efficiently than the original Wuhan strain a year ago,' Fauci said.

Modi imposed a two-month stringent lockdown last year on four hours' notice. It stranded tens of millions of migrant workers who were left jobless and fled to villages with many dying along the way. Experts say the decision helped contain the virus and bought time for the government.

A man runs to escape the heat of funeral pyres burning at a cremation ground in Delhi

India's economy contracted by 23% in April-June quarter last year and showed recovery as the restrictions were eased. The International Monetary Fund's projection of 12.5% growth in 2021-22 financial year, beginning April, is expected to suffer again with the surge in infections.

Modi's policy of selected lockdowns is being supported by some experts, including Vineeta Bal, a scientist at the National Institute of Immunology. She said different states have different needs, and local particularities need to be taken into account for any policy to work.

In most instances, in places where health infrastructure and expertise are good, localized restrictions at the level of a state, or even a district, are a better way to curb the spread of infections, said Bal. 'A centrally mandated lockdown will just be inappropriate,' she said.

Dr. Yogesh Jain Ganiyari of the Peoples Health Support Group, a low-cost public health program in the central state of Chhattisgarh, said that scientifically, lockdowns are the most effective way of curbing infections.

'But we don't live in a lab. We need to take into account the humanitarian aspect,' said Ganiyari. 'Those who look at lockdowns just as disease control mechanisms are heartless. You have to think about the people.'
G. Balachandran turned 80 this spring - a milestone of a birthday in India, where he lives. If not for the coronavirus pandemic, he would have been surrounded by family members who gathered to celebrate with him.

But with the virus ravaging his homeland, Balachandran, a retired academic, had to settle for congratulatory phone calls. Including one from his rather famous niece: Vice President Kamala Harris.

During a Zoom interview Thursday from his home in New Delhi, Harris' uncle said he spoke with the vice president and her husband, Doug Emhoff, for quite a while. To close out the conversation, Harris assured him shed take care of his daughter - her cousin - who lives in Washington.

'Dont worry, Uncle. Ill take care of your daughter. I talk to her quite a lot,' Balachandran recalls Harris telling him in their March conversation.

It was the last time they had a chance to speak. Since then, the coronavirus has raged out of control in India, overwhelming the health care system and killing hundreds of thousands of people.

Harris addressed the crisis in taped remarks at a State Department event Friday on COVID-19 relief efforts in India. She called the surge in infections and deaths 'nothing short of heartbreaking' and said 'the welfare of India is critically important to the United States.'

Vice President Kamala Harris' maternal uncle, Balachandran Gopalan, talks to media outside his house, in New Delhi, India, in November

Vice President Kamala Harris with Doug Emhoff and his children Cole and Ella

She summarized U.S. aid to date to India, along with U.S. support for suspending patents on COVID-19 vaccines to help other countries vaccinate their people more quickly. Harris noted that India helped the U.S. at the start of the pandemic when its hospital capacity was stretched.

'And today, we are determined to help India in its hour of need,' the vice president said.

While the crisis in India has created diplomatic and humanitarian challenges for the Biden administration, for Harris it is also personal: Her mother was born there, and shes spoken emotionally throughout her political career about the influence of her many visits to India as a child.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the Indian nongovernmental organization Pratham in 2018, Harris talked about walking hand-in-hand with her grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, and listening to him speak with friends about the importance of a free and equal democracy.

'It was those walks on the beach with my grandfather on Besant Nagar that have had a profound impact on who I am today,' she said.

She spoke often on the campaign trail about her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a headstrong and resilient woman who bucked tradition and decided to leave India to pursue a career as a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

And during her acceptance speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Harris opened her speech with a shout-out to her 'chithis' - a Tamil word for aunt. One of those chithis, Sarala Gopalan, is a retired obstetrician who lives in Chennai.

As a child, Harris used to visit India every other year. Now all that remains of her extended family there are her aunt and uncle. Another Indian-born aunt lives in Canada.

Balachandran said that while he used to hear about friends of friends getting the virus, now its hitting close to home. Those he knows personally or worked with are getting the virus, and some are dying.

Balachandran considers himself one of the lucky ones, as hes retired and largely stays home alone, leaving only occasionally for groceries, so that 'nobody can infect me other than myself.'

His sister Sarala is the same, he says, and has largely isolated herself in her apartment in Chennai to avoid exposure. Both are fully vaccinated, something he knows is a luxury in India, which has suffered from a severe vaccine shortage.

That shortage is part of what prompted criticism in India of what many saw as an initially lackluster U.S. response to a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the nation over the past month. The U.S. initially refused to lift a ban on exports of vaccine manufacturing supplies, drawing sharp criticism from some Indian leaders.

When COVID-19 cases in India started to spin out of control in April, there were calls for other countries - particularly the U.S. - to get involved. While a number of countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia and even India's traditional foe Pakistan, offered support and supplies, U.S. leaders were seen as dragging their feet.

The White House had previously emphasized the $1.4 billion in health assistance provided to India to help with pandemic preparedness and said when asked that it was in discussions about offering aid.

The delay in offering further aid was seen as putting a strain on long-standing close diplomatic relations between the two nations, and on April 25, after receiving scrutiny over the U.S. response, a number of top U.S. officials publicly offered further support and supplies to India - including a tweet and a call to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from President Joe Biden himself.

Kamala Harris, back row at left, in an undated family photo. Next to her, from left, are her grandmother Rajam Gopalan, grandfather P.V. Gopalan and sister, Maya Harris. With them are Maya's daughter, Meena, left, and Harris' cousin Sharada Balachandran Orihuela

Harris niece in California, Meena Harris, has retweeted a half-dozen accounts calling for more aid to India, including one from climate activist Greta Thunberg admonishing the global community to 'step up and immediately offer assistance.'

Harris' office declined to comment for this article.

The U.S. announced it would lift the export ban on vaccine manufacturing supplies and last week began sending personal protective equipment, oxygen supplies, antivirals and other aid to India to help it combat the virus.

The administration gets no criticism from S.V. Ramanan, an administrator of the Shri Dharma Sastha Temple in Harris grandfathers hometown Thulasendrapuram in southern Tamil Nadu state, 215 miles (350 kilometers) from the coastal city of Chennai.

'Everyone has their priorities. America also passed through something similar and we helped then. Now they are helping us,' he said.

Ramanan added that he didnt expect that having Harris as vice president fast-tracked aid to India or that it somehow meant help should have come earlier, adding: 'I think in general all other countries should help, and Im glad the U.S. has stepped up.'

He hopes Harris can make a visit to her ancestral village when things are better.

While Harris has embraced her Indian heritage as part of her political profile, in responding to the crisis there shes been careful to speak from the perspective of a vice president rather than an Indian American worried about her familys safety.

'We are all part of a world community. And to the extent that any of us, as human beings who have any level of compassion, see suffering anywhere around the world, it impacts all of us. You know, it impacts us all,' she told reporters last week in Ohio.

A ban on travel to and from India was announced that day. Harris said only that she hadnt spoken to her family since the ban was announced.

And G. Balachandran, Harris uncle, doesnt fault his niece for how the U.S. response has played out.

He said that, knowing Kamala, 'she would have done all that she can in order to expedite the matter.'

For now, he's content with the occasional phone call from his niece. When the two talk, its mostly about family; he doesnt share much about current affairs in India because, he joked, 'shes got a whole embassy thats sending her cables every hour on all of India!'

But he does hope to visit the vice president's residence in Washington at the Naval Observatory when he can travel again. Balachandran said he'd like to meet Biden again and remind him that the last time they met was when Biden was vice president and swore in Harris as a U.S. senator.

'I wish we could all be together at the same time,' he said of the extended family, 'but thats a big wish to look for at this moment.'
Boris Johnson has set himself on course for a constitutional clash with Nicola Sturgeon if she pushes ahead with plans for a second Scottish independence referendum - which the PM has called 'irresponsible and reckless'.

Counting continues in the Scottish parliamentary contest, with the SNP leader's hopes of achieving a majority on a knife edge, after a poll predicted the party could miss out by just one seat.

But it is still highly likely the SNP will win its fourth term in power at Holyrood, and Ms Sturgeon said 'when the time is right' she will offer Scots 'the choice of a better future' in a second independence referendum.

But Mr Johnson has insisted he would not support another independence vote, saying a referendum would be 'irresponsible and reckless' in the 'current context' following the pandemic.

Pressed on what he would do if Ms Sturgeon pushed ahead with a referendum without Westminster's consent, he told the Daily Telegraph: 'Well, as I say, I think that there's no case now for such a thing... I don't think it's what the times call for at all.'

Ms Sturgeon countered, telling Channel 4: 'If this was in almost any other democracy in the world it would be an absurd discussion.

'If people in Scotland vote for a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, no politician has got the right to stand in the way of that.'

After 48 of the 73 constituency results in Scotland were declared on Friday, the SNP had 39 seats, Liberal Democrats four, Conservatives three and Labour two

Miss Sturgeon's hopes of winning an overall majority for the SNP at Holyrood election are hanging in the balance - despite her party making gains from its rivals.

Boris Johnson has insisted he would not support another independence vote, saying a referendum would be 'irresponsible and reckless' in the 'current context' following the pandemic

The SNP leader's hopes of achieving a majority on a knife edge, after a poll predicted the party could miss out by just one seat

The SNP picked up key seats in Edinburgh Central - where former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson replaced the one time Scottish Tory boss Ruth Davidson - as well as as in Ayr and East Lothian.

But under Holyrood's proportional representation system, those successes could see it lose seats on the regional list ballot.

With 47 constituency results declared today, the SNP have won 38 seats, with the Liberal Democrats on four, the Conservatives with three and Labour two.

Meanwhile, Labour's Jackie Baillie held on to her Dumbarton constituency - which had been the most marginal seat in all of Scotland and a top target for the SNP.

Ms Baillie had a majority of just 109 from the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, but increased that 1,483.

With some constituencies still to be counted on Saturday, when the crucial regional list results will also be declared, Ms Sturgeon said it was 'not impossible'.

An SNP majority would be a major blow for Boris Johnson and pile pressure on him to grant a second Scottish independence referendum  which could lead to the break-up of the UK.

A final opinion poll by Ipsos MORI for STV News projected that the SNP could take 68 seats. But 12 per cent of the 1,502 people asked said they could still change their vote ahead of polls opening on Thursday.

Opposition party leaders (Conservative Douglas Ross pictured) were confident that they had managed to mobilise the pro-Union vote to stave off the threat of separation from the rest of the UK

Ipsos MORI Scotland managing director Emily Gray said a majority for the SNP 'hangs in the balance'. She added: 'The election result may come down to how the parties perform in a small number of key marginal seats, as well as in the regional vote, which is likely to prove particularly important in determining which party is in second place.

'With a relatively high percentage of voters still saying they've not definitely decided, all the parties still have something to play for.' The poll had the Tories and Labour both losing seats, dropping to 27 and 19 respectively, while the Greens were forecast to jump to 11 seats and the Lib Dems to lose one, ending on four.

Wales is a bright spot in dismal night for Labour Wales was last night set to be one of Labour's few successes in the elections with the party likely to keep control of the Welsh Parliament. The party appeared to have exceeded expectations as counting continued, with just one of its seats  the Vale of Clwyd  falling to the Welsh Conservatives. Labour also said it was confident of unseating former Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood in Rhondda. At the start of the campaign, polling suggested Labour was facing its worst ever result in Wales, and was at risk of winning as few as 22 of the Welsh Parliament's 60 seats, a loss of seven from 2016. But last night, confirmed results and indications suggested Labour would end up only just short of an outright majority. Advertisement

Two other polls were published earlier on Wednesday, with one predicting the SNP would drop to 59 seats.

After the Lib Dems held their safe seat of Orkney the nationalists took the next 11 seats, including the previously Labour constituency of East Lothian.

The SNP also held 10 of their own seats, but some with markedly reduced majorities: Banffshire & Buchan Coast saw a 10.3 per cent swing to the Tories, and in Aberdeen Donside it was 6.2 per cent.

In Clydebank & Milngavie the SNP held the seat but with a 5.8 per cent swing to Labour. It was the first blood in an election in which polls suggest Nicola Sturgeon could miss out on an SNP majority at Holyrood by just a single seat.

She is almost certain to remain in power in a coalition, but the failure would dent her call for a new independence referendum.

Scottish Labour's Daniel Johnson won the first seat of the election for his party, holding Edinburgh Southern. He won 20,760 votes to SNP candidate Catriona MacDonald's 16,738.

But former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson won the Edinburgh Central constituency in the Holyrood election formerly held by ex-Scottish Conservative chief Ruth Davidson.

Mr Robertson reversed a Conservative majority of 810 held by the former Tory leader, winning 16,276 votes. The Tory candidate, Scott Douglas, won 11,544 votes - giving the SNP a majority of 4,732.

In Ayr, the SNP's Siobhian Brown defeated the incumbent John Scott, who had held the seat since 2000, by 18,881 votes to 18,711. Ms Brown reversed a majority of just 750 votes, winning by 170.

Left: Scottish First Minister & SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon arrives on the counting floor at the Scottish Election 2021 Glasgow count. Right: ALBA party leader Alex Salmond talks on his phone as votes are being counted for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections

ALBA party leader Alex Salmond on his phone as votes are being counted for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections at the P&J Live/TECA, Aberdeen

Scottish Labour won 4,766 votes in the seat, while the Liberal Democrats took just 808, with a turnout of 68% of the electorate.

Speaking before she retained her Glasgow Southside seat, Ms Sturgeon said: 'A majority has always been a very, very long shot - the Holyrood system is a proportional representation system, in 2011 we effectively broke that system.

'It would be good to do but I have never taken that for granted, that has always been on a knife edge - a small number of votes in a small number of seats - so we'll wait and see how the votes will pan out over today and tomorrow.'

Salmond: This election was 'perhaps too early to make breakthrough we were looking for' Alex Salmond has said this election was 'perhaps too early to make the breakthrough we were looking for'. Asked by the BBC about his Alba Party's prospects, the former Scotland first minister said 'whether we will make it tomorrow, I don't think so on the results we've seen'. 'I think probably we will take out of this election the arguments we have been putting forward will be proven to be correct. Firstly that independence should be front and centre of election campaigns if we want to persuade people to vote for it. 'And, secondly, it looks like, though it is not certain, that the SNP will be poised on an overall majority but there won't be the backing in terms of the enthusiasm for getting on with the independence referendum. 'Crucially, it seems perhaps a million, perhaps even more than a million, SNP votes on the regional list are going to elect perhaps one, perhaps two MSPs on that section of the ballot paper across Scotland. What a waste.' Advertisement

The SNP leader has now said she hoped and expected that Boris Johnson would not block another independence referendum.

'When we get to that point we will take the action, introduce the legislation that would be necessary for an independence referendum, and if Boris Johnson wants to stop that he would have to go to court,' she told Channel 4 News.

'I hope and expect that wouldn't happen because actually Boris Johnson is not exempt from the rules of democracy.'

She added: 'If this was in almost any other democracy in the world it would be an absurd discussion.

'If people in Scotland vote for a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, no politician has got the right to stand in the way of that.'

As the process of counting Scottish parliamentary votes began, experts predicted that the First Minister's chances of wielding enough power to demand a second independence referendum hang in the balance.

Professor Sir John Curtice, Scotland's leading pollster, told the BBC this afternoon: 'They don't need a dramatic increase in their support, two or three points up, two or three points down for their opponents would be enough.

'But so far at the moment the SNP vote is running about a couple of points down on what it was in 2016 .... At the moment at least there aren't signs of the consistent progress on the kind of scale that the SNP need that would translate into an overall majority.'

Ms Sturgeon is looking for an overall SNP majority of 65 seats or more to boost her argument that a fresh vote should be held, despite the overwhelming No vote in 2014.

Although she will be able to govern in a coalition with the pro-independence Greens if the SNP get fewer than 65 seats, it would dramatically weaken her argument that there is huge support for her plan.

Opposition party leaders were confident that they had managed to mobilise the pro-Union vote to stave off the threat of separation from the rest of the UK.

Despite the pandemic and treacherous weather in some areas, turnout for 'the most important election since devolution' was said to be strong.

Last night, pro-Union parties said their vote was holding up in key areas, with the hope they could thwart Miss Sturgeon's bid to get a parliamentary majority.

Votes in some 46 of the 73 constituency seats will be counted from about 9am today, with the first results expected from noon.

ALBA party leader Alex Salmond watches votes being counted for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections being counted in Aberdeen this morning

It is anticipated all 46 should be declared by Friday evening.

Then, from about 9am on Saturday, the remaining 27 constituency seats will be counted, after which the regional seats will be allocated.

Humza Yousaf, Scotland's Justice Secretary and a candidate for the Glasgow Pollok constituency, said there has been high turnout at many polling stations in his constituency and around the country.

Saying the SNP were feeling buoyant, Mr Yousaf said: 'There is people who will take a high turnout as a positive sign for them, but I suspect every party will say that.'

Sturgeon blasts 'racist and fascist' Britain First leader at polling station Nicola Sturgeon branded the former deputy leader of Britain First a 'racist and fascist' after an extraordinary confrontation outside a polling station on election day. Jayda Fransen, who is standing as an independent in Glasgow Southside, the same constituency contested by Ms Sturgeon, confronted the SNP leader on Thursday. Ms Fransen, who is from London and has convictions for religiously aggravated harassment, told Ms Sturgeon: 'What are you sorry for? Mass immigration, Marxism? I'm not a fascist. I've been on the ground speaking to locals who say you are an absolute disgrace.' After a back and forth, Ms Sturgeon said: 'You are a fascist, you are a racist and the southside of Glasgow will reject you.' The First Minister also added: 'We'll see what the locals' view is later on.' In Glasgow Southside, Ms Sturgeon is expected to win comfortably, despite going up against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Ex-Britain First deputy Ms Fransen is not expected to challenge. Advertisement

He added: 'I think the SNP's going to have a good night, but I think other parties also I can see there's an uptick in their vote too.

'So really it's going to come down to the wire in some seats I suspect.'

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a staggered tallying up of ballots for the 2021 Holyrood election, with all results expected to be declared by Saturday evening.

Normally, counting begins immediately after the polls close at 10pm and continues overnight, with results confirmed in the early hours.

But the need for social distancing among count staff has meant votes will be tallied from Friday.

This year's election, while conducted under the constraints of coronavirus rules, is also considered to be one of the most important since the Scottish Parliament opened in 1999.

With the SNP set for another five years in government, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will no doubt ramp up the pressure on Westminster to grant the powers for another vote on Scottish independence.

Her opponents in the Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties have stressed the importance of focusing on Scotland's recovery from coronavirus instead

But the SNP leader and her party have said no referendum will be held until after the immediate health crisis is over, and they insist powers gained through independence would actually improve the recovery in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon has said another pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament, including the Greens and Alba Party seats, should be enough to let Scots vote again on whether they want to leave the UK.

On Thursday, two voters in Glasgow North West said they were temporarily turned away from a polling station because a ballot box was 'too full'.

Nadeem Basharat, 37, said he and his partner Joanne Basharat, 34, went to Jordanhill Parish Church polling station at around 8.30pm and were told they could not cast their vote at the time.

He said he was told ballot box 52 was too full and he was told to 'come back by 10pm', by a steward who was 'quite vague'.

He told the PA news agency: 'We went home and waited and got there for about 9.30pm and managed to get in, ballot box 52 was still pretty full, like it had just been pushed down and not a new box.

'It looked like there were people there who didn't manage to vote first time around.'

A spokesman for Glasgow's returning officer said: 'The sheer size of the regional paper meant some ballot boxes became full. We were able to deliver replacement boxes, but in this case some voters were asked to wait outside before voting.

'The presiding officer is confident that all voters who were asked to wait were ultimately able to vote.'
A young woman has warned others not to go out alone in the evenings after she was assaulted by a group of men while jogging in a park near her home.

Cait Smith, 23, was running alone in Castle Park, Colchester when she was grabbed from behind by three men and had her head 'smashed' into the ground.

The Essex admin assistant was left with a swollen black eye and scrapes and bruises covering her arms, as she warned fellow women not to venture out alone in the dark.

After posting a warning message about the assault on Facebook, Cait has been inundated with messages of support from thousands of people.

23-year-old admin assistant Cait Smith was attacked by a group of men as she ran through a Colchester park earlier this week

Feisty: Regular jogger Cait (above) was assaulted by three men while on a night run in Essex. The self-proclaimed 'feisty' young woman was able to fight off her attackers

Regular runner Cait was jogging on Tuesday night at around 10pm when the assault took place.

She says she normally wears a head torch when jogging through Castle Park at night, and had never previously felt threatened there.

The young woman was grabbed by three men in the brief moment she stopped to change music on her phone.

The 23-year-old said: 'I was wrestled to the ground, and one of the men was sat on top of me, while another was holding my head to the floor.

'I've been left with a big lump on my face from where they smashed my head to the ground.'

Cait said there were no other people around to come to her rescue, but the 'feisty' young woman was able to fight off her attackers.

'I am lucky that I am quite feisty - I can hold myself in a fight.

'I don't think they were expecting me to fight back - so I just fought as hard as I could and then legged it away from them.'

Despite being a regular runner in the Colchester park, Cait says she won't be returning following the 'terrifying' attack.

Cait was left with a swollen eye (above), bruises and cuts and scrapes after the attack and she's now warning others not to venture out alone in the dark

'I run in Castle Park a couple of times a week, and I've never felt threatened down there.

'I normally wear a head torch when I'm running, so I can keep my wits about me. But typically, this was the one occasion where I forgot it.

'It's terrifying that other young people like me should have to live by a different clock out of fear.

'But that is what I want other people - not just women, but everyone - to be aware of. I don't want this to happen to anyone else.

'From now on, when I feel able to go out running again, I'll be sticking to busier areas.'

Cait was left battered and bruised (pictured) and has been flooded with thousands of messages and comments of support since posting about her experience on Facebook

Cait has been flooded with thousands of messages and comments of support since posting on Facebook on Wednesday morning about the assault.

She says that from now on, she will stick to running in the daytime, and in busier areas of the town centre.

And she is now warning other young women and men to be aware of the 'dangers' of going out in the dark.

'It's not right that women, or anyone, should have to avoid going out at night because of fear that they might be assaulted. Things have to change.'

The attack on Cait was almost exactly two months on from the disappearance of Sarah Everard in South London - a tragic tale that prompted tens of thousands of women to share their stories of feeling unsafe on Britain's streets.

Essex Police have launched an investigation into the assault and have promised more patrols in the area.

Chief Inspector Jon Evans, District Commander for Colchester, said: 'I understand this will be a concerning incident for people living across Colchester and use Castle Park regularly.

'No-one should feel afraid for their safety when going out alone but we are working to identify those involved.

'Fortunately incidents such as this a rare in Colchester but we have additional patrols in the area to provide some additional reassurance.'
A British woman murdered in Pakistan has been pictured with the second man suspected of killing her, after it was revealed that police ignored her pleas for protection having receiving multiple death and rape threats.

Law graduate Mayra Zulfiquar, 24, has been pictured with prime suspect Zahir Jadoon, who is reported to have repeatedly threatened to kill her over a dispute.

However, police are said to have ignored her repeated requests for help with regards to death threats she was receiving from the suspect, according to Dawn.com.

Ms Zulfiquar, originally from Feltham in south west London, had also alleged that the other suspect - Saad Butt, 28 - had tried to sexually assault her after she refused to accept his marriage proposal. She is reported to have been friends with both men.

The Briton was found dead on Monday (May 3), suffering bullet wounds to her neck and arm, a postmortem revealed on Wednesday.

It is thought the Briton was killed after four men broke into the rented apartment in Lahore where she was staying with a friend, having moved there from the UK.

Police believe the killing was a 'crime of passion' carried out after Mayra rejected marriage proposals from two of her alleged attackers.

Officials have also revealed that Ms Zulfiquar uploaded objectionable photographs of Jadoon on social media after they had an argument, which angered him.

A man has now been arrested in connection with the murder, with police continuing their hunt for the other. It is unclear who has been arrested at this time.

Pictured: Second suspect Zahir Jadoon (and left, pictured with Miss Zulfiquar). Jadoon is reported to have repeatedly threatened to kill the British woman over a dispute

Mayra Zulfiquar, 24 a British law graduate found dead in Pakistan on Monday, bled to death from gunshot wounds in her neck and arm, a post mortem report has said

Lahore police in Pakistan confirmed to MailOnline that Mr Butt is the chief suspect.

Police have previously revealed Jadoon was in a relationship with Ms Zulfiquar and had rented the house where she was killed so that they could spend time there away from her family.

Jadoon is reported to have been staying at the upper portion of the house, which was reportedly adjacent to Mahira's room, although an initial probe found he did not spent time with her during her time in Pakistan.

Superintendent Sayyed Ali of Punjab police, who is responsible for Lahore's up-market Defence district of Lahore where the house is located told MailOnline: 'From our initial enquiries Butt was romantically interested in Mayra even though she was involved with Zahir.

'He had rented a house so that they could spend time together and, in the weeks, leading up to the murder, were seen frequently with each other going out and about.'

Referring to Butt, Superintendent Ali added: 'Police have had previous dealings with him in the past and we are looking for him all over Lahore and across the rest of Pakistan because he could be anywhere.'

'But it is a mystery to us why Zahir has also absconded and we are also looking for him because he will be able to provide us with a lot of information as to what actually happened.

'If he is innocent, then we don't understand why he has gone missing. But I can promise you, we will find both men.'

It is thought the Briton was killed after four men broke into the rented apartment in Lahore where she was staying with a friend, having moved there from the UK

Saad Ameer Butt, 28, from Lahore, (pictured) is one of two men being sought for the brutal killing of Mayra Zulfiquar but police in Pakistan confirmed he is the chief suspect

Mayra had been in Pakistan for just two months before she died. She had gone out for a cousin's wedding but decided to stay after the country was placed on the UK's Covid travel red list, a family member told Mail Online.

Police said they have opened a first information report (FIR) on the case after receiving a complaint from Ms Zulfiquar's uncle, Lahore resident Mohammad Nazeer.

The FIR said Mr Nazeer was aware of two men who had been acting aggressively towards Mayra and threatened her with 'dire consequences' if she refused them, and had vowed to speak with the pair.

But on Monday he got a call from Mayra's father in London to say she had been shot to death.

Police were informed of the attack by an anonymous tipster and rushed round to the apartment to find Mayra in a pool of blood.

It is thought they then informed Mayra's father, who made the call to her uncle.

Mayra's parents are thought to have flown from London to Lahore today to attend her funeral service which was held within 24 hours of her death in keeping with Islamic tradition, Sky News reports.

Ziaur Rehman, who runs a market stall in Feltham, told the site: 'Her father called me on Monday and asked me to come to his house.

'He was crying, I sensed there was something wrong, then I went there and the news was shocking.

'Her mother she is really struggling now, she is not well at all.'

Sayyed Ali, an operations superintendent at Punjab Police, told Pakistani newspaper Dawn that Mayra had been found in a pool of blood of the floor of her bedroom, with her mobile phone near her body.

Zahir Jadoon, had rented the house (above) where she was killed so they could spend time there away from her family, police confirmed to MailOnline

It is thought Mayra was killed when four men broke into the Lahore apartment where she was staying with a friend (pictured)

Police are now hunting two men thought to have organised the raid after Mayra rejected marriage proposals from both of them

'We are also after two suspects and will share further details at a later stage,' Mr Sayyed added. 'We have seized the mobile phone for forensic analysis.'

Mr Sayyed also said police are analysing footage from nearby CCTV cameras in the hope of finding suspects.

Another senior police source told the BBC that addresses in Islamabad and Lahore are being targeted in raids.

Ms Zulfiquar's parents are expected to arrive in Lahore from their home in London later this week.

In a statement, Duncan Blackett Law said Ms Zulfiqar had been briefly enrolled on its legal mentorship programme before it was postponed as a result of the coronavirus outbreak and she was an 'excellent mentee who demonstrated a keen interest in commercial law'.

Gracie Duncan, of Duncan Blackett Law, told the Daily Mail: 'She was a lovely girl, very quietly spoken, very keen to learn and to get into the profession. I am very shocked to learn what has happened to her.'

The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said in a statement: 'We are supporting the family of a British woman who died in Pakistan and are urgently seeking more information from the local authorities.

'Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.'

Dawn reported Ms Zulfiquar had dual British-Belgian citizenship.

According to a family source who spoke to Mail Online, Mayra had decided to stay in the country after Pakistan was placed on the UK's Covid red list of countries - meaning she would have to pay 1,750 for a stay in a quarantine hotel on her return.

Mayra had allegedly complained to relatives about the cost of the ten-day quarantine, saying she preferred to sit it out in Pakistan in the hope that it would be removed from the red list next month.

A family source said: 'She didn't want to come back and pay all that money to quarantine in Britain so decided to stay in Lahore, where she was living with her grandmother.

Ms Zulfiqar (pictured) is understood to have gone to Pakistan around two months ago to attend a cousin's wedding, and stayed after the country was put on the Covid travel red list

'She was angry that it was too much money for ten days in a grotty hotel. Instead, she thought she'd have more fun in Lahore and was having a lovely time after making a new group of friends.'

The family source also revealed that Mayra had made three complaints to local police about being harassed by Saad Ameer Butt, one of two men who have been arrested.

The source added: 'A local gangster who is closely connected to the police in Lahore took a shine to her but despite reporting him for harassment, they did nothing. The police are very corrupt over there and don't take crimes against women seriously.'

Her murder is believed to have taken place in a house rented by one of her friends in the Defence area shortly after 4am.

Devout Muslim Mayra had just shared a meal with her pals before staring their Ramadan fast for the day.

Neighbours reported hearing screaming and at least two-gun shots before police arrived to find Mayra's body in an upstairs bedroom, which had also been trashed.

Mayra had ambitions to be a lawyer and start her own law firm. Prior to travelling to Pakistan for the wedding, she did an internship with a legal company in Dubai.

Her mother and father, Muhammad flew to Pakistan on Tuesday morning just hours after finding out about Mayra's death. They have three other sons who have remained at the family home and are being consoled by friends and relatives.

The family source said: 'As you can imagine, the family is devastated. Mayra was a beautiful, fun, intelligent girl and a dutiful daughter and sister.

'The parents had to go to Pakistan to make sure that the police find her killer because they felt helpless sitting in London while waiting for news.'

The brother of Ms Zulfiqar has announced that he is holding a fundraiser for his sister following her murder in Pakistan.

Faizan Muhammad said he feels 'obligated' to do so, with the fundraiser considered a Sadaqah Jariyah - defined as a charitable gift that benefits both the giver and receiver.

'I don't usually like doing this but I feel obligated to do it right now,' said Faizan Muhammad. We need justice for my beloved sister Mayra Zulfiqar who died abroad in Pakistan Lahore on Monday 3rd of May (May Allah grant her shahada).

'My only sister was taken away from us at only the age of 24 years old. She still had the rest of her life to live, see the world and had big plans and dreams for her future.

'It may seem like a lot but every little helps, even if you can donate just 1.00 in shaa Allah!'

Referencing Ramadan, which is set to end on 12 May, he added: 'I request that you make special Dua magafrat for my Mayra and that Allah grants me and my family sabr and strength.

'May Allah accept all your duas especially in the last 10 days of Ramadan.'

Mahira was murdered at her rented house in Lahore's Defence Housing colony of Punjab province, where she was staying with her friend, Iqra.

Iqra has shared a heartfelt message with a Jam Press reporter on the ground: 'She was full of life and being honest with her friends.

'Indeed, a helpful girl in many ways. We're broken to lose her too early.'
Balzer was charged with murder which carries maximum penalty of death

An American fugitive has been arrested in Thailand on suspicion of stabbing his pregnant wife to death and dumping her body in the trash.

Jason Balzer, 32, argued with Pitchaporn Kidchob, 32, about his purchase of a new motorbike before allegedly stabbing her repeatedly at their home in the northern city of Nan on Sunday.

Balzer is said to have fled the following day and was arrested on Thursday more than 100 miles away in Chiang Mai where he was staying with friends, local media reported.

Police detained him hours after discovering Pitchaporn's body stuffed inside a bin which had been pushed into a ditch around three miles from their home. There were stab wounds on her torso.

Balzer - who arrived in Thailand after allegedly jumping bail in Colorado - was charged with murder which carries a maximum penalty of death.

Jason Balzer, 32, argued with Pitchaporn Kidchob, 32, about his purchase of a new motorbike before allegedly stabbing her repeatedly at their home in Nan on Sunday (pictured during his arrest yesterday)

Pitchaporn Kidchob, 32, met the American in Phuket last year

Police detained Balzer hours after discovering Pitchaporn's body stuffed inside a bin which had been pushed into a ditch. There were stab wounds on her torso.

Balzer is seen during his arrest on Thursday after travelling 200 miles from the home he shared with his wife

Balzer is seen speaking to police after his detention on Thursday

He reportedly told police that he killed his wife because she had nagged him and complained about a new motorcycle he bought himself.

In a police interview, Balzer reportedly said: 'I was furious when she yelled at me for buying a new motorbike so I stabbed her. I really had no idea that she was pregnant.

'I quit my job and sold everything to settle down in Thailand with her. But lately she showed me no affection, refusing to sleep with me and telling me to return to my country.'

According to media reports from Colorado, Balzer has been in previous legal trouble.

Police Lieutenant General Prachuab Wongsuk said that they wanted to gather all the evidence before levelling charges at Balzer.

According to local press, Prachuab said: 'They had a lot of arguments lately. The offender eventually snapped when she scolded him. She demanded that he should leave her alone.

'Jason stabbed her twice before taking her body to a forest to get rid of the evidence. He hid the corpse inside a bin and put it on the back of a pickup truck.

'The bin was sealed with tapes and placed in a specific spot where bushes concealed everything. He fled to Chiang Mai to stay with his friends, since the province has more foreigners than Nan allowing him to blend in.'

Police had been alerted to a possible crime when Pitchaporn's mother, Anong Tanya, 52, who was unable to reach her daughter by phone, went to the couple's house and found bloodstains.

Balzer, a programmer, met Pitchaporn in Thailand in 2017 and they were married in the US, after which Balzer quit his job, sold all his property and moved to Nan, the newspaper Thai Rath reported, citing commander Prachuab.

Balzer said he did not know his wife was three months' pregnant, Prachuab said.

Police remove a green wheelie bin from the ditch. Pitchaporn's body was found inside the bin with stab wounds

The motorbike which Balzer was allegedly seen fleeing on earlier this week

CCTV footage which allegedly shows Balzer fleeing his home in Nan

Balzer, a programmer, met Pitchaporn in Thailand in 2017 and they were married in the US, after which Balzer quit his job, sold all his property and moved to Nan, the newspaper Thai Rath reported, citing commander Prachuab

Neighbours told police that they heard the couple arguing on the night that Pitchaporn was allegedly killed

Mother-in-law Anong Tanya, 52, claimed her son-in-law was known for having a 'bad temper'

Neighbours claimed the couple were heard fighting before Balzer rode his motorbike out of the house

Balzer and his wife are seen having coffee together in a picture uploaded to social media

According to media reports from Colorado, Balzer has been in previous legal trouble.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported that Balzer in December 2019 pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree assault in Boulder District Court and was sentenced to two years of probation.

It said he had originally been charged with attempted murder and six related charges, but his victim would not testify in court.

The Greeley Tribune reported that Balzer and a second man were stopped by police on December 30 last year in the town of Mead for a possible traffic violation, and were found to be transporting 72 guns.

Balzer was arrested for 74 violations of a protection order, two felony counts of possession of an illegal weapon and two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon, the report said. He was released from custody after posting bail, it said.
A terrorist inspired by the Christchurch massacre who fantasized about killing Theresa May and blowing himself up in a mosque before searching 'how to justify killing a Muslim' has been jailed for more than four years.

Robert Gregory wrote in his diary that he wanted to kill MPs, murder a news reporter on live television while also making a number of troubling searches online.

As part of his plans, the 24-year-old admitted watching YouTube videos about how to construct explosives - one called 'How to make a mini bomb' and the other entitled 'How to make a simple time bomb DIY'.

A court heard that when Gregory was asked about why he wanted to commit these violent attacks, he said: 'I want to stand up for my people.'

He was caught when police discovered the online searches on his phone and seized his diary.

After pleading guilty to terror offences, he has now been sentenced to four and a half years in jail after a judge condemned his 'clear terrorist motivations'.

Robert Gregory wrote in his diary that he wanted to kill MPs, murder a news reporter on live television while also making a number of troubling searches online

The aspiring terrorist fantasized about killing Theresa May (pictured) and blowing himself up in a mosque

Winchester Crown Court, Hampshire, heard that Gregory, from Bournemouth, Dorset, committed the offences just eight days after being released on licence from prison, where he had been serving time for stabbing a homeless person when he was just 16.

In diary entries read to the court, Gregory wrote that he wanted to 'stab (then prime minister Theresa May) and kill as many MPs on road to Downing Street'; that he would like to 'kill a news reporter live on TV;' and wrote that he would 'blow myself up in a mosque.'

Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker also revealed details of two internet searches Gregory conducted on his phone of 'How to justify killing a Muslim' and 'Where can I buy a gun in Bournemouth?'

Another diary entry from Gregory said that 'not enough' people were killed in the Christchurch Mosque shootings in 2019 in which 51 people were shot dead by a white supremacist at two mosques in the New Zealand city.

The diary entry read: 'Got news of terror attack in New Zealand finally we are taking a stand.

'Why do Muslims continue to condemn attacks on their own people not the ones on us?'

Other diary entries involved Gregory asking if an attack is still a terror attack if the attacker is not Muslim and Gregory's plans to recruit 'troops' that he would radicalise over a period of time.

Another entry detailed plans to get in touch with ISIS to learn how to make a suicide vest.

It read: 'Try to get hold of ISIS terrorist group once out of prison although I am not a Muslim so I can learn to make suicide vest.'

Gregory went on to suggest he could use the suicide vest at a gay Pride event.

Ms Faure Walker told the court that one of the videos he watched in April 2019 showed how to make a bomb using card and fireworks and the other showed how to make a time bomb using household items including an analogue clock and a mouse trap.

When interviewed by police about the diary entries, Gregory denied he wrote them and claimed he got along with Muslims, the court heard.

Winchester Crown Court (pictured), Hampshire, heard that Gregory, from Bournemouth, Dorset, committed the offences just eight days after being released on licence from prison, where he had been serving time for stabbing a homeless person when he was just 16

Defending, Paul Wakerley told the court that the videos Gregory watched were easily accessed on YouTube - with the one about the time bomb having 845,237 views and the other one having 388,000 views.

'There was no specialist skill required to find these videos, they were found on YouTube,' he said.

Mr Wakerley said that Gregory's views were not underpinned by extremism but rather by more general feelings of violence.

He said: 'Many of the diary entries that are referred to are extremely difficult to to listen to but they are diary entries of a man in prison over the course of two years and they are not part of the offence that he is convicted with for his plea.'

A bespectacled Gregory - with short brown curly hair and a goatee - pleaded guilty to two charges of collecting terrorist information.

Sentencing him to four and half years in prison Judge Jane Miller QC told him: 'You had clear terrorist motivations. I assess that you present a very high risk of harm to the public.'

Gregory was also subjected to a terrorism notification order, which means he will be closely monitored for a period of 30 years.
A British man stabbed to death at a Tenerife apartment last week was an armed intruder, police believe.

The Briton was initially believed to have been the victim of a burglary in the Island Village complex near Playa de las Americas in Tenerife.

But today it emerged the 31-year-old has been identified by detectives as the knifeman who went to the property where he was stabbed with two accomplices 'looking to steal drugs or cash.'

A British bar worker has been remanded in custody on suspicion of homicide pending an ongoing criminal investigation.

A British man stabbed to death at a Tenerife apartment last week was an armed intruder, police believe

A second Brit also arrested for the homicide has been released on bail along with a woman, who is being investigated on suspicion of concealment, and an Italian and Polish man who were in the flat at the time.

No charges have yet been laid against any of the five detainees. Charges in Spain are only laid shortly before trial but all five suspects remain under official investigation.

Court papers show the British bar worker failed to persuade an investigating judge who remanded him in custody that he had acted in self-defence despite police saying they were treating the incident as a robbery gone wrong.

A police report sent to a court in Arona the five suspects appeared at last Friday says the victim went to the home with two unidentified accomplices 'with the intention of stealing drugs or money that could be inside.'

The suspected killer is insisting the victim and an unidentified Moroccan accomplice were both carrying knives and said they tried to help the dying man before calling 999.

Judge Garcia Ramila, who made the custody and conditional bail orders after the suspects' court appearance last Friday in Arona, said in his remand ruling he could not find any factual proof at this stage 'that could justify a legitimate self-defence.'

The Briton was initially believed to have been the victim of a burglary. But today it emerged the 31-year-old has been identified by detectives as the knifeman who went to the property where he was stabbed with two accomplices 'looking to steal drugs or cash.' Pictured: Canary Island police cordon off an area [stock photo]

A spokesman for the National Police in Tenerife confirmed five people had been arrested following the fatal stabbing of a 31-year-old British national on the island.

He added: 'Three of the detainees are British nationals aged 26 to 30. Two were held on suspicion of homicide and the third on suspicion of concealment.

'The other two, both held on suspicion of concealment, are Polish and Italian.'

Sources close to the case confirmed the dead man was known to police in Tenerife.

Initial reports suggested the victim had been the subject of a break-in. He is said to have left a trail of blood on steps leading to the street above the property.
Residents trapped in a tower block this morning screamed for help from balconies as a blaze ripped through their building - with many only becoming aware of the fire via WhatsApp messages.

More than 125 firefighters in 20 vehicles spent hours battling the inferno and rescuing a host of people - including a small toddler - at New Providence Wharf, near Canary Wharf, in east London today.

Two men were taken to hospital after being exposed to toxic fumes, while a further 38 adults and four children were treated at the scene for shock and breathing in smoke.

But many families weren't alerted to the blaze by the fire alarm for more than half an hour, with one homeowner claiming they only noticed when they woke to the smell of smoke, while others were completely oblivious to the danger until messages started appearing in a neighbourhood group chat. Others found out via the news.

A witness, who lives in the building opposite, said: "Fire services used a drone to assess the damage before going into the building.

"It was a terrible response - they were tripping over their hoses and all. I think they were just panicking, if I'm honest. The window frames started falling out and landed on one of the firemen.

"They had to hose him down because he caught fire. It took nine fire engines before they got the ladder up to."

Some 125 firefighters were called to tackle the blaze after it broke out at around 9am

One hundred firefighters are battling an east London tower block fire, believed to have Grenfell-style cladding

London Fire Brigade was called shortly before 9am and has been battling the fire ever since, with parts of the eighth, ninth and tenth floors alight

Emergency crews in some 20 fire engines are at the scene in New Providence Wharf, near Canary Wharf, after the blaze broke out this morning

The fire broke out across three floors in the 19-storey tower block near Canary Wharf

A fireman in the flat where the Poplar tower block blaze started this morning

5bn scheme for victims of cladding scandal - but only for buildings above 18m Housing Minister Robert Jenrick was accused of a 'betrayal of homeowners' back in February when he confirmed they will get billions of pounds of taxpayers cash to replace dangerous cladding - but only if they live in the tallest buildings. The cabinet minister unveiled the long-awaited 5billion scheme for victims of the cladding scandal that emerged in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster. But he revealed that only buildings above 18m tall - or six storeys - would have the cost of replacing the outside of the building covered by the Government. The 19-storey tower block in east London is therefore covered by this, but there was outrage from campaigners as it emerged people living in shorter buildings will have to pay for the repairs themselves using a 'long-term, low-interest' loan scheme that will cap their costs at 50 a month. But the loan will remain with the property rather that the leaseholder, raising fears it will affect their ability to later sell it. Additionally they and hundreds of thousands of people in the high-rise blocks will still be left to pay for other defects they did not cause. Many of the firms which applied the cladding have gone bust since Grenfell and will not have to pay a contribution. Advertisement

The fire at the 19-storey building was brought under control around lunchtime, and residents have now been allowed to return to their flats following a mass evacuation over fears the structure could collapse.

However, the fallout from the scare will rumble on over the coming days as it emerged the building was covered in the same cladding blamed for the Grenfell Tower disaster in 2017 - despite locals' desperate pleas dating back several years for it to be removed.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it had 'repeatedly' met development bosses to 'urge action'.

Developer Ballymore confirmed today, however, that the ACM cladding on the building 'did not combust and played no part in causing or facilitating the fire'.

Parts of the eighth, ninth and tenth floors sparked alight just before 9am, as dozens of firefighters scrambled to the block of apartments, which overlook the River Thames and the O2.

A large part of the facade is now black from the damage, while a ground-floor home has also reportedly been destroyed.

Furthermore, residents claimed it took firefighters around 20 minutes to start hosing down the block because they had to swap trucks.

The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.

Approximately 22% of the building's facade features ACM PE cladding panels, which were found to be a key factor in the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

Work to replace the cladding was 'under way' and the main contractor had been due to take possession of the site on Monday, according to building developer Ballymore.

But campaigners and local politicians have long issued warnings and called for it to be removed, after ministers pledged 200m for the aluminium composite material to be taken out from 170 privately-owned towers across the UK two years ago.

Kate Gibson, 31, who works as a consultant in the City and lives in the flat next door to where the fire began, said: 'It started on the eighth and then moved up to the 10th floor.

'I was at my desk in my bedroom just working away when I saw black smoke out my front window and then someone shouted 'fire!'

'I opened my front door and saw a lot of smoke in the corridor and so slammed the door.

'I have two guinea pigs - Norman and Theo, so I grabbed them and ran out of the building. There is no way I'm leaving them behind.

'A security guard was running up the stairs to try and alert people.'

She added: 'I served in the army for three-and-a-half years so I thought I would be okay, but my legs were shaking because of the cladding we've got on the building.

'It's the same as Grenfell. I know that because we get letters every month from Ballymore saying they are going to start removing it.

'They were suppose to start in April on blocks A to C, but they didn't because of Covid.

'There were no alarms going off until I got down to the fourth floor - which is crazy.'

Marlene Morais, 42, a fashion designer, said: 'I live in a building next door and saw a lot of police cars and ambulances, storming in.

'A fire truck crashed into a mental railing on the roundabout because they were in such a rush.

'I went out of the building and could see all these people running and shouting.

'I could see all the smoke coming from the building and a little bit of fire.

'The Fire Brigade put a ladder all the way up - I think it was like the eighth floor.

'They were stood on top of the ladder spraying water onto the flames.

'I saw all the fire people coming in and out and there faces were all red from the heat.

'There were some people wearing green, so there was a few casualties.

'I was imaging all the people above who could have been sleeping or maybe they fainted because of all the smoke.

'It was really scary, I had to take my child to her dad's because she doesn't want to be here and see all this.'

Resident James, 33, added: 'I didn't know at first, when I opened my window this morning I could see and smell the smoke, it was thick black smoke, even at the side of the building, where I live.

'In that kind of situation you think, run, instantly, I'm on my own in this flat, so I had no one to get, I was out of there really quickly.

'But what I don't get is that there was no alarm, no alert, had I not opened my window I might not have clocked it.

'I'm not sure what's going to happen, or how my flat looks, but I know for sure some people are going to be very unhappy and devastated when they see the damage to their flat.'

A further witness told MyLondon: 'Journalists knew what was going on before we did.'

Another added: 'That's the thing, there was no alarm or notification. We shouldn't be learning about this from the news.'

Many families weren't alerted to the blaze by the fire alarm for more than half an hour, with one homeowner claiming they only noticed when they woke to the smell of smoke, while others were completely oblivious to the danger until messages started appearing in a neighbourhood group chat

A fireman in the flat where the Poplar tower block blaze started this morning

Two firefighters look on after the blaze caused a huge amount of damage to apartments in Poplar

Approximately 125 firefighters were called to tackle the blaze, which started at around 9am

Damage to a 19-storey tower block in New Providence Wharf in London, where the London Fire Brigade (LFB) was called this morning

Firefighters inspect the damage to the tower block which caught alight around 9am

Grenfell survivors tell government 'enough is enough' over cladding debacle Survivors and bereaved relatives from the Grenfell Tower fire have told the Government 'enough is enough' after the blaze bearing the same cladding left more than 40 people in need of treatment. Grenfell United said in a statement: 'We are horrified by the news of the fire at the New Providence Wharf today. When will the Government take this scandal seriously? Enough is enough. 'The Government promised to remove dangerous cladding by June 2020 - it has completely failed its own target and every day that goes by lives are at risk. Today more people have lost their homes in another terrifying fire. 'The Government needs to treat this as an emergency and stop stonewalling residents who are raising concerns. No more games, no more excuses.' Advertisement

Ballymore had previously said it would begin the work on site in April but frustrated locals did not see action prior to the fire starting.

Survivors and bereaved relatives from the Grenfell Tower fire told the Government 'enough is enough' after today's blaze.

Grenfell United said in a statement: 'We are horrified by the news of the fire at the New Providence Wharf today. When will the Government take this scandal seriously? Enough is enough.

'The Government promised to remove dangerous cladding by June 2020 - it has completely failed its own target and every day that goes by lives are at risk. Today more people have lost their homes in another terrifying fire.

'The Government needs to treat this as an emergency and stop stonewalling residents who are raising concerns. No more games, no more excuses.'

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: 'The spectre of the tragedy at Grenfell still hangs over our city. Today we have seen again why residents in buildings with flammable cladding are living in fear.

'It is vital that Government, developers, building owners and regional authorities work together to urgently remove the cladding from every affected building.'

Meanwhile, the Fire Brigades Union said today's blaze 'should shame this government' and warned the 'glacial' pace of removing such cladding is 'putting lives at risk'.

FBU general secretary Matt Wrack said: 'It is extremely alarming to see another high-rise building in the heart of London light up in flames.

'A huge thank you to the firefighters who responded and got the fire under control so quickly and our thoughts are with all of those affected.

'It should shame this government that four years on from Grenfell there are people across the country living in buildings wrapped in flammable cladding.

'Time and time again we've warned that another Grenfell could be just around the corner unless they prioritise making people's homes safe.

'The pace of removing flammable cladding has been glacial and it's putting people's lives at risk.

'The government must intervene and take quick and decisive action to end our building safety crisis once and for all.'

A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'We thank the emergency services for their work to extinguish the fire in New Providence Wharf.

'As we await their report on the cause of the fire it is too early to speculate, but we are working closely with the London Fire Brigade.

'The building has received 8m government funding to remove unsafe ACM cladding - this work was set to take place on Monday and we have been in regular contact with Ballymore over the last two years to make progress, including publicly naming Landor, their subsidiary, as one of the companies that has consistently failed to take action. Ministers have met Ballymore repeatedly to urge action.

'We are spending 5bn to fully fund the replacement of all unsafe cladding in the highest risk buildings and are making the biggest improvements to building safety in a generation.

'It is essential that building owners take swift action to remediate defective cladding and the government will fund every eligible application.

'Workers are on site in 95% of buildings identified as having ACM cladding at the beginning of 2020 and we expect that work to be completed at pace in the coming months.'

Firefighters inspect the damage at New Providence Wharf on Fairmont Avenue in Poplar in east London

Two men were taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation, while a further 38 adults and four children were treated at the scene for shock and breathing in smoke

The fire at the 19-storey building was brought under control around lunchtime, and homeowners have now been allowed to return to their flats following a mass evacuation over fears the structure could collapse

A large part of the facade is now black from the damage, while a ground-floor home has also reportedly been destroyed

The local MP for Poplar and Limehouse, Apsana Begum, said on social media how she recently met constituents at the block, who told her they felt 'unsafe' for more than two years, without receiving reports or surveys.

She also called on the developer to urgently address the situation, amid claims from locals that the building's 'waking watch' - a person patrolling all floors and external areas to give warning in the event of a fire at the cost of 47,000 a month - failed to take action in time.

The Labour MP told the Evening Standard: 'For years now, constituents at New Providence Wharf, where there are 1,500 apartments, have been left vulnerable and unsafe due to numerous fire safety and building safety defects and that ACM cladding remains on these buildings.

'The fire this morning shows just how serious this issue is and why constituents have been right to continue to raise alarm bells for so many months. My thoughts are with all my impacted constituents during this incredibly difficult time.

'The developer Ballymore have promised action but to date, constituents have not received information on fire engineer reports and details of any remediation works.'

A spokesman for Ballymore said: 'Thanks to the rapid and professional response of the London Fire Brigade the fire was quickly contained, with all residents evacuated from the building in a timely manner, in accordance with the buildings fire safety protocols.

'Due to the fire brigade response and to the performance of the fire safety systems on the building, the fire damage was contained to one apartment and to two balconies of apartments above.

'Although we expect most residents to return to their homes this evening, Ballymore is providing accommodation in a nearby hotel for those who require it.

'We understand how difficult and distressing today has been for our residents and we are grateful for the patience they have demonstrated. Our response team on the ground will continue to support them in any way we can.

'The cause of the fire has yet to be determined and we continue to work closely with the London Fire Brigade during their investigations.

'We can however confirm that the ACM cladding on the building did not combust and played no part in causing or facilitating the fire.

'Enabling works to remove the ACM cladding have been underway for two weeks prior to todays incident. The works will recommence as soon as possible.'

The developer told the East London Advertiser earlier this year: 'To replace elements of a facade under these circumstances is an extensive process.

'We have a project team in place which has already committed months of work to arrive at a workable and cost-effective solution.'

The project was described as being 'well underway' and the company anticipating at the time that work on site would begin around April.

However, MailOnline understands the main contractor was only due to begin removal of the cladding this coming Monday.

The End Our Cladding Scandal campaign group tweeted: 'We hope all victims of the fire in New Providence Wharf are okay.

'Grenfell was almost 4 years ago. How is it acceptable that works on some of the UK's most dangerous buildings haven't even begun?'

'It's only a matter of time before this happens again.'

The block is part of the New Providence Wharf development, described as 'a riverside community of more than 1000 luxury homes'.

Estate agents add: 'Each home in this nine-story tower boasts an unparalleled view of some of the Docklands most celebrated landmarks including Canary Wharf and the O2.'

Pictures and videos on social media show part of the building engulfed in flames, with thick grey smoke pouring out of the block, several stories high.

Pictures and videos on social media show part of the building engulfed in flames, with thick grey smoke pouring out of the block, several stories high

Homeowners reportedly weren't alerted to the blaze by the fire alarm for more than half an hour, with one resident claiming they only noticed when they woke up to the smell of smoke

New Providence Wharf in London (right), where the London Fire Brigade (LFB) was called to on Friday morning to reports of a fire

The block is part of the New Providence Wharf development, described as 'a riverside community of more than 1000 luxury homes'

The development in Poplar, east London overlooks the River Thames and the O2

The fire comes just days after the Government's post-Grenfell fire safety regulations, which campaigners argue could leave leaseholders paying tens of thousands of pounds to remove cladding on their buildings.

The LFB said: 'Firefighters are tackling a blaze at a 19-storey block. Parts of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors are alight.

'The brigade's 999 control officers have taken 13 calls to the fire.

'The brigade was called at 0855. Fire crews from Poplar, Millwall, Shadwell, Plaistow, Whitechapel and surrounding fire stations are at the scene.

'The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.'

The ambulance service said it has sent a 'number of resources' to the scene.

A spokesman said: 'They have treated a number of people, and remain at the scene, where they are working with other emergency services.'

Earlier this year, Housing Minister Robert Jenrick was accused of a 'betrayal of homeowners' when he confirmed they will get billions of pounds of taxpayers cash to replace dangerous cladding - but only if they live in the tallest buildings.

The cabinet minister unveiled the long-awaited 5billion scheme for victims of the cladding scandal that emerged in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster.

But he revealed that only buildings above 18m tall - or six storeys - would have the cost of replacing the outside of the building covered by the Government.

The 19-storey tower block in east London is therefore covered by this, but there was outrage from campaigners as it emerged people living in shorter buildings will have to pay for the repairs themselves using a 'long-term, low-interest' loan scheme that will cap their costs at 50 a month.

But the loan will remain with the property rather that the leaseholder, raising fears it will affect their ability to later sell it.

Additionally they and hundreds of thousands of people in the high-rise blocks will still be left to pay for other defects they did not cause. Many of the firms which applied the cladding have gone bust since Grenfell and will not have to pay a contribution.
A notorious serial killer who now identifies as a woman has been moved out of a retirement village following complaints from concerned neighbours.

Reginald Arthurell served 23 years of a 24-year sentence for the murder of fiancee Venet Mulhall, 54, in the northern New South Wales town of Coonabarabran in 1995.

Arthurell walked out of Sydney's Long Bay jail in November 2020 after the NSW Parole Authority concluded it was the 'only viable option'.

The 75-year-old, who now goes by the name 'Regina', has been living in temporary housing in Yagoona, Sydney's west - disturbing several locals who have successfully appealed to police to have the triple-killer moved.

'It was horrific I can't believe she was put here,' neighbour Sandra Burr told the Telegraph.

'I'm just so relieved she's gone.

'I lived right opposite her, she looked straight in my door and comes to my door, to use my phone and to tell me her life history when she first moved in.'

Serial killer Reginald Arthurell has been moved out of her nursing home after neighbours complained about the presence of the serial killer

Arthurell, who had already been jailed for the manslaughter of her stepfather Thomas Thornton in Sydney in 1974 and naval officer Ross Browning in the Northern Territory in 1981, has been living in a small brick flat in the city's west since her release, angering locals and forcing Canterbury-Bankstown mayor to make an impassionated statement.

'This is a joke, how can you let this grub live in the community and not even let people know,' Khal Asfour said upon learning Arthurell was living in his community.

'I want this grub out of my city.'

Members of the transgender community who were attempting to help her transition and integrate into society were also reportedly unaware of her past.

Community Corrections have since moved Arthurell to another temporary housing situation and said in a statement she remains under strict supervision.

'Since their release from prison the offender has been under strict supervision by Community Corrections and is subject to 16 parole conditions including electronic monitoring and a pre-approved schedule of movements,' a spokesperson for the department said.

'If the offender diverts from the approved schedule of movements an alert is immediately sent back to the monitoring room. The offender must also report weekly to Community Corrections, have home visits and can be subject to unannounced home visits.

'Community Corrections will advise the State Parole Authority if they have any concerns about the offender's behaviour.

'The SPA is empowered to revoke parole if there is a breach of conditions or there are concerns for community safety.'

Arthurell has also allegedly been making threats against the family of her partner who she brutally killed, according to reports by 2GB.

Notorious New South Wales serial killer Reginald Arthurell (pictured) was released from prison after spending 23 years behind bars on strict parole conditions

Arthurell was released a year early on parole rather than a year later because it was safer to do so than to let her out 'cold turkey', State Parole Authority chair David Frearson SC said.

In 1997 Arthurell was sentenced to 24 years jail for the brutal bludgeoning killing of her deeply religious fiancee Venet Mulhall with a piece of wood in 1995 while on parole.

She allowed Arthurell to live in her home in Coonabarabran after she helped him with her parole for the two other killings.

She's now been active on a Facebook page, under the name Regina.

The source, who spoke to Ben Fordham, says they've contacted police after alleging Arthurell has been in contact with and making threats to Mulhall's grieving family.

Paul Quinn, who found his sister's body, said the sentencing judge should have set a life term without parole.

'When the judge sentenced him to 24 years in prison that should have been life, never to be released,' he said.

Serial killer Reginald 'Regina' Arthurell is pictured with her former fiancee and victim Venet Mulhall

Arthurell is required to wear an ankle bracelet, participate in psychological programs and abstain from alcohol in addition to 11 standard parole conditions.

'There wouldn't be a member of the (parole) board that would like this person living in their neighbourhood, let alone living as a neighbour,' Mr Quinn told the parole hearing in November.

'The NSW Attorney-General, Mark Speakman could have applied to have her kept in jail beyond her sentence but that boat appears to have sailed.'

Mr Frearson, a former crown prosecutor and District Court judge, said he understood Mr Quinn was frustrated with the original sentence, which expires on May 24, 2021, but said the parole board couldn't interfere with it.

'Strict supervision in the community presents as 'the only sensible and viable option for community safety', Mr Frearson said.

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman previously said there were 'unfortunately zero' prospects of getting a continuing detention order for Arthurell.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF THE RARE BLOOD CLOTS LINKED TO THE JAB? Health officials say anyone who has one or more of the below symptoms for longer than four days after vaccination should seek urgent medical advice. Shortness of breath

Chest pain

Swollen leg

Persistent stomach pain

Severe headache

Blurred vision

Skin bruising beyond the site of injection Advertisement

Britons under 40 should be offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine due to its link to rare blood clots, health officials announced today.

Advisers made the recommendation after more adults suffered the potentially-fatal clotting disorder in the past week.

They said the absolute risk of the clots is still 'extremely small', affecting around one in 100,000 people given the British-made jab.

So far regulators have spotted major blood clots in 242 people, of whom 49 died. But they are occurring more in younger adults, with a rate of around one in 60,000 under-40s.

Experts said the infection rate in the UK is now so low that the risk of the rare clots outweigh that of Covid in younger adults, who often only suffer mild illness. They will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead, so long as there is enough supply and it won't delay the rollout.

Anyone, no matter what age, who has been given their first dose of the AstraZeneca jab and didn't suffer the complication is being urged to come forward for their second.

England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam claimed the change would not affect the Government's target to vaccinate all adults by July 31.

'Our vaccine supply schedule will support the change without limiting the speed and scale of the vaccine roll-out,' he told a televised Downing Street press conference.

'I do expect that we are still on target to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July.'

It was previously recommended on April 7 that those under 30 with no underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca.

Britons under 40 will be offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine due to its link to rare blood clots, health officials announced today. Announcing the update today, England's deputy medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said there were enough jabs on order to vaccinate everyone by the Government's July 31 target

Professor Lim Wei Shen, head of the JCVI, said the decision was only able to be made because the UK's Covid situation is stable

Data show that the risk/benefit balance of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people in their 20s and 30s who have almost no chance of catching coronavirus may not be in favour of getting the jab, so officials have decided to encourage people to get a different vaccine not linked to blood clots. As the risk of catching coronavirus increases (shown in the graphics below) the benefits of the jab start to outweigh its risks again (Graphics by the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University)

The latest figures from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) show there have been 10.5 cases of blood clots combined with low platelet counts per million doses.

But in those between age 30 and 39, the risk is higher at 17.4 per million.

There have been 242 cases of the rare clotting disorder following the Oxford jab up to April 28, with more than 28million doses now administered.

WHY HAS THE DECISION BEEN MADE AND WILL IT AFFECT THOSE ALREADY GIVEN ONE DOSE? The JCVI, which advises UK health departments on immunisation, has said there is an 'extremely small risk' of people suffering blood clots after having the AstraZeneca jab. But they added that the risk of serious illness with Covid-19 also drops for younger people as infection rates fall across the country. Professor Wei Shen Lim, Covid-19 chairman for JCVI, said: 'We have continued to assess the benefit/risk balance of Covid-19 vaccines in light of UK infection rates and the latest information from the MHRA on the extremely rare event of blood clots and low platelet counts following vaccination. 'As Covid-19 rates continue to come under control, we are advising that adults aged 18 to 39 years with no underlying health conditions are offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, if available and if it does not cause delays in having the vaccine.'  How many people have been affected? Up to April 28, the MHRA had received 242 reports of blood clots accompanied by low blood platelet count in the UK, all in people who had had the AstraZeneca jab, out of around 28.5 million doses given. These clots occurred in 141 women and 100 men aged from 18 to 93, and the overall case death rate was 20 per cent, with 49 deaths. Six cases have been reported after a second dose of the vaccine. A particular type of brain blood clot  cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST)  was reported in 93 cases (with an average age of 47), and 149 had other major thromboembolic events (average age 55) accompanied by low blood platelet count. The MHRA said the overall incidence of blood clots with low platelets after a first dose is put at 10.5 per million doses, and about one in a million for a second dose. For those aged 40 to 49 the incidence is 10.1 per million doses, and 17.4 per million for those aged 30 to 39. Overall, the death rate per million doses is 2.1, but is 4.5 for those aged 30 to 39.  What about those who are waiting for their second dose of the AstraZeneca jab? Health experts have said those who have had a first dose of AstraZeneca and not suffered a clot should have a second dose of the same jab, irrespective of their age. The MHRA said that, as a precautionary measure, anyone who has a severe headache which is not relieved with painkillers or is getting worse, should seek prompt medical attention at any point from around four days to four weeks after vaccination. Other side-effects that may need medical attention include a headache that feels worse when a person lies down or bends over, a headache that is unusual and occurs with blurred vision, feeling or being sick, problems speaking, weakness, drowsiness or seizures, a rash that looks like small bruises or bleeding under the skin, and shortness of breath, chest pain, leg swelling or persistent abdominal pain. -What other vaccines are available? Apart from AstraZeneca, the UK is also using two other vaccines  Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The UK has an in-principle agreement for 60 million doses of the Valneva jab, with an option to acquire a further 130 million doses from 2022-2025. The country has also ordered 30 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson, which has been shown to be 66% effective in preventing coronavirus infection. Both the Valneva and Johnson & Johnson jabs will need regulatory approval for use in the UK, once data from later-stage trials become available. Advertisement

Six out of 5.9million people who received a second injection developed the rare combination, a rate of around one in a million.

A total of 49 patients have died after getting the vaccine, giving it an overall fatality rate of 2.1 per million, rising to 4.5 per million in under-40s.

In a televised press conference announcing the move, MHRA chief Dr June Raine said the benefits of the vaccine clearly outweighed the risks for elderly adults but the ratio was 'more finely balanced' for younger people.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has been analysing the data and drafted its recommendation earlier this week.

Professor Lim Wei Shen, head of the JCVI, said the decision was only able to be made because the UK's Covid situation is stable.

He said good control of infections, plenty supplies of vaccines and high level of vaccine uptake meant the cautious recommendation could be made.

If any of these three things were to go awry then the decision could be reversed, he added.

The clots have so far occurred in 141 women and 100 men aged from 18 to 93, and the overall case death rate is 20 per cent.

They appear to be more common in younger adults and slightly more common in women.

A particular type of brain blood clot  cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST)  was reported in 93 cases with an average age of 47.

The 149 had a rare combination of blood clots and low platelet counts, with an average age of 55.

The MHRA and JCVI have both said that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to 'outweigh the risks for the vast majority of adults'.

The MHRA is responsible for patient safety and the authorisation of medicines in the UK.

The JCVI advises the Government on how vaccines should be used in a public immunisation programme.

Experts have also assessed the risks from any third wave of Covid in the UK and concluded that that wave is likely to be smaller than previously anticipated.

Asked about the risk of vaccine hesitancy in light of the new AstraZeneca guidance, Professor Van-Tam told the briefing: 'All of the opinion polls I read very clearly show that the British public has very, very high confidence in the vaccine programme in the UK.

'[They] can already see what it is doing in terms of changing our future, and the data get better and stronger in terms of the layers of protection, not just the aversion of deaths, serious infections, but now the prevention of transmission on top for young adults.'

MHRA chief executive Dr June Raine said: 'Public safety is always at the forefront of our minds and we take every report seriously.

'Our position remains that the benefits of the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca against Covid-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, continues to outweigh the risks for the vast majority of people.

'The balance of benefits and risks is very favourable for older people but is more finely balanced for younger people and we advise that this evolving evidence should be taken into account when considering the use of the vaccine, as JVCI has done.'

According to Public Health England (PHE), the vaccine programme is estimated to have prevented more than 10,000 deaths in England alone by the end of March.

A Government spokesperson said: 'The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, effective and has already saved thousands of lives in the UK and around the world.

'As the MHRA  the UK's independent regulator  and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation have said, the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks for the vast majority of adults.

'The government will follow today's updated advice, which sets out that, as a precaution, it is preferable for people under the age of 40 with no underlying health conditions to be offered an alternative vaccine where possible once they are eligible, and only if doing so does not cause a substantial delay in accessing a vaccination.

'More than 50 million vaccines overall have already been administered, and our current vaccine supply and rate of infection means we are able to take this precautionary step while remaining on track to achieve our target of offering a vaccine to all adults by the end of July.'

The UK has enough supplies on order to vaccinate the entire population many times over

It came as an expert source said they anticipate approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the UK shortly.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently appraising the jab and the review is said to be at an advanced stage.

Separately, yesterday's daily death toll from Covid was 13, bringing the UK total to 127,583. Some 81 deaths have been reported in seven days  down 48 per cent. A further 2,613 people have tested positive for Covid, taking the tally to 4,428,553.

The weekly total is down 10 per cent. Cases have fallen across all regions except the North West.

The Indian strain of Covid is likely to be declared a 'variant of concern' after more than 40 clusters were reportedly found across England.
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Families wept with joy as they were reunited at MetLife stadium after a year of being separated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The emotional celebration was organized by the secure identity company CLEAR which worked in partnership with United Airlines and Marriott Bonvoy to bring families to New Jersey from Florida for free.

Around 100 families were reunited during the event on Thursday, which was hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris, with one woman meeting her grandson for the first time.

Loved ones embrace during CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families, a mass reunion event, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S., May 6, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Around 25 families were reunited during the event on Thursday, which was hosted by actor Neil Patrick Harris

Peggy Broda meets her grandchild in person for the first time during CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families, a mass reunion event, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

The organization chose people who had been active caregivers in their community for the opportunity.

Thirty four vaccinated seniors who live across South Florida were flown from Fort Lauderdale to Newark for the event.

Heartwarming images show cousins, grandparents and grandchildren being reunited after an entire year apart due to the pandemic.

One woman, Peggy Broda, was able to meet her 8-month-old grandson for the first time during the mass reunion event.

Loved ones embrace during CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families, a mass reunion event, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 6

Loved ones attend the CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families, a mass reunion event, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 6

Friends and family are reunited after separation due to COVID-19 at 'CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families' at MetLife Stadium on Thursday, May 6

Brooklyn local Tanesha Smith-Wattley, who hadn't seen her family since 2019, told CBS Local: 'What made it so priceless was just seeing them hug my children.'

Her mother added: 'It's super, just awesome.'

Florida resident Michele Wasserman, who was waiting with her sister to be reunited with the rest of their family, said: 'Extremely excited to see them.

Wayne Whatley plays with Sage Whatley during CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families, a mass reunion event, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

Friends and family are reunited after separation due to COVID-19 at 'CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families' at MetLife Stadium on Thursday, May 6

A woman leaps while arriving to greet a loved one during CLEAR Connects: A Day of Families, a mass reunion event, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey

'It's gonna be a really I know we're gonna cry.'

All those in attendance were required to take a Covid-19 test prior to the event.

BJ Youngerman from United Airlines who helped make the event possible said: 'At United we talk all the time about connecting people and united the world, and to watch people literally reconnect here, that is the spirit of what United is all about.'

Head of Content at CLEAR Laura Brounstein said: 'I think it is so important to show people that we can get back together safely.'

All those in attendance were required to take a Covid-19 test prior to the event

Head of Content at CLEAR Laura Brounstein said: 'I think it is so important to show people that we can get back together safely'
Floral tribute left near scene read: 'Mummy. I love you now, forever and always'

olice are yet to make arrest, the Met said as detectives appealed for witnesses

Police have launched a murder probe after a mother-of-two was found 'strangled and bludgeoned to death' in a bush by a dog-walker in east London.

The body of Maria Jane Rawlings, 45, who lived in the Chelmsford area of Essex, was found in shrubbery near Little Heath in Romford at around 2pm on Tuesday.

A post-mortem examination at Walthamstow Mortuary took place on Wednesday which gave the preliminary cause for Maria's death as neck compression and possible blunt force head trauma.

Officers are still examining the scene and are expected to remain in the area in the coming days. A spokesperson for the force told MailOnline there are no suggestions the murder is linked to that of PCSO Julia James.

Maria was last seen in King George Hospital in Goodmayes, Ilford, on Monday evening. She left hospital and made her way on foot to Barley Lane in the direction of the A12.

Today her devastated family left flowers by the bush where her body was found, with a message attached to one bouquet reading: 'Mummy. I love you now, forever and always. In this s*** world you made things brighter. Forever my angel. Your big baby.

Maria Jane Rawlings (pictured above), 45, from Chelmsford, Essex, was found dead in Little Heath, Romford, by a man who was walking his dog at around 2pm on Tuesday

Maria was last seen in King George Hospital in Goodmayes, Ilford, on Monday evening. She left hospital and made her way on foot to Barley Lane in the direction of the A12

Another note read:  I cant believe this has happened. I love you so much, please be at rest.

And a touching message from her grandsons read: Nanny, we love you soo much, we will never forget you. Your boys.

Detectives believe someone may have approached her after she left the hospital. There have been no arrests, the Met said as the force appealed for information.

Maria's family are aware and are being supported by officers.

Detective Chief Inspector David Hillier, who is leading the investigation, said: 'My team and I are working around the clock following a number of inquiries in our work to establish what happened to Maria.

'Her family are understandably distraught and we are doing all we can to help them as they begin to come to terms with their loss.

'Now I am asking for the public to help us. I want to hear from anyone who knew Maria and knows about where she had been and who she had been associating with.

'Have you seen her in the area in the company of another person? Had you recently heard or seen a disturbance or struggle in the area but did not think it significant at the time?

'You might have dash-cam or doorbell footage that could have captured her - please think carefully and, if you can help, contact police.'

Chief Superintendent Stephen Clayman, BCU commander for Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge, said: 'I understand the concerns around safety that will arise from this, particularly from women, and we have increased patrols in the area from our local policing teams.

Flowers left at Little Health in Romford, east London, where Maria was found dead. A message attached to one bouquet read: 'Mummy. I love you now, forever and always'

Detectives believe someone may have approached her after she left the hospital. There have been no arrests, the Met said as the force appealed for information (scene pictured)

'Community safety remains a high priority and I urge anyone who has any concerns to speak to my officers when you see them or contact us.'

A bouquet of flowers and some police tape tied to a wooden post are all that mark the scene off Barley Lane, close to a busy junction with the A12.

The shrubbery is at the edge of an open area of grass in front of New City College's Redbridge Campus and close to a care home.

Amina Ali, 35, who lives opposite, said police closed the street on Tuesday and forensic investigators were on scene.

She said: 'It's been quite traumatic. It's usually such a nice quiet area. I walk past that shrubbery every day to get to school and back. It was a shock for us.'

Little Health in Romford, London. A post-mortem examination gave the woman's preliminary cause of death as neck compression and possible blunt force head trauma, the force said

She added: 'It's always busy, you wouldn't expect this to happen on such a busy junction.'

Another neighbour said the first she knew of the incident was when police arrived on Tuesday and asked residents to stay indoors.

It follows PCSO Ms James, 53, being found dead with significant head injuries on April 27 - more than one week ago.

She had been working from home before taking her Jack Russell, Toby, for a walk near her home in Snowdon, Kent.

Police said today there are no suggestions the two murders are linked in any way.
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Airlines gave their biggest hint yet that Portugal and Malta could be among the countries where British tourists can visit in less than a fortnight's time without quarantining as they began adding flights to both destinations.

British Airways today added another departure to Faro for holidaymakers hoping to visit the Algarve on May 17 with one-way tickets initially priced at 130, hours after two flights sold out with economy fares hitting 530.

Airlines are also known to be planning extra flights for UK tourists to Portugal and Malta, according to Independent travel editor Simon Calder - while travel experts think Gibraltar, Iceland and Israel could also be on the 'green list'.

A big reveal on travelling abroad is expected in a Downing Street press conference led by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps at 5pm, at which he is expected to confirm that the international travel ban will end on May 1.

Flights to Portuguese resorts have more than doubled in price for May 17 following suggestions the European holiday hotspot may be among a 'handful' of destinations to immediately offer quarantine-free travel. But most of Europe  including France, Spain, Greece and Italy  is expected to be 'amber' in a blow to eager travellers.

Travel experts said today that Malta, Gibraltar, Portugal and Israel are among the countries which eager travellers should book before 5pm, but note that they will have to pay for Covid-19 tests if they have not received both jabs.

Ministers are meeting this morning to sign off the 'traffic light' allocations. A Government source told MailOnline that Portugal would 'probably' be on the 'green list'  but along with only a 'tiny' number of other destinations.

They suggested it is unlikely that lower-infection islands will be split off from mainlands in the initial allocations, although this could happen by June.

Holidaymakers to 'green list' countries will not have to quarantine on their return, but will still be required to take two tests, one within three days of flying back to the UK and another within 48 hours of arrival. This will apply to vaccinated as well as unvaccinated passengers.

Tourists from amber countries will have to take a second post-arrival test on day eight as well as self-isolate at home for ten days. Arrivals from red countries will have to quarantine in hotels at their own expense for 11 nights.

Paul Charles, chief executive of The PC Agency travel consultancy, told MailOnline today: 'There will be higher prices as demand goes up  with fewer flights, consumers are battling for fewer seats to destinations as they open up on the green list.

'While it's tempting to get away as soon as possible, especially to see family or fiancees, I'd be booking for mainland Europe, Turkey, USA for end of June onwards. They are likely to be added in the next wave of green list countries opened up.

'For those who simply can't wait, then the likes of Malta, Gibraltar, Portugal, Israel will be the ones to book before 5pm. But bear in mind you will face extra costs for testing if you haven't been fully jabbed.'

Experts also expect there to be a flurry of strange pricing in the 24 to 48 hours after the announcement, because automatic algorithms will kick in if there is a surge in demand, before the prices are levelled out again.

Among the countries tipped to make the first 'green list' are Malta, Iceland, Israel, Gibraltar and possibly Portugal. Pictured: Tel Aviv in Israel

Asked about by how much prices could rise, Mr Charles said it 'depends on the routes and airlines', adding: 'But prices surge when the demand rockets and the airlines' automatic revenue management systems kick in.

'You can see prices double in some cases for the few remaining seats, but there are still many, many bargains out there.'

Flight prices to 'green and amber list countries' ahead of announcement Green list countries: Portugal (Lisbon): BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 324

Ryanair flight from Stansted for May 19: 262 Malta: BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 130

Ryanair flight from Stansted for June 4: 94 Israel: BA flight from Heathrow to Tel Aviv for May 17: 210

Ryanair (N/A) Gibraltar: BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 165

easyJet flight from Gatwick for May 17: 94 Jamaica: BA Heathrow to Kingston for July: 599 Barbados: BA flight from Heathrow for May 18: 393 Grenada: Indirect BA flight from Heathrow for May 17: 1,687 Morocco: BA flight from Heathrow for May 29: 443 Amber list countries: Spain BA flight from Heathrow to Barcelona for May 17: 113.

Ryanair from Stansted: 13 Turkey Pegasus flight from Stansted to Dalaman on May 23: 124 Greece BA from Heathrow to Athens for May 18: 327

Ryanair from Stansted to Athens for May 19: 126 France BA flight from Heathrow to Nice for May 18: 236

Ryanair from Stansted to Marseille on June 1: 20 Cyprus BA flight from Heathrow on May 19: 95

Ryanair flight from Stansted for May 21: 83 Iceland: BA flight from Heathrow to Reykjavik for June 25: 67 Advertisement

It is hoped many countries could turn green by the end of June as the traffic light system is reviewed.

Gavin Harris, Skyscanner's commercial director, told MailOnline today: 'Travel fares always fluctuate following any major announcement on travel, and that's true for pre-pandemic times too, for instance if a new route opens up.

'What happens is that there is a short period of time  usually a day or so - for pricing to adjust to new demand levels, and then they usually return to close to what they were before the announcement.

'At the moment, prices are generally very low compared to the last 'normal' year for travel which was 2019, so any temporary rises in price are likely still good deals.

'What we expect to see is that travel providers will be move capacity to serve the popular routes and compete for bookings with continued low prices and perks for travellers.'

Among the bargains still available are: Luton to Tel Aviv for 111 with Wizz Air on July 6 to 13; Luton to Madeira for 81 with Wizz Air on May 22 to 29; Stansted to Valetta for 50 with Ryanair on July 13 to 20; and Luton to Gibraltar for 61 with Wizz Air on July 9 to 16.

And the UK's largest holiday firm insisted prices for summer breaks have not been ramped up ahead of the Government's announcement of the green travel list,

Tui's managing director for the UK and Ireland, Andrew Flintham, said it will be 'a long time' before travel companies can consider boosting profit margins.

He told BBC Breakfast: 'Our prices are very, very stable. They're pretty much like for like, flat, year over year. There isn't a big increase in there.

'We've got plenty of holidays to sell. I think everybody in the industry has.

'It'll be a long time before the idea of trying to increase prices to make more money. We want to get people away on holiday, having a great time, because we think they genuinely all deserve it.'

The initial 'green list' - understood to contain less than a dozen destinations - will be finalised by Cabinet ministers this morning before being unveiled at a Downing Street briefing led by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

But despite insiders warning there will be a 'very small' number of countries subject to the loosest rules when the ban on non-essential travel lifts, demand for flights to possible 'green list' nations has surged.

British Airways is charging 530 for a flight from Heathrow to the Algarve, Portugal, on May 17, compared to 234 for passengers flying the same route two days earlier.

A Ryanair flight from Stansted to Portugal's capital Lisbon on the day overseas leisure travel restarts is 152, compared with 15 on May 16. EasyJet is charging 234 for a flight from Luton to the Algarve on May 17, but just 73 the following day.

Airlines increase prices in line with demand, indicating that many holidaymakers are hoping Portugal is categorised as a low-risk destination for coronavirus.

England will adopt its traffic light system when the travel ban lifts on May 17, with destinations placed on green, amber and red lists depending on the perceived threat of Covid infection from abroad.

The 'green list' - deemed the most low risk - has been drawn up based on data about the global Covid picture from advisory body The Joint Biosecurity Centre.

But holidaymakers returning from these countries will still be required to take two tests, one within three days of flying back to the UK and another within 48 hours of arrival. This will apply to vaccinated as well as unvaccinated passengers.

People walk outside St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, as Malta may be one of the countries added to the 'green list' today

The list will be finalised by Cabinet ministers this morning before being unveiled at a Downing Street briefing in the afternoon led by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. Pictured: Gibraltar

People walk past the shop window of a Tui store in Eastleigh, Hampshire, today ahead of tonight's 'green list' announcement

A person browses a web page for summer holidays to Portugal on the Tui website today ahead of the announcement later

Holidaymakers from amber countries will have to take a second post-arrival test on day eight as well as self-isolate at home for ten days.

UEFA set to ignore calls to move all-English Champions League final to the UK on safety grounds due to high Covid rates in Turkey - as flights to Istanbul TREBLE in cost as 12,000 Chelsea and Man City fans scramble to book UEFA is expected to confirm ticket allocations for the Champions League final in Istanbul today, despite pressure from politicians and health experts to move the all-English final to the UK on safety grounds. The European football governing body has stood firm this week, despite extremely high rates of coronavirus infections in Turkey, which is currently in a 'full lockdown'. Manchester City and Chelsea have qualified for the showpiece final on Saturday May 29, after stunning semi-final wins over Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, respectively. And flights from Stansted to Istanbul Sabiha have already tripled in price for the weekend of the final as fans rush to secure a ticket. A return flight travelling Friday lunchtime and returning Sunday morning on Pegasus Airlines will cost 321 on the weekend of the final, compared to just 93 the week before. Advertisement

Arrivals from red countries will have to quarantine in hotels at their own expense for 11 nights.

Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country's population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country's access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

There is speculation the 'green list' may feature destinations such as Malta, Gibraltar and Israel, while the Maldives, the Seychelles and several Caribbean islands look set to miss out.

Portugal has been 'borderline' for most of the week but Downing Street insiders were last night confident it will be included, the Times reported. Whitehall sources say the green list could also contain several 'obscure places that people won't realistically visit'.

Most of Europe - including including France, Spain, Greece and Italy  is expected to be 'amber'.

However, it is hoped many popular holiday destinations will be added to the 'green list' by the end of June as the traffic light list is reviewed. One source said 'things are going in the right direction' for this to happen.

No plans for the resumption of foreign holidays have been announced by the UK's devolved administrations.

The Prime Minister has been under pressure to accelerate the resumption of foreign travel due to the success of Britain's vaccination programme, with more than half of the UK's population now inoculated.

Former ministers yesterday urged Mr Johnson to ensure 'as many holiday destinations as possible' are placed on the initial 'green list.'

David Jones, the former Secretary of State for Wales, said: 'Aviation and the travel industry are major elements of the country's economy and should be supported by speeding up the lifting of travel restrictions.

'The government should also  consistent with safety  ensure that as many holiday destinations as possible are put on the green list. British people are keen travellers and the time has come to restore their freedom.'

Ex-transport minister Theresa Villiers added: 'The green list needs to be based on a rigorous scrutiny of the evidence to ensure we don't jeopardise the huge success of the vaccination programme.

'But as popular holiday destinations see case numbers falling, there should be some headroom to start to safely lift travel restrictions.'

Tourists sunbathing in Praia do Camilo, Lagos, Faro district, Algarve, Portugal

Mr Shapps is expected to reveal the long-awaited traffic light system for travel tomorrow

Meanwhile a tourism spokesman for Grenada, and its sister islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, said they have already fully vaccinated 70 per cent of hotel workers with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

British tourists won't need tests from May 17, says Gibraltar British holidaymakers were today handed a much-needed boost after Gibraltar confirmed UK tourists will not need to be tested for Covid-19 following May 17. Chief minister Fabian Picardo said the Rock will offer a 'great British staycation in the Mediterranean' after travel restrictions are eased in Boris Johnson's roadmap out of lockdown. The British Overseas Territory, close to the south coast of Spain, became the first nation to fully vaccinate its entire adult population in March. Gibraltar is home to 33,000 people and has had 4,286 cases as well as 94 deaths. Mr Picardo told Sky News: 'Gibraltar has an open frontier with Spain and the rest of the European Union, and we don't require PCR testing for those who come across our land frontier. 'We therefore don't think it would be appropriate for us to require PCR testing of those who are coming from the United Kingdom, which has a higher vaccinated population and a lower incidence of Covid than the rest of the European Union.' Advertisement

All arriving passengers must have a negative PCR test taken up to 72 hours before arrival and are again tested on arrival, with results given within 48 hours.

Since May 1, assuming a negative test, fully-vaccinated visitors only have to be monitored at their hotel and their health assessed for 48 hours after arrival.

Barry Collymore, chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority, said: 'We are focused on continuing to build strong immunity to Covid-19 among our people.

'It is a testament to the commitment of the industry that the vast majority of those working in the travel and tourism sector have already been vaccinated and we have seen that pace continue across Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

'We look forward to welcoming back our old friends and new ones.'

Earlier this week, Mr Johnson warned that putting lots of countries on the travel 'green list' from May 17 could risk a jump in cases from abroad.

The Prime Minister has maintained Downing Street will be 'cautious', with Health Secretary Matt Hancock and chief medical officer Chris Whitty said to be among those pushing for quarantine-free states to be kept to a minimum.

'We do want to do some opening up on May 17 but I don't think that the people of this country want to see an influx of disease from anywhere else,' Mr Johnson said on Monday.

'I certainly don't and we have got to be very, very tough, and we have got to be as cautious as we can, whilst we continue to open up.'

Mr Johnson's comments were met with scrutiny by travel experts, who claimed there is 'no danger of an influx of disease' into Britain considering the proposed precautions.

Mr Charles told MailOnline: 'The reason why testing has to be done by every passenger pre-departure to the UK, and after arriving here, is to help weed out any infections or variants. There have been very few cases or variants in recent weeks since these measures were put in place.

The Prime Minister has been under pressure to accelerate the resumption of foreign travel due to the success of Britain's vaccination programme. Pictured: Boris Johnson on Monday

Former ministers yesterday urged Mr Johnson to ensure 'as many holiday destinations as possible' are placed on the initial 'green list'

'The Prime Minister needs to focus on protecting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk in the travel and tourism sector, and open up overseas travel safely, and progressively, from May 17. '

Tui will offer 20 Covid tests for holidaymakers travelling to green list Tui will offer coronavirus tests for a fraction of standard prices to 'make travel a possibility' once restrictions are lifted on May 17. The UK's largest holiday company said its cheapest package - made up of a lateral flow test and PCR test - will be available for just 20. The tests will be requirements for people returning to or visiting England from green list destinations under the Government's traffic light system for international travel from May 17. Passengers from green list countries - expected to include Malta, Jamaica and Portugal - must get a lateral flow or PCR test no more than 72 hours before flying into the UK. They must also get a PCR test once they have landed. The Government is set to provide free rapid Covid test kits to those travelling abroad so they can avoid the hassle of finding one before they returned, Whitehall sources claimed. But arrivals would still have to pay at least 50 each for the gold-standard PCR test on landing. The package from TUI would cover both tests. Advertisement

Meanwhile, Clive Wratten, CEO of the Business Travel Association, called on destinations used by business travellers not to be overlooked.

He said: 'The BTA is watching closely for the green and amber traffic light countries.

'Whilst we all look forward to a holiday, it's vital for the UK economy that business travel destinations are included on the green list as soon as it is safe to do so.'

Earlier this week a shift in Government travel advice gave an apparent a hint of what destinations could be on the upcoming 'green list.'

Tourists visiting a number of popular summer hotspots do not face a level of risk for coronavirus that is 'unacceptably high', according to the latest updates from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The FCDO is not advising against non-essential travel to Portugal (excluding the Azores), Spain's Canary Islands or the Greek islands of Rhodes, Kos, Zante, Corfu and Crete.

There is no guarantee that the 'green list' will match the FCDO's travel advice, but the latter indicates the Government's current evaluation of the risks to tourists.

Meanwhile Tui, the UK's largest holiday company, announced it will offer customers coronavirus tests for a fraction of standard prices.

The cheapest package - aimed at people returning from green destinations - will be available for just 20, and consist of a lateral flow test and PCR test.

PCR tests alone typically cost 120 each, although several travel companies offer them for 60.

Tui said it is 'subsidising the cost of testing to help customers travel again this summer'.

There are fears that testing requirements will make summer holidays unaffordable for many families by adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of a trip.

Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said the announcement of 20 packages is 'great news - but only for Tui customers'.

He urged the Government to 'reduce the cost of testing across the board, rather than have consumers rely on a system that is currently fragmented and flawed'.

British Airways owner calls on Government to be 'ambitious' on travel corridors Luis Gallego, the boss of British Airways owner IAG The UK Government must act with ambition and announce travel corridors as soon as possible to help the travel industry revive, according to the boss of British Airways owner IAG. Chief executive Luis Gallego added: 'We consider now is the time to start travelling again. 'We believe that the Government needs to be a bit ambitious in getting global travel back on track and bring the benefits of all the efforts that the Government and people have done with the vaccination rollout. 'I think they need to recognise that people who are vaccinated or have been tested can travel without restrictions.' His comments come as the business revealed it continued to rack up huge losses in the first three months of the year. Bosses at the airline, which also owns Aer Lingus and Iberia, said the firm sunk to a pre-tax loss of 1.22 billion euros (1.1 billion) in the first three months of the year. Passenger numbers remain at record low levels due to the pandemic, at just 19.6% of the pre-Covid levels in 2019 and the second quarter of the year is at just 25% due to continued uncertainty. IAG remains financially stable, bosses added, with a new 1.2 billion euro (1 billion) bond heavily oversubscribed and a new three year 1.76 billion dollar (1.27 billion) credit facility agreed with lenders but future cash raises could be needed. Cargo-only flights increased from 969 in the final quarter of 2020 to 1,306 in the first three months of the year. Mr Gallego added: 'We're ready to fly, but Government action is needed through four key measures: 'Travel corridors without restrictions between countries with successful vaccination rollouts and effective testing such us the UK and the US. 'Affordable, simple and proportionate testing to replace quarantine and costly, multi-layered testing. 'Well-staffed borders using contactless technology including e-gates to ensure a safe, smooth flow of people and frictionless travel. 'Digital passes for testing and vaccination documentation to facilitate international travel.' Current Covid rules in England say that non-essential travel can resume on May 17 and an announcement on international travel is expected within days. Advertisement

Race to book 'green list' getaways before 5pm today! Britons scramble to snap up overseas holidays to Israel, Portugal and Malta for as little as 50 before ministers announce travel list today

Britons hoping for a cheap foreign summer holiday can still grab a cheap flight ahead of the Government announcing tonight where holidaymakers can visit this summer without quarantining, research has found.

Malta, Gibraltar, Portugal and Israel are all expected to be on the list of 'green list' countries when it is revealed at 5pm today - and return flights to the countries over the next few months are still available for as little as 50 each.

Among the bargains still available are a flight from London Luton to Tel Aviv in Israel for 111 with Wizz Air on July 6 to 13, while Luton to Madeira in Portugal with the same airline is available for 81 on May 22 to 29.

Skyscanner research for MailOnline also found that Britons can book a flight from London Stansted to Valetta in Malta for 50 with Ryanair on July 13 to 20, while Luton to Gibraltar is available for 61 with Wizz Air on July 9 to 16.

But other air fares to Portugal have already started to soar as airlines respond to high demand - and there are fears over a huge jump in prices over the next few days as Britons start to think about going abroad on holidays.

It comes as the UK's largest holiday firm insisted prices for summer breaks have not been ramped up ahead of the Government's announcement of the travel list, which will be made by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

Among the bargains still available are a flight from London Luton to Tel Aviv in Israel for 111 with Wizz Air on July 6 to 13

A flight from London Luton to Madeira in Portugal with Wizz Air is available for 81 on May 22 to 29

Britons can book a flight from London Stansted to Valetta in Malta for 50 with Ryanair on July 13 to 20, Skyscanner said

Skyscanner research found that a flight from London Luton to Gibraltar is available for 61 with Wizz Air on July 9 to 16

Tui's managing director for the UK and Ireland, Andrew Flintham, said it will be 'a long time' before travel companies can consider boosting profit margins. He told BBC Breakfast: 'Our prices are very, very stable.

Where you can still grab a cheap flight to a country set to be on the 'green list' Luton to Tel Aviv - 111 - July 6-13 - Wizz Air

Luton to Madeira - 81 - May 22-29 - Wizz Air

Stansted to Valetta - 50 July 13-20 - Ryanair

Luton to Gibraltar - 61 - July 9-16 - Wizz Air Advertisement

'They're pretty much like for like, flat, year over year. There isn't a big increase in there. We've got plenty of holidays to sell. I think everybody in the industry has.

'It'll be a long time before the idea of trying to increase prices to make more money. We want to get people away on holiday, having a great time, because we think they genuinely all deserve it.'

Travel experts expect there to be a flurry of strange flight pricing in the 24 to 48 hours after the announcement, because automatic algorithms will kick in if there is a surge in demand, before the prices are levelled out again.

And Skyscanner's commercial director Gavin Harris told MailOnline: 'Travel fares always fluctuate following any major announcement on travel, and that's true for pre-pandemic times too, for instance if a new route opens up.

'What happens is that there is a short period of time  usually a day or so - for pricing to adjust to new demand levels, and then they usually return to close to what they were before the announcement.

'At the moment, prices are generally very low compared to the last 'normal' year for travel which was 2019, so any temporary rises in price are likely still good deals.

'What we expect to see is that travel providers will be move capacity to serve the popular routes and compete for bookings with continued low prices and perks for travellers.'
A 'highly intoxicated' Instagram model went on a violent rampage at a swanky Melbourne night club, spitting on bouncers and kicking in walls before lashing out at police officers who were called to the scene.

Hannah Pierson, 30, appeared via video-link from New Zealand at the Magistrates' Court on Friday, where she pleaded guilty to six charges including various assaults, public drunkenness and resisting an emergency services worker.

The court heard the glamorous party girl was having a boozy night out at Crown Casino's exclusive Club 23 on May 13, 2018, when the wild incident occurred.

Hannah Pierson, 30, (pictured) went on a violent rampage at a swanky Melbourne night club

The 'highly intoxicated' Instagram glamour spat on bouncers, kicked in walls and lashed out at police

Police prosecutor Acting Sergeant James Carfi described the 'unprovoked' attack as a 'volatile and violent situation', the Herald Sun reported.

Staff at the venue first noticed Pierson on the dancefloor, where she appeared 'highly intoxicated'.

Bouncers asked her to leave but she refused to go, forcing security to escort her out the door.

But Pierson became violent and spat on a guard as he tried to lead her out.

Security then placed 'flexible' handcuffs on Pierson to protect other staff and patrons at the venue.

With her hands subdued, she repeatedly kicked bouncers as she was removed.

Once outside the club, in a corridor of the casino, police were called to the situation.

They found Pierson passed out but when she woke up she became 'verbally aggressive' toward officers, before being taken to a private area where she was assessed by a paramedic.

The Instagram glamour (pictured) kicked in a wall which fell on to police, before officers slapped handcuffs on her

'Do your job properly,' she screamed at police before pushing and officer over into a window sill.

The Instagram glamour model then kicked in a wall which fell on police, before officers slapped handcuffs on her.

Pierson, who is a New Zealand citizen, was living and working in Melbourne at the time of her rampage.

Her father Terrence Pierson gave evidence at the hearing that his daughter suffers from a string mental health issues and is prone to 'mood swings'.

A reported tendered to court said Pierson could suffer from a 'non-verbal learning disorder'.

She has PTSD and was previously diagnosed with 'oppositional defiance disorder' after a difficult childhood.

She has recently moved back to New Zealand to receive mental health treatment but Magistrate Bate ordered Pierson to 'return to the jurisdiction' to serve her punishment.

Pierson (pictured) recently moved back to New Zealand to receive mental health treatment

But that might be difficult according to Pierson's lawyer Scott Kaiser who said she will need to remain an outpatient at a New Zealand hospital for the next 18 months.

He said his client hopes to gain work as a beautician and pleaded with the court not to impose a criminal conviction as it may harm her future job prospects.

But Magistrate Hayley Bate said she was 'not satisfied' Pierson should escape a conviction for the 'alcohol-fuelled crime'.

'All sentencing options will be open,' Magistrate Bate said.

'There isn't any plausible reduction of moral culpability as yet.'

Magistrate Bate deferred the case to give Pierson and her legal team more time to compile a forensic psychiatric report outlining why she should not have to return to Melbourne for punishment.

Pierson will return to court later this year in August.
A woman has been fined 650 for wearing red and white socks because they matched the colours of the Belarusian opposition nationalist movement's flag.

The pedestrian was spotted in Minsk wearing the coloured socks and shoes as she was on her way to a driving lesson, and was grabbed by four men in balaclavas.

Natalia Sivtsova-Sedushkina was told she was being detained for dressing improperly, because she was sporting the colours of the banned flag.

File image shows shoes and socks similar to those worn by Ms Sedushkina when she was arrested

The woman was also accused of flashing 'V for Victory' signs to passing drivers, many of whom saluted back.

From 1991 to 1995 and during other brief periods in the 20th Century, the red and white striped flag was Belarus' national flag under the Belarusian Democratic Republic, and the flag for Belarusian nationalists.

But the Soviet Communists replaced it with a red and green flag featuring a hammer and sickle symbol, that is also a popular folk motif.

After the fall of communism, the flag was reintroduced by President Alexander Lukashenko in 1995, but without the hammer and sickle.

The red and white flag has since become a symbol of rebellion against Lukashenko's rule, which is seen by many as being illegitimate.

Ms Sedushkina was ordered by a judge to pay 2,320 Belarus roubles - about 650 - for wearing the red and white socks and shoes that were easy to see as she was wearing jean shorts at the time.

She was prosecuted under draconian laws that ban unauthorised protest in Belarus.

From 1991 to 1995 and during other brief periods in the 20th Century, the red and white striped flag was Belarus' national flag under the Belarusian Democratic Republic, and the flag for Belarusian nationalists. Pictured: Opposition supporters rally to protest against disputed presidential election results in Minsk on August 23, 2020, with a large red and white flag

Pictured: Women march down the streets holding umbrellas in the colours of the former white-red-white flag of Belarus, to protest against the Belarus presidential election results in Minsk, on April 6, 2021

'I guess I really stood out of the crowd: white jacket and sneakers, blue cropped jeans and white socks with a red stripe made by Mark Formelle, which were half visible,' Ms Sedushkina said, according to Belarus Feed.

'But is this a violation? I walked calmly, did not disturb or touch anyone,' she added.

The woman said she was detained as she was talking near a cinema, told that her 'socks are the wrong colour' and that the men 'lifted her up and carried' her behind the cinema where a van was waiting.

She was then taken to Sovetskiy district police department, and was kept there for around three hours before being released because she has a young child.

When she appeared in court, Ms Sedushkina said she requested to see the CCTV camera, but was told that the video had already been deleted. She was then fined.

Ms Sedushkina has previously been fined a similar amount for decorating her balcony with red and white ribbons.

After the fall of communism, the red and green flag was reintroduced by President Alexander Lukashenko in 1995, but without the hammer and sickle, like its predecessor

'I dont have that kind of money to pay the fine, although Im working, I cant save up,' seh said. 'I tried to appeal against the court decision on the ribbons  it was left in force. Now I will try to appeal the decision on the socks.'

The online shop that was selling the offending clothes has since stopped selling them, although it does still sell similar white socks with black stripes.

Last year in August, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Minsk to demonstrate against President Lukashenko for claiming re-election, a result that was widely condemned as being rigged.

Police responded brutally, deploying tear gas and baton charges against the protesters, and arrested thousands of people.

Many cases of police brutality were reported.

Other than support from Russia, Mr Lukashenko remains largely isolated from Europe and other countries.

In this file photo taken on November 8, 2020 law enforcement officers detain a man in Minsk during a gathering, the latest in weeks of unprecedented demonstrations, against the Belarus presidential election results

However, protests have largely been quelled, with the main opposition leaders wither in exile of prison and over 2,700 people prosecuted this year alone for their anti-Lukashenko actions.

Ms Sedushkina's fine came as Belarus' exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya called on the US on Thursday to impose more sanctions so as to isolate President Lukashenko, whose election win Washington considers fraudulent.

'I urge you, the elected representatives of American people, to continue acting decisively,' Tikhanovskaya said in a virtual appearance at a congressional hearing.

'We call on the US to engage in international mediation jointly with European partners.

She also called on the US to 'use its diplomacy to further isolate Lukashenko and to underscore that his point of political return has been past.'

Tikhanovskaya, 38, who says she won the vote, fled abroad after state authorities cracked down on protests. She lives in Lithuania now.

On Thursday, opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya (pictured) called on the US on Thursday to impose more sanctions so as to isolate President Lukashenko, whose election win Washington considers fraudulent

The US slapped sanctions on nine state-owned companies in Belarus in April in response to the government's repression of pro-democracy protests.

Tikhanovskaya hailed those sanctions by the US Treasury Department as 'among the most effective measures' but called on the US to punish other entities in her country.

She also urged the US Congress to consider giving more support to civil society organisations in Belarus, as well as independent media outlets and the private sector, as she said the European Union does.

She also said there has been no major conversation among international powers about how to end the nine month old political crisis in her country.

'We call on the US to take an active part in organising such an international conference, involving a broad range of stakeholders,' she said.

Belarus has seen a number of other draconian anti-opposition punishments.

Maria Voynova, in Mogilev, was fined the equivalent of 82 for making her signature look similar to an 'extremist' slogan, similar to the 'All Cops are B*****ds (ACAB)' slogan that has become popular with anti-police movements globally.

A man and a woman, also in Mogilev, were handed three years in jail for hanging straw effigies along a country road. Olga Klimkova and Sergei Skok were both found guilty of insulting Alexander Lukashenko, as well as 'hooliganism'.

In Minsk, a man was arrested for allegedly supporting protesters with a red and white 'paper banner' on his balcony, while Yulia Yakubovich was handed a two-year suspended sentence for blocking a road to make a political point.
Disgraced Sheldon Silver - once Albany's most powerful politician - was seen being wheeled out of his New York City apartment building on a stretcher Thursday on his way back to prison after a two-day furlough.

Silver leaving federal court in New York in May 2018 over his corruption case

Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Silver, 77, had white sheets wrapped around his body and head and a blue face mask pulled up over his eyes, as if he was trying to hide from the public.

A team from the Hatzalah volunteer ambulance service rolled him up a ramp from his basement on Grand Street shortly before noon, the photos show.

Silver was expected to be taking a short detour to a Lower Manhattan hospital on his way back to Otisville prison after authorities denied his home confinement.

As several pedestrians looked on, the former New York State Assembly speaker, was then hoisted into the ambulance, which remained parked outside for another 17 minutes before speeding away down FDR Drive.

The New York Times reported that Silver was held in federal custody at a lower Manhattan hospital and was expected to be returned to the Otisville prison upstate later in the day.

Disgraced Sheldon Silver - once Albany's most powerful politician - was seen being wheeled out of his apartment building on a stretcher Thursday on his way back to prison after a two-day furlough after authorities denied his home confinement

Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Silver, 77, had white sheets wrapped around his body and head and a blue face mask pulled up over his eyes, as if he was trying to hide from the public

Silver was expected to be taking a short detour to a Lower Manhattan hospital on his way back to Otisville prison

A team from the Hatzalah volunteer ambulance service rolled him up a ramp from his basement on Grand Street shortly before noon, the photos show

Silver had been released from prison Tuesday on furlough while awaiting the decision on whether he could serve his remaining time in home confinement

Silver was released Tuesday from the federal prison in Orange County less than a year into his six-and-a-half year sentence, despite prosecutors' objections.

He was allowed to return home while awaiting a decision on whether he will serve his remaining time in home confinement or in a halfway house, a source familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.

Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, which secured the guilty verdict, were notified that he could be out on home confinement, a spokesperson for the district told The New York Post, and they weren't pleased with the decision.

On Thursday authorities denied his home confinement.

The Bureau of Prisons said Silver is still 'designated' to Otisville Prison, but added that it has the power to transfer inmates to their home on furlough.

'We can share that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has authority to transfer inmates to their home on furlough for periods of time while they may continue to be considered for home confinement designation,' a spokesperson said in a statement.

On Thursday he was to be returned to federal prison after federal authorities denied him home confinement

Silver's health is said to be deteriorating.

Rabbi Akiva Homnick, of the criminal justice advocacy group Pidyon Shvuyai Yisroel, told City & State that he spoke to a family member of the former speaker.

'At this time the family is asking for privacy to deal with Mr. Silver's medical issues which he has some serious ones that are ongoing,' Homnick said. 'He's expected home momentarily.'

Health is one of the factors that the Bureau of Prisons officials take into account, along with age and COVID-19 vulnerability, when determining if an inmate qualifies for home confinement.

In addition, a Bureau of Prisons medical official is supposed to sign off on home confinement releases based on risk factors for a specific inmate.

Silver was ultimately convicted in a scheme that involved a type of illegal back-scratching that has long plagued Albany.

He supported legislation that benefited real estate developers he knew. In return, they referred tax business to a law firm that employed Silver, which then paid him fees.

The former New York State Assembly speaker, was then hoisted into the ambulance, which remained parked outside for another 17 minutes before speeding away down FDR Drive.

He had been in Otisville prison in Orange County, New York, since August The former NY Assembly Speaker was convicted of a corruption scheme where he took $800,000 payments from real estate developers from 2005 to 2015

Health is one of the factors that the Bureau of Prisons officials take that into account, along with age and COVID-19 vulnerability, when determining if an inmate qualifies for home confinement

Silver was released Tuesday from the federal prison in Orange County less than a year into his 6.5-year sentence, despite prosecutors' objections

The former New York State Assembly speaker, was then hoisted into the ambulance, which remained parked outside for another 17 minutes before speeding away down FDR Drive.

Nick Langworthy, the New York State Republican Chairman, said in a statement that Silver's early release is a 'gross miscarriage of justice and slap in the face to every New Yorker.'

'He abused his power to personally profit to the tune of $4 million,' Langworthy said.

'New Yorkers need to send a message that they are fed up with corrupt politicians escaping accountability while taxpayers are left holding the bag.'

The Manhattan Democrat's fall from grace as one of the three most powerful state officials in New York to disgraced felon was a slow, public trial in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion.

He was first voted into the Assembly in 1977 and served until 2015, when he was booted because of corruption allegations.

Appeals kept Silver out of prison for years. His initial 2015 conviction was overturned on appeal before he was convicted again in 2018. Part of that conviction was then tossed out on another appeal, leading to yet another sentencing in July.

At his sentencing, Silver's lawyers had begged the court to allow him to serve his sentence under home confinement, rather than at a prison, because of the danger of contracting a fatal case of COVID-19. A judge turned him down.

Silver had been locked up in Otisville prison in Orange County, New York, (above) over a corruption scheme where he took $800,000 in payments from real estate developers dating back as far as 2005

The Bureau of Prisons moved more than 7,000 federal inmates to home confinement, according to Bureau of Prisons statistics obtained by ABC.

The agency released nearly 25,000 prisoners to their homes since last March because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the bureau's guidelines, priority for home confinement is supposed to be given to those inmates who have served half of their sentence or inmates with 18 months or less left and who served at least 25 per cent of their time, ABC reported.

But the bureau has discretion about who can be released.
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India's mutant coronavirus strain is now officially a 'variant of concern', British health chiefs announced today.

Public Health England say the variant  linked to an explosion of cases in India  is 'at least' as infectious as the current dominant Kent strain.

Cases of the variant, scientifically called B.1.617.2, have more than doubled in a week. It has now been spotted 520 times, with hotspots in Bolton and London.

Health officials are confident vaccines currently being used should still work against the variant but are carrying out urgent tests to be certain.

Scientists have grouped the Indian variant into three separate sub-strains, with type 2 quickly spreading in the UK. It has been found in schools, care homes and places of worship, it was reported today.

The other two are genetically similar strains  B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3  and aren't currently considered variants of concern. But PHE said their status will be kept 'under constant review'.

Despite being more infectious, health chiefs don't believe the variant is deadlier than original coronavirus strains.

The move to make the Indian variant one 'of concern' means officials can now put in place tougher measures to contain the strain, including ordering door-to-door tests and boosting contact tracing. All residents living in areas where the variant is spreading in the community will be asked to get a test, even if they don't have symptoms.

The Department of Health has announced it will start surge testing in Bolton in the BL3 postcode and has asked residents to book a test online or on the phone so they can go for one at a site or have one delivered to them at home. Surge testing in London has not yet been announced.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said today that tracking of the Indian variant will be 'absolutely ruthless'.

Celebrating the Tories delivering a hammer blow to the Labour's Red Wall in the local elections, Mr Johnson told reporters: 'What we're doing there is making sure that we are absolutely ruthless in the surge testing, in the door-to-door tracking of any contacts.

'At the moment we're looking carefully at the way the Indian variant seems to function, we don't see any evidence that it is resistant to the vaccines or in any way more dangerous.'

But an expert has warned the Prime Minister's roadmap out of lockdown might be delayed because of outbreaks of the variant.

Dr Duncan Robinson, policy and strategy analytics academic at Loughborough University, today said a 'political decision' may be taken to slow down easing restrictions because the strain could disproportionately affect areas where there are outbreaks.

But speaking in Hartlepool today, Mr Johnson also said he 'can't see any reason' to delay the remaining steps along the out of lockdown.

Early research suggests both the AstraZeneca vaccine, known as Covishield in India, and the Pfizer jab, still work against the variant.

Public Health England has divided the Indian variant into three sub-types because they aren't identical. Type 1 and Type 3 both have a mutation called E484Q but Type 2 is missing this, despite still clearly being a descendant of the original Indian strain. It is not yet clear what separates Type 1 and 3

Boris Johnson (pictured celebrating the Tories' by-election win on Jacksons Wharf with Hartlepool MP Jill Mortimer this morning) has pledged 'absolutely ruthless' tracking of India's mutant Covid strain after health chief today officially declared it a 'variant of concern'

Data modelled by Professor Christina Pagel suggested the variants now account for 10 per cent of Covid cases in London, and between 5 and 7 per cent of cases in the South East and East Midlands

APRIL 17: In the most recent data, the variant  now split into three recognisable strains  has been found in dozens of areas and accounted for 2.4 per cent of all positive tests sampled

Data on April 3 (left) show how just a handful of boroughs had spotted cases of the Indian variants. By a week later (right) the variant had spread to more areas and started to take off in London

It came as:

England's coronavirus cases have halved in a month, the R rate is still below one, and the number of people in hospital has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since September, promising data revealed today;

Boris Johnson hailed an extraordinary Tory surge today as he visited Hartlepool to celebrate taking the rock-solid Labour seat for the first time in a by-election;

Labour leader Keir Starmer became a figure of ridicule this morning as he was subjected to an avalanche of memes urging him to stand down after party stronghold Hartlepool was won by the Tories;

Airlines gave their biggest hint yet that Portugal and Malta could be among the countries where British tourists can visit in less than a fortnight's time without quarantining as they began adding flights to both destinations;

Health officials announced Britons under 40 should be offered an alternative to the Oxford/ AstraZeneca Covid vaccine due to its link to rare blood clots;

MailOnline revealed student areas in Nottingham, Manchester and Durham were the worst-hit places in England in the second wave of Covid with up to one in five people getting sick.

Cases HALVE in a month to 46,000, R rate falls slightly and is still below one, and fewer than 1,000 patients are now in hospital for the first time since September England's coronavirus cases have halved in a month, the R rate is still below one, and the number of people in hospital has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since September, promising data revealed today. Just 46,000 people had coronavirus in England on any given day last week, or one in 1,180 people, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure was around 112,000 towards the start of April  and is down 15 per cent last Friday's estimate. No10's top scientists said the reproduction rate  which tracks the spread of the virus  was between 0.8 and 1.0, meaning the outbreak is still shrinking. This was down from 0.8 to 1.1 in the previous seven-day period. Meanwhile, NHS figures show the number of infected patients in hospitals across England has dropped into three figures for the first time since the second wave spiralled out of control nine months ago. Daily admissions are now below 100. The data follows on from promising statistics from Public Health England and a symptom-tracking app yesterday, which showed the easing of restrictions on April 12 has not triggered any spike in the disease. Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to speed up his roadmap out of lockdown, with businesses and MPs warning that they risk suffering another lost summer if there are further delays. But the Prime Minister has refused to budge from plans to re-allow holidays and indoor hospitality from May 17, despite promising he would be led by 'data not dates'. Advertisement

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference tonight Jenny Harries, the head of the UK Health Protection Agency, said: 'Yes we should be concerned. Our overall positivity rates have dropped dramatically but in some areas there are some variants of concern.

'Particularly the Indian one, which has risen quite sharply in the last week or two. So in those areas, we really do want people to be extra cautious.'

She said that while scientists had determined the variant was more transmissible, they still need to monitor its affect on vaccine effectiveness and disease severity.

Ms Harries added: 'While were watching that, were taking a whole host of steps to ensure areas where we have seen that we have enhanced contact tracing, were going in with messaging, working with local communities, with local directors of public health, to make sure people are really aware of the potential risk.

'Were encouraging people to continue working from home. All the things we know work.

'Socialising outdoors, even if the situation and the rules change [across the country]. Its really important that people continue to do that.

'This is likely to be a bit of a pattern as we move forward. So we need the public to do everything they have been doing in sticking to the rules but in those particular areas, being particularly careful. And we will be continuing to monitor it.'

Dr Susan Hopkins, PHE's Covid strategic response director, said: 'The way to limit the spread of all variants is the same and although we are all enjoying slightly more freedom, the virus is still with us.

'Keep your distance, wash your hands regularly and thoroughly, cover your nose and mouth when inside and keep buildings well ventilated and meet people from other households outside.

'If you are told to get a test, if you have any symptoms at all or have been in contact with someone who has tested positive, please make sure you get tested too.'

She said the decision to upgrade B.1.617.2 to a 'variant of concern' was because data shows it is more transmissible.

But PHE said there is currently no proof that any of the variants are deadlier or render the vaccines currently deployed any less effective.

Urgent laboratory tests are being carried out to 'better understand the impact of the mutations on the behaviour of the virus', the agency said.

It also revealed the majority of the cases being detected were in just two areas  the North West (mainly Bolton) and London.

A Department of Health spokesperson said: 'Working in partnership with Bolton Council, NHS Test and Trace is providing additional testing and genomic sequencing in targeted areas within the BL3 postcode in Bolton.

'Everybody who resides or works in these postcodes is strongly encouraged to take a COVID-19 PCR test, whether they are showing symptoms or not.

'Enhanced contact tracing will be used for individuals testing positive with a variant of concern. In these instances, contact tracers will look back over an extended period in order to determine the route of transmission.

'By using PCR testing, positive results can be sent for genomic sequencing at specialist laboratories, helping us to identify variant of concern cases and their spread.

'People with symptoms should book a free test online or by phone so they can get tested at a testing site or have a testing kit sent to them at home. Those without symptoms should visit the local authority website for more information.'

Reflecting on the strain's upgrade to 'variant of concern' on Twitter, Dr Robinson said: 'A *political* decision will be made. Risk of Roadmap Step 3 is clear.

'It would be prudent to delay the reopening to see how outbreaks spread or do not spread in the weeks ahead. Otherwise deprived, ethnic, urban communities may suffer disproportionately.'

But the Prime Minister today said: 'I think its been very important for our country that were able to get through Covid as fast as we can. I think weve got to always bear in mind that this thing isnt over.

'I think the epidemiology is very encouraging at the moment but weve got to continue to be cautious, and we will continue with the cautious but irreversible steps of the road map. I cant see any reason now to delay any of the steps that weve got ahead of us, but thats going to be our programme.'

Nepal is now reporting 230 Covid cases per million, only narrowly behind India's 280 per million, though its healthcare system is even less able to handle the surge

Nepal army personnel wearing PPE load the body of a Covid victim into the back of an ambulance so they can be taken for cremation

According to Channel 4 News, which last night revealed the variant would become one of concern, there have been at least 48 clusters of B.1.617.2.

And internal PHE documents, dated to May 5 and seen by The Guardian, the ongoing risk to public health from the variant subtype B.1.617.2 is 'high'.

Dr Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, told The Guardian that 'at the current doubling rate (B.1.617.2) could easily become dominant in London by the end of May or early June'.

It comes as seven confirmed cases of the B.1.617.2 variant were detected in Northern Ireland  the first discovered in the region.

The country's chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride said the discovery was 'not entirely unexpected' and that plans were in place 'for such an eventuality'.

Health experts have said they 'haven't seen any hint' of a Covid variant that can fully evade the effectiveness of vaccines.

The update comes after MailOnline revealed this week that the Indian Covid variants now make up one in 10 cases in London.

Data from the Sanger Institute, which analyses positive swabs for different variants, suggest the mutant strains spread widely during April.

Nationally the three different variants account for 2.4 per cent of all infections in the most recent week, ending April 17, up 12-fold from just 0.2 per cent at the end of March.

But the same figures suggest one in 10 cases in London were caused by the B.1.617 variants.

Data also showed the proportion ranged as high as 46 per cent in Lambeth and 36 per cent in Harrow  but the figures are based on tiny numbers of cases so clusters or super-spreading events have an amplified effect that may fade quickly.

Not much is known about the Indian variants, linked to an explosion of cases in India that has seen dead bodies spill out onto the street and mass cremations taking place in public car parks because hospitals have ran out of oxygen.

But one expert said the data  which doesn't include travellers' tests and is intended to be a snapshot of community infection rates  suggests it could be 'outcompeting' the Kent variant, which is dominant in the UK.

The proportion of cases being caused by the variants is rising whereas it would be expected to fall alongside the Kent variant if they were equally as fast-spreading.

But it could also just be a coincidence that outbreaks were happening where the variants were present, said Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at University College London and member of the Independent SAGE panel of experts.

There are too few cases in the UK to actually be able to tell anything about how the variants behave, Professor Pagel added, and not enough genetic testing in India.
Ursula von der Leyen was sitting pretty today as she got her own chair for a ceremonial signing at an EU summit in Portugal - just a month after a lack of chairs in Turkey led to allegations of sexism and sabotage.

The commission president was seen bumping elbows with Charles Michel, the man who took the only seat in Istanbul, just moments before the signing took place.

Von der Leyen, who was left perched on a sofa at the Turkey summit in a row dubbed 'Sofagate', appeared in good spirits in Porto as the new meeting got underway.

EU leaders are holding their first in-person meeting since the pandemic broke out to discuss issues facing the bloc, with gender on the agenda - just as it was in Turkey.

President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen signs the honor book followed by the mayor of Porto Rui Moreira during a ceremony to present the keys to the city of Porto at Porto City hall, Portugal, on Friday

President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula Von der Leyen greet each other during the ceremony to present the keys to the city of Porto at Porto City hall on Friday

EU Council President Charles Michel, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Portugese Prime Minister Antonio Costa and European Parliament President David Sassoli attend EU Social Summit in Porto on Friday

The incident last month led Turkey to strongly reject claims it snubbed von der Leyen because of her gender.

As Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and European Council chief Charles Michel took the two available chairs, von der Leyen - the President of the European Commission - was left standing awkwardly, before taking a seat on a sofa.

The images drew intense criticism at the time on social media and accusations of gender discrimination with a 'sofagate' hashtag trending. It was quickly pointed out that in previous meetings in Turkey when both EU representatives were male, both were offered seats.

The European Commission hit out April 7, at a diplomatic snub that left its head Ursula von der Leyen without a chair as male counterparts sat down at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Poland and Hungary battled today to exclude the term 'gender' from the final conclusions of an EU summit devoted to promoting equality and fighting poverty in Europe, diplomats said.

The fight is a recurring one in EU official circles, with the culturally conservative governments in Warsaw and Budapest seeing the term as ideologically loaded and creating space to promote rights for LGBT people.

'Poland always underlines how important legal clarity is, and that we should stick to treaty regulations,' a Polish official said on condition of anonymity.

'The Treaty of the European Union very clearly refers not to gender equality but to equality between women and men,' the official added.

In the latest version of the draft conclusions, set to be adopted on Saturday, the leaders agreed to 'promote equality and fairness for every individual in our society'.

The draft, seen by AFP, adds that the EU will 'work actively to close gender gaps in employment, pay and pensions'.

The mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, welcomes Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, Charles Michel, President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, and Elisa Ferreira, European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms on Friday

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen attends EU Social Summit in Porto on Friday

This was seen as a small victory for countries that took up the fight against the eastern Europeans.

'On the one hand, Hungary and Poland did not want the term 'gender', while on the other hand, for Finland, Austria and Spain, the term 'gender equality' was non-negotiable,' a diplomat said.

'We finally found a compromise solution.'

Poland's populist government has compared the struggle for LGBT equality to communism in terms of the alleged threat it poses to national values.

In Hungary, the government has sharpened its anti-LGBTQ rhetoric in recent months, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban demanding in October that the community should 'leave our children alone'.

European Union leaders are meeting in person for two days of talks in Portugal, in a sign that they see the threat from Covid-19 on the continent as waning amid the vaccine rollout.

The talks are aimed at repairing some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc in areas such as welfare and employment.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the opening ceremony of an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto

In a late addition to their agenda, EU leaders will also discuss Thursday's US proposal to share the technology behind Covid-19 vaccines to help speed up the end of the pandemic.

The leaders will also take part in an unprecedented meeting, via videoconference, with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi, whose country needs more help with a devastating virus surge - and who can smooth the path to an elusive bilateral trade deal.

Covid-19 has forced high-level political talks to move online over the past year in Europe.

This is the 27-nation bloc's first face-to-face summit in five months, after an exceptional meeting in Brussels last December to discuss post-pandemic spending.

Another in-person summit, in Brussels, is planned for later this month.

EU leaders appear keen to 'try and convey a sense of normalcy, of slowly returning to normal', according to Antonio Barroso, a political analyst at Teneo, a global advisory firm.

That is a key consideration for southern EU countries like Portugal, Spain and Greece, where tourism is an economic mainstay.

Despite a slow start to its inoculation drive, the EU this week passed the milestone of 150 million vaccinations and reckons it can reach what it calls 'sufficient community immunity' in two months' time.

Ursula von der Leyen during the opening ceremony of the EU Social Summit with Heads of State and Government, social partners and other participants held at Alfandega do Porto in Porto, Portugal

The European Commission proposes relaxing restrictions on travel to the bloc this summer.

Who is able to move around remains a sensitive question for Europeans, however, with pandemic improvements having been uneven across the continent, and many Europeans remaining subject to restrictions.

In a political nod to those concerns, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will not travel to Portugal.

And as a reminder of the risks, Maltese prime minister Robert Abela will not be attending because he is in quarantine after his wife tested positive on Wednesday.

Pandemic fundamentals remain unchanged: those attending the summit must show negative PCR tests for Covid-19, while social distancing and mask-wearing are required.

The summit will make a splash in the picturesque Atlantic coast city of Porto, with a population of just over 200,000.

Most of the city's hotels have been shut since last spring due to Covid-19, and local gripes about streets being overcrowded with tourists now seem a distant memory.

With the pandemic exposing inequalities and bringing greater hardship in the bloc, the talks in Porto will initially look at how to ensure EU citizens are guaranteed their rights in such areas as employment support, gender equality and social services.

'Covid has taken the covers off and shown the gaps' in care, says Laura Rayner, a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank.

'So many people, through no fault of their own, have found themselves requiring some support.'

EU Council President Charles Michel, left, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, second right, Portugese Prime Minister Antonio Costa, right and European Parliament President David Sassoli, second left, stop for a picture during the EU Social Summit in Porto

She added: 'There's certainly more awareness on the street' of the need for a social safety net, and 'it would be naive of politicians to ignore that'.

The EU is looking for endorsement in Porto of three headline targets: an EU employment rate of at least 78%, at least 60% of adults attending training courses every year, and reducing the number of those at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million people, including five million children.

The push for social safeguards, largely led by centre-left EU governments, has caused some tension within the bloc.

Last month, 11 governments welcomed the Porto effort but warned central EU authorities against meddling in national policies - a clash of interests that has long dogged the bloc.

On Saturday, the leaders will hold an online summit with Mr Modi covering trade, climate change and help with India's Covid-19 surge. Some EU countries have already sent medicine and equipment to India.

India and the EU spent six years trying to negotiate a free trade deal before giving up in 2013. Among the thorny issues were vehicle parts and digital privacy.

Plans for a face-to-face EU-India summit in Porto fell through after Mr Modi cancelled his trip due to the pandemic, but it is the first time an Indian leader will participate in a meeting with all the EU's leaders.
A 'promiscuous' dental hygienist has been convicted of the 1984 murder of a Navy recruit after claiming he couldn't remember whether he'd had sex with her.

Thomas Garner, 61, was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of Pamela Cahanes, 25, on Thursday and immediately was sentenced to a life in prison.

A jury in Orlando, Florida, took just two hours to convict him of Cahanes' beating and strangulation murder, after prosecutors explained how his DNA had been found in her underwear.

No motive for the slaying was given, but Garner admitted in court earlier this week that he was 'pretty promiscuous' around the time of Cahanes' murder.

And he was unable to deny meeting her, saying: ' If I had casual sex with Miss Cahanes, I probably wouldn't remember, being that long [ago], because it was nothing of a relationship.'

Garner is also being investigated in connection with another cold-case killing in Hawaii, and prosecutors said that his Florida conviction could help with that case. They even speculated that he could turn out to be a serial killer.

DailyMail.com has contacted Seminole County District Attorney's Office for further comment.

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Thomas Garner, 61, pictured left testifying in his own defense on Wednesday, has been convicted of first-degree murder in the 1984 strangulation death of of Navy recruit Pamela Cahanes (right)

Garner was arrested in March 2019 for the killing of the 25-year-old Cahanes, his fellow classmate at the Orlando Naval Training Center, after investigators tracked him down using the DNA testing service Parabon Nanolabs and the genealogy website GEDmatch.

Garner denied killing Cahanes and testified in his own defense on Wednesday, telling the court from the stand that he did not recognize the victim from the photos he has been shown.

Garner maintained his innocence, but admitted that he was 'pretty promiscuous' and might have had casual sex with the victim, whom he did not remember

'To be perfectly honest with you, I was pretty promiscuous at that particular point in time, because of the atmosphere and the environment that was on that particular base at that particular time,' he said.

Garner then added: 'If I had casual sex with Miss Cahanes, I probably wouldn't remember, being that long [ago], because it was nothing of a relationship.'

After the guilty verdict was returned, Cahanes' sister Eileen Bergman spoke to the court, saying: 'As [Garner] sits in prison, I hope he thinks of time he lived free while my family was suffering.'

Bergman later told ClickOrlando that Pamela never got a chance to serve in the US Navy, get married or raise a family, yet Garner was allowed to live his life for 37 years.

'I feel vindicated,' Bergman said. 'Now I want to take something from him, and that means, I guess, sitting in prison, reflecting on why you're there... I want him forever say her name: Pamela Jane Cahanes.'

Assistant State Attorney Anna Valentini echoed Bergman's comments in the wake of the verdict, saying: 'Were grateful we were able to win this fight for Pamela and her family.

'I hope they can rest easier knowing that tomorrow, and every day after, Thomas Garner is going to wake up in a jail cell knowing exactly why hes there,' reported Orlando Sentinel.

Garner is also being investigated in connection with the September 1982 cold-case murder of 25-year-old Kathy Hicks in Honolulu, Hawaii. Local police shared sketches of a man Hicks was last seen with before her death (pictured above)

Meanwhile, Garner is also being investigated as a potential suspect in the unsolved murder of 25-year-old Kathy Hicks, whose body was found in a ditch in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1982, reported ClickOrlando.com.

As of Friday morning, Garner has not been charged in connection with the Hicks case.

On August 5, 1984, two days after graduating from the naval academy in Orlando, Cahanes was found face-down in her underwear a yard of a vacant home covered in blood. Her white uniform was found scattered nearby

Cahanes, one of eight children from Minnesota, was badly beaten and strangled to death.

Investigators collected DNA evidence from Cahanes' body, which was repeatedly submitted for testing over the years but failed to produce a match.

Garner was arrested in Florida in March 2019 thanks to DNA testing and genetic genealogy

Cahanes was found strangled and beaten to death two days after she had graduated from the Orlando Naval Training Center in Florida (Cahanes second left with peers at her graduation) . She and Garner were both at the training center at the same time though it's not clear how they ran into each other

A break in the case came in 2015, when DNA from semen found on the victim's underwear was submitted to the private forensic genealogy service GEDMatch, which determined that the sample came from somebody with African ancestry.

Further testing on the DNA sample conducted in 2018 allowed experts at Parabon NanoLabs to create the unknown suspect's 'family tree,' which ultimately led the authorities in Seminole County to Garner.

In 2019, cops trailed Garner until they saw him throw several items in the trash at his apartment complex, including a piece of used dental floss, a cigarette butt and a cotton swab, reported Orlando Sentinel.

Officers collected the items and sent them to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory for testing, which investigators said returned a '100 per cent' match to the DNA found on Cahanes' underwear.

The odds of the DNA belonging to anyone other than Garner is 700 billion to one.

During an interview with police after his March 2019 arrest, Garner (far right) claimed he wouldnt date recruits and would never have had sex with a white woman

Garner was arrested on March 13, 2019, but denied knowing Cahanes. During a police interview, the suspect claimed he wouldnt date recruits during his naval service and would never have had sex with a white woman.

Prior to his murder conviction, Garner had a clean criminal record, other than a battery charge during his time serving in the navy.

A month before Garner's trial in Cahanes' murder was scheduled to begin in Florida, detectives with the Honolulu Police Department filed a request for a search warrant seeking to obtain a DNA sample from him.

According to the court document, police in Honolulu investigating the 1982 cold-case murder of Kathy Hicks got a preliminary match from DNA that was entered into the Combined DNA Index System taken from Garner, as WFTV first reported.

Hicks was a Delta Airlines employee from Atlanta who was visiting Honolulu in September 1982 to attend a softball tournament.

Investigators said her body was found dumped in a ditch.

The search warrant states that Hicks told friends that she was at a bar with some people near Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, now called Joint Base Pearl HarborHickam.

Hicks has pleaded not guilty to Cahanes' murder, and he has not been charged with killing Hicks

On September 19, 1982, two joggers discovered Hicks' body dumped in a ditch. She had been beaten and strangled to death.

Witnesses provided sketches of a man she was last seen with, described as having an African American mixed ethnicity, standing 511 to 6 tall, weighing about 150 to 160 lbs., clean cut with black hair, and brown eyes.

Garner was stationed in Hawaii from 1980 until October 29, 1982.

Cahanes' murder joins a number of cold cases that have been potentially solved thanks to advances in modern DNA technology.

In August 2018, Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested for a dozen murders and 50 rapes that took place back in the late 70s and 80s, after investigators utilized the online genealogical sites Ancenstry.com and 23andMe.
An Irish soldier who joined ISIS and fled to Syria to become a jihadi bride has today won an appeal banning her from entering the UK on the grounds of national security.

Lisa Smith, from County Louth, was a member of the Irish Defence Forces but converted to Islam following the breakdown of her marriage and flew to Syria to join ISIS.

There, she allegedly became the second wife of British jihadist Sajid Aslam and had a child with him. She returned to Ireland in 2019 after being housed in a refugee camp.

The 39-year-old was charged with membership of the ISIS terror group and funding terrorism last year. She denies the charges.

In 2019, Smith was served with a notice by the Home Secretary to exclude her from the UK on the grounds of national security.

Smith appealed against the decision to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) in London, arguing that she had close family connections to the North of Ireland and often travelled across the border for a variety of reasons.

The SIAC today ruled in Smith's favour and allowed her appeal.

Lisa Smith - a female Irish soldier who joined ISIS - is pictured leaving Dublin District Court with her solicitor last year

Lisa Smith, from County Louth, (pictured before she converted to Islam) was charged with membership of an unlawful organisation under 2005 terror legislation

Smith was a member of the Irish Defence Forces but converted to Islam following the breakdown of her marriage

She denies the allegations and is claiming that she went to live in the declared Islamic State just to learn teachings of the Quran

Smith was arrested at Dublin Airport in 2019 on suspicion of terrorist offences after returning from Turkey in November with her young daughter.

She had travelled to Syria a number of years ago after she converted to Islam.

The alleged member of Islamic State is also facing an additional charge of terrorist financing, the court heard today.

This relates to an alleged offence within the Irish state in 2015 in the sum of 800 euros. She is currently on bail in Ireland ahead of a scheduled trial in the country's Special Criminal Court next January.

Smith had been the subject of a Home Office-issued exclusion order since December 2019.

Smith's father is originally from Belfast and her case against the Home Office hinged on whether she was entitled to enter the UK as a consequence of that fact.

Both sides in the case before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) accepted that the UK had a legal right to exclude non-British citizens from EEA (European Economic Area) countries, including Ireland.

However, that right does not cover those of dual nationality and Smith's legal team argued she was entitled to the rights of a dual national as a consequence of her father's birthplace.

The case involved argument on the nationality rights conferred under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and differences in how the law treats married and unmarried parents, given Smith's father was not married to her mother when she was born.

In a written judgment today, the SIAC allowed Smith's appeal against the exclusion order. It said the decision to exclude Smith was 'discriminatory'.

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We are disappointed with this judgment and are considering our options for appeal.'

Darragh Mackin, her solicitor, said the ruling was 'significant for the Good Friday Agreement.'

The 39-year-old, who is a former member of the Irish Defence Forces

Smith was arrested at Dublin Airport in 2019 (pictured) on suspicion of terrorist offences after returning from Turkey in November with her young daughter

Ms Smith's two-year-old daughter is being cared for by family in Ireland. Pictured is Smith during an ITV news interview

Mr Mackin said today: 'Today's ruling is hugely significant for the upholding of basic human rights principles which include the right to be free from discrimination. The decision to exclude our client was discriminatory and contrary to the basic principles underpinning the Good Friday Agreement.

'As an Irish citizen who resides in a border town, it was always asserted that to restrict her from travelling across the border was unlawful and could not be stood over.

'We warmly welcome the Court's determination today which will now reinstate our client's basic rights to travel to the North of Ireland at her convenience.'

Smith denies the allegations against her and is claiming that she went to live in the declared Islamic State just to learn teachings of the Quran.

Smith had been living with her two-year-old daughter in a Syrian refugee camp; she is being cared for by her family in Ireland.

She has said the father of her child was a suspected member of IS who died in 2019.

Ms Smith held a relatively lowly role in the Defence Forces but worked on the official Irish Government jet, accompanying former president Mary Robinson and then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on journeys.
Pregnant women trying to get a coronavirus vaccine have faced delays and wasted trips because they keep being offered the wrong jab, a charity warned today.

Britain's medical regulator recommended expectant mothers should get either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine three weeks ago.

But now charity Maternity Action says they are struggling to get a first dose because they keep being offered appointments for the AstraZeneca jab, which hasn't been trialled enough on pregnant women for health bosses to give it the green light.

NHS chiefs pledged to improve the booking system 'in the coming days' and NHS England said pregnant women in groups currently receiving jabs should contact their GP to book an appointment.

Around 850,000 women get pregnant each year in the UK and studies show they may be more at risk of severe illness or death if they get Covid compared to non-pregnant women.

More than 34.9million Britons - or three in five Britons - have already received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine, with almost 16.8m fully vaccinated.

Maternity Action's director of maternity rights, Ros Bragg, called on the Government to 'urgently review' their jabs booking system for expectant mothers.

'Pregnant women continue to be expected to work in public-facing roles and busy offices throughout their pregnancy and are rarely offered any additional protections, even after 28 weeks,' she said.

'Women receive little help from the Health and Safety Executive and are generally left to choose between unsafe working conditions, taking sick leave, taking early maternity leave, or resigning.

'Against this backdrop, we cautiously welcomed the news that the JCVI updated their guidance on pregnant women receiving certain Covid jabs.

UNDER-40s SHOULD GET ALTERNATIVE TO ASTRAZENECA JABS Britons under 40 should be offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine due to its link to rare blood clots, health officials announced today. Advisers made the recommendation after more adults suffered the potentially-fatal clotting disorder in the past week. They said the absolute risk of the clots is still 'extremely small', affecting around one in 100,000 people given the British-made jab. So far regulators have spotted major blood clots in 242 people, of whom 49 died. But they are occurring more in younger adults, with a rate of around one in 60,000 under-40s. Experts said the infection rate in the UK is now so low that the risk of the rare clots outweigh that of Covid in younger adults, who often only suffer mild illness. They will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead, so long as there is enough supply and it won't delay the rollout. Anyone, no matter what age, who has been given their first dose of the AstraZeneca jab and didn't suffer the complication is being urged to come forward for their second. England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam claimed the change would not affect the Government's target to vaccinate all adults by July 31. 'Our vaccine supply schedule will support the change without limiting the speed and scale of the vaccine roll-out,' he told a televised Downing Street press conference. 'I do expect that we are still on target to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July.' It was previously recommended on April 7 that those under 30 with no underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca. Advertisement

'However, the lack of clear guidance on how to access the appropriate vaccine has led to confusion among women, and has led to wasted trips, unnecessary travel and delays in getting the vaccine.'

She added: 'We call on the Government to urgently review their vaccine booking procedures so that women can book an appropriate vaccine in a timely and straightforward manner.'

Studies suggest expectant mothers are at a greater risk of severe illness or death if they get infected with Covid compared to non-pregnant women of the same age.

Pregnant women are currently invited for their Covid vaccination via text or a phone call, which asks them to book the appointment online.

But users say they are unable to indicate that they should have the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines on the forms, in line with guidance.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Government committee that designed the jabs priority list, said he hoped NHS England would be able to overcome the difficulties.

He told a televised briefing: 'In terms of the access to such vaccines, I understand there have been some reports of difficulties in accessing the vaccines.

'I certainly hope that operationally NHS England will be able to overcome those difficulties in access.'

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said GPs must have the relevant information at hand when dishing out vaccines.

'If patients are being advised to contact their GP practice, its vital all GPs are informed of how to handle queries, regardless of whether they are involved in the vaccination programme,' he said.

'GPs and their teams will try to help pregnant women access the right vaccine if they are able to  as will other healthcare professionals they are likely to be in contact with, such as midwives  but its important they are informed of how to do this.

'It would be helpful for all involved if patients who are being advised not to have the AZ vaccine have the option to book directly into a non-AZ vaccine clinic via the booking system, particularly when this applies to other, larger patient groups.'

Dr Pat OBrien, vice president at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: 'Following the latest announcement today, we urge Government and the NHS to ensure there is a system in place that enables pregnant women  including those over the age of 40 who have already been invited to book their vaccine  to easily access alternative vaccines.

'The latest Government guidance for pregnant women is to contact their GP for advice on how to receive the appropriate vaccine.

However GP practices are reporting that they dont have the ability to do this, leaving pregnant women feeling frustrated and helpless as they are passed from pillar to post.

'Healthcare professionals offering Covid-19 vaccination should continue to discuss the benefits and risks, including the side-effects, with pregnant and postnatal women and for those about to start  or who have started  fertility treatment.

'This should include discussion of the different vaccine types available, including the extremely rare adverse thrombotic events.'

Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts said: 'This does rather raise the question of why the online booking process cannot cope with something as common as pregnancy.

'It feels like yet another system that just doesnt take women into account. When millions of people in each age cohort are desperate to book jab appointments as soon as they become available online, its profoundly discriminatory to build a system that requires only pregnant women to jump through multiple hoops.'

An NHS spokeswoman said: 'Following the updated guidance set out by the JCVI, the NHS immediately communicated the advice to GPs.

'If youre pregnant, or think you might be, speak to your maternity team or GP surgery to discuss your vaccine appointment so that it can be arranged at a site offering the Pfizer/BioNTech or the Moderna vaccine, which is preferable for pregnant women.'

It comes after the JCVI today recommended that all those under-40 should receive an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine, amid plummeting infections.

Advisers made the recommendation after more adults suffered the potentially-fatal clotting disorder in the past week.

They said the absolute risk of the clots is still 'extremely small', affecting around one in 100,000 people given the British-made jab.

So far regulators have spotted major blood clots in 242 people, of whom 49 died. But they are occurring more in younger adults, with a rate of around one in 60,000 under-40s.

Experts said the infection rate in the UK is now so low that the risk of the rare clots outweigh that of Covid in younger adults, who often only suffer mild illness. They will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead, so long as there is enough supply and it won't delay the rollout.

Anyone, no matter what age, who has been given their first dose of the AstraZeneca jab and didn't suffer the complication is being urged to come forward for their second.

England's deputy chief medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam claimed the change would not affect the Government's target to vaccinate all adults by July 31.

'Our vaccine supply schedule will support the change without limiting the speed and scale of the vaccine roll-out,' he told a televised Downing Street press conference.

'I do expect that we are still on target to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July.'

It was previously recommended on April 7 that those under 30 with no underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca.
New York City has stored the bodies of 750 coronavirus victims in refrigerated trucks parked on a Brooklyn pier for up to a full year - with some families ignoring requests to reclaim their relatives' remains.

The 'disaster morgue' was set up on the 39th Street Pier in April 2020 to aid funeral homes that were overwhelmed with the number of funerals and cremations needed.

Dina Maniotis, executive deputy commissioner of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said the set-up was always meant to be temporary, according to the New York Post.

However, multiple victims' families have ignored attempts from city officials to claim their relatives' remains, and there is no timeline for how soon the victims will be buried, either on Hart Island or elsewhere.

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Brooklyn's 39th Street Pier is storing the bodies of around 750 New York City COVID-19 victims in refrigerated trucks (pictured on Friday) one year after the pandemic hit

The 'disaster morgue' was set up in April 2020 and was supposed to be temporary to help overcrowded funeral homes and morgues. Pictured: Refrigerated trucks holding the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a Brooklyn pier, Friday

During a meeting on Wednesday, officials from the medical examiner's office said they will try to reduce the number of bodies being held at the pier 'in the very near future'. Pictured: Refrigerated trucks holding the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a Brooklyn pier, Friday

It is unclear how soon the bodies will be moved and whether they will be buried on New York City's Hart Island or elsewhere. Pictured: Refrigerated truck at a Brooklyn pier holding the bodies of coronavirus victims in November 2020

Maniotis told the City Council's Committee on Health during a meeting on Wednesday that officials will try to reduce the number of bodies being held 'in the very near future.'

'We will begin to notify all the families that we've been working with that we are now going to ramp our operations down slowly, give them the time that they need, and we'll keep the operation going as they need it,' she added, according to the Post.

At the time the site was set up on the Brooklyn pier, city officials said it was meant to free up space at morgues and other refrigerated trailers.

It would also help the city's funeral industry, with funeral homes unable to set up services or even store bodies.

The waterfront morgue was open from 8:30am to 10:30pm each day so families would have time to claim bodies.

When the morgue first opened, it operated from 8:30am to 10:30pm each day so families would have time to claim bodies. Pictured: Refrigerated trucks holding the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a Brooklyn pier, Friday

Many families of deceased loved ones in the trucks have asked that they be buried on Hart Island or have stopped contacting officials. Pictured: Refrigerated trucks holding the bodies of COVID-19 victims at a Brooklyn pier, Friday

Hart Island, a former potter's field in the Bronx, has buried more than 2,600 bodies in 2020 and more than 500 in 2021. Pictured: Workers burying bodies in a trench on Hart Island, April 2020

Most families of the victims have requested that their loved ones be buried on Hart Island, a former potter's field in the northeastern Bronx with mass burials.

An estimated 2,666 adults were buried on Hart Island in 2020 and 504 so far in 2021, according to the medical examiner's office.

Typically, between 1,000 and 1,200 people are buried there each year, with the island believed to have witnessed around a million burials since it was turned into a cemetery.

According to an analysis from the Columbia Journalism School's Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and nonprofit news organization THE CITY, the number of bodies buried since the start of the pandemic is equivalent to about one-tenth of the number of New York City residents who have died from COVID-19.

Maniotis said that other families have stopped 'engaging' with city officials, meaning the bodies will likely be buried on Hart Island regardless.

'We will continue to work with families,' Maniotis told the Council's health committee, THE CITY reported.

'As soon as the family tells us they would like their loved one transferred to Hart Island, we do that very quickly.'

New York City Council members say they don't understand why the medical examiner's office has been so slow in burying the deceased, some of whom sit in these trucks, pictured Friday

New York City has reported 934,052 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 32,760 confirmed and probable deaths since the start of the pandemic

Several Council members, including Mark Gjonaj, a Democrat whose district in the Bronx includes Hart Island, say they don't understand why the city has been so slow in burying the deceased.

'Why do we have these temporary storage facilities?' he asked, according to THE CITY.

'If there is capacity and those families have already expressed the willingness to have their loved ones buried in a public burial at Hart Island, why are we delaying that any longer than we have to?'

Since the start of the pandemic, New York City has reported 934,052 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 and 32,760 confirmed and probable deaths.
A woman has been dubbed the 'new Central Park Karen' after she was filmed claiming two black women had beaten her for refusing to return their phone charger.

The unidentified woman was filmed on the phone to cops in New York's Central Park earlier this week after being confronted by vlogger Alana Lambert and her friend, both of whom are black.

Lambert said her portable charger fell from her friend's CitiBike as they vlogged in the famed beauty spot, but that the mystery woman then picked it up and refused to return it without proof it was theirs.

Lambert filmed what happened next with the woman telling a 911 dispatcher that the two black women were 'touching', 'threatening' and 'beating' her when the footage shows this not to be the case.

She also tells the black women 'yes I am' when they ask if she is racist.

It is now a crime to make a false or hate-based 911 call in the state of New York after lawmakers passed a series of criminal justice and police reform laws last summer.

This law was triggered by the original 'Central Park Karen' case. That saw white woman Amy Cooper called 911 on a black bird watcher in Central Park to falsely claim he had threatened her life when he had just asked her to put her dog on a leash.

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A woman has been dubbed the 'new Central Park Karen' after she was caught on camera (above) finding two black women's phone charger on the ground, refusing to give it back, and then smirking as she calls 911 to falsely claim they're threatening and beating her

She made that call on May 25 2020 - the same day George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.

A 'Karen' is a nickname given to a white woman acting in an officious or entitled way, often towards people of color, with multiple incidents of such behavior emerging on social media in recent months.

Lambert's footage, posted on TikTok and YouTube Thursday, begins with a shot of the 'Karen' standing holding her bike up with one hand and her cellphone in the other as she speaks into the phone.

'Can I just have it back please?' Lambert is heard asking off camera.

Lambert's friend asks her: 'Do you have video [of the charger]?'

Lambert replies: 'I definitely have video with it on but she's not going to give it back even if I show her.'

She then tells the camera: 'This lady just stole my charger and won't give it back.

'She's saying that I have to prove it's mine and she's calling the cops on me right now.'

The 'Karen' is heard on the phone in the background.

'In Central Park... that they're going to beat me,' she says into her phone.

'She said that were going to beat her!' Lambert's friend exclaims off camera.

The 911 dispatcher is heard asking if the 'Karen' is in Central Park.

'She's lying,' says Lambert's friend, while Lambert tells the 'Karen': 'You know that's illegal now right?'

The 'Karen' starts wheeling her bike away from the two women then shouts: 'They're getting close to me and they're already touching me.'

The video shows that the two women are not touching her.

'That's our property,' says Lambert. 'No one's touching you.'

The 'Karen' fires back that 'it's not yours either.'

The incident unfolded when Alana Lambert (left) and her friend were vlogging a day out in Central Park, New York City (above). Lambert said her portable charger fell from her friend's bike and the woman picked it up and wouldn't give it back until they proved it was theirs

'You have to prove it. I'm not saying I'm not going to give it to you; you have to prove that it's yours,' she tells the women.

She then falsely tells the dispatcher that the women are threatening to beat her 'or something'.

'Ma'am they don't left me, there are two girls. They are surrounding me and they are threatening me that they are going to beat me or something,' she says.

She looks up at the two women she accuses at this point as Lambert tells her 'don't do that please.'

The 'Karen' smirks at her as Lambert's friend is heard saying: 'You're lying. You're a liar.'

Lambert then asks: 'Are you racist or something?'

The 'Karen' replies: 'Yes I am. I pick my race over any race, what's your problem.'

She then wheels her bike away from the women as they follow at a short distance behind pushing their bikes.

Lambert speaks into the camera at this point saying that 'she just stole my motherf****er charger and told me she's racist and saying that we're going to beat her and kill her and stuff.'

The 'Karen' is seen in full with one leg of her dark jogger trousers rolled up while the other is down.

She then threatens to break the phone charger and questions who paid for it.

'These two have come and said that this is theirs, I'm gonna break it,' she says.

Lambert replies: 'Break it... please don't take my property.'

'I'm going throw it away. You haven't paid for it, your daddy paid for it, or maybe your sister paid for it,' says the 'Karen.'

Lambert replies that 'maybe I have a very good job.'

The 'Karen' tells a 911 dispatcher that the two black women were 'touching', 'threatening' and 'beating' her. She also tells the black women 'yes I am' when they ask if she is racist

The 'Karen' smirks as the women tell her she is lying telling cops they are 'surrounding me and they are threatening me that they are going to beat me or something'

The 'Karen' approaches a group of horse-mounted New York City police who are riding through the park. She tells the cops the two black women have been 'threatening' and 'beating' her. Lambert and her friend get the phone charger back

'Do not discuss with me. Do not discuss with me,' says the 'Karen.'

'Girl if you go viral trying to be stupid that's on you,' Lambert tells her.

At this point, the 'Karen' approaches a group of horse-mounted New York City police who are riding through the park.

She tells the cops the two black women have been 'threatening' and 'beating' her.

'These two people are coming and threatening me and beating me that this is theirs,' she tells the cops.

'I'm not going to give it to them unless they can prove it is theirs.'

An officer asks what it is to which Lambert explains it is her portable phone charger.

'It's a portable charger. I was riding my bike and my portable charger fell and I turned around and she grabbed it and ran away with it,' she says.

'She said we were trying to beat her and called 911.'

The officer asks if Lambert can tell them what brand or any identifying marks so the saga can be solved to which Lambert's friend replies that they have video of them with it.

'She says we threatened her and beating her she called the cops,' says Lambert.

'We've been recording her since she got it.'

The footage cuts to later after the two women have gotten the charger back.

'I got my s**t back. The police just gave it back,' Lambert tells the camera.

The incident echoes the original 'Central Park Karen' case where white woman Amy Cooper, pictured, falsely called 911 on a black bird watcher Christian Cooper in Central Park in May 2020

'This lady said we just tried to murder her, beat her up or something and then called the motherf****er cops and said that.'

The footage shows the 'Karen' repeatedly saying they are beating and threatening her. It does not show the 'Karen' saying the women were threatening to kill her.

Following the incident, Lambert also films herself getting emotional as she tells how her father gave her the charger before he died from an overdose.

'I remember him saying I was going to need that charger one day,' she says, as she breaks down in tears.

Lambert posted the footage on YouTube and on her TikTok.

The video had more than 55,000 views on YouTube within 24 hours of being posted and the TikTok footage had also gone viral.

It is not clear how the NYPD is proceeding with the case. Lambert posted a series of videos on her TikTok showing her reporting the incident to police officers at a local precinct.

The NYPD told DailyMail.com it has no reports on file relating to the incident.

The incident has drawn instant comparison with the infamous case involving Cooper.

Cooper (left) falsely claimed Christian Cooper (right) had threatened her life when he had just asked her to put her dog on a leash. Following the incident state lawmakers made it a crime to make a false or hate-based 911 call

Cooper, 41, called police on black man Christian Cooper last May 25 after he told her to put a leash on her dog in Central Park.

The woman became hysterical and called 911, claiming he was threatening her life.

He filmed their exchange and put it on social media, with the footage revealing she was fabricating the incident.

'There's an African American man, I'm in Central Park, he is recording me and threatening myself and my dog.  Please send the cops immediately!' Cooper tells the 911 dispatcher in the video that went viral.

Cooper was fired from her Manhattan investment firm job, blasted as 'racist' by Mayor Bill de Blasio then was eventually charged with a Class A Misdemeanor or filing a false police report.

The charge was dropped in February with prosecutors saying she had completed five therapy sessions and seemed to have learned a 'lot'.

This decision sparked outrage with many pointing out that her privilege as a white woman afforded her leniency.

That incident took place the same day George Floyd was murdered by white Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin, setting off a national reckoning calling for an end to systematic racism.

Cooper's false 911 call led to a new state law being passed in New York in June - one of many aimed at tackling racism and police brutality in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests.

The law makes it a hate crime for 911 callers to make false accusations based on race, gender or religion.
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Vice President Kamala Harris held a virtual meeting with Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador where he pushed his idea of visas for tree planting.

'Most people don't want to leave home and when they do it is often because they are fleeing some harm or they are forced to leave because there are no opportunities,' Harris said at the top of their confab.

The Vice President, who has taken heat for not yet visiting the border, is taking the lead on exploring 'root causes' of the immigration surge that overwhelmed border processing facilities this spring.

After months of wearing a mask both indoors and out, she removed it for this Zoom meeting even as White House staffers kept theirs on.

Vice President Kamala Harris holds a virtual bilateral meeting with Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the vice president's ceremonial office at the White House in Washington

After months of wearing a mask both indoors and out, she removed it for this Zoom meeting even as White House staffers kept theirs on

'Most people don't want to leave home and when they do it is often because they are fleeing some harm or they are forced to leave because there are no opportunities,' Harris said

During the meeting, Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador where he pushed his idea of visas for tree planting

Harris is seen without her mask during her Zoom meeting with Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador

'It is in our countries' mutual interest to provide immediate relief to the Northern Triangle and to address the root causes of migration,' she told him. 'You and I have discussed it before and understanding a belief  most people dont want to leave home and when they do it is often because they are fleeing some harm or they are forced to leave because there are no opportunity.'

Lopez Obrador made a pitch for a tree planting program for Central America that he also floated at Biden's White House climate summit.

He told reporters Friday the idea was at the top of his mind, and made a public comment that appeared to reference the idea.

'We have a specific proposal that I believe will be convenient for us. But I will leave that for later,' he said to Harris with reporters in the room.

'We agree with the migration policies you are developing and we are going to help, you can count on us,' the Mexican president said.

When he pitched the controversial idea last month, Lopez Obrador said it would keep farmers from leaving their homesteads for the U.S, but also made the case for six-month work visas in the U.S. that could lead to citizenship for participants. The plan is to plant a billion fruit and timber trees in the region.

But environmentalists have raised serious doubts about the program to plant commercial trees species, sometimes on land that was forested with indigenous species.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas visited a Texas border facility Friday, after a House Democratic critic of the administration's immigration policies complained that child immigrants were being moved 'from one tent to the other tent.'

Mayorkas toured the Donna, Texas processing facility. While there, Mayorkas will get updates on unaccompanied children who continue to come across the border, posting a logistical challenge for the government.

He viewed a Customs and Border Protection facility where images released by the government show a considerable reduction in crowding.

His trip comes after Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar accused the Biden administration of moving unaccompanied minors from one border facility to another to create the impression it is emptying crowded holding areas.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas walks out of a large tent after having a tour inside a temporary Customs and Border Protection processing center on May 7, 2021 in Donna, Texas

A surge of immigrants, including unaccompanied minors crossing into the United States from Mexico is overcrowding such centers in south Texas

Representative Veronica Escobar (D-TX) accompanied Mayorkas on the trip

Katherine, an asylum-seeking migrant mother from Honduras holds and her 2 year old daughter Yaneli, wait to be escorted by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande river into the United States on Friday

Asylum-seeking migrant families from Honduras wait to be escorted by the U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the Rio Grande

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is visiting the border Friday

The White House had no response when asked about the comments Thursday during President Biden's day trip to Louisiana.

It is the fourth border visit by Mayorkas and his last since April.

The U.S. has long sought ways to get Mexico to cooperate in stemming the tide of immigration from its side of the border, including from Northern Triangle countries in Central America.

Mexico is seeking assistance combatting gun trafficking, and is now contending with the collapse of a subway in Mexico City.

Cuellar, a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, accused the Department of Health and Human Services this week of moving immigrants out of the CBP tents to secure better images of its crowded Donna, Texas facility.

'All theyre doing is, theyre moving kids from one tent to the other tent and saying: "Oh, theyre not in the Border Patrol (custody). But they're right next door,"' Cuellar said.

Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador forged ties with former President Donald Trump

Cuellar was referencing the effort to transfer minors from Customs and Border Control custody to HHS. The law requires they be transferred within a 72 hour period, although the Administration struggled to comply amid a surge at the border this spring.

He told Border Report the minors held in government custody were simply moved to nearby tent facilities operated by HHS.

'But theyre right next door. Theyre just next door in HHS,' he said.

He said officials 'set up maybe five tents that are run by HHS.'

The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement reported this week that there are currently 22,195 unaccompanied children in its custody  a new record. Additionally, 2,000 children are being held by other federal agencies, the Washington Examiner reported.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared Thursday on former Obama advisor David Axelrod's podcast, and provided her most fulsome explanation for why Biden has resisted calls that he visit the border.

'Were often asked, "Why doesnt he go to the border?"' she told Axelrod. 'Important issue. Were focused on it,' she said.

'What percentage of the public is focused on the border? A much smaller percentage than whos focused on the pandemic and the economy. So that may be maddening, but, you know, thats what we try to do,' she added.

A government handout photo shows the temporary processing facilities for migrants in Donna, Texas, U.S., April 30, 2021. U.S. officials have reduced the number of unaccompanied children held in border stations in recent weeks as children have been moved to emergency shelters. But Rep. Henry Cuellar says children are being moved from one tent to another

LAST MONTH: In this March 30, 2021, file photo young minors lie inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Donna, Texas.

In this March 30, 2021, file photo, young unaccompanied migrants, from ages 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas.

'All theyre doing is, theyre moving kids from one tent to the other tent and saying: "Oh, theyre not in the Border Patrol (custody). But they're right next door,"' said Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.). The administration released images showing a sharp decrease in crowding at the Donna, Texas facility pictured above

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.)

Homeland Security officials this week released photos showing its previously crowded Donna facilities had been emptied out considerably compared to a few weeks ago.

Harris said Wednesday she is likely to visit Mexico and Guatemala in early June as she seeks to address the root causes of immigration.

The Biden administration on Wednesday cited a 90 per cent drop in people held in Border Patrol custody  600 at the end of April compared to 5,000 in March.

'The amount of time children spend in CBP custody is down 75 percent, from 131 hours at the end of March to under 30 hours now,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

'After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, President Biden is taking the challenge head on and building a fair, orderly and humane immigration system, that is our objective,' she added.

HHS has opened 14 new emergency shelters to deal with the problem.

DailyMail.com has reached out to HHS for additional comment.
A Tesla driver from California has been caught on camera lounging in the backseat of his Model 3 car while driving on Autopilot.

While the driver has not been identified, he could face dangerous driving charges if police caught him misusing the Autopilot feature.

The Tesla Autopilot is intended to assist a fully attentive driver and is not fully autonomous or a 'self-driving' car. Before enabling Autopilot, a driver must agree to 'keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times' and to always 'maintain control and responsibility for your car.'

Despite his actions being both dangerous and illegal, the California Tesla driver appeared to get a kick out of being caught on camera and sported a wide grin as he was snapped being overtaken by a fellow driver in Berkeley on May 4 which was later posted to YouTube.

In another picture, taken at a toll plaza to the San Francisco Bay Bridge on May 3, he could be seen with his foot resting on the steering wheel while he sat comfortably in the rear.

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A Tesla Model 3 driver has been caught on camera sitting in the back seat while the car appears to be driving itself and on Autopilot. The man was spotted in Berkeley, California on May 4

The man, who has yet to be identified, has been spotted repeatedly on social media (in Berkeley, California on May 4)

The man, who has not yet been identified seems to enjoy being caught on camera. He was spotted here in Berkeley, California

The vehicle requires some sort of pressure on the on the column at regular intervals in order for the Autopilot to continue to function, although it does depend on speed.

The driver's seatbelt also needs to be fastened but the belt can be buckled without the driver sitting in the seat.

Last month, a researcher showed how it was easy to 'trick' the Autopilot feature into thinking there was a driver at the wheel by using a heavy object such as a weighted chain.

Tesla promote their Autopilot system 'as a suite of driver assisted features and not as an autonomous driving system.'

Upon activating the system, Tesla warns drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and to be ready to take control at all times. Drivers should be seated in the driver's seat.

Autopilot deactivates if a drivers seatbelt is unbuckled and some have suggested that if no weight is detected in the front seat that the system should also switch off.

In another picture posted to social media, the man's foot can be seen on the steering wheel. It's believed this image was taken at a toll plaza to the San Francisco Bay Bridge on May 3

The vehicle requires some sort of pressure on the on the steering column at regular intervals in order for the Autopilot to continue to function (he is spotted on the San Francisco Bay Bridge on May 3)

Using a weighted chain, the researcher 'easily' tricked Autopilot into operating without a driver at the wheel

How does Tesla's Autopilot work? Autopilot uses cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar to see and sense the environment around the car. The sensor and camera suite provides drivers with an awareness of their surroundings that a driver alone would not otherwise have. A powerful onboard computer processes these inputs in a matter of milliseconds to help what the company say makes driving 'safer and less stressful.' Autopilot is a hands-on driver assistance system that is intended to be used only with a fully attentive driver. It does not turn a Tesla into a self-driving car nor does it make a car autonomous. Before enabling Autopilot, driver must agree to 'keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times' and to always 'maintain control and responsibility for your car.' Once engaged, if insufficient torque is applied, Autopilot will also deliver an escalating series of visual and audio warnings, reminding drivers to place their hands on the wheel. If drivers repeatedly ignore the warnings, they are locked out from using Autopilot during that trip. Any of Autopilot's features can be overridden at any time by steering or applying the brakes. The Autopilot does not function well in poor visibility (due to heavy rain, snow, fog, etc.), bright light (due to oncoming headlights, direct sunlight, etc.), mud, ice, snow, interference or obstruction by objects mounted onto the vehicle (such as a bike rack), obstruction caused by applying excessive paint or adhesive products (such as wraps, stickers, rubber coating, etc.) onto the vehicle; narrow, high curvature or winding roads, a damaged or misaligned bumper, interference from other equipment that generates ultrasonic waves, extremely hot or cold temperatures. Advertisement

On Thursday it was announced the California Highway Patrol is investigating why a Tesla vehicle crashed into an overturned truck on a highway near Fontana on Wednesday, killing the Teslas driver.

The patrol did not say whether the Tesla was operating on Autopilot or not.

The Mack truck, which the Tesla collided with, had crashed and overturned just five minutes earlier, blocking two lanes of the highway, the report said. Tesla have yet to comment on the incident.

The crash is the latest fatality involving a Tesla and comes just weeks after another Tesla smashed into a tree and burst into flames in Texas, resulting in the deaths of two men.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has previously said a Tesla operating on Autopilot, which partially automates steering, braking and speed control, is safer than a car operated solely by a human driver.

Last month, a Tesla smashed into a tree and burst into flames in Texas, resulting in the deaths of two men - the car's owner Doctor William Varner, and his pal Everette Talbot.

Police had said it was apparent that there was no one in the driver's seat at the time of the crash in the wealthy The Woodlands neighborhood of Houston, on April 17.

But Tesla had refuted police's claims, saying a deformed steering wheel suggested that someone was likely in the driver's seat.

One Tesla owner posted pictures of themselves in various poses in their Tesla

The TikTok shows the driver doing everything from sleeping and eating to reading and working

The California Highway Patrol is investigating why the Tesla crashed into the overturned truck (above). It isn't known if the Tesla was operating on Autopilot when the crash occurred

One man, 35, was killed and two were injured after a Tesla vehicle crashed into an overturned truck (above) on the 210 Freeway near Fontana, California, at around 2:40am on Wednesday

Varner, 59, and Talbot, 69, both died in the fatal crash when the Tesla Model S - bought second-hand off eBay in January - smashed into a tree and burst into flames.

At the end of April, the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office's report revealed more details as to how the flames took hold.

It reiterated local police's assertion that no one was in the driver's seat while the report classifies the crash as accidental.

Investigator Chris Johnson stated that the fire was caused by the collision. The report did not note the car's speed or whether air bags and seat belts were used.

Tesla had not commented. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are both investigating.

It's one of more than 20 accidents involving Tesla vehicles Federal highway safety regulators are looking into.

It also detailed how the vehicle's 'hood, front doors, front body panels, forward support pillars, trunk and roof were completely destroyed'.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has previously said a Tesla operating on Autopilot, which partially automates steering, braking and speed control, is safer than a car operated solely by a human driver

Talbot was seated 'in a forward-leaning position, with both arms rolled forward', according to the report, while Varner was 'in a rear-leaning position, with both arms rolled back and in a pugilistic pose.'

It added: 'Multiple fire patterns produced by both the movement and intensity of the fire indicate that the fire originated from the vehicle's power distribution system and related components located at the front end of the vehicle.'

'Any extensive damage to the battery, the power distribution systems, or the systems associated with battery cell temp regulation can result in electrical arcing and/or thermal runaway of the lithium-ion cells, which are both competent source of ignition.

'The vehicle sustained a significant front end collision which damaged one, or many of these systems, leading to the development of fire within with the vehicle.

Varner's Model S crashed into trees just a few hundred yards from his $2million home in the gated community of Carlton Woods Creekside.

Talbot is said to have been found in the front passenger seat and the car's owner, Varner, in the back seat. Police said it was apparent that there was no one in the driver's seat at the time of the crash.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in the crash's immediate aftermath data downloaded by Tesla indicate the vehicle was not operating on Autopilot, its semi-autonomous driving system.

Police said it was apparent there was no one in the driver's seat but Tesla refuted police's claims, saying a deformed steering wheel suggested someone was likely in the driver's seat

Varner's Model S (pictured: remains of Tesla at crash scene) crashed into trees just a few hundred yards from his $2million home in the gated community of Carlton Woods Creekside

Later in April, Tesla had again refuted police's claims, saying a deformed steering wheel suggested that someone was likely in the driver's seat.

The Autopilot system handles some driving tasks such as keeping lanes and maintaining distances between cars, but experts say the term 'Autopilot' can be misleading consumers to believe that the car can drive by itself.

Tesla says its features 'require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous'.

To engage Tesla's autopilot, the car must think someone is at the wheel by detecting the weight of their hands on the steering wheel. If it doesn't, it'll stop but it can take up to 30 seconds for it to do so.

Autopilot must detect road markings before it can be enabled, according to Tesla. There are no markings on the private road they were on.
A married fire chief and his former secretary who broke lockdown rules to secretly meet up at her home during office hours have kept their jobs.

Mark Andrews, 49, the 105,000-a-year deputy fire chief of West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, drove 20 miles to see Anna Colwell, 34, even though she no longer works for him.

He was pictured visiting Mrs Colwell's home in Worthing, West Sussex, on at least two occasions and the pair were also photographed driving around in her white Mini Cooper without masks.

When confronted the father-of-two, who lives in a 1.5million mansion in Horsham with his wife Judy, 58, initially claimed they were 'work colleagues'.

But he was later forced to admit that Mrs Colwell, who is believed to be separated from her husband, Richard, had left his brigade and was now employed by an entirely separate fire service.

Mark Andrews (left), the 105,000-a-year deputy fire chief of West Sussex Fire and Rescue, drove 20 miles to see Anna Colwell (right), 34, even though she no longer works for him

Both fire brigades launched top-level investigations into their conduct and police fined them each 200 for breaking lockdown rules.

But despite breaking Covid restrictions for clandestine meetings at her home it has emerged both Mr Andrews and Mrs Colwell have kept their jobs.

Senior sources at both brigades confirmed that following a double investigation the pair 'remained in post'.

An insider said: 'You can only speculate over why they were meeting during working hours when they longer work together but the fact of the matter is they both work for the emergency services and they broke lockdown rules.

Mr Andrews is married to Judy (left). Mrs Colwell (right) was hired as his assistant last April

'It's a pretty poor example to be setting to the public. I know they have had their wrists slapped and been warned about their future conduct. Let's hope they heed the warnings.'

Despite Mr Andrews and Mrs Colwell both being paid by the taxpayer, both fire brigades refused to officially make public the outcome of their disciplinary investigations.

The incident happened in January when Government rules stated that two households should not mix to help battle the spread of Covid-19.

Mr Andrews has been a strong supporter of the anti-Covid rules and is vice-chair of the Sussex Resilience Forum, a body made up of emergency and contingency support groups.

Mr Andrews and Mrs Colwell were photographed driving around in her Mini without masks

In February it tweeted: 'Not only are we in a national lockdown but the #Sussex LRF has declared a major incident in order that public services can escalate their response to the unprecedented pressures of #Covid19 on the county. Please follow government rules and stay at home.'

The insider said: 'It's totally hypocritical for Mr Andrews to say one thing while doing the complete opposite. It must have shattered the Covid-safe message the fire service was putting out.'

Mr Andrews and Mrs Colwell, a mother of two young boys, met while she was working as a civilian worker for Sussex Police which shares the same HQ in Lewes as East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service.

When Mr Andrews was looking for an assistant last April, she applied for the job and he chaired the interview panel which appointed her.

In August, he re-joined West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service where he began his career more than 25 years ago, but their friendship continued after his departure.

Mrs Colwell is understood to have separated from accountant Richard, 36, who works for an accountancy firm in Brighton and they have two young sons.

She continued in her job as assistant to the deputy fire chief after Mr Andrews departure to the neighbouring service.
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From chow chows to French bulldogs, these saddening photographs show some of the illegally imported puppies being held at a quarantine facility in a secret location in England after a tortuous journey into the country.

Britain has seen a huge increase of dogs illegally arriving from abroad during the coronavirus pandemic after demand and street values both soared, with Dogs Trust reporting a 66 per cent rise last year compared to 2019.

Many of the dogs are being imported from Eastern European countries, taken from their parents too young and enduring long journeys in poor conditions before they enter the UK under the current legal age of 15 weeks.

Campaigners want the UK Government to raise the age of imported puppies to six months to make them less desirable - along with tougher penalties, with prosecuted smugglers currently often only facing minor penalties.

Among the puppies pictured at a Dogs Trust rehoming facility in an unspecified location yesterday were illegally imported cocker spaniels, chow chows, French bulldogs, Maltese Terriers, Dachshunds and Havanese breeds.

It comes after former Love Island contestant Olivia Bower revealed in March that Instagram influencers are being offered free puppies in exchange for a post online, with many of them coming from puppy farms based abroad.

An illegally imported chow chow puppy in a kennel at a Dogs Trust rehoming facility in a secret location in England yesterday

An illegally imported cocker spaniel puppy in a kennel at a Dogs Trust rehoming facility in England is pictured yesterday

Maltese Terriers and cocker spaniels are held in cages at a quarantine facility in a secret location in England yesterday

Dogs Trust has seen a marked increase by 66 per cent of illegally imported puppies during the coronavirus pandemic

Dogs Trust said it had rescued 1,500 smuggled puppies through its Puppy Pilot scheme in just five years, adding that many had been imported in 'terrible conditions  and this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg'.

Since the rescue scheme began in late 2015, the street value of the puppies intercepted is more than 3million  and the charity is now urging dog buyers to do their research to avoid inadvertently fuelling the trade.

The Puppy Pilot scheme was set up to help the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) with intercepting illegally imported puppies by at UK ports, and providing care and rehabilitation for them prior to finding new homes.

In 2020, Dogs Trust saw a 66 per cent increase in dogs rescued through the scheme, compared to the previous year - from 204 in 2019 to 338 in 2020. The average age in 2020 was eight weeks, compared to 11 weeks in 2019.

The legal age for puppies to enter the country is 15 weeks from another EU country and the youngest ones seized were just four weeks old, who are too young to have been taken away from their mother or transported far.

A staff member checks on illegally imported puppies in kennels at a quarantine facility in an unspecified location yesterday

Many of the dogs are imported from Eastern European countries after being taken from their parents too young

The dogs often enduring long journeys in poor conditions before entering the UK under the current legal age of 15 weeks

Dogs Trust are calling on the U.K. government to raise the age of imported puppies to 6 months to make them less desirable

The most common breed to be intercepted and cared for through the scheme has been the Dachshund, with around 425 puppies being rehomed since 2015  over a quarter (28 per cent) of the total number of dogs.

The second most popular was the French Bulldog (21 per cent). The puppies that were seized at the border and went into quarantine primarily came from Hungary (16 per cent), Poland (12 per cent) and Romania (10 per cent).

Dogs Trust said the puppies are often brought into Britain for sale with either no or falsified paperwork and often without having received the necessary treatments, including rabies vaccination.

Campaigners said they are also forced to travel for long journeys in squalid, cramped conditions with no toilet breaks, no food and insufficient water, so they can be sold to unsuspecting buyers.

Another increasing trend is heavily pregnant dogs being transported illegally into the country in the late stages of pregnancy, causing significant suffering and health implications to both the mother and puppies.

Campaigners want to see tougher penalties for smugglers with prosecuted cases often only bringing minor penalties

An illegally imported Maltese Terrier puppy sits under a heat lamp in a kennel while held at a quarantine facility yesterday

Illegally imported cocker spaniel puppies are held at a quarantine facility in an unspecified location in England yesterday

Maltese Terriers are among the illegally imported puppies being held at the quarantine facility in a secret location yesterday

Since August 2017 Dogs Trust has cared for 41 pregnant mothers through Puppy Pilot. Some 217 puppies have been born, of which 41 died. It is illegal to transport a pregnant dog in the last 10 per cent of her pregnancy.

On Sunday, Boris Johnson promised a 'ruthless' crackdown on pet crime. Demand for dogs during the pandemic triggered a massive rise in thefts, with some breeds fetching up to 4,000 each  four times pre-Covid prices.

Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland has set up a taskforce that the Prime Minister said would ensure that the 'criminal justice system is dealing properly with anyone who is so malicious as to steal a dog'.

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson  who owns a white, male Jack Russell cross called Dilyn with his fiancee Carrie Symonds  said the crime is too often dismissed as trivial and on a par with shoplifting.

But he added: 'I believe strongly in the broken windows theory  that if you want to stop serious crime, then you must also be ruthless in dealing with offences that might seem second order to some, but which in reality cause huge pain and grief to the victims.'

Illegally imported Maltese Terriers are held at a quarantine facility after being seized in an unspecified location yesterday

Dog campaigners said many had been imported in 'terrible conditions  and this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg'

Dogs Trust said it had rescued 1,500 smuggled puppies through its Puppy Pilot scheme in just five years

An illegally imported French bulldog puppy is held at a quarantine facility in an unspecified location yesterday

Since the start of the year, police have recovered 27 stolen dogs in Hertfordshire, 26 in Surrey, 83 in Suffolk and 80 in Carmarthenshire.

Dog ownership has soared since the first lockdown, with 2.2 million people getting one in the first six months of the pandemic. But new figures have also revealed that dog thefts have risen by a fifth in the past year.

Data from 37 of Britain's 45 police forces shows an estimated 2,438 dogs were reported stolen last year, a 19 per cent increase on 2019 when there were 2,026.

Charities believe the overall figure is significantly higher. Volunteer group DogLost reported a 170 per cent leap in the number of pets reported stolen from 172 in 2019 to 465 last year.
A hero praised as a real-life Rambo after taking on a gang of armed robbers and fighting them off has been forced into protective custody after evil death threats.

Security expert Leo Prinsloo, 52, who has personally protected Prince Charles, the Kardashians and Nelson Mandela, is now under armed guard in a safe house.

Incredible footage which has gone worldwide shows how the former South African Police Force sniper keeps his cool when he comes under gunfire attack.

Security expert Leo Prinsloo, 52, - who has personally protected Prince Charles, the Kardashian's and Nelson Mandela  is now under armed guard in a safe house

Former police sniper Leo Prinsloo, 52, was escorting a high value cargo in an armoured truck in his unmarked armoured Toyota Land Cruiser when he was ambushed by two cars full of gunmen

Image believed to show former police sniper Leo Prinsloo alongside Kim Kardashian

Leo and his sidekick Lloyd Mtombemi remained calm despite their armoured escort vehicle being peppered with over 30 bullets from two cars firing AK47's at them.

They were protecting an armoured vehicle with a cargo of mobile phones worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

This amazing footage has gone around the world but now Leo and his family from Pretoria, South Africa, are paying the price having been threatened with execution.

A security expert close friend said: 'The gang have put the word that out they were not happy that Leo fought off and has said that he and his family have to pay for it.

'It would give the gang who did it huge street cred.

'His family are in a safe house while we work out who they are and take the threat to them first and eliminate it and they then know that we are extremely serious.

'We don't mess about when gangsters threaten one of our own' he said.

A dozen shots at least are first heard as one car pulls alongside security expert Leo on the N4 motorway in capital Pretoria. The targeted vehicle is pictured, above and below

Leo said:'I was only doing my job. I am a security instructor and have my own company that trains police, military, security companies and people how to react.

'The key is to pre-visualise what it going to happen and stay in that mindset so when the bullets start flying you know what to expect and are prepared for it.

'Then you just go into automatic and deal with the threat. Lloyd had only been in the job less than a week so it was baptism of fire but he did what I needed.

'I could have opened fire when I exited vehicle but safer not to do so as the threat was then exiting so our job was done and the vehicle we were escorting was safe'.

The South African guard was caught on dashcam footage fighting off a gang of armed robbers who sprayed his security vehicle with over thirty bullets in a bid to kill him, before he turned the tables on them by chasing them off at gunpoint.

Incredibly Leo  who was with the South African Police Services special forces unit for 12 years and teaches their military special forces to shoot  remains remarkably calm under attack

Former police sniper Prinsloo was escorting a high value cargo in his unmarked armoured Toyota Land Cruiser when he was ambushed by two cars full of gunmen.

A dozen shots at least are first heard as one car pulls alongside security expert Leo on the N4 motorway in capital Pretoria, opening fire and finally shattering his bullet proof window.

Incredibly Leo  who was with the South African Police Services special forces unit for 12 years and teaches their military special forces to shoot  remains remarkably calm under attack.

He tells his fellow security guard to cock his automatic rifle and hits the accelerator as his attackers try to kill him so they can target the armoured car in front.

The other car full of gunmen then try from the other side and fire at least 13 shots into the vehicle but expert marksman and highly trained sniper Leo remains unperturbed.

The chasing cars try to force him to stop and fire shots into the windscreen but Leo simply rams straight into them.

The other car full of gunmen fired at least 13 shots into the vehicle but expert marksman and highly trained sniper Leo remained unperturbed. His vehicle is pictured above after the attack

When the other cars try again he rams them as well then decides on a change of tactics.

A security friend of the hero said: 'Leo got fed up with the one-way traffic of bullets and hit the brakes and told his colleague to hand him an automatic rifle, released his seat belt and got out.

'He had enough of being a sitting duck and decided to take the fight to the armed robbers and was not going to go down without a fight. He is an expert shot and wanted to give a little bit back.

'When they saw Leo get out with his automatic rifle in a bullet proof vest and kneeling down to take aim they decided they had had enough and gave it up and the two cars made their escape.

'You can see from the dashcam that from start to finish he hardly bats an eyelid but is constantly aware of where they are and doesn't flinch when they open fire on him and does his job perfectly

The chasing cars try to force him to stop and fires shots into the windscreen but Leo simply rams straight into them

'Eventually he gets bored and decides it is time to return fire  the man is a hero. You see this sort of Chuck Norris stuff all the time in the movies but this was for real and Leo took the fight to them.'

Mr Prinsloo has a shooting academy called The Edge and trains police, military and security companies in shooting and unarmed combat and how to react to being under attack. He is said to be the best in the business.

His friend said: 'This video just shows Leo not only teaches but practices what he preaches. He is a real-life Rambo and has never showed any fear in his life. He is a trained sniper and never misses.'

Firearms expert Leo said: 'I cannot say much as an investigation is underway but I and my fellow guard did what was expected of us. They needed to take us out so they could take out the cargo vehicle.

'But there was no way I was going to let that happen and unfortunately I did not have a chance to return fire.'

Police spokesman Brigadier Vish Naidoo said: 'The suspects in two cars fired many shots at a security vehicle in a convoy in an attempt to stop it during a high-speed chase in Pretoria.

'The driver of the vehicle managed to evade the robbers but later stopped and got out to wait for the robbers but they fled instead. No arrests have been made as of yet.'
A man has admitted to trespassing at Buckingham Palace armed with a Stanley-type knife.

Chorrie Thompson, 46, slipped through a gate to the rear of the palace in central London that had been opened to allow a vehicle through on April 15, Westminster Magistrates' Court heard.

Prosecutor Mike Mullin told the court that he had made his way to the Lodge area before being confronted by security staff.

Thompson, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to possessing a locking type of craft knife and trespassing on a protected site at Westminster Magistrates' Court

'He was only in there for 10 to 15 seconds,' he said.

'He [said] he [wanted] to use the toilet and when he was refused permission, he [became] aggressive and [threw] some documents on the floor.'

Police were called to the scene, and found Thompson was carrying a Stanley-type carpenters' knife.

Thompson, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, pleaded guilty to possessing a locking type of craft knife and trespassing on a protected site.

The court heard that he has been in contact with a mental health team in Barnet, north London.

Thompson was immediately confronted by security when he entered the palace gates

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring said: 'This is obviously a serious and significant case given the nature of where he was and the offending that took place.'

'I recognise he didn't produce the knife, it was only found as a result of the search, which was inevitable.'

Thompson, of no fixed address, faces a minimum six-month prison term as a starting point. He was remanded in custody.

Sentencing has been adjourned until May 28 in order for pre-sentence and psychiatric reports to be prepared.

The royal residence is recognised as the main home of the monarch

The royal residence is recognised as the home of the monarch, but the Queen has remained in Windsor Castle since the death of Prince Phillip last month.

It is thought she is making plans to make Windsor Castle her main residence.
A 16-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with murdering a Good Samaritan father-of-four, 34.

'Amazing' James Gibbons was killed when he interrupted his twin daughters' birthday barbecue to give a homeless man leftovers, witnesses said.

Mr Gibbons, a plumber known locally as Gibbo, was stabbed on an estate dubbed 'Alcatraz' in Laindon, Essex, at around 9.30pm on Sunday.

Police believe he died after attempting to 'go to the aid of another man', as friends claim he chased a group away from the rough sleeper.

The teenager - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was remanded in custody following today's brief hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court.

Speaking only to confirm his name, age, and address during the brief hearing, the boy did not enter a plea.

He wore a grey prison-issue tracksuit and his parents sat in the public gallery as the youth looked emotionless behind the reinforced glass of the dock.

He will next appear in court on Monday for a preliminary hearing.

Friends say that father-of-four James Gibbons, 34, was stabbed after trying to chase a group from a homeless man he had offered barbecue leftovers to in Laindon, Essex

Paramedics discovered Mr Gibbons - who was engaged to his partner of 11 years - with stab wounds. They battled to save him but he tragically died at the scene.

The family had been celebrating his two-year-old twins' birthday with a barbecue when 'Gibbo' took food to the homeless man.

In addition to the 16-year-old who appeared in court today, police arrested five other teenagers as part of their investigation.

A 13-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder has been released on bail until May 14.

Police said two girls, aged 15 and 16, who were arrested on suspicion of murder, have been told they face no further charges.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy arrested in connection with the murder has been released on bail until May 25.

James Gibbons (pictured with his family), known locally as Gibbo, was stabbed on an estate that locals call 'Alcatraz' in Laindon, Essex, at around 9.30pm on Sunday

A 13-year-old boy has been told he faces no further action in relation to the murder, but has been released on bail in connection with an assault offence, police said.

Mr Gibbons' family have described him as a loving father who would always look out for anyone less fortunate than himself.

His mother, Wendy, has returned to the UK from her Spanish home to support the family - six years after her 26-year-old son, Ashley, passed away after an epileptic fit.

In a statement, the family said: 'James was an amazing father of four young children, engaged to his partner of 11 years, and was a loving and supportive son and brother.

'James was a hard-working family-orientated man, who ran his own bathroom fitting company and was looking forward to a positive future for him and his family.'

They added: 'This tragedy occurred after he had spent the day celebrating his two-year-old twin girls' birthday at home and we are absolutely broken beyond belief at this pointless loss which has had a devastating effect on us all.

'James was the kind of person who would always be prepared to help anyone less fortunate than himself, which is what he was doing on Sunday night.

Police have since arrested three boys and two girls aged between 13 and 16 in connection with the killing

'As a family we are urging anyone to come forward with any information that may help the police as they investigate James' death in the hope we can get justice.'

Mr Gibbons had proudly posted loving family photos on his Facebook page which feature his partner and four young children.

Flowers paying tribute to 'Gibbo' have been left outside a London property.

The emotional tributes state: 'Gibbo, you really was one in a million. I can't believe you are gone.

'I will cherish the memories you have been taken from us far too soon, but may you rest in eternal peace.

Mr Gibbons was found in Iris Mews with stab wounds and died at the scene despite efforts by paramedics

'Love ya Gibbo.'

Another friend, Kerri Goss, sent her condolences via social media, writing: 'I have never known a family to have a bond that even comes close to theirs.

'That's how I know you'll get through this, forever looking out for each other, extending to friends that became family, never leaving one person not knowing how much they are loved and appreciated.

'They lived life to the fullest each and every day. I feel blessed to have known their huge personalities, loved by the biggest hearts and felt the uniqueness they brought into the world.

'My thoughts are with all of your family, everyone will forever hold you in their hearts and cherish the memories you graced us with, rest in eternal paradise.'

Kayleigh Bartholomew added: 'In shock, a caring man till the end, that man a true gent. Sleep tight James Gibbons.

'You're with your baby bro again now as much as it kills me to write that.

'Love you always thinking of your family forever in our hearts. Rest in perfect paradise boys.'

Police at the scene in Iris Mews in Laindon, Essex following the stabbing on Sunday

The killing unfolded on the estate which is known as Alcatraz, a famous American prison - due to its fortress-like appearance.

Speaking to BBC Essex, detective chief inspector Stephen Jennings said: 'It's early stages to piece together exactly what's happened and why.

'We're really keen to hear from anyone that was in that area, may have seen something happen, or even just heard in the local area what could have taken place and who could have been involved.'

In a later statement he added: 'It is a tragic loss of life and we are continuing to appeal for the public's help.

'We are really keen to hear from anyone who was in the area at the time and may have seen or heard anything happen in Iris Mews shortly before 9.30pm on Sunday.

'We are also keen to hear from anyone who has seen any discarded weapons in the area.

Police have since arrested three boys and two girls in connection with the killing. Pictured: Police at the scene

The victim was found in Iris Mews with stab wounds and died at the scene despite efforts by paramedics. Pictured: Police at the scene

'If anyone knows anything about this murder and has not yet come forward to speak to us, please do.

'A family has been broken apart, and we need to get to the bottom of what happened.'

A resident of the estate, who didn't want to be named, told the Echo: 'It's not safe.

'I am not going out anymore, it's not safe for the children anymore. Normally you hear a lot through the windows, but we didn't even hear screaming.

'A stabbing or crime is just normal down here. It used to be a lovely area.'

Another resident said: 'It's disgusting. You can't walk around now without looking around and over both shoulders.'
New movie "The Six" pays tribute to, dispels myths surrounding mysterious Chinese Titanic survivors

Xinhua) 11:26, May 07, 2021

Steven Schwankert visits the home where the Titanic survivor known as Fang Lang grew up. (Photo provided by Steven Schwankert)

Escaping the Titanic disaster was by no means the greatest obstacle the six Chinese survivors had to overcome in their lives. "They deserved for their stories to be known as much as any other Titanic passengers," Steven Schwankert said.

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The scene where wealthy socialite Rose clings to a floating door after her beloved Jack dies in the freezing waters of the Atlantic is one of the most memorable scenes in the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic." But what was previously unknown is that this scene was inspired by the true-life story of one of the six Chinese who survived the 1912 disaster.

It is this tidbit and other surprises that characterize the documentary "The Six," a movie about the six Chinese men who survived the sinking of the purportedly unsinkable ocean liner. The documentary, which is currently playing in movie theaters around China, was the brainchild of an American in Beijing called Steven Schwankert, who is the chief researcher and co-creator of the documentary. He has also authored a book about that subject with the same name.

"Originally the idea for the story was mine," Schwankert told Xinhua in a recent exclusive interview. "While director Arthur Jones was unsure if there was anything new about 'Titanic' that could be discovered, after discussing the topic with Chinese friends, we agreed it was worth doing some research to see if there was enough material for a documentary and a book."

"The idea of bringing Titanic and China together in a meaningful way for the first time was too compelling to pass up. James Cameron's film 'Titanic' was such a big hit here that the chance for Chinese audiences to know that there were Chinese on the ship and learn their stories was a once in a lifetime opportunity," he said.

"We knew early on that James Cameron was aware of the Chinese men's story because he filmed a scene from 'Titanic' of a Chinese man being rescued from the water. That scene was not included in the final film, but it was the inspiration for the Jack and Rose ending that so many fans know and love," Schwankert said, adding that it took him and his team about two years to get the famous director's attention and secure an interview.

Once they had Cameron on board as executive producer, Schwankert said, Cameron was very cooperative and helped them get permission to use footage from "Titanic" in the documentary. Cameron himself even appears in the documentary as a commentator.

As for the financing of the ambitious project, Schwankert revealed that "The Six" is completely a Chinese production. At first, he and Jones paid for bits of travel and research on their own, before LP Films of Shanghai and producer Luo Tong took on the project and QC Media later joined as a producer and distributor, he said.

Members of the Fang family remember their relatives in a ceremony in Guangdong Province. (Photo provided by Steven Schwankert)

Schwankert traveled around different continents and countries -- the United States, Canada, Britain, and China -- to learn what had happened to the Chinese survivors after their rescue. Notebook in hand, he asks probing questions and acts as a sympathetic bystander and active participant, journalist and even detective to painstakingly piece together the puzzles of the fates of the six Chinese survivors.

As opposed to the other Titanic survivors, the fates of the six Chinese men were shrouded in mystery. Before they boarded the ill-fated ship, little was known about them, and after they were rescued, people believed they had behaved dishonorably by taking away seats from women and children in the lifeboats. But Schwankert set the record straight.

"Many people believe the Chinese men on 'Titanic' were stowaways, either on the ship itself or in lifeboats; they were not. Nor were they part of 'Titanic''s crew. They were fare-paying passengers, just like every other third-class passenger. There are other claims that they dressed as women to enter lifeboats. There is no evidence of that, even as the claim has persisted for over 100 years," Schwankert said.

Some of the research methods Schwankert and his team used to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the six Chinese survivors, like tracking down their descendants, figuring out the survivors' escape means and their later whereabouts were compelling. For example, to prove some of his hypotheses, Schwankert agreed to an experiment to see himself what it is like to experience hypothermia and had a lifeboat reconstructed at a school in Beijing with some students playing "stowaways" by hiding under the benches.

"The Six" co-creator Steven Schwankert inspects a lifeboat model built for the documentary. (Photo provided by Steven Schwankert)

Regarding the most pressing challenges he faced when making "The Six," Schwankert explained that it involved identifying the six survivors at the outset.

"The biggest challenge was beginning with a list of names that really told us nothing. We had Chinese names that were romanized, so we didn't know where these men were from, what dialect of Chinese they spoke, or what their Chinese names were. That made our progress quite slow when we started out," he said. But he and his team persisted, identified the six men, and traced their whereabouts after the rescue.

"By the time we were finished, about 20 researchers had assisted us with our work. That included genealogists, and researchers in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Arthur (Jones) and I are historical optimists: We believe we're going to find material when we set out to find it. We never believe anything is 'lost to history' -- that's just an excuse that people use instead of admitting they ran out of resources or time," Schwankert said.

Talking about the most intriguing discovery during his investigation into the truth behind the six Chinese survivors, Schwankert said it was "the situation in Collapsible Lifeboat C," but he didn't want to give away any spoilers for those who haven't seen the documentary yet.

"However, I can say this: when a mystery endures for more than a century, people expect that the answer must be complex. In this case, it was even simpler than we had expected. The problem was that no one had bothered to examine the situation objectively, and therefore, the solution was not obvious," he said.

When asked what the reactions of the Chinese survivors' descendants were to finding out more about their ancestors who had survived the "Titanic" disaster and sharing their stories, Schwankert admitted it was difficult for the families to learn something about their relatives from strangers. "I think they were pleased to learn more about their family history but struggled to understand why their loved ones hadn't shared those bits of information with others themselves," he said.

Tom Fong, son of Titanic survivor Fang Lang, talks about his father's life in the documentary "The Six." (Photo provided by Steven Schwankert)

A case in point was Tom Fong, the son of Fang Lang, the last Chinese survivor to be rescued after clinging to a floating door who had been rather secretive about his past with his family. Fong compared his father's life to a book, with him being familiar with the last quarter of it, "and there's like three quarters of the book that I never knew about him."

Moviegoers have reacted well to "The Six," Schwankert reported, although he admitted that since it's a documentary, it's difficult to expect it to become a commercial hit. One of the reasons for its popularity, though, might be that it addresses current social problems that may resonate with many Chinese moviegoers.

Over a century ago, the six Chinese survivors suffered from prevailing anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. The situation does not appear to have improved much today, with anti-Asian hate crimes being widely reported by the media.

"I think 'The Six' shows that these are not new problems, and therefore, we can't think they are going to get resolved quickly," Schwankert said. "But hopefully with greater understanding, we can continue to learn more about each other and see our differences as strengths, rather than as points of tension."

Besides overcoming discrimination to fulfill their dreams, a series of hardships awaited them after being rescued: battling poverty, accepting back-breaking work, trying to reach countries that were not interested in having them, Schwankert said, which is why he said at the end of the documentary that escaping the Titanic disaster was by no means the greatest obstacle the six Chinese survivors had to overcome in their lives.

Yet Schwankert said he hoped "The Six" was meaningful. "They deserved for their stories to be known as much as any other Titanic passengers."

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
A prison psychologist has told how she was 'very worried' about convicted terrorist Usman Khan before he was released and carried out the Fishmongers' Hall attack.

Giving evidence at an inquest on Friday, Ieva Cechaviciute said a colleague had previously regarded Khan as 'superficial and full of hot air'.

But following a series of interviews over six-and-a-half hours, Ms Cechaviciute was left 'very worried' ahead of his impending release into the community.

The witness had spoken to Khan in January 2018 at HMP Whitemoor for an Extremism Risk Guidelines (ERG) report.

Giving evidence at an inquest on Friday, Ieva Cechaviciute said a colleague had previously regarded Khan as 'superficial and full of hot air'

But following a series of interviews over six-and-a-half hours, Ms Cechaviciute was left 'very worried' ahead of his impending release into the community

On his manner during the interviews, she said: 'It appeared that it was underlying anger and bitterness in his approach towards me but I think he was trying to be very polite in the interview.'

Her interviews led to the conclusion that Khan had made 'little progress' in prison and did not understand his risk, the court heard.

Being in jail had even made him a 'greater risk' and 'elevated his profile', jurors heard.

The witness also noted intelligence that Khan had radicalised others and was involved with extremist gangs.

Jonathan Hough QC, counsel for the coroner, asked: 'What was your view of Khan and his progress?'

She said it was 'very difficult to see whether he made any genuine progress'.

The witness told jurors she had assessed that Khan's risk of engaging in 'extremist activity' would increase upon his release.

Mr Hough asked: 'To what extent did these conclusions reflect a real cause for worry about somebody who is going to be released in eight months' time?'

She replied: 'That was very worrying to me and I really was very worried how to communicate this to whoever was reading my report, so therefore I went into a lot of detail explaining the pattern of his behaviour and trying to communicate that his risk is likely to increase when he is released.'

On November 29 2019, 11 months after his release, Khan, from Stafford, fatally stabbed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt (pictured), 25

When confronted with incidents of violence or anything portraying him in a 'negative light', Khan responded by 'rationalising it, minimising it or denying it', she said.

'That means he will not be able to manage his risk because he's not aware of it and not interested in managing himself,' she said.

While Khan might have wanted to change, he was 'not being very successful at it', she added.

Mr Hough asked: 'You thought his risk of extremism had got worse as a result of custody although he had entered custody as a terrorist offender?'

The witness agreed, saying that was despite opportunities to learn and engage during his time in jail.

When she reviewed her report with Khan, he was 'very upset, very angry' and 'did not see the report as valid at all', Ms Cechaviciute said.

She added he had portrayed himself as 'a victim of the security department' and denied negative intelligence about him.

The witness had flagged potential warning signs to look for following his release, including lack of purpose, boredom and unemployment.

The court has previously heard that Khan's attempts to find a job were unsuccessful and he spent time alone at home playing on his Xbox.

Khan also stabbed Saskia Jones (pictured), 23, at Fishmongers' Hall in London during his rampage

Sharron Ford worked as a probation officer at approved accommodation in Stafford where Khan lived between December 2018 and September 24 2019, when he moved into a flat.

She told jurors he had seemed 'really positive' and 'engaged'.

Ms Ford, who saw Khan once a fortnight, said he was also 'building bridges' with his family whom he saw once a week.

During one discussion it was noted that Khan had been talking about his life before custody.

Notes from the time stated that he 'believed he was an angry young man as he wanted to be in a relationship with a female whose family were set against it because she was destined for an arranged marriage'.

He stated that they got married 'in secret' and therefore it was never a legal marriage.

Khan went on to say that it formed part of his 'anger' which grew because he was 'subject to racism'.

After Khan moved out, he only returned once, to attend a wellbeing day, the court heard.

Asked how he seemed, Ms Ford said: 'Really happy.'

On November 29 2019, 11 months after his release, Khan, from Stafford, fatally stabbed Cambridge graduates Jack Merritt, 25, and Saskia Jones, 23, at Fishmongers' Hall.

He was chased on to London Bridge by members of the public armed with a fire extinguisher and narwhal tusk and was then shot dead by police.

The inquest at the Guildhall into the victims' deaths continues.
A Queer, Trans and Intersex Black and People of Colour (QTIBPOC) group who staged a 24-hour fundraising rave are among the artists shortlisted for this year's Turner Prize.

Black Obsidian Sound System (BOSS) are one of five groups shortlisted for the prestigious visual arts award.

The collective uses club nights, art installations, technical workshops and live performance, to 'challenge the norms of sound-system culture across the African diaspora'.

The group recently held an online fundraising rave specifically for people from QTIBPOC community.

The other nominees - which for the first time in the prize's history are all groups rather than individuals - include a collective behind a sculpture on salmon farming.

Another group behind public artworks in support of the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland are also included.

Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner Prize jury, said: 'One of the great joys of the Turner Prize is the way it captures and reflects the mood of the moment in contemporary British art.

Black Obsidian Sound System (BOSS) are one of five groups shortlisted for the prestigious visual arts award

Alongside BOSS will be Array Collective's, whose projects include public artworks in support of the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland

They are joined on the shortlist by Cooking Sections, a London-based duo examining the systems that organise the world through food, whose recent work has included a sound, light and sculpture installation at Tate Britain reflecting on salmon farming

'After a year of lockdowns when very few artists have been able to exhibit publicly, the jury has selected five outstanding collectives whose work has not only continued through the pandemic but become even more relevant as a result.'

Alongside BOSS will be Array Collective, whose projects include public artworks in support of the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland.

They are joined on the shortlist by Cooking Sections, a London-based duo examining the systems that organise the world through food, whose recent work has included a sound, light and sculpture installation at Tate Britain reflecting on salmon farming.

They have also had an ongoing installation-performance in the Isle of Skye which sees an underwater oyster table turn into a community dining space at low tide.

Also in the running is Gentle/Radical, a project based in Cardiff run by artists, community workers, performers, faith practitioners and writers advocating for art as a tool for social change.

Their activities include Doorstep Revolution, an ongoing project to share neighbourhood stories during lockdown; and the pop-up cinema space Gentle/Radical Film Club.

The final collective on the list is Hastings-based Project Art Works, which is a group of neurodiverse artists - people with brain differences such as ADHD and autism.

Their recent projects include the film Illuminating the Wilderness 2019, which follows members of the collective with their families and carers exploring a remote Scottish glen.

Also in the running is Gentle/Radical, a project based in Cardiff run by artists, community workers, performers, faith practitioners and writers advocating for art as a tool for social change

The final collective on the list is Hastings-based Project Art Works, which is a group of neurodiverse artists - people with brain differences such as ADHD and autism

An exhibition of the work of the shortlisted groups will be held at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry from September 29 to January 12 next year as part of the UK City of Culture 2021 celebrations.

The winner will be announced on December 1 at an award ceremony at Coventry Cathedral.

Francis Nielsen, cultural and creative director of Culture Coventry, added: 'We are incredibly excited to work with the five collectives to present their work at the Herbert as part of UK City of Culture 2021.

'We pride ourselves on our socially engaged programme, rooted in and relevant to our local communities - something echoed by the practice of each collective.

'This selection of artists and the timing of this Turner Prize presents us with the opportunity to do something truly exceptional.'

The Turner Prize is one of the world's best-known prizes for the visual arts.

Established in 1984, the prize is named after the radical British painter JMW Turner and the winner is awarded 25,000 with 10,000 going to each of the others shortlisted.
This is the hilarious moment a Romanian TV reporter was in the middle of a live piece to camera when a bicycle courier crashed in the background.

The reporter was completely unaware of the drama behind her and continued delivering her report from the pedestrianised street in Bucharest.

The video shows the man, carrying a large back pack, zig-zagging between two banks of tables and chairs outside bars lining the thoroughfare when he loses control and falls off his bike.

The cyclist, pictured over the shoulder of the TV reporter was riding along the pedestrianised street in Bucharest

The delivery rider lost control and almost crashed into a table of people enjoying lunch outside a restaurant

Despite the drama going on behind her, the journalist from the news channel Observator continues with her broadcast.

She was in the old part of the city talking about the restrictions Romanians had to abide by over the Orthodox Easter celebrations.

The incident happened on the afternoon of April 30, the day before one of the most significant ceremonies of the year in the Orthodox church.

The cyclist remounted his bike and continued with his journey raising a hand and giving a 'thumb's up' to the camera crew as he passed.

Several viewers criticised the cyclist, suggesting that he spotted the TV crew and began showing off which led to his loss of control.

Others said he should not have been riding on a pedestrianised street with many suggesting he deserved what happened to him.

Another commentator asked why the people sitting at the tables did not stand up to provide any assistance to the cyclist.
A California mayor is raffling off prizes two scholarships worth $10,000 and $5,000 for teenagers who get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The mayor of Lancaster, Mayor R. Rex Parris, is specifically targeting those aged between 16 and 18 after reports of 'vaccine hesitancy' among the age group.

Data for Los Angeles County show just 15.8% of 16 to 29-year-olds have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Mayor of Lancaster, California, R. Rex Parris, is pushing for teens aged 16-18 to get the vaccine

The city is offering a raffle in which the prizes are scholarships of $10,000 and $5,000 plus $50 gift cards to those who get the jab

Overall, the county has fully inoculated more than 2.9 million people 16 and older, accounting for 35.8% of the population, according to county data.

The June 30th deadline will see one grand prize winner in the #10kVaxChallenge receive the $10,000 scholarship.

The second prize winner will receive the $5,000 scholarship with a further 20 winners eligible for a $50 gift card.

The money will come from the mayor's scholarship fund.

To participate in the raffle, teens need to post a photo of themselves on social media stating that they have received the second jab using hashtags '#10kVaxChallenge' and '#VaccinateLancaster.'

'Our community's youth feel that much more excited and motivated to be part of ending the COVID-19 pandemic,' Mayor R. Rex Parris explained to ABC News as to why he created the raffle.

'Members of the Lancaster community are all looking forward to putting this pandemic behind us, with teenagers maybe even the most excited about getting back to their 'normal lives.'

'But to get back to 'normal' as a community, it is up to each of us to do our part and get vaccinated. Now that safe and effective vaccines are available for our 16 to 18-year-olds, I want to help make sure Lancaster teens take advantage of the opportunity.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is reporting a sharp decline in vaccinations particularly among younger people

'There are $16,000 in scholarship funds on the line, and I fully expect Lancaster teens to participate, tag their friends and become one of the winners to receive funding toward their future education,' Parris said.

So far, the incentive appears to be working with an increase in the number of teens making vaccine appointments and taking part in the raffle since it launched.

Parris also noted that it is conservative Republicans who are most hesitant when it comes to getting the jab.

'It is the conservative Republicans who are the most vaccine-resistant. There's a thousands reasons, I guess,' he said to KABC.

Other states are also coming up with schemes to encourage younger members of society to get inoculated.

West Virginia is offering young people $100 to receive the COVID-19.

The state is hoping the savings bond will entice people aged between 16 and 35, who are responsible for more than a quarter of cases despite making up just 21 per cent of the population, to get their shot.

The vaccination rate among young people in the state of West Virginia has slowed, data from its Department of Health and Human Resources shows

The demographic has been eligible to get the vaccine since March but has been comparatively slow in getting inoculated with just 31 per cent of 16 to 35-year-olds receiving the shot. So far, half of West Virginia's 1.8 million residents have received at least one shot.

In a press briefing last week, Gov. Jim Justice said he is aiming to get more than 70 percent of the state's eligible population vaccinated, which he could exceed if about 80 percent of the state's 380,000 16 to 35-year-olds get vaccinated.

'If we really want to move the needle, we've got to get our young people vaccinated,' he said, noting they are 'not taking vaccines as fast as we'd like them to take them.'

'Our kids today probably don't really realize just how important they are in shutting this thing down,' Justice said. 'I'm trying to come up with a way that's going to motivate them - and us - to get over the hump.'

Those who have already received their COVID vaccines will also get a $100 savings bond retroactively.

The suppliers of the vaccines say their injections are highly effective among teens, early clinical trial data shows.

In the TeenCOVE study, including children ages 12 to 17, the two-dose Moderna shot was 96 percent effective.

The results are in line with the 94 percent efficacy Moderna showed among adults in its December 2020 trial.

However, despite the promising findings, some parents are reluctant to get their children vaccinated.

Some parents are reluctant to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19, with a new poll finding 29% plan to vaccinate their children 'right away' when shots become available while 32% want to wait and see

About 15% of parents surveyed said they will only vaccinate their child against COVID-19 if schools require it while 19% said they don't plant

Black and white parents were more likely than Hispanic parents to say they definitely will not vaccinate their children, the poll found

A new poll recently found that fewer than one-third of parents intend to get their sons and daughters immunized as soon as a shot is authorized and more than a quarter have no plans to do so.

Moderna added that its study looking at COVID-19 vaccines among children ages six months to 11 years, known as KidCOVE, is ongoing.

Along with the promising results, the FDA is expected to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds by next week,

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announced that if the FDA does in fact approve the vaccine for adolescents next week, the U.S. is ready to start administering 'immediately.'

But many parents are not as enthusiastic about vaccinating their children.

In a new poll, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, parents were asked if they would get their child immunized once a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized and available for their child's age group.

Only about three in 10 parents - 29 percent - of children under 18 said they would get their child vaccinated 'right away.'

Willingness to get their children vaccinated immediately grew as the child age increased with just 24 percent with a kid under age five saying they would get their child vaccinated as soon as possible compared with 31 percent who had children ages 16 to 17.

Meanwhile, one-third, 32 percent, of mothers and father surveyed said they wanted to wait and see how the vaccine worked before getting their child immunized.
A Labour supporter campaigning for Sadiq Khan to become Mayor of London appeared to break strict Electoral Commission rules - after handing out leaflets outside a polling station.

The activist was captured on film at Overland Children's Centre in Bow, London where members of the public were queuing to cast their votes.

Leaflets clearly showing Mr Khan's face were given to people at the end of the long line as they waited to get their ballot papers.

A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission told MailOnline this afternoon: 'Parties and candidates are allowed to campaign on polling day, but not within the perimeters of a polling station.

The man could be clearly seen with Sadiq Khan leaflets beside the polling station queue

The short video showed him hand a leaflet to one man before others spoke to him briefly

'Anyone who is concerned about activity outside a polling station should raise their concerns with the Returning Officer in the first instance.'

MailOnline supplied the video to the Labour Party for a comment but received no reply before publication deadline.

Another voter said the same thing had happened at the Tredegar Centre also in East London.

The eyewitness added: 'My wife was approached outside another polling station in Bow by a Labour activist handing out leaflets  she never got as far as accepting them because we had postal votes we just dropped off, so had actually already voted.

Sadiq Khan, along with wife Saadiya and their dog Luna, were spotted bright and early at their polling station at St Albans Church in south London, ready to put their crosses in the box

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'I was handing them in at the time. The lady was definitely Labour, and she definitely had leaflets in her hand.'

Mr Khan had been widely expected to retain the keys to City Hall, though his lead over Conservative rival Shaun Bailey has shrunk in recent days amid fears about the capital's crime crisis.

Mr Khan, along with wife Saadiya and their dog Luna, were spotted bright and early at their polling station at St Albans Church in south London, on Thursday ready to put their crosses in the box.

The Labour candidate was thought set to win a second term  but worries following a spate of knife killings could deprive him of a first round victory in today's election.

An Opinium survey this week showed 52 per cent of Londoners think tackling knife crime should be the next mayor's top priority.

The London election has tightened, with a YouGov poll on Wednesday giving Mr Khan a 12-point lead, based on first preference votes, down from 21 points a month ago.

It suggested Mr Khan will win the contest in a second round run-off with Mr Bailey by 59 per cent to 41 per cent.

Knife crime in the capital has increased by more than 60 per cent between May 2016, when Mr Khan took office, and March last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson voted early in the dramatic Super Thursday battle amid signs he was on course to take a wrecking ball to the Red Wall again.

It proved to be true today as the Tories took Labour stronghold Hartlepool for the first time in history.

The PM cast his ballot along with fiancee Carrie Symonds in London as the crucial set of elections got underway.

The Tories had been boosted by the latest poll showing they have a huge 10-percentage point lead - driven by the success of the vaccine rollout.

Sir Keir Starmer has yet to comment on the loss of Hartlepool, emerging grim faced this morning.
A pro-Palestine trade unionist has been jailed for his part in a pub 'revenge attack' that left a Jewish Tory barrister with a broken nose and torn retina.

Ex-school caretaker and artist Dennis McNulty, 60, punched 63-year-old intellectual property rights specialist Tim Ludbrook, knocking him unconscious, at the King William IV Pub, Hampstead in 2018.

The pair had clashed verbally over their opposing political views, leading to McNulty being described as a 'Hamas-loving b*****d,' by the lawyer.

Today, a jury found father-of-three McNulty guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent at court.

Ex-school caretaker and local artist Dennis McNulty (pictured), 60, was jailed today after repeatedly punching 63 year-old intellectual property rights specialist Tim Ludbrook

McNulty and Mr Ludbrook met inside the busy King William IV pub in Hampstead High Street on August 3, 2018 - where the pair traded blows over their polarised political opnions.

The lawyer admits lunging at McNulty inside the pub: 'He knew he got me, a Tory barrister to react badly.

'He enjoyed that, but it is intolerable to have racially-charged behaviour inflicted upon you.

'On that occasion I let it get the better of me.'

GMB union activist McNulty was ejected by pub staff, but attacked Mr Ludbrook outside in nearby Heath Street as the lawyer sat on a bench.

'My nose was broken in two places and I was very lucky not to lose the sight in one eye,' the lawyer added.

'I will forever see him in that moment for the rest of my life. It is as clear as day, seared on my memory.

'There he was, bearing down at me and moments later he was striking me around the head from both sides and I don't recall anything else until I came around. '

The lawyer concedes calling McNulty a 'Hamas-loving b*****d,' inside the pub, but insists this was after an evening of intimidation by the defendant.

There was a heated exchange over the Gaza strip and Israel's treatment of Palestinians, with McNulty's temper rising when the barrister revealed he was Jewish.

The pair clashed verbally inside the busy King William IV pub in Hampstead High Street on August 3, 2018, because of their opposing political views. Pictured, 63-year-old intellectual property rights specialist Tim Ludbrook

'He was introduced to me as an ardent member of the Labour Party and I am well-known for being on the other side of the political spectrum,' said Mr Ludbrook.

'He told me he was a senior official in a tradesunion and I told him if I went on one of his marches then he would have to come on one of mine for Jacob Rees-Mogg.'

Speaking at Isleworth Crown Court today, Judge John Dennis told McNulty he was previously regarded a 'man of not only good character, but a character that benefited a large number of individuals'.

The judge continued: 'Something happened that night to cause you to lose your temper quite badly.

'After being thrown out of the pub you got the assistance of your sons and another person and went on a revenge attack that resulted in very serious injuries to Mr Ludbrook.

'He suffered a severely fractured nose and a torn retina that needed emergency surgery to save the eye.'

The lawyer concedes calling McNulty a 'Hamas-loving b*****d,' inside the pub (pictured), but insists this was after an evening of intimidation by the defendant

Mr Ludbrook added: 'He was swearing about the Tory government and intended to try and inflame the situation with his language and said: "You can't support those f***ing c****".

'He must have thought I was supporting them because I am a Conservative and I told him: 'Yes, I am Jewish and a supporter of Israel.'

'It was like lighting a blue touch paper and he said: 'It's always you f***ing people, you're always the problem.'

'He said he was going to show what kind of f***ing person I was on social media and started recording with his phone.

'The really aggressive stuff started when he goaded me into revealing my ethnicity. He's obviously got some view about Jews.'

McNulty always denied hitting the complainant over three separate trials and claims Mr Ludbrook would sarcastically greet him with: 'Power to the people,' but the lawyer denied this.

He also denied McNulty's claim he said: 'We need to get rid of the Palestinians. I want gas chambers built to get rid of them all.'

Judge Dennis told McNulty: 'During the discussion in the pub you became quite irate on the subject of Hamas and Mr Ludbrook being Jewish.

'You were affected by what was said and your goading of Mr Ludbrook was sufficient for him to lose his temper and he jumped up and had to be restrained and you had to be restrained.

'There was a religious background to this and you were provoked.'

An earlier trial cleared McNulty of a charge of religiously-aggravated threatening behaviour.

'On a the positive side I treat you as a man of good character and you come to the court as a relatively elderly defendant, who can say they have spent most of their life out of trouble,' added the judge.

'I put in your favour your record of good public works as a school keeper and forty years of work in the union, helping the weak and vulnerable.'

McNulty's lawyer James Partridge told the court he also has a daughter Michelle, 39, and began his trades union activity when employed as a printer, fighting the move from Fleet Street to Wapping in the 1980's.

He has assisted people with claims against their employers based on sex and racial discrimination. 'He says he has been standing up to racism all his life,' said the lawyer.

McNulty will serve two-thirds of the sentence, six years, before he is considered for parole.
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On the west side of Djibouti City sits a sprawling military compound. Within its razorwire-topped walls are helipads, a dock large enough to fit aircraft carriers, and 2,000 troops alongside armoured vehicles and gunboats.

Opened in 2017, this is China's first overseas military base - but could soon be one of many located across Africa if those sounding the alarm in Washington are correct.

The Department of Defense warned last year that Beijing has 'likely' sought bases in Angola, the Seychelles, Kenya, and Tanzania, and just this week General Stephen Townsend - America's top brass in Africa - warned a new naval base similar to the one in Djibouti could soon appear on Africa's west coast.

Such a base, which could be located anywhere from Mauritania to Namibia, would allow China to project its growing military might not just across the Pacific Ocean but the Atlantic too, General Townsend said.

But while the thought of Chinese military bases popping up across Africa may be new to some, in fact it is only the latest chapter in a decades-long effort to bring the continent under Beijing's sway that has gone largely unnoticed.

'The Chinese are outmaneuvering the U.S. in select countries in Africa,' Gen. Townsend said as he issued his warning. 'Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. They are hedging their bets and making big bets on Africa.'

China has lent billions of dollars to African nations (shaded red showing which countries have accepted cash, with darker colours indicating higher levels of debt) while building ports, power stations, railways and roads. Beijing has also built a military base in Djibouti (right), but is planning more - with 'likely sites' in Angola, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Seychelles (blue pentagons). But is is the possibility of a new naval base on the west coast (shaded blue) that has caused fresh alarm in the US

And he's right. It seems that, almost wherever you look on the continent, China's influence is being felt.

Railways? China is building them, including new lines between Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya, Abuja and Kaduna in Nigeria, Lobito and Luau in Angola, and between Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Ports? China again, constructing or expanding no less than 41 harbours in sub-Saharan Africa up to 2019, according to a CSIS report, meaning Beijing now has a commercial interest in around one in five of the total.

Africa's power grid is also being transformed off the back of Chinese investment. Environmentalists kicked up a stink when it emerged late last year that China has financed seven new coal-fired plants in Africa with plans for 13 more - but the country is also investing in hydroelectric, and has interests in some of the continent's largest dams.

For example, the huge Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which spans the Blue Nile and has sparked tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt, is a project in which China is heavily involved.

To run those projects, thousands of Chinese companies and tens of thousands of Chinese workers have set up on the continent and show no sign of going anywhere.

US General Stephen Townsend, who heads US Africa Command, says China has designs on naval ports on the western coast of Africa, which would give the nation easy access to the Atlantic Ocean

Meanwhile, China has lent at least $153billion to African governments to finance the development - according to the China-Africa Research Initiative - though the real total is thought to be far higher once other types of financing such as grants and direct investment are included.

The projects don't stop there. According to The Heritage Foundation, China has built no fewer than 186 government buildings in 40 out of 54 African countries, developed 70 per cent of the continent's 4G networks, and even built sensitive intra-governmental communications networks for 14 nations.

Even the African Union headquarters, located in Ethiopia, was full financed and build by China.

And Beijing's interest shows no sign of slowing. In 2018, President Xi Jinping announced the creation of a $60billion pot of Chinese money specially ear-marked for development projects in Africa.

In short: If Africa needs it, then China is supplying it. And in spades.

While economic investment is hardly a threat to America on its own, it does buy Beijing influence - meaning that when Xi wants to locate a new military base on the continent, he is likely to find a host of national leaders who are more than happy to welcome him.

And it is that thought which is keeping Townsend and others at the Pentagon awake at night.

'Theyre looking for a place where they can rearm and repair warships. That becomes militarily useful in conflict,' Townsend said in an interview with the Associated Press this week.

'Theyre a long way toward establishing that in Djibouti. Now theyre casting their gaze to the Atlantic coast and wanting to get such a base there.'

Townsend's warnings come as the Pentagon shifts its focus from the counterterrorism wars of the last two decades to the Indo-Pacific region and threats from great power adversaries like China and Russia.

China's current military base in Djibouti (pictured) houses some 2,000 troops along with armoured vehicles and gunboats, with a pier constructed to allow aircraft carriers to dock (top left) along with helipads and a runway (centre)

The Biden administration views China's rapidly expanding economic influence and military might as America's primary long-term security challenge.

U.S. military commanders around the globe, including several who may lose troops and resources to bolster growth in the Pacific, caution that China's growing assertiveness isn't simply happening in Asia.

And they argue that Beijing is aggressively asserting economic influence over countries in Africa, South America and the Middle East, and is pursuing bases and footholds there.

China's first overseas naval base was built years ago in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and it is steadily increasing its capacity. Townsend said as many as 2,000 military personnel are at the base, including hundreds of Marines who handle security there.

'They have arms and munitions for sure. They have armored combat vehicles. We think they will soon be basing helicopters there to potentially include attack helicopters,' said Townsend.

For some time, many have thought that China was working to establish a Navy base in Tanzania, a country on Africa's eastern coast, that has had a strong, longstanding military relationship with Beijing. But Townsend said it appears there's been no decision on that yet.

He said that while China has been trying hard to get a base in Tanzania, it's not the location he's most concern about.

Chinese troops and armoured vehicles parade at the base in Djibouti, located at a strategic bottleneck leading to the Suez Canal, in 2017 as the base was first opened

'It's on the Indian Ocean side,' he said. 'I want it to be in Tanzania instead of on the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic coast concerns me greatly,' he said, pointing to the relatively shorter distance from Africa's west coast to the U.S.

In nautical miles, a base on Africa's northern Atlantic coast could be substantially closer to the U.S. than military facilities in China are to America's western coast.

More specifically, other U.S. officials say the Chinese have been eyeing locations for a port in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Defense Department's 2020 report on China's military power, said China has likely considered adding military facilities to support its naval, air and ground forces in Angola, among other locations. And it noted that the large amount of oil and liquefied natural gas imported from Africa and the Middle East, make those regions a high priority for China over the next 15 years.

Henry Tugendhat, a senior policy analyst with the United States Institute of Peace, said China has a lot of economic interests on Africa's west coast, including fishing and oil. China also has helped finance and build a large commercial port in Cameroon.

He said that any effort by Beijing to get a naval port on the Atlantic coast would be an expansion of China's military presence. But the desire for ocean access, he said, may be primarily for economic gain, rather than military capabilities.

Townsend and other regional military commanders laid out their concerns about China during recent congressional hearings. He, along with Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, and Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, are battling to retain their military forces, aircraft and surveillance assets as the Pentagon continues to review the shift to great power competition.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is conducting a global posture review to determine if America's military might is positioned where it needs to be, and in the right numbers, around the world to best maintain global dominance. That review is expected to be finished in late summer.
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Preparation for Russia's extravagant annual victory day parade have been held in Moscow's Red Square on Friday ahead of the 76th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender and the end of the Second World War.

The huge celebration is held every year on May 9, a day after Western Europe celebrates VE Day on May 8 due to the time difference between Russia and other Soviet Bloc countries, and Central European Time.

Thousands of glamorous soldiers have been pictured during a dress rehearsal for Sunday's event, which will see the military demonstrate its might in Moscow's Red Square in front of the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin.

Along with the troops, hundreds of various military vehicles and other deadly weaponry has also been seen rolling through or flying over the famous square, found in the heart of Russia's capital.

Victory Day in Russia is a national holiday, closing most public offices, schools and businesses, and due to other more Pro-Russian countries broadcasting the Russian president's victory day speech, the event is one of the world's most watched occasions of the year.

Russia's extravagant preparation for its annual victory day parade has been pictured in Moscow's Red Square on Friday ahead of the 76th anniversary Nazi Germany's surrender and the end of the Second World War. Pictured: Servicewomen march in formation during a dress rehearsal of a Victory Day military parade marking the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, in Moscow's Red Square, May 7, 2021

Soviet T-34 tanks during the general rehearsals of the Victory Day Parade at Red Square, on May 7, 2021 in Moscow. Along with the troops, hundreds of various military vehicles and other deadly weaponry has also been seen rolling through or flying over the famous square, found in the heart of Russia's capital

Servicemen of Russia's Emergencies Ministry march along Red Square in downtown Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade that will be held in front on President Vladimir Putin on Sunday

Victory Day in Russia is a national holiday, closing most public offices, schools and businesses, and due to other more Pro-Russian countries broadcasting the Russian president's victory day speech, the event is one of the world's most watched occasions of the year. Pictured: Russian soldiers take part in the Victory Day parade rehearsals on Friday

Pictured: Russian military planes fly over Red Square leaving trails of smoke in colours of national flag during a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7, 2021. The huge celebration is held every year on May 9, a day after Western Europe celebrates VE Day on May 8 due to the time difference between Russia and other Soviet Bloc countries

Russian servicemen march during a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 7, 2021

Russian servicemen march in formation during the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 07 May 2021. Thousands of soldiers have been pictured during a dress rehearsal for Sunday's event, which will see the Russian military demonstrate its strength in Red Square in front of the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin

The military parade at Red Square is planned for May 9, to commemorate the victory of Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in WWII, despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

Russian sailors stand at attention at Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, before a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade. Russia will celebrate the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War

Similar celebrations were seen across Russia in major cities on Friday, with a rehearsal also taking place in St. Petersburg, some 620 miles north-west of Moscow.

Last year however, the event was postponed until later in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite it being the significant 75th anniversary of the Nazi surrender in 1945, at 23:01 Central European Time.

For Moscow, which is on Moscow Standard Time, the end to the war in Europe came past midnight, meaning the country celebrates a day later.

Putin ordered for the event to go ahead on June 24, 2020, using around 14,000 soldiers that had already had coronavirus, and thus had developed immunity against the virus.

This year's event will not be postponed, although the country is still recording at least 8,000 new infections daily.

Russia's annual victory parade comes amid Western concerns over a build up of forces on the country's western border with Ukraine, and as relations between the Kremlin and the west are at their lowest since the Cold War.

Russia in recent weeks has deployed tens of thousands of troops to its borders with Ukraine and on Crimea, which defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said was for 'training exercises' in response to 'threatening' NATO actions.

Ukraine has been battling pro-Russian separatists in its east since 2014, in a conflict that erupted after Moscow annexed Crimea, after the country's former Russia-friendly president was driven from power by protests.

Moscow then threw its weight behind separatists in eastern Ukraine, and the conflict there has killed more than 14,000 people in seven years.

Tensions have risen in recent weeks with increasing violations of a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine and a massive Russian troop buildup along the Ukrainian border. Moscow has rejected Ukraine and Western concerns, arguing that it's free to deploy its forces and charging that they don't threaten anyone.

Russian military helicopters fly over the Kremlin and Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade that will be held on May 9

Russian honor guards march with a flag during the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 07 May 2021

Russian servicemen in red berets gather during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 07, 2021

Cossacks march in formation during the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 07 May 2021

Russian servicemen march during a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7, 2021

Russian military cadets march during a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7

Russian TOS-1A Solntsepyok multiple rocket launchers roll along Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7, 2021

Russian RS-24 Yarsk (NATO report name: SS29) ballistic missiles complex are driven during the general rehearsals of the Victory Day Parade at Red Square, on May 7, 2021 in Moscow

Russian tanks are driven during the general rehearsals of the Victory Day Parade at Red Square, on May 7, 2021 in Moscow

Sukhoi Su-34, Su-30SM and Su-35S over the Kremlin during the general rehearsals of the Victory Day Parade inf front of the Kremlin at Red Square, on May 7, 2021 in Moscow, Russia

Russian military cadets march along Red Square during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7, 2021

Russian servicewomen march in formation during the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 07 May 2021

Military musicians walk in downtown Moscow on May 7, 2021, before a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade

The 'Great Patriotic War' that saw nearly 30 million people die and nearly brought the USSR to its knees The 'Great Patriotic War' is used in Russia to describe the conflict between Russia, her allies, and Nazi Germany from June 1941 and May 1945. Hitlers devastating offensive against Russia threatened to annihilate the Soviet Union so the conflict on the Eastern Front is regarded by Russia as its own independent war. On June 22, 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union through Kiev, which had already become a part of the USSR and within one week, around 150,000 Soviet soldiers were wounded or dead. When Kiev fell, 600,000 soldiers were captured and by October of the same year, three million Soviet soldiers were prisoners of war. As his troops marched on the Russia capital, Hitler believed if the Germans won the Battle of Stalingrad he would defeat the USSR, but after nearly a year of fighting one of the bloodiest battles of the war, the Nazis were defeated. From this point on the Red Army was able to push back the tide against the Nazi advance. A conservative estimate states around 26 to 30 million, mostly Soviet civilians as well as military personnel, died in the brutal conflict. Around 1.5 million civilians and soldiers died, most from starvation during the Siege of Leningrad which saw a blockade last 872 days. Russia commemorates the German surrender every year on May 9. Advertisement

Russian servicewomen gather to perform during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 07, 2021

Russian military servicemen greet the commander of the North-Western military district during a general rehearsal of the Victory Day parade on the Dvortsovaya Square in front of the Hermitage State museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, 07 May 2021

A Russian servicemen grins to his fellow soldiers as they perform during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 07, 2021

Russian Ilyushin Il-76 planes fly over the Kremlin and Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021

Russian military servicemen march during general rehearsal of the Victory Day parade on the Dvortsovaya Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, 07 May 2021

Russian police cadets are seen marching during general rehearsal of the Victory Day parade on the Dvortsovaya Square in St. Petersburg, Russia, 07 May 2021

Russian servicemen march in formation during the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia, 07 May 2021

Russian servicemen gather to perform during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 07, 2021

Servicemen salute as their vehicles move through Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade

Russian servicemen line up on Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade

Russian servicemen gather during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 07, 2021

Historical T-34 tanks move through Red Square in Moscow on May 7 during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade

Russian sailors march along Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021 ahead of the May 9 celebrations

Russian military cadets march during a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7

Russian servicemen gather during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow, Russia on May 7

Russian S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems roll during a dress rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Friday, May 7, 2021

Russian marching musicians march during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in Moscow on Friday

Russian honour guards get ready for a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade at Red Square on May 7, 2021

Russian servicemen line up on Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade

Russian servicemen line up before a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade, which marks the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia May 7, 2021

Russian servicemen shout on Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade. - Russia will celebrate the 76th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany during World War II on May 9

Russian servicemen shout on Red Square in Moscow on May 7, 2021, as a senior official rides by in a limousine
Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russian Sputnik-V jabs are 'as simple and reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle.'

President Putin said that while Western nations had developed 'innovative' vaccines, the Russian versions were dependable, like the widely-used automatic rifles of the Soviet Union.

He made the comment as Moscow unveiled its fourth virus jab called Sputnik Light on Thursday.

President Putin said that while Western nations had developed 'innovative' vaccines, Russia's was simple and reliable, like the widely-used automatic rifles of the Soviet Union (pictured in Sochi on Thursday)

Putin also said he backed the idea of a vaccine patent waiver scheme which has been proposed by the European Union to the United States.

'We are hearing from Europe an idea that, in my opinion, deserves attention - namely, to remove patent protections from vaccines against Covid-19 altogether,' Putin said during a televised meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova.

'Russia would of course support such an approach,' Putin said, urging Golikova to work out the logistics.

'As I have said many times... We should not think about how to extract maximum profit, but about how to ensure people's safety.'

Supporters of waivers for vaccines argue that poor countries are struggling to get inoculation drives underway while rich countries protect the intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical giants.

Russia has registered three coronavirus vaccines, and on Thursday approved a fourth - a single-dose version of its Sputnik V jab called Sputnik Light.

Moscow has actively pushed Sputnik V - named after the Soviet-era satellite - around the world, with more than 60 countries having approved it for use.

Russia registered the jab in August before results from large-scale clinical trials, but leading medical journal The Lancet has since said it is safe and more than 90 percent effective.

In addition to the Sputnik jabs, Russia has also registered two other homegrown vaccines, the EpiVacCorona and CoviVac.

In his meeting with Golikova Thursday, Putin said that while Western countries had developed 'innovative' vaccines, Russia's are the safest and most reliable.

'As simple and reliable as a Kalashnikov assault rifle,' he said.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which helped finance the vaccine, said in a statement that Sputnik Light 'demonstrated 79.4 percent efficacy' compared to 91.6 percent for the two-shot Sputnik V.

A vial of the Sputnik V vaccine - named after the Russian satellite

The state-run Gamaleya research institute, which developed Sputnik V, said Thursday that more than 20 million people globally have received their first dose of the shot.

Russia, however, has struggled to inoculate its own citizens since beginning its jab drive in early December.

Golikova on Thursday told Putin that 9.4 million Russians have been fully vaccinated, while 13.4 million have received their first dose in the country of 144 million people.

Polls show many Russians are sceptical of Covid-19 vaccines.

Last month Putin said he hoped 70 percent of Russia's adult population will be inoculated by autumn and appealed for all Russians to get a vaccine.

The country has been among the hardest hit by Covid-19 with over 112,000 deaths as of Thursday, according to a tally by health officials.

But authorities have been criticised for downplaying the severity of the pandemic by counting only fatalities where the coronavirus was found to be the primary cause of death after an autopsy.

Figures released by the Rosstat statistics agency last week showed that Russia had actually recorded some 250,000 virus-related deaths by the end of March.
The body of a 22-year-old Guatemalan woman was abandoned on a road in Texas after she reportedly fell ill and died at a warehouse where she and other migrants were being kept after they crossed the United States-Mexico border.

Marta Ana Raymundo left her home in Guatemala last week in hopes of reuniting with her family in Atlanta, Georgia, and was able to cross the border last Friday in the middle of the night, according to Univision.

Francisco Raymundo told the network that his daughter told him she was required to wear camouflaged clothing in order to avoid being detected before she and the group were ferried over the international land border by human smugglers.

He last spoke to her approximately 3am Saturday and she told him, 'Dad, I am already coming' and warned him that she would not be able to call him because traffickers told her to discard her cellphone.

Marta Ana Raymundo's body was abandoned on a road in Texas after she reportedly died at a warehouse in Texas where she and other migrants were being kept at after they were crossed over from Mexico last Friday, according to Univision. Her father believes she died from asphyxiation because she and the migrants had been packed into a vehicle after they crossing the border

Francisco Raymundo told Univision that he spoke to one of the smugglers who crossed his daughter over the United States-Mexico border and was provided a map with the location of her corpse

One of the human smugglers contacted Francisco's son back home in Guatemala to let him know that Marta had crossed into the United States and that they would be loaded into a vehicle and taken to a safehouse.

His son then phoned him to notify him that Marta had fainted at the warehouse.

'I thought it was due to fatigue,' Francisco said. 'I didn't think she was going to die.'

The distraught father spoke to one of the smugglers several days later and received a text message containing the location of where his daughter's corpse had been dumped.

Raymundo, who did not mention if he traveled himself to Texas to recover the body, believes his daughter's tragic death was caused by asphyxiation.

The distraught father spoke to one of the smugglers several days later and received a text message containing the location of where his daughter's corpse had been dumped

DailyMail.com reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment.

A CBP monthly report released April 8 showed the number of migrants unlawfully crossing the United States-Mexico international borderline had risen to record levels.

Border patrol officers detained 172,331 migrants during March after stopping 101,028 people in February. The 70% increase is a 20-year record high.

The agency's data also reported 18,663 unaccompanied children were taken into custody in March, a 99% increase from the 9,271 migrant minors who were stopped for illegally crossing over from Mexico in February.

Figures for the month of April are slate to be released next week.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador virtually on Friday to discuss the surge of migrants at the southwester border.

Vice President Kamala Harris holds a virtual bilateral meeting with Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the vice president's ceremonial office at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 7, 2021

'It is in our countries' mutual interest to provide immediate relief to the Northern Triangle and to address the root causes of migration,' she told him. 'You and I have discussed it before and understanding a belief  most people don't want to leave home and when they do it is often because they are fleeing some harm or they are forced to leave because there are no opportunity.

'We have a specific proposal that I believe will be convenient for us. But I will leave that for later,' Lopez Obrador said to Harris with reporters in the room.

'We agree with the migration policies you are developing and we are going to help, you can count on us,' the Mexican president added.
Tory hopes of an astonishing victory in the London mayoral election rose today with Shaun Bailey keeping track of Sadiq Khan in early vote counting.

Mr Bailey, who polled a distant second to the Labour incumbent before Thursday's election, was just 2 per cent behind this evening, with the two on 39 and 37 per cent respectively.

He was given a further boon by winning the most votes in the Ealing and Hillingdon constituency.

The Conservative candidate scored 79,863 first preference votes, ahead of his Labour rival, Sadiq Khan, who scored 74,854 votes. The Green Party's Sian Berry was third, with 13,041 votes.

The final results are not due to drop until Saturday night at the earliest, meaning it could be an anxious weekend for Labour.

A Labour source admitted: 'We think it will be close. There is no chance of winning on the first round.

'We are definitely seeing the product of lower turnout and complacency from voters who believed it was safe to put a candidate from a smaller party as first preference.'

Sadiq Khan (LEFT) and Tory challenger Shaun Bailey (right) were virtually neck and neck after nearly a quarter of votes were counted - although it is thought Conservative strongholds are counting faster

The counting of votes is being tracked live on the official London elections site

Sources in the Bailey camp suggest their hopes are rising off the back of the early results, with the two front-runners close in areas Mr Khan won by miles in 2016.

But it is thought Conservative strongholds are counting faster, and Labour will take some comfort from the fact that due to the voting system used, Mr Khan could lose the first round vote and still win in the second round.

Mr Khan, a Remainer, had been expected to romp home in the capital, which voted heavily against Brexit.

Polls last month suggested that he would gain more than 50 per cent of the vote  enough to knock out Conservative opponent Shaun Bailey in the first round under the supplementary voting system used in the election.

But, with counting not due to finish until Saturday afternoon, sources on both sides suggested that the contest was proving closer than predicted.

Tory insiders said Mr Bailey was still expected to lose, but could cut Mr Khan's lead to 'single digits'. A source said: 'Shaun has fought a good campaign and you have seen the Prime Minister alongside him in recent days. But London was always going to be very tough.'

But Labour refused to rule out a shock defeat for Mr Khan. A source said: 'We always said it would be a close election. There is no question we are seeing significant impact from turnout and voter complacency.

Counting has been continuing at Alexandra Palace in London this afternoon

'There are still half of London boroughs to count and it's too early to say anything with any certainty.'

Mr Bailey, a former youth worker, was fiercely critical of Mr Khan's record on tackling a wave of knife crime, which has plagued the capital. He also pledged to increase the strength of the Metropolitan Police to 40,000 officers.

Mr Khan has sought to blame the Government for a financial crisis faced by the capital's transport network in the wake of the pandemic.

Allies of Mr Khan have been warning that they expect a much tighter result than looked likely until the past week.

The dire performance of Labour nationally and in the Hartlepool by-election has also set nerves jangling.

One senior source told MailOnline that the result could be narrower than in 2016 against Zac Goldsmith. 'I think it will be closer than last time,' they said.

A YouGov poll yesterday gave Mr Khan a 12-point lead, based on first preference votes, down from 21 points a month ago.

It suggested Mr Khan will win the contest in a second round run-off with Mr Bailey by 59 per cent to 41 per cent.

Knife crime in the capital has increased by more than 60 per cent between May 2016, when Mr Khan took office, and March last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

There have been Labour worries that Mr Khan support could be cut following a spate of knife killings.

An Opinium survey this week showed 52 per cent of Londoners think tackling knife crime should be the next mayor's top priority.

Mr Khan, along with wife Saadiya and their dog Luna, voted at St Albans Church in south London, yesterday before a frantic effort to get out the vote.

Mr Bailey cast his ballot with wife Ellie at Drapers' Pyrgo Priory School in Romford.
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Police in Rio de Janeiro were today accused of massacring 24 criminals, some of them said to be cowering inside family homes and unarmed, during a dawn raid on one of the city's most pernicious drugs gangs.

One officer was killed during the battle which turned the Jacarezinho slum into a warzone on Thursday morning, with automatic rifles, armoured cars and helicopters deployed by cops as they went door-to-door to root out the gangsters.

The United Nations said it was 'deeply concerned' by reports of summary executions amid fears among residents that President Jair Bolsonaro's tough stance on crime may have given licence to the carnage.

The raid against the Comando Vermelho (Red Command) drug trafficking network sought to rout the gang's recruitment of teenage boys, with police describing a 'warlike structure of soldiers equipped with rifles, grenades and bulletproof vests.'

One resident said that a man man barged into her home around 8am bleeding from a gunshot wound. He hid in her nine-year-old daughter's room, but police came rushing in right behind him.

She said that she and her family saw officers shoot the unarmed man.

Hours later, his blood was still pooled on her tile floor and soaked into a blanket decorated with hearts.

Scroll down for video.

A woman shows the scene where an alleged drug trafficker was reportedly killed by civil police while trying to escape and ran into the room of her nine-year-old daughter who witnessed the shooting, in the Jacarezinho favela

A blood-soaked bed inside the favela. Members of the gang fled into neighbouring homes where they tried to hide from the police officers

The blood-spattered interior of a resident's home after the violence spilled into the neighbouring homes close to the gang's fortress

A police officer with a high powered rifle moves through the Jacarezinho slum in Rio on Thursday during the operation to rout the Red Command

Police officers aim their sights down roads in the favela on Thursday after the operation against the drugs gang

Policemen carry a wounded suspect during an operation against drug dealers in Jacarezinho slum in Rio de Janeiro

Security forces recovered six rifles, a machine gun, anti-aircraft ammunition, 14 grenades and 15 guns

An armoured truck drives through the favela after it was turned into a warzone by police on Thursday morning

Policeman aim their rifles down an alleyway in the favela as an unperturbed resident walks past them on Thursday

It was just after sunrise Thursday when dozens of officers stormed Jacarezinho, in the city's northern zone.

Television images showed a police helicopter flying low over the favela as men with high-powered rifles hopped from roof to roof to evade officers. Others didn't escape.

By the time the last shell casing hit the ground, 25 had been slain, including one police officer and 24 gang members.

Security forces recovered six rifles, a machine gun, anti-aircraft ammunition, 14 grenades and 15 guns.

At least 14 members of Comando Vermelho were arrested and operations continued throughout the day to secure the slum.

Rio, a city of 6.7 million, is notorious for its crime-ridden slums, known as favelas, but yesterday's bloodshed was particularly egregious and sparked protests by hundreds of furious residents.

The UN was today forceful in its warnings, reminding the Brazilian authorities that the world was watching.

'We're deeply disturbed by the killings,' UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva, adding that the operation appeared to be the deadliest in more than a decade in Rio de Janeiro.

'We remind the Brazilian authorities that the use of force should be applied only when strictly necessary, and that they should always respect the principle of legality, precaution, necessity and proportionality,' he said.

'Lethal force should be used as a last resort, and only in cases where there is an imminent threat to life or a serious injury.'

Colville said the UN rights office had received 'worrying' reports that police did not take steps to preserve evidence of the crime scene, 'which could hinder investigations into the tragic outcome of this lethal operation'.

Members of the police carry out a police operation against a gang of drug traffickers, in the Jacarezinho favela on Thursday

Residents take pictures of blood on the street after the police operation

The blood-soaked tiles of a residents home following the police operation that left 25 dead, including an officer

Security forces move through the slum with assault rifles during the operation on Thursday

Security forces with assault rifles continue to secure the slum on Thursday following the dawn raid that left 25 dead

Alleged members of a gang seek refuge on a building roof while running from the police after a shootout left 25 people dead, including a police officer

Rio de Janeiro police officer Andre Frias was shot dead during the operation against the gang

Rio, a city of 6.7 million, is notorious for its crime-ridden slums, known as favelas, but yesterday's bloodshed was particularly egregious and sparked protests by hundreds of furious residents

Residentes protest after a police operation against drug traffickers at the Jacarezinho favela in Rio de Janeiro

'We call upon the office of the prosecutor to conduct an independent, thorough and impartial investigation into the case in accordance with international standards.'

Colville also stressed the need for 'a broad and inclusive discussion in Brazil about the current model of policing in favelas, which are trapped in a vicious cycle of lethal violence with a dramatically, adverse impact on already struggling populations'.

Rio's moniker of 'Marvelous City' can often seem a cruel irony in the favelas, given their stark poverty, violent crime and subjugation to drug traffickers or militias.

The bloodshed also laid bare Brazil's perennial divide over whether, as a common local saying goes, 'a good criminal is a dead criminal.'

Fervent law-and-order sentiment fuelled the successful presidential run in 2018 by Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain whose home is in Rio. He drew support from much of society with his calls to diminish legal constraints on officers' use of lethal force against criminals.

The administration of Rio state's Gov. Claudio Castro, a Bolsonaro ally, said in an emailed statement that it lamented the deaths, but that the operation was 'oriented by long and detailed investigative and intelligence work that took months.'

On Friday, protesters gathered outside police headquarters near Jacarezinho to denounce the violence, holding a banner that read 'STOP KILLING US!'

Even shortly after the shooting died down, about 50 residents of Jacarezinho has poured into a narrow street to follow members of the state legislature's human rights commission who were conducting an inspection. They shouted 'Justice!' while clapping their hands. Some raised their right fists into the air.

Felipe Curi, a detective in Rio's civil police, denied there were any executions.

'There were no suspects killed. They were all traffickers or criminals who tried to take the lives of our police officers and there was no other alternative,' he said at a news conference.

Police get out of an armored vehicle during an operation against alleged drug traffickers in Jacarezinho, a favela of Rio de Janeiro, on Thursday

A Rio de Janeiro Civil Police operation against drug trafficking in the slum of Jacarezinho left 25 people dead and provoked intense gunfire Thursday morning

Authorities search some of the ammunition and weapons that were confiscated

Pictured are the weapons seized by the police in Rio de Janeiro during Thursday raid. At least 14 alleged members of the Comando Vermelho drug trafficking network were apprehended

Curi said some suspects had sought refuge in residents' homes, and six of them were arrested. Police also seized 16 pistols, six rifles, a submachine gun, 12 grenades and a shotgun, he said.

Bolsonaro's son Carlos, a Rio city councilman who is influential on social media, supported police.

He expressed condolences to the family of the fallen officer on Twitter, while skipping any mention of the other 24 dead or their families.

The president didn't refer to the incident at all Thursday night in his weekly live broadcast on Facebook.

Bolsonaro's political rival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said any operation that produces two dozen deaths doesn't qualify as public security.

'That is the absence of a government that offers education and jobs, the cause of a great deal of violence,' said da Silva, who is widely expected to mount a challenge to Bolsonaro's reelection bid next year.

The Brazilian divisions of international advocacy groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urged prosecutors to thoroughly investigate the operation.

'Even if the victims were suspected of criminal association, which has not been proven, summary executions of this kind are entirely unjustifiable,' said Jurema Werneck, Amnesty's executive director in Brazil.

The Rio state prosecutors' office said in a statement to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that it would investigate accusations of violence, adding that the case required a probe that is independent from police.

A woman protests against a passing police patrol in Jacarezinho favela in Rio de Janeiro on Friday

Brazil's Supreme Court issued a ruling last year prohibiting police operations in Rio's favelas during the pandemic unless 'absolutely exceptional.'

The order came after police fatally shot a 14-year-old in a home where there was no indication of any illegal activity. The teen's death sparked a Brazilian iteration of Black Lives Matter protests held across the city's metropolitan area for weeks.

The ruling, which remains in force, caused a decline in police operations throughout the middle of last year, as reflected by a plunge in the number of shootouts reported by Crossfire, a non-governmental group that monitors violence, and in official state data on deaths resulting from police intervention. But both indicators have crept back up to around pre-pandemic levels.

The Candido Mendes University's Public Safety Observatory said Rio police killed an average of more than five people a day during the first quarter of 2021, the most lethal start of a year since the state government began regularly releasing such data more than two decades ago.
48-year-old Kim Potter (pictured) was charged with second degree manslaughter in Daunte Wrights death

The service file of Kim Potter, a former Minnesota police officer charged in the shooting death of Daunte Wright, reveals prior commendation for her handling of a suicidal suspect in 2007 and minor reprimands for multiple driving mishaps.

The 48-year-old was charged with second degree manslaughter after shooting Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old black man, during an April 11 traffic stop.

Potter shot Wright after the father-of-one attempted to flee police after they realized he had a warrant out for his arrest on aggravated assault charges and missing a court date.

Potter was seen screaming 'taser, taser, taser' before shooting Wright once in the chest. She is then heard shouting 'Holy s***. I shot him' as he drove away.

The city's police chief said he believed Potter, a 26-year veteran, mixed up her Taser and her handgun.

The chief and Potter resigned two days after the shooting and she was subsequently arrested and charged in Wright's shooting death.

Bodycam footage shows former Brooklyn Center Police officer Kim Potter shooting 20-year-old Daunte Wright (pictured) following a traffic stop

20-year-old Daunte Wright (pictured) was shot and killed during a traffic stop on April 11, 2021

On Wednesday, the city of Brooklyn Center released additional details from Potter's service file to the Associated Press that shed light on several highs and lows of Potter's 26-year career in the force.

The files show that in 2007 Potter received a chief's commendation for her handling of a 'suicidal homicidal suspect' and his two-year-old daughter.

'Your actions assisted in the safe release of the child and the apprehension of the suspect without incident.' AP reported the commendation said.

She also received commendations for recovering a company's stolen computer in 2008, helping recover a child who was the subject of an Amber Alert in 2006, helping locate and arrest two bail-jumpers from Mississippi in 2006, and tracking down suspects in a home invasion robbery in 1998, AP reported.

Service files show that in 2006 a citizen called the department specifically to praise Potter and three other officers for 'how professionally they conducted themselves during a high risk stop and not like what he sees on the T.V. show COPS,' according to the chief's notes of the call.

Kim Potter,(pictured) a 26 -year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department in Minnesota, faces 10 years in prison for the shooting death of Daunte Wright

In the wake of Wright's shooting death protest sprung up all over the country calling for 'Justice for Daunte Wright' (pictured)

In addition to commendations, Potter also faced several reprimands, including a four-hour suspension for missing in-service training in 2000.

The subject of the training was not provided, AP reported.

She also faced discipline in the form of a verbal reprimand in 2007 for her work as part of a team focusing on violent robberies in part of the city.

A supervisor wrote that Potter didn't do enough to make direct contact with people in the area, AP reported.

The former Brooklyn Center Police Department officer also faced reprimands for multiple driving accidents in 1995, 1996 and 1998.

In 1995, her first year on the force, Potter spun out on wet pavement, hit a curb and caused up to $4,000 in damage to a squad car.

The writeup for the accident noted that Potter was backing a different squad car out of the police garage the next day and hit a city code enforcement vehicle, AP reported.

The materials did not shed new light on Potter's training during her career.

Wright's shooting death came as the Minneapolis area awaited the outcome of the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, who would eventually be found guilty for the murder of George Floyd.

In the wake of Wright's death protest sprung up all over the city for days as demonstrators faced off with authorities.

48-year-old Kim Potter was a 26-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department (pictured) in Minnesota

Potter currently faces up to 10 years in prison.

Wright's family says is not enough and called for Potter to receive a life sentence.

'Full accountability, to get equal justice' is all the family wants - 'nothing more, nothing less,' Wright family attorney Ben Crump said.

Last month the city released material that showed Potter earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice from St. Marys College in Winona and underwent law enforcement skills training at Alexandria Technical College before joining the Brooklyn Center Police Department in late February 1995.

Potter completed training courses in policy and procedures, firearms and 'felony stop procedures,' among others, less than five months later, according to those documents.

Potter's next court hearing is scheduled for May 17.
A junior school deputy head who asked a boy if he was gay or bi-sexual, then sent him a paedophile hunter video when he realised he was in a relationship with another man, has been banned from teaching for three years.

Darren Neve worked at Grange Community Junior School in Farnborough, Hampshire, from 1998 until December 2019, when he resigned.

The 50-year-old began communicating with the boy, referred to only as Child X, online from October 2019 and via WhatsApp.

He discussed Child X's sexuality, made inappropriate comments and sent him the video of a paedophile hunter when he found out the child may have been forming a close relationship with a man over 17.

Darren Neve (pictured) asked a boy if he was gay or bi-sexual, then sent him a paedophile hunter video when he realised he was in a relationship with another man

A Teaching Regulation Agency disciplinary panel sitting in Coventry saw screenshots of the messages exchanged between Neve and Child X.

When he asked Child X if he was gay or bi-sexual, Neve claimed he had mistakenly sent him the message instead of to a friend as part of a dare on a night out.

But the panel rejected that explanation and said Neve also sent another message about Child X's sexuality directly on WhatsApp.

Neve also sent him a photo of his cat saying 'it's not all about size' which the panel said had 'innuendo connotations'.

Neve also told Child X that he had been a 'naughty boi (sic)' at a sleepover.

He sent the paedophile hunter video and told Child X he would report the incident and tell Child X's father.

The panel was told Neve never had a teaching relationship with Child X, he met him on a website intended for those over 16 and the allegations happened outside the education setting.

Neve worked at Grange Community Junior School in Farnborough, Hampshire, from 1998 until December 2019, when he resigned

They also heard that Neve had signed a safeguarding certificate just a month before his contact with Child X but he continued to have wholly inappropriate communications with him unrelated to the furniture removal that they were originally arranging.

Neve said he was under significant strain at work, made a terrible error of judgement in his actions and had a good history in a 27-year-long career.

But he had also received a written warning in November 2018 in relation to inappropriate text messages of a sexual nature to a female colleague.

The panel said Neve was guilty of unacceptable professional conduct and he has been banned from teaching for at least three years.
Three young boys were locked in a coal cellar dubbed 'the hole' for days on end with the abuse only coming to light when one refused to go home after school, police say.

That 11-year-old Pennsylvania boy's refusal to get into his family's minivan after school on Wednesday has led police to uncover what they have described as one of the worst child abuse cases they have ever encountered.

Richard Hayes, 37, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Natosha Bell, of suburban Pittsburgh, have been arrested and charged with 14 counts of aggravated and simple assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of children.

The pair are accused of abusing their three children, aged 7, 10, and 11, locking them up in a dark coal cellar they dubbed 'the hole' without running water, bedding, or access to a bathroom, and submerging one of the kids in water.

Richard Hayes, 37 (left), and his 26-year-old girlfriend, Natosha Bell (right), have been charged with assault, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of children

'House of horrors': The couple lived with their three sons, ages 7, 10, and 11, inside this home in Mt Oliver, Pennsylvania, where they children say they were beaten and locked up

The alleged abuse came to light on Wednesday, when police responded to a disturbance at the Francis McClure Elementary School in Allegheny County.

According to a press release from the Allegheny County Police, officers learned that an 11-year-old boy was refusing to climb into his fathers minivan upon dismissal from school.

Hayes opened the side door to try and force the boy into the vehicle. At that moment, school employees looked in the back seat and saw two children, ages 7 and 10, handcuffed.

The two adults present in the vehicle, who were identified as Hayes and Bell, were detained by the police. The man was found to be in possession of a loaded handgun.

Hayes is the father of the 10- and 11-year-olds. Bell is the mother of the boys aged 7 and 10.

The kids said they were locked up for days inside this coal cellar called 'the hole,' which had no electricity or running water

They also were confined to this basement room called 'the cell' with no running water or bedding, and a bucket for a bathroom

The couple's three children were then forensically interviewed and revealed that they were each subjected to abuse at the hands of Hayes and Bell, according to the police.

The boys said that they were locked in a coal cellar called 'the hole' at their home in Mt Oliver for days at a time, WPXI reported. The tiny room had no electricity or running water, and the children were made to sleep on a bare concrete floor.

One of the victims told interviewers that he had spent all of last weekend in the cellar.

The children were sometimes confined to a basement room they called 'the cell,' which had a deadbolt on the outside.

After searching the residence, police wrote that the basement room had no running water and no bedding. A bucket was placed inside to be used as a bathroom.

The pair were arrested on Wednesday, after Hays' 11-year-old son refused to get inside his minivan where his two brothers were handcuffed in the backseat. Hayes was found to be in possession of a loaded gun

The seven-year-old boy said that he had been sent to 'the cell' for taking food when he was hungry, reported TribLive.com. He also told investigators that on one occasion, Hays submerged his head underwater in a bathtub while Bell grabbed his legs as he struggled to free himself.

The children also described other types of abuse, saying that Hayes would punch them and whip them with a belt.

When questioned by police, Hayes allegedly admitted to making the children sleep in the basement room, placing them in handcuffs and submerging the youngest of them underwater.

Bell allegedly admitted to witnessing Hayes' disciplinary methods, and also locking the children in the basement

Bell allegedly admitted to witnessing Hayes' disciplinary methods, and also locking the children in the basement herself.

'This is perhaps one of the most serious incidents of child abuse Ive seen in my career,' said Allegheny County Police Inspector Michael Peairs.

A judge on Thursday denied bail for Hayes, calling him a danger to the three children. Bell's bail was set at $50,000. Both are due back in court on June 30.

The couple's three children are now in protective custody.
An extraordinary video shows a polar bear cheekily clinging onto a moving military truck in Russia as it seeks to scavenge food.

The animal on its hind legs holds on to the back of the lorry on an Arctic island sniffing for tasty morsels in the garbage.

Other bears run along beside the Kamaz truck, untroubled by a pack of stray dogs.

An extraordinary video shows a polar bear cheekily clinging onto a moving military truck in Russia as it seeks to scavenge food

The animal on its hind legs holds on to the back of the lorry on an Arctic island sniffing for tasty morsels in the garbage

'This is our morning bear feeding,' says a voice on the video at a military base on Novaya Zemlya.

But a leading Russian polar bear expert has warned that humans must not become a source of food for the predators or it will threaten the species' survival - and the lives of people.

Viktor Nikiforov, head of a Bear Patrol supported by Russian branch of WWF, said the footage is from a military base on Novaya Zemlya.

Polar bears at Novaya Zemlya. 'The polar bears are accustomed to get their food from rubbish dumps,' Nikiforov said

He stressed that waste disposal arrangements must be 'rearranged' and the bears' access to it 'blocked'

Waste not, want not: Polar bear goes after the grub

'The polar bears are accustomed to get their food from rubbish dumps.

'This leads to problems like people getting injured or killed, and the Red Book animals getting shot. 'People appear at places where polar bears have lived for thousands of years.

'Only people are responsible for bears' lives and human safety.'

He stressed that waste disposal arrangements must be 'rearranged' and the bears' access to it 'blocked'.
An all-female group of Brazillians who oversaw London's first girls-only drugs courier service are facing 'significant' prison time after appearing at court.

Vanessa Ananias, Nayara Robeiro, Andressa Santoas and Nayene Fernandez-Silva all admitted to being part of a moped-riding narcotics operation between April 2020 and February 2021.

The Brazillian women, aged between 24 and 33, are all facing 'significant prison sentences', according to Judge Tony Baumgartner.

A fifth woman, 24-year-old Larissy Nascimento Dos Reis, is due to enter her pleas next week.

A group of four Brazillian women living in London have admitted to being part of the capital's first all-female drugs moped courier service. File pic

The four glamorous Brazillians, who lived at addresses across London, appeared at Southwark Crown Court today alongside Tiago De-Lima, 30, who is the only man involved in the operation.

At court, all four admitted to three counts of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, four counts of conspiracy to supply Class B and one count of conspiracy to acquire criminal property.

All four were remanded into custody.

Defending Nayara Robeiro, Shelley Griffith tried to explain her client's 'limited' role in the courier service.

She said: Her basis of plea says her role is said to be a courier, her role in this is limited to when selling drugs and receiving the cash after selling the drugs.

James Thacker, prosecuting, said; There are bases of plea that we dont accept for two defendants, we are told theres to be a third.'

Mr Thacker submitted a request for a Newton hearing - a legal procedure where a judge rather than a jury will determine which side is telling the truth - in three of the defendants' cases.

Vanessa Ananias, Nayara Robeiro, Andressa Santoas and Nayene Fernandez-Silva all admitted to being part of a moped-riding narcotics operation at Southwark Crown Court (above) today

Judge Tony Baumgartner said: Clearly theres significant sentences that must follow.

Nascimento Dos Reis, of Prince Regent Lane, Newham, will enter pleas on 13 May and was granted bail.

Ananias also admitted one count of driving whilst disqualified.

The sentence date and Newton hearing are on a date yet to be fixed.
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Britain's daily coronavirus infections and deaths remained flat today, while the vaccine rollout has now reached more than 35million people.

There were 2,490 positive tests across the country in the past 24 hours, according to the Department of Health's daily update, which was up very slightly on the number last Friday (4 per cent).

Officials also recorded another 15 lab-confirmed deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid swab, the same amount that were recorded a week ago.

Latest figures show that more than 35million Britons have been given at least one dose of Covid vaccine, after another 135,470 first injections were administered on Thursday.

The NHS also dished out a further 473,000 second doses, bringing the total number of people fully vaccinated against the disease to 16.7million.

Meanwhile, separate promising data revealed England's Covid cases have halved in a month, the R rate is still below one, and the number of people in hospital has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since September.

Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to speed up his roadmap out of lockdown, with businesses and MPs warning that they risk suffering another lost summer if there are further delays. But the Prime Minister has refused to budge from plans to re-allow holidays and indoor hospitality from May 17, despite promising he would be led by 'data not dates'.

Celebrating the Tories delivering a hammer blow to the Labour's Red Wall in the local elections, Mr Johnson said he 'cant see any reason' to delay the remaining steps along the road map out of Covid restrictions.

Talking to reporters in the former Labour stronghold of Hartlepool today: 'I think its been very important for our country that were able to get through Covid as fast as we can. I think weve got to always bear in mind that this thing isnt over.

'I think the epidemiology is very encouraging at the moment but weve got to continue to be cautious, and we will continue with the cautious but irreversible steps of the road map. I cant see any reason now to delay any of the steps that weve got ahead of us, but thats going to be our programme.'

There were 2,490 positive tests across the country in the past 24 hours, according to the Department of Health's daily update, which was up very slightly on the number last Friday (4 per cent)

Officials also recorded another 15 deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid swab, the same amount that were recorded a week ago

Office for National Statistics swabbing of more than 100,000 Britons suggested just 46,000 people in England were infected with Covid last week. The outbreak is still shrinking despite Covid restrictions being lifted

No10's top scientists calculated the R rate had fallen compared to last week, when it was between 0.8 and 1.1 across England. But they said the measure was becoming less reliable because of low numbers of cases, deaths and hospitalisations

The number of patients in hospital in England with Covid also dropped below 1,000 for the first time since September

Flanked by his new MP Jill Mortimer (right) in Hartlepool, Boris Johnson said voters believe he can 'deliver' following the latest devastating hammer blow to the Red Wall

UNDER-40S SHOULD GET ALTERNATIVE TO ASTRAZENECA JAB Britons under 40 should be offered an alternative to the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine due to its link to rare blood clots, health officials announced today. Advisers made the recommendation after more adults suffered the potentially-fatal clotting disorder in the past week. They said the absolute risk of the clots is still 'extremely small', affecting around one in 100,000 people given the British-made jab. So far regulators have spotted major blood clots in 242 people, of whom 49 died. But they are occurring more in younger adults, with a rate of around one in 60,000 under-40s. Experts said the infection rate in the UK is now so low that the risk of the rare clots outweigh that of Covid in younger adults, who often only suffer mild illness. They will be offered the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines instead, so long as there is enough supply and it won't delay the rollout. Anyone, no matter what age, who has been given their first dose of the AstraZeneca jab is being urged to come forward for their second. England's deputy medical officer Professor Jonathan Van-Tam claimed the change would not affect the Government's target to vaccinate all adults by July 31. 'Our vaccine supply schedule will support the change without limiting the speed and scale of the vaccine roll-out,' he told a televised press conference. 'I do expect that we are still on target to offer a first dose to all adults by the end of July.' It was previously recommended on April 7 that those under 30 with no underlying health conditions should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca. Advertisement

Just 46,000 people had coronavirus in England on any given day last week, or one in 1,180 people, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure was around 112,000 towards the start of April  and is down 15 per cent last Friday's estimate.

No10's top scientists said the reproduction rate  which tracks the spread of the virus  was between 0.8 and 1.0, meaning the outbreak is still shrinking. This was down from 0.8 to 1.1 in the previous seven-day period.

Meanwhile, NHS figures show the number of infected patients in hospitals across England has dropped into three figures for the first time since the second wave spiralled out of control nine months ago. Daily admissions are now below 100.

The data follows on from promising statistics from Public Health England and a symptom-tracking app yesterday, which showed the easing of restrictions on April 12 has not triggered any spike in the disease.

SAGE scientists calculate the R rate weekly based on a range of measures including Covid cases, hospitalisations and deaths.

But experts warn that it becomes less accurate when numbers become smaller, and say less importance should be attached to the measure than previously. It is also a lagging indicator, and can only reveal the spread of the virus from about three weeks ago.

The weekly ONS report is keenly watched by ministers and seen as the gold-standard for tracking the Covid outbreak.

This is because it relies on random swabbing of more than 100,000 Britons, meaning it can pick up asymptomatic cases  which have no symptoms  and those in people who do not want to get tested for the virus for fear of having to self-isolate.

Wales had the smallest Covid infection rate across the country, with only 0.05 per cent of residents thought to have the virus or one in 2,070.

It was followed by England where 0.08 per cent were estimated to have the virus.

Prevalence rates in Scotland and Northern Ireland stood at 0.13 per cent.

In England, the South West had the smallest outbreak (0.02 per cent), followed by the North East (0.03 per cent) and the East of England (0.04 per cent).

On the other hand, Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest rates (0.23 per cent), followed by London (0.15 per cent) and the North West (0.08 per cent).

Over-70s who have all been offered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine had the lowest level of infection in the country (0.04 per cent).

Children aged two to 11 had the second lowest Covid case levels (0.06 per cent). Studies suggest they are less likely to catch the virus and pass it on than other age groups.

But young adults aged 12 to 24 had the highest Covid rates (0.23 per cent), followed by those aged 25 to 34 and 35 to 49 (0.13 per cent).

It came as NHS England figures showed the number of patients in hospitals suffering from the virus had dropped to 976, below 1,000 for the first time since September.

It is also down 97 per cent from a record 34,336 hospital patients in the darkest days of January.

During the first wave of the virus, patient numbers peaked at 18,974 on April 12.

Public Health England has divided the Indian variant into three sub-types because they aren't identical. Type 1 and Type 3 both have a mutation called E484Q but Type 2 is missing this, despite still clearly being a descendant of the original Indian strain. It is not yet clear what separates Type 1 and 3

The Covid Symptom Study estimated the number of people in the UK developing illness each day has fallen from 1,046 last week to 971, in figures published yesterday

The Covid Symptom Study estimated the number of people in England developing illness each day is stable at around 750

PHE's weekly surveillance report showed infection rates have dropped in every region except the North West, and in every age group except five to nine year olds. Outbreaks are still shrinking in three quarters of local authorities, data also showed

Indian Covid strain is now officially 'of concern': Health chiefs say variant is 'at least' as infectious as dominant Kent virus India's mutant Covid strain is now officially a 'variant of concern', British health chiefs announced today. Public Health England now say the variant  linked to an explosion of cases in India  is 'at least' as infectious as the current dominant Kent strain. Cases of the variant, scientifically called B.1.617.2, have more than doubled in a week. It has now been spotted 520 times, with hotspots in Bolton and London. Health officials are confident vaccines currently being used should still work against the variant but are carrying out urgent tests to be certain. Scientists have grouped the Indian variant into three separate sub-strains, with type 2 quickly spreading in the UK. It has been found in schools, care homes and places of worship, it was reported today. The other two are genetically similar strains  B.1.617.1 and B.1.617.3  and aren't currently considered variants of concern. But PHE said their status will be kept 'under constant review'. Despite being more infectious, health chiefs don't believe the variant is deadlier than original types of the coronavirus. The move to make the Indian variant one 'of concern' means officials can now put in place tougher measures to contain the strain, including ordering door-to-door tests and boosting contact tracing. Advertisement

Both the South East and South West of England are reporting numbers down 99 per cent on their second-wave peak.

Eastern England has seen its number drop by 98 per cent, the Midlands by 97 per cent, while London, the North West and the combined region of the North East and Yorkshire have all seen drops of 96 per cent.

The steep drop in patients is fresh evidence of the combined impact of the lockdown and vaccines in helping reduce the number of Covid infections that lead to hospital admission.

Recent research by the Office for National Statistics and Oxford University found that Covid-19 infections 'fell significantly' by 65 per cent after a first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca or Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines, while two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine offered similar levels of protection as a previous Covid-19 infection.

Vaccination was also found to be just as effective in individuals over 75 years or with underlying health conditions, as it was in those under 75 years or without underlying conditions.

Hospital admissions of patients with Covid are also back to early September levels. A total of 76 admissions were reported for May 4. This is down 98 per cent from the peak on January 12.

Three regions  London, south-east England and south-west England  have seen admissions dip into single figures. The capital recorded just six admissions on May 4, compared with a second-wave peak of 977.

Separate data suggested yesterday that fewer Britons are getting ill with Covid every day than at any point since a symptom-tracking study began last year, with fewer than 1,000 cases now cropping up daily.

Estimates suggested there were 971 cases per day, lower than in July and August last year when lockdown rules were almost completely lifted even though no-one was vaccinated.

Using reports from a million users of a mobile app, the study suggested the number of new cases per day had dropped another seven per cent in a week following a 10 per cent fall the week before. It adds to overwhelming evidence that coronavirus has all but disappeared in Britain.

'Data continues to suggest Covid has stabilised at very low levels, similar to rates seen last summer,' said Professor Tim Spector, the King's College epidemiologist who runs the study.

In England the number of people developing symptoms each day remained the same as last week's estimate at 756.

PHE's weekly surveillance report also showed infection rates have dropped in every region except the North West, and in every age group except five to nine year olds. Outbreaks are still shrinking in three quarters of local authorities, data also showed.

And statistics from the official testing programme show cases fell by eight per cent in the most recent week, even though near-record numbers of tests are being carried out. Test and Trace spotted 15,593 positive results between April 22 and 28, down from 17,033 the week before.
The Scottish Parliament spent more than 40,000 on legal advice as MSPs investigated the government's handling of sexual harassment allegations against Alex Salmond.

The bill for external legal advice to both the Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Sexual Harassment Complaints and the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body came to 41,633, papers released by Holyrood show.

As well as the money spent on external legal advice, the committee also spent 253.15 on witnesses expenses over the course of its inquiry.

The cross-party inquiry was set up after a successful judicial review by Mr Salmond resulted in the Scottish Government's investigation into the allegations against him being ruled unlawful and 'tainted by apparent bias' in 2019.

The cross-party inquiry was set up after a successful judicial review by former First Minister Alex Salmond

He was awarded a maximum payout of 512,250 after the Scottish Government conceded the case a week before it was due to be heard in court because of prior contact between investigating officer Judith Mackinnon and two of the women who made complaints.

The committee found the Scottish Government's handling of the complaints was 'seriously flawed' and the women who made the allegations were 'badly let down'.

As part of its investigation, MSPs on the committee took evidence from the two female civil servants who made the complaints, as well questioning both Mr Salmond and his successor Nicola Sturgeon in lengthy evidence sessions.

A majority of MSPs on the committee later concluded that Ms Sturgeon had misled them, claiming there was a 'fundamental contradiction' in her evidence on whether she agreed to intervene to help Mr Salmond in the investigation.

But an independent report by James Hamilton cleared Ms Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code over her role in the saga.

The latest papers come after it was revealed that a Police Scotland detective chief superintendent - whose identity is unknown - had warned against the Scottish Government going public about its investigation of Alex Salmond.

An independent report by James Hamilton cleared Nicola Sturgeon of breaching the ministerial code

The police chief said they and chief constable Iain Livingstone 'voiced concerns', according to a newly-released witness statement.

They warned against the government announcing allegations of sexual harassment by the former First Minster before detectives had chance to investigate them.

Details of the statement emerged after the Holyrood Inquiry compelled the Crown Office to release the document.

In the witness statement, the detective chief superintendent - whose name was redacted - recounted the meeting where police were told that the government had referred the complaints about Mr Salmond to the Crown Office 'for investigation of potential criminality'.

They said that it was agreed a 'proactive approach' was required to identify other potential complainers, including by contacting other people who held similar roles to the women who had already come forward.

They added: 'I was also informed that Scottish Government may be making a public statement in relation to the outcome of their investigation and potentially refer to information being provided to Police Scotland.

'Both the chief constable and I both voiced our concerns about such a statement being provided.

'As such, it was agreed that the main priority was to make contact with the two individuals who had made a complaint to the Scottish Government.'
Svetofor, named Mere in Europe, reported to be opening first planned UK store

A Russian budget supermarket chain that claims to be a third cheaper than rivals such as Aldi and Lidl is opening in the UK.

Svetofor, which operates under the name Mere in Europe, says it costs up to 30 per cent less then the nation's cheapest supermarkets.

The company is reported to be opening its first planned store in the UK at a former Nisa branch in Preston, Lancashire.

An additional three stores are also being planned - two in Wales, namely Mold and Caldicot, alongside one in Castleford, West Yorkshire.

Svetofor, which operates under the name Mere in Europe, says it costs up to 30 per cent less then the nation's cheapest supermarkets (pictured: a Mere store)

Mere UK head of buying, Pavels Antonovs, told The Grocer: 'We are the gap in the market. We dont have any competitors.

'Our model is no service and no marketing.'

On its UK website, Mere states it is looking for suitable locations across the nation to expand its retail chain.

It says: 'At the moment, despite coronavirus, we are actively involved with landlords, their representatives and agents with the aim to open our MERE retail stores ASAP.'

The business then lists locations of interest including South Scotland, Devon, Cardiff, Southampton, Stockport, Neath, Banbury, Selby, Bradford, Grantham, Kettering, Gloucester and Sheffield.

A description on the site, which does not yet reveal the price of its products, also says: 'We are a fast-growing, ambitious team that is currently working intensively on the future of the company.

'Our profile is the retail chain in the food sector that offers its customers good goods for little money. We work according to the motto only lowest prices every day.'

The chain adds that its goals are 'satisfying customers through our best price-performance ratios' as well as 'fair, sustainable and long-term cooperation with producers, suppliers and service providers.'

Each store in the UK is estimated to have up to 1,200 products and only eight staff, counting a director, four cashiers and three delivery workers

The warehouse-styled branches will be approximately 10,000 sq ft with suppliers expected to deliver straight to the stores

Each store in the UK is estimated to have up to 1,200 products and only eight staff, counting a director, four cashiers and three delivery workers.

The warehouse-styled branches will be approximately 10,000 sq ft with suppliers expected to deliver straight to the stores.

Founded in Siberia in 2009, the business has 3,200 stores globally and expanded to Europe in 2018, opening in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia and Ukraine.

The announcement follows Lidl narrowly beating Aldi as the cheapest supermarket of 2020 with Waitrose coming in as the most expensive, according to a study.

Researchers tracked the price of 45 popular products such as Hovis bread, Knorr stock cubes and free-range eggs in eight major supermarkets for at least 100 days between January and December last year.

The average price of each item over the year and the total average cost of all 45 items in the 'trolley'  taking the weight and quality of items into account - was calculated by consumer group Which?

The chain said: 'At the moment, despite coronavirus, we are actively involved with landlords, their representatives and agents with the aim to open our MERE retail stores ASAP'

Lidl was the cheapest supermarket in the study, with the basket costing 42.67 on average.

Just 34p put Lidl ahead of its discount chain rival Aldi, with the latter's basket of items costing an average of 43.01.

Asda was the third-cheapest supermarket with the same basket of items costing 48.71 on average  a difference of more than 5 when compared with Aldi or Lidl.

Waitrose was the most expensive supermarket in the study. The average cost of the 45 items was 68.69  around 60 per cent or 26.02 more than a similar shop at Lidl.

However, Aldi was named as the cheapest supermarket in a more recent study by the same consumer group, which compared the cost of 20 essential items in each of Britain's biggest supermarket chains in April.

The list includes branded items such as Cadbury Dairy Milk and Heinz Beanz, as well as own brand items such as onions, chicken drumsticks and milk.

The basket total at Aldi was found to be 8 less than Waitrose, which was priced up at 30.89.
Math teacher Krista Turnblom Gneiting (pictured), who disarmed a sixth grade girl who opened fire at Rigby Middle School in Idaho on Thursday morning, has spoken out

An Idaho teacher who disarmed a sixth-grade girl after she shot and wounded two students and a janitor has thanked her community for its support.

The active shooting incident began at Rigby Middle School in Rigby, Idaho, around 9am on Thursday, when the shooter opened fire, causing teachers and students to flee for their lives.

Math teacher Krista Turnblom Gneiting, 45, managed to subdue the girl until police arrived until law enforcement arrived and took her into custody, and received praised for her heroic act.

Gneiting, a married mother of three, took to social media to express her gratitude.

'My heart is touched by all the incredible outpouring of love I've received. Thank you,' she wrote on a Life in Rigby Facebook page.

'I don't want money, I just appreciate the incredible support of Rigby!!! I love my students so much! It is why I teach!! They make my heart happy every every day!!!!

'All of the staff at Rigby did their part and kept our wonderful children safe! Thank you! I love you all and we will get through this together.'

Authorities say the motive for the attack and where the girl got the gun are both unclear and are being investigated.

However, they did admit they are 'looking into' reports claiming the middle-schooler posted a video on TikTok in the days before the attack.

Gneiting took to social media to thank her community for its support (pictured) and said 'we will get through this together'

Three people were shot - two students and one adult janitor - and taken to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in non-critical condition. Pictured: Police tape marks a line outside Rigby Middle School

Students from Rigby Middle School were seeing embracing following the school shooting

'They are aware of that and they are looking into it,' Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson told a reported during a press conference, according to KTVB.

However, he did not reveal what the contents of the video were or how many days before the attack it was posted to social media.

On Thursday, Anderson said that the girl pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School which is, about 95 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park.

She managed to wound two students and janitor Jim Wilson but was soon subdued by Gneiting.

The three were shot in their extremities and were expected to survive, officials said at a news conference.

Wilson was called 'very loved Rigby Middle School custodian' on a GoFundMe page set up to cover his medical expenses.

The janitor, identified as Jim Wilson (pictured), was treated and released from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center on Thursday afternoon

He was reportedly treated and released from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center on Thursday afternoon.

Dr Michael Lemon, the hospital's trauma medical director said the bullet that injured him went cleanly through the limb, resulting in minimal damage.

The GoFundMe for Wilson has already exceeded its $10,000 goal with more than $10,000 collected by Friday afternoon.

One of the injured students was shot once in an extremity and may require surgery, according to Dr Michael Lemon, the hospital's trauma medical director.

The other student was shot twice and hit in two limbs.

'The fact the injuries are as insignificant as they are - they could be so much worse, so we feel absolutely blessed,' Lemon said.

The female student has been taken into custody but a motive for the shooting, or how she got a handgun, remain unclear. Pictured: Students react after a school shooting at Rigby Middle School

Emotional parents and children were seen hugging as they were reunited at the nearby high school following the mass shooting

According to EastIdahoNews.com, the suspect was first incorrectly identified by law enforcement as being male.

She is from the nearby city of Idaho Falls, Anderson said, but her name has not yet been released.

The age and identity of both the suspect and the student victims have not been revealed.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Sheriff's Office for more information.

Yandel Rodriguez said he was in the middle of class during the shooting. PIctured: Alela Rodriguez walks with her son, Yandel, 12, at the high school on Thursday

Authorities say they're investigating the motive for the attack on Thursday. A woman is pictured hugging a boy in the wake of Thursday's shooting

Alicia Willis walks away with her son at Rigby Middle School following Thursday's shooting

Police were called to the school around 9:15am after students and staffers heard gunfire.

Multiple law enforcement agencies responded, and students were evacuated to a nearby high school to be reunited with their parents.

Emotional mothers and fathers were seen hugging and embracing their children as they were reunited.

Any students not collected would be sent home by bus, the district said.

Police stand with a youth outside Rigby Middle School following the shooting on Thursday

A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to school, shot and wounded two students and a janitor

A victim appears to be taken into an ambulance following Thursday's shooting

'Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher - we were doing work - and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming,' 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez said.

'Our teacher went to check it out, and he found blood.'

Yandel's mom, Adela Rodriguez, said they were OK but 'still a little shaky' from the shooting as they left the campus.

'Today we had the worst nightmare a school district could encounter,' Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin said on Thursday

Martin said schools would be closed district-wide to give students time to be with families, but that counselors would be available starting Friday morning.

Rigby Middle School has about 1,500 students in sixth through eighth grades, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

'I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in today's tragic events,' Idaho Gov Brad Little said in a prepared statement. '

Thank you to our law enforcement agencies and school leaders for their efforts in responding to the incident.'

Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson said the shooter is from Idaho Falls, but did not reveal any other details about her

Idaho Governor Brad Little said he was 'praying' for all those involved in the wake of Thursday's shooting at Rigby Middle School

Police tape surrounded the middle school, and small evidence markers were placed next to spots of blood on the ground. Investigators interviewed faculty and staffers individually.

Lucy Long, a sixth-grader at Rigby Middle School, told the Post Register that her classroom went into lockdown after they heard gunshots, with lights and computers turned off and students lined up against the wall.

Lucy comforted her friends and began recording on her phone, so police would know what happened if the shooter came in.

The audio contained mostly whispers, with one sentence audible: 'It's real,' one student said.

Lucy said she saw blood on the hallway floor when police escorted them out of the classroom.

Prosecutor Mark Taylor told Local News 8 that the shooter could be charged with three counts of attempted murder, depending on the results of the investigation.

The attack appears to be Idaho's second school shooting. In 1999, a student at a high school in Notus fired a shotgun several times.

No one was struck by the gunfire, but one student was injured by ricocheting debris from the first shell.

In 1989, a student at Rigby Junior High pulled a gun, threatened a teacher and students, and took a 14-year-old girl hostage, according to Deseret News.

Police safely rescued the hostage from a nearby church about an hour later and took the teen into custody. No one was shot in that incident.

Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson also did not release the names or ages of any of the juvenile victims

VIDEO: One person is in custody after three people were shot at a middle school in Rigby, Idaho. https://t.co/sc39eW5Key pic.twitter.com/iHNTK9mtZP  CBS2 News (@CBS2Boise) May 6, 2021

Thursday's incident marks the latest in a string of mass shootings across America in recent months.

Back on March 16, Robert Aaron Long, 21, is accused of killing eight people - six of them Asian women - in a series of attacks at three Atlanta spas.

The following week, gunman Ahmad Alissa then allegedly shot dead ten people including a police officer, in a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado.

Biden Executive Actions on Guns Crackdown on 'ghost guns,' which are built from kits

Tighten requirements on pistol braces that allow for more accurate shooting

Department of Justice will publish 'red flag' legislation for the states

Investment in evidence-based community violence interventions

DoJ will issue an annual report on gun trafficking Advertisement

The next day, a shooting at a Southern California office building left four people dead, including a child.

Eight people were shot and killed at the FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis earlier this month.

According to EdWeek, there have been six school shootings in 2021 prior to Thursday's attack.

In total, these incidents left two school employees and one student dead.

Since 2018, there have been 65 shootings in schools across the country.

One of the deadliest school shootings in American history was the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012.

Gunman Adam Lanza entered the school in Newtown, Connecticut, shooting 27 dead inside and injuring many more.

In light of this year's spate in gun violence, Joe Biden has unveiled a series of executive actions designed to curb gun violence following the string of shootings.

The six actions include: a crackdown on the proliferation of 'ghost guns,' which are built from kits; tighten requirements on pistol braces that allow for more accurate shooting; the Department of Justice will publish 'red flag' legislation for the states; invest in evidence-based community violence interventions; and DoJ will issue an annual report on gun trafficking.

Biden said mass shootings are a 'public health crisis' and argued he was not trying to impinge on the Second Amendment - a claim gun rights groups and Republicans have made against the introduction gun control laws.
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The mansion where the disgraced rock producer Phil Spector murdered Lana Clarkson has been sold - just four months after his death in prison.

The 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau sits on two-and-a-half acres of land in Alhambra, with a panoramic view of the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles, sold for $3.3 million Tuesday according to the listing with Douglas Elliman and reported by People.

The price tag was originally set at $5.5 million but the chateau's dark past possibly scared off potential owners since its initial listing date of March 2019.

Known as 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern France-styled gated chateau sits on two-and-a-half acres of land in Alhambra, California

The gated chateau also has a panoramic view of the San Gabriel Valley, in California, along multiple balconies

The 8,700 square foot home was built in 1925 by Sylvester Dupuy, who modeled the knoll-top structure on a chateau in the South of France

Imposing fireplaces and crystal chandeliers are found throughout the home's interior

The 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau sits on two-and-a-half acres of land in Alhambra boasts two full kitchens, a games room and an employee quarters, complete with a separate staff entrance

The kitchen area of the 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau sits on two-and-a-half acres of land in Alhambra, with a panoramic view of the San Gabriel Valley near Los Angeles

The 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau was sold by Phil Spector's ex-wife, Rachelle Short as a part of their divorce settlement for $3.3 million

The house was sold by Spector's third wife, Rachelle Short as a part of their divorce settlement. Tim Durkovic of Douglas Elliman represented both the buyer and Short.

Spector filed for divorce in April 2016, citing 'irreconcilable differences'. Short was just 26 when they first tied the knot.

The home was purchased by Spector back in 1998 for $1.1 million, according to the WSJ, which cited property records.

The dining room of the 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau, featuring wood floors and panelng adorned along the walls

One of the 11 bedrooms found in the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau

There is an additional pair of bathrooms and bedrooms located above the home's four-car garage

The 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau sits on two-and-a-half acres of land in Alhambra boasts two full kitchens, a games room with a pool table

A bar area is one of the many rooms in the The 'Pyrenees Castle', the Southern-styled, 10,590-square-foot gated chateau

In 2003, actress Lana Clarkson was found dead, slumped over a chair in the house's foyer (pictured)

Clarkson was found dead just inside the entrance way to the grand home in 2003

The murder mansion has been dubbed a castle for it's unusual turrets and frontage

Spector was eventually convicted of Lana Clarkson's murder in 2009 after two trials, the first ending in a mistrial.

He was sentenced to between 19 years and a life sentence in jail. He died earlier this year, at the age of 81, from COVID-19 complications on January 16 2021.

Clarkson was an actress who starred in the cult film 'Barbarian Queen'. She was found dead at the property on February 3, 2003 with a single gun-shot to the mouth and her teeth were found scattered over the floor.

Spector claimed in an interview to Esquire in 2003, Clarkson's death was an 'accidental suicide' and that she had tried to 'kiss the gun' before it inadvertently went off,

But in an emergency call from Spector's home, the music virtuoso can be heard saying 'I think I killed someone'.

His driver, Adriano de Souza, says he saw Spector emerge from the back of the home clutching a snub-nosed pistol, shortly after making the call.

Lana Clarkson (right) suffered a single gun-shot to the mouth and her teeth were found scattered over the carpet. Spector (right) said he death was an accident but he was eventually found guilty of her murder in 2009

Famed for pioneering the 'Wall of Sound' recording technique in the 1960s, Spector produced hits such as 'Be My Baby' by the Ronnettes (pictured with the Ronnettes in 1963)

Spector wrote, co-wrote and produced acts for the likes of the Ronettes, the Crystals, and Ike & Tina Turner.

He started his career by producing his first hit 'To Know Him is To Love Him' for his vocal trio the Teddy Bears when he was still in high school. It went to the top of the Billboard 100 in 1958.

From there his career skyrocketed and he produced hits including 'Be My Baby' by the Ronnettes and 'Hes a Rebel' by The Crystals.

Spector pictured in this mugshot dated November 19, 2019

In 1970 he produced the Beatles' album Let It Be and several solo records for John Lennon and George Harrison.

By the 70s he had produced 18 US Top 10 singles for various artists including Leonard Cohen, and the Ramones.

Spectors life spiraled in the late 70s onward.

As a freelancer he produced Leonard Cohens 1977 album 'Death of a Ladies' man' and during sessions he reportedly drew out a gun and pointed it at Cohens chest and said 'I love you Leonard' to which he replied, 'I hope so, Phil.'

His last major production was The Ramones 1980 album 'End of the Century.'

Rumors emerged that the band was held hostage in the studio by Spector with a gun during recording sessions.

Spector was diagnosed with COVID in December and was transferred from his prison cell at California Health Care Facility in Stockton.

He recovered enough to return to jail but he relapsed and struggled with breathing. He returned to a hospital where he later died.

In his last interview before going to jail he said: 'I have devils inside that fight me. And I'm my own worst enemy.'
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WHERE CAN I GO ON HOLIDAY FROM MAY 17? THE GREEN LIST Britons will be able to travel quarantine-free to 12 countries and territories from May 17. They are: Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira

Australia

New Zealand

Singapore

Brunei

Iceland

Faroe Islands

Gibraltar

Falkland Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

Israel and Jerusalem Advertisement

British holidaymakers will be able to head to Portugal, Gibraltar and nine other destinations without quarantining on their return from May 17, Grant Shapps confirmed today.

The Transport Secretary unveiled his long-awaited 'green list' at a Downing Street briefing tonight, insisting we must make 'absolutely sure' that the countries we reconnect with are 'safe.'

Holidaymakers returning from this 12-strong list will not be required to quarantine on arrival in England, instead taking two Covid tests - one within three days of their return flight and another two days later.

But Mr Shapps tonight warned that 'green list' destinations will remain on a 'watch list' as he reserved the right to take them off again if there is a spike in local infections.

He added the plan was 'necessarily cautious', saying: 'We must make sure that the countries we reconnect with are safe.'

The countries on the 'green list' from May 17 are: Portugal including the Azores and Madeira; Australia; New Zealand; Singapore; Brunei; Iceland; the Faroe Islands; Gibraltar; the Falkland Islands; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha and Israel.

But two of the these countries, Australia and New Zealand, will not currently allow British visitors to enter.

There was a blow for football fans as Turkey was added to the 'red list' just weeks before Manchester City and Chelsea battle out the Champions League final in Istanbul.

The Maldives and Nepal have also been added to the 'red list'.

People returning from those countries after 4am on Wednesday will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for 11 nights at a cost of 1,750 for solo travellers.

Mr Shapps tonight confirmed that France, Spain and Greece, three top holiday destinations for Britons, were not yet ready to make the 'green list' on the new traffic light system that is being introduced.

He added that travellers were 'crucial' to rebuilding the UK's economy following months in lockdown.

'We want a summer in which, with the help of vaccines and testing, we can reunite family and friends, and travel to places we love,' he said. 'We want to start looking outward again. Whilst Covid has isolated us, travel unites us.'

Grant Shapps unveiled his long-awaited 'green list' at a Downing Street briefing tonight, insisting we must make 'absolutely sure' that the countries we reconnect with are 'safe'

The countries on the 'green list' from May 17 are: Portugal including the Azores and Madeira; Australia; New Zealand; Singapore; Brunei; Iceland; the Faroe Islands; Gibraltar; the Falkland Islands; and Israel

Downing Street today released the full list of countries on green, amber and red lists ahead of a loosening of restrictions

Gibraltar, the British territory in the western Mediterranean, was on the green list

All the countries on the UK's first green list have similarly low Covid infection rates, meaning the risk of travellers carrying cases between nations is low

He added: 'Travellers are, of course, also absolutely crucial to rebuilding our economy, bringing long-awaited relief to hard-hit airlines, airports, the tourism sector, which taxpayers have spent 7 billion in supporting.'

The cost of flights to the Portuguese capital tonight surged by more than 25 per cent after it was confirmed the popular holiday hotspot will be on the travel 'green list'.

Eager British holidaymakers rushed to book last minute getaways - despite Portugal being widely tipped for the list - with a return flight from Heathrow to Lisbon leaving on May 17 jumping in price from 264 to 332 in six hours.

British Airways today said it would be laying on additional flights to Portugal following the announcement that foreign travel can resume, but added it was disappointed with remaining restrictions for 'amber' countries.

Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle said: 'We're pleased that our customers are able to start travelling again to some countries, including Portugal, and we've put on additional flights from London, Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh to Faro to help people get moving.

'What's clear is that with high levels of vaccination in the UK being matched by other countries, we should see more destinations going 'green' before the end of June.

'It's disappointing to hear that despite the stringent safeguards introduced for travel from 'amber list' countries, the Government is now suggesting travellers avoid these.

WILL THE GREEN LIST COUNTRIES ACTUALLY LET US IN? These are the current entry requirements for countries that will be on the UK's green list from May 17. They may change before Britain permits foreign travel. Portugal  Closed except to residents and essential travel, but tourism chief Rita Marques said: 'We are really pushing hard to open up to countries like the UK.' Australia  Closed except to visa holders and residents/citizens, and government appears unwilling to reopen the borders. New Zealand  Closed except to visa holders and residents/citizens, or people with a 'critical purpose to travel'. Country was keen to shut borders and is not likely to encourage or allow tourism any time soon. Israel/Jerusalem  Foreign nationals not permitted unless in exceptional circumstances, but plans in place to allow vaccinated people and recovered Covid patients to visit. Gibraltar  Travel only allowed for residents, citizens or people going for work, but is expected to open the doors to tourists soon. Singapore  Visitors must get prior government permission to travel. Tourists are allowed from Hong Kong, signalling possible reopening. Brunei  'Severely restricted'. Travellers must apply for permission from Prime Minister's office and exit travel is banned. Iceland  Travel is allowed from low risk countries. Covid testing and quarantine in place except for fully vaccinated people. Faroe Islands  Denmark allows UK visitors 'with a worthy purpose'. Holidaying not included Falkland Islands  Permits only allowed for essential visitors. Tourism board is pushing for a reopening but the government is not yet keen. South Georgia  Rules unclear. It is a remote destination in the Atlantic Ocean, close to Antarctica, with no roads and no airport. St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha  All arrivals must quarantine for 2 weeks. Only residents are allowed to travel to Tristan da Cunha. Source: Foreign Office Advertisement

'We cannot stress more greatly that the UK urgently needs travel between it and other low-risk countries, like the US, to restart the economy, support devastated industries and reunite loved ones.'

EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren called on the Government to provide 'clarity' about which countries could be added to its 'green' travel list later in the year.

He said: 'The decision to put so few European countries into the green tier is simply not justified by the data or the science and is inconsistent with the approach to reopen the domestic economy.'

'So, we call on Government to provide transparency on decision-making and clarity on when we can expect other European countries to join the green list so that consumers and airlines alike can plan for this summer.

'In the meantime, they must drive down the cost of testing and review, and remove testing for green, low-risk countries. Green really should mean green.'

He said easyJet will be increasing its flights to green-list destinations and launching new routes where possible.

Holidaymakers to 'green list' countries will not have to quarantine on their return, but will still be required to take two tests, one within three days of flying back to the UK and another within 48 hours of arrival.

This will apply to vaccinated as well as unvaccinated passengers.

Tourists from 'amber' countries will have to take a second post-arrival test on day eight as well as self-isolate at home for ten days. Arrivals from 'red' countries will have to quarantine in hotels at their own expense for 11 nights.

The DfT also announced that from May 17, people who have had both doses of a coronavirus vaccine will be able to use the NHS app to demonstrate their status.

People who do not have the app will be able to request an NHS letter from that date.

Mr Shapps said travellers should not book holidays that do not include a refund policy if the country's Covid situation changes.

The Transport Secretary said: 'Green list countries will be placed on a watch list.

'If we start to have any concerns, and if it is necessary because of a new upswing in cases or a new variant, we will not hesitate to act fast and withdraw green status.'

He added: 'Our strong advice is not to book any holiday which does not include a refund in the event that the Covid-related situation changes and you're able to cancel.

'I'm afraid we do expect longer delays at airports.'

Speaking tonight, Border Force director general Paul Lincoln warned that wait times to enter the UK were likely to take longer than usual as the country switches to a traffic light system for international travel.

He said: 'Unfortunately we are not back to normality yet.

'Travel will be different and, as the Transport Secretary says, we still need to be cautious.

'There will continue to be additional health checks for every person crossing our border and inevitably that means it will take longer for most people to enter the UK.

'These measures have been put in place to protect the hard-fought gains and sacrifices that have been made by individuals and society in the UK, minimising the risk of importing variants while protecting the success of our vaccine rollout.'

Heathrow Airport's chief executive John Holland-Kaye said the Government must 'urgently address the unacceptable situation' at the UK border, adding: 'Long immigration queues are an inevitable result of under-resourcing, not an inevitable result of extra checks.'

Britain's Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England Jenny Harries, Britain's Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Director General of Border Force Paul Lincoln take part in a virtual press conference

Mr Shapps tonight confirmed that France, Spain and Greece, three top holiday destinations for Britons, were not yet ready to make the 'green list' on the new traffic light system that is being introduced

Among the 12-strong 'green list' is Australia, despite the country having shut its border all foreign nationals

The cost of flights to the Portuguese capital tonight surged by more than 25 per cent after it was confirmed the popular holiday hotspot will be on the travel 'green list'. Pictured: Madeira, Portugal

Despite the significant move forward in reopening the travel sector today, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) said many would be 'hugely disappointed' that the US and other nations are not on the Government's travel 'green list'.

President and CEO Gloria Guevera said: 'We welcome this first initial step by the UK Government to begin opening the door to international travel with the announcement of today's 'traffic light' system.

'However, airlines and the wider travel and tourism sector will be hugely disappointed that the US, which has a similar vaccination success rate, has not been included on the 'green list' as it would have enabled the resumption of transatlantic travel, which would have thrown a vital lifeline to the sector in two of the biggest travel and tourism markets in the world.'

She added: 'While we understand that protecting public health should be the priority, the UK is being too cautious and risks losing its hard-won competitive advantage achieved by the early vaccine rollout by being too slow to allow the significant resumption of international travel.

'Holidaymakers and business travellers will be disappointed by today's news, with so few countries on the 'green list', while Europe steals a march on the UK by continuing to open up and welcome visitors back.'

Border Force director general Paul Lincoln warned that wait times to enter the UK were likely to take longer than usual as the country switches to a traffic light system for international travel

British holidaymakers will also be able to head to New Zealand (above, Tongariro Alpine Crossing National Park)

Iceland is also on the 'green list', with tourist attractions including Reykjavik and Siglufjordur (above)

Tristan da Cunha, a remote group of volcanic islands in the south Atlantic Ocean, is also available for summer holidays

Pilots' union Balpa later accused Downing Street of an 'excess of caution' over its handling of the planned return of foreign holidays, which have been banned since January amid England's third Covid lockdown.

General secretary Brian Strutton said: 'This excess of caution from the Government is extremely disappointing for everyone who works in the travel sector and the millions of people who are desperate to jet away on holiday or business.

'The huge success of the vaccine rollout in the UK, the ever-growing vaccination rates in Europe and the massive effort from everyone to make travel Covid-safe should have meant a much longer green list than what we've got today.

Travellers should expect longer waiting times at UK borders when 'green list' starts on May 17 Travellers should expect longer waiting times at UK borders as the Government switches to a traffic light system for international travel. Border Force director Paul Lincoln said passengers must accept there will be increased delays at 'each stage' of their journey, with staff required to check '100%' of all travellers coming through. His comments came as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced that 12 countries - including Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel - would be added to the Government's green list for travel. From May 17, people in England will be able to visit those destinations without having to enter quarantine on their return. But Mr Lincoln told a Downing Street press conference on Friday that the introduction of health checks at the border meant it now takes, on average, five to 10 minutes for staff to process each passenger arriving into the UK. He said: 'For the time being, passengers will need to accept an increase in the time taken at each stage of their journey. 'It currently takes a Border Force officer five to 10 minutes to complete all the necessary checks, which means that even for the most compliant passenger, it might take 14 or 15 times longer to process than before, compared to around 25 seconds. 'Where people do not have the correct paperwork, it can and has taken considerably longer, including when we need to serve fixed penalty notices for non-compliance.' Mr Lincoln said Border Force was still under instruction from ministers to check '100% of passengers' but that it would be making some paperwork digital, such as the passenger locator form, in a bid to 'speed up' the process, while more staff would be made available to carry out checks. Heathrow Airport's chief executive said the Government must 'urgently address the unacceptable situation' at the UK border. John Holland-Kaye said in a statement: 'Long immigration queues are an inevitable result of under-resourcing, not an inevitable result of extra checks.' Advertisement

'Almost all tourist hotspots in Europe including Spain, France and Greece are in the amber category, which is as good as red as far as most tourists are concerns, with potential 10-day quarantine needed on return.

'The Government has at least committed to review the categories regularly.

'Tourists are sat gazing at the amber light, revving their engines, desperate to travel safe in the knowledge that their jabs will protect them. The Government must flick those amber lights to green as soon as it possibly can.

'In particular, we must see the vital UK-US travel market open up which remains inexplicably closed despite America's own tremendous vaccine success.'

Elsewhere, airline bosses urged the Government to make 'major additions' to their newly announced 'green list' at the next review point in three weeks time, adding the relaxed rules represent a 'reopening of air travel in name only.'

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the industry body which represents UK carriers, said: 'By contrast, the EU has said vaccinated people will be able to travel without restrictions, which leaves the UK at risk of falling behind and not opening up international travel to key markets across Europe as well as the United States.

'We strongly believe that, alongside the domestic economy, travel can be safely reopened and so we must see major additions to the green list at the next review point in three weeks, alongside a simpler and much-reduced testing burden so that travel does not become the preserve of the wealthy only.'

Others have warned that Boris Johnson's 'slower and more cautious' approach to resuming international travel will 'delay the travel industry's recovery'.

Mark Tanzer, chief executive of travel trade organisation ABTA, said: 'Although it was good to hear the minister (Grant Shapps) say he wants people to be able to travel this summer, this is a slower and more cautious approach than previously outlined by the Government and will delay the industry's recovery.

'We understand that public health is the Government's priority, and it was always expected that the return to international travel would be gradual, but the Government must use the next review to open up travel to more destinations, using the traffic light system to manage risk.

'We also need the Government to commit to supporting travel agents and tour operators through what will continue to be difficult times ahead.

'Travel will be one of the most restricted economic sectors coming out of the pandemic and this needs to be recognised through adequate grants to support these businesses.'

Conservative MP Huw Merriman said tonight: 'The resumption of international travel on May 17 will be welcomed by those who long to visit loved ones overseas, by UK Plc and by the hundreds of thousands of workers whose jobs and livelihoods rely on this industry.

'Barriers remain in place for most of our popular destinations, notably most of Europe, which have been placed on the amber list.

'This cautious approach means many will have to quarantine and face increased costs from testing; this will deter travel.

'The promise to give transparency over methodology and data, regular reviews of the rule-set and country lists, as well as increased digitisation to open e-gates on passenger arrival, must act as a springboard for more countries to be within reach as the summer progresses.'

Tourists sunbathing in Praia do Camilo, Lagos, Faro district, Algarve, Portugal

Which countries are on the red and amber lists? Red list Angola, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, Congo (Democratic Republic), Ecuador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Guyana, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Maldives, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Oman Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe Amber List Afghanistan, Akrotiri and Dhekelia, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, British Antarctic Territory, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote d'Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czech , Republic (Czechia), Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, French , Polynesia, Gabon, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece (including islands), Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nauru, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, The Occupied Palestinian Territories, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, Poland, Reunion, Romania, Russia, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain (including the Balearics and Canary Islands), Sri Lanka, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Martin and St Barthelemy, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan Vanuatu, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Sahara, Yemen. Advertisement

Following England's move towards free international travel today, Mr Shapps also confirmed overseas travel rules expected to be 'broadly similar in design' across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Transport Secretary said he had spoken with the devolved administrations and that England's traffic light system had been created with their agreement.

'All of the four chief medical officers of the Joint Bio Security Centre have met and agreed the principles that sit behind the traffic light system, so there is a large degree of agreement and co-operation in developing the system,' he said.

No plans for the resumption of foreign holidays have been announced by the UK's devolved administrations.

However, Mr Shapps highlighted there were ongoing election counts in Wales and Scotland which meant their governments were 'in flux' and 'it may take a few days for them to describe precisely what they wish to do'.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'The First Minister has previously said that international travel restrictions won't be relaxed until May 17 at the earliest.

'This is being kept under review and we would expect the new administration to announce its intentions as soon as possible.'

Earlier this week, Tui, the UK's largest holiday company, announced it will offer customers coronavirus tests for a fraction of standard prices.

The cheapest package - aimed at people returning from green destinations - will be available for just 20, and consist of a lateral flow test and PCR test.

PCR tests alone typically cost 120 each, although several travel companies offer them for 60.

Tui said it is 'subsidising the cost of testing to help customers travel again this summer'.

There are fears that testing requirements will make summer holidays unaffordable for many families by adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of a trip.

Fans demand the Champions League final be moved from Istanbul to England after Turkey is put on Covid 'red list' meaning EVERYONE who has bought a ticket will need to isolate or face a 10k fine on way home

By Henry Martin for MailOnline

Grant Shapps says fans should not travel to the Champions League final in Turkey as the country has moved into the travel red list - sparking fans to call for the game to be moved to England.

Chelsea and Manchester City are due to meet in the final on May 29 in Istanbul, with around 10,000 fans from the teams due to be allowed in the stadium.

But the ability for Turkey to stage the all-English final has been placed into jeopardy after the country was added to the list of those requiring mandatory hotel quarantine for 10 days on return.

High coronavirus rates have made Turkey one of the high-risk countries that the British government is saying should be visited only for essential reasons.

Turkey has been placed on the UK Government's 'red list' which has implications for this year's Champions League final in Istanbul between Chelsea and Manchester City

Chelsea and City players would have to quarantine on their return if the final is played in Turkey

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed Turkey, Nepal and the Maldives are on the red list

People returning to England from the red-list countries must stay in designated hotels for 10 days at their own expense, with meals delivered to their door.

The Government is now in talks with UEFA over moving the Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester City to England.

Grant Shapps told a Downing St press conference: 'I'm afraid we are having to put Turkey on the red list and this will have a number of ramifications.

'First of all, it does mean with the regards to the Champions League, fans should not travel to Turkey.

'The FA are in discussions with Uefa already on this.

Chelsea fans celebrate outside the ground after beating Real Madrid 2-0 in their semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge to complete a 3-1 aggregate victory and make the Champions League final where they will take on Manchester City. Picture date: Wednesday May 5, 2021

Manchester City fans celebrate outside the Etihad Stadium after reaching the Champions League Final, May 4

Fans offered different solutions to Turkey being added to the international travel 'red list'

'We are very open to hosting the final but it is ultimately a decision for Uefa.

'Of course ... the UK has already got a successful track record of football matches with spectators, so we are well-placed to do it.'

He added: 'We are very open to it ... it is actually, in the end, a decision for Uefa to make, but given there are two English clubs in that final, we look forward to hearing what they have to say.'

Fans have offered varying solutions to the problem of hosting the final in a 'red list' country, with many saying it should be held in England instead.

One said: 'Move it to England, keep it simple.'

Another said: 'Absolute no brainer to switch the final to UK equidistant venue, e.g. Villa Park or Cardiff.'

Manchester City and Chelsea booked their places in the final on May 29 after overcoming Paris St Germain and Real Madrid respectively earlier this week.

UEFA had insisted it had no plans to change the venue, stating: 'The UEFA Champions League final will take place in Istanbul on May 29 with a limited number of spectators and we are assured the temporary lockdown which is in force until May 17 should not have any impact on the match.

'UEFA continues to work closely with the Turkish Football Federation and the local and national authorities to stage the match safely.'

Elite sportspeople would not be exempt from the 10-day hotel quarantine rule upon their return to the UK.

This ruling would cause serious concern for Gareth Southgate's England squad, who begin their European Championships campaign just 15 days after the planned European final.

Several Three Lions internationals, including key men Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden and Mason Mount, are set to contest the Champions League final and their preparations for the European Championships would be severely damaged.

And Transport Secretary Shapps confirmed the government are in talks to bring the final to England, so fans can attend the Champions League fixture and players remain on course for the European Championships.

Shapps said in a Friday press conference: 'I'm afraid we are having to put Turkey on the red list, it does mean fans should not travel to turkey.

'The FA are in discussions with UEFA. We are very open to hosting the final but it is ultimately a decision for UEFA.

Staging the final in Turkey would mean England players Phil Foden, Mason Mount and Raheem Sterling would have to quarantine for 10 days in a hotel on their return

'Of course the UK already has successful track record of hosting games with spectators. I have spoken to the secretary of state for culture media and sport but we are very open to it'.

Mr Shapps also confirmed that Nepal and the Maldives were added to the countries in the 'red list' along with Turkey - the highest band of coronavirus-stricken countries that have restrictions for UK citizens.

Fan groups have urged UEFA to make a quick decision in light of the government's announcement.

'It is important they reach a decision quickly for the sake of the match-going fans, the earlier the better,' said Ronan Evain, chief executive of Football Supporters Europe.

'It would be a sensible decision to move the game. Health comes first and playing in Turkey would put thousands of English fans in an impossible position.

'These are extraordinary times and they should be treated as such. It should not create a precedent for finals to be moved, depending on who is playing in them.

'But this would have involved thousands of fans moving from one side of Europe to the other. It is legitimate to move the game.'
A Pennsylvania district attorney has pleaded guilty to pressuring clients to have sex with him in his office when he was a defense attorney, and using a noise cancelling machine to muffle the sound, then coercing them to keep quiet about it.

Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman, who resigned from office Friday, previously claimed the allegations were a pack of 'vicious lies' and that he was the victim of a political smear by the state's top prosecutor.

Salsman, who took office a year ago, was charged February 3rd with sexually assaulting women who were his clients in criminal and child custody cases when he worked as a defense attorney.

Chad Michael Salsman, 44, a prosecutor in Bradford County, has pleaded guilty to charges of sexual and indecent assault and witness intimidation. Pictured: Salsman is escorted into Magisterial District Court, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021

Salsman (pictured) elected in November 2019, had admitted to charges that he manipulated several women into unwanted sexual acts and sexually assaulted them

The accusers told a grand jury that he groped them, sought nude photos, and pressured or forced them into sexual acts, sometimes on his office desk.

Salsman, elected in November 2019, manipulated several women into unwanted sexual acts and sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.

Witnesses claimed that he would use music or a noise cancelling machine to drown out the sounds coming from his office.

After the Republican DA forced them into unwanted sex acts, he then directed them into his private bathroom to 'clean up'.

Complaints say once they had done so with paper towels and wet wipes, he then threatened the woman into silence over the incidents.

Salsman pleaded guilty to reduced charges of witness intimidation, promoting prostitution and obstruction of justice, according to the Pennsylvania attorney general's office.

Under the plea agreement, Salsman still faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in state prison and a $25,000 fine. Salsman will be sentenced July 9.

'As Attorney General, I have a responsibility to stand up for the most vulnerable in our Commonwealth. Chad Salsman used his position as a private attorney, and then as the District Attorney, to intimidate and silence his victims and interfere with our investigation. Today is a powerful reminder that no one is above the law,' said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

'To date, we've arrested 90 public officials for charges related to public corruption, including embezzlement, sexual assault, and other abuses of power. My Office will continue to seek justice for victims as we uncover public corruption  wherever it lies.'

After Salsman was first charged, he emailed a statement from his Bradford County government address that cast the accusations as 'vicious lies' and pledged to 'vigorously defending myself against these false allegations.'

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (pictured in 2019, file photo) said in a statement: 'Despite Mr. Salsman's efforts to interfere in the investigation and his claims that the grand jury was politically motivated, today he is taking responsibility for his actions.'

He added: 'Anyone who knows me knows that the picture the Attorney General is painting is not Chad Salsman.'

But several of Salsman's staff testified to seeing women leaving his office in distress, and that their boss went to great lengths to hide the abuse during his time working for the private sector

'Many of Salsman's clients struggled with addictions, had a history of being sexually abused, or suffered from other vulnerabilities which Salsman exploited. He used his knowledge of their vulnerabilities to overcome their lack of consent and sexually assault them,' the jurors wrote in a report earlier this year.

In once instance, authorities detailed how Salsman stopped charging a client in a custody case after she began having sex with him.

They said a woman told Salsman she had been raped, and he subsequently directed her to enter his office in Towanda through a back door and undress.

Several of Salsman's staff testified to seeing women leaving his office in distress, and that their boss went to great lengths to hide the abuse during his time working for the private sector

Under the plea agreement, Salsman still faces a maximum sentence of 11 years in state prison and a $25,000 fine

'He picked these victims because they didn't have another choice,' state Attorney General Josh Shapiro told reporters at the Bradford courthouse earlier this year.

White Noise machines Witnesses claimed that Chad Michael Salsman would use a noise cancelling machine to drown out the sounds coming from his office. These work by playing white noise - which is when sound waves of a broad spectrum of frequencies are emitted. This forms a sound similar to the constant hum of a fan, that drowns out other noise in the background. White noise machines are often used by people who have trouble sleeping in loud environments, to drown out the sound traffic, for example. The sound emitted by a white noise machine, in many cases, sounds similar to wind blowing through trees or a rushing waterfall - background noises that are not intrusive. Advertisement

'Because he thought they would be easy to silence. And likely they would be less believed if they ever came forward.'

Salsman, 44, has been the top prosecutor in the rural county along the New York State border since early 2020.

The attorney general's office said one of the assault allegations dates to the period between Salsman's November 2019 election and his swearing-in as district attorney.

Salsman, a Republican, accused Attorney General Shapiro, a Democrat, of turning his case into a media spectacle, complaining about being handcuffed and 'paraded in front of television cameras.'

'With this admission of guilt, the Office of Attorney General has ensured Salsman faces serious consequences, without retraumatizing vulnerable victims who came forward and testified to the Grand Jury. Despite Mr. Salsmans efforts to interfere in the investigation and his claims that the Grand Jury was politically motivated, today he is taking responsibility for his actions.'

Salsman 'pressured clients into prostitution for legal services and used his power as a private attorney, and then as district attorney, to repeatedly harass, coerce, and intimidate victims,' the attorneys general's office said.

'He has compromised the sacred public trust, and he is not fit to serve as district attorney,' Shapiro said.

The grand jury also said there were other women who recounted similar attacks, but the cases occurred too long ago for criminal charges. Salsman began practicing law in 2001.

An email was sent to Salsman's attorney seeking comment on the plea.
President Joe Biden said on Friday he's 'confident' he will meet with Vladimir Putin this summer and downplayed his Russian counterpart's aggressive actions on the Ukraine border, saying there were fewer troops there than before.

'I'm confident we'll be able to do it,' Biden said when asked about a summer meeting. 'We don't have a specific time or place. That's being worked on.'

And Biden said the situation on the border with Ukraine doesn't change the prospects for the two leaders to meet.

'It does not impact my desire to do a one on one meeting and if you notice he had more troops before. He's withdrawn troops. He still has troops amassed but significantly less than he had a month ago,' the president said.

His comments were a notable change in tone from his previous harsh rhetoric on Russian actions in the region.

President Joe Biden said he's 'confident' he will meet with Vladimir Putin this summer but noted no specific time or location has been set yet

Biden also down played Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions on the Ukraine border, noting there are fewer troops than there had been previously

President Biden's words came after Secretary of State Antony Blinken reaffirmed Washington's support for Ukraine at a meeting Thursday with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

Reports indicate Biden could meet with Putin in June when he's in Europe for meetings with G7 and NATO leaders, where Russian troop buildup on the Ukraine border will be one of the topics on the agenda. The White House hasn't confirmed a timing.

'There's no meeting to confirm at this time,' White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at her briefing on Friday. 'The timing, the components of an agenda, those are still ongoing.'

Biden is set to meet with leaders of the G7 group in Cornwall, England June 11-13, followed by a stop in Brussels for the annual NATO summit June 14th. Putin is not scheduled to be at either of those meetings. Russian was kicked out of the then-G8 for its actions in regards to the Ukraine.

Biden invited Putin to a summit after their relationship got off to a rocky start. The president said Putin was a killer with no soul and Putin shot back a wish for good health, which many saw as a veiled threat.

Asked by the Russian state news agency Tass on Thursday whether there was a list of possible places for the meeting, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had 'still nothing to tell about the possible meeting.'

Meanwhile, Blinken said Ukraine's 'Euro-Atlantic aspirations' were discussed with Zelensky and that the U.S. was 'actively looking' at strengthening its security assistance to Ukraine, but didn't give details.

Zelensky also said the military support and the financial support from the U.S. 'is increasing,' but didn't elaborate.

Both noted that while Russia has pulled back some of its forces from the border, a significant number of troops and equipment is still there. Blinken said Washington was watching the situation 'very, very closely,' as 'Russia has the capacity, on fairly short notice, to take aggressive action if it so chooses.'

'I can tell you, Mr. President, that we stand strongly with you,' Blinken said.

Zelensky also said he invited Biden to visit Ukraine this year, and Blinken said the U.S. president would 'welcome the opportunity at the right time.'

By visiting so early in his tenure, before any trip to Russia, Blinken signaled that Ukraine is a high priority for President Biden's foreign policy. His visit was highly anticipated in Ukraine, with hopes for increased military aid and strong support for NATO membership being voiced on the front lines of the battle against Russia-backed separatists in the east and in the halls of government in Kyiv.

Efforts have stalled to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has killed more than 14,000 people since it broke out in 2014.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pose for a photo after their talks in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday

The US has condemned Russian build up on the Ukraine border, above Russian military's armored vehicles roll into landing vessels after drills in Crimea

Naval assault groups disembark from BK-10M fast assault boats during an exercise by various branches of the Russian Armed Forces at the Opuk training ground

But the Biden administration did slap sanctions on a number of Russian figures and entities last month after concluding a lengthy review of Russian activities from election interference to the SolarWinds hack.

Blinken warned the US is watching Russian actions on cyber hacking and with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who recently ended a hunger strike.

'If Russia acts recklessly or aggressively, as it did with the Solar Winds cyber intrusion, as it did with interference in our elections, as it did with what it's done to Mr Navalny, then we will respond,' Blinken told the BBC on Wednesday.

'But at the same time, we would prefer a more stable and predictable relationship, and if Russia chooses that path there are areas we can cooperate in our mutual interest. But it's really focused on Russia's actions.'

The SolarWinds breach targeted at least nine vital US federal agencies, including the Treasury, Justice, Energy and Homeland Security departments. The scale of the hack is still being determined.

In February, Biden made it clear to Putin 'that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions are over,' after his predecessor Donald Trump was seen at times to avoid criticizing his Russian counterpart.

Blinken also met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and underscored the need for greater reforms.

'I'm here really for a very simple reason, which is to, on behalf of President Biden, reaffirm - strongly - our commitment to the partnership between our countries, our commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence,' Blinken told Kuleba.

He added that Washington will 'work with you and continue to strengthen your own democracy, building institutions, advancing your reforms against corruption.'

Kuleba told Blinken that Kiev 'deeply appreciates' the US aid Ukraine has received to support its battle in the east against pro-Russian separatists, who are widely seen as having the Kremlin's military and political backing.

The G7 renewed its call 'for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders including its territorial waters.'

'It is critical that Moscow now fully withdraws its forces and takes the necessary steps to help alleviate tensions,' a G7 statement said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the war-hit Donbas region, eastern Ukraine, as Ukraine holds out hope for greater U.S. assistance

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that the United States will respond to reckless or aggressive acts by Russia; he's pictured with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba

Russia last month amassed 100,000 troops on Ukraine's borders, the biggest mobilisation since Moscow seized the majority-Russian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and war broke out in eastern Ukraine.

Clashes in eastern Ukraine between the government and pro-Russian separatists have been intensifying since January, a bloody new phase in Europe's only ongoing military conflict which has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Russia quickly announced a pullback after the latest buildup, leading some experts to believe Putin was testing the will of Biden while seeking to intensify pressure on Ukraine.
Shyanne Nicole Singh, 26 (pictured), was arrested after her four-year-old daughter was hospitalized with a severe lice infestation

A mother was arrested after her four year-old daughter suffered a head lice infection so severe she almost died and could barely walk after her blood oxygen levels plummeted.

Shyanne Nicole Singh, 26, was arrested earlier this week after the child was admitted to hospital in Scottsburg, Indiana last month. Police in the city, which sits 83 miles south of Indianapolis, were called to the facility by doctors horrified by the girl's infestation, according to The Lexington Herald Leader.

The girl was unable to walk and needed four blood transfusions because the parasites depleted the oxygen in her blood to dangerously low levels.

Singh has been charged with several counts of neglect, including neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury, and neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury. She is due to make her first appearance in court on Friday.

According to an affidavit, seen by the Herald Leader, hospital staff told police that they had measured the girl's hemoglobin levels when she was admitted.

Hemoglobin is a protein that carries oxygen throughout the body to the organs and tissues and expels carbon dioxide.

The girl who almost died in hospital is pictured in pink with her older sister and Singh

Hospital staff declared her a 'near fatality' and said the preschooler could not walk and needed at least four blood transfusions. Singh, pictured, is due to make her first court appearance on Friday

Typically, hemoglobin levels are around 12 grams per deciliter (g/dL), but the girl's were just 1.7 g/dL, the Herald Leader reported.

Staff at the hospital said the girl's levels were the lowest they had ever seen and, because of it, they declared her a 'near fatality.'

Court documents indicate that the girl had to have at least four blood transfusions and was so sick she could could not walk.

The girl's six-year-old sister was also found to be infected with lice, according to the Herald Leader.

The newspaper reported that an officer who saw photos of the girl said it was the worst infestation he had ever seen.

Police interviewed school workers who told them that the six-year-old had been sent home from school in early March after having lice for three consecutive days.

However, she did not return and had missed at least 31 days.

The six-year-old girl's hemoglobin levels were 8.7 g/dL, which is low but not as dangerously low as her sister's.

Singh (pictured) has been charged with several counts of neglect, including neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury

The Department of Child Services have removed the two girls from their mother's home and have placed them in the custody of their grandmother.

The Herald Leader reported that, according to an affidavit, the girls' grandmother told police she asked Singh how the girls' lice infestations had gotten so out of control.

In response, the mother said that 'she didn't notice, and that [she] was just in a fog.'

The grandmother also told police that the two girls has lice in November, but that Singth 'was just too lazy to help comb them out and it would start all over again.'

The girls' plight is finally believed to have been exposed after their grandmother took photos of the infestation to a pharmacist, and the pharmacist urged her to take the children to a hospital.

Singh was being held in the Scott County Detention Center but appears to have been released on bail or bond.

Authorities have not released any further updates on her children's conditions.
Andrew Brown Jr.'s family will be shown just 20 minutes from around two hours of bodycam footage of his fatal shooting by North Carolina, a judge has ruled.

Judge Jeffery Foster issued a written order Thursday allowing Brown's immediate family and attorney to view limited footage from each of the five videos taken from the body cameras and dash camera of the cops involved.

They also face another lengthy wait to see the truncated footage taken on five separate bodycams - which may finally be shared almost a month after Brown was killed in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on April 21.

Judge Foster also ruled that the faces of all seven deputies involved are blurred before the clips are shared, citing the ongoing investigation into Brown's shooting. Those deputies all previously been named. The three who shot at Brown remain on administrative leave, while the four who attended the scene but didn't open fire are now back at work.

Foster ruled last Tuesday that parts of the footage would be disclosed to the family within 10 days, and claimed the redactions were made to cut out footage which did not include images of Brown.

Andrew Brown Jr.'s (center) family will be shown just 20 minutes from around two hours of bodycam footage of his fatal shooting by North Carolina cops and could be forced to wait another nine days to see it, according to a judge's ruling

Andrew Brown's son Khalil Ferebee, left, and Khalil's mom Mia Ferebee stand together during an April 27 press conference called in Elizabeth City over Brown's fatal shooting

Judge Jeffery Foster issued a written order Thursday allowing Brown's immediate family and attorney to view limited footage from five videos. Pictured Reverend Al Sharpton leads a prayer with Andrew Brown Jr.'s sons Khalil Ferebee and Jha'rod Ferebee at Brown's funeral

But the judge then took nine days to issue the written ruling, which was finally handed down on May 6, meaning the 10-day time limit starts from then.

Brown, a 42-year-old black man, was shot multiple times and killed on the morning of April 21 by Pasquotank County sheriff's deputies.

The father-of-10 was inside his car outside his house in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, when the officers were serving him drug-related search and arrest warrants.

Brown's family have described his death as an 'execution', saying he had his hands on the steering wheel of the car and was shot in the back of the head.

His death came just one day after Derek Chauvin was found guilty of George Floyd's murder.

Calls have been mounting for authorities to release all the bodycam footage of the incident.

To date, no footage has been publicly released and Brown's family and attorney were shown only a 20-second clip from one deputy's body camera last week.

Under North Carolina law, bodycam footage is not a public record and cannot be released without a court order.

At the court hearing on April 27, Foster denied a media petition to release the footage publicly for at least 30 days, saying it might impede the ongoing investigation.

He said he would consider releasing it after this date if the investigation has been completed.

He ruled that Brown's family would be allowed to watch redacted footage within 10 days but cannot make copies or recordings of it.

He said he would specify in a written order which parts of the footage they could view.

Thursday's ruling shows Foster has approved the disclosure of video one in its entirety (3 minutes and 1 second).

He has also approved 1 minute 40 seconds from the almost 35 minute-long video two, 4 minutes 50 from the 32 minute long video three, 4 minutes 30 seconds of the 17 minute long video four and 4 minutes 40 of the 30 minute long video five.

All footage approved for release comes from the beginning of each respective recording.

Foster ruled last Tuesday (above) that parts of the footage would be disclosed to the family within 10 days. But the judge then took nine days to issue the written ruling on April 6, meaning the 10-day time limit starts from then

The results of an independent autopsy released by attorneys for Brown's family shows he was shot five times; four times in his right arm and once in the head

'The portions of the videos withheld are found to not contain images of the deceased, and thus are not appropriate for disclosure at this time,' Foster wrote in Thursday's ruling which explained the redactions.

Before the family views the footage, the judge ordered the sheriff's office to blur the deputies' faces 'to prevent identification pending the completion of any internal or criminal investigation into the actions of the deputies.'

Brown, pictured, a father of 10, was shot in his car on April 21 by sheriffs

It will then be disclosed to Brown's adult son Khalil Ferebree, his immediate family members and one attorney.

The ruling also says between one and three officers opened fire on Brown's car and that Brown 'attempted to flee the scene and escape apprehension' during the fatal encounter last month.

After viewing the 20-second clip from one deputy's body camera last week, an attorney for Brown's family said it showed an 'execution'.

Attorney Chantel Cherry-Lassiter said it shows deputies shot Brown as he sat with his hands on the steering wheel of his BMW.

A state prosecutor described a different scenario after watching the footage, saying Brown's car ran into the deputies before they opened fire.

An independent autopsy commissioned by his family said Brown was shot five times, including once in the back of the head. The state autopsy is yet to be released.

No members of law enforcement were injured in the incident.

The delay in releasing the footage has sparked outrage across North Carolina, with protesters taking to the streets demanding transparency over the black man's death.

Law enforcement have released few details about Brown's death.

Brown's car is seen after his fatal shooting in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, on April 21

The moment a 'militarized' sheriff's vehicle carrying armed deputies rushed to Brown's home

Meanwhile, police instead released court documents about the search warrant that brought them to Brown that day describing him as a drug dealer.

It's a move that sparked more outrage with the family's attorney Ben Crump accusing authorities of protecting the officers while they 'assassinate the character' of Brown.

North Carolina's Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, has called for the swift release of the bodycam footage.

And at Brown's funeral in North Carolina Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton hit out at the delay questioning what authorities are 'hiding'.

'I know a con game when I see it. Release the whole tape and let the folks see what happened to Andrew Brown,' he said in a eulogy at the invitation-only church service.

'You don't need time to get a tape out. Put it out. Let the world see what there is to see. If you've got nothing to hide, then what are you hiding?'

Brown's funeral was attended by the families of other black men killed by police in America including George Floyd, Eric Garner and Daunte Wright.

The footage will be disclosed to Brown's adult son Khalil Ferebree (right with his baby son at his father's funeral), his immediate family members and one attorney

Jha'rod Ferebee (left) and Khalil Ferebee (right) speak during the funeral for their father Andrew Brown Jr. at the Fountain of Life church Monday

The identities of the officers involved in the shooting were finally released last week as the three officers who Wooten said did shoot at Brown - investigator Daniel Meads; deputy Robert Morgan and Cpl Arron Lewellyn - remain on administrative leave.

Pasquotank County Sheriff Tommy Wooten announced four other deputies - Lt Steven Judd; Sgts Michael Swindell; Kenneth Bishop and Joel Lunsford - were cleared to return to active duty after the investigation revealed they did not fire their guns.

All seven had initially been placed on administrative leave after Brown's death.

Meanwhile two others - Deputy Sheriff William Harris and Lt. Christopher Terry - resigned in the aftermath and Deputy James Flowers retired.

The FBI has launched a civil rights probe into the shooting, while state agents are conducting a separate investigation.
A university student allegedly wrote 'we did not finish the job' in regard to the Holocaust on an extreme right-wing website, a court has heard.

Andrew Dymock, 23, wrote articles on the now banned group System Resistance Network's (SRN) website in 2017 and received donations for the organisation, the Old Bailey was told.

The defendant, from Bath in Somerset, is on trial on 15 charges, including 12 terrorism-related alleged offences, all of which he has denied.

Andrew Dymock (pictured) allegedly joined white supremacist groups Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network

The politics student denies all charges and says any connection to the far-right groups was in order to conduct research for his dissertation on the rise of nationalism.

On the second day of his trial, prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward alleged Dymock published an anti-Semitic article on the SRN website in October 2017, while he was studying politics at Aberystwyth University in Wales.

In an article called 'The truth about the Holocaust', Dymock allegedly wrote: 'The only guilt felt by the Germanic race in regard to the Holocaust should be that we did not finish the job.

'Far too many people are getting caught up on debating the death toll of the Holocaust as if it matters at all... the issue is not the given death toll, the issue is that the death toll was not of the entire Jewish race.'

The article continued to describe Jewish people as 'a cancer on this earth' which 'must be eradicated in its entirety', the jury heard.

Ms Ledward told the court: 'The article is clear in its encouragement of the eradication of Jewish people.

'Such encouragement constitutes encouragement to commit acts of terrorism.'

Ms Ledward said material from a USB and laptop found in Dymock's bedroom and on an iPhone seized by police when they arrested him 'mirrored content on the website', and the PayPal account which received donations was linked to Dymock's bank account.

She told the court SRN's Twitter account, which allegedly referred to homosexual people as 'degenerate scum' in some tweets, was set up using Dymock's phone number.

The account was also used to post a 'threatening' six-minute video showing SRN members plastering posters of a Nazi holding a noose over Southampton Pride adverts in the city centre ahead of an event in August 2017, the barrister said.

Ms Ledward said the video 'provides a clear and strong indication as to the group's extreme homophobic mindset, and the sort of tactics employed by the group in order to stir up hatred in local communities'.

She added: '(Dymock) seeks to dehumanise those groups in the eyes of the reader and incite hatred against them.

The Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network The Atomwaffen Division was founded in the US around 2013 with the aim of destroying civilisation in order to build a national socialist state. Its UK offshoots were known as the Sonnenkrieg Division and System Resistance Network (SRN). Jurors heard SRN was one of the organisations that filled the 'dubious gap' left after far-right group National Action was banned in 2016. The homepage of the Neo-Nazi group SRN declared objective to be the destruction of 'the system' and 'guide the European to his destiny', before quoting Hitler. SRN was banned in 2020. Advertisement

'As promotional material and propaganda, he seeks to recruit others to his vision of a race war against those he denigrates and dehumanises.

'His messages seek to create or add to the tension between groups within society.'

The jury was also shown videos allegedly found on Dymock's memory stick, including one showing two men burning a gay pride rainbow flag, along with Israel, EU and US flags with the caption 'support your local Nazis'.

Photographs found on the USB also included one showing a pumpkin with a swastika carved into the side, and others showing alleged members of the SRN doing a Nazi salute, made anonymous with skull images superimposed over their faces.

The court previously heard that SRN, which was proscribed in 2020, was one of a small number of organisations which filled a 'dubious gap' left following the proscription of far-right group National Action.

Dymock, who appeared in court wearing a blue blazer and black face covering, claims he was 'set up' by others, and that material linking him to content on the SRN website and Twitter account was 'planted in his possession without his knowledge', the prosecution said.

He denies five charges of encouraging terrorism, two of funding terrorism, stirring up racial hatred and hatred based on sexual orientation, four counts of disseminating terrorist publications, possessing a terrorist document and possessing racially inflammatory material.

A video on the SRN website railed against the 'LGBTQPEDO' community and featured a poster of a man performing a Nazi salute holding a noose over his shoulder and calls to 'protect children from degenerate scum'.

'There is no specific charge which relates to this video,' the prosecutor said.

'But its inclusion on the website provides a clear and strong indication as to the group's extreme homophobic mindset, and the sort of tactics employed by the group in order to stir up hatred in local communities.

'It is also relevant because of the white poster featured in the video and apparently stickered around Southampton - which is the subject of a separate count,' said Ms Ledward.

However, in a prepared statement to the police, Dymock claimed to be a member of the LGBT community and is bisexual.

Dymock, from Bath, Somerset, appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court in December

The statement said: 'I don't have extremist beliefs. I am a politics student and I am interested in modern nationalism.

'I am doing a dissertation on this which I have been researching for the past year.

'I would be offended if someone called me a Nazi.

'Mein Kampf and Siege are for my research.

'In fact, I am bisexual but lean towards being homosexual, in direct conflict with Nazism.'

Ms Ledward said: 'The prosecution's case is that Mr Dymock's self-described sexual orientation appears to have been somewhat more complicated, and perhaps to have changed over time as AD became more deeply involved with the extreme right-wing, and depending upon his audience.'

Dymock went on to describe the Nazis as 'not far right' but 'authoritarian centre-right' claiming the genocide of Jewish was 'outside the political spectrum'.

He claimed to be a Vedic, a form of Hinduism, and claimed he used the Swastika for religious and not Nazi purposes.

Dymock said that his tattoos were pagan rather than far-right inspired and called a photo of him doing the Sieg Heil salute as a 'joke'.

Any connection to the far-right groups, he claimed, was in order to conduct research for his dissertation on the rise of nationalism.

The trial continues.
Rep. Liz Cheney secretly masterminded an extraordinary Washington Post op-ed authored by top military leaders, just three days before the Capitol riot, it has been claimed.

The letter published in the Washington Post contained a stark warning from 10 Defense Secretaries from both parties.

Now, the Wyoming Republican could be within days of losing her elected leadership post amid a clash with Trump that came to a head with his claim that the 2020 election was a 'BIG LIE.'

And the revelation of her involvement in the piece, which will infuriate pro-Trump Republicans, came two days after Cheney penned her own slashing op-ed, also published in the Post.

In it she lays out a stark choice for her party between Donald Trump's crusade to 'delegitimize' Joe Biden's election and her own and fidelity to the U.S. Constitution.

Republican Liz Cheney reportedly helped put together an op-ed by 10 former Defense Secretaries January 3 declaring that the time for disputing election results 'has passed.' She faces a challenge to her leadership post next week

The extraordinary op-ed by former Pentagon chiefs came three days before the Capitol riot, while Trump was refusing to concede the election

The letter from the Defense Secretaries stated that the time for questioning election results 'has passed' and said involving the military in electoral disputes would take the nation into 'unlawful and unconstitutional territory.'

It was a key break as members of the military, lawmakers, and retired statesmen issued public statements in an effort to promote a transition in power despite Trump's refusal to concede the election.

'She was the one who generated it, because she was so worried about what Trump might do,' Eric Edelman, a friend of Cheney's and career diplomat who served as national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, told the New Yorker. 'It speaks to the degree that she was concerned about the threat to our democracy that Trump represented.'

'Its all got to do with fealty to Trump and the Big Lie and the fact that Liz is a living reproach to all these cowards,' added Edelman.

According to the magazine, Liz Cheney was secretly behind the effort. She not only recruited her father, former Vice President and Pentagon boss Dick Cheney, but others including Trump's former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis  a man Trump once heralded as the pinnacle of military bearing.

Mattis had taken efforts to avoid public comment on Trump after quitting his post in 2018 and saying his views were not 'aligned' with Trump's, before ultimately denouncing him.

The op-ed came during a tense time, when some Trump critics were eyeing his efforts to install loyalists in key political posts at the Pentagon, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security amid his claims of election fraud, even as Joe Biden beat him by 7 million votes and states certified election results.

A string of courts had already shot down 'kraken' lawsuits by Trump supporters.

'Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted,' the chiefs wrote. 'Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the Electoral College has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed.'

'Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory,' they warned.

All 10 living former Defense Secretaries delivered an extraordinary warning to former President Trump in an op-ed in which they denounced the possibility of military involvement in the current election dispute. They include James Mattis (left) and Mark Esper (right), both of whom worked under Trump. Liz Cheney helped organize the effort, it was reported Friday

From left: Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Gates and William Cohen

From left: Ashton Carter, William Perry, Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel

The 10 living former Defense Secretaries listed as authors of the piece were Ashton Carter, Dick Cheney, William Cohen, Mark Esper, Robert Gates, Chuck Hagel, James Mattis, Leon Panetta, William Perry and Donald Rumsfeld.

The rift with Trump and his loyalists in the House GOP is so pronounced that Cheney is likely to lose her post during a vote next Wednesday, although some conservatives have raised doubts about Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), who has Trump's backing.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Cheney as a 'warmonger,' and has gone after her since she was one of 10 House Republicans to back his impeachment, while hosing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy loyalists like Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio at Mar-a-Lago.

In her own op-ed earlier on Wednesday, she wrote: 'The Republican Party is at a turning point, and Republicans must decide whether we are going to choose truth and fidelity to the Constitution.'

'In the immediate wake of the violence of Jan. 6, almost all of us knew the gravity and the cause of what had just happened  we had witnessed it firsthand,' she said bringing up the Capitol riot that preceded her vote to impeach Trump.

Cheney is being challenged by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). Although the move is backed by Trump, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, and Rep. Steve Scalise, a female member  Rep. Virginia Foxx  will make the motion to challenger her

Elected leaders from both parties are set to come to the White House to meet with Biden the same day of the vote.

House Republicans have scheduled their elections for the morning, so by the time the meeting happens, Cheney may no longer be an elected Republican leader.

The article by the defense chiefs came at a time when there was public speculation about whether Trump would in fact leave office on January 20, the date established in the Constitution for the formal transfer of power.

Trump failed to concede the election, and was publicly pressuring Mike Pence to find a way to send votes certified by states back to the states when Congress met to count the votes from the Electoral College.

Mattis had rebuked Trump over the summer after National Guard forces cleared Lafayette Square for a photo-op where Trump walked across the park and held up a bible amid protests.

Eric Edelman, a friend of Cheney's and career diplomat who served as national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, revealed to the New Yorker that Cheney was behind the January op-ed

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) waits for the arrival of President Joe Biden, before he addresses a joint session of Congress, at the Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, 28 April 2021

'We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution,' Mattis said, announcing his full break with the president.

The administration had made use of federal assets to help gain control of street summer protests following the death of George Floyd.

On January 12, six days after the riot, military chiefs issued another extraordinary letter.

'The violent riot in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 was a direct assault on the U.S. Congress the Capitol building, and our Constitutional process,' they wrote.

'As Service Members, we must embody the values and ideals of the Nation. We support and defend the Constitution,' wrote all eight members of the joint chiefs of staff, including chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who had earlier apologized for participating the photo-op.

'Any act to disrupt the Constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values, and oath; it is against the law,' they wrote.
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HMS Tamar sailed back to Portsmouth on Thursday after seeing off French fishermen together with HMS Severn off the Jersey coast.

The Royal Navy River-class offshore patrol vessel has welcomed home after the French threatened to blockade Calais.

The vessel even showed off its shiny new paint job with different hues of grey as it returned to the naval base.

HMS Tamar sailed back to Portsmouth on Thursday after seeing off French fishermen together with HMS Severn off the Jersey coast

The Royal Navy River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Tamar, arrives back into Portsmouth harbour

HMS Tamar returns home to the Naval Base this afternoon following her deployment to Jersey after tensions rose over fishing rights in the English Channel

Along with HMS Severn, she was deployed to monitor the blockage of Jersey's main port by French fishermen following a row over fishing rights

It comes as Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron are set to hold emergency 'peace talks' to end the 'Battle of Jersey'.

The world leaders, who control Europe's two largest armies, will try to restore their 'brotherly' relationship amid the post-Brexit chaos.

Meanwhile a fishing leader from the island called for a 'show of good faith' from France after 'some pretty extreme threats'.

President of Jersey Fishermen's Association Don Thompson said 'the real hardship genuinely is on this side and I'm seeing my colleagues going out of business'.

The Royal Navy River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Tamar (left), passes the Britanny Ferries' MV Normandie (right)

The vessel even showed off its shiny new paint job with different hues of grey as it returned to the naval base

About 70 French trawlers staged a protest at Jersey's capital St Helier yesterday, before beating a retreat after two Navy gunships arrived

The row over Channel fishing rights escalated last night after furious French skippers threatened to block UK goods from entering Calais.

About 70 French trawlers staged a protest at Jersey's capital St Helier yesterday, before beating a retreat after two Navy gunships arrived.

The standoff came after some French boats were refused licences to fish in Jersey's waters under post-Brexit rules.

In response, French minister Annick Girardin warned Paris could cut off electricity to Jersey.

The comment has led to former Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt calling for a 'halt' to the AQUIND Interconnector project between France and Britain.

The Portsmouth MP said the 1.2billion project to transport power from the Continent to the UK should stop.

Boris Johnson (left) and Emmanuel Macron (right) are set to hold emergency 'peace talks' to end the 'Battle of Jersey' after French fishermen threatened to blockade Calais

About 70 French trawlers (several seen above) staged a protest at Jersey's capital St Helier yesterday, before beating a retreat after two Navy gunships arrived

The standoff came after some French boats were refused licences to fish in Jersey's waters under post-Brexit rules. In response, French minister Annick Girardin warned that Paris could cut off electricity to Jersey. Pictured: Saint Helier

Why are Jersey and France warring over fishing rights? What were the pre-Brexit arrangements for fishing waters? Until January 1 this year, the UK was subject to the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). That meant that fleets from EU states had equal access to the the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of other countries. EEZ areas stretch 200 nautical miles from the coast of each state, or to a maritime halfway point between neighbouring countries. The British fishing industry had long complained that the arrangements meant EU fleets were plundering what should be their catch. What has changed? The post-Brexit trade deal sealed between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen before Christmas gave EU fleets transitional rights to UK fishing waters. The EU fishing quota for UK waters was reduced by 15 per cent this year, and will go down another 2.5 percentage points each year until 2026. From that point the UK will in theory have the right to ban the bloc's fishing fleets altogether, although there will need to be annual negotiations. Crucially for the current situation, UK and EU vessels now require a licence to fish in each other's waters. What are the French angry about? A row has erupted over the specific regulations introduced by the Jersey government to implement the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. They require French boats to demonstrate they have a history of fishing in Jersey's waters in order to get licences, with Jersey adamant that is what the TCA sets out. However, the French authorities claim these 'new technical measures' for accessing waters off the Channel Islands have not been communicated to the EU. As a result they have been dismissed as 'null and void'. There are also disputed allegations that Jersey has been dragging its heels in approving licences for boats that have applied. So, what could happen now and would it ever REALLY end in war? There is a huge amount of sabre-rattling going on, with the UK deploying the navy to counter an extraordinary blockage by French fishing vessels. French ministers have been backing their fishing fleet, threatening to cut power to the Channel Island in retaliation. When such confrontations develop there is always the risk of a miscalculation and real clashes. Boris Johnson has urged the French to use the 'mechanisms of our new treaty to solve problems' rather than resort to threats. There are rumours of a call between Mr Johnson and Emmanuel Macron, although No10 said there is nothing arranged yet. Advertisement

Government officials have said relations between Britain and France were 'not where we want them to be' after the face-off in the Channel.

Mr Johnson and Mr Macron are understood to be speaking in the next few days to try to salvage the alliance.

A senior government source told the Times they were both hoping to 'dial down the rhetoric' before the G7 summit in June.

The insider said: 'We're a bit like a pair of brothers. We're the closest allies and there is no fundamental unhappiness but things are bumpy.'

President of Jersey Fishermen's Association Don Thompson said the incident followed 'some pretty extreme threats' from the French.

'Our expectations were that things probably weren't going to get out of hand, but on the other hand if you consider a Government-level threat to sever electricity ties that would have meant hospitals being shut down,' he said.

'In other parts of the world if something like that happened to Iran or Russia or other countries, other states, that would be considered almost an act of war.'

Mr Thompson added: 'The real hardship genuinely is on this side and I'm seeing my colleagues going out of business, fishermen that have done nothing else all their life, made a commitment to the industry since they were very young, having to sell their boats and walk away from the industry.'

He called for a 'show of good faith from France' in what is a 'highly political' situation affected by the repercussions of the Brexit referendum.

'Jersey people didn't even vote, didn't even have the right to vote in Brexit. Everything that's happened here in the way that we've become a third world state is entirely by default and it's really unfortunate that we seem to be coming under the spotlight and being accused of using the Brexit scenario to our advantage when actually the opposite is true.'

The first physical standoff ensued yesterday when a flotilla of tiny French fishing vessels took to Jersey where two Royal Navy ships met them.

HMS Tamar and HMS Severn returned to the mainland today after the retreat by the French vessels.

But in a sign the row is far from over, the fishermen last night threatened to blockade Calais, saying they would stop British goods from entering the EU unless all of their boats were allowed to fish in Jersey's waters.

Up to 8,500 trucks travel through the French port each day. Oliver Lepretre, chairman of the Northern France fisheries committee, said: 'The fishermen are saying that if we don't get what we want, we will go and block Calais.'

Mr Lepretre said a protest was possible 'within a few days' and trawlers from Normandy could carry out copycat action at the port of Cherbourg.

He said Eurocrats at the European Commission 'needed to move their a***' and trigger the retaliatory measures laid out in the Brexit agreement struck with Britain last year.

He added: '[The British] are blocking our boats by any means possible.'

A Government source hit back, saying: 'The difficulties the French claim to have should be resolved by dialogue, not endless blockades.

'We also have a newly ratified trade agreement with appropriate dispute resolution mechanisms if needed. This sort of disruption benefits no one.'

Britain is asking French trawlers to provide electronic tracking data from 2012 to 2016 to prove historical fishing links to British and Channel Islands waters.

But Mr Lepretre said many French vessels were not fitted with GPS technology at the time.

He added: 'We knew that there would be problems with fishing. We said that a war would come from French fisheries.'

Mr Johnson said he was 'pleased that the situation in Jersey has been resolved'. The Prime Minister thanked the Royal Navy for its 'swift response', adding: 'The UK will always stand resolutely by the people of Jersey.'

Locals watch as French fishing boats leave Jersey waters following their protest in front of the port of Saint Helier, with a Royal Navy ship in the background

French fishermen said they were ready to restage the Battle of Trafalgar as they descended on the harbour this morning. But by 1.30pm navigation charts showed the armada had given in and was sailing back towards their home waters

He had earlier voiced his 'unequivocal support' for the actions taken by Jersey's government.

A Government spokesman added: 'We are pleased that French fishing boats have now left the vicinity of Jersey.

'Given the situation is resolved for now, the Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels will prepare to return to port in the UK.

'We remain on standby to provide any further assistance Jersey requests.'

It is understood Mrs Girardin is refusing to speak to Environment Secretary George Eustice over the issue. And Paris has yet to trigger the official Brexit dispute resolution mechanism.

France's hardline Europe minister Clement Beaune, a close ally of president Emmanuel Macron, dismissed the deployment of Navy gunships, saying: 'We won't be intimidated by these manoeuvres.'

In response to Britain's move, the French maritime authority for the Channel sent a pair of armed police patrol boats to Jersey 'to ensure the protection of human life at sea'.

During yesterday's protest at St Helier, local fishermen said flares were let off and some of the French boats entered the harbour for around an hour.

Footage posted online apparently shows a French boat ramming the stern of a Jersey vessel.

An onlooker at the port in Jersey captured the moment a British vessel (right hand side of image) is forced to spin around to avoid a side-on collision with a French boat seen hurtling towards it. The brown French vessel does end up smacking into the side of the British boat without causing significant damage

The skipper of one French vessel even claimed they were ready to 'restage the Battle of Trafalgar', but another, Ludovic Lazaro, soon announced the blockade was over, adding: 'Now it's down to the ministers to find an agreement. We are not going to be able to do much.'

Eurocrats backed France in the row, claiming Britain had created 'additional conditions' for issuing licences to French trawlers.

European Commission spokesman Vivian Loonela said the rules were a breach of the Brexit treaty.

The Jersey government has said that of the 41 French boats that applied for licences last Friday, 17 were unable to provide the evidence needed to carry on fishing in the island's waters.

Dimitri Rogoff, president of the Normandy fishing committee, said: 'Fishermen shouldn't be the ones blockading Jersey to get what they want.

'If we don't obtain our goals, the minister needs to turn off the lights.'

The French government last night said it was acting in a 'spirit of responsibility' in response to a 'British failure' to abide by the terms of the Brexit trade deal.

The Liberal Democrats yesterday criticised the Government's 'gunboat diplomacy', adding: 'When our governments disagree we should resolve our differences with grown-up conversation and negotiation, not with cannons in the Channel.'

Meanwhile Portsmouth MP Ms Mordaunt wrote to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to stop the AQUIND Interconnector.

She told the News: 'Recent events are further evidence that the interconnector is not in our national interest.

'It will make us less resilient, it's a strategic error and it potentially will undermine further negotiations that we may wish to have with the EU and certainly member states.'

She also described the threat to cut off electricity to Jersey by France's maritime minister Ms Girardin as 'sinister'.
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The global duty-free liquor market size was valued at $2.8 billion in 2018, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.4% to reach $3.7 billion by 2026.

Duty-free liquor refers to the liquor exempted from payment of national taxes and duties, and other certain local taxes. Duty-free liquor are sold to travelers travelling to some other country. Such shops or retail outlets are available at various channels such as airports, cruise liners, railway stations, and border, downtown, and hotel shops.

The growth of the global duty-free liquor is majorly driven by development of the travel & tourism industry. The rise in tourism promotion, increase in number of passengers and frequent fliers, and others, are expected to fuel the growth of the duty-free liquor market.

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As per the WHO and other organizations, Africa and Asia are the major regions that are expected to witness a rapid urbanization trend and are projected to account for 56% and 64% urbanization rate, respectively, by 2050. India and China are the two major countries with increase in urban population and potential markets for the duty-free liquor market. Also, increase in disposable income of individuals, particularly in Europe and Asia-Pacific, is anticipated to witness high growth, thus driving the overall growth of the market However, stringent government rules, especially for airport retailing, are expected to hamper the market growth. This is due the strict baggage rules for air travel passengers that limit the baggage capacity or charge extra for excess baggage.

The global duty-free liquor market is segmented based on type, and channel. Depending on type, the industry is divided into beer, wine, vodka, cognac, and whiskey. By channel, it is classified into cruise liners, airports, railway stations, and border, downtown, and hotel shops.

The report highlights the drivers, restraints, opportunities, and growth strategies adopted by the key players to understand the dynamics and potential of the industry. Key players operating in the duty-free liquor market are profiled to provide a competitive landscape of the marketspace.

The major players profiled in the report are Brown-Forman, Diageo, Erdington, Bacardi, Heineken, Glen Moray, Accolade Wines, Constellation Brands, Inc., REMY COINTREAU, Pernod, Ricard.

KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS

 The report includes an in-depth analysis of different segments and provides market estimations between 2019 and 2026.

 Porters five forces model illustrates the potency of buyers & sellers, which assists the market players to adopt effective strategies.

 Key market players are profiled to gain an understanding of the strategies adopted by them.

 This report provides a detailed analysis of the current trends and future estimations from 2019 to 2026, which helps identify the prevailing market opportunities.

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KEY SEGMENTS

 By Type

o Beer

o Wine

o Vodka

o Cognac

o Whiskey

 By Channel

o Cruise liners

o Airports

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 By Region

o North America

 U.S.

 Canada

 Mexico

o Europe

 Germany

 France

 UK

 Italy

 Spain

 Rest of Europe

o Asia-Pacific

 Japan

 China

 Australia

 India

 Rest of Asia-Pacific

o LAMEA

 Brazil

 Argentina

 Saudi Arabia

 South Africa

 Rest of LAMEA

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Half of the members of a lacrosse team at an an elite $20,000-a-year Cleveland Catholic high school has been suspended following an off-campus party that involving underage drinking and hazing.

Saint Ignatius High School, in Cleveland, confirmed that 17 out of 35 team members of the varsity lacrosse team have been suspended following accusations of conduct 'unbefitting of St. Ignatius student-athletes.'

Following the suspensions the team was pulled from a MSCLA Tournament scheduled for this weekend, the private school confirmed.

Saint Ignatius said the suspensions followed an investigation into the the gathering that confirmed the team members engaged in underage drinking and hazing.

St. Ignatius (pictured) is an all-boys Jesuit college-preparatory school located in Ohio City with more than 1,500 students.

17 out of 35 team members of the St. Ignatius High School varsity lacrosse team (pictured) have been suspended allegations of underage drinking and hazing at an off-campus gathering

St. Ignatius is an all boys Jesuit college-preparatory school located in Ohio City with more than 1,500 students.

The school did not confirm specific details regarding the hazing techniques but said that no students were in physical danger.

'Hazing activities vary in severity and exist along a continuum,' the school said in a statement released on Thursday. 'While the behavior at the gathering was grossly inappropriate, at no time was the physical safety of a student at risk.'

The school said that the gathering went against school values.

'These are serious violations of school policy and are contrary to our values as a community, and will not be tolerated. The care, safety and well being of our students are always our top priority.' the school said.
Three men died Thursday night after they lit a black powder that exploded in an Illinois state park.

Authorities found their bodies along the Illinois River in Starved Rock State Park in Utica, about 75 miles outside of Chicago, LaSalle County Coroner Rich Ploch said.

The autopsies are scheduled for today, but Ploch said all three died from injuries sustained in the blast.

The coroner's office said they have to identify the bodies and notify their families before releasing their names.

A fatal explosion in an Illinois state park Thursday night prompted a multi-agency response

Three men died when a black powder exploded in an Illinois state park southwest of the Route 178 bridge in Utica, which is about 75 miles outside of Chicago

Authorities found their bodies along the Illinois River in Starved Rock State Park in Utica, about 75 miles outside of Chicago, LaSalle County Coroner Rich Ploch said

Authorities are pictured at the scene after the blast that killed three men

Running on a parallel track is the Illinois State Police's investigation into what the black powder was and what the men were doing.

Shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, state police said in a statement that the investigation is ongoing but 'this is an isolated incident and there is no concern for public safety at this time.'

Ploch said his office, along Illinois State Police, the Kane County Bomb Squad Unit and the FBI, responded to a report of an explosion in the park 7:20pm southwest of the Route 178 bridge.

It is not clear who reported the explosion.
The ailing father of Stuart Lubbock whose body was found in Michael Barrymores swimming pool says he can rest in peace as he knows he did all he could for his son.

Stuart Lubbock, 31, died following a party at the entertainers then-home in Roydon, Essex, on March 31 2001.

His father, Terry Lubbock, revealed in February he had terminal cancer but has never stopped campaigning for his son.

The 76-year-old says he believes the truth about Stuarts death will eventually become known and he can rest in peace as a result.

Terry Lubbock revealed in January he has terminal cancer but knows he has 'done his best' for his son Stuart

Mr Lubbock, a retired toolmaker from Harlow, Essex, said: I have done my best now for my son.

My body is going down, and my mind, and I am starting to forget things.

I think the truth will come out. I can rest in peace now.

In January he had called for a fresh inquest, and said he thought information must now have emerged which justified a fresh inquiry by a coroner.

A coroner recorded an open verdict after an inquest in 2002 and, three years ago, the then-attorney general, Jeremy Wright, refused to give Mr Lubbock the go-ahead to make an application to the High Court for a second inquest.

But Mr Lubbock says a fresh Essex Police appeal, which coincided with the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary Barrymore: The Body In The Pool, in February 2020, had changed the landscape.

No-one has been charged with any offence in relation to Stuart Lubbocks death.

Mr Barrymore, now 69, was arrested in 2007 but never charged with any offence.

In March, Mr Barrymore spoke to ITVs Good Morning Britain programme and described the Channel 4 documentary as vile and vicious.

Mr Barrymore said nobody who was at his house on the night of Stuart Lubbocks death knew what happened.

The photograph handed out by Essex Police of Stuart Lubbock following his death in March 2001

Asked if he had anything fresh to offer the police, he replied: I honestly wish I did.

He said he had been through 20 years of hell.

Essex Police have said their investigation is continuing.

In March, police arrested a 50-year-old man on suspicion of the murder and indecent assault of Stuart Lubbock. The man, who was not named by police, was subsequently released under investigation.

Police say they have prepared a file for consideration by the Crown Prosecution Service following a substantial and detailed investigation.

Stuart was found floating in Mr Barrymore's swimming pool but nobody has been brought to justice for causing his death.

Detectives believe that Mr Lubbock may also have been abused.

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Lubbock had suffered severe internal injuries which suggested he had been sexually assaulted.

Michael Barrymore said in March he has been through '20 years of hell' since Stuart's death

Alcohol, ecstasy and cocaine were found in his bloodstream.

The coroner recorded an open verdict.

Stuart Lubbock's death shocked Britain and ended Michael Barrymore's TV career overnight. The star, who made millions as one of the UK's top TV personalities of the 1980s and 1990s, has always denied playing any part in his suspected murder.
A Brazilian councilman has been arrested for the alleged murder of his four-year-old stepson.

Jairo Santos, who is also known as Dr. Jairinho, has been charged with triple qualified homicide, torture and witness tampering over the March 8 killing of Henry Borel at their home in Brazil.

Santos' girlfriend, Monique Modeiros, who is the boy's mother, is being held on charges which include triple qualified homicide, omissive torture, making false statements, and witness coercion.

The couple had rushed Henry to Barra D'Or Hospital at 3am on March 8 after he became unresponsive. The child was declared dead upon arriving at the medical facility.

Authorities became suspicious of the couple due to the varying statements that they collected from the parents, which were different from what doctors at Barra D'Or Hospital had gathered.

Santos told the hospital that he believed that Borel had gone into cardiac arrest and decided to drive him to the hospital to seek emergency treatment.

Modeiros told the medical facility that she rushed to her son's room after she was awaken by a loud noise and discovered Borel lying on the floor face down.

Henry Borel died March 8 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The four-year-old's death was caused by 'internal hemorrhage and hepatic laceration [liver damage] caused by a blunt [violent] action.' A judge on Thursday announced that Jairo Santos and Monique Modeiros are being charged with with homicide and torture, and placed them in pre-trial custody

Jairo Santos, who is also known as Dr. Jairinho, has been charged with triple qualified homicide, torture and witness tampering. Monique Modeiros is being held on charges which include triple qualified homicide, omissive torture, making false statements, and witness coercion

Henry Borel (center) with his stepfather Rio de Janeiro councilman Jairo Santos (left) and his mother Monique Medeiros (right)

During an interview with the police on March 17, Modeiros told detectives that she woke up approximately at 3:30am and heard the sound of tv coming from her son's bedroom. When she went inside she saw the child was unresponsive.

The councilman, who graduated from medical school but never practiced medicine, said he was sleeping when Modeiros discovered that Borel had fallen on the floor and that the boy's 'eyes rolled and his hand and feet (were) cold.'

According to doctors, Borel displayed injuries to the live, skull, stomach, lungs.

The medical examiner ruled that his death was caused by 'internal hemorrhage and hepatic laceration [liver damage] caused by a blunt [violent] action.'

On Thursday, the couple appeared in court where Judge Elizabeth Machado from the 2nd Criminal court of the Rio de Janeiro State Court of Justice ordered them to remain in jail

The judge's order was handed down just two days before a 30-day temporary imprisonment order was set to expire, according to Brazilian online news outlet G1.

'It is worth pointing out that the modus operandi of the suspects reinforces the risk to which public order will be exposed, as well as social peace if the accused are released,' Machado said.

According to doctors, Henry Borel displayed injuries to the live, skull, stomach, lungs

Rio de Janeiro councilman Jairo Santos (center) is led into a prison on April 8

Monique Medeiros (center) accompanied by authorities on April 8 when she was taken into custody. She has been in prison since as prosecutors investigate her for the death of her four-year-old son

The court also heard about Santos alleged history of abuse of the boy.

In February, Santos had reportedly locked himself in the boy's bedroom and turned the television sound as high as he could and then proceeded to beat his stepson. Borel and his nanny Thayna Oliveira spoke to Modeiros about the incident while she was visiting a beauty salon.

Borel, according to the babysitter, was taken by the arm and then kicked and tripped.

Authorities learned that a week before Borel died, Santos beat the child by kicking him in the legs and head.

Santos has been dating Modeiros, who is divorced, since 2020.

Modeiros penned a letter on April 26 to the case's lead police investigator, Henrique Damasceno, claiming Santos had threatened if she told authorities what really happened to her son, according to newspaper O'Dia.

'I need to give the true version of what happened! This account is just an outburst from a mother who cries out for the truth,' she wrote. 'There is much to be said and there is much to be clarified! No lies, no training, no untruth. I was being manipulated without to understand; every time I tried to look for a way to get rid of myself and try to tell the truth, I was prevented'

Four-year-old Henry Borel's death caused outrage in Brazil

Santos reportedly beat the son of his former girlfriend, Debora Saraiva, the newspaper reported.

The incident allegedly took place six years ago when the boy was only two-years-old.

'When I heard about Henry's death, he told me another episode of aggression. He said that one night we were all asleep, Jairinho put paper and cloth in his mouth and climbed hard on his belly,' Saraiva said. 'Before we went to sleep, my daughter, who was six, saw a white powder in the water we drink. I believe he doped us.'

Saraiva also said that when she discovered a cellphone conversation Santos was having with his ex-wife, he allegedly threatened to kill her and disappear her body.

A request to impeach Santos from the Rio de Janeiro parliament was made by the Ethics Council last week.

Unicef data shows that at least 32 children are killed each day in Brazil.
A Lancashire police officer accused of sexually molesting five female colleagues has been cleared of all charges but told to address his 'prehistoric attitudes' towards women.

A jury found PC Anthony Ford not guilty of all 13 offences this afternoon at Liverpool Crown Court.

The 32-year-old from Preston had firmly denied the offences and claimed his behaviour only involved 'jokey and flirtatious banter'.

Prosecutor Fiona McNeill had alleged the offences involved 'unsophisticated and serial groping'.

She told the jury 'his sole driving force was momentary gratification' and added: 'A damn fine officer he may be but that does not place him above the law.'

PC Anthony Ford was told by the judge his 'prehistoric attitudes towards women were quite appalling'

During his trial it was claimed his behaviour included putting his hand down the back of victims' trousers, touching their bottoms, undoing the clasps of the bras of two women and walking down the street cupping the breasts of one of them.

Ford, who was then based in Burnley, disputed the women's evidence and denied any of his actions were sexually motivated.

He said: 'I never touched a bum except for a laugh or someone had done it to me.'

He said that unclipping bras was 'a bit of a childish joke' and said such behaviour happened 'on many police do's'.

He also claimed that officers touched each other on the bottom in the police station 'quite regularly'.

He denied it was behaviour he could not control and described two of the alleged victims as 'flirtatious'. He denied cupping the breasts of one woman and said that he only touched them later to check they were real but that was with her consent.

When asked if he felt he had done anything wrong in relation to the women he replied: 'No.'

Richard Orme, defending, had told the jury in his closing speech Ford was 'being made an example of by the politically correct brigade of the police and they have sought to find anything and everything to throw at him.'

He went on to describe the case as 'absurd and ridiculous and blown out of all common sense in the brave new world in which we live now.'

Following his unanimous not guilty verdicts, Judge Andrew Menary, QC said: 'You leave the court as you entered - a man with no previous convictions.

The jury at Liverpool Crown Court (pictured) found him not guilty on all charges today

'But I say to you you should not take the verdicts of the jury as some verdict, by your own admission, on how you behaved in the past. There is much more to being a police officer than chasing around after drug dealers.'

'I don't know what is going to happen to you, as I say you have been found not guilty and I don't know if there are pending disciplinary proceedings or not.

'But at the very least I would think that those responsible for you in the police force ought to send you for some sort of diversity training because by own judgement your prehistoric attitudes towards women are quite appalling and you need to consider the way you behaved otherwise you will find yourself at risk of a similar situation in the future.'
Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer crossed swords with ex-soldiers last night by blasting Government plans to ban prosecutions of those who served during the Northern Ireland Troubles.

The sacked minister said bringing in such a ban would 'cut off pathways to justice'.

Next week's Queen's Speech is expected to include proposals to block trials linked to the Troubles in favour of a 'truth and reconciliation' method like that used in post-apartheid South Africa.

Ministers hope it will reconcile divided communities in the province and end the threat of court hanging over elderly veterans.

Johnny Mercer, pictured with veterans in Belfast this week, said he 'doesn't believe in cutting off justice'

But speaking to the Mail last night, Mr Mercer said: 'It doesn't sound like a particularly good proposal to me and I am against any amnesty. I don't believe in cutting off paths to justice where new evidence exists.'

The remarks are likely to upset former troops demanding an immediate end to criminal proceedings and probes.

Mr Mercer is expected to address thousands of veterans at a protest march in London today  but many are said to be sceptical over his commitment to their cause.

As many as 20,000 ex-soldiers are due at the rally which starts in Trafalgar Square and goes past the Cenotaph into Parliament Square.

Last night Northern Ireland veteran Roy Brinkley said: 'I'd say the majority of us are wary because for years Mr Mercer distanced himself from our campaign and our activities. Now he wants to be seen as the champion of the veterans.

'I've been protesting about these cases since 2016 and I've learned not to trust any politicians. He was in government for two years and did nothing to stop these trials.

'There is a benefit to the publicity he brings but this isn't the Johnny Mercer show. We are gaining in popularity in spite of him, not because of him.'

Mr Mercer, a three-tour veteran of Afghanistan, was sacked as veterans minister last month after criticising the Government's failure to prevent two elderly paratroopers standing trial over the shooting of an IRA commander 50 years ago.

Roy Brinkley says he has learned not to trust politicians as he spoke out over the issue

The trial in Belfast collapsed on Tuesday after the judge ruled key evidence was inadmissible. The dead terrorist Joe McCann was suspected of killing 15 British soldiers.

Mr Mercer also returned fire at veterans questioning his intentions, saying: 'I left my job because of my determination to fight this cause and I will be addressing the crowd in London. I want to bring these veterans and their groups together and get results. It is a bit disappointing that some people take this attitude towards me.'

Government proposals for a statutory bar on prosecutions pre-dating the 1998 Good Friday Agreement are expected to be included in Tuesday's Queen's Speech. It will cover both former IRA terrorists and armed forces veterans. Previous convictions will stand and no pardons will be issued.

The precise details of the Northern Ireland Legacy Bill are still being finalised. Mr Mercer added that the past two Queen's Speeches also contained commitments to protect Northern Ireland veterans but no legislation was forthcoming.

It comes as up to a dozen Army veterans, all in their 70s and 80s, face a fresh murder probe into the deaths of ten civilians in Ballymurphy, west Belfast, over three days in August 1971.
A North Dakota elementary school teacher has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly having fifth-grade students reenact George Floyd's murder in class.

The incident is said to have taken place at Wahpeton Elementary School earlier this week and was initially flagged by angry parents on Facebook.

'Im not really understanding the purpose and would love to have an understanding,' wrote a mother in a post directed at the school, calling the reenactment 'classless, disingenuous' and 'careless.'

A teacher at Wahpeton Elementary School in North Dakota, pictured, was put on leave over an alleged classroom reenactment of George Floyd's death

The local schools superintendent said the incident took place after a fifth-grade student asked a question about Floyd's arrest at the hands of officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020 (pictured)

Wahpeton Schools Superintendent Rick Jacobson has confirmed that the district is investigating reports concerning an 'inappropriate and insensitive' classroom activity, but he did not go into specifics.

'As a district, we do not support or tolerate any activity that would make students uncomfortable in the learning environment,' Jacobson stated.

In an interview with KVRR, the superintendent said that the incident took place after a student asked a question about Floyd's arrest and death in Minneapolis in May 2020, which sparked months of nationwide protests and led to the murder conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin last month.

Jacobson noted that what happened in the fifth-grade classroom was 'not a full reenactment,' that students did not have physical contact with each other, and that no students breathing was obstructed.

The district became aware of the reenactment after a local mother posted this message on Facebook, expressing her outrage

Commenters on Facebook expressed their support for the parent

The district told Valley News Live that no student was singled out for participation in the activity because of their race.

Jacobson said the reenactment could have been a 'spur of the moment, somebody asked a question to try and show kids what maybe was going on,' according to KFGO.

A man claiming to be the father of one of the students at Wahpeton called into question the veracity of the claims about the reenactment of Floyd's death, writing in a Facebook comment that the fifth-graders were doing a Jack and the Beanstalk mock trial and breathing exercises when some students - ' being the kids that they are' - started yelling 'I can't breathe.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to that parent for further comment.

Wahpeton Schools Superintendent Rick Jacobson has confirmed that the district is investigating reports concerning an 'inappropriate and insensitive' classroom activity

The unnamed elementary school teacher will remain on leave pending the conclusion of the investigation.

The school district will hold a press conference to address the incident on Monday.
A young Ohio mom-of-two was murdered in her apartment while her kids played in the next room after she was set up on a blind date with her alleged killer.

Shanika Bogan, 31, was found dead early morning on April 30 by her mom Tracie Berry, who found out what happened from her 10-year-old grandson.

'(The suspect) told my oldest grandson, "I'm going to give your mama a massage," Berry told WHIO-TV.

'I know he went in the bedroom and shut the door and he came out told my grandson, "She's taking a nap  get (yourself) some cereal to snack on and I'll be back" and left.'

The suspect, later identified as Kendall Beasley, 28, was arrested Thursday and charged with murder and felony assault.

Arrest came less than a month after he was released from prison after a six-year prison sentence for aggravated burglary and intimidating a victim, who was a woman, according to court records.

'He's the devil,' Berry told WHIO-TV.

Scroll down for video.

Shanika Bogan, 31, an Ohio mom of two young children was found dead in her apartment by her mom on April 30

Shanika Bogan (left) with her mom and brother before her life was cut short on April 30

#UPDATE Kendall Beasley is now in custody. He was arrested this morning without incident.

Thank you for all the assistance provided in this case. https://t.co/XcOFLRuQBS  Dayton Police Dept. (@DaytonPolice) May 6, 2021

Dayton Police Lt. Jason Hall said the pair met after being set up on a blind date but Bogan had turned Beasley down.

'It was an intentional killing,' Hall told PEOPLE. 'She was set up basically in kind of a blind date type of situation. He was obviously pursuing a romantic relationship with her.'

He said he couldn't discuss further details about the case it's still under investigation.

The investigation is ongoing, so as far as the motive behind this tragic crime, we are still working on that, still fleshing that out, Hall said. What I can tell you is unfortunately in this situation that two young children are without their mother.

William Bogan, Shanika's brother, described her as a 'sweetheart' who never be mad at anyone.

'Like, literally the nicest person you will ever meet,' he told WHIO-TV.

Berry added that Shanika lived her life for her kids.

'She did everything for them,' she said. 'It's devastating. It really is.'
Bud Leroy Christensen, 67, was awaiting extradition from Nebraska to the Pottawatomie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on a first-degree murder charge. He waived his right to fight the extradition during a court hearing Tuesday.

Authorities have arrested a convicted sex offender for the decades-old cold case murder of an Iranian-born University of Nebraska student.

Bud Leroy Christensen is facing a first degree murder charge for the killing of Firozeh Dehghanpour, who was in her mid-20s, on August 14, 1983.

He was arrested for the 38-year-old murder of Dehghanpour after police agreed to re-open the cold case, and re-examined blood evidence with more advanced DNA techniques.

They found the DNA matched that of Christensen who had his on file after multiple sex crime convictions.

Police were then able to match his fingerprints to one taken at the scene.

Christensen waived his right to fight extradition from Nebraska to the Pottawatomie County Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, during a court hearing Tuesday, according to the Omaha World-Herald

The 67-year-old is listed on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry as a lifetime offender with at least three sex crime convictions.

Police had agreed to re-open the cold case after a friend of Dehghanpour reached out and pleaded with officers to reinvestigate.

The young woman's naked body had been found by fishermen under a bridge north of Council Bluffs. She bled to death from several cuts, an autopsy determined.

The month after Dehghanpour's 1983 death, detectives interviewed acquaintances of her and took fingerprints and hair samples from more than 100 UNO students of Middle Eastern descent.

No results yielded a match with a potential suspect in the case at the time.

Bud Leroy Christensen, 67, is accused in the murder of Firozeh Dehghanpour, who was in her mid-20s, on Aug. 14, 1983.

Sgt. Jim Doty, of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office, began looking into the case again after Steve Martin, a friend of Dehghanpour contacted him last year.

Martin, a UNO business student in the early 1980s who now resides in Nevada, said he called Council Bluffs and Omaha police over the years to ask about the investigation into Dehghanpour's death.

Martin, 62, was stunned when he heard someone had been arrested in the nearly 40 year old cold case.

Authorities at the time suspected she was killed somewhere else by someone she knew and Christensen's name was unfamiliar to him.

'It kept gnawing at my stomach. I was upset about this for a long time. I just kept trying to push it over the years.' added Martin.

Doty noted DNA analysis of previously collected evidence matched with Christensen's and additional evidence confirmed him as a suspect.

Fishermen found Firozeh Dehghanpour's body on Aug. 14, 1983, under a bridge north of Council Bluffs.

Fishermen found Firozeh Dehghanpour's body on August 14, 1983, under a bridge north of Council Bluffs. She bled to death from several cuts, an autopsy determined

Investigators compared Christensens fingerprints with prints on the computer papers found near Dehghanpours body.

Four prints had been found on the papers at the time, but only two had previously been identified.

One fingerprint was Dehghanpour and the other belonged to a UNO computer consultant.

A test of the fingerprints in March showed the two remaining prints was Christensens, according to court records.

Sgt. Jim Doty, of the Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office, began looking into the case again after Steve Martin, a friend of Dehghanpour contacted him last year.

'The probability of finding this profile in a population of unrelated individuals, chosen at random, would be less than 1 out of 6.1 octillion,' Doty wrote in court records reported on by the Omaha World-Herald.

Doty added he spoke to Dehghanpours brother, who currently resides in London..

'Giving the family answers is the most rewarding part of being able to solve the case. He was shocked. He couldnt quite process it yet.' Doty continued.

Christensen is now facing a murder charge and remains in jail waiting extradition.

He is listed on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry as a lifetime offender, and as such he is required to submit his DNA sample due of a Nebraska state law passed in 1997.

One of his first degree sexual assault convictions came in 1972 after an incident involving a minor.

During Christensen's most recent sexual assault case in 2014, he pled guilty to attempted second-degree sexual assault and first-degree false imprisonment.

Christensen was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released in May 2018.
Former first lady and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton demanded a 'global reckoning' with internet giants such as Facebook on Friday as she railed against the untrammeled power of social media platforms.

Although she singles out the way the far right has been able to spread disinformation online, it puts her on the same side of the debate as former President Donald Trump in calling for an end to their monopolistic power.

This week Facebook upheld its ban on Trump, reigniting the debate on whether private companies had the right to effectively silence a former president.

Hillary Clinton railed against the power of social media platforms in an interview in which she said it was time for a 'global reckoning' on disinformation and called for internet platforms to be held to account

Clinton said it was time to rein in the power of social media giants.

'The technology platforms are so much more powerful than any organ of the so-called mainstream press, and I do think that there has to be not just an American reckoning but a global reckoning with the disinformation, with the monopolistic power and control, with the lack of accountability that the platforms currently enjoy,' she told the Guardian.

In 2016, Clinton became the first woman nominated to be chosen by either major party for presidential candidate.

So governments are going to have to decide right now that the platforms have to be held to some kind of standard, and it's tricky.' Hillary Clinton

However, it later emerged that Moscow helped fuel a social media campaign against her that included the 'Pizzagate' conspiracy theory that claimed she ran a sex trafficking ring.

And she criticized the traditional media for treating her missteps  such as maintaining a private email server  as equivalent to Trump's controversial business dealings and allegations of sexual impropriety.

Clinton said Trump's unfounded claims of election fraud and the attack on the U.S. Capitol showed the old approach of showing both sides of the story no longer worked.

'They've got to rid themselves of both-sidesism,' said Clinton.

In the interview, Clinton criticized Trump's attacks on the traditional media but found herself on the same side as the former president in demanding social media platforms have their power trimmed

'It is not the same to say something critical of somebody on the other side of the aisle and to instigate an attack on the Capitol and to vote against certifying the election.

'Those are not comparable, and it goes back to the problem of the press actually coming to grips with how out of bounds and dangerous the new political philosophy on the right happens to be.'

She blamed the big social media companies for a growing amount of misleading material online.

'In particular Facebook, which has the worst track record for enabling mistruths, misinformation, extremism, conspiracy, for goodness' sake, even genocide in Myanmar against the Rohingya,' she said, referring to a brutal crackdown against the Muslim ethnic minority.

'So governments are going to have to decide right now that the platforms have to be held to some kind of standard, and it's tricky.'

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey (left), Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg find themselves in the public firing line, attacked by politicians on both left and right who accuse their creations of wielding power without accountability

President Joe Biden and the U.S. Congress have signaled they are prepared to take a tougher line on the online giants  particularly in the wake of COVID-19 misinformation.

But her stance also puts her in line with Trump, who last year tried to water down protections for platforms.

'We're here today to defend free speech from one of the greatest dangers it has faced in American history,' he said in the Oval Office as he signed an executive order intended to water down a law that prevents social media companies being sued for user content.

This week, he claimed social media companies would pay a price after Facebook upheld his ban.

'The people of our country will not stand for it,' he said. 'These corrupt social media companies must pay a political price, and must never again be allowed to destroy and decimate our electoral process.'
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A virtual private server consists of virtualization software that partitions physical servers into multiple virtual servers. These virtual machines are capable of running independent operating systems. They are widely used for hosting web services.

A VPS service is provided by service providers through an internet hosting software. Moreover, owing to its ability to host an independent operating systems, VPS services enable users to install and execute any software, as these users have superuser-level access to that OS interface. This facility provides end users with substantial control over system configuration and authorizes the user for all administration operations.

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A virtual private server (VPS) exists on servers and allows installation of other software that are unsupported or not allowed on shared hosting accounts. Two types of VPS are available in the market, which include managed VPS and unmanaged VPS. Among these, the unmanaged VPS is widely used by users that have command-line interface knowledge and perform system administration tasks at a high level.

Rise in cyber threats & cyber-attacks in data centers across the globe has boosted the demand for VPS, which acts as a key driver of the global virtual private server market. This is attributed to the capability of VPS server that provides sandbox security features. In addition, increase in adoption of cloud computing has proliferated the deployment of VPS severs at a significant rate, owing to its virtualization feature that replicates similarity of security and performance of VPS services.

This factor is expected to augment the growth of the global market during the forecast period. On a contrary, limitations on availability of physical resource and bandwidth is a major restraining factor, which is anticipated to hamper the market growth to a certain extent. However, convergence of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms with VPS solutions is expected to create significant revenue growth opportunities for players operating in the global market.

The global virtual private server market is segmented into type, operating system, organization size, industry vertical, and region. On the basis of type, the market is bifurcated into managed VPS and unmanaged VPS. By operating system, it is divided into Windows and Linux. As per organization size, it is classified into large enterprises and small & medium enterprises. Depending on industry vertical, it is segregated into IT & telecommunication, retail, BFSI, manufacturing, healthcare, and others. Region wise, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

The report includes the profiles of key players operating in the market analysis. These include Amazon Web Services, Inc., DreamHost, LLC, Endurance International Group, GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC, IBM, InMotion Hosting, Liquid Web, OVH, Rackspace US, Inc., and United Internet AG.

KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS

 The report provides an in-depth analysis of the global virtual private server market trends, key driving factors, and potential areas for product investments.

 Key players are analyzed with respect to their primary offerings, recent investments, and future development strategies.

 Porters five forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers and suppliers operating in the virtual private server industry.

 The quantitative analysis of the global virtual private server market share from 2018 to 2026 is provided to determine the market potential.

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KEY MARKET SEGMENTS

BY TYPE

 Managed VPS

 Unmanaged VPS

BY OPERATING SYSTEM

 Windows

 Linux

BY ORGANIZATION SIZE

 Large Enterprises

 Small & Medium Enterprises

BY INDUSTRY VERTICAL

 IT & Telecommunication

 Retail

 BFSI

 Manufacturing

 Healthcare

 Others

BY REGION

 North America

o U.S.

o Canada

 Europe

o Germany

o France

o UK

o Rest of Europe

 Asia-Pacific

o Japan

o China

o India

o Rest of Asia-Pacific

 LAMEA

o Latin America

o Middle East

o Africa

KEY MARKET PLAYERS PROFILED IN THE REPORT

 Amazon Web Services, Inc.

 DreamHost, LLC

 Endurance International Group

 GoDaddy Operating Company, LLC

 IBM

 InMotion Hosting

 Liquid Web

 OVH

 Rackspace US, Inc.

 United Internet AG

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At a meeting in a run-down cafe in London, Michael, now calling himself Mohammed, is in full flow.

An Irishman with a shining moon-face fringed by an orange beard, he exudes all the joy and intensity of the religious convert as he romanticises an ideology he barely comprehends.

Discovering that I am not only an Afghan but one just arrived from Afghanistan, he is delighted at the chance to commune with, as he sees it, another of the worlds most oppressed peoples.

He warms to his theme, exhorting me to return home to fight for the Taliban and liberate my country from the infidel. Im used to this. I recently had a blazing row with some of my own extended family who whined on about how things were better under the Taliban, and how a womans honour was safer.

What nonsense! Women across Afghanistan are persecuted and punished and abused.

All my life I have struggled to bring my homeland into the modern world, battling against blind tradition and religious ignorance. That is why I took a job as one of the top interpreters for the British Army in Afghanistan as its soldiers endeavoured to bring peace and stability to my benighted country.

Special forces interpreter Eddie Idrees with a comrade in Afghanistan on Operations

Interpreters like me were the forgotten heroes in the war against terrorism there. We stood in the middle between all the parties, domestic and international, who fought to contain and defeat the Taliban.

I risked death on more than 500 front-line operations, first with the U.S. Special Forces and then, from 2009 to 2012, the British SAS. On dangerous missions I would be there on the ground listening in to Taliban radio transmissions for information about their movements and then interrogating any prisoners we took.

As a result, I was denounced as an infidel, a spy, traitor and pimp  the worst curse there is in Afghan society. I lived under the threat of death from religious, tribal and political factions until the point came when I was forced to flee to the UK.

Only to discover that the same war I fought in Afghanistan against ignorance, prejudice and evil has insinuated itself here. Wellsprings of terror can be found on housing estates in Britain. In what I believed to be a rational country  and one that I love  I have found a deep and dark ignorance among Afghan and other immigrants in the Muslim, Asian community.

I do my best to counter it. I tell recently arrived immigrants they didnt struggle across thousands of miles only to be told what to do by another idiot with a beard. But far too many remain trapped in a ghetto mentality that is depressing and dangerous.

It was once my dream to fight for a free Afghanistan. Now I am continuing the fight for what I believe in  only this time its against Islamic extremism in the United Kingdom.

My father, a colonel in the Afghan army before he was forced into exile in Pakistan  where I grew up and learned English, before moving back to Afghanistan in my late teens  hated the Taliban, and so do I.

They are insurgents and terrorists whose objective is to bring a barbaric rule to Afghanistan and Pakistan, install Sharia law and implement their rules and policies of killing and violence.

Their leaders are mostly uneducated. They dont believe in science or research but in barbaric law and patriarchy.

They believe women are basically slaves whose sole purpose is to serve men. They must not be educated and have to be escorted by a male wherever they go.

Almost all Taliban operations are cowardly. They slaughter toddlers, pregnant women, old men, the deaf, the blind. Last year they attacked a maternity clinic in Kabul murdering dozens of pregnant women, mothers who had just given birth and babies who were one hour or one day old.

I saw their callous indifference at first-hand on a night raid when I and my SAS comrades climbed the mud-brick outer wall of a suspected Taliban compound. From the top I shouted down: You are surrounded! Come out unarmed with your hands up!

A door in a building slowly opened and three figures appeared. Through my night-vision goggles I could see that the lead terrorist was armed and wearing chest webbing. But I froze as I saw our snipers dots on his head, just above the sleepy, squirming figure of the little girl he was holding in front of him.

Put her down! Drop your weapons! I called out, but all he did was lift her up and turn towards me. The snipers shot him and she fell with her father. Covered in blood, she lay half under his lifeless body.

An unidentified Taliban fighter holds his RPG7 rocket launcher on patrol on the front-line

Anger was boiling within me as I dropped down into the compound and ran to her. In my mind she stood for all the kids trodden underfoot by the Taliban. All the kids whose future they betrayed. All the innocent Afghans killed in schools, universities and in their homes.

My hands moved quickly over her face to clear the blood. She squirmed and cried but she was alive. I could see no sign of a bullet entry but my fear was that she was bleeding to death from a wound under her clothes. I took her in my arms and raced to find a medic, who examined her, and, to my relief, pronounced her unhurt.

I was overcome with disgust for her father. How could he have been willing to sacrifice his own daughter? Fathers are supposed to protect their children, to die protecting them if necessary. But Taliban terrorists like him have no mercy and no humanity.

They routinely abuse and rape women and force children into marriage. After another raid on a Taliban compound, I was interrogating the members of a family and told one white-bearded old man  70 years old at least and barely able to walk  that his answers did not tally with those given by his granddaughter.

He denied having a granddaughter and when I pointed out the girl in question, he got really offended and angry as he said: That is my wife. She was 11 years old.

I was sad for this kid who was being raped by this old man. Taliban girls like her are abused on a daily basis, not only by their husbands, but their brothers, father and so on. They suffer from the day they open their eyes to the day they die.

For all these reasons, I came to the conclusion that taking them alive only meant they would go through the corrupt Afghan judicial system and almost always end up being released back onto the street to kill again.

The Taliban were not the only enemies I made in Afghanistan. Among the authorities and the local anti-terrorist forces, there was widespread corruption, which I refused to go along with.

When the Afghan police set up its own special security unit along the same lines as the SAS, recruits were taken on through patronage rather than rigorous selection courses and senior officers siphoned off the mens pay into their own pockets.

After I denounced this, I heard that some in the police force were threatening to shoot me. I then got a not-very-subtle call from a very senior officer reminding me that my father, mother and brother were living outside the army base and were vulnerable. Also that one day the British and American forces would leave and will not be there to protect you.

That was when I really got scared. I desperately wanted to stay and serve the people of Afghanistan but at that moment I knew I would have to leave. And not just me but my whole family.

Because of my work for the U.S. Army, I was entitled to U.S. citizenship but I did not want to go to America. I opted for the UK. The SAS had asked me to go to Britain to help train its soldiers about to go on tour in Afghanistan. I took up the offer, obtained a visa and in 2012 flew to England.

But I found the training role not to my taste. My methods were considered too aggressive and loud. There was talk of me returning to Afghanistan when this assignment was over but I now knew for sure that I couldnt go back.

Even my SAS mates warned me not to. I was a marked man, they told me.

Mortars fire off over the perimeter of Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, to deter and deceive insurgent forces

After applying for asylum in the UK, I was put in a detention centre before a decision was made on my case.

Being held in detention proved a valuable lesson. I had been labouring under a delusion that Afghans who had emigrated here would be more enlightened because they had escaped the ignorance and prejudice of home. They would have absorbed the best that the West had to offer. They would be wise, progressive and tolerant.

Two days in detention shredded that belief.

When I told other Afghans at the facility that I had worked for the British in Afghanistan, they were outraged and shouted at me that I was a traitor and the worst kind of infidel. One of them threatened: If I ever catch you and I can get away with it, I will hang you by the tongue for what you did.

They hated Britain, which dumbfounded me. So why are you trying to claim asylum here? I demanded to know, but I never got an answer. It was clear to me that they knew nothing of the UK and its culture apart from what they had learned in their closed, small communities. They believed in myths; rumours rather than facts.

I ran into the same ignorance when, shortly afterwards, I was accepted into the asylum process and sent, by the Home Office, to live in Glasgow. There I was housed with a succession of other asylum-seekers and introduced to Glasgows Afghan community.

When I told them I had been an interpreter in Afghanistan, they too were insane with rage. They fantasised about Afghanistan under the Taliban, claiming our women were safe there. To which I would say, Why are you here then? Just go back if you really believe that.

When I told them how things really were in Afghanistan, they refused even to discuss it. They bore their ignorance like a badge of honour. They believed only Taliban propaganda.

The Home Office dragged its feet over my asylum request but finally it was approved and I got my papers. The feeling of relief was incredible. I tried several jobs in different places before settling in a city not far from London.

Interpreting mostly for Afghans and Pakistanis, I saw some terrible cases, involving domestic violence, rape, child abuse, drug dealing and smuggling. But I was also alarmed at how the Taliban ideology I thought I had left behind had become embedded in these communities.

Men in Afghanistan wont let their women talk directly to a man, and theyve brought something of the same culture here. So when I was translating for women visiting the doctor, I first had to translate what the doctor said to the husband, for him to repeat to his wife, who was sitting next to him.

And then whatever his wife said, the husband had to repeat it to me, then I would say it in English to the doctor. Unbelievable!

One day I was translating for an Afghan woman who had been here for only a few weeks. Her father-in-law was with her. The nurse asked her if she was happy, to which she replied in Pashto: No. Before I could speak, he said to her: You cant say that in front of them, or you will suffer when we get home.

What I find sad is that being out of Afghanistan gives these women and girls an opportunity to break free from the old ways, but unfortunately they continue to be oppressed.

Nor is it just women who continue to be forced into line. Young men arriving here from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are fostered by Muslim families, without any choice on their part, and packed off to the mosque to be introduced to the imam.

A Pakistani boy I met was being fostered by a Pakistani family and complained he was being forced to learn Arabic in a private madrassa (an Islamic school), and wasnt being taught English.

This particular foster family was constantly the focus of complaints from their charges for the way they abused them, including not feeding them enough, despite the large amounts of money they received from the council.

When the council went to the local mosque to discuss this, the very first thing the mullah said was: Of course we all hate you. Youre bombing our countries! There was no question of debate.

In my view this wilful withdrawal from British society is the biggest problem facing Muslim communities in Britain. It is often reinforced by the fact that imams are nearly always recruited from Pakistan or Arab countries and are woefully backward, and deeply prejudiced against Britain and the West.

I once asked an imam in Afghanistan what qualified him for that position. He said it was because his father had been one, and he had been to a madrassa in Pakistan to train.

The only book this particular mullah had read was the Quran, with the interpretation made up by senior Taliban, tailored to benefit their propaganda.

I find this ghetto mentality and the group paranoia that goes with it appalling and I refuse to accept its existence as a given. I am determined to confront it, to shake people out of their apathy, to make them think beyond their self-imposed prison, to stop them denying their children the opportunities that this country has to offer.

It doesnt help that many in Britain encourage this terrible abuse in the name of multiculturalism. They arent doing anyone any favours. They are allowing yet another generation to have their minds warped because they dont know any better and to become fodder for the extremists crazy war.

Adapted from Special Forces Interpreter by Eddie Idrees, published by Pen & Sword at 19.99. Copyright  2021 Eddie Idrees. To order a copy for 17.79 go to mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3308 9193. Free UK delivery on orders over 20. Promotional price valid until 22/05/2021.

* Eddie Idrees is a pseudonym. He now has a degree in psychology and a masters in international security and terrorism.
A charity executive will have to pay back every penny of the 30,000 she spent on KFC, Nandos and Pizza Hut even if it takes ten years, a judge has ruled.

Tanya Gilbert, 45, spent 20 a day for more than three-and-a-half years on herself using funds donated to Dimensions UK, a charity that supports adults with learning disabilities.

As assistant locality manager, she was given a company credit card to spend on essentials in 2015, but used it to pay for holidays with her three children.

Gilbert confessed she spent 28,238 on items for herself, causing her managers to question why budgets were so overstretched.

Defending Gilbert, Adam King said she needed to 'put food on the table' for her children.

Tanya Gilbert (pictured), 45, spent 20 a day for more than three-and-a-half years on herself using funds donated to Dimensions UK, a charity that supports adults with learning disabilities

But Judge Emma Nott said: 'This is much more than trips to Asda, she wasn't buying 20p tins of beans was she? It was for her children when it should have been for the young vulnerable adults she was looking after.'

The court heard that when the thefts started Gilbert was undergoing treatment for kidney cancer while her 14-year-old daughter was a patient at Great Ormond Street hospital, also suffering with kidney problems.

Mr King said: 'She is someone who has suffered quite a lot. She is a single mother of three children and 2015 was a nightmare year for her.

'She was not luxuriating, this is not one of those handbags and luxury holidays cases, this is supermarkets, shops and trips.

He said she was 'not living the life of luxury' and is now employed as a cleaner.

'Her children are not young, nor are they well,; he added. 'Her 17-year-old son is to be assessed for autism and her two older daughters are suffering from psychosis and depression. This is not a happy family.'

Gilbert admitted a charge of fraud by false representation at Reading Crown Court.

Judge Emma Nott said: 'Dimensions UK was your employer, a not-for-profit charity that provides essential services to vulnerable young adults with disabilities. From September 11 2015 to April 5 2019 you were stealing routinely and regularly putting your own family's needs first.

'The money should have been spent on essentials and the odd luxury for these young adults who had a background of poverty.

'Instead, you were taking your family to McDonald's, Nando's, and Pizza Hut, taking them to the cinema, Warner Brothers studios and tenpin bowling.

'You stole nearly 30,000 and all you have done since being exposed is attempt to avoid the consequences.'

The judge blasted Gilbert for being 'full of self-pity' despite committing theft against 'the most vulnerable'.

Gilbert admitted a charge of fraud by false representation at Reading Crown Court (pictured)

She added: 'You had no regard for the young adults with learning difficulties you cared for but this court will have regard to your young adult children. It is for their welfare alone that I am going to take an exceptional course in this case.'

Gilbert, from Bracknell in Berkshire, was sentenced to a two-year prison term, suspended for two years and she will have to pay back every penny of the money she stole.

'I do not care if it takes you 10 years,' the judge added.

A spokesman for Dimensions UK said: 'This fraud was uncovered through internal finance processes. We are satisfied with the outcome of the case.'

Dimensions UK was founded in 1976 and prides itself on meagre beginnings, with just a single phone in a rented office.

Their website claims: 'Forty years on, our work is fundamentally unchanged: we support people with learning disabilities and autism to have a louder voice, choice and control in their lives.

'Our 7,000 colleagues deliver ambitious, effective, personalised support often with those whose previous support has not been successful. Together, we continue to prove that life really can get better.'
Jamie Lynn Hiniker, 39, of Mankato, Minnesota was charged with felony drug sales

A Minnesota movie theater manager is said to have sold more than just soda and snacks at her concession stand.

Jamie Lynn Hiniker, 39, the general manager of Spotlight Theatres in Mankato is alleged to have hidden cocaine inside a bag of popcorn.

She was caught out after selling the item to a police informant.

Hiniker, who manages a four-screen complex, was named in a criminal complaint and charged with selling narcotics.

If convicted, Hiniker could face a maximum of 20-years in jail or a $250,000 fine, or both.

Hiniker was a pinpointed by the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force which targeted the city some 80 miles from Minneapolis.

In a probable cause affidavit, an investigator reported that he knew from previous investigations that Hiniker worked at the movie theater, which is in the Mankato Place mall.

A previous investigation found Hiniker was selling cocaine in the theater and in an alley behind

Court documents reveal how Hiniker allegedly sold cocaine to a police informant at Spotlight Theatres

The investigator knew that 'the sale of cocaine typically took place behind the theater in an alley or at the theater in a popcorn container with popcorn.'

Hiniker is said to have put the drug in a popcorn bag and then topped the bag off with some of the freshly made snack.

The informant then turned the popcorn bag over to police, who said that the cocaine Hiniker sold weighed .406 grams.

The informant had previously arranged to purchase $100 of cocaine from Hiniker.

After purchasing the drugs at the theater, the informant explained to cops that as they 'entered the mall Hiniker put the cocaine in a popcorn bag. The popcorn was then placed in another bag.'

Hiniker had previously been convicted of obstruction, theft, malicious punishment of a child, DWI, and drug possession according to The Smoking Gun.
When a seemingly fit and healthy RAF Flight Sergeant Zach Stubbings had tests for a rash on his neck nine years ago he thought, at worst, he was allergic to his rubber survival suit.

Needless to say, the lads at RAF Valley, Anglesey, including Prince William who was serving with 22 Squadron, teased him mercilessly. Thats the military banter. When we were messing around, there was always banter, he says.

Will (whom they called Flight Lieutenant Wales) held the trump card, didnt he? His joke was, Ill get my gran to chuck you in the tower.

Zach, now 43, smiles at the memory and his face brightens as he remembers the days that were, he says, some of the best of my life. But none of us knew, he continues, shaking his head sadly.

What he means is, a few weeks after that banter, tests revealed the rash on Zachs neck wasnt an allergy after all, but an early symptom of multiple myeloma  an incredibly rare cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow and has a life expectancy of ten years. There is no cure.

RAF Flight Sergeant Zach Stubbings has an incurable cancer, believed to have been caused by the toxic fumes from the Sea King helicopter

He now knows this cruel disease was, in all likelihood, caused by years spent inhaling toxic exhaust fumes spewed from the twin engines of the now retired RAF Sea King. Shockingly, the Ministry of Defence was made aware of the potential risk as far back as 1999 but chose to do nothing about it.

Last month Zach received an undisclosed sum from the MoD after a six-year legal battle. Now this honourable man is speaking out to make other airmen and women who served on the Sea King, including Prince William, aware of the appalling risk to health they endured.

I wasnt the first guy who was ill, says Zach. Another guy from my unit was going through cancer treatment. We were flying the same helicopter. We were in the same office. We lived on the same street. We used to go out together, have barbecues. He had bowel cancer.

Zach adds: There were other guys who flew Sea Kings who were ill. One guy was diagnosed with a brain tumour. There was another guy who got throat cancer, another who had the same thing as me and one who had testicular cancer. Were talking about people in their 30s, people who, like me, kept themselves fit. You dont twig. You dont make the connection but someone knew. Someone had this information and didnt warn us. Look...

Zach is white-lipped as he fires up his laptop to show me a report he obtained in 2016 under the Freedom of Information Act from the RAFs Institute of Health. Published in March 1999, it sets out the findings of a preliminary survey to assess aircrew exposure to Sea King helicopter exhaust.

The report recommends modifications to the aircraft to divert the exhaust fumes from the cabin door to reduce the possibility of exposure of operatives to toxic contaminants in the exhaust gases.

He is aghast: There were concerns the fumes might be poisoning the lads before I even joined the Air Force and someone knew but kept signing off the aircraft to fly. I dont know who it was. I might have worked with them. Now I just want to make everyone who flew on the Sea King aware there is a risk  including Will.

Prince William was serving with 22 Squadron at RAF Valley, Anglesey, with Flight Sergeant Zach Stubbings

William flew the Sea King in 150 search-and-rescue operations during his three-year period with 22 Squadron between 2010 and 2013.

He also served as a pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance between 2015 and 2017 where, again, crew remember him fondly. Colleagues recall him pushing stretchers, performing CPR and talking to bystanders at accidents to keep them calm.

No one  William included thought of the dangers to themselves. Cancer doesnt discriminate, says Zach, whose cancer has been inactive for eight years after a brutal round of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

Anyone flying on a Sea King could taste the exhaust fumes. It stained the backs of the seat and the yellow plastic dinghy container. You could see the line of dirt from the exhaust coming down along the side of the aircraft and straight into the door. The rotors blew it all round the cabin and into the cockpit so pilots were affected, too.

Theres a Navy pilot who lives locally [Commander Richard Sutton, who was awarded an MBE for flying commandos into war zones] whos been awarded a payout, too. Hes had lots and lots of treatment for cancer. So, yes, Will was at risk along with everyone else.

Zach is hugely fond of William. He was working as an instructor after seven years search-and-rescue service when the Prince joined 22 Squadron in 2010. He was a top lad, says Zach, with a good set of hands on him [meaning an able pilot] and a good sense of humour.

When he was getting married, me and another guy on the ops desk decided to get these mugs made.

He goes to the kitchen cupboard at his home in Cardiff to show me a mug commemorating the wedding of William and Kate on April 29, 2011. Zachs name is printed beneath the inscription. When Will came back [after the wedding] wed replaced every cup in the entire squadron with the wedding ones and each of us had our names on them. We had one made for Will too. Somehow it got broken. I cant remember how. He was gutted.

The report unearth by Zach under the Freedom of Information Act from the RAFs Institute of Health published in March 1999 sets out the findings of a preliminary survey to assess aircrew exposure to Sea King helicopter exhaust

Zach smiles at the memory of a time before his life was turned on his head. I dont know how Id have got through everything without the lads, he says. When I found out [about the myeloma] I had a really good chat with Will.

I was in the operations room and he came across. I cant remember what he said because my head was all over the place  just that he was really nice, really sympathetic. He was one of the last to speak to me before I got posted off [for treatment] in June 2012.

Zach loved the RAF. With an exemplary service record, he was in line for promotion to Master Aircrew before he became ill.

You get the sense hed give his right arm to be back there with the banter and the lads who were like family. Today he is married to second wife Anna-Louise who is with us in the kitchen of the home they share with her daughter Elizabeth, eight. His nine-year marriage to first wife Mel, with whom he had sons Iestyn, now 14, and Owynn, 11, ended three years after his diagnosis.

Anna-Louise, 45, knows tragedy herself after losing her 43-year-old husband Stewart and seven-year-old son Fraser in a car accident at Christmas in 2015. She set up the charity Believe to encourage organ donations through which she and Zach met in 2018.

Zach has to have blood tests every eight to 12 weeks to see if the multiple myeloma remains inactive, she says. I can see him getting worried. He gets a little bit quieter but doesnt talk about it because hes trying to protect me.

I do worry. I have lots of meltdowns. Im really scared for myself and Elizabeth. Weve been blessed to have a second chance at an amazing family life. I dont know how Ill cope with further loss.

The really tough thing to accept is that when Stu and Fraser were hit by a car crossing the road after a Christmas jumper party all I could think was, what if.

What if wed taken a taxi? What if wed not gone to the party? With Zachs situation theres not a what if. This is about what the RAF could, and should, have done.

Zach was 33 when he developed that rash on his neck and wrists.

He was referred to a dermatologist, but when allergy tests failed to reveal anything he was given blood tests. When they told me I had smoldering myeloma (the pre-cancerous stage) it was like, holy s**t. It was a big kick in the teeth. I was so young and I was aircrew. I had an annual medical. I honestly thought I was fine. I couldnt really take it in. All I knew is it was bad.

Its a cancer thats in the bone marrow and is blood borne. Its not like you can cut it out to get rid of it. The doctor on the base had known me since 2002.

Doc H thought it would be good for me to go into work and do one trip a day on the Sea King while we were getting more tests done.

Zach Stubbings with his wife Anna Louise and her daughter Elizabeth, eight, at their home in Cardiff

I hadnt made the link between the exhaust and the cancer so I was standing at the cabin door instructing and breathing in the fumes. I hadnt twigged it.

Sometimes smoldering myeloma doesnt develop into multiple myeloma for years so they monitor it but my protein count [a marker for multiple myeloma] kept going up. Thats the bit that made me bitter when I read that 1999 report. If wed been warned about the exhaust fumes things could have been so different.

As the cancer took hold, Zach was referred to specialists in Nottingham. He began a ten-month course of chemotherapy in December 2012 and had a stem cell transplant. Buoyed by his RAF colleagues, Zach remained positive throughout, determined to survive for the sake of his young sons.

It soon became apparent, however, that he would be unable to work in a frontline squadron again as the Search and Rescue Force was being disbanded and, given his medical condition, he couldnt be posted outside the UK. Zach decided to accept a job offer from a private helicopter company. If Id stayed in the RAF Id never have been able to fly again so I left in March 2015. The Air Force had been very good to me  or I thought it had. Id had a good time and didnt want to finish my last seven years in a rubbish job that wasnt flying.

Around that time a doctor said he couldnt understand what had triggered multiple myeloma. It normally affects people, largely ethnic minorities, in their 60s and 70s  not fit, white thirtysomethings. Thats when I began to dig deeper.

Just one in 50,000 people are diagnosed with multiple myeloma, only two per cent under 40. With time on his hands after his first marriage ended in 2015, Zach began searching on the internet and came across a paper linking diesel exhaust to instances of the disease in firefighters.

He put in a request under the Freedom of Information Act asking if any reports had been done into exhaust fumes and the Sea King. He received the 1999 report and three more followed.

Lets just say I was a bit annoyed the recommendations had been kept from us. I spoke to guys who are quite senior in the search-and-rescue world and they didnt know about it. If wed known we could have at least worn personal protective clothing.

By the time of the third report in 2014 there were a few of us off sick with cancer. Its getting to the end of the Sea King and a lot of aircrew are unhappy but theres been no investigation as to what is in the exhaust fumes.

He put in a compensation claim in 2015, which was refused. In 2017, he discovered a further report, exploring links between myeloma and particles found in the Sea King exhaust fumes.

In December 2017 the MoD accepted Zachs war disability pension claim, attributing his cancer to his years of service. It was a pittance, says Zach. Around 35 a week. I thought, Theyve given me cancer and this is the compensation. He sought the help of a lawyer to continue his legal fight.

Zach was walking in the countryside with Anna-Louise last month when he received a call from his lawyers advising him the MoD wished to settle out of court.

We decided to take their offer, says Zach. This could have dragged on for years otherwise. The important thing was that they had accepted my cancer was caused by my service. They could have prevented it but didnt. Now I just want to make everyone else aware there was an issue.

An MoD spokesperson said: The health and safety of our personnel is of the utmost importance and we are committed to providing a safe working environment. Three studies by the RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine into Sea King found there were no definitive conclusions in terms of risk to health. RAF Sea King reached the end of service in 2016.

Anna-Louise takes Zachs hand. Im so proud of him, she says. Hes been tenacious enough to gather this evidence and has had the balls to stand up and say, Hang on a minute, this is wrong.

You never know whats going to happen tomorrow and you cant stop those little worries but, for today, were a happy family and were going to enjoy that.
Britons should continue to work from home indefinitely even though the infection rate is at its lowest since early September, government officials believe.

They say there is no need to rush back to offices because that drastically increases their contact with others.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a further fall week on week in the level of infections.

Only one person per 1,180 had the virus in the seven days to May 2, down from one in 1,010 the week before.

This is the lowest rate since the week to September 5, when it was one in 1,400.

The efficacy of working from home has been the subject of much research, with one study released in late April claiming it could lead to Britons losing out on career opportunities and create discrimination in offices.

So-called 'hybrid working' models which give staff the flexibility to work between home and the office could be 'dragging businesses back decades', according to a team of business psychologists at the Cambridgeshire-based firm, OE Cam.

But senior government advisers has warned against promoting a return to the office in summer amid fears it could encourage a third coronavirus wave.

Members of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) argued that working from is a simple and cheap way to reduce contact.

Britons should continue to work from home indefinitely even though the infection rate is at its lowest since early September, government officials believe. (File image)

They say there is no need to rush back to offices because that drastically increases their contact with others

Current advice is to work from home unless being in the office is required.

A senior advisory source told The Times a large scale return to offices would not be best, at least until it is better understood how further reopenings would effect the country.

Ian Boyd, Sage member and University of St Andrews professor, agreed, saying: 'Based on the information I have seen we should not become blase about the capacity of the virus to jump back at us. Retaining sensible measures to reduce the rate of non-essential contact between people is proportionate in the circumstances.'

But the University of Warwick's Mike Tildesley, who is also a member of Sage modelling committee Spi-M, said: 'People working from home will reduce risk of infection but at some point we also need to have some kind of return to normality from a mental health and wellbeing perspective.'

The R rate is between 0.8 and 1  broadly where it has been for the last few months  meaning the epidemic is still shrinking.

Yesterday there were 2,490 new cases confirmed and 15 deaths reported.

Government sources believe that employees should continue working from home even after June 21, when Boris Johnson hopes to lift nearly all restrictions.

They say the pandemic is far from being over and there is still much uncertainty.

Sources also believe that certain social distancing measures, including tables being kept apart at restaurants and windows being left open in public buildings and on transport, are here to stay.

They suspect that if the public were to push the further easing of restrictions on May 17 to the limit, infections could surge.

In nine days' time friends and family will be allowed to meet up indoors and hug each other for the first time in nearly six months.

They will also be able to sit inside at pubs and restaurants. However, officials say workers should not return to the office 'in full' until the pandemic is brought under tighter control  not just in the UK but around the world.

Many businesses have adapted their practices and plan to introduce 'hybrid' models whereby employees come in one or two days a week on rotation.

Earlier this week a BBC survey found 43 out of 50 of the country's largest firms had no plans to bring staff back to offices full time.

Several said they would allow workers to set their own rules on how many days a week they worked in offices or from home. However, some business leaders believe their employees are far less productive working from home and miss out from collaborating with colleagues.

Yesterday the former interim head of the Government's vaccine taskforce Clive Dix said there could be no virus circulating in the UK by August.

However, his remarks were at odds with the projections of chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty, who has said we will have to live with the virus like the flu.
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Senior Tories called the Conservatives the 'true workers' party' last night after a series of astonishing electoral gains.

Jill Mortimer took Labour's Hartlepool stronghold  securing only the fifth by-election win by a governing party since the Second World War.

In a second stunning Tory victory in the North East, Ben Houchen secured a second term as Tees Valley mayor. He grabbed 73 per cent of the vote  up from 39.5 per cent four years ago.

The prospects for a hat-trick of successes were rising last night, as the party made gains across the West Midlands, where Andy Street is also bidding for a second term as mayor.

Boris Johnson, who made a whirlwind visit to Hartlepool yesterday, hailed the result as a 'mandate for delivery' on his pledge to 'level up' opportunity across the country. In a sign of the town's remarkable political transformation, well-wishers erected a 30ft inflatable of Mr Johnson outside the counting centre.

Senior Tories called the Conservatives the 'true workers' party' last night after a series of astonishing electoral gains. Jill Mortimer (above with the PM) took Labour's Hartlepool stronghold  securing only the fifth by-election win by a governing party since the Second World War

In a second stunning Tory victory in the North East, Ben Houchen (pictured with his wife) secured a second term as Tees Valley mayor. He grabbed 73 per cent of the vote  up from 39.5 per cent four years ago

The victory by 15,529 to 8,589 votes in Hartlepool shows that Boris Johnson's realignment of the British political landscape is continuing, with more of the so-called Red Wall collapsing

On his arrival, the Prime Minister gestured at the inflatable and joked: 'Who's that fat bloke over there?' In the biggest round of local elections for decades, the Conservatives defied the odds to make gains in bellwether seats and traditional Labour areas.

Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Dudley and Nuneaton and Bedworth all fell to the Tories, having previously been under no overall control.

They also gained Harlow in Essex directly from Labour after seven seats changed hands. Harlow MP Robert Halfon said the result was a sign that the Tories had now usurped Labour as the 'true workers' party'.

The former Tory minister added: 'There has been lots of talk about a vaccine bounce, but it is not just stick a needle in someone's arm and they will vote Tory  it's much more than that.

'Labour has become very metropolitan and its whole campaign has just been negative mudslinging. We have been focusing on people's priorities like the NHS, skills, keeping fuel duty down and recruiting more police. We are the true workers' party now. And the Boris brand works  he is liked by people in a way that Labour do not understand.'

Fellow Tory MP Neil O'Brien, who was appointed last week as the Prime Minister's 'levelling up' adviser, said there was a chance to 'use this incredible moment to change the country for the better'.

Mr Houchen, who has become a galvanising figure for Tory support across the North East, said his thumping win in what was once a rock-solid Labour area was down to a record of delivery following 'years and years of neglect'. He added: 'Governments of both colours have failed to invest in this region and this Government under Boris Johnson has invested hugely  people are seeing tangible benefits on the ground.'

Simon Clarke, Tory MP for Middlesbrough South, said political allegiances that saw some communities vote Labour for decades were now shifting.

'People in the North East have stopped voting Labour 'because my parents did',' he said.

'They are looking at the two parties clear-sightedly, on the basis of what they offer  and they aren't going to go back for being taken for granted.' In Hartlepool, Mrs Mortimer gained 15,529 votes  more than half the total cast.

She said the result  overturning a Labour majority of more than 3,500 at the 2019 general election  was 'truly historic'. The Tory surge also saw the party pick up a smattering of seats in some of the most solidly Labour areas. In Sheffield, the party won its first seat on the city council since 2008. In nearby north Derbyshire, the Tories won for the first time in Clay Cross.

Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice said early results showed 'Leave and working-class areas are moving more strongly to the Conservatives than are Remain and more middle class places'.

The Prime Minister (pictured with Jill Mortimer) hailed the result as a 'mandate for delivery' on his pledge to 'level up' opportunity across the country

Pictured: Boris Johnson speaks with crowds in Hartlepool after the Tories saw a series of astonishing electoral gains
More than 2,100 children who were deported with their families from the United States returned alone, according to new statistics.

The families were turned back almost immediately under a ruling introduced by Donald Trump, and maintained by Joe Biden, called Title 42.

The ruling is an emergency COVID-19 measure, that allows swift deportation without the usual lengthy legal process.

However, between January 20 and April 5, Border Patrol agents came across at least 2,121 unaccompanied migrant children who had been previously expelled, NBC News reported.

A migrant baby is seen being picked up by the Texas Rangers along the Rio Grande

An asylum-seeking family is pictured on Wednesday, having crossed into the United States

In this March 30, 2021, file photo, young unaccompanied migrants, from ages 3 to 9, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas.

The lone children, unlike adults and families, will not be expelled.

More than 400 lone migrant children are arriving every day.

The number of children in Health and Human Services custody has grown by more than 65 per cent between the end of March and mid-April, reaching more than 19,000.

It has now dropped sharply, falling 88 per cent between late March and late April, according to government officials, as alternative housing was found for the children.

'We have certainly, anecdotally, learned of the fact that some families self-separate so that their children can arrive at the border,' said Alejandro Mayorkas, Homeland Security Secretary.

'That is something that we are looking very carefully at.'

A record number of unaccompanied migrant children entered U.S. custody along the southern border in March.

Migrant families deported to Tijuana. Unaccompanied children will not be sent back

Migrant families are seen at a shelter in Tijuana, Mexico, on April 26

In this March 30, 2021, file photo young minors lie inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Donna, Texas.

A large number of children pass through the Rio Grande Valley.

The Biden administration has come under fierce criticism for failing to get a handle on the situation, and for housing the children in 'cages' - having condemned the Trump administration for doing the same.

As of early May, U.S. officials were holding more than 22,500 unaccompanied children who had recently crossed the border, the BBC reported.

Child migrants start off in CPB custody before being transferred to health officials in the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).

Legally, the transfer must happen in 72 hours, but back in March some 5,000 children children were found to have exceeded that legal stay.

The backlog is now being dealt with, and the process working more quickly.

Nearly 19,000 lone migrant children entered the US in March - the largest monthly tally in US history.

The previous monthly record of 12,000 migrant children was recorded in May 2019 under Trump.

In February, around 9,500 children found crossing the border were detained by American officials.

More than 100,000 people in total were stopped from trying to cross into the US in February.

About 170,000 people were stopped in March.

During the first three weeks of April, around 122,000 people were encountered by US border authorities on the southwest border, another signal that the month will likely be similar to March, according to preliminary data obtained by CNN.

The full April data is yet to be released.
As we emerge from lockdown, many of us are seeking something delicious yet low-alcohol to enjoy with friends after maybe drinking a little too much over the months. Jilly Goolden tries out a selection of the latest aperiti-nos...

Sip on a sunny day

Martini Vibrante 75cl, 12 (sainsburys.co.uk)

Offering an alternative to Campari, this smells weirdly like a dead mouse on its own. But add tonic and it is transformed into a lovely fizzy cough medicine (the tasty kind, trust me).

A pretty red, and sweet and sour to taste, this is a very fair imitation of the real deal. All you need is ice, an orange slice and a lovely hot day.

3/5

So-so spritzis

Aecorn Aperitifs Non-Alcoholic Dry 50cl, 19.99 (waitrose.com)

Promising to provide the perfect summer spritz when served over ice with soda water or tonic, this smells heady and inviting, like chewing tobacco, nutmeg and star anise.

Made from white English grapes, Aecorn is smooth and persistently aromatic. Maybe they went a bit overboard with the bouquet garni herbs and spices mix. Intriguing, yes, likeable, possibly.

4/5

Golden dram

Everleaf Forest 50cl, 18 (sainsburys.co.uk)

Honey-coloured, this is described as a complex blend of 14 sustainably sourced botanicals, promising a spritz with notes of saffron, Madagascan vanilla and orange blossom.

Mixed with tonic, it becomes a cross between a herbal remedy and a wacky ice cream made of weird ingredients and a little vanilla. Delicious as an exotic soft drink, but not as a liquor alternative. Disappointing  I wouldnt pay 18 for the privilege.

2/5

Yes to a NO-groni

Seedlip NOgroni 20cl, 10 (waitrose.com)

As the name suggests, this offering from veteran no-alcohol brand Seedlip is a booze-free negroni alternative.

It comes in a squat medicine-type bottle holding two servings.

Very much in the Campari vein, its sophisticated, aromatic and properly bitter and theres a whiff of pine forest and balsam.

With a deep orange note like candied peel steeped in brandy, you hardly notice the lack of alcohol. Cheers!

5/5

Spirit has a kick

Lyres White Cane Non-Alcoholic Spirit 70cl, 26.99 (amazon.co.uk)

This claims to be a homage to a timeless classic, with Lyres website proclaiming it has been crafted to capture the essence of a gently aged white rum.

Despite the declared ingredients of water, sugar, natural flavourings and preservatives, it actually smells spirituous, and mixed with soda to approximate a mojito it tastes convincingly challenging and dry, with an encouraging stab of ginger giving a sting in the tail. Rather good.

4/5

Pour me a plant!

Three Spirit Livener 50cl, 24.99 (amazon.co.uk)

Unlike many non-alcoholic concoctions, this is not an imitation of an alcoholic drink, but claims to be its own kind of stimulant powered by plants (actually, a series of unpronounceable ingredients).

Dark red and cloudy, undiluted this rather murky liquid looks and smells unappetisingly like blood . . . But add a dash of soda and a brilliant kind of alchemy takes place. Suddenly it morphs into a nectar with notes of jackfruit and luscious berries, with tongue-tingling provocation from ginger.

Quite frankly, its a work of art, and mouth filling and provocative in a way none of the others I tested are. Ill have another and hope to feel enlivened and invigorated.

5/5

Martini misfire

Martini Floreale 75cl, 14.99 (thealcoholfreeco.co.uk)

Made by Martini, I have high hopes for the non-alcoholic version of white vermouth  which are very quickly dashed. Sadly, this is nothing like the real thing.

To compensate for the lack of alcohol, the botanicals have been upped to the extent this is aggressively medicinal, like a Chinese remedy squeezed from ugly roots. Cardboardy at the end, sadly its far from a joy to drink.

2/5

Cherry chin chin

Aecorn Aperitifs Non-Alcoholic Aromatic 50cl, 19.99 (amazon.co.uk)

This cloudy, tawny- coloured liquid is evocative of liquorice and morello cherry.

I think it definitely needs a splash of tonic (the bottle recommends to drink straight or cut with tonic or soda) then it smells like cherry cola.

It has a sweet zip, tasting of cherry pie with a sprinkling of clove and caraway, but manages not to be cloying. Its very unusual, OK for a single glass, but I wouldnt want to make a habit of it.

2.5/5

Tipples a triumph

Crodino Biondo 10 x 10cl, 16.99 (amazon.co.uk)

Wow! Describing itself as The non-alcoholic Italian aperitivo, drinking this is so evocative you could be in a gondola!

Nose in, take a sip and its just like an Aperol spritz, though much paler in colour. With delicious liquorice notes adding to the flavour, the association truly lulls you into forgetting that this isnt alcoholic. Its a total triumph!

5/5

Nolo gets a no

Crossip Non-alcoholic spirit Fresh Citrus 50cl, 22 (crossipdrinks.com)

I recently found a bottle of years old orange squash in the nether reaches of my larder. Sadly this looks, smells and tastes very similar.

It claims to be unapologetically bold and inspired by our favourite fruity botanical spirits, but Im not sure which one.

Designed to be mixed with tonic or used for a nolo mojito or even a cosmopolitan, theres a ginger kick, which is a plus, but that doesnt rescue it. I couldnt even finish one glass of this.

1/5
Grenfell survivors last night told ministers enough is enough after a fire ripped through an East London tower block covered in the same deadly cladding yesterday.

The blaze engulfed three floors of the 19-storey New Providence Wharf development near Canary Wharf, leaving 44 people needing medical treatment.

Terrified residents said it was unacceptable that the cladding had not been replaced almost four years on from the Grenfell fire in June 2017, which claimed 72 lives. A Government spokesman said work had been due to start on Monday.

Leaseholders in the block are paying 47,000 a month for a 24-hour fire patrol that is supposed to raise the alarm in the event of a blaze.

But incredibly, several said they were alerted to the fire only by Whats-App messages from other residents or people knocking on their doors.

The blaze engulfed three floors of the 19-storey New Providence Wharf development near Canary Wharf

Nadim Ahmad, 43, who lives with his wife and three daughters on the 14th floor, said: Its a miracle no one died.

He said he was alerted only when his wife phoned from outside and screamed for him to get out. There was nothing to tell us to evacuate, he said. I was physically knocked back by the amount of smoke in the pitch-black corridors. They were full of people screaming and panicking.

The blaze will intensify pressure on ministers to fix the cladding crisis. The Daily Mail has been campaigning to end the scandal, which affects around four million leaseholders and has led to fears of a repeat of the Grenfell disaster.

Survivors and relatives group Grenfell United said: When will the Government take this scandal seriously? Enough is enough.

The Government promised to remove dangerous cladding by June 2020  it has failed to meet its own target and every day that goes by lives are at risk. Today more people have lost their homes in another terrifying fire.

The blaze erupted just before 9am on the eighth floor of Block D of New Providence Wharf, before gutting the two floors above.

Two adults were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and a further 38 adults and four children were treated at the scene, London Fire Brigade said. Twenty fire engines and 125 crew were sent to the blaze.

Fire fighters inspect the damage at New Providence Wharf on Fairmont Avenue in Poplar in east London

Residents said work to remove the cladding had been due to start last year and criticised building owner Ballymore for delays. Ballymore, which houses more than 20,000 residents across the UK and Ireland, was named by the Government earlier this year as one of 14 companies that had failed to remove cladding on private developments.

The firm said enabling works on New Providence Wharf had begun two weeks ago, but one leaseholder said this involved moving some plants.

The repair bill is expected to be 11.6million, of which 8million is covered by Government funding. But Ballymore is offering only 500,000 despite making 97million profit last year. It leaves leaseholders to pay 2.5million at an average of 4,000 each.

Meanwhile, their service charge has soared by 77 per cent to 9,000 over the past four years. Natalie Clarke, 43, who lives on the third floor, said: Were stuck in a building that could kill us and the costs are going through the roof. Ballymore dont seem to care and frankly the Governments been no help.

More than 100 fire fighters and 20 crews tackled the New Providence Wharf blast at its peak

The cause of the fire remains unknown, although residents suggested it may have been a fuse box. Cladding expert Dr Jonathan Evans said the blaze appeared to have spread due to the narrow gap between floors, meaning the flames simply rolled over into the flats above.

He said it was pure luck that the blaze hadnt caught a large strip of cladding on the right-hand side of the flats or you would have lost that entire column.

Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley said: This is a wake-up call for the Government. Homes must be made safe urgently. Ministers have to provide comprehensive funding then claim it back from those responsible.

A Government spokesman said: Ministers have met Ballymore repeatedly to urge action.

A Ballymore spokesman said the cladding on the building did not combust and played no part in causing or facilitating the fire.
AstraZeneca may skip asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine and instead pursue the more time-intensive application for a full-fledged license to sell the shot.

The move would further delay any rollout of the British drugmaker's shots in the United States by a month or two, sources told the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

A major motivation to skip the emergency-use authorization is that the United States has already ordered so many doses of FDA-approved shots from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna for use domestically, the outlet reported.

The FDA has required AstraZeneca, whose vaccine has been widely given in more than 100 countries worldwide, to provide data from the vaccine's use in other countries as well as its data from human clinical trials, the outlet reported.

AstraZeneca may skip asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency-use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine

The move would further delay any rollout of the British drugmaker's shots in the United States by a month or two, sources told the Wall Street Journal

A source told the Wall Street Journal that the government has to approve of skipping the emergency-use application to apply for full approval

A health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccine center set up in northeast England on Friday

AstraZeneca said last week that it was working as fast as possible to compile data on its COVID-19 vaccine to apply for emergency approval, but that the dataset was very big because of the number of people who have received the jab.

The company had said it planned to apply for U.S. approval in the coming weeks.

The Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson shots were not yet used widely when they received emergency use authorization.

The federal government helped fund the testing and development of AstraZenecas vaccine in the United States.

A source told the Wall Street Journal that the government has to approve of skipping the emergency-use application to apply for full approval.

Last week, an AstraZeneca executive said the company could skip the emergency-use filing if officials told it to instead apply for full approval, the outlet reported.

A chart shows the percentage of vaccinated people around the US

The White House said late in April that the United States would start to share up to 60 million doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine with other countries over the next few weeks.

AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shot, developed by Oxford University, has resulted in reports of rare blood clots with low platelet levels that occur more commonly in younger adults. Some countries have advised the shot be given only to older people.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Friday.

Meanwhile, a recent study found that the risk of blood clots after the Oxford jab is small with people three times more likely to die if they have not had the vaccine, a study has found.

Researchers in Denmark and Norway looked at the nationwide rates of blood clots and related conditions in 280,000 people who had had the jab between February and March this year.

They found slightly increased rates of vein blood clots including clots in the veins of the brain, compared with expected rates in the general population.

However, the researchers stress that the risk of such adverse events was low while those who were unvaccinated were almost three times more likely to die than those who had it.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month that the US may not even need AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the White House, told Reuters that America has enough contracts with other vaccine makers to inoculate its entire population even without approving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The US has so far authorized and rolled out three COVID-19 vaccines - Pfizer and Moderna with their two-shot vaccines and Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine.

Fauci said the supply coming from these three drugmakers will not only be enough to get all Americans vaccinated but may also be enough for booster shots to be given out in the fall.

'My general feeling is that given the contractual relationships that we have with a number of companies, that we have enough vaccine to fulfill all of our needs without invoking AstraZeneca,' Fauci said.

'If you look at the numbers [of doses] that we're going to be getting, the amount that you can get from J&J, from Novavax from Moderna if we contract for more, it is likely that we can handle any boost that we need, but I can't say definitely for sure.'
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Market Reports on South Africa Provides the Trending Market Research Report on South Africa Analgesics Market Research Report under Life Sciences category. The South Africa Market is projected to exhibit highest growth rate over report offers a collection of superior market research, market analysis, and competitive intelligence and industry reports.

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Analgesics enjoyed strong growth during the review period with these products being commonly used by consumers looking to self-medicate minor ailments. The outbreak of COVID-19 provided a further sales stimulus with analgesics recommended as the key method of self-medicating against its symptoms. With analgesics already enjoying widespread usage there was initial concern that there may be some product shortages, especially when the government announced lockdown measures to control COVID-19. International's Analgesics in South Africa 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. Forecasts to 2025 illustrate how the market is set to change.



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Ministers have predicted that Boris Johnson could rule longer than Margaret Thatcher as results showed the Tories could take 36 more Westminster seats from Labour at the next General Election.

Labour was thrashed in the Hartlepool by-election on Thursday, with Jill Mortimer securing a majority of almost 7,000 in a seat the Tories had not held since 1964.

In a second stunning Tory victory in the North East, Ben Houchen secured a second term as Tees Valley mayor. He grabbed 73 per cent of the vote  up from 39.5 per cent four years ago.

And the Conservatives gained control of a series of councils, including Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Dudley, Harlow and Nuneaton and Bedworth  reversing the mid-term slump often suffered by governing parties.

Cabinet ministers believe there has been a permanent shift in the nation's political identity and claimed Mr Johnson - who has been the premier since July 2019 - could outlast Margaret Thatcher's 11 years in Downing Street, The Times reports.

They believe the Conservative Party must establish its electoral advantage by winning the 'culture wars' and challenging 'woke' views.

Sir Keir Starmer is now considering moving the party out of London to reconnect with Red Wall voters, sources told the Guardian.

It comes as Mr Johnson set himself on course for a constitutional clash with Nicola Sturgeon if she pushes ahead with plans for a second Scottish independence referendum - which the PM has called 'irresponsible and reckless'.

Pressed on what he would do if Ms Sturgeon pushed ahead with a referendum without Westminster's consent, he told the Daily Telegraph: 'Well, as I say, I think that there's no case now for such a thing... I don't think it's what the times call for at all.'

The Tories could snatch dozens more Red Wall seats at the next General Election following a collapse in support for the Brexit Party, with a switch in allegiance of Nigel Farage's old voters winning Mr Johnson the Hartlepool by-election.

Counting continues in the Scottish parliamentary contest, with the SNP leader's hopes of achieving a majority on a knife edge.

It is almost certain the SNP will win its fourth term in power at Holyrood, and Ms Sturgeon said 'when the time is right' she will offer Scots 'the choice of a better future' in a second independence referendum.

Boris Johnson could take 36 more Westminster seats from Labour at the next General Election, analysis shows, as triumphant Tories last night dubbed themselves the 'true workers' party' after a series of electoral gains

Labour was thrashed in the Hartlepool by-election, with Jill Mortimer securing a majority of almost 7,000 in a seat the Tories had not held since 1964

In a second stunning Tory victory in the North East, Ben Houchen secured a second term as Tees Valley mayor. He grabbed 73 per cent of the vote  up from 39.5 per cent four years ago

Welsh Labour exceeds expectations Welsh Labour looks set to win the Senedd election after the party fought off challenges from the Tories to key red wall seats in North Wales. Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford said his party had 'exceeded expectations' and ended Friday with 30 seats, just one short of a majority. The results of eight remaining regional seats, for South Wales Central and South Wales East, will be announced on Saturday, though Labour is not expected to pick up any more from that number. Meanwhile, the Welsh Conservatives have 12 seats, including taking Vale of Clwyd from Labour, Plaid Cymru have nine having lost former leader Leanne Wood's Rhondda seat to Labour, and the Liberal Democrats have one. Advertisement

At the last English council election in 2019, Labour managed to cling on to the constituency with 15,464 votes as Leavers were split between the Tories and Brexit Party  which picked up 11,869 and 10,603 votes respectively.

But this time support for Mr Farage's party  now renamed Reform UK  dwindled to just 368 votes, allowing Mr Johnson to clean up with a majority of 6,940.

A Daily Mail analysis has found there are a further 36 Labour seats across the country where the party's lead over the Tories in 2019 was smaller than the number who voted for the Brexit Party.

Alarm bells will be sounding in Labour HQ about if these are the next bricks in the Red Wall to fall. However, Labour last night won 30 seats in the next Senedd as it marked a significant victory.

It comes as senior Tories called the Conservatives the 'true workers' party' last night after several astonishing electoral gains - including snatching Labour's Hartlepool stronghold.

Meanwhile, cabinet ministers suggested Mr Johnson could become one of Britain's longest-serving leaders, adding: 'It seems to me to be more than just a short-term rejection of Labour. It looks fairly permanent.'

Another said: 'Labour haven't represented working-class patriotic voters for a while. They're too woke, too Islington metropolitan elite. They're becoming a London party.

'Boris is a unique politician. If he wants he could do what Thatcher did and then some.'

Johnson, who made a whirlwind visit to Hartlepool yesterday, hailed the election result as a 'mandate for delivery' on his pledge to 'level up' opportunity across the country. In a sign of the town's remarkable political transformation, well-wishers erected a 30ft inflatable of Mr Johnson outside the counting centre.

On his arrival, the Prime Minister gestured at the inflatable and joked: 'Who's that fat bloke over there?' In the biggest round of local elections for decades, the Conservatives defied the odds to make gains in bellwether seats and traditional Labour areas.

Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Dudley and Nuneaton and Bedworth all fell to the Tories, having previously been under no overall control.

They also gained Harlow in Essex directly from Labour after seven seats changed hands. Harlow MP Robert Halfon said the result was a sign that the Tories had now usurped Labour as the 'true workers' party'.

The former Tory minister added: 'There has been lots of talk about a vaccine bounce, but it is not just stick a needle in someone's arm and they will vote Tory  it's much more than that.

'Labour has become very metropolitan and its whole campaign has just been negative mudslinging. We have been focusing on people's priorities like the NHS, skills, keeping fuel duty down and recruiting more police.

'We are the true workers' party now. And the Boris brand works  he is liked by people in a way that Labour do not understand.'

Boris Johnson speaks, with an inflatable figure depicting him in the background, at Jacksons Wharf Marina in Hartlepool following local election

Stepping down tonight, Mr Mahmood, 59, who has been a Labour MP for 20 years, said Labour must recognise it is seen as 'a party that has lost its way' in places that were once 'unfailingly loyal'.

Boris Johnson's Conservative Party sweeps aside Labour in Hartlepool as the Tories take seat from Labour for first time since 1974 creation

Sir Keir Starmer stayed tight lipped as he left his London home after the Conservatives piled up a majority of nearly 7,000 in an extraordinary result - overturning the Opposition's previous margin of 3,500

Flanked by his new MP Jill Mortimer (right) in Hartlepool, Boris Johnson said voters believe he can 'deliver' following the latest devastating hammer blow to the Red Wall

Fellow Tory MP Neil O'Brien, who was appointed last week as the Prime Minister's 'levelling up' adviser, said there was a chance to 'use this incredible moment to change the country for the better'.

Mr Houchen, who has become a galvanising figure for Tory support across the North East, said his thumping win in what was once a rock-solid Labour area was down to a record of delivery following 'years and years of neglect'.

He added: 'Governments of both colours have failed to invest in this region and this Government under Boris Johnson has invested hugely  people are seeing tangible benefits on the ground.'

Simon Clarke, Tory MP for Middlesbrough South, said political allegiances that saw some communities vote Labour for decades were now shifting.

'People in the North East have stopped voting Labour 'because my parents did',' he said.

'They are looking at the two parties clear-sightedly, on the basis of what they offer  and they aren't going to go back for being taken for granted.' In Hartlepool, Mrs Mortimer gained 15,529 votes  more than half the total cast.

Boris Johnson helped with fixing a leak pipe on his post-election visit to Coventry this afternoon, as he celebrates a stunning set of Super Thursday results

The victory by 15,529 to 8,589 votes in Hartlepool shows that Boris Johnson's realignment of the British political landscape is continuing, with more of the so-called Red Wall collapsing

English Local Authorities English County Councils Scottish Parliament Welsh Parliament

She said the result  overturning a Labour majority of more than 3,500 at the 2019 general election  was 'truly historic'. The Tory surge also saw the party pick up a smattering of seats in some of the most solidly Labour areas.

In Sheffield, the party won its first seat on the city council since 2008. In nearby north Derbyshire, the Tories won for the first time in Clay Cross.

Elections expert Professor Sir John Curtice said early results showed 'Leave and working-class areas are moving more strongly to the Conservatives than are Remain and more middle class places'

Labour conceded yesterday's results were a 'shattering' blow to Sir Keir Starmer, who last night admitted his party had 'lost the trust of working people'.

The dismal results triggered a fresh wave of Labour infighting, with the Left hitting back at claims by Lord Mandelson that the party was suffering the effects of 'Long Corbyn' syndrome.

Khalid Mahmood dealt a fresh blow to Sir Keir last night by announcing he was quitting Labour's front bench.

The former defence spokesman said the party had been 'effectively captured' by a 'London-based bourgeoisie, with the support of brigades of woke social media warriors'.

Labour sources warned that low turnout and voter 'complacency' could even cost Sadiq Khan a second term as London mayor  a contest he had been expected to win by a landslide.

Jill Mortimer (pictured after being declared the victor) will now serve as the constituency's MP in Westminster after she trounced Labour contender Paul Williams

Sir Keir holed up in his Westminster office with close aides as he considered his next move after the election pasting

Jill Mortimer pulled off a stunning victory over Paul Williams in Hartlepool (picture together at the count)

Ms Mortimer's majority of 6,940 was a huge turnaround from the 3,500 margin that Labour's former MP Mike Hill won by in 2019

But senior Tories remained on alert for results from the Scottish Parliament elections, with Nicola Sturgeon insisting a majority for the SNP would give her a 'mandate' to hold a second independence referendum.

On a victory tour of Hartlepool yesterday, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the success of the vaccine programme had played its part in the results, but said it was now up to ministers to deliver for voters on his pledge to 'level up' opportunity.

He said Brexit had allowed the Government to deliver the vaccine rollout 'faster than other European countries'.

Asked about the future, he replied: 'Number one is continuing the vaccine rollout, making sure that we go from jabs, jabs, jabs, to jobs, jobs, jobs, make sure that we have a strong economic recovery.'

Thursday's polls were the biggest test of electoral opinion since the 2019 election, with 48million people able to vote in local, regional and devolved elections.

Both main parties admitted being surprised by the scale of the Tory surge, following a campaign in which normal election canvassing was heavily restricted by Covid regulations. Counting was also delayed by health and safety restrictions imposed because of the pandemic.

But, as the results rolled in, it became clear that Mr Johnson had confounded the conventional wisdom that voters use local elections to punish the sitting government.

Mr Johnson said delivering on his pledge to 'Get Brexit Done' had been vital in boosting Tory support in Leave-voting areas in the North and Midlands.

He said the results gave him a 'mandate' to deliver on the rest of his programme, but studiously avoided any sense of triumphalism.

Mr Johnson said people 'can see we did get Brexit done... and I think what people want us to do now is to get on with delivering on everything else'.

In an upbeat assessment he said upgraded economic growth forecasts from the Bank of England suggested there was a 'prospect of a really strong rebound in the second half of the year'.

A lack of Labour wins to celebrate meant that Sir Keir was forced to deliver his response to the election from his office in London.

The Labour leader appeared rattled by the scale of the setback, but insisted the party was not facing an 'existential crisis'. He promised to do 'whatever is necessary' to rebuild voter trust following a 'bitterly disappointing' defeat in Hartlepool.

Lord Mandelson, who once held Hartlepool for Labour, said Jeremy Corbyn still cast a 'long shadow' over the party.

The architect of New Labour said the pandemic had also played a key role, with voters more interested in vaccines and the release from lockdown than day-to-day policies.

Richard Burgon, a former Labour frontbencher, claimed Mr Corbyn would have won in Hartlepool, and urged Sir Keir to move further to the Left.

'We are going backwards in areas we need to be winning,' he added. 'Labour's leadership needs to urgently change direction.'

The scale of the changes in key areas was laid bare in charts produced by Election Maps UK

Former No10 chief Dominic Cummings launched an extraordinary Twitter diatribe against both Sir Keir and his former boss Mr Johnson

A jubilant Boris Johnson (pictured on a stop at Severn Trent Academy in Coventry on the way to Hartlepool) said he would keep fighting for the 'people's priorities' after he dealt another devastating hammer blow to the Red Wall

In Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon faces a nervous wait to find out if the SNP has won a Holyrood majority - seen as crucial to her hopes of forcing a second independence referendum.

The coronavirus pandemic resulted in last year's elections being delayed by 12 months.

That means that two years' worth of polls took place across the UK yesterday, making for a bumper crop of results.

Voters have had their say on the make-up of English councils, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Senedd as well as in a wave of mayoral contests, including in London.

A Labour source said this morning: 'We've said all along the North East and the Midlands would be difficult. We also said the places declaring Thursday would be particularly difficult.

'But, the message from voters is clear and we have heard it. Labour has not yet changed nearly enough for voters to place their trust in us.

The result in Hartlepool Jill Mortimer, Conservative 15,529 (51.88 per cent of total vote, up 22.96 per cent on 2019) Paul Williams, Labour 8,589 (28.69 per cent, down 8.99 per cent) Sam Lee, Independent 2,904 (9.70 per cent) Claire Martin, Heritage 468 (1.56 per cent) John Prescott, Reform 368 (1.23 per cent) Rachel Featherstone, Green 358 (1.20 per cent) Andrew Hagon, Lib Dem 349 (1.17 per cent, down 2.97 per cent) Advertisement

'We understand that. We are listening. And we will now redouble our efforts. Labour must now accelerate the programme of change in our party, to win back the trust and faith of working people across Britain.

'People don't want to hear excuses. Keir has said he will take responsibility for these results  and he will take responsibility for fixing it and changing the Labour Party for the better.'

The Hartlepool by-election outcome was triggered when former MP Mike Hill resigned in March amid sexual harassment allegations.

Respected elections expert Professor Michael Thrasher said the results so far were a 'nightmare' for Labour and 'the slide appears to be continuing'.

He told Sky News that voters had 'simply migrated from Labour to the Conservatives'. 'That is a hard thing for voters to do but but we saw it in 2019 and we are seeing it again in 2021,' he said.

Voter turnout in the contest in Hartlepool was 42.55 per cent - a relatively high number for a Westminster by-election.

Hartlepool was held by Labour with a majority of 3,595 in 2019, even as other bricks in the 'Red Wall' crumbled  in part due to the Brexit Party splitting the Tory vote.

Both Mr Johnson and Sir Keir made three visits to Hartlepool during the campaign in a sign of the importance the by-election represents to their parties.

Opinion polls suggested the Tories were on course to win the seat for the first time ever, with one survey putting the party 17 points ahead of Labour.

Mr Johnson sought to dampen expectations ahead of polling day as he said the contest looked like it would be a 'very tough fight'.

Sir Keir said during the campaign that his rebuild of the party would take longer than 12 months.

He stressed he had taken over the leadership after the party's worst general election result since 1935 and 'we've got to rebuild into the next general election  that is the task in hand'.

Sir Keir said: 'This is the first test and we go into that test fighting for every vote, but I never thought we would climb the mountain we have to climb in just one year  it is going to take longer than that.'

However, losing ground instead of gaining it at 2021 elections would represent a devastating set of results for Sir Keir as he tries to lay the foundations for a general election victory in 2024.

He said on Wednesday that he would take responsibility, regardless of how the elections play out.

'I take full responsibility for everything the Labour Party does, including the elections whatever they are tomorrow,' he said.

'And for me it's very important  it's the same approach I took when I was director of public prosecutions running the Crown Prosecution Service for five years, which is when things go right, the leader takes the plaudits; when they don't go right, the leader carries the can and takes responsibility.'

Sir Keir's allies last night said they were expecting civil war to break out in the party if election results are as gloomy as forecast by some opinion polls.

Alan Milburn, a Labour Cabinet minister under Tony Blair, told BBC Newsnight that the elections should not be seen as a referendum on Sir Keir's leadership because it was 'always going to be a long, hard battle back' after the party's 2019 collapse.

However, Mr Milburn said 'this is the time to inject new blood' into the shadow cabinet because some of its current members are 'barely visible'.

He warned the party is in a state of 'crisis' and said: 'The truth is that the Labour Party, and social democratic parties, they need to reinvent themselves.

'It's not a question of just rebuilding - it's a process of reinvention. There needs to be a big programme change, a big policy change and I think a big procedure change.'
There was surprise and delight when the royals issued public birthday greetings to little Archie on social media as he turned two this week.

Behind the scenes, however, palace officials found themselves in an uncomfortable position after finding they didn't have an up-to-date picture of Harry and Meghan's son to accompany their posts.

In the end they were forced to use press photos taken just after he was born and from his official christening pictures, highlighting just how little he has seen of his British family.

In fact, the Daily Mail understands, the toddler  who now speaks with a distinct American accent  has seen his grandfather, the Prince of Wales, only twice since he was born.

It is understood the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge can also count their meetings with him 'easily on one hand'.

The Daily Mail understands, Harry and Meghan's son Archie  who now speaks with a distinct American accent  has seen his grandfather, the Prince of Wales, only twice since he was born

The Sussexes rarely left their Windsor home in the months after Archie's birth, apart from taking two holidays by private jet to Ibiza and then to the south of France, where they were guests of Sir Elton John

Archie may sadly have met his Cambridge cousins  Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, six, and three-year-old Prince Louis  just the once

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released a new picture of baby Archie to celebrate his birthday

And such is the rift between Harry and William that it is believed Archie may sadly have met his Cambridge cousins  Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, six, and three-year-old Prince Louis  just the once.

A source said: 'The truth is the Prince of Wales has barely seen his grandson twice since he was born.

'In fact every member of Harry's family can easily count on one hand the number of times they saw Archie after he was born and before the family left the UK. It's a very sad situation.'

The Sussexes rarely left their Windsor home in the months after Archie's birth, apart from taking two holidays by private jet to Ibiza and then to the south of France, where they were guests of Sir Elton John.

A source said: 'The truth is the Prince of Wales has barely seen his grandson twice since he was born'

Sources are at pains to stress they understand that this is not anyone's fault, not least the Sussexes. Harry had planned, initially, to travel back to the UK once a month or so. Instead the Queen and other senior family members have had to comfort themselves with occasional video calls. Above, Harry and Meghan with Archie, the Queen, Meghan's mother Doria Ragland and the late Duke of Edinburgh in a photograph released shortly after his birth in May 2019

They refused to join the Royal Family on their annual holiday to Scotland, then in November decamped to Canada before settling in California, where they bought an 11million mansion.

Archie was not with them when they returned to detonate their relationship with the family in January last year by announcing they were stepping back as senior royals without consulting Buckingham Palace.

The Covid pandemic has since, sadly, prevented the Sussexes from flying back to Britain for social visits, although Harry returned briefly for his grandfather's funeral last month.

Sources are at pains to stress they understand that this is not anyone's fault, not least the Sussexes.

Harry had planned, initially, to travel back to the UK once a month or so. Instead the Queen and other senior family members have had to comfort themselves with occasional video calls.

This is perhaps why the gesture by the three royal households  Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace  in wishing Archie a happy birthday was so significant. Indeed, as Archie is the child of non-working royals, there was no reason to publicly acknowledge his birthday.

A source explained: 'The fact Buckingham Palace and the other royal households posted something so publicly when they are no longer working royals is clearly a sign every effort is being made, on their behalf at least, to try and retain and nurture a relationship with Harry and Meghan, however fragile.'
A teenage boy was stabbed to death and another injured by machete attackers near the park where Jodie Chesney was fatally knifed two years ago.

Both boys - believed to be aged between 15 and 16 - were attacked within ten minutes of each other in Romford, east London on Friday night - just yards from where the 17-year-old Girl Scout was randomly murdered in 2019.

Three people have been arrested over last night's assaults as police continue to investigate.

A witness reported a young boy at the scene of the first attack, at around 6.40pm on Church Road in the Harold Wood area, crying: 'He died in my arms.'

The second attack happened at 6.51pm at nearby Retford Road, where the victim staggered into a nearby park suffering a chest wound.

A woman today told how she rushed to the aid of the injured teenager in the park.

Met Detectives seal off Church Road in Harold Wood, Romford, East London this afternoon

Police started making local enquiries into the attacks in the Romford area last night

Jodie Chesney (pictured) collapsed and died in a tragic case of mistaken identity after she had been sitting with friends in 2019

Emma Law, 38, a florist, looked out her window and saw a boy lying on the floor with a stab wound.

She said: 'I just sat down with my dinner and looked out the window and could see someone lying on the floor with someone next to them.

'I ran over there because you get kids with their bikes and they fall over so I went over to see if they needed anything.

'There was a boy lying on the floor. He'd been stabbed in the chest. He was about 15 or 16 years old.

'He kept trying to get up, the boy with him looked a bit younger. He kept trying to get up, saying he needed to go.

'He was terrified because he said he didn't want to get into trouble. As he was moving, more blood was coming out of him.

'We were trying to calm him down and tell him to lie down and he was coming in and out of consciousness.

'He was saying they used a Zombie knife. He was adamant that it had snapped off in him.

'He kept saying, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. It was so much blood. His pockets were filled up with blood.

'There were two people walking with a dog who originally found him, and we stayed with him until the ambulance came.'

Ms Law said the boy claimed to have been robbed but refused to say any more about what happened.

She added: 'I've got a boy that's got the same age as him. I kept looking at him and seeing my boy. It was really awful. '

A forensic officer examines a house near the scene of the attack as police investigate

Officers were called to the incident last night, just yards from where Girl Scout Jodie Chesney was murdered

The area where the boy was found is a large residential park in East London, with many of the furniture and and fences painted mauve in tribute to Jodie Chesney, who collapsed and died in a tragic case of mistaken identity after she had been sitting with friends.

There is a tree with ribbon bows and lanterns that inside say 'end knife crime'.

Earlier, residents told of the aftermath of the first, fatal stabbing at nearby Church Road.

Some said the road had been left 'covered in blood', and suggested the victim may have suffered a slashed throat.

Elisabeth Undersett, 60, a retired teacher, said: 'The first thing I knew that something had happened was the air ambulance going over the house.

'We came outside the house and saw police and ambulances all over the place.. We knew something bad had happened.

'My husband was walking home from the park and he walked down the road to speak to the police officers because he'd seen people running to the station so he thought he should tell them.

'He said there was blood everywhere. They thought something horrendous had happened.

'A young boy was sat on the wall nearby, very upset, covered in blood.

'He was saying, 'he died in my arms'. I'm assuming it was a friend or a relative.

'But all we know really is that what we've heard from my granddaughter who was in Harold Hill with her auntie who heard that there had been a stabbing in Retford Road, the boys had run and had been chased with men with machetes.

'She told me the little boy who had died near here had been at her school.

'We don't have fights usually. I don't know what was going on but it's terrible. Nobody could intervene.

'You would like to think something or someone could have helped.'

A forensic officer examines evidence at the scene of the attack in east London last night

A boy, believed to be in his mid-teens, was treated for a stab injury but died at the scene shortly after 7pm, the force said

A woman, who also lives near Church Road, said: 'I literally came out to the car to get something when I saw a commotion on the street.

'I saw a young boy walk by very distressed and the police sat him on the wall. He was black, mid-teens, and completely covered in blood.

'I was shocked by it all. I went back in. He was very distressed, you couldn't make out what he said.

'Like a lot of places, we've never had anything like this happen other than the young girl who died a few years ago.

'It's normally very quiet. I'm terrified, I'm uncomfortable. I just feel so sorry for the family.'

The Met Police said three people have been arrested as part of its investigation.

A spokesman said: 'Police were called at 18:41hrs on Friday, 7 May to Church Road following reports of a fight.

'Officers attended and found a boy, believed to be aged in his mid-teens, suffering from a stab injury. They immediately provided first aid with the assistance of a member of public.

'The London Ambulance Service (LAS) and Londons Air Ambulance attended. Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene at 19:07hrs.

'Officers are in the process of tracing next of kin.

'Formal identification has not taken place. A post-mortem examination will be held in due course.

'Police were also called at 18:51hrs to reports of a male stabbed on Retford Road. They attended with the LAS, and found a second boy, also aged in his mid-teens suffering from a stab wound.

'He was taken to an east London hospital; we await an update on his condition.

'Homicide detectives from the Specialist Crime Command have been informed.

'A number of crime scenes remain in place.

'Three people have been arrested in connection with investigation. We await further information.

Anyone with information is asked to call police via 101 quoting reference Cad 6572/07May. Alternatively, to remain anonymous contact on 0800 555 111.'
Today's hot housing market means rural areas have overtaken the likes of London as favourites for home movers, but who would have expected the Outer Hebrides to become the location of the most dramatic house price boom anywhere in the UK?

Government data, analysed by finance firm IVA Advice, shows the average cost of a house there in February this year was amazingly low at just 132,397; yet this was a huge 51.32 per cent above the level just five years ago, when the typical home there cost a mere 87,494.

For the uninitiated, the Outer Hebrides covers about 200 interconnected islands off the west coast of Scotland.

Wild at heart: The village of Aird Asaig on the Isle of Harris. The Outer Hebrides covers about 200 interconnected islands off the west coast of Scotland

Only 15 or so are inhabited and collectively they are famous for rugged coastlines, epic mountain landscapes and a rich Gaelic culture of music and art.

Yet the Outer Hebrides, or Nah-Eileanan Siar in Gaelic, buck the usual 'location, location, location' check-list of must- have amenities.

They are far from big cities: for example, a drive from some islands to Edinburgh involves a ferry crossing of more than two hours followed by an eight-hour drive.

Travel is memorable but not always for the faint-hearted: flights to and from the island of Barra use the beach for take-off and landing.

But it's that sense of relative isolation, peace and unhurried pace that may be the making of these beautiful islands where in total just 27,000 live.

This year the Outer Hebrides has been named the best place in Britain for work-life balance by finance website Money.

'Maintaining a good work-life balance is important however, it is often easier said than done, especially right now,' says Salman Haqqi, Money's personal finance expert.

'Juggling the pressures of home and work life during a pandemic is not easy, but making time for yourself and reducing the amount of demands you put on yourself is key.'

Coronavirus has given more people in the past year a hankering for a slower pace of life, with space for families, wildlife nearby  and inexpensive homes.

Houses on sale include a two-bedroom cottage on the Isle of Lewis for 82,500, a six-bedroom family house on North Uist for 255,000 and a three-bedroom modern house complete with boathouse overlooking the South Uist coast for 350,000.

'The Outer Hebrides have miles of sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters,' says Phiddy Robertson of the estate agency Galbraith.

'Home with direct access to the shore or beach frontage and those with sea views attract a premium.'

Property sales are relatively rare, but those that have occurred show how hot the market has become.

The Forest House, a modern four-bedroom detached house with stables and five acres of land just a short stroll from the beach on the Isle of North Uist, went on the market last year and had ten offers in excess of the 325,000 asking price; a couple from London eventually bought it.

Robertson says: 'This sense of being wild and unspoilt chimes with an increasing interest in nature; several of the islands are havens for a variety of bird species including eagles and owls while some have otters, deer, seals and dolphins.'

There are downsides, of course.

Big city shopping involves ferry journeys and some say facilities for younger people are limited  even a humble visit to the cinema may involve an overnight stay.

And there are worries that the population of the Outer Hebrides may be falling too much.

The official National Records of Scotland predict a 16 per cent decline in residents across the islands by 2043 while Scotland's population as a whole is set to go up 2 per cent.

There are attempts to reverse the flow. The Scottish National Party has pledged 50,000 to help people to relocate from mainland Scotland to the islands, and publicity from the Outer Hebrides council emphasises the excellent broadband.

'The population challenge is clear: we need more younger, working age people to move here or to stay here to support and grow our economy,' says council leader Roddie MacKay.

So will the pandemic, forcing a once-in-a-lifetime rethink on so many people, save the islands? The answer could be yes.

Phiddy Robertson says: 'There's been strong demand for properties in some of the more remote parts of Scotland over the past year.

'Buyers have reassessed their arrangements and the chance for a better work-life balance. With good broadband links, coupled with flexibility from employers, island living is a real option.'
There are slurs, and then there's the ignominy suffered by one of Britain's most popular department stores following Carrie Symonds's arrival in Downing Street and a guest's description of the decor as a 'John Lewis nightmare'.

The shame of it. But not for long. Consumers rallied because this was an attack on the spiritual home of Middle England; a mugging of sensible tastes and aspirations, an insult to vast swathes of the population for whom walking into a John Lewis store is like sinking into a hot bath on a cold night.

Where has the Duchess of Cambridge been known to go for the odd spot of shopping?

Fresh: John Lewis's Modern Mediterranean range. British consumers have rallied around the much loved department store chain following remarks from Boris Johnson's girlfriend

To Peter Jones, of course, the John Lewis outpost on the King's Road in Chelsea, an elegant but soothing emporium which its clientele call 'PJ's.'

So loved is the John Lewis brand that after news broke last month that the 170-year-old Sheffield store would close, fans began pinning heart-shaped love letters to its windows.

And not for nothing did the late Poet Laureate John Betjeman say that when the end of the world came he wanted to be in the haberdashery department of Peter Jones 'because nothing unpleasant could ever happen there'.

John Lewis is like a family member you moan about. Fine to do so but you don't much like it if somebody else is criticising him or her.

What's more, let's not forget that the John Lewis Partnership is the largest employee-owned business in the UK.

Success from 1864 to 2021 John Spedan Lewis introduced the 'Never Knowingly Undersold' slogan in 1925 John Lewis, the founder of the chain, was just 28 when he opened the first store in Oxford Street in 1864. Haberdashery and textiles for homes and clothing were the foundation of the business. Lewis offered better value than competitors, making a profit of 25 per cent on the wholesale price of goods; the norm was 33 per cent. Lewis who was described as 'irascible, but highly principled' was an adept deal-maker. When the Peter Jones store in Chelsea began to fail in 1905, he walked into the shop and handed over a wad of cash to buy it on the spot from the owners. His son John Spedan Lewis - who introduced the 'Never Knowingly Undersold' slogan in 1925 - believed that more democratic practices would boost sales and employee welfare. The first bonuses to staff were paid in 1920. John Spedan Lewis established the Partnership in 1929, signing away his family's ownership rights. Waitrose, a grocery business set up in 1904, was bought by John Lewis in 1937. It has a 5 per cent share of UK supermarket sales. John Lewis began to sell furniture in 1918. In the 1950s, the company worked with emerging designers such as Robin and Lucienne Day, one of whose designs, a steel and plywood dining chair, is still on sale today (340). The online division john lewis.com was established in 2001. Online now accounts for 60 to 70 per cent of turnover. John Spedan Lewis was an early believer in the promotion of women to key roles in the workplace. Today Pippa Wicks is executive director and Sharon White is chairman. Earlier this year, Sharon White said: 'We are going through the greatest scale of change in the partnership's 156-year history.' Advertisement

The 78,000 staff are partners and co-owners who have a say in how the company is run and are entitled to a share in profits, although this cherished bonus was scrapped for this year.

John Lewis  which has been around for 156 years  has been navigating choppy waters long before any attempts at capsizing this once-trusty vessel.

During the pandemic, the company has cut its number of shops from 51 to 34, leaving the inhabitants of cities such as Aberdeen, Peterborough and York, as well as Sheffield, to mourn the passing of this retail stalwart.

The Never Knowingly Undersold pledge is 'under review', but no more store closures are planned for the time being.

Instead, it has launched its new Anyday brand, a range of 2,400 home, technology and baby pieces, created by the company's own designers and costing 20 per cent to 40 per cent less than its other collections.

The aim is to win back the faithful (but Carrie presumably is a lost cause) who have strayed to such homeware and furniture rivals as Dunelm, a 2.9 billion company set up in 1979 and Wayfair, a giant American online operation now fast expanding in the UK, thanks to its tech expertise.

As part of its recovery plan, John Lewis says that it will be turning some of the unwanted space in Oxford Street and other stores into housing.

This will be an opportunity to live above the shop.

For some John Lewis lovers, this arrangement would not be too close for comfort, but prove to be their ideal home.
Humans are actively changing landscapes across the globe, but shaping ecosystems is not just a modern activity  our ancestors started the transformation nearly 100,000 years ago.

An analysis of settlements and paleoenvironmental data along the northern shores of East Africa's Lake Malawi reveals ancient inhabitants used fire 92,000 years ago to prevent forest regrowth.

These Stone Age humans burned surrounding forests to make room for a growing population, which resulted in a sprawling bushland that stretches across the region today.

The Yale-led study uncovered settlements in the area built 92,000 years ago, along with a surge of charcoal deposits in the core of the lake that appeared shortly after  allowing researchers to piece the story together.

An analysis of settlements (pictured) and paleoenvironmental data along the northern shores of East Africa's Lake Malawi reveals ancient inhabitants used fire 92,000 years ago to prevent forest regrowth

Jessica Thompson, assistant professor of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the paper's lead author, said: 'This is the earliest evidence I have seen of humans fundamentally transforming their ecosystem with fire.

'It suggests that by the Late Pleistocene, humans were learning to use fire in truly novel ways. In this case, their burning caused replacement of the region's forests with the open woodlands you see today.'

The work began in 2018, when paleoecologists from Pennsylvania State University were examining fossils, pollen and minerals in two sediment cores pulled from the bottom of Lake Malawi, Scientific America reports.

The analysis showed major ecological turnovers and environmental changes that could not be explained using just climate variables alone.

The work began in 2018, when paleoecologists from Pennsylvania State University were examining fossils, pollen and minerals in two sediment cores (purple, center and right image) pulled from the bottom of Lake Malaw. CHA, SS, WW, MGD are locations of ancient settlements

The team found water level and vegetation of the lake had a consistent climate pattern over the last 636,000 years and forests lining the shore disappeared during droughts and recovered when the lake reach normal levels.

However, pollen records showed a disruption in the cycle some 86,000 years ago.

Researchers discovered that when wetter periods returned to the region water levels stabilized, but forests along the shore did not recover.

The data also revealed that a spike in charcoal accumulation occurred shortly before the flattening of the region's species richness.

Pollen records showed a disruption in the cycle some 86,000 years ago. Researchers discovered that when wetter periods returned to the region water levels stabilized, but forests along the shore did not recover. There was also a spike in charcoal deposits around the same time as when ancient humans first moved into the region

Despite the consistently high lake levels, which imply greater stability in the ecosystem, the species richness went flat following the last arid period based on information from fossilized pollen sampled from the lakebed, the study found.

This was unexpected because over previous climate cycles, rainy environments had produced forests that provide rich habitat for an abundance of species, Ivory explained.

Sarah Ivory, of Penn State, said: 'The pollen that we see in this most recent period of stable climate is very different than before.'

The population around the lake must have gown and forests were burn to make room for more homes, which resulted in a sprawling bushland that stretches across the region today

'Specifically, trees that indicate dense, structurally complex forest canopies are no longer common and are replaced by pollen from plants that deal well with frequent fire and disturbance.'

Thompson and Ivory had been working around Lake Malawi around the same time, so their worked intertwined during excavations.

Thompson was uncovering ancient settlements surrounding the river, which produced tens of thousands of stone relics that helped her and colleagues date the habitats some 92,000 years ago.

And many of the tools found at the site were used for hunting and cutting animal flesh.

Combining their separate findings, Ivory and Thompson concluded that the population around the lake must have gown and forests were burn to make room for more homes.

But the team offered up other hypothesis for the surge in charcoal including uncontrollable fires in the area or people were burning wood to cook food or keep warm.

It's not clear why people were burning the landscape, Thompson said.

It's possible that they were experimenting with controlled burns to produce mosaic habitats conducive to hunting and gathering, a behavior documented among hunter-gatherers.

It could be that their fires burned out of control, or that there were simply a lot of people burning fuel in their environment that provided for warmth, cooking, or socialization, she explained.

'One way or another, it's caused by human activity,' she said. 'It shows early people, over a long period of time, took control over their environment rather than being controlled by it. They changed entire landscapes, and for better or for worse that relationship with our environments continues today.'
China claims its rocket will pose 'little threat to people and property on the ground' when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere this weekend.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbing said China 'pays great attention to the re-entry of the upper stage of the rocket into the atmosphere.'

The Chinese rocket made headlines this week when news surfaced that the massive 21-ton vehicle would make an uncontrolled reentry, meaning it could land on an inhabited area, with New York in its potential path.

The Long March 5B rocket was carrying a module of the new Chinese space station into orbit when it entered orbit itself, and is now slowly dropping back to Earth.

Chinese authorities say they will release information about the re-entry of the rocket, expected over the weekend, in a 'timely manner.'

Astronomers tracking the rocket predict it will re-enter the Earth over Turkmenistan between 15:00 BST on Saturday and 08:00 BST on Sunday, although it is almost impossible to predict the actual re-entry site and time until hours before it happens.

The first image of China's rouge Long March 5B rocket has been released by astronomers. The Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project captured the craft, which appears like a glowing light, as it passed 435 miles above the group's 'Elena' robotic telescope

The Long March 5B rocket carrying a module for a Chinese space station lifted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Wenchang in southern China's Hainan Province

LONG MARCH 5B The Long March 5b rocket, also known as Chang Zheng 5, is a Chinese-made heavy-lift launch vehicle. Named for the Red Army's Long March during the Chinese Civil War. It is the third most powerful launch vehicle in operation, after the SpaceX Falcon Heavy and the Delta IV Heavy. Height: 186.9ft Stages: 2 Payload to LEO: 55,000lb Total launches: 7 Launch site: Wenchang Advertisement

The first image of the rocket in orbit was released by astronomers yesterday, with the Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project capturing the craft.

The rocket was moving 'extremely fast' when it soared 435 miles above the Virtual Telescopes Project's telescope Wednesday evening, researchers said.

Gianluca Masi, an astronomer with the Virtual Telescope Project who snapped the image, stated that 'while the Sun was just a few degrees below the horizon, so the sky was incredibly bright: these conditions made the imaging quite extreme, but our robotic telescope succeeded in capturing this huge debris.'

'This is another bright success, showing the amazing capabilities of our robotic facility in tracking these objects.'

Space agencies and astronomers worldwide are tracking the path of Long March 5B with the hopes of better preparing for when it falls back to Earth.

The latest information shows it is expected to crash back to Earth on Saturday, May 8 and possibly rain down on inhabited areas, the US government warns.

Spokesperson John Kirby said that the government does not 'know enough right now to be able to ... formulate specific notification plans.'

He continued to say that 'if we have information that can be of use, we're going to share that appropriately, the State Department, through their channels ... would provide as much information to that process as possible. But I just don't think we're there right now.'

'As far as I understand, this type of rocket adopts a special technical design, and the vast majority will be burnt up and destructed during re-entry process,' said Wang.

He added that it 'has a very low probability of causing harm to aviation activities and the ground.'

Usually, discarded rocket stages re-enter the atmosphere soon after liftoff, normally over water, and don't go into orbit.

A Department of Defense spokesperson revealed the date of its expected reentry into Earth's atmosphere, but said its exact entry point can't currently be determined. Pictured is the rocket's current orbit

HOW MANY ITEMS ARE THERE IN ORBIT? Rocket launches since 1957: 5450

5450 Number of satellites in orbit: 8950

8950 Number still in space: 5000

5000 Number still functioning: 1950

1950 Number of debris objects: 22300

22300 Break-ups, explosions etc: 500

500 Mass of objects in orbit: 8400 tonnes

8400 tonnes Prediction of the amount of debris in orbit using statistical models Over 10cm: 34 000

34 000 1cm to 10cm: 900 000

900 000 1mm to 1cm: 128 million Source: European Space Agency Advertisement

CEO of British rocket startup, Skyrora, Volodymyr Levykin, said events like the fall of the Long March 5b 'shouldn't be happening,' calling for action to address situations like this 'before disaster strikes.'

'There are around 26,000 objects currently orbiting the planet and new constellations of satellites being launched among debris from 60 years of space missions,' he said.

'Orbital Transfer Vehicles, such as Skyroras space tug, are on hand to help safely deorbit space debris or transport it to a disposal orbit.

'With the capability of refiring its engine multiple times, a tug can complete several missions after deploying an initial payload.'

'By integrating them as part of the rocket's third stage, we can effectively deploy a vehicle as part of every launch, creating an orbital fleet of space tugs ready to be called upon when required.'

He said every future launch, regardless of who is running it, should include some form of Space Tug, to make sure the 'uncontrolled re-entries are a thing of the past.'

'Its not only about helping the planet or clearing up the mess orbiting it but about protecting the crucial infrastructure thats taken decades and trillions of dollars to build, which could effectively be wiped out in an instant.'

Last Thursday's liftoff was a proud moment for China and a watershed event in its quest to become a dominant force in humankind's quest for advancement in space

Chinese Space Station modules - Tianhe: Core module. Launched on April 29, 2021 - Wentian: Experiment module I. Launch planned for 2022 - Mengtian: Experiment module II. Launch planned for 2022 - Xuntian: Space telescope module. Planned launch in 2024 to co-orbit with Chinese Space Station Advertisement

China's space agency has yet to say whether the main stage of the huge Long March 5B rocket is being controlled or will make an out-of-control descent. Last May, another Chinese rocket fell uncontrolled into the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa.

The Communist Party newspaper Global Times said the stage's 'thin-skinned' aluminium-alloy exterior will easily burn up in the atmosphere, posing an extremely remote risk to people.

However, the US Defense Department doesn't agree, expecting the rocket stage to fall to Earth on Saturday, although where 'cannot be pinpointed until within hours.'

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at a Wednesday briefing that the US Space Command was 'aware of and tracking the location' of the Chinese rocket.

The nonprofit Aerospace Corp. expects the debris to hit the Pacific near the Equator after passing over eastern US cities. Its orbit covers a swath of the planet from New Zealand to Newfoundland.

China previously launched Long March 5b in May 2020 (pictured) to test the vehicle in preparation of sending people to the moon, but this mission also ended with an uncontrolled reentry

Pictured is predicted paths of the rocket over the eastern coast of the US. Calculations reveal six possible paths Long March 5B could take

The Long March 5B rocket carried the main module of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, into orbit on April 29. China plans 10 more launches to carry additional parts of the space station into orbit over the coming years.

The roughly 30-meter (100-foot) -long stage would be among the biggest space debris to fall to Earth.

The 18-ton rocket that fell last May was the heaviest debris to fall uncontrolled since the former Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1991.

China's first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it had lost control. In 2019, the space agency controlled the demolition of its second station, Tiangong-2, in the atmosphere.

In March, debris from a Falcon 9 rocket launched by US aeronautics company SpaceX fell to Earth in Washington and on the Oregon coast.
If you're about to go on a long-distance flight, don't worry about getting jetlag if you want to swiftly adapt to a new time zone, a new study suggests.

In a sample of 90 people, experts in Germany found a link between concerns pre-flight over developing jetlag, and severity of the disorder after landing.

They call this a form of the 'nocebo' effect  a negative version of a placebo, where people are more likely to experience an adverse effect if they expect or are worried about it occurring.

Amazingly, 'classic' factors thought to impact jetlag  the number of time zones crossed or travel direction  didn't have an effect on jetlag severity.

The study's findings could be useful for travellers eager for a summer getaway to a faraway country, once foreign holidays are permitted.

Severe jetlag can linger for days or even more than a week, hindering our ability to do our job. The new study suggests keeping a positive attitude pre-flight can limit its severity and duration (stock photo)

WHAT CAUSES JETLAG? Jetlag happens when long haul travel disrupts your body clock - or circadian rhythm. This internal cycle of bodily functions is synchronised to the 24-hour pattern of the Earth's rotation. So when people fly through different time zones, their senses are affected. Waking in the night, tiredness, wonky hunger patterns and even digestive problems and severe headaches are all common complaints from jet lag sufferers. Advertisement

The study was conducted by researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the German Aerospace Center, Cologne in Germany.

'Jetlag disorder afflicts millions of travellers each year  a nuisance on holiday trips but also a danger in safety and performance-critical operations,' the researchers say in their pre-print paper, yet to be peer-reviewed.

'For effective prevention and treatment, it is critical to understand what influences jetlag severity.

'These results suggest expectation as a relevant factor in jetlag experience  hinting at potential placebo effects and new treatment options.'

Jetlag is likely to cause fatigue, but it can also result in trouble thinking clearly and problems with the gastrointestinal tract.

Overall, it just makes it really hard to fall asleep at nighttime in your new time zone, or stay awake at work the day after landing.

It's caused by disruptions to the innate biological clock in humans, called a circadian rhythm, which regulates when we become sleepy and when we're more alert.

THE FOODS TO EAT WHEN JET LAGGED Registered nutritionist Lily Soutter recommends the following foods to overcome jet lag: Cherry juice - contains melatonin, which influences our body clock to aid sleep.

Kiwis - are high in the 'happy hormone' serotonin, which converts to melatonin in the body.

Eggs - are a rich source of vitamin B12, which regulates melatonin signalling in the brain and can induce alertness.

Green leafy vegetables - contain calming magnesium, which also regulates our sleep-wake cycle.

Whole grains - stimulate the release insulin, which manages our blood sugar levels and therefore our alertness.

Chamomile tea - is a very calming drink that has been shown to reduce insomnia. Advertisement

Travel across time zones, especially long-distance travel, means the body clock has to reset itself.

Light is that clock's strongest regulator, meaning one of the best therapies to beat jetlag is taking a walk in the sunshine rather than succumbing the temptation to sleep during the day.

'After a flight across multiple time zones, most people show a transient state of circadian misalignment causing temporary malaise known as jetlag disorder,' the experts say.

'The severity of the elicited symptoms is postulated to depend mostly on circadian factors such as the number of time zones crossed and the direction of travel.'

For their study, researchers examined the influence of expectations prior to flight, compared to these 'classic' factors, on jetlag severity.

The team monitored jetlag symptoms in 90 individuals between the age of 18 and 37  all of whom were inexperienced with air travel.

The participants completed questionnaires twice daily for one week before and after flights crossing more than three time zones.

Pre-flight questions included things like whether they expected to get jetlag and how severe they expected it to be.

On average, jetlag lasted for about four days, but it was less common than the participants thought it would be, the researchers found.

More than 75 per cent of the participants said they expected to get jet lag, but only 54 per cent did.

The only factor that did have an effect on jetlag was expectation of how severe it would be prior to travel, although the team admitted it the effect was only small.

The classic factors showed 'little to no link with jetlag symptom intensity and duration'.

Getting sunlight during the day in your new time zone is known as one of the best ways to knock jetlag on the head (stock image)

Researchers believe there are individual differences that influence how much certain factors affect different travellers.

'People are so variable,' study author Eva C Winnebeck Winnebeck at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich told New Scientist.

'Length of travel could affect someone really badly, but have no effect on someone else.'

The study's findings back up advice from Laurie Berryman, aviation and former Emirates vice president for the UK.

'Maintaining a positive attitude generally can help avoid stress and aid rest,' he previously told MailOnline.

'Talking to your in-flight neighbours can help you feel more comfortable throughout the journey, helping you to relax, sit and sleep better.'
China released a greater volume of greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere in 2019 than all of the world's developed nations put together, a study has found.

The eastern superpower has tripled its emission levels since the 1990s, crossing the 14 gigatons threshold for the first time ever in 2019.

Emission estimates for 190 nations across the globe were calculated by experts from research firm Rhodium Group in tandem with Breakthrough Energy.

The analysis considered six greenhouse gases  carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulphur hexafluoride.

Global emissions have risen 11.4 per cent in the last decade to reach 52 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019, with China responsible for 27 per cent of this.

The second-worst emitter was the US  accounting for 11 per cent of the total  with India edging out the EU for the first time to come in third at 6.6 per cent.

China has tripled its emissions levels since the 1990s, crossing the 19 gigatons threshold for the first time ever the year before last. Pictured: smog over Shanghai (stock image)

China (depicted in red) released a greater volume of greenhouse gases into Earth's atmosphere in 2019 that all of the world's developed nations put together, a study has found

'China's emissions not only eclipsed that of the US  the world's second-largest emitter, at 1 per cent of the global total  but also, for the first time, surpassed the emissions of all developed countries combined,' the Rhodium group said.

For the purposes of the study, the researchers defined developed countries as those that belonged to either the European Union or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

'Greenhouse gas emissions from all members of the OECD, as well as all 27 EU member states, reached 14,057 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent in 2019, about 36 million metric tons short of China's total,' the researchers added.

While China's figures may look disproportionate, they must also be regarded in relation to the fact that the vast country is home to a sizeable population estimated at more than 1.4 billion people.

When considered on a per capita basis, China's emissions have long been significantly lower than that of the developed nations and, despite tripling over the last two decades to around 10.1 tons, they remain under the OECD average.

Per capita, the worst offender for greenhouse gas emissions is the United States, coming in at the significantly higher value of 17.6 tons per head.

While final figures are still pending, the researchers are expecting China's per capita emissions for 2020 to exceed the OECD average as, unlike China, the organisation's member nations saw emissions decline sharply amid COVID-19 lockdowns.

In China, however, last year saw greenhouse gas emissions rise by 1.7 per cent.

When considered on a per capita basis, China's emissions (depicted in red) have long been significantly lower than that of the developed nations and, despite tripling over the last two decades to around 10.1 tons, they remain under the OECD average (in blue)

It also worth factoring historical emissions figures, the experts noted.

'China's history as a major emitter is relatively short compared to developed countries, many of which had more than a century head start,' they explained.

'A large share of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere each year hangs around for hundreds of years. As a result, current global warming is the result of emissions from both the recent and more distant past.

'Since 1750, members of the OECD bloc have emitted four times more carbon dioxide on a cumulative basis than China.'

The full findings of the study were published on the Rhodium Group website.

'China's history as a major emitter is relatively short compared to developed countries,' the researchers explained. 'Since 1750, members of the OECD bloc have emitted four times more carbon dioxide on a cumulative basis than China'
City-dwellers who prefer a bustling concrete jungle to the tranquility of the countryside score highly for psychopathic personality traits, a study shows.

Scientists also found people who feel no connection with nature are more likely to have 'dark' personality traits.

Being in and around nature has long been anecdotally linked with improved mental health, and recent studies now back this up.

Mental health charity Mind says spending time in nature can ease problems such as anxiety and depression.

City-dwellers who prefer a bustling concrete jungle to the tranquility of the countryside score highly for psychopathic personality traits, a study shows (stock)

Forensic psychologists at the University of Derby assessed data from two different studies of a total of 500 Britons.

People were asked to answer where they preferred to live  urban, suburbs, or rural areas.

They also completed questionnaires to determine their personality type and traits, as well as their connectedness with nature.

Data showed individuals who have a personality ruled by the so-called 'dark triad' of Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy have few dealings with nature.

Dr Dean Fido at the University of Derby, author of the study, told PsyPost: 'Across our studies, we evidenced a relationship between a connection with nature and psychopathy.'

He adds that everyone has psychopathic tendencies to some degree, but the level varies from person to person.

'Unlike damning media representations, it is not always deviant and dangerous in nature,' Dr Fido said.

Scientists also found people who feel no connection with nature are more likely to have 'dark' personality traits (stock)

'Indeed, many people who exhibit high degrees of psychopathic traits take up work in areas of medicine (e.g., surgeons) and the army owing to their ability to stay cool and calm under pressure and to make judgments that are not based on emotion.'

But while the research reveals and proves a preference of people with psychopathic traits for cities over rural areas, the reason for this remains unknown.

'Given interventions have shown that nature connectedness can be improved, particularly in those with lower connectedness and in urban environments, the potential role of nature connectedness interventions in forensic populations should be explored,' the researchers write in their paper, published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
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According to a new study published by Polaris Market Research the global fog computing market is anticipated to reach USD 934 million by 2026. Fog computing helps in enhancing the efficiency as well as data computing competencies for cloud computing. The major use of fog computing is to enhance efficiency however, the use of fog computing can also be done for security and compliance reasons. Fog computing is used in several applications including, smart city, smart buildings, smart grid, vehicle networks and software- defined networks.

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On the basis of components, the market is segmented into hardware and software. The software market is growing at a highest CAGR and has accounted for the largest share attributed to low cost, increasing functionality, as well as advancements in features & designs. Furthermore, the constantly decreasing costs of sensors, storage devices, and semiconductor devices is one of the factor which is fueling the market growth of hardware in fog computing. Another factor responsible for the market growth of fog computing is the developments in network technology resulting in reduction of OPEX across business organizations.

Currently, the market for fog computing is dominated by North America with countries including, US and Canada taking initiatives to promote the adoption of IoT in the region. Also, Europe is the second largest market after North America, which is also experiencing growth in the adopting of fog computing and IoT. However, APAC is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period attributed to the increasing awareness of fog computing in these regions.

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Major companies profiled in the report include Cradlepoint, Inc., PrismTech, FogHorn Systems, Cisco Systems, Inc., Crosser Technologies, Nebbiolo Technologies, Microsoft Corporation, Intel Corporation, Fujitsu, Arm Holding Plc., and ADLINK Technology Inc.

Key Findings from the study suggest North America is expected to command the market over the forecast years. APAC is presumed to be the fastest growing market, with highest CAGRover the forecast period. The fog computing market is presumed to develop at a CAGR of over 62.6% from 2018 to 2026. The fog computing technology is used in applications such as building & automation, smart energy, transportation & logistics, smart manufacturing, connected health, and others. Among the application segment, smart manufacturing is expected to hold the largest share. This is due to the several number of sensors required for varied functions in manufacturing facilities, that generates enormous amount data. Fog computing helps manufacturing companies to reduce operating cost by making use of real-time data to take efficient decisions.

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Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Hardware Routers/Gateways Switches Controllers Sensors Others

Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Software Fog Computing Platforms Custom Application Software

Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Service Professional Service Training Service

Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Application Smart Homes/Smart Cities Smart Energy Smart Manufacturing Connected Healthcare Smart Transport Others

Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Regions North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany UK Asia Pacific China Japan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa



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Volcanos on Mars could still be active, researchers claim, saying that it could mean life on the Red Planet was active within the past 30,000 years.

University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute discovered unknown volcanic deposits in satellite images of the planet.

The team said these images showed evidence of eruptions in the past 50,000 years, in the Elysium Planitia region, about 1,000 miles from the NASA InSight lander.

Most volcanism on the Red Planet occurred between three and four billion years ago, with smaller eruptions in isolated locations continuing up to three million years ago.

They say this evidence 'absolutely raises the possibility that there could still be volcanic activity on Mars' and of habitable conditions under the Martian surface.

'This may be the youngest volcanic deposit yet documented on Mars,' said lead study author David Horvath, adding that 'if we were to compress Mars' geologic history into a single day, this would have occurred in the very last second.'

Craters on Mars where deposits have been discovered that suggest very recent volcanic activity, within the past 50,000 years

The team said these images showed evidence of eruptions in the past 50,000 years, in the Elysium Planitia region, about 1,000 miles from the NASA InSight lander

ELYSIUM PLANITIA Elysium planitia is the location of the volcanic activity The Elysium planitia on Mars is a broad plain straddling the equator of the Red Planet, lying south of the volcanic Elysium province. Lava flows dating back hundreds of thousands, not millions, of years have been found in the region. There is also evidence of volcanic activity as recently as 50,000 years ago and long-gone ocean hundreds of miles wide. It is hte landing site of NASA's InSight lander, sent to Mars to look for evidence of Marsquakes. Many of which have been found within the region. Advertisement

The 'recent' volcanic eruption the team have evidence for produced an 8-mile-wide, smooth, dark deposit surrounding a 20-mile-long volcanic fissure.

'When we first noticed this deposit, we knew it was something special,' said study co-author Jeff Andrews-Hanna, the senior author on the study.

'The deposit was unlike anything else found in the region, or indeed on all of Mars, and more closely resembled features created by older volcanic eruptions on the Moon and Mercury.'

Further investigation showed that the properties, composition and distribution of material match what would be expected for a pyroclastic eruption.

That is an explosive eruption of magma driven by expanding gasses, not unlike the opening of a shaken can of soda.

The majority of volcanism in the Elysium Planitia region and elsewhere on Mars consists of lava flowing across the surface, similar to recent eruptions in Iceland being studied by co-author Christopher Hamilton.

Although there are numerous examples of explosive volcanism on Mars, they occurred long ago. However, this deposit appears to be different.

'This feature overlies the surrounding lava flows and appears to be a relatively fresh and thin deposit of ash and rock, representing a different style of eruption than previously identified pyroclastic features,' Horvath said.

Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) daytime infrared of the unit showing the symmetric nature of the deposit

High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) image showing that the appearance of the Cerberus Fossae mantling unit differs from that of the surrounding volcanic plains

'This eruption could have spewed ash as high as 6 miles into Mars' atmosphere. It is possible that these sorts of deposits were more common but have been eroded.'

The site of the recent eruption is about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from NASA's InSight lander, which has been studying seismic activity on Mars since 2018.

Two Marsquakes, the Martian equivalent of earthquakes, were found to originate in the region around the Cerberus Fossae, and recent work has suggested the possibility that these could be due to the movement of magma deep underground.

'The young age of this deposit absolutely raises the possibility that there could still be volcanic activity on Mars, and it is intriguing that recent Marsquakes detected by the InSight mission are sourced from the Cerberus Fossae,' Horvath said.

Images showing gaps, deposits and craters within the Martian surface where it is thought volcanic activity took place within the past 50,000 years

Darkening surface close to a fissure that was the result of a volcanic 'expulsion' on Mars

In fact, the team of researchers predicted this to be a likely location for Marsquakes several months before NASA's InSight lander touched down on Mars.

A volcanic deposit such as this one also raises the possibility for habitable conditions below the surface of Mars in recent history, Horvath said.

'The interaction of ascending magma and the icy substrate of this region could have provided favourable conditions for microbial life fairly recently and raises the possibility of extant life in this region,' he said.

Similar volcanic fissures in this region were the source of enormous floods, perhaps as recently as 20 million years ago, as groundwater erupted out onto the surface.

Elysium Mons is one of the largest volcanos on Mars and researchers believe the Elysium Planitia was home to relatively recent volcanic activity

Scientists claim to have found evidence of FUNGI on Mars A scientist dubbed the 'Space Tiger King' has claimed that strange 'puffball-like' rocks on Mars are actually mushrooms. Microbiologist Dr Xinli Wei from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, astrophysicist Dr Rudolph Schild from Harvard-Smithsonian and Dr. Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, aka Space Tiger King, made the claims after studying images snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover on the Red Planet and the orbiting HiRISE craft. Their study, was has met been with skepticism from the scientific community, argues that what NASA called rocks are actually fungus-like specimens growing in the Martian landscape. The trio claim that these 'mushrooms' seem to shrink, appear and disappear over a period of days, weeks and months. In one example, the team says there is evidence of fungi resembling Puffballs on Earth 're-sprouting' in tracks left behind by the NASA Curiosity rover. Advertisement

Pranabendu Moitra, a research scientist in the University of Arizona Department of Geosciences, has been probing the mechanism behind the eruption.

An expert in similar explosive eruptions on Earth, Moitra developed models to look at the possible cause of the Martian eruption.

He suggests that the explosion either could have been a result of gases already present in the Martian magma, or it could have happened when the magma came into contact with Martian permafrost.

'The ice melts to water, mixes with the magma and vaporizes, forcing a violent explosion of the mixture,' Moitra said.

'When water mixes with magma, it's like pouring gasoline on a fire.'

He also points out that the youngest volcanic eruption on Mars happened only 6 miles from the youngest large-impact crater on the planet - a 6-mile-wide crater named Zunil.

'The ages of the eruption and the impact are indistinguishable, which raises the possibility, however speculative, that the impact actually triggered the volcanic eruption,' Moitra said.

Several studies have found evidence that large quakes on Earth can cause magma stored beneath the surface to erupt. The impact that formed the Zunil crater on Mars would have shaken the Red Planet just like an earthquake, Moitra explained.

While the more dramatic giant volcanoes elsewhere on Mars  such as Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system  tell a story of the planet's ancient dynamics, the current hotspot of Martian activity seems to be in the relatively featureless plains of the planet's Elysium region.

Maps and diagrams showing where the expulsions happened as a result of relatively recent geological activity on Mars

Andrews-Hanna said it's remarkable that one region hosts the epicentres of present-day earthquakes, the most recent floods of water, the most recent lava flows, and now an even more recent explosive volcanic eruption.

'This may be the most recent volcanic eruption on Mars,' he said, 'but I think we can rest assured that it won't be the last.'

The volcanic deposit described in this study, along with ongoing seismic rumbling in the planet's interior detected by InSight and possible evidence for releases of methane plumes into the atmosphere detected by NASA's MAVEN orbiter, suggest that Mars is far from a cold, inactive world, Andrews-Hanna said.

'All these data seem to be telling the same story,' he said. 'Mars isn't dead.'

The findings have been published in the journal Icarus.
A skeleton belonging to a five-year-old girl was found under the floor of the chapel in the Real Alcazar in Spain.

Archaeologists say the remains date to the 1300s, and are of a fair-haired girl who was likely nobility.

They believe she was originally buried in a different location, but moved to a spot next to the main altar of the Virgen de la Antigua in Seville in the 1930s.

The sarcophagus was found just eight inches under the floor during renovation work in April.

This is the first body found in the Real Alcazar, Europe's oldest functioning royal palace.

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Remains of a 5-year-old girl were uncovered in the mail chapel at Seville's Real Alcazar, Europe's oldest functioning royal palace. Experts believe she was a member of the nobility who died some time in the 13th or 14th century

Archeologists uncovered a lead sarcophagus while surveying the chapel on April 20 prior to restoration work on the palace's 16th century ceramic tiles, El Pais reported.

The style of the sarcophagus, which measures about four-feet long and one-foot deep, suggests it dates to the 13th or 14th century.

Inside was a crumbling wooden coffin with a complete skeleton that belonged to a young girl.

'She had her arms semi-flexed and crossed over her thorax,' lead anthropologist Juan Manuel Guijo told El Pais. 'And the body had not been tampered with.'

The body was found inside a lead sarcophagus discovered in the floor next to the main altar of the Virgen de la Antigua

Hairs still on the nape of her neck indicate the girl had blonde hair, and the presence of a permanent molar suggests she was about five years old.

Her clothing had mostly disintegrated, leaving only some fabric, shoe leather, two mother-of-pearl buttons.

Six boxes containing a dirt-like substance were also found with the body, but they haven't been analyzed yet.

Researchers hope to find a distinguishing symbol or seal to give a clue about her identity.

Starting in the 10th century, Real Alcazar was built and rebuilt over hundreds of years. Today it is a prominent example of Mudejar architecture, a Moorish-influenced style common from the 13th to the 16th centuries

They believe she was buried in another location first and moved to the side of the altar when the chapel was repaved in the 1930s.

'The lead coffin was surrounded by a cist [stone coffin] made from reused bricks held together with cement, materials that tell us it is from the first half of the 20th century,' archaeologist Miguel Angel Tabales told El Pais.

'My theory is that the workers found the sarcophagus in another area, opened it and, on seeing it was a corpse, decided to cover it decently and place it near the altar.

Hairs from the girl's neck indicate she had blonde hair, while the presence of a permanent molar suggests she was about five years old

Archaeologists found some remaining scraps of fabric with the body, as well as shoe leather and two mother-of-pearl buttons

The archaeologists are confident she's not the only person buried in the palacethey theorize there could be a crypt with other royal remains.

'This is the tip of the iceberg,' Tabales said. 'When we saw the sarcophagus, we immediately thought that there could be more in the basement of the chapel.'

They'll have a more accurate estimate of the girl's age and when she died when the results of carbon-14 tests come back in three months.

They'll also be able to extract DNA from her hair, rather than her bones, and determine if she was embalmed before being buried.

Embalming was forbidden by the Catholic Church in the 14th century, but was still practiced by many wealthy families.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain walking in front of the Real Alcazar. The royal family still stays in the palace when they are in Seville

The Real Alcazar was built and rebuilt over hundreds of years, beginning as a palace of the Moslem governor in the 10th century.

Today it is a prominent example of Mudejar architecture, a Moorish-influenced style common in Iberia from the 13th to the 16th centuries.

The upper stories of the palace are still used by Spain's royal family when they visit Seville.
Napoleon Bonaparte  hero of the French Revolution and twice emperor of France  may have been killed by his extreme obsession with cologne, a study has claimed.

The former leader died on May 5, 1821 on the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he had been in exile for six years following his surrender to the British navy.

While autopsy cited the cause of his death as stomach cancer, conspiracy theories abound  from poisoning at the hands of his captors or his arsenic-dyed wallpaper.

One rumour even suggests that the remains of the erstwhile emperor now in his tomb in Paris are that of an imposter, with Napoleon having escaped to America.

Now, biomedical scientist Parvez Haris of Leicester's De Montfort University has a new theory  Napoleon was poisoned by the essential oils in his beloved scent.

The military genius went through what now would be considered an obscene amount of Eau de Cologne, getting through multiples bottles each day for years.

Previous studies from the US have shown that essential oils can act as 'endocrine disruptors' which affect hormones, leading to developmental disorders and tumours.

According to Professor Haris, prolonged over-exposure to these oils explain much of Napoleon's dwindling health in his final years  and even his fatal gastric cancer.

Napoleon Bonaparte  hero of the French Revolution and twice emperor of France  may have been killed by his extreme obsession with cologne, a study has claimed. Pictured: Napoleon depicted riding his horse across the Saint-Bernard Pass in the Alps in the May of 1800

While autopsy cited the cause of Napoleon's death as stomach cancer, conspiracy theories abound  from poisoning at the hands of his captors or his arsenic-dyed wallpaper. Pictured: a 1826 painting by French painter Emile Jean-Horace Vernet of Napoleon on his deathbed

THE TOILS OF HIS ESSENTIAL OILS Napoleon was not only exposed to excessive levels of essential oils through his cologne  although this was likely what led to the toxic effects. He also regularly drank orange blossom water and, being from Corsica, was a fan of citrus fruits  both of which are rich in essential oils. In 2007, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded topical applications of products containing lavender and tea tree oils can trigger so-called gynecomastia in boys. This is a condition in which a man's breast tissue swells  and which, according to some reports, Napoleon may have also suffered from. Documentation also suggests he developed a hairless body and complained of constantly being cold, lighting fires even in the summer. Both are consistent with disruption to his endocrine system. Napoleon also suffered from seizures, which recent research has also linked to excess essential oils. Advertisement

'Investigators have really missed the elephant in the room with the death of Napoleon,' explained Professor Haris, who said that he is so sure of his findings he could stand up the evidence 'in any court in the world.'

'Many point to samples of Napoleons hair taken while he was still alive which had high levels of arsenic  but this theory has now been refuted.'

'Most people during Napoleons era had high levels of arsenic in their systems because of the arsenic containing medications and cosmetics they were using.'

'What they have missed is the huge volumes of cologne that Napoleon smothered on his body.'

'He was surrounded by Eau de Cologne and on one occasion he had it smothered on his face and eyes mistaking it for water,' Professor Haris continued.

'Napoleon was a great promoter of colognes, which first went into commercial production in 1792. At that time it was only for the powerful and for the very rich and he could afford it.'

'Although Napoleon did not like doctors and avoided their medications, he was convinced about the health benefits of Eau de Cologne and he is reported to have said that Eau de Cologne is "a protection against many diseases".'

'So for at least 20 years he was bathing his body in it, pouring it over his head and, in some cases, he was quite literally lapping it up.'

'He took bottles with him during his military campaigns. Records show he was going through two to three bottles a day when, even now, people may use a bottle a year!'

At one time, Napoleon's perfumer, Gervais Chardin, had a standing order to deliver 50 bottles of the scent each month  with one quarterly bill from 1806 showing a supply of 162 bottles for the sum of 423 francs.

It is thought that Eau de Cologne reminded the then French emperor of his birthplace of Corsica, with one of the fragrance's main ingredients being rosemary, which grew among the cliffs and rocky scrubland of the Mediterranean island.

'For Napoleon, Eau de Cologne was a double-edged sword,' Professor Haris said, nothing that the perfume mainly contained alcohol and thus had the potential to act as an antiseptic.

'This may well have saved his life by protecting him from catching deadly bacteria and viruses during his campaigns in different parts of Europe as well as in Asia (Syria) and Africa (Egypt).'

'But it ultimately killed him due to overdosing himself over several decades.'

'There is no doubt in my view that Eau de Cologne was the main poison  although co-exposure to other chemicals, including arsenic, must have contributed towards his ill health and ultimately his death from gastric cancer.'

One conspiracy theory even suggests that the remains of the erstwhile emperor in his tomb in Paris (pictured) are really that of an imposter, with Napoleon having escaped to America

According to Professor Haris, prolonged over-exposure to essential oils explain much of Napoleon's dwindling health in his final years  and even his fatal gastric cancer. Pictured: Francois Carlo Antommarchi's death mask of Napoleon as seen in the Musee de l'Armee, Paris

By many accounts, the final years of Napoleon's life  in the wake of his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and later surrender to Captain Frederick Maitland  were less than salubrious for the former emperor.

Longwood House on windswept St Helena  to which Napoleon was moved into for his exile  had reportedly fallen to disrepair, damp and mould.

Napoleon himself repeatedly wrote with complaints about his living conditions to Hudson Lowe, his gaoler and the governor of the island, while his attendants complained of 'colds, catarrhs, damp floors and poor provisions.'

Lowe responded by curbing Napoleon's expenditure and placing constraints on the gifts he was permitted to receive from the outside world.

Barry O'Meara, Napoleon's personal physician, warned the British authorities that conditions at Longwood House seemed to be harming the former emperor's health.

Modern researchers have also pointed the blame at the copper arsenite dye in the wallpaper at Longwood House, which it was thought produced poisonous vapours.

Nevertheless, the circumstances of his exile appeared to have not dampened Napoleon's fire  and he used his time to dictate his memoirs, compose a book on his hero Julius Caesar and throw dinner parties as if he were not a captive at all.

Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821 on the remote Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he had been in exile for six years following his surrender to the British navy

By many accounts, the final years of Napoleon's life  in the wake of his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and later surrender to Captain Frederick Maitland  were less than salubrious for the former emperor. Longwood House (right) on windswept St Helena (left)  to which Napoleon was moved into for his exile  had reportedly fallen to disrepair, damp and mould
A miniature device worn in the inner ear could enable people suffering from ALS or other motor neuron diseases (MND) control a computer to communicate with the world.

Called the 'Earswitch,' its operated by tensing the tensor tympani, a tiny muscle hidden in the ear, to remotely operate a keyboard to conduct tasks on a customized computer.

The prototype is a silicone ear-piece embedded with a miniature camera that picks up movements when a user intentionally tenses their middle ear muscle.

Researchers believe the tensor tympani can still be controlled by people 'locked-in' due to a stroke or advanced MND.

Current assistance devices, like the infrared devices used by Stephen Hawking, often become unusable as a user's condition advanced.

The Earswitch (pictured) uses a silicone ear-piece embedded with a miniature camera that picks up movements when a user intentionally tenses their tensor tympani, a tiny middle-ear muscle

A prototype version of the Earswitch uses a silicone ear-piece embedded with a miniature camera that picks up movements when a user intentionally tenses their middle-ear muscle.

The signal is conveyed to an on-screen keyboard that scans through letters, allowing a single letter to be selected with an 'ear-click.'

The device was developed by physician Nick Gompertz, who first encountered locked-in patients losing the ability to use keyboards when he was a medical student.

'I have always been aware of the ability to tense a muscle in my ear, and so wondered if it could be used to control these communication devices.'

Current assistance devices, like the infrared devices used by Stephen Hawking (pictured), often become unusable as a user's condition advanced

Earswitch inventor Nick Gompertz believes even those 'locked in' by advanced motor-neuron disease can still tense their tensor tympani muscle, which is used to reduce transmission of sound into the middle ear

Famed scientist Stephen Hawking was able to communicate by twitching his cheek to control an infrared switch mounted on his glasses.

But the system had to be overhauled every two years as Hawking gradually lost more muscle control to ALS.

Gompertz believes even those with advanced ALS can still tense their tensor tympani muscle, which is used to reduce transmission of sound into the middle ear.

Most people aren't even aware of the muscle, one of the smallest in the body, but many can control it voluntarily, according to Gompertz.

'When they are asked to concentrate when they yawn, they may notice the muscle makes it more difficult to hear, which may also cause a fullness or rumbling sensation in their ears.'

When a user 'ear-clicks,' the Earswitch signals an onscreen keyboard that starts scanning through letters until the wearer stops on a specific letter with another click

A prototype uses a silicone ear-piece embedded with a miniature camera that picks up movements when a user intentionally tenses their middle ear muscle.

The signals are conveyed to an on-screen keyboard than scans through letters, allowing a single letter to be selected with an 'ear-click.'

'Earswitch may offer a completely new opportunity to give people with MND greater control over how they communicate, how they can control their environment - ultimately the way they choose to live their lives,' said Brian Dickie, Director of Research Development at the MND Association.

The device, developed with researchers at the University of Bath, could also be used for hands-free communication by healthcare workers to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases

It's not known what percentage of people can control the muscle the team is currently conducting an online survey to determine just that.

The device's development was supported by the University of Bath's Digital Innovation Business Acceleration Hub.

'With our electronic and electrical engineering experts, we're also helping Nick further develop how the Earswitch can be attached and, in the future, miniaturized,'

'This is a great example of how we can help translate Nick's blue-sky thinking into a truly innovative project with real-world application,' said Dario Cazzola from the University of Bath's Department for Health.

'We hope this work can make a significant difference to the lives of many people with neurological conditions in the UK and around the world.'

Gompertz envisions the device aiding people with a variety of neurological conditions that inhibit communication, but it could also be used for hands-free communication by healthcare workers and prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases.

He hopes the Earswitch can be scaled up to commercial use within the next two years.
The world has seen a number of videos showing NASA's Ingenuity flying above the surface of Mars, but now, for the first time, we can hear the humming of its tiny rotors spinning.

The low hum from blades spinning at more than 2,500 revolutions per minute is barely audible and almost sounds like a low-pitched, far-away mosquito.

The American space agency released the 'surprising' audio captured from its Perseverance rover, which was parked 262 feet from the helicopter as it soared through the thin Martian atmosphere during its fourth flight on April 30.

This is the first time a spacecraft on another planet has recorded the sounds of a separate spacecraft.

Along with the first sounds of the copter, NASA also share a video of the flight that saw it 'fly farther and faster than ever before.'

The $85 million drone traveled 872 feet (266 meters) at a height of 16 feet (5 meters) for two minutes.

NASA's tiny copter is set for its fifth flight Friday, but this mission is different from previous as it will land somewhere outside of the designated 'Wright Brothers Field.'

Ingenuity is set to retrace the steps of its fourth flight, climbing to 16 feet and heading south 423 feet (129 meters), but instead of turning around and heading back the copter will soar to a new height record of 33 feet (10 meters).

After a total flight time of about 110 seconds, Ingenuity will land, completing its first one-way trip.

Take off is set for 12:33pm local Mars time (3:26pm EDT) with data coming down at 7:31 pm EDT.

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NAS released 'surprising' audio captured from its Perseverance rover, which was parked 262 feet from the helicopter as it soared through the thin Martian atmosphere during its fourth flight on April 30

Ingenuity traveled in the belly of Perseverance as the pair made the 239 million mile to Mars and for days after they landed February 18.

The four-pound copter has shown it can hold its own after conducting four successful flights on Mars, which landed it a promotion as a scout for Perseverance.

The pair has provided NASA with a number of 'first' moments on Mars, with the most recent captured April 30.

NASA had Perseverance sit 262 feet (80 meters) from the helicopter's takeoff and landing spot, Wright Brothers Field, during the copter's fourth flight.

NASA had Perseverance sit 262 feet (80 meters) from the helicopter's takeoff and landing spot, Wright Brothers Field (pictured), during the copter's fourth flight. Pictured is Ingenuity's flight path

It was not clear if the rover's microphone could pick any sounds of the flight, but that did not stop it from trying.

Thin atmosphere on Mars makes it hard to capture sounds Sounds on Mars are slightly different than they are on Earth because of the atmospheric composition and its properties. The atmosphere on Mars is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen and 1.6% argon, along with a lot of dust. Mars has a rarefied atmosphere with 'just about 1% of the density of Earth,' according to NASA. NASA says sounds will be lower in volume because of the low pressure on the Red Planet. Higher-frequency tones will be strongly attenuated by the carbon dioxide molecules. Although sound is coming from Ingenuity's spinning rotors, the sounds is muffled by the thin Martian atmosphere. It is also disrupted by wind gusts when the copter first takes off. Advertisement

While in the air, the helicopter's blades spin at 2,537 rpm and faint humming is heard throughout the audio clip.

Ingenuity's flights are challenging because of conditions vastly different from Earth's - foremost among them a rarefied atmosphere that has less than one percent the density of our own.

And this hinders the ability to capture clear audio on the Red Planet.

David Mimoun, a professor of planetary science at Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace (ISAE-SUPAERO) in Toulouse, France, and science lead for the SuperCam Mars microphone, said: 'This is a very good surprise.

'We had carried out tests and simulations that told us the microphone would barely pick up the sounds of the helicopter, as the Mars atmosphere damps the sound propagation strongly. We have been lucky to register the helicopter at such a distance.

'This recording will be a gold mine for our understanding of the Martian atmosphere.'

Scientists made the audio, which is recorded in mono, easier to hear by isolating the 84 hertz helicopter blade sound, reducing the frequencies below 80 hertz and above 90 hertz, and increasing the volume of the remaining signal, NASA shared in a statement.

Some frequencies were clipped to bring out the helicopter's hum, which is loudest when the helicopter passes through the field of view of the camera.

Soren Madsen, Perseverance payload development manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said: 'This is an example of how the different payload instrument suites complement each other, resulting in information synergy.

While in the air, the helicopter's blades spin at 2,537 rpm and faint humming is heard throughout the audio clip

Ingenuity is set to retrace the steps of its fourth flight, climbing to 16 feet and heading south 423 feet (129 meters), but instead of turning around and heading back the copter will soar to a new height record of 33 feet (10 meters). Pictured is an image taken by Ingenuity during its fourth flight

'JPL built Perseverance as well as Ingenuity and operates both of them.

'In this particular case, the microphone and video let us observe the helicopter as if we are there, and additional information, such as the Doppler shift, confirms details of the flight path.'

Following this first, Ingenuity will perform another later today when it reaches a new height record and lands in a different spot on Mars.

Josh Ravich, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Mechanical Engineering Lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, shared in a statement: 'Ingenuitys fifth flight is scheduled for Friday, May 7. As always (at least so far), our targeted takeoff time is 12:33 p.m. local Mars time (3:26 p.m. EDT, or 12:26 p.m. PDT), with data coming down at 7:31 p.m. EDT (4:31 p.m. PDT).

'Ingenuity will take off at Wright Brothers Field  the same spot where the helicopter took off and touched back down on all the other flights  but it will land elsewhere, which is another first for our rotorcraft.'
The ancient Cambodian capital of Angkor Wat, had a staggering 900,000 inhabitants before it was abandoned in 1431, according to a new study.

An international team, led by the University of British Columbia, examined three decades of data to create a demographic model of the Medieval city.

Their model revealed that the capital of the long-gone Khmer Empire housed between 700,000 and 900,000 people during its zenith in the 13th century.

According to the researchers this made it one of the largest premodern cities int he world, built up over several centuries of growth at different rates.

The ancient Cambodian capital of Angkor Wat, had a staggering 900,000 inhabitants before it was abandoned in 1431, according to a new study

Densities of people per hectare in the Greater Angkor Region over time, peaking in the 13th century

The findings leverage more than 30 years of data to create the first model of demographic growth in this capital of the Khmer Empire.

Sarah Klassen and colleagues suggest that this technique for modelling urban centre growth may be applied to other premodern cities.

They say this could offer answers to some of archaeologys greatest challenges, including the rise and decline of social complexity.

The question of Angkors demographic growth has been a source of persistent speculation and controversy since the start of modern scholarship in the region.

This is an archaeological map of the Greater Angkor Region. According to the researchers this made it one of the largest premodern cities int he world, built up over several centuries of growth at different rates

In the mid-19th century, the French naturalist Henri Mouhot, who provided one of the first detailed accounts of Angkor for European audiences, cites an oral tradition that the Khmer Empire kept up an army of five or six million soldiers.

The first reasonably systematic attempt to calculate the population of Angkor was undertaken by archaeologist Bernard-Philippe Groslier.

He cautiously suggested a total population of 1.9 million in a region around Angkor in the last half of the 12th century.

More recent attempts based on the carrying capacity of the landscape estimate have estimated a population of approximately 750,000 people.

The findings leverage more than 30 years of data to create the first model of demographic growth in this capital of the Khmer Empire

Khmer society collapsed slowly, scientists believe Angkor, the ancient capital of the Khmer empire, suffered a gradual decline, a new study suggests. The abandonment of Angkor has long puzzled archaeologists and historians, with many attributing it to the 1431 AD invasion by Thai forces. But a slow and prolonged exodus of its inhabitants has been found dating back to the start of the 14th-Century. A decline in human activity on the land over a few decades was discovered by scientists who examined soil and sediment in the region. Advertisement

Until now, no comprehensive demographic study of Angkor had ever been completed, since the citys nonreligious architectural structures were made from organic materials that decayed long ago.

This rendered conventional population size and density estimation methods impossible, according to Klassen and colleagues.

To overcome this challenge they combined decades of archaeological excavation data, historical archives and maps, recent lidar assessments, and several machine learning algorithms to create maps that model the citys growth through time.

The researchers found that it may have taken several centuries for Angkors population to reach its peak, with growth occurring at different rates in its three occupation zones.

These included the civic-ceremonial centre, where the royal residence and large stone temples were located, the metropolitan area, and the embankments.

By comparing Angkors growth with other preindustrial tropical and subtropical urban centres, the researchers determined that its range of metropolitan urban area densities was much lower than those of the Mayan city of Caracol.

Yet its civic-ceremonial centre densities were comparable to those of Teotihuacan in what is now Mexico or Anyang in China.

The findings have been published in the journal Science Advances.
'Like father, like son' is a expression from the 1300s that suggests the child mimics behaviors of the parent, but a new study finds the saying is not true when it comes to toxic masculinity.

A team at Federation University in Victoria investigated what causes a man to embrace toxic masculinity and found that a man's relationships with his father and mother were not particularly relevant.

The biggest indicator was the nature of an individual's friendshipsthe fewer they had, the more likely they were to be 'toxic.'

This, according to the study, may be due to a lack of quality friendships, as loners tend to be more competitive and less willing to show emotion - which could also prevent them from forming bonds with others.

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The biggest indicator was the nature of an individual's friendshipsthe fewer they had, the more likely they were to be 'toxic.' This may be due to a lack of quality friendships, as loners tend to be more competitive and less willing to show emotion

Toxic masculinity, also known as hegemonic masculinity, refers to a strict adherence to traditional masculine attitudes like aggression, physical strength and self-reliance.

Because it leaves little room for different forms of identity, it can be linked to misogyny, homophobia and violence.

Researchers at Federation University in Victoria, Australia, wanted to examine the origins of toxic masculinity.

They surveyed 188 men ages 18 to 62 on their upbringing and current lives, particularly their family dynamic and the nature of their social relationships.

The study found little connection between a man's relationship with his father and whether he embraced toxic masculinity. It has been believed that men learn toxic traits from their parents, specifically their father

The researchers also asked participants to assess 29 statements about risk-taking, control over women, heterosexuality and other hegemonic masculine norms.

According to their findings, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, there was little connection between a man's relationship with his father and whether he embraced toxic masculinity.

'There's literature about men, and fathers in particular, being essential in their boys' lives and in their development,' sociologist George Van Doorn, lead author of the study, told Live Science.

'We just tested it, and it didn't really come out the way I expected,' Van Doorn said.

It didn't even seem to matter if a subject had a father in his life.

'If you were raised by your grandma, your aunt, two men, two women, it doesn't matter in this case,' Van Doorn said.

'While a father-son relationship is undeniably important to the development of a child, having a bad relationship with him, or no relationship at all, doesn't set him on a particular path.'

Similarly, a man's relationship with his mother failed to predict his belief in hegemonic masculinity, as did adverse experiences in his childhood.

WHAT IS 'TOXIC' MASCULINITY? Toxic masculinity is a cultural concept of manliness that glorifies stoicism, strength, virility and dominance. It's been used synonymously with hegemonic masculinity, a practice that legitimizes men's dominant position in society. But toxic masculinity can be harmful to mental health, as men and women both suffer when restrictive expectations are perpetuated Advertisement

What turned out to be a good predictor was the quality and quantity of his friendships: The more 'toxic' beliefs a man has, the fewer and less healthy his social relationships.

'A decrease in support from friends was associated with an increase in hegemonic masculinity, even after controlling for all other variables,' the authors said. 'The importance of peer relationships in developing and maintaining a man's adherence to traditional masculine norms is underscored.'

It's not clear, though, whether toxic masculinity prevented subjects from forming close bonds or whether lacking real friendships led a participant to become toxic.

Earlier research has found men who conform to hegemonic masculinity struggle in old age and are more likely to be isolated.

This may have a damaging impact on their mental health in later life, according to a 2020 report from Michigan State University, especially as they get older and retire.

The team analyzed nearly 5,500 older men and women from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Survey and determined where the men sat on the masculinity spectrum.

They found that men have significantly lower odds than women of having any confidants.

'Having people with whom we can talk about personal matters is a form of social support,' said sociologist Stef Shuster, co-author of the study.

The belief that 'real men' must be strong, tough and independent may be a detriment to their social needs later in life.

'Often, toxic masculinity is a term that we use to describe how masculinity affects other people, especially women,' Shuster said.

'But our study shows how toxic masculinity also has detrimental consequences for the men who subscribe to these ideals. 'It's hard to develop friendships living this way.'
Mexico City is sinking at an 'unstoppable' with some parts decompressing up to 20 inches a year over the past decades.

A new report highlights centuries of pumping water from the aquifer under North America's most populous city that has caused its foundation to compress at an alarming rate.

The city was built on what what was once Lake Texcoco and the lake bed acts as an infrastructure underneath the bustling travel destination.

However, the lake bed had become so dry that clay sheets are cracking and compressing, causing it to decompress.

If the rate of sinking continues, it will end up contaminating drinking water for millions.

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Mexico City is sinking at an 'unstoppable' with some parts decompressing up to 20 inches a year over the past decades

Metropolitan Mexico City is the largest city in North America, with a population of over 21 million people.

More than three-quarters of its drinking water comes from wells that extract water from the ground and continue to deplete the area's aquifers.

Experts first noticed the city was sinking in 1900, when it was recorded at a rate of about 3.5 inches a year.

Drilling for groundwater wasn't capped until the late 1950s, by which time Mexico city was sinking at a rate of 11 inches a year.

Completed in 2014, the Eastern Wastewater Tunnel in Mexico City is intended to help prevent flooding and the over-exploitation of groundwater resources

That slowed the rate of sinking, or subsidence, back to 3.5 inches a year but it didn't stop the problem, which only worsened as the city's population grew and development increased exponentially.

A new report published in the journal JGR Solid Earth indicates that parts of the city, including the historic downtown, are now sinking at a rate of up to 16 inches annually.

In some areas it's even worse: the underdeveloped northeast has sunk 20 inches a year and experts say there's no hope of reversing it.

Should the northeast become more industrialized, the situation there would only worsen.

Scientists from the US and Mexico analyzed more than a century of data, including more recent information from GPS and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR).

According to their findings, the level of subsidence in Mexico CIty is no longer even affected by how much water is being removed from the ground.

'Instead, it reflects the steady compacting of the ancient lake bed on which the city was built,' reports the American Geophysical Union.

A chart indicating Mexico City's rate of shrinking, or subsidence, over the past 45 years and its impact on the aquifer beneath

Mexico City was built on what was once Lake Texcoco, home of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.

According to the AGU, centuries of water extraction have pushed the groundwater further underground, and the minerals in the dry lake bed have been repacking themselves tighter and tighter, 'causing the ground to shrink and subside.'

The clay layers beneath Mexico City have been compressed by 17 percent, according to the report, and the subsidence 'is almost fully irreversible.'

If water levels aren't raised, the clay layers in the lake bed are expected to compress further, to 30 percent.

That would cause Mexico City to sink almost 100 feet more in the next 150 years.

But even if water levels are raised, the report said, 'there is no hope for recovering the great majority of the lost elevation and the lost storage capacity of the aquitard.'

An aquitard is a zone that restricts groundwater flowing from one aquifer to another.

The sunken city is especially vulnerable to flooding from rain and spring water washing down the Sierra Madre mountains.

Those floodwaters could eventually pollute the groundwater, adding a drinking water shortage to the growing environmental catastrophe.

'The stage is set for a dual water and subsidence crisis if no drastic water management actions are implemented,' the researchers write.

completed in 2014, the Eastern Wastewater Tunnel is intended to help prevent flooding during the rainy season and stop the over-exploitation of groundwater resources.

Some experts suggest harvesting rainwater is a 'viable and necessary' solution to the city's water crisis.

'Harvesting rainwater offers a simple, practical, proven and inexpensive solution that could provide water for up to six months in areas such as homes and schools,' Eduardo Vazquez, executive director of Mexico City water fund Agua Capital, told BNamericas.
NASA is launching a suborbital sounding rocket Saturday from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia that may put on a light show for those living along the east coast and in Bermuda.

The four-stage Black Brant XII rocket is scheduled for takeoff at 8:02pm ET, and will release a vapor that is expected to glow as it travels more than 200 miles above Earth's surface to study space plasma.

The glowing green will be visible in parts of Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, all of New England and a few other states that sit close to the Atlantic Ocean - but will only last up to 120 seconds in certain regions.

The mission, called the KiNETic-scale energy and momentum transport eXperiment, or KiNet-X, is tasked with investigating energy is transported through space, in which it will release barium vapor that will form two green-violet clouds that may be visible for about 30 seconds.

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The glowing green will be visible in parts of Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, all of New England and a few other states that sit close to the Atlantic Ocean - but will only last up to 120 seconds in certain regions.

Nasa regularly conducts launches such as this to study the movement of ionized and neutral particles in the upper atmosphere.

Sounding rockets, also called suborbital rockets, are valuable tools in qualifying technologies for flight.

KiNet-X, is designed to study a very fundamental problem in space plasmas, namely, how are energy and momentum transported between different regions of space that are magnetically connected?

NASA provides an example of Auroras that form when particles in the Earth's near near-space environment interact with the atmosphere, the American space agency shared in a blog post.

The four-stage Black Brant XII rocket is scheduled for takeoff at 8:02pm ET, and will release a vapor that is expected to glow as it travels more than 200 miles above Earth's surface to study space plasma

'The electrons in Earth's space environment and in the solar wind have relatively low energies. Yet the aurora is generated by very high energy electrons. What is the energization mechanism?' said Peter Delamere, KiNET-X principal investigator from the University of Alaska - Fairbanks.

Another example of energy and momentum transport is the Io-Jupiter interaction.

Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system and has a tenuous atmosphere.

The chemicals released by the Black Brant XII sounding rocket allows scientists to better spot clouds as the Earth's magnetic field pushes them around the ionosphere.

The ionosphere, which begins above 60 miles above the ground, is a layer of charged particles surrounding our planet.

It serves as the medium through which high frequency radio waves, including those sent down to the ground by global positioning system satellites, travel.

'We know the power generated by Io's interaction, and we know the auroral power from the spot, but how are energy and momentum transported along the connecting magnetic field line?' said Delamere.

The vapor will be released approximately nine minutes and 30 seconds to around 10 minutes after launch at about 217 to 249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops and just north of Bermuda.

When the vapor is released it will mix with spherical clouds and turn green for about 30 seconds when the un-ionized component of the cloud has diffused away.

After exposure to sunlight the vapor clouds quickly ionize and take on a violet color.

KiNet-X, is designed to study a very fundamental problem in space plasmas, namely, how are energy and momentum transported between different regions of space that are magnetically connected? This is similar to what is observed in auroras (pictured)

The ionized portion of the cloud becomes tied to the magnetic field lines and diffuses parallel to the field lines but not perpendicular to it.

In the mid-Atlantic region latitudes, the field lines are inclined by about 45 degrees to the horizontal, so the violet clouds stretch out in a slanted orientation and look more like short trails than a cloud.

Because the motion of the neutral portion of the clouds is not constrained by the magnetic field lines, they spread out more quickly and become too thin to see with the naked eye much sooner than the ionized component.

In general, the human eye does not see violet colors very well in darkness.

The KiNET-X clouds will therefore be more difficult for the casual observer to see than some of the previous vapor missions launched from Wallops.
Georgia Kousoulou has given birth to her first child.

The TOWIE star, 29, announced she had welcomed a baby boy with her boyfriend Tommy Mallet, 28, on Friday with a sweet Instagram post, and gushed it was the 'greatest experience of [her] life.'

Sharing a family snap, Georgia revealed the couple have named their son Brody Fordham and welcomed him into the world on Wednesday.

Congratulations! Georgia Kousoulou and boyfriend Tommy Mallet have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy called Brody Fordham

'Introducing you': The TOWIE star, 29, revealed her little boy's name, birth weight and that he arrived on Wednesday in the caption to her sweet family picture

The new mum penned: 'Introducing you .. Brody Fordham  05.05.21 weighing 8lb 9  We are so in love '

Georgia looked radiant as she cradled her little boy, who was wrapped in a soft white blanket, while laying in a hospital bed alongside her beaming beau.

Proud dad Tommy also shared the same image with his own followers, adding that Georgia and their newborn son are doing 'well'.

In a second snap uploaded shortly afterwards Georgia cuddled with her little one and wrote in the caption: 'Thank you for all your messages  I feel so blessed, the best experience of my life 

'@tommy_malletI didnt think I could love you more than I did already .. you are the best x'

New parent: In another snap, Georgia looked radiant as she cradled her little boy, who was wrapped in a soft white blanket, while laying in a hospital bed

Love: She wrote in the caption: 'Thank you for all your messages  I feel so blessed , the best experience of my life'

Tommy took to Instagram on Friday and gushed over his newborn son as he declares his 'life is full'.

Little Brody sported a Burberry baby grow and slept peacefully while covered with a checked blanket covered with the letter B.

Clearly proud of his new baby boy, Tommy penned: 'Now my life is full! Welcome to the world young.'

Doting new mother Georgia replied to the comment, and said: 'The best thing that's ever happened to us.'

Doting: Tommy gushed over his newborn son Brody, who he welcomed with Georgia, as he declares his 'life is full' on Instagram on Friday

Proud parents: Clearly proud of his new baby boy, Tommy penned: 'Now my life is full! Welcome to the world young'

Georgia's 1.3million followers were quick to congratulate the couple, with many of their reality star pals also sending love.

Chloe Sims commented: 'Congratulations! He's so precious love him already xxx'

And Amber Dowding penned: 'I honestly cant even tell you how much this picture makes my heart burst. My besties.. Brody you're so loved my angel .. cant wait for cuddles I love you all so much.'

Mrs Hinch, who is also expecting a baby boy in the coming weeks, wrote: 'So so amazing! Congratulations to you all beautiful family xxxxx'

Glowing: Georgia has been sharing regular updates throughout her first pregnancy (pictured at her baby shower in April)

While pregnant Danielle Fogarty added: 'Oww Congratulations!!!'

And mother-of-two Sam Faiers, who also shot to fame on TOWIE, shared her well-wishes as she wrote: 'Aww. Huge congratulations. Such a beautiful photo x x x x x'

Georgia and Tommy, who have been together since 2014, revealed they were expecting a baby in emotional scenes filmed for the TOWIE Christmas special.

Mum and dad: The couple revealed to their friends they were expecting their first baby together in emotional scenes filmed for the TOWIE Christmas special

Well wishes: Dozens of the couples celebrity pals sent their congratulations and shared their excitement over Brody's arrival

Georgia admitted that 'no one knew' she was expecting and insisted she wanted to film genuine 'real-life' reactions to the news on TOWIE, adding that 'it just felt so right' given that she and Tommy met on the reality show.

Speaking after the big reveal she told her Instagram fans: 'Good morning. Honestly, I feel so overwhelmed this morning. I just feel so happy, so blessed, so lucky.

'It's been a mad year, and this is just the best news we've had all year... The reason we announced it last night was because we wanted to be the first to tell you all.

'That's why we shocked everyone last night and just announced it. I'm really glad we did, though, because it's just been amazing.'

Pregnancy: Georgia previously detailed how revealing her pregnancy on TOWIE felt 'so right' given that she and Tommy met on the reality show (pictured at five months)

Georgia and Tommy have also bagged their own ITVBe spin-off series that will give fans the chance to watch them as they become parents for the first time.

And just last month, Georgia revealed she was 'very emotional' after filming her final scenes for The Only Way Is Essex before she gave birth.

She shared that she would likely have to take a step back from being a full-time cast member on TOWIE, saying it was the 'end of an era'.

The blonde said: 'I've finished filming TOWIE. It's all happening now, it all feels very real. I'm not going to lie, it was a very emotional day for me.

'I know I'm not leaving for good, but it is going to be different. Life as I know it is changing.

Success: The duo's happy news comes after Tommy was revealed to have made the Forbes 30 under 30 list and spoke about it on TOWIE: The Story Of on IGTV last Tuesday

'I don't think I'm going to be a full-time cast member anymore that is just carefree, does what she wants, films when she wants. I'm going to have a little bubba to add into the equation. It has been amazing, but next chapter, end of an era.'

The reality star reassured viewers that it wouldn't be the end of her time on the show as she continued: 'Don't worry TOWIE fans, I will be back with the baby. I'm excited - who knows what it's going to bring or what's going to happen.'

April was also a busy month for the new parents after Tommy was revealed as having made the Forbes 30 under 30 list of most influential entrepreneurs.

Tommy candidly chatted about where be found his 'hunger for money', despite being told by his father that he would 'never be anyone' and was destined to live life 'skint', during a recent episode of TOWIE: The Story Of on IGTV.

Proud: The fashion mogul, 28, has made millions of pounds through his footwear company, Mallet London and recently made the Forbes list of most influential entrepreneurs

'Honoured': The entrepreneur shared a screenshot from Forbes website on his Instagram in April to announce the news as his proud girlfriend celebrated her beau's achievement

The fashion mogul, who has made millions through his successful footwear company, Mallet London, explained that he left school with no qualifications.

The entrepreneur, who left school due to dyslexia, said he promised his father during an argument that he would be a 'millionaire' by the time he was 30, but was met with disbelief.

He recalled: 'My dad told me when I left school that I was never going to be anyone, and I was going to be skint because I didnt have any grades.

'So I told him, in McDonalds car park, when he was shouting at me, that I dont need him, and Ill be a millionaire by the time Im 30.

'Off the back of that, I got pushed into being an architect but I was the worst one youve ever met in your life because I didnt know algebra.'

However, the footwear millionaire admitted that it was his three years working as a carpenter that gave him his 'hunger for money'.

He said: 'I went to college with [TOWIE star] Charlie Sims, we both bunked college together and ended up being a down and out, and then I ended up being a labourer and thats where I found my hunger for money.'

Proud Georgia celebrated her beau's achievement of being featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of most influential entrepreneurs in April.

Tommy shared a screenshot from Forbes website on his social media and wrote: 'Honoured to be chosen for the Forbes 30 under 30 list!! FORBES LIST YOU KNOW Thank you, Forbes.'

And the new mum congratulated her partner on his success, saying on his Instagram post: 'How lucky is our baby, he has you teaching him and showing him the world.'

Family: Georgia and Tommy already share dog Monkey together. She said Monkey 'was obsessed with her' and was constantly lying on her tummy before she found out the news

In December, Georgia revealed the couple already know the gender of their baby after having a private Harmony blood test.

The reality star candidly chatted about her pregnancy in an Instagram Q&A where she said she was 'petrified' of giving birth and has never changed a nappy.

When asked if she knew the sex, Georgia said: 'We already know the gender, we did a private blood test. Im going to do a reveal, probably the beginning of next year.

She was also asked if she was scared about the birth, with Georgia - who was 19 weeks pregnant at the time- honestly answering that she's 'petrified'.

She said: 'Oh my god I'm petrified, Ive always been scared about giving birth all my life it's a bit late now!'

The star added she's nervous for 'everything', saying: 'Guys, Ive never changed a nappy.. Im just gonna have to wing it.'

Georgia also reflected on how she discovered she was expecting and how she broke the news to Tommy and their families.

She said: 'I just felt weird, my boobs hurt. Monkey [her beloved dog] was obsessed with me, laying on my belly so I thought this is weird.'

As for how she told her other half, Georgia laughed as she reminisced: 'I woke him up and told him I was pregnant, he jumped up and was like WHAT! and I said I think I am, but I think Ive done it wrong though.'

Georgia and Tommy have been together since 2014.

Georgia and Tommy will follow in the footsteps of former TOWIE cast members Ferne McCann, 30, who has show First Time Mum, and Sam, 29, and Billie Faiers, 30, who star with their young children in The Mummy Diaries.

Keeping it real: The reality star candidly chatted about her pregnancy in an Instagram Q&A in December where she also said she's 'petrified' of giving birth and has never changed a nappy

Unlike some of the show's couples that have had their relationships plagued with drama, Georgia and Tommy have stood by each other and maintained a strong romance over the years.

Georgia supported Tommy through his battle with mental health in 2018, when the entrepreneur admitted to not being able to leave the house amid his toughest days.

While they are not yet engaged, the pair did discuss the prospect of getting married during the latest series of TOWIE.

Georgia said: 'God, I'm with you for the rest of my life, that's mental isn't it? Like we're actually going to be together forever, that's long.'

Tommy added: 'I come in handy sometimes George. I'm needed in other ways, kids, marriage, you're not going to get married by yourself, are you?' to which Georgia replied: 'No and I am happy about it.'
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The global magnetic sensor market size is expected to reach USD 4.68 billion by 2026 according to a new study by Polaris Market Research. The report Magnetic Sensor Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report By Type (AMR, GMR TMR, Hall Effect, Others); By Technology (Low Field Sensor, Earth Field Sensor, Bias Magnetic Field Sensor); By Application (Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Industrial, Aerospace and Defense, Healthcare, Energy and Power, Others); By Regions, Segment Forecast, 2020  2026 gives a detailed insight into current market dynamics and provides analysis on future market growth.

In the market, there are many manufacturing companies imparting magnetic sensors that are utilized in many programs where high dependability & cost-optimized solutions are needed. In a current discovery, the board has allowed improving those sensors. The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) has observed that merging magnetic alloy layers with silver nanolayers will grow the sensitivity of magnetic. Being capable to utilize quite skinny films (magnetic sensor) is essential in applications like weapon detection, clinical devices, and records storage. Moreover, its main applications further consist of magnetic flux measuring & the direction in addition to the electricity of a magnetic field. These are mainly relevant within the sensors for android, navigation, commercial and scientific applications.

Get sample copy of this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/magnetic-sensors-market/request-for-sample

The upward push in the integration of a these sensor in the automobile industry permits contactless and wire-free measurement of mechanical quantities including the angle of rotation and angular speed. Governments encouragement to use eco-friendly vehicles and the increase of consumer electronics will growth the marketplace shares at some stage in the forecast period. Moreover, the advancement of small scale Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for detecting and measuring magnetic fields is broadly speaking driving the marketplace in conjunction with the growth of patron electronics appliances. These sensors primarily based on MEMs perform with Lorentz Force which makes it work extra efficiently. However, the Stiff competition and price erosion of magnetic sensors are the main restrain factors for the manufacturers in the market during the forecast period. Also, the growth in manufacturing capabilities, quality products, and reduce the overall cost of production of the magnetic sensors are the main challenges for the manufacturers in the global market over the forecast period.

Based on region, the global industry has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2019, Asia-Pacific region dominated the market in terms of value and volume owing to high production of conventional and electric vehicles. Also, the Asia-Pacific is the largest producer of consumer electronics in the global market in 2019. Such factors are expected to raise the demand for the magnetic sensors in the region in the coming years.

In North America, the connected automobiles have gained large prominence as consumer buying behavior has commenced hinging on conversation skills presented by diverse car manufacturers. Miniature magnetic sensors assist in supplying such skills while maintaining fundamental functionalities of the automobile intact. Sensing additives in various use cases such as position sensing, flow charge detection, and velocity sensing are creating opportunities in the domestic region in the forecast period. The European marketplace is projected to preserve a steady growth fee over the forecast period. Hybrid motors, that are included with Hall Effect contemporary sensing in the power systems, are witnessing expanded adoption in Europe, which has greatly aided marketplace increase. Hybrid motors, that are included with Hall Effect present-day sensing inside the strength systems, are witnessing increased adoption in Europe, which has significantly aided market growth.

Complete Summary with TOC Available @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/magnetic-sensors-market

Allegro Microsystems, Inc., Alps Electric Co., Ltd, Asahi Kasei Microdevices Corporation, AMS AG, Baumer Ltd., Crocus Technology, Elmos Semiconductor AG, Honeywell International, Inc., iC-Haus, Infineon Technologies AG, Magnetic Sensors Corporation, Melexis Corporation, Memsic Corporation, Micronas Semiconductor Holding AG, Microsemi Corporation, MultiDimension Technology Co. Ltd, NVE Corporation, NXP Semiconductors, Robert Bosch GmbH, Rotary and Linear Motion Sensor (RLS), Sensitec GmbH, TDK Corporation and others are the key players in the global market. Product launch, merger & acquisition, and partnerships encompass key players strategies to preserve and capture the most important share of the global market.

Polaris Market Research has segmented the magnetic sensor market report on the basis of type, technology, application, and region

Magnetic Sensors Type Outlook (Volume  Million Units, Revenue  USD Billion, 2016  2026)

Hall Effect

AMR (Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive)

GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistance)

TMR (Tunnel Magneto-Resistance)

Others

Magnetic Sensors Technology Outlook (Volume  Million Units, Revenue  USD Billion, 2016  2026)

Low Field Sensor

Earth Field Sensor

Bias Magnetic Field Sensor

Magnetic Sensors Application Outlook (Volume  Million Units, Revenue  USD Billion, 2016  2026)

Automotive

Consumer Electronics

Industrial

Aerospace and Defense

Healthcare

Energy and Power

Others

Magnetic sensors Regional Outlook (Volume  Million Units, Revenue  USD Billion, 2016  2026)

North America U.S. Canada

Europe UK Germany France Italy

Asia Pacific India Japan China South Korea

Latin America Brazil Mexico

Middle East & Africa

Avail discount on this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/magnetic-sensors-market/request-for-discount-pricing

About Polaris Market Research

Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. We strive to provide our customers with updated information on innovative technologies, high growth markets, emerging business environments and latest business-centric applications, thereby helping them always to make informed decisions and leverage new opportunities.

Contact us-

Polaris Market Research

Phone: 1-646-568-9980

Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com

Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com
The return of old characters is a familiar ploy when a show wants to inject new life into the drama yet with a breath of familiarity. EastEnders has done it with Grant (several times) and, more recently, Sharon.

One of Emmerdales greatest successes has been another return of Kim, who turned up as if she had never been away. And, in a few weeks time, well be seeing the fabulous Samantha Giles back as Bernice  always a welcome return for one of the shows best characters and actors.

Tracie Bennett recently came back to Corrie as the devious Sharon, intent on tracking down Leanne so that her wicked nephew Harvey can threaten her to not give evidence against him.

Tracie is a huge asset, and someone who can bring about laughter with the tiniest of sarcastic expressions; she doesnt need words.

One of Corries mysteries, however, is why Cilla hasnt returned; in fact, she hasnt had so much as a mention.

Wouldnt Chesney have called on his mum to help out with five screaming infants? Would Fiz not have called her mum as her marriage crumbled? Come on, Corrie: we really need Wendi Peters back on those cobbles.

CORONATION STREET: TRUTH MEETS FICTION

The real-life death of Sophie Lancaster at the hands of a gang inspire Nina's (pictured) storyline in Coronation Street

AGH, NO! Not Seb! How will we live without that luscious hair? His death came as a shock, and the circumstances are truly horrific. Its going to be very emotional for Roy when he visits Nina.

Inspired by the real-life story of the death of Sophie Lancaster at the hands of a gang in 2007, its been a horrifying reminder of the extremes to which bullies will go. One cannot begin to comprehend the unutterable grief of Sophies mother, who advised throughout the storyline.

Although the heaviness of the plot is questionable in these depressing times, we owe it to each other to stand up for others in the face of such appalling atrocities, and the show is sending a powerful social message.

Sam continues to educate everyone on the street, but when he reveals that hes studying Treasure Island, Daniel suggests that he tutor him. Thats right, Daniel, who is allegedly training to be an English teacher and hasnt touched a book in a year.

He wouldnt know a book cover from a duvet cover  the best Sam could hope for is that Daniel will sail away to his own island, never to touch the education system again.

EASTENDERS: BRUVVERLY LOVE

Sharon has a complex relationship with her half-brother Zack (pictured), who ticks all the boxes of a modern-day soap baddie, in EastEnders

You dont have to go far to find a would-be criminal in Walford, and Zack is ticking all the boxes of a modern-day soap baddie  good-looking, seemingly charming, and in a complex relationship with Sharon, albeit only as her half-brother.

Is her hair getting bigger with every dodgy turn her life takes? Whats she hiding under there? A couple of Kray brothers?

Im not optimistic about the success of that gym shes bought; if the size of some of the locals is anything to go by, they didnt use it before, so why bother now?

And so, finally, the big day arrives. Will this be the one on which Callums frown manages to absolve itself of the expression of someone who has just witnessed the drowning of a litter of puppies?

Whitney is secretly pleased when things are not going well for the hapless I mean, happy pair, as shes devastated she cant go to Kushs funeral in Dubai. Who is at hand to comfort her? Step forward, serial killer Gray.

How many more people is he going to bump off, and is Whitney going to succumb to his dubious charms and enter yet another unsuccessful liaison?

Expect drama when another day passes and she doesnt manage to take off the previous nights make-up. Somebody, please, buy the girl some Olay wipes.

Sidebar: please can you tell me where Gray and Whitney buy their kitchen knives? They do a much better job of doing away with people than mine do slicing a tomato.

EMMERDALE: SMIRNOFF TIME AGAIN!

Liv turns to vodka as she worries about whether she should tell Vinny (both pictured) the truth about Paul in Emmerdale

Whenever anyone has a drink problem, its always vodka they turn to. Is there a stash left over from when Laurel hit the bottle?

It seems so, because now Liv is on the same liquor big time, worried about whether she should tell Vinny the truth about Paul.

The fallout from the theft of Brendas brooch (hold on to your sets, the excitement is overwhelming!) continues when Brenda, mistakenly believing Faith is the thief, insists to Eric that their relationship is over while her rival remains.

Its all much ado about nothing; Faith has enough tacky jewellery of her own, without having to raid Brendas coffers.
Michael B. Jordan recalled that he had a less-than-stellar audition for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The 34-year-old actor recently appeared on an episode of the Just For Variety podcast, where host Marc Malkin asked him to describe his worst tryout to date.

The Fruitvale Station star bashfully recalled that, out of all the projects that he had auditioned for in the past, his reading for the first entry in the new Star Wars trilogy had to be his weakest.

Missed opportunity: Michael B. Jordan recently discussed his less-than-stellar audition for Star Wars: The Force Awakens; he is pictured at the 51st NAACP Image Awards in 2020

Jordan noted that he was uncomfortable while he was trying to get into character, as he did not have much reference material on which to build a performance.

'I couldnt wrap my brain around some of the sides because you know when youre reading for these high-level projects, theres never really any specificity in the sides,' he said.

The Just Mercy star went on to note that, as a result of going into his audition blind, he was not able to give the producers a good performance and lost his potential part.

'Everythings like super vague; everything is in secret. Reading through, I just couldnt connect it. I definitely bombed that one for sure,' he remarked.

Reasoning: The performer recalled that, as he was not given much reference material before his audition, he 'just couldnt connect' with the producers

Jordan then humorously recalled that, sensing that the producers were unsatisfied with his audition, he made a quick exit.

The Chronicle actor recalled, 'I'm pretty sure I ran out of there.. it was like "alright guys, see you later, I'm out of here."'

He also expressed that, after viewing Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he felt as if the film's development team did an excellent job without him.

'I don't think I've seen J.J since then...I've obviously seen the project, everything's going great, so it was clearly the right decision,' he remarked.

Done and done: Jordan recalled that, sensing that his audition was not up to snuff, he made a quick exit and remarked that he was 'pretty sure I ran out of there'; he is pictured in 2019

Jordan concluded by expressing that any performer would feel the same about going into an audition without much reference material.

He said, 'You kind of understand why it's that way, but as an actor sometimes, it's tough when they can't give you a lot.'

The actor also discussed several other projects during the interview and eventually brought up his recently released action-thriller film, Without Remorse.

The feature is based on Tom Clancy's 1993 book of the same name and is centered around a Navy SEAL named John Kelly who sets out for revenge after his wife and brothers-in-arms are killed by Russian assassins.

Changing lanes: Jordan discussed several projects during the interview, including the recently released action-thriller film Without Remorse, which is based on Tom Clancy's 1993 novel

Jordan told Malkin that, although the producers intended for the film to start a series, the production team wanted to put out a decent feature before they began focusing on their future.

'At the end of the day we wanted it to be a franchise, but we also know that you got to do one good movie first,' he said.

The performer expressed optimism about Without Remorse's future and noted that he was ready to spearhead a potential franchise centered around Kelly.

He remarked, 'you have to do a film that works. And this one works. Im excited to see what the future holds and how we get to a "Rainbow Six."'
Edwina Bartholomew has revealed how an innocent video of her one-year-old daughter, Molly, sparked a 'mum war' on Facebook.

The Sunrise newsreader posted a clip on social media of her little girl playing with a kettle, which prompted a troll to accuse her of 'endangering' her child.

Edwina, 37, addressed the 'snafu' in her column for The Daily Telegraph on Friday, insisting the kettle in the video 'was not filled with hot liquid' nor 'on a hot stove'.

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Hitting back: Sunrise newsreader Edwina Bartholomew has revealed how an innocent video of her one-year-old daughter, Molly, sparked a 'mum war' on Facebook

'A mum on Facebook accused me of endangering my child, by letting her play with an object that in another context would have been dangerous,' she wrote.

'From the tone of the post, you'd think I'd let me daughter chop apart a doll with a sharpened carving knife, or drive the car home.'

The video in question, which Edwina posted on Instagram on April 13, showed Molly studying her own reflection in the stainless steel kettle, before looking up at her mother and smiling.

Edwina responded to her troll by saying she felt she was doing the right thing by letting her daughter play with the kitchen appliance.

No danger here! The Seven presenter, 37, had posted a clip on social media of her little girl playing with a kettle, which prompted a troll to accuse her of 'endangering' her child

'There is no such thing as a perfect parent,' she added in her column. 'Just a whole bunch of us doing the best job we can do on a whole lot less sleep than we need.'

Edwina and her husband, Neil Varcoe, announced they were expecting their first child in June 2019.

'We're having a baby, due in December,' she told her colleagues live on Sunrise.

No danger: Edwina, 37, addressed the 'snafu' in her column for The Daily Telegraph on Friday, insisting the kettle in the video 'was not filled with hot liquid' nor 'on a hot stove'

'We're super stoked and our family is really excited,' she added. 'Mum has been bursting at the seams to tell everyone - so mum, you can tell everyone!'

The Seven presenter married Neil, a digital media executive, on April 21, 2018, at their restored farmhouse in Lithgow, New South Wales.

They welcomed Molly in December 2019.
She is known for rocking elegant and timeless ensembles.

And Rosie Huntington-Whiteley looked typically stylish when she headed to a business meeting in LA wearing a chic all-white look on Thursday.

Layering a cream shirt over a figure-hugging camisole, the mother-of-one, 34, teamed her tops with a pair of white culotte trousers and open-toe heels.

Effortless: Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, 34, looked typically stylish when she headed to a business meeting in LA wearing a chic all-white ensemble on Thursday

Sweeping her long blonde hair into a bun, Rosie toted her belongings in a luxury black handbag as she went about her day.

Protecting her vision behind a pair of oversized sunglasses, the Transformers star accessorised with a chunky gold necklace and clutched her phone in her left hand.

Rosie also wore a white face mask in keeping with pandemic protocol.

It comes after the British beauty opened up the floor to her Instagram followers in April in a Q&A where she peeled back the curtain on her family.

Glam: Sweeping her long blonde hair into a bun, Rosie toted her belongings in a luxury black handbag as she went about her day

From unseen snaps of her three-year-old son Jack to revealing partner Jason Statham was an 'amazing' dad, the model was an open book.

Rosie and the Snatch actor have been together since 2010 and got engaged in 2016. They welcomed their son Jack together a year later. Of their decision to not rush into marriage she had told ET in 2018 that it wasn't a 'huge priority.'

She said: 'We're looking forward to that time. It's also not a huge priority for us; we're so happy. I think it will be fun to do it when the baby's grown up a bit and he can be involved in the wedding.'

On point: Protecting her vision behind a pair of oversized sunglasses, the Transformers star accessorised with a chunky gold necklace and clutched her phone in her left hand

And she added that the pair definitely 'want more kids.'

Her followers asked everything from her 'favourite thing about being a mother,' to whether or not she would consider making a cameo in Jason's films after acting as Splendid in Mad Max Fury Road.

She revealed that she adores when Jack hugs her and says 'I love you mama,' and that although she has no plans to appear in the Fast & Furious franchise maybe their 'little guy might!'

When asked her favourite thing about her fiance she gushed: 'He's an amazing hands on Daddy. A supportive and protective partner and he's pretty funny too,' but she did later add that she thinks she has him beat in the humour department.

When asked about she and Jason's height difference she replied: 'I am definitely longer than him with heels on..it's been 11 years so I'm pretty sure he feels good about it.'

Additionally she revealed that she has been contemplating doing a clothing line, writing: 'It's definitely something I'm exploring...but I'm a perfectionist so I'd have to do it right.'

Private life: It comes after the British beauty opened up the floor to her Instagram followers in April in a Q&A where she peeled back the curtain on her family

Rosie recently put out her first shoe collection in March for Gia Couture Firenze.

She was asked to choose between London, LA, and NYC to which she said she felt 'lucky' to be able to work and live in all three.

The family splits time between the three hubs  both she and Jason having family back in the UK, and being tied to all cities for their livelihoods.
Hannah Berner has apologized for her remarks she made about ex's Luke Gulbranson's mental health on the Puddles with Andrew Collin podcast in February of 2020.

The Summer House star, 29, took to Instagram on Wednesday to say she's sorry, after losing a sponsor for what she had said about her former relationship with Luke Gulbranson, 36.

In the controversial appearance, Berner downplayed a moment in which Gulbranson had suicidal ideations, laughing as she said she fell asleep after he texted her with his problematic feelings; she said she believed he 'just wanted attention' in the exchange, asking in response, 'Do want to have sex?"'

The latest: Hannah Berner, 29, has apologized for her remarks she made about ex's Luke Gulbranson's mental health on the Puddles with Andrew Collin podcast in February of 2020

Berner on Wednesday took to the site with a detailed message alongside a tweet that read, 'Depression and anxiety. Name a more iconic duo, I'll wait.'

'I've recently been made aware of some talk online regarding comments I made on a podcast two years ago referencing suicide ideation and I want to apologize for my insensitivity regarding such a serious topic,' Berner wrote.

She said that she considers herself 'to be a very fierce advocate for mental health awareness, and I understand that I crossed the line.

'To everyone who has brought this to my attention, I want you to know that I hear you, and I am sorry.'

Details: Berner on Wednesday took to the site with a detailed message alongside a tweet that read, 'Depression and anxiety. Name a more iconic duo, I'll wait'

Out and about: The Bravo personality took to social media earlier this year to show off her vaccination card

The Bravo personality said that she has empathy for the issue having dealt 'with depression and anxiety' in her own life.

'Being candid about my own mental health and hearing from all of you has taught me the importance of acknowledging pain, shame, and struggles,' she said. 'I've experienced my fair share of all three (especially recently), but one of the many things that [her podcast] Berning in Hell has taught me is that even when we are going through hell, it won't last forever.

'Tough times are intense learning opportunities, and the adversity we face ultimately makes us stronger.'

Berner - who revealed her engagement to comic Des Bishop, 45, in March - said that she began her podcast 'committed to creating a community devoted to having candid, inclusive conversations about mental health,' and her desire 'to understand more about what makes us all human at the end of the day and I wanted to do it with light and humor.'

Fallout: As result of the resurfaced words, the counseling service Better Help said on Twitter that they 'have ended our partnership with Hannah and no longer sponsor her podcast'

Berner added: 'I've laughed and cried along with you all over the course of hundreds of episodes as we talked about eating disorders, grief, panic attacks, sexual assault, body dysmorphia, self-harm, miscarriages, heartbreak, bullying, PTSD, and more.'

As result of the resurfaced words, the counseling service Better Help said on Twitter that they 'have ended our partnership with Hannah and no longer sponsor her podcast.'

If you or a person you know has suicidal thoughts, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text STRENGTH to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
Coronation Street star Millie Gibson has said she was left 'a blubbering mess' over Nina Lucas' hate crime attack as she and her co-stars discussed the soap storyline.

Speaking to The Mirror on Thursday, the actress, 16, who plays Kelly Neelan spoke about Wednesday's episode, which saw Nina and her boyfriend Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) get attacked by a gang of thugs who shout abuse about her goth identity.

The storyline has many similarities to what happened to Sophie Lancaster, who was murdered in a Lancashire park in 2007, and the soap has worked with a foundation set up by the late 20-year-old's mother Dr Sylvia Lancaster OBE.

Upset: Coronation Street's Millie Gibson said on Thursday that she was left 'a blubbering mess' when she read the plot for Nina Lucas' hate crime attack - based on the Sophie Lancaster case

Reflecting on when she read the script, Millie admitted: 'I was just a blubbering mess. We knew we had to make this an amazing educational storyline.

'Because it is based on true stories of hate crime, bringing it to a soap it is critical to get it right.'

Harriet Bibby, 22, who plays Summer Spellman on the soap, also spoke about the horrific plot, admitting: 'I think it will make people think, "how would I have reacted in that situation? Would I have done what Asha did or what Kelly did?"

'It will make you think what is right or wrong in that situation.'

Important: The plot sees Nina and her boyfriend Seb Franklin (Harry Visinoni) get attacked by a gang, and Millie said: 'We knew we had to make this an amazing educational storyline'

Maximus Evans, who plays Corey Brent, admitted that while his character isn't the nicest, he 'loves' seeing how he develops on the soap and working on his portrayal.

While Asha Alahan star Tanisha Gorey claimed she was 'a bit worried' when she first joined the soap aged 11 if she was a good enough actress.

And Elle Mulvaney, who plays Amy Barlow, told the publication it was 'a privilege' to be working on the soap since 2010, as it has helped her 'learn as you go'.

On Wednesday, Mollie Gallagher, who plays Nina, discussed the hard-hitting storyline ahead of the episode, admitting she 'wanted to cry' after seeing her character's injuries in make-up.

Food for thought: Harriet Bibby, who plays Summer Spellman (pictured), also spoke about the horrific plot, saying: 'It will make people think, "how would I have reacted in that situation?"'

The actress added that she hopes to do the important scenes 'justice' and that it 'breaks her heart' knowing this has happened and does happen in real life.

Speaking to The Sun, Mollie said: 'I remember the first time I had the make-up done, I hadn't filmed any scenes yet and I'd just been rehearsing it in my mirror at home by myself. As soon as the makeup was done, I just wanted to cry.

'I remember looking at my reflection and thinking: "Wow". I already knew it was awful but when you're actually in it, I thought I could cry.

'It was a really strange feeling. I kept thinking about all the scenes and what was coming up. It did help in a way as I was able to hold that feeling when we filmed the scenes. It was a massive help.'

Awful: On Wednesday, Mollie Gallagher, who plays Nina, discussed the hard-hitting storyline, admitting she 'wanted to cry' after seeing her character's injuries (pictured in soap still)

Mollie added to the Mirror: 'Because this stuff has happened its such an important story to tell. I felt a lot of emotions. I am really privileged to be given such an important storyline but I am also nervous because I want to do the story justice.

'I have really put my all into it and hopefully it shows. You see the human effect this has on someone who you would say is strong. Knowing this has happened and does happen breaks my heart.'

Mollie said that she worked closely with the late Sophie Lancaster's mother Dr Sylvia Lancaster OBE to make sure she was as 'accurate' as possible during the storyline.

Sylvia told the publication it was 'lovely' to speak to Mollie and that people are 'looking behind' her character Nina's clothes and image.

Hard-hitting: The actress added that she hopes to do the important scenes 'justice' and that it 'breaks her heart' knowing this has happened and does happen in real life

She added: 'It so important to get the message out there, intolerance and prejudice, we have to get it out of society. Alternative people like other minorities deserve to walk down the street without being abused physically or emotionally.'

Sylvia also appeared on Wednesday's This Morning where she praised Coronation Street for handling the storyline 'sensitively'.

She said: 'You can tell, they sort of live and breathe the work they're doing, and you know they're going to do things with sensitivity and the best they can, and you can't ask any more than that.'

Sylvia said that due to Covid her foundation has not been able to go into schools or festivals but they have still 'kept busy' by 'working in a different way'.

Murdered for dressing differently: Sophie Lancaster was just 20-years-old when she was murdered by a group of teenage boys in a park in Lancashire on 11 August 2007

She added: 'Sometimes it only takes a couple of seconds stand back and think about and see what we can do and make a difference to people's lives.'

Sophie and her boyfriend Robert Maltby, then 21, were set upon and beaten in a park simply because of the way they looked on 11 August in 2007.

Sophies injuries were so severe, she died in hospital 13 days later, aged 20. Ryan Herbert and Brendan Harris, then both 15, were sentenced to life in prison.

Her mum, Sylvia, set up the Sophie Lancaster Foundation in her daughter's memory to focus on creating respect and understanding of subcultures in communities.

'Justice': Mollie added: 'Because this stuff has happened its such an important story to tell. I felt a lot of emotions' (Seb pictured after the attack in soap still)

When the storyline was first discussed producers and the research team approached Sylvia who was delighted to be able to work with them to help highlight the issue.

Corrie viewers have seen Nina and Seb fall head over heels in love in recent weeks, but her goth identity has resulted in some prejudiced reactions.

Among those is character Corey Brent (Maximus Evans), the boyfriend of Nina's best friend Asha, he has long made his intolerance towards Nina known.

In the dramatic episode on Wednesday, the couple were out walking when Corey and a gang of drunken mates including Kelly, corner and goad the pair.

As Corey starts hurling abuse, Kelly finds herself egged on by the crowd and slaps Nina. Seb and Nina hurry away as the gang gives chase and they find themselves subject to an unprovoked attack.

On hand: Mollie said that she worked closely with the late Sophie Lancaster's mother Dr Sylvia Lancaster OBE to make sure she was as 'accurate' as possible during the storyline (Sylvia pictured on Quest Red series Britain's Deadliest Kids)

Back on the Street, Abi and Kevin's hen and stag night parties are brought to an abrupt halt when the police arrive with news of the attack.

As Abi and Roy rush to the hospital to be with Seb and Nina, the police start the investigation to get to the bottom of which of the teenage gang was responsible for the vicious assault that has left the young couple with horrific injuries.

The story will draw in the street's other teenagers as Summer, Asha and Amy find themselves caught up in the aftermath as potential witnesses in the police inquiry.

Sophie's mother Sylvia said that the soap covering a story about the abuse alternative people face 'means such a huge amount' to her.

Taking part: When the storyline was first discussed producers and the research team approached Sylvia who was delighted to be able to work with them to help highlight the issue

She said: 'I know first-hand the abuse, harassment and violence that alternative people suffer.

'Hate crime is usually directed at already stigmatised and minority groups and Sophie was assaulted three times before that final, sustained and brutal attack that took her life - but she never reported the earlier assaults.

'Coronation Street covering this issue means such a huge amount to me. We want alternative people to know that they shouldn't be putting up with this prejudice and intolerance, and they should report it.

'We want the wider community to really appreciate the horror of this violence and understand that difference in itself, is not frightening, it just makes us all who we are.

'We will also use this platform to continue raising awareness of Sophie's case with the police and judiciary to make sure that hate crime against alternative people is recognised and treated with the degree of severity that it deserves.'

On the importance of tackling this storyline Coronation Street, producer Iain MacLeod said: 'The issue of intolerance and hatred towards people from different cultures and subcultures is arguably more relevant now than it's ever been.

'This incredibly hard-hitting storyline, which centres on a senseless act of violence, will draw in characters from all corners of our narrative universe and will, we hope, leave the audience with a clear message: everyone, regardless of how they look, how they dress or any aspect of how they live their life, should be treated with tolerance and respect.

'The story will run across the rest of the year and beyond, with many twists and turns, and will be heartbreaking and dramatic in equal measure. In the end, the story will see an optimistic outcome emerge from the traumatic attack.'
Channel 10 has announced plans to rebrand its 10 All Access streaming service as Paramount+.

The TV network's boss Beverley McGarvey said the new service, which debuts on August 11, will have 'four times what we have currently' in terms of content, in an interview with News.com.au.

The Chief Content Officer also admitted ambitions to release blockbuster movies like Mission Impossible 7 on the service just 45 days after cinemas.

Coming soon: Channel 10 has announced plans to rebrand its 10 All Access streaming service as Paramount+. Pictured: Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell in Mission Impossible 7

That would bring the Australian service in line with its US counterpart, which made the shift from CBS All Access to Paramount+ earlier this year.

'Obviously that's something we would love,' said McGarvey of halving the release window from Australia's traditional 90 days.

'We're just working through all the technical details,' said the executive.

Bigger: The TV network's boss Beverley McGarvey said the new service, which debuts on August 11, will have 'four times what we have currently' in terms of content

A welcome addition: The Chief Content Officer also harbours ambitions to release blockbuster movies like Mission Impossible 7 on the service just 45 days after cinemas

Other films that will be available on Paramount+ are Top Gun: Maverick and a Quiet Place Part II.

McGarvey also estimated Paramount+ will include approximately 20,000 TV episodes.

New content being made for the US service that will likely make its way onto Australian screens includes The First Lady with Viola Davis and Gillian Anderson and a revival of the serial killer TV drama Dexter.

Local support: Four Australian originals are also in the works, including a second season of Five Bedrooms [pictured]

The service will also include content from Showtime, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Smithsonian Channel, Sony Pictures Television and Channel 10.

Four Australian originals are also in the works: a second season of Five Bedrooms, John Ibrahim crime drama The Last King of the Cross and coming-of-age movie 6 Festivals.

Paramount+ launches in Australian on August 11 and will cost $8.99 a month.
End Of Sentence (15)

Verdict: Worth seeing, full stop

Rating:

Cowboys (15)

Verdict: TransAmerican adventure

Rating:

Once Upon A River (15)

Verdict: Never the Twain

Rating:

Only in the past few years have strained parent-child relationships been quite such a propulsive force in cinematic storytelling.

The subject has always popped up here and there. But now, you can't get away from mothers or fathers and their offspring either losing each other, or finding each other, or doing a little of both.

This week it's the dominant theme in no fewer than three new films. One of them even plays it partly for laughs.

Estrangement and abandonment, they're the new Laurel and Hardy. And each film also has a road trip or significant journey of some kind at its heart, almost as if they've all been workshopped as part of a film-school project.

The pick of the trio is probably End Of Sentence, in which a convicted car thief, Sean (Logan Lerman), reaches the end of his jail term in Alabama to find his newly-widowed father, Frank (John Hawkes) waiting for him.

The pick of the trio is probably End Of Sentence, in which a convicted car thief, Sean (Logan Lerman), pictured right, reaches the end of his jail term in Alabama to find his newly-widowed father, Frank (John Hawkes), pictured left, waiting for him

Sean was close to his late mother, Anna (a fleeting role for Andrea Irvine), but has no respect for his dad, whose kindly reserve and old-world courtesy infuriate him. He also feels a sense of betrayal, for uncomfortable reasons involving childhood abuse at the hands of a relative.

So that's the cheerful menage a deux with which they are both lumbered, owing to Anna's dying wish that they travel together to her native Ireland to scatter her ashes.

At first Sean refuses to go, but then discovers that Anna owned a property back in the old country, and it's all his if he would just go and claim it. Off they duly fly to the Emerald Isle, with Frank stoically refusing to rise to Sean's abrasive hostility.

Sean was close to his late mother, Anna (a fleeting role for Andrea Irvine), but has no respect for his dad, whose kindly reserve and old-world courtesy infuriate him. He also feels a sense of betrayal, for uncomfortable reasons involving childhood abuse at the hands of a relative

Of course, you don't need much more than the intuition of a potato to know that there will be some kind of reconciliation, but Icelandic director Elfar Adalsteins, and writer Michael Armbruster, chuck in a few unexpected twists and turns, and extract just enough comedy, but sensibly not too much, from the challenge of keeping the pot containing Anna's ashes safe. Helpfully, too, Hawkes and Lerman are both entirely convincing in the lead roles.

Along the way, father and son pick up whatever might be the Irish equivalent of a femme fatale, a canny colleen perhaps, nicely played by Sarah Bolger.

And Frank learns that there might have been a fella in Anna's life more meaningful than him. It's engagingly done, and only mildly flirts with the traps into which last week's release Wild Mountain Thyme plunged headlong, of presenting Ireland as a theme park  let's call it Whimsy-Land  full of craic addicts.

Along the way, father and son pick up whatever might be the Irish equivalent of a femme fatale, a canny colleen perhaps, nicely played by Sarah Bolger

It's engagingly done, and only mildly flirts with the traps into which last week's release Wild Mountain Thyme plunged headlong, of presenting Ireland as a theme park  let's call it Whimsy-Land  full of craic addicts. Pictured: John Hawkes and Sarah Bolger in The End of Sentence

I quite enjoyed Cowboys, too, a very different parent-child journey, billed as a modern-day Western, in which Troy (Steve Zahn) and his 11-year-old transgender son Joe (Sasha Knight) take off into the Montana wilderness.

Troy is separated from the child's mother, Sally (Jillian Bell, stepping firmly away from her own usual habitat of comedy).

She cannot bring herself to accept that her beloved daughter considers herself a boy, angrily cutting off her extravagant blonde tresses (in truth, not a moment too soon; someone in the wig department went wild with the extensions).

I quite enjoyed Cowboys, too, a very different parent-child journey, billed as a modern-day Western, in which Troy (Steve Zahn pictured right) and his 11-year-old transgender son Joe (Sasha Knight pictured left) take off into the Montana wilderness

Troy is separated from the child's mother, Sally (Jillian Bell, stepping firmly away from her own usual habitat of comedy). Pictured: Jillian Bell (right) with Sasha Knight (left)

The problem is that Troy is bipolar, requiring constant medication to suppress his manic episodes, which further complicates an already fraught situation

'Sometimes, I think aliens put me in this body as a joke,' says Joe, and the point is that Troy understands his/her identity confusion but Sally doesn't. So although it's technically an abduction, igniting a nationwide manhunt, at first it looks as if Joe is in safer, more empathetic hands.

The problem is that Troy is bipolar, requiring constant medication to suppress his manic episodes, which further complicates an already fraught situation.

There are distinct echoes of 2016's Captain Fantastic in writer-director Anna Kerrigan's film, especially in the questions it raises about responsible fatherhood. It gets corny at times, now and again tugging at the heartstrings a little too obviously, but at a taut 86 minutes it never outstays its welcome.

Once Upon A River isn't much longer, but it's a little bit more of an endurance test.

Set in rural Michigan in 1977, it tells the story of a teenage girl, Margo (Kenadi DelaCerna), growing up with her Native American father after her white mother does a bunk.

But when she is raped by an uncle and gets mixed up in a murder, Margo  a hunting, shooting and fishing prodigy, for whom no deer goes unstalked, no target unhit, no trout untickled  sets off in a rowing boat to find her long-gone mom.

Chronicling Margo's adventures along the way, director Haroula Rose's debut feature, adapted by Bonnie Jo Campbell from her own novel, tugs hard on the Huckleberry Finn tradition of American storytelling without ever quite pulling it off.

All three films are available from today on digital platforms.

Once Upon A River isn't much longer, but it's a little bit more of an endurance test. Pictured: Kenadi DelaCerna as Margo in Once Upon a River
Being Mr Wickham (originaltheatreonline.com)

Rating:

Verdict: Requiem for a rogue

The Sorrows Of Satan (thesorrowsofsatan.com)

Rating:

Verdict: Devil has some good tunes

A Killer Party (akillerparty.co.uk)

Rating:

Verdict: Spoof on the hoof

Poor old Mr Wickham. He's been one of the most reviled characters in literature ever since he eloped with Lizzie Bennet's little sister Lydia in Jane Austen's novel Pride And Prejudice.

Having played the saucy scoundrel in Andrew Davies's 1995 TV series (opposite Colin Firth's goody-goody Mr Darcy), Adrian Lukis finally sets the record straight with his account of the fearful bounder's bad behaviour.

It's the evening of his 60th birthday, and he's been barred by Lydia from their bedroom. Happily, he observes, he has 'a bottle to kill and an audience to entertain'.

His penchant for mischief fermented while growing up with the entitled young heir to Pemberley.

Poor old Mr Wickham. He's been one of the most reviled characters in literature ever since he eloped with Lizzie Bennet's little sister Lydia in Jane Austen's novel Pride And Prejudice

Ever the hero, Darcy once confessed to stealing a bottle of brandy that Wickham had nicked. Since then, he says he has relished 'festering like a wound' in Darcy's side, jeering at his pomposity.

Although he admits behaving disgracefully 'once or twice', he is unrepentant about his lechery, which he claims he modelled on the young Lord Byron, whom he once saw in a London theatre.

Recollecting the events of Pride And Prejudice, Wickham remembers liking Lizzie, and admiring her intellect. But it was Lydia's spirit that caught his eye. Perhaps because, like him, she was 'vain, impetuous and proud'.

Lukis, who wrote the piece with 18th-century historian Catherine Curzon, clearly relishes the sybaritic rotter's roguish charm. The show was recorded on stage at Bury St Edmunds' Theatre Royal, with Wickham cosily ensconced on a panelled set of inky Regency colours.

'Did you forgive him?' my wife asked, at the end. Before I could answer, my 11-year-old daughter piped up: 'He's so annoying! I don't know why anyone would want to marry him.'

Personally, I have no animus for this Neolithic nookie monster. He's just a love dinosaur, from another age. A Bonkersaurus Rex, if you will, who belongs in a Social History Museum.

The oldest sinner of all gets a tongue-in-cheek tribute in Luke Bateman and Michael Conley's camp musical comedy The Sorrows Of Satan, based on Marie Corelli's 1895 novel.

The show, set in the 1920s, is about a struggling composer (Bateman) who sells his soul to the devil (Conley) before a make- or-break performance for wealthy sponsors.

Harriet Thorpe as Detective Case in A Killer Party

Filmed in the sumptuous ballroom of Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire, it's suitably grand, with Persian rug, ancestral portraits, freshly cut flowers and crystal decanters. The actors look sharp, too, in their period evening dress.

But over the course of 100 minutes we are waylaid too often by cod-Wildean banter ('love is worse than death . . . it's out of fashion' carps prima donna Lady Sybil, played by Molly Lynch).

Things get off to a slow start with a percussive Kurt Weill pastiche, before the devil, who glories in the name of Prince Lucio Rimanez, steps in with a music hall invitation to hell, Come To Tartarus. Yes, he still gets the best tunes.

A couple of good Cowardian piano skits follow (All About Sin and Sold My Soul To The Devil), before we get to a lively ragtime number, My Decision. Bateman captures the composer's naivety, Lynch warbles warmly as Lady Sybil, but the show belongs to Conley's devil.

Just as camp, but much more kitsch, is the online musical A Killer Party, which is like a fusion of Come Dine With Me and Agatha Christie  strung together in ten-minute episodes.

Introduced with shrill, brassy music, it's about a traffic warden turned private investigator called Justine Case (Emma Salvo), who is probing the death of a Blackpool impresario at a dinner party for thespians.

It reminded me a bit of Matt Lucas's and David Walliams's Little Britain. There are some amusing moments amid the non-stop spoofing, which runs the gamut from Gilbert & Sullivan and Les Miserables to Frozen.

Will it be nul points for this Eurobeat cringefest?

Considering the Eurovision Song Contest is now more closely associated with woke than Wogan, Eurobeat  The Pride Of Europe (stream.theatre), a send-up of the annual cringe-athon, is surprisingly full of stereotypes.

Hosted by David O'Reilly's plus-size drag queen Orla Board (pictured), the show gets underway with Astrid Lungstrom's pseudo-Swedish anthem I Wave My Flag, in which she sings of the 'semaphore of love'.

Seamus O'Leary sniggers at the Irish love of Riverdance. But I was quite amused by Martina Federa, the armour- plated bikini-clad entrant from Switzerland ('home of cuckoo clocks and assisted dying').

It's camp, wall-to-wall electro-pop kitsch. The joke does wear thin over 75 minutes, but you can vote for a winner until Sunday, with results on May 14. P.M.

Rating:
As a seasoned lingerie model, Belle Lucia is in her element in a new campaign for Hustler underwear.

The 25-year-old turns up the heat as she shows off her ample cleavage in a very racy PVC bra, panties and suspenders set.

The mother-of-one, who has has more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram, also models a sheer lace set that showcases her abs and long toned legs.

Plastic fantastic! Model Belle Lucia turns up the heat as she models a PVC bra and suspender in a VERY racy campaign for Hustler lingerie

In a final image, the brunette beauty lounges around in a sheer beige body suit with kinky strap detail.

To complement Belle's saucy attire, the stunner has her hair coiffed in sultry waves and smokey eye and glossy nude lip for makeup.

Born and raised in Sydney, Belle's modelling career has taken her all over the world.

She has a huge social media following, with an impressive 1.3M followers on Instagram and her YouTube channel boasting 19million views.

Racy in lace: The mother-of-one, who has has more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram, also models a sheer lace set that showcases her abs and long toned legs

Sheer daring: In a final image, the brunette beauty lounges around in a sheer beige body suit with kinky strap detail

Last year, Belle shared her 72-hour birth story with fans, insisting she'd be happy to go through labour again.

Belle gave birth to a baby boy in early October 2019, after enduring three days of erratic contractions, antibiotics and pain with her English boyfriend Alex by her side.

Despite the intense delivery the Australian beauty - who currently lives in London - told her fans she 'loved' the experience and was ready to do it again.

Last year, Belle shared her 72-hour birth story with fans, insisting she'd be happy to go through labour again

She was four days overdue when, late at night while watching the Lego movie in bed with Alex, she started to feel contractions. Three hours later her water broke.

They drove to the hospital to get a checkup and the doctors assured Belle her child's heartbeat was stable and she could return home to labour in the bath.

'The contractions were very erratic and went for about eight hours. The hospital said if it went any longer than 12 hours I would have to come in for antibiotics,' she said.

Belle enjoyed using the gas when she was fighting through a contraction (pictured here in her hospital bed)

Belle's water had been 'broken' for almost half a day leaving her at risk of getting an infection, so she went back to the hospital to get antibiotics

Belle's water had been 'broken' for almost half a day leaving her at risk of getting an infection, so she went back to the hospital. At this stage she was only three centimetres dilated.

As things were not progressing English doctors decided to administer Pitocin, which is used to cause a contraction in the uterus to accelerate labour, and asked if she wanted an epidural to prepare for the pain.

Belle had wanted a drug-free birth but her midwife told her she had the option to turn the epidural on and off with a button, so she decided to get the initial needle injected.

Her son eventually arrived, making the 72 hours of fatigue slip away, and she had her first 'amazing' shower after the delivery

Belle held her son close after giving birth, before giving him to her partner for some skin to skin (pictured right breastfeeding)

'But the Pitocin ended up evening out my contractions, they weren't erratic like before, so it was actually easier. The gas helped a lot during the contraction stage,' she said.

While things were progressing Belle was still only 6cm dilated and needed to get to 10 before she could push.

But 20 minutes later, after her mother arrived at the hospital, the pint-sized brunette felt an urgent desire to push and could feel the baby's head.

'It's like an out of body experience because your body just takes over,' she said.

Her son arrived, making the 72 hours of fatigue slip away, and she had her first 'amazing' shower after the delivery.

Belle also models for brands like PrettyLittleThing, Missguided and Fashion Nova

When Belle announced her pregnancy on April 2 she was forced to defend her body against 'trolls' who told her she was too thin to actually be expecting.

'Just because I'm not showing as much as you like doesn't mean my pregnancy is "unhealthy" or that I'm promoting a "skinny" pregnancy,' she said at the time.

'It's just my body and I can't help if it doesn't look the same as other women. Body shaming is not okay no matter how "big" or "small" someone is.'
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Market Overview:

The continuously flourishing the automotive industry is likely to offer the most lucrative opportunities for growth in the coming years. Additionally, the aerospace industry is adopting the natural rubber-based tires, which is augmenting demand for rubber vulcanization. Swiftly changing the aerospace industry is fueling the growth of the global rubber vulcanization market. Furthermore, natural rubber is extensively used in the production of aircraft tires for its better quotient of heat resistance.

The vulcanization process modifies the properties of the rubber and adds elasticity and strength by forming a crosslink between the long chain of molecules. These properties make the material suitable for several end-use industries. Thus, the market for rubber vulcanization is likely to witness robust growth in the coming years. Rubber Vulcanization Market Analysis is anticipated to reach a valuation of USD 11,219.7 million by 2025 by exhibiting a growth rate of 4.94% over the estimated timeframe from 2018 to 2025. This growth is primarily attributable to the high demand for rubber from pharmaceutical, automotive, and consumer goods industries.

Market Scenario and Growth Factors:

Additionally, thriving construction and infrastructural development globally and especially across emerging countries is propelling growth of the global rubber vulcanization market. Growing demand for the products including natural rubbers in gloves, rollers, injection parts, tubes, mammary prostheses, and the pacemaker is positively impacting the growth of the market. Further, the demand for the seals & gaskets, pipe, O-rings, tubing, hose, washers, grommets, sleeves and rubber bladders, connectors, couplings, and fittings in the oil & gas industry is propelling growth of the market.

Competitive Analysis:

The Key Players Operating In the Global Rubber Vulcanization Market:

LANXESS,

Arkema SA,

BASF SE,

Eastman Chemical Company,

Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.,

Kumho Petrochemical,

Duslo, a.s.,

Willing New Materials Technology Co., Ltd,

Shandong Stair Chemical & Technology Co., Ltd,

King Industries, Inc.

Industry News:

The automotive industry is trying to offer advanced featured vehicles such as self-seal tires. In these kinds of tires, the inner liner and covers the tread area. For instance, Ford Motor Co. announced the offering of a self-sealing version of Michelin Primacy A/S.

Segmentation:

The Rubber Vulcanization Market is segmented based on type, technique, end-user industry, and region.

In terms of type, the global rubber vulcanization market is categorized into the vulcanizing agents, accelerators, activators, and others. The vulcanizing agent segment is further categorized into sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and metallic oxides. The accelerators segment is sub-segmented into dithiocarbamate, sulfenamides, dithiophosphate, and xanthates. Of these, the accelerators type segment dominated the global rubber vulcanization market and is estimated to procure a value of USD 4,710.0 million by the end of the forecast period.

Based on the end-use industry, the market is segmented into automotive & transportation, industrial, consumer goods, healthcare, and others. Of these, the automotive & transportation segment held more than 58% share in 2017 and is estimated to witness lucrative growth over the forecast period.

Based on the technique, the market is segmented into sulfur vulcanization and other curing techniques. Of these, the sulfur vulcanization technique segment dominated the market in 2017 and is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period.

Regional Analysis:

By region, the market is segmented into North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. Of these, Asia Pacific held the lions share in the overall market in 2017 and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 5.68% over the forecast period. Among these, China accounted for 30% of the share in 2017. Indian market is likely to grab a value of USD 927.1 million during the forecast period. As per the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC), countries including India, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and others are producing around 91% of global rubber production in 2017.

Browse Related Report @

https://www.abnewswire.com/pressreleases/signaling-analyzer-market-2020-global-analysis-by-size-growth-factors-emerging-trends-development-strategy-company-profile-future-plans-and-regional-forecast-to-2023_503209.html

https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/signaling-analyzer-market-2020-global-analysis-by-size-growth-factors-emerging-trends-development-strategy-company-profile-future-plans-and-regional-forecast-to-2023-2020-08-20

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4781018

https://www.wboc.com/story/42523907/signaling-analyzer-market-2020-global-analysis-by-size-growth-factors-emerging-trends-development-strategy-company-profile-future-plans-and-regional-forecast-to-2023
Julia Morris proved she's not above a little self-promotion when she stepped out in Melbourne on Thursday.

The 53-year-old comedian was spotted clutching her new tongue-in-cheek 'self-help' book, Julia Morris Makes It EASY, as she ran down a street.

Pulling a series of animated faces, there was no missing the book in the funny woman's hand as she made her way to a waiting car.

Woman on a mission: Julia Morris proved she's not above a little self-promotion when she stepped out in Melbourne on Thursday

She stepped out in a pair of leather-look tapered pants, which she paired with a black ribbed turtleneck knit jumper.

Julia had a vibrant pink coat draped over her arm, and wore her trademark thick-frame black glasses,

Her bobbed brunette hair was styled loose and straight, and she appeared to have been wearing minimal makeup for the outing.

Shameless plug: The 53-year-old comedian was spotted clutching her new tongue-in-cheek 'self help' book, Julia Morris Makes It EASY, as she ran down a street

In an excerpt from the book, Julia satirically described the moment she suffered a diva meltdown in 2016 at a trendy Byron Bay cafe.

'The waitress said, "Sorry, the chef won't do fried eggs." My expertly Botoxed brow lifted just a smidge. I wondered if maybe she hadn't recognised me,' she recounted in the excerpt published by News Corp earlier this month.

'I patted her hand and said, "Tell him it's me. I'm sure he'll fry up a couple of sunny sides,"' she continued.

Don't you know who I am?! Julia satirically described the moment she suffered a diva meltdown in 2016 after a chef refused to serve her fried eggs at a trendy Byron Bay cafe

The waitress informed Julia that the chef simply 'didn't emotionally connect' with the concept of serving fried eggs on toast.

'I had been named Time Out London's Comedy Performer of the Year, and won awards at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe as well as Australia's Helpmann Award for Best Comedy Performer, but I couldn't order eggs on toast?' she wrote.

She added: 'I could have set the restaurant alight.'

Tongue-in-cheek: In an excerpt for her new tongue-in-cheek 'self help' book, Julia Morris Makes It EASY, she writes: 'The waitress said, "Sorry, the chef won't do fried eggs." My expertly Botoxed brow lifted just a smidge. I wondered if maybe she hadn't recognised me'

Enraged, Julia decided to 'break the system' by ordering two $25 burgers, as they each contained a single fried egg.

When her expensive breakfast arrived, Julia dramatically removed the fried eggs from both burgers in front of the waitress.

She said she put on the embarrassing display just to prove a point to the restaurant.

Proving a point: Enraged, Julia decided to 'break the system' by ordering two $25 burgers, as they each contained a single fried egg

Julia has previously described her new tome as a satirical take on the genre of celebrity 'self-help books'.

'Most celebrities in the self-help genre are pretty deluded, and I just thought, you know what, no one's more deluded than me,' she joked to Mamamia.

'I had to get involved. I mean, surely there's some cash out there in the self-help area for me,' she laughed.
Newly-single Kim Kardashian left little to the imagination on Thursday when she shared a stunning photo on Instagram.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star, 40, showed off her svelte figure in the middle of a workout at home while wearing a revealing monokini, as she kept her social media accounts red hot as she continues her divorce proceedings.

In February, she announced the end of her marriage to Kanye West and the couple are currently in the throes of legalities to settle custody of their kids - North, seven, Saint, five, Chicago, three, and Psalm, who turns two in May.

Thirsty Thursday! showed off her svelte figure in the middle of a workout at home while wearing a revealing monokini, as she kept her social media accounts red hot as she continues her divorce proceedings

Kim departed from her usual looks by trading out her lustrous raven locks for long platinum blonde hair all the way down her back.

The skimpy black suit showcased her bust and put her toned tummy on full display thanks to a significant cut-out.

She appeared to be working out her arms on a piece of gym equipment while pulling down on weights.

However, the photo appeared to be part of a shoot and not a real workout photo, as her elegantly made-up face likely wouldn't have stood up to her working up a sweat.

Ended: In February, she announced the end of her marriage to Kanye West and the couple are currently in the throes of legalities to settle custody of their kids - North, seven, Saint, five, Chicago, three, and Psalm, who turns two in May

Changing her look: It's unclear if the photo was new or a throwback from an earlier photoshoot, but Kim last went blonde for an extended period in 2017; seen in LA in 2017

Kim let her gorgeous photo speak for itself and simply captioned it with a puzzle piece emoji.

It's unclear if the photo was new or a throwback from an earlier photoshoot, but Kim last went blond for an extended period in 2017.

Kim filed for divorce from Kanye in February, after almost seven years of marriage.

Kanye filed his response for divorce in early April, per People; he asked for joint legal and physical custody of their four kids.

Their divorce proceedings are going 'smoothly,' People's source revealed.

The insider added that Kim 'seems happier' 'for every week that goes by since she filed for divorce'

'Kim and Kanye are getting along. They have both stayed true to their commitment to make the best situation for the kids.'

Adding: 'Kim is very happy that they have managed to keep things calm. She thinks Kanye is a good dd. She wants him to be able to spend as much time with the kids as he wants.'

The insider added that Kim 'seems happier' 'for every week that goes by since she filed for divorce.'

Her stunning workout photo was a significant departure from two more casual images she shared on Instagram on Wednesday.

Mummy dearest: Her stunning workout photo was a significant departure from two more casual images she shared on Instagram on Wednesday

Kim looked relaxed as she made a kissing face while relaxing in bed with her oldest daughter North, seven, who sported a hilarious wild-eyed smile.

The little girl appeared to be wearing silky white pajamas from her mother's Skims line and had her hair styled in cornrows.

'Good Night!' Kim captioned the pre-bedtime selfie.

Earlier on Wednesday, Kim shared a photo highlighting her tanned legs while wearing a fuzzy gray sweater and again sporting a makeup-free look.

Natural beauty: Earlier on Wednesday, Kim shared a photo highlighting her tanned legs while wearing a fuzzy gray sweater and again sporting a makeup-free look

Kim has kept a low profile in recent days while focusing on her close friends and some low-key celebrations with her family.

On Wednesday, she paid tribute to her good friend Vanessa Bryant as she marked her 39th birthday.

Kim posted a fun photo of herself and her sister Khloe Kardashian with a partially obscured Vanessa and her eldest daughter Natalia Bryant.

Another image included her and Vanessa, along with the late Kobe Bryant towering over them. ''Happy Birthday gorgeous girl. You are so loved!!!' Kim wrote.

Old friends: On Wednesday, she paid tribute to her friend Vanessa Bryant for her birthday with a fun photo featuring Vanessa, her daughter Natalia and Kim's sister Khloe

Cute: Vanessa was turning 39, making her a year younger than Kim

A follow-up post likely set mouths watering among many of her 218 million Instagram followers.

Kim shared a photo of her Cinco de Mayo meal, which included two tacos made with vegan Beyond Meat, as well as pepper-covered avocado slices, shredded lettuce and a few diced tomato pieces.

In addition to the juicy tacos, she had crispy Mexican rice, corn and very creamy refried beans.

'Happy Cinco De Mayo!' she captioned the snap. 'Made @beyondmeat tacos tonight to celebrate!'

Earlier on Saturday, she had filmed a short video for her sister Kourtney Kardashian Poosh Your Wellness initiative to show how she likes to cook the vegan tacos, which she said have become one of her go-to recipes when she's cooking for her family.

Yum! Kim also shared a photo of her Cinco de Mayo meal, which included two tacos made with vegan Beyond Meat
He confirmed his split from Miley Cyrus in 2019, after less than a year of marriage.

But according to a new report, Liam Hemsworth is 'ready to be a husband again' after falling head over heels for new girlfriend Gabriella Brooks.

A source told US Weekly: 'Liam and Gabriella have been getting serious.'

Moving on from Miley: According to a new report, Liam Hemsworth (pictured) is 'ready to be a husband again' after falling head over heels for new girlfriend Gabriella Brooks

Things are said to be going so well the actor, 31, is already thinking about asking the model, 24, to marry him.

'They're not ones to make it known to the public, but their friends and family sure are in the know about how close they are and how an engagement can be right around the corner,' the insider said.

The source added that while Liam 'went through a lot' with his high-profile split from pop star Miley, 28, he still believes in the institution of marriage.

'He's ready to be a husband,' they said. 'He just wants to be super confident in his relationship with Gabriella before he gets down on one knee!'

Putting a ring on it? 'Liam and Gabriella have been getting serious,' a source told US Weekly. Gabriella is pictured at a Chanel event in Sydney earlier this week

Gabriella has been dating Liam since December 2019, following his highly publicised split from Miley in August that year.

In February, Gabriella spoke to The Daily Telegraph about remaining grounded while in a relationship with such a famous actor.

'I have a great support network who continually remind me of what's important,' she said. 'This is incredibly grounding.'

Public romance: Gabriella has been dating Liam since December 2019

According to another report by Us Weekly in December 2019, Liam was said to be 'happy to be moving on' following his turbulent split from Miley.

'Liam feels comfortable with Gabriella. His family approves of her and really likes her, which is very important to him,' a source said at the time.

Gabriella and Liam's romance was also apparently 'very different' to his relationship with ex-wife Miley, E! News reported.

'They like the same things and have the same lifestyle,' said a source. 'It's not a rollercoaster of highs and lows. Gabriella is very laid-back and even-keeled.'

Wedding on the cards: The source said that while Liam 'went through a lot' with his high-profile split from Miley Cyrus, he still believes in the institution of marriage

The source also said Gabriella was getting along famously with the Hemsworths.

The Hunger Games star went public with their romance in January 2020.

They were isolating together in Victoria at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but Gabriella later joined the whole Hemsworth family in Byron Bay.
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Karl and Jasmine Stefanovic have packed up and moved house again, this time into a rental home in Castlecrag, on Sydney's lower north shore.

The Today host, 46, and his shoe designer wife, 36, oversaw removalists bringing their furniture and belongings from their old rental to their new home last month.

The couple, who are parents to one-year-old daughter Harper, had previously been renting another house nearby since last year, but were forced to find another place to live after it was sold to an investor.

The Stefanovics actually own a property in Castlecrag, but they're not living there because it's being renovated.

On the move again! Karl and Jasmine Stefanovic have packed up and moved house again, this time into a rental home in Castlecrag, on Sydney's lower north shore. Pictured: Karl carrying his daughter, Harper, while moving in on April 21

Karl kept things casual in grey trackpants, a black T-shirt and bright red sneakers.

At one stage, he carried his daughter as they made their way around their car.

The Nine presenter and his baby girl, who turned one over the weekend, appeared to be looking for Jasmine, who was busy moving boxes into the house.

Big day: The Today host, 46, and his shoe designer wife, 36, oversaw removalists bringing their furniture and belongings from their old rental to their new home last month

Laid-back: Karl kept things casual in grey trackpants, a black T-shirt and bright red sneakers

Making moves: Jasmine removed items from the trunk of the car while Karl held an R.M. Williams bag

Off-duty style: The Mara and Mine co-founder wore a limited-edition charity hoodie from Camilla and Marc, which she teamed with navy leggings and sneakers

The Mara and Mine co-founder wore a limited-edition charity hoodie from Camilla and Marc, which she teamed with navy leggings and sneakers.

She removed items from the trunk of the car while Karl held an R.M. Williams bag.

Jasmine was later seen carrying her daughter on her hip, as the child looked cosy in a grey hoodie and onesie.

Adorable: Jasmine was later seen carrying her daughter on her hip, as the child looked cosy in a grey hoodie and onesie

Checking in: She then made her way over to the truck to check in on the removalists

Careful! Jasmine had a quick word with the removal team

She then made her way over to the truck to check in on the removalists.

Many items were carried to the Stefanovics' new home, including dozens of boxes, a small mattress and two guitar cases.

Jasmine was also spotted looking after their family dog, Chance the Yapper.

Belongings: Many items were carried to the Stefanovics' new home, including dozens of boxes, a small mattress and two guitar cases

Easy does it: The movers carried a mattress from the truck to the rental home

Puppy love: Jasmine was also spotted looking after their family dog, Chance the Yapper

New digs: Their new three-storey home, leased to them for $2,000 a week, features six bedrooms, four bathrooms and a two-car garage

This is the Stefanovics' second move into a lower north shore rental property in as many years.

Their new three-storey home, leased to them for $2,000 a week, features six bedrooms, four bathrooms and a two-car garage.

On the ground floor is the combined kitchen, living and dining room, while the second floor leads to a spacious rumpus room.

Family life: On the ground floor is the combined kitchen, living and dining room

Room to grow: The second floor leads to a spacious rumpus room perfect for entertaining

View from the top: The property also has balconies with stunning views of the bay

The property also has balconies with stunning views of the bay.

According to The Daily Telegraph on Friday, the couple recently purchased a family home in Castlecrag for an unknown sum.

But they're renting for the time being until renovations are complete.

Temporary home: The couple recently purchased a family home in Castlecrag for an unknown sum, but they're renting for the time being until renovations are complete

The median house price for properties in Castlecrag is currently at a $3,295,000 record high, according to realestate.com.au.

Sources say the couple purchased 'a modest three-bedder family home'.

They also own a luxury home on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, which they bought for $3.6million in January last year.

The couple married in December 2018 in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.
She helped alleviate pandemic boredom when her popular Netflix show Emily In Paris was released back in October.

And Lily Collins was hard at work on season two on Thursday night when she was spotted on set in the popular tourist destination Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the South of France.

The 32-year-old BritishAmerican actress was bundled up against the chilly sea air in a black down coat while getting her makeup touched up before filming a scene.

Night shoot: Lily Collins, 32, was spotted on set Thursday night in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat in the South of France as she got made up to film a scene for season two of Netflix's Emily In Paris

Lily's lustrous brunette locks were coiffed in an updo to put the focus on her elegantly made-up face.

She sported fierce cat-eye makeup and showed off her famously full dark eyebrows, which have become a calling card for the rising star.

Back in October, around the premiere of Emily In Paris, Lily revealed to Glamour that she used to severely pluck her eyebrows up through high school, before her mother Jill Tavelman told her to lay off.

Now, she does all the upkeep herself in order to prevent anyone else from thinning out her recognizable feature.

Lovely: She sported fierce cat-eye makeup and showed off her famously full dark eyebrows, which have become a calling card for the rising star

Reserved: Lily had a pale shade of lipstick applied by one of her makeup artists

Gorgeous: Her lustrous brunette locks were coiffed in an updo to put the focus on her elegantly made-up face and her prominent eyebrows

'I do it all myself  I simply look in a magnifying mirror, get the tweezers and follow the line. I dont let anyone touch them,' she explained.

'I really think less is more and I like to mess them up. But to be honest, I do maintenance every night.'

Lily was also seen getting a pale shade of lipstick applied by one of her makeup artists.

She was joined on set by her costar Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who plays her boss on the series.

The crew appeared to be filming on the beach, and a boat covered in lights was floating just past the beach, though it wasn't clear if it was part of the scene or just helping to illuminate the shot.

What a change: Back in October, Lily revealed to Glamour that she used to severely pluck her eyebrows up through high school, before her mother Jill Tavelman told her to lay off

By the sea: She was joined on set by her costar Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who plays her boss on the series, while the two were filming by the shore

Lily, the daughter of Genesis frontman Phil Collins, stars as the title character in Emily In Paris, a Chicago native who moves to Paris for work.

Once there, she tries to establish herself professional and create new friendships while struggling with the culture clash.

Although several critics found the show charming, many criticized it for being slight and narrow-minded in its comparison of Midwestern American values to French values.

Fish out of water: Lily, the daughter of Genesis frontman Phil Collins, stars as the title character in Emily In Paris, a Chicago native who moves to Paris for work and encounters a culture clash

Mixed bag: Although several critics found the show charming, many criticized it for being slight and narrow-minded in its comparison of Midwestern American values to French values

The series was the subject of controversy earlier this year when it was nominated for Best Television Series in the musical or comedy division at the Golden Globes and Lily was nominated for Best Actress in the same division, while much more critically acclaimed shows were snubbed.

In February, the Los Angeles Times reported that 30 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that awards the Golden Globes, had been flown out to France for a two-night stay at a $1400-per-night hotel and treated with a visit to an esteemed private museum.

When the Golden Globes nominations were announced, several critics lambasted the organization for passing over acclaimed shows including Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You in favor of Emily In Paris.

Sweet: Missing from Lily's trip to France to film her second season was her fiance Charlie McDowell, 37. She shared a cute photo of a FaceTime session back home featuring him and their cute dog Redford

Missing from Lily's trip to France to film her second season was her fiance Charlie McDowell, 37.

The filmmaker, who is the son of A Clockwork Orange star Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, FaceTimed with his love in snaps posted to Lily's Insta Stories.

'Family FaceTime vibes,' she captioned a photo with part of Charlie's face and their adorable dog Redford sleeping on the bed behind him.

'When the only one completely in focus is the only one asleep,' she joked.

A follow-up picture showed the dog awake and gazing into the camera

'That's better,' Lily wrote.

She and Charlie have been together since 2019, and they announced their engagement in September 2020.
She threw her fans into a frenzy on Monday when she shared a selfie to her Instagram Story showing herself with blonde hair.

But it seems the new look was just a wig as Eiza Gonzalez was her natural brunette self as she left a lunch meeting on Thursday.

The Mexican actress, 31, wore her long brunette locks loose and styled with a center parting after a visit to the ultra-exclusive San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood.

Casual: Eiza Gonzalez showcased her slim physique in a Hale Bob blouse tucked into skinny jeans as she left the ultra-exclusive San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood on Thursday

The rising star showcased her slim physique in a white Hale Bob blouse tucked into blue skinny jeans.

She stepped out in a pair of white heels and carried a metallic blue purse on a long silver chain.

Gonzalez accessorized with a gold necklace and small gold earrings and covered up with a large face mask.

Natural beauty: The Mexican actress, 31, wore white heels and carried a metallic blue purse on a long silver chain. Her long brunette locks were loose and styled with a center parting

Changed it up: Gonzalez threw her fans into a frenzy on Monday when she shared a selfie to her Instagram Story showing herself with blonde hair. But it seems the new look was just a wig

After getting her break in English language productions with Roberto Rodriguez's From dusk Till Dawn: The Series in 2014, Gonzalez has steadily worked herself up the Hollywood food chain.

Her part in 2017's Baby Driver got her noticed and she went on to memorable supporting roles in 2018's Welcome To Marwen, 2019's Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and Alita: Battle Angel, also released in 2019.

Earlier this year, she co-starred with Rosamund Pike, Dianne Wiest and Peter Dinklage in the Netflix black comedy I Care A Lot which was a huge hit on the streaming service.

In March she was seen in the pandemic-delayed Godzilla vs. Kong and has recently wrapped filming on the Michael Bay thriller ambulance with Jake Gyllenhaal.
Kelly Osbourne opened up on details about her sobriety relapse, illustrating the extent of how rapidly she fell back into bad old habits.

'I went away with my friend and people were by a pool, drinking champagne,' Osbourne, 36, said in an interview, according to The Sun newspaper. 'I was like, "I can have a glass of that." And I had one glass and I was fine.'

She continued, 'But it went from having one drink here, one drink there to literally three bottles of champagne and 24 White Claws a day.'

The latest: Kelly Osbourne, 36, said Monday that she and her older sister Aimee, 37, don't talk anymore amid a personality clash

On her podcast The Kelly Osbourne and Jeff Beacher Show, Osbourne said that she would sip out of a large 'coffee mug that says, "Thank God Im not dead" which is so ironic.'

In an interview on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast Monday, Osbourne said she 'did embarrassing s**t' and 'blacked out' amid the relapse.

She added: 'I can't drink the same that I used to. It wasn't fun ... it wasn't until I found myself last weekend covered in ranch dressing by my friend's pool, sunburnt, looking like a piece of s*** that I was like, "Maybe I don't have this under control."'

The Osbournes star spoke with Extra late last month about the relapse, which came amid the lockdown as things were opening back up again.

Details: On her podcast The Kelly Osbourne and Jeff Beacher Show , Osbourne said that she would sip out of a large 'coffee mug that says, "Thank God Im not dead" which is so ironic'

Out and about: Kelly was seen on New Year's Eve in New York City

'I'm that girl that when everything is going great I need to f*** it up a little and make everything a little bit worse in my life,' said Kelly, whose parents are Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne. 'I am an addict and had thought that I had enough time under my belt and I could drink like a normal person, and it turns out I cannot and I will never be normal.'

Kelly said that in hindsight, she doesn't know why she experimented in the first place.

'It took me a matter of days and I was like done, not doing this,' said Osbourne, who has had multiple rehab stints in an effort to shake her addiction. 'This is something I am going to battle for the rest of my life. It's never going to be easy.'

Osbourne opened up in an Instagram clip April 20 about the sobriety slip, as she had been sober since 2017.

'I relapsed. Not proud of it. But I am back on track,' she said. This is a little hard for me to talk about, but Ive always promised you that I will always be honest with you about where Im at and whats going on in my road to recovery.'
Kim Kardashian wept uncontrollably as she and her family announced the end of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on Thursday's episode.

On 'The End of an Era,' the 40-year-old reality star could barely make it through her speech to the crew, whom she'd earlier called 'extended family.'

Kim went on to share the emotional news to her close friends Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck who were both left shocked.

Tears: Kim Kardashian wept uncontrollably as she and her family announced the end of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on Thursday's episode

'I just want you guys to know how much we really appreciate you guys, each and every one of you, for spending time away from your families to be with our crazy family,' Kim told her film crew in tears.

Kim had been the first one to okay the decision for KUWTK to end after 20 seasons when their contract came up with Bravo, and she'd seemed ready.

All of that fell away when the decision became real, especially after she saw KUWTK executive producer Farnaz Farjam-Chazan's reaction to the news.

She called it the 'hardest conversation that we've ever had to have with anybody, honestly.'

So sad: On 'The End of an Era,' the 40-year-old reality star could barely make it through her speech to the crew, whom she'd earlier called 'extended family'

Friends: Kim went on to share the emotional news to her close friends Jonathan Cheban and Simon Huck (L-R) who were both left shocked

'From day one, I walked in and I was like, 'This family is so fun,' Farnaz recalled, her face red with emotion. 'I'm so grateful and I'm so happy I got this much time with you guys.'

Kim then called her friend Jonathan Cheban, 47, and told him they were ending the show.

'Why?' he asked. 'Oh that's terrible news. It's like a pop-culture sadness.'

Emotional: 'I just want you guys to know how much we really appreciate you guys, each and every one of you, for spending time away from your families to be with our crazy family,' Kim told her film crew in tears

First one: Kim had been the first one to okay the decision for KUWTK to end after 20 seasons when their contract came up with Bravo, and she'd seemed ready

Her next call was to pal Simon Huck, 37, who proclaimed it 'the end of an era.'

'We knew this day was gonna come,' Kim admitted.

'I just kept thinking it would go on forever and we'd see North [West, Kim's seven-year-old daughter] on it for her 16th birthday.'

Farnaz reacts: All of that fell away when the decision became real, especially after she saw KUWTK executive producer Farnaz Farjam-Chazan's reaction to the news

Hardest conversation: She called it the 'hardest conversation that we've ever had to have with anybody, honestly'

Day one: 'From day one, I walked in and I was like, 'This family is so fun,' Farnaz recalled, her face red with emotion. 'I'm so grateful and I'm so happy I got this much time with you guys'

Asked about her estranged husband Kanye West's reaction, they are currently going through a divorce, Kim said, 'He's like, 'Whatever makes you happy,' you know?'

Simon laughed as he remembered the day Kim had told him about the show, and he'd tried to talk her out of it, calling it 'sketchy.'

He wondered how his pal was doing, and she said, 'I was fine, and then yesterday when we told Farnaz, she started hysterically crying and then I started hysterically crying and I haven't stopped.'

We knew: 'We knew this day was gonna come,' Kim admitted

Forever: 'I just kept thinking it would go on forever and we'd see North [West, Kim's seven-year-old daughter] on it for her 16th birthday' her friend Simon said later during a call

The family had been struggling with what to do about their future on KUWTK for a while.

They'd grown close to the crew, and on the episode threw a baby shower for executive producer Amanda Weinstein and lead camera operator Ryan McLaughlin.

'We love being on camera; we love sharing our lives,' Kim said privately. 'We love that whole aspect of it. Just so many factors have come into our lives since we're now so busy.'

Sketchy: Simon laughed as he remembered the day Kim had told him about the show, and he'd tried to talk her out of it, calling it 'sketchy'

Crying: He wondered how his pal was doing, and she said, 'I was fine, and then yesterday when we told Farnaz, she started hysterically crying and then I started hysterically crying and I haven't stopped'

'We have to just think about what we want out of life, and what we want together and what we've built and do we walk away from that?'

Kris Jenner, 65, was also having a hard time, as everything in her life was changing.

In addition to facing the show's end, she was moving house and moving her mother MJ Shannon, 86, out of her longtime home to be closer to them.

Baby shower: They'd grown close to the crew, and on the episode threw a baby shower for executive producer Amanda Weinstein and lead camera operator Ryan McLaughlin

Busy: 'We love being on camera; we love sharing our lives,' Kim said privately. 'We love that whole aspect of it. Just so many factors have come into our lives since we're now so busy'

Khloe Kardashian, 36, called filming KUWTK a 'fun' and 'incredible journey,' while Kourtney Kardashian, 42, said shooting had both terrible and thrilling moments.

'I think it's been a love-hate relationship the whole time,' she opined.

Kris held a secret meeting with her three eldest girls, all of them shooting it on iPhones for privacy from the crew.

Hard time: Kris Jenner, 65, was also having a hard time, as everything in her life was changing

Incredible: Khloe Kardashian, 36, called filming KUWTK a 'fun' and 'incredible journey,' while Kourtney Kardashian, 42, said shooting had both terrible and thrilling moments

'Kim and I have been talking for a minute now about this situation with the network, and re-signing for another multi-year deal to do Keeping Up,' she told her daughters.

Kris, Khloe and Kim felt it was a 'heavy' moment as so much in their lives had lately been shifting, but Kourtney said she was 'newly decisive' and knew what to do.

'I definitely think it's time,' she said without hesitation. 'I feel like it's making sense.'

Secret meeting: Kris held a secret meeting with her three eldest girls, all of them shooting it on iPhones for privacy from the crew

Kris said Kendall Jenner, 25, and Kylie Jenner, 23, 'were on board to do whatever we want to do.'

'We are never gonna open a new chapter if we don't close this one,' the momager conceded.

Kim agreed, adding in a confessional that she was 'forever indebted' to E! and their producers 'for making us who we are, but it just seems like we need a break.'

Heavy: Kris, Khloe and Kim felt it was a 'heavy' moment as so much in their lives had lately been shifting, but Kourtney said she was 'newly decisive' and knew what to do

Network: 'Kim and I have been talking for a minute now about this situation with the network, and re-signing for another multi-year deal to do Keeping Up,' she told her daughters

She marveled that people had watched her 'crazy family' for as long as they had.

Kris looked at her three girls and called out, 'All in favor, say aye.'

'Aye,' said Kim, then Kourtney, then a much more reluctant Khloe.

'I hate this year so much,' Khloe carped. 'I don't think there's one good month in 2020.'

With the decision made, the family had to tell the crew the show was ending.

New chapter: 'We are never gonna open a new chapter if we don't close this one,' the momager conceded to which Kim agreed, adding in a confessional that she was 'forever indebted' to E! and their producers 'for making us who we are, but it just seems like we need a break.'

'There's no easy way to say it except just to say it, because we love you guys all so much,' Kris offered. 'We just wanted to tell you all in person: We won't be going through with filming the show anymore.'

She impressed upon the crew that it had been an 'excruciating decision,' calling their journey together 'the most incredible thing that we've ever done.'

Khloe's voice broke as thanked the crew for always supporting her, noting privately that they'd been with her when she moved to Dallas and once even spent Christmas with her.

Indebted: Kim agreed, adding in a confessional that she was 'forever indebted' to E! and their producers 'for making us who we are, but it just seems like we need a break'

In favor: Kris looked at her three girls and called out, 'All in favor, say aye'

Crew: With the decision made, the family had to tell the crew the show was ending

'From divorce, to transitions, to literally my vagina out when my baby was being born the list goes on and on,' she told the cameras.

'I have such a security blanket in these people and to not have that anymore, it's a big thing. It sounds silly, but they're my people.'

Kim, Kris and Kourtney echoed her words, telling the crew how much they appreciated them.

They then posted the news on social media, to overwhelming fan reaction.

Lawn: They gathered everyone on the lawn of their lavish Malibu rental property

No easy way: 'There's no easy way to say it except just to say it, because we love you guys all so much,' Kris offered. 'We just wanted to tell you all in person: We won't be going through with filming the show anymore'

Excruciating: She impressed upon the crew that it had been an 'excruciating decision,' calling their journey together 'the most incredible thing that we've ever done'

Kourtney was saddened to hear many people thought she'd been the one behind killing the show, but she knew that it wasn't her fault.

'It's gonna be interesting to see what life's like again without having camera crews at all times,' said her ex, Scott Disick, 37.

He did worry that the family would 'float apart' and not see each other so much post-show.

Appreciated: Kim, Kris and Kourtney echoed her words, telling the crew how much they appreciated them

Security blanket: 'From divorce, to transitions, to literally my vagina out when my baby was being born the list goes on and on,' she told the cameras. 'I have such a security blanket in these people and to not have that anymore, it's a big thing.'

Social media: They then posted the news on social media, to overwhelming fan reaction

Saddened: Kourtney was saddened to hear many people thought she'd been the one behind killing the show, but she knew that it wasn't her fault

Kris stopped by Kim's house while she was remodeling a room, and recalled Kim's three-year stay with her years beforeall of which had been caught on tape.

The memories flooded back and Kris wondered if they'd been right to quit the show.

She was near tears in a radio interview with show executive producer Ryan Seacrest, 46which made Khloe suggest she head to Palm Springs for a break.

There Kris met up with her lifelong 'besties,' Faye Resnick, 63, and Kyle Richards, 52.

Weeping, she said the crew had become family, and the change made her want to 'explode.'

Interesting: 'It's gonna be interesting to see what life's like again without having camera crews at all times,' said her ex, Scott Disick, 37

Worry: He did worry that the family would 'float apart' and not see each other so much post-show

Recalled: Kris stopped by Kim's house while she was remodeling a room, and recalled Kim's three-year stay with her years beforeall of which had been caught on tape

Kyle had been filming The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for 11 seasons, and understood what she meant.

Consolingly, she reminded Kris: 'You'll be less busy and have more fun.'

Kris grasped her friends' hands and yelled, 'Girlfriends forever!'

They trundled off to sleep in bunk beds, watch Kyle do splits, and have pillow fights.

Palm Springs: She was near tears in a radio interview with show executive producer Ryan Seacrest, 46which made Khloe suggest she head to Palm Springs for a break

Besties: There Kris met up with her lifelong 'besties,' Faye Resnick, 63, and Kyle Richards, 52

Weeping: Weeping, she said the crew had become family, and the change made her want to 'explode'

Back in Malibu, Khloe and Kim called Caitlyn Jenner, 71, to get her take on their decision.

'It's kind of sad,' Caitlyn said, recalling the family's first meeting with E!, and their short planned run. 'Here we are 14 years later. You guys should be extremely proud of yourselves.'

'I have to admit,' the gubernatorial hopeful added, 'some of the best conversations I had with my children is in the show. It kind of forced us to sit down and deal with issues. I think it brought our entire family much closer together.'

Forever: Kris grasped her friends' hands and yelled, 'Girlfriends forever!

Bed: They trundled off to sleep in bunk beds, watch Kyle do splits, and have pillow fights

Take: Back in Malibu, Khloe and Kim called Caitlyn Jenner, 71, to get her take on their decision

The girls nodded, and Caitlyn said, 'I felt like I was a big part for many years while you were growing up all good things must come to an end. I'm glad everybody is doing so well.'

The family met in Malibu for dinner, and Kim and Kris said they'd made the right decision.

The aspiring lawyer looked forward to more free time but would really miss the crew.

Sad: 'It's kind of sad,' Caitlyn said, recalling the family's first meeting with E!, and their short planned run. 'Here we are 14 years later. You guys should be extremely proud of yourselves'

Closer: 'I have to admit,' the gubernatorial hopeful added, 'some of the best conversations I had with my children is in the show. It kind of forced us to sit down and deal with issues. I think it brought our entire family much closer together'

Right decision: The family met in Malibu for dinner, and Kim and Kris said they'd made the right decision

'It's definitely sad,' her sister Kendall mused. 'It's most of my life but it just feels right.'

Privately, Kendall acknowledged, 'I try and live the most private life that I can live, so for me I think it feels healthy.'

Khloe then urged the group to 'create some bad-a*s memories for our last month of filming.'

'Can I get a Kardashians woo-hoo?' she asked, and everyone complied.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians returns next week on E!

Stream the final season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians on hayu in Australia same day as the U.S. Still can't get enough? Stream every episode ever - only on hayu in Australia.

Sad: 'It's definitely sad,' her sister Kendall mused. 'It's most of my life but it just feels right'

Woo-hoo" 'Can I get a Kardashians woo-hoo?' she asked, and everyone complied

Returns: Keeping up with the Kardashians returns next week on E!
Elon Musk and Miley Cyrus continued to tease their SNL appearance on Thursday.

The billionaire host and musical guest, aged 49 and 28 respectively, appeared in a commercial alongside the show's Cecily Strong, in which they seemed to be determined to hint at imminent chaos on the programme.

Indirectly addressing the controversy surrounding his appearance in the clip, he said: 'Hi, Im Elon Musk, and Im hosting SNL this week with musical guest Miley Cyrus. And Im a wild card, so theres no telling what I may do.'

Only adding to the hype around their episode, Miley also continued to share social media updates including an edgy post-shower snap showing her with mascara around her eyes and her wet hair slicked back.

The latest: Elon Musk and Miley Cyrus continued to tease their SNL appearance on Thursday

In the commercial, Miley seemed determined to match up to Elon's wild side, as she echoed his statement and proclaimed: 'Same here. Rules? No thanks!'

Cecily, 37, noted: 'Its also the Mothers Day show so your moms are going to be here,' to which Miley replied, 'Forget what I said.'

The Tesla and SpaceX founder added, 'Fine, well be good ish.'

In the clip, the South African-born business magnate wore an all-black ensemble of a leader coat and back shirt with a bandana tied around his face as an improvised face mask in a nod to he COVID-19 pandemic.

Working up a frenzy: Miley continued to share social media updates ahead of her SNL episode including an edgy post-shower snap showing her with mascara around her eyes and her wet hair slicked back

Miley wore a vast red boa with a black face mask, while Strong wore a black silk outfit with a bow.

In another promotional clip, Elon touted his ongoing work with SpaceX, saying, 'I just did a successful rocket launch this week' to which Strong said, 'Wow, well, I did my laundry ... actually, no. I didnt.'

The singer also ensured to keep up the promo work as she shared a slew of racy updates to Instagram on Thursday, including an edgy shower snap.

Miley was seen posing up a storm for the camera as she held onto a white towel and wiped her cheek, leaving black mascara all around her eyes.

Front and center: The billionaire host and musical guest, aged 49 and 28 respectively, appeared in a commercial alongside the show's Cecily Strong, in which they seemed to be determined to hint at imminent chaos on the programme

Oops! Indirectly addressing the controversy surrounding his appearance in the clip, he said: 'Hi, Im Elon Musk, and Im hosting SNL this week with musical guest Miley Cyrus. And Im a wild card, so theres no telling what I may do'

She seemed to be in good spirits after a busy day of rehearsals for the SNL show as she smiled and showcased her still wet hair in the quick video.

In a previous promo for the hotly-anticipated TV event on Twitter, Elon was seen combing through scripts at the show's New York City headquarters.

Elon's appearance at the head of the show has come with buzz, as many fans have questioned why the NBC variety show would cast the businessman.

Fans cited past statements made by Elon and wealth inequality, as Forbes has estimated Musk's worth to be $177billion.

There have been early signs of tension between the long-running show's core cast members and Musk.

Hmm... Miley wore a vast red boa with a black face mask, while Strong wore a black silk outfit with a bow

Last week, Musk wrote on Twitter: 'Let's find out how live Saturday Night Live really is.' Sharing a screenshot of the tweet Bowen Yang reacted on his Instagram Stories, with the response 'what the f*** does this even mean'.

Aidy Bryant echoed Yang's concerns and shared a tweet by Bernie Sanders. The tweet read: 'The 50 wealthiest people in America today own more wealth than the bottom half of our people.

'Let me repeat that, because it is almost too absurd to believe: the 50 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than some 165 MILLION Americans. That is a moral obscenity. (sic)'

The engineer is the the first non-actor or non-athlete since 2015 to host the comedy sketch show.

Past guests on the show who have cause controversy with their hosting gigs.

There they are: Elon's appearance at the head of the show has come with buzz, as many fans have questioned why the NBC variety show would cast the businessman

In May 1990, comedian Andrew Dice Clay, as then-cast member Nora Dunn and planned musical guest Sinead OConnor boycotted Clay's episode in response to Clay's material.

Other past business moguls to host the show include late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in 1990, and former NBC programming president Brandon Tartikoff in 1983.

Cyrus has been a musical guest on the show on five previous occasions: Her most recent came in April 2020 during an at-home episode in which she sang the Pink Floyd song Wish You Were Here.

In another promotional clip, Musk touted his ongoing work with SpaceX, saying, 'I just did a successful rocket launch this week' to which Strong said, 'Wow, well, I did my laundry ... actually, no. I didnt.'

Doting dad: Earlier in the week, ahead of rehearsals Elon was seen arriving to the east coast on Monday night

She's hosted the show in 2011, 2013 and 2015, also being the musical guest in the latter two.

Earlier in the week, ahead of rehearsals Elon was seen arriving to the east coast on Monday night.

Landing at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, the Tesla CEO was joined by partner Grimes, 33, and their son X  A-XII, who turned one earlier this week.
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Healthcare Automatic Identification And Data Capture Market Growth & Trends

The global healthcare automatic identification and data capture market size is expected to reach USD 62.0 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 22.3% from 2021 to 2028. The growth is attributed majorly due to the increasing focus of pharmaceutical companies on optimizing the supply chain. For instance, in October 2020, Sandoz launched its first RFID-tagged critical injectable medicines in the U.S.

Furthermore, technological advancements by market players and favorable government policies pertaining to automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) solutions are expected to fuel the market demand in coming years. The National Health Authority of India issued new guidelines for the Ayushman Bharat scheme. These guidelines for to introduce biometric authentication at the time of admission and discharge of the patients. These types of initiatives are anticipated to propel market growth.

In recent years, RFID tools, which use wireless communication to identify and track equipment and assets, have seen strong adoption in healthcare settings. Upgrading of inventory management in pharmacies, hospitals, life and science companies, high demand for enhanced patient safety by healthcare providers, and implementation of automated processes in healthcare facilities are expected to fuel the healthcare RFID market growth during the forecast period.

The COVID-19 outbreak is also becoming an emerging driver for the adoption of biometric solutions. As the COVID-19 is revealing the importance of AIDCs around the world. Hence, it is estimated that the market will witness lucrative opportunities due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Request a free sample copy or view report summary: Healthcare Automatic Identification And Data Capture Market Report

Healthcare Automatic Identification And Data Capture Market Report Highlights

The biometric emerged as the largest revenue-generating segment of the healthcare AIDC market in 2020. Increasing adoption of RFID technology for AIDC services in the healthcare industry is estimated to drive market

The hardware segment dominated the market in 2020 owing to the growing installation of RFID systems. The rising requirement for hardware-based components in the AIDC devices such as printers, scanners, readers, cards, and other such systems is expected to drive the market

The clinical segment is expected to exhibit the fastest growth rate during the study period. Growing adoption of AIDC for clinical applications such as blood transfusion verification, medication administration, verification laboratory specimen identification is anticipated to drive the market

Asia Pacific region has emerged as the fastest-growing market during the forecast period. Existence of a large pharmaceutical industry requiring this technology for process streamlining

Access Press Release@ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-healthcare-automatic-identification-data-capture-market

Healthcare Automatic Identification And Data Capture Market Segmentation

Grand View Research has segmented the global healthcare automatic identification and data capture market on the basis of technology, component, application, and region:

Healthcare AIDC Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Barcode

RFID

Biometric

Others

Healthcare AIDC Component Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Hardware

Software

Services

Healthcare AIDC Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

Clinical

Non-Clinical

Healthcare AIDC Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2016 - 2028)

North America US. Canada

Europe UK. Germany France Italy Spain

Asia Pacific China India Japan Australia South Korea

Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina

Middle East & Africa South Africa Saudi Arabia



List of Key Players of Healthcare Automatic Identification And Data Capture (AIDC) Market

Datalogic S.p.A

SICK AG

Honeywell International Inc.

Cognex Corporation

Toshiba TEC Corporation

Bluebird Inc.

NXP Semiconductors

SATO Holdings Corporation

The Code Corporation

Jadak - A Novanta Company

Unitech Electronics Co., LTD.

Impinj, Inc.

Denso Wave Europe

Avery Dennison Corporation

TSC Auto ID Technology Co., Ltd.

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.
She shares three young sons with her ex-husband Brian Austin Green.

And Megan Fox opened up about how much energy it takes to raise her three boys during an appearance Thursday on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

'For me, it's like UFC Fight Night all day, everyday,' the 34-year-old actress joked of trying to keep her 'rambunctious' children in line, especially since they've spent almost all their time at home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Intense: Megan Fox, 34, said raising her three sons was 'like UFC Fight Night all day, everyday,' during an appearance Thursday on The Kelly Clarkson Show

Kelly opened the segment by complimenting Megan's outfit, a plunging black mini dress with thick padded shoulders.

Megan also apologized for her 'gait,' which she said was off thanks to her sky-high black stilettos.

The topic turned to family life, with Clarkson saying it must be 'crazy' to be raising three young boys.

She compared that to having 'a little bit of even energy' in her own home, where her six-year-old daughter River Rose and her five-year-old son Remington Alexander seem to cancel each other out.

Back in black: Kelly opened the segment by complimenting Megan's outfit, a plunging black mini dress with thick padded shoulders

Exhausting: 'I don't know what it's like to have a girl,' Megan admitted, before comparing raising her sons Noah, eight, Bodhi, seven, and Journey, four, to a UFC fight

Ouch: She joked that 'forks are weapons' for her sometimes-aggressive boys. 'We need to live in a padded cell for everyone to be safe,' she continued

'I don't know what it's like to have a girl,' Megan admitted, before comparing raising her sons Noah, eight, Bodhi, seven, and Journey, four, to a UFC fight.

She joked that 'forks are weapons' for her sometimes-aggressive boys.

'We need to live in a padded cell for everyone to be safe,' she continued.

She clarified that the three were still affectionate, even if they liked to roughhouse.

'They love each other. They're best friends, but the fighting is non-stop because they have so much energy and they're so rambunctious that it's just a melee,' she said. 'My kids will pull out fists full of hair and be like, "I got your hair, Noah!"

It never ends: 'They love each other. They're best friends,' she clarified, but she said the fighting was 'non-stop'

Neutral charge: Kelly said her family has 'a little bit of even energy' as her son and daughter seem to cancel each other out

She had similar issues to other parents, who were trying to care for their children at home while helping them through virtual school classes.

'We've been really affected by the pandemic, and trying to do Zoom school for four-year-old and six-year-olds doesn't work,' she complained.

'Our kids spend so much time with their teachers, so their relationships with their teachers are so important,' Megan said, while Kelly added that it was so important to get good teachers.

Megan, a Harry Potter fan, said she was dying to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios once the pandemic had died down enough; still from Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (2001)

Sweet: She previously shared Halloween photos to her Instagram of herself dressed up in Harry Potter garb while Trick or Treating with her sons

Kelly asked Megan about some of her 'nerdy' hobbies, and the actress explained that she's not a big TV person and instead prefers to curl up with a good book, which she called 'super dorky.'

She added that she was dying to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios once the pandemic had died down enough for it to be safe.

The Transformers star bonded with Kelly over both being Gryffindors, and she has previously shared Halloween photos to her Instagram of herself dressed up in Harry Potter garb while Trick or Treating with her sons.

Because they know she's such a big fan, Megan said her sons always get her Harry Potterthemed gifts for holidays.

'They understand that I'm obsessed, so every gift they get me for Mother's Day or Christmas is Harry Potterthemed. I get Harry Potter mugs or Harry Potter journals,' she said. 'I got a quill for my birthday.'

On the mark: Because they know she's such a big fan, Megan said her sons always get her Harry Potterthemed gifts for holidays

End of the line: Megan split from her husband Brian Austin Green in May 2020 after being together since 2004

The actress also opened up about her fear of flying and how she overcame it years earlier.

Although it still makes her tense, she likes to listen to 'music that I just knew I wasn't going to die to,' which was Britney Spears for her.

Missing from the interview was any discussing of Megan's current boyfriend, the rapper and rocker Machine Gun Kelly, 31.

The couple met in March of 2020 while filming their crime thriller Midnight In The Switchgrass in Puerto Rico.

The film, which also stars Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch and Lukas Haas, was put on hold shortly after due to the pandemic, though filming resumed in June 2020.

She and her husband Brian Austin Green announced their separation in May 2020, after dating since 2004.
Jessika Power proved she's the ultimate devoted aunt by getting her nephew's name, Micah, tattooed on the back of her arm.

In a series of videos posted to Instagram on Friday, the 29-year-old former Married At First Sight star was spotted visiting a Gold Coast tattoo parlour.

She was accompanied by her brother, Rhyce Power, who also got a tattoo.

Doting aunt: Jessika Power proved she's the ultimate devoted aunt, getting her nephew's name, Micah, tattooed on the back of her arm

Turning the camera on herself, Jessika was seen getting the tattoo work done, before showing it off in a later post.

Jessika got Micah's name tattooed in red cursive script on the back of her left arm and captioned the post: 'Aunty Jess's favourite (and only) nephew'.

Talking about Micah, an emotional Jess later said: 'He's like the little love of my life.'

Getting inked: In a series of videos posted to Instagram on Friday, the 29-year-old former Married At First Sight star was spotted visiting a Gold Coast tattoo parlour

Coming along for the ride: She was accompanied by her brother, Rhyce Power, who also got a tattoo

And the reality star-turned-influencer is set to become an aunt once again, after sharing a baby announcement with her fans in March.

Jess shared a photo to Instagram of an ultrasound scan, prompting many of her followers to assume she was pregnant.

She soon clarified that it was her younger sister's sonogram, and explained that her sister Eliza, 23, was expecting a child with her partner, Michael West.

Forever love: Jessika got Micah's name tattooed in red cursive script on the back of her left arm and captioned the post: 'Aunty Jess's favourite (and only) nephew'

'Here is a photo of my little angel gifted straight from heaven,' she wrote.

'My little sidekick and someone who already has my heart hook, line and sinker.

'I'm going to be an aunty and I'm going to love and cherish my niece or nephew so so much, but more importantly I'll love him or her more than I love myself - and that's a damn lot.'

'My little angel': She shared this photo to Instagram of an ultrasound scan. While many fans assumed Jessika was pregnant, she soon clarified that it was her sister's sonogram

Exciting times ahead! In a lengthy caption, she explained that her sister Eliza (left) was expecting a child with her partner, Michael West

Jessika thanked Eliza and Michael for making her an aunt, adding: 'It's something so perfect and out of this world. See you soon, my little angel.'

Eliza, who lives in Perth, is rarely seen on her famous sister's Instagram account, but it's believed they have a close relationship.

Back in January, Jessika shared a photo of the pair during a visit to Western Australia and described Eliza as her 'best friend'.
On Wednesday, pregnant swimwear designer Devon Windsor unveiled her spring 2021 line, which she called one of her 'favorite collections to date.'

The expecting 27-year-old originally launched her eponymous brand in August 2019 - and she found 'inspiration for it in my day to day life, through travel, architecture, and more.'

'My goal with this collection and all my designs is to make women feel confident,' Devon said in a statement.

Her other baby: On Wednesday, pregnant swimwear designer Devon Windsor unveiled her spring 2021 line, which she called one of her 'favorite collections to date'

'One of my favorite looks is the Cypress Full Piece, something I designed over a year ago and have been waiting for the right collection to add it in, it is just the right amount of unique, sexy and fun!'

Windsor's husband of 18 months - Johnny Dexter Barbara - works as the CEO and art director for her company as well as his sister Alexis Barbara Isaias's clothing company.

On Monday, the St. Louis-born IMG Model - who boasts 4.7M social media followers - tried on the entire spring collection in a fit guide vlog.

Former VS Angel: The expecting 27-year-old originally launched her eponymous brand in August 2019 - and she found 'inspiration for it in my day to day life, through travel, architecture, and more'

Devon said in a statement: 'My goal with this collection and all my designs is to make women feel confident'

All in the family: Windsor's husband of 18 months - Johnny Dexter Barbara - works as the CEO and art director for her company as well as his sister Alexis Barbara Isaias's clothing company

'The pieces are meant to be mixed and matched!' On Monday, the St. Louis-born IMG Model - who boasts 4.7M social media followers - tried on the entire spring collection in a fit guide vlog (pictured Monday)

Devon and her Cuban beau already have a secret name picked out for their first child - a daughter - whom they'll welcome in early September.

And while Windsor has to wait until June for her crib to arrive, she's already storing baby stuff in one room as she prepares to convert her guest room into a nursery.

The 5ft11in blonde - who discovered she was pregnant in January after six months of trying - plans on having a natural birth in a hospital and eventually at least three children.

'OMG my bum this am is so concentrated!' Devon and her Cuban beau already have a secret name picked out for their first child - a daughter - whom they'll welcome in early September

Nesting mode! And while Windsor has to wait until June for her crib to arrive, she's already storing baby stuff in one room (L) as she prepares to convert her guest room (R) into a nursery

Devon and Johnny masked up to fly from Miami to Los Angeles on Thursday to attend her friend Olivia Culpo's 28th birthday bash this weekend.

Miss Universe 2012 prepared for Windsor's arrival by stocking up on candy and other goodies for her cinema-themed festivities.

'@devwindsor I promise you and baby will never go hungry when you get here,' Olivia joked via Instastory.

Jet setters: Devon and Johnny (L) masked up to fly from Miami to Los Angeles on Thursday to attend her friend Olivia Culpo's 28th birthday bash this weekend
She is known for flaunting her incredible frame.

And Carol Vorderman was up to her old tricks once more on Thursday as she took to Instagram to snap selfies while sporting a tight khaki jumpsuit.

The former Countdown presenter, 60, looked incredible in the sizzling one-piece which left very little to the imagination thanks to its tight fit.

Sizzling: Carol Vorderman was up to her old tricks once more on Thursday as she took to Instagram to snap selfies while sporting a tight khaki jumpsuit

Carol was wowing in the ensemble as she held her hand to her hip to highlight her tiny waist alongside the cinching belt.

She added a caption reading: 'Got actual clothes on (not leggings today)... this is called adulting... Pretending to be a grown-up today'.

Last week, Carol told her followers it was 'beyond roasting hot' in Pembrokeshire as she took to Twitter to share a racy snap in the corset one-piece.

And after a long walk along in the countryside, Carol decided she wanted to spend the afternoon soaking up the sun in her plunging swimsuit.

'Pretending to be a grown up today': The former Countdown presenter, 60, looked incredible in the sizzling one-piece which left very little to the imagination thanks to its tight fit

Roasting hot! Last week, Carol told her followers it was 'beyond roasting hot' in Pembrokeshire as she took to Twitter to share a racy snap in the corset one-piece

Soaking up the sun: The television personality captioned the snap: 'It is beyond roasting hot here.....whoah.....swimming cossie on..... Happy days'.

Carol flaunted her ample cleavage in the swimwear, while the corset detailing along the side highlighted her toned and tanned waist.

The television personality captioned the snap: 'It is beyond roasting hot here.....whoah.....swimming cossie on..... Happy days'.

Carol had earlier taken a video of herself down at the harbour as she made the most of the morning sun.

Enjoying nature: Carol had earlier taken a video of herself down at the harbour as she made the most of the morning sun

She said: 'I was going to go home today, can you imagine? Back to the bridge in Bristol but I'm becoming a world champion chilling bird. Oh yeah'.

The television personality has been on a roll littering her social media with bikini-clad snaps.

On Monday, Carol shared a racy throwback snap of herself posing in yet another tiny piece of swimwear.

The former Countdown star put on a very busty display in a skimpy Welsh Dragon bikini top for the sizzling mirror selfie, which she'd taken two years earlier.

Goodness! The television personality has been on a roll littering her social media with bikini-clad snaps. Carol recently shared a racy throwback snap in a red dragon bikini in 2019

Carol captioned the 2019 throwback photo with: 'Maybe it's time to get this one out now that I'm home #WelshDragon #BikiniRummaging.'

The presenter's late mother Edwina hailed from Wales and Carol regularly shows her support for Welsh team Dragons Rugby.

Carol lives in Bristol although she also owns a property in Wales, the star is currently enjoying a getaway to Pembrokeshire.

Taking to Instagram to share updates from her trip, the TV star revealed that she was staying in a yurt while she later shared a picture of a lavish balcony overlooking the sea.

Getaway: Carol lives in Bristol although she also owns a property in Wales, the star is currently enjoying a getaway to Pembrokeshire

Happy: Carol shared her love for the country after growing up in North Wales and that returning after lockdown restriction eased had filled her heart to 'bursting point'

Alright for some! Carol later shared a picture of a lavish balcony overlooking the sea

Carol shared her love for the country after growing up in North Wales and that returning after lockdown restriction eased had filled her heart to 'bursting point'.

She penned: 'Good morning gorgeous peeps from Wales. Finally after the lockdown has been lifted slightly, I could come home.

'I grew up in North Wales and to see the sea and the mountains and the cows and sheep and green green grass (cue @realsirtomjones ).....it fills my heart to bursting point.

'I've always been "a morning girl" so I was up early again this morning to catch another dawn. The full moon was large and yellow in the sky and was setting #MOONSET while the sun came up Bright and SHINY #SUNRISE.

'Only me on this beach at dawn.....it's ALWAYS worth getting up early.... Have a lovely day everyone.'

Stunning: Carol has treated her fans to some of her bikini snaps in the past and previously shared a throwback photo taken 12 years ago where she likened herself to Gwyneth Paltrow

Carol has treated her fans to some of her bikini snaps in the past and previously shared a throwback photo taken 12 years ago where she likened herself to Gwyneth Paltrow.

Alongside it, she wrote: 'Sunbathing on Earth. Gwyneth Paltrow... pic when I was 46 on one of my favourite holidays.'

The former Better Homes presenter's now famous curves have made headlines in the past.

Speaking recently on Good Morning Britain, Carol revealed that she was 'shocked' when pictures of her sensational physique 'went everywhere' as she was quizzed about the snaps by host Susanna Reid.

Discussing the snaps, Carol said: 'I had a very long breakfast with the boss.... it went everywhere that was a bit of a shocker, I hadnt put makeup on in ages.'

It comes after the former Countdown star put on a very busty display in the same beige bikini as she made the most of the UK's warmer weather last week.

Carol looked incredible in the two-piece which she wore under a brown sarong while beaming at the camera.

She captioned the sizzling post: 'Happy SUN-day.....I can't wait for summer ......I think it's going to be one to remember!'
Former Married At First Sight star Sam Ball has been accepted into the Royal Australian Regiment.

Posing in his army greens, the 28-year-old shared a lengthy caption about his journey into the military and expressed how proud he is to be Australian.

'Every time I put on this uniform I can't help but be proud of who I am and what I stand for as a man, what it represents to me,' he wrote.

Yes sir! Former Married At First Sight star Sam Ball has been accepted into the Royal Australian Regiment

'I feel the need to give back to our ancestors and the brave men and women who served and gave there lives for the freedoms we have today,' he continued.

'In addition it is my responsibility to serve this beautiful country of ours and every individual within it.

'Earning my skippy and becoming a part of the Royal Australian Regiment means everything to me,' Sam added.

'I feel the need to give back to our ancestors and the brave men and women who served and gave there lives for the freedoms we have today,' he wrote on Instagram

The reality star finished: 'Proud to be Australian and be involved in our nation's defence.'

Sam recently graduated from the Kapooka Army Recruit Training program in Canberra.

He even received the Most Outstanding Soldier award upon completing the course, according to a post on the Army Recruit Training Centre - Kapooka Facebook page.

Remember this? Sam was paired with Elizabeth Sobinoff on the sixth season of Married At First Sight (pictured)

The former male model is best known for appearing on the blockbuster sixth season of Married At First Sight.

He was paired with Elizabeth Sobinoff, but their relationship ended in disaster when he cheated on her with Ines Basic.

After receiving backlash for his portrayal on the series, Sam stepped out of the spotlight and has kept a relatively low profile ever since.
Madonna certainly made her mark in Snoop Dogg's latest music video as she appeared to light up a 'joint' during a fleeing cameo.

The 62-year-old Queen of Pop is seen briefly in the rapper's video for his new song Gang Signs which was released on Thursday.

It comes after the rapper, 49, implied that he had smoked marijuana with former president Barack Obama in another lyric from the tune.

Smoking: Madonna lit up a 'joint' as she made a cameo in Snoop Dogg's video for Gang Signs on Thursday after rapper implied he smoked marijuana with Barack Obama

In Gang Signs Snoop raps: 'Crip walking with my homegirl Martha / While Im passing joints to Madonna / Who wanna smoke with Snoop? Lets have a smoke or two / Puff, puff, pass, thats what real smokers do.'

He is seen passing a joint to the camera before the shot cuts to Madonna who takes a drag and blows out a large plume of smoke.

For her guest appearance, Michigan-born Madonna wore a purple top with sheer black sleeves over a sexy black bralet.

She accessorised with a thick black choker necklace and rings on several fingers.

Cameo: In the video Snoop raps 'While I'm passing joints to Madonna' who then makes her debut in the video, blowing a large plume of smoke

Chic: For the guest appearance Michigan-born Madonna wore a purple top with sheer black sleeves, a black bralet and choker

Rapping: In the clip Snoop passes a joint to the camera before the shot cuts to Madonna who takes a drag and blows out a large plume of smoke.

Ensuring to bring the glam, she styled her signature blonde tresses straight with a middle parting for the four-second appearance.

Snoop also implied that he's smoked marijuana with Barack Obama in another lyric from the new tune. He sings: 'Still sippin' gin and juice while I'm smoking marijuana / I bet you never blew with Obama.'

It's unclear if Snoop has actually smoked marijuana with the president or first lady, but he has admitted to smoking at the White House.

However in a 2014 episode of GGN: The Double G News Network with Jimmy Kimmel, Snoop recalled a time where he lit up.

'Have you ever smoked at the White House?' guest Jimmy Kimmel asked.

Doggy Dogg World: It's unclear if Snoop has actually smoked marijuana with the former president (pictured) or first lady, but he has admitted to smoking at the White House

'Not in the White House  but in the bathroom. Because I said, "May I use the bathroom for a second?" and they said, "What are you going to do? No. 1 or No. 2?"

Snoop added:'I said, "No. 2,"'. So I said, "Look, when I do the No. 2, I usually, you know, have a cigarette or I light something to get the aroma right,"'.

'They said, "You know what? You can light a piece of napkin." I said, "Ill do that." And the napkin was this [indicates blunt].'

Snoop  who's full name is Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.  has long been associated with cannabis, but jumped into the business end of the medicinal industry in 2015 when he signed up as a minority investor in the California-based cannabis delivery service Eaze.

To mark her boyfriend Ahlamalik Williams 27th birthday: Pop superstar Madonna posted a lovely musical slideshow to her Instagram showing the pair kissing and smoking a blunt

He launched a digital media business focused on marijuana news, Merry Jane, in 2015 shortly before releasing his own brand of products, including marijuana flowers, concentrates and edibles, called Leafs By Snoop.

Meanwhile for her cameo, Madonna seemed to be wearing the same outfit as one she wore to mark her boyfriend Ahlamalik Williams 27th birthday last month.

In the Instagram post, set to the icons song Bedtime Stories from 1994, Williams prepared the blunt, lit it and smoked it, intermittently kissing Madonna and giving her a 'shotgun'  when one person blows pot smoke from his or her open mouth into the mouth of someone else.

Happy birthday indeed: Her Madgesty was in the shiny royal purple parka coat she has been favoring of late, worn over a sexy corset top and fishnets

Her Madgesty was in the shiny royal purple parka coat she has been favoring of late, worn over a sexy corset top and fishnets.

Her platinum blonde hair hung down straight down from underneath her hood, and she wore a black sash around her neck along with a multitude of necklaces.

Ahlamalik wore a black coat along with dark aviator sunglasses. He pulled his hood down to reveal his afro.

They have reportedly been an item since around 2018, after he started out as a backup dancer on her tour.
He married wife Michelle Keegan at a lavish ceremony in Suffolk back in May 2015.

And Mark Wright was clearly in a reflective mood on Thursday as he shared a slew of throwbacks from his boozy stag do in Las Vegas.

The former TOWIE star, 34, was even seen rocking a neon pink thong as he launched himself into a pool in one fun image posted on Instagram.

Living his best life: Mark Wright rocked a neon pink thong as he launched himself into a pool in a fun throwback snap from his 2015 Las Vegas stag do shared to Instagram on Thursday

Mark confidently donned the tiny underwear and threw out his arms as he leaped off the side of the pool and into the clear blue water.

Several other people could be seen grinning at the hunk as he showcased his gym-honed physique and jumped in, much to their amusement.

The reality star also shared pictures of himself wearing an inflatable crown while at another party and celebrating his soon-to-be nuptials with his pals.

Great memories: The former TOWIE star, 34, donned an inflatable crown for another fun picture taken while celebrating his upcoming nuptials to Michelle Keegan

Happy: Mark and Michelle Keegan married during a lavish ceremony in Suffolk back in May 2015 (pictured together in Barbados in 2019)

Mark was joined by more than a dozen of his friends and family for the lavish stag do trip, with them all beaming smiles in a snap taken at the airport.

Also during the trip, Mark enjoyed a night at Calvin Harris' concert, even managing to make it up to the DJ booth and snap a selfie with the musician.

Sharing his pictures, Mark penned: 'Wow!! How time flies!! 6 years ago today we touched down in Las Vegas for my stag!! Up one of the best weeks of my life!!

'Memories made for a lifetime!!'

Last hurrah: Mark enjoyed a large glass of champagne during another boozy afternoon session

The boys: Mark was joined by more than a dozen of his friends and family for the lavish stag do trip, with them all beaming smiles for group pictures

How cool! Also during the trip, Mark enjoyed a night at Calvin Harris' concert, even managing to make it up to the DJ booth and snap a selfie with the musician

'How time flies': Mark explained that it is now six years since he enjoyed the week away with his friends to mark his wedding

Mark's cousin Elliot, who was on the stag do and is now rebuilding his Marbella restaurant after an 'arson attack', replied to the throwback post.

He penned: 'Great photo.. unreal memories... the last 2 years makes you realise life is way way too short.'

And although reliving his wild party boy days with a throwback post, Mark's attention is now firmly focused on building his and wife Michelle's home.

Last month, the couple were said to have applied to Epping Forest District Council with their plans to demolish an existing stable building on site and turn it into a one-bedroom annexe.

Matching: The group all had coordinating 'the Wright way' T-shirts made for the trip

Party: Mark climbed onto a pal's shoulders during a fun night out on his stag

All together: A short clip from pre-drinks showed the group singing and laughing together

The pair purchased the property in October 2019, and in January 2020, it was revealed that they are demolishing the four-bedroom farmhouse onsite for a lavish new home with a 'classical design'.

The Sun claims that the pair formerly withdrew past plans to build 'external accommodation', believed to be for Mark's parents Mark Snr and Carol, last May for reasons unknown.

The publication reports that they said in a new application letter via MP Architects LLP: 'We attach our planning application for the removal of the existing stable building and construction of a 1-bedroom annex, in conjunction with the approved new house.

'The annex is for the use of our client's parents, who need to be close to our clients for care.

'The annex provides one bedroom, bathroom, a TV room and an open plan kitchen, living and dining area with a feature window & doors to provide good views over the countryside.'

MailOnline contacted both Mark and Michelle's representatives for comment at the time.
They first tied the knot way back in 1973.

And Michael Caine looked happier than ever with wife Shakira as he flashed a dazzling smile following a dinner date at The Ivy restaurant in London on Thursday.

The veteran actor, 88, appeared in great spirits as he headed home with the former model, 74, after enjoying a night out with friends.

Happy days: Michael Caine looked happier than ever with wife Shakira as he flashed a dazzling smile following a dinner date at The Ivy restaurant in London on Thursday

Michael wrapped up warm in a navy coat, beneath which he wore a black zip-up sweater and a blue shirt.

He added black trousers to his look, while he opted for comfort by donning a pair of black trainers.

The King Of Thieves star used a cane while he walked, while he held on to his wife's arm for extra support.

He has used the cane since he suffered an ankle injury in 2018 after he fell on ice.

Night out: The veteran actor, 88, appeared in great spirits as he headed home with the former model, 74, after enjoying a night out with friends

Meanwhile, Guyanese beauty Shakira looked smart in a black coat, a white shirt and black trousers.

The Son of Dracula actress added a poop of colour with a navy scarf and carried her essentials in a coordinating blue bag.

Their romance has proved to be one of the longest marriages in showbiz, after tying the knot in Las Vegas in 1973.

In 2019, the veteran British actor revealed how he met the love of his life after seeing her star in a coffee commercial.

Loved up: Their romance has proved to be one of the longest marriages in showbiz, after tying the knot in Las Vegas in 1973. Michael first saw Shakira on a coffee commercial (pictured in 1972)

'I was at home and this commercial came on, for Maxwell House coffee. And there was this beautiful Brazilian girl,' he told Andrew Denton's Interview.

'I said to my mate "we're going to Brazil tomorrow - I have plenty of money, we're going to find her.''

Much to his surprise, his dream woman was not on the other side of the world, but instead a stone's throw away from where he was living.

The thespian reportedly called his future wife every day for ten days until she finally agreed to go out with him.

The couple have one daughter together, Natasha, 48, while the Alfie star has another daughter Dominique, 65, from his previous marriage with actress Patricia Haines.
They announced their engagement on New Year's Eve.

And Ant McPartlin looked content with fiancee Anne-Marie Corbett as they enjoyed a low-key dog walk in a London park on Friday.

The TV presenter, 45, kept things casual in a navy jacket and black sunglasses, while his bride-to-be, 43, added a bright splash of colour with a pink padded coat.

Happy couple: Ant McPartlin looked content with fiancee Anne-Marie Corbett as they enjoyed a low-key dog walk in a London park on Friday

The Saturday Night Takeaway star teamed his jacket with blue jeans and jazzy trainers as he got some fresh air with his partner.

While Anne-Marie teamed her coat with blue joggers, hot pink socks and trainers.

Ant looked chilled as he helped Anne-Marie unload their pooches from the back of their car.

At one point, the couple stopped to chat to a fellow dog walker, before they headed off into the park.

Casual look: The TV presenter, 45, kept things casual in a navy jacket and black sunglasses, while his bride-to-be, 43, added a bright splash of colour with a pink padded coat

Ant's engagement to Anne-Marie was announced on New Year's Eve after he popped the question in a romantic Christmas Eve proposal.

It's thought that the presenter may have paid up to 200,000 for the ring after designing the piece himself.

Tobias Kormind, managing director of Europe's largest online diamond jeweller 77 Diamonds, said: 'It's a very romantic design that harks back to an older style.

'A ring with a diamond of similar quality currently on our website is priced at 125,000. A traditional Mayfair jeweller might charge up to 200,000.'

Relaxed: The Saturday Night Takeaway star teamed his jacket with blue jeans and jazzy trainers as he got some fresh air with his partner

Out and about: While Anne-Marie teamed her coat with blue joggers, hot pink socks and trainers

Nice day for it: The couple looked relaxed as they enjoyed the great outdoors

And the ring is certainly bigger than the one the I'm a Celebrity presenter gave his ex-wife Lisa Armstrong, from whom he split in 2018 after a 12-year marriage.

The forthcoming nuptials come after he and Lisa are said to have finalised their divorce in April last year.

A spokesperson told MailOnline: 'Ant and Amzie are delighted to announce their engagement. The proposal took place on Christmas Eve at home in a very romantic setting.'

While a pal told The Sun: 'Ant has been planning this for some time - but wanted to make sure the moment was just right.

Ready for the off: Ant looked chilled as he helped Anne-Marie unload their pooches from the back of their car

Day out: The couple strolled side by side surrounded by their four-legged friends

'He's a traditionalist, so got down on one knee after first checking with Anne Marie's family that he had their blessing. It was super-romantic, and obviously Anne-Marie said 'yes' straight away.

'Obviously getting engaged in the midst of a pandemic isn't ideal when it comes to planning a wedding... at the moment a summer ceremony is looking extremely unlikely, so it may well be a 2022 affair.'

Recently, Ant spoke about his upcoming wedding to Anne-Marie and admitted he hadn't done much planning yet.

Speaking to Digital Spy magazine last month, Ant and presenting partner Dec spoke about who is likely to fill the coveted role of best man at the ceremony.

Chit chat: At one point, the couple stopped to chat to a fellow dog walker, before they headed off into the park

Small talk: The pair struck up a conversation with a passerby during their outing

'[Dec] was very good last time. He has been my best man. I've been his best man,' Ant said, referencing his failed first marriage to Lisa Armstrong, which lasted from 2006-2018.

Dec joked: 'I think it's between me and the dog!'

Ant admitted that there has been very little planning done as of yet, adding: 'I suppose it depends on what kind of wedding we have. There's been no plans.'

This is perhaps unsurprising as he only proposed in December, revealing: 'It was a lovely way to end the year. I'm a romantic at heart.'

Ant was previously wed to make-up artist Lisa, with the couple going their separate ways after 12 years of marriage in 2018.
She first found fame as Lois Lane on the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman back in 1993.

And on Friday, Teri Hatcher, 56, shared a naked snap of herself showering with her adorable rescue dog Pumpkin, and a sweet shot of him looking cosy while drying off.

The Desperate Housewives star took to Instagram where she uploaded the photograph and branded her antics 'good clean fun!'

Good clean fun! On Friday, Teri Hatcher, 56, shared a naked snap of herself showering with her adorable rescue dog Pumpkin

Sat on the floor of her white tiled shower, with an open bottle of shampoo next to her, the actress covered her modesty with Pumpkin placed on her knee.

The pair were covered in water, with Teri smiling with her eyes closed, while her pet pooch had shampoo rubbed into his fur.

Teri captioned her post: 'Any of you that might have fantasized about showering with Pumpkin...let me tell you...it did not disappoint!

'Fun to have someone to shower with #goodcleanfun #bathtime #lovemydog #rescuedogsofinstagram @hitlivingfoundation.'

Adorable: The actress also included a photograph of her pet pooch drying off while wrapped in a yellow towel

Happy ending: Teri rescued Pumpkin in October after he was found living on the streets of LA

Last month, Teri celebrated a major milestone in her daughter Emerson's life as she graduated from Brown University.

Sharing photos of herself with her lookalike offspring - who had to graduate at home in Los Angeles amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic - she praised those experiencing the key moment under such unique circumstances.

She said in her caption: 'The class of #2020 is primed to be more resilient than most, making lemonade from lemons, with an eye for what is truly important.'

Superstar: Teri first found fame as Lois Lane on the television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman back in 1993 (Pictured)

Stars: Teri also starred in Desperate Housewives alongside Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman (pictured in 2005)

The Lois & Clark star continued, 'After the virtual & moving ceremony this morning, I dry my tears, blow my nose and toast to all your hard work and the great things I see in your future.'

'Congratulations on reaching this amazing milestone! I love you so much!!!#proudmama #BrownU #brown2020 #EverTrue'.

The Californian native also shared a video of the graduation ceremony, which involved the university staff member's address to students projected on a screen in Hatcher's living room.
Commentary: China, Africa would not fall into zero-sum trap

Xinhua) 11:31, May 07, 2021

South African tourist guides sing a Chinese song at the graduation ceremony for a Mandarin training program offered by the University of Johannesburg-Nanjing Technology University Confucius Institute in Pretoria, South Africa, March 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

China is the largest developing country, and has gained great experience in poverty reduction. It is willing to share its development experience with its African friends and other developing countries that uphold the same aspiration to let their people live better lives. A recent survey conducted in 18 African countries by Afrobarometer, a pan-African research organization, showed that up to 60 percent of Africans believe China's economic and political influence in Africa is positive.

NAIROBI, May 6 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's recent virtual trip to Africa turned out to be another Washington's political trick to drive a wedge between China and Africa.

What is quite interesting about the virtual trip is that Blinken, never stop telling the cliches of so-called China threat or debt trap to smear China, said that the United States is not asking anyone to choose between the United States and China.

The real intention behind Washington's words and deeds is too obvious. It is attempting to put on a zero-sum game, disrupt China-Africa cooperation, and exclusively advance American interests in Africa. However, China and Africa would not fall into that trap of zero-sum thinking.

A train arrives at the Maai Mahiu Station of the Nairobi-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya, Oct. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Yan)

History tells the most trustworthy facts that China and Africa enjoy a long-lasting friendship. Historical records have shown that renowned ancient Chinese navigator Zheng He had travelled to Africa around 600 years ago. The fleet he led had traded porcelain, tea, and silk with locals' ivory and ambergris, in a fair and friendly manner.

Zheng's voyages were an open chapter of the friendly exchanges between China and Africa. The China-aided Tanzania-Zambia Railway built more than half a century ago, and today's growing China-Africa cooperation are also good results of China-Africa friendly relationship.

However, in stark contrast, the exchange history between the Western countries and Africa is full of misdeeds of invasion and colonization. Therefore, those groundless accusations that attempted to provoke anti-China sentiment are merely futile.

Moreover, China-Africa relations continue to develop strongly. Over the past 20 more years since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Africa trade has increased by 20 times. Meanwhile, China's investment in Africa surged by more than 100 times in value from 2000 to 2017.

Flagship projects constructed with China's support have largely promoted Africa's prosperity and development, and have created an enormous number of jobs for local people while also guaranteeing their access to basic services such as water, electricity, transport, and skill learning.

China is the largest developing country, and has gained great experience in poverty reduction. It is willing to share its development experience with its African friends and other developing countries that uphold the same aspiration to let their people live better lives. A recent survey conducted in 18 African countries by Afrobarometer, a pan-African research organization, showed that up to 60 percent of Africans believe China's economic and political influence in Africa is positive.

A Chinese medical expert is welcomed by locals upon her arrival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, April 16, 2020. (Xinhua)

Nowadays, China-Africa cultural and people-to-people exchanges are booming. Many young Africans dream of going to China for further study and then coming back to help build their home countries. As more African people come to China, they get the chance to see the real China with their own eyes, and get to know what the Western world has portrayed is untrue and distorted.

In Africa, numerous words of wisdom tell how mankind should cooperate rather than going against each other. "Wisdom is like a baobab tree, one individual cannot embrace it." Such words are ringing truer in today's world as no single country alone can tackle global crises such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and terrorism.

In this fast changing world, China and Africa will surely continue to work together and stride forward along the path of building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future.

Those who have been addicting to the zero-sum game and attempting to drive a wedge between China and Africa could well save their strength.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
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Market Definition:

Ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) is a highly versatile synthetic rubber, which exhibits excellent resistance to oxygen, ozone, polar materials, and sunlight and is highly resistant to steam, heat, and water. It is used across diverse industry verticals for a wide range of applications. Market Research Future (MRFR) has added the global COVID-19 Impact ON Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Market to its existing portfolio, which is a compilation of the key dynamics affecting the market. As per the report, COVID-19 Impact ON Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Market is expected to catapult to USD 6.5 Bn by the end of 2025 from USD 3.9 Bn in 2019, at a CAGR of 6% over the forecast period of 2019-2025.

Market Scenario and Growth Factors:

EPDM experiences significant demand from the automotive industry, where its properties such as excellent resistance to heat, UV rays, and ozone is highly desirable. They help in reflection of UV rays and reduce polymer degradation due to which they are used in engine mounts, vehicle glazing systems, moisture barriers, valves, and pumps. They are used in the manufacturing of seals & gaskets, weather-stripping, brake parts, radiator, tubing, belts, windshield wipers, and others. Expanding the automotive industry and increasing the production of vehicles is supporting the growth of the market. EPDM is also used in the construction industry for waterproofing applications. They help in lowering air-conditioning costs as well. The booming construction industry in the developing countries of Asia Pacific is favoring the growth of the market. Other factors supporting the growth of the market include numerous rainwater harvesting initiatives undertaken in various countries and increasing adoption of green cities.

On the other hand, the growth of the market might be hindered by the volatile price of raw materials.

Competitive Landscape:

Firestone Building Products Company (US),

Exxon Mobil Corporation (US),

SABIC (Saudi Arabia), Dow (US),

Carlisle Companies Inc. (US),

JSR Corporation (Japan),

SK global chemical Co., Ltd (South Korea),

Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Japan),

Lion Elastomers (US),

LANXESS AG (Germany),

KUMHO POLYCHEM (South Korea),

Johns Manville (US),

Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd (Japan)

Segmentation:

The Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer Market has been segmented based on application and end-use industry.

By application, the ethylene propylene diene monomer market has been segmented into seals & gaskets, weather-stripping, tires & tubes, wire & cables, roofing membranes, electric insulation, radiators, oil additives, and others.

By end-use industry, the ethylene propylene diene monomer market has been segmented into automotive, building & construction, aerospace & defense, electrical & electronics, consumer goods, medical, and others.

Regional Analysis:

Region-wise, the ethylene propylene diene monomer market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, the Middle East & Africa (MEA), Europe, and Asia Pacific (APAC).

The largest share of the market was captured by APAC in 2019. The region is in the midst of rapid industrialization, and various end-use industries of EPDM are expanding at an accelerated pace in the region, which is generating constant demand within the market.

The prolific growth of the automotive industry in the UK, Germany, Italy, and France are supporting the growth of the EPDM market in Europe. Besides, the European Union (EU) has laid down stringent regulations for environment protection, which works in favor of the EPDM market. The region is investing significantly in the medical sector, which is inducing the growth of the market.

North America EPDM market is likely to exhibit substantial growth in the coming years. Demand will be generated from the automotive, electrical & electronics, construction, and healthcare industries.

The growth of Latin America EPDM market can be attributed to the fast track industrialization in countries such as Brazil and Chile.

The MEA market growth is driven by the GCC countries. Construction activities are going on at a torrid pace, which is inducing high demand within the market.

Access Complete Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/ethylene-propylene-diene-monomer-market-2767
Vicky McClure offered a glimpse of her life behind the cameras as she enjoyed a celebratory drink with actor Otto Farrant on Friday.

The 37-year-old Line of Duty star took to Instagram to post a selfie taken outside at the end of filming series two of the Alex Rider TV series.

The monochrome snap showed Vicky, who portrays Mrs Jones in the Amazon Prime Video show, beaming a grin as she sat opposite Otto, 24, who plays the lead role.

Celebrations: Line of Duty's Vicky McClure grinned alongside Otto Farrant as they enjoyed an al fresco drink after finishing filming for the second season of Alex Rider on Friday

'That's a wrap': The 37-year-old described co-star Otto Farrant as a #true pro super hero' as she celebrated the end of filming

With weather proving temperamental, the pair opted to wrap up warm to beat the chill, with Vicky wearing a high-collared coat.

Otto was also wrapped up in a thick jacket, featuring a tartan design on the front and black panels across the shoulders.

The Alex Rider TV series, shown on Amazon Prime Video, has been adapted from the series of novels by Anthony Horowitz.

Vicky portrays the character known as Mrs Jones, who is the handler for teenage spy Alex Rider.

Kate, is that you? Vicky portrays a character known as Mrs Jones, who is the handler for teenage spy Alex Rider, in the Amazon Prime series (pictured during the first season)

On screen: The Alex Rider TV series, shown on Amazon Prime Video, has been adapted from the series of novels by Anthony Horowitz (Vicky is pictured in her role of Mrs Jones)

The behind-the-scenes snap comes after Vicky also shared a brief video of herself with Line of Duty co-stars Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar as they engaged in a singalong while out of character, on Sunday.

The trio sang in the shady underpass used for clandestine meetings in the show

The graffiti-strewn subway, situated in Belfast, has become something of an iconic landmark among fans, with AC12 meeting there numerous times since the show relocated to Northern Ireland in 2014.

Captioning the playful clip, which ends with the three stars bursting into laughter, she wrote: 'Best friends!'

Banter: The behind-the-scenes snap comes after Vicky also shared a brief video of herself with Line of Duty co-stars Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar as they had a singalong on Sunday

Farewell: Ahead of Line Of Duty's sixth and potentially final series on Sunday, DS Steve Arnott, DI Kate Fleming and Superintendent Ted Hastings were back at the underpass for one last visit

On the same day, Vicky ramped up the Line of Duty posts as she uploaded a picture from the set of the show.

She shared moving tributes to the show's die-hard fans as they counted down the hours until the long-awaited series six finale was broadcast.

Vicky shared an image alongside Martin and their co-star Adrian Dunbar, who plays Superintendant Hastings on the show, and a snap of their knitted counterparts.

She wrote: 'Happy Line Of Duty day! Please excuse the slightly over emotional post but it's been quite a surreal time!

'The audience support has been unreal, the creativity of merchandise, the artwork, ground-breaking viewing figures and the hype!!

End of an era: Vicky and Martin Compston shared moving tributes to the show's fans as they counted down the hours until series six's finale was broadcast

'It's not lose on me how lucky I am to be a part of Line Of Duty, not just because of the success of the show, but the lifelong friendships we've all gained.

'We have such a talented and caring crew, a huge part of its success is down to them. Our amazing guest star Kelly MacDonald! Shalom, Perry, Anna, Tommy, Rose, Greg, Anneika, Nigel, Ace, Liza, Amy to name just a few of the incredible cast in series six!

'Belfast, our LOD home. Thanks for Craic as always. Honestly, I can't thank you all enough for your love & dedication to the show.

'Raising my brew to you Jed Mercurio! The epitome of honesty & integrity. @MrMartinCompston & Adrian I love you's 29! Now... let's wrap this up.'
The Essex streets are set to be drama packed once more on Sunday.

On the upcoming episode of TOWIE, fans will be stunned to see that Bobby Norris and Chloe Sims enter into crunch talks to see if their friendship is fixable following his explosive slurs during a drunken rant.

Another show veteran, Amy Childs helps her daughter Polly ring in her fourth birthday with an epic Princess party - which comes as a perfect chance to try and put her differences aside with Saffron Lempriere.

Heartache: On the upcoming episode of TOWIE, fans will be stunned to see that Bobby Norris and Chloe Sims enter into crunch talks to see if their friendship is fixable following his explosive slurs during a drunken rant

Last week, viewers saw Frankie Sims relay to sisters Chloe and Demi that Bobby had branded them 'staff members' in a drunken rant.

After a decade of friendship, on Sunday night's show fans will see if Chloe and Bobby can manage to salvage their friendship after the slurs.

At Polly's birthday, Saffron and Amy finally try and work things out in their barbed friendship all the while celebrating the fourth birthday.

Shock: Last week, viewers saw Frankie Sims relay to sisters Chloe and Demi that Bobby had branded them 'staff members' in a drunken rant

Tough: After a decade of friendship, on Sunday night's show fans will see if Chloe and Bobby can manage to salvage their friendship after the slurs

Reaching out: Another show veteran, Amy Childs helps her daughter Polly ring in her fourth birthday with an epic Princess party - which comes as a perfect chance to try and put her differences aside with Saffron Lempriere.

James Lock continues in his quest for Hollywood with the help of Pete Wicks.

The duo attend a workshop together to see if James has the impressive Hollywood-style stardom that he is convinced he has.

Elsewhere Rem Larue and and Clelia Theodourou have an awkward encounter as they finally bump into each other as she decides whether to forgive his past acts.

Stardom? James Lock continues in his quest for Hollywood with the help of Pete Wicks

Hard at it: The duo attend a workshop together to see if James has the impressive Hollywood-style stardom that he is convinced he has

All good? Elsewhere Rem Larue and and Clelia Theodourou have an awkward encounter as they finally bump into each other as she decides whether to forgive his past acts

Chloe Meadows become locked in drama as she comes face-to-face with Ella Rae Wise and Roman Hackett over the shock voicenote.

She takes her confrontations to Gatsby to query his lack of loyalty.

The Only Way Is Essex airs on Sunday 9th May, 9pm on ITVBe and available on ITV Hub

Stream brand new TOWIE now in Australia, only on hayu.

Hitting out: Chloe Meadows become locked in drama as she comes face-to-face with Ella Rae Wise and Roman Hackett over the shock voicenote
SAS: Who Dares Wins has become embroiled in a religious and sexism row after a female Muslim contestant claimed that she was prevented from preforming at her best because of 'insensitivity' towards her faith and gender.

Shireen Khan, 28, said that she feared she would catch hypothermia after refusing to strip off in front of the cameras and fellow contestants because of her Islamic beliefs.

The contestant also complained that she was not served any halal food and became constipated after being unable to use a bucket as a toilet while men were present.

Row: SAS: Who Dares Wins has become embroiled in a religious and sexism row after Ms Khan claimed that she was prevented from preforming at her best because of 'insensitivity' towards her faith and gender

Ms Khan also claimed that the Channel 4 show's former Special Forces instructors were 'patronising' and 'condescending' after they referred to her as 'cupcake' and a 'gym bunny' during gruelling challenges.

The contestant, from north London, features on the first episode of the show this Sunday, which has been filmed in rural Scotland on what is being billed as the toughest course yet since the programme started.

This is the second major controversy to hit the show in recent months after host Ant Middleton was sacked in March over his 'personal conduct'.

It had previously been revealed that the TV personality had referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as 'absolute scum' and urged people to 'carry on as normal' and not change their habits amid the global Covid pandemic.

Claims: Shireen Khan, 28, said that she feared she would catch hypothermia after refusing to strip off in front of the cameras and fellow contestants because of her Islamic beliefs

He features in the up-coming series as he was axed after filming had been completed.

Ms Khan told MailOnline: 'Being on the show was an incredible experience and something that will live with me forever. But I do believe that cultural insensitivity towards my Muslim faith and being a woman, held me back.

'After a mud challenge, the other contestants were comfortable stripping off in front of each other and the cameras but as a Muslim woman, I couldn't do it.

'I had to keep on wet clothes, which left me cold and shivering and I was worried that I would catch hypothermia. I had to wait until I could change my clothes privately.

Present: The contestant also complained that she was not served any halal food and became constipated after being unable to use a bucket as a toilet while men were present

'The toilet was one of two outdoor buckets and I wasn't able to go properly during my time on the set because men were using an adjoining one. Because of my culture I wasn't comfortable doing that.'

To add to her woes on the hard-hitting programme, Ms Khan said she was forced to eat vegetarian food because no halal options were available.

She added: 'I believe that there needs to be greater diversity on the show and the only way you can do that is by being more aware of cultural sensitivities.

'These are all barriers that are preventing people from diverse backgrounds from participating in Who Dares Wins and even joining the British armed forces.

Axed: This is the second major controversy to hit the show in recent months after host Ant Middleton was sacked in March over his 'personal conduct'

'The programme has already had problems around Ant Middleton, and I feel that Channel 4 need to address the issues that I'm raising.'

Businesswoman Ms Khan, who owns three health clinics in London claimed that in addition to her faith, her gender also played a part in how she performed.

She was eliminated on the first day after failing a challenge that involved running up a mountain carrying a 50kg weight, which left her severely bruised.

Ms Khan, who weighs 51kg said: 'What I was carrying should have been proportionate to my body weight. There were male contestants who weighed a lot more than that and it was a lot easier for them.

'Patronising': Ms Khan also claimed that the Channel 4 show's former Special Forces instructors were 'patronising' and 'condescending' after they referred to her as 'cupcake' and a 'gym bunny' during gruelling challenges

'As a woman who is not very heavy, that exercise was unfair and impossible to complete. The programme makers need to take these kinds of things into consideration.'

She also criticised the show's instructors Jason Fox, Mark 'Billy' Billingham and Ant Middleton.

Ms Khan added: 'Being called "cupcake" and "gym bunny" is very patronising and condescending.

'I wanted to say to them that I'm a lot tougher than you think. Even to get to this stage of the show is very difficult because you need a lot of mental and physical strength.'

Ouch: She was eliminated on the first day after failing a challenge that involved running up a mountain carrying a 50kg weight, which left her severely bruised

Gruelling challenges: Ms Khan, who weighs 51kg said: 'What I was carrying should have been proportionate to my body weight' (one of her bruises from the challenges)

She revealed that in order to qualify for the first episode she had to undergo eight arduous physical tests and gave up her work so that she could train three times per day to prepare for them.

Despite her experience, Ms Khan said that she had no regrets about appearing on the Channel 4 show.

She added: 'Experiencing what the SAS go through has left me with nothing but admiration for them and the British armed forces as a whole for the work they do in protecting our country.

'It was a real honour to be on the show but it's a pity that there are not more Muslims and other communities on it.'

Performance: Businesswoman Ms Khan, who owns three health clinics in London claimed that in addition to her faith, her gender also played a part in how she performed

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: 'SAS: Who Dares Wins is now in its sixth series. All the recruits are fully aware that by being part of the programme, they will be immersed in an authentic SAS Selection experience.

'They are fully briefed about what to expect and encouraged to watch previous episodes of the series, where they will see that all recruits are treated the same, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity.

'Shireens dietary requirements were discussed with her prior to taking part in the series and she requested a vegetarian option, which was honoured. However, as she was only on the course for a very short time, she did not have the opportunity to eat her chosen meal.'

In March, it was revealed that Ant Middleton had been axed from the UK series, he will still work on the Australian version of the show.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 told MailOnline at the time: 'Ant Middleton will not be taking part in future series of SAS: Who Dares Wins.

'Following a number of discussions Channel 4 and Minnow Films have had with him in relation to his personal conduct it has become clear that our views and values are not aligned and we will not be working with him again.'

Talking about his exit, Middleton claimed that he was dropped from SAS: Who Dares Wins due to 'butting heads' with the team after he said it had become 'more of a reality show'.
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Harry Styles gave an insight into the complications of his romance with his on-screen wife Emma Corrin for new drama My Policeman while filming on Brighton beach on Friday.

The One Direction star is taking the lead in the movie, which is set in Brighton in the 1950s, and based on Bethan Roberts' novel, focusing on police officer Tom, who is gay, but married to Marion (Emma) due to expectations. He goes on to have an affair with museum curator Patrick Hazelwood (David Dawson).

Harry, Emma, and a male co-star were working hard on bringing the story to life as they hit the shores in period costume, while putting on extremely animated displays and enjoying fun and frolics.

Loved-up: Harry Styles gave an insight into the complications of his on-screen romances for new drama The Policeman while filming with Emma Corrin on Friday

Emma looked amazing as she hit the beach in a striped top with a lemon yellow skirt and blue jelly shoes with her short blonde hair worn loose. Harry and their co-star were in complementary ensembles fitting to the time, with shorts and waistcoat for Harry and a vest for the other actor.

Having shot to fame on X Factor in 2010 with a head of wild curls, Harry was tended to on the shores by a crew member, who was ensuring his hair was coiffed to perfection.

It seems that while the idea of the shoots was to frame a stunning sunny day, the English weather was working against the cast and crew as Emma, Harry and their co-star were all forced to wrap up.

Emma used a hot water bottle to stay warm while Harry and the actor both sported warm winter coats - although their bare legs were still on show thanks to the skimpy beach attire.

The whole group: Despite the love triangle, things seemed amiable with Harry, Emma and a male co-star

Loved up: The One Direction star is starring in the movie, which is set in Brighton in the 1950s, and is based on Bethan Roberts' novel, focusing on police officer Tom, who is gay, but married to Marion (Emma) due to expectations

Wrapping up warm! Harry was helped into a coat by a crew member while Emma held on to a hot water bottle and their co-star stood with his legs out while sporting a padded winter coat

Production on the film kicked off in Brighton last month, and it is currently unclear when the film will be released. Harry will reportedly film sex scenes with co-star David in the upcoming LGBT romantic drama.

An insider said: 'Harry will be having sex on screen and they want it to look as real as possible. The plan is to shoot two romps between Harry and David, then another scene where Harry is naked on his own.'

A source added to The Sun: 'Not much is going to be left to the imagination. Harry is throwing himself into this new role and is really excited about the challenge, even though its a daunting task.

Tender moments: Filming appeared to be going swimmingly as the cast and crew giggled together

Fun: The 2012 novel explores the sexual mores of the 1950s and the criminalisation of homosexuality

Keeping warm: Emma wrapped up warm by clutching a hot water bottle in between takes

Wah! He went from bare-legged and in summer garb to wrapped up against the chill

'He always wants to do things that people wouldnt expect and challenge what people think about him  and this film will really do that.'

A spokesperson for Harry declined to comment when approached by MailOnline. MailOnline also contacted a representative for David at the time.

Baz Bamigboye revealed in The Daily Mail earlier this year that The Last Kingdom star David would portray the lover of Harry's character.

Making a splash: They ran from the water - despite both wearing shoes - in the playful scenes

A close connection: Harry and a male co-star could not keep their hands off each other while playing around on-camera

Cast and crew: Having shot to fame on X Factor in 2010 with a head of wild curls, Harry was tended to on the shores by a crew member, who was ensuring his hair was coiffed to perfection

Rupert Everett will appear as the older version of Patrick in the film, while the former One Direction artist will be replaced by Linus Roache for scenes set years after their affair began, while Golden Globe winner Emma's character will be taken over by Gina McKee later in the film.

The film sees Tom embark on an affair with Patrick after they fall in love at first sight when they meet at Brighton Museum.

Tom's spouse becomes jealous when she discovers their passionate relationship, and decides to take drastic action during a time when homosexuality was illegal.

The 2012 novel explores the sexual mores of the 1950s and the criminalisation of homosexuality.

The Amazon Studios production is being directed by Michael Grandage, and it will shoot from April 12 on locations in London and the South-East coast, while the more intimate moments will be filmed at one of the big film studios.

Hanging out: He was perfectly styled to the time in the shorts and waistcoat

Sweet: The film sees Tom embark on an affair with Patrick after they fall in love at first sight when they meet at Brighton Museum

His love: The love triangle plays out between the three characters amid Harry's tortured pain

The film will be adapted by Oscar-nominee Ron Nyswaner, and Amazon will be working with Berlanti Schechter Productions.

Harry is currently in a relationship with American actress Olivia Wilde, 37, and has previously dated celebrities such as Kendall Jenner, 25, Taylor Swift, 31, and Kiko Mizuhara, 30.

The hunk previously insisted he is not using 'sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting' but demands fans respect his refusal to discuss his sexuality.

Speaking to The Guardian's Weekend Magazine, the hitmaker revealed that while he doesn't mind being asked about his sexuality, he has no plans to definitively provide an answer.

The long and short of it! Harry wore short shorts despite the unseasonable weather

Up close and personal: The camera crew were shooting close shots to Emma's face

Star: Emma was surrounded by the camera crew as she chatted to Harry in between takes

Chilly: Harry wrapped up warm in a huge black coat as he took a break in between takes

Style: Harry looked quirky in some tiny blue shorts and and a sleeveless navy jumper

Sweet: Harry put his arms around Emma as they both walked across the beach together

Quirky: Harry was showing off his unique sense of style in his outfit for filming

Close: Harry put his arm around Emma as they wrapped up warm in black coats in between filming their scenes

Busy: There was an extensive camera crew in place as the filming continued at the beach

Style: Emma looked incredible in a yellow skirt and striped blue shirt as she stood chatting to Harry

He explained: 'What I would say, about the whole being-asked-about-my-sexuality thing  this is a job where you might get asked. And to complain about it, to say you hate it, and still do the job, that's just silly.

'You respect that someone's gonna ask. And you hope that they respect they might not get an answer.

'It's not like I'm sitting on an answer, and protecting it, and holding it back. It's not a case of: I'm not telling you cos I don't want to tell you. It's not: ooh this is mine and it's not yours. It's: who cares? Does that make sense? It's just: who cares?'

It comes after Emma appeared to come out as 'queer' last month when she took to Instagram to share an image from her shoot for Pop magazine, and wrote the caption: 'ur fave queer bride.'

Emma has kept tight-lipped on any talk surrounding her sexuality and dating life.
She knows the importance of staying healthy.

And Jennifer Aniston boasted about being 'fully vaccinated' in a throwback photo from a Variety photo shoot from 2019 shared to Instagram on Friday.

The 52-year-old actress stood with her hands in the air while wearing a sleek black ensemble to mark the proud occasion as she joined the millions of people in the US protecting themselves from COVID-19 with a vaccine.

'Fully vaccinated and it feels soooo good,' she captioned the shot using a musical note and flexed muscle. 'We are extremely lucky and privileged to have access to Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. right now.'

Jennifer threw her head back and basked in the light in an image captured by famed photographer Peggy Sirota.

'Unfortunately, thats not the case everywhere... and as we know, the health of one of us affects all of us,' she added. 'Thinking about those who do not or will not have the opportunity to get vaccinated and hug their friends and family. See more in my bio for ways to help those who need it during this crisis.'

Jennifer went on to share a link to America Cares in efforts to draw awareness and funds to support the crisis in India where a severe second wave outbreak of the coronavirus has decimated the population with more than 3,500 deaths per day.

News: Aniston's back to work now on The Morning Show where she plays a journalist, a role which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series  Drama category

Aniston's back to work now on The Morning Show where she plays a journalist, a role which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series  Drama category.

Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell also star on the show which explores the cutthroat world of morning news through the eyes of two female journalists.

Jen and Reese first worked together more than a decade ago as the Green sisters on the classic television show, Friends.

Power moves: Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell also star on the show which explores the cutthroat world of morning news through the eyes of two female journalists

Blast from the past: Jen and Reese first worked together more than a decade ago as the Green sisters on the classic television show, Friends

And Jennifer will soon join her former Friends co-stars for a reunion after efforts to reunite this year were stalled due to the coronavirus.

She'll work alongside Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow for a one-off special of their hit NBC sitcom, which will see them reminisce about their time on the much-loved series.

Aniston's ex-husband, Justin Theroux, recently admitted that the pair have 'remained friends' despite splitting up more than three years ago.

'We don't talk every day, but we call each other,' he told Esquire. 'We FaceTime. We text. Like it or not, we didn't have that dramatic split, and we love each other.'
Brooke Shields was seen hard at work at a photo shoot in New York City on Thursday afternoon.

The 55-year-old supermodel appeared to be enjoying her time outside as she posed for a few snaps that will be used for her upcoming movie, A Castle For Christmas.

The actress' outing comes just three months after she broke her femur in a workout accident and underwent an extended period of recovery.

Hard at work: Brooke Shields was spotted at a photoshoot in New York City on Thursday afternoon while still recovering from a broken femur

Shields was dressed in an eye-catching red pantsuit that made her stand out from the rest of the individuals on the photo shoot's set.

The former fashion model contrasted her outfit choice with a black undershirt and a pair of white platform sneakers.

The Mr Pickles voice actress' gorgeous dark-to-light brunette hair cascaded onto her backside and right shoulder.

An assistant notably held a crutch that the supermodel used to hold herself up in between takes.

Dressed to impress: The supermodel wore a striking red pantsuit for the duration of the photoshoot

Other elements: The Pretty Baby actress contrasted her outfit with a black undershirt and a pair of white sneakers. Her gorgeous dark-to-light brunette hair cascaded onto her backside and right shoulder

At one point, Shields was seen covering her nose and mouth with a facial covering, although she did not put it on.

The actress is currently hard at work on the upcoming Netflix film, which is set to make its debut later this year.

The story follows an author named Sophie who decamps to Scotland and attempts to purchase a castle from a stubborn landowner.

Also set to appear in the forthcoming Mary Lambert-directed comedy film are Cary Elwes and Andi Osho.

Future project: Shields' photoshoot was part of the production for the upcoming comedy film A Castle For Christmas. Also set to appear in the forthcoming feature are Cary Elwes and Andi Osho

Coming soon: A Castle For Christmas is set to be released on the Netflix streaming service at an unspecified date this year

The actress broke her right femur after she fell off a balance board whilst at a gym in New York in January and has revealed that she initially underwent two separate surgeries to try and mend the broken bones.

Detailing the horror fall, she told People, 'It felt like it was all in slow motion. And then I just started screaming. Sounds came out that I've never heard before.'

Brooke explained she was 'afraid [she] was paralyzed' at first but kept telling doctors she could still feel her toes.

The actress then had an operation to insert two metal rods, 'one from the top of my hip down, and another across into the hip socket.'

Getting over it: Shields is currently recuperating from a femur injury that she suffered earlier this year

Cause: The supermodel broke her femur after falling off a balance board at a gym. She later had two metal rods inserted into her hip

After the broken portion of her right femur popped out, she immediately underwent a second surgery to add five rods and a metal plate to anchor it all in place.

She subsequently developed a very serious staph infection which required her to return for emergency surgery on the IV site where she'd had three blood transfusions.

Shields explained: 'At first they feared it might be MRSA. Thank God it wasn't. If it had been, my doctor said it would have been a race against time. That's how you can become septic. It seemed unthinkable.'

The Pretty Baby star is now having to re-learn how to walk again and has said she feels 'helpless' at times.

Complications: After undergoing two separate surgeries, Shields developed a staph infection that quickly grew very serious

Onward and upward: The Mr. Pickles voice actress is currently re-learning to walk and has admitted that she feels 'helpless' at times

She added: 'For the first time in my entire life, I thought, "I can't power through this." I can't even stand on my leg or go up a step. I need to relearn how to even walk. The feeling of helplessness is shocking.'

Shields then told the media outlet that she was a 'fighter' and that she was determined to overcome her injury despite its severity.

She said, 'This is my journey, and if it took me breaking the largest bone in my body, then recovery is something I want to share.

'We have to believe in ourselves and encourage one another. There's no other way to get through life, period,' the actress added.
Francesca Farago has addressed her tumultuous split from TOWIE star Demi Sims, saying that their love languages 'didn't match up' and it 'fizzled' [out].

The Too Hot To Handle beauty, 27, claimed she and her ex-girlfriend are 'not on good terms' and said that following their break-up Demi 'blocked her, deleted her and told her to leave London'.

She spoke about their split in a lengthy YouTube video posted to her channel on Tuesday, in which detailed her side of the story and the reasons for their break-up.

Happier times: Francesca Farago has addressed her tumultuous split from TOWIE star Demi Sims, saying that their love languages 'didn't match up' and it 'fizzled' [out]

Francesca said that while things moved very quickly at the beginning of their relationship - with her asking Demi to be her girlfriend after three days - it started to 'go south' after she got sick with coronavirus.

She said: 'We lived together right off the bat and everything was great, and then I got Covid. I got really sick, it kicked my a**.

'I almost had to go to the hospital. I think that's when things started to go south between Demi and I.

Drama: She spoke about their split in a lengthy YouTube video posted to her channel on Tuesday, in which detailed her side of the story and the reasons for their break-up

'We were only talking to each other for a few weeks online before we met and then we moved in together right away so we never had that dating period or getting-to- know-you period.'

The reality TV star said that another factor behind the split was that she felt unsupported as she made the move to the UK to be with Demi while she filmed scenes for TOWIE.

Franscesca said: 'I was really, really stressed and I was really frustrated because I didn't really feel like Demi was helping me and I'm moving across the country for this person.

'I was spending so much money It was a lot of effort and work and I just didn't feel like I was being helped out or anything was being reciprocated.'

Whirlwind: The Too Hot To Handle beauty, 27, said that following their break-up the TOWIE star, 25, 'blocked her, deleted her and told her to leave London' (pictured in March)

However, she said the ultimate end to their relationship came from their different expectations and 'love languages' and that things just 'fizzled' [out].

'There's different things that we expected of a relationship, and [that we] need and want, there's different love languages and ours just didn't match up and that's perfectly fine,' she said.

Following the split, Francesca insisted in the video that she felt like they 'could have remained friends' but said Demi felt differently and 'blocked her'.

She said: 'After the break-up, she just blocked me and deleted me and told me to leave London and just was like: ''You're cut''.

'I didn't think I deserved that because I didn't do anything wrong, and she didn't do anything wrong.

'We just kind of fizzled and there was no more spark. We weren't like having conversations or doing anything fun, we weren't seeing anything in London, the relationship was so blah.'

It's over: Francesca said the ultimate end to their relationship came from their different expectations and 'love languages' and that things just 'fizzled' [out]

Francesca, who is from Canada, has remained in London since her split from Demi but said that she is planning to move to the US soon.

She also used the video to address the cryptic TikTok she posted about 'getting back with an ex' just days after her shock split with Demi.

In her TikTok video, which is still uploaded on the platform and has over 13 million views, the Canadian beauty lipsyncs to Dua Lipa's Levitating.

It is captioned with 'single and ready to focus on me', then the video changes to 'my ex;' to which she mimes the lyrics: 'You want me, I want you, baby'.

Hitting out: She also used the video to address the cryptic TikTok she posted about 'getting back with an ex' just days after her shock split with Demi saying she used the wrong audio

Prior to their relationship, Francesca dated Too Hot To Handle co-star Harry Jowsey with the two splitting in June - as she revealed he was the ex in question.

Francesca said that she used the wrong audio track for the video and denied that it was meant to be about her falling for Harry again.

'I did not even realise that's how it came across until Demi messaged me,' she said.

'I wasn't really thinking and I was being stupid...and I'm really sorry for that. As long as Demi knows that I didn't mean it like that, I mean we're not on good terms but...'

This comes after Demi broke down in tears on an episode of The Only Way Is Essex last month as she told her sisters Chloe and Frankie she had split from Francesca.

The reality star, 25, admitted the relationship they had in private was very different to the one they showed in public.

Emotional: This comes after Demi broke down in tears on an episode of The Only Way Is Essex last month as she told her sisters Chloe and Frankie she had split from Francesca

Arriving to meet her sisters, Demi teared up as she said: 'Me and Francesca broke up. I feel literally heart broken but it was for the best. It was the best for both of us.

'We just weren't getting on behind closed doors. The relationship we were having in front of everyone else was a different relationship from what we were having when no one was there.

Further explaining the distance that grew between them, Demi said: 'The spark was gone. There was no conversation, it was like getting blood out of a stone.'

'I just feel so unhappy. I would've given her the world if she wanted it but, I don't know, it just didn't work. It just really hurt me.'

Demi and Francesca called it quits in April after a whirlwind four-month romance.

Sharing a picture of roses, Francesca confirmed their break-up on Instagram penning: 'I really didn't want to have to address this today, but I am already getting attacked on social media so I might as well bite the bullet since I have no choice.

Single again: In her YouTube video, Francesca insisted that she felt like they 'could have remained friends' but said Demi felt differently and 'blocked her'

'Demi and I are no longer together. We decided to go our separate ways this morning. Nothing bad happened. We were both loyal to one another and still love each other.

'Sometimes people just don't work perfectly together and that's OK. We rushed into living together without knowing if our personalities and daily life meshed well together.

'I wish we could have had a few days to emotionally cope with this in private but we chose to share our entire relationship with you guys which is why I'm posting this now.'

Eagle-eyed fans noticed the former couple had stopped following each other on social media.

'We rushed into things': Sharing a picture of roses, the Canadian beauty confirmed their break-up in a heartfelt Instagram post in April after a whirlwind four-month romance

Francesca asked her followers to respect her privacy because they are having an 'extremely difficult time.

She added: 'I would have loved to remain friends and in each other's lives but she thought seeing me on social media would be too difficult for her, which is why she wanted to block me.

'In life when a couple breaks up this is a coping mechanism and they don't get scrutinised by thousands of people for how they choose to act after a heartbreaking situation. I want you guys to know nothing bad happened between us.

'Please be kind and respect our privacy. It is an extremely difficult time for both of us and negative, inaccurate and presumptuous comments make it much more difficult. It did take a toll on our relationship as well.'

The pair had moved in with each other after falling in love on holiday in Mexico, and even got tattoo tributes of their initials.
Jake Gyllenhaal made a rare sighting with his girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu in New York City on Thursday.

The 40-year-old NIghtcrawler star held hands with the French model, 25, as they strolled around Manhattan in heavy jackets.

The couple have been dating since 2018 but they maintain a very low profile twosome and their public outings are few and far between.

Private life: Jake Gyllenhaal made a rare sighting with his girlfriend Jeanne Cadieu in New York City on Thursday

The Brokeback Mountain actor was wearing navy blue jacket layered over a gray shirt and a black Polo. He completed his casual look with blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers.

The runway star was similarly attired, clad in straight blue jeans that showed off her long legs.

She also donned North Face puff jacket over a dark blue shirt and low-heeled boots.

Dressed down: The Brokeback Mountain actor was wearing navy blue jacket layered over a gray shirt and a black Polo. He completed his casual look with blue jeans and a pair of white sneakers. The runway star was similarly attired, clad in straight blue jeans that showed off her long legs

Though glimpses of the pair together are infrequent, sources told Us Weekly in December 2018 that their relationship had become serious.

'Jeanne is very mature for her age. She's quirky, smart and loves history, reading; she's a really great and well-rounded person,' a source told the magazine.

The source added, 'She and Jake really took things slow, but are now pretty serious.'

Heating up: Though glimpses of the pair together are infrequent, sources told Us Weekly in December 2018 that their relationship had become serious

The couple have spent many vacations together including trips to Martha's Vineyard, London, Greece and Paris.

In 2019, Jeanne attended the opening night of Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge's Broadway play Sea Wall/A Life. They also went to several events together but walked the red carpet separately.

Big step: In August 2019, Page Six reported that the stunning brunette had met the Spiderman: Far From Home star's family

In August 2019, Page Six reported that the stunning brunette had met the Spiderman: Far From Home star's family.

Though the two both have Instagram accounts, they did not follow each other up until recently.

Jake's previous romances were much more public. The Nocturnal Animals actor has dated some of Hollywood's most famous faces including Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon and Taylor Swift.

However, he has said that he prefers to lead a private life. In a 2017 interview with The Guardian, Jake said, 'There are some things I keep to myself, that are my business.'

Gyllenhaal explained, 'I'm not necessarily guarded, but I consider intimacy to be very important and I don't think everybody needs to know about my family or my personal details. I'm old school in that way.'

'I would love to not talk about my personal life,' he said.

Close-lipped: In a 2017 interview with The Guardian, Jake said, 'I would love to not talk about my personal life.' Seen in 2019
Katie Holmes and her 15-year-old daughter Suri Cruise were both seen out in New York City this Friday.

For her latest outing Katie, 42, demonstrated her fashionista credentials yet again, this time by accessorizing with a slouched black leather hat.

While she was seen lugging a large blue duffel back down the sidewalk her daughter was spotted carrying a pink backpack.

Mother and daughter: Katie Holmes (left) and her 15-year-old daughter Suri Cruise (right) were both seen out in New York City this Friday

Buttoning a cozy-looking brown cardigan over a true blue top, Katie teamed a pair of fashionable acid wash jeans with white Gucci loafers.

Katie let her luxurious long brown hair down and was seen wearing a mask as she strolled down a New York sidewalk.

Suri also had on a cardigan, hers gray, as she added dark slacks and light sneakers while wearing a face mask.

Just three days earlier it emerged in Deadline that Katie had wrapped production on a Connecticut based romance she is directing.

She has also been seen around New York filming her role in The Watergate Girl which is a biopic of former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks.

Family matters: While in lockdown Katie was able to get in a lot of family time with her daughter whom she shares with her ex-husband Tom Cruise

Her latest outing comes a couple of weeks after Page Six claimed she has slowed down her romance with Emilio Vitolo Jr but is still with him.

An insider alleged: 'Katie has a lot of big priorities in her life - shes a single mom, her daughter always comes first and things were moving very fast.'

Shortly thereafter an Us Weekly source said: 'Theyve agreed to give each other space. They both have a lot of commitments piling up.'

Off she goes: Buttoning a cozy-looking brown cardigan over a true blue top, Katie teamed a pair of fashionable acid wash jeans with white loafers this Friday

Emilio, a heartthrob chef who runs the restaurant Emilio's Ballato with his father, has been linked to Katie since last September.

While in lockdown Katie was able to get in a lot of family time with her daughter whom she shares with her ex-husband Tom Cruise.

After her divorce from celebrity Scientologist Tom, Katie spent years dating Jamie Foxx whom she split from in 2019.

On the move: Katie let her luxurious long brown hair down and was seen wearing a mask as she strolled down a New York sidewalk

Incidentally: Just three days earlier it emerged in Deadline that Katie had wrapped production on a Connecticut based romance she is directing. She has also been seen around New York filming her role in The Watergate Girl which is a biopic of former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks

Katie and Jamie only went public as a couple in late 2017, though there had been speculation they were an item since 2013.

There was a swirl of rumors that Katie's divorce agreement prohibited her from publicly dating anyone for five years after her 2012 split with Tom.

The Batman Begins actress initially began dating Tom in 2005 and seven weeks into the relationship they were engaged.

Bye New York! Later Katie was seen at JFK airport with some handlers by her side

She carried only one bag: Holmes was holding tight to a bag that seemed to contain a laptop. The pinup has been very busy these past few years as she has gone into directing movies

Their Scientologist wedding was held at the Castello Orsini-Odescalchi in Bracciano in November 2006, seven months after Suri was born.

Katie filed in 2012 for a divorce that was finalized only 10 days later with Suri's mother retaining primary custody, though Tom could visit, according to People.

Ron Miscavige, father of Scientology leader David Miscavige, told the MailOnline in 2016 that Katie's misgivings about Scientology - including the effect it could have on Suri - contributed to her decision to leave Tom.

Tom has not been pictured with Suri in over seven years and an Us Weekly source alleged in 2018: 'Every person is allowed to see their child if they wanted to. He chooses not to because she is not a Scientologist.'
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The global livestock monitoring market expected to reach USD 10.93 billion by 2027. according to a new study by Polaris Market Research. The report Livestock Monitoring Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Animal Type (Cattle, Poultry, Swine, Equine); By Component (Hardware, Software, Services); By Application (Milk Harvesting, Breeding Management, Feeding Management, Animal Health Monitoring & Comfort, Heat Stress, Behavior Monitoring), By Regions; Segment Forecast, 2020  2027

The global livestock monitoring market is driven by the growing need to increase farm productivity, innovations in cattle feed rich in protein, reducing supply chain hiccups, and technological advancements in real-time cattle monitoring. Technology providers attempt to reduce the time-consuming task of cattle monitoring with automated systems at reasonable subscription-based charges. Corporatization of cattle farms across the developed economies also favoring the adoption of such services.

The global livestock monitoring market is fragmented based on animal type, component, application, and region. In terms of animal type, the market is segmented into cattle, poultry, swine, equine, and others. The component segment is further divided into hardware, software, and services. The application segment is further divided into milk harvesting, breeding management, feeding management, animal health monitoring & comfort, heat stress, behavior monitoring, and others.

Download Sample Copy @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/livestock-monitoring-market/request-for-sample

Segment Highlights

The cattle market segment accounted for the largest revenue share in 2019 owing to the presence of a high proportion of cattle producers in the form of meat and milk. The segment held over 45% of the market share.

Based on application, the feeding management segment is projected to constitute most of the market in 2027. Innovations in cattle feed to increase productivity, and the emergence of well-maintained cattle farms are primarily responsible for such growth.

North American region is dominating the global livestock monitoring market, holding almost one-third of the market share throughout the forecast period. This high share is due to positive intention to increase farm productivity, rise in per capita consumption, and cost reductions in service offerings with continuously rising competitive rivalry.

The players including Lely International N.V, GEA Farm Technologies, BouMatic, LLC together held a significant market share of the global market in the year 2019.

Do You Have Any Query Or Specific Requirement? Ask to Our Industry Expert @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/livestock-monitoring-market/speak-to-analyst

List of Key Players of Livestock Monitoring Market

Lely International NV

GEA Farm Technologies

BouMatic, LLC

Antelliq Corporation

Gallagher Group Limited

DeLaval

Afimilk Ltd.

HID Global Corporation

Dairymaster Ltd.

Communications Group Lethbridge Ltd.

Others

Polaris Market Research has segmented the Livestock Monitoring Market report on the basis of animal type, component, application, and region:

Livestock Monitoring Market, Animal Type Outlook (Revenue  USD Million, 2016  2027)

Cattle

Poultry

Swine

Equine

Others

Livestock Monitoring Market, Component Outlook (Revenue  USD Million, 2016  2027)

Hardware Sensors GPS Others

Software On-cloud On-premise

Services Integration & development Maintenance & Support Others



Livestock Monitoring Market, Application Outlook (Revenue  USD Million, 2016  2027)

Milk Harvesting

Breeding Management

Feeding Management

Animal Health Monitoring & Comfort

Heat stress

Behavior monitoring

Others

Read More : https://www.medgadget.com/2021/02/livestock-monitoring-market-size-is-projected-to-reach-10-93-billion-by-2027-cagr-15-7-polaris-market-research.html
Armie Hammer is pictured for the first time since being accused of rape by an ex-girlfriend, which sparked an investigation by the LAPD earlier this year.

It appears the 34-year-old actor is continuing to live a quiet life in the Cayman Islands, where his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers and kids have been residing throughout the pandemic, as he is seen enjoying the company of several friends during a lunch outing.

Sporting a shorter haircut, the Social Network star cut a casual figure in a T-shirt and shorts as he met with a group of five friends at Macabuca on Grand Cayman on Wednesday.

Laying low: Armie Hammer is pictured enjoying a lunch in the Cayman Islands, the first time he's been spotted since March when he was accused by his ex-girlfriend of rape

Hammer was seen sat next to an older couple and was also joined by three women.

An eyewitness revealed that the mood was 'super chill' and that 'no alcohol was consumed' during the lunch.

They added that the meet-up was casual and Hammer appeared to be 'nothing more than friends' with the women.

The actor has been in the Cayman Islands since December, when he flew out to reunite with his two children; Harper, six, and Ford, four after being separated for several months due to visa issues amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Just one month later the actor was rocked by accusations of abuse by several ex-girlfriends along with a series of leaked messages online, purported to be from the Rebecca star, discussing cannibalism fetishes and rape fantasies.

Seven weeks ago, on March 15, the actor was spotted looking relaxed as he dined with a female companion at seafood restaurant called Over The Edge Cafe.

Spotted: Sporting a shorter haircut, the Social Network star cut a casual figure in a T-shirt and shorts as he met with a group of five friends at Macabuca on Grand Cayman on Wednesday

Friendly meet-up: Hammer, 34, dined with an older couple and three women - they reportedly ordered food but no alcohol was consumed

That outing came just days before a woman named Effie accused Armie of violently raping her in hotel room during their four-year relationship.

The Call Me By Your Name star was accused by the 24-year-old of forcing himself upon her during an incident in April 2017, where she claims he 'committed acts of violence' against her which she 'did not consent' to.

During a press conference with her attorney Gloria Allred, Effie alleged: 'On April 24, 2017, Armie Hammer violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles. During which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall bruising my face.

'He also committed other acts of violence against me to which I did not consent.'

Allegations: In March a woman named Effie accused Armie of violently raping her in hotel room during their four-year relationship. It sparked an LAPD investigation into the allegations

According to Variety, Effie said she thought Hammer was 'going to kill' her, and claimed he beat her feet during the alleged attack 'so they would hurt' and said she tried to leave 'but he wouldn't let' her.

Effie alleges she met Hammer on Facebook when she was 20, and admitted to falling in love with the actor, although she now believes she fell victim to 'manipulation tactics'.

She claimed: 'He would often test my devotion to him. He abused me mentally, emotionally and sexually.'

Shortly after, the LAPD confirmed it was investigating the actor after a 'community member' came forward with an attorney on February 3 2021 with a sexual assault claim.

Laid back: The actor was dropped from several film projects following multiple accusations of abuse from several women in January

Out of the spotlight: Hammer appears to be living a quiet life in the Cayman Islands and seems to be unfazed by the accusations made against him by his exes

Island life: Armie, who spent much of his childhood in Grand Cayman, has been in the Cayman Islands since December. Pictured here in a snap from last year

However, Hammer has denied the allegations made against him, and his lawyer has provided screenshots of alleged text conversations between him and Effie which seemingly suggest he told her they couldn't pursue a relationship, though these are not verified.

In one message, Hammer allegedly told Effie: 'I am not going to be able to engage in you in that specific way right now. It never ends well. We can talk and be friends, but I can't do that.'

The actor's lawyer also said Hammer's encounter with Effie was 'completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory'.

In a statement, the lawyer said: 'Effie's own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations. As recently as July 18, 2020, [she] sent graphic texts to Mr. Hammer telling him what she wanted him to do to her.

Disturbing: In January a series of leaked messages surfaced online, purported to be from the Rebecca star, discussing cannibalism fetishes and rape fantasies

'On April 24, 2017, Armie Hammer violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles. During which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall bruising my face.' Armie's ex - known only as Effie - alleged in March. Hammer claims it was all consensual

'Mr. Hammer responded, making it clear that he did not want to maintain that type of relationship with her.

'It was never Mr. Hammer's intention to embarrass or expose [Effie's] fetishes or kinky sexual desires, but she has now escalated this matter to another level by hiring a civil lawyer to host a public press conference.

'With the truth on his side, Mr. Hammer welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight. From day one, Mr. Hammer has maintained that all of his interactions with [Effie]  and every other sexual partner of his for that matter  have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.

'[Effie's] attention seeking and ill-advised legal bid will only make it more difficult for real victims of sexual violence to get the justice they deserve.'

Several of Hammer's former partners  including Paige Lorenze (pictured) and Courtney Vucekovich  have accused him of being controlling and physically abusive during their relationship

I am listening: Hammer's estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers  whom he married in 2010 and split from last year  broke her silence on the matter in February

Effie's allegations come after an Instagram account named House of Effie - sparked reports about Hammer's alleged sexual behaviour when they posted a series of unverified direct messages allegedly from the actor, which referenced cannibalistic fantasies.

After the leak of those texts, several of Hammer's former partners  including Paige Lorenze and Courtney Vucekovich  have accused him of being controlling and physically abusive during their relationship.

Hammer's estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers  whom he married in 2010 and split from last year  broke her silence on the matter in February, when she said she was 'shocked, heartbroken, and devastated' and insisted she will always 'support any victim of assault or abuse'.

Following the scandal, Hammer left several projects including upcoming film Shotgun Wedding opposite Jennifer Lopez. He was replaced by Josh Duhamel.
Jason Lewis will not be reprising his role as Smith Jerrod in the upcoming Sex and the City reboot series.

In an interview with the Daily Front Row, the 50-year-old actor said was asked if he had been approached to return to the HBO franchise.

'I have not, but I would be the last to know!' the Charmed star said. He added, 'As much as I appreciate the flattery, the conversation is about the girls.' Filming for the revival is set to begin later this spring.

Out of sight: Jason Lewis will not be reprising his role as Smith Jerrod in the upcoming Sex and the City reboot series. Seen in 2008

Jason's character was a young waiter and aspiring actor who was seduced by series lead Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, 64.

Samantha, who convinced him to change his name from Jerry Jerrod to Smith, used her PR connections to land him a major modeling gig which led to a film role.

Their relationship, which started off as casual, later turned serious after he supported Samantha through her battle with breast cancer.

Heartthrob: Jason's character was a young waiter and aspiring actor who was seduced by series lead Samantha Jones, played by Kim Cattrall, 64. Seen in 2004

When the series ended in 2004, the couple were still together and in love. However, Jason played Smith again in 2008's Sex and the City: The Movie and the two characters broke up after Samantha moved to Los Angeles.

Jason returned for the 2010 sequel Sex And The City 2 and it appeared that Smith and Samantha were still on good terms as he invited her to be his date to his new action film's premiere.

However, when asked if the characters still be together now, Lewis said he doubted it.

Not reconciling: Smith and Samantha were a fan favorite couple. Their relationship, which started off as casual, later turned serious after he supported Samantha through her battle with breast cancer. When asked if the characters still be together now, Lewis said he doubted it. Seen in 2008

'Umm, no. I don't,' he said. 'But I think they'd still like each other!'

It is not too surprising that Lewis will not be back since Cattrall is also not returning for the reboot due to an alleged feud with her costars, Sarah Jessica Parker, 56, Kristin Davis, 56, and Cynthia Nixon, 55. The series centered on the four women's close friendship but apparently all was not well behind the scenes.

The description for the ten part series left Cattrall's character out entirely. The statement from HBO read that it will 'follow Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s.'

Happier times: Cattrall is also not returning for the reboot due to an alleged feud with her costars, Sarah Jessica Parker, 56, Kristin Davis, 56, and Cynthia Nixon, 55. The series centered on the four women's close friendship but apparently all was not well behind the scenes. Pictured in 2009

Three's company: Cattrall's character Samantha is not coming back for the reboot. The statement from HBO read that it will 'follow Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s.' Seen in 2004

In addition to the SATC franchise, Jason has also acted in other popular shows including Beverly Hills, 90210, House, Brothers & Sisters and How I Met Your Mother as well as several films.

Lewis, who recently signed with Soul Artist Management, also spoke to the Daily Front Row about making his modeling comeback at 50.

'I'd been going to some fashion shows pre-COVID, which really reawakened my love of the industry by being around that creativity,' he said. 'I started thinking in those terms, and I became more interested...'

He found the One! In late 2019, the actor proposed to his girlfriend, producer Liz Godwin. The couple are planning a fall 2021 wedding. Seen in April 2021

In late 2019, the actor proposed to his girlfriend, producer Liz Godwin. The couple are planning a fall 2021 wedding.

He opened up about the proposal in a February 2020 interview with People magazine.

'To keep Liz from suspecting anything, I organized a climbing [and] beach day out at Point Dume, Malibu, with friends and family gathered for the holidays,' Jason said. 'We set Liz up to climb a cliff right over the water, just before sunset.'

'My buddies and I then sprinted up a back trail to the climb so I could be waiting for her at the top,' he continued. 'I anchored myself to the rock  clipped her to me, just in case  then got on one knee and did 'the thing.''
Kendall Jenner is ready for swimsuit season.

The catwalk queen, 25, appears on the cover of V Magazine's new Summer issue V130 alongside a bevy of other models including Naomi Campbell, 50.

Kendall sizzled laying out in a black bikini, leather boots, and a gold body chain wrapped around her svelte waistline.

Making a splash! Kendall Jenner appears on the cover of V Magazine's new Summer issue V130 alongside a bevy of other supermodels including Naomi Campbell

The star lay seductively on the floor as she showcased her gym-honed legs, flat abs and hint of cleavage in the edgy shoot.

Another edgy snap of the star captured Kendall cloaked in a buckled black jacket while decked out in Cartier jewelry.

She gazed hauntingly towards the camera with mesmerizing eyes and a head full of textured raven black hair.

Kendall was joined by a who's who of models in ushering in summer with V Magazine.

Smoldering: Jenner was a vision of edge cloaked in a black buckled leather jacket

Sizzling: Jenner sent temperatures soaring on the cover of the new summer magazine

Making her presence known without actually modelling for the magazine was Cara Delevingne, who reflected on her friendship with Jenner.

Cara recalled the epic night they spent together exploring Paris back in 2014. The duo had just met earlier that day, and ended with Cara showing Kendall all of her favorite Parisian hotspots.

'I wanted to take her to my favorite places. We started at Crazy Horse and then ran around the Eiffel Tower, dancing and exploring. We went into a park and I played guitar with some people on a bench. We then walked into a random street and somehow ended up at a restaurant.

Strike a pose: Naomi Campbell brought the va va voom to the new issue

A vision: The supermodel was a sight to behold on the pages of the new magazine

'We were invited downstairs where they were doing a lock-in. A load of French people singing and playing piano. I just remember feeling so free and comfortable. Smiling ear to ear and seeing that she never had been able to experience something like that. I really got to see how special and truly magical she is when she was able to feel, I guess, like everyone else.

'Not being watched or judged. She had so much on her plate for someone so young and that night we both forgot about all of that stuff. Just two young women on an adventure.'

Among the power players appearing in V130 was Naomi, who looked flawless in a black bikini, PVC coat, and elegant Cartier choker necklace.

'There's a big change coming in fashion': Campbell reflected on the state of the fashion industry

Breathtaking: Also equally as stunning was Imaan Hammam, who worked a bold black bathing suit, edgy cropped jacket and heels

'There needs to be an extra injection into our [industry] of "How can we do things differently? How can we grow?" I think there's a big change coming in fashion and it's very exciting to be here and witness it,' she said.

Also equally as stunning was Imaan Hammam, 24, who worked a bold black bathing suit, edgy cropped jacket and heels.

The model showcased her statuesque legs as she struck an arty pose for cameras.

Legs get together: Imaan flashed her long, toned limbs for the camera

Ready for bikini season! Anok Yai showcased her fabulous swimsuit body

These boots were made for walking! Anok Yai was a vision in a triangle bikini and Cartier necklace as she lounged on the floor in her knee-high boots

Anok Yai, 23, was a vision in a triangle bikini and Cartier necklace as she lounged on the floor in her knee-high boots.

The model stole the show as she showcased her bikini body for cameras.

'I feel like a lot of the progress in the industry was a result of social media,' she told IMAN for the magazine. 'People are holding brands and creatives accountable to their word. So much power comes behind having such a social media presence. If your voice is strong enough you can change anything.'

Speaking up: 'If your voice is strong enough you can change anything,' Anok told IMAN
She has established herself as one of the most recognisable and in-demand models of all time.

And Naomi Campbell showed off her incredible physique in black lingerie as she posed for a stunning shoot for V Magazine on Friday.

The catwalk queen, 50, had her youthful and enviable figure on display in the designer two-piece as she posed up a storm for the incredible black and white shot.

Wow: Naomi Campbell showed off her incredible physique in black lingerie as she posed for a stunning shoot for V-Magazine on Friday

She added a touch of glamour and style to the look by wearing a long black leather jacket over the underwear as she fixed the camera with a sultry stare.

She accessorised with a statement silver choker and wore her long dark hair in a poker straight style down her back.

In another striking shot she lay down on the floor in her outfit showing off her toned stomach and lithe legs yet again.

Incredible: In another striking shot she lay down on the floor in her outfit showing off her toned stomach and lithe legs yet again

Speaking to the publication Naomi - who first started modelling aged 15 - spoke about the future of the fashion industry.

She said: 'There needs to be an extra injection into our [industry] of 'How can we do things differently? How can we grow?'

'I think there's a big change coming in fashion and it's very exciting to be here and witness it.'

Stunning: She added a touch of glamour and style to the look by wearing a long black leather jacket over the underwear as she fixed the camera with a sultry stare

Amazing: Kendall Jenner (pictured), Anok Yai and Imaan Hammam also starred in the shoot for the magazine, where they all wore black lingerie

Models Kendall Jenner, Anok Yai and Imaan Hammam also starred in the shoot for the magazine, where they all wore black lingerie.

It comes shortly after Pharrell Williams revealed Naomi inspired his 2005 track Hollaback Girl with Gwen Stefani.

Pharrell, 47, recalled when he copied the term from an 'amazing' conversation he overheard with the supermodel during a virtual interview for her YouTube series No Filter.

A nostalgic Pharrell shared: 'You told somebody who was like trying to speak to you or whatever you were like ''I'm sorry I have a name like I'm not no hollaback girl'' and I thought that was so amazing and that ended up being the chorus to Hollaback Girl'.

Sultry: Dutch model Imaan Hammam wowed in black underwear and a biker jacket as she posed for the snaps

Flawless: Anok Yai, 23, looked incredible for the shoot as she showed off her incredible figure in a jewelled bikini

Icon: Speaking to the publication Naomi - who first started modelling aged 15 - spoke about the future of the fashion industry

After the producer shared the secret, the fashion icon joked: 'I don't know who I was talking to, I guess they deserved it.'

The Happy hitmaker produced the single with his group The Neptunes, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 charts within six weeks of its release.

Naomi - who boasts a successful career spanning three decades - also discussed how she feels when she commands the catwalk.

Moving forward: She said: 'There needs to be an extra injection into our [industry] of 'How can we do things differently? How can we grow?'

The runway diva shared: 'It's been interesting.

'I'm completely in the clouds when I walk. I don't see anybody I just see a light that's all.

'I don't see anybody I don't hear anything it's like I just see this tunnel and that's it.'
Kanye West is being sued by a former Yeezy employee who alleges he failed to pay her for work she was required to do off-the-clock, in addition to other violations of California labor law.

Taliah Leslie claims that Yeezy regularly misclassified employees as independent contractors despite their responsibilities as full-time company employees, in turn depriving them of wages and other benefits, according to documents obtained by The Blast.

Leslie, who says she worked for Yeezy as an Assistant Designer, is seeking civil penalties pursuant to the California labor code violations she is claiming, as well as attorney fees, and any other relief the Court may deem appropriate.

In legal trouble: Kanye West is being sued by a former Yeezy employee who alleges he failed to pay her for work she was required to do off-the-clock, in addition to other violations of California labor law. He's seen in 2013 above

The former employee has also accused Yeezy of not compensating her for out-of-town travel which was required for the job, including trips to West's Cody, Wyoming compound as well as Paris, France.

She claims she was not paid for overtime work hours or given California state-mandated meal breaks, nor was she reimbursed for cell phone, internet usage, or expenses associated with the compulsory travel which was required to perform her job duties.

Additionally, Leslie says Yeezy failed to keep accurate payroll records of the total hours worked and wages paid, in violation of the California Labor Code.

She has filed suit after making a claim with the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency in February which she says resulted in no notice of the agency's intention to investigate within 65 calendar days.

Leslie believes she is entitled to civil action if the LWDA has chosen not to investigate the matter.

Work travel: The former employee has also accused Yeezy of not compensating her for out-of-town travel which was required for the job, including trips to West's Cody, Wyoming compound as well as Paris, France. Yeezy's Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2020/2021 show is pictured above

Out West: She claims she was not paid for overtime work hours or given California state-mandated meal breaks, nor was she reimbursed for cell phone, internet usage, or expenses associated with the compulsory travel which was required to perform her job duties. West's Wyoming ranch is seen above

DailyMail.com has reached out to West's camp's for comment.

The rapper/fashion designer is already facing a lawsuit from workers for the Kanye West Nebuchadnezzar Opera.

West reportedly owes staff 'unpaid wages' and has been accused of 'failing to pay minimum wage and overtime'.

Kanye debuted his opera at the Hollywood Bowl in 2019, and the bizarre 50-minute show was deemed to be a 'money grab' with Kanye only appearing on stage for the climactic photocall.

More drama: The rapper/fashion designer is already facing a lawsuit from workers at his live performance, Kanye West Nebuchadnezzar Opera, which debuted at the Hollywood Bowl in 2019

The Blast write that court documents claim a hair assistant who worked on the opera is owed 'unpaid wages, continuing wages, damages, civil penalties, statutory penalties and attorney's fees and costs'.

She added that 'her day rate was paid late, along with other fees and that they were charged for getting their checks.'

The site adds that workers are 'seeking at least $1 million for what they believe to be issues with how they were treated'.

Documents state: 'Defendants oversaw, controlled and ran the production, and the aggrieved employees worked many hours on the production and were not timely paid for their work, or paid at all.'
She recently landed a record deal with Sengge Zangbo Records after shooting to fame on Netflix hit Too Hot To Handle last year.

And Nicole O'Brien put on a fierce display when she stepped out in London on Friday after a meeting at the I Saw It First offices.

Showing off her toned midriff beneath a black crop top, Nicole 25, teamed the piece with a pair of leather shorts and thigh-skimming black boots.

Stylish: Nicole O'Brien, 25, put on a fierce display when she stepped out in London on Friday after a meeting at I Saw It First's offices

The blonde beauty made sure to keep warm beneath a chic beige coat and wore a full face of glam for her outing in the capital.

Nicole's bright blonde hair cascaded past her shoulders, and the TV personality accessorised with a chunky gold chain necklace.

The Irish stunner kept her belongings safe in a luxury black designer handbag.

On Thursday, she announced that she had signed with I Saw It First and Sengge Zangbo Records on Instagram.

Wow: Showing off her toned midriff beneath a black crop top, Nicole teamed the piece with a pair of leather shorts and thigh-skimming black boots

Chic: The blonde beauty made sure to keep warm beneath a chic beige coat and wore a full face of glam for her outing in the capital

All in the detail: Nicole's bright blonde hair cascaded past her shoulders, and the TV personality accessorised with a chunky gold chain necklace

Posting a gorgeous snap of herself singing a contract in the clothing brand's offices, Nicole told fans: 'Today was a pinch me moment.'

She went on: 'I've just signed a deal with @isawitfirst X @senggezangborecords. No pressure that their previous artist was @emelisande featuring @stonebwoyb.

'To say I'm excited is an understatement!! This wouldn't be possible without any of you lovely people supporting me, can't thank you enough I have so much love for you all.'

Keeping her belongings safe: The Irish stunner kept her belongings safe in a luxury black designer handbag

Glam: Nicole opted for a full face of glam for her important business meeting, opting for a swipe of mocha-hued lipstick

She concluded: 'Big things are coming.'

Nicole appeared on the Netflix dating show Too Hot To Handle, where a string of attractive contestants learned they'd win $100,000 if they had no sexual contact for four weeks. Each infraction took money off the total prize fund.

While she did not find love on the show, she went on to date her co-star Bryce Hirschberg after the show wrapped, making their relationship public last April.

Amazing news: On Thursday, she announced that she had signed with I Saw It First and Sengge Zangbo Records on Instagram

Nicole told her Instagram followers on Thursday: 'I've just signed a deal with @isawitfirst X @senggezangborecords. No pressure'

They called it quits later in the year due to the travel restrictions posed by COVID-19, as Bryce lives in Marina Del Rey, California, and Nicole calls the UK home.

A representative for Bryce, 30, told People at the time: 'I can confirm that Bryce and Nicole decided mutually to split early last week after months of trying to make a long-distance relationship work.'

Bryce also made a statement: 'After the many failed attempts to reunite due to quarantine and border restrictions, we decided that moving on and remaining friends would be our best option for the time being.

'Nicole is so lovely and if under less unusual circumstances I'm sure that we could've had an amazing relationship! I wish her the best because she deserves it.'

Nicole said: 'He wasn't really my cuppa tea at the start. But getting to know him more and more, we formed a proper bond and connection.'

'Looking forward to (hopefully) seeing you soon,' she captioned a photo of them, to which he responded, 'One day.'

Meanwhile, Nicole is busy working on her music career, and often shares clips of herself singing on her social media channels.

Loved-up: Nicole went on to date her Too Hot To Handle co-star Bryce Hirschberg after the show wrapped, making their relationship public last April

In March, the Irish beauty released her first single, which shot to number one in the iTunes charts in Ireland.

Speaking about her love for music, Nicole told OK! In March: 'I have written music for years and years. It's so funny because I have written down when I was about 16 or 17, in a diary back home I wrote down my 10-year plan, which was to do a show, get a platform and start releasing music.

'So, my mum sent me a photo of it the other day, saying how mad is this.'
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Market Research Future Published a Half Cooked Research Report on Global Waterborne Coating Additives Research Report.

Market Scenario

Waterborne coating additives are added to improve the rheological properties of water-based coatings. They serve various functions such as wetting & dispersion, defoaming, surfactant, deaeration, hydrophobic agent, and rheological improver among other. The stringent regulation by E.P.A and REACH against the use of solvent based coatings, is expected to be the major driver to the growth of waterborne coating additives market during the forecast period.

Competitive Analysis

Some of the key players of global waterborne coating additives market are Akzo Nobel NV (Netherlands), Allnex group (China), BASF SE (Germany), BELAMI FINE CHEMICALS PVT. LTD.(India), ALTANA (Germany), Evonik Industries AG (Germany), Dow Corning Corporation (U.S.), Falcon Technologies Inc. (U.S.), Harmony Additive Pvt. Ltd. (India), and UL LLC (U.S).

Market Segmentation

The Global Waterborne Coating Additives Market is segmented based on product type, end-use industry, and region.

On the basis of the product type, the global waterborne coating additives market is segmented into wetting agent & dispersing agent, defoamers, surface control additives, deaerators, rheology modifier, hydrophobic agents, and others. Wetting & dispersion agents market is estimated to be the largest market due to high requirement for dispersing and wetting of resins and pigments in paints & coating industry and is expected to continue dominance over the forecast period. Other product types are also expected to show significant demand due to varied application in construction, automotive, and, the packaging industry.

On the basis of the end-use industry, the global waterborne coating additives market is segmented into building & construction, automotive, packaging, and others. Building and construction industry is expected to have the major market share of waterborne coating additives due to high consumption of paints & coatings. Automotive industry is also expected to show rising demand over the forecast period due to strong automotive industry particularly in Europe and China of Asia Pacific region.

Access Report Details @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/waterborne-coating-additives-market-5892

Regional Analysis

The global waterborne coating additives market is spanned across five regions namely Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific is expected to have the major market share of waterborne coating additives in terms of market size. North America and Europe markets are relatively mature and expected to show steady demand in the forecast period. Middle East and Africa is expected to show rising demand during the forecast period from growing construction industry of Middle East. Latin America is also expected to join hand with other regions and is expected to show rising demand from construction industry.
Graves are nestled in between trees at the Roslyn Cemetery in this 2017 photo. The 26 cemeteries reflect the rich ethnic mix of immigrants who settled in Roslyn to work in the coal mines in the early 1900s.
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Overview

The Global Bonded Abrasives Market was valued at around USD 19.8 billion in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of approximately 5.8% during the forecast period, 20192025.

Bonded abrasives are abrasives grains and fillers bonded together through bonding materials such as vitreous, resin, rubber, shellac, epoxy, magnesite, and others. Numerous improvements in tools and machinery processes have been made with the help of new abrasive grains and bond advancements to increase the performance of bonded abrasive products. The prime role is played by the bonding agent that holds the structural abrasives in a specific array giving uniqueness to every bonded adhesive. The bond offers high-strength and thermal-resistance for grinding and cutting, or it can be weak and thermal sensitive for polishing. Each product is made to serve a specific purpose, such as giving a precise finish, cutting, rough grinding, stock removal, and others.

Moreover, they have a significant demand in the different hand-held machines like angle grinders, vertical grinders, and petrol saws for cutting and grinding purposes. Additionally, the continuous advancement in technology and using machines in the industries over human labor has increased the demand for these machines in the industrial segment. Hence, propelling the growth of the global bonded abrasives market.

Key Players

Some of the prominent players in the global bonded abrasives market are Saint-Gobain (US), 3M (US), Buffalo Abrasives Inc (US), Abrasives Manhattan, SA (Spain), Marrose Abrasives (UK), Grinding Techniques (Pty) Ltd (South Africa), SAK Abrasives Limited (India), Sia Abrasives Industries AG (Switzerland), Flexovit (US), Carborundum Universal Limited (India), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), NIPPON RESIBON CORPORATION (Japan), DRONCO GmbH (Germany), KWH Mirka (Finland), and Fujimi Incorporated (Japan).

Segmentation

The global bonded adhesive market report has been bifurcated into type, application, end-use industry, and region.

Based on type, the global bonded adhesive market has been divided into depressed center wheels, cup-shaped wheels, recessed or relieved wheels, and tapered body wheel.

Based on application, the global bonded adhesive market has been classified as precision grinding, cutting, rough grinding, fabrication, polishing, and others.

By end-use industry, the global bonded adhesive market has been segregated into automotive, marine, aerospace, construction, general metalworking, and others.

ACCESS COMPLATE REPORT @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/bonded-abrasives-market-2642

Regional Analysis

North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa are the region analyzed under the scope of the global bonded adhesive market.

Asia-Pacific holds the largest market share for bonded abrasives in 2018 and is expected to be the dominant region during the forecast period. This can be attributed to the rapid industrialization and booming automotive and construction industry there has been a massive demand of machinery for cutting, grinding, and polishing leading to high consumption of bonded adhesive in these industries. Hence, propelling the overall growth of bonded adhesive in the region.

Europe had the second-largest share in the global bonded adhesive market in 2018 and is expected to show positive growth during the forecast period. Europe has the largest automotive sector and needs machinery advancement for faster assembling of their products adding to the need of a significant quantity of bonded abrasives while manufacturing of their products, hence boosting the overall growth of the bonded adhesive in the regional market.

North America has a prominent market share in the global bonded adhesive market, driven by the automotive and aerospace segment. The applications of bonded abrasives in cutting, polishing, fabrication, and others it has a significant impact on the automotive and aerospace industry. According to the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the aerospace market was estimated at USD 865 million in 2017, which is further expected to propel the growth of bonded abrasives market in the regional market.

The Middle East and Africa are expected to witness a composed growth in the bonded abrasives market which is accounted to the growing industrialization in the region leading to the high demand for bonded abrasives in the construction and general metalworking industry.

The Latin America region is expected to have a steady growth in the bonded abrasives market during the forecast period, owing to the strong growth in the automotive and marine industry.
Neel Bhatt, a UW assistant professor of otolaryngology, specializes in treating patients with voice problems. Through his work, he began to realize people did not like the sound of their own voices. With the transition to school over Zoom, many students can relate to the discomfort of hearin
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A detailed analysis report of the Global Anechoic Chambers Market has been covered in the report coupled with a thorough description of each company profile with information on the H.Q, future capabilities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial outline, partnerships and new product launches and developments.

The comprehensive value chain analysis of the market will assist in attaining better product differentiation, along with detailed understanding of the core competency of each activity involved. The market attractiveness analysis provided in the report aptly measures the potential value of the market providing business strategists with the latest growth opportunities.

The report classifies the market into different segments. These segments are studied in detail incorporating the market estimates and forecasts at regional and country level. The segment analysis is useful in understanding the growth areas and probable opportunities of the market.

Final Report will cover the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

Browse the complete Global Anechoic Chambers Market Research Report  Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast Till 2027 @ https://www.decisiondatabases.com/ip/43813-anechoic-chambers-market-report

The report also covers the complete competitive landscape of the global Anechoic Chambers Market market with company profiles of key players such as:

Eckel Industries

ETS-Lindgren

Microwave Vision Group

TDK RF Solutions

IAC Acoustics

NSI-MI Technologies

Frankonia Group

E&C Anechoic Chambers

Cuming Microwave Corporation (PPG)

Panashield (Braden Shielding Systems)

Holland Shielding Systems

Bosco

Ecotone Systems

The detailed description of each has been included, with information in terms of H.Q, future capacities, key mergers & acquisitions, financial overview, partnerships, collaborations, new product launches, new product developments and other latest industrial developments.

SEGMENTATIONS IN THE REPORT:

By Type

Free Sound Field Space

Semi-free Sound Field Space

By Application

Automotive

Electronics

Aerospace

Scientific Research

Military

Others

By Geography

North America (NA)  US, Canada, and Mexico

Europe (EU)  UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain & Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific (APAC)  China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & Rest of APAC

Latin America (LA)  Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile & Rest of Latin America

Middle East and Africa (MEA)  Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, South Africa

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The Global Anechoic Chambers Market Market has been exhibited in detail in the following chapters 

Chapter 1 Anechoic Chambers Market Market Preface

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Anechoic Chambers Market Industry Analysis

Chapter 4 Anechoic Chambers Market Market Value Chain Analysis

Chapter 5 Anechoic Chambers Market Market Analysis By Type

Chapter 6 Anechoic Chambers Market Market Analysis By Application

Chapter 7 Anechoic Chambers Market Market Analysis By Geography

Chapter 8 Competitive Landscape Of Anechoic Chambers Market Companies

Chapter 9 Company Profiles Of Anechoic Chambers Market Industry

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DARIEN  There are moments in ones life when its realized that things will never be the same, according to Darien native Dick Helstein.

You realize going forward that time will forever be marked as before this happened and after this happened, he said.

For Helstein, that moment came at the perfect phase of his and his late wifes life, having raised their four children, Tim, Annie, Maggie and Liz, in the idyllic setting of a Darien neighborhood.

I had my wife, Sue, of 50 years. We had four kids who are happily married. A beautiful home. Ten perfect grandchildren. We were planning the perfect next phase. Then the diagnosis came, Helstein said.

Susan Helsteins diagnosis of Alzheimers disease came completely out of the blue.

It was nothing we expected. No family history. It was a punch in the gut, a journey you never plan for, Dick Helstein said. ... Everyone knows a cancer survivor. No one knows an Alzheimers survivor.

The Helsteins doctor recommended they call the Alzheimers Assocation for resources and support. And on May 15, Dick will be honored by the Alzheimers Association of Connecticut at its virtual gala, Celebrating Hope, for sharing his story and raising money for research at the Walk to End Alzheimers.

Dick said the advice the couple initially got was to start planning in the early stages of the disease and agreeing on plans, which they spent a lot of time talking over.

But some of the best advice they got was, You dont have to stop your life for this. You have a number of good years to go, he said.

I encouraged Sue, with her strong spirit, she would not be defined by this disease, Dick said.

And she was not.

Susan decided to pick up the violin again, she took up tap dancing, the couple took river cruises, she began to take German lessons to encourage her brain to remain active.

Sue was excellent that way. We knew it was progressive, but we were going to live until it stopped us, he said.

According to the Alzheimers Association, Alzheimers is a degenerative brain disease that is caused by complex brain changes following cell damage. The most common early symptom is trouble remembering new information because the disease typically impacts the part of the brain associated with learning first.

Symptoms continue to get more severe and include disorientation, confusion and behavior changes. Eventually, speaking, swallowing and walking become difficult. There is no way to prevent, cure or slow the disease.

Along the way, Dick began to get more involved in the Alzheimers Association.

Theres no way to know how to handle every situation as a caregiver. You go one day at a time. Thats how it works, he said.

While he sought resources for himself, he also began to try to help other caregivers. Dick said as the disease progresses, the caregivers life becomes more and more isolated.

My world was reduced to just taking care of Sue. I wanted to help other caregivers. There are very few good moments. I wanted them to know they werent alone, he said.

Dick wanted to make it clear that caring for his wife was a privilege.

Sue had been a nurse. She left that to raise our four children. She did an incredible job with that. This was a privilege for me. I wanted to take care of her like she took care of our family, he said.

Their four children, who grew up in Darien, were all very involved in that care.

If there was music, my parents were on the dance floor. ... When they were together there was a spark that could be seen for miles away. Always holding hands, they had a magical relationship, their son, Tim said.

Dick has continued to serve as an educator in both Connecticut and Florida for those caring for loved ones with Alzheimers disease.

One thing he emphasizes to them is to make sure they take care of their own health. Dick said he lost sight of that at times, as Alzheimers slowly took over Susans life.

Your world narrows down to focus more and more on your wife, who is unfortunately disappearing an inch at a time. It takes so much out of you. It is so important for caretakers to guard their own health. At times, my kids thought they were going to lose both parents, he said.

Susan died a year ago.

As his mourning process continues, one of the hardest parts for Dick is to try to remember Sue as before, not after.

So much of that burns into your memory. The fun times take a while to come back, he said.

The changing of scenery has also helped, and now that travel is opening back up, hes been able to visit his children and grandchildren.

Helping other men who are going through his same journey has been wonderfully healing for me, Dick said.

Dick also serves on the board of CaringKind, a New York-based organization that is dedicated to Alzheimers and dementia caregiving. It offers resources, education and a 24-hour helpline.

Jim and Kate Clark of Greenwich will chair the Alzheimers Association event, and MLB former Yankee Mark Texeira will emcee.

The event raises money to serve the 80,000 people living with Alzheimers in Connecticut and their caregivers, and fund critical research toward a cure.

Dick said he honored to get the award but only will accept it on behalf of all the Alzheimers caregivers who have gone through the same journey.

There are 200,000 caregivers out there. Ill be glad to accept it so they know they arent forgotten, he said. ... When your loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimers disease, only your true friends stay close. But no one really asks how the caregiver is  they ask how the patient is.

Dick said the caregiver is often suffering just as much as the patient.

I really honestly and truly want to use this to recognize that everyone of these people is showing hope, and courage and caring, along with heartbreak. There is nothing like it, he said. ... Im really pleased to get this award to highlight the role of caregivers. Every caregiver should get a courage and hope award.
My work in Hartford continues to be focused on bringing fiscal stability and financial viability to all in our state. Ill start with the good news.

The governor and legislative leaders of both parties worked together on a solution to the longstanding insolvency of the Connecticut Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. While not a sexy topic, it has been critically important to resolve the ongoing crisis. This fund has been insolvent the last 48 out of 50 years forcing Connecticut to borrow money from the federal government to keep it solvent.

This bipartisan agreement prevents the borrowing cycle from repeating itself by using some of the pandemic relief funds to stabilize the fund. It restores the fund by reducing tax rates on businesses and reforming benefits and aligning benefits with neighboring states. Working together and finding common ground with solutions benefits all in our state. This is a small though important step in continuing to stabilize our state finances that is critical to attracting and keeping job creators and building our economy.

Now the not so good news 

That same week in Hartford, the Appropriations + Finance Committees completed their work on their biennium budget. The majority party voted to increase spending by 5.5 percent with a $1.9 billion tax increase over the next two years. The package now goes to the governor for negotiation and final budget before the end of session on June 9.

As a member of the Finance Committee, I was disappointed  dismayed in truth  at how the revenue package was formed and presented. The revenue package had little minority party voice in the final document voted out of committee.

Weve seen success with bipartisan built budgets in the past. The 2017 budget, for example, created spending and volatility caps as well as a budget reserve requirement. That budget was balanced, did not increase taxes and poised us for future economic stability + growth. The political balance that session was 18-18 in the senate and 79-72 in the house. Good things happen with the spirit of cooperative bipartisan support.

This year is different.

One of the proposals voted out of the Finance Committee, creates a new state off-budget fund called Connecticut Equitable Investment Fund. The fund will receive, invest, and distribute specified revenue and private investments. This proposal had an exceedingly short runway from announcement to the committee vote. All of eight days. Very little time to get the word out and gather public feedback and testimony.

The stated purpose of this fund is to build wealth in underserved communities, reduce income inequality and reduce reliance on local property taxes in urban districts. Laudable goals no question. Though details on how this will be accomplished are thin. It creates a nine-member council to manage this new fund without clear oversight, transparency or accountability measures. The proposed revenues to fund this include a new consumption tax on incomes over $500K and a capital gains surcharge in addition to other taxes on high earners.

The group of people identified are already paying the majority of the state income taxes. And as the data proves, they are leaving the state in droves as a result of the punishing rate of taxation. How does this make sense? Is it reasonable to assume these tax increases will solve the problem?

Even as we see historic levels of federal funding coming to Connecticut and residents struggling to recover from the pandemic, Democrats are asking Connecticut residents to pay more. I dont believe that this proposal is reflective of the voices of the majority of hardworking people in our state.

The governor has indicated -- at this point -- that he does not agree with this proposal.

Working together works. We know that. Many are weary of the political noise. Come together, work together and fix it! Voices in the community and collaboration counts. Always for the people, by the people.

I will continue to advocate for common sense along with a budget that is logical and rational...one that steadies our ship. Please share your thoughts and questions and sign up for my eblasts by emailing me at terrie.wood@cga.ct.gov.

State Rep. Terrie Wood represents the 141st district including Darien and Rowayton.
3 1 of 3 Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Alarm bells are going off and we need to wake up in Greenwich. Someone(s) are really going to be seriously injured or worse because our leaders refuse to take care of our town. Our infrastructure is outdated, our toxic fields are sitting without remediation after all these years, our schools, which do not even comply with federal law, are literally falling apart and we dont have adequate fire service for one of the largest parts of town  all because those who run the town believe you should not fix anything unless there is absolutely no alternative. Forget actual urban planning. We cant even contemplate preventing emergencies. And while our property values may be experiencing a COVID increase (after over a decade of decline and/or stagnation), that condition is likely temporary as new buyers will choose New Canaan, Darien and Westport over Greenwich. Let us count a few of the reasons why this is an eventuality.

First Selectman Fred Camillo famously stated, schools dont teach; teachers teach in response to criticism of our crumbling school buildings. Then North Mianus School experienced a catastrophic ceiling collapse that could have killed school children had school been in session. During a recent Representative Town Meeting committee meeting, five out of 12 Public Works Committee members, including the chair, Michael Spilo, voted against the proposed appropriation of funds to fix the North Mianus School as requested by the Board of Education, some wanting to wait until the school is slated for upgrades  in 2035!
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After PMs interaction with many CMs including him on Thursday night, Jharkhand CM Hemanth Soren termed it Modis Mann ki Baat. Next afternoon, Jagan advised him against playing politics and spoke of the need to strengthen the PMs hands in these tough times. (DC file Photo)

VIJAYAWADA: A tweet of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy objecting to the comments of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemanth Soren against Prime Minister Narendra Modi has surprised political circles. It comes at a time when Modi is being criticised for inaction in containing Covid-19 spread and averting the oxygen crisis across the country.

However, the CM, re-tweeting Hemanth Sorens post, said, in this war against Covid-19, these are the times not to point fingers but to come together and strengthen the hands of our Prime Minister to effectively combat the pandemic.

The sudden reaction from the YSR Congress president and CM to a remark of Jharkhand CM on Friday afternoon went viral, perplexing political observers in the state.

On Thursday night, Prime Minister Modi interacted with the Chief Ministers of various states on the Covid-19 situation, their preparedness as well as their requirements from the centre. After the conversation, Soren took to Twitter and said that the PM only did his Mann ki Baat during the conversation. "It would have been better had he listened to and spoken on important matters," he tweeted.

The tweet was in Hindi and it would have sent whatever message Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leaders wanted to convey to Modi. That Jagan should comment on such a purely personal comment from Soren on Modis interaction is raising eyebrows. Surprisingly, he chose to react a day after Sorens interaction with the PM.

The CMs tweet is as follows: Dear @HemantSorenJMM, I have great respect for you, but as a brother I would urge you, no matter whatever our differences are, indulging in such level of politics would only weaken our nation. In this war against Covid-19, these are the times not to point fingers but to come together and strengthen the hands of our Prime Minister to effectively combat the pandemic.

Political analysts were surprised that Jagan, rather than Modi, reacted so sharply to the Jharkhand CMs comment. They pointed out that Soren did not make any reference to any other state and the tweet was purely in Hindi and no way, CM Jagan would have noticed it so prominently. They opined that it was a message aimed at the Prime Minister and there was no reason why Jagan should react to it.

The political analysts and sources wondered whether it was a spontaneous reaction from the CM or he got any message from Delhi to attack Soren. They said there could be some political significance to Jagans reaction to the Hindi tweet of the Jharkhand CM.
The Chief Minister was of the view that lockdown was counterproductive as the common man would be badly hit and the economy would collapse.  Twitter

Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Thursday ruled out imposing lockdown in the state as the move did not help other states in controlling the spread of Covid 19.

Urging people not to panic after noticing symptoms, the Chief Minister asked them to start medication without being worried over getting tested. The medical kits would be provided by the government to every household, he said.

The Chief Minister was of the view that lockdown was counterproductive as the common man would be badly hit and the economy would collapse. He recollected the horrifying experiences of last year's lockdown and stressed the need for a proper atmosphere for free movement of paddy and rice during the current season of purchase of agricultural produce. Instead, the government would step up containment measures and improve health infrastructure and treatment, he said. He held a detailed review with officials concerned after a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to a CMO release, the Chief Minister brought to Modis notice the issue of patients from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh rushing to Hyderabad for Covid treatment in view of the state capital being developed into a medical hub. There is a severe impact on supply of oxygen and essential medicines including Remdesivir as 50 per cent people from outside in excess to Telanganas population thronging Hyderabad for better treatment.

He informed the Prime Minister that the state was not receiving the allocated quota of oxygen from Tamil Nadu and Odisha. He urged the Prime Minister to enhance the allocation of oxygen from 440 metric tonnes (MT) to 500 MT and remdesivir from 4,900 vials per day to 25,000 besides providing at least two lakh doses of vaccine every day.

The CMO said railway minister Piyush Goyal spoke to the Chief Minister on the directions of the Prime Minister and assured all help. He told the Chief Minister that oxygen supplies would be arranged from eastern states instead of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

Later, at the review with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Planning Commission vice-chairman B. Vinod Kumar and other officials, the Chief Minister directed them to hold daily media conferences and reveal to people the number of infected people, treated and discharged. A special officer should be appointed to coordinate the anti-Covid operations, he said adding that details of bed availability should be placed in public domain.

On improving health infrastructure, the Chief Minister directed the officials to make immediate arrangements to import 12 cryogenic tankers from China. After inquiring with IICT Director Chandrasekhar on immediate steps to be taken to improve the availability of oxygen, the Chief Minister asked officials to immediately buy 500 oxygen enrichers.
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Medical Robotics Market Overview

Medical robotics has helped the practitioners in performing the surgical operation with precision and less invasive techniques. This field has decreased the threats involved like infections, life risks, and pains. On observing the current market trends, the global medical robotics market is anticipated to reach a 23 % annual growth rate during the survey period. Demands for high precision surgical methods, increasing usage, and technological developments are the major factors driving this market. This technology is being used in endoscopy, gynecology, open surgery, and other complicated procedures for minimally invasive operations.

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The demands for improved medical practices and rising healthcare budgets have helped the market in gaining the desired speeds on a global scale. The authorities are emphasizing the usage of such technologies and are investing largely in developing their healthcare facilities, which has also helped the market. Companies are working towards introducing better robotics mechanisms with fewer costs to expand the market and make it accessible for underdeveloped economies as well.

Apart from gaining a considerable response from the medical field, the global medical robotics market is still struggling against factors like lack of trained professionals and large installation & maintenance costs. Higher overall costs have restrained the market in several underdeveloped regions and will take time for any further improvements.

Medical Robotics Market Key Players

Smith & Nephew (UK), Stryker (US), Aethon (US), Intuitive Surgical (US), Mazor Robotics (Israel), InTouch Technologies, Inc. (US), Renishaw plc (UK), Medtech SA (France), Ekso Bionics (US), ReWalk Robotics (US), Medrobotics Corporation (US), and McKesson Corporation (US) are some of the key players operating in the global medical robotics market.

Medical Robotics market segments

The global medical robotics market is segmented into three parts mentioned below:

Product types: Surgical robotic systems, non-invasive robotic systems, robotic rehabilitation systems, and other types of products are available.

Uses: Medical robotics are used for cardiology, laparoscopy, neurosurgeries, pharmacy, and other procedures.

End-Users: Hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, and others are the major end-users of this industry.

Medical Robotics Market Regional Summary

The major regions observed for the global medical robotics market are America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and The Middle East & Africa

The American region is the current market leader and will maintain its lead due to the projected highest growth rates during the survey period. The demands for the latest technologies, improving healthcare facilities, the presence of significant market players, high healthcare expenditures, and other factors are driving the market in this region. The North American region is the major shareholder of this market. The European region is the second biggest market due to demands for non-invasive surgical methods, high investments, and other factors.

The Asia Pacific region is the next market in this tally. Huge population, rise in per capita incomes, higher budget release for healthcare, demand for latest technologies, and other factors will keep boosting the market here.

The rest of the regions are growing at lower speeds due to weak economic structures and lagging healthcare structures.

Medical Robotics Market Industry News

The global medical robotics market is one of the latest advancements in the medical field and is receiving a healthy response from around the globe. Still, high overall costs of the equipment and lack of trained professionals is limiting the markets growth rates. The American region is the current market leader and will stay at the top, with the highest growth rates during the survey period.

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While India was distracted by the macabre events in and outside hospitals in Delhi and other major cities as patients gasped for breath, and some even died as the oxygen ran out, minister for external affairs S. Jaishankar headed to London for a meeting of G-7 foreign and development ministers earlier this week. Also invited, besides G-7 members, were the ministers of South Korea, South Africa and the chair of Asean. Mr Jaishankar had just met US secretary of state Antony Blinken and his host, British foreign secretary Dominic Raab, when some members of his delegation tested positive for Covid-19. What could represent his governments mishandling of the coronavirus second wave than this international embarrassment?

The G-7 meeting, preparatory to the summit later this year, issued a long joint statement. US trade representative Katherine Tai set the scene by announcing on its eve that the United States supported the Covid-19 Trips waiver at the World Trade Organisation. Its preamble begins by recognising the critical juncture at which stand our people, our planet, our security and our future prosperity. This holistic approach is most welcome as it recognises the connection between pandemic elimination, future pandemic avoidance, climate change centrality and the worlds prosperity depending on global interdependence.

Then it addresses the themes of continuing relevance, if the G-7 nations have to retain their moral advantage over the Chinese model of single-party rule favouring economic over political and humanitarian rights. It asserts that democracy is under pressure globally. The pandemic is of course the immediate challenge. New technological challenges also lurk over the horizon. The seven nations reiterate their commitment to strengthen open societies, shared values, a rules-based international order, free and fair trade and the free and secure flow of capital. It concludes that liberal democracy and free and fair markets remain the best models.

Before coming to the specifics of relevance to India, this broad template should be read carefully by the Indian government. Much of its actions in the second year of the Narendra Modi governments second term do not tally with this vision. Mr Jaishankar, even when overseas, has become a flag-bearer for the current Hindutva model, precursor to the RSS Hindu Rashtra dream. Reflexive intolerance to criticism, having his ministry flail at the likes of pop star Rihanna and climate icon Greta Thunberg for supporting the farmers agitation in India, ill behove India as a model for democratic governance. While the pandemic prevails, India may get a pass, but it wont be for long.

On Covid-19, the US agreeing to support the Covid-19 Trips waiver is a big success for India and the developing world. The G-7 statement, while conceding in para 2 that global collaboration is required, changes its tune in para 62. It states that to enable equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTDs), they promise to work with industry to encourage and support on a voluntary basis and on mutually agreed terms, including licensing, technology and know-how transfers, contract manufacturing, transparency and data sharing. Then they recommit more assistance to the global vaccine-sharing programme Covax.

Although since October 2, 2020, when India and South Africa introduced the Trips waiver at WTO, as Indias former permanent representative to the UN in New York Syed Akbaruddin tweeted, 60-plus nations have co-sponsored and 100-plus nations extended support to it in the 164-member body. The G-7 statement shows residual resistance in Europe, which may slowly dissipate as the US draft gets circulated and perhaps amended to reflect corporate interests. In any case, it means two things -- a waiver is not coming soon enough to help the developing world this year; and India has to take the lead in compelling indigenous manufacturers to voluntarily waive Trips cover and share their intellectual property to put moral pressure on the foot-draggers at WTO. However, so far, the Indian government is headed in the reverse direction by putting half the vaccine production in the market for states and the private sector to haggle over. The CEO of a major hospital chain in Gurgaon claimed on television that he was offered vaccines by intermediaries at higher prices. Will the Indian government now end up with a controversy of its own making?

However, past experience shows that the US throwing its weight behind a proposal generally gets European compliance. Germany and Switzerland may be the last holdouts. In the meanwhile, India requires to focus on two things  normalising access to hospitals by ramping up beds with oxygen, ICUs, etc. The supply of oxygen must take into account not only escalated hospital needs but also the moderately ill who are self-isolating at home. Also, to address vaccine supplies as the government has compounded the confusion by opening-up vaccinations for the 18-plus age group just as the supply has dried up. Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawala abandoning his factory, alleging threats and making gratuitous statements from his lair in London needs deft handling. In any case, the US has now released raw material for 20 million vaccines, which he needs to put in vials promptly.

What may yet negate the pharmaceutical industrys greed is the desire of Russia and China to play the Good Samaritans, as part of their counter-West strategy. Not coincidently, two-thirds of the G-7 statement has them in the crosswire. One or the other figures directly in the paras relating to Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, Myanmar or Taiwan, the entry of which to WHO has been endorsed. They also are the objects of themes like a rules-based order to human rights and freedom of religion, as indeed democracy. So, the news that Russia is starting mass production of a single-dose Sputnik vaccine comes as great relief. India also needs to be more proactive internationally in tying up contracts with emerging vaccines like a new RNA based product of Cure Vac, Germany, the final results of which are awaited in mid-May, which unlike Moderna and Pfizer can be stored in fridges. There is also the US-supported initiative between Baylor College of Medicine and the Hyderabad-based Biological E for a safe, effective and affordable vaccine. Its production does not start till later this year. This has the potential to inoculate the world.

The moral for India is that a government which cannot prioritise between a looming health emergency at home and its political and religious interests will hardly be viewed as a global leader in fighting pandemics, or anything else. Our slogan has to be to heal at home first  politically and health-wise.
Swarthmore, PA (19081)

Today

Occasional showers with a thunderstorm possible. Low around 70F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Occasional showers with a thunderstorm possible. Low around 70F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
From today, visitors will be allowed back into hospitals in Northern Ireland.

New guidance that will facilitate increased visiting in health and social care settings in Northern Ireland comes into effect today.

The updated guidance for visiting will apply across all care settings including hospitals (including maternity), hospices and care homes.

From today, every patient in hospital in Northern Ireland will be able to benefit from a daily visit with at least one person.

This will remain the case for four weeks before a review is carried out.

If things are going well, the number of visitors allowed in to visit patients will be increased to two.

Health Minister Robins Swann said: I fully recognise the importance of visiting for those who are receiving care. I hope this guidance will be widely welcomed.

It is also important to remember that the threat from COVID-19 remains very real. Everyone has a vital role to play when it comes to safe visiting. That includes social distancing, hand hygiene and not visiting if you are feeling unwell yourself.

The new visiting guidance is spread over two documents, with bespoke advice provided dependent on the category of care setting involved:

'A Pathway to Enhanced Visiting' sets out a new approach to visiting in hospices and hospitals - including Maternity and other services.

'Visiting With Care  A Pathway' was developed by the Public Health Agency, working with representatives from the statutory sector, representatives from various relatives groups and independent healthcare providers.

It sets out an agreed new approach to supporting safe and proportionate increased visiting in care homes. This includes updated arrangements for the safe management of care home residents receiving visitors, as well as residents being able to visit other households, community facilities and take part in excursions.

Minister Swann continued: Visiting was only ever restricted because it was absolutely necessary to do so to protect patients and residents from the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus and subsequent development of COVID-19 infection.

"Given the progress that has been made against the virus, the time is now right to take steps to carefully re-introduce visiting.

Commenting on the launch of the new guidance materials, he added: I welcome the work completed to draw up these updated guidance documents and hope that by implementing them we will take another step along the road to recovery.

Both documents are available on the Department of Healths website - www.health-ni.gov.uk/Covid-19-visiting-guidance
Adipurush: Om Raut Zeroes In Hyderabad For Shoot, Cast And Crew To Head There By May 15?

The makers of Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon starrer Adipurush have not been having an easy time shooting for the film. They have faced significant obstacles before they could begin shooting in February and took a small break. But this turned into a longish break with the number of COVID cases rising and the lockdown imposed in Mumbai. It has already delayed the shoot which was scheduled to happen in Mumbai. But now, looks like the makers would be shifting base to Hyderabad.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Om Raut (@omraut)

According to a source quoted by Mid Day, With 60 days of shoot behind them, the team has about 90 more days of work remaining. Om, with his producers, has zeroed in on a Hyderabad studio where he can shoot in adherence to safety protocols. Most portions will be shot indoors as the movie, in keeping with the directors filmmaking style, is VFX-heavy. In fact, the cast and crew might leave for Hyderabad by May 15th itself.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Om Raut (@omraut)

A member of the film's team said, We want to resume work at the earliest. The team is exploring a safe working environment where the shoot can be completed. Adipurush will be based on Ramayana and Prabhas will play Ram, while Saif will play Lankesh and Kriti will play Sita. The film also stars Sunny Singh.
Aditya Chopra Launches Initiative To Provide Financial Aid To Daily Wage Earners Of Film Industry

Filmmaker Aditya Chopra on Friday launched 'Yash Chopra Saathi' initiative to provide financial support to the daily wage earners of the film industry, who are affected due to the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has about 2.5 lakh registered workers. Under the initiative, the Yash Chopra Foundation will provide Rs 5,000 to the women and senior citizens working in the film industry as well as distribute ration kits to workers for a family of four for an entire month through their NGO partners Youth Feed India. Those in need can apply to avail the support through an online application process, a press release issued by the production house said.

Akshaye Widhani, senior vice president, Yash Raj Films said the foundation is committed to provide support to the Hindi film industry and its workers, who have been an integral part of their 50-year journey.

"The pandemic has pushed the backbone of our industry, the daily workers, to a breaking point and YRF wants to support as many workers and their families who are in need due to the loss of livelihood. Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative is aiming to provide support to the pandemic hit workers of our industry who we urgently need to focus on," Widhani said in a statement.

Last week, Yash Raj Films had also requested Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to help the production house in vaccinating 30,000 cine workers.
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ECG monitoring devices are experiencing a paradigm technological shift from resting ECG systems to portable Holter monitoring systems. According to a new report by Persistence Market Research (PMR), titled, Holter Monitoring Systems Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016-2024, this is attributed to advantages such as patient mobility, low prices, and longer period of patient monitoring.

Holter monitoring systems are proving to be more efficient in ECG monitoring due to advancements in technology, thereby allowing healthcare providers to monitor recorded data remotely, and enhancements in Holter monitoring software, which enable better analysis of data. These factors are expected to promote drive growth of the global Holter monitoring systems market at a CAGR of 4.5 % between 2016 and 2024.

Strategizing The Moves For The Next Decade? See Through Sample Of Holter Monitoring Systems Market Report! https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/samples/3886

Some key market participants included in the report are

GE Healthcare

Koninklijke Philips N.V

Welch Allyn (Hill-rom Company, Inc.)

Schiller AG

Fukuda Denshi Co. Ltd.

Nihon Kohden Corporation, Mortara Instrument, Inc.

Spacelabs Healthcare, Inc.

Starting With The New Decade On A Diligent Note In The Holter Monitoring Systems Market? https://www.persistencemarketresearch.co/methodology/3886

PMRs report offers market forecast and analysis on the global Holter monitoring systems market. The global market has been segmented on the basis of product, enduser, and region. On the basis of region, the market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Asia Pacific (APAC). As per regional analysis, North America (the U.S. and Canada) is the most lucrative market for Holter monitoring systems globally.

This region is expected to hold highest market share over the forecast period (20162024) and is expected to exhibit more than average growth rate. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness fastest growth owing to high population and increasing incidence rate of cardiovascular diseases. APAC market is estimated to account for around 27 % revenue share by end of 2016 in the global Holter monitoring systems market.

The market in MEA is also expected to expand significantly in revenue terms over the forecast period, owing to high public healthcare expenditure in countries in the region. Revenue from the market in the region is expected to expand at CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period.

On the basis of product, the global Holter monitoring systems market has been segmented into Holter monitoring devices, event monitoring devices, and Holter monitoring software segments. Holter monitoring devices segment is expected to remain the dominant segment in the global market throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to high adoption rate of these devices globally.

How About Obtaining Insights About The Region To Enter Concerning The Holter Monitoring Systems Market? Press The Purchase Now Button To Have Our Holter Monitoring Systems Market Report! https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3886

On the basis of end user, the Holter monitoring systems market has been segmented into hospitals, diagnostic centers, clinics, and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). PMR estimated the hospitals segment to account for highest revenue share among other end user segments, and it is expected to witness fastest growth over the forecast period. Factors such as increasing number of private hospitals in developing countries is expected to boost revenue share of the hospitals segment. Diagnostic centers segment is also expected to gain significant market share during the forecast period.

The report discusses various factors positively impacting growth of the global Holter monitoring systems market such as increasing healthcare expenditure, key strategies of market players, regional reimbursement policies, and others.

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Vir Das Wonders If Ageing Is Bad In A Hilarious Throwback Post As Badmaash Company Completes 11 Years

Ace comedian and actor Vir Das had his own funny way of celebrating 11 years of his film Badmaash Company. Poking fun at himself, Vir posted his own picture from the film and shared a hilarious take on ageing which everyone can definitely relate to.

Like most of us hate looking back at our own old photos, Vir in the way posted a hilarious caption and wrote, #badmashcompany came out 11 years ago today. Now take a good look and tell me ageing is bad...go on.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vir Das (@virdas)

Vir played Chandu in the Shahid Kapoor and Anushka Sharma starrer and was part of their Badmaash Company which also featured Meiyang Chang. The film focused on a bunch of friends who set up illegal businesses to make quick money and get rich.

The film was a 2010 commercial success but received average reviews.

The comedian who actively engages with his followers on social media was recently also nominated by a Twitter user to be Prime Minister in 2024 while he spoke about the government expenditure on Covid-19 relief efforts in the country.

@thevirdas for prime minister 2024, the user wrote. Wrong number. Dial Sonu Sood," Vir had replied with a folded hands emoji.
African multinational mobile telecommunications company MTN Group said that its Nigerian unit MTN Nigeria (MTNN) Communications has completed the issuance of an N110 billion (USD 263 million) fixed-rate bond due in 2028 under an N200 billion bond programme.

According to company sources, the bond will help refinance existing debt as well as back the deployment of critical network infrastructure and has a coupon of 13%.

A stock exchange announcement at Nigerian Exchange Limited revealed that the total value of orders received during the bookbuild was N135,151,000,000, representing a 1.32 times oversubscription of the intended N100,000,000,000 issuance.

Local media reports quoted MTNN Chief Financial Officer Karl Kadiri saying that the telco issued the bond to optimise its funding costs and plans to transfer $250 million in outstanding dividends to the Johannesburg-based group.

MTN has been getting funds for capital expenditure by way of foreign trade lines, he added.

Dollar shortages have plagued Nigeria, which is battling stagflation, frustrating businesses and foreign investors seeking to repatriate funds abroad, said a report by Reuters.

"Our priorities for 2021 remain unchanged which is to achieve double-digit revenue growth," the report quoted new chief executive Karl Toriola as saying.

Meanwhile, the telecoms firm said its first-quarter pretax profit rose 33.9% and that it has registered 35 million subscribers, around half of its base, under a Nigerian government directive to tighten SIM registration.
Polish mobile operator P4, trading under the Play brand, will be conducting 4G and 5G trials in Warsaw with Samsung.

The trials will test the interoperability between Plays 2G/3G legacy networks and Samsungs latest solutions, said a press release from the South Korean multinational electronics company.

Samsung and Play will verify the capability and performance of Samsung's 4G and 5G network equipment in the trial, which will be carried out in Play's labs and commercial networks, beginning in the second quarter of this year.

Play, with 15 million subscribers, provides messaging, voice, video, and data services for enterprise and non-enterprise customers alike.

"Throughout the trial period, Samsung and Play will be testing 4G and 5G solutions including Samsungs 4G radios, Core, 5G Massive MIMO radios, and Samsungs 5G baseband unit that supports both 4G and 5G frequencies," said the release.

Samsung R&D Institute Poland will also participate in the 4G-5G trial run, though its unclear to what capacity. The Institute is one of Polands largest research and development hubs, and its also where Samsung Electronics highest-quality software is created, as per the companys official description.

Samsung R&D Institute Poland is also responsible for advancing 4G and 5G solutions, Network Function Virtualization cloud solutions, as well as for analytics solutions for SON (Self-Organizing Networks).
Garena has announced that it is rescheduling its upcoming Free Fire World Series tournament (FFWS 20201 SG). The tournament is now scheduled to begin from May 30, 6:30pm IST. The company notes that this move was made keeping in mind the COVID-19 situation around the globe and the health and safety of everyone involved. To recall, the Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore was supposed to kick off on May 22.

Garena Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore: Participating teams

Due to restrictions put in place by the Singapore government, teams from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan will not be able to travel to Singapore to compete. As such, the tournament will see 18 teams from 11 regions compete for the $2,000,000 prize pool. The Play-Ins will see nine teams compete for three spots in the finals.

Even though teams from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were unable to partake in the tournament, Garena notes that their efforts and achievement in qualifying for the World Series will still be recognised. As such, these teams will be awarded with a share of the prize pool.

Garena plans two further international tournaments this year. In July, the company plans to host Free Fire All-Stars. This event aims to bring together top influencers and professional players from around the world. It will then pit them against each other to see who is the best. Then in November, the company plans to hold the second edition of the Free Fire World Series. Hopefully, the situation in India and the world will have improved enough to host the event without any issues. It is not yet known if the rescheduling of the Free Fire World Series 2021 Singapore will affect the dates of these tournaments.
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SEATTLE  A small apartment building at 4345 32nd Ave. W. sold for $2.9 million, according to King County records.

The seller was a family investment group acquired the property in 1996 for $340,000.





. . .
Coronados signature holiday looks to be back on track after being sidelined by the pandemic in 2020. All we can do is plan, and hope for the best, and then do what we can to be ready for contingencies. We are full steam ahead, said Todd Tanghe. Please email CFOJ at: info@cfoj.events for sponsorship, donations, and volunteer opportunities. More information can be found on the Coronado Fourth of July Facebook page, or the website which is scheduled to go live this week: coronadofourthofjuly.com
People across the country are getting ready to share One Sunrise Together tomorrow (May 8) for this years Darkness Into Light, supported by Electric Ireland.

Pieta and Electric Ireland are continuing to invite people to sign up at www.darknessintolight.ie and to take part in any way they can  walking, running, swimming, biking or simply sharing this special sunrise moment that can unite us all while still staying physically apart.

Due to Covid-19 guidelines, there are no organised walks this year, but these activities, carried out within Covid-19 guidelines, will help shine a light on suicide and self-harm, raising vital funds for Pietas suicide prevention and bereavement services. With over 22,848 calls and texts placed to Pietas free crisis line so far this year, support is vital to ensure this service remains freely available to everyone 24/7.

Four out of ten people who accessed Pietas services in 2020 cited loneliness as a trigger for their reaching out, so this years Darkness Into Light is about much more than raising funds; its about helping people feel connected. By taking part and sharing one sunrise together participants are showing solidarity with those who are feeling isolated in these difficult times. We may be physically apart again this year, but we can unite under the sunrise and share in its light and warmth together.

So, this year Pieta together with Electric Ireland are asking the nation to experience One Sunrise Together, the very same sunrise that gives hope to those impacted by suicide every year.

Pieta is aiming to unite over 200,000 participants under one sunrise this year," says Emma Dolan, Pieta Clinical Director.

"The absence of organised walks means many of our supporters cant gather with their loved ones and will miss the solidarity of a group walk. Knowing others across the country are watching the sunrise together will bring comfort, a feeling of belonging to something bigger and being connected to others. It's more important than ever to help participants feel united this year and sharing a sunrise moment will do that.

Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director at Electric Ireland says that every year, many customers and staff join thousands of others across Ireland in solidarity to offer hope to, and raise vital funds for, those impacted by suicide and self-harm.

"Although we remain physically apart this year, we can all still experience that moment of hope by sharing a special sunrise on May 8," she said.

"Pietas commitment continues to inspire us all; in a year when generating hope has been more important than ever, we are proud at Electric Ireland to support Darkness Into Light for the ninth year. We would like to thank those who have already shown their support and encourage everyone else to sign up and get involved in any way they can next Saturday.

Mary Black, Pieta Ambassador and musician opened up about her experiences of postnatal depression on the Darkness into Light Late Late Show Special last year. She wants to remind people there is light at the end of the tunnel. It was only after seeking help that Mary, who is also mum to Conor, Danny and Roisin, found she could be happy and smile again.

Pietas 24/7 Crisis Helpline is there to help anybody impacted or concerned about suicide or self-harm. Asking for help is one of the bravest things you can do and I would encourage anybody who needs it to seek help early said Mary.

Mary and fellow Pieta ambassador, Louise Cooney, have curated special playlists for Pietas Darkness into Light walk. You can find and listen to their playlists on May 8th via Pietas Spotify, or search Darkness Into Light 2021 - Sunrise Playlist on Spotify.

Sign up at darknessintolight.ie and share one sunrise together with the thousands already signed up. Pieta are urging the public to practice social distancing and adhere to Covid-19 guidelines to ensure the safety of all participants. Get involved with Darkness Into Light by walking, running, swimming, hiking, biking or simply sharing your sunrise snap using the hashtags, #BrighterTogether, #DIL2021. Sign up now at www.darknessintolight.ie.
A Central Criminal Court jury has found a married man guilty of murdering his former partner in Dundalk, whom he stabbed 19 times in front of their six-year-old daughter days after the child was placed in the custody of her mother by a court.

The 12 jurors rejected Edmundas Dauksa's defence that he had not been "fuelled with murderous intent " when he carried out the attack on the mother-of-two under a darkened archway in Dundalk during the middle of the day.

It was also the defence contention that the accused had felt "wronged and wronged again" by a system which had "failed him appallingly", after the deceased had received custody of the child in an "abnormal and accelerated" District Court hearing days before the killing.

Instead the jury accepted the State's case that the defendant had intended serious harm or death when he repeatedly "plunged" a 15cm blade into the body of the deceased.

In his closing speech, prosecution counsel Conor Devally SC said that whilst it might have been painful and unrelenting for the accused not to get his way to see his daughter, something he had enjoyed for the previous six years, that was no excuse for forming an intention to lure Ingrida Maciokaite from her home and stab her multiple times.

The trial heard that the accused was a married man but had developed a relationship with Ms Maciokaite, who was relatively younger than him and they had two children together.

An "unusual arrangement" was in place whereby their daughter lived with the accused and his wife and Ms Maciokaite would see the child on occasion.

The young child was very much part of the accused's family "in every sense of the word" and the defendant lavished affection on her "to an enormous extent".

However, Ms Maciokaite wanted more access to her daughter and asked her solicitor to have the child produced before the District Court on September 14 2018, where the judge placed her in the custody of her mother.

Evidence was given during the trial that the fishmonger was unrepresented during District Court proceedings that the court heard had lasted for just over four minutes.

The trial also heard he had not received written word of his former partner's intention to bring their daughter to court, despite a court order stating the court was satisfied that the application had been duly served on him.

The Lithuanian national became "a broken man" when his daughter was "taken" from him but an arrangement was made that Ms Maciokaite would bring the child to the accused's house on September 18.

However, the deceased decided not to bring the child to the house, which upset the accused and he went to talk to his former partner in the courtyard of her home that afternoon.

Dauksa (51), with an address at Castletown Road in Dundalk, Co Louth had pleaded not (NOT) guilty to murder but guilty (GUILTY) to manslaughter for the killing of Ms Maciokaite (31) at Bridgewater Mews, Linenhall Street, Dundalk, Co Louth on September 18, 2018.

Ms Maciokaite's cause of death was multiple stab wounds to the chest and back with contributory stab wounds to the face and neck.

Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan testified that there were 10 separate stab wounds to the front of the deceased's body and nine to the rear. The most serious stab wound had been inflicted to the heart and three or four stab wounds had entered the lungs, she said.

Yetunde Awosanya told the trial that she heard the child screaming outside her window on the afternoon of the killing and said: "The second scream sounded like a dog was about to attack the child, it was like a cry for help". The witness described comforting the "distraught" child after she picked her up and carried her away from her mother's body.

The seven men and five women found Dauksa guilty of murder by unanimous verdict.

They had deliberated for three hours and 51 minutes over two days.

Following today's verdict, Mr Justice Paul McDermott thanked the jury for their attendance throughout the case.

"These trials are not easy for the people who come in to judge them. I want to thank you very sincerely for your participation, more particularly in times where it is very difficult anyway to assemble," he said.

Mr Justice McDermott exempted them from jury service for ten years. He will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on May 24 and remanded Dauksa in custody until that date.

The defendant made no reaction when the verdict was delivered.
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Coronados City Council recently approved moving forward with the Free Summer Shuttle program for 2021. Free Summer Shuttle buses will run through Labor Day, Sept. 6, operating as it has in the past at 15-minute intervals. The City is planning a kick-off event in the afternoon on Sunday, June 6, on Orange Avenue near Spreckels Park.
TIM JEAN/Staff file photo. Windham residents stand in line to pick up ballots before voting at the high school on Election Day last November. An upcoming forensic audit of Windham's vote tallies from that election has caught the eye of the nation and former President Donald Trump.
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson says his plan to end all salmon litigation and remove four Snake River dams would offer agriculture unprecedented legal
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New research by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln suggests that temperature can largely explain why the greatest variety of aquatic life resides in the tropics but also why it has not always and, amid record-fast global warming, soon may not again.

The bulging, equator-belted midsection of Earth currently teems with a greater diversity of life than anywhere else - a biodiversity that generally wanes when moving from the tropics to the mid-latitudes and the mid-latitudes to the poles. Published in the journal Current Biology, the study estimates that marine biodiversity tends to increase until the average surface temperature of the ocean reaches about 65 degrees Fahrenheit, beyond which that diversity slowly declines.

During intervals of Earth's history when the maximum surface temperature was lower than 80 degrees Fahrenheit, the greatest biodiversity was found around the equator, the study concluded. But when that maximum exceeded 80 degrees, marine biodiversity ebbed in the tropics, where those highest temperatures would have manifested, while peaking in waters at the mid-latitudes and the poles.

Marine life that could travel considerable distances likely migrated north or south from the tropics during periods of extreme heat, said co-author Will Gearty, a postdoctoral researcher of biological sciences at Nebraska. Stationary or slower-moving animals, such as sponges and sea stars, may have instead faced extinction. "People have always theorized that the tropics are a cradle of diversity that it pops up and then is protected there," Gearty said. "There's also this idea that there's lots of migration toward the tropics, but not away from it. All of that centres around the idea that the highest diversity will always be in the tropics. And that's not what we see as we go back in time."

Gearty, Yale's Thomas Boag and Stanford's Richard Stockey went back about 145 million years, compiling estimated temperatures and fossil records of molluscs -- snails, clams, cephalopods and the like -- from 24 horizontal bands of Earth that were equal in surface area.

The trio chose mollusc records for multiple reasons: They live (and lived) around the globe, in large enough numbers to accommodate statistical analyses, with hard enough shells to yield identifiable fossils, with enough variation that their diversity trends might generalize to fish, corals, crustaceans and an array of other marine animals. That data allowed the team to derive the temperature-diversity relationship across 10 geologic intervals that covered most of the elapsed time from the Cretaceous period through the modern-day. "Temperature seems to account for a lot of the trend that we see in the fossil record," Gearty said. "There are certainly other factors, but this seems to be the first-order predictor of what's going on."

To investigate why temperature might be so influential and predictive, Stockey took the lead in developing a mathematical model. The model accounts for the fact that higher temperatures generally increase the amount of energy in an ecosystem, theoretically raising the ceiling on the biodiversity an ecosystem can sustain, at least to a point. But it also factors in metabolism and the small matter of oxygen, which, by dissolving in water, makes aquatic life possible in the first place. Colder waters dissolve more oxygen, meaning that elevated temperatures naturally reduce the amount available to marine life and, by extension, potentially limit the biodiversity an ecosystem can support.

Higher temperatures also raise the metabolic demands of organisms, increasing the minimum oxygen needed to sustain active marine animals. "That means you require more oxygen in warmer waters," Gearty said. "And if the amount of oxygen available is not satisfying that increase in metabolism, you won't survive in that environment. So, to survive, you'll need to move to another environment where the temperature is lower. It shows a similar trend of this (biodiversity) increase and then decreases," Gearty said. "After many a day at the whiteboard just trying to figure out how to make it work, it all just came together very nicely at the end -- you know, a nice little bow on top."

Collectively, the study indicates that human-driven global warming could hit the inhabitants of tropical waters especially hard. The average surface temperature of tropical waters could jump by as many as 6 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2300, according to one projection. And according to the fossil records analyzed for the study, similar temperature increases during the past 145 million years have sometimes permanently driven mollusc species from tropical waters. There are worrying signs that the expected trend is already underway, Gearty said. Though the team had difficulty narrowing down the projected magnitude of the decline in biodiversity, Gearty said the worst-case projection called for the tropics losing up to 50 per cent of their marine species by 2,300.

Some of the loss will take the form of migration. Yet the warming could spell doom for, say, corals and the thousands of marine species that they support, he said, as seen in the oft-fatal bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. "This (biodiversity loss) is already happening, and it will only keep happening unless we do something," Gearty said. "We can't really take back the buildup of carbon dioxide (in the atmosphere) that's already happened, so it's going to keep happening for some amount of time. But it's up to us to determine how long until it'll stop."
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Emporia, VA (23847)

Today

Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.
U.S. birthrate sees largest annual decrease in decades

Xinhua) 13:14, May 07, 2021

People tour the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the United States, on March 25, 2021. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

By disrupting American society in so many ways, the pandemic has led some people to hold off on plans, with the prospect of children more daunting in the face of job losses, closed child-care centers and schools and social isolation.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The birthrate in the United States fell 4 percent last year, marking the biggest annual decrease in decades, suggesting "the coronavirus pandemic has taken the country's already existing downward trend into overdrive," The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The latest provisional data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed the birthrate in 2020 dropped for the sixth consecutive year. The steepest decline occurred in the last part of the year, when the first babies conceived during the U.S. outbreak would have been born.

A woman and her children cross a road in Evanston, north of Chicago, Illinois, the United States, on Jan. 26, 2021. (Photo by Joel Lerner/Xinhua)

Before the pandemic, American women were already having fewer children, doing it later in life or choosing to not have children at all. The newly released data indicated a sharpening of that trend. The U.S. birthrate fell across races, ethnicities and almost all age groups.

Roughly 3.6 million babies were born in the United States in 2020, a decline from about 3.75 million in 2019. It is the lowest number of births since 1979. It is also the largest one-year drop in births, in percentage terms, since 1965, the year the baby boom ended, Philip N. Cohen, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, was quoted as saying.

"While the pandemic may have accelerated the decline, it did not cause it; the slowdown had been ongoing for decades before the pandemic," reported the Post. Even before the coronavirus's onset, the birthrate had fallen to 1.73 births per woman, after peaking in 1957 at 3.77 births per woman. It dipped in 1980, increased slightly a decade later and has since continued on a steady decline.

People walk to the parking lot after shopping at a supermarket in San Francisco Bay Area, California, the United States, May 4, 2021. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaoling)

"Some of the things that might be driving down birthrates in the long run -- like economic insecurity, the cost of health care, housing, child care and education, and our awful work-family policies -- are probably things that were exacerbated in the last year," Cohen said.

By disrupting American society in so many ways, the pandemic has led some people to hold off on plans, experts believe, with the prospect of children more daunting in the face of job losses, closed child-care centers and schools and social isolation, according to the report.

"It also slowed down the social metabolism, so there was less social interaction, and that means less sex, less coupling and marriage and pregnancies," Cohen said. "I'm sure there is both a conscious and unconscious element to this, and we just don't have enough data yet to know for sure what that balance is."

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
This image, captured at a past Memorial Day tribute, has become emblematic of the emotional message delivered during services at Star Park. This year, on Monday, May 31 at 10 a.m. Memorial Day ceremonies will physically return to Star Park, but in a limited capacity. Only 100 chairs will be set up, for guest speakers and their families  participants in the program - and the wearing of masks and social distancing will be required.
Athens, AL (35611)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Localized flooding is possible.
China's 10-storey, 23-ton Long March 5b rocket first stage is expected to make an "uncontrolled re-entry" back to Earth this weekend and the chances of it hitting a populated area are not zero, the NY Times has reported. According to the US government funded Aerospace Corporation, which has been tracking the rocket, it's expected to arrive on May 9th at 3:43 UTC (11:43 PM ET). However, that time is plus or minus 16 hours, so it's subject to change.

Both the US Space Command and Russia's Roscosmos agency are currently tracking the object. Scientists can't predict exactly where or when the first stage will reenter, because it depends on factors like solar activity that can make the atmosphere expand outward and create additional drag at the edge of space.

Our latest prediction for CZ-5B rocket body reentry is:

09 May 2021 03:43 UTC  16 hours

Reentry will be along one of the ground tracks shown here. It is still too early to determine a meaningful debris footprint. Follow this page for updates: https://t.co/p2AU9zE3y2 pic.twitter.com/MgzRAOTJnk  The Aerospace Corporation (@AerospaceCorp) May 6, 2021

"The rocket stages orbital inclination of 41.5 degrees means that re-entry can be as far north as Chicago, New York City, Rome and Beijing and as far south as New Zealand and Chile," the Aerospace Corporation wrote in a Medium Post. The current thinking is that it will shower down over northeastern Africa, over Sudan.

One of the largest objects to famously re-enter the atmosphere and break up was the 77 ton Skylab back in 1979. In that case, it mostly fell into the Indian Ocean, but some pieces fell over sparse areas of Australia. The US President at the time, Jimmy Carter, apologized for the incident.

The Long March 5b is much smaller, but China has never provided rocket design details, so researchers can't predict exactly how it will break up in the Earth's atmosphere. "The general rule of thumb is that 2040 percent of the mass of a large object will reach the ground," said Aerospace Corporation principal engineer Marlon Sorge.

It's unclear why China allows the large rockets to descend uncontrollably rather than using a deorbit maneuver to guide them to the ocean or an uninhabited region. Last year, another Long March 5B rocket made an uncontrolled re-entry, raining pieces onto a village in the Ivory Coast. It could have been extremely dangerous, he said. Were really fortunate in the sense that it doesnt appear to have hurt anybody," said Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator at the time.
As promised, Disney is adding support for UFC pay-per-view events to Hulu. Starting today, you can purchase access to those directly through the app, though youll need to first pay for the ESPN+ add-on or Disney streaming bundle for the privilege. Whats more, the feature is only available to those who get their monthly subscription bill from Hulu. If you pay for the service through Disney, youll have to turn to the ESPN website and app instead.

In any case, once you buy access to an event, youll find it under a newly added purchases section found under the My Stuff tab of Hulu. The first pay-per-view stream Disney will offer through Hulu will be UFC 262, which will take place on May 15th. Disney announced it would integrate ESPN+ into Hulu last year.
On May 7th, 1946, Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, the company that would later become Sony. After its beginnings making tape recorders and transistor radios, it rapidly expanded into myriad industries. From its My First Sony range to early cameraphones, virtual reality headsets to Digital Audio Tapes, Sony has always tried new things, with varying degrees of success. On the companys 75th anniversary, weve put together a series of articles about our experiences with some of its more interesting and unusual products.

Sonys contribution to how we consume music is immeasurable. Whether thats compact discs, the ubiquitous Walkman, MiniDisc or the latest wireless speaker setup  Sonys fingerprints are everywhere. Throw in the companys record label, and arguably it becomes the tech-brand with the strongest musical heritage (sorry, Apple). But theres one significant contribution the company made that you may not be so familiar with. A format that not only set the scene for digital music as we know it today, but also the music that youre actually listening to: DAT.

Digital Audio Tape wasnt the first non-analog format; it wasnt even really something that made its way into the hands of consumers  your Dad probably wasnt listening to Dire Straits on it (CDs pre-date DAT by a few years but wouldnt eclipse vinyl until later). You have almost certainly been touched by its legacy, though, and it might even be partly responsible for the music you enjoy today.

Getty

Invented in 1987, the concept was initially hard to understand in a mostly analog world. During this time, the primary ways to consume music were cassettes, CDs, vinyl and the radio. The latter three were reserved for the mainstream artists with record deals and marketing budgets. The humble tape was accessible to amateurs but you still had to distribute your garage-recorded magnum opus the lo-fi way for a few years more until MiniDisc and then recordable CDs would become commonplace. There was no SoundCloud or Spotify of course  sharing was a very literal, in-person concept.

DAT tapes were smaller than the ubiquitous compact cassette, but could only be played on one side (no flipping it over for the second half of the album). Importantly, they recorded in CD quality (44.1 or 48 kHz / 16 bit), unlike other, later digital formats like MiniDisc and DCC that used compression.

DAT didnt make physical sharing easier. It barely solved many of the practical issues of regular cassettes. Sure, you could make perfect, 1:1 copies and  gasp  skip tracks with a push of a button, but the equipment needed to play them rarely found its way into prized Hi-Fi separates and the music industry was very happy about that (with perfect digital copies up for grabs, who would buy their records, it rightly worried).

In fact, the recording industry was so concerned about the potential threat to its business that it initially campaigned against the sale of DAT machines in the US. One of the primary complainants, in this case, was CBS records, which Sony ultimately acquired thus somewhat nullifying the issue (although some practical steps were taken to make copying original recordings less effective). Ultimately, it made sense at the time, but the record industry was going after a minnow and hadnt anticipated the circling shark that was the internet.

What DAT did do was close the gap between the bedroom producer and the record press. The formats release coincided perfectly with a new way of making music. Anyone with an Atari and some patience could produce a track at home with software like Cubase or Notator. But there was still a large hurdle if you wanted to release it on vinyl (the most important format for the burgeoning electronic music scene of the time). To press a vinyl record likely meant going to, and paying for, a professional studio and having a master recorded to bulky reel to reel. DAT erased that barrier. Now, all you needed was either a DAT recorder or (more likely) access to one and you could cut a record from that.

For emerging genres like House, Techno and Drum and Bass in particular, this was a paradigm shift, allowing artists to guide their music from their cobbled-together studio to the turntable with relative ease. Most importantly, they could do so with a format that  technically  never degraded. DAT was still a form of tape and thus subject to the whims of the elements if not handled or stored with care.

For bedroom producers of the time, this not only made the process more accessible, it sometimes prevented music from vanishing into thin air. We couldn't even afford to put money in the electric meter to be able to save a track. Back in the day, we used to use floppy disks. And to save a tune will take sometimes 40 minutes, if you've got like 14 discs, and sometimes the electric would run out halfway through, celebrated Drum and Bass producer Roni Size told Engadget. So you only have one version on a DAT tape of that record. So you would just run with that version on that DAT and that's it. Yes, there was a time when it took 40 minutes to save a track and if that failed (as it often did) your only backup was the DAT recording.

The emergence of this new format also began to change what was possible musically, according to Size. DAT tapes were a way of us being able to master our music to a certain extent. Something that would have been expensive (and prohibitively so for most up and coming producers). We could take it to places like Music House, and they could master it for, you know, for home studio prices, rather than dream of going to somewhere where they will charge you to say just like 200 an hour. Music House  a specialist in dubplate one-off, test-press records  was a fundamental part of the UK underground music scene in the 90s.

This all might still seem like a lot of work. If you want to make and release a track today you can likely do all of it from the very device youre reading this article on. Not so much in the mid-90s. You still needed outboard gear, a mixing desk and the professional services of something like Music House  even just to get a single playable version of your new track for the club that night. Oh, and a well-fed pre-pay electric meter in Roni Sizes case.

But the fancy new digital tape didnt just melt away some of the barriers for budding producers and DJs, it allowed for new sounds to emerge. That whole dubplate culture was how we learned about mastering. You learn that you couldn't put certain frequencies in a record because you're going to damage the head on the on the Neumann press [record lathe], these are all the things that we learned and once it turns into digital, we learned that you could put 40 hertz in, you could put in 20 hertz if you wanted to. According to Size, then, DAT tangentially helped put the bass in Drum and Bass (and thus, many other emerging genres).

Its hard to imagine today, with our frictionless access to everyone and enough computing power in our hands to make and mix a record on the bus, that making and releasing songs required a relatively gargantuan effort. The 90s in particular would slowly chip away at each of those barriers. First with the PC becoming more affordable, then the rise of software instruments which would, naturally, soon be cracked and shared for free. By the end of the decade, for a nominal outlay on a computer you could be in the music game, reaching wide audiences that just a few years earlier would have been unimaginable.

Ted Thai via Getty Images

That didnt spell the end for DAT, though. At least not immediately. As ever more styles emerged, the use of the medium persisted. By then end of the 90s new genres, like Dubstep, were still using the format for sharing master recordings for DJs to cut their own dubplates from. A habit that would continue into the new millennium despite the emergence of cheap home-based CD burners. Not least, because you couldnt play a DAT out to a club, something you could do with an unmastered CDR which was the equivalent of playing a YouTube rip to a live audience. Horrific.

It wasnt just the underground scenes that were holding onto the digital audio tape dream. Dr. Dre famously preferred to mix his productions directly to DAT well into the aughts. Thus, its fair to say that DATs legacy has deep ties to the most popular genre on the planet. And if it was good enough for Andre Young, it was good enough for anyone. That is, until Sony discontinued new recorders around 2005, signaling the natural decay of its use.

DAT didnt make all of this happen on its own, but it was the first digital domino in a chain of events that would bend the music industry in ways we cant even imagine today. But that first domino is vital, as it ushered in a new era where anyone could have a go and bring their music to the world in a way that wasnt possible before. Whole genres would spin out of bedrooms and basement studios over the decade and Sonys digital tapes were a vital stepping stone in their imagination and creation.

There have been many formats over the years that enjoyed more commercial success, but DAT was in the right place at the right time for a music industry very much in flux. The major labels were about to have a prosperous decade reselling you your music on CD, and home production gear was just accessible enough for have-a-go heroes to do the unthinkable  make and release their own electronic music side by side with the major labels. You can, then  at least in part  thank Sony for much of the electronic music that you hear today.
The Memorial Services celebrating and honoring the life of Susan Shorter, 72, of Enid, are pending under the direction of Brown-Cummings Funeral Home. Condolences may be shared with the family online at www.Brown-Cummings.com.
Ellen DeGeneres recently had Courtney Cox on 'The Ellen Show' and reveals the reason why she move into the actress' California home amid rumors surrounding the host's "marital problems" with wife Portia de Rossi.

While Introducing the "Friends" alumna on the show, the Emmy-winning host referred to her as her "land lord", Cox corrected her later on by saying "I don't consider me a landlord, I consider myself your roommate."

Watch the interview segment below



DeGeneres has been residing at Cox's home in California while the actress stays overseas with her husband.

Cox has been staying in London and mentioned that she haven't been in her own home for over a year " I was nervous about you staying here, being that I haven't redone it. I haven't been there in a year," the actress said.

READ NOW: Fans Are Urging Henry Cavill To Leave DC and Join MCU Instead - Here's Why

DeGeneres reveales the reason for moving into Cox's home is that she recently sold her Beverly Hills house and denies that it has anything to do with marital problems.

"I should explain. I'm not having marital troubles. I'm not out of my house because I'm - I'm not living with Courteney Cox because I'm kicked out of my house," the host said. She then added "We sold our house here in Beverly Hills and I needed a place to stay... Courtney was kind enough to say, 'Yes, stay at my house.'"

The "Marital Problems" issue circulating

An article recently published by gossipcop.com revisits the rumors surrounding DeGeneres and de Rossi's marriage.

Last year, numerous tabloids including NW claims that de Rossi allegedly left DeGeneres and moved into their home in Montecito, California a month after quarantine. A supposed source stated "She's officially left L.A. Ellen's stayed behind because they're having problems."

They also claim that the reason behind the rift is the host's career which has been causing problems between the two. De Rossi allegedly wants DeGeneres to retire but the host refuses to. The source also added "de Rossi won't be back any time soon because the two have been arguing over Ellen's career."

The rumors circulating about the couples marriage has been debunked after the couple was seen spotted together and has been posting videos on Instagram during the time when the issue sparked.





The couple has not yet released a statement regarding the issue.

DISCLAIMER: All of the information written about DeGeneres and de Rossi's issue are alleged and has not been proven.

READ ALSO: 'Grey's Anatomy': Jesse Williams Exits; Real Reason For Leaving Plus What Will Happen to Dr. Jackson Revealed

















See Now: Famous Actors Who Turned Down Iconic Movie Roles
2021-05-06

Maeci

" The JCPoA, the Iran Nuclear Agreement, as the monitoring of the International Atomic Energy Agency has shown, has proved effective for nuclear non-proliferation and security in the Middle East region", stated the Vice Foreign Minister Marina Sereni at the panel of the conference The State of The Union dedicated to the theme: "Engaging Iran - European and transatlantic perspectives on the JCPOA and security in the Gulf". The event was promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and ISPI as part of MED-Dialogues 2021.





"For these reasons, we welcome - continued Sereni - the fact that both the United States and Iran have stated their intention to return to the Agreement and its full application. Also, from this point of view, the new approach of the Biden administration confirms the realignment between the two sides of the Atlantic on crucial issues. The sequence of measures to restore the JCPoA represents the most delicate point on which diplomacy must be exercised. Some recent Iranian decisions on the nuclear program, unfortunately, risk jeopardizing the possible progress of the negotiations. Effective dialogue requires a clear political will on Iran to comply with the obligations arising from the JCPoA fully. In this context, the Vice Minister - the EU is playing an important role in safeguarding and relaunching the Agreement. Italy strongly supports the efforts of the High Representative Borrell as coordinator of the JCPoA".



"The resumption of a dialogue between Iran and the United States - explained Sereni - would certainly have a positive impact on all the regional crisis contexts, from Yemen to the tensions in the Gulf, from Syria to Iraq. However, there are encouraging signs that suggest possible new prospects for dialogue in the area, such as reconciliation in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Abrahamic Agreements. We also observe interesting interlocution attempts between Iran and the Gulf monarchies. Geopolitical stability, sustainable management of resources, freedom and security of trade and navigation, not to mention the need to respond together to global challenges, beginning with the pandemic, are shared interests and objectives for all. In this context - concluded Sereni - a full return to the Iranian nuclear agreement would be a vital injection of confidence for the future of the Middle East area".
Luxembourg, 7 May 2021 - In a new position statement, Alzheimer Europe has issued a call for prioritisation of people with dementia and their carers in national COVID-19 vaccination strategies, urging governments to recognise the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on these groups.

Alzheimer Europe has today issued a call for people with dementia and their carers to be given priority in the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaigns across Europe.

In its position statement, Alzheimer Europe notes that people with dementia have almost twice the risk for developing COVID-19 compared to their peers without dementia, with high rates of hospitalisation and a risk of mortality within six months of approximately 20% in certain populations. Those who become infected are also more prone to developing delirium, which can complicate the management of their current and future cognitive health.

Currently, countries vary significantly in their prioritisation of different groups for COVID-19 vaccination. The vast majority of European countries have prioritised frontline healthcare workers, long-term care facility residents and the oldest old in the first phases of vaccination, with a smaller number also prioritising social care personnel and professional carers. A small number of European countries, recognising dementia per se as a risk category for severe COVID-19, have prioritised people with dementia for COVID-19 vaccination. However, in the majority of countries, neither people with dementia, nor informal carers have been specifically identified as priority groups for the COVID-19 vaccination, despite their increased risk.

Alzheimer Europe notes the disproportionate impact of the pandemic already experienced by people with dementia and their carers, as a result of service cancellations, care home restrictions etc., and accordingly, makes the following three demands of European governments:

Include dementia as a risk category for severe COVID-19, prioritising people with dementia for the COVID-19 vaccine, independent of age, place of residence or other risk factors for severe COVID-19.

Prioritise informal carers for the COVID-19 vaccine, acknowledging their important contribution during the pandemic to the care, support and even survival of people with dementia, as well as the indirect protection vaccination can confer for the people for whom they care.

Ensure that reasonable accommodations are made and that support mechanisms are in place when organising and rolling out the vaccine to people with dementia, such as the possibility to be vaccinated at home and to have decision-making support, if required.

Commenting further, Alzheimer Europe's Executive Director, Jean Georges, stated:

"People with dementia and their carers have often been overlooked and forgotten during this pandemic. Particularly during the early stages of the outbreak, public health measures designed to control the spread of the virus have had profound and often tragic consequences for people with dementia, their families and carers.

Governments must recognise that people with dementia, their families and carers have already been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and ensure that people with dementia and their carers will not be overlooked again in the development and implementation of vaccination strategies.

We urge governments across Europe to revise their approaches to vaccination campaigns and prioritise people with dementia and their carers, allowing a return to some semblance of normality for this vulnerable group."

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To download the position paper and the briefing document visit: http://bit. ly/ AEPositionCOVIDVaccine

For further information, contact: Jean Georges, Executive Director, Alzheimer Europe, 14, rue Dicks, L-1417 Luxembourg, Tel.: +352-29 79 70, Fax: +352-29 79 72, jean.georges@alzheimer-europe.org, http://www. alzheimer-europe. org

Notes to editors:

To support people with dementia, carers and Alzheimer's associations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation has dedicated a special section of its website to useful resources and links: https:/ / www. alzheimer-europe. org/ Living-with-dementia/ COVID-19

A detailed briefing document has been included alongside the position statement, providing further details and references demonstrating the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on people with dementia. This paper also explores the ethical, legal and human rights issues associated with public health interventions and the current vaccination campaigns. This is also available to download at: https:/ / www. alzheimer-europe. org/ Policy/ Our-opinion-on/ COVID-19-Vaccinations-and-People-with-Dementia

The position and briefing document received funding under an operating grant from the European Union's Health Programme (2014-2020). The contents represent the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
The continuing investigation is being conducted by the FBIs Safe Streets and Violent Crimes Task Forces; the ATF; the DEA; the U.S. Marshals Service; the Bridgeport Police Department; the Connecticut State Police and the Bridgeport States Attorneys Office, with the assistance of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Connecticut Forensic Science Laboratory and the Waterbury Police Department, Carson said.
Neonatal hypothermia -- which occurs when an infant's core body temperature falls below the normal range needed to maintain health -- contributes to approximately one million deaths each year, and countless cases of stunted growth, almost exclusively in low- and middle-income countries. To address this common but preventable condition, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital, engineers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and colleagues in Rwanda developed the Dream Warmer, a low cost, reusable non-electric infant warmer to prevent and treat hypothermia. A new study from the team shows that infants who received treatment with the warmer had only an 11 percent rate of hypothermia compared to 29 percent of those who did not. Infant death rates also dropped, from 2.8 percent among infants who did not use the warmer to 0.9 percent of those who did. Results of the study were published in eClinicalMedicine from The Lancet.

"Infant hypothermia is a silent killer," says study leader Anne Hansen, MD, MPH of the Division of Newborn Medicine and Medical Director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Boston Children's, "but it's a modifiable risk factor, and this study shows that reducing it can have a large impact on survival and also likely on the long-term neurodevelopment of these babies."

Warmer was effective and safe

The primary aim of the study was to see if the warmer increased body temperatures in infants who are hypothermic or at risk of hypothermia due to prematurity or low birth weight compared to the standard of care in rural Rwandan hospitals.

Over the study period from November 2019 to July 2020, 464 infants at ten of the largest neonatal wards in Rwandan district hospitals used the warmer 892 times. Data was also collected on over a thousand patients on the neonatal ward who did not receive the warmer.

The study found that:

The rate of achieving a normal body temperature rose from 51 percent before introduction of the warmer to 67 percent after the warmer was introduced.

Use of the warmer did not lead to an increased rate of excessively high core temperatures.

The warmer caused no burns, rashes or other safety concerns, and no instances of incorrect warmer use were observed.

"This is a good option for treatment in setting where incubators are not the right solution, whether it is because they are too expensive, (about $100 compared with $5,000 for an incubator) require electricity, or require extensive training to correctly use and maintain," says Hansen, who adds that the warmer was specifically designed to complement skin-to-skin care, known as kangaroo mother care, either when it provides insufficient heat or if the mother needs to take a break. "And, the nurses needed only a couple minutes of training to prepare, use and clean it correctly because it is quite intuitive."

Ten years in the making

Dr. Hansen has been working in Rwanda for more than a decade to address these and other preventable causes of infant disease and death. She teamed up with engineers from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, to develop this low-cost, reusable infant warming mattress. The warmer contains 12 wax "candles" that are made of a material specially designed to melt at exactly skin temperature. When heated in boiled water, the candles melt and remain at body temperature for about six hours. Once they cool, the mattress can be cleaned and reused multiple times.

"The final design is a skin temperature heating pad that the infant can either lay on or be wrapped around the infant's back in addition to skin-to-skin care with the mother," says Hansen. Two smaller studies conducted by Hansen's team in Rwanda in 2016-2018 showed the warmer was effective, safe, and usable without needing an extensive training.

"Because treating neonatal hypothermia is relatively easy given the appropriate equipment, we hope this warmer can play a significant role in optimizing the health of these vulnerable infants in low- and middle-income countries," says Hansen, who is now partnering with others with the goal of distributing the infant warmer across Sub Saharan Africa as well as Haiti and Chiapas, Mexico.

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Hansen is senior investigator on the paper in The Lancet. Other researchers include Josee Uwamariya MGHD, Christian Mazimpaka MD, Alphonse Nshimyiryo MSc, and Evrard Nahimana MD of Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima, Kigali, Rwanda; Leana May DO of Children's Hospital of Colorado; Henry A Feldman PhD of Boston Children's; Felix Sayinzoga PhD, and Sharon Umutsei MPH of Rwanda Ministry of Health, Kigali Rwanda; Ashok Gadgil PhD and Vi H Rapp PhD of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. The work was funded by the Banyan Gates Foundation.

About Boston Children's Hospital

Boston Children's Hospital is ranked the #1 children's hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and is the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. Today, 3,000 researchers and scientific staff, including 9 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 23 members of the National Academy of Medicine and 12 Howard Hughes Medical Investigators comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's is now a 415-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. For more, visit our Discoveries blog and follow us on social media @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube.
(Boston)--Elizabeth Hutton, MD, assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics, has been recognized with Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) highest teaching honor, the Stanley L. Robbins Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The annual award honors an outstanding educator and acknowledges the importance of teaching skills and commitment to students and education. It was established in recognition of the exceptional teaching and devotion to students exemplified by Stanley L. Robbins, MD, former professor and chair of pathology.

"Dr. Hutton is simply superb as an educator and at giving feedback," said a BUSM colleague. "Students routinely tell me that she gives them some of the most detailed, specific and actionable feedback. In addition, she is a strong advocate for our students. Whether there is a struggling student on service or one who excels, Dr. Hutton finds ways to support those who need help and makes time in her busy schedule to independently reach out to residency programs to offer her words on behalf of applicants so that they can achieve their residency program aspirations."

Another colleague describes her as possessing the characteristics that all educators should have--engagement in student learning, a clear sense of student expectations, ability to provide specific feedback to learners and willingness to create and enact an action plan to help learners improve. "Her ability to identify struggling learners in a timely fashion and report it to course leadership along with an action plan of steps to help the learner improve, has been so valuable to assisting our students to meet their expectations."

Hutton serves as the medical director of the pediatric inpatient unit at Boston Medical Center. According to a colleague, she is attentive to educational concerns from an administrative level in her role running the inpatient service. "Over the years she has innovated ways in which hospitalist faculty can contribute to education and has routinely gone above and beyond in her consideration for how to set up a service that can really assess the competency of medical students," added another colleague.

Hutton's research interests include medical education, quality improvement in inpatient pediatric care, faculty development, improving coordination of care between inpatient and outpatient providers and childhood onset chronic disease.

She completed her medicine-pediatrics residency program at Brigham & Women's Hospital and Boston Children's Hospital.

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Machine learning helps some of the best microscopes to see better, work faster, and process more data

To observe the swift neuronal signals in a fish brain, scientists have started to use a technique called light-field microscopy, which makes it possible to image such fast biological processes in 3D. But the images are often lacking in quality, and it takes hours or days for massive amounts of data to be converted into 3D volumes and movies.

Now, EMBL scientists have combined artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms with two cutting-edge microscopy techniques - an advance that shortens the time for image processing from days to mere seconds, while ensuring that the resulting images are crisp and accurate. The findings are published in Nature Methods.

"Ultimately, we were able to take 'the best of both worlds' in this approach," says Nils Wagner, one of the paper's two lead authors and now a PhD student at the Technical University of Munich. "AI enabled us to combine different microscopy techniques, so that we could image as fast as light-field microscopy allows and get close to the image resolution of light-sheet microscopy."

Although light-sheet microscopy and light-field microscopy sound similar, these techniques have different advantages and challenges. Light-field microscopy captures large 3D images that allow researchers to track and measure remarkably fine movements, such as a fish larva's beating heart, at very high speeds. But this technique produces massive amounts of data, which can take days to process, and the final images usually lack resolution.

Light-sheet microscopy homes in on a single 2D plane of a given sample at one time, so researchers can image samples at higher resolution. Compared with light-field microscopy, light-sheet microscopy produces images that are quicker to process, but the data are not as comprehensive, since they only capture information from a single 2D plane at a time.

To take advantage of the benefits of each technique, EMBL researchers developed an approach that uses light-field microscopy to image large 3D samples and light-sheet microscopy to train the AI algorithms, which then create an accurate 3D picture of the sample.

"If you build algorithms that produce an image, you need to check that these algorithms are constructing the right image," explains Anna Kreshuk, the EMBL group leader whose team brought machine learning expertise to the project. In the new study, the researchers used light-sheet microscopy to make sure the AI algorithms were working, Anna says. "This makes our research stand out from what has been done in the past."

Robert Prevedel, the EMBL group leader whose group contributed the novel hybrid microscopy platform, notes that the real bottleneck in building better microscopes often isn't optics technology, but computation. That's why, back in 2018, he and Anna decided to join forces. "Our method will be really key for people who want to study how brains compute. Our method can image an entire brain of a fish larva, in real time," Robert says.

He and Anna say this approach could potentially be modified to work with different types of microscopes too, eventually allowing biologists to look at dozens of different specimens and see much more, much faster. For example, it could help to find genes that are involved in heart development, or could measure the activity of thousands of neurons at the same time.

Next, the researchers plan to explore whether the method can be applied to larger species, including mammals.

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Study co-lead author Fynn Beuttenmuller, a PhD student in the Kreshuk group at EMBL Heidelberg, has no doubts about the power of AI. "Computational methods will continue to bring exciting advances to microscopy."
The role of English has become ever more prominent, not only in Estonia, but globally. Considering the socio-linguistic situation in Estonia, it is important to study the impact of English on Estonian. Although multilingual communication on the Internet has been studied using different approaches, studies concerning online language contact are rare. Helin Kask, a doctoral candidate at Tallinn University focuses on language changes taking place due to current online language contact and analyses the online language use of young Estonians.

Intense contact with English has raised alarms throughout society regarding the longevity of the Estonian language. The doctoral thesis showed that younger generations borrow (copy) English vocabulary with high frequency and intensity. However, core vocabulary is never borrowed (words such as mother or bread), instead words with specific meanings find their way into vocabularies (such as highlighter and giveaway). There are very few examples of structural changes and they do not present typological problems. In conclusion, it can be said that the English-Estonian language contact is slightly intense and belongs in the second category of Thomason and Kaufman's (2002) five-step scale.

The doctoral thesis analysed 45 fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogs (275,263 words in total) and six vlogs (around 48,000 words in total). The age range of the bloggers and vloggers was 15-30. The analysis revealed that approximately 89% of the borrowed words were exact copies or traditional loanwords, meaning that the word was carried over from English with the same form and meaning. Often these loanwords are words specific to the field that the blogger or vlogger specialises in: names of beauty products, clothing, colours, etc, for example "eyeshadow brush" instead of lauvarvi pintsel and "trench coat" instead of vihmamantel. There are considerably less mixed and selective copies, around 7% and 4% respectively. Mixed copies are compound words and phrases that have been compiled from the two different languages, for example: nude-roosa 'nude-pink' and uli-uli-thankful 'very very thankful'. Selective copies are seemingly Estonian. Most of the selective copies shown in the thesis are copies of some idioms or expressions that have been translated into Estonian, for example minu vabandused 'my apologies' that could be replaced with the more natural Estonian ma vabandan instead. Sometimes these word-for-word translations exist to create word-plays. There are very few structural changes in the material, mostly these are constructions that have become more widely used thanks to the impact of English, for example olen umbritsetud heade inimeste poolt instead of mind umbritsevad head inimesed ('I am surrounded by good people') or olen spaasse minemas instead of lahen spaasse ('I am going to the spa'). These changes are also common in general use of the Estonian language.

"The most commonly copied words and phrases are those with specific or metaphorical meanings," explains Kask. "Specific meanings are most likely being copied due to the words not existing in the Estonian language or their counterparts not conveying the idea of the word specifically enough. In the case of the loaned metaphorical meanings, the aim is to find new forms of expression that sound fresh and exciting. Copying also occurs due to strong emotional connotation, as strong feelings are often easier to convey in English, and frequency: the more often a word or phrase is seen in English, the more likely it is to be copied to Estonian."

Until now, very few studies have researched the integration of English words into the Estonian language. The doctoral thesis examined this through the concordance of adjectives. The material of the doctoral thesis shows slightly more examples of adjectives being discordant (55%). At the same time, the analysis showed that if the English adjective is morphologically similar to an Estonian word and can be fitted into a declension type, then the adjective will become concordant. Such concordant adjectives were, for example, two-syllable long adjectives that ended with -y and which were structurally similar to the Estonian adjective tubli: fancymaid toite 'fancier foods'. Discordant adjectives were those that had a pronunciation different from their spelling, such as 'awesome'.

The dissertation was supervised by Professor Anna Verschik from Tallinn University. The opponents are professor Albert Backus from Tilburg University and University of Tartu's associate professor Virve-Anneli Vihman.

The dissertation is available in the ETERA digital environment of TU Academic Library. https:/ / www. etera. ee/ zoom/ 118684/ view?page= 1&p= separate&search= mcnamara&tool= search&view= 0 ,0,2067,2835

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The Waitemata District Health Board (DHB) Fracture Liaison Service has achieved the highest standard of coordinated post-fracture care, earning a Capture the Fracture Gold Standard certificate in recognition of its exemplary service

May 7, 2021 - Nyon, Switzerland

A broken bone after a minor fall is often the first sign of underlying osteoporosis. It's also a warning sign that a fracture patient is at high risk of sustaining further, potentially life-threatening fragility fractures, a risk which is especially high within the following two years.

This is where a fracture liaison service (FLS) can make an essential difference to a patient's future. FLS are coordinated, multidisciplinary services which serve to systematically identify, evaluate, treat and monitor fracture patients in order to significantly reduce their risk of suffering serious secondary fractures.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is very pleased to announce that the first FLS to be established in New Zealand in 2012, the Waitemata District Health Board (DHB) FLS, has earned Gold Standard recognition from the Capture The Fracture program. The Waitemata DHB FLS identifies and manages around 1500 cases per year. The recognition is based on the 13 standards of the internationally recognized Capture the FractureBest Practice Framework and assessment of the FLS' service level in five domains: in-patient fractures, outpatient fractures, vertebral fractures and organisational characteristics.

Well-deserved Capture the Fracture recognition for an outstanding team effort

IOF CEO Dr Philippe Halbout stated:

"We congratulate the Waitemata District Health Board, FLS leader Dr David Kim, and his entire team for their commitment to excellence in patient care. In fact, New Zealand as a whole sets a wonderful example for all countries around the world, having been a global leader in the movement to initiate post-fracture care services for close to a decade. The country's exemplary achievements in secondary fracture prevention have been possible thanks to effective multi-stakeholder collaboration between New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation, Ministry of Health, health sector, and the patient national society, Osteoporosis New Zealand."

Upon receiving the Capture the Fracture Gold Standard recognition, endocrinologist Dr David Kim, who has been leading the Waitemata DHB FLS together with a dedicated team since 2014, stated:

"It was huge when we learned we had achieved the Gold Standard and the whole team was absolutely exalted. It means that if people within our DHB suffer a fragility fracture, even if they don't realise they have a problem, they can be confident that our system will detect them and make sure they are appropriately evaluated and treated."

"We've always been leaders in the New Zealand fracture liaison service scene, but we will continue to strive to provide a better service to our population."

New Zealand's Accident Compensation Corporation champions fracture prevention

As early as 2012, the Ministry of Health in New Zealand called on all DHBs to implement a fracture liaison service, and from 2016 this was supported by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), the government agency responsible for injury prevention. The ACC invested NZ$30.5 million to implement FLS in every DHB and to encourage related measures which aim to reduce the social, personal and economic impact of falls. In addition, since 2016, the ACC has been providing support for the New Zealand arm of the Australian and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry.

Falls are the most common cause of injury for New Zealanders aged over 65. Up to 30 percent suffer falls each year and 10 to 20 percent of these people are injured, hospitalised or die as a result. The ACC spends nearly $200 million per annum (up 47% since 2013) helping over 65s recover from falls. Without effective fall and fracture prevention interventions, this cost is expected to increase to $400m by 2035.

Paul Kennedy, ACC Targeted Investment Manager, has commended the Waitemata DHB for its outstanding service, and highlighted the ACC's ongoing commitment to FLS and other measures to reduce falls and fracture incidence in New Zealand:

"Fracture liaison services play a critical role in identifying the underlying issues that could lead to a fracture and putting individualised plans in place to reduce that risk.

"District Health Boards like Waitemata recognise that a good fracture liaison service can systematically reduce serious fractures from falls by 30-50 percent. With the population of over 65s expected to double to 1.2 million by 2035, it's a no-brainer for us to invest in a programme that can address the resulting increase in demand on New Zealand's health system."

"Waitemata has done a lot to achieve this Gold Standard - they're at the front of the pack."

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Further reading:

About Capture the Fracture

Capture the Fracture (CTF) is a multi-stakeholder initiative led by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF). The initiative hopes to drive changes at local and international levels, so that secondary fracture prevention becomes a reality. Its aim is to set global best practices for Fracture Liaison Services (FLS), while serving as a benchmark tool to which clinics and hospitals can adhere and aspire to, and receive international recognition. The CTF programme has a diverse set of tools that provides essential resources and documentation to drive quality improvement in FLS; CTF also offers mentorship programmes that support development of FLS at the local level. Currently the CTF network includes 629 FLS in 48 countries worldwide. https:/ / www. capturethefracture. org #CaptureTheFracture

About IOF
For some people, social gatherings can be a time to imbibe. And for some, that can turn into a time to overindulge. But how do your neighborhood and your social network affect binge drinking?

Along with colleagues at the RAND corporation in Santa Monica, Indiana University researcher Hank Green examined how neighborhood and social network characteristics were related to adult binge drinking. He and his co-authors found that both factors play a role in how much someone drinks, information that can help us better understand binge drinking among adults.

The study was published in the journal Health and Place, indexed in Science Direct and PubMed.

"Adults living in cohesive neighborhoods where people get along, help and look out for one another had a lower likelihood of any binge drinking at all compared to those living in less cohesive neighborhoods," the co-authors point out.

"Living in a highly cohesive neighborhood may impact social norms and constrain behavior in such a way that binge drinking is very unlikely, even if the opportunity to drink arises," Green said.

The researchers also found that, for those who live in neighborhoods they consider safe and orderly, and who have a more interconnected social network, the likelihood of social drinking increases, and drinking heavily might occur in those social drinking situations, regardless of how cohesive they find their neighborhood to be. However, the study also found that those neighborhood and network factors also restrict how often someone binge-drinks, probably through social control processes such as friends and neighbors looking out for each other or commenting on someone's drinking, etc.

"We also found that binge drinking was more likely among adults who lived in orderly neighborhoods and who had denser social networks, but reported lower neighborhood cohesion," said Green, associate professor at the IU School of Public Health-Bloomington.

In neighborhoods ranked by study participants as disordered, unsafe, and lacking cohesion, neighborhood factors lose their overall impact. Social networks tend to take over the role of social control, according to the study. In these types of neighborhoods, it's people with more interconnected social networks who binge less often.

Researchers utilized online surveys from adults ages 30-80 drawn randomly from the RAND American Life Panel. The main predictor variables were neighborhood cohesion (do neighbors help neighbors, do neighbors get along); neighborhood order (my neighborhood is clean, safe); and social network density. Associations of these measures with past month binge drinking (any, number of days) were examined, controlling for demographic characteristics.

Green said the study could help inform intervention practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy because those approaches already focus on identifying people and places that trigger binge drinking and addressing those triggers with behavioral changes. Indirectly, Green said, the study suggests that those interventions could also focus on people and places that discourage binge drinking or facilitate less frequent binge drinking and better drinking choices. Those interventions could also consider a broader definition of "place" that moves beyond a specific location to consider how larger areas like neighborhoods might impact drinking.

"Because neighborhood and social network factors work in tandem to affect the likelihood of binge drinking and the frequency of binge drinking, interventions for problem drinking should incorporate both of these aspects to make them more effective," Green said.

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The study was funded by ongoing National Institutes of Health grants to explore how social networks impact adult health.

IU Research

IU's world-class researchers have driven innovation and creative initiatives that matter for 200 years. From curing testicular cancer to collaborating with NASA to search for life on Mars, IU has earned its reputation as a world-class research institution. Supported by $854 million last year from federal, foundation, and other external support, IU researchers are building collaborations and uncovering new solutions that improve lives in Indiana and around the globe.
Which wound cuts deeper: the loss of an only child or loss of a spouse? A new study led by researchers at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and Fudan University suggests that Chinese parents find the loss of an only child to be approximately 1.3 times as psychologically distressing than the loss of a spouse. The findings are published in the journal Aging & Mental Health.

Older adults in China rely heavily on family support, particularly from their adult children. Filial piety--the Confucian idea describing a respect for one's parents and responsibility for adult children to care for their parents as they age--is a central value in traditional Chinese culture.

In the 1970s, China introduced a one-child policy to slow the population growth, resulting in hundreds of millions of families with only children. While the policy ended in 2016, its consequences will be felt for decades, particularly for families who experience the loss of a child.

"The death of a child has been recognized as one of the most challenging and traumatic events for a parent," said Bei Wu, PhD, Dean's Professor in Global Health at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and co-director of the NYU Aging Incubator, as well as the study's senior author. "Within the cultural context of China, the death of an only child is devastating not only due to the emotional loss, but also the loss of financial and instrumental support that is critical to older adults."

The death of a spouse is also recognized as a distressing life event, forcing older adults to navigate both the emotional loss and the shattering of a married couple's social and economic circumstances. In this study, Wu and her colleagues wanted to examine whether the loss of a spouse had a similar impact on psychological well-being as the loss of an only child, and whether the presence of one mitigated the absence of the other.

The researchers analyzed data from a 2013 survey conducted in Shanghai involving more than 1,100 adults, including 128 parents who lost their only child. The survey evaluated the impact of the loss of a spouse or child on participants' psychological well-being, including depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction.

They found that adults who lost their only child but have a living spouse had more psychological distress than those who lost their spouse but have a living child. This effect appeared to be stronger in women than in men.

Losing an only child resulted in 1.37 times the level of loneliness and 1.51 times the level depression as losing a spouse, and life satisfaction was 1.14 times worse for those who lost an only child vs. their spouse. Adults whose children and spouse were both alive had better psychological well-being than those who experienced loss.

"Our findings demonstrate that the loss of an only child carries more psychological weight than the loss of a spouse in Chinese culture," said Wu.

Wu and her colleagues recommend increasing access to professional mental health services for adults who experience loss, as well as developing culturally relevant interventions to address social isolation and loneliness among older Chinese adults.

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Wu collaborated on this study with Yan Liang and Hong Liang of Fudan University, Hanzhang Xu of Duke University, and Feinian Chen of the University of Maryland.

About NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing (@NYUNursing)

NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing is a global leader in nursing and health. Founded in 1932, the College offers B.S., M.S., DNP and Ph.D. degree programs providing the educational foundation to prepare the next generation of nursing leaders and researchers. NYU Meyers has several programs that are highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report and is among the top 10 nursing schools receiving NIH funding, thanks to its research mission and commitment to innovative approaches to health care worldwide.
A comprehensive review into what we know about COVID-19 and the way it functions suggests the virus has a unique infectious profile, which explains why it can be so hard to treat and why some people experience so-called "long-COVID", struggling with significant health issues months after infection.

There is growing evidence that the virus infects both the upper and lower respiratory tracts - unlike "low pathogenic" human coronavirus sub-species, which typically settle in the upper respiratory tract and cause cold-like symptoms, or "high pathogenic" viruses such as those that cause SARS and ARDS, which typically settle in the lower respiratory tract.

Additionally, more frequent multi-organ impacts, and blood clots, and an unusual immune-inflammatory response not commonly associated with other, similar viruses, mean that COVID-19 has evolved a uniquely challenging set of characteristics.

While animal and experimental models imply an overly aggressive immune-inflammation response is a key driver, it seems things work differently in humans: although inflammation is a factor it is a unique dysregulation of the immune response that causes our bodies to mismanage the way they fight the virus.

This may explain why some people experience "long-COVID" and suffer severe lung damage after infection.

Ignacio Martin-Loeches, Clinical Professor in Trinity College Dublin's School of Medicine, and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at St James's Hospital, is a co-author of the review just published in leading medical journal, The Lancet. He said:

"The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus two (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, has resulted in a health crisis not witnessed since the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. Tragically, millions around the world have died already.

"Despite international focus on the virus, we are only just beginning to understand its intricacies. Based on growing evidence we propose that COVID-19 should be perceived as a new entity with a previously unknown infectious profile. It has its own characteristics and distinct pathophysiology and we need to be aware of this when treating people.

"That doesn't mean we should abandon existing best-practice treatments that are based on our knowledge of other human coronaviruses, but an unbiased, gradual assembly of the key COVID-19 puzzle pieces for different patient cohorts - based on sex, age, ethnicity, pre-existing comorbidities - is what is need to modify the existing treatment guidelines, subsequently providing the most adequate care to COVID-19 patients."

The review article was produced by the European Group on Immunology of Sepsis (EGIS) in which Professor Martin-Loeches is one of the funding members. EGIS is a multidisciplinary group of scientists and doctors with special interest in severe infection in patients admitted to ICU.

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Narrow-gap semiconductors with the ability to use visible light have garnered significant interest thanks to their versatility. Now, scientists in Japan have developed and characterized a new semiconductor material for application in process components stimulated by light. The findings have, for the first time, suggested a new way to reduce the band gap in cheaper and non-toxic tin-based oxide semiconductors for efficient light-based applications.

Semiconductors that can exploit the omnipresent visible spectrum of light for different technological applications would serve as a boon to the material world. However, such semiconductors often do not come cheap and can often be toxic. Now, a group of material scientists from Tokyo Institute of Technology and Kyushu University have collaborated to develop a cheaper and non-toxic narrow-gap semiconductor material with potential 'light-based' or photofunctional applications, according to a recent study published in Chemistry of Materials.

Tin-containing oxide semiconductors are cheaper than most semiconductor materials, but their photofunctional applications are constrained by a wide optical band gap. The aforementioned team of scientists, led by Dr. Kazuhiko Maeda, Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, Tokyo Institute of Technology, developed a perovskite-based semiconductor material that is free of toxic lead and can absorb a wide range of visible light (Figure 1). The team "doped," or intentionally introduced, hydride ions into the tin-containing semiconductor material. In doing so, they successfully reduced the band gap from 4 eV to 2 eV, due to the chemical reduction of the tin component that accompanied the hydride ion doping.

The scientists were also able to pinpoint a crucial tin reduction reaction in the semiconductor material through physicochemical measurements. This reduction leads to the generation of a "tin lone electron pair," whose different electronic states notably contribute to the visible light absorption of the material. They also attribute this desired property to the prior introduction of oxygen defects into the material. Highlighting the importance of the oxygen defects, Dr. Maeda, who is also a corresponding author of the study, explains, "The prior introduction of oxygen defects into BaSnO 3 by Y3+ substitution for Sn4+ is also indispensable to realize a significant reduction of the band gap."

To confirm that the developed semiconductor material is indeed photofunctional, the scientists tested the applicability of the semiconductor material in a photoelectrode. They observed that the developed material gave a clear anodic photoresponse up to the expected 600 nm.

Speaking about the impact of the study, Dr. Katsuro Hayashi, Professor of the Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu University, and the other corresponding author of the study, says, "Overall, the study has enabled a giant leap in the development of a cheaper, non-toxic, narrow optical band gap, tin-containing semiconductor material for practical applications in solar cells, photocatalysis and pigments."

Thanks to the efforts of the researchers, we can expect significant advancements in the development of several more novel lead-free visible-light absorbing materials with myriad applications.

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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 Kyushu University

Kyushu U is one of Japan's leading research-oriented institutes of higher education since its foundation in 1911. Home to around 19,000 students and 8,000 faculty and staff, Kyushu U is making advances in medicine, sustainable energy technologies, materials, and more from its highly accessible location on the southwestern Japanese island of Kyushu in Fukuoka City, a coastal metropolis frequently ranked among the world's most livable cities and historically known as a gateway to Asia. https:/ / www. kyushu-u. ac. jp/ en/

About Dr. Kazuhiko Maeda

Dr. Kazuhiko Maeda is an Associate Professor at Associate Professor at Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology. Dr. Maeda's focus areas of research include heterogeneous photocatalysis, solar energy conversion, photoelectrode, layered compounds, water splitting, hydrogen production, and CO2 reduction. He is a member of esteemed academic institutions like The Chemical Society of Japan, Catalysis Society of Japan, and The Japanese Photochemistry Association. He has over 250 publication as journal and conference papers, and books, among others. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards and prizes, like Highly Cited Researchers 2018-2020, from Clarivate Analytics.
LSE-Lancet Commission critically considers the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and sets out a long-term vision for the NHS which re-lays the foundations for a better, fairer health and care service.

The expert authors make seven recommendations spanning workforce, disease prevention and diagnosis, digital health, and better integration of public health and social care, as well as calling for yearly increases in funding for the NHS, social care, and public health of at least 4% in real terms over the next decade.

Failure to take action risks a continued deterioration in service provision, worsening health outcomes and inequalities, and an NHS that is poorly equipped to respond to future major threats to health.

Post-pandemic, there is a historic opportunity to strengthen the NHS and improve health and care for all, according to a new LSE-Lancet Commission on the future of the NHS. The report is the first comprehensive analysis of the initial phases of the COVID-19 response and the main opportunities and challenges facing the NHS.

The NHS is internationally held up as a leading example of universal health care, but in widespread analyses, the Commission highlights how far the health of the UK population lags behind that of other high-income countries. The authors point to comparatively low funding for the health service, as well as the long-standing impact of poorly resourced social care and public health programmes on the health of the nation, driving inequalities, and leaving the NHS poorly placed to pick up the pieces.

The Commission, formed in 2017, brings together 33 leading research, policy, management, and clinical experts from the four constituent countries of the UK. It is published alongside four health policy papers published in The Lancet and The Lancet Digital Health, and an editorial from The Lancet.

The report warns against any further major reorganisation of the NHS, which would be disruptive and fail to deliver the intended benefits. Instead, it argues for building on the common strengths of the NHS, with a focus on investment, integration of existing services, and disease prevention, to improve health and care and reduce widespread inequalities.

Among the Commission's key recommendations is a call to increase funding via increased taxation, to help support resource management, recruiting and retaining staff, disease prevention, improving early diagnosis, continual improvement in care, and improving integration between health, social care and public health.

"Without concerted action and increased funding, we risk the UK falling further behind other high-income countries in health outcomes and life expectancy, continued deterioration in service provision, worsening inequalities, increased reliance on private funding, and an NHS that is poorly equipped to respond to future major threats to health", warns co-research lead of the Commission Dr Michael Anderson from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK. "The NHS is under our custodianship and we have a responsibility to current and future generations to secure its long-term survival." [1]

"For many decades the NHS was the envy of the world, and it remains one of the most comprehensive and equitable healthcare systems in the world. But for the NHS to be truly the envy of the world again, politicians will need to be honest with the public that this will require increased taxation to meet the funding levels of other comparable high-income countries", says Commission co-chair Professor Elias Mossialos from LSE, UK. "Given the major role of social circumstances in health inequalities, such as housing, employment, education and environment, it is crucial that this extra funding for the NHS and social care doesn't come from cuts to other public services and welfare budgets." [1]

The NHS: a leading example of universal health coverage, let down by the erosion of social care and public health

"The NHS has been a world leader for universal health coverage for over 70 years, providing care based on need, not ability to pay, for over 66 million people from cradle to grave", says co-chair of the Commission Professor Alistair McGuire from LSE, UK. "It was envisioned as one element of a comprehensive welfare system, but decades of costly reorganisations, years of austerity, extreme cuts in funding to social care, and an erosion of public health capacity have widened inequality and left the NHS under-resourced and ill-prepared for the COVID-19 pandemic." [1]

The COVID-19 response has shown many aspects of the health and care system at its best: health and care workers have responded with outstanding skill and dedication; the innovation in understanding treatments, vaccines, and mobilising the vaccination programme; the way hospitals worked together to expand critical care capacity; and the rapid expansion of remote consultations.

But the events of the past year have also exposed chronic weaknesses in the NHS, including poor coordination between sectors (eg, discharging people with undiagnosed COVID-19 from hospital to care homes), chronic underfunding, a fragmented public health service, and ongoing staffing shortfalls that pose a threat to the delivery and quality of care, particularly within primary care and mental health services. In England alone, there are approximately 200,000 staff vacancies combined across NHS and social care, with one in 12 posts in the NHS and one in 14 posts in social care unfilled.

"During the pandemic, the NHS has struggled in the face of poor decision making by government, including delayed implementation of social distancing measures, poor coordination with local authorities and public health teams, a dysfunctional track and trace system, and a lack of consultation with devolved nations", says co-research lead Dr Emma Pitchforth from the University of Exeter, UK. [1]

She continues: "Staff morale is at rock bottom because of real term pay cuts and the relentless workload, and the pandemic will leave a challenging legacy of additional mental health needs, a growing backlog of people waiting for elective care, and extra support needed for those living with the after-effects of COVID-19. The pandemic has also laid bare stark socioeconomic and racial inequalities in the UK, and the catastrophic consequences for health." [1]

Health of the UK lags behind its European peers, with stark health inequalities

Despite seven decades of universal free health care, improvements in life expectancy have slowed markedly in all four UK nations since 2010, and the health of the population is now lagging behind that of many of the EU15 and G7 countries [2] (table 1).

There are also glaring health inequalities in the UK between the richest and poorest and between ethnic groups, particularly for preventable illness. Men in the least deprived areas of England can expect to live 18.6 years longer in good health than those in the most deprived areas, while for women the difference is 17.9 years (table 4).

The UK has done well at improving oral health and some chronic diseases like diabetes and kidney disease, compared with the EU15 and G7 countries. But it has not kept pace for many other health outcomes, such as deaths from cardiovascular disease, cancer survival, and infant mortality (table 1). The UK is also falling behind in terms of resources, with fewer nurses and doctors per person, and a lower number of hospital beds and medical equipment, than most EU15 and G7 countries (table 2).

The authors note that explanations for the UK's worsening relative performance and widening health inequalities include the squeeze on public finances since 2010 that affected many areas of public policy, particularly cuts in social care services, and the relatively high level of income inequality in the UK compared with other G7 and EU15 countries (figure 3). Also important is that treatment continues to be prioritised over prevention, with funding for public health continuing to fall relative to NHS funding.

Recommendations for the NHS - looking to 2030 and beyond

Against this background, the Commission draws on evidence from across the UK and internationally, as well as lessons from the pandemic, to set out seven policy recommendation (panel 4) to secure the NHS' future as a better, fairer health service, and to strengthen its resilience to future health shocks and major threats to health (including an ageing population, the rise of multiple conditions, climate change, and antibiotic resistance). With recommendations to:

1. Commit to annual increases in funding of 4% in real-terms for the NHS, social care, and public health over the next decade, as well as an immediate additional uplift in funding for social care and public health. 2. Develop a 'spending wisely' framework to optimise how resources are managed across health and care services at national, local, and treatment levels. 3. Create a sustainable, skilled and fit-for-purpose health and care workforce, coordinated on a UK-wide basis and tied into NHS and social care expenditure plans. 4. Strengthen prevention of disease and disability with cross-governmental action and earmarked funding, and preparedness to protect against major threats to health. 5. Develop and enhance diagnostics and novel routes to diagnosis to improve treatment outcomes and reduce inequalities. 6. Enable the routine use of data to become a health and care system that learns from every patient encounter, generating evidence to promote innovation and better care for individuals and populations. 7. Improve integration across all sectors and providers of health and care services through, for example, strengthening primary care, removing the requirement to promote competition in England, and linking electronic health care records.

Put 1p on income tax, national insurance, and VAT to secure the future of the NHS and social care

The Commission points out that UK healthcare spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) is lower than the G7 country average (UK GDP spent on healthcare: 10.3%, vs G7 average GDP spent on health 11.4% in 2019). And this is compounded by relatively low levels of welfare spending (UK 20.6% GDP vs EU15 average 24.4%, G7 average 23.3%; table 2).

In a new analysis of health and care spending projections, the Commission recommends that to achieve the other six recommendations and meet future demand, ensure staff pay keeps pace with average earnings, and to invest in capital to protect against major threats to health, that funding for the NHS, social care, and public health should increase by at least 4% every year in real terms over the next 10 years.

The Commission also calls for an independent analysis of health and care workforce and resource needs to ensure transparency in financial planning.

Alongside this long-term funding commitment, the Commission recommends a one-off injection in social care spending (3.2 billion in England in 2018/19 terms) and public health (also 3.2 billion in England in 2018/19 terms). This is needed for social care to improve financial protection for the most vulnerable, including making the means test for social care more generous by raising the point at which people have to pay for their own care from 23,250 to 100,000, and introducing a cap on care costs of 75,000. And for public health to reverse cuts in the public health grant, better allocate resources to ensure fairer funding that better matches local needs, and to secure sustained investment in the public health workforce against future threats.

The Commission estimates that to implement all these funding recommendations will cost 102 billion in total in real-terms, or 3.1% of gross domestic product in 2030, that could be achieved with the help of progressive, broad-based general taxation, that is backed by growing public support [3], and would leave the UK's tax burden slightly above the average of the G7 countries, but still below the EU15 average.

Based on tax revenue before the pandemic, the report proposes raising personal income tax, national insurance, and value-added tax (VAT) contributions by 1 British pence (1p) each by 2025-26, and increasing personal income tax and national insurance to 2p by 2030-31. The changes would be phased in along with rises to several other, smaller taxes, including corporate and wealth taxes (panel 5). The authors note that the projections do not include the costs of responding to the pandemic and depend on economic growth [4].

"This report outlines an ambitious, long-term vision that looks beyond the election cycle", says Professor McGuire. "Our collective ambition should be as much about preventing ill-health and keeping people healthy as it is about treating people when they are sick. This means the NHS, social care, and public health working in partnership with other public services, civil society, and communities to improve the nation's health, and deliver a health system that is prepared for future health shocks. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that health and national economic prosperity cannot be disentangled, and health must be a key area as we rebuild post-COVID." [1]

A Lancet editorial published alongside the report states: "The focus on universal health care must shift from providing the minimum finance required to deliver services, to the equitable provision of health, including public health security, healthy communities, and fully integrated health research. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK's research system has made critical contributions to saving lives, but must be further strengthened and better coordinated with clinical care. A health system envisaged through the traditional view of an overhead delivering certain services--eg, the NHS seen through the dimensions of workforce, products, money, and services--is not enough to deliver health to a population or to protect a population from health threats. There is a real danger that the success of the UK vaccination programme is obscuring the scale of the reforms necessary to protect and strengthen the health of the UK population. Broader concepts of health and wellbeing must be placed at the centre of government policy. Investment in public services that reduce inequality is necessary to maintain and improve population health and protect the UK population from future health threats. Lessons from the UK and NHS show that universal health care is broader than health-care provision alone, and that a healthy population must be considered a prerequisite for health security and preparedness."

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NOTES TO EDITORS

This Commission was funded by the London School of Economics and Political Science Knowledge and Exchange Impact Fund (KEI) which was established using funding from the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). A full list of authors and their institutes is available in the Commission.

[1] Quotes direct from authors and cannot be found in text of Commission.

[2] The EU15 countries are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. The G7 countries are the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, USA, and Japan.

[3] https:/ / www. nuffieldtrust. org. uk/ research/ public-satisfaction-with-the-nhs-and-social-care-in-2019-results-and-trends-from-the-british-social-attitudes-survey

[4] These projections give an indication of the amount of spending that is required for a long-term funding settlement for the NHS, assuming that GDP growth in the long term returns to pre-pandemic projections. It is too early to estimate the additional funds that are required for the NHS to respond to the pandemic, or to address the growing unmet need for health services that has been caused by the pandemic.

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

Quotes from devolved nations:

Scotland: "Health inequalities within Scotland have widened in recent years - with women and men living in the least deprived areas likely to live 17 and 13 years longer in good health, respectively, than those in the most deprived places. There have undoubtedly been some positive developments, including free school meals and work to further integrate health and social care, but we need to do more to tackle the underlying causes that drive health inequalities if Scotland is to fulfil its potential to become a healthier nation", says Commission co-author Professor Moira Whyte from The University of Edinburgh, UK.

Wales: "The NHS in Wales has a massive hill to climb", says Commission co-author Professor Emeritus Marcus Longley from the University of South Wales, UK. "COVID-19 has knocked many non-urgent services for six. The challenge now is to get these services up and running in new ways, with a much greater focus on adding value for patients, and greater efficiency. This crisis has reminded us yet again, that people in disadvantaged communities die earlier, after longer ill health than in more advantaged communities. The pandemic must be a clarion call for action for the whole of society, with the NHS playing its part."

He continues, "As the Commission recommends, Wales must focus on working together to improve health, putting good quality social care on to a sustainable footing, and developing a strategy for our future workforce which actually meets the needs of a changing service. Wales' comparative advantage compared with some of the UK is that we don't have a competition-obsessed and fractured NHS, we have legislated for sustainability in public services and health, and local government and the third sector believe in working together. Wales is big enough to make change happen, but small enough to understand what's needed."

Northern Ireland: "The NHS in Northern Ireland faces many of the same issues as other parts of the UK in respect of unmet needs, insufficient funding, health inequalities and the unrealised potential of prevention and integration. But in some areas our issues are arguably more acute, our waiting times for secondary care, for example, are the worst of any part of the UK", says Commission co-author Professor Ciaran O'Neill from Queen's University of Belfast, UK. "Recommendations in the report around funding, workforce planning, the need to strengthen prevention and improve integration will resonate strongly in Northern Ireland. Unlike other parts of the UK, however, acting on recommendations will require consensus across political parties that are very different in outlook and for whom the common good and self-interest may not always coincide."

IF YOU WISH TO PROVIDE A LINK FOR YOUR READERS, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING, WHICH WILL GO LIVE AT THE TIME THE EMBARGO LIFTS: http://www. thelancet. com/ commissions/ future-NHS

Peer-reviewed / Review and Opinion
The stabbing occurred near East Main Street. Police are asking for the publics help in identifying and locating a male suspect who is between the ages of 30 to 35-years-old, 57 in height, and with black hair long enough to be put in a pony tail.
Training the artificial intelligence models that underpin web search engines, power smart assistants and enable driverless cars, consumes megawatts of energy and generates worrying carbon dioxide emissions. But new ways of training these models are proven to be greener.

Artificial intelligence models are used increasingly widely in today's world. Many carry out natural language processing tasks - such as language translation, predictive text and email spam filters. They are also used to empower smart assistants such as Siri and Alexa to 'talk' to us, and to operate driverless cars.

But to function well these models have to be trained on large sets of data, a process that includes carrying out many mathematical operations for every piece of data they are fed. And the data sets they are being trained on are getting ever larger: one recent natural language processing model was trained on a data set of 40 billion words.

As a result, the energy consumed by the training process is soaring. Most AI models are trained on specialised hardware in large data centres. According to a recent paper in the journal Science, the total amount of energy consumed by data centres made up about 1% of global energy use over the past decade - equalling roughly 18 million US homes. And in 2019, a group of researchers at the University of Massachusetts estimated that training one large AI model used in natural language processing could generate around the same amount of CO2 emissions as five cars would generate over their total lifetime.

Concerned by this, researchers at the University of Cambridge set out to investigate more energy-efficient approaches to training AI models. Working with collaborators at the University of Oxford, University College London, and Avignon Universite, they explored the environmental impact of a different form of training - called federated learning - and discovered that it had a significantly greener impact. Instead of training the models in data centres, federated learning involves training models across a large number of individual machines. The researchers found that this can lead to lower carbon emissions than traditional learning.

Senior Lecturer Dr Nic Lane explains how it works when the training is performed not inside large data centres but over thousands of mobile devices - such as smartphones - where the data is usually collected by the phone users themselves.

"An example of an application currently using federated learning is the next-word prediction in mobile phones," he says. "Each smartphone trains a local model to predict which word the user will type next, based on their previous text messages. Once trained, these local models are then sent to a server. There, they are aggregated into a final model that will then be sent back to all users."

And this method has important privacy benefits as well as environmental benefits, points out Dr Pedro Porto Buarque De Gusmao, a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr Lane.

"Users might not want to share the content of their texts with a third party," he explains. "In federated learning, we can keep data local and use the collective power of millions of mobile devices together to train AI models without users' raw data ever leaving the phone."

"And besides these privacy-related gains," says Dr Lane, "in our recent research, we have shown that federated learning can also have a positive impact in reducing carbon emissions.

"Although smartphones have much less processing power than the hardware accelerators used in data centres, they don't require as much cooling power as the accelerators do. That's the benefit of distributing the training of models across a wide pool of devices."

The researchers recently co-authored a paper on this called 'Can Federated Learning save the planet?' and will be discussing their findings at an international research conference, the Flower Summit 2021, on 11 May.

In their paper, they offer the first-ever systematic study of the carbon footprint of federated learning. They measured the carbon footprint of a federated learning setup by training two models -- one in image classification, the other in speech recognition - using a server and two chipsets popular in the simple devices targeted by federated methods. They recorded the energy consumption during training, and how it might vary depending on where in the world the chipsets and server were located.

They found that while there was a difference between CO2 emission factors among countries, federated learning under many common application settings was reliably 'cleaner' than centralised training.

Training a model to classify images in a large image dataset, they found any federated learning setup in France emitted less CO2 than any centralised setup in both China and the US. And in training the speech recognition model, federated learning was more efficient than centralised training in any country.

Such results are further supported by an expanded set of experiments in a follow-up study ('A first look into the carbon footprint of federated learning') by the same lab that explores an even wider variety of data sets and AI models. And this research also provides the beginnings of necessary formalism and algorithmic foundation of even lower carbon emissions for federated learning in the future.

Based on their research, the researchers have made available a first-of-its-kind 'Federated Learning Carbon Calculator' so that the public and other researchers can estimate how much CO2 is produced by any given pool of devices. It allows users to detail the number and type of devices they are using, which country they are in, which datasets and upload/download speeds they are using and the number of times each device will train on its own data before sending its model for aggregation.

They also offer a similar calculator for estimating the carbon emissions of centralised machine learning.

"The development and usage of AI is playing an increasing role in the tragedy that is climate change," says Dr Lane, "and this problem will only worsen as this technology continues to proliferate through society. We urgently need to address this which is why we are keen to share our findings showing that federated learning methods can produce less CO2 than data centres under important application scenarios.

"But even more importantly, our research also shines a light as to how federated learning should evolve towards being even more broadly environmentally friendly. Decentralized methods like this will be key in the invention of future sustainable forms of AI in the years ahead."

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Helping parents with depression or anxiety could also improve their ability to engage in potentially 'protective' forms of play with their children, which can reduce the risk of behavioural problems, new research suggests.

Helping parents with depression or anxiety could also improve their ability to engage in potentially 'protective' forms of play with their children, which can reduce the risk of behavioural problems, new research suggests.

The finding comes from a granular analysis of 3,600 five-second clips, which researchers took from recordings of 60 mother-toddler pairs playing together. Mothers with minimal anxiety were more likely to play 'pretending' games with their children. Similarly, even when compared with the children of mothers with only moderate levels of anxiety or depression, those whose mothers had no such mental health challenges spent around 10% more time engaging in make-believe play.

The study focused on pretend play because this helps young children to develop essential social and emotional skills. If those skills are less well-developed, they may experience difficulties as they get older: for example, when trying to make friends or settle in at school. This can, in turn, impact further on behavioural development.

Tellingly in this context, the researchers also assessed the children for signs of behavioural problems two years after the first part of the study, and found some evidence that these were less common among children whose mothers engaged in more pretend play when they were toddlers.

Dr Zhen Rao, from the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL), at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: "Parents are usually their child's first play partners, so they fulfil an essential role, through pretend play, in helping children to learn skills like how to communicate, control their emotions, and co-operate with others. The associations we found show that supporting families affected by mental health challenges may also enhance children's access to this important form of play."

Paul Ramchandani, Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at the University of Cambridge, said: "After more than a year of the COVID-19 pandemic and repeated lockdowns, we know that parental anxiety is rising. Now, even more than usual, it is critical that parents who are struggling with depression or anxiety receive appropriate support. As this study indicates, in the long run, it could significantly benefit their children, as well as them."

According to Public Health England, around one in three children live with at least one parent reporting symptoms of emotional distress. Little is known, however, about how this affects parent-child play, and whether a resulting deficit in certain types of play affects the child's development.

For the study, researchers worked with the families of children aged between 24 and 36 months. All of the children involved were selected because routine health assessments had indicated that they were potentially vulnerable to developing behavioural problems.

The parents were given a bag of toys and asked to play with their child 'as they normally would'. Five-minute video recordings were made of each mother-toddler pair, and these were then split into five-second clips. The researchers documented instances of pretend play by both the mothers and children: for example, moments when they pretended to be eating food using a toy picnic set, or created make-believe characters using puppets.

The research also used a series of standard questionnaires, both at the outset and two years later, to measure maternal depression, maternal anxiety, and child behaviour problems. Anxiety was scored on a scale of 0-21 and depression on a scale of 0-27. Behaviour problems were documented using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL).

In general, the researchers found that when mothers engage in more make-believe play, their children do as well. They also found that mothers with higher levels of anxiety do this less, although there was no similar association among mothers with depression.

The results also suggested, however, that children engage in more make-believe play if their mother has lower depression or anxiety. Overall, child pretend play fell by 1% for every unit increase measured in maternal anxiety, and similarly by 1% for every unit increase in maternal depression. Children whose mothers had 'moderate' anxiety (10-14 on the 0-21 scale) therefore typically engaged in imaginative pretend play for around 10% less time than those of mothers with no anxiety issues.

"This means that if there are two mothers who pretend play with the same frequency, but one has higher anxiety or depression level, the child of that parent will tend to engage in less pretend play," Rao said.

The study also found some limited evidence that children whose mothers engaged in more pretend play were less likely to exhibit behavioural problems two years later. The children's CBCL scores at the two-year follow-up fell slightly for each 1% increase documented in the mother's pretend play at 24-36 months. This suggests that pretend play may be a protective factor preventing the development of behavioural problems in children.

Further research is required to explain exactly why maternal depression and anxiety may cause children to engage in less make-believe play, but there are several potential explanations. For example, parents struggling with mental health challenges may be less likely to notice when a child is trying to engage them in a pretend activity, or may simply feel too negative to join in.

While the researchers stress that pretend play is only one mechanism through which maternal mental health may impact on children's outcomes, it may also be relatively easy to address. "Ideally, of course, we want to reduce anxiety and depression in the mothers, but we may also be able to provide advice or tools which support pretend play and reduce the risk of adverse outcomes for their children," Rao said.

The findings are published in the journal BMC Psychology.

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The Center for Health, Work & Environment at the Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) and the Colorado Consortium on Climate Change and Human Health have launched the Climate, Work & Health Initiative (CWHI). CWHI is an interdisciplinary team of expert researchers, scientists, doctors, and public health professionals dedicated to combating the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations.

CWHI's approach to this dedication is four-fold; consisting of education, research, policy, and public health practice. Founding members include Dr. Katherine James, Dr. Lee Newman, Dr. Cecilia Sorensen, Miranda Dally, Dr. Jaime Butler-Dawson, Diana Jaramillo, Lyndsay Krisher, and Francesca Macaluso. The team will rely on its own expertise and also lean on its existing relationships with academic, industry and community partners.

Over the past four years, the Center for Health, Work & Environment has partnered with a multinational agribusiness headquartered in Latin America to better understand the health risks related to climate that agricultural workers face. To reduce the impacts of heat stress and work-related injuries, they have collaborated with industry partners to implement hydration and rest strategies to improve the health, safety, and well-being of workers.

Dr. James, director of CWHI and one of the founding members, is an epidemiologist and engineer from the ColoradoSPH who specializes in environmental and climate health in vulnerable and socially disadvantaged populations. Dr. James brings her wealth of experience leading research projects evaluating how environmental and climate exposures can adversely affect human and population health and how to translate and implement evidence-based programs to improve health especially in rural communities, children, and agriculture workers.

"We are already witnessing the alarming consequences of climate on worker populations who represent both vulnerable and socially disadvantaged groups," says Dr. James. "These consequences are seen in families, households, and communities. As scientists and advocates, our time is now to bridge the gap between climate research and action."

"Forming this group is an important step towards protecting worker health in a changing climate," says Dr. Elizabeth Carlton, co-director of the Colorado Consortium on Climate Change and Human Health. The Consortium draws together experts in public health, medicine, climate science and implementation science across the University of Colorado campuses working to address the health impacts of climate change. "This initiative couldn't come at a more crucial time," adds Consortium co-director Dr. James Crooks. "Outdoor workers are already affected by wildfires and rising temperatures, and these impacts are almost certainly going to increase. They need and deserve protection against further harm."

"Through our work, we discovered that workers are often left out of the conversation about how climate can impact their health," says Dally. "Individual, work, environmental, and societal factors all play a significant role in determining the effect of climate on the health and well-being of workers and their communities. The combination of these factors led us to apply a Total Worker Health approach to this public health crisis, that is, climate change."

"Workers are disproportionally exposed to climate-related health threats," adds Dr. Butler-Dawson who has helped lead the team's field research in Guatemala over the past four years. "The question remains, how can employers and employees mitigate these threats? Through CWHI, we will engage with workplaces, workers, and communities to mitigate the negative health impacts of climate change."

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About the Center for Health, Work and Environment

The Center for Health, Work and Environment (CHWE) at the Colorado School of Public Health is one of six Centers of Excellence for Total Worker Health and houses the Mountain & Plains Education and Research Center, one of 18 centers of its kind supported by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Main offices for the Center are located at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado. The Center team works with faculty, students, and community partners on numerous projects in occupational and environmental health, safety, and well-being.

About the Colorado School of Public Health

The Colorado School of Public Health is the first and only accredited school of public health in the Rocky Mountain Region, attracting top tier faculty and students from across the country, and providing a vital contribution towards ensuring our region's health and well-being. Collaboratively formed in 2008 by the University of Colorado, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Public Health provides training, innovative research and community service to actively address public health issues including chronic disease, access to health care, environmental threats, emerging infectious diseases, and costly injuries. Learn more and follow Colorado SPH's updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Physicists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg (FAU) have for the first time been able to prove a long-predicted but as yet unconfirmed fundamental effect. In Faraday chiral anisotropy, the propagation characteristics of light waves are changed simultaneously by the natural and magnetic-field induced material properties of the medium through which the light travels. The researchers obtained proof that this is the case by conducting experiments using nickel helices at the nanometre scale. Their findings have now been published in the academic journal 'Physical Review Letters'.

Light is transmitted as sine waves consisting of crossed electric and magnetic fields and interacts with matter. This interaction can be influenced, in particular, by external magnetic fields. One of the most well-known examples of this magneto-optical activity is the Faraday effect: if light is directed through a magnetic medium, such as a crystal, the polarisation plane of the light waves tilts at a certain angle. This phenomenon is caused purely due to the magnetic field and becomes more pronounced if the light passes through the medium again in the opposite direction. The rotation effect can only be neutralised if the direction of the magnetic field is changed as well.

The opposite effect is seen in the natural optical activity of chiral mediums without a magnetic field, in which the rotation of the polarisation plane is cancelled out when the light passes through the medium once more in the opposite direction. Chiral means that molecules or figures have a mirror image which cannot be superimposed onto it simply by rotation. Examples are a human's left and right hands or snail shells with spirals running in opposite directions. Sugar molecules are also chiral. The way they interact with light can be used, for example, to determine the concentration of sugar in grapes.

Following in the footsteps of Louis Pasteur

Scientists have been aware of both phenomena - natural and magnetic optical activity - for more than one hundred and fifty years, and for almost the same time, scientists have been sure that a combination of the two must exist. 'Even Louis Pasteur, the famous French scientist, tried to prove a correlation using various different experiments,' explains Vojislav Krsti?, Professor of Applied Physics at FAU. 'Of course, Pasteur didn't have the sensitive instruments for measuring frequency which we have today. But even using this technology, proof has still remained elusive, largely due to the fact that no-one has designed a suitable experiment set-up.'

An international collaboration led by Vojislav Krsti? has now succeeded where Pasteur and many other researchers have failed. They have become the first to confirm 'Faraday chiral anisotropy' in an experiment, providing one of the last missing pieces in fundamental magneto-optical theory. Their success was due to a unique experiment set-up based on nickel helices. The researchers produced spirals spiralling in a clockwise and and in an anticlockwise direction, similar in form to Italian fusilli pasta, at the nanometre scale by vaporizing nickel and bringing atoms back together on a revolving disk. 'The rotation of the disk means that the nanostructures take on a screw shape instead of forming into pillars as is usually the case,' explains Krsti?.

A 'forest' of helices as a chiral medium

For the experiment itself, a 'forest' of magnetic nickel helices was set up on a layer of silver. In one part of the experiment, only anti-clockwise spirals were used, and in the second only clockwise ones. The helices acted as a chiral medium, and the layer of silver reflected the beam of light directed at it. 'The fact that we reflected the light instead of simply directing it through the medium was a deciding factor,' says Vojislav Krsti?.

The idea behind the experiment was that if the light passes through the helices both on the outward and the return journey, and if the direction of the magnetic field is changed with a great degree of precision, then in theory the two fundamental effects should cancel each other out, no matter whether the helices are clockwise or anti-clockwise. If both phenomena influence each other, however, then a net signal should be left over which behaves in the opposite fashion for clockwise and anti-clockwise helices. Krsti?: 'We did indeed measure a net signal just like this, thereby proving the correlation of the chiral and magnetic effect. It was one of those eureka moments every researcher dreams of.'

Astro research in the laboratory and impulses for quantum electronics

With their research, the researchers led by Vojislav Krsti? have not only succeeded in providing experimental proof of a magneto-optics theory which has long been predicted. Their approach also means that researchers will be able to research certain astrophysical phenomena on Earth. It is thought, for example, that Faraday chiral anisotropy takes place in magnetised gas clouds in which certain astroparticles modify the light spectrum radiated out by galactic and intergalactic media. The findings could also give new impulses for further study of quantum technologies for electronic switches, as the described optomagnetic process is also found analogously during electronic excitation in solid bodies.

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The explosion of satire in the Georgian period saw philosophers worry mockery could lead to abuse, research shows.

The "age of politeness" was also the age of ridicule, and this led to a "crisis of civility", according to the new book.

Satire, caricature and comedy thrived in 18th century Britain after censorship was relaxed. This led to moral panic as critics worried it would corrupt public debate. People worried about abuse in a similar way as they do about online rudeness today.

The study shows how philosophers of the time nevertheless defended the use of ridicule to expose arrogance and hypocrisy and hold the powerful to account. Uncivil Mirth, by Dr Ross Carroll from the University of Exeter, examines how leading thinkers of the period tried to enlist ridicule for causes that served the public good, such as religious toleration and the abolition of the slave trade.

Dr Carroll said: "This was not just an era of polite wit. Things were more complicated, and the assumption everyone was civil doesn't fully capture what happened in public life during the Enlightenment. Ridicule was sometimes used in a radical and aggressive way to tackle major social problems and individuals seen as dangerous."

"It was thought a blanket ban on rude speech would only benefit the powerful. At the same time there were worries that an increase of ridicule in public speech could lead to citizens gratuitously humiliating each other and wounding those who deserved at least basic respect."

Dr Carroll examined correspondence between philosophers, their unpublished notebooks and their published texts, including their more satirical works. The aim of the book is to reconstruct the philosophical debate surrounding the uses and limitations of ridicule as an everyday practice of conversation and persuasion, whether in debating clubs, coffee shops, or in interactions between masters and domestic servants.

The debate was begun by Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Third Earl of Shaftesbury. Shaftesbury earned notoriety for maintaining that ridicule could be used anywhere and applied to anything, even to religion. He went so far as to champion it as a better method for disarming fanatics than persecution or legal sanctions. Shaftesbury reckoned that persecution created martrys, while laughing at people showed they posed no threat. In his Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times in 1711 Shaftesbury rehabilitated ridicule from the charge of incivility and demonstrated its general usefulness against the bigoted and proud.

Dr Carroll said: "The Enlightenment wasn't just the era of politeness, but more a period when people repeatedly called for politeness in public debate precisely because it was lacking. Ridicule, on the other hand, was not inherently civil or uncivil, inclusive or exclusionary. There were nuanced differences of style and content."

Shaftesbury thought the social value of ridicule was so great that preserving its free use in debate was among the most critical tasks that philosophy could perform. A wide range of other philosophers followed his example by writing about the power of ridicule to unsettle prejudice, demarcate the boundaries of sociable behaviour, and attack entrenched systems of thought and power. They ranged from the philosophical sceptic David Hume to his Aberdonian critics Thomas Reid and James Beattie, to enthusiastic defenders of the rights of man such as Mary Wollstonecraft and Alexander Geddes. All engaged in intense handwringing over the damage that even well-intentioned ridicule could cause to civility and social peace.

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Study designed at the University of Oregon provided a foundation that drew new information from lidar imagery, machine learning, archaeological and historical data

EUGENE, Ore. -- May 7, 2021 -- Long-running archaeological research, boosted by airborne lidar sensing and machine-learning algorithms, finds that Cambodia's Greater Angkor region was home to 700,000-900,000 people.

The sprawling city, which thrived from the 9th to 15th centuries, has slowly revealed its forest-hidden past to archaeologists, but its total population has been a mystery.

The new estimate, made possible by a study designed at the University of Oregon, is the first for the entire 3,000-square-kilometer mix of urban and rural landscape. The findings published May 7 in the journal Science Advances.

The finding is vital for potentially helping cities under pressure of climate change, said co-author Roland Fletcher of the University of Sydney and director of the Angkor Research Program, a collaboration with Cambodia's Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor.

"We predominantly are living in giant low-density cities around the world that are similar to Angkor, which displayed serious vulnerability to severe climate change," Fletcher said. "We really need to know the mechanics of how Angkor worked and what people were doing to get some idea of how referable those experiences are to the risks that we face in our future."

With the combined data, including that from several decades of research by international and Cambodian researchers, the new study revealed population details of Angkor's ceremonial city center, the metropolis extending outward like modern suburbia and embankments incorporating agricultural areas. Angkor was a low-density city, with its population spread out across a wide area.

An initial population estimate was for 750,000 residents in an area of 1,000-square kilometers around central Angkor, Fletcher said. In this area are stone religious temples, including Angkor Wat that attract tourists.

Beyond the stone temples of central Angkor were homes and locations of supporting structures, all made of organic materials reclaimed by the jungle, said UO archaeologist Alison K. Carter, an expert in fine-grain archaeological research who has conducted fieldwork in Cambodia since 2005.

Carter was co-lead author with Sarah Klassen, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia. The two planned and designed the study while Klassen was a visiting scholar at the UO with support from the Office of International Affairs' Global Oregon Faculty Collaboration Fund. In all, 14 long-active Angkor researchers collaborated.

Klassen brought machine-learning to the project, deploying a multilayered statistical analysis that merged data from historical archives and maps with details obtained of lidar scans of the region in a project led by co-author Damian Evans of the French Institute of Asian Studies, in 2012 and 2015.

Lidar, which is short for light detection and ranging, is done by sending laser pulses groundward from aircraft. It captures details of ground by ignoring ground clutter such as forests. The new data, Klassen said, "really transformed our understanding of the landscape."

Lidar documented and mapped 20,000 features not seen before, adding to a previous database of 5,000 locations, said Klassen, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Leiden.

"When you are on the ground in the main parts of the city center it is quite forested," Carter said. "As you walk around you can tell there is something in the landscape around you, but you cannot see anything clearly. Lidar gave us a beautiful grid of mounds and depressions, which we think were little ponds."

As initial lidar images were being transmitted, researchers at the Angkor field station stayed up into the early morning hours to watch, Fletcher said.

"It was absolutely fabulous," he said. "We had earlier radar data, but the amount of new information was staggering, especially because the lidar images captured the entire region in great detail."

The new data have been organized into different periods of Angkor's growth, particularly in the lifetimes of kings who were most influential to infrastructure changes, said Carter, who heads the UO's Southeast Asian Archeology Lab.

Lidar showed where houses, which had been built on mounds and elevated on posts, had stood. Researchers estimated that five people lived in each household and extrapolated that data to assess the region's total population.

"We looked at the growth of the city of Angkor over time," Carter said. "We found that different parts of the city grew in different ways. The way we think about population growth in cities and suburbs today is probably the same for Angkor."

The study's findings enhance the "comparative understanding of premodern urbanism," said co-author Miriam T. Stark, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

"Studying Angkor's population is important for envisioning the future's urbanism with respect to global climate change," Stark said. "Angkor was a tropical city that persisted through centuries of political and climatic volatility. Tracking its history and tipping point could help urban planners understand some kinds of constraints that face increasing numbers of the world's cities."

Klassen's machine learning contributions initially were published in a 2018 study in PLOS ONE.

"In this new paper," she said, "we introduced statistical learning paradigms and our archaeological case study and dataset. We then explored four classical mathematical approaches to find statistically significant predictors to date temples built in different locations in the region."

That led to a historical model for temples built between the modern-era years of 821-1149 within an absolute average error of 49-66 years.

"This was critical for our study, because it allowed us to see how the metropolitan area developed in comparison to the civic-ceremonial centers," Klassen said. "It also allowed us to estimate populations connected to the temples and see how those population changed over time."

Population information paves the way for better understanding Angkor's economics and resilience, said co-author Christophe Pottier of the French Institute of Asian Studies, who has researched the site for 30 years.

Periods of growth covered in the new study occurred between 770 and 1300.

Future research, Fletcher said, will more deeply examine the expansion of population clusters.

"What was the population of Angkor prior to this sample period? We have to get below all of the current structures with archaeology to predict and model earlier periods," he said.

Klassen and Carter's contributions are crucial to future research, Fletcher said.

Several of the new study's co-authors, including Carter, Evans and Stark, and other collaborators have questioned the conception that Angkor depopulated quickly due to climate pressures in the 15th century.

"We can tell from our archaeological data that that were still people on the landscape, and there is evidence of modifications being made to temples into the 16th century," Carter said. "Our work isn't really designed to answer the timing question for the shift of population away from this area, but it probably happened much slower than long thought."

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Several organizations funded the research, including the Rust Family Foundation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Award, the American Council of Learned Societies-Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies, Australian Research Council and European Research Council.

Links:

Paper in Science Advances: https:/ / advances. sciencemag. org/ content/ 7/ 19/ eabf8441

Conversation essay by Carter and Klassen: https:/ / theconversation. com/ a-metropolis-arose-in-medieval-cambodia-new-research-shows-how-many-people-lived-in-the-angkor-empire-over-time-157573

About Alison Carter: https:/ / anthropology. uoregon. edu/ profile/ acarter4/

Carter's Southeast Asian Archaeology Lab: https:/ / blogs. uoregon. edu/ acarter4/

Department of Anthropology: https:/ / anthropology. uoregon. edu/

Angkor Wat digs yield new clues to its civilization's decline: https:/ / around. uoregon. edu/ content/ angkor-wat-digs-yield-new-clues-its-civilizations-decline
PITTSBURGH, May 7, 2021 - In a paper published today in Nature Communications, an international group of collaborators led by researchers at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh have identified a genetic cause of a rare neurological disorder marked by developmental delay and loss of coordination, or ataxia.

The disorder, scientists found, is caused by mutations in a protein called GEMIN5--one of the key building blocks of a protein complex that controls RNA metabolism in neurons. No mutations in GEMIN5 were previously linked to any genetic disease.

"It's just like building a house," said senior author Udai Pandey, Ph.D., associate professor of pediatrics, human genetics and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. "You take out the most important brick at the base and the whole building falls apart."

GEMIN5 is part of a protein complex that regulates a slew of important cellular processes, including development of specialized outgrowths from nerve cells called dendrites and axons. Interestingly, mutations in another key protein of the complex, named survival motor neuron protein, cause a different devastating disorder--spinal muscular atrophy.

To gather material for the study, Pittsburgh researchers contacted pediatricians, geneticists and neurologists from all over the globe, eventually collecting data from 30 patient families in 12 different countries.

Because isolating live neurons from people isn't possible, researchers had to come up with another way of getting samples for future testing. They collected blood samples from pediatric patients who were referred to neurogenetic clinics with undiagnosed neurological symptoms. Blood samples were then processed to isolate cells that, with careful tinkering in the lab, were reprogrammed into neurons.

After comparing genetic material of reprogrammed neurons from sick children with that of unaffected relatives, scientists linked neurologic manifestations of the disease to 26 mutations in the GEMIN5 gene that cause damage to the structure of the protein.

"Children came into the clinic with non-specific symptoms, such as developmental delay and abnormal gait. Their doctors ran all the possible tests, including assessing a child's metabolic function, to no avail--their conditions had no easy explanation," said Deepa Rajan, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, Pitt School of Medicine, neurologist at UPMC Children's Hospital and a co-first author of the study. "It was not until we did an extensive genome analysis that we found that these patients had mutations in the GEMIN5 gene."

"Many genetic disorders seem individually rare, but collectively they are relatively common," added Rajan, who also is director of the Neurogenetics Clinic at UPMC Children's Hospital. "We now are able to harness next-generation technology to help diagnose previously undiagnosed children, and each new gene discovery is the start of the journey to understanding each of these diseases better."

Additional experiments linked damage to GEMIN5 protein to disease manifestations more definitively. Scientists found that depleting an analog of human neuronal GEMIN5 protein in fruit flies was deadly if it happened in early stages of the fly's life cycle, or drastically delayed its development if such disruption happened later.

"The most exciting part of being a researcher is working on a project that directly helps families," said Pandey. "We are hopeful that because of our study, neurologists will now consider testing for GEMIN5 mutations and that labs will include GEMIN5 in their testing for ataxic disorders. Genetic diseases are challenging to identify and treat, but if we find a cure, it will make a massive difference in someone's life."

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Other authors on the manuscript include Sukhleen Kour, Ph.D., Tyler Fortuna, Ph.D., Eric Anderson, Ph.D., Dhivyaa Rajasundaram, Ph.D., and Caroline Ward, all of Pitt, among 70 total authors.

This work was supported by a University of Pittsburgh Children's Neuroscience Institute research grant.

To read this release online or share it, visit https:/ / www. upmc. com/ media/ news/ 050721-Pandey-GEMIN5 [when embargo lifts].

About UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

Regionally, nationally, and globally, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh is a leader in the treatment of childhood conditions and diseases, a pioneer in the development of new and improved therapies, and a top educator of the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists. With generous community support, UPMC Children's Hospital has fulfilled this mission since its founding in 1890. UPMC Children's is recognized consistently for its clinical, research, educational, and advocacy-related accomplishments, including ranking in the top 10 on the 2020-2021 U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of America's Best Children's Hospitals. UPMC Children's also ranks 15th among children's hospitals and schools of medicine in funding for pediatric research provided by the National Institutes of Health (FY2019).

About the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences

The University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences include the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dental Medicine, Pharmacy, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and the Graduate School of Public Health. The schools serve as the academic partner to the UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center). Together, their combined mission is to train tomorrow's health care specialists and biomedical scientists, engage in groundbreaking research that will advance understanding of the causes and treatments of disease and participate in the delivery of outstanding patient care. Since 1998, Pitt and its affiliated university faculty have ranked among the top 10 educational institutions in grant support from the National Institutes of Health. For additional information about the Schools of the Health Sciences, please visit http://www. health. pitt. edu .

http://www. upmc. com/ media

Contact: Anastasia Gorelova

Mobile: 412-491-9411

E-mail: GorelovaA@upmc.edu

Contact: Andrea Kunicky

Mobile: 412-552-7448

E-mail: KunickyA@upmc.edu
Spurred by unproven assumptions that vaping is safer than smoking cigarettes, a team at West Virginia University is conducting a three-year study on the effects of vaping during pregnancy.

It is estimated that half of all women who smoke prior to becoming pregnant will continue to smoke during and after the pregnancy. The impact of smoking while pregnant can lead to preterm birth, birth defects and an increased chance of sudden infant death syndrome. Because of this, a growing number of women who choose to smoke while pregnant are being encouraged to switch to vaping.

Mark Olfert, WVU associate professor, is the contact principal investigator for this multi-PI study, which involves three other School of Medicine faculty. In addition to Olfert, Paul Chantler, Jonathan Boyd and Duaa Dakhlallah, are all members of the research team. Dr. Eiman Aboaziza, Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical and Translational Science program and one of several students in Olfert's lab, was integral to the initial research examining how vaping during pregnancy affects long-term health outcomes to offspring.

"We know that when someone vapes, their blood vessels react by temporarily constricting - or getting smaller," Olfert said, "which affects children while in the womb because their fetal environment is also altered."

Altering the blood supply in the fetal environment can create a hostile environment for the fetus and result in serious issues during child and adult life. A major finding from a prior work published by Olfert and Chantler in the Journal of Applied Physiology in 2018 showed the vaping produced similar dysfunctional response in blood vessels of male and female animals as did smoking cigarettes. So there is great concern that women who are switching to vaping during pregnancy because they think it is better than smoking are wrong, and that vaping will lead to the same problems and complications for offspring as smoking.

Olfert and his team's current research is building off the prior study to conduct a deeper dive into the reasons and causes that underline the harm, and, importantly, what effect these have on the long-term vascular health in the adolescent and adult life of offspring that experienced fetal exposure to maternal vaping.

The American Heart Association awarded the study a three-year multi-PI Collaboration Science Grant for $750,000.

###
Leaders of china and America share an obsession: the notion that a large enough coalition of Western democracies might have the heft to confront a rising China about its authoritarian, state-capitalist ways, and demand that it follow a new trajectory, one that does less damage to norms and universal values that have governed the rich world since 1945.

China fears a broad, American-led coalition as the one force that might still be able to contain it. Not so long ago its foreign minister, Wang Yi, mocked the Quad, an informal group uniting America, Australia, India and Japan, as so much sea foam. After America hosted a Quad-leaders summit, China has called the group a destabilising scheme to build an Asian nato. The Trump administration expanded the role of the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing pact between America, Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. The group issued a statement in November 2020 about the crushing of political freedoms in Hong Kong. But the Five Eyes should be careful not to be poked and blinded, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman growled. Australia and Canada are being punished with trade sanctions and detention of their citizens to teach them the cost of helping America in disputes with China.

Under President Joe Biden, American enthusiasm for coalition-building has only grown. The secretary of state, Antony Blinken, explained to cbs News recently why America seeks allies to confront Chinas government about repression at home and aggression overseas, as well as its adversarial approach to trade. Were much more effective and stronger when were bringing like-minded and similarly aggrieved countries together to say to Beijing: This cant stand and it wont stand, Mr Blinken said.

In fact, these two rival powers are obsessing about something that is not likely to happen. For one thing, Americas allies have few illusions that any group of outsiders, even one led from Washington, can tell todays China what will and will not stand. As a Western diplomat in Beijing glumly notes, such countries as Britain, France and Germany are close to accepting the inevitability of Chinas rise, and so are out of alignment with America. For another, lots of Western democracies are fractious and mistrustful, especially after four years of Trumpian bridge-burning. European and Asian democracies alike are wary of joining America in anything resembling a cold-war effort to check Chinas aggressionespecially if it jeopardises profitable trade relationships.

Frances president, Emmanuel Macron, said this year that it would be counter-productive for Western powers to join all together against China. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has also spoken out against the building of blocs. In recent telephone and video calls with President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders, there is no record of her raising sweeping sanctions imposed by China on European politicians and researchers, in retaliation for eu sanctions targeting officials accused of brutally repressing Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang. Official read-outs instead record Mrs Merkel talking of co-operation and praising a draft trade pact agreed with China last year, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, which would offer more access to Chinas market for some eu firms, notably German carmakers. Ironically, the agreement may be doomed by the sanctions that Mrs Merkel wants to ignore. Those punished by China include members of the European Parliament, which must approve the pact. The eu trade commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, said on May 4th that efforts to finalise the deal are on hold.

EU unity is further undermined by members with close investment ties to China, such as Greece. One member does not conceal its admiration for Chinese autocracy, charges a European diplomat in Beijing: The eu has its traitor in the ranks: Hungary. Nor is there consensus within the Five Eyes. In recent weeks, New Zealands government declared itself uncomfortable with the intelligence-sharing pacts releasing geopolitical statements. China loves all such signs of disunity, praising European nations for seeking strategic autonomy, a French phrase that means not marching in lockstep with America. Yet in its paranoia about American-led alliances bent on containment, China risks missing a change that is actually happening in the real world.

Even as they concede that the time for trying to change China is over, rich-world democracies are defensively China-proofing their economies and their societies. They are setting up new investment-screening laws, investigating whether foreign powers are meddling in their domestic politics and universities, and writing public-procurement rules to block bidders who raise national-security concerns. The eu is proposing new curbs on state-subsidised firms wanting to compete in European markets. Such policies do not always name China, but it is the target.

Standing together, sort of

Foreign ministers of the g7 countriesAmerica, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japanmet in London on May 3rd-5th. Their closing communique condemns Chinese abuses in Xinjiang, including the existence of a large-scale network of political re-education camps, and reports of forced labour systems and forced sterilisation. The solutions offered are purely defensive, and make no pretence that the g7 can change Chinese policies. The risk of importing goods made with forced labour will have to be tackled through our own available domestic means, the ministers say, by raising awareness and advising businesses.

Such words do not frighten China. Confident in the power offered by its vast market, it hopes that foreign governments will hurry up and realise that resistance to its rise is futile. If resistance means forming blocs to contain China, then Americas allies already agree. But those same democracies are also channelling a growing distrust into defences that will introduce new frictions into relations with China. Friction is a form of resistance, too.

: economist.com
Chinas exports rose more than expected in April, suggesting its trade out-performance could last longer than expected this year, fueled by global fiscal stimulus.

Exports grew 32.3% in dollar terms in April from a year earlier, the customs administration said Friday, exceeding the 24.1% median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Imports climbed 43.1%, a sign of strong domestic demand and soaring commodity prices, resulting in a bigger-than-expected trade surplus of $42.85 billion for the month.

Global appetite for Chinese goods remained strong in the month, thanks to stimulus packages introduced by developed economies thats helped to fuel demand for household goods, furniture and electronic devices. With vaccine rollouts accelerating and more economies opening up, Chinas export growth was widely expected to moderate this year as consumers start to spend more on services. But Aprils data shows that hasnt happened yet.

The export figure clearly reflects a recovering and expanding global economy, said Hao Zhou, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore. Robust imports and exports also mean that Chinas manufacturing industry is still outperforming the services sector to lead the economic rebound. The low base from a year ago also helped to underpin the strong results, but even on a two-year average growth basis which strips out those effects, Aprils export growth was 16.8%, much stronger than pre-pandemic levels, according to analysis by Bloomberg Economics.

The U.S. was the biggest export market last month, accounting for 15.9% of Chinese goods sold abroad. Southeast Asian nations bought 15.6% of exports while the European Union purchased 15.1%.

We expect Chinas export growth will stay strong into the second half of this year, said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd, citing strong growth in U.S. demand and continued coronavirus outbreaks in developing countries such as India causing production to shift to China. Those trends are likely to support Chinas currency, he added.

Exports were also likely boosted because of a resurgence in coronavirus cases in several developing countries, including India and in Southeast Asia, Lu Ting, chief China economist at Nomura Holdings Inc., wrote in a note. That new wave of infections had a two-fold effect: reducing the competitiveness of these countries and forcing them to buy more medical goods like personal protective equipment from China.

Exports to India surged 144% in April from a year earlier with the monthly value hitting a record $7.8 billion.

Liu Peiqian, an economist at Natwest Group Plc, cited increased global demand for microchips, where Chinese companies are a key part of the supply chain, as another reason why exports outperformance will likely remain a key theme in Chinas recovery. In volume terms, imports of industrial metals and energy products softened slightly in April, she added, suggesting that the domestic demand recovery could still be relatively weak.

At the Communist Partys Politburo meeting last week, Chinas top leaders pledged to accelerate the recovery in domestic demand and reiterated there would be no sharp turn on economic policy. But the government is focused on raising consumer spending on goods and services, while taking a cautious stance on property and infrastructure investment, which tends to be more import-intensive.

A strengthening recovery in Chinese consumer spending was indicated by the April services purchasing managers index compiled by Caixin Media and IHS Markit, which rose to 56.3 from 54.3 the previous month, well above the 50 reading that marks an expansion from the previous month. However, data from a recent five-day public holiday in China showed spending below pre-pandemic levels, suggesting China will remain dependent on overseas demand for much of its growth this year.

Other details:

- For a breakdown of commodity imports, click here. While the volume of iron ore imports rose 6.7% in January-April compared with the same period in 2020, the value of shipments surged 82.1%

- Imports were also boosted by the delivery of 24 aircraft in April; on a year-to-date basis, the value of aircraft imports surged 247% from the same period in 2020

- In yuan terms, exports rose 22.2% in April from a year earlier, higher than the 12.5% forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey; imports grew 32.2%, below the 33.6% predicted

John Liu, Lin Zhu, Yujing Liu, Tomoko Sato, Tom Hancock

: bloomberg.com
State troopers were among those who joined in the chase, which ended about 12 miles later when the car got off the highway in New Haven. Police lost sight of the Toyota, which they learned had been stolen from its owner in Hamden, Officer Michael DeVito said.
Foreign exchange rate analysts at Nordea expect a firmer US Dollar tone over the next few months, primarily under the impact of strong US growth which will put renewed upward pressure on bond yields and also lead to the Federal Reserve scaling back bond purchases.

The US is likely to outperform all peers growth-wise this year, which over time usually leads to a stronger USD versus other currencies as a result of the side-effects of a stronger growth pace.

Nordea expects the pro-growth policies will reap capital inflows and support the US dollar, especially with the ECB .

The bank forecasts the Euro to Dollar exchange rate (EUR/USD) to weaken to 1.15 at the end of 2021 with the same level projected for the end of 2022.

Above: Table of currency forecasts from Nordea covering period 2021-2022.
Toronto, ON- Book Publicist Scott Lorenz, President of Westwind Communications and author of Book Title Generator: A Proven System in Naming Your Book, was recently interviewed by JP McAvoy on The Millionaire's Lawyer podcast radio show. McAvoy, an author and lawyer who helps people grow and sell businesses, found Lorenz's range of marketing and PR expertise fascinating. Since book publicity forms the largest portion of Westwind's business, the discussion began with that topic.

After talking about creating a memorable book title, the notion of refreshing a previously released book for the current market was broached. Lorenz talked about republishing a child rearing book, about eight years old, which just needed new sections on current technology to give it new life. While admitting that he represents mainly "new book" clients, he noted that many of those needed to 'freshen up' the title and do a cover redesign prior to unleashing a PR campaign.

The whole first half of the interview was on book publicity and closed with Lorenz telling JP McAvoy this: "Most authors don't have the expertise to promote their own book, unless the book is about marketing and they know something about marketing. But I'll tell you what, I've been in this business for three decades, and this book business is really unique, it is different. I can promote retail, I can promote medical practice, I can promote law firms, and I've done all this stufffood and beverage, hotel, tourismthat's easythe book marketing stuff is really challenging, for a variety of reasons, but it is the most challenging thing I've been involved with as far as marketing goes."

The final fifteen minutes of the interview was spent covering subjects like promoting doctors, medical procedures, law firms and one rather unique segment of his business, "Litigation Support PR." Lorenz related how clients in legal battles are aided when he brings their plight to the attention of the media. "The court of public opinion is in many cases more powerful than the court of law," says Lorenz.

In conclusion Scott Lorenz gave McAvoy and the audience a clever way to look at the PR biz: "My job is to make someone care about whatever it is we're selling for a client."

Listen to the entire interview at https://jpmcavoy.com/scott-lorenz/

About JP McAvoy

Jeffrey (JP) McAvoy, author of The Millionaire's Lawyer: Grow and Sell Your Business For Maximum Profitability, practices corporate and commercial law. He assists his clients with a wide range of transactions including financings and acquisitions, re-organizations, and corporate structuring matters. He acts for clients buying and selling businesses and represents a diverse range of corporations in Canada, the United States, and Eastern Asia.

JP also teaches Corporate Law at Algonquin College and works with financial, insurance, and accounting advisers to provide tax, trust and estate planning advice to entrepreneurial clients and professionals. Prior to commencing private practice, JP was a founding employee of Silicon Valley start-up Zip2, which was sold to Compaq and later merged with Alta Vista. He is a Contributing writer for the New Economy Watch, founding member of the Ottawa Junior Chamber of Commerce, and a Business Legal Consultant with CPLS.PA

Over the last five years, JP has led over sixty-five significant corporate and commercial transactions totaling more than $80 million. Learn more about JP McAvoy at: http://www.TheMillionaires.Lawyer/

About Scott Lorenz

Book publicist Scott Lorenz, is President of Westwind Book Marketing, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it's their first book or their 15th book.

He's handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman's World, & Howard Stern to name a few.



Learn more about Westwind Communications' book marketing approach at https://www.Book-Marketing-Expert.com/ or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Join the 42K+ authors and writers who follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist Want help titling a book? Check out the bestselling and ten-time award-winning Book Title Generator at: www.BookTitleGenerator.net
A massive piece of a Chinese rocket will fall to Earth this weekend, but its too early to know where or when.

Chances are slim that debris from the 10-story-tall, 22-ton first-stage booster of the Long March CZ-5B spacecraft will hit land or even a populated area.

Slim, but not zero.

Anything that makes it through the atmosphere will most likely end up in an ocean, said Chris Combs, who leads the University of Texas at San Antonios aerospace engineering program.

Although when you look at the orbital tracks, they do cut through populated areas around the world, he said. So there are some places where there is a nonzero chance that something ends up there.

On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the potential for damage from the booster is extremely low.

On ExpressNews.com: This is not SpaceX property: Elon Musks company looks to rename South Texas town Starbase

The bigger concern, Combs said, is that this rocket plunging to Earth isnt a mishap but a choice made by Chinese officials  and its the latest example of China disregarding international norms for sending vehicles into space.

This was completely avoidable by making different engineering design choices, the assistant professor said. Weve been through this before, and I imagine we will go through this again.

Last May, pieces of the same type of rocket fell on the Ivory Coast. Jim Bridenstine, NASAs administrator at the time, described the reentry as really dangerous.

China has a history of launching from inland launch sites, where components end up getting dumped on their own people, Combs said. The odds are pretty low that it will land on someone, but its concerning.

He said Chinese space program officials notify citizens with a red box on a map showing where pieces could fall after launches.

You better hope you dont live in the box, he said, citing horrific videos of rocket debris strewn across the Chinese countryside and toxic red clouds of nitrogen tetroxide, an oxidizer used in rocket propellant.

Combs said the Chinese rocket about to fall back to Earth, and the one that rained debris on the Ivory Coast last year, are the largest pieces of space junk to reenter the atmosphere uncontrolled in quite some time.

Most sizable space debris  such as old space stations, satellites or Space Shuttle external fuel tanks  reenters the atmosphere in a controlled manner, using predetermined trajectories, control thrusters or unspent fuel to minimize the risk of it falling in populated areas.

On ExpressNews.com: NASAs Perseverance lands, San Antonio hypersonics lab rises

Smaller chunks of space debris typically burn up.

The Long March CZ-5B launched April 29 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China. It successfully delivered a portion of the countrys Tianhe space station into orbit.

Most first-stage rocket boosters dont make it into orbit, and engineers have options for safely returning them to Earth. Most fall into the ocean downrange from their launch sites. Some, such as SpaceXs Falcon 9, guide themselves to safe landing areas and are reusable.

Combs said the Chinese booster reaching into orbit with no recovery plan was troubling and a reckless design choice.

China knowingly designed this system so that a first-stage would end up in orbit without really being too concerned about what happened after the fact, he said.

Besides a marginal cost savings or keeping the space vehicles design as simple as possible, Combs sees no good reason for engineering the rocket this way.

Much like the cone of uncertainty that forecasters use for hurricanes, experts try to predict the expected debris path as the rocket gets closer to the atmosphere. But the pieces are flying at nearly 5 miles per second, and there are many variables.

On ExpressNews.com: Spacecraft with San Antonio roots gets life extended

Its highly likely we wont know for sure the rocket stage has reentered until hours after the fact, Combs said. For the May 2020 rocket, experts predicted reentry over the Atlantic, and it was almost 24 hours before reports came in of debris on the Ivory Coast.

U.S. Space Command is tracking the rocket body, but it cant pinpoint the exact entry point until within hours of its reentry, which is expected around May 8.

The 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., tracks more than 27,000 man-made objects in space, most of which are in low-earth orbit, which is an altitude of 1,200 miles or less.

One company tracking the booster, the Aerospace Corp., currently predicts it will reenter the atmosphere around 11 p.m. Central time tonight over the Indian Ocean. But Combs cautions against reading too much into that. Debris could fall anywhere along the orbital track.

Its important that the international community hold China to account, because while the odds are low that somebody gets hurt, its just really reckless behavior thats avoidable, he said. The rest of the world is not doing this for a reason, and thats been the case going back 30 years, probably.

Brandon Lingle writes for the Express-News through Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. ReportforAmerica.org. brandon.lingle@express-news.net
Courtesy of Weston Urban

City Council approved part of a $7.6 million incentive package Thursday that local developer Weston Urban is set to receive for building downtowns first residential high-rise.

The firm plans to start construction this month on the $107 million, 32-story tower at 305 Soledad St., which is currently a parking lot, according to city staff.
San Antonio-based global asset management firm Victory Capital Group Inc. this week posted record quarterly earnings on an increase in assets under management and reduced borrowing costs.

Victory generated net income of $65.2 million, or 88 cents a share, on $212.9 million in revenue in the three months ended March 31. Thats up 14 percent from earnings of $57.2 million, or 77 cents a share, on $204.4 million in revenue for the same period last year.

In Friday morning trading, Victorys shares climbed $1.60 to $29.85  topping their all-time closing high of $29.04 on April 9.

Victory ended the first quarter with a record $154.3 billion in assets under management, an increase of 4.8 percent from $147.2 billion at the end of last year and up almost 25 percent from $123.8 billion on March 31, 2019.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio insurer USAA prospers during pandemic as net worth soars $5B

It attributed the first-quarter increase to $7.7 billion in market gains and $547 million in assets from its March 1 acquisition of THB Asset Management

Net asset flows continued their improving trajectory that began in the middle of last year, Victory Chairman and CEO David Brown said Friday on a conference call with analysts.

The pace of net long-term client cash outflows has been steadily shrinking since the second quarter of last year, when they were almost $3.5 billion. They were down to $983 million in the latest quarter. Net flows were positive in March and the momentum has continued in the current quarter, Brown said.

The vast majority of Victorys assets under management continued to outperform benchmarks and achieved very competitive rankings relative to their peer groups, he said.

The company deployed most of its excess cash flow to reducing debt by $50 million in the first quarter, which shrank financing costs and boosted the bottom line. Debt has been reduced by another $27 million this quarter. Of a $1.1 billion term loan it obtained in 2019, it has paid back $389 million.

Victory acquired USAAs asset management business in a 2019 deal valued at almost $950 million, which includes contingent payments based on revenue. The transaction included more than 40 mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and a college savings plan.

SA Inc.: Get the best of business news sent directly to your inbox

A referral agreement with USAA has resulted in 125,000 new account registrations since the acquisition closed nearly two years ago. Many of those accounts have automatic-investment plans associated with them, which Brown said are beginning to bring in meaningful asset flows.

The company has increased the distribution channels for many of its investment products. For example, Fidelity Investments and Edward Jones have added multiple USAA funds to certain channels, Brown said.

We see great opportunity for the USAA investment franchise as we are bringing together excellent investment performance with expanded distribution, he said.

Victory remains on the hunt for more acquisitions.

We are in various stages of our evaluation process, with a number of potential opportunities  some getting to the very final stages, Brown said. The environment for us is better than any time that I can remember.

Michael Carrier, a research analyst with BofA Global Research, recently upgraded Victorys shares to a Buy from Underperform.

Over the past year, flows and organic growth have been impacted from recent transactions, but we have seen signs of improvement, Carrier said in an April 9 research note. Given the backdrop of an improving level of outflows, well controlled expense and active capital management, as well as an attractive valuation, we are more favorable on the outlook.

On Friday, Carrier raised his price target on Victorys shares from $32 to $35.

pdanner@express-news.net
Oji Martin, co-founder of Fix SAPD, could barely contain herself. She grinned. On the wall-sized screen in a corner of KSATs newsroom, her face beamed.

It wasnt quite 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, May 1. The early balloting results showed that 49 percent of voters supported Proposition B, which would strip the San Antonio police union of its collective bargaining rights.

So Martins side was losing. Yet San Antonio voters had shown up in force and that in itself was a victory, she told KSAT.

It wasnt empty campaign talk, something you tell supporters to prepare them for a long night, to keep them energized and hopeful. Prop B touched an exposed nerve in the city. With Mayor Ron Nirenbergs re-election all but certain and few truly hot City Council races, Prop B drove the biggest turnout of voters for a May election in years.

Appearing on the same wall-sized screen within minutes of Martin, Danny Diaz, president of the San Antonio Police Officers Association, was somber and uncertain. He sat alone in a dimly lit office, a sharp contrast to the party atmosphere at the Friendly Spot Ice House on South Alamo Street where Martin was anchored.

Just a few months after replacing political street fighter Mike Helle as union head, Diaz told viewers, I was playing catch-up from the get-go.

His union was winning at that moment.

Unions soft power under siege

And as we know, the lead held throughout the night and Prop B failed.

But what a lousy victory for the union.

The heart of the unions campaign was the lie that Prop B would defund the police. What it actually would have done, of course, was take away law enforcement officers ability to haggle over pay, benefits and disciplinary procedures for bad cops.

Like a lot of other police unions, SAPOA historically has excelled at smudging the fact that its an arm of organized labor, with a laser focus on its members economic interests. It wants San Antonians to think of it simply as the citys police force, the ones who keep us safe. If you accept that, its a short step to the conclusion

that any measure that cuts against its members interests is an attack on law enforcement.

The unions success in cultivating that image is one of the main reasons its had such a firm grip on San Antonio mayors and City Council members over the years. Thats its soft power. Its hard power is the threat that itll run challengers against uncooperative incumbents and mobilize its members and troves of voter data on their behalf.

Former City Manager Sheryl Sculley offered a glimpse of how it works in her memoir Greedy Bastards: One Citys Texas-size Struggle To Avoid a Financial Crisis.

Well talk about it later

Sculley was city manager from 2005 to 2019. Early on, she and her lieutenants concluded that cops and firefighters compensation packages and side benefits eventually would crowd out spending on basic services such as libraries, parks, street repairs, etc. (Important to note: The obstacles to firing law-breaking police officers were nearly an afterthought at the time.)

Shortly after Julian Castros 2009 election as mayor, Sculley saw an opening. She asked him to consider changing the citys compensation model for public safety employees. The fire and police unions labor contracts were up for renegotiation that year.

From her book:

Are you asking me to take on the union that just supported me during my election? Julian replied.

Yes, I confirmed. If the timing isnt right now, please give me a chance to make the business case to you for the next contract.

Julian agreed. Let me take care of some other things first, and well talk about it later.

Castro eventually convened a task force to study police and fire compensation. Little came of it during his tenure.

Twelve years later  and with a failed run for the Democratic presidential nomination behind him  Castro embraced Prop B and went door-knocking in support of it.

How could this happen?

Billy Calzada, Staff / Staff Photographer

For many politicians, its easy to side with the police union when the issue is officers pay and benefits, and not just because of SAPOAs political heavy-handedness. In general, voters dont think the people responsible for maintaining public safety should be nickel-and-dimed. Thats why Sculley enjoyed much more support among San Antonios chambers of commerce for a harder-edge approach to contract negotiations than she ever did on City Council.

Bemoaning the threat posed by rich police and fire contracts to the citys sacred triple-A bond rating turned out to be a lame rallying cry.

The killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis a year ago wrecked that paradigm. It electrified people and drew them to the streets.

In an NPR interview last week, Oji Martin  a 34-year-old Northwest Side resident and owner of Backstory Backdrops, a creative design firm for parties and other events  talked about her own political awakening a year ago.

Like so many other Americans, sitting in my home, I was just watching the television screen wondering how could this happen and what can we do about it? she said. And it began with the kitchen table conversation with my brother that led to us doing more investigation on a Washington Post report that San Antonio was No. 1 in the nation for rehiring fired officers.

She and other organizers of Fix SAPD want the city to be able to fire bad officers and keep them fired. Thats not justice, but its approaching justice.

Damaged despite victory

The surprisingly close fight over Prop B showed that nearly half the voters who showed up for the May 1 election were willing to rip out the unions heart  its collective bargaining rights  to secure that reform. Few of them were thinking about the prosaic issues of police compensation and benefits.

Despite its win, SAPOA comes out of this election damaged, its political standing in question.

Early election night, Danny Diaz must have known that in his bones. That might explain why he was so downbeat on the cusp of victory.

greg.jefferson@express-news.net
Google Maps

If you are over watching new movie releases at home, there will soon be more options in San Antonio to help you ditch the couch.

Regal said Thursday that it is opening five of its movie theaters in San Antonio on Friday. The theater chain shut down in March last year in response to the pandemic and is hoping to lure customers back this weekend with big hits like "Mortal Kombat" and "Godzilla vs. Kong."
Larry W. Smith/Getty Images

A San Antonio man was arrested after Google notified police that he allegedly uploaded child pornography to his account, according to an affidavit.

Joe Anthony Salinas, 30, was charged with indecency with a child, aggravated sexual assault of a child and promotion of child pornography.
DEL RIO  Struggling to escape the Rio Grandes grasping current, Ernesto Parra collapsed onto the refuse-choked Texas shore.

I was very afraid, especially for the little ones, Parra, 55, said moments after he waded across the river from Mexico with his wife, Mariana, their 11-year-old son and two dozen other migrants.

Parra owned a small business in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo. He and his family are part of a wave of Venezuelans fleeing their shattered country.

There are things that have terrified us on this journey, he said as his wife cried inconsolably. But we couldnt remain at home any longer.

Across the entire border with Mexico, the U.S. has seen an upwelling of migrants this year. But in few places has the traffic increased as sharply as it has along the 60-mile stretch from Del Rio to Eagle Pass.

From October through March, agents in the Border Patrols Del Rio sector had 68,570 encounters with migrants  more than four times as many as in the same period a year earlier.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

The Rio Grande Valley in far South Texas has long been the favorite corridor for undocumented border crossers. But smugglers and word of mouth are drawing many farther north, putting great stress on rural areas of Southwest Texas unaccustomed to the crush.

This is the worst weve seen it as far as the migrants. Its been terrible, said Joe Frank Martinez, 64, the Democratic sheriff of Val Verde County, whose seat is Del Rio. The policymakers came in and changed the policy, but they didnt have a plan to put the policy in place.

Echoing officials in neighboring Kinney County, who last month declared an emergency, Martinez called the influx a crisis that has overwhelmed local, state and federal efforts to contain it.

Its causing a lot of hardship to our community, to local resources, to our federal partners, Martinez said. This is going to continue until some policy is put in place that prohibits this activity and allows these immigrants a path for citizenship.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

A world on the move

Nearly destitute Mexicans and Central Americans used to dominate the cross-border traffic along this stretch. But in recent weeks, some 60 percent of the people passing through a migrant assistance center in Del Rio have been Venezuelans. The rest were from Haiti, West Africa and Uzbekistan.

A whole world seemingly on the move, squeezing through tiny, isolated Del Rio.

The influx of Venezuelans  about 100 every day  underscores the ubiquity of mobile communications as well as inconsistent border enforcement and confusion about the Biden administrations immigration policies, Martinez and others say.

Across the entire border, the Border Patrol had more than 550,000 encounters with migrants from October through March, nearly three times as many as a year earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The number of single adults entering the country  most of them men looking for work in an expanding U.S. economy  has spiked. Migrant families and unaccompanied children also continue to pour in, encouraged by word that some who preceded them were granted at least temporary permission to enter.

The border is going to stay open to those who really want to cross, said Alexis Araujo, 51, a Honduran construction worker who was preparing to make a second attempt to cross the Rio Grande from the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras, which sits opposite Eagle Pass.

I am here by the grace of God, and he is not going to fail me now.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

Treacherous crossing

Central Americans journey to the border can take weeks or even months of walking, hopping trains and riding buses. Haitians and Africans have traveled in the same fashion from South America.

Many of the better-financed Venezuelans arriving in Del Rio fly into Mexico City or Cancun with visas, catch flights to the northern city of Monterrey and take buses to the border.

Then theyre led to the barren Mexican riverbank by smugglers in the pre-dawn darkness. The water is knee-deep near an island in the middle of the river. But it deepens and the current accelerates near the Texas side, an area of pastures and quarries a few miles west of the center of Del Rio.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

A San Antonio Express-News reporter and photographer watched as the Parra family and other migrants made the crossing at this spot on the last day in April.

Younger children suddenly found themselves chest deep in dark water. Adults struggled to hold infants and packs of dry clothes aloft, above the reach of the water. Grunts of exertion turned to panicked cries.

Once ashore, adults soothed upset children and one another. Some wept from jangled nerves, others from pure relief. Many changed into dry clothing. Discarded items choked an empty lot and the patio of a neighboring home.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

Rather than try to evade detention, the Venezuelans turn themselves in. The U.S. agents keep busy processing rather than pursuing them. Politeness prevails, even kindness. Agents offer a hand to those struggling to climb out of the river  and coats to those shivering from the cold.

The Biden administration in March granted temporary protected status to Venezuelans already in the U.S. Those who apply for the status and are approved are protected from deportation for 18 months. They can apply for work permits and authorization to travel.

In addition, there has been a noticeable tendency since early April to allow Venezuelan migrant families and even individuals to apply for political asylum and to be released to await hearings, said John de la Vega, a South Florida immigration lawyer with Venezuelan clients.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

These past three weeks, weve seen them be more reasonable at the border, De la Vega said. The policy is inconsistent  but more lenient.

Many, if not most, of the Venezuelans intend to apply for asylum, said De La Vega and migrants relatives. The vast majority of such petitions are rejected.

Many of the families who crossed with Parras appear to have been released from custody within days. Adults traveling without children were still being detained, according to their relatives.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

In a statement, Customs and Border Protection officials said migrants are released pending court appearances because of crowding in detention facilities and the need to guard against the spread of the coronavirus.

As the administration reviews the current immigration process, balancing it against the ongoing pandemic, we will continue to use all current authorities to avoid keeping individuals in a congregate setting for any length of time, the statement said.

Something has to be done

Twenty-four hours before Parra and his group of Venezuelans scrambled into Texas, Sheriff Martinez stood at the same spot along the river and considered the impact of the immigration surge on his isolated county of 40,000 people.

Val Verde was one of a handful of majority Hispanic counties on the Texas border that voted for Donald Trump in November, in part because of concerns over immigration.

With graying hair, a burly build and a starched white shirt, Martinez fits the classic profile of a Texas sheriff. Raised in Del Rio, hes been a lawman for most of his life, serving as elected sheriff here for 13 years after finishing a 25-year career as a Texas state trooper.

A day earlier, Martinez had attended a meeting in Uvalde where ranchers and others demanded that the government do more to stop the migrants. He said he understands the frustration.

In the last administration, the rhetoric was negative, the sheriff said. A lot of people are still tied to that.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

In mid-March, Martinezs deputies responded to a gruesome crash that occurred when a smugglers pickup, fleeing state troopers, rammed another vehicle head-on. Eight migrants were killed. A local man and his young daughter traveling in the other vehicle were badly injured.

Sharply critical of Bidens immigration moves, Martinez is no easier on Trump and his predecessors.

Every administration over the past several decades has talked about it and given it lip service and not done anything about it, Martinez said as he scanned the river and the far shore with binoculars. Something has to be done rather than just talking.

Our goal  my goal  is to not have them wandering through our streets, the sheriff said.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

Healing the broken-hearted

In two small municipal buildings in Del Rio, volunteers offer assistance to migrant families who have been released to await asylum hearings.

In one room, women seated at computers help arrange plane and bus tickets, paid for by the migrants or their sponsors. In an adjoining room, volunteers pass out water, answer questions and keep an eye on toddlers and preschool children playing with donated toys.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

The recent arrivals from Venezuela and elsewhere are better off than previous waves of Central American migrants. Most have the money  their own or provided by relatives and friends  to move on from here, said Tiffany Burrow, director of operations at the Val Verde Humanitarian Border Coalition.

We are like a travel hub for these people, Burrow said. They have to figure out how they are going to survive long term in this country.

Many of the Venezuelans, Haitians and Cubans make a beeline to Miami. But others head for Utah, Nevada, Georgia or Oklahoma  anywhere friends or family await.

Jessica Phelps /San Antonio Express-News

This is not just about South Texas. This is much bigger than that, Burrow said of the migrant crush. It really needs to be looked at. Because its not sustainable the way it is. I dont know what the answer is.

The volunteers ethos could be summed up by the psalm someone tacked to a wall in the chaotic receiving hall.

He heals the broken-hearted, it says, and binds up their wounds.
When speaking to Albert, I did not see any emotion on his face regarding his wifes condition when he asked if she was OK, Officer Nicole Vartuli said. Albert uttered that they go to Burger King every morning for breakfast and he loved it. When asked if they went today [Thursday], Albert stated no. When I asked why not, he stated because this happened.
Administrators at San Antonios colleges and universities say they have no plans to require students and employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus this fall.

More than 100 higher education institutions across the country plan to impose such a mandate, but university officials here say they dont think it will be needed, given Bexar Countys relatively high vaccination rates.

And even if they wanted to, they said, an April executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott wont let them.

Our faculty, staff and students respond pretty well to doing whats in the public good, whats good for the community, so I'm not sure that we think that it would have been productive to require it, said Diane Melby, president of Our Lady of the Lake University. We weren't seeing it as something that we needed to take a strong stand on.

San Antonios universities have worked to make vaccination opportunities easily available, helping students and employees with appointments or hosting their own clinics. The more people are vaccinated, the less likely COVID-19 outbreaks on campus become, officials said.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

We hope that by describing the benefits of vaccination to each persons personal health and to the conditions of our community, that that would be enough to convince students to do whats best for Trinity and for themselves, said Tess Coody-Anders, Trinity Universitys vice president for strategic communication and marketing.

Administrators say they have confidence that enough students and employees will get vaccinated on their own. By late this week, more than 60 percent of Bexar County residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine and about 43 percent are fully vaccinated. Those figures are higher than state and national averages.

The current immunization rates, coupled with continuous guidance and input from local, state and federal health officials, add to this confidence, said Joe Izbrand, associate vice president for strategic communications and external affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

We believe the safety precautions we are planning for the Fall semester are appropriate to ensure the health and well-being of our community, Izbrand said in a written statement. This includes masking, social distancing, ongoing cleaning and disinfection, and the availability of hybrid and online instruction.

University leaders also are trying to convince the holdouts. Overall demand for the vaccines has slowed due to worries about the speed with which they were developed and authorized, the possibility of side effects and objections for religious or medical reasons.

We know that individuals everywhere, including in our own community, will have hesitation to the vaccine, said Glenn James, vice provost at the University of the Incarnate Word. So we are going to strongly recommend it, because the data shows that it helps prevent (COVID-19).

At the same time, we are going to be very loving and supportive of folks who decline.

One consideration among university officials has been whether requiring vaccines makes sense when less invasive safety protocols like mask wearing and social distancing have proven effective at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

At the moment it doesnt, James said. And we have that confidence because those other mitigations work  In the ethical decision making, its worth that tradeoff.

In early April, Abbott signed an executive order prohibiting public and private entities receiving state funds from requiring vaccines as a condition for providing services or access to facilities. Republican state officials cast it as a way to protect Texans private health information and individual rights.

Several area university officials said the executive order effectively bars them from requiring vaccinations but that it made little difference on their decision-making.

We were already leaning in the direction of just encouraging, said Tom Mengler, president of St. Marys University.

Kathryn Funk-Baxter, vice president of business affairs at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, added, Were a state agency, so were going to follow the mandate in the executive order and we dont have a problem with that.

Mengler said that even with a vaccine requirement, there would have to be exceptions, which could serve as loopholes and render the policy ineffective. He pointed to the vaccine mandate that St. Edwards University in Austin is planning for the fall, which allows exemptions for medical and religious reasons and for anyone concerned about vaccines emergency authorization status.

I think you can drive a truck through that exception, Mengler said.

Earlier this year, St. Marys surveyed faculty and staff and found that among the more than 60 percent who responded, 97.5 percent said they were fully vaccinated or were planning to be vaccinated.

At Trinity, where more than 60 percent of employees are already fully vaccinated, officials hope that the majority of those who will be living, working and studying on campus will get their shots by the end of summer. Plans for a fall reopening are tied to vaccination rates and a continuous evaluation of the virus in the community.

Trinitys goal of returning to full in-person learning, full occupancy at residence halls, and in-person group activities is contingent on having at least 71 percent of the campus population fully vaccinated. Masks likely will be required indoors, but other protocols such as mandatory testing would be eased.

In their efforts to get the shots in more peoples arms, some universities are offering incentives to students  from gift card giveaways to exemption from certain coronavirus testing or quarantining policies.

We are encouraging vaccines in our communications with people, trying to really help people understand that they're the safest course of action for themselves and for their family members, Melby said.

Trinity has also recruited older students and student leaders to encourage their peers to get vaccinated and remind them of the benefits.

With vaccination rates climbing in the community and among their students and employees, university leaders are optimistic.

I think this will allow us to proceed strongly with community support, to have in-person instruction, gatherings inside and outside on our St. Marys campus, Mengler said. All of the things that everyone wants to see come back to their institutions, well be able to do.

andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon

danya.perez@express-news.net | Twitter: @DanyaPH
A second narcotics bust in two days led to the arrest of three people Thursday on the North Side. One of those taken into custody had been arrested on similar charges two weeks ago.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said deputies saw a woman leave a home they had under surveillance Thursday morning. Deputies pulled the woman over and found 5 kilos of black tar heroin and 1.5 kilos methamphetamine in the vehicle.

They raided the home in the 100 block of Trudell Drive after a second woman walked outside the house, the sheriff said.

Deputies found 7 kilos of heroin inside the home, said Salazar, who estimated that the drugs cost more than $700,000.

A third person also was found inside the house.

Deputies said all three people were arrested and are facing a charge of possession with intent to deliver. None of the three was identified.

That same home was searched about two weeks ago, Salazar said. During that search, deputies found a couple hundred grams of black tar heroin and methamphetamine, as well as $9,000 in cash.

We just arrested these people two or three weeks ago with a federal amount of dope then, and here they are back at it, Salazar said. We caught them with even more this time. It just goes to show these people have no signs of slowing up, but federal charges have a funny way of making people do that.

One of the three people arrested Thursday also was arrested during that search. Details as to how that person had been released from jail were not immediately available.

The people arrested have ties to organized crime, Salazar said, but he did not offer more information, such as gang affiliation.

The sheriff said deputies had received information that there was traffic going to and from the home in advance of Thursdays search.

Salazar said people may call the sheriffs office with tips regarding potential drug activity or organized crime at 210-335-4264. People may remain anonymous or become a paid informant.

The case was unrelated to Wednesdays raid on the Southeast Side, the sheriff said. In that case, deputies arrested six people on federal drug charges in connection with the raid at a home in the 100 block of Harcourt Avenue.
This weeks slowdown of coronavirus transmission in Bexar County continued to improve as local officials on Thursday reported fewer than 200 new cases for the third day in a row.

Thursdays 189 new cases brought the seven-day rolling average down to 205 per day from 227 on Wednesday. That average  considered a more reliable indicator of local transmission trends than daily case counts  had remained relatively stable since mid-March. It peaked at 2,260 in January, when the pandemic was at its worst here.

The number of people receiving treatment for COVID-19 in area hospitals has also started to level off in the first week of May after having increased by about 50 percent during April.

On ExpressNews.com: State of the pandemic in San Antonio, in Texas and across the U.S.

Were heading in the right direction, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said at the city-county coronavirus briefing. Lets keep it up.

There were 219 patients with COVID-19 in local hospitals on Thursday, two more than on Wednesday but an improvement from the 270 patients less than two weeks ago. There were 32 new hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

Of all the COVID-19 patients hospitalized, 71 of them were in the intensive care unit Thursday  three more than on Wednesday  and 41 patients needed a ventilator to breathe, one more than on Wednesday.

In January, when hospitalizations for COVID-19 were at their highest in Bexar County, there were more than 1,100 such patients in hospitals each day, and hundreds of them required intensive care.

Officials on Thursday reported four new deaths from the past two weeks. The victims were a Hispanic woman and a Hispanic man in their 50s, a white man in his 60s and a Hispanic woman in her 70s. All four died at local hospitals.

On ExpressNews.com: A guide to getting vaccinated in San Antonio

Since the pandemic arrived in the region more than a year ago, 219,008 San Antonians have tested positive for the coronavirus and 3,379 have died of COVID-19.

While hospitalization numbers and deaths this spring have been markedly better than they were last winter and summer, city and county officials have warned against complacency and have continued to urge residents to get vaccinated as the supply of available doses has increased.

We want to encourage everybody to continue to push to get their friends, themselves and their neighbors vaccinated, County Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said.

The vaccines are considered the best weapon against serious illness, hospitalization and death and have become easier to get with each passing week. Many of the local vaccination centers and pharmacies offering it now allow people to get their shot on a walk-in basis  no appointment necessary.

It is extremely convenient right now to get a vaccine, Nirenberg said. We are finally putting an end to this pandemic, but were not quite there  were almost there.

To date, more than 928,300 Bexar County residents have gotten their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine  or 62 percent of the eligible population. An additional 647,489 residents, or 43 percent of those eligible, are fully vaccinated, officials said.

The San Antonio Express-News offers detailed information  updated daily  about vaccination locations, vaccine supplies and how to make appointments in the print edition and online.

andy.picon@hearst.com | Twitter: @andpicon
Rachel Louise Snyder still has trouble sleeping, more than two years after she released an immersive, thought-provoking book on the origins of domestic violence and how to combat it.

Snyder said she was so affected by stories from the women and families she interviewed that at one point in the writing process, she broke down crying.

I was walking my dog, and I just fell over, Snyder recalled Friday during a virtual luncheon for the local Battered Women and Childrens Shelter. I started crying and could not stop. I cried for the next 10 days.

Snyder, an award-winning investigative journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine and the Washington Post, was the headline speaker Friday for a luncheon to benefit Family Violence Prevention Services.

The nonprofit, which was founded over 40 year ago, owns and operates the local shelter, provides legal services for domestic violence victims and runs a court-approved intervention program for abusers.

The one-hour event comes nearly two years after City Council members Shirley Gonzales and Manny Pelaez  whose mother runs Family Violence Prevention Services  suggested increasing funding and developing a comprehensive plan to address family violence fatalities in San Antonio.

The year prior, in 2018, at least 32 people died because of domestic violence in Bexar County, many of them women slain by their intimate partners, such as husbands or boyfriends, according to data collected by the San Antonio Express-News.

At one point, Bexar County had the highest rate of intimate-partner deaths in Texas, according to the Texas Council on Family Violence.

Statistics on fatalities differ, depending on the source, because of various ways deaths are tracked and defined.

In 2019, the city unveiled a five-year plan later that identified ways to improve services across the whole system.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio unveils five-year domestic violence plan

Judge Peter Sakai of the 225th District Court also established the Collaborative Commission on Domestic Violence, which brought together judges, prosecutors, policymakers and leaders in the health care, law enforcement and nonprofit fields to address the alarming spike in deaths.

While the collaborative commission has unveiled a number of initiatives, the problem continues to get worse. In 2020, at least 38 people died from domestic violence in Bexar County, according to Express-News data.

The uptick in family violence killings in 2020 was mirrored in cities across the U.S., though experts caution that its too soon to rush to judgment.

One study published by the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think-tank based in Washington, D.C., found that family violence incidents in the U.S. increased 8 percent following the issuance of stay-at-home orders. The study reviewed a wide range of data in 12 major U.S. cities such as 911 calls, arrests and hospital admissions.

Other studies have found no considerable uptick in domestic violence cases during 2020.

Snyder, in a conversation with Marta Prada Pelaez, the president and CEO of Family Violence Prevention Services, said it will take a long time to fully understand what happened in 2020.

On ExpressNews.com: Family violence calls increase 18 percent in San Antonio as coronavirus stay-at-home orders issued

She said she worries that teachers working remotely are unable to easily determine if a child has been abused. Teachers, social workers and other professionals are all mandated by the state to report child abuse.

I think were going to be talking about it for the next decade, Snyder said. I interviewed an emergency room surgeon who told me, Its not the COVID cases that Im going to remember, its the child abuse cases. It stopped me in my tracks.

Snyder said the fallout may be long lasting.

We know from research that the No. 1 indicator of domestic violence is witnessing it as a child, Snyder said.  Were grooming future abusers right now. This is a place that our resources need to address.

Policymakers need to stop thinking about how to address domestic violence in a silo, Snyder said. Instead, they need to look at how domestic violence is linked to other issues, like mass shootings.

For example, a study from Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that aims to end gun violence, found that mass shooters killed a current or former intimate partner or family member in more than half of mass shootings over the last decade.

That was the case in a number of prominent mass shootings: The Sandy Hook shooter killed his mother before proceeding to the elementary school, where he shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children. The Pulse shooter in Orlando beat both of his wives, and the Sutherland Springs shooter was removed from the Air Force after being convicted of domestic violence.

Any issue you look at  mass shootings, mass incarceration, economic instability, homelessness  you will find a link to domestic violence, Snyder said. If you address the issue of domestic violence, you address these other issues.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio officials describe wins, challenges in plan to combat domestic violence

The luncheon also featured a conversation with Elizabeth Rejino, a local woman who endured years of abuse before she escaped her abuser in April 2018.

Rejino recalled how her relationship with her then-boyfriend escalated from small acts of control to emotional abuse and physical violence.

At first, Rejino said, she didnt notice the ways her boyfriend would try to control her  for example, that he would encourage her not to work so she could focus on her kids.

There are all these little red flags, Rejino said. You dont realize they are taking power and control because its subtle. They gift wrap it.

Rejino said the abuse culminated in 2017, after she was pregnant. At one point, Rejino said, her abuser held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her.

Rejino, with the help of her cousin, formed a plan to escape. It took around eight months to execute the plan, due in part because she didnt have access to a cellphone, her car or her ID.

She couldnt even use the restroom by herself, Rejino said.

On April 24, 2018, Rejino finally got the chance to leave. She gathered her belongings and called her cousin. She was getting ready to leave the home with her 7-month old son when her abuser returned.

He strangled me, he stabbed me in the hip, he bit me Rejino recalled. I lost consciousness. When youre in that kind of abuse, you have to leave your body to survive  I grabbed the baby and I ran outside to the street.

There, she saw her cousins car. She ran toward the car and jumped in.

Rejino said the physical marks are gone. Its the emotional abuse that she still struggles with.

When I got out, I reactivated my social media and I started sharing my story, Rejino said. My friends were shocked. They asked, how did that happen to you? You were always a force of nature. The truth of the matter is, it can happen to anyone.

eeaton@express-news.net
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released population counts from the 2020 census. Six states will have more House seats and seven states will have fewer. Texas was the big winner, picking up two new seats in the U.S. House. But apportionment analyses that we and others conducted in 2020 indicated that Texas would gain three, not two, new House seats. What happened?

Starting in 2018, President Donald Trump and his administration attempted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, and they also tried to exclude undocumented people from the census count. These efforts sought to discourage Latinos from being counted and, we believe, that it worked.

The new data from the 2020 census indicate that there was a serious undercount in Texas, numbering almost 141,000 people. But in the state of California, there was an overcount of nearly 120,000. Latinos account for almost 40 percent of the Texas and California populations. Why, then, would California have an overcount and Texas an undercount?

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, devoted over $187 million in a statewide outreach and awareness program focused on counting all California residents in the 2020 census. It worked; a lot more people were counted in California than was anticipated.

What happened in Texas? Gov. Greg Abbott and his Republican colleagues did not provide funds for a campaign to increase the states count. Abbott never even set up a statewide committee to work toward increasing the participation of Texans in the census. Unlike Newsom in California, Abbott did virtually nothing to get a complete count of Texans. The result: Texas lost its expected third new seat.

Not only did Texas not receive its third new seat, but the state will also lose a lot of money between now and 2030. How much?

The U.S. allocates to the states every year $1.5 trillion dollars in federal funds for a host of federal programs that are distributed based on their population counts. Texas receives more than $100 billion in federal funds every year based on the size of its population. We estimate that, owing to its undercount in the 2020 census, the state will end up losing more than $4.9 billion in federal funds between now and 2030.

For every person not counted in Texas, the state loses around $3,500 every year. Multiply the $3,500 by 141,000, which we estimate is a rough number of the undercount in Texas, and you end up with $493.5 million per year that Texas will not get in federal funds. Multiply that by 10 and you get $4.9 billion that Texas will not receive in federal funds over the next 10 years.

Getting a complete count of Latinos and other people of color was not a priority of Abbott and Texas Republicans. The result is that Abbotts inaction cost Texas the third congressional seat and tons of federal funds.

Or was that Abbotts plan? Abbott is well-versed in the practice of leaving on the table federal funds designated for people of color and the poor. He and his fellow Republicans have deployed numerous strategies to suppress the vote of the growing Latino population and other groups of color. And he has waged wars against the states major cities, where people of color are concentrated. Abbott is a shrewd politician who we doubt was blindsided by the realization that his actions cost the state its third congressional seat and $4.9 billion in federal funds.

These are the political and economic costs associated with Republicans maintaining their hold on the politics of our state. Latinos who were not counted in the 2020 census will help Republicans maintain political domination when they start redistricting in the fall. This is yet another way in which Abbott and his fellow Republicans have sacrificed the interests of Latinos, Blacks and the poor to stem the Latino demographic wave that threatens to turn Texas blue. The fact that whites, too, get hurt by not getting the third congressional seat and foregoing $4.9 billion in federal funds represents collateral damage.

It makes no sense, politically or economically, not to count every Texan in the decennial census. Given Abbotts track record for consistently choosing politics over the interests of Texans, we suspect he would not alter his actions if he were given another chance. The big losers are the people of Texas.

Dudley L. Poston Jr. is an emeritus professor of sociology at Texas A&M University. Rogelio Saenz is a professor of demography at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Our democracy needs civics education now more than ever. Partisan disagreement in the stability of our voting process and general distrust in government are symptoms of a larger social problem related to a deficiency in civil discourse.

As a member of the St. Edwards University student-led initiative called Civics4Yall, we support adding comprehensive civics education to Texas public school curricula.

As a nonpartisan organization, we believe that if students are not given the tools and information on their government early in their education, then they cannot be informed citizens or fully participate in their community.

Only 17 percent of the public almost always trust the government in Washington to do what is right, according to the Pew Research Center. Meanwhile, only nine states and the District of Columbia require a full year of civics education before graduating high school, data from the Center for American Progress show.

Civics education would explain our government structure to younger citizens and build skills to lead toward civic engagement. Its been a controversial topic, and writing legislation to include agreeable language to both parties has been difficult.

Comprehensive civics education would demonstrate the power of voting to students. Students should be informed of their government and how to participate in their community. Activities such as holding mock trials or youth legislatures will show students how the government is structured and give them confidence in our system. Several bills in the Texas Legislature focus on civics education, but we believe all of them fall short of a comprehensive approach.

Required Reading: Get San Antonio education news sent directly to your inbox

During the 2020 election, a close friend had expressed that he was not familiar with the government and part of a marginalized group whose voice is suppressed in politics. This friend, who is a minority and part of the LGBTQ community, said he felt like there was no point in trying to learn everything by himself because his thoughts did not matter to public officials.

A combination of confusion and fear kept him from voting in the 2020 presidential election. I believe if he knew more about voting and how valuable his voice is during the primary election, he would not have experienced the anxiety of the voting process. As American citizens, we have birthrights and obligations  and participation is essential to sustain a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people.

Students should be exposed to a civics curriculum early in their education  not after theyve entered higher education. Personally, one of us had no civics education before our third year at a university. The idea of government and voting was intimidating without knowing the structure of the government, the policymaking process or participating in local elections.

After a course on public policy, it was simpler to understand  and it helped alleviate any anxiety for participating in elections. Learning about civics makes a person responsible and active.

Comprehensive civics education is not about teaching activism in the classroom but about creating informed American citizens. Teaching students to be informed and involved in their community should be a bipartisan effort.

The goal is to bring civics education into public schools curriculum to increase civic engagement among students as they grow up to be citizens of this country. Give them the comfort and tools to address their ideas and concerns.

Isabel Pacheco and Natalie Turner are members of Civics4Yall, a student organization at St. Edwards University committed to developing comprehensive civics education reform.
On Thursday night, and into the wee hours of Friday morning, the Texas House fiercely debated a series of voting restrictions championed by the states Republican leaders.

Democrats have taken issue with nearly every facet of the bill, which supporters say would prevent ballot fraud and which critics contend would introduce new hardships to voting and disproportionately affect Texans of color.

But when state Rep. Rafael Anchia, a Dallas Democrat, stood to ask questions of the bills author, Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, he zeroed in on the bills purpose  stated, in part, to preserve the purity of the ballot box.

Its language plucked straight from the Texas Constitution (Article 6, Section 4). Its also a phrase that has been used in Texas to justify white primaries and other methods to disenfranchise Black, Latino and Asian American Texans.

Are you aware of the history behind that provision of the constitution? Anchia asked.

Im not, Cain replied.

GOP LAWMAKERS PREPARE FULL MENU OF VOTING RESTRICTIONS Republicans moved early Friday to give themselves a wide range of options on legislation restricting access to the polls. The maneuver will allow them to pick what they want in conference committees outside of view of the public, and then bring a bill back for final votes before sending it to Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. Senate Bill 7 as passed by the House: Forbids election officials from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot applications Allows partisan poll workers to record people they believe may be violating election laws Prohibits election judges from removing partisan poll watchers from voting sites, though under an amendment judges could still call law enforcement if the poll watchers broke laws that forbid them from interfering with voters Penalizes ballot harvesting to a Class A misdemeanor Measures that could be resurrected in the Senate or in private committee: Prohibits voting outside the hours of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Bars drive-thru voting sites such as those used in Harris County in 2020 Bans drop boxes for absentee voting. If not mailed, ballots must be returned in person See More Collapse

OK, Anchia nodded and looked down at notes spread before him. Are you aware that references to the purity of the ballot box used throughout this countrys history have been a justification for states to disenfranchise groups they deem unfit to vote or somehow lacking?

ANOTHER RACIALLY CHARGED PROVISION: LULAC, NAACP decry bill allowing partisan activists to record Texas voters without consent

Anchia was referencing the countrys post-Reconstruction period in the late 19th century, as Civil War tensions died down but racism thrived. Then, white Southerners set on preserving racist ideals championed a new era of laws that codified discrimination and specifically sought to disenfranchise Black citizens.

The so-called Jim Crow laws, under the banner of offering separate but equal accommodations to Black citizens, mandated segregation in public spaces, including schools and transportation. In practice, the laws promoted anything but equality  targeting Black Americans livelihoods, economic and social gains, and political influence.

Across the South, state legislatures adopted a multitude of explicit measures to keep Black people from voting, from poll taxes to comprehension tests. At the same time, politicians championed laws to bar felons from casting ballots  measures that would significantly impact Black Americans, who were incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates than white people.

The goal, Southerners said, was to protect the purity of the ballot box. The language appeared at political conventions across former Confederate territory and, in some cases, was written into state constitutions  including that of Texas.

As soon as Southern states were allowed to set their own democratic destiny, they began to limit who could vote, especially voters of color, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. That includes African Americans, obviously, but also included Asian Americans and Hispanics as well. It was very broad.

Later, several Southern states would embrace white primaries, which blocked voters of color from casting ballots in primary elections  effectively keeping them out of the democratic process because the winner of the primary would, in most cases, go on to win the general election. Texas passed a law allowing the practice in 1923, which faced legal challenges throughout the early 20th century; the Supreme Court ultimately declared the practice unconstitutional in 1944, though it persisted in some parts of the state years after.

All the while, legislators upheld the idea of ballot purity. In 1913, a state representative from Eagle Pass formed the Ballot Purification League, and he filed a bill he intended to disqualify Mexican Americans from participating in elections.

THE LATEST: Texas House advances controversial GOP voting bill after all-night debate

Back to the present day  and Anchias line of questioning.

Did you know that this purity at the ballot box justification was also used during the Jim Crow era to prevent Black people from voting? he asked. Did you know that in states across the country that penal disenfranchisement schemes were put in place including in Texas as far back as 1845 to effectively lock African American people out of the political process? Are you aware of this political history?

Cain repeatedly said he was not aware of that history, and he called the information troubling. He said he had inserted the purity language intending it to mean not having fraud.

I think weve said a few times that I wasnt aware of any kind of malicious intent in the use of that term, and the reason it was used is: I looked at the constitution, because I believe our authority is derived from the people, he said.

The purity of the ballot box phrasing, however, had emerged as a concern in committee hearings on the measure.

Its like a sign hanging on the bill

Nina Perales, the vice president of litigation for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, testified April 1 that using such language reveal(s) legislative intent to exclude minority and disfavored populations from voting, and ballot purity policies have no place in modern election laws.

Her testimony included reference to the 1913 Ballot Purification League example.

That is the language thats always used and has been used historically in association with voter suppression measures, Perales said in an interview Friday. Its like a sign hanging on the bill saying, This is a voter suppression bill.

Cain agreed to take out the term, and it was later removed through an amendment by state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, a Houston Democrat. The omnibus voting bill, Senate Bill 7, advanced Friday almost entirely along party lines.

In todays society, racism is rooted in ignorance  just ignorance of not understanding that this type of language cuts to the soul of a lot of people, particularly myself, Johnson said in an interview.

He said his colleagues should own their ignorance and recognize that racist bills such as SB 7 continue to harm communities of color, even if that is not the express intent of the legislation. And while he gave Cain credit for agreeing to take the language out, he said that the damage has been done.

If youre going to hide behind ignorance, you dont need to be in the statehouse, Johnson concluded.

The measure is just one of several voting restriction bills championed in GOP-led legislatures across the nation, after months of false claims from former President Donald Trump that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.

Cain, for his part, has said Texas voting legislation is not inspired by those assertions  and, rather, would protect and secure the states elections.

The bill would clamp down on voting expansions piloted in Harris County last fall, including extended early voting hours and drive-thru voting. It would also limit the number of polling places allowed in Texas largest counties and would give greater power to partisan poll watchers.

Democrats say the legislation would, in practice, most severely affect minority voters. At a Thursday rally, 10 advocacy organizations, including several voting rights groups, denounced the bill as the worst assault on voting rights since Jim Crow.

Cain says the bill would not disproportionately affect voters of color, as Democrats claim, though legislators have not conducted a study on the subject.

This bill is designed to protect all voters, Cain said. I dont think this is voter suppression; I think this is voter enhancement.

cayla.harris@express-news.net
Contributed / Norwalk police department

NORWALK  A New York man is facing a rash of charges after allegedly stealing from a local Walmart and threatening to kill store employees, according to police.

Jermaine Hines, 38, of Mount Vernon, N.Y., was arrested late Friday night after employees at the Walmart on Main Avenue said he confronted them with a screwdriver and threatened to return to the store with a gun, Lt. Joseph Dinho said Tuesday.
The fate of a proposal that would essentially double the amount of water diverted from the Greater Bridgeport system to southwestern Connecticut now rests in the hands of the state.

Environmental groups and residents from the Fairfield area spent two public hearings this past week objecting to a permit now before the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, citing negative impacts on residents and the watershed.

The project is part of Aquarions long-range plan to meet water needs in southwestern Fairfield County. If approved, it would divert up to 14.2 million gallons a day from the Greater Bridgeport System to the Southwest Regional Pipeline. The current allowed amount is 7.26 million gallons a day.

DEEP already issued a Notice of Tentative Determination to Approve, limiting the annual daily average to 12.56 million gallons a day. The notice prompted two petitions and fueled comment at the public hearings.

Critics objected to the proposal, saying they were concerned the diversion would negatively impact residents and the watershed, especially along the Mill River and Cricker Brook. They urged the state to reduce the amount of water allowed and shorten the 25-year permit duration, giving more chance for review as time went on to determine the impacts and need.

Officials from the communities the diversion would serve  Greenwich, Darien, New Canaan and Stamford  said the water was needed as drought conditions become more likely. They also said their communities were cutting water use by increasing conservation efforts, something that both those in the Greater Bridgeport System and Aquarion said need to be key components of the proposal.

Its important water be used wisely, especially if its coming that distance, said Peter Galant of Tighe and Bond, which prepared the application for and serves as a consultant for Aquarion.

Janice Deshais, the DEEP hearing officer for the permit, is now considering the proposal. She held a public comment hearing on Tuesday and an evidentiary hearing Thursday that collected testimony from Aquarion, DEEP and other interested parties, which include several Fairfield groups, especially the Fairfield Conservation Commission.

Written comments can be submitted until May 15 to deep.adjudications@ct.gov.

Deshais said she expects to issue a decision in several months. She will hold another hearing this summer on alternatives if she finds that the diversion will have adverse environmental impacts.

My ultimate decision, which would include my findings on alternatives, would be several months after that hearing and any post-hearing process, she said.

The Greater Bridgeport System is made up of 12 towns: Bridgeport, Wilton, New Canaan, Darien, Stamford, Fairfield, Easton, Weston, Redding, Greenwich, Westport and Norwalk.

Galant said the four southwestern towns need more water.

Theres not enough supply from the local supplies to meet the demand and the demands are projected to increase, though not significantly, he said.

He said Aquarion also looked at other water sources, including purchasing water from New York and increasing the existing reservoirs that serve the Southwest Regional Pipeline, but said increasing water from the Greater Bridgeport System was the only feasible option.

Kate OMahoney, with the Mill River Wetland Committee in Fairfield, said Aquarion has been diverting 5 million daily gallons of water from the Greenwich system to New York as part of an old agreement and questioned if that should still be in effect, considering the increased need there and that DEEP discourages trans-state diversions.

Those in the Greater Bridgeport System said they recognized the need for more water for the southwestern corner, but questioned if it needed to nearly double the amount its already getting.

That seems like a significant increase, said state Sen. Tony Hwang, R-28. He instead proposed 10 million gallons and adding a five-year review process to see how much is actually needed.

Doug Hoskins, who approved the initial permit for DEEP, said adding the lower average daily cap essentially meant Aquarion couldnt divert the maximum allowed amount every day. He also said the permit has wording that allows the department to modify the allowed amount based on droughts or adverse effects to the environment, public health or safety.

We dont issue the permit and call it a day, he said.

Environmentalists and some officials argued that Aquarion determined water need based on state Department of Transportation estimates and not the population estimates Milone and MacBroom have done for the region. They also said only Stamfords numbers increased among the four southwestern towns.

Critics also said they worried the application didnt take into consideration the number of people who moved to Greater Bridgeport during the pandemic and how those needs might be increasing. They asked that gauges be activated along the reservoir system to monitor water flow and ensure the diversion wasnt lowering water levels too much and in turn harming the wildlife there.

Several endangered or threatened species are found along the waterways, including the eastern box turtle, the wood turtle, bald eagles and the toothcup plant. Theres also a wildlife management area for brook trout.

We have to be careful with any impacts to these species, said Patrick Comins, executive director for the Connecticut Audubon Society.

Galant said the diversion wont impact the flows of Cricker Brook or Mill River and so gauges arent needed.

Opponents of the permit also said the total water supply for the Greater Bridgeport System was based on a contaminated well field being cleaned up and coming back online, which they worried would affect the water quality.

OMahoney of the Mill River Wetland Committee said Greenwichs water use is three times the rest of the state and attributed the amount as being directly connected to outdoor water use.

Both Darien First Selectwoman Jayme Stevenson and Ted Jankowski, Stamfords public safety health and welfare director, said their communities are committed to water conservation efforts, but said that approving the permit was critical.

Stevenson said leaders in all four southwestern communities have worked with Aquarion on restrictions, including only allowing outside irrigation two days a week. Darien is also teaching water conservation in the schools and educating the community at large.

Drought resiliency will only be achieved with increased supply and sustained conservation efforts, Stevenson said.

Jankowski said droughts are becoming more frequent, and while Stamford understands the need and supports conservation efforts, the additional water gives Aquarion more flexibility.

While opponents of the proposal said they appreciated the commitment to conservation, they suggested holding off on permitting the whole amount to further encourage residents to conserve water.

Whats the incentive to do the conservation efforts when the water is readily available? Hwang asked.

kkoerting@newstimes.com
Can you tell which of the pistols above is the "toy," in the usage of the Washington Post's Pulitzer-winning "Fatal Force" database on killings by police, and which is the real deal? Answers below.

By Eric Felten, RealClearInvestigations

May 6, 2021

On Monday, April 19, Edgar Luis Tirado went on a one-man crime spree -- important details of which are not recorded in the Washington Posts often cited "Fatal Force" database of killings by police.

Other accounts, though, were clear about the threat Tirado presented. The 28-year-old Texan, who suffered from bipolar disorder, started small, stealing from a Fiesta Mart in Far North Dallas early in the afternoon. When store workers tried to stop him, he produced a black revolver, pointed it at them, and then ran.

The next police heard of Tirado, it was nearly 4 P.M. He was in a school parking lot, wielding the handgun in an attempted carjacking. When police caught up with him half an hour later, he reached for the gun, which he had in the back of his pants, and leveled it at officers. The police held their fire, and Tirado fled.

Half an hour later, the man robbed a CVS drugstore, threatening the store manager with his pistol. When the police next caught up with Tirado, he ran across multiple lanes of traffic, dodging cars and leaping over concrete barriers before turning and again aiming his revolver at police. This time, officers shot and killed him.

But the Posts Fatal Force tally notes Tirados death simply: He was a 28-year-old Hispanic man with a toy weapon.

One might be forgiven for thinking, from that description  a toy weapon -- that Tirado had an orange plastic water gun or some other obvious plaything. But Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia explained at a press conference that Tirado had in hand a replica handgun, a fake that looked exactly like a revolver. It wasnt just police who thought Tirado had a real revolver; the grocery and drug store employees who found themselves on the business end of Tirados fake gun believed it to be the real deal.

So why does the Posts seminal database for researchers on police violence, begun in 2015, call it a toy weapon when even the short wire report it carried on the killing notes it was a replica handgun?

RealClearInvestigations reached out to the Posts Fatal Force team for comment or explanation, but got no response.

Using the word toy is a bit deceiving, says Patrick Burke, the executive director of the Washington DC Police Foundation. These are made to look like lethal weapons, and often an officer doesnt have the time to distinguish whether it is real or fake."

The paper didnt always fail to distinguish between fake guns and toy guns. When it was two years into the Fatal Force project, which won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2016, the Post reported that 86 people in its tally had been killed by police while brandishing weapons that looked real but werent. Many had been carrying BB guns, others had pellet guns or replica weapons. The Post labeled only two as carrying toy guns.

Typical from that early period is the entry for Dana Bruce Ott, a 63-year-old white man with a toy weapon, who was shot in 2015 by Colorado Springs police. In that entry, the Post noted that Ott was killed when he aimed what turned out to be an air rifle at officers and approached them. The phrase what turned out to be makes it clear that in the moment of confrontation, the weapon looked like a real gun.

But today the reader will likely look in vain for such clarifying qualifications from the Post. Since the beginning of 2020, its Fatal Force" database has described 34 of those shot by police as wielding toy weapons, differing from the outside local reports referenced as sources, which make clear that all but three of those weapons were realistic-looking fake guns, including replicas, BB guns, and pellet guns. The three outliers were also not toys per se, but other objects that looked like guns.

Most if not all of these items are not toys, said Alan Kaufman, a senior vice president at the Toy Association. Instead, they are non-powder guns such as BB, pellet, airsoft, and paint guns. These items very often look much like powder guns, often intentionally, Kaufman says. He emphasizes these items are definitely not toys.

The distinction would likely be readily evident to shoppers perusing Amazon.com  whose founder, Jeff Bezos, owns the Washington Post. It sells toy guns as well as many replica pellet and BB guns, including revolvers nearly identical to the gun used by Tirado.

But in the Post database, when it comes to most cases involving BB guns and the like, readers are left with the impression police regularly shoot suspects armed with nothing more threatening than a childs plaything.

How should Post readers judge the case of Malcolm Comeaux, who was killed by FBI agents attempting to arrest him? The Houston Chronicle quotes police saying that Comeaux suddenly grabbed what appeared to be a black revolver handgun from his waistband as the agents had their guns drawn. Detectives later determined that the object was a pellet gun that resembled a handgun.

According to the Post, Comeaux was a 24-year-old Black man with a toy weapon.

Answers to the question posed in the caption at top: The top, larger pistol is a Daisy BB gun; the smaller pistol below it is a Glock 44.
Charles Smith, 41, was arrested in connection to the homicide Monday. During his arrest, Smith, a convicted felon, was in possession of a firearm. He was on parole for a robbery in 2012, and now faces the same charges as Basil Smith. Charles Smith is being held on $2 million bond.
(The Center Square)  A federal grand jury has indicted four ex-Minneapolis police officers on federal civil rights charges related to the death of George Floyd.

The first indictment charges Derek Chauvin, 45; Tou Thao, 35; J. Alexander Kueng, 27; and Thomas Lane, 38. The three-count indictment alleges that all four defendants willfully deprived Floyd of his constitutional rights, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 242.

Count one of the indictment alleges that on May 25, 2020, Chauvin pressed his left knee on Floyds neck, and his right knee on Floyds back and arm, as Floyd lay on the ground, handcuffed and unresisting, and kept his knees on Floyds neck and body even after Mr. Floyd became unresponsive.

The indictment alleges Chauvins actions violated Floyds constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer and resulted in Floyds death.

Count two charges that Thao and Kueng willfully failed to intervene to stop Chauvins use of unreasonable force, resulting in Floyds death.

Count Three of the indictment alleges that all four defendants saw Floyd lying on the ground in need of medical care and willfully failed to aid him. The indictment alleges that all four defendants willfully deprived Mr. Floyd of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which resulted in Floyds death.

A separate, two-count indictment also charges Chauvin with willfully depriving a 14-year old Minneapolis resident of the constitutional right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 242.

Count one of this indictment alleges that on Sept. 4, 2017, Chauvin, without legal justification, held the teenager by the throat and struck the teenager multiple times in the head with a flashlight. The indictment alleges that this use of a flashlight equates to a dangerous weapon and resulted in bodily injury.

Count Two of the indictment charges that Chauvin held his knee on the neck and the upper back of the teenager even after the teenager was lying prone, handcuffed, and unresisting, also resulting in bodily injury.

Both indictments charge violations of Title 18, United States Code, Section 242. 18 U.S.C.  242, which states that it is a crime for a government official to willfully violate a persons constitutional rights.

An indictment is merely a formal accusation of criminal conduct.

These charges are separate from the charges Minnesota has brought against these former officers, and the Department of Justice probe announced April 21. Specifically, these charges allege criminal offenses for violating the U.S. Constitution.

On April 20, a jury found Chauvin guilty on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

Floyds family settled a civil lawsuit with the city of Minneapolis for a record $27 million.

The federal criminal cases are being prosecuted by Acting U.S. Attorney W. Anders Folk of the District of Minnesota, Special Litigation Counsel Samantha Trepel and Trial Attorney Tara Allison of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Samantha Bates, LeeAnn Bell, Evan Gilead, Manda Sertich and Allen Slaughter of the District of Minnesota.
How much Mexican food do I plan to eat this Cinco de Mayo? Thats nacho business! Cinco de Mayo is nacho ordinary holiday. What do you call a group of skunks drinking tequila? Stinko de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for Fifth of May) is an annual celebration on May 5. The date is observed to commemorate the Mexican Armys victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862. More popularly celebrated in the United States than in Mexico. These celebrations began in California, where they have been observed annually since 1863. The day gained nationwide popularity in the 1980s thanks especially to advertising campaigns by beer and wine companies. Today, Cinco de Mayo generates beer sales on par with the Super Bowl. Cinco de Mayo is sometimes mistaken for Mexicos Independence Daythe most important national holiday in Mexicowhich is celebrated on September 16, which, in 1810, initiated the war of Mexican independence from Spain.

Best Guacamole: Ingredients: 3 avocados ripe, 1/2 small onion finely diced, 2 Roma tomatoes diced, 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro, 1 jalapeno pepper seeds removed and finely diced, 2 garlic cloves minced, 1 lime juiced, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.

Instructions: Slice the avocados in half, remove the pit, and scoop into a mixing bowl. Mash the avocado with a fork and make it as chunky or smooth as youd like. Add the remaining ingredients and stir together. Give it a taste test and add a pinch more salt or lime juice if needed. Serve with tortilla chips.

Notes: Look for large avocados for this recipe. If you can only find small avocados, feel free to add one more! Definitely use fresh limes rather than lime juice in a bottle.

Total Time: 10 mins. Servings: 4 servings. Calories: 184.8kcal.

Enjoy a pitcher of margaritas: 16 oz. tequila (2 cups), 4 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice, 4 oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice, 4 oz. freshly squeezed orange juice, 4  8 oz. simple syrup or agave, 1/2 - 1 cup.

Single Serving: 2 oz. tequila, 1-1/2 oz. juice (a combo of lime, lemon and orange juice), 1/2 - 1 oz. simple syrup or agave.

Simple Syrup: Combine equal parts water and granulated sugar (ex. 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar) into a microwave safe bowl. Heat until sugar has dissolved. This will take a few minutes. Cool and store, covered, in the refrigerator.

Put your ingredients in blender or a cocktail shaker and mix. Pour over ice and garnish with a lime slice and enjoy! Rim your glasses with course salt. Then pour into your salt rimmed glasses.

In a pinch a friend once told me that if you dont have the ingredients just mix together one can of beer with one can of tequila, put in blender with a lot of ice. It seemed to work just fine.

Happy Birthday Jeanne Dexter.

Happiness lies not in finding what is missing, but in finding what is present.  Tara Brach
An Aberdeenshire estate has appealed for information following the discovery of a dead golden eagle on a let farm in March.

Invercauld Estate, near Braemar, has issued a new public appeal after traces of pesticide were found inside the bird of prey.

Police Scotland have since conducted a search of the local area, and the estate has called on the public for more information.

The area where the bird was found is on a let farm in an area which is managed for sheep farming, on the edge of an area of native woodland regeneration.

The estate is well known for a wide range of rare birds. Research undertaken in 2017 had identified 1,117 pairs of the most endangered bird species breeding on the estate.

Angus McNicol, estate manager, said the team at Invercauld were 'very disturbed' with the incident.

We wholeheartedly support the appeal about this bird and anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101 urgently," he added.

"Naturally we are offering our cooperation to the police as they conduct their inquiries and hope they are able to identify anyone who is involved."

Within the last two weeks, the estate had reported to the police an incident of damage to gamekeeping equipment and anti-social behaviour on a wetland habitat.

The latter incident had been described as a matter of 'further serious concern' for the estate.

"Given the relative proximity of the location to houses and the A93 main road, we are hopeful that a member of the public may have seen something" Mr McNicol said.

So much of what we do at Invercauld is about conservation so this news is particularly distressing."
A distillery in west Wales is collaborating with local farmers to prove the concept of a Welsh malting barley used for whisky production.

In the Welsh Wind, located near Cardigan, has now started production of the first fully grain-to-glass Welsh whisky for over 100 years.

Traditionally, Welsh barley has found its way into cattle feed, with the east of the UK being the heartland for barley used for whisky production.

Welsh barley is still used for malting, but it is shipped over to England and comes back to Wales mixed with barley from other areas.

But In the Welsh Wind says it wants to champion Welsh-grown barley as a malting barley, fully processed in west Wales.

The distillery says this approach will bring opportunities for arable farmers and improve the price farmers can expect for their produce.

In its drive to produce a 100% Welsh grain to glass whisky, In the Welsh Wind have pioneered the use of Welsh barley in malting.

In 2020, the team worked with local farmers in South Ceredigion and North Pembrokeshire to grow 4 different varieties of barley for assessment and consideration for malting.

The distillery has also set up its own malting floor so that the barley can be malted in Wales rather than transported to England.

The results of all the teams experimentation have shown that Welsh barley grown in west Wales could be suitable for producing whisky.

Distiller director Alex Jungmayr said that proving the concept of a Welsh malting barley had been vital to their goal of a 100% Welsh origin whisky.

"Barley has been farmed in our local area for many years  and is celebrated every April in Cardigan on Barley Saturday  but the crop is usually sent for animal feed.

"It has been exciting to work with the farming community as we move forward, providing them with higher returns for their crop.

"Whatever the factors shifting barley production and malting east, we see every reason to bring it back west, introducing new and interesting ways of getting the best out of our grain.

Sion Phillips, who has grown the first batch of barley which is now being malted and distilled, said the prospect of a new market was a welcome one for local farmers.

He said: We usually produce barley for animal feed but its a very tight market. Farms have to diversify and its good to work on something different.
A poll at a recent succession planning webinar for farmers showed that only 17 out of 40 had a will despite agriculture being one of the most dangerous sectors.

The informal poll's result is consistent with the national statistic that less than 50 percent of adults in the UK have a will in place.

And it comes despite the agriculture sector having one of the UK's highest number of fatal injuries in the workplace.

Law firm Clarke Willmott LLP are encouraging farmers to write a will due to the complexities around family businesses and succession planning.

The company says it is 'surprising' to see that few farmers attending its webinar had a will in place, particularly as the average age of a farmer is 59.

Tom Chiffers, a partner at Clarke Willmott said: We are urging farmers to take the simple steps to write a will to protect their loved ones and their business.

"Farming businesses are also complex and we are currently in a period of great change following Brexit and the governments Agricultural Transition Plan (ATP).

"We expect to see a significant drop in funding for all farmers at the end of 2027 so there are many compelling reasons for farmers to get their affairs in order now."

The recent webinar, in association with the NFU, focussed on succession planning and the firms new Which Will? tool, a free service for farmers.

The tool prompts them to think about what is important to them when making a will and recommends which will best meets their needs.

Andi Witcombe, NFU County Adviser for Wiltshire, said there had never been a more important time to make sure farm businesses were 'fit for the future'.

We encourage all farmers to start open and honest discussions with family and business partners about succession if they havent done so already - sooner really is far better than later."
Pig producers across the UK are displaying banners on-farm urging the public to buy more British-produced pork.

The #PutBritishPorkonYourFork banners, created by the National Pig Association (NPA), have been spotted around the country.

The industry group said they were created to 'help get the important message across the public'.

It has sent more than 100 Put British Pork on Your Fork roadside banners to pig producers.

Farmers were then asked to put them up in places where they were most visible to the general public.

The NPA said: "NPA members across the country have been displaying our #PutBritishPorkonYourFork banners, helping to help get the important message across to the public.

ForFarmers is showing its support for #BritishPork by proudly displaying banners at its manufacturing sites ??

The posters are part of a wider campaign by @GBPork and @NatpigAssoc aiming to encourage consumers to search out British pork at this challenging time for the industry. pic.twitter.com/fwcmISFZIV  ForFarmersUK (@ForFarmersUK) May 1, 2021

"Thanks to everyone who has put the banners up and posted or sent us the pics - keep them coming!"

It comes after a recent shelfwatch survey found that retailers were stocking less British pork despite increasing calls to support the sector.

The overall proportion of British pork on display in the retail sector fell in March, AHDB's Porkwatch survey, released last month, showed.

Overall, 79 percent of fresh pork on display was British, compared with 81% in the January survey.
The Fauquier Times is honored to serve as your community companion. To say thank you, we are excited to offer 4 weeks FREE Digital & Print access to all subscribers new and returning alike.

We are dedicated to continuing providing reliable, high quality journalism. This is possible with the trust and support of our subscribers in the community we are proud to serve.
The warrant also said that they told police and Soto that one month they paid $550 in cash for rent after Gentile agreed to a deal that if they removed trees from the backyard, it would cover the difference. Email exchanges later corroborated the tenants story. Soto told police that the housing authority lost $3,600 related to this property and directly as a result of Gentiles actions, the warrant said.
Heres how to practise mindful eating:

Image: ShutterstockPractising mindful eating helps in the cephalic phase of digestion, that part of the process in which your stomach prepares digestive juices in response to the smell, taste or sight of food. Rooted in the Buddhist practice of mindfulness, mindful eating means you must give your full attention to your food, which, in turn, gradually trains your body to get back in touch with its internal appetite and digestive rhythms. Its simple to do, and the rewards are discernible after a while.1. Get rid of all distractions before you settle down to eat.2. Ask yourself whether you are eating out of hunger, just boredom or habit. Pay attention to your hunger cues.3. Take note of what is on your platethe textures, colours, smells, flavours4. Be grateful for what you have received.5. After you eat, take a moment to review how you feel. Whether you feel satisfied, bloated, tired, or energised will help you decide what to choose when you eat next.Mindful eating will take about a week to settle in; give it that time.
Image: Shutterstock





If you are a sucker for adventure, add these cool hiking destinations across India to your list of must-tries





For those who love adventure, thrills and everything in nature, hiking destinations worth your effort will quench your thirst for that adrenaline rush and offer peace at the same time.





India, with its towering Himalayan peaks and lush South Indian jungles, offers unique hiking opportunities. The entire subcontinent is dotted with spectacular spots to get your hike on, whether youre looking for a short day hike or a longer one. India is a vast and diverse nation with a plethora of places to see and discover. Hiking is a great way to immerse yourself in nature while building up a healthy appreciation of the outdoors.



Yes, there are much-visited places in the country that every hiker knows and loves. These locations see hundreds of hikers every year, and there are reasons why. If you havent already hiked these trails, here is a list to consider for sure...
Image: Shutterstock





On World Heritage Day 2021, put these seven lesser-known historical sites in India on your bucket list

Today, April 18, is World Heritage Day, or the International Day for Monuments and Sites, a day when we consider again the diversity and vulnerability of the worlds heritage sites and built monuments. A day when we acknowledge again that our country is home to a number of fascinating and unique historical sites. Add to your own bucket list from this curation by travel brand Booking.com of sites that will gladden the heart of every traveller and history lover.





Undavalli Caves, Andhra Pradesh



Carved out of solid sandstone on a hillside, the Undavalli Caves (main image) are a monolithic example of Indian rock-cut architecture. Located in the city of Guntur, they date back to the 4th to 5th centuries, and especially gladden the hearts of lovers of history. The caves are adorned with beautiful sculptures and life-like statues, but the most spectacular sight is that of a five-metre-long statue of Vishnu in a reclining position, resting on thecarved out of a single block of granite. A perfect blend of marvellous architecture and historical significance, the Undavalli Caves are considered one of the earliest examples of Gupta architecture.
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Dr. Bu Abdullah, Chairman of Bu Abdullah Group presents the Filmfare Award 2021 to the stunning bollywood actress Sara Ali Khan on behalf of her father Saif Ali Khan who won the best supporting actor (male) for the movie Tanha Ji - The Unsung Warrior.

Dr. Bu Abdullah is an Emirati businessman of par excellence, having his expertise in law and business, and he currently owns more than 270 companies in Asia and other parts of the world with his company Bu Abdullah Group of Companies which includes Real Estate, Legal firm and business consultancy.





His work has been applauded for his commitment and thorough professionalism. In 2005, he embarked with his own company called Bu Abdullah Group of Companies roping in top lawyers and business professionals. He pursued his degree in law to get an edge over the subject so that he can offer the best services to his clients. His professional advice worked for many and so far he has dealt with more than 200 companies all across the Middle East and Asia catering business and law solutions to big corporations to small-size companies as well.

His humble nature and competence have helped him connect with top people from different walks of life including influential people from political circles from the Middle East and Asia. He has good terms with the Royal Family of UAE and with the top politicians of India and Pakistan. Dr. Bu Abdullah currently is a Guinness World Holder and He won big rounds of applause for being the 1st Emirati to visit the Lok Sabha in India for the Atal Bajpayee Awards 2019. His works speak a lot and have even helped him bag several awards including getting Dynamic Emarati Entrepreneur by Ramdas Bandu Minister of State for Social Justice, Empowerment in the Narendra Modi Government and the Most Iconic Emarati Business Personality of the Year 2019. Dr. Bu Abdullah plays a crutial role in nurturing the concerns of Non - Residents and ensuring the communal unity among the NRI's in the Gulf region and With his good connections in Bollywood, we never know he would embark with one project in the Tinsel Town soon.
As the uncertain times lie ahead of us due to the COVID-19 crisis, many celebrities have come forward to help common man in producing resources to fight the virus. Actors like Bhumi Pednekar, Taapsee Pannu, Aparshakti Khurrana and more are working round the clock to amplify SOS calls on social media. John Abraham and Alia Bhatt have also tied up with organisations to share contacts of verified sources for medicines, oxygen and other medical amenities.

Now, Dharma Production has come forward to lend a helping hand by collaborating with Yuvaa and using all their social media platforms to amplify these SOS calls. They shared an official statement regarding the same and said, As the country has been impacted by the deadly virus, #DharmaProductions joins hands with #Yuvaa to amplify their efforts in helping the community with resources and relevant verified information. The social media pages of Dharma will be used to reach out to people with COVID-19 information.

Heres applauding their efforts to help out people.


Gautam Kitchlu and Kajal Aggarwal tied the knot in October 2020. The actress and her businessman boyfriend had a fun wedding in Mumbai with limited people in attendance. They then headed to the Maldives for their honeymoon and pictures of the couple had gone viral on the internet. However, the couple like all of us is currently in lockdown. The pandemic in its second wave has affected the country horrifically, the only respite being that this time around there is a vaccine available in the market.





Celebs have been urging people to get registered and take the first shot of the vaccine as soon as possible. Today, Kajal and Gautam took their first jab of the vaccine and shared a picture on social media. She captioned the post as, ''Everyone, pls go take your vaccines as and when possible.''We too request all our readers to get vaccinated soon!
Former Red Lion Hotel in downtown Hartford sells for $22 million. See what plans the new owners have for the building.

Former hotel overlooking Dunkin' Donuts Park get new owners.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas has been working tirelessly to ensure that the global community's eyes remain peeled on India as the country battles the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 virus. The actress had put out a call on her social media platforms for everyone from around the globe to help India fight the virus and had urged her fans and followers to donate to GiveIndia which is working towards COVID-19 relief. As such, heeding her call, international celebrities like Shawn Mendes, Lilly Singh, Jennifer Aniston and Camilla Cabello had donated or raised money for the cause. Now, the latest Hollywood star to amplify Priyankas call for help is Hugh Jackman.

The Wolverine star took to his social media accounts on Thursday to share links to Priyankas fundraiser and urged everyone to "support India". Priyanka posted his message on her insta story and thanked Jackman and his wife, Deborra Lee Ann. Reese Witherspoon, Ellen Degeneres, Lana Condor, Jada Pinkett Smith, Drew Barrymore and others have also donated to the cause. "India, my home, is suffering the worlds worst Covid crisis, and we all need to help! People are dying in record numbers. There is illness everywhere, and its only continuing to spread and kill at great speed and scale," the actress had said in her video.
Dr. Leena S. is the embodiment of the progressive Indian woman who not only has confidence but also has a lot to show for it. From growing up in Dubai to making it big in India, Dr. Leena S. is a royal diva who has carved a niche for her own beauty brand, The Nail Artistry, a successful chain of salons thatspecializes in nail art, manicures and pedicures apart from regular beauty procedures. What sets The Nail Artistry apart is the fact that it is patronised by the likes of the whos who from the worlds of Indian cinema, beauty, glamour and industries. Some of the most prominent names include Karisma Kapoor, Nora Fatehi, Sunny Leone, Nushrat Bharucha, Isha Talwar, Tamannaah, Kajal Aggarwal, Anushka Shetty, Keerthy Suresh, Akshara Haasan, Mamta Mohan, Nazriya Nazim, Rashi Khanna, Sneha Prasanna, Kavya Madhavan, Kushboo Sundar, Aparna Balamurali, Nikki Galrani, Shamna Kasim and Prasanna. However, celebrity patrons are not that big a deal as the real celebrity here is the brand, The Nail Artistry, which Dr. Leena S. has created. The celebs actually keep coming back because of the world class quality of service at The Nail Artistry salons in Kochi and Chennai, far away from their regular lives, which is a remarkable feat in itself.With her first salon, Dr. Leena S, wanted people to experience the therapeutic capabilities of manicure and pedicure and how they help relax ones body and mind. But she wanted the focus to be on the services and not on her. She wanted to make sure that her idea will be appreciated because of the quality of service by the people who visited The Nail Artistry and not because she was the force behind it. I did not want to start The Nail Artistry from a place like Delhi or Mumbai where people would compare us to regular salons. Our focus was completely different and I wanted to gauge if my business idea can really make a difference to the people who would spend money on it. In a place like Kochi, it was only our brand philosophy and quality of services that mattered. I reckoned that if The Nail Artistry proves to be good enough and got accepted by the people in Kochi, I could say that my business idea really had merit. So, it was kind of a test and it proved to be the right thing to do, shares Dr. Leena S.With the kind of high profile clients that The Nail Artistry salons in Kochi and Chennai attract and the quality of services and attention they get, it is no wonder that the locals also flock to the premium abodes of luxurious beauty routines. Conceptualised and initiated by Dr. Leena S., a visionary woman entrepreneur, The Nail Artistry has been growing at a phenomenal pace over the last few years. Everyone deserves a good manicure and pedicure routine once in a while to keep them free of stress. I have instilled a culture in my team to understand the needs and preferences of our patrons and make sure that they all get the care they deserve. Our patrons, of course, appreciate the attention to details and the fact that The Nail Artistry team values little things about their routines and provides them with excellent services, says Dr. Leena S.Seeing the success of The Nail Artistry and the vision that Dr. Leena S. has for the brand, it wont be an exaggeration to say that she is indeed the Royal Diva of Nails!
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2021) - Eric Sprott announces that today, 2176423 Ontario Ltd., a corporation which is beneficially owned by him, disposed of 363,000 common shares of NV Gold Corporation (TSXV: NVX) over the TSX Venture Exchange (representing approximately 0.6% of the outstanding shares on non-diluted basis) at a price of approximately $0.32 per share for aggregate consideration of approximately $117,902.

Mr. Sprott now owns or controls 4,893,430 common shares representing approximately 7.6% of the outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis. The disposition combined with previous new share issuances by NV Gold Corporation resulted in an ownership change, on a partially diluted basis, of 4.1% since the last filing of an Early Warning Report (to below 10%) .

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

NV Gold Corporation is located at 588-580 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3B6. A copy of the early warning report with respect to the foregoing will appear on the company's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") at www.sedar.com and may also be obtained by calling Mr. Sprott's office at (416) 945-3294.

2176423 Ontario Ltd.

200 Bay Street, Suite 2600

Royal Bank Plaza, South Tower

Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J1

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83244
LONDON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Dr the Hon Roosevelt Skerrit, has written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convey solidarity and condolences to the many families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. Currently, the second wave in India has seen over 300,000 people testing positive daily and more than 200,000 dead.

Dominica and India have shared a longstanding and fruitful relationship for decades. In January, when Prime Minister Skerrit requested India's help in getting vaccines, Prime Minister Modi responded by sending thousands of Oxford Astra-Zeneca shots. The gesture of kindness from India was soon forwarded as Dominica distributed a portion of the vaccines to neighbouring islands to immunise frontline workers.

"As Chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, I wish to affirm that we stand united with India in the hour of need. India as a country stood alongside our vulnerable nation at our time of need," Prime Minister Skerrit said via his Facebook page. "I am confident that with your [PM Modi's] leadership and the resilience of your people, the Republic of India will not only defeat COVID-19 but emerge stronger from this pandemic."

Over the years, Dominica has welcomed a growing number of Indian families as citizens under its world-class Citizenship by Investment Programme. Through the programme, vetted Indian applicants who contribute to a government fund for the betterment of the island or invest in selected hotel brands like the Marriot or the Hilton receive citizenship for life for themselves and their families. A Dominican citizenship, for many Indians, has opened doors to vast visa-free travel, the possibility of international education, and the backing of a solid healthcare system.

According to the Financial Times' CBI Index, Dominica's CBI Programme is rated the best in the world for the last four years. No physical residency or interview is required for the application process, and citizenship can be obtained in approximately three months.

Dominica has also waived visa requirements for Indian nationals visiting the island for tourism and business purposes for a period of six months. Similarly, the Government of India has approved an e-Tourist Visa for Dominican citizens. The Indian community in Dominica consists of several business families, professionals and faculty members of the coveted All Saints University School of Medicine.

pr@csglobalpartners.com

www.csglobalpartners.com
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 6, 2021) - Universal PropTech Inc. (TSXV: UPI) (OTCQB: UPIPF) (FSE: 8LH) ("UPI" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company's Chief Growth Officer, Frank Carnevale, will be presenting at the Q2 Investor Summit.

The conference will be held on Monday May 17th, 2021, and includes a company presentation and Q&A at 12:30pm - 1:00pm (Eastern Time). The company will also be holding 1-to-1 meetings with Investors on May 17th and 18th.

To request a complimentary investor registration and 1-to-1 meeting with Universal PropTech, please visit the conference website at www.investorsummitgroup.com.

Event: Q2 Investor Summit

Date: Monday May 17th, 2021

Time: 12:30PM - 1:00PM (EST)

Registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FE2-ic4fQeKEdBkvr_SRGg

About The Investor Summit

The Investor Summit (formerly MicroCap Conference) is an exclusive, independent conference dedicated to connecting smallcap and microcap companies with qualified investors. The Q1 Investor Summit will take place virtually, featuring 100 companies and over 300 institutional and retail investors.

About Universal PropTech Inc.

Universal PropTech Inc. (TSXV: UPI) (OTCQB: UPIPF) (FSE: 8LH) is a leading building innovation company, selecting, integrating, deploying, and maintaining PropTech in healthy buildings. As trusted advisors, we provide holistic evidence-driven solutions and services for building developers, owners, and operators in Canada. UPI operates through its wholly owned subsidiary, VCI Controls Inc. ("VCI"), a leading supplier and integrator of PropTech healthy building solutions and services. VCI is an industry leader in the acquisition and deployment of intelligent building technology, including the integration of all building systems utilizing the latest in communications technologies and standards. VCI's business focuses on digital controls and mechanical services, performance monitoring, and energy efficiency solutions.

With headquarters in Toronto, Universal PropTech Inc. has offices across Canada including, Halifax, Montreal, and Ottawa. For more information, visit www.universalproptech.com.

Contact Information

Universal PropTech Inc.

Chris Hazelton

President and Chief Executive Officer

chazelton@universalproptech.com

(647) 300-2957

Frank Carnevale

Chief Growth Officer

Fcarnevale@universalproptech.com

(647) 531-8264

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information provided in this press release constitutes forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "forecast", expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project", or similar words suggesting future outcomes. The Company cautions readers and prospective investors in the Company's securities not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information as, by its nature, it is based on current expectations regarding future events that involve a number of assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company.

The forward-looking information included herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking information included herein is made as of the date hereof and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange ("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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83245
KOM OMBO, Egypt, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sungrow, the global leading inverter solution supplier for renewables, announced that the Company signed the inverter supply contract for the 200 MW Kom Ombo project in Egypt following the signature of the EPC agreement between ACWA Power and the EPC contractor Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited. The project will be the largest privately developed utility-scale solar plants in the country and will increase the share of renewable energy in Egypt's energy mix in line with national targets.

The project is located within a desert area of Kom Ombo town in the Aswan Governorate of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The operation of the solar plant is a proactive measure towards a low carbon transition for Egypt's economy harnessing the abundant solar irradiation in the country.

Given the harsh desert climate, equipment had to be chosen carefully. Sungrow SG250HX-IN-20 and its medium-voltage turnkey station MVS6650-LV are resilient in complex environments such as extreme temperature, dry and dusty conditions, given the IP66 and C5 protection capability and smart forced air-cooling technology. Compatible with bifacial modules and tracking systems, the solution allows considerable yields by leveraging the sunlight resources onsite.

Egypt is taking measures to combat climate change with the plan to produce 42% of its electricity from renewables by 2035 as per the national Integrated Sustainable Energy Strategy to 2035 (ISES to 2035). The IPP system measures will facilitate the transition to solar energy and opens doors for international companies such as ACWA Power and Sungrow to partake in Egypt's sustainable energy journey.

In October 2019, ACWA Power inked a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with the Government of Egypt to develop, finance, construct and operate the 200 MW Kom Ombo PV plant followed by the signing of the Government Guarantee in January 2021 and the final project agreements including the Network Connection Contract (NCC), and Usufruct Agreement (UA) in April 2021. With an investment value of US$ 160 million, the project is expected to commence commercial operations in Q3 2022.

Once operational, Kom Ombo PV will generate clean power equivalent to 650 GWh annually and will cater to the power needs of 130,000 households, as well as offset 336,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

Alvin Shi, Managing Director of Sungrow MENA region, commented, "This Egyptian landmark project has achieved a competitive tariff while driving the growth of solar energy as an affordable alternative to conventional energy sources. By deploying the Sungrow 250 kW inverter solution, the Kom Ombo project is set up for operational excellence and marks a milestone in our partnership track record with our local partners ACWA Power as well as Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited," said Shi.

Sungrow has standout performance in the Egyptian commercial and industrial segment with the top 1 market share in 2020. With the local branch established in Dubai, Sungrow is poised to leap forward in the MENA region in 2021.

About Sungrow

Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd ("Sungrow") is the world's most bankable inverter brand with over 154 GW installed worldwide as of December 2020. Founded in 1997 by University Professor Cao Renxian, Sungrow is a leader in the research and development of solar inverters, with the largest dedicated R&D team in the industry and a broad product portfolio offering PV inverter solutions and energy storage systems for utility-scale, commercial, and residential applications, as well as internationally recognized floating PV plant solutions. With a strong 24-year track record in the PV space, Sungrow products power installations in over 150 countries. Learn more about Sungrow by visiting www.sungrowpower.com.

About ACWA Power

ACWA Power is a developer, investor and operator of power generation and desalinated water production plants. Registered and established in 2004 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; ACWA Power employs about 3,500 people and is currently present in 13 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. ACWA Power's portfolio includes 62 assets with an investment value of USD 65 billion, producing 42 GW of power and 5.8 million m3 /day of desalinated water delivered on a bulk basis to address the needs of state utilities and industries on long term, off-taker contracts under utility services outsourcing and Public-Private-Partnership models.

ACWA Power's mission is to reliably deliver electricity and desalinated water at a low cost, thereby contributing effectively to the sustainable, social and economic development of communities and countries. ACWA Power is committed to the values of Safety, People and Performance in operating its business across all geographies. For more information, please visit www.acwapower.com.

About Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited

Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited, a Shapoorji Pallonji group company, is a global pure-play, end-to-end solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) solutions provider. The Company provides EPC services for utility-scale, rooftop, and floating solar power projects with a focus on project design and engineering and manage all aspects of project execution from conceptualizing to commissioning. The Company also provides operations and maintenance (O&M) services, including for projects constructed by third parties and offers solar plus storage solutions to its customers. Present in 25 countries today, Sterling and Wilson Solar Limited has operations in India, South-East Asia, Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia.

Website - www.sterlingandwilsonsolar.com

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/sterling-and-wilson-solar/

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1344575/Logo.jpg
OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (CP, CP.TO) said that it has received a voting trust approval from Surface Transportation Board for its planned acquisition of Kansas City Southern (KSU) or KCS. In order to close into voting trust, the transaction requires approval from shareholders of both companies along with satisfaction of customary closing conditions. CP would then acquire KCS shares and place them into the voting trust, at which point KCS shareholders will receive their consideration. In March, Canadian Pacific Railway agreed to acquire Kansas City Southern in a stock and cash transaction representing an enterprise value of about $29 billion. The deal included the assumption of $3.8 billion of outstanding Kansas City Southern debt. In April, Canadian National Railway made a proposal to buy Kansas City Southern in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $33.7 billion, including $3.8 billion of KCS deal. 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.
Oslo (Norway), 7 May 2021 - PCI Biotech (OSE: PCIB), a cancer focused biopharmaceutical company, today announces its interim Q1 2021 results. Please find enclosed the report and presentation.



Highlights

fimaChem

*Increased screening and enrolment to RELEASE in Q1 after implementation of the amended protocol and the opening of Asian sites. The full effect of these initiatives is not expected until the Covid-19 situation improves further

*The first US patient was enrolled in the RELEASE study in April

*Continued focus on enrolment of patients into the RELEASE study, with the emphasis going forward being on regular trial management, including performance evaluation and replacement of underperforming sites

*The expected timeline for the planned interim analysis remains in the range from 2H 2022 to 1H 2023

fimaVacc

*Successful Phase I vaccination proof of concept study published in the high impact immunology journal, Frontiers in Immunology, demonstrating that fimaVacc enhances the immune response to peptide- and protein-based vaccines in healthy volunteers. The focus going forward is utilising the Phase I results in partnering efforts and planning for clinical proof-of-concept in a disease setting

fimaNAc

*Encouraging data on enhanced delivery of mRNA for various medical applications was presented at the UK based 12th Annual RNA Therapeutics Virtual Conference in February 2021

*In May 2021, PCI Biotech entered into an extensive research collaboration with the South Korean company OliX Pharmaceuticals, a leading developer of RNAi therapeutics

Per Walday, CEO of PCI Biotech, comments: "We have seen a good increase in patient screening and enrolment into the RELEASE study in Q1 2021, which is encouraging and supports the relevance of our study optimisation efforts. We expect to see the full force of these modifications when the healthcare systems are no longer afflicted by the pandemic. The situation has been difficult in the US, but an increase in activity during Q1 resulted in the first patient being enrolled in April. We are now fully focused on optimal study performance and progress, with the attention to site performance and management of study specific risks. For fimaVacc, we were pleased to see the successful proof-of-concept study published in the high impact immunology journal, Frontiers in Immunology. The focus going forward is utilising these results in partnering efforts and planning for clinical proof-of-concept in a disease setting. We were proud to present the strong collaborative fimaNAc data at a relevant international conference in February. We will be using these results to draw further attention and interest among relevant players within nucleic acid therapeutics. The broad and exciting collaboration recently announced with OliX Pharmaceuticals in South Korea signifies the strengths of our data and we look forward to exploring synergies between our technologies."

***

An online presentation in English will be held today, Friday 7 May 2021, at 08.30am CESTast.com/hegnarmedia/#!/hegnarmedia/20210507_1or the company's website under "Investors - Reports and presentations - Webcasts".

Q&A session

There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation and it will be possible to post written questions through the webcast console. The presentation will also be presented through a teleconference, mainly facilitated for investors intending to ask questions verbally during the Q&A session.

Dial - in details for teleconference, mainly facilitated for verbal questions during Q&A session :

If you plan to use this facility, please join the event 5-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time using the dial-in numbers below. A line mediator will provide information on how to ask questions.

Norway +47 2100 2610 / Sweden +46 (0)8 5033 6574 / Denmark +45 35 15 80 49 / United Kingdom +44 (0)330 336 9105 / United States +1 929-477-0402. If your country is not listed, we recommend that you use the dial-in details for UK.

When prompted, provide the confirmation code or event title.

Confirmation Code: 5592549

Event title: PCI Biotech Q1 2021 Conference Call

The interim report and the presentation will also be available on www.newsweb.no and on the company's webpage, www.pcibiotech.com from 07:00am (CEST) on 7 May 2021.

For further information, please contact:

Ronny Skuggedal, CFO

Email: rs@pcibiotech.no

Mobile: +47 9400 5757

About PCI Biotech

PCI Biotech is a biopharmaceutical late stage clinical development company focusing on development and commercialisation of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer through its innovative photochemical internalisation (PCI) technology platform. PCI is applied to three distinct anticancer paradigms: fimaChem (enhancement of chemotherapeutics for localised treatment of cancer), fimaVacc (T-cell induction technology for therapeutic vaccination), and fimaNAc (nucleic acid therapeutics delivery).

Photochemical internalisation induces triggered endosomal release that is used to unlock the true potential of a wide array of therapeutic modalities. The company's lead programme fimaChem consists of a pivotal study in bile duct cancer, an orphan indication with a high unmet need and without approved products. fimaVacc applies a unique mode of action to enhance the essential cytotoxic effect of therapeutic cancer vaccines, which works in synergy with several other state-of-the-art vaccination technologies. fimaNAc utilises the endosomal release to provide intracellular delivery of nucleic acids, such as mRNA and RNAi therapeutics, thereby addressing one of the major bottlenecks facing this emerging and promising field.

For further information, please visit: www.pcibiotech.com

Contact information: PCI Biotech Holding ASA, Ullernchausseen 64, N-0379 Oslo



Forward-looking statements

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements, which as such are not historical facts, but are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. These assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this announcement by such forward-looking statements. PCI Biotech disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachments
This is the first authorisation to be issued by the MHRA under Project Orbis. 1

AstraZeneca, NHS England and NICE have reached an agreement to enable early access to osimertinib for patients with this type of cancer, while NICE undertakes its appraisal.

Patients with early-stage lung cancer are treated with the intention of cure; however, many relapse because treatment is limited to surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. 2

Unprecedented clinical trial data show that osimertinib, the first approved targeted oral therapy in this setting, can reduce the risk of disease recurrence or death by 80% in patients with early-stage (IB-IIIA) EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC versus placebo.3

AstraZeneca today announced that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted a license extension for Tagrisso (osimertinib) in Great Britain, for use as monotherapy for the adjuvant treatment after complete tumour resection in adult patients with stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) whose tumours have epidermal growth factor (EGFR) exon 19 deletions or exon 21 (L858R) substitution mutations.4 This is the first authorisation to be issued by the MHRA under Project Orbis, a collaborative, global programme designed to deliver faster patient access to innovative cancer treatments.1

An agreement with NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) will enable early access to osimertinib for all patients in England with this specific type of lung cancer. Access is given ahead of official NICE guidance to ensure patients have the chance to benefit from this new treatment option as soon as possible. NICE guidance is not expected to be published until September 2021 at the earliest.5

Dr Carles Escriu, Consultant in Thoracic Medical Oncology at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool, said: "Today's news is potentially practice-changing because, for the first time, we have access to a targeted treatment for early-stage lung cancer. Osimertinib is a well-tolerated, once-daily tablet treatment and data show that, when taken after surgery, it can reduce the risk of disease recurrence or death by 80% after two years of treatment in patients with Stage IB-IIIA non-small cell lung cancer who have an EGFR mutation. Early-stage lung cancer patients can now be tested for EGFR mutations to give them the chance of delaying the return of cancer after surgery."

Arun Krishna, Head of Oncology, AstraZeneca UK, said: "Patients diagnosed in the earlier stages of EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer have the best chance of living disease-free, but many see their cancer return. Osimertinib, which was discovered by AstraZeneca scientists in the UK, could significantly improve patient outcomes in a disease setting that has had no new treatment options in over a decade. With this in mind, we have worked with urgency to secure the MHRA license and access in England to bring this treatment option to patients as quickly as possible. We will continue to work with authorities in the other nations of the UK to secure patient access at the earliest opportunity."

The standard of care for patients with early-stage lung cancer is surgery with curative intent, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy in appropriate patients. Despite this, disease recurrence within five years of surgery remains high, and has been reported to occur in 45% of Stage IB, 62% of Stage II, and 76% of Stage III patients.2

In the ADAURA Phase III trial, adjuvant treatment (after surgery) with osimertinib in patients with stage II-IIIA EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC reduced the relative risk of disease recurrence or death by 83% compared to placebo (HR 0.17; 99.06% CI, 0.11 to 0.26; P<0.0011).3 When looking at the broader group of patients (stage IB-IIIA) a secondary endpoint treatment with osimertinib reduced the relative risk of disease recurrence or death by 80% compared to placebo, after 24 months of treatment (HR 0.20; 99.12% CI: 0.14, 0.30; P<0.001).3

Data from ADAURA also show that, at two years in patients with stage IB-IIIA disease, 89% of patients treated with osimertinib after surgery remained alive and disease-free versus 52% on placebo.3

Across the ADAURA, FLAURA and AURA studies for osimertinib, very common adverse reactions included: diarrhoea (47% all grades; 1.4% grade 3), stomatitis (24% all grades; 0.5% grade 3), rash (45% all grades; 0.7% grade 3), dry skin (32% all grades; 0.1% grade 3), paronychia (33% all grades; 0.4% grade 3), pruritus (17% all grades; 0.1% grade 3), platelet count decreased (53% all grades; 1.2% grade 3), leucocytes decreased (65% all grades; 1.2% grade 3), lymphocytes decreased (62% all grades; 6.1% grade 3) and neutrophils decreased (33% all grades; 3.2% grade 3).4 Common adverse reactions included: epistaxis (5.3% all grades; 0 grade 3), interstitial lung disease (3.7% all grades; 1.1% grade 3), Palmar-plantar erythrodysaesthesia syndrome (1.7% all grades; 0 grade 3), alopecia (4.6% all grades; 0 grade 3), urticaria (1.9% all grades; 0.1% grade 3) and blood creatinine increased (9.4% all grades; 0 grade 3).4

NOTES TO EDITORS

About osimertinib

In addition to the license extension announced today, osimertinib is also licensed in the United Kingdom as:

monotherapy for the first-line treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC with activating EGFR mutations;

and for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic EGFR T790M mutation-positive NSCLC.4

Osimertinib was discovered and developed in the UK by AstraZeneca scientists. It is a third generation, orally-administered EGFR TKI, a targeted therapy for advanced EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC.

In normal cells, EGFR plays a central role in regulating cell division and death; however, mutations in the EGFR can cause excessive cell growth and division. Osimertinib works by binding to the mutated EGFR thereby blocking the cell signalling pathway that drives the growth of tumour cells in NSCLC.6

For more information about osimertinib, a summary of product characteristics (SMPC) can be found here: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/1985/smpc. An updated version of the SMPC, which includes the license extension, is available upon request.

ADAURA

The license for osimertinib in early-stage NSCLC is based on data from ADAURA a randomised, double-blind, global, placebo-controlled Phase III trial in the adjuvant treatment of 682 patients with Stage IB, II and IIIA EGFR mutation-positive NSCLC following complete tumour resection and adjuvant chemotherapy as indicated. Patients were treated with osimertinib 80mg once-daily oral tablets or placebo for three years or until disease recurrence.

The trial enrolled patients in more than 200 centres across more than 20 countries, including the US, in Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East. The primary endpoint was DFS in Stage II and IIIA patients and a key secondary endpoint was DFS in Stage IB, II and IIIA patients.

The data readout was originally anticipated in 2022. In April 2020, an Independent Data Monitoring Committee recommended for the trial to be unblinded two years early based on a determination of overwhelming efficacy. Investigators and patients continue to participate and remain blinded to treatment. The trial will continue to assess overall survival.

About lung cancer

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death in the UK, accounting for one in five (21%) of all cancer deaths.7 NSCLC is the most common type more than 32,000 people in England are diagnosed with NSCLC every year,8 with around 12% having tumours with EGFR mutations.9 These patients are particularly sensitive to treatment with EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) which block the cell-signalling pathways that drive the growth of tumour cells.6 Approximately 25-30% of patients with NSCLC present with resectable disease at diagnosis.10,11,12

The UK has one of the worst five-year survival rates for lung cancer in Europe.13

AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of diseases in three therapy areas Oncology, Cardiovascular, Renal Metabolism, and Respiratory Immunology. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide.

AstraZeneca is based in five different locations across the UK, with its global headquarters in Cambridge. In the UK, around 8,300 employees work in research and development, manufacturing, supply, sales and marketing. We supply 40 different medicines to the NHS. The UK is also an important location for AstraZeneca's clinical trials; in 2018, we undertook 201 trials in the UK, involving 376 centres and over 7,000 patients.

For more information, please visit www.astrazeneca.co.uk and follow us on Twitter @AstraZenecaUK.

References

GOV.UK. Guidance on Project Orbis: what the Project Orbis initiative is and MHRA involvement in this regulatory path. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-on-project-orbis Last accessed: May 2021. Pignon JP, Tribodet H, Scagliotti GV, et al. Lung Adjuvant Cisplatin Evaluation: a pooled analysis by the LACE Collaborative Group. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26:3552-3559. Wu YL, Tsuboi M, He J, et al. Osimertinib in resected EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer. N Engl J Med. 2020;383:1711-1723. Tagrisso (osimertinib). Summary of Product Characteristics. 1 October 2020. Available at: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/1985/smpcgref. Last accessed: May 2021 NICE. Osimertinib for adjuvant treatment of EGFR mutation-positive non-small-cell lung cancer after complete tumour resection [ID3835]. Project information. Available at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ta10756. Last accessed: May 2021 Cross DA, et al. AZD9291, an irreversible EGFR TKI, overcomes T790M-mediated resistance to EGFR inhibitors in lung cancer. Cancer Discov. 2014;4:1046-1061. Cancer Research UK. Lung cancer mortality statistics. Available at: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/statistics-by-cancer-type/lung-cancer/mortalityheading-Zero Last accessed May 2021. Royal College of Physicians. National Lung Cancer Audit 2017 information sheet. Published January 2018. Available at: https://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/file/8703/download?token=2UCmNec9 Last accessed May 2021. Midha A, Dearden S, McCormack R. EGFR mutation incidence in non-small cell lung cancer of adenocarcinoma histology: a systematic review and global map by ethnicity (mutMapII). Am J Cancer Res. 2015;5;2892-2911. Cagle PT, Allen TC, Olsen RJ. Lung cancer biomarkers: present status and future developments. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2013;137:1191-1198. Datta D, Lahiri B. Preoperative evaluation of patients undergoing lung resection surgery. Chest. 2003;123:2096-2103. Le Chevalier T. Adjuvant chemotherapy for resectable non-small-cell lung cancer: where is it going? Ann Oncol. 2010;21:196-198. Allemani C, et al. Global surveillance of trends in cancer survival: analysis of individual records for 37,513,025 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers during 2000-2014 from 322 population-based registries in 71 countries (CONCORD-3). Lancet. 2018 March 17; 391(10125): 1023-1075. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(17)33326-3.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506006319/en/

Contacts:

UK Media Enquiries

Elisa Agate, AstraZeneca: 07780 493687 elisa.agate@astrazeneca.com

Alex Larkinson, Edelman: 07980 687255 alex.larkinson@edelman.com
LONDON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- DeFinity, a decentralised finance (DeFi) marketplace for fiat Foreign Exchange, tokenised currencies, and central bank digital currencies (CBDC), announces its intention to deliver a near real-time settlement ecosystem to help FX market participants settle their cash FX, forwards, swaps, and NDF transactions at a fraction of the cost of traditional routes.

DeFinity is a layer-2 protocol and decentralised exchange solution, utilising existing blockchain frameworks including WeOwn, Ethereum, Polkadot, Binance Smart Chain, and Cardano. With a focus on interoperability, the ambition is to create a more inclusive decentralised ecosystem that helps to bridge the old with the new.

Manu Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer of DeFinity, comments: "We hope to introduce settlement efficiencies into the traditional asset space that we believe will help established and under-capitalised market participants alike improve their service to clients, investors, pension funds, and their own bottom line in the case of proprietary trading firms and hedge funds."

Michael Siwek, Chief Revenue Office of DeFinity, adds: "Over the last decade the FX market has evolved to offer reduced last-look times, technology that accurately measures market impact and information leakage combined with record-low order matching speed through state-of-the-art networks. The crucial aspect of credit is important to many participants that may not qualify for Tier 1 credit access. The DeFinity solution enables regulated retail and under-capitalised firms to access primary markets using the DeFinity settlement platform, which makes it an attractive solution in the $6.6 trillion daily FX market."

Security being at the forefront of the platform, users are to benefit from the introduction of an Information Security Framework using ISO standard ISO/IEC 27001, certification, and assurance standardisation based on ISAE 3402.

Sascha Ragtschaa, Chief Technology Office at DeFinity, states: "The existing and proven technology introduces immediate transactions to the network and enables our market makers and clients to efficiently trade with each other to benefit the wider marketplace."

Current and future regulation is at the heart of the DeFinity eco-system and its Central Bank Digital Currency offering. As such, the platform welcomes engagement with the FCA, The Bank of England, offshore Central Banks, and other relevant authorities to create a robust and future-proof service benefiting the market at large.

About DeFinity

DeFinity (https://definity.network) is financial technology firm designing and operating a decentralised exchange, specialised in traditional and digital FX using smart contracts with focus on real-time settlement. Harnessing the power of decentralization, within a strong regulatory framework, the firm is specifically geared towards the future support of central bank digital currencies and decentralised financial services for FX.

Press contact

Cathleen Murray

press@definity.network

+44 (0) 20 3290 6580
The Hartford Police Union feels that Chief Thody is falling to political pressure when it comes to the discipline of Detective Placzek, union President Anthony Rinaldi said. The only way to improve moral is for discipline to be fair. ... This sends a clear message to the members that we are not allowed to make mistakes because it could cost you your career.
The new farm decarbonizationbusiness has operations and partnerships across four continents



Oslo, Norway, May 7, 2021 - Yara, a leading crop nutrition solutions provider, today announced the commercial launch of Agoro Carbon Alliance, a global business created for farmers to earn additional revenue from positive climate action. By adopting climate-positive practices farmers can produce Farm Carbon Credits or climate-smart certified crops and help to decarbonize food supply chains. Agoro Carbon puts farmers at the center of the solution by incentivizing and enabling them to change practices and connecting them to the growing number of businesses looking for ways to achieve their climate pledges.

Agoro Carbon will support farmers with the agronomical expertise and practical support to successfully sequester carbon in the soil and reduce emissions from the field. This will in turn generate high-quality, third-party certified carbon credits and increase farmers' income. Farmers who join Agoro Carbon can therefore generate an additional sustainability income from carbon cropping while maintaining or even increasing crop yields. Farmers can make the transition to the climate-positive practices that best fit their operation and can choose the amount of acreage to enroll in the program.

"With the Agoro Carbon Alliance, our goal is to build a new global business that combines Yara's unique market position with an alliance approach that actively invites others to choose a more climate-positive food future," said Terje Knutsen, EVP Farming Solutions. "The farmer is at the center of everything we do at Yara. So we've designed Agoro Carbon to fit farmers' needs, and how we can best support them as a trusted partner."

This new business integrates Yara's global reach, local farmer relationships and nearly 115 years of proven agricultural innovation, in line with Yara's intention to build a more sustainable and profitable food future. This will be achieved by decarbonizing the food value chain in collaboration with farmers and partners across the globe. Agoro Carbon Alliance, a new Yara business, today launches commercial operations with a 30-person strong team and multiple partnerships across four continents (Europe, Brazil, India and the USA).

Agoro Carbon's ambition is both global and highly localized, with employees currently operating in 4 regions. Farmers in the United States are already working with Agoro Carbon to produce the first Farm Carbon Credits in 2021. Agoro Carbon also has employees in Brazil, India, and across Europe. The business has experts working to create value for farmers and the planet, with solutions to ensure that both smallholder and large farmers can benefit.

Knowing that tackling climate change will require a collective effort from partners across industries, Yara invites farmers, retailers and distributors, cooperatives, technology providers, lenders, insurers and the food industry to join the Agoro Carbon Alliance. Yara will host a virtual introduction event on June 8 to formally unveil details of Agoro Carbon, with additional information on how to get involved. We invite anyone interested in learning more to register for the event at www.yara.com/agoro/

To learn more about the Agoro Carbon Alliance and Yara, visit www.yara.com/agoro/ and www.yara.com



Media contact:

Name: Josiane Kremer

Phone: +47 481 80 451

Email: josiane.kremer@yara.com



Agoro Carbon Alliance contact:

Name: Kerri Pocock

Phone: +1 770 676 4661

Email: kerri.pocock@yara.com



About Yara

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara's ambition is focused on growing a climate positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.

To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming, and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.

Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry's only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2020, Yara reported revenues of USD 11.6 billion.

www.yara.com





About Agoro Carbon Alliance

Agoro Carbon Alliance is creating a new solution to our carbon challenge that's grounded in the soil. Our partners are committed to decarbonizing farming by helping transform practices on every farm on the planet, generating reliable Farm Carbon Credits and certified climate-smart crops.

Guided by transparency, security and collaboration, we create incentive for farmers, buyers, and consumers to choose change from the ground up. Agoro leverages Yara's deep agronomic knowledge and credibility to make it possible for every farm to transition to climate-positive farming practices, restoring carbon to the world's soils, and reversing the effects of climate change.

Meet our members and join the journey at www.yara.com/agoro



Attachments
7 May, 2021 08:00 CET

ArcelorMittal (the 'Company') announces the publication of the convening notice for its Annual General Meeting and Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders (the 'General Meetings'), which will be held on Tuesday 8 June 2021 at 13.30 CET.

In view of the Covid-19 outbreak, and related limitations on travel and gatherings, ArcelorMittal is taking precautionary measures to limit exposure for its employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. The Company's Board of Directors has therefore decided to hold this year's General Meetings without a physical presence, as permitted under Luxembourg law. Arrangements have therefore been made to provide shareholders with the opportunity to vote electronically and by proxy voting.

The ArcelorMittal shareholders entitled to vote at the General Meetings will be those who are shareholders on the record date of 25 May 2021 at midnight (24:00 hours) (CET) (the 'Record Date').

The convening notice, the Annual Report 2020, the Form 20F 2020, the voting forms and all other meeting documentation will be available on ArcelorMittal's website www.arcelormittal.comunder Investors - Equity investors - Shareholders events - AGM - General Meetings of shareholders, 8 June 2021. Shareholders may obtain, free of charge, a copy of the Annual Report 2020.
Morocco and the United Nations will be marking the first-ever International Argan Tree Day on May 10th, 2021. The Argan tree, a tree specific to the Kingdom of Morocco, will thus be celebrated every year on May 10, as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity and ancestral source of sustainable development.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506005652/en/

February 22, 2021: The United Nations' General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution proclaiming May 10 of each year as the "International Argan Tree Day" (Photo: AETOSWire)

The proclamation of the International Argan Tree Day was announced on March 3, 2021, when the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a draft resolution initiated by Morocco and hailed by all United Nations' member states.

This milestone is a culmination of Morocco's quest to mobilize the international community to protect and further develop the country's Argan industry. It is also an international recognition of the Kingdom's efforts, guided by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to call attention to the Argan tree's significant value, with the launch of a comprehensive program for the planting of 10,000 ha of Argan trees in the Souss-Massa-Draa region, Morocco.

The UN resolution highlights the key role of the Argan tree sector in achieving the 2030 Agenda goals and its contribution to sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions. It also underlines the key role of this sector in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 5 on the financial empowerment and emancipation of women in rural areas; strengthening social and solidarity economy as a means to implement the SDGs; eradicating poverty in all its forms and boosting human development by supporting cooperatives and other agriculture organizations working in the argan field.

Praising the achievement, HE OmarHilale, Morocco's Permanent Representative to the United Nations said: "Protecting this cultural heritage lies at the very heart of the missions undertaken by the Kingdom of Morocco and the proclamation of International Argan Tree Day is a recognition of these efforts. Marking this day is an invitation to learn, share and celebrate this ancestral tree, which produces the most coveted oil, often called the country's 'Liquid Gold'. It is also a way to leverage culture as a lever for sustainable socio-economic development."

A high-level event will be organized to mark this first celebration and will be chaired by Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco's Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Waters, and Forests, as well as high-ranking speakers, notably:

Omar Hilale, Morocco's Permanent Representative to the United Nations,

- Volkan Bozkir, President of the United Nations General Assembly,

- Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG),

- Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO,

- Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General,

- Anita Bathia, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women,

- Maria Henela Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General,

- Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund.

The event, slated to take place on May 10 from 2 to 4 pm UTC, will be streamed live on the United Nations' Web TV, YouTube, and social media.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506005652/en/

Contacts:

Sara Azennag

sara@internationaldayofargania.org
SYDNEY, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Optimism abounded for many Australian tourists when a travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand, allowing travel without quarantine, opened on April 18th. UserTesting , a leading provider of on-demand Human Insights , queried Australians on their reactions to the new travel opportunity and learned that caution was the word of the day for many.

Travel concerns about COVID spikes

Some of their fears and concerns materialized faster than expected. A COVID outbreak in Perth, resulting in a lockdown on April 23rd, caused New Zealand to pause the travel bubble with Western Australia. The possibility of COVID cases rising again was a concern that emerged from the study. Another concern revealed was the potential of getting locked out of one's home country should a COVID spike and lockdown occur while abroad.

Who is ready to travel?

Even with travel to New Zealand still open within regions of Australia, many travelers won't be packing their bags right away. The study found that 60 percent of men surveyed planned to travel, yet 70 percent of women did not. It was also revealed that for those who plan on taking advantage of the travel bubble, a majority of respondents (100 percent of women and 90 percent of men) don't plan to travel for at least 90 days or longer.

What is clear, is that those Australians planning on taking advantage of the travel bubble will be doing so for fun. The study found that 90 percent of men and 70 percent of women would be traveling purely for pleasure.

More travel bubbles with more countries

Respondents would like to see global travel open in a safe and well-planned manner. Beyond Australian & New Zealand travel bubble, other countries respondents would like to see open up next include Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam . Many feel travel to Europe and the United States may be far off, possibly not until 2022, due to the high COVID rates.

Methodology

The study was conducted in April with 10 men and 10 women that participated in the video think-aloud study. The participants were between the ages of 25 and 50, living in Australia.

For more information, Visit UserTesting

Media Contact:

Chris Halcon

chalcon@usertesting.com
Conditions of availability of the preparatory documents

Regulatory News:

Shareholders are invited to participate at the Ordinary and Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of TOTAL SE (Paris:FP) (LSE:TTA) (NYSE:TOT) which will be held on Friday May 28, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at the Company's registered office, 2 Place Jean Millier La Defense 6, 92400 Courbevoie without the physical presence of shareholders and other members and persons entitled to participate. No admission card to this Meeting will be issued.

The Shareholders' Meeting will be streamed live in full on the Company's website www.total.com/investors/shareholders-meetings. All useful information relating to this Meeting is regularly updated on this page of the website.

In this context, shareholders are invited to exercise their voting rights before the holding of the Shareholders' Meeting, either by internet via the secured Votaccess platform, or by returning their postal voting form, or also by giving proxy. The detailed procedures relating to the exercise of the right to vote are specified in the notice of the Shareholders' Meeting.

The preliminary notice of the Shareholders' Meeting and the convening notice were published in the French Bulletin des annonces legales obligatoires (BALO) on March 31, 2021 and on May 7, 2021 respectively.

The documents referred to in Article R. 225-83 of the French Commercial Code are made available to Shareholders as from the date of the convening notice for the Meeting in accordance with applicable regulations:

Shareholders holding registered shares may, up to and including the fifth day prior to the Meeting, request that the Company sends these documents to them free of charge. For shareholders holding bearer shares, the exercise of this right is subject to the provision of a certificate of registration in the accounts of the bearer shares issued by the authorized intermediary;

Shareholders may consult these documents at the Company's registered office, 2 place Jean Millier La Defense 6 92400 Courbevoie, under the conditions provided for by applicable regulations.

The documents referred to in Article R. 22-10-23 of the French Commercial Code may be consulted and downloaded on the Company's website: total.com/Investors/Annual Shareholders' meeting/The documents of the Meeting.

About Total

Total is a broad energy company that produces and markets fuels, natural gas and electricity. Our 100,000 employees are committed to better energy that is more affordable, more reliable, cleaner and accessible to as many people as possible. Active in more than 130 countries, our ambition is to become the responsible energy major.

Cautionary note

This press release, from which no legal consequences may be drawn, is for information purposes only. The entities in which TOTAL SE directly or indirectly owns investments are separate legal entities. TOTAL SE has no liability for their acts or omissions. In this document, the terms "Total" and "Total Group" are sometimes used for convenience where general references are made to TOTAL SE and/or its subsidiaries. Likewise, the words "we", "us" and "our" may also be used to refer to subsidiaries in general or to those who work for them.

This document may contain forward-looking information and statements that are based on a number of economic data and assumptions made in a given economic, competitive and regulatory environment. They may prove to be inaccurate in the future and are subject to a number of risk factors. Neither TOTAL SE nor any of its subsidiaries assumes any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information or statement, objectives or trends contained in this document whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506006357/en/

Contacts:

Total

Media Relations: +33 1 47 44 46 99 l presse@total.com l @TotalPress

Investor Relations: +44 (0)207 719 7962 l ir@total.com
The artworks, dedicated to the theme of racial justice, will be projected onto iconic buildings in five major U.S. cities and auctioned off to benefit the National Urban League

CHICAGO, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pitroda Art is pleased to announce the 16 artists participating in Movement: Art for Social Change, an annual juried exhibition that celebrates artists as champions of positive social change. Selected by a renowned panel of jurors composed of Aaron Bryant, Adenrele Sonariwo, Dexter Wimberly and Nancee Lyons, the 15 featured artworks respond to the theme of racial justice and equity. In addition, on May 20, Pitroda Art will launch an auction of the selected artworks in partnership with Mastercard on its Priceless.com platform, closing on June 17, with a portion of the purchase price donated to the National Urban League (NUL).

The artworks will also be projected onto iconic structures in five U.S. cities, starting with Washington, D.C. (May 13), Atlanta (May 20), Los Angeles (May 27), Chicago (June 3) and New York City (June 14).

SELECTED ARTISTS

Antoine Williams (USA), Asiko (UK), Evita Tezeno (USA), Heather Haynes (Canada), Kadiejra O'Neal (Barbados), Lloyd Foster (USA), Mark Wilson (USA) and Paola Zarate (USA), Nombuso Dowelani (South Africa), Paul Ogunlesi (Nigeria), Penda Diakite (USA-Mali), Rohan Patrick (USA), Segun Aiyesan (Nigeria), Tim Davis (USA), Tsoku Maela (South Africa), Winfred Nana Amoah (Ghana).

In 2020 Pitroda Art invited artists around the world to submit two-dimensional artworks tackling racial justice. The result was overwhelming: over 500 entries from 175 artists in 33 countries, and an array of powerful narratives and interpretations of Black history, racial identity and the current realities of the Black diaspora.

Mastercard has joined Pitroda Art as the global presenting sponsor of Movement: Art for Change as an extension of the brand's ongoing commitment to furthering racial equity and to advance opportunity for all. Mastercard is working to build a more inclusive economy for everyone, everywhere, by creating paths to financial security, helping small businesses to grow, assisting cities through an inclusive recovery and helping close the persistent racial wealth and opportunity gaps that exist across the U.S.

The collection of artworks selected by the jury will be up for sale in a live auction hosted on Mastercard's platform, Priceless.com from May 20 to June 17, with the preview available from May 13. Twenty-five percent of the purchase price will be donated to the National Urban League (NUL), a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality and social justice.

"The culmination of COVID-19 and the issues that toppled out of the pandemic moved us to pivot our platform to showcase art as a tool for social change," states Sonja Miokovic, Co-founder and Global Director of Pitroda Art. "The components of Movement have been in orbit since the very inception of Pitroda Art in 2017."

MEDIA CONTACT:

Angie Kordic / Olu & Company

angie@olucompany.com

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UK-based workspace operator connects back office and front office operations with a fully connected technology platform to enhance member booking experience

LONDON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Flexible workspace owner and operator TCN UK Ltd (TCN) has selected Yardi's coworking and accounting software for the management of its members, spaces and property accounting.

The firm, which holds a 100M portfolio value, has adopted the three connected cornerstones of Yardi's coworking suite: Yardi Kube, an end-to-end solution for member and space management; Yardi Kube IT Management, a flexible Wi-Fi and data management solution that ensures resilient member internet connectivity; and Yardi Voyager, for integrated accounting.

"High density and high-performance Wi-Fi capabilities coupled with competitive pricing were two pivotal deciding factors when choosing Yardi technology. We anticipate rolling out Yardi's coworking suite to all buildings in our portfolio, including our newest development Nest@Mallard, by September 2021 which we trust will positively impact both our brand and member services," said Rob Hoadly, head of asset management for TCN.

"With a 'creative places for curious minds' philosophy at the core of TCN's business model, we're excited to offer the Yardi Kube member app to our members to keep them connected and collaborative," continued Hoadly.

"We're delighted to welcome TCN to the Yardi platform. The adoption of the Yardi Kube suite will position TCN as a market leader in well-managed flexible workspaces whilst delivering seamless transactions internally and externally," said Justin Harley, regional director for Yardi.

Learn more about how the Yardi Kube platform can benefit any coworking business.

About TCN UK Ltd

For the past 15 years, TCN has regenerated unloved buildings, created surprising places and managed vibrant communities across the UK, from London to Bristol, Bath, Birmingham, Norwich and Reading. For more information visit tcnuk.co.uk.

About Yardi

Yardi develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, Calif., and serves clients worldwide from offices in Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. For more information, visit yardi.co.uk.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1505119/TCN_PR_image.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/737275/Yardi_Logo.jpg
PUNE, India, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ReportsnReports has recently added concise research on the "Artificial Intelligence In Genomics Market 2021: Global Growth Rate (CAGR of +52.7%), Application, Technology, Functionality, Offering, Drivers, Restraints and Top Company Profiles IBM, Microsoft, NVIDIA Corporation, Deep Genomics" to depict valuable insights related to significant market trends driving the industry with 100+ market data Tables, Pie Charts, Graphs & Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed analysis. All the data and statistics included in this Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market report leading to actionable ideas, improved decision-making, and better mapping business strategies. This Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market research report helps the clients understand the various drivers and restraints impacting the industry during the forecast period. This Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market report provides appropriate solutions to the complex business challenges and initiates an effortless decision-making process. This Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market research report predicts the size of the market with respect to the information on key retailer revenues, development of the industry by upstream and downstream, industry progress, key companies, key developments, along with market segments and application.

Download Exclusive Sample (350 Pages PDF) Report: To Know the Impact of COVID-19 on this Industry @ https://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/requestsample.aspx?name=4235597

The global AI in genomics market is projected to reach USD 1,671 million by 2025 from USD 202 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 52.7% between 2020 and 2025. The need to control drug development and discovery costs and time, increasing public and private investments in AI in genomics, and the adoption of AI solutions in precision medicine are driving the growth of this market. However, the lack of a skilled AI workforce and ambiguous regulatory guidelines for medical software are expected to restrain the market growth during the forecast period.

Top players list covered in the Artificial Intelligence In Genomics Market report are:

IBM (US),

Microsoft (US),

NVIDIA Corporation (US),

Deep Genomics (Canada),

BenevolentAI (UK),

Fabric Genomics Inc. (US),

Verge Genomics (US),

Freenome Holdings, Inc. (US),

MolecularMatch Inc. (US),

Cambridge Cancer Genomics (UK),

SOPHiA GENETICS (US),

Data4Cure Inc. (US),

PrecisionLife Ltd (UK),

Genoox Ltd. (US),

Lifebit (UK),

Diploid (Belgium),

FDNA Inc. (US),

DNAnexus Inc. (US),

Empiric Logic (Ireland),

Engine Biosciences Pte. Ltd. (US).

The world is not only fighting a health pandemic but also an economic one, as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID - 19) casts its long shadow over economies around the globe. The complete lockdown situation in several countries, has directly or indirectly impacted many industries causing a shift in activities like supply chain operations, vendor operations, product commercialization, etc. In the latest report on Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market, published by ReportsnReports, numerous aspects of the current market scenario have been taken into consideration and a concise analysis has been put together to bring you with a study that has Pre- and Post-COVID market analysis. Our analysts are watching closely, the growth and decline in each sector due to COVID - 19, to offer you with quality services that you need for your businesses. The report encompasses comprehensive information pertaining to the driving factors, detailed competitive analysis about the key market entities and relevant insights regarding the lucrative opportunities that lie in front of the industry players to mitigate risks in such circumstances.

Get Discount on this Research Report at https://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/discount.aspx?name=4235597

Artificial Intelligence In Genomics Market Scope:

By Offering (Software, Services),

By Technology (Machine Learning, Computer Vision),

By Functionality (Genome Sequencing, Gene Editing),

By Application (Diagnostics),

By End User (Pharma, Research)

Research Coverage

The report studies the AI in genomics market based on offering, technology, functionality, application, end user, and region.

The report analyzes factors (such as drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges) affecting the market growth.

The report evaluates the opportunities and challenges in the market for stakeholders and provides details of the competitive landscape for market leaders.

The report studies micro-markets with respect to their growth trends, prospects, and contributions to the total AI in genomics market

The report forecasts the revenue of market segments with respect to four major regions.

Key Questions Answered:

What is the size and CAGR of the Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market?

What are the key driving factors of the most profitable regional market?

Which are the leading segments of the global market?

How will the Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market advance in the coming years?

What are the main strategies adopted in the global market?

What is the nature of competition in the Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market?

What growth impetus or acceleration market carries during the forecast period?

Which region may hit the highest market share in the coming era?

What trends, challenges, and barriers will impact the development and sizing of the Artificial Intelligence in Genomics Market?

Direct Purchase of this Research Report at https://www.reportsnreports.com/purchase.aspx?name=4235597

BROWSE RELATED REPORTS

Global Artificial Intelligence for Edge Devices Market Report 2020 - Market Size, Share, Price, Trend and Forecast is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Artificial Intelligence for Edge Devices industry. For competitor segment, the report includes global key players of Artificial Intelligence for Edge Devices as well as some small players. At least 17 companies are included: Alibaba, Apple, Arm, Baidu, CEVA Logistics and Cambricon. For More details get free sample copy of this Research Report at https://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/requestsample.aspx?name=4227835

Artificial Intelligence (Ai) in Medical Diagnostics Market by Component (Software, Service), Application (In Vivo, Radiology, OBGY,MRI, CT, Ultrasound, IVD), End User (Hospital, Diagnostic Laboratory, Diagnostic Imaging Center) - Global Forecast to 2025. Get Sample Copy at https://www.reportsnreports.com/contacts/requestsample.aspx?name=4334725

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May 7, 2021

U.S. Oil & Gas Plc.

("US Oil" or the "Company")

Update

U.S. Oil & Gas Plc, ("USOIL" or the "Company"), the oil and gas exploration company with assets in Nevada, is pleased to make the following announcement:

Operational update

As previously announced, the Company has submitted Notices of Staking for three drill locations in its West Play: Eblana-7, Eblana-8 and Eblana-13. The locations are on one of two zones with interpreted Palaeozoic slide block structures suggested by geophysical and geochemical data and which may feature carbonate lithology. These zones appear to be analogues of Railroad Valley's Grant Canyon Field, and each may contain multiple slide blocks. The data suggests that in the West Play multiple slide blocks may exist within the Company's acreage.

Zone 1, an area of approximately 4,064 acres, appears to contain several prospective structures based on interpretation of the available data. Of these, three are targeted by the wells for which the Company has submitted Notices of Staking. For those three locations, total best estimate Prospective Resources are 86.5 million barrels of Original Oil in Place (STOIP) based on a productive area of 170 acres per block and average porosity of 15%. If a Grant Canyon analogue is confirmed, and the reservoir is formed from fractured carbonates with extremely high effective porosity, flow rates could be exceptionally high. The first drilling priority, Eblana-7, targets 28.83 million barrels (STOIP).

Zone 2, with 1,504 acres, potentially contains two prospective structures. For those, total best estimate Prospective Resources are 57.66 million barrels of Original Oil in Place (STOIP) based on similar estimates to Zone 1.

Background

Data from the Company's three non-commercial wells in Hot Creek Valley, Nevada, Eblana-1, Eblana-3 and Eblana-9, along with geophysical and geochemical surveys, two strong plays on the Company's leases, one to the west and the other to the east. Two of the Company's three wells on the East Play, Eblana-1 and Eblana-3, flowed high quality oil to the surface (API 28.5-34.5) indicating an active oil system. The third, Eblana-9 was dry.

While further geophysical studies are carried out on the East Play, the Company intends to drill a further well or wells on the West Play, subject to permits and funding. Several of the Company's leases believed prospective on the West Play will expire between February and April 2022. Each such lease must produce oil in paying quantities if it is to be retained, making drilling an urgent priority.

Seismic, gravity, magnetic and geochemical data from the West Play support the interpretation that slide block structures are present and are analogues of nearby Railroad Valley's Grant Canyon field. Grant Canyon historically included the most productive onshore well in the USA, flowing at over 4,000 bopd, and produced 21.4 million barrels of oil (data to 2015). In Hot Creek valley, potentially analogous structures may feature good reservoir properties and, if charged with hydrocarbons, promise potentially excellent productivity.

Funding

The Company's intention, subject to permits and funding, is to drill in Q2 or Q3 2021 at least one of the three locations in the West Play for which Notices of Staking have been submitted. To that end, the Company is exploring all possible routes to raise the necessary funding, including approaches to institutional investors and Private Placings.

The Board has considered the possibility that potential investors may be deterred by the risk that insufficient funds will be raised to drill at least one well. In the light of this last factor, and to increase the chances that sufficient funds will be raised, the Company intends to set a deadline of September 30 2021, by which time a stated target amount sufficient to drill a single well ("the drill budget") must be met. If the drill budget is not raised by that date, all funds will be returned to participants. This information is being provided to reassure shareholders that all reasonable steps are being taken to achieve the Company's objective of drilling a further well or wells in Hot Creek Valley and is not an invitation to subscribe or to purchase shares. The value set for the drill budget will be communicated in investor documents.

The Board believes that the above strategy of returning funds if a stated drill budget is not raised is potentially reassuring to would-be investors and offers the best chance of raising the required capital. If the drill budget cannot be raised, and funds raised are returned, the Board will have to consider the Company's remaining options.

Brian McDonnell, US Oil CEO, said:

"Intensive data analysis of the West Play over the past year has revealed two potentially large slip block zones that appear to be excellent analogues of the Grant Canyon field. While work on the East Play continues, we are expending maximum effort to achieve at least one drill in the West as soon as possible. The potential is, we believe, enormous. A successful well whose productivity even approached that of Grant Canyon would be a company-making achievement. That is our opportunity and our goal, and with the support of shareholders and the investor community, that goal is within reach."

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements in this communication reflect the current thinking of the Board and the Company's present plans. The Company reserves the right to alter plans in the light of developing knowledge and circumstances. Shareholders' attention is drawn to the note below concerning Forward-looking Statements.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information". Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to: business plans and strategies of US Oil and Gas; operating or technical difficulties in connection with drilling or development activities; availability and costs associated with inputs and labour; drilling and exploration costs; the speculative nature of oil exploration and development; diminishing quantities or quality of reserves; synergies and financial impact of completed acquisitions; the benefits of the acquisitions and the development potential of properties of US Oil and Gas; the future price of oil; supply and demand for oil; the estimation of reserves; the realization of reserve estimates; costs of production and projections of costs; success of exploration activities; capital expenditure programs and the timing and method of financing thereof; the ability of US Oil and Gas to achieve drilling success consistent with management's expectations; net present values of future net revenues from reserves; expected levels of royalty rates, operating costs, general and administrative costs, costs of services and other costs and expenses; expectations regarding the ability to raise capital and to add to reserves through acquisitions, assessments of the value of acquisitions and exploration and development programs; geological, technical, drilling and processing problems; treatment under governmental regulatory regimes and tax laws.

All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements

THE DIRECTORS OF THE COMPANY ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONTENTS OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT

Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein constitutes an offer or solicitation by U.S. Oil and Gas Plc for the purchase or sale of any securities nor does it constitute a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction where solicitation would be unlawful.

For further information contact:

Brian McDonnell, Chief Executive Officer +353 (1) 631 9022

About U.S. Oil & Gas:

U.S. Oil & Gas plc is an oil and gas exploration company with a strategy to identify and acquire oil and gas assets in the early phase of the upstream life-cycle and mature them. The Company's

main asset is in Nye County, Nevada where it holds the entire share capital of US-based company, Major Oil International LLC ("Major Oil"). Major Oil has acquired rights to exploration and development acreage in Hot Creek Valley, Nye County, adjacent to the oil and gas rich Railroad Valley area of Nevada, both of which are part of the Sevier Thrust of central Nevada and western Utah, USA.

For further information please refer to our website at: www.usoilandgas.us
BANGKOK, May 7, 2021 - (ACN Newswire) - Don Muang Tollway PCL (SET:DMT), an experienced transportation infrastructure management company and an operator of the Uttraphimuk Elevated Toll Road or Don Muang Tollway, will begin its trading on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on May 7, 2021. With expertise in managing a toll road business for over 30 years, the company is looking for new investment opportunities and aiming to become a leader in developing and managing transportation infrastructure projects in Thailand, creating sustainable growth and ensure steady returns for its shareholders in the long term.Mr. Tarnin Phanichewa, Managing Director of Don Muang Tollway, reports that the company will begin trading its shares on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) on May 7, 2021, under the Transportation and Logistics sector with the symbol of DMT.DMT has been well preparing on business expansion plans to take advantage of public private partnership opportunities, allowing private sectors to participate in infrastructure development projects with the government. Leveraging on its strengths and having more than 30 years of experience in managing Don Muang Tollway, the company is in a good position to participate in the 20-year Intercity Motorway Development Master Plan envisioned by the Department of Highways. Besides, the company is interested in the non-toll businesses such as highway rest area projects.Part of the fundraising proceeds will be used for the debt repayment in order to be a debt-free company, reducing financial burden and strengthening the company's financial position. The business expansion plans together with its strong financial position will boost sustainable growth and ensure good returns for shareholders in the long run."I would like to thank you all investors for trusting in DMT. We are determined to become a leading player in the development and management of transportation infrastructures in Thailand. With our over 30-year experience and expertise in the business, we believe that we will play an important role in improving Thailand's competitiveness by creating high-quality transportation infrastructures and transportation network, and at the same time we also believe that DMT will be able to achieve stable growth and decent rate of returns to our shareholders," Mr. Tarnin says.Mr. Varah Sucharitakul, Executive Director of Finansa Securities Limited, as the sole lead underwriter, says DMT's IPO received very warm welcome from investors. IPO fundraising proceeds will definitely strengthen the company's financial status and enable DMT to be the debt-free company. With DMT's dividend policy having the payout ratio of not less than 90% of net profit after the capital reserve as required by law, we believe that the investors will receive stable and attractive returns.On top of that, investors will benefit from the public private partnership opportunities allowing DMT to selectively participate and invest in various projects under the 20-year Intercity Motorway Development Master Plan under the responsibility of the Department of Highways, he adds.Mr. Worawas Wassanont, Managing Director of Avantgarde Capital Co., Ltd., as the financial advisor, says DMT's stock will be in the spotlight from the investors because of its strong business fundamentals and its expertise in transportation infrastructures. By utilizing modern technologies on the traffic management, the operation of the Don Muang Tollway has become more efficient as well as be ready for the 24 hours to ensure prompt services to the Tollway users and for the increasing number of Tollway users which are expected to be the normal level after the end of COVID-19 pandemic.DMT is also leveraging on its knowledge and experience to expand its businesses, enhancing decent returns to all shareholders, he says.For more information, please contact:Tasanun Chuiklom (Noo), E: tasanun.c@tollway.co.th, Don Muang Tollway PCLPipop Khongwong (Top), E: pipop.k@mtmultimedia.com, MT Multimedia Co., Ltd.Source: Don Muang Tollway PCLCopyright 2021 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
The Stewart B. McKinney Mens Emergency Shelter will close after 34 years at 34 Huyshope Ave., an old, city-owned firehouse that has been long overdue for renovations to address the facilities shortcomings and bring it into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Up to 100 men were staying in the shelter in large, open rooms filled with bunk beds until concerns over the spread of the coronavirus last spring prompted the operator, Community Renewal Team, to relocate residents to the Best Western Hartford Hotel & Suites on Brainard Road.


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese yen slipped against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Friday, as Asian markets followed Wall Street higher after a survey showed China's services sector expanded at the sharpest pace in four months in April.



The Caixin China services purchasing managers index climbed to 56.3 from 54.3 in March. Separately, official data showed that China's exports and imports grew faster than expected in April.



Investors await the release of U.S. jobs data due out later in the day for more insights into the strength of the global recovery.



Economists expect U.S. employment to jump by 978,000 jobs in April after an increase of 916,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.8 percent from 6.0 percent.



The latest survey from Jibun Bank showed that Japan's services sector continued to contract in April, albeit at a slower pace, with a services PMI score of 49.5.



That's up from 48.3 in March, although it remains slightly below the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.



The yen fell to 109.20 against the greenback, from an early 4-day high of 108.94. The yen is seen finding support around the 111.00 mark.



The yen declined to 131.72 against the euro and 151.85 against the pound, off its prior highs of 131.48 and 151.40, respectively. The next likely support for the yen is seen around 133.00 against the euro and 154.00 against the pound.



The yen reversed from its early highs of 120.05 against the franc and 89.61 against the loonie, dropping to 120.28 and 89.84, respectively. The yen may challenge support around 124.00 against the franc and 92.00 against the loonie.



In contrast, the yen rose to 78.79 against the kiwi and 84.73 against the aussie, from its early low of 79.03 and a 1-1/2-month low of 85.02, respectively. The yen is likely to face resistance around 75.00 against the kiwi and 82.00 against the aussie, if it gains again.



Looking ahead, U.K. construction PMI for April is due out in the European session.



U.S. and Canadian jobs data and Canada Ivey PMI, all for April, as well as U.S. wholesale inventories and consumer credit for March will be out in the New York session.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Germany's exports growth accelerated unexpectedly in March, data released by Destatis revealed on Friday. Exports increased 1.2 percent on a monthly basis in March, while economists had forecast the growth to ease to 0.5 percent from 1 percent in February. At the same time, imports growth rose sharply to 6.5 percent from 3.6 percent a month ago. This was the second consecutive increase and far exceeded the economists' forecast of 0.7 percent. Consequently, the trade surplus fell to EUR 14.3 billion from EUR 18.9 billion in the previous month. The expected level was EUR 19.5 billion. Year-on-year, exports advanced 16.1 percent, reversing a 1.2 percent fall in February and imports rose 15.5 percent after a 0.9 percent rise. As a result, the trade surplus increased to an unadjusted EUR 23.3 billion from EUR 18.2 billion last year. The current account surplus totaled EUR 30.2 billion versus EUR 24.8 billion in last year. 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.
STOCKHOLM, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- INCREASED ACTIVITIES IN NEW BUSINESS VERTICALS, NEW E-COMMERCE PLATFORM LAUNCHED

Simris Alg AB (publ) (FNSE:SIMRIS) has published its financial results for January - March 2021.

MSEK Jan-Mar 2021 Jan-Mar 2020 Jan-Dec 2020 Net sales 0.492 0.265 2.166 Operating results -7.462 -6.859 -23.694 Earnings before tax -6.853 -6.486 -25.537 Net cash from operating activities -7.478 -5.980 -19.485 Cash at end of period 8.463 1.641 16.512

Net sales were 0.492 MSEK (0.265) during the quarter. Net sales in the US were 0.308 MSEK (0.128).

The operating result was -7.462 MSEK (-6.859).

Christoffer Tell was appointed CFO.

was appointed CFO. Three business verticals were presented - SIMRIS BIOMIMETICS for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, SIMRIS NOVEL FOODS for new food ingredients, and consumer brand SIMRIS for omega-3 supplements.

New e-commerce platforms were launched on simris.com for the US market and eu.simris.com for Sweden and the EU.

and the EU. EFSA, the EU Food Safety Authority, granted an extension of the deadline to submit requested additional information to Simris Alg's application for authorisation under the Novel Food Regulation. New deadline is September 1, 2021 .

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER THE END OF THE REPORTING PERIOD

The company presents a new development plan including new product candidates and upcoming milestones. New board members proposed to the AGM by the nomination committee will strengthen company management to realise the company's potential.

Simris Alg signs a five-year agreement with Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Germany (AUAS) for the development of new biologically active substances from microalgae for advanced skincare. The collaboration increases Simris Alg's R&D capacity and aims to accelerate product development within the Simris Biomimetics business vertical.

COMMENT FROM THE CEO: FIRST STEPS IN NEW MARKETS

Those who have followed Simris Alg for a while have surely noticed the significant changes in our business which we implemented during the last quarter. Having successfully developed our platform from lab to industrial scale and taken our first products to market, we have now entered the next phase for real. Here, Simris continues to lead the development of microalgae biotechnology through our new business verticals, in particular Simris Biomimetics. Biologically active ingredients from microalgae for advanced skincare are aimed at a global market worth well over USD 500 billion, meaning we are sitting on a unique gold mine with almost untapped commercial potential. The first quarter also saw a pleasing increase for our e-commerce in the United States, following the launch of our new online store. Continued growth here is important to attract the right partner to operate our US sales of Simris Algae Omega-3 in the future. Hence, we are excited and look forward to our new board of directors, which will play a key role in realising the potential of Simris moving forward. Spring has arrived!

The full version of the report is available in Swedish at www.simrisalg.se/investerare

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Fredrika Gullfot

CEO Simris

Tel: +46 761 345 474

email: gullfot@simris.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/simris-alg/r/simris-alg-interim-report-january---march-2021,c3342773

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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.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks advanced on Friday as sportswear maker Adidas raised its sales outlook and data showed German companies increased exports for the eleventh month in a row in March. The benchmark DAX jumped 130 points, or 0.9 percent, to 15,327 after rising 0.2 percent the previous day. Adidas surged 7.6 percent as the company raised its 2021 sales outlook despite ongoing lockdowns in Europe. Similarly, automation company Siemens rallied 2.8 percent after lifting its revenue and profit guidance for the year. Automaker BMW rose 0.6 percent after reiterating its full-year profit margin outlook. In economic releases, Germany's industrial production recovered at a faster than expected pace in March, data from Destatis revealed. Industrial production grew 2.5 percent month-on-month in March, reversing a 1.9 percent fall in February. Output was forecast to climb 2.3 percent. On a yearly basis, industrial production advanced 5.1 percent, in contrast to a 6.8 percent fall in February. Another report revealed that German exports growth accelerated unexpectedly in March. Exports increased 1.2 percent on a monthly basis in March, while economists had forecast the growth to ease to 0.5 percent from 1 percent in February. At the same time, imports growth rose sharply to 6.5 percent from 3.6 percent a month ago. This was the second consecutive increase and far exceeded the economists' forecast of 0.7 percent. Year-on-year, exports advanced 16.1 percent, reversing a 1.2 percent fall in February and imports rose 15.5 percent after a 0.9 percent rise. 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.
For Immediate Release

7 May 2021

ROGUE BARON PLC

("Rogue Baron" or "The Company")

Appointment of ex Diageo spirits industry veteran

Rogue Baron PLC (AQSE: SHNJ), a leading company in the premium spirit sector, is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Mooney to its advisory board.

Peter Mooney is a drinks industry specialist with over 25 years of senior UK and international experience, spanning General Management, Marketing, Sales, Finance, Communications and E-Commerce. His expertise has been gained in global blue-chips such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, Heineken (previously Scottish & Newcastle) and then Maxxium UK (Maxxium is the fastest growing major spirits distributor in the UK off trade and the No. 2 UK spirits distributor). Peter was UK Marketing Director for a portfolio of over 30 premium spirits brands including Absolut, The Macallan, Highland Park, Stolichnaya Vodka, Brugal Rum, Jim Beam, Remy Martin Cognac and Cointreau.

More recently, he has worked in smaller private businesses and created and headed up McEwan's Beer Company, leading the transformation and turnaround of a once-iconic brand which had - until then - suffered long-term decline.

In 2016, Peter founded International Drinks Development ("IDD") - a business which helps drinks companies to grow their brands globally. With IDD, Peter has brought success to a number of brands in markets around the world - and the business continues to thrive.



Ryan Dolder, CEO of Rogue Baron commented: "Rogue Baron is delighted to have someone of Peter's experience and track record to join the team. Peter's brief is initially to help build Shinju to a global drinks brand which can comfortably occupy our early position at the accessible end of Japanese whisky (core expression - accessible, fun, cocktails) and yet confidently exist at the higher end of the category as we intend to launch older aged expressions with super-premium positioning and pricing. A key component of this is to address possibilities for launching Shinju outside of the USA with a particular focus on Europe and the UK in particular."

About Rogue Baron

Rogue Baron is a diversified holding company in the premium spirits industry. The Company's core focus is on developing brands in high-growth categories where opportunity exists to grow sales and increase its shareholders' value. The Company has multiple brand subsidiaries led by its flagship brand, Shinju Japanese Whisky. The Company's goal is to build each of its brands to the case sale threshold that makes them an attractive buyout target

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

For further information, please contact:

The Company

Ryan Dolder

rdolder@roguebaron.com

AQSE Corporate Adviser:

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Guy Miller +44 (0) 20 7469 0936

AQSE Corporate Broker:

Peterhouse Capital Limited

Lucy Williams +44 (0) 20 7469 0936

Investor Relations +44 (0)7464 609025

ir@roguebaron.com
SEATTLE, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- LumiThera Inc., a commercial stage medical device company delivering photobiomodulation (PBM) treatment for ocular damage and diseases, today announced research investigators lead by Drs. Hakan Kaymak, Inken Becker and Hartmut Schwahn, from the Macula Retina Centre of Breyer Kaymak & Klabe Eye Clinic in Dusseldorf, Germany presented positive clinical findings following PBM treatment with the Valeda Light Delivery System from an ongoing safety and efficacy study in Early Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) Patients with Central Macular Edema (DME) at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Conference 2021.

This is the first retrospective systematic evaluation with the Valeda system in early DR/DME patients with good vision. The study investigated the beneficial effects of Valeda PBM on both objective and subjective visual function in early DME patients. A total of 30 eyes from 19 DME patients (56  14 yrs, range: 27-76, 68% male) with good visual acuity (VA) and macula edema were treated with one series of 9 PBM treatments (about 3 times a week for 3 to 4 weeks).

The patients were assessed for multiple clinical, anatomical and safety outcomes. Wide field color fundus photography (Optos) prior to and after PBM treatment was assessed using diabetes retinopathy severity scale (DRSS) by an independent retinal expert. Optical Coherence Tomography (Zeiss) imaging assessments and patients' subjective evaluations (via questionnaire) were conducted before PBM treatments at baseline (BL), after final treatment and at follow-up visits that extended up to 16 months.

"The results demonstrate the first time Valeda was tested in DME patients and showed improvement in both anatomical and clinical outcomes," stated Hakan Kaymak, MD. "Previously, we have demonstrated the clinical benefits of PBM treatments in dry AMD patients in our clinic. Now we have extended the safety and effectiveness into early DME patients with good vision."

After the Valeda treatment, the presence of intraretinal fluid (IRF) overall was reduced from 90% to 70% (p = 0.031). Presence of IRF in the central 1 mm reduced from 70% to 57% (p = 0.125). Hard exudates were present at BL and were significantly reduced by the PBM treatment from 66.7% to 46.7% (p = 0.031). Central Retinal Thickness at BL was 294  51 m and significantly reduced to 286  42 m (p = 0.027). After 9 PBM treatments the DRSS scores showed a 1 step improvement in 17% of the eyes, in 83% the DRSS score remained stable. More than 60% of the patients treated with one series of PBM for 3 to 4 weeks noted a continuation of their subjective improvement and a decreased disease influence on their daily life 4 months after the PBM treatments.

"Anatomical benefits and subjective patient evaluations suggest disease-modifying effect with PBM treatment in patients with early DME," stated Hartmut Schwahn, PhD, Director of Research at Hakan Kaymak's clinic. "The early DME patients typically had good vision and nearly normal CRT but clear evidence of macular edema. This data supports the safe and effective use of the Valeda and PBM in early diabetic retinopathy and macular edema patients."

"There was no change in the other morphological efficacy and safety parameters including epiretinal membrane, disorganization of the retinal inner layers, and integrity of the outer retina during the whole follow-up period," noted Professor Marion Munk, MD, PhD, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern and Bern Photographic Reading Center. "Several anatomical parameters showed a significant improvement without the need for invasive treatments. The PBM treatment was very well tolerated, and no signs of phototoxicity were observed based on functional and anatomical outcomes assessed."

"We continue to evaluate Valeda treatments in ocular disease and damage," stated Clark Tedford, Ph.D., President and CEO. This early case study demonstrates safety for Valeda treatments up to 16 months following PBM treatments in early DME patients and potential disease-modifying benefits on anatomical endpoints without resorting to invasive laser procedures or injections in the eye. We are planning formal prospective studies to further optimize treatment benefits."

In 2018, LumiThera obtained a CE mark to commercialize the Valeda Light Delivery System in the European Union for the treatment of dry AMD. In 2020, LumiThera was awarded a SBIR phase II grant by the NIH to study the effects of the Valeda device in DME patients in the US.

Visit the Company's website at www.lumithera.com.

About LumiThera Inc.

LumiThera is a commercial-stage medical device company focused on treating people affected by ocular damage and disease including dry age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in adults over 65. The company is a leader in the use of PBM for treatment of acute and chronic ocular diseases and disorders. The company has developed the office-based Valeda Light Delivery System to be used by eye care specialists as medical treatments.

The Valeda Light Delivery System has been granted authorization to use the CE Mark by an EU Notified Body as required for commercial use in the European Union only. Valeda is not approved for use by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA.

2021 LumiThera, Inc., All rights reserved.
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Legal Entity Identifier: 213800NN42KX2LG1GQ40

7 May 2021

LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT

Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC

Unaudited Half Year Results For The Six Months Ended

31 March 2021

This Announcement is not the Company's Half Year Report & Accounts. It is an abridged version of the Company's full Half Year Report & Accounts for the six months ended 31 March 2021. The full Half Year Report & Accounts, together with a copy of this announcement, will shortly be available on the Company's website at www.finsburygt.com where up to date information on the Company, including daily NAV, share prices and fact sheets, can also be found.

The Company's Half Year Report & Accounts for the six months ended 31 March 2021 has been submitted to the UK Listing Authority, and will shortly be available for inspection on the National Storage Mechanism (NSM): https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

AS AT

31 MARCH AS AT

30 SEPTEMBER % 2021 2020 CHANGE Share price 862.0p 840.0p 2.6 Net asset value per share 856.0p 846.2p 1.2 Premium/(discount) of share price to net asset value per share^ 0.7% (0.7)% Gearing1^ 0.9% 0.5% Shareholders' funds 1,915.9m 1,842.5m 4.0 Number of shares in issue 223,821,303 217,751,303 2.8

SIX MONTHS TO 31 MARCH ONE YEAR TO 30 SEPTEMBER 2021 2020 Share price (total return)2^ +3.7% -9.0% Net asset value per share (total return)2^ +2.2% -7.7% FTSE All-Share Index (total return2 3) (Company benchmark) +18.5% -16.6% Active Share %1 2 86.28% 87.05% Ongoing charges1^ 0.6% 0.6%

YEAR ENDING

30 SEPTEMBER YEAR ENDED

30 SEPTEMBER 2021 2020 First interim dividend 8.0p 8.0p Second interim dividend Yet to be declared 8.6p

1 See glossary

2 Source - Morningstar

3 Source - FTSE International Limited ("FTSE")  FTSE 2021

^ Alternative Performance Measures ("APMs"). Definitions of the APMs together with how the measures have been calculated can be found in the Glossary.

REVIEWS

CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

I am pleased to present my first report as Chairman following the retirement of Anthony Townsend from the Board in February 2021. My Board colleagues and I would like to thank Anthony for his 22 years of service to the Company, 13 of them as Chairman. I know that he was particularly sorry not to be able to say farewell to shareholders in person at the Annual General Meeting owing to pandemic-related restrictions and we wish him well for the future.

PERFORMANCE

It is disappointing to have to report that the Company has underperformed its benchmark. The Company's net asset value per share^ over the period under review was up 2.2% on a total return basis which compares with a return of 18.5% from the Company's benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index. The share price total return was slightly higher at 3.7% reflecting the move in the share price over the period from a small discount to the net asset value to a small premium. The total return for the period was 40.5m compared with a loss of 358.0m for the corresponding period last year which reflected significant market uncertainty at the early stages of the COVID-19 global health crisis.

Our Portfolio Manager's investment approach involves building a concentrated portfolio of companies that have strong brands and/or powerful market franchises. This concentrated approach results in a very different portfolio when compared with the constituents of the Company's benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index, and demonstrates a high level of active management. The extent to which a portfolio is actively managed can be quantified and expressed as a percentage ("Active Share")*. At 31 March 2021, the Company's Active Share versus the FTSE All-Share Index was 86.28%. Such an uncorrelated portfolio will inevitably perform very differently from its benchmark (positively or negatively) over different periods of time.

The performance over the six month period is driven in the main by a difficult 2021 to date for a number of key holdings in the portfolio. Holdings (such as Unilever) that performed well during calendar year 2020 due to their defensive nature and which were responsible for the portfolio's outperformance last year have significantly lagged in 2021 to date. In addition, the share prices of a number of holdings have performed poorly in recent months due to what is hoped are short term issues within those businesses. Our Portfolio Manager's report provides more context and detail.

SHARE CAPITAL

Continued demand for the Company's shares has led to the issue of a total of 6,070,000 new shares in this half year, raising 51.6 million. As at 31 March 2021 the Company had 223,821,303 shares of 25p each in issue (31 March 2020: 211,146,303).

Since 1 April 2021 to the date of this report, a further 1,075,000 new shares have been issued raising 9.7 million. As at 6 May 2021, the Company had 224,896,303 shares in issue.

DIVIDEND

The Board declared an unchanged first interim dividend of 8.0p per share with respect to the year ending 30 September 2021. That dividend will be paid on Friday, 14 May 2021 to shareholders who were on the register on Tuesday, 6 April 2021. The associated ex-dividend date was Thursday, 1 April 2021.

The Board expects to declare the second dividend for the year ending 30 September 2021 in the Autumn.

OUTLOOK

This year continues to be dominated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the consequential government measures seeking to bring the virus under control.

Our Portfolio Manager believes that the continued strategy of investing in digital products and services, luxury and premium consumer brands and trusted wealth management services is a sound basis for strong performance over the next decade and beyond. Your Board supports this view and continues to believe that shareholders with a long term outlook will be well rewarded.

SimonHayes

Chairman

7 May 2021

^ Alternative Performance Measure (see glossary).

*Please see glossary.

PORTFOLIO MANAGER'S REVIEW

I am reporting to you on investment performance for the first six months of your Company's financial year, from end September 2020 to March 2021 and I acknowledge and apologise for the disappointing return relative to our benchmark, the FTSE All-Share Index ("All-Share"), over that period. The Company's NAV total return was up 2.2% over the last six months, compared to the All-Share 18.5%. Nonetheless, I hope you will allow me to put this recent performance in the context of what happened during the whole of calendar 2020. When you look at that twelve month period to end December 2020 the NAV total return for your Company was down 2.0%, while the All-Share lost 9.8%.

It is clear, therefore, that the Company's portfolio was "defensive" and resilient during the worst of the crisis of 2020 - given the NAV outperformed a weak UK stock market over the year. Of course, we were pleased about this, because we have always looked for predictability, reliability and durability when we choose companies to invest in. They are the ones that should hold up well in a crisis. When you look at the list of companies that make up the portfolio you will recognise many long-established businesses, owning brands or franchises that have stood the test of time. Unilever, Diageo, London Stock Exchange, RELX, Mondelez, Schroders and Heineken are examples among the big company holdings.

When asked to describe our investment approach in a nutshell, I often say: "Big positions in intrinsically low risk companies". And when I look back on 2020 as a whole I think that investment approach showed its worth.

However, there is no getting away from the fact that once the vaccines were announced in November 2020 and citizens and investors began to see a path out of the lockdowns your portfolio started to lag its benchmark and this underperformance continued through the first three months of 2021. There are a number of reasons, but the most obvious is this: because the portfolio did not fall as much during the difficult times, there was less scope for a bounce once confidence recovered.

One way to illustrate what has happened is to consider the performance of Unilever's share price. During 2020 Unilever's business held up reasonably well - selling staple food, hygiene, and personal care products all around the world. As a result, Unilever's share price was something of a safe haven in the context of the UK stock market, actually delivering a modest capital gain in 2020. During the first quarter of 2021, though, Unilever's share price has fallen 7%, while the UK stock market is up over 5%. Suddenly its "defensive" qualities seem unattractive, when there are "recovery" stories to chase elsewhere. Looking at other dull performers in your portfolio during the first quarter of 2021 confirms this analysis. Heineken, Mondelez and even Fever-Tree all fell: their drinks and chocolate joining Unilever's soap and ice-cream in being out of favour with investors. These products just do not seem exciting investment propositions - at least for now. Of course, a look at the longer-term share price performance of these companies is a useful reminder that the sort of steady, predictable growth they offer is very valuable. All the holdings mentioned in this paragraph have done well for your portfolio over time and we hope will do so again. For instance, we think it significant that Unilever chose to increase its fourth and final quarterly dividend for 2020 by 8%, having held the previous three unchanged. Unilever cited a recent strong recovery in its sales in China and India as the justification for the dividend hike and if such sales trends continue we expect Unilever's business growth and share price will improve.

But there were other factors impinging on the Company's investment returns during the first quarter of 2021. The truth is several of our holdings are working through issues that have put a dampener on their share prices- temporary issues, we hope.

For instance, the portfolio was hit during the first quarter of 2021 by a 20% fall in the value of the biggest holding - the London Stock Exchange. To be fair, LSE did well as a business and share in 2020. Indeed, it hit an all-time high in mid?February 2021, as investors cheered the eventual closing of its acquisition of Refinitiv. But travelling was better than arriving and the LSE's confirmation of heavy integration costs prompted what turned into a bout of profit taking. We still believe the new LSE Group will be a formidably profitable, growing and increasingly valuable business.

Elsewhere, we hoped Burberry would have a better year in 2021 after a difficult 2020 and this still seems possible. But recently Burberry's share price has been buffeted by geopolitics. Rising trade tensions between China and the West put luxury companies like Burberry in an uncomfortable position - given the importance of Chinese consumers for them.

We also looked to RELX doing better as a share price in 2021 -given that 90% of its business is made up of growing digital products and services, but the shares remain flat to the end of the first quarter. This is largely because there are still few signs the other 10% of its business - its Exhibitions and Conference division - will soon return to former profitability.

We have had to be patient with our investment in Sage, as the company sacrifices short-term profitability to invest in its cloud software services. We think there are signs Sage's investment is paying off, but other investors evidently need more certainty.

Hargreaves Lansdown continues to trade well as a business - reporting record assets and customer numbers, and rising profits. But the shares remain close to lows of recent years, as share sales by its founders and the Woodford debacle keep investors cautious.

Even though sales at AG Barr, Diageo, Fever-Tree, Heineken and Remy held up quite well in 2020, there is no escaping the fact that every week bars and clubs remain closed in 2021, particularly across Europe, is another week of lost high profit margin revenue for beverage companies. We must hope that as the Spring and Summer sun begins to shine and party spirits revive their share prices will push on.

In short, as you can tell, there has been a lot for me and other shareholders to feel frustrated about over the last six months. It is an uncomfortable feeling when parts of the market we are not invested in are doing well. Or when longstanding and previously successful holdings are hit by profit-taking or their shares simply tread water. All investors will experience periods like this and during them it is important to understand what is causing the underperformance and then to judge whether change is required in a portfolio to improve its prospects.

In this case I do not believe change is required, or at most only marginal change. This is because your portfolio has been constructed to participate in what we expect will be three of the big money-making opportunities of the next decade and longer. Those three opportunities are Digital Products and Services, Luxury and Premium Consumer Brands and trusted Wealth Management Services. Digital technology is creating new wealth and that wealth will either be spent on aspirational products or be saved and reinvested into the markets. When I look at the Company's portfolio today I believe most of it is made up of companies that offer access to those opportunities, from the LSE and RELX, via Burberry and Diageo, to Hargreaves Lansdown and Schroders. If that is right, then our recent period of disappointing performance should prove temporary.

Nick Train

Director

Lindsell Train Limited

Portfolio Manager

7 May 2021

INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO

as at 31 March 2021

INVESTMENTS SECTOR FAIR VALUE

'000 % OF

INVESTMENTS Diageo Consumer Goods 203,929 10.5 RELX Consumer Services 194,669 10.1 Unilever Consumer Goods 172,502 8.9 London Stock Exchange Group Financials 166,512 8.6 Mondelez International 1 Consumer Goods 164,980 8.5 Schroders * Financials 163,640 8.5 Burberry Group Consumer Goods 152,146 7.9 Hargreaves Lansdown Financials 118,156 6.1 Sage Group Technology 100,987 5.2 Heineken 2 Consumer Goods 97,244 5.0 Top 10 Investments 1,534,765 79.3 Remy Cointreau 3 Consumer Goods 94,387 4.9 Daily Mail & General Trust (non-voting) Consumer Services 51,450 2.7 Experian Group Industrials 38,167 2.0 Pearson Consumer Services 36,126 1.9 Fever-Tree Drinks Consumer Goods 31,967 1.7 Euromoney Institutional Investor Consumer Services 26,516 1.4 Manchester United 1 Consumer Services 25,954 1.3 Rathbone Brothers Financials 24,402 1.3 A.G. Barr Consumer Goods 21,952 1.1 Lindsell Train Investment Trust plc Financials 14,200 0.7 Top 20 Investments 1,899,886 98.3 PZ Cussons Consumer Goods 9,765 0.5 Young & Co Brewery (non voting) Consumer Services 9,240 0.5 Fuller Smith & Turner Consumer Services 6,020 0.3 Frostrow Capital LLP 4 ** Financials 5,100 0.2 Celtic *** Consumer Services 3,815 0.2 Total Investments 1,933,826 100.0

All of the above investments are equities listed in the UK, unless otherwise stated.

1 Listed in the United States.

2 Listed in the Netherlands.

3 Listed in France.

4 Unquoted.

* Includes Schroder (non-voting) shares, fair value 11,180,000.

** Includes Frostrow Capital AIFM Investment, fair value 800,000.

*** Includes Celtic 6% cumulative convertible preference shares, fair value 239,000.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

INCOME STATEMENT

for the six months ended 31 March 2021

(UNAUDITED) (UNAUDITED) SIX MONTHS ENDED

31 MARCH 2021 SIX MONTHS ENDED

31 MARCH 2020 REVENUE CAPITAL TOTAL REVENUE CAPITAL TOTAL '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 Gains/(losses) on investments at fair value through profit or loss - 31,000 31,000 - (367,580) (367,580) Currency translations - (20) (20) - (40) (40) Income (note 2) 15,873 - 15,873 16,035 - 16,035 AIFM and Portfolio Management fees (note 3) (1,794) (3,643) (5,437) (1,697) (3,446) (5,143) Other expenses (482) - (482) (650) (20) (670) Return/(loss) on ordinary activities before finance charges and taxation 13,597 27,337 40,934 13,688 (371,086) (357,398) Finance charges (67) (135) (202) (111) (226) (337) Return/(loss) on ordinary activities before taxation 13,530 27,202 40,732 13,577 (371,312) (357,735) Taxation on ordinary activities (265) - (265) (252) - (252) Return/(loss) on ordinary activities after taxation 13,265 27,202 40,467 13,325 (371,312) (357,987) Return/(loss) per share - basic and diluted (note 4) 6.0p 12.2p 18.2p 6.5p (180.9)p (174.4)p

The "Total" column of this statement represents the Company's Income Statement.

The "Revenue" and "Capital" columns are supplementary to this and are prepared under guidance published by The Association of Investment Companies ("AIC").

All items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. The Company had no recognised gains or losses other than those declared in the Income Statement.

There is no material difference between the net return/(loss) on ordinary activities before taxation and the net return/(loss) on ordinary activities after taxation stated above and their historical cost equivalents.

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY

for the six months ended 31 March 2021

(Unaudited)

Six months ended

31 March 2021 CALLED UP

SHARE

CAPITAL SHARE

PREMIUM

ACCOUNT CAPITAL

REDEMPTION

RESERVE CAPITAL

RESERVE REVENUE

RESERVE TOTAL

SHAREHOLDERS

FUNDS '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 At 1 October 2020 54,438 1,039,510 3,453 699,693 45,436 1,842,530 Net return from ordinary activities - - - 27,202 13,265 40,467 Second interim dividend (8.6p per share) for the year ended 30 September 2020 - - - - (18,727) (18,727) Issue of shares 1,517 50,067 - - - 51,584 At 31 March 2021 55,955 1,089,577 3,453 726,895 39,974 1,915,854

(Unaudited)

Six months ended

31 March 2020 CALLED UP

SHARE

CAPITAL SHARE

PREMIUM

ACCOUNT CAPITAL

REDEMPTION

RESERVE CAPITAL

RESERVE REVENUE

RESERVE TOTAL

SHAREHOLDERS

FUNDS '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 At 30 September 2019 50,203 904,320 3,453 875,981 44,803 1,878,760 Net (loss)/return from ordinary activities - - - (371,312) 13,325 (357,987) Second interim dividend (8.6p per share) for the year ended 30 September 2019 - - - - (17,297) (17,297) Issue of shares 2,584 84,744 - - - 87,328 Repurchase of Shares into treasury - - - (3,394) - (3,394) Sale of Shares from treasury - 90 - 3,368 - 3,458 At 31 March 2020 52,787 989,154 3,453 504,643 40,831 1,590,868

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

as at 31 March 2021

(UNAUDITED)

31 MARCH

2021

'000 (AUDITED)

30 SEPTEMBER

2020

'000 Fixed assets Investments designated at fair value through profit or loss (note 1) 1,933,826 1,851,588 Current assets Debtors 7,685 8,277 Cash and cash equivalents 12,207 20,440 19,892 28,717 Current liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (1,164) (1,075) Net current assets 18,728 27,642 Total assets less current liabilities 1,952,554 1,879,230 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year Bank loan (36,700) (36,700) Net assets 1,915,854 1,842,530 Capital and reserves Called up share capital 55,955 54,438 Share premium account 1,089,577 1,039,510 Capital redemption reserve 3,453 3,453 Capital reserve 726,895 699,693 Revenue reserve 39,974 45,436 Total shareholders' funds 1,915,854 1,842,530

Net asset value per share - (note 5) 856.0p 846.2p

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

for the six months ended 31 March 2021

(UNAUDITED)

31 MARCH

2021 (UNAUDITED)

31 MARCH

2020 '000 '000 Net cash inflow from operating activities before interest (note 7) 10,319 8,468 Interest paid (151) (507) Net cash inflow from operating activities 10,168 7,961 Investing activities Purchase of investments (55,894) (88,771) Sale of investments 4,656 1,132 Net cash outflow from investing activities (51,238) (87,639) Financing activities Equity dividends paid (18,727) (17,297) Shares issued 51,584 88,533 Repurchase of Shares into Treasury - (3,394) Sale of Shares from Treasury - 3,458 Net cash inflow from financing activities 32,857 71,300 Decrease in cash and cash equivalents (8,213) (8,378) Currency translations (20) (40) Cash and cash equivalents at 1 October 20,440 22,379 Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 12,207 13,961

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1. BASIS OF PREPARATION

The condensed Financial Statements for the six months to 31 March 2021 have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of investments and in accordance with FRS 104 'Interim Financial Reporting' and with the AIC's Statement of Recommended Practice ("the SORP") for Investment Trust Companies and Venture Capital Trusts dated April 2021 and the Companies Act 2006.

The accounting policies used for the year ended 30 September 2020 have been applied.

Fair Value

Under FRS 102 and FRS 104 investments have been classified using the following fair value hierarchy:

Level 1 - quoted prices in active markets

Level 2 - prices of recent transactions for identical instruments

Level 3 - valuation techniques using observable and unobservable market data.

The financial assets and liabilities measured at fair value in the Statement of Financial Position are grouped into the fair value hierarchy at the reporting date as follows:

(UNAUDITED) AS AT 31 MARCH 2021 LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 TOTAL AS AT 31 MARCH 2021 '000 '000 '000 '000 Equity investments 1,928,487 - - 1,928,487 Limited liability partnership interest (Frostrow) - - 4,300 4,300 AIFM Capital contribution (Frostrow) - - 800 800 Preference share investments 239 - - 239 1,928,726 - 5,100 1,933,826

(AUDITED) AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 LEVEL 1 LEVEL 2 LEVEL 3 TOTAL AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2020 '000 '000 '000 '000 Equity investments 1,847,392 - - 1,847,392 Limited liability partnership interest (Frostrow) - - 3,200 3,200 AIFM Capital contribution (Frostrow) - - 750 750 Preference share investments 246 - - 246 1,847,638 - 3,950 1,851,588

2. INCOME

(UNAUDITED) (UNAUDITED) SIX MONTHS SIX MONTHS ENDED ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020 '000 '000 Income from investments UK listed dividends 13,915 14,177 Overseas dividends 1,924 1,828 Limited liability partnership - priority profit-share on AIFM capital contribution 34 30 Total income 15,873 16,035

3. AIFM AND PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT FEES

(UNAUDITED) SIX MONTHS

TO 31 MARCH (UNAUDITED) SIX MONTHS

TO 31 MARCH 2021 2020 REVENUE CAPITAL TOTAL REVENUE CAPITAL TOTAL '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 AIFM fee 448 911 1,359 424 862 1,286 Portfolio management fee 1,346 2,732 4,078 1,273 2,584 3,857 Total fees 1,794 3,643 5,437 1,697 3,446 5,143

4. RETURN/(LOSS) PER SHARE - BASIC AND DILUTED

(UNAUDITED) (UNAUDITED) SIX MONTHS SIX MONTHS TO 31 MARCH TO 31 MARCH 2021 2020 '000 '000 The return/(loss) per share is based on the following figures: Revenue return 13,265 13,325 Capital return/(loss) 27,202 (371,312) Total return/(loss) 40,467 (357,987) Weighted average number of shares in issue for the period 221,896,250 205,307,145 Revenue return per share 6.0p 6.5p Capital return/(loss) per share 12.2p (180.9)p Total return/(loss) per share 18.2p (174.4)p

The calculation of the total, revenue and capital returns/(loss) per ordinary share is carried out in accordance with IAS 33, "Earnings per Share (as adopted in the EU)".

During the period there were no dilutive instruments held, therefore the basic and diluted return/(loss) per share are the same.

5. NET ASSET VALUE PER SHARE

(UNAUDITED) (AUDITED) AS AT AS AT 30 31 MARCH SEPTEMBER 2021 2020 Net Assets ('000) 1,915,854 1,842,530 Number of shares in issue 223,821,303 217,751,303 Net asset value per share 856.0p 846.2p

6. TRANSACTION COSTS

Purchase transaction costs for the six months ended 31 March 2021 were 160,000 (six months ended 31 March 2020: 351,000). These comprise stamp duty costs of 136,000 (31 March 2020: 314,000) and commission of 24,000 (31 March 2020: 37,000).

Sales transaction costs for the six months ended 31 March 2021 were 1,000 (six months ended 31 March 2020: nil). These comprise solely commission.

These transaction costs are included within the gains and losses on investments within the Income Statement.

7. RECONCILIATION OF TOTAL RETURN/(LOSS) BEFORE FINANCE COSTS AND TAXATION TO NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

(UNAUDITED) (UNAUDITED) SIX MONTHS SIX MONTHS ENDED ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 31 MARCH 2020 '000 '000 Total return/(loss) before finance charges and taxation 40,934 (357,398) (Deduct)/add: capital (return)/loss before finance charges and taxation (27,337) 371,086 Net revenue before finance costs and taxation 13,597 13,688 Decrease/(increase) in accrued income and prepayments 745 (1,317) Increase/(decrease) in creditors 38 (187) Taxation - irrecoverable overseas tax paid (418) (250) AIFM and Portfolio management fees charged to capital (3,643) (3,446) Other expenses charged to capital - (20) Net cash inflow from operating activities 10,319 8,468

8. GOING CONCERN

The Directors believe, having considered the Company's investment objective, risk management policies, capital management policies and procedures, as well as the nature of the portfolio and the expenditure projections, that the Company has adequate resources, an appropriate financial structure and suitable management arrangements in place to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. In addition, there are no material uncertainties relating to the Company that would prevent its ability to continue in such operational existence for at least twelve months from the date of the approval of this half year financial report. For these reasons, the Directors consider there is reasonable evidence to continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the Financial Statements. In reviewing the position as at the date of this report, the Board has considered the guidance on this matter issued by the Financial Reporting Council.

9. 2020 ACCOUNTS

The figures and financial information for the year to 30 September 2020 are extracted from the latest published accounts of the Company and do not constitute statutory accounts for the year.

Those accounts have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and included the Report of the Auditor which was unqualified and did not contain a reference to any matters to which the Auditor drew attention by way of emphasis without qualifying the report, and did not contain a statement under section 498 of the Companies Act 2006.

GOVERNANCE/INTERIM MANAGEMENT REPORT

INTERIM MANAGEMENT REPORT

The Directors are required to provide an Interim Management Report in accordance with the UK Listing Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. They consider that the Chairman's Statement and the Portfolio Manager's Report, the following statements and the Directors' Responsibility Statement below together constitute the Interim Management Report for the Company for the six months ended 31 March 2021.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

A review of the half year and the outlook for the Company can be found in the Chairman's Statement and in the Portfolio Manager's Review. The principal risks faced by the Company fall into the following broad categories:

Corporate Strategy;

Investment Strategy and Activity, Shareholder Relations and Governance;

Operational;

Financial and Accounting; and

Legal and Regulatory

Information on each of these areas is given in the Strategic Report/Business Review within the Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 September 2020. The principal risks and uncertainties have not changed since the date of that report.

The Board and Portfolio Manager continue to review the portfolio for the potential impact of the pandemic. The business continuity arrangements of the Portfolio Manager, AIFM and other third party service providers have proven robust with operations continuing largely as normal.

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

During the first six months of the current financial year, no transactions with related parties have taken place which have materially affected the financial position or the performance of the Company.

DIRECTORS' RESPONSIBILITIES

The Board of Directors confirms that, to the best of its knowledge:

(i) the condensed set of financial statements contained within the Half Year Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice standards; and

(ii) the interim management report includes a true and fair review of the information required by:

(a) DTR 4.2.7R of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, being an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the condensed set of financial statements; and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year;

(b) DTR 4.2.8R of the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules, being related party transactions that have taken place in the first six months of the current financial year and that have materially affected the financial position or performance of the entity during that period; and any changes in the related party transactions described in the last annual report that could do so.

The Half Year Report has not been audited by the Company's auditors.

This Half Year Report contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the date of this report and such statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward looking information.

The Half Year Report was approved by the Board on 7 May 2021 and the above responsibility statement was signed on its behalf by:

Simon Hayes

Chairman

FURTHER INFORMATION

GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURES ("APM")

ACTIVE SHARE

Active Share is expressed as a percentage and shows the extent to which a fund's holdings and their weightings differ from those of the fund's benchmark index. A fund that closely tracks its index might have a low Active Share of less than 20% and be considered passive, while a fund with an Active Share of 60% or higher is generally considered to be actively managed.

AIC

The Association of Investment Companies.

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FUND MANAGERS DIRECTIVE (AIFMD)

The Alternative Investment Fund Manager Directive (the "Directive") is a European Union Directive that entered into force on 22 July 2013. The Directive regulates EU fund managers that manage alternative investment funds (this includes investment trusts).

ALTERNATIVE PERFORMANCE MEASURE (APM)

An Alternative Performance Measure (APM) is a numerical measure of the Company's current, historical or future financial performance, financial position or cash flows other than a financial measure defined or specified in the applicable financial framework. In selecting these Alternative Performance Measures, the Directors considered the key objectives and expectations of typical investors and believe that each APM gives the reader useful and relevant information in judging the Company's performance and in comparing other Investment Companies.

BENCHMARK RETURN

Total return on the benchmark, assuming that all dividends received were re-invested, without transaction costs, into the shares of the underlying companies at the time the shares were quoted ex-dividend.

DISCOUNT OR PREMIUM (APM)

A description of the difference between the share price and the net asset value per share. The size of the discount or premium is calculated by subtracting the share price from the net asset value per share and is usually expressed as a percentage (%) of the net asset value per share. If the share price is higher than the net asset value per share the result is a premium. If the share price is lower than the net asset value per share, the shares are trading at a discount.

31 MARCH 30 SEPTEMBER 2021 2020 Share Price (p) 862.0 840.0 Net Asset value per share (p) 856.0 846.2 Premium/(discount) of share price to net asset value per share 0.7% (0.7%)

FTSE DISCLAIMER

"FTSE" is a trade mark of the London Stock Exchange Group companies and is used by FTSE International Limited under licence. All rights in the FTSE indices and/or FTSE ratings vest in FTSE and/ or its licensors. Neither FTSE nor its licensors accept any liability for any errors or omissions in the FTSE indices and/or FTSE ratings or underlying data. No further distributions of FTSE data is permitted without FTSE's express written consent.

GEARING (APM)

Gearing represents prior charges, adjusted for net current assets expressed as a percentage of net assets. Prior charges includes all loans and bank overdrafts for investment purposes.

31 MARCH 30 SEPTEMBER 2021 2020 '000 '000 Prior Charges (36,700) (36,700) Net Current Assets 18,728 27,642 Net Debt (17,972) (9,058) Net Assets 1,915,854 1,842,530 Gearing 0.9% 0.5%

NET ASSET VALUE (NAV)

The value of the Company's assets, principally investments made in other companies and cash being held, less any liabilities. The NAV is also described as 'shareholders' funds' per share. The NAV is often expressed in pence per share after being divided by the number of shares which have been issued. The NAV per share is unlikely to be the same as the share price which is the price at which the Company's shares can be bought or sold by an investor. The share price is determined by the relationship between the demand and supply of the shares.

NET ASSET VALUE TOTAL RETURN PER SHARE (APM)

The theoretical total return on an investment over a specified period assuming dividends paid to shareholders were reinvested at net asset value per share at the time the shares were quoted ex-dividend.

This is a way of measuring investment management performance of investment trusts which is not affected by movements in discounts or premiums.

31 MARCH 30 SEPTEMBER NAV TOTAL RETURN 2021 2020 Opening NAV per share (p) 846.2 935.6 Increase/(decrease) in NAV per share (p) 9.8 (89.4) Closing NAV per share (p) 856.0 846.2 % Increase/(decrease) in NAV 1.2% (9.6%) % Impact of dividends re-invested* 1.0% 1.9% NAV per share total return (p) 2.2% (7.7%)

* Total dividends paid during the period of 8.6p (2020: 16.6p paid during the 2020 financial year) were re-invested at the cum income NAV per share at the ex-dividend date.

The source is Morningstar which has calculated the return on an industry comparative basis.

ONGOING CHARGES (APM)

Ongoing charges are calculated by taking the Company's annualised operating expenses expressed as a proportion of the average daily net asset value of the Company over the year. The costs of buying and selling investments are excluded, as are interest costs, taxation, cost of buying back or issuing ordinary shares and other non-recurring costs.

31 MARCH 30 SEPTEMBER 2021 2020 '000 '000 AIFM and Portfolio management fees 10,924* 10,245 Operating Expenses 1,198 1,213 Total Expenses 12,122 11,458 Average Net Assets during the period/year 1,899,015 1,779,936 Ongoing Charges 0.6% 0.6%

* Estimated expenses for the year ending 30 September 2021, based on the asset size as at 31 March 2021.

REVENUE RETURN PER SHARE

The revenue return per share is calculated by taking the Return on ordinary activities after taxation and dividing by the weighted average number of shares in issue during the period/year.

SHARE PRICE TOTAL RETURN (APM)

The change in capital value of a company's shares over a given period, plus dividends paid to shareholders, expressed as a percentage of the opening value. The assumption is that dividends paid to shareholders are re?invested in the shares at the time the shares are quoted ex dividend.

31 MARCH 30 SEPTEMBER SHARE PRICE TOTAL RETURN 2021 2020 Opening share price (p) 840.0 942.0 Increase/(decrease) in share price (p) 22.0 (102.0) Closing share price (p) 862.0 840.0 % Increase/(decrease) in share price 2.6% (10.8%) % Impact of dividends re-invested* 1.1% 1.8% Share price total return 3.7% (9.0%)

* Total dividends paid during the period of 8.6p (2020: 16.6p paid during the 2020 financial year) were re-invested at the share price at the ex-dividend date.

The source is Morningstar which has calculated the return on an industry comparative basis.

TREASURY SHARES

Shares previously issued by a company that have been bought back from shareholders to be held by the Company for potential sale or cancellation at a later date. Such shares are not capable of being voted and carry no rights to dividends.

- END-

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary - 0203 170 8732

7 May 2021
Oslo, Norway 7 May 2021 - The annual general meeting of PCI Biotech Holding ASA will be held at the company's office at Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park, on 28 May 2021 at 10:00am (CEST).

Due to the extraordinary situation with the Covid-19 pandemic, the Board has found it necessary to urge shareholders to exercise their shareholder rights through advance votes by electronic communication via VPS Investor Services or to vote by proxy prior to the meeting and not attend the annual general meeting in person.

The notice including attendance and proxy forms will be mailed to all shareholders with known address. The complete notice, including the board of directors' proposed resolutions for the items listed on the agenda, the recommendation of the nomination committee, the annual accounts and annual report for the financial year 2020, including the corporate governance report for 2020 and the guidelines for remuneration of executive management are attached to this notification and will also be made available at PCI Biotech's corporate website www.pcibiotech.com.

The notice including attendance and proxy forms, the board of directors' proposed resolutions for the items listed on the agenda and the proposal from the nomination committee are attached hereto in both English and Norwegian.

For further information, please contact:

Ronny Skuggedal, CFO, E-mail: rs@pcibiotech.no

Office: +47 67 11 54 00 Mobile: +47 94 00 57 57

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Attachments
Interview: Hainan expo a new opportunity for Swiss luxury brands: ambassador

Xinhua) 13:20, May 07, 2021

HAIKOU, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The upcoming China International Consumer Products Expo in Hainan will be a new opportunity for Switzerland to attract more Chinese consumers purchasing quality luxury products without going abroad, Swiss Ambassador to China Bernardino Regazzoni said on Thursday.

"We made efforts to bring all these goods to the Hainan expo, as the broadest possible example of all what Switzerland produces in quality luxury goods," Regazzoni told Xinhua in an exclusive interview prior to the opening of the expo. Switzerland is the event's only guest country of honor.

Noting that there is a growing trend of purchasing luxury goods in China, especially in Hainan, Regazzoni sees the expo as a good opportunity for Switzerland as his country is a global leader in consumer and luxury goods.

The event will be the first international expo to be held in Hainan since China last June released a master plan to build the island province into a globally influential and high-level free trade port (FTP) by the middle of the century.

"It's a big honor to be the guest country of honor at the first edition of the expo," said Regazzoni, noting that Hainan's full vision of building an FTP will, in the long term, attract more Swiss companies to make investments and start joint ventures.

There are many Swiss companies already established in China. In Hainan, Swiss investors are not only tapping into the duty-free sector, but also the pharmaceutical industry, Regazzoni added.

He noted that the presence of Swiss companies in China, which has lasted for many decades, is about producing in China for the Chinese market.

Speaking of Swiss-China relations, Regazzoni said that bilateral bonds have been pioneering in a pragmatic way as the two countries established diplomatic relations as early as 71 years ago, as well as a free-trade agreement and an innovative strategic partnership.

In 1950, Switzerland became one of the first Western nations to recognize and establish diplomatic relations with the then newly founded People's Republic of China. Both have since enjoyed long-term exchanges and cooperation, yielding remarkable fruits.

These pioneering moves highlight the history of bilateral relations, which the Swiss ambassador expects to deepen. He also expressed hopes for building dialogues that are more open and sincere toward each side.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
You have people out there who were planning to take a gap year, or are in the midst of a gap year, or in the midst of a second year and planning to take a third, and all at once the world comes crashing down and everything comes to a halt, he said.
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Valeura Energy Inc. (TSX: VLE, LSE: VLU) (the "Company" or "Valeura"), an upstream oil and gas company with assets in the Thrace Basin of Turkey, is pleased to announce that all Turkish government consents required to proceed to close its proposed sale of its shallow conventional gas business (the "Sale Transaction") have been granted.

Valeura and TBNG Limited (the "Buyer"), will now proceed to close the transaction. This is anticipated to occur within the coming weeks.

Sean Guest, President and CEO commented:

"I am pleased to announce that all required consents have been granted for us to proceed to closing the sale of our conventional gas business and look forward to strengthening our balance sheet both with immediate sale proceeds and with the royalty payments we will receive thereafter.

"We remain committed to Turkey, and our longer-term plans to further appraise our 20 Tcfe unrisked mean prospective resource deep tight gas play remain intact. In the meantime, closing this sale will solidify our increased cash position which will facilitate Valeura pressing forward with our inorganic growth strategy."

Upon closing, Valeura will receive cash consideration of US$15.5 million, subject to normal closing adjustments based on the economic effective date of July 1, 2020. Thereafter, Valeura will be entitled to royalty payments over a five-year period, tied to local gas prices, and ranging in total from a minimum of US$1.0 million and a cap of US$2.5 million. At closing, the sale is expected to boost Valeura's corporate cash balance to approximately US$44 million.

For further information please contact:

Valeura Energy Inc. (General and Investor Enquiries) +1 403 237 7102

Sean Guest, President and CEO

Heather Campbell, CFO

Robin Martin, Investor Relations Manager

Contact@valeuraenergy.com, IR@valeuraenergy.com

Auctus Advisors LLP (Corporate Broker) +44 (0) 7711 627 449

Jonathan Wright

Valeura@auctusadvisors.co.uk

CAMARCO (Public Relations, Media Adviser) +44 (0) 20 3757 4980

Owen Roberts, Billy Clegg, Monique Perks, Hugo Liddy

Valeura@camarco.co.uk

Prospective Resources

The prospective resources disclosure in this announcement is based on an independent prospective resources evaluation as at December 31, 2018 conducted by D&M in its report dated March 13, 2019, which was prepared using guidelines outlined in the Canadian Oil and Gas Evaluation Handbook and in accordance with NI 51-101, as adjusted to reflect Equinor's withdrawal in Q1 2020. Prospective resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated, as of a given date, to be potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects. Prospective resources have both an associated chance of discovery and a chance of development. The unrisked estimates of prospective resources referred to in this announcement have not been risked for either the chance of discovery or the chance of development. There is no certainty that any portion of the prospective resources will be discovered. If a discovery is made, there is no certainty that it will be developed or, if it is developed, there is no certainty as to the timing of such development or that it will be commercially viable to produce any portion of the prospective resources. Additional prospective resources information is included in the Company's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Advisory and Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain information included in this new release constitutes forward-looking information under applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking information is for the purpose of explaining management's current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes, such as making investment decisions. Forward- looking information typically contains statements with words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "estimate", "propose", "project", "target" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. Forward-looking information in this new release includes, but is not limited to: the completion of the transaction, the total headline cash consideration, and the Company's entitlement to royalty payments over a five-year period.

Forward-looking information is based on management's current expectations and assumptions regarding, among other things: the ability to close the transaction on the terms described herein and; political stability of the areas in which the Company is operating and completing transactions; continued safety of operations and ability to proceed in a timely manner; and continued operations of and approvals forthcoming from the Turkish government in a manner consistent with past conduct, including any impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Company believes the expectations and assumptions reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect.

Forward-looking information involves significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company including, but not limited to: the risks of further disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic; potential changes in laws and regulations; counterparty risk; and the risk associated with international activity. The forward-looking information included in this news release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. See the AIF for a detailed discussion of all risk factors facing the Company.

The forward-looking information contained in this new release is made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking information contained in this new release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Additional information relating to Valeura is also available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

This announcement contains inside information as defined in EU Regulation No. 596/2014, part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, and is in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of that Regulation.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction, including where such offer would be unlawful. This announcement is not for distribution or release, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States, Ireland, the Republic of South Africa or Japan or any other jurisdiction in which its publication or distribution would be unlawful.

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

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Valeura Energy Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645623/Valeura-Energy-Inc-Announces-Government-Approval-Of-Shallow-Gas-Business-Sale
MONAT GLOBAL UK Ltd (MONAT), a multinational distributor and social and direct seller of award-winning premium beauty products, has announced its European expansion into Spain this summer. Following a successful launch in the UK in 2018 and subsequently into Ireland and Poland in 2019, the brand's philosophy, reputation, education, and innovation, combined with its desire to support job creation and security for women, have been instrumental in its remarkable success.

MONAT is a naturally based healthy ageing beauty brand, launched in the USA in 2014, with a mission to help people everywhere enjoy beautiful, healthy, fulfilling lives through exceptional, naturally based products; a fun and rewarding business; and a culture of family, service, and gratitude. The range of MONAT innovative products includes its award-winning hair care and styling hair products, innovative skincare products, and its latest wellness products that launched in 2021.

Says Ros Simmons, Senior Vice President and Managing Director for MONAT Europe, "Our company successes within Europe have shown that social selling has quickly become a preferred way to not only buy, but for people to have a chance to create their own financial future. We know through our business growth within our established markets and research in the new territories that there's been a real movement in consumer demands towards e-commerce businesses. MONAT success is evident through our market partner's achievements to create their own businesses, their power to create conversation, and to inspire a greater network to act and help others, alongside themselves. We encourage our Market Partner's to get involved and have their voices heard within the beauty economy, globally. Following the successful launch into the UK, Ireland, and Poland, we know the time is right to take MONAT further across Europe and build on the opportunities for a business model that we're becoming known for."

"MONAT continues to see explosive growth in the United States since our creation in 2014 supported by our outstanding research and development of premium products and creating an opportunity for personal success for our market partners. This further European expansion supports our continued global growth plans to bring our products, business model, and philosophy to new audiences across Europe. Our extensive research has shown us that Spain has strong potential to embrace our business programme and ensure another successful expansion into Europe," says Stuart MacMillan, President of MONAT Global.

MONAT will initially launch into Spain in June 2021 through a series of virtual events and regional roadshows to introduce the business model and opportunities for founding market partners who can join from 1st July 2021. The launch momentum will progress through the summer ready for the e-commerce launch of its award-winning beauty products from September 2021.

For further information on MONAT visit www.monatglobal.com

To become a MONAT Market Partner in Spain, please visit www.monatglobal.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005010/en/

Contacts:

For press information on MONAT Europe:

Samantha Grocutt Essence PR

020 7739 2858 essence@essencepr.com
MONAT GLOBAL UK Ltd (MONAT), a multinational distributor and social and direct seller of award-winning premium beauty products, has announced its European expansion into Lithuania this summer. Following a successful launch in the UK in 2018 and subsequently into Ireland and Poland in 2019, the brand's philosophy, reputation, education, and innovation, combined with its desire to support job creation and security for women, have been instrumental in its remarkable success.

MONAT is a naturally based healthy ageing beauty brand, launched in the USA in 2014, with a mission to help people everywhere enjoy beautiful, healthy, fulfilling lives through exceptional, naturally based products; a fun and rewarding business; and a culture of family, service, and gratitude. The range of MONAT innovative products includes its award-winning hair care and styling hair products, innovative skincare products, and its latest wellness products that launched in 2021.

Says Ros Simmons, Senior Vice President and Managing Director for MONAT Europe, "Our company successes within Europe have shown that social selling has quickly become a preferred way to not only buy, but for people to have a chance to create their own financial future. We know through our business growth within our established markets and research in the new territories that there's been a real movement in consumer demands towards e-commerce businesses. MONAT success is evident through our market partner's achievements to create their own businesses, their power to create conversation, and to inspire a greater network to act and help others, alongside themselves. We encourage our Market Partner's to get involved and have their voices heard within the beauty economy, globally. Following the successful launch into the UK, Ireland, and Poland, we know the time is right to take MONAT further across Europe and build on the opportunities for a business model that we're becoming known for."

"MONAT continues to see explosive growth in the United States since our creation in 2014 supported by our outstanding research and development of premium products and creating an opportunity for personal success for our market partners. This further European expansion supports our continued global growth plans to bring our products, business model, and philosophy to new audiences across Europe. Our extensive research has shown us that Lithuania has strong potential to embrace our business programme and ensure another successful expansion into Europe," says Stuart MacMillan, President of MONAT Global.

MONAT will initially launch into Lithuania in June 2021 through a series of virtual events and regional roadshows to introduce the business model and opportunities for founding market partners who can join from 1st July 2021. The launch momentum will progress through the summer ready for the e-commerce launch of its award-winning beauty products from September 2021.

For further information on MONAT visit www.monatglobal.com

To become a MONAT Market Partner in Lithuania, please visit www.monatglobal.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005012/en/

Contacts:

For press information on MONAT Europe

Samantha Grocutt

Essence PR

020 7739 2858

essence@essencepr.com
- EQT Private Equity exits its stake in In.Corp Global, a leading pan Southeast Asia & India corporate services provider, to TA Associates

- Under EQT Private Equity's tenure, In.Corp, has grown from a Singapore business to a regional player with geographical footprint across seven countries, launched new services to provide full end-to-end service offerings and developed an industry leading technology platform at the core of its business to drive workflow automation

- During EQT Private Equity's ownership, In.Corp has experienced substantial revenue and EBITDA growth, while the employee base increased by more than five times

STOCKHOLM, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT is pleased to announce that the EQT Mid Market fund ("EQT Private Equity") has completed the sale of its stake in In.Corp Global ("the Company" or "In.Corp") to TA Associates.

Headquartered in Singapore, In.Corp provides end-to-end corporate services such as corporate secretarial, share registry, outsourced accounting and tax services in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong and India.

During EQT Private Equity's ownership, In.Corp expanded its geographical presence from one to seven countries, grew its client base substantially to include more large and multinational corporations. Moreover, the Company enhanced its service offering and organizational capabilities to provide end-to-end corporate services support to its clients with its employee base increasing by more than five times.

In.Corp also developed an industry leading technology platform which enables workflow automation, resulting in higher employee productivity and market leading profitability. Today, In.Corp is a leading pan Southeast Asia & India corporate services provider with over 500 employees, servicing more than 12,000 clients across international SMEs and multinational corporations.

Brian Chang, Partner and Investment Advisor, Head of Southeast Asia at EQT Partners, said "We are pleased to have found a good partner for In.Corp for what we believe will be an exciting next phase of its journey. In.Corp has transformed significantly into a regional leader in the Asian corporate services industry in the last five years and we are proud of the accomplishments achieved alongside a very entrepreneurial and professional management team and board. We thank Atin, the management team, all employees and the board for their vision and dedication, and we are confident that In.Corp will continue to be successful under its new ownership."

Atin Bhutani, CEO of In.Corp, said "We want to thank EQT and the entire team for the trust, dedication and guidance over the last five years. EQT has been a great partner and instrumental in In.Corp's journey so far and also in finding the right partner for us for the next phase of growth and transformation. I will personally also cherish the friendships that we have built over these years."

Contact

APAC media inquiries: KEKST CNC, daniel.delre@kekstcnc.com, +852 9212 3105

EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334

About EQT

EQT is a purpose-driven global investment organization with more than EUR 67 billion in assets under management across 26 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas with total sales of approximately EUR 29 billion and more than 175,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership.

More info: www.eqtgroup.com

Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram

About In.Corp Global

Based in Singapore, In.Corp is the leading provider of professional corporate solutions for businesses with presence in seven markets across Asia. In.Corp specializes in a full range of professional services for companies planning to establish a hub or headquarters in Asia, including incorporation, corporate secretarial & compliance, share registry, accounting, taxation, human resources, corporate recovery and other business advisory services.

More info: www.incorp.asia

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/eqt/r/eqt-private-equity-exits-in-corp-global-to-ta-associates,c3343022

The following files are available for download:
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - BELGRAVIA HARTFORD CAPITAL INC. (CSE: BLGV) ("Belgravia Hartford", "Belgravia" or the "Company") previously announced the commencement of a Normal Course Issuer Bid ("NCIB") on February 23, 2021. In accordance with the NCIB, Belgravia may acquire up to 5% of its issued and outstanding common shares representing 2,008,963 shares. The Company has appointed Leede Jones Gable to coordinate and facilitate its NCIB purchases. The NCIB will terminate on the earlier of February 23, 2022 and the date on which the maximum number of Common Shares that can be acquired pursuant to the NCIB have been purchased. Any common shares purchased pursuant to the NCIB will be cancelled by the Company.

During the month ended April 30, 2021, Belgravia Hartford purchased for cancellation a total of 355,000 common shares at an average price of $0.20 per share. As of April 30, 2021, the Company has purchased for cancellation a total of 705,000 common shares.

About Belgravia Hartford

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 Hartford and its investment holdings 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/83198


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Comments from European Central Bank Governing Council member Martins Kazaks that the central bank is likely to scale back the pace of its emergency bond buying program in June lifted the euro in the European session on Friday.



'If financial conditions remain favorable, in June we can decide to buy less,' Kazaks, who also heads Latvia's central bank, said in an interview on Thursday.



'Flexibility is at the very core of PEPP.'



Kazak added that the central bank cannot react to all increases in market rates.



Kazaks' remarks hinting at a slowdown in the pace of PEPP purchases sent Eurozone bond yields higher.



European stocks advanced as upbeat regional data boosted hopes of a stronger economic recovery.



The latest U.S. jobs data will be out later today, with economists expecting employment to jump by 978,000 jobs in April after an increase of 916,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate is expected to dip to 5.8 percent from 6.0 percent.



In economic releases, German industrial production grew 2.5 percent month-on-month in March, reversing a 1.9 percent fall in February, Destatis reported.



Output was forecast to climb 2.3 percent. On a yearly basis, industrial production advanced 5.1 percent, in contrast to a 6.8 percent fall in February.



Another report revealed that German exports increased 1.2 percent on a monthly basis in March, while economists had forecast the growth to ease to 0.5 percent from 1 percent in February. Year-on-year, exports advanced 16.1 percent, reversing a 1.2 percent fall in February.



A new study suggested that hiring in the U.K. surged last month. The IHS Markit/CIPS Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) eased to 61.6 in April from 61.7 in March.



The euro was up against the yen and the greenback, at a 4-day high of 131.94 and a 1-week high of 1.2091, respectively. This followed the currency's earlier lows of 131.48 against the yen and 1.2053 versus the greenback. The currency is likely to locate resistance around 133.00 against the yen and 1.22 against the greenback.



The euro approached a 2-day high of 1.0975 against the franc, off its early 2-1/2-month low of 1.0935. The currency may face resistance around the 1.13 level.



The euro rose to 1.5553 against the aussie, 1.6746 against the kiwi and 1.4728 against the loonie, from its early lows of 1.5485 and 1.6657 and more than a 1-year low of 1.4645, respectively. The euro is seen finding resistance around 1.57 against the aussie, 1.72 against the kiwi and 1.49 against the loonie.



The European currency recovered from an early low of 0.8665 against the pound, with the pair trading at 1.4728. On the upside, 0.88 is likely seen as its next resistance level.



Survey results from IHS Markit showed that UK construction sector logged a robust growth in April with continued recoveries seen in civil engineering activity, commercial work and house building.



The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply construction Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 61.6 in April, down only fractionally from March's six-and-a-half year peak of 61.7.



Looking ahead, U.S. and Canadian jobs data and Canada Ivey PMI, all for April, as well as U.S. wholesale inventories and consumer credit for March will be out in the New York session.



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NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - 47325 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States on Thursday, taking the national total to 33,369,192. The weekly average of daily infection is 45081.



818 new deaths were reported on the same day. With this, the COVID death toll in the U.S. increased to 594,006, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The 7-day average of COVID deaths is 693.



122 deaths were reported from Michigan, while Florida reported the highest number of cases - 4,504.



A total of 26,105,411 people have so far recovered from coronavirus infection in the country.



Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced that nearly 940,000 Americans have signed up for health insurance through Healthcare.gov as a result of the Biden administration's special enrollment period for the COVID-19 public health emergency.



Until August 15, consumers who want to enroll in coverage, compare plan offerings, or see if they qualify for more affordable premiums can visit Healthcare.gov to view 2021 plans and prices, and enroll in a plan that best meets their needs.



Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a media briefing aboard Air Force One that the Biden administration has reached its goal of reopening the majority of K-through-8 schools in the country ahead of schedule.



Data from the National Center for Education Statistics show that in March, 54 percent of K-through-8 schools were open for full time, in-person learning, and 88 percent were open for either full time, in-person, and/or hybrid learning.



'Both the President and Secretary (Miguel) Cardona are encouraged by this important progress, but the administration will not rest until 100 percent of schools are safely open for full time, in-person learning to all students', she told reporters.



Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said more than 3 million vaccine shots were administered to the Department Of Defense personnel. More than 550,000 service members and more than 644,000 civilians, contractors and beneficiaries at home and overseas were fully vaccinated so far, he said at a Pentagon news conference.



Meanwhile, India hit an all-time high of 414,188 Covid-19 cases in a single day, and reported its highest-ever daily death toll - 3915 - on Thursday as the nation continues to battle a second wave. This is the 10th consecutive day that the daily number of COVID fatalities is crossing 3,000.



Australia has eased its controversial entry ban for people coming from India. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that Australian citizens and permanent residents returning from the coronavirus stricken country will be allowed to return home. Three repatriation flights will be deployed between May 15 and 31 for this purpose.



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LONDON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global charitable foundation Wellcome, alongside partners UNICEF and GAVI, has joined forces with US domino YouTube influencer, Lily Hevesh (@Hevesh5) to create a piece of domino art to support the ongoing call for fairer distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

The 90 second video includes three spirals made up of 7,500 dominoes and took six days to plan, create and film. It has been launched to the YouTube star's 3.2m subscribers today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugbX9uF6-x0.

The creative artwork uses dominoes to visualise the role vaccines play in combating the virus and why equitable global access is needed to end the pandemic. It features several patterns toppling to represent transmission of the virus and fixed 'vaccinated' dominoes are introduced into the work, helping to break the chains of infection and reducing the spread of the virus - or in this case, leading to fewer dominoes falling over. The artwork shows the impact that variants can have if the virus is left to develop in parts of the world unable to access vaccines, reinforcing the message that every country is vulnerable if even a few are left behind or left out of access to life saving vaccines.

In the past Lily has created domino videos for the likes of Google and The Late Show with James Corden. Her videos have racked up over one billion views on social media.

Anna Mouser, Wellcome policy and advocacy lead for vaccines, says, "We're committed to finding new ways to communicate just how critical it is that we have equitable access to vaccines for all countries. We are calling on global leaders, particularly the G7, to immediately commit to sharing vaccine doses through COVAX and provide continued financial support for initiatives."

Lily Hevesh comments, "The public has had to absorb lots of new information about vaccines for over a year now, so it's really important to find different and creative ways to communicate what are still really important messages. Sometimes we have to entertain in order to educate, so I hope my film manages to do just that."

A toolkit featuring quick and simple information, covering key aspects of the COVID-19 vaccines can be found here: http://wellcome.org/covid-19vaccines.

The hub is also available in German: https://wellcome.org/covid-19impfstoffe.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1504909/Wellcome_Lily_Hevesh.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1504910/Wellcome_Logo.jpg
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Viva Gold Corp. ("Viva" or the "Company") (TSXV:VAU) is pleased to announce that, due to strong investor demand, it has agreed with Research Capital Corporation, as sole agent and sole bookrunner (the "Agent"), to increase the size of the previously announced best efforts private placement offering for gross proceeds of $4,000,000 (the "Offering") in units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of $0.21 per Unit.

Each Unit will be comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall be exercisable to acquire one Common Share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of $0.30 per Warrant Share for a period of 36 months from the closing of the Offering.

The Agent will have an option (the "Agent's Option") to offer for sale up to an additional 15% of the number of Units sold in the Offering at the Offering Price, which Agent's Option is exercisable, in whole or in part, at any time up to 48 hours prior to the closing of the Offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for working capital requirements and other general corporate purposes.

The securities to be issued under the Offering will be offered by way of private placement in each of the provinces of Canada, and such other jurisdictions as may be determined by the Company, in each case, pursuant to applicable exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities laws.

The Offering is scheduled to close on or about the week of May 31, 2021, or such earlier or later date as agreed upon between the Company and the Agent (the "Closing") and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the Exchange. The Units to be issued under the Offering will have a hold period of four months and one day from Closing.

In connection with the Offering, the Agent will receive an aggregate fee equal to 6.0% of the gross proceeds from the Offering, including in respect of any exercise of the Agent's Option, payable in cash or Units, at the option of the Agent. In addition, the Company will grant the Agent, on date of Closing, non-transferable compensation options (the "Compensation Options") equal to 6.0% of the total number of Units sold under the Offering (including in respect of any exercise of the Agent's Option). Each Compensation Option will entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Unit at an exercise price equal to the Offering Price for a period of 36 months following the Closing.

The securities described herein 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 accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States except in compliance with the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

About Viva Gold Corp.

Viva Gold is a gold exploration and project development company with a focus on Nevada. Viva's management team has extensive experience in mining exploration, development and production and are supported by a Board of Directors and advisors who are proven mine finders, deal makers and financiers. Viva trades on the TSX-V as "VAU", on the OTCQB in the US as "VAUCF" and on the Frankfurt exchange under "7PB". For additional information on Viva Gold and the Tonopah Gold Project, please visit our website: www.vivagoldcorp.com.

For Further Information, Contact:

James Hesketh, President & CEO

(720) 291-1775

jhesketh@vivagoldcorp.com

Valerie Kimball, Director Investor Relations

(720) 933-1150

vkimball@vivagoldcorp.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information

This news release contains certain information that may constitute forward-looking information or forward-looking statements under applicable Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking information"). This forward-looking information entails various risks and uncertainties that are based on current expectations, and actual results may differ materially from those contained in such information. These uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, the strength of the global economy; the price of gold; operational, funding and liquidity risks; the potential for achieving targeted drill results, the degree to which mineral resource estimates are reflective of actual mineral resources; the degree to which factors which would make a mineral deposit commercially viable are present; the risks and hazards associated with drilling and mining operations; and the ability of Viva to fund its capital requirements. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the security's regulatory authorities in Canada available at www.sedar.com. Readers are urged to read these materials. Viva assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by law.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

SOURCE: Viva Gold Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645591/Viva-Gold-Announces-Upsize-of-Private-Placement-to-4-Million
AUBURN HILLS, MI / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Unique Fabricating, Inc. (NYSE American:UFAB), a leader in engineering and manufacturing multi-material foam, rubber, and plastic components utilized in noise, vibration, and harshness management and air/water sealing applications for the transportation, appliance, medical, and consumer off-road markets, today announced that it will release its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 on Thursday, May 13, 2021 following the close of the market.

Doug Cain, Unique Fabricating's President and Chief Executive Officer and Brian Loftus Chief Financial Officer, will host a conference call and live webcast to review the quarterly results and provide a corporate update on the same day at 4:30 p.m. ET. To access the call, please dial 844-602-0380 (toll free) or 862-298-0970. The conference call will also be webcast live on the Investor Relations section of Unique Fabricating's web site at http://ir.uniquefab.com/.

Following the conclusion of the live call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website for at least 90 days. A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available from 7 p.m. ET on May 13, 2021 until 11:59 p.m. ET on May 27, 2021 by dialing 877-481-4010 (United States) or 919-882-2331 (international) and using the passcode 41247.

About Unique Fabricating, Inc.

Unique Fabricating, Inc. (NYSE American:UFAB) engineers and manufactures components for customers in the transportation, appliance, medical, and consumer off-road markets. The Company's solutions are comprised of multi-material foam, rubber, and plastic components and utilized in noise, vibration and harshness ("NVH") management, acoustical management, water and air sealing, decorative and other functional applications. Unique leverages proprietary manufacturing processes, including die cutting, thermoforming, compression molding, fusion molding, and reaction injection molding to manufacture a wide range of products including air management products, heating ventilating and air conditioning ("HVAC"), seals, engine covers, fender stuffers, air ducts, acoustical insulation, door water shields, gas tank pads, light gaskets, topper pads, mirror gaskets, glove box liners, personal protection equipment, and packaging. The Company is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. For more information, visit http://www.uniquefab.com.

Investor Inquiries:

Rob Fink, FNK IR

+1 (646) 809-0408

rob@fnkir.com

SOURCE: Unique Fabricating, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645606/Unique-Fabricating-to-Announce-First-Quarter-2021-Results-and-Hold-Conference-Call-on-May-13
Since COVID-19 wiped out last years in-person gatherings, some colleges and universities are welcoming back 2020 graduates this year. Mask-wearing and social distancing will be required, and many schools are livestreaming all of the events so family members who cant attend in person due to limits on guests can watch along from home.
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Gratomic ("Gratomic", "GRAT" or the"Company") (TSXV:GRAT)(OTCQX:CBULF)(Frankfurt:CB82) wishes to announce that it is replacing Steven Gray on the Board of Directors at Gratomic. The Company's General Manager, Lynne Brand, will step in as an Interim Director until the Company can find a suitable candidate to serve as an Independent Director with production experience. This comes as the Company is transitioning from junior exploration company to an operating company. Steven will continue serving as a Qualified Person ("QP") as the Company believes his position as a QP is better served off the board.

The Company is pleased to appoint Lynne Brand as the Interim Director replacing Steven Gray. Lynne joined Gratomic in 2012, initially joining as the General Mine Manager at Gratomic's flagship Aukam project. Few, if any, have as much value to add to the Board as Lynne does in this temporary position. This exercise is not without purpose; the board sees this as an opportunity for Lynne to build up experience as a Director as she will shortly becoming the Marketing Director in Namibia. This will allow her to instill the same values and principles that govern the main Gratomic Board into her future role as Marketing Director.

Steven Gray is currently acting as QP for the ongoing resource drilling program at Aukam. The Company believes his time will be more efficiently spent committed fully to his duties as a QP without the added responsibilities of an Independent Director.

"It has been an honour to serve on the Board with Steven. We appreciate everything that he has done for the Company and we look forward to continuing to work with him as QP," said Arno Brand, CEO & President.

"I am looking forward to stepping into this important position and accepting the responsibility that comes with it. I am excited to bring the knowledge and experience of our Canadian Board members back to Namibia," said Lynne Brand, Interim Director

About Gratomic

Gratomic?is focused on?introducing an exceptional anode material?to?the?global?Electric?Vehicle?and Energy Storage supply chains.?The Company?aims to achieve full operational capabilities in 2021, with further plans to take its Aukam Graphite Project fully solar by 2022.? Large quantities of its naturally high-quality graphite have been shipped for testing to confirm its viability as an anode material. Gratomic is confident that the results will provide a unique competitive advantage in its desired target markets.

The Company's recent collaboration agreement with Forge Nano has advanced the developments on its graphite finalization phase for?the?micronization,?spheronization, and the patented ALD coating?of its Aukam vein?graphite for use in lithium-ion batteries. Forge Nano is?a?global leader in surface engineering and precision nano-coating technology, using Atomic Layer?Deposition.

GRAT has two outstanding off-take purchase agreements with TODAQ and Phu Sumika with contract fulfillment slated to begin in 2021.??Gratomic?plans to deliver mine-to-market traceability through its partnership with deeptech company TODAQ by providing documented tracking on all graphite generated at its flagship?Aukam?Graphite Project.

For more information: visit the website at?www.gratomic.ca?or contact:??

Arno Brand at?abrand@gratomic.ca?or 416 561-4095??

Subscribe at gratomic.ca/contact/ to be added to our email list.??

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

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com)

SOURCE: Gratomic Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645586/Gratomic-Appoints-Lynne-Brand-to-Replace-Steven-Gray-as-Director
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Pelangio Exploration Inc. (TSXV:PX)(OTC PINK:PGXPF) ("Pelangio" or the "Company") has completed a total of 908 meters of diamond drilling and tested eight targets at its Hailstone project located in Northern Saskatchewan. All assay results have now been received. The eight holes intersected shear zone structures, extensive disseminated pyrite and zones of silicification associated with pyrite, however, there were no significant gold values to report from this first drill program.

Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO commented, "The geological information obtained from the program contributes to our understanding of the project and we intend to continue our exploration efforts at this large strategically located property. It is our opinion that the La Ronge Belt is becoming a re-vitalized gold exploration camp with excellent gold exploration potential and it is opportunistic to control and maintain a large land position here. Along with good mineral potential, Saskatchewan is a very mining friendly province with excellent mineral exploration incentives allowing us to conduct very cost-effective exploration programs."

The recent drill program was focused on the Asbell Bay target area. These holes targeted known gold occurrences such as the Bornite Zone which returned surface grabs of 15.9 g/t Au and 2.68% Cu as well as several coincident geophysical and gold till anomalies along the 1.8 km long Asbell Bay trend. Although the recent drill program did not detect significant gold mineralization the eight drill holes did intersect zones of interest. These zones included shear zone structures, extensive disseminated pyrite and zones of silicification associated with pyrite.

These geological indicators along with known gold occurrences are all indicative of a favourable environment for gold deposition. Exploration to date on the property has been concentrated on approximately 3% of the 75 square kilometer property. In light of the project's proximity to a number of former gold mines and deposits (see figure1), with similar prospective property geology at Hailstone the Company intends to continue to evaluate the property and plan for further target development work. Particular attention will be paid to areas where high gold grain counts in till samples were detected on the periphery of the Asbell Bay trend; these areas require further follow up.

The 75 square kilometer property is located within the Central Metavolcanic Belt of the La Ronge Domain of north-central Saskatchewan, which represents a portion of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogeny. The property comprises a southwest-northeast trending metavolcanic succession intruded by multi-phase intrusive rocks of the Berven Lake Pluton. Gold and copper ("Cu") mineralization on the property is hosted within quartz veins and quartz-rich pegmatite dikes associated with southwest-northeast trending shear zones subsidiary to the terrane-bounding McLennan Lake Tectonic Zone.

Figure 1: Hailstone Property Location Map, Saskatchewan Canada



Qualified Person

Mr. Kevin Filo, P.Geo. (Ontario), is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Filo approved the technical data disclosed in this release.

About Pelangio

Pelangio acquires and explores world-class land packages on prolific gold belts in Ghana, West Africa and Canada. In Ghana, the Company is exploring its two 100% owned camp-sized properties: the 100 km2 Manfo property, the site of seven near-surface gold discoveries, and the 284 km2 Obuasi property, located 4 km on strike and adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti's prolific high-grade Obuasi Mine, as well as the newly optioned Dankran property located adjacent to its Obuasi property. In Canada, the Company is currently focused in Ontario on its Grenfell property, located 10 km from Kirkland Lake, at its Dome West property, situated some 800 meters from the Dome Mine in Timmins and is advancing its Hailstone property in Saskatchewan. See www.pelangio.com for further detail on all Pelangio's properties.

For additional information, please visit our website at www.pelangio.com, or contact:

Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO

Tel: 905-336-3828 / Toll-free: 1-877-746-1632 / Email: info@pelangio.com

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements herein may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements or information appear in a number of places and can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information include statements regarding the Company's strategy of acquiring large land packages in areas of sizeable gold mineralization, and the Company's ability to complete the planned exploration programs. With respect to forward-looking statements and information contained herein, we have made numerous assumptions, including assumptions about the state of the equity markets. Such forward-looking statements and information are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Such risks include the changes in equity markets, share price volatility, volatility of global and local economic climate, gold price volatility, political developments in Ghana, and Canada, increases in costs, exchange rate fluctuations, speculative nature of gold exploration, including the risk that favourable exploration results may not be obtained, delays due to COVID-19 safety protocols, and other risks involved in the gold exploration industry. See the Company's annual and quarterly financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statement and information. There can be no assurance that a forward-looking statement or information referenced herein will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Also, many of the factors are beyond the control of the Company. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements or information. We undertake no obligation to reissue or update any forward-looking statements or information except as required by law. All forward-looking statements and information herein are qualified by this cautionary statement.

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

SOURCE: Pelangio Exploration Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645524/Pelangio-Provides-Exploration-Update-on-Hailstone-Project
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Sky Gold Corp. (TSX-V:SKYG) (OTC PINK:SRKZF) ("Sky Gold Corp." or the "Company") has joined, as a founding member, the Newfoundland.Gold strategic alliance group.

Newfoundland.Gold is a strategic alliance of Newfoundland-focused precious metal exploration companies that is collectively committed to bringing awareness to the emerging gold district. The Alliance is focused on creating innovative capital attraction initiatives to promote and inform the investor of Newfoundland.Gold member companies.

Newfoundland.Gold will launch an online event from June 1 to 3, 2021, featuring Virtual Investor Days. This daily online event will include Member corporate presentations moderated by industry thought-leaders. Registration for Virtual Investor Days will open in May 2021. For details and to register, please visit www.newfoundland.gold.com.

The Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing a modern-day gold rush, as a top ranked exploration and mining jurisdiction. Mining is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest and oldest industries and a major contributor to the economy. Newfoundland's mining history dates back centuries and is well known for its location for international transportation.

Company President and CEO, Mike England states, "The exploration activity in Newfoundland is booming and we are pleased to be a founding member of the Newfoundland.Gold Alliance. This alliance will be a great multi-media platform for investors and shareholders to access current information and data on our Company's activities and other exploration companies active in Newfoundland."

In Newfoundland, the Company has recently completed a 20-hole, 3,300 meter maiden diamond drill program on its Mustang Property in Newfoundland, with assays pending. In addition, the company owns the Virginia property, located contiguous to the south of Labrador Gold Corp.'s Kingsway property, where drilling is active on the "Big Vein" target. The Virginia property has received all necessary permits for its maiden diamond drill program this summer.

The Company also owns the Evening Star property in Mineral County, Nevada, which is currently being permitted for a diamond drill program late in the 2nd quarter 2021. Eight drill site areas have been selected, with a primary focus on the silver-rich base-metal skarn and/or Carbonate Replacement Deposit ("CRD") mineralization at the Gold Bug target. The Company has also secured a diamond drill contractor for the Evening Star property.

The Founding Member Companies

Newfoundland.Gold is an alliance established by industry leaders in Newfoundland and Labrador's gold exploration and mining sector. The alliance is open to all companies operating projects in Newfoundland and Labrador. The founding members include:

Sky Gold Corp.

Labrador Gold Corp.

K9 Gold Corp.

New Found Gold Corp.

Opawica Exploration Inc.

C2C Gold Corp.

Exploits Discovery Corp.

Leocor Gold Corp.

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, Virginia and Evening Star 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/645617/Sky-Gold-Joins-NewfoundlandGold-Strategic-Alliance
RICHARDSON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Optex Systems Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:OPXS), a leading manufacturer of precision optical sighting systems for domestic and worldwide military and commercial applications, announced financial highlights for its three and six-month period ended March 28, 2021.

During the three and six months ended March 28, 2021, revenue decreased from our prior year period by $2.7 million and $4.1 million, or 38.9% and 32.1%, and gross margin decreased from our prior year period by $1.2 million and $1.9 million, or 76.7% and 60.7%, respectively, Operating income for the three and six-month period ended March 28, 2021 decreased by $1.2 million and $1.8 million, to a ($0.4) million and ($0.3) million loss, from income of $0.8 million and $1.5 million during the prior year period, respectively.

The decrease in gross margin and operating profit during the three and six-month periods are primarily attributable to lower revenue and unfavorable manufacturing overhead on reduced production volume. Our operating segments have substantial fixed manufacturing costs that are not easily adjusted as production levels decline. We have implemented several cost-saving initiatives during the first half, including reductions in force and employee compensation combined with decreases in other discretionary spending. We anticipate the margins will improve as revenues increase and the impact of the first half cost reductions are fully realized.

As of March 28, 2021, the Company had working capital of $11.5 million, as compared to $11.7 million as of September 27, 2020. During the six months, we generated operating cash flow of $0.1 million, and spent $0.7 million for the purchase of 374,934 shares against our previously announced stock repurchase plan. We ended the quarter with a strong cash balance of $3.9 million as compared to $4.7 million as of the fiscal year end 2020. As of March 28, 2021, the Company had an outstanding payable balance of $0.4 million against our working line of credit. The line of credit allows for borrowing up to a maximum of $2.25 million. As of March 28, 2021, our outstanding accounts receivable was $2.0 million.

Danny Schoening, CEO of Optex Systems Holdings, Inc., commented, "During this period of reduced activity from our customer base Optex has taken the appropriate actions to correlate spending with sales. Our competitive position remains strong with zero lost sales giving us optimism that the run rates will return to the 2020 levels once the Government has worked through their COVID-19 response actions. The commercial side has already shown strong signs of recovery, so we believe this to be an excellent indicator that the Government side will follow."

Our key performance measures for the three and six-months ended March 28, 2021 and March 29, 2020 are summarized below.

(Thousands) Three months ended Six months ended Metric March 28, 2021 March 29, 2020 % Change March 28, 2021 March 29, 2020 % Change Revenue $ 4,246 $ 6,947 (38.9 ) $ 8,717 $ 12,833 (32.1 ) Gross Margin $ 378 $ 1,619 (76.7 ) $ 1,213 $ 3,086 (60.7 ) Gross Margin % 8.9 % 23.3 % (61.8 ) 13.9 % 24.0 % (42.1 ) Operating Income $ (414 ) $ 781 (153.0 ) $ (335 ) $ 1,499 (122.3 ) Gain (Loss) on Change Fair Value of Warrants $ (169 ) $ 1,332 (112.7 ) $ 858 $ 81 959.3 Net Income (Loss) Applicable to Common Shareholders $ (602 ) $ 1,311 (145.9 ) $ 323 $ 852 (62.1 ) Adjusted EBITDA (non-GAAP) $ (292 ) $ 871 (133.5 ) $ (93 ) $ 1,681 (105.5 )

During the previous twelve months, we have experienced a significant reduction in new orders and ending customer backlog across all but one of our product lines. We attribute the lower orders to a combination of factors including a COVID-19 driven slow-down of contract awards for both U.S. military sales and foreign military sales (FMS), combined with some shifting in defense spending budget allocations in US military sales and FMS away from Army ground system vehicles toward other military agency applications. Due to the significant level of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic and its impact to our customers and the defense supply chain, we are unable to ascertain the impact further delays in contract awards and customer orders may have on our total fiscal year 2021 revenues but are anticipating an annual reduction in the range of 26-32% compared to fiscal year 2020 revenues. We have experienced a recent increase in proposal requests, and anticipate an increase in orders over the next six to twelve months, however the timing and nature of new orders in the near term cannot be determined. Any continued delays in customer orders over the next three months could further impact our total fiscal year 2021 revenue and profitability during the second half. We are reviewing additional cost reductions during the next sixty to ninety days as required to further minimize the impact of any sustained delays in customer orders beyond the first six months of fiscal year 2021.

Backlog as of March 28, 2021 was $16.0 million as compared to a backlog of $16.3 million as of September 27, 2020, representing a decrease of 1.8%. During the six months ended March 28, 2021 the Company booked $8.5 million in new orders as compared to $10.1 million during the six months ended March 29, 2020. On January 11, 2021, the Company announced a contract for Laser Protected Periscopes for a base period of three years plus two one-year option years, not to exceed $14.4 million pursuant to an Indefinite Delivery - Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. We anticipate additional periscope contracts in addition to task order awards against our existing nine active IDIQ contracts for delivery in 2021 and beyond.

(millions) March 28, 2021 September 27, 2020 %Change Backlog as of period end $ 16.0 $ 16.3 (1.8 )

We use adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, gains/losses on changes in fair values, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) as an additional measure for evaluating the performance of our business as "net income" includes the significant impact of non-cash valuation gains and losses on warrant liabilities, noncash compensation expenses related to equity stock issuances, as well as depreciation, amortization, interest expenses and federal income taxes. We believe that adjusted EBITDA is a meaningful indicator of our operating performance because it permits period-over-period comparisons of our ongoing core operations before certain excluded items. Adjusted EBITDA is a financial measure not required by, or presented in accordance with, U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").

The table below summarizes our three and six-month operating results for periods ended March 28, 2021 and March 29, 2020, in terms of both the GAAP net income measure and the non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA measure. We believe that including both measures provides information that is useful in evaluating our financial results across periods.

(Thousands) Three months ended Six months ended March 28, 2021 March 29, 2020 March 28, 2021 March 29, 2020 Net Income (Loss) (GAAP) (602 ) 1,944 485 1,265 Add: Loss (Gain) on Change in Fair Value of Warrants 169 (1,332 ) (858 ) (81 ) Federal Income Tax Expense 17 163 33 304 Depreciation 65 59 128 125 Stock Compensation 57 31 114 57 Interest Expense 2 6 5 11 Adjusted EBITDA - Non-GAAP (292) 871 (93) 1,681

Our adjusted EBITDA decreased by $1.2 million and $1.8 million, to a loss of ($0.3) million and ($0.1) million during the three and six-months ended March 28, 2021, as compared income of $0.9 million and $1.7 million during the three and six-months ended March 29, 2020. The decrease in EBITDA is primarily driven by decreased revenue and gross margin.

Highlights of the unaudited Condensed Consolidated and Segment Results of Operations have been prepared in accordance with GAAP. These financial highlights do not include all information and disclosures required in the consolidated financial statements and footnotes, and should be read in conjunction with our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 28, 2021 filed with the SEC on May 7, 2021, and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 27, 2020 filed with the SEC on December 17, 2020.

Optex Systems Holdings, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations

(Thousands, except share and per share data) Three months ended Six months ended March 28, 2021 March 29, 2020 March 28, 2021 March 29, 2020 Revenue $ 4,246 $ 6,947 $ 8,717 $ 12,833 Cost of Sales 3,868 5,328 7,504 9,747 Gross Margin 378 1,619 1,213 3,086 General and Administrative Expense 792 838 1,548 1,587 Operating Income (Loss) (414) 781 (335) 1,499 Gain (Loss) on Change in Fair Value of Warrants (169 ) 1,332 858 81 Interest Expense (2 ) (6 ) (5 ) (11 ) Other Income (Expense) (171) 1,326 853 70 Income (Loss) Before Taxes (585) 2,107 518 1,569 Income Tax Expense, net $ 17 $ 163 33 304 Net Income (Loss) $ (602) $ 1,944 $ 485 $ 1,265 Deemed dividends on participating securities - (633 ) (162 ) (413 ) Net income (loss) applicable to common shareholders $ (602) $ 1,311 $ 323 $ 852 Basic income (loss) per share $ (0.07) $ 0.15 $ 0.04 $ 0.10 Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding - basic 8,214,481 8,549,437 8,256,879 8,522,653 Diluted income (loss) per share $ (0.07) $ 0.15 $ 0.04 $ 0.10 Weighted Average Common Shares Outstanding - diluted 8,214,481 8,604,446 8,369,763 8,607,460

The accompanying notes in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 28, 2021 filed with the SEC on May 7, 2021 are an integral part of these financial statements.

Optex Systems Holdings, Inc.

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets

(Thousands, except share and per share data) March 28, 2021

(Unaudited) September 27, 2020 ASSETS Cash and Cash Equivalents $ 3,880 $ 4,700 Accounts Receivable, Net 2,031 2,953 Inventory, Net 8,993 8,791 Prepaid Expenses 158 229 Current Assets 15,062 16,673 Property and Equipment, Net 1,005 1,006 Other Assets Deferred Tax Asset 1,195 1,227 Right-of-use Asset 3,842 1,416 Security Deposits 23 23 Other Assets 5,060 2,666 Total Assets $ 21,127 $ 20,345 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Liabilities Accounts Payable $ 537 $ 833 Operating Lease Liability 477 417 Accrued Expenses 812 1,077 Warrant Liability 1,686 2,544 Accrued Warranty Costs 63 83 Customer Advance Deposits - 1 Current Liabilities 3,575 4,955 Other Liabilities Credit Facility - Long Term 377 377 Operating Lease Liability, net of current portion 3,374 1,037 Other Liabilities 3,751 1,414 Total Liabilities 7,326 6,369 Commitments and Contingencies Stockholders' Equity Common Stock - ($0.001 par, 2,000,000,000 authorized, 8,854,261 and 8,795,869 shares issued, and 8,373,594 and 8,690,136 outstanding, respectively) 9 9 Treasury Stock (at cost, 480,667 shares and 105,733 shares held, respectively) (930 ) (200 ) Additional Paid in capital 26,346 26,276 Accumulated Deficit (11,624 ) (12,109 ) Stockholders' Equity 13,801 13,976 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $ 21,127 $ 20,345

The accompanying notes in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 28, 2021 filed with the SEC on May 7, 2021 are an integral part of these financial statements.

ABOUT OPTEX SYSTEMS

Optex, which was founded in 1987, is a Richardson, Texas based ISO 9001:2015 certified concern, which manufactures optical sighting systems and assemblies, primarily for Department of Defense (DOD) applications. Its products are installed on various types of U.S. military land vehicles, such as the Abrams and Bradley fighting vehicles, Light Armored and Armored Security Vehicles, and have been selected for installation on the Stryker family of vehicles. Optex also manufactures and delivers numerous periscope configurations, rifle and surveillance sights, and night vision optical assemblies. Optex delivers its products both directly to the military services and to prime contractors. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.optexsys.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the products and services described herein. You can identify these statements by the use of the words "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," "likely," "forecast," "probable," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, continued funding of defense programs and military spending, the timing of such funding, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company's markets, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, changes in the U.S. Government's interpretation of federal procurement rules and regulations, changes in spending due to policy changes in any new federal presidential administration, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions and restructurings or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses and achieving anticipated synergies, changes to export regulations, increases in tax rates, changes to generally accepted accounting principles, difficulties in retaining key employees and customers, unanticipated costs under fixed-price service and system integration engagements, changes in the market for microcap stocks regardless of growth and value and various other factors beyond our control.

You must carefully consider any such statement and should understand that many factors could cause actual results to differ from the Company's forward-looking statements. These factors include inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of other risks and uncertainties, including some that are known and some that are not. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. You should carefully evaluate such statements in light of factors described in the Company's filings with the SEC, especially on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. In various filings the Company has identified important factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected or historic results. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete list of all potential risks or uncertainties.

Contact:

IR@optexsys.com

1-972-764-5718

SOURCE: Optex Systems Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645558/Optex-Systems-Holdings-Inc-Announces-Period-Ended-March-28-2021-Financial-Highlights
SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Oncology Pharma Inc. (OTC PINK:ONPH) ONPH has entered into a licensing agreement with Regen BioPharma, Inc. for a technology utilizing small molecules to activate immune checkpoints for the treatment of colon cancer. The program entails identifying small molecules that inhibit the NR2F6 nuclear receptor. The NR2F6 nuclear receptor has been identified as a potentially critical immune cell inhibitor (an immune checkpoint) and cancer stem cell differentiator. Regen BioPharma believes that by inhibiting the NR2F6 nuclear receptor, one can unleash the cancer-killing potential of a patient's own immune system. Regen is also engaged in the identification of small molecules which activate the NR2F6 nuclear receptor that can be utilized to develop small molecule therapies for autoimmune disorders.

Small molecule drugs have been the mainstay of the pharmaceutical industry for nearly a century. Defined as any organic compound with low molecular weight, small molecule drugs have some distinct advantages as therapeutics, and performing development is of immense value to the big pharmaceutical companies.

Oncology Pharma is delighted to add this IP to its portfolio of assets that addresses therapeutics in what can lead to expanding both time and the quality of life for cancer patients.

ABOUT ONCOLOGY PHARMA, INC.

ONCOLOGY PHARMA, INC. (OTC PINK:ONPH) (the "Company") is currently engaging in research and development of therapeutics for oncology and prides itself for having a world-class Advisory Board that keeps the Company in the forefront of developing technologies in cancer research, biotechnology, and healthcare.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain of the matters discussed in this announcement contain forward-looking statements that involve material risks to and uncertainties in the Company's business that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements made herein. Such risks and uncertainties include risks related to licensing arrangements and joint ventures, including the need to negotiate the definitive agreements for the relationships; possible failure to realize anticipated benefits of business relationships; and, costs of providing funding to these business relationships. Other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company include, among other things, current negative operating cash flows and a need for additional funding to finance our operating plan; the terms of any further financing, which may be highly dilutive and may include onerous terms; unexpected costs and operating deficits, and lower than expected sales and revenues; uncertain willingness and ability of customers to adopt new technologies and other factors that may affect further market acceptance; adverse economic conditions; adverse results of any legal proceedings; the volatility of our operating results and financial condition; inability to attract or retain qualified senior management personnel, including sales and marketing personnel; our ability to establish and maintain the proprietary nature of our technology through the patent process, as well as our ability to possibly license from others patents and patent applications necessary to develop products; the Company's ability to implement its long range business plan for various applications of its technology; the Company's ability to enter into agreements with any necessary marketing and/or distribution partners and with any strategic or joint venture partners; the impact of competition; the obtaining and maintenance of any necessary regulatory clearances applicable to applications of the Company's technology; management of growth; and, other risks and uncertainties. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell securities and does not purport to be an analysis of the Company's financial position.

CONTACT:

For additional Information, please contact the Oncology Pharma at:

One Sansome Street, Suite 3500

San Francisco, CA 94104

Phone: 415-869-1038

Fax: 415-946-8801

website: www.oncology-pharma.com

email: info@oncology-pharma.com

SOURCE: Oncology Pharma Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645612/Oncology-Pharma-Enters-into-License-Agreement-for-Small-Molecules-Intellectual-Property-for-the-Treatment-of-Colon-Cancer
SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Amazon plans to expand its investments in British Columbia, that will create more than 2,000 jobs, the e-commerce giant said in a statement. This follows Amazon being recognized as one of the top 100 employers of BC in February 2021. Sumegha Kumar, Director of Canadian Customer Fulfillment Operations, Amazon Canada said, 'Our new facilities will help us meet our customers' growing demand for great products and faster delivery times while also expanding the service and support we can provide to the thousands of local small businesses selling their products on Amazon.' Amazon's expansion plans in British Columbia include an advanced robotics fulfillment centre in the Port of Vancouver, to be launched in late 2021, a new sort centre in the City of Langley, one delivery stations each in Pitt Meadows and Delta, to be opened in later 2021, and another delivery station in Langley Township, which was launched in mid-February. Amazon has invested more than $3 billion in British Columbia over the last decade creating about 5,500 full-and part-time jobs in the province. 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.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - The global COVID-19 crisis continues to escalate, with communities across the world, including India, facing surging infection rates and overloaded healthcare systems. To combat this, Green Shield Canada (GSC) has stepped up with a $25,000 contribution to the Canadian Red Cross as part of the COVID-19 Global Appeal. The funds will support COVID-19 preparedness, response and recovery activities.

"We are grateful to GSC for their generous contribution that will allow the Canadian Red Cross to provide much-needed support to countries struggling with the impacts of COVID-19," said Janet Johnson, Vice President for Philanthropy, Canadian Red Cross. "The Red Cross in Canada and around the world has been responding to the impacts of COVID-19 since the beginning. We will continue to assist authorities with the pandemic response and provide support for people as needs continue to emerge."

In addition to this contribution, GSC is also committed to matching all employee donations to COVID-19 relief programs at 500%, up to an additional $25,000 - for every dollar a GSC employee contributes to the COVID-19 emergency fund of their choice, GSC will put forward $5, with a view to helping employees direct meaningful support to causes that are addressing critical needs in their local communities.

"COVID-19 is a global health crisis and, as a company focused on enabling better health for all, we recognize the need for a coordinated, global response to address this latest wave of the pandemic," said Mila Lucio, GSC's Executive Vice President of Human Resources & Social Impact. "We are proud to support emergency relief efforts for communities most in need, as well as at home here in Canada. This also marks the first time that GSC has offered an enhanced matching rate for our employees, and we believe that it is in service of a vitally important project."



To date, GSC has contributed in excess of $500,000 to COVID-19 emergency relief projects across Canada, primarily in partnership with local United Ways and community foundations. GSC has also worked to address the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis by making a comprehensive suite of digital mental health services available to Group and Individual plan members, as well as sponsoring MindBeacon's Stronger Minds, a free digital program providing crucial mental health support for all Canadians.

Additionally, GSC employees have mobilized in support of COVID-19 relief through volunteering, fundraising, and helping to run an emergency food helpline, while the organization has also supported increased access to vaccines through initiatives such as the Windsor-Essex Chamber of Commerce's vaccine transportation fund.

For more information:

GSC Media Department

1.800.268.6613 ext. 3409

media@greenshield.ca

About Green Shield Canada (GSC)

GSC is Canada's fourth-largest health and dental benefits provider, and is uniquely structured as a social enterprise with the purpose of making it easier for people to live their healthiest lives. From coast-to-coast, our service delivery includes drug, dental, extended health care, vision, hospital, and travel benefits for groups and individuals, as well as administration and benefits management services. Supported by outcomes-based sustainability strategies, advanced technology, and exceptional customer service, GSC creates innovative programs for nearly four million plan participants nationwide. greenshield.ca.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83203
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Capitan Mining Inc. (TSXV: CAPT) ("Capitan" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that it has closed its non-brokered equity financing previously announced on April 6, 2021 (the "Private Placement"). Pursuant to the Private Placement, Capitan issued 16,000,000 common shares at a price of C$0.20 per Common Share (the "Issue Price") for gross proceeds of C$3,200,000. There were no finders' fees paid on the Private Placement.

The proceeds received by the Company will be primarily used to advance exploration and corporate development activities at Capitan's 100%-owned Penoles Project located in Durango, Mexico, as well as for working capital and general corporate purposes.

All securities issued will be subject to a four-month hold period expiring on September 8, 2021. The Offering remains subject to final acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Capitan's CEO, Alberto Orozco, stated: "We are pleased to welcome the strategic investment from Mr. Gentile along with the continued strong support of our existing shareholders. Results to date from the El Capitan gold oxide zone are very encouraging as we continue to identify opportunities to grow the mineralized envelope along strike and at depth. This financing will allow us to continue advancing the Capitan gold, oxide zone as well as other key gold and silver targets within our 100%-owned Penoles Project."

Michael Gentile, CFA Adds to his C$1.6M Strategic Investment with Additional Market Purchases

Prior to the announcement of the private placement, Mr. Michael Gentile beneficially owned and controlled 258,500 common shares of CAPT. During the time between the announcement of the private placement and immediately prior to the closing the private placement, Mr. Gentile acquired additional common shares through the facilities of the TSX Venture Exchange. Immediately prior to the completion of the private placement, Mr. Gentile beneficially owned and controlled 1,158,500 common shares representing 3% of Capitan's issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis.

On closing of the transaction Mr. Michael Gentile will beneficially own and control a total of 9,158,500 common shares of the Company, representing 17.03% of Capitan's issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis.

The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Michael Gentile, CFA

From 2003 to 2018 he worked as a professional money manager at Formula Growth Ltd., an independent investment management firm established in Montreal in 1960 with a long-term track record of creating investor wealth. While at Formula Growth, Mr. Gentile's main sector focuses were in mining and natural resources. In 2012, he became the co-manager of the Formula Growth Alpha Fund, a market neutral hedge fund focused on small to mid-cap equities. Throughout his career at Formula Growth, Michael was an early-stage investor in very successful mining and natural resource investments returning multiples of their original investments for their investors. In October 2018, Mr. Gentile retired from full time money management in order to be able to spend more time with his family.

Subsequently, he has remained a very active investor in the mining space owning significant top 5 stakes in over 10 small cap-mining companies. Michael is currently one of the largest shareholders and a strategic advisor of Arizona Metals. In addition, Michael is the largest shareholder and has been a board member of Northern Superior Resources since December 2019. He has been a director and major shareholder of Roscan Gold since January 2020, Solstice Gold since June 2020 and Radisson Mining Resources since February 2021.

About Capitan Mining Inc.

Capitan Mining is a well-funded junior exploration company focused on its 100% owned gold and silver Penoles Project in Durango, Mexico. The company is led by a management team that has successfully advanced and developed several heap leach operations in Mexico over the past 16 years. More information for the Company can be found at www.capitanmining.com.



ON BEHALF OF CAPITAN MINING INC.

"Alberto Orozco"

Alberto Orozco, CEO

For additional information contact:

Alberto Orozco

CEO

Capitan Mining Inc.

info@capitanmining.com

Phone: (778) 327-6671

Fax: (778) 327-6675

Web: www.capitanmining.com

Raffi Elmajian

Corporate Communications

Capitan Mining Inc.

info@capitanmining.com

Phone: (778) 327-6671

Web: www.capitanmining.com

Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking information. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology (e.g., "expect"," estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "plans"). Such information involves known and unknown risks -- including the availability of funds, the results of financing and exploration activities, the interpretation of exploration results and other geological data, or unanticipated costs and expenses and other risks identified by Capitan in its public securities filings that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectations. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date 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.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83255
HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Recruiter.com Group, Inc. (OTCQB:RCRT), an on-demand video hiring platform and hiring marketplace, today announced its Chairman and CEO, Evan Sohn, will be interviewed on Yahoo Finance Live today, May 7, during the 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. hour with hosts Kristin Myers and Alexis Christoforous.

During the exclusive live interview, Sohn is expected to discuss the Company's Recruiter.com Index, the April jobs report, current recruiter sentiment, and ways to expedite the rehiring process for businesses today.

Yahoo Finance Live takes a deep dive on some of the top financial stories driving the markets, leading up to the closing bell. The segment is hosted by Alexis Christoforous, an award-winning network television, and radio journalist, whose career has spanned on-air roles at CBS News and Bloomberg.

Recruiter.com Group, Inc.

Recruiter.com is a hiring platform for the world's largest network of small and independent recruiters. We empower businesses to recruit specialized talent faster with virtual teams of recruiters and AI job-matching technology. Visit https://www.recruiter.com.

For investor information, visit https://www.recruiter.com/investors.html.

Please follow social media channels for additional updates:

LinkedIn Recruiter Network Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/42370/

LinkedIn Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1240434

Twitter Company Page: https://twitter.com/recruiterdotcom

Facebook Company Page: https://www.facebook.com/RecruiterDotCom

Company Contact:

Sarah Schultz

Director of Communications

Recruiter.com Group, Inc.

sschultz@recruiter.com

Phone: (855) 931-1500

Investor Relations:

Dave Gentry

RedChip Companies, Inc.

Phone: (407) 491-4498

dave@redchip.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "forecasts" "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "plan," "could," "target," "potential," "is likely," "will," "expect" and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements primarily on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy, and financial needs. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those in the forward-looking statements include continued demand for professional hiring, the accuracy of the Recruiter Index survey, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the job market and the economy as virus levels are again rising in many states, and the Risk Factors contained within our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE: Recruiter.com Group, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645628/Recruitercom-CEO-Evan-Sohn-to-Appear-on-Yahoo-Finance-Live-on-May-7
CARLSBAD, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / OPTEC International, Inc. (OTC PINK:OPTI), a revenue generating company, is a developer of UV and UV-C safety products using related advanced technologies specific to Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), and supplier of wholesale Medical PPE; today released the following corporate update about the cancellation of common stock.

The Company today announced for the upcoming We Shield acquisition closing, during the final stages of due diligence, both the We Shield, and OPTEC accountants uncovered a major discrepancy in the number of common shares held by OPTEC'S CEO Roger Pawson. The information reported in the company's December 31, 2020 Quarterly report, which was filed on February 14, 2021, showed the CEO Roger Pawson owning 442,238,951 common shares. However, the CEO actually owned less than .0003% of the number which was reported in the report. The CEO only owns 100,094 common shares. This major discrepancy occurred due to an inaccurate data report provided by the transfer agent during the quarterly report's preparation. These 442,138,857 common shares were in fact cancelled and returned to the Company's treasury between the months of September thru December of 2020.

Both parties today contacted OPTEC's Transfer Agent to confirm the cancelation of these 400+ million shares and to determine if the data provided by the transfer agent for the quarters listed above was accurate and reflected the common shares cancellation. To the shock and dismay of the Transfer Agent, the transfer agent admitted the data which they provided to the Company was WRONG. During the confirmation request call, the transfer agent confirmed the data provided to the Company by the Transfer Agent was INCORRECT for those time periods. The data provided by the transfer agent was missing several hundred million common shares cancelled by the CEO Roger Pawson. The Transfer Agent further VERIFIED in WRITING the shares owned by the CEO Roger Pawson is only 100,094. and all previous 442,138,857 shares were CANCELLED and RETURNED TO THE TREASURY prior to December 31st, 2020.

OPTEC accountants are now eagerly waiting for the newly authentic updated reports from the transfer agent to reconcile and restate the two quarters in question immediately. These quarterly reports will be revised and refiled upon receipt of the proper and accurate information.

About OPTEC International, Inc.

With Locations in Carlsbad and Vista, California, OPTEC International is a developer and manufacturer of electronic LED, Ultraviolet (UV) & UV-C safety products and related advanced technologies and PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) products. The company's Safe-Scan product line is being launched at a time when HR directors and facilities managers are experiencing extreme concern with respect to keeping environments safe during the global pandemic crisis and the safe reopening of the U.S. economy. For more information, visit: www.optecintl.com

Safe Harbor Statement: Safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by phrases such as Opti, OPTEC or its management "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "foresees," "forecasts," "estimates" or other words or phrases of similar import. Similarly, statements herein that describe the Company's business strategy, outlook, objectives, plans, intentions, or goals also are forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.

Investor Relations Contact:

Michael Iorlano

760 621-0062 / Mike@MountaintopMedia.net

SOURCE: OPTEC International, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645614/OPTEC-International-Inc-Management-Clarifies-CEO-Cancelation-of-442-Million-Common-Shares
We also know that the legislature has no intention of allowing the public to enter the Capitol complex between now and its June 9 adjournment. Democratic leaders have abandoned any pretext of heeding the science of bigger safe gatherings. Im sorry to tell you this: They dont like the public. The idea of the needy masses appeals to them as long as they are somewhere else. Legislators are especially happy not to have their reveries interrupted by lobbyists and others administering regular doses of reality in the hallways of power. They can shut us out, but not shut us up.
CHICAGO, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "Airway Management Devices Market by type (Endotracheal tubes, Tracheostomy tube, LMA, Oropharyngeal, Nasopharyngeal, Laryngoscopes, Bougies), Application (Anesthesia, Emergency medicine), End user (Hospitals), COVID-19 Impact - Global Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global market is projected to reach USD 2.5 billion by 2026 from USD 1.9 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period.

Browse in-depth TOC on "Airway Management Devices Market"

213 - Tables

43 - Figures

271 - Pages

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The Increasing prevalence of chronic respiratory diseases and respiratory tract infections have surged the demand for airway rescue among affected patients. As a result, the airway management devices market is witnessing a steady growth globally. Also, increasing admissions across emergency & intensive care units, favorable reimbursement coverage for airway management devices across developed countries, rise in geriatric population, growing investments in healthcare infrastructure, and high incidence of pre-term births are supporting the growth of the market.

In addition, the adoption of single-use airway management devices is increasing globally, which is offering lucrative growth opportunities to the vendors. Single-use devices are pre-sterilized and can be used directly, ensuring patient safety from healthcare-associated infections (HAI). As a result, the adoption of single-use airway management devices has increased, specifically after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, rising demand for airway management devices across emerging countries, due to rise in surgical procedures is also presenting the substantial growth opportunities for the vendors in the market.

On the other hand, growing pricing pressure on market players. dearth of skilled professionals, harmful effects of certain airway management devices on neonates, and lack of reimbursement policies across emerging countries are expected to hamper the growth of this market during the forecast period.

The laryngoscopes segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Based on the type of airway management devices, the laryngoscopes segment accounted to be the fastest growing segment in the global airway management devices market in 2020. The growth of this segment can be attributed to the growing advancements in the laryngoscopes, specifically video laryngoscopes and increasing demand to effectively visualize airways during intubation procedures. Advances in video laryngoscopes-including complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS), video chips, and the use of LED light sources-have made intubation easier for both experienced and inexperienced anesthesiologists.

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The anesthesia segment is expected to account for the largest share of the airway management devices market by application

Based on applications, the anesthesia segment commanded the largest share in 2019. Airway management devices are widely used in anesthesia for maintaining unobstructed breathing during and after the surgical procedure. Increase in surgical procedures and increasing need for maintaining a safe breathing passage to lower the risk of anesthesia-related complications during surgery is driving the demand for airway management devices in the anesthesia segment.

The paediatric patient segment is expected to grow at the highest rate during the forecast period

The airway management devices market is segmented into adult patients and paediatric/neonatal patients based on patient age. The paediatric/neonatal patients segment is expected to show rapid growth in the patient age segment during the forecast period. Airway management is primarily required during pre-term birth events where the newborn is affected by low lung compliance and breathing difficulty. The increasing cases of pre-term births globally are accelerating the demand for airway management across pediatric/neonatal patients. Breathing difficulties often result in the death of newborns, and a majority of such deaths occur in developing countries that lack the necessary devices to assist breathing. The increasing healthcare expenditure and the improving healthcare infrastructure in these countries are contributing to the rapidly increasing demand for infant/neonatal airway management devices.

Hospitals in end-user segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market

The airway management devices market, by end-user, is segmented into hospitals, ambulatory care settings, home care settings and others. Hospitals have been further segment into operating rooms, emergency care departments, and intensive care units. The hospital segment accounted for the largest market share in 2020. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the rising number of hospitals and infrastructural & economic development, especially in emerging countries. Additionally, the rising surgical procedures performed across operating rooms-where airway management devices are used for ventilation, oxygenation, and the administration of anesthesia-also supports high growth in the hospitals segment.

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Asia Pacific is expected to account for the highest CAGR for players operating in the airway management devices market

The Asia Pacific market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2021 to 2026. This can be attributed to the presence of high-growth markets such as India, China, and Japan; rapid growth in the geriatric population; increasing demand for critical care units; the implementation of favorable government initiatives; growing per capita income; increasing investments in the healthcare industry; the rising demand for cutting-edge technologies; and the expansion of private-sector hospitals to rural areas. In addition, the Asia Pacific is becoming a medical tourism hub and is considered one of the fastest-growing markets for medical procedures and devices. Low infrastructure and treatment costs and the availability of highly educated physicians have driven medical tourists to APAC countries, particularly to India, Malaysia, and China.

The prominent players in this airway management devices market are Medtronic plc (Ireland), Smiths Medical (UK), Teleflex Inc. (US), and Ambu A/S (Denmark), ConvaTec Group plc (UK), KARL STORZ (Germany), Flexicare (US), Intersurgical Ltd. (UK), SunMed LLC (US), Vyaire Medical (US), and VBM Medizintechnik (Germany).

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Respiratory Care Devices Market by Product (Therapeutic (Ventilator, Mask, PAP Device, Inhaler, Nebulizer), Monitoring (Pulse Oximeter, Capnograph), Diagnostic, Consumables), End-User (Hospital, Home Care), Indication - Global Forecast to 2025

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BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Labor Department will release U.S. jobs data for April at 8:30 am ET Friday. Ahead of the data, the greenback rose against its major counterparts. The greenback was worth 109.23 against the yen, 1.2063 against the euro, 1.3895 against the pound and 0.9089 against the franc as of 8:25 am ET. 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.
Thunder Bay Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Metals Creek Resources Corp. (TSXV: MEK) (OTCQB: MCREF) (FSE: M1C1) (the "Company" or Metals Creek) is pleased to announce that the company has acquired thru staking, 298 claim units (7,450 hectares) in 4 licenses in the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt.

The Property (River Road Property) is located approximately 39.5 kms south west of Newfound Golds Keats Zone and 4.5 kms north west of the Beaver Brook Antimony mine. (See figure 1).

The property is easily accessible by forestry logging roads and the new Nalcor Transmission Line transects the property.

The River Road Property has seen very little exploration work according to research conducted by company personnel and Metals Creek plans to evaluate the property thru prospecting and soil sampling geochemistry during the upcoming weeks. Metals Creek is currently applying for permits for this work.

The company also announces that drilling is ongoing at the Dona Lake project and drill results will be released once results are received and compiled.

In addition, Metals Creek corrects the finders' warrants announced for the last financing. In the 17 March news release, the company announced finders' warrants in the amount of 177,818 in error, the correct amount of finders' warrants issued were 450,545 which are each exercisable for one common share of the Company at $0.165 for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance.

Wayne Reid, P. Geo, a Director for the Company and a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for this release, and supervised the preparation of the information forming the basis for this release.

About Metals Creek Resources Corp.

Metals Creek Resources Corp. is a junior exploration Corporation incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario, is a reporting issuer in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, and has its common shares listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbol "MEK". Metals Creek has earned a 50% interest in the Ogden Gold Property from Newmont Corporation, including the former Naybob Gold mine, located 6 km south of Timmins, Ontario and has an 8 km strike length of the prolific Porcupine-Destor Fault (P-DF). In addition, Metals Creek has signed an agreement with Newmont Corporation, where Metals Creek can earn a 100% interest in the past producing Dona Lake Gold Project in the Pickle Lake Mining District of Ontario.

Figure 1



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/943/83236_f291ae47340548f5_002full.jpg

Metals Creek has multiple quality projects available for option in Ontario and Newfoundland which can be viewed on the Corporation's website. Parties interested in seeking more information about properties available for option can contact the Corporation at the number below.

Additional information concerning the Corporation is contained in documents filed by the Corporation with securities regulators, available under its profile at www.sedar.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.

Alexander (Sandy) Stares, President and CEO

Metals Creek Resources Corp

telephone: (709)-256-6060

fax: (709)-256-6061

email: astares@metalscreek.com

www.MetalsCreek.com

Twitter.com/MetalsCreekRes

Facebook.com/MetalsCreek

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83236
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Bucephalus Capital Corp. (CSE: BCA) ("Bucephalus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the nomination of Charlie Morris to stand for election to the company's board of directors at its 2021 annual and special meeting, scheduled for June 8, 2021 (the "Meeting").

Mr. Morris is the Managing Partner of CMCC Global, an asset manager focused solely on digital assets. Mr. Morris co-founded CMCC Global in 2016 and has grown the business to over US$300m in assets under management, with offices in Asia and North America. Previously, Mr. Morris was a software engineer in Hong Kong focused on iOS app development and a technology sector management consultant in London. Mr. Morris has acted as an expert adviser on blockchain technology for multinational enterprises and was an Ethereum ICO investor in 2014.

"The Board of Directors and I look forward to welcoming Charlie to the Company. His experience and technical leadership will complement our already strong team and vision", said Mr. John McMahon, Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

Mr. Morris is being nominated at the 2021 annual and special meeting of shareholders and if elected will replace Alec Regis along with the existing 3 directors, who will stand for re-election. If all nominees are elected, the board would remain at 4 directors of whom 3 would be independent.

Further, the Company is pleased to announce it intends to change its name to "Prophecy DeFi Inc." shortly following the Meeting, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. The name change is being conducted to reflect the company's longer term strategic vision.

About Bucephalus Capital Corp.

Bucephalus Capital Corp. (CSE: BCA) is an investment company that is seeking investment opportunities in private and publicly listed entities.

Additional information about the Company can be found on the Company's website at www.bucephaluscapital.ca.

For further information, please contact:

John McMahon, CEO

Tel: (416) 786-9031

Email: jmcmahon@bucephaluscapital.ca

About CMCC Global

CMCC Global was founded in 2016 and is one of Asia's first asset management companies focused solely on blockchain investments and digital assets. Today CMCC Global offers a mixture of passive and active investment strategies, including its flagship digital asset fund and the Liberty Bitcoin Fund. The company has offices in Asia and North America. Its team has a mixture of deep technical and business experience.

CMCC believes that blockchain technology is bringing about the next era of the Internet, which will facilitate the movement of value rather than just information. It believes that value will accrue in different areas of the blockchain ecosystem and offers investors exposure to different aspects of this frontier technology.

For more information, please visit CMCC Global's website at https://www.cmcc.vc.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information set forth in this news release may contain forward-looking information that involves substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties. This forward-looking information is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the control of the Company, including, but not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, industry conditions, and dependence upon regulatory approvals. 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 information. The parties undertake no obligation to update forward-looking information except as otherwise may be required by applicable securities law.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION IN CANADA ONLY AND IS NOT INTENDED FOR DISTRIBUTION 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/83219
Victoria, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Plurilock Security Inc. (TSXV: PLUR) (OTCQB: PLCKF) and related subsidiaries ("Plurilock" or the "Company"), an identity-centric cybersecurity solution provider for workforces, is pleased to announce that it was awarded a US$1.15 million order with the U.S. Department of the Navy under NASA's Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement ("SEWP"), United States Government-Wide Acquisition Contract Vehicle ("GWAC"). SEWP consists of over a large pool of pre-competed prime contract holders ("contractors"), including more than one hundred U.S. small businesses. The order is part of "SEWP V", the latest version of GWAC, which NASA released in May 2015 and boasts the largest pool of contractors yet as well as detailed and automatic reporting to Chief Information Officers ("CIOs") in order to help meet Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act. All SEWP V contracts have an effective ordering period between May 1, 2015 through April 30, 2025.

"As part of our long-term plan to expand across various industry verticals in North America, the order enables Plurilock to further solidify our position in capturing more opportunities within the U.S. government sector," said Ian Paterson, CEO of Plurilock. "Given the current cost-conscious environment, we will continue with our modest margin approach to win SEWP V awards, rapidly grow our customer base and create opportunities for follow-on sales of our core products that have higher margins."

The U.S. Department of the Navy is one of the three main military departments within the U.S. Department of Defense. The order is for supply of Dell Servers to the Department of Navy.

About Plurilock

Plurilock provides identity-centric cybersecurity for today's workforces. Plurilock offers world-class cybersecurity solutions paired with AI-driven, cloud-friendly security technologies that deliver persistent identity assurance with unmatched ease of use. The Plurilock family of companies enables organizations to operate safely and securely-while reducing cybersecurity friction.

For more information, visit https://www.plurilock.com or contact:

Ian L. Paterson

Chief Executive Officer

ian@plurilock.com

416.800.1566

Roland Sartorius

Chief Financial Officer

roland.sartorius@plurilock.com

Prit Singh

Investor Relations

prit.singh@plurilock.com

905.510.7636

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") which relate to future events or Plurilock's future business, operations, and financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements normally contain words like "will", "intend", "anticipate", "could", "should", "may", "might", "expect", "estimate", "forecast", "plan", "potential", "project", "assume", "contemplate", "believe", "shall", "scheduled", and similar terms. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, actions, or developments and are based on expectations, assumptions and other factors that management currently believes are relevant, reasonable, and appropriate in the circumstances. Although management believes that the forward-looking statements herein are reasonable, actual results could be substantially different due to the risks and uncertainties associated with and inherent to Plurilock's business. Additional material risks and uncertainties applicable to the forward-looking statements herein include, without limitation, impact of general economic conditions, success of the Company in obtaining new or extended contracts or orders; the Company's ability to maintain existing customers or develop new customers; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquisitions of other businesses and/or companies or to realize on the anticipated benefits thereof; and unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect the Company's forward-looking statements. Many of these factors are beyond the control of Plurilock. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as at the date hereof and Plurilock undertakes no obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in its most recent Annual Information Form and are otherwise disclosed in its filings with securities regulatory authorities which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83264


FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Commerzbank (CRZBY.PK) and the employee representatives have agreed on headcount reduction, allowing the German lender to cut thousands jobs globally.



The labor union Verdi said in a statement that the agreement includes early retirement and reduced hours for older employees, with a focus on those born in 1968 and earlier.



The Bank said it is planning to reduce the number of full-time positions by around 10,000 in gross terms by 2024. This compares with an increase of around 2,500 full-time equivalents. This will reduce the costs for external service providers alongside other benefits. Overall, it will result in a net reduction of around 7,500 positions.



The company said in January that it would reduce about 10,000 jobs by 2024. In Germany, every third job would be affected. The company would also reduce branches to 450 locations across Germany from the current level of 790, as part of its restructuring.



The Bank said Friday that it intends to implement the headcount reduction primarily through retirement arrangements, such as partial retirement or early retirement. As part of the arrangement, the Bank has extended the offer of early retirement to seven years. Furthermore, termination agreements and support for employees with perspectives inside and outside the Bank have been agreed.



The Bank noted that it will book provisions for additional restructuring expenses of around 225 million euros for retirement arrangements that were expanded beyond the scope of the original plan.



Commerzbank now projects total restructuring expenses amounting to slightly above two billion euros. Out of those expenses, more than 900 million euros were already booked in the last two business years. At the beginning of April, the Bank set aside further provisions in the amount of around 470 million euros for the first quarter of 2021. The remaining expenses for the headcount reduction will be booked in the second quarter.



The bank noted that it intends to carry out a review on the status of the agreed headcount reduction in 2023. If it emerges that the measures have proved inadequate, the Bank will discuss necessary additional measures with the employee representatives in the first quarter of 2023.



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Joint venture to assemble portfolio of urban infill last-mile industrial facilities in Greater London and the UK

Bridge Industrial ("Bridge") and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board ("PSP Investments") today announced the establishment of a joint venture to acquire and develop logistics properties in the United Kingdom, targeting a portfolio value of 1 billion ($1.4 billion USD).

The venture has a build-to-core focus, including the acquisition and development of last-mile logistics assets within high-barrier infill submarkets in Greater London and the Midlands region. Bridge will oversee development and the implementation of value-add measures to create state-of-the-art, purpose-built infill industrial assets. The venture will target market-leading sustainability credentials.

"We are excited to form this strategic partnership with PSP Investments as Bridge continues to grow its global portfolio and capital partnerships," said Sean Zasche, Bridge's Chief Financial Officer. "Their focus on high-quality, infill real estate and long-term ownership aligns well with Bridge's business model."

Bridge's UK operations are led by Paul Hanley, Partner, who oversees a London-based team of acquisition and development professionals.

"We're extremely excited about the growth in the logistics industry that is creating strong demand for facilities across the United Kingdom," said Hanley. "This joint venture with PSP Investments marks the beginning of a long-term partnership that will allow us to continue the strategic expansion of our portfolio."

PSP Investments is one of Canada's largest pension investment managers with a diversified global portfolio across public and private markets.

"We are pleased to be partnering with Bridge to invest in the UK logistics sector as we grow our already extensive European logistics portfolio," said Stephane Jalbert, PSP's Managing Director for Europe and Asia Pacific, Real Estate Investments. "Urban logistics is a key sector for PSP globally, given the accelerated growth of e-commerce and the need to adapt real estate to meet shifting consumer behaviour. Bridge has proven development capabilities from which the venture will benefit, enhancing returns beyond the sector trend."

About Bridge Industrial

Bridge Industrial (www.bridgeindustrial.com) is a privately-owned, vertically integrated real estate operating company and investment manager that focuses on the acquisition and development of Class A industrial real estate in the supply constrained core industrial markets of Chicago, Miami, New Jersey/New York, Los Angeles/San Francisco, Seattle, and London. Since its inception in 2000, Bridge has successfully acquired and developed more than 48 million square feet of industrial buildings/projects valued at more than $7.8 billion.

About PSP Investments

PSP Investments is one of Canada's largest pension investment managers with approximately $169.8 billion of net assets as of March 31, 2020. It manages a diversified global portfolio of investments in public financial markets, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, natural resources and private debt. Established in 1999, PSP Investments manages net contributions to the pension funds of the federal Public Service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Reserve Force. Headquartered in Ottawa, PSP Investments has its principal business office in Montreal and offices in New York, London and Hong Kong. For more information, visit investpsp.com or follow PSP Investments on Twitter and LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005045/en/

Contacts:

Bridge Industrial

Kate Titchmarsh (UK Communications Manager)

+44 (0)7595673610

kate@the-flashbulb.com

Dan Ivers (US Communications)

Antenna Group

646-265-9670

dan.ivers@antennagroup.com

PSP Investments

Verena Garofalo

1 844 525 3795

media@investpsp.ca
Worldwide, cities produce about 70% of the CO2 present in the atmosphere, while forests and woods are able to absorb 40% of it. Increasing wooded areas within and around cities would multiply the resilience capacities of urban areas and would drastically reduce the production of CO2, thanks to plant-based photosynthesis processes.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005177/en/

Bosco Verticale Milano Boeri Studio ph.Dimitar Harizanov

"We have entered a new phase of human history, in which we will finally see a new alliance between forests and cities, two environments that our species has always kept separate; one as the maximum expression of artifice, and the other as the maximum expression of naturalness. Trees and woods will no longer be just a decorative presence or a natural environment to be circumscribed in protected areas, they will become an integral part of the life sphere of millions of citizens in the world. Protecting forests, reforesting cities and growing newly founded Forest-Cities: these are the great challenges to be faced immediately, all together, if we want to tackle Climate Change" affirms architect and urbanist Stefano Boeri, founder of the practice Stefano Boeri Architetti and author of the globally renowned Vertical Forest in Milan (Bosco Verticale), a building that contributed to the development of the Urban Forestry concept worldwide.

Stefano Boeri Architetti's Research Department leads the international debate and development of green and sustainable urban design in Europe and in many countries around the world. Its contribution to the debate on the ecological transition of cities and its strategic role in the urban and peri-urban environmental regeneration movement, adopting a biophilic and nature-based approach, places the whole team at the forefront of both the academic and practical development of enhanced, mixed-use Nature-Based Solutions and Urban Forestry design projects.

"Nature-based solutions can favor sustainable urbanization, restore degraded ecosystems, improve climate change adaptation and mitigation, and help risk management and resilience. Furthermore, by reshaping the urban environment, Nature-based Solutions can enhance inclusivity, equitability and livability, regenerate deprived districts, improve citizens' mental and physical health and quality of life, reduce violence, and decrease social tensions through better social cohesion, particularly for the most vulnerable groups e.g. children, elderly and people of low socio-economic status" declares architect Francesca Cesa Bianchi, partner of Stefano Boeri Architetti.

In the Netherlands, Stefano Boeri Architetti is building the first Vertical Forest for social housing.

After the experience of the first Vertical Forest in Milan which also owed its cost to the initial investment in scientific research the studio worked with great obstinacy on the construction systems (prefabrication) and on the materials needed to make the Vertical Forest accessible to all. And they did it. In recent weeks, the Trudo Vertical Forest, a residential social housing building, will be completed in Eindhoven. The green tower is intended to mainly accommodate popular users, in particular young couples, hosting a series of rent-controlled apartments with high living quality on its 19 floors. Thanks also to the more than 125 trees of various species on the balconies, to which about 5,200 shrubs and smaller plants will be added.

Not far from Eindhoven, in Utrecht, another Vertical Forest is growing. Drawn up by Stefano Boeri Architetti and MVSA Architects, the Wonderwoods project aims to create an advanced experience of cohabitation between city and nature in the center of Utrecht as part of the new Healthy Urban Quarter. Enriched with office areas, spaces for fitness and yoga, bicycle parking and public and recreational spaces, the Wonderwoods Vertical Forest is designed as the new wellness hub in Utrecht. As a form of protection and safeguarding for the biodiversity of living species and in particular the birds that inhabit the Dutch skies, the Wonderwoods Vertical Forest has also been developed to promote the pleasure of contact with nature.

To foster greening in different climatic environments is not a simple task. However, there are several examples showing how innovative methodologies and techniques are able to achieve excellent results; Palazzo Verde in the city of Antwerp (Belgium), developed by Stefano Boeri Architetti is one of these examples.

Palazzo Verde, with its67 apartments, is the greenest building in all of Belgium: the facades are made up of alternating balconies and loggias, working on the concept of threshold, and moving the boundary between inside and outside. Palazzo Verde houses 86 local trees and 2200 shrubs, for a total of 780 square meters of total green area, accessible by residents directly from the stairwells and recognizable as a protected and inclusive space, obtained by positioning trees and shrubs at the edges of the terraces themselves.

Adopting strategies that combine technological innovation with locally adapted and climate-appropriate Nature-Based Solutions, can truly help cities and communities mitigate the effects of climate change and provide positive long-term social, environmental and economic benefits.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005177/en/

Contacts:

Press Office

Elettra Zadra

press@stefanoboeriarchitetti.net
Ananda Developments Plc - Shareholdings in the Company

7 May 2021

ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC

("Ananda" or the "Company")

Shareholdings in the Company

In June 2019, URA Holdings Plc ("URA") subscribed for 88,888,888 ordinary shares of 0.2p each in the Company ("Ordinary Shares") and received warrants to subscribe for a further 88,888,888 Ordinary Shares (the "Warrants").

Ananda has now been notified that URA has completed the required steps to allow it to distribute its holdings of Ordinary Shares and Warrants to shareholders in URA on a pro rata basis (the "Distribution").

Directors' Interests

Charles Morgan, Melissa Sturgess and Peter Redmond, all of whom are Directors of the Company, are also shareholders in URA and will receive Ordinary Shares and Warrants in the Distribution as follows:

Director Current Holding of Ordinary Shares Distribution of Ordinary Shares Holding of Ordinary Shares following the Distribution Percentage interest in Ordinary Shares following the Distribution Distribution of Warrants Charles Morgan 45,541,666 5,530,115 51,071,781 8.65% 5,530,115 Melissa Sturgess 69,653,888 8,070,282 77,724,170 13.16% 8,070,282 Peter Redmond 5,000,000 3,686,743 8,686,743 1.47% 3,686,743

Concert Party

The three Directors referred to above are members of the Concert Party, along with Michael Langoulant, who is also a shareholder in URA. These individuals will receive, in aggregate, 18,761,837 Ordinary Shares and 18,761,837 Warrants in the Distribution, as set out below.

Following the Distribution, the members of the Concert Party will be interested, in aggregate, in 143,657,607 Ordinary Shares, representing 24.33 per cent of the Company's enlarged issued share capital. The maximum potential interest of the Concert Party in the voting rights of the Company is set out in the table below:

Concert Party Member Current Holding of Ordinary Shares Distribution of Ordinary Shares Holding of Ordinary Shares following Distribution of Ordinary Shares Distribution of Warrants Contingent Consideration Shares Exercise of Options Maximum interest in Ordinary Shares

following exercise of the Warrants by the Concert Party, the issue of the Contingent Consideration Shares and exercise of Options Maximum percentage interest in voting rights following exercise of the Warrants by the Concert Party, the issue of the Contingent Consideration Shares and exercise of Options

Charles Morgan*

45,541,666

5,530,115

51,071,781

5,530,115

100,000,000

-

156,601,896

19.10%

Melissa Sturgess*

69,653,888

8,070,282

77,724,170

8,070,282

100,000,000

-

185,794,452

22.66%

Jeremy Sturgess-Smith

1,700,000

-

1,700,000

-

-

10,451,389

12,151,389

1.48%

Peter Redmond

5,000,000

3,686,743

8,686,743

3,686,743

-

-

12,373,486

1.51%

Michael Langoulant

3,000,000

1,474,697

4,474,697

1,474,697

-

-

5,949,394

0.73%

URA

88,888,888

(88,888,672)

216

216

-

-

432

-

TOTAL HOLDING OF CONCERT PARTY

213,784,442

143,657,607

18,762,073

200,000,000

10,451,389

372,871,049

45.49%

TOTAL SHARES IN ISSUE



590,538,886



590,538,886



609,300,939



809,300,939



819,752,328



819,752,328

*In addition to the Ordinary Shares set out above, Charles Morgan and Melissa Sturgess have been granted options over 9,282,778 and 9,282,778 Ordinary Shares respectively, pursuant to the Company's Incentive Scheme. Charles Morgan and Melissa Sturgess have undertaken not to exercise these options unless such exercise is permitted by the Takeover Code.

As the Concert Party's aggregate maximum potential interest in voting rights in Ananda will be reduced to between 30 per cent and 50 per cent by the Distribution, the members of the Concert Party will no longer be able to increase their aggregate interest in the Ordinary Shares, other than as set out in the table above or otherwise with the consent of the Panel, without incurring an obligation under Rule 9 of the Takeover Code to make a general offer for the remaining shares.

Words and expressions defined in the circular to shareholders in the Company dated 24 May 2019, which is available on the Company's website at www.anandadevelopments.com, have the same meaning in this announcement.

-Ends-

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC

Chief Executive Officer

Melissa Sturgess



Investor Relations

Jeremy Sturgess-Smith +44 (0)7717 573 235

ir@anandadevelopments.com PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED

Corporate Finance

Mark Anwyl

Allie Feuerlein



Corporate Broking

Lucy Williams

Duncan Vasey +44 (0)20 7469 0930



Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them. 1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated a) Name Charles Morgan 2 Reason for the notification a) Position/status Chairman b) Initial notification /Amendment Initial 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name Ananda Developments plc b) LEI 894500DFM8VOC5FW4X47 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument

Identification code

Ordinary Shares of 0.2p each





ISIN: GB00BDQPXQ60 b) Nature of the transaction Distribution of Ordinary Shares and Warrants by URA c) Price(s) and volume(s) 5,530,115 Ordinary Shares

5,530,115 Warrants d) Aggregated information

- Aggregated volume

- Price N/A e) Date of the transaction 7 May 2021 f) Place of the transaction N/A

Notification and public disclosure of transactions by persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them. 1 Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated a) Name Melissa Sturgess 2 Reason for the notification a) Position/status Chief Executive Officer b) Initial notification /Amendment Initial 3 Details of the issuer, emission allowance market participant, auction platform, auctioneer or auction monitor a) Name Ananda Developments plc b) LEI 894500DFM8VOC5FW4X47 4 Details of the transaction(s): section to be repeated for (i) each type of instrument; (ii) each type of transaction; (iii) each date; and (iv) each place where transactions have been conducted a) Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument

Identification code

Ordinary Shares of 0.2p each





ISIN: GB00BDQPXQ60 b) Nature of the transaction Distribution of Ordinary Shares and Warrants by URA c) Price(s) and volume(s) 8,070,282 Ordinary Shares

8,070,282 Warrants d) Aggregated information

- Aggregated volume

- Price N/A e) Date of the transaction 7 May 2021 f) Place of the transaction N/A
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - 3iQ Corp. ("3iQ"), the largest digital asset manager in Canada with more than C$3.5 billion in Assets Under Management ("AUM"), is pleased to announce the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF (the "ETF") has surpassed C$1 billion in AUM.

"Reaching $1 billion in only three weeks speaks to the enormous market demand for bitcoin," said Fred Pye, Chairman & CEO of 3iQ. "The pace of its growth is yet another milestone in 3iQ's goal to provide investors with more ways to gain exposure to the largest digital asset in the world."



The ETF, launched only a few weeks ago on April 19, 2021, is the fastest bitcoin ETF in Canada to reach $1 billion in AUM. The ETF is available in Canadian dollars under the symbol "BTCQ" and in U.S. dollars under the symbol "BTCQ.U". The ETF's investment objectives are to seek to provide holders of units of the ETF with: (a) exposure to digital currency bitcoin and the daily price movements of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin, and (b) the opportunity for long-term capital appreciation.

About 3iQ Corp.

Founded in 2012, 3iQ is Canada's largest digital asset investment fund manager with more than C$3.5 billion in assets under management. 3iQ was the first Canadian investment fund manager to offer a public bitcoin investment fund, The Bitcoin Fund (TSX: QBTC) (TSX: QBTC.U), and a public Ether investment fund, The Ether Fund (TSX: QETH.UN) (TSX: QETH.U). More recently, 3iQ launched the 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF (TSX: BTCQ) (TSX: BTCQ.U) and the 3iQ CoinShares Ether ETF (TSX: ETHQ) (TSX: ETHQ.U). 3iQ offers investors convenient and familiar investment products to gain exposure to digital assets. For more information about 3iQ and its digital asset investment funds, visit www.3iQ.ca or follow us on Twitter @3iQ_corp.

Press Contact

Fred Pye - Chairman & CEO

E: fred.pye@3iQ.ca

P: +1 (416) 639-2130

Please read the prospectus before investing. Important information about the ETF is contained in the prospectus. Copies of the prospectus may be obtained from 3iQ Corp. or at www.sedar.com.

You will usually pay brokerage fees to your dealer if you purchase or sell units of the ETF on a stock exchange or other alternative Canadian trading system (an "exchange"). If units of the ETF are purchased or sold on an exchange, investors may pay more than the current net asset value when buying units of the ETF and may receive less than the current net asset value when selling them.

Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses all may be associated with mutual fund investments. Please read the prospectus before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently, and past performance may not be repeated.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED THEREIN, IS RESTRICTED AND IS NOT FOR PUBLICATION, RELEASE OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO OR FROM THE UNITED STATES OR ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE SAME WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

This announcement should not be distributed, forwarded, transmitted or otherwise disseminated in or into the United States. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe for securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction. The ETF's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or under the applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States, and may not be offered, sold, resold, transferred or delivered, directly or indirectly within, into or in the United States, absent registration or an applicable exemption from, or except in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and in compliance with the securities laws of any relevant state or other jurisdiction of the United States. Neither this announcement, nor the fact that it has been disseminated, shall form the basis of, or be relied upon in connection with, any future information that we distribute.

This announcement and the information contained herein is restricted and is not for release, publication, or distribution, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly in, or into or from the United States or any other jurisdiction in which the same would be unlawful. Further, this announcement is for information purposes only and shall not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation to buy, subscribe for or otherwise acquire any securities of 3iQ CoinShares Bitcoin ETF in any jurisdiction in which any such offer or solicitation would be unlawful.

Not for distribution to U.S. newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83271
A longtime political operative across the country, Brimm was born in Texas and grew up in Mississippi. He handled campaigns in North Carolina before joining the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, known in the trade as the D-triple C, as a fundraiser and political adviser for multiple races in 2018.
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Radiko Holdings (CSE:RDKO) (the "Company") announces that further to the Company's press release dated April 14, 2021, the Company has received notice from the Alberta Securities Commission (the "ASC") that the ASC has not accepted the Company's management cease trade order (the "MCTO") application and the ASC has instead issued a cease trade order (the "CTO"). The Company applied for the MCTO as it anticipated it would be unable to file its audited annual financial statements, accompanying management discussion and analysis and related CEO and CFO certifications for the year ended December 31, 2020 (the "Annual Filings") by the prescribed deadline of April 30, 2021. The MCTO would have allowed the Company's shares to continue to trade while applying a cease trade order to the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, however an MCTO was not granted.

The CTO issued effective May 6, 2021, will prohibit the trading by any person of any securities of the Company, including trades in the Company's common shares made through the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Company expects the CTO to remain in place until such time as the Annual Filings and all continuous disclosure requirements have been filed and the Company receives an order from the ASC revoking the CTO.

The Company's board of directors and its management confirm that they are working with the Company's auditors to have the Company's Annual Filings completed. The Company will issue a further press release when the Annual Filings have been made.

The Company confirms as of the date of this news release that there is no insolvency proceeding against it and there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.

About Radiko Holdings

Radiko Holdings Corp. (RDKO) is a CBD and cannabis-focused brand portfolio, leveraging the potential of the plant by offering best of breed products that naturally complement today's consumer lifestyles. The Corporation's mission is to build and market a diversified portfolio of cannabis and CBD brands, with strategic manufacturing and distribution partnerships to support better EBITDA and margins.

For further information:

Steve Gormley

Chief Executive Officer

Radiko Holdings Corp.

12655 W Jefferson Blvd

Los Angeles, CA, 90066

Ph: +1-(323)-828-4321 or steve@radikoholdings.com

Media Inquiries: media@radikoholdings.com

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Disclaimer concerning Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" relating to the filing of its annual financial statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties regarding the Company are described in its publicly-available disclosure documents filed by the Company on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's expectations as of the date of this news release, or as of the date they are otherwise stated to be made, and subsequent events may cause these expectations to change. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend, and undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events.

SOURCE: Radiko Holdings Corp.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645634/Radiko-Provides-Update-on-Annual-Filings-and-Issuance-of-Cease-Trade-Order
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Quaterra Resources Inc. (OTCQB: QTRRF) (TSXV: QTA) ("Quaterra" or the "Company") today announced that a 7,000 -10,000-foot core drilling program began on May 4th at its MacArthur copper oxide project in the Yerington District, Nevada. Costs associated with the program will be internally funded through utilization of funds on hand and funds derived through the exercise of Warrants prior to their maturity date.

The drill program, with an estimated time frame of 2-3 months, is designed to accomplish three objectives:

Test the area east of the current resource for additional oxide mineralization

Upgrade portions of the resource from Inferred to Indicated status

Explore the under - drilled sulfide mineralization which exists beneath the oxide mineral resource.

"We intend to move MacArthur toward production as quickly as possible, and the current drilling program is the first step. Resurgent copper prices, a premier mining jurisdiction and global initiatives in electrification and decarbonization assure that success will be rewarded," says Quaterra chairman, Tom Patton.

This drilling program is the first major step toward completion of a prefeasibility study (PFS) which will be followed by a program of large diameter core drilling for the purpose of obtaining fresh samples for metallurgical testing; column testing to refine estimates of copper recovery and acid consumption; and mine plan optimization and financial model updating.

The Company estimates that completion of the PFS will require 12-15 months and an expenditure of US$3.5M-$4.0M, dependent upon results and the availability of funds. The successful completion of the PFS will substantially de-risk the project and inform whether the project should proceed to permitting, development, construction and operation.

The Company has completed in excess of a year of scoping work, including engineering work with results which suggest that the project may be amenable to a run-of-mine operation which could lower capital and operating costs. Like all acid-leach projects, MacArthur is sensitive to the price of copper, which has recently increased in excess of $4.00/lb. and to the price and usage of acid. The PFS will include a trade-off study to compare building an on-site acid plant versus shipment of acid from off-site, which could further reduce capital costs.

More information on timing and milestones for completion of the PFS will be available upon completion of the drill program.

About Quaterra Resources Inc.

Quaterra Resources Inc. is a copper-gold exploration company focused on projects with the potential to host large-scale mineral deposits attractive to major mining companies. It is advancing its Yerington copper project in the historic Yerington Copper District, Nevada. It continues to investigate opportunities to acquire prospects in North America on reasonable terms and the partnerships with which to advance them.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Thomas Patton, Chairman

Quaterra Resources Inc.

For more information please contact:

Karen Robertson

Corporate Communications

778-898-0057

Jay Oness

Investor Relations

604-808-9479

Thomas Patton, Chairman

Quaterra Resources Inc.

604-641-2758

Email: info@quaterra.com

Website: www.quaterra.com

Disclosure note:

Some statements in this news release are forward-looking statements under applicable United States and Canadian laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83232
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Sassy Resources Corporation ("Sassy" or the "Company") (CSE:SASY)(OTCQB:SSYRF)(FSE:4E7), one of the largest landholders in the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt, is pleased to announce that it has joined the Newfoundland.Gold alliance. Newfoundland.Gold is a strategic marketing alliance featuring gold exploration and mining companies focused on the advancement of the mineral sector in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Collectively these industry leaders are committed to bringing awareness to an exciting and supportive jurisdiction while generating shareholder value through responsible and innovative exploration and development.

Newfoundland is experiencing a modern day gold rush and is a top ranked exploration and mining jurisdiction. Mining is one of Newfoundland and Labrador's largest and oldest industries, and a major contributor to the economy of the province. Known for its strategic location for international transportation and a strong fishing industry, Newfoundland's mining history dates back centuries.

Sassy has taken a significant position in the province, through its subsidiary Gander Gold Corporation, recently announcing the acquisition of 1,381 sq. km of claims in Newfoundland including the 480 sq. km Gander North Project for which drill permits have already been received, covering a prospective area on the western edge of Gander North in the vicinity of Jonathan's Pond.

Sassy's other claim groups include Gander South, Carmanville, BLT, Cape Ray II, Mt. Peyton South, Hermitage and Little River. Refer to Sassy's February 12, 2021 and May 4, 2021 news releases at SassyResources.ca for more information on the Company's projects in Newfoundland, and the Foremore Gold-Silver Project in Northwest British Columbia's prolific Eskay Camp. Sassy is actively building a new web site as part of a fresh marketing/branding strategy, reflecting recent significant corporate developments, nine months following its listing debut on the CSE. The Company looks forward to unveiling its "Sassy" new look in the near future.

Mr. Mark Scott, Sassy President and CEO, commented: "Sassy is very pleased to join the Newfoundland.Gold alliance and looks forward to working with our fellow industry leaders to advance sustainable exploration, development and wealth generation in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador."

In addition to Sassy Resources and its subsidiary Gander Gold Corporation, the Newfoundland.Gold alliance members include New Found Gold Corp., Labrador Gold Corp., Exploits Discovery Corp., K9 Gold Corp., Leocor Gold Inc., C2C Gold Corp., Opawica Explorations Inc., and Sky Gold Corp.

Newfoundland.Gold will host its launch event, Virtual Investor Days, June 1-3, 2021 online. This online event will include corporate presentations from member companies, moderated by industry thought leaders, and will feature keynote speakers daily. Registration for the Virtual Investor Days is now open. For details and to register, please visit www.newfoundland.gold. Sassy is pleased to confirm that Sassy CEO Mark Scott will be presenting during this exciting and informative virtual event.

Caution Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Investors are cautioned that, except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained in this document includes "forward looking information", with respect to a performance expectation for Sassy Resources Corporation. Such forward looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections formulated using assumptions believed to be reasonable and involving a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Such factors include, without limitation, fluctuations in foreign exchange markets, the price of commodities in both the cash market and futures market, changes in legislation, taxation, controls and regulation of national and local governments and political and economic developments in Canada and other countries where Sassy carries out or may carry out business in the future, the availability of future business opportunities and the ability to successfully integrate acquisitions or operational difficulties related to technical activities of mining and reclamation, the speculative nature of exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks obtaining necessary licenses and permits, reducing the quantity or grade of reserves, adverse changes in credit ratings, and the challenge of title. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update publicly or revise forward looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Some of the results reported are historical and may not have been verified by the Company.

Contact Info:

Mark Scott

Chief Executive Officer & Director

info@sassyresources.ca

Terry Bramhall

Sassy Resources Corporate Communications/IR

1.604.833.6999 (mobile)

1.604.675.9985 (office)

terry.bramhall@sassyresources.ca

In Europe:

Michael Adams

Managing Director - Star Finance GmbH

info@star-finance.eu

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Sassy Resources Corporation

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645597/Sassy-Resources-Joins-NewfoundlandGold-Alliance
Company Announces Hiring of Director of Communications, Public Relations and Sponsorships

Boca Raton, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - CYIOS Corp. (OTC Pink: CYIO), a publicly traded company focused on developing and marketing specialty branded products in the Health and Wellness markets, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of privately held, Helio Lending, Pty Ltd. (Helio). The transaction is an all-shares restricted stock transaction with 50% of the restricted common shares being held in escrow issuable subject to performance milestones. Helio has built a unique and propriety platform enabling cryptocurrency holders to earn interest on deposits and secure loans collateralized by certain cryptocurrencies. The Company is also please to announce the hiring of Marko Radisic as Director of Communications and Public Relations including media, investor relations and sponsorships.

Mr.John O'Shea, Cyios Corp. Chairman commented, "We are very excited to have closed the acquisition of Helio. This is an important milestone for the Company and provides for a solid foundation to build upon in an emerging market that we believe can see continued market cap value expansion of cryptocurrency for the foreseeable future. As a first to market CeFi aggregator, Helio has differentiated itself as the GO-TO provider of choice offering customers an array of loan and deposit structures with the ability to pick from the best terms and rates available at any given time. Centralized finance, called 'CeFi' allows people to earn interest or get loans on their cryptocurrency by lending or borrowing through a centralized corporation. The Company has been busy building an advisory board team comprised of leading experts in the area of crypto and real estate lending who we believe can also add value and guidance on potential acquisitions. We look forward to sharing some of those advisory board appointments very soon."

Mr. O'Shea further commented, "We are very pleased to have Mr.Marko Radisic join the team as Director of Communications, Public Relations and Sponsorships. Based on the west coast of Florida, Marko adds depth to the team and a unique skill set perfectly suitable for the task at hand. With the Helio transaction now closed, a marketing budget and plan in place, Marko will be assisting the Company on numerous initiatives including; media relations and working towards expanding the awareness of the Company's CeFi aggregator platform through national articles, publications and social media; investor relations and bridging the communications gap between management and current shareholders and communicating with new investors eager to learn about the Company; sponsorships whereby the Company's subsidiaries can get signage, build brand recognition and create awareness of the Company and its numerous offerings."

Mr. Radisic commented, "I'm thrilled to have joined the Company at this time in their expansion phase. With the long awaited Helio deal now closed I'm excited to hit the ground running on numerous initiatives that we believe can add to shareholder value. With my deep roots in the racing arena, there are numerous opportunities for us to partake in sponsorship events, with the goal of having Helio plastered in as many places as we can which include upcoming race events and potential signage on various race cars. Being an investor in world of small caps myself, I find it paramount for companies to provide ongoing communication with new and existing stakeholders. My personal goal is to embrace transparency and communicate with shareholders and interested parties on our publicly stated plans and how we plan to build long-term shareholder value."

Bio for Marko Radisic ;

Marko is a successful businessman and entrepreneur with a passion for professional auto racing. His drive for success and winning is found both on the track and off. On the track, Marko has achieved multiple race wins and podium finishes in GT Racing. He also holds a Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest distance travelled karting on an outdoor circuit in 24 hours (945.60 miles). Marko takes that same passion for winning in whatever he sets his sights on including having founded numerous businesses including Precision Driving Racing Team, Flirt Sushi Lounges, Weinert & Radisic Internation (wine imports with national distribution into 17 States). He has spent many years investing in small & micro-cap companies developing in-depth knowledge of the public markets and understands the importance of bridging the communications gap between management, investors and media. Marko has chaired multiple events and committees for non-profits including the Child Protection Centre and Selah Freedom.

linkedin.com/in/marko-radisic

CONTACT INFORMATION



Public and Investor Relations:

Marko Radisic

admin@cyioscorporation.com

Investors are encouraged to follow CYIOS using:

www.twitter.com/cyioscorp

www.linkedin.com/company/cyios-corporation-llc

www.facebook.com/cyioscorporation

Follow Helio Lending:

https://heliolending.com/

https://twitter.com/heliolending

About CYIOS Corporation

CYIOS Corporation is a publicly traded holding company with subsidiary businesses Helio Lending and Choice Wellness Inc. Through these subsidiaries, the Company is focused on crytocurrency lending through Helio's CeFi Aggregator platform, and Choice Wellness is focused on developing and marketing specialty branded products in the Health and Wellness markets, including the "DR's CHOICE" and "24" brand of products. The team has in-depth knowledge of the health and wellness markets, financial services industry, medical and health services, and blockchain. The Company looks to develop, distribute, and license proprietary products as well as evaluate potential acquisition opportunities. Further, the Company continues to seek and evaluate attractive business opportunities and to leverage its resources and expertise to build a diversified, sustainable business model. For more information please visit www.cyioscorporation.com.

About Helio Lending, PTY LTD

Founded in 2018, Helio Lending has developed a CeFi cryptocurrency lending platform, with headquarters in Australia. Recognized as the first to market in Australia, Helio Lending was the first independent crypto lending company to actively lend within Australia. Helio has since evolved and positioned itself as the first CeFi (centralized finance) aggregator worldwide. Helio has a large panel of partners providing access to the best rates and offers for crypto loan providers as well as offering a competitive yield generating platform. Helio Lending provides holders of cryptocurrency (such as Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple) with a safe and secure way to access fiat funds at the best rates, without selling any of their cryptocurrency. Helio also allows holders to earn rates on their cryptocurrency.

About ChoiceWellness, Inc

ChoiceWellness, Inc. is a health and wellness company that has brought to market the DR's CHOICE line of products, as well as the "24" Brand Hand Sanitizer products. DR's CHOICE was developed with a mission to offer Doctors and Medical Practitioners their own Professional Grade CBD BRAND with a suite of products they could stand behind and be confident to offer to their patients. Our customers can be assured that DR's CHOICE CBD products have gone through the highest scrutiny of testing for purity, potency and quality. DR's Choice products have been brought to market for Doctors and Medical Professionals seeking a better solution for patients suffering from pain, inflammation, anxiety or other persistent symptoms. For more information please visit www.choicewellnessbrands.com or email us at info@choicewellnessbrands.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release contains "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements also may be included in other publicly available documents issued by the Company and in oral statements made by our officers and representatives from time to time. These forward-looking statements are intended to provide management's current expectations or plans for our future operating and financial performance, based on assumptions currently believed to be valid. They can be identified by the use of words such as "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "would," "could," "will" & other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to future sales, earnings, cash flows, results of operations, uses of cash and other measures of financial performance. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others such as, but not limited to economic conditions, changes in the laws or regulations, demand for products and services of the company, the effects of competition and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or represented in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking information provided in this release should be considered w/ these factors in mind. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this report.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83279




7 May 2021

RIGHTMOVE PLC

('Rightmove')

RESULTS OF THE 2021 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting ('AGM') of Rightmove shareholders was held today at the Company's London office at 6th Floor 33 Soho Square, London W1D 3QU. To comply with Government guidelines to prevent the spread of Covid-19, the AGM was convened and was quorate with the Company's directors and the Company Secretary in attendance.

The full text of each resolution was included in the Notice of Meeting circulated to shareholders on 26 March 2021. The Company advises that all of the resolutions were proposed and voted upon by poll(1), including shareholder votes submitted electronically or by post before the meeting. The results of the poll are set out below.

Resolution Votes

FOR (including discretion) % Votes AGAINST % Withheld(2) Votes cast as a % of capital(3) 1. Receive the Report and Accounts 691,925,294 99.99 64,388 0.01 7,612,510 80% 2. Approve the Remuneration Report 650,959,737 94.40 38,616,588 5.60 10,025,867 80% 3. Declare final dividend 697,620,906 99.74 1,787,033 0.26 194,253 81% 4. Re-appoint KPMG LLP as auditors 679,043,058 97.10 20,299,978 2.90 259,156 81% 5. Authorise directors to agree auditors' remuneration 694,121,816 99.25 5,214,725 0.75 265,651 81% 6. To elect Alison Dolan 699,130,284 99.96 262,367 0.04 209,541 81% 7. To re-elect Andrew Fisher 692,143,682 99.94 418,145 0.06 7,040,365 80% 8. To re-elect Peter Brooks-Johnson 699,191,628 99.97 201,023 0.03 209,541 81% 9. To re-elect Jacqueline de Rojas 699,298,866 99.99 93,785 0.01 209,541 81% 10. To re-elect Rakhi Goss-Custard 699,299,534 99.99 92,815 0.01 209,843 81% 11. To re-elect Andrew Findlay 689,541,703 100.00 20,204 0.00 10,040,285 80% 12. To re-elect Amit Tiwari 699,373,580 100.00 18,769 0.00 209,843 81% 13. To re-elect Lorna Tilbian 689,474,325 99.99 87,884 0.01 10,039,983 80% 14. To renew authority to allot shares 695,587,863 99.43 4,002,428 0.57 11,901 81% 15. Disapply pre-emption rights* 697,558,614 99.71 2,031,068 0.29 12,510 81% 16. Disapply pre-emption rights for capital investments* 681,470,694 97.41 18,124,058 2.59 7,440 81% 17. Renew authority to purchase own shares* 690,567,166 98.89 7,774,749 1.11 1,260,277 81% 18. Authorise political donations 692,719,132 99.07 6,475,182 0.93 407,878 81% 19. Approve 14 days' notice for general meetings* 645,448,096 92.28 53,959,843 7.72 194,253 81% 20. Adopt new Articles of Association* 699,332,777 100.00 18,216 0.00 251,199 81%

* Indicates a Special Resolution requiring a 75% majority

In accordance with the Company's Articles of Association, on a poll every member present in person or by proxy has one vote for every share held. A vote "withheld" is not a vote in law and has not been counted as a vote "for" or "against" a resolution. The votes validly cast by proxy are expressed in the table above as a percentage of Rightmove's issued share capital of 865,312,671 ordinary shares of 0.1p each, excluding treasury shares of 13,214,495, as at 6 May 2021 .

In accordance with LR 9.6.2, a copy of the resolutions passed, other than resolutions concerning ordinary business, at today's AGM will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

No other resolutions were put to the meeting.

The Board appreciates the support it has received from our shareholders for the AGM resolutions.

Name and contact for queries and authorised official responsible for making this notification:

Sandra Odell

Company Secretary

CompanySecretary@rightmove.co.uk
NOIDA, India, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A comprehensive overview of the Healthcare Connected Devices Market is recently added by UnivDatos Market Insights to its humongous database. The Healthcare Connected Devices Market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data of various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Healthcare Connected Devices Market. The Healthcare Connected Devices Market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Healthcare Connected Devices Market at the global and regional level. Healthcare Connected Devices Market was valued at more than USD 22 Billion in 2020, and it is expected to be almost USD 60 Billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 15.4% over the forecast period from 2021-2027.

Market Overview

Healthcare Connected Devices are applicable by the utilization of IoT, mHealth, and Artificial Intelligence in the healthcare sector. These devices are mostly used for remote patient monitoring, taking readings, observing patterns, and giving information to patients in case of deformity in patterns. Connected medical devices use wired or wireless connectivity to grab and monitor consumer data. This will decrease human error and give continuous and accurate data precisely. For this, 42 new Healthcare connected devices were approved by US FDA in the year 2019. Also, from July 2020, more than 22 healthcare connected devices have been authorized by FDA. Around three-in-ten Americans (31%) who live in households earning USD 75,000 or more a year claim, they wear a smartwatch or fitness tracker daily, compared to just 12% of those whose annual household income is less than USD 30,000.

Request Sample Copy of this Report @https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-connected-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2020-2027

Internet of Medical Things allows medical devices to be connected to the cloud and applications. Connected devices are used as a portable diagnostic system that is utilized in-home for self-monitoring of patients. Per a network provider company in Aruba, nearly 85% of the healthcare industries across the globe will adopt IoMT services by 2019. Further, it was also observed that approximately 3,000 IT companies including healthcare and business administrators across 21 countries have introduced IoMT for enhancing patient monitoring, promoting innovations, and deducting costs.

Connected devices have many advantages like it decreases medical errors, modifies safety, permits patient engagement, and helps in patient-based healthcare delivery. The market is rising with the development in technologies and growing insight of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile platforms in healthcare. Furthermore, Philips, in partnership with Open Market, has discovered a remote sensor technology with mobile messaging, called e-Alert, that notifies the major issue of the MRI system before its pause. This technology won the Most Innovative IoT Solution award in 2017.

COVID-19 Impact

COVID-19 pandemic has led to increasing uses of Healthcare Connected Devices for remote patient monitoring, maintaining a proper distance so that the people and healthcare workers do not get infected. Healthcare workers and systems were dependent on technology to give the necessary care to patients at their homes, through telecommunication and remote patient monitoring programs. Likewise, government health officials also utilized technology to slow the spread of the virus, through smartphone-based contact tracking and proactive wellness monitoring, or tele-consultancies. The COVID-19 outbreak has moved the center of attention of people to self-care facilities at their homes. Parks Associates data reveals that 42% of US broadband households used a telehealth service 10 months earlier to May 2020, whereas only 15% reported such usage in May 2019.

Ask for Price & Discounts @ https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-connected-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2020-2027

Healthcare Connected Devices Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

By Device, the market is primarily bifurcated into

Wearable Devices

Non-wearable Devices

The non-wearable device segment dominated the global healthcare connected device market and will grow remarkably over the forecast period.

By Product, the market is primarily segmented into

BP Monitor

ECG Monitoring Device

Glucose Monitor

Heart Rate Monitor

Insulin Pump

Portable GPS PERS

Pulse Oximeter

Smart Pill Dispenser

Amongst products, BP Monitor accounted for the largest share and is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period 2021-2027.

By Application, the market is primarily segmented into

Stationary Medical Devices

Implanted Medical Devices

Wearable External Medical Devices

Amongst applications, stationary medical devices accounted for a market valuation of USD XX Billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD XX Billion by the year 2027, at a CAGR of XX% over the analyzed period.

By End-user, the market is primarily segmented into

Hospitals

Ambulatory Surgical centers

Specialty Clinics

Home care Settings

Amongst end-users, the homecare setting segment of the healthcare connected device market was valued at USD XX Billion in 2020 and is likely to reach USD XX Billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of XX% from 2021-2027.

Healthcare Connected Devices Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada )

( , ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , Italy , France , Spain , and Rest of Europe )

( , , , , , and Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , and Rest of ) Rest of the World

Based on the estimation, the North American region dominated the healthcare connected device market and is expected to maintain its dominance during the forecast period due to advanced healthcare infrastructure in the region. However, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR over the analyzed period.

Ask for Report Customization @ https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-connected-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2020-2027

The major players targeting the market includes

Medtronic PLC

Xiaomi Corporation

ThermoFisher Scientific

Apple Inc.

FitBit Inc.

GE Healthcare, Inc

Philips Healthcare

OMRON Corporation

Abbott Laboratories

McKesson Corporation

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the Healthcare Connected Devices market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the Healthcare Connected Devices Market?

Which factors are influencing the Healthcare Connected Devices Market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Healthcare Connected Devices Market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Healthcare Connected Devices Market?

What are the demanding global regions of the Healthcare Connected Devices Market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

For more informative information, please visit us @https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-connected-devices-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2020-2027

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

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Client Development Lead

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German scientists have proposed a new design for stacks used in redox flow batteries. Through a powder-to-roll process, a device that weighs 80% less than a conventional stack was fabricated.A group of scientists from the German research institute Fraunhofer Umsicht claims to have reduced the production costs of redox flow batteries by redesigning one of its main components - the stack. The design of the stacks in redox flow batteries, on the other hand, is complicated by the presence of a number of parameters that can influence the performance. The German group said it developed the stack with ...

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.
AS PRFoods (registry code 11560713, registered address at Parnu mnt 141, 11314 Tallinn, Estonia; "PRFoods") hereby notifies persons holding the notes (the "Noteholders") of the Issuer, due on 22 January 2025 and bearing ISIN code EE3300001577 (the "Notes"), issued under the Terms and Conditions of Secured Note Issue of AS PRFoods dated 14 January 2020 (which have been amended on 25 February 2020; the "Terms"), of convening a meeting of Noteholders (the "Meeting").

The Meeting will be held on 24 May 2021 at 12:00 (EET) at Peetri 12 (Kai Kunstikeskus), 10415 Tallinn, Estonia. Registration for the Meeting will be open at the venue of the Meeting from 11:00 to 11:45 (EET). The management of PRFoods requests all Noteholders to consider that due to COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus, it is advised to minimise the extent of physical gatherings and the participation therein. For this purpose, the management of PRFoods advises to consider authorising representatives of the collateral agent to participapate in and vote at the Meeting, and not to physically attend the Meeting.

Due to the pandemic of COVID-19 caused by the coronavirus commenced in the end of 2019 and the extraordinary effects the continuing pandemic and the measures taken to combat it have had on the economic environment, including the economic affairs of PRFoods and its group companies, PRFoods has decided to convene the Meeting and request from the Noteholders a waiver of the financial covenants provided the Terms for PRFoods' 2020/2021 financial year (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2020 - 30.06.2021).

In 2020 and 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has continuously brought along an extraordinary situation in most of the countries where PRFoods and its subsidiaries operate. To combat the pandemic, national special measures have been taken and continuously implemented, which measures have continuously had a negative impact on the operations of the PRFoods and its subsidiaries.

The slow fallback of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing effects thereof have - in addition to the financial year 2019/2020 (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2019 - 30.06.2020) - also had a negative impact on PRFoods in the financial year 2020/2021 (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2020 - 30.06.2021), which have in turn affected the ability of PRFoods to meet the financial covenants provided in the Terms during the ongoing financial year. Although the exact results of operations for the ongoing financial year will be clear after the end of the ongoing financial year and the effect of these on the financial covenants provided in the Terms will be clear once the audited annual report of PRFoods has been completed, the initial calculations of PRFoods indicate that for the financial year ending on 30 June 2021, the Net Debt to EBITDA of the Issuer (calculated in accordance with the Terms) shall be higher than the level of 4.5 provided in Clause 5.2.1 (b) of the Terms and the Issuer's DSCR (calculated in accordance with the Terms) shall be lower than the level provided in Clause 5.2.2 of the Terms.

However, PRFoods confirms that the above described temporary negative effects do not affect its ability to fulfil the monetary obligations provided in the Terms (including the ability to make the payments under the Notes).

As one of the measures to mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19, PRFoods is planning - in accordance with the announcement made to the investors and the public on 07.05.2021 - to conduct an issue of subordinated convertible notes and a tap-issue of the Notes in the 1st half of financial year 2021/2022 (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2021 - 30.06.2022), the successful completion of which would, in the opinion of PRFoods, reinforce the capital structure thereof and its subsidiaries, and facilitate the smoother and faster recovery from the negative impacts caused by COVID-19 and, by such means, also the faster improvement of the financial results of PRFoods. Further, the issue of subordinated convertible notes and the tap-issue of the Notes will enable the refinancing of the short-term EUR 1,500,000 investment loan borrowed in 2017 and the short-term EUR 1,000,000 bridge financing borrowed in 2021 by PRFoods from its shareholder Amber Trust II S.C.A in connection with the maturity of the relevant loans. Although the referred note issues will have an effect on the financial covenants provided in the Terms, PRFoods highlights that the subordinated convertible notes constitute subordinated instruments, wherefore the payment obligations arising therefrom will be subordinated to other, unsubordinated payment obligations of PRFoods.

In the light of the above, PRFoods wishes to convene the Meeting and asks the Noteholders to waive the financial covenants provided in Section 5.2 of the Terms for the 2020/2021 financial year of PRFoods (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2020 - 30.06.2021), and decide that any non-fulfilment of the financial covenants provided in Section 5.2 of the Terms for the 2020/2021 financial year of PRFoods (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2020 - 30.06.2021) shall not constitute a breach of the Terms by the Issuer or an Extraordinary Early Redemption Event (as defined in the Terms).

AGENDA

The agenda for the Meeting will be as follows:

Organisational matters relating to the Meeting. Voting on the granting of a waiver of the covenants provided in Section 5.2 of the Terms for the Issuer's 2020/2021 financial year (i.e. the financial year 01.07.2020 - 30.06.2021) and consenting to the effects of the issue of subordinated convertible notes and tap-issue of the Notes, as well as of the bridge financing borrowed in 2021 on the financial covenants provided in Section 5.2 of the Terms.

RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE AND VOTE AT THE MEETING

Only persons appearing as Noteholders in the Estonian Register of Securities (the "Register") at the close of settlement day of the Register, seven (7) banking days preceding the date of the Meeting, shall be entitled to participate and vote at the Meeting.

Noteholders holding their Notes directly may participate and vote in the Meeting directly themselves or through their proxies. If the Notes of a Noteholder are held through a custodian, such custodian must provide a proxy to the Noteholder in order for such Noteholder to participate at the Meeting. The form for such proxy has been attached to this notice as Annex 1. To participate at the Meeting, an original copy of the proxy signed by hand or signed digitally must be presented upon registering for the Meeting.

Furthermore, PRFoods has - in light of the spread of COVID-19 and the measures implemented for combating the spread thereof - agreed with the collateral agent of the Notes that the representatives of the collateral agent are willing to represent at the Meeting those Noteholders who do not wish to physically attend the Meeting, cannot participate at the Meeting and cannot appoint another proxy. If a Noteholder wishes to authorise the representatives of the collateral agent to represent such Noteholder at the Meeting, the Noteholder must send the collateral agent a proxy on the form attached to this notice as Annex 2 in a digitally signed format by e-mail) or signed by hand by mail (to the address: Advokaadiburoo TGS Baltic, Ahtri 6a, Tallinn 10151, Estonia) by the date preceding the date of the Meeting.

QUORUM AND MAJORITY REQUIREMENTS

In accordance with Section 12.2.1 of the Terms, the Meeting shall have quorum in case Noteholders holding in aggregate Notes with the nominal value representing more than 50% of the aggregate nominal value of all Notes are present at the Meeting.

In accordance with Section 5.5, 12.2.2 and 16.1.3 of the Terms, the resolution on amending the Terms as set out in the agenda of the Meeting are considered adopted in case the Noteholders holding in aggregate Notes with the nominal value representing more than 50% of the aggregate nominal value of all Notes held by the Noteholders present at the Meeting vote in favour of the amendment.

PRFoods and Related Parties (as defined in the Terms) shall not have the right to vote at the Meeting and the Notes held thereby shall not be counted in determining the quorum or the majority requirements.

When the Noteholders approve the granting of a waiver of the covenants provided in Section 5.2 of the Terms with the above described majority, the said waiver shall be binding on all Noteholders.

ANNEXES

Annex 1 - Form of proxy for appointing a proxy holder chosen by the Noteholder.

Annex 2 - Form of proxy for appointing representatives of collateral agent as proxy holder.

Additional information:

Indrek Kasela

AS PRFoods

Member of the management board

+372 452 1470

investor@prfoods.ee

www.prfoods.ee

Attachments
MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / The search engine optimization landscape has experienced some dramatic changes this last year, with 2021 shaping up to be just as turbulent. On Thursday, April 8th, search giant Google announced a new algorithm update, certain to shake the very foundation of some SEO (and business) approaches to product reviews on their websites.

This quarter, Next Level Marketing, a premier search engine marketing firm with nine offices located throughout the United States, rolls up its sleeves and takes the public on a deep dive of what this algorithm update means for those conducting 'business as usual'.

When Google Speaks, SEOs Listen

Although known for its cryptic responses, backpedaling, riddle-like information and often outright silence on SEO matters, sometimes, the search giant steps up to the mic and actually provides some useful information.

One such time was this past April, when Google announced an update to its already robust and evolving product reviews algorithm. Google's algorithm updates have historically been given cute names, such as Penguin and Panda, but moving forward the company has returned to seemingly boring (and unimaginative) namesakes, with this new update begin dubbed simply as the 'Product Reviews Update'.

The Product Reviews Update

An apt name for the update, this review remains true to its descriptive nomenclature. According to a Google spokesperson, the update is "designed to better reward' those product reviews that 'share in-depth research, rather than thin content that simply summarizes a bunch of products." This spokesperson went on to tell Search Engine Land that those reviews which are written in a way that incorporates "insightful analysis and original research" will be rewarded with better rankings, as will those reviews providing "content written by experts or enthusiasts who know the topic well."

Not a Direct 'Punishment'

According to Google, it will not be directly 'punishing' websites with what it deems to be 'lower quality' product reviews or 'thin content' (such as aggregated summarizations of products). Instead, Google is taking a carrot vs the stick approach, rewarding those sites with content that meet its ever-increasing quality standards.

Not a Core Update

As opposed to Google's major 'core' updates that impact a broad scope of search results across all content types, this update is narrower in focus. Google states that it is not a core update, but rather a 'standalone' update separate from its growing list of core algorithms.

What This Means for Product Review Websites

Those websites dedicated to product reviews as a means of generating affiliate revenue stand to be impacted the hardest. Similarly, those with product-based sites such as online retailers may need to re-evaluate their eCommerce SEO strategies.

Many businesses, blogs and websites that are not considered 'review' sites, have a decent portion of their website focused on covering product releases, product news, buying guides, savings guides and traditional reviews that may all fall under this update.

According to Next Level Marketing, failure to adjust strategies with the changing tide may result in these sites getting drowned out by nimble competitors who quickly adapt and adjust not only their current strategies, but also the content already published on their sites.

According to Next Level Marketing, the overall focus brands should have moving forward is on providing its users with high-quality content, created by industry or product experts, that offers meaningful, insightful, unique and original analysis of a given product the page is reviewing.

Although this may mean additional costs on the front end, taking the time to create content that is superior to the competition, while strictly adhering to Google's own playbook and algorithms, is a surefire way to earn and solidify rankings.

In order to determine whether or not your new or existing content stands up to the new algorithm, Google suggests asking the following questions:

Does the content offer expert knowledge, insights or advice about the products when and where appropriate? Does the content utilize media to demonstrate the product in use, and/or show the reader what the product looks like (beyond the scope of photos provided by the manufacturer). Does the review offer quantitative measurements regarding the ways the described product measures up against the competition across varying categories of performance (i.e. speed, durability, quality, craftsmanship, efficiency, results, etc.). Does the review clearly and effectively explain what sets the product apart from other options available on the market. Does the content compare other products that may be worth considering and/or explain which product might be best for a given circumstance or use case. Does the review detail the benefits as well as any potential downsides. Does the review detail how the product may have changed, improved, or gotten worse from its previous models or releases. Does the review detail key factors that should be considered when making a decision and how the product performs with respect to each of these.

About Next Level Marketing

Next Level Marketing is one of the nation's leading marketing firms, backed by an impressive resume of documented client results that speaks for itself. Having worked with businesses ranging from local mom and pop operations, to multinational Fortune 500 companies, Next Level Marketing is agile, capable and ready to tackle any challenge.

Next to Google, social media platforms are the second most frequented digital mediums online, presenting an incredible opportunity to connect and engage with prospective customers at scale. NLM helps local businesses leverage these platforms to their advantage, driving sales while keeping costs low.

Those interested in achieving similar results or who are interested in learning more about how NLM can help their business or brand are encouraged to reach out via their official website.

Media Contact:

Company Name: Next Level Marketing

Contact Person: Tomas Gallo

Email: tomas@nextlevelsem.com

Phone: (844) 740-5010

Address: 2125 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33137

Website: www.nextlevelsem.com

SOURCE: Next Level Marketing

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645667/Next-Level-Marketing-Dives-into-Googles-Algorithm-Update-on-Benefits-of-Product-Reviews-in-Rankings


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, has projected a sharp decline in coronavirus cases in the United States by July, and an even faster decline if more people get vaccinated sooner.



The promising news appears in an article that CDC published in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that provides some insights using data and evidence to show various scenarios of what will happen with cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, and how it depends on how many people get vaccinated and whether we continue to follow prevention measures.



The study, which CDC initiated in collaboration with a large group of academic researchers, is the first multi-model effort to project the long-term trajectories of COVID-19 in real time in the country in different scenarios.



The team looked at four scenarios, each with different assumptions about vaccination coverage, combined with other strategies to prevent spread of COVID-19 such as physical distancing, masking, isolation, and quarantine.



Discussing the report at a press briefing, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said these models project that local conditions and emerging variants are putting many states at risk for increases in COVID-19 cases, especially if we do not increase the rate of vaccinations do not keep our current mitigation strategies in place until we have a critical mass of people vaccinated.



'What we learned from this report is that we are not out of the woods yet, but we could be very close. All of us who are getting fully vaccinated and continuing our prevention efforts can help us turn the corner on the pandemic as early as July, and set us forward on a path toward a more normal lifestyle,' Dr.Walensky told reporters.



Walensky said that when high vaccination rates and low case rates are in sight, further guidance on easing some of the restrictions that are currently in place will be released.



The projected scenario is seen as the positive impact of the rapid rollout of vaccination in the United States, and the latest target set by President Joe Biden to cover 70 percent of adult Americans with at least one vaccine shot by July 4.



Announcing the next phase of his administration's vaccination campaign, Biden said on Tuesday that coronavirus infection cases in the United States are down in 40 states in the past two weeks. Deaths are down dramatically since January - down by more than 80 percent among seniors.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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After the two Republicans filed the suit in April 2018, Bysiewicz gave a defiant reaction, saying: I am proud of the work our law firm did which ultimately resulted in Mrs. Miller having her First Amendment rights restored as a Republican primary voter. (A new GOP registrar, who succeeded Dunkerton, reinstated her as a Republican voter.) This new accusation by two of the men who took those rights away from her has no merit, and I look forward to a resolution that reflects that, Bysiewicz said at the time.
NOIDA, India, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A comprehensive overview of the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market is recently added by UnivDatos Market Insights to its humongous database. The Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data for market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market. The market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market at the regional/country levels. Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.3% from 2021-2027 to reach US$ 6.9 billion by 2027.

Market Overview

The Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market is booming owing to the rising number of patients applying for health insurance coupled with an increase in the number of frauds in pharmacy bills, healthcare, and high returns on investment paired with increasing government initiative to reduce healthcare fraud. As per General Accounting Office (GAO), 'federal spending on major healthcare programs to grow from 5.9% of GDP in the fiscal year 2020 to 8.0% of GDP in the fiscal year 2050'. The enormous volume of money involved in the healthcare sector and its size make it an attractive fraud target.

Request Sample Copy of this Report @https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-fraud-detection-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

COVID-19 Impact

COVID-19 proposes an occupational risk to healthcare workers. Thousands of healthcare workers worldwide have been infected by COVID-19. The prevention of the intra-hospital spreading of communicable infections is the main concern for governmental bodies and healthcare institutions. As per Berlin-based international anti-fraud consulting firm NEMEXIS, corruption and fraud are on high in the healthcare sector. NEMEXIS surveyed 58 countries for the determination of fraudulent activities including ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE), black markets, cyber-attacks, faulty equipment, and bribes taken by medical personnel in the healthcare systems. The survey found that 80% of the personnel were involved in some of the other corruption and fraud.

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Healthcare Fraud Detection Market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

By-Components, the market is primarily bifurcated into:

Services

Software

Based on components, the market is fragmented into Services and Software. The healthcare fraud detection market is expected to record high growth owing to advancements in software technology, a high adoption rate of fraud detection software by insurance companies, rise in software availability in the developed regions, among others. For instance, the healthcare cloud has launched patient analytics software for the tracking of patient outcomes and utilizes extensive database and proprietary analytics to recommend procedures based on patient comorbidities. The software segment generated revenue of USD XX million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period to reach a market valuation of USD XX million by 2027F.

By Delivery Models, the market is primarily segmented into:

On-Premise Delivery

On-Demand Delivery

Based on delivery models, the market is fragmented into on-premises and on-demand delivery models. The on-premises delivery model is expected to record the highest growth owing to high flexibility, pay-as-you-go pricing, and the lack of upfront capital investments for hardware. The On-Premises delivery model generated revenue of USD XX million in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period to reach a market valuation of USD XX million by 2027F.

By Solutions Type, the market is primarily segmented into:

Descriptive Analytics

Predictive Analytics

Prescriptive Analytics

Based on solutions type, the market is divided into descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics. Descriptive analytics holds the major share owing to its high assistance in predictive and prescriptive analytics. For instance, Vidence and NTT DATA announced a partnership to deliver predictive analytics in oncology. This collaboration will make use of a combination of medical imaging scans, clinical and outcomes data to build a predictive model that will improve treatment regimens. The Descriptive Analytics sub-segment generated revenue of USD XX million in 2020. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of XX% during the forecast period to reach a market valuation of USD XX million by 2027F.

Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America ( United States , Canada , Rest of North America )

( , , Rest of ) Europe ( Germany , United Kingdom , France , Spain , Italy and Rest of Europe )

( , , , , and Rest of ) Asia-Pacific ( China , Japan , India , Australia , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

( , , , , and Rest of ) Rest of the World

North America is dominating the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market in 2020 and is anticipated to maintain its dominance during the forecast period.

Ask for Report Customization @ https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-fraud-detection-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

The major players targeting the market include:

IBM Corporation

Optum, Inc.

COTIVITI, INC.

McKesson Corporation

Fair Isaac Corporation

SAS Institute Inc.

SCIO Inspire, Corp.

Conduent, Inc.

HCL Technologies Limited

CGI Inc.

DXC Technology Company

Northrop Grumman

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions. Companies operating in the market have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

What are the latest trends, patterns, and technological advancements in the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market?

Which factors are influencing the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market over the forecast period?

What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market?

Which factors are propelling and restraining the Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market?

What are the most prominent regions for Global Healthcare Fraud Detection Market?

What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

For more informative information, please visit us @https://univdatos.com/report/healthcare-fraud-detection-market-current-analysis-and-forecast-2021-2027

About UnivDatos Market Insights

UnivDatos Market Insights (UMI) is a passionate market research firm and a subsidiary of Universal Data Solutions. We believe in delivering insights through Market Intelligence Reports, Customized Business Research, and Primary Research. Our research studies are spread across topics across the world, we cover markets in over 100 countries using smart research techniques and agile methodologies. We offer in-depth studies, detailed analysis, and customized reports that help shape winning business strategies for our clients.

Contact

UnivDatos Market Insights

Pawnendra Pawan

Client Development Lead

Ph: +91-7838604911

Email: pawnendra@univdatos.com

Website: https://univdatos.com/

Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225049/UnivDatos_Logo.jpg
Charley Brindley is Currently Working on Transforming His Book Into a Movie

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Charley Brindley, an author of 21 published novels, is pleased to announce the upcoming release of the movie The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry, which will be based on his book of the same name.

As Brindley noted, the novel peers into the events of the second Punic War between the Romans and the Carthaginians. From the vantage point of modern war, the book looks back to the ancient war, providing readers with wisdom, fun and engagement.

Brindley was inspired to transform his novel into a movie for two reasons: one, he wants to make the novel more accessible to a wider audience. He knows that many people would prefer to watch a movie instead of reading a book.

In addition, he wants to help create and encourage a greater appreciation for history among as many people as he can. The movie is currently the focus of a fundraiser on the crowd funding website Kickstarter.

"How are we going to learn from history when we are no longer studying it or appreciating it, as we should?" Brindley asked, adding that by learning from the past, people can gain a great deal of wisdom from the history of their ancestors. "Many nations of the world cannot understand their history apart from the history of the Romans. By casting our minds back to the second century BC, we will be gaining an appreciation of ancient history."

The Punic Wars are an essential part of history, Brindley said. However, The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry is not purely historical. Rather, it is a work of "alt-history" fiction that brings together modern and ancient history in a unique way that will interest viewers from the opening scenes.

Brindley plans on filming the movie in the Rocky Mountains and the foothills, which he said will look similar to the South of France, the Alps and Northern Italy. Other scenes will be shot in other parts of the United States or Canada.

About The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry:

The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry is an "alt-history" fiction novel that looks into the events of the second Punic War between the Romans and the Carthaginians. The book, which was written by Charley Brindley, is currently being transformed into a movie by Brindley.

Contact:

Mary Kay

marykayemail@gmail.com

(323) 222-5888

SOURCE: The Last Mission of the Seventh Cavalry

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645819/Announcing-the-Upcoming-Release-of-The-Last-Mission-of-the-Seventh-Cavalry-Movie
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. (TSXV: SCZ) (the "Company" or "Santacruz") announces that it has granted a total of 16,250,000 stock options to its directors, officers, employees, consultants and advisors. The stock options, which are subject to the terms and conditions of the Company's stock option plan, have a five-year term, are exercisable at $0.47 per share and subject to certain vesting requirements.

About Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.

Santacruz is a Mexican focused silver company with two producing silver projects, Zimapan and Rosario, and two exploration properties, the La Pechuga property and Santa Gorgonia property. The Company is managed by a technical team of professionals with proven track records in developing, operating and discovering silver mines in Mexico. Our corporate objective is to become a mid-tier silver producer.

'signed'

Arturo Prestamo Elizondo,

Executive Chairman

For further information please contact:

Arturo Prestamo

Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd.

Email: info@santacruzsilver.com

Telephone: (528) 18378-5707



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

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: Risks and uncertainties relating to the Company, including those described in the Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the Company's year ended December 31, 2020 filed on May 5, 2021 on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83330
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Aurelius Minerals Inc. (TSXV: AUL) (the "Company" or "Aurelius") announces that it has closed the first tranche of its previously announced $6,000,000 non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") by issuing (i) 3,595,041 common shares of the Company ("Common Shares") on a post consolidation basis for aggregate proceeds of $2,157,025, and (ii) 4,998,462 common shares which qualify as "flow-through shares" (as defined in subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada)) ("Flow-Through Shares") on a post consolidation basis for aggregate gross proceeds of $3,373,962, and a combined aggregate gross proceeds of $5,530,987.

The Offering is subject to receipt of the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"). The securities issued are subject to a statutory four month hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance. The Company expects to close the remaining tranche of the Offering for additional gross proceeds of $510,000 on or about May 10, 2021.

The net proceeds from the sale of Common Shares will be used by the Company for corporate and general working capital purposes, and an amount equal to the gross proceeds from the sale of Flow-Through Shares will be used to incur eligible "Canadian exploration expenses" as defined under the Income Tax Act (Canada) related to the Canadian properties of the Company, on or before December 31, 2022. The Company will renounce to the purchasers of the Flow-Through Shares such Canadian exploration expenses with an effective date of not later than December 31, 2021.

Subject to TSXV approval, in connection with the Offering, Aurelius expects to issue to Sprott Private Resource Lending (Collector), LP, ("SPRL"), up to approximately 366,575 common shares at a price of $0.60 per share (on a post consolidation basis), in satisfaction of the exercise by SPRL of its participation right, to maintain its 18.82% shareholding of Aurelius. Subject to the approval of the TSXV, the value of the participation right exercise will be credited towards the First Deferred Payment in connection with the acquisition of the Aureus Gold assets by Aurelius.

Following completion of the consolidation, effective May 4, 2021, and the Offering, Aurelius expects to have approximately 37,000,464 common shares issued and outstanding, and 37,367,039 common shares issued and outstanding following the issuance of shares to SPRL discussed above on a non-diluted basis.

Assuming completion of the final tranche of the Offering, the Company will have paid cash finders' fees of $250,065, being a commission of 7.0% of the gross proceeds in connection with certain subscriptions under the Offering, and issued an aggregate of 371,392 compensation warrants, equal to 7.0% of the Common Shares and Flow-Through Shares issued in connection with certain of those subscriptions. Each compensation warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at a price of $0.60 per common share and expire 18 months following the date of issue. Dundee Goodman Merchant Partners, a division of Goodman & Company, Investment Counsel Inc. ("Dundee"), a related party, entered into a finders' fee agreements with the Company in respect of the Offering. The Company will pay Dundee $178,758, being a commission of 7% of the gross proceeds in connection with certain subscriptions under the Offering, and issue approximately 258,343 compensation warrants, equal to 7% of the Common Shares and Flow-Through Shares issued in connection with those subscriptions.

In addition to the finders' fees paid to Dundee, certain directors, officers and other insiders of the Company purchased or acquired direction and control over a total of 30,000 Flow-Through Shares and 45,000 Common Shares as part of the Offering. CMP 2021 Resource Limited Partnership and New Venture Equities Fund LP, affiliates of Dundee, participated in the Offering and purchased 888,888 Flow-Through Shares and 833,333 Common Shares respectively. The placement to those persons constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of TSX Venture Exchange Policy 5.9 (the "Policy") and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") adopted in the Policy. The Company has relied on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 in respect of related party participation in the placement as neither the fair market value (as determined under MI 61-101) of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transaction, insofar as it involved the related parties, exceeded 25% of the Company's market capitalization (as determined under MI 61-101). Further details will be included in a material change report to be filed by the Company. A material change report is being filed in connection with the insider participation in the Offering less than 21 days in advance of closing of the Offering, as the Company did not have prior confirmation of such participation.

This new release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will be not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 as amended (the "1933 Act"), 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 U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.

About Aurelius

Aurelius is a well-positioned gold exploration company focused on advancing its recently acquired and renamed Aureus Gold Properties, including Aureus East and West, the Tangier Gold Project and the Forest Hill Gold Project located in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Aurelius is also focused on advancing two district-scale gold projects in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Ontario, Canada, one of the world's most prolific mining districts; the 968-hectare Mikwam Property, in the Burntbush area on the Casa Berardi trend and the 12,425-hectare Lipton Property, on the Lower Detour Trend.

The Company has a management team with experience in all facets of the mineral exploration and mining industry who will be considering additional acquisitions of advanced staged opportunities in Nova Scotia, the Abitibi and other proven mining districts.

On Behalf of the Board

AURELIUS MINERALS INC.

For further information please contact:



Aurelius Minerals Inc.

Mark N.J. Ashcroft, President and CEO

info@aureliusminerals.com

Tel.: (416) 304-9095

www.aureliusminerals.com

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

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" under the provisions of applicable Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Aurelius. All statements in this press release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to Aurelius within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements with respect to the Company's completion of the Offering on the terms described herein or at all, the use of proceeds of the Offering, the planned exploration activities, the development of the Aureus Gold Properties, the verification of certain data disclosed in this press release by the Company and the exercise by SPRL of its participation right in the Offering on the terms described herein or at all. Generally, this forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" , "believes", or variations or comparable language of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performances or achievements of Aurelius to be materially different from future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which Aurelius will operate in the future, including the price of gold, anticipated costs and ability to achieve goals.

Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performances or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking information include, among others, gold price volatility, mining operational and development risks, litigation risks, regulatory restrictions (including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability), changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and/or change in the administration of laws, policies and practices, expropriation or nationalization of property and political or economic developments in Canada, delays, suspension and technical challenges associated with projects, higher prices for fuel, steel, power, labour and other consumables, currency fluctuations, the speculative nature of gold exploration, the global economic climate, dilution, share price volatility, competition, loss of key employees, additional funding requirements and defective title to mineral claims or property. Although Aurelius believes its expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions and has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.

The Company provides forward-looking information for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Aurelius to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: the risk that the Company cannot complete the remainder of the Offering on the terms described herein, on the timing described herein or at all, the inability of the Company to obtain approval from the TSXV for the issuance of common shares to Sprott, the proceeds of the Offering being used differently than as described herein, risks related to difficulties in executing exploration programs at the Mikwam, Lipton and Aureus Gold Properties on the Company's proposed schedules and within its cost and scheduling estimates, whether due to weather conditions, complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic or the actions of the provincial or federal governments in response thereto, availability or interruption of power supply, mechanical equipment performance problems, natural disasters or pandemics in the areas where it operates, uncertainty as to whether historical mineral resources will be increased and a current mineral resource estimate completed, the integration of acquisition; risks related to current global financial conditions including market reaction to the coronavirus outbreak; competition within the industry; actual results of current exploration activities; environmental risks; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future price of gold; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining approvals or financing; risks related to indebtedness and the service of such indebtedness, as well as those factors, risks and uncertainties identified and reported in Aurelius' public filings under Aurelius' SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although Aurelius has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, accordingly, are subject to change after such date. Aurelius disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by law.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATON INTO THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83328
NYON, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Antonio Canton reports that he owns and controls 30,181,480 common shares (the "Common Shares") of Gold Springs Resource Corp. (the "Company") of Suite 880 - 580 Hornby Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 3B6, following the completion of private purchase and sale transactions on May 6, 2021 (the "Transaction"), whereby Mr. Canton acquired 24,854,288 Common Shares at a price of CAD$0.11 per share for a purchase price of CAD$2,733,971. The 24,854,288 Acquired Shares represent 9.96% of the Company's 249,448,164 currently issued and outstanding Common Shares. Prior to the Transactions, Mr. Canton owned and controlled 5,327,192 Common Shares and held stock options and warrants of the Company entitling him to acquire 5,600,000 Common Shares representing 4.28% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a partially-diluted basis. After the Transactions, Mr. Canton owns and controls 30,181,480 Common Shares and stock options and warrants entitling him to acquire 5,600,000 Common Shares, representing 12.10% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares on a non-diluted basis and 14.03% on a partially-diluted basis. Mr. Canton advises that his acquisition of the Acquired Shares is for investment purposes only. He has no current intention to dispose of any securities of the Company and may acquire additional securities in the future.

Mr. Canton has been an active director of the Company for more than 10 years. He was instrumental in negotiating the merger between South American Silver Corp. and High Desert Gold Corp. that resulted in the Company acquiring the Gold Springs Project. Together with management of the Company, he negotiated the settlement agreement with the Government of Bolivia to settle SAC's international arbitration against Bolivia for the 2012 expropriation of the Malku Khota project. Most recently, he was instrumental in structuring the Non-Equity Financing Structure of up to US$20 Million to Fund exclusively Drilling Programs at Gold Springs.

A copy of the corresponding report required by the early warning requirements can be obtained by contacting Mr. Canton at +41229792577.

SOURCE: Antonio Canton

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645666/Early-Warning-Press-Release-Regarding-Securities-of-Gold-Springs-Resource-Corp
PHOENIX, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / May 7, 2021 / Lucid Leverage, a digital marketing agency based in Phoenix, Arizona, is offering SEO for CBD websites.

CBD and medical marijuana businesses are booming all across the country. However, the industry is still in a relatively nascent stage. New regulatory developments are happening on an almost daily basis. The uncertainty makes the industry ripe for disruption. Shrewd CBD and medical marijuana business owners realize the importance of getting the word out on their brand early to stand apart. Only those ventures that will spend the time and money to distinguish their brand and online presence will be poised to reap the benefits from the expected growth of this industry in the future.

Lucid Leverage offers a service that allows CBD and medical marijuana brands all across the country to create a loyal fan base. It does so by leveraging its experience with online SEO and marketing. They are able to set up everything from a website with high-quality search engine optimization to a focused and targeted social media campaign. The company claims to use all the tools at its disposal to create an online identity for the brand that can stand the test of time.

Lucid Leverage helps businesses gain organic search traffic from Google by creating engaging content that resonates with the target audience. Organic search traffic is very important in this industry because the major platforms such as Google, Facebook, and YouTube do not allow PPC campaigns due to the nature of the subject matter. It, therefore, becomes imperative to have a strategy that recognizes the importance of organic traffic and social media reach. Lucid Leverage claims that they have years of experience in SEO for marijuana businesses that allows them to rank a company on the top of organic Google search results.

Lucid Leverage also says that it is hard to find competent help when it comes to digital marketing for the CBD industry. This is due to a lack of experience and the sensitive nature of the marijuana business that is still shrouded in misconceptions. Lucid Leverage is adept at handling the challenges on both fronts. Its experience in the industry makes it an expert at avoiding the common pitfalls when it comes to marketing CBD and THC products. It is also an expert in walking the thin line when it comes to creating content for this industry. The company says that it knows how to create content that takes into account the legalities of the wording as well as of the offerings themselves. The challenge is to be compliant with local laws and statutes while still getting visibility from search engines and social media platforms.

Lucid Leverage places importance on conveying the solid business processes that a brand has put in place to ensure the purity and high quality of its product. It lists all the relevant information regarding the cultivation of plants that make their way into a brand's offerings. It makes sure to discuss cultivation methods and facts about the different strains that go into the end product. This creates a sense of familiarity with the audience who are able to gauge the benefits of the end product by the ingredients that go into making them.

The company will also help shoot 5-star testimonial videos about the business's CBD and medicinal marijuana products. This creates social proof that helps drive sales from customers who might be holding out from buying. The review videos will be customized for every social media platform based on the type of engagement that is expected.

SEO resellers Lucid Leverage also help in creating SEO-optimized websites that allow customers to browse through and share content directly from their phones. This increases the reach of the brand as they are able to bring in customers from all walks of life into their marketing sphere. The client's business benefits from Lucid Leverage's web design expertise that creates a visually appealing and easy to use, feature-rich online home for their products.

For more information about Lucid Leverage LLC, contact the company here:

Lucid Leverage LLC

Chris Quintela

844-257-5335

cq@lucidleverage.com

60 E. Rio Salado Pkwy 9th Floor Suite 313

Tempe, AZ 85281

SOURCE: Lucid Leverage LLC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/645846/Lucid-Leverage-LLC-Is-Offering-SEO-Services-For-CBD-Websites
DGAP Voting Rights Announcement: QIAGEN N.V.

QIAGEN N.V.: Release according to Article 40, Section 1 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act] with the objective of Europe-wide distribution



07.05.2021 / 22:05

Dissemination of a Voting Rights Announcement transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The AFM (the Netherlands Authority For the Financial Markets) has informed us on May 5, 2021 that a notification related to our institution has been released by the AFM. The following notification has been disclosed in the relevant register on the AFM website: Date of transaction: 30 april 2021

Person obliged to notify: Massachusetts Financial Services Company

Issuing institution: QIAGEN N.V.

Registration Chamber of Commerce: 12036979

Place of residence: VENLO Distribution in numbers Type of share Number of shares Number of voting rights Capital interest Voting rights Manner of disposal Settlement Ordinary share 9.530.487,00 11.598.485,00 Real Real Directly Ordinary share 2.222.443,00 4.430.958,00 Real Real Indirectly -

(MFS Investment Management Canada Ltd; MFS Heritage Trust Company; MFS Investment Management Company (Lux) S.a.r.l; MFS Investment Management K.K.; MFS Institutional Advisors, Inc; MFS International (U.K.) Ltd; MFS International Singapore Pte.Ltd)

Distribution in percentages Type Total holding Directly real Directly potential Indirectly real Indirectly potential Capital interest 5,09 % 4,13 % 0,00 % 0,96 % 0,00 % Voting rights 6,94 % 5,02 % 0,00 % 1,92 % 0,00 %



QIAGEN N.V. is not responsible for the accuracy and correctness of the notification above. The content has been taken from the relevant register of the AFM:

https://www.afm.nl/en/professionals/registers/meldingenregisters/substantiele-deelnemingen/details?id=110620

07.05.2021 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Hansco Capital Corp. (TSXV: HCO.P) ("Hansco" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent (the "LOI") dated May 3, 2021 with Aurex Energy Corp. ("Aurex", an Alberta corporation) respecting a proposed transaction (the "Transaction") pursuant to which Hansco will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Desert Strike Resources (US) Inc. ("DSRI", a Nevada corporation). DSRI holds a 70% right, title and interest in and to the Cook Property (the "Property") located in Humboldt County, Nevada, subject to a 2.5% net smelter royalty interest (the "NSR"). Under the LOI, Hansco and Aurex have agreed to act in good faith to draft, negotiate and execute a definitive share purchase agreement (the "Definitive Agreement") respecting the Transaction, which will supersede the LOI.

The Transaction is intended to qualify as Hansco's "Qualifying Transaction" as defined by Policy 2.4 of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). Following closing, the resulting issuer (the "Resulting Issuer") will be a "Mining" issuer under the policies of the Exchange. Trading of the common shares of Hansco (each, a "Share") will remain halted in connection with the dissemination of this press release and will recommence at such time as the Exchange may determine, having regard to the completion of certain requirements pursuant to Exchange Policy 2.4. Further details of the proposed Transaction will follow in future press releases.

About the Cook Property

The Property is comprised of 88 mineral claims covering 7.4 square kilometers in Humboldt County, Nevada. DSRI holds a 70% right, title and interest in and to the Property (subject to the NSR), which interest was obtained by DSRI, as Aurex's agent and subsidiary, pursuant to a sale and purchase agreement (the "Property Purchase Agreement") respecting the Property dated as of January 9, 2017 between Aurex, as purchaser, and a private Nevada corporation ("Nevco"), as seller. Pursuant to the Property Purchase Agreement, DSRI and Aurex are obligated to pay any and all fees required to maintain title to the Property. Under the Property Purchase Agreement, the parties have agreed to reserve a 2.5% net smelter return royalty interest on Property. The Property Purchase Agreement contemplates a five mile area of mutual interest ("AMI") around the Property, and if either party stakes or acquires any mining claim or other mining property or interest within the AMI, that claim, property or interest will automatically become part of the Property.

DSRI and Aurex are entitled to make such investment in the Property as they may determine, provided that Nevco shall have no obligation to fund any further maintenance or development of the Property through or until the time that one or more claims included in the Property is subject to a bankable feasibility study that establishes a reserve on which a commercial lender would lend against the Property as collateral and there are approved mine permits and bonding at the local, state and federal levels. Upon a determination by DSRI and Aurex to develop such a reserve, the parties shall form a 70%/30% joint venture under a definitive joint venture agreement.

The Transaction

Under the Transaction, Hansco and Aurex will negotiate, execute and deliver the Definitive Agreement, pursuant to which Hansco will acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of DSRI (each, a "DSRI Share"). As consideration for the acquisition of the DSRI Shares, Hansco will issue an aggregate of 14,000,000 Shares to Aurex at an anticipated price of no less than $0.15 per Share, representing an anticipated aggregate valuation of a minimum of $2,100,000. The only asset of DSRI is its interest in the Property, which has a book value of $999,718 (unaudited) as at September 30, 2020. DSRI has no liabilities. No finder's fees will be payable under the Transaction, except in connection with the Private Placement (defined and described below).

Aurex is a reporting issuer in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan and its shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol AURX.V. No person holds more than 10% of the issued and outstanding shares of Aurex or is a controlling shareholder of Aurex. No Non-Arm's Length Party (as defined by the Exchange) of Hansco has any direct or indirect beneficial interest in Aurex, DSRI, Nevco or the Property, is an Insider (as defined by the Exchange) of Aurex, DSRI or Nevco or has any relationship with any Non-Arm's Length Party to the Qualifying Transaction (as defined by the Exchange). The Transaction does not constitute a Non-Arm's Length Qualifying Transaction (as defined by the Exchange), is not subject to Exchange Policy 5.9 or Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions, and is not expected to be subject to approval of the Hansco shareholders.

The Transaction is subject to completion of certain conditions precedent, including without limitation: execution of the Definitive Agreement; the preparation and filing of a Filing Statement with the Exchange; completion by Hansco of a private placement (the "Private Placement") for gross proceeds of no less than $2,000,000; and receipt of all necessary regulatory and Exchange approvals.

Under the Private Placement, Hansco intends to raise no less than $2,000,000 and no more than $3,000,000 through the issuance of units of Hansco at a price of not less than $0.15 per unit, with each unit expected to be comprised of one Share and one common share purchase warrant exercisable for an additional Share for two years at an exercise price of not less than $0.15. Hansco may pay finder's fees and may issue finder's warrants in connection with the Private Placement. Further information respecting the Private Placement will be provided by the Company in due course in a subsequent press release.

Sponsorship of a Qualifying Transaction of a capital pool company is required by the Exchange unless exempt in accordance with Exchange policies or unless a waiver is granted by the Exchange. Hansco intends to apply for an exemption from the sponsorship requirements under section 3.4 of Exchange Policy 2.2 or a waiver of sponsorship if an exemption from sponsorship is unavailable; however, there can be no guarantee that a waiver will be granted if no exemption is available.

The Resulting Issuer

The Resulting Issuer will be a "Mining" issuer under the policies of the TSXV. In conjunction with closing the proposed Transaction, the name of the Resulting Issuer will be changed to a name mutually agreed to in writing by Hansco and Aurex. The board of directors and management of the Resulting Issuer will be as determined by Hansco and Aurex prior to the execution of, and as reflected in, the Definitive Agreement, including without limitation that Gary Billingsley (Aurex's Chief Executive Officer) will be the CEO of the Resulting Issuer.

Gary Billingsley, CPA, CA (non-practicing professional accountant), P.Eng., P.Geo., is a professional engineer and geoscientist with more than 40 years' experience in the mineral industry-most of those years in Saskatchewan. Mr. Billingsley has been an officer and director of several public mining and mineral exploration companies during the past 35 years. In addition to experience with uranium and base-metal exploration, Gary has been directly involved with putting Saskatchewan's largest gold mine into production and has played a major role in the discovery of diamond-bearing kimberlite in Saskatchewan. He was also involved in drilling some of the first horizontal oil wells in southern Saskatchewan. For much of the last 20 years, Mr. Billingsley has been involved in developing strategic metal deposits. He identified, very early on, the importance of achieving self-reliance across the entire supply chain for critical and strategic minerals, in particular rare earth elements.

On closing of the Transaction, and assuming that Hansco raises $2,000,000 under the Private Placement at a price of $0.15 per unit, the Resulting Issuer will have 33,333,333 Shares issued and outstanding. The current shareholders of Hansco would hold approximately 18% of the Shares of the Resulting Issuer, participants in the Private Placement would hold approximately 40% of the Shares of the Resulting Issuer, and Aurex would hold approximately 42% of the Shares of the Resulting Issuer.

About Hansco

Hansco is a capital pool company in accordance with Exchange Policy 2.4 and its principal business is the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a Qualifying Transaction.

For additional information, please refer to the Company's disclosure record on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) or contact the Company as follows: Aris Morfopoulos, CFO, at (604) 721-2650.

Cautionary Note

Completion of the transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange Requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the management information circular or filing statement to be prepared in connection with the transaction, any information released or received with respect to the transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described in this press release in the United States. Such securities have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws, and, accordingly, may not be offered or sold within the United States, or to or for the account or benefit of persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or pursuant to an exemption from such registration requirements.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is defined in applicable Canadian securities legislation. The words "may", "would", "could", "should", "potential", "will", "seek", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions as they relate to Hansco , including, the completion of the Transaction and the Private Placement and pro forma information regarding the Resulting Issuer, are intended to identify forward-looking information. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Such statements reflect Hansco's current views and intentions with respect to future events, and current information available to them, and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation: the ability to obtain all requisite approvals (and otherwise satisfy all closing conditions) for the Transaction; the estimation of capital requirements; the estimation of operating costs; the timing and amount of future business expenditures; and the availability of necessary financing. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking information to vary from those described herein should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize. Such factors include but are not limited to: changes in economic conditions or financial markets; an escalation of the current COVID-19 pandemic; increases in costs; litigation; legislative, environmental and other judicial, regulatory, political and competitive developments; and exploration or operational difficulties. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect forward-looking information. These and other factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking information. Should any factor affect Hansco in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. Any such forward-looking information is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Moreover, Hansco does not assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such forward-looking information. The forward-looking information included in this press release is made as of the date of this press release and Hansco undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as required by applicable law.

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

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83355
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - May 7, 2021) - Pima Zinc Corp. (the "Company") announces that it has amended its memorandum of association to consolidate all of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares ("Shares") of the Company by changing each block of twenty (20) pre-consolidation Shares of the Company into one (1) post-consolidation Share of the Company (the "Consolidation"), resulting in the previously outstanding Shares of the Company being consolidated into approximately 1,267,174 Shares. No fractional Shares will be issued pursuant to the Consolidation and any fractional Shares that would have otherwise been issued have been rounded down to the nearest whole number. The Consolidation was approved by the members of the Company at the Annual and Special General Meeting of Shareholders held on February 8, 2021.

Letters of transmittal with respect to the Consolidation are being mailed to the Company's registered members. All registered members will be required to send their share certificates representing pre-Consolidation Shares, along with a properly executed letter of transmittal, to the Company's registrar and transfer agent, TSX Trust Company, in accordance with the instructions provided in the letter of transmittal. Members who hold their Shares through a broker, investment dealer, bank or trust company should contact that nominee or intermediary for assistance in depositing their Shares in connection with the Consolidation. A copy of the letter of transmittal will be posted on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com.

In addition, the Company has amended its memorandum of association to permit the Company to be deregistered in the Cayman Islands and to apply to the Registrar if Companies in the Cayman Islands to be deregistered as a Cayman Islands exempted company and continued into the provincial jurisdiction of British Columbia (the "Deregistration and Continuance"). The Deregistration and Continuance was approved by the members of the Company at the Annual and Special General Meeting of Shareholders held on February 8, 2021. Further details regarding the Deregistration and Continuance will be provided in a subsequent new release of the Company.

For further information, please contact:

Albert Contardi

President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: (416) 361-2832

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and 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. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/83367
But Lamont has pushed back strongly against the package of tax increases that was approved by the legislatures finance committee, including increasing capital gains by 2 percentage points for high-income earners, creating a new consumption tax on the rich and retaining a 10% surcharge on corporate profits that businesses have long opposed. He said flatly that he would not sign the package, adding that it is a bad time to raise taxes during an ongoing pandemic when the state will be receiving $2.6 billion in federal funds over the next three years as part of President Joe Bidens national stimulus package.
Glambook, a Berlin, Germany-based global beauty tech company, secured 500K in funding at a 3.5M post-money valuation.

The round was led by a group of angel investors, including German investor Vlad Pinskij, also an early investor in Endel, and serial entrepreneur Nikolay Piskunov.

The company will use tghe funds to expand its services in the UK, Italy, and Germany and enhance and increase user value.

Led by Alex Tomchenko, founder and CEO, Glambook provides a SaaS platform for self-employed beauty professionals and their clients. More than 4,000 self-employed professionals from Berlin, London, Milan, and 50 other cities across Europe have already registered with the platform.

FinSMEs

07/05/2021
Material Bank, a Miami, Fla.-based marketplace for searching and sampling architectural, design, and construction materials, secured $100m in Series C funding.

The round, which brought total funding to $157m, was co-led by General Catalyst and Durable Capital Partners LP, with participation from Bond, Lead Edge Capital and existing investors Bain Capital Ventures and Raine Ventures. In conjunction with the funding, Bob Mylod of Annox Capital, will be joining Material Banks Board of Directors.

The company intends to use the funds to scale teams and infrastructure, expand into new verticals, make strategic acquisitions, and seed long-term growth initiatives.

Led by Founder, Chairman and CEO Adam I. Sandow, Material Bank is a marketplace for design professionals and brands in the architecture and design industry, providing a way to discover and sample materials.

Material Bank has 375 brands and over 65,000 members performing almost 700,000 material searches a month. The marketplace is powered by a new, 380,000 square foot logistics facility, located just minutes from FedExs World Hub in Memphis, TN. This new facility uses autonomous robots to service tens of thousands of sample requests every night.

FinSMEs

07/05/2021
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I would not give a dime to somebody who wasnt a moderate like me  because its a waste of money Simmons said. If youre a hardcore social conservative, thats not who the bulk of the people are in Connecticut so youre not going to win here. You need to move to Florida or Texas or Arizona and thats great, you can go down there and you can win there.
Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) on Thursday got his first up-close look at the Southern border since taking office and came away more convinced than ever that the Biden administration is shirking its duty to halt illegal immigration.

You see the Republican congressmen come down here, said Carl, who was part of a 10-congressmen group that traveled to San Diego. Where are the Democrats at?

Carl said President Joe Biden has been missing in action.

Its a huge issue, he said. Were trying to get the president to wake up.

Carl said that during a stop at an auto crossing, he saw 200 pounds of methamphetamine that had been found in vehicles in just a 12-hour period. He told FOX10 News that the massive smuggling does not just affect districts near Mexico.

I just witnessed 200 pounds of meth stacked in boxes, he said. That meth would have wound up in Mobile in the streets and arms of kids in Mobile. That infuriates me. You got to get your priorities straight.

The congressman expressed disgust that the Biden administration has cut off funding for the border wall that former President Donald Trump had begun and is reversing other Trump-era policies.

The White House countered that the administration has made real progress in reducing the number migrant children held at Customs and Border Protection facilities.

Wall construction along the Southern border in recent years is just one example of the prior Administrations misplaced priorities and failure to manage migration, the White House said in a statement to FOX10 news. The President is taking the challenge head-on and is building a fair, orderly and humane immigration system. What weve seen from the data is progress. A month ago more than 5,000 children were in CBP custody. Today that number is less than 800.

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council, told FOX10 News that the Biden administrations position is misleading. He said it is true that fewer children are in custody, but only because the government is releasing them to sponsors in the United States faster.

Judd, whose union represents 14,500 Border Patrol agents, pointed to statistics showing more children apprehended at the border in April than the previous month.

The only thing that we've done is weve made the revolving door quicker, he said. Thats it.

Carl said he was shocked by the sheer volume of illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border every day. And they are not just from Mexica and Central America, he added, noting that foreigners from all over the world are using the same smuggling networks to get into the United States via the vulnerable Southern border.

On the way over here, we actually came to a place called Smugglers Gulch, and there was a family of about nine, and they were from Romania with children that had crossed the border there, he said.

Carl said he was disgusted to learn from border agents that smugglers will sell children to illegal immigrants trying to cross the border because they know children can make it easier to get admitted.

The same child will show up three or four days, with a different group, he said.

Judd said that jibes with his experience.

Were seeing it from many, many different countries, not just Mexico like it was, he said.

Judd noted that on a recent day, 51 different nationalities were represented among the migrants held at a Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, Texas.

That just didnt happen before, he said.

Judd said apprehensions were higher in the 1990s and early 2000s. But he said the total numbers included many people who made repeated attempts in the same year. The current numbers much more closely equate to distinct individuals.

If you compare apples to apples, this is by far the biggest search that weve ever seen, he said.
MOBILE, Ala --The University of South Alabama is honoring 2,119 degree candidates with eight individual college and school commencement ceremonies May 6-8, 2021 at the USA Mitchell Center.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no University-wide ceremony.

The University will confer 1,383 baccalaureate degrees, 538 masters degrees and 198 doctorate degrees.

Social distancing protocols will be observed, and guests will be seated with distance between groups. All attendees, students and guests, will be required to wear a mask at all times while in the Mitchell Center.

Each graduating student is able to invite up to 4 guests to attend their ceremony.

These ceremonies will be live-streamed through the University homepage SouthAlabama.edu for those who are unable to attend.
With minutes to spare, a Hahnville High School teacher in Boutte, Louisiana, traded shoes with a senior so he could walk at his graduation after allegedly violating the dress code.
The main activity room has a great big open space with new technology for virtual experiences for people who are not ready to return in person  and may not be for some time, Cronin-Nance said. People can participate and still feel like theyre in the clubhouse with their peers.
Keep the conversation about local news & events going by joining us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Recent updates from The News-Post and also from News-Post staff members are compiled below.
As a trained physicist, he could have ended up designing rockets for Boeing, shaping young minds at a university, or making any number of other scientific contributions.

Instead, by a stroke of luck, Dr. Georg Luebeck wound up at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, where for the last 30-plus years, his mathematical models of biological processes like cancer initiation and growth have helped everyone from uranium miners at risk for lung cancer to astronauts facing the effects of galactic cosmic radiation.

Its coming up to 32 years. Or is it 33? Luebeck said of his time at the Hutch. So much of the research and the methods and the technologies have changed. We didnt have the genome then. We didnt understand so many things. Now we have affordable, whole-genome sequencing and array technologies to interrogate genomes down to the single-cell level.

Now, too, there is much more data  clouds full of it  and an even greater need to make sure its all interpreted in ways that make sense. Thats where Luebecks mathematical modeling of multi-stage carcinogenesis comes in.

Its important to have an intellectual context in which you can explain your data, he said. To me, thats a model. If you dont have that, you can easily be led astray and misinterpret the data.

Digging into biology and biostatistics

Born and raised in Germany, Luebeck earned his doctorate in theoretical physics at the University of Washington and went on to do postdoctoral work at the Neils Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics and Geophysics in Copenhagen before returning to Seattle and joining the Hutch. There, he worked under now-retired Dr. Suresh Moolgavkar.

Luebeck still remembers meeting his mentor-to-be during that first job interview.

He had an intimidating piling system, not a filing system, and he pulled out two research papers from a huge stack and suggested my reading them, Luebeck said. At first glance, it was all gobbledygook.

Biology, genetics and biostatistics were new to him then, but Luebeck wasted no time digging in. He soon was able to assist his mentor Moolgavkar and began working in lung cancer with former Hutch radiation biophysicist Dr. Stanley Curtis, investigating the association between lung cancer and radon exposure.

There was a public health concern of radon in homes and in the population of uranium miners, he said. What was surprising to us was that radon, which emits ionizing alpha particles, was much less of a cancer initiator  a long-held dogma  and much more of a cancer promotor, increasing the growth of bad lesions.

He and Moolgavkar used data from several studies to develop new lung cancer risk models. The approach they used assumed a series of biological processes that we modeled computationally and mathematically, he said. It was a new way of modeling risks from environmental exposures such as radon.

Soon, Luebeck and Moolgavkar were joined by others across the world interested in radiation carcinogenesis, in particular modeling cancer risks among A-bomb survivors.

It became clear that the biological cancer models we developed had wider applications including cancer sites such as colon, pancreas and esophagus, he said.

It was this work, trying to understand how long it takes for cancers and their precursors to develop, that he first became interested in the concept of tissue aging.

The idea that tissue aging somehow also plays a role in the initiation of a cancer was something that clicked with me, he said.




Have any questions? Please give us a call at 907-352-2250
William Weber West, 93 of Gainesville, Texas passed away on June 2, 2021. He was born on April 7, 1928 in Atchison, Kansas to Lee West and Elizabeth (Weber) West. He married Mary Ellen Peyrot on May 17, 1951 in Gainesville, Texas. William enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 5, 1951 in Gaine
Galveston, TX (77553)

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Mostly cloudy skies. Low around 80F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Low around 80F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
eZverifi grew from a news item that founder Dennis Woodbury saw one night about an older couple who died after trying to buy a car from Craigslist. Woodbury said he was inspired to create a trusted and affordable tool to help verify a stranger. He said the app uses two-factor authentication to verify a smartphone or other device is linked to a specific person.
Turkish mobile studio Ace Games has raised $7 million in seed funding to continue making casual and hyper casual titles.

As reported by TechCrunch, the Mix and Drink and Prison Life developer currently operates two studios and is currently working on a new casual 'hybrid puzzle' title that's due to launch globally in 2022.

The studio was established by former Peak Games COO and co-founder Hakan Bas, who offered a bit of insight into how the company operates.

"Aces main focus is actually the casual hybrid puzzle game that we have been working on for a while now," commented Bas. "However, our hyper-casual studio assists the main studio in many aspects like training talent, coming up with creative game mechanics and marketing ideas, generating cash, and creating user base.

The funding round was led by Actera Group with participation from industry entrepreneurs including Kristian Segerstrale, Alexis Bonte, and Kaan Gunay.
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Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald.

Head pastor Dennis Johnson told Mid-Valley Media he passed out face masks at that convention and urged their use indoors. But then he said this: If they werent wearing them, I guess thats just a case of the youth doing what they want. Johnson and his son, an assistant at Apostolic Life Center, made it clear the church doesnt believe in telling parishioners they must adhere to public health guidelines, saying they rely on churchgoers to use their own judgment.

We think that attitude is irresponsible  and can potentially have tragic results. Until we have much more widespread vaccination, any gathering without proper precautions has the potential to cause an outbreak. Singing in particular has been linked to superspreader events. Early in the pandemic, a choir practice attended by 61 people in Skagit County, Washington, resulted in 32 confirmed cases and 20 probable cases of COVID-19, according to the CDC. Three participants were hospitalized and two died.
Weve been this kind of neutral, and maybe sometimes youd say unsolicited source of information, where we just call up these companies, Selker said. They dont always love to hear from us because were going to tell them the things that dont work.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.

Several manufacturers are now producing helmets that meet the requirements developed by Selker and his team.

Another major hurdle was solving safety concerns around the helmets, as no existing equipment monitored air flow in and out of the helmet or filtered the exhaust from the infected patient. The PEEP-Alert changed that.

If you have someone who has COVID, and theres no vaccine yet, its a huge deal when you contaminate the entire hospital room, Selker said of helmets that leaked or didnt filter exhaust. One of the advantages of our helmet design for COVID is it constrains the virus. Theres a filter on the outlet, so you can have  people in the room and not get infected.

The race against time is still on for Selker and his team as they try to distribute the PEEP-Alert, already in production in Canada, to areas in need. Hundreds of the devices are waiting to be exported to Kenya.
The ballot for the May 18 election includes a contested race for a seat on the Lebanon Community Schools board.

Incumbent Todd Gestrin, 56, is facing a challenge from Nichole Piland, 44, to represent Zone 5. Gestrin was appointed to the school board after Nick Brooks stepped down in the fall of 2019 because he was transferred to a new job in Washington.

Gestrin previously served one full term on the board about a decade ago. He said he did not seek another term on the board at that time because he was working in Springfield and was not as accessible to members of the public as he would have liked.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Lebanon Express.

Gestrin has since retired from his career as an executive in which he served with several banks and credit unions. He believes his background in finance is helpful for a school board member.

I feel like I need to be asking the finance questions because Im the one on the board with the greatest financial knowledge as far as reading budgets and understanding the numbers, Gestrin said.
The Armenian Genocide occurred more than a hundred years ago.

President Biden is now the first U.S. president to acknowledge it  setting the record straight is the right thing to do, and besides, U.S.-Turkish relations are unfortunately already in the toilet.

Now  what about the genocide in Yemen that has been going on for the past six years? The U.S. in its proxy war against Iran is playing no small part  selling sophisticated jets, tanks and artillery to the Saudis so they can continue target practice in Yemen  more than 200,000 dead and 80% of the population dependent upon outside aid, which has been blocked since the Trump Administration declared the Houthi rebels to be terrorists.

The Biden Administration wants to stop the conflict, but will it? Biden has promised a review of policies, and we can only hope that as he acknowledges the 1915-17 Armenian Genocide, he takes resolute action to stop the genocide that is occurring now rather than set the stage for an acknowledgement of it in a hundred years.

Donald Lyon

Brownsville

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Dr. Sami Al-AbdRabbuh has been a big advocate for Planned Parenthood. He believes women should have reproductive rights with regards to their bodies, just as men have reproductive rights to theirs.

Sami believes that women are intelligent enough to make their own choices about their bodies, and that the government should not be able to have control over a womans uterus. He is firm on this and other civil rights issues.

As Sami has been on the Corvallis School Board, he has supported the right policies, budget priorities and quality education for our children.

Most importantly the endorsements to reelect Sami speak volumes: Sen. Sara Gelser, Rep. Dan Rayfield, all Benton county commissioners, the Corvallis Education Association, Stand for Children, Corvallis Showing Up for Racial Justice, Benton County District Attorney John Haroldson and Corvallis City Councilor Ed Junkins, M.D.

With regards to equity, diversity and inclusion, Sami knows its important always to include people with disabilities, children, elders, folks who are homeless, LBGTQ+ folks, and people of different cultures and religions.
People think Eastern Carolina barbecue is about vinegar, he says, and so they just dump it on their pork. But thats not what it is. Its patience. Its the freshness of pork thats gone when its gone, cooked only over wood for long hours (he likes hickory, himself). Its fussing and being up all night and tearing your hair out. Its a secret sauce developed over decades, massaged gently into the meat: Vinegar and cayenne, sure, but also some other stuff he wont tell you.
Gettysburg, PA (17325)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Windy with a few clouds. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph..

Tonight

Windy with a few clouds. Low 64F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph.
Xi exchanges congratulations with San Marino's leaders on 50th anniversary of ties

Xinhua) 13:27, May 07, 2021

A Yuxin'ou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) China-Europe freight train leaves the Tuanjie Village Station of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, March 19, 2021.(Xinhua/Tang Yi)

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday exchanged congratulatory messages with Gian Carlo Venturini and Marco Nicolini, captains regent of San Marino, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In his message, Xi noted that over the past half century, China-San Marino relations have developed smoothly, setting a good example of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit between countries with different systems and cultures.

Xi said he is willing to work with the captains regent to take the 50th anniversary as an opportunity to deepen bilateral and international cooperation and ensure that China-San Marino friendship be carried on from generation to generation.

In their congratulatory message, Venturini and Nicolini noted that since the two countries established diplomatic ties, the people in the two countries have shared the same mind and cooperated closely, and the two sides have treated each other with sincerity, laying a solid foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

They said they are confident that commemorating the anniversary will bring new opportunities for the two countries to develop bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The changes implemented earlier this year also included a variety of other inclusive policies, for men and women, including allowing female soldiers to wear some shades of nail polish and earrings in the Army Combat Uniform. Men are allowed to wear clear nail polish in uniform, and men and women can wear natural color highlights in their hair.
Reports of her last sighting placed her near a visitor center in Roanoke later that Sunday. She had short hair and went by the name Andrew, based on reports online.
Specifically, the president would raise $1.5 trillion by taking the top tax bracket for those making over $400,000 from 37% to 39.6%. He is also calling for an increase the top capital gains tax rate from 20% to 39.6% for people who make more than $1 million annually.
CLAYTON - Margaret was born and lived in Clayton, N.J., her whole life. She was married to Fredrick Kiefer Jr. for 48 years until his passing. A loving and wonderful mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She is survived by her son, Fredrick Kiefer III and his wife Barbara Kiefer; her d
Milwaukee, WI (53187)

Today

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.
TOPEKA [mdash] Lydia N. Hostetler, 89, of Topeka, died at 4:25 a.m. on Tuesday, June 8 at her residence. She was born on April 8, 1932, in LaGrange County, to Noah J. and Amanda Mae (Bontrager) Raber. On April 23, 1953, in Honeyville, she married Ervin D. Hostetler. He died June 3, 2017. Sur
A trio of buggies travel along the 400 block of South Van Buren Street in Shipshewana, in LaGrange County, in this April 9 file photo. The Elkhart County Health Officer is seeking to boost the number of Amish who are getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Most of us would like to know more about living healthier and managing our finances. But should government require us to bone up on those subjects?Some policymakers think so. As several states move to take advantage of new Trump administration rules allowing them to impose work requirements for determining Medicaid eligibility, Kentucky has gotten a lot of attention not only for being the first state to move to impose such requirements but also for taking the idea a step further: Residents who lose their Medicaid benefits due to the new requirements will have the chance to reclaim their health insurance more quickly if they complete courses and pass tests on health or financial literacy.While details of the new requirements are still being worked out, state officials have suggested that the courses could include instruction not only on such health-related matters as management of weight and chronic diseases but also on the basics of personal finance, such as opening a checking account and practicing household budgeting. But at least as far as financial literacy is concerned, mandating these courses won't help Medicaid beneficiaries, or anyone for that matter.That's mainly because financial education programs, while well-intentioned, don't noticeably improve the financial behaviors of their participants, according to a paper analyzing fully 168 studies of these courses. The few studies thatshow an impact demonstrate that simply choosing to take a class is associated with better future behavior -- not that the course itself made a difference. So while we don't yet know what Kentucky's health literacy program will look like, if it's structured anything like traditional financial literacy courses it is unlikely to bolster healthy behaviors.The rationale for policies like this one is supposedly to ensure that the funds government provides to citizens are used well. However, subsidies for the rich and for middle-class citizens generally don't come with these strings attached. We don't require beneficiaries of an estate-tax exemption or a mortgage-interest tax deduction to pass a financial literacy course, for example.This contradiction points to an underlying belief that lower-income Americans don't know how to manage their money as well as the rich do -- when the exact opposite is true. The very nature of poverty means that the poor are often the savviest budgeters of us all. This is borne out of necessity. If you have limited income, the daily tradeoffs you face prompt you to watch your finances more closely.People who are better off financially, on the other hand, have little need to count every penny. Indeed, some of the wealthiest among us don't even know offhand how much commonly purchased goods cost or whether they can actually afford a certain item. As the ultra-rich Lucille Bluth character put it on: "I mean, it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost, ten dollars?"Sitcom wisdom aside, going through financial literacy programs actually seems to have aimpact on low-income participants, many of whom already know how to stick to a budget and are less likely to make financial mistakes. In one pair of studies , for example, people of different incomes were asked if they would travel 20 minutes to save $50 on a $300 tablet computer and if they would travel for the same savings if the tablet costs $1,000. People with lower incomes were consistent no matter what the price was -- they knew the value of a dollar (and the value of 20 minutes). But those with higher incomes were more likely to travel to save on the cheaper tablet than for the more expensive one. This is a financial mistake: If you value 20 minutes of your time at $50 in one case, the total price should be irrelevant.There's no reason to believe that conditioning Medicaid on financial literacy training will help people manage their money or ensure that government dollars are well spent. The poor already know how to manage their money; perhaps it's time for policymakers in Washington and the states to catch up.
For example, McAuliffe vetoed SB 1299, which would have allowed Virginians who are under a protective order to carry a concealed handgun while they wait for their concealed weapon permit to be issued. McAuliffe said, "The bill perpetuates the dangerous fiction that the victims of domestic violence will be safer by arming themselves. It would inject firearms into a volatile domestic violence situation, making that situation less safe, not more."
planning future activities and programs (46 percent agreed)

analyzing data -- as opposed to gathering and collecting it (34 percent)

personal professional development (28 percent)

interacting with peers in government (27 percent)

brainstorming (26 percent)

Do you have trouble getting all your work done in a 35- to 40-hour week?More than half (53 percent) of local government officials do, according to a survey by the Governing Exchange, a research arm of. It polled nearly 300 executives and senior managers in cities, counties and special districts.Of the people who said they struggle to cross everything off their to-do lists, 69 percent regularly work more than 40 hours with no additional compensation. Another 10 percent get the job done with overtime pay, and 21 percent said they just dont finish the tasks theyre expected to perform.Despite the obvious importance of this issue in state and local governments, which spend a significant percent of their revenues on personnel, theres been little analysis about how to help employees use their time more productively.Most managers dont have any idea of how their people use their time at work, said Karen Thoreson, president of the Alliance for Innovation. Honestly, they might not even have a good handle on how they use their own time.There are a number of activities that respondents believe take up too much of their time. The most common culprits were meetings, paperwork, email, data collection and reporting, and employee performance reviews.Obviously, all these tasks are critical to the smooth functioning of any government entity. Its doubtful that public employees oppose any of these functions, per se. They just feel that theyre voracious time-consumers that leave too few hours for other important things.What are those important things? According to the survey, officials say they would better accomplish the goals of the job if they had more hours for the following:When similar surveys have been conducted in the past, the results have been unsettling. Take the Colorado Child Welfare Workload Study. Over four weeks in 2014, 1,300 child welfare workers in 54 counties recorded how much time they spent on different activities. The results: 37.5 percent of their time was spent on documentation and administration, 5 percent on parent and family contact, and 4 percent on child contact.We knew there needed to be a readjustment, said Reggie Bicha, director of the Colorado Department of Human Services.Over the next two years, they increased staffing, implemented a new child welfare information system, and provided workers with mobile phones and tablets so they could make the best use of all the hours they spend waiting around courthouses and hospitals.Since then, Bicha said, caseworkers have been ecstatic about having these tools.A focus on time management has also helped the Department of Parks and Recreation in Pearland, Texas. About a year ago, Christopher Orlea, the departments new director, decided that a reimagined approach to the standard employee-supervisor relationship could dramatically increase productivity and reduce redundant communications. First, instead of having the same conversation with different people, he created a document where staff can include any necessary news or information. That document is then emailed out each week to all relevant parties.Then, Orlea moved away from a typical hierarchy and gave all employees more autonomy. Granting them the power to make more decisions in effect reduced the need for many meetings.A year later, Orlea said morale has also gotten a big boost, and personally, he said hes gained an enormous chunk of my day back.
Rehearsing again the grim statistics of American crime and punishment is depressing. The Pew Center on the States reminds us that one in every hundred American is behind bars, a rate of incarceration far greater than in other developed countries. Incarceration is notably skewed along racial lines -- one in nine black men aged 20 to 34 is serving time, as is one in 36 adult Hispanic men. Recent reports by the Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch show that, despite roughly equal rates of illegal drug use by race, black men are 12 times more likely than white men to be imprisoned for it. Although African-Americans make up 12 percent of the American population, they make up over 40 percent of the jail and prison populations.Much of growth of the prison population can be traced to drug policy and the implantation of that policy. Between 1980 and 2006, drug arrests increased from 580,000 to 1.85 million, with 80 percent of those arrests for possession rather than sale. Of those arrested for possession, just under half were arrested for the possession of marijuana.The costs of the American penal system are astonishing. In the past 20 years, state prison costs have jumped from about $12 billion to just under $50 billion. At current projections, they are slated to grow to $75 billion by 2011. On average, almost 7 percent of state budgets now goes to support their penal systems. This growth in spending has crowded out other priorities.It is one thing to rehearse the data on incarceration in America; it is quite another to know how to think about it. In the interest of shedding light on this dark subject, I bring to your attention an important new book: Jonathan Simon's "Governing through Crime: How the War on Crime Transformed American Democracy and Created a Culture of Fear." To be politically effective, elected officials believe they must be tough on crime. Simon writes, "Simply put, to be for the people, legislators must be for the victims and law enforcement, and thus they must never be for (or capable of being portrayed as being for) criminals or prisoners as individuals or as a class."As part of the war on crime, according to Simon, "Americans have built a new civil and political order structured around the problem of violent crime. In this new order, values like freedom and equality have been revised in ways that would have been shocking, if obviously unimaginable, in the late 1960s, and new forms of power institutionalized and embraced -- all in the name of repressing seemingly endless waves of violent crime." This new civil and political order is, following Simon, a modern era of "governing through crime," making crime, and particularly the fear of it, the rationale for laws and policies which have resulted in mass incarceration -- over 2 million Americans in prison."Governing through crime" is a challenging description of the politics and administration of the so-called "carceral state." Unlike "governing crime" -- the ordinary work of the police, the courts and the penal system, particularly as they deal with those who break the law -- "governing through crime" is the politics and administration of mass incarceration.Governing through crime has resulted in mass imprisonment noted by its scale, its categorical (racial) application, and its increasingly warehouse-like or waste management-like qualities. Simon says: "The distinctive new form and function of the prison today is a space of pure custody, a human warehouse or even a kind of social waste management facility. ... The waste management prison promises no transformation of the prisoner through penitence, discipline, intimidation, or therapy."What has governing through crime done to government? "Whether one values American democracy for its liberty or its equality-enhancing features, governing through crime has been bad. First, the vast reorienting of fiscal and administrative resources toward the criminal justice system at both the federal and state levels has resulted in a shift aptly described as transformation from the 'welfare state' to the 'penal state.'"There are glimmers of hope. After a decade of stunning growth in prison inmates, the Texas legislature decided it was time for a change. Drug treatment is being expanded, parole practices are being reformed, parole boards are adjusting to earlier release dates, and special drug courts are being established, all designed to slow the growth of incarceration. To reduce parole violation-based reincarceration, Kansas is making grants to community corrections agencies for parolee training and monitoring, and is setting guidelines to assist judges and officers in revocation decisions. Nevada is recalibrating good time served to reduce sentences. And, there are many other examples. Nevertheless, American penal practices are abysmal, an affront to democracy and to justice.
The Spanish Grand Prix is an important test for the rest of the Formula 1 season, so Red Bull Racing will be hoping to be competitive in Barcelona. The Austrian team had some problems in Portugal, but Helmut Marko doesn't expect them in Spain.

In Portimao, Mercedes was the superior team. Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were allowed to start the race from the front row, and Red Bull had to work hard to get Max Verstappen between the two Mercedes drivers in the race. The GP in Spain was always a 'Mercedes circuit' according to Marko, but that's different this year.

Advantage for Red Bull

"As we have been close in the last races, and the conditions have not always been in our favour, we expect to have the upper hand again in Barcelona. The irritating 'white lines' (referring to the Track Limits) will also not play a role in Spain,'' Marko told the German RTL.

Marko also hopes that the heavy circuit will be to Red Bull's advantage. Mercedes are struggling with their rear tyres. ''The more grip they have the greater the chance of overheating their tyres and losing speed. The temperature here should be normal again, and the circuit suits our car better,'' the Austrian concludes optimistically.

Read more F1 LIVE | Follow all the action of the first free practice session in Barcelona
Track limits have been a topic of discussion all season. In Bahrain, Max Verstappen lost the lead of the race due to track limits, in Imola, Lando Norris lost his fastest lap in qualifying and the same happened to Verstappen in Portimao. The FIA also removed the fastest lap of the Dutchman in Portugal.

Red Bull Racing team boss Christian Horner doesn't expect any major problems to arise from track limits this weekend. "I don't think it's going to be a problem this weekend, it's not really the type of circuit for that," Horner acknowledged in conversation with Sky Sports. According to Horner, the problem lies with the consistency of the FIA.

Conversation between the teams

"It's about the consistency from circuit to circuit, corner to corner. If it's already difficult for the teams to understand, how are you going to explain it to the fans?" In Portimao, a driver was allowed to go all the way wide in one corner, while he wasn't allowed to cross the white line in the other. "We want clarity, or at least a standard where you are in or out, like in other sports," he said.

"You can't say it's OK to go over the line in one corner and it's not allowed in another corner, that creates confusion. We will definitely talk about it tomorrow in conversation with all the team bosses." Horner does not blame Verstappen for his fast laps in Portimao being taken away."You're pushing terribly in that car and then it's difficult to see if you're crossing a line. It's not like you feel it. There are plenty of things we can learn from it, not only for us as a team, but also for the circuits and the FIA," Horner concluded.
Grand Haven, MI (49417)

Today

Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

Tonight

Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Low 66F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall possibly over one inch.
Spanish GP 2021

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

Lewis Hamilton (1st, 1:18.170): "It's been a good start to the weekend, the track is awesome and our balance is similar to what we had in the last race. It looks close but I think we've got good pace - we understand the car and know which direction we need to go balance-wise. We made some tweaks along the way, I don't know if the car got better through the session but there were definitely findings there and we'll analyse the two sessions to hopefully have a better set-up for tomorrow. It's amazing to see the progress that McLaren, Ferrari and Alpine are making, not just Red Bull, and that puts pressure on us."

Valtteri Bottas (2nd, 1:18.309): "It was a solid day, the feeling in the car was not too bad and no massive balance issues so I'm fairly happy. On the soft tyre, getting both axles working straightaway for lap one is going to be key because the gaps will be so small. Tonight will be our usual process - fine tune the set-up as best as we can because we know every millisecond is going to be crucial in qualifying. The whole field seems to be close and Ferrari looked strong today but we just need to focus on our performance and extract the maximum from this package."

Andrew Shovlin: "We've managed to do some good work today, both drivers have a decent balance and we look to be in a reasonable place on all compounds. Ahead of the weekend we were concerned that rear overheating would cause us more issues but things seem to be under control, even in the hotter conditions of the afternoon session. We still have work to do getting the best out of the tyre on low fuel as we didn't find as much time as some but we have a good baseline to work from. Traffic was difficult today, it's a short lap and it looked like Red Bull may have been affected by that more than ourselves so we'll work on the assumption that they are very close on pace and we need to find everything we can overnight."

Red Bull Racing

Max Verstappen (9th, 1:18.785): "Overall I think we actually had quite a good day and the car seems pretty competitive. I was a little bit wide at Turn 10 on my push lap in FP2 but there is nothing shocking to report from either session. The track changes to Turn 10 seem better over one lap when you are pushing. It is a bit faster and more enjoyable to drive, but for overtaking I think it could be worse. How competitive we are going to be tomorrow is always going to be a question mark on a Friday but from our side we are quite happy. Of course you always want to improve and do better so we just have to make sure tomorrow that we are up there but I'm looking forward to it."

Sergio Perez (10th, 1:18.918): "It was a tricky day today. We had a couple of delays in both sessions which meant we were rushing a little and running into some traffic, and with less practice time this year it's important to get the laps in. Tonight we've got some understanding to do and pace to find, especially over one lap. I think our long run pace is stronger but there's work to do. Let's see what we can find because qualifying here is especially important. Hopefully we can recover the pace and be in the mix tomorrow."

McLaren F1 Team

Lando Norris (12th, 1:19.092): "Tricky day. We felt good in FP1 but, as the temperatures came up a bit in FP2, we struggled a little bit more. We need to understand that a bit better if we can and make some improvements for tomorrow. It didn't feel bad, but we were just a bit off the pace. As usual, we'll work hard tonight and see if we can turn it around for tomorrow."

Daniel Ricciardo (15th, 1:19.195): "So, Barcelona. I was going to say not much has changed  but it has with Turn 10. I don't think it's going to change the racing, but it makes it a little more interesting to have a new corner. Today, it's close. Our positions don't look great on paper, and we do have work to do but I'm only a second off in fifteenth, so it's really close. Every tenth counts at this point so we certainly have to find a few for tomorrow and put ourselves in a fighting position. We've changed a few things on the car and it's still too early to know what's good and what needs work, but we'll spend some time tonight looking at it. The important thing was that we got the laps in. I think FP2 was definitely better than FP1, even if the position doesn't reflect that, so we'll hopefully make another step in the morning."

Andrea Stella, Racing Director: "A busy day in Barcelona. We had an intense programme today in terms of both aerodynamic tests and work on tyres in preparation for the race, which are always a fundamental factor here, given the high wear on the left-hand side of the car. Overall, we worked through our programme well, and we're happy with the data we've gained. Overnight, we'll review everything we've learned and come back tomorrow ready for what should be a very close qualifying session."

Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team

Sebastian Vettel (11th, 1:18.947): "I think it was our best Friday of the year so far: plenty of laps for Lance and me, and we have done some important homework ahead of the race. I felt happy today and it was my opportunity to try the new parts, which are a step forward. It is hard to say exactly where we will be tomorrow in a very close midfield competition, but we will try to find a bit more tonight to squeeze a few more tenths of performance."

Lance Stroll (14th, 1:19.134): "That was a really busy Friday covering lots of laps and learning about the car. Even though it was windy and hot out there, I felt comfortable, and we did some useful work today. It is a case of continuing to understand the car and the new parts we have introduced, which seem to have taken us in a good direction. Today's times showed just how close the grid will be here, and it is never easy to overtake on this track, so we have got to make sure we have a strong Saturday and hook up the laps when it matters."

Alpine F1 Team

Esteban Ocon (4th, 1:18.466): "We can be happy with our day's work. It's always tricky in Barcelona with the grip and tyre usage so there's lots for us to learn and understand. I think the new Turn 10 was interesting and, on our side, we have room for improvement there. As a team, we made a good step from FP1 to FP2 and I felt that in the car. The aim is to repeat that in FP3 and make another step in performance. It was a busy two sessions, lots of things tried on both cars and that gives us a lot to analyse to find more speed."

Fernando Alonso (5th, 1:18.518): "It was a good Friday for us today. Over the two sessions we concentrated on some small upgrades that we brought to the car this weekend and then collected some good information about the tyres and our car set-up. Overall, I am pleased with our two sessions and I think the car balance feels good, so it gives me confidence for tomorrow. Let's see where we are for qualifying."

Davide Brivio, Racing Director: "It was a busy day for us, especially with our work in FP2 this afternoon on both low and high fuel. We tested a few different items on both cars, which gives us some good information to go through. We know this track is challenging, especially for our car in the past, so we can be pleased with this productive start to the race weekend. Of course, the work continues tonight and tomorrow morning in order to be ready for when it really counts."

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow

Charles Leclerc (3rd, 1:18.335): "We had a good, clean day. I've changed my approach a little bit since Portimao. After every weekend, I try to analyse where I need to improve. So far, I'm driving a lot better and feel I am in a good place with the car, so I'm quite happy. Last year we struggled quite a lot here, and this year the car feels much better. It's great for the whole team, especially those back at the factory who work so hard and can see it pay off looking at the numbers. It motivates us all. Tomorrow will be important with qualifying on this track. If there is a nice surprise then that will be welcome, but I think that the objective is to be just behind the front runners."

Carlos Sainz (8th, 1:18.674): "It's been an encouraging day for us. Right from FP1 we saw the track had quite a lot of grip, which helped with the overall balance of the car. However, in FP2, the balance went away a bit from what I was looking for, particularly for the last sector. Hopefully we can keep working and digging and put it all together for qualifying tomorrow. Reaching Q3 won't be easy, as we expect three or four cars to be in the same tenth, so we need to make sure we are as prepared as possible."

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda

Pierre Gasly (6th, 1:18.593): "I think overall FP2 was a good session for us, to finish sixth shows the car is strong. The pace of the car is definitely there but the balance isn't quite right yet, so we've got to make a few tweaks tonight to maximise our performance ahead of Qualifying tomorrow. Obviously, our main goal this weekend is to score points, as we're fighting against tough opponents in the midfield pack, and I think if we can improve in the few areas that we're struggling in we could be up for a good weekend."

Yuki Tsunoda (7th, 1:18.619): "I'm happy with our performance and the pace of the car today. I've driven this track a lot, so I know it well, which meant I could be more confident driving from the offset, unlike in Portugal where I was having to use each session to learn the circuit. I'm very positive ahead of tomorrow. I just need to focus on my own driving and the set-up of the car before FP3 and Qualifying - this is what I will work on tonight with my engineers."

Jonathan Eddolls, Chief Race Engineer: "Barcelona is a track that we obviously know quite a lot better than the Portuguese track, having raced and tested here so many times in the past, so we came here more confident that we could extract a good performance from the car. In free practice one we focused on some aerodynamic testing, as we've got some new components here this weekend, and they all worked well which is positive. We also took the opportunity in the morning session to better understand the softer tyre performance over a short run, which helped us going into FP2  where this analysis was our main priority for the afternoon. I think we managed to extract a reasonable performance from the Softs around a lap here, it's always a compromise between having understeer at the start of the lap versus oversteer at the end, so I think there's still some more work we can do ahead of tomorrow but overall the performance there is quite positive. We then completed a long run, which was all about tyre management and understanding what our strategy should be for the race on Sunday."

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN

Antonio Giovinazzi (13th, 1:19.122): "All in all, it was a positive day in which we showed to be really close to the top ten. We need to find something more while looking at the data tonight, but we know qualifying will be decided by the smallest of margins. The track layout has improved, I like the new turn ten: I think it's much better than the previous configuration. It remains a difficult corner and one that can make the difference on the single lap."

Kimi Raikkonen (16th, 1:19.213): "I was able to do a good number of laps in the afternoon, which is always positive. I know the track really well and there is effectively only one new corner to learn. The car didn't feel too bad so we can be optimistic ahead of the rest of the weekend. We have work to do tonight, but so does everyone and we will see tomorrow where we end up in qualifying."

Robert Kubica: "It was nice to be back in the car in an official session and I'm sorry about finishing the session like this. It was a very small mistake but we paid a high price: I misjudged the grip levels on my first run on soft tyres, spun mid-corner and got stuck in the gravel trap. It still was good to get back the feeling with this car, especially ahead of next week's test: I am looking forward to trying the new 18-inch tyres and helping the team in making this important step. It will be an interesting session!"

Haas F1 Team

Mick Schumacher (19th, 1:20.326): "It was alright, a bit tricky here and there, but lots learned today and definitely a lot to try and improve for tomorrow. It seemed like the hard tire was the most difficult tire to switch on, it looked the same for everybody else, so we quite quickly switched to the soft tire in FP1. I would say the progress through the day was quite positive, there are little things we have to improve, and can improve. Looking at it, we were quite quick on the straights, but we're struggling a bit to find the downforce we want  but that's what we have and we'll have to work with it."

Nikita Mazepin (20th, 1:20.753): "I think the track was improving with the sessions, obviously turn 10 is a bit new, which means the tarmac is very black so there's still some dust and oil in it  it's getting more rubbered in with the more laps we do. Again, it's a Friday, so there are three free practices and we have one more to go tomorrow. I always learn when I'm out but so far, my weekend starts where I'm three steps back from where I used to be driving different cars, and then slowly I make the steps forward. If I end up one step ahead from where I wanted to start, I think that's a good day for me  it was no different today."

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal: "It was a pretty difficult FP1 starting on the C1 hard tire for both drivers. Obviously, Nikita (Mazepin) was hurt more as he spun  there was very little grip out there on the C1 which didn't give him a lot of confidence going forward. They had to readjust everything when they put on the softer C3 tires. I would say we made some progress in FP2, for ourselves, not necessarily on the timesheet  we can read that one ourselves. We made progress, I think we're slowly getting there, and this was only really possible because we had more than 100 laps today without any real issues. We have to keep on working and hopefully in FP3 we'll find a little bit more and be ready for qualifying. At the moment I wouldn't say we're ready for qualifying, but everybody will be working hard to get there."

Williams Racing

George Russell (17th, 1:19.957): "It's always tricky missing FP1 and having half the running, but it was great to get back out in the car after a difficult weekend in Portugal. In terms of the circuit, the new corner at Turn 10 is a nicer corner than the previous one and is fun to drive. We look a little further away on the low fuel pace compared to where we usually are, but our high fuel pace seems relatively decent. Barcelona can be difficult with high tyre degradation and history has shown that we tend to struggle here, so Sunday will be interesting."

Nicholas Latifi (18th, 1:20.046): "It was a tricky Friday. Straight away in FP1 the track conditions were not very good with low grip out there. We made some improvements from one session to the next, but I still feel there is scope to improve the basic set-up of the car. We have still got some work to do and were more focused on the high fuel race pace, as that was not particularly competitive in Portugal. We are not where we want to be, but we will do some work tonight and see where we can improve."

Roy Nissany: "Today was beautiful, the sun was shining and I was back on the track. It felt great to jump in the car having spent a lot of time, and driven many kilometres, in the simulator. I enjoyed every second and every metre of it and I think the result reflects that. It was a productive day, good to be back and I am looking forward to the next outing."

Dave Robson, Senior Race Engineer: "The track grip was quite low in FP1 and it was difficult to learn very much about the car. Roy did a good job once again and collected some useful data for us on one of our test parts. He also gave us a clear indication of the early balance weaknesses of the FW43B at this circuit. Nicholas had a steady FP1 session and although he struggled with rear grip in the high-speed corners, he still had a productive morning. George took a little time to get up to speed in FP2, and there is still more to come from him tomorrow. Nicholas made good progress this afternoon but as a team we are struggling at this circuit and we have a lot to look through tonight."
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Our job essentially is to get as many arms as we can. Were local so, were supporting local businesses and our local community, Owner T.W. Taylor said. Were trying to do all the outreach to the people that are less fortunate and cant get to a clinic, they dont have transportation, that kind of thing, so, were reaching out to everybody that we can.
KURNOOL: A case has been filed against former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for allegedly spreading rumours that the N440K virus that was identified in Kurnool was deadly and causing infections across the state. Naidu was accused of creating fear psychosis among children, women and Covid patients. His interviews carried on electronic media painted a gloomy picture, saying the potency of the Kurnool virus was 10 times deadlier than the other variants devastating the country.

Alleging that several people in Kurnool died due to the agony caused by the claims of the opposition leader, one Masupogu Subbaiah filed a complaint with One Town police station, demanding that Naidu be punished for spreading unfounded claims. He also mentioned the measures of the Delhi and the Orissa governments which asked people from Andhra Pradesh not to come to their states.

Subbaiah stated that CCMB scientists clearly stated that the N440K virus found in samples sent from Kurnool last June was not lethal. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case under IPC Sections 185, 505(1)(b)(2) and Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded FuelCell Energy $8 million in Phase 2 funding for the previously announced ARPA-E project for development of ultra-high efficiency SOFC systems for power generation (earlier post). This additional funding commitment from the DOE represents another key step in FuelCell Energys path to commercialize its high efficiency solid oxide technology. The multi-stack module that forms the core of the system is a modular building block that is scalable for larger systems.

The ARPA-E project, under the Innovative Natural-gas Technologies for Efficiency Gain in Reliable and Affordable Thermochemical Electricity-generation (INTEGRATE) program is developing system approaches to achieving ultra-high electrical efficiency (>70%) in SOFC power generation systems.

After successfully executing Phase 1 design activities, the company has been awarded an additional $8 million of funding to proceed to Phase 2 to design and build an ultra-high efficiency SOFC sub-megawatt power generation prototype system. This project includes the development of improved pressurized stack module designs, critical to supporting the configuration of very high-efficiency power generation systems, while also enhancing the efficiency of solid oxide-based electrolysis and energy storage systems.

Separately, the company reports making progress on the previously announced Modular Solid Oxide Electrolysis project funded by DOEs Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to advance the use of its solid oxide platform for high efficiency electrolysis. Electrolysis uses electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, the opposite of fuel cell operation. When solid oxide cells are used for electrolysis, they are capable of producing hydrogen much more efficiently than currently available technology.

Our proprietary solid oxide technology is differentiated by its high efficiency in converting electricity into hydrogen through electrolysis and utilization of the same fuel cell stack to recall that hydrogen from its integrated long-duration hydrogen energy storage to produce zero-carbon hydrogen-based power generation. FuelCell Energys platform has the ability to extend the life and usefulness of existing nuclear plants and firm-up the capacity of intermittent renewable technologies. Additionally, electrolysis technology supports the hydrogen economy by providing carbon-free, clean hydrogen for transportation, power generation, agricultural uses, and a host of other industrial applications such as making steel. Our solid oxide platform will allow us to add long-duration energy storage, electrolysis, and global sub-megawatt power generation to our commercial offerings, increasing the Companys total addressable commercial markets. Jason Few, President and CEO of FuelCell Energy

A solid oxide electrolysis (SOEC) system can run even more efficiently with the addition of thermal heat energy. This EERE project focuses on optimizing the operating parameters for solid oxide electrolysis for high efficiency hydrogen production.

Under the program, the Company has built and is operating a SOEC system capable of producing up to 20 kg/day of hydrogen. The test operation has thus far demonstrated an electrical efficiency above 90% and identified opportunities for increasing efficiency to 100% with incorporation of external thermal heat energy.

Later this year, under another previously announced DOE project, the company will demonstrate a 250KW electrolysis system to be located at Idaho National Laboratories (INL). This system will be modified to include hydrogen storage and additional equipment to demonstrate the use of the solid oxide stack in an energy storage application.

This platform, which is currently being designed and built, will utilize hydrogen produced by the stack, which is then stored and later returned to the stack, operating in fuel cell mode to produce power from the stored hydrogen. This application, called Reversible Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (RSOFC), where the stack alternates between electrolysis and power generation operation, could be a key enabler to the long duration energy storage needed to incorporate intermittent renewable energy sources, further advancing the clean energy transition.
Building upon the success of the Volta Zeroa purpose-built full-electric 16-tonne commercial vehicle designed for inner-city last mile deliveries (earlier post)Volta Trucks plans to expand its product portfolio with three additional variants within the medium- to lower end of the heavy-duty class. With Volta Zero models available in the 7.5-tonne, 12-tonne, 16-tonne and 19-tonne weight categories, the company plans to offer a comprehensive range of full-electric commercial vehicles for the logistics industry.





Volta Trucks independent research suggests that the total global addressable market for full-electric trucks in the 7.5t  19t category will exceed $100 billion by the end of 2025. With speed to market at the heart of the strategy, Volta Trucks will offer a wide range of full-electric commercial vehicles at a time of scarce supply of comparable full electric vehicles from new start-ups and the established vehicle manufacturers.

The 16-tonne Volta Zero will be the first vehicle delivered, with Pilot Fleet trucks built by the end of 2021, and series production starting around 12 months afterwards. This vehicle is currently in the engineering development phase, with early prototype testing due to start shortly.

Production of the 16-tonne vehicle will be closely followed by the largest 19-tonne and mid-size 12-tonne variants in 2023. A Pilot Fleet of the smaller 7.5-tonne vehicles is expected to be launched for customer trials in the same year, with production commencing in late 2024. These later vehicles are currently in the early design development phase.

All trucks will adopt the innovative low-seat central driving position with a glasshouse-style cab featured in the original Volta Zero. This offers 220-degrees of visibility to maximize visual communication between the driver and vulnerable road users around the vehicle. Also, like the 16-tonne vehicle, all variants will be designed with optimized payloads, thus offering fleet managers the opportunity of using a reduced number of larger Volta Zero vehicles, and removing several smaller vans from their operations, thereby also having a positive effect on inner-city traffic congestion.

The Volta Zero was launched in September 2020; at the end of 2020, Volta Trucks announced what was believed to be Europes single largest purchase of full-electric large commercial vehicles with the sale of 1,000 Volta Zeros to Petit Forestier, Europes largest refrigerated commercial rental fleet. The orderbook had swelled to $260 million by January 2021 and continues growing on the back of increasing customer interest.

Given the strength of market demand for the 16-tonne Volta Zero, Volta Trucks will accelerate its market entry with a Europe-first strategy, followed by US and Asian cities.

The Volta Zero was initially launched in the UK and France and is currently in Spain for a tailored roadshow with customers. Afterwards, it will be presented in Germany and North America over the summer, with other European markets including Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium to be confirmed by year end. Volta Trucks expects to introduce the Volta Zero in all its four weight variants across all its core markets.

Given the significant market demand for full-electric commercial vehicles, Volta Trucks targets to sell more than 27,000 units per year by the end of 2025, with volumes increasing further in the following years.

Demand has also been accelerated by Volta Trucks unique Truck as a Service (TaaS) proposition. TaaS will offer fleet managers a frictionless way to electrify their fleets, with a single, affordable, monthly fee providing access to a full-electric Volta Zero, and all of its servicing, maintenance, insurance and training requirements. It will even provide a replacement Volta Zero when needed, maximizing the uptime and operational efficiency of the vehicle.

Volta Trucks will adopt a network manufacturing strategy with a number of assembly facilities distributed across its key geographies, minimizing unnecessary transportation and cost. The company recently announced it has expressed an interest in manufacturing vehicles at the Decarbonisation Hub project in the former Nissan manufacturing facilities in Barcelona. Any vehicles manufactured in Spain could potentially serve southern European markets but would not be the first vehicles built. The company is considering a number of additional manufacturing locations across Europe, North America and Asia, to have the capacity to meet the significant volume ramp up envisaged within the plan.
Hyderabad: The COVID-19 surge across the country has affected young children the worst. With deaths due to the Coronavirus on the rise, social media is flooded with citizens sharing details of children who have either lost both their parents, or have been hospitalised appealing for them to be adopted, despite experts warning that it could amount to trafficking.

State and central governments have advised people to report such cases either to the police or district child welfare committees. The Telangana Child Welfare Department said that over the past week they have received at least 15-20 phone calls requesting assistance for such children.

"We received about 300 calls seeking guidance in case of parents and children in one family all testing positive for COVID-19, which we directed to the medical officers. Of these, 15-20 calls were such cases where either a single parent was hospitalised, or both parents had passed away due to the disease, and guardians requested educational or financial support", an official in the child welfare department said.



The help desk at the department received calls ranging for arrangement of a COVID-19 test for a three-year-old in Khammam district, where the child's parents had both tested positive and were in home isolation. The neighbour of the family requested the officials to visit their home and help the kid.



In another case in Suryapet district, Anganwadi teachers visited the house of a 14-year-old child, orphaned due to COVID-19, to assess his condition and provide counselling. The District Child Protection Unit after a call from the boy's uncle, provided him with an admission in a Child Care Institution and started the process for his admission in a nearby school.



Meanwhile, the state child welfare department has also set up a transit facility in Hyderabad for the safe stay of girl children whose parents are hospitalised due to COVID. In case of any child needing support, the nearest Child Welfare Committee will facilitate the admission.



The Telangana Minister for Tribal, Women and Child Welfare Satyavathi Rathod on Thursday also inaugurated a special isolation center for the treatment of children at the Commissionerate. The Minister also directed officials to set up special vehicles in all districts of the state during the crisis period so that children affected by the disease can be immediately rushed to nearby hospitals and children's centers for better treatment in a timely manner.
CASPER  Rep. Liz Cheney and President Donald Trumps feud continued Monday, with Wyomings lone congresswoman pushing back on Trumps unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.

Monday saw three public exchanges between Cheney and the former president.

Trump issued a statement Monday morning that read, The Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020 will be, from this day forth, known as THE BIG LIE!

Around an hour later, Rep. Liz Cheney responded.

The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system, Cheney wrote.

Trump issued yet another statement, this time going for Cheney directly: Heartwarming to read new polls on big-shot warmonger Liz Cheney of the great State of Wyoming. She is so low that her only chance would be if vast numbers of people run against her which, hopefully, wont happen. They never liked her much, but I say shell never run in a Wyoming election again, he wrote.

The exchange is another in a slew of public statements between the two. The feud was stoked by Cheneys vote to impeach following the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. Cheney was one of only 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump, as well as the highest-ranking Republican.

Cheneys decision to impeach Trump and her continued criticism of the former president has brought on a number of outspoken critics in the Republican party as well as possible threats to her seat in the House.

In February, Cheney safely survived a secret ballot to remove her as Republican Conference Chair 145-61. Following the vote, it seemed that Cheney might emerge as a leader of an overtly anti-Trump faction of the Republican Party, but that did not pan out.

On Friday, Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump, even went as far as to tell The Hill, If a prerequisite for leading our conference is lying to our voters, then Liz is not the best fit.

Rep. Gonzalezs quote sums things up well, a Cheney spokesperson said. Cheney is up for reelection in 2022. She is facing primary challenges from two state lawmakers  Sen. Anthony Bouchard and Rep. Chuck Gray  who are both running as the anti-Cheney candidate while heavily appealing to Trumps large Wyoming base and the former president himself. Trump has yet to endorse a candidate for the race. Despite the challenges, Cheneys latest exchange with Trump is a sign that she has no intentions to back down, even if it may make her 2022 election more challenging.
Hunters shot at least 874 greater sage grouse hens in Wyoming last year, prompting a state grouse team member to question the wisdom of allowing a hunt of the imperiled species.

The states Sage Grouse Implementation Team meets Wednesday to address Brian Rutledges concerns. Rutledge is director of the National Audubon Societys Sagebrush Ecosystem Initiative and a SGIT member. His question looms as greater sage grouse numbers are down an estimated 81% nationwide in the last 53 years.

What Im asking for is a sit-down, Rutledge said. I want to hear why this is OK.

Game and Fish asks hunters to deposit in roadside collection barrels one wing from each sage grouse taken. The sampling helps the agency estimate the populations composition, among other things. In 2020, sportsmen and women deposited 2,156 wings statewide, including those from 980 chicks and 302 yearling or adult males.

The large number of hens shot troubled Rutledge. In the Southwest Wyoming region, for example, hunters dropped 294 yearling or adult female greater sage grouse wings in area barrels last year.

Its hard to say exactly what impact hunting has. Biologists in most states and across the West dont calculate specific grouse numbers, but Wyoming is believed to hold about 38% of the estimated 200,000-500,000 birds in the world.

Wyoming Game and Fishs sage grouse and sagebrush biologist Leslie Schreiber is scheduled to review hunting impacts, plus the teams preliminary numbers from spring breeding-ground lek counts, with SGIT Wednesday.

Hunting is an important component of sage grouse management in Wyoming and has not [been] shown to have a negative impact on the population, Schreiber said in a statement this spring, when Game and Fish released its wing counts. Those counts led Game and Fish to set Wyomings 2020 chick-to-hen ratio at 1.1 chicks/hen  the same as in 2019.

A population needs at least 1.5 chicks per hen to expand, Schreiber stated earlier this year. It appears Wyomings sage grouse populations are flattening out at the trough of the [most recent population] cycle, she said.

Wyomings Game and Fish Commission in April set a 2021 fall hunting season of 12 days in one hunt area and two days in another. Two other areas remain closed. Hunters can kill two grouse a day and have four in possession. Those regulations may be modified after harvest data has been evaluated, the agency said.

Wyoming greater sage grouse seasons have been strategically reduced to protect the population, including breeding hens, said Tom Christiansen, former Game and Fish sage grouse program coordinator. Pushing the start date back allows successful hens and their chicks to be less reliant on water sources and wet areas in cooler weather and disperse across the landscape, enabling more to survive, he said.Recent investigations support hunting seasons that result in harvest rates low enough to allow populations to increase if habitat quality is not limiting population numbers, he wrote in a 2010 paper.

We dont want to harvest more than 10% of the population in the fall, he told WyoFile. They should not be subjected to a 90-day hunting season or you would see population impacts.

The ratio of female to male grouse taken by hunters is expected, he said, in part because there are more hens than cocks in the population.

Its counter intuitive, Christiansen said of hunting a declining population. But with the changes that have been made, its a managed thing.

If a game bird population is so low that it cannot sustain a conservatively managed harvest, then its low enough to be listed, as a threatened or endangered species, he said.

Wyomings greater sage grouse Core Area Strategy seeks to direct disturbance away from prime grouse habitat but still allow multiple use, Christiansen said.

Nobodys saying that because of sage grouse populations theres going to be no oil and gas, no grazing, Christiansen said. Instead, there are restrictions; this is how to properly graze, he said, how to restore a mine.

Under the Core Area Strategy, I dont think you find a prohibition of any activity he said, except on a very small scale.

The loss of so many hens troubles Rutledge, however. I wonder if industry killed [that many] if wed be OK with that, he said. Further, the sagebrush ecosystem  the only habitat of greater sage grouse  is degraded, he said.

One hundred years ago we grazed this to the bone and weve never repaired it, he said. We have to return the carrying capacity of this landscape.

Rutledge is not yet taking a specific position on hunting, he said. But he wants a full-blown policy on hunting, not a weve-always-done-this policy, he said.

I still dont have an understanding why its OK, Rutledge said.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
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Debbie Walker Stapleton recalled when she first got to know Jonathan Bush, her cousin. When she was a child, he performed a routine from a show he was in  Oklahoma!  at her grandmothers apartment that was just unbelievable.

His talent was just, was boundless, said Stapleton, 74. That same joie de vivre that he had in Oklahoma! was evident throughout his life.

The Associated Press reported that Jonathan Bush  a brother of President George H.W. Bush and a son of Sen. Prescott S. Bush, who represented Connecticut for over a decade  died this week at the age of 89 at his home in Jupiter, Fla. Tom Collamore, a senior adviser with the George & Barbara Bush Foundation, said Jonathan Bush died of natural causes on Wednesday, one day prior to his 90th birthday.

Stapleton  who lives in North Palm Beach, Fla., and previously lived in Greenwich  said he had a wonderful sense of humor and was just a lovely human being.

Seeing him go is one of the great sadnesses in my life, she said, referring to him as a wonderfully warm, funny, engaging, lovely human being.

Jonathan Bush grew up in Greenwich in the familys home on Grove Lane. He was the fourth child in the family, a Republican dynasty. He was the brother of Prescott Pressy Bush Jr., George H. W. Bush, Nancy Bush Ellis and William Bucky Bush, all of whom predeceased him. His sister, Nancy, died in January at an assisted living facility in Concord, Mass. The former president died in 2018 at his home in Houston.

Jonathan Bush was also the uncle of President George W. Bush. He and his wife Josephine are the parents of Extra host Billy Bush and health care executive Jonathan S. Bush.

He graduated from the Hotchkiss School and Yale University, where he was a member of Skull and Bones.

Betsy Heminway  who grew up in Greenwich and was a friend of the Bushes  said she was sad but said he had a wonderful life.

Heminway, 84, remembered him dancing many years ago in a show in Maine.

He was just a fabulous presence, she said. And I still remember it to this day  [he] was always a kind, thoughtful, fun person to have around, there was always something going on when Johnny was around.

Heminway said its sort of the end of an era, for that generation of the Bush family.

The George & Barbara Bush Foundation released a statement on social media regarding Jonathan Bushs death.

Our prayers and love are with the Bush family as we remember a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and brother, a fine gentleman, and a noble soul, the statement said. And knowing Jonathan, he also would like for us to observe he was a great song and dance man  without a doubt the best dancer of his siblings, all of whom he now joins in heaven.

Greenwich First Selectman Fred Camillo said he only knew Bush briefly after interacting with him during a past Republican statewide campaign, but he knew the family through former longtime resident Prescott Bush, Jonathan Bushs brother, who predeceased him.

He was a really nice guy, Camillo said about Jonathan Bush. Theyre a really nice family. Its unfortunate to lose someone like him. Its a reminder that as some people say the older you get your most valuable asset is time.

You dont get that much of it and this is a reminder that we have people who contributed a lot in their time pass on and then you have to look to a new generation to carry on. We should all be grateful that he and his brothers gave back like they did. They dedicated a lot their lives to others.

Jonathan Bush founded J. Bush & Co., which provided banking services for the Washington, D.C., embassies of foreign governments for many years. In 2018, Bush retired from Fairfield, Bush & Co., an investment advisory firm in New Haven.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
The Federal Election Commission on Thursday dropped its inquiry to determine whether former president Donald Trump violated campaign finance laws when his personal lawyer paid an adult-film actress $130,000 in the days leading up to the 2016 election.

The case stems from allegations that Trump ordered his personal lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, to make a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from disclosing an affair less than two weeks before Election Day.

Cohen has served time in prison for lying to Congress, breaking campaign finance laws and tax evasion, but Trump has not faced any consequences in the incident.

The bipartisan commission evenly split on the matter, with the two Democrats who voted to continue the investigation questioning how their Republican colleagues could drop the case.

"To conclude that a payment, made 13 days before Election Day to hush up a suddenly newsworthy 10-year-old story, was not campaign-related, without so much as conducting an investigation, defies reality," Chair Shana Broussard and Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub said in a statement Thursday. "But putting that aside, Cohen testified under oath that he made the payment for the principal purpose of influencing the election. This more than satisfies the Commission's 'reason to believe' standard to authorize an investigation."

The two Republican commissioners, Sean Cooksey and Trey Trainor, said they voted to dismiss the case because it was "statute-of-limitations imperiled" and pursuing it further would be a poor use of agency resources. They argued that because there had been other federal inquiries into the incident - namely the Justice Department probe that led to Cohen's prosecution - an FEC case would be redundant.

"The Commission regularly dismisses matters where other government agencies have already adequately enforced and vindicated the Commission's interests," they said in a statement on Thursday.

Without a majority voting to move forward, the case was dropped. One Republican member recused himself from the case, and one Democrat was not present to vote on the issue.

The Democrats agreed that Cohen's role in the payment scheme had been sufficiently litigated, but disagreed with the decision to abandon the case. They cited a December recommendation by the agency's Office of General Counsel that suggested the commission find that Trump and his campaign "knowingly and willfully" violated multiple election laws.

"There is ample evidence in the record to support the finding that Trump and the Committee knew of, and nonetheless accepted, the illegal contributions at issue here," Chair Shana Broussard and Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub said in a statement Thursday.

The FEC first launched its inquiry in 2018 after the nonprofit government watchdog group Common Cause filed a complaint against the Trump campaign.

On Thursday, Paul S. Ryan, Common Cause's vice president for policy and litigation, said the decision to drop the case showcased how the federal agency is "broken."

"The FEC's nonpartisan career staff attorneys recommended that the Commission find reason to believe that Trump, his campaign committee, and the Trump Organization committed the violations alleged in Common Cause's complaints," Ryan said in a statement. "Today's announcement that the FEC will not be holding Trump accountable for his campaign finance violations is just the latest display of dysfunction at the FEC."

Ryan also encouraged the Justice Department to pursue an investigation of Trump's role in the scheme before the statute of limitations expires this October.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has publicly discussed an alleged affair that she had with Trump, but she also issued a statement denying the intimate relationship in 2018. She and Trump had been locked in a legal battle over the hush-money payments and the agreement to keep the decades-old affair quiet until last year.

Cohen has admitted to making the $130,000 payment to Clifford and was sentenced to three years in federal prison for several financial crimes, including paying women to remain silent during the 2016 campaign about their alleged relationships with Trump. He testified under oath that Trump directed him to make the payments.

Trump denied ordering Cohen to make the payment for nearly two years, until he acknowledged reimbursing his lawyer in May 2018. Even then, Trump denied that the payment had any connection to his campaign, despite its proximity to Election Day and the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape, which sparked one of the biggest controversies of his first presidential candidacy just days before Cohen paid Clifford.

On Thursday, Cohen blasted the FEC's decision to drop its case without pursuing consequences for the former president.

"The hush money payment was done at the direction of and for the benefit of Donald J. Trump," Cohen said in a statement after the decision. "Like me, Trump should have been found guilty. How the FEC committee could rule any other way is confounding."
Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat and local Inspector N Chandrababu, both of whom received several complaints in the past, the former refused to speak about the case while the latter said it was sub-judice.  DC Image

Hyderabad: It seems nothing can stop Telangana labour minister Ch Malla Reddy from encroaching public properties. Neither the Supreme Court directives, High Courts stay orders nor his own governments rules come in the way of his misdeeds, if certain recent developments are of any indication.

If some of his moves are allegedly aimed at making monetary benefits, some others are said to be to retain power by impressing electorate including forcible construction of a place of religious worship in a public park in Annojiguda, Ghatkesar, on the city outskirts.

Victims of the ministers misdemeanour are inmates of a school run for orphans and underprivileged children besides the residents of the area who are deprived of a lung space. Needless to say, the local municipal, revenue and police officials maintain stoic silence over the gross violation of court directives by the minister and his followers.

Inquiries by this newspaper revealed that when efforts were made to build a temple in the public park in about 150 sq yds, the Jesus Way School, run by Joint Christian Action Committee (JCAC), obtained a stay order against the construction from the High Court in 2013. We are not against any religion. There are already several temples in the vicinity, and we have only been requesting the ministers followers to spare the lung space, which is increasingly becoming scarce in this concrete jungle, said Anita Sen of JCAC.

After some lull, the construction resumed after Malla Reddy became MLA in 2018. Despite obtaining the stay order from the High Court and even initiating contempt proceedings, the construction went unobstructed and the area of encroachment spread to 1,000 sq yds, she said.

It must be recalled that in December 2012, the then state government had put curbs on building places of worship without the permission of district collectors, especially in rural areas. In a 2009 order, the Supreme Court had also asked the Centre to ensure that no temple, church, mosque or gurudwara was built illegally on government land.

The school management accused the Minister of visiting the school with scores of his followers, intimidating the staff and pressurising them not to object to the construction of the temple. "When we refused to give a 'no objection' statement, Malla Reddy was furious and threatened us with grave consequences. His aides even criminally trespassed our school premises to threaten us, said Bishop Mathew, who runs the school along with the JCAC.

When this correspondent sought clarification from Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat and local Inspector N Chandrababu, both of whom received several complaints in the past, the former refused to speak about the case while the latter said it was sub-judice. Tehsildar P. Padma Priya also refused to respond to the queries.

When contacted, the minister said a compromise had been worked out between the school management and Kondal Reddy, the Pocharam GHMC Chairman and his aides building the temple. I have told both the parties not to interfere with each other," he said and dismissed allegations of intimidating the school authorities.
On Googles Wear OS support page, a new entry has appeared with details outlining a new update to Wear OS Gboard app. Though no drastic change has been made, Gboard for Wear OS has been updated with a new appearance, multi-language input support, and enhanced correction and suggestions.

Message the way you want to with the new Gboard  on #WearOSbyGoogle.

Multiple ways to message like voice, QWERTY keyboard or gestures 

Enhanced suggestions and corrections 

Multi-language support 



See whats new: https://t.co/RjjtZO23Tv pic.twitter.com/dggR6HxsFc  Wear OS by Google (@WearOSbyGoogle) May 6, 2021

If you didnt know, Wear OS offers a built-in keyboard for typing out replies to messages without having to reach for your phone. You can choose to rely on auto-correct and manually type in your response, you can also gesture type if you prefer, or you can simply enter your text by voice input.

Suggestions have been improved on by letting you scroll through them more easily. A new Preview screen will let you preview the entire message before sending it. Multi-language support is a new feature on Gboard for Wear OS. A new input button will let you switch to another language enabled on Gboard.

Finally, the Wear OS Gboard gets a new look. Gboard is now shown against a black background with larger, white letters. The space bar has also been made larger. Users can long-press the space bar to change the input text language.

The support page ends with "We're super excited to bring this update to the Wear OS Community in the coming days. We can't wait to share what more is in store for Wear OS by Google in 2021!"

Google is expected to completely overhaul Wear OS this year, starting with enabling third-party Tiles "when Google rolls out the corresponding Wear OS platform update". We're expecting to hear more about this update once Google I/O rolls around later this month.

Source
Mothers Day is this Sunday in the United States, and to celebrate the holiday, Google has brought new features to Assistant.

In a press release, the Mountain View company revealed Broadcast is expanding to users in a newly created Google Family Group, including their smartphones, and Family Bell is getting more languages.

Other new features include more stories, games, and some easter eggs.

Starting today, Broadcast will be able to reach you on your Android and iOS devices, not only Google Home devices in separate rooms. One user will be able to say Hey Google, tell my family how about lunch at noon, and the family will be able to receive a notification and reply by voice.

Family Bell is similar to setting alarms, but for chores at home. While users can set a bell for the kids to tidy up or get back to homework, they are able to do it only in English. Over the coming weeks, the feature will be expanded to eight new languages - Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.



Stories and games on Google Home

Users with Google Home devices that have a screen can play new games, including Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? There are also new songs for Google to sing, including the handwashing song or the brush your teeth song - simple tunes, helping kids to do basic stuff around the house.

Source
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Lite, also rumored to be called Tab S7+ Lite, is expected to come in three variants - Wi-Fi only (SM-T730), 4G (SM-T735), and 5G (SM-T736B/SM-T736N). The Wi-Fi and LTE models have bagged 3C certification, revealing 44W charging support in the process.

However, the Chinese certifying authority tells us that the tablets won't ship with a 44W charger. Instead, they will come bundled with 15W adapters, meaning you'll have to buy a compatible 44W charger separately for faster charging.

It's unclear whether the 5G model will also ship with a 15W charger or come bundled with an adapter that will go faster.

While Samsung is yet to divulge anything about the Galaxy Tab S7 Lite, leaked renders revealed the tablet's 5G version will come with a dual camera on the back, a selfie camera on the right bezel, and a USB-C port at the bottom joined by a speaker.



Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Lite 5G

The Galaxy Tab S7 Lite 5G was also spotted on Geekbench with a Snapdragon 750G SoC, Android 11, and 4GB RAM. Although there could be other RAM options as well that are yet to be confirmed.

Via
JACKSON COUNTY, Miss. -- Perhaps it should come as no surprise that Mississippi -- a state which traditionally ranks at or near the bottom in education, poverty, obesity, health care and a variety of other measures -- also finds itself at the bottom when it comes to the rate at which residents are being vaccinated against COVID-19.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Mississippi ranks 50th out of the 50 states and District of Columbia in the percentage of residents who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Only Alabama ranked lower -- by .02%.

As of Thursday morning, nearly 109 million Americans had been fully vaccinated, representing 32.8 percent of the U.S. population. In comparison, Fridays update from the Mississippi Department of Health shows 825,639 people have been fully vaccinated in the state -- which represents 28% of the population. That number is actually worse, given that its known a percentage of the people receiving vaccinations have come from other states.

By comparison, the top three states -- Maine, Connecticut and Vermont -- all have vaccination rates above 40%. At the other end, six of the 10 worst states for vaccinations are in the Deep South.

Over the 7-day period ending Friday, 37,561 more Mississippians became fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

In Jackson County, 1,461 additional doses of vaccine were administered, bringing the total doses in the county to 70,946. The MDH reports 33,429 residents are fully vaccinated, up by 947 from a week ago and representing 23.3% of the population.

Harrison County saw an additional 2,706 doses administered in the past week, bringing the total there to 104,885. There are now 49,327 residents in Harrison County fully vaccinated, up by 1,775 and representing 23.7% of the population.

The Mississippi coast as a whole has now seen 194,216 total doses administered, with 91,488 fully vaccinated representing 23% of the population.

While Mississippi lags behind nearly every other state in rate of vaccination, the good news is new cases and deaths from COVID-19 continue to remain low.

In the past week, 1,266 new cases of the virus were reported statewide, down 18.4% from the week prior. There were 29 deaths, up from 24. The state now totals 313,166 cases and 7,228 deaths.

The news was very good in Jackson County, where new cases dropped 56% from the week prior, with only 48 reported. Additionally, there were no deaths from COVID-19 reported in the county for an entire week for the first time in over a year. Jackson County now totals 13,411 cases and 246 deaths.

In Harrison County, there were 79 new cases, down from 88. There were three deaths, after none the week before. The county now totals 17,814 cases and 309 deaths.

Coastwide, there were 145 new cases -- down 34.7% from the previous week -- while there were three deaths, up by one from a week ago. The Mississippi coast totals now stand at 35,002 cases and 641 deaths.

Other data from the MDH released Friday shows 172 people hospitalized with COVID statewide, down from 186 a week ago, with 59 in intensive care, up from 46.

Ocean Springs Hospital had reason to celebrate, with no COVID-19 patients. Singing River Hospital reported two COVID patients, but none in ICU.

The health department now reports 301,872 Mississippians are fully recovered from COVID-19, with 4,066 known active cases, down from 4,108 a week ago. Total testing now stands at 2,723,670, with the positive rate remaining flat at 11.5%.
The wait-and-see approach to travel right now is prudent from a health perspective. From a booking perspective, maybe not so much.
The Southern Way (lots of sugar)

The Yankee Way (no sugar or sweetener)

The Arnold Palmer (lemonade added)

Plantation Iced Tea (with fruit)

Half sweet and half unsweet mixed together.

Unsweet with a no calorie sweetener.

With fruit garnishment such as a lemon or lime.

I drink my iced tea in different way than listed here.

I don't drink iced tea.

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Cultural power surpasses the transient aggregation of political heft in West Bengal. In the natural order of things, there is a rise and a fall of political leaders and political parties, and power waxes and wanes in proportion to the will exercised by the people as voters. Ousting a cultural icon from his, and more rarely her, space in the pantheon of secular deities is an entirely different matter; it has not happened in recent memory.

The deification of the creative genius is a metamorphosis that is imperceptible but very real. There are two pantheons in Bengal. The first is the conventional pantheon of the divine, crowded by so many avatars of the goddess or gods that only the cognoscenti know the difference. The second is the pantheon of cultural deities, reflecting a particular aspect of the Bengali sensibility, an eclectic array of political leaders, litterateurs, artists, musicians, performers and filmmakers, almost anyone who the Bengali considers to be uniquely gifted and on whom is bestowed the status of an icon.

Satyajit Ray is part of the second pantheon. His centenary year, which begins from May 2, is a moment when the process of this metamorphosis will be visible. In these pandemic times, the homage, the tributes, the celebration and the cultural programmes may have to be in a virtual space, but that will not deter devotees of Rays genius from honouring him by revisiting his work and his creativity in as many ways as possible.

The tributes will not be exclusive offerings of aficionados; the inclusivity of the celebrations will affirm his status as an icon. When Ray died in 1992, even manufacturers of objects as entirely mundane as shovels and construction equipment offered their tribute through advertisements, as a reflection of how significant the filmmakers transition was from mere mortal to one of the pantheon. It did not matter that his films were never the sort of blockbusters that appealed to the masses. In the Bengali perception, Ray was an icon; his work was quintessentially Bengali, but his contribution was recognised as Indias gift to world cinema.

It is revealing of West Bengals unusual ethos that even the BJP, with its claim to being the worlds largest party, scrambled to deploy Satyajit Ray to increase its appeal to the Bengali intelligentsia. If the BJP government in New Delhi lives up to its promise of an Oscar-like film award in the name of Satyajit Ray, Bengalis may be pleased, but that is impossible to predict.

Satyajit Rays oeuvre was not limited to making films, or writing his own scripts, or composing the music for his films. His work is part of the popular imagination. Snatches of his music from the fantasy series, Goopey Gayne Bagha Bayne, have become signatures in the culture of modern West Bengal. His Hirak Rajar Deshe is now the title of an animation series that is a regular satirical take on current politics on a local television channel. The dialogue of his film series featuring the detective that he created, Feluda, is part of the language in which Bengalis think and speak. He pervades the mind and is embedded in the Bengali spirit.

He was not a filmmaker to begin with. He worked as an artist in advertising. He also designed book jackets that are now classics in the world of book design. He created fonts. He created a visual language through his films that is now part of the grammar of filmmaking. The trilogy, the first of which, Pather Panchali (The Song of the Road), made in 1958, is the one of the greatest films ever made. It was the first of the total of 29 films and five documentaries that Ray made.

He worked with unknowns, including the legendary cinematographer Subrata Mitra, who improvised to create the amazing light in Pather Panchali, and the slew of films including Jalsaghar, Teen Kanya, Charulata, Devi, Mahanagar and Nayak. And through that work, men like Subrata Mitra emerged with their extraordinary talent. Soumitra Chatterjee, the legendary actor who passed away in 2020, was a Ray discovery. As were Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen and even Madhavi Mukherjee, who had worked in cinema before, but never displayed the awesome talent she did in Charulata, which remains her most lyrical performance ever.

There were distinct periods in the work that Satyajit Ray did. His early films  Apur Sansar, Parash Pathar, Jalsaghar, followed by films like Kanchenjungha and Abhijaan, documentaries including the film on Rabindranath Tagore commissioned on the insistence of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indias first Prime Minister, Bala, on the great Bharatanatyam dancer Balasaraswati, who performs on the Madras Marina with the wind blowing her hair and snatching at her sari, are masterpieces.

The last three films by Ray  Ganashatru (Enemy of the People), Shakha Proshakha and Agantuk  were very different. These were bold critiques on contemporary social issues, including the conflict between rational science and irrational religion, the idea of the civilised and the primitive, of what is normal and sickness of the mind. Ray did not start out as a filmmaker with an agenda. He was a storyteller. But he responded to the shifts and changes in the world at large and his conclusions were sharp, critical and almost a call to action.




Haiti - Politic : Justice finally accessible to the most deprived (Speech of Moise)





On Thursday, President Jovenel Moise proceeded with the official installation of the Board of Directors of the National Legal Assistance Council (CNAL).



Composition of the Board :

(appointed by decree of September 9, 2020 under the law of September 10, 2018 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26172-haiti-justice-new-law-on-the-legal-assistance-of-the-most-deprived.html )



Me Rockefeller Vincent, Minister of Justice (President);

Me Renan Hedouville, Protector of the Citizen (Vice-president);

Michel Patrick Boisvert, Minister of Finance (member);

Me Jacques Letang President of the Federation of Haitian Bars (member);

Andre Saint-Isert, Representative of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (member).



Speech by the Head of State :



"The decision to install the CNAL reflects my desire to provide Haitians with access to justice, regardless of their economic or financial situation. Because, strengthening the right of access to justice is an obligation of the State towards its citizens, without exclusion.



The installation of the CNAL is also an act of judicial benevolence. It is a new beginning, a new sun which rises for these forgotten people of the Republic, an open door for my brothers and sisters who languish in our prisons because of their situation of poverty.



The State undertakes to cover all legal and judicial expenses of any person meeting the criteria defined by the law on legal assistance. The fight for equality before the courts is as much that of the state as that of every citizen.



The justice system must stop being the hangman of detainees. Letting a human being languish for 10 years or more in a cell without any prior judgment, without any conviction, is a serious act that violates the right to human dignity.



I would like to remind all those involved in the judicial system, whether they are bailiffs, court clerks, prosecutors, police officers, bench judges, investigating judges, lawyers and others, that human dignity is the foundation of democracy and of all other rights."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26172-haiti-justice-new-law-on-the-legal-assistance-of-the-most-deprived.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24407-haiti-justice-two-offices-of-free-legal-assistance-at-the-palace-of-justice-of-pap.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21453-haiti-justice-adoption-in-council-of-ministers-of-a-bill-on-legal-assistance.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33603-haiti-news-zapping.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : A special Visa for Haitian university students in the Dominican Republic





After the publication in the Dominican press of information according to which Haitian university students obtain the fewest visas, although they are in the majority as foreign students in Dominican universities, the Ambassador of Haiti in the Dominican Republic Smith Augustin, a announced this week that there will be a special visa that will be issued shortly to the thousands of Haitian students who are pursuing their undergraduate studies in Dominican territory with a limited and binding tourist visa ...



"Good news for Haitian students in DR. The delivery of their special visa promised by the Dominican authorities is soon. I had a fruitful meeting with Deputy Minister Jatzel Roman, in the presence of the Consul General of Santiago James Jacques, in order to finalize the process," Ambassador Augustin said this week.



Let's recall that according to the statistics available from the Dominican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2018 there were 5,477 Haitian students in Dominican universities, plus the 1,170 who entered higher education centers in 2019, according to the latest statistical report from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.



In 2018, only 31 of the 102 category "E" visas were issued to Haitians.



Studying with a Tourist Visa puts Haitian students in a difficult situation, then that to avoid paying a penalty for irregular stay, they must avoid their uninterrupted stay in the Dominican Republic exceeding 90 days, which it rarely happens. to respect Indeed, to be in good standing they must leave the DR to obtain a new tourist visa from a Dominican consultancy in Haiti, before returning to study



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33606-haiti-dr-towards-a-rapprochement-of-dominican-and-haitian-universities.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33269-haiti-flash-towards-a-visa-for-more-than-2-800-university-students-in-dr.html



S/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Carrefour : 25 criminals arrested in 24 hours

On Wednesday, May 5, the National Police of Haiti (PNH) proceeded to the arrest of 25 individuals at Carrefour in the district called "Chavez", most of whom were the subject of a search notice for their involvement in numerous criminal acts, among other thefts, murders, kidnappings, armed robberies... Information confirmed by the Minister of Justice Rockefeller Vincent on his Twitter account.



Japan alongside more than 1,000 Haitian farmers

"For the first campaign of 2021, our rice seed project, Response-Artibonite cooperated with more than 1,000 farmers*to sow more than 500hectares. The field inspection as part of the review process has been carried out since the end of March and will be completed in a few days. There will be post-harvest conditioning such as winnowing and drying. And we will take samples from these results to test and ensure the quality of the seed," informed the Technical Mission of Taiwan (Republic of China) in Haiti



Referendum : no financial support from Europe

On Thursday, the European Union announced that it would not provide financial support for the organization of the referendum scheduled for June 27 in Haiti, nor send observers for the poll. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-33632-haiti-cep-where-is-the-financing-of-the-referendum-and-the-elections.html



Launch of the Integrated National Financing Framework

On Thursday, the Government together with the United Nations in Haiti officially launched the Integrated National Financing Framework (CINF) for sustainable development, a joint program supervised in its national component by the Ministry of Planning and in its international component, by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), under the coordination of the Office of Resident Coordinator Bruno Lemarquis



Caricom : Review of the presidency of Haiti

Thursday morning, Claude Joseph in his capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs, participated in the XXIVth virtual meeting of the Council of Ministers of External and Community Relations of CARICOM. He took the opportunity to present the results of the Presidency of this community body that Haiti has occupied since May 2020.



USA : Visit to the Admiral Killick base of the Haitian Coast Guard

The Chargee d'Affaires ai of the United States, Nicole Theriot visited the Admiral Killick base of the Haitian Coast Guard "an essential partner of the United States which contributes to the security of our seas and improves the national security of both countries" underlined the Chargee d'Affaires.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By William Schwartz | Published on 2021/05/06

"Vincenzo" completed its run with a fourth straight top placement on the Good Data Report. The finale of the screwball legal comedy about an Italian mafia lawyer attempting to recover buried riches saw nearly double the references to social media references it had the previous week. The three leads, Song Joong-ki, Jeon Yeo-bin, and Ok Taecyeon, also all featured in the top ten for performers, as did Kwak Dong-yeon, a supporting cast member with an unexpectedly important role in the climax.

"Taxi Driver" took second place, and much like "Vincenzo" in the wake of the completion of "The Penthouse 2" now seems poised to take the top spot in the report with the withdrawal of its competitor. Comments about the dramas have described it positively as being a lot of fun. There has been particular interest in Bek Hyunjin as Park Yang-jin, a character who was not initially credited in earlier releases of the drama's cast list. Lee Je-hoon and Pyo Ye-jin ranked at sixth and eighth for performers.

"Navillera" finished its run in third place, with an increase in social media references of nearly forty percent. The comments tended to be positive, with a particular emphasis on emotional references to the arc of Song Kang's ballerino lead character. He places seventh for performers while his elderly lead co-star Park In-hwan was ninth.

The serial killer "Mouse" had a drop by contrast, with conversation centering around the special "Mouse: The Predator" which was released over that time period. Lee Seung-gi ranked fifth for performers. Data for this particular iteration of the Good Data Report was tabulated from April 26th to May 2nd, analyzing news articles, blog posts, social media, videos, and other forms of non-traditional engagement with twenty-one ongoing serial television dramas.

Written by William Schwartz
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In what was, so far, the best baseball game of the week, the Jaguars pulled their 33rd win out of the fire and salvaged a gem of a start from their star pitcher.
A Senate panel voted Wednesday to give themselves and their colleagues a big increase in their allowance  and do it as soon as possible.

You voted:
by Carla Jenewein

Blood drive organizer

The Chinook community will be hosting a blood drive with the American Red Cross Tuesday, May 11, from noon to 6 p.m. at Wallner Hall, 330 Ohio in Chinook

Wallner Hall sits to the west of the Methodist Church. Its entrance is on Fourth Street.

Appointments are highly encouraged by the American Red Cross. You can go on-line at redcrossblood.org or call 1-800-733-2767  1-800-REDCROSS  to schedule an appointment.

Walk-ins are welcome, however available appointment slots for walk-ins are limited so making an appointment will ensure you will be able to donate.

Parental consents for those 16 or 17 years of age can be picked up at the high school office any time before the drive, as well as at the registration table at Wallner Hall the day of the drive.

Masks are required, social distancing will be encouraged and temperature-taking and hand sanitizing will take place at the front door.

We are looking forward to seeing you at Wallner Hall in Chinook on May 11th, 2021.

Thank you in advance for your life-giving gift.
From Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals

The Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals announced National Distinguished Principal for 2021 is Havre native Heather (Stremcha) Jones, principal of Trailside Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska.

The 2021 National Distinguished Principal Celebration marks the 37th year that the National Association of Elementary School Principals has presented this prestigious award.

Jones was nominated and selected by her fellow principals through a statewide search process conducted by the Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals.

Jones, a Havre High School graduate, graduated from Western Montana University with a bachelors degree, she then added a masters degree in teaching in 2003 and a masters degree in administration in 2006 from Grand Canyon University.

Jones began her administrative career as a principal at Eagles View Elementary in Unalaska in 2007 and went on to be a principal in Montana from 2010-2012, followed by principalships in Anchorage at Ocean View Elementary and Chinook Elementary from 2012-2019.

She is currently her second year as the principal at Trailside Elementary School.

Jones is an active and a true leader in the profession. While in Montana, her school was named the Alta Care Western Program of the Year in 2010. She serves on the Alaska Association of Elementary School Principals Board of Directors. She has represented principals in Anchorage on the negotiations committee a number of times.

Jones has made numerous trips to Juneau to advocate for education in Alaska. She also gives her time to mentor new principals both in Anchorage and around the state of Alaska.

Jones staff will tell you that one of the things that makes her leadership exemplary is the relationships she works to build and to nurture with staff, parents, students and the community. These relationships are what allows her to have a school that is able to be successful in supporting students growth both socially and academically.

Positivity throughout every situation is what determines strong leadership and how to manage negative interactions, Jones said. I have learned the art of making any situation better by taking the time to listen and then follow through with tasks. As a leader, having high expectations for myself and the school helps to build the relationships that will build trust and assist in closing gaps between students.

Jones will travel to Washington in October 2021 for two days of activities planned to honor and bring well-deserved recognition to the elementary administrators selected by their respective states.
Staff and wire report

Havre Finance Director Doug Kaercher, a former Havre City Council member and former Hill County commissioner, has announced his candidacy for mayor of Havre.

"I want to put my three decades of experiences in the local government to work for the residents of Havre as Mayor," Kaercher said in a release announcing his candidacy. "My top priority is to use my experience to serve the citizens of Havre in an efficient and effective manner."

His release said Kaercher - pronounced "Care-Ker" - is a lifelong Havre resident where he and his wife, Darla, raised three daughters. Kaercher has worked in local government as a Havre City councilman from 1988-1993, before joining the Hill County Study Commission where he served as chairman. Kaercher also served as a Hill County Commissioner for a decade, from 1997-2007. He also served as National Association of Counties while a county commissioner. During this time, Kaercher lobbied the Montana Legislature and testified before the United States Senate.

In 2007, Kaercher was appointed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer as an administrative law judge to the State Tax Appeal Board.

He became the city of Havre's finance director in 2012, where he has worked to improve the city's technology and infrastructure.

He made a failed bid for the state Public Service Commission in 2018, losing to Randy Pinocci.

Kaercher has been involved in the community over the years in a number of volunteer capacities. He is a founding board member of the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line, helping meet the needs of chldren who need it most, his release said. He has also been an executive board member for Bear Paw Development Corp. for more than 24 years, was a board member and treasurer for the Montana Municipal Interlocal Authority and served as a member of the Montana Boards of Housing Board, as appointed by Gov. Steve Bullock.

"This is a community that has been very good to me and my family and I will strive to make Havre an even better place to live, raise a family and build a business," Kaercher said. "It would be an honor to serve this community as its next mayor."
Montana voters spoke clearly last November. They elected Republicans up and down the ticket, giving legislative Republicans a clear mandate to make good on our campaign promises of protecting the Montana way of life, improving economic opportunities, protecting Montanans rights, and preventing government overreach.

The fearmongering about the 67th legislative session started up shortly after the election with certain folks making dire predictions about COVID-19 at the Capitol and demanding the Legislature not meet. We responded that grocery store workers, law enforcement officers, our dedicated health care professionals, and so many others had shown up and done their jobs during the pandemic. We promised wed do the job voters elected us to do and wed take precautions to do it responsibly and safely.

We made promises during our campaigns and promises about how wed run the Legislature. Now that the 67th legislative session has concluded, were proud to say: Promises Made, Promises Kept.

The first in-person and virtual hybrid legislative session in Montana history took place with only a few isolated COVID-19 cases, zero outbreaks, and minimal interruptions to normal business. The public had more access and opportunities to weigh in than ever before due to the remote participation option.

The policy successes were also historic. With unified Republican control of the legislature and the governors office, conservatives, moderates, business Republicans, libertarians, Trump Republicans, and social conservatives all got wins this session. We even had a number of bipartisan achievements that Democrats can be proud of.

We implemented the legislation needed for Gov. Gianfortes Montana Comeback Plan to improve our states economy, create good-paying jobs, and allow Montanans to prosper. We passed comprehensive tax reform with about $120 million in total tax cuts while enacting a balanced, conservative budget that funds essential services. We made major long-term investments in infrastructure, schools, and access to reliable, high-speed internet. We cut unnecessary regulations, put new leadership in place across state government, created incentives to raise starting teacher pay and increase trades education and employment, and expanded access to affordable health care via telehealth, Direct Patient Care, and prescription drug reform.

Republicans ended the obstruction of past administrations and passed many popular bills that had been vetoed by former Democratic governors. We protected the right to life for the unborn, expanded Second Amendment rights and pushed back on President Bidens anti-gun agenda, protected the rights of free speech and free association, and further secured the integrity of our elections. Republicans limited the power of the executive branch, reined in abuses of power by local governments, and started looking into troubling conduct in the judicial branch.

Working across party lines, Republicans created the most controlled, responsible adult-use marijuana program in the United States, passed a massive expansion of telehealth with 100 unanimous support, put a constitutional amendment on the 2022 ballot to protect the privacy of Montanans electronic data and communications, and funded key conservation programs.

Wed like to thank our Republican members, minority Democrats, the House of Representatives, Gov. Gianforte, and especially our staff for each of their roles in making this historic legislative session a resounding success. We kept our promises, weve laid the groundwork for Gov. Gianforte to lead Montanas Comeback, and we look forward to seeing another, even more successful legislative session in 2023.



Sen. Mark Blasdel, R-Kalispell, is president of the Montana Senate. Sen. Cary Smith, R-Billings, is the Senate majority leader. Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, is the Senate president pro tempore.
Henderson, NC (27536)

Today

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
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FAST detects 3D spin-velocity alignment in a pulsar

Pulsars - another name for fast-spinning neutron stars - originate from the imploded cores of massive dying stars through supernova explosion.

Now, more than 50 years after the discovery of pulsars and confirmation of their association with supernova explosions, the origin of the initial spin and velocity of pulsars is finally beginning to be understood.

Based on observations from the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Dr. YAO Jumei, member of a team led by Dr. LI Di from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), found the first evidence for three-dimensional (3D) spin-velocity alignment in pulsars.

The study was published in Nature Astronomy on May 6. It also marks the beginning of in-depth pulsar research with FAST.

For decades, scientists have found observational evidence for spin-velocity alignment in young pulsars. The relationship thus revealed between pulsars' spin axis and spatial velocity vectors, however, has largely been restricted to a 2D sky plane perpendicular to the line of sight, due to the hardship in constraining radial velocity.

Focusing on PSR J0538+2817 in the supernova remnant (SNR) S147 and through the scintillation technique, Dr. YAO obtained its radial location with respect to the SNR boundary and its radial velocity for the first time. "Then we got the 3D velocity by combining the transverse velocity measured by Very Long Baseline Interferometers," said Dr. YAO. The polarization analysis resulted in the direction of the 3D spin axis. The best fit angle between these two vectors was found to be about 10 degrees, which is the first such measurement in 3D.

###

FAST is currently the world's most sensitive single aperture radio telescope. "This represents a tour-de-force in pulsar data analysis. Through FAST observation, our team has accomplished more detections, which promise to further help reveal the origin of pulsar spin-kick," said Dr. LI, chief scientist of FAST and one of the corresponding authors of the study.

This story has been published on: 2021-05-06. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
US takes subtle moves to rope in G7 allies against China

(Global Times) 13:44, May 07, 2021

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (R) meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ahead of the meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) foreign and development ministers in London, Britain, on May 3, 2021. (Tim Hammond/No 10 Downing Street/Handout via Xinhua)

With China topping the agenda of the Group of Seven (G7) meeting as foreign ministers of member states have been urged to coordinate and form a common stance in addressing the "challenges" posed by China, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected claims of a "Cold War" between the US and China, signaling that rather than making all-out efforts to form an anti-China choir, the Biden administration is making subtle moves to align its allies, Chinese experts said, noting that in return, EU officials' mixed signals on the ratification of its most promising investment deal appear to be a gesture of echoing the "alignment sentiment" in the face of growing domestic pressure.

The UK held the first face-to-face meeting of G7 foreign ministers this week since the COVID-19 pandemic began, during which China-related topics remained the major focus, despite Blinken clarifying ahead of the meeting that "it is not our purpose to try to contain China or to hold China down," the US Secretary of State was quoted as saying in a Reuters report. Blinken however further elaborated that the West would defend the international rules based order from subversive attempts by any country, including China.

Apparently, during the three-day talks, which wrapped up on Wednesday Blinken sought to rope in allies to form a common front against China, but experts raised doubts whether tactics like a war of words embedded with "targeting China" or "blaming China" would really work when not only members of the G7 but also the US itself, need to work with Beijing on major global issues such as vaccine supplies, climate change, North Korea and Iran, experts said.

Tactical

The final session of the G7 meeting that set the agenda for a G7 leaders' summit next month in Cornwall will focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, as member countries emphasize on the COVAX vaccine jab distribution mechanism under the UN, after the WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently urged G7 countries to take decisive action in funding the global post-COVID-19 recovery, as "they are also home to many of the world's vaccine producers."

Even though the COVAX mechanism has shipped about 50 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 121 countries and economies, the world still faces severe supply constraints, the WHO said in a post on Monday, noting that solving this dilemma demands courageous leadership from the world's largest economies.

Blinken has been emphasizing that the purpose of the G7 is not about containing China because he clearly understands if he pressures other nations to form a unified anti-China stance, the allies of the US would keep their distance from it, so he has to be more tactical in handling the matter because other nations have large-scale interactions with China regarding the economy and people-to-people exchanges, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The US government has to weigh the current situation with full consideration of the level of acceptance among its allies," Li said.

Besides economic benefits, the global post-COVID-19 recovery demands an active role of Chinese-made vaccines, experts said on Wednesday, after Europe's medicines regulator said it has begun a real-time review of Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine, according to media reports on Tuesday. Meanwhile, vaccines developed by two major vaccine producers Sinopharm and Sinovac have been put under the WHO's assessment for emergency use.

The US and the West need China's cooperation in regional security issues and public goods distribution, including the Korean Peninsula and the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, which were on the agendas of the G7 foreign ministers, according to experts.

"Without China's cooperation, these issues will not be solved. On the contrary, they might be worsened," Li said, noting that the EU has realized this and will not follow the US' China containment policy.

Diplomats from South Korea, the US and Japan held three-way talks on the sidelines of the G7 meeting early Wednesday, a crucial meeting coming after the Biden administration said last week that it completed its policy review on North Korea, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

The US government also recognized the importance of engaging with China on various issues such as Iran and the North Korean and climate change, as Blinken told the Financial Times in a recent interview that climate change is also among the areas the two countries have overlapping interests in.

What Blinken said about "not containing China" was not new at all, indicating that the US is very clear in its own mind that it's impossible to contain China, especially not like what it did to contain the Soviet Union, and the US, whose power is not what it used to be, is incapable of roping in its allies to besiege China, Xin Qiang, deputy director of the Center for US Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

An echoing gesture

Amid the G7 foreign ministers' meeting, the European Commission seems to have "dialed down" efforts to push forward its planned investment deal with China, with some media reports suggesting that "EU efforts to ratify the China investment deal is on ice after sanctions."

After the EU's trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis reportedly suggested on Tuesday that Brussels has suspended some efforts in ratifying the deal, the EU spokesperson on Wednesday sought to clarify the issue without specifically confirming the EU has halted efforts.

The agreement needs to be now legally reviewed and translated before it can be presented for adoption and ratification. However, the ratification process of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) cannot be separated from the evolving dynamics of the wider EU-China relationship, Miriam Garcia Ferrer, a spokesperson of the European Commission, said in an e-mail to the Global Times on Wednesday.

The prospects for the CAI's ratification will depend on how the situation evolves, she said, referring to sanctions on members of the European Parliament and an entire parliamentary committee as "unacceptable and regrettable."

With the mixed signals, the European Commission was trying to placate the discontent and maladaptation of some EU members after China's countermeasures against the EU over so-called human rights issues, and also to make a gesture to please the US, Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of European Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"However, EU members, especially major powers such as France and Germany want the deal to be approved as soon as possible, and the EU is likely to approve the deal in the first half of 2022 at the latest when France takes over the rotating EU Council presidency," Wang said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she remained convinced that the EU-China investment deal was an "important undertaking" even as strained relations complicate the agreement's ratification.

"Despite all the difficulties that will surely arise with the ratification, it is a very important undertaking," Merkel said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Elk Grove, CA (95624)

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Sunny. High 74F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

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Clear skies. Low 47F. SSW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
Huntington, WV (25701)

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Elk Grove, CA (95624)

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James Edward Wygal, 69, of Emory, passed away May 30, 2021, at home. Visitation will be Tuesday, June 8, 2021, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Coker-Mathews Funeral Home. A celebration of life service will be held at a later date at his home, which was his sanctuary and his favorite place. Mr. Wygal was
Uniontown, PA (15401)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Jews have made their home in Ireland for centuries, and many have risen to be successful and prominent figures in politics, business, and theology. Ireland produced Chaim Herzog, the sixth president of Israel, and Leopold Bloom - the hero of James Joyce's "Ulysses," a canonical Irish text - is a Jew. However, the Irish Jewish community can hardly be called thriving, and Jews have not always been welcomed in this predominantly Catholic country. During the Holocaust, Ireland denied refuge to Jews in search of escape from the Nazis, and antisemitism has been a minor but persistent problem.

Persecution and denial of rights

Jews first came to Ireland in 1079, when a group of five merchants, probably from Normandy, petitioned for admission and were rejected, according to the "Annals of Inisfallen," a chronicle of the medieval history of Ireland. There were some Jews in Ireland during the 12th and 13th centuries, but when Britain expelled all of its Jews in 1290, the Jews of Ireland, too, were forced to leave.

A Jewish community wasn't reinstated until late in the 15th century, as refugees from the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal sought a safe haven. There were only a handful of Jews living in Ireland for the next 300 years, most of whom immigrated due to persecution in other parts of Europe. For the most part Jews lived (and still live) in and around Dublin, but there was a congregation in Cork from 1725 to 1796, and another that was established around 1860. These communities were mostly populated by people in the import business, specifically wine imports.

Catholic missionaries had some success converting the Jews, and by the end of the 1700s the synagogue in Dublin was forced to close. Contributing to the closure may have been the government's refusal to grant citizenship to Jews, despite other bills that gave citizenship to other foreign nationals.

In 1822 a small group of Jews arrived from Germany, Poland, and England and began to actively build the Jewish community. The Jewish population grew from 453 in 1881 to almost 4,000 in 1901. Small communities emerged in Limerick, Waterford, Belfast and Londonderry. As the community gained momentum, Irish clergy became wary. One priest in particular, Father John Creagh of Limerick, felt threatened by the Jews, and made several inflammatory sermons encouraging Catholics to boycott Jewish traders and in some cases to act violently.

It is thought that Creagh may have been influenced by the Dreyfus Affair while he was on a trip to France. Whatever his motivation, he was fairly successful in driving Jews out of Limerick. With boycotts stifling their livelihood and physical and verbal abuse threatening their safety, most Jews from Limerick fled the country. However, after a few years Creagh was moved to Belfast by his superiors, and the Limerick community reinstated itself during World War I.

Irish Jews and Irish independence

Although the Irish Jewish community never officially took sides regarding the Irish-British conflict, it was generally known to be sympathetic to the Irish nationalist cause. The Easter rebellion of 1916 saw many Jewish homes sheltering rebels, and Robert Briscoe, Dublin's first Jewish mayor (but not Ireland's first Jewish mayor - that honor goes to William Annyas, elected in 1555), was himself a member of the Irish Republican Army. Former Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Dr. Isaac Herzog, was a friend of Taoiseach (Irish for prime minister) Eamon de Valera. Additionally, a Jewish lawyer, Michael Noyk, defended members of the Irish Republican Sinn Fein Party and was friends with Michael Collins, the Irish Republican nationalist. The Irish constitution of 1937 recognized Judaism as a minority faith, and Jews were assured freedom from discrimination.

Effects of the Holocaust in Ireland

The Jews of Ireland were involved in anti-Nazi activism as early as 1933, when Chief Rabbi Herzog organized protests against the Third Reich. Robert Briscoe, who at that time was a prominent and well-respected lawmaker with the Fianna Fail party, continuously spoke out against antisemitism. But Herzog and Briscoe's efforts were to no avail in 1938 at the international conference at Evian-Les-Bains. It was in Evian that world leaders came together to discuss the European refugee problem, and Ireland effectively closed its doors to all refugees.

Frank T. Cremins, the Irish representative, insisted that Ireland was having a hard enough time sustaining its native population, and would not be able to withstand an influx of immigration. The Department of Justice issued a memorandum that specifically cited the Jews as a problem, saying "As Jews do not become assimilated with the native population, like other immigrants, there is a danger than any big increase in their numbers might create a social problem."

World War II was a troublesome time for Jews around the world, but the Irish Jewish community was relatively safe. Ireland was considered a neutral country, but some anti-British sympathy led to limited support of Germany, mostly in the spirit of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Nazi records from the Wannsee Conference in 1942 mark 4,000 Irish Jews for death, under the assumption that Ireland would eventually fall under the control of the Third Reich. The Nazis were nowhere near successful in this venture. There is only one known Irish Jewish casualty of the Holocaust.

Amazingly, the Irish Jewish community helped save hundreds of Jewish children from Vienna. The children escaped the Nazis via a Kindertransport train, and were taken to a farm in County Down, Northern Ireland. The farm was leased by the Belfast Jewish Community in 1938 with assistance and support from Jews in the Republic.

Once the war was over, Taoiseach Eamon de Valera allowed more than 100 orphans from Czechoslovakia to stay in Clonyn Castle in Delvin, Co. Westmeath for about 15 months before they emigrated to the United States, Israel, and the United Kingdom.

Jewish Community in Ireland today

The Jewish population peaked at approximately 5,500 in the late 1940s, and today there are fewer than 2,000. The remaining community is shrinking, and the past 20 years has seen many Jewish buildings sold or closed, and are now used for other purposes. There are three Jewish congregations left in Dublin - two Orthodox and one Progressive. There are also Orthodox congregations in Belfast. One in Cork just closed in February of 2016.
Not everyone in Ireland supported the persecution of the Jews in Europe. The following archived Jewish Telegraphic News article, dated July 2, 1939, is a statement made by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland:

A strong resolution protesting against the persecution of Jews by Nazis was unanimously adopted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at their annual conference here. The resolution, introduced by the Rev. Professor J.E. Dave states.

The General Assembly deplore and condemn the continued and even extended persecution of helpless Jewish and semi-Jewish minorities in Central Europe, and invoke Gods blessing on all attempts made to alleviate their misery and discover places of refuge for them in other lands and calls upon members of the Church to remember the great debt to Israel, and the obligations of truth and fellowship which lie upon them in relation to Jews as to all men; and they warn members of the Church that antisemitism itself easily becomes a cloak for the forces that oppose the Christian faith.

The General Assembly urge H.M. Government, by itself or in concert with other Governments, to come to the rescue of the refugees in their imminent peril by opening more widely avenues of escape; and directs that copies of this resolution be sent to the heads of the Governments of Great Britain, Eire, and Northern Ireland.
A few days before Pesach, Rabbi Yanky Majesky of Chabad North Orlando got a very disturbing phone call. A relatively young Jewish woman had passed away all alone with no known next of kin. The woman on the phone was a co-worker of the deceased and found the rabbi's cell number. A week after the passing they went to clean the apartment and found her beloved cat was still there hiding under her bed. A draft of a will was found which indicated that the rabbi should oversee her funeral arrangements and to whom the cat should be given but the will was unfortunately never signed and so it took another few weeks for the hospital to allow Rabbi Majesky to arrange a proper Jewish burial.

The Torah calls the kindness we show to the dead "Chesed Shel Emes" - kindness of truth - because it is the only true kindness where we can never get repaid from the recipient. Magnify that 100 times over when it is kindness shown to a fellow Jew you have never met.

The very day permission was granted for the body to be released, Rabbi got in touch with Mark Rosenberg of Chesed Shel Emes, Florida Division who together with Chesed Shel Emes in New York made sure she was buried as a Jew.

This is the kind of situation Jewish law calls a "Mes/Met Mitzvah" - taking care of the remains of someone with no next of kin is so important that even the High Priest, the Kohen Gadol, is obligated to put aside his ritual purity and Temple service to perform this Mitzvah, though the high priest would not be allowed to do so for the funeral of his own family!

In Judaism, burying a body right away is so important that in Temple times even a criminal executed for a capital offense had to be buried before nightfall and given the proper dignity and respect that every human being created "B'Tzelem Elokim," in the image of G-d, deserves.

"I thank Hashem for the honor and merit to be a small part of this huge Mitzvah and to witness true "Ahavas Yisrael," unconditional love for your fellow man, by these amazing organizations," said Rabbi Majesky.

Many people hesitate to write a will or make arrangements either because they can't be bothered, or because we hope it won't be relevant for a long time, or because they are afraid it is an Ayin Hara (evil eye) or bad omen. Truth is however, in Judaism making advanced arrangements is, if anything, seen as a "Segulah," an omen for a long life!

"I urge anyone who has not done so yet to expressly write a will stating they want to be buried in the traditional Jewish manner and make sure to have it done with competent lawyer," said Majesky. "This is especially true for people who live alone, have no immediate next of kin or are Jews by choice and therefore their family may not be familiar with how things are done in our tradition."

The rabbi subsequently heard from a social worker that the reason the will was never signed was because the deceased was afraid of the legal fees. "That is so sad because we have many lawyers in the community who would have done a basic will at a very affordable price. I really hope we never see a situation like this again and may we share only Simchas and good news from now on."

For assistance in planning a proper Jewish burial or for recommendations of attorneys that can help you write an affordable will call Rabbi Majesky, 407-636-5994, or email Rabbi@JewishNorthOrlandocom. Please consider leaving a Jewish legacy and ensuring a Jewish tomorrow by leaving Chabad Lubavitch of North Orlando a percentage of your estate. For more information visit www.JewishNorthOrlando.com/PlannedGiving or contact the rabbi at the number above.
Sacha Baron Cohen poses in humorous fashion for a photo during a screening of the Oscars in Sydney, Australia, April 25, 2021 in Sydney, Australia.

(JTA) - It was an unusual Academy Awards in several ways.

Forced to adapt to social distancing protocols, the ceremony was split into different venues but mostly took place in Los Angeles' Union Station. For only the second time in history, a woman won best director - and the first woman of color at that, as the award went to Chloe Zhao for "Nomadland," which also won best picture. And then there was Glenn Close's meme-able dance to the self-explanatory 1988 song "Da Butt."

Also notable: a very low number of Jewish winners.

To be fair, there was not a large pool of nominees to begin with. And "Nomadland," a portrait of homeless nomads who move around the American West, did feature one Jewish producer who got his hands on the top prize - Peter Spears, a former actor best known before Sunday night as a producer of "Call Me By Your Name," the hit 2017 drama based on Jewish writer Andre Aciman's novel of the same name.

Here's a roundup of the other results and moments we had our eyes on:

 Sacha Baron Cohen lost in the best adapted screenplay category - his "Borat" sequel was beat out by Florian Zeller's "The Father," an adaptation of his own play. Cohen was also nominated as best supporting actor for playing Jewish activist Abbie Hoffman but lost to Daniel Kaluuya, star of "Judas and the Black Messiah."

 "White Eye," an Israeli short film that tackles white Israelis' biases toward African migrants, lost in the live short category to "Two Distant Strangers."

 After winning best screenplay at the Golden Globes, Aaron Sorkin's "The Trial of the Chicago 7," about the 1968 Chicago Seven protesters, was up for six Oscars. Sorkin was personally up for best original screenplay. But the film didn't win any on Sunday night.

 Pixar added to its Oscars chest, as "Soul" was awarded best animated feature film. In December, Rabbi Benjamin Resnick compared the movie's philosophy to ancient Jewish ideas.

 For Jewish songwriter Diane Warren, 12th time was not the charm. Her tune "Io si (Seen)," from the film "The Life Ahead" - which stars Sophia Loren as a Holocaust survivor - was nominated for best original song, the 12th time she had been nominated in that category. It lost to "Fight For You" from "Judas and the Black Messiah."

 "Mank," director David Fincher's film about the legendary Jewish screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, was up for a leading 10 awards, but only won two - best cinematography and best production design.

 Several famous Hollywood Jews were included in the show's annual "In Memoriam" segment, paying tribute to stars and other industry veterans lost in the past year. The familiar faces included Carl Reiner, Jerry Stiller, Joel Schumacher, Joan Micklin Silver, George Segal, Sumner Redstone, Ronald Harwood and Walter Bernstein.

 In accepting an award for his humanitarian work, filmmaker Tyler Perry talked about combating hate and about his inspirational mother. In one story he recounted, he found her at home one day when she was supposed to be at work. He said she worked at a Jewish community center, and there had been a bomb threat at the building. "She couldn't believe that someone wanted to blow up this place," he said.
(JTA)  Steven Spielberg has launched a film foundation called Jewish Story Partners to fund documentaries that tell stories about a diverse spectrum of Jewish experiences, histories, and cultures.

Its funded by the Righteous Persons Foundation, which Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw founded after Spielbergs experience making Schindlers List in 1993. Two Jewish philanthropies  the Maimonides Fund and the Jim Joseph Foundation  also contributed funds. (Both organizations also help fund 70 Faces Media, the Jewish Telegraphic Agencys parent company.)

We are especially proud to help establish this initiative  which will make visible a fuller range of Jewish voices, identities, experiences, and perspectives  at a time when social divisions run painfully deep and mainstream depictions too often fail to reflect the Jewish community in all its complexity, Spielberg and Capshaw said in a statement Thursday announcing the foundation.

The organization, which starts with $2 million, will soon announce its first round of grantees, who will receive $500,000 in total this year. It is already taking applications for a second round of grants and says it hopes to ramp up its funding over time.

The projects director is Roberta Grossman, a filmmaker who has specialized in Jewish-themed documentaries. Caroline Libresco, a longtime Sundance Film Festival programmer, will be its artistic director. And Friends creator Marta Kauffman is a board member.

Im looking forward to helping create a stable and lasting funding organization that can fill the funding gap for independent filmmakers who want to tell a Jewish story, Kauffman said in a statement.

Spielbergs Righteous Persons Foundation has funded a range of Jewish initiatives beyond the film world, including the USC Shoah Foundation, which has created an archive of recorded Holocaust survivor testimonies.

Spielberg is also a recent recipient of the Genesis Prize, nicknamed the Jewish Nobel, which is given to extraordinary individuals for their outstanding professional achievement, contribution to humanity, and commitment to Jewish values. He said he will donate his $1 million prize earnings along with $1 million of his own to 10 different organizations fighting for racial and economic justice.
This is a speech given by Hope Adelson at her bat mitzvah at the Congregation of Reform Judaism.

At school, before we start our lesson, my class usually talks and jokes a bit. It's a way of getting our brains prepared to do work. I only recently have gone back to school in person. One day, reality was still sinking in. Instead of just clicking a join-conference button, I had to actually walk from class to class, wake up earlier, and experience human contact. I was doing the same thing I always did: I sat down, got out my notebook, but ... that day ... I heard a new joke, one that wasn't funny: A joke about Hitler, followed by one about Nazis, followed by laughs. Actual laughs. I was trying to process what I was hearing, and how everyone was reacting. I knew people made disgusting jokes like this, but I personally had never heard one. I saw screenshots and comments virtually, but I had never experienced hearing one live.

Hearing that joke made me feel like a giant rock dropped in my stomach. No one did a thing. I was ready to leave the classroom and sit in a bathroom stall for the rest of the period because not one single person did anything. So, I did. I told that kid why the joke was so insanely inappropriate because no one did; no one had. Because the Holocaust is not taught enough, and it's not taught well.

If students knew how terrible and utterly evil the events of the Holocaust were, they wouldn't joke about it as much. Some kids don't even know what the Holocaust is.

A study surveyed Millennials and Gen Z on their Holocaust knowledge, and "sixty-three percent of survey respondents did not know six-million Jews were killed during the Holocaust," the Claims Conference says. "Thirty-six percent thought that 'two million or fewer Jews' were killed during the Holocaust, and 48 percent could not name a single camp or ghetto established during World War II, despite the fact that there were more than 40,000 of them." Florida had one of the lowest percentages of Holocaust knowlege. (Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/holocaust-lack-of-awareness-millennials-gen-z/)

I was telling my history teacher how I've never had a lesson on the Holocaust, and a kid in my class asked what the Holocaust was. I am almost done with seventh grade. The Holocaust isn't taught, and when it is, it's not taught to its full extent. Antisemitism is so looked-over and brushed off in the real world, and also on social media.

With all of the horrific recent events over the past year, people's eyes and minds are starting to open more, and become aware of all of the terrible things going on in the world. This includes people recognizing Neo-Nazis. So some people, mostly people in the punk subculture, thought it would be fun to start saying "punch Nazis, and "f all Nazis." They wrote it on their bodies, made shirts, accessories, and I even saw a teenager write on the bottom of their boot, "Nazi fallen here."

I'm sorry but my trauma, my families' trauma, and my ancestor's trauma are not yours to use to make yourself look cool. Make yourself seem like you care. Because you don't. You care more about our abusers, the people who have caused so many Jewish people, and non-Jews might I add, pain and suffering for years and years. If you really cared about "punching Nazis" then you would speak up when a Hebrew School's website got hacked by Nazis, and antisemitic slurs were all over the website along with Nazi imagery. The families who attended this school had their information leaked. You would've said something when Jewish people had antisemitic slurs yelled at them during a Menorah lighting, and someone tried to help the Jewish people, they got dragged around the block and had their leg run over. You would've said something when an Orthodox family was visiting New York from Germany and their faces got slashed with a knife. I've only seen about three creators that weren't Jewish speak up about antisemitsm, two of which I saw during Chanukah when Jewish people were "trending" on Social Media because it was one of our holidays. You only want to help when you can get views and likes.

It says in Chapter 19, Verse 18 of Leviticus, "Love your neighbor as yourself." We have all been hurting lately, but we need to turn that painful feeling into motivation. Motivation to do something. For four months, my dad and I, and a couple of lovely friends went to a food line near Disney. It was to help hospitality employees that had lost their jobs due to COVID-19. This also counted as my Bat Mitzvah Project, a community-service type of project that we are required to do for our bar or bat mitzvah. We handed out diapers and food to those who were struggling. A lot of us have been feeling helpless, since we can't go back to the so-called "normal," and we know that so many people are hurting. But if we turned that pain into passion, we can make such a big impact on the world. Even if it's just reminding someone in your life that you love them, you are making an impact, a humongous one.

Our voice is the most powerful vehicle we have. Our words can make people feel, make people think. If you think something is wrong, speak up. Use your power. Your words can have an influence on society, even if it's just one person. Individuals may not necessarily remember your exact wording, but they will remember how those words made them feel. At the same time, if you're reckless with your words, they will come back and hurt you. Once you squeeze out the toothpaste, it's never going back in the tube. So today I will challenge you. I will challenge you to use your words. If there's someone you've seen all year in school and you've been too scared to say "hello" or introduce yourself, say "hello," and be you while doing it. Remind someone in your life that you love them and how important they are to you, and make sure they know it. If you see something that is unjust, raise your voice and fight for justice. Stand up for you. Stand up for someone you know. Stand up for what's right. And when you do that, I want you to let me or someone who you care about know. Be proud of yourself, because you just changed the world.

So I am going to start the challenge. ... You are needed in this world. It may not seem like it, but it's true. I need you and the universe needs you. Someone you meet in 20 years will need you. We will make terrible decisions in life, but we will also make incredible ones. ... You control yourself. You are the only person who can write your story. So you need to go write that New York Times bestseller. Let the world know how much you've been through and how you've prevailed. You will receive the same energy you put out. And you're the only one deciding the energy you release.

If you release negative energy, it's only going to come back. But if you let out all of your positive energy, your passion, your love, it's going to rebound right back to you. And it may seem like there's no one to release your energy to, but you're releasing it to the world, into the atmosphere. And it will come back one day - maybe in a week, maybe in 30 years.

... So I want to take all of the positive energy from my childhood, and give it all to you, and lock all of the negative energy up in a special place in my brain where it can become motivation for my young adulthood, and for the rest of my life.

I'm starting a new chapter today; this is my coming of age, and I want to start it on a positive foot. So if there's one thing I want you to take away from Hope Adelson's bat mitzvah, it would be this: You are here for a reason. You have the power to change the world. Use that power. Use your voice. The world wants us to be quiet. So that's why we have to scream. If you have something to say, say it into the ocean, let it evaporate and circle the world in the water cycle so that the whole world knows. The world is built against us. So that's why we have to build against the world. Shabbat Shalom.
People over 75 years old line up to receive a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at a sports hall in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, April 21, 2021.

(Jewish Journal-Massachusetts via JTA) - It's been nearly a decade since Phillip Weiner last lived in Sarajevo, where he served as an international war crimes judge.

But Weiner has remained in touch with the Bosnian Jews he met there, and when he heard about their plight during the COVID-19 pandemic, he knew he had to do something.

Serving in The Hague court at the Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal, Weiner prosecuted those responsible for the atrocities committed during the Bosnian War from 1992 through 1995. He lived off and on in Sarajevo, now the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, for more than four years from 2006 to 2012, and attended Shabbat services at the Jewish Community Synagogue.

Weiner became acquainted with many prominent members of the city's Jewish community, some of whom are now falling victim to COVID-19 amid a surge in cases there. His contacts say the pandemic has claimed the lives of as much as 5 percen of Bosnia's tiny Jewish community.

"Many Jews are dying. It's a horror show," Weiner said. "David Kamhi, a prominent concert violinist and diplomat, died. Jakob Finci, the president of the Jewish Community of Bosnia-Herzegovina, is in serious condition."

More than 1,000 Bosnians marched through Sarajevo earlier this month to demand the resignation of the government over what they say is the country's poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Bosnia has reported 7,000 deaths from the disease and has among the highest fatality rates in Europe.

What's more, the country has not embarked on a vaccination program of any significance. So from his home in the Boston area, Weiner is working backchannels to get doses of a vaccine to the Jewish community in Bosnia.

He has contacted the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the consul general of Israel to New England in Boston and the American Jewish Committee in Los Angeles. So far, he said, there has been no response.

Those who are able to travel have taken the six-hour trek to Belgrade, Serbia, for vaccinations, according to Igor Kozemjakin, the 41-year-old cantor and acting rabbi of Sarajevo's Jewish Community Synagogue.

But traveling to a neighboring country is not possible for many elderly, including Bosnia's 90 Holocaust survivors, said Kozemjakin, whose own mother died of COVID-19 in late March. His father, Boris, age 73, had a mild case and is not yet vaccinated.

The European Jewish Congress estimates there are about 500 Jews living in the country. Kozemjakin said he learned from Elma Softic-Kaunitz, secretary general of the Jewish Community of Bosnia-Herzegovina, that 5 percent of community members have died of COVID.

Kamhi, a community leader, was among the Holocaust survivors to succumb. He was 5 years old when a Muslim family helped his family flee Sarajevo in 1941.

"David Kamhi was a very important member of our community and in general society," Kozemjakin said. "I succeeded him as cantor. The Jewish community is 85 percent Sephardic and Kamhi kept the traditions. He was the last living speaker of Judaic Espanol  Ladino  the language of Sephardic Jews. It was his mother tongue."

Kamhi was active during and after the 1992-95 war, was president of the Commission for Culture for the Jewish community in Sarajevo, and researched the culture and traditions of Bosnian Jews. His brother-in-law also died of the virus, and Kamhi's widow, Blanka, recovered after falling very ill, according to Kozemjakin.

Another survivor who remains gravely ill is Finci, who was born in 1943 in an Italian concentration camp on the island of Rab (now in Croatia) and has long been an advocate for Bosnian Jews.

Finci, a former ambassador, once was the president of the Jewish Community of Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2009, he and Dervo Sejdic contested a law that excluded Jews and other minorities from running for elected office. They won at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg - the Supreme Court of Europe - but Bosnia has still not implemented the judgment.

Finci was treated for COVID-19 in the military hospital in Sarajevo. In a phone interview with the Jewish Journal, the hospital's director, Dr. Ismet Gavrankapetanovic, decried the country's lack of vaccines to inoculate the population. Asked if he could expect the vaccine anytime soon, Gavrankapetanovic answered with exasperation.

"We expect, we expect, but until now we have nothing," he said. "How unjust everything is today. Four years in war. Four years without electricity. Four years without medical supplies. Now, no vaccine."

Bosnia's government is uniquely ill-prepared to handle a crisis calling for immediate decision-making, according to a recent Politico Europe analysis. A multi-tiered administration created at the end of the war in 1995 guarantees representation for the Bosniak, Croat and Serb ethnic groups whose political leaders are locked in a perpetual fight - but also fuels deadlock at a time of crisis, when quick decisions are vital. COVID-19 is now killing more civilians every day in Sarajevo than died during the Bosnian War in the 1990s, Politico concluded.

Weiner recounted his conversation with Blanka Kamhi.

"It feels like we're back during the Bosnia War," she told him, according to Weiner. "The only difference is that bombs are not falling from the sky. Instead, people are sick and dying."

This leaves Weiner and others who care deeply about the country and its fragile Jewish community wondering who will help Bosnia. He said he would continue seeking vaccines for the community.

"The prime minister of Israel has indicated he would make sure that all Holocaust survivors throughout the world are vaccinated, and I would hope that Israel will now take action in Bosnia," Weiner said. "Germany has announced the donation of $13.5 million to vaccinate Holocaust survivors worldwide. I hope they can implement that program very quickly."
Members of the Jewish community on Team Andy who walked in the NAMIWalks Your Way, raising money to support mental illness awareness.

May is National Mental Health Awareness month, and at the end of April, members of the Jewish community participated with about 400 others in a NAMI walk at Crane's Roost Park in Altamonte Springs. The group, "Team Andy," was one of 63 teams who came out to show support and help bring awareness to mental illness.

NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness and is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.

Heritage publisher Jeff Gaeser and his wife, Marci, who were on Team Andy, participated in the walk in support of many families in the Jewish community who have been devastated by mental illness in their families. Team Andy raised $7,211, the third highest fundraising group in the walk. The monies raised fund NAMI's free programs, which let people know they are not alone.

NAMI was birthed around a kitchen table in 1979 as a small group of families wanted to join forces against the epidemic of mental illness. Today it is an alliance of more than 600 local affiliates who work in many communities, including Orlando, to raise awareness and provide support and education to those in need. On May 22, NAMIWalks is planning a "NAMIWalks Your Way: A United Day of Hope" for people across the country to show their support for NAMI's top-rated programs that help families and individuals who are struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts.

To learn more about NAMI and read more about Team Andy, visit Http://www.namiwalks.org/team/42113.
(JTA)  A woman will be the spiritual leader of an Israeli Orthodox synagogue for the first time.

Shirat Hatamar, a congregation in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, elected Rabbanit Shira Marili Mirvis, 40, as spiritual leader on Monday with the support of 83 percent of its membership.

I truly hold in my heart all of the women, across all of the generations, who are greater than me, and smarter than me, and fear heaven and are students of Torah that didnt receive the recognition and love that I have received, she said in a speech this week. I have a congregation that is a group of people  men, women and children  that come together to serve God in happiness, simplicity and prayer.

Mirvis election is a historic breakthrough in Israel. Unlike the more liberal Conservative and Reform movements, which began ordaining women decades ago, Orthodox seminaries have traditionally ordained only men as rabbis.

That began to change about 10 years ago, as Modern Orthodox seminaries in Israel and the United States began ordaining women with a title akin to rabbi while teaching women a curriculum identical to that of male rabbinic students.

The ordination of women remains controversial in the Orthodox communities of both countries. Israels Chief Rabbinate, which is dominated by haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, officials, does not recognize women as rabbis or authorities in Jewish law. The Orthodox Union, an umbrella group in the United States, similarly does not recognize women as rabbis and prohibits its member synagogues from hiring women as clergy.

Women serving as leaders of Orthodox congregations is still a rarity across the world. In the United States, only a few Orthodox women have led congregations. Women regularly lead Conservative and Reform synagogues in the United States, where those movements represent most American synagogues. Women have also led non-Orthodox congregations in Israel, where the Conservative and Reform movements are far smaller and often derided by Orthodox officials.

[Mirvis] appointment serves as an official recognition of her broad work to promote Torah and contribute to the community, Shirat Hatamar said in a statement posted alongside Mirvis speech. We are certain that Shira will continue in her blessed work in the community and will serve as an example of attentive leadership for everyone.

Mirvis will soon receive her degree from the Susi Bradfield Womens Institute of Halakhic Leadership after completing a five-year curriculum studying Jewish law. She has previously served as an adviser on Jewish law, the head of a beit midrash, or Jewish house of study, and as an attendant at a Jewish ritual bath, or mikvah.

The Bradfield Womens Institute was founded by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, who is also the chief rabbi of Efrat and a prominent liberal Modern Orthodox leader. In 2015, his position in Efrat was threatened due to his activism.
(JTA)  Criticism is mounting over the firing of a Jewish professor who accused his Oregon universitys leadership of making antisemitic comments, with the local branch of the Anti-Defamation League joining calls for the president of the school to resign.

Students as well as fellow academics are also protesting the decision by Linfield University, a Baptist-affiliated school with some 2,000 students, to fire Daniel Pollack-Pelzner. According to The Oregonian, the university has hosed down sidewalk-chalk messages supporting Pelzner, threatening the students who wrote them with fines, and has torn down flyers criticizing his termination.

Pollack-Pelzner, an English literature professor who had tenure, was fired Tuesday after he and others publicly accused Linfield President Miles K. Davis of making multiple antisemitic comments, including about Jewish noses as well as the Holocaust. Pollack-Pelzner said he believed the antisemitism was partly in response to his asking the school to do more to address allegations of sexual assault.

The local chapter of the ADL sent a letter Wednesday calling on Davis to resign to allow the community to heal. The Oregon Board of Rabbis had previously called on Davis to step down.

I think its incredulous that so many hurtful and disturbing and inappropriate comments have been made, Miri Cypers, the ADLs Pacific Northwest regional director, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. And theres been a total lack of accountability on the part of the school to take responsibility for whats happened and to engage in an honest conversation.

Davis has denied the allegations, and the university has supported him, even in the face of a vote by the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences calling on him to resign. In a letter responding to the ADL, Davis invited the group to meet following the academic year but rebuffed the call to resign.

We believe we have taken the necessary and appropriate steps and are committed to do the work to engage in a process of healing, he wrote. While we have strong disagreements with much of the media (and social media) speculation, we do not believe further argument in the press are an appropriate avenue for community healing.

On Thursday, Pollack-Pelzner told JTA that he learned he was fired only when he discovered he was locked out of his work email. When he sent an email to the account from his personal email, he received an automatic response saying he no longer worked at the school.

Linfields faculty handbook requires a lengthy process, including two formal hearings, before a professor with tenure can be fired  procedures that have not been followed in this case. Pollack-Pelzner said he doesnt know what his next steps will be, and that he isnt sure how he could persuade the administration to follow the guidelines in the handbook.

Its been such a blow and its so overwhelming, he said. Im trying to figure out what my options are. All Ive been trying to do for the last two years is to get Linfield leadership to follow its own policies. I havent seen any indication that people in positions of power at Linfield want to hold themselves accountable.

Other organizations have also come out in Pollack-Pelzners defense. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which aims to defend student and faculty freedom of speech on campus, sent a letter to Davis on Thursday night demanding that he reverse Pollack-Pelzners termination, condemning what it called reckless conduct.

The Shakespeare Association of America also backed Pollack-Pelzner, who teaches about Shakespeare, writing, Whistleblowers should not be punished and antisemitism and other forms of racism should be condemned.
Signs along Maitland Blvd., in front of The Roth Family JCC

On Thursday, May 6, an anti-Semitic group called the Goyim Defense League stood across the street from The Roth Family JCC with signs to protest against the Holocaust Center, according The Jewish Federation CEO, Keith Dvorchik.

This group is a loose network of individuals organized by six people and founded in California, spews their contempt for Jewish people in California, Colorado, Florida and New York. They share their anti-Semitism by way of the Internet, propaganda distributions and street protests.

Dvorchik issued a statement through email that the JCC security staff were aware of their presence in Florida and were prepared for any arrival.

Dvorchik was notified by law enforcement in advance and the group was denied entry to the JCC property but stood across the street from the JCC on Maitland Ave. and had signs posted on Maitland Blvd.

Campus Security Director Jake Silverman, JCC security guard "Mr. Mike," the Maitland Police Department and Orange County Sheriff's Office made sure the campus remained secure during their protest.

Silverman, law enforcement and the Secure Community Network will continue to monitor the situation and provide additional support to the campus if necessary.

Because of everyone's quick response, activities at the JCC were able to continue.
(JTA)  Linfield University, a small school in Oregon, has fired a Jewish professor who accused the university president of making antisemitic remarks.

Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured professor who taught English literature, has accused Linfield President Miles K. Davis of making multiple antisemitic remarks in recent years. The antisemitism, he said, was partly a backlash to Pollack-Pelzner demanding that the school do more to address allegations of sexual assault against multiple university trustees, including Davis.

Pollack-Pelzner and a Linfield University spokesperson both confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he had been fired but did not comment further. An email from Linfield Provost Susan Agre-Kippenhan to the school community, sent late Tuesday afternoon, said that a member of the faculty had been terminated for serious breaches of the individuals duty to the institution.

As a matter of policy and privacy, personnel matters are confidential, but maintaining that is not always possible, particularly when the precipitating events involve false public accusations that have, sadly, harmed the university, Agre-Kippenhan wrote, adding that a safe environment on campus cannot be achieved if individuals abuse their positions of trust and take deliberate actions that harm the university.

Because Pollack-Pelzner has tenure, university policies appear to dictate that he must be granted a hearing before being terminated.

Pollack-Pelzner, who has taught at Linfield for more than a decade, recently went public with his allegations of antisemitism, prompting local and national press coverage. He and other professors alleged that Davis made antisemitic comments regarding Jewish noses and the Holocaust.

Linfield, a university near Portland with some 2,000 students, has almost no organized Jewish presence on campus and only a handful of Jewish students and faculty. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.

Pollack-Pelzner also alleged that, in response to his calls to address sexual assault allegations, Davis made a speech to the board of trustees warning of disloyalty and telling them to follow Jesus Sermon on the Mount. Pollack-Pelzner was also a trustee, representing the schools faculty.

Davis denied the allegations and has said he is not Christian. He has asked the local NAACP to investigate whether accusations against him were motivated by racial animus. Davis is Linfields first Black president.

In recent weeks, the local branch of the Anti-Defamation League and the Oregon Board of Rabbis both contacted the school expressing concern about the allegations. The board of rabbis called for the resignations of Davis and the chair of the board, David Baca, whom Pollack-Pelzner also accused of antisemitic remarks.

The faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences also overwhelmingly voted to approve a no-confidence motion calling on Davis and Baca to resign, but the university has stood behind Davis and Baca.

On Monday, days after the faculty vote, the school removed professors ability to email the entire faculty as a group.

Because Pollack-Pelzner has tenure, it appears that his termination must go through a process outlined by the schools faculty handbook. According to the handbook, Pollack-Pelzner must be served a statement of charges, and then has the right to a hearing, 20 days later, in front of an elected faculty hearing committee, where he would have the right to counsel. He would then be afforded another hearing in front of the schools governing board.
The Congregation Ohev Shalom Rabbinic Search Committee offered the position of interim rabbi to Rabbi Murray Ezring, who accepted the position. He will begin officially on Aug. 1 and serve for one or two years.

During their search, the committee learned that there is a difference between an interim rabbi and a permanent one, and hiring an interim rabbi was the best solution for the congregation at this time.

As an interim rabbi, Ezring says he is charged with getting the congregation in the right frame of mind to hire a full-time replacement. He has gone through extensive training for the position and is actually not allowed to take the job.

His first position as interim rabbi was at Congregation Beth El in Norfolk, Va., where he explained, "If I do my job well, then Beth El will be positioned to hire a good rabbi who wants to move in the same direction that the congregation wants to move." His message to them at that time is the same as his message to COS.

"Rabbi Ezring is committed to partnering with both the lay and professional leadership of our congregation to help us begin our journey into the future. He will help guide us as we reassess ourselves, our goals and priorities, as well as help us in our search for our next permanent rabbi," a member of the Rabbinic Search Committee stated in an e-mail released to COS members.

Born in Rock Island, Ill., Ezring received a bachelor's degree in history and social studies, with a minor in psychology and Hebrew language at the University of Illinois. Enticed by his parents to spend a free summer in New York City after his junior year, he attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of American where he studied history and Talmud. He fell in love with Talmud. After graduation, he attended JTS and earned his master's and ordination as rabbi.

Ezring's first position was as assistant rabbi in Congregation Oheb Shalom in South Orange, New Jersey, and then 10 years as rabbi at Temple Beth El, Ocean Township, New Jersey. With family in tow (Ezring and his wife, Barbara, have four children - Aviva, Tami, Ron and Gil), he moved to Boca Raton, Fla., where his parents retired, and served as rabbi of B'nai Torah Congregation. After six years, Ezring decided to take a job outside the rabbinate. However, he just couldn't do it.

"When I went to sign the contract on my new job, my hand was shaking. I realized it was a sign that I should give it another try."

Ezring instead became senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Charlotte, N.C. and served there for 25 years before retiring.

Rabbi Ezring has served on six national committees of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, the Chancellor's Advisory Committee of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the National Rabbinic Cabinet of the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of America. Keynote at the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs International Convention in Toronto, June, 2001, "Building the Faith/Keeping the Faith."

When Ezring decided to retire, Barbara told him he needed to find something to keep him "out of the house" for about eight hours a day. So, he studied to become an interim rabbi. After 43 years on the pulpit, Rabbi Ezring thought he could help bridge the gap between a congregation losing its rabbi to finding the right person. In this way, he sees himself as a "healing rabbi."

"It's helping a congregation heal from political trauma or the sudden, unexpected loss of a rabbi. ... Above all, I'm a pastor, so I thought it would be nice to pastor a congregation instead of individuals, although that's still part of the job."
(JTA)  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to form a government by the deadline imposed by Israeli law, thrusting the country into uncertain political territory yet again.

This could mean that after more than 12 years as Israels prime minister, Netanyahu will have to leave office. But hes been in this situation before and managed to survive. It all depends on what happens next: Another politician could replace him, or Israel could head to its fifth round of elections since 2019. Netanyahu has been trying desperately to avoid this very situation.

Back in March, Netanyahus Likud party won the most votes in the most recent Israeli election. In early April, Netanyahu was given another chance to form a government. He had 28 days to convince a majority of Israels parliament, the Knesset, to support him.

Unfortunately for Netanyahu, the Knesset was split. Fewer than half the lawmakers supported him. About the same number opposed him, either because of ideology, his ongoing corruption trial or other longstanding grievances. A handful were undecided.

Netanyahu has spent the past four weeks trying to reconcile parties with opposing ideologies and turned to a series of potential compromises  like allowing one of his rivals to serve first as prime minister for a year.

But he wasnt able to secure a majority. On Tuesday at midnight, Israel time, his 28 days expired.

So did Netanyahu lose? Not exactly. It all depends on who gets the next shot at forming a government.

Israels largely ceremonial president, Reuven Rivlin, will decide the next stage of the process. He has three choices: Give Netanyahu a 14-day extension; Give another party leader the chance to form a coalition; or hand the process over to the entire Knesset without designating a leader.

In April, Rivlin was reluctant to give Netanyahu any chance to form a government because of his trial and seems unlikely to give him the extension. If the president hands control to a Netanyahu rival, that person then must form a coalition. The most likely candidates are either Yair Lapid, a centrist, or Naftali Bennett, a right-wing politician who has long been a frenemy of Netanyahu.

Those opponents span the ideological spectrum, from left to right, and would need to forge a delicate balance in order to govern. But most Israeli politicians  let alone the voters  are exhausted by the never-ending cycle of elections. So the politicians may feel compelled to find some way to form a coalition.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu will remain prime minister of a caretaker government that is unable to advance major legislation or pass a budget.

Has this ever happened? Yes. In 2019, following Israels second round of elections, Netanyahu failed to form a government by the 28-day deadline and Rivlin gave control to Benny Gantz, a centrist leader. Rivlin even referred to Netanyahu as the outgoing prime minister. A series of essays appeared in publications heralding the end of the Netanyahu era.

But Gantz failed to form a government, so Israel held a third election. Results were similarly inconclusive, but by that time, the worsening COVID pandemic led Gantz and Netanyahu to form an uneasy unity government. Their coalition ended up being dysfunctional and collapsed within a year.

Now Netanyahu is trolling Naftali Bennett. Bennett once headed a party to Netanyahus right, but Netanyahu has since moved rightward to shore up his base. Now Netanyahu has taken to taunting Bennett on Twitter, claiming that if Bennett allies with centrists and the left, hell be a hypocrite.
(JNS)  A bill passed on Thursday by the Florida Senate will significantly increase state-provided scholarships for private-school students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Senate Bill 48 was passed in a 24-15 partisan vote and now goes to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to approve it.

If put into effect, as of July 1, private-school students from working- and middle-class families with incomes that amount to 375 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for the same scholarships that public-school students can receive from the state, which is approximately $7,500 per student.

Longtime school-choice champion Rep. Randy Fine (R-Palm Bay) sponsored the legislation in the House.

Im really proud we passed the school-choice legislation, he said. Every child deserves to go to the school best for them, regardless of income or ZIP code. We have created a historic expansion in the number of children who can participate in the program, whether they have special needs or come from lower- to middle-income families. We are going to make it possible for many more kids to attend the school that is best for them.

Teach Florida, an organization that advocates for educational funding opportunities for nonpublic state schools and a project of the Orthodox Union, applauded the senates passing of the bill. More than 40 percent of Jewish day-school students receive financial aid from state scholarships, according to its executive director, Daniel Aqua.

Allan Jacob, chair of Teach Florida, said in a statement on Monday: The historic increase in scholarships created by this legislation gives thousands of working-class families, for the first time, the ability to give their children the best education for them. This is a tremendous boost to Jewish families across Florida who sacrifice to give their children a Jewish education. It allows our schools to open new classrooms and provide students with quality learning.
(JNS)  Saying that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees has outlived its mandate, a group of Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter last week to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing concern over the United States providing funding to the organization.

The authors wrote that the original intent of UNRWA was to address the needs of Palestinian refugees in the aftermath of the 1948 Israeli-Arab conflict, but in the past 60 years, it has changed its definition of refugee away from the words standard definition to now providing assistance to those who have citizenship in the countries where they live.

It also had concerns about the organizations impartiality.

Over the years, the agency has employed individuals affiliated with Hamas, a U.S. designated terrorist organization. UNRWA schools have been used to store Hamas weapons, the letter stated. Additionally, there have been numerous cases of UNRWA textbooks including material that is antisemitic, such as encouraging the destruction of the State of Israel and supporting martyrdom and/or violent jihad.

The letter comes as a result of the Biden administration restarting international aid to the Palestinians of around $235 million, of which $150 million goes to UNRWA  aid that was cut by the Trump administration.

The United States has been one of the most generous donors to the Palestinian people. Our assistance is designed to be humanitarian in nature, said the letter. However, UNRWA has grown into a bloated organization which does not embody the shared values between the United States and United Nations.

The senators laid out the parameters that the administration should have used when restarting the aid.

These included requiring the independent verification of UNRWA employees, employees of partner organizations and contractors to ensure they are not affiliated with Hamas, Hezbollah or other terrorist organizations; requiring verification that textbooks used by UNRWA do not include extremist or antisemitic content; have a policy that suspends all U.S. assistance to UNRWA if its facilities are used to house terrorist armaments and equipment; required UNRWA to allow a U.S. government audit and publicly release how many refugees the organization helps who have citizenship in their country of residents.

The letter was led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and signed by 20 senators.
The Associated Press has changed its spelling of the word antisemitism, now writing it without a hyphen  joining the leading experts of hatred against Jews who have long advocated that usage.

The Twitter account of the AP Stylebook  the leading reference for news publications  posted on April 24, 2021, We now write antisemitism (n.), antisemitic (adj.), without a hyphen and with no capitalization.

This is a change from APs previous style: anti-Semitism and antisemitic, it added.

Because Heritage Florida Jewish News has adhered to the AP-Style Books spellings, it used the hyphenated format, which has been a subject of debate in the Jewish and scholarly communities.

Holocaust scholar Deborah Lipstadt has been campaigning for some time to adopt the non-hyphenated spelling. She told Israeli daily Haaretz last year, The hyphen is over. We are way overdue when it comes to losing the hyphen. Its presence completely distorts the meaning of the word.

She said that the term is often misrepresented or misinterpreted as referring to all speakers of a Semitic language, when in fact it has only ever referred to Jews.

Why do I spell antisemitism without a hyphen? Lipstadt has asked. Because anti-Semitism is not hatred of Semitism or Semites  people who speak Semitic languages. Antisemitism is Jew hatred.

Some disagreed at the time, including the AP Stylebook. Andrew Silow-Carroll, editor-in-chief of the New York Jewish Week, told the Israeli outlet, Although the case for antisemitism is strong, we are sticking with anti-Semitism because it appears to be the preferred spelling among most of the Jewish institutions we cover, and because it is consistent with our own newspapers practices going back decades.

This was also the reasoning of the Heritage, which is now pleased to change the spelling in accordance with AP Stylebook.
Heritage Florida Jewish News is accepting nominations for the 2021 Heritage Human Service Award, which will be presented at the annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando this summer.

For more than 30 years, individuals who have made major, voluntary contributions of their talent, time, energy and effort to the Central Florida community have been honored with the selection and presentation of this award, said Jeff Gaeser, editor and publisher of the Heritage. Last years recipient was Hank Katzen. Former recipients have included Sarah Stern (2017), Howard Lefkowitz (2011), and Nina Oppenheim (2013).

According to Gaeser, Each recipient chose their own path, but made considerable and long-lasting contributions to the Jewish community. Nominees for the 2020 award are individuals who do not look for recognition, but perform tikkun olam  repairing the world  out of internal motivation.

Nominations should be emailed to news@orlandoheritage.com with the subject Human Service Award, or typed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and sent by mail to Heritage Florida Jewish News, Human Service Award, 207 OBrien Road, Suite 101, Fern Park, FL 32730. Included should be the name and phone number of the nominee, a documented list of his or her accomplishments, and the name and phone number of the nominator(s).

The Heritage is accepting nominations until Friday, June 11.
PARIS (JTA) - A rumble rose from the 20,000 Jewish protesters at Trocadero Square, then exploded into shrill screams.

"I don't even know whether to reassure you or cry out my fury," boomed Joel Mergui, president of the Consistoire, the organ of French Jewry responsible for providing Orthodox religious services. "Yes, cry out your fury!"

French Jewish events are usually dignified affairs that often end with the singing of the Marseillaise, the French national anthem. But the rally on Sunday protesting the fate of the man who murdered his Jewish neighbor Sarah Halimi in 2017 - the largest Jewish gathering in France in at least a decade - was a rare show of raw emotion from a community that has questioned its future in France in recent years.

The protest, which had smaller offshoots in other cities such as Tel Aviv, Miami, London and the Hague, was triggered by the April 14 ruling by a high French court in the Halimi case. A man named Kobili Traore, who was 27 at the time and a devout Muslim who would spend entire days at a nearby mosque, entered Halimi's apartment and beat her to death while shouting about Allah. Traore then threw Halimi out the window.

Traore had targeted Halimi, a physician in her 60s, because she was Jewish, a lower court established. But federal judges determined that marijuana that Traore had smoked before the killing had made him psychotic and unfit for a trial.

Many at the rally and beyond found the moment to be a final straw in the strained relationship between France's Jews and its justice system, and in their tenuous position in a country known for its high rates of antisemitic incidents.

Some protesters held signs reading "stupefiant," the French word for stupefying, which can also that mean "drug." Other carried banners reading "2 joints gets you high, 10 joints gets you free."

Signs reading "In France, the life of a Jewish woman is worth less than a dog's" referenced another 2017 case involving a man who threw a dog out a window and failed to convince judges that he was completely under the influence of drugs.

"I say this sadly: We're reaching a grave point," Mergui said, speaking into a podium-mounted microphone. "A ruling that's a watershed moment. A black stain on the confidence of French Jews in their country."

Allyana Levy, 20, a student from Paris in the crowd and a leader of a Jewish group in the Scouts movement, admitted she was unsure about her future in France.

"Sometimes I think I'll stay here, other times, like after the Sarah Halimi affair, I'm not so sure," she said. "When I'm afraid to walk in the street because I'm a woman, because I'm Jewish, it's difficult. My nieces in Israel feel safe at all hours of the night. So you start thinking what's better."

Levy lives in Paris' 11th District, which hosts the quiet street where Halimi lived. Once a poor immigrants' neighborhood, its halal butcher shops and mosques now operate next to snazzy bars and organic shops - testaments to the recent gentrification that has made the district a preferred spot for students and young families.

Another protester, 18-year-old Alice Levy - not related to Allyana - said Halimi's case is "frightening for me as a Jewish woman."

"But it opens the door to wider fears about life in France in general when there's obviously problems with the police, justice system, media, political establishments and religious frameworks," she said.

About 50,000 Jews have immigrated to Israel in the past decade, a massive and unprecedented departure from a community of about 449,000, according to a 2020 demographic survey. The exodus coincided with a wave of terror attacks on Jewish institutions carried out by radicalized Islamists, beginning with the 2012 murder of four Jews at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

The Halimi case eroded confidence in France's police after it emerged that nine officers were present outside Halimi's apartment at the time of her slaying. According to some accounts, they were scrambling for 20 minutes to find her apartment. Other accounts speak of an intentional delay outside her door.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism watchdog group has called for an internal inquiry into the policing situation but has been ignored. Immediately after the high court's ruling, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would advance a law to prevent the recurrence of assailants avoiding trial due to drug use.

That pledge seemed to do little to assuage the concerns of the rally participants. Many French Jews believe the Halimi case was intentionally treated in the French media for weeks as a neighborly dispute that took a tragic turn in order not to rock the boat for Macron, who at the time was at the tail end of a presidential election campaign against Marine Le Pen - a far-right populist known for her staunch anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

Sunday's rally brought out some of French Jewry's best-known figures, ranging from Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia, who said a mourner's prayer for Halimi; to the popular comedian Gad Elamaleh, who warned that "the next Sarah Halimi may be Black, Christian, Muslim"; and the philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy, who called for the law being drafted in the affair's wake be named for Halimi.

Priests and imams also came, as did Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who pledged her solidarity to French Jews. But she was met with booing and whistles from the crowd - many resent her Socialist Party's dovish attitudes and support for the Palestinian cause. Top figures within the French Jewish community believe the Halimi case reflects a reluctance by authorities to confront radicalized Islamist terrorists.

"Imagine the killer had been white and that he shouted 'France to the French' before throwing off Sarah Halimi or an immigrant from Mali to her death under the influence of drugs," Alain Finkielkraut, a well-known French-Jewish philosopher, told the Le Figaro newspaper on Sunday. "The media would sound the battle cry!"

The star-studded team of speakers did little to mitigate the tense and heavy atmosphere at the rally. It visibly upset Levy, the student.

"All of this means there's no justice in France, which makes it impossible and I don't know what solution there is to this," she said.

But Allyana Levy isn't quite ready to give up on her native country.

"I don't know if there's hope, but I have to believe so," she said. "Maybe the fact that so many of us came here will show that enough is enough and real change will come."
WASHINGTON (JTA)  One Wednesday in October 2007, seven Jewish lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee did something extraordinary: They ignored the pleas of the Jewish establishment.

Jewish politicos were often happy to advance the agenda of the Jewish groups because it lined up with their ideals.

On this occasion, several powerhouse lobbying groups in the Jewish community were pressing the committee not to advance a bill that would recognize as a genocide the 1915 Ottoman massacres of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians during World War I.

The bill passed out of the committee in...
NEW YORK (JTA)  A group of students and alumni is suing Yeshiva University for discrimination, claiming that the university violated New York Citys human rights law when it refused to recognize an LGBTQ student club.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in New York County Supreme Court.

Over the last few years, the students repeatedly lobbied the universitys administration to formally recognize a Gay-Straight Alliance club. The university, a prominent Modern Orthodox institution, has grappled with how to reconcile a traditional interpretation of Jewish law, which does not allow homosexual...
LONDON (JTA)  Two of Londons most prestigious Jewish schools are in turmoil after they were implicated on a website for Brits to share their stories of sexual abuse.

The website, Everyones Invited, launched in March after the disappearance and murder of Sarah Everard launched a national conversation about the safety of women. Among the tens of thousands of testimonies shared on the site already are dozens that name Jewish schools as either the location of an alleged assault or the school that students attended when the alleged events took place.

These allegations, which include rap...
(JTA)  The videos circulating out of Jerusalem  of beatings, stone throwing and racist chants  are shocking. Reporters say its some of the worst fighting the contested city has seen in years.

But the tensions that fueled the violence in the Old City on Thursday night are anything but new.

Hundreds of Jewish extremists marched down Jerusalem streets chanting Death to Arabs and singing Burn their village. The demonstration followed days of unrest in eastern Jerusalem in which Palestinian residents clashed with police over restrictions imposed during the Muslim holy...
(JTA)  If you havent seen the joy of Lag bOmer on the grave of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, you havent seen joy at all, wrote the author Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israels first Nobel Prize laureate.

That description reflects an aspect of the annual pilgrimage to Mount Meron in northern Israel that was underlined by the deaths on Friday of at least 45 revelers in a stampede: It is a place whose symbolism reflects a mix of grief and euphoria.

Indeed, the tragedy struck during what for many observant Jews is among the happiest days of the year: the cessation of a period of mourn...
(JNS)  A March 29 article in the online news magazine Tablet titled Are Educated People More Antisemitic? reported that a carefully crafted survey of Americans by authors Jay P. Greene, Albert Chang and Ian Kingsbury found that the more highly educated did exhibit a greater level of antisemitism.

The authors note that this result runs contrary to the widely held assumption linking intolerance, including intolerance of Jews, to ignorance and viewing greater education as the solution. It refers to commonly cited studies supporting that conviction, such as the Anti-Defamation League...
(JNS)  Left-wing American Jewish groups are crowing about their success in postponing a vote on whether the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund can purchase private land from Arabs in Judea and Samaria. What they are celebrating is the striking of a blow at the heart of Zionism.

Were happy to share some good news today! began the email from Partners for Progressive Israel, the U.S. arm of Israels far-left Meretz Party. Thanks to the tireless resistance work being done by various left-wing activists, a small victory has been scored by blocking the vote, at...
(JTA)  When do you call the rabbi? Sometimes to complain. But usually, a life-cycle event has taken place. A birth, thank God. An impending wedding. An illness. Too often in the last year, a death.

Over the past 13 months, tragedy has demanded that rabbis step forward to provide a steady shoulder, open ears and a guiding hand. Its been deeply painful, but its been a privilege. The calamity of COVID represents a challenge that rabbis are seen as uniquely equipped to help confront. Even more so than in normal times, weve walked with our communities in the pain that accompanies unt...
(JNS)  It was telling that J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby, would invite to its annual conference Mahmoud Abbas, the anti-Israel, anti-peace, Holocaust-denying president of the Palestinian Authority. The lobby, whose hallmark is gullibility, soaked up the familiar propaganda from Abbas and joined him in castigating Israel while ignoring the tyrants intransigence and persecution of his own people.

Both Abbas and J Street are hoping to return to the heyday of the Obama years when Israel was expected to make one-sided concessions to satisfy Palestinian demands. Hence, Abb...
Iranian eyes will be on Washington, D.C., while looking over their shoulder at home. The Iranians are looking over their shoulder because a series of attacks attributed to them and their puppets in the Middle East are targeting Israeli commercial ships and firing rockets at Israel from Gaza and Syria. This is coupled with Israels reported retaliation against Iranian military ships, and explosion deep underneath an Iranian nuclear facility, raising eyebrows as to Israels reach and Iranian vulnerability.

Iranians are eying Washington, D.C., as the Mossad director, Yossi Cohen, and Isra...
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A female middle school student on Thursday gunned three people in Rigby, Idaho, according to officials. One adult and two students were wounded.

Sixth Grader Brings Gun to Idaho School

A custodian and two students were injured prior to being disarmed by a teacher. According to Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson, the female student took a handgun from her backpack and opened fire many rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School.

The sixth grader was taken into custody. Her middle school is located in a small city just beyond Idaho Falls. The school is around 95 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Yellowstone National Park.

The three people were gunned in their extremities. They were expected to survive, according to officials at a news conference.

Officials remarked the adult victim was hospitalized and released from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. The two students -- one male and one female -- had non-life-threatening injuries, reported ABC News.

The two students will remain in the hospital overnight. They may necessitate surgery, according to hospital officials at a press conference.

Upon disarming the girl, the female teacher held her until authorities arrived to arrest her. According to Anderson, the suspect lives in Idaho Falls but attends school in Rigby. It is around 15 miles from her house.

The authorities did not expound on other details regarding the disarming. They remarked that they are probing into the motive for the attack and where the female obtained the gun.

Anderson did not release the female student's name. Police officials were called to the middle school about 9:15 AM, following students and staffers hearing gunfire.

Read Also: 25 Dead in Violent Colombia Protests With Civilian and Police Attacks, Arson, Looting

According to the sheriff's office, two people were gunned in a school hallway. She then moved outside and shot another individual.

Anderson stated this is a very rough and trying time for their community. They do not have a lot of details at this time the motive behind the gunning, which is being investigated, reported KIRO 7.

A number of law enforcement agencies responded to the gunning. The students were evacuated to a nearby high school to be guarded by their parents.

According to 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez, "Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher - we were doing work -- and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming. Our teacher went to check it out, and he found blood," reported Fox 10.

Dr. Michael Lemon, trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, stated the wounded adult was treated and released for a bullet injury in an extremity. The bullet reportedly went straight through the limb. Meanwhile, Lemon added that both of the students who were gunned were being held at the hospital overnight. One of the pair may need surgery.

Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin announced they had the worst horror a school district may encounter. What they know so far is the suspect has been apprehended.

Related Article: Wisconsin Bar Shooting: 1 Person Arrested, 3 Killed, 3 Injured





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About 1.1 million stimulus checks totaling more than $2 billion are on their way. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the delivery of the eighth batch of the third round of stimulus payments on Wednesday, which are intended to help Americans shore up their finances amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

IRS sends 8th batch of stimulus checks

For the third round, the overall cost is $1,400 per individual and $2,800 for a couple. After the sending of stimulus checks began on March 12, the US government has disbursed about 164 million payments totaling $386 billion. The most recent round began processing on Friday and has a pay date of May 5. More than half of the Americans whose contributions are included in this round will collect direct deposits, while the remainder will receive paper checks.

The IRS and the Treasury Department said that more than 585,000 payments worth more than $1.2 billion were sent to eligible individuals whom the IRS previously lacked information to issue an Economic Impact Payment but had recently filed a tax return.

More than 570,000 Americans will collect "plus-up payments," which are catch-up benefits for Americans who did not receive earlier stimulus checks due to their income level on their 2019 tax return. After they filed a 2020 tax return, the government disbursed their funds, demonstrating that their wages had fallen below the eligibility threshold, as per USA Today.

IRS Get My Payment Tool

The payments are made weekly by the IRS. Using the "Get My Payment" tool, you can check the following stimulus payment status. The tool updates once a day, usually overnight, according to the IRS, and people should not contact the agency.

Economic Impact Payments are dependent on a taxpayer's most recent processed tax return from either 2020 or 2019. This covers those who filed a remarkable streamlined tax return or used the IRS non-filers tool last year. According to the IRS, Social Security and other federal recipients will collect this third payment in the same method as their regular benefits.

Read Also: Fourth Stimulus Check: Will It Ever Come as Payment Faces Uphill Battle? The Truth About the American Rescue Plan

Why did you still not receive a stimulus check?

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government has sent billions of dollars in stimulus checks to Americans. "Where is my money?" some people may still wonder.

If you believe you have been left out in the cold, there is a way to get your missing funds. If you already owe the $1,400 stimulus payment, filing a return this tax season will help. It will also assist you in resolving the case if more of the first two checks for up to $1,200 or $600 are missing.

This year's federal tax filing date has been pushed back to May 17. If you meet the deadline, you can also report some unclaimed stimulus funds by filing a claim by the October 15 tax-filing extension deadline, said an IRS spokesperson.

There are, however, benefits of applying sooner. For one thing, the sooner you apply for some unclaimed stimulus payments, the sooner you can collect them. It is important to note that even though you are due a stimulus check, you will owe taxes over that amount.

Per CNBC, you can only have extra days to file your taxes if you want a tax-filing extension, not to pay any money you owe. For any amount you owe the IRS, interest, and penalties can accrue.

It's possible that certain people are still waiting for their stimulus check. If that's the case, bear in mind that the agency follows a daily payout plan, sending out money in weekly batches. According to CNET, the third stimulus check can not be everything you get from the IRS.

Related Article: Did President Joe Biden Hint at Fourth Stimulus Check in First Joint Session of Congress?

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A part of a massive Chinese rocket is falling back to Earth and will most likely crash on Saturday. Experts caution that it might hit a populated city.

In a statement this week, the Pentagon said that the exact location where it will strike could not be identified until within hours of its reentry. US officials are monitoring the trajectory of the rocket, USA Today reported. According to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is aware and knows the space command is watching, actually monitoring this Chinese rocket debris.

Chinese rocket debris may fall on a populated city

The Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province launched the Long March 5B rocket carrying China's Tianhe space station core module on April 29. Dubbed Heavenly Harmony, the space station will be China's first to host astronauts on a long-term basis.

China intends to deploy ten more rockets to deliver extra space station components into orbit. Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at Harvard University's Astrophysics Center, told the Guardian it is potentially not good.

Read Also: China's State Company Works on Clone of Elon Musk's Starship Rocket

Usually, discarded core rockets, also known as first-stage rockets, crash into the sea shortly after launch and do not reach orbit, as this one did. China's space agency has yet to confirm whether the massive rocket's central stage is under the order.

No one can be certain. Because of the rocket's speed, pinpointing where debris might end up is almost impossible, said McDowell to CNN. Even minor variations in circumstances will dramatically alter the trajectory. Per Space News, the debris will be drawn closer to Earth as encounters with molecules in the atmosphere increase.

However, one group has predicted that after flying over eastern US areas, the debris is expected to strike the Pacific Ocean near the equator, said the nonprofit Aerospace Corp. Its orbit stretches from New Zealand to Newfoundland, covering a large portion of the Earth.

It's about 100 feet tall, making it one of the biggest pieces of space debris ever to hit Earth. "As far as I can see, it's almost the body of the rocket, almost intact, falling down," Kirby said.

The stage's thin-skinned aluminum alloy exterior can quickly burn up in the atmosphere, as per the Chinese Communist Party's newspaper Global Times. The danger to people on the surface is exceedingly remote.

According to CNN, a fragment of a Chinese rocket flew straight over Los Angeles and Central Park in New York City before crashing in the Atlantic Ocean last year, making it one of the largest pieces of unchecked space debris ever. Last May, an 18-ton rocket became the heaviest piece of unregulated debris to crash since the Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1991.

After Beijing announced it had lost ground, China's first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016. The space agency successfully decommissioned Tiangong-2, its second station, in the atmosphere in 2019.

Related Article: 60 New SpaceX Starlink Satellites Aboard Into Orbit as Over 500,000 People Order Internet Service

A huge piece of a Chinese rocket is now hurtling toward Earth at 18,000mph and is expected to re-enter Earth's atmosphere sometime this weekend. Only problem, no one knows *where* it will land. @barbarastarrcnn reports on how the Pentagon is tracking this and more. pic.twitter.com/2zemeO8jyx  Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) May 5, 2021

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When people began experiencing brain fatigue, dizziness, and vertigo after contracting COVID-19, doctors were unsure how long the symptoms would last. Were these symptoms the result of a viral infection or the first signs of a neurological problem? Researchers are now getting closer to finding out.

Researchers closing in on COVID-19's link to neurological disorders

One in five coronavirus long-haulers, individuals who have been sick with COVID-19 for three weeks or more, suffered cognitive dysfunction at least six months after their initial diagnosis, per a recent preprint analysis that is still pending peer review. Brain fog has resulted in memory loss, inability to concentrate, and difficulties making decisions for certain people. Patients have had to take days off work or even apply for unemployment in some situations.

"Neuropsychiatric conditions continue to be a large part of the syndromes encountered by some COVID-19 survivors," Alasdair Rooney, a co-author of the study, told Business Insider. Rooney's research included almost 19,000 adult patients from 51 studies, making it one of the most comprehensive studies of neurological effects in long-haul travelers to date. If the subjects had been hospitalized or not, regardless of how serious their condition was at the onset, the trends were the same.

Doctors can't identify these conditions as neurological disorders or even chronic conditions until they know how long they last. Various studies track long-haulers over different periods and from other starting points complicates data sets.

Nonetheless, some research suggests a correlation between COVID-19 and long-term neurological problems. According to a recent study, 72 percent of coronavirus survivors hospitalized with brain disorders or injury did so within six months of their infection with COVID-19.

One of the difficulties of diagnosing long-term COVID-19 signs is that doctors only learn about the virus's underlying mechanisms. Researchers, for example, haven't worked out why some long-haul travelers experience fatigue and others experience chest pain or difficulty breathing.

In Rooney's analysis, 27 percent of coronavirus long-haulers reported insomnia, and 24 percent reported fatigue, in addition to brain fog. According to Rooney, both signs may be caused by neurological issues, but it isn't the only reason.

Anxiety was reported by 19 percent of coronavirus patients in the study, while post-traumatic stress was reported by 15 percent. Rooney said it's difficult to say whether the problems were caused by COVID-19 directly, were caused by the pandemic in general, or were caused by anything else. However, any persistent medical or psychological disorders should be taken seriously, he said. Future research should consider the seriousness of these effects, he explained, because brain fog can be life-threatening for some people but only unpleasant for others.

Read Also: Breakthrough Study Indicates How to Block HIV Infections in Infants

COVID-19 found as a most common cause of a rare spinal disorder

According to a recent scientific review, there may be a correlation between COVID-19 and an unusual spinal disorder that can induce paralysis and quadriplegia in adults and a few children in several countries. Researchers in the United States and Panama have discovered at least 43 cases of acute transverse myelitis (ATM) attributed to an initial COVID-19 outbreak, out of a total of 86 million COVID-19 cases in 21 countries.

Three of these cases were discovered after trials for the AstraZeneca vaccine, and experts believe one of them is potentially related to the vaccine. The researchers combed through all previously published biomedical literature on ATM, using search words to look for references to the neurological condition linked to the COVID-19 virus.

However, the review discovered 43 confirmed cases of ATM-related to COVID-19 infection between March 2020 and January 2021, scattered through countries such as the United States, India, Italy, Belgium, Australia, Mexico, Spain, Panama, Moldova, Turkey, Indonesia, and Switzerland. Iran had the most significant rate of all the countries, with seven cases, followed by Italy and the United States, each with six cases, as per National Post via MSN.

Related Article: Thyroid Medicine Gets Third Major Recall Over Lack of Potency, Severely Affects 43 People

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Seven hundred fifty New Yorkers' bodies are still sitting in a refrigerated morgue on the Brooklyn waterfront over one year following the detection of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Big Apple. The remains of an estimated 750 people are in long-term storage in the specially developed disaster morgue.

COVID-19 Victims' Bodies in Refrigerated Trucks

Officials divulged that for those bodies at Brooklyn's 39th Street Pier, there is no timetable as to when they will be moved to Hart Island or another location. The city will make efforts to diminish the number of bodies being held on the Sunset Park pier soon and let families be made aware regarding the transfers, according to Dina Maniotis, a deputy commissioner with the Office of Chief Medical Examiner.

According to Maniotis, the facility was set up to provide families extra time. However, the arrangement was always supposedly temporary. She stated very shortly; they will start notifying all the families that they have been working with that they are now going to ramp their operations down gradually. They will provide them the time they need and keep the operation going as they need it.

Since April last year, hundreds of bodies have been stockpiled in trucks. They fluctuate from 500 to almost 800, according to various medical examiner estimates compiled during the past 13 months by Columbia's Stabile Center for Investigative Reporting and THE CITY as part of the MISSING THEM project, reported Brooklyn News Review.

Families of many of the fatalities remaining in storage have requested that the city bury their remains on Hart Island. It is the city's potter's field. The families of others have fallen out of contact with New York City, according to Maniotis, reported New York Post.

Read Also: Biden Supports Waiving Patent Protections To Help Produce More COVID-19 Vaccines Globally

The families who have stopped engaging with officials entirely, Maniotis remarked, have made it likely that the bodies will end up on Hart Island. According to her, "We will continue to work with families. As soon as the family tells us they would like their loved one transferred to Hart Island, we do that very quickly," reported The City.

A follow-up statement released by the medical examiner's office indicated it would have further discussion with the families. This would be regarding their timeline and final decision.

'Why are We Delaying?'

Hart Island is the final resting place of over one million New York locals. Several of them cannot afford a private burial. Since the Civil War, the island has been known as a public burial ground.

City Councilman Mark Gjonaj questioned why several remained in storage when the families had already requested burial on the island. He asked the reason behind why they are delaying any longer than they have to.

According to the medical examiner's office, 2,666 burials were conducted on Hart Island last year and 504 so far in 2021. This is far above the usual yearly total of 1,100 to 1,200 in the past few years.

Related Article: Reused COVID-19 Nasal Swab Tests Puts 9,000 Indonesian People at Risk, Firm Staff Fired

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John F. Kennedy's three letters addressed to his Swedish mistress while married to Jackie Kennedy are featured in a Boston auction house. The former US president and aristocrat Gunilla von Post met in 1953. This was weeks before Kennedy marrying Jackie. In Sweden, the pair spent a romantic week together two years later.

John F. Kennedy's Letters to Lover Up for Auction

Kennedy described his time together with von Post as a "bright memory of my life." The eight-page collection includes one full letter and two partial messages. They come from his lover's personal collection and are slated to fetch more than $30,000.

He scribbled at the end of a February 1956 letter to von Post that she is "wonderful" and he misses her. He had met her on the French Riviera. Kennedy was a Democratic United States senator from Massachusetts at that point. The handwritten letters were written on Senate letterhead, with one signed with "Jack."

The letters are a part of RR Auction's Fine Autographs and Artifacts sale. The auction will be completed on May 12th, reported Irish Central.

According to Bobby Livingston, the RR Auction executive vice president, the three letters span more than eight pages. He added that the letters are "pretty revealing," and their condition indicates that von Post read these letters multiple times and handled them, reported 9Honey.

He wrote in one letter that if she does not marry, she should come over as he would like to see her. Notwithstanding the danger the pair's affair posed for both their public images, van Post wrote in her 1997 memoir "Love, Jack" they maintained the affair for years.

Read Also: JFK Assassination 'Parkland' Movie Review: Zac Efron, Billy Bob Thronton's New Film Certified 'Rotten' By Critics (TRAILER)

The details of the love affair are divulged in the three letters written in the months leading up to the week of Kennedy's marriage to Jackie and the years that followed. The initial partial letter was written in 1955. In the note, the then-Massachusetts senator was planning his trip to Sweden to see his lover.

Kennedy wrote, "It now appears that Congress will not finish until the 5th of August - so I sail on the 'United States' which arrives the 10th of August at Le Havre -- and I shall be in Sweden on the 12th. Where do I go. Send me your address at Bastaad where you shall be," reported Newsmax.

Von Post died in 2011. Penned between 1955 and 1956, the love letters precede Kennedy's presidency.

The letters regarding the short-lived love affair between the mistress and the future President of the United States were discovered among her possessions following her death. Kennedy wrote in a letter in 1955 that she looked well and happy in the photograph she sent him at the Regatta.

The letters support the 35th president's reputation as a womanizer. The former president was assassinated in Dallas on November 22nd of 1963.

Related Article: Marilyn Monroe Confessed to Jackie Kennedy About JFK Affair; First Lady Complained About Sex Life: 'He Just Goes Too Fast and Falls Asleep'

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A Japanese town uses COVID-19 funds to build a giant squid statue as a tourist attraction gets under fire of the public.

Japanese town uses COVID-19 funds for a giant squid tourism draw

On social media, a coastal town in western Japan has been admonished for spending some of the government's coronavirus funds to put up a giant squid statue in the hopes of boosting tourism, reported CNN.

One town official, Tetsuji Shimoyachi, expressed confidence that its statue will be "a driving-force attraction in the post-COVID era." As quoted in the Indian Express.

Tetsuji told the media that the town spent approximately $2.5 million on infection prevention measures and $1.3 million to encourage new businesses and jobs from the $6.2 million in coronavirus relief it received from the Japanese government before.

According to news media, the government awarded 800 million yen ($7.3 million) in funds to Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture as part of an aid program to boost local economies amid the pandemic.

Noto used 25 million yen ($229,000) from that amount to pay for a portion of the statue's building, which stands 13 feet tall and 29.5 feet long, said domestic reports. Based on the source, the total infrastructure costs were about 30 million yen ($274,000).

Japan is battling the fourth wave of coronavirus outbreaks, and in December, the cabinet authorized a $708 billion stimulus plan to boost the business and recover from the pandemic's damage.

According to domestic media, squid is a local delicacy in Noto. The statue is built as part of a "long-term plan" to increase awareness about the town's fisheries and improve tourism. This Japanese town uses COVID-19 funds for a giant squid attraction.

Read also: 3 Died, 27 Hurt After Boat With Illegal Immigrants Capsized in San Diego

Reuters reached Noto's government, but the individual who answered the phone was not authorized to speak with the press. Last Wednesday, Japan's government buildings were closed for the annual Golden Week holidays.

The local media said the grants were not explicitly earmarked for spending related to treating coronavirus patients. The rate of infection in Ishikawa Prefecture is low compared to other parts of Japan, much higher.

Even so, some Twitter users wondered if the funds should be used for something else, not a humongous statue.

One Twitter user said that it is wrong to use it for anything except for pandemic use; the money should be reimbursed to the government.

The pink squid's construction took place in October 2020, and the finished statue was finally transported to its current location in March earlier this year, told the local media.

For many, the giant statue showing to the 16,000 residents of the town only had questions and many. Noto that is 180 miles northwest of Tokyo, questioned whether its emergency relief funds might be better used.

He added there is money left over after purchasing the squid statue. Since the outbreak began, the town has only seen about 30 coronavirus cases.

Noto was once a vital squid fishing port in Japan, but catches had plunged with increased competition from Chinese and North Korean vessels.

Noto, a Japanese town, uses COVID-19 funds to make the giant squid attractive to give it a tourist boost since it is not as memorable as before.

Related article: Woman Shares on TikTok How Her Boyfriend Ghosted Her by Faking His Death [VIRAL]

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Prowling the seas for next half century is the so-called Columbia-class submarines that built to launch its nuclear payload on American adversaries.

US Navy's New Missile subs will be sailing soon

The newest of the next-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines has been approved for $9.4 billion, and that hefty amount allows the US to dominate with advanced subs, report Popular Mechanics.

The contract pays for the USS Columbia, the initial boat built in the Columbia-class, add the USS Wisconsin, the second vessel. These new subs would replace the earlier Ohio-class submarines, with each sub capable of delivering a destructive nuclear counterstrike in the case of a surprise attack.

This new class is going to do its first mission in countering Russia and China in 2031, owing to the contract, which has been arranged with shipbuilder General Dynamics Electric Boat. The Navy has plans to retire the current 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, and replace them with 12 Columbia-class submarines to be delivered between 1981 and 1997.

DefenseOne noted that the Navy intends the submarines to last for 40 to 50 years each, with the fleet serving even into the 2080s.

All of the new ICBM subs will have 16 Trident D-5 submarine launched ballistic missiles (ICBMS) onboard. The Trident D-5 has a range of 4,600 miles, with 14 W-76-1 nuke warheads that is six times greater than the Hiroshima A-bomb. Ohio subs that have the Trident D-5 has four and five W-76-1 warheads or a single, 5-kiloton, low-yield W-76-2 warhead.

One Columbia will have the firepower of six megatons or the equal of 6,310,000 tons of TNT. The US Navy's new missile subs will pack more power than any weapon of war.

Read also: US Preparing Countermeasures to Kill New Chinese and Russian Submarines

All missiles' submersibles are armed with Tridents and are the sea component of the nuclear triad. Triad refers to nuclear bombers like the B-52 and B-2 Spirit Stealth bombers, and the silo launched Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, with the Ohio missile subs to complete it. All the advantages of the nuclear capable weapons are from a strategy to optimize nuclear attacks at the same time.

One of the best reasons to keep nuclear subs under the sea is that they are hard to find as they are virtually invisible. Attack subs are the only danger to them.

An attack on the US will cause the Columbia class to launch attacks on ships, cities, and rain nuclear annihilation on all US adversaries. Enemies know this and it keeps the US safe from nuclear strikes with assured mutual destruction.

When deployed, the 12 boats will be divided by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans from bases in Washington and Florida. These will be the longest missions to maximize their missions at sea, with two crews to keep the subs sailing at all times.

Plans to develop a new class of subs called SSN(X) class submarines are next, these next gen attack will be wide as 42 feet wide (Colombia) unlike the 36-foot wide (Virginia) it replaces. It is expected to have a quieter sub with more weapons, said the U.S. Naval Institute News.

Once US Navy's new missile subs are in service, this will mean a lot for America's military might.

Related article: One of the Most Advanced Attack US Navy Submarines Sighted in Troms

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"Mediation supermarket" streamlines social dispute resolution at primary level

Xinhua) 14:20, May 07, 2021

Mediation volunteers talk with a worker while visiting a factory to help resolve disputes between employees and employers in Zhili Town in Huzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Feb. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

HANGZHOU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Mired in a default repayment dispute for more than a year, Xie Lan got a satisfactory answer in only 10 days with the help of the mediation center in his county.

"I didn't expect mediation to be more efficient than litigation. The mediation center is really our 'worry-solving supermarket,'" Xie said.

Xie from Anji County in east China's Zhejiang Province and Shen Ming from the neighboring Anhui Province had business dealings for many years. In the past two years, Shen's business was not doing well, and she has delayed repayment to Xie of over 50,000 yuan (7,720 U.S. dollars) for more than a year. Xie, in response, filed a lawsuit.

"Litigation not only requires legal fees, but also takes time and energy. It takes at least two months for a verdict to be reached," Zhu Guoyan, who was in charge of mediation prior to the lawsuit, told Xie. "Even if a verdict is given, the other party may not pay back the money immediately."

Zhu said he would help Xie get his money back without going to court and persuaded Shen to repay the money in a timely manner.

"If you don't pay back the money, you will definitely lose the case. The record may have a negative impact on your credit. You could even be affected when trying to get loans or buying flight tickets," Zhu told Shen.

After several rounds of communication, Shen finally agreed to return the money. But because money was tight, she wanted to pay in installments, which Xie agreed to.

The civil lawsuit, which had already been brought to court, was thus successfully resolved through Zhu's professional and patient mediation.

"This was just the tip of the iceberg in our dealing with social disputes," Zhu said. "We will provide professional assistance no matter it involves neighborhood conflicts, labor and financial disputes, or people filing lawsuits against government."

Over the past six months, Zhu has successfully mediated 63 cases involving over 3.4 million yuan, and helped migrant workers to recover wages totaling more than 610,000 yuan.

Zhu said the mediation center provides people a platform to solve their worries and bail them out of difficulty. "Even if the conflict is complex, it does not have to be brought to court."

As long as a mediation agreement is confirmed by the judiciary, it is eligible for compulsory enforcement, according to Zhu.

Zhu, a former researcher of the Justice Bureau of Anji County, has been hired as a mediator of Anji's mediation center after retirement because he is proficient in law and warm-hearted. He is one of the nine mediators who are retirees from administrative and legal service positions.

The mediation center offers one-stop solutions for people with different needs, as they can consult with personnel from 18 authorities in areas including petition-handling, public security, human resources and social security agencies as well as courts and procuratorates, said Shen Gaofei, deputy head of Anji's mediation center.

At present, numerous mediation centers at village, township and county levels have been established to serve Zhejiang's 65 million population. Official statistics showed that in 2020, a total of 662,000 disputes were handled at county-level mediation centers, and 94.9 percent of those were settled.

Last year, the province introduced a digital system to track dispute-handling progress, making sure each and every dispute is responded to and improving the efficiency of mediation centers.

Solving disputes before they get out of hand has enhanced people's sense of happiness and security. The number of criminal cases registered in Zhejiang dropped from 666,800 in 2015 to 241,900 in 2020. Meanwhile, survey results last year showed 97.25 percent of Zhejiang residents felt safe.

This reform of primary-level social governance has taken its root and flourished across the country, as a network of mediation centers with local characteristics is sprawling from megacites like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou to Chongqing, Xi'an, Lhasa and other cities in China's hinterland.

To enhance social governance at primary level is to meet people's desire for a happy life, said Wang Hongchuan, assistant professor at Tsinghua University's school of public policy and management.

"The wisdom manifested in primary-level social governance in China will offer valuable experience to other countries," said Wang.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
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Christina Elias

Evansville Courier & Press

EVANSVILLE  In the midst of a broader hiring crisis spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, detention facilities continue to struggle with staffing, an issue that predates the ongoing public health emergency.

Its hard to attract people to work inside of a jail knowing the jail is a rough environment, Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding said.

Local and state staffing issues reflect a trend in the industry at large, including shortages at the federal level. In November, the Indiana Department of Correction raised base pay at state prisons to $19 an hour in an attempt to draw more applicants.

Wedding said that despite the pay, benefits and job security  a starting pay of around $40,000 a year, free health insurance and a retirement pension, among other benefits  the negative environment prompts resignations and keeps many would-be applicants away, except for those people looking for a stepping stone into law enforcement.

He said applicants use the experience as a confinement officer as a stairstep to become a police officer. Wedding said he did exactly that; after being hired in 1981 as a confinement officer, he moved into the role of deputy sheriff after just over two years.

Now Hiring: Job openings in Tri-State area plentiful, not enough workforce to fill them

He estimated that the Evansville Police Department has recruited at least 20 former confinement officers over his tenure as sheriff. He said his office also recruits from within and has recruited close to 30 deputy sheriffs from jail staff.

Henderson County Detention Center Jailer Amy Brady said she used to see the same trajectory among HCDC hirees, but not as much anymore. And among applicants that arent planning an eventual move to law enforcement, most arent banking on a long-term career in a detention facility.

Nowadays you dont find that, Brady said. You dont find the people that are looking at a career in law enforcement that want to start in the jail. You dont find people that are committed to whatever profession or job theyre hired into. A lot of people, Ive noticed, live for today. They live in the present, you know, whats important right now.

We know that corrections is one of the most stressful jobs that there is, she said.

Wedding added that industry visibility also plays a role. While movies and TV often glamorize careers in law enforcement or firefighting, he said, you dont usually hear children saying they want to be a jailer when they grow up.

No one really talks about a prison guard or a jailer, because what theyre doing is theyre babysitting the trash of the world, Wedding said. Its sad because they do that, you know, and so theres nothing sexy about it or exciting about it.

Staff shortages: Federal prison staffers earned $300 million in overtime pay in 2019; report highlights long-standing staffing gaps

Fully staffed, the Vanderburgh County jail employs 108 confinement officers; Wedding is currently working to fill between 10 and 12 open positions.

Weve used almost every recruiting tool that I could think of, he said, including advertisements, social media, college visits and word-of-mouth.

Applicants must undergo testing, background checks, psychological evaluations and drug tests during the hiring process.

Brady said that while her facility is approved to hire 100 full-time and three part-time employees, they are currently operating with less than 50 employees.

Its hard times right now, Brady said. Everyones competing, as far as their base wages and the benefits provided.

Paying employees via tax dollars means the HCDC cannot offer sign-on or referral bonuses to lure interested parties, as in some other industries.

After Brady took the jailer position in 2017, the Henderson County Fiscal Court approved an increase in base pay from $12 to $14 an hour to compete with nearby facilities that paid more than the Henderson facility. But not long after, other facilities pay rates increased, as well.

Wedding said another difficulty in attracting applicants to the Vanderburgh County jail is its size; he said that lighter workloads and lower capacity at facilities in neighboring counties are often more attractive than applying to work in a comparatively busier, higher-capacity jail like Vanderburghs.

Brady and Wedding said the effects of the ongoing pandemic arent helping matters, either. They cited unemployment payments, stimulus checks and tax refunds as part of why people who may be out of work due to the pandemic arent applying to just any job.

Truthfully, would you come work in a jail and do what our employees do every single day for $14 an hour when you could stay home with your family and be paid? Brady asked. Its sad.

But Brady said that working in a detention facility can change and challenge you.

It makes a difference in how a person feels about the thankless job that they do in corrections when they see someone that has made a change in their life, she said. But $14 an hour for people to come work in an environment that is typically a negative environment isnt enticing enough, she said.
Renovation

6 May 2021

Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong announces the completion of the first phase of its exciting transformation, with a set of completely redesigned guest rooms and suites now ready to welcome guests. The announcement heralds a new era of luxury hospitality for the Hotel, which is undergoing a complete enhancement of 399 guest rooms and suites, the lobby area, as well as the introduction of a highly anticipated bar ARGO, and lobby cafe Gallery to follow in June 2021, joining the Hotel's acclaimed Michelin-starred dining collection.

The redesign of each guest room embodies a sense of unique modernism and tradition, reflective of Hong Kong as a city, whose interwoven cultures and tastes have been layered through time by its history and inhabitants. Guided by design principles connecting the old with the new and under the sophisticated direction of acclaimed design firm Remedios Studio, modern furnishings are crafted with classic detailing, resulting in a harmonious blend of contemporary elegance.

Featuring traditional Chinese landscape paintings and patterns inspired by Chinese artists, the spacious guest rooms are a complete reimagination of their previous incarnation, offering an urban oasis amid the bustling city below, with a sense of calm and tranquillity embedded in the design foundations. Traditional details are offset by the latest technology, such as state-of-the-art lighting controls, all of which underline the Hotel's vision to celebrate timeless heritage, while defining the future of bespoke experiences.

While the new guest rooms and suites infuse Chinese architectural elements that capture the rich culture and heritage of Hong Kong. With modern furnishings and technology, the design of the rooms is also reflective of the evolving desire for a space that captures the comfort of home, ensuring that every need of the modern guest is catered to. As such, details such as etageres in the living room and a versatile work-dining table are incorporated to enhance the experience.

Enhancing the transformation, the Hotel's holistic wellness programs help guests achieve a balanced and present state of mind. The Sleep Well program features a selection of services and amenities from the in-house certified team of wellness practitioners at the Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, designed to help every guest achieve quality rest and the deepest of sleep, essential factors to everyday wellness.

Underlining its position as a global dining and imbibing mecca within the city, Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong will be introducing an innovative new bar ARGO, and a lobby cafe Gallery into its collection of Michelin-starred dining destinations in June 2021. A vessel for innovation, the neo-classically designed ARGO is poised to be a Hong Kong staple among spirit aficionados, breaking new ground with pioneering programming, collaborations and cocktails inspired from exciting new sources and spirits. Gallery meanwhile is a cosy nook with a casual meeting area that boasts a chic dining venue by day and an easy drinks destination by evening. Designed by AB Concept, the new restaurant and bar are key additions to the lobby transformation that provide guests with a new arrival experience.
Renovation

7 May 2021

So much more than a room renovation announcement, this is a serendipitous story that begins in 1959, when the Hotel first opened its doors.

When highly acclaimed Portuguese architecture studio OITOEMPONTO was entrusted in 2019 to breathe new life into guest rooms and suites at the Hotel, design duo Artur Miranda and Jacques Bec baulked at the idea of modernising the classic Hotel. Old photos stirred memories of Artur's former stays in the iconic Ritz, an experience he didn't want to deny to modern guests. Together, the two set about re-imagining the "past for the present," embarking on a journey to evolve the Hotel's roots - in style and substance, aesthetics and ambience - for 21st century visitors.

Inspired by the Hotel's pure fifties style room #44, the new vibe is authentic yet still pioneering 1950s: a Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon trademark, and while successfully evoking the past, it proudly steps into the present, with each room featuring the most advanced technology for light, vision and sound. Already blessed by the generous balconies, they are now much cosier and perfect for breath-taking views of this beautiful capital.

From spring 2021, guests will be able to experience:

Redesigned guest rooms and suites

A new outdoor swimming pool

A new outdoor bar

New terrace of the Ritz Bar

Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon remains open with operations as usual throughout the transformation period and welcomes guests to enjoy its accommodations, ballroom and meeting spaces, CURA Restaurant, Varanda Restaurant the the Ritz Bar, O Japones and other Hotel facilities including the Ritz Spa, indoor pool and rooftop fitness centre.
Press Release

7 May 2021

Quintana Roo Governor hailed for early adoption of WTTC Safe Travels Stamp

Saudi Arabia recognised with Global Leader Award for historic inclusion of private sector in 2020 G20 Tourism Ministers meeting and the Leaders Declaration

14 major awards announced by WTTC and presented at the hybrid event

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CANCUN, MEXICO: Countries and top tourism leaders from around the world have been recognised with awards by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), at its Global Summit 2021 in Cancun, for their outstanding global leadership.

The awards acknowledged the world-class leadership qualities displayed by a specially selected group from among hundreds of the world's foremost business Travel & Tourism leaders, government officials and key decision-makers.

Carlos Manuel Joaquin Gonzalez, Governor of Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun, Mexico was given the Global Leadership Award for his role during the COVID-19 crisis.

Cancun's early, successful adoption of the WTTC Safe Travels stamp led the way and was recently given to the 250th destination.

His Excellency, Ahmed Al Khateeb, Minister of Tourism of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was awarded the accolade of Global Leader, for making history earlier this year by embracing the private sector in the G20 Tourism Ministers Meeting for the very first time.

A further 10 Travel & Tourism leaders were also recipients of Global Champion Awards from WTTC, which represents the global Travel & Tourism private sector, at its annual Global Summit.

Gloria Guevara, WTTC President & CEO, said: "2021 marked a year of unprecedented hardship and challenges for the global Travel & Tourism sector. So, we are honoured to be able to recognise so many top achievers for their incredible efforts to revive the sector by displaying such admirable leadership qualities.

"Our esteemed winners this year have demonstrated the very best values and qualities which our sector shows on a daily basis to encourage travellers and holidaymakers to venture out and explore the world.

"This has been especially difficult over the past 12 months as the pandemic has ravaged our sector, devastating businesses and the jobs of so many people who depend upon it for their livelihoods.

"But we recognise our winners today for taking bold steps to halt and reverse the impact of COVID-19 with 14 major awards and thank them for their courage and dedication.

"From Cancun, Mexico, to Saudi Arabia, Greece, Spain and the U.S., to name but a few, destinations and their leaders from around the world have stepped up to the mark to save a sector which in 2019, before the pandemic took hold, generated one in four of all new jobs around the world and contributed 10.4% (334 million) jobs globally.

"From the bottom of my heart I wish to thank each and every one of our winners  and those around the world, who each day stand up to make a difference  to bring cultures together, encourage mobility and unite us all by making Travel & Tourism essential to our happiness and well-being."

Under the theme "Uniting the World for Recovery" the Global Summit made history by becoming the first-time global Travel & Tourism event where leaders gathered face-to-face since the COVID-19 pandemic damaged the sector and halted all major events around the world since March 2020.

Ten Champion Awards were also announced at the Summit:

Rita Marques, Secretary of State for Tourism of Portugal, was awarded for Leadership in Social Impact.

Harry Theocharis, Minister of Tourism of Greece,

was recognised by WTTC for his Leadership in Crisis Response.

Meanwhile top Spanish economist and Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, was awarded for her Leadership in Women Advocacy.

Fred Dixon, President and CEO of NYC & Company, New York's non-profit destination marketing organisation and convention and visitor's bureau, was awarded for Leadership in Destination Stewardship.

Mexican public official and Governor of Baja California Sur, Carlos Mendoza Davis, was recognised for Best in Destination Resilience.

Fahad Hamidaddin, Chief Executive Officer for the Saudi Tourism Authority, was awarded for Strategy & Visa Facilitation.

Meanwhile, the award for Public-Private Engagement went to Claudia Cornejo, Peru's Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism.

Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne was awarded for his leadership in Climate & Environmental Action, in his role as Minister of State of Tourism, France.

Isabell Hill, Director, National Travel and Tourism Office of the United States of America, was recognised for her contribution towards Women Empowerment.

After the awards she said: "It is an honor to receive this award from the WTTC, an organization I have worked with to advance the tourism policy agenda in the United States and globally. I am particularly gratified to be honored in the context of the WTTC focus on empowering women, which is fundamental to shaping the future if this sector."

ordis Kolbrun Reykfjor Gylfadottir, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Innovation of Iceland,

who was awarded by WTTC in Cancun for Building Resilience said:

"It is a true honour to receive this award. The Government of Iceland took a targeted and cautious science-led response to contain the pandemic which appears to be paying off. I believe there is a lesson in that for the recovery of the tourism sector that lies ahead. We need to put community first and base decisions on the best available data.

"I would like to thank WTTC for its tireless work throughout the pandemic on highlighting the importance of the tourism industry for the world economy and promoting the benefits of effective collaboration between the public and private sectors. I look forward to continuing to follow and support WTTC initiatives to help rebuild the sector with resilience and sustainability as a core focus moving forward."

Two Icon Awards were also awarded at the Global Summit:

Jose Chapur, President, Palace Resorts,

was awarded the Global Icon for Travel and Tourism Award.

Geoffrey Kent, Founder & Co-Chairman, Abercrombie & Kent

was awarded Honorary Member and Icon Award.

WTTC ensured strict world-class health and hygiene protocols were in place to protect key private and public sector participants at its Global Summit, with testing available for all delegates attending in person.

They met to discuss their experiences and share best practice on topics from kickstarting recovery in the Travel & Tourism sector to how to enhance sustainability and inclusivity.

The Summit also acted as the platform for recovery and will be the place where a roadmap will be defined to take the sector towards restarting international travel and existing in the new normal.

Download the press release.
Opinion Article

7 May 2021

As we emerge from the doldrums of the last year and watch demand trend upward, there is a great opportunity to create competitive advantages for your hotel company. Cash flow from new Investors can make or break any company's runway to a sustainable forward path, and a hospitality company that can opportunistically grow in today's unprecedented environment can leapfrog its pre-pandemic growth strategy.

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There are three specific areas to focus on as you shift gears from cash conservation to post-pandemic growth:

Fully-operation, efficient Finance and Accounting team. Corporate and Social Governance. Timely and accurate Business Intelligence (BI) data.

If you're like most in the hospitality industry, these three areas have taken a very necessary back seat for the past several months. Now is the time to put them back up front.

Finance and Accounting

Nearly 4 million leisure and hospitality jobs have been lost in the U.S. alone since February 2020, according to the Department of Labor, and millions more have been lost across the globe. As a result, your company may have whittled the Finance and Accounting team down to bare bones. In order to ramp back up as efficiently as possible and ensure organizational readiness, perform a Gap Analysis assessment. Items to measure against the needs of your organization, owners and lenders include:

Processes, procedures, and people

Controls, compliance, and systems

Internal and external GAAP financial reporting

Internal and external audit

Treasury and tax

Budgeting and forecasting

Labor and expense management

Cash flow

Capital expense planning

Use your Gap Analysis to create a detailed, actionable, and timely Transformation Project Plan. The Plan scope should be tailored to your organization's needs not just today, but also in the future. If implemented, the plan's result will be a world class Finance and Accounting function.

Corporate and Social Governance

Now more than ever, a business's economic effectiveness has to be balanced with environmental and social responsibility. Our evolving society demands it from businesses it will support and embrace. As such, you may want to audit your company's Corporate and Social Governance to make sure it still aligns with your organization.

Evaluate whether your company's rules, practices, and processes ensure accountability, responsibility and transparency in the rights and responsibilities of its leaders and stakeholders.

Solidify that your company's structure is sound, including entity formation, definition of corporation objectives, controls, and performance compliance under the best possible legal, tax and accounting for owners, shareholders, lenders and potential investors.

And finally, make certain that your company can demonstrate a focus on the Seven Ps of Success:

In Corporate Governance, these are: P

eople, Purpose, Process and Performance.

In Social Responsibility, these are: People, Planet and Profit.

Business Intelligence Data

Data to make timely and accurate business decisions is a key to success in the fast-paced, thin-margined hospitality industry. Unfortunately, the information you need to run your business is not always at your fingertips. All too often finding the one source of truth, the elusive accurate data, is not as easy as we would all like it to be.

A BI dashboard

should be many things, but first and foremost, it should be easy to use. To optimize efficiency and accuracy, it should be fully integrated to your properties' existing systems and databases. To ensure accessibility it should be configured both for handheld devices like phones or iPads and for desktops.

To maximize its usefulness, it should contain Financial and Operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in a balanced scorecard format. The most flexible tools should allow user-dictated time ranges; include actual, budget, forecast and historical information; and aggregate portfolios by property types, size and geography. Last, to be sustainable and able to grow with you it should be built on the very best available platform.

In conclusion, making your company attractive to investors requires that you ask these questions:

Are you prepared to support your Company's re-emergence from the pandemic with a fully operational, yet right sized, Finance and Accounting team? Do you have a robust and ready Corporate and Social Governance functions to attracts new investors? Lastly, is your Business Intelligence platform able to provide timely and accurate data to your operating, ownership and investor groups to base sound management decisions upon?

Given the pressures of our industry, outside resources are often highly effective in conducting the analyses and audits necessary to create these types of competitive advantages. Providing timely and accurate financial information for operations, revenue management, development, as well as its owners, potential owners, and lenders is essential to flourish in today's environment, so using a financial hotel consultant to help you get there faster may be a wise move.
As Europes oil majors prepare to host their annual shareholder meetings, one topic is garnering almost all the attention.

Climate change looms large for Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and Total SE, with investors at all three energy giants calling for greater action. Shareholder resolutions on cutting carbon emissions are set to dominate this months AGMs, even as the companies talk up their own, competing proposals.

Key activist group Follow This, which has been a thorn in their side in recent years, is putting forward a motion at BP on May 12 and Shell six days later, urging the companies to set emission goals aligned with the Paris Agreement.

Shells board has snubbed the idea, insisting its own plan to pump less oil, produce more gas and renewables, and slash emissions over the next 30 years is more comprehensive. BP is also asking investors to reject the resolution.

Since the votes are non-binding, theyll have only a limited impact on strategy, yet they ratchet up pressure on companies still reliant on fossil fuels to fund the shift to cleaner energy. Shell agreed in February to put its transition plans to a vote, while Total pledged the same in March.

This has all come along faster than everyone expected, and the imminent votes give very little time to review the commitments, said Shu Ling Liauw, lead global analyst at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility. Its a bit of game theory and opportunism to cement themselves as having endorsed climate plans, but that doesnt mean theres substance.

Support among investors remains mixed. In the Netherlands, resolutions tabled by Follow This -- which was founded by Dutch campaigner Mark van Baal -- have been backed by several large players such as NN Investments and Aegon NV. Yet advocates among the biggest U.S. investors are harder to come by. BlackRock Inc., for example, has always voted against the groups proposals.

Norways sovereign wealth fund, which has a 1.4 billion-pound ($2 billion) stake in BP, said Friday that it, too, would side with the U.K. company.

At Shell, smaller shareholders such as London-based Sarasin & Partners LLP and U.K. local authority pension funds have said theyll favor Follow This over the companys transition plan. But the main proxy advisory firms -- Glass, Lewis & Co. and Institutional Shareholder Services -- are standing by the oil majors and urging clients to reject the resolutions at both Shell and BP AGMs.

Net zero

In recent years, large oil companies have outlined plans to cut carbon output, with Europes top three all declaring net-zero targets for 2050. Yet according to Climate Action 100+, an investor group with $54 trillion under management, none of the majors have fully disclosed how theyll erase their net emissions.

Companies need to show us what they can do, said Adam Matthews, chief responsible investment officer at the Church of England Pensions Board, which engages with Shell on climate matters on behalf of CA100+. There are legitimate questions about the path to net-zero at the Anglo-Dutch firm, though the goal is clear and unambiguous, and Shell is accountable for delivering that target, Matthews wrote in an article last month.

The promise of change is also no longer enough for London-based Epworth Investment Management Ltd., which manages investments for the Methodist Church and has recently exited all oil and gas. Chief Executive Officer David Palmer has called Shells emission targets uninspiring, concluding that we cannot say that Shell is aligned with the objectives of the Paris Accord.

While Epworth may be a minnow next to BlackRock, which holds a stake of more than 3 billion pounds in Shell, it touches on the use of divestment as a tool to pressure companies. It also calls into question divestments made by the majors themselves -- asset sales that shift some emissions off their books by simply transferring them to another operator.

Weve actually got to follow these emissions and make sure that were sorting out a transformation, not just a prettification of our portfolios, said Anne Simpson, director of board governance and strategy at the California Public Employees Retirement System and chair of CA100+. Weve got to move this dialogue from the advisory, shareholder-proposal world and into board accountability, she said in a webinar.

CalPERS has voted in favor of Follow This resolutions in the past. But this time around it has flagged that it wont support the groups resolution at BP, citing concerns with the duplicative nature of the proposal and its binding intent. Thats despite comments by Simpson that around 60% of BPs spending plan is not aligned with its climate commitments.\
Theres nothing like a pandemic to put a spotlight on your companys culture.

Does your manager appreciate you? Find ways to connect even if it hasnt been face-to-face? Demonstrate understanding and flexibility for the workload when things come up at home? Make sure the workplace feels safe?

Its not too late to let the world know your company is a great place to work.

The deadline to nominate a company or organization for the Chronicles annual Top Workplaces contest has been extended to June 18.

Any employer with 50 or more employees in the Greater Houston area is eligible to participate. That includes public companies, private companies, non-profits, government organizations, schools and hospitals.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Top Workplaces of 2020

Energage, the research partner for the project, conducts Top Workplaces surveys for media in 58 markets. The workplaces are evaluated by their employees using a 24-question survey.

The surveys will be conducted through June. So far, 230 companies have signed up to have their employees surveyed.

Last year, 130 organizations were recognized as Top Workplaces. More than 57,000 employees at 173 organizations weighed in on their workplaces.

Anyone can make a nomination. Go online to www.chron.com/nominate or call 713-429-0375.

The results will be published in late 2021. We hope to see you on the list.

katherine.feser@chron.com

twitter.com/kfeser
Its National Nurses Week.

The yearly celebration of the women and men who have been on the frontline throughout this pandemic is taking place from May 6 to May 12 this year.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Chronicle has published hundreds of stories featuring nurses. In fact, the number of newsprint pages containing the word nurse increased by 35 percent this past year when compared to a year prior.

And no wonder. It was a nurse who administered the first dose of the vaccine at St. Lukes Hospital in December. Nurses who delivered vaccine doses to homebound seniors during the treacherous February freeze. And Dr. Jill Biden tapped a Houston nurse as one of her special guests at her husbands presidential address in April.

The Houston Chronicle joined the celebration, hosting its annual Salute To Nurses, this year a socially-distanced drive-thru, on Thursday to celebrate nurses across the area with food, gift bags and music.

maggie.gordon@chron.com
Robin Harper, an administrative assistant at a preschool in Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts, grew up showering every day.

Its what you did, she said. But when the coronavirus pandemic forced her indoors and away from the general public, she started showering once a week.

The new practice felt environmentally virtuous, practical and freeing. And it has stuck.

Dont get me wrong, said Harper, 43, who has returned to work. I like showers. But its one thing off my plate. Im a mom. I work full-time, and its one less thing I have to do.

ARE YOU SLOUCHING? How to tweak your posture to feel healthy and strong

The pandemic upended the use of zippered pants and changed peoples eating and drinking habits. There are now indications that it has caused some Americans to become more spartan when it comes to ablutions.

Parents have complained that their teenage children are forgoing daily showers. After the British media reported on a YouGov survey that showed 17% of Britons had abandoned daily showers during the pandemic, many people on Twitter said they had done the same.

Heather Whaley, a writer in Reading, Connecticut, said her shower use had fallen by 20% in the past year.

After the pandemic forced her into lockdown, Whaley, 49, said she began thinking about why she was showering every day.

Do I need to? Do I want to? she said. The act of taking a shower became less a matter of function and more of a matter of doing something for myself that I enjoyed.

GET HEALTHY AT HOME: Building a home gym has plenty of benefits. Here's how to do it.

Harper, who still uses deodorant and does a daily wash of the parts that need to be done at the sink, said she was confident she was not offending anyone. Her 22-year-old daughter, who is fastidious about bathing and showers twice a day, has not made any comments regarding her new hygiene habit. Nor have the children at her school.

The kids will tell you if you dont smell good, Harper said, 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children will tell you the truth.

Plumbing and upward mobility changed everything

Daily showers are a fairly new phenomenon, said Donnachadh McCarthy, an environmentalist and writer in London who grew up taking weekly baths.

We had a bath once a week and we washed under at the sink the rest of the week  under our armpits and our privates  and that was it, McCarthy, 61, said.

As he grew older, he showered every day. But after a visit to the Amazon jungle in 1992 revealed the ravages of overdevelopment, McCarthy said he began reconsidering how his daily habits were affecting the environment and his own body.

Its not really good to be washing with soap every day, said McCarthy, who showers once a week.

Doctors and health experts have said that daily showers are unnecessary, and even counterproductive. Washing with soap every day can strip the skin of its natural oils and leave it feeling dry, though doctors still recommend frequent hand-washing.

The American obsession with cleaning began around the turn of the 20th century, when people began moving into cities after the Industrial Revolution, said Dr. James Hamblin, a lecturer at Yale University and the author of Clean: The New Science of Skin and the Beauty of Doing Less.

Cities were dirtier so residents felt they had to wash more frequently, Hamblin said, and soap manufacturing became more common. Indoor plumbing also began to improve, giving the middle class more access to running water.

To set themselves apart from the masses, wealthy people began investing in fancier soaps and shampoos and started bathing more frequently, he said.

It became a sort of arms race, Hamblin said. It was a signifier of wealth if you looked like you could bathe every day.

Bathing less = better skin and a cleaner planet

Kelly Mieloch, 42, said that since the pandemic began she had showered only every couple of days.

What is the point of daily showers, she said, when she rarely leaves the house except to run errands like taking her 6-year-old daughter to school?

Theyre not smelling me  they dont know whats happening, Mieloch said. Most of the time, Im not even wearing a bra.

Whats more, she said her decision to stop daily showers had helped her appearance.

I just feel like my hair is better, my skin is better and my face is not so dry, said Mieloch, a mortgage loan closer in Asheville, North Carolina.

Andrea Armstrong, an assistant professor of environmental science and studies at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, said she was encouraged as more people rethink the daily shower.

An eight-minute shower uses up to 17 gallons of water, according to the Water Research Fund. Running water for even five minutes uses as much energy as running a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And frequent washing means going through more plastic bottles and using more soap, which is often made with petroleum.

The individual choice to stop showering or bathing daily is a critical one to make at a time when environmentalists are calling on countries to take more action against climate change, McCarthy, the environmentalist, said.

There is nothing like soaking in a deep, warm bath, he said. There is pleasure there that I absolutely accept and understand. But I keep those pleasures as treat.

Still, Armstrong said, it would take a huge number of people changing their bathing habits to make a difference in carbon emissions. To make a real impact, local and federal governments have to invest in infrastructure that makes showering and water use in general less harmful for the environment.

It pains me to think of fracking every time I take a shower and use my hot water heater in the home, Armstrong said. I'm in Pennsylvania. There is not much of a choice.

Social mores versus science

Despite the compelling science, it is difficult to imagine Americans as a whole embracing infrequent showers and baths, said Lori Brown, a professor of sociology at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Weve been told so much about not smelling and buying products, she said. Youre dealing with culture. Youre not dealing with biology. You can tell people all day that this is not doing any good for them, and there are still going to be people who say: I dont care. Im going to take a shower.

Nina Arthur, who owns Ninas Hair Care in Flint, Michigan, said she had many clients who were going through menopause and were so uncomfortable that they felt they needed to shower twice a day.

Ive had women who are having hot flashes in my chair, she said.

One client was sweating so much, she asked Arthur to come up with a hairstyle that could withstand constant perspiration.

The pandemic has not swayed the bathing habits of such clients, Arthur said.

When you have menopause, the smells are really different, she said. Theyre not your normal smelling smells. I dont think there is any woman who would want that smell on them.

Arthur, 52, said she understood the environmental argument for showering less, but it would not move her to change her bathing habits.

Nope, she said. Im not that woman.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
The peace and calm of Conroe couple Angela and Juan Abugabers life was interrupted when Chester, their orange-and-white rescue cat, was found with a dart pierced through his head.

The 4-year-old Chester has recovered from the April 24 attack where an approximately 6-inch metal dart narrowly missed penetrating his brain. His assailant remains on the loose in the otherwise tranquil The Woodlands Hills subdivision in north Conroe where the Abugabers have resided for the last two years.

They are worried Chester and their other feline family members may be targeted again.

We dont have kids. We have four cats, said Juan Abugaber, a 33-year-old architect who owns a commercial real estate business in south Montgomery County.

The perpetrator appears to have struck Chester around 5 a.m., as indicated by surveillance footage the Abugabers reviewed of the cat outside their home.

More from Jose R. Gonzalez: Conroe woman faces murder charge in intoxicated driving case

The couple were out with a friend on that Saturday. Around 10 p.m., they found Chester. Surveillance footage revealed the dart stuck to his head kept Chester from reentering the home through the pet door.

After Chester was rushed to a veterinarian, the dart was removed. The procedure reached nearly $1,400, according to a GoFundMe page created to help cover expenses. The page states if the injury had been more severe, surgery could have topped $8,000.

A friend found Chester abandoned in a box at a building in Mexico and knowing their love of rescue cats, delivered him to the Abugabers as a six-month-old.

The couple are left wondering who could have tried to hurt Chester.

The couple reached out to Conroe Police but say they were told an investigation, including scanning the dart for fingerprints, could not go forward without a suspect. Even as neighbors have checked their surveillance cameras, there are no leads.

Abugaber suspects it was someone in the subdivision, pointing out its remoteness and how Chester does not wander farther than three to four houses away. Even then, the cat only approaches other homes driveways.

More from Jose R. Gonzalez: Harris County MS-13 member sentenced to life for teen's ambush killing in park

By the looks of it, the precision of the shot and the strength that you need to throw a dart , maybe a teenager or adult, maybe with experience with hunting, he said of who the likely culprit could be.

With his reflective green collar, Abugaber reasons the darts shooter must have realized Chester was no stray.

A lot of people are afraid of cats. They hate cats or maybe they saw him as an easy target instead of hitting a squirrel or some other animal, he said.

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

twitter.com/jrgzztx
courtesy of the Multi-County Crime Stoppers

A former Harris County constables reserve officer charged with sexually assaulting women he allegedly lured on so-called ghost-hunting excursions is suspected of even more offenses in multiple counties in Southeast Texas.

David Lynn Turner, 46, of Houston, is being charged with two counts of sexual assault following a joint investigation between the Montgomery County and San Jacinto County sheriffs offices, according to Multi-County Crime Stoppers.
Sterling, VA (20165)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
When President Joe Biden proposed a nearly $2 trillion infrastructure bill, some Texas officials had high hopes that it might include funding for the long-awaited Ike Dike project to protect the Houston-Galveston region from catastrophic storm surge.

However, the Army Corps of Engineers is pursuing another funding route for the $26 billion project.

Col. Timothy Vail, commander for the Corps Galveston district, said the agency is adhering to a methodical federal process as it works toward completing the chief engineers report on the massive coastal barrier, siloed from Washingtons political headwinds.

The goal, Vail said, is for that report to be ready for funding through the 2022 Water Resources Development Act, a biennial, typically bipartisan bill that helps pay for flood mitigation infrastructure across the country.

Congress would have a substantial amount of time to review this report, potentially have hearings on this report, ask questions on their report, both formally and informally before the Water Resource Development Act (of 2022) was drafted, Vail said in an interview at the Corps Galveston headquarters.

Members of Texas congressional delegation are exploring whether the infrastructure bill could at least partially fund the project, but time is a factor with Biden aiming to get a bill passed by this summer. The Corps is still months away from officially putting the project on the table for congressional funding.

Corps officials said they are sorting through a final round of public comments as they target late August or early September for release of the final report. The agency will first submit the project for review to the governors office and federal and state officials. Then it goes to Congress for consideration.

Johnny Hanson, Staff / Houston Chronicle

Part of infrastructure bill?

The barrier proposal calls for a gated structure stretching across the mouth of Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel that could be activated in the event of major storms. It also calls for 43 miles of dunes protecting the Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula coastline, as well as gates where Galveston Bay meets Clear Lake and Dickinson Bayou, and a ring levee that would protect the north side of Galveston island.

At least one Houston Democrat, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, is working to ensure Bidens $1.8 trillion infrastructure package includes funding for the latest version of so-called Ike Dike. Fletcher is making the case to the Biden administration and Democrats on key committees drafting the infrastructure bill that a catastrophic storm surge in the Houston Ship Channel would have devastating economic ripple effects, potentially crippling the busiest port in the country and much of the nations petrochemical industry.

But Bidens infrastructure plan doesnt include specific projects, and its unclear whether the $50 billion that the plan earmarks to guard the country against powerful storms would help fund the coastal barrier. Biden, who made a pitch for the infrastructure bill during appearances Thursday in Lake Charles, La., and New Orleans, has indicated to congressional leaders that he wants the measure passed this summer.

The entire coastal barrier project, which includes ecosystem restoration extending southwest to South Padre Island, is expected to cost $26 billion, with the dunes and sea gate at the ship channel alone accounting for $14 billion to $18 billion of that total. Once fully constructed, the Corps estimates the project will save $2.2 billion in storm damage every year.

Vail did not dismiss the possibility that Congress could choose to fund the barrier through other forms of legislation, but he said largely, Congress needs a (chief engineers) report to authorize funding.

The important thing is the due process, Vail said. Its not for me to tell Congress what they can or cant do. Clearly, its within their authority to authorize (funding for the coastal barrier) outside of a Water Resource Development Act.

Rocio Cruz, a spokeswoman for Fletcher, clarified that she is pushing to create a funding stream for coastal resiliency projects such as the Ike Dike.

Shes aware that the (Ike Dike) final report isnt going to be ready for the American Jobs Plan, but we wanted to make sure that theres a federal funding mechanism in place for when that is available, Cruz said.

Johnny Hanson, Staff / Houston Chronicle

Funding stream debated

It is unclear if Texas Republicans would push for the Ike Dike in the infrastructure bill, which many have criticized as too costly.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a leading backer of the project, has previously said he would push for congressional funding for the barrier once the plan is final. A Cornyn aide reaffirmed that the Republican senator is ready to fund the project however makes the most sense once the study is completed.

A spokesman for the Texas General Land Office, which is co-sponsoring the coastal barrier study along with the Corps, said there was no chance the final report on the project would be completed in time for it to be funded in the infrastructure bill.

Until that (chief engineers) report is out, were kind of in a holding pattern, said Matt Attwood, press secretary for the Land Office, which is led by Republican Commissioner George P. Bush.

Supporters of the Corps proposal familiar with the congressional wrangling around the Ike Dike say the Texas delegation is pursuing funds for the coastal barrier through both WRDA and the infrastructure bill.

If we get $3 billion out of the infrastructure bill and additional money out of the WRDA bill, thatll carry us easily to two and a half, three years (of construction), said Bob Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.

In an ideal world, supporters say, the barrier proposal would receive a direct appropriation to expedite construction. Calls for a coastal barrier intensified after Hurricane Ike in 2008, and officials said major hurricanes that narrowly missed the region last summer could have proved devastating.

The advantages to full funding upfront, Vail said, is that it would give the Corps flexibility in choosing contractors early in the design-build process. But full funding also would put significant pressure on the Corps to deliver projects on concrete timelines without going over budget.

Largely, appropriators when they put that kind of money (into a project) want to see it executed, Vail said.

Jon Shapley, Staff photographer / Staff photographer

Breaking ground

Timeline for proposed Ike Dike 2008: Hurricane Ike makes landfall in Galveston as a Category 2 storm, bringing 17-foot storm surges and causing more than $30 billion worth of damage. 2009: Bill Merrell, a professor at Texas A&M University at Galveston, develops the "Ike Dike" concept - a coastal barrier designed to protect the Houston-Galveston region from future storm surges. 2015: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas General Land Office begin work on a Coastal Texas Protection and Restoration Study Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Impact Statement, expected to take 5.5 years. 2018: The Corps and the Land Office release the initial phase of a coastal protection study and draft environmental impact statement, selecting a modified version of the "Ike Dike" concept as the preferred coastal barrier alignment. Estimated cost: $23 billion to $31 billion. 2020: The Corps revises its plan for a coastal barrier, with massive sea gates across the Houston Ship Channel and 43 miles of dunes and renourished beaches spanning Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston. Officials peg the total cost of the project at $26.2 billion. 2021: The final study of the coastal barrier is expected to be issued by the Army Corps of Engineers and General Land Office and the recommendation sent to Congress to consider funding. Sources: Chronicle archives See More Collapse

If the project is funded through the 2022 WRDA, the Corps could conceivably break ground by 2024. The sea gates across the mouth of Galveston Bay, the most construction-intensive portion of the project, would take about 19 years to complete from start to finish.

That has to do with the fact that we have to go into much more detail in the design, but also a lot of environmental assessment, said Kelly Burks-Copes, the project manager for the Army Corps Coastal Texas Study.

In the meantime, the Corps is taking a keen interest in tracking the state Legislatures consideration of a bill to create a regional Gulf Coast Protection District that could levy property taxes and issue bonds to build and maintain the coastal barrier and cover the states 35 percent cost share of the project. That bill has been approved by the state Senate and will soon be voted on by the Texas House.

The Gulf Coast Protection District, based on our review of the legislation, will absolutely be able to sign project agreements with the Corps of Engineers to deliver the coastal Texas project in the scheduled time frame, Vail said.

nick.powell@chron.com

twitter.com/nickpowellchron
During the pandemic Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has been one of Texas most consistent voices of caution. Elected in 2018 at age 27, shes basically the CEO of Texas largest county  one that, with a population around 4.8 million, is the size of an average American state.

In June 2020, as infections were surging, Hidalgo announced that Harris County was at COVID threat Level 1  red on the danger dial, the scariest and worst, with everyone urged to stay home. Now, almost a year later, with vaccines available for anyone who shows up, were still there. Will we ever get out? How will she know its time?

We spoke Thursday afternoon. In this interview, she talks about that and more  including I-45, voting rights, and just how long she wants to be county judge.

How on earth is Harris County ever going to start backing out of the pandemic? When can we relax?

The good news is, its beginning to be over. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just had my second Moderna shot about a week ago, and it was such a relief. I finally felt the full weight of the blessing that is having vaccines. Its like weve been given this gift, and all we have to do is accept it.\

I get epidemiology advice from doctors, and from folks at Rice University  the Texas Policy Lab epidemiologists at Rice have been advising us since the very beginning. Weve also just brought on another epidemiologist from UTHealth, just to have a different perspective.

Lately shes been showing me the numbers in Israel. In Israel, when 50 percent of the of the total population was fully vaccinated  not just the eligible population, but the total population, across all age groups  when that happened, you saw an incredible drop-off in all the indicators.

That, I think, is the beginning of the end. Obviously were going for herd immunity, but vaccinating 50 percent of the total population is going to be an important marker. Right now Harris County is still at 20-something percent thats fully vaccinated. For partially vaccinated, its around 30 percent.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Half of Texas adults have now had at least one shot of the COVID vaccine

At the same time, vaccination rates are slowing down. Thats definitely a call to action. Were a resilient community. Were gonna deal with whatever happens.

What gives me hope is, is No. 1: Folks are continuing to get vaccinated. No. 2: The more people get vaccinated, the more theyre going to tell their friends and family about it. The polls show that word of mouth is the most effective way to get people vaccinated.

Finally, Im heartened that we are seeing the numbers improving as the vaccine uptake continues. Now, the numbers are still very high when you compare it to the rest of the world or you compared to where they should be. Theyre decreasing from a very high level. But the indicators weve been tracking from the very beginning are looking better.

Why do you think that some people in Harris County hesitate to be vaccinated? I saw a terrifying statistic this morning that in the U.S., only 9 percent of Americans who havent yet been vaccinated say that theyre likely to accept a vaccination. Do you think thats the case here?

There are a lot of possible culprits for hesitation. We knew that from the very start. When the vaccines were rolled out, polls were done, and around 40 percent of folks were what you call vaccine hesitant. Then there was the situation with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. A lot of people want the Johnson & Johnson because its a one-shot vaccine. Other people are worried about serious side effects  even though theyre incredibly rare, much rarer than what you have for other vaccines, or other medicines.

Then finally, as time goes by, theres more and more misinformation. And unfortunately, COVID from very close to the beginning, has been this tragic politicized wedge issue. It started with the mask situation. That takes a toll.

But were not powerless. To tackle it, weve lowered the barriers to entry. You can go to NRG Park seven days a week, from noon to 9 p.m., and just get your vaccine. Ever since weve had vaccines, weve also been sending them into the community  to communities of faith, schools, parks, you name it. Were continuing that in close to 100 locations all throughout the county. Well give people a ride to NRG: We will go pick you up and drive you.

On HoustonChronicle.com: By the numbers: How vaccine skepticism in Texas' Trump country threatens herd immunity

We vaccinated the homeless shelters and the assisted living facilities early on. That was a top priority.

Weve taken the trouble to identify those areas that are least vaccinated and that have the highest incidence of COVID, and since February weve had a media campaign especially in those areas. And now we go door-knocking in those areas.

Now we are also doing more promotional, sort of gimmicky stuff. But hey, you know, sometimes you just got to do it: raffles food, giveaways. If you get your vaccine at NRG, where a lot of young people are getting vaccine, hey, youre going to be entered into a giveaway to go the Travis Scott Astroworld concert  which, like, sold out in one day.

So its a lot of things, and were gonna keep pushing.

Michael Wyke / Contributor

If a bobblehead is what it takes, so be it?

[Laughs.] Right? The Altuve bobbleheads are going fast. So were trying to get our hands on more of those.

How will you decide when to lower the threat level? What goes into that decision?

That question is actually very easy for me to answer. When theres a hurricane, when theres a power outage, when theres a flood, we sort of know how it goes. We know what to do. With the pandemic, nobody had experience with it  nobody whos alive, right? Certainly not the folks that are making the decisions. All of us were trying to make the best decisions that we could with the information we had.

What I decided  and what has served me well, letting me sleep at night and feel that Im doing my absolute best  was to surround myself with people who are going to give me advice that is focused on the information they have, on what the numbers tell them, what their expertise and their training tells them, and who are not going to try to do politics for me.

It was hard to find those people. Candidly, there were folks early on  public health experts and doctors  who didnt want to give me an answer, because they were like, Nobody wants to be the one making the decision.

Those people were scared: If I tell her that, and she does it, is she gonna blame me? I could kind of understand.

Then there were folks who were saying, Well, you could do this, but then politically

And Im like, Okay, youre the doctor. I dont need your your political advice. Im not even caring about the politics, so I really dont need you to care about the politics.

We found epidemiologists at Rice who have been fantastic. They helped us develop the threat-level system. They did research from around the world and around the country. We talked to other jurisdictions. We worked with our public health department.

We came up with these metrics: hospitalization trends, positivity rate, case count, what percentage of the of the ICU population is COVID-positive. We laid out, Okay, this is what we do at Red, Orange, Yellow and Green.

That means that the threat level isnt determined by how I wake up feeling in the morning. Its what the numbers say.

COVID HELP DESK: I had terrible side effects after my first vaccine dose. Why should I get the second?

Right now three out of the five indicators are at orange. Two are red, but one of those is close to turning orange. The test positivity rate is still at 9-point-something percent. It needs to get to 5 for us to get to orange.

Ive asked: What am I missing? For example, we brought on this new UTHealth epidemiologist to say, Hey, do I need to redo this threat level system? One big question I had two months ago was, do we need to add an indicator about vaccination uptake? She explained, Well, no, because when people take the vaccine, the other numbers will reflect that.

In the next couple of weeks, were having another conversation: Okay, how about now? Has the science learned anything that means we need to change our threat-level system?

I feel very comfortable with it. When the numbers tell me its time to change, well change it.

You have to remember, this is advisory. Im trying to provide a true, honest image of the situation on the ground, of what the numbers tell us. And theres a reason the numbers are still high: Not enough people have gotten vaccinated.

Somebody needs to carry that message. If it has to be me, so be it. I know its annoying. I dont like it. I really dont. Its uncomfortable to be like, Nope, still not done. Its no fun at all. I know it doesnt help my approval rating.

But I do wonder, if my voice wasnt there to say, No, no, guys, its actually not party time. Were not done, then who would be saying that?

I hope thats helping folks remember that were still in the middle of a pandemic.

There is a way out. But we have got to go take that path so that we can move on.

How strange has it been to deal with a pandemic at the county-judge level? I dont think of pandemics as local problems But given that the state of Texas has been erratic, and that weve changed presidential administrations, our local governments have been the steadiest voices.

Early on I was able to identify that I needed principles to guide my decision making, and I needed to stick with them. Remember when the first reopening happened back in April or May of last year, and I said, I think its too soon? Thats what the doctors were telling me: that it was too soon.

I tried my best then to prove myself wrong. We launched an army of contact tracers and had advisories, the mask order, all of that. Folks started to say, Well, the cases arent going up yet. Why dont you change the threat level?

On HoustonChronicle.com: Texas COVID rates are down. But is this herd immunity? Not yet, experts say.

Its the same question youre asking now: Why dont you change things? Why dont you just say, Its okay? Everybody else is saying its okay.

But I had decided I was going to follow the numbers. I was going to follow these doctors who were demonstrating to me that they were doing very thorough research, and that they werent trying to play politics. And they were saying, If you look at all these places, when they do reopen, this is whats going to happen. It just takes a month and a half.

And lo and behold, a month and a half later, we lost 100 people in one month. We almost overwhelmed our hospital system. We were turning away ambulances. It was horrible. We had to turn away patients and send them to Dallas. It was very, very close to what we saw in New York, to what weve seen in other in other areas.

So thats been my commitment: to continue to follow those principles, even if its uncomfortable, but also continue to evaluate  to say, Hey, do we need to redefine our principles?

On HoustonChronicle.com: A half-million Texans haven't returned for their second COVID-19 vaccine dose. Why?

To your point  you mentioned state and federal government  the biggest challenge of the pandemic really has been the mixed messaging. I remember working early on across the aisle. I talked to the mayors who are Republicans and to my Republican colleagues on Commissioners Court. Of course I hold them in great respect, and we were all working together.

We were working on how to do mask distribution, how to teach people how to make their own. Some Republican elected officials had constituents make masks that they were sending to the community. They sent me some. It was really nice. Everybody understood that if you wear a mask, theres less transmission.

But then we got this sort of signal directive from the federal government  from the president. Then the governor adopted the same posture, and everybody else had to fall in line: Masks are gonna muzzle you. We dont believe in them. It became political.

Thats happened so many times during the pandemic. Ive seen the politicization of a disaster. Ive seen the mixed messages: people being coy about whether to take the vaccine or not. Theyre creating the hesitancy.

Thats hard to fight. Its really impossible. Throughout the pandemic, as I talk to members of the community, I ask what theyre thinking, how theyre feeling. What Ive heard is, I am confused. I do not know who to listen to.

That should not be what people get from government during a disaster.

Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Lets talk about a couple of other issues youre facing. Whats going on with I-45? What are your thoughts there?

Transportation policy in Harris County has an opportunity to reinvent itself. Weve been stuck in the 50s with this idea that the best way to fight traffic is to build more highways and wider highways. Its kind of a curiosity: Folks commonly see our big highways, and its like, Cool! But then theyd like fly back to wherever they live and not be stuck in traffic for an hour each way every single day.

We know that that I-45 needs to change: It needs to carry more people. Theres an opportunity to have a highway that could have transit within it, perhaps bus rapid transit. Theres also an opportunity to have a highway thats cognizant of the impacts it could have on the communities is passes through  a design that would keep a narrow footprint.

The current design would exacerbate traffic. The county and the city commissioned independent experts to do an analysis. It showed that if anything, the existing design would reduce traffic for only a limited period time. Then traffic would increase, as happened with I-10.

The proposed design would bring schools and houses of worships businesses within 500 feet of the freeway  so people would have increased asthma and respiratory issues. It would displace thousands of single and multi-family homes. Its just a design that is stuck in the past.

The vast, vast majority of the community generally agrees  this is nowhere near 50-50. Folks want a highway that is respectful of the health of the community, that actually reduces traffic, that is forward thinking.

So thats what weve asked the state to do. Weve been working on this for a long time. Ive spoken with Texas Department of Transportation leadership many times and said, Heres an alternative design. Weve commissioned experts to come up with an alternative design. Weve had community input. The communitys on board with it. Lets build this highway, not that highway.

But they say one thing, then they go and ignore us. So what weve done is, the county has sued the Texas Department of Transportation. The federal government actually has ordered the construction be stopped because they believe that construction violates the Civil Rights Act, Title Six, because of the unnecessary displacement itll cause.

Were hoping that gives us leverage not just to build a good highway, but to shift transportation policy in Harris County  to make the county attractive to people, to make them want to live here and work here, and to keep living here and work here. We want to make it so that they can do work on their way to work. So that theyre not stuck in traffic. So that people who dont have a car can get to where they need to go.

All of that is a weakness for our area. We need to tackle it.

Youve been strongly opposed to the voting security legislation thats moving through the Texas Legislature. Could you talk about that? And how it could affect Harris County?

There there are these these two bills, Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6. The House is voting on Senate Bill 7 today.

The bills specifically attack access to the ballot box  democracy. One of the provisions, for example, is that partisan poll watchers can record voters as theyre casting their vote. Poll watchers would be allowed to get as close as they need to be able to see whats happening at the polls.

The legislation says that poll watchers cant read what the person is doing, but it also says they can get as close as they need to, and also that poll workers cant stop them or theyll be charged with a misdemeanor. That evokes the images weve all seen of armed people standing outside polling locations, of the KKK intimidating voters. This is voter intimidation. Its harassment. Its very concerning.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Turner, Hidalgo pull out of GHP luncheons over chamber's silence on Texas voting bills

The legislation would also would make it a crime for elected officials  for leaders  to talk about mail-in voting, to so much as inform voters about mail-ballot voting. It would limit voting hours so that we could no longer do 24-hour voting. It would destroy drive-thru voting, which was an innovation we pioneered here in Harris County.

Thats the other piece: This bill specifically targets our Harris County innovations. We did all these things last year.

Both parties took advantage of them. Frankly, the election didnt turn out the way I wanted it to. Obviously my party won at the presidential level. But everything else that I thought the Democrats were going to win, we didnt. But I was still proud because people voted.

In the local elections we just had last week, the most used drive-thru voting location was in Kingwood, a heavily, heavily Republican-leaning area. It was retirees and people with young kids who were using drive-thru voting. Why attack that? Theres no evidence of fraud. These proposals do not make things more secure.

Its just a politicization of democracy. Hey, it is democracy to debate issues in a political way  whether it be immigration, whether it be transportation, whether it be taxes, or big government vs. small government. That is democracy. That is something we should cherish.

But to debate the value of American democracy itself? The beacon of light that we fight for, that gives hope to other nation? That needs to be beyond the reach of politics. Im fighting with everything Ive got to keep these bills from passing.

Im proud of everybody whos spoken up  particularly the business community because theyre uniquely positioned to keep American democracy from becoming a wedge issue.

The latest piece is that the the Greater Houston Partnership unfortunately refused to even hold a vote on whether to speak out against voter suppression, despite many respected leaders of the partnership requesting that a vote at least be held. Thats why Mayor Turner and I have decided to pull our marquee State of the County/State of the City speeches. We usually give those at the Greater Houston Partnership dais, but this year we wont.

Even if this legislation passes, were going to keep fighting. Well fight in the courts. But I think we can keep this from passing. We really can. These voter suppression bills are passing in Florida. Theyre passing in Georgia. They passed in Arizona. But we can stop it here.

Its not good for democracy. All of us should be protecting this. All of us should honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, the legacy of the people that bled at Selma. Weve fought these battles before, but theyre not done. Its on us to keep fighting them.

I have been amazed by the way that cities are steadily losing power in Texas  even though urban populations are rising, even though cities are where the money is. Do you have thoughts on that?

Im not sure I would characterize that as losing power. The fact that population is growing means that theres more heft to urban areas.

Now what is happening is, theres a very clear effort by the state to dilute the power of these urban areas. I dont think its gonna work out well for them, because ultimately people in the urban areas are their constituents too.

Last session, it was a revenue cap. As Harris County continues to have more and more people come into it, it has to provide more and more services, but we are capped on the amount of revenue we can collect. That means that over time, government spending on each person is going to have to go down.

And already we have enormous inequality. We have very high poverty. Our hospitals are woefully underfunded. Basic services are not being provided at the level they should be, and now its going to be even worse.

The voting bills single out counties over a million people. And we feel this with transportation  in the city of Houston and Harris County, our constituents want a certain highway, but the state is strong-arming us into this design that we dont want and we dont need. Why not work with us?

With the environment, on the local level, were going after bad actors that pollute. For example, with the ITC fire that we all lived through, were going after them so that the good actors are not put at a disadvantage. If theres no punishment for acting badly, then everybody else is going to lose money for just doing the right thing. But the state caps damages at $1 million, and tries to preempt our lawsuits in court.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Radishes and rye grass: Digging into new soil techniques at Hermann Park

It is a tension. Its there. The President sees it. I spoke to him about, and he understands that maybe his administration needs to have more direct relationships with urban areas. Thats very, very helpful.

But I would also hope that leaders at the state level recognize that Republicans can compete for urban votes. I dont want to admit that. [Laughs.] But the truth is, if you deliver, people will vote for you.

But this strategy of diluting voting power, of creating bills that that are going to lead to long lines at polling locations  thats going to catch up with the folks that are using it.

Last question: Youre planning to run again. Do you want to be county judge forever? Is this what you were put on earth to do?

Not forever, right? I want to serve one more term because theres so much that weve started that were not done with. The work were doing on early childhood education, for example  were working on an incubator program to identify the best program that wed expand to all the children in the county. Thats going to take some time.

We have this really neat mental health initiative to tackle mental health once and for all. With the juvenile justice initiative, weve made a lot of progress, but we still have more ambitions there.

I want to work on energy transition, to make sure that were smart, that our people that work in oil and gas are not left behind as the rest of the world moves on.

That stuff got put on pause because of COVID, so I really want to go do that again. And of course, to see through the investments that weve made on criminal justice reform, on voting, on smart budgeting  to see the fruits of those things and tweak as needed.

So Im hoping to serve another term. But I do not want or intend to be here for 30 years, as tends to happen with with these county positions. Id lose a fresh perspective, and I would not be able to contribute as much as I think I can by virtue of the fact that I have the ability to say, Hey, why why are we doing it that way?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

lisa.gray@chron.com, twitter.com/LisaGray_HouTX
With the rescission of the mask mandate and full reopening of businesses, medical experts worried spring would bring a debilitating fourth wave of COVID-19 infections to Texas.

But as vaccination rates slowly leveled off in recent weeks, the rate of infections and hospitalizations did as well. More than a year after businesses closed, offices sent workers home and traffic vanished from Houstons concrete jungle of freeways, public health officials are cautiously optimistic efforts to quell the spread of the virus and vaccinate as many people as possible are working.

Yet despite claims from officials like Gov. Greg Abbott that this downturn is linked to herd immunity  the mysterious target ranging between 60 and 80 percent fully vaccinated against COVID-19  experts say Texas cannot rely on vaccinations alone to achieve what some think may mean the end of the pandemic.

Nobody knows for sure whats going to happen, said Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist with UTHealth School of Public Health in Houston. But my educated guess would be as more of the population becomes either vaccinated or immune through natural infection, we won't see as many cases.

Fewer than 3,000 patients have been hospitalized across the state for the past five weeks, according to a Chronicle data analysis. Its the longest streak with that few patients since June 2020.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Q&A: Lina Hidalgo on her political future, I-45 and lowering Harris County's COVID threat level

Dr. Carl Vartian, chief medical officer at HCA Houston Healthcares Clear Lake and Mainland hospitals, worries the public conflates herd immunity with ending COVID-19. But COVID-19 may not truly end. Rather, experts suspect it will become endemic, never fully leaving the population  like influenza, which still infects hundreds of thousands of people a year in the U.S.

The vaccines currently authorized for emergency use are designed to reduce severe complications and death from COVID-19, but researchers dont know whether herd immunity from mass vaccination prevents infections.

We have to remember the number of people who have had natural disease are in the tens of millions, he said. Some we knew about, some were asymptomatic and we never really diagnosed them. Between the vaccine and people who've already had COVID, I think we got a huge percentage of our population.

Even if the nation as a whole reaches herd immunity, that doesnt grant Houstons safety. Disease transmission happens at the local level; therefore the virus can continue spreading wildly in areas with lower rates than the national average. And visitors to these places could even bring the virus back with them when they return home, spreading it anew.

Herd immunity is sort of a false god to begin with, Troisi said.

Why there was no wave

Medical experts cant pinpoint the exact reason behind the low numbers, but the historic winter storm, slowly rising vaccination rates and continued mask-wearing may account for part of it.

NEXT STEPS: Pfizer and BioNTech gun for full FDA approval of COVID-19 vaccine

As the state came off the holiday peak by late January, people became more cautious about mask-wearing and gathering with people outside of their immediate circles, said Ben Neuman, a Texas A&M epidemiologist.

A fourth wave in the spring, doctors worried, would be worse than any of the previous surges. Houston is now home to a more infectious variant of COVID-19, B.1.1.7, and while that doesnt necessarily mean its more severe, it is more transmissible.

Infection and hospitalization rates are low, but theyre not decreasing. Neuman suspects that more younger people are catching COVID-19 but are asymptomatic, and skipping tests.

Wastewater samples are still detecting COVID-19 in the statewide population, so the virus is still there. But epidemiologists worry there is now a false sense of security without high reported infection rates.

What if we are now a mine without a canary? Neuman said.

What about herd immunity?

Herd immunity is possible for some viruses such as polio and smallpox, but epidemiologists think the world wont be as lucky with COVID-19. The current theory is that immunity from a prior infection or a COVID-19 vaccine lasts for at least a year, and will require booster shots in the future.

As of May 5, 11 million people, or more than half of Texas adults, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 8 million are fully vaccinated.

The numbers are similarly high in Harris Countys seniors; more than 78 percent of the 65 and older population in the county had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Were something like halfway toward the virus going extinct on its own, Neuman said.

If the county and the state can fully vaccinate at least 50 percent of the population, they can start to turn the corner on infection rates, public health officials said. Scientists have held up Israel, which has vaccinated half its population, as an example. The country has lowered infection rates in the six months since its vaccine campaign debuted, and offers a blueprint for local and national governments worldwide to curb the pandemic.

LISTEN: Why have Houston's COVID vaccine rates slowed so much?

That, I think, is the beginning of the end, said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. Obviously were going for herd immunity, but vaccinating 50 percent of the total population is going to be an important marker.

Nationwide, Vartian expects infection rates to stay low.

There will be individual upticks here and there, there might be a superspreader event, he said. Anything can happen. But slow and steady wins the race. 

NEW TYPE: As COVID rages in India, Peter Hotez's vaccine provides hope to prevent future waves

Putting all trust into a COVID-19 vaccine to solve the pandemic is fine, Troisi said, but its unattainable as long as children  who make up 20 percent of the U.S. population  are ineligible for vaccines and vaccine hesitancy continues.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize Pfizers vaccine for emergency use in children between 12 and 15 years old as soon as next week, which should put shots in the arms of tens of millions of teenagers.

For the pandemic to truly end, there needs to be a mixture of public health measures, contact tracing and vaccination, experts said.

The idea that if we got 80 percent of the population immune, we wouldn't see any more infections, was never realistic, Troisi said.

Staff writers Jordan Rubio and Lisa Gray contributed to this story.

gwendolyn.wu@chron.com

twitter.com/gwendolynawu
Deborah Hood looked skinnier than her sister remembered. She was malnourished. Bruises dotted her arms.

The 66-year-old, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was among 37 people removed in September from an unregulated boarding home on Long Meadow Drive in south Harris County. The residents shared one bathroom and slept on mattresses spread throughout the three-bedroom home and garage. The fridge was bare. Pill bottles were thrown in plastic bins.

Hoods sister, Ella McGready, did not know how she ended up there.

Im scared for her, and Im angry, McGready said.

Hood was caught in what Texas legislators and law enforcement describe as a plague of boarding homes operating without oversight in the Houston area. Left unchecked, the homes can become an enclosure for unsanitary conditions, financial exploitation and physical abuse, law enforcement officials say.

The state defines boarding homes as facilities housing at least three people who are disabled or elderly and not related to the owner. The homes offer basic services, such as meals and money management, but do not administer 24-hour care often provided by state-licensed assisted living facilities.

In Houston, police have fined dozens of boarding home operators who fail to get proper permits, including one man who racked up more than 70 arrest warrants at municipal court with about $74,000 in fees. But even as officials begin allowing permits for boarding homes in formerly unregulated parts of Harris County, existing standards are not enough to stop some operators from taking advantage of the areas most vulnerable residents, said state Sen. Borris Miles, D-Houston.

Its really sad to see we have human beings living this way, said Miles, who has filed multiple bills that would create state law violations for operating an unlicensed boarding home It goes on not just in Houston, and it has been getting by for a while.

Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

They dont care

Boarding homes are not regulated by the state of Texas, so oversight falls to cities and counties. State law allows local governments to establish their own rules but does not require it.

The Houston City Council first adopted boarding home regulations in 2013. The council tightened the ordinance in 2018 after several fatal fires at unregulated homes.

CHRONICLE INVESTIGATION: Fatal fire exposes lax oversight of Houston's rooming houses

Since the change, Houston police have cracked down on boarding home operators who try to skirt the new requirements, which include obtaining a permit and passing occupancy and fire code inspections. Now, operators must also provide framed beds and keep a roster with resident names and prescribed medication.

There are 61 permitted boarding homes in the city with dozens more in the permitting process. The Houston Police Departments Boarding Home Enforcement Unit inspects up to 10 homes a week to ensure compliance. Since the 2018 ordinance was adopted, 100 operators have been cited for running a home without a permit, according to Houston Municipal Court records.

Some operators, however, ignore the citation, which amounts to a traffic ticket and usually comes with a fine of $500.

Some of them, they dont care, said Officer Jason Llorente of the departments boarding home unit. It doesnt affect them. In my experience it has been that way. There are those you can issue citations, as many as youd like, and they still do not get permitted.

One of Miles bills would enhance the penalty for operating a home without a permit to a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail or a $2,000 fine. The bill has passed the Senate and is pending in a House committee.

When Houston police talk about ignoring penalties, they are referring to boarding home operators such as Carroll Richardson. He has 76 outstanding arrest warrants, issued between 2018 and 2021, for failure to appear in Houston Municipal Court on his boarding home citations, according to documents obtained through an open records request. The 47-year-old owed $74,894 to the court as of March.

Richardson and his attorney in an ongoing criminal case related to a boarding home resident did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment for this story. Residents at two different listed addresses for Richardson said he did not live there.

Llorente and Officer Trammel McKnight of the boarding home unit said they repeatedly cited Richardson over a three-year period for unpermitted boarding homes in Houston. Mounting fines did not deter him from opening a network of seven unpermitted homes in the city limits under the name Blessed Hands or Caring Hands, they said.

When the officers learned that one home closed, a 911 call would reveal another unpermitted home at a new location, they said.

Opening multiple homes is a common practice among operators who flout the citys ordinance, police say.

In our experience, they will depart from that home and set up shop in a new home elsewhere until we find them again at that location, said Lt. Isaac Duplechain of the Houston police Mental Health Division. And then we continue to encourage them to come into compliance through our citations.

Houston Police Department/Courtesy

Criminal history

Operators can easily take advantage of a population that relies on boarding homes as an affordable alternative to living on the street, said Mary McFaden, division chief of the Harris County District Attorneys Office Domestic Violence Division.

Many residents do not have support from family. Although they live independently, state law allows boarding home operators to manage residents money, which often comes in the form of Social Security or disability benefits.

McFaden said financial exploitation is among the most common issues.

People dont go to these facilities because they want to, she said during recent public testimony in support of Miles bills. Its because its affordable. Its a roof over their head, and theyre willing to put up with almost anything to have that instead of being on the street.

Obtaining a boarding home permit in Houston also requires a background check for operators and employees. Criminal convictions within the last five years of the application can be grounds for denial. The ordinance lists several crimes - including drug distribution, theft and various types of assault - that can disqualify an operator.

Richardson has multiple felony convictions, including aggravated robbery and theft, as recently as 2012. As for active cases, he was accused in November 2019 of assaulting an elderly woman with a mental illness who lived at his boarding home in South Acres.

The woman said she no longer wanted to live there when she discovered the poor living conditions, according to court records.

Police said they agreed to meet at a Texaco gas station after she asked him to return her debit card. Video footage captured Richardson grabbing the woman by the neck and hair, records say. At one point, he pushed her to the ground, and the womans head struck a wall as she fell, according to court records.

Richardson is out on bond in that case and is due in court on May 25.

Another boarding home worker has been accused of injuring a resident in Houston. An arrest warrant remains active for John Grant, who is charged with injury to an elderly person in the death of 65-year-old boarding home resident Clifton Barber.

Listed as homeless in court records, Grant, 57, was accused of tying Barber to a chair on multiple occasions at a boarding home in the 5800 block of Schevers. Records say a caretaker at the home, Shaun Sandles, told police he was employed by the Blessed Hands company, which was operated by Richardson. Sandles has not been charged in the case.

A witness said Grant would leave Barber tied up from midday to sunset as punishment, releasing him later so that he can rest at night, records show.

Court records identified Grant as an employee at the unregulated boarding home at 14026 Long Meadow Drive, where 37 people were removed because of inhumane conditions. Richardson, meanwhile, was identified by the Harris County Precinct 7 Constables Office as the operator of that home.

Expanding permits

Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Richardson is not facing any criminal charges related to the home on Schevers Street or the home on Long Meadow Drive, which remains under investigation.

The latter home was discovered after a resident told a family member that he was being held hostage on the second floor.

McGready, the sister of resident Deborah Hood, said she learned about the home through news coverage. She discovered that her sisters Social Security benefits were being sent to the publicized address. She also noted one charge on her sisters bank account totaling about $2,000 at a department store.

She said Hood told her that people inside the home would put their foot on her back to make her go to sleep at night.

People suffering from mental health, they just kinda get thrown onto the street or thrown into unlicensed care homes, and I try to take on my sister because of that, she said.

When reached by phone, Sandles, the caretaker in the Schevers home, identified himself as an employee of the home on Long Meadow Drive.

The picture they painted - it was not like that, he said. I was an employee, but I no longer deal with any of that.

He declined to comment further.

The discovery of that home energized Miles and county officials to take a closer look at boarding home regulations outside of Houston.

In January, Harris County commissioners approved new laws that require a permit to operate boarding homes in unincorporated areas. Similar to Houstons ordinance, the county mandated occupancy restrictions, background checks and annual safety inspections.

Without the regulations officers would just respond to calls and just deal with whatever the situation was at that time, maybe not even really knowing if it was a group home, said Harris County Sheriffs Office Sgt. Brian Tschudy, who leads a newly formed Boarding Home Detail charged with enforcing the rules.

According to Tschudy, the detail has identified 109 facilities in unincorporated Harris County that would fall under the states definition of a boarding home. He said all of them will need a permit by September.

She cares so much

Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Tschudy and the district attorneys office worked with Miles in crafting his legislation, which includes a measure that would create a Class A misdemeanor for failing to report abuse in a boarding home. That bill also has passed the Senate and has been referred to the House.

Law enforcement officials are not the only people advocating for stricter penalties against unpermitted boarding home operators.

Queena Baldwin operates Willing Workers Club, a network of four permitted boarding home properties in Houston. She says the neglected homes that attract publicity give her profession a bad name.

I feel like, if youre going to be in the business of caring for people, then you need to care enough to get a license, she said.

She houses up to 65 clients at her boarding homes throughout Houston, including those with bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.

On a recent tour of her home on Dover Street, she showed off an array of permits and inspection records mounted to a wall. She opened a locked cabinet, revealing medication neatly arranged with labels corresponding to each resident.

Mario Martinez, 51, has lived in Baldwins home for nearly a decade.

She cares so much to help me out in situations that I didnt think anybody would dare think about helping me, Martinez said.

julian.gill@chron.com
A member of a white supremacist prison gang pleaded guilty Thursday to helping brutally beat a fellow gang member whod wanted to leave the group.

Rodney Shane Holt, aka Turbo, 48, of Tyler, Texas, pleaded guilty an assault charge in aid of racketeering, as well as conspiring to sell firearms to a convicted felon, according to a Department of Justice newsrelease. He faces a maximum sentence on the charges of up to 25 years in prison.

Holt was a member of the Aryan Circle, one of the largest, most widely established white power prison gangs in the United States. The group counts hundreds among its members and operates in more than half-dozen states.

The group is well organized and lethal, ordering hits in and out of prison and running illegal drug and arms trafficking operations. It demands total allegiance and punishes those who stray. Law enforcement officials warn that the groups violence extends beyond prison walls and can harm innocent victims.

Hate, violence, brutal retribution: Inside ATFs effort to take down the Aryan Circle prison gang

Holt came under scrutiny of investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other agencies during a sprawling multi-year investigation.

Court records indicate that Holt planned and helped carry out the vicious beating in 2016 of another AC member who wanted to leave the group to join a different gang.

Holts lawyer, Tom Berg, defended Holt by describing him as a bit player who was tangentially involved in some of the worst excesses of the AC.

He said that Holt now is on bond because he suffers from end-stage kidney disease and needs dialysis three times a week.

Like everybody else, the vicissitudes of time are a factor, he said. It was less expensive for the federal government to have him on bond and tend to his dialysis on his own than to pay to keep him incarcerated and take him to treatment.

Holts guilty plea comes three weeks after another man admitted in court to selling multiple kilograms of meth to in 2016 to gang members living in the Houston area  who then trafficked it across state lines and sold it to other gang members in Louisiana.

Eulalio Torres-Cadenas, or Yayo, 43, of Houston, Texas, faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison. Torres-Cadenas attorney declined comment.

Sentencing dates have not yet been set.
At first it was hard to imagine what they had in common: Houston, a city of 2.3 million people who live among hulking refineries and by bayous they fear are polluted. And Copenhagen, home to 600,000 people, a place known for its picturesque, waterside living that aims to be the worlds first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.

But on Monday, people from both cities logged onto Microsoft Teams, at 9:15 a.m. Houston time and 4:15 p.m. Copenhagen time, to talk about shared issues of climate, resilience and infrastructure.

The day of workshops kicked off the start to new agreements between the cities, as well as the city of Houston and the kingdom of Denmark. Officials will collaborate on how to address climate and water-related problems.

The partnership begins several years after the Consulate General of Denmark opened an office here in Williams Tower, with views of the freeways. It highlights Mayor Sylvester Turners ongoing effort to change the citys reputation from a metropolis partly responsible for climate change to a place combating it.

Part of that effort is the citys Resilient Houston plan, a one-year-old, evolving document guiding the city toward improved infrastructure, equity and a strengthened economy. The idea behind it is to reduce ongoing stresses so residents can better withstand a shock, be it a hurricane, the pandemic or a winter storm.

One of the goals of that plan is to form global partnerships to build resilience, the citys chief resilience officer, Marissa Aho, told the Monday morning group. Aho moved from Los Angeles to Houston to steer the work. On Monday, she presented excerpts from the plan.

This is why were here today, she said, hopeful the partnership will lead to innovation and help identify projects to implement.

An entire book has been written on where the two cities diverge (Market Cities, People Cities: The Shape of Our Urban Future). Turner conceded later in a speech that he had never been to Denmark, which is a roughly 12-hour flight from Houston. Echoes of Houstons least-favorite phrase, Houston, we have a problem, emerged that morning in the Teams chat.

HOUSTON we cant hear you!!

But when one gets right down to it, there are overlaps between the cities.

Houstonians dread tropical storms and hurricanes. Danes dread sudden, heavy rainstorms called cloudbursts. A cloudburst in 2011 caused about $1 billion in damage to Copenhagen. Hurricane Harvey damages in 2017 cost an estimated $125 billion.

Both have climate plans. Both face major threats from sea level rise.

And as Turner said, If this world is to be saved, it will take each and every one of us to do it.

The Copenhagen folks expressed interest in Houstons resiliency framework. The Houstonians listened to Lykke Leonardsen, who leads Copenhagens resilient and sustainable city solutions program, outline creative projects carried out on her side of the pond, as she put it.

Copenhagen, like Houston, faced the challenge of what severity of storm to design for. They also turned to nature-based infrastructure, which Houston is moving toward, offering examples of parking spaces, a traffic roundabout and a dead-end street turned to green space that helps manage floodwater.

One of the biggest endeavors was a park designed to flood, with walls on three sides that seal off as the water rises. The aim is to reduce flooding elsewhere.

The meeting was in English but coming together would require a translation of sorts.

Many in the city of Houstons public works department were geter done kind of people, said Carol Haddock, the agencys director, and they werent always focused on the big picture of how their work related to residents.

But Leonardsen, speaking with a background image of leafy trees, thought shared ideas would apply in both cities.

Theres a lot of thinking thats the same way and we do not need everybody to invent the deep plate  or I mean the wheel  in order to get ahead, Leonardsen said.

She added: I dont intend to change the world in Houston, but if I can bring you some inspiration, I think it would be great.

emily.foxhall@chron.com

twitter.com/emfoxhall
Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is speaking out again on bills that Democrats say would add major obstacles to voting after the Texas House advanced one of the bills late Thursday night.

In a statement released Friday, Hidalgo said the Senate Bill 6 and 7 has made it "mainstream in Texas for laws to be written that make voting more difficult" and that this is "a dangerous path for Texas to travel."
After Kingwood Republican Dan Hubertywon his first race for the House in 2010, his legislative colleagues soon learned what his constituents back home already knew: The former chair of the Humble ISD School Board was smart, knowledgeable about school finance and serious enough about substantive state issues to work with anybody, Republican or Democrat, to get things done. Calling him a landslide choice for Rookie of the Year, Texas Monthly noted that he was self-assured, diligent and willing and able to handle tough issues.

He went on to chair the the House Education Committee and championed last sessions long-time-coming landmark reform of Texas school finance system.

But last week when Huberty addressed his colleagues on the House floor, it wasnt as chairman, a title he no longer carries in his sixth session. He didnt speak about education or property taxes or any other legislative concern.

My name is Dan, he said, and Im an alcoholic.

Hubertys painful and contrite confession came in the wake of his arrest in Montgomery County on the night of April 23, when he ran a red light and crashed his black Corvette into an SUV while driving home from Austin. Three occupants of the SUV suffered minor injuries.

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A video viewed thousands of times on YouTube shows a Montgomery County Precinct 4 constable handcuffing the gray-haired lawmaker and hauling him off to jail, where he was charged with driving while intoxicated.

What about my phone? he asks the constable in a quiet voice as she opens the back door of her vehicle and ushers him in. The video ends with Hubertys sleek Corvette, its sloped hood scraped and dented, being hauled off into the night at the tail end of a tow truck.

Huberty would no doubt agree that he should have confronted his alcohol demon long ago. There have been signs along the way in recent years that it was getting the best of him.

I have had a problem with alcohol for my entire adult life, he told his colleagues last week, his voice betraying a slight quiver. While I have been sober for 23 of the last 30 years, it became clear to me in the last several months that I desperately needed help. I was embarrassed to ask and candidly did not know how to get the help that I needed.

He apologized to his family, his constituents, his colleagues in government and the people whose SUV he hit. He pledged to be

conscientious about working through the 12-step program thats at the core of Alcoholics Anonymous. Texas House members gave him a standing ovation when he finished his remarks.

TEXAS TAKE: Sign up for Texas politics and policy news, curated by the Chronicle's Austin bureau

Fortunately, no one had to die or suffer serious injuries before Huberty faced up to his illness. We too applaud his courage in using his public platform and the floor of a prestigious institution to testify to his personal struggle, and we hope that it both served to educate Texans on the power of drug addiction and remind those battling the same demons that they are not alone and there is no shame in asking for help.

Huberty is hardly the first to be waylaid by alcoholism  the late Gov. Ann W. Richards and former governor and president George W. Bush spring to mind. But as a public figure, Huberty he has a special responsibility as a role model. His mission from here on out, regardless of what he does on education policy and other important issues, is to continue to educate others on the perils of alcoholism, to the alcoholic and to society at large.

By standing up and speaking out, he can help erode the stigma that often prevents alcoholics from confronting their illness. He also can remind his legislative colleagues and his constituents that alcoholics, like those addicted to other drugs, need treatment, not just punishment. They need hospital beds, not just jail cells.

Of course, thats not to minimize drunken driving, which remains, as Mothers Against Drunk Driving reminds us, the No. 1 cause of death on our roadways. A person driving under the influence must face the legal consequences of their actions, and Huberty is no exception.

Alcoholism is a serious disease, one that is becoming a pandemic in itself, he said last week.

As Texas Monthly noted years ago, hes a man whos willing and able to handle tough issues. We wish Rep. Huberty strength and perseverance as he confronts what could be his toughest battle for reform.
Vaccine incentives

Regarding Money as incentive for vaccine? Experiment suggests it can work, (A12, May 5): I find it incomprehensible that anyone would reward people who havent gotten their shots with a cash incentive when its for their own protection and the protection for our families and our community. What about those of us who waited in long lines early on to get our shots? Are we to pay the naysayers and the tardy with our taxes or donations to do what they should have done all along?

I think I know two things that could be done to motivate those who havent shown up for the good of all of us, and neither costs us anything. No. 1: Encourage all the daily newspapers in the country to publish on their front pages the daily counts of the deaths of those who had received shots versus those who hadnt. And No. 2: Award patriotic pins to all people who have been fully vaccinated. Simple enough.

Ray C. Lawrence, Houston

Rights are rights

Regarding Proposed abortion ban brashly ignores all Texans rights, (A3, May 5): It seems hypocritical how Erica Grieder stands up for rights on one topic and writes about curtailing rights on another. Her column is about how the heartbeat bill ignores Texans rights, but she has also written about a need to limit Second Amendment rights. Abortion is an expansion of the Fourteenth Amendment. If someone is OK with limiting rights of one amendment then they should be OK with limiting the rights in another.

Robert Flanary, Houston

Bravo Zulu

Regarding Training is the least we can do to carry a handgun, (B1, May 5): Congratulations to Chris Tomlinson qualifying for his license to carry. Good job on scoring 247 out of a possible 250. As a longtime member of the shooting community I have a couple of critiques. First, bend slightly forward at the waist when shooting and try placing your weak-side foot slightly ahead of your center. Second, quit thinking of the handgun as a weapon but rather as a shield to protect yourself and loved ones. Third, continue training. Participate in some of the competitions that are offered at most ranges. You will find people there who are eager to welcome you, offer advice and are just great people to be around. Lot of fun and always educational. You will always take something away from these experiences.

Bravo Zulu!

Jeff Kesler, Sugar Land
Organized religion has been on the decline for decades in the United States. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers found that online searches for the word prayer soared to their highest level ever in over 90 countries. And a 2020 Pew Research study showed that 24 percent of U.S. adults stated their faith had become stronger during the pandemic.

I am a theologian who studies trauma and this shift makes sense to me. I often teach that traumatic events are, at their heart, crises of meaning that cause people to question assumptions about their lives, including their spiritual beliefs. The years 2020 and 2021 certainly fit that bill: The global COVID-19 pandemic has indeed led to traumatic experiences for many people, due to the isolation, illness, fear and death that it created.

Questioning beliefs

People who experience traumas tend to question some of the assumptions they might have had about their faith  what pastoral theologian Carrie Doehring calls embedded beliefs. These beliefs may include ideas about who God is, the purpose of life or why evil events happen to good people.

So, for instance, many Christians may inherit an embedded belief from the tradition that God is all good and that evil emerges when God rightly punishes people for their sins. In other words, an all-good God would not punish someone without a reason.

Christians raised with that assumption might ask what made them incur Gods wrath if they contracted COVID-19. In such an event, the embedded belief in a punishing God may become something called a negative coping strategy  a coping strategy that has negative effects on a persons life.

Heres what this might look like practically: If a person believes theyre being punished by God, they may feel shame or despair. If they feel God is punishing them for no reason, they may feel confusion or try to identify something that is problematic or sinful about their identity. As a result, their faith becomes something that is a source of stress or cognitive dissonance rather than a source of comfort. If that happens, then the belief is functioning as a negative coping strategy that the person needs to address.

Trauma and religiosity

Mental health experts like Judith Herman have known for several decades that healing from trauma involves making meaning of the traumatic event. Traumatic events are often confusing for people because they dont make much sense. In other words, traumas differ from the expectations of everyday life, and as a result, they seem to defy meaning or purpose.

Spiritually, individuals may begin to recognize that some of their beliefs got challenged by the trauma. This is the time when spiritual meaning-making occurs because people start to discern which embedded beliefs still make sense and which need to be revised.

During this stage of recovery, theologian and trauma expert Shelly Rambo explains that traumatized individuals may draw on prayers, personal reflections, rituals and conversations with spiritual experts such as chaplains, ministers and spiritual directors. These have been shown to function as positive coping mechanisms that help individuals feel more grounded in the aftermath of a trauma.

Over time, these resources help individuals develop more intentional beliefs, meaning consciously chosen beliefs that take their suffering into account. These might include reasons why the suffering occurred and what its significance is for the overall meaning of the persons life. Doehring refers to these as deliberative, or consciously chosen, beliefs. Individuals have a sense of commitment to these beliefs because they make sense in light of the trauma.

So in the hypothetical case of someone who believes God is punishing them for contracting COVID-19, that feeling of shame and despair may result from a failure to understand why God would treat them that way. These negative feelings would then function as negative coping mechanisms that prevent healing, as psychologist Kenneth Pargament and his colleagues have observed about similar situations where people felt God was punishing them.

The person might then try to alleviate their distress by questioning the assumption that God punishes people with illness, thereby starting a kind of spiritual quest or reassessment of beliefs. They may even start to think differently about God being a punishing deity. The shift between what the person assumed about God and this new, consciously chosen belief, is an example of the shift between embedded and deliberative beliefs.

Trauma and atheism

Some people may argue that suffering logically ought to turn people into atheists. After all, the horror of something like the COVID-19 pandemic could easily make someone question how it would be possible for any deity to allow such horrors.

It would make far more sense to reason that creation is random, chaotic and determined only by some combination of the forces of nature and human decisions. The agnostic philosopher Bertrand Russell crafted such a proposal when he argued that Christians should accompany him to a childrens hospital unit because they would inevitably stop believing in God once they saw such profound suffering.

The way humans experience suffering spiritually, however, may not necessarily lead to atheism or agnosticism. Indeed, research from experts who study the intersection of psychology and religion  including psychologists of religion and pastoral theologians  has found that events that could be labeled as traumatic do not necessarily destroy faith.

Indeed, they can also strengthen it because faith-based beliefs and practices can help individuals make sense of their lifes story. In other words, trauma challenges so many assumptions about who we are, what our purpose is and how to make sense of a traumatic event. Faith-based beliefs and practices offer meaningful resources to help navigate those questions.

This is why spiritual beliefs and practices across various religions can often lead to faith strengthening rather than weakening, following a trauma.

So even though people may have had limited access to buildings like churches or synagogues during the pandemic, they still had access to spiritual resources that can help them navigate traumatic events. This may explain data showing that some individuals are stating their faith is stronger than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hansen is an assistant professor of pastoral theology and the director of field education at the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin. This piece was first published by The Conversation.
After days of external pressure from Harris County politicians and internal calls from board members to speak out against voting bills in the Texas Legislature, the Greater Houston Partnership on Thursday evening issued a broad condemnation of efforts to restrict ballot access.

It made no mention of the legislation.

Bob Harvey, the partnerships president, said the statement came out of a listening session Thursday morning with more than 80 board members to discuss the bills. The two main proposals, Senate Bill 7 and House Bill 6, would limit early voting hours, ban drive-thru voting, lessen restrictions on poll watchers and streamline the process to purge voters from rolls.

Harris Countys election administrator said a provision in SB 7 to tie polling sites to the population of state House districts would result in shifting sites from Houston neighborhoods with high Black and Latino populations to suburban, whiter ones.

Harvey said 15 members spoke during the one-hour discussion, and it remains clear there is no consensus on our board to take a formal position on the legislation itself.

He said a clear consensus did support the new statement, which acknowledges that Texas and the United States have historically suppressed the vote of certain groups, including women, the poor, residents of color and those with disabilities. The partnership, the statement reads in part:

Believes voter suppression is wrong and stands firmly against it in any form.

Believes impediments to voting should be reduced to the greatest extent possible.

Believes the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and that all citizens should have ready and easy access to vote.

A group of 10 board members last week called on the partnership to formally oppose the voting bills. Some said they were dismayed by Harveys comments then that the group lacked a consensus, since he declined to hold a special board meeting at which one may be reached nor allow the group to vote on the matter.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Thursday they found the partnerships silence unacceptable. Both said they would not host their annual state of the city and county speeches with the partnership this year, which are typically large fundraisers for the group.

Turner and Hidalgo said Friday the partnerships new statement would not change their decision. The mayor said he was disappointed the House had advanced its version of SB 7 overnight.

More than 350 of these voter restriction, suppression bills have been filed across the country, trying to fix a problem that doesnt exist, Turner said. These bills were filed because a lot of people voted in the last presidential election, and specifically more people of color.

The partnership, founded in 1840, is the regions largest chamber of commerce. It regularly lobbies the Legislature on issues that affect its members and constituents.

zach.despart@chron.com
A political consultant for Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was arrested Thursday in Travis County on allegations that he collected cash and campaign donations in exchange for access to state licenses for growing hemp, which is used to make CBD oil.

Todd Malcolm Smith, 59, was charged with third-degree felony theft for his alleged role in a scheme in which hes said to have raked in $55,000 while his associates convinced potential growers that the payments were needed to receive a license, according to the arrest warrant affidavit first reported by the Texas Standard and obtained by Hearst Newspapers. He was released Friday on $10,000 bail.

READ THE AFFIDAVIT: Todd Malcom Smith warrant of arrest

The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Friday that the Texas Rangers Public Integrity Unit, as well as Travis County District Attorneys Office, is investigating the matter.

The evidence against Smith includes text messages in which he discusses picking up payments from his associate, the affidavit says.

Smith, in soliciting the funds, claimed there would be only 15 licenses approved statewide, the affidavit says. An FAQ on the Texas Department of Agriculture website, however, says there is no limit to the number of licenses available. In January, Miller said the agency had granted more than 1,150 licenses.

Immediately after Todd was arrested this past Thursday, he sat down with law enforcement for several hours and fully cooperated by answering all of their questions, said Smith's attorneys, Sam Bassett and Perry Minton, in a statement Sunday afternoon.

They said Smith did lobbying work for a number of clients interested in obtaining hemp licenses and neither broke the law nor made any promises guaranteeing a particular outcome of any kind.

Miller told the Dallas Morning News that he did not know anything about Smith's advocacy for hemp growers before learning about it Friday and had not spoken to Smith.

MORE ON MILLER: Texas Ag Commissioner Sid Miller pranked by 'Borat' star Sasha Baron Cohen

An associate of Smiths told investigators that Smith had said that getting a hemp license would cost $25,000 for a survey and $125,000 for the funding of campaigns. The affidavit did not say which political campaigns.

Texas established its industrial hemp program after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill in 2019, a year after Congress legalized the production of the plant, which is similar to marijuana but contains a much lower amount of the psychoactive ingredient THC. The state began accepting applications in March 2020. The one-year licenses start at $300, plus other fees.

RELATED: Texas Ag commissioner sues Biden administration, claiming farm program discriminates against whites

This isnt the first time Smith has been accused of using his access to Miller for personal or political gain. A San Antonio businessman claimed in 2018 that Smith offered him an advisory board post at the Texas Department of Agriculture if he contributed to Millers campaign, then later asked him for a $29,000 personal loan, as reported by the Austin American-Statesman.

In 2016, the Texas Tribune reported that Miller gave an assistant commissioner position he created to his wife, Kellie Housewright-Smith, with a $180,000 salary, one of the highest in the department. Right around that the time, the couple had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The associate of Smiths told investigators that his impression was they were getting the license and that he had told others involved to be discreet since they were getting the license because of Todd Smith, and there would be people who wanted a license that would not get one.

Arrest records say the associate also shared a recording with investigators in which Smith said to him on a phone call: You do realize this is not supposed to happen.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
A debate over local police funding turned emotional Thursday in the Texas House as Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a freshman Democrat from Dallas, called out Republicans refusal to take up a landmark police reform package in the wake of the George Floyd killing last summer.

You should let my elected officials decide what to do with my city, she said, her voice rising. Because sadly enough, plenty of people havent been to South Dallas, where Black people are afraid most of the time because they dont know if theyre gonna get killed.

The comment was in response to Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, who wants to punish Austin and other large progressive-run cities that decrease their police funding.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

A bill he authored that would strip annexation powers from offending municipalities easily passed the House on Thursday after Republicans voted down several Democratic amendments, including one that would have given the police an option to voluntarily opt in to certain budget reductions. It moves to the Senate next, where lawmakers passed their own version last month.

A vote for this bill is a vote for public safety, Goldman said.

Democrats had been hopeful this year that a sweeping police reform package could pass in the Legislature, even with both chambers controlled by Republicans. Floyds killing last summer by a former Minneapolis police officer sparked nationwide protests over police brutality and calls for racial justice.

IN-DEPTH: As George Floyd Act stalls, lawmakers see room for targeted police reforms

The Texas George Floyd Act has been stuck in procedural limbo, however, and only a few pieces have made it past the lower chamber.

Instead of us doing something to protect people in the state, we decide to punish people who are already suffering, Crockett said. That is whats wrong in this House.

And the goal of this project, by passing this bill, is we keep more police on the streets to protect citizens, Goldman responded.

jeremy.blackman@chron.com
Democrats in the Texas House tried to chip away at a bill they have denounced as voter suppression during an all-night debate that ended early Friday morning.

The bill passed on a party line vote of 83-64 and now contains several amendments favorable to Democrats, following seven hours of negotiations between members of the two parties. Earlier in the night, Democrats had planned to launch more than 130 amendments; all but a handful were ultimately pulled.

A largely ceremonial vote is scheduled for Friday, then the measure will head back to the state Senate, which will either approve the changes or request a conference committee be appointed to hash out the differences.

The legislation has placed Texas into the national spotlight as it comes closer to joining a string of Republican-led states to adopt new restrictions on voting access after historically high turnout in the 2020 election.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Black Texas lawmaker shames Republicans for refusing to take up George Floyd Act

Former President Donald Trump spent his final months in office falsely claiming the election was stolen from him, and Republicans in nearly every state followed up with new voting restrictions, marking what could be the most exhaustive rollback of access to the polls in over a century. Georgia, Iowa and Florida were among the first to pass bills into law in recent months.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has made the bill an emergency item this session, even as he admits he is unaware of any fraud that occurred in the 2020 election. So has Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, also a Republican, who has said his chambers bill is about voter security, not about voter suppression and accused opponents of being a nest of liars.

State Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, who authored a version of the bill, said its purpose is to protect and secure Texas elections. It was not, he said, in response to the 2020 election, which upon questioning by Democrats he allowed was for the most part fair and safe.

Cain denied that the bill would have a disproportionate effect on minority voters, as Democrats have warned.

This bill is designed to protect all voters, Cain said. I dont think this is voter suppression; I think this is voter enhancement.

Cain addressed some of Democrats concerns through amendments, such as one that clarifies that despite a provision prohibiting election judges from removing partisan poll watchers from voting sites, the judges can still call law enforcement if the poll watchers breaks laws that forbid them from interfering with voters.

Another amendment reduces the penalty for a vote harvesting violation from a third-degree felony to Class A misdemeanor.

Several Democratic amendments also sailed through the chamber, including ones that sought to clarify that voters who don't know they're ineligible to vote can't be prosecuted and aimed to increase participation in voter registration drives at high schools.

Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, applauded the chamber for passing the updated measure.

"Leaving the Capitol at 3:20a after voting for #SB7 -- strong & sensible election integrity legislation that ensures and protects full access to the ballot box while deterring and cracking down on illegal activity that undermines our elections," he tweeted. "A great win for Texas!"

Despite the concessions, civil rights groups still criticized the late-night vote as they noted the bill had largely stayed intact.

"Under cover of darkness, the Texas House just passed one of the worst anti-voting bills in the country," said Sarah Labowitz, policy and advocacy director of the ACLU of Texas. "Texans deserve better than to wake up and find out that lawmakers jammed through a law that will make participating in our democracy harder and scarier."

State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, who voted against the bill, also posed a problem with the overnight additions.

"Zero explanations on a number of amendments other than it is acceptable to the author at 2:52 am," Larson tweeted. "Anyone that votes for this bill without reading and understanding the unintended consequences will have a tough time explaining why they voted for it.

TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

The debate Thursday came after more than 50 companies and business organizations, including American Airlines, Microsoft Corp. and HP Inc., released an open letter Tuesday condemning any changes that would restrict eligible voters access to the ballot. That same day, 175 business leaders, including 10 members of the influential Greater Houston Partnership, sent a letter to House Speaker Dade Phelan opposing key provisions of the bills.

Protesters dressed in black crowded into the Capitol rotunda Thursday morning with signs with images of obstacle courses that read, voting shouldnt be an obstacle to democracy as they chanted, Say no to HB 6! Almost a dozen civil rights groups plan to hold rallies in Austin and Houston on Saturday to oppose the restrictions.

At one point in the debate, Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, D-Dallas, a fellow member of the elections committee, asked Cain for the purpose of the bill, given that there has been no proof of pervasive voter fraud in 2020.

What are we trying to fix here that is not broken? she asked.

I happen to believe that we dont need to wait for bad things to happen to try to protect and secure our elections, and make sure this is a process that everyone is following, Cain said.

Later, Rep. Rafael Anchia, another Democrat from Dallas, questioned why Cain used the phrase purity of the ballot box in the bill. Anchia asked whether he knew about that terms racist history dating back to the time of Jim Crow laws and before that, the Civil War.

I was not aware of that, Cain said. I guess I thought purity meaning not having fraud.

When Cain said he would be OK with replacing the word "purity" with integrity, Anchia said he asked because language is important and might reflect on ones intent. Later, in an amendment, Rep. Jarvis Johnson, D-Houston, removed the language altogether.

Its unclear how much of the original House and Senate versions of the bill will make it into the final package.

The paths of the two major Republican priority measures merged last month when Cain, in a strategic procedural move, added the language of the House bill into that of the Senate bill. Senate Bill 7 had already passed the Senate in early April, while House Bill 6 has lagged.

When the two chambers pass different versions of a bill, a temporary committee of members meets to reconcile the differences. Cains move will allow the text of both bills to be fair game during that process. Democrats have decried that it will mean a lack of public input on the final version.

They are trying to basically merge House Bill 6 and Senate Bill 7 in this shady Frankenstein situation, said Rose Clouston, director of voter protection for the Texas Democratic Party. Then behind closed doors, Republicans can consider the worst parts of both bills and combine them together.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Texas voting bills target Democratic strongholds, just like Georgias new laws

The bills varied greatly: The Senate bill, the more extensive of the two, would clamp down on voting expansions debuted by Harris County in 2020 for greater convenience during the pandemic, such as overnight and drive-thru voting.

It called for narrowing early voting hours, would ban drive-thru voting and would limit the number of polling places in the states largest counties, which are mostly led by Democrats and made up of large numbers of minority voters.

Meanwhile, the original House didnt touch on any of that and primarily focused on creating and raising criminal penalties for election officials who make errors and others who commit fraud.

Both bills would also give greater power to partisan poll watchers, including a controversial provision in the Senate bill that allows them to record disabled voters receiving legally permitted assistance if they believe theyre witnessing fraud.

BACKLASH BEGINS: Turner, Hidalgo pull out of GHP luncheons over chambers silence on Texas voting bills

San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro, during a news conference, said the bills represent a thinly veiled attempt by Republicans to hold onto their power and urged Texans to speak up against them.

The response to more competitive elections in Texas by the Republican Party has been to try to stop people who disagree with them from voting, Castro said. Thats the Republican Party of Texas, and quite honestly, its the Republican Party across the country.

taylor.goldenstein@chron.com
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Spotify price increases: Will they trickle down to artists?

Spotify hiking its prices in twelve different markets should translate to more money in the pot all around, but some questions are being raised as to whether much of these additional funds will make it down into the pockets of artists hovering below superstar status.

Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

The Spotify price increase recently announced affected 12 markets, including the United States, which many see as the first step to overall increases over time. In most cases the increases were limited to bundled subscription plans, like in the case of the United States (Family Plan), and the United Kingdom (Student, Family, and Duo Plans). That said, in Brazil the price increases also included individual subscriptions, something that the company would like to do world-wide.

Any Spotify price increase means that theres more money in the pot for artists and songwriters (and labels and publishers, of course) so thats welcomed by the music industry. The fear is that most of the new revenue will end up going to the 0.1% of the business, the superstars, that seem to be reaping most of the rewards now.

But it might be too soon to jump to conclusions about a larger revenue pool as it seems that one of the reasons for the increase is to offset a decreasing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). To put it into perspective, if the number of subscribers would stay the same, Spotify would actually be making less money today than last year because the ARPU is falling. Its now currently at around $4.97 per subscriber, which is a long way from the standard $9.99 that most subscribers pay.

Spotifys paid subscribers numbers now total over 155 million with over 345 active monthly users, up by about 25% over last year.

So why is the revenue per user falling? Many blame it on the fact that Family Plans are frequently shared between groups of friends or individuals, but a small increase (from $14.99 to $15.99 per month in the U.S.) likely wont overcome that.

Keep in mind that despite the large increase in new subscribers, the company still lost around $175 million last year. Its fashionable for artists to demand a higher royalty payout from the service, but its clear that would put it out of business. For most artists and songwriters, the fact of the matter is that they have a middleman in the picture (the label and publisher) who are probably making a lot more than the artist is from the Spotify royalties received, which is the major problem.

So why doesnt Spotify raise prices across the board? Considering that Neflix has raised its prices by 63% over time, youd think the company would be better off. Some of the pricing is due to the licensing agreements with the major labels that are in place, which many feel will change soon. Some of it is market pressure from competitors like Amazon Music and Apple Music, services with big pockets that dont need to turn a profit.

My prediction is that this current price increase was to gauge the market reaction. If it goes well with little pushback, well see more across the board soon.

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James Lee Burke in Bronze

Get the scoop on the latest community efforts to give James Lee Burke his own statue
BCC Announces Virtual Info Sessions for Criminal Justice and Human Services Programs

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Berkshire Community College (BCC) will hold a virtual open house session for Criminal Justice and Human Services programs on Wednesday, May 19 at 4:30 pm.

Current and prospective students can register for the Zoom session by visiting www.berkshirecc.edu/openhouse and scrolling down to the "Program Info Sessions" section.

The program will begin with opening remarks from Dr. Laurie Gordy, Dean of the Humanities and Behavioral & Social Sciences Division. Dr. Gordy will then introduce program advisors and faculty from both programs, who will present program overviews discussing courses, program requirements and workload, and transfer and career opportunities.

Attendees will enter "breakout sessions" for their respective programs of interest and will have the opportunity to meet Dr. Kari Dupuis, Professor of Human Services and Program Advisor for the Human Services Program; Pam Coley McCann, Associate Professor of Human Services; Reena Bucknell, Professor of Criminal Justice and Chairperson of the Behavioral & Social Sciences Department; Gene Baker, Adjunct Instructor of Criminal Justice; and Patrick Barry, Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice.

After the breakout sessions, the Admissions Department will present an overview of the admissions process, followed by a brief presentation from the Financial Aid office. A question-and-answer session will conclude the program.

For more information, contact the Admissions Office at (413) 236-1636.
Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, and his wife, Melinda French Gates, announced on Monday that they plan to divorce after 27 years of marriage.

"After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage," the two said in a post on Twitter. "We have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives."

Bill Gates divorce recently touched the attention of global public opinion. According to CNBC on June 6, the couple has assembled a team of top lawyers, including divorce lawyers who worked on the divorce of the worlds richest man, Jeff Bezos, and former wives of President Donald Trump. For this "divorce lawyers day group" will be staged "fairy fight", the United States from all walks of life to pay high attention.

Of course, Bill Gates is one of the worlds richest billionaires. Wealth-X, a global high net worth intelligence and data company, estimates his net worth to be at least $134.1 billion.

Though his success began with Microsoft, his shares in the company now only represent 19.6% of his wealth, which Wealth-X estimates to be valued at $26.1 billion. Much of his money is now tied to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but the exact amount has not been disclosed.

The Gates, with Warren Buffett, also founded the Giving Pledge, which asks billionaires to give away more than half of their wealth to philanthropy.

Because of the Foundation, the division of assets between Bill and Melinda may be much more complicated. Court documents show that they have a separation agreement, but terms have not been made public.

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A candlelight vigil to honor her life and legacy of Jahaira DeAlto is being held Saturday at 5 p.m. at Pontoosuc Park.

Vigil Scheduled for Murdered Trans Activist Jahaira DeAlto

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  A candlelight vigil to honor her life and legacy of Jahaira DeAlto is being held Saturday at 5 p.m. at Pontoosuc Park.

The former Pittsfield resident and transgender activist was murdered Sunday in Boston. The vigil is being organized by Berkshire Pride, her former workplace the Elizabeth Freeman Center, and Christopher Liljeholm, who has been involved in Berkshire Pride events.

"Jahaira was a one of a kind, and just so special," said Helen Moon, the center's development and communications coordinator and Ward 1 councilor. "The Berkshire community and the LGBTQ-plus community, we're not the only ones that have a significant loss, I really believe that just the community at large, we are all at a loss for having lost Jahaira."

DeAlto, 42, and Fatima Yasin, 27, were reportedly stabbed to death in DeAlto's Dorchester home. Yasin's husband, Marcus Chavis, 34, was arrested in the murders.

"Ballroom legend from the House of Balenciaga, Jahaira was a loyal friend, a fierce advocate, and a mother/grandmother/auntie to many. Her unconditional love was felt by all who met her and her kind and funny spirit left its mark on the Berkshires  from the classrooms at Berkshire Community College to the offices of Elizabeth Freeman Center, from helping launch the first Transgender Day of Remembrance and Berkshire Pride Festival to 'being all the things' as she liked to say," the Freeman Center and Berkshire Pride wrote in a joint press release.

DeAlto was a counselor for domestic violence and sexual assault victims at the Freeman Center and was most recently was a Safelink coordinator for Casa Myrna in Boston's South End. She was also a board member of Berkshire Pride and the Freeman Center's LGBTQIA+ Access Project.

She graduated from Berkshire Community College in 2019 and was studying social work at Simmons University.

A transgender rights and social justice activist, DeAlto was passionate about ending violence and was known to be a moving and eloquent public speaker. Moon said she lived her daily life as her authentic self and in turn, exposed and attempted to normalized the trans experience to show that "it's not somebody else, it's not 'the other,' it's not a different group, but it's somebody you know."

"If you ever had the opportunity to listen to Jahaira speak, she was somebody that was an amazing orator and teacher and saw a vision for the future that was safe, and she really lived her life that way," Moon said.

Statistically, more than 50 percent of transgender individuals have experienced sexual or domestic violence, Moon said, compared to the general population.

Transgender people statistically have a shorter life expectancy, she said, as many never get to celebrate their 40th birthday.

"The impact of violence on the trans community is is disproportionate, it's a public health crisis," Moon asserted.

DeAlto had noted she was several years past her life expectancy in 2018 during a vigil for another transgender woman murdered in a domestic violence incident, Christa Leigh Steele-Knudslien of North Adams.

"Those kind of numbers and statistics are just so scary, and I know that many members of the trans community not only grieve the loss of people that they know, but also live in fear of becoming a statistic themselves," Moon said. "We don't want the trans community -- we don't want anybody -- to become a statistic, we want people to live their authentic lives and be able to thrive because that's what the American dream is."

Attendees of the vigil are asked to wear masks and abide by social distancing protocols.
Our land and waters are our lifeblood, says Dinna Umengan

by Ernesto M. Ordonez

On April 30, direct descendants of Katipunan heroes who fought and died for our sovereignty against Spain supported fisherfolk leaders. This they did with a carefully crafted position paper they sent to the President. Dinna Umengan, the elected chair of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Banner Program of the legislated Philippine Council of Agriculture and Fisheries, is grateful for this position and completely agrees with it. She is also the executive director of Tambuyog Development Foundation (TDF). Since its founding in 1984, TDF has been calling for attention to our declining fishery resources.



Today, we do not have enough fish to feed our people. We are only 89 percent self-sufficient. If we lose control of the West Philippine Sea, we will lose another 7 percent of our already limited fish catch. This should not be allowed, given our very serious hunger situation. According to a Social Weather Stations survey, there were 4 million families hungry in November 2020, double the prepandemic level of 2.1million in December 2019. Because of the ongoing COVID problem, it is even worse today. We cannot allow the illegal Chinese incursion into our territorial waters to further exacerbate our hunger situation.



Former Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director and Tugon Kabuhayan convenor Asis Perez said the 237 illegal Chinese vessels were harvesting at least P720 million a month. Villardo Abuene, Homonhon Environment Rescue Organization president, said: The Chinese fishermen have been overfishing, depleting our marine resources. Our fishermen have been driven away by Chinese coast guards and fishing vessels. This is actually worse than invasion. Our fishermen are starving. They face hunger because of the Chinese.



Umengan supports the position of the five-coalition Agrifisheries Alliance (AFA) submitted to the President on April 24 protesting the Chinese ships illegal and threatening presence in the West Philippine Sea. The AFA position based its case on defending three cherished principles: sovereignty, food security and livelihood. In addition, Umengan has signed the following statement submitted on April 30 to the President:



We are Filipinos, whose identity has been defined and shaped not only by our history and culture, but also by the length and breadth of our territory and by the natural beauty and resources within such possessions. Our land and waters are our lifeblood. We are protesting the continuous and progressive occupation in the West Philippine Sea by China of our precious reef, being converted into islands and fortresses, and of the surrounding seas, all of which are within our exclusive economic zone. We are protesting this violative intrusion by China into our territorial integrity.



Our claims to these reefs and waters are not only based on historical facts and precedents, but also supported by international and legal jurisprudence. The Chinese on the other hand, have absolutely no basis. They use armed might and force to get their way. Our forebears fought and died for freedom and control of our land and seas. Let their sacrifices not go down in vain. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less than to reap the fruits of such national possessions. We will all be guilty of gross negligence and breach of trust if we do not speak out at this time against this blatant attack on our nations sovereignty. We stand before China, head up high and unbowed, ready to give it all for our beloved Philippines.



The above position was formulated by direct descendants of Katipunan leaders with their alumni classmates from Ateneo de Manila University Grade School 61, High School 65 and College 69 (ADMU616569). Among their great-grandfathers were Pedro Paterno, prime minister of the Malolos Congress after Apolinario Mabini; Gen. Miguel Malvar, President of the First Philippine Republic after Emilio Aguinaldo was captured, and the last general to surrender to the Americans; Pedro Casimiro, a Katipunan treasurer who was jailed with Juan Luna and narrowly escaped death; Andres Agcaoili, a Katipunero who was at Bagumbayan when Jose Rizal was executed; and active combatants like Gen. Juan Araneta, Gen. Servillano Aquino and Capt. Leon Mercado.



On April 30, with the position stated above, these Katipunan descendants wrote the Office of the President: We hope and pray that President Duterte can find a way of helping our people in this very sensitive and difficult matter. On March 3, the President said to the Chinese: Just leave the fishermen alone because they have to eat. Amid this intense and emotionally charged controversy, we hope these valid arguments generate more light than heat. We look forward to Mr. Dutertes statement on May 3 defending our fishermen as an indication of his winning back our sovereignty, the same way our Katipunan heroes did. The author is Agriwatch chair, former secretary of presidential programs and projects and former undersecretary of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry.

Theme(s): Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Fisheries Resources, Communities and Organisations, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Landing Centres, Others, Post Harvest Technology and Trade.
Fishing island in India keeps coronavirus at bay

May 07,2021 | Source: The Times of India

Luxuries like electricity and potable Narmada water may have touched its shores as recently as in April 2018, but this tiny fishing island, 600 metres away from Pipavav port, didnt let the light of wisdom dim in all these 70 years of dark ages. Villagers knew what good practices will keep them healthy and has proven its worth time and again, including in this second wave of the killer pandemic. This village, surrounded by Arabian sea, has a population of ten thousand people and not a single case of Covid-19 till now.



Its not just luck thats helping the fishermen and their families here stay safe at a time when the entire country is crumbling in the battle against pandemic, but their self preservation methods too. The village is small and there is awareness among people. The panchayat is distributing kadha and Ayurveda medicines to boost immunity but the villagers themselves avoid meeting outsiders. This is why those who go out for fishing dont return with infection. explained Bhanuben Shiyal, Sarpanch of the village.



Shiyalbet falls in Jafrabad taluka of Armeli district and is totally dependent on Jafrabad and Rajula for all its needs. Almost 99 percent population of the village is engaged in fishing activity, while their exposure to the world outside is very minimal as ration and medicines comes in boats to the village. The fishermen only go for fishing in the deep seas and contact with mainland is almost a luxury. We are also taking all the precautions since last year which have saved us till now, Shiyal added. Of the villages total population, 4,000 people go out to fish, while the rest including women and old people remain in the village. District development officer (DDO) of Amreli, Tejas Parmar said, The village recorded only two positive cases last year, while there has been not a single case in the second wave. We have completed 52 percent vaccination of the first dose for people above 45 years of age in the village.



Parmar further said that no outsiders come into the village and only those who go for fishing leave in their boats. All education institutes are also closed and students too dont need to go outside. Again, there is scant population of Amreli people in Jafrabad and Rajula taluka and so chances of getting infected from people visiting from Surat too is almost nil. Female health workers from the sub primary health centre in the village are available to address any health related needs.

Theme(s): Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Communities and Organisations, Fisheries Resources, Landing Centres, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Others, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats.
Nigeria loses $70m to illegal fishing due to Chinese and European trawlers

May 07,2021 | Source: The Nation

The House of Representatives has expressed worry that Nigeria loses $70 million yearly to Chinese and other European trawlers due to illegal fishing in the nations waters as observed by the Nigerian Navy in 2017. As a result, the House urged the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to put measures in place to curb illegal fishing.



The House was concerned that illegal and unregulated fishing undermines the economy, poses a security threat to the nations territorial waters, degrades the coastal communities and renders artisan fishermen redundant. It also urged the Federal Government to review its licensing policy that tends to favour foreign trawlers at the expense of their local counterparts and encourage indigenous investments into this agricultural sector. It further urged the Federal Government to prevail on the Gulf of Guinea Commission to urgently introduce a legally binding framework to check excessive fishing or overfishing in the region. The Committee on Agricultural Production and Services was mandated to investigate the matter and report back within three weeks for further legislative action. These resolutions followed a motion on the Need to Curb Fishing by Foreign Vessels on Nigerias Territorial Waters by Hon. Patrick Ifon on Wednesday. The House said Nigeria is a nation with a large coastal area rich in marine species, yet over half of the fish it consumes are imported from China and the Netherlands. It said it was aware that Nigeria is the fourth largest importer of fish in the world with about two million metric tons per annum for an estimated population of over 200 million people.



The House worried that despite Nigerias non-fishing agreement and arrangements with distant nations such as China and the European Union, illegal fishing on Nigerias waters persists due to bilateral agreements with the nearby country of Sao Tome and Principe. It was concerned by the Overseas Development Institutes Report of 2018 that illegal fishing boats from China, Netherlands and Spain operating in the Countrys territorial waters commonly transfer catches from their trawlers into container and cargo vessels on the high seas, thereby flouting quota regulations. It was also concerned that the Gulf of Guinea Commission, which was established in 2001, to check issues bordering on fisheries beyond 20 nautical miles of each member nation is yet to come up with a legally binding framework to tackle illegal fishing activities.

Theme(s): Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Landing Centres, Communities and Organisations, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Fisheries Resources, Others, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Post Harvest Technology and Trade.
A year after Ecuador oil spill, Indigenous victims await justice, reparations

by Vincent Ricci

May 07,2021 | Source: Mongabay

It started as an ordinary morning in Ecuadors eastern Orellana province. Abel Jipas sons, Byron and Johnny, and his son-in-law, Gibson, set out on the Coca River to go fishing in their canoe before sunrise. The morning of April 8, 2020, was different, however, after an estimated 15,800 barrels of oil spilled into the river overnight. Due to the stench of oil lingering above the waters surface, the boys turned back in the pre-dawn darkness, unable to see and unaware a spill had happened upstream. Instead, they decided to grab their catch closer to the banks of the river. But as the sun rose, Byron, Johnny and Gibson returned home covered in oil, according to Abel.



- Following an oil spill in the Ecuadoran Amazon that contaminated the Coca River last year, local Indigenous groups reliant on the river are still struggling to adapt to alternative livelihoods.

- At the same time, the land around the Coca River has become increasingly unstable due to an accelerated rate of soil erosion, raising concerns about the integrity of nearby infrastructure, including a hydropower dam.

- Indigenous groups led a march in the city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana on April 7, the anniversary of the spill, to protest a ruling rejecting their bid for reparations.



Following COVID-19 lockdown orders, many communities here had gone into quarantine with plans to fish and grow their own crops to limit their contact with the outside world as the pandemic raged on. Weeks later, the oil slick, which some described as looking like chocolate, arrived on their doorsteps after a regressive land erosion event damaged two oil pipelines operated by state-owned Petroecuador and privately owned OCP Ecuador on the evening of April 7, 2020. Environmental groups have since labeled the spill as the worst environmental catastrophe Ecuador has seen in more than a decade.



The black smudges of oil from a year ago now appear as chemical burns on the skin. Abel, not knowing who to turn to for medical attention, has still not been able to find treatment for his childrens condition. The impact of last years oil spill has drastically altered the livelihoods of 27,000 mostly Indigenous Kichwa who, like Abel, rely on the river for their day-to-day necessities. The river is part of our way of life, Abel told Mongabay at the office of the local Indigenous federation, FCUNAE, in the Amazonian city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana, also known as El Coca. Fishing on the Coca River is an important aspect of our culture; it is also our livelihood and provides us with food.



Fewer alternatives



Despite a cleanup and the food and water kits OCP Ecuador provided between April and July 2020, Indigenous people continue living with the burden of the aftermath, which impedes any return to the river. Theres uncertainty over whether the river can be revived to even a shadow of its former self. As Abel noted, recurring oil spills in 2009, 2013 and 2020  the worst of the three  have tarnished the quality of the water, thus complicating efforts to live off the river.



Last September, the environmental group Accion Ecologica requested an inspection to determine the effectiveness of the companies cleanup efforts. In the six communities inspected on the banks of the Napo and Coca rivers in Sucumbios and Orellana provinces, the organization concluded there were levels of hydrocarbons alongside heavy metals like lead, nickel and vanadium from the samples examined. In spite of those findings, some people have returned to the river to bathe, drink, and wash their clothes, according to Rafael Yumbo, a coordinator for natural resources for territories at FCUNAE. He told Mongabay that the lack of support from national and local authorities has left communities with few options. Puerto Francisco de Orellana is where the Coca River flows into the Napo, which then extends east up to the border with Peru, a boat ride of a few hours. Those with canoes have sought new fishing spots deeper in the Napo and adjacent rivers, where Indigenous peoples believe the water is cleaner than in the murky Coca. Families without transport resort to growing local crops such as yuca (cassava).



Alternatives such as buying canned tuna or sardines may be possible for a few, but the low income of an independent smallholder selling yuca and other crops in local markets is insufficient over the long term. Gabina Coquinche, coordinator for women and family affairs at FCUNAE, said communities have turned to using rainwater, But this becomes scarce during the dry season. Coquinche is unconvinced rainfall is the solution, as she believes the entire water cycle is contaminated. When it rains, the water looks dark, she said hinting the color of the rain is not like before. Its not like it used to be.



Continuous risk



New threats may yet arise in an area where a network of oil facilities and pipelines was constructed on fragile terrain thats continuously shifting and being eroding away. Along the banks of the Coca River, the soil is crumbling away into the water, carving cliffs out of the riverbanks and threatening local communities. A debate over the origin of the landslides has split Ecuadoran officials and experts. The government and some experts say the soil erosion is a natural environmental phenomenon, while others say the process may have been accelerated after the countrys highest waterfall vanquished on Feb. 2, 2020.



Large infrastructure projects nearby are also at risk from the shifting earth, including oil pipelines and the Chinese-built Coca Codo Sinclair (CCS) dam. According to the state-owned power utility, , the erosion is about 10.5 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the hydropower dam, with mitigation efforts still underway. Local media and Indigenous organizations sounded the alarm about another possible oil spill in the Coca River on April 14. In a press statement, Petroecuador said a landslide caused by bad weather had damaged the Shushufindi-Quito fuel pipeline, resulting in a suspension of activities. But the company said there was no fuel in the Coca River.



It said that in the event of a spill, 90% of the fuel would evaporate within hours due to the substances volatility at normal temperatures. But Alexandra Almeida, a biochemist with Accion Ecologica, questioned Petroecuadors claim, saying the percentage of fuel that would evaporate is lower. In the water, Almeida told Mongabay, the fuel residue tends to thicken, making it less likely to evaporate, and later spreads through the currents of the Coca River and arrives at the Napo, before eventually settling on the riverbanks and affecting the communities.



A human rights coalition that Accion Ecologica is part of showed Mongabay a picture of contaminated water that local communities had taken. Petroecuador could not confirm the origin of the picture to Mongabay. It told Mongabay that 566 barrels had spilled in an area near Piedra Fina River in Napo province. Of the 566 barrels, 212 were recovered during the cleanup; the rest would evaporate.



The damage thats been done is very concerning for the environment and the people who depend on the water to live, Almeida said. Justice and reparation. Meanwhile, the communities search for justice and reparation from the Ecuadoran state for last years spill has been stalled for months. The lawsuit, which they filed in late April 2020, accuses the two oil companies, along with the environment and energy ministries, of infringing their constitutional rights to clean water, health, food, and nature, as well as the rights of Indigenous people.



The communities will have to bring their case before the Constitutional Court after the provincial Judicial Council declined an appeal request on March 24. Prior to the councils rejection, a lower court judge had acknowledged on Sept. 1, 2020, that it was undeniable the spill had affected the communities, but said his court was not the place to seek constitutional reparations. Its a ruling that rejects any violation of rights, Vivian Idrovo, one of the lawyers representing the Indigenous communities, told Mongabay of the councils ruling, adding that it lacks analysis of the rights infringements. If they cant get justice through the Constitutional Court, the lawyers say, they will bring their case to international tribunals.



Following the councils decision, FCUNAE led a protest of a few hundred Indigenous Kichwa and human rights defenders in the sweltering Amazon heat in Puerto Francisco de Orellana on the one-year anniversary of the spill. They marched from the Judicial Council to the local prosecutors office to express their outrage over what they see as silence from local authorities. For us, there is no justice, Abel said. For those with money, theres justice, but for the poor, justice doesnt exist.

Theme(s): Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Landing Centres, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Others, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Fisheries Resources, Communities and Organisations, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats.
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Brazil keen to expand economic, trade ties with China: FM

Xinhua) 14:26, May 07, 2021

BRASILIA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil aims to expand and diversify its economic and trade relations with China, its largest trading partner, Foreign Minister Carlos Franca said Thursday.

In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Franca said relations with China were among the priorities of the Brazilian government.

"We want an even greater economic-trade relationship with China, and also a more diversified one. Our exports to China, still concentrated in a few primary products, will be able to expand in quantity and variety," he said.

According to the top diplomat, possible ways include gaining approval for more genetically modified organisms and increasing sales of animal proteins, through the authorization of more establishments.

"Bilateral trade grew in 2020 ... In the first quarter of 2021, there are already signs that this trend will continue," Franca said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- With much at stake as nations worldwide contend with a global pandemic, climate control, waste, hunger, and injustice, bright-minded students have stepped up with innovative approaches to address the multitude of issues facing the world today.

Wege Prize, the international student design competition that creates solutions for "wicked problems," is an agent of change for these lofty ambitions.

For its 2021 edition, Wege Prizeorganized by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD)has announced the final five interdisciplinary student teams from around the world that emerged from the largest and most diverse field in the competition's eight-year history, including an initial field of 175 participants from 35 teams that represent 29 countries, 88 academic institutions, and 114 unique academic disciplines.

Guided by direct feedback from the competition's panel of expert judges  including entrepreneur Nathan Shedroff and circular economy expert Carrie Snyder -- participating teams refine their solutions over the course of three distinct phases, with the scope and complexity of the challenge growing at each phase. Ultimately, five teams earn the opportunity to compete for $30,000 USD in total cash prizes, awarded annually to those whose ideas spark the brightest hope for real world implementation and success. This year's five teams of promising future innovators and change-makers were selected from among 11 semifinalist groups.

"We are excited by the record-breaking number of students who participated in the 2021 contest, and by their commitment to developing real-world solutions that address complex problems," says Gayle DeBruyn, IIDA, LEED AP, sustainability officer at KCAD and an organizer of Wege Prize. "Every team presented a thoughtful and creative approach for helping transition our linear economy of taking, making and disposing, into a circular one that's restorative by design. Ultimately, the final five teams have demonstrated the best of a collaborative and cross-disciplinary nature through their meaningful and actionable proposals."

Reflecting Wege Prize's expanding international presence, four of the finalist teams are from African countries, and one is from South America. Of the total, one group has addressed noise pollution, with the remaining four teams focused on food or agricultural problems facing the world today.

Wege Prize was established in 2013 to solve complex, layered problems and to encourage students in higher education to take a diverse, collaborative approach in developing new, tangible solutions to produce and consume essential goods in sustainable ways that are applied and used after the competition's conclusion.

Many Wege Prize competitors have built their ideas into successful ventures. Examples from recent Wege Prize iterations include Rutopia, whose 2019 concepts for eco-sensitive tourism have got the attention of top editors at Forbes, among others. Another is the 2020 Wege Prize winner Hya Bioplastics, which created a process for blending dried water hyacinth fibers and boiled cassava starch to produce a biodegradable raw material used to make disposable food packaging. The venture's cofounders have been accepted into a prestigious incubator and have advanced their business.

This year, a free livestream of the finalist teams, the 2021 Wege Prize Awards -- Game-Changing Solutions to Wicked Problems -- will be held on May 21, 2021, when the top groups will present and defend their bold ideas in front of expert judges and a global online audience.

Event details and registration can be found at https://wegeprize2021.eventbrite.com . The five final teams competing for Wege Prize 2021 are:

Agritrade Hub

Addressing the wicked problem of increased logging in Ghana creating wood waste and sawdust  about 97,000 metric tons annually  and the mismanagement of waste disposal, the team's solution proposes transforming wood waste into nutrient-based substrates for mushroom production, leading to mushroom compost for use in fertilizing and growing forest and ornamental trees, thereby eliminating all forms of wood waste and mitigating environmental impacts. Agritrade Hub's team members are all from Ghana. These students attend:

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

University of Energy and Natural Resources

University of Ghana

Earth University in Costa Rica .

Sutote

Synthetic pesticides are a wicked problem the world over, extremely harmful to health and the environment. In Tanzania, pesticide residues have been detected in the samples of irrigation water, and this team is devising a closed-circle production system for tomatoes using organic pesticides from the Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia Diversifolia). Sutote's team members are from Tanzania and Malawi. These students attend:

Earth University in Costa Rica

Nkhoma University in Malawi

Hubert Kairuki Memorial University

Water Institute in Tanzania .

Banga Na

With the high-waste problem of cashew apples causing bugs, environmental, and economic problems for local farmers in Ghana, this wicked problem may be addressed by a solution of adding value to cashew apples by converting the fruit to wine, juice, and organic fertilizer, generating income and employment from waste and improving food security and economic growth in the country. Banga Na's team members are from Ghana and Tanzania. These students attend:

University of Seoul in South Korea

in Zhejiang Normal University in China

University of Professional Studies

University of Ghana .

The Chilensis

With overcrowding already a wicked problem in Santiago, Chile, the pandemic has aggravated the impact. The Chilensis is developing sound isolators using discarded palm leaves waste to improve the quality of life by providing privacy. Old palm leaves are treated as waste, but they have significant sound isolation properties and help address the challenge while creating a circular economic opportunity. The Chilensis' team members are all from Chile. These students attend:

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

of University of Santiago de Chile .

Musana

Using wood to fuel stoves for cooking has contributed to more than 80% of biomass fuels and deforestation in Uganda, making it a real wicked problem. This team has created a stove using solar power and water to fuel cooking, eliminating the need for wood fuel and helping reduce deforestation in Uganda. In addition, their solution includes a model to buy or repair used stoves to reuse raw materials. Musana's team members are all from Uganda. These students attend:

Makerere University

Kyambogo University

Ndejje University.

Thanks to the continuing financial support of The Wege Foundation, Wege Prize 2021 has opened these unique opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students around the world and has helped advance the ideas and solutions behind the circular economy.

About Wege Prize:

Wege Prize, a West Michigan-born concept developed by Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University's (KCAD's) Wege Center for Sustainable Design with the support of The Wege Foundation, is an annual competition that ignites games-changing solutions for the future by inspiring college students around the world to collaborate across institutional, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries and redesign the way economies work.

About KCAD

Located in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University (KCAD) is committed to creating lasting impact in West Michigan and beyond through collaborative partnerships, cultural innovation, and an educational model that prepares students for leadership in design, the visual arts, and art history; provides innovative, collaborative education that fosters intellectual growth and individual creativity; and promotes the ethical and civic responsibilities of artists and designers, locally and globally. For more information, please visit kcad dot edu.

About The Wege Foundation

Planting seeds that develop leaders in economicology, health, education, and arts, and enhance the lives of people in West Michigan and around the world.

Media Contact

Alex Abarbanel-Grossman, C.C. Sullivan, +1 9738973940, alex@ccsullivan.com

SOURCE Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University
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Actors Seo In-guk, left, and Park Bo-young pose for pictures during the online media conference for the series, "Doom at Your Service," Thursday. Courtesy of tvN



By Lee Gyu-lee



Park Bo-young and Seo In-guk will return to the small screen in tvN's upcoming fantasy series, "Doom at Your Service," set to air Monday. Park returns after a two-year hiatus, while Seo has been on a break from the small screen for three years.



Directed by Kwon Young-il, who helmed the heartwarming series, "My Unfamiliar Family," the series follows a romance between a divine messenger, Myeol-mang (Seo)  Korean for destruction  and a human, Dong-kyeong (Park). Writer Im Meari, who is known for the hit TV series, "The Beauty Inside," penned the series.



This is Park's first series since she went on a hiatus in 2019 for health reason. "I felt like I needed a pause, so I took the time to refresh myself I got to spend more time with my family, which was worthwhile," she said during an online media conference for the series, Thursday.



The actress plays an editor at a web novel company who lost her parents in a car accident when she was 10. Her only goal is to make ends meet. But her ordinary life turns upside down when she encounters Myeol-mang on the day she is diagnosed with a brain tumor.



"My character is not one of those people with big dreams or ambitions she stumbles across her job just trying to get by, which I think many people can relate to," she said describing her character. "I wanted to show how Dong-kyeong comes to find her identity and starts to have dreams in life."





A scene from the series / Courtesy of tvN
A measure passed in Olympia this session means the GEO Group-owned Northwest Detention Center will shut down when its contract expires.
Workers at NBC, which has around 600 employees for its radio and television services, went on nationwide strike on 22 April 2021 after two years of failed negotiations between management and their union, the Namibia Public Workers Union (NAPWU).

Dozens of staff are on precarious short-term monthly contracts, some for up to 7 years, including around 60% of news reporters. Union representatives claim the News and Current Affairs departments are understaffed and journalists are having to take on an excessive workload covering for missing staff.

Salaries are low and benefits are poor. Despite receiving a subsidy from the government to help address low pay, management have instead paid out N$5,4 million in bonuses to 16 top managers and given director-general, Stanley Similo,a vehicle worth about N$2 millions, while telling workers that there was no money to meet their demands.

The NBC management often hides behind claims of a lack of funds to resolve these issues, but continues to shower itself with millions of Namibia dollars in irregular bonuses, said NAMPU General Secretary, Sakeus Iikela. He also denounced attempts to intimidate strikers.

NAMPU, has backed the workers calls for NBC management to:

 implement the 8% salary increment,

 addresses concerns regarding workers employment benefits,

 employ all workers now on one-month contracts on a full-time basis,

 adhere to the set strike rules.

NBC chairperson Lazarus Jacobs threatened striking workers with a hostile working environment and called for an end to the strike. The IFJ and NAMPU deplore this unacceptable attack against workers rights to belong to a trade union and to engage in a strike, both guaranteed by the Namibian Constitution.

Namibia hosted recently the events around World Press Freedom Day under the title Information is a public good, but, ironically, its national public media employees are working under poor conditions and it failed to broadcast the events due to the strike.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: We stand in solidarity with NBCs striking workers in their fight for decent salaries and working conditions. We will mobilise international support to help the workers secure justice and fair pay. Management must stop sending threatening messages to workers exercising their right to go on strike and negotiate with the unions representatives for decent working conditions.
Part of Inc.'s 2021 Best Industries report.

When Ran Ma told her parents she was dropping out of her master's program in business administration to work on a sock prototype for diabetic patients, their reaction wasn't exactly encouraging.

"My dad said, 'We're not going to talk until you figure out your life,' " says Ma. "I don't think my parents understood what I was doing."

Ma, who had left a biotech master's program to pursue her business degree, had avoided a career in medicine despite coming from three generations of physicians. While working as an engineer at Northwestern University, she focused on a project involving a biomask that aimed to heal the burns of wounded veterans, which led her to create her own device to solve a specific medical problem. She had always been bothered that most wearable devices from Silicon Valley were predominantly fitness-related and aimed at the young and healthy, rather than the elderly and chronically ill.

In 2015, Ma launched Siren, a remote patient-monitoring company that makes connected socks to detect foot ulcers in diabetic patients. The company, which is based in San Francisco, has raised $31 million in funding from venture firms including Anathem Ventures.

Ma came up with the idea after drafting a spreadsheet of common medical problems that her parents had come across in their work as physicians. One of them was diabetic foot ulcers, which diabetic patients often develop and, if left untreated, can lead to amputation.

To spot foot complications, doctors and nurses typically rely on a common test done in a medical office. But Ma asked: What if diabetic patients could rely on a wearable that could detect the condition at home? Temperature monitoring can detect inflammation, an early warning sign for foot problems. Siren Socks work by continuously monitoring the temperature of patients' feet and sending reports to their doctor. Currently, only doctors can prescribe Siren Socks, and they are reimbursable through Medicare. Without insurance, one year of Siren patient monitoring will cost typically $19.95 a month (which amounts to $239 per year), but they are sold only through doctors by prescription; patients can't buy them directly.. Users get five pairs of socks upfront, and then another set of five socks six months later. The washable socks typically last one year.

"Medicine is notorious for adopting technology slowly," said Ma, who believes the widespread adoption of patient monitoring tools was "a long time coming."

Many patients with chronic conditions couldn't access care during the pandemic, as noted the New England Journal of Medicine in June. The drop in patient volume during the pandemic led to hospitals losing an estimated $323 billion in 2020, according to the American Hospital Association. Ma believes remote monitoring tools will enable doctors to address the needs of patients who prefer to stay at home.

While some of the remote patient-monitoring adoption from 2020 will be permanent, it's still too early to tell whether hospitals and health care services will build on the programs they launched in response to Covid-19, says Jailendra Singh, a research analyst covering health care technology and distribution at the financial services company Credit Suisse.

Experts say the growth in the U.S. of remote patient monitoring services, known as RPM, will depend largely on innovation from large tech companies, as well as clarity from Medicare and Medicaid about their policies.

"While there have been advances in reimbursement for RPM in Medicare, the rules are still not well understood given the complexity," says Singh. "We anticipate that as RPM adoption evolves, reimbursement guidelines will become streamlined, but the technology and capabilities of RPM will likely continue to outpace that of policy and regulation of RPM."

A February 2021 forecast from WiseGuyReports predicts that the global RPM industry will grow to $125 million by 2030, a 37 percent increase from its current value of $24 million. Analysts point to the rising geriatric population, increases in chronic conditions among the general population, and an increased need to improve access to health care as factors that will contribute to the industry's future growth. Health care technology drew around $10 billion in U.S. and European venture capital investment in the first three quarters of 2020, compared with $8.8 billion in the same period of 2019, according to data from Silicon Valley Bank.

Future innovations and integrations between electronic health care record companies like Cerner and Epic with wearables such as the Apple Watch, Google Fitbit, and Amazon Halo could help set the course for more widespread adoption of patient monitoring.

"Given the prevalence of consumers using these devices for everyday health and fitness tracking, there is a massive amount of data that can be used by physicians and care teams to provide better diagnoses and treatments for conditions that may otherwise go unnoticed," says Singh.

Currently, Medicaid, which serves low-income patients, is behind Medicare in the adoption of RPM services, says Benjamin Lefever, chief executive officer of Certintell, which provides telehealth services to marginalized patients. "Medicare has already jumped on board with remote patient monitoring. They have expanded reimbursement opportunities under the current fee-for-service model over the past few years," he says. The pace of growth is dependent on when Medicaid expands provider reimbursements, he adds.

Medicare and Medicaid in recent years have shifted away from fee-for-service reimbursement to value-based care, which ties payments to the quality of care provided. Lefever thinks the hurdle for the remote patient monitoring industry is how to incentivize health care providers to use their tools under a value-based model. "Health care providers need return-on-investment clarity to invest in remote patient monitoring programs to support improved outcomes in shared savings, shared risk, or capital payment models. The clarity is not there today," he says.

Ma believes that more clarity to the Medicare reimbursement will come in the second year of the pandemic. "Last year was the wild, wild west. I think this year, we know what works and what doesn't. We're going to see companies starting to really grow, and there's going to be a few clear, big winners and consolidation," she says.

Siren has also filed patents for a type of "smart yarn" that can be used to create a new generation of connected clothing for health monitoring for a wide number of conditions. Any number of electronics, from Bluetooth devices to LED lights can be inserted into the machine-washable fabric, according to Ma.

"The socks are only the first iteration of what we can do," she says.
As we get closer to what all of us hope is the end of the pandemic, companies are faced with a new challenge: how to bring people back to work. It's not a small thing to consider when and how to get your team back in the office safely--or whether that's something you should do at all.

That's exactly the question Google is tackling with a new set of policies rolled out this week in a blog post by the company's CEO, Sundar Pichai. Google's workforce has been almost entirely remote since the beginning of the pandemic, and the company had previously said that it was planning for its employees to return to the office in September.

Now, however, the company has changed its stance and will allow employees to choose where they want to work. If they want to return to the office, they can. If they want to relocate to a different office, they can. Or, as long as their role allows it, they can continue to work remotely--forever. That means if you want to go live in a cottage on the beach for a year, it's no problem.

Google says it expects around 20 percent of its workforce to remain remote on a permanent basis. The rest, the company expects to work "approximately three days in the office and two days wherever they work best."

"Many of us would also enjoy the flexibility of working from home a couple [of] days [a] week, spending time in another city for part of the year, or even moving there permanently," Pichai wrote. "Google's future workplace will have room for all of these possibilities."

I bring up Google's approach because I think it's worth highlighting that the right solution to this problem might look different for individual team members. The old model of "one size fits all" isn't only getting, well, old--I think the past year has shown that in many cases, there are far better ways to work.

This leads us to what I think is the driving principle behind the company's new plan: "All of these efforts will help us work with greater flexibility and choice once we're able to return to our offices globally," Pichai wrote.

Flexibility and Choice

There's something brilliantly simple about this approach, summed up in those three words. Google's plan is to be flexible in setting up work structures, in order to give employees a choice. Sure, there are plenty of details around what that looks like, but the plan is simple. Give people flexibility and choice.

To be honest, that's rare even among companies that pride themselves on having a people-oriented culture. Free lunches and a yoga studio are a lot different than telling employees they are free to work wherever they think they can work best. They're a lot different than decentralizing the way people collaborate and allowing them the flexibility to make a decision that's best for them--not just convenient for the company.

I've never been shy about criticizing Google over any number of its policies, but in this case, I have to give the company credit.

While most companies are trying to figure out the quickest way to get back to the way things were before Covid-19, Google is looking to the future and recognizing that there's really no good reason to go back. Instead, Google is building into its culture a completely different way of thinking about how its teams will work together.

"The future of work is flexibility," wrote Pichai. "The changes above are a starting point to help us do our very best work and have fun doing it."
Following the e-commerce explosion that began in 2020, more brands are gravitating toward the direct-to-consumer business model. With that transition comes total control over brand identity and communication; it also means you own your customer data.

For brands that have historically only sold through third-party channels, having access to this incredibly informative, powerful information is both exciting and overwhelming. As the party responsible for each customer's journey, identifying the channels, tools, and strategies that provide them with the most enjoyable and valuable experience should be a top priority.

Predict Their Needs Before They Buy Somewhere Else

Proactively suggesting products or services to consumers on the basis of data insights is a delicate business. If done brashly or without careful, strategic consideration for where the customer is in the buying cycle, it can feel like being spied or intruded on, which is often a major turnoff. An ideal exchange should feel as organic as possible, and even better if the customer feels like you are totally tuned in to their needs.

Using predictive analytics software is a given. This technology mines historical data to identify behavioral patterns and market trends based on what's already happened, and then uses that information to predict future outcomes. Sephora is renowned for using customer data to get personalization just right. Standouts on the list of how the company accomplishes this are a highly individualized digital experience and a tiered loyalty program, both of which leverage predictive analytics to promote customized product discovery, offer rewards, and ultimately optimize the user experience.

As the e-commerce landscape becomes more saturated, however, predicting what people are likely to buy is--well--predictable. Those insights can be further enhanced with human-centered A.I. solutions that combine data analytics with human input to identify more profound needs, desires, and motivators of your customers' behavior. So instead of aiding them in making an anticipated purchase, you can surprise and delight them by suggesting an item they didn't realize they needed or wanted until that moment.

Offer Value Add With Personalized Rewards

Customers don't want to feel like a faceless participant in a program. To earn their attention and loyalty, you have to invest in a relationship with them. Just like any relationship, this requires personalized attention, which is why tiered loyalty programs are on fire. Consumers love them because they are being rewarded with points, options, and other perks for making purchases they likely would have made anyway. Brands love them because they yield long-term engagement and retention among their most desirable customers.

While tiered loyalty programs organize customers by ranks or tiers on the basis of how much they spend, they also enable brands to make highly targeted product recommendations to arguably their best customers. Since this is reliant on purchase patterns, excellent data evaluation and management is required. It's so important not to wildly jump to purchase intent conclusions based on just one data point, especially with loyal customers. Gathering multiple data points allows you to make well-founded recommendations, proving to your customers that you value them and recognize their needs.

Demonstrate the Utility of Data to Earn Customer Trust

The narrative surrounding online data privacy and sharing is complicated and ever-changing. Not only online shoppers, but everyone who uses the internet has concerns about who has access to their personal and behavioral data, and what they're doing with it. At the same time, consumers are being given more control over the use of this information.

In just the past few years, we've seen the emergence of the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and most recently, Google's ban on third-party cookies. But for all the concerns about privacy, many consumers see the value in companies being able to deliver content and solutions that are appropriately targeted to them. In fact, studies have shown that a large majority of online customers have no problem sharing their personal data when they trust a brand will use it to improve their experience.

The customer experience is everything. With no shortage of competitive alternatives, you will be written off in a heartbeat by someone who feels alienated in any way, so abusing the power of data is a major no-no. Use this data privacy revolution to improve personalization efforts. Show customers that they are in control of their data and that it's safe with you by allowing them to choose what they share, using plain language to explain how your company uses personal data, making privacy policies visible, providing clarity on how passwords are handled, and making it easy to opt out of any unwanted communications.
Robert De Niro was instrumental in saving an ailing Martin Scorseses life thanks to Raging Bull.

The pair reunited for the 1980 project after working together on Taxi Driver (1976), but Scorsese soon found himself on a reckless downward spiral due to the critical mauling of New York, New York, which was released in 1977.

Speaking to author Jay Glennie for Raging Bull: The Making Of, Scorsese recalls: It became more impossible for me to function, both physically and mentally, until I finally collapsed.

Scorsese was rushed to hospital in a near death state, where the films co-screenwriter Mardik Martin said: He was bleeding from the mouth, bleeding from his nose, bleeding from his eyes.

The filmmaker was told by a doctor: You cannot go anywhere; you may get a brain haemorrhage any second.

Hearing about Scorseses state, De Niro visited him and asked him some questions that ultimately prompted the director to clean up his act. These were: What is it you want to do? Do you want to die, is that it? Dont you want to live to see your daughter grow up and get married?

De Niro was convinced Scorsese was the only man who could direct Raging Bull and, keen to get back to work, asked him: Are you gonna be one of those directors who makes a couple of good movies and then its over for them?

While the actor says he doesnt remember the conversation playing out in that way, he told Glennie: The thought was unthinkable to me to move on without Marty. But I had to give him that out and ask him if he wanted to do it.

I do recall telling him he could really make this picture special and we would have something that would be remembered for all the right reasons. To me, there was nobody else who could do it better  period.

Scorsese said he was lucky there happened to be a project ready for him to jump into.

It was Robert De Niro that helped pull Martin Scorsese out of a rough spell (Getty Images)

Producer Irwin Winkler doubled down on the importance of De Niros exchange with Scorsese, adding: Im not sure what would have affected Marty more? Bob saying you are going to die or you are never going to make another movie again. Martys so passionate about movies it could well have been that.

Raging Bull, based on the story of boxer Jake LaMotta, is considered one of both Scorsese and de Niros greatest films.

Jay Glennies Raging Bull: The Making Of, published by Coattails, is out now.
gettyimagesbank



By Lee Min-hyung



Korean banks are moving to make rapid inroads into the "digital custody" business or the safekeeping of cryptocurrency by enhancing partnerships with blockchain-powered security players.



Given the unprecedented global craze for cryptocurrency transactions, the market for the service is widely expected to grow at an alarming pace.



Banks are seeking to take advantage of the new source of revenue by enhancing ties with tech-savvy startups that specialize in developing blockchain security software.



NongHyup Bank formed a three-way consortium last year with Hexlant, a Seoul-based blockchain software developer, and Taepyeongyang law firm.



Other major lenders, such as KB and Shinhan, are also tapping into the field by either buying stakes in related companies or setting up a joint venture to provide digital custody services.



"Most first-tier banks here continue to eye digital expansion, and the digital custody service is one of the promising profit areas amid growing demand for cryptocurrency investments," a bank industry source said.



"Banks still have to rely on loan-to-deposit margins, but they want to cut the reliance and find new areas for growth amid the rise of digital banking," the official said. "Even if the digital custody service may not generate outstanding returns from a near-term viewpoint, banks are betting on its huge growth potential."



Financial watchdogs do not welcome the rise of cryptocurrencies, as they may pose a threat to the authority of the nation's own currencies. This is the case for most countries around the world, but no one can refute the fact that the cryptocurrency market is displaying explosive growth. Banks expect this trend to continue in the foreseeable future, because a growing number of companies such as Tesla allows customers to make transactions with cryptocurrencies.



"Many people cite security concerns as the cryptocurrency market grows, but banks keep urging their partnering virtual currency exchange to strengthen security levels," another bank official said. "The market for security services of digital assets will be on a gradual rise."




A hospital in Delhi, the epicentre of coronavirus in India, has reported the resurgence of deadly Covid-induced black fungal infections in patients.

These types of infections can cause loss of sight and can lead to corrective measures such as the amputation of the affected area. According to Delhi doctors patients who contract black fungus only have a 50 percent survival rate.

The cases of black fungus, or mucormycosis, are being seen in more patients due to the fact that the number of Covid-19 cases are increasing, Dr Atul Gogia from Delhis Sir Ganga Ram Hospital told The Independent.

It happens when patients have high or uncontrollable sugar. We are seeing at least a case of mucormycosis every day but it is nothing unusual, Dr Gogia said.

The rise of black fungal infection in Covid patients was flagged last year when 12 such cases were seen in just 15 days.

There have been six cases of mucormycosis in the past two days at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital alone, while cases are also being reported in other hospitals.

"We are seeing a rise again in this dangerous fungal infection triggered by Covid-19. Last year, this deadly infection caused high mortality with many patients suffering from the loss of eyesight and the removal of the nose and the jaw bone," Dr Manish Munjal, senior ENT surgeon at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said.

Mucormycosis is a rare but serious fungal infection that can affect any part of the body, caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. It usually poses no serious harm to patients with a healthy immune system.

It mainly affects the brain, sinus, or eyes but can be found anywhere in the body. It mainly attacks individuals with low immune functions or increased blood sugar level, Dr Gaurav Kumar, a resident doctor at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital told The Independent.

It is emerging as a significant challenge for doctors in the second wave of Covid-19. Some of the drugs used in the treatment of Covid-19 also suppress the immune system. Over judicious use of steroids shoot up the blood sugar level and those with uncontrollable sugar leading to increase chances of fungal infection, he said.

It is more commonly found in post covid patients or who are on ventilatory support. If non-sterile water is used in a humidifier bottle connected to an oxygen tube then loads of microorganism can grow into it and pass into the body, causing infection in immune compromised patients, Dr Kumar said.

The symptoms of mucormycosis depend on the part of the body it has affected. The symptoms can sometimes go unnoticed at the initial stage or be confused with coronavirus symptoms.

Some of the common symptoms are unilateral facial swelling, headache, nasal congestion, black lesion spots on the upper angle of mouth or nasal bridge, rashes on skin, blisters, or blackish skin.

Delhi is at the centre of a crisis situation that is unfolding across India. The national capital has more than 90,000 active Covid cases with hospitals brimming to capacity and a shortage of oxygen.

India reported the highest 414,188 fresh cases in the last 24 hours and 3,915 deaths. The South Asian country is the only in the world to report above 400,000 cases. India has breached the mark thrice and for the second consecutive day on Thursday.
The speaker of parliament and former president Mohamed Nasheed was injured in a targeted bomb blast that rocked the capital Male on Thursday with some describing it as an attack on Maldives democracy and economy.

While no terrorist group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attack, experts say it is possible a major homegrown outfit could be behind the attack, in a country that has a history of pro-Islamist ideology among some of its population.

Speaking to The Independent, Kabir Taneja, an expert on the Middle East and terrorism, says the country has the highest per capita number of foreign fighters who went to Syria to fight for the Islamic State group.
Nepal is facing a human catastrophe similar to Indias amid the second wave of Covid-19 as it recorded its highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in a joint statement, said several hospitals are full and overflowing with Covid-19 patients. It went on to highlight that southern towns near the Indian border are unable to cope with the growing number of people needing medical treatment.

Reporting of cases is 57 times higher than this time last month. India is currently witnessing a severe second wave of the pandemic breaking global records of the single-day spike in the cases with 414,188.

So far Nepal has recorded 359,610 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic last year and 3,475 deaths. But of these totals, 79,885 cases, which makes up more than 22 per cent, were recorded in the last four weeks.

On May 6, it recorded 8,605 cases  the highest single-day jump in Covid-19 cases, while the previous high was on 22 October 2020, when it had recorded 5,743 cases in one day.

Nepal Red Cross Chairperson, Dr Netra Prasad Timsina, said: What is happening in India right now is a horrifying preview of Nepals future if we cannot contain this latest Covid surge that is claiming more lives by the minute. Every effort is being made to save lives right now across Nepal with increased medical treatment.

It is beyond distressing to see that people cannot say goodbye to their loved ones as cremations are taking place at record levels due to these new Covid variants, which are striking down people of all ages in Nepal, said Dr Timsina.

It expressed concern that in Nepal only one per cent of the population has received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine so far.

The statement said that across Nepal, 44 per cent of tests returned positive results last weekend, according to government authorities, indicating many thousands of infections go undiagnosed.

There are grave fears of mass deaths if the virus continues spreading unchecked across the country, it cautioned.

The statement said that other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan have all experienced recent record death rates due to Covid-19.

It said that hospitals and intensive care departments remain full or close to capacity in many areas across Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The Long March 5B rocket, which carried a Chinese space station module, has dropped into low Earth orbit and now risks crashing back down.

The rocket successfully launched the Tianhe module last week, which will become the living quarters of the future Chinese Space Station (CSS). Unfortunately, the 30-metre long rocket also reached orbit, and is now one of the largest ever launches to make an uncontrolled re-entry.

It is uncommon for rockets to reach the velocity necessary to reach orbit, but it is currently travelling around the world once every 90 minutes, or seven kilometres every second. It passes by just north of New York, Madrid, and Beijing, and as far south as Chile and New Zealand.

There are fears that the rocket could land on an inhabited area; the last time a Long March rocket was launched in May 2020, debris was reported falling on villages in the Ivory Coast. The speed of the rocket means scientists still do not yet know when it will fall, but it is likely to do so before 10 May 2021.

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The EU has rejected a push by Boris Johnson to relax rules on food safety as a way of easing Brexit disruption at Northern Irelands ports.

UK negotiators have been pushing for the bloc to take a more flexible approach on food import and animal health regulations that would reduce the need for disruptive new controls.

But the European Commission signalled on Friday that it could not adopt the compromise plan.

The UK had wanted the EU to take a risk assessment-based approach to animal safety that would have taken into account that the UK currently has very similar rules to the EU.

But the Commission believes this would undermine EU food safety rules and the blocs zero risk approach.

Instead, the EU says the UK would have to formally align with EU food rules if it wants reduce border checks and controls.

The UK government has ruled this out and says it must have the freedom to diverge from EU rules.

Since 1 January Northern Ireland has effectively had a customs and regulatory border with the rest of the UK, which has caused significant disruption to trade and shortages of some goods.

But the situation is set to worsen later this year when grace periods exempting supermarket suppliers expire.

The EU and UK have been locked in new Brexit talks since February in a bid to come to a compromise before the grade periods expire.

UK news in pictures Show all 51 1 /51 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 8 June 2021 REUTERS UK news in pictures 7 June 2021 A pedestrian wearing a face covering walks over Westminster Bridge near the Houses of Parliament in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 6 June 2021 Isobel Salamon, founder of the Edinburgh Cinema Club, poses alongside the Leith Trainspotting murals in Quality Yard, Leith, Edinburgh, for the programme launch of the Cinescapes Festival which starts on July 4 with a Trainspotting 1 and 2 double bill PA UK news in pictures 5 June 2021 A long exposure photograph captures the rotation of the earth as the stars blur into circles over Knowlton church ruins in Dorset Nick Lucas/SWNS UK news in pictures 4 June 2021 Balloonists take flight during the opening of the Midlands Air Festival in Alcester, Warwickshire PA UK news in pictures 3 June 2021 Members of the Household Cavalry during the Major General's annual inspection of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment in Hyde Park, London PA UK news in pictures 2 June 2021 Hannah Vitos of the Blenheim Art Foundation, poses for a photograph next to artist Ai Weiwei's Gilded Cage (2017) sculpture in the grounds of Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 1 June 2021 People swim in the Sky Pool, a transparent swimming pool bridge across two exclusive residential blocks standing next to the US Embassy in Nine Elms, in London, Tuesday, June 1, 2021 AP UK news in pictures 31 May 2021 People enjoy the hot weather at Brighton beach Reuters UK news in pictures 30 May 2021 People venture into the sea as they enjoy themselves during a hot day on Brighton Beach AP UK news in pictures 29 May 2021 Swimmers at the Stonehaven Open Air Pool in Aberdeenshire, which reopens after lockdown restrictions were eased PA 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. 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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

The UK has unilaterally extended the deadline for the even stricter controls  a move the EU says is unlawful.

But meanwhile both sides are far from an agreement, with significant differences remaining and no landing zone in sight.

Officials in Brussels told The Independent that negotiators from both sides are constantly in touch about the issue.

Irelands public broadcaster RTE News reports that Lord Frost, the UKs chief Brexit negotiator, and EU vice president Maros Sefcovic are expected to meet business leaders in Northern Ireland as early as next week to discuss the issue.
A French journalist who disappeared in Mali last month has appeared in a brief video, saying he has been kidnapped by Islamist militants in the west African country and pleading for help to be released.

Olivier Dubois called on family, friends and French authorities to do all they can to free him in the 21-second clip.

A source from Frances foreign ministry confirmed the disappearance of the journalist and said the department was in contact with his family.

They said the ministry was carrying out technical checks on the authenticity of the video, which news agencies have not yet been able to verify.

The footage shows a man sitting cross-legged on the floor who says: I am called Olivier Dubois. I am French. I am a journalist.

The man, touching his feet while speaking and with a leg bouncing up and down, says he was kidnapped on 8 April in Gao, a city in Mali.

He says he was abducted by the al-Qaeda affiliated group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).

Im asking my family, my friends and the French authorities to do everything in their power to free me, he adds.

Reporters Without Borders, a media freedom non-profit group, said Mr Dubois is an experienced reporter who knows the region well.

We were informed of his disappearance two days after he went missing, the Paris-based organisation said in a tweet.

In coordination with the news organisations that usually employ him, we took to the decision not to report his abduction in order not to hamper the possibility of a rapid positive outcome.

Christophe Deloire from Reporters Without Borders said Mr Dubois normally worked for Frances Le Point magazine and Liberation newspaper.

The media freedom groups secretary said Dubois was reporting in Gao in Mali when he went missing and knew this very dangerous area in the countrys east very well.

Mr Deloire said the reporter did not return to his hotel after lunch on 8 April.

"We are asking Malian and French authorities to do everything possible to obtain his release, he said.

Mr Duboiss kidnapping makes him the first French national to be taken hostage by jihadist militants in Mali since Sophie Petronin, a humanitarian worker, was freed last October.

Ms Petronin, who was 75 years old at the time of her release, said she had been treated relatively well during her captivity, which lasted nearly four years.

Scores of Islamist insurgents were released in a prisoner swap deal that liberated Ms Petronin, a senior Malian politician and two Italians last year.

France has repeatedly denied paying ransoms directly for hostages in the past.

Around the same time as the group of hostages were released, Switzerland said Beatrice Stoeckli, a Swiss woman being held hostage in the west African country, had been killed by JNIM the month before.

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted mutinous soldiers to overthrow the president.

The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to an Islamic insurgency and a French-led military campaign that ousted the jihadists from the cities they controlled in northern Mali in 2013.

But insurgents remain active and extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali since 2015, attacking targets and stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.

Additional reporting by agencies
Thai police are hunting an American fugitive after the disappearance of his wife, who was four months pregnant, after finding his mattress stained with blood.

Jason Matthew Balzer reportedly fled his home in the Nan province in northern Thailand earlier this week after his wife, 32-year-old Pitchaporn Kidchob, disappeared.

The wifes mother, Anong Tanya, 52, said her daughter had not answered her phone since Sunday and went to visit the couple on 3 May out of concern for her child, The Daily Mail reported.

But Balzer left on a motorcycle carrying a bag as Ms Tanya got to the home. She claims she found bloodstains on the bed, the washing machine and in other parts of the house.

Balzer went to Thailand after being sentenced to probation for assault in Colorado in 2019.

They met in Phuket and dated for one year before marrying, Ms Tanya said according to The Mail.

When I asked where my daughter was her husband told me something in English that I didnt understand.

He left with a bag despite a storm coming. My daughters things were still in the house. I tried to call my daughters phone but Jason was holding it. He cancelled the call while it was ringing in front of me, Ms Tanya said.

More than 20 police officers later arrived at the home and discovered more blood in the bedroom and that a mattress was missing. After using sniffer dogs, they found the mattress on Tuesday more than 15km away, stained with blood.

Balzers bloodstained shirt and an air purifier were found nearby. According to The Mail, CCTV footage shows Balzer riding away on his bike carrying a black backpack.

According to police interviews, Ms Kidchob went missing on 29 April and neighbours had heard them fighting before Balzer left the home.

Tracing his movements via CCTV, police found that Balzer was travelling towards the province of Phrae.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Tanongsak Phitwitchatham said his disappearance was very suspicious.

He said: Officers are searching for the missing woman and her husband. She could be dead but we do not know until we find a body or we have interviewed the husband. Its very suspicious that he disappeared so we need to speak with him urgently.

The Longmont Times-Call reported on 6 December 2019 that Balzer pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Boulder District Court. He was sentenced to two years of probation.

Balzer was originally facing a charge of attempted murder. A woman called police on 25 April after Balzer came into her home as she was sleeping, and told the woman he wanted to have sex.

After the woman said she was tired, Balzer became irate and violent, banging her head against the headboard of her bed five times.

He grabbed a gun from a desk drawer and aimed it at her, saying: I will kill you. She pushed the gun to the side and the gun went off at the side of the bed.

The woman managed to get the gun away from Balzer and threw it under the bed.

She fled to the home of a neighbour as Balzer began attempting to cover up the bullet hole, according to The Longmont Times-Call.
After more than eight hours of negotiation a hostage situation at a Wells Fargo bank in Minnesota ended with the peaceful arrest of the disgruntled customer suspect.

A peaceful resolution, was the best outcome we could have today, Blair Anderson, Chief of the St Cloud Police said at a news conference late Thursday.

Describing the suspect,Ray Reco McNeary as a disgruntled customer, the police said he was upset about a prior transaction with the bank in a prior dispute.

Mr McNeary has been held on charges related to bank robbery and kidnapping, said the police chief.

Police received the call from the branch manager of Wells Fargo slightly before 2pm .

The branch manager called [the police] because he was concerned for his own safety and the safety of the customers and the employees who were in the bank at the time, said Mr Anderson.

When we got there we discovered that several people had already fled the bank while the five bank employees remained and were held hostage.

Officers stand near an entrance to the Wells Fargo branch Thursday 6 May 2021, in south St Cloud, Minnesota following a hostage situation (AP)

It was then that the suspect asked police to call the FBI. The tactical team ad crisis negotiation team of the federal agency were in an open negotiation with Mr McNeary before he started releasing hostages one by one.

The first hostage was released just before 6:30 pm, WCCO reported, and a wad of money was thrown out the door of the bank after they left.

At about 7:45pm, a second hostage was released. Five minutes later, at 7:50pm, he released the third hostage and the fourth hostage was released at 8pm.

That collaborative effort, those relationships... those were valuable to us today, Mr Anderson said of the quick response from the FBI.

The police chief further said that while there are reports that the hostages were held at the gunpoint, it is still not clear if Mr McNeary had a weapon and that the investigators are still searching the building.

Mr Anderson further said that the police has had numerous contact with the suspect dating back at least a decade, including violent crime.
Bank robbers have taken a number of hostages at a Wells Fargo branch in St Cloud, Minnesota, according to local authorities.

Police responded to the scene at around 2pm, and three hours later authorities told the AP it was still an active situation. No one has been has been reported as harmed so far.

The FBI, St Cloud Police Department, and SWAT teams were on the scene. Armoured police vehicles have also been called to the bank.

Negotiations were still under way with the robbers, according to the police.

One hostage was released just before 6.30pm, WCCO reported, and a wad of money was thrown out the door of the bank after they left.

A second hostage was reportedly released later.

All of the hostages are reportedly bank employees, but the total number of people being held  or the number of robbers  was not immediately clear.

A crowd of spectators gathered around the bank branch, but authorities were asking members of the public to steer clear of the area.

Officers gather near an entrance at the Wells Fargo branch Thursday May 6, 2021, in south St. Cloud, Minnesota. Police were on the scene Thursday of a reported bank robbery with hostages (AP)

Police Lieutenant Lori Ellering said the situation remains an active incident and negotiations are ongoing.

There are an undisclosed number of bank employees being held hostage inside, Lt Ellering said.

There are no reports of injuries. The SCPD and FBI are working together on this incident and are working with SWAT resources on scene.

A third hostage was then released by the hostage takers at around 7.50pm CT, according to local media reports.

In media videos of the bank branch, a group of heavily armed troopers can be seen just outside of the door into the Wells Fargo with their guns trained inside.

The hostages who were released were patted down by law enforcement officers upon leaving the building.

We recognise this is a traumatic moment for the community and our colleagues. The safety and security of our customers and employees is our most important priority, a bank spokesperson told Minnesota Public Radio.

The bank is located at 200 33rd Avenue South in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Officers from from St. Cloud, Sartell and Sauk Rapids police, the Stearns County Sheriffs Office and armored vehicles are on scene.




The headquarters of SK hynix in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times file

By Lee Kyung-min
A decorated American doctor has died of Covid-19 after travelling to India to care for family members, his university has confirmed.

Dr Rajendra Kapila, 81, was an infectious disease expert at New Jerseys Rutgers University. He died in a Delhi hospital on 28 April after several weeks of treatment for Covid-related complications.

Kapilas widow Dr Deepti Saxena-Kapila, herself a scientist working on the pandemic, told the Hindustan Times newspaper the couple travelled together to India in the last week of March.

For the last one year I have been working at a Covid-19 lab in New Jersey and had ensured a safe environment at home, said Dr Saxena-Kapila, who specialises in microbiology.

It is ironic that we came to India for two weeks and he contracted it here.

The newspaper quoted Dr Saxena-Kapila as saying they had both been fully vaccinated with two Pfizer-BioNTech shots, though this was not immediately confirmed by Kapilas university.

Rutgers Universitys chair of the department of medicine Dr Marc Klapholz sent a statement via email to colleagues, which was later also shared online, saying Dr Kapila had been a foundational pillar of the New Jersey Medical School for 50 years.

A genuine giant in the field of infectious diseases, Dr Kapila was recognised worldwide and sought out for his legendary knowledge and extraordinary clinical acumen in diagnosing and treating the most complex infectious diseases, the email said.  He will be deeply and genuinely missed.

Kapilas ex-wife, Dr Bina Kapila, said in an interview with ABC News that the doctor, who had underlying conditions of diabetes and heart complications, travelled to India to care for his family.

"He was so brilliant when we were in college, in medical school, that the professors of medicine after they gave a lecture, they would come to him and ask him, did I cover everything?" she said.

"What can go wrong in one week? So he was only going to go for one week."

Kapila had reportedly planned to return to the US in mid-April but tested positive for Covid-19 on 8 April before he was admitted to Delhis Shanti Mukund Hospital, where he died 20 days later.

Whenever Dr Kapila visited India, he would deliver lectures to fellow doctors at major private hospitals in the city and never said no to an opportunity to teach, Dr Ruby Bansal, of Indias Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital at Kaushambi, told the Hindustan Times.

India is currently undergoing a devastating second wave of coronavirus, and has seen a total of more than 21 million cases and more than 230,000 deaths due to Covid since the pandemic began.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised the work of Planned Parenthood while chasisting those who support what she sees as life-threatening policies during a meeting of the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Thursday.

First and foremost, I dont want to hear a single person on this committee or outside of this committee talk about valuing life when they continue to uphold the death penalty, when they continue to support policies that disproportionally incarerate and lead to the deaths of Black men and people throughout this country and uphold an absolutely unjust medical system that exists for profit that allows people to die because they can't afford to live.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who represents New Yorks 14th Congressional District, discussed her and familys involvement with the healthcare provider in the discussion about Americas Black maternal health crisis.

If we want to talk about Planned Parenthood, lets talk about how many lives Planned Parenthood has saved and how many babies have been because of the prenatal care provided by Planned Parenthood," she said in a virtual committee meeting.

If you dont believe it, and if youve never met a Planned Parenthood baby, Im happy to let you know that I am one and that my mother received and relied on prenatal care from Planned Parenthood when she was pregnant with me, she announced.

Planned Parenthood is a non profit that provides vital healthcare and helps millions of people across the United States with a multitude of family planning methods. They offer services such as abortions, contraception and testing for sexually transmitted diseases. Established in 1916, it has recently been targeted by Republicans attempting to defund it.

A recent blow was in Texas after a judge ruled that the state could remove it from its Medicaid programme on 11 March.

Texas wanted it removed from the healthcare programme because Planned Parenthood offers abortions despite Medicaid not covering the costs of abortions.

Texas County Civil District Court Judge Lora Livingstons ruling said that the healthcare group cite no authority for the proposition that a court injunction requires (The Texas Office of the Inspector General) to re-notice its termination,

Before the ruling, Planned Parenthood was the main healthcare provider for more than 8,000 Medicaid claimiants.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson published a statement that said Greg Abbott, the Lone Star State governor, put his politics before the people he was elected to serve.

Last month, some Republican-controlled states began another round of legislation banning at home abortions via medication, a service heavily relied on during the pandemic because of the reduction in-person treatment to slow the spread of coronavirus.

States that have either implemented a ban or plan on doing so include Ohio and Montana.

When we look at what state legislatures are doing, it becomes clear theres no medical basis for these restrictions, Elisabeth Smith, a lawyer for the Centre for Reproductive Right. There only meant to make to make it more difficult to access this incredibly safe medication and sow doubt into the relationship between patients and providers.
President Joe Bidens government is hinting that Iran should keep their expectations low for new offers following a new series of discussions between the two nations over the nuclear deal.

A senior source told reporters on Thursday that the U.S had outlined all their terms and conditions for rejoining their 2015 nuclear deal, which was heralded as a major success of diplomacy, that President Donald Trump removed the US from.

The source, an official within Mr Bidens government, said that continuing was up to Iran, as they were not going to budge from their position.

The latest update comes after Anthony Blinken, the Biden-appointed Secterary of State spoke about Irans stubbornness throughout the talks on a recent trip to Ukraine.

What we dont know is whether Iran is actually prepared to make the decisions necessary to return to full compliance with the nuclear agreement, Blinken said to NBC News while on a trip to Kiev.

They unfortunately have been continuing to take steps that restarting dangerous parts of their programme that the nuclear agreement stopped. And the jury is out on whether theyre prepared to do whats necessary.

Iran appears to want the US to lift all the sanctions placed on them by the Trump administration. Previously, they scoffed at the implication they had to backtrack on the measures that violate the old deal. Iranian government figures have said that the US had committed to notable, but not adequate lifting of the sanctions however, they had not said what they would do in return.

The anonymous official from the US government said that the US is willing to resume to the clear terms of the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as was agreed by the Obama administration in 2015, but only on the understanding Iran follows suit. They said that the US will not do any extra than what is required by the JCPOA to ensure Iran does the same as before.

The old deal provided Iran with billions in sanctions relief to ensure they refrained on parts of their nuclear programme. A lot of this disappeared after Mr Trumps quit the deal, reinstating and increasing sanctions on Iran. Tehran retaliated by increasing their uranium enrichment and other activities hindered by the deal, such as using advanced centrifuges and significant water production.

Recent talks in Vienna led to the US saying they could be convinced to give leeway with what they would offer Iran, such as extending past the terms of the deal to remove some sanctions not concerned with nuclear, the ones put in place by Mr Trump.

While the anonymous official stated that this was still true, they said their pliancy was at boiling point. They did not go into detail about the concessions, but said that anything deemed inconsistent with the JCPOA would be refused.

They did not want to comment about if this series of talks would lead to an advancement but said there was a chance they could come to a conclusion fast, namely before Irans upcoming Presidential elections in June. This was proving to be something making matters more complex.

We think this is doable, The source said. This isnt rocket science.

However, they pointed out that any conclusion hinged upon Iran not asking for anything it was not liable to and by scrapping the moves they had taken to violate the previous deal.

The Biden administration has been tight lipped about what sanctions it would be lifting however, people have suggested it will be ones that do not concern their nuclear programme. This implies the ones put on Iran by Mr Trump for their ballistic missiles and human rights infringments.

The anonymous source did say that the Trump administration was no longer thought by the current government had inflicted his non-nuclear sanctions with the main purpose of ruining a return to the 2015 deal.

They said they did not refute the evidentary basis for those sanctions. However, they did say they are investigating if they are consistent with a return to the JCPOA.

If we think it is inconsistent with a return to the JCPOA to maintain a particular designation, then we are prepared to lift it, the source said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, proudly signed a new voting rights bill that will likely make it harder for people of colour to cast a ballot.

Mr DeSantis was so proud of the new bill that he decided to sign it during an exclusive interview with Fox & Friends.

Journalists from other outlets who arrived to cover the bill signing were turned away and told the event was Fox only.

The bill will limit the number of ballot drop boxes available to voters, require greater ID for voters, and force people to have to sign up for the voter roll every year they want to receive a mail-in ballot. Groups including the NAACP and Common Cause warned that the bills provisions will make it harder for people to vote in the state.

Despite the fact that Mr DeSantis lauded the state's election security in 2020, he apparently felt it was necessary to make voting more difficult.

I have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the country, Mr DeSantis told Fox News. We're making sure we're enforcing voter ID  We're also banning ballot harvesting. We're not gonna let political operatives go and get satchels of votes to dump them in some drop box.

Ballot harvesting has become one of the latest boogeymen Republican election reformers have used to justify legislation that restricts voting rights. Essentially, ballot harvesting allows a third party individual to collect and deliver ballots in some states.

The practice is often used to help individuals who cannot or struggle to physically visit a polling location cast their vote.

Drop boxes will now keep the same hours as the state's election offices, and a monitor will be required to watch over the locations.

We're also prohibiting mass mailing of balloting. We've had absentee voting in Florida for a long time. You request the ballot. You get it. And you mail it in. But to just indiscriminately send them out is not a recipe for success, Mr DeSantis said, without providing further detail.

Last year was the first time in years that Democrats have outvoted Republicans by mail, casting 680,000 more mail-in ballots than Republicans did.

The bill was immediately challenged in court by civil rights organisations, while the governor faced a barrage of criticism on social media, including a number of tweets featuring the hashtag retireRon and deathsantis among his critics.

BREAKING: Minutes after Governor DeSantis signs new voter suppression law, @LWVFlorida, @BlackVotesMtr, @ActiveRetirees file federal court lawsuit, Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer, tweeted. Proud to be part of the legal team supporting these great organisations protecting the right to vote!

The lawsuit alleges that the weight of the bill will be disproportionately felt by disadvantaged communities.

SB 90 does not impede all of Floridas voters equally, the lawsuit says. It is crafted to and will operate to make it more difficult for certain types of voters to participate in the states elections, including those voters who generally wish to vote with a vote-by-mail ballot and voters who have historically had to overcome substantial hurdles to reach the ballot box, such as Florida's senior voters, youngest voters, and minority voters.

Mr DeSantis's strange bill signing ceremony predictably stirred comments and criticism on social media. Some users questioned the governor's decision to make the event a Fox News exclusive despite it involving a civic leader engaging in public duties, while others skewered the provisions of the legislation.
Claims of Russian bounties against US troops in Afghanistan were linked to a Kremlin-backed spy team known as Unit 29155, according to reports.

The intelligence community released newly-declassified documents of its assessment to The New York Times after the Biden administrations review said they had "low to moderate" confidence in the intelligence.

Claims that Donald Trump did nothing about Russian bounties on American soldiers were leveraged by Joe Biden as a major election issue during the presidential campaign and tied to accusations that the Republican had consistently shown a deferential attitude to Vladimir Putin. Conservative commentators said the only low to moderate assessment meant the Biden administration had effectively walked back the bounties claim.

Reporting by theTimes suggests the Central Intelligence Agencys judgement was bolstered by traces of evidence left by a unit of the GRU Russian military intelligence service known for assassination operations.

The involvement of this GRU unit is consistent with Russia encouraging attacks against US and coalition personnel in Afghanistan given its leading role in such lethal and destabilising operations abroad, the National Security Council said in a statement provided to the newspaper.

Quoting officials and statements on two prior operations, theTimes identified the group as Unit 29155, which has been accused of involvement in explosions at ammunition depots in the Czech Republic and the assassination attempt of a Bulgarian arms manufacturer.

It has also been linked to the assassination attempt against former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.

The connection to the GRU in managing relationships with a Taliban-linked Afghanistan criminal network that first revealed allegations of a Kremlin plot to encourage attacks on US and allied troops, was highlighted by White House press secretary Jen Psaki when announcing the administrations findings.

"The involvement of this GR unit is consistent with Russias encouraging attacks against US and coalition personnel in Afghanistan," she told reporters.

"So while theres low to moderate assessment of these reports, we felt it was important for our intelligence community to look into it."

The release of newly declassified documents suggests disagreement among different agencies within the intelligence community on whether to assign a "medium" or "low" level of confidence in corroborating the intelligence, which reportedly came from members of the criminal network detained in early 2020.

While they ultimately had "low to moderate" level of confidence in the bounties, they had "high confidence" in the associated but circumstantial evidence of ties between the criminal network and the GRUs Unit 29155.

We have independently verified the ties of several individuals in this network to Russia, the National Security Council statement to theTimes said.

Multiple sources have confirmed that elements of this criminal network worked for Russian intelligence for over a decade and travelled to Moscow in April 2019.

The Biden administration gave a warning, but issued no sanctions, against Russia for the bounties. Asked if the president had any regrets for attacking Mr Trump for not taking action based on the same intelligence, Ms Psaki said shes "not going to speak to the previous administration".

During the 2020 campaign, Mr Biden said the previous administration didnt "lift one finger" to respond to the bounties placed on US troops.

Not only has he failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law, Donald Trump has continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin, Mr Biden said.
The United States economy added just 266,000 jobs in April, the government reported on Friday, a disappointing month of growth given economists predicted a far greater return to the labour force.

Prior to the release of the report, economists expected job creation to be around 1 million for the next couple of months as the economy booms and more people receive a Covid-19 vaccine  indicating the country was recovering from the pandemic. Unemployment rates were also estimated to drop from the 6 per cent recorded in March to about 5.8 per cent.

Instead, the unemployment rate slightly rose to 6.1 per cent in April. Experts have cautioned this number could be misleadingly low, though, given the number of people who dropped out of the labour force in the last year and have yet to return.

April was the most disappointing month in job growth since January after the US economy added 770,000 jobs in March.

Although the jobs report was more disappointing than economists predicted, the US economy was still moving in the right direction by adding jobs into the labour force after more than 20 million were lost at the start of the pandemic. But the rate was slower than needed if the country wanted to make a speedy recovery.

The US has regained about 63 per cent of the jobs lost during the pandemic, but there were still an estimated 8.3 million jobs to go.

At this current rate, the US would not return to its pre-pandemic job rate until November 2023.

Some businesses and employers have complained to lawmakers and the White House that they were struggling to fill lower-wage, hourly positions as more industries reopen amid the pandemic. But it was not yet known if these labour shortages were due to short-term issues of Covid-19 still infecting communities, or if it was a longer-term problem.

Lower-income earners, women, and Hispanic and Black workers made up the largest chunk of pandemic layoffs, and millions were still out of work.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican politicians have argued that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which passed through Congress without a single GOP senators support, was to blame for some Americans not returning to work amid the pandemic. Included in the package were stimulus checks and increased unemployment benefits.

But the Biden administration has argued the US economy would be returning at an even slower rate than recorded if it werent for the stimulus boost.

President Joe Biden was anticipated to speak from the White House later on Friday to address the disappointing jobs report.

In the speech, the president may use the opportunity to further push his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan to the public because, his administration argues, it would add more jobs to the US economy and bring workers back to the labour force.
Grant Shapps has revealed the updated travel lists in the governments first review of its traffic light system since leisure travel legally resumed on 17 May.

No new countries were added to the green list, despite fervid hopes that various Greek and Spanish islands might make the cut based on low Covid infection rates.

In a further blow to the travel industry and British holidaymakers, the one mainstream tourism destination on the green list, Portugal, was downgraded to amber due to a doubling of cases since the last review and fears over variants of concern. Its colour change will take effect from 4am on 8 June.

Only 11 nations and territories still qualify for no quarantine status for returning travellers: Ascension Island, Australia, Brunei, the Falkland Islands, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Iceland, Israel, New Zealand, Tristan da Cunha, St Helena, Singapore, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The only traditional summer-sun destinations that remain on the green list are Gibraltar and Israel.

Ireland retains its special status as a member of the common travel area, with no restrictions imposed on travellers to the UK.

Under the traffic light system, countries are rated as red, amber or green, depending on the risk they are believed to pose of importing new cases and variants of coronavirus to the UK.

Travellers from green-list nations must pay for a pre-departure and post-arrival test before the journey back to the UK.

The existing red list, requiring hotel quarantine, has been expanded, with the addition of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Trinidad & Tobago. It now totals 50 countries.

The remaining nations  around 144 of them  are on the amber list. Arrivals from amber list countries must self-isolate at home for 10 days (or fewer, if a test after five days proves negative).

The new traffic light system uses data from the Joint Biosecurity Centre that evaluates the risk that arrivals from abroad, including returning holidaymakers, may harm public health in the UK.

The criteria are coronavirus infection rates, reliability of data, prevalence of variants of concern, genomic sequencing capability, vaccine roll-out and passengers connecting through key hubs.

After the first review of the lists, Mr Shapps, the transport secretary, said the governments approach would be cautious.

He said: The public has always known travel will be different this year and we must continue to take a cautious approach to reopening international travel in a way that protects public health and the vaccine rollout.

While we are making great progress in the UK with the vaccine rollout, we continue to say that the public should not travel to destinations outside the green list.

Further reviews of the green list are expected to take place every three weeks.

The green list is not reciprocal: many of the locations are closed to British travellers, and others will accept only tourists who have been fully vaccinated.

Green list in full

Israel

Gibraltar

Iceland

Faroe Islands

Brunei

Falkland Islands

Australia

New Zealand

Singapore

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Red list in full

Afghanistan

Angola

Argentina

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Bolivia

Botswana

Brazil

Burundi

Cape Verde

Chile

Colombia

Costa Rica

Democratic Republic of Congo

Ecuador

Egypt

Eswatini

Ethiopia

French Guiana

Guyana

India

Kenya

Lesotho

Malawi

Maldives

Mozambique

Namibia

Nepal

Oman

Pakistan

Panama

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Qatar

Rwanda

Seychelles

Somalia

South Africa

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Tanzania

Trinidad and Tobago

Turkey

Uruguay

United Arab Emirates

Venezuela

Zambia

Zimbabwe

All other countries will be categorised as amber. See the full amber list here.
You have to feel a bit sorry for Ben Affleck. On the one hand, the actor appears to have everything  a $20m home in L.A, a glittering film career, a position on the Hollywood A list, three children  he even got to marry Jennifer Garner (although she is now his ex-wife).

Affleck, 48, is a household name. He has achieved the eyewatering level of celebrity that allows him access to the brightest parties, the hottest restaurants (when the pandemic allows), and the adoration of thousands of fans. Yet he is, just like many of us, looking for love.

And while weve all made mistakes when dating (agreeing to a first date in a graveyard during lockdown with a man who talked only of the death metal scene in Milan, for two hours, was one of mine), we probably havent all experienced the fallout Affleck recently encountered after sending TikTok user Nivine Jay a video message to ask her why shed unmatched him on the exclusive dating app Raya. Nivine, he said, in a post that has gone viral since Jay shared it. Why did you unmatch me? Its me.

Now, he may well have been simply seeking to prove that it was, in fact, him  the real Ben Affleck, rather than someone posing as Ben Affleck  but I wonder if there was something deeper, here. The thing about Afflecks wounded its me is that he seems unable to believe that the woman he had matched with didnt want to take it any further; that she might not, heaven forbid, want to date him: Ben Affleck. He might as well have said, dont you know who I am?

And while theres an argument for the fact that private messages on a dating app shouldnt be shared, as Chrissy Teigen pointed out, this whole exchange does prove one thing: it must be hell for celebrities like Ben Affleck on dating apps. Near on impossible, in fact, to do something perfectly normal, like dating, precisely because youre Ben Affleck.

For one thing, people probably wont believe you are who you say you are; and even if they do, they might already have formed an opinion about you from newspaper headlines and gossip magazines that means youre fighting an uphill battle to win them over, right from the start.

I have a friend who is on TV who cant join a dating app because hes too recognisable. If his social media accounts are anything to go by, it would be too difficult  the moment he set up an Instagram account, his DMs were filled with nudes and lewd comments. It leaves him, and celebrities like him, stuck: impossible to meet anyone in the wild due to the pandemic; impossible to do it online. It can be lonely, having a face.

And I also need to confess something: because Ive done what Jay did with Affleck ... of sorts. During lockdown, a well-known TV soap star swiped right on me on a dating app, and Ill admit that it tickled me so much, given his identity, that I shared the fact with my friends  I even wrote a poem about it.

As I reflect now on why I did that, I admit that I do feel guilty. Because as amusing as it was to have someone from the telly ask me out, I forgot he is a human being  that acting is his job; that the fact he is a celebrity probably makes finding a partner more difficult for him than for the rest of us.

And theres really nothing funny or shameful about wanting to find love.
Its a mighty strange time when a government that has been in power for 11 years wins a by-election on the slogan: Time for Change. But it resonated with people in Hartlepool just as it had and continues to appeal to former lifelong Labour voters mainly north of the Trent residing outside our great northern cities.

Shortly after Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party in 2015, I attended a cabinet meeting in which we briefly discussed the result. George Osborne observed that it was the perfect opportunity to see off socialism once and for all in British politics. We all agreed the election of Labours new leader amounted to an even bigger act of political suicide than Michael Foots manifesto of 1983 and we were right. In due course, Corbyn led his party to its biggest electoral failure in 85 years. What we hadnt factored in was losing the EU referendum.

Fast forward to 2019 and I was with one of Labours best MPs discussing why we werent in the same political party given how much we agreed upon. I was arguing for the new party I was now a member of. The two main parties were in the grip of the extremes, and I urged him to have the courage of a handful of his colleagues, leave the Labour Party and join us in creating something new and radical that better represented the values and aspirations of the people we sought to serve and lead.

He shook his head: No, no, no. We have to lose and lose badly. His view, shared by many other Labour MPs, was that a heavy defeat at the ballot box would see off Corbyn and his acolytes, leaving the Brownites the Blairites and the other ites to simply and swiftly pick up the pieces, stick their party back together and all would be well.

The super Thursday election results prove how wrong they were.

The Corbyn years have done huge, deep-seated damage to Labour. Its not just the stench of antisemitism, extremism and intolerance that remains in the nostrils of many lifelong voters, its not just that they no longer have the same values as Labour, its mainly that Labour doesnt seem to have any values. And every party, every candidate needs to give people a reason to go out and vote for them. Sometimes that can be as cynical as the other lot are rubbish, but by and large people vote for a party that broadly shares their values and is largely competent.

Out of office for 11 years with a shadow cabinet no ones heard of and a leader hugely constrained by a pandemic of tragic proportions, Labour cant even get on the competence scale. But there are no excuses for its failure to identify and share its values and vision for our country post-Covid with the electorate.

I believe that failure is because the Labour leadership doesnt know what their values are or what their vision is. They are torn between their traditional voters who have largely abandoned them and those who have stuck by them, and at the same time, the party is dogged by the unresolved battle between the Cobynites and the rest of the party.

Labours proud internationalism, its open-minded, small L, liberal traditions dont resonate with large strands of its white working-class voters who found their voice when they voted for Brexit. Labour is now more the party of the young, ethnic minorities and middle-class graduates living in metropolitan areas, all of whom overwhelmingly voted Remain. But Labour is utterly mute on Brexit, fails to make the case for immigration, refugees and foreign aid for fear of upsetting red wall traditional voters. In short, Labour doesnt know whether it is Arthur or Martha.

It took Labour 14 years to move from Michael Foot to Tony Blair and the keys to No 10. It was clear to a mere observer that it was a long and bloody process requiring huge determination, courage and sacrifice to rid the Labour Party of its destructive hard left.

I am bound to say that two years ago, Labour MPs had the opportunity to turn the tide that now engulfs Keir Starmer. Instead, they chose the easier option of keeping their seats and their heads down. They can no longer avoid the inevitable. If Labour has any hope of survival, it must root out the far left.

You may wonder why this former Conservative should care a jot about the plight of a political party Ive been fighting against for a large part of my adult life. We need a strong opposition to have a healthy democracy and especially given the blatant populism, cronyism and corruption of the current government.

And theres this. Ive never known a time when so many are not just politically homeless but in political despair. Ive always been a pragmatic, social democratic, small L liberal Tory firmly in the Ken Clarke camp. Im appalled and, dare I say, angry at what is happening to our country. We have in our prime minister not just the most incompetent and lazy incumbent of the greatest office of state, but someone who lies as easily as he takes a breath.

Johnsons cabinet is, with few exceptions, a rag, tag and bobtail of sycophants, chancers and second-raters. We are coming out of a tragic and profoundly damaging pandemic despite, not thanks to, our government, though I give them credit for much of the success of the vaccine programme.

We face a hugely uncertain economic future given the twin catastrophes of Covid and Brexit. There are so many lessons to be learnt and problems to be fixed  whether its long-standing health inequalities, record waiting lists and an exhausted and depleted NHS workforce. In addition, we have rising levels of poverty, too many unskilled youngsters, climate change  you get the drift, its a long list. Our politics is broken and our political system is unfit for purpose. The least we can hope for is an effective and credible opposition.

Anna Soubry was the Conservative Party MP for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire from 2010 to 2019. She left the party to join Change UK in 2019
Since 1963, The Independent has helped create a great community!

Since our founding in September of 1963, The Independent has been dedicated to giving Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin, and Sunol readers the news they need to be in-the-know about what's going on in the Tri-Valley region.




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BCCL

There is one thing that has not been affected by all these catastrophes happening in the country - the redevelopment of the Central Vista. Declared as 'essential service', by which the construction of it was exempted from the lockdown, the 20,000 crore project in the national capital is slowly taking shape. Over the past few weeks, sides of the roads leading to Rajpath have been dug up as part of the massive construction works. Read more

Owner Of Khan Chacha Accused Of Running Oxygen Concentrator Racket In Delhi

Delhi Police

At the center of the racket and the prime accused is Navneet Kalra, the owner of famous eatery Khan Chacha in Khan Market and Nege Ju Restaurant and Bar in central Delhi's Lodhi Colony. Kalra is a well-known businessman who also owns the famous Dayal Opticals and in currently on the run. A manhunt has been initiated to nab him. Read more

In Goa, Every Second Person Tested For COVID-19 Is Positive, Highest Positivity Rate In India

BCCL

Goa on Thursday reported 3,869 new COVID-19 cases, the highest rise in daily infections so far. With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state has reached 1,08,267. In the past 24 hours, Goa also saw 58 COVID-19 deaths, taking the toll to 1,501. But what remains a huge concern for the state is the high test positivity rate. The 3,869 were detected in the state from 7,518 swab samples tested during the day. Read more



Germany Rejects COVID-19 Vaccine Patent Waiver: What We Know

Reuters

Germany rejected a US proposal to waive patent protection for COVID-19 vaccines, claiming the greatest constraints on production were not intellectual property but increasing capacity and ensuring quality. President Joe Biden on Wednesday voiced support for a waiver in a sharp reversal of the US position, and his top trade negotiator, Katherine Tai, swiftly backed negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Read more

Karnataka Caps Rates Of CT Scan, X-Ray At Rs 1,500 And Rs 250 In Private Labs

BCCL

But a test like a CT scan is not something that everyone can afford. Keeping this in mind, the Karnataka government has announced a price cap on CT scans and X-rays in private labs across the state. "Since CT- Scan or X-Ray is becoming increasingly necessary to detect COVID-19 infection, the Government has decided to cap the price of CT-Scan and Digital X-Ray in private hospitals and labs at Rs 1,500 and Rs 250 respectively" Dr. K Sudhakar, Karnataka Health Minister said. Read more


If youve been using the same password across multiple sites, downloading softwares from the internet and clicking on email links, theres a possibility that a hacker can steal your password and lock you out of your account.

Reuters

Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to your account and can keep the bad guys out even if they have your password. Now, Google has announced its going to take an extra step to help keep user accounts more secure: its going to enroll people in two-factor authentication by default.

How Googles 2FA enrollment will work

Once you enable the two-step verification, Google sends a prompt to your smartphone whenever a sign in attempt is made so as to confirm that its legitimate. Using their mobile device to sign in gives people a safer and more secure authentication experience than passwords alone, the company said in a blog post.

Google

Google already uses 2FA to secure accounts, but its been optional until now. The search giant said that it is also building advanced security technologies into devices to make this multi-factor authentication seamless and even more secure than a password.

For example, weve built our security keys directly into Android devices, and launched our Google Smart Lock app for iOS, so now people can use their phones as their secondary form of authentication, the post read.

Googles Security Checkup page tells users whether 2FA is set up on their account; the strength of your password and whether youre reusing it across different sites; and also automatically sends an alert to those whose password has been compromised.

How to set up Google 2-step authentication

The easiest way to set up 2FA across your Google accounts is by heading over to the main landing page and Get Started. You may also alternatively open your Google Account, select Security in the navigation panel and under Signing in to Google, select 2-Step Verification and then Get started.

Authy

Either way, you will be asked to login and select your mobile device linked to your account. Follow the on-screen steps to verify your phone number and whether you want to receive verification codes by text message or phone call.

Authy

Now, whenever a login attempt is made to your account, Google will send prompts to your device that allow you to simply click Yes or No. If that doesnt work for some reason, Google will send the verification code via a text message or phone call.

The case for avoiding SMS-based 2FA

Overall, this app and system-based two-step verification is better than the SMS-based approach which can be hacked and is still widely used by banks.

Getty Images

Turns out, the phone networks as well as your phone companies are bad at security. Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in your telecom network to listen to your calls, intercept texts and even trace your location.

Your carrier provider, on the other hand, can be tricked into porting a phone number to a new device in what is called SIM swapping. But in that case, your device will be disconnected from the network and youd know that your phone number has been compromised.

Getty Images

However, hackers have been able to reroute text messages. And before you realise that someone else is actually getting your messages, they break into your online accounts that rely on texts for authentication.

Therefore, for 2FA, experts recommend that you use authentication apps such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or Authy.


Drinking a moderate amount of alcohol daily can actually help reduce the risk of dying from a major cardiovascular episode by a whopping 20 percent.

Getty Images

Also Read: No Drinking Alcohol For Two Months After Sputnik V COVID-19 Vaccine Shot

This is according to researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, which is also regarded as the largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. For this study, they obtained data from Mass General Brigham Biobank health care survey of 53,064 participants with an average age of 57.2 years. From this, 59.9 percent were women.



Alcohol intake was self-reported by the test subjects and was categorised into three categories -- low (less than one drink a week), moderate (one to 14 drinks a week) or high (more than 14 drinks a week).

Of all the patients in the study, 752 underwent PET scans to determine areas of the brain with increased activity. Researchers looked for activity associated with stress in the amygdala and frontal cortex. Based on this brain activity, they further grouped the individuals.

Of the 53,064 participants, 7,905 had experienced a major cardiovascular episode -- 17 percent in the low alcohol intake and 13 per cent in the moderate alcohol intake group.

Researchers say that people who consumed moderate levels of alcohol did not just show a 20 percent lower chance of having a major cardiovascular episode compared to low alcohol intake but also lower stress-related brain activity.

Also Read: Alcohol Abuse Can Reduce 24-28 Years From Life Span, Study Finds

Dr Kenechukwu Mezue, the lead author of the study explains, We found that stress-related activity in the brain was higher in non-drinkers when compared with people who drank moderately. While people who drank excessively (more than 14 drinks per week) had the highest level of stress-related brain activity. The thought is that moderate amounts of alcohol may have effects on the brain that can help you relax, reduce stress levels and, perhaps through these mechanisms, lower the incidence of cardiovascular disease.

Getty Images

Also Read: Binge Drinking Increased 19% With Every Week Of Lockdown, Says New Study

Mezue further explained, Alcohol has several important side effects, including an increased risk of cancer, liver damage and dependence. So other interventions with better side effect profiles that beneficially impact brain-heart pathways are needed.

Researchers will later deep dive into determining whether observed reductions in brain activity are the direct result of moderate alcohol intake, with the help of multiple brain scans and detailed assessment of alcohol intake.
Indias Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation has cleared the way for foreign vaccines to come to India and released a set of new guidelines for the same.

Reuters

Also Read: CoWin API Doesn't Show Vaccine Slots In Real-Time: Will This Shutdown Bots?

Reported first by ET, with the new guidelines, any private entity can now import the COVID-19 vaccine if that has been approved by the drug regulatory authority and has received an import license for the vaccine.



What if a vaccine hasnt been approved?

In case a vaccine hasnt really been approved, the importer or authorized agent of the vaccine will be required to obtain permission licence from the aforementioned regulatory authority which will permit the drug under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, import registration under Drugs Rules, 1945 and import license under Drug Rules 1945.

Current and future vaccine production in India

As of now, both the Serum Institute (which makes AstraZeneca-Oxfords Covishield) and Bharat Biotech (which make Covaxin) are cumulatively able to provide around 75 million doses.

Adar Poonawal in previous statements has claimed that he aims to push the manufacturing to 100 million doses by July and around 2.3 billion doses annually. Bharat Biotech on the other hand Covaxin has announced that it has ramped up its production to reach 700 million doses per anum.

Also Read: 15.72 Crore Covid Vaccines Administered In India In Last Four Months

How many doses will this allow to come to India?

The first vaccine to be permitted with the refreshed set of guidelines will be Russias Sputnik V, in collaboration with Dr Reddys Laboratories as the company has announced the launch to commence this quarter.

Also Read: Russia Authorises Single-Dose Sputnik Light Covid-19 Vaccine With 79.4% Efficacy

It has already received 150,000 doses at the start of this month and is expected to receive another batch of 150,000 doses over the weekend.

Johnson & Johnson, has teamed up with Hyderbad based vaccine maker Bio E in India. In the US, it is aiming at manufacturing 1 billion doses and has promised to deliver 100 million doses to the US by the end of June. For its facilities in India, however, J&J had aimed at a goal of making 500 to 600 doses every year at Genome Valley facility of Biological E.

Now lets talk about vaccine makers that dont have manufacturing tie-ups in India -- Pfizer and Moderna.

Pfizer has set a goal for manufacturing and shipping 2.5 billion doses of its vaccine globally by the end of this year. They also recently announced that theyd supply a total of 600 million doses to the European Union member states and around 300 million doses to the US by July this year.

Reuters

Moderna, on the other hand, has also announced that it plans on boosting its capacity to 700 million to 1 billion doses in 2021 -- 3 billion doses in 2022 and is working to ship up to 1 billion doses in this fiscal year. As of now, it has shipped over 132 million doses globally. It has a target to deliver 100 million doses by the end of May and another 100 million doses by the end of June.



After eliminating the commitments made by both these companies, and looking at the manufacturing targets laid out by the companies, India could still get enough doses to vaccinate a larger chunk of our population if it does decide to import these vaccines to India.
Mangalsutra carries immense importance in Hindu culture and traditions. It's a scared thread which is traditionally tied around the neck of the bride by the groom during the wedding rituals.

It's a custom that has been in place for centuries and has been worn as a symbol of marital dignity and chastity. While the tradition remains in practice, a man recently revealed that he exchanged mangalsutras with his wife on their wedding day.

Facebook/Humans of Bombay

His revelation about tweaking practice raised eyebrows on social media.



Shardul Kadam, sharing his story with Humans of Bombay, recalled he and his partner tried the mangalsutras around their necks after the pheras. "After the pheras when Tanuja and I tied the mangalsutra around each other's neck, I was so happy," he recalled.

Also read: Bride Shares Story Of Wearing A Pantsuit To Her Wedding And How People Reacted

Tanuja and I were in the same college but hardly interacted with each other. 4 years after we graduated, we reconnected... Posted by Humans of Bombay on Wednesday, 5 May 2021



Unfortunately, the next day, the newlyweds woke up to "terrible backlash" on social media. The couple had met in college, but their love story took off four years after their graduation.

"We reconnected in the most unexpected way. Shed shared a Himesh Reshammiya song on Instagram and captioned it as tortureI replied back saying maha torture...thats how we started talking, says Shardul.

The pair soon started opening up to each other and when they discussion moved to feminism, Shardul declared himself to be a "hardcore feminist".

Shardul and Tanuja dated for a year before they informed their parents, who were thrilled. They decided to get married when the first wave of COVID-19 subsided in India.

That's when Shardul revealed his plan about mangalsutra exchange.

"I told Tanuja, 'Why is it that only a girl has to wear a mangalsutra? It makes no sense!' We were both equals, so I announced, 'Even I'll wear a mangalsutra on our wedding day!'" Shardul tells Humans of Bombay.

Also read: Watch: Bride And Groom Have 'Dancing' Pheras At Their Wedding

Facebook/Humans of Bombay

Shardul was firm on his decision and refused to budge even though his parents and relatives had reservations about the plan.



A few male relatives weren't happy about the exchange but the wedding went on smoothly. But the day after, the newlyweds became the talk of the town after a website picked up their story.

"People started commenting- 'Now wear a saree also', 'Do you bleed once a month?' Even liberals started trolling me, 'This is not the way to support gender equality,' they said."



Shardul says he expected some trolling to come his way, but the extent of it surprised him. "At first, Tanuja was affected by it, but it's been four months now and we're just done with the trolls," he says.



Also ready: Smashing Stereotypes! Sassy Bride Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands And Drives Husband To Her Sasuraal On Vidaai




Insurance fraud seems like it might be an easy thing to do. Insurance companies are often so huge, one wonders how they might not even notic...
Financial Supervisory Service Governor Yoon Suk-heun, center, answers questions from reporters in Seoul on March 30. Yonhap





By Lee Min-hyung







The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) is facing a leadership vacuum as Governor Yoon Suk-heun ends his three-year tenure on Friday.







It remains unclear who will replace Yoon as Cheong Wa Dae is still mulling a possibly large-scale reshuffle of its economic team.







Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki is taking on a dual role as the leader of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and acting prime minister. There is a chance that the presidential office will reshuffle the head of the financial watchdog around the end of this month when Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum takes office.







As Hong's fate remains up in the air, the FSS governor position will also likely remain vacant for the next few weeks during which time First Senior Deputy Governor Kim Kun-ik will serve as the acting governor of the watchdog.







There are rumors that former First Vice Finance Minister Kim Yong-beom or ex-Financial Services Commission Vice Chairman Chung Eun-bo will lead the FSS for the next one year until the end of the incumbent administration.







Yoon completed his term, which is rare, because only two previous FSS leaders had done so out of a total of 13 former heads of the watchdog.







But starting this year, Yoon faced internal criticism for favoritism. The FSS union criticized Yoon for promoting some officials who faced disciplinary measures for unfair hiring practices.







The FSS also faced public criticism last year for its poor supervision of a nationwide financial scandal surrounding the mis-selling of funds by some financial institutions. Mis-selling refers to the deliberate, reckless or negligent sale of products or services that are unsuited to a customer's needs.







"The previous forecast was that Yoon would extend his term just like Korea Development Bank Chairman Lee Dong-gull whose term extension was decided at the last minute," a financial industry source said. "But the scenario appears not to have become a reality amid fierce opposition from the FSS' labor union."


Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below.
This time of year usually means one thing: graduation! Whether students are graduating from high school, community college or from a university, a new crop of talented and motivated individuals is entering the workforce. Workforce development has become a top-three priority for the Tucson Me
Lee Jung-seob's "White Ox" (1953-1954) / Courtesy of MMCA



By Park Han-sol



To Lee Jung-seob, one of the most iconic modern painters of Korea, a cow was much more than a common farm animal found in rural communities. Serving as one of the central themes in his work, the creature was a symbol of Korea's  or Joseon's  national identity and spirit under Japanese colonial rule.



The cattle in Lee's "White Ox" straining to take a step forward describes the unceasing sacrifice and labor of the people of Joseon. Among Lee's only five known surviving paintings of white bulls, the said piece's whereabouts had been unknown since it was on display in the early 1970s.



Now, after more than four decades, the painting will once again stand before the audience as part of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee's massive art collection donated to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA).



The MMCA unveiled Lee's art collection  totaling 1,488 pieces by 246 renowned artists here and abroad  Friday. It is the biggest single donation of paintings, etchings, ceramics and sculptures the national gallery has ever received.



Prominent pieces include domestic works by abstract masters Kim Whan-ki, Chang Uc-chin and Park Soo-keun as well as masterpieces by Western artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Claude Monet, to name a few. The inventory includes more than 100 of Picasso's ceramic works.



The collection is also comprised of rare surviving works of Korea's first-generation female Western-style painters, including Rha Hye-seok and Baek Nam-soon, who taught Lee Jung-seob.



"Lee's collection can be characterized as a comprehensive crossing of all ages and countries. We can witness the vast array of modern and contemporary works of the East and the West across different genres, periods and artists," MMCA Director Youn Bum-mo said in a press conference. "I would say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the museum."





Rha Hye-seok's "Peonies of Hwayeongjeon Palace" (1935) / Courtesy of MMCA



Rha was Korea's first female Western-style painter, writer and advocate of women's rights. She spoke up against the patriarchal values and social pressures placed upon women, seeking their liberation from institutionalized norms, notably through her writing, "A Divorce Confession," in 1934. Her painting, "Peonies of Hwayeongjeon Palace," set near her hometown of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, was produced shortly after her controversial publication.



Most of Rha's works created in the early 1900s have been either destroyed or disappeared throughout the years. By bringing back to the public eye rare surviving works that have been largely forgotten, the late Samsung Group chief's collection will play a significant role in enriching the study of Korea's modern art and cultural history, MMCA said in a statement.





Salvador Dali's "Family of Marsupial Centaurs" (1940), left, and Pablo Picasso's "Untitled" are part of Lee Kun-hee collection. Courtesy of MMCA
Alera Group, an independent, national insurance and wealth management firm, has acquired the employee benefits division of Lamb Insurance Services, an insurance broker exclusively dedicated to nonprofit and social service organizations.

The acquisition is effective April 1, 2021, and the terms of the transaction were not announced.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Lamb Insurance Services employee benefits division offers strategic consulting, compliance strategies, technology solutions, administration and claim analytics.

Corey Heller is the former leader of Lamb Insurance Services employee benefits division and is now a senior partner at Alera. The Lamb Insurance Services benefits team joins Alera Group through the firms Philadelphia location and will be known as Alera Group.

Source: Alera Group

Topics Mergers
Aon announced the formation of its EMEA M&A and Transaction Solutions Advisory Board to support the growth of its Mergers & Acquisition insurance practice across the United Kingdom and Europe, the Middle East and Africa

The broker is also expanding its client offerings to include intellectual property, cyber security and digital performance, retirement, benefits, talent and compensation, structured credit, tax and litigation risks, and ESG (environmental, social and governance).

Corporate clients considering M&A transactions, and financial sponsors such as private equity funds, face a multitude of challenges as they assess deals and address transaction risks.

The advisory board will provide counsel to Aons clients and its internal team as it continues to expand beyond its current areas of expertise, which include transaction solutions such as Warranty and Indemnity insurance (W&I), tax insurance and risk and insurance due diligence, into areas such as cyber and intellectual property (IP).

John Cullen, chief executive officer of Aons Commercial Risk, Heath and Affinity business in EMEA, will serve as chair of the advisory board. All members of the board are senior executives with over 20 years experience in M&A and have held senior leadership positions at professional services firms.

Appointees include:

Andrew Ballheimer, former global managing partner at Allen & Overy who brings more than three decades of legal expertise and experience. Ballheimer previously served in various senior leadership positions at Allen & Overy, including Global Co-Head of Corporate and UK Managing Partner of Corporate.

Claudio Feser, senior partner emeritus and senior advisor at McKinsey & Co. Between 1999 and 2004, he led McKinsey & Co. Greece, then McKinsey & Co. Switzerland between 2005 and 2010, and the firms executive development practice from 2011 to 2018.

Robin Lawther, an experienced non-executive director currently serving on the boards of Nordea, Ashurst LLP and UK Government Investments, the corporate finance and corporate governance arm of the UK Government under Her Majestys Treasury. She previously worked at J.P. Morgan in London, Scandinavia, Turkey and New York for 20 years as managing director in a number of senior positions in investment banking.

Source: Aon

Topics Mergers Aon
LONDON  Londons Court of Appeal will hear a request to revive a 5 billion pound ($6.95 billion) lawsuit against Anglo-Australian mining group BHP over a 2015 dam failure in Brazil, a court order showed.

Judge Nicholas Underhill has agreed to an oral hearing that could help to overturn a previous Court of Appeal decision which denied a 200,000-strong Brazilian claimant group permission to appeal against a judgment to strike out the landmark case.

I am satisfied that, exceptionally, an oral hearing is appropriate in this case, the judge said in the order, which was signed on May 4 and seen by Reuters on Thursday.

No further details were immediately available.

The order comes less than two months after the Court of Appeal refused permission for a lawsuit over Brazils worst environmental disaster to proceed in English courts.

The Court of Appeal said in March it agreed with a lower court that the case was an abuse of process, that claimants could  and were  making reparation claims in Brazil and that the lawsuit would be irredeemably unmanageable.

The collapse of the Fundao dam, owned by the Samarco venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale, killed 19 and sent a flood of mining waste into communities, the Doce river and the Atlantic Ocean, 650 km (400 miles) away.

Samarco has since filed for bankruptcy protection.

PGMBM, the law firm representing the Brazilian claimants, said it had been contacted by many clients to express their gratitude in respect of the consideration being given by the Court of Appeal to their application.

BHP, the worlds largest miner by market value, said it was aware of the application.

Previous (court) rulings  have supported our position that the civil claim proceedings were unnecessary as they duplicated matters already covered by the existing and ongoing work of the Renova Foundation and are, or have been, the subject of ongoing legal proceedings in Brazil, a BHP spokesman said.

The Renova Foundation is a redress scheme established in 2016 by BHPs Brazilian division, Samarco and Vale.

The case is the latest battle to establish whether multinationals can be held liable for the conduct of subsidiaries abroad.

The UK Supreme Court in 2019 allowed Zambian villagers to sue miner Vedanta in England for alleged pollution in Africa and in February permitted Nigerian farmers and fishermen to pursue Royal Dutch Shell over oil spills in the Niger Delta.

($1 = 0.7196 pounds) (Reporting by Kirstin Ridley. Editing by Jane Merriman)

Top Photo: In this Nov. 8, 2015, file photo, rescue workers search for victims at the site where the town of Bento Rodrigues stood, after two dams burst on Thursday, Nov. 5, in Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Photo credit: AP Photo/Felipe Dana.

Topics Lawsuits London
BRUSSELS  European Union leaders said Thursday that in the wake of the U.S. backing patent waivers for COVID-19 vaccine technology, the 27-nation bloc immediately will start discussing whether they should join such a move.

The leaders first opportunity to mold a common view will come as soon as a two-day summit in Porto, Portugal, that starts Friday.

While many insist that waiving patents would only go part way toward making vaccines available and likely in the midterm only, French President Emmanuel Macron said he completely supports opening up intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines as a global public good.

At the same time, Macron insisted that the immediate priority for wealthier countries should be first donating more vaccine doses to poorer countries.

EU nations have long insisted they were in the vanguard of helping the rest of the world obtain vaccines, and have looked with a weary eye at how the United States effectively banned such exports itself.

If Covid-19 Vaccine Patents Are Waived, Legal Options For Drug Firms Are Limited

The move to support waiving intellectual property protections on vaccines under World Trade Organization rules marked a dramatic shift for the United States, which had previously lined up with many other developed nations opposed to the idea floated by India and South Africa.

While the EU did not echo the U.S. position, it generally welcomed President Joe Bidens move.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that we are ready to discuss how the U.S. proposal for waiver on intellectual property protection for COVID vaccines could help end the crisis.

Von der Leyen said in a video address Thursday, though, that other issues should take center stage. In the short runwe call upon all vaccine-producing countries to allow exports and to avoid measures that disrupt supply chains, she said.

She was hinting at so-called vaccine nationalism that has limited or made nonexistent any exports from nations including Britain and the United States, while the 27-nation bloc was allowing the export of millions of doses to countries around the world.

Many hope the initiative of the Biden administration will help poorer countries get more doses and speed the end of the pandemic. But EU nations pointed out other problems even if vaccine restrictions were lifted.

The question is to raise capacity in the fastest way possible, said a diplomat from an EU nation, requesting anonymity because the issue will be discussed by leaders Friday.

Ending patent restrictions is only one element. You will also need the raw materials. How will the supply chain follow? What about the quality of production locations? So we have about 300 other elements that affect this, the official said.

But several lawmakers in the European Parliament insisted patents had to be freed up, arguing that big pharmaceutical companies had been given massive subsidies from the EU to develop the vaccines while the pandemic has driven up profit for the producers themselves.

Left Co-President Manon Aubry called Bidens move a game-changer. The European Union is now the last place in the world to protect big pharmas profits over public health.

Greens President Ska Keller said Bidens opening made sure there can be no more excuses from the European Union. She called on the EU to support this historic initiative and make global solidarity a reality.

John Leicester contributed from Paris.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics USA Europe
Independent broker Howden Specialty has appointed Surya Wijaya to its Natural Resources division in Asia Pacific, adding to its capabilities across the power and energy sectors both regionally and globally.

Wijayas experience includes roles at Aon, JLT and Marsh JLT Specialty over the past eight years, following a career in the banking industry. Her most recent role was head of Downstream for Willis Singapore, where he was responsible for handling a number of major energy accounts in the region

Wijaya joins as a divisional director and will be based in Singapore, reporting to Matt Savitt, head of Natural Resources, Asia Pacific.

She will access both local and regional natural resources markets, in addition to working closely with colleagues in Howden Specialtys other hubs in Miami, Bermuda, London, Luxembourg and Dubai.

Brit Bolsters Financial Institutions Team with Simon

Brit Ltd. announced the appointment of Kirstin Simon as an underwriter in its Financial Lines team, specialising in directors and officer and commercial crime.

Simon brings 14 years of industry experience, joining from Liberty Special Markets (LSM) where she has been for the past 11 years, most recently as a senior underwriter in commercial D&O. In her time at LSM, helped build out LSMs capabilities and helped to establish it in the commercial crime insurance market.

In addition to her underwriting expertise, Simon brings broking experience having spent three years at Aon, working within the commercial D&O teams.

She will report into Financial Institutions co-heads Benedetta Del Balzo and Ben Phillips.

Brits Financial and Professional Lines team includes 22 underwriters.

Lockton Re Adds Acrisure Res Shaw

Lockton Re said Dan Shaw will be joining Lockton Res London North America division later this year as a senior broker in its London office.

Most recently Shaw was the head of U.S. Wholesale P&C Reinsurance at Acrisure Re. Over the last 25 years he has represented clients across a broad range of property/casualty classes at Beach & Associates, Aon Benfield and Heath Lambert.

Shaw will report to Mark Higgins, head of London North America.

Topics Lockton
A federal judge in Ohio has ordered a right-wing think tank led by white nationalist Richard Spencer to pay $2.4 million to an Ohio man severely injured during a white supremacist and neo-Nazi rally two years ago in Virginia.

Bill Burke, of Athens, Ohio, says he was struck by a car driven by James Alex Fields Jr.  in a crash that killed counter-protester Heather Heyer  during the August 2017 rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. White nationalists were protesting the planned removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Burke says he attended the rally to join a counter-protest.

Burkes physical injuries, including head and knee injuries and a crushed left arm, still require medical treatment and may be permanent, and he has experienced severe psychological and emotional suffering, according to Burkes May 2019 federal lawsuit.

Burke sued multiple defendants and in recent years received court-ordered payments of $5,000 from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and $10,000 from the Traditionalist Worker Party.

In the 2019 lawsuit, Burke also accused the National Policy Institute, led by Spencer, of helping organize and promote the Charlottesville rally. In a May 4 ruling, federal Judge Michael Watson handed down the $2.4 million judgment against the organization in an order that also brought the lawsuit to a close.

The order includes $217,613 for past and future medical expenses, $350,000 in punitive damages $500,000 for pain and suffering, and $1 million for emotional distress.

Watson judge noted that Burke separated from his wife in the attacks aftermath, was out of work for more than a year, can no longer exercise, and suffers from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and survivors guilt because of surviving the attack when Heyer did not.

The emotional toll this senseless attack has taken on Plaintiff is extreme, Watson said. It has impacted virtually every aspect of Plaintiffs daily life, and he deserves to be compensated for the harm.

Phone and email messages were left for the National Policy Institute. Despite the ruling, its unclear if Burke will ever see money from the judgment.

Although copies of Burkes complaints were successfully served on the organization, according to court records, no attorney ever entered a court appearance regarding the lawsuit. The court found the group in default a year ago for not defending itself.

It is important that the judgment is satisfied not only to compensate Bill for his damages but also to disrupt and dismantle an organization that attempts to portray white supremacy as an intellectual endeavor, Burkes attorney, Michael Fradin, said in a statement.

The Unite the Right rally on Aug. 12, 2017, drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of Lees statue.

In December 2018, Fields was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of Heyer and multiple charges for injuries caused to others in the car attack. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years. He is appealing his convictions.

Fields, of Maumee, Ohio, is also serving life sentences after accepting a plea agreement in a separate federal hate crimes case.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Ohio
A lawsuit filed by a Chicago astronomer who alleged the Wisconsin-based maker of American Girl dolls stole her likeness and name to create an astronaut doll has been dismissed after the two sides resolved the case.

The federal trademark lawsuit filed last year by Lucianne Walkowicz asked American Girl and its parent company, Mattel, to stop selling the Luciana Vega doll, described as an aspiring astronaut ready to take the next giant leap to Mars.

A stipulation filed late Tuesday afternoon states that the suit has been addressed to the satisfaction of both sides and without any financial considerations. It contains no details about whats contained in the settlement, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.

Walkowicz is a TED senior fellow at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. She spent much of her career with NASA and has lectured extensively on Mars exploration. She said in her suit that the similarities included the purple streak in the dolls hair and her holographic shoes.

American Girl denied the allegations and said at the time it takes great pride in creating original characters for girls.

An attorney for Walkowicz and an American Girl spokeswoman did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Wisconsin
Jefferson County, Wisconsin, has been has been awarded $1,530,596 in Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The award, announced by FEMA and Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) is to be used for the acquisition and demolition of 12 flood prone properties in the county.

According to FEMA, removing these homes from the Rock River and Lake Koshkonong floodplains will help reduce the communitys flood vulnerability. Upon completion of the project, the lots will be preserved as open space by the Jefferson County Parks Department.

The Hazard Mitigation Assistance grant programs enable communities to implement critical mitigation measures to reduce or eliminate the risk of loss of life and property, Kevin M. Sligh, acting regional administrator, FEMA Region 5, said in a media release. This project will eliminate future structural losses in Jefferson County by permanently removing these homes from the floodplain, greatly reducing the financial impact on individuals and the community.

PDM provides grants to state and local governments to implement long-term hazard mitigation measures. This year marks the end of the PDM program, which will be replaced by the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities Program (BRIC).

Source: FEMA

Topics Flood Wisconsin
A federal judge in Sherman, Texas on Wednesday ruled against insurer FM Global that sought to dismiss a $500 million COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuit by the nations third-largest chain of movie theaters.

The decision broke a months-long losing streak for policyholders seeking cover for income lost because of pandemic-related restrictions.

U.S. District Court Judge Amos L. Mazzant found that Cinemark Holdings had aptly pleaded that the coronavirus was actually present on its properties and caused damages, noting that more than 1,700 of its employees had tested positive for COVID-19.

Mazzant said in his opinion that the facts were very different in another COVID-19 claim that was dismissed by the Eastern District of Texas in March, where property owner Selery Fulfillment made no allegation that the virus was actually present.

Cinemarks policy is much broader than the one in Selery and expressly covers loss and damage caused by communicable disease,' Mazzant wrote. Both parties agree communicable disease encompasses COVID-19. At this stage of the proceedings, Selery is distinguishable.

The plaintiffs attorney, partner Michael S. Levine with Hunton Andrews Kurth in Washington, D.C., said in an email that there would be more favorable rulings for property owners if more judges followed the rules of federal civil procedure. He said Mazzant considered Cinemarks actual allegations and the specific policy wording.

Too many courts are overlooking this fundamental duty at the carriers urging to simply follow decisions, which happen to be factually and materially distinguishable, he said.

Mazzants ruling was the first of any state or federal judge since March 31 that rejected in whole an insurers motion to dismiss a COVID-19 business-interruption lawsuit, according to a litigation tracker maintained by the University of Pennsylvanias Carey Law School. During that time, two judges granted partial dismissal and 48 judges fully dismissed COVID-19 lawsuits or granted summary judgment for the insurer.

Cinemark, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 332 theaters with 4,522 screens in 42 states and an additional 200 theaters in 17 other countries, according to its civil complaint. The chain purchased a policy from FM Global that covered up to $500 million in damages from all risks of physical loss or damage except perils specifically excluded. Communicable diseases were a covered cause of loss.

Given the number of theaters affected, you can reasonably assume the damages will exceed policy limits, Levine said.

Cinemark had to shut down its theaters worldwide because of the virus. It notified FM Global that it was suffering losses because of those shutdowns on April, 20, 2020. The insurer requested more information about the scope of those losses but did not acknowledge that any coverage applied. The movie chain filed a lawsuit in January.

FM Global filed a motion for summary judgment against Cinemark on March 30. The insurer says that the policy expressly excludes damages caused by contamination. While the specific inclusion of coverage for communicable diseases may create an exception to the exclusion, a sublimit in the policy limits coverage to $1 million, according to the dismissal motion.

Perhaps more importantly, FM Global argued that Cinemark had failed to show that there was any direct physical loss to its property. Actual structural alteration is required to constitute physical loss, the carrier said.

District courts in Texas have repeatedly and unanimously held that the presence of COVID-19whether present at a specific insured property or supposedly omnipresent in a general areais not physical loss or damage to property, FM Global said in its motion.

The Carey Law School litigation tracker doesnt quite bear out that assertion. A state judge in Dallas and a federal judge for the Western District of Texas denied insurer motions to dismiss, but 16 federal judges did rule in favor of the insurance carrier.

Hopefully, courts will take heed of Judge Mazzants analysis and base future COVID-19 business interruption decisions on the actual facts alleged and the actual insurance wording before the court, as the rules and interpretive case law require, Levine said. When they do, the tide will shift substantially.

Cinemarks attorney, Thomas H. Cook Jr. of the Zelle law firm in Dallas, did not respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment.

Topics COVID-19 Lawsuits USA Business Interruption
Woodruff Sawyer

San Francisco-based insurance broker and consulting firm Woodruff Sawyer has added Jon Janes to its Management Liability team as a vice president. He is based in Austin, Texas.

Janes specializes in D&O risk for public and private companies across all industries.

He began his career in the legal field, then expanded to the insurance industry. With over 15 years experience at insurance brokerage firms, Janes has an extensive, multi-faceted knowledge of the industry. He has a deep understanding of the complex risks and challenges faced by companies and their directors and officers.

AMERISAFE

AMERISAFE Inc., a DeRidder, Louisiana-based specialty provider of workers compensation insurance focused on high hazard industries, has appointed Mary Ellen Hamel as senior vice president of Sales.

Hamel comes to AMERISAFE with more than 20 years of insurance and leadership experience, most recently serving as divisional president of the Republic Cos. In addition to progressively responsible sales roles at Republic, Hamel has prior experience as an independent insurance agent and working within a property/casualty wholesaler.

AMERISAFE is focused on small to mid-sized employers engaged in hazardous industries, principally construction, trucking, logging and lumber, manufacturing, and agriculture. AMERISAFE actively markets workers compensation insurance in 27 states.

Topics Texas




North Korean leader Kim Jong-un held a photo session with families of the army, a day after attending their art performance, state media reported Friday.







Earlier on Wednesday, Kim and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, attended the performance of the art groups of servicemen's families from large combined units of the Korean People's Army (KPA), according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).







Kim highly appreciated the performers' devoted efforts for being "reliable assistants to their husbands" and "true servants for soldiers" at the photo session Thursday, the KCNA said.







Photos released by state media show leader Kim standing with the participants dressed in the Korean traditional attire "hanbok." Party officials and military officers did not take photos with the participants.







Top officials had attended Wednesday's performance, including Jo Yong-won, secretary for Organizational Affairs of the party's Central Committee; Ri Pyong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party; and Pak Jong-chon, chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army. (Yonhap)


Texas lawmakers are poised to enact sweeping restrictions on access to abortions, prohibiting the procedure before many women know they are pregnant, and opening the door for a potential flood of lawsuits against abortion providers.

The House on May 6 approved a priority heartbeat bill passed by the Senate earlier this spring, which was authored or sponsored by nearly every Republican senator and more than 60 members of the House. The upper chamber will need to review changes the House made to the legislation before its sent to the governor, who is expected to sign it into law.

Abortion rights advocates say the legislation is among the most extreme measures nationwide and does not exempt people pregnant because of rape or incest.

Beyond the limitations on abortion access, the bill would let nearly anyone  including people with no connection to the doctor or the woman  sue abortion providers, and those who help others get an abortion in violation of the proposed law. People who support abortion funds and clinics could also be hit with lawsuits, and lawyers warn those sued would not be able to recover some of the money they spent on their legal defense.

The unprecedented, extraordinary, and exceptionally broad language in the bills means family members, clergy, domestic violence and rape crisis counselors, or referring physicians could be subject to tens of thousands of dollars in liability to total strangers, nearly 400 Texas lawyers told House lawmakers in an open letter circulated by abortion rights advocates.

In a separate letter, more than 200 physicians said the bill would place doctors at risk of frivolous lawsuits and create a chilling effect where providers are reticent to give information out of fear of being sued.

The language in the bill is broad enough to open doctors from all specialties  like pediatrics and emergency medicine  up to lawsuits, the letter said, adding that as licensed physicians in Texas, we implore you to not weaponize the judicial branch against us to make a political point.

The bill, Senate Bill 8, bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected without specifying a specific timeframe, but a legislative analysis and its proponents have said that can be as early as six weeks.

State Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, the lead sponsor of the measure in the House, introduced the bill with a personal story.

She said her mother was given a dim prognosis of an abnormally developing baby but carried the pregnancy to term  and now 44 years and two days later, that little baby girl is standing in this chamber, her heart beating as strongly and as rapidly as it did all those years ago.

As she lays out before you, Senate Bill 8, the Texas Heartbeat Act, Slawson added, to applause from other lawmakers.

But debate over the bill quickly became contentious, and Slawson did not directly answer a variety of questions from Democratic lawmakers, including about broader health topics like if access to contraception had anything to do with the rate of unintended pregnancies, or if women could become pregnant while menstruating.

State Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, told Slawson that what she referred to as the sound of a heartbeat around six weeks is actually electrically induced flickering of fetal tissue, according to medical experts. At that stage of development, she said there is no developed heart.

I dont know that I agree with that, Slawson said.

Well, thats what the science says, said Howard, who grew emotional as the debate escalated and said later that the abortion debate is the worst day of the session every single session.

You guys know that there have always been abortions and there always will be despite the obstructions that youre putting in place here. Despite the self-righteousness of valuing life over what I value, which I highly resent. I also value the lives of the women and families who have to make these decisions, she said.

An amendment from Slawson carved out a class of people who cannot file lawsuits under the bill: Those who impregnated a woman through rape or incest. She also changed the proposed law to limit lawsuits to only perceived violations of the bill and not any breach of state abortion rules. Both amendments will need to be accepted by the Senate before the bill goes to Abbott.

The legislation passed with 81 votes in favor and 63 against. State Rep. Ryan Guillen, D-Rio Grande City, was the lone Democrat to vote for it, according to an unofficial tally. State Rep. Alex Dominguez, D-Brownsville, was present but did not vote.

Most abortions in Texas are currently prohibited after about 20 weeks. Pill-induced abortions are barred at 10 weeks, in accordance with federal guidelines. The abortion provider must perform a sonogram on the woman 24 hours before the abortion and give them information about medical risks, abortion alternatives and assistance available to those who follow through with their pregnancy.

More than 56,600 abortions were performed on Texas residents in 2019, according to state statistics, most of them in the first trimester.

The bills passage comes as conservative state houses across the country have tried to curtail abortion access, emboldened in part by the new conservative makeup of the Supreme Court.

States including Texas are now trying to ban abortions at various stages of pregnancy or for different reasons  and with a goal of teeing up challenges before the Supreme Court, Heather Shumaker, director of state abortion access at the National Womens Law Center, said earlier this year.

While heartbeat bills passed by other state houses have been blocked by the courts, Texas lawmakers believe legal language in their version makes it stronger.

But the provisions are controversial, and the lawyers who sent the letter to House lawmakers said they contravene the Texas Constitution and undermine long standing rules and tenets of our civil legal system.

Abortion providers and others could be sued later for conduct that was legal at the time  an ex post facto liability that violates the very bedrock of our legal system which requires notice and due process before imposing liability, the letter said.

Earlier, abortion rights advocates hosted a morning press conference in protest of the measures, which they said would ban abortions before many women know they are pregnant.

To the surprise of many  particularly my male colleagues here in the Legislature  womens bodies are not clocks, Howard said at the press conference outside the Capitol. Periods are oftentimes irregular for many women. So, unless youre very deliberately trying to become pregnant, youre likely not even considering at four weeks pregnancy  six weeks gestation  that you may be pregnant.

Former state Sen. Wendy Davis, who gained national attention for filibustering abortion legislation in 2013, said the bill would disproportionately hurt those who cant afford to leave Texas to get an abortion.

What I know is that women like me, like my daughters, if they found themselves in that position, we would get in a plane, we would fly to another state, or we would get in a car and drive across state lines, she said.

Texas Right to Life, an anti-abortion organization, celebrated the passage of the measure saying it was the strongest pro-life bill to ever reach the Texas House floor.

This is a historic day for the state of Texas. The House has taken bold and wise action to protect innocent preborn children in the womb, Rebecca Parma, a senior legislative associate with the organization said in a statement.

House lawmakers also gave approval to legislation that would amount to a near complete ban on abortions if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade or otherwise altered abortion laws.

Instead of trusting women to know their own circumstances, their families and their own values, this bill makes the government the final arbiter of individual and intimate morality, said Rep. Erin Zwiener, D-Driftwood. Is trusting women really that unthinkable?

Duncan Agnew contributed to this story.

Fetal heartbeat bill, which could ban abortions at six weeks, nears passage in the Legislature was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues

Topics Lawsuits Texas
Fifteen cows were killed when lightning struck a family farm in Alabama as severe weather moved through the area, according to an emergency management director.

The cattle were struck Monday night at the farm in Macon County, news outlets quoted Emergency Management Agency Director Frank Lee as saying.

Lee said his office forwarded a report on the incident to the National Weather Service in Birmingham.

Storms across the South have been responsible for at least three deaths and dozens of injuries this week. As of early Wednesday, more than 242,500 customers were without power from Texas to Maryland, including about 90,000 in Alabama, according to poweroutage.us.

Flash flooding was reported across Alabama on Monday into Tuesday and strong winds blowing behind a line of storms toppled trees across the central part of the state, where soil was saturated with water.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham said late Tuesday it planned to send two crews to Greene and Tuscaloosa Counties Wednesday to assess wind and possible tornado damage from the storms.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Alabama
A fire that erupted at a Southern California apartment building damaged 40 units, killed pets and injured a firefighter, authorities said.

The blaze was reported shortly before 3 p.m. on Tuesday in the shared attic of a two-story building on 7th Street in Upland, according to the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

It went by really fast, Debra Perez, a victim, told KCBS-TV. It started upstairs in one of the corner apartments, and then it rushed to the middle and then it just went all the way around until they were able to stop it.

Winds and the large attic space helped the fire spread quickly, authorities said.

More than 40 apartments were damaged by fire, smoke or water damage before the blaze was extinguished, the Fire Department reported.

The department said one firefighter was taken to a local hospital with a heat-related injury, and an unknown number of pets died in the blaze, KCBS-TV reported.

No residents were hurt.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California
A group of businesses has filed a lawsuit against Oregon Gov. Kate Brown over her recent extension of Oregons state of emergency because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brown last week extended the state of emergency by 60 days, giving her the authority to issue restrictions on business operations, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Brown said Tuesday all counties would be moved out of extreme risk, ending the ban on indoor dining by Friday. It wasnt immediately known how Browns announcement would affect the lawsuit.

The group suing includes the political action committees Oregon Moms Union and Heart of Main Street, as well as the owner of Gresham restaurant Spud Monkeys.

The group objects to unfair restrictions they said Brown has placed upon businesses and public school children, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday. They asked the court to issue an injunction halting restriction enforcement.

The lawsuit also claimed Browns executive order failed to differentiate between vaccinated and unvaccinated people, subjecting all to the same regulations and deprivations of liberty.

Browns office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.

On Monday, Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam announced in a news conference that a coalition of businesses were planning to sue Brown. Pulliam himself was not identified as a plaintiff in this lawsuit, although he said he supports the businesses who are suing Brown.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Oregon
Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced today that more than 50 insurance companies met the May 6 deadline to file rating plans that comply with his emergency rule to temporarily prohibit the use of consumers credit scores.

A temporary ban on the use of credit scores for insurance takes effect June 20. Companies that failed to meet the deadline are in violation of state law and are subject to disciplinary action by Kreidlers office.

Roughly 200 companies are licensed to sell auto, homeowner and renter insurance in Washington. However, not all companies licensed to sell property/casualty policies offer them in the state, according to Kreidlers office.

The companies reported that at least 1.3 million policyholders should expect rate changes  some will see decreases of up to 60%. The new rating plans must be revenue-neutral, meaning insurers cannot attempt to increase their profits using the lack of credit scores as an excuse, according to Kreidlers office.

Kreidler issued the emergency rule on March 23. Then the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of Washington, the Professional Insurance Agents of Washington and American Property Casualty Insurance Association joined together in a lawsuit to halt Kreidlers ban.

A Thurston County Superior Court judge on April 23 allowed Kreidlers emergency rule to remain in effect by denying an insurance industry request for a preliminary injunction. Judge Mary Sue Wilson found that industry associations challenging the rule were unlikely to succeed with their two main arguments that Kreidler lacked good cause and had no authority to issue the rule.

The groups issued a memo to insurance consumers on Thursday, warning about the impacts of the rule change:

The Commissioners rule is already causing significant disruption in Washingtons insurance market, and the negative effects will be felt over the next several weeks  by consumers and insurance producers, as well as lenders, realtors, auto dealers and others who conduct transactions that require insurance, such as home sales, auto, RV and boat sales, auto leases, rental agreements and more.

Kreidler has been working to eliminate credit scores from insurer consideration for some time. His most recent effort failed when a bill he backed, Senate Bill 5010, was gutted by an insurance industry amendment in the Senate Business, Financial Services & Trade Committee on Feb. 15.

Kreidler said rate changes will not happen immediately, and consumers will begin seeing changes to their premiums during individual renewal periods, which can occur at different times depending on when policyholders bought coverage.

The industry associations have put out scare tactics lately about how theyll be forced to increase premiums because they can no longer use an unreliable practice, Kreidler said in a statment. No one should fall for these tactics. If the companies want to retain their policyholders and remain competitive, they should be up front and rely on risk factors that have a real bearing on what you should pay for coverage.

Related:

Topics Carriers Washington
Hippo in Palo Alto, Calif. has added new leadership to its technology team led by Chief Technology Officer Ran Harpaz.

The newly appointed technology leaders will be responsible for expanding and enhancing the delivery of Hippos technology services to reach specific audience segments across its business, from engineers to employees, to its customers.

Klarissa Marenitch, Hippos CIO, will oversee the critical systems that support the productivity and efficiency of Hippos employee base, including information technology, corporate technology, information security, business & insurance systems, and employee productivity. Her prior role was CIO at Anaplan. She has led digital transformation and innovation initiatives for companies including Redbox, Sun Microsystems, Kohls and Macys.

Lukasz Strozek, Hippos vice president of product engineering, will manage Hippos business to consumer and business to business, and insurance development teams and work in partnership with the product organization to develop new products that support Hippos customers and partner network. He joins Hippo from ecommerce payments firm Bolt, where he was vice president, engineering. Earlier in his career, Lukasz co-founded an online lending company acquired by digital finance firm SoFi.

Dalit Shahar joined Hippo in September 2019 from Globality Inc. and was promoted to the role of vice president, engineering operations. She will oversee the planning, execution and release processes of Hippos engineering operations, as well as the quality operations.

Mike Gordon joined Hippo in September 2019 and was promoted to Vice president, platform engineering. He will oversee the cloud infrastructure, platform core services, engineering productivity, data platforms, API capabilities and service-oriented-architecture rollout across all of Hippo engineering solutions. Prior to Hippo, he spent eight years as a software engineering leader at Google.

Tal Hornstein, Hippos chief security information officer, has more than 25 years of industry experience in multiple security-related startups and tech firms, including five years at Globality Inc. and 13 years with Skybox Security. He will be responsible for driving information security strategy and operations for Hippo and scaling Hippos information security team, secure cloud infrastructure and development lifecycle, user education, compliance and risk governance.

Ruben Kogel, Hippos director of data & analytics, will oversee a center-of-excellence in data and analytics, and support scaling the companys data science efforts. He was most recently at Lime where he built and led the companys data science and analytics team.

Hippo is headquartered in Palo Alto and has offices in Austin and Dallas, Texas. Hippo is a licensed property /casualty insurance agent with products underwritten by various insurance companies.

Topics California Tech Leadership
The ongoing Epic Games vs. Apple trial had revealed a lot of details about the inner workings of these companies. During the trial, Apples App Store VP Matt Fischer told the court that Apple always highlights apps from its competitors on the App Store.

Fischer made this statement after being presented with internal emails which suggested otherwise. As iMore notes, the email was from 2016 in which Apple employees were discussing a VoiceOver collection of apps that were to be promoted on the App Store.

Hi Andrea, Just spoke with Tanya about featuring Google and Amazon apps in the VoiceOver collection and she asked us to exclude them from the lineup. Although they may be our best and the brightest apps, Matt feels extremely strong about not featuring our competitors on the App Store store, so Yanta asked us to apply the same filters for this collection. Im sorry I didnt check this earlier.

When this email was shown to Fischer during the trial, he said it was not accurate and the employee who sent it was very misinformed. Fischer then clarified that Apple has been promoting competitor apps before he even joined the App Store team in 2010. To prove his point, he highlighted how Apple had featured apps like Peacock, Hulu, and Hulu Plus despite them competing with Apple TV+.

Developers have long criticized that Apple does not promote apps that compete with its own apps and services. The company also does not give third-party apps the same privileges and benefits as its own iOS apps.

[Via iMore




Prime Minister nominee Kim Boo-kyum on Friday described the sending of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets to North Korea by activist groups as a threat to the safety of South Koreans.







"It is an act that threatens (the safety) of our people," Kim said about the anti-Pyongyang leafleting activities during a parliamentary confirmation hearing on his nomination at the National Assembly.







The former interior minister added that the act "clearly violated" the two Koreas' 1991 agreement on cross-border reconciliation, nonaggression and exchanges, and the 2018 Panmunjom Declaration.







On a new law introduced to punish such leafleting activities, Kim said "the enforcement (of the law) must be stern," adding that opponents should also follow the law and not merely insist upon their objections.







In December, the National Assembly, controlled by the ruling Democratic Party, passed the bill aimed at penalizing the sending of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the North despite strong objection by opposition party lawmakers.







Violations of the law are punishable by up to three years in prison or up to 30 million won ($27,000) in fines.







Police on Thursday raided the office of Park Sang-hak, a vocal North Korean defector who claimed to have recently sent anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the North in defiance of the ban. If confirmed, Park's group will be the first to have sent the leaflets critical of the Kim Jong-un regime since Seoul banned such activity.







On Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North Korean leader, issued a statement slamming South Korea for failing to stop the defector group from sending the leaflets, threatening to take "corresponding action" in response to the "intolerable provocation." (Yonhap)


Burma After Working With Myanmars Regime, Rakhines Major Party Remains Divided

An Arakan National Party meeting at the headquarters in Sittwe in 2018.

Rakhine States voters and some senior party members have questioned the convictions of the Arakan National Party (ANP), the largest ethnically Rakhine party, as it begins to cuts ties with Myanmars regime three months after taking a seat on the militarys governing council.

ANP policy leadership committee member and spokeswoman Daw Aye Nu Sein joined the State Administrative Council (SAC), on Feb. 3 in the wake of the military coup.

However, its central executive committee meeting in Sittwe on Tuesday decided to end the partys association with the military council.

The ANPs chairman, U Tha Tun Hla, said the party no longer thinks cooperating with the SAC is in Rakhine interests after the military regime ignored ANP demands for a greater role in handling Rakhine affairs.

The party on Feb. 4 demanded the chair and two seats on the Rakhine State administrative council, the juntas state-level ruling body, and a majority of Rakhine ministerial positions.

Its seven demands included delisting of the Arakan Army (AA) and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, as terrorist organizations, and dropping charges against Rakhine citizens under the Counter-Terrorism Law.

The military regime has removed the AA from its list of terrorist organizations and released former ANP chairman Dr. Aye Maung.

Our demands were disregarded. We dont think an association with the military council is in Rakhine interests, said U Tha Tun Hla. The partys central committee is planning to meet again to make a final decision on the matter, he said.

How did Daw Aye Nu Sein get involved in the SAC?

U Tha Tun Hla sought to distance the ANP from Daw Aye Nu Sein, saying she was not assigned by the party to join the juntas council and she took the decision on a personal basis.

The military regime didnt make an offer to the ANP. The position was personally offered to her through an individual close to Myanmars military, U Tha Tun Hla told The Irrawaddy.

The ANP, however, considered her role an opportunity for the party to work for Rakhine interests, he said.

It is up to Daw Aye Nu Sein whether she remains on the SAC, said the ANP chair.

Another ANP member, U Zaw Aye Maung, a former Rakhine affairs minister in the Yangon regional government, also accepted the position as deputy ethnic affairs minister in the regime. He will decide whether to stay on, said U Tha Tun Hla.

The ANP at the time welcomed the decision to offer Daw Aye Nu Sein a SAC seat, which drew heavy public criticism.

U Pe Than, another ANP policy board member, said the party must take responsibility for its SAC involvement.

In its statement, the party said it welcomed Daw Aye Nu Seins appointment to the SAC. This meant she was assigned by the party and is responsible to the party. After issuing that statement, it should not say her involvement is personal and nothing to do with the party, said U Pe Than.

Friction within the ANP

Following Daw Aye Nu Seins appointment to the SAC, an ANP central committee meeting in Mrauk-U in mid-February decided to wait before deciding on further cooperation. Some members opposed the non-committal approach.

I dont understand the idea of cooperating with the military council. I was criticized at the meeting and faced anger when I told them to listen to the people about cooperation with the military council, said a senior ANP member who asked for anonymity.

I have since boycotted the party, he added.

Kyaukphyu Rural Development Association chairman U Tun Kyi said the ANPs demands were just excuses to justify its association with the military regime.

I doubt the partys decision to cooperate with the military council just for the release of [the state parliament speaker] U San Kyaw Hla and Dr. Aye Maung. The party lied to the people. It abused the people, he said.

U San Kyaw Hla, a senior member of the ANP and also the father-in-law of AA chief Tun Myat Naing, is still in detention.

The military council has no problem if the ANP chooses to leave. It is the ANP that has problems. It has already behaved poorly, U Tun Kyi.

After three months working with the SAC

ANP leadership realized it had to do something after its calls for a leadership role in the state-level council fell on the deaf ears, said a Rathedaung resident.

Its demands were not met. So the party is planning to cut ties with the military council to salvage its image and win back public support, he said.

However, some senior ANP members are open-minded about working with the SAC, leading to a rift within the party, according to analysts.

The majority of the partys policy board wants to wait and see as there have been no significant changes. But the majority of the central executive committee disagree, said U Tun Aung Kyaw, who is on the partys policy board.

We have yet to see what Daw Aye Nu Sein and U Zaw Aye Maung do, he told The Irrawaddy.

Young, educated members have left the ANP following its decision to cooperate with the regime and the ANP has sought to distance itself from the military regime.

The ANP has failed the Rakhine voters, who overwhelmingly supported the party since 2010, said U Soe Naing from a civil society organization in Sittwe.

The party does not have any firm policy. Far from leading the people, the ANP doesnt even know how to manage itself, he told The Irrawaddy.



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Burma Business Lobby Group Demands US Envoy to Tackle Myanmar Crisis

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi addresses the US-ASEAN Business Council in Washington in 2016. / US-ASEAN Business Council

The US-ASEAN Business Council has called for Washington to appoint a special envoy for Myanmar, saying bold US leadership could help resolve the crisis.

A US special envoy could coordinate a strategic approach involving smart, targeted sanctions and create room for effective dialogue in tandem with allies, said the business council.

It urged President Joe Biden to empower a special envoy with a support base in the region by also swiftly filling US ambassadorial posts in Singapore and Thailand and for Asean, the 10-member regional body which includes Myanmar.

The council said: The military coup threatens to reverse the political and economic progress made, as well as the countrys future trajectory.

Recently, the United Nations Development Programme warned that all financial reports since the coup indicated Myanmar is approaching economic collapse.

Alexander Feldman, chairman of the business council, said: The unfolding situation in Myanmar threatens economic collapse and imperils the lives of the people of Myanmar.

The US government must fully equip and deploy its diplomatic arsenal in ASEAN to confront this crisis, which includes filling key ambassador posts in Southeast Asia and appointing a dedicated special envoy for Myanmar, Feldman added.

American leadership is necessary in this critical moment to realize a viable path forward for Myanmar and ensure stability in the region, the chairman said.

The council plays an advocacy role for US corporations operating in ASEAN. In 2019, the council visited Myanmar to expand investment in the country along with the representatives of Amazon, Google, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Chubb, Diageo, Ford, Jhpiego, MasterCard, Visa, Abbott and BowerGroupAsia.

The sooner the situation in Myanmar is seen and treated as an Indo-Pacific challenge on all fronts  political, security, humanitarian and economic  the better off all parties concerned will be, said Jack Myint, country manager for Myanmar on the business council.

Beyond the scope of great power competition, what were really looking at is a failed state waiting to happen at the heart of one of the most dynamic regions of the world. The US must do more and do better to tackle this head-on. Theres simply too much at stake, Myint said.

Following the coup, the US imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmars military leadership. Trade sanctions followed in March against the defense and home affairs ministries and military-controlled conglomerates Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited.

In April, US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a state-owned gems firm, Myanma Timber Enterprise and Myanmar Pearl Enterprise in a bid to cut financial lifelines for the junta.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has faced criticism that it has not acted strongly enough against Myanmars junta.

A special meeting in Jakarta on April 24 with junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was widely seen as ineffective.

ASEANs leaders reached a five-point consensus, urging the junta to seek a political resolution through dialogue, accept the appointment of a special envoy to engage with pro-democracy groups and grant access to humanitarian assistance from ASEAN.

However, the junta responded that it would consider the proposals after the situation stabilizes and if its five-step roadmap was followed. The regime claimed its roadmap served Myanmars national interests.

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Two civilians were shot by junta forces in Magwe after the attacks.

Villager Dies After Being Abducted and Tortured by Myanmar Junta Forces
Burma Civilian Resistance Forces Kill at Least 16 of Myanmar Juntas Troops

Residents of Kin Village gathered at the bank of Chindwin River to protest the military rule.

At least 16 military troops were reportedly killed and several were wounded during a series of shootouts with civilian resistance forces of Kani Township, Sagaing Region on Thursday and Friday, according to local residents.

On Friday, about five shootouts between junta troops and civilian resistance forces of Kani Township occurred when the troops, vowing retribution, conducted searches for civilian forces who had attacked the troops on May 6.

A member of civilian resistance force of Kani told The Irrawaddy that three shootouts occurred in the forest along the Monywa-Kalaywa highway on Friday. Two more shootouts occurred at Kyauklonegyi Mountain near Chaung Ma village and at a forest near Thaminchan village in the township.

During the shootouts, junta troops used heavy explosives, making use of drones to locate the civilian forces.

In the shootouts at Kyauklonegyi Mountain, at least eight military troops were killed and several were wounded. About seven members of the civilian resistance force were killed, the source told The Irrawaddy.

In Thursdays clashes, about eight military troops and two villagers who fought back against the juntas force were reportedly killed, according to local residents.

However, The Irrawaddy was not able to confirm the casualities of both sides independently.

We will keep fighting them until our elected civilian government returns, a member of Kanis civilian resistance force said.

In a military regime press conference Friday concerning the armed resistance in Chin State and Sagaing Region, Major Kaung Htet San told the media that the military will not tolerate any armed resistance on the part of the people.

Since we also dont tolerate any criminal activities, we will wipe them out by all means [necessary] as we are supposed to do, the major said.

Taking up homemade percussion lock firearms, more than two hundred of the civilian resistance forces from several villages also conducted defensive actions against more than 50 military reinforcements travelling on vessels in the Chindwin River near the Upper Kin village on Thursday afternoon, according to residents.

The military reinforcements reached the area after their two vessels carrying explosive chemicals became stranded on a sandbank near the village after being attacked by resistance forces.

Local residents said that resistance forces managed to destroy some explosive materials by throwing them in the river.

During hours-long shootouts, two members from the resistance forces and two military troops were reportedly killed, according to the residents. After the shootouts, the military troops have been deployed at the Upper Kin Village since Thursday evening.

Due to the raid, around three thousands of villagers from Kin, Upper Kin and Michaungtwin villages fled their homes on Thursday evening.

A resident of Upper Kin village told The Irrawaddy that several hundred villagers, including children and elderly people, are now living in the forest. They have only the clothes on their backs since they had to flee their homes urgently due to the shootouts.

Now we are worried about food for tomorrow. We are also concerned for our children including infants that they would contract malaria in the forests. We have no medicine, the villager said.

On Thursday morning, a shootout between resistance forces and military troops travelling with vehicles took place along on Monywa- Kalaywa highway near the Chaung Ma village in the township.

During the shootout, two military troops were killed and a military vehicle was burned, a resident told the media.

Military-run newspapers also said that two military troops were injured when 30 armed rioters, a military euphemism for civilian resistance forces, attacked troops travelling in the Chindwin river near Ketaung Village in Kani Township about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.

On April 15, at least six civilians also were killed near the Chaung Ma village in the township during a shootout between the juntas forces and a civilian protection group formed by anti-regime protesters.

The shootout came after the regime forces detained more than 70 protesters, including leading members of the protest committee in Kani Township.

Also, villagers of Chaung Ma had to flee their homes since military troops had deployed in the village following the shootout.

In several townships of Sagaing, Magwe regions and Chin State, people are resisting the junta troops by taking up the homemade percussion lock firearms and slingshots.



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Burma Myanmar Junta Forces Beat Man to Death in Bago Region, Keep Body

Ko Aung Myint Hlaing, 32, died after a brutal beating by regime forces. / Supplied

Ko Aung Myint Hlaing, a 32-year-old electrical engineer, was beaten to death by regime forces on Tuesday night shortly after being detained for questioning in Bago Regions Pyay Township.

His family was refused permission to retrieve his body for a funeral.

The mans family told The Irrawaddy that regime forces including plainclothes military men arrested him at around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday on suspicion of involvement in a bomb blast in front of a branch of military-owned Innwa Bank in Shwetaung in late April.

Junta forces raided the familys home that night and arrested Ko Aung Myint Hlaing, despite not finding any of the materials they were looking for, including a hat and clothing the bomber reportedly wore and a motorbike they claimed was used in committing the crime.

The victims sister said that about an hour after his arrest the junta forces came back to the ward and searched two more houses.

They warned all nearby residents in the ward to stay inside and turn off the lights, or else they would shoot. We heard someone yell, Mom, I am dying! Mom, save me! Soon, the yelling stopped, she said.

They believed the voice sounded like her brothers. Neighbors who saw Ko Aung Myint Hlaing being beaten in front of another house in the ward confirmed that the voice was her brothers.

Witnesses told the family they saw Ko Aung Myint Hlaing again after the forces returned. They said he was been badly beaten after trying to stop the troops from beating two other male residents, saying that neither he nor they had anything to do with the bomb blast.

They said that as my brother talked back to them, he was badly beaten. They [the soldiers] said, Are you trying to waste our time? The soldiers even stuffed some clothing inside his mouth as he screamed during the beatings. They dragged him through the street after he appeared to have lost consciousness.

The next day, the family was only allowed to see Ko Aung Myint Hlaings face for a few minutes after his body was placed inside a coffin at a military hospital in Shwe Taung Township. They were not allowed to take pictures or take the body in order to give him a funeral.

Though only the head was visible, signs of brutal beatings were obvious on his face with bruises and wounds on his cheeks, throat and jaw. When I peeked at his chest, it had been stitched back together. I begged them to hand over the body for a funeral. But they forced us to leave, saying they would bury my brother and that the grave had already been dug, the victims sister added.

The regimes forces claimed he died after jumping off a moving military truck following his arrest.

Ko Aung Myint Hlaing, aka Ko Aung Khaing Myit, came back to his hometown Pyay to enter the Buddhist monkhood before the Thingyan holidays after his job in Yangon ended in the wake of the coup.

His sister said her brother was undergoing temporary ordination into the monkhood on the day of the Innwa Bank blast.

The family performed a memorial service for Ko Aung Myint Hlaing on Wednesday.

Around a dozen people have reportedly been tortured to death in military custody since the Feb. 1 coup including three National League for Democracy (NLD) members; as well as Ko Aung Paing Htwe, a youth who helped extinguish a fire in Shan States Taunggyi; Ko Tun Htet Aung, a 24-year-old forestry worker in Sagaing Regions Monywa; and Marlar Win, a mother of three in Magway Regions Pakokku.

More than 770 people have been killed by the juntas forces since the Feb. 1 coup and at least 4,809 people have been arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks killings and detentions by the junta.



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Burma Myanmar Junta to Try Senior NLD Member U Win Htein in Prison

U Win Htein.

Leading National League for Democracy (NLD) member U Win Htein will be tried on sedition charges at a court inside Naypyitaw Prison.

At a court hearing on Friday at which U Win Htein was set to testify, the judges said that the Supreme Court of the Union has ordered that the senior NLD member be tried at a separate court in Naypyitaw Prison on May 14 in order to facilitate his trial. Previously, the case was being heard via video at the Dekkhinathiri District Court.

The next court hearing will be held in prison and not via video conferencing. As he will be at a court in Naypyitaw Prison, we will be able to meet him in person, said U Win Hteins lawyer Daw Min Min Soe. The 80-year-old has not yet been allowed to meet his lawyers in prison.

U Win Htein was arrested at his Yangon home on Feb. 4, three days after the military regimes coup, when Oketarathiri District administrator U Aye Lu filed a complaint against him under Section 124(a) of the Penal Code.

Section 124(a) criminalizes any statement, sign or visible representation to bring into hatred or contempt, or excite disaffection towards the government. The charge carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years with a fine.

U Win Htein, a former captain in the Myanmar military turned politician, has condemned the regimes coup as being the result of coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaings personal lust for power.

The fact that Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing has overthrown the democratically-elected government and arrested President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi means that he has no intention of returning Myanmar to democracy, U Win Htein told the press in Naypyitaw.

Since joining the NLD in 1988, U Win Htein has already spent more than 20 years in prison. After the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations, he was jailed in Yangons Insein Prison from 1989 until 1995.

In 1996, he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment on charges of providing misinformation to foreign journalists and was only released in 2010. He won a 2012 by-election to represent Mandalay Regions Meiktila Township and held the Lower House seat until January 2016.



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Burma Myanmar Military Takes Heavy Casualties in Kachin State Fighting

KIA soldiers at the KIA headquarters in Laiza in 2014. / The Irrawaddy

The Myanmar military has reportedly suffered further heavy casualties during fierce clashes with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in multiple locations across Kachin State on Thursday.

Fighting between the KIA and the regimes soldiers has intensified in Momauk, Mohnyin, Bhamo and Waimaw Townships since last week.

KIA Information Officer Colonel Naw Bu claimed that the KIA witnessed more than 30 soldiers killed and 80 seriously injured after regime fighter jets mistakenly dropped bombs and fired guns at their own troops in Momauk Township.

There have been several air raids in Momauk Township since mid-March, after the KIA seized a strategic hilltop base in Alaw Bum near the border with China from the Myanmar military.

Col. Naw Bu said that more than 200 junta troops were injured and several killed in other clashes in three locations in Mohnyin, Shwegu and Momauk Townships on Thursday.

However, Col. Naw Bu did not reveal the KIAs casualty figures.

The KIA attacked a military convoy in Mohnyin Township with remote mines, resulting in dozens of regime troops being injured. Two ships carrying reinforcements and supplies for regime soldiers in Shwegu Township were also attacked by the KIA on Thursday night.

Many troops were injured and some of them were killed during the attack, Col. Naw Bu said.

Myanmars Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services had not made any announcements relating to the fighting in Kachin State as of Friday afternoon.

Since Friday morning, there has been renewed fighting in the Salaung Kone and Alaw Bum areas in Momauk Township, the KIA said.

Clashes between the KIA and regime troops in Kachin and northern Shan states have intensified since the junta killed two anti-coup protesters in the Kachin capital Myitkyina in March. Soon after the juntas coup, the KIA refused to recognize the military regime and warned it not to harm anti-coup protesters in Kachin State.

Subsequently, the KIA seized a strategic base in Montauk Township and stormed more than a dozen military and police outposts in Kachin States Waimaw, Momauk, Hpakant, Tanai, Mogaung, Shwegu and Injangyang townships. It has also threatened to step up its attacks if the junta continues to shoot peaceful protesters across the country.



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Burma Wife and Newborn Baby of Anti-Regime Activist Held as Hostages by Myanmar Junta

A mock death notice of coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Junta forces took the wife and 20-day-old baby of a protest leader hostage in Mudon, Mon State on Wednesday night.

A large number of security forces, accompanied by two informants, were searching for anti-regime activists in Mudon. Their targets included U Than Win, who has been at the forefront of the resistance movement against the military regime in the town.

Security forces came in separate groups around 9pm on Wednesday to search for activists. U Than Win was not at his home at the time. He has been in hiding. There were three people at U Than Wins house: his wife, their son and the newborn baby. The security forces took away his wife who had only just given birth and the baby, said a Mudon resident.

Junta forces then told U Than Wins son to phone his father and tell him that they had taken his wife and infant hostage.

On Wednesday in Mudon, security forces also arrested a striking teacher, National League for Democracy information officer U Ko Ko Oo, and protester leader U Pyuu.



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Interview: Enhancing cooperation needed to heal economic scars of COVID-19: Thai central bank official

Xinhua) 14:42, May 07, 2021

BANGKOK, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Asian economies should further enhance cooperation to reduce the potential risks and long-term scars the pandemic had on economic development, a Thai central bank official said.

"We have already had firm cooperation in trade and financial sector, should only be in an increasing trend going forward," Chayawadee Chai-Anant, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand's Economic and Policy Department, said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) further strengthened the regional financial safety net with the amended Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) Agreement, a regional financing arrangement, in March.

The CMIM agreement is jointly signed by the finance ministers and central bank governors of member states of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) and the Monetary Authority of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

In addition to the U.S. dollar, the amended CMIM, which came into effect on March 31, allows the use of members' local currencies for CMIM financing within the CMIM's total financing capacity of 240 billion U.S. dollars, according to a statement released by the Bank of Thailand.

In addition to each country's international reserves as the first line of defense against financial risks, Chayawadee called the CMIM the region's needed "second line of defense," and the amendment was completed at the "perfect timing" to reassure the safety needed during the difficult times.

The discrepancy of economic recovery path from the pandemic and pace of vaccination may create uneven financial conditions, and trigger volatility and capital outflow from emerging markets if advanced economies recover first and withdraw liquidity, Chayawadee said.

"Capital outflow could be a common risk in emerging markets, especially in Asia. We are monitoring the situation closely, but expect that it would not be as severe as the Asian financial crisis in 1997," she said.

The unwinding of monetary positions in advanced economies may lead to financial turbulences in the region, but not a crisis, with the banking system remaining relatively healthy and the amended CMIM would also play a part to support investor sentiment, she said.

The official's remarks came as world economies gear up for a vaccine-induced rebound while Asian economies face challenges of new outbreaks, with India suffering a severe wave of the coronavirus and cases still high in countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Despite various economic structures, ASEAN+3 economies are facing a common challenge of higher debt levels, which could weigh on consumption, a main driver of growth, Chayawadee said.

She also warned about employment losses that may cause a shortage of skilled workers in post-pandemic recovery. "In the recovery phase, if we cannot produce skilled workers soon enough, we may lose economic opportunities."

To avoid these economic scars, economies should focus on upskilling and reskilling to help workers impacted by COVID-19, as well as enhancing cooperation in developing infrastructures to boost investments going forward, she said.

"If we have good and ready infrastructures, especially soft infrastructure such as digital and regulations, it would provide us a great help to transform to fit the new world," she said.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
Koreans who flew from India via a chartered flight come out of arrivals' gate inside Incheon International Airport, Friday, as health officials guide them to where they can take coronavirus tests. Yonhap



The second group of more than 200 South Koreans returned home Friday from virus-hit India via a special flight and more people are scheduled to arrive here this month.



A flight operated by Asiana Airlines landed at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, around 6:22 a.m. with 204 passengers, including one Indian citizen, after departing from Bengaluru, southern India.



The flight originally planned to return here with 211 people, but some of them were removed after testing positive for the novel coronavirus.



This is the second time this week that a chartered flight transported South Korean citizens from India.



On Tuesday, a flight operated by Indian air carrier Vistara arrived here with 172 passengers after departing from Chennai International Airport in southern India.



South Korea plans to operate 10 more non-scheduled flights this month to transport South Korean citizens from India.



India has been a virus hotspot in recent months, with a COVID-19 variant strain also posing a problem. The country has reported more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases per day for the past two weeks, with its accumulated total now exceeding 21 million.



Regular flights between South Korea and India have been suspended since March last year over virus concerns. Since then, only non-regular flights have been operated between the two countries.



But to better contain the Indian variant of COVID-19, South Korea started to suspend non-scheduled flights on April 24, although it allowed flights carrying South Korean nationals to operate on a limited basis.



Those aboard flights to South Korea must submit a health certificate proving they tested negative for the novel coronavirus.



All arrivals from India must stay in state-designated shelters for seven days even if they test negative for COVID-19.



Previously, travelers from India had to stay at the shelters for two days, but health authorities decided to tighten measures to better curb imported cases.



They have to take a diagnostic test on the sixth day after their arrival and can move to their residential places for self-isolation if they test negative. They need to undergo virus tests again before they are freed from self-isolation. (Yonhap)


News Myanmar Junta Forces Abduct Three NLD Members

Three NLD members were abducted by armed men in plain clothes on Friday in front of the partys headquarters in Yangon. / Screenshot from CCTV record

Two central committee members and another youth member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested by armed men in plain clothes on Friday evening in front of the partys headquarters in Yangon, the commercial capital.

CCTV footage released by official media of the National Unity Government showed that two central committee members, U Ba Myo Thein and U Soe Win (aka U Soe Lay) and youth party member Ko Hein Min Htet were forcibly abducted while they were preparing to leave the office.

Both committee members were elected to the Upper House of Parliament in the Nov. 8 election.

The military staged the coup on Feb. 1 claiming that the general election, which brought a landslide victory to Daw Aung San Suu Kyis then-ruling NLD, was marred by electoral fraud.

NLD lawmaker U Bo Bo Oo confirmed the arrest of the three NLD members and said both of them have been working daily at the headquarters since the military coup.

In February, the junta raided the headquarters and executive committee offices of the NLD in Yangon and confiscated property from the offices including documents and computer hard disks.

Following the coup on Feb. 1, NLD offices across Myanmars states and regions were raided by the military and guarded by troops. The regime sealed off the offices and even removed portraits of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and party flags, according to NLD members.

More than 200 NLD members, including Myanmar State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and all of the partys Central Executive Committee (CEC) members have been detained by the junta since the coup.

In March, three NLD members, Ko Zaw Myat Lin, who was in charge of the Suu Vocational Institute in Shwephyithar Township, Yangon; U Khin Maung Latt, ward chairman of the NLD in Pabedan Township, Yangon; and U Kyaw Kyaw, an executive committee member of the NLD in Zabu Thiri Township in Naypyitaw; died while being detained by the military regime.

As of Friday morning, at least 772 civilians have been killed by regimes security forces since the coup and 4,809 arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).



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On Friday, officials with the Walker County Hospital District board announced that they have finalized a $7.8 million purchase of Huntsville Memorial Hospital. Do you feel like this is a good use of tax dollars, and is this the right direction for the struggling health care facility?

You voted:
Shelton, CT  5/7/2021  TMC today announced Eric Burger, Professor, Georgetown University will present a conference session at ITEXPO being held June 22-25, 2021 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami, Florida.

Through interactive sessions, quality keynotes, exciting networking experiences and a recently expanded exhibit floor, ITEXPO connects businesses with the solutions, partners and education they need to drive digital transformation. As one of the only vendor neutral shows in the marketplace, thousands of Resellers, enterprises, service providers, media, manufacturers and developers come to ITEXPO year after year to make their purchasing decisions and select new partners.

Here are the details for Eric Burgers Presentation:

Conference Track: Keynote Presentation

Session title: Keynote Presentation - Eric Burger, Former FCC CTO

Date: 6/24/2021

Time: 10:00 am

View all keynotes, speakers, special events, exhibitors and the entire ITEXPO conference program here.

For more information or to register for ITEXPO, contact events@tmcnet.com . Companies interested in exhibiting, sponsorship or advertising packages for ITEXPO should contact TMC's Joe Fabiano at 203-852-6800 x132 or Maureen Gambino at 203-852-6800 x109.



For the latest ITEXPO news, updates and information follow the event on Facebook and Twitter at @ITEXPO.

About TMC

Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMC's content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all participants. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360-degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet .

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Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 58F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Forcepoint enhances its SASE offerings by integrating Cyberincs Smart Isolation Capabilities, which intelligently adapts web rending according to page risk levels or web element. With the acquisition of the Smart Isolation Capabilities, Forcepoint is able to enhance user productivity, lower operational burdens, and eliminate traditional monolithic products.

Software company Forcepoint has acquired Cyberinc, it announced. According to Forcepoint, Cyberinc delivers intelligent remote browser isolation (RBI) technology that gives administrators granular control that enables them to minimise risk without impending user productivity.

Today, security teams must adapt to rapidly evolving hybrid workforces and ever-expanding SaaS applications. The Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, which reinvents fragmented networking and security products as converged, cloud-native services, provides a compelling path forward, says Frontpoint. According to global research company Gartner, by 2025, at least 60% of enterprises will have explicit strategies and timelines for SASE adoption encompassing user, branch, and edge access, up from 10% in 2020.

Manny Rivelo, Forcepoint CEO, says: The company is executing on our vision for the industrys most comprehensive Data-first SASE offering that delivers risk-based data security, everywhere, over every channel, to give customers consistent enforcement anywhere their people work.

The acquisition of Cyberincs Smart Isolation capabilities, he says, is the first of many investments Forcepoint will make to enhance user productivity, lower operational burdens, and eliminate traditional monolithic products through a best-in-class SASE cloud service.

The Forcepoint Data-first SASE platform enables enterprises to use the cloud to transform their network and security architectures. It goes beyond protecting access to resources: by putting data security first, Forcepoints SASE is able to simplify connectivity and unify security policy enforcement. Remote browser isolation has become a key component utilised within modern SASE architectures.

Cyberinc claims it has developed the industrys first Smart Isolation capability that is context-aware and adapts the browsing experience with dynamic risk assessment, powered by the Cyberinc Threat Intelligence Service.

This new capability intelligently adapts web rendering according to risk levels of the page or web element with two complementary approaches to renderingSecure Streaming and UX Optimized.

The Secure Streaming model renders elements remotely and securely sends harmless pixels to the endpoint for the strongest security. The UX Optimised model intelligently renders harmful pages and web elements remotely while rendering the less harmful pages and elements locally to deliver a better user experience.

Forcepoint will integrate Cyberincs Smart Isolation capabilities within the companys current SASE offering, including Cloud Security Gateway (web and cloud security), Private Access (Zero Trust Network Access), Email Security gateway and Next-Generation Firewall to offer enterprises of all sizes better visibility and control to protect against advanced threats as well as theft or loss of sensitive data, wherever people are working.

Samir Shah, Cyberinc CEO, says Cyberinc understands the key to modern security is to get ahead of the threat and prevent breaches before they happen. Our shared vision is to intelligently adapt to the changing levels of risk posed as employees click on links or web pages while balancing a better native user experience and security.

He claims: Forcepoint has the broadest portfolio and the best expertise to deliver a data-first SASE experience today.

I look forward to working with their engineering and development teams to rapidly advance integration of our industry-first smart isolation technology with the rest of Forcepoints security offerings, he concludes.
If there's one company in the world that has the widest range of connected technologies in the world, across all sectors of consumer, business, industrial technologies and prowess, memory and CPU design and manufacture, connected appliances, and more, it's Samsung, with it's new enterprise range laser-focused on meeting the ever growing needs of enterprise customers, as the newest versions of all enterprise devices ably demonstrate.

Samsung's expertise in smartphones, SoCs, display, memory, batteries, manufacturing, form factors and more makes it one of the most powerful and technologically capable companies in the world, let alone everything else this massive South Korean behemoth with massive global reach brings to the table.

The company has even just entered the 5G networks business in Australia mid last month, offering a truly end-to-end solution on a scale only challenged

It has a formidable competitor in Apple, which competes with everyone else by offering the highest of high end smartphones, tablets, smart speakers, watches, device trackers, notebooks, desktops, professional machines, excellent software and ever growing services, and more, but despite everything Apple does, and does so well, Samsung competes strongly, and does so in a range of markets, too.

So now, in what Samsung says is "in response to growing demand for more comprehensive mobility offerings from Australia enterprises and government agencies," the company "will launch its dedicated Galaxy Enterprise Edition in Australia, a scalable solution for enterprise customers that is designed to give organisations more continuity, control and protection across an IT network."

The Galaxy Enterprise Edition will initially be available to Galaxy A32 (this link to the UK Enterprise Edition, an Australian link will surely come in due course) and XCover 5 in a separate Enterprise Edition too, and with further additions across the wider Galaxy portfolio planned in the near future, the enterprise, industrial devicescoming soon with Galaxy Enterprise Edition status, Samsung will offer the widest range of Samsung enterprise experiences yet.

There are also two videos from Samsung embedded at the end of this article which explain its Samsung Enterprise Edition initiative in a video from January this year, and Samsung explaining in Business manifesto in a video from March 2020.

Samsung's business division offers devices across the consumer, ASD certified and rugged device ranges, with more on why Samsung says it is right for business page that explains more, and more detail on its rugged range here.

What will Galaxy Enterprise Edition really offer?

We're told it will "help organisations better manage Samsung devices across their operations, as well as support enhanced performance and security when operating in a range of environments.

"Galaxy Enterprise Edition in Australia will initially be made available on Galaxy A32 and XCover 5 devices with further updates expected in future across the wider Galaxy portfolio. The solution will include customisable hardware solutions, easy-to-manage software, and end-to-end security management protocols with Samsung Knox.

Samsung DeX will also continue to form a key foundation to how Samsung mobility solutions is seeking to offer greater functionality and mobile computing from Galaxy devices.

"With many businesses in Australia managing large, disparate workforces or teams working from home and out in the field, the new Galaxy Enterprise Edition will make it easier for enterprises to configure, update, deploy and run mobile technology across organisations at scale, ensuring employees are always connected and can get the job done on the go, securely."

Samsung tells us about some unique features of the Galaxy Enterprise Edition, which include an extended security support, where "Enterprise Edition" devices receive regular security updates to help protect them against emerging threats for a period of up to 4-5 years.

We're also told that all devices are protected by Samsung Knox, which is Samsung's "defence-grade security platform" and are supported by streamlined provisioning and configuration, as well as comprehensive and simple device/OS management.



The company says its launch of the Enterprise Edition comes "after strong momentum for Samsung Australias enterprise mobility business which has experienced 50% growth in 2020 and is projected to grow by a further 50% this year. The sustained growth and uptake of Samsungs mobile enterprise offering is based on a core set of tools that have been tailored to this market," including;

Samsung Knox, a highly secure mobile security platform is now a key part of many key Samsung enterprise customers mobility programs in Australia. Uptake has involved 10x growth in adoption locally amongst existing and new enterprise customers. Australia is now a top tier market for Samsung Knox subscriptions.

In February this year, Samsung announced that the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) approved a range of new Samsung Galaxy devices for use by Australian government departments and Critical Infrastructure agencies in Sensitive and Protected deployments. Devices listed in the new Security Configuration Guidance included the Galaxy S20 FE, S20 FE 5G, Note20 and Note20 5G.

Following major transformations experienced by businesses in 2020, device convergence remains a core priority for Samsung in supporting its customers with greater productivity across the Galaxy portfolio. Samsung is now actively deploying its complete suite of enterprise-ready tools, including Knox Suite, Knox Capture, and DeX, are enabling businesses to do just that, with tools like push-to-talk, barcode scanning, and DeX for mobile-to-PC connectivity.

Danny Mandrides, Head of Enterprise & Government Mobile at Samsung Australia said: In the past 18 months, the Australian economy has experienced historic challenges in relation to the way work and operate. The change in conditions we have all faced have forced many enterprises to continually assess how they can deliver greater productivity with mobile devices.

Our commitment continues to revolve around ensuring that we support our customers in facing these challenges with the best possible mobility solutions. This focus is fundamental reason for why are investing in deploying our very best hardware and solutions in Australia.

Were living in a world of dispersed workforces, and enterprises are putting mobility at the heart of their operations in order to thrive and survive, Mandrides continued.

This year, we will open a wider range of options for our mobility customers in Australia with the launch of Enterprise Edition, continued deployments of our customisable Knox security platform, as well as enhancements to how we optimise Samsung DeX.

Through our extensive suite of business-ready devices and tools, were helping businesses in industries like government, retail, mining, and construction solve difficult business challenges and operate at the forefront of their sectors. Device convergence has become critical for organisations, and were innovating at pace to ensure our devices are a one-stop-shop for solving multiple business needs, Danny concluded.

Samsung held a media presentation covering Samsung's history and strength in this market, augmented by the release of its new devices, and its guest was Andrew Hiscox, Director of IT Operations and Deliver ANZ at Lafarge Holcim.

Lafarge Holcim, bills itself as a global leader in building materials and solutions, drives digital transformation through Samsung and enhances frontline line worker

Hiscox, said Lafarge Holcims vision is to move to a mobile, digital first model, enabling our 3,700 employees and contractors across 250 sites to better service our customers. Together we are transforming Australia's built environment with innovative new products like ECOPact, Lafarge Holcim's low carbon concrete.

"Our Samsung journey commenced in 2016 and gathered pace in 2018. We currently use the following Galaxy Series devices, S, Note, X-Cover Pro, Fold, Flip, Tab S and Tab Active. Were currently overhauling 1,450 analogue truck radios and 160 call centre systems. This should lead to a 40% reduction of legacy solution costs, which includes the removal of 85% of physical landlines.

"Two critical solutions in our armoury are DeX and Knox Suite. This gives us the power to deploy a fully mobile strategy, in a secure and easy to manage way.

Samsung concludes by stating "it will set its sights on further growth and innovation in enterprise locally, with a particular focus on driving adoption in mobile computing through solutions like DeX and Knox Suite.

"In order to meet the growing demand of its customers and the continued need among Australian enterprises for device convergence, Samsung is also working to add payments to its offering."

So, from what I can see, Samsung is competing hard in the enterprise business space with its strongest, most advanced, most enterprise-friendly and ruggedised smartphones, tablets, and new products and services yet, and it is a very strong competitor and technology leader all its own.

With all of the acceleration in digital transformation still in full swing, Samsung's new range comes at a great time for enterprises, industries, warehouses, drivers, and other workers to upgrade and be connected in the most modern of ways with apps, other customisation and more on a growing platform with all the friendliness for advanced enterprise use that enterprise-rated and also ruggedised devices can now deliver.

The timescale on which enterprises and industries upgrade is up to them, and technology always moves forward with even better versions, but this is the latest on what Samsung is offering its enterprise, business and industrial partners now, and it genuinely looks like a really great option for businesses to consider when requiring new enterprise-class smartphones, tablets and other devices - amongst a range of options from Apple, Microsoft, Huawei, Zebra, Motorola and other vendors alike.

Still, with Samsung's latest generation of business-class, enterprise ready and ruggedised choices ready for the business of digitally transformative next-devices with 4 or 5 year enterprise support options, the new range is definitely a state of the art example of what Samsung can offer in 2021, and a clear demonstration of where it is heading in the future.

Here is Samsung Business USA's YouTube video titled: "How Samsung's Galaxy Enterprise Edition can empower your mobile strategy" from 20 Jan, 2021:

Here's the Samsung Mobile for Business: Manifesto video from May 2020:
This years Federal Budget includes a $1.2 billion investment for Australias digital future. The Digital Economy Strategy targets investment in emerging technologies, building digital skills, business investments, and enhancing Government service delivery.

The Morrison Government is investing almost $1.2 billion in Australias digital future through the Digital Economy Strategy, as part of this years Federal Budget.

The strategy outlines the policies and actions the Government is taking to grow Australias future as a modern and leading digital economy by 2030.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says Australias biggest challenges and opportunities turns on how we respond to the digital transformation occurring in every sector and every facet of our lives.

Every business is now a digital business. The tradesman or woman who seeks work browses AirTasker. The landscaper who finds most of their new business uses search engine placement and social media. The farmer who keeps track of their herd uses electronic tags or drones. The local Thai restaurant now sells through UberEats, MenuLog, Deliveroo, or any one of half a dozen different food apps. The gym members book their classes through an app, the Prime Minister notes.

This transformation is not merely a national one that needs to happenits a global one that is happening, he says. We must keep our foot on the digital accelerator to secure our economic recovery from COVID-19.

The strategy targets investment in emerging technologies, building digital skills, encouraging business investment, and enhancing Government service delivery.

Through the strategy the Morrison Government is investing in jobs for Australians now and into the future with key initiatives including:

Over $100 million to support digital skills for Australians including a new pilot program for work-based digital cadetships that offer a flexible way for workers to build digital skills, investments in the cyber workforce, and scholarships for emerging technology graduates.

Building Australias capability in Artificial Intelligence (AI) with $124.1 million in initiatives, including a National Artificial Intelligence Centre led by CSIRO Data 61, supported by a network of AI and Digital Capability Centres to drive adoption of AI across the economy.

Enhancing Government services through a $200.1 million investment to overhaul myGov, making it easier than ever for Australians to find the services they need, as well as a $301.8 million investment to enhance the My Health Record and an expansion of the digital identity system.

Investment incentives to support business growth, including a Digital Games Tax Offset of 30% to support Australia taking a greater share of the $250 billion global game development market, and changes to the way businesses can claim depreciation of intangible assets like intellectual property and in-house software.

Helping small and medium businesses build their digital capacity through a $12.7 million expansion of the Digital Solutions - Australian Small Business Advisory Service, and $15.3 million to drive business uptake of e-invoicing.

$35.7 million to support emerging aviation technologies like drones, including grants to support and address priority needs in regional Australia.

Unlocking the value of data in the economy and setting the standards for the next generation of data management, including $111.3 million to accelerate the rollout of the Consumer Data Right in banking, energy, and telecommunications.

Strengthening safety, security, and trust with over $50 million to enhance cyber security in government, data centres and future telecommunications networks.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg notes a vibrant digital economy is key to Australias economic future.

Our Digital Economy Strategy will allow Australian businesses to capitalise on the opportunities that digital technologies are creating, the Frydenberg says. Greater digital adoption will improve our competitiveness and lift our productivitydriving job creation and higher wages.

Minister for the Digital Economy, Senator Hon Jane Hume, says the 2021-22 budget represents a landmark investment in Australias digital future.

So many Australians are already participating in the digital economy, some without even realising it. Every contactless purchase, e-invoice, business website or small business going onlineits all part of it and its growing rapidly, Minister Hume recognises.

This is a really exciting announcement, which will drive investment and uptake of emerging technologies, unlock the value of data, build skills for a modern economy, and enhance Government service delivery, she says. We want to improve Australians standard of living, create jobs and make access to Government services easier.

Twenty years ago, you might have looked in the phone book to find a plumber, now we use Google and comparison services. We get quotes within the same day and pay software generated invoices on our mobiles. Think about how much time and administration work that saves. Australians rightly expect the Government to keep up with them, and to help chart the next step forward, and thats exactly what we are doing with this Strategy, the Minister adds.

The strategy builds on the Morrison Governments investments in infrastructure, skills, cyber security, regulations and digital trade, taking the digital economy spend to around $2 billion over the 2020-21 and 2021-22 budgets, on top of the $1.67 billion Cyber Security Strategy 2020, $1 billion for JobTrainer and the $4.5 billion investment in NBN upgrades.

The full Digital Economy Strategy will be released on Budget night, alongside further measures that support and complement the Strategy.

Rebecca Schot-Guppy (pictured), CEO, FinTech Australia, welcomes the news, saying the entire technology and startup ecosystem signifies a shift in thinking in how technology buoys our economy.

The fintech sector, she says, will especially welcome the ability to depreciate software, patents, designs, copyrights more quickly. Its a starting point for a broader change in allowing and creating a separate pool of funds for software innovation with the research and development tax incentive.

The $124m to establish a national artificial intelligence centre led by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will go towards helping all startups innovate. AIs role in future fintech innovations cannot be understated, she says.

Were also pleased to see the government drive ahead with its plans to create a single digital ID for Australians that can be used across multiple services. We look forward to working closely with legislators on this, as the fintech industry will be instrumental in its implementation, she explains.

She adds: Finally, the additional $111 million to help speed up the rollout of the consumer data right is also welcome. We hope this will go toward enacting the recommendations in last months Senate Committee paper, which includes introducing intermediaries into the system to expedite rollout and uptake of the CDR.

These measures along with others mentioned in next weeks budget will form the crux of our discussions at Intersekt the following week, she notes.

Gautam Saghal, (pictured) Perkbox CEO, describes investing in software as a risk, especially if you are building a bespoke in-house product.

He confirms that it's generally expensive, where you start isn't always where you end up, and the time needed to create new technology often balloons out.

This update in tax policy balances the scales. It will encourage more businesses to dabble in in-house innovation, and continue the global reputation Australia has of software companies spinning out from in-house innovation. Over time, this tax policy could create more startups which is beneficial for the entire ecosystem, he notes.

Desmond Hang (pictured), Co-Founder and CEO, Carbar, says this innovation policy is good news for the tech sector.

Well appreciate the ability to depreciate the cost of the proprietary software we are building to support our business.

However, while this policy covers most technology buzzwords, it has one glaring omission: electric vehicles. This sector is growing, will create jobs, crucially will encourage economic activity as consumers swap over from combustion engine vehicles to an enterprise value (EV), he notes.

He concludes: We cant let the transition to EVs become a polarised political issue. It shouldnt be an election debate topic. Both sides of politics need to get aboard this trend and invest early to ensure Australia is on the front foot with this transition.
On May 6, when COVID-19 vaccination for people aged 70-74 began in Korea, a call center employee in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District answers a caller who wants to reserve a dose of vaccine. Yonhap



South Korea's daily new virus cases remained in the 500s for the second day Friday as the country remained guarded against a potential upsurge in variant cases.



The country reported 525 more COVID-19 cases, including 509 local infections, raising the total caseload to 126,044, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.



The daily caseload reached 488 on Monday on fewer tests over the weekend but rose to the mid-500s on Tuesday and to over 600 on Wednesday.



The country added nine more deaths, raising the death toll to 1,860, the KDCA said.



Acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said health authorities will make all-out efforts to pull down the daily new cases below 500 per day on average. The reproduction rate is under 1 this week, indicating that a virus patient infects less than one person.



In an enhanced measure against rising mutated cases in the southeastern city of Ulsan, the health authorities increased the number of temporary screening centers to 10 from three in the city and advised citizens to take virus tests.



More than 300 cases reported in the city since early March are believed to be the mutant virus from Britain.



As of Tuesday, variant cases from Britain, South Africa and Brazil reached 632.






In what appears to be a first, a CIA-bankrolled threat intelligence firm has set up a "tech news" outlet to spread its wares.

Recorded Future's association with the American intelligence agency is described in this way by Wikipedia: "The company has close links with In-Q-Tel, CIAs investment arm, and Google Ventures, who were both early investors."

The news., or rather propaganda, outlet, is known as The Record. Surprisingly, its "stories" are being taken seriously by aggregation sites like Slashdot.

But then a large number of journalists, both from the general and technology beats in the US, operate as mouthpieces for American intelligence agencies.

In the past, the CIA was known for getting journalists onside using an operation that came to be known as. That continuesthough not under the same name; only last month, investigative journalist Glenn Greenwaldabout Natasha Bertrand, a new face at CNN, but an old hand in spreading CIA propaganda.

Another well-known, but lesser written about phenomenon, is the fact that many security companies attribute the source of malware they track down based on what their contacts at intelligence agencies tell them.

And those sources will always be countries like Russia, China, North Korea and Iran, nations that are on the US blacklist.

Recorded Future has also announced a partnership with Avast, a Czech multinational cyber security software company headquartered in Prague. It has also got ties to another East European security firm, Bitdefender. Anotther firm in which the American spy agency has invested is Kasada, which, incidentally has another notable investor: former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The Record has hired two former security writers, Adam Janofsky and Catalin Cimpanu, to staff the publication. The former worked for the Wall Street Journal for a while, while Cimpanu put in stints with Bleeping Computer and ZDNet. While some reports they write are the same bread-and-butter ones that emerge based on the "findings" of security firms  and which are also written up by many other regular tech outlets  there are others which are clearly being fed to drive this narrative or that.

These include reports like this, which clearly serve to cast doubt on Chinese groups. And without any trace of shame, we have the spectacle of a journalist quoting someone working for his parent company, completely forgetting that one who does this has no credibility at all.

But then most outlets are only too happy to vomit out the leaks from intelligence agencies and law enforcement sources, with no questioning at all. CyberScoop is another of these outlets which serves as a good outlet for US government propaganda.

Exactly why Recorded Future decided to branch out this way is not known. But it is very likely that the decision was taken because the organisation was not getting the publicity it thought its "research" merited.

I met two of the Recorded Future staff in Melbourne in 2019, having exchanged business cards with the founder, Christopher Ahlberg, at a talk during the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit in Cancun in 2018.

But the "research" that the company publishes seems a little too cute at times. Just before the summit of the Koreas in 2018, Recorded Future published a blog post about North Korean activities in cyber space.

Another report, issued just before former US president Donald Trump was due to pronounce on the Iran nuclear deal  he cancelled it  claimed that Iran would retaliate by stepping up its online attacks. Nothing of the sort happened.

Both the North Korean attack report and the Iran one were sent to iTWire prior to publication; we ran the former, but then I thought the second one looked just too much of a coincidence. So I held off.

The American intelligence agencies push their wares in a much more expansive way through cable TV channels like MSNBC and CNN, where former spies figure quite often as talking heads. John Brennan, Michael Hayden, Asha Rangappa, James Clapper, Malclom Nance... the names go on and on.

In 2003, the US and a number of other countries went to war in Iraq based on bogus information spread by intelligence agencies. More recently, when Trump floated a plan last year to pull American forces out of Afghanistan, a bogus story about Russia offering the Taliban incentives to kill American soldiers gained a lot of currency in numerous outlets.

[With all the chaos that the Americans have created in Afghanistan, it is amazing that people still believe that one needs to pay any Afghan to attack them.]

With all the talk about fake news, it is somewhat surprising that people pay little attention to this growing trend of spreading whatever propaganda is the flavour of the day. Maybe another adventure like the Iraq one is needed to bring people to their senses.
Australian healthcare provider UnitingCare Queensland has identified the Windows ransomware that hit its systems on 25 April as the REvil strain, aka Sodinokibi.

The organisation said in a statement that some of its digital and technology systems were still not back online as a result of the attack.

The statement was more or less a repeat of what the organisation put out on 26 April, when it announced that it had been the victim of what it called a cyber incident.

The REVil website on the dark web makes no mention of UnitingCare, hence it is fair to assume that the organisation has back-ups in place and is able to restore its data.

Asked for his take on the incident, well-known ransomware threat researcher Brett Callow, who works for the New Zealand-headquartered security shop Emsisoft, said: "REvil is one of 30 or so ransomware groups which routinely steal data and have organisations over a barrel by attempting to release it.

"Unless the targeted organisations cave in to their demands, the purloined information is posted online, usually exposing not only the organisations' information, but also that of its clients and business partners.

"This form of extortion has become increasingly commonplace with about 2000 organisations having had their data posted online since the start of 2020.

"And, because the strategy works, it's likely to become even more commonplace - unless, that is, governments finally stop dithering and take decisive action to combat the problem."

The UnitingCare statement added: "With the assistance of leading experts and advisers, we are conducting a thorough investigation into whether patient, client, resident or employee information has been breached.

"This investigation is continuing and we will continue to keep the people we care for updated in this regard, in addition to employees, regulators and other stakeholders.

"Since the incident occurred, as part of our business continuity plan, back-up and downtime procedures have been in place to ensure continuity of our clinical and care services, and these procedures have been working very well.

"At this point in time, we do not have any evidence that the health and safety of our patients, residents or clients has been in any way compromised as a result of this cyber incident.

"All employees have continued to be paid on-time as usual, however if any pay issues do occur we have established an employee payroll hotline and rapid-payment solution to address these. We are regularly communicating with our employees about this process."
The company rolling out Australia's national broadband network has reported revenue of $3.5 billion for the first nine months of the financial year 2020-21, with no breakdown offered for the third quarter alone.

But the NBN Co has again failed to raise the level of a metric it has long touted as having to reach $52 before it breaks even  its average revenue per user or ARPU. This remained stuck at $45 for the nine months.

It is fair to assume that NBN Co registered another loss for the third quarter, although this was not explicitly stated. When it reported results for the first six months of the current financial year, the losses were $2.113 billion, a drop from the $2.817 billion for the first six months of 2019-20.

Going by the results for the first six months, the revenue figure for the third quarter was $1.24 billion.

The total of $3.5 billion was an increase of 23% year-on-year. In 2019, the NBN Co stopped issuing detailed quarterly results and now only provides full details plus a presentation and slides for the first six months and then the full year.

The EBITDA for the nine months, including subscriber costs, was $895 million, a $1.6 billion improvement on the figure for the nine months in the previous financial year, the company claimed.

NBN Co paid $1.054 billion in subscriber costs to Telstra and Optus, a 47% drop compared to the $1.985 billion paid for the first nine months of 2019-20.

A total of 835,000 new customers have connected to the network in the nine months to March 31, making a total of 8.1 million for the nine months. This means that 200,000 have been connected during the third quarter alone, given that the figure for connected premises in the first six months was 7.9 million.

NBN Co chief executive Stephen Rue said: We are pleased with the solid progress we have achieved and recorded across all of our key financial and operating metrics in the third quarter.

"Revenue was particularly strong, largely due to new customer activations on the network and upgrades to higher speed services. We are well placed to achieve our FY21 total revenue target of $4.5 billion, as outlined in the Corporate Plan.

Our EBITDA performance showed a significant improvement over the previous corresponding period as a result of high revenue growth, which will support our long-term reinvestment in the network, and a 28% decrease in total operating expenses, including subscriber costs. We expect to achieve our FY21 EBITDA target of $1.3 billion.

We have continued to invest in supporting the industry and end user customers through initiatives such as the COVID-19 CVC Credit Offer, which came to an end after almost a year on 31 January 2021.

Our Focus on Fast initiative, which commenced on 1 February 2021 and offers rebates to retailers to incentivise sales of higher speed tiers, has helped to lift more customers to higher speed tiers with approximately 10% of customers now on plans based on wholesale speed tiers of 100 Mbps and an additional 7% of customers on plans offering download speeds of 250 Mbps and close to 1 Gbps.

We are making excellent progress on our $4.5 billion network investment program, having identified and announced the suburbs and towns that will comprise the first 1.1 million of 2 million premises that will benefit from our extension of fibre deeper into communities with greater access to higher speed services, on demand.

To date, about 3.5 million premises can access our Home Ultrafast plans offering download speeds of close to 1 Gbps and by June 2023, were forecasting that 75% of premises on our fixed line network  or around eight million premises  will be able to access our highest speed Home Ultrafast services.

In April the NBN Co had a successful, inaugural US$2 billion (A$2.6 billion) bond issue in US capital markets. Including this, since March 2020, the company has raised more than $12 billion in new debt, including $8.5 billion in private bank debt and $1.6 billion through five and ten-year domestic bonds.

NBN Co intends to refinance the remainder of its $16.5 billion debt facility from the Australian Government with private debt by 30 June 2024.
MiMi-Sandra of Fort Worth, born 7 September 1945 in Jacksonville to Joe Selman Gore and Jeffie Gwendolyn (Lazenby) Gore. Preceded by her parents and five siblings. Survived by her husband, daughters, four siblings, nieces and nephews.




Donate Now As a public service during this pandemic, the Jewish News is providing free, unlimited access to all articles. Jewish News is a nonprofit publication that is owned by the community and relies on community support.
Jennifer M. Simon founded the Wyoming Womens Action Network and is a senior policy advisor to the Equality State Policy Center. She holds a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt Divinity School. She can be reached via columnists@jhnewsandguide.com.
A medical worker prepares to administer a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a public inoculation center in Yongsan, Seoul, Monday. Yonhap



By Bahk Eun-ji



Many Koreans are paying keen attention to whether the United States' endorsement of waiving COVID-19 vaccine patents to increase global production will bolster supply here and help the country achieve herd immunity by November.



However, the health authorities and local pharmaceutical industry remain cautious about the prospect, saying that the possible waiver will not lead to the immediate production of a vaccine locally, citing uncertain factors, including when and for how long the patent protections will be eased.



On Wednesday (local time), the Joe Biden administration expressed its support for a move to temporarily lift intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines amid a global shortage.



The activation of the patent waiver, which is intended to promote the production of generic drugs in other countries, means that drug manufacturers will have to give up the right to exercise ownership of their patents.



If the waiver takes effect, Korea is expected to be able to produce generics relatively more easily and could become vaccine self-sufficient as it has a considerable number of drug manufacturing facilities.









However, experts believe that there are a large number of problems to solve prior to reaching that stage.





U.S. President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters as he speaks about the American Rescue Plan, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Wednesday, in Washington. AP-Yonhap
In the early 1950s, China was largely destroyed by foreign invaders and war. There was also an UN embargo and the war in Korea. Under these circumstances there was no access to world markets, but necessity to rebuild the country. This prompted the government of the newly formed The People's Republic of China to look for allies. Especially those with a pronounced maritime economy and knowledge. In the communist sphere of influence of the Soviet rulers, one stumbled upon the People's Republic of Poland. Also a start-up with a newly founded POL Polish-Ocean Lines from 1951 and good experience in shipping goods to China. With a flourishing shipping culture, vast knowledge of maritime trade and top class professionals within a global network the choice felt on Poland as future partners.

Former Prime Minister of China, Zhou Enlai, blessed foreign capital, which was totally equivalent to 80 million Roubles having parity in pure gold and both parties invested in it in equal shares of 50% each. A joint venture became the plan headed by two governments, by name ministry of shipping of The Peoples Republic of China and the ministry of communication of The Peoples Republic of Poland. Both representing the company also nowadays by State Secretaries. The contract of cooperation was finally inked on 15th of June 1951 at Tianjin. The day the company ChinesePolish Joint Stock Shipping Company was born and became operational. According to establishing agreement the company head office was set up in Tianjin and branch office in Gdynia, Poland.

In order not to overlook this activity, which was actually subject to the UN restrictions, it was decided to use a more harmless name than would have been usual for a shipping company. To overrule blocked investments into China the enterprise was declared to be a broker. As such working could be started instead of being a shipping company. This made the uncontroversial name Chinese-Polish Ship Broker Company later to become the globally known brand CHIPOLBROK which originates simply from the telegram address. In those days telegram was the international way of communication long time before telex, fax and internet became existing.

Whilst this company became Chinese first ship owner the tonnage necessary was given from Polish Government, namely PUASKI. Humble beginnings with small and old tonnage. More units followed and also from Chinese side three ships had been given into this start-up. After half-a-year the fleet was already grown to 10 units with total deadweight over 100,000 tons with initially mixed crews, e.g. Polish officers and Chinese seafarers.

Part of the Chinese-Polish Joint Venture became an agreement to have all key-functions ashore double manned with Chinese and Polish staff officers. This concerns until today all management posts and levels above. And the cooperation between both nations still works very well.

Basis for the employment of ships became cargo deliveries from all over Europe, but mainly from eastern countries to Gdynia. For decades this port was the turntable in the trades westbound and eastbound. The political situation in Far East forced the routing of the ships via a Pacific detour. Nevertheless it happened in 1953, that two ships had been stopped by Taiwanese coast guard, confiscated and the crew arrested for a longer time. One of those was the 1921 built m/v PRACA, a 9,012dwt steamer which came into the focus of the former Chiang Kai-Shek regime. The entire crew suffered a lot from that incident.

1962 became a mile stone by switching the headoffice from Tianjin to Shanghai, the secret capital of the empire and trading metropolis. The move went into an impressive historical building reminiscent of the Renaissance style (designed by Palmer & Turner) close to the Waitan (Bund) and with a bright view to the Huangpu river and the island of Pudong. The world famous Peace Hotel with its swing dance band was just around the corner and preferably used for many of the receptions given for visitors at Chipolbrok who always presented itself as an outstanding host. Todays residence is in the building Gong Shang Lian (floors 2628), also called Heng Ji Plaza in the centre of the city.

Over the decades the company has grown steadily. Old steamers had been replaced by newbuildings originating from Polish shipyards like KONOPNICKA named after a Polish female poet. A tradition of Polish side is that all ships had given names from Polish poets, writers and composers. Whilst Chinese side prefers names of cities, from universe or oceans. Whenever newbuildings had been set into service in later times most of the first given names sooner or later being repeated, except that of KONOPNICKA. This habit of namings is continued to this day.

After a serial of conventional ships as was customary at the time and supplied from Polish shipyards a sharp cut was done when the decision was taken in late 80ties to open the sphere of activities to the market of western Europe. Whilst ships of Chipolbrok appeared at ports like Antwerp, Rotterdam or Hamburg more occasionally at that time the step was taken to run these ports more frequently. This also in line with the big Baoshan project which was concluded as key carrier together with Chinese state owned forwarder Sinotrans. With the keen competition of many other owners, carriers and operators around not an easy task to establish themselves in that shark basin. Especially since the fleet showed only limited possibilities. At the same time, the degree of containerization increased sharply because the Chinese economy began to develop and grow at a breathtaking pace.

In order to expand the capacities, four larger used ships of Japanese origin were bought in the mid-eighties, which provided their services for the shipping company until 2008. After more than 20 years in the service of the shipping company and hard work, they had then completed their tasks and reached the life expectancy of a heavy lift carrier. With already dismantled heavy Stulcken gear, they had to start their last journey to Indian beaches.

Consequently both partners of Chipolbrok decided to employ more sophisticated vessels with a fresh design and better opportunities. Ready for the carriage of boxes but mainly focused on break bulk cargo. At that time, the so-called K-Class ships were the measure of all things in the conventional sector. But already aged and no longer up to date. So, a new type of ship had to be created. The decisive design study came from the May 3rd Shipyard in Rijeka, in those days Yugoslavia. The so called Rijeka-type was born. In total seven self-craned triple decker with wide and long hatches and a dwt-capacity of roughly 22,000 tons. Four of these ships had been set into service from 1991-1993 and proved themselves excellently. But due to the civil war in Yugoslavia another three vessels, in between slightly improved, came into service only in the years 1997/1998.

Soon these ships took over the main burden of the service between China-Far East-SEA to Europe and vice versa. Those ships enabled Chipolbrok throwing more of an eye on other major projects. The choice was wide and agents attracted different opportunities. Finally in 1992, the decision was made in favour of the Shanghai Metro project, which required regular departures from Hamburg at specified time intervals. A small step in shipping but a huge step for the company. By keen efforts Chipolbrok gradually became a brand name for conventional services from and to China and set about overtaking its strong competitors.

The step in October 1993 to extant the frequency of departures from Europe to Asia from a monthly basis to three departures each month attracted a great deal of attention from shippers and let competitors sit up and take notice. What was initially only perceived as lip service soon turned out to be a well thought-out strategy that was retained over several decades.

When container shipments became non-profitable anymore but also did not fit anymore to the break bulk handlings, especially as an independent single carrier beyond any alliances or pools, soon the container stock was given up and was for sale. The main focus was definitely put on any kind of project cargo, break bulk and bulk cargo. Base ports had been Shanghai, Xingang, Dalian, Huangpu, Qingdao and Lianyungang in China plus Busan in Korea whilst in Europe Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg had been the supporters. Occasionally on the eastbound trip also Aqaba as transit port and Jeddah had been served.

Step by step older tonnage of the so called smaller composer-class was withdrawn from the schedule but also forcing the company to consider new tonnage. Not an easy decision where to take it from because European shipyards believed exclusively in container ships but no future for multi purpose vessels. Instead the Shanghai shipyard offered a slightly re-designed container vessel type tailor made for the carriage of high, heavy and mighty cargo. Larger dimensions, more dwt and unprecedented crane capacity made these ships unique in the shipping company's previous fleet. A real quantum leap, on the basis of which ten ships were finally ordered. At a time when conventional shipping was not going to have a bright future, the tonnage in service was largely out of date and the focus was mainly on containers, a very courageous decision. First ships of this so called Orkan-type were delivered in 2003/2004 and after their probation, a further six followed with a time lag between 2009 and 2011. The fleet was then grown to 18 own ships. In peak season even became later 21 mpp vessels.

In line with these new ship orders and growing demand for Chinese products in the USA the separate own office had been opened 2004 at Houston, manned by Chinese and Polish decision takers as before at the Shanghai headquarter and Gdynia branch office. The booming market made that office a profitable outfit of new business over a long period of time. In addition, the shipping company has entered into joint ventures at other locations. But otherwise the services make use of independent agents in the most important areas of the activities.

During this lively period, also the decision to convert the Rijeka-type ships at Chinese shipyards to more powerful cranes, starting in 2008, was taken. Until that time, 50ts Gemini cranes were sufficient for lifting containers and a large part of the general cargo, but the market demand had to be met. As part of a multi-million dollar program, all seven ships were upgraded with cranes using the Gemini lifting method of up to 300 tons SWL.

In 2015 the door was pushed open for a new generation of a previously unseen type of multi-purpose vessel, the so-called Pacific type. Craned up to 700ts and hatches of up to 5o,56m length, bale space of almost 40,000 cbm and a dwt capacity of 31,600 tons goes beyond all previous scope of the ships employed in the fleet. Present vessels space needs are covered frequently by the additional, chartered-in tonnage.

Now when Rijeka-type vessels are out of fleet and only one in services of charterers remaining we have to consider the age of the "Orkan-types" the first of which are gradually approaching the age limit of 20 years. And - of course - already plans exist for new and other ships for the fleet and where and when those are to be built. Probably the purchase of solid used mpp tonnage might help to re-structure the fleet and find suitable substitutes for the long-serving working horses.

In the meantime Chipolbrok has become a true world leader in shipping big volumes of project cargoes offering to its clients its sophisticated global services. Additionally, following shipping policy targets, the company has been more intensively involved in dry bulk and semi-bulk shipments, which enables better optimisation of vessels employments and meeting the market needs. The extension of shipping services and its diversification lie in the fundamental assumptions of Chipolbroks future development.

It is true that Chipolbrok thinks outside the box. However, the existing services will largely continue unchanged. Those are on our main trade lane from China and Far East to Europe and separately to America vice-versa, both headed by our Shanghai office. The service from Europe to Mid East, India, South-East Asia, China and Far East is leaded by the Gdynia office. This means todays organisation remains unchanged. Even if the services are global, our independence is and will remain a great asset for Chipolbrok.

In principle, the shipping company has retained its original structure. The excellent cooperation between the shareholders involved has more than proven for itself. The common liaison works well; new, ambitious age groups are growing up and future seafarers are trained on the ships. Shipping will continue to be an integral part of Chipolbrok's core business.

As a final word, it should be said that CHIPOLBROK will continue this success story since 1951 still for a further long time.
Jonesboro, AR (72401)

Today

Cloudy with showers. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
An early COVID-19 testing center in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on May 6 which was prepared at a site previously used as a bus terminal / Yonhap





The number of reported new coronavirus cases within the foreign worker community in Gangneung has climbed to 71, the municipality said Friday, raising concerns over the spread of the virus in the area.







According to health officials in Gangneung, about 240 kilometers east of Seoul, 14 migrant workers from Russia were newly confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 earlier in the day. Five South Koreans in the city tested positive for virus as well.







An initial cluster infection was reported over the weekend. The number of cases is expected to increase as the city plans to conduct additional rounds of mass testing in the coming weeks, mainly on around 800 workers from Russian-speaking countries, to contain further spread of the virus.







The municipality is paying particular attention to the possibility of the cluster infection expanding across the area's general population, as one South Korean patient was believed to have caught the virus after riding the same bus with a foreign patient.







In the coastal city with a population of just over 200,000, the number of foreign workers stands at about 2,000 working in farms during the spring farming season. Gangneung has imposed no-assembly orders in seven halal restaurants in the city, only allowing deliveries.







The city government also plans to place temporary closure orders on job agencies and employers that hire migrant workers without checking certificates proving that they tested negative for the coronavirus. (Yonhap)


Dec. 1, 1935 - June 4, 2021 After a brief illness, Nate Huff entered the presence of Jesus on Friday, June 4, 2021 at St. John Medical Center, Tulsa, OK. His daughters were by his side. Nate was born in Iron River, Michigan, to Odes Huff and Ruth (Johnstone) Huff. As a young man, he moved to
Lyeo Woon-ki, president of the Korea-Africa Foundation, aims to establish a network of people throughout Africa to collect and share information of the continent faster. Courtesy of Korea-Africa Foundation



Korea-Africa Foundation president vows to establish information network



By Kwon Mee-yoo



Africa is known as a continent of opportunities with solid economic growth backed by its young population and abundant natural resources. Korea is seeking to strengthen relations with Africa through the Korea-Africa Foundation (KAF), which is a platform for exchanges and better understanding.



"Korea's diplomacy is centered too much on the four super powers  the United States, Japan, China and Russia  and inter-Korean relations. We need to diversify our diplomacy to play more roles in the international community," said Lyeo Woon-ki, president of the KAF, during an interview with The Korea Times, April 15.



"The African continent is often called the blue ocean, the young continent or the future growth engine of the world. Korea recognizes the significance of Africa in many words, but few are put into action. The Korean government founded the KAF as part of its efforts to pay more attention to Africa and create new opportunities."



The foundation, established in June 2018, is an affiliate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and aims to promote partnerships with African countries in the political, economic, cultural and academic fields among others.



Lyeo, who was inaugurated as the second head of the foundation in March, is a seasoned diplomat who worked at the foreign ministry for some 30 years. He served as deputy director general of the African and Middle Eastern Affairs Bureau and ambassador to Ghana and Ireland.



"I retired last year, having some free time planning the second phase of my life, and then received a call from the ministry to take this post. So I opened the second act of my life, assuming a heavy responsibility in boosting ties between Korea and the African continent," Lyeo said.





The Korea-Africa Foundation hosts "Seoul Dialogue on Africa," an annual conference of multi-stakeholders to discuss current issues and cooperation. Courtesy of Korea-Africa Foundation



Africa is a continent with large potential  its population as of 2020 is around 1.3 billion and is expected to reach 2.5 billion by 2050, becoming the biggest manufacturer and market in the world. However, it is not well known in Korea.



Lyeo recalled his day as the ambassador to Ghana from 2014 to 2017.



"When I arrived in Ghana, one of the first things I did was visit a KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) project site, which was a two-day drive from the capital where the embassy was. Those unpaved roads and people carrying water jars for drinking water reminded me of my childhood in Gangwon Province."



"I felt a sense of affinity, realizing that Africa was not much different from Korea. Africa is like a society where past and present co-exist. Metropolitan and urban areas are developed, much like Korea, but there are more areas with development potential outside those developed areas.



"K-pop, Korean dramas and films are well-known in Africa. I heard that the drama "Bridal Mask" is very popular in Africa as it gained sympathy because of the similar history of colonization. I wish K-pop groups such as BTS would visit and perform in Africa when they tour the world."



Based on his experience in Africa, Lyeo said changes in perception are required to help develop relations with African countries.



"Many Koreans often associate Africa with negative images such as poverty, as typical images of Africa shown by Korean media are provided by philanthropic organizations which aim to appeal to sympathy and raise funding. Much of that footage is old or from a few disputed areas of Africa," Lyeo said.



"The actual scenery of Africa today is not much different from how we live now. Metropolitan areas enjoy the technology of modern civilization just like we do. That is why we have to stay away from stereotypical ideas of Africa. Korea does provide aid through official development assistance (ODA) programs, but Africa is not a target of aid but an equal partner in economic cooperation becoming a destination of trade and investment."





The Model African Union (AU) Assembly aims to improve awareness on Africa as young Koreans discuss various issues in an international conference format. Courtesy of Korea-Africa Foundation



Lyeo thinks Africa and Korea can work together well because the two share a history of colony and development.



"Korea achieved rapid economic growth and now is considered one of the most developed countries in the world. Some African countries highly regard Korea's rapid growth and want to follow in Korea's footsteps. There are countries executing community-driven economic initiatives similar to Korea's New Village Movement (Saemaul Undong)," he said.



"Korea can be a great partner for the African continent, sharing knowhow and transferring technology to advance together."



Currently, Korea's advancement in Africa is centered on infrastructure and public works through the Economic Development Co-operation Fund (EDCF), but Lyeo sees more potential in areas related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.



"Africa made a quantum leap into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, skipping the previous stages. In Africa, telephone or wired internet is not well-established, but everyone has a smartphone. Koreans have a head for fintech and e-commerce, so I see bright prospects for such fields in Africa," he said.



Major programs of the KAF include supporting exchanges between Africa and Korea in the private and public sectors, researching and analyzing trends in Africa and promoting educational and cultural exchanges.



One of the new projects Lyeo plans to carry out is to establish a network of "correspondents" throughout Africa, with Africans who have returned home after studying in Korea or Africans who have other types of connections with Korea. As of 2021, Korea has diplomatic relations with 54 African countries, but embassies are located in only 24.



"Information on Africa is limited in Korea with diplomatic missions in only about half of the countries. I think it is important to have up-to-date information, so I plan to create a network of correspondents in all African countries to gather information and deliver news among Koreans there," Lyeo said.





The Korea-Africa Startup Idea Contest supports young entrepreneurs who want to venture into the African market. Courtesy of Korea-Africa Foundation
Monticello, IL (61856)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.










INTERCONTINENTAL PARRAMATTA TO BECOME GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY'S HOME OF LUXURY TRAVEL (Australia) IHG Hotels & Resorts strengthens its luxury portfolio with second signing from the InterContinental brand in two months, following InterContinental Sorrento INTERCONTINENTAL PARRAMATTA TO BECOME GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY'S HOME OF LUXURY TRAVEL (Australia) IHG Hotels & Resorts strengthens its luxury portfolio with second signing from the InterContinental brand in two months, following InterContinental Sorrento Australia - Industry economy - Hotel projects

This is a press release Category: Asia Pacific This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2021-05-07



InterContinental Parramatta will be the 11th InterContinental Hotel & Resort in Australasia



The worlds largest luxury hotel brand, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, is set to arrive in Greater Western Sydney with the opening of InterContinental Parramatta, in partnership with owner Holdmark Property Group.



Scheduled to open in 2025, the impressive, new-build InterContinental Parramatta will be part of a vibrant mixed-use development that also includes offices and a ground floor retail precinct. The building itself will be one of the most exciting high-rises to grace the citys skyline, with the owners in the process of running an architectural competition to find a winning design.



The state-of-the-art hotel will deliver on the brands signature InterContinental Life concept  where glamour and the exhilaration of fascinating places is mixed with international know-how and local cultural wisdom. It will feature 200 guestrooms, a restaurant and rooftop bar, Club Lounge, pool, gym, wellness centre and more than 900sqm of meeting space. With IHGs responsible business approach at its heart, it will be built to the highest green-rating standard.



While Parramatta may not spring immediately to mind as a luxury destination, its regarded as the main commercial centre for the broader Greater Western Sydney Region and is Sydneys newest CBD, as well as one of Australias fastest growing cities. With significant infrastructure projects in place, its clear that the self-styled capital of Sydneys west is a highly sought-after destination. With the hotel located at the junction of two of Parramattas most bustling streets  Church and Macquarie Street  it will be perfectly poised to attract luxury leisure and business travellers to the city.



Abhijay Sandilya, IHGs Vice President, Development  Japan, Australasia & Pacific, said: Parramatta is without doubt a super city of the future. To embark on this new-build project with new partners, Holdmark Property Group, and introduce our luxury InterContinental Hotels & Resorts brand to the heart of Western Sydney is incredibly exciting.



The transformation of Parramatta over the years has been extraordinary and the city is truly deserving of a luxury hotel; it has been crying out for one for a long time. InterContinental has long been a pioneer in bringing luxury to new destinations, and we know that its arrival in western Sydney will bring a new era of sophisticated travel to the locale. Together with Holdmark Property Group, were excited to re-shape the landscape and give the local community a luxury hotel about which they can be very proud.



Kevin Nassif from Holdmark Property Group, said We are firm believers in the development of Parramatta as Sydneys newest CBD, and we are thrilled to be working with the team at IHG Hotels & Resorts to bring an InterContinental hotel to the heart of Parramatta. The hotel will be located directly opposite Parramatta Square, one of the largest urban renewal projects in Australia and is perfectly positioned to cater those in town for business or leisure.



This hotel will deliver more than 360 direct and 1000 indirect jobs for Western Sydney and play a critical role in the post-COVID growth and revitalisation of Sydneys West. Furthermore, the development will create an additional 1000 construction and sub-contractor roles boosting job opportunities and the local Western Sydney economy.



With the Parramatta Light Rail, Sydney Metro West  which has a target travel time to Sydney CBD of 20 minutes  and bus lines all connected to the heart of Parramatta, access to the hotel from all parts of Sydney will be a breeze.



Hot on the heels of IHGs recent announcement that InterContinental Sorrento will open later this year on the Mornington Peninsula, InterContinental Parramatta will be the 11th InterContinental Hotel in Australasia and will join award-winning InterContinental Hayman Island Resort, along with InterContinental hotels in Sydney CBD and Double Bay, Perth, Sanctuary Cove, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wellington and Fiji.



IHG currently has 60 hotels operating under six brands in Australasia, including InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, voco, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, with another 35 in the pipeline.



About IHG IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.



With a family of 16 hotel brands and IHG Rewards, one of the worlds largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has nearly 6,000 open hotels in more than 100 countries, and a further 1,800 due to open over the next five years. Luxury and Lifestyle: Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo

Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo Premium: HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, EVEN Hotels, voco Hotels

HUALUXE Hotels and Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, EVEN Hotels, voco Hotels Essentials: Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, avid hotels

Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, avid hotels Suites: Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Candlewood Suites InterContinental Hotels Group PLC is the Groups holding company and is incorporated in Great Britain and registered in England and Wales. Approximately 350,000 people work across IHG's hotels and corporate offices globally.

[ InterContinental Life ]



[ More about IHG Hotels & Resorts ]




France-based food manufacturer Fleury Michon is in talks over the potential sale of its subsidiary in Canada.

In a stock-exchange filing, the company said it is in exclusive negotiations to sell Fleury Michon America (FMA) to an unnamed company based in North America.

FMA supplies prepared meals to the airline industry. The Quebec-based subsidiary has been owned by Fleury Michon since 2006.

This potential transaction would represent a great opportunity for FMA and its employees to develop, thanks to the diversification in dynamic markets and new distribution channels in North America, where the potential buyer is already present, Fleury Michon said.

Fleury Michon and the potential buyer will conduct the preliminary studies that could make it possible to complete the sale of FMA in the coming months. The conclusion of the transaction will be subject to certain preconditions, in particular, the result of pre-acquisition studies and the approval by the competent [regulatory] authorities.



The group has other operations supplying the airline sector, principally the Netherlands-based Marfo Food Group, which it acquired in 2019.

We maintain our ambitions to grow in airline catering, which would mainly be carried by our subsidiary Marfo, in the Netherlands, in the event of this transaction, Fleury Michon added in the stock-exchange filing on Wednesday (5 May).

In September, Fleury Michon struck a deal to sell its 50% stake in a venture in Italy. The company offloaded its half-share of Piatti Freschi Italia, a ready-meals manufacturer in which it had been an investor for almost 20 years.
Investor-backed Greenfood Group in Sweden, a manufacturer of fresh fruit and vegetables, sandwiches and wraps, is building a new production facility and logistics centre to support its growth in Europe.

The 44,000 square-meter plant will be based in Helsingborg, a town in Swedens southern province of Scania, and will, according to a statement, be one of northern Europes largest centres for sustainable and healthy food innovation, production and distribution.

Work on the site is already underway and the project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2023.

Greenfood also produces salads and other vegan products through brands such as Daily Greens and SallaCarte, with its range supplied to retail, convenience stores and the HoReCa channel, as well as foodservice clients. It generates sales of SEK5bn (US$594.7m) from its domestic market in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and France.

Greenfood in its current form came about in 2015 through the merger of Picadeli, a salad-bar concept, and STC Greenfood. The following year, it was acquired by Stockholm-based private-equity firm Nordic Capital. In 2019, the company bought the fresh cut produce business of Finlands Apetit.



David von Laskowski, the president and CEO of Greenfood, said the company is working with construction firm Skanska Fastigheter Goteborg to build the site.

He added: The facility is one of Greenfoods largest investments to date. In partnership with Skanska, we are creating a food ecosystem, a specially adapted, state-of-the-art, and environmentally efficient, food and logistics centre that allows us to continue to grow in Europe, increase our volumes and develop our range.

The town of Helsingborg is the Nordic regions largest port for fruit and vegetables, and supplies around 90% of the consumption in Sweden.

Greenfood operates three business divisions: Fresh Produce, Picadeli and Food Solutions, the latter being its out-of-home business, which includes the companys Mixum, Salico AB, Salico OY, Ahlstroms Factory AB, Snackpoint OY, SSK AB, Wrapsons & Deli AB, and Greendeli Sweden AB.

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Picadeli operates 2,000 outlets in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Belgium and France.

Greenfoods Fresh Produce business area includes Ewerman, Allfrukt, Orebro Tradgardshall, Vaxjo Partiaffar, Satotukku (Finland), Greenfood Iberica (Spain) and Greenfood Sourcing.
With Bangladeshs second lockdown currently underway, new research offers recommendations on how brands and supply chains should respond to ensure the well-being of workers in the countrys garment industry.

The research by the Subir and Malini Chowdhury Center for Bangladesh Studies, UC Berkeley in collaboration with the Institute for Human Rights and Business (with support from UNDP Bangladesh and the Government of Sweden) includes surveys with senior brand executives and apparel suppliers.

And the resulting report, The Weakest Link in the Global Supply Chain: How the Pandemic is Affecting Bangladeshs Garment Workers, finds workers in bangladeshs garment industry are the most vulnerable to Covid-19 fallout

As the coronavirus spread across the world in early 2020 and a lockdown in Bangladesh became inevitable, businesses were forced to respond quickly to the evolving situation.

The report finds while the industry suffered from closure of markets, suspended shipments, delayed payments, and a liquidity crisis, Bangladeshi workers suffered what was in effect a 35% pay cut during the lockdown month.



Many Bangladeshi factories supplying to international brands consolidated their business and some went under. Many thousands of workers lost jobs and depleted their savings without having a safety net to fall back on.

But while campaigns by international civil society groups partly influenced some brands to honour their original contractual obligations, none of the brands interviewed for the report made direct financial contributions to either their suppliers (beyond their contractual obligations) or to the suppliers employees.

The report is drawn from in-depth interviews conducted between October 2020 and February 2021 with senior executives from international brands, Bangladeshi suppliers, representatives of the international civil society, and Bangladeshi labour activists.

It is extremely critical, now more than ever, to engage in research to understand the impacts of Covid-19 throughout the world, explains Dr Sanchita Saxena, director of the Chowdhury Center and co-author of the report.

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In Bangladesh, while the pandemic has disproportionately affected vulnerable communities, it has been particularly detrimental for the workers at the very bottom of global supply chains in the nations many garment factories.

The research recommendations include proposed changes to policies and practices that can lead to long-term changes that would benefit global retailers, suppliers, and ultimately workers themselves.

The Bangladesh government should strengthen social protection mechanisms, including health and social security benefits, and provide resources so that workers wages are not reduced during a crisis.

Brands should ensure that their actions do not squeeze their suppliers, and use their resources and leverage to ensure liquidity for the suppliers. They should also avoid cancelling contracts, and pay for raw materials already acquired and work already undertaken.

Suppliers  who bear direct responsibility for the well-being of the workers, should provide for the necessary infrastructure to ensure safe working conditions, and adhere to the disbursement wages as required by local laws.

Local unions and labour rights advocates should work with their members to ensure they comply with the new standards and minimise disruption.

International organisations should consider new initiatives that empower workers, enable suppliers to collaborate and negotiate as equal partners with major brands, and facilitate dialogue between brands and local unions.

Consumers should inform themselves about work conditions at factories where their clothes are made and support more businesses that pay a living wage and ensure factories in their supply chains adhere to international standards.

The pandemic has revealed the vulnerabilities of many groups, and Bangladeshs workers in the readymade garment sector bore a disproportionate burden, adds Salil Tripathi, IHRBs senior adviser of global issues and the reports co-author.

While the scale of the pandemic took everyone by surprise, lessons must be learned from the experience so that the effect of Bangladeshs second lockdown, now underway, causes the least harm to those who suffered the most the last time.

Click on the following link to view the report: The Weakest Link in the Global Supply Chain: How the Pandemic is Affecting Bangladeshs Garment Workers.
Former chief of the Daegu High Prosecutors Office Yun Gap-geun / Yonhap



A former senior prosecutor was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for taking bribes in connection with a financial fraud scandal involving Lime Asset Management.



Yun Gap-geun, former chief of the Daegu High Prosecutors Office, was arrested in December on charges of accepting 220 million won ($196,250) in kickbacks from a real estate developer financed by the hedge fund in 2019.



Lee Jong-pil, former vice president of Lime, allegedly requested Yun, then a lawyer and opposition party official, use his influence and persuade Woori Bank to resume selling its product that had been suspended amid allegations of Lime's financial irregularities.



The Seoul Southern District Court convicted Yun of accepting bribes through good offices. It handed down a sentence of three years in prison and ordered him to forfeit the same amount as the bribe, as requested by the prosecution.



The court said Yun requested the sale during a meeting with Woori Bank's chief executive, though he knew it could cause massive losses to individual investors.



The court dismissed Yun's claim that the money he was paid was legal consulting fees and had nothing to do with the scandal.



The court noted his contract with the developer did not specify the period of service and the amount of money was far more than usual legal advice fees.



The investigation into Yun began when Kim Bong-hyun, a key suspect in the fraud case, claimed in a letter from prison in October that he paid hundreds of millions of won to a lawyer and opposition politician who was a senior prosecutor and lobbied Woori Bank's top executives.



Kim, former chairman of Star Mobility, known as the financial source for Lime, was arrested in April 2020 and is on trial on charges of embezzlement and bribery.



Lee was sentenced to 15 years in prison in January for deceiving investors by concealing the massive loss incurred by the company's fraudulent fund product. Former Lime CEO Won Jong-jun was also imprisoned for three years.



The prosecution began investigating Lime in early 2020 over its alleged cover-up of massive losses and subsequent suspension of fund redemption worth an estimated 1.6 trillion won.



The case has developed into a high-profile lobbying scandal, involving former and incumbent government officials and politicians. (Yonhap)


Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland is rolling out the first products made with Community Cotton fibre sourced from its supply chain in Haiti following its five-year journey to reintroduce cotton farming to the country.

The move marks a milestone in Timberlands partnership with the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA), which began in 2016 with a goal to create a new supply chain for sustainable cotton, while at the same time advancing the reforestation of Haiti and improving farmers lives.

Launched this week as part of its spring 2021 collection, the first Community Cotton styles include the womens Atlanta Green EK+ Sneakers, mens TrueCloud EK+ Sneakers and Caswell EK+ Bags. The EK+ nomenclature indicates that these are Earthkeepers Edition styles, representing Timberlands pinnacle eco-innovations.

Timberland first partnered with SFA in 2010 to plant five million trees in five years in Haiti. To fulfil that commitment, the SFA created its Tree Currency agroforestry model to engage smallholder farmers to grow, transplant and care for trees. In exchange for their time working in tree nurseries, participating farmers earn credits they can exchange for better quality seeds, hand tools and agricultural training. After a few years, the list of redeemable benefits grew to include literacy programs, microcredit services, livestock and more services the farmers requested.

By the end of five years, SFA had planted five million trees and delivered significant benefits to the farmers. On average, the 6,000 SFA farmers engaged in the programme saw a 40% increase in their crop yields and a 50-100% increase in their incomes, which enabled them to send 3,400 more children to school. Encouraged by these results, Timberland decided to explore cotton as a crop that farmers could grow and the brand could use in its products  evolving from a supporter of the Haitian smallholder farming community to a customer.



This new cotton supply chain is open to other brands and industries, not just Timberland, to expand the opportunity and ensure diversification for the farmers.

Five years ago, Timberland set out with a vision to bring cotton farming back to Haiti after a 30-year hiatus. Today, we are incredibly proud to have a new source of responsibly-grown cotton. We branded it Community Cotton, because the agroforestry model plants trees, increases farm productivity, and enhances farmers incomes and lives, says Atlanta McIlwraith, director of global community engagement and activation for Timberland.

Timberland participated in Haitis first commercial cotton harvest in three decades in 2019. While last year, SFA began work on a mobile app for its agronomists to use with farmers to track crop inputs, yields, organic and regenerative practices, as well as to measure the socio-economic benefits of the farmers participation in the programme. The resulting Smallholder Data Services (SDS) app and platform will be pilot tested this year and will enable Timberland to trace the cotton in its products back to the farmers who grew it.

Meanwhile, Timberland recently announced it is partnering with regenerative design consultancy Terra Genesis International (TGI) to build what it claims is the worlds first regenerative rubber supply system for footwear, with plans to pilot a collection in 2023.
With utmost respect, we would like to address victims at the centre of the peace agreement, began Pastor Alape, a 62-year-old former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander and peace negotiator, in a noticeably tremulous voice. We are here today to acknowledge all political and legal responsibilities contained in the indictment presented to us. Were owning up to all the events and behaviours in it.

In a watershed moment for Colombias transitional justice system, which stems from the 2016 peace agreement between the government and FARC, Alape and Julian Gallo became the first former combatants to officially own up to their crimes. Over an hour-long live-streamed press conference, they outlined the former Marxist guerrillas response to the first indictment unveiled in late January by the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (known by Colombians as the JEP), which indicted them and six other FARC leaders.

Later that day, FARCs legal team formally filed their 360-page response, which has not yet been made public and which kidnapping victims began receiving this week.

A historic acknowledgment

Three years after the JEP opened its doors, FARCs announcement that it accepts the courts findings is momentous. In first place, it seems to validate Colombias wager on a transitional justice system that conditions more lenient sanctions to an acknowledgement of responsibility over crimes committed and a genuine commitment to addressing victims demands for truth and redress.

Their admission paves the way for the first seven indicted FARC commanders to receive 5-to-8-year sentences in a non-prison setting, provided the JEP deems theyre effectively answering to victims demands. Had they contested its findings instead, their case would have moved to an adversarial track within the special tribunal and, if found guilty, they would be facing 15-to-20-year prison sentences.

Its also important because of its symbolism. Kidnappings were for years FARCs most infamous practice, with haunting images of caged and chained prisoners in the rainforest capturing media attention.

Not surprisingly, as Justice Info told, it was seen as a litmus test of whether the JEP and the peace deal more broadly- could persuade the former guerrillas top brass to show contrition over their crimes and deliver justice to 2,528 victims who are registered as parties to the case, including persons who were held in captivity by FARC for as long as 14 years and their relatives.

Finally, it shows that the Colombian transitional justices approach seeking to prosecute at least those most responsible of the most serious crimes is yielding results. Its first indictees were all part of FARCs Secretariat, or highest ring of power, including former commander-in-chief Rodrigo Londono, former peace negotiators Jaime Parra, Joaquin Gomez, Rodrigo Granda and Alape, and current congressmen Pablo Catatumbo and Gallo. An eighth one, Bertulfo Alvarez, died of cancer one day before the JEPs announcement.

What FARC is owning up to

In their public statement and their written response, former FARC leaders accept the brunt of conclusions presented by the JEPs Judicial Panel for Acknowledgment in its 322-page document indictment on thousands of kidnappings committed between 1990 and 2012.

To begin with, they accept the JEPs description of three broad categories or criminal policies. In first place, they admit to having kidnapped hundreds of persons with the goal of obtaining ransom for them, in what quickly became one of its main sources of funding. It was, the tribunal concluded, a policy that turned human beings into objects whose value did not lie in their human dignity, but in the money they could bring to the armed organization.

Second, former guerrilla leaders acknowledge having kept hundreds of persons especially politicians, soldiers and policemen- as hostages in a bid to pressure the Colombian government into exchanging them for imprisoned rebels. FARCs indicted leaders accepted both practices, although they seek to portray them as driven by different motivations, one being political and the other military.

Finally, FARC commanders recognised having detained hundreds of civilians and public officials in regions where they sought to assert social and territorial control, a form of kidnapping that had been mostly invisible and that the JEP documented extensively for the first time.

In its indictment, the JEP identified specific examples of abductions carried out by every one of FARCs military structures in each of those categories. This information was the basis for its argument that all three kidnapping policies  for money, for human exchange and for territorial control  were both systematic and widespread. In total, the tribunal believes that that at least 21,396 persons were abducted by FARC over two decades.

In light of this, the JEP accused them of the war crime of taking of hostages and the crime against humanity of imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, as well as murder, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearance, forced displacement and other inhumane acts. It also clarified that under Colombian law they were responsible for extortive kidnapping and simple kidnapping.

FARC leaders did not challenge these assertions. As Alape said, we recognise that, more than mistakes, we committed serious transgressions of international humanitarian law.

Intense pain is finally acknowledged

The guerrillas response has heeded victims calls for a more comprehensive acknowledgement of their physical and emotional plight. Over the past two years, they had admitted their responsibility and expressed regret but, as Justice Info told in this story, victims were incensed by their captors failure to address the degrading treatments inflicted on them and the years of long suffering their families endured in their absence. Kidnappings were, in the JEPs words, a borderline situation that put all aspects of life in crisis.

FARCs response finally addresses the full scope of suffering caused by them. Today were aware of the consequences that captivity had on prisoners. The pain we caused by depriving them of their freedom, without the conditions of dignity they required, the impossibility of being in touch with their loved ones, the chains and the multiple situations they had to endure during those years of captivity are not justified, they now say, reversing course on previous claims that victims were usually treated well.

In their response, they stress their awareness of many traumas: of chained hostages, of children who grew up without their parents, of families whose relatives never returned, of photomontages designed to torture people into believing their loved ones had died, of towns whose economies were shattered by businesses gone broke, of persons forced to sell all of their possessions in order to pay for ransom, of illnesses that either went unattended or were cared for with unorthodox remedies like gunpowder, of long-term emotional and mental health issues.

We now understand the fear, anxiety and mistrust they endured throughout this painful experience, and how it affected their daily lives after liberation. We know that their lives remain scarred, says a poignant moment of their response, which describes kidnappings as a reproachable deed beyond any justification and a contradiction of humanity.

This wasnt the only sensitive issue where FARC made U-turns. They also explicitly admit that some victims were subjected to sexual violence and that soldiers and policemen were subjected to degrading treatment, two realities they had shied away from before.

Hearing of 23 ex-guerrillas from the FARCs eastern bloc before the Special Court of Colombia (JEP) on 25 November 2019 in Case No. 1 regarding kidnappings.  Jurisdiccion Especial para la Paz (JEP)

Answers to questions submitted by victims

FARCs decision to own up to their crimes underscores a massive transformation. Nine years ago, at the beginning of the Havana peace talks, negotiator  turned deserter and fugitive  Jesus Santrich mocked their victims, quoting a famous bolero song to say that only perhaps, perhaps, perhaps theyd respond to them.

They have now gone from generic acknowledgments to more detailed expressions of remorse. At least a third of their written response comprises attempts to provide answers to the specific questions submitted by 908 victims, which the JEP gathered and forwarded to their lawyers.

Since we began meeting and listening to victims in Havana, we have been internalising their pain, said Alape, a former commander of the northwestern bloc who also headlined one of the still scarce public acts of contrition by FARC, in the war-ravaged town of Granada. We can say that were much more conscious of assuming our political and legal responsibility, which should help lead us to an end of the armed conflict and pave the way for dialogue as the sole method to solve the conflicts that still beset us as citizens. Our willingness  which we state in our response to the indictment  is to answer to the country and to victims.

Its been a lengthy, difficult process, but ours today is not an artificial position. Such transitions take time, said Gallo, who led the guerrillas eastern bloc under his nom-de-guerre Carlos Antonio Lozada. This included, he explained, holding 10 different three-day workshops throughout the country with other former rebels, explaining the indictment, discussing the road ahead and gathering information to answer victims questions.

In particular, their response seeks to provide some information on those who never returned home. One of the JEPs most striking revelations was how many kidnappings had tragic endings: at least 627 victims (2,9% of the total) were murdered and another 1,860 (8,7%) are still deemed missing, which is why theyre working with the Unit for the Search of persons deemed missing, which is also part of the transitional justice system.

Minor objections to the indictment

FARC did include a couple of minor objections in their response to the JEP. Were simply pointing out some shortcomings we see in the indictment, which in no case seek to evade any responsibility or diminish the value of the acknowledgment were making, Gallo said, describing them as legal technicalities.

First, they are asking the JEP to reconsider taking soldiers and policemen as hostages as a war crime, although they accept the tribunals assessment that such victims suffered other crimes during their captivity. This second admission means that members of the military, although not strictly considered prisoners of war since Colombias armed conflict was not an international one, would still be considered by the JEP as victims of war crimes.

Second, they finally accept that sexual violence took place, but stress that it was not systematic (even though the tribunal doesnt say so). Likewise, they accept the JEPs determination on their command responsibility over kidnappings, but argue that this didnt apply to sexual violence given that they didnt have effective control over their subordinates all the time and did punish those sexual abuse cases they heard of.

Other requests are more political. Among these, they ask the JEP to explicitly state they were politically motivated actors assisted by the right to rebel, to consider the widest possible definition of amnesties when judging other former rebels or to include more information in its final indictment on their life stories and motivations. The reasoning behind these demands is probably less linked to the tribunals decision and more oriented towards maintaining the morale of their former troops, many of whom still await decisions on their legal situation.

The path forward

FARCs acknowledgment probably means that case 01  one of the first seven macro-cases opened by the JEP and one of two specifically focusing on that guerrillas deeds  will continue to move along the track seeking to strike a balance between retribution and redress, which is precisely what has made the Colombian transitional justice innovative.

Throughout this year, the JEP will announce similar decisions focusing on the roles and responsibilities of the guerrillas regional commanders and their subordinates, in part due to the fact that those are the more likely to know the detailed truths victims want to hear. Similar indictments are also expected soon on a second case concerning extrajudicial executions carried out by members of the Colombian military.

Several important questions still remain unanswered, including what the penalties will look exactly like  something that, as Justice Info has explained, the JEP is still due to flesh out  and whether FARCs two indicted lawmakers, including Gallo, will be allowed to continue in Congress while serving their sentences. Its also not clear how the tribunal will deal with their legal observations, which nonetheless require answers. On shorter notice, it will have to decide whether to organise a public ceremony in which all seven commanders formally announce their decisions and address their victims directly.

This might help their historic announcement reach more Colombians, who over the past two weeks have faced an avalanche of news linked to the countrys third serious wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and massive anti-government protests.
The United Nations urged Israel on Friday to call off any forced evictions in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, warning that its actions could amount to war crimes.

We call on Israel to immediately call off all forced evictions, UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.

His comment came after 15 Palestinians were arrested in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem overnight in clashes with police over an eviction threat against four Palestinian families.

The second straight night of rioting in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood was fuelled by a years-long land dispute between Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlers in the strategic district near Jerusalems Old City.

Tensions have been fuelled by a long-running legal case over the homes of four Palestinian families on land claimed by Jews, which is due to go before the Supreme Court on Monday.

We wish to emphasise that East Jerusalem remains part of the occupied Palestinian territory, in which international humanitarian law applies, Colville said.

The occupying power cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory, he said, adding that transferring civilian populations into occupied territory was illegal under international law and may amount to war crimes.

Colville demanded that Israel halt actions that further contribute to a coercive environment or leads to a risk of forcible transfer.

We further call on Israel to respect freedom of expression on assembly, including with those who are protesting against the evictions, and to exercise maximum restraint in the use of force, he said.

 Violent clashes 

The latest clashes followed violence on Wednesday night, when 22 Palestinians were wounded, according to the Red Crescent. Police said they had made 11 arrests.

Earlier this year, a Jerusalem district court ruled the homes legally belonged to the Jewish families, citing purchases made when the whole of historic Palestine, including what is now Israel, was under British rule.

The Jewish plaintiffs claimed their families lost the land during the war that accompanied Israels creation in 1948, a conflict that also saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes.

Israeli law allows Jews who can prove pre-1948 title to recover their properties.

It does not afford the same right to Palestinians.

Colville stressed that Israel cannot impose its own set of laws in occupied territory, including East Jerusalem.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

The district court ruling infuriated Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, who viewed it as a further step in what they see as a Jewish settler effort to drive Arabs out of east Jerusalem.

Israels Supreme Court had called on the sides to seek a compromise, but when that failed it announced it would hold a new hearing on Monday, during which it is expected to rule on whether the Palestinians can appeal the district court decision.

An appeal process could take years.
Israeli security forces killed two gunmen and critically wounded a third on Friday after they opened fire on a base in the occupied West Bank, Israeli police said.

The exchange of fire at the Salem base outside the northern West Bank town of Jenin was the latest violence in the territory this week, and came as tensions soar in annexed east Jerusalem over an eviction threat hanging over four Palestinian families.

Three terrorists fired towards the Salem border police base, a statement from the force said.

Guards returned fire and two of the attackers were pronounced dead, while the third was taken to hospital in Israel in a critical condition.

Three firearms and three knives were recovered from the attackers, the border police said. A large supply of ammunition was also found on one of them.

There was no immediate word on the identity of the attackers or any claim of responsibility.

On Sunday, a 19-year-old Israeli was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting at the Tapuah junction bus stop, also in the northern West Bank.

Israeli security forces later announced they had arrested Montasser Shalabi, 44, in the village of Silwad near Ramallah, on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

Palestinian sources said Shalabi is a dual US national.

Israels Shin Bet internal security agency said Shalabi was not known to belong to any Palestinian militant group.

After his arrest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces for their swift and determined work that brought to the capture of the despicable terrorist, and vowed that Israels long arm will reach anyone who harms our citizens.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops killed a 16-year-old Palestinian when they opened fire on protesters throwing petrol bombs.

The funerals of both youngsters were held on Thursday.

 Jerusalem clashes 

In east Jerusalem, the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood near the walled Old City has seen recent clashes between police and protesters, fuelled by a years-long land dispute between Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlers.

Police said they made 15 arrests late Thursday and 11 the previous night. The Red Crescent said 22 Palestinians were injured in the Wednesday night clashes.

The violence came as Palestinian Muslims flocked to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem for the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Police said protesters torched a vehicle and threw stones outside a house occupied by Jewish settlers.

Palestinians also traded insults with far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who visited Sheikh Jarrah to voice support for the settlers.

 Possible war crime 

The United Nations called on Israel Friday to end any forced evictions in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, warning that its actions could amount to war crimes.

We call on Israel to immediately call off all forced evictions, UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.

We wish to emphasise that east Jerusalem remains part of the occupied Palestinian territory, in which international humanitarian law applies, Colville said.

The occupying power cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory, he said, adding that transferring civilian populations into occupied territory was illegal under international law and may amount to war crimes.

Earlier this year, a Jerusalem district court ruled the homes legally belonged to the Jewish families, citing purchases made when the whole of historic Palestine, including what is now Israel, was under British rule.

The Jewish plaintiffs claimed their families lost the land during the war that accompanied Israels creation in 1948, a conflict that also saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes.

Israeli law allows Jews who can prove pre-1948 title to recover their properties.

It does not afford the same right to Palestinians.

The Sheikh Jarrah families have provided evidence that their homes were acquired from Jordanian authorities, who controlled east Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

The district court ruling infuriated Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, who viewed it as a further step in what they see as a Jewish settler effort to drive Arabs out of east Jerusalem.

Israels Supreme Court is to hold a new hearing in the case on Monday.

mibb-cgo/kir/pjm
Israeli security forces Friday killed two Palestinians and critically wounded a third after the men had opened fire on a base in the occupied West Bank, the latest flareup in violence after clashes in east Jerusalem.

The exchange of fire at the Salem base outside the northern West Bank town of Jenin came as tensions soar in annexed east Jerusalem over an eviction threat hanging over four Palestinian families.

Three terrorists fired towards the Salem border police base, a statement from the border police said, adding that two of the attackers were shot dead, while the third was taken to hospital in Israel in a critical condition.

Guns, knives and a large supply of ammunition were found on the men, police said.

The Palestinian health ministry said they had no official information about the identity of the two martyrs.

The unrest came on Al-Quds Day  using the Arabic word for Jerusalem  an annual day of pro-Palestinian rallies held by Iran, the arch-enemy of Israel.

Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called Israel not a country, but a terrorist base, and in a televised speech said that fighting the Jewish state was everyones duty.

 Jerusalem clashes 

Fridays killings follow days of clashes and shootings.

On Sunday, a 19-year-old Israeli was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting at the Tapuah junction bus stop, also in the northern West Bank.

Israeli security forces later announced they had arrested Montasser Shalabi, 44, in the village of Silwad near Ramallah, on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

Palestinian sources said Shalabi is a dual US national.

Israels Shin Bet internal security agency said Shalabi was not known to belong to any Palestinian militant group.

After the mans arrest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the security forces for their rapid capture of the despicable terrorist, vowing that Israels long arm will reach anyone who harms our citizens.

On Wednesday, Israeli troops killed a 16-year-old Palestinian when they opened fire on protesters throwing petrol bombs.

The funerals of both youngsters were held on Thursday.

In east Jerusalem, the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood near the walled Old City has seen recent clashes between police and protesters, fuelled by a years-long land dispute between Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlers.

Police said they made 15 arrests late Thursday and 11 the previous night. The Red Crescent said 22 Palestinians were injured in the Wednesday night clashes.

The violence came as Palestinian Muslims flocked to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem for the last Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Police said protesters torched a vehicle and threw stones outside a house occupied by Jewish settlers.

Palestinians also traded insults with far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who visited Sheikh Jarrah to voice support for the settlers.

By Friday afternoon, hundreds of protesters returned to the site, where Israeli police fired tear gas.

 Possible war crime 

In neighbouring Jordan  home to a large Palestinian population  hundreds joined a Palestinian solidarity rally in the capital Amman, chanting we will die for Sheikh Jarrah.

The United Nations called on Israel Friday to end any forced evictions in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, warning that its actions could amount to war crimes.

We call on Israel to immediately call off all forced evictions, UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters, adding that east Jerusalem was part of the occupied Palestinian territory, in which international humanitarian law applies.

The occupying power cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory, he said, adding that transferring civilian populations into occupied territory was illegal under international law and may amount to war crimes.

Earlier this year, a Jerusalem district court ruled four Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah legally belonged to Jewish families, citing purchases made when the whole of historic Palestine, including what is now Israel, was under British rule.

The Jewish plaintiffs claimed their families lost the land during the war that accompanied Israels creation in 1948, a conflict that also saw hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes.

Israeli law allows Jews who can prove pre-1948 title to recover their properties. It does not afford the same right to Palestinians.

The Sheikh Jarrah families have provided evidence that their homes were acquired from Jordanian authorities, who controlled east Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

The district court ruling infuriated Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, who viewed it as a further step in what they see as a Jewish settler effort to drive Arabs out of east Jerusalem.

Israels Supreme Court is to hold a new hearing in the case on Monday.

mibb-cgo/dac/pjm/fz
BATON ROUGE  Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the expansion of the State of Louisianas U.S. Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance Program to include utility assistance. The program focuses on providing financial assistance to Louisiana renters and landlords experiencing financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the expansion, the state-administered program now provides assistance for past-due rent and utility fees dating back to April 2020, as well as future rent for eligible applicants.

As of May 6, more than 13,000 renters have begun applications for the state-administered program, and $2.6 million in rental assistance has been approved. The application period remains open and now allows for renters to submit requests for assistance in paying past-due utilities and home energy costs, which includes electricity, gas, water and sewer, trash removal and fuel oil.

As we approach the summer months, we thought it was critically important to expand the program to provide assistance to Louisianans not only struggling with their rent but also struggling to pay their utilities, said Gov. John Bel Edwards. Despite Louisianas great strides in vaccination efforts, many people still need help. Just like we encourage all Louisianans to get vaccinated, I strongly urge all renters and landlords struggling due to the financial impacts of COVID-19 to seek assistance through this program.

Louisianas Office of Community Development, in partnership with the Louisiana Housing Corporation, first launched the U.S. Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance  State Program March 5 in 57 parishes. Seven jurisdictions with populations over 200,000 applied for and received direct allocations from the U.S. Treasury and are administering their own programs. Residents in Caddo, Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Lafayette, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes must apply directly to the program in their parish. More information can be found at www.LAStateRent.com.

Louisiana renters may be eligible for assistance from the state-administered program if they meet all of the following criteria:

Renter resides in a rental unit in one of 57 parishes covered by state-administered program.

At least one individual in the household qualified for unemployment benefits or experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship due directly or indirectly to COVID-19.

Renter has received a past-due rent notice, a past-due utility notice, an eviction notice or is experiencing housing instability.

Renters total household income is at or below 80 percent of the area median income.

Both renters and landlords are eligible to apply for assistance. Priority is given to households where at least one member has been unemployed for more than 90 days due to COVID-19 and to households earning less than 50 percent of the area median income, as required by the law. In most cases, rental assistance is provided to the landlord, and utility assistance will be paid directly to utility providers.

To learn more or to apply for the state program, tenants and landlords can visit www.LAStateRent.com. For questions about the program or assistance with the application process, renters or landlords can call 877-459-6555, Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. To attend an application assistance event scheduled near you, visit www.LAStateRent.com/events.
Hong Chun Zhang, an artist to be featured in the Spencer's exhibit, said she incorporates her identity as a Chinese immigrant into much of her recent work.
A Kansas City mother is recovering after investigators say a woman intentionally drove an SUV to hit her and her baby as they walked in their neighborhood.




Police have questioned the wife of Belgium's ambassador to South Korea over accusations she hit two boutique staff in the head in a row over shoplifting, officials said Friday.







Ambassador Peter Lescouhier has previously said that he "sincerely regrets the incident involving his wife", adding that he "wants to apologise on her behalf".







"No matter the circumstances, the way she reacted is unacceptable."







The woman, named in media reports as Xiang Xueqiu, "was questioned Thursday", said a detective at Yongsan police station in central Seoul, without providing further details.







Reports say the envoy's wife tried on clothing in the Seoul store before walking out, prompting an assistant to run after her to ask about an item she was wearing and triggering the confrontation.







CCTV camera footage showed her pulling at one employee's arm and hitting her in the head, before slapping another worker who tried to intervene across the face.







The footage  provided by the family of an alleged victim  was widely reported by local media and circulated online and turned public opinion sharply against the ambassador's family.







The Belgian embassy issued the ambassador's apology in a bilingual Facebook post as it sought to contain the damage, but its Korean translation sounded heavy-handed, further souring some reactions.







"You are apologising in that tone?" asked a poster on Naver, the country's largest portal. "Do you really reflect your country's stature?"







Ambassadors' wives enjoy diplomatic immunity but the embassy said she would cooperate with police. (AFP)


The revelation gets intense in every episode of the Korean drama "Law School," starring Kim Myung Min and Kim Bum.

After the duo's character gets involved, all eyes are now on David Lee and Hyun Woo. The question is, what is their connection to the Hankuk University murder case?

Professor Seo's Connection to Seo Ji Ho's Father's Death

"Law School" episode 7 covers Seo Ji Ho's (David Lee) background and his father's death.

He told Han Joon Hwi (Kim Bum) that it makes no sense that Professor Seo Byeong Joo (Ahn Nae Sang) wrote the argument in Kang Sol B's (Lee Soo Kyung) case contradicts the article regarding the toy company CEO Seo Gi-yeol's death.

It states that Seo Gi-yeol killed himself amid the trial. He then revealed to Joon Hwi that he is the son and the prosecutor who handled the case was professor Seo.

Kang Sol A Caught Jeon Ye Seul's Boyfriend Sneaking into the Girl's Dorm

Prior to the latest episode, JTBC released stills of Go Yoon Jung, who plays the university campus crush Jeon Ye Seul, which hints at her complicated relationship with Go Young Chang, portrayed by Lee Hwi Jong.

"Law School" episode 7 revealed that he has been sneaking into the girl's dormitory after Kang Sol A (Ryu Hye Young) and Ye Seul switched their rooms.

Kang Sol A was shocked upon seeing him in her room and chased him down the stairs. Luckily, Joo Hwi was just entering the building as he bumps into Go Young Chang, who is trying to get away with Sol A.

She decides to let this slide since Ye Seul might be kicked out from the university, but their suspicion towards her boyfriend gets stronger and believes that he's obsessed with Ye Seul.

Professor Yang's Trial Continues

The second trial of Professor Yang Jong Hoon (Kim Myung Min) has begun. Kang Sol A and Han Joon Hwi were called as witnesses. The prosecutor grilled the two as to why they think that the prosecutor turned professor was innocent.

In "Law School," episode 7 also featured Seo Ji Ho's connection with the late professor.

At the stand, Professor Yang questioned and asked about the memory stick he gave him.

"Why did you come to me with this?" He asked Ji Ho.

Flashbacks revealed that Ji Ho wants to accuse Professor Seo of publicizing a suspected crime that led to his father's death.

At present, he tells Professor Yang that he came to him at the time because he wanted to avenge his father.

Following this, professor Yang presented Ji Ho as the one who has a greater motive to kill Seo Byeong Joo.

At the court, he then questioned the law student if he was the one who killed the professor, to which he said no but vowed to do it by law.

Moreover, he also mentioned to the court that he thinks that the prosecutor is set to point Professor Yang as a culprit.

Professor Seo is Han Joo Hwi's Real Father

While Seo Ji Ho recalls his final moment with the late professor, a flashback of him and Seo Byeong Joo, who was high on drugs, appeared.

There, he thought that Ji Ho was Han Joo Hwi and called him his son. He mentioned that he loved him, saying, "Please don't forget that, my son."

At present, he tells the court that it was hard to see professor Seo on drugs. Professor Yang asked him why he left him alone at the time.

Seo Ji Ho pointed out that he was intoxicated and couldn't call 911, so he called his classmate, who used to be a doctor--it was Yoo Seung Jae (Hyun Woo) but did not pick up the phone.

While the trial continues, the judge asked Yang Jong Hoon to recall the day that professor Seo died.

A flashback shows that he was in his office and suspects that someone is also in the same room. Interestingly it was Seung-Jae.

In the courtroom, Seung-Jae walks in as Professor Yang heavily gazes at him.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Law School Episode 6: Kim Myung Min Believes Oh Man Seok is Not the Suspect Behind the University Murder





KDramastars owns this article.

Written by Geca Wills
Lee Seung Gi's suspense-thriller drama, "Mouse," continued to achieve high ratings on primetime. Episode 16 garnered an average rating of 5 percent nationwide, while Episode 17 scored 5.3 percent.

Due to its compelling story, "Mouse" has been consistent with being at first place in its time slot across all channels.

Choi Hong Ju Reopens Sung Yo Han's Case to Prove His Innocence

Knowing her boyfriend well, Choi Hong Ju (Kyung Soo Jin) wanted to prove that Sung Yo Han (Kwon Hwa Woon) is innocent. That's why she tried hard to reopen his case and did interviews with the families of the Moojin Serial Murders case.

Song Soo Ho's (Song Boo Gun) mother, Oh Mi Soon (Kim Min Kyung), was the only person who did the interview. She wanted to help Choi Hong Ju to prove that Sung Yo Han is not a murderer.

The mother shared the late doctor was the one who gave her motivation to live.

In her interview, she thanked Sung Yo Han for being good to her.

Jung Ba Reum Scammed by Doctor Daniel Lee

Jung Ba Reum (Lee Seung Gi) continued to look for more evidence about the members of the OZ organization. The same letters were also tattooed on their bodies.

He visited a house where he used to live before. He remembered all his childhood memories and realized who his real family was.

The young police officer thinks he was the one who murdered his family members. But what made him more curious was the man who kept on following him and even saved him from the Guryeong Family Murder case.

He rushed to look for Daniel Lee (Jo Jae Yun) to confirm his family's name, but the doctor didn't hesitate to tell the truth.

Jung Ba Reum didn't want to believe Daniel Lee's words anymore. Instead, he started looking for the truth on his own.

Jung Ba Reum went to different offices from police stations, hospitals to laboratories to fact-check information regarding his real background.

He's already aware that Jung Ba Reum is not his real name. All information from his past disappeared, driving him into confusion.

Go Mu Chi Curious about the Guryeong Family Murder Case

Detective Go Mu Chi (Lee Hee Joon) is determined to find more evidence to find the real people behind the OZ organization.

He heard about the Guryeong Murder case to Oh Mi Soon and went to investigate on his own.

He was surprised to see Jung Ba Reum from time to time, who was also in the process of knowing the truth about the murder case.

Sung Yo Han was also connected to him.

Later on, Go Mu Chi found a copy of all the CCTV footage from the man he has been chasing. The detective was surprised to see Jung Ba Reum in every previous murder case.

He now has strong evidence of who Jung Ba Reum is and is ready to confront him.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: 'Mouse' Episode 16: Park Ju Hyun and Lee Hee Joon Surprised by Lee Seung Gi's Aggressive Behavior

Have you watched "Mouse" Episode 17? How's the story so far? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!

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
Many of us were first captivated by Kim Sung Cheol through his cameo role as the young bank president Hwang Min Seong in the top-rated drama "Vincenzo," who fell in love with Mr. Cassano (Song Joong Ki).

With this being said, fans should look forward to his upcoming small screen return - in a romantic comedy TV series, alongside prominent actors Choi Woo Shik and Kim Da Mi!

Kim Sung Cheol to Star in New Exciting Drama "Us That Year"

"Vincenzo" scene-stealer Kim Sung Cheol has been reported to be joining the cast of the upcoming drama "Us That Year."

On May 6, the "Sweet Home" actor was cast to join Choi Woo Shik and Kim Da Mi in a new romantic-comedy series, scheduled to air this 2021.

"Us That Year," which is Studio N's first original drama, will depict the story of a couple that breaks up. But in the time that they are already in the process of moving on, the documentary that they filmed 10 years ago during their high school years suddenly gains attention online, prompting them to reunite in front of the camera.

Choi Woo Shik and Kim Da Mi to Play as Lovers in Studio N's First Original Series

"Parasite" actor Choi Woo Shik is expected to portray the character of Choi Woong, a happy-go-lucky guy who sometimes looks immature but can turn into a sincere and persistent person when he finds something he wants in life.

Meanwhile, his onscreen partner and "Itaewon Class" star Kim Da Mi will be playing the role of Gook Yeon Soo, whose biggest life goal was to be No. 1 during her school days. But she ends up being broken-hearted and tries to become an adult who can live fiercely and independently in the real world.

Kim Da Mi and Choi Woo Shik first worked together in the film "The Witch" in 2018 and after almost three years, the two will be joining forces again for a new project.

"Us That Year" will start production in the second half of 2021 and is expected to have 16 episodes that the viewers can enjoy.

Kim Sung Cheol's Short but Impressive Portrayals in "Vincenzo" and "Sweet Home"

The 29-year-old "Arthdal Chronicles" star made a strong impression in his recent drama appearances in "Sweet Home" and "Vincenzo."

Even though he appeared in a short period of time, his character, especially in "Vincenzo," became a remarkable one.

Kim Sung Cheol's diverse acting was then praised by many.

He even made a comeback in "Vincenzo" finale, showing his unrequited love for Vincenzo Cassano, drawing laughter from viewers.

And now that he is about to do another drama, viewers are already excited to know the kind of character he will play.

What are you most excited to see in Kim Sung Cheol's upcoming drama role? Don't forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments!

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
tvN's upcoming drama "Doom at Your Service" has dropped some interesting new stills, showing some funny exchange between the main stars. With the show around the corner, fans' excitement is certainly being fanned by all these updates, especially of the cast members Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk.

"Doom at Your Service" Stills Detail Strange Encounter Between Main Characters

Weeks before the dropping of these new stills, fans can feel that the first meeting of the protagonists is unlikely to go smoothly. The new photos show this is correct.

In the new photos, it can be seen that Myul Mang, a supernatural being that can turn everything to gold, will be meeting Tak Dong Kyung, the female protagonist who only has a hundred says to live, for the first time, in an unusual manner.

In ordinary circumstances, had someone pop up in our houses the way Myul Mang did, we would have called the cops.

Based on the new stills, it can be surmised that Myul Mang, played by Seo In Guk, appeared out of nowhere when Tak Dong Kyung, played by Park Bo Young, accidentally summoned him.

When she found out her life is ending in 100 days, she called for world destruction out of frustration. Apparently, this is the signal that can bring the supernatural Myul Mang out of thin air because his name meant or connotated "destruction."

Not only did he emerge out of thin air, but he also took the liberty to go and sit on Tak Dong Kyung's sofa as if he lives there. He looked completely relaxed and at home when Tak Dong Young saw him. He even looks as if he's enjoying himself at Tak's expense.

Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk Excite Fans in New Stills

Naturally, Tak was shocked and speechless by what was she was seeing. It's not every day that she got someone sitting on her sofa, let alone someone that just appeared out of nowhere. The new photos showed that her hiding behind a wall, looking quite wary and flustered by the situation.

Since the photos cannot tell fans more, they would just have to trust that this scene would be as interesting in the series as they imagined it to be through these new stills.

The plot is intriguing enough since a dying woman in the real world is not supposed to have these cute moments with a stranger in real life, but here we go, especially since it can easily be predicted that the two will end up falling for each other.

The production team has released a statement about these photos to tease the fans further.

"Starting from the first episode, viewers will be able to feel the perfect chemistry between Park Bo Young and Seo In Guk. Starting with the fateful first meeting, Tak Dong Kyung and Myul Mang will permeate each other and change, and their romance that transcends them will give viewers both fatal excitement and pleasant laughter, so please look forward to it," it says.

Fans can catch this funny first encounter of the two on May 10 at 9 p.m. KST. It will also be available with subtitles on Viki for fans outside of Korea.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: New K-Dramas to Anticipate For the Month of May 2021

For more K-Drama, K-Movie, and celebrity news and updates, keep your tabs open here at Kdramastars.

Kdramastars owns this article.

Written by Annie Dee.
As Jackson County moves today from Oregons coronavirus Extreme Risk Level to High-Risk Level, its public health agency is reporting 36 new COVID-19 cases.

Jackson County Public Health also is reporting today one new COVID-19 death. It says the Countys 133rd COVID-19 death belongs to a 60-year-old man who tested positive for the virus April 10 and died May 5 at Rogue Regional Medical Center with underlying health conditions.

Jackson County Public Health says four cases with a previous reporting date were removed from the Countys overall total, so that adjustment along with todays new cases gives the County 10,681 total COVID-19 cases.

The Jackson County Equity Vaccination Center at the Expo is available to people who need COVID-19 vaccination. It is open to everyone 16 years old and older. The vaccine is free, and people do not need ID or insurance information to get it. Jackson County Public Health says, The Vaccination Equity Center is a safe place, accessible to all, regardless of legal status. Language interpreters and support for disabilities are available. People needing vaccine can register for an appointment at JacksonCounty.org/GetVaccinated or call 211. Appointments are encouraged, though not required.

Available vaccination options at the Jackson County Vaccination Equity Center, 1 Peninger Road in Central Point, include Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Walk-through Moderna shots are available for people 18 years old and older weekdays 9:00 am to noon and 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The clinics drive-through Pfizer shots are available for people 16 years old and older Wednesday & Thursday 7:00 am - 2:00 pm, Saturday & Sunday noon-7pm.
Sherms Food 4 Less is getting an unique Friday delivery to its parking lot today. The supplier is Oregon Health Authority, and its delivering coronavirus vaccine for free shots at the grocers Medford store.

This month, Sherms Food 4 Less, 2230 Biddle Road in Medford, is hosting OHAs mobile vaccination unit for two-dose vaccinations, administered three weeks apart.

OHA says when its agency official contacted Sherms Thunderbird Markets General Manager Bob Ames last month to provide a pop-up vaccination clinic at his Food 4 Less store in Medford, Ames willingly accepted the opportunity. Since then a mobile vaccination unit has operated at Sherms parking lot to provide vaccines to store employees and customers using surplus vaccines from Jackson County Vaccination Equity Center at the Expo that otherwise would be unused.

The first of two open vaccination opportunities occurs today, with a second vaccination date scheduled 21 days later for people to receive their first doses and return to the same location for their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, scheduled for:

 Friday, May 7 from 3 to 6 p.m.

 Friday, May 28 from 3 to 6 p.m.

The vaccines are free, and no appointment, ID or insurance are required. Pfizer vaccines are available for people at least 16 years old.

A lot of people come to our store, like 4,000 visits a day, said Ames. I think were gonna get a lot of people vaccinated.
MEDFORD, Ore-- Hundreds of protests gathered Thursday at Medford City Hall to voice their frustrations over Governor Kate Brown's recent shut down to indoor dining and other indoor facilities.

Last week, Governor Kate Brown notified 15 counties that they would be moving back into 'Extreme Risk' restrictions effective last Friday which included Jackson, Josephine and Klamath Counties.

"Its kind of a shame to see these local business get shut down," said local protester Tyler Woodard. "Its pretty weird circumstances and it wasn't right."

Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Governor Kate Brown announced that the 15 Oregon counties currently on Extreme Risk status will be able to step back down after a week on the heightened restrictions  a move that will apply to Jackson, Josephine, and Klamath counties.

But according to protesters at Thursday's demonstrations, they've had enough of the governor's back and forth mandates including the man who organized the protest.

This past Tuesday, Hawaiian Hut owner Wes Hunt created a Facebook post asking for people to gather together outside of Medford City Hall demanding that 'a resolution be made that limits the Governor's powers, and strips her ability to damage businesses and schools across Jackson County.' The post also asks that there be an end to the mask mandate that the governor put into effect almost one year ago.

NewsWatch 12 was able to speak to Hunt about the large amount of people that gathered at Medford City Hall in support of his post. Hunt told NewsWatch 12 that this what he had hope for, which was a large amount of people gathering peacefully in support of an end to Gov. Brown's mandates.
Starting today, the Oregon Department of Forestry is taking public comments about State activities involving State forests for the upcoming year. Those activities include planned projects, timber sales and other management activities in state-owned forests for fiscal year 2022. ODF says the plans outline activities it expects in the coming fiscal year, such as timber harvests, reforestation and trail improvements.

Today through Monday, June 21, Oregonians can comment about the States draft annual operations plans for state forests in Astoria, Forest Grove, Klamath-Lake, Tillamook, West Oregon, and Western Lane Districts, which includes the Tillamook, Clatsop, Sun Pass and Gilchrist state forests. Those draft plans are available here.

ODF says Oregonians may supply comments online through its comments webpage. It says Oregonians also may send comments by email to odf.sfcomments@oregon.gov and by ground mail to ODF Public Affairs, 2600 State St., Salem, OR 97310.

The State also has an online survey available online.

ODF says, By law, state forests must provide economic, environmental, and social benefits to Oregonians. These lands are managed to create healthy, productive forests that provide high-quality habitat, clean water, revenues for rural communities, and recreation opportunities. Overall management policies and goals are established in long-range forest management and implementation plans. Annual operations plans describe activities to achieve the policies and goals laid out in those longer-range plans. Activities that affect fish and wildlife habitat are reviewed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, while operations that may affect threatened and endangered fish and wildlife habitat are shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Common activities included in an Annual Operations Plan include:

Timber harvest operations

Recreation improvement and maintenance projects

Forest road construction, maintenance, and improvements

Reforestation/replanting and young stand management activities

Habitat improvement for native species

Invasive species management

ODF says the most useful public input addresses specific activities compatibility with longer-range plans, offers suggestions for improvement, corrects errors, provides additional information and is solution-oriented.

A public comment process about the North Cascades District for fiscal year 2022 planned projects, timber sales, and other management activities including extensive restoration efforts on the Santiam State Forest will occur separately.
YREKA, Calif.  The Siskiyou County Superior Court on Thursday became the focal point of ongoing struggles in the community over water rights, particularly when it comes to marijuana grows that are outlawed by county ordinance.

Commercial cultivation of marijuana has been illegal in Siskiyou County since the ordinance passed in 2017, and it has been extended in the years since. Regardless, marijuana grows have only proliferated in rural areas of Siskiyou County, with local law enforcement agencies struggling to make a dent in the lucrative trade.

Most of the land parcels commonly used for marijuana cultivation are located in previously undeveloped rural areas, and are lacking in infrastructure  no sewer systems, no garbage service, and (most importantly) no water.

As a result, another niche industry has popped up to serve the parched grow sites. Some land owners with their own wells have taken to pumping and selling water, transported by truck, to the growers in areas like Big Springs. The practice has increasingly upset other local residents, accusing the water shippers and growers of depleting local aquifers that many people depend upon  in the midst of a drought, no less.

Responding to public outcry, the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted this week to prohibit pumping groundwater for use on a different parcel of land without a permit, and restrict water trucks carrying over 100 gallons from using certain local roadways. Violations are subject to a fine.

Citing statements made last August by Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue, the Board said that roughly 9.6 million gallons of water are expended on illegal marijuana grows every day.

"The use of groundwater to supply activities and land uses off-parcel that are conducted in violation of County land use ordinances is wasteful and unreasonable, aids in creating property conditions declared by the County to constitute a public nuisance, and reduces the resources available to the reasonable, beneficial, and lawful uses of groundwater from every affected aquifer," the Board resolved.

On Thursday morning, with a case related to the water disputes scheduled in Siskiyou County Superior Court, protesters gathered around the courthouse. Unlike some previous demonstrations in Siskiyou County, the bulk of the crowd appeared to consist of people in support of the water trade. Many of them were Asian American, carrying signs decrying the water transport crackdown as discriminatory.

The protesters held signs, declaring "We Need Water," "Stop Discriminatory Harassment," and "Asian American Lives Matter."

The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said that Thursday's demonstration was vocal and peaceful, and the protesters dispersed around noon. A more detailed statement is expected later.
Less: Just look at London, Ont.

Same: We hear more bad news.

More: Canada is on the right path.

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By Bahk Eun-ji







Over 30 foreign nationals have been arrested in the southwestern port of Mokpo for using methamphetamine during a drug-fueled party at a bar, according to local police, Friday.







The Mokpo Coast Guard said it raided the pub exclusively for foreigners at 2 a.m., Wednesday, and apprehend 34 foreign nationals  24 men and 10 women. It has sought arrest warrants for eight including a 29-year-old Vietnamese national for dealing in narcotics.







The police deployed a special unit to seize a key suspect allegedly known to be the mastermind of a drug ring in South Jeolla Province. A considerable amount of methamphetamines were found during the raid.







The suspects were found to have used both methamphetamine and cannabis which were being sold at the bar.







A CCTV was installed at the entrance of the pub to monitor visitors.







The police said they plan to track down more suppliers and dealers allegedly related to the case.




West Kelowna's Rosanne Brown is calling on the B.C. government to shorten the wait time for chemotherapy patients like her to get their second COVID-19 vaccination. She's seen here in an undated handout photo.
In this April 12, 2021 file photo, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer U.S. talks about the statewide COVID-19 vaccination effort during a press conference in Ypsilanti, Mich. A prominent First Nations group in Ontario is accusing the federal government of putting the oil and gas industry ahead of protecting the Great Lakes.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lon Horwedel/Detroit News via AP, File
A collapsed exterior wall is photographed as firefighters battle a fire at York Memorial Collegiate Institute in Toronto on Tuesday, May 7, 2019. The Toronto District School Board has filed a lawsuit against the city, the province, and the Toronto Police Services Board after a high school was destroyed by fire two years ago. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin
FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2019, file photo, former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed delivers a lecture on climate change in New Delhi, India. Nasheed has been injured in a blast Thursday, May 6, 2021 near his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, police said. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
Palestinian Muslim worshippers pray during the Laylat al-Qadr, or the night of destiny, in the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in front of the Dome of the Rock Mosque at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Saturday, May 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
For 32 years, David and Marilyn Lauer have looked out their window and watched the activities at Bose Elementary School across the street.

In fact, when the Lauers first visited the little red house that would be the home where they raised their children, they could not get in for a look inside. They were able, though, to get a tour of the nearby school that their kids would attend and now their grandchildren.

On a walk past the school not long ago, Marilyn looked at the sign at the school, 1900 15th St. The sign had seen better days. It was bowing out at the bottom, and head school custodian Clinton Mac MacKenzie was having trouble placing the letters for the message portion of the sign.

Marilyns thought was Isnt there something we can do about this?

Well, as it so happens, there was something the Lauers could do. And it came with some posthumous help from their late daughter, Emily.

Through the Emily K. Lauer Memorial Fund, $20,000 was provided to the school to cover the costs of purchasing and installing a modern electronic messaging sign for the schools front lawn. Friday morning, the Lauers, along with Bose students and staff, dedicated the sign with a ribbon-cutting and thank-you celebration.
The study found Dairylands J.P. Madgett plant in Alma costs 14% more than solar in western Wisconsin, while Manitowoc Public Utilities plant is 45% more expensive than wind in that region.

Wisconsins two largest coal plants  in Rothschild and Oak Creek  are only slightly more cost-effective than renewables, according to the report. But Gimon cautions that could soon change.

Theyre still on the cusp. Eventually theyre going to run out of leader, Gimon said, using a fishing metaphor. Even unsubsidized wind is going to knock them out.

The authors acknowledge that the decision to shutter existing plants cannot be made on cost alone, though they cite a recent RMI study that found more than half of the U.S. coal fleet could be replaced with lower cost wind and solar with no impact on reliability.

The utilities hold all the cards when it comes to the cost of operating power plants and the alternatives, said co-author Michael OBoyle. When called upon to answer the question they often offer a particularly narrow vision of what the system should look like  that benefits their shareholders.




South Korea and the United States on Friday discussed ways to jointly respond to remnants of a Chinese rocket expected to crash into Earth this weekend, the Air Force said.







The Long March 5B rocket was launched last week carrying a module of China's first permanent space station into orbit. But a large piece of debris is expected to plunge back in an uncontrolled reentry on around Saturday (U.S. time), according to the U.S. Space Command.







To explore ways to jointly deal with the case, South Korea's Air Force and the U.S.-led Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) held a videoconference and shared their surveillance data and analysis.







The conference was also attended by military members from Germany and Japan, according to the Air Force.







"We cannot completely rule out the possibility of rocket pieces falling onto the Korean Peninsula," Lt. Col. Choi Seong-hwan of the Korea Space Operations Center said.







"We maintain a staunch readiness by maximizing our space surveillance capabilities and working closely with the CSpOC and other related agencies to be fully prepared for any scenarios," he added.







The U.S. command said that the rocket's exact point of descent cannot be pinpointed "until within hours of its reentry." Experts said debris would fall into the sea but they might reach populated areas. (Yonhap)


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If your 85-year-old mother was rushed to the hospital, would you be able to get the information you need about her condition from the doctors treating her? If your college-age son showed signs of severe depression, could you talk to his therapist? What if your spouse or partner was in a car accident? Would you be able to make important medical decisions on his or her behalf?

To ensure you can be part of the medical decision-making process for the people you care about, you need several key documents. And its important to have these documents in place well before an emergency or issue arises.

The documents you need as the parent or guardian of young adult children

Once your children reach the age of majority, you may not be able to be part of their medical decisions or access their medical information. That can be true even if theyre still on your health insurance, live with you, or can be claimed as a dependent for tax purposes.

These four documents will make sure youre included in making medical decisions and can access medical information:

HIPAA release or authorization. This gives health care providers your childs permission to release medical information to anyone he or she specifies on the form. If your child is concerned about sharing certain types of medical information, like sexual health, theres an option to limit what types of information can be shared. If your child attends school or lives in another state, find out if theres a state-specific HIPAA authorization.

Medical power of attorney. This form, also called a health care power of attorney, designation of health care proxy, or durable power of attorney for health care, lets your child choose a person to make medical decisions if he or she cannot. If your child is lives or attends school in another state, it may be wise to complete forms for your location and then state where he or she attends school or lives.

Comprehensive medical record. Your child should have a medical record that includes all current and past diagnoses, surgeries, treatments, diagnostic test results, family medical history, and current medications. This gives any physician who treats your child information that can reduce the risk of misdiagnosis and medical errors.

Durable power of attorney. This lets you make financial decisions on your childs behalf, pay bills, and access financial information. If your child is not on your family health insurance plan, it will also let you to talk with his or her health insurer about claims and get information from a hospital or health care providers billing department.

Caring for your spouse, partner, or parents: the paperwork you need

In most states, there are six documents youll need to access your spouse, partner, or parents medical information and financial medical insurance and billing information:

HIPAA authorization. If theres information they dont wish to share with you, they can indicate that on the form. In the case of spouses, if one spouse cant make medical decisions for him or herself, the other does not need HIPAA authorization. The same may not be true for domestic partners, however, depending on where you live.

Advance directive. An advance directive or living will describes the types of medical care you do and do not want if you are dying or not expected to regain consciousness. The document also spells out when these decisions should be applied.

Durable power of attorney for health care. This names the person you would like to be responsible for making medical decisions on your behalf, known as a health care proxy. Your spouse, partner, or parents can specify whether they want their proxy to be able to make all medical decisions or just specific ones.

Durable power of attorney. With a durable power of attorney, you can make financial decisions, pay bills, and access financial information. The document also permits you to get information from health insurers, long-term care insurance providers, and hospital and health care providers billing departments.

Medical records. An up-to-date medical record is especially important if your spouse, partner, or parents see several specialists. This record can help make sure key information is available to everyone who treats them and lower the risk of overtreatment, duplicate diagnostic testing, and prescription drug interactions. It also helps guard against the prescription of duplicate or no longer needed medications.

Letter of instruction. This outlines end-of-life wishes. It may cover a range of issues, including funeral and/or memorial service arrangements, organ and tissue donation, and plans for the care of pets. It may also include financial informationthe location of the will and any safe deposit boxes; bank, investment, and retirement account locations and numbers; PIN numbers and passwords for banking and investing accounts; life insurance information; and contact information for financial and legal advisors.

Miles J. Varn is chief executive officer, PinnacleCare, and can be reached on LinkedIn.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Time to speed up efforts toward 'vaccine diplomacy'



U.S. President Joe Biden's administration announced its support for a waiver on patent protections for coronavirus vaccines, Wednesday, paving the way for discussions for the expanded production and more equal distribution of the drugs. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai also said in a statement the country "supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines. The extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic call for extraordinary measures."



We welcome the U.S. decision, even though it comes belatedly. It is designed to suspend or stop pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca which succeeded in producing the vaccines from exercising their patent rights while allowing other drug manufacturers to produce generic drugs. The U.S. had drawn global criticism for its lukewarm attitude toward growing global calls for a waiver on the patent protections.



The supply of a sufficient amount of vaccines is absolutely needed to cope with the surging COVID-19 pandemic. Despite easing in the United States and European Union with high rates of vaccinations, the pandemic has continued to haunt developing countries including India, in particular, which recently saw 400,000 newly confirmed cases with up to 4,000 deaths per day. Under these circumstances, the expansion of vaccinations has been the only solution, prompting the need for more supply of the life-saving drugs by waiving patent protections.



Despite the U.S. support for the waiver, there is still a long way to go toward realizing the plan. For starters, the giant drug makers and members of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (IFPMA) rebuffed the decision, describing it as "disappointing" and saying it could hamper innovation.



However, it is inappropriate for major drug makers to insist on their patents as it runs counter to the value of humanitarianism. Unless the COVID-19 pandemic is terminated in the foreseeable future, an economic recovery will take more time, possibly dealing a blow to the drug makers, too. They need to make concessions with a broader mind and longer-term perspectives.



Foreign ministers of major countries belonging to the G7 met in London and pledged to make more efforts to expand COVID-19 vaccine production. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the decision as a "historic" move and "monumental moment in the fight against COVID-19." The WHO needs to take the leading role in future negotiations so that member countries can reach a consensus on the crucial issue as soon as possible.



President Moon Jae-in, for his part, should proactively discuss the issue during the upcoming summit with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden, May 21, to reflect Seoul's stance to the fullest extent. He also needs to utilize the G7 summit to be held in the United Kingdom, June 11. Ahead of the crucial diplomatic summit, Moon and his aides should carefully map out strategies so that the nation can secure enough vaccines as soon as possible.


BLUE RIVER, Ore.  A power outage has been reported in the McKenzie River Drive area.

Lane Electric Cooperative said about 350 members are impacted by the outage, which was caused by a truck hitting a power pole on Mill Creek Road.

Crews are on site. The power is expected to come back on by 9 p.m.

Power will be turned off in nearby areas to restore the line. People in these adjacent regions should prepare for a possible outage.

Check here for the latest information.
SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- After a group of veterans living at Gateway Village apartments spoke out about a rule that would require them to remove flags from their patios, the complex now says the flags can stay.

"We pay good money to live here. It's a comfortable place, but now it's not so comfortable," resident Brad Folsom said earlier in the day.

In his backyard, he has two flags. One for the U.S. Marine Corps and one for the United States Army. Folsom said they honor him and his father, who also served. According to Folsom, those flags help make his home a home.

"I'm not going to take the flags down," Folsom said before receiving word they'd be allowed to stay. "They're a part of me. So if they go, I go."

His neighbor Melanie Schneider shares similar sentiments. She and her husband are also veterans.

"We should have the right to display our American flag on the property that we're paying for," Schneider said.

Schneider said she was very upset with the management's decision to implement this rule.

In March, the residents were notified by Quantum Residential, the company that manages the property, that they essentially were not allowed to display or affix anything to the property "unless allowed by law or written approval is granted by management."

However, both Folsom and Schneider said they've had difficulties contacting the management team.

"I can't get through to the management people. Their mailbox is full," Schneider said.

KEZI 9 News reached out to representatives from Quantum Residential, the property owners, and the landlord but did not hear back.
EUGENE, Ore. -- Lane Countys homelessness crisis has been simmering for years, but the pandemic has led to a rise in campers on the streets and renewed the publics awareness of urban camping, prompting city and county leaders to act.

If you havent seen the numerous tents and lived-in cars yourself, maps of homelessness work orders from the city of Eugene show clusters of campers amassing in Washington Jefferson Park and along riparian areas, as well as car campers in West Eugenes industrial areas.

Eugene has followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention throughout the past year to not move homeless campers to slow the spread of the virus. Thats why Wayne Williams has been able to stay in Washington Jefferson Park for a full year now.

Anybody can become homeless -- thats the secret, he said. The city stepping up and making this place a sanctuary has been the biggest blessing for homeless people.

Williams is a graduate from Thurston High School and a lifelong logger. He said he became homeless while waiting on disability pay after a back injury put him out of work. To him, the pandemic-era conditions for people experiencing homelessness in Eugene have been a net positive.

Its a very nice place to put your tent up and not worry about the cops coming in or the park coming in and kicking you out, he said. We can stay in our tents; we can get some sleep without any interruptions. We can live the best we can live.

Making room for COVID-19 safety guidelines has proven to be a tectonic shift for the city and county, and they say they hope to carry this momentum post-pandemic.

Its an effort that many are calling for, but given the scale and complexity of the crisis at hand, there are few solutions everyone can agree on.

Measuring homelessness and its underlying factors

Data from Lane Countys Homeless By-Name List count of unhoused people might appear to run contrary to the increased visibility of urban camping on the streets: The measured number of homeless people has actually dipped from a peak of 4,496 in May 2019 to an average in the mid-3,000s since the pandemic set in.

The numbers we have reported are lower than we have in past years, but we can see with our eyes that the numbers have not actually reduced, said Sarai Johnson, who serves as the Joint Shelter and Housing Strategist for Lane County and the City of Eugene.

According to Johnson, the county measures homelessness based on the number of individuals who access resources in any given month. Pandemic safety restrictions have made it harder for unhoused people to access resources, temporarily limiting the accuracy of the HBML count.

For that reason, the county is unsure about if the total number of homeless people has risen, or just the visibility of those who are unsheltered.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, visible camping started mostly because people couldnt get access to water or food, said Johnson.

Also contributing to the rise in urban camping was a slash in the number of shelter beds available in order to accommodate COVID-19 safety rules in congregate settings.

Johnson said that investments in programs like Dusk to Dawn have improved the number of shelter beds in past years, but by the time the pandemic hit, the quantity of beds was already strained.

This is a housing crisis at its core, she said.

According to Johnson, the rate of unhoused people in Lane County who are unsheltered is 80 percent, more than double the national average of 35 percent and more than other hotspots like San Francisco, whose rate is 65 percent. The driving force behind those statistics are economic status and the inability to pay rent.

We have many factors that are all conspiring at the same time to make this problem much more challenging, including a lack of housing inventory, our low vacancy rate for rental housing, our incredibly low vacancy rate for rental housing -- our incredibly stressed housing market overall, said Johnson.

Consequences of urban camping touch the housed community

The impacts of increased urban camping like unsanitary conditions, unsightliness and crime have caused ripples in the community and have drawn attention to the homelessness crisis.

Amanda Schlumpberger owns a salon studio business that borders Washington Jefferson Park. In her seven years of business, she said her relationship with the homeless community has evolved from one based on respect and open dialog to a more tense one over the past year with an increase in drug use, loitering and hostile interactions just outside her front door.

We did have a situation where we had a professional here working and she was being blocked from leaving the building while two individuals were having sex on her car, she said. She tried to go out to ask them to leave and the gentleman at our door would not let her do that.

After calling the Eugene Police Department for this incident and several others, Schlumpberger said she feels members of the homeless community are not being held accountable.

I want those who want help to be able to get the help they need and want. And Im just asking for those who dont accept the help or make the moves to abide by laws and rules -- that they be held accountable just like I would be held accountable as a housed citizen, she said.

According to Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis, to address crime, Eugene Police are coordinating to monitor camps that are most troublesome, but the citys public safety infrastructure is strained.

Our police are racing from point A to point B, she said.

As the pandemic continues and CDC guidance to not move homeless camps remains, Vinis said the city has been trying to limit the other negative impacts of urban camping too. The biggest camps, like the ones at Washington Jefferson Park and at 13th Avenue and Chambers Street have been provided sanitation, garbage removal, staff and rules for where tents can be placed.

We actually have to think about how we can keep people as safe as we can, how can we connect them to services as well as we can in serving them where they are, which the pandemic has compelled us to do, said Vinis.

According to Vinis, this approach to managed camping may serve as a model for the city once the pandemic ends, but not all community members are happy.

What it looks like to us law abiding citizens is that the city is just going to let them run amok and let them behave any way they want to. We need action now, said one anonymous business owner during a recent public meeting.

But Vinis believes that this compassionate approach is right for Eugene, and can continue to limit the ways homelessness impacts Eugenes housed citizens.

This is the friction point for many people in the community. The belief that if we extend services and make it easy for people to stay, they will stay and they will take advantage of us, she said. There very well may be that happening. But I think we just have to look at this as they are human beings living in our midst. What choice do we have, but to provide for their basic needs?

Timely solutions and investments in the future

The homelessness crisis has prompted action from city and county officials to stem the short-term impacts of unhoused camping on the community.

The loss of shelter beds in congregate settings led to numerous efforts to stand different kinds of shelter, like microsites and pallet shelters on city and county land.

Its made us think differently about what shelter spaces look like in our community, said Lane County spokesperson Devon Ashbridge.

Unprecedented coronavirus funding from the state and federal government has also helped the county address long-term housing goals to attack the underlying causes of homelessness.

Emergency funds have gone toward one-time expenses like the purchase of the former VA clinic on River Avenue, which is being eyed as a possible low-barrier shelter and navigation center.

Sometimes those emergency measures help support the long term. And thats where Lane County has been focused, said Ashbridge. "What are the long-term investments we can help make in our community that address the systemic issues?

The City of Eugene has also acted on a long-term shift to its homelessness strategy, reflecting the managed approach to urban camping.

I think this would be tragic if we didnt take advantage of this moment to make some progress. If we didnt try to move forward in a bigger way, said Vinis.

A recently passed city ordinance will create yet-to-be located managed sites for people living in tents and cars. That means that campers like Williams at Washington Jefferson Park will be relocated.

What are we going to do? You cant just move us all over the place. You cant kick us out of anywhere. What are we going to do? Im asking that question. Im pleading with everybody, he said.

He hopes that criminal actions by some in the homeless community havent colored Eugene residents views on the unhoused.

So those people, I'm sorry for the community to have to deal with. We have to put up with them here. If we can get together to do something about those addictions and mental issues, we are going to solve a lot of issues, he said.

With a tide of change hitting Lane Countys homeless people in the past year and more yet to come, Williams feels this increase in visible urban camping may bring renewed efforts in the community to solve systemic housing and public health issues.

"Youre always going to have the homeless. But we can help that. We can make some changes so theres not so many of us, so that we can scoop up whats coming in, because theres going to be more," he said.
SALEM, Ore. -- A controversial gun control bill has made its way through Oregon's legislature and is now awaiting approval from Gov. Kate Brown.

Senate Bill 554 requires Oregon gun owners to securely lock up their firearms when not in use. The firearms must be secured using either a trigger lock or cable lock. In addition, the firearm must be placed in a locked container or gun room.

Adam Bryce is the one of the co-owners at Gunrunner Arms in Junction City. He said when panicking in an emergency, most people take about five attempts to open a safe that they can normally open on the first attempt.

"There's not an assailant or a burglar that's ever going to wait for that to happen," Bryce said. "They're going to take advantage of the situation while you're not prepared. Your firearm just became useless for home defense."

Senator James Manning is the second chief co-sponsor of the bill.

"Responsible gun owners are already doing the things that are in that safe gun storage bill," Manning said. "It's nothing new to them."

The bill would also ban the possession of firearms in the state Capitol and would allow public school districts and universities to make their own policies regarding firearm possession.

"Having people walk around carrying these guns like that creates an unsafe work environment and this bill helps to stop that," Manning said.

But not everyone agrees.

"Every concealed carry holder sitting there in a coliseum or at a sporting event or something like that makes everybody else safer," Bryce said. "If somebody comes out and starts shooting, you've got people to answer back."

Additionally, the bill states that if a gun is stolen, the owner must inform law enforcement within three days or they could face a fine. The bill also states that if a gun owner doesn't report a stolen firearm to law enforcement and a crime is committed with it, the gun owner could face consequences.

"If somebody steals my car and goes and runs through a crowd, I'm not responsible for that," Bryce said. "But if they steal my firearm, I'm responsible for it? This one's going to be an interesting one. It'll end up in courts."

Manning said responsible gun owners will not have to alter their behavior as a result of this bill.

"Any responsible gun owner would, or should, report the theft of a firearm from their home," Manning said.

The bill was approved by the Senate by a vote of 17-7.
EUGENE, Ore. -- After receiving a record high allocation of doses, Lane County Public Health's website currently shows thousands of open appointment slots.

Lane County's Incident Commander, Steve Adams, said there's no reason to be concerned about these slots being left open. Some of the doses will be given to people who walk in without appointments, and the leftover doses will be saved and used for future clinics, Adams said.

"As we move forward, we anticipate that many of the reservations as we go into a clinic won't certainly cover the entire clinic and that creates space for people to come right in," Adams said.

RELATED: LANE COUNTY LAUNCHES WALKUP VACCINE CLINICS

Lane County Public Health is trying to reach people at more convenient times, according to Adams. He said having more supply at these clinics than daily demand for vaccines will allow those with more hectic schedules a chance to walk in and receive a dose when timing works for them.

"Because demand is not as robust as it was, we're now kind of able to spread out our level of effort over different days, different hours," Adams said.

School districts like 4J and Bethel are planning to use some of those doses for their students, spokespeople for the two districts said. But thats only possible if the FDA grants emergency use authorization to one of the vaccines for children ages 12 to 15 in time.

4J's clinic for students between the ages of 12 and 15 is scheduled for Monday, May 17, and will be pushed back if no vaccines are approved by then. All 300 slots filled in less than 24 hours.

"If federal approval is not received for ages 12 through 15 by the time of this clinic, it will need to be rescheduled," said 4J spokesperson Kerry Delf. "But we are hoping and expecting that this will be able to move forward. We know that parents are really ready and students are really ready to get the vaccine."

Lane County residents shared mixed opinions about whether they wanted to get the shot or not.

"I'm a very healthy person," Robyn Winters said. "I live in a hotel and none of us have gotten it yet."

KEZI also spoke to Matthew Hewlitt.

"It's a step closer to getting us back to a sense of normalcy," Hewlitt said.

KEZI reached out to the Oregon Health Authority for a statement about the state's vaccination progress.

That statement said: "OHA is aware that there are open appointments at most locations where the vaccine is available. There are thousands of people being vaccinated with their first dose every day, but we are seeing some of the same trends that are happening across the country. We are working closely with all of our partners to ensure that they have the appropriate amount of vaccine to fill their booster and expected first dose appointments. We are continuing to send more vaccine to more distribution points and outpatient clinics across the state. We expect to order our full share from the federal government next week."
By Ritah Kemigisa

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS ,UNAIDS has condemned parliament for passing the Sexual Offences Bill 2019, which includes provisions that further criminalizes people living with HIV.

According to the bill, it is aggravated rape when the sexual offender is suffering from AIDS.

The executive director, Winnie Byanyima says targeting people living with HIV increases stigma and discrimination and also undermines the HIV response by preventing people from receiving the HIV treatment, prevention and care services that they so urgently need.

She has meanwhile applauded the government for the good progress that Uganda has made in recent years in reducing the impact of HIV.

The number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen by 60% since 2010, with 1.2 million people out of 1.5 million people living with HIV on medicines to keep them alive and well.

The number of new HIV infections has fallen by 43% since 2010.
By Xinhua

The delays in supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa linked to the crisis in India could reignite new waves of infections in the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Thursday.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said during weekly virtual briefings that the COVID-19 vaccine supply crunch combined with new variants could undermine efforts to contain the pandemic in the continent. While we call for vaccine equity, Africa must also knuckle down and make the best of what we have. We must get all the doses we have into peoples arms, Moeti said in a statement. According to WHO, Africa currently accounts for 1 percent of COVID-19 vaccines administered globally, down from 2 percent a few weeks ago amid supply bottlenecks. Moeti said that low vaccination coverage in Africa where eight doses per 1,000 people have been administered compared to 150 doses per 1,000 people globally, bodes ill for the continents quest to flatten the curve.

Statistics from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) indicate that 37.6 million doses had been acquired in the continent while 20.2 million had been administered as of May 4. The pan African health agency said that the top five countries in Africa in terms of administering the highest number of doses include Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Kenya. Moeti said WHO has rallied behind efforts to mitigate the harmful impact of the COVID-19 vaccine supply crunch in Africa that includes appealing for a donation of excess doses from wealthy nations and fast-tracking establishment of structures to boost local manufacturing of the life-saving commodity.

She said meticulous planning, training of health workers, and investments in cold chain infrastructure are key to ensure the next phase of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Africa is seamless. Richard Mihigo, an immunization and vaccine development program coordinator, WHO regional office for Africa said that diversifying sources of COVID jab could offer some respite to the supply crunch that has stalled inoculation drives in the continent.
By Ritah Kemigisa

Child rights activists have welcomed the passing of the Anti-human Sacrifice Bill and are hoping that the President assents to it soon.

Speaking to KFM, the executive Director of Uganda Child Rights NGO Network, Damon Wamara says the bill is a step in the right direction at protecting the wellbeing of children and strengthening the national agenda of ending all forms of violence against children.

According to Wamara, criminalising human sacrifice will help reduce child sacrifice cases since the crime is now more defined with clear penalties.

He adds that the piece of legislation provides an opportunity and avenue for justice for victims of human sacrifice.

Figures from the network show that over 300 cases of children murdered in such a manner have been reported annually over the years.

The prevention and prohibition of Human sacrifices bill 2020, proposes a death sentence for any person convicted of committing human sacrifice or financing the practice.
By Prossy Kisakye

The government is considering training all its local government officials at all levels in computer literacy to ensure proper usage of computers being procured for the different government agencies and local governments. This will enable them to smoothly run their activities.

This follows reports that the majority of the government civil servants lack the computer knowledge that might hinder the progress of many government programs and transition to digital service delivery.

The Minister for ICT Judith Nabakooba says the training will be conducted by the Uganda Institute of Communication Technology and then NITA Uganda will provide the necessary connectivity as they extend fibre to different respective areas.

Yesterday, the ministry handed over 700 laptop computers to different government agencies and local governments across the country to improve service delivery using e services online.
By Ruth Anderah

Former LRA commander Dominic Ongwen has been handed 25 years by the International Criminal court sitting in Hague.

Judge Bertrum Schemit said the prosecutor asked for 20 Years imprisonment, victims representatives asked for life in prison while Ongwen through his defence attorney Chrispus Ayena asked court to consider the time he spent in detention or give him ten years in prison.

However, the court did not consider Ongwens request to refer the matter to a traditional Acholi matoput court.

The judge has further emphasized that it did not consider the insanity defence of Ongwen saying he did not suffer any mental illness at the time of committing each of the 61 crimes he was convicted of on February 4th.

The judge also explained that Ongwen survived a life sentence because he never chose to be part of the LRA but was rather abducted at a young age of 9 years and exposed to violent acts.
Greek labor unions mark May Day with 24-hour strike, rallies

Xinhua) 14:58, May 07, 2021

Musicians playing instruments are seen among the demonstrators at Syntagma square in Athens, Greece, on May 6, 2021. Thousands of protesters hit the streets of Athens and other major cities on Thursday in rallies organized by labor unions to mark a belated May Day in Greece. (Xinhua/Marios Lolos)

ATHENS, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of protesters hit the streets of Athens and other major cities on Thursday in rallies organized by labor unions to mark a belated May Day in Greece.

As this year's May Day coincided with the Orthodox Christian Easter weekend, a nationwide 24-hour strike in the public sector and demonstrations were held on Thursday.

On Tuesday, the General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the umbrella union of private sector workers, had also declared a 24-hour strike, but did not stage rallies.

"No to medieval working conditions, hands off the 8-hour workday," protesters chanted on Thursday, marching in front of the parliament in the center of the Greek capital while raising banners with similar slogans, Greek national news agency AMNA reported. Leaders of opposition parties also joined the demonstrators in Athens.

In a press release, ADEDY, the umbrella labor union of civil servants, said that workers protested against government plans for flexible working hours.

In an e-mailed press statement, the Greek government explained that in a draft bill that is expected to be tabled in parliament in the coming days, there are no provisions harming worker rights.

The 40-hour 5-day workweek will not change, but employees and employers will be able to agree to extend the workday to 10 hours in exchange for more days of rest, the government said.

Thursday's mobilization affected mainly the public transport services. Metro lines in Athens did not operate, flights were disrupted and ships remained docked at ports.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)




By Kim Hyun-bin







LG Chem and LG Energy Solution (LGES), and SK Innovation (SKI) are hiring more legal professionals to handle any future legal disputes, according to local industry sources.







The LG affiliates and SKI recently wrapped up a multi-billion dollar intellectual property battle with the latter agreeing to pay 2 trillion won to LGES  1 trillion won in cash and 1 trillion won as royalties.







Industry watchers say the companies are now well aware of the importance of obtaining competent legal professionals to counter future legal conflicts. LGES, a wholly-owned subsidiary of LG Chem, and SKI reached a last minute settlement in the trade secrets dispute in the United States.







According to the sources, the two firms are seeking to hire both new and experienced legal and patent law experts as well as a U.S. patent lawyer. LGES is also hiring experienced litigation attorneys both in Korea and overseas.







The newly-hired lawyers will be in charge of providing legal advice, contract management and compliance assistance. SKI is also hiring battery research and planning personnel as well as experienced local lawyers for itself and affiliates SK Energy and SK Global Chemical.







"Through the new hires, we want to be cautious not to infringe on others' trade secrets," SKI said in its recruitment notice. "We will make sure there are no documents obtained that could be mistaken for such infringement."







SKI put up the hiring notice after the battery dispute with LG began, which was sparked after it hired experienced workers formerly employed by LG. During the battery feud, each company's legal team played a crucial role. LG Chem recruited former prosecutor Han Woong-jae in 2019, who is now the judicial office director for LGES.






By Xinhua

An unknown number of Nigerian university students were kidnapped while on a journey via bus late Wednesday by a group of gunmen in south Nigeria, an official said on Thursday.

Some students of the Abia State University and other passengers were moving in a minibus on Wednesday evening when they ran into the gunmen along a road near the city of Okigwe in the neighbouring state of Imo, said John Kalu, the commissioner for information in Abia state. Kalu told reporters in Umuahia, the state capital of Abia at a press briefing, that two among the students escaped during the attack while other victims have been whisked by the gunmen into a forest in the region.

We are working with the government of Imo state and relevant security agencies in both states to ensure the rescue of the abducted students and others, Kalu said.

He advised the public and the affected university to remain calm as the government will spare no resource in ensuring the safety of the victims. A series of gunmen attacks has recently happened across the most populous African country, including attacks on schools and kidnapping of students.
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A Stars to End Violence Exhibition will take place at Kilkenny Castle from May 16 until June 7 for International Day of Light and International Day of Living in Peace Together.

The Amber One Million Stars to End Violence Project is a community arts project that connects our community through the craft of weaving stars. The hand-woven stars represent light, hope and solidarity against all forms of violence. Star weaving workshops and star installations have been held to raise public awareness.

The project began in Australia by artist and weaver Maryann Talia Pau and is now a global movement. Amber Womens Refuge brought the project to Ireland and it continues to grow throughout the country.

There are currently have weavers in counties Kilkenny, Carlow, Louth, Waterford, Tipperary, Limerick, Mayo, Galway and Meath, Monaghan, Cavan, Clare and Galway.

The exhibition at Kilkenny castle titled LOVE is a reminder that in uncertain times we are innately connected as humans by both our vulnerability and our strength. That as a community we can show support and compassion in adversity. That love and compassion are stronger than hate and violence; love is universal and instils hope and encourages connection.

The exhibition reminds of what it means to show healthy love: respect, acceptance, trust, empathy, and unity. Inspired by the Martin Luther King quote: Returning hate for hate multiples hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.

The exhibition comprises of a 3D structure of the letters spelling LOVE, crafted in Precast steel and kindly donated by JM Steel Cuffesgrange and installed by Kilkenny Hydraulics.

Hand woven stars made by a cross section of the community are tied to the letters. Star weavers include TY students from St Brigids College Callan, Kilkenny College, Loreto and Presentation Kilkenny, Syrian womns group, the community of Callan, students from Carlow College St Patricks, Rehab Care, Mental Health Ireland, the ICA, and many weavers across the county. There will be an information afternoon and star display in The Medieval Room of Kilkenny Castle. Members of the public can register and receive a free weaving kit to take home.

To find out more about our project or to donate to Amber Refuge visit www.onemillionstarsireland.ie

The opening of the exhibition - May 16 - falls on UNESCO International Day of Light which is also International Day of Living in Peace Together.

The International Day of Living in Peace Together is all about accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect and appreciate others, as well as living in a peaceful and united way.

It is a day to promote peace, tolerance, inclusion, understanding and solidarity.
New links are being forged, policies written and uniforms designed for a historic step forward in education in Callan.

From September 2022 two secondary schools will cease to exist to be replaced with Colaiste Abhainn Ri - an amalgamated, co-ed school and the first independent, Catholic secondary school outside Kilkenny city.



Colaiste Abhainn Ri will incorporate Colaiste Eamann Ris, the boys-only CBS secondary school, and St Brigids College, today a girls-only secondary school founded by the Mercy Order.

First conversations to bring the schools together were held about 20 years ago, but it was three years ago this process began. Since then, cooperation has marked the process, between the two schools and between the schools and the community.



That the primary schools in Callan amalgamated in recent years was a precedent for the community and alleviated some nervousness among the students, parents and teachers involved .

A steering committee is leading the work, and sub-committees of teachers and others are taking on the many responsibilities of the project - like drawing up a Code of Behaviour, designing a school crest, and choosing the students uniform.

Trusteeship of Colaiste Abhainn Ri will be shared by the trustees of the existing schools - CEIST and ERST.



Just last week the new crest for Colaiste Abhainn Ri was unveiled and in recent months a new uniform was designed, unique in Ireland.

Both projects brought together the communities, images and ethos of the two schools and the heritage of the wider Callan community.

Another major step forward for the new school came two weeks ago, when the Department of Education and Science formally approved building plans for additional classrooms and facilities. It will be located on the St Brigids College Campus. The Department has recognised the new school by giving it its unique roll number.



As the two school communities forge closer bonds in advance of the official first day as a school, students will start to share classes from next September. This will allow the students to study subjects that are currently available in one school but not the other. Students in first year and the senior cycle years will be involved. It highlights a key advantage for students after amalgamation, a wider variety of subjects available to all. New for the boys will be home economics while the girls will be offered woodwork and metalwork.

A curriculum committee has been working on this, surveying what was wanted and creating a timetable.



Colaiste Abhainn Ri

Choosing a name for the new school was straightforward. More than 100 suggestions were received, which was whittled down to a shortlist of five and put to a vote. The name ties the school to Callan and the Kings River that flows through the town, and as soon as it was chosen, in February 2020, it was embraced and replaced the phrase new school.



School Crest

A newly designed cross, the Kings River, and the local landscape combine in the school crest for Colaiste Abhainn Ri. The search for a new crest began by inviting designs from the school community. From more than 100 competition entries four winners were - students Chloe Glennon (5th Year St.Brigids College), Caoimhe Kelly (1st Year St.Brigids College), Filip Merstein (2nd Year Colaiste Eamann Ris) and art teacher Joanne Bibby (Adult Entry).



The expertise of the art teachers in both schools was called upon to bring the winning themes and images together. Joanne Bibby from Colaiste Eamann Ris and Joanna Sheehan from St Brigids College worked together to design the new crest. The unique cross they fused from the cross of the Christian Brothers, the cross of the Mercy Order and the St Brigids Cross.

Its now a lovely symbol of both schools and students can see the elements they designed become part of the identity of the new school.

ABOVE: Joanne Bibby and Joanna Sheehan with the story of how the new school crest was designed. PICTURE: HARRY REID



Uniform Design

A smart, uniquely designed uniform awaits the students of Colaiste Abhainn Ri. From a survey of pupils, parents and teacher, to market research and a focus group where they considered every possible colour of uniform, a design has been created that no other school in Ireland has. It is completely different to the uniforms of the current schools and includes the colours blue, black, grey and wine in the tartan and the tie will be grey and blue with a black stripe. A puffa jacket will complete the uniform.

OBriens in Callan will be the only stockists of the uniform, maintaining a community link with a supportive local business.

ABOVE: Emer Hickey, CBS, with uniform models Evan Srouji and Rachel Hartley and Lorna Cody, St. Brigid's College. PICTURE: HARRY REID



Mission Statment

The Mission Statement for Colaiste Abhainn Ri will be: We are a Christian school community of inclusion and care rooted in the Catholic ethos of teaching and learning. We are committed to maximising the potential of each student in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We place our students at the heart of everything we do.



Staff of both schools came up with the key values they wanted the statement to encapsulate, a committee worked on it, bringing it to the steering committee and trustees for approval.

Over the next 12 months work will continue on drawing up school policies, to be ratified by the incoming Board of Management. The most important will be the Code of Behaviour, and the body of work will include an anti-bullying policy and school prospectus.



For two decades principals of both schools, and Boards of Management, have supported the amalgamation, as have the Christian Brothers and Mercy sisters. Many have retired, moved on to other positions or passed away before the amalgamation became a reality, but those leading the project today are very grateful to all those who demonstrated leadership and worked hard to lay the foundation for what will be Colaiste Abhainn Ri.
CERRO GORDO COUNTY, Iowa - One person was hospitalized following a two-vehicle crash Thursday involving a semi.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office said it happened at 6:08 p.m. at 210th St. and I-35.

A 2021 Freightliner was turning east on to 210th St. from the interstate ramp when it collided with a Ford Mustang.

The driver of the Mustang, Robert Paulsen, 75, of Swaledale, suffered minor injuries and was taken to the hospital.
ROCHESTER, Minn- Rochester police say a dispute led to a car crashing into a Rochester home Thursday night.

It happened just after 8 p.m. in the 600 block of 14 1/2 ave. SE.

Police say two men were in an argument when one of them got in the car and tried to drive away.

He then lost control of the car and went crashing into a nearby house.

The 47-year-old male driver, who showed signs of intoxication, was taken to the hospital with injuries that aren't considered serious. No one else was hurt.

An investigation is ongoing.
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (AP)  Charges have been filed against a man accused of holding five employees hostage during a standoff at a St. Cloud, Minnesota, bank that lasted more than eight hours.

The Star Tribune reports 35-year-old suspect, Ray R. McNeary, was charged with first-degree aggravated robbery, armed kidnapping and assault in Stearns County District Court. His bail hearing was rescheduled from Friday to Monday.

Police say that no firearm was found on McNeary or at the scene. McNeary was arrested in the bank shortly after the fifth and final hostage left the building about 10 p.m.
AmorePacific's headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul / Korea times file



By Kim Jae-heun



AmorePacific will close all its Innisfree skincare brand stores in North America as of Saturday, the local cosmetics giant said Friday.



The company revealed its decision to exit the North American market during a conference call last December; and it shuttered 10 stores in the United States in February.



In Canada, the cosmetics firm has already shut two stores  in the CF Toronto Eaton Centre and CF Markville Mall  and will close two more  in the Yorkdale Shopping Centre and Scarborough Town Centre  by Saturday.



"We opened our first Innisfree store in Canada to introduce updated K-beauty products there, but due to the prolonged COVID-19 situation, we have decided to close down our shops," an AmorePacific official said, adding the company will still its products through Sephora, an online cosmetics platform.



Innisfree opened its first store in New York in September 2017.



The skincare brand's popularity is also fading in the Chinese market. After entering the market in 2012, Innisfree flourished, operating over 600 stores there, half of which were directly managed by the headquarters.



However, Chinese customers moved on to seek either luxury or cost-effective brands and began shunning mid-priced products. Political conflict between South Korea and China, caused by the government's decision to allow the deployment of a THAAD American anti-ballistic missile defense system in 2016, also had a major impact on the brand.



But following a peak in sales around that time, through until the end of last year, Innisfree has had to close 140 stores there and will shut 170 more this year.



AmorePacific said the emergence of health and beauty stores and an increase in demand in online shopping has brought about a decline in sales at bricks and mortar shops. Innisfree's revenue reached 770 billion won in 2016 but it more than halved to 348.6 billion as of 2020.



The cosmetics giant said it will focus on digitization and strengthening its brands this year. Instead of expanding its number of physical shops, AmorePacific has established a global e-commerce division and sells its products through online cosmetics platforms operated by Amazon, Sephora and Shopee.



The company aims to increase its e-commerce sales in China from 40 percent to 50 percent of total sales; and will also sell its products in Europe and North American through the platforms.


MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Specifically, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and Kueng are also charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure, alleging they did not intervene to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Floyds May 25 arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked nationwide complaints about the police treatment of Black people and protests calling for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.

Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the use of force and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Lane, Thao and Kueng made their initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.

Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyds death and is in Minnesotas only maximum-security prison as he awaits sentencing. The other three former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Friday's federal appearance.

Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judges refusal to move the trial due to publicity.

Nelson had no comment on the federal charges Friday. Kueng's attorney also had no comment. A message left for Thao's attorney wasn't immediately returned, and a call to Lane's attorney disconnected when he was reached by The Associated Press.

Ben Crump and the team of attorneys for Floyd's family said the civil rights charges reinforce the strength and wisdom" of the Constitution. We are encouraged by these charges and eager to see continued justice in this historic case that will impact Black citizens and all Americans for generations to come, the attorneys said in a statement.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said the federal charges against the officers show the Justice Department does not excuse it nor allow police to act as though as what they do is acceptable behavior in the line of duty.

What we couldnt get them to do in the case of Eric Garner, Michael Brown in Ferguson, and countless others, we are finally seeing them do today, Sharpton said.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting the state charges, said the federal government is responsible for protecting the civil rights of every American and federal prosecution for the violation of George Floyds civil rights is entirely appropriate," particularly now that Chauvin is convicted of murder.

To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe an officer acted under the color of law, or government authority, and willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights, including the right to be free from unreasonable seizures or the use of unreasonable force. Thats a high legal standard. An accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officers part isnt enough to support federal charges, and prosecutors have to prove the officers knew what they were doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.

Conviction on a federal civil rights charge is punishable by up to life in prison or even the death penalty, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.

In Chauvins case, if the federal court uses second-degree murder as his underlying offense, he could face anywhere from 14 years to slightly more than 24 years, depending on whether he takes responsibility, said Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Osler said the guidelines clearly state that any federal sentence would be served at the same time as a state sentence. Chauvin is due to be sentenced on the state charges June 25.

The indictment in Floyd's death says Thao and Kueng were aware Chauvin had his knee on Floyd's neck, even after Floyd became unresponsive, and "willfully failed to intervene to stop Defendant Chauvin's use of unreasonable force." All four officers are charged with willfully depriving Floyd of liberty without due process  for their alleged deliberate indifference to Floyds medical needs.

The other indictment, against Chauvin only, alleges he deprived a 14-year-old of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boys neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and unresisting.

According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and that after the teen, who he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin used body weight to pin the boy to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times before dating back to 2014, including four times state prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.

Bob Bennett, an attorney for the teenager, said the familiar behavior from Chauvin showed Floyd wasn't his first victim. Obviously he wasn't restricted to adult males, Bennett said, adding that using force a neck restraint against a 14-year-old boy is troubling in its own right.

President Joe Biden's administration has made policing reform a major issue. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said he was refocusing the department around civil rights and does not believe there is equal justice under the law.

In late April, the Justice Department indicted three men on federal hate crime charges in the February 2020 death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was running in a Georgia neighborhood when he was chased down and shot. At the time, it was the most significant civil rights prosecution undertaken by Bidens Justice Department.

The Justice Department also recently announced it was opening a sweeping investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. The investigation will examine whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing at the department, and it could result in major changes.

Garland announced a similar probe into policing in Louisville, Kentucky, over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police during a raid at her home.

Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Experts say he will likely face no more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in June. The other officers face charges alleging they aided and abetted second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four officers were fired.
HARMONY, Minn.  One driver is hurt after a two-vehicle collision in Fillmore County.

It happened just after 5 pm at the intersection of Highway 139 and 1st Street SE. The Minnesota State Patrol says Lashunte Nyera Juma, 22 of Otsego, was driving south and collided with Audrey Caroline Shimek, 25 of Harmony.

Juma was taken to an emergency room in Decorah, Iowa, with what are described as non-life threatening injuries. The State Patrol says Shimek was not injured.

The Fillmore County Sheriffs Office and Preston/Harmony Ambulance assisted with this accident.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  A man is in jail and facing several charges in connection with a Des Moines crash that killed two people on a motorcycle.

Authorities say Quntonio Herron turned himself in Friday morning and he was booked into the Polk County Jail. He is charged with homicide by vehicle, serious injury by vehicle, leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a suspended or denied license. The accident happened around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when a car collided with two motorcycles.

Police say Herron was the driver of a 2016 Mercedes Benz that struck the motorcycles. Police had been searching for the driver since the accident.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - Rochester Mayor Kim Norton says while we can look forward to a much more relaxed summer we will still need to be smart.

Governor Tim Walz announced COVID-19 restrictions will start loosening on Friday and nearly all statewide restrictions will end by May 29.

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton. Rochester Mayor Kim Norton.

The governor also announced once 70% of residents get vaccinated across the state or by July 1st the statewide mask mandate will end.

Mayor Norton says for those that arent vaccinated yet it might still be a kind gesture to wear a mask to protect them.

Norton explained, When we can hit that 70% vaccination rate people are going to be taking a risk but I think we need to remember that risk is very real and people are still concerned about it. So, I hope people will take precautions, and if you're not vaccinated and you're going to be in a crowded indoor space even after July, put a mask on. Be kind to others.

Norton also added shes hopeful having fewer restrictions will help businesses get back on their feet after an extremely difficult year for our local economy.

I think that businesses are going to be excited about these changes, said Norton. Outdoor venues starting right away are going to have fewer restrictions. The outdoor patios are going to see a difference right away. Those with indoor dining by the end of the month will be able to get back to normal.

Starting at noon on Friday there will be no more mandatory closing times for bars or restaurants and no limit for dining.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - A top public safety official says Minnesota State Patrol needs backup in addressing concerning traffic trends.

Commissioner John Harrington of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety is asking state lawmakers for resources to hire more state troopers.

DPS says traffic fatalities and speeding incidents are on the rise across Minnesota, and adding more troopers will help save lives.

" We really do believe that additional troopers on the highways really make a difference in reducing the number of fatal crashes out there and we think that's an important part of the state government's responsibility," Commissioner Harrington said.

The request comes as the legislature negotiates a number of budget-related bills. Commissioner Harrington says The State Patrol has not added road patrol troopers to its ranks since 2005.
NORTHWOOD, Iowa - One person is sentenced for a big drug bust in Worth County while another is negotiating a plea deal.

Alexander Jordan Kew, 28 of Cedar Rapids, and Constance Myah Jennings, 23 of Corwith, were arrested on October 27, 2020, after an attempted traffic stop on Highway 65 turned into a pursuit to Villa Woods Apartments. Court documents say a "large" amount of methamphetamine and a .357 revolver were found in Kew and Jennings' vehicle.

Jennings has now pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana-1st offense and been given two days of jail time and a $250 fine.

Jordan is charged with eluding, trafficking in stolen weapons, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and driving while barred. He entered a not guilty plea but court documents indicate a plea agreement is being negotiated. No plea hearing or sentencing date has been scheduled.
DECORAH, Iowa - A Wisconsin woman has been arrested for a string of crimes in northeast Iowa.

Angela Marilyn Martinez, 28 of La Crosse, WI, is facing charges of second-degree theft, second-degree criminal mischief, possession of burglar's tools, fourth-degree theft, and possession of methamphetamine.

Law enforcement says stolen property from four different thefts and burglaries throughout Howard and Winneshiek counties were found after a search was conducted on October 23, 2020, at a home in the 2700 block of Legacy Road where Martinez had been living. Court documents state the recovered stolen property included ATV parts, a bicycle, a vacuum, LED lights, two tow chains, a torque wrench, a road sign, and a flat screen TV.

Investigators say they also found a white powdery substance that tested positive for methamphetamine in a prescription pill bottle with Martinez' name on it.

A criminal complaint against Martinez was filed on November 2, 2020, and she was finally arrested on Thursday.
By Kim Jae-heun





Kyochon F&B's controversial ad on social media account / Screen-captured from Kyochon F&B Instagram

Advertisements, perceived as sexist by some, are causing a minor stir in the retail market. Only a few days after GS Retail was hit for releasing a poster for camping products that some claim belittles men, two chicken franchise firms, Kyochon F&B and BBQ Genesis, have become embroiled in yet another controversy over what some suggest is sexist content.



Kyochon, Korea's No.1 fried chicken franchise firm, uploaded ads on its social media account depicting what are supposed to be women's hands holding chicken drumsticks. The shape of the thumb and finger holding the piece of chicken, however, was seen by some as the sign used by female extremists belonging to the now defunct radical feminist online community "Megalia" to express their hatred towards men.



This latest "controversy" went viral in some online communities here, especially those frequented by men, which criticized the image saying the depiction showed an "unnatural" way to pick up a piece of chicken.



"Why do you have to pick up a fried chicken thigh with your index finger and thumb in in the form of the radical feminists Megalia logo?" one of the netizens wrote in one community, suggesting a boycott of Kyochon.



But, others said that it is actually quite natural for people to eat chicken drumsticks in such a manner, and those who feel uncomfortable with the advertisements are anti-feminist radicals.



"They are being ultra-sensitive over nothing. It is natural for people pick up piece of a chicken with their index finger and thumb," another person replied in the comments section.

Responding to the controversy generated over Kyochon's posters, the third-ranking fried chicken franchise firm BBQ Genesis also took down its online posters and released a statement apologizing for any inadvertent sexist content in any of its advertising.



The logo of radical feminist online community "Megalia" / Korea Times file

"There have been suggestions that our past promotional material used a certain image. We are checking with our marketing team and if it was intentionally made to deliver a gender-sensitive message, we will remove all adverts containing it," BBQ Genesis wrote in the statement.

Kyochon said its poster for the popular chicken dish was not intended to deliver a sexist message; but it did remove the ad from social media.

Meanwhile, GS Retail CEO Cho Yoon-sung apologized for an advertisement showing a hand making a similar gesture, Tuesday.





Promotional materials of GS25 and Musinsa containing alleged 'sexist' content / Both screen-captured from two firms' Instagram account

"I apologize for the design of the poster that caused pain and inconvenience to our customers. We will thoroughly investigate those involved in making the image," Cho said in an official statement.
A Pennsylvania couple is facing allegations of handcuffing kids and locking them in a basement.
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph.




By Kim Hyun-bin







Korean Air is set to enter the urban air mobility (UAM) market, upping competition in a field where Hyundai Motor and Hanwha have had a head start.







The carrier launched an urban air mobility task force (TF) team with experts from its aerospace business division which is in charge of aircraft manufacturing, sales and maintenance.







Korean Air plans to use its background and know-how in the air transport, manufacturing and maintenance business to gain an edge in the UAM business.





Last June, the country's leading airline joined the government's "UAM Team Korea" council hosted by the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport to enhance the country's UAM roadmap and make technological leaps in the field.





Korean Air is expected to seek partnerships with related institutions





Hyundai Motor Group and Hanwha Group are also focusing on UAM as one of their key future growth engines, aiming to offer air taxi services and tap potential demand from the military.







Hyundai Motor plans to do everything related to its UAM development  from blueprints to the commercialization stage  in-house, and has recently been hiring experts in the field.







The company aims to unveil an unmanned aerial system (UAS) for cargo by 2026, as well as operate an automated UAM model in the downtown Seoul area by 2028, and an intercity UAM by 2030.







Hanwha Systems is cooperating with global companies to commercialize its air taxi business. The company forged a partnership with Overair.







Hanwha Systems aims to develop an air taxi by 2024 and run a trial of the vehicles in 2025.


COLUMBIA - Every year the Columbia Memorial Stair Climb is held in honor of those who lost their lives during 9/11. The fourth annual event wa
Scott Rosenblum says his former client has refused to follow his advice and has acted in ways that hinder his own defense.
Police get out of an armored vehicle during an operation against alleged drug traffickers in the Jacarezinho favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, May 6, 2021. AP-Yonhap



Police targeting drug traffickers raided a slum in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday and at least one officer and two dozen others died after being shot, authorities said.



The civil police's press office confirmed the death of the cop and 24 alleged ''criminals'' in a message to the Associated Press.



A police helicopter flew low over the Jacarezinho favela as heavily armed men fled police by leaping from roof to roof, according to images shown on local television.



One woman told The Associated Press she saw police kill a badly wounded man she described as helpless and unarmed who they found after he had fled into her house.



Felipe Curi, a detective in Rio's civil police, denied there had been any executions. ''There were no suspects killed. They were all traffickers or criminals who tried to take the lives of our police officers and there was no other alternative,'' he said during a press conference.



Police had to struggle to enter the favela because of concrete barriers built by the criminals, according to the detective. Shooting spread throughout the community. During the operation, several people Curi described as criminals invaded neighboring houses trying to hide. Six were arrested, he said.



The police also seized 16 pistols, six rifles, a submachine gun, 12 grenades and a shotgun.



Service on a subway line was temporarily suspended ''due to intense shooting in the region,'' according to a statement from the company that operates it. Earlier, two subway passengers were injured when a stray bullet shattered the glass of one car.



Jacarezinho, one of the city's most populous favelas, with some 40,000 residents, is dominated by the Comando Vermelho, one of Brazil's leading criminal organizations. The police consider Jacarezinho to be one of the group's headquarters.





Residents protest after a police operation against alleged drug traffickers at the Jacarezinho favela in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, on May 06, 2021. AFP-Yonhap
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen removes her mask while meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein (not pictured) in Brussels, Belgium, May 5, 2021. EPA-Yonhap



The European Union on Thursday backed a U.S. proposal to discuss waiving patent protections for COVID-19 vaccines, but drugmakers and some other governments opposed the idea, saying it would not solve global inoculation shortages.



European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed willingness to explore a waiver after President Joe Biden on Wednesday promoted the plan, reversing the U.S. position.



"The main thing is, we have to speed this up," U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Thursday as India battled a devastating COVID-19 outbreak. "None of us are going to be fully safe until ... we get as many people vaccinated as possible."



A patent waiver is "one possible means of increasing manufacture, and access to vaccines," he said, as the White House denied a split among officials over the waiver idea.



Biden's administration endorsed negotiations at the World Trade Organization to gain global agreement.



WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told member states that she "warmly welcomed" the U.S. move. "We need to respond urgently to COVID-19 because the world is watching and people are dying," she said.



World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reached for capital letters in a tweet calling Biden's move a "MONUMENTAL MOMENT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST #COVID19," and said it reflected "the wisdom and moral leadership of the United States."



Despite that enthusiasm, drugmakers, who stand to lose revenue if they are stripped of patent rights to COVID-19 vaccines, and other critics found flaws in the proposal.



The complexities of manufacturing means free access to the intellectual property is not enough to immediately increase vaccine production, they said. Moderna waived its patent rights in October, and on Thursday noted the lack of companies able to rapidly manufacture a similar vaccine and secure approval for it.



Combined, Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have forecast over $45 billion in sales this year for their COVID-19 vaccines.



In the long term, a waiver would discourage pharmaceutical companies from rapidly responding to future global health threats with large research investments, some said.



Germany, the EU's biggest economic power and home to a large pharmaceutical sector, rejected the idea, saying vaccine shortages were due to limited production capacity and quality standards rather than patent protection issues.





A woman receives a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a new vaccination center run by the Paris' fire brigade in Paris, Thursday, May 6, 2021. France joined the United States on Thursday in supporting an easing of patent and other protection on Covid-19 vaccines that could help poorer countries get more doses and speed the end of the pandemic. AP-Yonhap
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some passing clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.
Weather Alert

...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 9 PM MDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Southwest winds 15 to 20 mph in the morning, increasing to 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph in the afternoon. * WHERE...Pocatello, Blackfoot, and American Falls Reservoir. * WHEN...From 6 AM to 9 PM MDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result. Winds will cause rough, choppy water on American Falls Reservoir. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle. Secure outdoor objects. && Messick
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KALISPELL, Mont. - Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bills 159 and 399 Thursday in Kalispell.

The governor signed the Personal Income Tax Relief Act, Senate Bill 159, which reduces Montanas top income tax rate to 6.75 percent beginning next year according to a release.

Also signed by Gianforte was Senate Bill 399 which reduces the states top income tax rate to 6.5 percent in 2024 and simplifies Montanas complex tax code and reduces the number of tax rates from seven to two the release says.

As we continue to lead the Montana comeback, were letting hardworking Montana families keep more of what they earn and reforming our tax system to make Montana more competitive, Gov. Gianforte said at Thompson Precision Manufacturing in Kalispell. These new laws will cut Montanas income tax rate, simplify our complex tax code, and create more jobs and greater opportunities for Montanans.

Steven Thompson, Sen. Greg Hertz (R-Polson), Ray Thompson, Senate President Mark Blasdel (R-Kalispell), and Director of Commerce Scott Ostermann joined Gov. Gianforte in Kalispell.

Montanans deserve tax relief and an easy-to-understand tax system free of unnecessary complications and paperwork, Sen. Hertz said. I was glad to carry these pro-jobs, pro-growth tax reform bills through the legislature, and am pleased Governor Gianforte signed them into law today.

Working with the governor, we set out to provide Montanans much-needed tax relief, create more good-paying jobs, and help get the economy going again, Pres. Blasdel said. Together, we created $120 million in broad based tax relief and kept our promise to deliver conservative leadership that will make a real, positive difference for hardworking Montanans across the state.
UPDATE: MAY 7 AT 2:30 P.M.

BUTTE, Mont. - In a Facebook post, the M&M Bar and Cafe released the following statement:

The show must go on. Im at a loss for words right now, but that phrase keeps playing in my head. Thank you for all the support. I know this loss is shared by the entire community and together we will bring the M&M back once again.

UPDATE: MAY 7 AT 7:11 A.M.

BUTTE - The historic M&M Bar and Cafe in Butte is a complete loss due to the fire Friday.

Owner of the next door business OMG Mongolian Grill said no fire alarms went off after the M&M caught on fire Friday morning--someone called to report at 3:08 a.m.

The owner of the OMG Mongolian Grill said all business on the block are affected--their business suffers a little bit of damage and other nearby business Party Palace has a water leak 3-inches deep.

Our reporter on scene said crews are working to clear debris as the entire roof collapsed but the fire is out; however, there is a lot of smoke.

Main Street is closed to traffic from Park Street to Granite Street in Uptown Butte.

The M&M Bar and Cafe has been a part of the community since 1890 serving people passing through the Mining City.

We are working to get more information.

The historic M&M is on fire in Butte, Montana. The bar is across the street from Northwestern Energy's headquarters on Main Avenue. Allow crews in the area space to work.

Wake Up Montana has a crew on the way. We'll bring you information as it becomes available.
LEWISTOWN, Mont. - Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will host a public meeting on grizzly bear awareness, including how to minimize conflict, on Monday, May 24, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown.

The event is open to the public, and area landowners are encouraged to attend.

The meeting will follow the Fergus County suggested guidelines for COVID-19 precautions, and seating may be limited, according to a release.

During the last several years, grizzly bears have expanded away from recovery zones, including to the prairies east of the Rocky Mountain Front.

In late April, a grizzly bear was seen in the Big Snowy Mountains south of Lewistown. The sighting is a reminder that grizzly bears are populating areas where they havent been for more than a century, and sightings may become more frequent as populations expand.

Grizzly bears are still protected under the Endangered Species Act, and final authority regarding their management is up to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

At the meeting, FWP bear management specialist Wesley Sarmento will give a presentation on the background of grizzly bears in Montana, how the department manages grizzly bear conflict and the challenges of grizzly expansion on the prairies east of the Rocky Mountain Front.

In addition, Sarmento will explain what to do during a bear encounter, how to safely deter a bear using non-lethal tools and how to secure attractants to prevent a bear from being drawn into agricultural operations and residences.

He will also cover other tips to keep people safe around bears, including:

 Rural farmsteads should be kept as clean as possible by securing attractants such as garbage, bird feeders and pet food.

 Grain spills are a major attractant to grizzly bears but can be easily cleaned up by putting tarps under loading equipment.

 Landowners may haze grizzly bears off their property from the safety of a hard-sided vehicle or with loud noises, provided the federally protected animal is not harmed in the process.

 Chickens and other small livestock can be easily protected with electric fencing or kept inside a closed shed with a door at night.

 Livestock loss can also be prevented by distributing animals and feed away from brush and rivers during the months when bears are active.

 Domestic fruit should be picked up as soon as possible.

 Folks are urged to Be Bear Aware when working or recreating outside by following precautionary steps to prevent conflicts, including carrying bear spray and knowing how to use it, and traveling in groups while making noise.

If you see a bear near your residence in central or north central Montana, please report the activity as soon as possible to Sarmento at 450-1097, Chad White at 788-4755 or your local FWP office.

FWP ensures that its meetings are fully accessible to persons with disabilities. To request special accommodations for this meeting or for more information, please call 454-5840.
PALERMO, MAY 7 - The skipper of an Italian trawler who was hit in the forehead by flying glass after Libyan machine-gun fire smashed his cabin window said on his way back to Sicily Friday that he and the crew had survived the incident "by a miracle". "It's a miracle we survived, they fired shotguns at us, the cabin here is full of holes," Giuseppe Giacalone told ANSA in a radio call on his way back to base at Mazra del Vallo. The trawler, and two others involved in the inident in a high-risk zone off Benghazi, will arrive in the northwestern Sicilian port early Saturday morning. "I'm blessed, because God alone helped us," said Giacalone of an incident in which a Libyan motor boat fired warning shots across the trawlers' bows before an Italian navy frigate, the Libeccio, intervened to end the encounter. Libya has stressed it fired into the air while the Italian foreign ministry has stated that the captain was only slightly injured and that the trawlers were in a high risk zone. Incidents between Libyan vessels and Italian fishing boats are common in the area, and trawlers are fairly often seized. (ANSA).
ROME, MAY 7 - Two Carabinieri policemen were sentenced to 13 years each in prison Friday for beating young Roman draughtsman Stefano Cucchi in a way that contributed to his death in custody after being picked up for a minor drugs offence in October 2009. The two officers, Alessio Di Bernardo and Raffaele D'Alessandro, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. (ANSA).


Mike McCarter of La Pine is a veteran and a former president of the Oregon Agribusiness Council and Oregon Association of Nurserymen.
A New Jersey man is facing charges for taking part in the US Capitol insurrection after family friends gossiped that he was at the pro-Trump riot.

The mother of Robert Petrosh Jr., of Mays Landing had told a woman with whom she was good friends that Petrosh went inside the Capitol on January 6, according to his arrest paperwork made public this week.

A grandchild of the family friend then reported Petrosh to the FBI on January 17, the document said.

Keep scrolling for a photo gallery from the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6

Petrosh is just one in a long line of alleged Capitol rioters whom friends, family members, coworkers and ex-partners have reported to federal authorities during the months-long dragnet.

The FBI was able to identify Petrosh inside the Capitol in a photo and in surveillance video, an agent wrote to a federal judge. Another tipster and an FBI officer who had known Petrosh socially also helped identify him.
Tomorrow is officially Mothers Day. Historically, celebrating Mothers Day in America has been a long and rocky road.

Have you ever wondered why you wear a white carnation or a red carnation on Mothers Day? Red is for a still-living mother; white is for a deceased mother. But why?

The concept of Mothers Day has changed over the centuries. Many events that took place in America before Mothers Day began became celebrated with tokens of affection.

The tradition of Mothers Day began in ancient Egypt, honoring the goddess Isis. She represented the ideal wife and mother.

Fast-forward to Europe when Christians in the 1600s, in Ireland and the U.K., celebrated it on the fourth Sunday in Lent.

In America, it had a strange beginning, when on May 12, 1907, Anna Jarvis held a small memorial service for her deceased mother. Jarvis, an advertising copywriter, came up with an idea to make honoring all mothers something special. She named it Mothers Day International Association.

Innovative for a woman at that time, she began by contacting florists to participate in an effort to Send flowers to mothers. These days, Jarvis would be considered a social activist. Next, she began a letter-writing campaign to state governors to make it a state and federal holiday. Congress rejected the idea in 1908. However, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation making May 9 officially Mothers Day.

By the 1920s, Hallmark and other card companies were selling hundreds of cards with Mothers Day themes. Sheet music was printed revering mothers. The cards pictured sentimental photos of mothers. Entertainers and movie actors sang songs about mothers. Aprons were made with the word mother embroidered or printed on them. Mothers Day had become commercialized.

CLUES: The sending of Mothers Day cards is still popular. However, vintage and antique items are a creative alternative.

For instance, in the late 19th century, Germany made china coffee mugs with the word mom printed on them. Another possibility would be to consider framing a page of mom-themed sheet music.

What are your mothers interests? There are vintage and antique examples of hobbies and games. Spend a little or spend a lot.
Gwenne Butler was naturally concerned when her daughter, Holly, planned to leave small-town farm life for Yale University. In comparison, Yales location in the coastal city of New Haven, Connecticut, seemed huge, with a population exceeding 130,000 people and nearly 12,500 students at Yale.

But, after careful reflection, she realized the opportunities that a prestigious Ivy League education could provide, and told Holly: Go for it!

In the years since then, Holly Rippon-Butler, 30, hasnt disappointed her mom, or her dad, Don Butler. She has proved shes capable of just about anything  as a farmer, agricultural advocate and aspiring young food entrepreneur.

Growing up, I really enjoyed the animals, getting to be around my parents a lot, having responsibilities, and a place to be creative, Rippon-Butler said. As I got older, I realized it was an incredible privilege to have this access to a farm. It really hit home when I went to school and was away from the farm. I realized how much I missed being able to work with my hands and do outside, physical work. I also realized how many other young people who want to farm dont have that opportunity.

At the same time, she was growing increasingly concerned about rapid development springing up around her home farms community which, although rich in agriculture with several large dairies, is located in Saratoga County, upstate New Yorks fastest-growing county.

So thats really what drove me to work in policy, Rippon Butler said. While staying involved in our farm, I wanted to making changes that would allow other young people to do the same thing. Specifically, I was interested in land issues.

She is currently land campaign director for the National Young Farmers Coalition, for whom she does both grassroots organizing, and policy advocacy at the state and federal levels.

I talk to farmers about advocacy related to land and land access, and provide advocacy training to a network of farmer chapters around the country, she said. I also meet with U.S. representatives and senators in Washington, D.C. We recently published a policy report I wrote about the challenges young farmers are facing with regard to land. It suggests a number of solutions that policy makers could adopt.

Carrying Farm Values With Her

Perhaps without realizing it, Gwenne Butler was an ideal role model for her daughter with regard to such issues. Gwenne and Don Butler took over his fathers small, 65-cow dairy in 1998. Only a few years earlier, Saratoga County officials had targeted part of the property for a large landfill, which was eventually sited in a different part of town despite ardent protests by the local farming community to place it somewhere else.

Gwenne Butler wasnt raised on a farm, but quickly came to realize the importance of agriculture after marrying her husband.

Dons parents sacrificed and did a lot to be able to keep this place, so after they passed, I decided I was going to do everything possible to keep it a farm, she said. I really appreciate the whole way of life that I have. There were times, of course, when I felt like I was in a box here. Youre tied to the farm and cant get away, but Ive always had a job off the farm in addition to being here.

Rippon-Butler did her undergraduate work in environmental studies with a focus on food and agriculture, and earned her masters degree at Yale School of the Environment, studying land use in agriculture.

She was one of the schools few students with a full-fledged farm background.

I did my senior thesis on the history of milk transportation in New York and how its affected the dairy industry, she said. That was really fun to share with people. I even did a milk tasting with classmates. Its been fun to bring friends and classmates here (to the farm) for a visit.

I was really concerned how Holly would fit in, going from here to Yale and a really big city, Gwenne Butler said. But, lo and behold, everyone was fascinated with the fact that she had come from a farm and they all wanted to visit.

Rippon-Butler headed off to Yale at just about the same time the local food movement was gaining nationwide momentum.

I think she was right on the cusp of that happening. It worked in her favor, Gwenne Butler said. Before, farming wasnt considered something that you would necessarily aspire to, but more and more people were becoming interested in where their food comes from and getting local food.

Rippon-Butler spends Monday to Wednesday focused on Young Farmers Coalition duties, and devotes the rest of her time to farm work.

I milk cows a few days a week, help out with field work, driving tractors, and Im getting more involved with the business side of it, understanding how the business is set up and what that might look like going forward, she said. My goal is that this land we currently steward continues to be a resource for the community to have food.

A Sweet Side Business

Somehow, Rippon-Butler also finds time on weekends to run a small ice cream business out of an Essex County food hub, which has a shared commercial kitchen, about an hour to the north.

After grad school, I was really interested in developing a tangible food product I could sell that would allow me to be a little creative and bring joy to people; something I could share with the community, she said. I really appreciate how ice cream is this product that really represents so much of whats going on in the local farming community.

Her custard-like treat is made with local milk from Battenkill Valley Creamery and local organic eggs and organic sugar.

Its been really fun to add flavors that use blueberries from friends farms and herbs that my friends grow, or local maple syrup, Rippon-Butler said.

The ice cream business, called Farmers Cone Creamery, sells ice cream primarily available at the food hub. Followers may learn more about it on Instagram, and its also listed on the Adirondack Harvest website, which has a directory for food businesses.

People can get updates about when its available, Rippon-Butler said. Occasionally, Ill have pop-up events and make pints available around holidays.

Gwenne Butler cant help smiling when she looks back on some of her daughters farm experiences over the years. As a young girl, for example, Holly took a calf to the nearby Washington County Fair.

It had to be a registered calf, Gwenne Butler said. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the most stubborn calf weve ever had. We have pictures of Holly just trying to pull this calf around the ring.

These and many other memories formed a strong bond between this mom and daughter. How will they spend Mothers Day?

Well be working on the farm, Gwenne Butler said. But Im sure well find time for a family picnic, too.

Paul Post is a freelance writer in eastern New York. He can be reached at paulpost@nycap.rr.com.
The waiting game is one of the most difficult parts when Oren Smith weans beef calves on his Oak Hill Farm in Avella, Pennsylvania.

Smith raises registered Angus and weans about 70 calves annually. To do so, he takes a conventional approach by simply separating cows and calves, knowing that the next few days will be filled with nonstop bawling.

Its not pleasant, but you have to give them time because weaning is just something that has to be done, he said. Its a lot of bawling, but you just wait for it to stop. The mothers are due for a break, and some of them are instinctively ready to move on.

While noise is unavoidable when it comes to weaning calves, animal health should always be the priority, and there are numerous factors to consider. Preparation is paramount.

The more we can acclimate that calf to the upcoming changes, the better it will be. The more prepared a calf is by the time its weaned, it wont be as stressful, said Dr. Jody Kull, owner of Valley Mobile Veterinary Services in Danville.

Preparation begins with conditioning a calf to be less dependent on cows milk. Give the calf time to eat grass and forages on its own, Kull said, and start it on creep feed well in advance of weaning.

How they will eat after weaning, you want to see them eating like that prior to weaning, she said.

Location is important when it comes to both feeding and weaning. Having to search for the feed bunk or water can add anxiety for calves in an already stressful situation.

Brian Boyer, a technician supervisor for Premier Select Sires in Tunkhannock, said calves typically circle the perimeter of pens or pastures when weaned, trying to stay close to the cows. They wont be thinking about feed and water during those first few days, he said, so placing those items where the calves will be spending most of their time can improve the weaning process.

This encourages the calves to eat and drink, reducing stress and speeding up the transition.

Every time we change location it will put calves through another stress challenge. So consider how many times you expect these calves to adjust to change with feed, Boyer said. This affects their potential to gain and grow. Less stress with any type of change will help with total performance and profit.

Taking Steps to Reduce Calf Stress

There are other steps to consider, in addition to feed, when it comes to preparing calves for weaning.

The more work done with a calf prior to weaning or the same day its separated from the cow, the better the calf will fare.

Bobbi Dunn of Dunn Herefords in Cochranton said her family maintains a herd of 165 cows, and the majority of the calves  100  are born in the spring. Theyre weaned at 5 months, and all of the calves receive their first vaccine at that time.

Some producers like to wait two weeks after weaning to vaccinate, and then follow up with a booster, she said. With vaccinating on the day of weaning, were stressing them once and then not again until three weeks later with the booster, and thats it.

Dunn Herefords recently changed its weaning method to further reduce stress. Cow-calf pairs are brought in from the pastures in groups of 40 and separated at the home farm. The cows are moved to a lot and the calves are sorted into a barn. The cows and calves can see each other, Dunn said, but theres no contact.

After two or three days, the cows quiet down and are returned to the pasture, while the calves eventually turn their attention to the bunks filled with feed.

The animals that will be marketed as show calves undergo a different process called day-weaning.

Cows and calves are separated into adjoining pens, and the calves are allowed out to nurse twice a day for 15 minutes.

The routine continues for up to 10 days, and by that time the calves are established on feed while still nursing off their mothers on a limited basis. After that, the calves are allowed out of their pens to nurse just once a day for six days.

You get a little bit of bawling, but its not bad, Dunn said. After six days, we turn the cows out and the calves never bawl.

Unfortunately, time and space dont allow us to do day-weaning with 100-plus calves, but if I had a small cow-calf herd, I would absolutely wean them like this.

While the health of the calf is a priority, Kull said its also important to consider the cows well-being when deciding on the right time for separation.

Fall is a popular time to wean calves, so its important to monitor the availability of grass in pastures during the summer and early fall, Kull said. The peak energy demand on a cow is when shes nursing her calf, and producers should pay attention to body condition, and availability of quality pasture, in determining the right time to wean.

That mother cow is utilizing the grass in pastures to maintain her body condition while feeding that calf. If theres a drought and the pastures dry up, you want to consider weaning calves earlier to keep the body condition on the cows, Kull said. The quality of the forage, or supplemental feed, has to match that energy demand on the mother.
Last season, I wrote about anthracnose on strawberries, a disease that has been showing up with greater frequency in our fields.

I had been in several fields that had anthracnose that was damaging green fruit, which was unusual, as it normally is more of a problem on ripening fruit. The disease can also attack the crown of the plant and kill it. Under warm and wet conditions, this disease can spread quickly in a field and cause a significant reduction in yield and fruit quality.

Hopefully, you saved that information for this year so you know what to watch for, as well as the recommended fungicides to use to control the disease. If not, contact me and we can review that information.

Phytophthora Crown and Root Rot

But anthracnose is not the something old I wanted to talk about this week. Instead, I wanted to discuss phytophthora crown rot and phytophthora root rot (red stele), problems caused by different species of fungi that can persist in fields and which seem to be a more common issue with some varieties.

I seem to be getting a lot of positive results for what we suspect is mainly phytophthora crown rot in Flavorfest, which is becoming more important as a mid-season variety in our cropping sequence. Growers have contacted me about plasticulture plants collapsing in both the fall and spring after what seemed like a strong start to plant growth.

Once a positive diagnosis was made, the recommended treatment usually included one application of mefenoxam (Ridomil Gold SL) or metalaxyl (Ultra Flourish), followed by one or two applications of fosetyl-Al (Aliette) or a phosphite product (Prophyte, Phostrol). These treatments could be repeated in the spring if needed, or in fields where the disease has been problematic. Overuse is a concern, and resistance to Ridomil Gold or Ultra Flourish is becoming more common. These fungicides need to be used carefully, and timings on the label also limit use to two applications per year for crown rot for this reason.

Aliette and phosphite products are less effective but can be used more often if needed. Please refer to the labels for specific instructions on rates, timings and application frequency.

New Neopestalotiopsis Strain Diagnosed

And now for something new, and its not good news.

Recently, diagnosis of a more aggressive strain of neopestalotiopsis, a fungal disease that affects strawberry in a number of ways, was made. In the past, neopestalotiopsis had mainly been thought of as an opportunistic pathogen, and when it was occasionally isolated from various crops, including strawberries, it didnt cause serious damage. Also, unlike in the past when the disease only affected ripe fruit, the new strain affects all parts of the plant  leaves, crown, roots and fruit.

It is believed that neopestalotiopsis comes into fields with transplants and is first noticed on the leaves, and then affects crowns and roots. It can spread to the fruit, and whole fields in warmer strawberry-growing regions have been abandoned because of this disease.

What does this have to do with Pennsylvania, you ask?

Unfortunately, some strawberry plug plants sold in the Mid-Atlantic area had this disease last summer. There were documented cases in New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania, though limited to only a few fields in total.

The symptoms to be watching for in your field include tannish-brown spots on leaves that expand quickly and will cover the leaves in a few days. Black specks will then appear in these brown areas. These specks are the fruiting structure of the fungus and serve to spread the disease. During warm, wet conditions this disease spreads rapidly through infected fields.

While the fruit symptoms appear similar to anthracnose, the same black specks that appear on leaves will appear on the fruit, rather than the salmon-colored areas that show with anthracnose. According to research in Florida, the disease is partially controlled with Switch and thiram, which are the best products we have at this time.

As always, resistance is a concern. Some of the other products used for control of other diseases such as anthracnose crown and fruit rot had some numerical reduction in fruit rot incidence as well.

I should point out that there are other more common diseases that this new disease can be confused with, such as gnomonia leaf blotch (which lacks black sporulation) and phomopsis leaf blight (which forms V-shaped lesions). The main other difference between these diseases is that neopestalotiopis is more likely to explode in a field within a matter of days following warm, wet conditions.

If you suspect that you have neopestalotiopsis on your strawberries and are in the Lancaster County area, contact me so that we can get a sample to the Plant Disease Clinic at Penn State.

Growers in other parts of the state should contact their local Extension office to locate the nearest educator responsible for berry crops.

Watch for updates as we learn more about this disease and its control, including cultural management strategies.

I would like to thank Kathy Demchak, the small fruit specialist at Penn State, for her assistance with this article.
China reverses rising trend of cross-border gambling

Xinhua) 16:02, May 07, 2021

Photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021 shows police cars ready for a night patrol mission in Changchun, northeast China's Jilin Province. (Xinhua/Xu Chang)

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China has reversed the rising trend of cross-border gambling through multiple nationwide and special operations since 2020, the Ministry of Public Security said Friday.

Chinese police have investigated 18,000 cross-border gambling and gambling-related criminal cases and apprehended more than 110,000 suspects during the operations, figures from the ministry showed.

More than 3,400 online gambling platforms, over 2,800 illegal payment platforms and underground banks, some 1,400 illegal technical teams and more than 2,200 gambling promotion platforms were broken up, it added.

The ministry on Friday launched a week-long awareness campaign nationwide to combat cross-border gambling, reminding the public to avoid being duped into such illegal activities by criminals, which may pose a threat to their interests and safety.

The ministry said it welcomes tip-offs from the public via its online platform for reporting cross-border gambling cases.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
The images coming out of the Upper Midwest and High Plains region of the U.S. this spring are reminiscent of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Relentless wind coupled with dry conditions have led to severe soil erosion, and the situation was made worse in areas lacking cover crops.

The drifting topsoil covered roads, filled ditches and gave fertile fields a desert-like appearance.

Drought persisting through the winter in North and South Dakota, and the northern half of Minnesota, made the fields particularly vulnerable when the winds arrived.

The Foster County Soil Conservation District in North Dakota reported that a dust storm on March 29-30 resulted in topsoil losses of 12 inches or more in some areas. Soybean fields, including no-till acres, were especially vulnerable to the windy conditions, according to the district.

Wind erosion has been a longstanding issue in the Dakotas, but could farmland in the East be at risk as well?

Not really, according to Brittany Clark, a field and forage crops educator with Penn State Extension. While wind erosion can occur in Pennsylvania, she said, the greater threat for soil loss comes from water.

The main concern is prolonged rain events where the soil profile is saturated, Clark said.

Kitty ONeil, a field crop and soil specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension in New York, said wind erosion can occur in the East, but on a smaller scale than in the West. She witnessed such an occurrence in northern New York on fields that were plowed in the fall.

There was a light coating of snow, and the tips of the soil lumps were poking through, ONeil said. You could see the discoloration in the snow where the wind carried the soil sideways.

ONeils encounter isnt a common occurrence in the East, and wind erosion likely wont emerge as a significant threat due to several factors.

Cover Crops and No-Till Critical in Erosion Management

The fields in the Eastern U.S. arent as large as the expanses in the West and Midwest, and they are planted with a variety of crops rather than primarily corn and soybeans, as in the western states. Much of the annual rainfall in the East occurs in the spring and fall, ONeil added, allowing for better establishment of cover crops to protect the soil over the winter.

According to Clark, annual precipitation in Pennsylvania averages 45 inches. In the eastern portions of the Dakotas, annual precipitation is around 25 inches, and its as low as 15 inches annually in other parts of the region.

They typically experience a lack of moisture that doesnt support cover crop germination, and harsh winters that reduce overwintering success of many species, she said. Cover crop adoption in these areas is significantly less and they tend to plant less diverse mixes if at all.

Topography is another key factor in mitigating the risk of wind erosion in the eastern states when compared to the flat landscape of the Midwest.

Our fields are broken up by frequent windbreaks, such as rows of trees, so the wind cant gather as much speed in those open areas, ONeil said.

Despite the regional differences, the situation in the Midwest caught the eyes of many growers in the East. Clark said there was a lot of discussion among Pennsylvania farmers on social media about the erosion occurring in the Dakotas, and she was happy to see the awareness, even if it isnt a major threat here.

It got a lot of attention in the East, and it served as a reminder for the importance of no-till practices and cover crops, Clark said. One of the goals accomplished with cover crops is erosion management, and even though we may not have the issue with wind, we have less available topsoil to be lost in comparison to the Dakotas.

And it doesnt mean farmers in the East can afford to be complacent about erosion. While the utilization of cover crops and no-till has increased, ONeil said there is still room to improve.

According to USDA data from 2017, there were more than 104 million acres in the country planted with no-till, 97.8 million acres managed with reduced tillage and 80 million acres under intensive tillage.

Continuing the upward trend of no-till acres is the most effective way to combat soil erosion of any type, Clark said.

We have more erosion challenges here with water running downhill than the long, windswept areas in the West, she said. There is less open soil today, but we still have a long way to go with tillage.
In the wake of COVID-19, there has been a spike in demand for private islands in the Carribean.

The Bahamas real estate market has seen a massive surge in sales. In the first quarter of 2021, nearly $400 million worth of property was sold or went under contract.

International travelers and buyers sought warmer places to reside to escape high COVID-19 numbers before lockdowns. As vaccine rollouts continue and restrictions lift, people are still seeking to relocate or vacation in more tropical places.

Now that The Bahamas is open and welcoming guests, the country is racking up revenue from international buyers.

Why Private Islands?

Not only are private islands the idle canvas for development but can also serve as a fantasy escape plan for many travelers, they are the ultimate way to social distance. Since private islands are isolated from mainlands, people who buy them are adhering to CDC guidelines while also enjoying paradise.

Check out the listing below:

Powell Cay Abaco Private Island

Hailed as one of the most beautiful Cays in the Abacos beckons, this private island is listed for $7,895M. Reserve is $3.5M.

The Sea of Abaco is a saltwater lagoon that stretches 63 miles long. The lagoon contains two islands and 82 cays, including Powell Cay.

This 293 acre island is the perfect Bahamian retreat and peaceful haven. In addition to the landscape and structure which provides privacy, the island provides protection from winds from the north and east.

Powell Cays landscape is home to luscious green trees and shrubs with elevations up to 42 feet, offering exquisite views of the rocky bluffs and incredible coral reef.

The island comes with easy access to Coopers Town and Spanish Cay via private jet, yacht, or boat.

Enjoy the blue and turquoise Atlantic ocean, white sand beaches and beautiful sunset at the Powell Cay Abaco Private Island.

Make your bid between May 7 and May 14. Read more about this listing at www.bettermcrbahamas.com/eng/sales/detail/585-l-586-2104071144060094/powell-cay-abaco-private-island-abaco-ab.

Buy the Private Island of Your Dreams With Broker Tim Rodland

Showings for this private island are by appointment. If youre interested in buying this property, contact Tim Rodland.
A man who allegedly has persuaded more than seven women over the last three years to pay him for sex to cure non-existent diseases has been charged with obtaining sex by fraud in connection with the case of a 23-year-old Orange County woman, officials said Monday.

Anaheim police said Monday they hoped that more publicity about the arrest of Daniel Kayton Boro would prompt other possible victims to come forward.

Boro, 44, who was given the nickname Dr. Feelgood by police and the news media, was arrested last Tuesday for allegedly persuading a 23-year-old Orange County woman to pay him $750 for sex to cure what she believed to be a deadly blood disease, Anaheim Police Lt. Peter De Paola said.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg L. Prickett said charges of obtaining sexual intercourse by false pretense and providing false information to police were filed against Boro last Thursday in North Orange County Municipal Court. He said Boros arraignment on the charges was continued until Friday at the request of Boros public defender.

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Other Victims

Boro, who was being held in the Orange County Jail, allegedly had sex with the woman on March 20, De Paola said.

Were hoping that if there are other victims theyll come forward to the Police Department at this time, De Paola said.

The rape-by-fraud charge is the first of its kind brought against Boro, whose unusual method of operation prompted the writing of a new law in 1986, officials said. He had previously been investigated for similar crimes, but an appeals court ruled that his alleged actions did not fall under the definition of rape, with which he had been charged.

The Orange County case is the most recent involving Boro, who allegedly posed as a doctor to trick women into paying him for sex. Police said that in both Orange County and the San Francisco Bay Area, Boro randomly called women, claiming to have results from blood tests and pap smears that showed the women to have a terrible disease.

The women had two options: either to undergo a costly and dangerous operation or have sex with a man injected with a serum that would cure the womens problems, San Francisco Police Inspector Bob Huegle said.

Doctor Was Donor

The purported doctor was the donor in all of the cases, Huegle said.

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Boro, of San Mateo, was a good con man and was able to take information women would give during the course of a conversation and turn it around to make them believe they were ill, Huegle said.

One woman took all of the money out of the bank she had, Huegle said. One woman even bought him a bottle of wine.

Huegle said that in the five reported cases in San Francisco in 1984, women paid $900, $1,100 and $1,500 for sex; two of the women declined to pay.

Three of the women were in their 20s, one was in her 50s and the fifth was in her 60s, Huegle said. All five women were Asian. De Paola said he did not know if the Orange County woman is Asian.

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Most Refused

Only a small percentage of the women contacted actually spoke to the suspect, Huegle said, explaining that most women refused to discuss these personal tests with an unknown doctor. Bay Area police had reports of 30 cases in which women received phone calls but hung up on the suspect.

Those who did speak to him, Huegle said, really thought they were going to die.

Huegle said Boro was arrested in 1984 in South San Francisco for rape and fraud. He was subsequently charged with five other San Francisco-area sexual assaults but was released when his conviction in the South San Francisco rape case was thrown out on appeal, Huegle said. The San Francisco district attorney did not pursue the other five counts because of the case law and because some of the victims refused to testify, according to Huegle.

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The appellate courts ruling in Boros case was the basis for a law passed in 1986 making it a felony to use false information to obtain sex.

Boro is being held on $50,000 bail for the Orange County offense and a no-bail governors warrant for incidents in Hawaii, authorities said. When arrested, Boro was free on bail for grand theft and terrorist threats in Hawaii and grand theft charges in San Francisco that were unrelated to the sex incidents.

Boro is also charged with committing crimes while free on bail and is facing other felony charges, Prickett said. If convicted in the Orange County case, he said, Boro could be sentenced to two additional years.
Police and researchers are calling the police raid in Brazil one of the deadliest police shootings in the history of Rio de Janeiro. The incident left at least 25 people killed, including one policeman.

The shootout happened during a police operation in a favela in the Jacarezinho area of the city after police received reports that drug traffickers were recruiting children to join their crime group, according to a BBC News report.

Police sent bulletproof helicopters, armored vehicles, as well as dozens of heavily armed police officers to attack the stronghold of the notorious criminal gang.

Residents stayed inside their homes, unable to leave. Children were also caught in the crossfire, according to The Washington Post report.

Robert Muggah, co-founder of the Igarape Institute, said that the incident is a really dark moment in Brazil.

"These shootings are obviously routine in Rio de Janeiro, but this is unprecedented, in that it's the operation that has generated the largest number of deaths, ever," Muggah was quoted in a report.

Igarape Institute is a Rio-based think tank focusing on violence trends.

Police Chief Ronaldo Oliveira said that the Thursday police raid caused the largest number of deaths in a police operation in Rio.

One resident shared his sentiment, saying that he would try to move out of the area as soon as possible. He added that they cannot continue to live in the area.

Police were reported to seize some of the residents' phones, accusing civilians of warning gang members about the operation.

Meanwhile, suspects of the targeted drug gang were recorded in aerial footage trying to escape in Rio de Janeiro.

Police said in a statement that the suspects did not only plan to flee the area, but also to kill.

READ MORE: In Brazil, Police Shoot Civilians Without Restraints, Killed 1,814 in 2019 Alone

Police Violent Operations

The deadly police operations have been encouraged by a range of political leaders, who have managed to win recent elections by campaigning warlike strategies to curb crime and target gangs.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro once said that a cop who does not kill is not a cop.

Rio de Janeiro is considered to be Brazil's one of the most violent states, with several of its areas under the control of organized crime groups.

Security forces in Brazil have been accused of excessive use of force on civilians.

Supreme Court has ruled to stop incursion during the COVID pandemic. However, raids remain to territories families with nearly 800 people were killed by police in Rio de Janeiro in the past nine months.

The court ruled to suspend police raids in Brazilian favelas in June 2020 after the death of 14-year-old Joao Pedro Matos Pinto, according to The Guardian report.

Pinto was one of the victims during a police raid. He was shot in the back in the middle of it.

Daniel Hirata, professor of sociology at Federal Fluminense University, said that the high court made a decision and political leaders do not respect it.

"This is a risk to the rule of law in Brazil," Hirata was quoted in a report.

READ NEXT: President Bolsonaro Sends National Troops to Control Nationwide Police Strikes

WATCH: Twenty-five killed in Rio de Janeiro police raid on drug gang - from Newzee






At least three were reported injured after a sixth grade girl opened fire at an Idaho middle school on Thursday. The tragic incident happened in Rigby Middle School about 95 miles from the Yellowstone National Park, Associated Press reported.

The motive for the sudden shooting is yet to be identified by the authorities, and it is still not clear how the female sixth grader got her handgun in the first place. Moreover, the name of the suspect was not given by the officials, but County Sheriff Steve Anderson disclosed that the female sixth grader is from a nearby city of Idaho Falls.

READ NEXT: 2 Dead, 1 Hurt in Los Angeles Shooting Spree

3 Hurt After the Open Fire

ABC News reported that an adult and two students were hurt during the tragic incident. The victims were transported to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for treatment. The adult was reported to be released after the treatment.

Meanwhile, hospital officials noted that the two students needed to stay in the hospital overnight. Officials pointed out that the three victims had non-life-threatening injuries, but one of the students may require surgery.

Meanwhile, Idaho Governor Brad Little expresses his sympathies to the tragic incident that endangered the lives of middle school students.

I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in today's tragic events. Thank you to our law enforcement agencies and school leaders for their efforts in responding to the incident. I am staying updated on the situation. https://t.co/IF4ECgWhaV  Brad Little (@GovernorLittle) May 6, 2021

"I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in today's tragic events," said Little in his tweet.

Trauma Medical Director Michael Lemon from Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center noted that the injured adult was released after the bullet that went through the limb was removed. Lemon furthered that one of the students had wounds in two limbs, pointing out that the victim might be shot twice.

The identity of the victims was also not released by the authorities.

"Today, we had the worst nightmare," said Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin adding that the incident is the worst scenario a middle school could encounter.

After the tragic incident, students from Rigby Middle School were evacuated to Rigby High School, the place where parents would pick them up, East Idaho News reported. National Education Statistics confirmed that Rigby Middle School has about 1,500 students through eighth grades.

Sixth Grade Girl Opens Fire in Rigby Middle School

The Sheriff's Office noted that just after 9 in the morning, the sixth grader pulled out a handgun from her backpack and began firing in the hallway. Two people were hit. The suspect then moved outside, where another person was shot.

"Me and my classmates were just in class with our teacher," a 12-year-old student told Associated Press, adding that his teacher went to check it out and found blood.

A teacher disarmed the sixth grader and held her until the officials arrived at the scene.

Moreover, the District Superintendent noted that schools would be closed district-wide to give students time with their families.

Mark Taylor, Jefferson County prosecuting attorney, noted that appropriate charges will be filed once the investigation of the incident in the Idaho middle school is finished. Taylor also noted that the sixth grade girl can be charged with three counts of murder.

READ MORE: Idaho Senate OKs Bill Banning Critical Race Theory in Public Schools

WATCH: Sheriff: Girl shoots 3 at Idaho school; teacher disarms her - from WFRV Local 5
After hours-long negotiation, the suspect, who held several bank employees hostage in St. Cloud, Minnesota, was finally put into the custody of authorities on Thursday night.

St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson identified the hostage-taker as 35-year-old Ray Reco McNeary, the Minnesota CBS local reported.

According to Anderson, the police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) tactical team stormed the Wells Fargo branch in St. Cloud, Minnesota after eight hours of negotiating with the suspect.

Authorities said they captured McNeary without any injuries. It is still unclear whether the suspect had a weapon or not, but investigators are still searching the place to ensure it is already safe.

Anderson also mentioned that McNeary has an extensive criminal history. He was already scheduled to go in court Thursday in connection to a violent offense. Police said the five hostages were all released unharmed before the final showdown at the bank.

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Minnesota Bank Robbery Standoff

It was initially unknown how many hostages were inside the bank. The Associated Press earlier reported that three women and a man were released from the Wells Fargo bank.

Police noted that the first woman ran from the bank toward SWAT members with her hands up. After being searched and cleared, the woman was immediately escorted to safety.

Later on, two women and a man emerged from the bank and were also led to safety. Each released was welcomed with a flurry of cheers from the gathered crowds.

Reports said the incident started at around 1:45 p.m. on Thursday after the police received a robbery report in progress.

A resident of St. Cloud, Abdi Kadir, shared that he was in the bank drive-through when the teller hurriedly told him to vacate the area. As he drove off, he saw people running out of the bank, the Star-Tribune reported.

Two armored vehicles were earlier seen stationed close to the bank's front door, along with a number of armed officers. Police moved onlookers away from the bank for safety purposes, but a crowd still gathered across the street to witness the drama unfold.

In a statement released before the suspect's arrest, Wells Fargo said they recognize that it is a traumatic moment for the community and their colleagues.

The spokeswoman of the company, Staci Schiller, also confirmed that there was an ongoing hostage situation at the south branch of the bank.

She added that the bank officials are cooperating with local law enforcement and will do whatever they can to assist and help the authorities.

Reports said the final hostage walked free at around 10:30 p.m., several minutes before the police stormed the bank.

Authorities have not mentioned any other motive of the hostage-taker besides money. According to the FBI, the majority of individuals who attempt bank robberies are overwhelmingly male.

READ MORE: American Students Sentenced to Life After Killing Italian Police

WATCH: Four Released as Hostage Situation Continues at St. Cloud Wells Fargo - From KARE 11
The Texas Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would remove the required permit for people to carry handguns in public.

The Texas Senate version, which passed on a party-line vote, differs slightly from similar legislation already passed by the state's House.

Fox News reported that the House would then have to adopt the Senate bill or settle the difference in their versions. After that process, the bill is expected to make its way to Texas Governor Greg Abbot's desk.

Abbott said that people are already allowed to have constitutional carry for long guns in Texas.

"This just adds handguns, someone has to still go through a background check when they buy a handgun," Abbott added.

The Republican supporters of the bill noted that the measure does not change the requirements for people to buy handguns. They said it only removes the permit requirements to carry guns in public.

READ NEXT: Texas Lawmaker Seeks Death Penalty for Women Who Get Abortions

Texas Gun Policies

Texas has some of the most non-restrictive gun laws in the country and has more than 1.6 million handgun license holders.

Once the bill becomes law, Texas would then join nearly two dozen states that allow some kind of unregulated carry of a handgun, but it would be the most populous, according to an ABC 7 News report.

Texas proposed bill would allow anyone 21 or older to carry a handgun provided they had no violent crime convictions or other legal prohibitions in their background.

The bill would also not prevent businesses from banning guns on their property. Federal background checks for some gun purchases would also remain in place. The state has no restrictions on private gun sales.

Supporters of the bill say it would allow Texans to defend themselves better in public while eliminating unnecessary hurdles to the Constitutional right to carry a gun.

Sen. Jose Menendez, a San Antonio Democrat, said that this bill is not a form of justice or liberty.

"It's going to be responsible for creating a path for more gun violence," Menendez noted in a report.

On the other hand, Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner noted that the bill is a restoration of the belief and trust of the citizens, The Guardian reported.

Polling in the states suggests a majority of Texans do not support unlicensed carry of handguns. Around 59 percent of those polled said that they opposed the policy.

Democratic Sen. Beverly Powell echoed safety concerns from some law enforcement groups and license-to-carry instructors opposing the bill.

Powell said that she wants to know if the person is well-trained in using a gun if she sits next to someone with a person who has a holster on their side.

Several mass shooting in Texas has been reported, including two mass shooting in August 2019. A shooting at a high school in May 2018 saw 10 people dead, while another one took place in November 2017, where 27 people were killed.

Other states are also looking to allow carrying handguns without any permit, such as South Carolina and Florida.

READ NEXT: Texas Governor Attacks Biden on His Gun Control Measures

WATCH: Is Texas Ready for Permitless Gun Carrying? Many License to Carry Instructors Aren't Sold - From WFAA




An Alaska high school teacher was placed on administrative leave after she was caught on camera telling her students over Zoom that George Floyd would still be alive if he complied with police orders.

Daily Mail Online reported that one of the students' parents uploaded the 15-minute video on YouTube. In the video, the Alaska teacher referred to as "Ms. Gardner" was seen with a face mask while talking to her students about police killing Black people, including George Floyd's death.

READ NEXT: California Teacher Caught Berating Students on Zoom Over Their Parents' Push to Stop Distance Learning

Alaska Teacher Commenting on George Floyd's Death Over Zoom

New York Post reported that the teacher, who was employed at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, also argued that complying with the authorities would have saved George Floyd's life.

In the video, the teacher said that former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin "abused his authority" and "was complicit" in Floyd's death.

Then she noted that if George Floyd had "just sidled into the car" in the beginning and "slid it in there, and let them put his legs in," he would have been alive today.

"You know that's true," the Alaska teacher added.

The teacher also instructed her students that if ever they get arrested, they have to place their hands on the back and get inside the police car, then call their parents once they were allowed to make a phone call.

Miami Herald noted that the Alaska teacher said in the Zoom class that she would do the same thing if she would be arrested, adding that she is an "old white lady."

The Fairbanks North Star Brough School District has issued a letter this week, notifying the parents that the teacher in the video had been put on administrative leave. But officials declined to name the Alaska teacher.

Carly Sween, the principal of Lathrop High School, said that she and her assistant principal met with the students via Zoom call to talk about the incident.

Citing a local newspaper, Miami Herald reported that the school officials told the students to reflect on the situation.

It is unclear what prompted the conversation between Gardner and her students. But the Zoom video began with the Alaska teacher talking about the number of shootings that involved people of color.

Other Issues Tackled in the Zoom Video

Apart from the teacher's comment on George Floyd's death, Gardner also tackled how to dress appropriately to avoid getting the attention of the cops.

"You guys are dressed nicely. You don't look like thugs," said the teacher. She added that students should not wear their pants down around their knees.

Meanwhile, a tutor who identified herself as Liz retaliated on Gardner's comments about clothing.

Liz said that it made her a little uncomfortable when the teacher's insinuated that the way someone dresses will garner attention from law enforcement authorities.

Liz noted that the police officers "should be trained not to judge people based on those factors." She added that having pants around the knees does not imply that they are a criminal.

Lathrop High Principal Carly Sween said the incident is now under investigation. Sween has labeled the comments of the Alaska teacher on Zoom as "racially insensitive."

President Sandra Ryan of Fairbanks Education Association said that a union advocate would represent Gardner as the investigation continues.

READ MORE: Florida Student's Mother Gets Shot During Zoom Class While Teacher Helplessly Watches

WATCH: Fairbanks Teacher - Racist Comments and Interactions With Students, Staff, and Family Member - From Joshua Rose
The authorities arrested a man after he killed an Ohio mom, who was with her two children at her apartment in Dayton when the crime happened. The man was arrested on Thursday morning for killing Shanika Bogan, 31 years old, who was deemed by authorities to be killed intentionally, People reported.

Authorities identified the suspect as Kendall Beasley, 28 years old, as Dayton Policed served a murder warrant against the man behind the heinous crime. WHIO TV noted that Beasley was charged with murder and felonious assault.

READ NEXT: Pennsylvania Woman Stabbed to Death by a Man She Met On Facebook Marketplace

Blind Date Turned Killer

People noted that Beasley and Bogan were acquaintances for a short time. Dayton Police Lt. Jason Hall disclosed that Bogan was set up with the suspect during a blind date. Hall also noted that Beasley appeared to be pursuing the victim into a romantic relationship.

The Grio reported that Beasley served six years inside the prison for aggravated burglary and intimidating a victim. The suspect was released on April 5 from the London Correctional Institution.

The investigation for the death of the Ohio mom is still ongoing. Authorities have not disclosed the motive of the suspect for killing Bogan.

"We are trying to piece together the events that occurred," said Hall, pointing out that he still figures out what occurred in the incident. Meanwhile, Bogan's mother could not fathom what happened to her daughter. Identified as Tracy Berry, Bogan's mother also shared that her daughter would not even hurt a fly.

"What I can tell you is unfortunately in this situation that two young children are without their mother," said Hall.

Bogan was killed by the suspect while her two children were also present at the apartment. Reports noted that the children were not able to witness how their mother was killed.

Ohio Mom Killed Inside Her Apartment

Hall noted that Bogan was killed between the night of April 29 and the morning of April 30. The dates given by the authorities fell on a Thursday and Friday. Bogan was reported to be dead on the scene when the authorities arrived at her apartment.

The police responded to the call from Bogan's mother on April 30, around six in the morning. WHIO TV noted that Berry got concerned that time when Bogan did not send her "usual text." Berry was also able to witness her dead daughter when she drove to her apartment.

The victim's mother furthered that the suspect was able to converse with the Ohio mom's eldest son.

"He told my eldest grandson, 'I am to give your mama a massage'," said Berry, adding that the grandson saw the suspect going inside his mom's room. Berry furthered that the suspect talked with her grandson once again, telling him to get "some cereal to snack on and told him that his mother is taking a nap.

Details about how the Ohio mom was killed were not furthered by the authorities. Meanwhile, Bogan's two kids that were inside her apartment when she was killed were identified as a 10-year-old-boy and a four-year-old girl.

READ MORE: Brazilian Girl Beaten to Death by Stepfather for Wetting Bed; Teen Mom Also Charged

WATCH: Police seeking suspect in connection to Dayton homicide investigation - from WDTNTV
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Eau Claire Transit ridership remains well below normal

Staff photo by Dan Reiland UW-Eau Claire student Michael Sauer rides Wednesday on a city bus with few other passengers. Ridership remains well below normal on Eau Claire Transit, but has shown some improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year.

EAU CLAIRE  Between the pre-pandemic start of 2020, government safer-at-home orders issued when the coronavirus arrived in the state and then people adjusting to life during the COVID-19 era, ridership on Eau Claire city buses ended up being down by 50% last year.

Eau Claire Transit reports numbers have rebounded somewhat for the start of this year, but are still 45.5% below the amount of riders seen before the pandemic.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime situation for us in the industry, city Transit Manager Tom Wagener said about the large drop in passengers.

From January through March, 106,248 people boarded city buses compared to 194,835 during the first quarter of 2020, including the mid-March start of the pandemic.

Its a deep cut in ridership, but improved from last year when there were two months when the government urged people to stay home and only travel for essential purposes.

The 452,432 passengers on city buses last year was about half the 911,440 who rode in 2019, according to Eau Claire Transits year-end report.

Buses have been running with seats blocked off as a precaution against spreading germs  allowing only 25% capacity at the start of the pandemic, later rising and staying at 50%. But Wagener said there havent been reports of not enough seats for those who have been riding the bus.

From one-time riders to frequent bus users, every category of paying customers were down in 2020. The only group of passengers growing was those riding for free, which went up nearly 15-fold due to fares being suspended from mid-March until early October to reduce the chances of germs spreading when passengers give payments to drivers.

A major user of Eau Claire Transit, UW-Eau Claire, had times when classes were taught entirely online last year, greatly lowering use of city buses that ferried students between campus and their homes. Routes focused on UW-Eau Claire were even temporarily suspended last spring when the pandemic first hit and campus closed.

University student use of the bus system dropped 70%  falling from 368,793 rides in 2019 down to 109,468 last year.

And for the start of 2021, UW-Eau Claire student use of city buses has been about half of what it normally is, due in part to classes still being split between online instruction and classrooms.

During the current spring semester, only 37% of classes have been conducted entirely in the classroom while 33% are being taught entirely online, according to the university. The remaining 30% have been hybrid classes using a mix of virtual and classroom instruction.

Lower fares, budget help elsewhere

Fares make up a minority share of the transit systems budget  state and federal subsidies combined are the largest portion  but remain an important source of revenue.

Several months of not collecting bus fares last year and the dip in ridership did raise worries of a budget shortfall, Wagener said.

Largely due to taking in less in fares, Eau Claire Transits revenues came in $1 million lower than the $6 million budgeted in 2020.

However, that was almost entirely offset by cost savings.

Use of paratransit  an on-demand service that provides subsidized rides in smaller vehicles to people with mobility problems  was way down last year.

Eau Claire Transit spent just under half of the $1.39 million budgeted for paratransit rides due to lower demand from riders.

And even though Eau Claires fleet of buses stuck to their schedules throughout last year, the city saw lower diesel costs for them.

Though budgeted for $381,500, the city only spent about $174,000 on diesel fuel for buses. Wagener attributes the savings to the fleet continuing to use newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles as well as lower diesel costs.

While that brought 2020s budget into balance, theres still the ongoing worry that Eau Claire Transit and other bus services have about how long it will take riders to return to pre-pandemic numbers.

The federal government has certainly stepped up to allay those fears by providing those additional monies, Wagener said.

The nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum released reports last month about falling bus ridership during the COVID-19 pandemic and federal money that will fill holes left by lost fare revenue. The numerous federal coronavirus relief packages are providing more than $400 million in aid to transit systems throughout the state with Eau Claires share being about $7.8 million, according to the report.

Theres no deadline for using federal money so it can be spread out over multiple years to cover shortfalls, Wagener said. The aid issued for COVID-19 is restricted to be used only for operating costs, not for new buses or other capital spending.

However, Wagener noted that regular federal aid that Eau Claire Transit gets is more flexible, so that money could be redirected from operational costs to helping to pay for the new downtown transfer center building project.

Full return unknown

When full ridership will return to city buses in Eau Claire and elsewhere is yet to be seen.

Transit systems across the country are not sure what its going to take to get people back to using public transit, Wagner said.

The pandemic spurred more employees to work from home, reducing their use of the bus to get to work. Many service-sector employees  a key group of bus riders  had their work cut during the pandemic and businesses such as restaurants are still recovering, Wagener noted.

Its going to certainly take time as businesses rebound and more hiring is done and those types of things happen, he said.

City Councilman Jeremy Gragert, who serves on Eau Claires Transit Commission, said usual bus riders may have adopted other means of transportation  walking, biking or buying their own car  during the pandemic and could be slow to return to buses.

Sometimes those habits stick, he said.

Mark Quam, president of local advocacy group Chippewa Valley Transit Alliance, expects it will likely take another year for riders to return to levels seen before.

I still feel there are a lot of people that are not comfortable getting back on the bus, he said.

Were still in uncharted territory, Quam added, and factors such as progress in vaccinating the local population and variants of the virus that challenge the areas return to normal will factor into peoples decisions to take public transit.

For those who are concerned about the safety of taking buses, Wagener and Gragert noted there have been no reports of COVID-19 outbreaks stemming from them here or elsewhere.

Public transit  the way weve operated it in Eau Claire and across the country  is very safe, Gragert said.
Margaritas, espresso martinis and mojitos could be a permanent to-go item at Pennsylvanias restaurants, taverns and bars.

Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania House Liquor Control Committee unanimously voted on a measure that would make mixed drinks a fixture on menus of the states licensed establishments.

Originally, the law signed by Gov. Tom Wolf in May 2020, was designed as a temporary lifesaver during the height of the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns. Now, supporters say continuing it will help restaurants rebound.

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated Pennsylvanias hospitality businesses, and it will take years for them to fully recover, said David Wojnar, senior vice president and head of state public policy for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, in a statement.

Cocktails to-go has proven to be a vital part of survival during COVID-19 for Pennsylvania businesses, and making this measure permanent will only provide increased stability in the future, he said.

READ MORE:

The bill now moves to the state House of Representatives for consideration.

Under the law, establishments can sell mixed drinks in containers with a secure lid in quantities of at least 4 ounces and no more than 64 ounces before 11 p.m. It does not apply to beer or wine.

The measure applied to restaurants or hotels with liquor licenses that have lost more than 25 percent of average monthly sales during the pandemic, and remained in effect until operations exceeded 60 percent of capacity.

Pennsylvania is not the only state considering making the adult drinks permanent. Recently, governors of Georgia and Montana signed similar laws, and during the pandemic more than 30 states made cocktails to-go temporarily available.

Restaurant owners like Angelo Karagiannis of Zembies Tavern in Harrisburg said the ability to sell to-go drinks boosts business. He said it has been especially convenient for customers in downtown Harrisburg, since many walk from their homes to patronize establishments.

During the pandemic for a period of time when the governor shut us down, thats all the business I had, he said.

The Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association and Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association have applauded the idea.

John Longstreet, CEO and president of the Restaurant Association, said in the past that cocktails to-go proved to be more successful for establishments during the pandemic than originally expected. Meanwhile, the Tavern Associations Chuck Moran said takeout food and beverages kept taverns afloat last year.

It was the support of patrons ordering take-out or buying gift cards during the roughest days of mitigation orders that allowed many establishments to keep their heads above water, Moran said.

Not everyone favors the idea. Phil Guarno, owner of Feniccis of Hershey in Derry Township, said to-go cocktails cheapen a liquor license. Plus, he said now that liquor stores are open, diners are not as interested in the takeout beverages.

He said hed rather have the ability to sell bottles of unopened wine to-go, which requires investing in a separate license.

I think some of the integrity of liquor licenses should go back to pre-COVID times when the owner of the license had a little better control, Guarno said.

In Pennsylvania it is illegal to have open containers of alcohol in a vehicle and drinks must be transported in a vehicles trunk or other area not occupied by passengers.

Trooper Brent Miller, director of the state police communications office, said since the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement started enforcing the cocktails-to-go in May 2020, officers have issued 24 notices of violation.

The majority of those violations, he said are for serving the drinks after 11 p.m., which is a violation under the states Liquor Code. Miller said some of the violations were out of the Harrisburg District Enforcement Office.
A 40-year-old Massachusetts man, driving drunk Wednesday afternoon in Wilson Borough, struck several vehicles and damaged wooden steps on a home before running off and then being held to the ground by two residents until police arrived, court papers say.

Shawn J, Ackerman, of Attleboro, Massachusetts, faces two counts of driving under the influence and 14 vehicular counts, court papers say. He was arraigned early Thursday before District Judge Douglas Schlegel and initially housed in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $5,000 bail, records show. He did not appear to be in jail on Friday morning.

Borough police responded at 4:05 p.m. Wednesday for a crash in the 300 block of South 16th Street when they located Ackerman on a nearby block of Linden Street being held down by two borough residents, police said. An officer took Ackerman into custody and noticed a smell of alcohol coming from him, court papers say. Ackerman twice admitted to drinking before driving  once saying he drank several beers  and was taken to a hospital where a blood draw was done, police said.

Ackerman, driving a silver 2003 Hyundai, had crashed into a moving white Lexus, the steps outside a home and a parked silver Chevrolet, a parked red Hyundai and a parked beige Subaru on neighborhood streets, police said.

He initially drove off but then got out and tried to run away before residents stopped him, police said.

His preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 9 a.m. May 18 before District Judge Richard Yetter III.

Court papers did not indicate an attorney for Ackerman.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting lehighvalleylive.com with a subscription.

Tony Rhodin can be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com.
A 100-foot-tall Chinese rocket that some have described as out of control is expected to fall down to Earth this weekend. The problem: No one knows exactly when it will happen or where the rocket  or big pieces of it  will land.

Will huge chunks of debris crash into a populated city? Or will they fall harmlessly into the ocean?

As of now, thats anybodys guess. However, space experts are telling the public theres no reason to panic.

The chances of your house, or your head, getting hit by a piece of debris from space are super small.

Analysts told TheVerge.com that theres an extremely high chance that pieces of the rocket will splash down in the ocean.

Much of the earth is covered in water, so theres almost no risk to the public, said Dan Oltrogge, founder of the Space Safety Coalition and top policy expert at the Commercial Space Operations Center, a firm that helps companies track space traffic.

Although the risk to people on land isnt zero, Oltrogge told TheVerge, its a whole lot less if pieces of the rocket are aiming for a large body of water.

The U.S. Space Command, part of the Department of Defense, says it is tracking the location of the Chinese Long March 5B (rocket) in space, but its exact entry point into the Earths atmosphere cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its re-entry.

As of now, the re-entry is expected sometime around Saturday, May 8, the Space Command said in a statement on its website.

Space debris from a Chinese rocket could crash into Earth less than 24 hours from now, but where it hits is still unknown. CNN meteorologist @ChadMyersCNN has the latest forecast on where it may go. https://t.co/3j2JHJaxvD pic.twitter.com/7ma1CaodkR  CNN Weather Center (@CNNweather) May 7, 2021

According to the New York Post, experts believe debris from the rocket could fall anywhere from as far north as New York to as far south as New Zealand.

One of the many potential tracks of the rocket crosses over part of New Jersey, according to maps posted on Twitter (see image below) by the Aerospace Corporation, which has been tracking the rockets orbit.

But New Jerseyans should not freak out, says Chris Bakley, an astronomy expert from the Cape May area.

The chances of damage or injury from this rocket are incredibly low, Bakley told NJ Advance Media. But you can never say its a zero percent chance. Space is difficult and many times unpredictable.

Our latest prediction for CZ-5B rocket body reentry is:

 09 May 2021 03:53 UTC  11 hours

Reentry will be along one of the ground tracks shown here. It is still too early to determine a meaningful debris footprint. Follow this page for updates: https://t.co/p2AU9zE3y2 pic.twitter.com/1depRKMk6f  The Aerospace Corporation (@AerospaceCorp) May 7, 2021

UPDATE (3:45 p.m. Friday): The Aerospace Corporations latest projection calls for the Chinese rocket to crash down in Sudan at around 11:45 p.m. ET Saturday, according to a report by NBC News.

But its confidence interval is plus or minus 16 hours  leaving open a huge window of the planet where the object might land, the report said.

Thousands of objects being tracked

The U.S. Space Command said its 18th Space Control Squadron  known as the SPCS and based at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California  provides around-the-clock support to the Space Surveillance Network and tracks more than 27,000 man-made objects in space, the majority of which are in low-earth orbit.

All debris can be potential threats to spaceflight safety and the space domain the agency noted, and the 18th SPCS delivers front-line space defense and warnings to the global space community.

The Long March 5B rocket was launched on April 29 to carry the core module of Chinas first permanent space station, the Associated Press reported.

On Friday, China said the upper stage of its rocket will mostly burn up on re-entry, posing little threat to people and property on the ground. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbing said Chinese authorities will release information about the re-entry of the rocket in a timely manner.

NASA rocket launch

In an unrelated space mission, NASA is scheduled to launch a rocket Saturday night from the the agencys Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, and it may be visible from many eastern states, including New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

The launch is scheduled for 8:02 p.m. on Saturday. NASA says theres a 40-minute launch window, so the rocket could go up a little later than the official launch time.

NASA says two harmless vapor clouds will form north of Bermuda about 9 minutes and 30 seconds after launch as part of the mission and those clouds may also be visible from the eastern United States.

Immediately after release of the vapor, the spherical clouds are a mixture of green and violet, but that phase only lasts about 30 seconds when the un-ionized component of the cloud has diffused away, NASA says. After exposure to sunlight, the vapor clouds quickly ionize and take on a violet color.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com.
Pennsylvania educators gathered across the state Thursday to urge state lawmakers to increase basic education funding by at least $1.15 billion next school year.

At one of six rallies statewide, Lehigh Valley school leaders and board members gathered outside of Marvine Elementary School in Bethlehem to talk about how before the COVID-19 pandemic, skyrocketing employee pension, charter school tuition and special education costs left districts cash-strapped. Now to recover from the pandemic districts need sustained state funding to help them recover, speakers said.

The rally was organized by PA Schools Work, a nonpartisan coalition of organizations advocating for public schools across the state, and other events were held from Pittsburgh to Lancaster to Scranton. Organizers were calling for an increase of at least $1.15 billion in state funding, including $200 million more for special education and $10 million more for career and technical education.

Educators emphasized that federal stimulus funds cant be used for ongoing expenses like pensions. It can help them cover one-time expenses like masks and cleaning supplies, buy students mobile hotspots and tablets and try to reduce learning losses, but it cant fill budget gaps.

When the state fails to fund its fair share of basic education funding, it leaves school boards two options: raise local taxes or cut programs, and since different communities can generate more tax revenue than others that creates great inequities, speakers said.

Allentown School Board President Nancy Wilt said shes watched as more and more of the districts budget goes toward paying charter school tuition and pensions, which then makes it harder for the district to compete for students and meet basic educational needs.

As we begin to emerge from the impact of this pandemic, many of the families who are our tax base are also working to get their finances back in order, Wilt said. A state increase in basic education funding will provide a more solid foundation for districts to build their budgets, use one-time federal dollars to address not only learning loss, but the social and economic impact and emotional impact the past year has had on our students.

Gov. Tom Wolfs 2021-22 budget proposed increasing basic education funding by $1.3 billion and running all basic education dollars through the states fair funding formula. It was created in 2016, but only applies to new funding. This means that only 11% of state education funding ran through it last year, while the remaining $5.5 billion is distributed based on 1991-92 student enrollment.

Wolf wants to raise the basic education allocation by $200 million and he proposed another $1.15 billion to protect schools that might lose money under the formula.

Republican lawmakers have called the spending plan, which would legalize and tax marijuana, a nonstarter. This is sure to set off another protracted budget battle between the Democratic governor and the GOP-controlled Legislature. The budget is due to be passed by the time the current fiscal year ends June 30.

The current state budget flat-funded special education at a time when students with disabilities have growing needs, said Jessica McKenty, director of advocacy for The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties. The pandemic delivered a one-two punch to hundreds of Pennsylvania school districts already suffering under years of underfunding from the state, she said.

To put it simply, we were already behind pre-COVID, fell ever further behind during the COVID-19 pandemic and are heading into an exacerbated crisis (with an extremely limited resources), McKenty said.

Districts said the majority of their budgets are eaten up by state-mandated special education costs and charter school tuition payments. The state used to reimburse districts for about half of their charter school costs, now districts pick up the entire tab at a time the pandemic has fueled cyber school enrollment growth.

Once the Bethlehem Area School District pays its almost $34 million million charter school bill next year, there will be about $33,000 of its state basic ed funding remaining, Superintendent Joseph Roy said. This year, there is about $2 million left.

Since the 2008-09 budget, district pension and charter school costs have risen by $64.6 million. And special education costs are up almost $18 million from 2013-14.

Yet, its state basic ed funding since 2013-14 has only risen by $6 million, Roy said.

The district is staring down a $7.9 million budget deficit currently, which will likely be bridged via a tax cut and dipping into district savings. This will be the districts first tax hike in two years if it is passed.

Bethlehem Area School Board member Karen Beck Pooley emphasized Pennsylvanias current funding inequities that result in the state ranking 47th out of 50 states in terms of its share of public school funding. Her district is underfunded by about $20 million a year and Lehigh Valley school districts are underfunded by at least $100 million annually in total, she estimated.

Pennsylvania has a larger per pupil spending gap between its wealthiest and poorest school districts than any other state, Beck Pooley said. This gap is so large because the state support for public schools is so small.

More than half of all Pennsylvania public school students and 80% of students of color attend underfunded schools, she said.

She urged parents and community members to sign a letter of support backing the increase in basic education funding, which is available on the BASD Proud Parents Website at basdproudparents.org.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.
You might see something streaking across the sky this weekend, but it wont be a meteor from the Eta Aquarid meteor shower.

NASA is scheduled to launch a rocket from the agencys Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for a special space experiment, and it could be visible from many eastern states, including New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

UPDATE (MAY 8): NASA has scrubbed Saturday nights launch due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch. The launch has been rescheduled for 8:03 p.m. Sunday, May 9, with a 40-minute launch window.

The launch is scheduled for 8:02 p.m. on Saturday, May 8. NASA says theres a 40-minute launch window, so the rocket could go up a little later than the official launch time. (The launch was originally targeted for Friday night, but it was pushed back to Saturday.)

According to a map provided by NASA, the rocket may be visible from far southern New Jersey within 10 seconds of the launch, from most areas of New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania and New York City from 10 to 30 seconds after launch, and from far northern New Jersey, most of Pennsylvania and most of New York state from 30 to 60 seconds after the launch.

NASA says two harmless vapor clouds will form north of Bermuda about 9 minutes and 30 seconds after launch as part of the mission and those clouds may also be visible from the eastern United States.

Viewing tips

Chris Bakley, an astronomy expert and astro-photographer from South Jersey, said no special equipment  such as a telescope or binoculars  is needed to see the rocket or vapor clouds. But clear skies and a clear view of the southeast horizon are essential.

The closer the launch is to sunset, the harder it will be to see, Bakley noted. So an earlier launch time would be best for people trying to see the rocket.

LAUNCH UPDATES  When is the next launch from Wallops? We got you covered with the latest sounding rocket mission updates:



 May 7  Black Brant XII

 May 26  Terrier-Improved Malemute

 June 24  Terrier-Improved Orion



Follow our website for more: https://t.co/yF9Vv6xJBP pic.twitter.com/LzNW4IkocT  NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) April 27, 2021

Weather outlook

In case the rocket launch gets postponed because of bad weather or other reasons, NASA has backup launch days running through May 16.

As of now, the National Weather Service is calling for mostly sunny skies along the eastern shore of Virginia during the day on Saturday, with a slight chance of rain before 2 p.m., then mostly clear skies Saturday night.

In New Jersey, the viewing conditions could be marred by clouds in some parts of the state Saturday night, with forecasters calling for partly cloudy skies and a chance of rain showers before 8 p.m. in the northern region, partly cloudy skies in the central region, but mostly clear skies in the southern region.

In the Lehigh Valley, a chance of showers and thunderstorms Saturday is expected to give way to mostly clear skies Saturday night.

The NASA mission is officially known as KiNet-X and the goal is to study how energy and momentum is transported between regions of space that are connected magnetically, according to CBS News in Boston. This study will help scientists better understand things like Auroras and how they are formed and their movement from place to place.

Note: This post was updated Thursday evening with the new scheduled launch date and updated weather forecasts for Virginia and New Jersey.

Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.

Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com.
Bord na Mona claims to have given a detailed legal briefing to midlands politicians on the impact of the 2019 High Court Case on peat extraction operations.

The State-owned firm says the briefing follows a meeting with the same group and the company last month.

"The briefing outlined why turf cutting and other peat extraction without planning permission on Bord na Mona lands is illegal.

"In 2019, the High Court ruled that peat extraction operations, on bogs over 30 hectares, requires planning permission. All peat extraction operations that contravene this ruling are illegal," said a statement.

The company said the key points in the briefing include:

The companys own peat harvesting operations were halted this year. In parallel with this, Bord na Mona has migrated 350 employees from peat harvesting to the Peatlands Climate Action Scheme. This scheme will secure a 100million tonne carbon store, sequester millions more tonnes of carbon and develop the amenity potential of our lands.

Fortunately, the vast majority, 1600 people, who have cut turf on Bord na Mona lands are turbary rights holders. They continue to enjoy the same rights as before the High Court ruling.

Following the High Court ruling it is illegal for the approximately 30 industrial peat contractors to extract peat under licence on Bord na Mona lands as before.

The company is engaging with stakeholders on the particular issues arising from the High Court ruling.
Irish Rail is set to spend big money on upgrading the first-class carriages on its trains while historic buildings at one of its busiest train stations in Laois that is crumbling into ruins.

The decrepit state of Portarlington's train station has been highlighted on the same day as the company which owns the property invited firms to bid for the contract to upgrade first-class on its services.

Senator Fiona O'Loughlin raised the concern over what she described as the 'shocking disrepair' of the railway building at the station in the Laois Offaly border town.

She said there is growing outrage after a photograph of the current state of the building was posted on facebook. The picture shows that the building is falling in on itself. She said it is surrounded by a wire fence which seems to be the only safety measures taken.

It is shocking to see such a beautiful building be let go to rack and ruin, said Senator Fiona OLoughlin. Not to mention from a health and safety aspect the building does not look like it will stand up on its own much longer.

The Fianna Fail representative said the building is on the far side of the railway and has not been used for some time. She said the station was built in 1850 in the typical Victorian style adding that an intricate latticework footbridge crosses above the railway line.

Irish Rail spent substantially on Portarlington in recent years through the expansion of the car park and lengthening of the platform.

Sen OLoughlin is calling on Irish Rail to repair the building as a matter of urgency.

Portarlington is well known far and wide for its station and this deserves to be repaired and kept as a historical monument to the town, she said.

The former South Kildare TD issued a statement as Irish Rail invited companies to bid for a contract as part of its 'Interior Refurbishment Programme' on its first-class carriages.

The company says it needs 127 modern tables with added functionality. Irish Rail says the tables should have modern LED lamps, three pin sockets, USB charging ports and flush tabletop wireless charging pads.
A father-of-three strangled his wife to death when she arrived home in the early hours having had sexual intercourse with another man, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Opening the trial of Rafal Karaczyn on Thursday Conor Devally SC for the Director of Public Prosecutions said the accused man's marriage to Natalia Karaczyn was "not terribly happy" but they stayed living together for their children, to whom they were devoted.

Natalia was "anxious to move on" from the marriage, Mr Devally said, and on the Saturday night before she died she went out with friends and went to another man's house where she had consensual sexual intercourse. When she returned home at about 6am her husband "intruded" into her bedroom as she prepared to go to bed, counsel said. A row erupted and Mr Karaczyn strangled his wife.

The 35-year-old, of Crozon Park, Sligo has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his 30-year-old wife Natalia Karaczyn at their family home in Crozon Park between April 29th, 2018 and May 1st, 2018.

Following the opening Brendan Grehan SC for Mr Karaczyn said his client accepts that he unlawfully killed his wife by strangling her and that he alone was responsible for her death. Mr Karaczyn also admits that he lied to his wife's sister and to gardai about what happened to his wife. The issue to be decided by the jury, Mr Grehan said, will relate to the mental state of the accused when he strangled his wife.

Mr Devally told the jury of eight women and four men that the Karaczyns are from Poland but moved to Sligo and in 2018 lived at Crozon Park with their three children. The evidence, counsel said, "will make clear that the marriage was not terribly happy." It was "functional" and for the sake of their children they continued to live together, sleeping in separate bedrooms.

They planned to move into separate homes but, Mr Devally said, had different views as to how that would happen. Of the two, he said, Natalia was the more anxious to move on and enjoyed a separate social life from her husband. She had a number of friends and would socialise at weekends, sometimes coming home late. "That may have been a cause of tension," Mr Devally said.

On the Saturday night before she died Ms Karaczyn went out with friends to various pubs in Sligo where she met a young man and "quickly formed an attraction". She went to his house and had consensual sexual intercourse before getting a taxi home at about 6am. She would not be seen alive again.

Mr Devally said later that morning the accused made "bogus" calls and texts to his wife's sister saying that Natalia had not come home.

There was panic, counsel said, as Ms Karaczyn's family and friends contacted hospitals and friends "far and wide" to find out where she was. Gardai, having checked CCTV, arrested Mr Karaczyn and after some time he told them a "story" that he had no part in her death but had discovered her body and, in panic, had moved her. He told gardai where she could be found close to a roadway not far from Sligo.

Mr Devally told the jury that they will learn that Mr Karaczyn "maintained that he was guiltless" for her death and said someone else had "intruded" into the house.

He eventually relented, Mr Devally said, and told his sister-in-law what had happened: that his wife was in her bedroom when a row erupted and he strangled her.

The trial continues in front of the jury and Ms Justice Eileen Creedon.
New research from Dublin City University (DCU), New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and Yale University, which examines third-party prejudice and cultural fit of the candidate in recruitment and hiring decisions, has found that HR managers and hiring professionals receive explicit requests from almost 30% of clients to avoid hiring from certain groups.

It also found that participants estimated hiring professionals to be influenced by their clients' biases in a recruitment process roughly 30% of the time.

The research was conducted with over 600 HR managers and professionals in Ireland and the US. The first study looked at whether HR managers and professionals would find it acceptable for another HR professional to show third-party prejudice against women in hiring decisions. It also enquired about their own experience with third-party bias within their organisations.

Results show that HR professionals would condone third-party bias against women when hiring in the interest of cultural fit, i.e. to take into consideration the preferences of others including the CEO and co-workers.

The research highlights practices that could endanger strides that have been made in reducing gender inequality and generally run counter to diversity efforts in organisations.

In a second study, participants were presented with a fictitious hiring scenario, whereby just half were given information that the CEO had conservative views of women (e.g. believing that women should put families before careers).

Even though 72% of the HR managers who participated in the study were women, it found that both men and women who endorsed the need to prioritise cultural fit would accommodate the third-party bias of the CEO - that is, they would be less likely to select a female candidate over an equally-qualified male candidate. Many participants saw it as being acceptable and part of the job, regardless of their own beliefs.

Co-author of the study, Professor Janine Bosak, Professor of Work and Organisational Psychology at DCU Business School, said: Many hiring professionals see the act of channelling other peoples biases in staff selection as acceptable and part of the job regardless of their own attitudes. While HR professionals might be expected to minimise bias in recruitment, our study highlights how a focus on candidate fit with others promotes unfair hiring practices that lead to employment discrimination on this basis of gender.

Speaking about its importance and how organisations can best address this, co- author Professor Patrick Flood, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at DCU, added: Our research highlights that the elimination of hiring bias is a far from straightforward task - one which is not solved simply by bias training for recruiters.

"We have found that both men and women recruiters are susceptible to influence from third parties whose status and rank exert undue influence on the hiring process. It is not sufficient to simply audit the outcomes of the recruitment process. We must also audit who is admitted into the hiring process and ensure that bias against minorities does not occur.

"Additionally the presence of independent individuals on boards for all stages of the selection process is critically important including at the early stages of attracting and narrowing of the candidate pool."

Reflecting on the implications of the study, first author Professor Andrea Vial, Assistant Professor of Psychology at New York University Abu Dhabi, said: It is striking how many hiring professionals report spontaneously making inferences about clients discriminatory hiring preferences, even if those clients dont make an explicit request to discriminate [which would be illegal]. Our studies demonstrate that they dont have to. This is one reason why bias is so difficult to remove from the hiring process.

"And the HR professionals in our study report having experienced this kind of third-party bias influence, not only in the context of gender bias, but also in the context of bias based on race and ethnicity or age. These results shed light on how much work still needs to be done to debias the hiring process.

Co-author Professor John Dovidio, Carl I. Hovland Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Professor Emeritus in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies and of Epidemiology at Yale University, said: While people may be quick to recognise bias in others, they are frequently unaware of how it affects their own behaviour.

"This research illuminates the cascading impact within an organisation of an individuals bias when others not only fail to confront the consequences of that bias but also unwittingly engage in personal discrimination as they adjust their own actions to accommodate the persons bias. Understanding this ripple effect of bias in organisations can benefit the potential targets of unfair discrimination as well as create a climate of inclusion through organisational practices.
The death has occurred of Bridget Dempsey

Ballyhagen, Carbury, Kildare



Beloved daughter of the late Ann and sister of the late Derrick. Deeply regretted by her loving father Paul, sadly missed by her brothers Paul, Ray and Robert, sister Anne, sisters-in-law Caroline, Tina, Caroline and Shauna, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, relatives, neighbours and friends.

May Bridget Rest in Peace

Due to the Current Covid-19 restrictions there will be a family Funeral on Sunday at 12.30 in the Holy Trinity Church, Derrinturn followed by burial in the adjoining cemetery. You can take part in Bridget's Mass on the Carbury Parish Webcam via the following link:

https://www.carburyparish.ie/our-parish/webcam-derrinturn/

You can line the route from the house to the Church on Sunday with social distancing and adhering to government guidelines. Condolences can be left using the link on this page. The Dempsey family would like to thank you for your support at this difficult and sad time.

The death has occurred of Marjorie BYRNE (nee McEnroe)

Churchtown, Dublin / Kildare



(Formerly Kildare) 2nd May 2021 (peacefully) at St Vincents University Hospital, beloved wife of Kevin, predeceased by her brother Eamon, she will be sadly missed by her sisters Kay, Mary and Carmen, brother Paul, brothers-in-law John (Costello), Cormac and John, sister-in-law Celeine, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, relatives, neighbours and many friends around the world.

Rest in Peace

A private family Funeral will take place due to government guidelines. Those who would have liked to attend but cannot may view on the following link https://youtu.be/jo2iO1cOHQ8 on (Saturday) 8th May at 11am. Messages of sympathy for the family may be left in the condolence section below. Family flowers only donations if desired to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People.

The death has occurred of Alice Cross (nee Tuohy)

Rathcurragh, Newbridge, Kildare

Arrangements have changed.



Sadly missed by her loving daughters Jennifer, Jackie and Marina, sons David and Louis, grandchildren Rhiannon, Eleanor, Lauren, Alex, Aisling, Megan, Oska, Finn, Charlie, Elliott and Lily, great-grandchildren Archie, Andrya and Finley, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, special niece Eileen, extended family, neighbours and friends.

May Alice Rest In Peace

Due to current government guidelines regarding public gatherings, a private family funeral will take place. Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to current restrictions cannot, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence page below.

Removal from Glennons Funeral Home, 32 Main Street, Newbridge to arrive at Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold's Cross for funeral service at 2.30pm on Friday (14th May). The service can be viewed at:

www.vimeo.com/event/153499

The death has occurred of Anne Donohoe

Moorefield Drive, Newbridge, Kildare



DONOHOE Anne (Moorefield Drive, Newbridge, Co. Kildare) peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family. 6th May 2021. Deeply regretted by her loving husband Peter, her adoring children Yvonne, Gary & Caroline, grandchildren Oisin, Fionn & Jessica-Anne, brothers Michael, John & Dan, sisters Bridget, Margaret, Mary & Theresa, sons-in-law Sean & Patrick, daughter-in-law Laura, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews relatives & friends.

May Anne Rest in Peace

Due to current restrictions on public gatherings, a private family funeral will take place, on Saturday, 8th of May, at 11am in Cill Mhuire Church, Newbridge, with burial afterwards at St. Conleths cemetery, Newbridge. Annes funeral will be live-streamed on https://newbridgeparish.ie/cill-mhuire-church. The funeral cortege will travel via her home to arrive at Cill Mhuire church for 11am.

Those who would have liked to have attended th funeral but due to current restrictions cannot, can leave their condolences on the RIP condolence section below.

The death has occurred of James (Jimmy) LAWLOR

Lacken View, Naas, Kildare



Grandfather of the late Ryan. Sadly missed by his loving wife Marion, son John, daughter Denise, daughter-in-law Maura, son-in-law Darren, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, extended family, neighbours and friends.

"May Jimmy Rest In Peace"

Due to current Government guidelines regarding public gatherings, a private family funeral will take place on Saturday, 8th May, with a Funeral Mass at 10am in The Church of Our Lady and St. David, Naas.

Those who would like to join the private funeral service remotely by webcam can do so by clicking on

https://www.naasparish.ie.

A cremation service will follow the Funeral Mass in Newland's Cross Crematorium with web-streaming from there on the link

https://www.mcnmedia.tv/camera/newslands-cross-cemetery-crematorium

Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to The Irish Cancer Society. Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to current restrictions can not, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence page below.

The death has occurred of Michael (Mick) Monaghan

Cedarwood Park, Newbridge, Kildare



Peacefully at Tallaght Hospital surrounded by his loving family. Predeceased by his wife Brid. Sadly missed by his loving sons Michael, Mark and Tom, daughters Martina (R.I.P.)and Grace, daughters and sons-in-law, grandchildren, sister Maura, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends.

Rest In Peace

Due to current government guidelines regarding public gatherings, a private family funeral will take place. Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to current restrictions cannot, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence page below.

Removal on Monday morning to arrive at St. Conleth's Parish Church, Newbridge, for Requiem Mass at 11am. Burial afterwards in St. Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge. Mick's Funeral Mass will be live-streamed on the Newbridge Parish website:https://www.newbridgeparish.ie/parish-church.

The death has occurred of James WALSH

Kilmeague, Naas, Kildare



WALSH James (Kilmeague, Naas, Co. Kildare) - 6th May 2021 (peacefully) in his 98th year at Naas Hospital. Predeceased by his wife Anne and his daughter-in-law Lisa. Sadly missed by his sons, daughters, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, relatives and friends.

May James Rest in Peace

Due to government guidelines on public gatherings a private family funeral will be held. Removal by Anderson and Leahy Funeral Directors on Saturday morning to arrive at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Allen for Funeral Mass at 11 o'clock. James' Funeral Mass will be live streamed by https://www.facebook.com/farewellfriendslivestreaming/ Burial afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

Donations in lieu of flowers to Friends of Naas Hospital.

Those who would have liked to have attended but due to current restrictions cannot, can leave their condolences on the RIP condolence section below.
The issue of a lack of housing supply in rural areas has been raised at the May meeting of the Clane Maynooth Municipal District.

At the meeting, Cllr. Brendan Wyse received figures for the number of houses procured by Kildare County Council in the last three years in the villages of Allenwood, Coill Dubh, Derrinturn and Robertstown.

He said that when compared to the known units built on the ground, the figures show that the council has bought or leased over 90% of the housing supply available to private buyers living in the areas.

He believes the situation is compounded by difficulties in obtaining permission to build one off homes.

We have a situation where young working families, some of whom have family land available, are not allowed to build one off houses, and are expected by the council to move into the rural settlements to live. The same council is buying up almost all of

the new houses, which means the supply is not there either. It is clearly not sustainable and something needs to change, he said.

He tells the story of one young family in Carbury who recently returned to Kildare from Australia and had managed to secure the land and the finances to build their own home.

This family was willing to build a home for themselves, but were refused planning permission several times. With the most recent housing estate built in Derrinturn fully bought up by Kildare County Council, and not even advertised on Daft.ie for private sale, there are no homes available to buy nearby either. They are considering leaving Kildare to go back to live in Australia as there is nowhere for them to live in their home county. This is the impact the current County Development Plan is

having on hard working Kildare families.

Cllr Wyse says that the process of reviewing the County Development Plan is underway and that the plan needs to promote and enable the development of rural one off housing, rather than impede it.

We need to remove any policies which limit or can be misconstrued to limit rural housing supply. We need to introduce new policies that will promote and support the building of rural homes and add measures to actively address any environmental concerns such developments might raise," he added.
At last, GAA kicks back into life this weekend with the return of inter-county action.

After a prolonged wait for GAA fans, 11 games are down for decision this weekend with five those available to watch on TV.

The marquee game of the weekend sees All-Ireland champions Limerick will be looking to making a successful start to the defence of their league title when they clash with Tipperary in Division 1A Allianz Hurling League at the LIT Gaelic Grounds on Saturday at 5.30pm.

Beforehand, Galway and Westmeath square off in the first game of the rescheduled calendar at TEG Cusack Park at 2pm with the meeting of Dublin and Kilkenny following at 3.30pm.

Antrim host Clare in the first of Sunday's action when they meet at Corrigan Park, Belfast at 1pm with the TG4 app providing live coverage.

Shortly afterwards at 1.45pm, Davy Fitzgerald's Wexford host Laois as part of a double-header on TG4 with Cork and Waterford providing a mouthwatering fixture at 3.45pm.

Saturday, May 8

Allianz HL Division 1 Group A Round 1

Westmeath v Galway, 2pm - TG4

Allianz HL Division 1 Group B Round 1



Dublin v Kilkenny, 3.30pm - eir

Allianz HL Division 1 Group A Round 1

Limerick v Tipperary, 5.30pm - eir & RTE 2

Sunday, May 9

Allianz HL Division 1 Group B Round 1



Antrim v Clare, 1pm - TG4 app

Wexford v Laois, 1.45pm - TG4

Allianz HL Division 1 Group A Round 1



Cork v Waterford, 3.45pm - TG4

READ ALSO: Offaly club with Portlaoise manager receive sponsorship boost from International retailer
Sligo and and Donegal are among seven counties in Ireland where new European Union offices are opening.

It follows the European Commission revamping its network of information and communication points, of which there are 424 around Europe.

The Europe Direct centre in Sligo is located at Stephen Street while the Letterkenny office is at Oliver Plunkett Road.

The purpose of the offices is to reinforce the connection between EU institutions and citizens, helping explain how Europe is combatting the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as providing timely and factual information on European matters.

The offices will also engage with citizens regarding the state and future of the European Union as well as promoting Europe in schools.

And they will coordinate with other EU networks in the regions, ensuring easier local access to information for citizens, organisations and businesses.

The centres are closed at present because of public health guidelines but they will be open as soon as possible.

Also read: Minor & U20 panels get green light to resume full contact training as GAA issue update to guidelines to clubs and counties
A solicitor impacted by the effects of the drug Thalidomide who fraudulently claimed over 120,000 in social welfare payments will begin a jail term next week.

Herbert Kilcline (60) told gardai after the fraud came to light that he felt he was entitled to the payments because he had been excluded from compensatory payments made to victims of birth defects caused by the Thalidomide drug. He has since repaid the money in full.

Kilcline told gardai: I admit it was wrong, no matter how aggrieved I felt. It wasn't the right way to deal with my grievance..

Kilcline told gardai that the deformities suffered to his hands as a result of his mother taking the anti-nausea drug during pregnancy had left him unable to peel vegetables or use a can opener.

Judge Karen O'Connor said Kilcline's moral culpability was very high, noting the offending was not motivated by financial pressure or gambling, but by a grievance and an element of greed.

She indicated a three year sentence with the final one year and three months suspended.

Defence counsel asked Judge O'Connor to defer sentence for one week to allow Kilcline to put his affairs in order. She granted the application and deferred sentencing until this day next week.

Kilcline, of Bessborough Parade, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to obtaining disability allowance on false pretences on dates between 1996 and 2001 and making a gain by deception in relation to social welfare payments on dates between 2004 and 2010.

At the original sentence hearing in 2019, Garda Conor Bresnan told Dean Kelly SC, prosecuting, that after being contacted by social welfare officials in relation to suspected fraud gardai had launched an investigation and Kilcline had cooperated with a search of his home, handing over documentation such as his social service card.

The total amount fraudulenty obtained was 129,293 and the entire period of offending taken into account was from 1996 to 2012.

The court heard that Kilcline had not been put forward previously as a child for the scheme by his parents as the effect on him was relatively minor then and they did not want to stigmatise him.

Kilcline said in 1992 he was officially diagnosed as a victim of Thalidomide but was told that the state compensation scheme was out of time. He then applied successfully for the mean tested disabled persons maintenance allowance.

He was legitimately granted this payment but failed to inform the department when he began working and when his financial situation changed. The court heard that Kilcline worked as a tutor in Trinity College Dublin and had income from the sale of various properties and from rental income from six flats in the city.

He said he felt morally justified in getting the money but accepted he was not entitled to it. He said he felt resentment for not getting compensation and accepted he had withheld information

Michael Bowman SC, defending, said at a previous hearing that his client took the view that because the Thalidomide compensation was not a means tested scheme that he was entitled to the disability allowance regardless of his means.

Judge Karen O'Connor noted the aggravating factors included that the offences occurred over a long period of time, that there was premeditation involved and the loss to the exchequer was considerable.

She noted he was not devoid of means, had been in employment and acquired property.

She noted in mitigation that Kilcline had pleaded guilty, cooperated with the investigation and had been remarkably forthcoming. She noted his remorse, shame and that he had been assessed as being at low risk of reoffending. She took into account all the money had been repaid.

The judge noted that he had overcome his limitations but continued to live with the physical, psychological and social consequences of Thalidomide. She said he finds basic daily functions difficult, had become very reclusive and suffers with anxiety and depression.

Judge O'Connor granted an application from The Law Society for transcripts of the sentencing hearing and later noted this may have an impact on his professional future and reputation.
Frontline nurses and midwives experiencing long-term Covid-19 symptoms are not getting the medical or employment supports they need, the INMO Annual Delegate Conference has warned.

The unions conference will hear from four nurses this Friday speaking of ongoing severe symptoms from a Covid infection months later, including extreme exhaustion, brain fog, difficulty breathing, heart problems and vision impairment

The conference will debate two motions relating to long Covid. The union is calling for Government and employer measures including tailored medical supports, research into long Covid impacts, a guarantee that healthcare workers with long Covid wont face income cuts and flexible rehabilitation back into work.

More than 7,500 nurses and midwives have contracted Covid-19 in Ireland - over a quarter of all Covid-19 cases among healthcare workers.

INMO President and nurse Karen McGowan said: Long Covid is a condition that takes so much out of people and theyre simply not being treated fairly.

We are all looking forward to a time after this pandemic, but we cannot forget those who took great risks to provide care and are being left in the lurch. The very least they deserve is long-term certainty about their employment and income rights and a guarantee of medical care.

INMO General Secretary Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: Covid can be a long-term, debilitating illness. People need to know where they stand, medically and in terms of work.

The HSE need to lead the charge on this and implement the measures that our members are calling for. This is a condition people are acquiring at work, and their workplaces need to step up and give them the support they need."
LOCAL politicians have said theyd look at legislation to face down the Facebook and Twitter warriors who share footage of gardai on the internet.

Fianna Fail TDs Willie ODea and Niall Collins, Independent member Richard ODonoghue, and Cllr Adam Teskey, who chairs the Joint Policing Committee, have spoken out after calls were made to ban the videoing of officers on the beat.

Clare TD Cathal Crowe had urged the outlawing of such filming, saying protesters were taunting officers with videos. But his comments were described as ridiculous and populist nonsense by Sinn Feins Maurice Quinlivan.

Mr ODonoghue said: Nobody is safe from their phone anymore. There is no privacy any more. I dont think anyone deserves to be videoed while doing their work.

He said since being elected to Dail Eireann, hes noticed the Facebook and Twitter warriors.

Theyve a comment for everything. They must be the most perfect people in the world, said the County Limerick TD.

Cllr Teskey said: There are not many jobs which put you in the position where you should be scrutinised and filmed. Therefore, I dont think its fair for members of An Garda Siochana to put up with this degree of intimidation at times. Members of An Garda Siochana go out and do Trojan work for our communities in terms of engaging, in terms of tackling crime.

The Fine Gael councillor also pointed out that data protection laws prevent the local authority even seeing its own CCTV footage of dumping as it needs to first be signed off.

Yet we have a situation where anybody can go out and upload a video through a social media platform, and it can go viral within seconds, he pointed out.

Mr Quinlivan argued that were it not for phone footage in America, the murder of George Floyd may have gone unpunished. I dont believe there would have been any conviction other than the video that was there. I dont think there would have been the outrage and the systematic change to policing across in America, said the TD.

He said while filming gardai is not something hed encourage people to do, bringing in a blanket ban would be very dangerous.

Mr ODea urged further discussion, while Mr Collins, an ex-Fianna Fail justice spokesperson said there should be regulations around the use of the footage.

Gardai did not respond to a request for comment.
FRIENDS of St Itas Community Hospital in Newcastle West have funded the purchase of state-of-the-art technology equipment for St Itas Rehab Unit costing 63,500.

Fergus Scanlan, chairman, Friends of St Itas expressed his delight that the high-tech equipment has been delivered, marking the dawn of a new, exciting and revolutionising era in the field of rehabilitation treatment here in St Itas.

The ground-breaking technology comprises two systems  a Tyromotion Pablo Rehab System and a Tyromotion Myro Rehab System. The technology has been described by St Itas rehab staff as state-of-the-art interactive visuo/audio-motor technology devices which will be incorporated into daily therapy sessions as well as being used by patients to carry out individualised interventions on a seven- day basis.

All of this assists to maximise patients' rehab potential while minimising length of in-patient stay as it promotes seven - day week rehab without additional manpower costs, continued a spokesperson for the rehab staff.

This addition to our service will greatly enhance the profile of St Itas Rehab Unit both locally and nationally, as leaders in the use of novel interdisciplinary progressive technology and provision of seven-day week input.

The technology will not only expedite the rehab process and free up bed availability but, most importantly, encourage a patients self-motivation and sense of achievement.

St Itas has the proud distinction of being one of the first, if not the first hospital in the country, to secure the much sought-after, technology.

St Itas has been allocated 10 extra rehab beds which are expected to come on stream in the very near future (possibly next month). At the moment recruitment of staff to run the extra beds is in progress and as well as this an additional consultant is being appointed to manage the unit.

And if thats not enough of exciting news, Mr Fergus Scanlan said, we also understand that the upgrade of 16 long-stay patient beds  which has been in the pipeline since 2015 - is back on track with work on this project due to commence very shortly.

In addition it will include two palliative in-patient beds  so very badly needed and long, long overdue. The Friends are also delighted to report that broadband has now been fully installed in St Itas with wifi available to all residents and patients throughout the entire hospital and all done courtesy of the Friends at a cost of 15,000.

The only fundraiser The Friends have had in recent months was the Theresa Doyle McMahon Le Cheile CD Fundraiser which raised 6,600. As The Friends we have been lucky to have funds in reserve enabling us to fund some quite expensive projects and improvements over the last 18 months or so, happily and very deservedly, all for the benefit of the residents and patients in St Itas, said Mr Scanlan.
PARTNERS are to be allowed 45-minute visits to postnatal wards of University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) from next Monday.

UL Hospitals Group said the move is "the next step in its gradual relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions" on access to University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL), as local transmission of Covid-19 decreases and the Mid-West vaccination programme continues.

"From next Monday, May 10, nominated partners will be given 45-minute visiting slots on the hospitals postnatal wards, M1 and M2, between the hours of 6pm and 8pm daily," said a hospital spokesperson.

This follows the recent reintroduction of the option to have nominated partners present for anomaly scans, and visiting for fathers/parents of babies in the neonatal unit at the hospital.

Meanwhile, visiting on compassionate grounds will continue to be facilitated, as it has been throughout the pandemic. Birthing partners will also continue to be supported in attending the labour ward and theatre.

All nominated partners must adhere to the wearing of face masks, observe hand hygiene and social distancing. Temperature monitoring is in place at the main reception, along with the completion of a Covid-19 screening questionnaire.

The measures are subject to change, and hospital management will continue to review the situation on a weekly basis, to plan for the safe, controlled and phased relaxation of restrictions, and to ensure all processes are safely introduced and managed.

Eileen Ronan, Director of Midwifery at UL Hospitals Group, said: Risk assessment has been continuing, and were pleased to be in a position to reintroduce these 45-minute visiting slots for partners of women on the postnatal wards from May 10th.

Visiting restrictions, while necessary during the pandemic, have been very difficult, both for women attending the hospital and their partners and loved ones, and we are delighted to be able to safely permit these postnatal visiting slots, which will allow parents and their children to be closer at this most important time in their lives, Ms Ronan added.
The death has occurred of Dolores Dovey (nee Quinn)

Of Ferndale, Ennis Road

Dolores died peacefully at home.

Sadly missed by her loving husband Roy, sons Richard and Michael, daughter Maria, adored grandchildren Jack, Aoife and Charlotte, son-in-law John, daughters-in-law Pippa and Neila, brother Patrick, sister Mary, other relatives, neighbours and friends.

Rest in Peace

A private cremation will take place.

Please observe current Covid-19 restrictions regarding attendance at funerals.

Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the death notices section of www.griffinfunerals.com or by post to Griffins Funeral Home.

*******

The death has occurred of Alan Collins

Of Court, Kildimo and Blackpool, Cork

A musician, Alan, died suddenly, at his residence.

Very deeply regretted by his loving family, father PJ, mam Betty, son Jordan, sister Pamela, brother Jason, step mom Cathy, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, relatives and a wide circle of friends especially from the music world.

May he rest in peace

In compliance with the current HSE guidelines, the funeral will be limited to 25 people. Please ensure social distancing and public health advice is adhered.

Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the condolence section below or cards and letters of sympathy can be sent to Cross' Funeral Directors, Lower Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick.

*******

The death has occurred of Anne Marie Crawford

Of Carew Park

Formerly of O'Malley Park, Southill

Anne Marie, died suddenly, at her residence

Daughter of the late John. Very deeply regretted by her loving mother Mary, three daughters, one son, grandchildren, partner Anthony, brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, other relatives and friends.

May she rest in peace

A private requiem Mass for family only, will take place at 2.00pm on Monday, May 10 in the Holy Family Church, Southill. Funeral afterwards to Shannon Crematorium, Shannon, Co. Clare

In compliance with the current HSE guidelines, the funeral will be limited to 25 people. Please ensure social distancing and public health advice is adhered.

Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the condolence section below or cards and letters of sympathy can be sent to Cross' Funeral Directors, Lower Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick.

*******

The death has occurred of Patricia Horgan (nee O'Donnell)

Of Kilbreedy, Bruree

Peacefully at her residence, in the tender and loving care of her family, beloved wife of Liam, dear daughter of Ellen (Charleville) and loving mother of Elaine, William, Katharina, Annette, James, Patrick and the late John Paul and Michael. Deeply regretted by her loving husband, sons, daughters, mother, sister Marianne, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, grandnieces, relatives and friends.

May she rest in peace

Reception into St Munchin's Church, Rockhill on Sunday for funeral Mass at 2pm. Funeral afterwards to Banogue Cemetery. In keeping with HSE guidelines, Patricia's funeral will be for family. Those who wish may leave a personal message in the section below marked condolences. Family flowers only. Live streaming on http://funeralslive.ie/patricia-horgan/

*******

The death has occurred of Patrick (Paddy) Leahy

Of Banard, Abbeyfeale

Patrick (Paddy) Leahy of Banard, Abbeyfeale, who passed away peacefully at St Catherines Nursing Home, Newcastle West on Friday May 7, 2021. Paddy is deeply regretted by his sister Nora (Chicago), nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, relatives and friends.

Rest in peace

A private family funeral will take place for immediate family due to government advice and HSE guidelines regarding public gatherings.

Funeral cortege will depart the home of Paddys nephew Gerry Leahy, Banard, Abbeyfeale on Monday at 10am on route to Church of the Assumption Abbeyfeale to arrive for Requiem Mass at 11am.

Requiem Mass will then be live streamed on the following:

www.churchservices.tv/abbeyfealeparish

Burial afterwards in St Marys Cemetery, Abbeyfeale.

Those who would have liked to attend the funeral, but due to current restrictions cannot, please feel free to leave a message in the condolence book at the bottom of this page or send Mass cards and letters of sympathy by post C/O Harnetts Funeral Home, The Square, Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick. You may also send your condolences by email to: harnettsfuneralhome@gmail.com

*******

The death has occurred of Sr. Elizabeth Morton

Of Limerick City and Buttevant, Cork

Of Catherine McAuley Nursing Home, Bishop Street and formerly Convent of Mercy, Westbourne, Limerick and late of Ballinguile, Buttevant.

Sr Elizabeth passed away, peacefully, at University Hospital Limerick.

Predeceased by her sisters, Sr Ellen, Mary (O'Sullivan) and brother-in-law William.

Deeply regretted by her sister Sr Nora, Convent of Mercy, Tipperary, nieces Gerarda, Eilish and Dolores, grandnephews, grandniece, Sisters of Mercy Limerick and South Central Province, relatives and friends.

Sr. Elizabeth's Funeral Mass will take place on Sunday at 2pm in St Joseph's Church, O'Connell Avenue, Limerick and will be live streamed on https://youtu.be/OHZc01KXv04

Funeral afterwards to St. Brigid's Cemetery, Buttevant.

In accordance with HSE guidelines Sr Elizabeth's funeral Mass will be private.

Ar dheis De go raibh a hanam dilis

*******

The death has occurred of Michael Sexton

Ballinoe, Castlemahon

Formerly of Ballygeale. Died on May 6, 2021, peacefully, at UHL. Husband of the late Mary. Deeply regretted by his sons John, Liam, Padraig, Gearoid and Damien, daughters Breda, Marie and Helen, sisters, brothers, daughter-in-law, sons-in-law, grandchildren, relatives and friends.

May he rest in peace

In accordance with government guidelines, a private family funeral Mass will take place in Castlemahon Church on Sunday, May 9, at 11am. Burial afterwards in Monagea Cemetery. Mass cards and letters of sympathy can be sent to Riedy's Undertakers in Newcastle West.

*******

The death has occurred of Roger Albert Wakelin

Of Tower View, Rockfarm, Caherline

Peacefully at University Hospital Limerick

Very deeply regretted by his loving wife Anne, children Sharon, Barry and Mark, daughter-in-law Jilly, son-in-law Chris, eight grandchildren, two great-grandsons, sisters Jenny and Julie, brother Clive, nephews, nieces, other relatives, friends and neighbours.

May he rest in peace

A private requiem Mass for family only, will take place at 2.30pm on Sunday, May 9 in Archbishop Dermot O'Hurley Memorial Church, Caherline. Funeral afterwards to Shannon Crematorium, Shannon, Co Clare.

The funeral cortege will pass the family residence after Mass.

In compliance with the current HSE guidelines, the funeral will be limited to 25 people. Please ensure social distancing and public health advice is adhered.

Cards and letters of sympathy can be sent to Cross' Funeral Directors, Lower Gerald Griffin Street, Limerick.

*******

The death has occurred of Pat OHalloran

Maryborough Hill, Douglas, Cork and Limerick

Late of ODwyers Villas, Thomondgate, Limerick.

Pat died peacefully at Marymount Hospice, Cork, surrounded by his family.

Sadly missed by his loving wife Ann, cherished children Nicola, Stephen, Melissa and Laura, adored grandchildren Rosie and Hamish, daughter-in-law Carly, son-in-law Tony, Harry, brother Peter, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives, neighbours and his many friends.

Rest in peace

Requiem Mass, will take place at St Munchins Church, Clancy Strand, Limerick on Sunday, May 9 at 2pm.

Funeral afterwards to St. Nicholas Cemetery, Adare

Click on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhJeFHw-bGg to watch Mass streamed live.

Family flowers only please, donations if desired to Marymount Hospice or Irish Cancer Society

Please observe current Covid-19 restrictions regarding attendance at funerals.

Messages of sympathy may be expressed through the death notices section of our website: www.griffinfunerals.com or by post to Griffins Funeral Home.
One of Tesla Inc.s engineers told California authorities that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk overstated the capability of Autopilot, the companys driver-assistance system, early this year.

The clarification was described in a series of records the California Department of Motor Vehicles released to the legal-advocacy group Plainsite, which published the documents Thursday. According to a March 9 memo, DMV officials asked CJ Moore, a director of Autopilot software, about Musks claims that Teslas would be capable of fully autonomous driving this year.

Elons tweet does not match engineering reality per CJ," Miguel Acosta, chief of the California DMVs autonomous vehicles branch, wrote in the memo. Musk tweeted and spoke during an earnings call in January about his confidence that Tesla could achieve full autonomy as soon as this year.

While Musk has said for several years he believes Tesla is on the verge of delivering Level 5 autonomy -- meaning its cars wont require human intervention -- drivers have needed to keep their hands on the wheel when using Autopilot. Tesla raised more than $2 billion two years ago after Musk made several predictions about robotaxis that didnt materialize.

Tesla is at Level 2 currently," Acosta wrote in the memo in March. Tesla indicated that Elon is extrapolating on the rates of improvement when speaking about L5 capabilities. Tesla couldnt say if the rate of improvement would make it to L5 by end of calendar year."

The memo is a rare window into how Autopilot engineers have had to square the high expectations set by their hard-driving boss with regulators concerns. Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said they would investigate a fatal crash in Texas involving a Tesla that crashed into a tree. No one was in the drivers seat, according to police and a fire marshal report.

Four days after that incident, the California DMV sent a letter to Eric Williams, Teslas associate general counsel, encouraging the company to provide clear and effective communication to customers, buyers and the general public" about its Autopilot features, their capabilities and how they should be used.

As Tesla is aware, the publics misunderstanding about the limits of the technology and its misuse can have tragic consequences," Acosta wrote.

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2021 Bloomberg L.P.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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India has asked state-run banks to withdraw funds from their foreign currency accounts abroad, two government officials and a banker said, as New Delhi fears Cairn Energy may try to seize the cash after an arbitration ruling in a tax dispute.

Cairn was awarded damages of more than $1.2 billion plus interest and costs in December in a long drawn-out tussle with the Indian government over its retrospective tax claims.

While New Delhi has filed an appeal, the London-listed firm has started identifying Indian assets overseas, including bank accounts, that could be seized in the absence of a settlement, which Cairn says it is still pursuing.

The company has registered its claim against India in courts in the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Singapore and Quebec, moves that could make it easier to seize assets and enforce the arbitration award.

"Earlier this week a guidance was sent to state-run banks to withdraw funds from their nostro accounts," one of the government officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, adding that the finance ministry had issued the guidance.

A nostro account refers to an account a bank holds overseas at another bank in the currency of that jurisdiction. Such accounts are used for international trade and to settle other foreign exchange transactions.

The finance ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A banker from one of India's 12 state banks, who also asked not be identified, confirmed the ministry had sent the guidance and said the government was concerned courts abroad could order funds in their jurisdiction be remitted to Cairn.

"There was an apprehension that some courts may take a drastic measure saying whatever the offshore funds of the government of India, those may be taken over or frozen for the time being," the banker told Reuters. "Our assets are tantamount to assets of the government of India as we are owned by them."

The Indian Banks' Association, an industry body representing lenders, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. At least two state banks also did not respond, while others could not be reached outside of regular office hours.

Cairn said in February it was discussing several proposals with the government to find a solution.

"Cairn continues to have constructive engagement with the government of India," a spokesman for the company said when asked about the case on Thursday.

But the second Indian government official said talks between New Delhi and Cairn were making little progress and said the ministry's request to banks showed the government was worried that the British firm could move quickly to seize assets.

The dispute began after a previous Indian government decided to impose capital gains tax retrospectively on some companies, such as Cairn and telecoms operator Vodafone Plc, which also took its case to arbitration and won.

The cases scared off foreign investors and dealt a blow to the government of Manmohan Singh, who lost power in a 2014 election to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi's government has said it would not make retrospective tax claims in future but it has defended outstanding cases.

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New Delhi: Swiss authorities will look into the issue of a temporary waiver of intellectual property on COVID-19 vaccines and then take a decision on the matter, Swiss Ambassador to India Dr. Ralf Heckner told ANI on Friday. He added that the main objective is to get vaccines to countries that are financially in a less privileged position than Switzerland.

"When it comes to the US position that changed, we have a new situation when it comes to World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva and I know that Swiss authorities will look into it this new situation and then take a decision," Ambassador Heckner told ANI on the US supporting TRIPS waiver.

"We have to wait for that but when it comes to Switzerland we have an objective to get vaccines out especially to countries that are financially in a less privileged position than Switzerland. We are part of COVAX alliance that is financing vaccines for poorer countries," he added.

This remark by the Swiss envoy comes after the United States extended its support for waiving intellectual property protections on vaccines to help end the pandemic.

Lauding Centre's decision to include local staff members of diplomats in vaccine drive, Ambassador Heckner said that his aim is to get all staff members and family members inoculated on priority.

"Most important decision by Indian govt is to include local and transferable staff members & their families of diplomats in vaccine drive. So my objective is to get all staff members and family members inoculated, this is my priority," he added.

Terming the crisis of pandemic as an opportunity, the Swiss envoy said, Switzerland and India should step up and become part of the solution in this war against COVID19.

"Crisis is always an opportunity and this is an opportunity for Switzerland and India to step up and as I said both our countries are part of the solution in this war against COVID19. That is what we are focusing on," envoy Heckner said.

Earlier today, India received a consignment of 600 oxygen concentrators, 50 ventilators and other medical supplies from Switzerland as the country continues its fight against COVID-19.

"Fact that Switzerland relief package arrived today and tomorrow we will have the first of several relief packages of the private sector shows that we are cooperating very concretely," Swiss envoy said.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.

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Those who complain immigrants are stealing our jobs hardly seem likely applicants for the jobs held by protagonists in Fruits of Labor  such as cleaning other peoples houses or working the graveyard shift in a food processing plant. Constant hard work doesnt seem to bring the American Dream much closer for this Mexican American family on Californias central coast. Emily Cohen Ibanezs debut feature provides a flavorful glimpse at lives seldom represented in popular media, though she also obfuscates that view somewhat with fussily artistic fillips and a disinterest in some basic matters of explication.

A discussion-worthy item on the fest circuit, the documentary was acquired for U.S. broadcast by POV after its SXSW premiere and will be part of that nonfiction PBS showcases next season. It could also attract further festival dates, as well as limited TV/streaming sales abroad.

18-year-old Ashley is in her senior year of high school in Watsonville, but worries about graduating: Shes frequently too exhausted from packing flash-frozen strawberries on an all-night assembly line to attend daytime classes. She doesnt have much choice in the matter, having worked since age 15 to help support three younger siblings. Their mother Beatriz is limited in her own employment options by her undocumented status. She does housecleaning seven days a week in wealthier neighboring communities. Her children were all born here (their father is apparently long out of the picture), but those U.S. roots so far havent seemed to benefit them much: They live in a dilapidated house, purportedly sharing a sole bathroom with 12 other families.

Wed like to get more explanation of why that is (let alone how that works), but Fruits of Labor doesnt show the neighbors, or even Ashleys two youngest siblings. We do see her boyfriend Adrian, as well as her 16-year-old brother Ashford, who generates some resentment because all he cares about is skateboarding, video games and his girlfriend Ximena. (Ashley fears shell be stuck supporting even more people when Ximena gets pregnant.) Meanwhile, theyre glued to TV reports of the Trump administrations family separation policies and ICE raids, with Beatriz understandably terrified that she might be targeted for deportation.

The verite content is intriguing but spotty. Were too often told rather than shown whats happened in the family. At the end, theres a sense that things have taken a general turn for the better, but little intel on how thats come to pass. Have Ashleys work responsibilities somehow lessened to allow greater concentration on her studies? That would be good to know. Ibanez might better have focused on clarifying such basic issues than expending so much effort on the films pretty but rather strained poetic devices, which incorporate time-lapse nature photography and such. Her symbolism is a little too on-the-nose: When Ashley variously describes herself as being like a scared turtle or a blooming flower, we duly get closeups of actual turtles and flowers.

If Fruits of Labor frustrates to a degree in offering only partial insight toward its subjects and their community, that view is nonetheless still absorbing, and the films craftsmanship evolved enough to suggest Ibanez has a solid future. The technically accomplished documentarys narrative gaps are papered over to an extent by the tonal glue of Yamil Rezcs good keyboard-based original score.

Reviewed at Hot Docs (online), San Francisco, April 30, 2021. (Also in SXSW, Seattle film festivals.) Running time: 77 MIN.

Running Time: Running time: 77 MIN.

Production

(Documentary) A POV, VOCES presentation of a Reversa Films, American Documentary/POV, Latino Public Broadcasting production, in association with Just Films Foundation, Firelight Media, California Humanities, Nia Tero, Berkeley Film Foundation, Bay Area Video Coalition, 4th World Indigenous Media Lab. (World sales: Grasshopper Film, New York City.) Producer: Emily Cohen Ibanez. Executive producers: Tracy Rector, Aurora Guerrero, Richard Ray Perez. Co-producers: Cassandra Jabola, Sofia Jo.

Crew

Director: Emily Cohen Ibanez. Screenplay: Ashley Pavon, Emily Cohen Ibanez. Camera: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Ibanez. Editors: Kristina Motwani, Andrea Chignoli. Music: Yamil Rezc.

With

Ashley, Adrian, Beatriz, Ashford, Ximena. (English, Spanish dialogue)

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Embattled British star Noel Clarke has been accused of misbehavior of the sets of BBCs flagship show Doctor Who  the program that helped turn him into a household name in the U.K.

Several sources came forward to allege they were sexually harassed or inappropriately touched by the actor on a flagship show, Doctor Who,' U.K. newspaper The Guardian reported on Friday.

Clarke played the vehicle technician character Mickey Smith on Doctor Who from 2005 to 2010.

The Guardian published an explosive story on April 29, in which several women came forward and accused Clarke of inappropriate behavior, following which he lost his management and the BAFTA he was awarded a few weeks earlier. ITV, the BBC and Sky severed professional ties with him. Clarke has denied the charges vehemently.

The latest set of accusations against Clarke detail specific instances where he was allegedly out of line with a costume assistant, who claims the actor made inappropriate comments to her in a trailer in 2004; a runner and driver, who claims Clarke touched her inappropriately and made sexually explicit and graphic remarks to her; and a runner, who also alleges Clarke sexually harassed her and another female co-worker following a work event.

A Doctor Who actor, who asked to remain anonymous, claims they were also sexually harassed by Clarke, who allegedly made unwanted advances. When rejected, the actor claims he badmouthed her to members of the industry.

The BBC is against all forms of inappropriate behaviour and were shocked to hear of these allegations, a BBC spokesperson told Variety. To be absolutely clear, we will investigate any specific allegations made by individuals to the BBC  and if anyone has been subjected to or witnessed inappropriate behaviour of any kind we would encourage them to raise it with us directly.

We have a zero tolerance approach and robust processes are in place  which are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect best practice  to ensure any complaints or concerns are handled with the utmost seriousness and care, the spokesperson added.

It has also emerged that Clarkes fellow Doctor Who actor John Barrowman is accused of exposing himself on set. A 2015 clip has emerged in which Clarke jokes about his co-stars behaviour.

The allegations against Clarke have exposed a festering wound in U.K. film and TV production circles. A recently published open letter that lays bare sexual malpractices against women in the industry now has more than 1,200 signatures.

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The 1978 theft of Charlie Chaplins coffin from its rural Swiss resting place was the kind of bizarre case  equal parts absurd caper and poignant story of human desperation, escalating wildly and ending with peace restored  that youd expect to have been the subject of at least one hefty true-crime movie. Instead, it seems to keep inspiring curious sideways riffs on history.

In 2014, French auteur Xavier Beauvois heavily fictionalized the identities and motives of the grave-robbers for his sweetly mournful The Price of Fame, attempting to channel some of Chaplins sentimental underdog spirit in lieu of factual fidelity. Yet that film was a veritable documentary compared to Stealing Chaplin, a broad, shaggy farce with an opening title card that claims inspired by a true story credentials, and a title that represents the full extent of that inspiration.

In this parallel universe, the Little Tramp was buried not in Switzerland but in an undistinguished plot in a Las Vegas cemetery. His body is taken, meanwhile, not in the 1970s but in the present day  by a bumbling fraternal duo of British conmen straight out of the Guy Ritchie playbook, which is to say in a plot hastily traced from the early Tarantino playbook. Theres nary a sliver of Chaplins sensibility in the mix, despite a phony beyond-the-grave voiceover and assorted quotes from the legend tossed in as haphazard intertitles.

What director Paul Tanters cheap and cheerful film does have going for it, however, is some genuinely sparky comic chemistry between stars Simon Phillips and Doug Phillips  not related, yet well-matched as a hopeless pair of Tweedledum-and-Tweedledumber siblings whose banter is quicker than their combined wits. Their interplay papers over some of the patches in the latter Phillips thinly imagined script, though theres less to be done about the films variously slack, disjointed subplots and wildly uneven pacing: For a film made in honor of a silent film legend, the pleasure here is largely in the chatter.

With scant time devoted to setup or backstory, were left to imagine how Cal (Simon Phillips) and Terry (Doug Phillips)  two small-time crooks from London with a history of harebrained schemes  wound up in Sin City, and why exactly they owe $30,000 to one of several stock Vegas mobsters. (The debt keeps getting passed on, relay-style, as these interchangeable heavies kill each other off, faster than we can learn to tell them apart.) Bottom line is, theyre in deep trouble. How deep, exactly? Deep enough to make them dimly conclude that digging up Charlie Chaplins coffin and selling it on (to Hollywood, they vaguely reason) might solve their problems. If that sounds unlikely, well, its literally happened before. Nothing else that spirals from this insane decision has any such alibi of credibility  as a $100,000 reward is put up for the corpses safe return, setting a menagerie of Vegas lowlifes after the brothers unburied treasure.

What laughs the film raises derive less from its strained pileup of criminal chaos than the simple personality clash between its two lead characters. Alike in stupidity, Terry and Cal otherwise diverge in classic odd-couple ways: The former is a perma-dazed slacker, the latter a cocky, self-styled ladies man, whose ongoing flirtation with skeptical diner waitress Helen (Bianca Katz, appealing in a lean part) gives proceedings a welcome shot of romantic warmth. Other secondary roles and narratives fare less well, none more thanklessly than Liliana Vargas as the overworked cop on the brothers tail. (Her own contrasting sibling-rivalry dynamic with an off-the-rails sister feels like a stray, undeveloped script note that somehow survived the final draft.)

For all these shortcomings, Stealing Chaplin putters along watchably enough  at least until a calamitously compressed finale that breaks with the low-key, lackadaisical rhythm of proceedings, suddenly stuffing an entire third act into 10 ragged minutes. Perhaps appropriately for a study of such ill-conceived criminal activity, polish is in short supply here. A handful of swift Vegas aerial shots are as flashy as things get in the films technical package. That the film is more confident with laddish verbal warfare than with well-timed physical gags again prompts one to wonder why Chaplin is its mascot at all. A sequel, titled Stealing Elvis, is already in pre-production: One can only commend the filmmakers for refusing to let facts get in the way of a halfway good story.

Reviewed online, London, May 4, 2021. Running time: 106 MIN.

Running Time: Running time: 106 MIN.

Production

(Canada) A High Octane Pictures release of a Dystopian Films production. Producers: Paul Tanter, Ken Bressers, Simon Phillips. Co-executive producers: Al Van Gysel, John Rao, Jim Dolan, Adam Gentile. Co-producer: Tom Meredith.

Crew

Director: Paul Tanter. Screenplay: Doug Phillips. Camera: Cory Warner. Editor: Tom Larochelle. Music: Wes Dinwiddie.

With

Simon Phillips, Doug Phillips, Bianca Katz, Al Sapienza, Ken Bressers, Anne-Carolyne Binette, Peter Woodward, Liliana Vargas, Paul Tanter, Cheryl Prater, Wayne Newton, Ismaeel Javed.

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WASHINGTON - Washingtonian magazine staffers launched a day-long protest on Friday in response to an op-ed written by their boss, who warned that continuing to work from home as the pandemic subsides could make employees less valuable and easier to "let go."

Cathy Merrill, chief executive of the District of Columbia-centered magazine, shared her concerns about the popularity of remote work in a Washington Post op-ed published Thursday, originally titled: "As a CEO, I want my employees to understand the risks of not returning to work in the office."

While some employees may want to "work from home and pop in only when necessary" after the pandemic, Merrill argued, the dynamic may create a "strong incentive" for bosses to convert full-time workers into contractors, who get paid by the hour or output and lack benefits such as health-care coverage and retirement accounts.

"Although there might be some pains and anxiety going back into the office, the biggest benefit for workers may be simple job security," she wrote in her conclusion. "Remember something every manager knows: The hardest people to let go are the ones you know."

Washingtonian staffers were shocked. Many perceived the op-ed to be directed in part to them - a veiled threat to their jobs.

The magazine's assistant photo editor, Lauren Bulbin, called the article "truly terrifying."

"I feel really humiliated," she said. "Every single person I know in my life read that op-ed and contacted me about it," she said. "People I respect in the media industry and beyond came to me and were really shocked that this is where I'm working."

By Friday morning, many of Washingtonian's editorial staff of about 25 pledged that they wouldn't publish anything on the magazine's website or social media channels for the day. More than a dozen tweeted identical messages: "We want our CEO to understand the risks of not valuing our labor" and "we are dismayed by Cathy Merrill's public threat to our livelihoods."

Merrill has spent the hours since the op-ed published doing damage control. About 10 minutes before her employees announced their strike on Twitter, she sent them a memo saying she would not change their health-care coverage, retirement plans or status to contractors.

"My intent was to write about how worried I and other CEOs are about preserving the cultures we built up in our offices," she told employees. "But I understand that some of you have read it as threatening."

She echoed that sentiment in a Friday email to The Post. "I have assured our team that there will be no changes to benefits or employee status," Merrill said. "I am sorry if the op-ed made it appear like anything else." She added that she was proud of her employees' work during the pandemic and that the company "embraces a culture in which employees are able to express themselves openly."

But the magazine's website remained lifeless as of Friday afternoon; the most recent stories were a day old. Those participating in the work-stoppage include senior editors, top food critics and Web producers.

The action was especially notable because Washingtonian staff have no union, which typically affords employees protection for engaging in collective action such as strikes.

"We felt a little bit of trepidation, but we also understood this was a really public, egregious statement," writer and Web producer Rosa Cartagena said. "We're trying to use our public platforms to respond publicly as well, and to share how disappointed we feel by seemingly not being valued by the owner."

Like many other publications, Washingtonian reverted to remote work during the pandemic last spring. Employees there have been told to begin returning to the office over the next several months, with a hard reopening in the fall.

Staffers at Washingtonian said they were struck by Merrill's argument that remote work makes it harder to give employees feedback and stunts their professional development, especially because the magazine has published some of its most-read online stories during the pandemic, such as food writer Jessica Sidman's expose on working at the Trump International Hotel restaurant.

Merrill has written several essays for The Washington Post's editorial page, which operates independently from reporters in the newsroom. In March last year, she called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation to halt gatherings for several weeks "a death sentence for small businesses."

In Thursday's op-ed, Merrill wrote that she had discussed the downsides of remote work with fellow chief executives and estimated that unofficial office duties such as "helping a colleague, mentoring more junior people, celebrating someone's birthday - things that drive office culture" made up 20 percent of their work.

"If the employee is rarely around to participate in those extras, management has a strong incentive to change their status to 'contractor,'" she wrote. "Instead of receiving a set salary, contractors are paid only for the work they do, either hourly or by appropriate output metrics." She added that would also mean not having to pay for health-care coverage, retirement savings, bonuses and parking.

The op-ed attracted national attention on Thursday night as several prominent journalists tweeted criticisms. By midmorning Friday, The Post had changed the headline on the op-ed to "As a CEO, I worry about the erosion of office culture with more remote work," removing the language that directed the message at Merrill's employees.

Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said he asked the headline to be changed early on Friday, before he knew about the strike, "to something that I thought better captured the piece."

Remote work has been popular throughout the pandemic, according to Gallup. A January poll found that nearly half of those surveyed said they would keep working remotely after restrictions lift simply because they preferred it, and 17 percent would still want to stay out of the office because of coronavirus concerns. Only 39 percent said they would want to return to the office.

Other media organizations plan to begin reopening their offices in the coming months. The Washington Post will bring back a limited number of employees back July 6, with a full return anticipated in the fall. The New York Times headquarters will reopen in September, with bosses exploring a "long-term vision for remote working." CNN doesn't plan a full return until after the summer.

- - -

The Washington Post's Paul Farhi contributed.
Click here to read the full article.

Michaela Coel is best known as a creator of great art, with I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum, but shes also a consumer. And her taste in movies, television, podcasts and books is as varied in tone as that of her work. Over the last year, Coel dove into heady podcasts and books, but she also made time for Netflixs zany musical comedy Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

I actually was crying my eyes out watching. Its that moment when [Rachel McAdams] begins to sing in Icelandic, I cried. Im so pathetic, she laughs. Were all rooting for the little guy, arent we? Its emotional.

The tears flowed again when the votes rolled in for McAdams and Will Ferrells singing duo and they went from worst to first during the competition. Were all rooting for the little guy, arent we? Its emotional, Coel adds. My friend called me a knob when I told her. In fact, it was Harriet [Webb], who plays Theo in I May Destroy You.

One of the next movies on Coels must-see list is Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. She tells Variety that she hasnt seen the film yet, but that shes a big fan of Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Power to her, Coel says of Mumolo. Im just very excited that this is her own project.

Aside from puzzles, games, food and the final season of Bojack Horseman (which coincidentally also made Coel cry at its beauty), heres a few more things the creator consumed during quarantine, as well as some of the creators who inspire her and make her laugh:

Her HBO Network Mates: Insecure, Barry, Succession, Los Espookys and Lovecraft Country

A good chunk of the content she consumed over the last year  from Misha Greens Lovecraft Country to Los Espookys, from Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega and Fred Armisen  happens to be on the same network that broadcasts I May Destroy You. Of working with HBO, Coel says, They just make great shows, so its incredible that I am on that network.

I love Succession. I think its hilarious and absurd and grotesque and that is the kind of humor that I love the most, Coel says, praising creator Jesse Armstrong, before gushing over Bill Haders comedy Barry. I find [that show] stunning, mind-blowing, genius, just brilliant.

Coel is also a big fan of Issa Rae and her hit series Insecure, noting the distinct and inclusive view of Los Angeles that Rae spotlights on the show. Im obviously not from LA, but its wonderful to find the threads and find surprising moments of mirroring or reflection, she explains, sharing that she aimed to give audiences the same opportunity to see themselves reflected by the way she portrays London in I May Destroy You.

Podcasts

Coel spent most of her time in quarantine listening to podcasts. Listing off a few of her favorites, she says, I definitely recommend Rabbit Hole [from The New York Times]. Nice White Parents is a fantastic podcast. Esther Perels Hows Work?  shes a French therapist and she does one-off sessions, either with married couples or colleagues. Lots of Hidden Brain [hosted by] Shankar Vedantam; the Rich Roll podcast. Mark Hymans The Doctors Farmacy  its all about health and nutrition and how to try and live well.

Books

Coel  whose first book, Misfits: A Personal Manifesto, will be released in September  also spent a good chunk of the last year reading. One of her top recommendations is Liu Cixins sci-fi trilogy, The Three Body Problem. Im on the last one now and those books, for me, are serious escapism, Coel shares. If you want to escape lockdown, these are great books to read. You will be taken out onto a different planet or a different time and that is cool. Theyre very dense. Its taken me like a half a year to read, but when you get to the end of each one, its totally worth it.

Coel also endorses A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan, who she touts as a masterful writer. Another new favorite is author Deborah Copakens upcoming book Ladyparts.

Shes a writer on Emily in Paris, but she is a brilliant novelist, Coel says of Copaken, who wrote an op-ed lamenting over I May Destroy Yous Golden Globes snub earlier this year. I got in touch with her this year. And she sent me an early release of her book, and shes got a brilliant mind and shes got a really brilliant impressive and quite shocking life.

Ari Lennox, musician

Coel also looks for inspiration and humor beyond the screen, listing Ari Lennox among her current favorites. Shes a singer, but shes very funny, Coel says. All of her lyrics are just very humorous, but [on] her most recent album, shes got skits in between and theyre really funny. She makes me laugh.

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A 25-year-old woman from Mali surprisingly gave birth to nine babies on Tuesday, the BBC reports.

With assistance from the West African country's government, Halima Cisse was flown out to Morocco, where she received specialist care and shocked doctors by delivering nonuplets by Caesarian section. Doctors had reportedly only detected seven babies during a scan.

"I'm very happy," Cisse's husband, Adjudant Kader Arby, told the network. "My wife and the babies [five girls and four boys] are doing well."

IN TEXAS: Republicans pushing abortion ban after 6 weeks

During her pregnancy, Cisse had become somewhat of a local celebrity in Mali, Reuters notes. Doctors, however, were concerned about her babies' chances of survival, leading to government intervention. Cisse first spent two weeks at a hospital in Mali's capital, Bamako, before she was moved to Morocco on March 30, Mali's health minister Fanta Siby said, according to the BBC.

"God gave us these children," Arby, who already shares an older daughter with Cisse, told the network. "He is the one to decide what will happen to them. I'm not worried about that. When the almighty does something, he knows why."

Thirty-three-year-old Nadya Suleman currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most children delivered at birth to survive after giving birth to eight babies in the U.S. in 2009. There have been previously recorded cases in which two women  one in Australia and one in Malaysia  gave birth to nonuplets, but none of the babies reportedly survived after a few days.

Cisse and her nine babies are expected to return home in several weeks, according to the BBC.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested two convicted sex offenders and a Paisano gang member in separate incidents, authorities said.

Agents arrested Panfilo Rosales-DeLeon, a 36-year-old Mexican national, on May 2. Hebbronville Station agents arrested him while he was walking through ranchland property near Hebbronville. He was part of a group of eight undocumented individuals arrested in the brush.

Authorities determined that he was a Paisano gang member. His record check revealed an extensive criminal history that included a felony conviction for aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury out of Corpus Christi.

Another apprehension occurred during the evening of May 4. Laredo West agents arrested Elieas Cabrera-Ramirez, a 34-year-old Mexican national, while walking through ranchland property on the northwest part of Laredo. Authorities said he was part of a group of 11 individuals who had crossed the border illegally. He was walking in the brush with two unaccompanied children, authorities said.

Further investigation revealed Cabrera-Ramirez had an arrest and conviction for sexual intercourse with a child 16 years old or older out of Baraboo, Wisconsin.

On Wednesday evening, Freer Border Patrol agents and the Texas Department of Public Safety apprehended Miguel Quilmaco-Gutierrez, a 39-year-old Guatemalan national during a traffic stop of a commercial vehicle near Freer

Agents said Quilmaco-Gutierrez was one of 105 undocumented individuals arrested after a K-9 unit alerted to the trailer compartment. A records check on Quilmaco-Gutierrez revealed an arrest and felony conviction for sexual assault out of Newberg, Oregon. Quilmaco-Gutierrez was encountered in the trailer with 10 unaccompanied children.

This dangerous criminal and others had been locked in a confined space with no means of escape, Border Patrol said in a statement. Due to the continuous vigilance of the Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents, these unaccompanied children were rescued, and these dangerous criminals were taken into custody and will not be allowed to harm our communities. Our agents remain vigilant and alert, regardless of the area they are patrolling,
A truck driver tried to smuggle methamphetamine he had concealed in the tractors sleeper storage area, according to an arrest affidavit.

Francisco Martinez-Saucedo, a Mexican citizen, was arrested and charged with import, attempt to import and conspire to import the meth.

A commercial tractor-trailer driven by Martinez-Saucedo arrived at the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge at about 11:15 a.m. May 2. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers referred Martinez-Saucedo to secondary inspection.

During secondary inspection, CBP discovered one bundle hidden within the tractor sleeper storage area. The one bundle field tested positive for methamphetamine, states the affidavit.

The contraband weighed about 2.38 pounds and had an estimated street value of $47,600. A search on Martinez-Saucedo revealed a small plastic bag in his pants with a white crystal-like substance that field tested positive for methamphetamine, according to court documents.

Martinez-Saucedo admitted the crystal methamphetamine was for his personal use, states the affidavit.

Homeland Security Investigations special agents took over the case. In a post-arrest statement, Martinez-Saucedo stated that four men approached him in Marin, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and gave him one bundle in a black wrapper.

Martinez-Saucedo thought the bundle contained narcotics and concealed within the sleeper storage area, according to court documents. The men also gave Martinez-Saucedo the bag of crystal meth for personal use.

Martinez-Saucedo intended to take the hidden bundle in his tractor while transporting a legitimate commercial shipment to Houston, Texas. Martinez-Saucedo would turn over the bundle to a subject in Houston after unloading his legitimate commercial shipment, states the affidavit.
We talk a lot these days about climate change, ecosystems services, carbon sequestration and a whole lot of other terms and concepts which seems at first glance to be rather removed from the direct interests of the farmer and the business of farming. Can we really expect our farmers to be worrying about their wider social impacts when its hard enough to make a buck at farming? Its that old adage that you hear so often  you cant be green when youre in the red.

A regenerative farming approach may be all very well as an ideal or a nice-to-have, but is it really practical when you have to pay the bills and accept reduced productivity? Why should farmers have to carry the can for the wider public good? These are very fair questions that deserve to be scrutinised to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages for everyone involved. Certainly there are additional costs to the farmer.

For me, one of the upsides of a regenerative approach is that it considers both sides of the economic equation  both the inputs and the outputs. Were focused not just on productivity per hectare, but the cost to get that output. In other words, the actual profit. Farming has become increasingly input-heavy in the modern industrial era, and inputs continue to increase in cost, while prices for primary production commodities have tended not to increase. Farmers are at the mercy of the price-taker system, meaning they have to accept a national price schedule rather than setting their own price based on cost of production. Coupled with that, were seeing the need to increase inputs year-on-year to achieve the same productivity. Its a well-known phenomenon known as the law of diminishing returns. Ultimately, the only people who truly benefit from this are the folk selling the inputs.

The regenerative approach does use inputs in order to maintain fertility, among other things, but it uses different inputs. These have the advantage of enhancing the biological system rather than overwhelming or short-circuiting it. This is why we talk about feeding the soil livestock first and foremost. The soil livestock can then feed us.

The regenerative approach also aims to significantly reduce inputs that hurt the biological system. These are costly in terms of what comes directly out of your bank account, and also costly in terms of the downstream effects both on-farm and off-farm. You end up paying dearly for these inputs. To make matters worse, next year you will need even more of them.

The big bonus for farmers is that productivity looked at as a net gain increases considerably using a regenerative approach, especially as soils respond and deepen and, in our changing climate, become more resilient. This means that pasture or crops continue to grow well as soils dry out, due to improved moisture retention, and they recover faster when rain does fall due to improved porosity and permeability. This means less soil loss due to erosion, and less flowing down our rivers. It truly is a win-win, and so the real question is, why wouldnt you?

Bev Trowbridge
Mason Lee Miller, of Lockport, son of Kaitlyn LaJoie and John Miller, Jr., passed away June 5, 2021. Brother of Isaiah and Jeremiah; grandson of Kenneth and Jennifer LaJoie, Sandra Green and John Miller, Sr.; also survived by great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Services will be pr
As part of Irelands Climate Action Plan, it is hoped to see a 30% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and a 50% reduction by 2050, a meeting of Longford Municipal District has heard.

Director of Services John Brannigan raised the issue at the end of last weeks MD meeting, which was held via Microsoft Teams due to Covid-19.

Every local authority needs to identify de-carbonising zones, he told councillors.

Im proposing Longford town to be that zone. Work will need to be undertaken by the Climate Change SPC.

Councillors responded positively to the proposal with Cllr Peggy Nolan noting that it will help us with endeavours to get cars off Main Street.

Anything we can do to lesson our carbon footprint, she said.

Cllr Gerry Warnock agreed, stating that this is a huge opportunity to develop a new produce that weve been advocating for for a long time - getting cars off the street.

Well be able to create a destination in our town centre. This is the future of town centres, said Cllr Warnock.
Still Voices Film Festival, in partnership with Creative Ireland, and Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon County Councils, are delighted to announce the Still Voices Summer Series: A collection of interviews celebrating local artists in local venues.

We have all been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, none more so than the arts, with the doors of theatres and venues still currently closed.

The committee at Still Voices is keen to shine a light on the wonderful artists from our local communities, in addition to the amazing venues in our locality.

While it was hoped the interviews could be attended by a live audience, due to ongoing restrictions, the first three will be available online only through the website at stillvoicesfilmfestival.com.

When we came up with the original concept for the series back in February, we optimistically envisioned people attending in person, said Festival Director Ronan OToole.

However, given the current restrictions and the announcement of the governments roadmap for summer openings, the interviews will be available through our website only.

Im sure, like me, everyone is pretty fed up with Zoom at this stage, so we were very keen to get the interviewer and interviewee in the same room together and record them using decent cameras and sound.

The approach was to move away from the limited capabilities of Zoom meetings and have that personal face-to-face experience we all sorely miss.

The series will start on May 7 with Festival Director, Ronan OToole, in conversation with directing duo, Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney, in Granard Library.

Robert and Patrick are two exciting up-and-coming filmmakers from Granard, making waves with their verite style approach in depicting rural life on screen.

The second interview, available online on June 9, will see best-selling Longford author and filmmaker John Connell sit down with film critic John Maguire in the Backstage Theatre, Longford to discuss Johns work both on the page and screen, and how his life in rural Ireland influences his art.

Writer and documentary maker, Manchan Magan will take centre stage in our third interview, on July 11, discussing his book Thirty-Two Words for Field and the resurgence in popularity of the Irish language with, journalist and writer Don Duncan. The Mullingar Arts Centre will play host to this inspiring discussion.

For the final interview of the series, on September 23, Roscommon native Film Producer and Programmer Roisin Geraghty will chat with Gemma Creagh of Film Ireland about her career to date.

Roisin's work encompasses the creation, curation and proliferation of independent narrative and documentary film content, as well as advocating for both the creative and business elements of film.

For more information, see stillvoicesfilmfestival.com or check out Still Voices Film Festival on social media.
Ensure you get a print copy of the Loudoun Times-Mirror delivered weekly to your home or business!

Complete online access is included with all print subscriptions purchased online. Plus, up to four other members of your household can share online access through this subscription with their own, individual linked accounts at no additional charge.

(Are you a current advertiser? Ask your sales rep for our special advertiser rate code!)
By Allison Martell and Euan Rocha

May 7 (Reuters) - To fight the pandemic at home, the United

States gave its own vaccine manufacturers priority access to

American-made materials needed to make the shots.

As a result, the U.S. government laid claim not only to vast

quantities of finished COVID-19 vaccines but also to vaccine

components and equipment all along the supply chain, according

to a Reuters review of more than a dozen contracts involving

some major suppliers.

That has left some countries desperately in need of those

supplies to scramble for substitutes, exacerbating international

disparities in vaccine access, according to interviews with

suppliers, foreign manufacturers and vaccine market experts.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden threw his support behind

waiving patents for COVID-19 vaccines, thrilling those who have

been pressuring his administration to help speed production of

doses worldwide. If adopted by the World Trade Organization, the

move would let other countries make their own copies of the

much-coveted shots.

But the waiver would not address a less conspicuous but

equally pressing problem: the growing worldwide shortage of

vaccine ingredients and manufacturing equipment. The United

States has a tight grip on a significant amount of those

materials, such as filters, tubing and specialized disposable

bags essential to making vaccines.

Countries ravaged by the virus - including India, where a

catastrophic explosion of cases has filled hospitals and morgues

- cannot make vaccines without such supplies, even with access

to manufacturers' cookbooks.

The problem stems from the U.S. reliance on a law dating to

the Korean War in the 1950s, called the Defense Production Act

(DPA), which gives federal agencies the power to prioritize

procurement orders related to national defense. For decades, the

law was used to supply the military as well as respond to

everything from natural disasters to roadblocks in the decennial

U.S. census.

The administration of former President Donald Trump invoked

the act to put the U.S. government first in line to buy

American-made vaccines as well as other products needed to fight

the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, vaccine makers have priority

access to any supplies needed to fill U.S. orders.

Gavi - a vaccine alliance comprising international

organizations, governments, drug companies and others - lauded

the Biden administrations moves to increase global access to

vaccines. Among other things, it cited the country's $4 billion

commitment to COVAX, a global vaccine buying consortium Gavi

co-leads with the World Health Organization.

But in response to questions about the DPA, Gavi said: The

greatest challenge to COVAXs goal of equitable access to

vaccines is constrained global supply. Export controls on raw

materials is a considerable contributor to this and ultimately

only serve to prolong the pandemic.

A senior Biden administration official, speaking on

condition of anonymity, said there is no export ban, and all

U.S.-based suppliers continue to ship products abroad after

giving priority to U.S. manufacturers. The official said the DPA

has not caused the global shortages of vaccine materials, and

the problems stem instead from overwhelming demand.

"There's just not enough to go around," the official said,

noting that the administration is investing in increased raw

material production.

On Wednesday, Katherine Tai, the U.S. trade representative,

briefly mentioned in her statement about Bidens patent decision

that the administration would work to increase the raw

materials needed to make vaccines. She did not elaborate.

A PLEA FROM INDIA

Vaccine components are produced all over the globe - in

countries including the United Kingdom and China. But some

leading suppliers, including Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc

, and the Danaher Corp units Cytiva and Pall, are

based in the United States. Reuters could not determine

precisely what share of vaccine materials and equipment are made

in America.

The DPA has helped the United States build a huge vaccine

production system, ensuring reliable access to finished doses

for Americans, and driving up revenue for U.S. pharmaceutical

companies.

About 45% of the U.S. population has received at least one

dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Dozens of other countries, from

South Africa, to Guatemala, to Thailand, have vaccinated about

1% or less of their populations, according to data collected at

the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.

The DPA has drawn criticism from vaccine makers around the

world, including the Serum Institute of India, the largest

manufacturer globally.

On Twitter in late April, chief executive Adar Poonawalla

requested on behalf of the vaccine industry outside the United

States that America lift its hold on raw materials if we are

to truly unite in beating this virus.

Starting this month, the company had planned to produce a

billion doses annually of a vaccine developed by U.S.-based

Novavax Inc. But that output will be more than halved

without American raw materials, according to a source familiar

with the companys plans, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Serum is also manufacturing COVISHIELD, a licensed version

of the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine.

After weeks of public appeals from the Serum, the United

States last month offered India filters needed to produce

COVISHIELD. But Indias need for vaccines and supplies remains

vast. Serum is also meant to be a top supplier to other low- and

middle-income countries. COVISHIELD and the Novavax shot form

the backbone of the COVAX program.

Serum, which declined to discuss the raw materials issue

with Reuters, is not the only vaccine maker in need.

The South African vaccine maker Biovac Institute also relies

on a U.S. company for bioreactor bags, needed for cell cultures.

Biovac has been warned by its U.S. supplier that the usual lead

time for bags may more than double to 14 months because of the

U.S. DPA, chief executive Morena Makhoana told Reuters.

Manufacturers in some other countries say they are in better

shape. Brazils Butantan Institute has been able to buy supplies

from both the United States and Europe, an executive told

Reuters.

For instance, an order for supplies to make AstraZenecas

vaccine in the United States would be prioritized, even though

the shot is not yet approved for use in the country. That could

delay materials being sent to Serum, which is making the same

vaccine for use in India and many other countries.

For now, three manufacturers COVID-19 vaccines - Pfizer

Inc, Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson

- are approved for emergency use in the United States.

Asked about the global consequences of getting priority on

U.S. supplies, AstraZeneca did not comment and Moderna and J&J

declined to comment. Pfizer did not directly address the U.S.

DPA but said we have gone to enormous efforts  as we seek to

serve populations all over the world.

UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND

Some suppliers say the industry would do a better job than

governments at managing limited resources to maximize access

globally.

If the end goal is, let's produce vaccines, then we're big

believers that you need to let the industry connect the relevant

parts so that we can deliver the end product, Thermo Fisher

executive vice president Michel Lagarde told Reuters.

The Biden administration official said experts from various

federal agencies discuss the use of the priority system during

daily operations calls. Sometimes officials can change U.S.

delivery dates to avoid disrupting other vaccine projects

abroad.

But suppliers are planning to get ahead of demand. Leading

purveyors Cytiva, Pall and Thermo Fisher are expanding

manufacturing space in the United States and abroad. Thermo

Fisher has nudged customers to clarify which needs are urgent

and which can wait days or weeks, and the company tries to find

time to fill orders even if they are not rated as priorities,

Lagarde said.

Cytiva said in a statement that it is expanding production,

but is itself limited by some raw materials shortages.

The world is experiencing an unprecedented demand for

biopharmaceutical products, technologies, and solutions, Cytiva

said.

(Allison Martell reported from Toronto and Euan Rocha from

Mumbai, India. Additional reporting by Krishna N. Das in New

Delhi, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Ludwig Berger in Frankfurt,

Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo, Michael Erman and Carl O'Donnell in

New York. Editing by Michele Gershberg and Julie Marquis)
Sealand Capital Galaxy Ltd - financial and strategic support provider to entrepreneurs - signs exclusive three-year product specific distribution contract with four different brands for Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.

Sealand will distribute the Aqva Aromatica Scents Collection for UK-based tailor and menswear firm Richard James, and the company will also be the sol distributor for Czech & Speake, a men's fragrance and leather goods retailer.

The other two brands is Danish hair and styling products provider HH Simonsen and Finnish skincare brand INARI Arctic Beauty.

"We are very proud to be exclusive distributors of these high quality European goods in the Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China markets. We will use our range of digital marketing services and access to influencers to provide a bridge, and the necessary commercial infrastructure, to allow high-end European merchants to enter these highly lucrative markets. There remains strong demand from Chinese consumers in these markets to conveniently purchase desirable, high-end European goods," said Executive Chair Nelson Law.

Current stock price: 1.50 pence

Year-to-date change: up 7.1%

By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Star Phoenix Group Ltd - oilfield services in Trinidad and oil and gas interest in Indonesia - Notes Range Resources Drilling Services Ltd unit involved in historic dispute with former employees. Says High Court in Trinidad rules in favour of employees and Range must pay TTD1.6 million, about GBP170,000, in damages. "RRDSL advised the company that it was not aware of the upcoming High Court hearing and are working together with the company to establish the circumstances of this matter. The company was also advised that there is a separate hearing with the Industrial Court in Trinidad in relation to the Employee scheduled for July 2021," Star Phoenix adds.

Current stock price: 1.55 pence

Year-to-date change: up 4.7%

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Sherborne Investors Management LP, the investment vehicle of activist Edward Bramson, on Friday said it has sold its entire 6.0% stake in Barclays PLC.

It ends a three-year battle between Sherborne and the London-based bank, during which the activist tried to force cutbacks and oust Chief Executive Jes Staley. Sherborne had called for Staley to be removed in April 2020 over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.

Shares in Barclays were up 1.9% to 180.48 pence in London. Based on the bank's market capitalisation on Friday, which is at GBP30.70 billion, the stake is worth around GBP1.81 billion.

Barclays on Friday confirmed that Sherborne disposed its stake on Tuesday. Shares have declined about 14% since Sherborne first declared its position on March 19, 2018.

Sherborne has started investing in a new target that offers a better return than Barclays, according to a statement by Sherborne Investors Guernsey C Ltd, a publicly traded investment company managed by Sherborne. It did not identify the new target.

Shares in Sherborne Investors Guernsey C were up 13% to 60.50 pence in London.

By Ivan Edwards; ivanedwards@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Holidaymakers from the UK will finally discover which destinations they can visit this summer without quarantining, with Portugal, Iceland and Malta among those expected to be on the travel green list.

Gibraltar and Israel could also make the cut when the list is published on Friday following weeks of speculation.

Quarantine and coronavirus testing requirements for people arriving in England once foreign holidays are permitted from May 17 will be based on a new traffic light system, with destinations placed on green, amber and red lists.

People arriving from a green location will not need to quarantine on their return and will have to take one post-arrival test.

Those returning from an amber list country must self-isolate for at least five days and take two tests.

The red list requires an 11-night stay in a quarantine hotel at a cost of GBP1,750 for solo travellers.

Assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country's population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants, and the country's access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

Air fares to Portugal have already started to soar, with Ryanair Holdings PLC charging GBP152 for a flight from Stansted to Lisbon on May 17, compared with GBP15 on May 16.

easyJet PLC is charging GBP234 for a flight from Luton to the Algarve on May 17, but just GBP73 the following day.

Meanwhile, Tui AG, the UK's largest holiday company, announced it will offer customers coronavirus tests for a fraction of standard prices.

The cheapest package a aimed at people returning from green destinations a will be available for just GBP20, and consist of a lateral flow test and PCR test.

PCR tests alone typically cost GBP120 each although several travel companies offer them for GBP60.

The latest weekly rate of new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people is 21.2 in the UK, 26.5 in Portugal and 28.6 in Malta.

The most popular European destinations, such as Spain, Italy, France and Greece, are initially expected to be on the amber list, but could switch to green ahead of the peak summer holiday months.

Spain has a seven-day rate of 98.2 cases, while Greece is on 113.9.

No plans for the resumption of foreign holidays have been announced by the UK's devolved administrations.

Meanwhile, a coronavirus strain first detected in India is likely to be elevated to a "variant of concern" after clusters were found in several areas of England, according to reports.

Cases of the variant have been found in schools, care homes and places of worship in the North West, London and the East Midlands, largely linked to travel, Channel 4 News reported.

The broadcaster said it is "highly likely" it will be declared a "variant of concern" on Friday, though cases remain relatively low.

Such a change can mean an escalation in response from Public Health England, including ordering surge testing.

The strain a B1617.2 a is one of three related variants first seen in India which have been detected in the UK and designated "under investigation" by PHE.

The others are B1617.1 and B1617.3.

According to the most recent data by PHE, there have been 202 confirmed cases of B1617.2 in the UK. Reports suggest there have been at least 48 clusters.

There have been 193 confirmed cases of the B1617.1 variant and five of the B1617.3 mutation.

Meanwhile, the Joint Committee on Vaccination & Immunisation is expected to recommended that people aged under 40 should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca PLC jab following concerns about blood clots.

The policy currently applies to those under 30 but the age threshold could be raised after the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency reported new figures on clots linked to the vaccine.

By PA Reporters

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel are among just 12 destinations on the government's new green list for travel a with some countries on the list still not accepting tourists.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the removal of the ban on international leisure travel was "necessarily cautious" as he announced the destinations that holidaymakers will be able to visit from May 17 without having to self-isolate on their return to England.

But while Portugal, Gibraltar and Israel are planning to welcome UK tourists, the green list also features several remote British Overseas Territories and destinations where visits are heavily restricted, such as Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei and the Faroe Islands.

Industry leaders said the government's approach represented an "excess of caution" and demanded greater clarity over the formation of the green list.

Just 6% of passengers who took an international flight from a UK airport in July and August 2019 flew to what is now a green list country, the Airport Operators Association (AOA) calculated.

AOA chief executive Karen Dee said: "Given the success of the UK's vaccine rollout, it is disappointing that so few countries are on the green list."

EasyJet boss Johan Lundgren claimed the government's refusal to put more European countries in the green tier is "simply not justified by the data" and is "inconsistent with the approach to reopen the domestic economy".

Brian Strutton, general secretary of pilots' union Balpa, said: "This excess of caution from the government is extremely disappointing for everyone who works in the travel sector and the millions of people who are desperate to jet away on holiday or business.

"The huge success of the vaccine rollout in the UK, the ever-growing vaccination rates in Europe and the massive effort from everyone to make travel Covid-safe should have meant a much longer green list than what we've got today."

People returning to England from a green destination from May 17 will not be required to self-isolate and are only required to take one post-arrival coronavirus test.

Shapps also declared that people in England "should not be travelling" to countries on the amber list, which includes Spain, France, Italy and Greece.

Holidaymakers who go against Shapps' guidance by visiting an amber country must self-isolate at home for 10 days and take two post-arrival tests.

The Cabinet minister told a Downing Street press conference the government must "make absolutely sure" the countries the UK reconnects with are safe.

He said: "We in this country have managed to construct a fortress against Covid. But the disease is still prevalent in other parts of the world, most notably at the moment in India.

"In fact, more new cases of Covid have been diagnosed around the world in the last seven days than at any time since the pandemic began."

No plans have been announced by administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but Shapps expects their rules will be "broadly similar" to those for English tourists.

The four UK chief medical officers "have met and agreed the principles" of the traffic light system, he added.

Meanwhile Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal have been added to the red list.

People returning to England from those countries after 4am on Wednesday will be required to stay in a quarantine hotel for 11 nights at a cost of GBP1,750 for solo travellers.

The decision on Turkey means Manchester City and Chelsea supporters "should not travel" to the Champions League final in Istanbul, Shapps said.

Border Force director general Paul Lincoln warned that wait times to enter the UK are likely to be longer than usual when leisure travel resumes.

He said: "It currently takes a Border Force officer five to 10 minutes to complete all the necessary checks, which means that even for the most compliant passenger, it might take 14 or 15 times longer to process than before, compared to around 25 seconds.

"Where people do not have the correct paperwork, it can and has taken considerably longer, including when we need to serve fixed penalty notices for non-compliance."

A Heathrow Airport executive recently said passengers are queuing for up to six hours due to coronavirus paperwork being checked.

Shapps also announced that from May 17, people who have had both doses of a coronavirus vaccine will be able to demonstrate their status on the NHS app currently used to book medical appointments and order repeat prescriptions.

People who do not have the app a which is different from the Covid-19 app a will be able to request an NHS letter from that date.

By Neil Lancefield, PA Transport Correspondent

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Nicola Sturgeon's hopes of winning an overall majority for the SNP at Holyrood election are hanging in the balance a despite her party making gains from its rivals.

The SNP picked up key seats in Edinburgh Central a where former SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson replaced the one time Scottish Tory boss Ruth Davidson a as well as as in Ayr and East Lothian.

But under Holyrood's proportional representation system, those successes could see it lose seats on the regional list ballot.

Meanwhile, Labour's Jackie Baillie held on to her Dumbarton constituency a which had been the most marginal seat in all of Scotland and a top target for the SNP.

Baillie had a majority of just 109 from the 2016 Scottish Parliament election, but increased that 1,483.

With some constituencies still to be counted on Saturday, when the crucial regional list results will also be declared, Sturgeon said it was "not impossible".

With 47 constituency results declared on Friday, the SNP had 38 seats, Liberal Democrats four, Conservatives three and Labour two.

The coronavirus pandemic meant traditional overnight counts were abandoned after Thursday's Scottish Parliament election.

And while the majority of the 129 MSPs at Holyrood have still be declared, Sturgeon said it was "almost certain" the SNP would win its fourth term in power at Holyrood.

She also stressed that "when the time is right", she should be able to offer Scots "the choice of a better future" in a second independence referendum.

Sturgeon, who comfortably defeated Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to claim Glasgow Southside, said afterwards: "My focus, if we are re-elected as the government, is to get back to work to steer the country through the crisis and into recovery.

"That remains the case. But once the crisis is over, and if there is a majority in the parliament for an independence referendum, people should have the right to choose our future. Scotland's future should always be in Scotland's hands."

Speaking about the prospect of winning an overall majority, the SNP leader said: "It's certainly not impossible, but nor is it guaranteed.

"That was always going to be on a knife edge, it comes down to a small number of votes in a small number of seats, so at this midway point it is certainly still there as a possibility, but I have never taken that for granted.

"It is a long shot, to say the least, in a PR system, to win a majority, you effectively have to break the system. I would like to do it, but I have never been complacent about that."

However she said it was "almost certain" the SNP would "win the election comfortably, and we should not understate the scale of that achievement".

Meanwhile Robertson, the new Edinburgh Central MSP, said the message from voters there was that "Scotland's future should be in Scotland's hands".

The former SNP depute leader insisted: "In this most European of capital cities, people have resoundingly rejected the party of Brexit and Boris Johnson.

"The public has rejected all of the parties that want to block an independence referendum."

As he secured his Perthshire North seat, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the SNP would be the "leading and largest party" in the new Scottish Parliament.

While he said there is a "long way to go" before all the results are known, he stressed it was now "beyond any doubt" that the SNP will form the next government.

He added: "That is an absolutely gigantic feat for the Scottish National Party to have achieved, to be on the brink of a fourth continuous term."

Elsewhere, former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said the measure of his party's success would be "our existence as a political party", adding it is "here to stay".

By Katrine Bussey and Craig Pato

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Polls have closed across England, Scotland and Wales and votes will be counted over the coming days in the largest test of political opinion outside a general election.

On what has been dubbed Super Thursday, voters took part in contests which could shake up British politics and have profound implications for the future of the UK.

The Hartlepool parliamentary by-election will be one of the first indications of whether Labour's Keir Starmer has been able to turn around his party's fortunes in its former northern heartlands, or whether Boris Johnson's demolition of the so-called "red wall" continues.

Bookmakers have made Tory Jill Mortimer favourite to take the seat in a rare by-election victory for a governing party, with a result expected shortly before dawn on Friday.

Over the coming days results elsewhere could have an even more dramatic influence on the state of the nation's politics.

Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon's push for a second independence referendum means the stakes are high in the Holyrood contest, with results expected to be announced on Friday and Saturday.

The SNP is expected to emerge again as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament after the election, but it wants to win an overall majority of MSPs as it pushes for a second independence referendum a something which polls suggest remains in the balance.

Johnson has refused to countenance another referendum, setting up the potential for constitutional fireworks over the coming years if Sturgeon gets the outcome she desires.

The SNP leader insisted her focus would be on tackling coronavirus and rebuilding the economy.

But "when the Covid crisis has passed, we will give the people of Scotland the opportunity to decide if they want the recovery to be in the hands of the likes of Boris Johnson and the austerity-driven Tories, or to put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands with independence".

Results of the elections a which also include the Welsh Parliament, police and crime commissioners and English local authorities and mayors a are expected to continue filtering through until Monday as counting will take longer than normal due to coronavirus restrictions.

The Hartlepool contest will be one of the earliest results, with counting taking place overnight.

The seat was held by Labour with a majority of 3,595 in 2019, even as other bricks in the red wall crumbled a in part due to the Brexit Party splitting the Tory vote.

Both Johnson and Sir Keir made three visits during the campaign in a sign of the importance it represents to their parties.

The prime minister insisted it would be a "very tough fight" to win Hartlepool, a seat that has been Labour since its creation in 1974.

But the Conservatives hope to achieve a "hat trick" of successes, winning Hartlepool and retaining the mayoralties in Teesside and the West Midlands.

Johnson said: "It's Conservative mayors who are bringing new investment and local jobs to their areas. A new freeport and green jobs are on their way to Teesside and new trams, Metro lines and station upgrades to the West Midlands.

"More has been delivered by Conservatives in four years than complacent Labour politicians have delivered in decades."

If Hartlepool goes to the Tories it could be a difficult long weekend for Labour.

YouGov local election polling suggested the Tories could take over as the largest party in Bolton and Dudley, while Labour sources also fear they could lose control of both Sunderland and Durham councils for the first time in half a century.

Starmer said it would take time to rebuild his party after the worst general election result since 1935 under Jeremy Corbyn, adding: "I never thought we would climb the mountain we have to climb in just one year."

In his final message to voters he sought to underline the shift from Corbyn, stressing "this is a changed Labour Party" which was "under new leadership".

But a senior Labour source admitted "it's been a tough one" while shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire admitted the party's message had not been cutting through.

Asked on the BBC's Question Time if it would be "curtains for Keir" if Labour loses Hartlepool, she said: "I know that Keir has a vision for making this country the best country to grow up in, the best country to grow old in. I know we want to rebuild the economy. I know we want to build a better country to grow up and grow old in.

"We've got a great team who cannot wait to be able to cut through more and I hear what people are saying, it's not cutting through, I get that.

"I think that's a lesson for the Labour Party that we're going to have to take into account."

For Labour, success is expected in the form of Sadiq Khan winning a second term in London, probably late on Saturday.

In Wales, Mark Drakeford hopes to maintain Labour's grip on the Senedd a but he may find himself forced to forge a new coalition to stay as First Minister.

That could mean talks with Plaid Cymru, whose leader, Adam Price, has committed to an independence referendum within five years if his party wins a majority.

By David Hughes, PA Political Editor

source: PA

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Alliance News) - Wholesaler Kitwave Group PLC on Friday said it plans to join London's AIM junior market, raising GBP64.0 million in the process.

The company, which delivers frozen and chilled goods, such as ice creams, sweets and branded drinks, said it will be valued at GBP105.0 million on admission.

It will raise GBP64.0 million through the placing of 42.7 million new shares at 150 pence each. Existing shareholders will sell stock worth GBP17.6 million.

It plans to list on AIM on May 24.

"We are delighted with the strong support shown by our new investors, which we view as a highly positive endorsement of Kitwave's strategy to grow and capitalise upon the large addressable market that we are well positioned to serve," Chief Executive Officer Paul Young said.

"Kitwave has worked hard to build its reputation as a trusted brand ambassador and provide the excellent levels of service that we pride ourselves on. We are confident that Admission to AIM will enable us to further improve our services to existing and prospective customers across the UK and globally."

The North Shields, North East England-based firm said it operates in an addressable market thought to be worth GBP26.1 billion in 2020. It is expected to grow to GBP32.6 billion by 2025.

In the 12 months ended April 2020, the company's revenue amounted to GBP399.0 million. It posted adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of GBP17.5 million.

"This growth has been achieved both organically and through a strategy of acquiring smaller, predominantly family owned, complementary businesses in the fragmented UK grocery and foodservice wholesale market," Kitwave added.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
A former judge and Macomb County prosecutor candidate is leading an effort to help people convicted of low-level crimes get their convictions expunged under new more lenient system to do so.

Attorney Jodi Switalski is working with several local churches through the Macomb County Ministerial Alliance and other organizations that are providing candidates to seek to have one or more criminal convictions set aside as part of the new Clean Slate law package.

These organizations have identified people who have given back to their community (since their conviction) and, for a lack of a better word, deserve it, Switalski said. This endeavor seeks to break down the stigma and barriers associated with a record of convictions while increasing opportunities for employment, restoring a sense of independence and purpose for an individual, and also increasing voter eligibility among many other benefits.

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Switalski, a Harrison Township resident who operates Switalski Law & Consulting in Mount Clemens, said she is already working on over three dozen cases for Macomb County residents. The process can take a few months to complete.

Switalski is donating her legal work, and the organizations are picking up the tab for the fees, including a certified copy of the conviction, which ranges from about $75 for a single expungement up to $200 or $250 for multiple expungements, she said.

The news laws, which took effect April 11, significantly increase the number of felonies and misdemeanors that can be set aside from an individuals record, thereby removing obstacles to jobs, housing, insurance and student loans, among other opportunities.

A convict can get up to three felonies and an unlimited number of misdemeanors expunged after three, five or seven years, depending on the offense. Some offenses such as assaultive crimes and major crimes are not eligible.

Patty Wagenhofer, chief operations officer of CARE of Southeastern Michigan in Fraser, which has submitted four candidates, commended the effort.

This effort creates freedom for others in ways they could not previously have imagined, Wagenhofer said. The thought of the community coming together to make this happen is exciting. The work Jodi Switalski and her legal team is doing in this effort is remarkable in so many ways, and also a reflection of the passion we all have as community members to create a life for people where they can become their best selves.

Jackie Jenkins, 40, of Roseville, is seeking expungement of a conviction by plea in Macomb Circuit Court of receiving and concealing a stolen firearm in 2014.

Jenkins was initially charged in 2012 when her surname was Ivory and said she tried to fight it for over two years on a claim that her ex-husband left the gun in a bedroom when he left and she, not knowing it may have been stolen, pawned it at a shop. She said the gun was brand new in the box.

I ran out of money and couldnt pay my lawyer, Jenkins said. I got a court-appointed lawyer who said to take a plea.

She pleaded no contest.

Jenkins was selected by the Rev. Larry Ireland of New Generation Church in Mount Clemens. He said the conviction hasnt prevented her from working, getting remarried and having a good life. But she wants to right a wrong about her past.

I felt like it was really unfair because it was not something I did, she said.

She and her husband, John Jenkins, whom she married in July 2015, operate a property preservation company and have a lawn-care and snow-removal business.

Jenkins also was convicted in 2014 of a federal drug distribution offense for her relatively minor role involving many other defendants, including her ex-husband, whom she said was abusive and is currently serving in federal prison for his role. He also was convicted in 2013 of second-notice domestic violence against her.

Jenkins said her one year, one day in prison helped her turn her life around.

I went into prison with my wedding ring, my Bible and God came out with my wedding right, my Bible and God, she said.

Switalski said of Jenkins: Its really a blessing to be able to help her.

Other groups providing candidates and picking up the fees is Mount Clemens-based Turning Point and Clinton Township-based Staying Social While Distancing, among others that do not wish to be identified.

The effort began organically when Switalski attended a meeting of Staying Social While Distancing, which was created around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to help stage recreational activities in south Clinton Township, according to Mike Keys of SSWD.

Switalski asked about community needs, and the Rev. Twylla Lucas of the Vinson Chapel AME Church, through which SSWD operates, mentioned the new expungement laws, Keys said. SSWD has submitted expungement candidates.

This is a really important effort, Keys said. Were hoping other attorneys step forward to assist.

Adrienne Gasperoni, community organizer for CARE and a SSWD member, said the effort will help recovering substance abusers overcome their addiction vs. continuing to be punished for past sins.

The community does not benefit from segregating and limiting members who have made past mistakes, Gasperoni said.

No more will the inequities or decisions of our past haunt individuals with criminal convictions. This collaborations purpose is to begin the long process of social justice reform by addressing systemic racism and other inequities that have ravaged the criminal justice system, Switalski said.

Switalski worked as an assistant Macomb prosecutor for five years until 2009, served as a judge in 51st District Court in Waterford Township for six years ending in 2016 and last year ran for county prosecutor, losing to Mary Chrzanowski in the August Democratic primary. Republican Peter Lucido won the post in November.

Switalski is married to Macomb Circuit Judge Mark Switalski.

Monoclonal antibody treatment for COVID boosted recovery for Macomb Township couple At first Susan Carlson thought her symptoms were from spring allergies. Then reality hit.

+2 Phil Kraft named chairperson of Macomb County Community Mental Health Board Macomb County Commissioner Phil Kraft has been elected chairperson of the county Community Mental Health Board by the board.

COVID hospitalizations drop 42% in 3 weeks at Henry Ford; vaccine rate not high enough In the past three weeks the Henry Ford Health System has seen a 42% drop in hospitalizations and admissions for COVID-19.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is advising consumers not to eat Rashi Al-Mahaba tahini sold at the Dijla Al-Furat store at 33190 Ryan Road, in Sterling Heights due to food safety concerns.
Take a few minutes and scroll through some of the local news from the past week:
Exton, PA (19341)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Jefferson, GA (30549)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Today is the day countries find out if they have been included on the UKs coveted Green List, which dont require tourists to quarantine when they get home.

The British Government has not confirmed an official time for the announcement, but according to the Sun newspaper, there will be a Downing Street press conference this afternoon.

Malta, Gibraltar, Iceland and Israel are tipped to be on the Green List and Spain, Greece and France are likely to be on the Amber List, which means people returning to the UK would have to quarantine for 10 days and have 2 PCR tests on day 2 and day 5.

Travellers arriving from Red List countries will have to quarantine at a Government approved hotel at their own expense for 10 days and have 2 PCR tests on day 2 and day 8.

There are rumours that Portugal will also be added to todays list, which has sparked a surge in demand for holidays and flights when the International travel ban is lifted on May 17.

The list will be reviewed every three weeks and insiders predict that Spain, Greece and France will be green listed at the end of June.

UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps has said that he's in favour of establishing air corridors with Islands, including the Balearics, which have a lower rate of contagion than the mainland countries they belong to, but so far nothing has been confirmed.
Brits are avoiding extortionate quarantine costs when they return to England by detouring to Turkey, which is not on the UK's 'Red' list, according to the BBC.

There are 40 countries on the UKs Red list, including India, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates and according to the British Government's website, anyone whos been in, or travelled through a Red list country within the previous 10 days will be refused entry to the UK.

British and Irish nationals and those with UK residency will be allowed in, but they must quarantine for 10 days in a Government-approved hotel which costs 1,750 per person or 3,700 for a family of four with teenage children.


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MANISTEE  To make access to COVID-19 vaccines easier, Northwest Michigan Health Services (NMHSI) is opening vaccines to people with or without reservations at a pop-up vaccination event slated for Friday at Manistee Area Public Schools.

The event is open to anyone 16 years of age or older.

Our goal is to reach as many people as possible, and make it as easy as possible, said NMHSI CEO Heidi Britton.

She said there is an urgency to reach more people in rural portions of northwest Michigan, and the Manistee event is targeting those patients.

Pfizer vaccines will be used during the event from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on May 7 at the Manistee Middle High School gym, located at 525 12th St. in Manistee.

Those interested can register in advance here or by calling (231) 645-5292, however, walk-ins are also welcome. A second vaccination will be scheduled at the same time for May 28 at the same location.

More curbside clinics are planned in Traverse City, Benzonia and Shelby later this month.

RELATED: Health department taking walk-ins at first dose vaccine clinics

Manistee County has had 1,078 cases of COVID-19 and 19 deaths, as of Thursday's data provided by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

This is an increase of four cases and zero deaths since Wednesday.

The state shows 538 of the cases in the county listed as female, 528 were listed as male and eight as unknown.

The DHD#10 case summary for May 6, shows that from April 26 to May 1, some Manistee County cases were contracted through community, household and school exposure.

Manistee County has 47.3% of its population completely vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the states data from May 5. This is 9,894 out of 20,931 eligible residents, according to 2019 Census estimates for people 16 years old and older. In Benzie County, 48.6% of the residents are completely vaccinated.

There have been over 7 million vaccine doses administered in Michigan; 39.9% of the state's eligible population is completely vaccinated.

DHD#10 is currently allowing all residents 16 and above to sign up to receive the first dose of the vaccine here.

RELATED: Health officials plan to increase access to COVID-19 vaccinations with mobile clinic

Here are some quick facts from the most recent MDHHS report:

 There have been 858,050 cases and 18,054 deaths statewide during the pandemic

 This is an increase of 3,514 cases and 115 deaths. The deaths announced Thursday include 92 that were identified during a vital records review.

 Case counts are cumulative, not reduced due to recoveries and are listed for the patients resident county.

 There have been 660,124 recoveries from COVID-19. This information was published by the state on April 30 and is updated weekly.

 Recovery numbers show that a person is alive after 30 days from the onset of testing or onset of symptoms.

 Grand Traverse County reported 5,465 cases and 77 deaths; an increase of 20 cases and no deaths.

 Wexford County reported 2,452 cases and 39 deaths; an increase of 14 cases and two deaths.

 Benzie County has seen 1,033 cases and 33 deaths; an increase of five cases and one deaths.

 Lake County has seen 551 cases and 14 deaths; an increase of zero cases and zero deaths.

 Mason County has seen 1,931 cases and 35 deaths; an increase of 13 cases and zero deaths.

RELATED: DHD hopes walk-in clinics will equal more vaccinations

Manistee County is considered part of region 7 for tracking by the state. Region 7 includes Manistee and 17 other counties.

The region had 77 cases of adult patients either confirmed or suspected of COVID-19 hospitalized, 10 on ventilators and 26 adults either confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases who were in intensive care.

Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital has three COVID-19 patients as of Monday, the most recent data available.

The latest numbers from the CDC, last reported on May 5, show the U.S. has reported 32.3 million cases and 575,491 deaths from COVID-19.

The U.S. has the highest counts globally. India has the second highest number of cases and Brazil has the second highest number of deaths.

WHO lists 154.8 million confirmed cases and 3.2 million deaths in the world. There have been 1.17 billion vaccine doses administered worldwide.

COVID AT A GLANCE

Manistee County

New cases: 4

Positivity rate: 10%

Benzie County

New cases: 5

Positivity rate: 26.3%
Defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final has left Real Madrid in a fragile state, although the Spanish giants have no time to reflect on their continental disappointment as they have Sevilla next on the calendar.

They have been given a further problem by the fact that Sergio Ramos, Vinicius and Fede Valverde all missed training on Friday. The trio worked in the gym away from the rest of the group.

Meanwhile, Raphael Varane will not play against Sevilla, while Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez have both been ruled out for the rest of the campaign.

Varane's estimated absence is around 10 days after suffering an adductor muscle injury against Osasuna, although he worked in the gym on Friday.

The French defender is expected to be available for the upcoming clash with Granada, although his absence means Zidane will have to shuffle the pack against Sevilla.
Pfizer and BioNTech now seek full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for their coronavirus vaccine, the companies announced Friday.

The companies mRNA vaccine is currently available in the United States through the emergency use authorization the FDA granted them on Dec. 11, 2020. Since then, more than 170 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine have been delivered across the U.S., according to a statement from the companies.

The process to get full approval from the FDA starts with the initiation of a biologics license application with the federal government. Data to support the BLA will be submitted by Pfizer and BioNTech on a rolling basis over the coming weeks, with a request for priority review, the statement said.

We are proud of the tremendous progress weve made since December in delivering vaccines to millions of Americans, in collaboration with the U.S. Government, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in the companies statement. We look forward to working with the FDA to complete this rolling submission and support their review, with the goal of securing full regulatory approval of the vaccine in the coming months.

The two-shot vaccine Pfizer and BioNTech, called BNT162b2, was the first COVID-19 to be granted emergency use authorization in the U.S. The decision was based on promising data surrounding the immunization method, including results from the Phase 3 trial of roughly 44,000 participants. At the time, that information showed the vaccine had an efficacy rate of 95%.

In early April, after tracking more than 900 of the trial participants for up to six months following their second doses, Pfizer and BioNTech reported the vaccine was 100% effective against severe COVID-19 as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 95.3% against severe disease as defined by the FDA. The vaccine had an efficacy rate of 91.3%, according to the companies.

Since the Pfizer and BioNTechs EUA was granted, 134,116,885 doses of the companies vaccine have been administered in the United States, amounting to more than half of the total number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered in the nation, according to the CDCs COVID Data Tracker.

An emergency use authorization is granted to help strengthen public health protections against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, including infectious diseases, by making medical countermeasures available during times of emergency, the FDA explains on its website.

When the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declares an EUA is appropriate, the FDA can authorize an unapproved medical product, like a vaccine, for use in an emergency to diagnose, treat or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions when there are no available alternatives. Other strict criteria must also be met.

The submission of a biologics license application requires longer-term follow-up data for acceptance and approval. Pfizer and BioNTech noted the BLAs the next step in the rigorous FDA review process.

The Prescription Drug User Fee Act goal date for a decision from the FDA on whether it approves the vaccine will be set once the BLA is complete and formally accepted for review by the agency, according to Pfizer and BioNTech.

Following the successful delivery of more than 170 million doses to the U.S. population in just a few months, the BLA submission is an important cornerstone of achieving long-term herd immunity and containing COVID-19 in the future, BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said in the statement. We are pleased to work with U.S. regulators to seek approval of our COVID-19 vaccine based on our pivotal Phase 3 trial and follow-up data.

The two companies kicked off the BLA by submitting the nonclinical and clinical data needed to support licensing their COVID-19 vaccine for use in people 16 years of age and older, according to the statement.

This data includes the most recent analyses from the Phase 3 clinical trial of the immunization method, where the vaccines efficacy was observed up to six months after participants received their second doses. The companies said they will submit the required manufacturing and facility data to the FDA in the coming weeks to finish the BLA.

Pfizer and BioNTech have also applied to expand the current emergency use authorization for their vaccine to include individuals 12 to 15 years of age.

The companies intend to submit a supplemental BLA to support licensure of the vaccine in this age group once the required data six months after the second vaccine dose are available, Pfizer and BioNTech said.

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SPRINGFIELD  Springfield Technical Community College will be closed through Sunday, May 9, after four employees tested positive for COVID-19.

The campus was closed out of an abundance of caution, according to an email sent to students and staff Thursday night from Kathryn C. Senie, assistant vice president of human resources for the college.

Each of the employees reported testing positive over a 10-day span.

The college is collaborating closely with the local Department of Public Health. All individuals who had potential close contact with the confirmed cases have been notified, directed to quarantine, and encouraged to contact their primary health care provider, Senie said. Local public health officials will oversee the formal contact tracing process.

The closure does not affect online classes. Most classes at STCC have been held online over the past academic year due to the pandemic.

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is now releasing weekly tallies showing the number and percentage of residents who are now vaccinated for COVID-19 broken down by community.

The state has suppressed data where dose records number fewer than 30 for a given age demographic, resulting in more than 80 Massachusetts cities and towns that the state has not provided complete vaccination figures. The data gives a look at some communities that are leading the race to vaccinate, and some that are lagging behind.

Suppression is done in order to prevent the data from being used to identify individuals, the Department of Public Health said in a statement to MassLive. In categories with small numbers (especially rare age or race/ethnicity categories in municipalities with small populations), the chance that someone would have sufficient additional information to identify who specifically was diagnosed with COVID-19 increases.

The department used a similar argument when it initially declined to release town-by-town COVID numbers last year. The state reversed the decision shortly afterward.

Of the communities where data is provided, the top 10 cities and towns posting the highest percentages of fully vaccinated residents include Tisbury (74%), Williamsburg (70%), Nahant (61%), Rockport (58%), Great Barrington (57%), Mattapoisett (56%), Lenox (55%), West Newbury (55%), Dennis (54%)and Marblehead (54%), respectively.

You can search for your city or town in the table below. If there is an asterisk in place of the data, one or more age demographic for that community has been suppressed by the state, resulting in incomplete data available to the public:

If you are having trouble viewing this chart, click here.

Thirty cities and towns on the list are currently at or above 50% of total residents fully vaccinated as of Thursdays data. Twenty-seven communities are currently at or below the 30% benchmark, data shows.

How well a municipality does in terms of vaccinating its population depends on how accessible the vaccine is in that community, including outreach to more hesitant populations. It also depends on distribution efforts within that city or town, proximity to large-scale vaccination sites, among other factors.

On Wednesday, CVS Health announced it would be offering walk-in vaccine appointments at most pharmacy locations in the state. Six of the states large-scale vaccination sites are also welcoming walk-ins beginning on Monday.

There have been a total of 6,501,263 COVID vaccine doses administered in Massachusetts to date, and 2,774,629 residents are now fully vaccinated. Roughly 53% of the state have received at least one dose, and 39% are now fully vaccinated.

On Thursday, state health officials reported another 1,004 COVID cases and five deaths, and a total of 669 infections were confirmed in Massachusetts schools over the last week. New COVID cases have been declining for nearly two months as the pace of vaccinations started picking up in recent weeks with the expansion of eligibility to all residents 16 and older.

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Godzilla and Kong are headed to MGM Springfield on Friday.

Regal Theatres is reopening three of its Massachusetts locations, which had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The three locations includes MGM Springfield, Regal Solomon Pond in Marlborough and Regal Independence Mall & RPX in Kingston.

Regal Fenway in Boston was reopened in April.

We have long-awaited this moment when we can welcome audiences back to our Regal theatres and restore our essential role within the communities we serve, said Mooky Greidinger, chief executive officer of Cineworld said in a statement in March. With capacity restrictions expanding to 50% or more across most U.S. states, we will be able to operate profitably in our biggest markets.

The theater will have a few options for movies including Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat. Customers can also begin preordering tickets for A Quiet Place Part II.

Five more Regal Theatres locations in the commonwealth will open later this month.

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They train the FBI and now the Air National Guards 104th Fighter Wing in Westfield.

The 104th Fighter Wing has a wide range of deployed and domestic operations that we support, and we often train with partners. Recently, we traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, to learn from the experts at Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Explains Dawnie Steadman, director of the center, It takes a great deal of planning and work to set up a course such as this and (our assistant director) Mary Davis creativity and MacGyver-like skills really made the course especially relevant to the 104th Fighter Wing. Steadman says its the mission of the center to deliver training to our students as well as to professionals around the world, conduct research that helps answer question relevant to forensic science and advance the field, and provide outreach to convey to the public what we do and the importance of the work to the criminal justice system and beyond.

The experience at the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Center, AKA the Body Farm, provided valuable and interactive training to the sustainment team, said Master Sgt. Lauren Gallagher, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the 104s Fatality Search and Recovery Team. We were able to practice real-world scenarios and deep dive into the principles of forensic-biological anthropology.

The team and other members of the 104th received hands-on training and lectures about the ever evolving science to which the professionals at the Forensic Anthropology Center are constantly contributing. This training will increase our teams ability to perform their job and contribute to domestic-response missions. The public affairs team also attended the training and increased our skills in alert and forensic documentation.

Senior Master Sgt. Sandra Woodin and her team have been working on this training for over a year, said 2nd Lt. Heather Dragon, personnel director for the Force Support Squadron. With COVID-19, there was of course delays, but her ability to create meaningful relationships with agencies such as the team at the Forensic Anthropology Center, proved to be hugely beneficial. There was so much behind the scenes, but all her hard work paid off.

The training provided more than 35 unit members important real-world skills to help prepare them to contribute to domestic operations professionally. The 104ths commander, Col. William Sling Bladen, and Chief Master Sgt. Brett Barbee, the 104s command chief master sergeant, also attended the training to support the team and gain better understanding for their missions and the demands those missions place on them.

Having Colonel Bladen and Chief Barbee attend the training was awesome, said Dragon. Our team always takes pride in what they do, but you could see just how proud they were when the colonel and the chief were around. It was also great to have them around off hours, allowing our airmen to connect with them and learn about each other outside the normal hustle and bustle of work.

In addition to the mission training and skills development, training trips also provide time for airmen to get to know each other so they can be better able to support one another and build team working skills that they can then apply in the field.

We were lucky enough to bring a team of 35-plus airmen, and the best part of this was how well our team looked out for each other, said Dragon. There are so many individuals that impressed me personally, and thats the best part about these trips. Learning something new about people I dont get to spend valuable time with over drill or during the work days.

The participants included young airmen on their first training trip since joining the 104th. This was their opportunity to put into action the skills they learned during their initial technical training and push themselves to excel.

The instructors were very informative, approachable, and willing to share knowledge and experiences as well as being patient and a dash of humor when needed, said Airman Farah Pagnoni, a services airman. My team was amazing. Senior Airman Keven Colon-Rivera and Airman 1st Class Brittany Kamyk were very helpful, patient and offered immense support during the transport of the bodies and supportive afterwards.

Airman Pagnoni and her peers were able to show their squadron leadership and wing leadership what they are made of and what they can achieve together.

I was extremely impressed with our airmens performance throughout this phenomenal training, said command Chief Master Sgt. Barbee. Their loyalty to each other, their competence, perseverance and courage culminated into a truly remarkable team building experience for all. The teams performance and Leadership provided yet another example of how our wing continues to drive innovative approaches to ensure were prepared to defend our nation.

The 104th leadership is committed to continuing to provide and support training that amplifies members skills, contributions to domestic mission readiness to respond to federal missions, and expanding partnerships.

I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to witness our Barnestormers in action during this training, said commander Bladen. It was amazing to see the level of commitment to each other and to the task at hand. While the training was mentally and emotionally taxing, it was important our airmen experienced this in a controlled environment before a real world tasking occurs. Our team got through it by leaning on one another, their leadership, their first sergeant, and our wings director of psychological health. I couldnt be prouder of all who participated.

Lindsey S. Watson is a master sergeant and public affairs manager for the Air National Guards 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Regional Airport in Westfield. Her column will appear monthly.
Blinken rejects claims of cold war between U.S., China

Xinhua) 16:05, May 07, 2021

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies before U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the Biden Administration's Priorities for U.S. Foreign Policy on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on March 10, 2021. (Ken Cedeno/Pool via Xinhua)

During a visit to London, the U.S. top diplomat said he resisted "putting labels on most relationships including this one, because it's complex," referring to U.S.-China relations.

LONDON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected claims that the United States is entering a cold war with China, the Financial Times (FT) reported.

During a visit to London, the U.S. top diplomat said he resisted "putting labels on most relationships including this one, because it's complex," referring to U.S.-China relations.

According to the FT report on Wednesday, Blinken also said the United States recognized that countries have complicated relationships, including with China, and that his country did not believe other countries' economic relationships with Beijing "need to be cut off or ended."

He said the U.S. administration was pursuing the right strategy by saying the United States did not want a cold war and did not want countries to pick sides.

(Web editor: Guo Wenrui, Liang Jun)
A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao.

Specifically, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and Kueng are also charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure, alleging they did not intervene to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Floyds May 25 arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked protests nationwide and widespread calls for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.

Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the arrest and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Lane, Thao and Kueng made their initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.

Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyds death and is in Minnesotas only maximum-security prison as he awaits sentencing. The other three former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Fridays federal court appearance.

Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judges refusal to move the trial due to publicity.

Nelson had no comment on the federal charges Friday. Kuengs attorney also had no comment. A message left for Thaos attorney wasnt immediately returned, and a call to Lanes attorney disconnected when he was reached by The Associated Press.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said the federal charges against the officers show the Justice Department does not excuse it nor allow police to act as though as what they do is acceptable behavior in the line of duty.

What we couldnt get them to do in the case of Eric Garner, Michael Brown in Ferguson, and countless others, we are finally seeing them do today, Sharpton said.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting the state charges, said the federal government has the responsibility to protect the civil rights of every American and federal prosecution for the violation of George Floyds civil rights is entirely appropriate, particularly now that Chauvin is convicted of murder.

To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe that an officer acted under the color of law, or government authority, and willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights, including the right to be free from unreasonable seizures or the use of unreasonable force. Thats a high legal standard; an accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officers part isnt enough to support federal charges.

Roy Austin, who prosecuted such cases as a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justices Civil Rights Division, said prosecutors have to prove that the officers knew what they were doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.

Conviction on a federal civil rights charge is punishable by up to life in prison or even the death penalty, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.

In Chauvins case, if the federal court uses second-degree murder as his underlying offense, he could face anywhere from 14 years to slightly more than 24 years, depending on whether he takes responsibility, said Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Osler said the guidelines clearly state that any federal sentence would be served at the same time as a state sentence  the sentences wouldnt stack. Chauvin is due to be sentenced on the state charges June 25.

The first indictment says Thao and Kueng were aware Chauvin had his knee on Floyds neck, even after Floyd became unresponsive, and willfully failed to intervene to stop Defendant Chauvins use of unreasonable force.

All four officers are charged with willfully depriving Floyd of liberty without due process  for their alleged deliberate indifference to Floyds medical needs.

The second indictment, against Chauvin only, alleges he deprived a 14-year-old of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boys neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and unresisting.

According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and that after the teen, who he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin used body weight to pin the boy to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times before dating back to 2014, including four times state prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.

President Joe Bidens administration has made policing reform a major issue. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said he was refocusing the department around civil rights and does not believe there is equal justice under the law.

In late April, the Justice Department indicted three men on federal hate crime charges in the February 2020 death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was running in a Georgia neighborhood when he was chased down and shot. At the time, it was the most significant civil rights prosecution undertaken by Bidens Justice Department.

The Justice Department also recently announced it was opening a sweeping investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. The investigation will examine whether there is a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing at the department, and it could result in major changes.

Garland announced a similar probe into policing in Louisville, Kentucky, over the March 2020 death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police during a raid at her home.

Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Experts say he will likely face no more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in June. The other officers face charges alleging they aided and abetted second-degree murder and manslaughter. All four officers were fired.

___

Balsamo reported from Washington.
SPRINGFIELD  I cant breathe. Im in so much pain right now, were the words Madelyn Linsenmeir uttered days before her death following her arrest by Springfield police in 2018.

According to a lawsuit filed last year in U.S. District Court, her pleas for help went unheeded by both Springfield police and staff at the Western Massachusetts Regional Womens Correctional Center, where she ultimately died from a heart infection.

A federal judge this week refused to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Linsenmeirs family against the city and the Hampden County Sheriffs Department, rejecting arguments by attorneys for both.

We are grateful the case is moving forward, and we remain committed to seeking justice for Madelyn, said Maura ONeill, one of Madelyns sisters and the plaintiff in the case as the administrator of her estate.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Prisoners Legal Services and a Boston law firm. It alleges wrongful death and civil rights violations. The complaint was filed against the city of Springfield, individual police officers, the Sheriffs Department and five individual employees of that agency.

Linsenmeir was 30 and a mother to a young boy when she died on Oct. 7, 2018. A Vermont resident, she had struggled with opioid addiction since she was in high school and began taking prescription drugs, according to the lawsuit and a heartbreaking obituary written by he sister Kate ONeill.

She was arrested in Springfield for warrants out of New Hampshire and for giving police a false name, according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers for the police department argued the officers should be absolved of responsibility in her death since Linsenmeir did not die in their custody. However, video footage from the booking area showed her crying and pleading with police for medical attention. Instead, they transferred her to the womens jail just days before she died in her cell, the lawsuit says.

Linsenmeir and her fellow detainees also pleaded with Sheriffs Department employees to help her get medical care, according to the complaint.

Madelyn repeatedly asked them to take her to get medical help. WCC staff members told Madelyn that the situation was her own fault for using drugs. Over the next several days, Madelyns condition visibly deteriorated. She became increasingly lethargic and unresponsive. Between October 2 and the morning of October 4, 2018, other detainees told WCC staff on multiple occasions that Madelyn was ill and needed medical attention, it reads.

The facility called an ambulance on that day, but plaintiffs attorneys argued it was too late because the infection had ravaged most of her organs.

Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi extends his condolences to the family of Madelyn Linsenmeir, as he did upon learning of her passing.

Although we cannot comment on a specific death, we do offer that the Hampden County Sheriffs Department always aims to provide the best healthcare available to everyone who comes into our custody. Often, individuals come to us after several years of poor health care in the community and we strive to provide the best healthcare services given the challenging circumstances of these individuals prior to them arriving in our custody, said Robert Rizzuto, spokesman for Cocchi, in a statement.

A trial date has not yet been set in the case.
SPRINGFIELD  A city man was arrested on drug trafficking and firearms charges after police raided his home and confiscated 300 oxycodone pills, two semi-automatic handguns and $183,928 in cash Thursday morning.

Massachusetts State Police along with a variety of law enforcement raided the second-floor apartment at 93 Acushnet Ave. at 9:30 a.m. following an investigation into what police suspected was a significant cocaine operation, said David Procopio, state police spokesman.

They arrested Mario Monge, 41, who was the target of the investigation. He has been charged with trafficking cocaine and oxycodone; two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm by a person with at least three prior convictions for violent crimes or drug crimes; possession of heroin with intent to distribute; possession of a large-capacity feeding device; two counts of possession of a firearm in commission of a felony; and other firearms charges, Procopio said.

Police received a search warrant as a result of the investigation. During the raid they discovered 169 grams of suspected cocaine, a 9 mm Taurus PT80 pistol, and a Walther P22 pistol, as well as the oxycodone and the money, he said.

Monge was taken to the state police barracks in Springfield, where he was booked, he said.

The operation was conducted jointly by a state police narcotics task force and the West Task Force Commonwealth Interstate Narcotics Reduction and Enforcement Team. Also included in the operation were other state police agencies, Springfield Police, the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force and federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the FBI Western Massachusetts Gang Task Force.

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Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

This sage advice, applicable across diverse fields and in myriad situations, hasnt exactly been embraced by Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky. Though his title -- Senate minority leader -- might give one reason to believe that hed look to position himself as an influencer, McConnell has often been best at standing in the way.

Even folks who dont pay close attention to the day-to-day doings of the political set in our nations federal city are likely to know McConnell for one thing of note: His decision to hold open the seat on the Supreme Court that became vacant with the death of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016. His stated rationale at the time, of course, was that a vacancy that occurs during a presidential election year shouldnt be filled. Instead, the people should have the opportunity to weigh in on the course of the court when they cast their ballots in the presidential election come November.

As such, President Barack Obamas nominee for the seat never received a hearing in the Senate.

Five years later, and McConnell is proudly standing in the way again.

One hundred percent of my focus is standing up to this administration, McConnell said on Wednesday.

The old saying, updated for Republicans in the McConnell era: Follow the leader as he stands in the way.

When Democrat Joe Biden was seeking his partys presidential nomination last year, he repeatedly touted the successes hed had working across the aisle during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate, representing Delaware. Hed also served for eight years as vice president under Obama, working with congressional Republicans in that job, too.

All of this, he made clear, would stand him in good stead if he were to be elected president.

Democrats passed their coronavirus relief measure without a single Republican vote in either chamber. And Bidens next two major proposals -- the American Jobs Act and the American Families Act, the former an infrastructure bill, the latter focused on childcare and education -- have so far been shunned by congressional Republicans.

They and their allies in the right-wing media, not surprisingly, have blamed Biden and Democrats.

In reality, though, they need to look at the behavior of their partys leader in the Senate, who gives new meaning to the expression Just say no.
SPRINGFIELD - Six people were displaced as a result of an early morning fire that started in the basement of a home on David Street near Van Horn Park in the citys Liberty Heights neighborhood.

Firefighters were called to 102 David St. at around 2:40 a.m. for a reported fire.

One resident was taken to the hospital with injuries that were described as not life-threatening, according to Fire Department spokesman Capt. Drew Piemonte.

The residents, 5 adults and one child, will be assisted by the Western Massachusetts chapter of the American Red Cross.
Only the hum of a helicopter and the cry of a baby could be heard on the Hopkinton Town Common as hundreds of people stood in silence Thursday in memory of 16-year-old Mikayla Miller.

The vigil and rally drew a sizable crowd in response to the death of Miller, a teenager whose life was cut short far too early.

Nothing I say today is going to take away the pain that we all are experiencing in this new world without Mikayla, but my hope is that by sharing a little about her life, our life, it will help you get to know more about her, Millers mother, Calvina Strothers, said at the rally.

You know the old saying, Two peas in a pod? That was us. My daughter was great, Strothers continued through tears. Funny, loving, caring and loved me to death, we had a bond that is indescribable.

Questions continue to mount about the circumstances surrounding Millers death, particularly in light of a statement Strothers made in the past week that has circulated across social media, claiming theres been a lack of transparency on the part of law enforcement and that her daughter was jumped by a group of teenagers in the hours before she died Saturday, April 17. Miller was Black and a member of the LGBTQ community.

I dont want to be a vigilante in this. I dont want to have to spend all day on the phone getting and passing along evidence in order for justice to be served, Strothers said at the rally, speaking to a crowd of several hundred people, among them babies, teenagers, parents and elderly folks.

What I want is for the criminal justice system to work, she added while being met by a thunderous applause from those attending the rally.

Hundreds of people took to Hopkinton, Massachusetts on Thursday to attend a candlelight vigil and rally in honor of Mikayla Miller, who died at age 16 and whose death has sparked significant public scrutiny. (Jackson Cote/MassLive)

After releasing minimal information in the wake of Millers death, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan held a press conference earlier this week in which she laid out a timeline of events leading up to the teenagers body being discovered by a jogger in the woods of the town on the morning of Sunday, April 18.

The prosecutor confirmed that a fight broke out between Miller and two other teenagers in the recreational area of the apartment complex she lived in that Saturday evening. Three other teens, one of whom was in a relationship with Miller, were also in and around the complex at the time.

Authorities have confirmed the whereabouts of all five teenagers at the time Miller died, Ryan said. None of them were in the area of 34 West Main St., where her body was found around 7:45 a.m. that Sunday.

Still, loved ones of Miller, lawmakers, activists, protesters and members of the community remain skeptical. They continue to call for more information about the girls death, particularly due to the fact that she was a Black teenager in a predominantly white town and that so little information was released about her case until concern started to be shared over social media.

The district attorney noted during an emergency meeting the Hopkinton Select Board called Tuesday night in anticipation of Thursdays rally that she released more information about the events leading up to Millers death primarily because of the heightened public scrutiny.

The girls cause and manner of death have yet to be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and Ryan has declined to say whether she killed herself or was killed by someone else. However, in the initial days after Miller died, the prosecutors office said foul play wasnt suspected.

Hundreds of people took to Hopkinton, Massachusetts on Thursday to attend a candlelight vigil and rally in honor of Mikayla Miller, who died at age 16 and whose death has sparked significant public scrutiny. (Jackson Cote/MassLive)

Many of the people who flocked to the town common Thursday afternoon held the same sign that included the picture of a single red rose alongside the words, Justice for Mikayla Miller, a sentence that has been shared widely on social media.

Others held up signs that read, Black Lives Matter, We are outraged by your neglect and, simply, This is [expletive].

In an emotional speech to the hundreds of demonstrators who showed up, Millers mother claimed that due to a lack of urgency from law enforcement, she has not only had to play the role of the grieving mother but has also had to put pressure on the district attorneys officer to get answers. Struthers asserted she didnt hear from Ryan until 12 days after her daughters death.

I want a full and transparent investigation. I also want the forensics of the belt that they found on Mikayla, Strothers added, referring to the belt organizers said was found with the teenagers body the morning of April 18.

Vigil held in wake of 16-year-old Mikayla Millers death Posted by MassLive on Thursday, May 6, 2021

Former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson and Monica Cannon-Grant, the founder of the activist organization Violence in Boston, helped organize the rally, which drew several figures prominent in the Greater Boston area, including state Senate President Karen Spilka, former U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy, Framingham Mayor Yvonne Spicer and others.

Sean Ellis, who was wrongfully accused in the murder of a Boston police detective in the 1990s and whose last criminal charge was dropped this week, also attended the rally and spoke to the hundreds of attendees while standing outside a gazebo in the center of the common.

To Mikaylas family, you may be wounded, but youre not broken, Ellis said.

Both Jackson and Grant also spoke at the rally and shared the same demand as Millers mother and so many others, including U.S. Rep Ayanna Pressley: that an independent and transparent investigation be launched into the teenagers death.

It is also a very sad fact that Mikayla was found alone, up against a tree, with a belt around her neck. That is a fact, Jackson said toward the beginning of the demonstration. We are here. We are here, and we are here to support this family, and Id ask that you say her name: Mikayla Miller.

Hundreds of people took to Hopkinton, Massachusetts on Thursday to attend a candlelight vigil and rally in honor of Mikayla Miller, who died at age 16 and whose death has sparked significant public scrutiny. Former Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson, who helped organize the rally, is pictured here holding the microphone. (Jackson Cote/MassLive)

There were numerous times during the rally when the speakers would say those three words, Say her name, and the hundreds of demonstrators would respond, Mikayla Miller. Throughout the chants, the dull beat of a drum could be heard from one protestor who brought the instrument.

Racism is real. Racism exists. Racism exists in the United States of America. Racism exists in the state of Massachusetts, Jackson said to the claps of hundreds of demonstrators. And racism does exist in Hopkinton, ladies and gentlemen.

Grant explained during the rally that if there was transparency from the very beginning, there wouldnt have been the need for the demonstration.

But because of all the things that was mishandled from day one by DA Marian Ryan and her office and the officers that work out of her office is why were here, Grant said, noting how a simple social media post led to hundreds of people turning out for the vigil and rally. Let me tell you something, nobody can ever tell me that people dont have power.

The rally also included moments of quietude, as those in attendance reflected on Millers life, lit candles and stood silent. At one point, Jackson asked the crowd to close their eyes and imagine the teenager, who he called an amazing young lady and a leader amongst her peers.

But imagine she was white. Imagine she was white, and five Black kids beat her up one night, and the next morning, she was found dead. Now, open your eyes, Hopkinton. Open your eyes, and see the truth, We know if Mikayla was a young girl, we wouldnt be here two and a half weeks after.

We wouldnt have to fight the DA and the state police for justice, he added, noting how those at the rally are demanding transparency, justice and accountability from the district attorney.

The memory of Miller was kept alive during the rally, with many individuals commenting on the girls intelligence, athleticism, humor, love and kindness.

Hundreds of people took to Hopkinton, Massachusetts on Thursday to attend a candlelight vigil and rally in honor of Mikayla Miller, who died at age 16 and whose death has sparked significant public scrutiny. Members of Miller's family, including her cousin DeMarr Langford (center-left), are pictured here. (Jackson Cote/MassLive)

She was loving, caring, and she was an athlete, DeMarr Langford, Millers 44-year-old cousin, told MassLive. She was all about peace. Thats what makes this even more disturbing.

Langford stood near the gazebo toward the end of rally. He was wearing a black face mask with the words, Justice for Mikayla, written on it in white and sported a T-shirt with photographs of Miller on it.

He and his cousin lived somewhat far apart. Langfords a Worcester resident, and Miller was being raised in Hopkinton, so their relationship was distant, but they kept in touch, according to him. He wished they had been closer, though, which hurts even more in light of her death, he said.

Sonjia Langford, another cousin of Miller, said the teenager was just a baby and still had a future ahead of her.

She was young, spirited, smart, athletic, Langford said. She was a good kid.

According to Millers loved ones, the teen loved basketball, traveling and academics. She had dreams of attending a historically Black college or university to study journalism.

Millers bond with her mother was strong too. Strothers described how shed frequently text her daughter and interrupt whatever she was doing to ask her to make tea. The teen was always happy to do so.

She loved making me tea. Sometimes shed do it without me texting her. Nobody made chamomile tea for me like Mikayla, Strothers said.

The pair loved to travel, and their favorite quick getaway spots were Maine and New Hampshire. Miller loved the ocean, Strothers added, noting how her daughter wanted peace and serenity and for people to be happy.

Mikayla was only 16 years old. She was my bright and shining star in this crazy world. She was a good listener and had a kind heart, and although she was only 16 years old, she gave better advice to other in times of need than I did, Strothers said. She was calm and laid back and only gave her opinion when asked, but when she did, you knew the truth was coming.

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BOSTON  State Rep. Joseph Wagner will lead a six-member committee tasked with resolving a $600 million bond bill to finance a new Soldiers Home in Holyoke and additional veterans services across the state.

The Chicopee Democrat is the sole Western Massachusetts delegate on the panel. Its mission is to sort out differences between a House bill that allocated $400 million for the Holyoke project and the Senates version, which poured in $200 million more for veterans services in other parts of the state.

Other legislative members to the conference committee are Rep. Danielle Gregoire, D-Marlborough, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets; Rep. Donald Berthiaume R-Spencer, appointee of House Minority Leader Brad Jones; Sen. Cindy Friedman D-Arlington; Sen. Paul R. Feeney, D-Foxborough; and Sen. Ryan C. Fattman R-Sutton.

The Holyoke Soldiers Home became a flashpoint after 77 veterans at the state-run facility died from COVID-19 last year. Cramped condition of the 1950s facility were partly blamed for the outbreak. Two former administrators face criminal neglect charges over their response.

The bond bill has survived three subcommittees and unanimous votes by the House and Senate. But the differences between the two chambers bills must be worked out before the measure goes to Gov. Charlie Baker.

While not on the subcommittee, state Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, cautioned against politicizing the bill.

Let us not forget that it is politicians who send service members into harms way. The least we can do as politicians is ensure veterans they are taken care of when they come home from war. It is critical that we get this bill to the Governors desk and secure federal reimbursement for this project. We cannot let something this important fall through the cracks, Velis said in a statement.

As we saw during each chambers debate, support for the $400 million needed to reconstruct the Soldiers Home facility is clear and resounding. There is no reason that the other differences between the bills cannot be resolved swiftly, Velis added.

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At a virtual Springfield Public Forum on Thursday night, NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith said you wont hear President Joe Biden weigh in on culture wars  including over Springfields own Dr. Seuss  while hes pitching a pair of $2 trillion economic packages to Americans and Congress.

If his goal was to be a president you dont have to think about when you wake up in the morning, hes succeeding, Keith said, noting Bidens avoided the fiery cultural wars and policy-by-tweet headlines of the previous administration. Instead, hes lowered the temperature and stuck to slow and steady efforts to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and boost the economy, Keith told moderator Ray La Raja, UMass Amherst political science professor and associate dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

Biden hasnt accomplished everything he set out to do within his first 100 days, particularly on immigration, as his team grapples with a crisis over an influx of unaccompanied minors at the southern U.S. border, Keith said. The veteran journalist said shed also like to see more transparency out of the White House, which has not released visitor or Zoom meeting logs. And Keith said shed like to ask Biden, who called for unity during his inauguration address, what he means by bipartisanship.

Right out of the gate, hes realizing the mistakes of the Obama administration and just saying, Ill negotiate with you later, Keith said, joking that Biden might label a proposal bipartisan based on a Republican mayor in Texas who likes my plan.

Still, since the longtime Delaware senator and former vice president took the White House, hes pulled off some very big accomplishments in a shockingly disciplined fashion, Keith said.

The president signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package thats overwhelmingly popular with both Republican and Democratic voters; proposed once-in-a-generation bills on infrastructure and jobs, education and families; notched several low-key wins on the environment and gun violence prevention that have kept both progressives and moderates on board; and far exceeded the administrations initial vaccination goals, with pandemic-linked deaths and hospitalizations down sharply.

Meanwhile, the way Biden gets his message out is in stark contrast with President Donald Trump, who wanted a show in the briefing room, Keith said.

The Biden administration wants to make briefings every day be as boring and factual as possible, she added. Its so different.

Asked about Bidens discipline, Keith said its possible being leader of the free world can affect a guy, even one long known for gaffes.

When youre vice president, if you actively announce that the administration is going to change its view on gay marriage, well, heck, youre the vice president. If you say somethings a big f-ing deal, youre the vice president, she said. His script was to be off script. He was kissing grandmas, the whole thing. When youre president, though ... everything you say could affect or undermine your goal. That can lead to a high level of discipline ... when its all on you.

Whether Biden can close on more legislative wins may hinge on his approval ratings and proposals popularity, Keith said. Republicans may agree to smaller infrastructure moves, but theyve balked at his expansive packages and Democrats cant afford to lose any votes among moderates or conservatives in their ranks.

To get the American Rescue Plan to his desk, Democrats had to sidestep the Senates typical requirement that a bill advance with two-thirds majority support. In the currently 50-50 split chamber, at least 10 GOP senators would have needed to vote in favor. So Democrats instead pushed the package through the annual budget reconciliation bill, which can pass with a simple majority vote. They may have to go that route again to advance Bidens roughly $4 trillion agenda.

But if Bidens popularity tanks or he somehow becomes this scary monster Republicans can run against instead of an Uncle Joe character, conservative Democrats may be more likely to bolt from his aggressive proposals, Keith said. So far, though, other than the immigration issue, Republicans have not landed many serious punches, Keith said.

Keith, who co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast and has been a White House correspondent since 2014, pointed out that the administration respects journalism and the First Amendment, but still doesnt love us  meaning the press corps.

They think we should put a halo around their heads because theyre being minimally competent, she quipped. When they have failures, we ask about it. When they get something wrong, we ask about it, we point it out. Were not going to pull punches.

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A Twitter account that was mimicking posts from former President Donald Trumps new blog was booted from the social media platform this week, news outlets reported.

The fake accounts handle was @DJTDesk, an abbreviation of Trumps new blogging webpage, From The Desk of Donald J. Trump. The Twitter user was suspended after posting tweets identical to statements from the former presidents blogs, POLITICO reported.

According to screenshots that NBC News and others tweeted, the accounts bio noted that its posts were copied on behalf of the 45th president, originally composed by Trumps blog and not actually tweeted out by the president. The profile photograph was of the former president writing at a desk, and the banner picture featured the words, From the desk of Donald J. Trump.

As stated in our ban evasion policy, well take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account, a Twitter spokesperson said, according to NBC News.

If you or some researcher you know is working on a project re Trump's deplatforming, please DM meeeeeee  Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) May 6, 2021

The former Republican president was barred from the most prominent American social media platforms in January in the aftermath of the insurrection at the United States Capitol led by a mob of his supporters he is accused of helping incite. Trump sympathized with the insurrectionists at the time, and Facebook, Twitter and other platforms were concerned his accounts could spark more violence.

He was first indefinitely suspended from Facebook and Instagram a day after the pro-Trump mobs failed attempt to stop Congress from confirming Democratic President Joe Bidens electoral win. The former president was booted from Twitter and YouTube in the weeks to follow.

To communicate with his followers, Trump launched his new messaging platform a day before the independent Oversight Board was expected to review Facebooks decision to ban the former president from the platform.

The board ruled that Trump will remain suspended from posting on Facebook, finding that the former presidents social media posts encouraged and legitimized violence during the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol.

This isnt the first time efforts to circumvent social media companies suspensions of Trump from their platforms have been thwarted. POLITICO noted in its reporting that in the wake of Twitter booting the former presidents person @realDonaldTrump account, his aides started posting messages that were identical to his tweets onto his campaign account and official White House Twitters accounts.

In response, the social media giant banned the campaign account and removed the White Houses tweets, according to POLITICO.

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CHICOPEE  Its time to start seeing Americas families as part of its infrastructure, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said Friday on a visit to a Chicopee child care center  something he views as an essential resource for the countrys recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Infrastructure isnt just about the roads, the bridges, the trains, the broadband, he said, but the men and women who are going to build them.

Markey, a Democrat and one of the authors of Green New Deal legislation, visited the Valley Opportunity Council child care center on Montgomery Street Friday along with Chicopee Mayor John Vieau and state Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, whose district includes parts of Chicopee.

Markeys visit was part of a Western Massachusetts swing that included a stop in Springfield. It came as the federal government announced disappointing job creation numbers that were blamed, in part, on womens reluctance to go back to work without child care. It also came as the U.S. House and Senate take up President Joe Bidens $2.3 trillion infrastructure and $1.8 trillion family, children and higher education plan.

We are not nearly where we want to be, Markey said.

Markey described intersecting challenges the country faces: health care, especially during the pandemic; economic, in light of persistent job losses; and climate.

This is our F.D.R moment, Markey said, invoking Franklin Roosevelt, hero of the New Deal and the president who faced the challenges of the Great Depression and World War II.

Valley Opportunity Council received about $15 million in federal money for pandemic relief over the past year or so, executive director Stephen Huntley said. That includes money for its home heating assistance program, for the purchase of food for distribution, for setting up remote learning hubs while schools were closed and for child care.

Today, Valley Opportunity Council has between 500 and 600 children 5 and younger in its child care programs, Huntley said. Thats down from 850 or so before the pandemic.

We had to cut our capacity, he said. We cant have as many children in a classroom.

He said its also hard to hire staff. Many potential child care workers who are parents themselves cannot go back to work because their own child care options are limited.

So we are seeing it on both sides, he said.

Chicopee expects to receive about $55 million in federal money from the American Rescue Plan, the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package Biden signed in March. Vieau said hes still awaiting specific instructions on what the money can and cannot be used for, but hed like to continue accessibility improvements at City Hall, spend on infrastructure projects and take care of other wish list items.

Markey said thats the goal  to get money into communities where it can be used to help address needs.

After meeting with officials, Markey sat with 4- and 5-year-olds gathered outdoors on the sunny day and read to them the book Glad Monster, Dad Monster. He introduced himself sayin that he works in Washington, D.C., with President Biden.

The kids also made Markey a poster welcoming him.

Vieau gave Markey his choice of Chicopee face masks. He chose on in green, citing the Green New Deal.
The percent of students and teachers in Massachusetts schools with COVID-19 remains lower than 1% as the state reports new cases among 604 students and 65 staff members in the past week.

Brockton saw the largest number of student cases, with 24 positives, according to a weekly report from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Cases are reported by DESE when students and staffers test positive within seven days of being in a school building.

This weeks positives include cases from 599 students and 61 staffers at local school districts, zero students and one staffer at education collaboratives, and five students and three staffers at approved special education schools.

The percent of individuals in schools reported with COVID is 0.09% among students and 0.05% among staffers, according to the report.

Following Brockton, Worcester reported 22 student cases, Rockland had 16 and New Bedford and Taunton both reported 15 cases.

Find numbers for your district or school in this searchable database. If youre having trouble accessing the database, click here.

Last week, the report included two weeks worth of data because of school vacation week, detailing cases among 718 students and 94 staff members.

There are roughly 690,000 students and 135,000 staffers in public school buildings.

Last month, districts were required to start full-time learning for elementary and middle school students unless the district obtained a waiver. Come May 17, districts are required to offer five days a week of in-person learning for high schoolers.

Parents can choose to keep their children at home for remote learning through the end of the school year.

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Nearly ever member of Massachusetts federal congressional delegation signed a letter on Wednesday urging Tenet Healthcare to expedite the COBRA benefits that are entitled to nearly 800 striking nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester.

It represented the second letter in as many days from members of Congress to Tenet regarding the nurses strike. Also on Wednesday, a letter signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan urged Tenet Healthcare Executive Chairman and CEO Ronald Rittenmeyer to work with the nurses to come to an agreement.

The letter expressing concern regarding COBRA benefits included even more signatures with Warren, Markey, McGovern and Trahan as well as U.S. Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Katherine Clark, William Keating, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton and Ayanna Pressley.

Richard Neal, representing the first district, was the only Massachusetts congressperson whose signature was absent from the letter.

The letter outlined how the American Rescue Plan entitles the nurses to COBRA benefits while striking.

The ARP is intended to meet the magnitude of the challenges American families are facing due to the pandemic. The ARP is not intended to dither and delay in providing this critical assistance  especially when giving frontline workers the health insurance they deserve, the lawmakers wrote.

Wednesday also represented the third round of negotiations in the last 10 days between Tenet and the nurses. While the Massachusetts Nurses Association said some steps forward were made, significant differences remain.

The nurses strike has now eclipsed 60 days from when it began on March 8.

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Any momentum in the talks between Tenet Healthcare and the nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital appeared to evaporate by the end of the week. It caps a period that saw the two sides meet three times in a span of 10 days.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association on Friday said that Tenet, the Dallas-based parent company of Saint Vincent Hospital, declined the nurses offer to return to the negotiating table on Friday.

A mediator informed the nurses on Thursday that Tenet would not meet on Friday, and will not meet until the nurses agree to compromise on their call for safer staffing.

Next week, the strike, which began on March 8, will enter its 10th week.

This week, the two sides met on Wednesday, which represented the third time in 10 days, after zero meetings occurred during the first seven weeks of the strike. The MNA said that some movement was achieved in some areas, but significant differences lingered.

In a statement following Wednesdays meeting, Saint Vincent Hospital said it offered the same staffing language as the UMass Memorial Medical Center bargaining agreement.

At the end of the session, the hospital asked the federal mediator to encourage the union to vote the hospitals offer.

Unfortunately, after extended negotiations and further concessions, the MNA remained unwilling to compromise, the hospital said in a statement. The evening ended without an agreement but with a counter proposal from the MNA that was not just about staffing, despite their claims.

At the end of the session, the nurses told Tenet that it would share the hospitals latest proposal with its members on Thursday and offered to resume talks on Friday.

Members of the union voiced loud and unanimous dissatisfaction with the hospitals latest offer, the MNA said.

We were very disheartened that Tenet is refusing to continue to negotiate to address our concerns so that we can end this strike and return to the bedside where we can provide our patients with the care and dignity they expect and deserve, nurse at the hospital and co-chair of the nurses local bargaining unit Marlena Pellegrino said in a statement. We are eager to get back to the table to continue this process, but we have been clear throughout this process that we need an agreement with accountability by management to provide safe care and enforceable staffing language in our contract.

As the negotiations continued on Wednesday, Massachusetts congressional delegation continued to apply pressure on Tenet.

A letter signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Ed Markey, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan urged Tenet Healthcare Executive Chairman and CEO Ronald Rittenmeyer to work with the nurses to come to an agreement.

A second letter, which included even more signatures from the congressional delegation including Warren, Markey, McGovern and Trahan as well as U.S. Reps. Jake Auchincloss, Katherine Clark, William Keating, Stephen Lynch, Seth Moulton and Ayanna Pressley asked Tenet expedite the COBRA benefits that are entitled to nearly 800 striking nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester.

The letter outlined how the American Rescue Plan entitles the nurses to COBRA benefits while striking.

The ARP is intended to meet the magnitude of the challenges American families are facing due to the pandemic. The ARP is not intended to dither and delay in providing this critical assistance  especially when giving frontline workers the health insurance they deserve, the lawmakers wrote.

Warren, Markey, McGovern and Trahan have all joined the nurses on the picket lines at some point during the strike.

The MNA represents 800 nurses at Saint Vincent Hospital. According to the hospital, about 15% of those nurses opted not to participate in the strike.

The issue the two sides have not been able to come together on involves staffing. While Tenet has offered wage and salary increases, the nurses have remained steadfast in their argument that the hospital needs increased staffing.

Tenet has said it will not concede on unilateral staffing increases and reiterated that during the last negotiation.

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Sherry Hassler, 55, of Lindsay, died Sunday, June 6, in Oklahoma City. The family will welcome friends at Brumley-Mills Funeral Home in Hartshorne for viewing and visitation on Thursday from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Memorial services will be held on Friday, June 11, at 10:00 a.m. at Brumley-Mills F
Marietta, GA (30060)

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Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

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Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Atlanta, GA (30303)

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Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable..

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Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Atlanta, GA (30303)

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Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Atlanta, GA (30303)

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Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

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Magnolia, AR (71754)

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Variable clouds with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly late. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

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Variable clouds with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly late. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
The Canadian government authorized the vaccine for use in individuals 16 years of age and older last December.Health Canada based its decision on data from Phase 3 clinical trial in participants aged 12 to 15 years old.The trial enrolled 2,260 adolescents 12 to 15 years of age in the United States. All participants in the trial will continue to be monitored for long-term protection and safety for an additional two years after their second dose."After completing a thorough and independent scientific review of the evidence, the department determined that this vaccine is safe and effective when used in this younger age group," said Sharma."While younger people are less likely to experience serious cases of COVID-19, having access to a safe and effective vaccine will help control the disease's spread to their family and friends, some of whom may be at higher risk of complications," Sharma said."The most commonly reported side effects were temporary and mild, like a sore arm, chills or fever."Usually, the vaccine submission review process can take much longer, but because of an emergency order, Health Canada has been able to expedite the authorization process.Health Canada has published a series of documents detailing its decision and a summary of the evidence reviewed.Pfizer-BioNTech is required to continue providing Health Canada with ongoing safety and efficacy information as the product is being used in real world settings.With nearly 11 million doses sent to Canada to date, Pfizer has committed to sending more than 2 million doses each week, until end of June.Asked what this might mean for schools to be able to reopen, Sharma said that will depend on how and when provinces and territories in Canada decide to administer these shots to younger people.As of Wednesday noon, Canada reported a cumulative total of 1,253,817 Covid-19 cases, including 24,445 deaths and 130,008 variants, according to CTV.Source: IANS
While India is dealing with the shortage of oxygen facilities in the hospitals, several cases of hoarding and black marketing of oxygen-related equipment have surfaced amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.



Earlier on Thursday, the Delhi Police seized 419 oxygen concentrators in a raid conducted at bar & restaurant Nege Ju and a South Delhi farmhouse. Four men were arrested in the case.

And today, the Delhi Police seized as many as 96 oxygen concentrators from the popular Khan Chacha restaurant in the city's Khan Market area.

The video of the incident has been going viral on social media.

Heres the video:

#WATCH Delhi Police seizes 96 oxygen concentrators from Khan Chacha restaurant in Khan Market



(Source: Delhi Police) pic.twitter.com/odWPtvQJrz  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

Khan Chacha is owned by the same Navneet Kalra who owns Nege-Ju where cylinders were found yesterday.



Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South Delhi told ANI, Total 524 oxygen concentrators have been recovered till now. This equipment was being sold for as much as Rs 71,000. Navneet Kalra is currently absconding and he will be called for a probe.

People have been bashing the owner for showing no empathy to people who are in desperate need of oxygen narrators.

Some even went on to say that he is close to powerful personalities in Delhi which is why he could hoard in such a manner.

People are now requesting others to not buy food from his restaurants as he has committed a pretty unforgivable crime.

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People like politician Omar Abdullah have come out in support of the original Khan Chacha restaurant which is run by Haji Banda Hasan his two sons.

He tweeted, "I feel sorry for poor Khan Chacha his family. First, they lost the use of their name to Navneet Kalra now they are being dragged through the mud for no fault of theirs because said Kalra was using his eateries to store concentrators allegedly for sale on the black market."

Image 5 (Omar Abdullah Twitter)

What do you have to say about the entire fiasco? Let us know in the comments section below.
Magnolia, AR (71754)

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Mainly cloudy. A few peeks of sunshine possible. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 92F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Variably cloudy with scattered thunderstorms. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Sony reported a record-breaking sales figure for the PlayStation 5, however the next-generation consoles have been facing supply problems due to semiconductor shortages. In fact, India has not received a restock of the console since its initial release in February 2021. However, it seems like Sony might already be thinking of a design change to ease the problem of supply.

 Pexels/kerde severin

The potential redesign news surfaces courtesy of Sony CFO, Hiroki Totoki, who said in an earnings call that the firm was struggling to keep up with the demand of the PlayStation 5. "The shortage of semiconductors is one factor, but there are other factors that will impact on the production volume," stated Totoki. "So, at present, wed like to aim at [surpassing] second year sales of 14.8 million, which was the second year of PS4.



While Sony will be surpassing the second year sales target, Totoki still expressed concerns over increasing the sales figures. Totoki stated that Sony could, "find maybe a secondary resource, or by changing the design

It is worth pointing out that changing the design doesnt necessarily mean changing the external look of the console. Since it has more to do with the semiconductors shortage, Totoki might be referring to getting new suppliers for the chips being used inside the console.

 Unsplash/martin-katler

Thats precisely what a new report by Digitimes suggests as it claims Sony is indeed planning to launch a redesigned PlayStation 5 console. However, this redesign has to do more with the hardware than the outer shell of the console. The report claims Sony could feature an AMD-design, semi-custom chip based on TSMC's 6nm process node. The report also states that Sony did consider using a 5nm chip, however it was said to be too costly.



Production of the new PlayStation 5 could start sometime in Q2-Q3 2022 which means it would take a while for the supply problems to stabilise. As of now, there is no news whether Sony is considering any external changes to the console.

 Unsplash/charles-sims

It is also worth highlighting that Sony usually features a new hardware revision in the life cycle of each PlayStation generation. For example, the PS4 received a performance upgrade with the PS4 Pro model. It could be possible that the new PS5 redesigned model might the Pro variant Sony might release sometime in the future.



Source: Digitimes
Meridian, MS (39302)

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Localized flooding is possible..

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Localized flooding is possible.
In summer 2020, The New York Times coordinated a nationwide project to document the lives of Americans out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study involved collaborating with 11 other local newsrooms around the U.S. The Messenger-Inquirer was the only newspaper from Kentucky in the collaboration. The resulting collection of stories was published Oct. 23, 2020, in the New York Times print edition and at nytimes.com/outofwork. The following list is the Messenger-Inquirer's local unemployment coverage from that time period; read more by clicking the "New York Times Project" header. Click on "Out Of Work In America" to go to the full
The Italian market is now largely supplied through long-term contracts, meaning that market participants access the spot market sparingly. Italy is a production center for special high-grade (SHG) zinc, which contributes to the prevalence of long-term contracts there.Consequently, the zinc SHG, min 99.995%, ingot premium, fca dp Italy , has only changed twice since July 2019, while the zinc SHG, min 99.995%, ingot premium, ddp Italy , has been largely static around the $170-190 per tonne mark since December 2019.The current specifications are as follows (proposed points for amendments in italics):Special High Grade zinc ingot of minimum 99.995% purity, conforming to LME specifications and relevant standards: BS EN 1179:2003, ISO 752:2004 - ZN-1 grade, ASTM B6-12 - LME grade or GB per tonne 470-2008Min 100 tonnesFree-carrier basis delivery in Italy, duty-paid premium on top of LME cash pricesWithin 4 weeksUSD per tonneCash, other payment terms normalizedWeekly, Tuesday 3-4pm London time.Special High Grade zinc ingot of minimum 99.995% purity, conforming to LME specifications and relevant standards: BS EN 1179:2003, ISO 752:2004 - ZN-1 grade, ASTM B6-12 - LME grade or GB per tonne 470- 2008.Min 100 tonnesDelivered duty paid consumer works in Italy, premium on top of LME cash pricesWithin 4 weeksUSD per tonneCash, other terms normalizedWeekly, Tuesday 3-4pm London time.The consultation period for this proposed amendment starts from May 7 and will end on June 9. The amendment will then take place, subject to market feedback, on June 14.To provide feedback on this proposal, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these premiums, please contact Ana de Liz by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com . Please add the subject heading FAO: Ana de Liz, re: Zinc SHG Italy fca dp/ddp premiums.To see all Fastmarkets pricing methodology and specification documents, go to: https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology
KABUL  A delegation led by the Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar left for the Hague, The Netherlands, to hold talks with the International Criminal Court prosecutor.

Justice Minister Mr. Fazil Ahmad Manawi, Acting Attorney General Mr. Zabihullah Kalim, and a number of senior government officials and judiciary and security experts will accompany Minister Atmar.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) operates under the Rome Statute, and Afghanistan has been a member of the Tribunal since 2003. The International Criminal Court shall use its complementary jurisdiction to assist the Member States in dealing with international crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.

The ICC seeks to exercise its jurisdiction to pursue investigation and prosecution when and if member States lack the will or ability to address such crimes.

Based on the principle of complementarity jurisdiction and at the request of war victims and human rights organizations, the ICC has gathered complaints on alleged commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the last years of imposed war in Afghanistan, and demands practical and direct investigation thereof.

In accordance with its international obligations, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has already submitted its performance report to the Tribunal on investigating and prosecuting all relevant cases, and intends during this visit to furnish further assurances to the ICC on Afghanistans willingness and action plan to address the alleged international crimes.

In order to address crimes committed in the country following Afghanistans accession to the ICC and to prevent such crimes from happening in the future, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will seek assistance and support from the Office of the ICC Prosecutor. The request [for assistance] will be made based on the principle of the countrys judicial independence and provisions of the Rome Statute.

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan seeks to strengthen the existing peace process and ensure immediate and permanent ceasefire, by securing ICCs cooperation with Afghanistans judiciary organs in addressing crimes and preventing them from happening in the future. To this end, the two sides will discuss the mechanisms for deferral of investigations to the Afghan judiciary organs, and establishing technical and capacity building cooperation.
It's been a long road since the 1981 Time magazine cover story about Miami titled Paradise Lost? Along the way, some have felt paradise was found and lost again, but the truth is, it's in the bloody gutter. It has been for a long time  one dead Black body at a time.
White House, EPA leaders to join Gov. Whitmer and Lt. Gov. Gilchrist for state's first environmental justice conference May 18-20

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 7, 2021

Jill A. Greenberg, EGLE spokesperson, GreenbergJ@Michigan.gov, 517-897-4965

EGLE Media Office, EGLE-Assist@Michigan.gov, 517-284-9278

Event to focus on rebuilding trust, reimagining justice and removing barriers

White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan will address a new federal focus on environmental justice and the connection to state efforts during the inaugural Michigan Environmental Justice Conference, set for May 18-20.

The three-day virtual conference will feature environmental justice experts, advocates, and business leaders, as well as government officials. It is free to attend, but registration is required.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and EPA Administrator Regan will jointly launch the conference at the opening plenary. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist will serve as the second-day keynote speaker focusing on the intersection of the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities work and environmental justice in Michigan. White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Mallory will serve as the keynote speaker at the closing plenary. Mallory leads the Biden administration's White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and the White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council.

Local and national environmental justice advocates will also take part in the conference, including: Dr. Robert Bullard, known as the father of environmental justice, and U.S. EPA Senior Environmental Justice Advisor Charles Lee. Members of the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice (MAC EJ) will also take part.

According to Liesl Clark, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), this conference will play an important role in our work toward addressing environmental justice challenges.

"This conference is the latest step in our coordinated efforts led by the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate to move Michigan toward achieving environmental justice," Clark said. "The governor prioritized environmental justice when she first took office in 2019. This hard work continues across state departments and in collaboration with our environmental justice advisory council and the Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team. I encourage those who want to play a role in ensuring that everyone has equitable access to join us for this three-day event."

The conference's theme is "Rebuilding Trust, Reimagining Justice and Removing Barriers." It is hosted by the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate, the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, the Michigan Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team and EGLE.

Nearly 1,000 people already have signed up to attend the event, designed to examine long-standing challenges facing environmental justice communities while addressing systemic inequities.

"Intentional dialogue will help us move forward in the quest for transformative change, meaningful engagement and the development of intersectional solutions as we work to address environmental injustices and ensure that no community in this state is adversely affected by our environmental laws and regulations," said Regina Strong, Environmental Justice Public Advocate. "I am excited to see the interest in working across all levels of government and hand-in-hand with community to advance environmental justice. This conference offers a unique opportunity for us to examine ways to take action as we work to rebuild trust, reimagine justice and remove barriers."

The Michigan Environmental Justice Conference will feature sessions on a wide range of topics including federal and state priorities, climate and equity, tribal perspectives, the future of infrastructure, and a community town hall.

For those interested in attending, register for the conference, and find an event agenda.

The event is open to the public, including environmental justice advocates, community members, government representatives, academia, change agents and the business sector.

The Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate was created by Gov. Whitmer's Executive Order 2019-06 to serve as an external and internal advocate and catalyst for ensuring environmental justice throughout the state. The Office operates as a Type I agency within EGLE, with a direct line to the governor's office to elevate concerns and coordinate across state government. The Office also works to address and resolve environmental justice concerns and complaints and advance environmental justice and equity in Michigan.

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Malibu, CA (90265)

Today

Sunny. High 66F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 54F. NW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
Four New Lawsuits Filed in Federal District Courts to Curb Illegal Wine Shipments into Michigan

Four New Lawsuits Filed in Federal District Courts to Curb Illegal Wine Shipments into Michigan

Media Contact: LARA Communications (517-335-LARA (5272))

Email: mediainfo@michigan.gov

May 7, 2021 - The Michigan Liquor Control Commission (MLCC) today confirmed that lawsuits have been filed in the Eastern and Western Districts of Michigan federal court against companies in West Virginia, California, Oregon and New York, that continue to defy state liquor laws by illegally shipping alcohol directly to consumers.

"These lawsuits filed by Attorney General Dana Nessel on behalf of the Commission serve as an important deterrent against other companies violating the state's liquor laws and jeopardizing the health, safety, and welfare of Michiganders," said MLCC Chair Pat Gagliardi. "The Commission will continue its vigorous enforcement efforts to combat the illegal direct shipping of alcohol into this state, and to send a strong message that if you wish to sell alcohol legally here, get licensed."

The litigation requests injunctive relief against: Lambert's Vintage Wines, LLC d/b/a Lambert's Winery; Villa Amorosa d/b/a Castello di Amorosa; Schmidt Family Vineyards, LLC; and Taste Wine, LLC d/b/a Taste Wine Company.

These companies refused to follow the law. Despite receiving letters demanding that they cease and desist importing alcohol into Michigan, they continued to ship to Michigan customers, violating both the Michigan Liquor Control Code and the Michigan Consumer Protection Act.

The lawsuits seek an injunction based on the Twenty-First Amendment Enforcement Act, a federal statute that allows state attorneys general to take action to enforce their state's liquor laws in federal court. Typically, Michigan law requires beer and wine to be channeled through MLCC-licensed wholesale entities for distribution to retail locations. In limited instances, a manufacturer may ship wine directly to consumers, but only if it is licensed to do so.

Each year, unlicensed companies skirt state laws and import thousands of bottles of wine into Michigan illegally. The effects of this illegal importation are significant: minors can easily obtain alcoholic liquor, state officials have no effective means to ensure that the imported products are safe, and Michiganders lose out on millions in tax revenue to provide vital services.

The MLCC's Enforcement Division along with the Attorney General's office, have thwarted hundreds of entities' efforts to violate state liquor license laws. Most shippers stopped their illegal activity after hearing from Nessel's office, either by ceasing shipments to Michigan or by obtaining the necessary liquor license from the MLCC.

The complaints also allege in the federal filings that each defendant is violating Michigan's Consumer Protection Act by misleading Michigan consumers to think that the companies' activities are legal. Violations of the Consumer Protection Act are punishable by fines of up to $25,000 per violation.

Earlier this year, Nessel secured significant fines and permanent injunctions against two companies that had been illegally shipping alcoholic liquor to Michigan consumers. Judges in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered consent judgments against Vintner's Collective, LLC, and Go to Gifts, Inc.

It is the mission of MLCC to make alcoholic beverages available for consumption while protecting the consumer and the general public through regulation of those involved in the importation, sale, consumption, distribution, and delivery of these alcohol beverage products.
May 7, 2021

A series of monthly webinars about key aspects of building with mass timber continues with a look at mass timber projects in Michigan and around the United States. The program takes place from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 11, with presenter Pete Kobelt of mass timber design and engineering firm Element5. Register for the webinar.



The webinar series is an outgrowth of Michigan's recent Mass Timber Summit, a virtual meeting that took place last fall and was co-hosted by the Michigan Forest Biomaterials Institute and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. All of the webinars are hosted by MIFBI.

Upcoming in June is "Hardwoods for Mass Timber: Opportunities and Challenges in the U.S.," noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, June 3. Presenter is Xinfeng Xie, assistant professor of forest biomaterials at Michigan Technological University. Register for this webinar.

Although they are free, the webinars are limited to 100 guests and registration is required. A list of upcoming webinars and recordings of past events are available on the MIFBI website.

Mass timber construction allows for building large and tall structures using engineered wood. Mass timber construction often goes up faster than traditional construction and uses renewable materials.

Michigan State University used mass timber construction in its $100 million, 117,000-square-foot STEM Teaching and Learning Facility. The DNR is in the design phase of a planned $5 million mass timber building to house its field office and customer service center in Newberry in the eastern Upper Peninsula.

Watch this MSU video to learn more about how mass timber works.
Attorney General Nessel Joins Series of Multistate Efforts

Attorney General Nessel Joins Series of Multistate Efforts

Lynsey Mukomel 517-599-2746 Attorney General

May 7, 2021

LANSING - Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel continues to join attorneys general from around the nation in a number of multistate actions, including the following:

Letter Urging Congress to Pass the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021

On May 6, Nessel joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in urging Congress to pass the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021. The legislation is aimed at combatting the high Black maternal mortality rate and increasing access to maternal and perinatal care.

The coalition is highlighting the need to advance health equity across the country for all racial and ethnic minorities - especially Black mothers. The coalition issued a letter yesterday to Congressional leadership calling on Congress to pass H.R. 959, the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021. This legislative package addresses the social determinants of the Black maternal mortality crisis, including improving access to housing, transportation and nutrition services.

"Our nation has the highest rate of maternal mortality in the developed world, with significantly higher rates of mortality for Black mothers," Nessel said. "Race based discrimination in our healthcare system cannot be tolerated, and I urge Congress to act now and pass the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act so that every mother and child has access to quality health care."

The Momnibus Act is intended to help decrease maternal mortality among Black mothers, who die at a rate three to four times higher than white mothers. Similarly, Native American, Asian-American and Pacific Islander, and Hispanic women are more likely to face maternal mortality than white women and non-Hispanic women. Many risk factors contribute to increased rates of maternal mortality, including preexisting conditions, socioeconomic status, lack of health insurance, and implicit bias and discrimination in health care.

The Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021 addresses maternal mortality by ensuring women have access to equitable care at all stages of pregnancy. The legislative package is comprised of 12 bills that address the crisis through a multifaceted approach of increased grant funding, enhanced data collection and improving community programs. By specifically addressing the social determinants of health, the package aims to reduce maternal mortality by providing funding to community-based maternal health organizations; diversifying the perinatal workforce; supporting mothers and improving maternal health care for individuals with mental health conditions, substance abuse disorders, and those who are incarcerated; enhancing postpartum care; and promoting maternal health innovation such as telehealth, maternal vaccinations, and payment options from pregnancy through the postpartum period.

If passed, the policy changes would benefit individual state programs by increasing funding, furthering access to community supports and enhancing education services for mothers. More broadly, the legislation would assist state attorneys general in working to protect residents against race-based discrimination within the health care system.

Letter to Treasury Regarding Law Enforcement Access to Database

On May 6, Nessel joined the National Association of Attorney General (NAAG) in submitting comments to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of Treasury, in response to its request for input regarding beneficial ownership information reporting and disclosure requirements.

Earlier this year, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was passed. The CTA requires certain companies to disclose their actual, or "beneficial," owners to FinCEN. FinCEN will then maintain that ownership information in a database and disclose it to government agencies and financial institutions, subject to appropriate protocols. State, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, including state attorneys general offices, must obtain court authorization to access this beneficial ownership data-a step not required for federal agencies.

In their letter, the attorneys general:

Emphasize the need to ensure state, local, and tribal enforcers have timely and efficient access to beneficial ownership information.

Encourage continued engagement about the development of CTA-related regulations with attorneys general, with NAAG serving as a liaison.

Urge FinCEN to develop regulations that permit the beneficial ownership information to be used as evidence and provided to the defense, particularly when necessary for prosecutors to discharge their discovery and disclosure obligations.

In 2020, 42 attorneys general supported the Improving Laundering Laws and Increasing Comprehensive Information Tracking of Criminal Activity in Shell Holdings (ILLICIT CASH) Act, which was similar to the CTA. However, unlike the CTA, the ILLICIT Cash Act placed federal and state enforcers on equal footing to obtain beneficial ownership information.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 6, 2021 Contact: Press@Michigan.gov PHOTOS: Governor Whitmer Visits U.S. 127 Rebuilding Michigan Project in Clare LANSING, Mich. -- Today, Governor Gretchen Whitmer traveled to the US-127 Rebuilding Michigan construction project in Clare to discuss her Rebuilding Michigan plan to rebuild state highways and bridges that are critical to the state's economy and carry the most traffic. The US-127 project is part of a $14 million Rebuilding Michigan investment that would resurface US-127 from the Clare County Line to Hatton Road. She was joined by Congressman John Moolenaar. "As we put Michigan back to work, investing in our state's infrastructure under the Rebuilding Michigan plan will create thousands of good-paying jobs and drive the economy forward," said Governor Whitmer. "The Rebuilding Michigan plan is a top priority for my administration because it makes our roads safer for everyone and economy stronger for small businesses without an increase at the gas pump." The US-127 project is part of a $14 million Rebuilding Michigan investment that would resurface and improve approximately 9 miles of US-127 from the Clare County Line to Hatton Road and support 178 jobs. This project is expected to be completed in October 2021. In January 2020, the State Transportation Commission (STC) authorized MDOT to issue $3.5 billion in bonds over four years to finance infrastructure improvements, under authority granted by the Michigan Constitution and Public Act 51 of 1951. Funding raised through bond sales will finance new projects throughout the state, and frees up funding already dedicated to those project for other projects, expanding the scope of that work or advancing project schedules. ###
An online retail store based in Pigeon will soon open its first physical store in Elkton, with the owners hoping it becomes a recognized brand throughout Huron County.

Bryan Logsdon and Allyson Kruse are moving their online operation in the former Rick's Graphics space along Main Street in Elkton, with plans to open Vibe Up! later this month.

The brand that started out as an online store called ABCreations sells all kinds of custom crafts and apparel, which include jewelry, clothes, and signs for home decor. Those products will be on display in the store along with other apparel the two found at flea markets.

The two have sold their customized merchandise for a year and a half, and the business was merely a concept before the pandemic reached the Thumb. Logsdon previously worked at Regency Plastics and Kruse at a furniture store, which they thought would be their end-all be-all jobs.

"Then COVID came along and kicked our butts," Logsdon said. "We decided to do something with ourselves instead of finding another low-paying, unappreciated job."

At first, Logsdon and Kruse ran their business out of their home in Pigeon, but it eventually took up too much space there, filling up two spare rooms and their garage.

The two had orders come in from across the country, from Maine to California, but since they saw most of their business come from outside Michigan, they wanted to see more locals buy their products.

"We wanted to separate home from business, and this place fell into our laps," Kruse said.

When looking around for places to set up a new shop, Logsdon and Kruse first looked at an old ice cream parlor, which ended up not fulfilling their needs. They talked with other business owners who owned shops in Elkton and they recommended the old Rich's Graphics space, which ended up being perfect for them.

"We were originally going to have this be where we made everything, but we realized that we could do so much more with it," Logsdon said. "This was just going to be a shop for us to press stuff, and we were like, 'Look at all this room.' We can turn that into a shop and a storefront."

The two made an announcement last week they were moving into the space on Facebook live that got upwards of 3,000 views. They plan on opening to the public later in May since they still have to move half of their inventory from their house, move in other office supplies, get price tags on everything and train themselves on point-of-sale systems.

Once Logsdon and Kruse get their Elkton location up and running, they hope to expand to other locations in Huron County and become a better known brand in the area.

As to the immediate Elkton area, Kruse hopes they can bring a little bit of life back to a part of town that mainly has gas stations and hair salons.

"We hope that we're being resourceful and bringing happiness to people," Kruse said.

Moving into the storefront while the pandemic is still going on in the area was easier than they expected, but Logsdon and Kruse will still take precautions when they open. They will have a sign up encouraging people to wear masks and to sanitize themselves. The items they send out online are sterilized before they are shipped so they do not have to sit in the box for 14 days.
Peripheral technology has been at the heart of Carl F. Bucherers movements since 2008 when the Luzern-based watchmaker unveiled its ground-breaking peripheral rotor, becoming the first to serially produce this unique style of oscillating weight.



This technology was joined, 10 years later, by a transparent peripherally mounted tourbillon. Normally a tourbillon  made up of the balance, the balance spring, and the escapement  is placed in a continuously rotating cage to counteract the negative effects of gravity. Where the Manero tourbillon differs is that the mechanism is supported peripherally by three ceramic ball bearings, ensuring a completely open yet stable connection of the regulating organ.

Manero Minute Repeater Symphony  Carl F. Bucherer

This year, the brand adds yet another peripheral invention to its portfolio of patents with a brand-new peripherally mounted regulator that, like the tourbillon, is also supported peripherally by three ceramic ball bearings.

A Trio of Peripheral Inventions

If a trio of patented peripheral inventions wasnt exciting enough, this new edition to the Manero collection also comes with the watch industrys most technical mechanical complication  the minute repeater. The timepiece is powered by the COSC-certified MR300 manufacture movement with a 65-hour power reserve and is right at the top of the Carl F. Bucherer offering.

Manero Minute Repeater Symphony  Carl F. Bucherer

The Manero Minute Repeater Symphony has two different tones made by two gongs that can be viewed through apertures at the edge of the dial, while a further opening between five and seven oclock showcases the striking hammers. The fourth window, at six oclock, reveals the watchs unique peripheral regulator.

Genuine Functionality

The timepiece may be complex on the inside, but it has been designed to provide easy and simple manipulation for the client. The timepiece includes a protective mechanism that is built into the movement to prevent inadvertent misuse. In a discrete display at nine oclock, a blue dot informs the user that the crown is pulled out, and a musical note lets the user know that the minute repeater function is activated. An additional safety measure prevents the user from pulling out the crown while the minute repeater is activated, and conversely, when the crown is pulled out the minute repeater mechanism is locked.

More Details

The timepiece comes in a 43.8mm 18-karat rose gold case with open-worked and hand-angled lugs that reduce the mass of the case and amplify the watchs sound. The 18-karat white gold dial is also beautifully crafted with a hand-galvanisation and a fine grainy texture that contrasts beautifully with the polished 18-karat rose gold hands and hour markers. Other interesting features include a stop-second function on the tourbillon for the precise setting of the time.

Manero Minute Repeater Symphony  Carl F. Bucherer

Lucerne Festival Orchestra

The details do not stop there, as for this new launch, Carl F. Bucherer has partnered with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Swedish composer Lisa Streich in the creation of a unique piece of music to celebrate the watch.



Sascha Moeri, Carl F. Bucherers CEO explains, The word symphony in the name of our watch expresses harmonic complexity and the delicate interaction among different parts  qualities it shares with the orchestra. Their stunning new piece of music and our watch are a perfect pairing. We both share a commitment to artistic perfection and a dedication to our craftsmanship.



Entitled Periphery, the piece of music takes core elements of the watchs design and gives them a voice. The repeaters peripherally mounted regulator is reproduced using the striking and stroking of a triangle, while the floating tourbillon is recreated with brass instruments, and the string and wind instruments depict the complexity of the peripheral rotor.



So, let the Carl F. Bucherer Manero Minute Repeater Symphony delight not only your eyes but your ears too.
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KILLINGWORTH  Two private wells in town were found to be tainted with actionable levels of hazardous PFAS chemicals following testing by the state Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection, a spokesman said.

The wells were in the area around Beechwood, a manufactured-home community where PFAS were previously detected in the public water supply in March, prompting the latest round of testing, according to DEEP spokesman Will Healey.

While the water in the Beechwood community comes from a public supply and is treated to well below action levels before reaching local taps, Healey said the water from the two private wells does not receive any treatment and the owners of the wells are being advised not to use the water for cooking or drinking.

Were in the process of communicating the results directly to the homeowners, Healey said. DEEP is providing the owners of the wells with bottled water for the time being, he added.

The private wells are the latest water source in Killingworth to be found with elevated levels of PFAS this year, following similar discoveries at public water sources in Beechwood and the Town Hall. Officials have yet to identify a suspected source of the chemicals.

Killingworth First Selectwoman Catherine Iino said the water at Killingworth Town Hall and two nearby properties, a fire station and garage, use the same water supply, though she added it is not used for drinking water due to high levels of sodium. Almost everyone else in town except for those living in the Beechwood community get their water from private wells, she said.

Iino and Healey said Beechwood began receiving treated water about a decade ago, after high levels of uranium were detected in wells used by the community.

DEEP has tested a total of 29 private wells since the discovery of PFAS at Beechwood earlier this year. In addition to the two wells that tested above the action level, Healey said another 16 wells had lower levels of PFAS detected. The chemicals were not detected above the labs reporting limit at 11 wells, he said.

Based on the results of the sampling, well evaluate treatment options and install the necessary treatment for these two private wells, Healey said in an email.

Meanwhile, tests are being done on 18 private wells in the vicinity of Killingworth Town Hall. The results of those tests should be available in early June, Healey said

The chemicals, also known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, can be found in common household items such as food packaging, nonstick cookware, other water repellent products and certain firefighting foams.

Because they are designed to not break down easily, PFAS can accumulate in the environment and the body, where there is evidence that exposure can lead to harmful health effects, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

The action level for PFAS set by the state Department of Public Health is 70 parts per trillion.

The two private wells in Killingworth that tested above that level had PFAS concentrations of 105.6 ppt and 404 ppt, according to Healey. Testing of three untreated water sources for the Beechwood Community reported results of 36, 61 and 146 ppt, according to Connecticut Water.

Gov. Ned Lamont created a task force in 2019 to study the potential effects of PFAS, leading to a report that recommended greater testing of public drinking water, identifying sources of the chemicals and phasing out the use of firefighting foams that contain PFAS. That same year, the release of foams containing PFAS during two incidents at Bradley International Airport brought the issue to the attention of lawmakers, WNPR previously reported.

Connecticut Water held a virtual information session for its customers in Beechwood in March regarding the elevated levels of PFAS at one of three untreated wells serving the area. The company assured residents that the treated water delivered to their homes tested at 10 ppt, well below the state action level.

The state agencies and the town are investigating the potential source or activities in the area that might have contributed to PFAS in the wells, the company said in a statement posted to its website. In addition, [Connecticut Water] will conduct ongoing water quality testing and report to DPH to ensure the treatment in the Beechwood system continues to perform and effectively treat the water.

Iino said she spoke with the towns fire chief, who assured her that the fire department has not used firefighting foams with PFAS in decades.

Thats the most obvious thought about what the source could have been way back when, Iino said. Our aquifer seems to linger.

Healey said Friday that DEEP would not identify the operators of the private wells.
NEW BRITAIN  Connecticut utility regulators issued a landmark ruling Thursday, tentatively fining Eversource Energy $30 million in civil penalties  the maximum allowed  for its performance in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Isaias last August.

The states Public Utilities Regulatory Authority also used its draft ruling to issue civil penalties of $2.1 million against the states other large electric distribution company, United Illuminating. A final decision in the case is expected on July 14, according Joe Cooper, a PURA spokesman.

Ed Crowder, a UI spokesman, said officials at the Orange-based utility company are reviewing the Notice of Violation and considering our next steps.

We are disappointed PURA did not consider the facts we presented during the investigation, Crowder said. The facts show that we faithfully followed our Emergency Response Plan. We will continue to work with PURA to improve our preparation for and response to storms and other emergencies.

PURAs civil penalty against United Illuminating was for what agency officials termed accident reporting violations. Of that amount, $1.8 million would be returned to UI ratepayers in the form of bill credits and $360,000 to the State of Connecticut, if the penalties remain in place in the final decision in July.

Mitch Gross said Eversource officials are reviewing PURAs draft ruling and look forward to getting through the final stages of the process.

While our employees worked tirelessly to restore power as quickly as possible, we recognize the hardships our customers and communities experienced, and we acknowledge there are areas for improvement, Gross said. We are working  and will continue to work  in good faith with our communities, customers and regulators to improve our performance.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said the penalties were deserved.

Eversource failed its customers and put Connecticut families at risk after Tropical Storm Isaias, Tong said in a statement. I fought for swift, severe penalties from the beginning, and this $30 million penalty is appropriate. Eversource must pay for their failures.

Tong called the civil penalties a strong first step to hold Eversource accountable for their disastrous performance.

But this matter is far from over, he said. We will continue to fight before PURA to ensure that Eversource cannot put the full cost of their failures back on ratepayers.

PURAs ruling came after the three commissioners with the regulatory agency issued a scathing commentary the shortcomings of Eversource  and to a lesser extent United Illuminating  after customers were left without power for more than a week.

In that ruling, members of the Authority reduced the amount that Eversource can seek as a return on equity for investments they make in the distribution network. PURAs commissioners also ruled that, if Thursdays draft decision stands, the companies cannot charge ratepayers more in order to recover what they pay in civil penalties.

The $30 million civil penalty, Tong said, is in addition to the return on equity reduction. If the $30 million civil penalty is upheld in PURAs final ruling, Eversource would have to return $28.4 million to its ratepayers in the form of credits.

The company, which has dual headquarters in Hartford and Boston, would also have to pay the state $1.6 million for its failure to report accidents appropriately.

Rob Oris, the Republican chairman of the Cheshire Town Council, said he is glad PURA is holding Eversource accountable for the companys performance in the aftermath of the storm.

I stood shoulder to shoulder with the governor, the lieutenant governor and a number of state representatives on the steps of our Town Hall to let (Eversource) know how very disappointed we were in their response, Oris said Thursday. They are quick to jack rates up, and they arent the easiest company for business people to deal with, but the real issue is that weve been down this road before with Eversource. I would hope their service is not driven by dollars and cents, but it just seemed to us they werent prepared.

If the $30 million civil penalty stands after Eversources right to a hearing, Eversource shall return $28.4 million to its ratepayers in the form of credits and pay a penalty of $1.6 million to the State of Connecticut.

Rich Sobelewski, the states interim Consumer Counsel, represents the interests utility ratepayers in PURA hearings. Sobolewski has worked in the Consumer Counsels office for 35 years and he said this is the largest civil penalty he can remember in that time.

They really are going to hold their feet to the fire, he said of the two electric utilities. Their liaison program and their bad communications with the communities are the keys to me. Our office always under the impression that one person from the company had just one town they had to report to, but more and more, it appears they have to report to multiple towns.

luther.turmelle@hearstmediact.com
DANBURY - City attorneys have drawn the line after owners of a residential property next to Danbury Municipal Airport failed to comply with orders to restore wetlands that were filled in a decade ago.

The city intends to acquire the 1-acre property on Miry Brook Road either by negotiation or by eminent domain, once Danburys environmental commission determines the extent of the wetlands damage.

Since the property is adjacent to the airport and has access to the airport, it would be extremely important for city use or for airport use, said Laszlo Pinter, the citys managing attorney and deputy corporation counsel. It would also result in the remediation of the wetlands issue.

Pinter is referring to a triangular-shaped single-family lot, 300 feet from the southern tip of the airports runway 35. The city has tried in vain to compel the owners to comply with a 10-year-old court order to remove the fill from the wetlands on the property, said Michael Safranek, the citys airport administrator.

Were working with the Environmental Impact Commission to move forward on this now, Safranek said on Thursday. The property is becoming more and more blighted with unregulated activity, and we think it can be used for the public good.

The City Council on Thursday was expected to authorize Pinter to begin the process of acquisition, either by negotiation or eminent domain.

The property owners, listed on city records as Carl Sayers and Carl Sayers II, could not immediately be reached late Thursday afternoon for comment.

The property, which includes a 2-bedroom Cape Cod-style home, is appraised at $200,000.

When asked to describe negotiations, Pinter would only say, they have not been easy.

Before the coronavirus pandemic struck Danbury 14 months ago, the Sayers property at 25 Miry Brook Road had been linked with another problem property at 89 Wooster Heights Road, east of the airports runway 26.

The citys plan was to acquire both properties for a total of $430,000 and clean them up for a total of another $380,000 - and then submit the expense to the Federal Aviation Commission for reimbursement. The hope was the FAA would reimburse 90 percent of the citys expense, and the Connecticut Airport Authority would kick another 7 percent.

The city reasoned that the projects would qualify for FAA reimbursement because acquisition would provide a cleaner buffer for takeoffs and landings by preventing trees from growing into the runway path. Danbury remains one of busiest general aviation airports in the state.

On Thursday, city officials said the Wooster Heights Road site had cleanup-related complications that had to be dealt with separately. Officials added the FAA was not keen to reimburse Danbury for either site, so the city was acting its own.

Its a good idea for the city to move forward as it should with any enforcement that needs to be taken, said Shawn Stillman, coordinator of the citys blight-fighting department, Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team, or UNIT.

Pinter agreed.

[T]he acquisition of this parcel would of great public benefit and of DXR benefit and instrumental for ancillary uses that would benefit the municipal airport including, but not limited to, construction of aircraft hangars, and/or construction of maintenance storage facilitiesand/or expansion of access to private and public facilities serving the airport, Pinter wrote to the City Council.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Union officials said the state Department of Correction failed to inform them about former death row prisoners being transferred to other facilities as Connecticut prepares to close its maximum security prison.

There was no notice, said AFSCME Local 391 President Collin Provost, who represents 1,500 DOC employees, including correction officers, kitchen supervisors, maintenance staff, correction counselors and others. Its discouraging when you get a call from one of your members saying, Hey a death row inmate wound up in my general population, why didnt they tell anyone?

In February, the state Commissioner of Correction Angel Quiros announced the July 1 closing of Northern Correctional Institution, the states supermax prison where the former death row inmates were being held. On March 11, a federal court ruling deemed the special circumstances security status for death row inmates was unconstitutional.

This suddenly changed the landscape on how the DOC would move forward in dealing with those who had the special circumstances designation.

With the transfers becoming necessary, Provost said no input was sought from the correction officers or other union staff.

Thats the challenging part for my members. We werent brought into the conversation on how they were handling the transfer for those who are being held under special circumstances, Provost said.

The special circumstances designation became law when the death penalty was abolished in Connecticut in 2012. It requires former death row inmates to be held in more isolated circumstances than other prisoners, regardless of their behavior.

The DOC said it notified leadership of the unions, but there was little that could be done because the inmates needed to be transferred.

The agency communicated with leadership from all of the different unions associated with the Department of Correction, including the NP4 president representing front-line staff, said Karen Martucci, spokeswoman for the agency. There was no room for negotiating how this move would take place since the direction and timeframes were dictated through the legal court decision.

Four of the 10 former death row inmates, Richard Reynolds, Daniel Webb, Jessie Campbell and Todd Rizzo, who are serving life sentences, have been moved to the MacDougall Building of the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, a level four and five maximum security prison in Suffield.

Northerns four remaining inmates, Russell Peeler, Sedrick Cobb, Robert Breton and Richard Roszkowski, are expected to be moved by July 1.

Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, who were convicted of killing three female members of the Petit family in 2007, have been serving their life sentences in a Pennsylvania prison and are not impacted by the transfers. Komisarjevsky was from Cheshire and Hayes was from Winsted.

The state Supreme Court in 2020 overturned the conviction of an 11th former death row inmate, Lazale Ashby, who will likely be retried.

The states former death row inmates were reclassified as special circumstances high security status by the General Assembly in 2012 in an offering to those legislators who were reluctant to vote in favor of abolishing the Connecticut death penalty, said state Sen. Gary Winfield, D-New Haven, co-chair of the judiciary committee.

It made lawmakers feel better about what they were doing, said Winfield, who pushed for the end of the death penalty as a new state legislator in 2009.

Legislators were also keenly aware of the issues caused by Komisarjevsky and Hayes, who were convicted and sentenced to death in the killings of Michaela and Hayley Petit and their mother Jennifer Hawke-Petit during a Cheshire home invasion in 2007. Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor of the attack, and his family championed the death penalty for the two perpetrators.

The legislature abolished the death penalty prospectively, which meant the men on death row would still receive death sentences. Their continued confinement was defined by a separate change in the law, which required the state commissioner of correction to keep the 11 inmates who had received death sentences in the same isolated conditions as they were on death row.

That meant the former death row inmates were kept in separate cells with little opportunity to leave, few educational programs and no contact with anyone other than those serving under the same status, Martucci said.

Their sentences were converted to life without the possibility of release when the death penalty was abolished, Martucci said. They were managed by a state statute (CGS 18-10b) and their movement from Northern CI is in response to a federal appeals court decision declaring that part of that state statute is unconstitutional.

Reynolds, who was convicted in the killing of a Waterbury police officer in the early 1990s, challenged the special circumstances designation in federal court after the state Supreme Court ruled the law that abolished the death penalty prospectively was unconstitutional.

Reynolds won his case in U.S. District Court in 2019 on the grounds that the DOC failed to provide even minimal due process protections, including allowing him any advance notice or hearing on his reclassification to special circumstances high security status, records show. The ruling banned the DOC from enforcing the special circumstances status against any other current or future inmate, court filings said.

The DOC appealed in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Second Circuit court tossed out some of the U.S. District Courts ruling, but agreed with Reynolds that the law establishing the special circumstances designation was unconstitutional.

By the time the appeals court ruling was issued, Quiros had already announced his intent to close Northern under heavy pressure from prison reform advocacy groups.

The DOC has since been working on the transition of the former death row inmates to other facilities, Martucci said. They all will remain in maximum security settings, she said.

Well look at their risk and their needs and place them where it is most appropriate, Martucci said.

Union officials do not have a problem with the inmates being placed in the general population, Provost said.

The employees that I represent deal with violent people every day, he said. They dont have to be on death row to be violent. They could be serving a 10-year sentence or even be imprisoned for a violation of probation.

But Provost and several union members do have a problem with the agency not notifying staff that the former death row inmates were being transferred to certain facilities.

Correction officers are always on guard, Provost said. When they step into a restaurant and have a seat and then see a person who was formerly incarcerated walk in the door, it changes their perception. Its the same when any of the former death row inmates show up in your general population. Theres a change in your perception. Correction officers are responsible for the safety of all inmates. When you bring in someone with some notoriety, theres going to be a difference in how you look at things.
Gov. Ned Lamont said Thursday he plans to extend Connecticuts eviction moratorium for at least another month to allow more time to get rental relief to people who need it, a day after a federal judge invalidated the national ban on evictions.

The decision to extend Connecticuts moratorium, which Lamont issued separately from the national one as part of his emergency powers tied to the pandemic, will be up to the governor and General Assembly. The governor said he planned to consult with legislative leaders Thursday about how to make it happen.

Talks are ongoing between Lamont and legislative leaders as to whether Lamonts emergency powers should extend past May 20. That would continue the governors remaining executive orders, including the eviction moratorium, which has been in place since last spring.

Speaker of the House Matt Ritter predicted Thursday that Lamonts powers would be extended but could not say for how long.

I think you are going to have to extend beyond May 20, but the legislature will be voting to do that. How long? Were still negotiating, Ritter, D-Hartford, said from the House floor.

Lamont said the main reason he wants to extend the eviction moratorium  which has several exemptions allowing landlords to seek tenant removal  is the slow rollout of the $235 million in emergency housing assistance to Connecticut residents financially hurt by the pandemic.

I want to give us a little more time to get that right, the governor said to Hearst Connecticut Media after an event in New Haven Thursday morning.

As of last week, UniteCT, the program set up in mid-March to distribute the federal rental assistance money to renters and landlords, had approved just under 200 applications, totaling $1.2 million in relief. Many more people are expected to be hired to help speed up the process of reviewing applications.

Housing advocates in Connecticut are warning of a tsunami of people who could face eviction if the moratorium goes away before rental relief reaches them or they have time to get back on their feet after suffering economic hardships from the pandemic  such as losing their jobs or working reduced hours.

We are very concerned if the eviction moratorium goes away, theres going to be a dramatic increase in the number of people losing homes, said Erin Kemple, executive director of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center. Already, were seeing between 400 and 500 eviction cases filed every month. Thats half of what it was in 2019, but probably only a quarter of what we expect to see when the moratorium ends.

Kemple said this is also a racial justice issue as many of the tenants who face eviction are people of color.

Where the laws stand

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, of Washington, D.C., ruled Wednesday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has overstepped its authority in ordering a nationwide eviction moratorium. At the request of the U.S. Justice Department, she then agreed to put a temporary hold on her order vacating the ban.

The CDC ban began last September and was scheduled to lapse on June 30. States are free to order their own bans under their own housing laws.

Connecticuts eviction ban, which applies to most new cases, is set to expire May 20. Currently, a landlord can file an eviction for one of the following reasons.

* A tenant owes six or more months of rent that was due on or after March 1, 2020

* A tenant owes rent that was due on or before Feb. 29, 2020

* A tenant has committed a serious nuisance such as physically harming another tenant or the landlord

* A tenants lease has ended, and the landlord wants to use the property as his or her main residence

Amy Eppler-Epstein, a staff attorney with New Haven Legal Assistance Association, said it would be a travesty if instead of using the hundreds of millions of dollars available to keep people housed, officials allowed the tsunami of evictions to come forward.

Forced to give away housing

Paul Januszewski, president of the Greater Enfield Landlord Association, said many landlords have made efforts to work with tenants who are unable to pay their rent or pay the full rent due to financial hardship caused by the pandemic.

But landlords still have to pay their mortgages, taxes on the buildings, and maintain general upkeep. In many cases, utilities are included in rent, so landlords have to cover those costs as well, he said.

Landlords by and large have been asked to give away their services and have no legal recourse to recover any damages, he said. Weve been forced to give away housing. Weve given people the impression they dont need to pay rent, especially the way Gov. Lamont publicized the eviction moratorium.

Tenants will still owe the full amount of rent they missed whenever the moratorium ends, although Januszewski said landlords understand they might not be able to recover all of the money, at least not right away.

The moratorium is whats keeping the pressure on both the judicial branch and on the landlords, said Yoni Zamir, another staff attorney with NHLAA.

What comes next

Once the moratorium is lifted, many tenants will be inuncertain housing situations, Zamir said.

People are going to be doubled up, homeless, living in cars People are just getting back to work and the ability to earn income so the moratorium is really holding everything in place, he said.

In Hartford on Thursday, House Majority Leader Jason Rojas said legislative leaders are discussing what kinds of executive orders should continue after Lamonts emergency powers expire on May 19.

Rojas, D-East Hartford, said he had not read about the federal court ruling until earlier on Thursday.

Its such a fresh thing, Rojas said. I think we need to understand exactly what the ramifications of it are.

Obviously, they could be particularly dire if youre a state thats not in the position we are, at least for the next 14 days. So, its something were actually talking about the executive-order issue as it is, and it will be part of those conversations.

Reporter Ken Dixon contributed to this story.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
MILFORD  City and state officials from Milford are lining up to oppose the construction of a 115-foot cellular tower at 1061-1063 Boston Post Road.

ARX Wireless Infrastructure LLC of North Haven is seeking approval from the state Siting Council to build the tower, which would have Verizon and AT&T antennas. The tower would be placed within a 60-foot-square fenced enclosure located in the parking lot at the rear of the Post Road property.

State Rep. Kathy Kennedy, R-Milford, said ARX should investigate other potential sites.

There were several other locations that could have been considered, and we dont feel that those other locations were vetted enough by ARX, Kennedy said.

Where this proposed cell tower is, right behind it, there is a large residential area, and residents are concerned about their property values and this obtrusive tower, Kennedy said. This biggest thing is that we are asking ARX to do its due diligence in researching where to locate this tower.

In written comments to the Siting Council, attorney John Knuff listed numerous objections to the plan, including ARX allegedly erroneously assuming that the site it chose was in a commercial zone.

In fact, it is a split zone, Knuff wrote. The portion fronting the Post Road is in the Interchange Commercial District and is currently used by a Mexican restaurant. The rear portion, where ARX is proposing the tower, is zoned as a one-family residential zone and is abutted on two sides by a single-family lot, he wrote.

In addition, Knuff said ARX had not properly vetted nearby alternative sites suggested by city officials, including the Connecticut Post Mall at 1201 Boston Post Road, Old Navy at 1212 Boston Post Road, and the former Howard Johnsons hotel site at 1052 Boston Post Road.

But Keith Coppins, executive director and founder of ARX Wireless Infrastructure LLC, said Friday that the company spent 5 months looking at the properties that the city of Milford asked us to look at.

We stand by that memo that we sent back to the siting council, Coppins said.

Further, Attorney David Ball, representing ARX, said the company had reached out to the owners of the three properties and had not received a response. The company also doubted the roof of the new hotel planned for 1052 Boston Post Road could accommodate a 40-foot antenna necessary to satisfy AT&Ts requirements.

The existing building and the proposed building do not satisfy AT&Ts coverage needs, Ball wrote.

Ball acknowledged the split zone at 1063 Boston Post Road, but noted that Milfords tax assessment records and GIS mapping both showed the property as an Interchange Commercial District. He said researching a reply to Knuffs suggested alternate locations had reaffirmed that the 1061-1063 Boston Post Road site was the best site, and one which will allow for much-needed improved cell coverage in the I-95/Boston Post Road interchange.

A message seeking comment was left with ARX.

Knuff also alleged to the council that ARXs analysis of feasible coverage solutions has not been adequately disclosed to the city so Milford officials could verify ARXs conclusions. In particular, Knuff said, the city had requested that ARX provide a detailed analysis of alternative methods of providing necessary coverage, including small cells, co-locating on existing buildings in the area, and alternative locations for a new facility, either singly or in combination.

ARXs response, Knuff wrote, was that the target area for coverage was the I-95/Boston Post Road interchange.

Knuff concluded that Milford respectfully submits that the application cannot be granted because the city could not determine if the tower placement was in the best interest of state and city residents.

The Siting Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed ARX tower via Zoom on June 15 at 6:30 p.m. As part of the hearing ARX will give a public overview of its proposal. The meeting ID is 991 5590 1827 and passcode is 4dmsJ8.

To speak at the hearing send an email to siting.council@ct.gov by June 8. Public comments may also be submitted by email or regular mail. Those wishing to have their comments entered into the public record must provide their name, phone number and email or mailing address.
Scott Zito, who has been principal at Platt Technical High School for two years, has more than teaching and education administration degrees in his background. This local principal is a guitar player and songwriter who worked with Grace Slick and has performed on stage with some big names in the music industry.

His most obvious contribution to the music biz was probably writing songs for Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, Grace Slicks 1981 follow-up to her solo album Dreams, which Zito also worked on. Music fans probably remember Slick, of Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, for the songs White Rabbit and Somebody to Love.

A listen to some of the songs from her solo albums, most notably Welcome to the Wrecking Ball, provides an earful of talent from Zito, who played lead guitar and harmonica and supplied vocals. Zito also helped produce the album.

The unsung hero on this album is Scott Zito, wrote a reviewer on Metalmans blog. He wrote all of the songs along with Slick and after hearing what he can do on the guitar on first Dreams and now this album, Im glad she kept him on to play guitar because he can play.

At allmusic.com theres commentary about Zitos contribution to Slicks albums: The three essential elements of her Dreams album from the year before reprise their roles here, producer Ron Frangipane, engineer Ed Sprigg, and guitarist Scott Zito writing all the music on Wrecking Ball. Slick creates only lyrics to four of the 10 titles, so this is really a Scott Zito album with Grace Slick as the vocalist.

And thats just a bit of the Scott Zito musical legacy. Hes also worked with Michael Bolton and Janis Ian, who is probably best known for her 1975 release At Seventeen, as well as Bob Marley and Cannata.

Zito is described as a virtuoso for his technical ability on the guitar, a master at all styles  jazz, blues, rock, funk 

During his touring years, this Milford musician performed throughout the United States, as well as Canada, the Middle East and Australia.

So how does a man get from Milford to international big-time band venues?

Its just like a snowball. Its what happens. Grace Slick was part of the snowball, he said.

Zito was born in New Haven, but his family made its way to Milford, and this high-credentialed musician is actually a Milford High School graduate, and he attended St. Mary School.

His father was very musical, and Zito took piano lessons as a child. He studied at the Hartford Conservatory  jazz piano and classical guitar.

But he wasnt even out of high school when he started as a touring musician and composer, performing at major concert venues.

After music school his touring amped up, and he started doing video work. He opened a publishing company, Spider Zee Music, a BMI affiliate, and learned the business end of the music industry as he worked as a studio musician in New York, producing album demos to commercial soundtracks.

And how does a big-time musician find himself back in his hometown, as a high school principal?

Zito, quite happy and fulfilled inside the walls at Platt, said its all about finding the next challenge.

As you reach the top of the mountain, you want to find another mountain, he said.

In addition to working, I was always a teacher, Zito said, explaining that as he performed he also took time to craft his methods as an instructor. You become used to the whole model of instruction; its different for each student.

Education at Platt has similarities to his music instruction. Focusing on the trades is hands-on, he said.

Zito said he was inundated with technology working in the music industry for 20 years, and thats a big plus at Platt, too.

At one point, I decided to increase my education, Zito said.

He has four degrees, including a masters degree in social sciences and a sixth year degree in education administration, and hes studied business and marketing, radiology, and video and TV production.

At Platt, he put his teaching skills and management skills together into one when he became principal.

This is fulfilling in a different way, he said. I enjoy watching the students become successful.

Are the students in awe of this big music name?

Youre never awed by people you know, he said with a laugh. Youre awed by people you dont know.

No, his focus at Platt isnt the limelight. Rather, its education and school safety. Zito started his new job by focusing on building safety, increasing security, and then increasing computer access for students.

Hes worked to augment the curriculum, adding classes like digital photography, contemporary issues, finance and creative writing and interdisciplinary enrichment, which encourages students to use math skills in their shop classes.

Now hes working on helping students increase their SAT skills. Hes also cut down on non-academic time, like study halls, to support academic achievement.

Technical schools are a model for the nation, he said, adding that Platt is a top-notch school. Platt boasts a 99% graduation rate, students do a lot of community service and theres a sizable waiting list to get into the school, he said.

Zito hasnt performed for a few years: This job takes a lot of time, Zito said, noting that he performed throughout the 90s and early 2000s with a variety of regional acts and also continued to do regional studio work.

Sometimes he sits down at the keyboard and plays for a school event  theres even a keyboard in his office. He also plays flute, banjo and harmonica, though he didnt say that those instruments had made it onto any Platt stage.

He has his own take on talent and hard work: Talent is innate to a degree, but it can also be developed. Some people are naturals; its the same with being a teacher. Others can become proficient by working on it.

His biggest moment on stage? Playing in front of 60,000 people in Chicago with Michael Bolton and Bob Seger.

His biggest moment at Platt? Hard to say, but he beams when he talks about graduation exercises and student achievement.
The Army on Thursday announced plans for a sweeping revamp of its Criminal Investigation Command, or CID, and changes it hopes will improve investigations and better protect victims of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

The reforms come in the wake of devastating reports about how the Army failed a soldier, Spc. Vanessa Guillen, who was murdered and dismembered last year at Fort Hood, allegedly by a fellow soldier who killed himself as law enforcement closed in on him.

An AR 15-6 fact-finding investigation released last month confirmed that Guillen was sexually harassed by another member of her unit, but not the soldier who allegedly murdered her. The report said Guillen, who was in the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, reported being sexually harassed twice, and said her superiors did not help her.

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Outrage at Guillen's brutal murder erupted last year, focusing nationwide attention on the problem of sexual harassment in the military and forcing the Army to take an unusually close look at its own failures of leadership and how it protects -- or fails to protect -- service members who have been sexually harassed or assaulted.

After Guillen's death last year, her family said her alleged killer had sexually harassed her. But until recently, the Army maintained there was no credible evidence she was the victim of sexual harassment.

The Army disciplined 13 current and former leaders connected to Guillen after the latest investigation.

Another report by the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee in December also resulted in 14 leaders at Fort Hood being relieved of command or suspended for fostering a command climate that allowed sexual assault and harassment to fester. That committee's review made 70 recommendations, and the Army said it is taking action to implement each of them.

"Although the [committee] report focused on the command climate and culture at Fort Hood, the findings impact matters relevant to the entire Army and its more than 1 million soldiers," the Army said in its release.

As the committee recommended, the Army is splitting up the duties and responsibilities that are now held by one general officer who serves as both the service's provost marshal general and the commanding general of CID. That role is now held by Maj. Gen. Donna Martin.

The Army will instead hire a civilian in the Senior Executive Service, with experience in criminal investigations, to lead CID. That civilian head will report to the undersecretary of the Army "to maintain and ensure independence of Army criminal investigations," the release said.

"Maj. Gen. Donna Martin led an intensive five-month structural redesign to create an organization with enhanced capabilities and capacity, organized with and led by civilian and military agents, military officers and enlisted soldiers," Acting Army Secretary John Whitley said in the release. "We are very confident these organizational changes address the committee's CID-related recommendations and lead us into the future."

And after CID is restructured, the Army said, it will have a higher ratio of civilian criminal investigators to military special agents. This is intended to increase CID's investigative experience and help build more effective partnerships with local and regional law enforcement agencies. It's not immediately clear what that new ratio will be and how it compares to the status quo.

CID's restructuring will take place in phases, and will start at Fort Hood, Fort Bragg and Fort Carson, the Army said. Army officials have not provided a timeline for the process to be completed.

Whitley also signed an order, Army Directive 2021-16, enacting several recommendations in the Fort Hood report to improve its Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, or SHARP, program. This directive applies to the regular Army, Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve, the release said.

The reforms make a significant change to how sexual harassment complaints are investigated, that seeks to increase the investigating officers' objectivity. Commanders will now have to appoint investigating officers from outside the brigade-sized element where the subject of the investigation is assigned.

These reforms also will improve how the military issues protective orders and process for sexual assault victims to receive case notifications, the release said.

The military has tried for years, but so far failed, to substantially reduce incidents of sexual assault and harassment in the ranks. In fiscal 2019, the most recent year for which annual figures are available, there were 7,825 cases of sexual assault reported in the military, a 3% increase from the 7,623 reports made the previous year. And in 2019, the military received 1,021 formal sexual harassment complaints, up 10% from fiscal 2018.

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Army Disciplines 13 Leaders, Confirms Murdered Soldier Vanessa Guillen Was Sexually Harassed
As the U.S. military's withdrawal from Afghanistan gathers steam, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley expressed cautious optimism Thursday about the Afghan government's ability to stand firm against the Taliban.

This month, the U.S. military officially began pulling its last few thousand troops out of Afghanistan, to meet President Joe Biden's Sept. 11 deadline for bringing the two decade-old war to a close.

Some critics, including prominent Republican lawmakers, have objected, saying a full withdrawal risks allowing the Taliban to overrun the Afghan government and seize control of the country.

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But at a press conference at the Pentagon, Austin and Milley played down those concerns.

"It's not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls, or any of those kind of dire predictions," Milley said. "There's a significant military capability in the Afghan government, and we have to see how this plays out."

The U.S. will keep supporting the Afghans in a variety of ways, he said, such as through financial aid, an "over-the-horizon" capability to provide counterterrorism response, possible maintenance support, and additional training opportunities after the withdrawal is done.

The military hasn't figured out exactly how that training effort would work, Milley said, but it could take place at locations outside Afghanistan.

Austin added that the U.S. also hopes to set up "over-the-horizon" logistical capabilities to support the Afghans. However, he declined to comment on how the U.S. might respond or provide air support if the Taliban advances on major Afghan cities.

When asked about the fate of Afghan interpreters whose lives may now be at risk, Milley said it is "a moral imperative that we take care of those that have worked closely with us if their lives are in danger."

But he cautioned against speculating that these interpreters' fates are fixed.

"There are some obviously bad outcomes that have been discussed," Milley said. "But none of that is preordained. This is a significant size military and police force. The government, under President Ghani, is still a cohesive organization. There are a lot of factors at play here. But I think it's a bit early to really sound the alarm on getting everybody out just yet."

Austin said the U.S. is hopeful the Afghan National Security Forces, or ANSF, will take the lead in stopping the Taliban. Some Afghan forces have performed "fairly well" when conducting a counterattack against the Taliban, Austin said.

"[The ANSF] have a pretty significant capability, but we expect that this will be a challenge for them," he added.

Losing American airstrike capability won't greatly affect the Afghans, Milley said. The Afghan air force is now conducting 80% to 90% of all airstrikes to support Afghan ground forces, he explained.

The Afghan air force, however, is still dependent on contract maintainers to keep its planes in the air. Milley said the details on how continued maintenance support for the Afghans might work -- whether "over the horizon," or if security conditions are safe enough on the ground, in-country with contractors -- are also not yet settled.

"The intent is to keep the Afghan air force in the air, and to provide them with continued maintenance support," he said.

Milley said the Pentagon won't publicly spell out specific milestones the military hopes to hit during the withdrawal process, because of the variables involved. But he said he's confident the military will be able to hit Biden's Sept. 11 deadline.

The Taliban is still conducting attacks -- about 220 a day -- against Afghan forces, Milley said, and the violence has continued since the withdrawal began May 1.

But the Taliban has not attacked U.S. or coalition forces, he added.

Milley said the ANSF and the government of Afghanistan "at this time, remain cohesive," and the U.S. intends to keep supporting them.

So far, the U.S. has closed one base, Contingency Location New Antonik in Helmand Province. It also has flown out the equivalent of 60 C-17 Globemasters full of equipment, and disposed of more than 1,300 pieces of equipment, either by turning them over to the Defense Logistics Agency to be destroyed or giving them to Afghan forces to use.

The military has sent six B-52H Stratofortress bombers and 12 F/A-18 Hornet fighters to the region to bolster the coalition's firepower as forces withdraw, Milley said. Austin has also extended the Eisenhower carrier strike group's stay in the region.

"We came in with our allies, and we will depart with our allies, shoulder to shoulder," Milley said. "And together, we are all going to execute a fully coordinated, synchronized retrograde in good order."

-- Stephen Losey can be reached at stephen.losey@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StephenLosey.

Related: Helmand Post Transferred to Afghan Army as Withdrawal Begins
The Make-A-Wish Foundation has granted the dreams of critically ill children for 41 years, giving them and their families a much-needed distraction from the day-to-day grind of medical appointments, treatments and caregiving.

But while military children with one of the foundation's qualifying conditions always have been eligible to request a wish, a new partnership and funding for the Washington, D.C., chapter aims to broaden availability to military families.

Defense contractor Amentum, headquartered in Germantown, Maryland, contributed $100,000 to Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic in March to fund wishes for military families over the next three years. The money will allow the organization to grant more wishes to military kids and fulfill them more quickly, explained Lesli Creedon, president and CEO of Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic.

Her organization receives roughly 450 referrals a year and grants around 300, including an average 20 per year to children whose parents or guardians are veterans or actively serving.

"You can see we have a pipeline of wishes and [kids] waiting, namely for financial reasons," Creedon said. "That's our big gap that we're trying to fill."

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Being a mobile population, service members may not know their kids are eligible or even understand how to request a wish, according to Ron Hahn, a retired Marine officer who now serves as executive vice president of strategic growth at Amentum.

"Oftentimes, and I know from my 20-plus years in the Marine Corps, sometimes you just fall between the cracks. There are lots of [permanent change of station] moves and deployments, and there are benefits and things out there that aren't readily apparent," Hahn said.

Families who have a child with one of the many conditions that qualify someone for a wish can request one through the foundations website or often are nominated by their physicians, social workers or patient advocates.

Creedon said that while wishes appear to be simply a nice experience to give sick children and their families, the foundation believes they are necessary for overall mental and physical health.

For example, she explained, physicians say children often are more open to receiving their medical treatments both before and after receiving their wishes, and there is evidence they result in shorter hospital stays and fewer visits to the emergency room.

When one youngster received news that he was about to receive a new organ via transplant, his physicians called Make-A-Wish, saying they wanted him to go into the surgery "feeling as optimistic as he could."

"We had that family on a plane 48 hours later to Disney," Creedon said.

A study published in 2018 of patients at Nationwide Childrens Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found that children who received a wish were 2.5 times more likely than those who did not to have a decline in unplanned hospital admissions in the year following their wish compared to the year before, and 1.9 times more likely to experience a drop in emergency room visits from the previous year.

More than 80% of all wishes received at the Mid-Atlantic chapter involve travel. But the foundation welcomes all types and enjoys the creative challenges of the more unique asks, according to Creedon.

For example, Liam Gallihue, an 18-year-old vocalist and composer from Havre de Grace, Maryland, who has cystic fibrosis, asked for a professional musical group -- an orchestra or band -- to record one of his compositions.

Gallihue said he didn't need to see it happen in person; he simply wanted a recording of the music to fill his wish.

This year, Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra will record Gallihue's work. And Make-A-Wish added on a music composition master class via Zoom with alto saxophonist Sherman Irby.

"Honestly, what they've done is way more than we expected to happen," said Gallihue, who will attend the University of Maryland this fall to study vocal performance. "I am so excited to see how [Jazz] interprets it."

"When Make-A-Wish called and said, 'Here's what we're gonna do,' I cried," added Liam's mother, Suzi Gallihue. "We've been isolated because of COVID. I had just had breast cancer and surgery. ... It gave us so much hope."

The coronavirus pandemic has slowed down the number of wishes that the Mid-Atlantic office has been able to grant in the past year, with many being delayed or changed as a result of travel restrictions, Creedon said.

A few children who had hoped to travel have decided to use their wishes for good: One young girl wanted to travel to London to do "everything Sherlock Holmes" but instead donated the money that would have funded the trip -- $5,000 -- to a therapeutic riding center in Great Falls, Virginia, according to Creedon, while another child gave wish money to renovate a city playground.

"There are a lot of children who [pay it forward]," she said.

Hahn said he has seen the impact that having a child with an illness or birth defects has had on friends and hopes his company can bring on partners to increase their philanthropy for Make-A-Wish.

"It's these little things that can bring relief, particularly on our enlisted side, who don't have the resources to do something like take a child to Disney or do whatever. To be able to apply our resources, our employees' resources, is a great thing," Hahn said.

Liam Gallihue said he never imagined requesting a wish, but after a particularly challenging 10th-grade year, during which he contracted a dangerous infection, he began considering it. He tells kids they should do it.

"It's such a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It can be hard to think about yourself, and ... it's like admitting that 'I'm really sick,' but it's such a great opportunity to do something you've always wanted to do or be someone you want to be. I can't recommend it enough."

Military families in the Washington, D.C., area interested in the new Make-A-Wish initiative can contact Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic. Outside the D.C. area, Make-A-Wish can help.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

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U.S. Army modernization officials are pushing forward with a plan to outfit light infantry, Stryker and armored combat brigades with advanced radios and communications kits designed to speed decision-making even under sophisticated enemy jamming attacks.

"We want to give them radios and systems that allow the data to flow in a contested environment," Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, director of the Army Network Cross-Functional Team, told defense reporters Tuesday at a tactical network demonstration at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia.

Developing and fielding a more robust tactical network that can stand against enemy cyber and electronic warfare, or EW, attacks is one of the Army's top modernization priorities.

The service is currently designing, testing and fielding two-year capability sets -- Capability Set 21 for light infantry brigade combat teams, or BCTs; Capability Set 23 for Stryker BCTs; and Capability Set 25 for armored BCTs.

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Earlier this year, the Army began fielding Capability Set 21 -- which includes new man-packable and handheld radios, commercial satellite terminals, commercial network gateway devices and command-and-control software -- to four infantry BCTs, with plans for more in the future.

The 1st BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Europe have received the new sets. The Army will field them to the 3rd BCT, 25th Infantry Division, in Hawaii next month and 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne, later this year.

"CS 21 is predominantly infantry, light infantry dismounts," said Brig. Gen. Robert Collins, Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communications-Tactical, or PEO C3T. "In Cap Set 23, we are putting it on Stryker vehicles. You are actually going to see mobile communications, mobile [command and control] on the move on Stryker platforms."

The Army just completed the preliminary design review for Cap Set 23. Over the next year, the service will experiment with the Cap Set 23 to prove out new technologies and identify risk areas before going into the critical design review scheduled for April 2022, Collins said.

Cap Set 23, and eventually Cap Set 25, will be designed to build on top of Cap Set 21 with new capabilities such as incorporating access to low-Earth orbit and mid-Earth orbit commercial satellite constellations.

"Low-Earth orbit satellites offer dramatically increased [data] throughput and reduced latency, which is a huge game-changer on the battlefield," Collins said.

Cap Set 23 and beyond will also provide significant defense against enemy jamming attacks, he said.

"You have to be able to [operate] a contested, congested environment ... whether it's EW jamming, cyber threat," Collins explained.

The Army offers cooperative research and development agreements to small companies that can't afford to stand up an environment that can replicate a cyber attack from Russia or China.

"If I am a small company, I can come in with my new technology and expose it to a jammer or to a threat or to a hacker," Collins said.

Army officials stressed that the new capability set approach will allow them to break from the stationary communications structure on forward operating bases that the service relied on for almost two decades in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We've gotta get out of buildings and tents and be able to be mobile and distributed in a very, very violent fight," Gallagher said.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

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A 25-year-old former member of the Marine Corps was arrested Wednesday in the fatal shooting of another military veteran, who was killed in downtown Orlando early Sunday while walking to get empanadas, according to the Orlando Police Department.

Detectives say Shaun Engram Jr. attempted to stop 34-year-old Joseph Torres from walking through a crowded downtown sidewalk about 2:30 a.m. Sunday, prompting a heated exchange between the men, who did not know each other and had never met, said OPD Detective Teresa Sprague. The crowd around Engram turned on Torres, starting to beat him up, Sprague said, until Engram pulled out a handgun and shot Torres four times, killing him.

We want to think theres more to this than he just walked through the crowd, Sprague said.  This is honestly all Mr. Torres did. ... He did nothing wrong.

Torres, a father of three who had been deployed in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, was shot within 100 feet from Orlando police officers working in the area, officials said. The officers found Torres on the ground, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

Lt. Frank Chisari, who leads OPDs homicide unit, called Engrams actions a brazen act of violence.

These detectives worked nonstop since Sunday morning to catch this guy, to make sure downtown is safe for people to go, Chisari said. He said detectives relied on local businesses that shared video from that morning to link Engram to the crime.

Sprague said Torres and his friend had been downtown Saturday evening, where they went to a few places for food and drinks, accompanied by Torres dog. Before heading home, the duo decided they wanted empanadas, so they dropped his dog off in Torres car, before walking to grab the snack. But they never made it, Sprague said.

Sprague said Torres family is requesting privacy while they grieve, but said they shared with detectives that Torres was a jokester, and they remembered him as the life of their party every time.

Theyre devastated by this, and so are his children, Sprague said. She said the day Torres was killed was also his 4-year-old daughters birthday.

He had purchased a gold dress for her, she said, choking up.  He didnt get a chance to give it to her.

Ingram surrendered without any issues Wednesday, Sprague said, and was arrested on a charge of first-degree murder with a firearm.

There are no winners here, Sprague said, noting that Engram and his family will also have to deal with this for the rest of their lives. It was a split-second decision and it was a grave one.

This article is written by Grace Toohey from The Orlando Sentinel and was legally licensed via the Tribune Content Agency through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.
When Robert Celestial arrived on Lowja Island in the Marshall Islands' Enewetak Atoll in 1977, he was given a shovel and gloves and told to get to work. Like his fellow troops, he waded into the muck at the bottom of an atomic bomb crater and began digging.

He was dressed in shorts.

"We were young soldiers. We didn't know what we were doing," Celestial told Military.com last year. "So many of my friends have passed away."

Since at least 2018, Celestial has worked for passage of the Mark Takai Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act, a bill that would recognize hundreds of veterans who participated in decontamination and containment work in Enewetak from 1977 to 1980 as "atomic veterans."

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The designation would make these veterans eligible for Department of Veterans Affairs health care and benefits if they have or develop specific illnesses linked to radiation exposure.

The bill -- and several others that address ignored or little-known instances of exposure by U.S. service members to pollutants, chemicals or radiation -- may be closer than ever to becoming law this year, according to the chairmen of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees.

Both committees are considering legislation that would grant presumptive status for illnesses found in veterans who participated in cleanup operations. Other bills would direct the VA or National Academies of Sciences to study the health of veterans exposed to toxins in locations overseen by the Defense Department -- places like Fort McClellan, Alabama; Palomares, Spain; and Vietnam.

"Every day, more and more veterans come forward publicly to speak out about their exposures during service, and we continue to hear about new toxins," House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., said during a hearing Wednesday. "It is abundantly clear that we must act now."

"While each legislative victory is a step in the right direction, it is clear that our next step must be bold -- veterans deserve nothing less," Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said last week. "We must provide health care and benefits to all veterans suffering from the effects of toxic exposure: past, present and future. It is a cost of war -- pure and simple."

The VA provides health care and benefits for U.S. veterans with illnesses or injuries considered related to military service.

This includes "atomic veterans" who developed cancer as a result of participating in above-ground nuclear tests from 1945 to 1962 or were near Hiroshima or Nagasaki, Japan, in the 1940s.

The Enewetak Atoll veterans have not received that designation, which complicates their process for receiving benefits if they develop any of the 21 cancers determined to be service-connected to radiation exposure.

The federal government maintains that the Enewetak veterans wore protective clothing and radiation monitoring devices and "encountered low levels of radiological contamination" because they were not allowed unrestricted access to heavily contaminated areas.

The Mark Takai Atomic Veterans Healthcare Parity Act would extend benefits to the veterans who took part in the cleanup, including places that remain contaminated today.

The cleanup crews of another U.S. radiological disaster -- one that began on Jan. 17, 1966, when an Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs collided with its KC-135 Stratotanker refueling tanker mid-flight -- are also seeking presumptive status.

In the accident, three bombs landed near the village of Palomares, Spain. Although none of their nukes exploded, conventional components in two of the bombs detonated, sending plutonium across a square mile.

More than 1,600 Air Force personnel responded to the cleanup, most of them without protective equipment. They were exposed to dangerous levels of plutonium in the soil, on crops, in the water they drank and the local food they consumed during the mission, according to the office of Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

The Palomares Veterans Act, sponsored by Blumenthal and Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., would grant presumptive status to veterans suffering from cancer as a result of their participation in the cleanup and would extend dependency and indemnity compensation to their survivors.

"Decades later, many of these airmen are suffering and dying from the health conditions that likely came from handling this radioactive dust. But the VA still does not count Palomares as a radiation risk event," said Hayes, making a case for her legislation during a hearing Wednesday.

Stateside, at Fort McClellan, Alabama, more than 600,000 service members are thought to have been exposed to toxic substances during training, exercise and research, from 1927 to 1999, when the installation was shuttered as the result of the Base Realignment and Closure process.

The National Academy of Medicine concluded in 2005 that McClellan, where the Army conducted chemical weapons training and dumped nearly 30,000 gallons of Agent Orange, was contaminated with volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, pesticides, radiation, explosives and heavy metals. The base is also located near a Monsanto plant that released chemicals into the local landfill and creeks.

The Fort McClellan Health Registry Act would require the VA to create a national listing for veterans of the post, to track and understand the scope of health conditions seen in them.

Van Dillard, who trained at the base in the early 1980s, calls it "the most toxic place in the U.S."

"I finally got a lawyer and got service-connected for some of the stuff I have going on," said Dillard, who suffers from colon cancer. "But not everything. It shouldn't be that hard."

"[Monsanto] paid $700 million to the residents of the town there," he added. "Not one soldier gets automatic compensation for being stationed there."

The VA recognizes that toxic chemicals were used at Fort McClellan and acknowledges that some veterans may have been exposed, but it doesn't recognize any health conditions as presumed related to exposure -- a designation that eases the benefits claims applications process.

Instead, like many health conditions that have not been proven connected to exposures during military service, the VA encourages veterans to file claims that are decided on a case-by-case basis.

"Amazingly, no comprehensive study has ever been conducted on our veterans who served at Fort McClellan. These veterans served and sacrificed for us, and they have paid a terrible price for it. We owe it to them to do better," bill sponsor Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., said Wednesday.

Legislation on one of the more obscure exposures seen in veterans takes on the liver fluke, a parasite found in freshwater fish in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. When consumed, it can cause irritation and scarring and lead to the development of bile duct cancer.

Lawmakers want the VA to study the prevalence of cholangiocarcinoma, or bile duct cancer, in Vietnam veterans. That study would not just evaluate those who may have been exposed to liver flukes, but also those who contracted bile duct cancer in other ways, including through hepatitis infections.

Bill sponsor Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., said a study at the Northport, New York, VA Medical Center in 2018 of 50 veterans "highlighted a greater need for examination of this issue."

"It's absolutely critical that we tackle this issue head on. The clock is ticking," Zeldin said.

Under the direction of VA Secretary Denis McDonough, the department launched a 180-day review in February of its programs and is developing a new model for determining presumptions based on environmental exposure, said Ronald Burke, deputy under secretary for policy and oversight in the Veterans Benefits Administration.

Burke told House lawmakers during the hearing that a new "holistic approach" will be taken to review disability claims filed for environmental exposures, with expanded training for health care providers; improved surveillance, research and epidemiology; increased use of benefits data; and encouraging veterans to file a claim.

"Our research indicates that an overly cumbersome process, and an assumption of denial, discourages veterans from filing toxic- and environmental exposure-related claims at the secretary's direction," Burke said. "We are undertaking efforts to encourage veterans who believe their symptoms are related to toxic exposure to participate in health registries; part of that effort will include encouraging veterans to get a compensation and pension exam, and to submit a claim to VA."

"Oftentimes, the absence of a presumption serves as a disincentive for an individual veteran to come forward with her claim, which obviously speaks to a trust issue we have on the claims process," McDonough told Military.com on March 26. "So the first thing I'd say is [if] people ... have a claim and they've not come forward with it, please come forward.  People do not need to come forward as a group. They should come forward with their individual claim."

Momentum is growing in Congress to pass several of these pieces of legislation, if not a comprehensive package that includes presumptive care for veterans with illnesses thought to be linked to burn pits used in the Middle East and elsewhere since 1990.

Lawmakers expressed confidence Wednesday that a sweeping veterans' environmental exposure bill would pass.

"We cannot continue to tackle this topic one disability at a time," Takano said. "[Today's hearing is] an opportunity to continue the conversation with VA and other interested stakeholders to ensure that we consider all views as we craft comprehensive legislation."

"Today's hearing made it painfully clear that the time to act for toxic-exposed veterans is now. Thousands of veterans are suffering. They need us to meet this moment with meaningful action to deliver the care and benefits they have earned before it is too late," said Illinois Rep. Mike Bost, the committee's highest-ranking Republican.

-- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime.

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The Red Sox have signed reliever Brandon Workman to a minor league contract, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com was among those to report. The right-hander will head to Triple-A Worcester.

There is plenty of familiarity between the Red Sox and the 32-year-old Workman, whom the team chose in the second round of the 2010 draft. Workman made his major league debut in 2013, the beginning of a productive run out of Bostons bullpen that lasted through 2020. But Workmans production nosedived when the Red Sox traded him to the Phillies last summer, and he continued to struggle at the beginning of this year with the Cubs. Consequently, Chicago  which signed Workman to a $1MM guarantee in free agency  designated him for assignment a week ago.

For first-place Boston, theres no harm in taking a minor league chance on Workman, who has enjoyed a solid career despite his recent problems. Workman owns a useful 3.96 ERA/3.87 SIERA with a 25 percent strikeout rate and a 10.9 percent walk rate across 309 major league innings, including 70-plus frames in two different seasons.
LANSING, MICH. -- This week the 2021 Governors Awards for Historic Preservation honored the preservation work behind five Michigan historical landmarks, ranging from a lighthouse in Northeast Michigan to Detroits Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, the birthplace of the Model T car.

According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the program, now in its 18th year, celebrates outstanding historic preservation achievements that reflect a commitment to the preservation of Michigans unique character and the many archaeological sites and historic structures that document our rich past. The 2021 awards were given out during a virtual ceremony hosted by the State Historic Preservation Office.

Im honored to have the opportunity to recognize the recipients of the Governors Awards for Historic Preservation, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a release. These historic places, spread across the state, demonstrate our states unique past and reflect the innovation, resiliency and pride we all share in calling ourselves Michiganders.

Communities represented by the projects include Pokagon Township, Dearborn, Flint, Detroit and Charter Township of Alpena.

Read on for a list of this years honorees, and learn more about the Governors Awards for Historic Preservation here.

The M-86 Pony Truss Bridge in Cass County. Photo used with permission from State Historic Preservation Office

1. The Michigan Department of Transportation, Cass County Road Commission, Pokagon Township, OHM Advisors, and Hardman Construction were honored for the rehabilitation and relocation of the M-86 Pony Truss Bridge in Cass County. Originally built in 1923 in Wayne County but moved in 1938 to St. Joseph County, the bridge was scheduled to be replaced until it was identified as the last of its kind in state highway service. It was carefully moved to Cass County, where it now allows Crystal Springs Road to span over the Dowagiac River. More here

Fair Lane Estate, home of Henry and Clara Ford. Photo used with permission from State Historic Preservation Office

2. Henry Ford Estate, Inc., Quinn Evans Architects, SmithGroup, Inc., The Christman Company, National Restoration, Inc., and Historic Surfaces, LLC were honored for the restoration of the Fair Lane Estate, once the home of Henry and Clara Ford. The property had endured heavy use and alterations during the latter half of the 20th century; this projects preservation work used historical photographs, receipts and correspondence to restore the estate to the look and feel of the late 1910s, when it was originally built. More here

The historic Calvin Coolidge School in Flint. Photo used with permission by State Historic Preservation Office

3. Communities First Inc., RAD Conversion Specialists, LLC, Asselin McLane Architectural Group, Siwek Construction, and Kidorf Preservation Consulting were honored for the rehabilitation of the Calvin Coolidge School into Coolidge Park Apartments in Flint. Calvin Coolidge School first opened on the west side of Flint in 1928, but sat empty with an uncertain future when it closed in 2011. This project rehabilitated the stately building into mixed-income apartments, preserving spaces such as the gym and auditorium to host programming for residents and the local community. More here

Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit. Photo used with permission from the State Historic Preservation Office

4. Model-T Automotive Heritage Complex, Inc. was honored for the long-term stewardship of the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit. Since its founding in 2000, the nonprofit Ford Piquette Avenue Plant has upheld its mission to save and restore the former Ford Motor Company factory where the first Model T cars were produced. This work has included projects such as the careful restoration of nearly all of the plants 355 windows and the restoration of the facade to its as-built 1904 appearance. More here

Thunder Bay Island Light Station in Alpena County. Photo used with permission by the State Historic Preservation Office

5. Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse Preservation Society and Charter Township of Alpena were honored for the long-term stewardship of the Thunder Bay Island Light Station in Alpena County, one of the oldest light stations on Lake Huron. Constructed in the mid-1800s to mark the entrance to Thunder Bay, the lighthouse sat vacant and open to vandalism and decay after it was automated by the U.S. Coast Guard in the 1980s. Since 1996, the all-volunteer preservation society has worked to restore and maintain the station, including repairing the keepers quarters, fog signal building and light tower. More here

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EAST LANSING, MI  A group of Michigan State University graduate students raised more than $30,000 in three days to benefit COVID-19 relief efforts in India.

COVID-19 cases in India have been surging in recent weeks, setting records for the number of positive cases per day and overwhelming health care facilities. Darshana Devarajan, an MSU doctoral student,created a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $15,000. The community rallied to meet that goal within 48 hours and has raised more than $33,000 in three days.

Devarajan, a second-year doctoral student in curriculum, instruction and teacher education, said she and eight other graduate students were inspired by similar efforts at Oxford University and wanted to know how they could help, even though they were so far away.

The COVID-19 crisis in India is personal to all of the organizers, according to Vanika Grover, a fourth-year doctoral student in MSUs education policy program.

We dont know anyone who does not have loved ones affected, whether its family or friends, Grover said. Everyone now has at least a few family members who either tested positive, are in the hospital or are suffering in other ways.

That sort of shared grief also binds us together.

Devarajan said she knows a couple of people working in India, as well as making masks and sharing information. Everyone is working together to get resources to bring the country together, she said.

Organizers have prioritized donating the funds to organizations in the areas of India hit hardest by COVID-19 at the end of April. But they also want to reach all parts of the country, said Sadiq Mohammed, a third-year doctoral student in MSUs higher education program. Donations will fund in-need communities with oxygen, food, groceries and medical necessities like free, sanitized and well-equipped ambulances, the website states.

Specific organizations that donations will benefit include the Hemkunt Foundation, Enrich Lives Foundation, HelpNow, the Association for Indias Development and the Child in Need Institute, according to the GoFundMe page.

COVID-19 has not spared any part of the county, so we have been mindful about selecting the nonprofits that do work in different parts of the country  not just urban areas but also rural areas, Mohammed said.

The next focus for the organizers is getting the funds to the different nonprofits, Devarajan said. If they are able to meeting their $50,000 goal by May 15, they will consider raising their goal for the future, but they would like to send out the money they have already raised since the situation is immediate, Devarajan said.

Seeing the MSU communitys response to the crisis in India offers a glimmer of hope and a sense of solidarity within that community, Mohammed said. Devarajan and the organizers hope that same response can be extended throughout the wider Michigan community, she said.

This is a country that is in crisis, and we have so many people from India here and people who have been through the second wave of the pandemic in December and January, Devarajan said. We invite the community to stand with us, and their support will be for the organizations that were donating to because the volunteers and workers are risking their lives every day just to be able to support the community and bring us back to a state of normalcy.

Those wishing to donate to the fundraiser can do so here.

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ANN ARBOR, MI  Amid debate over whether Ann Arbor City Council rules violate members First Amendment rights to speak freely, council voted this week to revise them.

In a 9-2 vote, council adopted a new set of nine behavioral norms that council members are asked to follow:

Work with other council members to establish effective policies.

Encourage the free expression of opinion on policy issues by all council members.

Use the same care and caution when using electronic media as would be exercised when speaking face-to-face or through written memorandum.

Avoid use of derogatory or denigrating language.

Treat all people fairly and with dignity and respect.

Abstain from harassing or discriminatory behavior of any kind.

Affirm the dignity and worth of local government services and maintain a deep sense of social responsibility as a trusted public servant.

Demonstrate by word and action the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in all public, professional and personal relationships in order to merit the trust and respect of elected and appointed officials, employees and the public.

Serve the best interest of the people.

Council Members Jeff Hayner, D-1st Ward, and Elizabeth Nelson, D-4th Ward, were opposed to adopting those.

In a 7-4 vote, council also was divided on adding to sections about counseling or reprimanding council members for violations of law or rules, stating they also can be counseled or reprimanded for other conduct that is unbecoming of a council member. The four opposed were Hayner, Kathy Griswold, Nelson and Ali Ramlawi, who argued it was too broad.

Griswold, D-2nd Ward, said she probably breaks the rule about unbecoming conduct every day so she couldnt support it.

Ramlawi, D-5th Ward, argued its too vague and has potential for abuse. He expressed concerns he could be reprimanded for an offhand remark made in his personal life and said it could lead to a regressive form of democracy.

Were creating lots of opportunities for a majority to target individual members and that seems like a very strange focus for this level of government, Nelson said.

A majority of council members were of the opinion that the new rules are needed to curb bad behavior.

Council needs to hold itself to a high level of conduct, said Council Member Erica Briggs, D-5th Ward.

Council unanimously agreed on eliminating a controversial redress of grievances section that stated if a council member was personally attacked by another member, either during a meeting or in another public venue, including on social media, the member could seek redress through the Council Administration Committee.

City Attorney Stephen Postema said his office spent a tremendous amount of time recently preparing memos in response to the American Civil Liberties Unions concerns that council rules imposing consequences for certain types of speech violated the First Amendment.

A majority of federal courts have concluded that legislative bodies may take certain actions in response to member speech, such as reprimand or censure, so long as the action does not prevent the member from carrying out their elected duties, Postema wrote in a memo. In fact, many courts have concluded that such legislative actions, as statements of the body, are themselves protected by the First Amendment.

Council has First Amendment rights to censure a member and any action or punishment that occurs after speech is expressed does not amount to prior restraint, Postema said.

Council recently stripped Hayners committee assignments for using a homophobic slur on social media. The move came after there already was debate over whether council should be policing the speech of council members.

Hayner, D-1st Ward, expressed concerns the new rules give the Council Administration Committee, which includes the mayor and four other council members, too much power by making it the body that reviews complaints about conduct and requests for reprimand. That consolidation of power is sort of dangerous and inappropriate, he said.

Council Member Jen Eyer, D-4th Ward, said its a misperception that the new rules are a direct response to the ACLUs concerns. Theyre not, she said.

Council received guidance from the city attorney prior to creating the previous redress of grievances rule thats now removed, and the city attorneys position remains there was no legal issue with the rule, she said.

It was deleted because it was in the wrong place in the rules document, she said, adding council received additional guidance from Postema that the rules could be more broad.

The new aspirational goals for council member conduct were taken from other governing bodies, Eyer said, adding it seemed Ann Arbor was an outlier in not having them.

The last three on the list are from the International City/County Management Association code of ethics.

I think this is a positive thing for us, Eyer said.

Other aspects of the new rules pertain to council procedures, stipulating resolutions could be added to meeting agendas late only if they have three sponsors or by a majority vote.

That rule change was adopted unanimously, as was another rule stating council members should bring concerns about city staff misconduct to the city administrator.

Ramlawi expressed concerns that council recently was able to strip Hayners assignments, a move he opposed, without following steps outlined in the rules.

Hayner shared Ramlawis concerns on that.

There seems to be no need for due process to be followed. We saw that two weeks ago, Hayner said.

The new language about unbecoming conduct borders on ex post facto law, which is kind of the hallmark of tyranny, Hayner said. It almost looks like recognition that council acted without authority when it stripped his assignments, he said.

I am not sure that there has ever been a better example of the dysfunction on this body than this discussion were having right now, Eyer said after an hour of bickering over the rules.

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Ann Arbor OKs exceptions for Airbnb houses in hopes of avoiding lawsuit fight

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Deux Automatic Rain-Gauge Stations seront installes prochainement dans le pays apres la signature des deux protocoles daccord dont le gouvernement a donne son aval le 7 mai 2021.

Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between:

(a) the Mauritius Meteorological Services and Societe Virieux; and

(b) the Mauritius Meteorological Services and Bioculture (Mauritius) Ltd with the objective of setting up Automatic Rain-Gauge Stations.

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ANN ARBOR, MI  More than 140 short-term rental properties in Ann Arbors residential neighborhoods may keep operating under new regulations finalized this week.

City Council voted 7-4 along factional lines to OK new rules with exceptions allowing existing short-term rentals like dedicated Airbnb houses to remain in neighborhoods.

The previous council voted last September to ban them effective March 1, but Mayor Christopher Taylor and his allies, who regained control of council in November, now are allowing existing operators to continue in hopes of avoiding a lawsuit fight they think the city would lose.

This is an imperfect solution to an imperfect problem, but I believe it is ultimately the wise thing to do, Taylor said.

Where 140-plus short-term rental properties could be allowed to keep operating in Ann Arbor neighborhoods.City of Ann Arbor

A handful of short-term rental property owners already filed a lawsuit against the city in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on Feb. 26, seeking a ruling allowing their properties to continue as short-term rentals based upon their prior lawful pre-existing use. The case has been on hold pending the citys decision on whether to grant legal non-conforming status, which council did under the new rules this week.

The lawsuit was filed on a protection-of-rights basis because the ban on their businesses was about to take effect, said Heidi Poscher, co-owner of real estate development company Prentice Partners of Ann Arbor.

Im looking forward to the time that we can withdraw it and that will be when we have our registration certificates for all the properties in hand, she said.

For those concerned that short-term rentals displace longterm housing, Poscher said her company, which operates several short-term rental properties in Ann Arbor, is already making plans to build new multi-family housing to replace some of its short-term rentals.

Those are our objectives for our portfolio, she said.

In addition to meeting or exceeding the citys affordable housing requirements, her company is committed to mobility, sustainability and work-from-home solutions, she said.

Making exceptions for existing short-term rentals operating in neighborhoods is not a matter of fairness, its a matter of law, said Council Member Erica Briggs, D-5th Ward.

A fundamental part of zoning in Michigan is that a zoning ordinance cant be made retroactive and cant be used to go back and stop a property owner from doing something they were already doing legally, she said.

The reality is that we allowed these in our community, she said. They were registered, they were certified as rental properties and people were operating them under the assumption that they were legal because ... we did not make a distinction in terms of short-term versus long-term rentals.

Council made an error last September in trying to shut them down, Briggs said.

And sometimes when council makes errors, we go back and correct them, she said.

The city could let the case play out in court, but its not a good use of taxpayer dollars to decide to get sued and lose, Briggs said.

Council Members Kathy Griswold, Jeff Hayner, Elizabeth Nelson and Ali Ramlawi were the four against the regulations keeping existing short-term rentals in neighborhoods.

Nelson, D-4th Ward, expressed concerns about the loss of longterm housing where short-term rentals have cropped up.

Council Member Elizabeth Nelson, D-4th Ward, speaks against allowing existing short-term rentals to continue in residential neighborhoods at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting May 3, 2021.CTN

There are other solutions to avoid having this business run rampant, Nelson said, noting some have suggested the city should let things play out in court and negotiate a settlement with the small number of people who have been benefiting from this business model that we didnt previously regulate.

The new rules create a class of non-conforming properties that could continue in perpetuity regardless of ownership, said Ramlawi, D-5th Ward, arguing that creates more problems.

Ramlawi disagreed council made a mistake last September. Short-term rental businesses were operating outside of the citys rules for single-family zones, he said.

Unfortunately sometimes the court is where these things need to be decided, he said. Take it to court and have a settlement, make everybody whole and be done with it.

Council Member Jen Eyer, D-4th Ward, said the law is clear and the last council majority acted irresponsibly.

If people are really concerned about short-term rentals taking away housing, Eyer said she questions why there hasnt been much talk of putting caps on them in other zones.

Dedicated short-term rentals are still allowed in the citys mixed-use zoning districts with no caps. The tunnel-vision focus on short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods has the appearance of neighborhood protectionism, Eyer said.

So far, city officials have identified more than 140 properties that could qualify for legal non-conforming status and remain as dedicated short-term rentals in residential neighborhoods, but there could be more the city hasnt heard from yet.

To be allowed to continue operating, owners must show two pieces of evidence: a rental property certificate from the city prior to March 1 and a rental agreement of less than 30 days executed prior to March 1.

Owner-occupied homes in residential neighborhoods still can be rented out occasionally under the new rules.

Eyer said shes concerned as more transit-oriented development occurs, the city may see new apartment buildings built  for example, near Michigan Stadium  that are dedicated as short-term rentals.

I think we should be discussing in the future that issue as a next phase of STR regulation, she said.

Council members against the compromise to allow existing short-term rentals in neighborhoods may have no qualms about wasting taxpayer dollars on a lawsuit the city would almost certainly lose, Eyer said, but she does.

I dont appreciate being put in this position by previous councils who failed to regulate STRs before they proliferated, she said. I dont appreciate being put in this position by the previous council majority who acted against the advice of our attorneys and some of whom are now trying to rewrite history and create a divisive issue out of something that should be really cut and dried. But here we are, so, you know, lets fix this once and for all and lets move on to important things.

Point of order, Ramlawi interjected, taking issue with Eyers remarks.

Thank you, Councilman Ramlawi, for that, because that was pretty, pretty outrageous, Hayner agreed.

Hayner, D-1st Ward, said he did not support the regulations imposed by the previous council because he did not want to interfere with otherwise lawful and decent commerce. And he doesnt support the new rules because he doesnt think the city should be dealing with short-term rentals in its zoning code, he said.

But now that the city is regulating them, Hayner suggested looking into imposing extra taxes on them, like a room fee or hotel tax. They are a substitute for hotels, which pay local hotel taxes, he said.

Council Member Lisa Disch, D-1st Ward, called this weeks changes an important step forward, adding clarification in the citys zoning code. Granting legal non-conforming status recognizes those operating before the city had any rental housing regulations distinguishing between short-term and long-term rentals, she said.

Griswold, D-2nd Ward, said she still believes the matter will have to be decided in the courts, regardless of councils action.

Thats based on the fact that this has been a very messy process, its rapidly changing and, as Council Member Eyer said, theres a lot that we need to look forward to in terms of future changes and activities, she said.

Ramlawi argued council is creating a giant loophole and suggested it may be a wise financial move for property owners to rush out and try to make their properties short-term rentals.

If I was a bit wiser and I had some properties, Id be going out and trying to make them all STRs tomorrow. Why not? It only makes sense, he said. I wouldnt be sitting on it. Tomorrow Id be making mine an STR if I had a longterm rental unit, because thats where the money is.

Briggs clarified there is no opportunity for new short-term rentals to be created in residential neighborhoods and the only ones that will be allowed to operate in neighborhoods are those that can show proof they were operating before March 1.

Eyer echoed Briggs, calling Ramlawis suggestion outlandish.

That would involve forgery of documents or something like that, she said.

Theres no timeframe for when the city will know how many short-term rental properties qualify for the exception, Nelson said.

Because at any point in the future somebody can say, Oh, oops, I forgot to register ... and all of a sudden there are yet more short-term rentals that we didnt even know about that are going to carry on forever, she said.

Its a bad idea, she said.

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ANN ARBOR, MI -- As residential remodeling businesses see a rise in demand after the COVID-19 pandemic, DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen and Exquisite Kitchen Designs have decided to join forces.

Matt and Marsha Calus, owners of Exquisite Kitchen Designs, 117 N. Lafayette St. Suite B in South Lyon, needed more support for their growing business, Marsha Calus said.

Last year, with the pandemic and the demand for the construction industry, we just realized that we needed some assistance with systems and processes, Marsha Calus said. When we realized in order to grow to that next level, we really needed the systems and processes that DreamMaker has.

DreamMaker Bath and Kitchen, 2333 E. Stadium Blvd. in Ann Arbor, had been looking to expand its service area, officials said. Owners Brenda and Lee Willwerth said as Exquisite Kitchen Designs is a well-respected and established local business, it could help them do that.

Both locations remain open under the DreamMaker name.

Were one design team, one construction team, with two showrooms, Lee Willwerth said.

Exquisite Kitchen Designs started as a home business so Matt and Marsha Calus could stay with their kids, Marsha Calus said. As the business grew, it moved a few times before settling in downtown South Lyon in 2017, Marsha Calus said.

The pandemic pushed Matt and Marsha Calus to seek a partnership, Marsha Calus said.

So many folks stayed at home due to the pandemic, she said. Looking at their kitchens and bathrooms and realizing they just needed to be updated, and instead of going on vacation, and or, spending money on travel, food, those kinds of things, are investing those extra resources into remodeling.

Discussions of merging with DreamMaker began in fall 2020 and the merger happened in March.

Since then, Marsha Calus has taken on the role of sales and design manager for both locations, and Matt Calus is leading the operations staff. Lee Willwerth continues to oversee general management of both locations, while Brenda Willwerth is the finance manager and human resources manager.

Although this change may seem big, the design services both businesses have provided will remain the same, Lee Willwerth said.

Besides kitchens and baths, they also specialize in home offices, fireplaces, built-in closets, mudrooms, laundry rooms and basements, Marsha Calus said.

Customers will continue to get the same service on their design projects from start to finish, Lee Willwerth said. Designers can take pictures of customers homes and speak to customers about their concerns, but most design work will be done at the design centers, he said.

As demand is high right now, new customers interested in working with DreamMaker are being put on a waiting list until an appointments are available, Marsha Calus said.

Both locations are looking to hire interior designers and carpenters. Anyone interested in joining the team can reach them by email.

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WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI  The self-proclaimed leader of a Michigan-based white supremacist group, The Base, who was free on bond after being accused of terrorizing a family in Dexter had his bond revoked Thursday.

Justen Watkins, 25, of Bad Axe, was ordered to report to the Washtenaw County Jail Thursday, May, 6, after District Court Judge Cedric Simpson discovered new criminal charges were filed against him in Huron County, violating bond.

Watkins, charged in Washtenaw County with one count each of gang membership, unlawful posting of a message and using a computer to commit a crime, was charged in Huron County, Feb. 4, for possession of analogue drugs, specifically steroids, according to the Michigan Attorney Generals Office.

The AGs office claims he was bonded out of jail in Huron County by a fellow member of The Base who both then went on to commit and be charged with a breaking and entering related to an incident on April 7, officials said.

Acquiring new criminal charges and having contact with members of The Base are both violations of his bond in Washtenaw County, officials said.

Watkins attorney said during the May 6 court hearing the breaking and entering charge is unfounded, arguing Watkins was retrieving personal items from a friends property he was unaware was sold to someone else.

He is currently lodged in the Washtenaw County Jail without bond until his hearing, scheduled for May 17.

Given the circumstances, the courts decision to revoke Mr. Watkins bond was the correct course of action. We are pleased with the outcome, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

Watkins, along with co-defendant Alfred Gorman, 35, of Taylor, were both arrested by the FBI and Michigan State Police, Oct. 29, after felony charges were issues against them for terrorizing a family in Dexter, according to the Michigan Attorney Generals Office.

White supremacist group members arrested for harassing Michigan family

The Washtenaw County charges stem from an incident in December 2019 where a family in Dexter was terrorized by the two men who, dressed in all black, shined a light in their home, took photos of their property and posted their address online to The Bases social media platform, according to the AGs Office.

It is believed the pair mistakenly targeted the home thinking it belong to podcaster Daniel Harper as the photo posted on social media had the caption, The Base sends greetings to Daniel Harper of the Antifa podcast I Dont Speak German.

White supremacists target Dexter home by mistake

Though a person by the name of Daniel Harper previously lived at the Dexter address, the podcaster has never lived in Dexter and is not related to the previous occupant, officials said.

A probable cause conference for both men is scheduled for June 3. Gorman remains free on bond.

The Base, founded in 2018, is a white supremacy organization that openly advocates for violence and criminal acts against the U.S., and purports to be training for a race war to establish white ethno-nationalist rule in areas of the U.S., including Michigans Upper Peninsula, officials said.

The group also traffics in Nazi ideology and extreme anti-Semitism, at one point requiring its members to read neo-Nazi books that urge the collapse of Western civilization.

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The Base leaders have used online chatrooms to encourage members to meet in-person and engage in military training to prepare for the insurgency against the U.S. government.

Watkins claims to have been appointed leader of The Base, and reportedly ran a hate camp for members of the group, where he led tactical and firearms training for participants with the goal of being prepared for the violent overthrow of the government.

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WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI  A woman accused of driving drunk and killing two construction workers on I-94 in November now faces murder charges.

The Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office added two counts of second-degree murder Wednesday, May 5 in the case against Ryann Danielle Musselman who was original charged with OWI causing the deaths of construction workers Nicholas Andres Sada and Davyon Desmon-Aereailes Rose.

Sada and Rose, both 23 from Lansing, were killed when Musselman entered a construction zone on eastbound I-94 near Harris Road in Ypsilanti Township and hit them at about 1:40 a.m. Nov. 7.

Suspected drunk driver charged in death of 2 construction workers on I-94

Musselman, 29, of Belleville, was arraigned on the murder charges Thursday, May 6. Washtenaw County 14A-1 District Court Judge J. Cedric Simpson revoked her bond, ordering her to report to the Washtenaw County Jail.

The new charges were issued the same day family and coworkers of the two men protested for the third time outside the 14-A1 District Court in Pittsfield Township, frustrated over how long its taken for the case to move through the system.

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At the May 6 hearing, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Robert Dawid argued the addition of the murder charges in the case were appropriate after reviewing additional evidence in the case.

When she was first charged, we didnt have the info that she was involved in a crash (earlier that night) in its entirety, Dawid said. She was going west on I-94, blew through a big construction sign, left going 100, got off and stopped at the Michigan ramp, had time to realize what she had done, but instead went across Michigan Avenue and onto east I-94 and stuck the two victims at 55 mph. This is not an ordinary OWI causing of death case.

Her blood alcohol content was reported at .114, well above the legal limit, he said.

Musselmans attorney, Dale Smith, argued against the murder charges and her bond being revoked, stating the prosecutors office had the same information it has now when it charged her in November.

While (prosecution and defense) were aware of this, when I made bond, I was not aware there was a previous crash where she was in ditch, left, stopped and then kept going. I was not aware of that, Simpson said, revoking Musselmans bond.

A bond hearing for Musselman is scheduled for May 17. Second-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison.

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GAINES TOWNSHIP, MI -- The Gaines Township Board of Trustees voted to disband the township police department at a Wednesday, May 5 meeting, one day after a police tax proposal was shot down by voters.

The motion was made and passed to begin shutting down the police department and selling its equipment.

More than 67 percent of voters chose no when asked if theyd like to approve an operations millage to keep the Gaines Township Police Department afloat during the May 4 special election Tuesday.

If passed, the levy would have secured approximately $179,000 per year for the department over a five-year period, per the ballot proposal. The millage received 594 votes in favor and 1,223 votes against, according to unofficial results.

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As of Thursday, April 1, the end of the townships fiscal year, the Gaines Township Police Department in Genesee County went down to a one-man operation, with only Schmitzer remaining.

Schmitzer is staying on for now so he can take care of outstanding work and open cases, the township has said.

There is also money set aside in the budget to be sure if an officer is subpoenaed for a case that they will be paid. The departments administrative assistant is down to one day a week.

Gaines Township Supervisor Paul Fortino said some equipment cannot be sold or can be used in other departments. However, most equipment will be sold.

It will likely take up to two months to complete the department shutdown process, Fortino said.

Some people think you can just turn the lights off and slam the door and thats the end of the police department. Thats just not how it works, he said. It is a process that is a legal process mostly with the state and federal agencies to shut the police department down and then, at the end of the process, the police department is disbanded. It is a very complicated scenario to accomplish the shutdown of any police department.

The township has set aside money to complete the shutdown process, he said.

A lot of the things that need to be done can only be done by the police chief. Those of you that think different, you are mistaken. Fortino said.

The Michigan State Police Department covers Gaines Township calls now there are no officers available. This means response times depend on how close an MSP patrol vehicle is to the area.

There will be no gap in coverage by Michigan State Police for emergency situations that occur in the township, MSP Lt. Kim Vetter told MLive-The Flint Journal.

Gaines Township did pass a mosquito control assessment Tuesday with 52.43 percent of voters in favor. It allows the township to collect $35 each year from each commercial, industrial or housing unit for a five-year period to spray, abate and control mosquitoes.

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FLINT, MI  The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Flint will soon have a resident mental health specialist embedded in the clubs main hub.

The specialist will help normalize mental health services in the community when the behavioral health office opens in June, Boys & Girls Club CEO Tauzzari Robinson said. Children face several barriers to mental health treatment, including transportation, availability and cost.

By placing somebody here at the club, we are able to help and provide another resource to kids who are already coming to our facility or are looking for those opportunities, Robinson said.

Throughout the pandemic, people have started to realize the importance of mental health nationally, Robinson said.

Our community is no different. As we slowly work towards reopening at a normal capacity, we are equipped to serve those kids who have been isolated and have not been involved with the club during this time, Robinson said.

The behavioral health office resource is partially funded by a $48,000 grant from The Childrens Foundation. Mott Childrens Health Center is covering the remaining salary costs for the mental health specialist. Jeff House, Director of Child & Adolescent Health Services, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Now more than ever, resources are needed in the childrens behavioral health space, and we are delighted to support the needs of children in Genesee County through this grant, Lawrence Burns, president and CEO of The Childrens Foundation, said in a statement.

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Kristi Lewis and Deb Borst huddled over a map in the parking lot of Madison Square Church, plotting their route in the fight against COVID-19.

On this particular afternoon, that fight meant going door to door in the citys 49507 ZIP code. Its one of the hardest-hit areas in Grand Rapids by the pandemic, and yet the estimated number of residents who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is among the lowest in Kent County.

Lewis and Borst, who attend Madison Square Church, were here to change that.

So, with a clipboard and electronic tablet in hand, they hit the street. Walking east on Evergreen Avenue SE, they knocked on doors and flagged down residents with one goal: provide information about the coronavirus vaccine and an opportunity to sign up for a dose.

Its not our purpose to get accolades, said Borst, whos part of a network of faith-based volunteers working with the county to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates. We just believe that its important, and we need to make it available whatever ways we can.

Theyve got their work cut out for them.

An MLive analysis of Kent County Health Department data shows disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates across the county.

In the 49507 ZIP code, which is located in inner city Grand Rapids and has the highest concentration of Black people in the county, an estimated 30% of residents 16 and older have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. The ZIP code has the countys fourth highest total COVID-19 case count, health department data show.

Other areas have even lower vaccination rates.

ZIP codes in rural Kent City and Cedar Springs are below 25%, as is the 49548 ZIP code in Kentwood. Also lagging are ZIP codes in Lowell, Walker and Sparta, all of which are below 30%.

Wealthier suburban areas such as Ada, East Grand Rapids and Cascade Township have the highest vaccination rates, 45% and above, data show.

Disparities can be seen by race and ethnicity too.

Black and Hispanic residents each account for about 11% of the population in Kent County. However, data show about 6% of the vaccine doses administered in Kent County went to Black residents and 6% have gone to Hispanic residents.

Roughly 80% of the doses have went to white residents, who account for about 82% of the population. The U.S. Census Bureau considers Hispanic an ethnicity and not a race. That means individuals who identify their race as white or black can still identify themselves as Hispanic.

We do have a long ways to go, said Nirali Bora, medical director for the Kent County Health Department. I wish we were a little further along in getting people vaccinated. I also want to make sure we dont judge people who dont want to get vaccinated. I dont want there to be stigma for that either.

Cant see the map? Click here

ZIP-code level data

The data provided to MLive by the county are not a perfect indicator of COVID-19 vaccination rates.

It shows how many doses of the vaccine have been provided to residents who live in a Kent County ZIP code. However, it does not indicate how many of those doses were first doses and how many were second doses.

The data, current through April 29, then compares the number of doses to the estimated number of residents age 16 and older to arrive at an estimated vaccination rate. It includes vaccines administered by the county health department, as well as Spectrum Health, Mercy Health, Metro Health-University of Michigan Health and Cherry Health.

The data does not include vaccine doses provided at pharmacies. The county estimates those doses comprise about 30 percent of the total doses administered in Kent County. That means the vaccine rates provided by the county are likely an undercount. Only the state of Michigan has access to ZIP-code level pharmacy data, according to the county.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Chelsea Wuth said the ZIP code vaccine data exist, but that its not data that we are specifically tabulating or publishing because of privacy concerns.

While imperfect, the Kent County Health Department data provide an important look at equitable access to the vaccine as well as what communities may be more hesitant about taking a dose.

Officials from the county as well as Spectrum and Metro Health say theyve held community vaccination clinics in underserved areas, and that theyre continuing to work with community partners to provide access and education about the vaccine to those who may be hesitant about taking a dose. They also say theyre working to broaden access to the drug by offering it at more locations.

Its an important part of hitting Gov. Gretchen Whitmers goal of vaccinating 70% of all Michigan residents 16 and older, especially now that demand for the vaccine has waned, officials say.

Minority communities are not getting vaccinated at the same rate so therefore theyre getting infected at higher rates, said Rev. Khary Bridgewater, an associate pastor at Brown-Hutcherson Ministries who helped create the COVID-19 vaccination campaign between the county and faith-based leaders and volunteers.

The virus has no respect for race, it has no respect for county boundaries, it has no respect for state or national boundaries. Its on us to cut past our own differences to make sure that everyone has the right information, everyone has access.

Lots of factors play a role in low vaccination rates, from historical distrust of the health care system to misinformation, said Bora, the Kent County medical director.

The biggest question Ive received is will getting the COVID vaccine affect my fertility, and this is among the youth especially, men and women, she said, referencing a myth that has spread on social media.

Pounding the pavement

For Johnnie Underwood, access to the vaccine started with a conversation with Lewis and Borst, the two volunteers working to sign up residents in the 49507 ZIP code.

Underwood, 70, was picking up trash on the sidewalk in front of his home on Evergreen Avenue SE when the two women approached and asked whether he had been vaccinated. The retired federal food inspector said he hadnt yet received a dose. But after a conversation with Lewis and Borst, he said he would be willing to take it.

Because he doesnt have an email address, the two couldnt sign him up on the spot for an appointment online. But Borst wrote his information on her clipboard and said someone would be in touch to help him make an appointment.

I figure I might as well just go ahead and get it, Underwood said, when describing to an MLive reporter why he decided to sign up for the vaccine. Its just to try to stay healthy as long as I can. You dont get to be as old as I am by not trying to take care of myself. Thats about the only thing I can tell you.

Others were less responsive.

At one of the first homes they visited, a group of young men were out back by a garage, eating takeout from Wing Heaven and working on a dirt bike. Lewis and Borst walked up to the group, introduced themselves, and asked: Have you had your COVID-19 vaccine?

The men shook their heads and quickly got back to work.

One house down, a woman answered the door. She, too, had not received the vaccine.

May I ask why, Lewis said.

I just dont want to, the woman replied, before quickly shutting the door.

Such encounters can be disheartening.

I was out last week too, and it was just really interesting because there are more nos and even some nope, never,  than there were yeses, Lewis said. So, it does feel discouraging. Like, no wonder were not reaching herd immunity.

Later, as Lewis and Borst continued down Evergreen Avenue, moments of optimism emerged.

Like when they met neighbors Walter Tyler and James Turner.

Both men work in the education system, Tyler as a Kent County Head Start teacher and Turner in Kent County juvenile detention, and both men said theyve been vaccinated.

Turner, 55, compared not getting the vaccine to playing Russian roulette.

Theres a possibility for you to get it, he said. So why play with it?

Data from Kent County show one group in particular, Black men between the ages of 20 and 29, are under-vaccinated, said Bora, the Kent County medical director. Under 4% percent of men in that age group have been vaccinated, she said.

RELATED: Interactive map shows COVID-19 vaccination rates by ZIP code in Kent County

They think theyre invincible, Turner said, when asked what he thinks is behind the low vaccination rate. As a youth, you think youre invincible.

Bridgewater, the pastor who worked with the county to create the outreach program, said his volunteers have knocked on hundreds of doors throughout Grand Rapids, Kentwood and Wyoming over the past few weeks.

He also says a phone bank has scheduled 2,500 appointments for Black and Hispanic residents.

Its hard work, Bridgewater said. You may knock on 80 doors and get one person. You may knock on 100 and get no one.

But even when volunteers dont sign up anyone, its worthwhile, he said.

Its not the number of people who sign up when we knock on their door, he said. Its the fact that the community sees that this is so important that someone is taking the time to knock on your door. What we typically see is the number of calls go up when we knock on doors. It pushes the importance higher on the list of people in the community when they see us knocking.

Rural communities

Volunteers are targeting rural areas of the county too.

Bridgewater and four volunteers met on a recent evening at Cedar Springs Baptist Church. An estimated 24% of residents in the northern Kent County citys 49319 ZIP code have taken at least one dose of the vaccine, and the goal is to boost that number.

Kerri Neymeiyer and Pastor Jon Huizenga from Rise Up Church in Cedar Springs were among the volunteers who walked the streets, knocking on 30 to 40 doors and providing information about the vaccine and an opportunity to sign up for a dose.

Many people either were not home or didnt answer their doors. Quite a few said they had already received the vaccine, Neymeiyer said. At least two people said they had COVID-19.

One woman was hesitant to discuss the matter, telling the two she would rather not say whether she had been vaccinated. Apparently alarmed by an MLive photographer shadowing Neymeiyer and Huizenga, the woman then followed the two across the street, filming them with her cell phone while asking why they were inquiring about such a personal matter.

We apologized for making her uncomfortable, Huizenga said. We explained to her that we are not professionals. We are her neighbors, her Cedar Springs neighbors, who responded to an invitation to help people that want to get the vaccine get registered for the vaccine.

People in Cedar Springs are independent thinkers, Huizenga said. That independence, when it comes to getting the vaccine, means theyre a little bit slower to do something just because somebodys telling them to.

I dont really meet what would deserve to be called anti-vaxxers, he said. I meet people who are intelligent people that are hesitant to take the word of the voices that are telling them you should get this vaccine and it would be good for you.

Huizenga and Neymeiyer encountered a few people who said they intended to get the vaccine but had not yet. Ultimately, they were not successful in signing them up for an appointment. But Huizenga said he didnt see the interaction as a failure.

Were not very successful as a country right now at talking to each other about the things that people have different opinions about, he said. I like the vision of having conversations with our neighbors about this topic that tends to have people divided.

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OTTAWA COUNTY, MI  A former project engineer at Zeeland-based Gentex Corp. says she was fired after complaining about a male-dominant bro culture within company leadership.

Elizabeth Helminski alleged gender discrimination and retaliation under state and federal laws in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

She said she was harassed and ultimately fired after she complained of being treated differently than her male co-workers. She is seeking lost earnings and benefits and compensation for mental anguish and emotional distress.

Gentex, which employs 6,100 people around the world, makes electronically dimmable rearview mirrors and camera systems for cars, electronically dimmable windows for airliners and smoke detectors for the airline industry.

Gentex spokesman Craig Piersma said the company could not comment on pending legal action and has a policy of not commenting on current or former workers.

The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Janet Neff.

Helminski, hired as a senior project engineer in September 2018, filed the lawsuit against Gentex and her former supervisor, Brian Brackenberry. She had a very successful work history and significant leadership skills that were recognized throughout her career, her attorney, Katherine Smith Kennedy, wrote in the lawsuit.

She told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that her client and firm has heard from others, including former Gentex workers, sharing similar stories after she filed the lawsuit.

We continue to get women simply wanting to say to Liz Helminski, I believe you because I witnessed it for years, the attorney said in an email.

In my practice over the past several years, I continue to see gender discrimination take a variety of forms, and have a regular stream of female employees of companies, organizations and industries where the discrimination is actionable. However, even I was surprised to learn about how open and prevalent the discriminatory comments and behavior that took place here were, especially with high-level well-educated employees in the twenty-first century. It is not okay to run a company, or a department of a company, like a fraternity.

The lawsuit said that Brackenberry, during one-on-one orientation meetings with Helminski, repeatedly referred to the all-male leadership team as being like fraternity brothers.

Early on, Helminski noted a pro-male bro culture in the working environment in many departments, the lawsuit said.

Brackenberry suggested that she pretend that she doesnt know something so she can ask the engineers to explain the concept to her to make them feel better about working with her, Smith Kennedy wrote in the lawsuit.

She said Helminski told him that she was not comfortable communicating that way.

In a meeting with a co-worker, to discuss a confidential internal project, she found it odd the co-worker refused to close the door to the conference room. She later heard it was probably because the worker had declared to other employees that he lived biblically and because of that would not be alone with a woman to whom he was not married, the lawsuit said.

During an international sales meeting, Helminski said, male leadership roasted each other and made jokes at her expense. During a breakout session, she was encouraged to share her concerns about how women were being treated.

She then brought up the bro culture she and other females felt and the exclusionary treatment of females in the joking and otherwise at the conference, the lawsuit said.

The comment was clearly not well received by some in the group and she was told not to share them with the bigger group after the break-out session.

Back at the office, Helminski said, her supervisor again suggested she ask questions of a co-worker, in front of others.

Essentially, Defendant Brackenberry man-splained to Plaintiff how  she could summon man-splaining in front of an audience, Smith Kennedy wrote.

She said that the supervisor agreed there was a frat boy culture there. He allegedly suggested Helminski talk to the companys vice president of diversity. She scheduled a meeting but was fired in September, days before it could take place, the lawsuit said.

Read more from MLive:

Grand Rapids artists birdhouses made of wood from old barns get spot at Smithsonian show

Muskegon Civic Theatre returning with lineup of Welcome Back indoor shows this fall

Man accused of harassing, spitting on media during Gov. Whitmers visit to Northern Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  New data show disparities in COVID-19 vaccination rates across Kent County based on both geography and race and ethnicity.

ZIP code level COVID-19 vaccination data show wealthier, suburban communities such as Ada, East Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Township have the highest vaccination rates.

Meanwhile, some ZIP codes in inner-city Grand Rapids and Kentwood are lagging behind. The same is true in rural communities such as Kent City, Sparta and Cedar Springs.

To see how ZIP codes across Kent County are performing, check out the interactive map below.

Cant see the map? Click here

Data provided by the county to MLive also show how Kent Countys vaccination rates break down based on race and ethnicity.

Black and Hispanic residents each account for about 11% of the population in Kent County.

However, data show about 6% of the vaccine doses administered in Kent County went to Black residents and 6% have gone to Hispanic residents.

RELATED: Big disparities exist in Kent Countys COVID-19 vaccination rates. Heres what volunteers are doing about it

Roughly 80% of the doses have went to white residents, who account for about 82% of the population. The U.S. Census Bureau considers Hispanic an ethnicity and not a race. That means individuals who identify their race as white or black can still identify themselves as Hispanic.

Just over 3% of doses have went to Asian residents. About 3.3% of the countys population are Asian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The data provided to MLive by the county are not a perfect indicator of COVID-19 vaccination rates.

It shows how many doses of the vaccine have been provided to residents who live in a Kent County ZIP code. However, it does not indicate how many of those doses were first doses and how many were second doses.

The data then compares the number of doses to the estimated number of residents age 16 and older to arrive at an estimated rate of what percentage of a ZIP codes residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine. It includes vaccines administered by the county health department, as well as Spectrum Health, Mercy Health, Metro Health-University of Michigan Health and Cherry Health.

The data does not include vaccine doses provided at pharmacies. The county estimates those doses comprise about 30 percent of the total doses administered in Kent County. Only the state of Michigan has access to ZIP-code level pharmacy data, according to the county. That means the vaccine rates provided by the county are likely an undercount.

The countys ZIP-code level data is different from the countywide data used by the health department to show what percent of eligible county residents have had their first dose and what percent have had their second dose. That data comes from the state of Michigan, which has the ability to identify whether a person has received one or two doses of the vaccine.

ZIP codes do not align with county boundaries, and the county said it omitted a few ZIP codes that touch the northeastern edge of Kent County because the majority of people in those ZIP codes live outside Kent County.

Read more:

Ex-Gentex project engineer says male bro culture led to her firing

141,000 mid-Michigan children to benefit from monthly COVID relief payments, Kildee says

Michigan white supremacist group leader in jail after breaking bond conditions
BARRY COUNTY, MI  A former teacher at Thornapple Kellogg Schools is accused in a murder-for-hire plot that was disrupted before his wife was harmed, the FBI said in court records.

Nelson Paul Replogle is named in a criminal complaint in Tennessee alleging that he hired someone to kill his wife, Ann, after paying someone $17,800 in Bitcoin, court records said.

The FBI on April 20 received information from the British Broadcasting Corporation that Ann Replogle had been named as a murder-for-hire target, FBI special agent Clay Anderson wrote in the complaint.

The FBI in Knoxville contacted Knox County sheriffs deputies who went to the victims home to check her welfare. FBI agents also responded. They interviewed the couple who could not think of anyone who wanted to harm her, Anderson wrote.

Investigators then interviewed the couple separately. The husband told police he did not solicit his wifes killing and could not think of anyone who would.

During the interviews, the FBI contacted the BBC and asked for additional information. The BBC provided information from an unnamed source that a payment had been made to an unknown person who would kill the wife while she took her pet to a veterinarians office, the complaint said.

The information contained specific information about the victim, the time of the appointment and her vehicle, the complaint said.

The payment was made by Bitcoin, a virtual currency that circulates on the internet. It is not issued by the government or banks but controlled through computer software operating via a decentralized, peer-to-peer network, Anderson wrote.

In some cases, investigators can uncover the identity of someone taking part in a Bitcoin transaction. Police cited an exigent threat to life in requesting information from service providers.

After a subpoena was issued, CoinBase, a trader in cryptocurrency, provided the FBI with information that shows Replogle listed as the owner of the account and shows the transaction between Replogle and whomever is behind the murder for hire website, the FBI agent wrote.

He said that the information included photo identification and photos of the defendant.

A judge ordered Replogle jailed based on strong evidence, possibly lengthy incarceration if convicted, his lack of a stable home and lack of ties to the Tennessees Eastern District.

Defendant is alleged to have procured the murder for hire of his wife and used surreptitious means and sophisticated technology to do so, Magistrate Judge Debra Poplin wrote.

While the use of cryptocurrency does not on its own implicate a risk of dangers, Defendants alleged use of Bitcoin in connection with locating an individual on the Internet to commit a murder for hire suggests that he was attempting to avoid detection.

The judge said Replogle left Michigan in 2018. School officials said he had retired in June that year.

He had no previous criminal record. The prosecution and defense discussed Replogle undergoing a mental-health evaluation, the judge said.

Read more:

New downtown Muskegon restaurant offers rooftop bar with a breath of fresh air

Michigan reports 2,758 new coronavirus cases, 30 new deaths Friday, May 7

Popular downtown gathering spot Rosa Parks Circle closed until fall for renovations, improvements
The African Development Bank has welcomed a report published by the UK House of Commons International Development Committee on Britains support to the African Development Bank Group. The report was prepared by the Sub-Committee on the Work of the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI).

The report recognises the Banks effectiveness in responding to the pandemic and encourages the British government to work with it to ensure that momentum is not lost in 2021.

It notes: We are heartened by the evidence of concerted and determined efforts on the part of the African Development Bank to mitigate the worst effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and support the response of individual countries. We also welcome what appears to have been wider enhanced coordination between development institutions in the face of the pandemic.

The UK is one of 28 non-regional members and shareholders of the African Development Bank Group. The report recognises the quality of the UKs engagement with the Bank and acknowledges the Banks performance in supporting the UKs development priorities in Africa. It also found that the Bank compared well with other development institutions, both in Africa and beyond. Sub-Committee Chair Theo Clarke, said: Since its inception, the African Development Bank has offered valuable financial assistance to developing countries across the continent.

Dr. Tamsyn Barton of the ICAI spoke positively about the Banks progress in decentralizing its operations  which the UK has encouraged  and about recent policy capacity improvements, as well as the importance of the strong relationships the Bank has established with African governments.

Overall, the report reflects the UKs appreciation on its ability to work with the Bank to deliver funds to all parts of the continent. Debbie Palmer of the UKs Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office said: We can leverage funds through our support [for the Bank]. We can reach places that we otherwise may not be able to reach with our bilateral funds. We can support regional investments in the large, cross-country infrastructure projects that Africa desperately needs and that the African Development Bank is investing in.

Through the report, the UK Parliament is encouraging the British government to ensure that it is up to date with capital for the African Development Bank as the UKs important development partner. It states that one possible action which could improve the prospects for funding African infrastructure is faster disbursement of the African Development Banks paid-in capital. It notes: We urge the Government, through its position as UK Executive Director, to consider encouraging this and other possible routes to maintaining financial support for Africas infrastructure development.

We welcome the positive findings of this important UK parliamentary report, said African Development Bank President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina. The constructive feedback of our members and shareholders is extremely valuable to us as we continually assess the efficacy of our overall operations  especially as we strive to help our regional member countries cope with and recover strong from the pandemic, he added.

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JACKSON, MI  A Jackson-area father with a rare disease desperately needs a new kidney and is looking for a donor match.

Here is that headline and some more you might have missed this week.

Jackson family shares its struggle to find a kidney donor. Could you be a match?

After getting COVID-19 last fall, Nick Tompkins kidney function plummeted to 10%.

Tompkins, 24, of Blackman Township has IgA nephropathy, a kidney disease that causes a lack of filtration and a weaker immune system. Hes battled it since he was about 10 years old, but when he got COVID-19 in November, his kidneys went from functioning at 25% to about 16% in January, and then to 10% shortly thereafter.

Prom offers a sense of normalcy for Western High School students

Dancing and photos were the order of the night as Parma Western High School held prom at the Optimist Ice Arena in Jackson on Saturday, May 1.

It feels like a sense of normalcy is coming back, Western Principal Jared Vickers said. Before they graduate here in a few weeks, we are just thankful we are able to have this opportunity.

Vickers was in touch with the Jackson County Health Department to help plan a safe event. Masks were required unless seated at a table while eating and drinking, Vickers said.

Former Jackson-area police officer sentenced for lying, loses state law enforcement license

A former Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety officer who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge amid misconduct and perjury accusations has been sentenced.

David Lubahn, 52, was sentenced Tuesday, May 4, to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to lying to a peace officer, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

He was originally charged with one felony count of perjury of a record or document and one felony count of misconduct in office.

Empty the Shelters event kicking off soon at Jackson County Animal Shelter

The Jackson County Animal Shelters adoptable pets will be available for a $25 adoption fee this week.

The reduced adoption fee is part of the empty the shelters event in collaboration with the Bissell Pet Foundation.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was a one-day event. However, to space out the rush, the event will last from May 5-9. No appointments are necessary.

Camo-clad, heavily-armed man doing Second Amendment audit causes school lockdown, police say

A heavily-armed man seen walking around downtown Homer forced schools to go into lockdown Monday afternoon, briefly keeping students inside after their normal release time, police said.

Deputies were called at 2:30 p.m. May 3, to the downtown Homer area for a report of a camo-clad man with an AR-15 strapped to his chest and two pistols on his belt walking around, according to the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office.

Woman killed in head-on crash while passing in no-passing zone in Jackson County, police say

A Lansing woman was killed Wednesday night in a head-on crash in Henrietta Township.

Emergency crews were called at 9:20 p.m. May 5, to M-106 at Plum Orchard Road in northern Jackson County for a reported two-vehicle crash, according to the Jackson County Sheriffs Office.

Police arrived to find one driver, a 41-year-old Lansing woman, had suffered fatal injuries. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Grass Lake schools operating millage narrowly passes

Grass Lake voters have approved a non-homestead tax to support the school districts operating fund by just 47 votes.

Grass Lake Community Schools voters approved up to 5 mills for 13 years, beginning in 2021, to make the districts 18-mill non-homestead property tax whole, at the May 4 election. About 52% of voters on Tuesday supported the tax, 448-401, according to unofficial results.

Get rid of your spring cleaning trash at Jacksons DPW Operations Center

Too many bags of weeds or spring cleaning trash stuck in your basement? City of Jackson officials are letting residents dump it at the Department of Public Works Operations Center two Saturdays in May.

Cascades Ice Cream Co. temporarily closed due to COVID-19 exposure

A popular seasonal ice cream shop in Jackson is closed temporarily because of a coronavirus exposure.

Cascades Ice Cream Co., 1800 Brown St., announced on Facebook that closed April 30 for several days because of COVID-19, but plans to reopen Monday, May 10.

New higher rate structure for busy summer hours coming from Consumers Energy

Consumers Energy is introducing new rates that surcharge peak hours of electrical use during the summer.

Customers of the states largest utility company will be charged an increased rate during the on-peak hours of 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday between June and September. The increase will be monitored through a customers electric meter.

The intention is to discourage using energy at the same time as when others are increasing their use, Greg Stevenson, director of summer peak rates, said.
KALAMAZOO, MI  The airport where PFAS foam spilled into Kalamazoos sewer system in March has changed to a new type of foam, which also contains PFAS, according to a city of Kalamazoo official.

Tests of samples taken about a month after the March 30 spill at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport show that levels of PFAS are still above the allowable limit in Kalamazoo wastewater system, said James Baker, director of Kalamazoos Department of Public Services, said on Friday, May 7.

There is about a 7- to 10-day lag in the time the samples are taken until officials know the results, he said.

Contractors and city crews were working Friday in the area of the airport to flush sewers three times, and clean and rinse them, Baker said.

The cleaning goes from the source of the spill and includes some sewers nearby. Workers were out in the area of East Kilgore Road east of Portage Street Friday morning, Baker said, estimating it would take 24 hours or more to complete.

Airport Director Craig Williams could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Williams said previously that the Federal Aviation Administration has not approved an alternative firefighting foam for airports to use that does not contain PFAS.

The spill posed no danger to drinking water supplies, the city has said.

City of Kalamazoo officials were told 200 gallons of foam was accidentally released in an apparatus bay at the airport.

City officials have met with Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, Michigan PFAS Action Response Team, and airport personnel. They are working cooperatively to address changes, Baker said.

Theyve switched out all the foams. Theyre looking at containment areas, Baker said. Theyre taking all of our recommendations and running with them for implementation.

Baker said the airport has switched from using a long-chain PFAS to a short-chain PFAS following the spill on March 30. Baker said the short-chain version is considered a safer version of the chemical, and if it was spilled it would likely have less of an impact.

However, David Andrews, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, said researchers are finding that long chain and short chain PFAS may have similar health concerns as more research is done on the short-chain PFAS.

Andrews said in a statement to MLive that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved short-chain PFAS under what is now considered false assumptions that they would accumulate less in human bodies and have significantly lower toxicity.

As more scientific studies are completed on short-chain PFAS, the health concerns are looking similar to those from long-chain PFAS, Andrews said on Friday, May 7.

He said a recent EPA health assessment examines the toxicity of short-chain PFBS. Additionally, the FDA recently negotiated with food packaging manufacturers to remove different short-chain PFAS from their products, Andrews said.

With EPA approving more than 1,000 different PFAS chemicals for use with minimal toxicity data, it takes time and scientific study for the evidence of harm to build up, he said.

Starting this October, according to Andrews, the FAA can no longer require the use of PFAS-based firefighting foam, though it has not approved any alternatives for use.

PFAS-free foam is already in use at airports around the world, and that change is long overdue in the United States, Andrews said.

Environmental Working Group has issued multiple statements about PFAS, including one in January urging changes to protect firefighters from PFAS firefighting foam. The EWG calls for the Biden administration to finalize a rule to allow civilian airports to stop using Aqueous Film Forming Foam, known by its acronym as AFFF.

The EWG describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping people live their healthiest life.

In the case of the Kalamazoo spill, the so-called forever chemicals kept on site made it into the wastewater treatment plant at the highest levels ever recorded there, according to the city. The chemicals were also found in the Kalamazoo River, where the wastewater plant discharges water after treatment.

During the virtual Kalamazoo City Commission meeting Monday, May 3, resident Zachary Lassiter said he was appalled that the community was not told about the spill until days after it happened, when the city released information on social media.

So, for over a week, people were playing in that river, fishing in that river, canoeing in that river, Lassiter said. There were even cleanup projects along the river where people were cleaning up trash and they were potentially exposed to PFAS.

The city did not make any notifications about the PFAS spill until April 7, when test results came back showing levels above the regulatory limit.

The latest test results are still in violation of PFAS standards, though the numbers are improving, Baker said.

Test results from water samples taken April 2 came back Wednesday, April 7, and showed a spike in levels of PFOS, a type of PFAS, in the treated water being released into the Kalamazoo River. The level was 2,630 parts per trillion, or more than 200 times greater than a national water quality standard of 12 parts per trillion.

Baker said the concentration as of the latest test results received as of May 7, show PFOS levels ranging from about 25-35 ppt, down from the 2,630 ppt level first measured.

Because it is above the standard, the effluent release is still in violation of the plants National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, the city said.

Read more:

3M sues Michigan, seeks to invalidate PFAS drinking water rules

JumpstART summer with KIA art fair, Do-Dah Parade and more in downtown Kalamazoo

Racial harassment, white supremacist propaganda on the rise in Michigan

Saginaw-area police officer dies of COVID-19 complications
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Construction of a new Edison Environmental Science Academy is set to begin this summer after with the help of a multimillion-dollar bond approved previously by voters.

The Kalamazoo Public Schools Board of Education approved $15,104,779 for construction of the new elementary school at their meeting Thursday, May 6.

The remaining $3,889,221 of bond funds is expected to be approved by the board June 10 after the bidding process is complete, the district said.

The funds will be pulled from the 2018 bond that voters approved for various school construction projects and improvements. The current Edison school building was built in 1923, the district said.

Construction on the new two-story, 70,000 square-foot school will begin in July after demolition of the old building is complete. The project is expected to take two years to construct, the district said.

Edison students who return to in-person learning for the 2021-22 school year will move to a school building used previously for Phoenix High School students during construction. Some of the administration is also located in the school at 3333 S. Westnedge Ave.

Voters passed a $96.7 million bond in 2018 that has since funded multiple construction projects in the district, including improvements in security. During summer 2019, the district constructed secure entrances at eight schools with funding from the bond.

This summer, the district has underway another $2.4 million in campus improvements, including new school buses, a new secure entryway and remodeling at multiple buildings.

Also on MLive:

School board will consider asking voters for $175M to replace 5 Portage elementary schools

Kalamazoo County voters approve special education tax that supports nine school districts

Kalamazoo Public Schools announces new 16-member equity task force
CALHOUN COUNTY,MI -- The family of a 22-year-old shot and killed after police say he drove his vehicle toward an officer has filed a lawsuit claiming excessive force.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan against three Battle Creek Police officers and a Calhoun County Sheriffs deputy, as well as the governments they serve.

Andrew Charles Blowers was shot and killed early Sept. 5 in the area of Logistics Drive in the Fort Custer Industrial Park.

The officers involved -- Battle Creek Police Officers Ryan OConnell, Patrick Herson and Herbstreith, along with Calhoun County Sheriffs Deputy Brandon Hatch -- all were cleared of wrongdoing in December by the Calhoun County prosecutor.

Blowers led police on a high-speed chase that began just before midnight Sept. 4 and ended about 12:15 p.m. Sept. 5.

Police said Blowers vehicle at some point left the road and went into a series of trees along Logistics Drive.

Related: Calhoun County prosecutor clears 3 Battle Creek police officers, deputy involved in fatal shooting

It was at that point, police said, that he began driving toward Battle Creek Officer Steven Herbstreith. Herbstreith ran to the other side of his cruiser as Blowers vehicle crashed into it, police said.

Two Battle Creek officers and a Calhoun County sheriffs deputy then began firing their weapons as the vehicle sped away. The vehicle crashed into trees not far away and police found Blowers fatally wounded.

Attorneys for Blowers family contend police started shooting before anyone was in danger.

The police officers and the deputy were not in harms way and or were not otherwise without a means of escape from any potential harm presented by Plaintiffs decedents moving vehicle, according to the lawsuit.

Police fired more than 20 rounds that struck Blowers vehicle. Among those, seven struck Blowers, the familys attorneys alleged.

In December, Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert issued a ruling that differed with the lawsuits allegations.

Although Mr. Blowers does not appear to have been struck by bullets after ramming Officer Herbstreiths vehicle, all three officers were justified in firing at the fleeing vehicle and the number of rounds fired was not unreasonable, Gilbert wrote. Mr. Blowers posed a threat of serious physical harm or death to the officers or to others, and using deadly force was not unreasonable to prevent the escape of the suspect.

More from MLive

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KALAMAZOO, MI  Art on the Mall, Do-Dah Parade and the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair will return the first weekend of June, though with a few modifications.

The events were canceled in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

For 2021, Art on the Mall and the Do-Dah Parade are planned as in-person events, while local art museums Arts Fair is virtual during the JumpstART summer kickoff set for June 4-5.

The events had many names through the years, including June Jubilee and Kickoff to Summer, organizers said. The new name of JumpstART creates a cohesive way to let people know what the weekend is about, said Kalamazoo Downtown Partnership Communications and Marketing Manager Meghan Behymer.

JumpstART brings all the events the community has come to love: Art on the Mall, Do-Dah Parade, KIA Arts Fair, and Concerts in the Park, and adds Beats on Bates to create five days of art, fun and community in downtown, Behymer said.

The two-day festival will allow up to 35 local and regional artists to sell their work within walking distance of the Kalamazoo Mall, a news release from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo said.

Public health guidelines from local officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be followed, the release said.

The past two years have been tough all-around, but we are excited to safely move forward with Art on the Mall this summer, Arts Council Program Director Bianca Washington-Ciungan said in the release.

RELATED: Turn off the computer, Art Hop is moving back outdoors this April

Festival attendees will hear live, outdoor music performances, including those featuring artists Yolonda Lavender, DJ Dan Steely and Celesta Allison Trio. A complete list will be announced later, the release said.

After a year of existing in multiple pandemics, art has been my saving grace, Lavender said in the release. Ive gained a deeper appreciation for the blessing that sharing my art through performance truly is.

Art on the Mall runs from noon to 8 p.m. on Friday, June 4, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 5. People who want to volunteer should email info@kalamazooarts.org.

The Do-Dah Parade features a theme of Follow the Yellow Brick Road, said a news release from Kalamazoo Experiential Learning Center.

It will be a reverse parade, where participants will stay in one place spread out for social distancing, while viewers either walk or bike past to view each group, said Deb Droppers of KELC.

We want to continue those rituals, but we want to make sure were creating a safe environment, Droppers said.

The stationary parade participants will spread out along Lovell Street, between Jasper and Rose streets, from 11 a.m. to noon on June 5. Masks will be required for those walking the route.

Companies and organizations can still apply to join the Do-Dah parade. Applications should be submitted by May 15, but will be accepted until the limit is reached, the release said. Application information can be found here.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts Fair and the organization plans to celebrate with a virtual show, a news release said.

The Arts Fair typically attracts 40,000 visitors to Bronson Park, which is too many people amid the coronavirus pandemic, the release said. The museums 2022 Arts Fair is expected to be a full, in-person event.

The virtual show will run June 3-6, and allow participants to interact with artists in real time, the release said. People can virtually shop for fine art from their homes, and through signage that will be posted in Bronson Park.

The institute is also offering free gallery admission on the first weekend of June  for the opening of the annual West Michigan Area Show, a new permanent collection and other exhibits, the release said.

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Drone will drop life preservers to struggling swimmers at South Haven beaches

Construction will close part of road near Gun Lake Casino

Co-owner of Kalamazoo bar in drink tampering investigation denies wrongdoing

Black bear found dead along Grand Haven area road
MUSKEGON, MI  A downtown Muskegon restaurant with a rooftop bar is being reopened as a new eatery under recently changed ownership and management.

No Name Saloon is replacing the former Tipsy Toad Tavern, 609 W. Western Ave.

Mike Kordecki bought the restaurant in mid-April, adding it to the Hometown Hospitality collection that includes Smash Wine Bar, Marine Tap Room, Full Moon Diner, Pub 111, The Humidor and Whitehall Landing.

The building on West Western Avenue near Seventh Street includes an indoor dining area on the main floor and outdoor seating with umbrellas and string lights on the second floor.

April Fairchild, the general manager of No Name Saloon, said she believes the rooftop bar overlooking Muskegon Lake and Heritage Landing will be a selling point to bring in customers to the revamped restaurant.

Being up there is like a breath of fresh air, she said.

No Name Saloon plans to have live music performances on the roof on Sunday nights.

The exterior of No Name Saloon, 609 W. Western Ave. The restaurant is replacing the former Tipsy Toad Tavern, and new ownership and management hopes to revamp the space and offer a new dining spot in downtown Muskegon. (Rose White | MLive)

The new restaurant and bar will offer an all-American menu with a focus on specialty burgers and a slate of saloon-themed cocktails. It will also serve gluten-free options and a vegan black bean burger.

I wanted it to be not too fancy but not bar food either, said Fairchild. You can get some specialty burgers, but you can come here and just get your plain cheeseburger. I wanted something that downtown Muskegon doesnt really have.

Fairchild said she wants the restaurant to be a destination for diners.

We want to be the reason people come to Muskegon, she said.

Related: Social drinking outside on 12 blocks of downtown Muskegon begins soon

No Name Saloon joins the downtown Muskegon dining scene and is applying to be a part of the 12-block social district that stretches from Eighth Street past Pine Street with portions of Clay Avenue.

Social districts were permitted by the state of Michigan last July allowing customers to purchase alcoholic beverages in specially marked cups to carry throughout the district.

Muskegon launched its social district last September. Eight establishments are currently included, but it could involve more than 20 downtown bars or restaurants.

No Name Saloon would anchor the western edge of the district.

We are going to have a great restaurant at that end. Theres nothing really at that very end of Western Avenue, said Kordecki.

A rendering of No Name Saloon, 609 W. Western Ave., with the signs installed. The new restaurant is replacing the former Tipsy Toad Tavern in downtown Muskegon. (Photo provided by Hometown Hospitality)

Kordecki believes the name, No Name Saloon, is catchy and rolls off your mouth.

The restaurant underwent minor renovations after changing hands, such as fresh paint, upgrades to the kitchen and expanding the indoor bar to include 16 taps. Kordecki said his other ambition is to upgrade the building so it lasts for years and years and years.

We want to make sure its a great experience for the community to eat, have their burger, have a beer or drink of preference and be able to look out at the lake, he said. That is just a gorgeous view you can see from that rooftop.

No Name Saloon plans to open on May 21.

More on MLive:

As COVID-19 deaths continue climbing in Muskegon County, vaccine interest wanes

Muskegon Civic Theatre returning with lineup of Welcome Back indoor shows this fall

Dozens of parking spots at Muskegon beach will remain closed due to erosion
BLUMFIELD TWP, MI  A collision between a sedan and a large farm tractor has resulted in a Saginaw mans death.

The crash occurred about noon on Thursday, May 6, near the intersection of Vassar and Gera roads in Blumfield Township.

A preliminary investigation by Michigan State Police troopers indicates 28-year-old Brett Rivers had been driving his 2009 Chevrolet Malibu when it was struck from behind by a 2000 Chrysler Concorde driven by a 39-year-old Vassar woman. Both cars had been heading north on Vassar Road at the time.

The crash forced Rivers Malibu to cross the center line into the path of a southbound farm tractor driven by a 49-year-old Reese man. Rivers suffered fatal injuries in the crash, police said.

No other injuries were reported in the crash.

The crash remains under investigation.

Troopers were assisted on scene by Reese Fire Department, Blumfield Fire Department, Mobile Medical Response, the MSP IMPACT Team, and MSP Traffic Reconstruction Team.

Read more:

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Saginaw man pleads in 2019 head-on crash that left woman severely injured
SAGINAW, MI  As the week began, Saginaw was marred by a shooting in a rental house that left one person dead and four wounded. The house was a short-term rental, advertised on Facebook as an unofficial Airbnb.

As short-term rentals continue popping up in Saginaw and Bay City, officials in both cities are in the early stages of discussing the role they play, assessing the pros and cons they can bring to communities, and what regulations could or should be enacted to strike a balance between residents and tourists.

The crime

The shooting occurred in the early morning hours of Monday, May 3, at 1315 Randolph St. Demarco L. Baskin, 29, died at the scene from his injuries, while three other men, ages 27, 28, and 30, and a 30-year-old woman all suffered non-fatal gunshot wounds.

The house had been operating as a daily rental spot or a Facebook party house, according to Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Matthew Gerow. The house had no permit to operate as such, Gerow said, adding the house was listed as owner-occupied and it was not.

The home was advertised on the Facebook page Rahab Airbnb and is described as a hotel. The page was created Oct. 16, 2020. City property records indicate the property was purchased by its current owners in August 2020.

Our Airbnb offers a 3 Bedroom, living room, family room and 1 bathroom very cozy home away from home! the pages description reads. Its also available for events as well with a limited of people! Inbox for price, location and details!

However, Airbnb officials told MLive the house was not registered with their company. Airbnb declined to respond to additional questions from MLive.

The owner of the house did not reply to queries from MLive.

Founded in 2008, San Francisco-based Airbnb is a short-term rental service that allows property owners to rent out properties for supplemental income. Landlords also stand to make more money on a series of short-term rentals than they do with long-term ones. For example, an apartment that would cost a renter $600 per month on a year lease can be rented out for $75 per night on Airbnb, potentially generating $2,250 if the space is rented out every night in an average month.

Airbnb says it has democratized travel, bringing the benefits of tourism to communities that typically have not benefited from it before, and facilitating a more authentic experience on a global scale, enabling travelers to live like locals anywhere they go.

According to Forbes Magazine, Airbnbs revenue stands at $4.8 billion as of Nov. 23, 2020.

Criticism has been leveled at the so-called Airbnb effect in recent years, with opponents arguing it allows for unsafe or uncertified lodgings, displaces long-term renters, and contributes to community gentrification.

In a January 2019 report, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Economic Policy Institute concluded that the economic costs of Airbnb likely outweigh potential benefits.

While the introduction and expansion of Airbnb into U.S. cities and cities around the world carries large potential economic benefits and costs, the costs to renters and local jurisdictions likely exceed the benefits to travelers and property owners, wrote author Josh Bivens in the report. Th[e] rising cost of housing has become a major economic stress for many American households. ... A reasonable reading of the available evidence suggests that the costs imposed on renters budgets by Airbnb expansion substantially exceed the benefits to travelers.

Forbes Magazine, in a February 2020 article, wrote that the Airbnb effect is to some extent remarkably similar to gentrification in that it slowly increases the value of an area to the detriment of the indigenous residents, many of whom are pushed out due to financial constraints.

Gerow added that in residential areas, no home would receive licensing to function as a hall for partying.

People cant just throw huge parties in residential areas like that, he said. There are so many stipulations.

Property owners who rent out their homes for such gatherings could be subject to civil liability, Gerow added.

As of May 6, police have made no arrests in the case.

Short-term rentals legal standing in Saginaw and Bay City

Saginaw City Chief Inspector John Stemple said that on Tuesday, May 4, officials provided the owner of 1315 Randolph St. with a notice from the city managers office stating the location cannot be used for any type of business purpose whatsoever.

Please be advised that pursuant to City of Saginaw code of ordinances, all activity related to the use and/or operation of the property located at 1315 Randolph for any other purpose other than a single-family home is hereby ordered to be suspended, effective immediately, the order reads, according to Stemple. This order has been issued pursuant to advisement by Saginaw police, fire and inspections. Failure to comply with this order will result in the building located at 1315 Randolph being vacated by the City of Saginaw police and fire departments.

Stemple said short-term rental homes in the citys residential districts like 1315 Randolph St. are not legal.

In any residential district, they would not be permitted, Stemple said. Thats not the intent of those zoning districts. They can certainly be long-term rentals or owner-occupied homes, but not short-term rentals like a hotel or motel room.

Short-term rentals can operate in districts that have been zoned for hotels and motels, though rentals operating beyond those districts would be doing so illegally, he added.

Any violations of our zoning ordinances are a civil infraction, which generates a fine, Stemple said. If we dont gain compliance voluntarily, then we write a citation. It generates a case in district court and the person has the option of pleading responsible, not responsible, or responsible with an explanation and the judge issues an order.

He added that a person who owns an apartment building in a district that already has hotels and motels could legally convert the units therein into short-term rentals.

They are permitted in certain districts but changing the character of a residential neighborhood by having short-term rentals I dont think is a good idea, Stemple said.

Airbnb lists at least eight short-term rentals within Saginaws limits. They range from single rooms to entire houses, their prices running from $58 to $105 per night. By contrast, the site lists at least 38 rentals within Bay City, the majority clustered around downtown and the adjacent East Side. Prices range from $48 to $345 per night.

In Bay City, all properties must be registered and certified with the Code Enforcement Department prior to tenants occupying a rental. However, that doesnt apply to short-term rentals, said Code Enforcement Coordinator Sue Coggin.

We dont have any regulations on them right now, Coggin said. Theyre not anything that we look into or have records of. We do have a rental program, but thats for our long-term rentals. Pretty much its somebody whos actually renting out, whether it be rooms or their whole building, on a long-term basis. Airnbnbs, short-term rentals, theres just no regulations right now within the City of Bay City.

Coggin added that the city does not require property owners to register short-term rentals.

We dont have a list, Coggin said. We dont even know whats out there or whats not out there. Its just not something the city is enforcing at this point.

Bay City Planning and Zoning Manager Terry A. Moultane seconded Coggins assessment.

We do not have regulations specific to Airbnbs, no, Moultane said.

However, Moultane said there exists a gray area as far as how frequently such a home or apartment unit could be rented to new residents or transients. The city does not require a minimum amount of time for leases on rentals, he added.

We dont have anything on the books, so one view could be they are prohibited because theyre not listed in a zoning ordinance as a permitted use, Moultane said. Another approach is that because it is still a single-family home, it still would have to be registered through our rental program. After that, if were to find out it was an Airbnb, I guess it would be within the parameters of that rental registration, but thats not really set up to have transient residents either.

Discussions on putting regulations in place have occurred, though Moultane said hes received no direction on what forms they could take.

A lot of the times the Airbnb dilemma is with communities that are in high-tourist zones where people are snatching up homes and repurposing them, Moultane said. Thats where a lot of regulations are in place because in that situation theyre actually losing their year-long residents.

Moultane said he doesnt believe Bay City has reached that level of tourism. Informed of the 38 official Airbnbs operating within the city, many in apartment buildings, Moultane said he was shocked.

Thats not really the intent of a multiple-family (structure) to have those Airbnbs, he said. It is something for us to consider.

Stemple said it seems unlikely an influx of Airbnbs springing up will displace Saginaw residents, saying that happens more often in tourist towns.

For most part, Saginaw is a place where people live and go to work, he said. Its not necessarily generating a lot of tourism within the city limits.

(Click here to read the second installment in this two-part series: I think there should be regulations, says Bay City woman displaced by Airbnb rental)

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Calling them heavy hitters, anti-vaccine activists heralded the arrival of out-of-state experts intended to testify and inform Michigan lawmakers about hypothetical vaccine mandates.

Instead, the Thursday legislative hearing before the House Oversight Committee featured wild claims from conspiracy theorists and comparisons to the Holocaust.

Michigan House Republicans invited Naomi Wolf and James Lyons-Weiler to testify Thursday on legislation seeking a preemptive ban on so-called vaccine passports. Wolf and Lyons-Weiler have little credibility among health experts, but theyre rising stars among health freedom activists seeking a scientific justification to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine.

Related: Myths and facts about the COVID vaccine shot as Michigan opens access to all

Dr. Liam Sullivan, an infectious disease specialist with Spectrum Health, said misleading arguments against vaccines are being spread by people who either misunderstand the science or have an agenda. Risks associated with vaccines are several orders of magnitude smaller than the risks associated with COVID-19, even if most people survive infection.

Unless youre a person who has conducted vaccine trials and been intimately involved with the development of vaccines and done actual research published in peer-reviewed valid scientific journals, for you to get out there and start giving all this anti-vax talk is a little dubious, Sullivan said. If we were going to see major side effects with the mRNA vaccines, by now we would have seen them. Theyve not come out. We have yet to see any major side effects.

Wolf, an author with no medical expertise, has a well-documented history of promoting conspiracy theories about a wide range of subjects.

During the pandemic, shes suggested Bill Gates genetically modified mosquitoes to inject people with vaccines and claimed vaccines violate ethical principles for human experimentation. Wolf also claimed 5G technology turns human sweat glands into conductors for harmful spectrum frequencies.

Lyons-Weiler is the CEO of the Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge and a former University of Pittsburgh research scientist with degrees in zoology, ecology and conservation biology. The United States Court of Federal Claims called Lyons-Weiler wholly unqualified to opine on the question of vaccine causation when he offered testimony in a lawsuit alleging a woman was injured after receiving HPV vaccinations.

Lyons-Weiler has pushed misleading claims that were refuted by other scientists and researchers. He claimed the coronavirus was created in a laboratory and has questioned the accuracy of CDC data on COVID-19 mortality. Lyons-Weiler called vaccines filthy, nasty vials of toxic sludge in a 2018 article.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmers administration set a goal of vaccinating 70% of the population over the age of 16. More than half of the state has had at least one shot, but the number of doses administered weekly has dropped each week since mid-April. Last week, Michigan led the country in new coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents.

Related: House hearing on COVID-19 vaccine passport ban includes testimony invoking Holocaust

Activists with Michigan for Vaccine Choice, a nonprofit that was recently kicked off Facebook, heralded the arrival of Wolf and Lyons-Weiler. The group organized an educational event with the latter in Grand Rapids on Wednesday.

A preview of the event on Lyons-Weilers website teased attendees would learn what science really says and how to communicate key points in the public square.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Steven Johnson, R-Wayland, did not respond to a request for comment about why Wolf and Lyons-Weiler were invited to discuss Michigan policy matters.

Other speakers included State Board of Education member and former Republican congressional candidate Nikki Snyder, who claimed vaccines are an experiment. Snyder is a registered nurse.

The claim that COVID-19 vaccines are untested, and their recipients are guinea pigs, is rampant among anti-vaccine groups. Maija Hahn, a speech pathologist and regional director with Michigan for Vaccine Choice, claimed the vaccines violate a code of medical ethics created in response to Nazi experiments on prisoners during the Holocaust.

Related: Youre fully immunized against COVID-19. So why do you still need to mask?

All three vaccines have been tested and received approval for emergency use from the FDA.

Once theyre approved we could stop calling them experimental, Sullivan said. If you look at the clinical trials that Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson all did, they were very well designed and run clinical trials of the highest ethical and scientific standard.

Sullivan said the apparent newness of mRNA vaccines, and the speed at which shots hit the market, seem like compelling reasons to be skeptical. But the research stretches back years before COVID-19 outbreaks started.

Scientists were able to take lessons learned from research conducted since SARS-CoV-1 and MERS outbreaks. Sullivan said the research was critical to developing a COVID-19 vaccine.

Related: No, COVID-19 vaccines do not impact fertility

Dr. Paul Entler, vice president of quality and performance improvement for Sparrow Health Systems, said he understands people arent willing to take information about vaccines at face value. Entler did his own research before taking the vaccine himself.

Theres a lot of social media outlets out there; I just encourage those that have hesitancy to talk to their doctor, because what were seeing is that the vaccine is very protective at preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19, Entler said.

The scary thing about COVID-19 is there are still a lot of unknowns related to vascular effects and long-term effects. During this last surge, we had a lot of younger patients die of COVID-19.

Skepticism of vaccines will likely prevent the United States from ever reaching full herd immunity, Sullivan said. The term describes a threshold where so many people are immune that the virus has a slim chance of spreading to new hosts.

Entler said it may be possible for geographic regions or specific communities to gain herd immunity, but its unlikely the entire state will achieve it.

Theres a lot of misinformation out there; its really caused a lot of problems that are noticeable, Entler said. As a health care provider, Im worrying that window is closing.

The exact target for herd immunity has changed due to the spread of new, more infectious variants. Sullivan said experts expect the threshold is closer to 80% or 90% of the population having immunity, either through vaccination or prior infection.

Were never going to get 90% of the population vaccinated against this virus, Sullivan said. Thats a pipe dream, in my opinion, because theres too much resistance out there to vaccination.

That means the coronavirus is here to stay, he said.

Anti-vaccine groups are staying loud. Protests were organized outside school districts, vaccine clinics and the state Capitol last month. An upcoming demonstration is scheduled outside a hospital in Oakland County.

Christina Parks, a science teacher for Christian homeschool organizations based in Grand Rapids, encouraged attendees at a rally in Walker last weekend to finish the job for people who are vaccine-hesitant. Parks was also scheduled to attend the Wednesday event with Lyons-Weiler.

We have to start asking the questions and demanding that we follow the real science, Parks said.

Parks has a post-doctoral degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan. She edited high school biology textbooks before deciding to pursue a career in education rather than research. One of the classes Parks teaches is advertised as a Christ-centered college-prep biology course.

In an interview, Parks promoted ivermectin, a drug used to treat parasites, as a preventative treatment. The FDA has warned people not to use ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19, and the drugs manufacturer found no scientific basis for its use as a therapeutic.

Parks said vaccines have proven unable to prevent transmission of the virus. Sullivan said studies havent shown vaccines to completely eliminate transmission, but that isnt the silver bullet skeptics purport it to be.

The main reason to take any vaccine is to avoid becoming seriously sick. There have been rare cases where fully vaccinated people are still infected, but no vaccine is 100% effective.

There are going to be breakthrough cases for a variety of reasons, Sullivan said. Some peoples immune systems may not have reacted well to the vaccine, some people are immunocompromised, sometimes people may have gotten a really heavy exposure that completely overwhelmed their defenses, etc.

In an interview, Parks said people need should be aware of potential risks before deciding whether to get vaccinated. She regularly updates members of her social media pages about people who tested positive for COVID-19 after being vaccinated or reports of rare side effects.

Skeptics cite the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System for proof that vaccines are dangerous. VAERS is managed by the CDC and FDA, but reports can be input by anyone. The CDC states reports are accepted even if its not clear that vaccines caused the problem.

People need to realize, sure you can go look at all the data on VAERS, but thats raw data, Sullivan said. It may or may not mean anything. Just because they report it doesnt mean theres a direct link between the two of them.

States around the country, including Michigan, put a temporary pause on the distribution of Johnson and Johnson vaccines after six cases of blood clots were reported to VAERS. The reports were caught less than a month after the J&J vaccine received emergency use authorization.

Federal agencies recommended use of the J&J vaccine could resume, determining the benefits outweigh potential risks.

The rate of blood clots with COVID is immensely higher than it is for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said there would have been similar actions taken if data found serious side effects were stemming from other vaccines produced by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Both have been available since December 2020.

Regardless, personalities in the anti-vaccine movement have been successful at latching on to anecdotal data to build dubious arguments. Sullivan said activists with axes to grind contributed to polarization during the pandemic.

Health workers are left with the consequences. Entler said he took a break from watching news broadcasts out of frustration.

Weve been at this for 15 months, he said. Its hard, living it day to day and seeing more deaths, and watching people using this for personal gain is really disturbing.

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White supremacist propaganda and racial harassment are continuing an upward trend in Michigan.

The Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit watchdog group, reported a 240% increase in antisemitic incidents in the last five years. White supremacist groups are also stepping up efforts to recruit young men across Michigan.

Im very, very worried about how comfortable people are feeling with antisemitism in our country, said Carolyn Normandin, regional director of ADL Michigan.

Since 2016, the total number of antisemitic incidents increased from 15 to 51. The ADL found 44 credible reports of harassment and seven reports of vandalism last year. There were no antisemitic assaults reported to the Michigan office in 2020.

Cant see the map? Click here

Data collected by law enforcement agencies corroborate the trend. The FBI reported an increase in hate crime incidents during the last five years.

The FBI recorded 434 hate crimes reported in Michigan in 2019; 313 were motivated by race or ethnicity. Data for 2020 is not yet available.

Assistant Attorney General Sunita Doddamani, head of Michigans Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism Unit, said the numbers only show a small part of the story. Hate crimes are vastly underreported. Often only the most violent incidents result in criminal convictions.

A Michigan man faces up to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a federal hate crime in March. Newport resident Lee Mouat admitted to assaulting a group of Black teenagers at a public beach. Mouat struck one of the teens with a bike lock and yelled racial slurs during the attack.

The Grand Traverse County Prosecutors Office decided not to press charges against students who reportedly posted hateful comments in a Snapchat group called Slave Trade. Students in the online chat discussed selling Black classmates and genocide against minorities.

The Wayne County Prosecutors Office also decided not to charge a Grosse Pointe man who displayed a Ku Klux Klan flag in a window facing his Black neighbors house earlier this year. Advocates said the situation shows a need to expand ethnic intimidation laws.

The ADL recorded more than 170 reports of hateful incidents targeting minority groups in 2020. While most of these dont rise to the level of crimes, Normandin said the ADL shares information with law enforcement agencies when needed.

In January 2020, anti-semitic graffiti was found on the entry gate to the Livingston Press & Argus in Howell. The same phrase appeared on a coffee shop one block away.

One month later, a Jewish community center in Ann Arbor received a bomb threat.

A day before the November 2020 presidential election, a Jewish cemetery in Grand Rapids was vandalized. Letters spelling Trump and MAGA were spray-painted across several tombstones. The former president held his final rally of the campaign cycle in Grand Rapids later that night.

Misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic fueled conspiracy theories about sinister government elites profiting off the situation. Normandin said this inspired centuries-old tropes about Jewish people to gain strength online. Every month, members of antisemitic group picketed outside an Ann Arbor synagogue. The group reportedly brought signs invoking Adolf Hitler.

When people are fearful and theyre filled with anxiety, they look for somebody to blame, Normandin said. When they look for somebody to blame, they go toward marginalized communities.

The ADL also recorded a steep rise in anti-Asian sentiment after public figures blamed China for unleashing the coronavirus. Normandin said the ADL found anti-Asian rhetoric thrived on Twitter in the days immediately after Trump announced his positive diagnosis last October.

When social interactions and religious functions moved online, so did the racists. Jewish prayer services, religious studies and funeral services were disrupted by people who displayed Nazi imagery and shouted slurs.

There was some very vulgar, nasty and disruptive intrusions into peoples grief, Normandin said. They were having funeral services for their family members and were disrupted by haters.

Meanwhile, an old-school form of messaging flourished while social interactions were limited by the coronavirus pandemic. White supremacist propaganda increased by 36% increase since 2019.

The ADL found white supremacist propaganda was distributed in 54 communities across Michigan. Propaganda associated with five different white supremacist groups were identified, including two neo-Nazi groups and a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

Most of the propaganda was associated with Patriot Front, which is designated as a white nationalist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Patriot Front was formed in the aftermath of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia after splintering from a neo-Nazi group. Though its founder is based in Texas, members are active in dozens of states.

Patriot Front members are encouraged to evangelize their vision of a white ethnostate by spreading propaganda. Flyers, banners and graffiti displayed fascist imagery and vague statements of American nationalism.

News clips about acts of vandalism are collected on the groups website. Men wearing white masks posed for photos posted to social media showing banners and graffiti in Lansing and Detroit. A promotional video shows young men training in hand-to-hand combat.

They are looking for an easy way to call like-minded people to them, Normandin said. (Theyre) looking for disengaged young people, men 18 to 28 years old, who dont have a lot of friends and are looking for sort of a brotherhood.

Patriot Front propaganda was found at Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Michigan Technical University, Kettering University, Oakland Community College and Mott Community College last year.

However, the ADL found a steep decline in the targeting of college campuses, likely due to the cancellation of in-person classes during the pandemic.

A focus on recruiting disaffected young men is common among white nationalist groups. Far-right political commentator Nick Fuentes was greeted by college students at a rally outside the state Capitol last November that appeared in the ADLs list of white supremacist events.

Much of the Patriot Front propaganda distributed can be traced along I-69 from Battle Creek through Lansing and Flint. Normandin said it suggests an individual or small group of people are responsible.

The ADL found white supremacist propaganda nearly doubled across the country. A total of 5,125 cases were reported, an all-time high, and 80% came from Patriot Front.

Normandin said schools should promote anti-bias education to prevent young people from being influenced by extremist messages promoted by white supremacist groups. Shes concerned that racist ideas become more acceptable with repetition.

The Michigan Attorney Generals office created the hate crimes unit in 2019. This year, the unit expanded its scope to include domestic terrorism.

Doddamani said its a reflection of how homegrown terrorists are often racially motivated. The Department of National Intelligence warned racially motivated extremists are extremely dangerous in a March memo.

Doddamani said hate crimes are treated differently because they impact everyone who belongs to the group being targeted.

Its a message to a whole community, and you have to have a message back that its not going to be tolerated, she said.

Attorney General Dana Nessel asked Congress earlier this year to provide states more funding to investigate hate crimes and terror threats. Her department estimated it would need $650,000 to hire three additional special agents and one more assistant attorney general.

At this point, the more cases that we get borrow from other units in the office to handle the volume, Doddamani said. Its really important to get us funded properly so we can deal with this.

Doddamani declined to say how many investigations are currently ongoing.

The Attorney Generals office arrested two men accused of running a neo-Nazi terror cell last October. They face felony gang charges after allegedly threatening a Michigan podcast host who researches hate groups. Members of The Base participated in paramilitary training exercises and allegedly planned to spark a race war.

The ADL recorded two violent incidents in its data.

Thomas Curry died by suicide during an armed standoff with Detroit police in September 2020. Curry faced several felony charges in triple homicide. The ADL identified Curry as a white supremacist who used the online alias Michael Heiliger, which was a fake name used by Nazis during World War II for bank accounts used to hold money seized from persecuted Jews.

The other incident was an armed shootout between police and Madison Heights resident Eric Allport. The ADL identified Allport as an anti-government extremist. He played a minor role in the Ruby Ridge standoff decades earlier.

If you are a victim of a hate crime or have credible information about a hate crime, contact the Attorney General at (313) 456-0200.

The ADL is also collecting reports of antisemitism, racial bias or other discriminatory incidents online.

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Michigan lawmakers would be explicitly barred from voting on issues they have a personal interest in under legislation that passed the House with wide bipartisan support Thursday.

Sponsored by Rep. Pamela Hornberger, House Bill 4001 would prohibit state lawmakers from voting on bills or other measures that could personally benefit them, their families or any entities in which they have a stake.

Currently, conflict of interest policies are in place through state law and legislative rules, but there are few mechanisms to regulate or enforce violations. Lawmakers are not required to disclose financial records  and no state entity keeps records of financial interests. Its on public officials to determine if they have a conflict of interest, and the enforcement tools in the event of a possible conflict are rarely used.

Conflict of interest rules would be more specific under Hornbergers legislation, which defines a conflict as any matter where a lawmaker, their spouse, dependents or a person or entity with a legal or financial connection to the lawmaker stands to personally benefit.

Discipline for any violation of the proposed conflict of interest policy would still be under the purview of the legislative chamber the lawmaker was serving in.

A violation of the policy would not nullify or affect the validity of the members initial vote.

The bill passed the House 105-3 Thursday with Republican Reps. Beau LaFave, R-Iron Mountain, Steve Carra, R-Three Rivers, and Pat Outman, R-Six Lakes, voting no.

Hornbergers bill was the first introduced in the House this session as part of an ongoing effort led by House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Clare, to increase government transparency and shore up ethics policies in a state consistently ranked among the worst in the nation on both counts.

In March, the House unanimously passed bills that would subject the Legislature and governor to public records laws. Similar Senate bills have cleared the Senate Oversight Committee but have not yet been taken up for a floor vote.

Wentworth also proposed and passed out of the House a joint resolution that would require a two-thirds vote on any bill taken up after November general elections in even years. Known as lame duck, this period often results in long session days and dozens of bills flying through the House and Senate with little time for review. That resolution is currently before the Senate Government Operations Committee.

So far, most of the measures have passed with wide bipartisan support. But legislation aimed at subjecting lawmakers to personal financial disclosure rules have been met with opposition by some lawmakers and government transparency advocates, who have expressed concern the bills would as written not make those disclosures public until an elected or appointed state official leaves office.

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DETROIT -- Detroit Tigers reliever Buck Farmer has been designated for assignment after a rocky start to the 2021 season.

To take his place, the Tigers have selected the contract of veteran right-hander Erasmo Ramirez.

The Tigers also announced that catcher Wilson Ramos has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a lumbar spine strain. Catcher Jake Rogers was recalled from Triple-A Toledo to replace him.

Farmer, 30, has pitched in at least part of the last eight seasons for the Tigers since making his Major League debut in 2014 only one year after being drafted out of Georgia Tech. After beginning his career as a starter, Farmer settled into a relatively reliable role in the bullpen for the last three years. But hes allowed 15 runs on 15 hits, including six home runs, in 10 2/3 innings this year. Hes walked nine and struck out 10.

Farmer is out of options, which means he had to be removed from the 40-man roster and put on waivers before being sent to the minor leagues. If he clears waivers without being claimed by another team, which is likely to happen, Farmer must accept an assignment to Triple-A Toledo or forfeit his remaining $1.85 million salary in 2021.

Farmer will join Joe Jimenez, another longtime Tigers reliever, in the Mud Hens bullpen in trying to get back on track in 2021.

Ramirez, 31, was signed as a minor-league free agent this winter. He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Tampa Bay Rays and most recently posted a 0.63 ERA in 14 1/3 innings with the New York Mets in 2020.

Ramirez will be the first player born in Nicaragua to play for the Tigers.

Ramos, 33, left Thursdays game in Boston with a back flareup. There was no immediate word on the severity of the injury. According to Hopkins Medicine, a lumbar strain is an injury to the lower back that results in muscle spasms and soreness.

Signed to a free-agent contract over the winter, Ramos had been one of the Tigers most productive offensive players in 2021, posting a .729 OPS with five doubles and six home runs in 104 plate appearances.

Rogers, 26, was acquired by the Tigers in the Justin Verlander trade in 2017.

Known for his strong arm and his defensive ability behind the plate, Rogers struggled offensively in his only big-league action in 2019, hitting just .125 (14-for-112) and striking out in 40 percent of his plate appearances.

Grayson Greiner will likely catch the majority of games with Ramos sidelined. He was in the lineup Friday night as the Tigers opened a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins at Comerica Park.

TIGERS 40-MAN ROSTER (40)

Players in bold are on the 26-man active roster.

Left-handed pitchers (7): Tyler Alexander, Matthew Boyd, Derek Holland*, Daniel Norris, Tarik Skubal, Gregory Soto, Joey Wentz**.

Right-handed pitchers (15): Beau Burrows, Jose Cisnero, Alex Faedo**, Michael Fulmer, Kyle Funkhouser, Bryan Garcia, Rony Garcia, Joe Jimenez, Alex Lange, Matt Manning, Casey Mize, Franklin Perez*, Erasmo Ramirez, Spencer Turnbull, Jose Urena.

Catchers (3): Grayson Greiner, Wilson Ramos*, Jake Rogers.

Infielders (8): Miguel Cabrera, Jeimer Candelario, Harold Castro, Willi Castro, Niko Goodrum, Isaac Paredes, Jonathan Schoop, Zack Short.

Outfielders (7): Akil Baddoo, Daz Cameron**, Robbie Grossman, Derek Hill, JaCoby Jones, Nomar Mazara*, Victor Reyes.

* on the 10-day Major League injured list

** on the 7-day minor-league injured list

Right-handed pitcher Julio Teheran (right shoulder strain) is on the 60-day injured list, which removes him from the 40-man roster .
A special night sky event is coming this month when we have a total lunar eclipse.

A total lunar eclipse happens when Earth passes between a full moon and the sun. This will lunar eclipse will start around 4:47 a.m. May 26. The lunar eclipse will evolve over the course of a few hours, and is expected to be a full lunar eclipse for about 14 minutes. The western half of the U.S. will be able to see the complete eclipse if the weather cooperates.

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In Michigan we are only going to be able to see about one-third of the lunar eclipse with the earths shadow turning one-third of the left side a darker color. In Michigan the eclipse will also start around 4:47 a.m. The peak of the eclipse in Michigan will be around 6:02 a.m. At that point, one-third of the moon will be shadowed by Earth. The problem is the moon sets officially around 6:05 a.m.. The moon will be going below the horizon just a few minutes after Michigan gets the most eclipse viewing. The low position on the horizon makes the eclipse hard to see in Michigan. You will want to be at a place like a beach on Lake Michigan. You will need a totally unobstructed view of the horizon to see the eclipse.

The eclipse is called a Blood Moon, as all total lunar eclipses are due to a reddish color. The reddish color can come from dust in the atmosphere as Earth casts its shadow on the moon. The full moon is also a Super Moon, meaning the full moon is occurring when it is closest to Earth in its orbit.

If the sky is clear, Michigan will be able to see a few minutes of a Blood Moon, a Super Moon and a lunar eclipse.
I'm greatly disturbed, dismayed, and lastly, saddened by the recent vandalism that has occurred, both at the Birthing Rock and the Sunshine W
Ace broadcaster, Kwami Sefa Kayi, has registered his displeasure over how young Ghanaians now take solace in disrespecting their elders by way of insulting them on social media.

According to him, the shameful attitude must stop. Speaking on his Kokrokoo programme on Peace FM days ago, about recent insults on the persons of former Electoral Commissioner Charlotte Osei and businessman Sam Jonah over their activities and comments in public, the award-winning radio host suggested the need for society to take a critical look at the growing canker.

If you don't agree with an elderly person, there is a way to express your opinion. It doesn't have to be about insults and disrespectful behaviour. If someone says something that you are not happy with, then you start to insult.

A lot of young men don't respect now. Excuse me, which of them can compare themselves to Sam Jonah? Why is it that because of politics, boys and girls who haven't achieved anythingI'm not saying Sam Jonah is an angel but please why have you been insulting him? What happened to young peopleSometimes you read some of the things they say and you ask yourself what's happening? Sam Jonah can give birth to some of you and take care of you, he stated.

There are things they say about women that is awful but they continue to say it. What is it? And some of them they hide behind the anonymity of social media and they won't mention their real names so you know them. Faceless people, he added.

With the advent of social media, almost everyone has opinion on public discourse. In recent times, some people make it a point to only chastise when they disagree with others on the social platform and they are the people Sefa Kayi has a problem with.

By Francis Addo
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Salifus, also known as Seibany Salif Traore, is an African entrepreneur and choreographer who has made it his priority to tour all the Africa country to establish Africa as a reference and platform for urban dance and culture has chosen Ghana as his next country to visit.

Salifus learned to be a professional choreographic dancer by attending dance workshops and working with great choreographers to develop his dance in different styles. As a seasoned dancer, he completed his professional training at Ecole Des Sables.

For his versatility, he does a lot of touring and internships all over the world in a variety of styles. He has a lot planned for us this year.

His, an accomplished artist with a style that combines urban, contemporary, traditional African and European dances, modern Jazz, and many others, Salifus had previously informed Ghanaians of his visit to the country.

Through his association with BBA and innovative live projects such as the BBA International Festival, he aims to make Africa a reference and meeting platform for urban dance and culture, he made this known in an interview.

Through his internships, he has developed an aesthetic that combined grace, power, and richness with great versatility, and with all of this, he has been able to build a strong international activity and maintain contact with the world's greatest figures.

Salifus in his life career with his group Xtreme bboys (Les seigneurs breakeurs) won the National Hip Hop Battle trophies in2005, the first and second editions of the Battle Yamin One vs. One in 2007, the Battle hip hop awards 2007, the Battle urban session 1st edition on January 12, 2008, and the Battle in Guinea Conakry in 2005 and 2008.

The Urban Dancer has actively participated in several high-quality events, such as a performance and discussion with artist friends like Krys at the 2007 Hip Hop Awards, Akon's concert in Senegal in 2005, in Guinea (2005), music videos, pubs, formations, and shows with Fally ipupa, Diamond platnumz, Nix, Sean Paul, Didier awadi, Gunman wuman, Busta rhymes, Soprano, Passi, Anthony Egea, Mourad Merzouki, Da Brains, Ibrahim sissoko, Booba, bernard lebeau, Georges Momboye, yet and many others.
Italian based Ghanaian rapper Pappy Kojo has jokingly said his fellow rapper Kwaw Kese has relocated to the United States due to Ghanas ban on cannabis (weed), while contributing to the ongoing 'Fix the Country' protest.

He took to his social media handle to ridicule the Mad Time Records boss who has been an active participant in the ongoing social media campaign the #FixTheCountry.

Our legend Kwaw Kese has evacuated to yankee because small mixture of ntampi & jot can get u jailed, lets respect the legends, Pappy Kojo tweeted.

Social media has been boiling for the past four days after Ghanaians launched a massive online protest dubbed Fix The Country. The hashtag has generated over 500,000 tweets so far.

Top Ghanaian celebrities, including Yvonne Nelson, John Dumelo, Lydia Forson, Efia Odo, Ko-Jo Cue, Kwaw Kese, Pappy Kojo and DKB have joined the calls.

Contributing to the protest, Pappy Kojo said Kwaw Kese has left the country due to fear of getting arrested again for weed smoking.

In 2014, Kwaw Kese was arrested and detained in Kumasi for smoking weed but was released a few weeks later.
Apostle King Dirl

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Founder and leader of Soldiers of Christ Prayer Group of All Nation's in Kumasi Aboahyia of the Ashanti Region, Apostle Dr. Dirl Airl King Marshal has condemned in no uncertain terms, the claim been made by a popular fetish priest Nana Kweku Bonsam against Nana Agraada.

He slams Kweku Bonsam for saying Nana Agradaa is deceiving the public for claiming to have repented from worshipping idol.

"No true fetish priest can just wake up and say l have denounced my idols and worship God, without performing any rituals to scare the gods. So Agraada's claim is false," the Apostle who scripturally differs in opinion quoted Kweku Bonsam to have made the statement.

Reacting to the claim in an interview with Modernghana News, Apostle Dr. King Dirl observed that God's mind is far different from that of humans.

According to him, God can transform a sinner within a twinkle of an eye no matter the crime the person has committed.

Quoting the Book of Ezekiel 33- 1-20 and 21, the man of God said transformation of sinful souls by God is easier, but it takes a righteous man to remain clean and justice before his sins are forgiven.

"God can transform sinners including idol worshippers like Agraada and Kweku Bonsam himself at a go no matter how such people are very well known to great Kings and influential people across the world, therefore Kweku Bonsam's claim is baseless and has no point to say because Agraada was a former idol worshipper nothing can make her to change her evil ways instantly."

He continued, "for the information of Kweku Bonsam, he should know that the power of God is greater than the idols he is serving, so he should keep quiet and witness how the power of God saves sinners including him Kweku Bonsam today."

Apostle King Dirl Airl King Marshal was thankful to God for Agraada's confession and repentance but said baptising her in her swimming pool at her private residence is contradictory to the baptism procedures in the Holy Bible.

King Dirl however took the opportunity to admonish Agraada to consider her call as a sacred one and avoid associating herself to counterfeit pastors who use the scriptures to pollute her mind.

Charging Agraada to further remained committed to her call as a true repentant Christian, the humble man of God advised Agraada to avail herself to either the headships of Assemblies of God Church, Church of Pentecost or to his church, King Marshal in Kumasi to be rebaptized in a stream in accordance with the Biblical baptism.
Business in Kumasi has slowed down as a result of the 30 days Ramadan fasting by Muslims.

Checks by this portal reveal that business activities in the Ashanti Regional capital usually suffered a huge setback anytime Muslims observed the Ramadan.

It has been observed that a good number of Muslims control a lot of businesses in the city, hence the slowdown.

Some of the shop owners at Kejetia, Asafo Market, Bantama Market and all the other satellite markets in Kumasi, have complained about low sales nowadays.

This has become an annual ritual, whenever the Muslims start the Ramadan fast, Diana Addai, a trader at Adum, complained.

Alex Boakye, a shop owner at Kejetia, also said Muslims have a lot of influence in the business arena, therefore he was not surprised about the slow business in the city now.

Businesses will return to normalcy immediately the Ramadan fasting is over, this has been happening every year, he stated, adding things are very tough for us now.

In a related development, getting access to cooked food in Kumasi has also become a big challenge ever since the Ramadan fasting kick-started about three weeks ago.

Most of the popular food joints, where local dishes are sold, are reportedly owned and managed by Muslims, who have suspended their operations due to the Ramadan.

As a result of that, residents of Kumasi, especially those that patronise food prepared from outside their homes, now have to travel far in search of cooked food to buy.

---DGN online
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Madam Nancy Dado, a midwife working at the Akatsi municipal hospital in the Volta region has won the best midwife in the Volta region.

Madam Dado won the award during the 30th International Day celebration for midwives on Wednesday May 5 at the Keta Nurses Midwifery Training College in the Keta Municipality.

Agbotadua Kumasa, chairman of the occasion who doubled as the spokesman for the Anlo traditional council and Torgbi Sri lll in his remarks said, the occasion was a successful program.

He congratulated all nurses and midwives for their hard work.

Agbotadua Kumasa stated that, everyone should give much respect to midwives because without them most of us would not have been alive today.

He also advised the health workers to continue with their good works and make sure they perform their duties accordingly.

Dr Banabas Yeboah who represented the Health Minister, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu in his speech disclosed that, midwives play vital roles in Ghana's population and there was the need for them to be celebrated.

He said, government will do its possible best to make sure midwives work with ease after expressing his profound gratitude to them.

Mr Robert Adatsi, the Deputy Volta Regional Director in charge of clinics added that, all midwives should be proud of themselves and work with all their effort to help Mother Ghana.

Other award winners during the occasion include;

1.Rosemary Delali Gavor-best midwife of Ashanti region.

2.Judith Akua Bossoh-best midwife of Ahafo region

3.Agbele Selorm Annie-best midwife of Oti region

4.Gladys Adzamashie-best midwife of Easten region

5.Geogina Mwaade-best midwife of Savannah region

6.Francisca Anning-best midwife of Upper East region

7.Shahabu Mariam -best midwife of Northern region

8.Patricia Naa-best midwife of Upper West region

9.Gifty Kissi-best midwife of Central region

10.Vivian Asigbetse-best midwife of North East region

11.Miriam Appiah-Kubi- best midwife of Bono region

12.Happiness Martey-best midwife of Greater Accra region

13.Felicia Dapaah Tawia-best midwife of Bono East region

14.Selina Kumi Henaku-best midwife of Western region

15.Mercy Coffee-Western North region

Madam Anita-chrysolte Kubi Appiah has been awarded the best midwife of Komfo Anokye Teaching hospital whilst madam Paulina Boatemaa Gyamerah has been the best midwife of Tamale Teaching hospital.

They promised to hold fast to their works in developing the country for the unborn.

Other dignitaries present at the ceremony include, Togbi Goka ll of Anloga, Togbi Dallah Avege lll,Mama Wui Amegashie of Keta and heads of departments, nurses among others.
Luis Perez of Allentown, the CEO and founder of Reciprocity the community based organization gets his shot and stand nearby while his son, Xanier Perez 23, gets his. Here they speak with Vicky Kistler, Director of Health at City of Allentown. Luis Perez encourages people in the hispanic community to get the vaccination despite their hesitancy. He says it's the safer decision. Coca-Cola Park hosted Covid-19 vaccinations at the IronPigs' home game. The Allentown Health Bureau administered the Covid-19 vaccines and those who received a vaccination showed their new vaccination card at the entrance and received a FREE game ticket to see the IronPigs play the Rochester Red Wings. (Monica Cabrera / The Morning Call)
French fishing boats have withdrawn from the British island of Jersey after a protest over post-Brexit fishing rights that led to a brief standoff between British navy and French coastal patrol boats.

In the latest cross-Channel standoff, angry French fishermen protested on Thursday over new fish license arrangements on the Channel island of Jersey following Britain's departure from the European Union.

At dawn, a flotilla of around 50 trawlers amassed in front of the Saint Helier harbour.

Fears of a blockade prompted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to send two royal navy vessels to the area on Wednesday. Early Thursday, France sending two of its own coast patrol vessels.

'Urgent need for de-escalation'

Johnson spoke to Jersey Chief Minister John Le Fondre on Wednesday, when the pair "stressed the urgent need for a de-escalation in tensions", according to a statement.

In the run up to Thursday's protest, French fishermen had complained about new licensing requirements announced by Jersey authorities.

They view the paperwork as deliberately obstructing them -- the same charge made by other French boat owners who have denounced delays in the licensing process for access to British territorial waters.

At the end of last month, more than a hundred French fishermen briefly blocked trucks carrying British fish to processing plants in the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

'Unacceptable'

French Maritime Minister Annick Girardin escalated tensions with Jersey on Tuesday by warning that France could cut off electricity supplies to the island, a threat condemned by the British government as "unacceptable".

But Europe Minister Beaune accused Britain of being to blame for the spat over Jersey and access to waters close to the UK coast where French fishermen should have the right to continue working.

"Our wish is not to have tensions, but to have a quick and full application of the (Brexit) deal," he told AFP.

"That's the case for Jersey and that's the case for the licences we are waiting for in the Hauts de France" region.

One of the French patrol boats deployed to the area was from the gendarme military police force, the other was a coastal security vessel operated by the maritime ministry.

Old rivalry

The escalating tensions landed on the front pages of most British newspapers.

"Boris sends gunboats into Jersey," read a Daily Mail headline, while The Daily Telegraph said Johnson had sent the navy to the island to "face the French".

On social media, some pointed out that the standoff was taking place just a day after the 200th anniversary of the death of Napoleon, whose rivalry with the UK crown was legendary.

Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst from the Eurasia Group consultancy, wrote that Johnson's decision to deploy the royal navy would give him a boost on a day when Britons were voting in local and regional elections.

"Although feelings are running high among the fishermen, some concessions over licences is likely to eventually calm matters," he wrote.
Dr Kwame Pianim, a renowned Economist, says the youthfulness of Ghana's population will remain relatively at its peak level from 2030 till 2050 before it starts transitioning to the structure of a matured demography.

He said 15 to 29-year cohorts would be around 20 per cent of the country's population and that a section of the demographic bulge in Africa and Ghana would be youthful while Europe, North America and Japan would be all grey by 2030.

Dr Pianim said this at the first Demographic Summit 2021 in Accra by the Ghana Population Council on the theme, Ghana's challenge demographic bulge 2030 and beyond.

He said Ghana's current demographic position of young workers could be of great dividend when managed well.

Dr Pianim said some challenges associated with a youthful population were, feeding, shelter, education, and provision of meaningful healthcare and employment and said Ghana needed pragmatic measures to address those issues by 2030 to benefit from its youthful population.

He said to transform the challenge into economic and social dividends, there was the need to focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education to keep the bulk of 15 to 29 olds in school and training for nation building and professions.

The Economist said that would also strengthen the budding generation of ICT savvy and social media aficionados who were globally connected and active.

Dr Leticia Adelaide Appiah, Executive Director, National Population Council, said the summit was to provide a platform for stakeholders to deliberate on population challenges and learn from each other.

She said the ripple effect of the population bulge had an impact on the economic and social development of the nation, hence, it was in the interest of the Council to make the data visible to inform decision making.

---GNA
A spokesperson for the Vice President, Gideon Boako, says President Akufo-Addo has not reneged on his promise to fight illegal mining, popularly referred to as galamsey.

His comment was in response to concerns raised by the members of a social media movement, #FixTheCountry, over what they describe as government's mismanagement of various sectors of the economy.

The fight against illegal mining is a process and not an event. You saw the commitment by the President and his government at the initiation of the fight against illegal mining. It was fought to a certain level. People expressed misgivings.

People were not happy with the complaints. The mandate of the President has been renewed. The President has not reneged on his promise and pledge. The President has shown an increasingly renewed commitment to still fight it [illegal mining], Mr. Boako said.

The group had said power outages, galamsey, unemployment, and poor healthcare systems show how various governments had mismanaged the economy.

Mr. Boako on Eyewitness News, however, stressed that while it is necessary for disgruntled Ghanaians to express frustrations about the current economic challenges, they ought to also highlight the viable initiatives introduced by the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

People have experienced some levels of hardship and there is an appreciation that the level of hardship is not the making of just one government. It is a collective thing. As we talk about these things, it is also important that we take stock of where we have come from and where we are today so that we can have a proper appreciation of the issues.

These are the strengths of us as a nation and efforts that have been put in place to reduce the sufferings of the people. We just want to keep in mind that as we recount our problems, there are equally good successes that we have chalked.

Weve been fixing Ghanas problems

The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has also indicated in a Facebook post that the governing NPP has shown commitment to improving the living conditions of Ghanaians since coming into power in 2017.

Mr. Bawumia said although the COVID-19 pandemic had caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement, and iron rods, the government's performance had been outstanding.

We are four months into our [second] four-year mandate. The job of the government is to fix problems. This is what we have been doing since 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the global economy and caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement and iron rods as well as the overall cost of shipping.

Nevertheless, it is very important to place the performance of our government over the last four years after inheriting an economy with 'no meat on the bone' on record. Ours is a government that listens and cares. The facts and data speak for themselves, Dr. Bawumia said.

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Minister for Lands and Natural Resources has issued a strong warning to unauthorized persons and groups parading themselves as security officials deployed to help governments anti-galamsey efforts.

He said they have been disbanded and must cease operation with immediate effect.

In a statement addressing the issue, the minister said the governments ongoing security operation to fight illegal small-scale mining dubbed Operation Halt is being conducted under the instruction of President Akufo-Addo and being overseen by the Ministry of National Security, noting that other groups claiming to be part of the operation must desist from making such claims.

It has come to the attention of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources that certain unauthorized Task Forces and/or security operatives have taken advantage of the ongoing Operation Halt to harass small scale miners across the country The operations of all such unauthorized Task Forces and/or parallel Security Outfits should cease and be disbanded with immediate effect, the statement said.

Earlier this week some 19 persons who claimed to be national security operatives were apprehended by the police in the Eastern Region for illegally mining gold in the Atewa forest reserve.

The suspects, some of whom were in military and police uniforms according to the Kade District manager of the forestry Commission, invaded the reserve in Akyem-Akateng onboard a Toyota Land Cruiser V8 with sophisticated rifles on the dawn of Tuesday under the guise of clamping down on illegal miners.

This development some analysts say must be checked to avoid setting back the governments fight against illegal mining.

Abu Jinapor said he has an unwavering commitment to realize the national policy on small scale mining, which is to preserve our water bodies, forest reserves, and sanitize the sector.

Read the full statement here:

MINISTRY OF LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

PRESS RELEASE

UNAUTHORIZED TASK FORCES, PARALLEL SECURITY OUTFITS TO CEASE THEIR OPERATIONS

I refer to the ongoing security operation, dubbed Operation Halt, mounted by the Ghana Armed Forces to preserve the Red Zones, i.e our Waterbodies and Forest Reserves. The operation is being conducted under the express instruction of the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and is being overseen by the Ministry of National Security.

It has come to the attention of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources that certain unauthorized Task Forces and/or security operatives have taken advantage of the ongoing Operation Halt to harass small scale miners across the country.

For the avoidance of doubt, Government is not against lawful, regulated and sustainable small-scale mining. 'Operation Halt' relates exclusively to the purging of our waterbodies and forest reserves of illegal small-scale mining. There continue to be measures to deal with other forms of illegalities in the mining sector such as enhanced regulation, reformation of permitting regime, community mining and other enforcement mechanisms which the Ministry is pursuing.

The operations of all such unauthorized Task Forces and/or parallel Security Outfits should cease and be disbanded with immediate effect.

The Ministry reiterates its unwavering commitment to realize the national policy on small scale mining, which is to preserve our waterbodies, forest reserves, and sanitize the sector.

END

SIGNED

SAMUEL A. JINAPOR, MP.

MINISTER FOR LANDS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

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A former Deputy Minister for Power, John Jinapor says the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has failed abysmally in delivering its campaign promises.

He says the partys manifesto promises in the run-up to both the 2016 and 2020 general elections have not been realised.

The comments by the Yapei-Kusawgu Member of Parliament come on the heels of Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumias release of a list of 70 issues the Akufo-Addo led-government has addressed since assuming office, following public outcry over the economic situation in the country.

This year alone, the government has introduced nine different taxes and yet it talks about reducing taxes. Fuel prices have gone up by more than 30 percent since January and in that document, they claim fuel prices have been the lowest? The party has failed. If you want to see the epitome of failure, just look at the Zongo Development Fund. They talk about 1D1F, but they havent been able to do at least 10 percent of it in four years, Mr Jinapor said on Eyewitness News on Thursday night.

John Jinapor further argued that this is a government that promised to make Accra the cleanest city. This is a monumental and abysmal failure, and yet he has the audacity to talk about infrastructural development in the health sector. This government has not even constructed one hospital in the whole four years and yet the Vice President has the audacity to release this list.

The legislator further said the government should channel its energy into improving the lives of Ghanaians rather than claiming non-existent successes.

Beyond the economic theories that Dr. Bawumia has been talking about, he has completely lost it. He is simply out of touch. He should get out of the comfort of his office and go out on the streets and monitor the pulse of the nation. He is hitting his chest [and saying] that Ghanas problems have been solved and done in an unprecedented manner.

Things are difficult in this country and I think that the earlier Dr. Bawumia wakes up from his slumber and begins to act, the better. This hooting of horns, blowing of trumpets, and writing down those 70 achievements that are non-existent is a fallacy of hasty conclusion. What he is saying is far-fetched and different from what is on the ground, John Jinapor criticized.

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A joint police and military team is patrolling parts of the Soboba District of the Northern Region after renewed clashes between two clans which left one person dead.

The 30-year-old recurring feud, which is believed to be over a parcel of land between the Nankpantiib and Binafeeib clans, resulted in the burning of several properties on Wednesday.

Police say the joint team was dispatched following sporadic gunshots on Thursday morning.

The Northern Regional Police Crime Officer, Superintendent Bernard Baba Ananga, spoke to Citi News about the incident saying: Police investigations were extended to other communities where we realized that the two clans were closer and have been farming within the area. We are yet to establish the reasons for the confusion. Security was beefed up within the Binafeeib community until Thursday morning when the fight extended to another community.

According to Superintendent Bernard Baba Ananga, the latest security deployment to the areas involved and their adjoining communities is to prevent further reprisal attacks and maintain calm and order.

On the blind side of the police, there was also another firing at another location. So the police and the military quickly moved to that location and realized that the people had burnt five houses in an attempt to attack the same clan which suffered the same destruction. They were given police and military protection and those responsible for this crime fled.

As we speak, we have a combined police and military task force on a 24-hour guard in the area. Our security has also been extended to the other communities so that those other places are also not attacked, he added.
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The Bureau for Public Safety has urged the public to be vigilant in the wake of rising cases of disappearance of people.

According to the organization, the safety measures put in place by the immediate family of vulnerable people could save them from falling victims.

There is growing public concern about the number of persons reported missing in different parts of the country in recent times.

The missing persons include children, middle-aged persons and sometimes the aged.

In some cases, the missing persons have been found alive and healthy, while others were found dead in what looks like manhandling by supposed kidnappers.

Speaking to Citi News, Executive Director of the Bureau of Public Safety, Nana Yaw Akwada called on the police to quicken investigations into such cases.

He said families must be careful in how they handle the situation to avoid jeopardizing the work of the police in investigating such cases.

The phenomenon of missing persons appears to be an emerging threat among the vulnerable population especially the aged and the children. In most cases, there is the need to contact family and friends first as most studies in recent times have shown that a lot of the cases of missing persons actually turn out to be willful absence. So relatives of missing persons must contact the police as soon as possible, engage the community as well and be advised that if you have to use the media dont hesitate to do it, he said.

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The Director of the Institute for Distance Education and e-Learning (IDeL) of the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) Prof. Francis Owusu Mensah has hinted the institute will establish study centres in some selected West African countries.

This came to light at the opening of a three weeks workshop for selected mentors for Supported Teaching in Schools (STS) drawn from schools within the forty (40) study centres of IDeL across the country held in Kumasi. These are schools students from Distance Education programmes will be doing their internship with.

According to him, a good number of students from West African Countries come to Ghana to access higher education programmes hence the need to internalise IDeL programmes. "With Covid-19 and restrictions on physical movement of people, the College is preparing seriously to establish centres in neighbouring West African Countries."

He added that students who want to access quality UEW programmes can remain in their home countries and benefit from it.

"We will put in place a tutorial system, 'Student Support System' where selected academics, professionals will be trained in their various countries where the centres are and they will be recruited to offer in person training to support online training that will be offered," he revealed.

Prof. Francis Owusu Mensah continued, "Staff from time to time will travel to find out what is happening and to supervise some of the teaching and learning activities."

He added that all 450 participant groups in different schedules will be taken part in the workshop for three weeks. "The mentors are expected to train the students to become professional teachers and come out as competent 21st century basic school teachers."

The institute has brought together seasoned experienced facilitators involved in this capacity building for a very long time, who are also lecturers of UEW and at the forefront of the current Basic Education 4 year curriculum being implemented by the Ghana Education Service.

Every year the institute organises workshops and has so far organised series of workshops to train tutors on the use of UEW Learning Management System (LMS), ICT tutors on how to support their colleagues in teaching on UEW Learning Management System, workshop for centre coordinators on how to register students on ITS, a new system that the University has rolled on. This is all geared towards refreshing staff and abreast them with current trends in Distance Education.
Ghana has taken delivery of 350,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines today Friday morning, 7th May, 2021.

The vaccines which is under the Covax facility arrived from DR Congo through Istanbul on a Turkish Airline.

The vaccines were supposed to be delivered on Tuesday but got delayed which got President Akufo-Addo worried.

The President in his May Day address cited international vaccine politics as reasons for the delay.

The arrival of the vaccines will help continue with the second phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Mpraeso, Mr. Davis Ansah Opoku, says President Akufo-Addo remains resolute in his commitment to nip illegal mining, popularly known as Galamsey in the bud despite the challenges he has encountered so far.

According to him, President Akufo-Addos government is committed to deal with the galamsey phenomenon in the country, emphasizing that his administrations efforts will be deliberate during its second in office.

I want all Ghanaians to support President Akufo-Addo to fight illegal mining, it needs collective effort to eradicate galamsey, Mr Davis Ansah Opoku told Kwaku Dawuro on Anopa Nkomo on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7

Recently, there have been complaints that the water bodies that were regaining their natural state at the height of the fight against galamsey are becoming polluted again due to the increasing activities of illegal mining in various parts of the country.

Consultative dialogue

President Akufo-Addo made the call when he opened a two-day national consultative dialogue on small-scale mining to develop a blueprint to deal with galamsey and how to fashion best ways for small-scale mining in Accra.

The conference, which is on the theme: Sustainable small-scale mining for national development, is being attended by all ministers of Lands and Natural Resources in the Fourth Republic, all political parties, parliamentary select committees, mining industry players, faith-based organisations and civil society organisations.

Candid

The President called for a frank national dialogue to fashion concrete policies to deal decisively with the menace of illegal mining and its attendant repercussions on the environment, lives and livelihoods.

He said the policies which should be arrived at on consensus would lead to the promotion of responsible, viable and environmentally sustainable small-scale mining that discarded the use of mercury, shanfan and excavators and the involvement of foreigners.

---KingdomfmOnline
Baum School of Art Auction: The 36th annual auction will once again be held virtually. It will get underway at 12 a.m. Sunday and continue through May 15. Last year, the auction was able to sell more than $120,000 in artwork to 250 collectors in 14 states. Last years auction not only provided a distraction, but was crucial to the efforts of the school and its artists. In-person previews of artwork began on April 12 and will run through May 15. To schedule an appointment, please contact Lauren Faurl at 610-433-0032 or lauren@baumschool.org. Auction items are also available for viewing online. Other information such as how to make a bid or register, is available. Baum School of Art, 510 Linden St., Allentown. 610-433-0032. https://www.baumschool.org/
The issue of 24 hours a day, seven days a week adequate electricity supply to all the villages, towns and cities in Nigeria has remained a matter of concern to many well meaning Nigerians ever since the country acquired self rule on 1 October 1960. The huge sums of money allocated to this sector have never been appropriately utilized because of the cancerous official corruption that has continued to eat deeply into the fabric of the Nigerian society, especially among the civil service and government agencies saddled with the responsibility of projects management.

Although there have been considerable improvements in many areas of development in these 61 years of self rule, particularly in the area of the nations GDP growth rate, the epileptic supply of electricity in the country has been a major cause for worry to many informed Nigerians and foreign investors.

In advanced democracies, electricity supply is totally contracted out to private business enterprises which source for energy and supply consumers. These companies pay taxes on their proceeds to the government, and they are liable to be sued by their customers in case of a breach of contract in the supply of regular electricity. And if that is the pattern in countries like the UK and the US among other developed economies, why are Nigerian politicians finding it so difficult to adopt the style others have already explored to put their countries on top of the world map?

In Britain, for example, there are currently around 60 energy suppliers that provide gas and electricity to homes and businesses across the country. According to figures from Ofgem, the energy regulator, the number of suppliers peaked between March and June 2018, when there were more than 70 energy companies supplying domestic power. Since then, a number of the energy companies have experienced financial failure or even ruin due to a range of factors which include the energy price cap and rising wholesale energy prices. But even at that, there is still a wide variety of energy companies for residents to choose from, each with its own unique selling points, tariffs and price ranges.

Britain's largest energy suppliers are known collectively as the 'Big Six', and between them they supply gas and electricity to over 50 million homes and businesses across the UK. The Big Six are also the UK's longest running private energy suppliers, having all been formed in the 1990s soon after the passage of the 1989 Electricity Act which paved the way for the privatization of the energy sector.

Among the Big Six is the British Gas, owned by parent company Centrica. British Gas supplies 15 million homes in the UK. EDF Energy is another of the Big Six. It is a French State-owned company that supplies 5.6 million homes in the UK and the largest producer of electricity in the UK. There is E.ON, the world's largest investor-owned utility service. E.ON serves over 3.8 million customers and it is the UK market leader in producing combined heat and power. There is Npower, owned by the German company RWE. Npower supplies gas and electricity to 6.5 million customers in the UK. There is Scottish Power, owned by Spanish parent company Iberdrola. One of the smaller of the Big Six energy companies, Scottish Power serves 5.3 million customers in the UK. There is SSE, trading under different names which include SSE, SWALEC and Scottish Hydro depending on the region. SSE is the second largest Big Six supplier in the UK, serving 9.1 million customers.

The point, however, is that energy supply in the UK is not all about the Big Six. A growing number of smaller independent suppliers had been exploring the UK market since 1997, with the aim of providing real competition for the major providers and creating a fairer market for consumers in the process. For typical British families, there is a greater choice now than ever before to ensure they shop around for the best deal on gas and electricity. And sometimes, they discover that the less well-known providers not only offer the best gas and electricity rates, but also better customer care and after-sales service.

The other energy suppliers include Angelic Energy owned by Islington Local Government Council. This is a non-profit energy provider that offers residents an alternative to the Big Six with easy-to-understand terms and pricing with no complicated tariffs. There is the Entice Energy which offers low cost gas to homes all over the UK. Their service boasts of a state of the art online account service. Each customer has access to an account manager. There is Extra Energy, the sister company of the German company ExtraEnergie and is considered a main challenger to the Big Six. Their aim is to offer low prices with excellent service standards.

There is Fairerpower which provides competitive energy prices to residents of Cheshire East. It is managed by Cheshire East Council, which partners with OVO. Payments are usually collected by OVO on behalf of Fairerpower. There is the First Utility, now Shell Energy. First Utility is the biggest supplier outside of the Big Six. As a supplier they campaigned for positive changes, including faster switching. There is Fischer Energy which puts customers first to value fairness, honesty and loyalty. They offer just one tariff, its One Fair Tariff to deliver, one competitive price for all. This is a Family-run company that delivers to customers and not shareholders.

There is the Flow Energy, now part of Octopus Energy. Their UK-based customer service team can offer support every step of the way as pioneers of the electricity-generating Flow Boiler. There is the Future Energy which boasts of low prices as well as transparent billing. Based in Newcastle, they predominantly supply the North East of England and offer both gas and electricity products as part of their service.

GB Energy is another. Now part of Octopus Energy, they provide gas and electricity to over 140,000 homes across the UK. Their ambition is to offer fair, competitive, no gimmicks prices to all customers. GnERGY is another new breed of community suppliers. They aim to offer gas and electricity in an open and honest way. They boast of a multi lingual UK-based call center. Go Effortless Energy is another one that is built from the ground-up using customer perspective. They offer one honest simple and fair tariff to all their customers. They steer clear of misleading loyalty bonuses and cash-back schemes.

There is Good Energy founded in 1999 as the first supplier to have a 100% renewable energy fuel mix. Good Energy offers renewable energy products. There is Avro Energy which began trading in 2015. They look to provide simple and competitive prices of energy products. Avro Energy is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. There is Better Energy which began supplying energy to customers in 2011 and currently only offers gas to customers. There is the Boost Power, the new name for OVO pay-as-you-go energy which aims to improve the prepayment energy market. Energy use can be monitored and meters topped up using the Boost app.

There is the Breeze Energy which aims to help people become more energy efficient. They offer tips to help people use less energy and save money. There is the Brighter World Energy which began trading in 2016. For each 2,000 customers that switch over to them, they could build a sustainable solar powered micro grid in a village in Africa. They work in partnership with not-for-profit supplier Robin Hood Energy. There is Bristol Energy, committed to local development and reinvestment. They pride themselves on a transparent service. Bristol Energy supplies to around 10,000 customers in Britain.

There is Bulb Energy which specializes in renewable energy products. They look to take on the Big Six by empowering their customers. There is Affect Energy, a team of ex-employees who used to work for one of the Big Six. They have over 50-years' combined experience in the energy market. Affect energy pride themselves on their level of customer service. It is now owned by Octopus Energy. There is Outfox the Market Energy which offers a customer-led energy alternative. Energy is bought at wholesale from 100% renewable sources and gas and electricity are available with no contract tie-ins.

There is So Energy, set up to restore customer trust in suppliers. Committed to delivering low prices for their customers, a simplistic approach and the latest technology give So Energy a competitive edge. There is the Co-op Energy. This is the only UK supplier to be owned by their customers. Coop Energy has been operating since 2010 and boasts of a fair and transparent service. There is Daligas which only offers gas to their customers. Daligas helps SMEs with a simplified pricing structure and boasts of its transparent and trustworthy service. There is Ebico Energy which was founded in 2008 and is one of the few suppliers who offer zero standing charge and competitive pay-as-you-go tariffs.

There is the Economy 7 Energy which offers a cheaper rate during seven night-time hours. Special Economy 7 meters show customers day rate and discounted rate. There is Economy Energy which fights to keep their customer's bills falling. Over 5% of their energy is generated from renewable sources and they boast of a service that has local communities at its heart. There is Ecotricity which is always looking for new ways to invest in green energy sources. Ecotricity regularly features among the top in satisfaction surveys. It is not-for-dividend, which means their customers always come first.

There is E Energy which is a British-owned energy company based in Birmingham. The company aims to keep costs down so customers can pay less. Tariffs are simple and straightforward to help customers choose the best deal. There is Energy SW. This company works alongside OVO to offer improved levels of customer service. They also offer competitive pricing and pre-payment meters for landlords to help residents enjoy savings as well. There is ENGIE Power which looks to push boundaries in low carbon energy solutions. They offer data-led energy products to help customers save money. They serve more than 14,000 customers in both the public and private sectors. And there are many more of private distributors of gas and electricity in the UK.

The involvement of the Nigerian government in the distribution of gas and electricity to households and businesses in the country is definitely one of the major factors that is stalling the industrialization of the country. And that is not doing Nigerian families any good.

Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Staff at work in Nigeria

If the government could contract the supply of electricity and gas to private entrepreneurs as is done in the more advanced democracies, there is a possibility that most villages, towns and cities in the country would have light 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is a possibility that most Nigerians who presently live abroad and work for the interest of their foreign employers would return to Nigeria to establish their own businesses. Nigeria would become an industrialized country in no time. Employment figures would be boosted. Nigerians would be able to do two or three shift duties, morning afternoon and night. As many people get meaningfully employed, the crime rate would drop. Nigerians would once again become a happy people. But would Nigerian politicians realize that modern politics has moved from politics of power to politics of service delivery? That is the point.

I think it has become imperative for the National Assembly to take a hard look at these facts and do something about the situation their countrymen find themselves in. I suppose the reason they have done nothing is because of their greed and policy of official corruption and possibly because most Nigerians are unaware of how gas and electricity are distributed in other countries like the UK and the USA, countries that practise politics of service delivery as opposed to the politics of power Nigerians practise.

But it is not too late to join the bandwagon. In the UK, the Electricity Act was passed only 32 years ago, in 1989, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister. The act provided for the privatization of electricity supply throughout Great Britain. The act replaced the Central Electricity Generating Board and restructured existing electricity boards in Scotland. As it is with Nigerian governments involvement in the Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) which has industry participants that do not supply electricity and gas to any community in their own right but sit at table like the administrative officers they all are, the Generating Board was seen by the Thatcher administration as 'inflexible, bureaucratic, secretive and largely outside of political control'.

The same goes for the Nigerian industry participants  the Federal Ministry of Power, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, the Electricity Generation Companies (GenCos), the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), the Electricity Distribution Companies(DisCos), the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, the Gas Aggregator Company of Nigeria, the Nigerian Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA, the Central Electricity. They are inflexible, bureaucratic, secretive and largely outside of political control.

The liberalization and subsequent privatization of the energy markets in the United Kingdom became necessary when government recognized that the electricity industries in Europe and the United States operated more successfully under private ownership. The act also established a licensing procedure and an independent regulator for the industry. It was called the Office of the Electricity Regulator (OFFER) but is now called Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM).

Do Nigerian legislators need to be told that with a steady supply of electricity, many small-scale and medium-scale businesses will be reactivated? They will thrive. The economy will be boosted and employment figures will go up. Crime rate will come down if not totally eradicated.

Why have Nigerian politicians decided to keep their countrymen and women in near total darkness? Why have they decided to make their country a failed state? What would it cost government, barring greediness and official corruption, to completely hands off anything about gas and electricity supply and contract them out totally to the private sector? What could possibly be the cost to government?

By Chief Sir Emeka Asinugo, KSC
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Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has welcomed the courts decision to acquit and discharge him and six others in the case of alleged procurement breaches in the purchase of an ambulance for his constituency.

The High Court on Friday, May 7, 2021 acquitted and discharged Mahama Ayariga and six others upon a submission of no case by their lawyers.

Mr. Ayariga said he had tried several times to explain to the Office of the Special Prosecutor then led by Martin Amidu that there was no wrongdoing in the procurement of the ambulance, but the office did not accept his explanation.

In an interview with Citi News after the courts decision, Mahama said he was grateful to Ghanaians for the support.

Weve been in court for several weeks now and the judge gave a ruling and acquitted and discharged all of us of all the charges that were levelled against us by the Office of the Special Prosecutor. So I just want to thank all those who rallied to support me when the matter was brought to the public attention, he said.

He further explained that all those involved in the case wanted to help the community and did nothing wrong to be dragged to court.

Everybody who was involved in the process acted with the singular purpose of just helping the people of Bawku to have an ambulance. The Special Prosecutor took up this matter and all efforts to get him to appreciate that there was nothing wrong with anything that had happened fell on deaf ears, and he decided to prosecute and so today, we thank God that the judge took the position that the prosecution has not made any case against all of us and therefore we should be acquitted and discharged.

The Special Prosecutor brought two different cases against the Bawku Central legislator; one involving the lawmaker's use of a parliamentary loan approved for the purchase of a V8 vehicle for official use, and the other over an ambulance he purchased for the Bawku Municipal Assembly.

---citinewsroom
Today, Ghana welcomed the arrival of 350,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility (CEPI, GAVI, UNICEF, WHO), with logistical support from UNICEF. These AstraZeneca vaccine doses, which were developed by the Serum Institute of India (SII), form part of the larger 1.7 million consignment of doses allotted earlier to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 1.3 million doses have been reallocated to five countries in Africa.

Ghana was selected as one of the recipients of the doses due to its rapid, efficient and coordinated response to this public health crisis, as well as its absorption capacity. The Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service have also significantly strengthened cold chain equipment and facilities over the past years, with support from GAVI and UNICEF. This has enabled the successful and safe transfer of the vaccines between the two West African countries. To assess the potency of the vaccine, UNICEF formed part of an independent committee which conducted a complete assessment of the vaccine and formally endorsed that they have been well maintained and are safe and effective for immediate use.

The initial vaccination campaign, which commenced on Monday 1st March following the vaccination of the President of the Republic, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, has enabled health workers, persons with underlying comorbidities, frontline personnel living in Greater Accra, Ashanti and parts of Central regions to receive their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. This has provided a level of protection for members of the population most at risk of contracting the virus.

The additional 350,000 vaccines will contribute to the administration of the follow-up second doses, which is expected to start on Monday 19th May for two weeks. Priority population groups include health care workers and other frontline workers, persons above 60 years of age, and persons with underlying medical conditions. As it was the case during the first phase, the Ghana Health Service and Ministry of Health will initially target 43 districts, including 25 in the Greater Accra region, 16 in Ashanti and two districts in the Central Region. Regional and district health directorates are sensitizing the population.

UNICEF and WHO in Ghana welcome the arrival of these vaccines during these challenging times, when there is limited availability of the COVID-19 doses globally. Thanks to the collaboration between Governments, the support from the COVAX facility (CEPI, GAVI, UNICEF, WHO) and all partners, we are all seeking to ensure that the population is protected.
Algeria has told its trade unions to be wary of "subversive" groups seeking to "sow sedition" ahead of elections next month, as authorities look to calm tensions amid a deep economic crisis.

Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad gave the warning Thursday  days after 230 firefighters were suspended for demanding higher wages and better conditions at a weekend rally in the capital Algiers.

The Interior Ministry said the strike was a "plot" encouraged by "parties hostile to Algeria", a recurring accusation against any dissenting voice in the country.

Influential army magazine El Djeich this week warned against "suspicious strikes" intended to stir up trouble, describing national security as "a red line" ahead of legislative elections slated for 12 June.

Political deadlock

Algeria's government is seeking to calm anger stemming from food shortages, soaring prices and 15 percent unemployment.

The country's economic crisis has been exacerbated by a fall in oil revenues, and a political deadlock that has been in place since an uprising by the anti-government Hirak movement.

Hirak protests began two years ago in response to former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term in office.

While the ailing autocrat was forced to step down, Hirak has carried on its demonstrations, demanding the overhaul of a ruling system that has been in place since Algeria's independence from France in 1962.

Authorities say the Hirak movement is being infiltrated by those who want to drag it towards violence.

Hirak has called for a boycott of the elections.
France's Prime Minister Jean Castex announced this Friday that 10million would be spent on increasing security in police stations following fatal attacks in Rambouillet and Avignon.

Speaking at a police station in north of Paris this morning, Castex paid tribute to the victim of the latest attack on a police officer, who was killed Wednesday in Avignon during a drug bust.

Officer Eric Masson, was hailed by the Prime Minsiter as an "exemplary policeman" who died in the service of his country.

He also recalled that seven police officers died "on duty" in 2020 .

Eric Masson "was committed to the fight against insecurity", he added, "particularly in the fight against all forms of trafficking, including that of narcotics."

During his address, the Prime Minister announced the release of 10 million to "strengthen the security of police stations", including the roll-out of individual police body-cams that will be implemented by the summer.

He also underlined that both he and Interior Minister Gerald Damanin would meet with French police unions by early next week.

Castex was with police in Sarcelles this Friday to unveil a government reconstruction plan aimed at renovating and modernising police stations and took the opportunity to highlight his administration's support for officers on a national level, promising the deployment of more gendarmes on the ground and the upgrading of police equipment.
Professor Stephen Kendie, a Research Professor at the Department of Integrated Development Studies of the School for Development Studies (SDS) at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) has underscored the need for proactive measures to be put in place to pre-empt and prevent violent conflicts in the country.

According to him, the apparent peaceful environment must not give the country false hopes of sustainable peace and an inclusive society, and called on all stakeholders to work towards ensuring peace at all levels.

He also said the country must prioritise producing more specialists to design strategies and policies for sustaining peace for national development.

Prof Kendie made the call during a stakeholder's consultative workshop on the development of three new academic programmes of the Department of Peace Studies of the school for Development Studies at the University of Cape Coast.

The workshop was attended by representatives of the two main political parties, the Electoral Commission, the National Media Commission, the National Labour Commission, the security agencies, members of the academia and the media to solicit inputs from the stakeholders to ensure that the new programmes were fit for purpose.

The three new programmes are; PhD, Mphil and MA in Peace and Development Studies, PhD, Mphil and MA in Politics, Peace and Security and certificate courses in Mediation.

Prof Kendie who led a discussion on the proposed PhD in Peace and Development Studies programme indicated that there were widespread nature of political, land, religious and chieftaincy violent conflicts in the country.

He said the new programmes would offer a wide range of courses that would enable students to acquire skills in conflict analysis, mediation and dialogue which were relevant for peace building and managing societal challenges and stressed the need to explore the linkages among peace, conflicts and development from an interdisciplinary perspective.

'Considering the importance of development studies and its linkages with peace in the country, it is timely to increase the mass of people in Ghana who understand the nexus of conflict, peace and development to think more deeply, engage in research and prescribe appropriate solutions', he said.

'The peace we want has to be cultivated. There can be no peace if we do not fight for it. Let us all be peace ambassadors', he added.

Mr Emmanuel Yaw Tenkorang, the Dean of the School for Development Studies said the school ensured that its academic programmes were fit for purpose and produced students fit directly into where they were needed at the job market.

Mr George Sarpong, the Executive Secretary of the National Media Commission encouraged UCC to reflect on the possibilities of mounting courses that would address conflicts that might arise as a result of emerging technologies and innovations.

He also encouraged the university to run short courses in peace and development studies for identifiable groups such as chiefs, opinion leaders, pastors and Imams who were often the first point of call when there was a conflict in the society.

The participants commended UCC for taking the initiative to address issues relating to peace and development of the country.

GNA
Opposition fighters withdrew from the Somali capital on Friday, ending a tense standoff with pro-government troops after a dispute over delayed elections triggered the country's worst political violence in years.

Hundreds of heavily-armed gunmen pulled out of strongholds in Mogadishu they had occupied since late April, when a long-running political crisis turned deadly with clashes erupting between rival factions of the security forces.

Under a deal reached by the warring sides this week, opposition troops began leaving their positions in the capital, and key roads sealed off with sandbags and machine guns were opened once more.

"We are sending our forces back to the frontline position to defend the country and its people," said Mahad Salad, an opposition lawmaker, at a camp outside Mogadishu where troops assembled after pulling out of the city.

Mogadishu had been on edge since February, when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed's term ended before elections were held, and protesters took to the streets against his rule.

But a resolution in April to extend his mandate by two years split the country's fragile security forces along all-important clan lines.

Soldiers loyal to influential opposition leaders began pouring into the capital, where clashes broke out with pro-government troops, killing three.

Exodus

The fighting drove tens of thousands of civilians from their homes and divided the city, with government forces losing some key neighbourhoods to opposition units.

Under pressure to ease the tension, Mohamed abandoned his mandate extension and instructed his prime minister to arrange fresh elections and bring together rivals for talks.

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed term ended before elections were held. By - (AFP/File)

"These forces came to the rescue of the people, and have taught a new lesson which will be remembered in future. They refused a dictatorship, and have forced the democratic governance process to continue," opposition lawmaker Salad said.

Indirect elections were supposed to have been held by February under a deal reached between the government and Somalia's five regional states the previous September.

But that agreement collapsed as the president and the leaders of two states, Puntland and Jubaland, squabbled over the terms.

Months of UN-backed talks failed to broker consensus between the feuding sides.

In early May, Mohamed relaunched talks with his opponents over the holding of fresh elections, and agreed to return to the terms of the September accord.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble has invited the regional leaders to a round of negotiations on May 20 in the hope of resolving the protracted feud and charting a path to a vote.

There have been protests against the president. By - (AFP/File)

The international community has threatened sanctions if elections are not held soon, and warned the political infighting distracted from the fight against Al-Shabaab, the militants who control swathes of countryside.

Major General Ali Araye Osoble told opposition troops outside the capital that it was time to return to duty.

"I order that you return to your positions and fulfil your commitments in the fight against Al-Shabab," the opposition commander said.
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Evidence that this country's propaganda landscape has changed beyond measure is provided by the fact that less than a week after the President had ordered a new initiative by the armed forces, against galamsey operations on our rivers and water, at least two major videos have appeared on the Internet, tearing the new effort to shreds. ALREADY!

And a report is being circulated on the Internet, claiming that a recording has been intercepted in which a big NPP man in the Ashanti region confesses to having paid a one-million-dollar bribe in order to obtain a mineral concession!

We are yet to see whether the recording will not be secretly appropriated from its peddlers and put out of circulation. For were it to be proved authentic, it would make the man's official position in the NPP untenable. He would become an irrefutable reproach to the party, as he would not only constitute a danger to public safety by promoting galamsey but also, he would be assessed as not even possessing the intelligence not to expose his own party to ridicule. I mean, to confess to having paid a bribe of one million dollars , in a country whose opposition has been accused (by your own party) of having benefited from Woyomistic largesse? Come on!

Now, back to the video propagandists: they are not the usual ranter type, whom one can dismiss out of hand immediately they sail into the beguiling waters of the Queen's English. Both these guys are well spoken and they alternate between Twi and English with the greatest of ease. Not only that  they effortlessly disparage the logic of the official line, as they pick up holes from news items reporting statements by representatives of the Government.

The more dangerous propagandist  because he appears personable and relaxed  shares with his viewers, his well-researched conclusion that the Government is once again being duplicitous with the public over its anti-galamsey stance.

You see what they are doing now? he asks. Because Ghanaians have been asking questions about where the previously seized excavators are, they now say that when they seize excavators, they will burn them on the site where they were seized! If they have been burnt, you can't ask for their whereabouts, can you? And he chuckles: hahahaha!

Now, his is an posture that cannot be ignored. I have warned the Government before, myself, that if you allow your credibility to be punctured, someone else will fill the vacuum. And here we are.

What the Government has said, as one report puts it, is:

QUOTE:

Unlike previous attempts to flush out illegal miners from Ghanas water bodies and forest reserves, the Government has announced that all equipment that will be seized under a new effort to end galamsey will be destroyed on-site. The operation, which involves the deployment of 200 military personnel, [has] already [resulted in ]nine excavators, 127 changfans (washing machines), and one fuel pump which were being used for illegal mining in the river Pra, [being] have destroyed [detonated] by the military.

The exercise on the Pra dubbed Operation Halt.... also resulted in the arrest of two Chinese nationals at Anttieku, near Twifo Praso, in the Central Region for illegally mining in a forest reserve. Addressing a press briefing on the military operation... the Minister of Defence, Mr Dominic Nitiwul said the Chinese had been handed over to the national security for further interrogation and would be prosecuted.

He said: It is noted that since the commencement of the operation, the troops have destroyed a good deal of equipment, including nine excavators, 127 changfans -machine platforms associated with mining, and one fuel pump. Furthermore, the following items have been seized and would be destroyed, except items that will be used as exhibits in court. The items include 824 plate batteries, one pump-action gun case, a generator, Huawei phone, chainsaw machine, eight raincoats, fuel filters, non-citizen Ghana ID cards, two drilling equipment, and two boots. These items will be destroyed except what the police deem necessary for their work for prosecution.

Mr Nitiwul continued: "The law already outlaws mining within the river bodies and 100 metres to each of the flanks of [a] river. If you do any activity there, it is an illegal activity. The President has directed that we clean up the river bodies and like I said, we are not taking any equipment home, we are not seizing any equipment, no equipment will be returned home. It's not like before, where you will seize equipment. They will all be destroyed on-site, it is as simple as that. UNQUOTE

Well, the propagandists are laughing. You say you have burned them. But why should we take your word for it? Didn't you tell us before that you had taken seized equipment to the police for safe-keeping? Or to the government installations in the districts? But didn't they end up back in the hands of the owners, who knew what telephone numbers to call to have their equipment released back to them? 

These rhetorical questions are, of course, eagerly swallowed by Joe Public,, who is getting increasingly angry that he has to spend more and more money buying sachet water or bottled water to meet the needs of his family. Because Ghana's natural water-supplies are almost all polluted by galemseyers.

Maybe the only answer to public scepticism would be for the Government to designate a location as a seized illegal mining equipment crematorium?

Yes, why not? Saturday 11.30 a.m. Public burning of seized excavators, bulldozers and changfans. At such and such a location. Face masks will be obligatory. Social distancing will be strictly observed, Come one, come all!

You think that's absurd? Go and tell that to a determined propagandist and he will ask you this: You say you have made videos or taken still photographs of equipment being burned on-site, right? But how can you prove that the burning was not staged? How can you prove that the pictures are not old pictures hat have been retouched and presented as 'new'?

You see? What did I say about the consequences of a Government losing its credibility?

The second propagandist on the Net is even more pernicious in his assertions. Sounding like someone who knows China well, he claims he has seen plans by the Chinese, not only to destroy our rivers and water-bodies, but also, to poison our farmlands by saturating them with chemicals to an extent whereby the countries of the European Union (who, he alleges, are already complaining about the quality of Ghana's cocoa) will stop buying cocoa from Ghana.

He then shows pictures of Chinese nationals learning how to plant and harvest cocoa! China will supplant Ghana as a supplier of cocoa to the European Union and other chocolate-manufacturing countries, he says without flinching.

He adds, for good measure, the speculation that When Ghana cannot earn foreign exchange any longer from the sale of cocoa, she will have to borrow more money from China! And Ghanaians will become the servants of the Chinese!

I have written before that China, with its extremely well-developed systems of public surveillance and record-keeping, should make sure that no Chinese with criminal convictions, are allowed to leave China to come to Ghana. The criminals must not be allowed to destroy the friendship between China and Ghana, which has been very strong frfor a long time.

By CAMERON DUODU
On June 5, Ethiopia will conduct national parliamentary elections that will be decisive not only for Ethiopia, but the entire Horn of Africa. On the eve of Special Envoy, Ambassador Jeffrey Feltmans first trip to the Horn of Africa, five Democratic U.S. Senators sent him a letter, expressing their concerns about Ethiopia. 29 April 2021 letter to US Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey Feltman,

Unfortunately, in their letter, Senators Ben Cardin, Tim Kaine, Jacky Rosen, Cory Booker and Ed Markey, displayed a shallow understanding, one might even say ignorance, about the conflict in Ethiopia. Furthermore, their suggestion that Ethiopias national elections should not go forward, is downright dangerous.

Putting Western arrogance aside, which believes it has supreme right to tell Ethiopia, a sovereign nation, when it should allow it citizens to vote, the letter displays no knowledge of the unique dynamics of Ethiopian society. One wonders if these senators have any knowledge of the last 125 year intricate history of Ethiopia. A period spans from the March 1, 1896 victory at Adwa by Emperor Menelik II against the Italian colonial army, to the present efforts by Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed to unify the Ethiopian nation through the newly created, non-ethnic based, Prosperity Party. The senators appeared to have based their opinions about Ethiopia almost exclusively on news reports or from Amnesty International.

De-Legitimize the Election?

The most egregious section of their letter is the following paragraph, which could be construed as election interference against a sovereign nation.

The destabilizing potential of these trends should not be underestimated, especially in light of the national elections planned for June 5, 2021. These planned elections are not currently on track to meet international standards for freedom, fairness, and transparency. Already, several opposition political parties in Ethiopia have announced plans to abstain from the elections due to a lack of faith that they will be conducted credibly. This fear is based in part on the governments detention of thousands of opposition leaders and supporters, some of whom have been deprived of due process, tortured, or even summarily executed, according to Amnesty Internationals May 2020 Report. We worry that, if elections move forward without the reforms required to earn the trust of the Ethiopian public, growing ethnic and political tensions across the country will boil over into violence. (emphasis added)

It is outrageous for members of the U.S. Senate to suggest that a sovereign nation should cancel their elections. To my knowledge, only one party, not several, has chosen to abstain. However, these U.S. Senators accusations are foolishly giving cover for more parties to withdraw.

Given the current climate of ethnic tension in Ethiopia, to suggest that violence would ensue if the nation proceeds with its election, could in fact, be encouraging more violence.

In response to this call to postpone its upcoming election, Ethiopias Ambassador to Washington, Fitsum Arega, replied on May 4, in his own letter to Ambassador Feltman:

The upcoming June parliamentary election will be an historic milestone in the political transformation of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian National Electoral Board, which is [the most] independent electoral body in the history of the nation, has been established and is responsible for organizing, conducting, and oversighting, the election and election related activities. The Ethiopian Government has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure the election is free, fair, and transparent.

Despite the best efforts by the Ethiopian government to conduct its most open and transparent election in the last 26 years, no doubt difficulties will occur in the voting process. However, opposition political parties will now be able to opportunistically claim the election is illegitimate, and contest the results, citing allegations from the U.S. Senators letter. This could fuel additional ethnic violence, thus making it more challenging for the government to unify the nation following the election.

Sovereign Obligation

The Ethiopian government, and the Ethiopian people are in full preparation for this critical election, which has already been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It would be irresponsible for the government of Ethiopia to deprive its citizens and all the parties participating, the right to vote. Ethiopia, a sovereign nation, believes it is paramount that its citizens determine the future of their nation by electing its leaders at the ballot box.

The government insists it is vital to conduct these elections, even during these problematic times, striving to emulate the best practices of the U.S. It should be noted that the United States has never postponed a national election, despite severe dislocations of its people. Not during World War II, not during the Great Depression, not during the Spanish Flu, and not during the surge of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the largest number of mail-in ballots in U.S. history. Even in 1864, while tens of thousands of Americans were imprisoned or fighting on the battlefield in the midst of the U.S. Civil War, the election was held, and Abraham Lincoln, the unfaltering defender of the Union, was re-elected.

(To the followers of my website. I did not post any articles in the last month because I was traveling Nigeria and Ethiopia.)

Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com. Mr. Freemans stated personal mission is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa by applying the scientific economic principles of Alexander Hamilton
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The Nana administration has aimed at chaining Ghanaians, putting padlocks on their mouths. He has therefore asked his minister of defense to purchase 3o million padlocks for each Ghanaian. You only have to speak against his administration, and you will be served with one. All Ghanaians are required to keep quiet, or else, be ready to serve your country in prison.

The Nana Addo administration is threatening the practice of democracy in Ghana.

Ghanaians are now being treated like rams being led to the slaughter house. Silent, every Ghanaian!

Who are you to say a word? You must be super strong, able to resist the bending laws of Ghana. Before you say a word, please take a three hundred degrees turn to see if Nana Addo is not around, or that none of his spies are around. You either end up in prison or youre kidnapped.

Yes, it was Nana Addo who urged ghanaians to participate in the building of the country under his administration on the 7th of January 2017, he has however changed his mind. After all only a fool doesnt change his mind. The president of Ghana now requires all Ghanaians to be spectators, not citizens. Anyone who tries to be a citizen of Ghana will face charges.

First it was the police officer, ACP Dr Benjamin Agordzor. Now it is Captain Smart-an Angel tv presenter. The police officer faced court charges for an alleged plot of cou, when he actually updated Ghanaians on the composition of the Ghana Police Service. You all are witnesses to what happened.

Captain Smart, a smart political critic has to suffer the dumb syndrome for criticising the Nana Addo government. Reports show that his manager has suspended him for serving Ghanaians in his right capacity as a critic. The manager did what he did, may be to protect, first, his tv station and second to protect Captain Smart. Where as in the first case, 'protecting the TV stations' may be the best choice for the manager, the latter does not protect Captain. Captain Smart does not need the protection of anyone. It is the democracy of Ghana that needs to be protected now.

Democracy is under great threat in Ghana and it is required of every Ghanaian to join the battlefield to protect it. It is the only legacy our ancestor, J. J. Rawlings has left behind for us. It is actually the only asset every Ghanaian has since we have all lost our economic glory. It needs to be protected.

We were all here when under this Nana Addo government, the judiciary service of Ghana threatened media freedom in a letter they released. I wouldnt want to talk about it since I have already dealt with it in an article titled Media Freedom in Chains in Ghana.

What remains a burden for me is the fact that our economy is not working although Ghana has everything some'. As Ghanaians are thinking of what to do to get food served on the table in a difficult economy, their voices too are ending them somewhere bad.

It is only those who have chosen to follow the stupid status quo who remain free and observe that there is democracy. Those few of us who cannot keep quiet have noticed that there is no freedom in Ghana.

The constitution of Ghana is only one old book in an abandoned archive. Only the will of individual state leaders rule this big nation.

The truth is that there are some few Ghanaians who will continue to speak out untill they end in prison where we wish to serve Ghana from.

God bless our Homeland Ghana and make her Great and Strong.

Authored by Emmanuel Graham Nyameke (servant of Ghana)
Community Utilities also operates the former Penn Estates Utilities Inc., which serves a development in Stroud and Pocono townships in Monroe County. It is part of the Corix Group of Companies operating in 17 states, and says it is one of the largest privately owned water and wastewater utilities in the U.S.
Government has deployed 400 military personnel to combat illegal mining activities at river bodies across the country.

A press statement signed by the Minister for Information, Hon. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said.

The statement noted that the operation christened Operation Halt II forms part of government's renewed strategy to curb mining activities at river bodies.

According to the statement, the second phase of the operation aimed at removing all persons and logistics involved in mining on water bodies and on the tributaries of the Pra river.

The new phase of the operation focuses on the tributaries of the Pra river which have also been significantly affected by the activities of illegal miners. The Ghana Armed Forces has also commenced armed patrols of the Pra river itself.

The release further urged miners to avoid these areas.

200 military personnel in the first phase dispatched by the government to flush out illegal miners on Ghanas water bodies destroyed nine excavators,127 changfans and one fuel pump.

Read full statement below:
The Coalition for Domestic Election Observers (CODEO) has urged the Electoral Commission (EC) to bring an end to the periodic compilation of a new voters register.

According to the election observers group, the said exercise is costly to the state and often accompanied by violence, stakeholder mistrust, suspicion, acrimony, and tension.

CODEO as part of its recommendations from its Post-Election Stakeholders Review Workshop on Ghanas 2020 Presidential and General Elections issued on Friday, May 7, 2021, said the 2020 voters register should be the last one to be compiled.

Other challenges associated with the periodic registration of voters include the registration by unqualified persons (minors and foreigners), the bussing of people from one part of the country to register at different locations as well as the abuse of the guarantor system.

It thus urged the EC to collaborate with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to enable it to capture Ghanaians who turn 18 onto the current register.

According to CODEO, the said harmonization is capable of replacing the process of compiling a new or limited voters' register from time to time.

The 2020 voters register should be the last register to be compiled from scratch. Going forward, the EC should collaborate with the National Identification Authority (NIA) to create an integrated system for identifying current voters and also for registering qualified individuals who turn 18 years.

This CODEO charged the EC to engage political parties and other key stakeholders including CSOs to build trust.

To help build stakeholder trust, the EC should engage political parties and other key stakeholders including CSOs every step of the way towards the harmonization of the EC and NIA systems.

---citinewsroom
Three organisers of Christ Embassy Pneumatic All Night church service last week have appeared before an Accra Circuit Court.

They are Alex Asomani, Wilson Delali Agyemang and Kumi Nutifafa.

The three have been charged with conspiracy to commit crime namely: failing to comply with restrictions imposed and failing to comply with restrictions imposed.

Also in the dock was Edmond Dapaah, the facility Manager of the Fantasy Dome at Trade Fair Centre.

He is being held on the charge of abetment of crime.

All the accused persons have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Court has, however, directed the prosecution to take amend the charge relating failing to comply with restrictions imposed, as it found it to be defective.

The Court, presided over by Mrs Ellen Ofei Ayeh, then preserved three of the accused persons plea on the defective charge.

The trial judge ascertained that the accused persons' places of abode and their occupation, saying the defence counsel failed to address her on those areas.

The accused have been, subsequently, granted bail in the sum of GHC 80,000 with two sureties each, who are gainfully employed or are public/civil servants earning not less than GHC 1,400.

The investigator was ordered by the court to investigate the residence of sureties, while the sureties are to deposit their passport pictures with the court.

The accused are expected to reappear on May 24.

Prior to the bail, Nana Beyin Arhin, who represented the organisers of the all-night church service, prayed for bail, saying they would appear in court whenever they were needed.

Jerry Avernorgbor, counsel for Dapaah, told the court that his client did not deserve to be in court and he would prove that during the trial.

Mr Avernorgbor said his client would not interfere with investigations but would rather assist.

The Defence Counsel said the accused had sufficient sureties who were ready to sign his bail bond.

Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Simon Apiorsornu narrated that the Police gathered intelligence that the youth wing of Christ Embassy Church, Ghana, had organized an all-night service dubbed, Pneumatic Night at the Fantasy Dome within the Trade Fair Center, without obeying COVID-19 safety protocols.

He said a video footage of the said church service was also cited on various social media platforms and in the video, it was observed that, the congregants were not wearing face or nose mask.

Chief Inspector Apiorsornu said upon the intelligence gathered, the police proceeded to the Trade Fair Center where they met the head of security of the center, Justice Tuuru Konlan.

The prosecutor said the security confirmed to Police that the Christ Embassy Church organised the said programme on the 30th of April, this year, from about 2000 hours at the Fantasy Dome within the Trade Fair Center and closed in the morning of May 1.

The Management of the Fantasy Dome did not officially inform the Management of Trade Fair Center about the said programme, he said.

The prosecutor said the Police conducted an inspection within the Fantasy Dome, as well as the Round Pavilion.

Upon the measurement of the intervals between the arranged chairs, it was observed that the one-metre rule of social distancing between congregants was not observed, he said.

Also, there was no fresh air ventilation and that the church relied on air conditioners.

According to the Prosecutor, further enquiries revealed that the programme exceeded the maximum two-hour duration.

Consequently, Asomani, Agyeman, Nutifafa were the Organizers of the all-night church service were arrested by the Police.

The Prosecution said Dapaah, the facility manager of the Fantasy Dome was also arrested by the police for questioning.

In their investigation and cautioned statements, Chief Inspector Apiorsornu said the accused persons could not give any tangible reasons for flouting the COVID-19 protocols.

---GNA
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The Coalition of National Youth Organizers, an association of Youth Organizers of four political parties is asking the Akufo-Addo led government to admit the challenges of the country and fix them.

The political parties involved are; the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), People's National Convention (PNC), All Progressive Congress (APC), and the Progressive People's Party (PPP).

In a press statement, Mr Jude Balma for GCPP said he was particularly pained about the unemployment rate among the youth who he described as the fulcrum for developing any serious country because they had the energy and zeal to push the future of the country.

Unstable lighting system is killing investors' confidence and the President must fix it, galamsey is killing our mining sector and government must fix it, the high unemployment rate is a national security threat and the government must act swiftly to fix this broken country.

Mr King Hassan of the APC complained about increases in fuel prices and quizzed why a government that admitted difficulties in the financial sector, would want to tax its people unreservedly to their discomfort.

Sharing his sentiments, he questioned Government's commitment to fighting the unregulated and illegal small-scale mining: "if operation galamstop, couldn't stop the galamsey then the government cannot and will not fight galamsey.

For his part, Mr. Mark Arkoh the National Youth Organizer for the PNC underscored the need for the Government to as a matter of emergency admit the deficiencies in the power sector and tackle it head-on as it could have serious implications on the country's economy.

Government is slow to admit the wrongs affecting us as a people and particularly, the lack of willingness on its part to further invest in other renewable energy resources to lessen the plight of local industries", Mr Osei Kofi of PPP, added.

---GNA
A group calling itself the Concerned Youth of Odododiodoo in the Greater Accra Region is demanding justice for two persons who were killed in the area as a result of the 2020 electoral violence.

The Odododiodoo constituency recorded two deaths while six others got injured from a shooting incident in the area post-December 7, 2020.

In an interview with Citi News, Convener of the group, Vincent Nii Okai Adams urged the police to provide details regarding the current level of investigations launched into the incident.

We are in May [2021] now and our concern now is that a bad precedent is being set. The Mayor of Accra has not done anything about this. People talk about Ododiodiodoo and all they can talk about is violence. We want justice. Whoever the perpetrators are they should be brought to book, he said.

Two persons died while one other person was injured after an alleged shooting incident at the Modak Hotel, Korley Wokon in the Odododiodoo constituency during the 2020 general elections.

There were also gunshots at the City Engineers cluster of polling stations also in the Odododiodoo constituency.

Other violent incidents were also recorded during the general elections.

---citinewsroom
The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has reiterated government's commitment to continue its capacity building programme for the Ghana Prisons Service.

Speaking at the graduation and commissioning of officers from the junior corps of the Prisons Service in Accra on Friday, Vice President Bawumia underscored the crucial role of the Prisons Service in the administration of justice in the country, and government's continuous efforts to improve the capacity and welfare of the Service.

Dr. Bawumia highlighted interventions the Akufo-Addo government has been making in the past four years towards improving the capacity of the Service, especially in expansion of personnel, infrastructure, as well as welfare.

"Governments commitment to improving adequately the human resource of the Prison Service has led to the expansion of its manpower base, with the recruitment of some two thousand, nine hundred and fifty (2,950) recruits, and enlistment of three hundred (300) cadets, over the course of the last four years," Dr. Bawumia revealed.

Dr. Bawumia stressed that government is mindful of challenges confronting the Ghana Prisons Service and that it has been taking necessary steps since 2017 to address some of these challenges.

"For instance, in November last year, the Service took delivery of ten (10) brand new Nissan Hardbody pickups to augment its fleet. I know the Service needs more vehicles, and I assure you that you will receive more vehicles in our second term."

"With respect to accommodation for officers, I am happy to inform you that contractors working on residential facilities at the Ankaful, Nsawam and Roman Ridge Prisons Complexes, have resumed work in earnest, after the brief break due to COVID-19."

"Government is also upgrading all health facilities in the prisons, to make them more responsive to the health needs of officers and inmates. Currently, the infirmary at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison has been elevated to the status of a District Hospital, whilst those at the Ankaful Maximum Security, Kumasi Central and the Koforidua prisons, have also been elevated to clinics."

"Government will continue to work closely with the Service to develop the capacity of prison officers, and to enable them perform their duties in accordance with international standards, which are of great concern to the Ghanaian people," Dr. Bawumia assured.

One hundred and ninety-eight (198) men and women of the Officer Cadet Course Intake 28 were commissioned into the Senior Officer Corps of the Ghana Prisons Service and the Vice President urged them to continually justify the confidence reposed in them in the discharge of their duties.

"It should not be lost on you that your call is one of trust reposed in you. Contemporary correctional management does not focus on punishing the prisoner, condemning and stigmatizing them with painful treatment methods, but rather on repairing their humanity, and helping to restore their God-given talents, in line with international standards."

"I urge you to embrace this new emerging order of restoration. Let it be your duty to treat prisoners with care, respect and decency, without compromising your professional ethics. I am confident you will make our nation proud in this regard," Dr. Bawumia told the commissioned officers and the Prisons Service in general.
The Zongo Development Fund (ZoDF) has kick-started the commissioning of 119 projects fully completed in various Zongo communities in the country.

The projects include Olympic-size Astro Turfs, six-unit classroom blocks, provision of furniture, 10-seater institutional toilet facilities, drainage systems, roads and mechanised water systems.

Speaking at Tolon in the Northern Region, Dr S.K Frimpong, a technical economic advisor at the vice president's office, has entreated Ghanaians to adopt good maintenance culture. Tolon is one of the beneficiary communities of the Six Unit Classroom Block with furniture from the Zongo Development Fund (ZoDF) projects.

Dr S.K Frimpong, in the company of Alhaji Baba Sadiq Yakubu, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ZoDF, handed over the keys to a Six-unit Classroom block to the Tolon District Chief Executive, Hajia Balchisu Yakubu.

Dr S.K Frimpong explained that development is not about building new facilities; maintaining old projects is essential to growth. "If we build new projects, furnish them, and we neglect the maintenance of old ones, there will be no progress. As citizens, let's take actions necessary for retaining all government projects to achieve its maximum useful life."

Hajia Balchisu Yakubu, the DCE of Tolon on behalf of the people, expressed her people's gratitude to the ZoDF and government for putting up the Six-unit classroom block for the people. She added that the completion and handing over of this facility is timely as it would serve the educational needs of the people in the community and help reduce the spread of Covid-19 by easing congestion in the classrooms. She appealed to the teachers and authorities of the school to manage the facility well to encourage the ZoDF and government to do more.

The Chief Executive Officer of the ZoDF, Alhaji Arafat Sulemana Abdulai, began the nation-wide commissioning with the handing-over of a state-of-art school gate and security post for the Accra Girls Senior High School, in the Ayawaso North Municipality, in Accra. The projects, which the Fund fully finances, include the construction and furnishing of basic and second cycle educational institutions; institutional and public places of convenience; fully equipped ICT Centres, libraries and assembly halls.

Some 16 model SHS schools are expected to be constructed in each of the 16 regions. The model schools would have fully equipped libraries, laboratories, recreational facilities and dormitories. The Fund would also increase its support for brilliant but needy students under the scholarship grant and focus more on building the entrepreneurial skills of women and the youth in Zongo communities.
COVID-19 raised its ugly head again leaving the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) worse off than before the first attack. When Jayant Sinha, Union minister for external affairs mentioned in March 2021 that not enough has been done for the MSME sector, it requires a deeper study. The only good thing that happened to the sector is the change in the definition of the twin criteria of investments and turnover.

There is a font-page ad of Amazon in The Hindu dated 14th April that boasts that 2.5 million MSMEs out of the targeted 10 million are digitised! Nobody has a clue about the share of the manufacturing sector in such digitisation. The government of India (GoI) has one dependable clue to show up that figurenamely, the goods and services tax (GST). But this figure also does not indicate the manufacturing MSME's contribution! Some 300,000 jobs are services sector and not in manufacturing where there is job loss.

Manufacturing sectors growth of 25% of the gross domestic product (GDP) holds the key for the $5 trillion economy of 2025 and for realising the dream of self-reliant India (Atma Nirbhar Bharat).

Being in the private sector that is presumably close to the heart of Central government, the MSMEs are also crucial for manufacturing growth and their contribution is just a wild guess. At the end of April 2021, except sugar, shampoo, agro-chemicals, fertilisers, drugs and pharma, all others in the manufacturing sector reveal a steep decline according to the latest report from Care Ratings.

In most discussions on MSME development, the need for a strong database is highlighted. The key question, however, is the purpose for which data is being collected and presented. In India, the two key sources of MSME data are MSME Census that has been abandoned after 2004; and the reports of the national sample survey.

Right from 2017, we come across data on MSMEs to be stable: 6.3 million units (manufacturing and services) of which manufacturing units are reported at around 1.5 million and contributing to 40% exports! What happened to the new units registered on Udyog Aadhaar on the MSME portal and various state portals?

Nowhere do we come across data on mortality of MSME units either in national statistics or state statistics! The Union government decided to abandon the census of MSMEs.

Some data on organised small and medium enterprises could be accessed from the annual survey of industries. But many states contest the data citing the difference in the units registered with them annually under such segments.

A Tell-tale Story

Let us now see the utilisation of a few important schemes out of over 116 schemes of the Union ministry and over 30 funds of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and quite a few schemes implemented by SIDBI exclusively.

Data sets throwing light on this issue are limited from both annual survey of Industries (ASI) and MSME ministry, but some interesting insights could be sourced from annual reports of the ministry of MSME, the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), the National Small Industries Corporation (NISC), SIDBI, Coir Board, and the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC). Textiles that include a large number of handlooms, power looms, ginning mills, apparels, and ready-made garments, which constitute a significant part of the MSME sector.

The aggregates of these data cannot be extrapolated to the universe to draw any meaningful conclusions for policy intervention.

* Tamil Nadu and Kerala top the states with 4,463 and 9,206 units, respectively.

Data relating to credit is available from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SIDBI, CGTMSE, TransUnion-CIBIL reports.

While the data on non-performing assets (NPAs) is available, data on revival and restructuring is unavailable either at macro level or at the state level in such reports.

RBI data on NPAs among the public sector banks as on 31 December 2019 reveals that NPAs among the large, medium, small, and micro units and those with loans below Rs10 lakh per capita are 19.1%; 18.7%; 11.3%; 11.1% and 7.9% respectively.

The cascading effect of the large and medium on the small and micro sectors is no less than 30%.

Banks lend less for small enterprises in manufacturing and also recover less.

They lend less and recover more for micro manufacturing enterprises, either through sale of collaterals or enforcement of guarantees (not necessarily the CGTMSE).

The NPAs among private sector banks and the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) are correspondingly 3-5% and 7.6%, respectively. Banks lend more to medium enterprises and recover less.

For decades, the Union ministry of MSMEs (erstwhile SSI, Artisans and Khadi and Village Industries) and RBI have been issuing booklets and circulars directing banks to revive and restructure the sick and incipient sick units.

We do not find data on such revival or restructuring either in the annual reports of the ministry of MSMEs or in the trend and progress of banking in India reported annually by RBI. The state-level bankers' committee (SLBC) statistics of different states also do not reflect such data at least annually.

Revival of the MSE manufacturing and that of the medium and large manufacturing units are two different cups of tea. However, GoI and RBI should simulate the Telangana model for such efforts in all the MSME-intensive states.

Although SIDBI released a pre-pack in consultation with their asset reconstruction company (ARC) and in accordance with RBI guidelines, it lacks a track record of revival and restructuring, with the result that banks do not so much rely on SIDBI for this purpose. The credibility gap exists between them.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) pre-pack touted for the MSMEs does not have the reach to the intended sector.

While GoI has been supporting SIDBI with funds every year, fund-wise utilisation has not been evaluated and several funds are utilised marginally indicating the type of support this institution as nodal agency has been extending.

Vertical growth of the institutions or scaling up require a different incentives framework from the present one.

Banks, financial institutions (FIs) and non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) lending to the sector could have helped digitisation in a smart way  by making it one of the terms and conditions of grant of the loans the MSMEs sought.

The sector has a surfeit of policy interventions but lacks manufacturing thrust. Anxiety to show the performance of the sector is more visible than the actual performance.

The district industries Centres (DICs) are the mainstay for MSME policy implementation and they do not get any support from the Union government. Twelve Union ministries have one or the other scheme for the sector and, yet, the sectors manufacturing abilities suffer for want of timely and adequate availability of resources.

(The writer is an economist and author of The Story of Indian MSMEs.)
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has issued the framework for a standard domestic travel insurance product, to be called Bharat Yatra Suraksha.

The policy will provide coverage for hospitalisation expenses, death, permanent complete or partial disablement due to an accident, for travel through taxi, bus, train, ship, and airplane in the country. The insurance regulator also advised all general and health insurers to endeavour to offer this product from 1st July.

There are five plans under the product and the coverage is both benefit and indemnity-based.

The standard product will cover hospitalisation expenses due to an accident where the sum assured will be in the range of Rs1 lakh to Rs10 lakh. It will provide coverage against accidental death with sum assured ranging from Rs1 lakh to Rs1 crore for permanent total disability, permanent partial disability, repatriation of mortal remains, and automatic trip expansion. Optional covers include coverage for missed flight connections, loss of checked-in baggage, trip delays beyond three hours, and cancellations.

There will be no restrictions on minimum and maximum age of entry. However, the proposer needs to be at least 18 years of age.

Though there are several travel insurance products available in India, each product is distinct and the insuring public may find it difficult to choose an appropriate product. Therefore, a standard travel product is designed with uniform features of coverage, to make available the most common requirements of a common passenger, IRDAI said.

As per the issued guidelines, plan A will cover travel by cab or bus for up to 100kms from place of origin, Plan B for travel by cab or bus for beyond 100kms from place of origin, Plan C for travel by train (only for reserved tickets), Plan D for air travel, and Plan E for trips involving travel through any one or multiple modes of common carrier such as taxi, bus, train, ship or air travel.

The product may be offered on both - individual and group basis. When offered as a family cover, the chosen sum insured shall apply to each family member separately.

Since the proposed product will be issued as per journey and trip, policyholders will not be able to renew the policy, but extension on payment of premium has been permitted. There will only be a single premium payment, which needs to be paid in advance. There is no initial waiting period.

Though there are many products with different coverage, add-ons, they are structured differently. Standardisation of the travel insurance product will offer the policyholder an assurance in terms of how the insurance policy is administered, interpreted, the claims process and claims payment. It would also be easier for a buyer to decide on available product offerings based on the brand, the price, and the servicing experience.

There will be no co-payment under the standard domestic travel product, but insurers have been allowed to put deductibles. Co-payment refers to an arrangement in which the policyholder will need to pay a portion (fixed percentage) of the medical expenses on their own and the insurance company will pay the remaining amount.

Among the major exclusions in the policy are pre-existing illness or disease, or injury or condition; self-inflicted injury, attempted suicide; liability arising out of accidents from travel on two wheelers as also undertaken by insured person on own motor vehicle. It would also not be applicable to cover the liability resulting from a journey where the insured is driving the common carrier.

With its common features of coverage, Bharat Yatra Suraksha seeks to make it convenient for those unable to choose from the travel policies available now as well as to offer protection cover against unknown contingent events.

IRDAI had earlier launched similar standard products for term life insurance, health insurance as well as home insurance. The primary motive for all these standard covers is to make the wordings of the policy document simple and the coverage features, as well as the exclusions explained with little scope for any misinterpretation. However, the pricing of these standard products has been left to the insurers.
Advocate Mohit D. Ram, who was on the Panel Counsel for the Election Commission before the Supreme Court has tendered his resignation from the position.

According to the letter sent to the Election Commission, Ram said: "It was an honour to represent the Election Commission of India (ECI). I had a cherishing milestone of my career, in the journey which began with being part of the office of Standing Counsel of ECI and progressed as one of the panel counsels of ECI (since 2013).

"However, I have found that my values are not in consonance with the current functioning of the ECI; and hence I withdraw myself from the responsibilities of its panel counsel before the Supreme Court of India."

The letter dated May 6, and was addressed to the director of law of the Election Commission

His association with EC started in 2013 when he was appointed as standing counsel for the poll body. Ram later became one of its panel counsel.

In the letter, Ram said he will undertake to ensure smooth transition of files, NOC and vakalatnamas in all pending matters with his office. On Thursday, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea by Election Commission, which sought a gag on media from reporting oral observations made by judges during court proceedings. However, Ram was not part of this matter.

The Election Commission had moved the top court against the strong observation made by the Madras High Court against it saying that the poll body should probably be put up for murder charges, as it failed to curb the "wanton abuse" of Covid-19 protocol during election rallies.

However, in its verdict, the top court remarked that the remarks of the High Court were harsh and inappropriate. "The High Court - if indeed it did make the oral observations which have been alluded to - did not seek to attribute culpability for the Covid-19 pandemic in the country to the EC. What instead it would have intended to do was to urge the EC to ensure stricter compliance of Covid-19 related protocols during elections," said the top court.

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.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Fox has advocated for a return to normalcy, saying the district needs to find ways for social events like graduations and the Freddys to continue. Fady Salloum, of Whitehall Township, is running in part because of his frustration with how long the district stuck with the hybrid learning model. Allison Schultz, of Whitehall Township, has been critical of the board for pushing young school children in remote learning. Jeff Vivian, of Whitehall Township, rallied against the district for its decision to not reopen high school sports.
We had mentioned in previous weeks closing report that Nifty, Sensex may move sideways. The major indices opened lower but rallied and ended with decent gains. The trend of the major indices in the week is given in the table:

On Monday, the indices opened lower but recovered its losses and ended flat. On the NSE, there were 1,166 advances, 786 declines and 106 unchanged.

Reliance Industries consolidated net profit for the March 2021 quarter doubled to Rs 13,227 crore from Rs 6,348 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, due to a low base. Revenue grew to Rs 1,49,575 crore, up 10% YoY.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone cargo volume for April 2021 grew 86% YoY to 24.46 MMT. In the container segment, volume grew 98% YoY to 0.69 million TEUs.

Supreme Industries consolidated net profit came in at Rs 450.4 crore compared to Rs 117.3 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue was up 45.7% YoY at Rs 2,084.6 crore versus Rs 1,430.5 crore.

On Tuesday, the indices opened higher but suffered a minor correction. On the NSE, there were 808 advances, 1,078 declines and 361 unchanged.

SBI Life Insurance posted a net profit of Rs 532.38 crore for the March 2021 quarter, growing only slightly from Rs 530.67 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The Reserve Bank of India imposed a penalty of Rs 3 crore on ICICI Bank for rule violations.

Kotak Mahindra Bank reported consolidated profit of Rs 2,589 crore in the quarter ended March 2021, up from Rs 1,905 crore in the year-ago period.

L&T Technology Services reported consolidated profit of Rs 194 crore, compared to Rs 205 crore YoY. Revenue dipped slightly to Rs 1,440 crore from Rs 1,447 crore in the previous year.

On Wednesday, the indices rallied and closed with decent gains. On the NSE, there were 1,199 advances, 671 declines and 377 unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India announced a liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore wherein vaccine makers, hospitals, oxygen suppliers among other healthcare stakeholders would be able to get loans at the repo rate till March 31, 2022.

Hikal signed a multi-year contract with a leading global pharmaceutical company. This contract entails the development and supply of a portfolio of niche APIs over a period of 10 years.

RBL Bank net profit fell 34% to Rs 75 crore from Rs 114 crore in the year-ago period. The net interest income fell 11% to Rs 906 crore against Rs 1,021 crore, YoY.

On Thursday, the indices opened higher and made decent gains. On the NSE, there were 1,052 advances, 847 declines and 91 unchanged.

The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its in-principle approval for strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank along with transfer of management control

Tata Steel reported consolidated profit of Rs 6,644.1 crore compared to a loss of Rs 1,481.3 crore in the year-ago quarter. Consolidated revenue grew 39% YoY to Rs 49,977.4 crore.

Hikal consolidated profit doubled to Rs 50.92 crore compared to Rs 24.47 crore a year ago. Revenue grew to Rs 532.46 crore from Rs 378.99 crore YoY.

Cupid has received a purchase order from Uttar Pradesh Medical Supplies Corporation for supply of COVID - 19 Antigen-based rapid test kits worth Rs 10.50 crore.

On Friday, the indices opened higher and made decent gains. On the NSE, there were 1,094 advances, 831 declines and 97 unchanged.

HDFC reported net profit of Rs 3,180 crore during the March 2021 quarter. Individual gross NPA was at 0.99% against 0.98% quarter-on-quarter.

Dabur India consolidated net profit grew 34% YoY to Rs 377.3 crore. Consolidated revenue was up 25.3 percent at Rs 2,337 crore against Rs 1,865.4 crore YoY.

Steel Strips Wheels reported a net profit at Rs 44.6 crore against a loss of Rs 5.2 crore YoY. Revenue jumped 80.8% at Rs 699.9 crore against Rs 387.1 crore YoY.

Adani Transmission reported consolidated profit of Rs 238.42 crore compared to Rs 94.30 crore YoY. Revenue fell to Rs 2,726.61 crore from Rs 3,186.96 crore YoY.
HELENA, Mont. - The Helena community is celebrating the annual Greater Helena Gives event from 6:00 pm Thursday evening until 6:00 pm on Friday.

The biggest changes to this year's event involve an expansion of prizes from local businesses to non-profits in the area.

This year, there are 89 non-profits in the area are participating. Folks who want to donate can choose the specific non-profit they want to donate to, or they can choose to give to the community fund, which will distribute their proceeds equally. Last year, the event raised just under $160k. I asked the event director what their goals are for this year's event.

"We're really hopeful that we can keep that growing, Emily Frazier, the executive director for the Helena Area Community Foundation said.

We really want to focus on increasing each year the number of non-profits who are represented because we have so many in our community. So our hope is that the total donations will go up accordingly but we really just want to get as many people involved as possible."

Non-profits play an important but understated role when it comes to Montanas economy. The event will have some in-person aspects, specifically with the businesses participating. Earlier, Frazier explained the role they will play in putting on this fundraiser.

"We also this year especially wanted to take the time to make some things happen in our community, Frazier said. Last year, the event was entirely, 100 percent online, and we wanted to make sure we were giving people an opportunity to get out into Helena and sort of appreciate and love what Helena is all about."

Frazier hopes that next year, they are able to hold some fully in-person events, as those represent a big aspect of fundraising lost due to the pandemic.

The event will run until 6:00 pm Friday, but donations are being accepted through next Monday. More information about the event can be found here.
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With the new year upon us and a legislative session (under way), let us resolve to be the bright light that shines through the darkest night for the smallest and most vulnerable of angels.
Asked by moderator Genesis Ortega whether he could overcome a lack of name recognition, Democrat Matt Tuerk noted that all the candidates were in the same boat. While 77% of residents said they hadnt heard enough about Tuerk to form an opinion, half said the same about incumbent Mayor OConnell, with the other candidates in between. Tuerk said the conversations hes had with residents on the campaign trail reflect the polls finding that half of city residents feel Allentown is heading in the wrong direction, a reversal from a similar poll conducted in 2017.
Everything about Wrath of Man is, in fact, about as manly as imaginable.

After a violent opening sequence involving the robbery of an armored truck, the theater-bound action movie  starring the incredibly manly Jason Statham  gives us a credits sequence consisting of myriad fiery images over which are displayed almost exclusively male names of everyone from the actors to the producers.

Heck, the directors first name is Guy.

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On his first film, 1998s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Guy Ritchie gave Statham his first big-screen opportunity. Ritchie then cast Statham in his second movie, 2000s Snatch, and again a few years later in Revolver.

Theyve reunited for Wrath of Man, a carnage-filled revenge tale that feels more like a recent Statham flick than a Ritchie joint. While it is likely to satisfy fans of action and of the actor, its a bit of a clumsy effort from the director even if Ritchie is able to produce some effective moments.

We meet Stathams Patrick Hill as he interviews for and accepts a job with Los Angeles-based Fortico Securities, the company whose armored car was robbed and the two men inside it killed. His new colleague Bullet (Hold McCallany) is a fan of nicknames  the business is home to Boy Sweat Dave (Josh Hartnett)  and decides Patrick will be known as H.

Like the bomb, says Bullet, impressed with the Brits physical stature. Like Jesus H.

Yep. Got it.

H immediately clashes with Sweat Boy Dave but otherwise mostly quietly goes about his job extremely competently  surprisingly well considering he squeaked by in the test required to get the position.

He even single-handedly thwarts the attempted robbery of a truck, terminating the would-be thieves with extreme prejudice  and tremendous efficiency.

Understandably, this makes him a hero around the office  and with Forticos owner (Rob Delaney)  but Bullet becomes suspicious theres more to H than he says.

Bullet is right, of course, and Wrath of Man enters into a herky-jerky stretch of nonlinear storytelling to show us who he really is, what brought him to Fortico and why.

Meanwhile, we spend an increasing amount of time with a group of ex-military men who served together overseas. Frustrated by how theyve been treated since returning to their country and a bit bored, they get into the business of robbing armored trucks.

As they were while on active duty, theyre led by the calculating Jackson (Jeffrey Donovan, "J. Edgar"), who rightly worries about the behavior of one of his men, Jan (Scott Eastwood, "The Outpost"). (Jan is the obligatory character who, despite explicitly being instructed not to do so, spends lavishly after a big score.)

Based on the 2004 French film Le convoyeur, Wrath of Man burns down a fairly predictable path constructed by Ritchie and his co-writers, Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies.

Its hard to see what the non-linear approach really buys them  we jump ahead three months, then back five, etc.  other than building the mystery surrounding H. Of course, the movies trailer is only too happy to give all of that away, sooo  .

Less stylish and more visceral than much of Ritchies work, which in recent years has included The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Gentlemen  Wrath of Man takes violence a bit more seriously. But only a bit.

Ritchie has been better, as has Statham. Sure, the latter is believable as H kicks butt and sometimes takes names, but the nature of the story told in Wrath of Man doesnt give him a chance to flex the comedic muscles he displayed in 2019s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

Onetime leading man Hartnett (40 Days and 40 Nights, Black Dahlia) is fairly enjoyable in what ultimately is a minor role, and McCallany continues to display the type of on-screen presence that has made his Mindhunter character, Bill Tench, surprisingly compelling.

Yes, you will see a couple of women before Wrath of Man concludes, with Niamh Algar ("Raised by Wolves") getting the most screentime as Hs coworker Dana. However, this is every bit testosterone fest the early minutes would suggest.

As that sort of thing goes, Wrath of Man is merely fine.

Unless your feelings revolve around exactly how pain-inducing and bloody Hs revenge should be, please leave them at home.
Barbecued meats, peppers macaroni and cheese and snacks were served to guests at Home Appliance Sales and Services Grilling Day.
Lorain High School, 2600 Ashland Ave., will be the site of one of two simultaneous 1,000-person vaccine clinics against the novel coronavirus pandemic 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 8, 2021. No advance reservation is necessary to get the shots there or at the other clinic at Elyria High School. Anyone who needs a ride to the clinics can call 211 to arrange a pickup and ride home.
@MJ_JournalRick on Twitter

Richard Payerchin covers Lorain City Hall, business news and other interesting stories for The Morning Journal. Reach the author at rpayerchin@MorningJournal.com or follow Richard on Twitter: @MJ_JournalRick.
Our communities are hurting right now, and our obligation is to step in and help our neighbors. Supporting the good work of the Urban League will go a long way toward helping our community get back on its feet.

"Being a good neighbor is not just a catchy slogan, its ingrained in State Farm culture and its why we do what we do.

Charles Chapman, State Farm agent

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Really, I wanted to focus on this because the cleanups, I believe, have been instrumental in putting South Lorain on the right track to redevelop and on a track that is really, really rising with the things that we are seeing in this community."

Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion

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A South Lorain-based charity hopes to make its old house a new home for young men in transition to adulthood.
President also hails strong ties with Turkmenistan, Cuba and San Marino

China will continue to support the United Nations and uphold real multilateralism underpinned by the UN Charter and its principles and purposes, as well as international law, President Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Xi made the remark in a telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. He said the world is calling for real multilateralism, which is inseparable from the UN, international law and teamwork among countries.

All countries should act in line with the UN Charter and its principles and purposes, rather than resorting to practicing unilateralism and hegemony or creating small circles in the name of multilateralism to make ideological confrontations, Xi said.

As fighting the COVID-19 pandemic still remains the top priority for the international community, Xi said global cooperation is needed instead of playing political games, and major countries should take the lead in providing more public goods.

China has decided to provide vaccines to UN peacekeeping missions and the International Olympic Committee, and will make further efforts to overcome the vaccine divide, he said.

Xi also pledged that China will make utmost efforts and contributions to cope with climate change and continue to actively advance international cooperation based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

He noted that China's Belt and Road Initiative will advance South-South cooperation to provide assistance to developing countries. China will work with the UN to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he added.

Guterres highly commended China's firm position in upholding multilateralism and supporting the UN. He appreciated China's steps to deal with climate change as well as its contributions to promoting international cooperation on the pandemic and global economic recovery.

Guterres said he agreed with Xi on upholding real multilateralism and that the UN looks forward to developing closer cooperation with China to bring their ties to a new height.

In a separate telephone conversation with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow on Thursday, Xi called for strengthening cooperation with Turkmenistan in fields such as energy and vaccines, saying that China stands ready to share the opportunities of the vast Chinese market with the Central Asian country.

Berdimuhamedow hailed bilateral ties and appreciated China's positive efforts to uphold world peace and stability and promote the common development and prosperity of all nations.

Xi spoke by phone on Thursday with Miguel Diaz-Canel, Cuban president and the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee.

In addition, Xi exchanged congratulatory messages on Thursday with Gian Carlo Venturini and Marco Nicolini, captains regent of San Marino, on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Xi said that China-San Marino relations have developed well over the past half-century, setting a good example of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit between countries with different systems and cultures.
Were anxious to move the case forward to a fair and expeditious resolution, he said. He got caught up in the moment and was there for all the right reasons and got put in a situation where he exposed himself to these types of charges.
Moultrie, GA (31768)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Crude prices rose this week, fueled by optimism about global oil demand and shrinking US inventories.

Bloomberg reported oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 2.1 percent for the week, the first back-to-back weekly increases since early March.

After posting gains of 91 cents and $1.20 on Monday and Tuesday, West Texas Intermediate on the NYMEX lost 98 cents Wednesday and Thursday before gaining 19 cents to end the week at $64.90 a barrel. Thats up from $64.49 at Mondays close. Posted prices closed the week at $61.38, according to Plains All-American.

Natural gas prices held steady this week, closing Friday at $2.958 per Mcf, up 3 cents but down from $2.966 at Mondays close.

Bryce Erickson, senior vice president at Mercer Capital, told the Reporter-Telegram by email he doesnt believe recent optimism about economic recovery or oil demand has been overblown given the macro factors at play. I would attribute it more to factors driving the natural short-term volatility associated with oil prices.

Noting in a blog how crude prices went into the abyss last April 20 when futures prices fell to a negative $38 a barrel, Erickson blogged, what a difference a year makes.

He went on to note that prices have spent most of the past month at or above $60 and a number of analysts predict prices will stay in the $60s or higher for the remainder of the year, though the Energy Information Administration projects prices in the mid-$50s.

One thing that is different this time around may be the cautiousness of investors and producers to jump back on the drill bit right away, Erickson wrote on his blog.

Jason Modglin, president of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, told the Reporter-Telegram by email that he, too, is seeing continued caution.

We continue to see positive signs for prices as the economy picks up and a post-COVID recovery continues both here and abroad, he wrote. Operators are responding with continued discipline and steady growth in jobs and additional rigs as demand increases.

Oil prices reflect a world market, Dan Naatz, executive vice president with the Independent Petroleum Association of America, told the Reporter-Telegram by email. He added that The Biden Administrations policies designed to stop production of American oil and natural gas have caused the world  and markets  to notice. Policies have consequences  the markets are watching the actions of the Biden administration and are clearly concerned. Products that discourage more American oil and natural gas production will result in less jobs, lost revenues to federal, state and local treasuries and more uncertainty for world markets.

Still, Erickson said on his blog that producers and investors are in a lot better place than last year.

In addition, with all of the attention towards electric vehicles replacing the combustion engine, we must remind ourselves that only 1 percent of the U.S. light fleet is EV and that light vehicles only make up 25 percent of crude oil use. Demand will not be chopped out from oils feet just yet, he blogged. Markets are fast moving and unforgiving at times, but it appears with $60+ oil prices for 2021, that the upstream business can now start to slow down, look around, and evaluate what direction to go next.
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And while pandemic closures dealt a blow to the entire restaurant and bar industry, government programs intended to help them often werent available to LGBT clubs and bars. The Paycheck Protection Program, for example, covered wages for employees sidelined by the pandemic, but many of the people who work in gay bars, including performers, are considered contractors who were not eligible. Likewise, funding for performance spaces was available only to businesses that issued tickets, Mattson said, and while many gay bars and clubs host performers, they collect a cover charge but dont sell tickets.
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Keasling inducted into OVC Hall Of Fame; Coaching the Racers womens tennis team, she won five OVC titles and was inducted into the Murray State Hall of Fame in 2018
The House resolution empowers the House Judiciary Committee and the Subcommittee on Courts to subpoena witnesses and other materials, and take testimony. The committee will determine whether an impeachment or removal from office is required due to alleged misbehavior in office and violation of public trust. After the committee concludes its work, it will be up to the House of Representatives to impeach Halcovage.
Muskogee, OK (74401)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Harvilla said he saw his neighbor get up and make his way to his house, so he followed with his rifle, according to testimony. Kelly said Harvilla said he was about 30 yards away when he saw Debellis standing in the doorway of his home. He allegedly fired his second shot at Debellis then. When Debellis was on the ground, Harvilla told police, Harvilla fired a third shot.
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A Franklin Fire Department truck rolled into a ditch on Illinois Route 104 after it swerved to avoid a collision about 9 p.m. Thursday.

The firetruck driver and passenger suffered minor bruises but there were no significant injuries, according to Fire Chief Gerald Wilson, who said the accident was not the fault of the driver or the equipment.
When the Nazis wanted to march through Skokie, Illinois, many of the residents were horrified. A large percentage were Jewish, and some had been interned in concentration camps. The memory of those camps was still vivid, since this was 1978, a mere three decades after World War II had ended.

I was in high school when the controversy erupted. At the time, the ACLU defended the Nazi group, which never ended up marching. But the fact that the storied civil rights organization swooped in to uphold the rights of evil men seemed to me, at the time, incredibly honorable. No one would ever call me a card-carrying member of the ACLU, but the fact that it was able to see beyond the vile character of its client to the larger principle of free speech, assembly and expression taught this high school senior a valuable lesson in civics.

The right to protest, passionately, forcefully but peacefully, is a foundational bedrock of our democracy. The ACLU understood that four decades ago, in Skokie. And its likely theyll come back to defend that principle in Florida. But theres a big difference, wrought from years of dangerous, anarchic explosions in the streets of our cities and towns.

Gov. Ron De Santis recently signed into law a set of prohibitions on riots. The law is designed to prevent the type of demonstrations seen over the past few years in cities like Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, Ferguson and Philadelphia.

According to the Combating Public Disorder Act, people who engage in protests that become violent will be subject to increased criminal penalties. The bill also creates specific, new laws that prohibit mob intimidation and cyber intimidation.

It is designed to protect private citizens and law enforcement officers against violent riots. After having seen much of the country burning over the past few years in the wake of police shootings, many Americans have good reason to support De Santis even though, as was pointed out, Florida has had very few recent instances of mob violence.

But my old heroes of the ACLU have a problem with the law, using the classic overbroad argument. Kara Gross, legislative director of the Florida branch, said that, The problem with this bill is that the language is so overbroad and vague  that it captures anybody who is peacefully protesting at a protest that turns violent through no fault of their ownthose individuals who do not engage in any violent conduct under this bill can be arrested and charged with a third-degree felony and face up to five years in prison and loss of voting rights. The whole point of this is to instill fear in Floridians.

The 18-year-old high school senior is now a 59-year-old attorney with three years of law school under her belt and three and a half decades of dealing with legal word splitting. For that reason, Im not moved by Gross concerns with the law that, at its essence, puts protesters on notice that assaulting police officers, burning buildings, looting stores and attacking innocent bystanders is not constitutionally protected conduct.

If you are a peaceful protester, you will not find yourself involved with rioters. If you do see violence breaking out at the Kumbaya march youve organized, you either get out of there as quickly as possible, try and quell the violence, or call the police. Better yet, you make sure that the violent elements will be neutralized before they even have a chance to infiltrate your peaceful protest.

Im also not persuaded that these people referenced by Gross as peacefully protesting at a protest that turns violent through no fault of their own are entirely innocent. I said that same thing when I saw the peaceful protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6. While the vast majority may indeed have gone to D.C. to air their grievances, the ones who got caught up in the violent assault on our Capitol cant hide behind the I am innocent mantra unless they can prove that they were, in fact, innocent.

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander, or rather, whats good for the elephant is good for the donkey.

My point is that riots are easily distinguishable from protests, and there is a clear, bright line we can follow. The Florida law draws it, and the protests from my youthful heroes at the ACLU ring hollow.

In these moments when people like Maxine Waters are literally urging people to go into the streets and confront their opponents, and when we have those who condemned Donald Trump for dangerous rhetoric excusing her words, and when we have the media ginning up anger at the possibility of verdicts they dont like, it is inevitable that peaceful protests will be nothing more than a pipe dream.

Accompanied by pipe bombs.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.
The reason Republicans want to change our current, secure, election procedure is simply to restrict the demographics to favor their party. Most Democrats and even some Republicans may suggest that is the real voter fraud. And it is the reason the For The People Act should be passed.
Fire at medical marijuana lab in Italy kills 1, injures 3 View Photo

ROME (AP)  A blaze on Friday at a small laboratory in central Italy that treats marijuana so it can be used medically left a man dead, three injured survivors and a woman missing, Italian firefighters said.

Flames raged through a small building in the countryside outside Gubbio, a town in the Umbria region.

Firefighters were searching into the night for a woman who was reported missing, said state firefighters spokesperson Luca Cari. Much of the fire had been extinguished, he said.

RAI state TV said the fire apparently was caused by a gas explosion.

Cari said it wasnt immediately known what touched off the blast.

RAI state TV said that the most severely injured survivor was flown by helicopter to a hospital with a specialized burns center.
Pinecrest, CAPinecrest Expedition Academy celebrated Arbor Day this year by partnering with Visit Tuolumne County and planting a new grove of Giant Sequoias at Kennedy Meadows. The President and CEO of Visit Tuolumne County Lisa Mayo talked about the project by saying.

Visitors love to come to our region to see the Tuolumne Grove in Yosemite National Park, and we hope this new grove will entice more people to come up the Highway 108 corridor and explore the beautiful scenery of our area. Planting this new grove was also a fun way to engage a young generation and inspire them to continue to serve as destination stewards.

Visit Tuolumne County was gifted three planted baby sequoia trees to show the regions goal of sustainability and destination stewardship. Pinecrest Expedition Academy developed some school lessons for students to learn about the sequoias, how to test Ph levels of soil, and the process of planting a new grove. The students will be keeping an eye on the trees and monitoring their growth while also updating an online chart on the schools website which will be able to be viewed by the public.

To visit the grove and learn more about Kennedy Meadows Resort & Packstation click here.

And for additional information about Pinecrest Expedition Academy click here.
Tuolumne County  Tuolumne County Public Health reports seven new cases today. The new cases are a boy age 17 or younger, a man age 18 to 29, a woman age 30 to 39, a woman age 40 to 49 a man age 50 to 59, a man age 60 to 69 and a woman over 90. No COVID-positive residents are hospitalized and three were released from isolation. A total of 18 cases are considered active. According to Tuolumne Public Healths chart the last time there were seven positive tests reported in one day was over a month ago on March 17, there were a total of eight cases on that day.

Tuolumne County has a total of 4,122 cases split between 2,705 community cases and 1,417 Sierra Conservation Center (SCC) inmate cases, the California Department of Corrections counts two active inmate cases. Total community cases released from isolation are 2,625 and the total number of tests administered is 92,562. The county report lists 16,823 fully vaccinated residents and 4,891 individuals partially vaccinated.

Updated screening and other guidelines were detailed here monday.

For the week ending April 24, compared to the week ending April 17, Tuolumne has a Case Rate of 2.7 down from 3.5 and the Test Positivity Rate that dropped to 1.2 percent from 1.5 percent.

Calaveras County  The Calaveras public health report has five new cases since yesterday with the countys total COVID cases at 2,116. Active cases increased two to 20 and recoveries increased three to 2,043 total. One Calaveras resident is hospitalized. In total there have been 985 men, 1,113 women, and 18 with no gender reported infected with COVID-19. The total number of people over 65 years old identified with COVID is 451 since the pandemic began. Calaveras reports 40,738 vaccinations given. Calaveras remains in the Orange Tier of the States Blueprint for a Safer Economy.

Mariposa County  Mariposa County Public Health reported one new case yesterday a 25-year-old woman. One case is hospitalized and 5 cases are considered currently active. There are a total of 445 cases since the pandemic began. Mariposa County is in the Orange Tier.

Testing- The Mother Lode Fairgrounds testing site is open Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 7 AM to 7 PM. The Groveland site is at the Youth Center, 18950 Hwy 120 on Thursdays from 7 AM to 7 PM. Individuals can select the site location when making their appointment at www.lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling 888-634-1123. More details, including Calaveras testing information, are in our events calendar here.

Vaccines  Individuals in Calaveras, Mariposa, and Tuolumne may register at myturn.ca.gov to schedule appointments. You can also call 833-422-4255 if you dont have an email (Mon to Fri 8AM to 8PM, Sat and Sun 8AM-5PM) for assistance. Due to technical issues, those who live in the 95223 area (Arnold) should enter 95222 as their zip code when searching for a location near you.

As of April 15th, eligibility has opened to everyone 16+ (Pfizer) and 18+ (Moderna) with photo ID, not currently sick with COVID-19 or had a flu shot within the last 14 days. As reported here, UC And CSU Schools Will Require COVID Vaccinations. Health and Human Services Agency Director Rebecca Espino recommends people who were infected with COVID-19 in the past also get the vaccine, as detailed here. More information about the local pharmacies and other places offering the vaccine are here.

County/Date

Tier Color Active

Cases New Cases

Total Cases COVID

Deaths Amador 5/4 8 2 1,770 38 Calaveras 5/6 20 5 2,116 53 Mariposa 5/6 5 1 445 7 Mono 5/6 4 1 1,020 4 Stanislaus 5/6 512 92 55,197 1,053 Tuolumne 5/6 18 7 4,122 64 For other county-level statistics view our page here.
5-year prison term for Hawaii psychiatric hospital escape View Photo

HONOLULU (AP)  A man who spent decades in a Hawaii psychiatric hospital for killing a woman was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for escaping from the facility in 2017 and flying to California before he was captured.

In November 2017, authorities said Randall Saito walked out of Hawaii State Hospital, where he was sent in 1981 after he was acquitted of murder by reason of insanity in the 1979 killing of Sandra Yamashiro.

After leaving the hospital, Saito called a taxi that took him to the airport, where boarded a chartered flight to Maui. He used an alias to arrange the flight and paid $1,445 cash for it, prosecutors said. Then he took a commercial flight to the Northern California city of San Jose, prosecutors said.

When he was arrested in Stockton three days after his escape, he had more than $6,000 in cash and fake Washington state and Illinois drivers licenses bearing his photos with different names, prosecutors said.

Saito, 62, pleaded no contest to escape and identity theft charges in September.

He apologized at his sentencing and attempted to explain his actions. I did not elope from the hospital just to have fun, he said. It was the only way to prove he can function safely in the community, he said.

After months of pondering, I reluctantly decided to walk, he said. Your honor, the irony of having to commit a crime to prove that I was safe is not lost on me.

Saito expressed what he said has been on his mind for a long time: sincere and deepest sorrow for the Yamashiro familys loss.

It is important that they know I committed no sexual assault nor any desecration to Sandra, he said.

He also accused the hospital of being unsafe, alleging that there has been rape, sexual abuse and death there. It is a milieu of ineptitude, abuse and malfeasance, he said.

The state Department of Health issued a statement in response to Saitos claims: The safety of patients, workers, and the community is the highest priority at Hawaii State Hospital. Any reported incidents related to the hospital, patients and staff are taken seriously with appropriate actions in accordance with hospital policies and procedures.

A state attorney generals office investigation found no single employee directly responsible for the escape. A nearly 1,600-page redacted copy of the report didnt offer any significant details into how Saito was able to escape and fly to California before authorities were notified he was missing.

Lax oversight contributed to Saitos escape and an 11-hour delay in reporting it, the report said.

Patient counts were not conducted on the day Saito escaped because staff members didnt have time to do them, according to an unnamed employee interviewed for the report.

Saito had established and continued to reap the benefits of an honor system, whereby he was free to roam the grounds unsupervised and everyone expected him to return to his unit at the end of the day, the report said.

After Saitos escape, six hospital employees were placed on off-duty status. No employees were disciplined.

Saito will receive credit for the time hes already served in jail, leaving about two years on his sentence, said his attorney, Myles Breiner. After serving his sentence, he will return to a newly secured wing of the hospital that he wont be able to escape from, Deputy Attorney General Kory Young said.

He will not be returned to the community, Young said.

By JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER

Associated Press
Jury convicts Alabama officer of murder in 2018 shooting View Photo

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP)  Jurors convicted an Alabama police officer of murder Friday in the shooting of a suicidal man who was holding a gun to his own head, a verdict that was criticized by both the mayor and police chief, but lauded by the victims family, who said they hope it will spur law enforcement to change how they approach mental health crises.

The panel reached its decision in the second day of deliberations in the trial of Huntsville police officer William Ben Darby, who was indicted in the killing of Jeffrey Parker in 2018. Talks had to be started over after one jury member had to be replaced by an alternate because of a medical issue, news outlets reported.

While prosecutors contend Darby, 28, killed Parker without cause, the defense argued the shooting was justified because Parker posed a threat to Darby and other officers.

Darby was taken into custody after the verdict but spent less than two and a half hours in jail after being released on $100,000 bond, records showed. The conviction carries a sentence to 20 years to life, District Attorney Rob Broussard told a news conference afterward.

While defending Huntsville police in general, Broussard said Darbys actions were off the charts.

He was not justified in any way with what he did to Mr. Parker, he said. Darby had no business being a police officer, Broussard said.

A city police review cleared Darby of wrongdoing and officials allowed him to remain an officer, with Huntsville taxpayers helping fund his defense against charges brought by a Madison County grand jury.

The guilty verdict left police in the first stages of shock, Chief Mark McMurray said in a statement.

While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer, McMurray said. The statement continued: Officers are forced to make split-second decisions every day, and Officer Darby believed his life and the lives of other officers were in danger. Any situation that involves a loss of life is tragic. Our hearts go out to everyone involved.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle also took issue with the verdict, saying he disagreed with it. Fortunately, Officer Darby has the same appeal rights as any other citizen and is entitled to exercise those rights, he said in a statement.

During a news conference outside the courthouse, Bill Parker, the victims brother, said he hopes the city will improve how it responds to people who are suffering from mental illness, al.com reported.

Darby shot Parker, who was white, while responding to a call after the man phoned 911 saying he was armed and planned to kill himself. A one-time colleague, Genisha Pegues, testified that while Parker was upset, he was talking to her and posed no immediate threat despite a gun held to his head.

An innocent man was murdered, prosecutor Tim Gann told jurors in closing arguments. He called for help and he got Ben Darby.

Defense attorney Robert Tuten called Darby an honorable person doing an honorable profession, and vowed to appeal Fridays verdict.

Jurors saw video of the shooting taken from police body cameras, and Darby testified that he feared seeing one of my officers get hurt and fired after Parker only shrugged when ordered to put down the gun he was holding to his own head.
Idaho shooting: Very few school incidents committed by girls View Photo

BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Authorities say they are trying to determine what prompted a young girl to open fire at a rural Idaho middle school, one of the few school shootings in which the suspect is female.

The shooting happened around 9 a.m. Thursday, when police say the girl pulled a handgun out of her backpack and shot two other students and an adult custodian before she was disarmed by a teacher and held until police arrived. All three were shot in the extremities, and none had life-threatening injuries.

Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson said Friday the investigation is likely to take a considerable amount of time. He said neither the name of the suspect  a sixth-grade girl  nor the name of the teacher who disarmed her would be immediately released.

The shooting took place over the course of about five minutes, Anderson said.

School shootings are rare in Idaho, and shootings where the suspect is identified as a young girl are uncommon but not unheard of nationwide.

Girls and women commit just 2% of both mass shootings and school shootings in the U.S., according to data compiled by the group The Violence Project.

The group maintains a database of shootings at schools where more than one person was shot or a person came to school heavily armed with the intention of firing indiscriminately. It includes 146 cases going back to 1980. Girls were the shooters in just three of those cases. Experts differ on exactly why, though its known that men commit over 90% homicides in general.

Researchers have also found that shooters who target bigger groups or schools tend to study past perpetrators, who are more likely to be male.

They see themselves in some of these other shooters, said Violence Project President Jillian Peterson, a forensic psychologist and professor at Hamline University in Minnesota.

Boys in general tend to externalize anger and sadness against other people, whereas girls are more likely to internalize those emotions and have higher rates of depression and anxiety, Peterson said.

The Idaho girl is also younger than most school shooters, who are more often in high school.

The Violence Projects database shows about 18% of school shootings were at middle schools, though most of those were among older teenagers. Only a handful involved sixth-grade students, Peterson said.

Two recent studies by the U.S. Secret Services National Threat Assessment Center offer insight into common characteristics between many kids who plan or carry out school shootings. The students were often badly bullied, suffered from depression with stress at home and exhibited behavior that worried others. They were often absent from school before the attack.

Most attackers who carried out deadly school shootings were male; seven were female, according to the studies. Researchers said 63% of the attackers were white, 15% were Black, 5% Hispanic, 2% were American Indian or Alaska Native, 10% were of two or more races, and 5% were undetermined.

School shootings have become increasingly common in the U.S. over the past two decades, but they remain relatively rare in Idaho. In 1999, a student at a high school in the community of Notus, west of Boise, fired a shotgun several times. No one was struck by the gunfire, but one student was injured by ricocheting debris from the first shell.

In 1989, a student at Rigby Junior High pulled a gun, threatened a teacher and students, and took a 14-year-old girl hostage. Police safely rescued the hostage from a nearby church about an hour later and took the teen into custody. No one was shot in that incident.

In 2016, Idaho lawmakers passed a bill that allowed most people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. But that right doesnt extend to schools, courthouses or correctional facilities.

Earlier this year, Rep. Chad Christensen, a Republican from Ammon  just 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Rigby  pushed for legislation that would allow school district employees with enhanced concealed weapons permits to carry guns on school property. The bill passed the House but didnt move forward in a Senate committee. Similar legislation was rejected in 2019 and 2020.

In a Facebook post made roughly two hours after the Rigby Middle School shooting, Christensen said the state needed to do more to stop shootings, and he criticized those who pushed against his concealed weapons bill.

For all of those that have stood in the way of my school carry bill, shame on you. You know who you are! Christensen wrote.

The Idaho chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action  both part of Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group  said forcing more guns into schools isnt the solution.

The idea that we should be bringing more guns into our schools after what happened today is ridiculous, Idaho Moms Demand Action volunteer Theresa Kaufmann said in a prepared statement on Thursday. We need our lawmakers to stop putting children, teachers and the entire state in danger by weakening our already weak gun laws.

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report. Whitehurst reported from Salt Lake City.

By REBECCA BOONE and LINDSAY WHITEHURST

Associated Press
There is a Finnish concept of stoic determination, tenacity, grit and resilience known as sisu.

That is the name Jim Grundy gave the name of his company  Sisu Energy LLC  and he hopes West Texas truck drivers disheartened by the pandemic and oil and gas industry downturn can find a little sisu and join his company.

Folks have lost confidence in the oil and gas market over the last 18 months, he told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview. My message is, if you get your boots back on, were here for you.

The company already has 100 drivers contracted, delivering cargo from dirt to barite to frac sand throughout West Texas. Grundy said he has room for 500 more, who stand to make between $11,000 and $13,000 a week.

Grundy explained that the drivers would be owner-operators, essentially operating their own business under contract to Sisu.

We lease the owner-operators to companies, he explained, listing companies like Halliburton, Schlumberger, Solaris and Nexterra among the companies it leases trucks to. We have buying power that makes it easier for the company work with such large companies than it would be for individuals operating their own trucks, he said.

We hold no assets so were not competition. Our job is to ensure drivers make as much money as they can, he said.

For drivers contracted to Sisu, the company utilizes smart technologies to optimize loaded miles, eliminate waste and maximize their dollars. The company handles matters like permits, licenses and insurance while the drivers are responsible for maintenance on their trucks.

We have safety personnel in the field to ensure we hold our fleet accountable, Grundy said. It just takes one driver to mess things up for everyone.

The company is 100 percent minority-owned, Grundy said, with the accounting, recruiting and operations departments run by women.

The oil and gas industry has been punched in the face but is coming back, Grundy said. For those who have been impacted, if they can find that sisu  to find inside themselves the ability to get up one more time, he said his company is a great option.
When it comes to contemporary art, Texas just got a little bigger.

The curators of the 2021 Texas Biennial have expanded the scope of the survey exhibition to include Tex-pats  that is, Texas natives and artists with deep connections to Texas working anywhere in the world  in addition to artists currently based in the state.

San Antonio will be the main host of the show organized by Austin non-profit Big Medium. Titled A New Landscape, A Possible Horizon, it will officially open Sept. 1 at the McNay Art Museum, the San Antonio Museum of Art, Studio at Ruby City and Artpace and Sept. 2 at FotoFest in Houston. The exhibition will run through Jan. 31, 2022.

Big Medium had intended this iteration of the biennial to take place on its home turf, but moved the bulk of the show down I-35 after struggling to secure venues in Austin.

It has been such a blessing to work with the San Antonio museums, said Shea Little, executive director of Big Medium and part of the group of artists who founded the biennial in 2005. They were all like, Lets do this. Lets figure this out. Lets find what space we have.

Fifty-one artists will be featured in the show, including San Antonio-based artists Jose Villalobos, House of Kenzo, and San Antonio natives Vincent Valdez and Donald Moffett. Valdez lives in Houston and Moffett splits his time between Barksdale, Texas and Staten Island, New York.



Alex Barber

Co-curated by Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza, the sprawling exhibition will encompass painting, sculpture, video, sound, music, performance, installation and photo-based works, among other media.

Now in its seventh incarnation, the biennial was originally slated for 2020. It was pushed back to 2021 largely due to COVID-19. A silver lining of the delay was that it gave organizers time to pause and think about how we can actually activate multiple sites throughout the state to open up some kind dialog and conversation, Dennis said.

Over 18 months, Dennis and Garza conducted hundreds of studio visits  in person prior to the pandemic, then virtually. Rigoberto Luna, director and curator of Presa House Gallery in San Antonio, was brought on board as curatorial and production assistant to help organize the project.

I didnt know what to expect because Ive never worked on a biennial before, much less on an exhibition of this size entirely through Zoom meetings and phone calls and emails, even social media messaging, Luna said. Whatever it took to really get in touch with these artists, we did. Its like no other exhibition Ive ever been a part of organizing.

Thematically, various threads emerged during the curatorial process, Dennis said.

We have been thinking a lot about filters and the kind of constellation of the following  distorted histories, objects and their potentiality, race and the effects of trauma, Dennis said. Thinking about coded symbols and language and our relationship to land, and thinking about real narratives that are unique to the identity and history of Texas.

Roughly half of the artists were selected through an open call and the others were invited to participate. The decision to include Tex-pats opened the door for artists such as John Gerrard, an Irish-born sculptor, whose work includes a piece that depicts the site of the world's first major oil find in Spindletop, Texas.

Nash Baker

Texas is a huge, international community and we felt that really needed to be represented in the artists that were included, said Garza, who is currently based in Washington, D.C. The reach of Texas is global, so our vision for the project needed to be able to accommodate that.

That the bulk of the biennial landed in San Antonio has everything to do with Luna. In addition to working with Dennis and Garza, he facilitated conversations between Big Medium and the hosting venues.

San Antonio is my hometown so Im excited to bring it here, Luna said. To me its exciting that this is the first major cross-institutional exhibition that we get to bring here and I had a role in bringing it here.

San Antonio last hosted the biennial in 2013 when the main exhibition was at Blue Star Contemporary.

Dennis, who is currently chief curator and artistic director of the Mississippi Museum of Arts Center for Art and Public Exchange, grew up in San Antonio and has fond memories of elementary school field trips to the McNay. For her, the biennial will be a homecoming of sorts.

Im so excited to share the biennial with my family and other people who I have known over the years, she said. I definitely think the San Antonio arts community is quite rich and excited to sink its teeth into something like this show.

In the weeks leading up to the opening, Big Medium plans unveil a smartphone app that will function as an interpretive guide to the biennial and include images and information for participating artists, exhibitions and programs.

That itself is a response to COVID, Garza said. I think a lesson that weve all learned collectively, culturally, is the role of technology and digital technology to fill in some of the physical gaps that exist in our life. I think the app will be a way to connect people to the project and to San Antonio who might not otherwise be physically able to be present.





With the 2021 exhibition yet to open, Luna is already thinking ahead to 2023. He would like to see the next biennial centered in South Texas, just because I feel like that part of Texas is often neglected, he said.

With Texas contemporary art rising in prominence, Luna said its important for the biennial to stay on track.

Theres so many things happening in Texas that are important to a national stage, he said. So I think its important that we have a strong biennial, that we have a strong review of not only the talent thats here, but also the narratives coming out of Texas.
A small invasive species is making its way into Texas' waterways, and you have the power to stop it.

Zebra mussels are one of the most problematic aquatic invasive species in the state, as they put native fisheries at risk and can coat and clog water infrastructure, such as pipes, causing millions of dollars in damage.

It's been an issue in Texas for decades after the species first arrived in the U.S. in the 1980s from European vessels traveling along the Great Lakes region. Currently, 31 lakes and rivers in Texas are positive for zebra mussels, including Lake Placid, which is 36 miles from San Antonio, and Medina Lake.

READ ALSO: I got a free full-body workout at this San Antonio fitness station. Here's how it went.

Both of the major lakes in San Antonio, Braunig and Calaveras, have tested negative and have never had them before. CPS Energy, the company that runs the lakes, wants to keep it that way as the lakes are used for recreational purposes and provide cooling water at nearby power plants.

"We hope the anglers, boaters, and others are conscious of it because, at the end of the day, we don't want them," Gregg Tieken with the Environmental team at CPS Energy told MySA.com. "It can be something as little as a bait bucket that could lead to expanding the population."

Tieken said their department is working with the San Antonio River Authority and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to test their waters for zebra mussels. However, he added they need the public's help.

Here are five tips to follow to prevent them from spreading to more waterways in Texas:

Clean your boat, trailer, and gear by removing all plants, animals, and foreign objects.

Drain all water from the boat, including the motors, bilge, live wells, and bait buckets.

Dry the boat and trailer for a week or more before entering another body of water.

Wash it with high-pressure water and hot (140-degree) soapy water if you aren't able to let it dry over a week.

Try not to take boats to different reservoirs within the same week.

The larvae die if you practice all the tips. Boaters and anglers who transport the mussels can face a fine of up to $500 per violation, according to TPWD.

The department is encouraging lake visitors to help keep track of the spread by photographing and report a sighting of mussels. Reports can be sent to aquaticinvasives@tpwd.texas.gov.
However, there is one point made in the article that may be slightly inaccurate. The statement was made that seems to say the schools are responsible for their students and need to take stronger measures to address the students actions.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has unblocked on Twitter the nine Texans who sued him after they say they were unconstitutionally blocked for criticizing him or his policies on the social media platform.

In a lawsuit filed in April, a group of Texans said being blocked from viewing Paxtons tweets from his @KenPaxtonTX account was a violation of the First Amendment because it limited the rights of people to participate in a public forum and access statements made by the public official.

READ ALSO: Ken Paxton says he doesn't support Greg Abbott for reelection - then tweets that he does

The ACLU of Texas and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University represented the Texans in their lawsuit. According to their statements from a Thursday press release, Paxton has unblocked the nine Texans in the ongoing lawsuit challenging Paxtons practice of blocking critics from his Twitter account.

Paxton has also blocked many other individuals from the @KenPaxtonTX account based on their viewpoints, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs had asked Paxton to unblock them and everyone else who was blocked from the @KenPaxtonTX account based on their viewpoints, but its unclear if people not named in the lawsuit have been unblocked.

Lyndsey Wajert, a legal fellow with the Knight First Amendment Institute, said while Paxton has unblocked the nine Texans, the case has not been dismissed.

Paxtons office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Katie Fallow, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, said multiple courts have recognized that government officials who use their social media accounts for official purposes violate the First Amendment if they block people from those accounts on the basis of their viewpoints.

READ ALSO: Twitter sues Texas AG Ken Paxton, asks court to halt his investigation

Were pleased that attorney general Paxton has agreed to unblock our plaintiffs in this lawsuit and are hopeful that he will do the same for anyone else he has blocked from his Twitter account simply because he doesnt like what they have to say, Fallow said in a statement.

Kate Huddleston, attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said the ruling is a step in the right direction, but it remains to be seen whether Paxton will unblock other Texans. She said it shouldn't take a lawsuit for Paxton to comply with the Constitution.

Attorney General Paxton cannot prevent Texans from exercising their First Amendment rights, including their right to criticize his policies and qualifications in their responses to his tweets, Huddleston said in a statement.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans  and engages with them  about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Carlos Javier Sanchez | Contributor /

As more folks in San Antonio are rolling up their sleeves and getting vaccinated, the Archdiocese of San Antonio is easing COVID-19 restrictions.



Starting on Sunday, May 23 Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Sillar is reinstating Sunday Mass obligation.



"Due to the essential spiritual need we have for weekly physical participation in Sunday Mass, the tremendous gift and spiritual nourishment of physically receiving our Lord in Holy Communion is critically important for our spiritual growth and is very much needed right now," Garcia-Sillar said.



Back in March 13, 2020, the Archbishop suspended public mass in all churches in San Antonio to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. In March of this year, the Archdiocese allowed local parishes to open all pews and reduce the social distancing requirements in the sanctuary from 6 feet to 3 feet, following new state orders.

READ ALSO: Parishioners may start sitting in all pews, Archdiocese of San Antonio says



He encourages those who have serious reasons for not physically going to Mass, like compromised immune systems, the elderly, and physically disabled or those caring for an infant, to follow guidance from the church on what to do in these cases.



COVID-19 safety protocols are still in place including:
On May 5, Senate Bill 8 passed in the House, priming Texas to implement rigid restrictions on abortion access, barring those needing to terminate their pregnancy from receiving care after six weeks  a window where most women wouldnt yet know if theyre pregnant. This afternoon, with upper chamber approval, the legislation has been approved to land on Governor Abbots desk to be signed into law.

Despite the fearsome proposal and the threat of lawsuits toward associated parties the legislation could produce, Katernina Tsvetkova  a San Antonio-born abortion advocate and organizing member of local abortion fund, Buckle Bunnies  is not backing down.

I'm concerned, but not to the point that I don't know what I'm gonna do if it happens, I know exactly what I'm gonna do when it happens, said Tsvetkova.

If anything were just gonna fundraise more to get people more direct resources and supplies that they need, like I said, we'll do everything in our power. It's scary but I wouldn't be 100 percent worried, help is going to be there no matter what.

Tsvetkova, a 23 year old, first generation Russian-American and UTSA alumnae, has been doing on-the-ground work with reproductive justice for five years, since joining a student Planned Parenthood chapter at the beginning of her undergraduate career.

READ MORE: Permitless carry of a handgun in Texas nearly law, after Senate OKs bill

Over a year ago, when Governor Abbot wanted to preclude state abortion clinics from being designated as essenital businesses," Buckle Bunnies came to be. The mutual aid organization with the tongue in cheek name  originally referencing a pack of female rodeo cowboys  has been providing resources, abortion funding and contraception to the community ever since.

With the threat of what many feel to be a draconian bill looming under the historically anti-choice Governors pen, its natural to feel unsure about where your reproductive rights stand. But in San Antonio, Buckle Bunnies wants you to know that options still persist.

We're here to protect abortion. No matter what we're gonna be here. A six week ban  Im not afraid of it. Im not afraid of Governor Abbott. Weve heard worse, we've seen worse, and were just gonna continue to fight, and there's a plethora of really great organizations that are doing work to fight this on the policy and legislative level, and people here that are doing community work, assured Tsvetkova.

Tsvetkova notes that the history of reproductive rights in the United States has always been colored by control, affecting all women, but with black, brown, Asian and indigenous communities receiving the worst reproductive impact from the law. In some cases, people were subjected to forced sterilization programs, a practice present at Native American boarding schools, as recently as the 70s.

Considering white women are at the helm of the bill, with Republican State Representative Shelby Slawson of Texas House District 59 leading the charge, Tsvetkova acknowledges the irony.

Its a very dark and scary history, I think white women owe that to their fellow sisters all across the country to ensure that even if an abortion isnt something theyd personally want, its not something that you have the right to take away from on a legislative level, said Tsvetkova.

Abortion is something that will always happen, and if you can help people have that choice available to them, if you can ensure that people have access to something safe, then I dont understand why people want to take that away.

Camille Sauers is a freelance writer based in San Antonio. Follow her on twitter @camillesaccount. Send her emails to camillefrancissauers@gmail.com
A family favorite splash pad is finally back.

The Historic Pearl announced via Facebook on Friday, May 7, it has finally reopened its Gustav's Geysers splash pad after keeping it closed for more than a year in response to the coronaviurs pandemic. It will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

RELATED: The city's splash pads are now open. Here's where to find them.

"The fountain and nighttime lights of this community splash pad welcome you back in time for summer," the Pearl wrote in its post.

If you can't make the Pearl, don't worry as others are open as well. The City of San Antonio reopened its splash pads back in March, along with Hemisfair.

In San Antonio, six public pools also opened to the public with limited capacity.
By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Bird Song of the Day

Here is the Principe Golden Weaver, in honor of Machiavelli (one more damn book to read).

* * *

#COVID19

At reader request, Ive added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site.

I feel Im engaging in a macabre form of tape-watching.

Vaccination by region:

When were in diminishing returns territory daily numbers are expected to go down. It still worries me.

Somebody has to be last:

*Republicans* saw the BIGGEST shift towards COVID vaccine confidence over the last month. pic.twitter.com/RiITXmOu1g  Ben Wakana (@benwakana46) May 6, 2021

Case count by United States regions:

The Midwest in detail:

Continued good news. But Michigans decrease is agonizingly slow.

Big states (New York, Florida, Texas, California):

Continued good news.

Test positivity:

Down, except for the West, now flat.

* * *

Politics

But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? James Madison, Federalist 51

They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery. Frank Herbert, Dune

They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord

Biden Administration

Vaccine Waiver Pledge Tests Biden-Worlds Pharma Ties [David Sirota, Walker Bragman, and Andrew Perez, Daily Poster]. The granular details of the waiver will be negotiated by a Biden administration populated by individuals with significant pharmaceutical investments and whose previous employers worked for a panoply of pharmaceutical giants. That includes drugmakers currently lobbying the White House on intellectual property.  Antony Blinken, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Jennifer OMalley Dillon, Anita Dunn, and Steve Ricchetti all have cozy relationships with Big Pharma, as does Biden himself. Lambert here: Its really amazing: A 21st Century Marshall plan to build global vaccination capacity would, at a stroke, win back all the soft power squandered by Bush, Obama, and Trump, in addition to saving a few million lives. The realpolitik and the right thing to do coincide, and all you have to do is expropriate a few malefactors that voters hate and who are going to make plenty of money anyhow. Trump, with Operation Warp Speed, thought big. Now Biden is playing small ball, because thats where the money is for the party (and, to be fair, the ideological commitments slash class interests), It would be surprising and disgusting if it werent business as usual for liberal Democrats. UPDATE How the U.S. locked up vaccine materials other nations urgently need [Reuters]. To fight the pandemic at home, the United States [i.e., the Trump Administration] gave its own vaccine manufacturers priority access to American-made materials needed to make the shots. As a result, the U.S. government [i.e., the Trump Administration] laid claim not only to vast quantities of finished COVID-19 vaccines but also to vaccine components and equipment all along the supply chain, according to a Reuters review of more than a dozen contracts involving some major suppliers. That has left some countries desperately in need of those supplies to scramble for substitutes, exacerbating international disparities in vaccine access, according to interviews with suppliers, foreign manufacturers and vaccine market experts. [T]he [WTO IP] waiver would not address a less conspicuous but equally pressing problem: the growing worldwide shortage of vaccine ingredients and manufacturing equipment. The United States has a tight grip on a significant amount of those materials, such as filters, tubing and specialized disposable bags essential to making vaccines. Countries ravaged by the virus  including India, where a catastrophic explosion of cases has filled hospitals and morgues  cannot make vaccines without such supplies, even with access to manufacturers cookbooks. The problem stems from the U.S. reliance on a law dating to the Korean War in the 1950s, called the Defense Production Act (DPA), which gives federal agencies the power to prioritize procurement orders related to national defense . For decades, the law was used to supply the military as well as respond to everything from natural disasters to roadblocks in the decennial U.S. census. The administration of former President Donald Trump invoked the act to put the U.S. government first in line to buy American-made vaccines as well as other products needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, vaccine makers have priority access to any supplies needed to fill U.S. orders.  And IIRC, everybody and their sister was screaming at Trump to invoke the DPA. So here we are! Bipartisan focus intensifies for crucial weeks ahead as path narrows on infrastructure [CNN]. President Joe Biden and senior congressional Democrats plan to make a sustained push for a bipartisan agreement on a scaled-back infrastructure proposal over the next two weeks, according to aides and White House officials. In the latest sign that Democratic leaders are giving bipartisan talks their blessings, aides say that a timeline for passing a budget resolution, the first step in the process that would allow Democrats to pass legislation without GOP votes, has slipped past May. Biden has also made clear he sees the coming weeks as a key test for whether the parties can find a path forward, officials say. Hes instructed his staff to engage in continued negotiations and invited the lead Senate GOP negotiator, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, to the White House next week and informed her she could choose the colleagues she wants to attend, according to one official. Hell also host congressional leadership next week. Im meeting with my Republican friends up in the Congress to see number one, how much theyre willing to go for, what they think are the priorities and what compromises  Im ready to compromise, Biden said in Thursday remarks in Louisiana. What Im not ready to do is, Im not ready to do nothing. The Democratic strategy is one that is equal parts sincere and necessity, aides and officials say. Biden has made clear in private conversations with Democrats he thinks theres both a pathway to an agreement and overall value for the country to the effort, according to two people with knowledge of the conversations. He also understands the political reality , they said.  Joe Biden owes me six hundred bucks. Analysis: U.S. Labor Secretarys next move on gig workers likely to include company probes  experts [Reuters]. Walsh, himself a former union member, told Reuters he thinks a lot of U.S. gig workers in the country deserve employee benefits, and that his department would have conversations in coming months with companies that employ them. These companies are making profits and revenue and Im not (going to) begrudge anyone for that because thats what we are about in America. But we also want to make sure that success trickles down to the worker, he said last week.  Trickles down? Cant the CEOs use a bottle, like the rest of us? Trump signed off on last-minute Medicaid changes. Now Biden faces the legal challenges [NBC]. Less than two weeks before President Joe Biden came into office, the Trump administration provided Tennessee a 10-year waiver that caps the states Medicaid funding. It also allows Tennessee lawmakers to use a portion of any federal cash they save from the program in other areas of the state. Critics say it will encourage Tennessee to make cuts to Medicaid to shore up other state programs and fundamentally change TennCare This case, and similar ones in other states, has the Biden administration walking a legal tightrope to unwind President Donald Trumps Medicaid policies Some observed that will be a challenge while the agency still has key leadership positions unfilled. The agency is working without a permanent general counsel or head of its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Eighteen of the 31 senior leadership positions in HHS are currently filled by those in acting roles [How Trumpian!].  The Tennessee waiver would allow for a capped form of Medicaid funding  commonly called block grant funding  that Republicans have long sought and Democrats have long foiled. Trump also allowed states to institute work requirements for Medicaid, for example in Arkansas and New Hampshire. This has developed into a case before the Supreme Court and could be a potential legal headache for the Biden administration  though the Supreme Court has pulled the case from its docket for the current session. Around the same time the Tennessee waiver was put in place, Trump further committed the federal government to pay billions to Texas for unpaid medical bills racked up by low-income Texans who cant afford insurance coverage. (Texas has the largest uninsured population in the country, according to HHS data.) That commitment lasts for the next 10 years, which some say gives state lawmakers the excuse to avoid Medicaid expansion.

Democrats en Deshabille

A Top Biden Cybersecurity Aide Donated Over $500,000 to AIPAC as an NSA Official [David Corn, Mother Jones (via the War Nerd)]. Several other national security expertswho asked not to be namedsay that the foundations donations to AIPAC create, at the least, an appearance problem for Anne Neuberger.  Apparently Neuberger was too much not only for Corn, but for his handlers in the intelligence community, to stomach. The whole piece is well worth a read. Its all horrible. Republicans Will Punish Democrats for Every Reform They Make [Elie Mystal, The Nation]. Unfortunately, many centrist and moderate Democrats seem paralyzed by the fear of what Republicans will do if they take back the Senate or the White House. Theyre afraid to pass sweeping policy or procedural reforms because of how they think Republicans will punish Democratic politicians in the future. Its hard to even have a debate about big, structural changes to how government functions because too many arguments devolve to If Democrats do anything, Republicans will be super mean.'  This is the Democrats lack a spine issue that weve been hearing for decades. I dont buy it, because if paralysis did not benefit enough individual Democrats, they would, long ago, have overcome their paralysis.* I think its fine to point out opportunities todays Democrats are missing, as I often do, but thats a matter of voter education, not elected Democrat education. Personally, Id put corruption higher on the list than fear  especially for health care policy  which makes Democrats are spineless a useful alibi, and nothing more. NOTE * For example, the Blue Dogs, who wreaked so much havoc after 2006, were installed by Rahm Emmanuel. Likewise, todays crop of moderates  especially the CIA Democrats  were installed by Pelosi and her henchpersons. Political, indeed party, calculus, not fear.

Stats Watch

Employment Situation: April 2021 BLS Jobs Situation  Job Gains Disappoint [Econintersect]. The headline seasonally adjusted BLS job growth was well below expectations, with the unemployment rate worsening from 6.0 % to 6.1 %. Growth was well under expectations. The economically intuitive sectors were negative for economic growth.

Wholesale Sales: March 2021 Headline Wholesale Sales Improved and Inventories Grow [Econintersect]. The headlines say wholesale sales were up month-over-month with inventory levels growing. Our analysis shows improvement in the rate of growth for the rolling averages. Our view is that this data set is better than last month.

Rail: Rail Week Ending 01 May 2021  Growth Surge Over Lockdown One Year Ago [Econintersect]. We are now seeing great rail growth as the data is being compared to the coronavirus lockdown period last year. Rail is now growing year-over-year.

Leading Indicators: 30 April 2021 ECRIs WLI Growth Rate Marginally Improves [Econintersect]. ECRIs WLI Growth Index which forecasts economic growth six months forward was little changed and remains well into expansion.

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Retail: Nearly 1 in 3 new stores opening in the US is a Dollar General [CNN]. About 45% of the 3,597 store openings that large retail chains in the United States have announced so far this year are from Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, according to the latest figures from Coresight Research, a firm that aggregates the numbers from company filings and press releases. These openings are a continuation of dollar stores rapid growth even before the pandemic. Economists and retail analysts say dollar stores are expanding in part because of growing wealth inequality in the United States and the hollowing out of the middle class. The share of American adults who live in middle-income households decreased from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2019, according to Pew Research Center.

Commodities: Copper Jumps to Record as Growth Bets Supercharge Commodities [Bloomberg]. The metal  an economic bellwether  is front and center in a rally thats driven raw materials from lumber to iron ore to multiyear highs or records. Stimulus measures and vaccine rollouts are fueling prospects for a resurgence in demand thats set to strain supply, while coppers crucial role in the green-energy transition is expected to underpin longer-term gains. At the same time, a lack of mine investment may leave the market short of the supply needed to meet demand.

Commodities: Steel Giant ArcelorMittal Posts Strongest Quarter in a Decade' [Industry Week]. Steel giant ArcelorMittal said Thursday it recorded its best quarterly performance in a decade as commodity prices have soared due to booming demand fueled by an economic recovery from the pandemic. The Luxembourg-based groups net profit nearly doubled to $2.3 billion (1.9 billion euros) in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2020, according to an earnings statement. Sales surged by 15% in the first three months of the year to $16.2 billion as steel prices and iron ore revenues rose.

Commodities: One Grain Is Keeping Worlds Food Crisis From Getting Worse [Bloomberg]. As skyrocketing crop prices fuel fears about soaring food costs and hunger around the globe, one of the worlds most consumed staples is bucking the trend and warding off a broader food crisis at least for now. Rice is the predominant source of nourishment each day for more than 3 billion people, and yet it hasnt rallied anything like other agricultural commodities from corn to soy and meat. While prices are above levels a year earlier, theyve declined in recent months in some of the top exporters including Vietnam, Thailand and India on improved supplies from new harvests. One reason for the diverging trend is that rice is grown mainly for human consumption, whereas the surge in crop prices has been driven by booming demand for livestock feed. Chinas insatiable appetite for hog feed has combined with poor crop weather to drain world grain and oilseed supplies, sending corn and soybeans to the highest level in more than eight years.

Commodities: Pandemic-driven upheaval is still spreading across U.S. food supply chains. Chicken stocks that were brimming at the start of the year have become severely depleted. and prices for various parts are soaring as restaurants scramble for supplies. Independent eateries and bars have gone weeks without wings, cutting into some of their most reliable sales [Wall Street Journal]. Its the latest sign of how changes in consumer markets during the pandemic have shown many supply chains to be surprisingly fragile . Poultry was a cheap and popular alternative to other proteins as production and distribution of various food products was knocked off balance last year. Now fast-food chains are battling for customers with chicken sandwiches and supermarkets are seeing prices climb. Chicken farmers are trying to ramp up production but total chicks hatched over the first three months of the year actually trailed 2020s first-quarter total.  Tightly coupled systems, which is what the ubiquitous just-in-time production is, are always fragile. So wheres the surprisingly?

Shipping: Key Container Freight Index Hits Milestone [Maritime Logistics]. The Valencia Containerized Freight Index (VCFI) continues its upward trend, reaching 2,314.89 points in April, an increase of 17.39% over the previous month. In a global context marked by the generalized growth of freight rates, the VCFI links its ninth consecutive month of growth and exceeds two thousand points for the first time in its history since the index began in January 2018. The effects of the incident with the Ever Given vessel in the Suez Canal, released at the end of March, have added to the complexity of an already stressed market. To this, we must add the upward forecasts for world GDP which reinforce market demand, the congestion in the main US ports and the increase in the price of some fuels. According to Alphaliner data, the commercially idle fleet remains at minimal levels, i.e. 56 vessels, representing 0.8% of total capacity. In terms of equipment, some shipping lines have announced orders for new units to alleviate the market situation.

Shipping: US regulator probing Chinas role in container shortage [Freight Waves]. Carl Bentzel, a U.S. Federal Maritime Commissioner (FMC), told attendees at a virtual business meeting hosted by the Intermodal Association of North America that he is looking into the availability of containers, intermodal chassis and railroad equipment, and whether the U.S. has become overly dependent on such equipment owned and managed by China. I am concerned that this equipment is controlled by a state-owned enterprise and that were completely reliant, and I have questions about whether or not theres been market manipulation of what is potentially a monopoly, Bentzel said at the meeting on Wednesday. We really need to take a look at our reliance on that segment of the industry, and evaluate how important it is to our nation. Bentzel made public months ago his concerns about shortages of equipment used to support cargo moving in the U.S. trans-Pacific trade in the wake of volume surges at the countrys major container ports, particularly the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex.

Shipping: Handy map:

Manufacturing: The factory floor in China is going global. State-owned companies are roiling global markets with low-price goods across a range of sectors, but the familiar story has a twist because theyre doing it from factories in Europe and other locations far from Chinas own manufacturing centers [Wall Street Journal]. Chinese companies have been using state backing over the past decade to acquire Western rivals like French rail equipment supplier Valdunes and build factories beyond the countrys borders. Such purchases have brought more industrial know-how to Chinas factory owners and greater access to foreign markets. Western officials and executives are raising alarms, saying the state support allows Chinese-owned manufacturers overseas to operate on razor-thin margins or at a loss while they grab market share or serve Beijings strategic objectives. But addressing the issue is difficult when the manufacturer in question is operating inside a Western market.

Manufacturing: The global chip shortage is starting to have major real-world consequences [CNBC]. Nations are now being forced to think about how they can increase the number of chips they produce. The vast majority of the worlds chips are made in China, while the U.S. is the second biggest producer. The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, has said it wants to build up chip manufacturing capacity in Europe as part of an effort to become more self-reliant on what it sees as a critical technology. U.S. tech giant Intel has offered to help but it reportedly wants 8 billion euros in public subsidies toward building a semiconductor factory in Europe. Intel also announced in March that it intends to spend $20 billion on two new chip plants in Arizona.

The Bezzle: Tesla tells regulator that full self-driving cars may not be achieved by year-end [Reuters].  Little children everywhere burst into tears. Lambert staggers in amazement. Comment (note source):

UPDATE The Bezzle: The hidden work created by artificial intelligence programs [MIT Sloan School]. AI has created millions of new jobs, including for human workers who do things like labeling images so a machine learning model can learn, said Saiph Savage, director of the Civic Innovation Lab at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Other human tasks might include transcribing audio, which helps voice assistants understand the world, or flagging violent content or disinformation on social media platforms. The workers operating behind the scenes, often called ghost workers or invisible workers, are usually hidden to the end user, Savage said. Her research shows that these workers often earn below minimum wage and have limited opportunities for career growth and development.  Sounds to me like the data sets are unmaintainable, never mind biased.

UPDATE The art of the SPAC: from sublime to ridiculous [Reuters]. Breakingviews has written about blank-check companies since the SPAC equivalent of the Renaissance  the mid-2000s. Much like art, the output and influences in successive eras have evolved. Old Master SPACs are relatively rare, cautiously constructed works. More recently, the rush to cash in on the craze has brought creations verging on the surreal.  The supporting tweet:

A new e-book from @Breakingviews tells the story of the blank-check-company trend so far, and how it might end https://t.co/Qj62p97IMv https://t.co/Qj62p97IMv  Reuters Business (@ReutersBiz) May 7, 2021

Warhol, however, is not a surrealist. His school is. Pop. Subtext from Reuters?

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Todays Fear & Greed Index: 55 Neutral (previous close: 51 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 56 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated May 7 at 12:54pm.

Health Care

Association of Vitamin D Levels, Race/Ethnicity, and Clinical Characteristics With COVID-19 Test Results [JAMA (DG)]. Conclusions: The findings of this cohort study support a role of vitamin D levels in COVID-19 risk. Randomized clinical trials of interventions to raise vitamin D levels into ranges at or above levels currently considered sufficient are needed to determine if those interventions could reduce COVID-19 incidence, perhaps especially in Black and other populations known to be at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. Because such levels exceed levels recommended for other reasons, individual and policy decisions about higher supplement dosing and vitamin D testing to achieve such levels should be even more carefully considered than dosing to avoid vitamin D deficiency as currently defined, which some have argued should be pursued given current evidence that vitamin D might reduce the risk of COVID-19.

Police State Watch

Grand jury indicts 4 ex-police officers in George Floyds death [The Hill]. A federal grand jury has indicted all four former Minneapolis police officers involved with the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, including Derek Chauvin, who was convicted on murder and manslaughter charges last month. The multicount indictment from the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, accuses Chauvin along with Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao of violating Floyds constitutional rights. All of the men were charged with failing to administer first aid to Floyd as Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than nine minutes. Additionally, Chauvin, Kueng and Thao are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and excessive force.  Good.

The exonerative voice:

Heres a remarkable case of the exonerative voice. Do you know how this baby died? From some of the 20 bullets the police fired into the car, knowing the baby was in the car. pic.twitter.com/wJi5byLjGn  John Pfaff (@JohnFPfaff) May 6, 2021

The exonerative voice is a keeper.

LAffaire Joffrey Epstein

Melinda Gates Warned Bill About Jeffrey Epstein [The Daily Beast]. Normally if I want to quote a gossip rag, I go for Page Six. Nevertheless: Melinda Gates met with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein alongside her husband, Bill, in New York City and soon after said she was furious at the relationship between the two men, according to people familiar with the situation. The previously unreported meeting occurred at Epsteins Upper East Side mansion in September 2013, on the same day the couple accepted the Lasker-Bloomberg Public Service Award at The Pierre hotel and were photographed alongside then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The meeting would prove a turning point for Gates relationship with Epstein, the people familiar with the matter say, as Melinda told friends after the encounter how uncomfortable she was in the company of the wealthy sex offender and how she wanted nothing to do with him. Gates friendship with Epsteinwho for years was accused of molesting scores of underage girlsstill haunts Melinda, according to friends of the couple who spoke to The Daily Beast this week in light of the pairs divorce announcement, which had been weeks in the making.  So the Gates divorce will be ugly? Thats a damned shame.

Games

Leitmotifs (!):

Yes, absolutely. If you haven't seen it, this video does a very interesting breakdown on the construction of "Dancing Mad" and it reuse of leitmotiffs from across the entire game. https://t.co/2DjkJgKX7R  Devin Kelly  (@DevinKelly20) May 5, 2021

The Conservatory

UPDATE From Teen Vogues labor reporter:

Times like this I really miss being the heavy metal editor at a music publication because this album fucking rules and I wanna write about how much it rules  Kim Kelly (@GrimKim) May 5, 2021

Book Nook

Matt Taibbis Hate Inc. Getting Turned Into Documentary by Vespucci (EXCLUSIVE) [Variety]. As a company that works closely with journalists from around the world, we remain conscious of the evolution of media and audio-visual news, said Vespucci co-founders Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turcan. Hate Inc. expertly dissects the current state of the media landscape, and through the lens of Noam Chomskys Manufacturing Consent, Matt asks of us, viewers, to hold accountable our news providers. The timing of the book couldnt be more critical and a documentary as an extension of Matts commentary feels only fitting.. Hate Inc. is a book about the way the news media business has commoditized anger and division, eschewing traditional fact-based reporting and objectivity in favor of a new strategy based on telling audiences what they want to hear, Taibbi said. Because much of this transformation took place in visual and auditory media, the subject easily lends itself to a documentary  in fact, even as I was writing the book, I was aware it may be a story more easily told on screen.'

Bible Corner

Six Ways to Protect Your Church From Fraud [The Roys Report]. About one in every three churches gets robbed. And its not just the megachurches that fall prey to thieving employees. Most church fraud happens in small, local churches that dont have enough employees to easily provide accountability. The average amount lost in a church fraud case is $180,000 over 18 months, he said. Yet these cases add up to billions of dollars in fraud each year. Thankfully, with good accountability, churches can usually detect fraud cases in two months or less, Clark-Hoyos said. Accountability systems also prevent mistakes and protect employees from false fraud accusations.  Worth a read, especially if you are a church-goer.

Groves of Academe

Campus Police and the AAUP [Academe Blog]. According to the AAUP Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, faculty have primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum . . . and those aspects of student life which relate to the educational process, and, even in areas outside of faculty primary responsibility, there should still be agencies for faculty participation in the government of the college or university. Campus police may not fall directly under the primary responsibility of faculty, but faculty should still play a role in their oversight, accountability, and policy making. Generally, however, campus police forces are ultimately accountable only to the university president and the governing board. This poses two related problems. First, unlike municipal police forces, which are ultimately accountable to elected officials and therefore to voters, a university president is an unelected figure appointed by a governing board. Public safety on campus is therefore in the hands of an individual who is not accountable to the universitys public of staff, faculty, and students. Second, and related to the issue of public accountability, is the perennial struggle over finances and which aspects of the college or universitys mission are prioritized through funding. Campus police force budgets have, in general, only increased over time, and their departments are often protected from budget cuts that are imposed on academic departments, effectively undercutting the primary educational mission of the institution in favor of expanding the administrations police force. Campus police forces thus pose a threat to the principle of shared governance because they are not accountable to faculty and the campus community in any direct or meaningful way, and they often directly compete with academic units for scarce financial resources, attenuating what the AAUP views as the core purpose of higher education: research and teaching.   Stuff and nonsense. The core purpose of higher education is to aggrandize the administration (as this post clearly shows).

Class Warfare

Early Draft of AFL-CIOs Report on Police Reform Shows a Commitment to Defending Police Unions [In These Times]. Last June, as the clamor over [the murder of George Floyd] reached its peak, [Liz Shuler, the AFL-CIOs second-in-command] suggested that rather than kicking out police unions, the AFL-CIO should have them adopt codes of excellence to change police behavior from within. And that is exactly what the draft of the long-awaited AFL-CIO report on policing says. The 13-page draft report, titled The Labor Movements Public Safety Blueprint for Change, is not final and presumably could still change before being made public. But it is the product of many months of work, and is currently being considered inside the subcommittee. The draft reports introduction makes clear that it is written from the perspective of police unions themselves: Union public safety professionals, and our unions, have a duty to call out the wrong doers and actions that damage people in these communities and, in doing so, the integrity of our profession. We can no longer stand idly by when those who fail to uphold their oath and duty take actions that stain the work of law enforcement, it says. We must also advocate to protect the right of all working people to have a voice on the job and bargain collectively with their employer. (The insistence on protecting collective bargaining for police is not an idle issue  days ago in San Antonio, voters narrowly rejected a ballot proposition that would have rescinded that police departments collective bargaining rights.)  Hmm.

Why dont they just leave:

Who's moving out of California?

Poor and middle class people with less education. Who's moving into California? Wealthy people with more education (via @PPICNotes) https://t.co/aW1ijnMY7a pic.twitter.com/aW3zkzUqqS  Liam Dillon (@dillonliam) May 6, 2021

News of the Wired

Forgetting the Body [The Convivial Society]. Digital culture is material culture, but its easy to imagine otherwise. [Alasdair] MacIntyre mentions this forgetfulness in a book titled Dependent Rational Animals. In it he argues that this forgetfulness of the body leads us to ignore how thoroughly dependent we are as creatures, especially in childhood and old age but also under countless other circumstances throughout our lives. . As I thought about this and how digital media seems to encourage the myth of immateriality and disembodiment, it occurred to me that this might be an interesting clue as to the source of the worst elements of our digital public spaces To forget the body is to forget our dependence, our frailty, our limitations. To forget these is also to forget the value, indeed the necessity of humility, generosity, care, patience, and mercy. These and other like them are what MacIntyre called the virtues of acknowledged dependence, and they were, in his view, grounded in a recognition of our limitations and weaknesses as embodied creatures. If digital culture tempts us to forget our bodies, then it may also be prompting us to act as if we were self-sufficient beings with little reason to care or expect to be cared for by another.

Cornella is an acquired taste that I have never really acquired. Still, the soul of man under neoliberalism;

Gladly the cross-eyed bear:

Similar confusions with biopic, i sometimes pronounce it to rhyme with myopic and sometimes bio-pic. https://t.co/9xsT7D1XCc  Moose Allain  (@MooseAllain) May 7, 2021

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Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plant (JF):

JF writes: Offering up some iris from last May. My mom planted a clump of these about 40 years ago and then gave some to my aunt and uncle a few years later. When I bought my house, my uncle divided them up, and gave some to me. We often talk about heirloom plants, but not as much about plant as heirlooms. My mom and uncle have both passed, and I feel a connection to both of them when my iris bloom every spring. I love iris but I am bad at dividing them. Its too much like work.

And also for plant lovers:

I'm pleased to announce the return of #Iowa wildflower Wednesday. The tenth year of Bleeding Heartland's #wildflowers series opens with a focus on cutleaf toothwort, #nativeplants common in wooded areas. https://t.co/OmncKE2cup pic.twitter.com/BKo9J89cQk  Bleeding Heartland (@LauraRBelin) May 5, 2021

Bleeding Heartland is a blog about Iowa politics of very long standing, so do give them a clickthrough.

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Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the recently concluded and  thank you!  successful annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldnt see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:









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Yves here. One, or in this case, even two robins do not make a spring. But they are indicators. We had warned that the work at home trend was not likely to be as durable as many whod bought homes well away from their former offices would like to think. As we indicated, most CEOs felt that there was a significant productivity loss in having their staffs dispersed. Whatever gains there might be from fewer distractions were offset by many types of collaboration being more difficult, particularly meetings of more than a very few people, as well as the loss of serendipitous casual information-sharing. And what looks like gossip often has an upside, in that learning about personalities and potential or actual scandals helps workers navigate internal bureaucracies.

Admittedly, financial service firms, due to their high volume of transactions, generally benefit from close collaboration, so it makes sense that big banks would be early to bring workers back to the office (assuming Covid stays at current perceived-to-be-tolerable levels).

However, another factor that I believe many former office denizens are underestimating is the face times arms race. Unless an employee is in a role where there really is not much managerial need for regular interaction with the higher ups (like a programmer or a book editor), or a sales role where the rep has strong client relationships and can lay credit to revenue generation, once companies start having employees back a few days in the office, the pressure to put in more face time for competitive reasons will rise. Theres a substantial body of evidence that supports that idea that managers that the higher-ups see more of are more likely to get promotions and plum assignments. Zoom relationships are more shallow than the in-person kind.

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, in his typical uncensored manner, scotched the notion that his company is a democracy:

October, it will look just like it did before, he said. And everyone is going to be happy with it. You know people dont like commuting, but so what. He added, Im about to cancel all my Zoom meetings. Im done with it.

And even though I actually didnt much like working in the Wall Street area, seeing the iconic Fraunces Tavern is nostalgic.

By Greg David. Originally published at THE CITY on May 5, 2021

Two of the citys most important financial institutions have told their workers to plan to be back in the office soon  raising hopes of the biggest landlords and smallest businesses that New Yorks economic recovery will finally pick up speed.

Following Gov. Andrew Cuomos surprise announcement Monday that he will lift most restrictions on businesses later this month, Goldman Sachs on Tuesday told employees that it expects them back at its Battery Park headquarters by mid-June. That tosses a potential lifeline to downtown businesses that have seen their cash flow wither since March 2020.

Few are as relieved as Kelley Mondesire, an acupuncturist, whose business imploded from 90 patients a week to zero during the shutdown to as few as five.

Goldmans decision is great because not only it will help me build up my clientele but all the small businesses, she said. We need people to come back into the area with some life and some money.

At the same time, J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who in an April letter to shareholders speculated that the firm would need less space in the future because of remote work, seemed to change his mind: He told a Wall Street Journal conference Tuesday he expects his workforce to come flooding back to the office in September.

October, it will look just like it did before, he said. And everyone is going to be happy with it. You know people dont like commuting, but so what.

He added, Im about to cancel all my Zoom meetings. Im done with it.

A New Ballgame

The big bank decisions are also a boost to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently ordered 80,000 city workers back to their offices  and who seemed to prompt the governors move by unexpectedly declaring last week that New York City would be completely open by July 1.

The mayor also based his latest budget plan on a sharp pickup in employment, projecting the city would regain 400,000 jobs in the last nine months of the year, resulting in a total increase of 500,000 positions for 2021.

His optimism is in sharp contrast with that of the Independent Budget Office, which in February estimated gain for the year at 152,000 jobs.

This is exactly what the mayor has been saying: By bringing our workforce back safely and responsibly, and by vaccinating millions of New Yorkers, the city is sending a signal that the comeback is well underway, said Mitch Schwartz, a de Blasio spokesperson. Its great to see the private sector embrace that vision and were confident more and more businesses will do the same.

The governors moves to fully open the economy continued Wednesday when he announced that the Mets and Yankees can go to 100% occupancy in stadium sections filled with vaccinated fans, and that Broadway would return on Sept. 14, also at 100% capacity.

Goldman has long been the preeminent firm among traditional Wall Street businesses of investment banking and underwriting. J.P. Morgan is the largest bank in the United States by far with almost $1 trillion in assets more than its closest rival, and is a key player in most Wall Street businesses.

Their announcements trumpet that the biggest and most prestigious firms dont think that hybrid work with employees in the office only two days a week wont work. The decisions seem likely to influence other companies.

The Goldman headquarters housed some 7,000 workers before the pandemic, a few of whom have already begun returning to the office. CEO David Solomon, in an email to Goldman employees Tuesday, explained why he wanted everyone back, using a theme likely to be the focus of the pro-office executives in the weeks to come.

We know from experience that our culture of collaboration, innovation and apprenticeship thrives when our people come together, and we look forward to having more of our colleagues back in the office so that they can experience that once again on a regular basis, he said.

Wind at Our Back

The citys biggest landlords immediately seized on the announcement and its rationale.

The message that Jamie Dimon and David Solomon are sending strongly to the rest of the world is that the city has to come back to work, said Bill Rudin, co-chairman of Rudin Management Co, which owns 16 offices buildings in the city.  And we [landlords] are ready.

Rudin is trying to lease almost 2 million square feet office space at three buildings it has recently redeveloped at 3 Times Square, 90 Pine Street downtown and Dock 72 in Brooklyn. He said business has picked up in recent months, with three-quarters of available space drawing interest.

We have the wind at our back, he said hopefully.

Eddie Travers, owner of the Financial Districts well-known Fraunces Tavern and another restaurant in the area, could certainly use an increase in foot traffic.

Last week marked the first time since last March that he saw people in suits come into the restaurant after work on Thursday, which was once the go-to night for colleagues to meet at a bar.

Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street in the Financial District. May 5, 2021. Yana Paskova/THE CITY

We are making money from 7 p.m. on Friday to Sunday at 7 p.m., he said.

But increasing bar capacity to 75% next week wont help him because he doesnt have customers to fill the space during the week with offices still mostly empty.

He and his wife work seven days a week now, and their staff is half the 100 people he employed before the pandemic shutdown.

But Travers said the return of Goldman could be the start of a revival.

In the past, we have had a lot of their staff hanging out, he said. It will be a big help.

A Boost in the Bronx

The same is true for Mondesire, the acupuncturist, who is a preferred provider to Goldman and gets referrals when its workers are in need of traditional Chinese medicine.

Her business also has depended on the financial service employees at Barclays and Deutsche Bank for all 13 years it has been downtown.

Also hoping for a return to the office is Liz Neumark, owner of the catering company Great Performances, which just opened a new headquarters and kitchen in the South Bronx that she built out at a cost of $7 million during the pandemic shutdown.

She qualified for tax benefits under the citys REAP program for firms moving to the other boroughs from Manhattan and she received a $1 million Empire State Development grant while committing to increasing her workforce to 181 people in the coming years.

Prospects for this year are better because she has booked more than twice as many weddings as usual. And corporate inquiries have begun to pick up as well.

During the pandemic she survived by producing some 2.5 million meals for the city under its various programs to feed New Yorkers.

We used to do meals for $60 a person and here we are doing for $6 and $7 a person, Neumark said. But we kept our core staff employed.

This story was originally published by THE CITY, an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
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If anyone in the Congressional committees that oversee the Fed had an operating brain cell, they should flay the Fed for its indefensible posture of ignorance and powerlessness. I have to confess to being too annoyed to read the underlying document, its semi-annual report on financial stability and am so instead relying on what I take to be a fair-minded recap in the Financial Times, Fed warns of hidden leverage lurking in financial system.

What I find most disturbing is the rank dishonesty of the Fed, in what looks to be deliberate mischaracterization of the Archegos implosion, made worse by the central banks And how can you expect us to know whats going on? anticipatory blame avoidance. To put this another way, the Fed is trying to pre-sell a whocoulddanode? defense when that sort of guilty faced, foot-shuffling act is unacceptable after the Fed was caught out being way behind the curve in the runup to the global financial crisis.

Archegos was not a systematic event. Not even close. One hedge fund with so few investors that it ran on a friends and family basis (tarted up as family office) blew up. It did not bring down any other players. It did briefly roil markets in the stocks Archegos held. Banks collectively lost about $10 billion. By comparison, Paribas paid $8.9 billion in economic sanctions fines to the Department of Justice in 2014, which in current dollar terms is $10.0 billion. No one suggested the Paribas fine was systemic or even a health-threatening blow.

The troubling issue was how did this one hedge fund get to be so leveraged? Here is where the Fed misdirects Congress and the general public:

The US Federal Reserve has warned that existing measures of hedge fund leverage may not be capturing important risks, pointing to the collapse of Archegos Capital as an example of hidden vulnerabilities in the global financial system. Hwangs high-wire act was hard to monitor because family offices face limited disclosure requirements and because he used derivatives known as equity total return swaps. These instruments enabled Archegos to profit from rises in individual stocks with payments equal to only a fraction of the size of the underlying positions.

First, the hand-wringing about Archegos being a hedge fund able to do sneaky things in dark alleys is all wet. Do you seriously think regulators have all that much visibility into the much bigger (but also known to be tightly run) Citadel? How about the personal portfolios of very large investors? And what about multinational corporations that run their Treasury operations as profit centers, or Apple, which runs an internal hedge fund out of Nevada?

In other words, if the Fed thinks the problem is particular player, hedge funds is far too narrow a frame. Leveraged financial speculators is closer to the mark.

And they are secretive about their holdings. Any large trader will spread his business among multiple execution firms because the firms can and will trade against him if they know his positions.

Second, the problem is not the opaqueness of the hedge funds activity, even though if you read the Financial Times account, you would think that that is the the Feds big worry. Its the ability to achieve high levels of leverage. And thats the fault of the regulatory regime.

In passing, in the section excerpted above, the report mentions total return swaps. A short definition from Wikipedia:

Hedge funds use Total Return Swaps to obtain leverage on the Reference Assets: they can receive the return of the asset, typically from a bank (which has a funding cost advantage), without having to put out the cash to buy the Asset. They usually post a smaller amount of collateral upfront, thus obtaining leverage.

Due to the hour and the state of Google, I cant find data on the size of the total return swap market, but at the time Archegos blow, it was under $300 billion, which means too small to wreck the financial system (well, unless perhaps they blew up Deutsche Bank).

Perhaps more important, regulators had decided they didnt like them but from what I can infer, have also been slow to shut down the market. Thats a mistake since its clear the purpose of total returns swaps is pure speculation, and any additional price discovery benefit is too marginal to allow the use of so much leverage.

More generally, the Fed and financial regulators seem unwilling to do two essential things. The first is to say no to certain activities. Andrew Haldane, in a paper I have mentioned repeatedly, explained that the only answer to the level of societal harm posed by financial crises is prohibition, as in not allowing certain activities. From his seminal speech, The $100 Billion Question, cited in a 2010 post:

More support comes from Andrew Haldane of the Bank of England, who in a March 2010 paper compared the banking industry to the auto industry, in that they both produced pollutants: for cars, exhaust fumes; for bank, systemic risk. While economists were claiming that the losses to the US government on various rescues would be $100 billion (ahem, must have left out Freddie and Fannie in that tally), it ignores the broader costs (unemployment, business failures, reduced government services, particularly at the state and municipal level). His calculation of the world wide costs: .these losses are multiples of the static costs, lying anywhere between one and five times annual GDP. Put in money terms, that is an output loss equivalent to between $60 trillion and $200 trillion for the world economy and between 1.8 trillion and 7.4 trillion for the UK. As Nobel-prize winning physicist Richard Feynman observed, to call these numbers astronomical would be to do astronomy a disservice: there are only hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy. Economical might be a better description. It is clear that banks would not have deep enough pockets to foot this bill. Assuming that a crisis occurs every 20 years, the systemic levy needed to recoup these crisis costs would be in excess of $1.5 trillion per year. The total market capitalisation of the largest global banks is currently only around $1.2 trillion. Fully internalising the output costs of financial crises would risk putting banks on the same trajectory as the dinosaurs, with the levy playing the role of the meteorite. Yves here. So a banking industry that creates global crises is negative value added from a societal standpoint. It is purely extractive. Even though we have described its activities as looting (as in paying themselves so much that they bankrupt the business), the wider consequences are vastly worse than in textbook looting.

Back to the current post. The original sin of the Fed, at least with respect to crises in the modern era, is the decision by Alan Greenspan to do nothing about derivatives. I recall in the mid 1900s gasping out loud when I read that he intended to take a let a thousand flowers bloom approach. By then, I had had one of the top derivatives firms as a client and had an appreciation as to how dangerous they could be.

There is a role for derivatives in highly liquid markets for hedging. Banks generally have the underlying volumes of cash transactions to manage FX futures and options on an OTC basis. But all things being equal, its preferable to have a central exchange (more stable market structure) or else highly distributed position-taking. Anything in the middle is more prone to meltdowns.

But an even bigger issue is aside from well-established categories of pretty simple derivatives, theres no justification for allowing financial intermediaries to offer much in the way of OTC derivatives. The overwhelming uses of high margin OTC derivatives are for accounting gimmickry, tax avoidance, or achieving high levels of leverage on the cheap (which means having the bank or lender as bagholder). None of these are positive from a societal standpoint.

So all of the Feds mealy-mouthing about hidden leverage is utter rubbish. Yes, asset valuations are strained due to super cheap money and too much speculative froth. But as we saw in the collapse of the monster dot-com bubble, the mere collapse of speculative bubbles, even really big ones, does not do systemic damage (although they can set off recessions as the speculators lick their wounds and the folks with bezzle-based revenues take hits). What does systemic damage is high levels of leverage, particularly leverage on leverage, which was what turned the housing crash from an S&L crisis x 1.5X level event to a global financial crisis.

For the Fed at this juncture to profess to be so stupid about the fundamental problem as cover for their unwillingness to take on Big Finance is depressing, although in another way, not exactly surprising.
Why Cats Knock Your Stuff Overand How to Stop Them LifeHacker. For the record, none of my three Abyssinians ever did that.

In major move, South Africa to end captive lion industry Associated Press

The Latest Monarch Butterfly Breeding Pattern Shows That Their Population May Be on the Rise Martha Stewart Living (resilc)

Nearly 10% of all wild California condors are wreaking havoc on one persons home BoingBoing

Alien plants: The search for photosynthesis on other worlds New Scientist (Dr. Kevin)

American drivers are saving the corn ethanol industryfor now Quartz (resilc). Ugh. Corn ethanol is an environmental net negative, as weve written for some time. The only ethanol that is actually energy efficient is sugar cane grown in Brazil, but that assumes no deforestation to do that (I have no idea whether that is part of the equation or not).

10 residents live in isolation at Hawaiis last leprosy community SFGate (Chuck L) :-(

Too much salt suppresses phagocytes MDC

#COVID-19

How to Avoid Zoom Dick Incidents During Zoom Calls at Work Gizmodo (Dr. Kevin)

Science/Medicine

Asia

US

Old Blighty

 What's happening in Colombia?  We take a look at what brought people onto the streets and the brutal repression faced by protesters from Police and Army.#SOSColombia #ColombiaAlertaRoja #ParoNacional5M https://t.co/V6Mu0N3DgC  Peoples Dispatch (@peoplesdispatch) May 5, 2021

Polish grannies demonstrate for democracy DW

New Cold War

Syraqistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

GOP Civil War

Democrats en deshabille

Texas lawmakers race against the clock to push through new voting restrictions Guardian

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Our Famously Free Press

Gunz

While you were busy avoiding being criticized for insufficient wokeness: Many states are pushing through more permissive gun laws Economist (Dr. Kevin)

Woke Watch

Biggest ISPs paid for 8.5 million fake FCC comments opposing net neutrality ars technica. BC: Wowsers, this is flagrant. As a result: Broadband industry submitted millions of fake comments in support of net-neutrality repeal: N.Y. attorney general MarketWatch (resilc)

Credit Card Deleveraging during the COVID-19 Pandemic St. Louis Fed (UserFriendly)

Chip shortage continues, US asks Taiwan to prioritize automakers ars technica (Kevin W)

Steel prices have tripled. Now Bank of America is sounding the alarm CNN (resilc)

Nationwide Shortage Of Chlorine And Propane Tanks Impacting Pools Right Before Summer CBS (resilc)

Opinion: CalPERS cant count on 7% returns without risky investments Mercury News (Kevin W)

MMT and Power  Part 1 Bill Mitchell

Guillotine Watch

Class Warfare

Mark Warners PRO Act Wavering Is a Grim Sign Discourse Blog (UserFriendly) Millions Are Unemployed. Why Cant Companies Find Workers? Wall Street Journal. Chorus: Because the jobs are McJobs! Specifically: Surveys suggest why some cant or wont go back to work. Millions of adults say they arent working for fear of getting or spreading Covid-19. Businesses are reopening ahead of schools, leaving some parents without child care. Many people are receiving more in unemployment benefits than they would earn in the available jobs. Some who are out of work dont have the skills needed for jobs that are available or are unwilling to switch to a new career. Is Unemployment Insurance Behind the Fast-Food Labor Shortage? American Prospect. Terrible headline. Cognitive research shows that repeating the point you are trying to debunk reinforces it. Ideas like this need to be handled as if they are radioactive. Its May 6 so you should know that if the minimum wage had increased at the rate of productivity since 1960, it would be $23. Instead, its $7.25. That's $15.75 per hour that's disappeared from the pockets of low income workers the past 61 years  Joe Sanberg (@JosephNSanberg) May 6, 2021 Hedge Fund Managers Bleed Companies of Their Capabilities FAIR

Antidote du jour. Tracie H: This handsome Billy Goat lives at the Orange County Zoo in the Irvine Regional Park (Irvine, California).

And a bonus (Chuck L):

We've all been there. pic.twitter.com/aoOu9B2zYF  The Feel Good Page  (@FeelGoodPage11) May 6, 2021

And a second (guurst):

Studies have shown that listening to the sound of Pandas enthusiastically munching on sugarcane can temporarily reduce stress levels by up to 27%. pic.twitter.com/BymCCtizeQ  Nature & Animals (@AnimalsWorId) May 2, 2021

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Yves here. While most Americans who follow politics know that the appointment of ambassadors includes quite a few patronage postings, few follow the sausage-making on that beat. This post fills that lapse, and shows the cooking is as rotten as youd expect.

And dispatching to Rahm to Japan makes perfect sense, in a sick sort of way. The Japanese are not know nfor racial tolerance, so misdeeds against people of color on his watch would not register with them as an issue.

By Max Moran, a research director for the personnel team at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)s Revolving Door Project, which aims to increase scrutiny on executive branch appointments. Produced in partnership by the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute

On April 20, President Joe Biden remarked that the police murder of George Floyd ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism in American policing, and he called for action at all levels of government to ensure that Black and brown people or anyone [doesnt] fear the interactions with law enforcement.

One week later, the Washington Post reported that Biden will likely nominate former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who personally helped cover up the police murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014, as ambassador to Japan.

Its a particularly egregious example of the longstanding practice of presidents doling out cushy ambassadorships to old friends, high-dollar donors, or political allies, especially those deemed too toxic for more powerful posts in the Cabinet (as Emanuel has been) or executive branch agencies. Being the ambassador to a wealthy nation allied with the U.S., while still carrying some responsibilities, is often more or less a multiyear vacation on the governments dime.

Most presidents reserve about 50 ambassadorships for this political selection process, with the rest going to career foreign service officers. Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, upped the corruption factor. During his last days in office in January, 83 ambassadors, or 43.5 percent of all U.S. ambassadors, were his handpicked allies.

But Biden has been slower than most presidents to dole out the diplomatic goodies, which has bred consternation among the donor class: a Daily Beast report in February quoted an anonymous Democratic donor, fuming, Its bullshit. The number of asks over the course of the campaign and they cant even remember to make a phone call to the people who kept the lights on.

Now, according to the Washington Post, Biden is finally getting around to scratching the backs of his friends and allies. This carries weight in D.C. gossip circles, given how well-connected Biden is there. So who made the cut?

Emanuel, as mentioned earlier, will likely attract the most interest, and for good reason. Ive written previouslyabout how his persona of a hard-edged political shark is mostly built on bluster and failed strategies. Hes done favors at every turn for both Wall Street and the police state, actors whom Biden and his party are belatedly recognizing are rightly despised by their voter base.

One of the least-known names on the list is Mark Gitenstein, one of Bidens former Senate aides whom he once called my best personal friend. In 2008, Gitenstein had been favored to lead the powerful Office of Legal Policy at the Department of Justice, but the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen successfully shot him down for his long history of corporate lobbying on the very judicial issues that the office oversees.

Instead, Gitenstein was made ambassador to Romania, where he was a loyal ally of Traian Basescu, the anti-democratic and fervently pro-capitalist president of Romania at the time. As Romanian historian Florin Abraham wrote, Basescu rewarded Gitenstein with a lucrative seat on the Property Fund, which holds stock in Romanias most profitable companies. Gitenstein then swung into the corporate law offices of Mayer Brown, where the company website quoted him as saying, Commercial opportunities abound in Romania and throughout Central and Eastern Europe, and my experience and contacts in the region can help clients capitalize on them. Hell be able to further flesh out his European Rolodex as the likely ambassador to the European Union.

Theres also David Cohen, a Comcast lobbyist who hosted Bidens very first fundraiser of the 2020 election cycle. Cohen has wielded power on behalf of the telecommunications monopolist since 2002, mostly in Pennsylvania, which is how he grew close with the Scrantonian Biden. Biden is sending Cohen to Canada at the same time as his administration is bringing in anti-monopolists like Tim Wu and Lina Khan, who (like most Americans) have few kind things to say about Comcast.

Mexico, meanwhile, will welcome Ken Salazar as the ambassador to the country, a well-liked former Colorado senator who was Obamas interior secretary. While Salazar was overseeing the calamitous BP oil spill into the gulf that the U.S. and Mexico share, he was also approving new offshore oil drilling permits. Hes currently a Big Oil lawyer through the offices of WilmerHale, which is the law firm representing BP in the gulf spill lawsuits.

Then theres Tom Nides, the current front-runner to be ambassador to Israel. A career investment banker, Nides personally switched the pay structure for Fannie Mae executives to incentivize short-term earnings. By 2008, Nides was a lobbyist for Morgan Stanley and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the main lobbying consortium for Wall Street traders. His team successfully resisted calls to break up the banks or impose caps on their size, in the words of the New Yorker, in part thanks to Nides personal connections with powerful centrist Democratshe was Joe Liebermans chief of staff during the 2000 presidential campaign.

Morgan Stanley paid Nides $9 million for his services killing financial reform in 2010, but the next year he took a new job: the third-in-command in Hillary Clintons State Department. His role focused on economic statecraft, a euphemism for promoting American companies around the globe. Nides was also Clintons informal link to the Israeli government and to the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, according to the New Yorker. Consider that link formal now.

What can we take away from these names? For one, that Biden rewards those who have served him loyally, like most politicians. For another, that he doesnt want to alienate core constituencies or powerful voices in his party.

But what might be most interesting isnt the names, but the jobs for which theyre being nominated. These are menexclusively menwho have served as presidential chiefs of staff, Cabinet secretaries, and high-ranking world diplomats. Theyre used to being in the room when real decisions are made. Yet here they are, shunted off to the embassies of allied nations whose leaders will probably just call Biden directly if they need something. In a certain light, it looks like Biden is embarrassed by them, desperate to appease them in exchange for keeping them quiet.

Emanuel, Nides, and the rest likely arent complaining about their new roles. But the fact that this is what they gotand not, say, a Cabinet secretary position, as Emanuel, in particular, hoped forperhaps speaks to a change in how the old Washington wheeling and dealing is perceived. Biden may be a swamp creature, but his White House knows that the public is angry and that the policies and preferences of men like these are to blame for it. To hold on to his own power, Biden appears to be shedding those who came up around him. It just turns out that the price of that is the public paying for years of sake and sushi for someone who helped cover up the murder of a teenager.
I began my journalism career in Nashville in 1990, with my current position with Nashville Post having evolved since October 2000 (when I was with the now-defunct The City Paper, a sister publication of the Post starting in 2008).

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(Natural News) A healthy 55-year-old man from New South Wales, Australia died eight days after getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Tamworth resident Darren Missen passed away on April 21 due to what medical staff described as a massive blood clot in his lungs. It is unclear what brand of vaccine he received during his April 13 vaccination appointment.

Speaking to the Northern Daily Leader (NDL), Missens family said he was fit and healthy around the time he got the COVID-19 shot. However, his health soon deteriorated. A report by The Australian said Missen collapsed while running errands. The 55-year-old was rushed to Tamworth Hospital where he eventually died. A family member told the NDL that he wasnt pointing the finger at the vaccine.

Meanwhile, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) confirmed to 7NEWS that the agency is aware of Missens demise. However, the TGA said it could not comment publicly on individual circumstances due to patient privacy.

In a statement, the regulatory agency said: All reports  of death following vaccination are reviewed to assess the likelihood that the vaccine contributed to the event or medical condition that led to a fatal outcome. However, it clarified that the reporting of an adverse event to TGA post-vaccination does not mean the event was caused by vaccination.

Meanwhile, the New South Wales Ministry of Health (NSW Health) said that it is notified whenever a serious or unexpected adverse event occurs. NSW Health investigates these events and refers its expert panel findings to the TGA, which is responsible for assessing causality. However, the department also declined to comment on individual cases.

So far, no link between the vaccination and Missens death has been established, but the case remains under investigation. TGA Head and Adjunct Professor John Skerritt said current evidence does not suggest a likely connection.

Our job is to unravel whether or not theres any association with vaccination. So far, globally there is not an overall association other than  a very rare and specific syndrome.

Skerritt also posited that Missen may have received the AstraZeneca vaccine, one of the only two vaccines provisionally approved in Australia alongside the Pfizer/BioNTech shot. (Related: Aussie scientists cast doubt on low-efficacy AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.)

More cases of adverse reactions following AstraZeneca inoculation have been reported in Australia

Aside from Missen, another man from New South Wales suffered the same fate after getting vaccinated. The 71-year-old Sydney resident passed away after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, the man was also reported to have had multiple comorbidities.

Officials said there is no conclusive evidence that the adenoviral vector-based vaccine was connected to the mans death. The 71-year-olds death is now being investigated, and findings will be forwarded to the TGA.

Men were not the only ones to suffer from adverse reactions. Genene Norris from the New South Wales Central Coast died on April 14, six days after she got inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The 48-year-old, who was also diabetic, developed blood clots a day after getting vaccinated on April 8. She was subsequently hooked to a dialysis machine in an intensive care unit until her passing. An investigation by the TGAs Vaccine Safety Investigation Group (VSIG) found that her case of thrombosis was likely linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

A total of five other cases of blood clots in Australia were linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in partnership with the University of Oxford. A woman from Western Australia and a man from Melbourne  both in their 40s  also suffered from blood clots after getting injected. Both are still in hospital but have shown signs of recovery. (Related: Aussie Health Minister Greg Hunt hospitalized after getting the AstraZeneca coronavirus jab.)

Meanwhile, three Australians from different parts of the country developed blood clots between nine and 26 days post-vaccination. A 35-year-old woman from New South Wales, a 49-year-old man from Queensland and an 80-year-old from Victoria state were all hospitalized after receiving coronavirus vaccines.

The TGA commented on the latter cases on April 23: The VSIG concluded that all three [cases]  were likely linked to vaccination. All three patients are clinically stable, have responded well to treatment and are recovering.

Visit VaccineDeaths.com to read more news about deaths caused by coronavirus vaccines.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

TheAustralian.com.au

7NEWS.com.au 1

TGA.gov.au

7NEWS.com.au 2
(Natural News) In the name of equality, the California Department of Education seeks to dumb down the brightest kids

(Article republished from MishTalk.com)

Dumbing Down of America Takes Another Leap Forward

A friend of mine emailed an article the likes of which always prompts me to say really?

Please consider the Reason article In the Name of Equity, California Will Discourage Students Who Are Gifted at Math.

Culturally Responsive Framework

I like to verify things myself and you can do so as well by reading the California Department of Education Mathematics Framework.

In its framework, the Department of Education seeks Culturally responsive mathematics education.

Introduction Highlights

Active efforts in mathematics teaching are required in order to counter the cultural forces that have led to and continue to perpetuate current inequities. Mathematics pathways must open mathematics to all students, eliminating option-limiting tracking. [i.e. no advance classes].

implementation of this framework and the standards, teachers must be mindful of other considerations that are a high priority for Californias education system including the Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&Cs) which allow students to examine issues of environmental and social justice.

Teaching for Equity Highlights

The evolution of mathematics in educational settings has resulted in dramatic inequities for students of color, girls, and students from low income homes.

Teachers are encouraged to align instruction with the outcomes of the California ELD Standards, which state that linguistically and culturally diverse English learners receive instruction that values their home cultures.

Need to Broaden Perceptions of Mathematics

I did not go through all the chapters. Reason uncovered these gems.

The inequity of mathematics tracking in California can be undone through a coordinated approach in grades 612.

Middle-school students are best served in heterogeneous classes.

The push to calculus in grade twelve is itself misguided.

To encourage truly equitable and engaging mathematics classrooms we need to broaden perceptions of mathematics beyond methods and answers so that students come to view mathematics as a connected, multi-dimensional subject that is about sense making and reasoning, to which they can contribute and belong.

Sabotage the Best

Reason concludes, and I agree If California adopts this framework, which is currently under public review, the state will end up sabotaging its brightest students. The government should let kids opt out of math if its not for them. Dont let the false idea that theres no such thing as a gifted student herald the end of advanced math entirely.

Instead, and in the name of equity, the proposed framework aims to keep everyone learning at the same dumbed down level for as long as possible.

The intention is clear. The California Board of Education intends to sabotage the best and brightest, hoping to make everyone equal.

The public does not support these polices. Indeed, it is precisely this kind of talk that nearly got Trump reelected.

Biden should speak out against such nonsense, but he wont. He is beholden to Teachers Unions and Boards of Education.

Care to complain? If so the California Department of Education posted these ways.

Phone Number and Address

Phone: 916-319-0598

Instructional Quality Commission

1430 N Street, Room 3207

Sacramento, CA 95814

Fax: 916-319-0172

Social and Mathematical Justice Q&A

Q: Who is the arbiter of environmental, mathematic, and social justice?

A: The California board of Education. They intend to cram it down your childs throat and dumb down gifted kids no matter what their parents believe or how vigorous the objections.

If you wish to protest these absurd policies, phone or write the board of education as posted above.

Better yet, get the hell out of California.

Mish

Read more at: MishTalk.com and PublicEducation.news.
(Natural News) After Pfizer skipped animal trials for their new mRNA coronavirus vaccine, they began using various doses of foreign mRNA to experiment on human test subjects. This foreign vaccine mRNA stops the innate transcription process in human cells, providing new instructions for protein synthesis which basically overwrites the innate genetic expression from the bodys own DNA.

The foreign vaccine mRNA halts the natural protein synthesis in human cells, blocking cells from producing the amino acid sequences that they typically build for the proteins that are needed in the body. The foreign vaccine mRNA circumvents the innate intelligence of the human body, instructing the ribosomes of the cells to instead churn out spike proteins (properties from the coronavirus bio-weapon).

In the study design documents furnished by Pfizer, scientists warn of occupational exposure to the vaccinated in a 24-hour monitoring period. What might be transmitted by the vaccinated, if occupational exposure is of concern? Why did Pfizer keep this limited occupational exposure data separate from the clinical study?

Pfizer documents warn of potential adverse events from occupational exposure to the vaccinated

According to Pfizers own study design documents, scientists were concerned about occupational exposure to the recently vaccinated test subjects. Under section 8.3.5.3. Occupational Exposure Pfizer warns that caretakers and close contacts of the recently vaccinated could be exposed to the spike proteins that are translated and synthesized in the cells of the vaccinated. During the clinical trials, Pfizer instructed researchers to monitor for severe adverse events in the vaccinated and in the unvaccinated people who were exposed to the vaccinated. What does occupational exposure entail? The mRNA vaccines do not shed live viruses, so what exactly is being transmitted from the vaccinated to the unvaccinated?

When such exposures happen, the investigator must report them to Pfizer safety within 24 hours of becoming aware of when they happened, regardless of whether or not there is an associated secondary adverse event. However, Pfizer said the information does not pertain to the participant involved in the study, so it can be kept separate from the study.

The environmental exposure data extends to females who are found breastfeeding after being exposed to the vaccinated. An example of environmental exposure during breastfeeding is a female family member or healthcare provider who reports that she is breastfeeding after having been exposed to the study intervention by inhalation or skin contact.

The environmental exposure data includes any male family member or healthcare provider who has been exposed to the study intervention by inhalation or skin contact and then exposes his female partner prior to or around the time of conception. It appears that scientists are worried about the potential for spike proteins to transmit through semen or though the aerosols or the skin of the vaccinated person.

A freedom of information act request (FOIA) should be immediately filed with Pfizer to access this concealed environmental exposure data and determine whether adverse events did occur in people who were merely exposed to the vaccinated in the first 24 hours after exposure. (Related: Pfizers own documents admit covid vaccines will shed infectious particles to others.)

Why are we experimenting with innate genetic expression and halting the bodys natural protein synthesis?

Protein synthesis is a continuous process carried out by the cells. These proteins may come in the form of enzymes, which are needed to facilitate biochemical reactions. These proteins can be antibodies, which help the immune system fight infections. The proteins produced by cells can be structural proteins that provide support for connective tissues or they can be contractile proteins that help with muscle contraction and movement. Proteins can also be hormones, which help coordinate bodily functions. Proteins are also used for transportation; for example, hemoglobin proteins transport oxygen through the blood. DNA-associated proteins are produced to regulate chromosome structure during cell division and/or play a role in regulating future genetic expression. The mRNA vaccines put these natural processes on hold, forcing the body to produce something that is not beneficial to the body at all  properties of a coronavirus bio-weapon.

The various proteins, whether they are hormonal, structural or antibodies, are designed to benefit the human body, providing vital functions for life. So why would scientists dare to interfere in this natural process, forcing the body to create foreign spike proteins that are nothing more than inflammatory toxins? This process effectively trains the immune responsive cells to attack the bodys own process of protein synthesis. The ensuing inflammation on the cell surface is not accounted for.

Are immune responsive cells always able to differentiate these foreign spike proteins from the various proteins that the body synthesizes for vital functions? What if the immune responsive cells fail to neutralize these spike proteins and the foreign spike proteins go on to interfere with vital processes in the body? What are the consequences of training the immune cells to attack one of the most important functions of the cells? What if the foreign vaccine mRNA translation process continues unabated, creating perpetual inflammation and autoimmune issues? How does foreign mRNA affect genetic expression over time? Does the injected mRNA change how the cells read the innate genetic code from the DNA in the future?

On a much larger scale, do these spike proteins transmit from person-to-person, through inhalation, body fluids, blood donation, or skin-to-skin contact?

Learn more about experimental vaccines and environmental exposure from these five incredible doctors:

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

Media.org [PDF]

NaturalNews.com

ScienceLearn.org
(Natural News) Update (1400ET) : Something must be really worrying Democrats. There appears to be a full court press effort to delay and defer any and every effort to audit Maricopa Countys election results. The Biden justice department added to pressure from Arizonas chief elections officer (a Democrat) and the Arizona Democratic Party, and now, Daniel Payne at JustTheNews.com reports that officials in Arizonas Maricopa County are withholding materials subpoenaed by the state legislature as part of its audit of the countys 2020 election, claiming that surrendering them would constitute a security risk for both law enforcement and federal agencies.

(Article by Tyler Durden republished from ZeroHedge.com)

A Monday letter sent from the Maricopa County Attorneys Office to Ken Bennett, the former Arizona secretary of state and the liaison between the state Senate and the auditors, said the county had elected not to turn over several routers requested by the legislature due to an alleged significant security risk to law enforcement data utilized by the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office as well as numerous federal agencies.

Given that President Biden is the most popular president ever and we know from the mainstream media that there was no, none, zip, nada, election fraud anywhere in America, why are Democrats so aggressively interfering in the process of auditing the countys election?

Update (1300ET): Shortly after Arizonas top elections officer raised concerns about the Maricopa County election audit process, the Biden Department of Justice piled on, expressing concern about ballot security and potential voter intimidation.

The justice department just became weaponized against an audit approved by the state senate. This is about to become a huge deal. The Dems realize that this will destroy political capital. Those of us with understanding of stats and math already know the election was a sham. https://t.co/OjIE9ynGVq  Ed  The Obsolete Man (@DowdEdward) May 6, 2021

As AP reports, in a letter to GOP Senate President Karen Fann, the head of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division said the Senates farming out of 2.1 million ballots from the states most populous county to a contractor may run afoul of federal law requiring ballots to remain in the control of elections officials for 22 months.

And Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan said that the Senate contractors plans to directly contact voters could amount to illegal voter intimidation.

Past experience with similar investigative efforts around the country has raised concerns that they can be directed at minority voters, which potentially can implicate the anti-intimidation prohibitions of the Voting Rights Act, Karlan wrote. Such investigative efforts can have a significant intimidating effect on qualified voters that can deter them from seeking to vote in the future.

So, Democrats play the race-card again?

We are very concerned that the auditors are engaged in ongoing and imminent violations of federal voting and election laws, said the letter sent by the Brennan Center for Justice, the Leadership Conference and Protect Democracy.

Why are they so worried? They already told America there was no fraud?

* * *

As The Epoch Times Mimi Nguyen Ly detailed earlier, Arizonas top elections officer Katie Hobbs on Wednesday alleged multiple points of concern regarding the forensic audit of the 2020 presidential election currently underway in Maricopa County.

In a letter (pdf) to former Secretary of State Ken Bennett, a Republican who is the state Senates liaison for the audit, Hobbs outlined 13 points of concern over how the audit is being run. This included seven points of concern over counting procedures that the state Senate and audit contractor Cyber Ninjas disclosed, as well as six points of concern over what her observers saw at the audit site.

Under terms of a lawsuit settlement filed on Wednesday, defendants Bennett, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, and the lead auditor, Florida-based Cyber Ninjas have 48 hours to respond to Hobbs concerns. If the concerns are not addressed, Hobbs could take them back to court for breach of contract.

The audit began on April 23 and continues at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, a venue the auditors have booked and secured until May 14.

Hobbs, a Democrat, alleged that the procedures governing the audit do not ensure accuracy, security, and transparency.

Im not sure what compelled you to oversee this audit, but Id like to assume you took this role with the best of intentions, she told Bennett in the letter. It is those intentions I appeal to now: either do it right, or dont do it at all.

The Arizona Democratic Party filed a last-minute lawsuit against state Senate leadership to try to stop the audit from going ahead but their bid to immediately halt it was rebuffed by a judge. The settlement means the case has concluded.

The settlement in ADP v Fann requires the Senate to have procedures to protect our ballots, election equipment, and data. Today, I put the Senate on notice that security shortfalls remain and must be addressed under the agreement, Hobbs said in a statement.

The official Twitter account for the audit, run by Bennets team, said late on Wednesday that Hobbs continues to make baseless claimes [sic] about this forensic audit but has never led an election audit in her entire career.

The message declared, The audit continues!

The group furthermore encouraged Twitter users to retweet if they think audits are a state right. Another statement released later on Wednesday reads:

Democrat [Secretary of State Katie Hobbs] who does not support election audits or transparency now wants the Federal Government to get involved in the Arizona Senate forensic audit. Arizona has the authority to conduct this audit without interference from the Feds!

Bennett did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the contents of Hobbs letter.

He told the Arizona Capitol Times late Wednesday of Hobbs concerns, I think that most of the things in her letter are completely unfounded. And the ones that have a little bit of legitimacy can be dealt with pretty easily.

Bennett did not elaborate as to what concerns would fall into the latter category.

Real-time camera footage of Maricopa Countys large-scale audit of the 2020 election, Maricopa County, Ariz. (Screenshot/The Epoch Times)

Among the seven concerns based on the disclosed procedures, Hobbs alleged that there were no procedures for hiring qualified, unbiased counters. She noted that former State Representative Anthony Kern, a Republican, has been among the people counting the ballots in the audit.

Kerns name is listed on the ballot not only as a candidate for State Representative but as a Presidential Electorthe exact race for which he is counting, Hobbs wrote, adding, While these facts would be disqualifying in any professional recount or audit, unfortunately, there are additional reasons why Mr. Kern is not trustworthy to fulfill this role.

Hobbs in her letter also took aim at a number of procedures that she said appear better suited for chasing conspiracy theories than as a part of a professional audit, which included using UV lights to search for watermarks, measuring the thickness of ballots, searching for folds in ballots, and looking at ballots under a microscope.

She said these measures are completely unnecessary steps if the goal of the audit is to validate the election results.

She also questioned how tally sheets from ballot counters would be added up, and noted that her office had received no real explanation over the matter other than that an accounting firm will handle it later.

This is not transparency. Further, it appears that a single person enters the totals from the tally sheets into an electronic spreadsheet, leaving wide open the opportunity for error, inadvertent or otherwise, she wrote. At minimum, a bipartisan team of at least two individuals should aggregate the tally sheets or otherwise confirm that data is entered accurately for aggregation.

In addition to concerns over the disclosed procedures, Hobbs alleged in her letter that observers from her office have seen a number of problems, which include inadequate physical security of ballots, unattended computers at the forensic analysis tables, constantly changing rules in the audit procedures since the beginning of the audit, and frequent violations of the procedures that do exist.

The Arizona Republican-led Senate previously hired four out-of-state firms to carry out the audit, which are Wake Technology Services, CyFIR, Digital Discovery, and Cyber Ninjas.

The state Senate has said that the broad and detailed audit will validate every area of the voting process and includes, but is not limited to, scanning all the ballots, a full hand recount, auditing the voter registration and votes cast, the vote counts, and the electronic voting system. This includes examining some 2.1 million ballots, as well as voting equipment that includes 385 tabulators.

Bennett told The Epoch Times on Monday that the audit may last longer than originally planned. An analysis of the equipment used in the 2020 election was completed over the weekend, but reviewing other materials will need more time, he said.

President Joe Biden was the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Maricopa County in decades.

Read more at: ZeroHedge.com and VoteFraud.news.
(Natural News) On February 3, 2021, in the wake of the deadly events of 1/6, Bidens new Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a 60-day stand-down and total purge of the U.S. militarys rampant, undefined extremism problem. Though the details of this purge were always kept vague and framed in apolitical terms, it was immediately obvious the target would be MAGA  with the buzzword extremism tagged onto various proxies for Trump supporters, conservatives, and opponents of globalism of all stripes.

(Article republished from Revolver.news)

We now know the hatchet man the Pentagon has selected to carry out this MAGA purge of the American defense forces, and the entire operation is worse than you could have ever imagined.

The Biden administration has just put the equivalent of Ibram X. Kendi in charge of vetting the entire U.S. military.

This hatchet mans name is Bishop Garrison, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Diversity and Inclusion:

Bishop Garrison says that being a Trump supporter makes you a racist, misogynist, extremist.

In a tweet thread from July 27, 2019, Bishop Garrison wrote:

This isnt just some random case of Trump Derangement Syndrome on Twitter.

As the new head of the U.S. militarys Countering Extremism task force, this critical race theory-loving, Trump Derangement Syndrome-suffering, fake news-spreading, 100% partisan hack is the man who will now separate permissible opinion from purgeable extremism at the Pentagon, which is the nations largest employer, overseeing 2.9 million personnel.

Just as the Defense Secretarys 60 day stand down to take stock of extremism within the militarys ranks expired, the Pentagon issued a formal memo on April 9th describing its Immediate Actions to Counter Extremism. This memo establishes the Countering Extremism Working Group (CEWG) to develop and implement all Counter Extremism policies at the Pentagon.

Bishop Garrison is at the helm.

From the memo:

The [CEWGs] immediate actions are as follows: Review and Update of DODI 1325.06 Extremism Definition: Office of the Secretary of Defense (Personnel & Readiness) and the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) will review and update DODI 1325.06 to more specifically define what constitutes extremist behavior .

. Updating the Service Member Transition Checklist: The military departments will add provisions to their service member transition checklists that include training on potential targeting of service members by extremist groups and work with other federal departments agencies to create a mechanism by which veterans have the opportunity to report any potential contact with an extremist group should they choose to do so.

Review and Standardization of Screening Questionnaires: All military departments to update and standardize screening questionnaires to solicit specific information about current or previous extremist behavior.

Commission of Extremism Study: The Department will commission a study on extremist behavior within our Total Force, to include gaining greater fidelity on the scope of the problem. Led by Bishop Garrison, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense on Human Capital and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, the CEWG will oversee the implementation of immediate actions as well as the development of mid-term and long-term recommendations for the continued engagement of this issue. The CEWG will report through the Workforce Management Group (WMG) to the Deputys Workforce Council (DWC). [U.S. Department of Defense]

From the above, we learn that Bishop Garrison will lead the CEWG, which will function as a de facto Opinion Police for Pentagon personnel on a permanent, go-forward basis.

The CEWGs first tasks will be: to change the Pentagons definition of extremism; to stop Pentagon personnel from being recruited by extremist groups; and to beef up personnel screening to better detect hidden extremist beliefs.

If youre in the military, it appears that Bishop Garrisons CEWG will scour your Internet history, making sure to target gray areas, such as reading, following and liking extremist material and content in social media forums and platforms.

But what exactly are extremist beliefs and extremist materials?

A leaked 17-page DARPA memo from March 27, 2021 entitled Extremism and Insider Threat in the DoD provides a clue as to what new categories of lawful thoughts, associations and reading materials are likely to be scanned and banned by Bishop Garrisons CEWG. DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency colloquially known as The Pentagons Brain, recommended a brand new category called Patriot Extremism, which occurs when a citizen believes the US government has become corrupt or has overstepped its constitutional boundaries:

Patriot Extremism is completely distinct from White supremacy, which DARPA maintains as a wholly separate category. To DARPAs credit, they did at least add a new category for Anarchist Extremism, which purports to target some degree of left-wing political organization. But DARPAs Symbols of Extremism collage on page 6 clearly reveals their intended target: the collage includes 12 far-right symbols, versus just two Antifa symbols, and just one for ISIS. Extremist far-right symbols include Pepe the Frog, the OK hand gesture, Come and Take It guns-rights memes, and the Q in QAnon:

So now its up to Bishop Garrisons CEWG to take DARPAs extremism proposals and either implement them, throw them in the trash, or come up with something new.

We already have a good idea of Bishop Garrisons views from the egregious anti-Trump tweets presented above.

But since Bishop Garrison will effectively be the vetter-in-chief responsible for culling the entire U.S. military of any potential extremist in its ranks, its only fair that Bishop Garrisons own extremist Internet footprint be more thoroughly exposed  and with it the entire sham of his dangerous project to politicize and purge Americas defense forces.

The Critical Race Theory Zealot

Bishop Garrison is an ardent advocate of the so-called 1619 Project. In August 2019, he instructed his followers to stop whatever they were doing and read 1619s 100-page spread in the Sunday Times immediately.

Recall that the 1619 in the 1619 Project refers to the year in which the first slaves arrived at the British Colonies. Spearheaded by the New York Timess Nikole Hannah Jones, the idea of the 1619 Project is to replace 1776 with 1619 as the year of Americas founding, with a view toward casting the U.S. as fundamentally evil and unjust. The New York Post explains How the 1619 Project Slandered America:

In the absence of traditional public examinations this time of year, as a result of you know what, heres a little history quiz for you. What year marked the creation of the United States? Most of you will probably answer 1776, the year of the Declaration of Independence. Credit might also be given if you said 1788, the date of the ratification of the Constitution. Youd all be wrong. The correct date, apparently, is 1619. This was the year the first slaves arrived in the British colonies of North America, and if the people who control most of the cultural conversation in America these days get their way, we should all see this as the true moment of the founding of the nation. The point, of course, is that it defines America as a nation built not on the lofty ideals of freedom and self-government laid out in the document written by the Founding Fathers, but as one built on the degradation, dehumanization and persecution of black people. [NY Post]

The 1619 Project is not simply critical of certain aspects of American history. Rather, it recasts and redefines America as fundamentally evil, and is therefore anti-American in this most direct and literal sense. The 1619 agenda is so controversial that Republicans in 5 states sought to ban schools from incorporating its anti-American poison in their curricula. Even Mitch McConnell, hardly the brave culture warrior, piped up to address the 1619 Projects anti-American slander.

So vicious and subversive is the 1619 Projects slander of America that one of Donald Trumps last actions as President was to set up a 1776 Commission dedicated to correcting its damaging lies about what America fundamentally is. Of course, Biden made sure to do away with this just days after taking office.

As a final confirmation of the anti-white, anti-American agenda behind the 1619 Project, its founder Nikole Hannah-Jones was revealed to have referred to the white race as bloodsuckers and barbaric devils, and Christopher Columbus as no different than Hitler.

Such is the nature of the 1619 Project that Bishop Garrison, ideological vetter-in-chief for the United States military, promoted so enthusiastically as stories we all need to hear.

The most generous and willfully blind might write off Bishop Garrisons promotion of the 1619 Project as an extraneous interest that wouldnt have an effect on his current definition of extremism or on his present role in vetting extremism from the U.S. Armed Forces. Think again.

In an August 2019 screed entitled Racism is an existential threat, Bishop Garrison directly connects his support for the 1619 Project to his conception of white nationalist extremism as the pre-eminent security threat facing the United States:

The countrys horrific history on race and its continued refusal to engage these problems head-on has exacerbated the issue to the point of a violent crisis. This crisis continues to seep into our state and local domestic policies, our technologies, the algorithms of social media companies, and (potentially) our future like a corrosive poison contaminating a water table. We will continue to face the nation-ending threat of white supremacy and white nationalist extremism unless we invest in Combating Violent Extremism (CVE) programs, which this administration has cut, and find the courage to have honest-to-God difficult, uncomfortable conversations in our homes and communities about our history of race and privilege in America and how it has shaped our lives today.

An example of this in practice is the New York Times Magazines 1619 Project, a series of opinion pieces, poetry, essays, and historical works designed to inform readers on the treatment and history of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow laws in America. The projects title comes from the August anniversary of the arrival of the first African slaves, 20-30 individuals from what is now modern-day Angola, in the British American colonies. Each work highlights not only past atrocities and injustices experienced by black Americans, but ongoing systemic issues that have plagued the nation from its original sin of slavery into the present day. Its an important effort that may very well shape the dialogue around race, inclusion, and the need for steadfast policies that may one day fill the discriminatory gaps in our society and help heal the country. And the effort is, somehow, in 2019, controversial.

While pundits clutch pearls and attempt to convince us that the 1619 Project is a lie, that its really white society under attack, and that were in a post-racial society because we once had a black man as president, more radicalized white supremacists will shoot up schools, markets, stores, and places of worship to assert their ideology. We are not required to blindly believe pundits. We must not be bullied by maniacs who seek power through semi-automatic rifles. We must not run from engagement with each other; the change we desire can be achieved through heartfelt, frequently difficult, and awkward conversations among family, friends, and neighbors about race and its continued impact on our lives. Reading the 1619 Project is a good place to start. [InkStickMedia]

When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a speech denouncing 1619 for the ahistorical anti-American poison that it is, Bishop Garrison labeled Pompeos criticisms not merely a different opinion, but dangerous.

Lets take a moment to take stock of what weve learned. The leader of the Pentagons Orwellian ideological vetting operation not only enthusiastically promotes the viciously anti-American 1619 Project, he characterizes anyone who would dare criticize it as dangerous.

The brave patriots who serve in the U.S. military are required to take an oath to the Constitution. But if Bishop Garrison has his way (and given his current position, it looks like he will) only those who believe America is a fundamentally evil and racist nation will be permitted to take the oath to defend America  a bizarre dystopian twist if there ever was one!

Contextualizing contrary opinions as dangerous is especially troubling in light of Bishop Garrisons grift in the national security sector. By designating lawful groups, people, associations or ideas as dangerous, a national security predicate is created to eliminate them. Since the national security apparatus controls the commanding heights of Americas intelligence agencies (which are functionally above the law under NSC 10-2), military branches, State Department diplomats, Treasury Department powers and Federal law enforcement organs, national security predicates are the ultimate trump card to bypass democratic processes.

Put another way, if every issue were a national security issue, we would have martial law, not a Constitutional republic.

This undemocratic override is why national security apparatchiks are supposed to stay in their lane, focus on defense, and stay out of civilian policy. Labeling a target a threat to national security not only moots civilian debate, it moots all FOIAs and public inquiries into what military-intelligence is even up to behind closed doors.

But Bishop Garrison, the ultimate vassal for an agenda he is likely wholly unaware of, seeks long-arm jurisdiction for the U.S. security state on all things diversity, equity and inclusion. Which leads us to Bishop Garrisons main grift in the critical race theory racket: White Supremacy is a national security threat.

On December 10, 2019, Bishop Garrison testified at a House Armed Services Committee hearing titled Diversity in Recruiting and Retention: Increasing Diversity in the Military  What the Military Services are Doing.

The transcript reads, in relevant part:

[P]romoting inclusivity and respect within the ranks is not only the right thing to do morally but also a matter of national security: a more cohesive unit is a stronger fighting force. Moreover, in order to address a diverse set of threats across the globe, we must strive to include a diverse set of life experiences and perspectives Its also important to note that some of the current discourse in American society and some of the current administrations policies could be affecting interest in serving, especially among minorities. The militarization of our nations southern border; the deportation of veterans; the potential rescission of the Parole in Place program; tenuous status of Dreamer service members and veterans; the transgender service ban; the fact that many major military bases are still named after Confederate leaders; the ongoing worries about white nationalism in the militarys ranks; and the fact that an individual who holds extreme views on race, continues to serve at the highest level of immigration policy-makingthese factors risk causing a detrimental impact on our militarys ability to recruit and retain new and diverse talent. [YouTube]

By an individual who holds extreme views on race who continues to serve at the highest level of immigration policy-making, Bishop Garrison meant then White House Senior Policy Advisor, Stephen Miller.

To Bishop Garrison, people like Stephen Miller are not legitimate officials with mere opinion or policy differences that should be resolved at the civilian level: they are national security threats that should be dealt with at the military level. So says the new head of the Pentagon Opinion Police.

But Bishop Garrisons sleight of hand reasoning here is so clever, so understated, and yet so breathtakingly sweeping that its unlikely he had anything to do with inventing it.

Heres how the scam works:

Once you accept that the Pentagons diversity, equity and inclusion policies are a matter of national security, then anything that undermines diversity, equity and inclusion is now deemed a national security threat. Thats all it takes for the empty vessel of Bishop Garrison to sweep all policies and personnel that supported Donald Trumps border wall, illegal alien deportations, DACA criticism, transgender military ban, and military bases named after Confederate leaders into threats to national security jurisdiction.

In short, critical race theory is no longer just the poison academics use to train American schoolchildren to hate their country  it is the animating agenda of the United States Military, the most powerful fighting force in world history.

Bishop Garrisons public remarks on George Floyd offer a shocking and terrifying glimpse into what this means in practice.

At the height of the George Floyd riots in June 2020, Garrison penned An Appeal to the National Security Community to Fight Racial Injustice, in which he argues there is no security abroad without justice at home. In the op-ed, Garrison crusaded against the very concept of objectivity in the U.S. national security state and called for the national security apparatus to cut out the cancer of racism.

It is a convention in national security analysis to strike as objective a tone as possible. Experts who focus on how inequality and injustice undermine security are often taken less seriously than those who focus on weapons development or military strategy. This, too, reflects the structural tunnel vision in our community that has to change. In this spirit, if we are not all actively aware of how racial injustice undermines our security and if we do not integrate efforts to combat it into our work and policy initiatives, then we will be part of the problem and guilty of undercutting our own security. The United States faces a historic moment that provides an opportunity for the national security community to both discuss and act on the issues of race and extremismand how they affect our security, diplomatic relationships, and credibility abroad. The racism that threatens lives and security will not magically vanish. It will not draw back or resolve itself. It must be cut out like the cancer it has been for so long. The national security community can strengthen the nation of which it is a part by being not just an ally of those who want change, but also an active participant in this dialogue and effort. The battles for the security and moral authority of the United States are intrinsically linked. [Foreign Policy]

It will not come as a surprise to the reader that the epidemic of arson and death caused by Black Lives Matter fails to register as a matter of moral or national security concern for Bishop Garrison. Rioting in 140 cities, $2 billion in property damage, shooting policemen in the head, and single-handedly kicking off a 30% nationwide increase in homicide, and what does Bishop Garrison have to say about it? Nothing?

77-year-old St. Louis retired Police Captain David Dorn was shot dead by rioters when he tried to get them to stop looting. #BlackLivesMattter Say his name #blackoutuesday pic.twitter.com/oKMwZFPa1d  Cassandra (@CassyWearsHeels) June 2, 2020

Actually, worse than nothing. Instead of similarly pursuing BLM as a national security threat, Bishop Garrison attacked the deafening silence of veteran service organizations who failed to support BLM.

According to Biship Garrison, anything that falls outside of the ideological boundaries of an MSNBC host is not only wrong, but a national security threat.

Consider Bishop Garrisons tweet below calling Bill Maher a racist. Bill Maher can now be banned for life from all U.S. military organs. Not for being insensitive (which is First Amendment-protected speech), but because Bill Maher is now a national security threat because he made a joke (below) undermining racial minority recruitment, retention, leadership, and morale.

By the same logic, Revolver News could now be deemed a national security threat by publishing this article, justifying counterintelligence countermeasures such as surveillance and infiltration. Ironically, these are exactly the types of abuses that initially prompted the 1975-76 Church Committee hearings, after Christopher Pyles 1970 whistleblower series revealed Army Counterintelligence and the FBI had been spying on every major civilian political movement in the country, including ordinary womens groups.

Bishop Garrison is thus the ultimate weapon for ending all First Amendment protections afforded to military personnel and civilians in the modern era. His Pentagon Opinion Police may now use critical race theory to implement a parallel and superseding Constitution. It is the military-intelligence equivalent of Christopher Caldwells The Law That Ate The Constitution.

In December 2019, Bishop Garrison condemned that Rep. Pete Aguilars Preventing Radical Extremists Violent Endeavors Now and Tomorrow Act of 2019 bill even used the word extremist at all. The image in the below tweet juxtaposes Rep. Aguilars version and the version that made it to President Trumps desk. Bishop Garrison is clearly dismayed Whiteness is no longer the sole, exclusive, head-on target of the Pentagon purge.

There is a second bit of sleight of hand at play. That is Bishop Garrisons conflation of violent and non-violent white supremacy threats to create his national security predicate.

In an August 2020 audio interview titled What does white supremacy mean for US national security? with Public Radio Internationals The World, Bishop Garrison elucidates to host Carol Hills:

Interviewer: Bishop, in your years first in the Army and then in national security roles, what experiences did you have that convinced you that systemic racism can undermine national security? Bishop Garrison: Well the biggest things Ive witnessed thus far is just the predominance of White supremacy, of the continued rise of it, particularly here in recent years, as weve had opportunities to engage it directly. But were also seeing internationally, kind of across the world in authoritarian regimes, a resurgence of these types of hate speech, of violent action and rhetoric directed at vulnerable communities, particularly minority communities, communities of color. So and this is something that just didnt happen within the last few months or few years. This has taken some time over the last decade plus to persist, and as much weve just seen a lack of proper engagement on it. So this is something that is going to take the totality of the national security apparatus to engage. Im hoping were going to have an opportunity to do so soon. [PRI]

There are three remarkable features about Garrisons response. First, Bishop has no experiences to list in response to Hillss question of what evidence he has of system racism. All he can do is point to just the predominance of White supremacy. No data, no definition, no explanation necessary.

Second, he pivots to a lackluster reference to international authoritarian regimes where hate speech targets communities of color. Given that White people make up less than 10% of the worlds population, and the vast majority of Whites live in Western democracies not deemed authoritarian by the State Department, this mush-mouthed garble appears to conflate two left-wing bugaboos: rising populism in Western democracies with so-called hate speech, and a deranged new left-wing pretext for hybrid war in Eurasia on the grounds of Russias new and emerging export of transnational white supremacy.

Third, note that according to Garrison the totality of the national security apparatus must be turned against American servicemen to purge this existential threat, while no actual threat has been identified. The interview continues:

Interviewer: Can you name some experiences or instances that you experienced directly that you feel were missed opportunities or that were simply ignored or not engaged upon. Bishop Garrison: No, for me, my own personal experiences, the biggest things have been more about inherent bias, and underlying prejudice. Ive never had anyone directly engage me and call me an outright racist name. Ive never had anyone attack me based on any immutable traits. What I will say is Ive walked into more than one room and been the only African-American to speak on a variety of issues in professional settings. [PRI]

Its truly amazing. This self-described national security expert whose 24/7 calling card is racisms nation-ending threat has never actually experienced a single actual, overt act of racism.

Of course, this is diametrically opposed to the the oppressed, put-upon act Bishop Garrison deploys on Twitter. In December 2019, Bishop Garrison wildly slandered a cadet simply playing the circle game as embodying the white nationalism & supremacy Bishop Garrison is tasked with eradicating:

When corrected by a Twitter user that the cadet was obviously just playing the circle game and Bishop Garrisons hair-trigger racism cry was going to destroy the cadets career, Bishop Garrison shot back: I know first-hand racism.

But first hand racism is the opposite of what Bishop Garrison knows. By his own account, no one was ever actually racist to him.

Still, shoot-first, see-if-theyre-racist-later Bishop Garrison translated his fake oppression into a caution against attempts to wash this away as a game because I can tell you, history may say otherwise.

As seems to happen literally every single time (much more on that below), history sides against Bishop Garrison and with the accused racist. The military investigation confirmed the cadet was just playing the circle game, not doing a White Power racial insurrectionist dog-whistle. No apology was forthcoming from Bishop, of course.

Garrisons August 20, 2020 Public Radio International interview concludes:

Interviewer: How does racism fit into the larger context of threats to national security? Bishop Garrison: So, the biggest thing were seeing right now is violent White extremism, White supremacists. They see their race, and they see themselves as the White race, they see themselves as naturally above other people, within the world. Were starting to see them act out in violent ways. Weve had more mass shootings with affiliations to that particular demographic than weve had to international terrorism. So having these types of thoughts, having them perpetuated, and even still, having high-level individuals who are pushing these kinds of thoughts through policy and through rhetoric, only enabling these folks that are going to go out and act in aggressive, violent manners to do so. [PRI]

Now, finally, we come to an actual security issue. But his justification is mass shootings!

This is a totally garbage, indefensible piece of muck at every level. First, shootings that occur in the homeland are the responsibility of the Department of Homeland Security, not the Pentagon.

The Pentagon is for fighting foreign bad guys, not U.S. citizens, dummy.

Even the Pentagons Counterintelligence branches are supposed to be limited to Insider Threats to the Defense Department, not random citizens in civilian settings.

But even if this issue were in Bishop Garrisons jurisdiction, he wouldnt have a leg to stand on. Theres good reason Bishop Garrison cites no data in his response: it blows him out of the water. Of the 16,425 murders in 2019, just 38 involved right-wing extremists, including White supremacists. 38. That is 0.02% of murders. Surely, Bishop Garrison is aware of this 38 number; it comes from the ADL, with whom Bishop Garrison appears to be buddies, and whose similarly shrill turn towards partisan hackery makes them deserving of joint panel appearances.

So mass shooters now serves as the pretext for the Pentagon Opinion Police. But without getting too deep into crime statistics, lets just say the Mass Shooter profile does not resemble Bishop Garrisons top threat to national security, if that threat is supposed to be White supremacy.

We have learned that according to the militarys new ideological vetter-in-chief, it is no longer acceptable to criticize the 1619 Project, BLM, or the riots that took place in the wake of George Floyds death. In fact, such criticism is now a new form of national security threat.

What weve seen so far is shocking enough, but weve compiled some more of Bishop Garrisons greatest hits to allow the full story to sink in.

This is a man tasked with shaping the ideological makeup of the United States Armed forces, and we have a right to a much fuller sense of what and how he really thinks.

Bishop-209: The Best Of Bishop Garrisons Racism and Fake News Malfunctions

When Republican swamp monster Max Boot penned 2017 Was The Year I Learned About My White Privilege, Bishop Garrison tweeted he was glad Max Boot got here but that more men of Boots background (Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations) need to do the same. Garrison wanted arch neocon Eliot Cohen to know acknowledging white privilege is every white persons moral obligation, not something gutsy to do:

Eliot Cohen, who was simply expressing support for Max Boots white privilege boot-licking, surely felt blind-sided by Bishop Garrisons random drive-by in his replies. Seeking not to engage but standing by his statement, Cohen tweeted back: QED.

But the new head of the Pentagon Opinion Police called him out: saying QED to a young African-American man (he was ~35) is itself an act of White Privilege.

In the above exchange, Radicalism RoboCop decided poor Max Boot did have an obligation to confess white privilege, but failed to self-flagellate meekly enough. Max Boot should have been flogging himself while sitting alone in a corner, not in a newspaper editorial.

If you still want a career in the military, heres how to pass Bishop Garrisons Extremism review:

God save the troops who dont know never to say QED to a Black man. Radicalism RoboCop might have an Ed-209 moment and malfunction over the difference between Latin initialism and Extremist White Supremacy.

Bishop-209 seems to malfunction over every new idiom he encounters. You may recall Governor Ron DeSantis used the phrase monkey this up  meaning screw things up  one time during his 2018 gubernatorial race against Florida candidate Andrew Gillum. Bishop-209 responded:

Bishop-209s programming is once again even more aggressive than expected. Not only was the statement racist, anyone who says its not racist now becomes racist for defending it. This is the classic Kafkatrap argumentation at the heart of critical race theory.

When Axios said Trumps tweets in July 2019 were a nativist attack because they jokingly suggested Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib return to the countries they immigrated from if they hate things so much in America, Bishop-209 corrected Axios: Dont be afraid to say racist.

Completely race-neutral statements are deemed overt racism.

In Sept. 2019, Bishop-209 malfunctions over the mere sight of a white woman cutting a black teens hair:

The image Bishop Garrison is melting down about is below:

The above exchange, in which Bishop Garrison finds it disgusting how happy a white woman is to remove a black teens dreads, has all the hallmarks of a classic Bishop Garrison sequence. With no context, no information, and nothing facially wrong or racist about the event in question, Bishop Garrison is absolutely certain it is racist, and condemns those who dont see the racism as being racist themselves (Kafkatrapping).

As it turns out, the black teen in the picture asked the white woman to give him that haircut, and publicly defended her against hair-trigger Bishop-209 types.

Snap judgments and belligerent disdain for nuance form the core of Bishop-209s first instincts. When the Austin serial bombings of March 2018 happened, Bishop Garrison immediately framed the events as White Supremacist Terrorism because some of the package bombs blew up in a predominately Black and Latino neighborhood. When a Twitter user replied that the bombs random locations and White victims undercut his racism claim, Bishop-209 snapped back that the race component cannot be ignored:

You would think the words too nuanced would not be a staple in the vocabulary of someone whose job is to distinguish opinion from extremism for the U.S. military. Bishop-209 is programmed, however, to believe the definition of terror is too nuanced.

Its the same reasoning Bishop Garrison uses to deem all Trump supporters racist, misogynist extremists. There is no room for nuance. No Trump supporters in the military can claim but Im not like that.

For millions of Southerners, the Confederate flag is not a symbol of racism but of Southern heritage and Southern pride. But high-minded and academic discussions about nuance arent Bishop Garrisons thing.

Bishop-209 has very simply programming. You plug something into CNN or a Democrats mouth, and Bishop-209 spits it back unthinkingly.

For example, when mainstream media briefly created a fake narrative that President Trump had a secret bank account in China, Bishop-209 was all over it to amplify the fake news.

As it turned out, within 48 hours, it was reported that Trump Closed Bank Account in China Before He Was Elected.

When the Hunter Biden laptop story came out and Trump mentioned it during the Presidential Debate, Bishop Garrison immediately joined the chorus of NatSec flunkies describing the laptop story as Russian conspiracy theories:

The fact that Hunter Biden personally admitted the laptop certainly could be his did not penetrate Bishop-209s partisan hackery programming.

In December 2016, Tulsi Gabbard pointed out the U.S. funded ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Bishop Garrisons response? Join Team Orange Hitler, Tulsi!

Its like Joe Biden and Bishop Garrison are in Trading Places. Biden tells black people who dont support Democrats You aint black! and Bishop Garrison tells Democrats dont support terrorists You aint Democrat!

But even the underlying substance to Garrisons exchange with Tulsi Gabbard is amusing. Tulsis point about the U.S. funding ISIS, which the Bush-Obama-Biden political leadership has always chosen to censor rather than engage, is now being pointed out by emboldened Chinese diplomats who are replying to our Secretary of States tweets with inconvenient facts.

How would Bishop Garrison handle such a tweet by a Chinese dignitary?

The Bigger Picture

Extremist used to mean functionally, but not quite legally, terrorist. Extremist speech and opinions are definitionally lawful and protected by the First Amendment. The terms introduction as a category of Army Counterintelligence concern has historically been justified by extremisms adjacency to terrorism and Insider Threat subversion  not simply as a target for its own sake as opinions that higher-ups find wrong. That has slowly been changing, and now the levee has finally broken.

The utility of critical race theory for Democrats is that it takes racial proxies for political opinion (such as white Christians tending to support Republicans, and African-Americans, single women and LGBT folks tending to support Democrats), and then racially and sexually gerrymanders targeted institutions to make them more politically Democrat. Some helpful infographics tell the tale:

With Democrats having fully become the Party Of War, and Republicans presently divided between Pro-War neocons and Anti-War MAGA supporters, each of the Biden administration, neocon Republicans, and permanent deep state elements of the Pentagon share a vested interest in purging the U.S. military of MAGA holdovers.

Bishop Garrisons chief role is to radically expand the militarys dominion over traditional civilian policy-making  where MAGA politicians still hold a kingmakers influence  by using critical race theory to eschew the limiting tenet of the waters edge.

Bishop Garrison is part of the War Machines human rights grift that tries to justify cluster bombs and regime change operations  plus billions in new military spending and arms procurement contracts  on the basis of accused human rights violations happening in other countries. This is why Garrison is triggered by left-wingers like Tulsi Gabbard suggesting the U.S. should not be involved in a war with Syria.

See, after the Cold War ended without NATO firing a single shot in its entire 42-year history (1949-1991), the U.S. could no longer justify our world-dominating military deployments, spending and research  and therefore our military advantage  on the basis of actual threats faced at home or to NATO partners. So instead of just being honest and calling it Empire (as nation-states once did before the 1948 UN Declaration of Human Rights), we added human rights abuses of foreign citizens as vital to Americas long-term national security. After invoking this principle to carry out the successful bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1995, we never looked back.

But the whole scheme is funny if you take universal principles seriously. It would justify Syria 100-Xing its military spend and bombing Flint, Michigan because American kids were poisoned there:

But Bishop Garrisons grift is even more sinister: he is part of the U.S. militarys definitional expansion of human rights abuses beyond violent or physical repression of foreign populations (such as real or imagined chemical attacks) and into structural and social repression. Most members of the unsuspecting American public have only caught a passing glimpse of this long-in-the-works MICIMATT plan through flashpoints, like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milleys defying a civilian Command-in-Chiefs plan to withdraw from Afghanistan on the grounds that, without the U.S. War Machine, Womens rights will go back to the Stone Age.

Mark Milley is the highest-ranking military officer in America. Installed by a Republican, everything he touches turns to intersectional dog-crap. This is not an accident.

Just this month, Max Boots WaPo editorial peppered in the same intersectional logic for maintaining the War Machine, blasting Bidens planned Afghanistan withdrawal with Think of all the girls going to school, all the women in the workforce. David Ignatiuss WaPo editorial pleaded for war in the name of women of Afghanistan, who fear new oppression. Then the full WaPo editorial board denounced the withdrawal plan not primarily on the grounds of security, but of social progress:

After a brief and seemingly halfhearted effort at diplomacy, Mr. Biden has decided on unconditional withdrawal, a step that may spare the United States further costs and lives but will almost certainly be a disaster for the countrys 39 million people  and, in particular, its women. It could lead to the reversal of the political, economic and social progress for which the United States fought for two decades, at a cost of more than 2,000 American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. And, according to the U.S. intelligence community and a study commissioned by Congress, it could allow al-Qaeda to restore its base in Afghanistan, from which it launched the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 Perhaps, too, some officials say hopefully, the Taliban will moderate its denial of womens rights and other repressive policies to preserve international aid, without which Afghanistans economy would implode At a minimum, it will mean an abandonment of those Afghans who believed in building a democracy that guaranteed basic human rights  and the nullification of the sacrifices of the American servicemen who were killed or wounded in that mission. Mr.?Biden has chosen the easy way out of Afghanistan, but the consequences are likely to be ugly. [WaPo]

Meanwhile, the growing number of episodes that reveal intersectionality as pretext for Empire have resulted in parts of the story becoming well-memed:

Bishop Garrisons role is imperative in this transition.

By institutionally mandating support for intersectional theory and positing all opposition as extremism, human rights justifications for Pentagon deployments get driven permanently and irreversibly into the DNA of American military doctrine. Simultaneously, the Pentagon gets completely purged of all personnel and institutional support that represents populist-nationalist-traditionalist ideas or sympathies.

The result? Regime Loyalty is ensured internally, while the military-defense sector and its blob-itudinous sprawl are prevented from being leveraged as a base of support by political opposition more generally. Call it the Pentagon Patriot Purge.

Many Republicans, of the Max Boot-Bill Kristol-Rick Wilson-Evan McMullin strain, will not only go along, but will indeed be its most enthusiastic supporters. The neocon wing of the Republican Party will be all too happy to finally win the GOP civil war with a kill shot from critical race theory activists. The only surprise would be if the GOP establishment (GOPe) didnt help the DNC come up with the scheme.

Case in point? Consider Max Boots white privilege op-ed mentioned above, which begins: I used to be a smart-alecky conservative who scoffed at political correctness. The Trump era opened my eyes. 

The Pentagon Patriot Purge is a two-fer: the DNC-GOPe War Machine consolidates total support for militarism abroad, while wiping out the political opposition and institutional resistance at home.

This is why Bishop Garrisons think tank The Rainey Center bills itself as Post Partisan despite being comprised exclusively of the most partisan, anti-MAGA hacks in Washington. It is a bipartisan alliance of neoliberal Democrats and War Machine Republicans in coalition to stamp out anti-security state sentiment on both right and left.

As Revolver News previously covered extensively, this fake bipartisan facade was also the favorite party trick of Norm Eisens so-called Transatlantic Democracy Working Group.

So it is no small wonder that Bishop Garrison crawled into his post by slathering through the sludge of Norm Eisen faux national security NGOs.

See, e.g., from 45:00-1:02:30 below:

A final note should help clarify how these corrupt forces all fit together:

Recall that before joining Obamas re-election campaign in 2012, and before becoming a sock puppet for companies who make Weapons Of Death in the name of Human Rights, Bishop Garrison got his start in Peace and Security Operations at Deloitte.

For readers who dont know what Peace and Security means, its not at all what you probably just imagined. Its a giant scam field boiling over from a witches brew of war profiteers, money-mad energy lobbyists, voracious capital investment firm vultures, banksters from the World Bank and IMF, intelligence creepy-crawlies from every country on earth, and bulging-eyed bought-off politicians trying to hit every buzzword on the democracy bingo card they get handed by their advisers. And those advisers come from exactly the twisted self-licking ice cream cone of corporate boards, NGOs, philanthrophic foundations and astroturfed activist organizations youd expect.

The racket works like this: These war-torn countries we just LoveBombed For Peace need reconstruction and development money to get their toilets working again; they need modernized infrastructure to attract emerging market capital, they need massive energy projects to become that modern country, and they need to take out an impossible mountain of debt to pay for it all.

To try to illustrate this point quickly, our team just went to a random World Bank page (this one, if you want to follow along) and did a Ctrl + F for Peace and Security.

See it? Well you click that Peace and Security Topic Page link, it takes you to a page that doesnt have the word peace anymore.

But boy oh boy does it sure have the word Development.

Now ask yourself: how many dyed-in-the-wool MAGA supporters are stoked to go along with the World Banks A Marshall Plan with Africa, Migration and Climate, and Climate Change and Development?

You can see how MAGA, or proxies for MAGA  including demographic proxies like white Christians, or cultural proxies like gun enjoyers, or memetic proxies like sharers of Pepe memes or QAnon content  would sort of, you know, throw a wrench in this whole system, right?

So all proxies for MAGA must be purged.

During the Cold War, Empire was maintained in the name of fighting communism and fascism. Today, the Globalist American Empire increasingly justifies war on the grounds of fighting traditionalism and defending or promoting some aspect of woke ideology.

Or to put it terms of Bishop Garrisons Twitter bio, Captain America used to punch Nazis:

Now, Captain America is just punching you, your family, and the nation you once loved.

Read more at: Revolver.news and Extremism.news.
(Natural News) Missouris chief legal disciplinary officer accused St. Louis top prosecutor of sweeping misconduct in the failed prosecution of former Gov. Eric Greitens, saying she lied to judges in court filings and testimony, withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense, misled her own prosecution team and violated the constitutional right to a fair trial.

(Article by John Solomon republished from JustTheNews.com)

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, one of the early local prosecutors bankrolled by liberal megadonor George Soros since 2016, engaged in 62 acts of misconduct that resulted in 79 false representations during Greitens now-dismissed criminal prosecution, according to Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzels memo obtained Wednesday by Just the News.

Probable cause exists to believe that the respondent is guilty of professional misconduct, Pratzel declared in a 73-page memo that repeatedly accused Gardner of withholding evidence of innocence and providing a false portrait to the courts, the defense and even her own prosecution team.

Pratzel also accused Gardner of lying during the disciplinary proceedings, long after the case was dismissed against Greitens, a former Navy SEAL and rising Republican star who was forced to resign as governor in 2018 less than two years after he was sworn in.

The disciplinary action against Gardner follows the 2019 indictment of her former chief investigator in the case, ex-FBI agent William Tisaby, on seven felonies alleging he committed perjury and evidence tampering during the Greitens probe.

Gardner also remains under criminal investigation by a special prosecutor as Tisaby awaits a trial that has been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The unraveling of the criminal case was highlighted in a Just the News investigative report last year, prompting some to compare Gardners actions to the FBIs now-confirmed misconduct during the pursuit of then-President Donald Trump during the Russia collusion probe.

Pratzel concluded that Gardner had violated her responsibilities as a lawyer and a prosecutor, essentially suborning Tisabys perjury by failing to take reasonable remedial measures when she knew Tisaby was giving false answers to questions.

She offered and elicited false testimony when questioning Tisaby during a deposition ordered by the court and also provided inaccurate information to a fellow prosecutor during a private session in the judges chambers that later led that prosecutor to make false statements to court, the memo alleged.

Gardner, St. Louis first black chief prosecutor, filed an initial response to the allegations, suggesting race and politics were involved in the disciplinary action but acknowledging she made mistakes in the Greitens prosecution.

In hindsight, were each and every one of Ms. Gardners actions in the intense, fast-paced Greitens investigation and prosecution perfect? No, but that is not the measure or purpose of the attorney discipline, her legal team wrote.

She claimed that she has been the target of attacks for her tireless and courageous efforts to reform the criminal justice system and was being treated differently compared to other lawyers.

Attacks on Ms. Gardner have taken many forms, ranging from overtly racists emails sent to her office to investigations and lawsuits against her, her reply alleged. She also showed her continued disdain for Greitens, calling him a Republican golden boy.

Gardner has been the object of frequent controversy and criticism, including as the focus of an ongoing special prosecutors criminal investigation in the Greitens case, and was recently removed by a court in the prosecution of a St. Louis couple accused of brandishing weapons during last years Black Lives Matter protests.

She has frequently used race as a defense, even filing a lawsuit under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 last year alleging the St. Louis police union had mobilized to thwart her efforts to reform criminal justice and denouncing the white, ethically conflicted special prosecutor investigating her and Tisaby. That lawsuit was thrown out last September.

Pratzels memo, however, provides the most direct and serious threat to her hold on the St. Louis prosecutors office. Disciplinary action, if upheld by a hearing panel and the Missouri Supreme Court, could range from public admonishment to loss of her law license, the latter of which could end her tenure as circuit attorney.

The disciplinary memo cited a litany of violations of rules designed to ensure ethical behavior by lawyers and prosecutors, and fair trials for defendants. It alleged she made false statements in court filings, engaged in conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice and harmed Greitens right to a fair trial by keeping required evidence of innocence from the defense.

Gardner violated the rules of criminal procedure and court orders by concealing discoverable and exculpatory evidence, the memo stated.

Read more at: JustTheNews.com and Lies.news.
(Natural News) In 1949, sometime after the publication of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World (1931), who was then living in California, wrote to Orwell. Huxley had briefly taught French to Orwell as a student in high school at Eton.

(Article by Patricia McCarthy republished from AmericanThinker.com)

Huxley generally praises Orwells novel, which to many seemed very similar to Brave New World in its dystopian view of a possible future. Huxley politely voices his opinion that his own version of what might come to pass would be truer than Orwells. Huxley observed that the philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is sadism, whereas his own version is more likely, that controlling an ignorant and unsuspecting public would be less arduous, less wasteful by other means. Huxleys masses are seduced by a mind-numbing drug, Orwells with sadism and fear.

The most powerful quote In Huxleys letter to Orwell is this:

Within the next generation I believe that the worlds rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.



Aldous Huxley.

Could Huxley have more prescient? What do we see around us? Masses of people dependent upon drugs, legal and illegal. The majority of advertisements that air on television seem to be for prescription drugs, some of them miraculous but most of them unnecessary. Then comes COVID, a quite possibly weaponized virus from the Fauci-funded-with-taxpayer-dollars lab in Wuhan, China. The powers that be tragically deferred to the malevolent Fauci who had long been hoping for just such an opportunity. Suddenly, there was an opportunity to test the mRNA vaccines that had been in the works for nearly twenty years. They could be authorized as an emergency measure but were still highly experimental. These jabs are not really vaccines at all, but a form of gene therapy. There are potential disastrous consequences down the road. Government experiments on the public are nothing new.

Since there have been no actual, long-term trials, no one who contributed to this massive drug experiment knows what the long-term consequences might be. There have been countless adverse injuries and deaths already for which the government-funded vaccine producers will suffer no liability. With each passing day, new side-effects have begun to appear: blood clots, seizures, heart failure.

As new adverse reactions become known despite the censorship employed by most media outlets, the more the Biden administration is pushing the vaccine, urging private corporations to make it mandatory for all employees. Colleges are making them mandatory for all students returning to campus.

The leftmedia are advocating the shunning of the unvaccinated. The self-appointed virtue-signaling Democrats are furious at anyone and everyone who declines the jab. Why? If they are protected, why do they care? That is the question. Same goes for the ridiculous mask requirements. They protect no one but for those in operating rooms with their insides exposed, yet even the vaccinated are supposed to wear them!

Months ago, herd immunity was near. Now Fauci and the CDC say it will never be achieved? Now the Pfizer shot will necessitate yearly booster shots. Pfizer expects to make $21B this year from its COVID vaccine! Anyone who thinks this isnt about money is a fool. It is all about money, which is why Fauci, Gates, et al. were so determined to convince the public that HCQ and ivermectin, both of which are effective, prophylactically and as treatment, were not only useless, but dangerous. Both of those drugs are tried, true, and inexpensive. Many of those thousands of N.Y. nursing home fatalities might have been prevented with the use of one or both of those drugs. Those deaths are on the hands of Cuomo and his like-minded tyrants drunk on power.

Months ago, Fauci, et al. agreed that children were at little or no risk of getting COVID, of transmitting it, least of all dying from it. Now Fauci is demanding that all teens be vaccinated by the end of the year! Why? They are no more in danger of contracting it now than they were a year ago. Why are parents around this country not standing up to prevent their kids from being guinea pigs in this monstrous medical experiment? And now they are experimenting on infants. Needless to say, some have died. There is no reason on Earth for teens, children, and infants to be vaccinated. Not one.

Huxley also wrote this:

The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior righteous indignation  this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats. ?Crome Yellow

Perhaps this explains the lefts hysterical impulse to force these untested shots on those of us who have made the decision to go without it. If theyve decided that it is the thing to do, then all of us must submit to their whims. If we decide otherwise, it gives them the righteous right to smear all of us whom they already deplore.

As C.J. Hopkins has written, the left means to criminalize dissent. Those of us who are vaccine-resistant are soon to be outcasts, deprived of jobs and entry into everyday businesses. This kind of discrimination should remind everyone of oh, Germany three quarters of a century ago. Huxley also wrote, The propagandists purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. That is precisely what the left is up to, what BLM is planning, what Critical Race Theory is all about.

Tal Zaks, Modernas chief medical officer, said these new vaccines are hacking the software of life. Vaccine-promoters claim he never said this, but he did. Bill Gates called the vaccines an operating system to the horror of those promoting it, a Kinsley gaffe. Whether it is or isnt hardly matters at this point, but these statements by those behind the vaccines are a clue to what they have in mind.

There will be in the next generation or so a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them but will rather enjoy it.

This is exactly what the left is working so hard to effect: a pharmacologically compromised population happy to be taken care of by a massive state machine. And while millions of people around the world have surrendered to the vaccine and mask hysteria, millions more, about 1.3 billion, want no part of this government vaccine mania.

In his letter to Orwell, Huxley ended with the quote cited above and again here because it is so profound:

Within the next generation I believe that the worlds rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience.

Huxley nailed the left more than seventy years ago, perhaps because leftists have never changed throughout the ages.

Correction: This post has been updated to make clear that it was Huxley, not Orwell, who was living in California.

Read more at: AmericanThinker.com and Fascism.news
(Natural News) Many companies are deciding whether to make Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations mandatory for their workers to come back into the office. Some are even planning to make vaccination status a condition of continued employment.

A March survey by insurance firm Willis Towers Watson found that 23 percent of American companies were planning or considering making coronavirus vaccinations mandatory for employees who want to return to the workplace. One in 10 companies was considering making full vaccination a condition of continued employment.

A different survey from the Arizona State University and the Rockefeller Foundation showed even higher numbers. According to the survey, nearly two-thirds of employers in North America are planning to offer incentives for employees to get vaccinated. Eighty-seven percent of companies are willing to offer on-site vaccinations. If this doesnt work, 44 percent said they will make vaccinations mandatory. Only 31 percent said they would strongly encourage vaccinations but would not make it a condition of employment.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) held a similar survey and found that 60 percent of respondents would not mandate vaccinations. But among that 60 percent, three-quarters said they strongly recommend the vaccines.

Industry sectors that are more likely to mandate vaccinations include healthcare and academia. According to Amber Clayton, director of the SHRM Knowledge Center, industries that require people to work in close proximity to one another or regularly interact with the public might also be more likely to consider vaccine mandates. These include restaurants, retail and travel.

Small businesses, on the other hand, are less likely to require vaccinations. Experts believe this is because they have fewer resources to fight potential lawsuits, and upper management and rank-and-file workers have better relationships. A survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found that less than half of businesses would encourage vaccinations and only three percent would require it.

Clayton said companies might drop or enforce their vaccine mandate plans depending on whether or not these will help or hurt their recruitment efforts.

There could be some challenges with recruitment and retaining employees, said Clayton.

Whether mandating vaccines will attract or alienate potential employees varies based on job and location. Another survey by SHRM found that slightly over half of American workers would support the companies they work for if they require employees to get vaccinated.

Some companies are already pushing through with their vaccine mandates.

Mondelez International Inc., the maker of Trident gum and Ritz Crackers, will start reopening its corporate offices to fully vaccinated workers this summer. The New York Stock Exchange is reopening itself to traders who can prove they have completed their vaccinations.

Other companies have already begun offering incentives.

Whirlpool Corporation, a Michigan-based home appliance maker employing over 27,000 people, is offering $200 to workers who can prove they are fully vaccinated. CVS Health is offering on-site vaccinations. It is also working with more than a dozen companies to vaccinate their workforces, including Delta Air Lines. CVS Health has reportedly administered more than 30,000 doses to Delta employees at on-site clinics.

State legislatures passing bills that prevent employers from forcing vaccines on workers

Some states are working hard to protect the rights of workers. (Related: New Mexico detention facility files lawsuit against county over coronavirus vaccine mandate.)

In Montana, the state legislature passed a bill preventing employers from requiring their workers to be fully vaccinated. The Senate voted 31 to 19 along partisan lines to support the changes proposed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte to House Bill 702 (HB 702).

Gianforte earlier issued an amendatory veto to HB 702 to allow nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other long-term care centers to mandate vaccines for their workers if not doing so would put them out of compliance with federal regulations governing Medicare and Medicaid.

Additionally, the new law prevents private businesses in Montana  including hospitals  from requiring that employees be vaccinated, including against other diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox and diphtheria.

In North Carolina, the Republican-dominated state legislature has filed House Bill 686 (HB 686), which will ban state and local governments from creating vaccine mandates.

Rep. Jake Johnson, a Republican and the bills main sponsor, said he made the bill because of a complaint he received from a county administration employee who said that their boss heavily insinuated that if they didnt get it, they wouldnt have a job the next week.

HB 686 also guarantees that unvaccinated individuals cannot be banned from entering government-owned buildings, including those located inside school and university campuses.

The bill passed the Houses State Government Committee on Wednesday, May 5. It will be passed to the House Health Committee before it gets a floor vote.

Other vaccine-related bills are being considered in North Carolinas legislature. One proposed bill would ban all private employers in the state from requiring their employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Another would prevent schools from creating similar requirements for students while at the same time banning them from forcing students to join a vaccine tracking system. As of press time, neither of these bills have been scheduled for a committee hearing.

Because Montanas executive and legislative branches are dominated by Republicans, HB 702 will most likely pass in the state. But North Carolina has a Democratic governor, and it is possible that he will use his veto power to prevent the passage of anti-vaccine mandate legislation.

Learn more about the vaccine mandates being proposed by corporations and the fight to protect the right of employees to choose by reading the latest articles at Vaccines.news.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

NBCNews.com

HelenaIR.com

SeeleyLake.com

CharlotteObserver.com
(Natural News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that more than 9,000 Americans contracted COVID-19 after getting vaccinated. It registered a total of 9,245 so-called breakthrough COVID-19 cases as of April 26. However, this official number from the CDC might be larger due to actual figures being under-reported.

A breakthrough COVID-19 case happens when a person becomes infected with the Wuhan coronavirus two or more weeks after they get the final vaccine dose. Still, the CDC reiterates that vaccines are effective and the breakthrough cases only represent a small percentage of the immunized population.

The federal agency said that such vaccine breakthrough cases are expected. It elaborated: COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are critical [tools] to bring the pandemic under control. However, no vaccines are 100 percent effective at preventing illness. There will be a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated who still get sick, are hospitalized or die from COVID-19.

About nine percent of the 9,245 breakthrough cases  amounting to 835 patients  required hospitalization. Of the 835 hospitalized breakthrough patients, 241 of them were reportedly asymptomatic or having an illness unrelated to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the CDC recorded 132 deaths from the more than 9,000 breakthrough infections.

The CDC collated the breakthrough cases from data submitted by 46 U.S. states and territories. Four areas did not turn in figures to the public health agency. Actual figures are likely larger than the official CDC tally as its surveillance system depends on voluntary reporting from state health departments. Lack of testing can cause other cases of breakthrough COVID-19 infection to slip through.

The public health agency continued: These surveillance data help identify patterns and look for signals among vaccine breakthrough cases. As CDC and state health departments shift to focus only on investigating vaccine breakthrough cases that result in hospitalization and death, those will be regularly updated.

People who get certain vaccines are more prone to contract certain Wuhan coronavirus variants

As of writing, three vaccines against the Wuhan coronavirus have been approved for emergency use in the U.S. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines received the green light in December 2020 while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine got the thumbs-up for emergency use in February.

The messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna require two doses. Clinical trials showed the Pfizer vaccine having a 95 percent effectivity rate against infections, while the Moderna vaccine reported 94 percent. J&Js adenoviral vector vaccine was tested when different Wuhan coronavirus variants were already circulating. The single-dose shot reported a 66.9 percent effectivity rate in preventing infections.

The state of Israel predominantly used the Pfizer mRNA vaccine for its immunization drive, alongside a small supply of Moderna vaccine doses. However, a study by Israeli researchers found that those inoculated with the two-dose Pfizer vaccine could still contract two particular Wuhan coronavirus strains.

Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Israeli health care provider Clalit Health Services looked at COVID-19 test results from 800 Israelis. Half of these results came from vaccinated Israelis while the other half were from unvaccinated citizens, the Times of Israel reported. Through the study, the researchers wanted to see if vaccinated people are more likely to be infected with coronavirus variants compared to the unvaccinated people.

The researchers found that the people who completed the two-dose Pfizer vaccine regimen are eight times more likely to contract the South African B1351 variant. They also discovered that the B117 strain from the U.K. is more prevalent in people who got at least one Pfizer vaccine dose. The so-called British variant had the same prevalence rate as its South African counterpart in those who completed two doses.

Lead researcher Adi Stern remarked: We found a disproportionately higher rate of the South African variant among people vaccinated with a second dose, compared to the unvaccinated group. This means that the South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccines protection.

Despite the higher prevalence of the B1351 strain in the samples they observed, the variant only comprises one percent of cases in the entire country. A major wave of infections in Israel early this year was attributed to the B117 variant.

However, Stern surmised that the British strain may have kept the spread of the South African variant at bay. It is possible that the extensive spread of the British variant is blocking the spread of the South African variant. Because it spread so effectively, it basically didnt allow the South African [strain] to spread, Stern said.

Visit VaccineDamage.news to read more articles about breakthrough Wuhan coronavirus infections.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

CDC.gov

TimesOfIsrael.com
(Natural News) Swedens largest childrens hospital has put new safeguards against the use of puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors claiming gender dysphoria.

The Karolinska Institutes Astrid Lindgren Childrens hospital will no longer allow the prescription of these hormones to Swedish youth under the age of 16. Meanwhile, youth between 16 and 18 years of age can only access these treatments within clinical trials, and when capable of providing informed consent.

According to a statement by the hospital, there is a lack of evidence for the long-term side effects of blocking puberty. It also lists concern that there is no explanation for the increase of gender dysphoric youth presenting to gender clinics in recent years  a trend seen not only in Sweden but also in other countries including the U.S. (Related: Child abuse: Australian doctors subject 4-year-old to sex change surgery.)

These treatments are frequently fraught with extensive and irreversible adverse consequences such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk and thrombosis, reads the hospitals statement. This makes it challenging to assess the risk/benefit for the individual patient, and even more challenging for the minors and their guardians to be in a position of an informed stance regarding these treatments.

Ban on medical interventions, a watershed moment

Karolinskas banning of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to youths has been called a watershed moment by the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine (SEGM). The group pointed out that it made Sweden the first country where a renowned hospital explicitly stopped following the Dutch Protocol.

The Dutch Protocol is a multidisciplinary treatment for gender dysphoria that allows for the administration of puberty blockers in children as young as 12 years old  with an increasing number of children eight to nine years of age being given the drugs as well. It also allows the use of cross-sex hormones at the age of 16.

In addition to going against the Dutch Protocol, Karolinskas ban also makes Sweden the first country to go against guidance from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). For some time now, WPATH has positioned itself as the worlds authority on transgender health. But in recent months, the health authorities of several countries have conducted their own reviews and found that there is not enough evidence to justify the early medical interventions promoted by the WPATH guidance.

Karolinskas ban comes as the Swedish government put on hold legislation that aims to lower the age at which youth can access gender affirmation surgery.

Other European countries also working to stop medical interventions

Swedens new policy is consistent with moves by other European nations to limit or outright ban medical interventions for so-called gender dysphoria in minors.

One such country is Swedens Scandinavian neighbor Finland. In June 2020, the Council for Choices in Health Care in Finland (COHERE Finland) released a revised guideline that prioritizes psychological interventions and support, rather than medical interventions, for youth with no childhood history of gender dysphoria.

In Finland we have no legislation that gives the person the right to decide what services that person can get from publicly financed health care, stated the council to the Canadian Gender Report. There has to be a medical ground for both the diagnosis and the treatment. Our legislation about equality and non-discrimination does not change the situation.

Meanwhile, across the North Sea in the U.K., the British government has outright banned the use of puberty blockers for youths under the age of 16 following the Keira Bell case. In the latter, the High Court deemed hormonal interventions for minors as experimental. More importantly, it cautioned that minors are unlikely to be able to provide truly informed consent. As such, the U.K.s National Health Service (NHS) has suspended the initiation of hormonal interventions to minors under 16.

That said, the High Courts ruling is currently under appeal, with a hearing scheduled for June 2021.

Follow GenderConfused.com for more on how countries around the world are moving to limit the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex drugs on minors.

Sources include:

The PostMillennial.com

SEGM.org

GenderReport.ca 1

GenderReport.ca 2

BBC.co.uk
(Natural News) It has come to our attention that recipients of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injection who consequently suffered blood clots are now seeking compensation from the government for their injuries.

Because vaccine corporations like J&J are exempt from all liability for their Chinese Virus cocktails, injured recipients have no recourse other than to beg the government for help, which they are now doing.

Injured parties are reportedly filing claims with an obscure federal fund that has a history of rejecting claims and a relatively high bar for recovering costs. This fund is known as the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Some medical costs and lost wages not paid out by insurance may be covered by the CICP, however the chances of a successful claim are slim. According to HHS, some 445 claims have already been filed through CICP for Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine injuries.

Emma Burkey is one such person who had to be hospitalized for a blood clot-induced seizure in her brain that came about after she received the J&J jab. Her first round of medical bills topped $513,000, prompting friends and family members to create a GoFundMe fundraiser.

Burkey and her family learned about CICP from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, which is where Burkey lives. Mastos office promised to help Burkey and others like her to get the support they deserve.

Meanwhile, Burkey, a high school senior, is in an induced coma while her family tries to figure out the next step for her life.

We dont know whats going to happen with Emma, how long it will take for her to return to a normal life, stated Bret Johnson, the familys minister, who is acting as a spokesman for Burkey.

Government blaming hydroxychloroquine for vaccine-induced blood clots

Of the 450 similar claims that have been filed with CICP, only about 25 percent of them have been determined as a consequence of the injection. More than half of the injuries, the government claims, came about from some other cause.

In addition to ventilators and convalescent plasma, the government is also blaming hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) for many of the vaccine injury claims that have been denied. Another 50 deaths caused by the vaccine were also denied and blamed on insufficient care post-injection.

Among the very few filings that have been approved, a total of none of them have yet been paid. According to the government, it has not yet received the information it needs in order to make disbursements.

Critics say the reason for all this red tape has to do with the fact that CICP is stingy. Not only has the fund historically refused to acknowledge that vaccine injuries are caused by vaccines, but it hardly ever pays anything out even on the rare occasion when it does.

The so-called vaccine court set up by Congress to shield Big Pharma from liability for its poisons is much the same. Created back in the 1980s, this kangaroo court, which oversees cases filed with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), more often than not sides with the vaccine industry as opposed to the people it harms and kills.

Ill still take the jab, the vaxxers will crow, wrote one Zero Hedge commenter jokingly. With blue stumpy genitalia, lesions, complete hair loss, teeth falling out and Prion disease, theyll declare victory over Covid. We did our part for the greater good, theyll say.

Things are NEVER going back to normal no matter how many jabs they take, wrote another.

More related news about deadly Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) injections can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

ZeroHedge.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Under the direction of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) has engaged in the most unethical, Machiavellian research of the 21st century. This research rivals the work of Dr. Mengele, who led horrifying medical experiments on twins to help the Nazis justify the Holocaust.

For years, Fauci was the point-man for coronavirus gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. Working with Peter Daszak at Eco Health Alliance, Fauci sent millions in taxpayer money to Chinese virologists to advance virus chimera research that was previously banned in the US. This unethical research was justified to develop new vaccines for the world. Now, Fauci is part of a global push to restrict human freedoms, holding people down until they submit to mRNA biohacking vaccines.

But thats not all of Faucis Machiavellian ways

Fauci is funding the fetal organ trafficking industry, helping create human-rodent chimeras

Developing virus chimeras that exploit humans isnt the only sadistic research that Fauci helped advanced in the 21st century. An investigation by the Center for Medial Progress (CMP) finds that Fauci also helped fund university-level research that harvests live livers and scalps from aborted babies. The NIAID uses taxpayer money to essentially fund the fetal organ trafficking industry, while procuring fetal organs for the creation of human-rodent chimeras.

Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have been attaching aborted baby scalps to mice torsos to conduct medical experiments on human immune systems. These acts are crimes against humanity, as aborted babies are carefully selected and strategically harvested to create chimeras for medical experiments. Does this morose immune system research coincide with the gain-of-function virus research that was used to exploit humans and develop vaccines? Afterall, aborted fetal cells are used in vaccine research.

The University of Pittsburgh is a hub for some of the most barbaric experiments carried out on late term aborted human infants  experiments funded by the United States government, explains the narrator in the CMP video testimony. At the same time, the University sponsors the local Planned Parenthood abortion business in what looks like an illegal quid-pro-quo for fetal body parts.

With grants from Fauci, the University of Pittsburgh works with Planned Parenthood to harvest organs from live babies

The University of Pittsburgh is now revealed as a central hub for human rights abuses, where the trafficking and experimentation of aborted baby organs takes place in the light of day. This operation is taking place because the university received a large grant from Dr. Faucis office. The macabre research was revealed in an undercover sting operation by investigative journalist, David Daleiden. His testimony, brought before the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, exposes Fauci-sponsored experimentation on aborted baby parts.

The video reveals evidence from within the University of Pittsburgh. The university researchers developed a protocol to harvest the freshest, most pristine livers from five-month-old aborted babies in order to isolate massive numbers of stem cells for experimental transplantation into adults. Footage shows University of Pittsburgh researchers poking and prodding an aborted baby to test reflexes and make sure the baby is still alive for organ procurement. Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania is under federal investigation for using abortion doctors at the University of Pittsburgh to maintain a steady supply of fetal organs and tissues.

During the live abortion procedure, a premature baby is carefully selected for a labor induction. The baby, still attached to the umbilical cord, is cut open, and abortion specialists extract the live liver. This protocol was funded by a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH also funneled the university another $1.4 million from the GUDMAP project to continue trafficking aborted fetal kidneys that the NIH needed in order to continue grotesque fetal tissue research across the United States.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

History.com

NaturalNews.com

LifeSiteNews.com
(Natural News) A former Pfizer scientist warned that the government and Big Pharma are colluding to deceive the general population in the current pandemic. Dr. Michael Yeadon said in a recent interview that governments around the world had exaggerated the true risk of the Wuhan coronavirus. According to the former Pfizer expert, global crimes against humanity are being perpetrated against a large proportion of the worlds population.

Yeadon spent more than three decades helming research on new medicines. By the time of his retirement, he held the most senior research position in the pharmaceutical industry. The scientist addressed several points during his telephone interview with LifeSiteNews, mostly involving demonstrably false propaganda from governments.

First, he addressed the lie of so-called Wuhan coronavirus variants of concern such as the British B117 and South African B1351 strains. Yeadon remarked: The variants arent different  theyre pretty much the same. He explained that when the virus enters the body, cells called professional antigen-presenting cells break down the pathogen and introduce the viral pieces to other cells. This way, the immune system becomes familiar with the virus.

Yeadon continued: Now, if a tiny piece of the virus changes  [and] if you are re-infected by that variant, your professional [antigen-presenting] cells tear into that virus and cut it into pieces. [When the professional cells] present them again,  most of the pieces that [your immune system has] already seen and recognized are still there in the variants.

Second, the scientist addressed the totalitarian potential for vaccine passports. Yeadon said: I think the end game is going to be everyone receives a vaccine. Everyone on the planet is going to find themselves persuaded  to take a jab. He remarked that once the worlds population is vaccinated  each and every person will have a name, an accompanying unique digital ID and a health status flag indicating if they are vaccinated or not.

The former Pfizer researcher warned that whoever is in control of the database holding this information definitely holds absolute power. They can have total control over peoples transactions on a whim, essentially making playthings out of the worlds people. Yeadon elaborated that while vaccine passports are mainly for traveling to other places, he foresees their potential use for peoples movement.

Ive heard talk of [vaccine passports], that they could be necessary for you to get into  enclosed public spaces. I expect that if they wanted to, you would not be able to leave your house in the future without the appropriate privilege, he warned.

Yeadon warns of depopulation through Wuhan coronavirus vaccines

According to Yeadon, there is a looming plot to get rid of a large chunk of the worlds population using COVID-19 vaccines. Governments are lying to their citizens regarding the prevalence of more infectious Wuhan coronavirus strains to encourage vaccinations. Pharmaceutical firms meanwhile exploit this demand to create vials of dangerous jabs that go to peoples arms.

The former Pfizer scientist expressed concern over the matter. Im very worried  that pathway will be used for mass depopulation, because I cant think of any benign explanation. (Related: Ex-Pfizer VP: Stop vaccinating people who are not at risk of dying from coronavirus.)

He remarked: The eugenicists have got hold of the levers of power and this is a really artful way of getting you to line up and receive some unspecified thing that will damage you. It will be plausibly deniable because there will be something else going on in the world at that time, in the context of which your demise, or that of your children, will look normal.

Prior to his interview with LifeSiteNews, Yeadon raised alarm bells over the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines safety on pregnant women. He and German physician Wolfgang Wodarg wrote a letter to the European Medicines Agency back in December 2020 calling for the suspension of vaccine trials on humans. According to the two, COVID-19 vaccines may prevent the safe development of placentas in pregnant women.

Yeadon and Wodarg explained that a protein called syncytin-1 found in the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen is also responsible for the development of a placenta in humans. Given that several vaccine candidates are expected to induce the formation of  antibodies against spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, the vaccines could put pregnant women at risk. (Related: Pfizer coronavirus vaccine warning: No breastfeeding or getting pregnant after being immunized it might damage the child.)

They further elaborated: There is no indication whether antibodies against spike proteins of SARS virus would also act like anti-syncytin-1 antibodies. However, if this were to be the case, this would then also prevent the formation of a placenta  which would result in vaccinated women essentially becoming infertile.

Visit Conspiracy.news to read more about plans to depopulate the world through COVID-19 vaccines.

Sources include:

NaturalHealth365.com

LifeSiteNews.com

2020News.de
(Natural News) Nearly a decade prior to the release of Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines, the Health Ranger was warning us all about future self-spreading injections that threatened to annihilate humanity from the face of the earth.

Self-spreading vaccines, in case you are unfamiliar with them, spread without even having to be injected. The vaccinated simply shed them onto others through close contact, infecting the unvaccinated with chemical particulates that could sterilize or kill them.

We are already seeing this happen with Chinese Virus injections, which are causing women to have irregular periods and men erectile dysfunction. In short, Wuhan Flu shots are a death sentence for those who take them, and possibly even those who do not.

Back in 2012 when the Health Ranger was warning about self-replication pollution, most people were only thinking about genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and nanotechnology. Today, it is more widely understood that such bioweapons also include vaccines.

As the Health Ranger explained, self-replicating microscopic machines were being used even then to advance the depopulation agenda. Also known as self-replication microscopic weapons, such technology serves one purpose: to kill people.

Vaccines are the virus

Last fall, the mainstream media was discussing how self-replicating technology was already being investigated for use in conjunction with Chinese Virus injections.

Recognizing that a majority of Americans would probably reject a vaccine for an alleged virus with symptoms that mirror a mere cold or cough, the medical deep state came up with a plan to quietly vaccinate all of society without having to inject every single person.

Self-replicating vaccines thus became a solution to the problem of vaccine hesitancy because they have the capacity to spread vaccines via infection  meaning if you are close to someone who was recently injected, you very well could catch the vaccine from them through their saliva or nasal discharge.

This sounds a whole lot like what the medical fascists have been saying about the Chinese Virus itself, except there was never any definitive proof that the virus could be spread that way. Meanwhile, we now have solid proof showing that the injections, and those who receive them, are the vectors spreading disease.

Because injected people are basically walking disease factories, avoiding them at all costs could go a long way in protecting yourself against infection.

One of the scariest things about self-spreading Wuhan Flu shots is the fact that they will never again be contained now that they have been released. Even the medical deep state admits that this is the case, warning that once released, scientists will no longer be in control of the virus.

It could mutate, as viruses naturally do, warns Filippa Lentzos, writing for The Bulletin. It may jump species. It will cross borders. There will be unexpected outcomes and unintended consequences. There always are.

Self-spreading vaccines are essentially genetically engineered viruses designed to move through populations in the same way as infectious diseases, Lentzos further reveals.

Since there is not much we can do at this point other than to try to avoid those who have been vaccinated, the next best thing is to build up your immune system in any way you can. Even more importantly, pray for protection for yourself and your family because we are now in completely uncharted territory.

We are watching a genocidal transgenerational plan unfolding. Bill Gates is executing it on behalf of dead men and others who shared their goals, warns Vince Morreno. This is diabolical. Satanic. Civilization in facing a hugely clear and present danger.

More of the latest news about Chinese Virus mass genocide can be found at ChemicalViolence.com.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com

TheBulletin.org

Rense.com
(Natural News) Scientists warn that the Wuhan coronavirus vaccines sold by Pfizer and Moderna can also cause blood clots. The two vaccines, developed using messenger RNA technology, have seen widespread use in many countries. Reports of the vaccines deadly side effects emerged following bans on Johnson & Johnson and AstraZenecas adenoviral vector vaccines, which were the first to be linked to blood clots.

According to an April 16 study by the University of Oxford, fewer people developed cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) after receiving the mRNA vaccines compared to the AstraZeneca vaccine. Only four in 1 million people developed blood clots in the brain after getting the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, while five in 1 million people developed blood clots after being inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

But even before the release of the Oxford study, officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had already been warned about the potential risks of the mRNA vaccines. Pediatrician Dr. J. Patrick Whelan wrote in a December 2020 comment that the two vaccines have the potential to cause microvascular injury to different body parts, such as the brain and heart. Because of this risk, Whelan called for particular caution before vaccination is conducted on children.

Whelans warning and the Oxford paper were completely ignored as U.S. health authorities went ahead with the roll out of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. On April 13, FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Dr. Peter Marks told reporters that there were no reported cases of blood clots and low platelet counts among people who received the two mRNA vaccines.

The next day, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) organized an emergency meeting of its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Committee members who attended the meeting lauded the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines as there were no safety signals with the two candidates. The members actions suggested that neither mRNA vaccine was associated with any reports of blood clots  unlike the AstraZeneca and J&J shots.

Reports of people developing post-immunization blood clots only fuels vaccine hesitancy

However, actual data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) contradicts the claims of both Marks and the CDC committee members. Based on VAERS data from Dec. 14 of last year through April 1 of this year, instances of blood clotting associated with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do exist. Of the almost 800 blood clot reports in the system, the Pfizer vaccine was linked to 400 cases while the Moderna vaccine was linked to 337 reports.

The actual experiences of people who received the mRNA vaccines and suffered adverse reactions underscore the risks involved in dealing with these harmful treatments. One such case involved the death of a perfectly healthy Florida doctor in January 2021. Miami obstetrician Dr. Gregory Michael, who died two weeks after getting vaccinated, received the Pfizer vaccine, which was made in partnership with German biotech company B ioNTech. (Related: Miami doctor dies after receiving first dose of Pfizer vaccine.)

Three days after receiving the shot, Michael sought medical treatment at Mount Sinai Medical Center where he worked upon seeing red spots on his hands and feet. Doctors then found that he suffered from thrombocytopenia, a condition characterized by abnormally low levels of blood platelets. Michael then received different medical treatments, such as platelet transfusions, but to no avail. He eventually died on Jan. 4 of a hemorrhagic stroke before he could undergo a last-ditch procedure.

The CDC investigated Michaels death and concluded that the obstetrician died of natural causes. According to an April 8 New York Post report, a joint investigation was conducted by the CDC and the Florida Department of Health, and samples from an autopsy performed on the doctor were examined. The probe concluded that there is no medical certainty  the shot had anything to do with the condition.

Later, a resident of Brighton, Colorado said he developed blood clots after receiving the Moderna vaccine. Speaking to local news station KDVR, 49-year-old Jeff Johnson said he was rushed to the emergency room after developing two blood clots on his left leg. He said that the blood clots developed a week after he received the Moderna vaccine at a Salud Family Health Centers branch in the city. According to Johnsons doctor, the blood clots diagnosed as deep vein thrombosis could have been caused by the mRNA vaccine the patient received.

Johnson received medical treatment for the blood clots in his left leg. The 49-year-old has since improved and will return to work. He expressed hope that he will not have any other problems following his vaccination. (Related: mRNA vaccines for the Wuhan coronavirus caused blood disorder in at least 36 people.)

Visit VaccineInjuryNews.com to read more about blood clots caused by Wuhan coronavirus vaccines.

Sources include:

LifeSiteNews.com

Regulations.gov

NYPost.com

KDVR.com
If Le Creuset is a brand you've only heard of and never actually shopped before, welcome. I'm here to hopefully answer any questions you might have. Like, what is the difference between a Dutch oven and a sauteuse? What's the difference between a Dutch oven and a chef's oven? Ever wondered how Le Creuset's Dutch oven compares to other brands like Lodge? Got that answer right here.

I can even tell you how to actually pronounce Le Creuset. It's Luh-CROO-zay. Don't get caught pronouncing that E too hard in the "Le" in Le Creuset, or else you'll probably get made fun of by a French person on TikTok.

But there's way more to understanding Le Creuset than just how to pronounce the name. It's about colors, product offerings (from Dutch ovens to saucepans to griddles), and where you can buy Le Creuset on sale.

Le Creuset is most famous for its colorful, enameled cookware, which comes in a whole rainbow of pots and pans. There are exclusive colors, colors that are no longer in production (au revoir Cobalt Blue and Azure Blue), and colors that absolutely everyone is obsessed with.

Some of the most popular Le Creuset colors include:

Cerise

Nectar

Marseille

Agave

Artichaut

Indigo

Deep Teal

Oyster

Sea Salt

Le Creuset cookware

While Le Creuset has expanded past cookware, its best sellers are mainstay cookware products like Dutch ovens and new color releases. Of the top five Le Creuset best-sellers, there are two Dutch ovens and the Dutch oven's little sister, a sauteuse.

Many of these top sellers are made with enameled cast iron. Functionally, cast iron provides even heat distribution and retention for everyday use, and Le Creuset's enameled cast iron allows for a seamless transfer from stovetop to oven to tabletop. The cast iron also makes for easy use and quick cleanup for cooks of all skill levels.

The main types of Le Creuset cookware are:

Le Creuset Dutch oven

Le Creuset 5.5-Quart Round Dutch Oven Le Creuset lecreuset.com $360.00 Shop Now

Cost: Between $160 and $685

When it comes to the cost of the Le Creuset Dutch oven, it all depends on the size. The smaller the Dutch oven, the cheaper the price. Le Creuset sells 10 Dutch oven sizes:

1 qt .: One to two servings

.: One to two servings 2 qt. : One to two servings

: One to two servings 2 3/4 qt .: One to two servings

.: One to two servings 3 1/2 qt. : Three to four servings

: Three to four servings 4 1/2 qt. : Three to four servings

: Three to four servings 5 1/2 qt. : Five to six servings

: Five to six servings 7 1/4 qt. : Seven to eight servings

: Seven to eight servings 9 qt .: 9+ servings

.: 9+ servings 13 1/4 qt. : 9+ servings

: 9+ servings 15 1/2 qt.: 9+ servings

Since that sizing is honestly confusing  how are three Dutch ovens the same serving size?  you might want to check out Le Creuset's sizing guide. You'll get a better idea of what size to buy if you're only cooking for yourself, two people, or a family of four or more. Any of the Dutch ovens with a 9+ serving size is best for cooking for groups for holidays and big gatherings, whereas a 1-2 qt. Dutch oven is best for individual servings.

Le Creuset's two best-selling Dutch ovens are the 5 1/2 qt. Round Dutch oven and 6 3/4 qt. Oval Dutch oven. According to Le Creuset, these two sizes offer the most flexibility to scale up or down when cooking. Those two sizes are not small by any means, but they are also not too big where you'll feel like you're feeding an army. The brand calls those its Goldilocks of sizes.

Depending on what size you choose, you can cook a variety of dishes in a Dutch oven. The most prominent meals people cook in a Dutch oven are:

Pulled pork

Short ribs

Sauces

No-knead bread

Roast chicken

Roast turkey

Fried chicken

Soups and stews

Mashed potatoes

In a smaller Dutch oven, you can make sauces, gratins, and even a pie! Those mid-sized dishes are what you'll cook stews, one-pot meals, and side dishes in. Bigger Dutch ovens are what you can use to roast a whole chicken or make a large loaf of no-knead bread.

Le Creuset skillet

Cost: Between $100 and $300

Le Creuset's skillets are made with the brand's classic enameled cast iron. Of all the kitchen tools, the skillet is probably the most practical for everyone to use, as it works for everyday cooking like searing, sauteing and stir-frying. The interior of the skillet is finished with a black satin enamel, so it doesn't require seasoning and care like other cast irons.

Being the most versatile cookware from Le Creuset means the skillet lets you cook a huge variety of foods. Le Creuset's first suggested food to cook in its skillet is cornbread. That's not practical for everyone, though it's obviously a delicious treat.

What you can cook in a Le Creuset skillet:

Eggs

Bacon

Roasted vegetables

Pizza

Pork chops

Skillet desserts (like a brownie or cookie)

Le Creuset fry pan

Stainless Steel Deep Fry Pan lecreuset.com $2400.00 Shop Now

Cost: Between $105 and $220

Skillets and fry pans are alike enough that they're often lumped together on a landing page on Le Creuset's website, but they aren't exactly the same. Le Creuset skillets are made with enameled cast iron, while most Le Creuset fry pans are made with stainless steel. The cast iron enamel is more non-stick than a stainless steel pan ever will be. The brand does sell a nonstick fry pan as well if you want a pan over a skillet. What you can cook in both nonstick options is fairly similar (the nonstick fry pan is slightly cheaper than the skillet).

What to cook in a stainless steel fry pan:

Seared scallops

Chicken breasts

Sauteed vegetables

Pork

What to cook in a nonstick fry pan:

Eggs

Fish

Sauteed vegetables

Pancakes

Le Creuset braiser

Cost: Between $200 and $365

As a kid, I had no idea there were so many different types of cookware. If you've heard of a braiser, but have no idea what it is, Le Creuset has you covered. The site has a big explainer on what a braiser is, but I'll give you some brief insight into what you can cook in one.

A braiser is like a Dutch oven and a skillet had a baby. The braiser is designed with a wide base and shallow sloped sides to maintain steady, even heat and moisture over a period of time. This is best used on tough cuts of meat and vegetables to make them more tender.

The best things to cook in a braiser are:

Short ribs

Lamb shanks

Fennel

Stews

Curry

Chili

Le Creuset grill pan

Signature Square Skillet Grill lecreuset.com $195.00 Shop Now

Cost: Between $100 and $260

Le Creuset sells a few grill pans and griddles in a variety of shapes and styles like square, rectangle and round. There's even a reversible griddle that gives you two different surfaces for cooking vegetables and frying eggs. The grill pans and griddles will give you the best country-style breakfast and grilled meats you'll ever have, as they are made with Le Creuset's enameled cast iron.

The best meals to cook on a griddle are:

Steak

Hamburgers

Shrimp

Chicken

Grilled vegetables

Le Creuset stockpot

Cost: Between $85 and $380

Unlike other Le Creuset products that need a little bit of explaining, the stockpot is self-explanatory. If you want to deck your entire home out in Le Creuset products, this should be another staple in your collection for stock, soup and pasta. Le Creuset sells a standard stockpot, as well as a stainless steel and nonstick stockpot.

The best meals to cook in a stockpot are:

Stock

Soup

Pasta

Canning

Steamed crabs

Le Creuset saucepan

Cost: Between $120 and $250

Yet another product with few surprises, the saucepan is obviously meant for cooking sauces. Le Creuset's saucepan is made with its signature enameled cast iron to deliver even heat distribution and retention.

The best things to cook in a Le Creuset saucepan are:

Rice

Sauce

Gravy

Fondue

Caramel

Le Creuset outlet

While there is no online Le Creuset outlet, you can check out the Specials page on Le Creuset and the Tabletop Specials to shop discounts directly from the brand. If you're in the mood to physically shop at a Le Creuset outlet store, you can check Tanger Outlets to see find a location near you. You can also go directly to Le Creuset's website to find an outlet location in your state.

Le Creuset sales

If youre looking for discounted Le Creuset, there are three places you want to look. I can't promise they'll have sales 24/7, but after writing about Le Creuset's sales for years now, I can say you'll see sales about once a month.

The three best places for Le Creuset sales are:

Le Creuset has a dedicated landing page on its website called Specials that's not special new products, but products that are newly on sale. You should always head straight to the source first if youre interested in a discount, since Le Creuset will always have the best stock of its own products.

Next up is Amazon. At least once a month Amazons Deal of the Day includes sales on Dutch ovens, sauteuse pans, skinny griddles, and more. Of the three recommended retailers, Amazon often sees the biggest slash in prices (outside of discounts seen during 2021's first online Factory to Table sale).

Williams Sonoma is one of Le Creusets most trusted partners. In fact, Williams Sonoma carries some exclusive Le Creuset colors, like Caribbean, Nectar, and Agave. If youre specific about color, you can shop any Le Creuset cookware by color at Williams Sonoma.
New Castle, PA (16103)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Isolated thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.


N Norfolk Methodists get souped up for charity

The North Norfolk Methodist Circuit is launching its very own recipe book to raise money for Christian Aid. Tony Rothe reports.

The book is entitled Souper Aid, and is inspired by this year's Christian Aid Week Every last drop appeal. It contains a collection of soup recipes interspersed with prayers, reflections and poems which have been contributed by a variety of people from across North Norfolk.



The book is dedicated to Florence and Rose, both Kenyans, who feature in the Christian Aid campaign. Their respective communities have been adversely affected by extreme weather, attributed to the effects of climate change. Torrential rain has swept away newly planted crops of maize and beans, and this has been followed by periods of prolonged drought.



Florence, right, is rejoicing because Christian Aid has come to the rescue of her village by building an earth dam, thus completely transforming the life of her community.



Rose, on the other hand, an 67-year-old woman caring for her grandchildren, is struggling and fears she cannot continue with her daily routine much longer. (pictured, top)



Deacon Brenda Hayes said On an empty stomach, and in unrelenting high temperatures, Rose wearily makes a daily journey of up to six hours simply to fetch water for basic needs like washing and cooking. With our help, Christian Aid will be able to construct an earth dam for her village too.



Brenda is expecting a slot on Radio Norfolk this Sunday in which she will publicise the book.



The circuit has produced a moving video featuring Florence and Rose which can be found on the North Norfolk Methodist Circuit website .



Copies of the book are 5, and can be obtained by e-mailing Brenda at brendamhayes888@gmail.com

Or Revd. Gordon Webster at gordonwebster937@gmail.com



Cheques should be payable to North Norfolk Methodist Circuit. All money raised will go to Christian Aid.





The photo of Rose Katanu Jonathan walking to collect water is courtesy of Tom Pilston at Christian Aid. The picture of Florence is also courtesy of Christian Aid.

Do you have a news story or forthcoming event relating to Christians or a church in North Norfolk?
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University News

Morning and afternoon ceremonies will take place at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport. The Commencement address will be delivered by U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal 00 Hon., and honorary degrees will be awarded to business executive and philanthropist His Excellency Mr. Amr Al-Dabbagh as well as longtime University benefactor Lois Bergami. The University of New Haven will celebrate its Class of 2021 at Commencement on May 17.

With comprehensive COVID protocols in place, the University of New Haven is set to hold in-person Commencement ceremonies for its Class of 2021 on Monday, May 17, at the Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater in Bridgeport. More than 1,600 undergraduate and graduate degrees will be awarded.

The 11 a.m. ceremony will recognize graduates of the Universitys College of Arts and Sciences, School of Health Sciences, and Tagliatela College of Engineering. The 4 p.m. ceremony will honor graduates of the Pompea College of Business and the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.

The keynote address will be delivered by United States Senator Richard Blumenthal. A longtime supporter of the University of New Haven, Senator Blumenthal was first elected to the United States Senate in 2010, following a distinguished 20-year tenure as Attorney General for the State of Connecticut.

United States Senator Richard Blumenthal will deliver the keynote address.

As part of the morning ceremony, the University will award a degree posthumously to Joshua Goodart 21, a cybersecurity & networks major from Oxford, Conn., who died earlier this year due to complications from COVID-19. His family will be in attendance to accept his degree.

Also during the morning ceremony, the University will award an honorary Doctor of Business Administration degree to His Excellency Mr. Amr Al-Dabbagh, the chairman and CEO of the Al-Dabbagh Group, a family-owned business conglomerate founded in 1962 that has been recognized among the top companies to work for in Saudi Arabia. He also is the founder of Philanthropy University, which he established to help nonprofit leaders make an impact around the world.

At the afternoon ceremony, the University will award an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Lois Bergami. One of the Universitys most devoted benefactors, Lois and her husband, Sam Bergami 85 EMBA 02 Hon., were instrumental in the development of the Bergami Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation, the Universitys newest academic building that opened last year. The home of the Universitys award-winning campus radio station also bears Lois Bergamis name.

At Commencement, each graduate is permitted to have two guests. All guests will be seated in pods that are physically distanced from other guests. All guests and graduates must show proof of either being fully vaccinated; a negative COVID-19 test taken on or after May 14 for graduates or on or after May 12 for guests; or a positive COVID-19 test in the last 90 days. Anyone who tests positive on or after May 7 will not be permitted to attend the ceremony.

His Excellency Mr. Amr Al-Dabbagh and Lois Bergami will both be awarded honorary degrees at the ceremony.

For more information about Commencement or to view a live stream the day of the event, visit newhaven.edu/commencement.
By Ye Tingting

BEIJING, May 7 -- So far, there have been 4,023 voluntary service teams formed by more than 65,000 veterans in Guangdong Province, South China, according to the department of veterans affairs of the province.

The veteran voluntary service teams have participated in public security maintenance, pandemic prevention and control, and emergency rescue in communities, becoming an important force in grassroots-level social governance in Guangdong.

Among them, the "Battle Flag" rescue service team in Huizhou City has carried out more than 900 free rescues. Veterans in Shenzhen City have set up voluntary service teams of various professionals including art performance and medical clinics, etc.. In Zhuhai City, the veteran voluntary service has been integrated into the rural revitalization strategy.

The Guangdong Provincial Department of Veterans Affairs has formulated and issued the guidelines for veteran voluntary service work and established a special fund to provide support for veteran voluntary services. The fund has raised RMB 8.95 million so far.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry on Thursday released Rs 9,871 crore as Post Devolution Revenue Deficit grant to 17 States for the year 2021-22. The grants were released as per the recommendations of the Finance Commission in monthly installments to meet the gap in revenue accounts of the states post devolution.

The Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, today released the second monthly instalment of Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant of Rs 9,871 crore to 17 States, the Finance Ministry said in a statement. With this installment, the total amount released during the first two months of the current financial year has now reached Rs 19,742 crore.

The Centre provides the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant to the States under Article 275 of the Constitution. The states recommended for grant are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

The eligibility of states to receive this grant and the quantum of grant was decided by the Commission based on the gap between assessment of revenue and expenditure of the state. Assessed devolution for the ongoing financial year was also taken into consideration. The 15th Finance Commission has recommended a total Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant of Rs 1,18,452 crore to the 17 States in the financial year 2021-22. The grant is released in 12 monthly instalments.

Last week, the Centre had also released its first installment of Rs 8,873 crore to the states from the State Disaster Response Fund in advance. As a special dispensation, the Ministry of Finance, at the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs, released in advance of the normal schedule the first instalment of the central share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the year 2021-22 to all the States, the ministry had said.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India is likely to breach its fiscal deficit target in the financial year to March 2022 mainly due to revenue shortfall, Fitch Solutions said Friday.

The government is targeting a deficit between revenue it earns and what it spends at 6.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in FY22 (April 2021 to March 2022).

"We at Fitch Solutions forecast the Indian central government deficit to come in at 8.3 per cent of GDP in FY22," it said.

"Revenue shortfall remains the main driver of our wider deficit view, as we expect the government to maintain its spending targets." Fitch Solutions had previously projected a fiscal deficit of 8 per cent.

"The main driver of our deficit forecast revision is a downward revision to our outlook for revenues, given that the flare-up in COVID-19 cases in India and containment measures in place will hamper India's economic recovery, which will have a negative impact on fiscal revenues," it said.

Central government expenditure is likely to be around the project of Rs 34.8 lakh crore as it looks to maintain its high pandemic-period spending so as to bolster pace of economic recovery.

Against this, revenue are likely to come in at Rs 16.5 lakh crore, down from government estimate of Rs 17.8 lakh crore on the back of an impaired outlook for India's economic recovery in FY22 as a result of the ongoing health crisis.

It did not expect the government to significantly expand spending beyond what has been budgeted. Based on the FY22 Union Budget, key spending areas planned for were infrastructure (transport, urban development, and power), healthcare, agriculture, and rural development.

"However, given the flare-up in COVID-19 infections in India, which has since overwhelmed the Indian healthcare system, we expect there to be reallocation of spending in favour of healthcare spending this fiscal year," Fitch Solutions said adding healthcare spending is projected to be Rs 74,600 crore, 2.1 per cent of total planned FY22 expenditures, and this will likely come in higher than projected.

Another area expected to see increased spending is on the rural employment scheme - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme.

"During the Union Budget announcement in February, it had appeared as though India had managed to contain its domestic COVID-19 outbreak and that economic activity was turning a corner on to higher growth.

We believe that this was what prompted the government to slash funding for the MGNREG scheme from Rs 1.1 lakh crore in FY21 to Rs 73,000 crore in FY22.

"However, given the severity of India's ongoing health crisis, it is likely that more funds will have to be channelled to this scheme to support the rural economy, especially given reports of lockdowns in cities and loss in work once again sending rural migrant workers back to their villages, similar to the nationwide lockdown in Q1 FY21," it said.

Fitch Solutions said its less optimistic view on the Indian economy was also reflected in its real GDP growth forecast of 9.5 per cent in FY22, a full percentage point below the government's 10.5 per cent projection.

"A weaker economic recovery will weigh on the recovery in revenue collection." It forecast public debt to GDP to fall to 88 per cent in FY22, from the government's estimate of 89.8 per cent in FY21. While public debt will continue rising, the rise in GDP will offset the rise in net borrowing.

"Rising borrowing will inevitably raise the government's interest burden, which the government projects to be 23 per cent of expenditures in FY22, however, central bank intervention to cap long-dated borrowing yields combined with the low interest environment will somewhat aid to slow the pace in which interest burden rises," it said adding risks are weighted towards a wider deficit.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The European Investment Bank and the country's largest lender SBI on Friday entered into a pact to jointly pump Euro 100 million in equity financing into Indian small businesses focused on climate change and sustainability.

An agreement got signed on the margins of the European Union-India leaders meeting in Portugal, where both the financial institutions agreed to back the initiative, as per a statement.

SBI already invests in a vehicle called Neev Funds for its impact investing objectives, and the two entities have created ''Neev Fund II'' for taking ahead this partnership. This is one of the EIB's first private equity investments in India.

Neev Fund II will provide equity to SMEs focusing on mitigating climate risks, promoting social development, job creation, and gender equality at scale, SBI chairman Dinesh Khara said.

He added that the cooperation with EIB, one of the world's largest providers of climate finance, will further strengthen and deepen the bond between India and the European Union.

The EIB and SBI will together support the new Neev Fund II investment fund that will unlock climate action and sustainability investment by businesses across India through new equity financing.

Under the management of SBICap Ventures, an SBI group company, Neev Fund II will invest up to Euro 100 million in Indian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and provide growth and expansion capital to companies offering solutions for clean energy, electric vehicles, efficient use of raw materials, and water and circular economy projects in the country, the statement said.

The fund will enable Indian innovative and emerging companies to fund their growth through equity or quasi-equity instruments, it added.

Innovative solutions often require innovative forms of financing, such as private equity funds. Our partnership with the State Bank of India will create a much-needed source of equity financing for climate action and environmental sustainability solutions offered by innovative SMEs, EIB's head of operations in India, Christian Kettel Thomsen, said.

SBI Ventures'' managing director and chief executive Suresh Kozhikote said the Neev Fund generates commercially attractive returns while making a significant positive contribution to society.

Neev Fund II will provide equity and quasi-equity to SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises), targeting sectors that support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly aiming to limit climate change through energy, agricultural, water, and waste management technologies.

This could include businesses offering solutions for the development of new technology for climate change, environmental protection, electric vehicles, and any other innovative products and services that could benefit climate action across the world, the statement said.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Central Crime Branch (CCB) police, probing the alleged irregularities in allotting beds to Covid-19 patients, is analysing the data collected from the eight BBMP zonal war rooms. Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said the police had conducted searches in all eight war rooms on Wednesday.

We collected a lot of data during the search. Eight teams, each led by a police inspector, are scrutinising the data collected. We will initiate further action based on the information we get from the data, Patil said.

Meanwhile, the police are questioning the four accused working in the Bommanahalli Zone war room. The hospitals in which the four had blocked beds is being probed. Our teams are checking in hospitals in this regard. They will be taken into police custody and interrogated further, he added.

It is learnt that some touts had links with coordinators in several private hospitals and they worked together in blocking and unblocking beds to make money from patients in dire need of beds. Investigations further revealed that Nethravathi and Rohit, who were arrested first, got a commission of 10 per cent for each patient while the rest was pocketed by other accused working in war rooms, sources said.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Its not often you hear elected representatives describing their experience in crisis management as scary, but that is exactly what it was for Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan in the early hours of Thursday.

Thanks to his efforts and timely intervention, a repeat of Chamarajanagar-like tragedy, where deaths occurred due to oxygen shortage, was averted in Bengaluru. The lives of 200 patients on oxygen support at KC General Hospital in Malleswaram were saved in the nick of time because of the diligence of doctors, nurses and medical staff, led by Dr Renuka Prasad, the prompt response by the police and, above all,

Ashwath Narayans efforts to procure oxygen from an alternative source.

Around 12.45 am on Thursday, Ashwath Narayan received an SOS from KC General Hospital that their scheduled oxygen supply had been delayed. The hospital was expected to receive the oxygen supply from a private company in Ballari, but it was delayed. What triggered the panic was that the oxygen levels at the hospital, which has a storage capacity of 6 tonnes, had dropped to 0.5 tonnes by late on Wednesday night.

Ashwath Narayan, also the MLA from Malleswaram, swung into action to identify manufacturers who could supply oxygen on an emergency basis and contacted Universal Company located at Dabaspete, around 50 km from the city.

While the DCM requested for 20 jumbo cylinders, the company agreed to send an oxygen tanker to the hospital. The police were asked to clear the traffic for the tanker to move, and it reached the hospital in little over an hour. By 5 am, the hospitals oxygen tank was refilled to 5.5 tonnes.

It was a very scary scenario. A delay in the hospitals supply led to a cascading effect. We stayed up all night to ensure oxygen reached on time. Doctors monitored each patients requirements to ensure oxygen lasted till the refill arrived, he added.

Ashwath Narayan, who is also the chief of Taskforce on Covid, said that manufacturers too are hard-pressed because of heavy demand for oxygen. Bengaluru has one manufacturing unit, Tumakuru one, Ballari four and Koppal one. All of them are stretched. It is all touch and go to manufacture, manage and supply oxygen. Lives are on the line, he said.
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: In one of the biggest seizures of narcotics at Chennai International Airport, the Air Customs sleuths seized 15.6 kg of heroin worth Rs 100 crore from two Tanzanian nationals on Friday, according to Chennai Air Customs commissioner Rajan Chaudhary.

Working on a tip-off from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence that narcotics from African countries are likely to be smuggled into India, a couple, who arrived by Qatar Airways flight 528 from Johannesburg via Doha were intercepted.

In one of the biggest seizures of narcotics at Chennai International Airport, Air Customs sleuths seized 15.6 kg of heroin worth Rs 100 crore from two Tanzanian nationals.



Read more: https://t.co/nAi1s0kPhr pic.twitter.com/bch8kNyJox  The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) May 7, 2021

On questioning, they appeared to be nervous and gave evasive replies. The duo, identified as Tanzanians from their passports, was carrying two stroller bags each as their check-in baggage.

During checking of their baggage, it was found that there was a false bottom in which plastic packets were concealed. In each stroller, five plastic packets were found. When cut open, the white coarse powder was found inside. The plastic packets were sprinkled with some spicy powder to camouflage the smell. The powder tested positive for heroin with a drug testing kit.

During the questioning, it was learnt that the woman was travelling to India for medical treatment at a Super Speciality Hospital in Bengaluru along with her attendant on a visa granted to them on basis of communication from the hospital.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded 341 more coronavirus deaths and 19,832 new infections on Friday, while the positivity rate remained below 25 per cent for the second consecutive day, the Health Department said.

This is the fourth time in the last five days that the number of new cases remained below 20,000.

There are 91,035 active cases and over 11.83 lakh people have recovered, according to a health bulletin.

The infection tally rose to 12,92,867 with 19,832 new cases on Thursday.

There were 19,133 more infections on Wednesday.

The positivity rate stood at 24.92 per cent, a bit higher than 24.29 per cent a day ago.

The death toll rose 18,739 after 335 more people succumbed to the pathogen.

On Wednesday, 311 people died from the virus.

Of the 22,097 hospital beds for coronavirus patients in the city, only 2,175 are vacant.

As many as 50,425 patients are in home isolation and the number of containment zones is 50785, according to the bulletin.

A total of 1,14,657 beneficiaries were vaccinated on Thursday, out of which 80,306 were those who got their first dose, the bulletin stated.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said 1.84 lakh people in the 18-44 age group had got their first dose since the inoculation of this category started on May 3.

"In total, 38.88 lakh people have got the vaccine in all age groups till yesterday (Thursday) evening," he tweeted.

Delhi received just 577 metric tonnes of oxygen on May 6, which is 59 per cent of the total requirement of 976 MT, AAP MLA Raghav Chadha said on Friday.

Chadha, who is also the vice chairman of Delhi Jal Board, said authorities received nine SOS calls from hospitals over oxygen shortage on Thursday and 5.1 MT of the life-saving gas was provided to these healthcare facilities.

The national capital had received 730 MT of oxygen on Wednesday, the highest so far, which had led to a significant reduction in SOS calls from hospitals.

The increased supply on Wednesday had come following the intervention of the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

However, it has come down by 153 MT in a day, he said.

Over the last seven days, Delhi has received 498 MT of oxygen per day on an average against the demand of 976 MT.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police conducted raids at two restaurants in the national capital and recovered over 100 oxygen concentrators, used for treatment of COVID patients, officials said on Friday.

According to the police, 96 oxygen concentrators were recovered from Khan Chacha Restaurant and nine were seized from Town Hall restaurant, both situated in the Khan Market area.

The recovery of over 100 oxygen concentrators comes after the arrest of four men -- Gaurav, Satish Sethi, Vikrant and Hitesh from south Delhi's Lodhi Colony area on Wednesday for allegedly indulging in black marketing of oxygen concentrators.

After the arrest of the four men, the police had recovered 419 oxygen concentrators that were meant to be sold in black market.

Police said during interrogation, Hitesh disclosed that they were hoarding oxygen concentrators in these restaurants following which raids were conducted at the joints at the Khan Market area and the equipments were recovered.

The owner of these two restaurants is a man named Navneet Kalra, police said, adding that his involvement is being investigated.

Kalra also owns another restaurant where police had conducted raids and recovered oxygen concentrators on Wednesday.

Earlier, the police had said that Nege Ju Restaurant and Bar in central market Lodhi Colony was found open on Wednesday.

A man was found working on a laptop at the restaurant who was later found taking online orders for oxygen concentrators, police had said earlier.

Police had searched the restaurant premises and recovered 32 boxes of oxygen concentrators, one box of thermal scanner and one box containing N 95 masks, the officer had said.

"A case was registered and four accused persons were arrested," Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur had said.

During interrogation, the accused disclosed about their warehouse in Chhatarpur, following which a search was conducted and 387 more units of oxygen concentrators were recovered which were being sold at exorbitant prices in black market, the DCP had said.

Invoices of these oxygen concentrators were recovered.

MRP stickers displaying a price of Rs 69,999 per concentrator were also recovered.

Meanwhile, a plea alleging hoarding of oxygen by political leaders came up for hearing before the Delhi High Court which on Friday sought AAP MLA Imran Hussain's reply on the claim of distributing oxygen to public for COVID-19 patients.

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli issued notice on the plea to the Delhi government and Hussain, a Cabinet minister, who was directed to be present in the hearing on Saturday.

The high court said it will have to be seen from where the MLA was getting oxygen as even gurdwaras are distributing it.

"He may be getting it from Faridabad, you can't really have a problem if he is not eating away from the allocated source and he has arranged his own cylinders," the court said.

The petitioner's counsel showed a Facebook post referring to distribution of oxygen by Hussain and contended that there is hoarding at the back.

Delhi government counsel said whether it is BJP leader Gautam Gambhir or AAP MLA Imran Hussain, strictest possible action will be taken if any violation is found out.

Gambhir had earlier tweeted that some of the crucial medicines for COVID-19 patients were available at his offices and those in need, can take it from there.

He had also tweeted he has arranged oxygen concentrators and those in need can take it.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Oxygen supply at the 500-oxygenated bed COVID care centre in south Delhi has been "normalised" and there is no lack of the life-saving gas for patients there, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) said on Friday.

This for the first time that a comforting development of adequate oxygen supply has been reported from the facility since it was opened about two weeks ago on April 26.

Official sources said while the full sanctioned 6.55 metric tonnes of medical oxygen for the centre was yet to be received, improvisations are being done by deploying some oxygen concentrators and sending oxygen cylinders on a truck to refill them from a BHEL plant situated about 230 kilometres away in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district.

This Delhi government facility, called the Sardar Patel COVID care centre (SPCCC), is located in the Radha Soami Beas campus in south Delhi's Chhattarpur area and the medical wing and doctors of the border guarding force have been entrusted by the Union government to run it.

"Oxygen supply at the centre has been normalised and there is no lack of oxygen for the patients admitted at the centre."

"Adequate medicines are being provided by the district administration to the centre for the admitted patients," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said.

The facility till now has been under-utilised as it was not able to admit patients to its full capacity even as the ITBP had issued a statement last week saying that it was facing shortage of medical oxygen and the "Delhi government has been requested to increase oxygen supply so that admissions are increased."

At least 400 patients are admitted to the SPCCC at present, Pandey said.

Till now, over 918 admissions have been made at the centre.

"There are instances when many patients whose oxygen level (saturation) was as low as 60 but after they were provided the much-needed care, many of them have improved to the level of 80-90 saturation level," he said.

Pandey said there have been instances of re-admission at the facility too.

"At least 24 patients have been re-admitted to the centre after they left on their own."

"Later, when they found that better care is being given at the SPCCC, they requested re-admission," he said.

It speaks about the volume of confidence patients have in the centre, the spokesperson said.

"Hundreds of patients who were critical earlier have been given treatment here and their oxygen levels have now become better," he said.

The ITBP said it is also providing services of their stress counsellors for the patients admitted at the facility apart from keeping the premises sanitised and giving regular meals to the inmates.

Meanwhile, ITBP Inspector General (IG) Anand Swaroop, responsible for functioning of the SPCCC, visited the centre and took stock of the arrangements along with the doctors and other staff of the force deputed to run the services there.

Senior ITBP officials are regularly visiting the wards to meet patients, Pandey said.

A medical oxygen generation plant sent by Germany is also expected to be installed at this facility to ensure continuous supply of the gas for patients, a senior officer said.

He also said work was on to install 150 more ventilator beds at the facility after these were recently sanctioned by the Prime Minister's Office.
Aishwarya Prabhakaran By

Express News Service

KOCHI: It has been more than three months since Dr Nisam M last met his parents at his native place in Malappuram as the number of Covid patients has been rising in recent months after a lull earlier this year. He has been working at the Covid cell at the Ernakulam General Hospital for the last nearly 11 months.



Its tough now. We have been fighting this battle for a while and it seems a never-ending one. With the second wave hitting the state, the situation has become worse. I feel helpless at times, said Dr Nizam, 28. As I walk into the ICU, all I could see are patients suffering. And the worst is seeing them die. No common man can ever imagine what we are going through. Ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, none of us have got a break. We have been working day and night to save lives, he said.

Life is tough inside the Covid ward, added Reshma Mohandas, a nurse at Kottayam Medical College Hospital. Seeing young patients falling sick and being helpless in reducing their pain makes me devastated, she said. Doctors, nurses, support staff and even non-hospital workers, in primary care, are being pushed to their limits with no definitive end in sight since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year.

While the negligence of many in the last few months resulted in the rise in the number of cases now, Reshma said its not the time to blame the government but we ourselves for not wearing the mask properly and not maintaining social distancing. In Delhi, a doctor died by suicide as he couldnt bear the deaths of six-seven persons everyday in his ward. Saving hundreds of lives doesnt matter when one patient dies and you cant do anything to save his life. That feeling of helplessness is traumatising, said Dr Nizam. Still, we give our best to treat everyone possible, he said.

As Covid cases rise rapidly, the beds in both government and private hospitals are filling up fast in Kerala. The states health infrastructure is not yet swamped but things will change drastically if the number of cases rises sharply in the coming months. The complete lockdown announced by the government should help in reining in the spread of the disease, said a healthcare expert.

Some of the doctors said what affects their morale the most is the behaviour of the public. As health workers, we are being assaulted by the very community we treat. And this is heart breaking, said Dr Kala C Mohan, working at the ESIC Medical College at Bengaluru.

Several cases have been reported pan India on the number of attacks on healthcare professionals. Its demoralising, said a doctor working at a government hospital in Kochi who wants to keep his anonymity.

There have been incidents when doctors have been questioned and harassed for not saving lives of patients whose oxygen level was below 30, said the doctor. Experts said the healthcare system is heavily overburdened. Beds, ventilators and oxygen cylinders are just tools that help us fight Covid. Healthcare workers are the soldiers who can fight this battle. In the coming days, the country will also be facing a shortage of healthcare professionals.
By PTI

LOS ANGELES: Pop star Justin Bieber on Friday announced that he is postponing his 'Justice World Tour' to 2022 and will be adding seven new arena shows to the schedule.

The tour, promoted by music company AEG, was to kick off this summer but due to COVID-19 restrictions across the US, the performances have been moved to 2022.

"We're working hard to make this tour the best one yet. I'm excited to get out there and engage with my fans again," Bieber said in a statement to Variety.

The tour will launch next year on February 18 at San Diego and will run through Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, Denver, Atlanta, Montreal, Tampa, Austin and more.

It will conclude on June 24.

According to the tour website, all tickets will be honoured for the rescheduled dates with refunds available at point of purchase.

All the previous ticketholders will receive an email from their ticket provider with event updates and options if they cannot make the 2022 date.

Tickets for the newly announced shows in Jacksonville, Orlando, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Des Moines, Austin and Uncasville, Connecticut, will go on sale later this month.
Sowmya Mani By

Express News Service

PUDUKKOTTAI: Every day, social media is inundated with requests for beds, oxygen, medicines for covid patients. Good Samaritans are helping out in whatever way possible. One such is a 42-year-old Sivakumar from Pudukkottai. Lacking funds to help others, he decided to conduct a Moi Virundhu with what he was best at making tea.

He set up a small hundial at his tea shop Bhagawan Tea Stall in Vamban and put up a notice saying that all proceeds from 6 am to 6 pm on Wednesday would be sent to help people suffering due to Covid. The tea was the virundhu and it was free. Customers just had to drop whatever amount they wanted to, in the hundial.

Struggling to make ends meet, Sivakumar, who is the sole bread winner of his family of seven, always believes in giving. In the last year, post lockdown, my income dropped a lot. I used to earn Rs 600 to Rs 700 per day. Now, I struggle to even make Rs 300. When I saw the news of people suffering due to lack of oxygen, beds etc in Delhi, it really affected me. Though I do not know them, they seem like a family, I want to help them, he said.

Since he did not have money to help others, he decided to do this crowdfunding. Sivakumar has been running the shop for almost 10 years. He has collected Rs 14,429 and would be handing over it to the Collector on Thursday to be sent to Delhi.

Even if I can buy an oxygen cylinder for one person in need, Ill be happy. I hope to save at least one person from distress through my contribution, he said. This is not the first time that he has lend a helping hand. In June 2020, he distributed milk to children free of cost. In December 2018, he waived off all dues of his customers for the past eight years, as they had been affected due to Gaja Cyclone.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An elderly woman who lives alone in a residential colony on the citys east border was the Good Samaritan who has been distributing food packets to police personnel on Covid-19 duty at LMS Junction here. After TNIE carried a picture of her gifting food packets to police officers on the front page of the newspaper on Thursday, several readers wanted to know more about her.

The 89-year-old who was spotted by our photographer Vincent Pulickal happily giving away food packets had refused to share her personal details. Why? Do you wish to marry me? was her instant reply when asked about her name and other details. She is firm on remaining unidentified and TNIE respects that.

She is like that only  a grandma for all of us. She radiates love and positivity. It is not the first time that we see valyammachi venturing out to help needy people, said one of her neighbours.

The woman, who is from Pathanamthitta and has been settled here for several decades, is doing charity in several ways. Her daughter and son-in-law are senior faculty members in a reputed college in Tamil Nadu. She has a large heart and she respects all who do selfless service. She used to identify the needy and the deserving while going around the city and they would be rewarded instantly with gifts, he said.

Social media users hail womans gesture

A civil police officer, who was on duty at LMS, told TNIE that the woman had passed them in the car earlier that day. We didnt stop her for a check as she looked very old and she was alone in the car. After sometime, the car returned and stopped by us. She opened the door and handed over food packets to the woman officer who had gone near. We were a bit hesitant. Then she said the food was corona-free and that broke the ice, the officer said.

On Thursday, social media celebrated the picture. Users were all appreciative of her gesture and her stand against publicity.
By Online Desk

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday made clear to the Centre that it will have to keep supplying 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi every day till its order is modified, saying it meant "business" and non-compliance may force it to go "firm".

Two days ago, the top court had stayed the contempt proceedings initiated by Delhi High Court against central government officials for non-compliance of direction to supply 700 MT of oxygen for COVID patients to Delhi, saying "putting officers in jail" would not bring oxygen and efforts should be made to save lives.

A bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah had said however that the Centre will have to ensure supply of 700 MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to the national capital daily.

In the proceedings conducted via video conferencing, the bench on Friday was told by senior advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for Delhi government that the national capital has received "86 MT today till 9 am and 16 MT is in transit".

"We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi on a daily basis. We mean business, Please don't force us to be in a situation where we have to be firm," the bench said, adding it cannot be that the supply is made for a day then so many caveats like "containers are not there" and there are difficulties in transportation are being put.

Justice Chandrachud, speaking for the bench, said that he has consulted Justice Shah on the issue before the hearing on Friday and the view that Delhi has to be given 700 MT LMO daily was a collective one.

"We want 700 (MT of LMO) to be supplied to Delhi and we mean business. It has to be supplied and we do not want to be coercive. Our order will take time to be uploaded by 3 pm but you proceed and arrange oxygen," the bench said.

Earlier, the top court had said that this is an all-India pandemic situation and it will have to find ways to ensure oxygen supply to the national capital.

The top court had said on May 5 that it cannot review its order of April 30 and the Centre will have to inch towards supply of 700 MT of oxygen daily for Delhi and asked the Union government to place before it a plan as to how it will revamp the supply to 700MT.

On May 6, the Centre apprised the Supreme Court that it had complied with the order and instead of 700 MT LMO, it ensured supply of 730 MT to Delhi.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Acknowledging that the Congress had a poor outing in the recently-held Assembly elections, party chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday said the Congress Working Committee (CWC) will meet shortly to review the results.Addressing a virtual meeting of the parliamentary party, she congratulated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and the LDF in Kerala for their victories.

Most unfortunately, our own performance in all the states was very disappointing and if I may say, unexpectedly so. The CWC is meeting shortly to review the results but it goes without saying that we as a party collective must draw the appropriate lessons from this setback in a spirit of humility and honesty, she said.

The Congress failed to even win a seat in West Bengal. Neither could it wrest back power from the BJP in Assam or Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, it contested in alliance with the DMK. The historic second term for the LDF in Kerala has come as a big setback for the party as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is an MP from the states Wayanad district, was personally looking after the poll management.

Many party leaders have called for introspection, following the results and that party needs to reconnect with the people on the ground in the coming months. The CWC meeting is expected to see some tough talk by senior party leaders who have been questioning the partys leadership over a series of poll defeats.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Covid battle transcends political differences and everyone has to fight it together as a nation, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said at a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party on Friday.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday chaired a meeting of all party MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to assess the situation arising out of the second wave of COVID-19 and evolve a political strategy.

The Modi government, she said, must urgently call an all-party meeting on the COVID-19 situation.

She also demanded that standing committees be convened to ensure collective action and accountability to combat the pandemic better.

Addressing her party's MPs for the first time since the election results to four states and one union territory, she said the CWC would meet soon to review the outcome.

This is the first meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) after the Budget session of Parliament that ended in March.

ALSO READ | Human cost of allowing virus to continue will cause more tragedy than economic impact: Rahul Gandhi to PM Modi

"We as a party collective must draw appropriate lessons from this setback in polls in the spirit of humility and honesty," she said.

Addressing the virtual meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party, she said the Congress Working Committee (CWC) would meet soon to review the assembly poll results.

"Most unfortunately, our own performance in all the states was very disappointing and if I may say, unexpectedly so," she said while concluding her speech at the meeting.

"The CWC is meeting shortly to review the results but it goes without saying that we as a party collective must draw appropriate lessons from this setback in a spirit of humility and honesty," she also said.

The Congress has been critical of the Modi government's handling of the COVID situation in the country which is witnessing a record rise in cases.

India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,14,91,598 with a record 4,14,188 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
By PTI

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government has planned to procure 50,000 oxygen concentrators from abroad to address a shortage of the life-saving gas for COVID patients, state Health Minister Raghu Sharma said on Friday.

The minister said the state government government has already placed an order for 1,250 oxygen concentrators, 100 of which will reach Jaipur from Russia by the evening.

A committee of three IAS officers is looking after the process and they spoke to manufacturers in India, Russia, China and Dubai, Sharma said in a video message, adding that the task of procuring 50,000 oxygen concentrators will be completed by the month-end.

Sharma said the state requires 615 metric tonnes of medical oxygen but the Centre has allocated only 270 MT to them.

Moreover, there is a problem of its transportation due to long distance and a shortage of tankers, he said, stressing that oxygen concentrators will ease the requirement of the life-saving gas in the state.

Rajasthan till Thursday reported 5,182 deaths and 7,02,568 coronavirus cases.

The state government has imposed a lockdown from May 10 to 24 under which marriage functions, intrastate movement and MGNREGA works have been suspended.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Delhi government will organise Covid vaccination camps for journalists in their offices soon. The government has sought a list of the workers from media houses so that the inoculation can start soon.

The officials aware of the development said that the health department would decide the next course of action after receiving the names of the journalists and other staff from media organisations. "It has been decided to carry out a special vaccination drive for media persons. Inoculation camps will be organised at their workplaces. The government is seeking information from media institutions about their employees. The vaccination will begin after receiving information from them," said an official.

He added that the government will bear the cost of their vaccines. The journalists in the national capital had been demanding that they should be declared frontline Covid warriors and accorded them priority in the vaccination programme.

Several states including Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab, and Uttarakhand have already made announcements for the vaccination of the journalists.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: India and the European Union in Saturdays summit will agree to resume negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement, sources in the European Union said. The talks will resume after a eight-year hiatus. The FTA package will include an investment protection pact as well as a framework on geographical indication, sources said.

The negotiations for the FTA were first launched in 2007 but hit a hurdle subsequently in 2013 after the two sides could not agree on key issues like tariff, data security and market access. Sources also added that the two sides are likely to announce a connectivity partnership to enhance ties in the railway, maritime and aviation sectors.

Trilateral meet

India, France and Australia held their first in-person trilateral on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in London and said agreed that fair and equitable access to a safe and affordable Covid-19 vaccine is crucial.
By PTI

MUMBAI: The Congress on Friday said the Centre was not planning to give any part of the aid received from 40 countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic to Maharashtra.

In a statement, the Congress' state unit spokesperson Sachin Sawant said "the Narendra Modi government's hatred for Maharashtra has surfaced once again".

"It has excluded Maharashtra from the list of states where it intends to distribute aid arrived from 40 countries during the corona period. Aid is being given to BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Bihar and other states," he alleged.

Sawant said state governments also had a right to this aid and demanded an answer from former chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on the "grave injustice" being committed by the Centre.

The Centre was giving priority to BJP-ruled states when it came to Remdesivir, oxygen and vaccines and Maharashtra, being an opposition-ruled state, was being treated unfairly, he added.

Taking on the Centre on another issue, Sawant said what was the need to spend "Rs 20,000 crore" to build a Central Vista, an ambitious project that involves constructing a new Parliament complex among other things, amid the corona pandemic.

Sawant lashed out at state BJP leaders for alleging irregularities in the Manora MLA residence project tender here but remaining silent on the waste of resources in the Central Vista plan.

The Congress leader added it was the previous Fadnavis government which had decided to rebuild the Manora complex in 2018, and the NBCC, a Central agency appointed by it, had demolished the building.

The delay by NBCC increased the cost of construction by Rs 550 crore, while MLAs have to be given a cumulative sum of Rs 3.5 crore every month in the absence of the Manora complex to stay, Sawant claimed.

He said it was due to this delay that the work was given to the state PWD by a committee comprising the chief minister, Assembly speaker and Council chairman, at a cost of Rs 875 crore.

He said the state level BJP leaders need not advice the Congress or the Maharashtra government on how to fight the coronavirus pandemic and, instead, should tell the Modi dispensation to tackle the outbreak rather than build a "luxurious palace" for the prime minister.
By Express News Service

KOCHI/BENGALURU/DELHI/JAIPUR/MUMBAI: While the Supreme Court directed the Centre to prepare for the third wave, the second wave itself was nowhere close it its peak, with the fresh case count on Thursday crossing the four-lakh-mark for the second time since April 30.

Kerala, which accounted for over 10% of the nations tally, announced a rigourous nine-day complete lockdown till May 16, starting Saturday, as it recorded its highest single-day spike of 42,464 and 63 deaths.

While Karnatakas oxygen situation is yet to be resolved, the Centre challenged in the Supreme Court an order of the Karnataka High Court directing it to raise the states oxygen share. In Delhi, the city government was hauled over the coals by the high court after it objected to an observation that the existing medical infrastructure was exposed and in shambles when put to the test.

The court ordered the Delhi government to provide medical treatment to all people suffering from Covid-19 in the city, which saw an addition of 19,133 new cases and 335 deaths. It got over 730 MT oxygen for the first time. Rajasthan, too, opted for a complete lockdown from May 10 to May 24 to flatten the curve. After almost a week of reporting less than 60,000 cases, Maharashtras tally increased by 62,194 on Thursday.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: BJP leaders on Friday reacted angrily to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of lacking the basic courtesy expected of a person holding his office and lowering its dignity.

Following Modi's telephonic conversation with Soren over the COVID-19 situation in his state, the Jharkhand chief minister, in a tweet, Thursday night had taken a dig at the PM, saying he only spoke "Mann ki Baat" and that it would have been better if he had discussed business.

Attacking the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh reacted to his tweet, "This is the level to which some politicians are stooping. PM calls & has detailed talk regarding COVID-19 crisis & this CM tweets so. Lacks minimum grace required for the position he holds."

BJP MP and party chief spokesperson Anil Baluni also targeted Soren, saying he has neither knowledge of the country's federal structure nor does he appreciate basic courtesy.

People should not suffer for your wrong policies, he said, adding that Soren may leave them to their fate but the Modi government is always with them.

Assam BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma said Soren's tweet goes against the basic decorum and also mocks people's suffering as Modi had called up to enquire about them.

"You have behaved in a very petty way. You have lowered the dignity of the chief minister's chair," Sarma said.

Modi had on Thursday spoken to the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Telangana besides Jharkhand about the COVID-19 situation in their states.

Soren later tweeted, "Today the respected Prime Minister called. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki Baat'. It would have been better if he had talked business and heard the issues."

Jharkhand government sources said Soren was unhappy as he could not present the issues concerning his state before Modi and instead it was only the prime minister who talked about the situation.
By PTI

MUMBAI: With the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic looming, the Maharashtra government is setting up a paediatric task force to create infrastructure for the treatment of children, health minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday.

More than 1.30 lakh minors in the state have been infected by coronavirus during the second wave which began around February 15, as per official data.

"A paediatric task force is being set up to tackle the third wave of COVID-19 where children could also get infected. We will need new designs for isolation or treatment centres because generally mother has to stay with the child," Tope told reporters.

The state is also facing a vaccine shortage and "we may have to rearrange the current vaccine distribution methods," he said.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too said that the third wave, as per experts, could be dangerous for children, and therefore the government has decided to set up a task force of paediatric experts.

He was speaking afterinaugurating a second oxygen plantat the district hospital in Sindhudurg virtually.

The chief minister also reiterated that Maharashtra has the capacity to inoculate 10 lakh persons daily but not enough vaccine doses.

There are six crore people in the age group of 18 to 44 years for whom the government needs 12 croredoses, and talks are on with vaccinemanufacturers, Thackeray said.

"The possibility of getting the required quantity of vaccine doses is low, so we will need to upgrade our medical facilities to stop the third wave," the CM said.

People should not be complacent even if the pandemic is brought under control as the virus has become more infectious, he said.
By PTI

THANE: Workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) beat up a finance company representative for allegedly giving threat to a man over loan repayment, a party office-bearer said.

Sandeep Pachange, Thane district unit president of Maharashtra Navanirman Vidyarti Sena, a student wing of the party, himself gave information about the incident that took place on Thursday.

"A few days back, a customer had approached the MNS office here with a complaint that the collection agent of a finance company was harassing him, asking him to repay loan. The family said they were not in a position to repay the loan due to the lockdown and the pandemic situation," Pachange said.

The agent told the customer that if the loan instalment is not paid, his family members would be kidnapped, he said.

"When we got to know about it, we beat up the agent and made him apologise to the family in public," he said.

A video of the company representative being beaten up purportedly by Pachange and other MNS workers has gone viral on social media.

Police, however, said that the company representative has so far not lodged any complaint in this connection.
By PTI

NIWARI: A case has been registered against three men, including two COVID-19 patients, for allegedly breaking the quarantine rules and spreading the disease at a wedding in Madhya Pradesh's Niwari district, police said on Friday.

Two of the accused Arun Mishra and Swarup Singh, who are infected with coronavirus, were placed in a COVID-19 care centre in Prithvipur on Thursday, while the third accused Ranjan Nayak is absconding, inspector Surendra Singh Yadav of Jeron police station said.

A case has been registered against the trio under relevant sections of the IPC and Disaster Management Act, the official said.

Mishra, who had tested positive for the COVID-19 on April 27, was asked to isolate himself at home and had been prescribed medicines by government doctors, he said.

However, Mishra instead attended a wedding with Singh in Luhurguva village, around 40 km from the district headquarters, on April 29 and even served food to the guests, the official said.

"We have also booked Nayak, the brother of the man whose wedding the duo attended, as he knew that they had been infected," Yadav said, adding that the trio are in the age group of 25 to 30.

Luhurguva village has been sealed and declared a red zone, as at least 40 people have tested positive for COVID-19 after the wedding, the inspector said.

Mishra and Singh had also taken part in the wedding procession of Nayak's brother to a village in Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh, he added.

The development comes a day after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday said the only way to break the chain of transmission and contain COVID-19 cases is for people to "close down everything" till May 15.

Chouhan also announced providing free treatment for COVID-19 for patients from poor financial background, common citizens and middle class population in Madhya Pradesh, an official of the state's public relations department said.

To facilitate this, a package will be unveiled on Friday under the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, he quoted the chief minister as saying at a meeting.

Also, the government plans to sign an agreement with private hospitals for free CT scan and other medical tests of patients, the official said.

At the meeting with senior bureaucrats, the chief minister reviewed the coronavirus situation in the state.

"Corona is a big crisis for humanity. The only option to control the corona is to break the chain of infections."

"We cant close down everything for long. We have to make peoples life easy. Therefore, till May 15, we should close down everything. Strictly follow janata curfew and break the chain of infection, Chouhan said. Currently, Madhya Pradesh is under a slew of restrictions to stem the spread of COVID-19."

He said health infrastructure is being readied to deal with a possible third wave of the coronavirus infection.

"Oxygen plants are being set up in each district. A total of 95 such plants will be established in the state," Chouhan said.

He appealed to people to reschedule marriage plans to avoid gathering of guests during the pandemic.

Works under MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) should be immediately stopped in villages where even a single coronavirus case has been reported, Chouhan said.

He asked officials to launch a "kill corona campaign" in cities and villages by conducting door-to-door surveys and identifying patients whose treatment can start immediately.

"Open COVID-19 assistance centres in cities for distribution of medical kits," the public relations department official quoted the CM as saying in the meeting.

The chief minister asked rural populace to make their village coronavirus free by ensuring that nobody from outside enters the village before completing the mandatory quarantine period.

For this, he suggested launching the Mera Gaon Corona Mukt Gaon (my village is corona free) campaign.

He directed officials to provide ration free of cost to the poor without insisting on completing formalities like submission of Aadhaar card and giving thumb impression.

The chief minister warned against black marketing of medicines and overcharging of patients by hospitals, and said those indulging in these malpractices will face strict action.

The state on Thursday reported 12,421 fresh cases of COVID-19 and 86 fatalities that raised the tally of infections to 6,37,406 and the toll to 6,160, an official from the state health department said.

At least 12,965 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries in the state to 5,42,632, the official said.

With the addition of 1,792 new cases, Indore's caseload went up to 1,21,694, while the tally in Bhopal rose to 99,639 after 1,584 persons tested positive, he said.

Indore reported eight casualties that took its toll to 1,184 and fatalities in Bhopal rose to 776 after six patients died of the infection, the official said.

Indore and Bhopal are now left with 12,017 and 10,829 active cases, respectively, he said, adding that the state currently has 88,614 active cases.

With 68,102 swab samples tested during the day, the total number tests conducted in the state crossed 81.26 lakh.

Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 6,37,406, new cases 12,421, death toll 6,160, recovered 5,42,632, active cases 88,614, number of tests so far 81,26,921.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A lawyer, who has been representing the Election Commission (EC) before the Supreme Court, has resigned from the panel of advocates of the EC, saying his values were not in consonance with the present functioning of the poll body.

Advocate Mohit D Ram was a panel counsel for the EC in the Supreme Court since 2013.

"I have found that my values are not in consonance with the current functioning of the EC; and hence I withdraw myself from the responsibilities of its panel counsel before the Supreme Court."

"I undertake to ensure smooth transition of files, NOC and 'vakalatnamas' in all pending matters with my office," he said in the resignation letter.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: More than 90 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs and they will receive over 10 lakh more vaccine doses within the next three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

The Centre has so far provided more than 17.35 crore (17,35,07,770) vaccine doses to states and UTs free of cost.

Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 16,44,77,100 doses, according to official data made available at 8 am.

"More than 90 lakh (90,30,670) COVID vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered. States with negative balance are showing more consumption (including wastage) than vaccine supplied as they have not reconciled the vaccine they have supplied to armed forces," the ministry said.

"Furthermore, more than 10 lakh (10,25,000) vaccine doses will be received in addition by the states and UTs within the next three days," it said in a statement.

Ten states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, account for 71.81 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases reported in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

India saw a record 4,14,188 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,14,91,598, according to the data updated in the morning.

Karnataka, Kerala, Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan are the other states in the list of 10.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 62,194. It is followed by Karnataka with 49,058 while Kerala reported 42,464 new cases.

India's total COVID-19 active caseload has reached 36,45,164 and now comprises 16.96 per cent of the country's total infections.

A net increase of 78,766 cases has been recorded in the total active caseload in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Haryana and Bihar cumulatively account for 81.04 per cent of India's total active cases.

One-fourth of total active cases concentrated in only 10 districts. Bengaluru Urban,Pune, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Ernakulam, Nagpur, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Jaipur and Thane are the 10 districts that account for 25 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

Active cases constitute 16.96 per cent of the total cases while recoveries are more than 81.95 per cent.

"The National Mortality Rate has been falling and currently stands at 1.09 per cent," the ministry said.

Besides, 3,915 deaths were reported in a span of 24 hours.

Ten states account for 74.48 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (853). Uttar Pradesh follows with 350 daily deaths. India's cumulative recoveries have surged to 1,76,12,351 with 3,31,507 recoveries being registered in a span of 24 hours.

ALSO WATCH | Covid double mutant B1617, a variant of concern: Centre

Ten states account for 72.47 per cent of the new recoveries. The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 16.49 crore.

The ministry said 11,80,798 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine across 30 states and UTs.

These are Andaman and Nicobar Islands (330), Andhra Pradesh (16), Assam (220), Bihar (284), Chandigarh (2), Chhattisgarh (1,026), Delhi (1,83,679), Goa (741), Gujarat (2,24,109), Haryana (1,69,409), Himachal Pradesh (14), Jammu and Kashmir (21,249), Jharkhand (77), Karnataka (7,068), Kerala (22), Ladakh (86), Madhya Pradesh (9,823), Maharashtra (2,15,274), Meghalaya (2), Nagaland (2), Odisha (28,327), Puducherry (1), Punjab (2,187), Rajasthan (2,18,795), Tamil Nadu (8,419), Telangana (440), Tripura (2), Uttar Pradesh (86,420), Uttarakhand (17) and West Bengal (2,757).

The ministry also said that cumulatively, 16,49,73,058 vaccine doses have been administered through 24,11,300 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am.

These include 95,01,643 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 63,92,248 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 1,37,64,363 frontline workers (FLWs) who have received first dose, 75,39,007 FLWs who have taken the second dose, and 11,80,798 beneficiaries in the age-group of 18-45 have taken the first dose.

Besides, 5,33,28,112 and 1,35,91,594 beneficiaries more than 60 years old have been administered the first and second dose respectively and 5,43,12,908 and 53,62,385 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 years have taken the first and second dose.

Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh account for 66.84 per cent of the cumulative doses given so far in the country.

More than 23 lakh vaccination doses were administered in a span of 24 hours. As on Day-111 of the vaccination drive (May 6), 23,70,298 vaccine doses were given.

Across 18,938 sessions, 10,60,064 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose and 13,10,234 beneficiaries received their second dose of vaccine.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the Union government over the central vista project, terming it a "criminal wastage" and asked the dispensation to focus on people's lives.

The redevelopment project of the Central Vista -- the power corridor of the country -- envisages a new triangular Parliament building, a common Central Secretariat and the revamping of the three-km-long Rajpath from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to India Gate and new residences for the prime minister and the vice president.

The CPWD, which is executing the project, had revised its estimated cost from Rs 11,794 crore to Rs 13,450 crore.

"Central Vista is criminal wastage. Put people's lives at the centre -- not your blind arrogance to get a new house," he said on Twitter.

ALSO READ: India adds record high 4,14,188 COVID-19 cases, 3,915 deaths in last 24 hours

Gandhi and his Congress party have been asking the government to shelve its plans on the central vista project and give priority to improving medical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic to save people's lives.

It has also criticised the government for according the construction work of the Central Vista project "essential services" tag and has and accused it of having its priorities wrong.

The work on the project has continued despite the lockdown in the national capital that has brought most construction sites to a grinding halt.

The construction work for the project has been brought under the ambit of "essential services", a move that been flayed by the opposition.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: The BJP continues to face the chief ministerial conundrum in Assam.

Five days after the Assembly election results were declared and the CMs of some states took their oath, Assam still does not know who is going to lead the government.

The BJP has not been able to choose between incumbent CM Sarbananda Sonowal and party strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma. Party's central leaders JP Nadda and Amit Shah had met in New Delhi on Thursday night, apparently to discuss the matter.

The uncertainty has left the state leaders embarrassed. They are avoiding phone calls from journalists, for they have no idea when the new government will be installed or who will head it. For the past three days, they have been saying that it will be decided by the party's Parliamentary Board.

ALSO READ | Himanta Biswa Sarma: Man of the Match of the Assam elections

Apart from Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, which is a Union Territory, went to polls. The new government has been installed in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. It is delayed in Kerala due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Five days later, Sonowal appeared in public on Friday to monitor the Covid situation.

Asked about the uncertainty, he told journalists, "It is not a big thing who will become the next CM. The big thing is the protection of the people of Assam from the Covid virus."

He said the party's Parliamentary Board would meet in a day or two and decide the next CM.

"There will definitely be a government. The Parliamentary Board is meeting in a day or two. It will take the final decision," Sonowal said.

However, party MP, Horen Sing Bey claimed the decision has been already made.

"I learnt the Parliamentary Board has met and taken a decision on the next CM. One or two BJP central observers will visit Assam this evening or tomorrow," Bey told journalists.

Over a dozen BJP MLAs loyal to Sarma were seen visiting his residence on Friday. What transpired there was in the realms of speculation. Earlier, at least two BJP MLAs had said on record that one, who is the most efficient, should become the CM.

The Congress criticised the BJP for allegedly pushing the people into a state of chaos.

"We need a government which can work on a war-footing to fight Covid. The people of Assam gave them a clear mandate. Now when one minute is precious for us, there is chaos all over in the absence of a government. It is unfortunate that the BJP hasn't been able to decide on its CM candidate," state Congress chief Ripun Bora said.

The BJP-led alliance had retained power by winning 75 of the 126 seats.


By PTI

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a circular giving details about the benches that will hear "extremely urgent miscellaneous matters" during the summer vacation from May 10 to June 27.

The circular deals about the benches which would conduct hearing between May 10 to 25, during the first part of the vacation.

Constitution of the benches for the second and third part of vacation i.e. from May 26 to June 10 and from June 11 to 27 respectively would be notified later, said the circular.

The directions were passed by the Chief Justice of India N V Ramana "in order to meet the demand of justice and for hearing of matters of extremely urgent nature during the rescheduled summer vacation".

During the first part of rescheduled summer vacation, i.e. from May 10 to 16, two division benches will conduct hearing through video conferencing mode on two days in a week i.e. on Tuesday and Friday.

From May 17 to 25, two division benches will conduct hearing through video conferencing mode on two days in a week i.e.on Tuesday and Friday.

The matters, whether Fresh or After Notice, mentioned by Advocates/Party-in-Person requesting for listing during the vacation will be listed before the Vacation Benches.

"Those desirous of getting their matters listed before Vacation Benches may send their request for extremely urgent listing, incorporating reasons for extremely urgent listing online on the email address, HYPERLINK "mailto:mention. sc@sci. nic. in"mention. sc@sci. nic. in," the circular said.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: In striking down the Maharashtra law granting reservation to the Maratha community in education and government jobs in the state, the Supreme Court has sparked a new debate: If states dont have the power to identify socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) on the ground then will the Centre be able to do justice?

The court has ruled that, henceforth, there will only be a single list of socially and educationally backward classes with respect to each State and Union Territory notified by the President of India, and that States can only make recommendations for inclusion or exclusion, with any subsequent change to be made only by Parliament.

A constitution bench on Wednesday had clarified that after the 102nd Constitutional amendment, state governments do not have the power to identify socially and educationally backward classes and has laid the groundwork for new SEBC list for all states and union territories (UTs) to be notified by the President.

The 102nd amendment gives constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes. Article 338B deals with the structure, duties and powers of the commission while 342A gives the President the power to notify a class as SEBC and the power of Parliament to alter the central SEBC list.

The court in its verdict held that the President should expeditiously publish list of SEBCs for different states and UTs, under Article 342A, after consultation with the commission set up under Article 338B and only till the time this is done that the SEBC lists made by the states would continue to hold the field.

The three judges opined that Article 342A makes it clear that the President, after consultation with the Governor of a state or UT, may issue a public notification specifying socially and educationally backward classes. There will only be one list of socially and educationally backward classes, which may be issued by the President, the bench ruled.

But, it clarified that the power on the extent of reservations, the kind of benefits, the quantum of scholarships, the number of schools which are to be specially provided under Article 15(4) can all be achieved by the State through its legislative and executive powers.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday told The Supreme Court that it has complied with its order and instead of 700 MT oxygen, ensured a supply of 730 MT to Delhi for Covid-19 patients. Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah that a survey was conducted in 56 major hospitals of the national capital on May 4 and it revealed that they had a significant stock of liquid medical oxygen (LMO).

At this, Justice Chandrachud was not satisfied. Your formula needs a relook. When you prepared the formula, not everybody who went to ICU needed oxygen. But now many home isolation patients need oxygen. Your formula does not take into account ambulances, Covid care facility etc, he said. Justice Chandrachud said this was not accurate. The formula is a gross underestimate for Delhi. There is a judicial order in Karnataka, we need to look at this pan India basis, he said.
Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan By

Maharishi Yagnyavalkya, in his smruthi, advises a just ruler to accumulate wealth through dharmic means and also spend a part of it on charity to the worthy. The successive chapters of the smruthi advise the importance of documenting the land and wealth donated, so that they continue to benefit the receiver even after the times of the king.

The smruthi goes on to discuss the possible materials on which such documents can be recorded and the prescribed format to be followed when describing the donations. Inclusion of eloquent praises of the royal ancestry, and the achievements and conquests of the king and his benevolent contributions were also made mandatory by the smruthi when recording the grants.

Royal scribes entrusted with the duty of authoring such documents usually accompany the kings through their ruling period. The issuing of such authorised copper plates appears to have been quite popular since the times of the Pallavas and Pandyas.

The Pandya copper plates have an established tradition of listing out a long genealogy of their ancestors, starting from the devas and rishis. By around the 9th-10th century CE, this tradition seems to have been well in place and the imperial Cholas too have followed the smruthi recommendations religiously.

Of the several copper plates discovered and deciphered so far, the Udayendiram plates issued by Parantaka I, around the early 10th century CE, are the earliest.

Considering the Cholas' affiliation to Vedic dharma and its prescriptions, it is not surprising that several of their copper plates link their ancestry to puranic rishis and sometimes even to divinities like Brahma and Vishnu.

Comparing a king whose primary duty is to protect his country and its citizens to Vishnu, the protector God, is an ancient tradition. So we see a common trend among these dynasties to claim their origin from Vishnu.

Brahma often follows Vishnu in the genealogy sequence, as he is the grantor of progeny, followed by one of his sons and the rishis who carry forward the lineage. The Cholas (and several other dynasties) however claim to hail from the solar race.

So, quite interestingly, the Sun god Surya is brought into the ancestral track as the son of sage Kashyapa. The Udayendiram copper plates for instance detail a lineage that includes Vishnu, Brahma, Marichi, Kashyapa and Surya.

However, the solar race described in the Maha Puranas differs from the list claimed by the Cholas. Post-10th century CE copper plates start including prominent characters from traditional lore like Muchukunda, Sibi, Manu, Ikshvaku, Mandata, Harishchandra, Bageeratha, Sri Rama and his brothers, to name a few, in the genealogy.

Though this list varies from plate to plate, the manner in which their connection to the solar race is emphasised cannot be overlooked.

Into this illustrious list, at one point in the ancestral sequence, a certain "Chozhan" is introduced, followed by the names Parakesari and Rajakesari, both popular titles of the imperial Cholas - thus merging the royalty with the divinity.

Let's pause here for a moment and scan the puranas and ithihasas to see what they have to offer about the Chola dynasty. Vayu Purana attributes the origin of Chola, Chera and Pandya dynasties to Yayati from the lunar race.

And the Mahabaratha narrates the Chola's participation in the Rajasuyayagna of Dharmaraja and the Kurukshethra war. But these incidences are not mentioned in the copper plates. Thus, the ancestral lineage claimed by the Cholas in their copper plates seems to be vastly different from whatever little information we get about them from the puranas.

A comparative study of these copper plates helps us identify the similarities and the differences. All the plates invariably attest to the Cholas' solar race ancestry. Sibi is the most common name that appears in the plates, closely followed by Manu and Ikshvaku.

The famed Thiruvalangadu copper plates of Rajendra I have the longest running ancestral lineage, cutting through many yugas. Essalam and Sarala plates have eight and twenty five puranic kings listed, respectively.

Coming back to the genealogy, the next part of a copper plate goes on to hail the Chola kings recorded in the anthologies of Tamil Sangam. Names like those of Ko-ch-chenganan, Kari-kalan, Killi-valavan and Peru-nar-killi are celebrated for their valour and rule in Sanskrit verses of the copper plates.

Kari-kalan, popular for raising the banks of Kaveri, and Ko-ch-chenganan, the Saivite Nayanmar saint who raised several temples for Siva along the banks of Kaveri, are the names frequently mentioned. The Udayendiram plates remind us of the previous birth of Ko-ch-chenganan as the spider that wove a canopy to protect the Siva Lingam of the Thiruvanaika temple.

This popular episode has been revered since time immemorial in traditional literature and historic records. The larger of the Anaimangalam plates (Leiden plates) identifies a certain Nal-adi-kon as the son of Ko-ch-chenganan. And a few scholars date Nal-adi-kon as a Sangam-period Chola king. That would position Ko-ch-chenganan too in the Sangam period.

Each plate with its unique draft on the genealogy offers a wide range of topics for academic research. Of all the segments, the one on puranic kings and Sangam-age Chola kings need special focus and an unbiased approach to draw conclusions about the ancestry.

An appropriate year for the beginning of this tradition can indeed be determined but what cannot be is the historic basis on which such theories came into being. The claims cannot be brushed off as totally baseless as it is quite unlikely that these dynasties created such a complicated genealogy out of thin air.

A structured system, evolved over centuries, based on binding theories and substantial proofs should have been in vogue and nurtured over time. Although the origin from Vishnu and solar race as the core are common to all the genealogy lists, why the names of the rishis and the puranic kings vary between plates is a question to be pondered over.

That being said, one cannot brush aside these claims as imagination or later additions. The names of these puranic characters are as historic as the kings mentioned in Sangam poetry and cannot be just dismissed as myth or lore.

Further research on the origin of Cholas - their nativity, their adherence to the Saiva Siddanthaacharyas, and the prominence that they give to Vedic scriptures and Saiva school of philosophy are topics that would help us understand their roots. That a common root existed, binding these dynasties that ruled from different parts of the Indian subcontinent, is a good hypothesis to begin with.

(The writer is an architect, who serves on government-instituted panel for conservation of temples in TN and can be reached at madhu.kalai0324@gmail.com)
Sugata Srinivasaraju By

All media is filled with the news of death. All social media timelines are overwhelmed with accounts of suffering, pain and loss. Pictures of pyres burning that are splashed across front pages and captured by drones have developed the power to instantly dispatch across miles, to our very private corner, the smell of burning flesh caught in thick rolls of plastic.

When there was a bandh or a riot in the neighbourhood, for decades agitationists and arsonists lit up automobile tyres to signal the obstruction of life. It was the thick rubber fumes that was always a sign of trouble. That was the metaphor. Now, the entire nation seems to be in some sort of a death riot and thick fumes are all over. This smell has come back, although COVID flattens olfactory attributes. The pungency of this smell plays out like a memory in the mind - a memory of a catastrophe or an apocalypse that you either did not believe existed or were blissfully unaware of. COVID - not the virus, per se, but the social consequences that we are now witness to - is about making the mind a graveyard.

Lockdowns, containment areas, isolation, quarantines, ICUs and breathing machines, everything manufactures a silence in the dead of afternoon that as you stretch your ears across streets to hear of human existence, assurance and hope, all you hear is your own anxious breathing. There has never been another time in our lifetimes when breathing created such guilt and such pyrrhic celebration, simultaneously. That is the capture of loneliness.

In normal situations (now the challenge is to define 'normality') people accept death; however unfair and cruel, they absorb its reality. Cultures have various templates to teach people to accept death. That is essentially why there are such elaborate rituals. There is an engagement and conversation created with the lifeless for a few hours or days. The lifeless is accorded the last hurrahs of living - a bath, a good dress, a deep prayer, food to carry for his or her onward journey, best aromas, finest flowers, and in some cultures, there is music and dancing too. Even after the burial or cremation, the rituals extend to weeks and months, and finally find a fixture on the annual calendar. These, anthropologically, become markers of civilisational memory. They are results of cultural workings for ages. They are sacred not for a religious reason but for the human mind to acquaint with death and move on. Bereavement and grieving in our cultures pass through various stages of acceptance. The ultimate endeavour of all cultures, it appears, is to establish the finality of death.

This is where the pandemic becomes cruel. It denies that essential finality to death. People cannot see the faces of their departed blood relatives and friends. They cannot perform rituals the way their ancestors have passed it on to them. If someone were a Hindu, they cannot smear ash or vermillion on the forehead or use turmeric. They cannot place grains on the mouth of the dead; they cannot light a lamp; they cannot bathe and dress them up for the final journey. Similar intimate acts in the final farewell hour are part of all faiths. Covid-infected bodies are just wrapped in plastic sheets. The saddest pictures are those of people performing last rites wearing PPU kits and circumambulating ambulances in which the body of the relative is lying on a metal stretcher. This is bound to affect people. These leave deep scars in the psyche of people that no antibiotics, steroids, vitamin supplements or vaccines can handle. It will be curious to watch in the post-pandemic period how all this will subtly realign human relationships.

Even in a non-pandemic context, when people give away the bodies of their dead to hospitals and medical research, this problem of finality to death occurs. But then, there is a larger motivation and social purpose that the family has defined for itself that comes as a small compensation, but still the cultural hole remains. It has been a personal experience. After we gave away my father's body to a medical college, for a couple of years I paid regular visits to the anatomy museum because I thought a particular thumb kept in a formalin jar belonged to him. The closure never came. If it was difficult for me, who had surrendered to reason and science, for my mother, who was religious, this final treatment of her husbands body must have been an act of immeasurable pain that she never learned to articulate. Her closure too never came.

In our cultural context, death is never verbalised. There is no elaborate articulation around it. There are only rituals. Therefore, what we see are mostly obituary notices, not obituary narratives like in the Western newspapers. There are no eulogies written either.

Our rituals speak louder, which Covid has now robbed. Elegies anyway are a dead genre. Daily obituaries in The New York Times or The Guardian, or on the last page of the weekly Economist have a literary flair. Our obituaries are reserved for only the politically famous. Power determines everything, not an appreciation and understanding of another human life.

Last fortnight, a 90-year-old I knew had left an obituary for himself. It was not a Covid death. It read: Not many people know that I was a drug addict. The drug was a creation of my own illusionan overwhelming confidence and optimism that things do change for the better. [I had] this delusion and now I am taking the extreme step. I will face the situation squarely. Malice towards none, charity towards all No anger, no hatred, no grudge, no ill-will, and no place for an archaeologist in my mind. Lastly, to be truthful I have to say that I despise a few persons living and dead. Covid deaths offer no such contradictions or reflections. They never end.

(The writer is a senior journalist and author and can be contacted at sugataraju@gmail.com)
The Andhra Pradesh government, which appeared keen on holding Inter exams till last week, has not only deferred the same but also redrawn its strategy to contain the Covid second wave. Galvanising the administrative apparatus, it has imposed partial curfew - a euphemism for lockdown - from May 5 to 18 with relaxation given for six hours from 6 am every day.

This is expected to break the chain to an extent. In taking these steps, it is not just following in the footsteps of other states. The action plan also takes into account a host of challenges like shortage of vaccines, oxygen, ventilators and beds among others.

These measures are much needed as the situation in the state is far from satisfactory, particularly in Visakhapatnam and Nellore. Recent incidents of deaths due to disruption in oxygen supply in a couple of hospitals in Anantapur district show we are walking on a knife's edge.

Amid this grim scenario, some private hospitals are seeking to mint money while many others are forcibly discharging patients fearing the depletion of oxygen supplies. It is fitting that the government is cracking the whip on these blood suckers.

Similarly, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy must be appreciated for bringing Covid treatment under the ambit of the state health insurance scheme, Aarogyasri, and making it completely free. It is also a matter of satisfaction that the government has ramped up testing dramatically, clocking over 1.1 lakh a day. As the positivity rate is a little over 6 per cent, tracing primary contacts and opening more Covid care centres will go a long way in checking virus spread.

But as everyone knows, it is only through mass vaccination that this can be effectively tackled. Several states, including Andhra, have come up with their own strategies. The Jagan government is prioritising the vaccination of the 45+.

Here, we would like to suggest that the state explore the possibility of using its vast healthcare staff and volunteers. Because, many are unable to understand how to register on the CoWin website and are walking in for vaccination, resulting in serpentine queues causing inconvenience to the aged and the physically challenged. This is time for out-of-box ideas.
After 10 years, the DMK returns to power in Tamil Nadu, led by MK Stalin, whose patience is finally being rewarded with the chief ministers seat. Having not only guided the party past the death of his father, patriarch M Karunanidhi, in 2018, he also led its alliance to a successful sweep of the Lok Sabha polls in TN, victory in rural local body polls and now, the state Assembly elections.

However, the CM-elect may now be facing his toughest challenge yet: a brutal second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the state is running over 1.5 lakh RT-PCR tests a day, the daily positivity rate is still over 15 per cent. The capital has a TPR beyond 20 per cent.

Government hospitals are full in several parts of Tamil Nadu, while in Chennai long lines of ambulances are seen outside each of the five tertiary government COVID hospitals. TNs healthcare infrastructure may be better than that of some other states, but there is no doubt that the system is under severe pressure at the moment. The new government will have to hit the ground running.

So far, Stalin, in his meetings with senior officials, has displayed awareness of the situations gravity. The administration has ordered a more stringent lockdown after meeting with him. This may help stem the transmission of the virus.

However, it is imperative that the Chennai Corporation's fever surveillance and triaging efforts are replicated across the state so patients can be quickly screened and treated. This will prevent their condition from deteriorating and ease some of the stress on hospitals.

Healthcare workers must be given the incentives promised to them last year and their strength must be increased as a priority - there is no point of having more beds without enough doctors and nurses to care for the patients in them.

The government must also engage in negotiations with the Centre to ensure the required allocations of vaccines, essential drugs and oxygen. Both Dravidian parties share the credit for TN's many health and social sector achievements.

The outgoing AIADMK government managed the crisis reasonably well. The baton now passes to the DMK. The state is counting on the partys administrative experience to steer it through the current storm.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that it was the bounden duty of the government to come to the rescue of the people at the time of a pandemic like COVID-19, TDP supremo and Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu has said that it was inhuman on the part of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to say that houses would be built in the time of crisis.

In the name of 'Nadu-Nedu', the ruling party resorted to boundless corruption, he alleged and said that Jagan is ineligible for continuing in the post. Naidu called upon his party cadre and leaders to step up pressure on the YSR Congress government to make it realise the need to buy and give vaccines to all sections of people in order to save their lives.

He appealed to the party activists to take part in virtual demonstrations from their home on Saturday to protest against the utter negligence and indifference of the YSR Congress regime. The agitators should display placards and give a call for 'Give Vaccine - Save Lives' to open the eyes of the heartless rulers, he said.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: The drive to administer the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines to people in the 45 and plus age group continued across the state for the second day on Thursday. The state received five lakh doses on Tuesday.

However, due to limited availability of stocks the vaccination continued at a snail's pace.Against 1.3 crore population in the said age group, 53,43,000 had been administered first dose, and 17,92,000 second dose till date.

"We will continue vaccination for the recipients of the second dose on a priority basis. The first dose will be administered next week as more doses are likely to arrive," a senior official in the health department told The New Indian Express.

As on Thursday, 85,000 doses of Covaxin and 4.15 lakh doses of Covishied were positioned across the state. Though it was announced that vaccination will be only for those scheduled to get a second jab, people seeking the first dose were also seen rushing to the vaccination centres at several places.

However, most of them were told to get themselves registered online, and wait for their turn. "It is true that people, anxious about getting vaccinated, are rushing to vaccine centres. Some were asked to come back as we have a limited stock," explained a medical officer overseeing the drive in Vijayawada .

Administering second jabs is proving difficult in urban areas, particularly in Chittoor district, where the number of cases have been on a steady rise. However, there were not major problems in Nellore.

In Kurnool, the number of people going to vaccine centres is increasing and officials are facing a tough time explaining to them that vaccines are scheduled for those in the 45+ age group and that too only the second dose.

In Guntur, almost all centres witnessed a heavy rush as all people who received their first dose rushed to the centres eagerly. However, most of them faced disappointment. Some accused the staff of giving priority to people who had recommendations.

ALSO WATCH:

Some had a different experience all together as they could not locate the vaccine centre where they were given slots online. "We were given the address of the vaccine centre in Kasturi Nagar, but when we went there there was no vaccine centre. When we approached the nearby centre, we were told they did not have our names," complained N Gopi from Visakhapatnam.

Only for second dose recipients

As on Thursday, 85,000 doses of Covaxin and 4.15 lakh doses of Covishield were positioned. Though it was announced that vaccination will be only for second jab recipients, people seeking the first dose were also seen rushing to the centres
K Shiva Kumar By

Express News Service

MYSURU: The oxygen shortage that claimed the lives of 24 people at Chamarajanagar district hospital has made life miserable for the family of a 37-year-old engineer, who was one of the victims and who had come up the hard way being born in a family of daily wagers.Jayashankar, who was a resident of Mudigunda near Kollegal, was the sole breadwinner and his passing away has left his family shattered. His father, who was a mason, is now paralysed, while his wife Siddarajamma has to take care of their two daughters, who are seven and five years old.

She said, I cannot forget the moment when my husband started struggling to breathe. I ran to the hospital staff and told them about his condition. But they told me that they were yet to get oxygen from Mysuru and asked us to hold on. My husband battled for two hours and breathed his last in front of my eyes.

She said that Jayashankar had tested negative, but was running a high temperature. He was admitted to a hospital at Kollegal on April 27. She added, As his oxygen levels started dipping dangerously low, we rushed him to Chamarajanagar district hospital. But we were told that there were no beds. After I begged with a doctor, he made my husband sleep on a stretcher and administered oxygen for two days.

Jayashankar got a bed after a Covid patient passed away. There were no staff members from the hospital to clean the bed, and I had to do it. The doctors told us that the situation would improve in three to four days, but the tragedy struck on May 2.

Siddarajamma said that Jayashankars name had not been included in the list of deceased at the hospital. She sad, I cannot take care of my family now. The government should give me a job and provide free education to our children.Kollegal MLA N Mahesh, who met the family, said that he will ensure Jayashankars name is included in the list.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Sheer vengeance on the part of BJP leaders over being denied quotas in beds for respective politicians appears to be behind the expose of the alleged bed allocation scam, claimed to have been unearthed by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya and MLA Satish Reddy.

Top officials in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Covid-19 war room did not deny the possibility of illegal practices in bed allocation, which is being probed. But they informed The New Indian Express on condition of anonymity, the shocking details leading to the unearthing of the alleged scam and the communal twist it has taken.

This included an incident that acted as a trigger wherein a patient from the majority community did not get a bed, which was instead given to one from the minority community who was in a critical state, reportedly by an operator also belonging to the latter community. Besides, the officials TNIE spoke to have complained about unwanted interference from the politicians in the functioning of the war room by visiting the place and reportedly even insisting on partly running the bed allocation process on the pretext of making it more efficient.

The issue allegedly has roots in the politicians  especially from Bengaluru South and Bommanahalli  approaching the war rooms and their nodal officers, demanding that a quota of 5-10 beds be created every day as part of MP/MLA/ministers quota (depending on their political position).

They said it was to help the citizens urgently needing beds in their respective constituencies, a senior official said.The war room officials were said to be in a fix as the bed portal and allocation system was meant to be made transparent and progressively improved. Technically, it was not feasible as the system has been created for real-time bed data sharing, and a quota introduced into it would make it chaotic. So, the politicians were refused, which did not go down well with them.

Another senior official said, Last Saturday, MP Surya and his team approached the BBMP saying many people were demanding beds, but were not getting them. He also pointed to flaws in the bed allocation portal and said he wanted to study the system. We agreed to the lapses and shared the information. Some people from Suryas team approached the south zone war room insisting that they will sit there and work with the bed allocation system. But they were refused. The South zone is politically very strong and if one politicians team is allowed, others too would follow. It could also not be allowed as the operators are outsourced and trained.

So, all four politicians  MP Tejasvi Surya, MLAs Uday Garudachar, Satish Reddy and Ravi Subramanya  visited the war room stating that beds were denied and pointed to problems in the system, saying it needed to be improved. The officials said the issue has taken a communal turn due to this  When Subramanya wanted a bed for a patient he had referred, no bed was available. Coincidentally, one was given to a person belonging to a minority community by the operator who belongs to the same community, which he got to know and could not accept. Also, when he visited the war room, he found many belonging to the same community, alleged an official.

The officials also pointed out that when Surya and his team visited the war room demanding to be a part of it and were denied, there were 50-55 staffers on duty. His team noted the names of all of them, eliminated most and the names of 16 belonging to the minority community were read out. Their names were listed as they were allegedly working closely with Dr Rehan (who is now facing CCB inquiry), who had refused to create the quota system, the official said.

We agree there are some problems in the software as it was created last year in a hurry. It is being upgraded on a regular basis. But one cannot claim that the system is entirely wrong and impose your technical experts on the system, said a senior official linked with the war room.

Ironically, a BJP leader, who was part of the team which visited the war room with Surya, said, There is a way if you want to help. But Surya, in the process of trying to help rectify the anomalies, has created a problem, especially at this point of time when the government is getting badgered from all quarters. The statements of Surya and his uncle MLA Ravi Subramanya have added more fuel to the fire. Meanwhile, Surya, through his personal assistant, denied all the contentions.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: With Covid-19 cases piling up and oxygenated beds becoming scarce in Bengaluru, patients' families are taking to desperate measures. On Thursday, a patient's wife, tired of not finding hospital beds to admit her critically-ill husband, staged a sit-in protest outside Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's official residence, in a sign of the crisis Karnataka is facing with resource shortage to tackle the pandemic.

Although her protest caught the attention of CMO officials and an ambulance and bed were arranged for her Covid-positive husband, he passed away en route to hospital, in a tragic turn of events. The deceased was identified as a resident of Ramohalli, near Bengaluru outskirts. The family had searched for beds in more than a dozen hospitals before arriving at the Chief Minister's doorstep in desperation.

In another incident on Thursday, a family of a Covid patient protested outside Vidhana Soudha. The patient's daughter told the media that her mother's condition was deteriorating, but they were unable to find a hospital bed.

Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar had to intervene and arrange a bed for the ailing patient at a government hospital, after which she was shifted for further treatment. Youth Congress leader Mohammed Nalapad arrived outside Vidhana Soudha to join the protest staged by the family, only to be taken into custody by police later.
By PTI

BENGALURU: Five people have been arrested so far for allegedly blocking beds in private hospitals in the city for COVID patients, police said on Friday.

"Other than four-five people, we have not arrested anyone else though our investigations are on," a police officer probing the matter told PTI.

"We are not going by what's being circulated in the social media. We are limiting our investigation to what is there before us, that is, we are investigating only the bed blocking scam," the officer added.

According to police, those who have been arrested in the 'bed blocking scam' are Nethravathi, Rohith, Venkat Subba Rao, Manjunath and Punith.

Investigation so far has not revealed the involvement of those Muslims whose names were mentioned by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on Tuesday in a live programme, police sources said.

Police said searches were carried out in the COVID war room on Thursday and technical data was obtained to check any irregularity.

In addition to this, doctors, who are in charge of each zone war rooms, are being questioned.

CCTV footage of all war rooms has already been collected and identification is being done about any unauthorised person in the war room and reasons for it, they said.

BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had recently alleged that hospitals here 'blocked' beds in fake names to make money, at a time when COVID-19 cases were rising in Karnataka.

Surya said officials of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike 'colluded' with private nursing homes and hospitals to block beds and reserve it for exorbitant fees.

The Karnataka government has ordered reserving 80 per cent of the beds in the private hospitals for COVID patients.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (city corporation-BBMP) was assigned to allot beds for the COVID patients seeking treatment in private hospitals.

However, due to the alarming rise in COVID cases, most of the beds are fully occupied even as the demand is growing manifold.

To deal with the demand, the BBMP has set up nine COVID War Rooms at its zonal level and entrusted an employment firm to deploy its workforce on a contract basis.

A BBMP official said the War Rooms have 214 people and not just 16 as has been presented by the BJP MP.

Hitting out at Surya, Chamarajpet Congress MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan Khan said in a video message:"There were over 205 employees of Crystal Company, who were deployed in the COVID War Room on contract basis but you singled out only 16 Muslims. How fair is this?"

Khan even claimed that only one person, Mohammed Zaid was assigned with the task of bed allotment while others were given different jobs.

He even said the job of 16 people who were making a living with a salary of Rs 13,000 is now at stake following the alleged scam.

The investigation has so far not revealed the involvement of those Muslims whose names were mentioned by Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on May 4 in a live programme, top police sources said on Friday.
Bala Chauhan By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Countering a growing demand for a national lockdown, Dr V Ravi, noted virologist and member, Covid Expert Committee, Karnataka, said that India does not need one at this stage of the pandemic, when some states have started plateauing and some are witnessing a late surge.A lockdown should be enforced in a state based on scientific data of cases in the past month. A national lockdown at a time when states are at varied degree of the surge is neither a solution nor is advisable, said Dr Ravi, countering the claim of an aggressive national lockdown by top US medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci.

The ground realities of India are very different. States like Maharashtra had peaked earlier and are now witnessing a downward spiral. They had gone into a strict lockdown much ahead of others and may lift it soon. In states like Karnataka, the surge started later. It will take some more weeks before it starts plateauing here, so the state may need to extend the lockdown to break the chain, he said.

He added that in October last year, he had warned of a second wave in India between mid-March and May. All scientific advice and warnings by scientists, epidemiologists and doctors were ignored by our political leaders and public. It was not real for them. There was fatigue after the first wave in September-October 2020, and nobody heeded the early warnings. We had even cautioned that the second wave of a pandemic is always far more serious than the first., he said.

When Maharashtra started reporting cases, no measures were taken to control the surge. People threw all caution to the wind, and the government went ahead with election rallies and allowed religious congregations, he said.

He added that the way forward will have many roadblocks. Even when the surge settles down, the government will have to exercise extreme caution while allowing economic activities. People will have to compulsorily wear masks and get vaccinated. There is no other way out, he added. Dr Ravi said the third wave is expected between October and December, and is likely to impact children more because they will still not be vaccinated.

Sudhakar: Curfew not effective; DVS for lockdown

With Karnataka registering a record number of Covid cases despite a 14-day corona curfew in place, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said that the close down had not been as effective as anticipated. While questions are being raised about a possible complete lockdown in the State given the heavy caseload, Health Minister Sudhakar suggested that additional measures of restrictions should be considered. Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, however, said, There is a need to consider it (lockdown) seriously, especially in Karnataka.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: The next and third Covid wave will be more dangerous for children, warned Motherhood Hospitals, while issuing an advisory against rising infections among children.Already, in the present second wave, more children are testing positive and are being hospitalised with different variants and double mutants, which are highly contagious, infecting those in the age group of 0-16, it said. Parents must be cautious and not let their guard down, it said.

Since the newborns too are vulnerable, breastfeeding is highly recommended as it builds babys immunity. It is also advisable for parents to strictly follow the vaccination schedule of their babies and not miss any doses, as this will shield the baby from infections and therefore a very crucial element in preventing the Covid infection, said Dr Santosh Kumar, Consultant Neonatologist and Paediatrician, Motherhood Hospitals.

The common symptoms seen in children are spike in fever, gastroenteritis symptoms and respiratory issues. Dr Kumar said that most people are not following Covid-appropriate behaviour and once they contract the virus, they pass it on to their children.Some of these kids could be asymptomatic, spreading the infection among their grandparents, who are in the high-risk group. The children are more susceptible as there is no vaccination available yet for those in the age group of 0-10, he added.
George Poikayil By

Express News Service

KASARAGOD: Somashekhara J S, the Congress panchayat president of Enmakaje, is heaving a sigh of relief.

The Manjeshwar assembly election -- in which IUML's A K M Ashraf defeated BJP state president K Surendran by 745 votes -- was about proving his mettle as a Congress satrap in the border panchayat surrounded by Hindutva politics.

For the BJP, Enmakaje was crucial to Surendran winning in Manjeshwar. It has the largest population of Hindu voters and gives it the biggest lead -- around 2,288 votes -- over the UDF among the eight panchayats.

The party's ministers and MLAs from Karnataka camped in the panchayat for three months specifically persuading the Hindu voters of the Congress and CPM to vote for the BJP. The panchayat-wise break-up of votes proves that the BJP swayed a lot of Congress and the LDF voters in Enmakaje but was just not enough.

The panchayat has around 13,000 Hindu voters, 4,000 Muslim voters, and 300 Christian voters. "We worked hard to get the votes of 10,000 Hindus. It was tough but we tried," said Udaya Chettiyar, the BJP's mandalam president of Enmakaje panchayat.

The BJP got 8,772 votes and widened its lead over the UDF to 4,322 votes from 2,288 votes in the 2019 byelection. "It is a big achievement but it was not enough," said Chettiyar.

Enmakaje is the only panchayat in Kasaragod and Manjeshwar constituencies with a Congress president. Somashekhara said BJP ministers and leaders had been targetting the Congress voters in Enmakaje for years now.

"Before the election, I was approached by RSS and BJP leaders in Karnataka to the party," he said.

Another panchayat that disrupted the BJP's plan was Puthige, a small panchayat controlled by the CPM. It expected the Hindu voters of the LDF would jump ship to the BJP. "But we did not get enough votes in Puthige either," said Chettiyar.

In the 2019 byelection, the BJP had a lead of 434 votes over the UDF in Puthige. In 2021, its lead increased to 742 votes.

BJP's former district president V Raveendran said the party targetted to get 10,000 votes in four panchayats -- Mangalpady, Paivalike, Kumbla, and Enmakaje.

The party got 9,583 votes in Mangalpady, 9,227 votes in Paivalike, 9,556 votes in Kumbla, and 8,772 votes in Enmakaje panchayat -- falling short of the target by 417 votes to 1,228 votes.

The party did not fall short for want of effort. "No other party could claim to have worked hard as we did. Except for Paivalike, there just was not enough voters to woo," he said.

Muslims take the left lane

Yet, Ashraf's victory margin was down to 745 votes from 7,923 votes M C Kamaruddin got in the 2019 byelection. There are two reasons for that, said CPM leader V P P Mustafa, who was the poll manager for LDF candidate V V Rameshan.

One, the rising popularity of the LDF among Muslims, and two, the BJP ran buses and brought in the maximum number of non-resident voters from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, and Mumbai. "IUML does the same every election but this time it did not do but BJP did," he said.

In Mangalpady panchayat -- the citadel of the IUML -- the UDF was expecting a lead of 7,000-9,000 votes over BJP, depending on the worst and best-case scenarios. But the UDF got a lead of only 5,801 votes.

At the same time, the LDF polled 6,309 votes. "We usually get around 4,000 to 4,500 votes," said Mustafa.

Asked for the reason, he said Muslims, particularly women and Urdu-speaking Muslims, regarded chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan as a hero. "We campaigned in both BJP-dominated areas and in Muslim-dominated areas. The acceptance we got in Muslim areas was encouraging," he said.

A UDF leader said a few local Congress leaders tried to swing around 5,000 party votes to the BJP in Meenja, Vorkady, Kumbla, and Manjeshwar panchayat. "That is why Mullappally (Ramachandran) took anticipatory bail and tried to blame the LDF after polling. But the reality was they could not transfer even 500 votes," he said.

With the BJP breathing down the neck of the UDF with every passing election, will Manjeshwar ever fall in its kitty? "For the BJP, it is a long process," said Raveendran of the BJP. In this election, he said, around 83,000 Hindu votes and 83,000 Muslim votes were polled and the BJP got around 65,000 votes. "We will come back again with a stronger campaign," he said.

Mustafa of the CPM said two narrow victory margins for the IUML would lead to the consolidation of Muslim votes in favour of the UDF in future elections. "As of now, 30% of the CPM's members in Manjeshwar are Muslims. In other panchayats such as Trikaripur and Padna where the IUML is strong, our Muslim membership is only 5%," he said.

ALSO WATCH:

But the space for secular politics is shrinking in Manjeshwar because both the IUML and the BJP harp only on religious identities. "This time we held on to our 2019 vote share. But it will become difficult if the BJP and the IUML continue with the communal campaigns during elections," he said.
Amiya Meethal By

Express News Service

KOZHIKODE: In Kerala, India, a state of 34 million people, the Communists have been returned to government with a resounding victory off the back of the partys supreme handling of the Covid crisis. It gives hope that one day we also can fight our way out of this neo-liberal stranglehold, wrote Eilis Ryan in her Facebook page on May 2 after the LDF retained power here.

Ryan is the leader of The Workers Party in Ireland and an elected member of Dublin City Council, besides a socialist and feminist. Thank you to all Malayalee (sic) comrades for keeping the reality of an alternative to capitalism alive for us all, she continued.

Soon after Ryan posting this, Malayali comrades across the globe flocked to her profile and showered with likes, comments, shares and greeted her with a red salute.

An enthusiastic cyber comrade didnt forget to post the picture of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the discussion took place even in Malayalam. Unlike Ryans usual posts which didnt go beyond 100, this one got more than 2,100 likes till Thursday, thanks to the Malayali exuberance on FB.

Beyond cheers of Malayali comrades, the post also kickstarted discussion on whether it is Communism or moderate socialism existing in Kerala, a poser raised by an Irish woman. She also asked what aspects of BJP made it fascist rather than right-wing conservative. And a helpful Malayali explained about the presence of a robust cooperative movement and omnipresent self-help groups in Kerala as response.
Unnikrishnan S By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At a time when the number of people dying due to Covid is growing steadily, the health department has been accused of under-reporting fatalities. In the current second wave of the pandemic, the number of daily Covid deaths would be over 100, said a source privy to the functioning of the section handling reporting of deaths in the state. The allegation came on Thursday when the official data showed the highest number of single-day deaths of 63 in the state.

Several Covid deaths are not counted citing technicalities. As a result, systematic rigging of reporting deaths is taking place in several districts, said the source. The fatality rate has declined to 0.3 per cent as a result of fewer numbers reported at a time the total positive cases have crossed 17.8 lakh.

The allegation puts a question mark on the functioning of the Covid death audit committees at the state and district levels that are responsible for declaring the toll. The official direction for the committee members is to find out if the patient had died due to the effects of Covid irrespective of the test status of the patient. However, it is reliably learnt that the members do not have a free hand in deciding on the causes of deaths.

If a doctor certifies a patients death due to Covid, then he or she will have to make many cumbersome explanations. If it is considered a non-Covid death, no such question is asked. Hence, the unofficial direction is to reduce the number of Covid deaths reported, said the source.

He compared the deaths in Thiruvananthapuram and other districts to highlight the state of affairs. While the official death toll in Thiruvananthapuram crossed 1,000, the deaths reported in Ernakulam and Kozhikode are almost half of this though the number of confirmed cases in these two districts is much higher.

It is not that the chances of dying due to Covid in Thiruvananthapuram are higher when compared to other districts. It is due to the better reporting in the district because the death audit committees have senior doctors from the medical college, said the source. Doctors from the general hospital are included in the death audit committee at the district level if the district does not have a medical college hospital. In Pathanamthitta, 151 persons died due to Covid as per the official data.

The district collector of Pathanamthitta has been meticulous in updating the daily deaths in his official Facebook page. If we tally it, the number would be 395 by May 5. It means 63 per cent of the deaths have not been accounted for in the district, said Dr N M Arun, internal medicine specialist and a public health expert. He was critical of the governments claim of low death rate since the beginning of the pandemic and, according to him, the actual death toll could be at least two times higher the official numbers.

According to him, the new discharge policy of the state would help in under-reporting of deaths. As per the new policy, rapid antigen test would be conducted to discharge people under treatment for severe symptoms. Earlier, the health guidelines insisted on an RT-PCR test for discharging. After 14 days, most of the patients will test negative in antigen tests. Even if they die later due to Covid, such deaths will be considered as not due to Covid, said Dr Arun.

He said a non-Covid status is favoured by relatives too, as it means they will receive the body faster and can complete the funeral on time. If relatives insist on conducting an RT-PCR test, they will have to wait for the result and if it is positive, there will be restrictions in conducting funerals, said Dr Arun.

Director of Health Services Dr Ramesh R did not respond to calls made by TNIE to get his reaction to the allegation.

PANEL SEEKS REPORT ON ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR CREMATION



TPuram: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has sought an urgent report from the Thiruvananthapuram district administration on the alternative arrangements for cremation in view of the rise in deaths due to Covid-19. Taking suo motu cognisance based on news reports, SHRC chairman Justice Antony Dominic directed the district collector to file a report. Owing to the rise in deaths, including those due to Covid, existing facilities at crematoriums are inadequate and there are demands for temporary arrangements for cremation. The panel said there are complaints of there being a long waiting list for cremation at the Shanthikavadam crematorium in Thycaud. People are forced to wait for days after reserving slots for cremating their loved ones.

ON THE DECLINE

Total case fatality (CFR) reduced from 0.4% to 0.3%

Dist Deaths CFR

PThitta 151 0.001%

TPuram 1,075 0.65%

KSRTC to operate more long-distance services today

TPuram: KSRTC will operate more long-distance services for passengers on Friday, a day before total lockdown. Extra services that began from Thursday night will continue till Friday night. KSRTC CMD Biju Prabhakar said three buses are ready for Bengaluru-Kerala service if the Karnataka govt approves emergency evacuation. During lockdown, KSRTC will restrict services to transporting patients and health workers based on demand from hospitals.

Hefty charges for treatment: Rights panel intervenes

TPuram: The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has asked government to take steps to prevent private hospitals from overcharging for Covid treatment. Terming it as a human rights violation, SHRC chairman Justice Antony Dominic directed the government to make immediate intervention. The SHRC gave the direction while hearing a petition against a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, which was accused of charging J45,600 for giving oxygen support to a patient for just one day. The SHRC asked the health director and the district collector to probe the case and submit a report. The case will be heard again on May 28.
By Express News Service

BHUBANESWAR : Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday requested the Centre for exemption of GST on purchase of Covid-19 vaccines and extend financial assistance to the states from the cess and surcharges to create an equal platform to fight the pandemic.

In a letter to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Naveen said that the states have been asked to purchase vaccines from their own resources to cover the 18 to 44 years age group. These purchases attract GST, making vaccines costly for the states. This needs to be exempted completely. It will reduce the cost for states and facilitate the drive towards universal vaccination, he stated.

In a video message to the people on Saturday, the Chief Minister had said that the State government has placed orders for vaccine doses for everyone in the age group of 18 to 44 years. Around two crore people in the age group will benefit from the vaccination drive for which Rs 2,000 crore will be spent.

The State government had placed orders for 10.34 lakh doses of Covaxin from Bharat Biotech and 377 lakh doses of Covishield from Serum Institute of India on Sunday. While Covishield is priced at Rs 300 per dose for state government, Covaxin costs Rs 600 per dose. Covishield will cost Rs 1,131 crore and Covaxin Rs 62.04 crore.

The combined purchase cost for the State government comes to Rs 1,193.04 crore which will attract GST of Rs 59.69 crore at the rate of 5 per cent. The state government will get immediate relief of around Rs 60 crore for these purchases if GST is waived.

Arguing for GST exemption, the Chief Minister said it is important that the states are supported so that the entire country fights as one. Additional resources raised through various cess and surcharges on petrol, diesel and liquor, which are exclusively available to the Centre, should be suitably shared with state governments at this critical juncture. This will strengthen our fight against the pandemic including the provision of vaccinations, free treatment, undertaking preventive measures and so on, he stated.
K Ezhilarasan By

Express News Service

TIRUCHY: People of Thiruthuraipoondi constituency have fittingly elected one among them as their representative to the State Assembly. They believe K Marimuthu can be the one who could understand their issues as he himself is from humble backgrounds. The CPI candidate does not even have a concrete roof. He, along with his family, is living in a hut with thatched roof.

Marimuthu (49) has proved the popular idea that only the wealthy can win the electoral battle wrong by defeating AIADMK candidate C Suresh Kumar, whose asset value runs into crores. The winning margin is 30,068 votes. On the other hand, Marimuthu is a full-time CPI worker and his wife Jayasudha a farm worker. His familys total property, including his house, is worth a little over Rs 3 lakh.

The people of Kaduvakudi are brimming with joy as their fellow villager is set to enter the Assembly. Kaduvakudi comes under Thiruthuraipoondi constituency in Tiruvarur district. Manjula, a farm worker from Kaduvakudi, could not express her happiness in words. As she was speaking to Express, her eyes welled up with tears of joy. She said, When Marimuthu was just a party worker, he used to return to the village only by the last bus at 10.30 pm.

That was the extent to which he worked for the people. Now, he has become an MLA and it is truly a proud moment for Kaduvakudi. A lot of people are visiting our village now, that too through the battered thoroughfare. He has won many hearts here. His 12 year-old son Jayavarman is busy replying to the wishes pouring in on WhatsApp from his schoolmates and friends.

For the past three days, many people have been wishing my father. I have been thanking them in reply, said Jayavarman, who blushes at being called by some as MLAs son. Marimuthus daughter Thendral and wife Jayasudha are spending the days greeting the countless number of visitors at their home.

However, for Marimuthu, the victory adds up more responsibility. Earlier, he was on the side of raising grievances, but from now on, he has the onus to redress them. He told Express, The Thiruthuraipoondi constituency comprises underprivileged people, who are predominantly into farming and fishing, and they saw me as one among them.

It was media stories about my background that endeared me to the people. During the campaign, many of them shared their feelings for me. I am now committed to uplift the families that trusted me and voted for me. I will raise their issues in the Assembly, said the MLA-elect.
Sinduja Jane By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Even as the fresh set of restriction kicked in on Thursday, healthcare professionals on Covid duty called for a total lockdown in the State as the health system is over stretched and they couldnt manage with the available manpower.

There is no use in increasing the bed capacity when there isnt adequate manpower, and resources like oxygen are depleting in the State, said the doctors. As a result, patients are not getting the care they need and there is a risk of more deaths, they added. Vaccination for those above 18 years is yet to begin, and in such a case, lockdown is the only solution.

There are only two doctors for 200 patients in our hospital, and we wont know even if one patient needs immediate care or dies suddenly. That is the reason we are allowing attenders now, so that when their loved ones fall sick they can alert us, said a doctor on Covid duty at the Chengalpattu GH.

He added that though they prescribe medicines for the patients, the nurses are not getting time to administer it as they are burdened with so much paper work on admissions and discharges. I have even seen a few patients dying before they could get the medicine. I am very disturbed.

ALSO WATCH:

As oxygen beds are almost full in Chennai and the queues are getting longer daily, the hospitals are also falling short in extending help. Even severe cases, with saturation as low as 75, who were supposed to be managed at tertiary care hospitals, are being sent to the newly set-up healthcare centres.

Lockdown necessary to break virus spread

Dr T Janakiraman, an anaesthesiologist on Covid duty at a private hospital in the city, said, We need some breathing time. So, we need complete lockdown at least for seven days if not for a month, to break the chain. This gap is needed to rebuild our resources, such as oxygen and medicines. This is not going to prevent the impending crisis. But it will give us breathing time. We are really exhausted.

As vaccination for people above 18 years of age is yet to begin and there is no stock, lockdown is the only solution as of now, he added. Dr S Perumal Pillai, president, Legal Coordination Committee for Government Doctors, said that their workload has increased four times compared to last year.

As we have utilised all available space for Covid treatment, we dont have space in hospitals as non-Covid cases are also coming in. We dont have manpower as well. Not only ICU and oxygen beds, even normal beds are full, he said. A staff nurse at a government hospital, echoed with the doctors and said there are only two nurses attending over 250 patients.

JEE (Main) postponed

Chennai: Due to the spike in Covid cases, the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Thursday decided to reschedule the JEE Main (May) 2021. The notification for the exam schedule was to be released this month. The May sessions exams were to be conducted from May 24-28. The JEE Main (April) session was already postponed. Looking at the present situation of Covid and keeping students safety in mind, JEE (Main) May 2021 session has been postponed, tweeted Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
By Express News Service

KRISHNAGIRI: An IT employee, who attempted to smuggle nine vials of Remdesivir to Bengaluru, was arrested by the Civil Supply CID team near ESI Hospital close to the Hosur- Karnataka border on Friday.

Remdesivir is an antiviral drug that is sometimes used in treatment of moderately ill patients with Covid-19 that is currently in short supply. Experts and officials have repeatedly stressed that it is not a mandated or life-saving drug for Covid.

The Civil Supply CID team, led by Inspector Illavarasi and SI Thenarasu, were conducting routine checks along the Hosur-Karnataka borders on Friday when they spotted a vehicle attempting to cross the border to Karnataka. The vehicle was stopped.

On investigation, the team found that an IT employee named Anandh Balaji was allegedly attempting to smuggle nine vials of Remeesvir to Bengaluru.

According to police, Anandh, a native of Bengaluru, was employed in company in Chennai. He had allegedly bought the vials from one Dr Mahendiran from Villupuram and was transporting the drug to Bengaluru where police said he planned to sell it for a higher price.

He had taken a lesser-known route to bypass the police checkpoint but was caught, police said.

Police said that he had brought each vial for Rs 10,000 and had confessed that he had planned to sell them for over Rs 15,000 each. The vials were confiscated and handed over to the SIPCOT police station for safekeeping.
S Kumaresan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: MK Stalin, the DMK president, is taking the reins of the State as the Chief Minister with five decades of experience in politics and administration. He will be the oldest first-time Chief Minister to be sworn in at the age of 69 and only the third of DMK after CN Annadurai and M Karunanidhi. Elected to the State Assembly for the seventh term, Stalin has served in various capacities, including as a minister, deputy chief minister and opposition leader in the Assembly, before.

Stalin was born to M Karunanidhi, a seasoned politician and a five-time Chief Minister of the State, on March 1, 1953. In 1967, at the age of just 14, he floated a DMK youth club, well before the party officially established a youth wing. Later, in the early 70s, he was appointed as in-charge of the partys 75th ward unit in Chennai district. In 1972, he was elected as a general council member of the DMK at the age of 19 years and as an executive council member in 1979.

Meanwhile, in 1976, Stalin was arrested on February 2 under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and imprisoned at Chennai Central Prison for nearly a year till January 27,1977. Undeterred, he continued to engage in active politics. When DMK youth wing was established in Madurai on June 20, 1980, he was appointed as one of its seven organisers. In appreciation of his dedicated involvement for expanding the services of the youth wing, Stalin was appointed as State youth wing secretary of the party in 1983. The next year, as party youth wing cadres and leaders of the party supported, he was given a ticket to contest from Thousand Lights in Assembly general elections in which he lost.

Before Anna Arivalayam, DMK headquarters, was constructed, DMK had been functioning from Anbagam building at Teynampet. After the headquarters was moved to Anna Arivalayam in 1987, Stalin got the Anbagam for the youth wing by collecting donations from DMK cadre and youth wing members across the State. For the purpose, he had made an extensive tour across the State and met thousands of people beyond the party line, which helped him create an impression among the general public that he is a capable leader.

Given party ticket again to contest from Thousand Lights constituency in 1989, Stalin won the polls. DMK too won the Assembly general elections to form a government in the State after a gap of 13 years. His campaign for the polls was well attended by the party cadres as well as general public. He played a vital role in infusing fresh blood for the party by pulling in many youths in 1990s. Notwithstanding DMK losing the 1991 polls, he continued his extensive works for the party and maintained a connection with cadres through his frequent statewide tours.

Stalin also became the first Mayor of Chennai Corporation to be elected by voters. Though people voted out DMK in 2001, Stalin returned to the Assembly elected from Thousand Lights again. The same year, he was again elected as Mayor of Chennai Corporation, despite the Oppositions all-out campaign against him. However, he had to resign from the post in 2002 after the AIADMK-led government at the time brought in TN Municipal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2002, which debarred him from serving as the Mayor and an MLA simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Stalin was appointed as deputy general secretary of the party on June 2, 2003. He was made Minister for Municipal Administration in 2006. During this tenure, he was instrumental in the extensive spread of Women Self Help Groups across the State by establishing 1,75,493 Women SHGs. He also established various comprehensive drinking water projects such as Hogenekal and Ramanathapuram water schemes.

In May 2009, just two years before DMK lost power in the State, Stalin was appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister. Before that, he had been made treasurer of the party on December 27, 2008, which he retained till January 3, 2017. Stalin was then elected as the working president of the party on January 4, 2017.

After the demise of former Chief Minister and DMK president Karunanidhi, MK Stalin was unanimously elected as the president of the party on August 28, 2019, by the general council of the party. Ever since, he has brought two major victories for the party, one of which is making DMK the third-largest party in the Parliament and other is leading the party to form its sixth government in the State.

Five decades in public life

March 1, 1953: Born to M Karunanidhi - Dayalu

1964: Established DMK youth club at Gopalapuram

1968: Made first public speech in a party meeting at Kodambakkam.

1972: Elected as party general council member

1979: Elected as party executive council member

1980: Established party youth wing and became one of the organisers

1983: Made youth wing state secretary of the party

1989, 1996, 2001 & 2006: Elected as MLA from Thousand Lights Assembly constituency

1996 & 2001: Elected as Mayor of Chennai Corporation

2003: Made partys deputy general secretary

2008: Elected as party treasurer

2009: Appointed as Deputy Chief Minister

2011, 2016 & 2021: Elected as MLA from Kolathur Assembly constituency

2016- 2011: Served as Principal Opposition Party Leader

May 4, 2021: Elected as a Legislative Party Leader

Gave a push to Chennai infra as Mayor

During his tenure as Mayor of Chennai Corporation, MK Stalin took steps to decongest the city roads and constructed nine big bridges and 49 small ones in the city. He also improved the standard of Corporation Schools to be on par with private schools
Sushmitha Ramakrishnan By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Robert (name changed) died two days ago. After running from one hospital to another for a couple of days, 59-year-old Roberts family admitted him into a government hospital in Thoothukudi on May 2. But we could not find an ICU bed. He had no oxygen. That is the main reason he died, rued his nephew speaking to Express.

Over the past couple of days, the number of calls to various Covid-19 helplines have more than tripled. Reason: people are unable to find hospital beds, particularly those with access to oxygen facilities. Many volunteers Express spoke to on Thursday said that at least a handful of Covid patients passed away before they could find them vacancies at hospitals.

Roberts family, who had no choice but to tag along with him on the search for an ICU bed, are grieving helplessly in private under home quarantine. The whole family was exposed to him. What will we do if someone else starts showing symptoms? the nephew wonders. Chitra, a Covid positive person from Kolathur, developed breathlessness on Thursday morning. After performing a chest CT on Wednesday, she was told that infection had spread to 50 per cent of her lungs. My mother is a little breathless. Private or government hospital, I will manage to take my mother if we find a bed with oxygen, her daughter laments over the call.

Shyamala Sathiaseelan, a volunteer from Chennai Cares told Express that in the past couple of days, at least 10 patients have died as they could not find beds; five died on Thursday alone. Two weeks ago I received 25 calls a day. Today (Thursday), from midnight to 8:30 am alone, I received 25 calls, she said, adding that a particular call from a doctor in Puducherry, left her disheartened. A doctor called me from the GH there saying that no ventilator beds were available. She said she did not want to watch her husband die and not do something about it, Shyamala said.

She said that on one hand panic rushers with mild to moderate symptoms who seek out hospital beds are unnecessarily burdening the health care system. On the other, there are others - especially those who are vaccinated - who wait until its too late to seek a bed, she said. Sudha Ramamoorthy, another Chennai-based volunteer said that one person was pushed out of a hospital as the hospital was running short of oxygen. One consumes about 50 litres of oxygen each day. Hospitals are running out of capacity, she said.

However, Varun, who was looking for a bed for his friend a few days back, found one in private hospital. I called 104 first. And every few hours volunteers called me to check on the patient status and updated me about every vacant bed I could hurry to, he said, advising that people should certainly reach out to the government helplines to have the best access to real-time information on beds. Since all beds in Chennai were filled, I found one in Kelambakkam. Patients who can travel outside the city, can try options there, he said.

Meanwhile, things are not very bright in Coimbatore either. Government Covid Centres here have been discharging patients on a hurried manner, based on oxygen saturation levels, so as to free up beds with oxygen facility. A 38-year-old Covid patient from Gandhi Managar, who was admitted at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on April 27, was discharged just three days later. However, he was readmitted at another hospital after he faced heavy breathlessness. Currently, he is being treated at the ESI hospital, under critical condition, with oxygen support round-the-clock.

A relative of his, said if the CMCH had given him a proper treatment, the patient would not have faced this severe complication. Based on his pulse oximeter level that was at around 95, he was discharged from CMCH. But the very next day, he fainted at home due to breathing issues and his oxygen level dropped below 60, said his relative.

Similarly, a 52-year Covid patient from Pollachi, who was discharged from the CMCH five days ago, died at a private hospital in the city on Thursday. His relatives claimed if CMCH had given proper treatment, he could have been saved. Even after returning home from CMCH, he was gasping for air. We searched for an oxygen-equipped bed for a whole day, and after he was admitted to a private hospital, he died without responding to treatment, said G Prakash, a relative of the victim.

Responding to the allegation, CMCH Dean A Nirmala said, As Covid protocol has been changed, patients are being discharged based on their saturation of oxygen level and not based on Covid negative report. If patients oxygen saturation level is over 95 at room temperature, we are discharging them. She said that a few cases would be unpredictable as there can be complications after discharge.

(With inputs from Coimbatore)
Donita Jose By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The overworked and tired doctors' community is overwhelmingly demanding imposition of a statewide lockdown, citing exhausted manpower and resources. Stating that the high number of deaths due to delayed admissions is a cause for concern, they say a two-week lockdown is the only way to save lives and keep the hospitals from collapsing.

"We are in a situation where there is no bed availability. There is a short supply of oxygen, ventilators and even equipment for home care. Politicians must take a stand and impose lockdown to save lives," Dr PS Vijayender, Convenor of Telangana Doctors Federation and Public health specialist, says.

A similar opinion was shared by a government doctor in Nizamabad. "In Nizamabad General Hospital, we are seeing at least 22 to 25 deaths every day. It is both due to people coming in too late and the lack of availability of beds. If there is a way to ensure that the spread of COVID-19 is contained and toll reduces, it would be lockdown or enhanced hours of curfews," the doctor says.

To bust the claims of the government that a lockdown will inflict other forms of economic distress, Vijayander says: "Patients are falling into a vicious cycle of hospital bills. Whole families are getting infected and elders are passing away. We are seeing 16 to 17 year-old youngsters become orphaned. The government must put in place a support network for the vulnerable during lockdown and then declare it for two weeks."

Telangana may wait two weeks before decision on lockdown: Experts

However, some experts note that the State could wait for two more weeks to assess the situation as the cases appear to have plateaued presently. "We must be patient for the next two week and keep an eye on indicators like deaths and recoveries. If these numbers worsen or do not improve, then going for a lockdown will be wise. However, in the meantime, there must be more restrictions like curbs on gatherings, curbs on number of people visiting malls and shopping areas, apart from night curfew," says Dr Subodh Kandumuthan, Director, Centre for Health Care Management at Administrative Staff College of India.

Meanwhile, increased focus on vaccinations is critical to rein in the scourge. "Vaccinating at least 60 per cent of the population in the coming one month with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine will ensure that by June we see a drastic drop in cases. The State government must be focussed on this aspect to ensure a certain level of herd immunity is achieved," says Dr GVS Murthy, Public Health Foundation of India.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: Describing the surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India as "nothing short of heartbreaking", Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday that India's welfare is critically important to the United States.

Pledging that the Biden administration is determined to help India in its hour of need, Harris said that the entire government machinery has been galvanised to help the country in this hour of crisis.

India is struggling with a second wave of the pandemic with more than 4,00,000 daily new coronavirus cases being reported in the past few days, and hospitals are reeling under a shortage of medical oxygen and beds.

"At the beginning of the pandemic, when our hospital beds were stretched, India sent assistance.

And today, we are determined to help India in its hour of need," Harris said in her remarks at the State Department's Diaspora outreach event on US COVID Relief for India.

"We do this as friends of India, as members of the Asian Quad, and as part of the global community. I believe that if we continue to work together -- across nations and sectors -- we will all get through this," she said.

The Biden-Harris Administration has announced USD 100 million assistance to India to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

In about a week's time, as many as six plane loads of COVID-19 assistance have landed in India.

The entire administration has been galvanized to help India in this hour of crisis.

The White House and the State Department is coordinating with the corporate sector, which has mounted an unprecedented private sector relief for any country ever.

Indian-Americans have been raising millions of dollars and have been sending life-saving health care equipment and medicines to India.

Sewa International USA has raised more than USD 10 million, American Association of Physicians of Indian-Origin or AAPI have raised USD 3.5 million and Indiaspora more than USD2 million, to name some of them.

In her remarks, Harris recognised the contribution of Indian-Americans on the issue.

Harris, 56, is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected US Vice President.

Harris was born to two immigrant parents: a Black father and an Indian mother.

Her father, Donald Harris, was from Jamaica, and her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a cancer researcher and civil rights activist from Chennai.

"For years, diaspora groups like Indiaspora and the American India Foundation have built bridges between the United States and India.

And this past year, you have provided vital contributions to COVID-19 relief efforts. Thank you for your work," said the vice president.

"As many of you know, generations of my family come from India. My mother was born and raised in India. And I have family members who live in India today. The welfare of India is critically important to the United States," Harris said.

"The surge of COVID-19 infections and deaths in India is nothing short of heartbreaking. To those of you who have lost loved ones, I send my deepest condolences.

As soon as the dire nature of the situation became apparent, our Administration took action," she said, referring to the steps that the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to help India in this hour of crisis.

On April 26, President Joe Biden spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer America's support.

By April 30, US military members and civilians were delivering relief on the ground, she said, referring to the whole-of-government approach that the administration has taken to help India.

"Already, we have delivered refillable oxygen cylinders, with more to come. We have delivered oxygen concentrators, with more to come. We have delivered N95 masks, and have more ready to send. We have delivered doses of Remdesivir to treat COVID patients," Harris said.

According to USAID, among the emergency supplies to India include 20,000 courses of remdesivir (125,000 vials) to help treat critically ill patients; nearly 1,500 oxygen cylinders to address critical oxygen shortage, which can be repeatedly refilled at local supply centers and one million rapid diagnostic tests to quickly identify COVID-19 cases and prevent community spread.

The six planes, that have landed in just six days, also included nearly 550 mobile oxygen concentrators that obtain oxygen from ambient air.

These units have a lifespan of more than five years and can serve multiple patients at once, depending on their oxygen needs.

The US has also sent nearly 2.5 million N95 masks to protect health care professionals and other frontline workers.

A large-scale deployable Oxygen Concentration System that can provide oxygen to treat 20 or more patients at a time and 210 pulse oximeters to measure oxygen levels in a patient's blood to determine whether a higher level of care is needed has also been sent to India, USAID said.

In her remarks, Harris also referred to the decision taken by her administration to support a proposal by India and South Africa for a TRIPS waiver for vaccines at the WTO.

"We have announced our full support for suspending patents on COVID-19 vaccines -- to help India and other nations vaccinate their people more quickly.

India and the United States have the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in the world," Harris said.

India has welcomed the US move.

"We appreciate the US administration's announcement today of its support for waiver of IPR for COVID-19 vaccines," India's Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu said early this week.
By PTI

LONDON: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar left London at the end of a four-day visit to the UK on Friday with a message of convergence as the two countries agreed on an ambitious '2030 Roadmap' towards a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Addressing a virtual event titled 'India and the United Kingdom in a Post-COVID World' at the Policy Exchange think tank in London on Thursday evening, the minister reviewed the redefined contours of the UK-India relationship in the wake of the Virtual Summit between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson earlier in the week.

He reflected on the context of the COVID-19 pandemic giving the bilateral ties a greater urgency for an overdue "upgrade".

"Our Prime Ministers held a virtual summit that has truly redefined the contours of our relationship.

They agreed on an ambitious roadmap for 2030 that sets forth their vision of cooperation in great detail," said Jaishankar.

"Underlying this exercise is a larger convergence at how we look at the world and grapple with issues that both nations deal with everyday.

This is expressed in our working together in defence and security, in undertaking climate action and development partnerships, in responding to terrorism and radicalisation, or indeed, in how we approach pandemics and cyber challenges," he said.

From India's viewpoint, the minister highlighted the many UKs that it seeks to engage simultaneously: the Global Britain, the Atlantic UK, the European one after Brexit, the City of London, the non-London UK, the diaspora one, the innovation and education UK, and the strategic and historical UKs.

"Given the rebalancing and multipolarity that characterises the contemporary world order, it is natural for two powers such as us to explore greater convergence.

"That we have a shared past, may sometimes be a mixed blessing; but vision and will can certainly help put it to good use.

The more objectively the two nations perceive each other's role and contribution in the larger arena, the stronger is the case for a serious strategic relationship," he said.

On a note of caution, he added: "We are complementary societies and economies who each have strengths relevant to the other.

Bringing them together more effectively is to our mutual advantage.

A 'Global UK' is probably more likely to do so than its previous incarnation, just as a 'New India' is more forward looking than previously.

"In that sense, we could be ready to approach each other with clearer heads and fresher eyes to realise a shared set of goals in a more turbulent world.

But these will not be without challenges, because convergence is still not congruence.

Our own inhibitions will be a factor, as also perhaps the growing complexity of world politics.

" UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab also addressed the event, which marked the conclusion of Jaishankar's visit as his guest at the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting  which Jaishankar largely conducted virtually following coronavirus exposure within the Indian delegation.

Referring to him as "Jai", Raab reiterated their close friendship as the political guardians of the 2030 Roadmap signed between the two prime ministers.

"I am not sure who's the greater control freak -- we like lists and deadlines and schedules and we both want to make this mean something; be the political guardians of this process and make sure the trade negotiations are kept on track," said Raab.

"It is telling how many British Indians we have around the Cabinet table. I am not saying that they have biased Britain's foreign policy but I do think they breathe life into it," he noted, in reference to the likes of Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Priti Patel as senior Indian-origin ministers in the UK government.

Describing India as a "technologically endowed high trust partner", Raab declared the 2030 Roadmap a "massive thing" with a set of tangible elements and deliverables to take the UK-India relationship to the level that has been aspired to for many years.

"An important aspect of the Indo-Pacific tilt was to put rocket boosters under Britain's relationship with India," he said.
By Associated Press

MALE: The Maldives police said Friday an explosion that wounded former President Mohamed Nasheed was an act of terrorism but no suspects were identified. Australian police said they are ready to assist the investigation.

Nasheed, 53, was wounded in the blast Thursday night outside his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, Male, police said. Home Minister Imran Abdulla told a local television that his injuries were not life-threatening.

He is the current Parliament speaker and was the first democratically elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago, from 2008 to 2012.

Maldives police said in a text message they treat the explosion as an act of terrorism but did not give details on possible suspects or the bomb device. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. Photos circulated on social media showed a ripped-up motorcycle at the scene.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said in a televised speech that Australian Federal Police investigators will arrive on Saturday. The Australian Federal Police said its members will engage with Maldives police and assess the assistance that can be provided to their investigation. It declined further comment.

Nasheed has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law.

The Maldives is known for its luxury resorts but has seen rare violent attacks. In 2007, a blast in a park in the capital wounded 12 foreign tourists.

Violence has been blamed on a rise in religious extremism. The Maldives has one of the highest per capita numbers of militants who fought in Syria and Iraq.

Arrests have been made from time time. Maldives authorities announced in January that a group of eight arrested last November were found to have been planning to attack a school and were in the process of building bombs in a boat at sea. Police said they also conducted military training on uninhabited islands and had recruited children.

Nasheed's presidency ended a 30-year autocratic rule, but his own term was cut short when he resigned amid protests. He was defeated in the subsequent presidential election and became ineligible to enter the 2018 race because of time served in jail. His party colleague, Solih, won the vote.

Nasheed remained an influential figure and was elected Parliament speaker in 2019. He has championed global efforts to fight climate change, particularly rising seas threatening the low-lying islands of his archipelago nation.

Neighboring Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a tweet described the blast as an attack on Nasheed.

Wish him a speedy recovery. Know that he will never be intimidated, Jaishankar said.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has come under criticism for accusing the country's foreign service officers of harboring "colonial mindset" and "callousness" while appreciating their Indian counterparts.

Addressing the envoys virtually on Wednesday, Khan showed anger at what he called 'shocking callousness' of Pakistani diplomats abroad towards fellow Pakistanis.

He also accused them of having a "colonial mindset" in their dealing with Pakistani nationals.

Khan said, "Indian embassies are more proactive in bringing investments -to their country and they also provide- better services to their citizens".

At least three former foreign secretaries of Pakistan took strong exception to Khan's remarks.

"Deeply dismayed at the unwarranted criticism of the Foreign Ministry," tweeted Tehmina Janjua, the first woman foreign secretary in the history of Pakistan.

She said that Khan's remarks showed a lack of understanding of the Foreign Service.

"There seems to be a woefully inadequate understanding of Embassies' consular work, the acute resource constraints, and the role of multiple departments which (are not) under the control of Ambassadors," she said.

Former foreign secretary Salman Bashir also joined Janjua in defending the Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP).

"Sir respectfully, your ire and critique of the foreign ministry and envoys are misplaced. Usual services to the community are essential in the domain of other departments that handle passports and consular attestation etc. Yes, the missions should keep their doors open," he tweeted.

Bashir said that the FSP and the Foreign Office have always delivered and it deserves encouragement and support.

"Public critique demoralizes the best and brightest. Pakistan needs functional institutions. That is where we need to focus. Do set up a task force to come up with positive recommendations," he said.

Bashir was especially angry at Khan's appreciation of India foreign service for serving their nationals abroad.

"Indian media rejoices over PM's critique of the FSP and approbation of Indian Foreign Service. What a comparison!" tweeted Bashir.

Jalil Abbas Jilani, another former foreign secretary joined the chorus to oppose Khan's remarks.

"Hon PM sir, wish you were properly briefed about working of Missions. Services like attestation of degrees, marriage certificates, licenses etc are referred to HEC (Higher Education Commission), Interior or Provincial government for verification. You don't get a timely response. Hence delays. Blaming envoys unfair," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Dawn newspaper reported that the prime minister's comments led to angst and demoralization among the officers of the foreign service.
By PTI

DHAKA: A top leader of a hardline Islamist group was arrested in eastern Bangladesh's Sylhet city on Friday, as the government continued to crack the whip on anti-government protesters, according to a media report.

The legal affairs expert of Hefazat-e-Islam, Advocate Maulana Shahinur Pasha Chowdhury, was apprehended by the the Criminal Investigation Department officials at Subidbazar in Sylhet, the Dhaka Tribune reported.

However, the police have not disclosed the charges against Chowdhury, who has earlier served as the Member of Parliament from Sunamganj III.

Dozens of Hefazat leaders and activists have been arrested in recent weeks after the hardline Islamist group waged anti-government protests.

Some Hefazat leaders have been charged for instigating violence during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bangladesh visit in March and orchestrating the violent demonstrations in 2013 when several people were killed as the group demanded the enactment of a blasphemy law.

Chowdhury was elected the Member of Parliament in the Sunamganj III by-election in 2005, after the death of sitting MP, Abdus Samad Azad.

Chowdhury has also served as the vice president of Islamist political party, Jamiat-e Ulama-e-Islam Bangladesh.

He has contested the general elections in 2008 and 2018, losing both times.
By PTI

LONDON: Health authorities in England are believed to be especially concerned about one strain out of three Indian variants they have been tracking since last month.

According to a report based on leaked data by the BBC, Public Health England (PHE) is said to have recommended the B.1.617.2 version of the Indian variant to be classed as Variant of Concern (VOC) as it appears to spread more quickly than two other identified subtypes of the Indian variant.

The version, along with B.1.617 and B.1.617.3, have so far been classed as Variant Under Investigation (VUI).

The latest surveillance data released by PHE indicates 61 more cases of the B.1.617 variant from India with the other two versions still under review, taking the total number of cases to around 500.

Experts believe variant B.1.617.2 is at least as transmissible as the so-called Kent variant, which had been detected in England at the end of last year and led to the UK's second wave surge in coronavirus infections earlier this year.

According to the report, there is no evidence that the Indian variants are resistant to vaccines as of now.

They do not feature the E.484K mutation found in the South African variant of the virus, which could help the virus dodge a person's immune system.

The Kent, South Africa and Brazil strains have all been deemed Variants of Concern in the UK.

Along with the India variant, these versions, have all undergone changes to their spike protein, the part of the virus that attaches to human cells.

Viruses by nature mutate, producing different versions of themselves.

Most of these mutations are insignificant but some can make the virus more contagious and harder to vaccinate against.

The Indian variant is believed to be largely behind the current surge in infections in India's ongoing severe second wave of the pandemic.

The PHE has said it would not comment on leaked data.
By PTI

LONDON: Health authorities in England on Friday elevated one subtype of the so-called Indian variant from under investigation to a Variant of Concern (VOC) following a rise in the number of cases in the UK and evidence of community transmission.

The B.1.617.2, classified as a Variant Under Investigation (VUI) on April 28, is now known as VOC-21APR-02 after it was found to be at least as transmissible as the so-called Kent variant, detected in England last year and the dominant variant in the UK so far.

"Cases of VOC-21APR-02 have increased to 520 from 202 over the last week and almost half the cases are related to travel or contact with a traveller," Public Health England (PHE) said.

The cases are spread across the country, however, the majority of the cases are in two areas -- the north west of England, predominantly Bolton, and London -- where the greatest transmission of the variant has been observed.

However, PHE said there is insufficient evidence to suggest if the variant is also more dangerous in that it can escape vaccine protection.

"The other characteristics of this variant are still being investigated.

There is currently insufficient evidence to indicate that any of the variants recently detected in India cause more severe disease or render the vaccines currently deployed any less effective.

PHE is carrying out laboratory testing, in collaboration with academic and international partners to better understand the impact of the mutations on the behaviour of the virus," PHE said.

It said that surge and community testing is an effective way of finding and isolating new cases of variants and will be deployed where there is evidence of community transmission.

This is in addition to comprehensive work that is already underway to trace and test all contacts of cases.

Everyone in the affected areas will be asked to get a test, even if they don't have symptoms.

If someone tests positive, they would be expected isolate to stop the spread.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was asked about the development and said it needs to be handled "very carefully".

"We're doing a huge amount, obviously, to make sure that when we do find outbreaks of the Indian variant that we do surge testing, that we do door-to-door testing," he said.

The original India variant -- officially known as B.1.617 -- was first detected in October.

Last month, PHE had categorised two further subtypes to that -- B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.

Experts believe of the three, the variant B.1.617.2 is at least as transmissible as the so-called Kent variant, which had been detected in England at the end of last year and led to the UK's second wave surge in coronavirus infections earlier this year.

These variants are not believed to feature the E.484K mutation found in the South African variant of the virus, which could help the virus dodge a person's immune system.

The Kent, South Africa and Brazil strains have all been deemed Variants of Concern (VOCs) in the UK.

These versions, along with the India variant, have all undergone changes to their spike protein - the part of the virus which attaches to human cells.

Viruses by nature mutate, producing different versions of themselves.

Most of these mutations are insignificant but some can make the virus more contagious and harder to vaccinate against.

The Indian variant is believed to be largely behind the current surge in infections in India's ongoing severe second wave of the pandemic.
By PTI

WASHINGTON: The US, which has urged its citizens not to travel to India due to an unprecedented surge in the COVID-19 cases there, on Friday encouraged those in the country to book their tickets to return home through currently available flights.

The United Airlines and Air India are continuing to operate numerous direct flights weekly from India to the US, a State Department health alert said.

Additional flight options remain available on Air France, Lufthansa, and Qatar Airways via transfers in Paris, Frankfurt, and Doha.

US citizens who wish to depart India are encouraged to book tickets through the airlines, the health alert said.

It is mandatory for anyone travelling to the US (2 years and older) to take a COVID-19 test no more than 3 days before travel and show a negative result to the airline before boarding the flight, it said.

The passengers should be prepared to show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (proof of a recent positive viral test and a letter from a healthcare provider or a public health official stating clearance for travel).

Travellers are encouraged to follow post-travel guidance once in the US, it said.

The US this week reissued its travel advisory on India, urging its citizens not to travel to the country due to an unprecedented surge in the COVID-19 cases there.

"Do not travel to India due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution due to crime and terrorism," the State Department said on Wednesday in its latest travel advisory that looked identical to the one issued on April 28.

Both the travel advisories have been marked 'Level 4' which is the highest warning level.

On April 28, the Department approved the voluntary departure of family members of US government employees.

On May 5, the Department approved the voluntary departure of non-emergency US government employees.

"US citizens who wish to depart India should take advantage of available commercial transportation options," it said.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 4 Travel Health Notice for India due to COVID-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country.
By PTI

LAHORE: Pakistan's Opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif, who has been charged with corruption, is all set to join his "self-exiled" elder brother and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in London after the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday allowed him to travel abroad for his medical treatment.

The court granted Shahbaz a "conditional permission" to travel to the UK for medical treatment from May 8 to July 3.

Shahbaz had petitioned the court, saying he is a cancer survivor who now needs treatment outside of Pakistan.

"Keeping in view the past conduct and travel history (of PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif), the fact that name of the petitioner (Shahbaz) is not in Exit Control List (ECL) at this moment.

The name of the petitioner is in blacklist that will not stop him from one-time visit to UK from May 8 to July 3 for his medical checkup," reads an order issued by LHC Justice Ali Baqar Najafi on a petition of Shahbaz.

Shahbaz is likely to leave for London on Saturday on a foreign airlines flight via Doha.

Shahbaz had challenged the placement of his name on a travel blacklist and sought one-time permission to go abroad for medical treatment.

"I have been a cancer patient and got treated in New York and London. I could not get treatment for more than seven months as I was in jail," he said, adding in light of the medical test report conducted in jail, there was need for immediate treatment.

The Imran Khan government reacted strongly on the court's decision to grant permission to Shahbaz to travel abroad.

"It is surprising that the man who is facing PKR7bn money laundering charges will celebrate Eid with his absconding brother Nawaz Sharif and absconding son and son-in-law in London," Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said in a tweet.

He questioned that Shehbaz had submitted a guarantee for three-time premier and PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif when he was going abroad for his medical treatment but he did not return.

"Now instead of issuing notice to Shahbaz for giving a fake guarantee and recalling Nawaz, he (Shahbaz) himself is allowed to go abroad," Chaudhry said.

On April 23, 2021, Shahbaz Sharif walked free from Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail after about eight months behind bars in the money laundering and assets beyond means reference filed by the country's anti-graft body.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that Shahbaz's family had assets of around PKR16.5 million till 1990, which increased to over PKR7 billion in 2018 which were disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Declaring Shahbaz's release from jail as "death of selected Prime Minister Imran Khan's fake accountability narrative" PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb had said: "LHC judges had not only stamped Shahbaz Sharif`s innocence but also exposed the malicious intent behind the government's fictitious cases."

"The release of the Opposition leader is death of Imran Khan`s fake narrative on corruption," she said.

Sharif has been in London since November 2019 on "medical grounds".

The Imran Khan government has declared Sharif an absconder and cancelled his passport.

Sharif left the country after the court granted him bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was undergoing seven years imprisonment in Kot Lakhpat jail Lahore.

He was also granted four-week bail on medical grounds to have his treatment abroad.

The government declared him an absconder after he failed to justify prolonging his stay in London.
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The remains of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere without control this weekend, which has several agencies on alert, including the Pentagon . Authorities and experts have said that they cannot yet predict the landing site, so it could fall anywhere on Earth .

This Wednesday, John Kirby , a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin receives periodic information about the trajectory of the rocket's core, while the United States Space Command continuously monitors it.

It may interest you: A SpaceX rocket almost collided with a UFO, this is what NASA says

It is estimated that its re-entry to the planet is between May 8 and 10 . However, Kirby noted that the US military still cannot determine where the 20 tons of debris heading to our planet will fall.

We don't have enough information fidelity at the moment about re-entry and what that will look like to talk about specific actions one way or another. We are too far away at this point to begin speculating on what might be in view here, " the spokesman said.

Looking forward to working with China on conducting the 9 research experiments that we jointly selected to be flown on the China Space Station. Learn more: https://t.co/jKNlL0Kn4j # AccSpace4All https://t.co/FejmkSTjJh - UNOOSA (@UNOOSA) April 30, 2021

On April 29, the Asian country launched the Long March 5B rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center , to begin construction of the first Chinese space station. The rocket carried the central module Tianhe , or 'Celestial Harmony', which in the future will house astronauts, a historical milestone for China.

A group of 12 astronauts are training to travel to space and live in the Tianhe module. The first manned mission, to be named Shenzhou-12 , is scheduled for June. The station will be completed "around 2022" and will then be renamed Tiangong (Heavenly Palace).

This week, the US military began posting daily updates on the rocket's location on its Space Track website.

How dangerous is the falling debris from the Chinese rocket?

The problem with the Long March 5B debris is that it is unclear where it will land and analysts believe it is just falling out of control. For this reason, some experts spoke of the risks of this imminent rain of debris .

In 2020 there was a debris fall from the first flight of the Long March 5B in West Africa. It caused damage to several houses in the Ivory Coast .

Normally, first-stage launch vehicles send their payloads into orbit and the debris immediately returns to Earth. These land on a certain landing area, head into the oceans, or tend to burn before hitting the surface.

Marco A. Barraza , Advisor to the Department of Investigation of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena of the Peruvian Air Force, shared his estimates on the fall of the rocket on Twitter.

LATEST

Latest prediction for the reentry of the CZ-5B rocket body is:

May 9, 2021 02:34 UTC  21 hours

Reentry will be via one of the land routes shown here. It is still too early to determine a debris footprint. pic.twitter.com/xeU1hDYi4h - Marco A. Barraza (@ marquillo727) May 5, 2021

Jonathan McDowell , an expert at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard University , clarified that the situation "is not the end of days ."

I don't think people should take precautions. The risk of injury or hitting someone is quite small. It's not negligible, it could happen, but the risk of it hitting you is incredibly small . I would not lose a second of sleep over this as a personal threat , "McDowell explained to CNN .

The specialist said that at this point it is almost impossible to pinpoint where the debris could go, given the speed at which it travels . If you want to bet where something will land on Earth, bet on the Pacific, because the Pacific is the largest part of the Earth. It's that simple, he said.

Expert Andrew Jones supports McDowell's bet. "The debris is likely to fall into an uninhabited place like Earth's oceans, which cover 70% of the planet," he wrote on the Space News site.

"The odds of a person being hit by space debris are exceedingly low, estimated at between one and several trillion," Jones said.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Sayre, PA (18840)

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SHERMAN  The Sherman Library will be offering a special program on the 1964/65 New York Worlds Fair presented by Jason Scappaticci on Friday, May 14, at 7 p.m. This is a remote program via Zoom.

At the 1964/65 New York Worlds Fair, which attracted 50 million visitors, a visitor could see Michelangelos Pieta, drive a Mustang, ride through Disneys Small World, see the future at GMs Futurama, eat Belgian waffles and much more.
Champaign, IL (61820)

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Champaign, IL (61820)

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Champaign, IL (61820)

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

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Progress is being made on some significant economic development projects in the city of Painesville.
This year's Founders Day, an annual celebration that highlights Lake Erie College's continuing legacy and the lasting influence of those who 
Researchers have conducted an analysis of nationwide surveillance data from Israel demonstrating the real-world effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTechs BNT162b2 vaccine at protecting against infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)  the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

The team  from the Israel Ministry of Health in Jerusalem, Pfizer in Collegeville, Philadelphia, and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel in Herzliya  report that marked and sustained declines in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection were observed, including among older adults, as the proportion of individuals vaccinated with two doses of the vaccine began to rise.

Sharon Alroy-Preis and colleagues say the findings demonstrate the beneficial public health impact of a nationwide vaccination campaign and offer hope that immunization against SARS-CoV-2 will eventually control the pandemic.

Writing in The Lancet the researchers say: These findings are of international importance as vaccination programs ramp up across the rest of the world, suggesting that other countries can similarly achieve marked and sustained declines in SARS-CoV-2 incidence if they can achieve high vaccine uptake.

Israel launched a campaign to vaccinate 6.5 million people

The PfizerBioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine was authorized for emergency use in Israel in December of 2020 after its high efficacy in protecting against symptomatic COVID-19 was demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial of individuals aged 16 years and older.

Following this emergency use authorization, the Israel Ministry of Health launched a nationwide campaign to administer two doses of the vaccine (separated by an interval of 21 days) to the 65 million residents in Israel aged 16 years and older (71% of the population).

By the 3rd April 2021, 61% of the population had received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Alroy-Preis and colleagues say preliminary estimates of the efficacy of one BNT162b2 dose have been reported from Denmark, Israel, the UK, and the USA, and estimates for two doses have been described for a subset of the Israeli population enrolled in a health maintenance organization.

However, no estimates of the effectiveness of two doses of BNT162b2 against a range of SARS-CoV-2 outcomes, including among older adults, have been reported, they add. Furthermore, population-level estimates of the impact of a COVID-19 vaccine on the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections have not been reported.

What did the researchers do?

Alroy-Preis and colleagues estimated the real-world effectiveness of two doses of BNT162b2 against a range of SARS-CoV-2 outcomes using national surveillance data from the first 4 months (January 24th to April 3rd, 2021) of the vaccination campaign.

They compared the incidence rates of SARS-CoV-2 infection (asymptomatic and symptomatic), COVID-19-related hospitalization, severe or critical hospitalization, and death from the disease among fully vaccinated individuals (those for whom 7 days had passed since a second dose) with the rates among unvaccinated individuals.

The researchers also used the proportion of spike gene target failures (SGTF) on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing among a nationwide convenience-sample of SARS-CoV-2-positive specimens to estimate the prevalence of the B.1.1.7 variant.

The SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7, first identified in the UK and associated with increased transmissibility, has emerged in several countries and was first reported in Israel on December 23rd, 2020, says the team.

What did they find?

By the 3rd April, 4,714,932 (721%) of 6,538,911 people aged 16 years or older had been fully immunized with two doses of BNT162b2.

During the study period, there were 232,268 SARS-CoV-2 infections, 7,694 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 4,481 cases of severe or critical hospitalization, and 1,113 deaths from the disease.

After adjustment for age, sex, and calendar week, the efficacy of complete BNT162b2 vaccination was 953% against SARS-CoV-2 infection overall; 915% against asymptomatic infection, 970% against symptomatic COVID-19, 972% against hospitalization, 975% against severe or critical hospitalization, and 967% against death from the disease.

The estimates of vaccine efficacy against all SARS-CoV-2 outcomes were higher than 96% among people aged 75 years and older.

Across all age groups, as cumulative vaccine coverage increased, the 7-day daily moving average of incident cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection markedly declined, reports the team.

Notably, steeper and earlier declines were observed in older age groups, which had higher and earlier vaccine coverage, says Alroy-Preis and colleagues.

The B.1.1.7 variant was the dominant strain

During the analysis period, 94.5% of 8,472 samples tested showed an SGTF, thereby proving that BNT162b2 is effective against the B.1.1.7 variant.

This study showed that two doses of BNT162b2 were highly effective, including in older adults, against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 hospitalizations, severe disease, and deaths in a nationwide observational study where variant B.1.1.7 was the dominant strain, say the researchers.

Corroborating the observed high effectiveness was an observed marked decline in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection as vaccine coverage increased, adds the team.

What did the authors conclude?

These data provide nationwide evidence of the beneficial public health impact of a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, writes Alroy-Preis and colleagues. Taken together, these findings suggest that high vaccine uptake can meaningfully stem the pandemic and offers hope for eventual control of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak as vaccination programs ramp up across the rest of the world, they conclude.
The published data provide additional detail of an initial analysis conducted in January, while more robust data from a complete analysis of the study was subsequently shared in March 2021.

Publication of initial primary analysis highlights cross-protection by the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine against the B.1.351 variant prevalent in South Africa during the study.

This is the first published study to show protection against mild Covid-19 caused by the B.1.351 variant circulating in South Africa.

An updated analysis of the study indicated 100% protection against severe Covid-19 due to the B.1.351 variant.

"An efficacy of 50% is sufficient to meet the World Health Organization criteria for regulatory approval of the vaccine," says Madhi.

The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine, known as NVX-CoV2373, is made by Novavax, Inc., a US-based biotechnology company developing next-generation vaccines for serious infectious diseases.

This data publication reinforces the encouraging safety profile and cross-protective effect across variants seen in studies of our vaccine to-date." Gregory M. Glenn, M.D., President of Research and Development, Novavax

About the study

The Phase 2b randomised, observer-blinded, placebo-controlled trial conducted in South Africa evaluated efficacy, safety and immunogenicity in healthy adults, and in a small cohort of medically stable adults living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

The study met its primary endpoint - i.e., the Novavax vaccine demonstrated an overall efficacy of 49% in the initial analysis (published in NEJM), and 49% in the subsequent complete analysis (unpublished).

Among healthy adults without HIV, the Novavax vaccine demonstrated efficacy of 60% in the initial analysis, and 55% in the subsequent complete analysis.

In the initial analysis, cases were predominantly mild-to-moderate and due to the B.1.351 variant that dominates in South Africa, and increasingly in southern Africa.

In the subsequent complete analysis, circulation of the B.1.351 variant continued to dominate, and all five cases of severe disease observed in the trial occurred in the placebo group.

The initial analysis, now being published in NEJM, suggested that prior infection with the original Covid-19 strain did not protect against subsequent infection by the variant predominantly circulating in South Africa through 60 days of follow-up.

However, with additional follow-up, the complete analysis of the South Africa trial indicates that there may be a modest protective effect of prior exposure with the original Covid-19 strain.

Among placebo recipients, at 90 days of follow-up, the illness rate was 8.0% in baseline seronegative participants and 5.9% in baseline seropositive participants.

"The data make a compelling case for use of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine in settings where the B.1.351 variant dominates - which is most of southern Africa - to reduce the risk of mild disease and also to maximise the opportunity for protection against severe Covid," says Madhi. "Further work is required for Novavax and all other Covid-19 vaccines, particularly in people living with HIV."

The Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trial is one of two Covid-19 vaccine trials in South Africa led by Madhi and Wits VIDA, with the other being the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine trial.

In addition to directing Wits VIDA, Madhi is Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), and co-Director of African Leadership in Vaccinology Expertise (ALIVE).

About the Wits Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA) Research Unit

Formerly known as the Respiratory and Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit (RMPRU) and founded in 1995, the Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA) Research Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is an internationally recognised, African-led research unit in the field of epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases, and clinical development of life-saving vaccines.

Under the guidance of Professor Shabir Madhi, a global leader in the field of paediatric infectious diseases and the Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits University, Wits VIDA is conducting translational research on vaccine preventable diseases and training the next generation of clinician scientists.

Combining clinical, microbiological and epidemiological expertise in an African setting, Wits VIDA's cutting-edge scientific research informs local and global policy recommendations on the use of next-generation and novel vaccines today.

In addition to various other studies on Covid-19, Wits VIDA championed and led the first two Covid-19 vaccine trials in Africa in 2020, for the Oxford and Novavax vaccine candidates.

About the Novavax vaccine known as NVX-CoV2373

NVX-CoV2373 is a protein-based vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of the first strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 disease.

NVX-CoV2373 was created using Novavax' recombinant nanoparticle technology to generate antigen derived from the coronavirus spike (S) protein and is with Novavax' patented saponin-based Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance the immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralizing antibodies.

NVX-CoV2373 contains purified protein antigen and can neither replicate, nor can it cause Covid-19. In pre-clinical studies, NVX-CoV2373 induced antibodies that blocked the binding of spike protein to cellular receptors and provided protection from infection and disease.

It was generally well-tolerated and elicited robust antibody response in Phase 1/2 clinical testing.

NVX-CoV2373 is stored and stable at two degrees Celsius to eight degrees Celsius, allowing the use of existing vaccine supply chain channels for its distribution. It is packaged in a ready-to-use liquid formulation in 10-dose vials.
Thin and brittle bones are strongly linked to womens heart disease risk, with thinning of the lower (lumbar) spine, top of the thigh bone (femoral neck), and hip especially predictive of a heightened heart attack and stroke risk, suggests research in the journal Heart.

Osteoporosis, often dubbed brittle bone disease, is common, particularly among women after the menopause. It is characterized by thinning and weakened bones and a heightened fracture risk.

Previously published research indicates that people with osteoporosis often have atherosclerosis (artery hardening and narrowing), suggesting that both conditions may be linked.

The risk of a cardiovascular death is higher in women (21%) than it is in men (15%), and the predictive risk framework for heart disease is skewed towards men, so factors that better identify women at higher risk of a heart attack or stroke are needed, say the researchers.

Millions of women are screened for osteoporosis using a DXA scan, so this assessment might provide an ideal opportunity to identify any potential associations between thinning bones and atherosclerosis, and those women most at risk of heart disease, without incurring any additional costs or further exposure to radiation, they add.

To test this out, the researchers reviewed the medical records of 5080 year old women who had had a DXA scan to check for osteoporosis at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital between 2005 and 2014.

After excluding those who already had heart disease and other serious illness at the time of the scan, the final analysis included 12,681 women whose health was tracked for an average of 9 years, using national registry data.

In all, 468 women (around 4%) had a heart attack or stroke during the monitoring period. Some 237 (2%) died.

Thinning/weakened bones, expressed as a low bone mineral density score at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and hip, were independently associated with a heightened (16% to 38%) risk of heart attack or stroke after taking account of potentially influential factors, such as age, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and a previous bone break.

And a formal diagnosis of osteoporosis was also independently associated with a 79% higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

Adding bone mineral density score or a clinical diagnosis of osteoporosis or osteopenia (precursor to osteoporosis) to clinical risk factors more effectively predicted risk than clinical risk factors alone.

Its not clear exactly how osteoporosis and atherosclerosis might be linked, but long term inflammation and cumulative oxidative stress have key roles in both age-related bone loss and atherosclerosis, while sex hormones, particularly oestrogen, help regulate bone turnover and the vascular system, explain the researchers.

This is an observational study, and as such cant establish cause, only correlation. And the researchers acknowledge several limitations to their findings: the study included women from one medical center in South Korea so the results might not be more widely applicable.

And they werent able to gather potentially important information on physical activity levels or steroid use, both of which affect bone mineral density and cardiovascular disease risk.

Nevertheless, they conclude: Considering that [DXA scanning] is widely used to screen for osteopenia and osteoporosis in asymptomatic women, the significant association between [bone mineral density] and higher risk of [cardiovascular disease] provides an opportunity for large-scale risk assessment in women without additional cost and radiation exposure.

In a linked editorial, Drs Dexter Canoy and Kazem Rahimi of the Nuffield Department of Womens and Reproductive Health, University of Oxford, agree, adding that further research in different settings is warranted.

But they suggest: Perhaps it is high time to establish how bone health affects vasculature and understand the underlying pathophysiology that links osteoporotic and atherosclerotic conditions. In doing so, we might just discover new ways to improve the treatment of, and care for, the hearts and minds of women, as well as of men.
A state-of-the-art in-utero procedure allows surgeons to correct a birth defect on developing babies inside the womb. But operating on a mother and her unborn child at the same time can be challenging and unpredictable.

To give their world-class surgeons even more information ahead of surgery, Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies is using MRI and ultrasound imaging along with 3D-printing technology to create a first-of-its-kind detailed model that allows surgeons to plan procedures ahead of time, identifying potential obstacles and reducing the risks of surgery.

The models are currently being used to plan for an in-utero surgery that repairs spina bifida, a birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord fails to close normally during development. The condition can cause a lifetime of neurological disabilities, including an inability to walk.

The 3D reconstruction of the fetus can really educate the surgeon on the real-life shape, size and location of the spinal lesion, as well as prepare the surgeon to have the appropriate equipment ready to treat this condition surgically. It's a level of detail that we are not able to see in traditional imaging, but that is extremely valuable in these cases where we cannot actually see the defect ahead of surgery." Samer Elbabaa, MD, Medical Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery, Orlando Health

To create the models, Orlando Health works with the expert 3D printers at Digital Anatomy Simulations for Healthcare, LLC (DASH) who developed the technology. While many have seen crude, single-colored items that have been 3D printed, DASH has taken the process to the next level, developing technology to enhance MRI and ultrasound images taken throughout the pregnancy to reconstruct accurate curves and edges.

They are then able to print a high-resolution model with multiple colors and materials, allowing surgeons to see details such as skeletal structure, nerve and vascular anatomy and fluid sacs in the spine and brain caused by spina bifida.

The models are currently being used in the hospital's open fetal surgery program, which has performed 25 procedures since it began in 2018. Orlando Health is one of only 12 facilities in the U.S., and the only one in Florida, that is able to perform this kind of surgery.

"The fetal models not only help surgeons plan for things like where to make an incision and how to repair the defect, but also helps reduce the duration of the surgery to limit the developing baby's exposure," said DASH President and CEO Jack Stubbs.

"We are able to create models that are extremely realistic by using a stack of two-dimensional images taken throughout the pregnancy and enhancing them to reconstruct a better visualization of what the fetus truly looks like."

The 3D-printed models are giving surgeons a clearer picture for what to expect during a fetal surgery and also allowing surgeons to better explain the baby's condition to parents and show them how it will be treated. For first-time parents Jared and Jocelyn Rodriguez, it made them more confident about moving forward with surgery.

"At first, we just thought it was a model showing the same kind of condition that our baby was diagnosed with, but then Dr. Elbabaa told us that it was made using the 20-week MRI of our daughter," Jared Rodriguez said. "We could see the brain and the spine and I looked down at it and thought, 'I'm holding my daughter right now? That's pretty awesome.'"

The Rodriguezes say although they are prepared for the challenges their daughter may face, they're glad this technological development is helping to give her a healthier future.

"Every appointment we go to, we just keep getting more good news and she's already showing how strong she is," Jocelyn Rodriguez said. "We know that this surgery will give her the best shot at a normal lifestyle and we're excited to see the positive results as she grows."

Surgeons are seeing successful results from fetal surgery for spina bifida. Most babies who undergo the procedure experience significantly fewer health concerns and better functionality than those who receive surgery after they're born, with some of the first patients now learning to walk on their own.

Experts hope to expand the program to model other types of birth defects in utero that may be treated through fetal surgery in the future.
A project at Newcastle University investigating long-term inflammation of the heart following COVID-19 infection has been awarded a grant of almost 150,000 by national charity Heart Research UK.

Around 10% of COVID-19 patients in the UK will suffer from so-called long-COVID, where symptoms continue for more than three months. In addition to causing chest infection and breathing problems, COVID-19 can also affect the heart, which is associated with poorer survival chances.

While older patients, men and those with cardiovascular disease are at highest risk, all of these subgroups also have a weaker adaptive immune response in common. Heart injury caused by COVID-19, and particularly the role of the immune system, is poorly understood.

Possibly up to half of patients who are admitted to hospital with COVID-19 have ongoing inflammation of their heart muscle and vessels, independent of pre-existing conditions, severity and overall course of the acute illness, or time from the original diagnosis.

The aim of this project, which will be led by Professor Ioakim Spyridopoulos, Professor of Cardiovascular Gerontology at Newcastle University, is to study the role of the immune system in long-term heart inflammation.

Professor Spyridopoulos and the team plan to:

Identify specific blood markers that can tell us if there is still inflammation in the heart

Understand the mechanism of this ongoing inflammation

Discover which of the molecules in the immune response could be targeted by existing drugs to prevent future complications in patients recovering from COVID-19 and heart inflammation.

They will study blood samples from patients in the ongoing COVID-HEART trial, which involves a large UK consortium of leading researchers and clinicians led by Professor John Greenwood from the University of Leeds. The project will use a novel technology, called spectral cytometry that can visualize hundreds of small cellular subgroups of the immune system.

This research has the potential to identify new blood markers of heart inflammation as well as guide specific immune-therapies to prevent ongoing heart inflammation and therefore reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications in patients recovering from COVID-19.

Professor Spyridopoulos said: A significant number of patients seem to suffer for many months after COVID-19 infection, specifically with heart-related symptoms such as palpitations, breathlessness, chest pain or simply overall tiredness.

We would like to understand the reason why these patients do not recover as well from Covid-19, and whether their immune system reacts differently. Ultimately, we would like to identify these patients quickly, and hopefully be able to offer some kind of treatment.
People who feel younger have a greater sense of well-being, better cognitive functioning, less inflammation, lower risk of hospitalization and even live longer than their older-feeling peers. A study published by the American Psychological Association suggests one potential reason for the link between subjective age and health: Feeling younger could help buffer middle-aged and older adults against the damaging effects of stress.

In the study, published in Psychology and Aging, researchers from the German Centre of Gerontology analyzed three years of data from 5,039 participants in the German Ageing Survey, a longitudinal survey of residents of Germany age 40 and older. The survey included questions about the amount of perceived stress in peoples' lives and their functional health - how much they were limited in daily activities such as walking, dressing and bathing. Participants also indicated their subjective age by answering the question, "How old do you feel?"

The researchers found, on average, participants who reported more stress in their lives experienced a steeper decline in functional health over three years, and that link between stress and functional health decline was stronger for chronologically older participants.

However, subjective age seemed to provide a protective buffer. Among people who felt younger than their chronological age, the link between stress and declines in functional health was weaker. That protective effect was strongest among the oldest participants.

Generally, we know that functional health declines with advancing age, but we also know that these age-related functional health trajectories are remarkably varied. As a result, some individuals enter old age and very old age with quite good and intact health resources, whereas others experience a pronounced decline in functional health, which might even result in need for long-term care. Our findings support the role of stress as a risk factor for functional health decline, particularly among older individuals, as well as the health-supporting and stress-buffering role of a younger subjective age." Markus Wettstein, PhD, Study Lead Author, University of Heidelberg

The results suggest that interventions that aim to help people feel younger could reduce the harm caused by stress and improve health among older adults, according to the researchers - though further study is needed to help determine what kind of interventions would work best.

For example, Wettstein said, messaging campaigns to counteract ageism and negative age stereotypes and to promote positive views on aging could help people feel younger. In addition, more general stress-reduction interventions and stress management training could prevent functional health loss among older adults, according to Wettstein.

Finally, more research is needed to figure out the ideal gap between subjective and chronological age, according to Wettstein, as previous research has suggested that it's helpful to feel younger up to a point but that benefits decrease as the gap between subjective and chronological age increases. "Feeling younger to some extent might be adaptive for functional health outcomes, whereas 'feeling too young' might be less adaptive or even maladaptive," he said.
As state and federal authorities decide whether to continue reimbursing for telehealth services that were suddenly adopted last spring in response to the coronavirus pandemic, a new study out of UC San Francisco has found that clinicians in the San Francisco Health Network (SFHN) overwhelmingly support using these services for outpatient primary care and specialty care visits.

The results surprised the research team, which includes a number of clinicians at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center (ZSFG), since they witnessed firsthand the difficulties that many of their colleagues and patients experienced when they had to turn to telehealth overnight. ZSFG is part of the San Francisco Health Network, where the survey was conducted, which also includes clinics run by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

"That transition was so painful for many people: to find a new way to provide medical care," said Anjana Sharma, MD, MAS, assistant professor of family and community medicine at UCSF and first author of the paper, published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. "We were surprised to see that 9 out of 10 clinicians expressed comfort with providing care by phone and video."

She said the team was also surprised at the concerns that providers expressed over whether they could accurately diagnose patients remotely. Almost 60 percent of those surveyed questioned the diagnostic safety of providing health care services over the telephone, and 35 percent had those concerns about diagnosing on video.

And there were other problems. Some 44 percent of clinicians reported that speech, hearing and cognitive barriers made telephone visits impractical. Significant portions also reported having patients who either did not have access to video (39 percent) or had no phone at all (38 percent), while 40 percent reported seeing patients who had trouble setting up video access because of language or educational barriers, and 35 percent reported patients without Internet.

Still, more than 90 percent of the clinicians surveyed said they planned to continue using phone and video to care for their patients after the COVID-19 pandemic ended.

For patients who can utilize the technology, particularly for follow-up care after a diagnosis has already been made, the benefits of telehealth are overwhelming. It saves time and money, especially for people who cannot easily get time off work to see the doctor or who may have childcare responsibilities. And, for those with access to video at home, the technology can make it easier to include other family members.

People have been talking about telemedicine forever, but this transformation would have never happened if not for the pandemic. It's the reimbursement flexibility that drove this to be possible." Anjana Sharma, MD, MAS, Study First Author and Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of California -San Francisco

State and federal authorities are currently debating whether to lower or potentially eliminate payments for video and telephone visits that have been reimbursed at near similar levels to in-person visits throughout the public health emergency.

"We do believe that video visits are higher quality and are probably safer for patients," Sharma said. "But we don't want to leave anyone behind. We're trying to say, 'both/and.' It makes sense to improve our video capacity for patients. But if telephone reimbursement goes away, that will be devastating for our patients."
Scientists are calling for more stringent pesticide bans to lower deaths caused by deliberately ingesting toxic agricultural chemicals, which account for one fifth of global suicides.

A Sri Lankan worker using pesticides without any protection. Image Credit: University of South Australia

A NHMRC funded study, in which the University of South Australia analyzed the patient plasma pesticide concentrations, has identified discrepancies in World Health Organization (WHO) classifications of pesticide hazards that are based on animal doses rather than human data.

As a result, up to five potentially lethal pesticides are still being used in developing countries in the Asia Pacific, where self-poisonings account for up to two thirds of suicides.

In a paper published in Lancet Global Health, UniSA Research Chair of Therapeutics and Pharmaceutical Science, Professor Michael Roberts, says while deaths from pesticide poisonings have fallen dramatically in recent years, it is still a common cause of global suicides.

Each year, more than 150,000 people die from deliberately ingesting pesticides, although this number was much higher  averaging 260,000 a year  before specific chemicals were banned.

Prof Roberts was a member of a team of international researchers who used Sri Lanka as a case study, in which they compared the number of deaths from pesticides in a rural area between 2002 and 2019.

Of 35,000 people (mainly men aged in their late 20s) hospitalized for pesticide self-poisoning, 6.6 per cent died.

The three most toxic agents were paraquat, dimethoate and fenthion, which were all banned by 2011, reflected in much lower fatalities after that date. Since then, five other common pesticides still allowed by the WHO were disproportionately responsible for 24 per cent of fatalities, the team found.

If human data for acute toxicity of pesticides was used for hazard classification and regulation worldwide, it would prevent many deaths and have a substantial impact on global suicide rates. Australia is fortunate in that its regulations properly balance good pesticide use versus public health concern. Michael Roberts, Professor and UniSA Research Chair, Therapeutics and Pharmaceutical Science

He predicts that fatal poisonings across Asia could fall by more than 50 per cent, and total suicides in the region could fall by at least a third.

Instead, the WHO classifications are largely based on animal median lethal doses. This method ignores the differences between species and how they respond to treatment, and the formulations used.

Fatalities from pesticide poisonings also differed greatly from that predicted by the WHO classification.

The researchers have called for the WHO to eliminate all pesticides with fatality rates above five per cent.

Setting a global benchmark and relying on human data is critical to reducing suicides, particularly in countries such as Sri Lanka, South Korea, Bangladesh and China, where agriculture is still a dominant industry. Michael Roberts

We also found evidence that some banned agents were still in circulation due to illegal importation, so there is still a need to tighten existing regulations, Prof Roberts says.
Some 2,103 mutations have been identified in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common fatal genetic disease in Canada, and together they pose huge challenges for patients and researchers, including those affiliated with Universite de Montreal and its teaching hospital, the Centre hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal (CHUM).

Nearly 4,400 Canadians are today living with CF, which is caused by mutations in a gene called CFTR (cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator). Although the disease affects several organs, the main cause of death is related to the gradual deterioration of the lungs and their loss of function.

In the lungs of a person in good health, the CFTR gene produces a crucial protein for hydration of the airway surface and removal of mucus, the first line of defence against infection. When the gene is defective, it no longer plays its role; chronic infection ensues, leading to severe pulmonary damage and a gradual decline in pulmonary function. A lung transplant becomes necessary, or ultimately the patient dies.

Two scientists leading the way to better outcomes are Emmanuelle Brochiero and Damien Adam of the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM). An UdeM medical professor, Brochiero is director of the CRCHUM's pulmonary physiopathology laboratory; Adam is a researcher there. In their laboratory, they are studying pulmonary damage and ways of improving the ability of injured lungs to repair and regenerate.

With May being the U.S. Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's CF Awareness Month, the two scientists are keen to give an overview of their various research projects related to this debilitating disease.

What treatments are currently offered for cystic fibrosis?

For a long time, most treatments were aimed at reducing symptoms, particularly by fighting infection. In the last 10 years, new treatments have been developed that directly target the defects caused by some of the mutations affecting the CFTR gene.

In this regard, a first drug, Kalydeco, was approved. The problem is that it targets mutations found in fewer than 10 per cent of patients. Other CFTR modulators, Orkambi and Symdeko, were developed for patients carrying the most common mutation, F508del.

Today, Trikafta, a triple combination therapy which is potentially more effective, could be used to treat up to 80 per cent of patients. This precision medicine drug is not yet available in this country, but has been accepted by Health Canada for a priority review.

What obstacles still have to be overcome?

Unfortunately, the efficacy of these drugs is limited and variable among patients, and a non-negligible proportion of patients are not eligible for these treatments.

In people with cystic fibrosis, the lungs are damaged and their ability to self-repair is hampered by the basic defect in the CFTR channel and the presence of bacterial infections, particularly by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Moreover, our laboratory showed that these bacteria reduce the efficacy of treatments targeting CFTR.

Therefore, the goals of our team are to identify ways of counteracting the negative effect of the bacteria, improving treatment efficacy and promoting lung repair, regardless of the type of mutation. In recent years, we've shown in vitro that molecules interfering with the production of harmful virulence factors by bacteria would help maintain the effectiveness of treatments on CFTR and the repair of airway tissue.

We're now pursuing this line of research to counteract the effects of infection, limit its impact on therapies and promote the restoration of lung tissue integrity.

From a personalized medicine perspective, we also want to predict treatment efficacy based on the types of bacteria present in the lungs of people with the disease. Indeed, bacteria change as the disease progresses and, logically, treatments should adapt. Easier said than done!

Can we look forward to personalized treatments for cystic fibrosis?

In our laboratory, we can count on a biobank of cells and tissue that contains rare samples from patients with different lung diseases, including cystic fibrosis. Thanks to our expertise in tissue engineering, we are able to recreate respiratory epithelial tissues using cells from the respiratory and pulmonary tracts of patients. This allows us to study the disease and test our therapeutic approaches aimed at repairing the lungs.

In short, our research team is able to map and predict therapeutic response to CFTR modulators, in the presence of different bacterial strains taken from patients at various stages of the disease. We recently established protocols to assess our personalized treatment strategies promoting epithelial repair on living lung tissues, in the presence of mucus from patients, collected during lung transplantation.

Thanks to the wealth of this biobank, tissue samples from healthy subjects and cystic fibrosis patients with a range of mutations are available. This allows them to consider the possibility of personalizing and testing therapeutic cocktails combining treatments targeting the CFTR channel and other ionic channels, as well as molecules attenuating bacterial virulence. These strategies will be tested on cells and tissues from patients eligible for current treatments as well as those carrying rare mutations.

We're united by a single goal: promoting the repair and regeneration of lung tissue in all patients with cystic fibrosis, regardless of their mutation.
Pell City, AL (35125)

Today

Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Localized flooding is possible.
Jeffersonville, IN (47130)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening. Fog developing late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening. Fog developing late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Jeffersonville, IN (47130)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
RTHK: Australia to end ban on citizens returning from India

Australia will not extend a controversial ban on citizens returning from Covid-hit India, the country's prime minister said on Friday following widespread public outrage.

Scott Morrison this week barred all travel from India, fearing a large number of Covid-positive arrivals would overwhelm Australia's already strained quarantine facilities.

The move stranded an estimated 9,000 Australian citizens and threatened them with large fines and jail time if they tried to dodge the ban and return on non-direct flights.

The conservative prime minister on Friday said that the measures would remain in place until May 15 as planned, but then repatriation flights could resume.

"The determination was designed to be a temporary measure and the medical advice... is that it will be safe to allow it to expire as planned on 15 May," he said.

Three flights are being planned to return the most vulnerable Australians still in India, bringing them to a remote Outback quarantine facility.

No decision has been taken yet on whether commercial flights will also resume.

Morrison's ban caused widespread outrage, with even allies describing it as racist and an abandonment of vulnerable Australians overseas.

He had already walked back the threats to prosecute returning Australians, saying it was "highly unlikely" the punishment would ever be meted out.

The legality of the ban is being challenged in federal court, with a hearing set to take place on Monday.

Australia has no widespread community transmission of Covid-19, but has seen several outbreaks emerge from hotel quarantine facilities, causing disruptive city lockdowns.

Since March 2020, Australians have been barred from travelling overseas and a hard-to-get individual exemption is needed for foreign visitors to enter the country. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2021-05-07. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
BEIJING, May 7 -- Three salvage ships sent by the Chinese Navy have reached Bali Sea waters to help salvage the wreckage of Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala-402, that sank last month with 53 crewmembers on board, according to media reports on May 4. The diving depths of the three salvage ships can reach 4,500 meters underwater.

CCTV's military channel reported earlier that, among the three Chinese salvage vessels dispatched to Indonesia, the Yongxingdao (Hull 863), independently designed and built by China, has a full displacement of about 13,000 tons and mainly undertakes the missions of submarine assistance, shipwreck salvage, rescue and towing of wrecked surface ships.

Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said on April 30 that the Chinese military expressed deep condolences to the victims of the sunken Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402 and extended sincere sympathies to the bereaved families. Ren noted that, at the request of the Indonesian government, the Chinese military had sent vessels to relevant waters of the Lombok Strait to coordinate the Indonesian side in rescuing the sunken submarine.

On May 1, the Indonesian Navy said in a statement that it welcomed the Chinese Navy's humanitarian assistance to the Indonesian government. Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Yudo Margono revealed to the press on April 30 about the progress of the salvage of the submarine and hoped the Chinese naval salvage ships would offer assistance in lifting the heaviest components of the wrecked submarine.
(Newser)  In a possibly futile effort to please both Italian Americans who celebrate Christopher Columbus and racial justice advocates who accuse him of genocide, the New York City public school system has designated Oct. 11 as Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day. The double-naming of the school holiday happened Tuesday after a calendar for the 2021-22 school year was initially posted with Oct. 11, the AP reports, which is Columbus Day, a state holiday, labeled simply Indigenous Peoples' Day. The change, which was made without the knowledge of the city's mayor, drew swift condemnation from elected officials, including Democratic state Sens. Diane Savino and Joe Addabbo, who called the renaming of Columbus Day "block-headed" and said it did "terrible disservice to a difficult and complex conversation." The city Department of Education then backtracked and changed the name again.

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"Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day will celebrate the contributions and legacies of Italian Americans and recognize that Native people are the first inhabitants of the land that became our country," department spokesperson Danielle Filson said in a statement. That compromise then drew fresh condemnation Wednesday from New York's Italian American governor, Andrew Cuomo, who said it was divisive to force the two groups to share a holiday. "I support an Indigenous peoples' holiday, but I also support Columbus Day. You can have an Indigenous peoples' day without intruding on Columbus Day," Cuomo said. Cuomo, a Democrat, said Columbus Day will remain a state holiday. It is also a federal holiday. The legacy of Columbus has drawn scrutiny in recent years, with cities and states renaming the second Monday in October to honor the Indigenous populations that were decimated by violence and disease after Europeans arrived in the Americas.

(Read more Columbus Day stories.)
(Newser)  A backlash quickly followed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' appearance Thursday on Fox & Friends, in which he signed a voting lawsome of it from Fox News. Reporters and cameras from other outlets weren't allowed into the event, with the governor's aides telling the crowd that his Fox & Friends visit was "an exclusive." That was news to Fox, the Miami Herald reports. Producers didn't know DeSantis was going to do anything other than talk, the network said later in the day, adding that the governor had been booked for "an interview and not as a live bill signing." In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, Fox said it never asked that the appearance be an exclusive. DeSantis announced on Twitter that he'd be signing the bill just before he went on the show. There was no comment from his office about the network's statements.

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Asked about keeping every outlet but Fox out of the signing later in the morning, DeSantis said: "We were happy to give them the exclusive on that. Thats broadcast to millions of people." Journalists objected to being shut out, per CNBC. "Not a single reporter is being let in," one tweeted. "This in a 'sunshine' state that prides itself on open government." A bill signing usually is a public event, a Florida First Amendment lawyer said. Another said public officials can't keep news media out of a public event. "Regardless whether it violates the First Amendment, which it may, it's bad government," he said. Georgia's governor recently signed a law adding voting restrictions behind closed doors, which led to the arrest of a lawmaker who tried to witness it. (Read more Ron DeSantis stories.)
(Newser)  A Milwaukee man pleaded guilty Thursday to killing his 5-year-old son in June 2019 because he was upset his children were eating the cheesecake he'd received for Father's Day while the man, Travis Stackhouse, now 30, only got one piece. Stackhouse was on trial this week for first-degree homicide, but two days into the testimony from the state's witnesses, he agreed to plead guilty to second-degree reckless homicide, child abuse, and child neglect, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Stackhouse had previously admitted to hitting the boy in the face, then leaving for a bar. The boy's mother called 911 hours later, and the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.

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But authorities found the boy died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen, having also suffered a ruptured stomach, bruised kidneys, and a torn adrenal gland. Stackhouse told police the boy had fallen down the stairs, but the injuries didn't appear consistent with that, and the boy's then-6-year-old brother told police that hadn't actually happened, the Journal-Sentinel reported in 2019. Stackhouse was reportedly upset at the idea of the boy being called as a witness, and agreed to allow his police interview to be shown to the jury instead. He later asked to talk to his mother, and then ultimately agreed to the plea. He faces 37 years behind bars. He'll be sentenced June 29, CBS 58 reports. (Read more Milwaukee stories.)
(Newser)  A standoff at a St. Cloud, Minnesota, bank ended Thursday night around 10:30pm after starting almost nine hours earlier. Police were called to the Wells Fargo branch around 1:45pm to reports of a possible robbery in progress, the St. Cloud Times reports. It turned into a hostage situation, and over the course of a few hours, five employees were released, some of whom escaped on their own, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. After the final employee came out, police went in and arrested a male suspect, who was led out of the building in handcuffs. Apparently, no customers were held hostage, KNSI Radio reports, and no one was injured during the incident.

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Police say the 35-year-old suspect has a long history with law enforcement and was supposed to be at a court hearing Thursday for a "violent offense." They also said he had a "prior dispute with the bank." One witness says he was in the bank's drive-through when a teller suddenly told him to leave; he says he saw other customers running out the front door as he did so. The suspect reportedly had a bank employee post a sticky note on the drive-through window with a phone number for police to call for negotiations. As the hours wore on, with onlookers cheering as hostages came out one by one, police ordered pizza for themselves and the suspect for dinner.

(Read more Minnesota stories.)
(Newser)  COVID-19 has claimed an infectious disease expert who put his brilliant mind to work on the coronavirus itself. Dr. Rajendra Kapila, a professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and a founding member of the New Jersey Infectious Disease Society, tested positive for COVID-19 in India on April 8 before dying April 28, reports the Hindustan Times. Ex-wife Dr. Bina Kapila tells WABC that the 81-year-old travelled to India in March to care for familya risky move considering he was 81 and had diabetes and heart problems. However, his wife, Dr. Deepti Saxena-Kapila, tells the Times that she and her husband received the Pfizer vaccine before traveling, with the intent to stay a short time near Delhi, where he was hospitalized. "It is ironic that  he contracted it here [in India]," she adds, noting she's been "working at a COVID-19 lab in New Jersey" for the last year.

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"When coronavirus outbreak began, he devoted his time in its research," Dr. Ruby Bansal, an HIV specialist in India, tells the Times. "His studies in the field of infectious diseases, be it HIV or fungi or even coronavirus, was par excellence." Dr. Marc Klapholz, chair of Rutgers' department of medicine, says Kapila was "sought out for his legendary knowledge ... in diagnosing and treating the most complex infectious diseases." He was at the forefront of AIDS research in the 1980s after serving as assistant chief of medicine for the US Army in Okinawa, Japan, during the Vietnam War. He'd begun his career in the US at Martland Hospital in Newark. Bina Kapila says her ex was "so brilliant," even as a medical student at the University of Delhi, that his professors would defer to him. (India set a global record for cases again on Friday.)
(Newser)  Thanks to DNA evidence, an Ohio man has been arrested and charged with murder, 26 years after a woman who served as a bridesmaid in his wedding was brutally killed in her Texas townhouse. Mary Catherine Edwards, a 31-year-old teacher who lived alone in Beaumont, was last seen on Jan. 13, 1995, reports 12News. When her parents couldn't reach her by phone the next day, they headed to her home and found her drowned in an upstairs bathtub. But it wasn't an accidental death: Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and her head had been shoved into the water, per KJAS. Authorities later determined she'd been sexually assaulted before she was killed. The case soon went cold. But in early 2020 police started to make headway after entering DNA from the crime scene into GEDmatch, a public DNA database, reports the Beaumont Enterprise.

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Authorities were able to ID second cousins and other distant relatives of the suspect, and they started building a family tree, eventually using all of that evidence to narrow down their possibilities to Clayton Bernard Foreman and his brother. Foreman's brother had no rap sheet, but Foreman himself had pleaded guilty to the 1981 rape of a classmate. And there were striking similarities between that assault and Edwards' murdernotably, they'd both been sexually assaulted with their hands restrained behind their backs. Both women were also former classmates of Foreman, with Edwards having been a bridesmaid in Foreman's 1982 wedding to his first wife. Investigators managed to get DNA evidence directly from Foreman, 61, by collecting trash outside his Ohio home. It was a match, and he was arrested April 29 in Franklin County. Beaumont prosecutors and law enforcement are now working on getting him extradited. (Read more murder stories.)
(Newser)  India now has the grim designation of having recorded least 400,000 COVID infections three times in one month. The Washington Post reports the nation announced 414,188 new cases on Fridaya global record. CNBC looks at the data another way: In the past seven days, India has recorded more than 2.7 million cases and almost 26,000 deaths. That's an average of at least 153 people dying every hour. The AP says that not even half of the country's federal states currently have coronavirus restrictions in place, and that has more and more people clamoring for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put a tough national lockdown in place. The country's GDP shrank 23% in Q2 of last year due to the country's two-month-long lockdown, which has economic considerations factoring heavily into current moves. More:

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Among those calling loudly for the lockdown was India's main opposition leader, Rahul Gandhi. Reuters quotes a Friday letter by Gandhi that described the responsibility India has in our "globalized and interconnected world" to curb the spread of the virus. "India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form."

As for what Modi is doing these days, CNN has one answer: moving ahead with an extremely expensive construction project. The $1.8 billion Central Vista Redevelopment Project, as it is known, involves the expansion and construction of parliament buildings and a new prime minister's residence in the capital. Large parts of it are projected to be done by the end of 2022, with the full project done in 2026and more than 45,000 construction workers engaged on it in the process, raising fears of COVID spread. The project has been classified as an essential service, allowing it to move forward though most other construction is on ice. The Supreme Court is expected to hear a case on the matter Friday.

In another sign of how awful things are in the country, CNBC reports it's not just the mega-rich who are fleeing via private jet. The CEO of private jet charter company JetSetGo says booking are up 900%, and as many as 80% of customers are upper middle class. "In the last 10 days, what we have really seen is anyone who can put together the resources and the means to pool in money for a private jet, or to pool in money just to get out of the country, getting out."

(Read more India stories.)
(Newser)  At least 74 COVID-19 cases are associated with a 3,700-member church in Salem, Ore., that is planning three in-person Mother's Day services on Sunday regardless. The Oregon Health Authority began investigating the outbreak at Peoples Church two days after Easter Sunday, when the church hosted three indoor services, per the Washington Post. But it only notified the public of what is now "the state's eighth-largest active workplace outbreak" on Wednesday, the Salem Statesman Journal reports. In-person services have continued though Pastor Scott Erickson and his wife were hospitalized with COVID-19 in mid-April. The health authority said the most recent case linked to the church was reported April 29. A church rep says "we are concerned about the COVID-19 surge in Oregon" which "has impacted our entire region, including our church family" but adds in-person services will continue.

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Marion County churches were limited to 25% normal occupancy, up to a maximum of 150 people, until April 30 when that maximum was reduced to 100 people. Masks and physical distancing have long been required. But photos from church services show "neither masks nor physical distancing," per the Statesman Journal. The daughter of two attendees with COVID-19 says she demanded the church stop in-person services, citing its "refusal to follow CDC guidelines," but the church claimed its cases were linked to a larger increase across the state. It also said it was encouraging the use of masks and social distancing. The church, part of the Assemblies of God, was one of 10 to sue last year over Gov. Kate Brown's COVID-19 restrictions, which limited all gatherings to 25 people. With virtual services, "you miss the opportunity to feel God's presence," the Post quotes Erickson as saying at the time. (Read more COVID-19 stories.)
(Newser)  The new monthly jobs report came in way below expectations on Friday, with employers hiring 266,000 people in April instead of the 1 million or so expected by analysts. The report has reignited a familiar political debate amid the pandemic, with those on the right arguing that President Biden's relief package is so generous that it encourages people to stay home instead of getting a job. Defenders of the aid, however, say it's not that simple. Coverage:

Chamber's view: The US Chamber of Commerce on Friday came out firing after the unemployment report, reports CNBC. The disappointing jobs report makes it clear that paying people not to work is dampening what should be a stronger jobs market, it says. The chamber urged lawmakers to end "the weekly $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit," asserting that 25% of those receiving it are making more money than they did when working.

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Not so fast: The argument that extra benefits encourages people to stay home has been circulating for a while, and last month in the Los Angeles Times, business columnist Michael Hiltzik argued that it doesn't hold water. "Economists have consistently debunked the idea that unemployment insurance benefits suppress job searching," he writes. Those who say otherwise are citing anecdotes, not data, he adds.

The argument that extra benefits encourages people to stay home has been circulating for a while, and last month in the Los Angeles Times, business columnist Michael Hiltzik argued that it doesn't hold water. "Economists have consistently debunked the idea that unemployment insurance benefits suppress job searching," he writes. Those who say otherwise are citing anecdotes, not data, he adds. Other factors: Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal dug into the issue of employers struggling to find workers, and the story cited a number of factors based on surveys. For one thing, people are afraid of getting COVID, especially in high-traffic places such as bars and restaurants; others cite child-care issues, because businesses are opening faster than schools.

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal dug into the issue of employers struggling to find workers, and the story cited a number of factors based on surveys. For one thing, people are afraid of getting COVID, especially in high-traffic places such as bars and restaurants; others cite child-care issues, because businesses are opening faster than schools. One example: But the story notes that the extra unemployment benefits appear to be playing a role as well. The story quotes a concert promoter who wants to return to work in his own field and is avoiding taking other jobs because his $750 in weekly benefits makes that possible. I really enjoyed what I did, he says. If the government is going to pay you to stay home, youre going to do that unless that job you really want comes along.

But the story notes that the extra unemployment benefits appear to be playing a role as well. The story quotes a concert promoter who wants to return to work in his own field and is avoiding taking other jobs because his $750 in weekly benefits makes that possible. I really enjoyed what I did, he says. If the government is going to pay you to stay home, youre going to do that unless that job you really want comes along. Biden vs. McCarthy: Expect the issue to intensify. Biden himself defended his rescue package on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, notes the Hill. "Help is here and more help is on the way and more help is needed, he said. In contrast is this tweet from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Todays jobs report is a disappointmentjust like President Bidens plan to burden families with more taxes & more debt, he wrote. While Dems trap people in a cycle of fear & pay them NOT to work, its clear the best thing to do is end the crisis-era policies & get Americans back to work.

Expect the issue to intensify. Biden himself defended his rescue package on Friday in the wake of the jobs report, notes the Hill. "Help is here and more help is on the way and more help is needed, he said. In contrast is this tweet from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Todays jobs report is a disappointmentjust like President Bidens plan to burden families with more taxes & more debt, he wrote. While Dems trap people in a cycle of fear & pay them NOT to work, its clear the best thing to do is end the crisis-era policies & get Americans back to work. Eye on the states: States may make their own moves. Montana, for example, plans to start offering bonuses to people who return to work, reports KRTV. It also plans to opt out early of the federal program that provides extra benefitsby the end of next month instead of September.

(Read more unemployment stories.)
(Newser)  An Army trainee is being held in South Carolina after hijacking a school bus with 18 children and the driver on it, authorities said. No one was injured, CNN reports. Pvt. Jovan Collazo, 23who was in his third week of basic trainingwanted to go home, a Fort Jackson spokeswoman said. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said the focus now is on helping the schoolchildren, who were offered counseling after being "scared to death." Collazo, who's in the custody of local authorities, faces charges including 19 counts of kidnapping, armed robbery, carjacking, use of a weapon during a violent crime, and unlawfully carrying a weapon on school property. Army officials said they'll decide whether to charge him once the local case is resolved. Fort Jackson's commander apologized and said he'd fix the breakdown in processes.

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The sheriff said the scare began when a trainee jumped a fence during a personal hygiene period before breakfast, carrying a rifle. The spokeswoman said trainees have rifles, in preparation for marksmanship training, but not ammunition, per the Army Times. The sheriff's department then got a call that someone on the interstate was flagging down vehicles and trying to get in. The trainee reached a bus stop and got on the bus as children were boarding, Lott said, and a sheriff's deputy was stopped by a parent who said a man had a gun on their child's school bus. He "told the bus driver he didn't want to hurt him, but wanted him to take him to the next town," the sheriff said. The trainee grew frustrated as the children asked whether he was going to hurt them and ordered everybody out. He drove the bus for a few miles but parked after having trouble with it, Lott said, then walked through a neighborhood looking for "rice and clothes." (Read more hijacking stories.)
(Newser)  An Oklahoma lawyer who's a descendant of Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca Tribe has called on a Harvard University museum to return a relic it has on display, arguing that it lacks a moral right to possess it. "Standing Bear's tomahawk in your possession is an item of patrimony," Brett Chapman wrote to the museum in an email, the Guardian reports. "You must understand that you will only benefit by repatriating it." The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology answered with what Chapman considers a brush-off; he tweeted the response and suggestion of dialogue. Chapman has hope because the museum, after being accused of breaking the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, recently apologized for causing pain when it refused to return other Native American objects.

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Standing Bear was one of the first Native Americans to be accorded civil rights under US law, after suing, per the Hill. He was arrested in 1879 after walking off the government reservation in Oklahoma, on his way to bury his son. Standing Bear won a milestone case declaring an Indian as a person and gave the tomahawk to one of his pro bono lawyers in gratitude. If there had been no forced removal of the tribes, Chapman said, Standing Bear wouldn't have given his lawyer the tomahawk, which eventually found its way to the museum. "Youre holding something that belonged to this man who did something great," Chapman told the museum, which issued no comment. "And were still here today and we can still have a physical touch with that past." (Read more Native Americans stories.)
Kiwi comedian Guy Williams has confronted the North Island man who chopped the phallus off a Maori carving with a new statue, which has a retractable, robotic penis.

In an episode of Three's New Zealand Today on Thursday night, Williams went to meet Milton Wainwright - the Woodville willy whacker - who was convicted of wilful damage of the statue in 2019.

The 80-year-old, who is devoutly religious and runs an organ museum in the small town, used a chainsaw to chop off the carving's member on a walking track in the Manawatu Gorge, leaving local iwi distraught.
Real estate agents say the Government's tax changes are having a "huge" impact on investors, with all regions slowing down after the March announcement.

To try and help first home buyers get a foot in the door the Government cracked down on property investors by increasing the bright-line test from five to 10 years and removing the ability for investors to offset their interest expenses against their rental income.

Real estate agents surveyed by independent economist Tony Alexander, in conjunction with the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), said the changes have made a significant difference to investors.

In Auckland "some" investors are still buying property but in much smaller numbers.

"Investors are on pause," one estate agent told Alexander.

"I get the feeling when our listings dry up over winter and the price squeeze goes on, investors will realise prices are not falling and will buy back in again."

It's a similar story in Canterbury with a "huge decrease" in investors following the Government announcement - but numbers are starting to creep back up.
It is time to fire back up the trans-Tasman bubble with New South Wales, according to an infectious disease specialist who says he would not have shut it down in the first place.

The New Zealand Government paused quarantine-free travel with the state until midnight Saturday, pending more information after a Sydney man in his 50s and his wife tested positive for COVID-19 in the community.

Genome testing showed it was a similar strain to a person who was in quarantine after returning to Australia via the US, but authorities believe there could be other cases in the chain of infection.

However, Professor Peter Collignon from Australian National University said the risk of transmission between New South Wales and New Zealand was very low.

"With a population of about 5 million, there can't be that many people out in the community at the moment that have got it. Let's say worst case scenario, I'd assume there's four or five. It still means any one individual has less than a one in a million chance of having the virus at this point of time," he said.

"There must be a very low risk of anybody being in Sydney going back to New Zealand or anywhere else, of actually carrying the virus ... to put this in perspective, there's been people coming from overseas often, they've had a 1 or 2 percent chance of carrying the virus if they come back from the US or Europe for instance and slightly higher at the moment from India."
One of Fiji's latest cases of COVID-19 is a man who had travelled from Auckland last month.

On Thursday, Fijian officials confirmed the Pacific Island had recorded four new cases of the virus, bringing its total number of active infections to 42.

The 22-year-old Tongan national arrived in Nadi on flight FJ1410 from Auckland on April 22.

According to a statement by the Fijian government, the man is a travelling partner of a previously announced case detected in a quarantine facility.
Outside a busy vaccination site on Friday, Newshub attempted to conduct an interview with a woman yet to have her inoculation. Newshub was not on the site's grounds, but across the road on a footpath.

However, tensions began to rise when the security guard claimed Newshub was "disturbing" the vaccination efforts.

The woman and her partner had booked an appointment, but left due to queues and confusion over parking.

"Appalling, appalling - but that's this Government for you isn't it," the woman said.

"They've had a year to plan this. They haven't even got the local doctors involved in doing the injections," said her partner.

At another site in Mt Wellington, people queued outside for hours.



But Mary Winton's husband couldn't. He didn't want to miss a specialist appointment, so left without receiving the critically-important injection.

"It's taken all morning and in the end my husband had to give up to go on to his hospital appointment. So now I'm standing on the side of the road, waiting to find a taxi," Winton, a Bucklands Beach resident, told Newshub.

Mt Wellington resident Wendy Lelo arrived on-time for her appointment on Thursday, but decided it wasn't worth it after talking to a warden.

"I said I've got a 1pm appointment and he said, 'well, my dear, you could go and stand in the queue, but you could be waiting five hours'," Lelo said.

She has rebooked for a second attempt, but fears the delays could put others off.

"I think we're making a bit of a mess with the vaccines. I don't think the left-hand knows what the right-hand is doing at the moment."

The District Health Board (DHB) says it's working on it.

"We're really sorry for any inconvenience that people have experienced today. This is the biggest logistical exercise that's ever been undertaken by the healthcare system," Matt Hannant, the director of the Auckland COVID-19 vaccine programme, told Newshub.

Part of the problem is the DHB has allowed walk-ins from South Auckland at two sites, competing with those who have made bookings.

"It's great they're full to capacity. We want people to be able to access their vaccines," Hannant said.

"People can make a booking. That's still the best way to go."

But as demonstrated by Lelo's booking experience, making an appointment is not always the best way to go.

The medical director of The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, Bryan Betty, says the problem with the current system is that it's too centralised - and there are not enough access points to receive the jab.

GPs have been told they'll be needed for the vaccine rollout by July, but Betty says doctors have been given "very little" information about how that will work, how vaccines will be distributed, or how many doses clinics will receive.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health said it was their "vision" that doctors and pharmacists would help with the rollout, but couldn't explain why they were being left until July to get involved.
Ten years ago, the murder of Kiwi 17-year-old Emily Longley made headlines around the world.

Tonight, as Emily's family holds a candlelight vigil in her memory, they're reflecting on the impact her story has had on the awareness of domestic violence.

The confronting reality is the statistics haven't changed - and Emily's father, Mark Longley, says it's time to change the message.

A decade on, Emily's murder is still at the forefront of international headlines about shocking stories of violence.

"It just seems like yesterday that she was here - it's just a hard one to fathom," Longley said.
"I use Flourish as a way of talking about things I have gone through and reflected on, and also speak up about topics that aren't talked enough about because it can be pretty damn lonely."

She talks about the impact her work is having, and discusses the toll the events she says she has gone through has taken on her personally.

'I didn't want to acknowledge the reality'

When Laura was 17 years old in 2013, she says she was raped. At this time, Eustace was already in a mentally fragile state, and had been battling with depression and suicidal ideation.



She says of her decision to share the story with Newshub, she wants others to understand how something that happened to her almost a decade ago still affects her today.

"When I was 17, I went to a party of someone I was good friends with. While I was there, I had a couple of drinks, enough to get tipsy," she recalls.

"I was introduced to a person and we were chatting - they asked if I wanted to come and see the garage."

Eustace says she didn't think anything of this suggestion until the pair got to the garage and the person forced themselves on Eustace.

"I cried, I vomited, I said no, I tried to stop. At that moment I ended up freezing and wished it would be over. Afterwards he pulled up his pants, laughed it off, and walked straight out."

Later that night, the alleged perpetrator would trap Eustace in a room, where she says he forced himself on her again.

Eustace told Newshub she did not want to acknowledge what had happened and didn't want to accept that she was raped for a long time.

"In my head, I thought I had let it happen. I wanted the narrative to be that I had consented to it because I didn't want to acknowledge what the reality was," Eustace says.

Eustace didn't tell anyone the truth behind her experience until a year later, when the friend who had accompanied her to the party told her she had been raped.

"She felt guilty because she was also at the party. It was only recently that she has been able to work through that guilt," Eustace says.

Ten minutes from death



After finishing school, Eustace moved to Sydney to study business at the International College of Management.

Eustace says her mental health was rocky, and she continued to struggle with severe depression and suicidal ideations. She tells Newshub she "wasn't coping".

"I didn't realise the extent of how much trauma had been stored into my body. I had never worked on it."

In 2017, when Eustace was 21, her mental health hit rock bottom after her best friend passed away suddenly.

"My body just shut down," she says.

Feeling as though she was unable to cope, Eustace attempted to take her life, and almost succeeded. She was told if she had been found ten minutes later, she wouldn't have made it.

"I woke up with a tube down throat with people telling me I was lucky to be alive," she says.
International

After UK, UAE, Aus and Singapore, Sri Lanka ban travellers from India

COLOMBO, MAY 6 (PTI): | Publish Date: 5/7/2021 1:19:16 AM IST

Sri Lanka on Thursday announced that all arrivals from India will be banned with immediate effect due to the record rise in COVID-19 cases in the neighbouring country.

Several countries like the UK, the UAE, Australia and Singapore have already banned travellers from India as well as other South Asian countries.

The Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday said that travellers from India will not be allowed to disembark in Sri Lanka. The decision has been taken as the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly in India.

The Director General Civil aviation in a letter to the CEO of the national carrier Srilankan Airlines has said, in accordance with instructions received from health authorities of Sri Lanka due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, it is hereby directed that passengers travelling from India will not be permitted to disembark in Sri Lanka with immediate effect.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, nearly 2,000 new cases have been reported during each of the last 5 days up from average 200 per day up until mid April.

Described as the New Year cluster coming from the traditional New Year festivities mid April, the current wave is from the fast spreading UK variant, the health authorities said.

Sri Lanka had functioned as a transit hub for Indians visiting other destinations like West Asia and Singapore prior to which they needed to be quarantined for 14 days. This was an arrangement by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

The Sri Lankan tourism authorities were to continue receiving Indian tourists under a travel bubble for which special facilities were set up. This was despite the current difficult situation in India.

However, Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued instructions to allow Sri Lankan migrant workers to return to the country.

Last week the Sri Lankan Navy announced as a COVID containment measure that they had increased surveillance of north and northeastern seas to check the possibility of infected Indian fishermen crossing the international waters and making contacts with the locals.
There is a risk of exposure to tuberculosis (TB) for some Auckland University students after an infectious student visited the campus.

The Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) is contacting those who attended the same class as the TB infected pupil.

An email from ARPHS was sent to students who attended MEDSCI203, MEDSCI205 and CHEM390, identifying them as the classes visited by the infected person.

Medical officer of Health Dr Shanika Perera says ARPHS was recently notified of a student with infectious TB, and is now following a "well-established process" for managing the risk of further infection.

Health officials are working to determine the individual's close contacts who will be contacted by an ARPHS nurse via phone or email.

"TB is not easy to spread as it requires a prolonged exposure to transmit this disease. It is slow to develop and can be cured," Dr Perera.
The National Awards system began to fall apart under the fourth Labour Government, which ended compulsory arbitration. It meant employers could refuse to settle disputes.

Unions still had a place and industry bargaining still happened. But the Employment Contracts Act in 1991 dismantled the system and placed greater emphasis on mediation. There were far less strikes as a result.

Union density in New Zealand has since continued to decline, from about 42 percent of the workforce in 1991 to 17 percent in 2017.

What will Labour do?

All employees will be covered by FPAs under Labour's scheme, even if they aren't part of a union.

Any union will be able to initiate the FPA process as long as it can demonstrate support from either 10 percent or 1000 employees in the industry or occupation.

Simpson says it's another indication the Labour Government is "growing more interventionist by the day"

"This will see 90 percent of a workforce at the mercy of the other 10 percent and entire industries bound by agreements, whether they participate in the FPA bargaining process or not."

ACT leader David Seymour agrees.

"You cannot take a relic of the 1970s, dust it off, and make it stick 50 years on. We will wipe it off the statute books sooner or later - and the way this Government is abusing its power, it is starting to look like sooner."
The FPA framework, released on Friday by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood, is the same system proposed by former Prime Minister Jim Bolger who led the FPA working group in 2019.

The Government is drafting legislation, which will be introduced later this year, and is expected to pass in 2022.

When it comes into force, any union will be able to initiate the FPA process as long as they can demonstrate support from either 10 percent or 1000 employees in the proposed industry or occupation.

FPAs can also be initiated via a "public interest test" in an industry or occupation where employment issues exist, such as low pay or limited bargaining power.

All employees will be covered by FPAs, even if they aren't already part of a union.

Both employees and employers covered by a proposed FPA will be able to participate in the process. In the case of employers, there will be a "small weighting towards small businesses" to "ensure they have appropriate voice" in the process.

Industrial action cannot occur during negotiations.

"Fair Pay Agreements will improve wages and conditions for employees, encourage businesses to invest in training, as well as level the playing field so that good employers don't get undercut and disadvantaged," said Wood.

"For too long New Zealanders working in critical roles like cleaners, supermarket workers, and bus drivers whose work was essential to keep our country going during the pandemic, have been undervalued by our workplace relations system.

"Fair Pay Agreements are about turning that around and ensuring that working Kiwis get a fair go again."
MPs from both Labour and National say Parliament's resolution accusing China of committing "severe human rights abuses" in Xinjiang will no doubt upset the authoritarian regime.

But they have the backing of former US Ambassador to New Zealand Scott Brown, who says something has to be done.

The original motion, filed by the ACT Party and backed by the Greens and Maori Party, called China's treatment of its Uighur minority a "genocide". The eventual motion that passed watered that down to "severe human rights abuses".

Labour MP David Parker, a former Minister for Trade and Export Growth, acknowledged on Friday it would upset China, our biggest trading partner.

"Probably, yep," he told The AM Show. "By publicly, through Parliament, criticising the alleged human rights abuses in parts of China and saying that we think there should be transparent access allowed to international officials, like from the UN, to see how serious it is."
At the centre of the New Zealand-China relationship is a difficult juggling act; nurturing our all-important trade while also voicing concern about severe human rights abuses occurring within the Asian superpower.

It's not a new challenge and the diplomatic tightrope we're walking is not exclusive to our relationship with China. But growing aggression from our traditional allies towards Beijing has this year reignited debate about New Zealand's stance.

While New Zealand celebrates its independent foreign policy and asserts support for human rights, two-way trade with China is worth upwards of $33 billion, making it our largest trading partner. It's an important source of tourists and international students, both critical to Aotearoa's economy, especially post-COVID-19.

The two countries' relationship is therefore significant and, as Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said in April, one "in which all New Zealanders have an interest". She said we have to be respectful of China, while also acknowledging our differences.

But in the current volatile international environment, the question has been raised, yet again, of whether Aotearoa is too scared to criticise China out of fear of economic repercussions.

Nicholas Khoo, a specialist in Chinese foreign policy at Otago University, says trade is certainly a vulnerability for New Zealand when it criticises China's activities and the relationship is a case where "our economic interests diverge from our political values".

"We need to take careful consideration of the political issue and the economic interests that we have at stake in the relationship because it does seem that these issues are coming to a head in a very real way, not just for New Zealand, but again for other countries," Khoo told Newshub.

"It's a very important issue and we need to make some hard decisions here."
Minister for Children Kelvin Davis says he doesn't want kids being strip-searched in Oranga Tamariki facilities, but it can't just be stopped without a replacement.

Newshub Nation on Saturday morning revealed dozens of strip searches have been carried out in the state agency's Youth Justice residences in the past six months, mostly at a single facility in Christchurch.

Items found ranged from broken glass, a sharpened felt-tip and marijuana, to ripped clothing and string.

"Nobody likes strip searches - not the people being searched, not the people doing the searches - and it is something that is being phased out," Davis told Newshub Nation, after being shown reporter Anna Bracewell-Worrall's shocking report.

"We need to look at other ways of checking that people don't have concealed objects - scanning, patting down those sorts of things. So it is happening.

"But we've got to make sure that we phase it out in a way that is safe because, you know, there is criticism of Oranga Tamariki conducting strip searches on young people, but they'd also be the same people who would criticise Oranga Tamariki if someone was able to self-harm or harm others because they hadn't conducted those searches."
The Premier of New South Wales has taken issue with New Zealand pausing its travel bubble with the Australian state following the discovery of two community cases.

Earlier this week, a man in his 50s tested positive in NSW - the state's first community case in more than a month. His wife tested positive on Thursday, and there have also been traces of the virus in Sydney's sewage system. There are a large number of locations of interest in Sydney tied to the cases.

Genome sequencing has linked the case to a returnee to Australia from the United States, but no epidemiological link - meaning how the infected person actually contracted the virus - has yet been found.

In response to the situation, New Zealand on Thursday night paused the travel bubble from NSW to New Zealand - describing the move as a "cautious approach" - while investigations continue and officials await further testing.
Morrison said Australia has always "honoured" its arrangements in the Indo-Pacific, particularly its alliance with the United States.

"We're very cognisant of the uncertainties in our region, and I'm not one to speak at length on these things, because I don't wish to add to any uncertainty. But that's why we have the security arrangements we have in place.

"We have always understood the 'one system, two countries' arrangement, and we will continue to follow our policies there ... 'one country, two systems', I should say."

Morrison went on to say, "we have always stood for freedom in our part of the world".

It appears Morrison meant to refer to Australia's "one China policy" which does not recognise Taiwan as a country but does pursue trade, cultural and educational ties with the island. A similar stance is shared by New Zealand.

Morrison's comments came amid escalating tensions between Australia and China. On Thursday China "indefinitely" suspended a form of economic dialogue with Australia. It comes after a year of trade sanctions between the nations.

New Zealand's relationship with China is also strained after MPs on Wednesday afternoon unanimously agreed to a motion expressing grave concern about the abuses reported to be underway in China against the Uighur minority.

The stance angered the Chinese Embassy in Wellington who accused Parliament of interfering in China's affairs.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

An illegal shrimp fishing boat barged into a patrol vessel, killing a policeman and injuring several others, yesterday as it attempted to avoid inspection by Bahraini Coast Guards.

The incident occurred early morning yesterday when the Coast Guard crew noticed a boat sailing along a suspicious course in Bahraini waters. The crew contacted the boat and ordered them to stop, but the suspects made no response and continued their course.

When required to comply with the instruction, the boat changed its course without warning and rammed into the patrol vessel in an attempt to escape, said the Interior Ministry in a statement.

The impact, the ministry said, resulted in the martyrdom of a policeman and injuring two Coast Guard officers. A policeman died and two injured when a boat crashed into a marine patrol while attempting to escape, the Interior Ministry tweeted.

The injured coast guard officers were transferred to a nearby hospital by the national ambulance crew. The suspects then fled the scene and continued to the coast of Shahrakan.

Arrested from Shahrakan

Coast guard officials later said they were intercepted and took into custody. The Coast Guard Command announced arresting four men, all Asians by nationality, on the boat, from Shahrakan.

Investigators also found several other violations. Officers said the registration and licence were for other purposes and not meant for shrimping.

The crew, investigators said, also failed to switch on the automated identification device of the boat.

Shrimping ban

Interior Ministry said the coast guard patrol officers were on a mission to catch violators of the shrimp fishing ban in force in the Kingdom when the attack occurred. The annual six- month shrimp-catching ban came into effect in February this year. The decision is also in line with a GCC wide decision to protect fish stocks.

Accordingly, it is forbidden to catch shrimp in the territorial waters of Bahrain from February 1 to July 31 each year.
MARYVILLE, Mo.  The first students to attend their graduation ceremony from the latest Northwest Missouri State graduating class walked into Bearcat Arena for commencement Thursday after a year like no other, in an unusual gathering that included more than one class of graduates.

There were no public ceremonies of any kind in the region at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last winter, so the Class of 2020 was folded in with the Class of 2021. To accommodate everyone and allow for social distancing, the university split what is traditionally one large event into several events.

Traditionally known as commencement, the ceremonies mark the beginning of the students lives as a highly educated adults.

While remarking on how they managed to do this  joining about 4 in 10 Americans overall  Dr. John Jasinski made a number of light-hearted jokes about the nature of doing eight different ceremonies in just three days. Each event allows for 100 graduating students and a cap of four guests per student for the sake of social distancing.

Youve really entered a distinguished population of people who have persisted in reaching the goal of attaining a higher education degree, and youve completed that degree during a pandemic, the university president said at the first of two Thursday ceremonies. You are getting ready to walk across this stage, and I ask you to set the stage of how you will begin the next chapters of your lives as Bearcats.

Annika Johnson embraced the experience wholeheartedly. Graduating summa cum laude  the highest possible honor on the basis of grade-point average  the Maryville native said she firmly believes she is a better person having lived through the pandemic and achieved what she has during immense adversity.

If anything, it made it so that were more apt to deal with these situations in the future, she said. And I cant complain. I have been blessed. We have come throughout this together. It really was the best senior year I could have asked for, even with the pandemic.

Kelsey Evans was among those who have been done with all academics for months now, and chose to wait until this moment to receive the forest green ceremonial presentation case, shake hands with Dr. Jasinksi and his leadership cadre on stage, and turn the academic regalia tassel on her cap from right to left.

Just coming in here and being in the arena itself, I thought, We just all got through it together, she said. It was very impressive, and I was very happy.

Tomas Coalson and Ross Johnson walked in the Thursday night event together, saying their close brotherly friendship was indicative of the determination of everyone around them to succeed because of the challenges they faced in the last year, not merely despite them.

Once a bearcat, always a bearcat, the pair, shoulder to shoulder, vowed in unison as the NWMSU symphonic band played in the background.
Sports

Blow for Saina, Srikanth as India withdraw from Malaysia Open

Saina Nehwal

NEW DELHI, MAY 6 (IANS): | Publish Date: 5/7/2021 1:32:52 AM IST

Kidambi Srikanth and Saina Nehwals chances of making it to this years Tokyo Olympics are all but over after the Indian contingent withdrew from the Malaysian Open on Thursday. Malaysia has imposed a ban on travellers from India, which is witnessing a massive surge in Covid-19 cases during the second wave.

The Indian badminton team will have to withdraw from the Malaysian Open, scheduled from May 25 to 30, owing to a temporary travel restriction imposed by the Malaysian Government on travellers from India, said the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Thursday.

Malaysia Open was the second last event that provided points for Olympic qualification, with the final qualifier tournament being the Singapore Open Super 500 tournament scheduled to be held from June 1 to 6.

The tournament is one of the last events that contribute to Olympic qualification which ends on June 15. All top Indian singles and doubles players like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, Sai Praneeth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty, Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy were due to participate, said SAI.

It further said that the Sports Ministry, through the Ministry of External Affairs, approached the Malaysian authorities requesting to permit the Indian team to participate. The latter, however, denied the request, thus leading to the pull-out. There was no official update on the Singapore Open.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) had earlier said that it hopes to send players to Malaysia via Doha, Qatar.

Currently as per the guidelines laid out, for any Indian to enter Singapore, they have to either be in quarantine in a foreign country other than India for 14 days before they will be allowed to enter Singapore. Alternatively, all players have to maintain a 21-day quarantine period in Singapore, BAI had said on April 29.

If they are allowed to participate in the Singapore Open, Saina and Srikanth will at least have to make it to the final while hoping that players placed above them dont finish ahead of them. Additionally, players currently ranked above the duo could earn further points based on their performances in the Malaysian Open.
The family of Nick and Justin Diemel has grown frustrated with the Missouri justice system, as a trial for their alleged killer inches closer.

Pam Diemel, the mother of the two brothers, told News-Press NOW that her family will never get closure.

Its just very frustrating. Its, I mean, people want to move on with their lives, and we are unable to do it, Diemel said.

Police have zeroed in on a suspect; thats not the delay. Garland Joseph Nelson has been jailed since July of 2019. Hes charged with double murder, alongside a host of other felonies. Nelson faces the death penalty.

Pam Diemel has traveled from Wisconsin to Missouri for every single court date. And there have been many in the nearly two years since the case began.

Thats a long time to go, she said of the 10 hour drive. Thats a lot of useless trips.

Nelsons trial for murder was moved from spring of next year to summer of next year. He was supposed to face trial for a lesser stealing charge last month, but that was postponed on its first day, before a jury could even be selected.

It isnt our prosecutors, Pam Diemel said. I trust them 100%. Its the defense lawyer, hes the one that delays everything constantly.

Nelsons primary lawyer, Patrick Berrigan, previously told News-Press NOW that the defense team will litigate each and every objection. It was Berrigan who objected to media and the victims advocate being left outside during the start of jury selection for the stealing charge.

A judge later ruled the trial delayed, though theres dispute over whose fault it is. Nelsons case is likely to have years of appeals, especially if hes convicted and sentenced to death.

You know, whether its Wisconsin, Missouri, anywhere, sometimes the system, although its meant to be designed for a certain way, but there still is a certain level where you become to the point of like, enough, Jennifer Halvorson, an administrator of a Facebook group dedicated to the brothers, said.

Pam Diemel said its especially hard to attend drawn-out court proceedings when Nelson hasnt shown remorse or admitted to the most serious allegations.

Yeah, and then he sits there. He shows no remorse, she said.

A probable cause statement, filed back in 2019, indicates Nelson told investigators that he discovered the bodies on his property, but he denies killing the men. The defense team attempted to get two charges for abandonment of a corpse dismissed, claiming Missouris requirement that the public report dead bodies, would violate Nelsons fifth amendment right against self-incrimination.

A judge denied the defenses motion, and the charges remain.

Halvorson, who leads a group of 37,000 online followers, said shes impressed by the support from the public in Wisconsin and Missouri.

 ... This helps keep the mens memory alive, Halvorson said. I mean, even for Nicks children to have those memories and for Taylor to be able to, you know, remember her boyfriend ... That they can have that connection and see that support.
Cars packed the East Hills Shopping Center parking lot one year after the St. Joseph Farmers to Families program started.

The program began in May of last year due to the pandemic. It continued as multiple phases were approved but will not continue after May. It will run on Fridays through the end of the month.

Richard Bradley, the senior pastor of the Keys Christian Fellowship Church, said he is thankful for everyone that volunteered.

Theres no way without them that we can do this, and theyre just people from our community who just saw the need to come and help serve, Bradley said. I know that those who are coming for food are also thankful for that. Some of our volunteers came from this parking lot. They saw a need not only to pick up and deliver food, but they saw the need to serve as well.

Bradley spoke to the volunteers before distributing boxes Friday morning, thanking them for their time and encouraged them to volunteer with other organizations like Second Harvest.

According to Bradley, its estimated that 150,000 food boxes and gallons of milk have been handed out in the past year.

It seems the USDA is going to continue to pour funding into the farmers to families program for the food banks, which is a good thing because they have been established ... and theyre going to continue to do what we have been doing on a temporary basis, Bradley said.

Second Harvest has multiple mobile food distribution opportunities; information on when these events take place can be found on their Facebook page, Second Harvest Community Food Bank.

Bradley said they will keep the Farmers to Families, St. Joseph, MO Facebook page up to help community members find other food opportunities.
Joe Bidens multitrillion-dollar plans to revive the economy, fix Americas infrastructure and ease poverty have spawned comparisons between him and Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the 100-day mark of the Biden presidency, David Gergen, who has advised presidents of both parties, wrote, Biden is off to an excellent start  arguably, one of the best since Roosevelt.

And Biden hasnt discouraged such talk. He now has a giant portrait of FDR in the Oval Office, right across from the Resolute Desk.

But while there may be likenesses between those two presidents agendas, the less glamorous Harry Truman also deserves inspirational face time. Truman and Biden both came from modest small-town origins. Unlike the aristocratic Roosevelt, they knew firsthand about middle-class striving.

Its not surprising, then, that the Biden agenda seeks to recreate the Golden Age for the American middle class  the postwar years of 1947 through 1973, when productivity doubled but so did the median compensation of full-time workers. Truman was instrumental in launching it.

Truman understood that the well-being of workers depended on factors beyond the magic of the market. Widespread prosperity needed a third player in addition to business and labor. That player was a government willing to impose social norms through tax policy, the minimum wage and protection for organized labor.

As World War II was ending, impatient workers launched destabilizing strikes. And so, in November 1945, Truman held a conference to create a new labor policy through which postwar abundance would be broadly shared. The participants came from business, the labor movement and  at Trumans insistence  government.

The business community came eagerly on board. As Eric Johnston, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told the conference: Labor unions are woven into our economic pattern of American life, and collective bargaining is a part of the democratic process. I say recognize this fact not only with our lips but with our hearts.

Truman proposed a national health care plan, which didnt happen, and higher taxes on the top incomes, which did. Unlike Roosevelts New Deal, Trumans Fair Deal took a strong stance on civil rights.

Roosevelt appointed a few Blacks to token jobs. Truman put nonwhites in positions of real power, notably William Henry Hastie, the first African American federal appellate judge.

The offshoring of American jobs and technological change of course accelerated workers loss of economic security  and helped end the Golden Age. But the ditching of norms that only government could enforce also played a part.

Ronald Reagan cut taxes on the rich. Then George W. Bush did, and then Donald Trump. The federal minimum wage remains stuck at $7.25 an hour. In 1973, it was equivalent to $9.81 in todays dollars.

Biden seems to be summoning his inner Harry Truman and bringing back the third player. In assuring a stable and happy middle class, the market has a job to do, but so does government.
Federal authorities have charged a Stamford man with fraud involving the Paycheck Protection Program, a COVID-19 financial relief initiative for businesses.

Moustapha Diakhate is facing charges of bank and wire fraud, offenses that each carry up to 30 years in prison.

Federal authorities allege Diakhate applied for PPP loans totaling almost $2.9 million, which he then used to pay for cars, paying off what was owed on a 2010 Porsche SUV, and purchasing a Mercedes and BMW. The money also went to Diakhates relatives, and to pay back rent that was owed on his Stamford home, authorities said.

Diakhate appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti in Bridgeport Friday in an appearance held both in-person and over Zoom. The 45-year-old, dressed in a black pullover and white face mask, stood silently beside his attorney with his arms crossed, speaking only to acknowledge that he understood what the judge was saying.

The Paycheck Protection Program was introduced as part of the first round of COVID-19 relief funding signed into law by former President Donald Trump last spring. Businesses that applied for the loans had to use the funds to keep employees on their payroll, or to pay for rent, utilities and other vital costs. In practice, the loans worked more like a grant, because business owners could apply to have the balance forgiven under the law.

Investigators with the Small Business Administration, the federal agency overseeing the PPP loans, allege Diakhate obtained loans for five businesses he owned  Ansonia Developers, Winsbay Inc., Buyers Association Group, Washington Management and Diakhate Capital.

In total, the loans amounted to some $2,897,100, according to the U.S. Attorneys office for the District of Connecticut.

Diakhate then used a portion of the funds for various personal expenses, including to pay off a loan he had been provided to purchase of a 2010 Porsche Panamera Turbo, and to purchase both a Mercedes and BMW, the U.S. attorneys office said in a press release. He also purchased a $50,000 certificate of deposit with PPP funds, and disbursed funds to various and individuals unrelated to his business entities.

Diakhate and his Washington Management group were at the center of a drawn out development of the former Farrel headquarters in Ansonia, which finally ended in bankruptcy and foreclosure. Diakhates company had planned to develop the vacant building into luxury apartments and business spaces.

Vatti ordered Diakhate to remain in custody.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Schmeisser had argued Diakhate was a flight risk, with ties to family in Africa as well as Brazil through his wife.

He also argued the potential prison sentence of five to six years if Diakhate is convicted presented an incentive for him to flee  along with the fact that authorities say they have not accounted for most of the funds.

Public defense attorney Charles Willson had argued for his client to be released on bond through property put up by Diakhates family. He argued for Diakhate to be detained at home for a short time with his wife serving as his custodian.

Willson also objected to what he said was bias against Diakhate by the government for questioning whether he was a U.S. citizen. Willson said Diakhate, who is Black, came to the U.S. in the 1990s and has since become a citizen.

This guy is just as much a citizen as I am, Willson said. Hes been in Connecticut longer than I have, consecutively.

He also pointed to the fact that Diakhates step-daughter is about to attend college, and lingering health problems from a COVID-19 infection as examples of his clients ties to the community.

Diakhate was arrested Friday morning at his home in Stamford on a federal criminal complaint.
International

China condemns G7 statement censuring Beijing, supporting Taiwan

Wang Wenbin

BEIJING, MAY 6 (AGENCIES) | Publish Date: 5/7/2021 1:21:03 AM IST

China condemned on Thursday a joint statement by G7 foreign ministers that expressed support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan and cast Beijing as a bully, saying it was a gross interference in Chinas internal affairs.

G7 foreign ministers said in a communique after a London summit that China was guilty of human rights abuses and of using coercive economic policies, which the G7 would use collective efforts to stop.

In an unusual step, the G7 also said they supported Taiwans participation in World Health Organization forums and the World Health Assembly - and expressed concern about any unilateral actions that could escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

Speaking in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin condemned the statement saying it made groundless accusations that were a gross interference in Chinas internal affairs.

This is the wanton destruction of the norms of international relations, he said.

The G7 as a group should take concrete action to boost the global economic recovery instead of disrupting it, he added.

Wang also attacked G7 countries for hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and having a wishy-washy stance towards helping other countries.

They should not criticise and interfere in other countries with a high-and-mighty attitude, undermining the current top priority of international anti-pandemic cooperation, he said.

China regards Taiwan as its own territory and opposes any official Taiwan representation on an international level.

China has also stepped up military activities near Taiwan in recent months, trying to assert its sovereignty claims.

The G7 statement was warmly received in Taipei, where the government said this was the first time the foreign ministers had mentioned the island in their joint communique.

Taiwans Presidential Office thanked the G7 for its support.

Taiwan will keep deepening the cooperative partnership with G7 member countries, and continue to contribute the greatest positive force to global health and peoples well-being, as well as the peace, stability, and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region, said spokesman Xavier Chang.

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NEW MILFORD  She was the kindest, caring, most giving individual, said Kimberly Silvay, when describing her close friend Cyndi Renna Define, who died Thursday of end-stage liver disease. She was 51.

On a Facebook page called Cyndis Liver Transplant Journey, Defines brother David Renna wrote Cyndi has now embarked on her journey to heaven to be with our parents. She passed early this morning peacefully.

Define, a single mother of three with stage 4 liver cirrhosis, went public with her search for a living liver donor in March.

Define was eligible for a transplant for a living donor up until about six weeks ago, according to Silvay, a Sherman resident, who wanted to be a donor herself.

I had gone through the whole process with Yale New Haven Hospital and I was in the midst of getting all my paperwork to go and have my blood work done, and I came down with COVID, Silvay said.

On the Facebook post earlier in the week, Renna wrote Define was initially being treated at Yale New Haven Hospital and was then transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan on April 23, where she spent her last days.

For the past few months, Define had kept in close touch with New Fairfield resident Caitlin Balint, who recently received a donated liver  and they bonded.

After her article came out, I reached out to her and asked her if there is anything I can do to help, to let me know, Balint said.

The two women spoke every other week on the phone, and shared stories.

Listening to her symptoms, I felt like she was on the same path as I was, Balint said.

Define always seemed to stay positive and strong, according to Balint.

She said, Im going to beat it. I know theres a liver out there for me, Balint said. She was really optimistic and was trying to fight.

Prior to having children, Define spent more than a decade as a hairstylist at Adam Broderick hair salon and spa in Ridgefield.

She was here almost from the beginning and worked for quite awhile, and helped grow the business, Broderick said.

Broderick and Define became very close.

We just hit it off. She was just lovely and became a personal friend, Broderick said. She got very friendly with my sister and babysat for my nephew Chad.

Broderick said Define was a positive and wonderful person.

She was just a very grateful, caring person. She was somebody that you always would go out of your way to spend time with, he said

He added Define was an excellent hair stylist.

She was liked by everyone  co-workers and clients together. She was one of those people that nothing was a problem, he said. She really one of a kind, she had a very special, sparkly personality but was sensitive and deep. She was very special and shell be missed.

Anthony Primavera, Defines fiancee, recalls fond memories of Defines love of entertaining and making sure everything reflected the theme of the event in delightful design, he said.

He also reflected on their times attending Danbury Whalers and Hat Tricks games together, with all their kids and friends.

Renna recalled a wonderful childhood growing up with Define and the joy and excitement she had when she knew it was close to going to Disney World.

He added that, as a mother, she carried her family tradition onto her own children and shared that same excitement and joy she had growing up.

New Milford resident Karen Walsh, who was friends with Define for 18 years, said Define wanted to educate others about liver disease.

Cyndi told me recently that her wishes were to bring awareness to others about liver disease, which she began to achieve recently by posting and publishing her own story, Walsh said. She wanted to encourage others with liver disease not to procrastinate, and get their stories and pleas out to the public.

Walsh said she will greatly miss her friend.

We were very close, like sisters, for many years. She was a special, spiritually strong woman, Walsh said. Cyndis liver transplant journey may have ended but her mission lives on to help others in need of a liver transplant.

sfox@milfordmirror.com
At the center of the Nemak dispute is the employer's closure of the plant announced in 2019. The union and the company had reached an agreement in 2015 whereby the company contractually committed to produce two innovative General Motors engine blocks at the Windsor plant. Jesin's initial ruling in November 2019 had cleared the way for Nemak to close the plant and move that work to Mexio despite the agreement. That decision was set aside by an Ontario court, and referred back to Jesin.

Jesin's new decision confirms that the company violated the collective agreement when it decided to move the work to Mexico. The new decision refers the matter of remedy back to the parties, providing an opportunity to settle all remedial issues. Should the parties be unable to reach an agreement it will be referred back to the arbitrator.

"This is the decision we were hoping for. It proves what we've been saying all along: that the company violated the work commitment provisions of the collective agreement," said John D'Agnolo, Unifor Local 200 President. "Now we can roll up our sleeves and get appropriate remedies for our members after this nearly two-year long dispute."

Unifor is Canada's largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

SOURCE Unifor

For further information: To arrange interviews via Zoom, Skype or Facetime please contact Unifor Communications Representative David Molenhuis at [email protected] or 416-575-7453 (cell)

Related Links

http://www.unifor.org


Scientists have believed for a long time that these animals depend on magnetic sensing to travel across oceans. At last, someone puzzled out how to prove it. Great white sharks travel more than 12,000 miles yearly from South Africa to Australia, charting a closely ideal straight line across the ocean. And each year, they turn around and migrate back.

Earth's Magnetic Field

There are no street signposts to lead them and, for most of the journey, no fixed landmarks by which they can set their route. There is usually a change in currents and water temperatures. The sunsets at night, the stars vanish during the day. But the sharks still carry on with their movement.

Experts for decades have made speculations that sharks must be making use of the Earth's magnetic field as a kind of atlas, but it was difficult to prove due to the fact that sharks are generally hard to study. It's difficult to keep them in captivity, and some species are huge, for instance, a great white - stretches up to about 20 feet long and can weigh more than 2,000 pounds.

Also Read: Great White Sharks Eat Four Times As Much As Previously Estimated (VIDEO)

Theory of Shark's Magnetic Navigation

It's difficult to make an experiment massive enough to study them in a controlled laboratory environment. Currently, in a study out today in Current Biology, a group of experts describes how they did it. In order to test the long-held sharks' magnetic navigation theory, a researcher at the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, Bryan Keller, built an apparatus that could copy specific magnetic fields. He built a 10-foot wooden cube that has a large tank in the middle.

Then he curved over a mile of copper wiring around the cube at specified intervals. The copper passed on electrical current and produced a magnetic field when connected to power. By making some adjustments to the power, Keller could produce either a stronger or weaker field, imitating specific conditions the sharks might meet in the ocean.

The Navigators

If the sharks gave themselves orientation in a certain way on the basis of the strength and angle of the magnetic field, that would be proof that they were making use of that information to understand their location on the planet and to puzzle out which direction to swim. This approach has been applied in studying other animals, such as sea turtles.

And the study's lead author, Keller, says that experts are already aware that sharks have the ability to detect magnetic fields. But, he says, "this is the first occasion where it's revealed that they make use of that ability to infer location." Still, there was a limitation. The magnetic field of the cube was not big enough to track the movements of known navigators like the great white. Keller said in order to study these animals with this approach, they required a shark that was not big but was still migratory.

Related Article: Monstrous Shark with Goblin-Like Jaws Found in the Deep Sea

For more news, updates about sharks and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
HAMILTON, ON, May 6, 2021 /CNW/ - As part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the Government of Canada announced that Seaspan Shipyards will build a Polar Icebreaker, the flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard's icebreaking fleet. With facilities in Hamilton, St. Catharines, and Thunder Bay in Ontario, and in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, Heddle Shipyards will support Seaspan Shipyards in the construction of a Polar Icebreaker for the Canadian Coast Guard.

The Government of Canada's decision to build a Polar Icebreaker at Seaspan Shipyards means that Heddle's Ontario shipyards will play an increasingly important role in the National Shipbuilding Strategy and create and sustain hundreds of jobs across its facilities. Seaspan's pan-Canadian approach to shipbuilding will support thousands of jobs from coast to coast and ensure the Canadian Coast Guard has the vessels it needs when it needs them. Canada's current largest icebreaker, the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, is nearing the end of its intended service life and in need of replacement by 2030. Work on the Polar Icebreaker is expected to commence immediately upon contract award.

Today's announcement is a welcome development for the shipbuilding and marine industry in Canada, and for Heddle Shipyards. The Polar Icebreaker construction program will help ensure continuity of work and enable Heddle to grow its capacity and revitalize its Ontario shipyards in pursuit of becoming Canada's shipyard of choice for constructing vessels less than 1,000 gross registered tons.

Heddle Shipyards is the largest Canadian ship repair and construction company on the Great Lakes and is proud to work alongside Seaspan Shipyards in British Columbia and Genoa Design in Newfoundland and Labrador to support the National Shipbuilding Strategy and the construction of Canada's Polar Icebreaker.

Quotes

"Today's announcement marks a significant milestone for the shipbuilding industry in Canada and specifically in Ontario. Seaspan's truly pan-Canadian approach to shipbuilding will support thousands of jobs across the country and support the continued growth of Ontario's shipyards. At Heddle Shipyards, we are so proud to work alongside Seaspan Shipyards, Genoa Design, and hundreds of other Canadian suppliers to deliver the urgently needed Polar Icebreaker to the Canadian Coast Guard."

- Shaun Padulo, President, Heddle Shipyards

SOURCE Heddle Shipyards

For further information: Ted Kirkpatrick, 905 528 2635, [email protected]
Wake Jamaica's facilities, located in the heart of Jamaica's countryside, were visited by Hon. Green's team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. "The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Floyd Green expressed delight while reviewing mushroom cultivation at the Wake Jamaica Gold Standard Facilties on Sunday, April 25, 2021," CEO Pauline Terri Smith noted. "As he conducted his review of the nascent industry, he made it clear that Wake Jamaica has emerged as the clear leader in production, community engagement, and research."

Wake Jamaica is currently producing a diverse range of therapeutic mushrooms, including mushrooms containing psilocybin. A feature of its production model is the utilization of proprietary grow methods and a zero-waste bio feedback loop. As Jamaica is one of the few countries where the cultivation of psilocybin-containing mushrooms is legal, Wake Jamaica is working in conjunction with the Jamaican government to develop regulations and ministerial oversight of scaled production and export support.

"From the very beginning we have strived to ensure the highest standards of production and control procedures to set Wake Jamaica apart from other operators. We value our professional working relationship with the Jamaican Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and thank Hon. Floyd Green for his visit and interest in Wake" stated Nick Murray, Chief Executive Officer of Wake.

ABOUT WAKE NETWORK, INC.

Wake Network Inc. is a fungi bioscience company focused on advancing, through research, the field of psychedelic and fungi-based therapeutics. To address the growing need for psychedelic-assisted mental health support in medicine and society at large, Wake has partnered with academics, governments and best-in-class mycologists around the world. Wake is currently developing fungus-derived psilocybin and medicinal mushroom products and is making advancements in the engineering of novel psychedelic biologics, while working on proving out their safety through proprietary genetics-based integration therapies.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations, or beliefs of future performance, are "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward looking statements.

Forward looking statements are based on certain assumptions regarding the Company, including but not limited to expected growth, results of operations, performance, industry trends and growth opportunities. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on currently available information, they may prove to be incorrect. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including federal, provincial, municipal, local or other licences, to operate and expand the Company's facilities; the Company's limited operating history and lack of historical profits; reliance on management; the Company's requirements for additional financing and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on the availability of capital; competition, including from more established or better financed competitors; the need to secure and maintain corporate alliances and partnerships, including with research and development institutions, customers and suppliers; the development and implementation of medical protocols and treatment standard operating procedures for the use of psychedelic therapies; the Company's ability to successfully withstand the economic impact of COVID-19; the medical benefits, safety, efficacy, dosing and social acceptance of psychedelics; and the cultivation and harvest of psilocybe mushrooms; and any other factors or developments that may hinder the market or the Company's growth.

These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. The Company has no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.

For more information about Wake please visit our website www.wake.net

SOURCE Wake Network, Inc.

For further information: Nick Murray, CEO, Wake Network, E:[email protected], Tel: +1-833-925-3638; Investor Relations Press, Wake Network, E:[email protected], Tel: +1 416 842 9003; Press Contact, Krupa Consulting, E:[email protected]
LIMERICK, Ireland, May 7, 2021 /CNW/ - kneat.com, inc. (TSX-V: KSI) ("Kneat") announces it has signed a five-year corporate Master Services Agreement (MSA) with another top ten biopharma company, and provides an update on its recent financing.

Top Ten Biopharma Selects Kneat as its Corporate Validation Platform for Global Manufacturing

In December 2020, Kneat announced its SaaS platform was chosen by this research and development-focused biopharma leader for a single site. Today, we are pleased to announce it has selected Kneat as its corporate-wide manufacturing e-Validation platform. The company has more than seventy thousand employees across multiple operations in six continents, and the selection of Kneat follows an extensive formal evaluation by the company's digital manufacturing solutions team. This agreement, which is effective immediately, allows the company and its Affiliates to deploy Kneat across all their manufacturing sites, representing a considerable opportunity for the expansion of SaaS licenses over the coming years.

The customer's goal is to roll Kneat out in phases for multiple processes across all its manufacturing sites. The initial focus is Facilities, Utilities, and Equipment Qualification across several lead sites. Follow on processes include, Cleaning Validation, Process Validation, Manufacturing Changeover, Engineering Specifications, Technology Transfer, Regulatory Information Management, and more GMP verification processes.

As a COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer, Kneat's roll-out will also facilitate efficiencies and speed in the validation documentation practices that support COVID-19 production. Kneat is privileged to be assisting with this urgent and essential global need.

"With the addition of this global leader we are pleased to now be the chosen corporate solution for seven of the top ten largest pharmaceutical companies," said Eddie Ryan, Chief Executive Officer of Kneat. "We look forward to working with their corporate team to roll Kneat out to all their sites in the coming years".

Phase 1 implementation will begin in the coming weeks, with the initial go-live expected in Q4 2021.

Financing Update

In connection with the closing of the common share offering announced on April 28, 2021, the Company paid the underwriters cash fees totalling $1,157,534.55. In connection with the private placement, the Company paid cash finders fees totalling $120,000.

About Kneat

Kneat, a Canadian company with operational headquarters in Limerick, Ireland, develops and markets the next generation Kneat Gx software platform. Multiple business work processes can be configured on the platform from equipment to computer system validation, through to quality document management. Kneat's software allows users to author, review, approve, execute testing online, manage any exceptions and post approve final deliverables in a controlled FDA 21 CFR Part 11/ Eudralex Annex 11 compliant platform. Macro and micro report dashboards enable powerful oversight into all systems, projects and processes globally. Customer case studies are reporting productivity improvements in excess of 100% and a higher data integrity and compliance standard. For more information visit www.kneat.com

Cautionary and Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, certain information presented constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking information, includes, but is not limited to, the relationship between Kneat and the customer, Kneat's business development activities, the use and implementation timelines of Kneat's software within the customer's validation processes, the ability and intent of the customer to scale the use of Kneat's software within the customer's organization and the compliance of Kneat's platform under regulatory audit and inspection. While such forward-looking statements are expressed by Kneat, as stated in this release, in good faith and believed by Kneat to have a reasonable basis, they are subject to important risks and uncertainties. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, given that they involve risks and uncertainties. Kneat does not undertake any obligation to release publicly revisions to any forward-looking statement, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Investors should not assume that any lack of update to a previously issued forward-looking statement constitutes a reaffirmation of that statement. Continued reliance on forward-looking statements is at an investors' own risk.

Neither the 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.

SOURCE kneat.com, inc.

For further information: Hugh Kavanagh, Chief Financial Officer, kneat.com, inc., Kneat Solutions, Unit 7 Castletroy Business Park, Castletroy, Limerick, V94 KW28, Ireland T: +353 61 203826, E: [email protected]

Related Links

https://www.kneat.com/


OTTAWA, TRADITIONAL UNCEDED ALGONQUIN TERRITORY, ON, May 7, 2021 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services; the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations; and Pam Damoff, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indigenous Services, met with Indigenous, provincial and territorial partners from across the country to discuss progress on the implementation of An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis Children, Youth and Families. The Act affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to exercise jurisdiction in relation to child and family services for their communities. It also establishes guiding principles, including the best interests of the child, cultural continuity and substantive equality, to guide the provision of child and family services in relation to Indigenous children. It responds to the Truth and Reconciliation's Calls to Action and to the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and supports the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The meeting provided an opportunity for partners to share their perspectives on the implementation of the Act, which came into effect on January 1, 2020. Chief Cadmus Delorme from Cowessess First Nation, Samuel Dyck and Piers Kreps from Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, and Al Benoit from the Manitoba Metis Federation spoke about their experiences and lessons learned from working toward the exercise of Indigenous jurisdiction over child and family services. Additionally, the Government of Canada outlined its approach to the implementation of the Act and its intentions for strong collaboration with Indigenous, provincial and territorial partners moving forward. A discussion to identify key issues and the best way forward concluded the meeting.

This meeting follows Deputy Minister and Technician-level meetings held earlier this year. We will continue to work together at the national and regional levels and through bilateral, tripartite and distinctions-based working groups to support Indigenous communities in preparing for the exercise of jurisdiction over child and family services so that all Indigenous children have the opportunity to grow up in their communities immersed in their culture and surrounded by their loved ones.

The Government of Canada continues to support Indigenous-led initiatives to support First Nations, Inuit and Metis in taking control of child and family services, with the goal of keeping their children and youth connected to their families, communities and culture.

Stay connected

Join the conversation about Indigenous Peoples in Canada:

Twitter: @GCIndigenous

Facebook: @GCIndigenous

Instagram: @gcindigenous

Twitter: @Min_IndServ

You can subscribe to receive our news releases and speeches via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.isc.gc.ca/RSS.

SOURCE Indigenous Services Canada

For further information: media may contact: Adrienne Vaupshas, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, [email protected]; Media Relations, Indigenous Services Canada, 819-953-1160, [email protected]

Related Links

https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca


If the much acclaimed healthcare system of Delhi was decimated by the second wave of coronavirus, then how are smaller cities, towns and villages faring?

The 2nd wave of Coronavirus brought the healthcare system of Indias national capital Delhi to its breaking point even though it is is said to be much more robust compared to the rest of the country. If the much acclaimed healthcare system of Delhi was decimated by the second wave of coronavirus, then how are smaller cities, towns and villages faring?

Apparently, not so well, as the second wave reached the countryside and lower tier cities long ago, savaging them just as well the urban centres of India. Following is information about the rural COVID situation of some northerly states:

Uttar Pradesh

Only the Western region of UP possesses some semblance of Delhis health infrastructure and then, the virus is extracting a heavy toll. People from rural regions have begun flocking to city hospitals and black market activity has sprung up with oxygen cylinders and concentrators, some of which are fake, being sold at extortionate prices. Most people avoid getting tested and thus, accurate data of infections and deaths is hard to come by. In the town of Bahadurgarh in Hapur district, there have been more than 50 deaths in the last month alone, most of which are suspected to have been caused by coronavirus.

Haryana

UPs neighbour Haryana is going through similar straits, with both testing and reporting of infections and deaths being less numerate than the major cities. The head of Titoli village from Rohtak district reported 40 deaths all of a sudden, causing panic in the village. Although, some of the village residents are claiming that the death toll is double what the village head said. Healthcare workers from nearby cities have been deployed in the village for testing and treatment.

Gujarat

There is widespread night curfew in Gujarat cities but the virus has already established a foothold for itself in the countryside, with one particular village of Chogath reporting a staggering 90 COVID suspected deaths within just 3 weeks.

Mahrashtra

Althoug, the Maharashtra government has begun taking strict measures to fight the spread of coronavirus, it is seemingly not enough. Having spread in much of the urban concentration of Maharashtra, the virus is now carving a swathe through the rural areas, with the district of Amravati registering more cases in rural areas than urban. The city of Amravati has endured 500 deaths caused by coronavirus while the surrounding hinterlands reported around 520.

Also read: Bengaluru fights against Covid crisis: Patients struggle for O2 & beds
Now that the government has enough air, Kejriwal says the government is working on adding 9,000 more beds to facilities like the Radha Soami Beas centre in Chhattarpur. Mr Kejriwal said today that if the central government provides the earmarked 700 tonnes of oxygen per day, his administration "would not let anyone die" from a lack of oxygen.

Delhi shows a glimmer of hope after the state receives 730 Metric tonnes of oxygen on Wednesday. Several hospitals, including the Delhi government-run GTB Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, have decreased the number of beds available to Covid patients due to a shortage of oxygen.

Now that the government has enough air, Kejriwal says the government is working on adding 9,000 more beds to facilities like the Radha Soami Beas centre in Chhattarpur.

After the city received 730 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen on Wednesday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requested hospitals to increase the number of beds reserved for Covid patients.

Also read: Covid-19 scenario a medical emergency, set up war room: MK Stalin amid TN Covid spike

Also read: Planeloads of foreign aid reaches India, questions raised on transparency

Due to a lack of oxygen, many hospitals decreased their bed capacity during this period. Otherwise, chaos will ensue if we do not raise our efforts rather than decrease them. Ive requested that all hospitals raise their bed capacity once more, and Im hoping for 700 MT of oxygen every day. The number of private hospitals is increasing.

Mr Kejriwal said today that if the central government provides the earmarked 700 tonnes of oxygen per day, his administration would not let anyone die from a lack of oxygen.

The centre defended itself by claiming that the Kejriwal government is using the Supreme Court to speak out against it. An investigation is needed when there is a structural flaw, but it is not directed at elected officials or officers. The people of this country have granted the centre two mandates, and we are really worried. We cant be solely focused on Delhi Tushar Mehta, the centres Solicitor General, said. The Delhi government was represented by lawyer Rahul Mehta.

Also read: Bengaluru fights against Covid crisis: Patients struggle for O2 & beds
The Modi government categorically denied any delay in clearing international assistance. According to a health ministry announcement, the Centre has designed a streamlined and systematic process for efficient allocation and delivery of the support supplies obtained.

A political bickering erupted over assistance rushed to India by countries around the world to help deal with the vicious second wave of Covid-19, with the Opposition accusing the Modi government of allowing life-saving equipment to collect dust at airport terminals.

Congress claimed a lack of transparency in international assistance allocation and demanded to know which states or organisations had obtained it. The opposition also cited claims that many oxygen concentrators were left unattended at airport cargo facilities.

The Modi government categorically denied any delay in clearing international assistance. According to a health ministry announcement, the Centre has designed a streamlined and systematic process for efficient allocation and delivery of the support supplies obtained.

Also read: Shocking BBMP ICU Bed Scam In Bengaluru | How 5,000 Beds Were Black-Marketed

Also read: Shocking BBMP ICU Bed Scam In Bengaluru | How 5,000 Beds Were Black-Marketed

The Union Health Minister went on to say that this assistance included,841 oxygen concentrators, 1,814 oxygen cylinders, nine oxygen generation facilities, and more than 2.8 lakh Remdesivir vials.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that nearly 4 million donated products, covering 24 categories, have already been distributed to 38 health care facilities throughout the country. On the field, though, several state and local governments say that the federal government has given them little or no information about how or when they will get relief.

However, though the first shipment of Covid-19 assistance arrived in India on April 25, the Centre took seven days to formulate the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for administering these life-saving medical supplies among states, even as hospitals pleaded for oxygen and people died from the deadly disease. Why, India wonders?

Also read: As India continues to report massive surge, experts warn of inevitable third wave alert; are we ready for it?
IIOT is the buzzword in the cybersecurity market today. It will not be an understatement to say that IIOT for quite some time now has been advancing towards becoming the backbone of rapid industry automation. HackersEra founded by Vikash Chaudhary is one such Indian company that is a pioneer in providing cybersecurity-related solutions not just to India but to multiple global customers as well. So, what exactly is IIOT? HackersEra explained the concept of IIOT which means Industrial Internet of Things!

Future of IIOT: Introduction of Cyber Security!

The future of IIoT is expected to force more amalgamated tool protocols and architectures that will permit the machines to be in touch effortlessly and in that way improve interoperability. But, what about security? What if someone gets into the system and hack it? This is exactly why HackersEra is focusing on making policies concerning cybersecurity in IIOT!

There are a variety of companies across sectors such as medical, manufacturing, auto suppliers etc. which rely profoundly on automation. In the existing wake of the global pandemic where companies are mass producing vaccines not only for India but also for the global consumption, automation remains an essential part of such industries for more precise, prompt and error-free results. Still, imagine if any such companies or a solitary plant was to countenance a cyber-attack from a hacker or a bug. What are any such big companies that have an attack on the grid which might compromise their data? Sounds scary right? The potential of such a thing happening is not so unusual.

This is the chief reason why companies and industries must invest in cyber-security. Providentially, with a team of proficient professionals, global contact and knowledge, HackersEra is fully prepared to provide custom made solutions for everything associated with cyber-security. Some of the extensively used solutions worldwide are presently offered by the HackersEra team online, offline and in the remote environment. The team of HackersEra can provide solutions such as securing linked environments in automation processes, production line safety etc. added Vikash. They provide best in class solutions in terms of control system security and Secured system integrators. HackersEra is equipped to provide end to end solutions in the cyber-security domain and one of the very few companies which are currently offering such comprehensive solutions. We take pride in the fact that we have not just been the pioneer but have been steadily adding satisfied clientele from across the globe to our portfolio, says the proud founder Vikash Choudhary.

HackersEras Seismic Evolution!

Various industries are looking at automation and are fast becoming a part of our mundane life. Industries are looking at automation as a way to revive productivity, bring in world-class products and overall growth of their sectors with the help of automation. Even though India has a great future for the IIOT market, the one most crucial thing that is often overlooked in many industries is that it lacks cybersecurity.

Founded in Pune, we have been able to expand our base globally with offices in the USA and Malaysia adds Vikash. A seemingly modest set up has grown into a team of professionals and the road ahead looks lucrative with the opportunities. However, it will require persistent market study, customer-centric and industry-centric solutions and the willingness of the industries to understand the importance of cybersecurity in the IIOT domain and subsequent investments. The cost of these investments will seem much smaller when the benefits of cybersecurity are compared with the potential threat the hackers and malware possess, explains Vikash!
National Gallery of Art Installs New Acquisition by Carrie Mae Weems in Conversation with "The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial"

Augustus Saint-Gaudens The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial , 1900 patinated plaster overall (without armature or pedestal): 368.9 x 524.5 x 86.4 cm (145 1/4 x 206 1/2 x 34 in.) overall (with armature & pedestal): 419.1 x 524.5 x 109.2 cm (165 x 206 1/2 x 43 in.) U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park, Cornish, New Hampshire, on long-term loan to the National Gallery of Art

Washington, DCAugustus Saint-Gaudenss The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial and Carrie Mae Weemss Untitled speak to our nations struggle to achieve racial equity and to the strength and sacrifice of those who have continued to wage the battle. The heroism of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, one of the first African American regiments formed in the North during the Civil War, has inspired artists for more than 150 years. The National Gallery of Art has recently installed a newly acquired seven-part series of inkjet prints by Weems facing Saint-Gaudenss sculpture. The installation of the two works, created almost a century apart, is on view in Gallery 66 on the Main Floor of the West Building.

In the late 19th century, Saint-Gaudens crafted his memorial honoring Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment, depicting their 1863 march through the streets of Boston on their way to war. The bronze version of the sculpture was installed on Boston Common in 1897. Saint-Gaudens continued to work on a plaster version of the memorial, now on view at the National Gallery. Hailed as one of the finest examples of 19th-century American sculpture, the memorial is celebrated for its sensitive rendition of the soldiers. One hundred years after the completion of the sculpture, Weems incorporated images of the memorial into her series of photographs, in a testament to its lasting power. Her work commemorates another marchthat of African Americans streaming north from the Jim Crow South during the Great Migrationand celebrates the rich and vital history of African American culture.

Ever since their heroic actions during the Civil War, the 54th Regiment has served as a touchstone for the country as it wrestles with issues of race and racism, said Kaywin Feldman, director, National Gallery of Art. At a time when monuments to the Confederacy and to Confederate military leaders were appearing across the nation, The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial stood as a glorious exceptiona monument honoring those who fought against slavery, fully aware of the sacrifice required. The juxtaposition of these works reminds us once again how the past remains relevant, providing profound inspiration for contemporary artists.

Untitled (1996, printed 2020) by Carrie Mae Weems

Carrie Mae Weems (b. 1953) explores the tangled web of history in Untitled (1996, printed 2020) by incorporating several historic images into her suite of seven inkjet prints. The series is bookended by reproductions of a 1973 photograph by Richard Benson of the soldiers in Saint-Gaudenss sculpture of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment. Weems also included a 1941 picture by Russell Lee of boys in an ecclesiastical procession outside of a church in Chicagos South Side, as well as photographs by Doris Ulmann of the ceremonial act of foot washing (19291930). Little is known about the photographer of the central picture, but it depicts the Morris Williams family, who moved north to Chicago during the Great Migration.

The text etched into the glass on the pictures alludes to the history of African Americans since the Civil War. Weems infuses the work with religious overtones and evocations of the power of music by including pages from the scores of Duke Ellingtons Come Sunday and Miles Daviss All Blues, as well as references to Ellingtons Mood Indigo. By layering text on top of images by white artists (Saint-Gaudens, Benson, Lee, and Ulmann), Weems centers African American perspectives to construct a nuanced history that speaks of racial pride and resilience, sacrifice and determination. The work is also a plea to God, as the score of Come Sunday notes, to please look down and see my people through.

For more information about the acquisition, visit nga.gov/press/acquisitions/2021/weems.html.

The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial (1900) by Augustus Saint-Gaudens

Augustus Saint-Gaudenss (18481907) The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial (1900) is on long-term loan to the National Gallery from the U.S. Department of the Interior, the National Park Service, and the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Park. The sculpture commemorates the storming of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863, by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, a troop of African American soldiers and white officers formed immediately after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Although nearly one-third of the regiment was killed or wounded in the assault, including Shaw himself, the battle was considered by many to be a turning point in the war, and the soldiers were honored for their bravery and dedication to country.

Adjacent to The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial are the names of the more than 200 soldiers who were killed, wounded, captured, or missing following the battle at Fort Wagner. Also on view in this gallery are several examples of the more than 40 portrait heads Saint-Gaudens modeled during the conception of the memorial.

For more information about The Shaw 54th Regiment Memorial as well as the complete roster of the more than 1,500 men who served in the 54th Regiment between 1863 and 1865, visit nga.gov/collection/sculpture/fifty-fourth-regiment.html.
This weekend, debris from a Chinese rocket is set to re-enter the atmosphere in an unregulated manner.

The precise location and timing of the rocket pieces crashing on the Earth are unknown.

Long March 5B

In late April, the Long March 5B rocket was launched into orbit with the first module of China's future space station.

The rocket's body is now orbiting Earth, on the verge of entering the lower atmosphere.

The US announced on Thursday that it was keeping an eye on the object's trajectory but had no intention to shoot it down at this time.

Upcoming Crash

"We're hoping it lands somewhere where it won't hurt anybody," said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. "Hopefully by the sea or something similar."

He also made an overt jab at China, saying that "we need to make sure that we take all sorts of things into account when we prepare and execute operations."

Playing Down the Severity

Chinese state media has played down concerns that the rocket would crash on inhabited land in recent days, implying that it will land somewhere in international waters.

According to the Global Times, aerospace expert Song Zhongping said that China's space surveillance network will keep a close eye on the situation and take appropriate action if harm occurred.

Related Article: Potential Faster-Than-Light-Space Travel Facts: Alcubierre's Warp, the Key To Interstellar Travels?



Venturing the Low Orbit

The rocket is now in a low orbit, which means it is orbiting the Earth but being slowly dragged down.

"Drag would slow the object, causing loss of speed, pushing it down into the denser atmosphere, causing further drag and more loss of velocity and altitude," Earth Observatory Singapore's Jason Scott Herrin told the BBC.

Re-Entry

He states, "When this phase begins, the entity will be trapped into an inevitable downward journey."

At about 60 kilometers above the horizon, the rocket is supposed to largely burn up as the atmosphere becomes heavier. The pieces that do not thoroughly burn up will fall to Earth.

If something goes wrong, the location where the rocket burns up and the debris falls can't be monitored or correctly estimated.

Statement from China

According to sources, China's space agency has made no statement about whether the rocket is being monitored or whether it would make an uncontrolled descent.

"China has opted to go for a simplified style in the hopes of the stage re-entering uncontrollably but without harming anybody."

Controlled Re-Entry

A controlled re-entry would have allowed the launch team to maintain control of the rocket, for example, through the rocket engine or small thrusters. The debris is normally steered away from humans and towards a clear collision site in the middle of the ocean.

The new Long March rocket launched from China's Wenchang Space Launch Centre on April 29, 2021.

Chinese Space Program

As part of China's highly ambitious space program, it carried the main module for a new permanent space station.

Before the station's completion in 2022, Beijing expects at least ten more parallel missions, sending all additional equipment into space.

China also intends to collaborate with Russia on the construction of a lunar station.

When it comes to space exploration, the nation has been a late starter, sending its first astronaut into space only in 2003, decades after the Soviet Union and the United States.

Also Read: Breathable Oxygen Extracted by NASA Out of Mars' Thin Air



For more space related news, don't forget to follow Nature World News!
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated employers added 266,000 jobs in April, a significant drop from the 770,000 reported for March. The official unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.1 percent.

The new estimates suggest many employers are continuing to delay hiring back workers, either because revenue has yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels or due to uncertainty about the overall economy picking up steam.

We have a steep climb ahead of us, said U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh in a written statement Friday morning. We have yet to recover roughly eight million jobs that existed prior to the pandemic. ... Its going to take time and effort to heal this economy.

As of March, Connecticut had the third highest unemployment rate in the nation at 8.3 percent, behind only Hawaii and New York at 9 percent and 8.5 percent respectively. The Connecticut Department of Labor will release state employment estimates in two weeks.

In a Thursday press conference, Gov. Ned Lamont said Connecticut would reach the milestone sometime on Friday of 70 percent of its adults having been vaccinated, nearly two months ahead of President Bidens July 4 goal for the nation.

But the pace of vaccinations has yet to make a significant dent in Connecticut unemployment. On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported more than 4,500 additional Connecticut residents were receiving unemployment insurance the third week of April compared to the prior week, pushing the states total back above 200,000 recipients.

On the Indeed job board on Friday, employers listed nearly 57,000 jobs they are looking to fill in Connecticut. Hartford had the highest number of any single municipality, with more than 4,300 in all.

Federal and state data continue to show divergent directions depending on any one pocket of the economy. For instance, the U.S. Department of Labor estimated a 3.3 percent spike in compensation costs for sales professionals nationally in the first three months of this year  a possible indicator that a swath of industries are seeing signs of customers loosening their pandemic budget strings.

Under the CT Future Fund floated by Lamont on Thursday, the state Department of Economic and Community Development would direct $150 million to small businesses over three years in the forms of grants, loans and equity investments, and possibly more if DECD can get foundations to contribute additional amounts.

The state plans to reserve at least half of that amount for those owned by women, minorities, veterans and individuals with disabilities, with the goal of having a flexible mix of funding sources to reduce the odds of any business owner hitting a roadblock to getting support.

On Thursday, Lamont said the CT Future Fund will support about 14,000 jobs statewide. The program, which allows newly created startups to apply, would have to be approved by the Connecticut General Assembly according to a DECD spokesperson.

The Future Fund, the equity fund  call it what you will, weve got a lot of healing to do, Lamont said Thursday. Todays just a reminder that a lot of people lost their business, a lot of people lost their economic well being, and that was in restaurants and ... the service sector. And we are doing everything we can to save the businesses that are out there  and giving everyone else the opportunity to start something up.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
With the weather warming up and outdoor dining and drinking back on track, there's no better time to check out one of Connecticut's rooftop bars.
With federal regulators expected to decide whether to approve the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as soon as next week, Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday said the state plans to keep mass vaccination sites open a while longer in anticipation of greater demand.

The state will order additional doses to meet the need, the governor said during his news conference, and plans to hold clinics on the weekend when parents will have the easiest time taking their child to get a shot.

Separately, the governor said Connecticuts moratorium on evictions will continue after a federal judge struck down a national hold on evictions Wednesday, claiming the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority when it put the measure in place, the Associated Press reported.

My instinct is well probably continue the moratorium for another month post-May 20th, Lamont said. He said the moratorium is necessary to provide time for relief payments to reach residents, including landlords.

As of Thursday, the states one-day positivity rate stood at 1.92 percent as 711 new cases of COVID-19 were reported out of 36,968 new tests. Hospitalizations for the disease dropped by a net nine patients, bringing the statewide total to 324.

Another seven deaths attributed to the virus brought the states official death toll to 8,131.

In all of these fatalities  99-plus percent  are people have not been vaccinated, Lamont said Thursday during his COVID-19 news conference. For that were really thankful, he said, calling it another example that vaccines work.

For the first time since September, there were no reported COVID-related nursing home deaths in Connecticut.

the states weekly report on the virus effect on nursing homes showed no deaths were reported from the virus.

As of Thursday, 1,939,401 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine in Connecticut or roughly 54 percent of the states population of around 3.6 million. A total of 1,467,381 are considered fully vaccinated, or about 41 percent of the state.

The governors office said the state is expected to reach 70 percent of its adult population having had at least one dose by the end of the week  a key milestone President Joe Biden announced earlier this week he hopes the nation as a whole will reach by July 4.

The Food and Drug Administration is widely expected to expand the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 in the coming days. Lamont said the FDA is expected to vote on the expansion next Wednesday. Canada already authorized the use of the vaccine for people as young as 12 on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

The expansion could help reassure parents worried about sending their children back to school this fall. The states Department of Education has already told districts they will not be required to provide virtual instruction in September.

Lamont said Thursday he does not plan to order schools to provide a remote learning option in the fall.

That comes as the governor admitted the states vaccination rate has fallen off. I think we always anticipated ... as we get to a younger demographic, the so-called invincibles, it was going to take a lot more persuasion, Lamont said. He said the final 30 percent of each age group opened up to the vaccine has also proved tougher.

It doesnt work unless we all get vaccinated, he said.

But state Sen. Doug McCrory, one of Lamonts guests for the day, did not pull punches when it came to how the vaccine was rolled out to communities of color.

I think we did a poor job of educating urban communities  Black and brown communities  why vaccination is very important, said McCrory, a Democrat whose district includes Hartford, Bloomfield and Windsor. What we did was tell people go get vaccinated without giving them the education of why is it important, and what can happen. Thats a mindset change  instead of telling people what they should do, you should educate them ... so we didnt do that.

He said the blame lies not with communities, but with how the message was conveyed. He also highlighted a lack of access to technology that prevented underserved communities from getting access to the vaccine early.

Earlier in the day the governors office announced a partnership with nine historically Black fraternities and sororities to help reach people hesitant to get vaccinated.

Our administration is determined to reach out to every single person we can, particularly those within communities that have historically been medically underserved, so that we can increase access to this lifesaving vaccine and provide factual information that dispels myths, Lamont said in a statement.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect the last week when there were no COVID-related nursing home deaths was in September.
MONROE  Police are investigating after a vial of white powder, later identified as cocaine, was found in a classroom at an elementary school Friday morning, the superintendent said.

A staff member discovered the vial in a third-grade classroom at Monroe Elementary School around 11 a.m., Superintendent Joseph Kobza wrote in an email to parents and staff.

We immediately contacted the Monroe Police Department. Presumptive testing revealed that the substance was cocaine, Kobza wrote.

Kobza said the issue was turned over to police who began an investigation, which included a K-9 search of the classroom while the students were outside.

In an email to Hearst Connecticut Media, Kobza said the incident is still an active investigation with the Monroe Police Department. No action has been taken against staff members, and because schools do not know where the substance came from it would be inappropriate to speculate, he said.

A spokesman for the Monroe Police Department said he had no further information.

In his letter to the community, Kobza said the schools will partner with the police department to resolve the issue. The families of the students who were in the classroom have all been contacted.

The entire school was searched by police K-9 to ensure the safety of all students and staff, Kobza said. That search did not turn up anything.

Kobza said any other information that develops will be shared with the community, and asked that anyone with information to speak with police investigators.

We also ask that you take caution if you decide to share any of this information with your children. We do not believe that any students (even the students in the classroom) have any knowledge of todays incident, he wrote. If you feel you need to talk to your child about this, please reach out to the school counselor for suggestions.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact the Monroe police at 203-261-3622.
NEW HAVEN  A community group led by West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith, D-30, and retired educator Carolyn Kinder is working to reopen a long-closed Valley Street community center  nicknamed The Shack  as an intergenerational center to serve both kids and older folks.

The 333 Valley Street Center: An Intergenerational Organization Inc. recently received a $30,000 grant from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to fund a recording studio and game room at the the center when it finally opens later this year, Smith said Monday.

The community center closed about 20 years ago, said Smith. As the newly-appointed president of the center at the time, its always been her dream to help bring it back.

Reopening the community center was one of Smiths priorities, and also one of her campaign promises, when she got elected in 2020, she said.

Im a person that loves to keep my promises and I just built a team to plan a reopened community center, and now, within a year, were getting the center up, Smith said.

Its been a vision, a dream of mine to put this all in place, she said.

This grant will do wonders for the underprivileged children in Ward 30, Smith said in a release. We are looking forward to receiving additional funding to completely fund programs at the center. I want 333 Valley Street Center to be a place where children can excel beyond whatever they think they can be.

Kinder, a retired former assistant principal at John S. Martinez Sea and Sky STEM Magnet School and previously Sheridan Middle School, will serve as the new centers interim director, Smith said.

The need for a safe place for kids to hang out after school long has been recognized in West Hills and West Rock, which were built in an isolated area, far away from other city neighborhoods.

The kids, theyre just so isolated out here, Smith said. Were on this island ... and its one-way on and one-way off.

West Hills and West Rocks 30th Ward is home to more than 3,800 registered voters and probably three times that many people overall, Smith said.

Kinder said theyre aiming for an opening date in early June.

She said shes coming out of retirement to volunteer as interim director until a full-time executive director can be hired because theres such a need in Ward 30 for activities for the young people. In particular, that center has been closed for about 20 years. All the areas around us have resources and the 30th Ward doesnt.

Kinder lives on Springside Avenue in the 30th Ward, she said.

The resources we do have are not very flowering ... and children to not have the resources or support needed to be independent, Kinder said. Hopefully, that center will provide the support thats needed.

I think (Smith) does an amazing job of providing for the residents of her ward, Kinder said.

The 333 Valley Street Center will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The center is next door to the areas police substation, she said.

Among many other activities and functions, the center will provide a nice, quiet place to sit and do homework, she said.

While the community center still is taking shape, it will be intergenerational, meaning it will be a place to gather during the days for both children and senior citizens, Smith said.

Computer equipment and basic computer skills courses will be offered by Concepts for Adaptive Learning, or CfAL, she said.

Seniors will learn how to work the computers, go on My Chart for their doctors, talk to their kids on Zoom, etc., Smith said. The community center also will feature Storytime Day, when senior citizens will read to children.

In addition to the grant from the Community Foundation, organizers previously raised about $1,500 in a Facebook funding drive to help created an endowment for the center, Smith said.

The 333 Valley Street Center also will offer exercise and line dancing programs for the adults, GED classes, life skills classes for kids, an anti-bullying program, personal hygiene and healthful cooking classes and enrichment courses in food shopping, budgeting and literacy as well as computer programming and coding, she said.

Smith said she also hopes to offer a cafe and is looking to partner with Job Corps culinary arts students. She also hopes the community center will will be able to feed and provide a place to freshen-up for people experiencing homelessness.

So far, the city has been very helpful in the effort to make it happen, Smith said.

Editors note: A previous version of this story said the Valley Street community center site also was the former home of Opportunities Industrialization Centers of America Inc. OIC came to the site after the community center was closed down, and remains open there today.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
Japan's neighbouring nations have rejected their plan to discharge water that was used to cool the nuclear plant's melted reactors into the sea, but experts say the dangers are minimal.

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station

The proposal of Japan to release over one million tonnes of polluted water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station that is already ruined into the ocean off its east coast has been firmly objected to by neighbours both South Korea and China. But expert discloses that the risks are likely to be low if the plan of discharge succeeds.

ln April, Japan released the proposal making the foreign minister of South Korea to initially give an expression of his "serious concerns and strong regret." Chinese scientists have also opposed the proposal, with Liu Senlin at the China Institute of Atomic Energy in Beijing describing it as "very irresponsible," according to the news agency of China's state Xinhua.

But the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other experts, have opposed that the treated wastewater radiation will be very minimal and that the water will be discharged slowly over several years to reduce any risk.

Also Read: More Plastics than Fishes Will Be Found in Oceans by 2050

Overheating of Molten Fuel Debris

Jordi Vives I Batlle, a scientist at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre in Mol, who studies the effects radiation causes on marine ecosystems said: "As a scientist, I have to have a cool perception on all this, and have a look at the facts, and the facts are letting me know that this is something that we should be very concerned about."

The March 11 tsunami and earthquake of 2011 that hit the east coast of Japan caused the tragic failure of cooling systems at the power station. In the succeeding decade, 1.25 million tonnes of seawater have been forced through the ruined units to put a stop to the overheating of molten fuel debris, and pumping recommences.

The polluted water has been treated to eliminate radioactive material and kept in over 1,000 steel tanks on the site.The discharge of treated wastewater is among the nuclear power stations standard operation.

Radionuclides

However, Vives I Batlle says that the vast quantities accumulated at Fukushima, and the high main concentration of radionuclides in the water through its direct connection with the melted reactor, do make this situation odd.

But nothing in the plan gives a suggestion that the treated water will comprise of levels of radiation more than the background levels found in the environment due to natural processes, Vives I Batlle who has been carrying out research in Fukushima since the occurrence of the tsunami adds.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company responsible for the operation of Fukushima says treatment eliminates most radionuclides, both strontium and caesium. Only tritium can still be found in any quantity, and this discharges one of the most minimal radiation doses of any radionuclide, Vives I Batlle notes.

Related Article: Environmental Cost of Doing Laundry

For more news, updates about nuclear wastes and similar topics don't forget to follow Nature World News!
It's been nearly a year since the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer spurred a nationwide movement to address racial inequities.

The issue is still being discussed at the municipal level, and in Connecticut, there has been a push to declare racism a public health crisis.

According to the advocacy group Health Equity Solutions, which aims for "every Connecticut resident to attain optimal health regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status," Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and Middletown are among the list of 20 municipalities that have signed on to the resolution.

Still, officials in towns like Old Lyme have opted not to discuss or sign such a resolution, as they believe declaring racism a public health crisis in their community sends a wrong message to their residents.

Here are the 20 Connecticut towns that have declared racism a public health crisis.
Italy-bound suspected drug trafficker, Okoguale Douglas has excreted 59 wraps of Heroin after he was busted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Internatio...





Italy-bound suspected drug trafficker, Okoguale Douglas has excreted 59 wraps of Heroin after he was busted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Douglas, 23, was trying to board a Milan, Italy bound flight when he was arrested by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA.

He excreted 59 wraps of Heroin weighing 781.2 grammes of Heroin.

Femi Babafemi, NDLEAs spokesman said Douglas, who hails from Uromi in Esan North-East Local Government area of Edo State, was arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, during an outward clearance of Ethiopian airline flight number 910 at the boarding gate of the airport enroute Abuja-Addis Ababa- Milan (Italy) after being scanned, which proved positive for ingestion.

Under interrogation, he claimed he has been residing in Italy since 2011 after entering the country via Libya with one of his uncles.

He said he works as a restaurant attendant in Italy where he earns 900 Euro per month and also works as a painter on his free days and gets about 400 Euro upon completion of any work.

He also confessed he was promised 2000 Euro if he successfully delivers the drug to Milan, Italy.

He said he came to Nigeria on April 4, 2021 for the burial of his late father in Esan, Edo state and after spending so much during the burial, he ran out of money, a situation that made him to ask for financial support from one of his Nigerian friends resident in Italy.

Douglas was said to have further claimed that his friend then told him he would send him money on the ground that he would collect a consignment for him from one other friend of his in Nigeria and that to facilitate that, he promised to send him a number to call.

He said contrary to the initial arrangement, he claimed he was called by a man on Thursday April 29, 2021 and asked him to come down to Abuja where he was picked by two other unknown men from Utako area and lodged in a hotel which he claimed he did not know the address.

The suspect also claimed that the two men brought the wrapped drug to him in a hotel on Friday night after which he swallowed the 59 pellets early on Saturday May 1, 2021 and was promised 2000 Euro on successful delivery to Milan, Italy.

Commander, NAIA Command of the Agency, Kabir Sani Tsakuwa said efforts were still ongoing to unravel other suspects connected to the crime.

Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa commended the officers of the airport command for their resilience and charged them as well as their counterparts across the country to remain vigilant, especially with the coming holidays to ensure that no single gramme of illicit drug was smuggled in or out of Nigeria.

He assured them he would continue to make their welfare a priority.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has urged youths in Nigeria to embrace agriculture, declaring the banks readine...





The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele has urged youths in Nigeria to embrace agriculture, declaring the banks readiness to support them.

Emefiele spoke in Katsina on Thursday at the unveiling of the first maize pyramid and flag-off of the 2021 Maize wet season farming under the CBN-Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) Anchor Borrowers Programme.

He said with over 50,000 bags of maize at the venue and others aggregated across the country, maize farmers sent a resounding message that they can meet the countrys demand.

Emefiele noted that youths could leverage their talents, along with technological tools, to improve farm productivity and delivery of agricultural produce to markets.

The CBN chief confirmed measures to improve access to credit for youths interested in Agriculture under the Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Agri Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS).

The CBN will not only provide access to credit for these youths but will also provide guarantees that their produce will be purchased by a prime anchor at agreed prices, he said.

Emefiele vowed that the CBN would resist attempts by those who seek to continually import maize, noting that maize farmers had the capacity to close the maize demand gap of over 4.5 million metric tonnes.

He explained that the maize unveiled at the ceremony would be sold to reputable feed processors for positive impact on current poultry feed prices.
Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he will cease to be a Nigerian should Bola Tinubu, national leader of...

Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says he will cease to be a Nigerian should Bola Tinubu, national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), become president.

Although Tinubu has not yet expressed his interest in running for office in 2023, many of his supporters have been urging him to contest the presidency.

Speaking during an Arise TV programme on Friday, George called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate Tinubus tenure as Lagos state governor and his alleged involvement with Alpha Beta Consulting, a tax firm.

He said: Ive talked about it and Im still saying publicly that the EFCC should go urgently and investigate Alpha Beta Company owned by him.

Let me say it in very clear language, to me its an insult to de-civilise the people of this country who are committed to national development that the likes of him want to run this country.

We must make sure that they investigate him. Hes junketing all over the placean insult to the civilised minds who work so hard in this country. If, by whatever yardstick, he becomes the head of state, I will cease to be a Nigerian and Im not joking.

Concerning the security situation in the country, George described it as very heart-wrenching, urging clerics to preach morality to youths.

He said: Our religious leaders must come out and talk, let us teach our kids the moral standards required in a civilised environment. What happened to the civics that we learnt when we were young?
The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Thursday evening, made his first public appearance af...





The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, on Thursday evening, made his first public appearance after the death of his 42-year-old son, Pastor Dare Adeboye.

The general overseer featured on Thursday at the Holy Communion Service of the May Edition of the churchs Holy Ghost Service.

It was earlier reported that the younger Adeboye died in his sleep on Wednesday in Eket, Akwa Ibom State, where he was based with his family.

His death shocked the whole world as well-meaning persons including presidents, governors, and notable personalities condole the 79-year-old general overseer and his wife over the death of their son.

Preaching on Thursday night, the older Adeboye stressed on the importance of the bread and wine of the Holy Communion.

The cleric spoke from the studio of the churchs station, DOVE Media, while members of his church congregated in the auditorium along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and in other places across the world watched him.

Adeboye, in his sermon, said, The bread multiplied in the hands of the disciples, as you receive the bread, it will multiply in your hands.

Adeboye, who kept mute on the passing of his son, was visibly heartbroken and troubled.

After the sermon, the officiating minister in the auditorium said, Our Daddy has prayed for us. He was supposed to be here physically but due to circumstances beyond his control, he couldnt make it.
An Atlantic City woman was arrested last month after she was accused of physically assaulting her 6-year-old daughter, authorities announced Thursday.

Aminata Toure, 41, was charged with sexual assault, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault, according to a release from the Atlantic City Police Department.

The Division of Child Protection & Permanency ( DCP&P) contacted Atlantic City Police Detective John Sharkey on Feb. 20, 2020 after the girl reported to her teacher that she had been assaulted by her mother, police said.

The child told authorities that she had been punched by Toure and had a liquid spice that is used for cooking poured on her genitals, the release stated. A DCP&P case worker took the girl to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City for treatment and investigation was launched by police and the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office.

Charges were filed against Toure in March of this year and on April 21, she was located and arrested in nearby Egg Harbor Township and was taken to the Atlantic County Jail, police said.

Anyone with additional information about the case was urged to contact the Atlantic City Police Department Criminal Investigations Section at 609-347-5766.

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Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com.
A 20-year-old man was arrested in South Carolina and charged in a Burlington County shooting that killed another man and left a 10-year-old boy wounded, authorities said Friday.

Nicholas Wahl faces charges including murder, weapons offenses and aggravated assault, according to the Burlington County Prosecutors Office. Members of a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force apprehended Wahl on Wednesday at a relatives apartment in Greenville, South Carolina, authorities said.

Wahl was accused of fatally shooting 27-year-old Dysheem Bruton April 30 as he walked on Saint Mary Street in Burlington City, the prosecutors office said. He is also charged with accidentally shooting a 10-year-old boy in the foot in the same incident, authorities said.

Investigators identified Wahl, who lived on the same block as the shooting, as a suspect and he was charged within 24 hours of the attack, according to the prosecutors office.

It was quickly determined that this defendant was responsible for this killing, and he was soon apprehended several states away, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said in a statement. It was the solid work of the investigators up here, and the tenacity of the fugitive squad down south, that led to this speedy resolution. We are pleased to be able to take this important first step for justice for Mr. Brutons loved ones, and also grateful that an innocent child did not become a second fatality.

Prosecutors will seek to have Wahl extradited to New Jersey.

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Mike Jurusz is worried about the summer.

As owner and executive chef at Chef Mikes Atlantic Bar & Grill in South Seaside Park, he said he cant find anyone to hire. He blames his staffing troubles on expanded unemployment benefits and stimulus payments.

Its impossible to get help right now, he said, adding that all the businesses in his neighborhood have help wanted signs.

Jurusz has about 15 employees who work for the restaurant throughout the year, but staff is ramped up to about 60 for the summer season, he said.

We need 40 or more employees and Im getting scared, Jurusz said, noting he does 90% of his business in the summer.

Mike Jurusz, owner and executive chef at Chef Mike's Atlantic Bar & Grill in South Seaside Park, said he can't find enough employees because of expanded unemployment benefits.

Although Juruszs concerns are shared by some other employers across the state, especially among businesses that typically hire low-wage workers in the service industry, other employers and labor experts say the worker shortage issue is more complex. While extended unemployment benefits, which give workers an extra $300 per week through Sept. 6, may be keeping some workers at home, experts say others remain home because of COVID safety concerns in the workplace. Still others are staying out of the workforce, especially women, because of child care needs as the school calendar remains in flux.

Indeed, the monthly job report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows hiring slowed dramatically in April to a much slower pace than economists had been expecting. In April, businesses added only 266,000 jobs, far less than the 1 million that had been forecast.

New Jersey restaurant owner Tim McLoone said he doesnt blame the hiring challenges on people who dont want to work.

Its offensive to demonize one group of people, he said. Theres no question that unemployment has contributed to the diminishment of the labor market, but its not like theyre staying home to watch The Price Is Right and they dont want to work.

That may be true for a small portion of people, but theyre getting benefits they are entitled to. Its not like theyre taking something that they havent earned, McLoone said, noting that most of his employees came back to work rather than stay on unemployment.

Still, Jurusz remains convinced that expanded unemployment benefits are the culprit, with prospective employees questioning why they should work if I can stay home and collect?

The solution is to stop giving people money. If they keep giving these extra benefits, there is no reason for people to get out and work, he said.

Hes not the only restaurant owner who shares that view.

I think were all having trouble, a lot of restaurants, all kinds of businesses, really, said Dimitri Koniarelis, the owner of the Bridgewater Diner and two other restaurants in the state. I think, from the feedback I get, a lot of people are collecting unemployment and they would rather stay home.

But whether people are actually earning more on unemployment depends largely on the job they used to do, the salary they earned and the timing of their job loss. The unemployment extensions from the most recent stimulus bill bumped the weekly payout by an additional $300 a week until Sept. 6 for those who qualify.

For instance, someone earning $12 an hour and who worked least 20 weeks would qualify for maximum unemployment benefits, which would be $588 per week before taxes. Compare that to a person who works a 40-hour full-time job at $12 an hour. Before taxes, they would take home $480 per week  a difference of $108.

Luis Portes, a professor of economics at Montclair State University, said he doesnt buy into the argument that people are staying home because of the enhanced benefits, even thought he has heard about the hiring crunch and has seen lots of help wanted signs.

From what Ive gathered, I would lean more towards concerns about contagion limiting participation rather than disincentives from unemployment benefits, Portes said.

Some businesses are raising salaries to combat the labor shortage problem.

McLoone, who recently increased hourly wages to $15 for employees who dont receive tips, said there are also other factors at work.

He says the popularity of car-based services such as Uber, GrubHub and DoorDash have had a bigger impact on the lower-income labor pool than unemployment. Plus, he said, some former two-income households found one parent had to stay home because their child was in virtual school, keeping them out of the labor market.

The restaurant industry is tough compared to driving around in your car picking up an order and getting a tip, McLoone said.

Amit Patel, who owns Gharana Foods, an Indian snack food manufacturer in Edison, also recently raised wages. He said that while stimulus and higher unemployment benefits are a factor, theres more at play.

Do you think an employee would want to work at $10 or $11 an hour in a COVID environment when they have no job security, no benefits? Patel said. People are realizing their worth is a lot more.

His company has raised wages by 30% since the start of the pandemic, and while that seems like a lot, its small when wages were only $10 or $11 an hour to start, he said.

Amazon pays $16 and pays benefits. Its hard for us to compete, he said, noting that even if he could afford to offer health care, it would pale in comparison to the comprehensive package offered by Amazon.

Jurusz agrees that businesses that raise their hourly wage to entice workers make it harder for others to compete.

We are going to have to be forced to pay people who are not worth what they should be getting, Jurusz said. That will increase my labor costs, then we have to increase the pricing because we have to stay in business. Youre going to see $30 plain pizzas and $35 subs.

Gov. Phil Murphy addressed the issue at his Wednesday coronavirus briefing, acknowledging the hiring challenges, but he said its temporary.

Its a passing reality, Murphy said. This will not be the case forever. These benefits will not be forever and always. It is, I believe, temporary.

Murphy also said he doesnt plan to follow the lead of more than a dozen states that have reinstated a requirement that workers have to show they are actively looking for a job to be eligible for unemployment benefits.

The overwhelming number of folks who have been unemployed and impacted by this pandemic have suffered greatly, he said.

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NJ Advance Media Reporter Jeff Goldman contributed to this report.

Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com.
About 9 percent of students in the Paterson school district are being given the option of returning to classrooms for the final two weeks before the 2021 summer break.

The reopening plan approved Wednesday night by the school board applies to only 2,318 of the 24,588 students in Paterson, according to the districts spokesperson.

Under the plan, a total of 2,100 special education students in grades pre-K through 12, and 218 students in English Language Learners newcomers programs at Public School No. 15 and the New Roberto Clemente School, will be allowed to return to classrooms on June 8. Thats two weeks before the final day of classes.

The returning special education students would be in self-contained classrooms, or those in which a single teacher provides instruction in all subjects. According to the Paterson school districts most recent annual report, a total of 3,671 special education students are enrolled overall.

Reopening day, June 8, will be the first day of in-person instruction in Paterson since schools across the state first closed in mid-March 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jillian Farrad, who identified herself as a parent of two children with special needs, spoke at the school board meeting in support of offering in-person instruction to special education students.

This past year, its been detrimental to them. Its very upsetting that they have to go through this  that all the students have to go through this, Farrad told the board.

The school boards 8-0 vote on Wednesday occurred hours after Gov. Phil Murphy urged the 15 remaining, all-remote learning school districts to move forward with in-person instruction.

Patersons reopening plan is smaller in scope than some other school districts that recently reopened school buildings to students, including Newark and Jersey City. The school district in New Jerseys third-largest city had planned to welcome all students back to school buildings on May 3, but announced an indefinite postponement on March 31 at a time when coronavirus case numbers were still rising.

The teachers union in Paterson has objected to reopening school buildings and asked for all-remote learning to continue for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year.

Under the reopening plan, all teachers in Paterson will be required to report to school buildings starting June 1.

The school district announced last month that it will be offering summer classes to all grades, for four weeks in July, though only students in kindergarten through 5th grade will receive in-person instruction. Registration opened on Friday for students in grades K-8.

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A gun-toting robber, who was shot by an off-duty police officer as he held up a Newark barbershop, was sentenced Thursday in federal court to more than nine years in prison for the robbery, officials said.

Philip Hedgespeth previously pleaded guilty to federal robbery and weapons-related offenses in the May 2018 holdup, according to the New Jersey U.S. Attorneys Office.

Hedgespeth, 45, of Newark, robbed the Cache Barbershop and a customer at gunpoint, demanding cash, according to court documents. The customer turned out to be an off-duty city police officer.

In a confrontation captured on security video, the assailant pointed a gun at the barber before a struggle ensued with the off-duty officer.

Hedgespeth admitted he tried to fire a warning shot, but his gun jammed, according to documents in the case. The robber jumped into a waiting vehicle before the getaway car became disabled on McCarter Highway, authorities said.

He tried to run from the scene, but was soon arrested by Newark police, according to authorities. Hedgespeth was treated for the gunshot wound and initially arrested on state charges.

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ZIMBABWE lost more than $3 billion in potential revenue in April alone following its ban on imports of vehicles that are older than 10 years.

The number of vehicles imported has dropped steeply by between 2 000 and 3 000 per month. The drop also has ripple effect in the motor and downstream industries, with hundreds of Zimbabweans rendered jobless.

On April 2 this year, Zimbabwe effected Statutory Instrument 89/2021 which banned all imports of mostly pre-owned cars that are 10 years and older.

Figures of car imports dropped steeply from 4 776,4 153, 5 100 in January, February and March, respectively, to 2 034 in April when the new law came into effect.

In January, February and March 4776, 4153 and 5 100 cars, respectively were imported into the country through Beitbridge. Revenue collected from those imports was $805 603 213,40 in January, $3 140 785 433,30 in February and $4 062 889 835,52 in March, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority said in response to questions from NewsDay.

In April, $1 814 664 161,79 was collected, said Zimra spokesman Francis Chimanda.

Statutory Instrument 89 of 2021 was promulgated on April 2 2021 and the number of vehicle imported in April as at 26 April 2021 is 2 034 down from 5 100 in March 2021, he said.

The difference is around $3 billion and at that rate, the country would have potentially lost $36 billion by December.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce said it had become necessary to ban cars 10 years old and above to protect the local industry, which critics say is non-existent. Industry officials, during a recent visit to Beitbridge, had no idea what the local car manufacturing industry was producing.

The decision has not been popular with many people who feel the cars filled the gap which local car manufacturers cannot not fill.

The vehicle imports had also created employment for shipping agents and drivers and will likely hit new business for insurance companies.

The officials were in Beitbridge to assist cross-border traders launch self-help schemes following effects of COVID-19 work recess that has left thousands of people struggling.

Apart from South Africa, with several car manufacturing plants, most countries in Southern Africa rely heavily on imports of Japanese pre-owned cars. Newsday
A Mercer County man was arrested Friday and charged with murder based in part on video from body-worn police cameras captured at the scene after the killing.

Dion Duncan, 24, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Bristol, Pennsylvania, where he allegedly fled after the fatal shooting of Ramire Havery last month.

Duncan is charged with first-degree murder, weapons possession and receiving stolen property, according to Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri.

Harvey, 25, of Trenton, was found about 6:30 p.m. April 29 suffering from gunshot wounds in the drivers seat of a car that had struck two other vehicles near the corner of North Clinton Avenue and Poplar Street in the city. Harvey was pronounced dead at a local hospital, Onofri said.

Security cameras in the area showed Harvey parked his car on Meade Street, got out and began to speak with a person in the street. As they spoke, a man approached and fired shots at Harvey, the prosecutor said.

As Harvey retreated to his vehicle, the suspect ran down Meade Street and into an alley, Onofri said in a statement. Approximately 20 seconds later, the suspect returned and ran inside of a Meade Street residence.

A review of body-worn video from the Trenton police officers who responded to the shooting show a person who resembles Duncan leaving the scene, Onofri said.

Although the man had changed his clothes and attempted to conceal his face while in front of the officers, he was later identified as Dion Duncan, the prosecutor alleged.

In his statement, Onofri commended a new real-time crime and intelligence center in Trenton, which assisted in reviewing surveillance video.

This is the type of investigation where the capabilities of the (Mercer County) Homicide Task Force are truly highlighted, Onofri said.

Having multi-jurisdictional personnel available to not only retrieve but review surveillance video and body-worn camera footage with such expediency is what allowed detectives to solve this murder the same night, Onofri said.

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A 55-year-old employee of a massage therapy business in Monmouth County was arrested this week after clients reported to police that he touched them inappropriately, authorities said.

An Qinghai, of New York, was charged Tuesday with two counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, police said Friday.

Qinghai, who does not have a massage therapy license, worked at Happy Feet Reflexology on Route 35 in Wall Township for about two years, authorities said. The incidents allegedly took place from January 2020 through March of this year, according to police.

A man who answered the phone at the business Friday said Qinghai has been told not to return to work and that no one was available to comment.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Wall Police Detective Ty Hughes at 732-449-4500, ext. 1191.

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Eager to dive into a plate of chicken wings or a tender chicken sandwich? You might have to wait a while.

Restaurants across the United States are saying they are struggling to keep a steady stream of chicken tenders, breasts and wings on their customers plates due to a nationwide poultry shortage.

According to the Wall Street Journal, franchises such as KFC, Wingstop and Buffalo Wild Wings are saying they are paying high prices for poultry, and many independent eateries have gone for weeks without wings.

For comparison, boneless skinless chicken breast averaged averaged around $1 a pound last year, according to the Journal. Now its trading at $2.04 a pound.

National Chicken Council spokesman Tom Super told USA Today there was a very tight supply but said it was short of a shortage.

Chicken producers are doing everything they can to overcome the devastating impact of Mother Nature when she inflicted the once-in-a-lifetime winter storm on Texas and nearby states  major chicken producing regions, Super said.

Demand for chicken has increased during the pandemic, most likely due to people seeking out comfort food. Fast food restaurants like Wendys, Popeyes and McDonalds have increased demand as well as theyve increased their menu offerings during what has been dubbed the chicken sandwich wars.

In addition to the winter storms, coronavirus outbreaks at meat processing plants early in the pandemic forced many plants to close temporarily, putting more strain on the supply chain.

All of this means that restaurants are having trouble meeting orders

Were getting about two-thirds of what wed typically order and theres some days our food reps will call us and they say, We might not be able to get you anything, Jeff Feather, of Duffs Famous Wings in Buffalo, New York, told CBS.

Whether this demand will lead to higher prices at the supermarket is unclear at this point, though Super told USA Today he expects production to resume to a normal pace in the coming months.

In the meantime, can we interest you in some tofu?
A surrendered New Jersey shelter dog found a new home and a job as a Pennsylvania police K-9 thanks to the work of local animal rescue groups.

Arrow, a young Belgian Malinois, was handed over to the Burlington County Animal Shelter in February 2020 before joining the ranks of the Lower Southampton Township Police Department, where he became the agencys first K-9 since the 1960s.

Arrow is with me 24/7. Were best buds. Were partners and we do everything together, Lower Southampton Officer Kyle Heasley told reporters at an event Wednesday. Hes a great family dog and hes great with our other dog too.

The dogs path from living in a shelter to police work came from the work of county shelter staff and an East Greenwich-based organization, the Rescue 22 Foundation, which trains service dogs for combat veterans.

Shelter staff struggled to find a home for Arrow after two failed attempts at adoptions with other families. Debbie Bucci, a shelter attendant, described him as too much to handle at first.

He was very very energetic, Bucci said in a press release from the county. He needed more education; he needed to learn self-control and so he ended up sitting here for quite some time.

Bucci kept working to place Arrow, turning to social media and contacting Angela Connor of the Rescue 22 group.

Though Connor knew that Arrow wouldnt likely be a good fit as a service animal, she ended up taking him in anyway, believing his intellect and energy might be perfect as a police dog or other working animal, the countys release said. Through her contacts, she was able to match him with Lower Southampton, which was looking for a K9 recruit.

Arrow was trained for patrol and as a drug scent dog, Heasley told the Bucks County Courier Times. The officer began working with Arrow full-time in September after the pooch spent almost eight months at the shelter.

Bucci, the county shelter staffer, said she was overjoyed about Arrows new home and hoped the story would inspire others to adopt a dog or cat from the Burlington County shelter. Heasley returned to the shelter Wednesday with Arrow to meet his four-legged partners former caretakers.

Im very proud of him, Bucci said. But there are many more so we just keep going...Hopefully, they all have happy endings like Arrow did.

Thanks to our Shelter Manager, Ericka Haines, and Shelter Staffer Debbie Bucci for going above and beyond to find a... Posted by Burlington County Commissioner Dan OConnell on Thursday, May 6, 2021

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By Frank Argote-Freyre

Under existing law, rehabilitated people coming out of our criminal justice system are at a major disadvantage. Since apartment seekers are required to disclose criminal history to potential new landlords as part of the application process, countless people are routinely disqualified from tenancy at the point that they submit their application.

In effect, just as a formerly incarcerated person finds a possible home in which to rebuild his or her life, the system slams the door in their face.

This needs to change.

There exists a more reasonable and compassionate solution than simply blocking all pathways to renewal for those who completed their prison time and behaved well upon their release.

The Fair Chance in Housing Act is that solution. The bill would limit the lookback period to prevent landlords from examining criminal backgrounds of prospective tenants to a shorter defined time period. This prevents past mistakes from handicapping future life prospects for a needlessly long time period.

The bill also limits the kinds of violations that landlords can review with exceptions for certain violent crimes. In addition, the bill empowers tenants to provide documentation from community leaders, religious leaders and others to demonstrate successful rehabilitation and good character.

We must not delude ourselves any longer. The existing criminal justice system is a failure because the way we treat the once incarcerated is a failure.

The system disproportionately and unfairly harms Black and Brown people and results in a high recidivism rate among this population. Sixty-three percent of New Jerseys jail population are African American or Latino. This is a dramatically disproportionate rate; African Americans and Latinos constitute 34% of New Jerseys population. Our states 36-month re-incarceration rate was 31%, according to 2020 data.

What we need now is not the stale refusal to consider serious changes. We need profound and lasting reform that improves the opportunity for ex-prisoners and helps them rebuild their lives in a meaningful way. The changes proposed in this bill are revolutionary in just the way we need them to be.

While versions of this bill passed key committees in both houses of the Legislature, lawmakers are still negotiating on changes to strengthen the bill  over the strenuous opposition of powerful corporate landlords that are trying to weaken enforcement.

Its also critically important that the New Jersey Attorney Generals Office be given enforcement authority over these new tenant protections so powerful landlords know they will be held accountable if they continue to discriminate.

We need our legislative leaders, particularly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Senate President Steve Sweeney, to exercise leadership on this issue and to ensure that an acceptable version of the Fair Chance Act is quickly sent to Gov. Phil Murphys desk.

After a year of a deadly pandemic, economic uncertainly and abject misery, it is time that we recreate our world in a compassionate way. It is time to extend trust and support to those wishing to start anew. Easing the burden on formerly incarcerated people seeking housing is crucial groundwork as we work to break cycles of self-destruction and imprisonment.

For too long we have been held back by segregation  segregation of schools, segregation of communities and segregation of opportunity. It is time to renew our system in a way that respects the basic human decency in every human being equally. That day can only come if we achieve true rehabilitation in our criminal justice and housing policies.

Reform cannot wait another day. Trenton needs to take action to pass the Fair Chance in Housing Act.

Frank Argote-Freyre is chair of the Latino Action Network Foundation, a civil rights advocacy group.

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Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday announced a $40 million fund for undocumented immigrants and other workers excluded from economic aid during the pandemic, as part of a larger $275 million economic relief package.

The news comes after a nearly month-long hunger strike by undocumented immigrants who were desperately seeking financial relief after being excluded from most forms of direct economic aid, including unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, since the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the job market and economy 14 months ago.

Groups representing the workers on Friday called it an important first step but fear it still wont be enough to help the community.

New Jersey residents who were excluded from relief like unemployment and stimulus benefits will be eligible for the fund regardless of immigration status or whether they file taxes.

People who can show they were excluded from relief and affected by the coronavirus pandemic can claim up a one-time payment of $1,000, with a household maximum of $2,000. The income threshold will be roughly $55,000.

The $40 million pool of money will be made up of Coronavirus Relief Fund, the last remaining dollars from the the federal CARES Act. And depending on the guidance for using the $6 billion in American Rescue Plan money, theres potential for a second round of money, administration officials said.

The group of 35 essential workers who are on a hunger strike released a statement that they will end the strike because of Fridays action, but said the fund will only reach a fraction of the population of excluded workers and their families, and is not nearly enough to meet the vast and desperate need.

The other $235 million in the package are state funds allocated for small businesses and non-profits, after seeing a high demand for financial assistance to the Economic Development Agencys programs from New Jersey business owners. Childcare facilities and bars and restaurants also have a carveout in the relief package.

COVID-19 has created unimaginable challenges for our economy over the past year, Murphy said in a statement. As we emerge from this pandemic, we need to make targeted investments in both our small businesses and our workforce to lay the foundation for a stronger and fairer future that works for everyone.

The governors office expects the pot of money to help from 20,000 to 30,000 residents. Its unclear when the funds will start being distributed or when they will reach residents in need of cash assistance.

None of New Jerseys 460,000 undocumented immigrants were eligible for most forms of pandemic-related financial help, which often times also excluded children and spouses who are American citizens. The undocumented community includes many who were essential workers  janitors, kitchen staff and food delivery services  and people who lost their jobs with no recourse, said Make The Road New Jersey has said.

And undocumented workers contribute more than $600 million in state and local taxes, and more than $1 billion to the states unemployment fund in the last decade, according to a Make the Road study.

State Sen. Teresa Ruiz., D-Essex, said she was disappointed the governors office didnt create a larger pool of money, or release the CARES Act funding earlier.

Im just confused, from my perspective, why this wasnt offered earlier in the pandemic. This doesnt even begin to address the whole need, but if this is a starting point, then consider me a partner to finding a bigger, better, broader solution, she said.

Over the last 14 months through rallies and overnight protests on the Statehouse Annex steps, the undocumented community has pleaded to the governor, a self-declared progressive Democrat, and the Democrat-controlled state Legislature to no avail until Fridays announcement.

The governors administration said those conversations have been productive, despite advocacy groups like Make the Road and the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice previously equating the amount to a drop in the bucket.

We are...bitterly disappointed that many brave champions of this fight will not be reached by the initial amount and, in additional weeks of fasting, cruelly had their hopes dashed that the State would offer more, the NJAIJ said in a statement NJ Advance Media, adding the group will push the governor to replenish the fund.

The organizations had been calling for the governor and state Legislature to pass relief that would offer weekly $600 checks to replace unemployment benefits, and $2,000 stimulus checks.

New Jerseys fund is comprised of federal dollars, unlike New York and California, which were able to appropriate a much more generous amount of money through their state budgets. New Yorks $2.1 billion fund passed by the state legislature is the biggest in the country, providing up to $15,600 to eligible undocumented workers.

A bill introduced by Ruiz in the New Jersey legislature in May 2020 that proposed a similar amount of money for tax-paying undocumented immigrants hasnt been put up for a vote.

This doesnt have to wait for legislation to make every effort. When the state gets the regulations for the ARP funds, if theres a clear pathway to utilize that money, I hope the fund gets automatically replenished, Ruiz said.

The governors office has also pointed to other strides Murphy has made for the undocumented community, including the recent roll out of drivers licenses and that documentation is not required to apply for rental assistance.

Too many workers and their families will continue to go hungry. We will look forward to working with Governor Murphy and the state legislature to increase the funding to provide recovery we so desperately need and deserve, the group of hunger strikers added.

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OIl rigs would be forever banned off the Jersey Shore under legislation that will be announced Friday by New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.

The bill by Pallone, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, would put the entire Atlantic Coast off limits to drilling.

Its ridiculous for us to have a potential spill and devastate our coastal economy for the relatively small amount of oil and natural gas we know is out there, Pallone said.

The bill would make permanent the current ban until 2022 in the Interior Departments five-year drilling plan. Former President Donald Trump tried to adopt a new five-year plan that would open almost all of Americas coastal waters to oil and gas exploration, but a 2019 federal court ruling put a hold on the proposal and President Joe Biden quickly moved to block drilling upon taking office.

Pallone is scheduled to join local lawmakers and environmentalists on the Asbury Park Boardwalk to make his announcement.

The legislation is one of three steps Pallone, D-6th Dist., is taking to keep oil drilling out of the Atlantic out of concern that an oil spill will deal a damaging blow to the states economy. The Jersey Shore supports a tourism industry that pumps $44 billion a year into the economy and supports more than half a million jobs, and a commercial fishing industry that provides more than $7.9 billion annually and supports more than 50,000 jobs.

Besides the permanent ban, Pallone said he was trying to get an Atlantic drilling moratorium included in this years Interior Department spending bill and working to exclude the region from the next five-year oil and gas leasing plan.

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The Colorado Rockies have a new general manager, who inherited an old problem: what to do with Trevor Story.

Jeff Bridich stepped down as GM last week and Bill Schmidt took over on an interim basis. According to the Denver Post, Schmidt knows he might be the one forced to trade the two-time All-Star shortstop.

Well address that at the appropriate time, and now is not the appropriate time, said Schmidt, dodging the issue on the mind of every fan who has ever worn Storys replica jersey at Coors Field. Right now  hes a Rockie. When you draft and develop kids, yes, you fall in love with them. You care a lot about them because youve known them when theyre 17, 18 years old. And your intent as the scouting director is: Hey, theyre going to be with the Rockies forever. But the reality is, we know thats not the case.

Introducing Yankees Insider: Get exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers

Last week, USA Todays Bob Nightengale reported The question is not whether the Rockies will keep (Story); its where they will trade him at the July 30 trade deadline.

After watching San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. (14 years, $330 million) and New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (10 years, $341 million) land massive, long-term contracts, there seems to be no chance the Rockies will even attempt to re-sign Story.

That means Story, Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager and Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa will head into free agency after the 2021 World Series in search of their own nine-figure payouts.

Of course, the New York Yankees already have a pair of $300-million deals on the payroll (Gerrit Cole, Giancarlo Stanton). But after watching Gleyber Torres continue to struggle at shortstop, one has to wonder how long general manager Brian Cashman will be able to play the waiting game before deciding to kick the tires on Story, Seager and/or Correa.

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PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday said Zimbabwe was now part of the Kazungula Bridge project that was snubbed by his predecessor, the late President Robert Mugabe.

Kazungula Bridge is a road and rail bridge constructed over the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana at Kazungula. Its completion is largely expected to divert traffic passing through Beitbridge to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi, constricting the countrys revenue base.

The US$259,3 million project was mulled in August 2007 by the governments of Zambia and Botswana on a 50-50 deal and construction work began in October 2014.

The 923-metre-long bridge links the town of Kazungula in Zambia with Botswana and is curved to avoid the nearby borders of Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The bridge features a single-line railway track between two traffic lanes and pavements for pedestrians and is also connected to the MosetseKazungulaLivingstone Railway.

It will be officially opened on May 10. While commissioning a completed 6,5km stretch of the MarongoraHellsgate section of the MakutiChirundu Road funded by the Japanese government on Wednesday, Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe joined the two neighbours in the project.

During this month, I will be joining the Presidents of Botswana and Zambia at Kazungula, to commission the Kazungula Bridge. With the coming in of the new dispensation, Zimbabwe came on board the project and the bridge is now owned by three countries, Mnangagwa bragged.

However, according to a Press release by the Botswana Transport and Communications ministry dated May 1 announcing the date of the official opening of the bridge seen by NewsDay yesterday, Zimbabwe was not named as part of the project or funders.

Package 1 funded by both governments of Botswana and Zambia on 50% basis. The contract was awarded to Daewoo Engineering and Construction at an original sum of US$161 961 304,84 which has been revised to US$171 184 799,54 to incorporate 16% VAT (value-added tax) component from the government of the Republic of Zambia, read part of the document.

Package 2, one-stop border Botswana was funded by JICA (Japan International Co-operation Agency) exclusive of VAT while the Botswana government funded the VAT component. The contract was awarded to Zhong Gan Engineering and Construction at a cost of BWP 440 116 275.50, Package 3 One Stop Border Zambia is funded by AfDB. The contract was awarded to Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group Co Ltd at a cost of ZMW 263 670 419,98.

But Information secretary Ndavangi Mangwana on his Twitter handle confirmed that indeed Zimbabwe had joined Botswana and Zambia as co-owners of the bridge through its rights on the Zambezi River.

This month, President @edmnangagwa will be joining his Motswana and Zambian counterparts as the trio commissions Kazungula Bridge. You may recall that Zimbabwe joined the Kazungula Bridge project through the Zambezi River, in Phase II of the project, Mangwana tweeted.

He, however, did not disclose how much Zimbabwe had contributed towards the construction of the bridge. Newsday
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The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of China's first permanent space station into orbit is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as Saturday at an unknown location.

Such rocket sections -- discarded core, or first stage -- usually reenter soon after liftoff, normally over water, and don't go into orbit as this one did.

China's space agency has yet to say whether the core stage of the huge Long March 5B rocket is being controlled or will make an out-of-control descent. Last May, another Chinese rocket fell uncontrolled into the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa.

Basic details about the rocket stage and its trajectory are unknown because the Chinese government has yet to comment publicly on the reentry. Phone calls to the China National Space Administration weren't answered Wednesday, a holiday.

However, the newspaper Global Times, published by the Chinese Communist Party, said the stage's "thin-skinned" aluminum-alloy exterior will easily burn up in the atmosphere, posing an extremely remote risk to people.

The U.S. Defense Department expects the rocket stage to fall to Earth on Saturday. Where it will hit "cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its reentry," the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.
THE Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) has submitted 32 dockets to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), nine of which are high-profile, as the dragnet closes in on senior government, police and council officials.

This was said by Zacc chairperson Justice Loyce Matanda-Moyo in a wide-ranging interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this week, where she fired warning shots against those involved in corrupt activities.

She said as at the end of last month, Zacc had finished working on 32 dockets against a target of 60 dockets to reach an ambitious target of 180 dockets by year-end. The list of alleged corrupt officials cannot be released now, as this may jeopardise investigations.

For those 32 completed dockets, we are very sure that the accused persons will be convicted of corruption, Matanda-Moyo said.

Zacc set a target to refer 180 completed dockets to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) this year. This does not only put into proper context the amount of work that the commission is doing, but also the effort that we are willing to put in the fight against corruption. The target for this year is twice what was achieved in 2020.

Our target is 15 dockets per month meaning that we should have submitted 60 dockets by the end of April 2021. However, we have a shortfall of 28 dockets which was mainly caused by the closure of most institutions due to the national Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Some of the high-profile cases being handled by Zacc, Matanda-Moyo said, include case number HCR109/12/20, involving a former commissioner of police in charge of Matabeleland North Province, Erasmus Makodza, who is being charged with criminal abuse of duty as a public officer. Others include Rusape town secretary Solomon Gabaza, charged with criminal abuse of office and Rusape councillor Clever Chimuse who faces similar charges.

The anti-graft body boss said there were several corruption cases under investigation and arrests would be made once the probe was complete.

We have now resorted to sending completed dockets to the Prosecutor Generals Office so that most of the time we proceed by way of summons. The accused persons are summoned to court and tried. This we have done so as to protect our witnesses,as well as to ensure that only deserving cases appear before the courts and we do away with this catch-and-release phenomenon associated with the anti-corruption drive, Matanda-Moyo said.

Zacc is also carrying out spot-checks and systems compliance at the Mines and Mining Development ministry and Umzingwane Rural District Council (RDC). This comes amid reports of alleged corruption over the handling of mining claims and grants by senior officials at the Mines ministry. This was exposed by an investigative report which was produced by experts at Zacc.

Recently, the commission assessed activities at the Industry and Commerce ministry and Mutoko RDC.

Matanda-Moyo explained; What Zacc does is that we examine the practices, systems and procurement procedures in organisations to ensure these systems and practices adhere to issues of good corporate governance and prevent corruption. In instances where we find that there are no systems in place, we assist that organisation in the formulation of proper systems that prevent corruption.

We have also created a dashboard as a monitoring tool for the institutions. So after our compliance checks we put institutions into categories red, orange and green. Red is for institutions with no systems or those that have systems but are non-compliant, green for those with systems and are implementing them and amber are institutions which are half way. We give them an implementation matrix and a time frame in which to ensure that the systems are in place.

After the time frame we return to the institution to carry out another compliance check to verify if they have complied with our recommendations; if not we then bring in the criminal aspect into it. So this year we are placing more emphasis on prevention rather than chasing after the perpetrators. We will still investigate cases of corruption, however we want to ensure there is a stop to these corrupt activities being committed by the introduction of transparent systems.

Matanda-Moyo said her office was also looking at reports produced by the Auditor-General Mildred Chiri, which exposed rot in government departments and parastatals.

Zacc is now engaging internal auditors from government departments to implement recommendations made by Chiri to plug financial leakages.

Chiri has over the years produced damning audit reports which indict parastatals and ministries in financial malfeasances.

Commenting on companies accused by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) of abusing the foreign auction system, Matanda-Moyo said the apex banks Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was seized with the matter after which it will formally refer the cases either to the Zacc or the police.

RBZ governor John Mangudya recently told the Zimbabwe Independent that a dozen companies were suspended from the foreign auction system over allegations of fuelling the black market.

The forex auction was introduced in June 2020 to arrest runaway parallel market rates and so far close to US$1 billion has been funnelled to companies through the formal system.

Matanda-Moyo said to deal with complex corruption cases, Zacc had recruited 36 experts drawn from forensics, information communication technology (ICT), financial intelligence, tax, finance and accounting and law.

I have emphasised the need to continuously train and capacitate Zacc officers with the requisite skills that are in tandem with current corruption trends. I am, therefore, happy to note that ongoing training will be provided in the area of digital and financial investigations to sharpen skills of the newly recruited officers.

As part of our decentralisation drive of the fight against corruption, we are also actively seeking to recruit 35 more investigating officers to be deployed to provinces. These posts have been approved by Treasury and we have already advertised the posts in various media outlets. However, there is still the scope and the need to recruit more investigators as the current pool is not adequate considering the rampant corrupt activities in the country, she said.

The Zacc chair said the Finance and Economic Development ministry provided funds to acquire offices and vehicles although more resources were required to meet the investigative needs.

To lessen dependence on Treasury, we have proposed retention of a certain percentage of assets that the commission would have recovered to boost funding for our operations. This is a best practice noted from other Anti-Corruption Agencies in other jurisdictions, Matanda-Moyo said.

We have made tremendous progress in terms of decentralisation and have been given the green light to recruit and decentralise in Masvingo, Mashonaland Central, Manicaland and Mashonaland West provinces. These offices will be fully operational by June 1, 2021. Hence, we are appealing for more resources in terms of human capital, furniture and vehicles. Our objective is to have presence in every province and district in the country beyond the current Harare, Bulawayo and Gweru. Zimbabwe Independent
MINNEAPOLIS  A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao.

Specifically, Chauvin is charged with violating Floyd's right to be free from unreasonable seizure and unreasonable force by a police officer. Thao and Kueng are also charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure, alleging they did not intervene to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyd's neck. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Floyds arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked protests nationwide and widespread calls for an end to police brutality and racial inequities.

Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the arrest and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Lane, Thao and Kueng made their initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Chauvin was not part of the court appearance.

Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyds death and is in Minnesotas only maximum-security prison as he awaits sentencing. The other three former officers face a state trial in August, and they are free on bond. They were allowed to remain free after Friday's federal court appearance.

Floyd, 46, died May 25 after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. State prosecutors say Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judges refusal to move the trial due to publicity.

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Nelson had no comment on the federal charges Friday. Messages left with attorneys for two of the other officers were not immediately returned, and an attorney for the fourth officer was getting in an elevator and disconnected when reached by The Associated Press.

To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe that an officer acted under the color of law, or government authority, and willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights, including the right to be free from unreasonable seizures or the use of unreasonable force. Thats a high legal standard; an accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officers part isnt enough to support federal charges.

Roy Austin, who prosecuted such cases as a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justices Civil Rights Division, said prosecutors have to prove that the officers knew what they were doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.

Conviction on a federal civil rights charge is punishable by up to life in prison or even the death penalty, but those stiff sentences are extremely rare and federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas that indicate the officers would get much less if convicted.

In Chauvins case, if the federal court uses second-degree murder as his underlying offense, he could face anywhere from 14 years to slightly more than 24 years, depending on whether he takes responsibility, said Mark Osler, a former federal prosecutor and professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Osler said the guidelines clearly state that any federal sentence would be served at the same time as a state sentence  the sentences wouldnt stack. Chauvin is due to be sentenced on the state charges June 25.

___

Balsamo reported from Washington.
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A Jefferson Parish sheriffs deputy has resigned while awaiting discipline over allegations that he tried to force a pregnant tenant from a Kenner apartment amid a federal freeze on evictions, while allegedly tapping a sheriffs office computer to dig up attachments on her.

Randy McClendon resigned a few days ago, said Capt. Jason Rivarde, spokesman for Sheriff Joe Lopintos office, on Thursday.

Watch: Bogus eviction attempt of pregnant woman lands Jefferson Parish deputy under internal probe Frances Tapps was eight months pregnant when a Jefferson Parish sheriffs vehicle rolled up to her Kenner street on a Thursday evening in Janu

The sheriffs office said in March that it expected to discipline McClendon, 49, over a complaint from Frances Tapps, who was eight months pregnant when McClendon rolled up in his patrol vehicle.

Tapps, 38, said the deputy banged on her front door and window in uniform and badge, yelling for her to get out. He then pulled his cruiser in front of her drive. Tapps captured the rest of the altercation on her cell phone camera.

OK, youre a Jefferson Parish police, she said on the recording.

I am a private citizen, McClendon responded from the drivers seat of the patrol vehicle.

The incident took place amid a federal moratorium on evictions for failure to pay rent during the pandemic. The moratorium has been extended through June, amid federal court challenges by landlord groups that have gained traction. Advocates saw McClendon's eviction bid as a prime example of the sorts of measures frustrated landlords have increasingly taken to enlist law enforcement or otherwise circumvent eviction courts.

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McClendon wasnt on the lease as a landlord, and it's a constable's job to serve eviction papers, which he didnt bring anyway, said Jessica Sawyer, Tapps attorney. The company that owns the triplex, HUM Management, hadnt yet filed court papers to evict Tapps, whose rent is subsidized by a federal Section 8 housing voucher.

Tapps called Kenner police, who arrived and told McClendon that he needed to formally evict her before coming for the key.

In March, Rivarde said the sheriff's office also expected to discipline McClendon over Tapps' allegation that he had run a search for her attachments.

+2 'These people are struggling': Huge spigot of rental aid begins to open up across Louisiana Julie Winn had done about all she could to keep up with the rent on her Central City shotgun, despite a steep loss in income from a cancelled 

The level of discipline he would have received had not yet been determined at the time of his resignation and is now a moot point, Rivarde said.

Tapps did not respond to a message seeking comment. Attempts to reach McClendon were not successful.

It's the second time McClendon has resigned from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. He worked there as a process server for First Parish Court in Metairie but left in 2009 after being booked with skimming nearly $10,000 from the parish schools system, where'd he also worked.

District Attorney Paul Connicks office refused the charges a year later, however, allowing McClendon to rejoin law enforcement.
A serial killer who stalked downriver New Orleans neighborhoods after Hurricane Katrina pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday, finally following through on a confession he made in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.

After years of courtroom outbursts and delays, Joseph Brant gave another expletive-laden rant on Tuesday but agreed to formally enter his plea. Relatives of two women he killed will be allowed to give victim-impact testimony at a later date, but authorities have never identified a third.

In a phone interview from her Georgia home, the sister of one woman who was shot to death by Brant in January 2008 said she will stare the killer in the eye, even if its only over a video link.

Me and my sister look alike, said Jana Wood, the sister of Jody Johnson. I want him to think hes seeing a ghost. I just want him to know how much he took from me.

Brant, a 51-year-old who says he had an eighth-grade education, had already been sentenced to life after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the August 2008 killing of 32-year-old botanist Jessica Hawk in her Bywater home. After his conviction in that case, he was sent to a Texas prison to serve out the remainder of a conviction in that state for burglary.

Then, Brant came forward with a chilling confession, which he gave to an investigator for the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office after prosecutors agreed not to seek capital punishment. Hawk was not his only victim, Brant said. In the chaotic, crime-ridden years after Katrina, he had also killed three times more.

+7 'Serial killer' serving life for murder now accused in killings of 3 more N.O. women A man serving life for murdering a Bywater woman in 2008 was accused of killing three more women in a stunning indictment unveiled on Thursday. Joseph Brant, 48, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the indictment obtained by the office of Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.

Assistant District Attorney Andre Gaudin detailed the confession at the court hearing Tuesday, which Brant attended via video conference from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Brant was cruising Galvez Street on Oct. 17, 2007 when he spotted a woman and solicited her for prostitution, according to his confession. He paid the woman for sex but she refused, so he raped her at knifepoint and choked her until she was dead, he said. He poured gasoline on the woman's body and set the car on fire. The woman, identified as Jane Doe in a grand jury indictment, has never been named.

Sometime before Jan. 11, 2008, when her body was found on Piety Street with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, Brant said he was again driving a stolen car and forced Johnson, 47, to perform oral sex on him at gunpoint. Then he shot her and set her body on fire.

Johnson was a former high school cheerleader and homecoming queen from Warner Robins, Georgia who joined the U.S. Navy, her sister said. She became addicted to painkillers for migraines while serving in the Philippines and fell on hard times.

Wood keeps a picture of her sister above the writing desk at her home in Georgia, and passes it every day.

She was always the prettiest, Wood said. Everybody loved Jody.

'I miss Kirsten's loving voice every day': Victim's family reacts to news of confession Nearly a decade after the murder of Kirsten Brydum, a 25-year-old social activist from San Francisco, a grand jury has indicted a man who says

Finally, Brant said that he killed San Francisco-based activist Kirsten Brydum, 25, after he spotted her riding a bicycle in the 9th Ward. Again, Brant said that he forced her to perform oral sex on him at gunpoint. Brant said that he was driving to get gasoline to set Brydum's body on fire when he got in a car accident, which prevented him from following through. Her body was found in the 3000 block of Laussat Street on Sept. 27, 2008.

Brydum had only recently arrived in New Orleans on a tour of underserved communities she was making to inform her activism, according to a close friend, Frank Lindsay.

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She was just an amazing individual that did things all directed at helping our planet peacefully coexist, Lindsay said. Thats really hard to explain to people, until you witness a soul who has that as their being.

After his February 2018 confession and indictment, Brant appeared to be a on a fast-track to formally pleading guilty. But at a series of court hearings after he was transferred from Texas to New Orleans, he shouted at the judge and his court-appointed lawyers. He also refused to sign a formal plea document, for unexplained reasons.

Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Robin Pittman found Brant mentally incompetent in April 2019, and he was held for treatment at the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System in Jackson for months. Pittman found that he had the mental capacity to proceed with the case in February 2020. Then, the coronavirus pandemic shuttered the courthouse.

Brant finally signed his plea form in recent days, but at the hearing Tuesday he continued to interrupt the judge and lawyers.

He's saying stuff I didn't even tell him, ma'am, Brant said after hearing Gaudins account of his confession. Brant acknowledged killing the women but said he only kidnapped Brydum and did not have sex with her or the other victims, despite his confession about forcing them to perform oral sex.

"If you want detail, I only kidnapped one woman. That was the last woman I killed," Brant said.

A representative for Brydums family said that the record was clear about the abuse the women suffered.

His delusional semantics aside, he raped Kirsten and his other victims, said Ben Rosenfeld, a friend of Brydums and attorney for the family. The suffering he inflicted, and basic sexual assault awareness, require that we remember that.

Brant also lashed out at his lead attorney, Barksdale Hortenstine of the Orleans Public Defenders, and Gaudin, deriding them as these White boys.

Barksdale is a f------ two-legged dog. He always got some f------ bullshit going on, Brant said.

Alleged N.O. serial killer and Mid-City stabbing suspect ordered to mental hospital A New Orleans judge has ordered a suspected serial killer sent to Louisianas mental hospital on an emergency basis after a forensic psycholog

Brant agreed to plead guilty after a Black attorney with the Orleans Public Defenders, Brian Woods, joined the hearing. He also seemed eager to wrap up the case, confirming with Woods that he wouldnt return to the Orleans Justice Center or court for no other reasons.

Brant is scheduled to make at least one more appearance. In a statement, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams said victim-impact testimony will be given on June 1.

The District Attorneys Office is pleased to have secured guilty pleas for three horrendous murders in our city by expediting the hearings, after much recent re-engagement by our team, Williams said. The office has been working for years to no avail on these matters, and (Tuesday) was a breakthrough moment to securing justice.

The guilty pleas and the upcoming hearing were long-anticipated moments for Wood and Lindsay.

Lindsay and Brydums boyfriend made an annual pilgrimage to New Orleans in the years after her death trying to turn up clues that would solve her murder. They felt like they had reached a wall just before Brant finally confessed, Lindsay said.

Lindsay admitted to feeling frustration during the years between Brants confession and his formal guilty pleas this week. Hes long been prepared to serve as a family representative at a sentencing hearing.

I was prepared to come back, Lindsay said. And in between, I knew that he would be going nowhere, and that public safety would be assured that Joseph Brant wasnt going to kill anybody else.
After years paying little in income taxes, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams claimed a big profit on his 2018 tax return as he sought to finance a pricey St. Charles Avenue house, federal prosecutors said Friday.

That sudden shift, plus years of late tax payments and tax liens, amount to evidence that Williams knew what he was doing when he submitted wildly inflated business expenses with the help of a Westwego tax preparer, the feds say.

Prosecutors outlined nearly two decades of Williams' tax filings as they sought to persuade U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman to allow them to show the documents to a jury at the DA's Nov. 1 trial. Many of those tax years fall outside the period covered by an 11-count indictment that hangs over Williams and law partner Nicole Burdett, but prosecutors say they help prove a conspiracy.

They claim the records show Williams and Burdett meant to bilk the government with the help of tax preparer, Henry Timothy, who has pleaded guilty in his own tax case and is cooperating with the government in its case against Williams and Burdett.

The indictment accuses the pair of conspiring to reduce Williams tax liability by some $200,000 over the five tax years ending in 2017, as well as failing to properly report cash receipts in five cases.

Burdett was subsequently indicted separately on four felony tax counts of her own, accused of claiming more than $280,000 in "false and fraudulent" business expenses over four years. Their cases will be tried together. Feldman has set a November trial date.

Federal prosecutors point to the tax return that a different preparer drew up for Williams in 2018, after hed dropped Timothy, and while he was purchasing a $1.4 million house on St. Charles Avenue in Uptown.

The five previous tax years, for which Williams is under indictment, showed minimal tax due, prosecutors wrote.

They said Williams 2018 return, however, reported more than $330,000 in profit, and nearly $100,000 in taxes owed.

The returns for 2018, 2019, and 2020 reflect a substantial tax liability with significantly less business expenses claimed than in earlier years, prosecutors allege. They claim the difference, and the fact Williams didnt go back and revise those earlier returns, show criminal intent.

They say Williams came correct to prove enough income to qualify for a home loan. But in doing so, he revealed knowledge his earlier returns were bogus, prosecutors alleged in a formal notice of their plan to introduce those other tax records as extrinsic evidence or acts inextricably intertwined with the charged conduct.

Williams has argued that Timothy is wholly to blame for his suspect tax returns. Prosecutors argue that claim falls flat given the stark contrast of these returns. They wrote that it was simply not credible for a highly educated attorney to believe he has very little tax liability.

Billy Gibbens, Williams defense attorney, declined to comment Friday on the claims, saying he would respond in an upcoming court filing.

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Williams has argued that Timothy misrepresented himself as a certified public accountant while taking it upon himself to inflate Williams' returns. His attorneys point to government records showing steep business deductions across Timothy's stable of tax clients, while none were targeted like he was for a tax-fraud indictment.

The government has argued that they went after Williams because his tax issues appeared so egregious. Still, officials acknowledged at a hearing last year that Williams' political standing drew the focus of an Internal Revenue Service investigator attached to the FBI's public corruption squad, and a probe that began by targeting another client of Timothy pivoted squarely to Williams.

According to Friday's government filing, Williams hired Timothy to amend seven years of prior returns -- from 2002 to 2008 -- "in order to reduce his overall tax liability." He also hired Timothy to prepare his tax returns beginning in 2011.

Prosecutors say Williams delayed tax payments for years beginning two decades ago. For the 2002 tax year, the IRS would later issue him a "notice of levy" for more than $9,300.

Among the delays, Williams' tax bills for 2003 and 2007 werent fully paid until 2014, the government stated.

In 2007, Williams was slapped with a lien of more than $89,000, covering the tax years 2001, 2002 and 2003, according to prosecutors. Another tax lien was recorded against Williams in 2011, covering the four tax years from 2005 to 2008 and amounting to almost $17,000, the notice states. Both liens were released in 2015.

None of those tax years are part of the indictment against Williams and Burdett.

Williams also deducted some tax payments improperly as business expenses on subsequent returns, say prosecutors, who made similar arguments Friday about Burdett's purported knowledge of alleged fraud involving her own tax returns.

Michael Magner, Burdetts attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

The indictment against Williams and Burdett came three weeks before Williams, then City Council president, qualified to run for district attorney, a seat he won handily in a December runoff against former criminal court judge Keva Landrum.

Williams has cast the tax fraud case against him as a political hit job meant to stymie his rise, and that of the criminal justice reforms he proposed and has since begun to carry out in New Orleans.

Meanwhile, Landrum has been tapped by President Joe Bidens administration for the U.S. attorney post in New Orleans. But even assuming she's confirmed by the Senate, she wont be overseeing the prosecution of Williams, a bitter campaign rival and former Tulane Law School classmate.

Prosecutors with the Western District of Louisiana, based in Lafayette, are leading the case against Williams and Burdett, after the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Orleans was recused well before a grand jury indicted the pair last summer.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  An Alabama state trooper arrested last week on charges he raped an 11-year-old girl had been kicked out of the FBI amid a string of sexual misconduct allegations but was hired by the state agency with the apparent help of a fake bureau letter that scrubbed his record clean.

An Associated Press investigation found Christopher Bauer was suspended without pay and stripped of his security clearance in the FBI's New Orleans office in late 2018  effectively fired  amid allegations that included a co-worker's claim that he raped her at knifepoint.

But Alabama authorities either overlooked or were unaware of that history. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the state police, told AP that it conducted a "full and thorough" investigation into Bauer's background when he applied to be a trooper in 2019 and that "no derogatory comments were uncovered by former employers."

Bauer indicated on his application that he was still employed by the FBI and had never been dismissed or forced to resign because of disciplinary action. And the state's law enforcement credentialing commission provided AP a copy of a letter  purportedly from FBI headquarters  that makes no mention of Bauer's ouster, confirms his decade of "creditable service" and deems him "eligible for rehire."

"The letter is not legitimate," the FBI said in a statement to the AP on Wednesday. Bureau officials would not say who they believe forged the letter.

Bauer, 41, was arrested last week in Montgomery on charges including sodomy and sexual abuse of a child under 12. The AP is withholding some details of the allegations to protect the girl's identity.

Bauer remained jailed Wednesday on $105,000 bail, and court records do not list an attorney who could comment on his behalf. An attorney who represented Bauer in challenging his ouster from the FBI did not respond to requests for comment.

The FBI declined to say whether it was asked for any information about Bauer's suitability to be hired by the state police.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey's office referred questions on the matter to the state police, which did not respond to repeated queries about the details of Bauer's hiring.

"You have to ask yourself why an agent from the FBI would want to leave after 10 years," said Lou Reiter, a policing consultant and former deputy chief with the Los Angeles Police Department. "They obviously didn't do any kind of due diligence with their background check."

"There have to be phone calls," added Michael Avery, a retired professor at Suffolk University's Law School and an expert on police misconduct.

Bauer resigned from the state police following his arrest, citing "personal reasons."

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Bauer is the latest  and perhaps most extreme  example yet of an FBI agent accused of sexual misconduct moving on. An AP investigation last year found a pattern of FBI supervisors avoiding discipline  and retiring with full benefits  even after claims of sexual misconduct against them were substantiated.

"Nobody wants to take responsibility," the former co-worker who accused Bauer of rape told the AP, which does not typically identify those who say they are the victims of sex crimes. "I didn't want this to happen to anybody else."

An Air Force veteran, Bauer was a member of the Montgomery police force before joining the FBI in 2009, working a number of high-profile cases in the New Orleans field office. He has disputed the sexual misconduct claims made by his FBI co-worker, telling colleagues the acts were consensual.

FBI brass considered the misconduct case to be "egregious," according to a former senior law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the matter. Internal investigators interviewed several female FBI employees about their dealings with Bauer and believed the truth to be "somewhere in the middle" of what Bauer and the co-worker claimed, the former official said. The internal inquiry found Bauer violated FBI policy, including by having sex in an FBI vehicle.

"He flat-out needed to lose his job, and he really should have been charged criminally," said the former official, who wasn't authorized to discuss personnel matters and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Bauer's co-worker told AP that Louisiana authorities had been pursuing criminal charges in St. Tammany Parish, north of New Orleans, but she didn't believe she had enough evidence to go forward.

The allegations also played out in a restraining order obtained by the co-worker that names Bauer and had been in the public record in Louisiana for a year when Alabama hired him as a trooper. In it, the woman accuses the lawman of choking her, adding she was "scared for my life."

Bauer was ordered to surrender his "firearms, weapons, swords and knives" as part of the case.

"I couldn't see any more and felt my legs go out from under me," the woman wrote in her application for the order. "He told me many times if I went to war with him I would lose. He told me many times he would destroy me."

The woman told AP that Bauer sexually assaulted her so frequently her hair began to fall out.

"It was a year of torture," she said. "He quite literally would keep me awake for days. I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep, and in six months I went from 150 pounds to 92 pounds. I was physically dying from what he was doing to me."

__

Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Washington.
Seven teenagers fleeing from police in a pickup truck that was stolen at gunpoint an hour earlier were injured after the driver crashed Friday in the St. Claude neighborhood, according to authorities.

Police Superintendent Shaun Ferguson said five boys and two girls  all between the ages of 13 and 17  were inside the truck when it hit a light pole, three vehicles and a house. He didnt provide details about the medical conditions of the teens other than to say the two girls were critically hurt.

In a briefing at the scene, Ferguson made it a point to say that several of the teens involved had been released after previous arrests in connection with violent crimes.

7 teenagers in stolen pickup truck hurt in crash following police chase, NOPD chief says A stolen pickup truck that was being chased by New Orleans police crashed in the St. Claude area Friday afternoon, sending seven teenagers to 

The NOPD didnt release the teens names because they are not adults. But Ferguson said the case illustrated how his officers  on the front lines of the citys perennial battle against violent crime  find themselves arresting and re-arresting some of the same individuals with no consequences.

We need our entire system together working collectively to hold individuals accountable, Ferguson said.

Restrictions the NOPD put in place under a federal consent decree imposed in 2012 prohibit officers from engaging in car chases in many instances. However, the agency does allow its officers to chase suspects in violent crimes, including armed carjackings.

Ferguson said thats what happened when officers began investigating a report that several people had stolen a Dodge Ram pickup at gunpoint near the corner of Deers and Law streets on the edge of the Florida neighborhood about 10:30 a.m.

Police later received a call of a suspicious vehicle on St. Anthony Street and then again in the area of Elysian Fields  about four blocks over  that matched the description of the stolen pickup.

Ferguson said officers tried to pull the pickup over, but the driver took off. Officers requested and received permission to chase the truck and pursued it to the 3100 block of North Robertson Street, where the driver crashed, Ferguson said.

First responders found the seven teens still at the scene, near the intersection of Clouet Street, and brought them to the hospital. Officers confiscated several guns at the scene, Ferguson said.

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The superintendent spoke in support of the agency's decision to authorize the chase, saying officers were responding to a call from someone who saw something that was suspicious and dialed for help.

This unfortunately was the result of addressing those concerns, Ferguson said. We are speaking about juveniles being involved in violent crimes that resulted in serious injuries.

Despite his support for the pursuit, Ferguson said a team that investigates whether officers are justified in using force or chasing vehicles will review the case. Federal monitors will also track the investigation, as will the citys Office of the Independent Police Monitor, according to Ferguson.

Near where Ferguson spoke, a skid mark cutting across two lanes and a house surrounded by concrete bollards stood as testaments to the crashes that frequently occur near North Robertson and Clouet.

Almetta Matthews, who has lived near that corner since 1965, said they always have accidents here.

I never stand on this sidewalk, Matthews said. I know better than to be on this corner.

One man who declined to give his full name said he had come from Las Vegas to visit his aunt when the crash happened a block away from her home. The man, a New Orleans native who grew up in the old Iberville housing development, said he couldnt believe it was his second time near a crime scene in the two days.

He was also on Canal Street when, according to police, the owner of a vape and tobacco shop fatally shot a man near the store.

The city has registered 69 homicides so far this year, an almost 28% increase since this time in 2020, City Council statistics show. As New Orleans steadily lifts pandemic restrictions in response to waning coronavirus cases, non-fatal shootings this year have also been about 66% higher than they were at the same time last year, when much of the city was locked down due to the virus.

The man visiting from Las Vegas said, I remember why my parents wanted us to get out of here so bad.
The Louisiana House of Representatives voted 70-12 late Thursday to abolish the state public defender board, despite objections from local agencies like the Orleans Public Defenders that contend it will create an unaccountable czar.

Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee, R-Houma, says his bill will eliminate a cliquish, unrepresentative board and help wean the state off fines and fees from poor defendants. But opponents say the bill fails to fix chronic budget problems and generates new opportunities for political interference.

The bill would eliminate the 11-member board that has the final say over hiring 39 local defenders and over state public defense funding.

+10 Protesters sue NOPD over use of tear gas during confrontation on Crescent City Connection last June Alleging police had no legitimate basis to break up a large crowd marching against police brutality last June, three protesters have filed a

Instead, a single statewide public defender appointed by the governor would assume board duties. In its latest iteration, the bill requires nominees to have five years experience as a public defender or in a similar job, which would apparently disqualify incumbent state defender Remy Starns.

Separately, Magees bill routes the roughly $27.8 million a year collected from defendants upon conviction to the state before returning it to local districts. He claims that move, in tandem with his plan to dedicate 1 percent of a tax on medical marijuana to public defense, could create a pathway for increased state funding.

But the public defender bill itself doesnt include more money. Meanwhile, board supporters say that it provides protection against a governor-appointed state defender who could punish district leaders for being too aggressive in defense of their unpopular clients.

Rep. Ted James, D-Baton Rouge, said during the floor debate Thursday that he was worried about letting governors make the pick.

I would trust this governor to make that decision. I would not have trusted the last governor to make that decision, he said. I dont know if the next governor is going to be as sympathetic to correcting the issue of public defense.

James said that at a committee hearing, 25 people signed up to speak against the bill, including several district defenders. Nobody signed up in support, he said.

However, Magee and allies said there is more support than it appears. Magee read on the floor a lengthy statement from board member Pat Fanning, a former federal prosecutor and current defense attorney who backs its abolition.

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+3 Streamlined system or political 'czar'? Louisiana public defender overhaul spurs feisty debate A bill that would abolish Louisianas public defender oversight board has drawn heated opposition from the Orleans Public Defenders and other 

Two board members spoke against the bill at the committee hearing, and no district defenders lent their support. But Reps. Robby Carter, D-Amite, Charles Owen, R-Rosepine, and John Stefanski, R-Crowley, said Thursday that their district defenders back the bill.

Magee says his bill will address a hobbyhorse of some legislators, the boards contracts with private non-profits for defendants charged with capital crimes, defendants with final convictions seeking to prove their innocence and children who face life without parole sentences.

Currently, in LA contracts to private non governmental agencies are awarded through a board system that favors the politics of the board, Magee said on Twitter on Friday. This money doesnt go to the public defenders. Its actually siphoned away.

Magee suggested on the floor that those services might be better handled by district offices. Non-profit supporters say the cases are so high-stakes and specialized that they should be assigned to dedicated legal teams.

Jason Williams: Leon Cannizzaro hamstrung DA's office by spending hundreds of thousands When Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams gave a speech last month celebrating his first 100 days in office, he didnt mention his 

Starns' pending budget proposal for the 2022 fiscal year would reduce spending on non-profits from $10.8 to $7.9 million, including eliminating all of the Louisiana Center for Children's Rights $1 million in board funding.

In a statement Thursday, the non-profits spokeswoman noted that the day before the vote on Magees bill, the sponsor of a separate proposal to abolish juvenile life without parole sentences pulled his bill.

Yesterday the legislature failed to abolish juvenile life without parole and today jeopardized the specialized legal representation of children facing this extreme sentence, Renee Slajda said. HB586 threatens their constitutional rights by allowing a single governor appointee to redirect funding without any checks or balances.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the fiscal 2022 board funding for Louisiana Center for Children's Rights.
The New Orleans Civil Service Commission, which reviews disciplinary cases involving city workers, has ordered Mayor LaToya Cantrells administration to reinstate an information technology staffer who was fired after sharing social media posts that alluded to shooting rioters during last summers racial justice protests.

While the posts on Adam Brickeens private Facebook page advocated violence in violation of City Hall policy and therefore resulted in unfavorable media coverage, his termination was not commensurate with his transgression, the commission wrote in an opinion Thursday.

The commission upheld the Cantrell administrations decision to suspend Brickeen from June 16 to July 2 but ordered the city to return him to his post with back pay and other benefits.

A City Hall spokesperson said the administration was disappointed with the decision.

New Orleans suspends city IT staffer after Facebook post alludes to shooting 'rioters' New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrells administration on Tuesday night announced the suspension of an information technology staffer in the city

This is an extremely stark example of the commission again having a negative impact on the citys ability to effectively manage our personnel when dealing with critical matters, the administration spokesperson said. Mr. Brickeens actions were unacceptable and in no way reflect the values of this city.

The Cantrell administration can ask the state 4th Circuit Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling but didn't indicate whether it intended to take that step.

Brickeens job in the citys Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness mainly involved ensuring radio-related systems and equipment for police officers, firefighters and paramedics worked properly.

He also worked to protect the city's surveillance camera network, run out of the Real-Time Crime Center near the French Quarter, against cyber attacks. He never worked with law enforcement investigations into criminal activity, the commissions opinion said.

Nevertheless, Brickeen drew unwanted attention during the height of last summers protests against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer whos since been convicted of murder. A Facebook page under his name shared a post reading: If rioters come to your area, please remember, dont be a litterbug, pick up your brass!

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Another post under his name linked to a video titled: Patriots kicking the s*** out of Antifa, enjoy!

Picking up brass is slang for sweeping up a fired guns spent shell casings. Antifa is short for a loose group of self-described anti-fascists who in some cases have clashed with right-wing groups, which are often sympathetic to the police.

Big Easy Magazine published a report on Brickeens posts on June 16. The Cantrell administration immediately suspended Brickeen and issued a statement condemning the posts as harmful and erroneous.

A subsequent disciplinary investigation found that the posts violated a City Hall policy prohibiting employees from publishing threatening or offensive content online. So Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director Collin Arnold fired Brickeen.

Brickeen filed an appeal seeking to reverse Arnolds decision. He and his attorney, Donovan Livaccari, highlighted testimony from Brickeens supervisor that he was an outstanding employee who exceeds expectations in most respects, according to the commissions opinion. The opinion added that Brickeen and witnesses on his behalf drew a distinction between rioters  who are engaged in illegal activity  and protesters exercising their First Amendment rights.

Ultimately, the Civil Service Commission sided with Brickeen, ruling that he mitigated his violation of City Hall policy by using a private page which did not identify him as a public employee. It also helped that Brickeen works in IT, not law enforcement, the commission wrote.

Brickeen joined the homeland security and emergency preparedness office in 2018. He had previously worked as a New Orleans Emergency Medical Services paramedic.

The protests in New Orleans in the wake of Floyds murder were mostly devoid of the clashes between police and demonstrators that many other cities saw. An exception was when the Police Department used tear gas and rubber projectiles on a Crescent City Connection approach on June 3, less than two weeks before Brickeen fell under scrutiny.
A motorist shot a driver in another car Thursday evening during rush-hour traffic on Interstate 10 south of Slidell, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said.

The victim was taken to a hospital after someone in a silver sedan wounded him shortly before 6 p.m. while both cars traveled eastbound between Oak Harbor Boulevard and Old Spanish Trail. The wounded man driver exited the highway and drove to Howze Beach Road, which runs along I-10. His condition was not immediately known.

The shooter's vehicle, which authorities suspect carried two or more people, continued on and has not been found.

The New Orleans area has seen an uptick in highway shootings. In April alone, four shootings wounded seven people on I-10 and I-610.

The Sheriff's Office received multiple calls from witnesses about Thursday's shooting and was investigating to learn more. Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call the Sheriff's Office at (985) 898-2338.
Marvin Rios was 17, a juvenile, when authorities say he shot and killed a man during an armed robbery at a Metairie apartment complex, triggering a shootout that led to the death of his 16-year-old alleged accomplice.

But a Jefferson Parish grand jury on Thursday indicted Rios as an adult on charges of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice in the shooting death of Melvin Francis, 22, court records said.

Rios was also charged with manslaughter in the death of the accomplice, Josiah Pujols, even though Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office investigators say Rios didnt fire the bullets that killed the 16-year-old.

In the same bill of indictment, the grand jury charged Robert White, 21, an alleged drug dealer and target of the robbery who told investigators he only opened fire after Pujols pulled a gun on him and Rios fatally shot Francis.

White faces one count of using a gun in connection with drug-related activity, court records show. He was not charged with Pujolss death because the teens shooting was deemed justifiable, according to the Sheriffs Office.

Thursdays indictment marks the first time that authorities have identified Rios, now 18, in the Dec. 10 shootout that left two others, including Rios, wounded by gunfire. He was arrested in the hours after the shootings, but his name was not released because he was a juvenile.

On the evening of the shootout, Pujols drove to an apartment complex in the 3900 block of Division Street in Metairies Fat City neighborhood to buy two liquid THC vape cartridges from White, Sheriffs Office homicide detectives said.

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Pujols drove his aunts sport utility vehicle to the meet-up. She accompanied her nephew to the apartment complex along with Rios, authorities said. Pujolss aunt told WWL-TV she thought the teens were going to the apartment to pick up clothing.

Rios, who had been riding in the SUVs front passenger seat, got out to let White sit inside the vehicle as he conducted the deal with Pujols. At some point, Pujols pulled out a gun and demanded that White hand over the THC cartridges, according to the Sheriffs Office.

As Pujols pointed a pistol at White, Rios pulled out a gun and inexplicably shot Francis, who had followed White out of the apartment and had been standing outside the SUV, authorities said. Francis, who was shot multiple times, was pronounced dead at the scene.

+5 Accused drug dealer from deadly Metairie parking lot shootout was a victim, his attorney says A deal to sell two cartridges of liquid THC devolved into a drug rip-turned-shootout in the parking lot of a Metairie apartment complex that c

White scrambled out of the SUV, pulled his own gun and fired several times at the vehicle, hitting Pujols, Rios and Pujolss aunt. Rios pulled the wounded Pujols out of the SUV before running off, authorities said. Pujolss aunt sped out of the parking lot, her nephew still lying on the ground, and drove to her Metairie home where she called authorities for help.

Pujols was taken to a hospital where he died. Rios was arrested later that night when he showed up at a hospital seeking treatment for his injuries, the Sheriffs Office said.

Rios was being held at the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Assessment Center in Gretna on Thursday afternoon, but he is expected to be transferred to the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. Bond information was not immediately available.

White was released from jail Jan. 15 on a $100,000 bond. No arraignment date has been set.
Cold case detectives investigating the 2010 Kenner slayings of a man and woman fatally shot in front of their 3-year-old son have arrested two more suspects in the case.

Lee Williams, 35, of New Orleans, and Zetonio Lightfoot, 31, of Kenner, were each booked with two counts of first-degree murder, said Lt. Michael Cunningham, a spokesman for the Kenner Police Department.

+4 DNA leads to arrest in 2010 Kenner double murder; suspect may be linked to 2nd double slaying Kenner police have arrested a suspect in the 2010 double murder of a mother and father fatally shot inside a car while their 3-year-old son sa

They join Dernell Nelson, 35, of LaPlace, who was arrested last month in connection with the killings of Charles Davis, 38, and Hermania Ellsworth, 29.

"All three suspects were linked by DNA to the homicide scene, in addition to other circumstantial evidence," Cunningham said in a statement released Friday.

Davis and Ellsworth were gunned down in the 600 block of Farrar Avenue in the early-morning hours of June 17, 2010, as they drove to a convenience store, authorities said. Their 3-year-old son was on the backseat of the vehicle.

The toddler wasn't hit by gunfire, but he was injured after the vehicle crashed into a tree. He recovered from his injuries.

Authorities have always suspected Davis and Ellsworth's deaths were some how connected to a second cold case double homicide in Kenner that occurred three weeks later: the killings of Kenner married couple Hebert Glass, 58, and Lynette Williams, 42.

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Lee Williams is not related to Lynette Williams, authorities said.

Glass and Lynette Williams lived in the home on Farrar Avenue where Davis and Ellworth's vehicle crashed into a tree after the pair had been shot. Glass and Lynette Williams' bodies were found floating in Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish on July 9, 2010. They had been shot in the head and bound with duct tape before they were dumped in the lake, authorities said.

+5 5 years later, no arrests in murder of Kenner couple found floating in Lake Pontchartrain Five years after Herbert Glass and his bride of one month, Lynette Williams, were executed and dumped into Lake Pontchartrain, relatives of th

Authorities have never confirmed a suspected motive, but Lynette Williams's relatives believe she may have spoken to Davis and Ellsworth before they died.

Detectives investigated several leads in the homicides in 2010, but no arrests were ever made.

Kenner police decided to take another look at the cases earlier this year after the department received an inquiry about Glass and Williams's murders from the "Unsolved Mysteries" television show, according to Cunningham.

The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Lee Williams on April 30 in New Orleans.

Lightfoot was arrested on May 3 at the Richland Parish Detection Center in Rayville, La., where he was being held on a heroin distribution conviction, Cunningham said. He was due to be paroled before he was arrested in the Kenner homicides.

Lee Williams, Lightfoot and Nelson were being held without bond at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna.
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Eight people were injured in shootings and stabbings in New Orleans in a 24-hour period, New Orleans police said Friday.

The crimes were included in a summary of major offenses reported to New Orleans police between 7 a.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday. Here's the preliminary information from authorities.

Man shot in Algiers

A 23-year-old man was shot in his vehicle Thursday in Algiers, police said.

The shooting was reported at 11:49 a.m. at Kabel Drive and General Meyer Avenue (map). Police said two men got out of their vehicle and opened fired on the 23-year-old's vehicle, hitting him in the arm.

+7 As violence continues to surge, the NOPD makes arrests in two killings, investigates two others New Orleans police made arrests in two killings and were searching for suspects in a pair of other slayings as violence continued surging acro

The shooters fled, police said, and the injured man was taken via EMS to a hospital. His condition was not immediately available.

Teen shot on Elysian Fields Avenue

A 15-year-old was shot in a vehicle on Elysian Fields Avenue on Thursday afternoon, police said.

The shooting was reported at 1:51 p.m. in the 2400 block of Elysian Fields (map). The boy was sitting in a vehicle when he heard gunshots, police said. He was was hit in the leg and taken in a personal vehicle to the hospital.

No more information was immediately available, including his condition or a possible motive in the shooting.

Man shot in Tulane-Gravier area

A 44-year-old man was shot Thursday afternoon in the Tulane-Gravier area, police said.

The shooting happened around 4:45 p.m. at Bienville and North Tonti streets.

The injured man was taken to a hospital for treatment, and their condition was not immediately available.

Man stabbed with tweezers

A 57-year-old man was stabbed with tweezers during an argument Thursday afternoon in the Desire area, New Orleans police said.

Authorities have issued a warrant for Laura Hatcher, 59, who they say stabbed him.

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The stabbing happened at Higgins Boulevard and Louisa Street (map), police said. The crime was reported to police at 5:01 p.m. Thursday.

The man and the woman were arguing when police say the woman stabbed the man with tweezers. The man went in a private vehicle to a hospital, police said, and his condition was not immediately available.

2 men shot Thursday night

Two men were shot Thursday night, but authorities were still working to determine an exact location for the double shooting.

Police said the crime happened somewhere in the 7th District, which includes New Orleans East, Pines Village, Little Woods, Venetian Isles, Michoud and Village de L'Est.

The men, ages 25 and 35, drove themselves to a hospital Thursday night. The shooting was reported to police just before 9 p.m.

Man cut with machete in Mid-City

A 56-year-old man was cut with a machete Thursday night in Mid-City, police said.

The cutting was reported to police at 9:35 p.m. in the 3000 block of Banks Street (map).

Someone arrived at the man's home and hit him with a machete, according to preliminary information from police. The injured man was taken via EMS to a hospital, where his condition was not immediately available.

No other details were available, including a possible motive or a description of the person with a machete.

Woman shot by 'stray bullet'

A woman was hit Thursday night by a "stray bullet," New Orleans police said.

The shooting happened at North Galvez and Louisa streets (map) in the Florida area, according to preliminary information from police. It was reported to police at 10:33 p.m.

Authorities did not say what led them to believe the woman was not the target. The woman took herself to a hospital for treatment, and her condition was not immediately available.

Editor's note: The story and headline have been updated to reflect an additional shooting reported to New Orleans police.
Six Uptown residents have filed a lawsuit against Childrens Hospital New Orleans over the construction of a new helicopter landing area on its campus, nearly a year after the daily roar of helicopter operations began across the street from their homes.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, was filed Friday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court. It claims Childrens Hospital, owned by LCMC Health, moved its helicopter landing pad from one side of the hospital to the other during its $300 million renovation project without the proper permits and without consulting residents living across the street.

Plaintiffs represented by lawyers Christoper Bruno, Joseph Bruno and Megan Kiefer argued that the new location has disrupted their daily lives and lowered property values.

The flights, takeoffs, and landings occur randomly at all hours of the day and night and emit deafening sounds and vibrations significant enough to cause physical and mental discomfort, property damage, and annoyance, according to the lawsuit.

LCMC declined to comment on the specific allegations in the lawsuit, but spokesperson Mary Beth Haskins said hospital officials were disappointed that the neighbors decided to pursue litigation instead of working with the hospital.

"We deeply value our relationship with our neighbors and this community at large. Our first priority as a children's hospital is to save critically ill children's lives and our helicopter Abby enables exactly that," she said.

The legal filing adds to a yearlong public squabble between Children's Hospital and some of its neighbors over the helicopter and its operations. Hospital officials have argued that the new landing spot is safer for its employees and its young, critically-ill patients. Neighbors say they never had a chance to weigh in on the change and have questioned why the landing site had to be moved.

Since May of last year, Children's blue-and-white striped Eurocopter has used a new location atop a four-story tower near Tchoupitoulas Street between Henry Clay Avenue and Calhoun Street to pick up and drop patients for medical treatment. Previously, the helicopter, named Abby, landed and took off from a helipad located on the far side of the hospital campus near the Mississippi River and the Henry Clay Avenue Wharf.

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Childrens owns the helicopter but leases it to Acadian Companies, which has Lakefront Airport space that it says acts as a permanent base for the aircraft.

Last year, about 100 neighbors represented by a different lawyer, Henry Kinney, appealed the New Orleans Department of Safety and Permits decision to classify the new location as a helistop in August 2020. That appeal, filed in September 2020, has been closed, but two other appeals filed in March 2021 about the issuance of the building permit will be reviewed in June.

A helistop is a minimal space built for unloading and loading passengers and cargo. A "heliport," is a permanent storage place for the helicopter. Helistops are permitted in that area of the city, but heliports require special permits.

Plans drawn up in 2016 showed a helipad in the original location, according to the latest lawsuit, and a permit was sought for the new location in Dec. 2019, after the construction was completed.

The damages claimed in the suit include hearing loss, sleep disturbance, mental health issues, decreased property value, property damage, loss of use of their property, cost to remediate property, physical and mental suffering, inconvenience and past, present and future medical expenses and pain and suffering.

The last two years of construction, there were neighborhood meetings," said neighbor Arthur Wisdom, who is not part of the new lawsuit, in September. "Not once did the matter of a helipad come up. I want to be able to support Childrens Hospital, I really do.

Staff writer Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed to this report.
President Joe Biden pitched his plan to modernize the countrys infrastructure during two Louisiana stops on Thursday, telling a small crowd in Lake Charles that he wanted to replace the aging Interstate 10 bridge that served as a visual backdrop there and touring an antiquated water plant in New Orleans where vital machinery frequently breaks down.

The president was highlighting a $2.3 trillion proposal before Congress that he calls the American Jobs Plan and that aims to rebuild bridges, highways, ports and other parts of the nations transportation network. The plan also proposes providing money for child care and caregiving for older adults and the disabled, items that Biden says are key to Americas future but that Republicans in Congress have said dont belong in an infrastructure plan.

Only 5% of it is infrastructure, said U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, a Republican, after talking with Biden and other political leaders for 15 minutes on the tarmac after Air Force One landed at Louis Armstrong International Airport. The rest is the Green New Deal, new welfare programs and reparations. Asking me to vote for this bill when its only 5% infrastructure and 95% non-infrastructure is like asking me to buy a car to get the cup holders.

Republicans are proposing to spend $568 billion but haven't fully explained how to pay for it. Biden is proposing to reverse President Donald Trump's tax cuts by raising corporate taxes for 15 years to finance his plan.

Biden also met with U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Congressman-elect Troy Carter, whose district stretches from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Cassidy is a Republican, while Cantrell and Carter are Democrats.

Carter said he pitched two other infrastructure needs to Biden  tearing down the Claiborne Avenue overpass in New Orleans and building another bridge over the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge.

The president was familiar with calls to replace the Interstate 10 overpass above North Claiborne Avenue, Carter said. Biden highlighted that possibility when he announced his infrastructure plan five weeks ago.

We talked about infrastructure and his total commitment to Louisiana. These are issues that Republicans and Democrats can agree on, said Carter, giddy after having the president visit his district even before he formally takes office on Tuesday.

Kennedy and Cassidy discussed ways to get more disaster relief aid to southwest Louisiana, which was hit by two devastating hurricanes last year and still has several thousand people who have been unable to return home.

In a short video he released after leaving the airport, Cassidy echoed Kennedy in saying Bidens plan doesnt spend enough on roads and bridges, but added an optimistic note: Hopefully we get to common ground, Cassidy said.

Biden made no public comments in New Orleans as he made four stops at the Carrollton water plant operated by the much-maligned Sewerage & Water Board on South Claiborne Avenue.

Ghassan Korban, executive director of the S&WB since 2018, and Ramsey Green, Cantrells infrastructure chief, showed off a water purification pond, along with Cantrell. Biden then saw the inside of a water tower.

At each stop, the city officials laid out the problems that have led old turbines to break down, forcing city residents, all too frequently, to live under boil-water advisories.

At one point, Biden walked by reporters and joked, Im taking up a collection after this.

What for? asked one reporter.

Water, replied the president, and moved onto the new pumping station, built in 1958.

At his final stop at the water plant, in the boiler room, used to power water pumps, Biden and Kaitlin Tymrak, a board employee, spoke over the clanging of machinery and hissing pipes.

Biden shook his head when Tymrak said some of the machinery is more than 100 years old.

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In all, the president spent about 2  hours in New Orleans.

Accompanying him was Cedric Richmond, who represented New Orleans in the U.S. House for a decade before resigning in January to become a senior adviser to the president.

Earlier in the day, Biden, dressed in a navy blue suit and his trademark aviator sunglasses, spoke along the Lake Charles waterfront adjacent to its downtown, the hulking I-10 bridge over the Calcasieu River and its arched truss in the distance behind him.

Also within sight was the citys 22-story Capital One tower and its dozens of blown-out and boarded-up windows, perhaps Lake Charless most prominent example of the damage left in the wake of the two hurricanes that devastated the region in August and October last year.

Signs around his podium included a picture of the bridge with the slogan: Getting America Back on Track. A smattering of local officials, along with Gov. John Bel Edwards, were in attendance, as was a group of workers in hard hats whom Biden spoke with after finishing his speech, exchanging fist bumps with a few.

Its hard to believe that you got hit as badly as you have within the timeframe you have, Biden said of Hurricanes Laura and Delta, which ripped through southwestern Louisiana last year.

He added later: I believe you need the help. Were going to try to make sure you get it. But the people of Louisiana always have picked themselves up, just like America always picks itself up  I promise you were going to build back better than ever, more resilient.

But Biden's message in Lake Charles was much more focused on infrastructure than hurricane recovery. Biden pitched a new I-10 bridge as part of his infrastructure plan, questioning why its taken so long to build one given the bridges age and condition.

It shouldnt be this hard or take so long to fix a bridge thats this important. It makes no sense, Biden said. But the truth is across the country, we have failed. We have failed to properly invest in infrastructure for half a century.

Earlier, Edwards and Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter also made pitches for hurricane relief along with a new bridge. Local officials have been concerned that the region's dire recovery needs would be overshadowed by the focus on the infrastructure bill.

Lake Charles is a great American city and we continue to need a great American response, Hunter said.

Local officials in Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish see federal hurricane relief as long overdue and desperately needed to help move more residents back into their homes and reopen businesses that havent been able to do so more than eight months after Hurricane Laura, which was followed six weeks later by Delta.

Category 4 Laura was one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the U.S., with winds of up to 150 mph, causing an estimated $19 billion in damage in the state. Delta, a Category 2 storm, left behind further misery and followed an eerily similar path.

Lake Charles officials estimate that some 3,000 residents remain displaced, while that number rises to around 4,000 for all of Calcasieu. FEMA has been providing mobile homes and travel trailers as temporary residences.

Calcasieu Parish Police Jury President Brian Abshire said he believes both hurricane recovery and infrastructure are important and made the case in a brief meeting with Biden before his address, he said.

I did tell him Trump couldnt get us a bridge, but Im confident you can, Abshire said. Trump visited Lake Charles in May 2019 and promised a new span.

Few if any will argue that it shouldnt be replaced. It was completed in 1952, before the I-10 existed, and was later integrated into the interstate system. Among other deficiencies, its very steep and lacks shoulders.
Towanda, Pa.  Disgraced Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman pleaded guilty to one felony count of promoting prostitution and two misdemeanor charges of obstruction and intimidation of a witness this morning.

It was part of a plea deal that will see Salsman resign from his position as Bradfords District Attorney.

His resignation will go into effect at 5 p.m. today.

The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of sevens years in prison and a $15,000 fine. The misdemeanors carry a maximum each of two years and $5,000 fines.

Salsman, who left the courthouse by himself, will be back in court for sentencing on July 9.
Ward Township, Pa.  State police have released details about a home invasion in Ward Township, Tioga County.

According to Pennsylvania State Police at Mansfield, four men allegedly entered a residence on Sunset Lane on April 11 and physically assaulted four male victims ranging in age from 18 to 19.

The suspects also caused damage to the residence, stole various items of worth and held the victims against their will for approximately two hours, police allege.

The following suspects were arrested as a result: Logan Adams, 21, of Blossburg, Matthew Dillin, 28, of Mainesburg, Justin Auwarter, 28, of Mansfield, and Nicholas Wivell, 33, of Covington.

All four suspects were charged with felony burglary and robbery charges, misdemeanor false imprisonment, simple assault, and related charges.

Adams, Dillin, Auwarter and Wivell were remanded to Tioga County Prison in lieu of $75,000 monetary bail. Wivell, Dillin and Adams posted bail.

Docket Sheets Wivell Auwarter Adams Dillin
State College, Pa.  An inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview in Bellefonte accused of punching a guard is scheduled for a preliminary arraignment on May 14.

Tillman Stewart, 39, of Bellefonte was charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault and second-degree misdemeanor simple assault after correction officers said he struck a guard twice in the face with a closed fist.

Rockview State Police Trooper Michael Godissart said the correction officer required stitches to close two lacerations on his face.

Stewart reacted when the officer asked him to move his belonging to a new cell. Surveillance video showed Stewart strike the officer twice before being restrained.
Towanda, Pa.  The former District Attorney of Bradford County stood up in a courtroom he was familiar with, bowed his head slightly, and acknowledged that he understood the charges against him.

Chad Michael Salsman, 44, of Wyalusing campaigned for the position of District Attorney for Bradford County for his three daughters, according to his own website.

Friday morning, Salsman said he would submit his resignation as he accepted a plea deal through his attorney.

Related Reading: Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman under investigation by PA Attorney General

Salsman plead guilty to third-degree felony promotion of prostitution, second-degree misdemeanor obstruction by administration law or other government function, and intimidation of a witness or victim in the very courtroom in which he prosecuted many people for similar acts.

The felony carries a maximum sentence of seven years with a fine of up to $7,000. Each misdemeanor carries a maximum of two years with a fine of up to $2,000.

Pull Quote Well, for any trial it can be a challenge, Dye said The victims have to testify. They have to relive their abuse. They have to go through that process and be questioned. Also, at the same time releasing his stranglehold on arguably the most powerful office in the County, its a good day for the Commonwealth.

Salsman could face a maximum sentence of 11 years with a fine of $25,000.

The defendant, the district attorney of Bradford County is going to enter in a plea of promoting prostitution, intimidation of witnesses and obstruction of justice, the Assistant Chief Deputy Attorney General Daniel J. Dye said. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 9th.

As part of the plea deal, Salsman, who was seen leaving the courthouse by himself, had to resign his position as the Bradford County District Attorney.

He could face up to 11 years in prison, Dye said during a brief press conference after the hearing. He did plead guilty to serious charges. He pled guilty to a felony. Most importantly, we got Bradford County back for the citizens of Bradford County.

Related Reading: Bradford County DA charged with sexual assault, prostitution, other charges

According to a news release from Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the year-long investigation was the result of the 45th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury working with the Office of the Attorney General and the Pennsylvania State Police.

Five women were given as witnesses who came forward with accusations that Salsman used his position to extract sexual favors from them. All five woman were consulted regarding the plea deal. According to Dye, all five stressed the importance of Salsman resigning his position as Bradford Countys Attorney General.

The victims did not feel comfortable with him as the District Attorney of Bradford County, Dye said. I dont think the County felt comfortable with him as the District Attorney of Bradford County. It was a significant consideration coming into this agreement.

When asked directly if there was any hesitation on the victims part to accept the deal, Dye simply replied, No.

Dye also said that another part of the plea, Salsman would disbar from practicing law along with his reassignment of the District Attorney position.

I believe his attorney said in court that hell agreed to disbarment, Dye said.

Related Reading: Bradford County DA: 'No criminal cases will be filed against businesses who choose to remain open'

Various media outlets asked about the plea deal that was announced 30 minutes prior to a motion to dismiss the charges. Dye entered the court room, distributed his business cards, then quickly announced the change to a stunned group of media members.

Things move mysteriously in the legal system, Dye said with a smile on his face.

Dye reassured everybody on the steps of the Bradford County Courthouse that the victims, officers, and county were satisfied with the outcome of the events Friday of morning.

Well, for any trial it can be a challenge, Dye said The victims have to testify. They have to relive their abuse. They have to go through that process and be questioned. Also, at the same time releasing his stranglehold on arguably the most powerful office in the County, its a good day for the Commonwealth.
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La Fayette, GA (30728)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Frank Del Rio, the CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, acknowledged that while Florida is the cruise capital of the world, the new law could prove a problem as the industry strives to reopen in the coming months, CNN reported. He added that he does not know exactly when ships will once again set sail, but that NCLH intends to require all crew and passengers be inoculated to come aboard.
Pfizer and BioNTech have been submitting data to the FDA on a rolling basis, and will continue to do so in the coming weeks. Once all the required information has been received, the FDA will provide a goal date for when it will reach its final decision on the matter.
Roseburg, OR (97470)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 69F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low near 45F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
What hooked me on Sesame Street was that it was set in this urban environment that looked like the Bronx neighborhood that I was kind of raised in, she said. Up until that time, you never saw a city in a kids show. And what was called then an inner city, you certainly never saw any of that. ... And I was charmed that there were people of color for the first time on television.
A new name is being sought for Lord Fairfax Community College because its namesake was an 18th-century slave owner.
An American Community Bank board member received the Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana's highest honor.

Dana Dumezich was honored by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb for her distinguished service to the Hoosier State. Indiana governors personally select Sagamore of the Wabash recipients, who have included astronauts, ambassadors, artists, academics, athletes, comedians, race car drivers, musicians, politicians, presidents and many others.

"I am so honored to have received this award and recognition. It is a privilege to have served the state and my community in this manner and it is gratifying to know that it is appreciated," Dumezich said.

Dumezich was honored for her years of service at Lake County Board of Elections and the Lake County Voter Registration office, which oversees elections and getting people registered to vote.

Dana does great work for our bank as a board member, but her meaningful contribution to the local community in the management of the democratic process is significant and very deserving of this recognition," American Community Bank President Mike Mellon said.
Officials have argued that in-person learning will be a much more appealing option next fall because of the continued spread of vaccines, and the fact that city officials have committed to offering five days a week of in-person classes to anyone who wants them.
CVS, Walmart and Sam's Club no longer require an appointment to get a coronavirus vaccine, making it easier to get vaccinated than ever before.

Walmart and Sam's Club now are offering walk-in coronavirus vaccine shots at all of its 124 pharmacies in the Hoosier State.

The Arkansas-based retail giant has multiple locations in Northwest Indiana, including Hammond, Schererville, Merrillville, Portage, Valparaiso, Michigan City, LaPorte and Rensselaer, as well as just across the state line in Lansing.

Now that supply and eligibility have expanded, its even more important for us to reach underserved and vulnerable populations to ensure equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, said Cheryl Pegus, executive vice president of health and wellness at Walmart. Widespread vaccination is the only way we will eventually end the pandemic and help our country reopen, and we dont want anyone to get left behind as we enter this new chapter in our fight against COVID-19.
Don Babcock, who retired as NIPSCOs economic development director, has joined Purdue University Northwest.

Babcock  who's been described as Northwest Indiana's biggest cheerleader  will serve as director of economic development and community relations at PNW. He is joining Chancellor Thomas Keon's staff in the part-time role to help further economic and community development in Northwest Indiana, with a focus on LaPorte and Porter counties.

We are thrilled to bring Dons extensive expertise and skill in economic development to PNW, Keon said. He has made incredible impacts on the Region throughout his career at NIPSCO and has been a wonderful collaborator and friend of the university for many years. He is also a PNW alumnus and deeply understands the crucial role the university plays in regional community and economic development.

Babcock, who recently received the Sagamore of the Wabash, Indiana's highest honor, worked for 43 years to bring new businesses, jobs and investment to Northwest Indiana with the aim of growing NIPSCO's customer base. He retired from the Merrillville-based utility last year amid a round of buyouts.
MERRILLVILLE  A business relief program is among ideas being considered for the $7 million Merrillville will receive through the American Rescue Plan Act.

No final decisions have been made, but town officials had initial discussions Monday regarding how the funding could be spent.

We just penciled in some stuff, Town Councilman Richard Hardaway said. Things that we would like to see the money used for.

Council President Rick Bella said there are many permitted uses for ARPA funding, and assisting businesses that were affected by the pandemic is being explored.

There may be grant money available for the small businesses in the area that had to lay off workers or lost money during the last year, Hardaway said.

Besides the business relief program, the town also is considering using the money for a generator at Town Hall, HVAC upgrades to filter air, sanitizing equipment, salaries for eligible employees, a dog park and public WiFi coverage in town buildings.

Hardaway said creating a spending plan for the funding is among several requirements to obtain the money. He said the plan doesnt have to be incredibly specific and it can be changed over time.
HAMMOND  An Illinois contractor is being placed on probation for illegally dumping in a Gary wetland.

U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody sentenced 39-year-old Mahmoud Alshuaibi to two years of probation.

The judge also imposed six months of home detention as well as ordering him to pay nearly $109,000 in restitution to a state-run urban renewal program Alshuaibi defrauded.

A federal grand jury first accused Alshuaibi last year in a six-count indictment of wire fraud, theft from local government receiving federal funds, and false and fraudulent statement.

Alshuaibi signed an agreement with the U.S. attorneys office to give up his right to a jury trial and pleaded guilty last fall to wire fraud and theft charges in return for leniency.

Alshuaibi, doing business as International Equipment Supply Co., won contracts and began work in 2016 removing abandoned buildings from blighted Hammond neighborhoods.

He had agreed to dispose of demolition debris at legally regulated landfills.

The government alleges he instead had the debris dumped at unknown sites to avoid having to pay landfill fees.
According to court records, ICU Monitoring notified the Lake Superior Court on April 26 that Collins violated the terms of his pre-trial release by not returning to Eden House and refusing to call-in as required to report his location.

A warrant for Collins' arrest was issued by the court April 27. He is described by police as a white male who weighs 151 pounds and has brown hair and hazel eyes, and may be hiding out in his hometown of Indianapolis.

Martinez said ICU should have immediately notified his office Collins was at large. The sheriff said the company did not file a police report until April 30, and his detectives did not begin investigating until May 3.

"It's important that the Lake County Sheriff's Department is involved in these instances because, although I never agreed to the contract with ICU, we are still a party to that contract," Martinez said.

Fech insisted that is not the case.

He said the contract with ICU was inked by the commissioners on behalf of the Superior Court judges. While Fech acknowledged the money for the contract comes out of the sheriff's budget, he said the County Council just as easily could pull the money from the judges' budget.
She said she met Fleming in September 2020 on Snapchat and told him she had just turned 14, police said. Fleming then reached out to her the following month and arranged to pick her up and take her to his home in South Haven, she said.

The girl said Fleming gave her marijuana while they watched a movie and then began making sexual advances, which she resisted, according to charges. He had sexual intercourse with her, and investigators learned the pair had sex on prior occasions beginning in September 2020.

Fleming initially denied knowing or meeting the girl, police said. He then admitted to picking her up, but said they only "hung out" and listened to music.

Fleming denied the pair ever had sex and said he did not know her age, "but stated that he knew she was still in high school," according to court records.

Police said they collected DNA evidence linking Fleming to the alleged sex offense.

County police said they found Fleming on Thursday night locked in a room at a Portage mobile home where he was staying. He answered officers with a "shaky" voice before agreeing to come out.
HAMMOND  A Gary man was sentenced in federal court to 20 years behind bars following his guilty plea to conspiracy to participate in racketeering activity as a member of the Latin Dragons Nation street gang, acting U.S. Attorney Gary Bell announced Friday.

Jonathan Arevalo, 28, has been associated with the Latin Dragons Nation since approximately 2009 and engaged in drug trafficking and possessed a firearm as a member of the gang, according to court documents.

Arevalo gave another Latin Dragons member access to a firearm in 2012, which was used to kill another individual in Chicago, according to Bell's announcement.

Arevalo then was involved in a drive-by shooting incident in 2015 in Chicago, which resulted in the death of a passenger in his vehicle when the rival gang returned fire, Bell said.

Janette Ingram, 29, of Chicago, was sentenced to one year and one day behind bars following her guilty plea to conspiracy to corruptly obstruct, influence and impede an official proceeding, according to Bell.

The case stems from February 2020 when multiple defendants were charged in a federal case alleging violations of federal criminal law, including racketeering conspiracy, against members and associates of Latin Dragons Nation.
While police were securing the scene, they were called to Methodist Hospitals Northlake for two more gunshot victims.

An 18-year-old Gary woman and 23-year-old Gary man each told police they were in their vehicles when shots rang out and they were struck.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Cpl. John Suttles at 219-881-1210.

Demetrius Reese, 40, of Gary, was fatally shot and a 37-year-old Gary man was wounded about 12:45 a.m. Sunday outside the Empire nightclub, formerly the Zanzibar Lounge, in the 5600 block of West Fifth Avenue, police said.

Witnesses told police Reese went outside to smoke, and someone began chasing him while firing shots. Reese was found lying on the ground when police arrived and transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Sgt. Ed Gonzalez at 219-755-3855.

Man dies after fall

Gary police opened a death investigation after Cordell Franklin, 26, who had addresses in Gary and Chicago Heights, fell from a third-story window about 8:35 p.m. Sunday at The Willows apartment complex, Hamady said.
Northwest Indiana activist groups will give out food, clothes, toiletries and household items to those in need at a mutual aid pop-up in East Chicago Saturday.

The Northwest Indiana Mutual Aid Initiative, a joint effort of the NWI Collective, Just Transition NWI and NWI Solidarity grassroots activist groups, will distribute needed items for free to struggling community members from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Unity Plaza at 138th and Main streets in East Chicago.

The groups have been collecting donations at drop-off spots throughout Northwest Indiana, including Grindhouse Cafe in Griffith and Whiting. The supplies will be given out to anyone in need in during the free event, which is open to the public.

"Organizing under the slogan 'Solidarity, Not Charity,' the initiative emphasizes the importance of mutual aid in our communities at a time when the working class in NWI is faced with declining wages, mass unemployment and a global pandemic that has devastated countless families throughout the Region," organizers said in a news release. "This event will be the first in a series of pop-ups that the initiative will hold across Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties. These events will culminate in a fundraiser walk across Indiana at the end of the summer to raise additional funding for mutual aid and community services."
Then at 6 p.m. April 25, Collins was released from the Gary Police Department because no formal charges had been filed against him and ICU Monitoring did not send anyone to make contact with Collins and follow up on his release, the sheriff said.

ICU Monitoring told police they sent two messages to Collins nearly six hours later to request that he call ICU immediately in order to update his address, Martinez said.

On April 26 two additional messages were sent to Collins, which asked him to confirm his scheduled movements for the day, but Collins did not respond. Then on April 28, Collins was sent another message by the monitoring company to charge his ankle monitoring device and that if he did not do so before the battery dies, he could face a felony charge of escape, police said. Again, Collins did not respond to the message.

According to court records, an arrest warrant was issued for Collins on April 28.

Martinez said according to his GPS tracker, Collins was in Chicago that day. The sheriff said that ICU requires clients contact the company within 10 minutes of being paged or messaged.

"It took five days after Collins was released from the Gary Police Department for ICU to finally file a police report on April 30th," Martinez said.
Less than an hour later, near Columbus Circle, a cop forcibly yanked him off his e-bike and arrested him, even though Campbell showed written confirmation from Whole Foods that he was an essential worker permitted to be outside past the curfew.
VALPARAISO  The Porter County Sheriffs Department paid tribute to the departments four officers who have died in the line of duty, and one who died while off duty.

2020 was a tough year for everyone, and law enforcement was no exception, Sheriff David Reynolds said.

In addition to having to deal with COVID-19 exposure like other first responders, police officers were sharply criticized by civil rights activists. Some called for defunding the police. There are questions about the very need for law enforcement, Reynolds noted.

Take time to remember those who have lost their lives to serve those they have sworn to protect, Reynolds said.

The memorial service Wednesday attracted many community leaders.

Its imperative for our new officers to see who is in this room because we work with everyone on a daily basis, Reynolds said.

In the past two years, since the last memorial service was held, the department has hired 12 new police officers and 22 new correctional officers.

Nobody went through more than our people in the jails and prisons, Reynolds said.
"We're so excited to be gathering; that word 'gather' has a whole new meaning to us through the obstacles that we have worked through as a community, said the Rev. Jon Cuozzo of South Point Community Church, who delivered the welcome address.

Although "it seems to always rain on the first Thursday in May," Cuozzo, chairman of the event, said he was grateful to be gathered in the historic courtroom.

The theme for this year's National Day of Prayer was love, life and liberty, with each of the mini sermons and prayers centered around each.

"Prayer unites us. This is so neat that this isn't any just one body of local believers. This is the larger body of Christ gathering," Cuozzo said, with many murmuring, "yes" and "amen."

"I think this is a little bit of a glimpse of what heaven will actually be like."

'He will heal our land'

Clerk-Treasurer Dave Benson, who was present in Crown Point Mayor David Uran's absence, noting the mayor was ill, led the group in saying the Pledge of Allegiance and then read a proclamation, acknowledging Thursday as the National Day of Prayer in Crown Point.
Neighboring homeowners said they want assurance from the town their homes won't be affected by increased water runoff and drainage, to hear plans to preserve wetlands, as well as expressed concern over traffic and wildlife.

"We are not opposed to new development if it is done responsibly and neighbors concerns are heard and accommodated," said Diane Granger, whose family owns a farm south of the development.

"I've lived on Parrish my whole life. So I can tell you how much the traffic has increased over the last 65 years. It's unbelievable."

Nancy Kleine, with Kleine Dairy Farm, which has been in business for more than 100 years, shared similar concerns as Granger.

Kleine also said future residents of Parrish Woods should be made aware of the realities of living next to a dairy farm.

"We asked us Olthof to explain that in a purchasing agreement that buyers moving in next to the farm should expect the dust, the flies, the grain dryer and equipment noise and odor from the manure. We feel that this should also be included in this new development," Kleine said.
LOWELL  Dozens of Indiana State Police officers stood at attention as the names of their fallen comrades were read Friday morning outside of the departments Lowell Post.

May they rest in peace and may (Gods) celestial light perpetually shine upon them, Indiana State Police Chaplain Darren Washington said during the annual memorial program that commemorates those who have given their lives while serving the Indiana State Police Department.

Capt. Jeremy Kelly, commander of Area 1, said the strength of the department is the character of the men and women who serve on it.

These are our brother officers and fellow employees who have passed on, Kelly said. When they departed this life that we still enjoy, they left memories of warm friendships and of loyalty and devotion to the service.

He said the greatest tribute is recognizing them, and Kelly encouraged his fellow officers to remember how their fallen comrades served the department.

They have set the pattern we must follow in the days and years to come, Kelly said. Thus, we who remain do reaffirm a pledge that we will continue to uphold the ideals and traditions for which they died.
HAMMOND  A woman cannot collect damages from the School Town of Highland for employing a teacher who sexually harassed her a decade ago.

U.S. District Court Judge Theresa L. Springmann dismissed personal injury claims against the school district late last week by a former student, identified in court papers only as K.B.

We are very pleased with the ruling. We thought from the beginning Highland did everything it was supposed to do," said Tara K. Tauber, a Schererville attorney representing the school district.

Court documents describe K.B., as a 27-year-old woman who has had mental development issues since kindergarten and who later developed psychiatric disorders in high school.

Then-teacher Samuel Fies first targeted K.B., around September 2011, when she was 17 years old through a computer dating service, according to court records. He sent her sexually explicit messages under the name s10renew, court records state.

But before they could meet face to face, he ended his contact with her after she asked him to meet her parents, records state.

She and her family learned two months later, from Highland police, that Fies was the man contacting K.B. The suit alleges this caused K.B. to develop extreme social anxiety.
Not dead, but definitely injured

As of March, American workers were supplying about 45 percent of their labor services from home, according to research from the University of Chicagos Becker Friedman Institute. Thats a significant decline from the beginning of the pandemic, when more work was being done at home than on site, but still almost 10 times the prepandemic rate. And there are good reasons to think things wont simply snap back to the way they were:

For one thing, the researchers note, the stigma of working from home  which used to be seen by some managers as a form of shirking  has now effectively disappeared.

While about a quarter of employees say they never want to work remotely after the pandemic, about three-quarters want the option, a Microsoft report finds. The preference is so strong that most workers say they would even take an 8 percent pay cut to maintain the ability to work from home two or three days a week.

On the whole, bosses want workers back in the office, but many understand they will have to compromise. If they dont, many fear theyll lose employees to other companies, Amy C. Edmondson, a Harvard Business School professor, told The Times. And between the lower overhead and increased productivity that accompanied the shift to remote work, theres a business incentive, too.

At the same time, workers arent entirely satisfied with the way things are:

About two-thirds say they want more in-person time with co-workers  a preference that seems especially prevalent among those under 25, most of whom lack a dedicated home office space and have struggled to connect with colleagues, Emma Jacobs writes for The Financial Times.

Productivity may have increased during the pandemic, but thats in part because the line between work and leisure, hardly sharp before, has gotten even blurrier. In fact, a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the shift to remote work lengthened the work day by about an hour, even as it reduced the amount of time spent in meetings.

Just because weve managed to weather this storm doesnt mean its an optimal way to work, Ms. Edmondson said. If youre in a shipwreck and a piano top floats by, it becomes a lifesaver. But its not the way you would have designed a lifesaver.

The hybrid model: The best of both worlds or the worst?

In an effort to design a better lifesaver, as it were, a majority of employers plan on offering an office-centric hybrid model where people have the option of working from home for part of the week, Lionel Laurent writes for Bloomberg.

By the numbers: In all, the researchers at the University of Chicago estimate the share of work done remotely will level off at about 20 percent after the pandemic restrictions end. Thats about half as much remote work as is happening right now, but still four times the prepandemic share.

Many think the hybrid model will change white-collar work for the better, especially once the pandemic abates. Your options are not in the office, with other people, 9 to 6 every day or miserable and alone in my small apartment, the journalist Anne Helen Petersen writes. Instead: A day or two or three in the office, depending on the needs of the week. A day in your actual home. A day with friends, in one of their homes, and/or a day at a co-working space or a coffee shop or, one of my personal favorites, a bar at the end of the day, with the clatter and chatter of other people around you.
I cant accept that my country will go back to the old dark age.

MA MAY THAW ZIN, a law student in Myanmar who has been shunned by fearful friends and relatives since her arrest and release after a protest.
ATLANTA  Keisha Lance Bottoms, the first-term Atlanta mayor who rose to national prominence this past year with her stern yet empathetic televised message to protesters but has struggled to rein in her citys spike in violent crime, will not seek a second term in office, Ms. Bottoms announced on Twitter on Thursday night.

As Derek and I have given thoughtful prayer and consideration to the season now before us, Ms. Bottoms wrote in an online letter, referring to her husband, Derek Bottoms, it is with deep emotions that I now hold my head high, and choose not to seek another term as mayor.

The news shocked the political world in Atlanta, the most important city in the Southeast and one where the mayoral seat has been filled by African-American leaders since 1974, burnishing its reputation as a mecca for Black culture and political power.

At an emotional news conference Friday at City Hall, Ms. Bottoms did not give a specific reason for not running again but rattled off a litany of crises she has faced, including a crippling cyberattack at City Hall; a federal corruption investigation that began under her predecessor, Kasim Reed; a pandemic; a social justice movement in response to the police killings of Black people; and former President Donald J. Trump, whom she described as a madman in the White House.
Villalva was taking a break on a park bench in Poor Richards Playground near E.108th St. and Third Ave. at 11:10 p.m. the night of the killing when Young approached him and tried to take his bike, the victims coworkers told the Daily News in the incidents aftermath.
A series of vaccine developments and the loosening of restrictions amid an improving virus trajectory may foreshadow a welcome return to normalcy for many young Americans, just as summer vacation nears.

By early next week, the Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue an emergency use authorization allowing the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to be used in children 12 to 15 years old, a major step ahead in the United States efforts to tackle Covid-19. Pfizer also expects to seek federal clearance in September to administer the vaccine to children age 2 to 11, the company said on Tuesday.

Vaccinating children is key to raising the level of immunity in the population, experts say, and to bringing down the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths. It could also put school administrators, teachers and parents at ease if millions of adolescent students become eligible for vaccination before the next academic year begins.

The move would be a major leap forward, experts say, and comes as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said that vaccinated adolescents would be able to remove their masks outdoors at summer camps.
Hours after Florida installed a rash of new voting restrictions, the Republican-led Legislature in Texas pressed ahead on Thursday with its own far-reaching bill that would make it one of the most difficult states in the nation in which to cast a ballot.

The Texas bill would, among other restrictions, greatly empower partisan poll watchers, prohibit election officials from mailing out absentee ballot applications and impose strict punishments for those who provide assistance outside the lines of what is permissible.

After a lengthy debate that lasted into the early morning hours on Friday, the State House of Representatives passed the measure in a 81-64 vote, largely along party lines, at about 3 a.m., following a flurry of amendments that had been spurred by Democratic protests and a Democratic procedural move known as a point of order.

The new amendments softened some of the initial new penalties proposed for those who run afoul of the rules and added that the police could be called to remove unruly partisan poll watchers. Other amendments added by Democrats sought to expand ballot access, including with changes to ballot layout and with voter registration at high schools. But those amendments could be knocked off by a potential conference committee.
WASHINGTON  As House Republicans have made the case for ousting Representative Liz Cheney, their No. 3, from their leadership ranks, they have insisted that it is not her repudiation of former President Donald J. Trumps election lies that they find untenable, but her determination to be vocal about it.

But on Thursday, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the Republican whom leaders have anointed as Ms. Cheneys replacement in waiting, loudly resurrected his false narrative, citing unprecedented, unconstitutional overreach by election officials in 2020 and endorsing an audit in Arizona that has become the latest avenue for conservatives to try to cast doubt on the results.

It is important to stand up for these constitutional issues, and these are questions that are going to have to be answered before we head into the 2022 midterms, Ms. Stefanik told Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trumps former strategist, in the first of a pair of interviews on Thursday with hard-right acolytes of the former president.

The comments, Ms. Stefaniks first in public since she announced she was taking on Ms. Cheney, reflected how central the former presidents election lies have become to the Republican Party message, even as its leaders insist they are determined to move beyond them and focus on attacking Democrats as radical, big-spending socialists before the 2022 midterm elections.
When Iraqi film stars and political leaders posted videos of themselves getting Covid-19 vaccines in an effort to encourage inoculations, most Iraqis ignored them. But officials say that the Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadrs decision to bare his upper arm for a shot last week has persuaded thousands to follow his example.

Iraq received its first coronavirus vaccine shipment in March, but Iraqis wary of any government initiative have been reluctant to sign up. Just over 400,000 people have been vaccinated  about 1 percent of the countrys population of roughly 40 million. Iraq has received about 600,000 vaccine doses.

Mr. Sadr, who commands millions of followers, was shown on video from the city of Najaf at a vaccination clinic, wearing a surgical mask and his black turban. He rolled down the right sleeve of his robe and undershirt to bare his upper arm for the jab.

Health officials said the video had encouraged thousands of people to go to vaccination centers, many of them in southern Iraq, where Mr. Sadr has strong support. In Najaf, a few hundred vaccinations a day were being administered throughout the province before this week. That number rose to almost 2,000 shots on Monday, and the province started running out of doses on Tuesday.
A Maryland woman who gambled away nearly $1.5 million in funds from the elite dance school where she served as comptroller pleaded guilty to fraud in U.S. District Court in Washington on Thursday.

The plea represents the second time in eight years that the woman, Sophia Kim, has been successfully prosecuted on charges related to stealing from dance organizations with ties to the Unification Church.

Ms. Kim, 60, was hired in 2017 to serve as comptroller of the Kirov Academy of Ballet, a school founded in 1990 by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon to promote what he called the heavenly art of dance and be a creative outlet for his daughter-in-law, a former member of the Washington Ballet.
The pandemic has put the focus on the plight of the songwriter. Suddenly the artists were in the same situation. Their only income was suddenly just streaming. My God, I cant live on this. I cant pay the rent. And we songwriters said, Hey, welcome to the world of songwriters. This is what its like for us.

So its time for change. And I think because of the pandemic, there will be change. Theres movement now, on both sides of the Atlantic. Theres a realization that the song is such a valuable asset to the industry and that we need to treat the songwriters better.

If songwriters are unable to make a real living from streaming, whats going to happen if this problem is not fixed?

Everyone is going to find out that more of the songwriters have turned to driving Ubers instead of songwriting. There will be a lot of do-it-yourself people. But people with long careers? Oh, thats going to be very, very difficult in the current climate.

The top, elite layer, they will always make it, of course. But there was a layer underneath that used to be able to live from their songwriting, and sometimes would push their way up to the elite because they had the time to develop. Benny Andersson and I are prime examples of that. Before we wrote Waterloo and won the Eurovision Song Contest, we were in a rat race as well, running around, producing other people, writing songs for other people, sometimes touring in different constellations, just to pay the rent.

When the copyright money came pouring in after Waterloo, we said no to everything else. And we just sat down and decided to write from 9 to 5 every weekday. Some songs got finished in two months or two years, even. We would pick up a bridge from two years back that would suddenly fit into the song we were working on. Thats how we became, I think, good songwriters. And thats what I want for more people, but they have to start off by being able to live off their songwriting.
She contributed lyrics to a number of Birthday Party and Bad Seeds songs, including the title track from the first Bad Seeds album, From Her to Eternity (1985), and she helped define Mr. Caves dark, intense style. Mr. Cave was particularly enamored of a song for which she wrote all the lyrics, Stranger Than Kindness (1986), so much so that he has continued to perform it and borrowed its title for an autobiographical book published last year that documented memorabilia from his career. Its an abstract song (arranged by Blixa Bargeld) that seems to be about both passion and estrangement, and ends this way:

Your sleeping hands journey

They loiter

Stranger than kindness

You hold me so carelessly close

Tell me Im dirty

Im a stranger

Im a stranger

Im a stranger to kindness

Ms. Lane was sometimes described with a particular term, which Mr. Cave commented on in his tribute. Despised the concept of the muse but was everybodys, he wrote.

Yet she sometimes made her way into the recording studio herself, releasing two albums, Dirty Pearl in 1993 and Sex OClock in 2001 (both produced largely by Mick Harvey, Mr. Caves Bad Seeds bandmate).

Dirty Pearl compiled studio recordings she had made over 12 years in Berlin (where she lived for many years), London, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Shane Danielsen, reviewing it in The Sydney Morning Herald, called Ms. Lane a highly distinctive vocalist, purring in a manner at once erotic and unsettling.

The British newspaper The Express, reviewing Sex OClock, said of Ms. Lane, Shes groovy like a chic sixties chanteuse and funky like a seventies disco queen but still sounds dead modern, and the songs are redolent of lust and boudoirs.
I saw myself on television this week, in the modern sense of seeing someone with whom I identified. It was not a matter of color or gender, neither of which matched. But we were both from Iowa, both born in 1960, both got As and Bs, both had a parent with a problematic relationship to a local watering hole (Elks Club for her, V.F.W. for me).

Oh, and you can date both of us by the way we refer to speed or methamphetamine as crank.

The stories of small-town Iowans of my age are not plentiful on TV, and I watched this one with rapt attention, even though our lives diverged significantly after childhood. I left the state, went to college and got a job at a newspaper. She stayed, opened a biker bar and started her own business cooking and selling meth. When I was making $800 a week, she was sometimes grossing $800,000. That went a long way in Iowa in the early 1990s.

This soul sister of mine is Lori Arnold, the subject of Queen of Meth, a three-part profile that premiered Friday on the streaming service Discovery+. True-crime documentaries arrive by the pallet-load these days  Arnold could stack them in her post-criminal job as a forklift operator  and I took the time to watch this one purely for the Iowa connection.

I might have enjoyed Queen of Meth even if it were set in Ohio or Idaho, though. A modest production, it relies on the no-nonsense narration of Arnold, who turns out to be a fine companion for three hours and an engaging and lucid guide to the hows and whys of methamphetamine in the Midwest. She has a matter-of-fact charisma and a ready laugh, and you can see how those qualities would have made it easy for her to sell drugs in the depressed, working-class town of Ottumwa, Iowa.
She didnt understand then, but as she grew older she realized how breaking the color line could be seen as threatening on both sides. Her parents decision to send her to a white school was interpreted by some Black families as a vote of no confidence in Black schooling. And the integration project, as a whole, undermined the solidarity  albeit imposed from outside  felt within the Black community. Integration involved teachers as well as students; Gordon-Reeds mother was assigned to the previously white Conroe High School. The experience there wasnt the same. My mother confessed, later in life, that while she took joy in all of her students, she had become a teacher to teach Black students. I cant talk to them the way we used to, shed say. What she meant was that it was harder to address Black students in the classroom, and talk openly about their common mission of moving the Black community ahead.

The seventh-grade history class remained very traditional when Gordon-Reed took it. I cannot say with certainty that slavery was never mentioned, she writes. But it received nothing like the attention it deserved. Of course, I didnt need school to tell me that Blacks had been enslaved in Texas. Juneteenth informed her of that every summer, and her parents and grandparents made reference to slavery. So did Black children. A common retort when another kid  often a sibling  insisted you do something for them you didnt want to do was Slavery time is over.

A staple of Texas history classes was the story of Cynthia Ann Parker, a white girl stolen by Comanches on the Texas frontier and adopted into the tribe. She bore a son, Quanah, who became the last great war chief of the Comanches. Gordon-Reed at first accepted the story as straightforwardly told, but the more she thought about it, as a Black person and a woman, the more complicated it became. It seemed to me that so many wrong things were packed into this one narrative, she writes. She learned that the land the Comanches were defending from the whites was land they had seized from other Indians. She discovered that Indians held slaves, with some for this reason siding with the Confederacy during the Civil War. As for the kidnapping itself: Whatever sympathy we have for a people under siege and fighting for their very existence, there is no way to minimize the problem with kidnapping girls to make them brides.

Gordon-Reed never lost her affection for Texas, even after she left. When asked, as I have been very often, to explain what I love about Texas, given all that I know of what has happened there  and is still happening there  the best response I can give is that this is where my first family and connections were, she writes. Love does not require taking an uncritical stance toward the objects of ones affections. In truth, it often requires the opposite. We cant be of real service to the hopes we have for places  and people, ourselves included  without a cleareyed assessment of their (and our) strengths and weaknesses.

The Juneteenth ritual in the Gordon household evolved over time. Her grandmother added tamales to the menu. The young Gordon-Reed joined the women in the time-consuming preparation. Those hours seemed endless to me as a child, but they were actually fleeting, she says. This ritual was fitting, and so very Texan. People of African descent, and to be honest, of some European descent, celebrating the end of slavery in Texas with dishes learned in slavery and a dish favored by ancient Mesoamerican Indians that connected Texas to its Mexican past; so much Texas history brought together for this one special day.
Jack Ewing and

May 7, 2021

Germany is known for luxury cars, machine tools and other goods that have protected the overall economy from the worst effects of the pandemic. But Germany is also a nation of shopkeepers, small operations whose employees are often from the same family.

These businesses have been pushed to the brink of existence by lockdowns, quarantines and other restrictions that often change from day to day. Vaccines are in short supply and intensive care units are filling up, prompting Chancellor Angela Merkels government to impose a nationwide curfew last month in areas with high infection rates.

In the port city of Hamburg, retailers are improvising to try to survive.

Theodora Vezo, the owner of a boutique that bears her name, took customers by appointment and changed her window displays of clothing and accessories much more often.
India set another record in the current surge of new COVID-19 infections Thursday as officials warn that a third wave will sweep the country.

The Health Ministry reported a single-day record 412,262 new confirmed coronavirus cases, including a record 3,980 deaths. The South Asian nation's total COVID-19 figures now stand at just over 21 million confirmed cases and 230,168 deaths.

K. Vijay Raghavan, a senior government scientific adviser, warned Wednesday that a third wave of coronavirus infections would sweep the country as it struggles with the devastating effects of the current wave.

India's crisis is aggravated by a critical lack of oxygen needed to treat critically ill patients, along with the raw materials needed to manufacture doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. While India is home to the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, only 2 percent of the country's 1.3 billion people have been vaccinated, according to local reports.

The government has been ordered by the Supreme Court to submit a plan to meet oxygen needs in New Delhi hospitals by Thursday.


The single thing in the five years that I was chief judge of this court that made me the craziest was my complete and utter inability to do anything meaningful about the conditions at the MCC, especially at the MCC and the MDC, two federal correctional facilities located in the City of New York that are run by morons, which wardens cycle (through) repeatedly, never staying for longer than a few months or even a year, McMahon said at the April 29 sentencing.
Health advocate, or Big Brother?

As companies make plans to fully reopen their offices across the U.S., some in a matter of weeks, they face a delicate decision. Many would like all employees to be vaccinated when they return, but in the face of legal and P.R. risks, few employers have gone so far as to require it, Gillian Friedman and DealBooks Lauren Hirsch report for The Times. Instead, they are hoping that encouragement and incentives will suffice.

There have been a few false starts. In January, the United Airlines chief Scott Kirby said hed like to require all of the companys employees to get vaccines, calling it the right thing to do. Months later, no decisions have been made. In February, the investment bank Jefferies sent a memo to employees saying they would need proof of vaccination to enter its office; a few weeks later, a follow-up note clarified that We did not intend to make it sound as if we are mandating vaccines.

Legally, requiring vaccines is probably (mostly) fine. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance in December stating that employers are legally permitted to require employees to be vaccinated. But companies are still worried about litigation, in part because several states have proposed laws that would limit their ability to require vaccines. Some of those restrictions pertain only to vaccines that, like those for Covid, have been granted only emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration. Pfizer and BioNTech became the first companies to apply for full approval of their Covid-19 vaccine today, and others are expected to follow suit.

It would seem to me that employers are going to find themselves in a fairly strong position legally, said Eric Feldman, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, but that doesnt mean theyre not going to get sued.

Companies would rather not deal with the headaches of making vaccines mandatory. Douglas Brayley, a partner at Ropes & Gray, said the implications of enforcing a vaccine policy are one of the main things he tells companies to consider: What if 10 percent of your work force refuses? Are you prepared to lay off that 10 percent? Or what if its someone high-level or in a key role, would you be prepared to impose consequences? And then they sometimes get more nervous.
Sinopharm and Sinovac are producing about 12 million doses a day, just a little over the 10 million doses that China hopes to administer daily to meet the domestic target. The companies would have to produce roughly 500 million additional doses to meet the demands of other countries, according to a calculation of data provided by Bridge Consulting, a Beijing-based consultancy focused on Chinas impact on global health.

The vaccine shortage in China underscores the complexity of rolling out a mass vaccination campaign for the worlds most populous nation while also trying to execute an ambitious export program. Companies involved in the vaccine supply chain, such as those making syringes, are working overtime.

The whole world is short of this vaccine, said a Sinovac spokesman, Pearson Liu. The demand is just too great.

To mitigate the shortfall, Chinese officials said those getting vaccinated in China could delay getting their second shot by as long as eight weeks, or they could combine the same type of vaccine from different companies. They have said the shortage should ease by June.

Andrea Taylor, who analyzes global data on vaccines at the Duke Global Health Institute, called the potential addition of two Chinese vaccines into the Covax program a game changer.

The situation right now is just so desperate for low and lower middle income countries that any doses we can get out are worth mobilizing, Ms. Taylor said. Having potentially two options coming from China could really change the landscape of whats possible over the next few months.

Chinas vaccines have been rolled out to more than 80 countries, but they have faced significant skepticism, in part because the companies have not released Phase 3 clinical trial data for scientists to independently assess the vaccines efficacy rates. An advisory group to the W.H.O. published the data this week.
Federal health officials on Friday updated public guidance about how the coronavirus spreads, emphasizing that transmission occurs by inhaling very fine respiratory droplets and aerosolized particles, as well as through contact with sprayed droplets or touching contaminated hands to ones mouth, nose or eyes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now states explicitly  in large, bold lettering  that airborne virus can be inhaled even when one is more than six feet away from an infected individual. The new language, posted online, is a change from the agencys previous position that most infections were acquired through close contact, not airborne transmission.

As the pandemic unfolded last year, infectious disease experts warned for months that both the C.D.C. and the World Health Organization were overlooking research that strongly suggested the coronavirus traveled aloft in small, airborne particles. Several scientists on Friday welcomed the agencys scrapping of the term close contact, which they criticized as vague and said did not necessarily capture the nuances of aerosol transmission.

C.D.C. has now caught up to the latest scientific evidence, and theyve gotten rid of some old problematic terms and thinking about how transmission occurs, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech.
Marc Johnson saw trouble in the water.

Dr. Johnson, a virologist at the University of Missouri, had spent much of 2020 studying sewage, collecting wastewater from all over the state and analyzing it for fragments of the coronavirus. People with Covid-19 shed the virus in their stool, and as the coronavirus spread throughout Missouri, more and more of it began to appear in the states wastewater.

In January, Dr. Johnson spotted something new in his water samples: traces of B.1.1.7, a more contagious variant that was first detected in Britain. Officially, the state had no confirmed cases of B.1.1.7, but the wastewater suggested that the variant had arrived. By the end of the month, the B.1.1.7 levels in Dr. Johnsons water samples had risen sharply, and in early February, the state finally found its first case. It has since found hundreds more.

Using some samples of sewage, Dr. Johnson had been able to peer into Missouris coronavirus future. I cant believe how well it works, he said. I feel like an oracle.

Dr. Johnson is one of many scientists who have been drawn into the once niche field of wastewater epidemiology in the past year. Researchers in 54 countries are now tracking the coronavirus in sewage, according to the Covid19Poops Dashboard, a global directory of the projects.
And when people from L.G.B.T.Q. populations first enter a medical setting, they often fill out intake and registration forms that ask for age, race and ethnicity as well as gender. But the latter most often refers only to the sex a person was assigned at birth, not the gender with which they identify, and leaves out questions of sexual orientation.

Its uncommon for medical institutions to go deeper and seek sexual orientation and gender identity data that allows a person to report whether they are straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual or something else, and whether they identify as female, male, transgender, nonbinary or gender-fluid.

And of more than 100 federal surveys in one study, only 11 collect some sexual orientation and gender identity data. While federal regulations mandate that some health care providers must carry electronic health record software with the capability to capture this data, a loophole in the ruling means they dont have to actually collect it: they face no consequence if they do not include sexual orientation and gender identity questions on intake forms and in conversations about registration.

For some, not being represented on medical intake forms is yet another example of marginalization.

So many people define me by my transgender identity, said Ms. Nixon, who works as a development coordinator at Out Boulder County, a nonprofit organization that provides services and education to local L.G.B.T.Q. residents, and who has been denied care at least twice from clinicians. But then when it finally comes down to it, they dont actually care to ask me that identity when were dealing with a pandemic, or trying to get a lifesaving vaccine.

Others, however, disagree with the idea of reporting sexual orientation and gender identity data when seeking a Covid-19 vaccine. Jaden Janak, a 25-year-old transmasculine, nonbinary doctoral student in Black Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, said that while it is important to have an option to self-report this data, that information shouldnt be given out unless its necessary. I dont feel like the nurse that Im going to see for 30 seconds needs to know that about me, they said.
Mr. Adams followed the advice, but largely kept his mayoral ambitions quiet. It was better to be known as an earnest doer than an ambitious climber, he said, particularly as a Black man.

I am the poster child of missteps, but I am also the poster child of endurance, Mr. Adams said. I had a plan.

The first step was to leave the police force and enter politics. There was a failed congressional run in 1994, when Mr. Adamss relationship with the Nation of Islam proved divisive. His switch to the Republican Party in the following years, while Rudolph W. Giuliani was mayor and the party controlled the State Senate, seemed opportunistic; he explained then that if you take a look at some of the concepts of the Republican Party, youll see that many of them are our values.

By 2006, however, he was a Democrat again, in time for a successful run for State Senate. In the political career that has followed, Mr. Adams has often been ideologically fungible, displaying an independent streak as well as attention-grabbing skills.

He was an early supporter of marriage equality and continued to rail against policing practices, like stop-and-frisk, that were shown to disproportionately affect Black and Latino communities. He turned his focus to issues many other politicians would avoid, such as a Stop the Sag campaign that called on Black men to pull up their pants and emphasized personal responsibility as a response to racism. He also pushed for higher pay for elected officials  including himself.

I dont know how some of you are living on $79,000, Mr. Adams said at the time. Show me the money!

The comments hurt Mr. Adamss reputation among the citys political class in the same way the police news conferences had in the years before. In 2010, a scathing state inspector general report said that Mr. Adams, then the chairman of the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, had given the appearance of impropriety by getting too close to a group that was seeking a casino contract at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Pamela Kraft mingled among stars like Lou Reed and Patti Smith at the storied nightclub Maxs Kansas City, but she was not a musician. She championed the rights of Indigenous peoples with the United Nations, but had no background in policy. She worked with artists in the Fluxus movement, but was not, by trade, a painter or a sculptor.

Perhaps she did not need to be.

Pam was a true artist, and her work was her canvas, said Diane Williams, a friend and colleague at Tribal Link Foundation, a New York-based nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering Indigenous peoples that Ms. Kraft founded in 1993.

Ms. Kraft died on March 14 in North Bergen, N.J., after a heart attack, according to a friend, James Merewether. She was 77.

Hers was a life in two parts: a bohemian fantasy made real in the art scene of New York in the 1960s, followed by a detour into her own brand of globetrotting activism, tinged with the spiritual and philosophical.
This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.

RIO DE JANEIRO  He was best known for portraying the character Dona Herminia, a cantankerous but loving middle-aged mother whose sharp tongue and misadventures left Brazilians doubled over in laughter.

The role, which he played onstage and later in films, made the actor and writer Paulo Gustavo Amaral Monteiro de Barros, known professionally as Paulo Gustavo, one of the most acclaimed Brazilian artists of his generation. Fans came to love him for the tact with which he lampooned the traits of dysfunctional families.

Mr. de Barros died on Tuesday of complications of Covid-19 at a Rio de Janeiro hospital, where he had been treated for the disease since March 13, according to a statement by the medical team that oversaw his care. He was 42.
Mary-Louise McLaws, an epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and a member of the W.H.O. committees that craft infection prevention and control guidance, wanted all this examined but knew the stakes made it harder to overcome the resistance. She told The Times last year, If we started revisiting airflow, we would have to be prepared to change a lot of what we do. She said it was a very good idea, but she added, It will cause an enormous shudder through the infection control society.

This assumption that these larger droplets that can travel only a few feet are the main way the disease spreads is one of the key reasons the W.H.O. and the C.D.C. didnt recommend masks at first. Why bother if one can simply stay out of their range? After the C.D.C. recommended masks in April 2020, the W.H.O. shifted last June, but it first suggested ordinary people generally wear masks if physical distancing could not be maintained, and still said health care workers performing screenings in the community did not need to wear masks if they could stay that single meter away from patients. The W.H.O. last updated its mask guidance in December but continued to insist that mask use indoors was not necessary if people could remain separated by that mere meter  this time conceding that if ventilation might not be adequate, masks should be worn indoors, regardless of distancing.

In contrast, if the aerosols had been considered a major form of transmission, in addition to distancing and masks, advice would have centered on ventilation and airflow, as well as time spent indoors. Small particles can accumulate in enclosed spaces, since they can remain suspended in the air and travel along air currents. This means that indoors, three or even six feet, while helpful, is not completely protective, especially over time.

To see this misunderstanding in action, look at whats still happening throughout the world. In India, where hospitals have run out of supplemental oxygen and people are dying in the streets, money is being spent on fleets of drones to spray anti-coronavirus disinfectant in outdoor spaces. Parks, beaches and outdoor areas keep getting closed around the world. This year and last, organizers canceled outdoor events for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. Cambodian customs officials advised spraying disinfectant outside vehicles imported from India. The examples are many.

Meanwhile, many countries allowed their indoor workplaces to open but with inadequate aerosol protections. There was no attention to ventilation, installing air filters as necessary or even opening windows when possible, more to having people just distancing three or six feet, sometimes not requiring masks beyond that distance, or spending money on hard plastic barriers, which may be useless at best. (Just this week, President Biden visited a school where students were sitting behind plastic shields.)

This occurred throughout the world in the past year. The United States has been a bit better, but the C.D.C. did not really accept aerosol transmission until October, though still relegating it to a secondary role until its change on Friday, which put the risk infection from inhaling these tiny particles first on its list of means of transmission.

*

The scientific wrangling, resistance and controversy that prevented a change in guidance stem from a century of mistaken assumptions whose roots go back to the origins of germ theory of disease in the 19th century.
I wish that the Attorney General, whoever, head of the Bureau of Prisons and the leader of the Congress, would have heard that presentation. The single thing in the five years that I was chief judge of this court that made me the craziest was my complete and utter inability to do anything meaningful about the conditions at the MCC, especially at the MCC and the MDC, two federal correctional facilities located in the City of New York that are run by morons, which wardens cycle (through) repeatedly, never staying for longer than a few months or even a year. So there is no continuity, there is no leadership, there is no ability to get anything done. They lurch from crisis to crisis, from the gun smuggling to Jeffrey Epstein, none of which is the fault of Ms. Days or any of the other inmates I have sentenced or will sentence.
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ezra klein

Im Ezra Klein, and this is the Ezra Klein Show. Let me just start the show today with a claim that is going to sound bold, but I think is obvious. Elizabeth Warren is the single most important policy thinker and doer of this generation. If you go back decades now, the research she did and then the way she promoted it and sold it and then got it passed has completely changed how we both view and make policy, particularly economic policy. So The Two-Income Trap, which is a book she published in 2004 back when she was an academic, it tilted the axis of the Washington economic debate. It moved the focus from this pretty narrow lens of wages and overall economic growth that had dominated in the Clinton era towards this deeper analysis that we now take for granted on the affordability and precarity of a modern middle class life. A lot of the modern economic debate is built on that. Of course, that research was built on her work on bankruptcy, but it also fed into her work on financial regulation. She proposed this entire new way of thinking about and then structuring consumer protection. And then she made this move that policy wonks almost never make. She got those ideas passed into law. It went from an article in the journal Democracy to a new federal agency that she set up and ran, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Its just wild. And then when the Senate Republicans wouldnt confirm her to run it permanently, she ran for and won a Senate seat in Massachusetts. She became then a member of the Democratic Senate leadership team and a presidential candidate. The closest analog to this in recent American politics is  I dont know  maybe Pat Moynihan from New York. But its a pretty unique career. And its by no means over. So in recent years, Warren has led in pushing antitrust back into the conversation. The bipartisan debate we have now over breaking up big tech firms, thats a debate she really drove with her proposal to do that a couple of years ago. The debate over canceling student debt, thats a debate she drove with her proposal to do this a couple of years ago. And now Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is signed onto her plan to have Biden use executive authority to cancel $50,000 in student debt. And then this is more subtle, but its really important. Warren pays much more attention to staffing than most figures in Washington. And so, she has brought a lot of really talented people up to her staff, trained them herself, and then put them elsewhere into government. There are sort of Warrrenites all through the federal government now, and also in elected office: Katie Porter in the House, the member of Congress from Orange County, California, whos become a total star. Thats a former Warren student. So I could keep going on. But the point is simply this: a lesson of the past 20 years is that what Elizabeth Warren is thinking about now is what Washington is going to be talking about next. And thats the lens with which I read Warrens new book, Persist. Persist is built around these identities Warren holds, or that she has held mother and teacher and planner and fighter and learner and woman. But each of those identities is then used to make a series of arguments for the policies that we should pass. And a few of them, in particular, caught my eye. One is Warrens effort to develop here a truly pro-family progressivism to put children and childcare at the center of the progressive agenda. And another is to change the lens through which we look at the economy, and particularly, the lens through which we look at inequality and distribution, by moving it from a focus on income to a focus on wealth. So in this conversation, I wanted to draw those ideas by drawing on another of Warrens identities, which is policy wonk. This is just a much weedsier conversation than most politicians will have or can have. And for that reason, I think it is really worth the time. As always, my email is ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. Heres Senator Elizabeth Warren. So let me begin here. Childcare costs have skyrocketed in recent decades  they have risen much, much, much, much, much faster than median wages. I think the figure you have in the book is that when you became a new mother to when you became a new senator, they rose by 900 percent.

elizabeth warren

Mm-hmm, inflation adjusted.

ezra klein

Inflation adjusted. In a bunch of states, it cost more to send your kids to childcare than to in-state tuition at the university. Why have they gone up so fast?

elizabeth warren

Well, theyve gone up so fast because of basic economics  supply and demand, partly. There are more and more parents in the workforce  mamas, in particular, who have gone to work. And childcare centers run on incredibly thin profit margins. In fact, think about it this way. Look at all they have to do to be able to take care of little babies or toddlers. They need lots of teachers. They need specialized space. They need lots of certification. They need to make sure theyve got appropriate fire escapes and that theyve got carrots all cut up and ways to help children get to the potty. And theyve got all of those expenses. And yet, they cant charge what that costs, plus a nice, fat margin, because parents cant afford to pay for it. So childcare is one of these things where theres a lot of demand, a lot of people who need childcare. And that was true before the pandemic. Now with the pandemic, its just really intensified. And yet, the squeeze, again, before the pandemic on childcare workers at childcare centers was huge. They kept wages rock bottom, which meant high turnover. And now with the pandemic, estimates are that as many as half of all childcare centers closed during this pandemic. So what was already a crisis became a mega crisis.

ezra klein

So is there a way to make childcare cheaper? Or is the right way to think about it that we simply have to spend more on something that is socially important enough to spend more on so the wages are good and the centers are high quality?

elizabeth warren

Yeah, the right way to think about it is that we need to spend what it takes to take care of our children. And this is an investment in our childrens future. We call it childcare. Its childcare and early learning. Keep in mind, even stay-at-home parents, if they have the resources, will often put very young children into three days a week morning playgroup, whatever they call it. But the point is, where children can be with other children, where children can be with other adults, where they can develop a bigger vocabulary and learn things, like no biting, how to stand in line, things that are important to get them ready for learning experiences in school. We dont ask parents of third graders to come up with the full ticket for what it takes to educate a third grader. We shouldnt be doing that for parents of 4-year-olds or 3-year-olds or 2-year-olds or even our littlest babies.

ezra klein

So Joe Bidens American Families Plan, it is $200 billion to establish free universal preschool. Its got $225 billion to fully cover childcare costs for lower income families. It caps those costs then at 7 percent of income, up to about 1.5 times the state median income. What do you think of these ideas? There are some similarities here to what youve proposed, some differences. How do you look at what hes come up with?

elizabeth warren

Its a good start. We need more. Ive done the numbers, talked to a lot of folks. And we think basically to provide universal childcare that is available, high quality, affordable childcare for every baby in this country and for every mama and daddy in this country, and to raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher, its going to take about $700 billion over 10 years. But the advantage to it is something that we will reap the benefits for generations and generations to come. Increased productivity  mamas and daddies who can go back to work. Better wages  we talk about a jobs plan as infrastructure. Then we raise the wages of the predominantly women who are working in childcare and early childhood education. And best of all, we get our babies off to a good start.

ezra klein

So if I go back to The Two-Income Trap, one of your earlier books, you were very worried in that book about universal preschool creating a preference to send children to preschool as opposed to being a stay-at-home parent, so there you had an idea for a subsidy to stay-at-home parents, too. Has your thinking changed on that?

elizabeth warren

What we were talking about in The Two-Income Trap is how having both parents in the workforce was not giving families the kind of boost that they thought it was, that, in effect, what a generation earlier  the kind of life that one income would buy  took two parents by the time of, say, around 2000, 2005, along in there, when we wrote this book. My view has really expanded on both the educational part of childcare. We need to make it available for all of our babies because its good for our babies and their development, but also the infrastructure part of it. We want to increase productivity in America, we need to put our money directly into building enough childcare, the same way we put our money into roads and bridges. Interestingly, weve already taken step one on helping all parents. And that is, right now, weve got this child tax credit that goes, largely, to the majority of parents in America. Thats a good step one. And thats going to buy a lot of new clothes and make sure theres nutritious food on the table and help, in some cases, with rent. But we need to be able to make it easy for parents to go to work. We need to give those experiences to our children. And we need to raise the quality so that good childcare centers are out there and available for everyone. And we can do that. We just need to make the investment.

ezra klein

So some of your colleagues on the right, they feel that universal childcare is elitist. JD Vance, who looks like hes running for Senate in Ohio, he described it as a class war on normal people. Because most people  theyre a plurality  if you poll them, they support a single breadwinner model in their families. Is there something to the critique, or how do you answer the critique that rather than being pro-family, this is pro a certain type of family? That there shouldnt be such a preference. We shouldnt be spending $700 billion to make it easy to go to work if were not spending the same amount of money to make it easy to stay at home and take care of a child.

elizabeth warren

This is pro-family. Its pro-family. Its pro-child. Its pro-women. Because can we all just be blunt about this? I know there are daddies out there who are primary childcare givers. But the burden of childcare falls disproportionately on women. I talk about this in my book  this latest book, in Persist  about both what happened to me and how I nearly got knocked off the track, almost quit my first real teaching job, and then I update it through the stories of the pandemic. Look at whats happened, the number of women in this nation who have said, Im not even going back. Im not even going to try. Its just too darn hard. There are many families that need that parents paycheck, whether thats a single mom, a single dad, or a mom and a dad or two moms or two dads, who are working and bringing in those paychecks. And the idea that we dont want to help those families? No, these are our babies. This is our future. And this is our productivity right now. Infrastructure  we invest in roads and bridges so people can get to work. We invest in communications so people can work. We need to invest in childcare so people can work.

ezra klein

But I think the question is, should it pay to be a stay-at-home parent? Is there some way that public policy should be constructed such that you are able to equalize that and you actually give people who stay at home just quite a bit of money?

elizabeth warren

Its interesting you would raise this. I talk about this in the last chapter of the book on people staying at home. If thats what they want to do and thats how they can make the money work, good for them. If people want to go into the workforce, good for them. For many people, they dont have a choice. They have to go into the workforce. And this is why we build a childcare infrastructure. But Im going to pick up on your other point. I talk in that last chapter about how women take off time for caregiving, sometimes for children, sometimes for elderly parents, and what those years of zero income do to their long-term retirement prospects. So one of the proposals Im advancing in the book and in real life is that we change Social Security so people who are at home, caregiving, get some credit for those years. And theyre not both giving up money while theyre not working, but also giving up money when they turn 65 or 72, and they must retire. So, sure, there are adjustments we ought to be talking about because of the different ways that people live. But most of all, we should be starting with our values: taking care of our kids, giving their parents an opportunity to work and making those jobs high quality jobs, well-paying jobs for all the people who are in the caring professions.

ezra klein

You have a remarkable statistic on this in the book, which is that if our labor force participation rate for women had grown at the rate of Norway, if we matched Norway now, our economy would be $1.6 trillion bigger. And if you look back at that, labor force participation for women went up in the 70s, went up in the 80s, went up in the 90s. And then right around 99, it stalls out in America, but not in our peer countries. Why do you think that was?

elizabeth warren

So, actually, I think thats the heart of it. And remember  youre leaving out one part to it  in all those earlier decades, as women are returning to work  or going into the workforce  and its principally moms with babies. Women who didnt have children were already in the workforce. So the big differential starting in the 70s is that women with small children are starting to go back into the workforce. And it drives up GDP in America. So my argument around this is to say, when you look at these data, that when it flattens out and mothers just top out around 2000, saying, Im just not doing this anymore, I think the reason is, its just too damn hard. Its just too damn hard for many, many people. And childcare is right at the heart of that. I tell the story in the book about how I got fired because I was pregnant from my first teaching job teaching special education, Im at home with a baby. And I decide Im going to go back to school. For me, its this crazy idea that Im going to go to law school. And I make a list. You know me. I make a plan of all the things I got to do to get ready to go to law school, like figure out how Im going to pay tuition. I was very lucky there was a state school nearby. And I could do it for, I think it was around $450 a semester, and so on. So Ive got this all worked out. Im down to what car, right? I persuade my first husband to trade in the beloved Mustang and get a VW Bug because its going to be cheaper to drive. So I am planning this out. I got this thing knocked in the head. I am ready to go finish my education. And what nearly kills me? Childcare. I came within a breath of just not getting childcare for my not quite 2-year-old daughter, which would have meant I couldnt have gone to law school. I mean, theres no leave her in the lobby while youre at school and try to finish. So I say this by way of saying it was so hard back then. And it was hard when my daughter had her babies. And if we dont make change, its going to be just as hard when my granddaughter looks for childcare if she has babies. And thats wrong. Childcare needs to be available. Its not. It needs to be affordable. Its not. And it needs to have people working in the field who see it as a career because it pays well enough for them to be able to stay in the field.

ezra klein

I found that story very  both of the versions of that story very moving in the book, and also the fact that you were able to potty train your daughter in five days to be 

elizabeth warren

Oh. [LAUGHS]

ezra klein

 as somebody with a toddler, one of the singularly most impressive stories Ive ever heard in my life.

elizabeth warren

I just want to point out on this, I will tell no secrets, but I want you to know, Ezra, I am here today courtesy of three bags of M&Ms. I will say no more.

ezra klein

Bribery can be effective as a parent. You think youre not going to do it, and then you do.

elizabeth warren

Yeah.

ezra klein

I want to ask you about the flip of it, though. Youre talking about how hard it is to go back to work with a child and what we can do to make that easier. Theres another thing, and this is something you actually predicted in The Two-Income Trap, that as the economics of this got harder, people would often not have children they wanted to have. And we know a lot of young families report not having the children they wish they had. So beyond what weve talked about here in terms of childcare and universal pre-K, what can we do to make it easier for parents to have the families they want?

elizabeth warren

Well, I do. I think the heart of this one is childcare. I think making it clear that if women leave the workforce, that were going to have some protection for them. Thats paid family leave if its short-term. If its a longer term than that, Im talking about Social Security. But this problem you raise is serious, Ezra. I was in Japan and China a couple of years ago, visiting as part of my Senate obligations. And Im a senator on Services Committee  and also in Korea. And I had off the books meetings at night with young women, young dads, who just talked about how, if it gets hard, you dont have kids. And when you dont have kids  I was talking with demographers about how worried they are about what that means long-term for a country. People are living longer than ever. And if we dont have young people coming in, coming into the workforce, and having babies, were not going to be able to sustain a robust economy going forward and to be able to take care of seniors. So, this is serious business. To me, this is what policy is all about. You have to think about these pieces, put them together, and say, lets make changes now at the federal level that we can make, that we should make and that will make a difference for this country and put us on a track, both for more opportunity for individuals, but also, collectively, a stronger, more productive economy.

ezra klein

One of the pieces of this that I think people often dont count as family policy, but very much is and is in your plans, is housing. So can you talk a bit about pro-family housing policy?

elizabeth warren

Yes, so as you know, Ezra, I have a plan for that.

ezra klein

No kidding.

elizabeth warren

Yes. So lets just start out really quick with the importance of housing. The data just show us over and over and over that safe, secure, affordable housing means that people have better health, and their children do better in school and stay in school longer. So you want to make an investment in families, make an investment in housing. Whats the problem in housing right now? Well, its a supply and demand problem. And the reason is because demand has gone up. Population has increased, but supply has not. And there are multiple factors on this. First one is just on the private side. I grew up in a two-bedroom, one-bath garage converted to hold my three brothers. That was the house we grew up in. Private developers with a little help from the government were building those after World War II, lots and lots of them. Theyre not building those anymore. Today, a lot of the private development has gone to the McMansion or the high dollar condo. And the reason is just  Im not mad at anybody. Its just they have better profit margins. So thats where development has gone. At the same time, the federal government, which also used to put a lot of money into developing new housing units for moderate income people, for the poor, the Faircloth Amendment gets passed in the late 1990s that basically puts a cap on all federally financed housing. So it says, if the federal government adds one new housing unit to the existing stock, it has to remove a federal housing unit. So our population goes up for the last 20 years. And the answer has been supply has not gone up. So the reason I identify this, to start with, it means its a problem youre not just going to solve with housing vouchers. I get it. Vouchers can be important in some circumstances. But we need supply. So I put together a plan. It costs about $500 billion roughly. And it would produce more than 3 million housing units. Estimates are  Moodys says that would reduce overall rent in America by about 10 percent. And if we do this right, you can do it in lots of ways. So some of it is directly. Lets just build some of this stuff. Some of it is partnering up with private industry to build it. Some of it is saying to communities, the federal government will put in money, if you will agree to change the laws to make housing construction cheaper and density easier in your area. Federal government could put up the money for the elementary school that will be needed if more people are living here, or the exit ramp off the freeway. But the idea is, lets make the investment from the federal level for housing for our people. Because when we do that, we create more opportunity for everyone: good jobs in the short run. By the way, the housing plan produces over a million jobs, good jobs, in the short run. And in the long run, stable, healthy families.

ezra klein

I want to go back on that relationship between the federal government and states and cities for a minute because one of the supply and demand dimensions is that over the past 30, 40 years, economic growth got way more concentrated in different places. But some of those places, like the one where I live  San Francisco  have made it almost impossible to build housing. So the statistic people like here is San Francisco has more dogs than children. And for a city that thinks of itself as progressive, that is an unbelievable embarrassment. So talk a bit about what is the federal governments role in unwinding some of the supply constraints in cities where there is, I think, an economic and, for progressives, an ideological interest in making it affordable for families to live there so they can earn high wages and be part of those industries.

elizabeth warren

You know, I see what youre talking about just from a slightly different angle, and let me describe it this way. The housing shortage in America, I know you see it up close and personal in San Francisco. You see it in Boston. You see it in these vibrant cities. But you know where else we see it? You see it in mid-sized cities across America. You see it in rural America. A lot of our housing stock has declined. Its fallen apart. Housing doesnt last forever. And the consequence is, look how the pieces fit together. You either go to San Francisco, and you cant afford housing. Or you go to some small town in the Midwest, and you cant get housing. Its just not there. Theres just no availability. And then you combine it with no childcare in either place that is affordable, available. When you start hitting people with a one-two punch  and then let me just throw on top of that, for young people, youre trying to manage $40,000 of student loan debt, $50,000 of student loan debt. What weve done to young families  because I think this is partly a generational issue, and I talk about this in Persist  weve created this circumstance where young families just cant get going. And actually, thats what the data are showing, that young families are putting off having children, putting off marrying, putting off buying homes. And heres the one. If all of that and youre saying, well, but Im not a young family, I dont care, putting off starting businesses of their own, putting off starting that small business, the startups that are the vibrancy of our economy. We miss all of that when we dont make these core investments. So, heres how I think of this moment in America where, in the last year, weve lived through a global pandemic, a racial reckoning, an armed insurrection. We have a new president. And we have just passed an historic rescue package. So now we have our toes on the starting line for big structural change. The door that is so often slammed tight and locked for big change is open. Now, not wide open, but its open an inch or two. And this is the moment where we can make not just a nibble over here or a tweak over there. But we can make the kind of robust investments that will open up opportunities in San Francisco and in Utah and in Illinois and in Oklahoma and Kansas and in Massachusetts. Open up opportunities all across this country. Persist, its not about the past. Its about pulling all of those data and the arguments and the stories, the very personal stories, to say, This is what we need to do in the next 100 days. This is what we need to do now, and we can. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

I want to go in on the student debt for a minute because there are a bunch of topics here where, very quickly, were going to end up talking about the filibuster. And people all know what we think about the filibuster. Student debt isnt one of those. There is a possibility  I think its quite plausible  of canceling $50,000 in student debt through executive authority. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is with you on this now. Thats a big deal. He was on this show a week or two ago, arguing for it. And the Biden administration has been more resistant here. And let me try to frame the argument I hear about why not to do it, which  Im going to pull these numbers from Adam Looney at Brookings  that if you cancel $50,000 in student debt, the bottom 60 percent of the income distribution only gets 34 percent of that benefit. So its not a sufficiently progressive enough way to spend that money. Whats your response to that?

elizabeth warren

So I look at the same numbers he does. And there are some others he doesnt talk about. And there are a couple I want to mention. The first one is 40 percent of the people who are carrying student loan debt right now didnt get a college diploma. So they are trying to manage student loan debt on a salary that a high school grad gets. And it is bone-crushing. Sure, there are people who can look at $12,000 of student loan debt and say, oh, thats not such a big deal. Its a big deal if youre making $32,000 a year. And then the second is to look at the Black-white wealth gap around this, which is enormous. Lets start with African-American students: more likely to borrow money to go to college, borrow more money while theyre in college, and have a harder time paying it off when they get out of college. Ill give you one stat thats in Persist. And that is: 20 years after you borrowed money to go to school, the typical white borrower still owes 5 percent of their student loan. The end is in sight. Theyre almost there. The typical Black borrower owes 95 percent. Theyre going to be paying forever. So the number is deliberately chosen for this. Canceling $50,000 of student loan debt would close the gap among those who have this kind of debt by 25 points for African-Americans and by 27 points for Latinas. So doing this would be transformative for millions of people.

ezra klein

I want to hold the devils advocate position here for another second. The counter argument youll hear on this is that the benefits youre talking about  closing the Black-white wealth gap and helping people who did not graduate college, but have this debt  you could get the bulk of that benefit by canceling debt up to 15,000, up to 20,000. That its when you go up all the way to $50,000, you begin to get these more  I dont want to say regressive, but you get these more distributional concerns. So why not just do 10 or 15 or even 20,000 and save the rest of the money?

elizabeth warren

I looked at these numbers to begin with. $50,000 is where you can do the most good by canceling the student loan debt up to that amount.

ezra klein

So let me then flip this because this is actually what changed my mind on this. Matt Bruenig over at the Peoples Policy Project had a good look at this, that this when you look at it from wealth and not income, the entire distributional structure here flips. And that yes, some of the people with a lot of debt have high income, but they have very, very low wealth, which gets to what youre saying about the Black-white wealth gap. And this gets to something that I think is not just in your student debt plan, but also in your tax plans and in your economic philosophy more broadly, which is that you focus on wealth a lot more than other politicians do. Our political system focuses on income pretty rarely wealth, but the wealth picture creates a very different sense of society, and in some cases, different policies. So can you tell me a bit, in student debt, but also otherwise, about how things look different when you look at them through wealth rather than income?

elizabeth warren

Can we talk about through taxes? Because thats the easiest place to see this. I mean, this just shows up everywhere. Oh, I know. Lets do a wealth tax. But the reason for that is because  think about it this way. Youve got a teacher who makes, lets just say, $50,000 a year and is carrying $100,000 of student loan debt. Think about what her economic circumstances look like overall. And then youve got someone who inherited or sold a business and is sitting on top of half a million dollars a year, but only has an income $50,000 a year. The rest is all capital. They keep it all, they dont sell. As long as they dont sell, they dont have to realize any gains. They will pay exactly the same taxes. But look how vastly different their economic circumstances are in terms of how vulnerable they are to any bump in the road, but also what it takes to build going forward, build security. If youre already sitting on a few million, its not that hard to get a few million more, right? You invest and make it happen. But if youre already in a debt hole, its hard. And thats why with the rise in student loan debt, we are seeing fewer and fewer young people start businesses. Look, I talk to young folks who will say, yeah, I had this great idea, or my roommates from school had this really terrific startup idea. And everybody is willing to live in one apartment, seven of them, and eat ramen noodles. But I couldnt join because I had to make a student loan debt payment of $620 a month. Just couldnt do it. Or some whove tried it, then find that the $40,000 they borrowed while they were in college is now $100,000, and they are in big trouble. So we need to think more, when were trying to be progressive in our tax structure and progressive in our investments in ourselves, in each other. We need to think not just about this years income. We need to think about wealth overall.

ezra klein

I want to try out a frame on this to you, which is that if youre worried about inequality, the most important question is, who benefits and who loses from compounding interests?

elizabeth warren

Oh, thats interesting.

ezra klein

So the people with a fair amount of wealth, right, you have money in the market, or you have money in other things that have a return. And it just keeps compounding and compounding and compounding. And over 10 years, a bit of growth ends up being a lot of growth, a lot more money. But, as you were talking about with student loan debt and other kinds of debt, if youre in debt then its just your debt that is compounding and compounding and compounding. But your money, your assets, to the extent you have any, dont. Well, then it goes in the other direction. You just get deeper and deeper and deeper into a hole. And very little of public policy is about who gets to benefit from compound interest. But if you care about inequality over time, you care about assets over time, everything is about who gets to and who doesnt get the benefit, and whos harmed by compound interest.

elizabeth warren

Oh, Ezra, youre so right on this. Just the other day, a story from a young woman who was explaining that shed gone to college, shed been very nervous about borrowing money, but she carefully thought she had an amount that was OK, wasnt quite sure, graduates, doesnt get the job she wants, decides that the way shell do this is shell improve her credentials  shell get a masters degree  puts her loans on hold without quite recognizing compound interest. And all of a sudden, what she thought was a manageable student loan debt is now hitting six figures. And shes looking at it, this thing, saying, I dont know how in a zillion years Id ever pay this thing off. This isnt just a young persons problem. Right now, there are 100,000 people whose Social Security checks are being garnished. And heres the thing  the estimate is for a lot of them, when theyre being garnished because of old student loan debts that they still have not paid off or they had guaranteed a student loan for a beloved grandchild or a child who is unable to pay, that much of this garnishment  I saw an estimate the other day  actually wont even service the interest. So the only way they will get out from underneath these loans is to die. That shouldnt happen in America. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein

Are billionaires a policy failure?

elizabeth warren

No, I dont think so. But I sure think they ought to be paying a fair share. Look, my view on this has always been: you make it big, good for you, you know. And youre going to tell a story about how you worked hard, and you had this great idea. And it came along at the right moment. And you made a bazillion dollars. Good. But keep in mind that nobody got rich on their own, that the business you built, if you built it here in America, you built it using workers all of us paid to educate. You built it getting your goods to market on roads and bridges all of us helped to build. You built that business protected by police and firefighters that all of us paid their salaries. And thats fine. Were glad to do it. Thats what infrastructure investments are all about. Were glad to do that. But when you make it big, then you got to pitch in so that we can build a stronger education system, build roads and bridges, support our police and our firefighters. And we have to have the resources to make this happen. And thats where were in a bad place right now. So last year, the 99 percent paid about 7.2 percent of their total wealth. Thats what you always want to focus on, of their total wealth, in taxes. The top 1/10 of the 1 percent, they paid less than half as much  3.2 percent. Ezra, its just not fair. So thats my 2-cent wealth tax, 3 cents, a little bit more, when you hit a billion in terms of wealth. But think about this, Ezra. A 2-cent wealth tax would produce, over 10 years, $3 trillion. Add in a real corporate profits tax. You tax them on what they report publicly in their audited financials, 7 percent on that. And just about double IRS enforcement aimed all at the top at the billionaires, right, and all of their tax schemes. Those three changes in tax policy will yield about $6 trillion that would pay for everything that President Biden has laid out so far in the infrastructure plan, everything laid out in the caregiving plan, family plan, and leave you with about $2 trillion left over. The idea is, you made it big, good for you. But pitch in 2 cents so everybody else gets a chance to make it in America.

ezra klein

Given what youve said about the degree to which we all build atop the public sector, we build atop the knowledge that has come before us  you have a great quote from Jeff Bezos in the book about how much had to happen for him to do what he did, right? He sees that very clearly when hes talking about it conceptually, but of course, lives in a state without an income tax. To what degree are we responsible for our own success? And what does that imply for tax policy?

elizabeth warren

Its a seamless intersection. Its about what youre born into, but its also about what you get out there and do. So if youre born into a family that has buckets and buckets of wealth, youre going to have one opportunity after another after another after another after another after another. You dont have to be very good. You dont have to work very hard in order to live a life of great security. If youre born into a family thats already in a deep debt hole, youre born into a family where your parents are trying to work two and three and four jobs just to hold it all together, then you got a lot of hard work to do just to make it to the starting line in the Great American Race. And if you thought about America over the next 100 years, what do you want to see? You want to see an America that has a robust economy, a strong democracy? Those are the things that are likely to keep us a nation of great promise. What would you do to create that? And the answer is youd invest in your people. Its your best resource, right? And how would you invest in them? Youd invest in them by investing in education. Youd pick them up from the time theyre babies, and youd say, I want you to get as much education as you can. Not just off at high school, not just have to take on costs or put hurdles in your way, I want you to get educated. And we say, I want you to live in safe housing and secure housing. I want you to get the healthcare that you need. And I want you to grow up in a family that doesnt just feel crushed by the economic struggle to keep going day to day. And then come of age in an economy thats vibrant, where lots of small businesses are starting, where competition is real, where its not crushed by giants like Amazon and Google, but where theres really opportunity for everybody to get out there and show what they can do. And I get it. Not everybody will show a lot, but some will. And everybody will have had a chance. To me, creating those opportunities, opening those doors, is what it meant to me to be a teacher and what it means now to me to be a policymaker. I want everybody in this country to push our federal government right now at this moment to make the investments that will make us a stronger country, not just over the next six months, but a stronger country for the rest of this century.

ezra klein

I want to ask also another version of this question on how we value people in the economy. Because people get rich; we value them a lot. And we assume culturally that you did something great to get rich. Thats part of what your point is about complicating that. But theres also this question where then we also assume that people are worth whatever they make, that somehow the economy is making wise decisions about what different professions are worth. So I want to ask this in the sort of  the Harvard economics and bankruptcy teacher part of your history. Why is a management consultant paid so much more than a teacher? What goes into that economic valuation?

elizabeth warren

We got some real problems in this country. Look, you noticed when we were talking about essential workers, nobody put management consultant in that category. It was folks who actually delivered food, right? Look, to me, this is public school teachers. This is the right place to talk about this. I taught special ed. I think the work that I did was enormously valuable. But nobody is going into teaching special ed for the money. Theyre going into it because they believe in the work. And we have become a country that talks about monetizing everything. And I think that this is one of the reasons that we have gotten so badly tangled up on things like tax policy. Its as if, somehow, the billionaire, the guy who worked hard  I always want to give credit, but come on, also got lucky  had the right idea at the right moment and the right people came along. Jeff Bezos, he not only talks about he never could have started Amazon if America hadnt invested in a postal system and roads and all that infrastructure that was in place. He also got a $200,000 loan from his folks to get going. That the people, though, when they make it big, its as if the rest of us are afraid to ask them to contribute to the kind of core structure that lets that happen in America. You hear this conversation: freedom, Im for freedom, but freedom doesnt mean that you let your roads and bridges fall down. Freedom doesnt mean that you dont educate your children. We need to be willing to face head- on that we need more revenue to make this country run and to build out opportunity for everyone. Its about being fair and having a competitive market. Thats a second part to it. We need to enforce our antitrust laws so that everybody gets a chance, not just the big guys, that once they get big, get to stomp out everybody else.

ezra klein

Well, let me use that as a jump to antitrust. You mentioned Amazon and Google and Facebook a minute ago. You have a more skeptical take on the technology industry than I think many have in recent years. Though its becoming a more popular take. You also, in the book, you criticized investing in robots as a way to boost productivity. You talk about investing in children instead. But I actually wanted to ask about your positive vision of technology. There are things that are getting built, designed. I actually heard about this in Joe Bidens 100 days speech on climate and other things that could help solve progressive problems. So how do you think progressives should think about technology? What technologies are you excited about and you want to try to use the state to accelerate? And then what do you think are some of the impediments to that?

elizabeth warren

Climate change is the ultimate. We need research and development. Healthcare. We need research and development. And Im willing to make public investment in that. Were going to need to find a way to deal with all the carbon in the air right now. Were going to need to find more ways to be able to produce responses to pandemics faster, right? So Im there on that. But what worries me is the giants now stomp out competition. Let me give you the example. So Amazon runs this platform that if you want to be able to sell your goods through the internet rather than standing out on the street corner or having a bricks and mortar store, you pretty much have to go through Amazon. OK, so now you do the platform. But what Amazon does is they scrape off data from every one of those transactions. And then they glance over and say, hmm, that Ezra Klein, hes gotten some clever things together. And hes now starting to make big money. We will now go into competition with Ezra. We may name it Amazon, or we may not name it Amazon. But we will put the competitor to Ezras product, having climbed up on Ezras back for all of the early information and all of the risk taking, and now come in and scrape it off. You do that once, then do it 100 times, then do it 1,000 times, and it begins to stomp out competition in this country. And so, the way I see this is that I believe in markets. But markets need rules, and those rules need to be enforced.

ezra klein

Is this a situation where the ways in which markets trend towards  or have been allowed, let me say it that way  to trend towards the dominance of major players is actually worryingly making people lose faith in markets? I often see you as fighting  its not a quiet fight, but I dont always think people quite realize what youre doing to sort of restore the idea that markets can be a tool of social progress to progressives who have turned on them because theyve seen what has happened when theyre deregulated. And so, as I understand what youre saying here, its that if you want to see the kind of technological advancements that markets really could give us, youre going to have to have government take a much stronger hand and keep those markets from becoming the tools or the playthings that are dominated by just a couple of gigantic producers who have unusual power over them.

elizabeth warren

Thats right. We need to enforce the laws on the books already. The Department of Justice Antitrust Division needs to be on the job. We have got to break up these giants. And in places where the courts have been stacked in a very pro-corporate direction, thats another whole conversation we could have. But every place where that has happened, if necessary, then Congress can revisit and change the language of the laws to stop the courts from undercutting enforcement of the competition rules. To get the benefit of markets, we need competition. We need a cop on the beat to make sure everybody is following the rules.

ezra klein

There are always in these conversations 100 more questions I would love to ask you, but I know youre tight on a 9:00 AM out. So let me ask you what is always our final question, which is, what are three books you would recommend to the audience?

elizabeth warren

Oh, so now you know that Im in audio. I do mine with the earphones.

ezra klein

I didnt know that.

elizabeth warren

Oh, you didnt know that?

ezra klein

No.

elizabeth warren

I love listening to books.

ezra klein

What speed do you listen at?

elizabeth warren

1.2, unless the book gets boring, in which case, Ive been known to go to 1.5. And occasionally, when Im just like, oh, please, lord, let me get to the end, Ive done a 1.8 and even a 2.0, but Im not going to tell you which books those were. So Im just about to finish up Mazie Hironos book, which is really terrific, Heart of Fire. And have you read Pachinko yet?

ezra klein

Oh, Pachinkos an amazing book.

elizabeth warren

Oh, I love it. Well, then if you liked Pachinko, have you read Before the Coffee Gets Cold?

ezra klein

I have not.

elizabeth warren

Read it. Its by Kawaguchi and translated into English. And it translated very, very well, and its really terrific. And Im rereading all of the Barry Eisler books. Have you ever read Barry Eisler?

ezra klein

No.

elizabeth warren

Oh, so he does these wonderful books. John Rain is an assassin. As Bruce and I, during the pandemic, we dont fly, so we drive from Boston to Washington, Washington to Boston. And just so you know, I am a terrible rider. I get car sick, I get cranky. I get  Im awful. I do not like eight-hour car trips. Now, Bruce helps all of that by speeding, so we get there faster. But the other way is, weve been listening to the John Rain books. Bruce had never read them. And its been a lot of fun. I love the series about people who are strong and principled and have a lot of tools at their disposal, including with assassins, tools I dont have.

ezra klein

That sounds great. Senator Elizabeth Warren, it is always such a pleasure. Thank you.

elizabeth warren

Oh, and its good to talk to you, too, Ezra. Take care. [MUSIC PLAYING]

ezra klein
To the Editor:

Re Trumps Facebook Ban Upheld, Reviving Debate on Free Speech (front page, May 6):

The Facebook Oversight Boards decision upholding the ban on former President Donald Trump has laid bare a fundamental problem with the social media network: It has utterly failed at reining in hate, extremism and disinformation.

Despite having policies prohibiting this type of content on the platform, for years Facebook has haphazardly and inconsistently enforced its community standards. As a result, the platform remains a repository for some of the most hateful, racist and anti-Semitic content imaginable.

Its algorithms routinely amplify and recommend this content, and the public has no transparent process to understand the magnitude of Facebooks role in spreading dangerous conspiracies and racist, hateful violence.

It took a series of posts by the president of the United States supporting the mob of violent rioters who invaded our Capitol to bring this longstanding problem into sharp relief. The months of our former president spreading lies and dangerous disinformation undermining the integrity of our electoral process were somehow not enough for Facebook.
Should the plans become a reality, the federal government would join a growing number of workplaces in offering much-needed support to mothers and fathers alike.

Thats where the cultural change comes in: While 40 percent of workplaces now offer paternity leave to male employees, 70 percent of fathers who do take parental leave take 10 days or less. Meanwhile, mothers literally pay the price for putting their careers on hold. One study found that, over a 15-year period, women who take even a year off from paid employment earn 39 percent less than women who work without pause.

The blame doesnt rest solely at the feet of men. Most mothers worry, rightly, that they will face penalties for taking leave, and a majority of Americans still believe that men should be the family breadwinners. Thats why we need workplaces to incentivize  or better yet, expect  men to take that leave when offered, and to welcome women back into the office, without penalty or punishment, when they choose to return.

But equity in the workplace is only possible if theres equity at home, too. Mothers report that they work longer, harder second shifts at home than fathers do. For heterosexual couples, its a pretty simple equation  if we want to shift some of the burden off mothers, we need to shift more of it onto fathers.

Millions of women are also raising children without fathers in the picture because theyre single parents, in same-sex unions or co-parenting with a friend or family member. Altering our outdated conceptions of the roles and responsibilities of a family unit will only reaffirm that every type of family is, well, a family.

We dont have to imagine what our nation would look like were we to adopt this change. Icelandic parents  men and women  receive six months of paid leave at 80 percent of their average income. In Norway, women do only 59 more minutes of unpaid housework a day than men; in the United States, the number is 105 minutes. In Denmark, couples spend less than half of what Americans do on child care. All of these countries report better health outcomes for children and mothers, a smaller gender gap and higher levels of happiness than the United States does.

And thats the point: Supporting moms better would benefit all Americans  not just mothers, but also fathers and children, employees and employers, communities in every city and county, and especially communities of color.

Mothers Day is an American tradition. So is the trivialization of motherhood. If we want to celebrate the former, we have to put an end to the latter. Moms deserve more than flowers and saccharine cards. By the time we celebrate next year, I hope we receive an acknowledgment of the fact that motherhood in America is broken  and a plan to fix it.

Reshma Saujani is the founder of the Marshall Plan for Moms campaign and Girls Who Code. She is the author of the forthcoming book Pay Up: Reimagining Motherhood in America.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Ever since a computer file made by the digital artist known as Beeple sold at auction in March for $69 million, observers of the art world have been fascinated and bewildered by the astronomical spike in prices for this type of work  so-called NFT-based art. These are digital creations that, because they are otherwise easily susceptible to being copied and reproduced, are sold as unique assets in the form of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, which use blockchain technology to certify authenticity and proof of ownership. (Beeples piece was a collage of images that he had posted online every day since 2007.)

The market for this art has grown drastically. From April 5, 2018, through April 15 of this year, 6,158 artists sold 191,208 pieces of NFT-based art for a total of $541,378,383, according to Crypto Art, a website that tracks such sales. Roughly half of these transactions took place this past March, giving rise to one of the greatest and most sudden asset booms in history.

As an art collector, I enjoy coming across an intriguing piece of art and asking myself how much I might pay to own it. But as a network scientist, when I encounter a complex phenomenon like the art market, I am inclined to examine its hidden structure, drawing from multiple disciplines (physics, sociology, computer science) to reveal the unseen patterns of relationships that can help explain how it works and why.

From the moment I learned about the world of NFT-based artwork, Ive been busy doing what I do best: mapping  that is, analyzing and visually representing  the patterns of ownership transactions that underlie the genres meteoric rise. My maps show that the market for NFT-based art is extremely insular and tightly connected, even by the standards of the art world, especially among owners who buy and sell several times. These features of the network may help explain the enormous spikes in sales prices for NFT-based art.
GLASGOW  For Scots of my generation  millennial and younger  the belief that Scotland would be better off running its own affairs, free from the strictures of Westminster, is almost axiomatic. From the Iraq war to Brexit, the financial crash to austerity, Britain feels trapped in a spiral of crisis and decline. According to a September analysis of recent polls, more than 70 percent of Scots under the age of 35 think Scotland should abandon the United Kingdom. And the abrasive right-wing premiership of Boris Johnson, increasingly mired in accusations of cronyism and sleaze, has only strengthened that view.

At the other end of the spectrum, Scotlands older, asset-owning classes remain staunchly opposed to a political breakup and the economic instability it might entail. An election this week should show which side has the wind at its back.

On Thursday, Scots voted to elect members of the Scottish Parliament. The ballots are still being counted and the final result wont be confirmed until this weekend. Throughout the campaign, however, the polls were strikingly consistent: All signs point to a pro-independence majority held either exclusively by First Minister Nicola Sturgeons separatist Scottish National Party or with its ally, the left-leaning Scottish Greens.

The S.N.P. manifesto is clear on holding another referendum on Scottish independence as soon as the Covid crisis is over  late 2023 has been suggested. And if Scots have voted for a pro-independence majority, that might seem like an endorsement of that plan. The reality is more complicated.
Ms. Stefanik, on the other hand  Most of America had never heard of the New York lawmaker before her emergence as a passionate Trump defender during his first impeachment. Her toadiness has only grown since, earning ever more love from Mr. Trump. On Wednesday, he endorsed her for conference chairwoman.

But before all that, Ms. Stefanik was seen as an exemplar of the kinder, gentler future of the Republican Party. Elected in 2014 at age 30, the polished, media-savvy Harvard alumna was a fresh, friendly, moderate face that many hoped would help the G.O.P. shed its image as a bunch of angry old white guys. Pro-business and uninterested in culture warring, she fit in well with the partys establishment wing. Her first political job was in the Bush 43 White House. In 2017, she was elected co-chair of the Tuesday Group (since renamed the Republican Governance Group), a caucus of moderate, centrist House Republicans.

Ms. Stefaniks voting record reflects this brand. She has a measly 44 percent lifetime score from the American Conservative Union  compared to Ms. Cheneys 78 percent  and a 56 percent from the conservative Heritage Action, versus Ms. Cheneys 82 percent. Ms. Stefaniks ratings from conservative groups like FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth are even lower (37 percent and 35 percent), and both organizations have come out against her joining leadership. During Mr. Trumps presidency, Ms. Stefanik voted with him 77.7 percent of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight, but Ms. Cheney did 92.9 percent of the time.

One of Ms. Stefaniks top priorities has been to improve her partys image with women and, more specifically, to get more Republican women elected. Her PAC is credited with having contributed to the victories of several women in this years freshman House class. Her efforts, which can run up against the G.O.P.s professed disdain for identity politics, have occasionally put off some party brethren.

Ms. Stefanik is, in short, the kind of Republican that conservatives generally love to hate.

Despite the seal of approval from Mr. Trump and some congressional leaders, not everyone is thrilled by the idea of Ms. Stefaniks likely promotion. Some of her male colleagues have grumped that they were not even considered for the post because of their gender. The conference vice chair, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, has reportedly been griping about the coronation.

Trickier still, some hard-core MAGA loyalists suspect Ms. Stefanik of being a pretender  a wolf in sheeps clothing, as one far-right site put it  and are raising a stink about her voting record and political background. Lou Dobbs, the deep-MAGA former TV host, declared her a RINO  that is, a Republican in name only. Her more creative critics at the website Revolver coined a fresh term for her: TINO  Trumpist in name only. They also dubbed her another neocon establishment twit.

So much for Republican unity.

To be fair, having sold their soul to Mr. Trump, Republican lawmakers cannot allow Ms. Cheney to remain in leadership. Unlike most of her colleagues, she refuses to let the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol fade from memory, pretend it was no big deal or falsely claim that it was perpetrated by lefty extremists. Every word out of her mouth is an indictment not merely of Mr. Trump but also of her fellow lawmakers degeneracy and opportunism.
Young Rock, which has just finished airing its first season on NBC, purports to trace how Dwayne Johnsons upbringing turned him into the man he is today: a wrestling champion and the highest-paid actor on the planet.

The reason were learning about Young Rocks life is that Johnson is on the campaign trail for the 2032 presidential election.

Roll your eyes, but accept the possibility, Jeremy Gordon writes. Ever since Donald Trump was elected, plenty of charismatic celebrities have been floated as potential candidates.

  

Written by Ben Dooley and Hisako Ueno | Narrated by Ben Dooley
Amy Katherine Larko and Blake Falanga, best friends since seventh grade, made a pact in 2011, the beginning of senior year at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill. If neither was seeing anyone seriously they would go to the senior prom together.

I met a girl today, Mr. Falanga told his mother four years earlier after junior high school one day. Her name is Amy.

I never had a friend that was a girl, said Mr. Falanga, who has a younger sister. She was super easy to talk to. We were friends, then best friends.

A mutual friend had introduced them during a Thursday running class, and all three ran together.

He was smiley, bubbly, upbeat and had a contagious personality, said Ms. Larko, who grew up with two older brothers, and didnt find it weird being close friends with a boy.
You could hear the music from the sidewalk, high-spirited renditions of Ice Ice Baby and MMMBop.

It was 90s night at Rumi, a ballroom and event space in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, and millennials and Gen Zers lined up to get inside. They dressed the part in tracksuits, neon crop tops, denim overalls and scrunchies.

To enter, they had to pass two checkpoints. First, a bouncer verified IDs and took temperatures. Then, Joseph Ko, one of the ballrooms owners, confirmed that each person had been fully vaccinated for Covid-19. The process took about five minutes.

The crowd seemed happy, eager even, to comply. Some flashed their paper vaccination cards, protected in a plastic case or folded into their wallets. I carry it around with me everywhere, said Tom Allen, 25, a lawyer in Chelsea, pulling the card out from his passport. He was with eight friends who had been texting days earlier to make sure everyone had the proper documentation.
On a cold and rainy fall day in 2012, Valentina Stackl and Alexander David Campbell broke up.

Ms. Stackl and Mr. Campbell were then in their early 20s. Each had moved to Washington in 2011. Mr. Campbell was working in the research department of a labor union; Ms. Stackl was with the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, a farmworkers rights nonprofit group. They had met through an app and had been dating for about a year, but the relationship wasnt clearly defined.

They had spent their time together like a couple  they went to museums, picnicked in the park and strolled around D.C.  but they hadnt ever called each other boyfriend or girlfriend. After a year, Ms. Stackl was ready to make the romance more formal. Mr. Campbell wasnt.

They discussed this impasse over red wine late that fall day at Mr. Campbells home. It would be best, they ultimately agreed, to end the relationship.

Ms. Stackl remembers walking away from Mr. Campbells house after that conversation, trudging through the rain. She was umbrella-less and unhappy. And she was all too aware that she was living through a dramatic scene fit for a movie.
The shooter fled into the early morning darkness in the typically sleepy St. Albans neighborhood. Tedesco recalled that the first bullet missed, the second one grazed his head, and the third one went wide as well. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was treated and send home.
That problem encourages a certain degree of overacting, especially from Hawke, as if he were trying to make himself visible from a distance. (He has lovely moments, though.) Trotter, who under the name Black Thought was a co-founder of the hip-hop group the Roots, uses his terrific stage voice to capture Pozzos first-act bluster without resorting to flailing, but has a harder time with the humbled version of the character who returns in Act II.

At least Drake Bradshaw, in the small role of Godots young herald, is sweetly effective in both his appearances. And though Shawn, delivering Luckys impossible speech  nine minutes of gibberish  is able to make convincing emotional sense of the moment, the production as a whole doesnt support his efforts. Vladimir and Estragon check out of the Zoom call for much of the harangue, encouraging us to think we might do so as well.

Its not that you need to be literal with Waiting for Godot; its anything but a naturalistic drama. I liked the designer Qween Jeans past-midnight cowboy look for Hawke and Mets cap and tank top pandemic ensemble for Leguizamo. But if Elliott, working with the Academy Award winner John Ridleys No Studios and the Hollywood producer Frank Marshall, has avoided excessive fealty to Becketts instructions  the estate approved the socially distanced production  he has not provided anything as coherent to take their place.

For one thing, the action is awkwardly staged, even beyond the necessity of executing comedy bits when the actors, if not the characters, are calling in from different locations. (The passing of Luckys hat, a clear lift from Laurel and Hardy, is totally botched.) At three hours, the show is also long, even bloated. Most problematically, Vladimirs and Estragons embraces, so necessary to the plays emotional equilibrium, are about as warm here as octopi suckering up to opposite sides of a glass wall.

Far from seeming too modern, though, this Godot, especially coming more than a year into the pandemic, seems too passe. Other companies, even no-budget ones like Theater in Quarantine, have long since figured out ways to make an aesthetic out of the limitations of lockdown. Why only now, just as those lockdowns are lifting, is this first-gen take on pandemic play production emerging? About the only expressive use of the medium is in the processing that gives the film the appearance of a dodgy video feed, with freezes and glitches that imitate a poor signal.

You could argue that a dodgy feed is exactly the way Godot depicts life: as a poor approximation of what it should be. But in Vladimir and Estragon, Beckett also finds poignancy, humor and the last dregs of physical love, where Elliott and company find only horror. If they are right, what kind of pass have we come to, in which even Becketts vision is not bleak enough?

Waiting for Godot

Through June 30; thenewgroup.org
Jobs Report Tests Bidens Economic Strategy Business groups and Republicans argue that a $300 weekly supplement to unemployment benefits is hurting the economy, but administration officials disagree. Four former Minneapolis police officers are accused of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights. Texas lawmakers advanced a bill restricting voting rights.

Biden and Republicans spar over unemployment as the jobs report disappoints. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:10 - 0:00 transcript Disappointing Jobs Report Tests Bidens Economic Strategy President Biden delivered an optimistic speech Friday, following the release of Aprils jobs report, which found that the economy only added 266,000 jobs last month. We came to office, we knew we were facing a once-in-a-century pandemic and a once-in-a-generation economic crisis, and we knew this wouldnt be a sprint, itd be a marathon. Quite frankly, were moving more rapidly than I thought we would. This morning, we learned that our economy created 266,000 jobs in April. Hadnt been adjusted again yet, but thats what it says, 266. And listening to commentators today, as I was getting dressed, you might think that we should be disappointed. But when we passed the American Rescue Plan, I want to remind everybody, it was designed to help us over the course of a year, not 60 days  a year. We never thought that after the first 50 or 60 days, everything would be fine. Today, theres more evidence that our economy is moving in the right direction, but its clear, we have a long way to go. All told, our economy has added more than 1,500,000 new jobs since I took office. Thats the most number of jobs created in the first three months of any presidency in our history. President Biden delivered an optimistic speech Friday, following the release of Aprils jobs report, which found that the economy only added 266,000 jobs last month. Credit Credit... Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times A disappointing jobs report released Friday by the Labor Department is posing the greatest test yet of President Bidens strategy to revive the pandemic economic recovery, with business groups and Republicans pushing the president to end an expanded benefit for the unemployed that they say is causing a labor shortage and risking runaway inflation. But administration officials say there is no evidence in the report  which found the economy added 266,000 jobs in April, well below the one million jobs many economists expected  that hiring has been slowed by the additional $300 per week that unemployed Americans are currently eligible to receive under the $1.9 trillion economic aid bill that Mr. Biden signed into law in March. Speaking at the White House, Mr. Biden urged perspective on the report, dismissing negative reactions to the news, including Republican arguments that generous jobless benefits were encouraging workers to sit on the sidelines. The president said it would take time for his aid bill to fully reinvigorate the economy and hailed the more than 1.5 million jobs created on his watch thus far. Our efforts are starting to work, he said. But the climb is steep, and weve got a long way to go. Were still digging out of an economic collapse that cost us 22 million jobs, he said. Republicans cast the report as a sign of failure for Mr. Bidens policies, even though job creation has accelerated since Mr. Biden replaced President Donald J. Trump in the White House. And they called on Mr. Biden to end the $300 per week unemployment supplement. This is a stunning economic setback, and unequivocal proof that President Biden is sabotaging our jobs recovery with promises of higher taxes and regulation on local businesses that discourage hiring and drive jobs overseas, Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee, said in a news release. The White House is also in denial that many businesses  both small and large  cant find the workers they need. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the weak report indicated the more generous jobless benefit was hurting employers. The jobs report begins to confirm that this is a barrier  not the only barrier, but a barrier  to filling open positions in the recovery, said Neil Bradley, the Chambers executive vice president and chief policy officer. We absolutely have to begin to make the preparation to turn the supplement off. The sooner we do that, the sooner its going to become clear how this has been holding us back. Mr. Biden rejected that view and took aim at what he said was loose talk that Americans just dont want to work. The data shows that more workers are looking for jobs, and many cant find them, he said. Asked directly by a reporter if he believed the enhanced benefits had any effect on the job gains, Mr. Biden replied, No, nothing measurable. Administration officials stress that the monthly employment numbers are volatile and subject to revision and that the average gain over the last three months remains well above the pace of job creation that Mr. Biden inherited when he took office in January. They say any clogs in the labor market are likely to be temporary and that the recovery will smooth out once more working-age Americans are fully vaccinated. This is progress, Heather Boushey, a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in an interview. We are adding an average of over 500,000 jobs a month over the last three months, she said. Thats evidence that our approach is working, that the presidents approach is working. It also emphasizes the steep climb coming out of this crisis. Ms. Boushey and Jared Bernstein, another member of the council, both said they saw no evidence in the monthly report that expanded unemployment benefits were deterring Americans from going back to work. They pointed to a gain of 300,000 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector and to a falling number of workers who told the department they had left the labor force out of concern over contracting Covid-19. Ms. Boushey and Mr. Bernstein said it appeared the economy was working through a variety of rapid changes related to the pandemic, including supply chain disruptions that have hurt automobile manufacturing by reducing the availability of semiconductor chips and businesses beginning to rehire after a year of depressed activity from the virus. Its our view that these misalignments and bottlenecks are transitory, Mr. Bernstein said, and theyre what you expect from an economy going from shutdown to reopening. The chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, stressed the potential uncertainties in interpreting data from the pandemic in a blog post analyzing the report. There is often month-to-month volatility in the jobs numbers, she wrote. However, the same amount of volatility is more striking when the volume of changes is larger, as it has been during the pandemic.

Four former Minneapolis police officers are indicted on charges of violating George Floyds civil rights. People descended upon the memorial at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis to celebrate the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial in April. The Justice Department has announced it will charge Mr. Chauvin and three other officers with violating Mr. Floyds civil rights. Credit... Joshua Rashaad McFadden for The New York Times Four former Minneapolis police officers were indicted on charges of violating the civil rights of George Floyd, a Black man whose killing last year led to months of demonstrations against police violence, the Justice Department announced on Friday. The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury weeks after one of the officers, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Mr. Floyd. The charges are another extraordinary censuring of law enforcement officials, who rarely face criminal charges for using deadly force. The indictment charges Mr. Chauvin, 45, and other former Minneapolis Police Department officers Tou Thao, 35, J. Alexander Kueng, 27, and Thomas Lane, 38, with willfully depriving Mr. Floyd of his constitutional civil rights during his arrest. The indictment alleges that by holding his left knee across Mr. Floyds neck and his right knee on his back and arm as he lay on the ground, handcuffed and unresisting, Mr. Chauvin used unconstitutional, unreasonable force that resulted in Mr. Floyds death. Mr. Thao and Mr. Kueng were charged with willfully failing to stop Mr. Chauvin from using unreasonable force. All four defendants saw Mr. Floyd lying on the ground in need of medical care and willfully failed to aid him, depriving him of his constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which included Mr. Floyds right to be free from an officers deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, the indictment said. A second indictment also charged Mr. Chauvin with depriving a teenager of his civil rights during a September 2017 encounter in which the former officer is accused of holding the minor by the throat and striking his head multiple times with a flashlight. Mr. Chauvin held his knee on the neck and the upper back of the teenager, even after the child lay prone, handcuffed and unresisting, and that resulted in injuries, the indictment said. The latest charges are separate from the Justice Departments ongoing investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department that Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced on April 21. And they are separate from the state charges against Mr. Thao, Mr. Kueng and Mr. Lane. In recent years, the Justice Department has opened civil rights investigations into high-profile assaults and killings of Black people by police officers, but the inquiries have rarely resulted in charges against officers in part because the standard for the federal charge  that in the course of policing, an officer willfully deprived a person of civil rights  is a high bar to meet. It can be difficult to show that an officer willfully intended to deprive people of their civil rights, former lawyers in the Justice Departments civil rights division have said. Prosecutors argued against charging Daniel Pantaleo, the officer involved in the 2014 death of Eric Garner in Staten Island, in part because they said that Mr. Pantaleos intent in putting Mr. Garner in a choke hold was unclear. Willfulness is the highest intent standard under criminal law  that the person set out to act with the purpose of depriving someone of their rights, said Jonathan M. Smith, a former official in the Justice Departments civil rights division who now serves as executive director of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

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In a bid to regain power, Republicans focus on polarizing cultural issues ahead of the 2022 midterms. Intercepting migrant families in Roma, Texas. One issue Republicans have seized on for 2022 is Democrats efforts to provide legal status to undocumented immigrants. Credit... Christopher Lee for The New York Times Minutes after a group of congressional Democrats unveiled a bill recently to add seats to the Supreme Court, the Iowa Republican Party slammed Representative Cindy Axne, a Democrat and potential Senate candidate, over the issue. Will Axne Pack the Court? was the headline on a statement the party rushed out, saying the move to expand the court puts our democracy at risk. The attack vividly illustrated the emerging Republican strategy for an intensive drive to try to take back the House and the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans are mostly steering clear of Democrats economic initiatives that have proved popular, such as an infrastructure package and a stimulus law that coupled pandemic relief with major expansions of safety-net programs. Instead, they are focusing on polarizing issues that stoke conservative outrage, seizing on measures like the court-expansion bill and calls to defund the police  which many Democrats oppose  and efforts to provide legal status to undocumented immigrants and grant statehood to the District of Columbia to caricature Democrats as extreme. Republicans are also hammering at issues of race and sexual orientation, seeking to use Democrats push to confront systemic racism and safeguard transgender rights as attack lines. The approach comes as President Biden and Democrats, eager to capitalize on their unified control of Congress and the White House, have become increasingly bold about speaking about such issues and promoting a wide array of party priorities that languished during years of Republican rule. It has given Republicans ample fodder for attacks that have proved potent in the past. They are putting the ball on the tee, handing me the club and putting the wind at my back, said Jeff Kaufmann, the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. Democrats argue that Republicans are focusing on side issues and twisting their positions because the G.O.P. has nothing else to campaign on, as Democrats line up accomplishments to show to voters, including the pandemic aid bill that passed without a single Republican vote. That was very popular, and I can understand why Republicans dont want to talk about it, said Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the new chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. But were going to keep reminding folks who was there when they needed them.

Texas lawmakers press ahead with bill restricting voting rights hours after Florida measure becomes law. The Texas House of Representatives debated the voting bill in Austin on Thursday. Credit... Eric Gay/Associated Press Hours after Florida installed a rash of new voting restrictions, the Republican-led Legislature in Texas pressed ahead on Thursday with its own far-reaching bill that would make it one of the most difficult states in the nation in which to cast a ballot. The Texas bill would, among other restrictions, greatly empower partisan poll watchers, prohibit election officials from mailing out absentee ballot applications and impose strict punishments for those who provide assistance outside the lines of what is permissible. After a lengthy debate that lasted into the early morning hours on Friday, the State House of Representatives passed the measure in a 81-64 vote, largely along party lines, at about 3 a.m., following a flurry of amendments that had been spurred by Democratic protests and a Democratic procedural move known as a point of order. The new amendments softened some of the initial new penalties proposed for those who run afoul of the rules and added that the police could be called to remove unruly partisan poll watchers. Other amendments added by Democrats sought to expand ballot access, including with changes to ballot layout and with voter registration at high schools. But those amendments could be knocked off by a potential conference committee. The bill will soon head to the Republican-controlled Senate following a third reading in the House. Gov. Greg Abbott has been supportive of the current voting bills in the legislature. Briscoe Cain, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said he had filed it to ensure that we have an equal and uniform application of our election code and to protect people from being taken advantage of. He was quickly challenged by Jessica Gonzalez, a Democratic representative and vice chair of the House Election Committee, who argued that the bill was a solution in search of problem. She cited testimony in which the Texas secretary of state said that the 2020 election had been found to be free, fair and secure. Florida and Texas are critical Republican-led battleground states with booming populations and 70 Electoral College votes between them. The new measures the legislatures are putting in place represent the apex of the current Republican effort to roll back access to voting across the country following the loss of the White House amid historic turnout in the 2020 election. Earlier on Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, with great fanfare, signed his states new voting bill, which passed last week. Right now, I have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the country, Mr. DeSantis said, though he has praised Floridas handling of last Novembers elections. Ohio, another state under complete Republican control, introduced a new omnibus voting bill on Thursday that would further limit drop boxes in the state, limit ballot collection processes and reduce early in-person voting by one day, while also making improvements to access such as an online absentee ballot request portal and automatic registration at motor vehicle offices. Iowa and Georgia have already passed bills that not only impose new restrictions but grant those states legislatures greater control over the electoral process. Republicans have pressed forward with these bills over the protests of countless Democrats, civil rights groups, faith leaders, voting rights groups and multinational corporations, displaying an increasing no-apologies aggressiveness in rolling back access to voting. Nick Corasaniti and

Florida passed a new voting law. Heres whats in it. A poll worker depositing a mail-in ballot at a drop box in Westchester, Fla., in October. New legislation in Florida reduces the amount of drop boxes used for voting. Credit... Saul Martinez for The New York Times Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, signed new voting restrictions into law on Thursday, reducing voting access in one of the nations critical battleground states. Florida, which former President Donald J. Trump won by about three percentage points in 2020, is the latest Republican-controlled state, following Georgia, Montana and Iowa, to impose new hurdles to casting a ballot after Novembers elections. Voting rights experts and Democrats say that some provisions of the new law will disproportionately affect voters of color. The law, Senate Bill 90, limits the use of drop boxes where voters can deposit absentee ballots, and adds more identification requirements for anyone requesting an absentee ballot. It also requires voters to request an absentee ballot for each two-year election cycle, rather than every four years, under the previous law. Additionally, it limits who can collect and drop off ballots. The law also expands a current rule that prohibits outside groups from holding signs or wearing political paraphernalia within 150 feet of a polling place or drop box, with the intent to influence voters, an increase from the previous 100 feet. The new law weakens key parts of an extensive voting infrastructure that was built up slowly after the states chaotic 2000 election. Voters of color are most reliant on after-hours drop boxes, critics of the law say, as its often more difficult for them to both take hours off during the day and to organize transportation to polling places. Voting in Florida ran smoothly in 2020, by all accounts. Mr. DeSantis has praised Floridas handling of Novembers elections, saying that his state has the strongest election integrity measures in the country. But on the need for the new law, he said: Florida took action this legislative session to increase transparency and strengthen the security of our elections. Voting rights groups filed lawsuits shortly after Mr. DeSantis signed the bill into law during a live broadcast on a Fox News morning program. The law took effect immediately, and will be in force for the 2022 election, when Mr. DeSantis is up for re-election.

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The White House releases its first visitor logs since the Obama administration. President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus in the Oval Office in April. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times The Biden administration released its first batch of White House visitor logs on Friday as part of an effort to restore transparency to government. The list included 400 names of individuals who had been in and out of the West Wing from Jan. 20-31. Mr. Biden committed during the transition to making White House visitor logs public, after President Donald J. Trump refused for four years to release the names of people coming and going from the White House complex. The Trump administration faced legal challenges to that stance and, in 2018, reached a settlement that allowed the monthly publication of visitor logs for some White House offices, including the Office of Management and Budget. But that never extended to the entirety of the West Wing. In releasing the names of White House visitors, Mr. Biden is returning to the practice of the Obama administration, which regularly released and archived visitor logs for its core offices. The Biden administration has also been following the Obama blueprint for the timing of the releases, with plans to release the lists within 90 to 120 days of the visit, officials said. Visitor logs have historically provided an incomplete picture of the individuals visiting the president and his senior staff, as not everyone who enters the West Wing is necessarily listed. The Biden administration has said it does not plan to release the names of virtual meeting attendees, even as Zoom has become the primary way for outside groups and individuals to communicate with top White House officials during the coronavirus pandemic. The first batch of names included cabinet secretaries like Antony J. Blinken, the secretary of state, and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary. It was smaller than normal because of strict coronavirus restrictions about who can come and go from the West Wing. As vaccinations increase and the pandemic response continues to make progress, we look forward to welcoming many more visitors onto the White House campus and back into the Peoples House, a White House statement said.

Stefanik digs in on false election claims as she seeks to replace Cheney. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York objecting to the confirmation of Electoral College votes from Arizona as the House reconvened hours after the Jan. 6 riot. Credit... House Television, via Associated Press As House Republicans have made the case for ousting Representative Liz Cheney, their No. 3, from their leadership ranks, they have insisted that it is not her repudiation of former President Donald J. Trumps election lies that they find untenable, but her determination to be vocal about it. But on Thursday, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the Republican whom leaders have anointed as Ms. Cheneys replacement in waiting, loudly resurrected his false narrative, citing unprecedented, unconstitutional overreach by election officials in 2020 and endorsing an audit in Arizona that has become the latest avenue for conservatives to try to cast doubt on the results. It is important to stand up for these constitutional issues, and these are questions that are going to have to be answered before we head into the 2022 midterms, Ms. Stefanik told Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trumps former strategist, in the first of a pair of interviews on Thursday with hard-right acolytes of the former president. The comments, Ms. Stefaniks first in public since she announced she was taking on Ms. Cheney, reflected how central the former presidents election lies have become to the Republican Party message, even as its leaders insist they are determined to move beyond them and focus on attacking Democrats as radical, big-spending socialists before the 2022 midterm elections. Far from staying quiet about the false election claims on Thursday, Ms. Stefanik effectively campaigned on them, describing Mr. Trump on Mr. Bannons show as the strongest supporter of any president when it comes to standing up for the Constitution, and asserting that Republicans would work with him as one team. The job of the conference chair is to represent the majority of the House Republicans, and the vast majority of the House Republicans support President Trump, and they support his focus on election integrity and election security, Ms. Stefanik later told Sebastian Gorka, a former adviser to Mr. Trump. While Ms. Stefanik avoided claiming outright that the election was stolen, she praised the Arizona audit, a Republican-led endeavor that critics in both parties have described as a blow to democratic norms and a political embarrassment, as incredibly important. Catie Edmondson and

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Washingtonian staff protests C.E.O.s article on remote work by refusing to publish. Editorial staff members at Washingtonian are refusing to publish online on Friday after the D.C.-based magazines chief executive wrote an opinion piece about the future of remote work that generated an immediate backlash. Cathy Merrill, the chief executive of Washingtonian Media, wrote in The Washington Post on Thursday that she was concerned about the unfortunately common office worker who wants to continue working at home and just go into the office on occasion. Ms. Merrill wrote that by choosing to continue to work from home, employees are offering executives a tempting economic option the employees might not like. Employees who are not in the office are not able to participate in what she called extra responsibilities, such as mentoring junior co-workers, helping a colleague, or celebrating a birthday, she explained, and managers may thus be less inclined to continue providing these workers with the status, and benefits, of being a full-time employee. If the employee is rarely around to participate in those extras, management has a strong incentive to change their status to contractor, she wrote. By doing so, she wrote, companies could save money by no longer having to pay for costs such as employee health care, retirement benefits, office space and parking fees. Ms. Merrill apologized to her staff in an email on Friday and assured them that she would make no changes to employees benefits or work statuses. Washingtonian embraces a culture in which employees are able to express themselves openly, Ms. Merrill said in a statement. I value each member of our team not only on a professional level but on a personal one as well. I am sorry if the op-ed made it appear like anything else. The opinion piece generated an outcry among staff members at the magazine, many of whom posted the same message on Twitter criticizing Ms. Merrills words. As members of the Washingtonian editorial staff, we want our C.E.O. to understand the risks of not valuing our labor, they wrote. We are dismayed by Cathy Merrills public threat to our livelihoods. We will not be publishing today. Washingtonian staff, who are not part of a union, are still working from home. The magazine plans to have employees return to the office gradually beginning in the summer and then more fully in the fall. The article and its original headline  As a CEO, I want my employees to understand the risks of not returning to work in the office  felt to some Washingtonian employees like their benefits or jobs were threatened, said a member of the editorial staff who asked to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions. The headline was changed to, As a CEO, I worry about the erosion of office culture with more remote work.

Blinken jousts with China and Russia at a United Nations meeting. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:16 - 0:00 transcript Blinken Stresses the Importance of Human Rights at U.N. Meeting At a United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday, with counterparts from both China and Russia, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that the U.S. would not tolerate nations that break international rules, including the violation of human rights. Some argue that what governments do within their own borders is their own business, and that human rights are subjective values that vary from one society to another. But the Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins with the word universal because our nations agreed there are certain rights to which every person, everywhere, is entitled. Asserting domestic jurisdiction doesnt give any state a blank check to enslave, torture, disappear, ethnically cleanse their people or violate their human rights in any other way. The United Nations is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of its member states. The state does not respect that principle when it purports to redraw the borders of another or seeks to resolve territorial disputes by using or threatening force, or when a state claims its entitled to a sphere of influence to dictate or coerce the choices and decisions of another country. And a state shows contempt for that principle when it targets another with disinformation or weaponized corruption, undermines other countries free and fair elections and democratic institutions, or goes after journalists or dissidents abroad. These hostile actions can also threaten the international peace and security that the United Nations charter obliges this body to maintain. At a United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday, with counterparts from both China and Russia, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said that the U.S. would not tolerate nations that break international rules, including the violation of human rights. Credit Credit... Presidential Press Service Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, meeting with counterparts from both China and Russia on Friday, said that the United States would push back forcefully against breakers of international rules, even as he acknowledged his own countrys violations under the Trump administration. Mr. Blinkens counterparts, Foreign Ministers Wang Yi of China and Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia, took their own diplomatic swipes at the United States, accusing it of hypocrisy and of defining international rules in terms designed to assert Western dominance in the world. The exchanges came at a United Nations Security Council meeting, convened by China and held virtually via videoconference link, on the theme of multilateral cooperation against the pandemic, global warming and other common threats. It was in some ways a rematch between Mr. Blinken and Mr. Wang, who was part of a top Chinese delegation that brusquely lectured the United States at a meeting in Alaska two months ago. That unscripted confrontation was regarded heroically in China, where the government has stoked rising anti-Americanism and nationalism. Although the terms and tone used in the Friday meeting were more diplomatic, the differences were stark in the world views espoused by Mr. Blinken and his counterparts. Those differences suggested that the gridlock among the big powers of the Security Council would not ease anytime soon. The session was held the same week that Mr. Blinken, meeting with the foreign ministers of the Group of 7 nations in Britain, emphasized what he described as the importance of defending democratic values and open societies  a signal of the Biden administrations intent to challenge China and Russia on human rights, disinformation and other issues that had been de-emphasized or ignored by the administration of President Donald J. Trump. In another clear signal from the Biden administration, Mr. Blinken also visited Ukraine, where he pledged support for its fight against a Russian-backed insurgency that has claimed 13,000 lives since 2014.

The stock market loves Biden more than Trump, so far. But that could change. The New York Stock Exchange in New York. The Dow generally favors Democratic presidents. Credit... Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times From the moment he was elected president in 2016 through his failed campaign for re-election, Donald J. Trump invoked the stock market as a report card on the presidency. The market loved him, Mr. Trump said, and it hated Democrats, particularly his opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr. During the presidential debate in October, Mr. Trump warned of Mr. Biden: If hes elected, the market will crash. In a variety of settings, he said that Democrats would be a disaster and that a victory for them would set off a depression, which would make the stock market disintegrate. So far, it hasnt turned out that way. To the extent that the Dow Jones industrial average measures the stock markets affection for a president, its early report card says the market loves President Bidens first days in office considerably more than it loved those of President Trump. Mr. Biden is undoubtedly benefiting from the upward trajectory in the economy and the markets that started under his predecessor  much as Mr. Trump benefited from the growing economy bequeathed him by President Barack Obama. The markets recent boom can be easily explained. Investment analysis from July suggested the stock market might perform quite well in a Biden presidency, despite Mr. Trumps claims to the contrary. Those factors included more vigorous and efficient management of the coronavirus crisis, which would promote economic recovery and corporate profits; generous fiscal stimulus programs, with the possibility of colossal infrastructure-building; a return to international engagement accompanied by a reduction in trade friction; and a renewal of Americas global climate-change commitments. But will it lead to strong returns through the Biden administration? None of this tells us where the stock market is heading. All we know is that it has risen more than it has fallen over the long run, but has moved fairly randomly, day to day, and has sometimes veered into long declines. Another decline could happen at any time, regardless of what any president does.

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Janet Yellen says the economy faces a somewhat bumpy recovery. Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:08 - 0:00 transcript Yellen Says Recovery Will Remain On Track, After Weak Jobs Report Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Friday that Aprils jobs report, which cited an addition of 266,000 jobs last month, was an indicator that the U.S. has a long road to economic recovery, but described the growth as continued progress. We knew it would be a long road back to recovery. Thats why the legislation provided lasting support rather than just a few months of relief. We knew this would not be a 100-day battle. And todays jobs report underscores the long-haul climb back to recovery. But let me be clear, the 266,000 jobs added in April represent continued progress. After all, one year ago, we learned wed lost over 20 million jobs in one single month. I believe we will reach full employment next year. But todays numbers also show that were not yet finished. As our economy continues to heal, its important to consider ways in which we can build back better. Recovery will remain on track, and it may be bumpy from month to month for a variety of factors. You know, there are often quite large revisions to months as well. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Friday that Aprils jobs report, which cited an addition of 266,000 jobs last month, was an indicator that the U.S. has a long road to economic recovery, but described the growth as continued progress. Credit Credit... Erin Scott for The New York Times Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said that the economic recovery in the United States will be a long haul but suggested that the labor market continues to be on the path to full employment by next year despite Fridays disappointing employment data. The comments came as the Labor Department said employers added 266,000 jobs in April, far below the vigorous gains registered in March. The jobless rate rose slightly to 6.1 percent, as more people rejoined the labor force. Ms. Yellen said that, although she was expecting to see more substantial job growth last month, the labor market was stronger than the headline numbers suggested. She pointed to an increase in hours worked by employees and a decline in workers who are involuntarily working part-time for economic reasons. The Treasury secretary acknowledged that the labor force faces a long haul to recovering from the job losses caused by the pandemic, noting that more than 8 million lost jobs have yet to be restored. The road back is going to be somewhat bumpy, Ms. Yellen said, adding that jobs figures tend to be volatile on a monthly basis and that, on average, the economy has continued to add jobs at a healthy clip in recent months. Ms. Yellen also pushed back against the suggestion by some business groups and Republicans that generous jobless benefits are holding back hiring because workers are choosing to collect unemployment insurance. She said that the bigger challenge has been the fact that many families are still without regular child care and are juggling irregular schedules because schools have yet to fully reopen. Earlier this week, Ms. Yellen clarified comments that she made about the need to raise interest rates if the economy overheats, explaining that she is not prescribing that as necessary any time soon. On Friday, she reiterated that any signs of inflation are likely to be temporary and pointed to supply chain bottlenecks and shortages of commodities for price increases.
A California bar owner was arrested this week on charges that he had sold fake Covid-19 vaccination cards at his business, prosecutors said.

The owner, Todd Anderson, 59, of Acampo, Calif., was arrested on Tuesday and charged with identity theft, forging government documents, falsifying medical records and having a loaded unregistered handgun, Tori Verber Salazar, the San Joaquin County district attorney, said in a statement this week.

It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic, Ms. Salazar said in the statement. Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you.Mr. Anderson declined to comment on Friday. His arraignment is set for May 18.

Agents from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control began their investigation into Mr. Anderson after they received a complaint stating that fake cards were being sold at his business, the Old Corner Saloon in Clements, Calif., which is about 40 miles southeast of Sacramento.
South Carolina is among 24 states where the death penalty remains law. In the past 16 years, 11 states have rescinded capital punishment, Mr. Dunham said, including Virginia, which in March became the first Southern state to do so. Governors have also imposed death penalty moratoriums in California, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

At the courthouse level, prosecutors have been increasingly reluctant to seek the death penalty, and juries increasingly unwilling to impose it. The decline in death sentences has been dramatic: Fewer than 50 have been imposed in the United States in each of the last six years, Mr. Dunham said, a marked difference from the mid-1990s, when the total number of yearly sentences sometimes exceeded 300.

Gallup polling from late last year showed that public support for the death penalty was at its lowest level since the early 1970s, although still popular with a majority of Americans, with 55 percent of respondents saying they approved of capital punishment for convicted murderers.

After years without a federal execution, Mr. Trumps administration oversaw 13, more than a fifth of the prisoners who the Bureau of Prisons says were on death row. President Biden, by contrast, campaigned on a promise to end the death penalty for federal inmates and encourage states to follow suit.

In articulating his support for ending capital punishment, Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, a Democrat, noted the vast racial disparity in how it was imposed in his state: Roughly 79 percent of the inmates who were executed were Black. Ending the death penalty comes down to one fundamental question, one question: Is it fair? Mr. Northam said.

A similar imbalance exists across the country, including in South Carolina; in the 284 executions carried out by the state since 1912, almost three-quarters of the inmates were Black.

The state now has 37 men on death row, with three who have exhausted all appeals, officials said.

Those families of victims to these capital crimes are unable to get any closure because were caught in this limbo stage, William Weston J. Newton, a Republican state lawmaker, said during the House debate.
When Teddy Roosevelt looked upon the Grand Canyon as president in 1903, the barrel-chested adventurer and war hero said the site fills me with awe. He implored his fellow man, Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness.

His words were apparently ignored by a herd of bison.

As many as 500 bison, which can stand six feet tall and weigh 2,000 pounds, have recently taken up full-time residence in the northern part of Grand Canyon National Park and are causing havoc with the areas ecosystem, say park officials, who want to reduce the herd to 200.

Now for the first time, they are planning to let a small number of volunteers kill bison inside the park.

More than 45,000 people had applied for 12 slots by the deadline on Tuesday. Each person selected gets to kill one bison during the program, which is expected to begin in the fall. The rest of the herd reduction is expected to be achieved by capturing and relocating live bison and through state-run hunts that take place outside the park.
Khanna credits the work of legislators, entrepreneurs and everyone who has been raising awareness for moving the Biden administration to act on making vaccines more available to India and the rest of the world. First came the release of millions of unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses. Then on Tuesday, the administration came out in favor of waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines. The move would allow countries such as India to boost production and increase vaccine access.

Its really been heartening to see the Indian-American community come together and put aside any difference of politics or religion, and really just say: How do we help in this humanitarian situation? Khanna said. The congressman said he had been in touch with constituents in Silicon Valley, hearing their concerns and pushing the private sector to help.

When the crisis in India began, Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, pledged $10 million. Google has also pledged $18 million to provide oxygen and other supplies, while its chief executive, Sundar Pichai, has personally pledged $700,000 toward relief efforts.

Khanna emphasized, however, that the aid isnt just coming from big corporations. Ive heard stories of ordinary citizens raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to get oxygen there, to help get equipment there, to get medical beds there, he said. Its really just touching everybody.

Several community organizations across California have also stepped up to help vulnerable and marginalized groups. Parivar Bay Area is partnering with local grass-roots organizations in India to support basic necessities for transgender people affected by the crisis. An initial GoFundMe page raised $10,000 in 48 hours. Anjali Rimi, who started Parivar in 2018 and identifies as trans, said the crisis hit home for her  her parents were hospitalized in India because of Covid-19 last year.
While the results obtained 29 years after the evidence was collected proved to be incomplete and partial, it is notable that there are now new DNA profiles that were not available during the trial or post-conviction proceedings in Mr. Lees case, Nina Morrison, senior litigation counsel at the Innocence Project, said in the statement, which The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

Uploading this newly generated profile to a national criminal database maintained by the F.B.I. has not yet provided a hit, she said. That means that the mystery mans DNA does not match any of the DNA profiles that are already in the database, taken from people who were convicted or arrested on suspicion of violent crimes.

However, the DNA profile will now remain in the database and will be automatically compared to all new profiles from convicted persons, arrestees or unsolved crimes that are entered in the future, lawyers for the A.C.L.U., the Innocence Project and Ms. Young said in a joint statement.

According to the Innocence Project, no physical evidence was ever produced that connected Mr. Lee to Ms. Reeses murder. In a summary of the case, the group also outlined obstacles that Mr. Lee had faced over the years, including a lawyer who was drunk and unprepared at court hearings, unreliable neighborhood eyewitnesses and conflicts of interest for key players.

Mr. Lees first trial resulted in a hung jury. His second murder trial began on Oct. 10, 1995, just seven days after O.J. Simpson had been acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

Mr. Lee, a Black man charged with the vicious beating and murder of a white woman in her home, was tried under the shadow of the O.J. Simpson prosecution and trial, Ms. Young argued in her January lawsuit. The Simpson verdict shocked and angered many white Americans and polarized the nation along racial lines. Its difficult to imagine that any jury could be truly objective in considering the evidence against Mr. Lee at that particular moment in time.
The home of the first same-sex couple to legally marry in California will become a historical landmark, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors ruled this week.

On Tuesday, the citys supervisors voted unanimously to grant landmark designation for the home owned by the couple, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who are both lesbian activists and co-founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first lesbian rights organization in the United States.

The board will review the measure again on May 11 before sending it to the citys mayor, London Breed, for approval. She plans to sign it, a spokeswoman for the mayors office said on Friday.

Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin were true champions of L.G.B.T.Q. rights, and San Francisco was incredibly lucky to have their leadership and activism, Ms. Breed said in a statement.
The hashing out of plea deals will also force the government to grapple yet again with what has from the start been the central tension in the mass prosecution: the struggle to mete out justice on an individual level for the often intersecting actions of a mob.

This week, prosecutors said in court that they would soon be offering plea deals to four men charged together with assaulting the police in a melee near the Senate wing entrance of the Capitol. But to draft the deals precisely, prosecutors will have to determine not only which of the men did what to which of the officers, but also how badly the officers were injured.

By and large, the penalty ranges for federal crimes are set by law, although prosecutors have the discretion to ask judges to add more time to certain sentences for a variety of what are called enhancements. Defense lawyers say they expect the Justice Department will ultimately devise a standardized method for calculating plea deals in the numerous Capitol cases and establish packages that lay out preset offers for crimes like misdemeanor trespassing or felony assault.

But that has yet to happen, and some lawyers have complained that the haggling over pleas has felt improvisational and at times confusing  like buying a used car.

At a recent hearing for Richard Barnett, an Arkansas man perhaps best known for being photographed with his feet propped up on a desk in Speaker Nancy Pelosis office, prosecutors said that they had offered a deal that could result in a sentence of 70 to 87 months in prison. Mr. Barnetts lawyer, Steven Metcalf, later said he was disappointed with the proposal and could not understand why the government was offering so much time to a man who had not broken anything nor hurt anyone inside the Capitol.
Donald Trump is out of the White House  and mostly gone from the public eye  but his grip on the G.O.P. base has probably never been stronger.

In the House, Representative Liz Cheneys tenure as the No. 3 Republican appears to be coming to an end, thanks to her willingness to stand up to Mr. Trumps fabrications. With Ms. Cheney on her way out, a new era in G.O.P. politics is being ushered in: As early as next week, every member of the House leadership could be fully committed to a pro-Trump platform.

Which means well continue to hear a lot of false claims about the electoral system being broken  and less emphasis on traditional Republican policy goals.

Representative Elise Stefanik, whos in line to take Ms. Cheneys place, is a perfect symbol of the shift. Just over six years ago, at 30 years old, Ms. Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at the time. She did it by flipping an upstate New York district that had sent a Democrat to the House for the past two decades (albeit with the help of a redrawn congressional map that added more conservative-leaning counties to the district), and since then she has legislated mostly like a moderate.
Cops said the victim and shooter had been feuding, but they were still trying to learn Thursday what the dispute was about.
Mr. Thao, Mr. Kueng and Mr. Lane face state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. Their trial on those counts is scheduled to begin in August.

The penalties for federal civil rights violations range from up to a year in prison if the victim is not physically injured to a life sentence or the death penalty if the civil rights violation results in death.

The Justice Department typically waits for state or local prosecutors to try cases before seeking indictments on any federal violations and will often decline to bring a case if federal law enforcement officials conclude that the state secured a just outcome.

Before Mr. Floyds killing on May 25, the officers had gone to Cup Foods, a convenience store in South Minneapolis, to respond to a 911 call from a store clerk who said that Mr. Floyd had used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes.

Mr. Kueng and Mr. Lane, both new on the force, arrived first. Mr. Lane approached Mr. Floyds car with his gun raised and turned sideways, pointed at Mr. Floyd through his car window. Mr. Thao and Mr. Chauvin arrived shortly after, as the first two officers were trying to get Mr. Floyd into the back of a police car and he was resisting, telling them he was claustrophobic and recently had the coronavirus.

They eventually pulled Mr. Floyd out of the back of the car and put him on the ground, where Mr. Lane held his legs and Mr. Kueng put his weight on his back. Mr. Chauvin put his knee on Mr. Floyds neck. Mr. Thao stood guard nearby as Mr. Floyd gasped for air and ordered bystanders  who expressed worries about his deteriorating health  to stay on the curb.

After the bystanders shouted at the officers to attend to Mr. Floyd, Mr. Kueng checked his pulse and said he could not find it. The three officers continued to hold him down. After emergency responders arrived, Mr. Floyd was loaded into an ambulance. He was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after.
Do we want to shut down the Keystone pipeline? No. Do we want voter ID? Yes, he continued. And the Democrats are on the opposite side of all those issues, and Im going to make sure every American knows about it.

Democrats who have fallen victim to the Republican cultural assault concede that it can take a toll and that their party needs to be ready.

It was all these different attacks that were spread all over mainstream media, Spanish-language media, Facebook, WhatsApp, said Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former Democratic House member from South Florida who was defeated last year after Republicans portrayed her as a socialist who was anti-police. A lot of it was misinformation, false attacks.

She said Democrats must begin taking steps now to combat Republican misdirection, warning that their legislative victories might not be enough to appeal to voters.

We can have a great policy record, she said, but we need to be present in our communities right now, reaching out to all of our constituencies to tell them we are working for them, that their health and their jobs are our priorities.

On the Supreme Court issue, progressive groups began pushing the idea of an expansion after Mr. Trump was able to appoint three justices, including one to a vacancy that Republicans blocked Barack Obama from filling in the last year of his presidency and another who was fast-tracked right before last years election.

Hoping to neutralize the issue, some Senate Democrats who will be on the ballot next year have made it clear that they would oppose expanding the court, and the bill seems to be going nowhere at the moment. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would not bring any court bill to the floor until at least after a commission named by Mr. Biden to study the matter issued its report, which is due in six months. The president has been cool to the expansion idea as well.
WASHINGTON  In early 2020, members of a Taliban-linked criminal network in Afghanistan detained in raids told interrogators that they had heard that Russians were offering money to reward killings of American and coalition troops.

The claim, that Russia was trying to pay to generate more frequent attacks on Western forces, was stunning, particularly because the United States was trying at the same time to negotiate a deal with the Taliban to end the long-running war in Afghanistan. C.I.A. analysts set out to see whether they could corroborate or debunk the detainees accounts.

Ultimately, newly declassified information shows, those analysts discovered a significant reason to believe the claim was accurate: Other members of the same Taliban-linked network had been working closely with operatives from a notorious unit of the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence service, known for assassination operations.

The involvement of this G.R.U. unit is consistent with Russia encouraging attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Afghanistan given its leading role in such lethal and destabilizing operations abroad, the National Security Council said in a statement provided to The New York Times.
Finding a therapist can be a tough and time-consuming process involving multiple phone calls, waiting lists and insurance hurdles.

But what if you were able to walk into your corner drugstore for a bottle of shampoo and also had the option of scheduling a walk-in session for mental health treatment?

Thats the future that CVS, the largest retail pharmacy in the United States, is envisioning. Since January the company has added licensed clinical social workers trained in cognitive behavioral therapy to 13 locations in the Houston, Philadelphia and Tampa metro areas. The providers will offer mental health assessments, referrals and counseling either in person or via telehealth, a CVS spokeswoman said, and this spring the company plans to expand to 34 locations in those same regions.

The social workers are available during the day, and also on evenings and weekends in the companys MinuteClinics, which provide a variety of nonemergency health care services either via walk-in or by appointment. The hours are more flexible than what therapists might normally offer, and the social workers partner with the clinics nurse practitioners and pharmacists to give prescriptions when needed, said Dr. Daniel Knecht, the vice president of clinical product at CVS Health.
Health officials say that they are seeing a growing number of cases of coronavirus variants spreading in the population, including at least 26 cases of the strain first detected in India. The authorities in Tokyo say that in four out of five cases found in the city, the infected person neither traveled abroad nor had close contact with someone who had.

The outbreak is stretching health care systems even in Japans biggest cities. On Thursday, there were 370 people being treated for serious cases of Covid-19 in Osaka, a prefecture of nine million people, more than the number of hospital beds available for seriously ill patients.

Japan, which has recorded more than 620,000 infections and 10,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, has controlled the virus better than many countries. But the government has faced criticism for the sluggish pace of vaccinations, and for pledging to go ahead with the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to begin on July 23, despite widespread public opposition.

Toru Hashimoto, a lawyer and a former governor of Osaka prefecture, said on a television show on Friday that Olympic organizers were ignoring the severity of Japans outbreak, and that it was inappropriate to continue holding pre-Olympic test events during the state of emergency, even though they are taking place without spectators.

If the government wants to reduce the number of people in the city, its not a time when test events can be held, Mr. Hashimoto said.
Every month since March 20, 2020, the government of Canada has rolled over, and sometimes expanded, the cabinet order laying out the border restrictions on the same day that the United States makes a similar extension of its rules.

While a border closure is often described as an agreement between the two countries, government officials told me that talks between the two governments are mostly limited to coordinating the timing of the extensions. Both countries have, after all, taken quite different approaches even if commercial travelers like truck drivers, health care workers who commute across the border and those with business in Canada have never been blocked by either country or required to quarantine.

But all Canadians can still go to the United States for any reason provided that they use an airplane rather than a motor vehicle, train, their feet or boat to get there. Then there is no federally mandated quarantine period when they arrive.
BUCHAREST, Romania  The apparent killing of a large brown bear in Romania by a member of the Liechtenstein royal family has set off a wave of anger across the southeastern European country, which officially banned trophy hunting in 2016 but allows the killing of bears deemed to be problematic. Permits to kill these bears can cost many thousands of dollars.

The killing, which took place in March, came to light this week after two environmental groups accused Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein of killing the bear, nicknamed Arthur, in a protected area of the Carpathian Mountains. Romanian police have opened a criminal investigation into Arthurs death, with poaching one of the potential charges.

While the prince, who lives in Austria, had been granted a permit by the Romanian environment ministry to shoot a cub-rearing female bear that had been causing damage to farms, he has been accused of killing Arthur instead.

Attempts to contact the princes office went unanswered. Earlier in the week the office told the Agence France-Presse news agency that it didnt know anything about what it called a private and personal matter.
After all, Lonely Planet, which was founded by Tony Wheeler with his wife, Maureen, was itself named by mistake. Mr. Wheeler thought he was adopting the name from the lyrics to Space Captain, sung by Joe Cocker and written by Matthew Moore  until his wife corrected him. (The actual line is Once while traveling across the sky, this lovely planet caught my eye.)

A 1986 article by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times anointed Mr. Crowther the patron saint of travelers in the third world, although Mr. Kristof acknowledged that even saints arent perfect. He mentioned a jungle hike in North Borneo that had been included in Southeast Asia on a Shoestring at the suggestion of an earlier reader.

Then, a couple of years later, Mr. Kristof wrote, a man came into Mr. Wheelers office and said: You know that hike that you said would take a day and a half? It took me six weeks. Halfway through I was cursing your name, but later I realized it was the greatest adventure Id ever had.

Not every traveler read Lonely Planets guides for pleasure. After Ethiopian rebels used the guidebooks maps of Addis Ababa, the nations capital, to seize it from the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, Mr. Wheeler marveled, As far as I know its the only time weve directly helped to overthrow a government.

Mr. Crowthers uncompromising candor was not always welcome. He and his guidebook (along with Lady Chatterleys Lover and a select list of other highly subversive titles, Mr. Wheeler wrote) were banned from Malawi after he gently badmouthed the countrys autocratic president, Dr. Hastings Banda, in passing.

Declaring that Mr. Crowther had an incalculable impact on a unique generation of travelers, Richard Everist, a former publisher of Lonely Planet, described him as a true explorer and adventurer who went beyond boundaries and borders and defined Lonely Planets ethos and style.

Geoff Crowther was born on March 15, 1944, in Yorkshire, England, to George and Susie (Halstead) Crowther. His parents were both cotton mill workers.
A global debate is heating up over how to get Covid-19 vaccines to the nations most in need.

The United States supports an effort to suspend intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines, and European countries say that richer nations should begin exporting more of their vaccine supply to poorer ones.

The European Union  whose approval is needed for any waiver of vaccine patents  said on Thursday that it would consider the Biden administrations proposal. But Germany, the blocs largest economy, said that pushing pharmaceutical companies to share vaccine patents could have significant implications for the production of vaccines. The European Commission signaled it wouldnt support the U.S. proposal.

The limiting factor in vaccine manufacturing is production capacity and high-quality standards, not patents, a spokeswoman for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said in a statement.

Europes position emphasized the challenges of winning support for the waivers at the World Trade Organization, where the bloc wields significant influence, and where unanimous approval would be needed for any measure to suspend patents.
Maybe youve had that sinking feeling of returning to where you thought you had parked your car, only to find an empty spot.

Did you forget where you had parked it? Maybe. Was it stolen? Perhaps. But in many cases, your car has been towed  and itll cost you to get it back.

If it was towed, you might have overlooked a no parking sign, or were blocking a loading zone or simply misunderstood whether a spot was available for public parking. Its frustrating and inconvenient, but the tow isnt without cause.

In other cases, the circumstances are murkier. In some places, private businesses contract with towing companies to patrol parking lots at shopping centers and apartment complexes and remove improperly parked cars. While this seems reasonable on the surface  businesses want to make sure parking spaces are available for their customers  it can become a costly game in which towing companies patrol lots looking for any reason, however slight, to tow cars and earn fees.
Police found Abdessamad Essafoui, 23, with a gunshot wound to his chest just after 3 p.m. Thursday on Cruger Ave. near Lydig Ave., two blocks away from Bronx Park.
Yet until that point, the SPAC itself has to make sure it doesnt run afoul of any Securities and Exchange Commission requirements. And for directors, that requires a different way of thinking.

For one, the competition among SPACs to acquire a company is fierce. So far this year, nearly 300 SPACs have been created and taken public, more than the 248 offerings in all of last year and up from 59 in 2019. There has been some talk of the ardor cooling for SPACs, but they remain a way for the wealthy to make returns they cant get elsewhere.

The increase in companies going public through SPACs was initially driven by companies inability during the pandemic to travel for the traditional roadshow associated with an initial public offering. The number of SPACs has continued to grow because they offer a means for mature companies to go public without the traditional filings for an I.P.O. (though the process of being acquired by a SPAC is certainly not without paperwork and legal counsel).

But given the proliferation of SPACs, the S.E.C. has tightened the rules, particularly those relating to the forecasts the SPACs make about their progress toward merging with a company and how certain classes of shares in the SPAC are treated for accounting purposes. These tighter rules are good for some SPACs and their directors, and not so good for others.

The S.E.C. is getting a bit nervous, said Jennifer Ceran, who is on the board of Plum Acquisition, a SPAC focused on finding a technology company, and was previously the chief financial officer of Smartsheet and Coupons.com, two technology companies she helped take public. Your forecasts have to be based on sound data. As operators, Ive lived my career giving multiyear forecasts and given reports to our company.

Directors of a SPAC are not joining an existing public company or a private company with plans to go public. Theyre joining an entity with ideas, aspirations and money  but no cash flow.

The directors are expected to use their own industry knowledge and connections to help find a company to merge with. One of the important elements of being a director is not just industry experience but also really good networks, Ms. Ceran said. You want the management team and the board to have connections. You need to have people involved in your SPAC who have been operators at companies and are not just transaction folks.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican, signed new voting restrictions into law on Thursday, reducing voting access in one of the nations critical battleground states.

Florida, which former President Donald J. Trump won by about three percentage points in 2020, is the latest Republican-controlled state, following Georgia, Montana and Iowa, to impose new hurdles to casting a ballot after Novembers elections.

Voting rights experts and Democrats say that some provisions of the new law will disproportionately affect voters of color.

Heres a guide to how the law changes voting in Florida.

What are the changes in the new law?

The law, Senate Bill 90, limits the use of drop boxes where voters can deposit absentee ballots, and adds more identification requirements for anyone requesting an absentee ballot. It also requires voters to request an absentee ballot for each two-year election cycle, rather than every four years, under the previous law. Additionally, it limits who can collect and drop off ballots.
I recently had a tall privacy fence installed around my house in Chicago. My 14-year-old son has autism. Maybe the barrier will prevent him from wandering away from home and being chased down and shot by police, as Ricardo Hayes was, I thought. Maybe it will protect him from being struck by a stray bullet as Hadiya Pendleton was.

Im far from the only Black mother here who is worried that a gun could end her childs life. Chicago, along with several big cities across the country, has seen a rise in gun violence  perpetrated by both civilians and police officers  since January of last year. In one especially alarming spree last summer, Chicago police officers shot five people in just two months. And shootings and murders in the city were up more than 50 percent overall in 2020 compared with 2019; 875 people died from gun violence  a record high. A majority of the citys victims (78 percent) were Black.

Throughout the United States, Black Americans are most affected by gun violence  whether the shooter is a civilian or a police officer. Black people are two times as likely to die in a firearm incident and three times as likely to be killed in a police encounter than white Americans. When moms like me worry about our children, we have to ask ourselves, What should I fear most?

When George Floyd was murdered last summer, the Wall of Moms, a group of mostly white suburban mothers, received significant media attention for the statement they made in Portland, Ore., when they protested his murder. I couldnt help thinking of the relatively little recognition of the work of Black mothers, who have long organized against police violence as well as the violence happening in our communities.

In Chicago, groups like Mothers Against Senseless Killings have led the fight against violence in their neighborhoods, addressing their communities needs by doing everything from patrolling corners to cooking meals. On a national level, Mothers of the Movement  a group of Black women whose children have been killed by guns, including at the hands of police officers  works to raise awareness and push for legislative changes on a national level.

The priorities of some people concerned about racist violence at the hands of the police  those who want to reduce the presence of officers  are often framed as being in tension with those of Black people who want their communities to be safer. Thats simply not true. Its a misconception that exists in part because we dont hear enough from those who are touched by both components of the crisis and lead the fight against it. So over the past eight months, I asked Black mothers across the country  who are the true experts on the issue  to tell me about the gun violence that has shaped their lives. As killings by the police and mass shootings continue to make headlines, its time we listen to them.

The interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
Stillwater, OK (74078)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 74F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.
The Bulgarian St. Stephen Church in Istanbul, Turkey, has the detailed ornaments of an Orthodox stone church, but its actually made of prefabricated cast iron elements.

Sometimes referred to as The Iron Church, St. Stephen Church is considered the largest prefabricated cast iron building in the world. It consists of thousands of prefabricated pieces of cast iron, from large walls, to small, intricate decorations, all of which weigh over 500 tons. As almost the entire structure and its exquisite decor are cast out of iron, a close inspection reveals the heads of the large screws holding it together everywhere you look.

Photo: Darwinek/Wikimedia Commons

The story of Istanbuls beautiful cast iron church began in the mid 19th century, during a time of growing Bulgarian nationalism. For decades, the Bulgarian population of the Ottoman Empire had worshipped along with the Greeks, but now Bulgarian dioceses were discontent with the supremacy of the Greek clergy and wanted their own places of worship. In order to ease tensions between Bulgarian and Greek minorities, Sultan Abdulaziz granted the Bulgarians their wish.

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Initially, a donated house on the shore of the Golden Horn, between Istanbuls Balat and Fener squares, served as the first Bulgarian church in the Ottoman city, but it was destroyed by a terrible fire.

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To replace the burned down church, the Bulgarian government announced a competition for the design of a new church on the site of the old one. An Armenian architect by the name of Hovsep Aznavur, who suggested a structure made up exclusively of cast iron, ended up winning the contest.

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Austrian company R. Ph. Waagner was tasked with creating the thousands of prefabricated cast iron pieces. The entire process took about three years (1893  1896), after which the 500-tons of cast iron was loaded on barges and shipped from Vienna to Istanbul, through the Danube River and the Black Sea.

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Legend has it that Bulgarians kept asking the Sultan for their own church in Istanbul, and not wanting to grant them permission, the Ottoman ruler gave them only a month to build it. So, the architects came up with the ingenious plan to have St. Stephen Church made up of prefabricated parts somewhere else, and then assembled in Istanbul in less than a month. It sounds like a nice story, but apparently thats all it is.

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Unfortunately, being made entirely of iron and being located close to the salty Marmara sea turned out to be a bad combination, as the church started rusting soon after completion. Luckily, the Turkish and Bulgarian governments reached an agreement to have it restored, and in 2018 it was once again opened to the public.

Stunning to look at both inside and out, The Iron Church is one of the most worthwhile attractions in all of Istanbul.
Patrons at a restaurant in Taipei, were recently shocked to see cockroaches crawling all over the place after thousands of them were released on the premises by two masked men.

On May 4th, two masked men entered the G House Taipei restaurant holding large bags filled with over 1,000 cockroaches, which they simply released at the reception desk on the second floor of the establishment, before fleeing the scene. Roaches started crawling on the floor, walls and furniture, and it wasnt long before patrons enjoying their meals there started noticing them as well. Among the diners were policemen Taipei Police Department who were attending a banquet there, and they immediately created a task force to catch the perpetrators.

Taipei Police Department Commissioner Chen Jia-chang and New Taipei Police Department Commissioner Huang Tsung-jen were also in attendance at the G House banquet, so it was originally assumed that the cockroach attack was targeted at law-enforcement. However, the police investigation found no evidence of this. Instead, it is now believed that this was just a bizarre consequence of a debt dispute between the restaurant owner and local criminals.

The five suspects identified in this case  the two masked men who released the cockroaches, two lookouts outside and a getaway driver  are members of Bamboo Union, an organized crime ring which the restaurant owner allegedly owed money to. After their threats went unanswered, the criminals apparently decided to simply ruin the mans business.

Roach attack  police are investigating two men who reportedly released over 1000 cockroaches in a restaurant where the police chiefs of Taipei and New Taipei cities were attending a dinner party last night. (video source: Taipei police department) pic.twitter.com/r2yMtf4JJD  Amber Wang (@ambermywang) May 4, 2021

Commissioner Chen, who stayed at Zhongshan Precinct throughout the night and oversaw the investigation personally, told reporters that the bugs appeared to be Turkestan cockroaches bought from a Taipei store selling aquarium supplies. The insects are commonly used to feed aquarium fish and can be bought in fish stores or online.

Police vowed to track down the person who ordered the attack and others involved in the case, adding that they considered it an act of violence, similar to attacking people with paint.
India, which has been ravaged by COVID-19, has signed Ferox Strategies for outreach on Capitol Hill.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Indias US ambassador, signed the agreement with Ferox. The firm handles strategic counsel, tactical planning and government relations assistance on policy matters before the US Congress and select state governments, as well as academic institutions and think-tanks.

The $60K contract runs through June 30 and may be extended for another three-month run.

Ferox CEO Cristina Antelo works the India business. She launched Ferox after an eight-year stint at Podesta.

Antelo is a founding member and former president of the Hispanic Lobbyists Assn. and ex-interim CEO of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

The US Agency for International Development shipped $100M worth of medical supplies (oxygen cylinders/concentrators, diagnostic test kits, remdesivir and masks) to India this month.
The National Press Clubs communications team is hosting a May 20 discussion in which leading healthcare professionals will talk about how their jobs have evolved and what they are looking for from communicators. The discussion will be moderated by NPC member Karen Addis, president and CEO of Addis Communications, which specializes in health and science. Panelists scheduled to participate include CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard, NPR health and science writer/editor Scott Hensley, Axios healthcare editor Tina Reed and Medtech Insight senior reporter Ferdous Danny Al-Faruque. The event, which will run from noon to 1 p.m., is free for NPC members. The $15 fee for non-members will go to the NPC Staff Support Fund to assist NPC journalists who have been furloughed due to COVID-19. For more information, or to register for the event, click here.

PRSA books virtual May 19 event, a panel of travel media pros will discuss what the future of travel looks like and how the PR industry can work with them. The event, which runs from 6 to 7 p.m., will be moderated by PRSA-NY's immediate past president Kellie Jelencovich, who is PR director at Internova Travel Group. Panelists scheduled to appear include New York Times travel editor Amy Virshup; Stacey Leasca, who writes about travel for Travel + Leisure, Departures, Trip Advisor and Mens Journal; and Danielle Pointdujour, who is lifestyle editor at Essence and senior lifestyle editor at EBONY. The event costs $25 for PRSA members and $40 for non-members. For more information, or to register, click here.

Women in PR North America is hosting its Modern Day Boss Conference on Sunday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The conference will feature celebrities and business executives, and offer business and personal tutorials with tips on how to be a boss in your business, life and relationships. There will be panels, keynote speakers, fireside chats, individual tutorials and an after-event networking opportunity. Among those scheduled to appear are Garcelle Beauvais, actress and host of The Real. The cost of the event is $49. Click here for more information.
A DISNEY-owned company is shooting the pilot for a major new series at Charleville Castle in Tullamore this week.

A massive crew was working at Charleville Castle and in the adjacent wood today, just in time for cameras to capture the spectacular annual bloom of bluebells in the forest.

'Epic', a fantasy drama from ABC Signature Studios, aims to reinvent classic fairytales for the modern day.

Charleville Castle is a popular location for film and TV production and among the worldwide hits shot there were 'Becoming Jane' starring Anne Hathaway and 'The Tudors' with Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Several sources indicated on Friday that Charleville Castle and its wood had been chosen as the backdrop for some of the scenes for 'Disenchanted', the sequel to 2007 smash 'Enchanted' starring Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey.

It was even rumoured that Dempsey was at the castle but Dudley Stewart, custodian of the neo-Gothic dwelling, told the Tullamore Tribune that was not the case.

However, he added: I'm not saying they didn't take some shots for [Disenchanted]. There's a bit of multi-functioning going on here. We're on three things and it's taken a long time to shift them into gear.

Mr Stewart added: There's more to come, don't worry. You haven't seen the half of it... We're doing our job for the county during Covid. We can't open [the castle] to the public and we cannot be a magnet but the least we can do is get a movie in and turn the place into a destination.

There were several trailers parked in the castle yard today and a crane was in place close to the main door.

There was also a constant stream of vehicles in and out and walkers were permitted to use the usual trails in the estate but security staff advised them to stay off the main avenue.

A dolly track had been laid on one path through a bed of bluebells and it is understood that Charleville has been chosen because it provides the natural representation of an enchanted forest sought by the 'Epic' creators.

Deadline, a Hollywood breaking news website, reported that 'Epic' will star Brittany O'Grady, who featured on 'Little Voice' on Apple TV.

It is being directed by James Griffiths, maker of upcoming Disney+ series 'The Mighty Ducks'.

Meanwhile, 'Disenchanted' leads Adams and Dempsey were in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow this week as the story of Giselle and Robert from Enchanted continues.
An updated plan for Birr wants to see the rerouting of the busy N52 so it no longer passes through the town but around it.

The plan was discussed during a Birr 20/20 Zoom meeting last week.

Salters Sterling welcomed everyone to the Zoom meeting.

He said it was the first time ever that Birr 20/20 had held an online meeting.

Birr 20/20 hasn't held any public meetings since March 2020, for obvious reasons, he commented.

Covid has devastated the world. It has devastated all of the normality that we grew up with and lived with.

He pointed out that even though there had been no public meetings, even though Covid had cut a swathe through much of our normality, there had still been a great deal of progress in Birr during the last year.

There has been a lot going on behind the scenes. The work has been going on and we will see the fruits of that. In fact, this evening's meeting will be an eye-opener for some of you because it will show you that more has been happening than you would have thought.

Salters thanked Cllr John Clendennen and Breda Purcell for organising the Zoom meeting.

The new Director of Services Stephane Duclot introduced himself. He said his remit is large. It covers planning, economic development, heritage, tourism and the Birr Municipal District.

Stephane is a Frenchman and has been living in Ireland for two decades. He previously worked as a member of the Executives in Limerick and Tipperary County Councils.

Stephane drew everyone's attention to the Public Realm Plan. This, he said, remains a very important plan, a blueprint for the development of our heritage town.

The Public Realm Plan was drawn up in 2009. It was an ambitious and farseeing plan; a plan with vision and imagination.

It has proven to be a very valuable tool ever since. It has expertly guided the development of this beautiful town ever since.

We have been working on the plan in recent months and we have updated it. We are excited about it. People can view it on our Council website. I urge everyone to have a look at it.

He said great progress has been made on enhancing the town since the production of the plan twelve years ago.

Emmet Square is now an expanse of attractive limestone with space for people and not just cars; visitor numbers to Birr Castle and Demesne have risen dramatically (pre-Covid) through much investment there; and many of the town's fine buildings have undergone improvements and restoration, enabling them to contribute far more positively to the public realm of Birr.

Stephane said the recent updating work on the plan is called an Addendum. This Addendum was commissioned by Offaly County Council and written by the authors of the original plan, The Paul Hogarth Company.

The Addendum, which has been informed through consultation with local stakeholder groups, will be used alongside the original plan to further inform future planning policy and investment decisions for Birr.

The 2009 plan was compiled using a collaborative methodology with local people to assess the town, develop a shared vision for its future and to identify a series of proposals for improvements to its streets and spaces. The Addendum is conscious of the changed situation in the world and therefore it is conscious of the climate and biodiversity crisis that the planet faces.

The plan acknowledges that Birr is a large town and a key service town. It acknowledges the economic importance of Birr within its wider hinterland, providing essential services and amenities to its local population. Until such time, adds the plan, as the N52 is re-routed around the town, vehicles will always negatively impact upon the pedestrian and cycle experience.

The plan also calls for the planting of more trees.
Theyd been arguing from when I was in the store, said one witness, who wished not to be named. I hear them arguing and arguing and then they came across to the corner. Thats when it went off.
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Canadas ambassador to the United States says that while the possible shutdown of Line 5 is a serious issue, it is not a threat to Canadas national energy security.
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Pentagon Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley said 18 warplanes will be sent to Afghanistan to protect US troops.
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Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday chaired a meeting of all party MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to assess the situation arising out of the second wave of Covid-19 and evolve a political strategy. This is her first internal interaction with party MPs after the Congress party's drubbing in recent assembly polls in five states, where it failed to wrest back Kerala and Assam and scored a zero in West Bengal.
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Kimmel pokes fun at Jenners interview with Sean Hannity



During his monologue Thursday, Jimmy Kimmel took a moment to talk about Caitlyn Jenners interview the night before with Sean Hannity  and his takeaway is that the California candidate for governor is an Ignorant a-hole.



Before he got there, Kimmel talked about the interview, what they called a town hall with Sean Hannity. There was no town, and no hall, but there was Sean Hannity pretending to be interested in Caitlyns take on a variety of subjects including her inexplicable affection for Donald Trump.



Then Kimmel rolled a clip in which Jenner talked about how Trump did some things that I agreed with, some things I didnt agree with, and then said she liked that Trump was a disruptor who came in and shook the system up.



Sidebar: One way Trump shook the system up was by dramatically escalating bigoted policies aimed at taking away the rights of transgender people.



Anyway, back to Kimmel, who said about that shook the system up comment, he shook the system so hard he lost custody of it. Hes child protective services had to come in and stop him from shaking the system.



Then Kimmel talked about one of the weirder moments during the interview, when Jenner tried to tell a relatable, everyperson story about how bad California is  but ended up just sounding like an out of touch, entitled rich person. She was in her private airplane hanger for the interview with Hannity, and she told Hannity that someone else who also has a private hanger in the same location claims hes leaving California because he just cant tolerate seeing homeless people anymore.



So to restate: A very, very wealthy person tried to connect with voters by telling the story of another very, very wealthy person who would rather move out of state than do anything to help the homelessness problem.



Ah, homeless people, cant walk around em, cant fly over em, Kimmel joked. Is it transphobic to call a trans person an ignorant a-hole? Or does calling that trans person an ignorant a-hole even though she happens to be a trans person show that we dont discriminate against ignorant a-holes its a tough one, I dont know, I guess well let the internet decide tomorrow.



Watch the whole monologue above. Kimmels remarks on Caitlyn Jenner happen around 4 minutes in.



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Police on Thursday raided the office of prominent activist and North Korean defector Park Sang-hak under a new law that bans floating propaganda leaflets to North Korea.

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The private debt manager Park Square Capital closed its latest subordinated debt fund at 2.2 billion ($2.6 billion) including committed leverage.

Park Square Capital Partners IV (PSCP IV) raised 1.8 billion of equity commitments, exceeding its target of EUR1.5 billion, said a press release from the provider of senior debt, subordinated debt and mid-market direct loans to companies in Europe and the US.

The new fund represents an increase of 48 percent over its predecessor fund, PSCP III, which had EUR1.5 billion of investable capital, including leverage, in 2016.

"The success of the fundraising reflects the continued development of the firm and the strong performance of the strategy through multiple credit cycles," said Robin Doumar, managing partner, in the news release. "We are excited by the robust pipeline of opportunities available to private credit as the world recovers from the COVID crisis."

PSCP IV attracted a broad mix of institutional investors by type and geography, including commitments from sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and family offices across Europe, the US, and Asia.

Investors included the 36 billion PensionDanmark, Copenhagen, according to the pension fund's website.

"PSCP IV follows the same disciplined, and cycle-tested strategy as its predecessor funds, investing in primary and secondary subordinated debt in both performing credit and dislocated debt. It focuses ......................

To view our full article Click here
Introduction



As more Americans receive the COVID-19 vaccine, including 70% of adults in custody, the Oregon Department of Corrections is launching "visiting pilots" at select institutions to begin the process of re-opening visiting. To view the special guidance for visiting during COVID-19 at your loved one's institution, please see below.

All visitors should also review the general visiting guidelines and dress code to ensure processing does not take time away from their visit.



Oregon State Penitentiary - NOW SCHEDULING



To keep everyone safe during visiting, the following protocols have been established for the OSP visiting pilot program:





All visits must be pre-scheduled. Scheduling is now available on the ICS Corrections website and can be completed the same way as a video visitation. For more information or assistance, follow the step-by-step instructions or contact ICS Corrections (888) 646-9437.



Only one visit can be scheduled at a time to allow more family and friends the opportunity to visit their loved one. The allotted visit must be completed before another can be scheduled.

Visits will be approximately one hour long. OSP cannot account for visiting delays (such as a a visitor not having ID, wearing metal, not being current on their visiting status, etc.) or delays in retrieving AICs.

All visits will be non-contact and social distancing will be enforced.

AICs in quarantine or isolation will not participate in visiting.

The number of visitors allowed in the visiting room will be based on available space when utilizing social distancing.

Visitors will be symptom screened and temperature checked; visitors who are sick or symptomatic will not be allowed to visit.

Both AICs and visitors must always wear appropriate face coverings and will perform hand hygiene immediately before and after the visit.



Visitors will be assigned to stations to allow for contact tracing.

No food or drink will be allowed.

No photo ops will be offered.

No toys, games, cards, or magazines will be accessible.

Tables, chairs and other high-touch surfaces will be disinfected between visitation groups; all areas, to include lobbies and restrooms, will be cleaned following the completion of visiting each day.

Columbia River Correctional Institution - NOW SCHEDULING



To keep everyone safe during visiting, the following protocols have been established for the CRCI visiting pilot program:







Visiting will occur on the regularly scheduled days beginning June 6, 2021. Daytime visiting session will run for 40 minutes, with 25 minutes between for proper sanitization. Visits should be scheduled in advance on the ICS Corrections website and can be completed the same way as a video visitation. For more information or assistance, follow the step-by-step instructions or contact ICS Corrections (888) 646-9437.

The Dining Hall will be sanitized prior to use, between each visiting period, and after visiting has concluded with an electrostatic sprayer.

Each AIC will be allowed 2 visitors per visit regardless of age. i.e. 2 adults or 1 adult and one child.

Each AIC will be limited to one visit per week.



Visitors will be symptom screened and temperature checked; visitors who are sick or symptomatic will not be allowed to visit.



Both AICs and visitors must always wear appropriate face coverings and will perform hand hygiene immediately before and after the visit.



Visitors will be assigned to stations to allow for contact tracing.



Plexiglass barriers will be used between the AIC and their visitors.

Once the visit is complete, the AIC will remain seated while visitors depart. Visitors will be processed out and exit the facility.

No objects will be brought into the facility unless necessary. Car key/etc. will be stored in lockers. After each visiting session, these lockers will be properly sanitized prior for the next visiting session.

Vending machines WILL NOT be accessible to AICs or visitors.



No food or drink will be allowed.



No photo ops will be offered.



No toys, games, cards, or magazines will be accessible.



Games and a play area for children will not be available.

Failure to comply with any regulation will result in the termination of the visit.

Restrooms will be closed to the AICs during visiting. If there is a need to utilize the facilities, the AIC will return to his designated housing unit and the visit will be terminated. Restrooms will be available for the visitors during their scheduled session and will be sanitized between uses.



Oregon State Correctional Institution - NOW SCHEDULING



Starting June 14, 2021 OSCI in person visits will occur Sat/Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed from 8:15-10:45am and 1:00-3:45pm.

All visits must be pre-scheduled. Scheduling is now available on the ICS Corrections website and can be completed the same way as a video visitation. For more information or assistance, follow the step-by-step instructions or contact ICS Corrections (888) 646-9437.

For more information or assistance, follow the step-by-step instructions or contact ICS Corrections (888) 646-9437. For scheduling a BASIC visit (AIC in DSU, or sanctioned to BASIC visit) please contact Laura Ellison at 503-373-0173 at least 72 hours (3 days) in advance to schedule. Voicemail messages left at this number will not be considered a scheduled visit.



please contact Laura Ellison at 503-373-0173 at least 72 hours (3 days) in advance to schedule. Voicemail messages left at this number will not be considered a scheduled visit. Only one visit per week can be scheduled at a time to allow more family and friends the opportunity to visit their loved one. You will be able to pre-schedule up to two weeks in advance. (two visits total).

Visit sessions will be approximately 2.5 hours long. OSCI cannot account for visiting delays (such as a visitor not having ID, wearing metal, not being current on their visiting status, etc.) or delays in retrieving AICs. Once you are inside for the visit, you may leave at any time, but will not be allowed re-entry. Even if you do not stay for the duration, it will still count as your one visit session per week.

All visits will be non-contact and social distancing will be enforced.

Each AIC will be allowed 2 visitors per visit regardless of age. i.e. 2 adults or 1 adult and one child.

Each AIC will be limited to one visit session per week.

AICs in quarantine or isolation will not participate in visiting.

The number of visitors allowed in the visiting room will be based on available space when utilizing social distancing.

Visitors will be symptom screened and temperature checked; visitors who are sick or symptomatic will not be allowed to visit.

Both AICs and visitors must always wear appropriate face coverings and will perform hand hygiene immediately before and after the visit.

Visitors will be assigned to stations to allow for contact tracing.

No food or drink will be allowed.

No photo opportunities will be offered.

No toys, games, cards, or magazines will be accessible, nor the play area for children.

Tables, chairs and other high-touch surfaces will be disinfected between visitation groups; all areas, to include lobbies and restrooms, will be cleaned following the completion of visiting each day.

Vending machines WILL NOT be accessible to AICs or visitors.

Failure to comply with any regulation will result in the termination of the visit.

Restrooms will be available for the visitors during their scheduled session and will be sanitized between uses.

Visitors may not arrive on grounds before 8:00am or 12:45pm for their scheduled visiting session. Visitors may not park on our avenue or under our No Parking signs. Failure to abide by this could result in the termination of your scheduled visit.

Once you have been directed to park on the OSCI grounds, please remain in the Visiting area until you number is called to come down for processing.



Additional Institutions TBA


Oregon once again began distributing grants last week through its unique $62 million coronavirus relief fund for Black Oregonians.

Organizers of the fund distributed $49.5 million to Black Oregonians, Black-owned businesses and Black-led nonprofits across 31 Oregon counties last fall, but they agreed to hand over their remaining funds to a federal court and stop allocating grant money in December after a John Day logging company and Portland coffee shop challenged the constitutionality of the state fund.

The state and organizers of the fund reached a settlement with John Day logging company Great Northern Resources in March, allowing them to recoup $5.3 million from the court to distribute to Black Oregonians.

Fund organizers began distributing that money last week. They are using the funds to provide grants to people and organizations that applied for support late last year but never received funding due to the legal case. The fund is not accepting new grant applications.

We are working as fast as possible to notify applicants and distribute awards, while ensuring security and compliance, said Anthony Jordan, president of The Contingent, the nonprofit administering the grants.

As part of the settlement, Oregon is also using its own risk fund to pay grants to up to 1,252 non-Black applicants that sought funding through the program before Dec. 8. The court is continuing to hold an additional $3.5 million deposited by fund organizers until the state pays out those grants.

While the state and fund organizers reached a settlement with Great Northern Resources, the constitutionality of the fund may still be litigated through a separate ongoing lawsuit brought against the fund by Maria Garcia, the Mexican American owner of a downtown Portland coffee shop.

Approximately $42,000, the maximum grant that Garcia would have qualified for if she were eligible for a grant through the fund, is still being held by the court while that case continues.

Oregon lawmakers voted last July to set aside 4.5% of the federal pandemic relief money received by the state to seed the fund. Oregon appears to have been the only state that allocated federal coronavirus relief dollars to individuals and business owners of a specific race.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com | @jamiebgoldberg
While still insisting publicly that his high-stakes Ritz-Carlton development in downtown Portland is fully funded, real estate developer Walter Bowen is again fishing for dollars from local investors.

BPM Development, Bowens company, this week sent out invitations to various stockbrokers, money managers and other investment professionals to an online update on the Ritz project. Join us virtually to learn about this unique OZ (opportunity zone) real estate investment opportunity, reads an invitation.

At just about a million square feet, the Ritz will cost nearly $600 million to build, making it one of the largest and most expensive real estate developments in city history. The risk of the project has soared due to the pandemic, social unrest in downtown Portland, and the lasting effect either could have on tourism or high-end real estate.

A Bowen spokesman warned against reading too much into the resumption of fundraising. It does not, he said, mean that the project is running short of cash or that costs have been significantly higher than expected.

The new money will be used in part to build a contingency fund and to repay Bowen some of the money hes already invested in the Ritz project, said Pat Walsh, the spokesman. Bowen has never confirmed the size of his stake. But financial documents indicate that he and his friends and family have poured at least $25 million into the 35-story building.

The new fundraising effort comes on top of a larger private equity raise that got underway last year with a target of $113 million. Walsh would not disclose whether Bowen has successfully reached that goal.

The project is located in a federal opportunity zone, which gives investors tax benefits on top of any profits the project may generate.

Bowen isnt the only party looking for new financial partners to lessen their own risk. Mosaic Real Estate Investors, which issued an enormous $400 million construction loan for the project, is attempting to sell some of the debt owed by Bowens company, Walsh confirmed.

Bowens Ritz-Carlton was always risky. To meet profitability goals, the hotel, the condominiums and the office space will have to fetch prices never before seen in this market.

It was a gutsy bet on Portland from a more bullish era. The project that would bring the first five-star hotel to Portland was a response to the rapid proliferation of commerce and affluence in Portland, read one of the private placement memos.

The world, of course, has changed dramatically since groundbreaking. COVID-19 walloped the hospitality business, and its unclear when it will recover. Demonstrations and vandalism have convinced some merchants to shut down. Office workers are staying home. And intractable homelessness just seems to get worse.

Suddenly, the idea of selling multi-million-dollar condos at Southwest Ninth Avenue and Alder Street seems even less likely.

Brad Golik, a broker with Christies International Real Estate in the Pearl District, predicted the condos will be a tough sell, particularly the smaller units that are priced in the prospectus at around $1.9 million for 1,200 square feet.

I dont like that location, Golik said. You have the Target store next door and the crowd that it attracts and that city park that is fenced off and covered with graffiti.

Betting on the Oregon brand is a risky act these days, said Bob Ames, a former bank president, civic leader and real estate investor in his own right.

The fate of this project may well become a referendum on downtown Portland, he said. And the fate of downtown depends on leadership.

Some business leaders have torched Mayor Ted Wheeler and other public officials for their inability to clean up downtown.

But Bowen and his people exude the unshakeable optimism characteristic of real estate developers. The building wont be complete for another two years-plus, by which time they expect the pandemic to be a distant memory.

Walt has zero concerns relative to the project, is optimistic about the prospects for Portland and is looking forward to its completion in 2023, when everyone fully expects life to be back to normal and thriving, Walsh said. The timing for this project couldnt be more optimal.

Its undeniable that after a long, lucrative career in real estate and senior housing, Bowens resources are significant. Just last month, as hes shepherding the $590 million Ritz project in Portland, Bowens company purchased the corporate headquarters buildings of PetSmart in the Phoenix area for $110 million.

Bowen has managed to eliminate one nagging headache. His company, BDC/Washington Street LLC, now owns the ground on which the Ritz project is being constructed. Bowen managed in March to buy out the prominent Goodman family, which had leased the land to Bowen.

Public documents indicate that BDC Washington Street paid $30 million for the parcel. Walsh declined to divulge the purchase price and would not confirm or deny the $30 million sum.

Construction costs have risen dramatically, putting both developers and buyers in a difficult spot. Walsh said its impossible at this point to say whether those increasing costs will require changes to the project budget.

Constantly changing fluctuations in construction pricing make it difficult to predict with reasonable certainty the costs to be finalized in in the coming months, he said. For this reason, we are setting aside equity raised at this time as an additional contingency fund.

Mosaic, a high-profile real estate lender, stepped up to make a huge construction loan for the project. It is now trying to sell some portion of that debt to other lenders, investors and others.

Mosaic officials did not return phone calls.

Walsh confirmed Mosaic is looking to lessen its position in the project but added that is not unusual.

This is a very common practice among lenders, and it has zero impact on the project or the borrower as the terms of the loan remain the same, Walsh said. As far as the borrower is concerned, the selling off of a portion of the note by the lender is a seamless non-event.

Patrick Clark, a local real estate broker specializing in high-end condos, confirmed hes been contacted by prospective buyers of the Mosaic debt.

Various lenders that are looking at buying that debt have reached out to me to determine what is the condition of the condo market, Clark said. Condo prices are climbing. And I hope the market continues to improve. But clearly, the market today is not what it was when the Ritz project was conceived.
Oregon wants to reduce the speed limit on 82nd Avenue on the east side and install new streetlights and pedestrian crossings at the Northeast Portland intersection where two men were struck and killed by drivers last month.

Transportation officials announced Friday afternoon they were requesting $3.35 million in safety improvements that include permanently reducing the speed limit from 35 miles per hour to 30 miles per hour and adding 10 speed reader signs on the nearly eight-mile stretch of urban highway. Those projects will go before the Oregon Transportation Commission for approval next Thursday.

The state agency made the Friday announcement less than four hours before a rally to highlight the decades-old dangers on 82nd. East Portland advocates and elected officials, including Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and Rep. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, announced their plans for the rally last week.

Portland transportation leaders had requested the permanent speed reduction on the five-lane highway in May 2020. Last week, Don Hamilton, a state transportation spokesperson, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the request was under review and a decision would be made in the next few weeks.

In the Friday news release, the state announced that the changes are part of a broader $10 million pedestrian safety budget, but other statewide locations werent identified.

As of Friday afternoon, the 82nd Avenue projects do not appear on any agenda for the transportation commission, which published a separate news release and posted its extensive agenda for next Thursdays meeting earlier Friday morning.

It is on the agenda but its not there yet, Hamilton said, when asked to explain the timing.

When asked whether the Friday announcement regarding 82nd Avenue was specifically timed to occur before the politicians and safety advocates news conference, Hamilton deflected.

It came out when we were ready to announce it, he said. Its time now.

Hearing the news, Pham, the Southeast Portland lawmaker who introduced legislation that would facilitate the transfer of 82nd Avenue and other state highways to city control, said she was heartened to see these changes.

Im sad that it took these deaths to make these long overdue safety improvements happen, she said, adding that these emergency interventions are needed.

Regarding the timing, Pham said, Itll just fire us up more, she said. We need a lot more than just $3.35 million.

She said that the fatalities could happen at several intersections on 82nd, which has long been one of the citys most dangerous roads for people walking, biking or driving.

No one was killed in traffic crashes on 82nd Avenue in Portland in 2019 or 2020, which were each the deadliest in Portland history since 1996. In the decade preceding that, 16 people were killed in Portland city limits.

Pham said she looked forward to working with the state to identify more money for 82nd. The first-term lawmaker had requested $100 million from the states share of the most recent federal stimulus package to fund so-called jurisdictional transfers on roads like 82nd, which are owned by the state but traverse urban neighborhoods.

Oregon budget writers earmarked $780 million from the federal payout that are up for grabs, but lawmakers havent yet decided how to allocate the windfall.

In its Friday news release, the transportation agency said it was discussing the jurisdictional transfer but provided no additional details. No schedule has been set for determining the steps needed for the transfer or a timeline for completing the discussions, the agency said. It also pledged to hire an independent reviewer to assess pedestrian safety projects with an eye on speeding up project delivery.

Meanwhile, the state improvements announced Friday appear to acknowledge that the deadly intersection of Northeast Alberta Street and 82nd Avenue has been an issue well known by the agency.

However, Hamilton last week provided a list of safety projects on 82nd Avenue that the state had either completed or planned. The January 2020 document did not highlight pedestrian safety crossings on 82nd at Northeast Wygant or Northeast Alberta that were announced Friday and include new striping, signs and lighting.

Hamilton said despite the fact those projects werent in documents provided earlier to The Oregonian/OregonLive, they were on the drawing board for a while.

That was one of the areas where we see issues, he said of the two intersections. The plans to make these improvements were in the works before these fatalities.

A city spokesperson last week told The Oregonian that there were no streetlights on the westside of 82nd Avenue at Alberta Street. Hamilton said the changes announced Friday include new lights on the east side where there is currently lighting and on the westside.

Some of the projects included in the $3.35 million list released Friday were already on the books and represented in the list presented to the newspaper last week, including flashing beacons where Southeast Mitchell and Northeast Pacific Street intersect with 82nd Avenue. The state had budgeted $26 million in safety projects from 2021 through 2026 on the highway, and the $3.35 million pushes that total to $29 million. The state spent $27 million in the previous decade on safety projects there, which included a so-called pedestrian relief island at Northeast Wygant, a $17,000 project completed in recent years.

Advocates and politicians have clamored for far greater investment on 82nd. Metros failed 2020 transportation package, which would have created a payroll tax on employers, included some $295 million for new or improved sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, street lighting and pavement maintenance issues on a nine-mile stretch of 82nd. The Metro package also wouldve helped facilitate the ownership transfer to Portland.

Pham, Hardesty and advocates plan to hold their online rally at 4 p.m. Friday via Zoom. The state transportation meets digitally next Thursday starting at 9 a.m.

-- Andrew Theen; atheen@oregonian.com; 503-294-402
The Oregon Health Authority on Thursday reported five COVID-19 deaths and 763 coronavirus cases.

Daily cases have declined slightly over the past week and the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has also fallen from a recent spring peak.

Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday announced changes to capacity limits in gyms and theaters. Twenty-four counties in Oregon, including Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties, are under high-risk restrictions that faced nuanced tweaks.

Gyms and theaters in high-risk areas can now have a maximum indoor occupancy of 10% capacity or 50 people, whichever is larger. Thats a shift from the old rules, which set maximum indoor occupancy at 25% capacity or 50 people, whichever was smaller.

Although specifics will vary by business, the changes generally will allow more people inside.

Vaccines: Oregon reported 36,259 newly administered doses, which includes 23,539 Wednesday and the remainder from previous days.

Where the new cases are by county: Baker (12), Benton (14), Clackamas (38), Clatsop (3), Columbia (9), Coos (3), Crook (14), Curry (4), Deschutes (95), Douglas (13), Grant (3), Harney (1), Hood River (2), Jackson (38), Jefferson (4), Josephine (9), KIamath (31), Lake (1), Lane (70), Lincoln (2), Linn (42), Malheur (5), Marion (72), Morrow (1), Multnomah (115), Polk (20), Tillamook (1), Umatilla (9), Union (1), Wallowa (2), Wasco (2), Washington (107) and Yamhill (20).

Who died: Oregons 2,510th death linked to COVID-19 is a 69-year-old Josephine County woman who tested positive April 4 and died April 30 at her residence.

The 2,511th fatality is a 91-year-old Jackson County woman who tested positive April 28 and died May 4 at Providence Medford Medical Center.

Oregons 2,512th death is a 50-year-old Klamath County man who tested positive April 20 and died May 4 at Sky Lakes Medical Center.

The 2,513rd fatality is a 63-year-old Linn County man who tested positive April 15 and died May 3 at Salem Hospital.

Oregons 2,514th death is a 68-year-old Marion County man who tested positive April 20 and died May 4 at Salem Hospital.

Each person had underlying health conditions or state officials were confirming if the person had underlying conditions.

Hospitalizations: 328 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are hospitalized, down two from Wednesday. That includes 90 people in intensive care, up seven from Tuesday.

Since it began: Oregon has reported 189,162 confirmed or presumed infections and 2,514 deaths, among the lowest per capita numbers in the nation. To date, the state has reported 3,159,283 vaccine doses administered, fully vaccinating 1,353,250 people and partially vaccinating 548,994 people.

To see more data and trends, visit https://projects.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/

-- Brad Schmidt; bschmidt@oregonian.com; 503-294-7628; @_brad_schmidt
Updated Monday, May 10, 2021: Authorities identified the man who was killed as Nicholas James Potter, 36. They also put out the following statement: Investigators believe there was an ongoing issue related to Mr. Potter and threats of violence. A relative within the household shot Mr. Potter and that person is cooperating with the police investigation. At this time, no charges have been filed. Any future charging decisions will be made by the Washington County District Attorneys office after reviewing the full case investigation.

***

A man was shot and killed in what police described as a domestic disturbance in Tigard early Friday morning.

Officers responded to a call in the 15000 block of Southwest 79th Avenue around 12:45 a.m., police said in a statement.

Investigators found a man inside a home dead of a gunshot wound.

Tigard Police detectives are investigating this shooting, and the Washington County District Attorneys Office will be reviewing the case. There is no threat to the public, police said in a statement. At this time, no charges have been filed and the names of those involved are not being released.

A police spokeswoman said investigators could not release any more information until an autopsy was completed.

The death marks the third homicide in Tigard this year. In early January, Tigard police shot and killed 26-year-old Jacob Macduff. Critics of the police response said Macduff was going through a mental health crisis at the time. Later that month, a man was stabbed to death during an apparent targeted drug-related robbery in a hotel. Two teenage girls, 16- and 17-year-old relatives, were later arrested and charged in his death.

-- Kale Williams; kwilliams@oregonian.com; 503-294-4048; @sfkale
The Clark County Prosecuting Attorneys Office wont file criminal charges against a contract newspaper carrier who fatally shot a man last month in Vancouver, Washington.

The Columbian reports authorities say the man who was killed, identified as 29-year-old Kin K. Bossy, had been attempting to steal the carriers car April 17 at The Waterfront Vancouver when he was shot multiple times.

The independent contractor newspaper carrier for The Columbian, identified by police as 35-year-old Justyn Vallandingham, fired at Bossy after finding him inside his vehicle.

In a letter Thursday to a Vancouver police detective, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jeff McCarty wrote that Bossy appeared to be committing a felony offense against Vallandingham, who feared imminent danger or death.

Vallandingham  who has a concealed pistol license told police he saw Bossy turn toward the center console of his car and feared he was trying to grab a weapon, so he fired at him.

The letter said no area surveillance footage captured the shooting.

--The Associated Press
Though the task force tried to build a more solid case around Hinikers source for the drugs earlier, it was determined that arresting her earlier could have jeopardized the identity of the agencys informant, who was working on other cases as well, Jeff Wersal, Commander of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force, told the Daily News Friday.
Police are investigating an armed confrontation between a motorist who pulled a handgun and at least two pedestrians dressed in black and armed with what appear to be assault rifles that erupted Thursday in the middle of a residential street in North Portland.

Its unclear what started the standoff, but videos circulating on social media show the resulting confrontation between people in a crowd and the motorist, Joseph Hall, who remains hospitalized.

The tense encounter unfolded during a weekly march called Justice for Patrick Kimmons, a 27-year-old Black man shot and killed by police in downtown Portland in 2018 after he shot and wounded two other men.

Confrontation at North Alberta Street and Michigan Avenue, May 6, 2021.

Hall, 53, said hes a handyman who was headed home from his repair work at a nearby apartment complex when he swerved on Alberta Street to avoid a moped that cut him off.

He said he then noticed the moped following his truck and a man screaming on a handheld radio to stop his truck.

When he reached Michigan Avenue, Hall said another vehicle blocked his path and all of a sudden I have three or four people around me with what to him looked like AR-15s and AK-47s.

Hall said he grabbed hold of a non-lethal handgun that can shoot hard pellets to try to get the people to clear the way and hadnt realized there was a march until people circled his truck. He said he heard a woman outside on a megaphone yelling at the crowd to let him go, but the people continued to block his truck and call him a Nazi.

Theyre screaming and yelling at me, claiming I was out there trying to run people over. Thats when I discovered a march was going on, he said. I was trapped. A vehicle in front of me trapped me in. I couldnt go forward or around.

Hall is seen on video standing outside the drivers seat of his red pickup, his door open, holding the firearm, while a man standing in the street points a rifle at him at North Alberta Street and Michigan Avenue.

Hall can be heard yelling: You have about five seconds to lower that weapon, as others respond that his truck is a weapon.

Hall said he stepped out of his pickup and someone snatched the keys from the truck. When he went around to the back of the truck, he said several people in the crowd remained hostile and pointed handguns and rifles at him.

He said he then pulled his .38-caliber pistol from his pants and headed into the fray.

Im trained in the military to walk towards the threat and fight your way through the threat, said Hall. He said he served in the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army and has a concealed weapons permit out of Columbia County.

The videos capture when Hall headed to the back of his truck and confronted the crowd as two men dressed in black point rifles at him. One of the men holding a rifle pushes Hall down as others in the crowd yell, Get his gun!

People then tackled, punched, and kicked him, according to Hall and the videos.

Hall said his .38-caliber gun popped out of his hand and was stolen. People also stole other guns from his truck, he said. He called 911 and said he was told police were monitoring the situation.

An ambulance was sent and he was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital, where hes being treated for a dislocated shoulder, broken left clavicle and five broken ribs, he said.

All I wanted to do is leave, said Hall, who has faced threats on social media. I work with all race, creed, color, everybody. I will not sit back and let anybody thats out there on social media call me anything other than what I really am. Im a human being. My life was threatened.

Confrontation at North Alberta Street and Michigan Avenue, May 6, 2021.

Police Sgt. Kevin Allen said police werent present when the confrontation occurred but responded later.

There was conflicting information about what was happening there. When it was clear there was a large crowd and guns were involved, it required officers to gather more resources before going in, he said.

Police now are attempting to collect as many statements as possible from those involved.

Police made no arrests but said investigators are gathering video evidence and other information to sort out what happened.

A tweet by a group called We Out Here Magazine described the scene: A little after 1pm, a man decided to run his truck through the weekly Justice For Patrick Kimmons March, then got out of his truck with a gun before he was disarmed by volunteer security.

Patrick Kimmons mother, Letha Winston, told KATU that a driver was speeding toward the crowd.

About an hour before, police were called at 12:12 p.m. to a report of a pedestrian hit by a car near North Interstate Avenue and Killingsworth Street, not far from the later clash.

Police said they didnt find anyone who was struck and that a large group of people had moved away, walking in nearby streets, some openly carrying firearms.

Police said they were responding to calls from people who had been driving in the area around noon and were blocked by a crowd in the street. One person said people in the crowd broke out their vehicle windows, damaged tires and sprayed them with some kind of irritant near Interstate and Killingsworth.

Confrontation at North Alberta Street and Michigan Avenue, May 6, 2021.

Larry LaBeck, a 65-year-old North Portland resident, noticed the video clips on social media and was disturbed by what he saw. This shouldnt be happening in our town, he said.

Hall said his truck had been surrounded last year during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in Portland and he had laid on his horn as he tried to drive through a green light. He said he suspects the group knows his truck. In the 2020 incident, he put on a Make America Great Again cap, according to KATU.

Police asked anyone with information to email them at crimetips@portlandoregon.gov, referencing case No. 21-121818.

Anonymous tips can be sent through Crime Stoppers. Crime Stoppers of Oregon offers cash rewards of up to $2,500 cash for information, reported to Crime Stoppers, that leads to an arrest in any unsolved felony crime and tipsters can remain anonymous.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian
The number of students in Oregons public schools learning exclusively remotely hit an all-time low as the last districts in the Portland metro area opened their high schools for in-person learning.

About 389,000 of the states 560,000 students are now regularly learning in a classroom, according to figures released by the Oregon Department of Education Wednesday. That means nearly one-third are still attending all classes virtually.

Among the 18 largest districts in the Portland area, 125,000 students attended class in-person last week, or about 57%.

But unlike the final months of the 2019-20 school year and the initial six months of the Department of Educations pandemic guidelines, those attending classes remotely are doing so by choice.

Reasons vary from household to household.

In early April, officials in the Oregon Trail district said some families were hesitant to return to classrooms either due to lingering fears over in-school transmission or because the hybrid schedule made it difficult to schedule childcare.

Since then, the district that serves parts of Gresham and east up to Mt. Hood has doubled the amount of classroom time middle and high schoolers receive.

The Oregon Health Authority has reported individual COVID-19 cases at schools  sometimes as many as five  but has not tied any outbreaks to classrooms.

About a dozen Portland-area parents surveyed by The Oregonian/OregonLive said they were hesitant to return to the classroom either because they werent vaccinated or because they were waiting for coronavirus case counts to recede in the region.

The Oregon Department of Education initially required schools to operate under a comprehensive distance learning model if their countys coronavirus infection rates and test positivity reached a particular threshold, some of the most stringent in the country until about December.

In March, the agency reversed course, only suggesting  not requiring  schools to revert to distance learning if local cases spike significantly.

Under current guidelines, districts in counties where infections top 350 per 100,000 residents should consider removing students from school buildings.

And even then, the agency says, in-person schooling can resume if the school can demonstrate the ability to limit transmission in the school environment.

The Department of Education reported 39 schools in seven eastern Oregon districts were in a risk category that suggested a shift to distance learning. The agency counted 9,500 students learning in-person and 340 learning fully remotely.

--Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano | Eder on Facebook

Eder is The Oregonians education reporter. Do you have a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email ecampuzano@oregonian.com.
East Portland will soon have new transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness who are in the early stages of their recovery from substance use.

Central City Concern, one of the areas largest homeless services provider, received $7 million from the Oregon Community Foundation to acquire a former 70-room Comfort Inn and Suites near Portland International Airport.

The CCC Recovery Hotel is part of Oregons $65 million program to remake motels into homeless shelters, transitional homes and permanent housing under the Project Turnkey initiative.

The facility, located at 5019 NE 102nd Ave., is slated to open in September. The hotel will be able to serve 70 people at a time, providing residents access to behavioral health care, addiction recovery services, and help finding a job and permanent housing.

Central City Concern will work with culturally specific providers including Puentes, which serves Latino communities, and Imani, which serves Black individuals, to ensure that clients receive care that is specific to their needs.

People of color from almost every racial group are over-represented in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness when compared with Oregons general population, according to the 2019 Point in Time Count, a census of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in January. The count found that people of color experiencing homelessness increased to 38% of the total homeless population in Multnomah County, while Black, Latino, Indigenous and other people of color make up just 30% of the countys population.

The Native American Rehabilitation Association will have 15 of the hotel recovery rooms reserved for individuals they refer to expand recovery housing for that community.

Native Americans represent 2.5% of Multnomah Countys population but 12% of the homeless population and are more likely to be unsheltered than members of any other race.

We are very grateful to be able to offer housing and recovery supports to help Native Americans, who as a community, experience extremely high rates of homelessness, said Jackie Mercer, the chief executive officer of the Native American Rehabilitation Association.

The hotels will provide support at the beginning of peoples recovery journeys.

Shelter is never the end goalits just a step on the path to stability and housing. The power of the Project Turnkey model is that it offers both shelter and housing in one single investment, said Megan Loeb, the housing program officer for Oregon Community Foundation. By acquiring motels/hotels as shelter now during the pandemic, Oregon communities can boost their housing stock by converting these properties to permanent housing in the long-term. We continue to see the benefits of this cost-effective model to support Oregons housing crisis.

Nicole Hayden reports on homelessness for The Oregonian|OregonLive. She can be reached at nhayden@oregonian.com or on Twitter @Nicole_A_Hayden.
Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan said Thursday he wants to slowly expand the citys experimental new program to dispatch a non-police response to people experiencing homelessness or a mental health crisis.

That position, which Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Mingus Mapps also support, effectively thwarts Commissioner Jo Ann Hardestys attempt to immediately provide funding to expand the program  known as Portland Street Response  six-fold. Hardesty oversees the Portland fire bureau, which operates the program.

We all want a citywide first responder program to meet the needs of our houseless neighbors experiencing mental health crises, Ryan told The Oregonian/OregonLive in a statement.

Before we expand the Portland Street Response pilot to operate citywide, we need to complete the natural cycle of any pilot program: to learn what is working and what isnt, to make improvements where needed, and to ensure the pilot is ready to be scaled.

The city launched the program as a small pilot in the Lents neighborhood early this year. The program sends a team of one paramedic and one social worker to assist those in crisis who are not believed to be a public safety threat, offering an unarmed alternative to a uniformed officer arriving on scene.

The pilot, staffed by four frontline workers plus a supervisor, covers three square miles.

Wheeler and the City Councils four commissioners say they want to see the program expand to the rest of the city. But there are competing visions for how quickly that should occur.

The mayor proposed last week that in the coming fiscal year, the city spend nearly $1 million to keep the Lents team at work. But he said the city should wait until an unspecified future time to begin spending another $2.6 million held in check to expand the Portland Street Response program.

Hardesty wants all the money to be made available at the outset, given that the City Council voted unanimously last June to reallocate $4.8 million from the Portland Police Bureau budget to the non-police response team.

Proponents of Wheelers go-slow approach say they want a chance to evaluate the pilots call volume, the communitys experience with the team and other metrics before attempting to scale the program citywide.

Hardesty plans to submit an amendment to the mayors proposed budget that would immediately provide the full funding for Portland Street Response, an approach that Commissioner Carmen Rubio also supports.

Staffers in Hardestys office said Tuesday they were confident theyd have the support of the council, but Wheeler and Mapps were on record for a slower rollout and Ryans announcement Thursday appears to align with them.

Hardestys proposed amendment, which has not been finalized, would fund a staff of 22 and operate up to six teams around the clock citywide, according to her office.

Her phased citywide rollout would begin responding to calls in March 2022, according to her plan, which has also earned the backing of Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden as well as some homeless advocates.

On Wednesday night, more than two dozen people spoke in favor of Hardestys plan at a public hearing for the citys budget.

Should Ryan ultimately oppose her amendment, it would represent the second time he would cast a controversial centrist vote to thwart a Hardesty public safety initiative.

Last fall, he was viewed as likely to provide a crucial third vote on a measure pushed by Hardesty to slash the police bureaus budget  previously cut by more than $15 million in June  by an additional $18 million.

His decision against the Nov. 5 effort outraged a number of progressives and police reform advocates, some of whom marched to his home that evening and damaged the property. Others subsequently began organizing what they say will be a recall campaign against him this summer.

Another potential flashpoint with Portland Street Response revolves around its employees status.

Currently, some response team members are unionized fire bureau employees, an approach Hardesty would like to see continue as the program grows. But the mayors office has said that its also worth exploring program models that use contracted workers from non-profits who would receive less pay and benefits than public employees, saving the city money.

A preliminary analysis by Tom Rinehart, a longtime Wheeler ally and the citys chief administrative officer, found that a city employee model would cost between $4 million and $8 million a year more than one that paid contracted workers an annual salary of $55,000, documents show.

Hardestys office said that switching to a contract worker model could set a citywide program back months or even years.

The five-person Lents team has been in operation since mid-February, leaving roughly $3.6 million the council authorized last June unspent. They have responded to just 100 calls, fewer than two a day, according to the programs online dashboard.

The program is required to submit a progress report to the City Council in mid-August, six months after its launch. According to the mayors office, the City Council can vote to authorize additional funding set aside for the program at any time.

Issues such as response times, program use by community members, 911 procedures and the categorization of which calls are assigned to receive the non-police response all merit further study before the program is expanded, the mayors office said.

Ryan said taking careful, deliberate approach is key to the programs success.

We must continue to build with persistence and a methodical focus, he said. We have to get this right.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Calls for Portland to aid struggling food cart vendors, bolster neighborhood business districts and quicken the pace and scale of non-police alternatives to public safety dominated a hearing on the citys proposed budget.

About 70 residents spoke during the three-hour virtual hearing Wednesday night, marking one of the few opportunities for the public to weigh in on Mayor Ted Wheelers proposed $5.7 billion spending plan for next year.

The mayor unveiled a budget last week that he says is focused on spurring the citys economic recovery, cleaning trash and graffiti and stemming the growing homelessness crisis.

The Portland city council is scheduled to vote on a final version of the budget next week, then make it official in June ahead of the July 1 start of the fiscal year.

Several downtown food cart vendors urged commissioners to adopt the mayors $269,000 proposal to help relocate them and others along Ankeny Square in the North Park Blocks.

The vendors were among the dozens that belonged to a Southwest Alder Street pod displaced in 2019 to make way for a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Most of the food carts displaced were run by immigrants.

It has been very scary to wait throughout these two years, especially with the rise of COVID-19, said Jean Chen, whose familys cart served Chinese and Thai dishes. It has been more difficult than ever to find a job to keep our family afloat.

A handful of speakers praised provisions in the mayors budget intended to bolster Portlands economy. Among them, a $500,000 earmark for neighborhood business districts and another $700,000 to support the citys minority chambers of commerce.

Others hoped Wheeler and the citys four commissioners would approve a plan to provide $250,000 for services to help transgender people facing housing insecurity.

The proposed funds can help trans people experiencing homeless find safety, community and dignity as opposed to a continuation of the social rejection thats all too common for trans people in todays society, said Mikki Gillette, a fundraiser with Basic Rights Oregon.

However, few who provided testimony offered kind words about how the mayor envisioned funding for public safety in the next fiscal year.

More than half the speakers Wednesday night criticized the Portland Police Bureau and the proposed 1% reduction to its budget, with many demanding millions of dollars in additional cuts to help fund social services.

At least 25 people said they wanted to see a faster expansion of citys new pilot program to dispatch a non-police response to people experiencing homelessness or a mental health crisis than the one outlined by Wheeler.

The mayor has proposed that the city spend nearly $1 million in the coming fiscal year to keep Portland Street Response at work in the Lents neighborhood.

But Wheeler said the city should wait until an unspecified future time to begin spending another $2.6 million held in check to expand the program citywide.

Thats a fraction of what Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty asked to be made immediately available. She points to the fact that City Council voted unanimously last June to reallocate $4.8 million from the Portland Police Bureau budget to the non-police street response team comprised of unarmed paramedics and social workers.

Some homeless advocates as well as Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Portland) and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden have also voiced public support for Hardestys approach.

The sooner we implement the crisis intervention system staffed by people more skilled in addressing mental health crises the better, Dana Buhl, the director of social justice at the First Unitarian Church of Portland, told the City Council.

During the hearing, Hardesty reiterated her plans to submit an amendment to the mayors proposed budget that would immediately provide the full funding for Portland Street Response.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh; 503-294-7632

Email at skavanaugh@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @shanedkavanaugh

Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories.
Mark Peters

Peters is an expert in U.S. export controls and provides consulting services to academic institutions and companies. He lives in Albany.

President Biden arrived in office with no shortage of crises to address, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a battered economy and sputtering job creation.

Lost amid these issues has been a carryover from the Trump administration: the trade war with China. Its effects have been far-reaching, and have significantly hampered our economys ability to recover from this pandemic.

Oregons cornerstone industries  agriculture, timber, technology and everything in-between  have been hit hard by tariffs levied as a result of trade tensions. That is because tariffs arent paid by our foreign trading partners, but by American businesses, consumers, and job creators.

I advise businesses and universities around the country who struggle to understand U.S. and China government policies and how to navigate them successfully to expand international ties and business opportunity. Current tariff policy is not providing clarity as we try to advance productive ties China.

While Oregons businesses and manufacturers bore a significant share of the millions of dollars in direct costs created by these tariffs, the duties have had a very real impact on our states hardworking families. Many were pushed to downsize their workforces, putting jobs and livelihoods at risk. The tariffs have had serious consequences for American consumers. In fact, the tariffs on imports from China alone have cost more than $80 billion to date, according to customs data.

Given that China is Oregons biggest export market, we have felt the pain of the trade war with China both from tariffs put in place here and from retaliatory duties levied by the Chinese government. Oregon needs trade to thrive, but trade has only gotten more expensive over the last three years.

This could stand to change, though, as Oregon is positioned to be at the forefront of trade discussions unfolding in Washington, D.C. Oregons senior U.S. senator, Ron Wyden, recently took over as chair of the Senate Finance Committee, which will be enormously important in the Biden administrations work to implement its own trade strategy.

Sen. Wyden just last year acknowledged that Oregonians are worried about the damage that drawn out trade wars with European partners could have on the states economy, and I hope he realizes that the case is no different in the trade war with China. He should work alongside President Biden and United States Trade Representative Tai, to reset U.S. trade policy with China.

This is not to let China off the hook. China has and remains a major violator of global trade norms and standards. There are better, more advisable ways to bring China in line with the global trade community, tighter controls on technology and sanctions for Chinese bad actors could have a greater impact. We do not need to inflict damage on our own businesses, workers, and consumers to hold China accountable for its abuses of the global trading system, human rights, and theft of U.S. intellectual property. I ask the Biden Administration and Sen. Wyden recognize China must be accountable, but not at the expense of Oregon businesses and consumers. I also would ask Oregon business to consider all the cost and benefits when doing business with China.

This new administration has said they want a trade policy that puts American workers first, but that simply is not possible if American businesses, workers, and consumers are suffering under the weight of tariffs. It is well time to adjust trade policy, while still holding China accountable to international norms.

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Peter Daugherty, Oregons state forester and the leader of the long-struggling Department of Forestry, has submitted his resignation to the state board that oversees the department, effective May 31.

Daugherty has led the agency since 2016, and his tenure has been marked by deep financial problems within the department, a dysfunctional relationship with the Board of Forestry and the loss of state lawmakers confidence, even as the agency is looking for a massive infusion of new resources to better respond to the states increasingly severe wildfire seasons. The Oregonian/OregonLive in recent years documented many of the agencys troubles in its Failing Forestry series.

Daughertys resignation comes in the wake of a scathing report from an outside accounting consultant, MGO, that described a fundamental lack of financial controls and oversight within the agency. The report was reviewed in a hearing this week before the Natural Resources subcommittee of Ways and Means, prompting some incredulity from lawmakers, who said they were aware of the problems in general but found details the firm uncovered eye-opening and troubling.

His resignation also comes after Gov. Kate Brown was able to remake the state forestry board, which is responsible for hiring and firing the state forester. The previous board had put Daugherty on what amounted to a performance improvement plan, but the new board chair, Jim Kelly, said it was time for a change.

You cannot have an effective state forester unless they have the confidence of the governor and the Legislature, Kelly said, and clearly that isnt the case with Peter.

At Wednesdays hearing, Sen. Kathleen Taylor, D-Portland, laid a good deal of the blame for the agencys problems on the Board of Forestry.

Its no secret that Im not a supporter of having a Board of Forestry, she said. I dont support that. I believe the Legislature should be overseeing the Department of Forestry. The board has been given this awesome responsibility by the public ... and Im concerned the board did not do its duties of overseeing the department.

Rep. Jeff Reardon, D-Portland, said MGOs report was just the beginning of the actions that need to be taken.

Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said many of the shortcomings called out in the report had been noted in an audit of the department by the Secretary of State in 2015.

We are six years later dealing with the same damn issue and I dont see any improvement, he said. And so either the Legislature needs to step in and do something dramatic or  I really appreciate (the report), but it just solidifies and exemplifies what weve been dealing with for years. Im just so frustrated that I dont see any improvement.

The airing of the report may have been the last straw for Daugherty. In his resignation letter, he said he had discussed the decision with the governors office and decided it would be in the best interest of the newly reconstituted board and the department to select a new state forester. Daugherty said his last effective day in office would be May 28.

In an email to staff, Daugherty said leading the department had been the highlight of his long career in forestry. He said the agencys executive team is committed to supporting the transition and helping prepare Oregons next State Forester for the challenges and rewards that come with this role, both of which are immense.

The boards control over the employment of the state forester left the governors office and legislators with less control as the agencys finances spun out of control in recent years and the board took no definitive action. Lawmakers had, however, demanded that Daugherty begin submitting monthly financial reports to the co-chairs of the Ways and Means Committee.

Brown, meanwhile, also expressed deep frustration last fall with her inability to remake the board and bring stronger financial expertise to its ranks, as lawmakers from timber-dependent counties joined Republicans to kill her slate of board nominees. That changed this spring, as the Senate confirmed three of her nominees to the board, effectively remaking it.

The board will soon meet to discuss leadership during this time of transition, said Liz Merah, a spokesperson for Brown. While the board has statutory authority in appointing the State Forester, the governor is interested in a national search for someone who can further drive the agency as a national leader in fighting wildfires, while at the same time adapting to new technology and changing conditions on the ground.

Merah said there were no severance payments accompanying Daughertys departure. His salary is just over $182,000 a year.

Reached at his home in Eastern Oregon, Kelly, the new board chair, said Daughertys decision to resign was reached mutually and that the board would look to hire an interim replacement with strong financial expertise, as the agency needs to get its financial house in order before it can do anything else effectively.

Kelly said he thinks the dynamics on the board have already changed.

Theres reason to believe we have the chance to create a highly functional board and have that trust reestablished, he said.

Bob Van Dyk, the Oregon policy director of the Wild Salmon Center, and a frequent critic of the department, said Daughertys departure was long overdue.

Under Daughertys leadership, critical voices on the Board of Forestry were marginalized and bullied, he said in an emailed statement. Oregon faces enormous challenges on our forests to protect water quality, manage fire, and respond to climate change. I hope the Board can take this moment to turn the page and move the agency into the 21st Century.

 Ted Sickinger; tsickinger@oregonian.com; 503-221-8505; @tedsickinger
The proposed Jordan Cove Energy Project in southwest Oregon was dealt another setback this week when a pair of local permits was overturned by the state land use board.

On Tuesday, the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals reversed a pair of key permits, one issued by Coos County, the other by the Town of Coos Bay. Between them, the permits cleared the way for expanded dredging and other site preparation in the Coos Bay estuary.

That work is required for the planned liquified natural gas export terminal proposed by the Canadian energy firm Pembina.

The permits were challenged by conservation groups and tribes, who claimed the permits were illegally issued. The appeals board agreed, and -- in an unusual move -- reversed both permits outright, rather than send them back to the city and the county for reconsideration.

This is the latest in a string of failures by Pembina to get key permits and authorizations at the state, and now, the local level, for the controversial project.

The decision also comes less than two weeks after Pembina said in a federal appeals court filing in Washington D.C. that it was pausing the LNG project and the associated 229-mile-long pipeline.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a permit to Jordan Cove in March of last year. Conservation groups, tribes and landowners along the pipeline route appealed that decision.

As part of a filing in that appeal, the company said it had decided to pause the development of the Jordan Cove Liquefied Natural Gas Project while [we] assess the impact of recent regulatory decisions involving denial of permits or authorizations necessary for the Project to move forward.

Contacted for comment, Pembina representatives said in a statement that, while the company continue(s) to believe in the strategic rationale of Jordan Cove, it has paused the project in light of current regulatory and political uncertainty ...

JPRs Erik Neumann contributed reporting to this story.
The person killed Wednesday morning in a North Portland shooting was a mother and TriMet bus driver, social media postings show.

Portland police have identified Breauna White, 30, as the person fatally shot Wednesday morning at an apartment near Cathedral Park.

Police responded to Willamette Boulevard and Charleston Avenue about 10:40 a.m. and found White suffering from gunshot wounds. She died at the scene, police said.

Police have not publicly identified any suspects in the shooting or said whether theyve made any arrests. They also have not specified whether there was any known connection between White and the person who shot her.

Roberta Altstadt, a TriMet spokesperson, confirmed White was a bus operator for the transit agency.

Our hearts go out to Bre and her family, Altstadt said. She was a valued bus operator and will be missed by her co-workers and the entire TriMet team.

Altstadt said investigators blocked off a TriMet bus Wednesday outside the apartment where White was killed. She didnt know why the bus was held.

The shooting was the first of two homicides Wednesday in the Portland area, as a man was fatally shot in Gresham hours later.

Police have not yet publicly identified the victim or any suspects in the Gresham shooting, which they think wasnt random.

The killings come amid a rise in homicides in both cities.

There have been 29 homicides in Portland this year. Of those killed, 22 were fatally shot.

Recent gun violence in Gresham includes a fatal shooting April 25 and a drive-by shooting the next day at the site of a vigil for the victim. Seven people were hurt in the drive-by shooting.

Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com; @JRamakrishnanOR
The Prince leans down and plants a kiss on Snow White, time and again, every day.

He shouldnt be doing that, says the San Francisco news website SFGATE.

The new grand finale of Snow Whites Enchanted Wish is the moment when the Prince finds Snow White asleep under the Evil Queens spell and gives her true loves kiss to release her from the enchantment, Julie Tremaine and Katie Dowd write in a review of the newly reworked ride at Disneyland in Southern California. A kiss he gives to her without her consent, while shes asleep, which cannot possibly be true love if only one person knows its happening.

Tremaine and Dowd add that its hard to understand why the Disneyland of 2021 would choose to add a scene with such old-fashioned ideas of what a man is allowed to do to a woman, especially given the companys current emphasis on removing problematic scenes from rides like Jungle Cruise and Splash Mountain. Why not re-imagine an ending in keeping with the spirit of the movie and Snow Whites place in the Disney canon, but that avoids this problem?

But many people reading the review -- which was largely positive about the ride, by the way -- dont think theres a problem.

Kiss scene is not appropriate? wrote one Twitter denizen. So do what, have Prince Charming give Snow White a true love shoulder shake? SMDH over too much political correctness!

The industry publication Theme Park Insider also weighed in on social media:

The new name for Disneylands Snow White ride is Snow Whites Enchanted Wish. You know what that wish was, right? It was for Prince Charming to come, to kiss her and to take her to live happily ever after. Just sayin.

The online debate quickly picked up steam, and USA Today and various other news outlets around the country joined in. Fox News host Todd Piro decried SFGATEs review as the latest example of cancel culture.

I dont think anybody is looking at the Prince Charming kiss of Snow White and saying, boy, thats a microcosm of date-rape culture in college, he said on air, The Independent reported.

Piro added:

Im not saying date-rape culture in college is a positive thing. I have a little daughter right upstairs here in my home. Absolutely dont want that, but  this is a cartoon, this is fable from many, many years. It is not what we all fear as dads of daughters.

Australian TV host and former The Bachelor contestant Natalie Sady struck a similar note, insisting children and their parents should be given a little more credit.

Parents should be able to teach their children about consent as well as the difference between real life and fairy tale, she said.

Disneyland reopened April 30, at 25% capacity, after being shuttered for more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

-- Douglas Perry

dperry@oregonian.com

@douglasmperry
She did everything for those boys, Berry told the station of Bogans dedication to her two sons, both of whom were home at the time of her devastating murder.
Venezuelan physician Jose Gregorio Hernandez Cisneros, who was beatified on 30 April in Caracas, has become Co-Patron of the Cycle of Studies in Peace Sciences of the Pontifical Lateran University, instituted by Pope Francis in November 2018. The following is a translation of the Chirograph by which the Holy Father established him as Co-patron.

Having considered the request of the Venerable Brother Cardinal Baltazar E. Porras Cardozo, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Caracas, Ven-e-zuela, by Letter No. AAC/26-21, of 9 March 2021;

having accepted the petition of the Rector Magnificus of the Pon-tif-i-cal Lateran University;

I willingly dispose



that the Venerable Servant of God Jose Gregorio Hernandez Cisneros, Lay Faithful, born on 26 October 1864 in Isnotu, Venezuela, and died on 29 June 1919 in Caracas, Venezuela, whose Beatification was established in the Archdiocese of Caracas on 30 April 2021, be made Co-Patron of the Cycle of Studies in Peace Sciences instituted by me at the Pontifical Lateran University with the Letter The Desire for Peace of 12 November 2018 (in AAS, CX [2018], 1720-1722), placing him alongside Blessed John of Peace.



From the Vatican, 26 April 2021



Franciscus
The Holy Father sent a Message to the Archbishop of Bombay and President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, for the Covid-19 health emergency in the country. The following is the English text of the Popes message.

To Cardinal

Oswald Gracias

Archbishop of Bombay

President of the Catholic Bishops

Conference of India

At this time when so many in India are suffering as a result of the present health emergency, I am writing to convey my heartfelt solidarity and spiritual closeness to all the Indian people, together with the assurance of my prayers that God will grant healing and consolation to everyone affected by this grave pandemic.

My thoughts go above all to the sick and their families, to those who care for them, and in particular to those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. I think too of the many doctors, nurses, hospital workers, ambulance drivers and those working tirelessly to respond to the immediate needs of their brothers and sisters. With deep appreciation I invoke upon all of them Gods gifts of perseverance, strength and peace.

In a particular way, I am united to the Catholic community in your country, with gratitude for its works of charity and fraternal solidarity carried out in the service of all; I think especially of the generosity shown by so many committed young people. I join you in commending to the Lords infinite mercy the faithful who have lost their lives, not least the great numbers of priests and men and women religious. In these days of immense grief, may we all be consoled in the hope born of Easter and our unshakeable faith in Christs promise of resurrection and new life. To all I send my blessing.

Rome, from Saint John Lateran, 6 May 2021

Franciscus
Attorneys for all three defendants have insisted they committed no crimes. The McMichaels lawyers have said they pursued Arbery, suspecting he was a burglar, after security cameras had previously recorded him entering a home under construction. They say Travis McMichael shot Arbery while fearing for his life as they grappled over a shotgun.
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Midland County recorded 17 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, according to the state's daily report.

Effective May 7, the Midland County Department of Public Health will be returning to the requirement of a 10-day quarantine period, instead of a 14-day period, for individuals who have been identified as close contacts for COVID-19 exposure, said health officer Fred Yanoski.

Midland County and the State of Michigan have seen a continued downward trend in community transmission the last several weeks.

Anyone who is currently in quarantine can adjust their dates accordingly by subtracting four days from their previous end date, Yanoski said.

The CDC continues to recommend a 14-day quarantine as the best way to mitigate continued transmission. Individuals are advised to continue to be vigilant for symptoms and practice meticulous public health measures for the full 14 days after they are released after day 10, as there is a small chance that infection can still occur.

Residents are urged to get vaccinated and continue to follow public health measures (such as social distancing, mask wearing, etc.).

It is very important for people to be very careful until after 14 days, and make sure they are meticulous in following preventative measures like distancing and mask wearing," Yanoski said. "However, the vast majority of infections occur in the first 10 days, and the shortened quarantine period certainly does not add a significant risk to our community transmission."

Friday, May 7 COVID-19 numbers:

 Midland County: 17 cases were added. Pandemic total is 6,507 cases, 704 probable, 79 deaths and three probable deaths.

 Bay County: 37 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 10,190 cases, 643 probable, 315 deaths and 13 probable deaths.

 Gladwin County: two cases were added; pandemic total stands at 1,852 cases, 372 probable, 47 deaths and three probable deaths.

 Isabella County: 18 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 5,163 cases, 864 probable, 84 deaths and four probable deaths.

 Saginaw County: 79 cases were added; pandemic total stands at 19,103 cases, 1,244 probable, 559 deaths and 16 probable deaths.

On Friday, the state added 2,758 new cases and 30 deaths. Overall, Michigan is at 860,808 cases and 18,084 deaths.

Testing

The state report shows as of Friday, Midland County has performed 73,016 COVID-19 tests. Gladwin County is listed as having administered 21,021 tests.

Midland Countys seven-day rolling positivity rate on May 3 was listed at 12.5% and Gladwin County was listed at 10.3%. Our 12-county region is listed at 15.2% and Michigan is at 11.8%.

MidMichigan Health statistics

As of Thursday, MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland was listed as having an 83% bed occupancy with 26 COVID-19 patients and 8 in the ICU. MidMichigan Medical Center in Gladwin was listed as having an 47% bed occupancy with three 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 as of Thursday. The Gladwin hospital reported 30-plus days for all of the above supplies.
Calvary Baptist Academy senior Caleb Wallace has fun putting himself in another's shoes, so to speak.

"I've always loved drama," Wallace enthused. "Ive always enjoyed becoming a character (and imagining), 'How would they act?'"

Wallace has an all-around passion for the performing arts, also playing trumpet in the school band and singing tenor in the choir.

He started playing cornet way back in third grade, then eventually switched to trumpet in eighth grade.

Wallace has been singing in choir since he was in seventh grade.

"I always loved singing and doing whatever I could to worship the Lord," he said.

His involvement in theater started when he took a drama class at CBA in ninth grade.

"My friend Nathaniel Wiggins and I were pulled up and were able to be extras in 'Treasure Island' in ninth grade," Wallace said. "The next year, I was in 'Pride and Prejudice.' Last year, we were going to do 'Sleepy Hollow,' but that got canceled because of COVID."

Later this month, Wallace will play the part of John Brooke in CBA's production of "Little Women."

Wallace enjoys the behind-the-scenes work of producing a play as much as being on the stage.

"My favorite (play) had to be Treasure Island because I didnt have to memorize any (lines). Making the set and doing scene changes, that was a lot of fun," he said.

CBA drama teacher and director David Warren said Wallace is someone you can always count on.

"Caleb is just a dependable guy. Caleb's strength is that you can count on him," Warren said. "Hes helped with sets and with props and hes been on stage. I dont have to worry; he gets his lines down when its time to rehearse."

CBA music director Ben Dawley also praised Wallace's character.

"Caleb is a really sweet guy. He's a polite, respectful young man," Dawley said. "He works hard. He is gifted at what he does and hes willing to do whatever is asked of him.

"His servant attitude is huge," Dawley added. "And hes willing to help younger students be successful as well."

After graduating from CBA, Wallace is considering attending Saginaw Valley State University or Pensacola Christian College in Florida.
Senate Bill 128, Impose same expanded hours mandate on both new and used car dealers: Passed 36 to 0 in the Senate

To impose a new mandate on both new and used auto dealers that they must be open for 30 hours per week during at least 48 weeks a year. This would likely have no effect on new car dealers, whose generally larger operations and costs make them likely to keep long hours already, but the additional burden could force some used car dealers to go out of business.
That could have been any one of us, she said of Brooks in June. That could be any of our kids or brothers. In this case it was: It was someones father.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Mitchell Kukulka.

Tuesday, May 4

11:31 p.m. -- A 30-year-old Edenville Township man and a 56-year-old Edenville Township man called about loud noise coming from another neighbor's property. They reported vehicles were at the neighbor's and generators were running. The neighbor had turned off the generators and left just after the calls to the Sheriff's Office were made. The callers also said the dog barks a lot at night when it is left on the property, and runs around the area at times. The complainants said the noise is an ongoing issue and it occurs after midnight at times.

11:02 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to the area of M-30 and Shaffer Road in reference to a man and woman flagging down cars. The two subjects said they did not have gas or money, and there was a vehicle on the side of the road. Deputies located the vehicle, but nobody was found in the area. The vehicle was tagged with an abandoned vehicle sticker.

9:50 p.m. -- A deputy was dispatched to assist Michigan State Police on a breaking-and-entering complaint. The suspect, a 35-year-old Midland County woman, was taken into custody by MSP.

8:53 p.m. -- A 42-year-old Edenville Township woman called 9-1-1 after her 44-year-old boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, a 35-year-old Midland woman, showed up to their house unannounced. The Midland woman was "creating a ruckus" and eventually left.

8:16 p.m. -- A 46-year-old Mills Township woman called the Sheriff's Office after she believed she fell victim to a scam. An unknown suspect posed as a government employee that was giving out a $30,000 grant. The Mills Township woman provided her social security number but ceased conversing with the subject once she was asked for her banking information. The Mills Township woman is not out any money. The woman was provided information on identity theft and how to mitigate the issue.

3:54 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Rodd Street and East Baker Street.

2:37 p.m. -- Officer responded to a domestic assault in the 3800 block of Waldo Avenue.

1:21 p.m. -- A Freeland woman called the Sheriff's Office because her elderly parents fell victim to an email phishing scam. Her 75-year-old mother, who lives in Jerome Township, received an email she believed was from Amazon Prime asking her to update her account. This email was fraudulent. Her mother responded to this email and followed the suspect's instructions and downloaded malware on her Apple computer. When the daughter found out what was going on, she turned off and unplugged the computer. It appears the suspect did not obtain any personal information. It is estimated to cost $100 to have a computer store repair the Apple computer. The suspect(s) appear to be based in India.

1:13 p.m. -- Officers responded to a vehicle crash in the area of Sturgeon Avenue and Letts Road.

12:12 p.m. -- Deputies were dispatched to a Mills Township residence in reference to a wellbeing check on a 56-year-old man. Deputies made entry per his 20-year-old daughter's request. Deputies found the man with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, and he was pronounced dead on the scene.

5:25 a.m. -- Officers responded to a report of domestic violence in the 2500 block of Abbott Road.

12:13 a.m. -- Officers responded to a minor-in-possession of marijuana in the area of Ashman Street and Mertz Street.
File photo of an American Black Bear. Contrary to popular belief, these bears come in many shades and color  not just black. They can also be spotted in varying browns, reds, and whites. Photo Credit: Frank Fichtmuller (iStock).
Grammy Award-winning pop star Justin Bieber's Aug. 8 concert at Ball Arena has been rescheduled to March 16. "Justice World Tour 2022," which was planned to kick off this summer, was moved to next year due to varying COVID-19 restrictions in each state. Photo by Scott Roth/Invision/AP
The first freed hostage, an unidentified woman, left the bank around 6:30 p.m., with another woman exiting about 30 minutes later, Minneapolis CBS affiliate WCCO reported. The third and fourth people were released around 8 p.m. The final hostage walked free at 10:30 p.m., moments before cops stormed the bank.
Theater plans

'Hot Shorts'

NORMAL  Heartland Theatre is producing a new pressure cooker project developed under strict timelines. They have called on playwrights from the 10-Minute Plays, new directors and a cast of actors to create Hot Shorts virtual short plays.

The performances of the five plays will be broadcast at 7 p.m. May 23 on Heartland Theatre YouTube channel.

The plays are Two Ghost Night by Blaise Miller, Frisco, Texas; Remote by Nancy Halper, Summit, New Jersey; Distance by John Enright, Chicago; Return to Normal by Dan Borengasser, Springdale, Arkansas; and Good for the Soul by Bruce Boeck.

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The actors are Rachel Hettrick, Jessi Reid-Swiech, Gregory D. Hicks, Kristi Zimmerman, Mathew Green, Gayle Hess, Joe Strupek, Dave Krostal and Kevin Paul Wickart.

Event to fete

B-N art history

BLOOMINGTON  For this weeks First Friday event in downtown Bloomington, Inside Out: Accessible Art Cooperative is hosting a special event, "Celebrating Bloomington's Art History." The event includes a free hands-on art activity and special exhibit.

This months special exhibit Twelve Acclaimed Artists with Bloomington/Normal Connections" will be in the lobby at 200 W. Monroe St. where there is a permanent oversized photographic mural of the 1900 fire that destroyed much of downtown Bloomington.

The special exhibit includes photo samples of the artwork to highlight the long history of the importance of art to the community and the positive influence of the local community of artists far beyond Bloomington-Normal's borders.
Moms (and dads, too) know parenthood isnt easy.

Children dont always listen and sometimes do thoughtless things. Other times, kids are remarkably caring and loving. Those are the special moments you hold near to your heart.

Recently I reminisced about a trip which happened more than a decade ago and included the full pendulum swing of parental emotions.

My daughter and I went on an international Girl Scout excursion, along with 30 other girls and chaperones to London, Paris, Geneva and Rome.

In each city, our group walked together along crowded sidewalks. Adults kept a watchful eye and took turns serving as the sweeper, the position last in line to ensure no girls were left behind.

At our stop in Paris, we entered the loud and crowded Metro subway tunnel.

If you miss the train, the Parisian guide casually said, take the next one.

That sounded easy, coming from an adult male who lived there. But when youre a pretty 14-year-old girl who doesnt speak French, know the city and or fully grasp the dangers of an uncaring world, its best to stick with the tour group.

I was first into the train car and crossed to the opposite side to make room for the girls following me. I turned and scanned the passengers, searching for my daughters face. Then I saw her. Outside, on the platform, unmoving.

At least six people stood between me and the door which was sliding shut.

No! No! No! I yelled. Another chaperone shouted, Have you been robbed??

I pushed through the crowd and felt the closing door hit my heel as I stumbled onto the platform.

What are you doing? I shouted above the noise of the departing train.

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She looked at me unconcerned, as if we were standing at home in our kitchen.

Waiting for another train, she said. That one was too crowded.

Theyre all crowded! I yelled. Dont you understand how dangerous it is for a girl lost in a foreign city who cant even ask for help?! You have to stay with the group!

It was one of those parenting moments when you are terrified, angry and incredulous all at the same time.

Eventually, we caught up with the tour. The sweeper was in a panic, declaring she thought my daughter was on the train.

Were together now, I said. And we headed off to Switzerland.

High in the Alps is an international Girl Scout center called "Our Chalet." Opened in 1932, the center hosts Scouts from around the world. Girls learn about other cultures and discuss such topics as saving the environment or fighting poverty.

The retreat is well-known in the Girl Scout world; theres even a campfire song about it.

Before we left home, we told my mother, a proud former Girl Scout, about the chalet stop. She was thrilled for us, and without missing a beat, sang the old song, word for word.

In Switzerland, we were awed by the beauty of the Alps and the charm of the chalet. The mountains and waterfalls were spectacular, and the center was buzzing with activity. I kept thinking of Mom who would have loved it.

It was 4 a.m. in Illinois, but despite the hour, I decided to call my folks. Our girls, plus Scouts from other countries, sang Our Chalet to my mother, thousands of miles away in Illinois.

It was one of lifes perfect moments, a caring gesture made even richer by the girls sweet voices. Grandmother, mother and daughter were connected by a bond of melody and love.

Parents do the best they can; they forgive hurts, overlook mistakes and move past the hard days. And they cherish heartfelt moments, like a trans-Atlantic serenade, that make being a parent all worthwhile.

Happy Mothers Day!

Contact Susan Hazlett at susanrhazlett@yahoo.com or write to her in care of The Pantagraph, 205 N. Main St., Bloomington, IL 61702-2907.

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NORMAL  Caitlin Hays didnt officially graduate from Illinois State University this week, although the walk she took and diploma case she accepted were as official-looking as one can get.

A junior studying agricultural education, the 21-year-old has about a year before things are official. Her mom Cyndi Hays, however, doesnt know how much time she has left. Diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer nearly a year ago, her time on Earth is limited, at best.

She dreamed of seeing her youngest daughter graduate college, she said, calling it the only reason I have been fighting cancer.

And so on Wednesday, Caitlin Hays walked across a graduation stage at Redbird Arena, a year ahead of her projected graduation date.

"Make-believe, but one hell of a vision," is how Cyndi Hays described the sight of her daughter.

Cyndi said shed watched her husband, Bill Hays, die for four years, seven months, a process that had turned her off of the idea of treatment. He died in 2010, at age 42, of colorectal cancer after chemotherapy that was grueling  very grueling.

Ive never been stingy a day in my life, but when cancer hit, its like, OK, pump the brakes, Cyndi said. There are things that are not being taken from me, if I can help it.

So she opted for treatment, with her daughter's graduation at the forefront of her mind.

The whole time, I kept telling myself that when I was doing these rounds of chemotherapy, if I just keep doing them and make it through her graduation, then it would be okay, Cyndi said.

In a way, she did.

Cyndi said she taught her three daughters to write handwritten thank you notes to people to which they are grateful. When Caitlin wrote two such notes to educators in her department at ISU, thanking them for helping her transition to a new university last year and mentioning the challenge of her mothers diagnosis, wheels started to turn.

The spring was a rough one for me, said Lucas Maxwell, an assistant professor of agricultural education. In February, I lost my brother and my sister-in-law: Him to COVID and her of a broken heart. I helped Caitlin with a couple of things in class and she wrote me a very beautiful card ... hopeful that (her) mom would make it to graduation.

Anymore, everything punches me in the gut. I wanted to see if we could try to put something together for them to celebrate her future accomplishments.

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Within days, university officials arranged for Caitlin to participate in the stage-walking ceremony Wednesday. Maxwell joked that academia moves incredibly slow  except for when we dont.

Thankfully, this was one of those times where everybody reacted and jumped into place, he said.

On Wednesday, with the walk done, the pictures taken, the gratitude expressed again, Caitlin described the moment as bittersweet.

After her fathers death, she said she definitely didn't think it was gonna hit me when I was in college, again.

I think its prepared me to be stronger and it tests your faith a lot, she said. Hopefully, we still have her here next year to do the actual thing and actually get my real degree, but it's definitely nice to, regardless of the circumstances, be able to have the memories.

In the meantime, the family has more plans in the works. In the past year, Cyndi Hays has taken several of what shes called end-of-life trips with various loved ones to make memories that mean more to (her) than anything else.

Shes gone to the Wisconsin Dells and the Gulf Coast, and plans to take Caitlin to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, since her youngest daughter has never seen the mountains.

I don't want things missed  you know I don't want to say, Oh, we should have done that, now Ill never be able to, she said.

The next trip Cyndi will make, however, is Saturday, when she and Caitlin go wedding dress shopping. Caitlins not engaged, yet, but the shopping trip was something she and Cyndi wanted to cross off their bucket lists, together.

I am living and I am making sure I get to do all the things I really want to do with what time I have left on Earth, Cyndi said. Of all those desires, though, watching the mock-graduation ceremony Wednesday was among the items topping her list.

I have no doubt that she will be up there in 365 days, (but) I got to check that off my bucket list.

"I plan to live, and I pray to be here for her true walk across that stage. But if that doesnt happen, well, we got yesterday, and that is enough for both of us."

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BLOOMINGTON  Another four complaints have been filed against Bloomington police officers, bringing the total number of complaints lodged this year to eight.

Four have been resolved without review by the city's police review board, and four are still pending before the police department.

Bloomington police Assistant Chief Chad Wamsley on Thursday told the Public Safety and Community Relations Board that he is "not aware of any" of the pending complaints heading for PSCRB review.

Allegations in the eight complaints include unlawful arrest, harassment, violation of policy, excessive force and unlawful search and seizure. At least three allegations are related to dissatisfaction with service and another allegation is unknown.

"We're trying to decipher, it's a long, just kind of, a lot of stuff in there," Wamsley said. "I don't know really what the complaint is."

One complaint stems from an incident that occurred in 2019 and another complaint stems from an incident that occurred in 2020, Wamsley said.

The police department in 2020 fielded 22 complaints involving 27 allegations. Five were appealed to the board in 2020 for review.

An individual can lodge a formal complaint against an officer by submitting a citizen complaint form on the department's website, or to the department, 305 S. East St.

All complaints about Bloomington police must be filed first with the police department, which investigates them. A complainant dissatisfied with the outcome of the investigation can appeal the resolved complaint to the board.

Members of the PSCRB can only review whether department protocols were followed properly in the department's own investigation of the complaint. They have no authority over the department.

The board is also tasked with building community outreach, anticipating and preventing problems and making recommendations to the city based on public input and analysis of data.

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In April the police department responded to 4,206 calls for service, down from 4,464 calls in April 2020, Wamsley said.

Of last month's calls, 99.6% were handled without the use or the display of force, Wamsley said.

The remaining 0.4% includes 13 incidents of using force, involving 16 officers, and three incidents of showing force, involving five officers, Wamsley said.

Wamsley explained at the board's February meeting that officers report and the department documents every time an officer displays and every time an officer uses a Taser, pepper spray or a firearm.

In the three April incidents of displaying force, two officers displayed their Tasers, and one officer displayed a "duty weapon," Wamsley said. He did not detail the 13 incidents of using force.

In other business, Wamsley told the board Thursday the department continues to "have a heck of a time" recruiting new officers. It has received 116 applications since it began looking for more officers earlier this year, but only 49 people have participated in the first round of testing.

"Typically I'll have a group, when it comes to the P.T. test, which is the next portion, I'll have 100 minimum to test," Wamsley said, adding that he expects the department will be down 15 to 18 officers by September with retirements and other staffing changes.

He informed the board at its March meeting that the department extended formal job offers to four officers  three men and one woman. Those interested in working for the department can apply on the city's website.

"Even if we get some new officers hired anytime soon, it's roughly a year before they're actually on the street," Wamsley said. "We're gonna be hurting for some manpower. And it's not just our department, it's every department pretty much in the United States right now."

Contact Timothy Eggert at (309) 820-3276. Follow him on Twitter: @TimothyMEggert

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After a difficult year for Illinois police, officers from around the state gathered at the Illinois Police Officers Memorial outside the state Capitol on Thursday to remember those who died in the line of duty.

Sixteen Illinois officers were killed in the line of duty between 2019 and 2020. COVID-19 killed several of those officers in 2020. In 2019, multiple officers were killed in traffic accidents or by gunfire. Six other officers who lost their lives in previous years also were honored.

"I wanted to say how happy I am to be here. But that seems inappropriate to use that word. I'd be really happy if we didn't need to be here today. If there were no more names to be added to the wall," said Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs.

This was the first time the ceremony was held at the memorial since it was renovated. In addition to a statue with the names of Illinois' line of duty deaths surrounding it, a wall with various inscriptions and a thin blue line on the ground was added. The memorial ceremony has been annually since the early 1990s.

Among the new names being added to the memorial are McHenry County Deputy Jacob Keltner and Fulton County Deputy Troy Chisum. Keltner was shot and killed in March 2019 while executing a search warrant in Rockford. Chisum was shot responding to a disturbance call in June 2019.

Sangamon County has not lost an officer in the line of duty since 1975. For Sheriff Jack Campbell, that doesn't mean his officers are immune from danger.

"We have to make the public aware of the sacrifices that are made and the men and women that gave their lives is what we need to be here and remember. The (officers) that are here with us, they would do the exact same thing under any circumstance," Campbell said.

Frerichs quoted Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address to explain the sacrifice the deceased officers made for their community and why it's important to remember them.

"It is rather for us to be here, dedicated to the great task remaining before us. That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave their last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vane," Lincoln said.

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The families of the officers were given plaques with the name of their loved one. The plaques were presented by Frerichs, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, and representatives from the Cook County Sheriffs Office and the memorial's committee.

"As a mom, (the ceremony) really touched my heart," said state Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, who choked up explaining how difficult it was to watch the moms of officers at the ceremony.

Turner was one of a large group of lawmakers from both parties who attended the event. Illinois' four legislative leaders also attended and spoke with families afterwards.

Sheriff's departments, suburban Chicago police departments, the Chicago Police Department and Illinois State Police were among the departments in attendance. The day began with a memorial service at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield, followed by a procession of the officers in their cars to the Capitol.

"The thin blue line is getting stretched thinner and thinner these days," said speaker Gloria Bodnar, the daughter of a Chicago police officer who lost his life in 1974.

Several speakers echoed how the memorial can serve as a place of reflection for the families of the fallen officers.

"We come here not to honor how your family member died, but to honor how how they lived," said David Johnson, a former Sangamon County sheriff's deputy and president of the memorial's board.

The ceremony took place after a year that tested the morale of police around the country. Racial tensions stemming from anger over the deaths of people of color at the hands of the police tested officers in many ways. Officers faced riots and protesters asking for the police to be defunded. Lawmakers also took action in hopes of reforming how police and the criminal justice system work with legislation that was often not supported by police groups.

Bodnar said despite these challenges, "the cops continued to do their job."

Campbell also said it's important to remember who police officers are amid the events and rhetoric from the past year.

"We are you. We are people. We have lives, we have feelings. But we have a duty to protect the people of our communities. But on top of that, we are human beings. We have hearts, we cry, we grieve, we get angry. Yet, we're still willing to go out and do this job. We know (death or injury) could happen to us," Campbell said.

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State legislators negotiating the new massive energy reform bill were said to have made real progress at their Tuesday working group meeting last week.

Shortly before that meeting began, a legislator who is a longtime union ally and is involved in the talks told me the consensus was that a pound of flesh would have to be extracted from Exelon, which wants more subsidies for two nuclear power plants and has been under a dark ethics cloud as the U.S. Attorneys office probes its and its subsidiary ComEds Statehouse activities.

Well, lawmakers may want to increase the weight of that flesh to be extracted after a routine federal court hearing was rocked by a bombshell that could complicate the negotiations.

Near the end of a status hearing last week to discuss setting a trial date for the case of four people charged with conspiring to bribe former House Speaker Michael Madigan on behalf of ComEd, the defense attorney for former ComEd lobbyist Mike McClains attorney told U.S. District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber that setting a date would be difficult because, there has been some at least intimations that the government might be seeking a superseding indictment in this matter, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The defense lawyer for former ComEd vice president and lobbyist John Hooker then chimed in: We know they are apparently on the brink of a superseding indictment. When are they going to tell us? the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The state is rife with speculation that the superseding indictment could be of Madigan, who has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged.

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And that speculation intensified further when the Tribune reported that federal prosecutors had asked a couple of former House Democrats to explain to a grand jury how Madigan controlled the legislative process. Those former members are not subjects of the investigation, the paper reported. Another former legislator told the Tribune he was recently interviewed by federal agents about Madigans role in the process.

Madigan, of course, was forced out of office in January as a direct result of the federal probe and the resulting deferred prosecution agreement entered into by ComEds parent company Exelon and the indictments of his former close associates who worked or lobbied for the companies.

And even though much of the federal investigation revolves around the companies successful passage of a bill to heavily subsidize two nuclear power plants, Exelon is now asking the legislature to bail out two more downstate nuke facilities. The company is ostensibly taking a hands-off approach to the bill for obvious reasons, but a union-backed group is advocating on behalf of union members who work at the plants, which means its proposals will directly benefit the company.

While that arrangement allows lawmakers and the governor to avoid talking directly with Exelon and ComEd, it doesnt change the fact that the end result will have a direct impact on the companies bottom lines.

The governors financial proposal, based on an independent audit of Exelons actual needs, all but guarantees that any bailout number agreed to above that amount would be immediately suspect.

The union group has deemed the governors plan inadequate and claims that a similar Synapse audit in New Jersey produced an allegedly inaccurate subsidy projection which was subsequently rejected by the states public utilities commission. Coincidentally (or not) Exelons CEO Chris Crane pointed to the same Synapse audit in New Jersey during a recent earnings call with investors.

There has been some talk of basing the first years Exelon subsidy on the governors proposed level and then allowing the Illinois Commerce Commission or some other body to determine the subsidy moving forward. But in New Jersey, the public utilities commission eventually awarded the maximum allowed amount of zero emissions credits to the local nuclear fleet. Even so, a punt to a non-legislative body would have its advantages for legislators up for reelection next year.

The bottom line here is that lawmakers got a fresh reminder last week of the tricky minefield theyre in. And you cant help but wonder how closely the feds are monitoring the activities surrounding this particular bill.

Rich Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Recently, weve been very fortunate in witnessing the true character of a spirited leftist right here on our Bloomington City Council.

She wants to defund police. She promotes class envy and expresses the standard racial divisiveness talking points now embedded in the Democrat Party. She cant comprehend why people disagree with her.

Another leftist on the national stage is a congresswoman by the name of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). She wants more government presence in our lives, but agrees with defunding police. She actually believes criminal behavior is justified due to the police state that exists in America.

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Her unaffordable Green New Deal, free tuition College for All Act, and Medicare for All program proposals havent played well yet in Congress (no money), but the Democrat Party is embracing her ideas currently. She and her colleagues now have a window of opportunity. The fact that the Democrat Party is a home for malcontents is well-documented. Socialist, a/k/a progressive liberal, politicians thrive here in America because of it.

Leftists are also driving the power-hungry Democrat leaders to take bold steps to maintain power. They want to usurp the U.S. Constitution and declare Washington, D.C., a state, the purpose of which is to insure their senate majority in Congress. They also want to pack the Supreme Court with left-leaning judges.

A large empire once existed called the U.S.S.R. It operated based on the leftist socialist principals of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. It featured a strong leftist operated government that controlled everything, including the economy and everyones day to day lives, which is the direction the above mentioned parties want to lead us. Dictatorship of the Proletariat evolved and one political party took control. Inevitably, lacking sound economic planning and basic political freedoms, the empire imploded under its own weight.

Rick Skelley, Bloomington

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I am concerned about the bureaucracy of our countrys healthcare system. There are many shortcomings, ranging from large gaps in insurance coverage to surprise medical bills. However, there is no denying that our system, as flawed as it is, does extremely well  promote new drug development.

It has been nothing short of amazing to see how quickly we have been able to create vaccines to combat COVID-19. Our pharmaceutical industry responded to the pandemic immediately and even worked together with competitors to drive efficiency and scale.

Make no mistake about it, we have arrived at this point due to a free-market approach to medical innovation. By removing restrictions to treatment research and development, our government was able to even further encourage the swift delivery of vaccines to get us on the path toward normalcy.

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This is something that I hope continues. I believe that our government has an obligation to patients and should continue to support the pharmaceutical industrys work. At the end of the day, the goal for all patients is to be cured.

Unfortunately, a bill under consideration in Congress could threaten the exact innovation  HR3. While attempting to lower costs, the bill would lessen our countrys opportunity to find new life-saving medical advances. This last year shows our need for innovation alone.

The development of the COVID vaccine recently reignited my appreciation for U.S. medicine and our access to best medications. Our representation in Congress must show support for the pharmaceutical industry. Its something the United States should be proud of. We shouldnt compromise it. I hope that our elected leaders will vote no on HR3.

Gary Stevens, Bloomington

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DPD Austria says it is responding to the rapid growth in the parcel market with an investment offensive that begins with the expansion of its depot network.

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Rainer Schwarz, MD at DPD Austria, explained: The Corona crisis has turned our industry upside down and brought parcel logistics into the focus of the economy. We are meeting the new and additional challenges with an investment offensive that the depot expansion begins, leads to the expansion of tours and culminates in innovations. In this way we are strengthening our position as a reliable and stable Austrian parcel service provider for our customers.

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The company will invest around 11m (US$13.3m) in the depots, in addition to the circa 40m (US$48.3m) it has put into buildings, cargo space, technology, security and its vehicle fleet in recent years. This is for the expansion of the depots and the expansion of the conveyor technology in eight branches. This increases the sorting performance by around 30,000 parcels per hour. We are sure that with all these measures we will be able to cope well with the further growth in parcel volumes and thus be able to supply our customers sales markets again this year, explained Schwarz.

The company will also expand its pickup network to a total of 2,000 locations, with the addition of a further 200 this year. Schwarz noted, With this extensive network, we ensure that our customers can post, pick up or return a parcel within a maximum of 15 minutes.
We have chosen to create a system that actually serves all who use it. We have chosen the health of our community by sending a clear message that transgender, intersex, and gender-diverse people have a place in our communities and state. This decision will go a long way in helping such people know they belong, she added.
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has published an in-depth report covering how product repair restrictions from manufacturers like Apple have a negative impact on consumers, especially minorities, and small businesses.

The report's executive summary in-part states that "The Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) submits this report pursuant to Congresss directive for the Commission to report to the Committees on Appropriations of the House and Senate regarding anticompetitive practices related to repair markets. When directing the Commission to issue this report, Congress noted that it "is aware of the FTCs ongoing review of how manufacturersin particular mobile phone and car manufacturersmay limit repairs by consumers and repair shops, and how those limitations may increase costs, limit choice, and impact consumers rights under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act." Congress specifically directed the FTC to include recommendations on how to best address these problems.

To fulfill this Congressional directive, the Commission has synthesized the knowledge gained from its July 16, 2019 workshop titled Nixing the Fix: A Workshop on Repair Restrictions (the Workshop), public comments, responses to a Request for Empirical Research and Data, and independent research. This report examines consumer protection and antitrust issues relating to repair restrictions, with particular emphasis on those imposed by mobile phone and car manufacturers.

Congressional interest in the competition and consumer protection aspects of repair restrictions is timely. Many consumer products have become harder to fix and maintain. Repairs today often require specialized tools, difficult-to-obtain parts, and access to proprietary diagnostic software. Consumers whose products break then have limited choices.

Furthermore, the burden of repair restrictions may fall more heavily on communities of color and lower-income communities. Many Black-owned small businesses are in the repair and maintenance industries,5 and difficulties facing small businesses can disproportionately affect small businesses owned by people of color. This fact has not been lost on supporters of prior right to repair legislation, who have highlighted the impact repair restrictions have on repair shops that are independent and owned by entrepreneurs from underserved communities.

Repair restrictions for some productssuch as smartphonesalso may place a greater financial burden on communities of color and lower-income Americans. According to Pew Research, Black and Hispanic Americans are about twice as likely as white Americans to have smartphones, but no broadband access at home. Similarly, lower-income Americans are more likely to be smartphone-dependent. This smartphone dependency makes repair restrictions on smartphones more likely to affect these communities adversely.

Even when a warranty does not explicitly require that repairs be performed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) using OEM parts, many manufacturers restrict independent repair and repair by consumers through:

Product designs that complicate or prevent repair;

Unavailability of parts and repair information;

Designs that make independent repairs less safe;

Policies or statements that steer consumers to manufacturer repair networks;

Application of patent rights and enforcement of trademarks;

Disparagement of non-OEM parts and independent repair;

Software locks and firmware updates; or

End User License Agreements.

Manufacturers, including Apple, explain that these repair restrictions often arise from their desire to protect intellectual property rights and prevent injuries and other negative consequences resulting from improper repairs."

There are three direct references to Apple found in the FTC report as follows:

Reference #1 on Software Locks, Digital Rights Management, and Technological Protection Measures (page 23): Theresa McDonough, the owner of Tech Medic, a mobile phone and computer repair shop located in Middlebury, Vermont explained that Apple synchronizes some iPhone parts to the devices logic board, making the part repairable only by Apple. Although McDonough said she does not believe this practice is widespread in the marketplace, she fears that other manufacturers will engage in a similar practice in the future, making it impossible for individuals and independent repair shops to make certain repairs to electronic devices.

Reference #2 on Design Choices and Consumer Demand Drive the Repairability of the Devices (pages 35 & 36): Apples experience with its battery replacement program also suggests that, given a choice between a low-cost repair and buying a new mobile phone, many consumers will opt for the low cost repair. In early 2018, after Apple was found to be slowing down certain models of iPhones in order to compensate for degrading batteries, the company reduced the price of out-of warranty battery replacements for iPhone 6 and later models. Under the program, Apple reduced the price for a battery replacement from $79 to $29.191 Subsequently, in a January 2, 2019 letter to investors, Apples CEO explained that iPhone sales were lower than anticipated due to, among other things, "some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements."

Whether consumers are willing to trade repairability of devices for other design features is a question that remains open. Further research is required to understand the tradeoffs consumers are willing to make when fully informed about repairability.

Reference #3 on Timing of Repairs (page 39): Multiple Workshop panelists argued that allowing or providing for repair only through authorized repair networks or through the manufacturer can lead to repair taking too long to actually be a feasible option for consumers. Vermont State Senator Pearson, for example, stated that when his iPhones camera broke, "according to Apple, nobody in Vermont could fix it. They wanted me to send it to them.209 However, because he also runs a consulting business from his phone, mailing it away for repair would have had the effect of closing his business for a week and so it was a non-starter."

FTC's Conclusion

The debate around repair restrictions illustrates the limitations of MMWAs anti-tying provision in repair markets. While the anti-tying provision gives consumers the right to make repairs on their own or through an independent repair shop without voiding a products warranty, repair restrictions have made it difficult for consumers to exercise this right. Although manufacturers have offered numerous explanations for their repair restrictions, the majority are not supported by the record.

The auto industry has shown that in certain contexts, self-regulation can significantly increase consumers repair options. But other industries have not adopted similar self-regulation.

To address unlawful repair restrictions, the FTC will pursue appropriate law enforcement

and regulatory options, as well as consumer education, consistent with our statutory authority. The Commission also stands ready to work with legislators, either at the state or federal level, in order to ensure that consumers have choices when they need to repair products that they purchase and own.

For more on this, review the full 56 page FTC report below, courtesy of Patently Apple.

FTC Report - Nixing the Fix by Jack Purcher on Scribd
The Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations designate, Mr Bright Wireko-Brobbey, has charged workers to give their best to help revive the economy and rescue it from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.



He said increased productivity from workers, especially those in the public sector, was needed to put the economy back on track to deliver value to the populace and the country as a whole.



Mr Wireko-Brobbey, who is the immediate past Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, was speaking to the Graphic Business on April 30, ahead of the May Day celebration.



Kept faith



Mr Wireko-Brobbey said in spite of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on national revenues and the fiscal position for last year, the government "kept faith with workers" by ensuring that no worker neither lost a job nor suffered salary reduction or delayed payment.



With the pandemic now abated and the economy on a recovery mode, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hemang-Lower-Denkyira said it was the turn of workers to replicate the good faith to the government and the country at large by doubling up on their delivery.



He said higher productivity resulting from increased delivery by workers would lead to strong growth and that could translate into higher wages for public sector employees.



Compensation bill



His appeal comes at a time when data showed that compensation of public employees remained the top three drivers of public expenditure.



The 2021 budget showed that compensation of employees, which comprises salaries and wages, pensions, gratuities and social security, rose by 27.7 per cent to GH28.27 billion, making it the second biggest expenditure item after interest cost.



The amount was equivalent to 66.6 per cent of the years tax revenue, which ended the year at GH42.41 per cent.



The budget now estimates that compensation of public workers would rise by about seven per cent to GH30.3, equivalent to 26 per cent of the years projected total expenditure.



Positive attributes



The deputy minister noted that although the government was concerned about the strong growth of the compensation bill, given its impact on the economy, it found it necessary to adequately compensate workers for their toils.



He said the government would continue to prioritise the incomes of workers, with the hope that they would replicate the gesture to help grow the economy for increased earning and higher incomes.



The development economist appealed to workers to cultivate and nurture good work ethics, including proper time management and the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) to enhance their delivery.



He said time management had been found to be one of the biggest issues holding back output and called on workers to make it a habit to come to work early to help increase output.



"It is not that when you come early, you will automatically work hard or better but once you are in the office on time, it is an indication that you are ready to work and that is a positive start," he said.



Mr Wireko-Brobbey also noted the need for workers to utilise technology to advance their expertise rather than allowing social media to distract them.

Source: graphic.com.gh









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Bolt, the leading European mobility platform, launches its car-sharing service, Bolt Drive. The new service allows customers to rent a car for short periods of time using the Bolt app. Bolt will invest 20 million in launching Bolt Drive in Europe this year, starting with a pilot in its home market, Estonia.



Bolt is the first mobility platform in Europe to offer car-sharing, ride-hailing and micromobility with scooters and electric bikes in one app. By enabling customers to quickly and conveniently rent a car at the tap of a button, Bolt allows them to be less dependent on personal cars and encourages the use of alternative modes of transport for short-distance trips.



Markus Villig, CEO at Bolt, said: Personal cars are the primary cause of problems in urban transport. They are responsible for traffic, environmental emissions and taking up city space. Bolts mission is to help people give up their personal cars by providing a better alternative.



For people to switch from ownership to on-demand transport, we need to offer a more convenient, affordable and environmentally sustainable option for every distance. We are already doing this for short and medium distance trips. Bolt Drive now covers the rest of the use cases, whether it's a trip to a shopping mall or a weekend getaway. Our customers will have access to a car at any time, from the same app they already use for scooters, e-bikes and ride-hailing.



Bolt Drive is a free-floating car-sharing service, allowing customers to see the vehicles nearest to them on a map and book a car using the Bolt app. They can start the ride by unlocking a car with a mobile phone and finish it anywhere in the city, within an area indicated in the app. Users do not have to pay for parking or fuel.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Dr Archibald Yao Letsa, Volta Regional Minister, has assured the Region of its share of District hospitals promised by the government.



He said discussions and consultations were ongoing on the projects, which would give priority to districts without major hospitals.



The projects will be delivered. I was even engaged on this recently and the project would be delivered in phases. Some districts will be prioritised, the Regional Minister told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).



The Minister was reacting to a statement in which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) called on the government to furnish the Region with the nine hospitals it promised.



The statement signed by Mr Kafui Agbleze, Regional Secretary of the NDC and copied to the GNA, said none of the nine hospitals promised by the President for the Region was delivered.



Our search in all districts without hospitals in the region has revealed that absolutely no work has begun to build any hospital, not even a block has been laid anywhere to show any semblance of commitment to the promise made by H.E. the President, Mr Agbleze said.



He noted that districts, including Adaklu, Akatsi North, Ho West, Afadzato South, North Dayi, North Tongu, Agortime Ziope, Anlo and South Dayi were in dire need of hospitals.





Source: GNA









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After weeks of apprehension over the fate of Ghana's COVID-19 vaccination programme, the exercise looks set to resume soon after 350,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines landed in Accra on Friday morning.

It arrived around 5am, May 7, aboard a Turkish Airline fight to kick-start the second phase of the nationwide vaccination.



Fears that the programme could be held back heightened when the second batch of doses from the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX) facility, expected from India, were not forthcoming.



This sent tongues wagging and kept citizens who received the first jab more than two months ago in a quandary.



The 350,000 doses of vaccines are an addition to the 600,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine received on February 24, this year.



Already, Ghana has inoculated about 850,000



Some countries under the COVAX facility have not been able to utilise all their allocation and the platform has decided to re-allocate them to countries which have been able to utilise all their first allocation and more vaccines are needed for the second doses and for those who have not even had their first dose



Read also: COVID-19 second doses arrive in Accra Friday



Graphic Online's Kester Aburam Korankye reports from the Kotoka International Airport that after becoming the recipient of the historic first shipment of COVAX vaccines, Ghana on Friday morning received another consignment of the vaccines to help kick start the second phase of the nationwide vaccination.





The 350,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines arrived at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) at 5 A. M aboard a Turkish Airline flight- Airbus A330 Kushimoto.



The consignment, which was initially allocated to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was shipped into Ghana after the DRC failed to utilise them weeks after it arrived in that country.



It was received at the Kotoka International Airport by the the Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Mr Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari on the tarmac of the airport, reports Kester Aburam Korankye.



Mr Oku-Afari told Graphic Online in an interview that the arrival of the vaccines was a "big relief" for Ghana and a timely intervention in the country's fight against COVID- 19.



"Even if you have the money to buy, it is not easy these days to get them so this is very timely and a big relief for the country," he said.



He said the Ghana Health Service will kick-start the second phase of the vaccination soon.





Source: graphiconline.com









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I feel like we are in a state where we can see each others humanity and try our best to right the wrongs that have been done, and I think this is just one step in the right direction, the Democratic lawmaker said according to VTDigger.
The Member of Parliament for the Asuogyaman Constituency, Thomas Ampem Nyarko, has urged his parliamentary colleagues to pursue the implementation of developmental projects in their constituencies all year round, and not only election periods.



He said waiting for an election year to be serious about developmental projects, ostensibly for political gains would only lead to the execution of shoddy works.



Mr Nyarko said this during an engagement at Akosombo with Mr. Dennis Agyei Boateng, National President of Unilime Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.



Mr Nyarko said even though MPs primarily enacted laws, some citizens had redefined their roles as development agents, hence they expected them to undertake a lot of developments projects in their constituencies rather than being committed to the floor of Parliament to make laws.



I dont wait till election year before I start work because the campaign starts from now, so I focus on developmental issues from now to the election period. The electorate are smart and know who is working and who wants power, he stated.



On some of the development issues in his constituency, Mr Nyarko expressed commitment to creating more jobs.



That, he said, would complement the government's efforts at reducing unemployment among the youths and enhance the economy as youth unemployment was a major national problem, especially his constituency.



Outlining ways to address the unemployment situation, he said, he would continue to partner with Unilime Foundation under their flagship programme, Vocational, Technological and Technical (VOCTECH) to train more youth so that he could set them up after their graduation to be self-reliant.



He said Unilime Foundation conducted a lot of research to identify the problems, was committed to monitoring and evaluation, and very zealous with their work, hence the partnership to ensure the sustainability of the projects.



According to him, annually, he engaged more than 100 youth to be trained in Vocational and Technical skills such as sewing, mansonary, tiling, carpentry, hairdressing, among others, and after graduationset them up for in business.



Last year, in Frankadua community, I enrolled 120 young people in the training but at the end of the training, only 40 people graduated. I was not encouraged since they were less than 50 percent, but with Unilime Foundation, they could do a lot of the supervisory on the project. I will be glad to recruit more and fund it so that Unilime Foundation can ensure its sustainability, he explained.



At present, Mr Nyarko has partnered with the NGO to trained 15 youth on their VOCTECH project at Boso in the Eastern Region as a pilot project.



He funded the training and provided the necessary training machines to enhance their work ahead of graduation next year.

I believe if we can work together with my resources and contacts, as well as the zeal and passion from the young volunteers, we will be able to achieve a lot of things together, he stated.



The MP said he was partnering the GiZ, German development agency, to encourage more youth in agriculture, to impact the national economy.

Source: GNA









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The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) Foundation ended 2020 in a good note with seventeen coveted awards.



As the sustainability arm of GNPC, the Foundation (GNPC Foundation) scooped some top awards last year for their enormous contribution to the development of the country despite the coronavirus challenges.



In the prestigious Sustainability and Social Investment Awards, the Foundation scooped twelve awards last year including the SSI Project of the year in education.



The Foundation was also adjudged excellence in corporate social responsibility of the year at the last edition of the Ghana Business Awards, beating competition from other notable organizations to win the enviable award.



It also won the corporate social responsibility of the year in the last years edition of the Western Regional Business Awards for contributing immensely to the development of the region.



Three awards at the Fontomfrom Amandze Awards made it seventeen for the Foundation in last year despite the devastating disease which slowed businesses and even led to some collapsing.



Below are the awards



1. Sustainability and Social Investment Awards



 Best company in Educational sponsorship project



 Best company in community development and infrastructure project



 Best company in project promoting art and culture



 Best company in livelihood empowerment project



 Best company in providing health facilities



 Best company in providing educational facilities



 Best company in Covid-19 institutional support project



 Best company in project promoting and supporting STEM education



 Best company in quality healthcare delivery



 Best company in long term health support project



 Best company in economic empowerment



 SSI Project of the year (Education)



2. Ghana Business Awards



 Excellence in corporate social responsibility of the year



3. Western Regional Business Awards



 Corporate social responsibility company of the year



4. Fontomfrom Amandze Awards



 Corporate social responsibility of the year



 Humanitarian company of the year



 True leadership award (Executive Director).







Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Dr Opuni Frimpong says the Ghana Education Service cannot employ imposition as the means to address the impasse between the Muslim students and Wesley Girls High School.



According to the Convener for Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa, the Islamic leaders, the government, the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service and the Wesley Girls High School should use the old principle of dialogue to address the gridlock and not an imposition.



Speaking on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show, Dr Opuni Frimpong pleaded for the various stakeholders to use dialogue as it has been the means over the years in resolving any misunderstanding among the various religious bodies.



I will plead that it should be dialogue, and imposition will not help solve the issue. Using order in the matter of faith does not help because the religious schools were established on their faith and this cut across in both Christian schools and Islamic schools, he pleaded.



He maintained that over the years, the various religious schools have certain elements of their faith that they protect in their schools; thus, dialogue should be the only way to resolve any issue of the faith affecting someone and not an imposition.



For instance, on Fridays, every Islamic school teach for some few hours and they will not teach again for the rest of the day. You cannot go to an Islamic school and say that you will teach because you are a Christian. You cannot also say that you are a Christian and for that matter, you are going to establish a church in an Islamic school like T.I Ahmadiyya, and likewise a mosque cannot be established in Presec School, he argued.



 . . you cannot go to SDA school where earring is not accepted and say that you will wear earrings; you cannot do that . . . certain elements of the faith of the religious schools are protected in the schools, he stressed.



He was of the view that God has blessed the country with religious tolerance and inter-faith harmony and that such understanding that has existed among the religious bodies for many years should be maintained; reiterating that the understanding has been based on dialogue and not an imposition.

Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com









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The Ghana Gas Company Ltd has revealed that within the last four years, it has phased out the 52 Chinese expatriate staff running its technical operations at the Atuabo plant in the Western Region.



This revelation was made by the CEO of the company, Dr Ben Asante, when he took participants of a Gas Conference currently going on at Takoradi on a tour around the plant to familiarize them with the companys operations.



The conference has drawn together officials from the Ministry of Energy and various relevant sector agencies and other industry players to discuss strategic ways in which Ghanas gas resources can be maximized for the benefit of the nation.



Dr Asante disclosed that as of March 2017, the companys plant was fully manned by expatriate technical personnel and numbered about 50. However, a concerted decision was taken to train Ghanaian engineers to take over these operational roles, and that currently, the staff is fully Ghanaian, with about 50 engineers.



He disclosed further that this move has saved the company about $3.5m per month that it was paying the Chinese expatriate engineers, adding they are brilliant and so far we have not had any incidents at the plant. He also stated that there was some scepticism when the idea was initially mooted, given that there had been an accident earlier at a VRA plant, and disclosed that notwithstanding this, the initiative was pushed through.



The Ghana National Gas Company, incorporated in July 2011, is the nations premier gas business company and is responsible for producing and prospecting of lean gas, condensate, LPG and plays a key role in the nations industrial sector. Through its subterranean pipelines, the Atuabo plant supplies gas to the VRAs Aboadze thermal plant and therefore plays a huge role in the countrys power supply system.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Lieutenant Colonel Edward Sarpong Appiah, Commanding Officer, the 66 Artillery Regiment in Ho, has assured the citizens that the military will not relent in efforts to protect the Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land.



He said the military was conscious of its role to defend the Constitution at all times and would not shy away from that responsibility, adding that they would resist any attempt by any person or group of persons to overthrow the Constitution.



On behalf of the Military High Command, we will defend the 1992 Constitution because, it is our duty and core mandate, and also we will resist any attempt by any individual or group of persons to overthrow the constitution of Ghana, he stated.



Lt. Col. Appiah gave the assurance during an encounter with the National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE) as part of the Constitution Week Celebration, and called on the citizens to assist the military in any way possible to achieve its mandate.



Mr Kenneth Kponor Volta Regional Director, NCCE, urged personnel to remain professional in the discharge of their duties to promote national cohesion.



He asked them to extricate themselves from acts that would infringe on the rights of the citizens but rather ensured protection of the fundamental human rights of all citizens.



Mr Kponor said no one was above the law, therefore, they should ensure that their conduct and activities were within the confines of the law.







Source: GNA









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The West Akyem Municipal Directorate of National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has called for an introspective look at Ghanas journey through the fourth republican constitutional rule and re-orient themselves towards maintaining national peace and unity.



The Commission said the adoption of a constitutional rule in 1992 by Ghanaians was a call to action for a uniformed spirit of togetherness to work towards sustainable national development for the country.



Madam Modesta Annie Sapaty, the NCCE Municipal Director for West Akyem, made the call during a programme organised by the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association at Asamankese to begin this years Constitutional Week Celebration themed: We are one, Ghana first.



It is to this effect that the NCCE has called for a re-orientation of the Ghanaian citizenry on the essence of promoting national unity and development through the upholding of the core values of the 1992 Constitution, she said.



The 2021 Annual Constitution Week theme was adopted by the NCCE to remind Ghanaians of their identity as one people with a common destiny, and the fact that national interest supersedes ethnic and all forms of parochial sentiments.



Touching on some of the core national values and principles inherent in the 1992 Constitution, Madam Sapaty highlighted patriotism, hard work, liberty, equality of opportunity and prosperity.



She also mentioned freedom, justice, probity and accountability, respect for rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedoms as well as protection and preservation of unity and stability of the nation.



A true patriot, for instance, will not condone corrupt practices in any form or shape and or lead a foreigner to indulge in an illegality, such as illegal mining, thereby causing wanton destruction to the vegetation and river bodies as are sadly being witnessed currently in Ghana, she added.



She noted, should citizens continue to uphold the core values strictly, it would result in rapidly attaining and deepening the goals of good governance, national unity and prosperity. These are elements of our identity as one people with a common destiny.

Source: GNA









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The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, has asked all security operatives carrying out operations in mine sites without government authorisation to halt their activities with immediate effect.



A statement signed and issued by the sector Minister in Accra on Thursday, said it had come to the attention of the Ministry that certain unauthorized Task Forces and security operatives had taken advantage of the ongoing "Operation Halt" to harass small-scale miners across the country.



"For the avoidance of doubt, Government is not against lawful, regulated and sustainable small-scale mining. Operation Halt relates exclusively to the purging of our water bodies and forest reserves of illegal small-scale mining.



There continue to be measures to deal with other forms of illegalities in the mining sector such as enhanced regulation, reformation of permitting regime, community mining, and other enforcement mechanisms which the Ministry is pursuing.



The operations of such unauthorized Task Forces and parallel security outfits should cease and be disbanded with immediate effect,' the statement said.



The Ministry reiterated its unwavering commitment to realizing the national policy on small-scale mining, which is to preserve the water bodies, forest reserves, and sanitize the mining sector.

Source: GNA









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Plans are underway to construct storm drains in the Asante-Mampong Township.



The three main areas to be targeted are the Mampong Zongo East and West as well as the Taadie Lake.



Mr Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, Member of Parliament for Asante-Mampong, who made this known, said the 2021 budget statement had already captured the construction of the drains in the township.



Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after inspecting the Taadie Lake, he said the construction and expansion of the drainage systems would help reduce flooding during rainstorms in the town.



The dredging of the Taadie Lake would also help not only to beautify it but also restore it to its historical and spiritual significance while positioning it as a tourist attraction site.



Mr Sarpong said the Lake with its multitude of fish was once a place of relaxation and spiritual renewal for many people in the olden days.



It was therefore important to dredge the Lake and other storm drains in the town to reduce flooding during rains.

Source: GNA









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Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has lauded the management of the Ghana Prisons Service for ensuring the safety of prison inmates to prevent any infection among inmates since the outbreak of the Coronavirus disease in Ghana last year.



He said since the COVID-19 mass vaccination exercise started on March 2, this year, 2,161 prison officers and 1,136 inmates with underlying health conditions had received jabs of the AstraZenecca vaccines, and pledged government's commitment to respond to their health needs and safety.



In that vein, he said, the infirmary of Nsawam Medium Security Prison had been elevated to a district hospital, while plans were advanced to upgrade the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison, Kumasi Central and Koforidua Prisons infirmaries into clinics.



Vice President Bawumia made this known at the passing-out parade of Officer Cadet Course Intake 28 of the Prison Officers Training School, in Accra, on Friday.



Dr Bawumia, who was the Reviewing Officer for the parade, commended the graduands for exhibiting high alertness and excellent marching skills.



The Vice President subsequently commissioned the 198 officers into the Senior Cadet Corps of the Ghana Prisons Service.



The Officers Cadet Course Intake 28 started on January 17, this year after rigorous recruitment regime.



There were a total of 198 graduands, comprising 129 males and 69 females, who were serving officers with professional and academic backgrounds including; Accounting, Social Science, Engineering, Education and Health.



They were taken through a rigorous physical training regime and drill during the four months period.

They studied courses such as Social Psychology, Correctional Management, Penal Law, Staff Function, Emergency and Serious Incidents Management.



Dr Bawumia was of the conviction that the graduands had worked hard and showed self-discipline and mental fortitude throughout the training and would serve the nation to the best of their abilities.



Also, they had been adequately equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills and would perform their duties excellently, without comprising their professional and work ethics, he added.



Vice President Bawumia lauded the leadership of the Director-General of Prisons, Mr Patrick Darko Missah and the first ever female Commandant of the Prison Officers Training School, Mrs Joana Fofo Tackie-Otoo, for their professionalism and innovation.



He believed the training offered the new senior officers would enhance the quality of the country's penal system and administration of justice, as well as improve the safety environment of inmates for their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.



He assured of government's commitment to enhancing the capacity of the human resource of Prison Service and improve the residential accommodation of officers.

The Vice President urged the Prison Administration to treat inmates with care, respect and decency in accordance with international best practices.



On efforts to improve the human resource and logistical needs of the Prison Service, Dr Bawumia said, over the past four years, 2,950 recruits and 300 cadets were enlightened into the Service to improve its human resource base, while 10 brand new Nissan Pick-Ups were donated by government to augment their fleet of vehicles.



He lauded the Pentecost Church for sponsoring the construction of five prison camps and urged other organizations to emulate the shining example of the Church.



Senior Under Officer Samuel Yankey emerged the Overall Best Officer Cadet and took home the Sword of Honour Award, while Junior Under Officer Koranteng Ivy Asantewa won the Academic Cane Award and Junior Under Officer Appiah Siaw took home the Commandant Award.

Source: GNA









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Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and MP for Awutu Senya East constituency, Hawa Koomson has urged fasting Muslims in his constituency and around the country to pray for Ghana and the electorate.



The minister joined the Quran recitation with the Muslim community in Kasoa to mask the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.



The month of Ramadan is that in which the Qur'an was revealed and which has been instituted for Muslims to dedicate themselves to God and the service of humankind.



It is a month of intense devotion and commitment to the principles of love, sacrifice and dedication to duty. Muslims across the world fast in the month as they seek to enhance their spiritual growth.



Hawa Koomson however urged the Muslim to use the period to pray for President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and vice president, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia for strength to lead the country.



She also bemoaned the recent murder in her constituency and prayed Allah will protect the victims family



Allah to have mercy on the young boy soul and all departed souls, may Allah grand her constituents peace, security and togetherness. She prayed

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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One measure would require the city to study a plan to reimburse municipal workers for costs incurred while working from home. In the other bill, every time a city agency is the subject of a Council oversight hearing, a representative from the agency would be required to attend the entirety of the meeting  instead of skipping portions in which members of the public sound off.
Lieutenant General Emmanuel Alexander Erskine (Retired), one of Ghanas celebrated military officers, has passed on at the age of 86.



In 1978, Lt. Gen. Erskine was appointed the first Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which was established that year to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area.



This was preceded by his appointment as Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine (UNTSO) on 1st January 1976 to April 1978.



On the 40th Anniversary of UNIFIL in 2018, the Ghana Armed Forces honoured Lt. Gen. Erskine, who led the body till 1986, for his distinguished service.



The Chief of Defence Staff of the day, Lt. Gen Obed Boamah Akwa, said Gen Erskine accomplished a lot in the troubled space of the Middle East in a time when peacekeeping in Lebanon was more dangerous.



Lt. Gen. Erskine was the Chief of Army Staff between January and February 1972. He later held the same position from February 1973 to April 1974.



Information sourced from the prabook.com bio site states that he obtained his West African School Certificate in 1956 and joined the Army on March 17, 1958. He was, however, commissioned into the Signal Corps of the Ghana Army, after a course at Sandhurst on December 15, 1960.



He did further advanced military courses, including two signals courses at Catterick, Britain and an associate officers course in the USA.



He served in various capacities with the Ghana Army - as the Commanding Officer of the Ghana Signals Regiment and later Director of Communications with the Ghana Ministry of Defence.



He later became Director for Operations and Planning at the same Ministry from 1971 to 1972.

Gen. Erskine served as the Chief of Staff and Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Emergency Force Two (UNEF 2) from 1974 to 1976 in Egypt.



In 1992, he contested Ghanas Presidential election as the candidate of the People's Heritage Party (PHP), of which he was a founding member.



Gen. Erskine was also one of the nine members of the National Reconciliation Commission, which were appointed by President John Kufuor in consultation with the Council of State of Ghana.



The Commission was to investigate human rights abuses committed during the five military regimes, which had ruled Ghana.



Gen. Erskine was the Chairman of the Opportunities Industrialization Centre Ghana, Accra Local Programme Committee.

He has been a member of the Pugwash Council from 1992 and was a participant at the 50th Pugwash conference, which deliberated on "Eliminating the Causes of War".



He served as the Chairman of the Ghana Action Network on Small Arms (GANSA) in 2002.



Gen. Erskine is survived by his wife and eight children.

Source: GNA









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The Ghana Armed Forces on Friday deployed 400 soldiers of all ranks to begin the second phase of 'Operation Halt' to rid the country's water bodies of illegal miners.



The operation is aimed at removing all persons and logistics involved in mining on the water bodies.



In a statement signed and issued by Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah in Accra on Friday, said the second phase of the exercise would focus on the tributaries of Pra River, which were significantly affected by the activities of illegal miners.



The military, the statement said, had also begun armed patrols of the Pra River itself and advised the public to stay away from mining in rivers, in order to avoid any action from the soldiers.



GAF also deployed 200 soldiers to get rid of persons and mining logistics on water bodies



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, April 28 authorized the Ghana Armed Forces to commence an operation to remove all persons and logistics involved in mining from Ghana's water bodies.



The operation started at 0600 hours involving 200 soldiers.



The endeavour was in furtherance of the resolutions of the final communique issued at the end of the two-day National Consultative Dialogue on Small-Scale Mining held from April 14 to 15.



The operation was aimed at ensuring that mining on the water bodies was stopped.

Source: GNA









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Ghana will on Wednesday, May 19 begin administering the second doses of Covishield, the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, to the segmented groups who received their first doses in March.



The exercise, which would be undertaken in 43 selected districts across the country, would cover frontline health workers, adults of 60 years and above, frontline government officials, media practitioners, frontline workers in the formal sector and persons with underlining health conditions.



More than 400,000 doses of the Covishiled are available to begin the administration of the second dose to about 900,000 persons.



This follows the receipt of some additional of 350,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines, at the Kotoka International Airport, from the Democratic Republic of Congo under the Covax facility, in the early hours of Friday, May 7.



The vaccines received today are an addition to the 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine received on February 24, 2021.



The Indian Government and MTN Africa have also donated some doses in addition to what the Government of Ghana procured.



Dr Franklin Asiedu-Bekoe, Director of Public Health at the Ghana Health Service, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview, in Accra, on Friday, that the vaccines received from Congo would expire on June 24, approximately seven weeks from now.



We will be getting in touch with people to come for their second doses through text messages, calls, and public announcements, he said.



He explained that Congos consignment was shipped to Ghana after it failed to utilize them weeks after receiving them.



The vaccine we received today from Congo is part of the first batch we received in February - COVAX re-allocated them to Ghana because Congo has not been able to utilise theirs, he said



Dr Asiedu-Bekoe said Ghana would be able to deploy the 350,000 vaccines in a few days.



He said government is expecting that by June or July, there would be a reasonable amount of vaccines available to vaccinate the public as it remained focused on its target to vaccinate 20 million Ghanaians at the end of the year.



The Director of Public Health said the vaccine gave a level of protection by reducing severe infections and deaths from the coronavirus but not a hundred percent guarantee of protection against the virus.



He, therefore, advised the public to keep adhering to the COVID-19 safety protocols by wearing face masks, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers, coughing or sneezing into tissues and washing of hands with soap under running water.



Ghana, on Tuesday, March 2, kicked off its mass COVID-19 vaccination exercise in 42 selected districts in the Greater Accra, Kumasi and Western regions.



As of Friday, April 30, a total of 849,527 AstraZeneca vaccines had been administered to the public.



Ghana recorded its first case of COVID-19 on March 12, 2020. So far 92,513 cases have been confirmed with 783 deaths. There are 1583 confirmed cases.



The novel coronavirus was first recorded in the Wuhan city of China in December 2019.



Coronaviruses are a large group of viruses that are common among animals. In rare cases, they are what scientists call zoonotic, meaning they can be transmitted from animals to humans, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



It has an incubation period of four to six days and fatal, especially for those with a weakened immune system  the elderly and the very young. It could also result in pneumonia and bronchitis.

Source: GNA









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Construction works have started on two World Bank-sponsored projects worth GH5.53 million at the Akyem Oda Old Premier Market in the Eastern Region.



The projects are 68 lockable market stores and ancillary facilities which come with precast blocks paving 3,000 square metres of the market and a 600-millimetre diameter U drain spanning 240 metres.



They are being undertaken under the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Programme.



At the sod-cutting ceremony last Tuesday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Kwame Acheampong, advised the two contractors executing the projects  the New Era Discovery Company Limited and the Almuscom Company Limited  not to only complete them on schedule but to also do quality work.



He said the people of Oda should count themselves lucky to be one of the only four municipalities in the Eastern Region and one of 25 communities to benefit from the projects nationwide.



Economic activities



Mr Acheampong stressed that the completion of the two major projects would give Oda a facelift, boost economic activities and reduce unemployment in the municipality.



He advised the traders not to undermine the construction firms but to offer them the needed support and cooperation to speed up the progress of the projects.



The regional minister urged the project consultants to offer proper supervisory work to compel the contractors to execute the work according to contract specification.





The Member of Parliament (MP) for Oda, Mr Alexander Akwasi Acquah, expressed gratitude to the government for providing the municipality with its fair share of development projects.



Advise



He advised the people to honour their tax obligations at all times in order to benefit from more of such projects.



The Chief Executive of the Birim Central Municipality, Ms Victoria Adu, said the projects and another one at Nkwantanum would ease congestion at the Oda Central Market and the main lorry park.



She also called for support from the people to ensure the successful completion of the projects.



The Krontihene of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Obrempong Gyamfi Saforo Kyereh, commended the government for providing Oda with more development projects.



He, however, expressed concern about the activities of some contractors who had abandoned work on some of the road projects at Oda.



Obrempong Kyereh, therefore, urged the government to pay them their contract sums for them to complete the projects.





Source: graphiconline.com









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Dr Alidu Seidu, Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department, University of Ghana, says he supports Professor Ransford Gyampos call for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to adopt a "One-Man, One-Vote" principle in selecting its flagbearer for the 2024 presidential elections.



He said that principle would mean that the person who emerged as the flagbearer of the Party was somebody the majority of the Partys supporters had trust and confidence in.



Dr Seidu said that would translate into massive votes by supporters of the Party for the candidate in the national election.



If everybody within the Party has the means to vote for that particular person that they think can lead the Party and is competent enough to do that, then it translates into continuous loyalty and voting capital for that particular flagbearer moving forward, he said.



Prof Gyampo, Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department, University of Ghana, in an open letter to the NPP leadership, urged it to adopt a "One-Man, One-Vote" principle in the selection of flagbearer for the Partys 2024 general election.



Dr Seidu noted that Professor Gyampo's letter was informed by the fact that there was over monetisation of the processes when a few delegates were given the opportunity to select the flagbearer.



He said the call made by Prof Gyampo was a call that was grounded in the internal institutions of the NPP as a political party and said it was important the Party heeded it.



"... That principle is actually provided for by Article 3 (1) of the NPPs Constitution, which provides that at the Partys polling station and in the office of the Party, a constituency register of all membership, which should be updated every six months and sent to the Partys regional office.



My initial reaction to his submission is the fact that it is not technically an imposition, he (Prof Gyampo) is not advocating for something new to be done within the NPPs rank and file. But he is just calling for an implementation of a specific provision of the NPPs Constitution, Dr Seidu stated.



He said the principle, if adopted by political parties in the country, would go a long way to deepen their internal democracies and enhance Ghanas democratic dispensation; adding that it was actually a fundamental principle and foundation towards building a more prosperous democratically consolidated party system in the country.



Dr Seidu, however, cautioned that executing the "One-Man, One-Vote" principles for the selection of a flagbearer, there were the likelihood of challenges such as infiltration by non-party members and expensive cost of implementation to both the Party and the candidates seeking to be elected as flagbearer.



He said internal democratic dispensations within political parties served as the functioning block to achieving democratic consolidation and democratic development within the state; because political parties were the vehicles through which electoral democracy was built.



So, if we are able to achieve that level of decency and that level of openness and that level of inclusivity within political parties, it then translates into a national level project that imbibes the democratic and underpinnings of the democratic process that we have in this particular State.



He indicated that this was not the first time the principle of "One-Man, One-Vote" was being advocated, and that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had attempted implementing.



Dr. Seidu said the principle was worth pursuing and encouraged the NPP to embrace it.

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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Radio host Blessed Godsbrain Smart alias Captain Smart has been suspended by Angel FM for repeatedly slandering government officials including President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.



This was disclosed by the General Manager of Angel FM, Kwadwo Dickson in a radio broadcast today. Videos of the broadcast (below) have since gone viral on social media.



Responding to speculation on social media that Captain Smart had been yanked off the air by the management of Angel FM for criticising the government, Mr Dickson said the presenter had rather been sanctioned by the Chairman of the Angel Group of Companies Chairman, Dr Kwaku Oteng for speaking against government officials including President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and the Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen.



He further disclosed that despite advice from Dr Oteng to desist from making such comments about government officials, the presenter had still persisted.



Captain Smart joined the parent company of Angel FM, Angel Broadcasting Network (ABN) in May last year after seven years at the Multimedia Group where he hosted Adom FMs Dwaso Nsem morning show.



He hosts Angel FM's flagship Anopa Bfo Morning Show but was not on air today as a result of his suspension.



Watch the video below;



Angel FM General Manager confirms suspension of Captain Smart. pic.twitter.com/FimgtDrLx4



 Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) May 6, 2021

Source: graphiconline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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By Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times (TNS)

The owner of a San Joaquin County, California, bar was arrested and charged this week with selling fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards, authorities said.

The arrest Tuesday of Todd Anderson, 59, followed an investigation by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which began in April after the agency received complaints that fake cards were being sold at the Old Corner Saloon in Clements.

Undercover agents were able to purchase four fake vaccination cards at the bar for $20, according to ABC spokesman John Carr, who noted that it was the first case of its kind the agency has investigated.

The San Joaquin County Sheriffs Department assisted with the arrest, during which Anderson was found to be in possession of materials related to the distribution of fraudulent COVID-19 vaccination cards and an unregistered firearm, officials said.

Anderson was charged with three felonies, including forgery of a government seal, identity theft and having an unregistered firearm in a public place, according to Elisa Bubak, a spokeswoman for the San Joaquin County district attorneys office.

Bubak said the identity theft charge was attached because Pfizer, Moderna, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other entities were all represented on the vaccination cards. Anderson also was charged with one misdemeanor count of falsifying medical records.

Where theres an opportunity and a need, people fill it, Bubak said of the case.

The arrest comes amid a larger conversation about vaccine passports and other efforts to require people to provide COVID-19 vaccination records for things like concerts, sports, travel and even employment. The concept has been met with fervent opposition, even though inoculation records for other infectious diseases have long been required in certain sectors  including school and travel.

In recent weeks, marketplace websites such as OfferUp, eBay and Shopify also have come under scrutiny as potential outlets for the sale of fake cards, with the National Association of Attorneys General issuing letters to the companies condemning the practice.

A spokesperson for OfferUp confirmed Thursday that posts with vaccination cards are prohibited on the site and that the company typically finds and removes them in less than an hour.

But combating counterfeit vaccination cards may be an uphill battle. In March, the FBI issued a public service announcement warning that the sale of fake cards with a government logo on them is a crime and urged people not to post photos of their cards on social media. Already, tens of thousands of people have shared images of their cards on sites like Facebook and Instagram.

Anderson, the Clements bar owner, has been released on $380,000 bail and will be arraigned May 18, according to the D.A.s office. The ABC is also considering disciplinary action against the bar, Carr said, which could include the suspension or revocation of its liquor license.

Calls to the saloon Thursday went unanswered.

More:

Plenty of walk-in COVID-19 vaccine appointments available in central Pa.

Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines work against the new variants, new studies say

Will we get a fourth pandemic stimulus payment? Thats up to Congress, the White House says
Gov. Tom Wolf this week announced that several in low-interest loans through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority have been approved including a $2 million loan for Rock Lititz Studio in Warwick Township, Lancaster County.

The loans are to create and retain employees, grow their operations, and improve their facilities.

Rock Lititz Studio (through the EDC Finance Corporation) was approved for a 15-year, $2 million loan at a 1 percent reset rate to build a 44,400-square-foot rehearsal studio known as Studio 2. The project site is located within the Rock Lititz Campus in a 96-acre business park.

The total project cost is $12,018,436, and the project will retain 125 full-time employees and create five full-time jobs within three years, Wolf announced.

Rock Lititz is a live event production campus that opened in 2014.

Rock Lititz also received a $2.5 million grant through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program last year for the project.

The Rock Lititz Studio 2 project will include engineering, design and construction of a 44,400 square foot, 85 foot tall rehearsal studio. The second largest studio to join the Rock Lititz campus, Studio 2, will be built next to the existing Studio 1.

The studio will include 25,000 square feet of unobstructed space for rehearsals for the largest touring acts. This space, at 85 feet tall, will contain a grid to hang speakers, video walls and other live event technology, power to support the electrical needs of large video screens, automation and other live event gear and open floor space to set up stages and platforms. Adjacent to the open space will be a loading dock for four trucks, a drive-in door, storage, dressing rooms, production offices, rest rooms and a kitchen, and a space for catering.

Other approved Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority loans that received approval and were announced this week include:

DelGrosso Foods Inc. was approved for a 15-year, $1.615 million loan at a 1 percent reset rate to renovate a vacant 160,220-square-foot building in Antis Township, Blair County to become the future home of a new, expanded food manufacturing facility. The total project cost is $12,800,000, and the company will retain 113 full-time employees and will create 26 new full-time jobs within three years.

Flex-Cell Precision Inc. was approved for a 15-year, $1.485 million loan at a 1 percent reset rate to expand its manufacturing facility in Lancaster. The property currently consists of 17,500 square feet and through this project, will be expanded to 41,010 square feet. The total project cost is $3,300,000, and the company will create 10 new full-time jobs and retain 45 full-time jobs within three years.

Messick Farm Equipment Inc. was approved for a 15-year, $2 million loan at a 1 percent reset rate to construct a 264,308-square-foot building in Rapho Township, Lancaster County. The building will be mixed use, consisting primarily of warehouse and distribution, light manufacturing/service, office, and showroom space. The total project cost is $21.9 million, and the company will retain 100 full-time employees.

Tobyhanna Site was approved for a 15-year, $2 million loan at a 1 percent reset rate to construct a new 28,000-square-foot medical facility in Tobyhanna Township. Ninety percent of the space will be leased to St. Lukes Health Network Inc. through a 15-year lease. The remaining ten percent will be occupied by a Dunkin Donuts coffee shop. The construction of this new facility will provide the public with access to St. Lukes University Health Networks physicians as well as other services such as medical procedures, physical therapy, laboratory services, medical office space, X-ray, and pediatrics. The total project cost is $8,755,182, and St. Lukes has committed to create 95 full-time jobs at the project site within three years.

That Fudge Place was approved for a 15-year, $250,000 loan at a 1 percent reset rate to acquire and renovate a 10,296-square-foot building in Wayne Township. The newly renovated space will be the new location of That Fudge Place, a manufacturer of fudge products. The total project cost is $500,000, and eight current full-time employees will move into the new facility following the completion of renovations. The company anticipates creating five additional full-time jobs within three years.

PSC Biotech Corporation /BioTechnique was approved for a 10-year, $2 million loan at a 1 percent reset rate to acquire a 163,885-square-foot manufacturing facility located at 250 Cross Farm Lane in Conewago Township. The company is also working with the Governors Action Team on this project, and the relocation will allow PSC Biotech Corporation to develop a contract manufacturing organization cytotoxic-fill-finish facility at the new facility. The total project cost is $5,350,000, and this project will allow the company to retain three full-time employees and create 100 full-time jobs within three years.

--Business Buzz

You can follow Daniel Urie on twitter @DanielUrie2018 and you can like him on Facebook.
Former President Donald Trump, who still wields unparalleled power in the party despite being out of office, has endorsed Stefanik for the No. 3 post, as have Reps. Kevin McCarthy of California and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 1 and No. 2 Republicans in the House respectively.
The number of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 is estimated to be 900,000, or 57% higher than officially reported figures, a new study says.

Even more staggering is that the studys authors say, worldwide the COVID-19 death count is closing in on 7 million  more than double the reported number of 3.24 million.

According to a report by NPR, the analysis originated from researchers at the University of Washingtons Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Excess mortality from March 2020 through May 3, 2021, was examined by researchers and compared with numbers expected in a typical nonpandemic year. Those figures were then adjusted to account for a small number of other pandemic-related factors.

The studys authors noted that the final count only estimates deaths caused directly by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the virus that causes COVID-19.

According to the study, in countries such as India, Mexico and Russia, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimated considerable undercounts, with official death counts nearly 400,000 too low in each country. While, in other countries  including Japan, Egypt and several Central Asian nations  the researchers estimate is more than 10 times higher than reported totals.

How was the study conducted?

To reach its estimates, the study group calculated excess mortality based on a variety of sources, such as official death statistics from various countries, as well as academic studies of other locations, NPR explained.

Researchers then examined other mortality factors influenced by the pandemic, such as added deaths caused by increased opioid overdoses or deferred health care. While, also to be considered was the lower-than-usual mortality in some categories, such as the drop in deaths due to last winters dramatic reduction in flu cases and a modest drop in deaths caused by injury, the study said.

In the final analysis, UW researchers concluded that the extra deaths  those not directly caused by COVID-19  were effectively offset by the other reductions in death rates, leaving them to attribute all of the net excess deaths to the coronavirus, NPR reported.

NPR cited Dr. Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who said, When you put all that together, we conclude that the best way, the closest estimate, for the true COVID death is still excess mortality.

Not everyone agrees.

While experts agree that official reports of COVID-19 deaths undercount the true death toll of the virus, reportedly the revised statistical model used by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation team  which produced numbers larger than many other analyses  is raising some eyebrows in the scientific community.

NPR noted that a group of researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University published a study last month in the medical journal JAMA, based on excess U.S. mortality rates examined through December.

While the Virginia team likewise determined the number of excess deaths significantly exceeded the official COVID-19 death toll, it disagreed that the gap could be blamed entirely on COVID-19 and not other causes, the report said.

NPR cited Dr. Steven Woolf, leader of the Virginia Commonwealth team, who said of the UW study, Their estimate of excess deaths is enormous and inconsistent with our research and others, further stating that There are a lot of assumptions and educated guesses built into their model.

An expanded version of this post can be found via NPR.

READ MORE:
Tobins pharmacy and department store had already stocked its shelves with Easter and Mothers Day items last spring, and the staff had just placed the Christmas orders. The shop in Oconomowoc, Wis., had been operating on a razors edge as retail sales moved online and mail-order pharmacies siphoned off its patients. It was losing money on 1 out of 4 pill bottles filled, so the front of the store, where it sold clothing, cosmetics and jewelry, had been compensating for pharmacy losses for years.

And then COVID hit, said Dave Schultz, who co-owned the store with his brother. And that was the final straw.

The COVID-19 pandemic sank many businesses in 2020, particularly those relying on in-person sales to stay afloat. For pharmacies  especially independent pharmacies  the pandemic lockdowns exacerbated long-standing economic pressures. Many small owner-operated pharmacies adapted quickly, delivering their traditional amenities in safer ways or capitalizing on new services created by the pandemic, such as COVID-19 testing and vaccinations. But others, like Tobins, became casualties of the pandemic, closing their doors for good.

Its too early to quantify just how many pharmacies succumbed to COVID-19 and assess how patients will be affected. The total number of pharmacies has declined less than 1% over the past five years, as pharmacy chains get larger while independent community pharmacies  often the last place left to fill a prescription in some small towns  go under. The Rural Policy Research Institute found that 1,231 independently owned rural pharmacies, about 16%, closed for good from 2003 to 2018, well before the pandemic pinch. And according to the Drug Channels Institute, after five years of declines, the number of urban and rural independent pharmacies dipped below 20,000 for the first time in 2020.

Revenue from COVID-19 testing and vaccinations may help keep some independents afloat, but that comes with added costs and logistical challenges.

Pharmacies are struggling, said Harry Lattanzio, president of PRS Pharmacy Services, a consulting firm in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Were getting calls from a lot more pharmacy owners that want to sell their stores. Theyve had enough.

Most pharmacies, he said, saw a decline in prescriptions last year as customers hesitated to visit their doctors for anything but emergencies. That drop in business also meant fewer sales of over-the-counter medicines and ancillary items sold by the stores. Meanwhile, pharmacies had to buy protective equipment to keep staffers and customers safe and beef up their technology to address the new reality.

Lattanzio said some independent pharmacies, which had always preferred the personal touch of having staff members answer the phones, have had to invest in new systems to handle thousands of calls a day from people seeking vaccines. Costs rose even as revenues dropped.

For the most part, they lost money, Lattanzio said. If you didnt lose money, you did something really right.

When Lattanzio opened his first pharmacy 20 years ago, he saw gross profit margins of 36%. Now independent pharmacies are fortunate to see margins of 3% to 5%, if they survive the pandemic at all. Much of that decline comes from the impact of pharmacy benefit managers, which manage commercial and public health plans prescription drug reimbursements to pharmacies. Those PBMs, often aligned with large drugstore chains, systematically squeezed the profits out of independent pharmacies. That left many smaller chains or unaffiliated pharmacies unable to bear the added hit from the pandemic.

Im afraid to see the outcome, said Joe Moose, co-owner of Moose Pharmacy, a chain of seven drugstores on the outskirts of Charlotte, N.C. The delay in payments, the increased cost to keep operating in the early days of this, combined with the fact that reimbursement is so poor already  COVID-19 may be the final nail in the coffin for some of us.

Once covid vaccines arrived, Moose Pharmacy employees sought out patients needing help to make appointments and rides to mass vaccination clinics. (Logan Cyrus for KHN/TNS)TNS

Moose Pharmacy is trying to adapt. When it had to stop in-store purchases during the pandemic, the chain expanded curbside services and hired additional drivers. Home deliveries tripled. Workers ferried food, toilet paper, paper towels and shampoo to customers.

We had to build out our website. We put in technology so that people could text us from the parking lot. It had to be HIPAA-compliant, said Moose, who owns the chain with his brother. And keep in mind that all of that is happening at no change in reimbursement.

COVID-19 also interrupted the medication supply chain. In normal times, the pharmacys supply of drugs is automated, so when it dispenses medicines, replacements show up in the next days delivery. But Moose and his staff had to resort to the old way of calling up five or six wholesalers to see who had the drugs in stock.

When COVID-19 testing was scarce, the pharmacies taught their employees to perform rapid tests. Once vaccines arrived, Moose sought out patients who couldnt make an appointment on a smartphone, who couldnt drive to mass vaccination clinics, or who were just afraid to leave their home.

Staffers delivered vaccines to one elderly man with cancer, whose wife had died a year earlier. He and his disabled adult son didnt want to risk going out and contracting the virus.

But he trusts us, and so we deliver medication to him probably every other week, Moose said. So it made sense that we bring the vaccine to him.

Tripp Logan, a pharmacist in Charleston, Mo., said one of his three pharmacies is in rural Mississippi County, which has no hospital or chain pharmacy for the 14,000 residents. There, four independent pharmacies and the county health department formed a consortium to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines.

It started with a group text, and the next thing you know, were vaccinating hundreds of people a week collectively, Logan said.

Because pharmacies can make up to $70 per COVID-19 test and $40 for each vaccination, many pharmacies are earning new revenue to offset some of the retail losses, said Owen BonDurant, president of Independent Rx Consulting in Centerville, Ohio.

So that has brought a significant increase in profit margins for the short term, BonDurant said. COVID has probably saved a lot of pharmacies. Because PBM pressure has been so hard, especially on some of these rural and inner-city pharmacies, a lot of them still are on the verge of going out of business.

The cash infusion from the federal Paycheck Protection Program also kept many pharmacies afloat, and allowed some to make investments that better position them for the future.

We would have had to shut down or sell because the PBMs were brutal last year, and they killed off a lot of our friends in Wisconsin, said Dan Strause, president and chief executive officer of Hometown Pharmacy in Madison, Wis. Without the PPP, there would have been far more facing the same fate.

Some of the changes born of necessity could stick. In a recent survey by the National Community Pharmacists Association, 3 in 5 community pharmacists said they expect more pharmacies to offer point-of-care testing after the pandemic, and more than half said additional pharmacies will give immunizations.

Hashim Zaibak, CEO of Hayat Pharmacy in Milwaukee, said his pharmacy is considering testing for the flu, strep and hemoglobin A1C levels for those with diabetes, and it will continue providing vaccinations.

Joe Moose, co-owner of Moose Pharmacies in the Charlotte, N.C., area, is trying to adapt to the changes dealt by covid. The chain expanded curbside services, hired additional drivers, and tripled home deliveries. (Logan Cyrus for KHN/TNS)TNS

Those changes are here to stay, Zaibak said.

Tobins owners considered selling their pharmacy, but finding no buyers, they shut down for good in September. Schultz said its unclear whether they could have survived had COVID-19 not happened  or if the vaccine revenue might have helped. He knows of two other independent pharmacies in Wisconsin that closed in the past 18 months.

The real crux of the matter is youre getting paid, in some cases, $60 under the cost that we end up paying for the medication, he said. How do you justify that portion of your business?

Oconomowoc has one independent drugstore, two grocery store pharmacies and a Walgreens to serve its 17,000 residents. But Schultz worries about many of the older, sicker customers who relied on the personalized care his pharmacy provided. One of his former pharmacists now works at a drugstore outside of town but delivers medications to some of Tobins most vulnerable former customers on her way home.

She just didnt think they would survive going someplace else, he said.

___

Markian Hawryluk of Kaiser Health News wrote this story.

(c)2021 Kaiser Health News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a wide-ranging list of new voting restrictions into law Thursday, staging a misleading, made-for-TV ceremony meant to tout his credentials on a top priority for the Republican Partys conservative base.

At a live bill-signing event aired exclusively on Fox News, DeSantis said the new law would prevent fraud and restore confidence in Floridas elections  although the state has found no evidence of widespread fraud. The move made Florida the latest GOP-led state to enact tighter voting rules over the objections of Democratic critics who charge the law only makes it harder for people, particularly the elderly and people of color, to vote.

But DeSantis unusual promotion of the bill  on the GOP-friendly morning show Fox & Friends  demonstrated the rising Republican leaders confidence the new law would only boost his standing.

Right now I have what we think is the strongest election integrity measures in the country, the governor said.

Floridas new law restricts when ballot drop boxes can be used, and who can collect ballots  and how many. It mandates that drop boxes must be guarded, and available only when elections offices and early voting sites are open. To protect against what Republicans call ballot harvesting, someone can only collect and return the ballots of immediate family, and no more than two from unrelated people.

Im actually going to sign it right here, DeSantis said as he signed a piece of paper live on television.

A spokesperson for the governor, Taryn Fenske, said later that DeSantis did not sign the actual bill on camera and that the event was purely ceremonial. No other media outlets were advised of the bill signing or allowed in.

Even Fox News appeared taken aback by the stunt. It later issued a statement saying it had booked DeSantis appearance on its program as an interview and not as a live bill signing. Neither the network nor the show, requested or mandated the event be exclusive to Fox News Media entities.

Fox News is clearly the network of choice for Republican politicians, as Donald Trump illustrated time and again during his presidency, but staging a semi-official event for Foxs cameras is highly unusual.

Still, it wasnt the first time the governor, who is up for reelection next year and is widely viewed as a potential presidential candidate in 2024, has used Fox for photo ops before.

In January, the governor found himself backtracking after a Fox appearance in which he claimed that a 100-year-old World War II veteran he invited with him would be the 1 millionth senior in his state to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot in the arm. In fact, it took several more days for the state to hit that milestone. DeSantis office later said the event was meant to be symbolic of the achievement.

On Thursday, the governor did not acknowledge the theatrics. He celebrated a wonderful bill signing for this great elections bill that millions could watch, including Floridians.

DeSantis critics pounced. Democratic U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, a former Florida governor who announced this week that he is seeking to challenge DeSantis, tweeted, This is the difference between @GovRonDeSantis and me. He locks out the public and caters to Fox News. When I was Governor, everyone was invited in  Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. And when Im Governor again, this will be a Florida for all.

Another potential Democratic rival for the governors mansion, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, blasted DeSantis for the staged signing.

He is using Fox News as a state news source, she said during her own news conference.

In recent months, DeSantis has tried to burnish his credentials with his partys base. He pushed through an anti-riot bill, which he signed last month, that was clearly aimed at the Black Lives Matter movement that roiled the country over the summer. He is also expected to soon sign into law a measure that would punish social media companies that, he claims, censor conservatives.

The elections law clearly plays into that strategy.

Its the latest victory in the nationwide push by Republicans to restrict access to the polls, which party leaders say is necessary to deter fraud. The campaign has been fueled by former President Donald Trumps false claim that his reelection was stolen from him, an assertion widely repeated across the GOP. Floridas Republican legislators passed this law  without a single Democratic vote.

Voter advocates assailed the elections law as a blatant attempt to impede access to the polls so Republicans might retain an advantage.

The legislation has a deliberate and disproportionate impact on elderly voters, voters with disabilities, students and communities of color. Its a despicable attempt by a one-party-ruled legislature to choose who can vote in our state and who cannot. Its undemocratic, unconstitutional, and un-American, said Patricia Brigham, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida.

The league joined the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and others in assailing the new law in a federal lawsuit filed minutes after the signing. A separate federal suit filed in Tallahassee by the NAACP and Common Cause also says the law targets people who are Black, Latino or disabled.

For far too long, Floridas lawmakers and elected officials have created a vast array of hurdles that have made it more difficult for these and other voters to make their voices heard, these groups said.

___

Bobby Caina Calvan and David Bauder of The Associated Press wrote this story. Bauder, the APs media writer, reported from New York. AP Writer Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee contributed to this story.

Follow Bobby Caina Calvan at https://twitter.com/BobbyCalvan
WASHINGTON  A group of House Republicans on Thursday demanded a briefing from National Archives chief David Ferriero on how he intends to eliminate a bureaucratic backlog born out of the coronavirus pandemic that could force some veterans to wait up to two years for certain benefits.

The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, where many of these paper records are stored, shut down in March 2020, along with many other government buildings. The building has sat empty, with employees working remotely.

Meanwhile, records requests, most of which require someone to physically search for documents within the building, piled up. The backlog has grown to more than 499,000 requests, a spokesperson for the National Archives told Roll Call in April, and will take 18 to 24 months to clear once the center is staffed at full capacity.

In a May 6 letter, Republicans on the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee took issue with the NPRCs lack of planning that led to the backlog, the lack of a plan to get employees back into the office and the confusion surrounding the centers use of $15 million in emergency appropriations from Congress in December 2020.

The records are key to unlocking veterans benefits like health care, burials, home loans and even COVID-19 vaccinations.

Our military men and women and their families deserve far better than these delays. NRPC must clean up its act, address the backlog immediately, and give these families and Congress an explanation and timeline for fixing it, Oversight panel ranking member James R. Comer, R-Ky., said in an email.

Ranking Member Rep. James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on the District of Columbia statehood bill on Capitol Hill on March 22, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Carlos Barria/Pool/Getty Images/TNS)TNS

Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois, ranking Republican on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, agreed.

Veterans need answers, Bost said in an email. The NPRC serves a vital function. Congress has provided the resources the NPRC needs to safely resume normal operations. It is unacceptable that we continue to receive mixed messages about when veterans will have timely access to their records. I hope Archivist Ferriero will fix this as soon as possible.

And this is not the first time that Congress has raised questions in an issue that is gaining traction on both sides of the aisle.

In an April 5 letter to President Joe Biden, Reps. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, Deborah K. Ross, D-N.C., and Bost, along with 182 other lawmakers, requested a high-level intervention by the administration to address the backlog.

At the time, a spokesperson for the National Archives said the $15 million was being used to modernize the centers operations. That includes digitizing documents and standing up a new call center that can be staffed remotely.

But lawmakers feel that the responses from the National Archives were inadequate. Now, House Republicans are asking for a briefing from Ferriero, and an explanation for how he intends to address the growing backlog.

___

Mark Satter of CQ-Roll Call wrote this story.

(c)2021 CQ Roll Call

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
BOISE, Idaho  A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to her Idaho middle school, shot and wounded two students and a custodian and then was disarmed by a teacher Thursday, authorities said.

The three were shot in their extremities and were expected to survive, officials said at a news conference. Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson says the girl pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School in the small city of Rigby, about 95 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park.

A female teacher disarmed the girl and held her until law enforcement arrived and took her into custody, authorities said, without giving other details. Authorities say theyre investigating the motive for the attack and where the girl got the gun.

She is from the nearby city of Idaho Falls, Anderson said. He didnt release her name.

Dr. Michael Lemon, trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, said the injured adult was treated and released for a bullet wound in an extremity. The bullet went cleanly through the limb, he said.

Both of the students who were shot were being held at the hospital overnight, and one of them might need surgery, Lemon said. Still, both students were in fair condition. One of the students had wounds in two limbs and might have been shot twice, he said.

Police were called to the school around 9:15 a.m. after students and staffers heard gunfire. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded, and students were evacuated to a nearby high school to be reunited with their parents.

Me and my classmate were just in class with our teacher  we were doing work  and then all of a sudden, here was a loud noise and then there were two more loud noises. Then there was screaming, 12-year-old Yandel Rodriguez said. Our teacher went to check it out, and he found blood.

Yandels mom, Adela Rodriguez, said they were OK but still a little shaky from the shooting as they left the campus.

RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT FIRST NAME TO ADELA - Adela Rodriguez, left, walks with her son, Yandel Rodriguez, 12, at the high school where people were evacuated after a shooting at the nearby Rigby Middle School earlier Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Rigby, Idaho. Authorities said that two students and a custodian were injured, and a male student has been taken into custody. (AP Photo/Natalie Behring)AP

Today we had the worst nightmare a school district could encounter, Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin said.

Martin said schools would be closed districtwide to give students time to be with families, but that counselors would be available starting Friday morning.

Rigby Middle School has about 1,500 students in sixth through eighth grades, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in todays tragic events, Gov. Brad Little said in a prepared statement. Thank you to our law enforcement agencies and school leaders for their efforts in responding to the incident.

Police tape surrounded the middle school, and small evidence markers were placed next to spots of blood on the ground. Investigators interviewed faculty and staffers individually.

Lucy Long, a sixth-grader at Rigby Middle School, told the Post Register newspaper in Idaho Falls that her classroom went into lockdown after they heard gunshots, with lights and computers turned off and students lined up against the wall.

Lucy comforted her friends and began recording on her phone, so police would know what happened if the shooter came in. The audio contained mostly whispers, with one sentence audible: Its real, one student said.

Police stand with a youth outside Rigby Middle School following a shooting there earlier Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Rigby, Idaho. Authorities said that two students and a custodian were injured, and a male student has been taken into custody. (AP Photo/Natalie Behring)AP

Lucy said she saw blood on the hallway floor when police escorted them out of the classroom.

The attack appears to be Idahos second school shooting. In 1999, a student at a high school in Notus fired a shotgun several times. No one was struck by the gunfire, but one student was injured by ricocheting debris from the first shell.

In 1989, a student at Rigby Junior High pulled a gun, threatened a teacher and students, and took a 14-year-old girl hostage, according to a Deseret News report. Police safely rescued the hostage from a nearby church about an hour later and took the teen into custody. No one was shot in that incident.

___

Rebecca Boone of The Associated Press wrote this story. AP writers Keith Ridler in Boise and Emily Wilder in Phoenix contributed. Photographer Natalie Behring contributed from Rigby.
Twitter suspended an account on Thursday that appeared to be getting around its ban on former President Donald Trump, NBC News is reporting.

The story said that this account was posting messages he shared on his own website entitled From the Desk of Donald J. Trump.

A Twitter account with the handle @DJTDesk appeared Thursday morning on Twitter, the story said, noting that the accounts bio section said that the handle would be featuring Posts copied from Save America on behalf of the 45th POTUS; Originally composed via DonaldJTrump/Desk.

It only took a few hours and the account was suspected, the story said.

A Twitter spokesperson told NBC News that the company will take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account.

This activity followed several days of stories involving Trump and social media.

On Tuesday, the former president launched his new messaging platform that featured his musings on GOP issues, including former colleagues who have drawn his ire.

Facebooks Oversight Board on Wednesday voted to permanently ban Trumps account after it was suspended following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. The board also said Facebook must reassess that decision over the next six months.
Spotlight PA is an independent, non-partisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters.

Story by Joseph Darius Jaafari of Spotlight PA and David Hurst of The Tribune-Democrat

BEDFORD  The district attorney in Bedford County has brought dozens of charges against a man for firing a 12-gauge shotgun at civil rights marchers last August, striking one in the face and endangering 19 others.

The announcement from Lesley Childers-Potts came just days after Spotlight PA and The Tribune-Democrat learned the prosecutor had been given the results of a state police investigation into the shooting in early March  and just one day after the news organizations asked why she hadnt acted on it.

Terry Myers, 51 of Schellsburg, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony that carries a possible sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, as well as 19 counts each of recklessly endangering another person and simple assault.

The attorney for Myers, Matthew Zatko, previously told Spotlight PA his client shot at the marchers, but would be exonerated by an investigation. On Friday, he said the State Polices findings were completely consistent with what weve said all along.

Charges were also brought against the marcher whom Myers shot, Orsino V. Thurman, 37, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thurman  who police allege shot back at Myers  was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment, as well as with illegal possession of a firearm. Thurman was convicted in 2000 on felony drug possession charges in Wisconsin, online court records show.

Online court records did not list an attorney for Thurman.

Childers-Potts, who has the sole county authority to decide whether charges should be filed, had maintained for more than eight months that she was waiting on a Pennsylvania State Police investigation to make a decision.

Reporters from the news organizations visited Childers-Potts on March 22 and were told through an assistant that the case was still under investigation.

When asked for an update on the case Thursday, Childers-Potts said she wouldnt release any additional information until she made her decision: I will not comment further until that time.

She also ignored an additional question from reporters when confronted with confirmation from State Police that revealed she had received the completed investigation in March.

Instead, her office issued a press release on Friday to reporters, but not Spotlight PA.

I personally reviewed every piece of evidence, including over 700 pages of written reports prepared by the Pennsylvania State Police, Childers-Potts said in a press release Friday. Where someone lives or who they know is not relevant in our prosecutions. Seeking truth and justice and doing the right thing for the right reason are important in every case.

Bedford County residents for months have demanded answers from officials and tried to understand what happened that night in Schellsburg, but vented that they were met with delays, a lack of transparency, and misinformation.

As a result, the community has been split between those who interpreted the shooting as a racist attack and others who  often based on misinformation  supported the shooter.

People need to know what happened, Max Bulger, a Schellsburg resident who lives just east of where the shooting occurred, said in March. Otherwise, everyone is going to keep arguing over two different stories. It makes it hard to know what is what.

This has to end

In August 2020, the group of 20 or so Black Lives Matter activists began a 745-mile march from Milwaukee to Washington, D.C. to mark the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream Speech. Their pilgrimage paid homage to King Jr.s walk from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, where police brutalized marchers with attack dogs, fire hoses, and more.

At 11 p.m. on Aug. 24, the group  traveling on foot and by vehicle  stopped alongside a rural highway in central Pennsylvania near a towing garage and home owned by John Myers.

As the marchers organized to walk uphill, Johns son Terry Myers arrived and shot twice in the air with a shotgun before telling them to leave, according to a State Police affidavit released Friday. The affidavit explains that Myers then scanned the crowd with his gun, and after seeing two flashes, he shot at the crowd, hitting Thurman in the face.

State Police initially said in press releases that Myers confronted the marchers outside of his fathers home. Police said an argument escalated, which led to gunfire.

But a Spotlight PA review a month later of footage taken that night showed there was no confrontation, and the official affidavit states the same. Between the initial statements from the police and a slew of misinformation online, an armed mob packed Bedfords town square the next day outside the courthouse.

We will not allow you to destroy our towns, read one Facebook post created by a local resident. This has to end. It was shared more than 1,000 times that day.

Many people who showed up werent from the area, according to Bedford County Sheriff Wayne Emerick, though he could relate to the fear: He heard that the marchers might firebomb local buildings, so he deployed his officers to join the group.

Jeremy Decker, a 44-year-old Everett man who attended the courthouse protest, decided to confront the marchers, according to court testimony. He loaded up his truck with guns, drove to the hotel where they were staying, and shot at the building, according to police. No one was injured, and Decker was arrested and charged with felony possession of a weapon.

During a hearing in Deckers case, one woman said Decker went to the courthouse that day because posts online claimed activists were vandalizing property, robbing homes, or trespassing, and that they were planning to come back to Bedford to burn down the courthouse.

But none of those posts or rumors were true.

Bedford County's district attorney charged a man for firing a 12-gauge shotgun at civil rights marchers last August, striking one in the face.

Linda Gunn, a resident who was on her way to the post office when she saw the mob, said she was afraid of the group that day: I felt real fear.

Garnell Washington was watching from a few streets over, stunned by the size of the mob, which inconsistent witness recollections estimated as anywhere from 50 to 200 people.

Washington is Black, and one of a dozen or so Bedford-area residents who describe themselves as local activists. The group asked for answers after the shooting and the show of arms at the courthouse, and Washington said its members had many discussions with neighbors around how race played a factor in the shooting.

Theyve had some support, but theyre also outnumbered.

Bert Veldhuizen, a Schellsburg resident, said the social media response after the shooting exacerbated the situation.

To Veldhuizen, fellow residents were easily provoked by rumors in August because they were fearful of outsiders, including Black people, who make up less than 1% of Bedford Countys population.

This is a very conservative area, he said in March, pointing to a row of Trump election signs still erected a block away. You dont see a lot of Black people around here  and theres a reason for it, because theyre not welcome.

Many residents between Schellsburg and Bedford still maintain that the marchers only came through to start trouble, despite any evidence to substantiate that claim.

To Andrae Holsey, an Altoona resident and outreach director for the local racial activist group Progress for People of Color, its easy for people to cling to false narratives because the regions racist history is underreported and less talked about in Bedford.

Holsey remembers being at the courthouse in 2004, when his family moved to the borough temporarily, and seeing members of the Ku Klux Klan handing out pamphlets, similar to what was reported last year in Greene County.

It is no secret that Bedford has some pretty deep-rooted racist ties, he said. People generally know that Black folks dont go to Bedford. Its the social consensus around here.

Before Fridays announcement, members of Bedfords activist community questioned why Childers-Potts did not file charges when she got the investigation.

The DA has the information she needs, Peggy Reimann, a resident of Bedford Borough, said Thursday. What we know is that shots were fired across a federal highway into a crowd, and the details we still dont know.

Some answers, more questions

For months, Alan Cashaw, the president of the Johnstown chapter of the NAACP, has viewed each of the marchers as victims in the shooting, noting that mothers and young children traveled with them that night.

He was pleased to see the charges listed in the criminal complaint reflected that Friday.

But they are not satisfying, he said.

Why is a man who was being fired at being charged with aggravated assault if someone else shot first? he said. Was this in self-defense?

Because Thurman, a Milwaukee man, was not yet arraigned on his charges, the criminal complaint against him was apparently still sealed Friday afternoon. The Myers affidavit listed on several occasions that people witnessed Thurman firing a gun  and one of Myers vehicles being struck  but did not add many other details.

Cashaw was also skeptical of the timing.

After two months of the State Polices report sitting there on her desk, I cant help but wonder if the pressure of being revealed prompted this today, he said. Thats concerning.

Some marchers were incensed with the results of the investigation.

I dont understand why [Thurman] would be charged with anything, because he was our security person, said Kenneth McNair, one of the marchers. If Myers didnt come out, none of this wouldve happened.

And though other marchers, such as Tory Lowe, are happy that Myers was charged, they say that Childers-Potts leveling harsher penalties against the lone victim in the shooting continues to add to the narrative that the marchers were in the wrong that night.

Even though its great she charged Myers, her charging [Thurman] says theres still something wrong with what we did, which is not true, Lowe said. Shes trying to make all sides pay for the wrong that happened because of Terry Myers.

Reporter Patrick Buchnowski of The Tribune-Democrat contributed to this report.

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WILLIAMSPORT  A Centre County woman who a federal prosecutor called a money mule has admitted being part of a conspiracy that duped people who thought they had won a lottery out of more than $500,000.

Mildred E. Hoy, 61, of the Bellefonte area, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. Middle District Court to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.

Between December 2019 and this January she admitted being involved in the scheme that induced people who believed they had won a lottery to send her money to unlock their winnings.

She did so despite being warned twice by the FBI that she was committing a criminal act, Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey W. MacArthur said.

He identified by initials two co-conspirators outside the Middle District who he said have not been charged.

Hoy admitted receiving on multiple occasions bulk cash by the mail, FedEx and United Parcel Service, repackaging it and sending it to the individual in Texas.

She also acknowledged using a banking device in State College to purchase bitcoin that she deposited in an account of the other co-conspirator.

The criminal information states that Hoy received more than $183,250 from 27 individuals in amounts ranging from $1,200 to $22,000. Amounts received are not listed for 13 of the victims.

She is accused of sending a total of $461,650 on 21 occasions to the co-conspirator in Texas and making bitcoin deposits totaling $27,610 into the account of the other co-conspirator.

Hoy remains free pending sentencing. The charge carries a maximum of 20 years but guidelines call for a term in the three-year range. She will be required to make restitution.

ALSO READ: Pa. man, woman indicted; 806 bags of heroin, guns found in their house
RICHMOND, Va.  A ban on bare-chested women at the beach in Ocean City, Maryland, violates the Constitutions guarantee of equal protection and should be overturned, advocates argued to a federal appeals court.

The Washington Post reports that the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing a ruling last year that upheld Ocean Citys ordinance barring women, but not men, from going topless at the beach to protect public sensibilities.

During oral arguments Wednesday, Chief Judge Roger Gregory expressed skepticism about Ocean Citys rationale for the measure. Gregory asked how many calls town officials received complaining about the possibility of women going topless, and noted that the ordinance was passed after an inquiry to police about what would happen if women expressed their freedom in this manner on the beach.

Gregory said public sensibilities and legal standards have changed over time, citing Supreme Court decisions overturning laws that criminalized interracial marriage and sexual activity between same-sex adults.

Were not in the same Neanderthal-type environment, Gregory said.

Ocean Citys attorney, Bruce Bright, said the ordinance is not a regulation of sexual choices or behavior. This is a regulation of public nudity and whether it should still be defined as exposure of the female breast.

Last April, U.S. District Judge James Bredar upheld the measure, saying in part that he was bound by past court rulings.

Protecting the public sensibilities from the public display of areas of the body traditionally viewed as erogenous zones  including female, but not male, breasts  is an important government objective, Bredar wrote.

The case began when five Maryland women sued the resort town over the 2017 law, saying it unfairly targets women in violation of the Constitutions guarantee of equal protection. The ordinance makes public nudity a municipal infraction punishable by a fine of $1,000.

Ocean City officials say the ordinance is necessary to maintain the towns family-friendly character.

The lawsuit is one of several across the country challenging similar laws. In Colorado, the federal appeals court ruled against a Fort Collins ban and declared the citys ordinance unconstitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused last year to take up a challenge to a similar New Hampshire law in a case brought by three women fined for exposing their breasts in public.

.
A 23-year-old man is accused of repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl last year, and despite his claim that he never did anything wrong, police say they have DNA to prove it.

Avery E. I. Sanchis, a former Lancaster County resident, is charged with three counts of rape, three counts of statutory sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault and other related charges, connected to two days of assaults from August 2020, according to online court dockets.

In an interview with investigators, the girl described multiple assaults that happened in a Conoy Township home, according to the affidavit filed against Sanchis.

On Aug. 7, 2020, Sanchis went to the girls home, then into her room where he sexually assaulted and raped her, she told investigators. She repeatedly asked him to stop, but he refused, she said.

The next day, the girl said Sanchis physically picked her up and carried her into her bedroom, where he raped her again, according to the affidavit. The girl said during the second rape, she was too scared to say anything because of the assault the day before. She also was afraid because he was stronger than her.

Later on Aug. 8, the girl said she went into the kitchen, where Sanchis followed and raped her again, according to the affidavit. She again asked him repeatedly to stop.

The girl recalled Sanchis trying to put his bodily fluids on her after the assault, according to the affidavit.

Sanchis then took her parents car, without permission, and left the home for about an hour, she told investigators. When he returned, he gave her the morning after pill and told her to take it. The girl said she didnt want to take any pills, but he told her he would not be paying childcare costs, according to the affidavit.

The rape was reported within 10 days, and investigators spoke with Sanchis on August 20. At the time, he said it felt right to talk about what happened because he didnt feel like he was wrong with anything Ive done in my life, according to the affidavit.

He then asked for a lawyer and refused to answer any more questions, police said. Shortly after the interview, he moved from Lancaster County to Hawaii.

Investigators talked to him by phone on Oct. 20, where he said he hadnt previously been interviewed and told them I dont know nothing. Its my first time hearing of anything, according to the affidavit.

Police took bedsheets and underwear from the girls home and found bodily fluids on both, according to the affidavit.

Over the next few months, investigators got a warrant for Sanchis DNA, which was obtained by police in Hawaii.

Pennsylvania state police evaluated the samples taken from Sanchis compared to the sheets and underwear and found there was a match. DNA from Sanchis and the girl were on both items.

Police filed charges in March, and Sanchis returned to Lancaster County, where he was arraigned on April 30, according to online docket sheets. Sanchis was released from custody after he paid a bond on his $100,000 bail.

Sanchis is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing on May 12.

Read more on PennLive:
In March last year the proportion had still been the smallest among 20-somethings at 13.3 percent.

Among respondents in their 20s and 30s it reached an alarming 6.7 points, the highest among all age groups. The proportion of people scoring more than 10 points, which is considered a serious depression risk, was 22.8 percent, up six-fold from 2018. It was also especially high among respondents in their 20s (30 percent) and 30s (30.5 percent).

A survey of 2,110 people by the Korean Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in March and April gauged their depression levels from key words like "hopelessness," "fatigue" and "suicide." Out of the maximum points of 27, they averaged 5.7 points, compared to just 2.3 points in a survey in 2018.

The drawn-out coronavirus lockdown is making more and more young people depressed and even suicidal as their lives have been on hold for more than a year.

One 26-year-old who completed a graduate course in business management in Seoul earlier this year has gone to see a psychiatrist for the first time in her life. She became depressed because she could not find a job and broke up with her boyfriend. She also invested in stocks hoping to make some money but lost it.

"Whatever jobs were available have dried up due to the coronavirus epidemic," she complained. "I gave up hope when I lost what little money I had in the stock market even though others made money that way."

Some 16.3 percent of respondents had suicidal thoughts, 3.5 times more than in 2018 and almost twice as many as a year ago. The proportion was again the highest among respondents in their 20s (22.5 percent) and 30s (21.9 percent). In contrast, the proportion of people with suicidal thoughts in their 50s was 12.5 percent and among 60-somethings 10 percent.

Shin Young-chul, a psychiatrist at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, said, "The most mobile and active generation suffers the most in lockdown. The government needs to come up with support measures quickly for the young generation."

Meanwhile, Jeong Eun-kyeong, the chief of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, poured cold water on hopes that the government will let life go back to normal any time soon. "COVID-19 is difficult to control because it is not an infectious disease that can be stopped with a few vaccine shots," she claimed. "Infections could continue due to the emergence of variants."

The daily tally of new coronavirus infections stood at 525 as of Friday morning.
[Yang] is not beholden to anyone but New Yorkers and has proven he is willing to do what is necessary to rebuild our city, Gibson stated. I will surely bring priorities from the Bronx directly to him in City Hall, and through a strong partnership we will uplift Bronx working families and essential workers.
LEWISBURG  The brother of the model who was killed at an Interstate 80 interchange in February says it was a pretty heinous crime that is worthy of the death penalty.

However, George Landrith said in a Thursday interview with PennLive the family will let that decision up to Union County District Attorney D. Peter Johnson.

We want justice for our sister [Rebecca Landrith], he said. We want to make sure it doesnt happen to another son or daughter. A life sentence could do that.

The family is not saying Tracy Ray Rollins Jr. has to get the death penalty if convicted of killing his sister, he said. But it is not opposed to it either, he said.

Landrith, 47, a model who lived in New York City, was fatally shot Feb. 7. Shell casings, bullet holes and flesh were found in the cab of Rollins truck, police said.

Her body minus shoes and socks was found just off the eastbound exist ramp at the Mile Run interchange of I-80 near Loganton in the western part of the county.

Rollins, 29, an over-the-road truck driver from Dallas earlier Thursday waived his preliminary hearing on charges of homicide and abuse of corpse.

He was arrested Feb. 10 in Connecticut and has been jailed since. He is scheduled for arraignment in county court on July 26.

A monument marks the general area where Rebecca Landrith was fund dead Feb. 7. It was created by her family.

A plea offer had been made, Johnson said, but he declined to provide details. He confirmed he has had talks with defense attorney Brian W. Ulmer related to the death penalty.

Landrith sustained multiple gunshot wounds to her face, neck and chest area plus two on a hand that state police called defensive.

Eighteen bullets were removed from her body during an autopsy, the arrest affidavit states.

At the advice of county Coroner Dominic Adamo the family did not view the body due to its condition, George Landrith said.

She was cremated and a memorial service was held at his home in Virginia on March 20, he said.

Family members gathered there Thursday and by Zoom watched Rollins waiving his right to a preliminary hearing. Johnson spoke to them privately afterward.

Landrith revealed family members had sent a letter to Johnson introducing him to his sister, the youngest of five siblings. We wanted to humanize her, he said.

He does not doubt Johnson would treat her as a person who mattered but family members wanted to express their views, he said.

Besides being a professional model, she was a finalist for Miss Manhattan in 2014, an accomplished violinist and a champion for numerous charities.

Landrith praised the state police investigators led by Trooper Tyler Watson for their treatment of the grieving family and for the amazing work they did.

Fingerprints were used to identify Landriths body because there was no identification on it.

A note in a jacket pocket containing Rollins name, cell phone number and email address along with receipts from businesses led them to Rollins, investigators said.

Tracy Ray Rollins Jr., 28, an over-the-road truck driver from Dallas, Texas, has been charged with homicide and abuse of corpse in the death of Rebecca Landrith, 47, a native of Virginia who worked as a model in New York City. (photo courtesy of Connecticut State Police)

When questioned, he admitted a woman named Leslie he met at a truck stop near Milford, Connecticut, had been traveling with him, the arrest affidavit states.

Information was obtained from Milford police that Landrith had made hotel reservations in December under the name Leslie Myers, the document states.

Using receipts found in the womans pockets and Rollins cell phone records, police said they traced his travel from Wisconsin to Maine with a stop at the Mile Run interchange from 12:11 until 12:26 a.m. on Feb. 7.

According to the affidavit, when questioned about his travels, Rollins replied: I hate to start lying to you cause this is a murder investigation.

At that point, Rollins had not been advised or presented any information that this was a murder investigation, the document states.
Hundreds of baby turtles have been rescued from storm drains at the Jersey Shore, but they werent mutant ninjas.

Over the past few weeks, volunteers scooped 826 diamondback terrapin hatchlings from storm drains in Margate, Ventnor and Ocean City, where they had been hiding from cold temperatures over the winter while surviving off yolk sacs, Stockton University wrote in a Facebook post.

Two volunteers Marlene Galdi and Joanne Freas often help turtles crossing busy roads at the Jersey, but more recently realized the babies are small enough to slip through the cracks of storm drains. The pair spotted the quarter-sized creatures swimming in the drains in Ocean City one day and used a custom scooper from a telescopic aquarium net attached to a bamboo pole to rescue them.

Another volunteer, Evelyn Kidd, has been rescuing baby turtles from storm drains for years and has trained local children in her neighborhood on how to scoop up the terrapins. Recently, she and the kids rescued the reptiles from drains on Absecon Island.

The women enrolled the hundreds of turtles they rescued over the past few weeks in Stockton Universitys Head Start program, where staff care for and rehabilitate the creatures for about a year before placing them back in the wild.

A terrapin that goes through the program is about two to three times larger than a wild terrapin of the same age, according to Stockton University. There are 1,108 terrapins receiving care under the program, which has reached capacity.

If you find a terrapin hatchling, Stockton recommends putting it in a shallow container of room temperature water filled up to the turtles shell and placing a rock or shell inside the container. The container should be out of sight of any hungry gulls or crows flying overhead. Healthy terrapins can be released at dusk into a tidal creek or bay area.

#WildlifeWednesday: In the past few weeks, Stockton University's Vivarium has welcomed 826 Diamondback terrapin ... Posted by Stockton University on Wednesday, May 5, 2021

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Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo2@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AvalonZoppo.
Nearly 4,800 people have accumulated $17.9 million in unpaid student fees owed to one of the 14 state-owned universities and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.

For decades, efforts to get them to pay up the fees that universities charge alongside tuition, such as an activity fee or technology fee, resulted in for-profit collection agents coming after them. But no more.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced as of Wednesday, his office has recalled the unpaid student fees that have been turned over to private collection firm. Shapiro plans to have his offices financial enforcement section take over the collection duties.

Those owing the back student fees are still on the hook for their debt but they will no longer incur added fees associated with for-profit collection agencies doing the collecting.

The attorney generals office will work to implement payment plans and accepts personal checks from individuals instead of requiring these debts be paid by punitive, high-fee, money orders or cashiers checks that collection agencies required, said attorney general spokeswoman Molly Stieber.

No later than 2022, the attorney generals office also plans to implement an online system to make it easier for people to make payments.

Access to higher education is already a barrier for far too many in our commonwealth, Shapiro said in a statement. Our goal is to make it easier for Pennsylvanians to improve their lives through college  not send them to collections, hurt their credit, and prohibit them from making themselves whole by forcing them to pay by cashiers checks and money orders.

The attorney generals office is entrusted by law to oversee the collection of outstanding debts to the commonwealth, which includes the 14 schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and dozens of other state agencies.

Previously, the state universities and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology turned over the unpaid student fee debt to the attorney general offices financial enforcement section to try to collect. It would send out notices and follow up with phone calls over a three-month period, Stieber said. If that effort failed, the unpaid debt would be turned over to a collection agency to pursue over a longer period of time.

Under the new arrangement, Stieber said the collection effort will stay with the financial enforcement section, which is working on improving their methods to get people to pay up in a less protracted manner. If those efforts fail, the claims return to the university to try again to collect.

Shippensburg University spokeswoman Kim Garris applauds the attorney generals decision to keep the collection effort in-house and eliminate excessive fees on unpaid student payments.

The university allows students to continue their degree attainment pathway even during times of financial hardship provided there is a good faith effort to keeping their accounts current, Garris said. This helps students with social mobility and career readiness, critical factors of financial stability and capability in paying current and default amounts.

According to attorney general spokeswoman Molly Stieber, the $17.9 million owed in back student fee payments that has been turned over to that office is for claims that date back as long as three years ago.

The following is a university or college breakdown of those figures:

Bloomsburg: 283 claims totaling $1,062,461

California: 617 claims totaling $2,209,991

Cheyney: 2 claims totaling $7,511

Clarion: 427 claims totaling $1,129,626

Edinboro: 383 claims totaling $1,236,833

East Stroudsburg: 663 claims totaling $2,898,734

Indiana: 1,011 claims totaling $4,479,930

Kutztown: 247 claims totaling $730,011

Lock Haven: 192 claims totaling $729,617

Mansfield: 90 claims totaling $379,370

Millersville: 268 claims totaling $1,083,821

Shippensburg: 214 claims totaling $894,518

Slippery Rock: 135 claims totaling $517,608

West Chester: 132 claims totaling $381,501

Thaddeus Stevens: 94 claims totaling $209,764

Jan Murphy may be reached at jmurphy@pennlive.com. Follow her on Twitter at @JanMurphy.

More on PennLive:

Leader of Pa. state universities says consolidating schools sets the stage for long-term viability
A Pittsburgh-area couple is accused of abusing at least three children in their house, which was only discovered when the eldest child refused to get into their car during school pick up.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that White Oak resident Richard Hayes, 37, and his girlfriend Natosha Bell, 26, tried to pick up an 11-year-old boy from Francis McClure Elementary on Wednesday.

The child refused to get into the car, which prompted school officials to look into the car, the outlet reported. Inside, two younger children were handcuffed in the back seat.

White Oak police were called and an emergency referral was made to Allegheny County Children Youth and Families, the Post-Gazette reported. The two younger children are ages 7 and 10.

The pair are now charged with felony child abuse, false imprisonment and child endangerment offenses.

TribLive reports that the children gave additional interviews to investigators where they shared their experiences of being locked in a small room, also known as the hole.

Police later found they were referring to an empty coal cellar with a concrete floor, no lights or water, the outlet reported, citing court documents. The boys recalled spending days locked in the room.

Investigators also found a secondary basement, which was called the cell, the children told investigators, according to TribLive. The room had no mattresses or pillow, and no running water, investigators wrote in the complaint. There was a makeshift toilet and it could be dead-bolted from the outside.

In addition to the use of these rooms as punishment, the boys described physical abuse by Hayes, TribLive reported. These including beatings and in one instance, forcing a boys head under water in the tub.

Both Hayes and Bell admitted some of these actions to investigators, TribLive reported from court documents.

Hayes was denied bail and is being held at Allegheny County Jail, according to online court dockets.

Bell was released on unsecured $50,000 bail, according to online court dockets.

Read more on PennLive:
A district attorney in northern Pennsylvania has agreed to resign after pleading guilty to pressuring clients into prostitution while he was a private lawyer, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Friday.

Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman has pleaded guilty to charges of intimidation, promoting prostitution, and obstruction of justice relating to his actions with five women, according to the attorney generals office. Salsman was charged with coaxing clients into prostitution for legal services while working as a private attorney. Some of Salsmans victims were involved in sexual assault and child custody cases, according to Shapiros office.

Salsman used his power as district attorney to harass and intimidate victims, a grand jury found. As district attorney, Salsman also attempted to obstruct the grand jurys investigation, Shapiros office said. His resignation as district attorney was a condition of the guilty plea.

Chad Salsman used his position as a private attorney, and then as the District Attorney, to intimidate and silence his victims and interfere with our investigation, Shapiro said in a statement. Today is a powerful reminder that no one is above the law.

Shapiros office said the plea agreement ensures Salsman faces serious consequences, without retraumatizing vulnerable victims who came forward and testified to the Grand Jury.

Salsman is scheduled to be sentenced July 9 and could receive prison time, according to the attorney generals office. He plans on surrendering his license to practice law.

The grand jury report released in February stated Salsmans clients struggled with addictions, had a history of being sexually abused, or suffered from other vulnerabilities which Salsman exploited.

The case was referred to the attorney generals office in late 2019 by a former Bradford County district attorney, the grand jury wrote.

Salsman, a Republican, became the top prosecutor in the rural county along the border of New York state in 2020.

The plea was entered before Judge Joseph M. Augello, specially presiding in Bradford County.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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By Ed Mahon of Spotlight PA

HARRISBURG  On his drive to and from the state Capitol, state Rep. Mark Gillen often sees a state troopers vehicle.

They usually dont yell out the window to slow down, said Gillen, a Berks County Republican. If youre going too fast, youre going to get stopped, and youre going to get fined, and it changes behavior.

Thats the argument Gillen is making as he tries to convince fellow lawmakers to give the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs the power to fine licensed addiction treatment facilities for violating state rules.

The $431 million agency is in charge of inspecting more than 800 facilities that provide care to some of the most vulnerable people in Pennsylvania. The state is at the epicenter of the opioid epidemic, ranking among the top states for overdose deaths.

Lawmakers created the agency a decade ago to give substance use the attention they believed it deserved. But a recent Spotlight PA/KHN investigation found the departments oversight focuses more on basic regulations rather than quality of care, and it has limited powers to punish facilities.

Inspectors can issue citations and require providers to submit plans of correction, but they cant fine facilities for violations  a tool some in the industry say could weed out bad actors and prevent ongoing harm.

The department can also issue provisional licenses  a designation indicating a provider failed to meet several state requirements  tell a facility to reduce the number of clients it serves, or attempt to permanently revoke a license. But strong disciplinary action is rarely taken, the investigation found. As of early April, the agency had revoked just one treatment providers license since 2012.

Experts, state officials, clients, and facility employees who spoke to Spotlight PA and KHN raised a number of possible improvements including frequent unannounced inspections to give the department a more accurate view of a treatment facilitys typical practices. The public could also be given easier access to more information about past actions taken against facilities, as well as concrete measures to compare the quality of care across providers.

But based on interviews with lawmakers and a review of current legislative proposals, the legislature appears likeliest to consider giving the department the power to charge licensing fees or fines.

Gillen is currently soliciting support for his proposal and does not have a timeframe for formally introducing it. In the Senate, Judy Schwank (D., Berks) introduced legislation in December that would require the department to charge up to $2,000 for a standard license for treatment facilities, depending on the providers capacity. Her measure wouldnt give the department the power to fine facilities, but a provider would face higher costs if it has received a provisional license.

It would help provide the department with some much-needed resources, Schwank told Spotlight PA. Theyre doing the best that they can, but I certainly wish that there was more oversight.

Schwanks previous efforts to advance similar legislation have gone nowhere, and already theres resistance to her proposal as well as Gillens.

The Rehabilitation and Community Providers Association, a statewide group that represents about 60 organizations that provide licensed treatment and alcohol services, said the proposals would overburden already underfunded facilities.

Jason Snyder, director of the groups drug and alcohol division, said any effort to reform the treatment system needs to take a holistic approach. He said chronic underfunding of Medicaid, a federal and state health insurance program primarily for people with low incomes, hurts providers and leads to low salaries and high turnover in the industry. He said one-off, punitive measures wont improve quality.

As lawmakers and the media seek to punish providers, it is those most in need of a system that will accept them who are ultimately going to be hurt the worst, he said in a statement.

Schwank said shes willing to negotiate on the right amount of money to charge, and Gillen said hes not committed to a specific fine amount.

Schwanks bill gained two new co-sponsors this week: state Sens. Art Haywood (D., Montgomery) and John Yudichak (I., Luzerne). Haywood is the minority chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, the panel through which the legislation must pass to reach the full chamber.

I realize that the legislative process in Harrisburg is like a 10,000-meter run. It takes a long time to get to the finish line. Nevertheless, without more authority, DDAP is severely limited, Haywood said in a statement, referring to the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

Yudichak supported a similar proposal for licensing fees last legislative session, and he signed on as a co-sponsor again after Spotlight PA reached out to his office this week. A spokesperson said it was an oversight that Yudichak didnt sign onto the measure earlier.

Jennifer Smith, secretary of the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, supports Schwanks bill. She said charging higher fees to providers that have received a provisional license could encourage better behavior or weed out facilities that continually receive violations.

What you find, oftentimes, is the folks that are really in sad shape and doing a lot of violating often are financially in a lot of trouble, as well, Smith told Spotlight PA/KHN in March. And so if were adding to the financial burden, I think youll see those folks going out of business much more quickly.

Still, Smith said relatively few providers have really extensive lists of violations and complaints and most are trying to do good work.

When asked about proposed fees and fines during a news conference last week, Smith told reporters the department should be reimbursed for the work it does to conduct inspections. She said the department would rather work with treatment providers to ensure they are meeting the regulations as the state tries to reduce the number of overdose deaths.

What we need to do with the treatment provider community is really work with them, provide them technical assistance, make sure that theyre able to meet those regulatory requirements so that we have the capacity available, Smith said.

Gene DiGirolamo, a former state lawmaker who sponsored the legislation that created the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, said he thinks licensing fees or fines are unnecessary.

Although there are always ways to improve, the treatment programs are doing Gods work in the most challenging times in the past century, DiGirolamo, now a Bucks County commissioner, said in a written response to questions. The department, the programs, and the staff are doing difficult, difficult work.

Marianne Sinisi lost her 26-year-old son, Shawn, to a drug overdose in 2018. Shes now the coordinator of the Families United for Change Foundation, an organization based in Blair County that tries to reduce stigma around substance use disorder.

She has a low opinion of many treatment programs, but shes skeptical that financial penalties would lead to improvements. She thinks the system already places too much emphasis on paperwork.

If theyd spend less time filling out the papers, maybe theyd have a heck of a lot more time taking care of the actual patient, Sinisi said.

More broadly, lawmakers who serve on key committees say they support taking a closer look at the departments work.

State Sen. Amanda Cappelletti (D., Montgomery), who serves on the committee that would consider Schwanks licensing fee bill, said she thinks the measure could be a springboard for broader conversations about addiction treatment oversight, how inspection visits are conducted, the power the department has to close facilities, and the information it makes public about them.

The Spotlight PA/KHN investigation found the department makes little of what it knows about troubling facilities accessible to the public. The department does not post online the reports it collects about deaths and assaults, which represent some of the most concerning incidents at treatment facilities.

A separate review of recent state inspections by The Morning Call showed providers were not penalized for failing to make timely reports of at least 23 client deaths, as well as other serious incidents.

Weve really got to provide the funding and the resources necessary for DDAP to take control over the facilities, Cappelletti said.

The fate of those efforts is uncertain. The lawmaker who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, Michele Brooks (R., Mercer), didnt respond to interview requests or written questions.

In the House, Minority Leader Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) said she supports closer monitoring of treatment facilities. Rep. Frank Farry (R., Bucks), chair of the House Human Services Committee, said he wants to meet with department officials and providers in the next few weeks to explore possible improvements and discuss whether the agency needs new power to oversee the industry.

Do they have the tools and theyre not utilizing them? Farry said. Or do we need to get some new tools?

In a statement, department spokesperson Ali Gantz said the agency is working on several initiatives to improve the drug and alcohol treatment system in the state and that people should not be afraid to seek help.

None of the lawmakers contacted by Spotlight PA raised the possibility of folding the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs back into another state agency or agencies, but the idea was supported by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017.

He argued that a single agency called the Department of Health and Human Services would be better positioned to support and coordinate services for people seeking treatment for substance use disorder.

Thats an idea backed by Elise Schiller, whose youngest daughter, 33-year-old Giana Natali, went to multiple treatment programs in Pennsylvania before dying of an overdose while in treatment in Colorado in 2014, she said.

Since then, Schiller has worked to improve the addiction treatment system in Pennsylvania. She served on a Philadelphia opioid task force and has advocated for creating a supervised injection site in the city.

Separating drug and alcohol programs from other departments, Schiller said, reinforces the idea that addiction is separate from other medical issues: We would not have a separate department for diabetes.

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By Liz Terwilliger

On Tuesday, May 18, Pennsylvania expects the same low turnout we usually see in primary elections. If that happens, it would be unfortunate, since this primary will affect every voter in the state, regardless of their party affiliation.

Part of the problem is that thousands of voters are unaware that they are even allowed to cast a vote. Although every taxpayer helps pay for the cost of a primary, Libertarian Party members (like myself), as well as Green Party and other third-party members and independents, often cannot participate in primaries because they are designed to allow the two major parties to choose their candidates. Many third-party voters simply ignore primaries all together. But they shouldnt this time.

One big exception to the closed primary rule, is when referendums are on the ballot, and in this election, everyone can vote on four key referendums that will affect our state constitution.

As usual, they are worded awkwardly, but they contain important proposals that would affect the use of government powers as well as the ability to discriminate against individuals based on their race, color, creed, and other characteristics. This is our chance, as voters, to place important decision-making powers back into the hands of citizens and ensure that all Pennsylvanians are treated fairly no matter what their backgrounds may be.

As a Libertarian , I support individual freedom and reject the notion that a single executive like the governor can suspend the state constitution without answering to the voters or their elected representatives.

For the past year, business and schools throughout the state have suffered from constantly changing, often arbitrary rules that have violated the state constitution and the rights of citizens. The Pennsylvania constitution allows for the temporary suspension of some laws in the case of a serious emergency, and temporary is currently defined as 90 days.

When an executive violates the spirit of this law by arbitrarily extending an emergency order as often as he likes, however, we no longer are faced with an emergency. Instead, we have a version of martial law that can last as long as that single person decides. One of the May ballot referendums, therefore, proposes that while a chief executive may declare an emergency (which makes sense), he or she may not endlessly prolong it without permission from the legislature (which follows the spirit of our constitution).

A second proposed amendment would also make this clear: Even under a temporary emergency declaration, a governor would not be allowed to close businesses, shut schools or prevent assembly for indefinite periods of time. Again, this power belongs to the voters and to their elected representatives, not to a single politician.

The third initiative is a joint resolution to prohibit discrimination due to race or ethnicity. This resolution is designed to ensure that our rights are not denied or abridged because of who we are. While it first appeared that not every political party supported this, the resolution now appears to have the backing of every party, as it should.

The fourth referendum proposes to open the volunteer fire department loan system to municipalities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. This simply takes funds away from volunteer departments and shifts it to large Pennsylvania cities, without enlarging the available funding.

I urge every voter, no matter what party they support, to go to the polls on May 18 and vote YES on the three most important proposals. Reject discrimination and reject placing extraordinary powers in the hands on any one person.

Fortunately, the pandemic is reaching its final stages thanks to brilliant technology and the hard work of so many in the medical profession. The damage caused to businesses, students, workers, and families, however, will unfortunately be with us for a long time, largely due to the poor decisions made by a governor who felt he could ignore the will of his constituents and their elected representatives.

It is time to end the dictatorship. Support equal rights. Support our state constitution. Vote yes on the three key ballot initiatives on May 18.

Liz Terwilliger is the Libertarian Congressional Candidate, 12th District.
In response to Lebanon County Democrat Chairperson Daniel Sidelnicks recent opinion editorial, I would like to discuss why the people of the 48th State Senatorial District will be fortunate to have Chris Gebhard fighting for them in Harrisburg as our next state senator.

While Mr. Sidelnick takes issue with Chris Gebhards absence at a recent League of Women Voters debate, Chris was unable to attend due to a previously scheduled event, he fails to acknowledge that Chris has been the most visible and accessible candidate in this race.

Chris attends public events nearly every day and he and his campaign team are knocking on doors all across the district. Chris and his volunteers have met numerous residents in York, Dauphin and Lebanon Counties and he isnt hiding behind a computer screen conducting Zoom meetings orchestrated by partisan organizations in the disguise of a public forum.

I can understand that Mr. Sidelnick is probably upset that Chris is not behaving like your usual candidate or politician. After all, Chris is a political outsider who is willing to take on the entrenched Harrisburg establishment. Unlike the Democratic candidate Calvin Clements, Chris Gebhard has never run for public office before. Chris is a conservative small business owner who understands what it means to work for a living and be responsible for signing the front of a check, not the back. Chris will take his private sector experience to Harrisburg and work to solve issues favorably for taxpayers. Unlike other candidates who make empty promises with no conceivable way of attaining solutions, Chris has laid out a clear and concise agenda that can be achieved.

First, Gebhard strongly believes in restoring faith in our government and that starts with restoring confidence in our electoral process. Act 77 was bastardized by the Wolf Administration, a disgraced former Pennsylvania Secretary of State and a liberal Pennsylvania Supreme Court that pushed the boundaries of the law for political reasons. From establishing ballot drop boxes, while extending the deadline to receive mail-in ballots, to lessening the signature requirements for mail-in ballots, the Democrats took control of the 2020 election cycle. The most prudent way to restore the confidence of Pennsylvania voters in our elections is to repeal Act 77 and start anew.

Second, Chris Gebhard supports the immediate and full reopening of our economy and our schools. Unlike Wolf and the Democratic Party, Chris will take immediate steps to fully reopen our economy and put everyone back to work. We all know the economic hardship many businesses, employees and families faced as the Wolf Administration arbitrarily shut their doors during the pandemic. Worse yet, Wolfs policies often favored big box stores purchasing goods from China over mom-and-pop American businesses.

Additionally, the decision to close schools to in-person learning is a travesty. While many schools in our area are back to in-person classroom instruction, many have not returned full-time. Other schools in the Commonwealth, often in poorer school districts, have not offered in-person classroom instruction for well over a year. This is negatively impacting students and could potentially put them behind forever. These decisions will have devastating long-term consequences for the Commonwealth and our educational systems.

Lastly, Chris Gebhard has vowed to fight back against the governors big government, tax-and-spend agenda. As President Biden and Congressional Democrats are pushing the most significant expansion of government spending in history, the last thing we can afford is to raise taxes on hardworking Pennsylvanians. Gov. Wolf is obtuse to the economic reality of many Pennsylvanians and Chris understands that and wants to cut spending and taxes. Chris believes that the government, just like small businesses, must live within its means and sometimes that requires tightening our belts.

Chris Gebhard is not running for office because he needs a job. He is not seeking a title to capstone his political career and he is certainly not going to Harrisburg as a political insider. Chris Gebhard is going to Harrisburg to fight for the people of the 48th Senatorial District and to continue his record of public service to our communities.

Edward W. Lynch Jr. is chair of the Lebanon County Republican Committee.
STATE COLLEGE  These scenes Friday were familiar to anyone who has visited Penn State on commencement weekend: Graduating students in blue caps and gowns taking photos on the grass outside Beaver Stadium; women snapping their reflections in the We Are sculpture near Bryce Jordan Center; and, of course, a long wait for more cap-and-gown photos at the Nittany Lion Shrine.

But those scenes, largely absent during the pandemic that began in 2020, seemed especially significant this year.

Not that things were entirely back to normal. There were still signs of the pandemic in the masked photographers, the masks that joined the mortarboards, and the socially distanced line outside Berkey Creamery.

And then there was the venue. For the first time since the early 1980s, the commencement ceremonies Friday and those that will be held Saturday and Sunday took place in the cavernous Beaver Stadium.

Daniel Justice received his master of education in learning, design and technology under an overcast sky that featured occasional drizzle. But he was happy that the Graduate School commencement was taking place.

Throughout the spring, Justice watched his email to see whether Penn State would hold an in-person commencement or if the ceremony would be virtual again this year. When he found out the universitys plan, he immediately got in contact with his mother to make plans to be in State College for his ceremony.

Knowing the difference of having an in-person versus a remote celebration, it was really important for me to be here, Justice said.

William Moyle, who is receiving a degree in business management this weekend, said he expected the ceremony would ultimately be held virtually, and was surprised and pretty happy that he would have the opportunity to experience a traditional commencement, and especially one in Beaver Stadium.

Over this last year, I would say the one big thing I learned how to do is not get my hopes up, Moyle said. I didnt think about it too much.  Its in person, Im happy about it. Its cool.

Students in the Graduate School - masters and doctoral candidates - take part in graduation ceremonies, May 7, 2021. Penn State's commencement at University Park takes place from May 7-9 in Beaver Stadium. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

There were changes made in concession to COVID-19. The choice of Beaver Stadium as the setting allowed for physical distancing in an outdoor environment that met health and safety guidelines. And there was a mask requirement. Graduates were allowed only two tickets for guests, and the graduates and their guests were seated in pods of three in the south end zone, as opposed to on the field. The largest expected attendance for a ceremony this weekend was 3,310 people, according to the university.

Faculty members sat in distanced folding chairs on the turf in the south end zone, while President Eric J. Barron, commencement speaker Dr. Lora G. Weiss and other figures from the university sat on a stage that had been erected around the 30-yard line. As each speaker removed their mask while speaking.

The stage featured eight video screens  four featured the speaker at the lectern, while the other four featured a scrolling list of names of those receiving degrees  and the large video screens atop both end zones also featured the names of the graduates.

Barron acknowledged the unique circumstances when he spoke to welcome both those who were present in person and those watching a livestream of the noon Graduate School ceremony. He also traced the history of graduation locations at Penn State from Beaver Stadium to Rec Hall to the Eisenhower Auditorium, Pegula Ice Arena and Bryce Jordan Center.

Today is your moment, Barron said. You are entering a world like no other, one that has been changed by a global pandemic, as well as a movement to make our communities safe, diverse and inclusive. I hope you will consider how you can contribute to building a better world.

Graduates are photographed at the Nittany Lion shrine on the Penn State campus. Students in the Graduate School - masters and doctoral candidates - take part in graduation ceremonies, May 7, 2021. Penn State's commencement at University Park takes place from May 7-9 in Beaver Stadium. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Penn State scheduled seven commencement ceremonies for its 13 colleges across three days  to be held rain or shine  culminating with a university-wide virtual ceremony Sunday evening. According to the university, approximately 14,400 students were scheduled to receive degrees over the course of those ceremonies, including 206 associate, 11,807 baccalaureate, 1,756 masters, 214 law, 236 doctoral, and 183 medical degrees.

Penn States method for conducting its commencement ceremonies amid the pandemic was similar to that of many other Pennsylvania colleges. University of Pittsburgh hosted its commencement ceremonies outdoors at PNC Park and indoors at the Petersen Events Center over multiple days with graduates limited to two guests.

In and around Philadelphia, schools such as Temple, St. Josephs and Villanova are conducting multiple in-person ceremonies, while University of Pennsylvania is offering an in-person ceremony for seniors who completed an asymptomatic screening testing protocol, along with virtual ceremonies. La Salle and Drexel are conducting in-person ceremonies for both 2020 and 2021 graduates.

In central Pennsylvania, Dickinson, Elizabethtown, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Lebanon Valley and York are among the schools conducting in-person graduations, while Shippensburg is having two drive-in ceremonies, in addition to its in-person commencement.

Students in the Graduate School - masters and doctoral candidates - take part in graduation ceremonies, May 7, 2021. Penn State's commencement at University Park takes place from May 7-9 in Beaver Stadium. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

Despite the pandemic precautions, the atmosphere for the graduate school commencement was festive. Graduate education vice provost and graduate school dean Regina Vasilatos-Younken had family and friends of graduates all yell the names at one point  graduates have the opportunity to hear their names read online  and at another moment, Barron pointed out that he was seeing more hugging than cheering.

It was great to be there with fellow masters graduates and doctoral graduates, Justice said. To be able to get to have the in-person  its 360 degrees embodied, full memory imprint. It was great.

In her commencement speech, Weiss also alluded to the upheaval and turmoil of the past 14 months or so and turned an eye toward the future.

What a year weve had. We are continuing through a pandemic, social unrest and political divisions and through all of this, you made it. I applaud you, Weiss said.

Little has been normal since early March 2020. There were many undergraduate students who left for spring break that month and never returned to a normal campus life. But these students had the opportunity to return to some semblance of normalcy over the past few months, and graduation marks another step in that direction.

There were still the unique marks of the current age  the swaths of empty bleachers between the small groups of people, the masks and more  at commencement but Penn State had the opportunity send off its most recent group of graduates in person.

Its exciting, Moyle said. Im honestly a little scared, but a good scared, I guess, for the unknown, whats going to come next.

Daniel Gallen covers Penn State for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLives Penn State coverage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
I saw some of the reporting earlier today or yesterday, and its definitely something that were going to be engaging our community on a lot more, she said when asked about the race. What was really important for me is that I try really hard to not supersede grassroots organizing and power, and I always want to make sure that we select our leadership from the bottom up.
Smelser, Mary Jane, 103, of Galveston, funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. today at Murray Weaver Funeral Home in Galveston, with her nephew, Louie Tucker, officiating. Burial will follow in the Galveston Cemetery. Visitation will take place from 1 p.m. until the time of services at 2 p.
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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

What do I think makes it inexpensive? said Amy of Alaska, a devotee of La Vieille Fermes white. Its not fussy. You dont have to think very much about it when you just want to drink some wine!

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
WASHINGTON  G. Balachandran turned 80 this spring  a milestone of a birthday in India, where he lives. If not for the coronavirus pandemic, he would have been surrounded by family members who gathered to celebrate with him.

But with the virus ravaging his homeland, Balachandran had to settle for congratulatory phone calls. Including one from his rather famous niece: Vice President Kamala Harris.

Unfortunately, because of the COVID, I cannot have such an elaborate function, the retired academic said in a Zoom interview Thursday from his home in New Delhi.

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Harris uncle says he spoke with the vice president and her husband, Doug Emhoff, for quite a while. To close out the conversation, Harris assured him shed take care of his daughter  her cousin  who lives in Washington.

Dont worry, Uncle. Ill take care of your daughter. I talk to her quite a lot, Balachandran recalls Harris telling him in their March conversation.

It was the last time they had a chance to speak. Since then, the coronavirus has raged out of control in India, overwhelming the nations health care system and killing hundreds of thousands of people.

While the crisis in India has created diplomatic and humanitarian challenges for the Biden administration, for Harris it is also personal: Her mother was born there, and shes spoken emotionally throughout her political career about the influence of her many visits to India as a child.

On Friday, shes set to deliver remarks at a State Department event focused on the effort to combat COVID-19 in India, and shes expected to express U.S. solidarity with the nation.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the Indian nongovernmental organization Pratham in 2018, Harris talked about walking hand-in-hand with her grandfather, P.V. Gopalan, and listening to him speak with friends about the importance of a free and equal democracy.

It was those walks on the beach with my grandfather on Besant Nagar that have had a profound impact on who I am today, she said.

She spoke often on the campaign trail about her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, a headstrong and resilient woman who bucked tradition and decided to leave India to pursue a career as a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

And during her acceptance speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Harris opened her speech with a shout-out to her chithis  a Tamil word for aunt. One of those chithis, Sarala Gopalan, is a retired obstetrician who lives in Chennai.

As a child, Harris used to visit India every other year. Now all that remains of her extended family there are her aunt and uncle. Another Indian-born aunt lives in Canada.

Balachandran said that while he used to hear about friends of friends getting the virus, now its hitting close to home. Those he knows personally or worked with are getting the virus, and some are dying.

The conditions are pretty bad in India, he said.

Balachandran considers himself one of the lucky ones, as hes retired and largely stays home alone, leaving only occasionally for groceries, so that nobody can infect me other than myself.

His sister Sarala is the same, he says, and has largely isolated herself in her apartment in Chennai to avoid exposure. Both are fully vaccinated, something he knows is a luxury in India, which has suffered from a severe vaccine shortage.

That shortage is part of what prompted criticism in India of what many saw as an initially lackluster U.S. response to a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the nation over the past month. The U.S. initially refused to lift a ban on exports of vaccine manufacturing supplies, drawing sharp criticism from some Indian leaders.

When COVID-19 cases in India started to spin out of control in April, there were calls for other countries  particularly the U.S.  to get involved. While a number of countries, including Germany, Saudi Arabia and even Indias traditional foe Pakistan, offered support and supplies, U.S. leaders were seen as dragging their feet on the issue.

The White House had previously emphasized the $1.4 billion in health assistance provided to India to help with pandemic preparedness and said when asked that it was in discussions about offering aid.

The delay in offering further aid was seen as putting a strain on long-standing close diplomatic relations between the two nations, and on April 25, after receiving scrutiny over the U.S. response, a number of top U.S. officials publicly offered further support and supplies to the nation  including a tweet and a call to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from President Joe Biden himself.

Harris niece in California, Meena Harris, has retweeted a half-dozen accounts calling for more aid to India, including one from climate activist Greta Thunberg admonishing the global community to step up and immediately offer assistance.

Harris office declined to comment for this article.

The U.S. announced it would lift the export ban on vaccine manufacturing supplies and said it would send personal protective equipment, oxygen supplies, antivirals and other aid to India to help the nation combat the virus.

The administration gets no criticism from S.V. Ramanan, a temple administrator of the Shri Dharma Sastha Temple in Harris Indian grandfathers hometown Thulasendrapuram in Southern Tamil Nadu state, 215 miles (350 kilometers) from the coastal city of Chennai.

Everyone has their priorities. America also passed through something similar and we helped then. Now they are helping us, he said.

Ramanan added that he didnt expect that having Harris as vice president fast-tracked aid to India or that it somehow meant help should have come earlier, adding: I think in general all other countries should help, and Im glad the U.S. has stepped up.

He hopes Harris can make a visit to her ancestral village when things are better.

While Harris has embraced her Indian heritage as part of her political profile, in responding to the crisis there shes been careful to speak from the perspective of a vice president rather than an Indian American worried about her familys safety.

We are all part of a world community. And to the extent that any of us, as human beings who have any level of compassion, see suffering anywhere around the world, it impacts all of us. You know, it impacts us all, she told reporters last week in Ohio.

A ban on travel to and from the country was announced that day. Harris said only that she hadnt spoken to her family since the ban was announced.

And G. Balachandran, Harris uncle, doesnt fault his niece for how the U.S. response has played out.

He said that, knowing Kamala, she would have done all that she can in order to expedite the matter.

For now, hes content with the occasional phone call from his niece. When the two talk, its mostly about family; he doesnt share much about current affairs in India because, he joked, shes got a whole embassy thats sending her cables every hour on all of India!

But he does hope to visit the vice presidents residence in Washington at the Naval Observatory when he can travel again. Balachandran said hed like to meet Biden again and remind him that the last time they met was when Biden was vice president and swore in Harris as a U.S. senator.

I wish we could all be together at the same time, he said of the extended family, but thats a big wish to look for at this moment.
The state senator also commended his legislative colleague for taking a stance against Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, who declined to prosecute several major American banks after the 2008 financial crisis and instead went after Abacus Federal Savings Bank  a Chinatown institution that historically provided financial services to immigrants and other Lower Manhattan residents.
Plans have been submitted for a new 75m pork processing plant in Northern Ireland that will specialise in cull sows.

The company behind the proposed plant in Ballymoney, County Antrim, is Bannside Foods, a new name in the pork industry, the BBC reports. The proposed site is the former home of the Lovell and Christmas bacon factory, which burned down in 1998.

There is no dedicated facility for cull sows in Northern Ireland, with farmers currently having to send them to Britain, the Republic of Ireland or into Europe.

Planning proposals have been submitted to Causeway Coast and Glens Council, with a 12-week public consultation on the plans underway.

Johann Muldoon, the architect behind the project, said it was an ambitious plan that could create 350 to 400 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs.

It will future proof an industry that has been hard hit in the last number of years plus any new jobs should be welcomed, she told the BBC.

One of the key concerns with Brexit was the access to migrant labour  this plant will see changes to the nature of that and will link in to apprenticeships and training in the tech side of business, but there will be the other side of things that are less tech savvy.

Glenn Cuddy, the chair of the Ulster Farmers Union Pork and Bacon Committee, said having a local processor will make things easier for him.

Itll mean more competition in the market for pigs, said Mr Cuddy, who keeps 300 sows at his farm in County Tyrone.

Theres always problems moving sows  our sows usually have to go across the water into the mainland, or else to the Republic, and with borders and all theres always problems, so its welcome news that there might be a plant that could do cull sows in the future.

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The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control applauds South Carolinas nurses during National Nurses Week, which began May 6.

Our states nurses are nothing less than superheroes, said Dr. Brannon Traxler, DHEC public health director. This has been highlighted for more than a year now as nurses have been on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic response, often serving as one of the first and last medical professionals a patient sees. Their devotion to caring for others at all times and in a variety of settings is unmatched, and I hope all South Carolinians will join me in celebrating all of our states nurses and recognizing them for the lifesaving and compassionate care they provide.

Of the more than 84,000 nurses in South Carolina, DHEC employs approximately 350 public health nurses at its health clinics around the state where they provide services like immunizations, family planning, sexually transmitted infection services, maternal and child health services and at-home wellness visits for first-time moms. DHEC public health nurses also assist with disease control, emergency sheltering and case management.

Rebecca Morrison, DHECs state director of public health nursing, is an advanced practice registered nurse and has been a nurse for 26 years.

Public health nurses touch the lives of all the residents of South Carolina through care of individuals and the community, said Morrison. In this unprecedented past year, DHECs public health nurses have demonstrated service excellence in the most challenging of circumstances. They exemplify nursing values through their dedication, commitment and compassion. Im thankful for all of South Carolinas outstanding nurses.

DHECs public health nurses, in collaboration with contract or hourly nurses, play a key role in the states COVID-19 pandemic response by administering vaccinations, performing testing, and assisting with case investigations, contact monitoring and contact tracing.

Shenicka McCray, DHECs upstate region nursing director, has dedicated 24 years of service to the nursing field, with 21 of those years in public health.

Our public health nurses are responsible for providing nursing care and meeting the needs within the clinic, home, and the community, said McCray. Our nursing staff are always on the frontlines of outbreaks and other public health crises, not just for COVID-19. Id like to thank all of our states nurses for the selfless and essential care they provide, and their ability to embrace service, inspire innovation and promote teamwork and excellence in all they do.

DHEC maintains important partnerships with nursing organizations like the S.C. Nurses Association, S.C. Nurses Foundation and S.C. School Nurses Association. To learn more about National Nurses Week, visit the American Nursing Foundation at nursingworld.org or the South Carolina Nurses Association at scnurses.org. Learn more about the services offered at DHEC public health clinics at scdhec.gov.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at a Thursday budget hearing endorsed a plan to craft nuclear weapon cores in both South Carolina and New Mexico, a vote of confidence as the multibillion-dollar venture clambers forward.

Asked by Rep. Ken Calvert of California if she supports the National Nuclear Security Administrations two-site approach to producing 80 plutonium pits per year, Granholm answered concisely: I do. Calvert, a Republican, was pleased.

The secretarys response Thursday aligns with previous comments shes made  and goes one step further in terms of specificity.

We have to modernize the nations nuclear arsenal, Granholm said at the White House in early April. We have to keep and maintain the stockpile to make sure that it is safe and effective, and we will continue to do that to ensure that we can deter nuclear aggression from other countries.

Federal law mandates the production of 80 plutonium pits per year by 2030. To meet the requirement and deadline, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Defense Department in May 2018 recommended producing the key warhead components in two places: the Savannah River Site, south of Aiken, and Los Alamos National Lab, near Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The National Nuclear Security Administration late last month approved a major project milestone, known as Critical Decision-1, for Los Alamos. A related, if not similar, decision for the Savannah River Site is expected soon; preliminary plans for South Carolina pit production were submitted to the federal government earlier this year.

The hearing at which Granholm testified Thursday focused on her departments fiscal year 2022 budget request. President Joe Bidens spending blueprint, published in early April, floated $46.1 billion for the Energy Department.

The National Nuclear Security Administrations potential share remains hazy. Granholm did not clear things up Thursday. The administration has pledged to provide more budget information in the near future.

Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, recently lobbied for $495 million for the proposed Savannah River Site pit factory, officially known as the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility.
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In some ways, Stefanik is a standard-issue conservative Republican. She supported Trumps positions 77.7% of the time. She sought to repeal Obamacare, cheered the nations pullout of the Paris climate accord and has voted against background checks on all firearm sales. To her credit, she opposed the Trump travel and immigration ban aimed at Muslim-majority countries and bucked his 2017 tax cut, basing her objection on opposition to the pernicious provision capping the ability of taxpayers to deduct their state and local taxes on their federal returns.
SUMMERVILLE  There was just no way that Martin Visconti and his two teenage sons were going to watch Godzilla vs. Kong on anything but the big screen.

For the record, the Visconti family had already seen the blockbuster in their New York City apartment on HBO MAX when it came out in late March, but May 7 was their first opportunity to watch the legendary monsters go head-to-head in a bona-fide theater, with all the trimmings.

Summervilles Regal Azalea Square & RPX opened its doors to the public for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the 16-screen facility to shut down in October. It and Palmetto Grande in Mount Pleasant were among seven Regal cinema complexes statewide to resume shows May 7.

The Regal Hollywood & RPX in Greenville was the companys first theater to open in the South Carolina in mid-April.

Regal, a Tennessee-based subsidiary of the Cineworld Group, operates one of the largest theater circuits in the United States, with 7,211 screens in 549 theaters in 42 states. Most of its cinemas across the nation had gone dark due to the pandemic more than a year and then reopened briefly last summer before closing again in the fall.

Visconti and his family made their way down to the Lowcountry from their Manhattan home to take a long weekend at Folly Beach. He and his sons, Caleb, 13, and River, 15, jumped at the chance to see the popular Warner Bros. Godzilla vs. Kong in the theater. The movie has grossed more than $390 million worldwide and $90 million domestically, making it the most popular film during the pandemic.

This is one of those movies you have to see on the big screen, said Visconti, who works in finance. You can't go to the movies in Manhattan. Theres just something about sitting in a theater, with a bowl of popcorn and a soda that makes the experience so much better. And its on a bigger screen with better sound. You cant match that at home.

Disneys "Raya and the Last Dragon" was another popular choice.

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Its been so long since weve been to the movies, said Theresa Mobberly, who brought her young daughter, Hannah, to the show. Weve been cooped up in the house for what seems like forever and this was an opportunity to get out.

All of the Knoxville, Tenn.-based chain's theaters are reopening with numerous COVID-19 safety measures in place, such as reduced seating capacity and face-mask mandates. Azalea Square and Palmetto Grande are operating at about 50 percent capacity.

Regal had been one of the most notable holdouts in the gradual reopening of cinemas nationwide. Its U.S.-based theaters were taken out of commission about a year ago.

Regal reopened most its theaters around the country last summer but shut them down again in October because of a dearth of new releases and crowd restrictions that were still in effect in key movie markets.

The company's South Carolina movie venues include three in the Charleston region and four in the Columbia area.

Rival chain AMC Theater welcomed filmgoers back to 98 percent of its U.S. sites in March. The Kansas-based company has five locations in South Carolina.
GEORGETOWN  Alan Walters, Georgetown County Schools' executive director of safety and risk management, was named the 2022 S.C. District Level Administrator of the Year by the state Association of School Administrators.

He serves on the State Board of Education and contributed to the AccelerateED Task Force, a group that works to solve COVID-19 related issues in schools statewide.

(Walters) has been instrumental in implementing crisis preparation plans in his district and in supporting others throughout the state to do the same," said Beth Phibbs, director of the state school administrators association.

Additionally, Walters chaired Georgetown Schools' reopening task force, formed a local medical advisory board and led a collaborative effort with the Medical University of South Carolina to assess school operational safety, Georgetown Superintendent Keith Price said.

These efforts continued throughout the school year and this was after he chaired a state-level committee for safe operations last spring and summer," Price said. "As a first-year superintendent in an amazing school district, I cannot fully express how much Mr. Walters' leadership has meant to me and so many others throughout this year."

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Walters said Price and the rest of district administration surprised him with a balloons and a cake when he won, and that after a year like this one, being rewarded feels great.

He is most proud of the safe and methodical way in which he and the district administration were able to reopen schools.

"I realize that not everybody's happy with how that's happened, but I think we've been very deliberate and intentional in how we've done it," Walters said. "We take into consideration all sides of it and we've made what we thought were the best choices for educating our kids while keeping our staff and students safe."
GEORGETOWN  Over the last several weeks, residents of Wedgefield Plantation have raised concerns over various parts of an affordable housing project proposed just outside its gates.

Despite close to 100 residents of the community showing up in protest, a rezoning for this development was recommended by the planning commission to county council April 15.

Next, it will go before council May 11 for a second reading, though no additional information will not be offered at that time, according to Tony Cates, who is a partner with Lexington-based Foursix Housing, one of the project's developers alongside Montana-based BlueLine Development.

As of right now, all the public knows is the developers want 16 of the 64 acres owned by Georgetown Memorial Hospital off Wedgefield Road and North Fraser Street for a 90-unit affordable housing development with rents ranging between $400 and $975 per month.

Wedgefield residents said they are concerned about the lack of details about the proposed development, and Cates said developers are focusing on rezoning the land, not on the specifics of the project itself.

Bonnie Myers moved into what she called her "forever home" at Wedgefield Plantation seven years ago and said she feels like the rezoning and development is moving too quickly.

"We feel like we have been rushed into something... that will impact this community for years to come," Myers said.

According to Remax, the average plot of land in Wedgefield goes for $46,000 and current listings range anywhere from $150,000 to $779,000.

More conceptual, engineering and site planning information will only become available if the rezoning is approved by county council.

Once this happens, Cates said BlueLine and Foursix will submit the plan to S.C. Housing Authority, which will likely respond by July or August. Then the developers will go through the same process of planning commission and county council, only this time for the project itself rather than just the zoning.

Wedgefield resident also are concerned about the location of the development, which would be outside the country club community. Residents told planning commission and county council they are not against affordable housing in the county, but there are better places than next to their neighborhood.

Wedgefield resident Miki Nadeau recommended a parcel of land at Fraser Street in Maryville that she said would be closer to grocery stores, medical offices and shopping areas than the proposed parcel.

Cates said Foursix and BlueLine were interested in the spot outside Wedgefield because it fit into a census tract that the state housing authority identified as the areas in greatest need of affordable housing.

Other plots in the county have not been considered and will not be considered, Cates said, because they would be unlikely to qualify for state housing funding.

Georgetown County is in dire need of affordable housing for low to middle income earners, like the proposed development, according to a recent study of the county conducted by Bowen National Research.

Based on the most recent census data, the average household income in Georgetown was just above $48,000 per year. This makes affordable rent in the county no more than $1,200 a month, or 30 percent of income.

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The proposed apartments would be restricted to families with low income  a family of four, for example, could make no more than $38,700 a year if they wanted to live there, based on median household income in the county.

Wedgefield residents also have cited traffic and property value concerns as other reasons they were against the development.

Myers said turning left onto S.C. 701 from Wedgefield Road is very difficult, and she knows several people, including herself, who live in Wedgefield Plantation who have almost gotten into car accidents because of it.

In 2008, a traffic study was done to accompany the hospitals purchase of the land, and that study recommended adding two coordinating stoplights: one at Wedgefield Road and S.C. 701, and another at S.C. 701 and S.C. 51.

Since 2008, the population in the area has grown substantially, and residents said they worried adding more people to the area would only add more traffic.

County planning director Holly Richardson said if the rezoning is approved by council, a new traffic study will have to be done, as the previous studys recommendations are likely not accurate now, 13 years later.

As far as Wedgefield property values, Brian Tucker, the countys director of economic development, said the administration and the planning commission do not believe the apartments will adversely impact that.

It is our belief that this is a quality project that will bring housing to the county that we need, Tucker said.

Louis Morant, county council chairman and representative for the district where the development is proposed, said he is still undecided on whether or not he will vote in favor of the rezoning May 11. It is a balancing act, he said, of listening to resident concerns and understanding the county's need for affordable housing.

Morant said he is focusing on what is directly in front of council  a rezoning request. Blocking out the noise of what could happen because of that rezoning is proving difficult, he said. This decision is about much more than just allowing multifamily housing to be built on 16 acres just outside city limits, he said.

"The county is trying to recruit employers to bring jobs here for our residents, but the employers and the companies are saying 'Well, where are they going to stay?,' " Morant said. "Especially according to the (Bowen) study, we don't have the housing to accommodate those employers.

"If we can't get higher paying jobs here, we're going to stay where we are. Our people, our students, our children will continue to leave. If we can't get adequate employment here, they'll want to go elsewhere."

The second reading of the rezoning request must have four votes in favor of it to move to a third reading, which would occur May 25.
The sale of a multi-million-dollar log home on over 100 rolling acres in western Oconee County set a new transaction record for Joan Herlong and Associates Southebys International Realty, which has been selling real estate in the Upstate since 2011.

The 127-acre property with barns, cabins and a private lake had been listed for $4.998 million, according to the Western Upstate MLS. Herlong and Associates agent Amy Hammond, an Anderson native and real estate professional since 1996, represented both the seller and the buyer of the home at 150 Stokes Place in Long Creek. The total volume of the transaction exceeded $10 million, according to Herlong and Associates.

The River Oaks Estate, located 15 miles from Westminster, features a main home constructed of 75-foot timbers, some as wide as 40 inches in diameter, that were preserved for nearly a century at the bottom of Lake Burton in the Georgia mountains. The vaulted ceiling in the living room rises 25 feet, and features a 12-foot-wide stacked stone fireplace, according to information in the listing.

All windows and doors throughout are made of South Carolina heart pine. Nearly 80 percent of the propertys land is heavily wooded with oaks, poplars, maples, pines and dogwoods, while some of the land is set aside as cow pasture. Mountain streams run through several parts of the property. Two additional log cabins on the property date from the 1840s, when the area was originally settled.

Colliers deals include $2.3M sale

The Greenville and Spartanburg offices of Colliers International recently completed several commercial real estate transactions, including the $2.3 million sale of 95 acres of land in Fountain Inn. Frank Hammond represented Will-S Limited Partnership in the sale to Wilson Bridge Development.

Garrett Scott, John Montgomery and Brockton Hall represented Island Creek Holdings in the sale of 33 acres of land in Duncan to SunCap Property Group. The same trio represented Pacolet Milliken in the sale of 110 acres of land in Moore to Tigers and Bears, LLC.

Scott, Montgomery and Hall also represented Kinney Hill Associates in the sale of 47 acres of land in Boiling Springs to Great Southern Homes, as well as 201 Caulder Avenue, LLC in the purchase of a 58,000 square foot building on 9.2 acres in Spartanburg.

Dillon Swayngim represented CNC Associates NY Inc. in the leasing of 109,000 square feet of industrial space in Spartanburg. Swayngim and Greyson Furnas represented Froehling and Robertson in the sale of a 12,445-square-foot industrial building in Greenville to Rhino Investments.

Scott, Montgomery and Hall also represented Magna Mirrors in the lease of 170,430 square feet of industrial space in Duncan from SunCap Property Group. They also represented 1698 Perimeter Road LLC in the purchase of a 50,197-square-foot retail building in Greenville.

Hammond represented L&P Enterprises in the sale of a 12,000-square-foot retail building in Greenville to Nick's Living Trust, and Gateway House in the sale of a 10,000-square-foot office building in Greenville to The Salvation Army. Furnas represented Dillon Drive Trust in the sale of a 10,000-square-foot office building in Spartanburg to Dillon MD.

Scott Burgess and Lance Byars represented ARC ASAANDSC001, LLC in the lease of 9,961 square feet of retail space in Anderson to Five Below, and represented New Market Anderson in the lease of 9,947 square feet of retail space in Anderson to Dollar Tree Stores. Taylor Allen, Brantley Anderson and Bailey Tollison represented Convergint Technologies in the leasing of 6,400 square feet of industrial space in Greenville, while Richard Barrett represented landlord, Garlington Investors.

Swayngim represented NPG Investments in the sale of 5,500 square feet of industrial space in Spartanburg to Security Group. Allen, Anderson and Tollison represented US REIF ICP South Carolina in the lease of 4,744 square feet of office space in Greenville to Girl Scouts of the Mountains to Midlands.

Cardinal announces transactions

Cardinal Commercial Properties of Greenville recently completed several transactions.

Cardinal represented the landlord in leasing a retail suite in the Classic Corner shopping center to Nexcation. Cardinal also represented Highlands Wealth Group in leasing a 1,500-square-foot office suite located at The Parkway in Greer.

Cardinal represented the landlord in leasing an industrial flex space to Giorik at NEXT Manufacturing in Greenville. The tenant is planning to use the space as their North American company headquarters. Cardinal also represented Trapped in the Upstate in leasing a 4,642-square-foot space in Greer for their escape room business.

Fenlon promoted at Colliers

Ashley Fenlon has been promoted to marketing manager in the Spartanburg office of Colliers International commercial real estate.

Fenlon works with brokerage teams in the Spartanburg-Greenville market to build awareness and expose our clients commercial properties across the state. Her areas of expertise include developing and implementing digital marketing strategies and the delivery of information to stakeholders at key points throughout the decision-making process.

Fenlon has 12 years of experience in marketing and advertising roles in a variety of industries and specializes in email marketing campaigns, social media management, website project management, research and reporting, graphic design, copywriting, search engine optimization, print and digital advertising and media relations. She holds a degree from Northern Michigan University and certifications in Google Ads and Google Analytics.

New agents join Upstate firms

Several Upstate real estate firms recently announced the addition of new agents.

Jenifer Reams has been added to the Woodruff at Five Forks office of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices C. Dan Joyner Real Estate. A Greenville native, Reams attended the University of South Carolina before returning to the Upstate to study nursing.

Also, the J. Michael Manley Team of Greenville has added Emily Brennan. The New Hampshire native moved to Greenville in 2016 after finishing college in Wytheville, Va., with a degree in phlebotomy.

Brennan developed an interest in real estate at a young age, from a mother who became a self-employed home flipper and developer.

In addition, the Joy Real Estate agency of Mauldin and Taylors has hired Karsyn Pence. An Upstate native, Pence recently returned home after living previously in Colorado and Florida.

Revitalization Award nominees sought

The Greater Greenville Association of Realtors is seeking nominees for the 2021 Revitalization Awards, which celebrate those who have invested a substantial amount of time and money into a property and seen it greatly impact an area of the community.

Eligible properties include but are not limited to individual residential homes, subdivisions, commercial businesses, multifamily dwellings, public property such as parks and trails, or historic homes or landmarks. Deadline for entry is July 30. Contact GGAR at (864) 672-4427 for further information.

Agent Spotlight and open house ads

Upstate real estate agents can now be featured on The Greenville Post and Couriers website, as well as place free ads for open houses.

Realtors interested in being showcased in The Greenville Post and Couriers Agent Spotlight can submit their information here. Required information includes a short bio as well as contact information. A different agent will be spotlighted each week on the real estate homepage.

Agents interested in placing a free ad for open houses can submit their information here. The ads run free for seven days in The Greenville Post and Couriers open house listings.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds light and variable.
Charleston County amended former attorney Joe Dawson's controversial exit contract, and now the federal judge will not receive any cut of the county's potential payout from the national opioid pharmaceutical litigation.

Dawson, who is facing a judicial ethics complaint over his December contract with the county, also had asked the county to clarify that he won't be providing any legal services to the county in return for the $216,000 the county paid him, Council Chairman Teddie Pryor said.

"The agreement will specify that he can't provide any legal services or legal advice," said Pryor at the May 6 council meeting.

It was County Council, Pryor also said, that decided to reduce Dawson's cut of the potential opioid settlement to zero. He said Dawson has agreed to that.

"In fact, they wanted to keep a number in there, but we said zero," said Pryor, referring to Dawson and his lawyer.

The original contract, which Dawson wrote, called for him to get 1.5 percent of any money the county were to win from Perdue Pharma and other defendants, in addition to the lump-sum $216,000 he was paid.

It's not clear if the contract changes will resolve the pending ethics complaint against Dawson.

A key issue with the original contract is that federal judges aren't allowed to perform legal work, and the county's original agreement to pay Dawson for a year of access to his "institutional and historical knowledge and insight" raised questions about crossing that line.

A day before the council meeting, the director of a nonprofit group that filed the ethics complaint against Dawson said he hoped the county would make changes similar to those that ended up being approved at the meeting May 6.

Hopefully that $216,000 payment is reconstituted as a severance payment and its clarified that hes not a consultant, and maybe the opioid lawsuit percentage gets another look, said Gabe Roth, executive director of the watchdog group Fix the Court.

Seemingly, Judge Dawson realizes he made a mistake and is trying to fix the mistake, Roth said.

County Council did not vote on the contract changes but discussed them in a closed-door executive session and then came back to the public meeting and directed the county's attorney to finalize the deal. There was not a public vote on the original contract, either.

Dawson went from being the county's long-time attorney to a federal judge facing a judicial ethics complaint over a period of less than eight months. Here's how that played out:

Oct. 1, 2020  President Donald Trump picks Dawson to fill a U.S. District Court vacancy in Greenville. Dawson was nominated by U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who worked with Dawson when Scott was a member of Charleston County Council.

Dec. 7, 2020  Dawson signs a contract with Charleston County that calls for the county to pay him a lump sum of $216,000, plus 1.5 percent of any county proceeds from a lawsuit against Purdue and other parties, related to opioids. In exchange, assuming he's sworn in as a federal judge, he agrees to provide the county with his "institutional and historical knowledge and insight" for 12 months.

Dec. 16, 2020  Dawson is confirmed by the Senate on a 56-39 vote, signaling the end of his nearly 20 years as Charleston County's attorney. He assumes office Dec. 22.

Feb. 7, 2021  The Post and Courier reports on the contract between Dawson and the county. Several professors of law specializing in ethics said Dawsons deal with Charleston County raises significant questions.

Feb. 16, 2021  Nonprofit advocacy group Fix the Court files a formal judicial ethics complaint about the arrangement. County officials reveal that the contract in question was drafted by Dawson.

May 6, 2021  Charleston County Council is scheduled to consider amendments to the contract, which were proposed by Dawson.

Dawson did not attend the council meeting. Councilman Henry Darby was absent.
SUMMERVILLE  With a high enough income and financial resources, it's not hard for someone to stumble on their forever home in the town.

But for people without those connections, the options don't compare.

In 2014, the median income for Summerville homeowners was a little more than $73,000, with homes typically valued at nearly $195,000, according to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors.

But fast-forward to now and the average sale prices are more than $300,000, and U.S. Census data says the median household income is less than $60,000.

There was a time when people looked to Summerville as one of the more affordable options in the Lowcountry. Now it has slowly become a development hub.

I dont want Summerville to find ourselves in the same situation as Charleston and Mount Pleasant, said Town Councilman Aaron Brown.

Over the years, the town has struggled in pinpointing areas where affordable living options can exist without raising additional concerns such as traffic, open spacing and even flooding issues.

In the past couple of months, proposed apartment complexes and rental homes have resulted in community backlash with residents fearing traffic and threats to property values.

It's all fed into the ongoing challenge of finding the right mix in town for developments that offer affordable alternatives to buying a home.

The future

A couple of weeks ago, a potential apartment complex off of Miles Jamison Road was turned down by town officials.

Town leaders said Miles Jamison can't support the traffic it already has. This has sparked a deeper conversation around the future of Summerville, affordable housing and alternatives to purchasing a home here.

The discussion touched on where to put these affordable spaces and why every potential location never feels like the right spot. According to Mayor Ricky Waring, there's no stopping the town from growing and he doesn't want to.

He said the town has to have places where people can go to afford to live here. And that its also on him and the council to solve the problem.

"Everybody has got to have a place to stay," he said.

The town breaks down affordable housing into two types. Theres naturally occurring affordable housing units, and legally restricted affordable housing units.

The naturally occurring units are market rate houses with prices that tend to be affordable to low- and moderate-income households. The legally restricted units are supported financially by government programs such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

With the increased development pressure in the area and the rising costs in the region, these (naturally occurring affordable housing) units will gradually decline, said Jessi Shuler, Summervilles director of planning.

This, combined with the small number of legally restricted units and rising rents, and home prices all feed into the housing affordability problem, she said.

The town has eight low-income housing complexes. There are 450 legally restricted units available in town, according to the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments. This is in comparison to North Charleston which has 780.

Some of the lowest prices for two-bedroom apartments are also $800 to $900.

Brown has been one of the more vocal council members around the topic of affordable housing. He said the town has around $250,000 in funding for low- and moderate-income housing but in the past the funds have been used for things like building sidewalks and renovating a couple of homes.

"That's not enough money for affordable housing to make a difference," he said.

For a lot of low-income Summerville residents, it was through the help of such organizations as Dorchester Habitat for Humanity that they have been able to build their homes. The organization has been consistent in trying to help families in the area become homeowners with low to moderate financial means.

"But Habitat can't do it all," Brown said.

The organization averages building around five homes a year for low-income families.

Moriah Hollander, the organization development director, said the group wants residents to know that it is possible to be a homeowner. It just takes time and guidance. A rent payment could be a mortgage payment, she said.

The reason she isn't surprised affordable housing has become such a problem is because she knows firsthand how the rent prices have affected families.

"You're spending more than 50 percent of your income on housing," Hollander said.

In a community needs assessment report, the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments noted that affordable housing is a countywide concern in Dorchester.

Researchers found that around 50 percent of home renters in Dorchester in 2019 were spending more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing. Rising housing prices have also made it to where homeowning is often outside the financial resources of low- and moderate-income residents.

One solution proposed by officials is to encourage developers in town to offer affordable housing options.

Summerville is boom city right now for developers," Brown said.

More coverage To read more stories in the series about growth and development, go to postandcourier.com/boomandbalance.

The trick is to find the right area for it. Regardless of the solution, town officials agree that the area needs to start mapping out a plan for the future around affordable living.

Finding the right place

A collection of rental houses by American Homes 4 Rent is slated to make its debut in the coming years in the Germantown area of Summerville. While not necessarily legally restricted affordable housing, it's another option in town besides outright buying a home.

In a fair housing analysis of Summerville by the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, researchers found that the median income for people renting homes was less than $35,000 in 2014. This is in comparison to homeowners with over $73,000 in income.

Where the tension comes with the new rental development is the question of whether its planned location is the right area. Prior to the project, residents have raised infrastructure concerns around road size and flooding.

The development will be located off of the intersection of Classic and Waring street. The area sits a few miles from Summervilles historic downtown area.

The rental project was approved by town officials with the expectations that the property would be sold to residential home builders.

Connie Davis has lived at her Classic Street home since 2014. At one point the street ended at her house.

"All of that was wooded property," she said looking at what will eventually house 16 rental homes.

In a statement, American Homes 4 Rent said the new development is increasing the quality of the rental housing stock in an "undersupplied market."

Waring Street was once a two-way road but was converted to a one-way because of how narrow the street was and the traffic. With the rental property, residents are expecting more cars.

Germantown residents with one of the biggest fears around the development are Todd and Lisa Hudson. The two live on Shepard Street less than a mile from the new development.

It's a small single-story home that's in the process of being renovated. The couple has owned the home for around 30 years.

"This was one of maybe three places on the street," Lisa said when they first got the space.

Now it's surrounded by homes. Not only that, over the years developers have raised the land around their home placing the property in a sort of bowl. This has led to constant flooding struggles to the point that the once grass-filled yard sits with sandy lake-like soil.

The town has attempted to build a drainage system to help the home with no success.

Going Forward

The majority of Summervilles affordable housing spaces are not legally restricted, according to Shuler.

So one of the goals now has to be to preserve the affordability of those existing units. Officials also expect that the construction of the Lowcountry Rapid Transit to have some impact.

The system is described as a world-class bus rapid transit system that will extend through Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties. The route was originally supposed to extend all the way to Summervilles downtown area.

Due to funding the town had to drop out. The route now ends in the Ladson area. Town officials said they still hope and plan to have the route extended to Summerville in the future.

Affordable housing along the planned route is one key to making the LCRT successful, Shuler said.

According to the Charleston Regional Development Alliance, the typical household in town spends 57 percent of their income on housing and transportation needs. It was 71 percent for low-income households.

Federal data also highlights that nearly 90 percent of residents means of transportation to work involve driving alone.

In addition to those concerns, Shuler and her team are also looking at ways to educate the community around affordable housing. This is to decrease the stigma that threatens the creation of affordable housing.

Unfortunately, low-income housing generally prompts vocal opposition from adjacent property owners, she said.

She agrees that moving forward, Summerville also has to make sure that its policies and processes reflect the need for more affordable homes.
ADAMS RUN  Charleston County's third-largest undeveloped property is now permanently protected thanks to a conservation easement secured by The Nature Conservancy.

The 2,101-acre Willtown tract, located near Adams Run, borders the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge and contributes to a 29-mile contiguous corridor of natural wildlife habitats.

Permanent protection of this property will restrict the number of times it can be divided for home lots and support agricultural, forestry and recreational uses.

David Bishop, The Nature Conservancy's coastal and midlands conservation director, said this particular property has been a conservation priority for a while because it is in the heart of the ACE Basin and surrounded by protected lands. The Willtown tract was an important piece of the puzzle.

The ACE Basin is one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems on the Atlantic coast, positioned around the Ashepoo Combahee and Edisto rivers.

A couple of small houses and sheds are within the tract, but most of the property is comprised of forest land with longleaf pine.

Landowner Northrup Knox Jr. said Willtown has brought his family together for almost 50 years.

"We are delighted this natural landscape will remain wildlife habitat for many years to come," Knox said.

Topography on the property goes from upland longleaf pine areas and airy savanna forests to dark wooded bottomlands, according to Bishop. And since the land is right next to the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge, it will help enhance that area and become sort of an extension of it, Bishop said.

The forested land will help filter and clean the water that drains from the tract into the Edisto River and eventually the St. Helena Sound.

"And by keeping the forest working, as the conservation easement allows, will support local jobs and South Carolina's timber industry," said Dale Threatt-Taylor, The Nature Conservancy's South Carolina executive director.

Owners of the Willtown Tract donated a portion of the value of the easement. It was also funded in part by The Nature Conservancy, the Charleston Greenbelt Program, the South Carolina Conservation Bank and the ACE Basin Task Force.
The state budget bill adopted last week by the S.C. Senate is quite a blessing to a number of nonprofits and local governments.

It gives $19 million each to the Columbia Convention Center and the Greenville cultural and arts center, $15 million to the Sumter Opera House and $500,000 to the Marlboro Civic Center, to name just a few local projects state taxpayers would underwrite if the House goes along with the funding proposals.

Theres $750,000 for the New Morning Foundation, which provides free contraceptives to help prevent unwanted pregnancies; $250,000 for the Briggs-De Laine-Pearson Foundation, which works to improve education in Clarendon County; $500,000 for Florence Crittenton, a Charelston nonprofit that helps pregnant and at-risk young women; $2 million for the Mother Emanuel Foundation; and $250,000 for Special Olympics South Carolina.

The Lower Richland Diamond Fest will receive $30,000, the Black Cowboy Festival will receive $50,000; the Florence County Sheriffs Office will receive $1 million for body cameras, while the Allendale County Sheriffs Office receives $176,800 for a new building and the city of Spartanburg receives $12 million for downtown infrastructure work.

And thats just a sampling of more than 100 earmarked expenditures  13 of which were added during floor debate after some senators saw what their colleagues were getting and demanded their share.

Some, perhaps most, of these earmarks fund worthy causes, although others seem questionable, and its debatable whether state taxpayers should be paying for a lot of them. But that question was at least theoretically debated when Senate Republican Leader Shane Massey proposed eliminating all $100 million in earmarks as well as state government infrastructure projects funded with $1.2 billion in one-time money  an effort that was predictably and overwhelmingly voted down.

And what makes this years earmarks different from last years, and previous years going back more than a decade, is that we're actually having this discussion now, before the budget gets signed into law and the money gets distributed.

This is thanks to a change in Senate rules that grew out of reporting by The Post and Couriers Seanna Adcox and related reporting by Columbias State newspaper, which exposed the ugly details of the some of the allocations for local government and nonprofit projects that most legislators themselves didnt even know about. Lawmakers were approving large pots of money under vaguely named categories, and legislative staff contacted state agencies after the budget was signed into law to tell them who to cut checks to and which legislators to contact so they could deliver those checks themselves.

By comparison, the Senates very public expenditures of state tax dollars on sometimes-questionable projects seem pristine. Laudable. Good government at its best.

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Of course theyre none of that. History suggests that at least some of the money will go to nonprofits that arent helping anyone but legislators' friends who run them, and some local governments will be less careful with projects than if they were using their own money. Beyond that, the reason budget writers hand out most earmarks is to persuade lawmakers to vote to pass the state budget. The idea that we need to bribe lawmakers to do their job is the opposite of good government  although it might be an uncomfortable reality we have to live with.

As we debate that question, heres something that shouldnt need debate: The House owes us the same level of transparency when it starts spending surplus funds that it held in reserve awaiting a better economic forecast than was available when it passed the first draft of the budget in March.

Although the new Senate rule requires a written explanation of any earmarks included in the final version of the budget negotiated by a House-Senate conference committee, it doesnt require the names of the House members who requested the money.

The House doesnt have to change its rules  although wed prefer it did, since it takes more work to repeal a House rule than to just stop a voluntary practice  but it does need to provide us with the names of representatives whose earmarks make it into the new version of the budget that the lower chamber passes next month.

It also needs to endorse two earmark reforms the Senate added to the budget bill.

An amendment by Sen. Tom Corbin allows legislators to request an audit of an earmark recipients use of the state funds, something only the State Fiscal Accountability Authority can do now.

Another amendment by Sens. Greg Hembree and Sean Bennett requires nonprofits that receive earmarks to explain to the state exactly what they do. Theyre currently required to report how they plan to use the state funds and then how they actually did, but an audit last year found only a quarter of earmark recipients complied with that rule.

So one more thing the House should do is add some enforcement to those reporting requirements. Our favorite is withholding funding from any organization that doesn't file a report of its plans and barring future funding for those that fail to file the "how we spent it" report.

Knowing the names of the organizations receiving our tax dollars and their legislative beneficiaries is the kind of transparency we should be able to take for granted. So is ensuring theyre actually spending our money as they said they would.
It is time for change. The current court is entirely the governors. He picked every single member  something that only happened once before in the states history  and bears responsibility for its blind eye toward the rights of the accused. In the aftermath of George Floyds murder at the hands of the police, the governor spoke of the many injustices minority communities have faced because of a broken and unfair system. He now has an opportunity to do something about that by assembling a court that is prepared to address at least some of those injustices.
Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
In March, I wrote a letter to the editor stating that if Dominions proposed rates were approved, residential solar would no longer make sense in South Carolina.

The Public Service Commission ruled on April 28 for a compromise that has positive points for all concerned.

Dominion will collect more money from solar customers. For example, when a solar customer needs energy from Dominion, the cost can be as high as 27 cents per kilowatt hour, which is quite high.

Current solar customers, who have had a great deal for the energy they produce, will now pay a bit more. But its still a good deal.

New prospective solar customers can invest in solar and reasonably recover the installation costs.

With investment in solar still being attractive, the states solar industry can still be successful.

Dominion made the point that the cost to support solar customers was shifted to nonsolar customers. Now, nonsolar customers will pay less and are winners as well.

And last, but not least, our environment is a winner.

This was a great ruling by the Public Service Commission.

Nobody got exactly what they wanted, but it was a good compromise for all parties.

In the past few years, there have been many disappointments in how our government operates.

In this particular case, the government did a great job. I couldnt be more proud of how the South Carolina government worked in this case.

MIKE WEISSKOPF

Rebellion Road

Charleston

County unprepared

On April 27, I went to the Charleston County Council meeting at the Lonnie Hamilton Building.

I was there to support my friend William Hamilton, with Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit.

There was an overflow crowd, so we were sent us to the cafeteria to watch the proceedings, which were to begin at 6:30 p.m..

There were about eight of us, several from the Charleston Area Justice Ministry.

The video part of the meeting started shortly after the meeting began, but the audio was not working until after 7.

Two members of the IT department tried in vain to get the sound to work.

Fortunately, some of us had cellphones so we could hear some of the meeting some of the time.

County officials should have known there would likely be an overflow group because of pandemic restrictions.

This was an insult to the concerned citizens who took their time to come out and be a part of local government as well as a sad commentary on the efficiency of said government.

CAROL DOTTERER

Robert E. Lee Boulevard

Charleston

Racial progress

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The Rev. Joseph A. Darbys April 29 commentary highlighted his disagreements with Gov. Henry McMaster and Sen. Lindsey Graham about the For the People Act.

Darbys worldview is informed by his life experiences, as are mine, a southern white Anglo-Saxon Protestant of about the same age.

I can attest that his recitation of race in America since the Civil War through the 1980s is absolutely accurate.

The reverend, however, seems to stop following improvements in race relations since that period.

For instance, he used the word racist five times, Jim Crow twice and bigotry once, each time referring to that earlier period.

The possible exception was the statement, Im not calling the senator a racist, but racists in the 1950s and 1960s said similar things.

If he isnt calling Graham a racist, why use the word twice with his name in the same sentence?

We are not a systemically racist country. There has been remarkable progress in a short time, as noted in the election and reelection of an African American to the presidency in a country that is 13% African American.

If we have policy disagreements, lets discuss them without unnecessarily interjecting the wounds of racial history.

MOULTRIE D. PLOWDEN

Wade Hampton Avenue

Walterboro

Bringing together

President Joe Biden always said that he would unite the country. But theres a tremendous difference between uniting the country and uniting the universe.

TWYLAH MARIE RICKER

Boardman Road

Charleston

Back WIC changes

As many of us celebrate Mothers Day on Sunday, there are South Carolina mothers who are struggling to feed their small children. This is not acceptable.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children addresses nutrition and health needs of low-income pregnant and post-partum women as well as infants and children up to age 5. The program hasnt kept up with the needs of todays moms and families.

WIC requires in-person shopping, creating an inequitable shopping experience. For moms in rural parts of the state, offering online shopping and delivery choices would provide them with more options for their families.

The program has extremely strict guidelines for what participants can purchase. Rather than empowering parents and reinforcing the truth that they know their child best, S.C. chooses to dictate which size jar of peanut butter is acceptable. Any mom who has shopped with a toddler can attest to the fact that hunting down the approved 18-ounce jar rather than the non-approved 20-ounce jar is not a fun task.

The Child Nutrition Reauthorization is now being discussed in Washington. The reauthorization includes changes to address these inequities and barriers.

I encourage our S.C. lawmakers to support the reauthorization.

HEATHER BLACKWELL

Finnegan Lane

West Columbia
Goose Creek, SC (29445)

Today

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening with more clouds for overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
South Carolina Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, speaks against a bill that would allow people to carry guns openly in the state if they have a concealed weapons permit on Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Columbia, S.C. Kimpson wanted to amend the bill to require completed background checks on every gun purchase. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins).
COLUMBIA  South Carolina's efforts to resume the death penalty have drawn national attention in recent days, with critics condemning the addition of the firing squad to the list of execution methods as barbaric and uncivilized.

But the idea did not initially stem from a lawmaker in the state's dominant Republican majority.

Instead, it was a well-known Democrat with experience on both sides of death-penalty cases who kickstarted the effort, arguing a firing squad would be "the least painful" method available.

State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, a loquacious Columbia Democrat and former prosecutor, introduced the proposal during a floor debate in early March.

To boost its chances of passage and make clear he was not attempting to sabotage the underlying bill, Harpootlian enlisted Republican state Sen. Greg Hembree of North Myrtle Beach, another former prosecutor, to help make the case in bipartisan terms.

"I am not what you would call a pull-the-switch, rabid death penalty proponent," Harpootlian said during the debate. "I abhor it. I resist it."

But while Harpootlian, a former two-time state Democratic Party chairman, said the death penalty is "morally wrong," he also said he believes it is "morally necessary in some extreme cases."

"The death penalty is going to stay the law here for a while," Harpootlian said. "If we're going to have it, it ought to be humane."

Harpootlian pointed to his own background trying the case of notorious serial killer Donald "Pee Wee" Gaskins, who received the death sentence and was executed by electric chair in 1991. That experience prompted Harpootlian to do more research on the method.

"There's instance after instance after instance where people are not dead after the first jolt, they're screaming and on fire," Harpootlian said. "Horrible, horrible thing to do to another human being."

By contrast, Harpootlian contended that a firing squad would be more likely to guarantee instant, painless death. He noted that other states, most recently Utah, have used the method without problem and pointed to their implementation of it as a model.

In Utah, the inmate is strapped to a steel chair and an anonymous group of trained law enforcement officers load one round into state-issued rifles. To ensure the officers do not know which of them killed the inmate, one random cartridge is blank.

"This was a desperation move on my part to minimize the pain and suffering of the condemned," Harpootlian said.

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Harpootlian is not the only legal mind on the left to reach the conclusion that the firing squad may be a better death penalty method than some of the alternatives. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a President Barack Obama nominee typically regarded as one of the more liberal justices, wrote approvingly of the idea in a 2017 dissenting opinion.

"Some might find this choice regressive, but the available evidence suggests 'that a competently performed shooting may cause nearly instant death,' " Sotomayor wrote. "In addition to being near instant, death by shooting may also be comparatively painless. And historically, the firing squad has yielded significantly fewer botched executions."

The bill does not outline specifics for how the firing squad will be implemented, leaving that task up to the state's Department of Corrections.

Spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said the agency will develop a plan if the legislation becomes law.

"We would look for guidance from other states and the courts as to what has been deemed constitutional," Shain said.

Frank Knaack, executive director of the ACLU in South Carolina, said his group isnt assembling a lawsuit over the Statehouse legislation but that all options are on the table.

Timing to any lawsuit from any litigant could depend on what happens to the three current South Carolina death row inmates who have exhausted their appeals and are facing potential execution dates, he said.

Possible constitutional challenges include violations of due process and for cruel and usual punishment. He said data suggests the death penalty as applied in the state is less based on fact than on the race of those involved, location of the underlying crime and the solicitor in office.

He called its application here led by "arbitrary factors that fly in the face of equal justice under the law."

Other factors, he said, are that electric chair executions have been botched before with horrific consequences to the subject.

Additionally, he said the state is reverting back to methods it previously rejected as inhumane because lethal injection drugs are no longer available. Inmates bound for the death penalty in the future face the prospect of having been "sentenced under a certain scheme and this is being changed after the fact," Knaack said.

With the bill now on the brink of becoming law after passing in the House, Harpootlian expressed no qualms about his role in the process other than "the regret that we have to take the life of anybody."

When senators poked fun at Harpootlian this week for sparking a combative debate on the House floor, he did not seek to distance himself from it.

"I take credit," Harpootlian said. "I'm not ashamed at all of that. And I think a majority of this body agreed with me."
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School leaders like me bite our tongues at the shibboleths that diversity, equity and inclusion consultants intone to our staffs. We want to give space for feelings about the world around us, but our job is to lead wisely, carefully considering students broader needs. My biggest worry is a simple one: the mainstreaming of the anti-humanist idea that skin color, gender or sexual orientation defines how we think and act, trumping our individual, idiosyncratic identities.
@PottstownNews on Twitter

Evan Brandt has been a staff reporter for The Mercury for more than 20 years. He covers municipal, school district, political, state government, federal government and environmental news.
How many more Berks residents must get vaccinated before Pa. lifts its mask mandate?
A federal grand jury has handed up indictments of Derek Chauvin and his three former colleagues for violating George Floyds civil rights. I inferred from the leak underlying Andy Mannixs April 29 Star Tribune story that the federal civil rights investigation was originally undertaken as a backstop to the state criminal prosecution of the officers in the event that Chauvin and his former colleagues were acquitted, but such is not the case.

Now Derek Chauvin has been convicted of Floyds murder and the three other officers face trial on related state charges. The federal charges aggravate the fair trial issue faced by the three other officers in the scheduled trial of their state case this August. All four officers are charged for Floyds death in the three-count federal indictment.

Chauvin is also charged on a separate two-count indictment resulting from a 2017 incident, but everything else overlaps with the state criminal proceedings. If it werent for Floyd and the political dictates of the hour, is there any doubt that the Biden Justice Department and the United States Attorney for Minnesota would have remained uninterested in the 2017 incident?

A few minutes ago the local office of the United States Attorney forwarded its press release announcing the new charges via email. I have embedded it below via Scribd. It makes out no federal interest to be served in the case over and above the state criminal prosecutions. The press release states only this:

The charges announced today are also separate from, and in addition to, the charges the State of Minnesota has brought against these former officers related to the death of Mr. Floyd. The federal charges allege different criminal offenses; specifically, they allege violations of the U.S. Constitution, rather than of state law.

Well, thank you for the explanation. However, I wonder if such a case has ever been brought when the perpetrators have already been convicted or have yet to be tried in pending state criminal proceedings. I may be missing something, but I am unaware of relevant precedent. Absent relevant precedent or further explanation, I can only comment that I find this aspect of the case performative and abusive.

5.7.21 Chauvin Et Al Indictments by Scott Johnson on Scribd
Are we free at last? The big news is that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is to end his mask decree no later than July 1 and withdraw size restrictions on business and social gatherings on May 28. Effective at noon today, size limits on outdoor gatherings are out. Mandated early closing times at bars and restaurants are eliminated. Other restrictions continue in place, all as set forth in Walz Emergency Executive Order number 21 of 2021 under the alliterative heading Safely Sunsetting COVID-19 Public Health Restrictions.

The loosening of restrictions is taking place despite the fact that most indicators of pandemic activity are above caution thresholds for Minnesota, as Jeremy Olson puts it in his Star Tribune story on Walzs announcement. Whichever way Walz flops, Olson and the Star Tribune will be on hand to flop with him.

The question remains. Will King Tim declare an end to the emergency under which he continues to exercise the royal prerogative? Olsons story must run 1,000 words, but close readers can answer the question by inference: Local jurisdictions will have the option after that to enforce their own mask policies. The city of Duluth in a statement noted that its mask requirement is slated to continue as long as Minnesota has a state of emergency declaration in place for the pandemic. We infer that the answer is no.

The question is answered directly in Anthony Gockowskis Alpha News story Republicans slam Walz for holding Minnesota hostage. Gockowski quotes state senator Julia Coleman (Norm Colemans daughter-in-law): As long as Walz holds onto his emergency powers, he is essentially cutting out the Legislature and has free reign over the entire state.

Gockowski also quotes House minority leader Kurt Daudt: More than 14 months ago, we were told we needed two weeks to flatten the curve, protect our health care system, and prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed. The data clearly show weve made incredible progress reducing case counts and getting Minnesotans vaccinated, but the governor insists on holding on to powers he doesnt need. Its time to open up and end the emergency powers. Good point.

Gockowski reports: Walzs timeline doesnt include a clear date for when he will relinquish his emergency powers, a major issue for Republicans who have persistently objected to the governors unilateral control over the pandemic response. One need not resort to inference to answer the question. Patrick Condon also answers the question directly in the Star Tribune story on the reaction of GOP leaders to Walzs announcement.

None of these stories includes a summary of the restrictions that survive. It would be useful for those of us subject to King Tims royal decrees. However, the new executive order covers 11 pages and doesnt make it easy.

The Minnesota Department of Health is obligated to answer three questions a week from me only so long as Walzs declaration of emergency remains in place. With a little help from Kevin Roche, I hope to contribute slightly to the departments desire to urge Walz to give it up. Kevin, by the way, comments on King Tims moves yesterday here.
Yes, no matter what

Yes, but it depends on variety

No, for medical reasons, uncertainty

No, principle

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Fifth, we must have mandatory teaching of our nations true history in all K-12 schools. All students deserve opportunities to learn and appreciate how Black people and all people of color have collectively shaped our country. By studying the truth of American history, the diasporas that have shaped this nation, the injustices faced by our native peoples and the customs and histories of their classmates ancestors, students are able to understand how their heritage and legacy intersect with and impact society on a global scale. Without this knowledge in the current curriculum, children become adults who do not accept or respect one another and their differences.
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Gains by bank stocks helped spark a rebound in Nigerian equities on Friday, following three days of consecutive losses, with the benchmark index receiving a lift of 0.21 per cent. Investors adopted a risk-on mood that saw more shares purchases than sales even though volume dwindled by as much as 41 per cent.

Zenith, GTB and Union Bank contributed most to the advance. Also helping gains, the oil and gas index climbed highest out of the five sectorial indices tracked by the exchange, jumping 2 per cent to 285.19 basis points on the strength of buy pressure on energy giants Seplat and Oando.

A positive market breadth posted as there were 24 gainers against 17 losers.

The all-share index grew by 84.02 basis points to 39,198.75, while market capitalisation rose to N20.431 trillion. Year to date, the index is down by 2.66 per cent.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

Linkage Assurance led the gainers chart, appreciating by 9.52 per cent to close at N0.69. John Holt went up by 9.26 per cent to N0.59. Union Bank rose to N5.40, notching up 9.09 per cent in the process. Royal Exchange added 8.33 per cent to end the trade at N0.65. Consolidated Hallmark completed the top 5, climbing by 8.33 per cent to N0.39.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

NEM was the worst-performing stock, declining by 9.50 per cent to close at N1.81. Courteville shed 9.09 per cent to close at N0.20. Sunu Assurance fell to N0.54, losing 8.47 per cent. The Initiates slumped to N0.40, recording 6.98 per cent depreciation. Eterna closed at N5.81, going down by 6.89 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

238.938 million shares estimated at N2.953 billion were traded in 3,947 deals.

Access was the most active stock with 40.471 million units of its shares worth N327.965 million traded in 380 deals. FBN Holdings shares of 33.655 million units and priced at N244.219 million exchanged hands in 227 transactions. Zenith had 25.513 million shares valued at N562.201 million traded in 396 deals. UBA traded 13.624 million shares estimated at N98.080 million in 182 transactions. GTB traded 11.897 million shares valued at N347.889 million in 308 deals.
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President Muhammadu Buhari approved the suspension of the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, to allow for investigation into allegations against her, an official has said.

This was disclosed Thursday night by presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu.

Ms Bala-Usman, an ally of Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, was first appointed as the NPA MD in 2016.

Her tenure was renewed for another five years in January this year.

Mr Shehu did not disclose details of the allegations against Ms Bala-Usman but said Mohammed Koko has been appointment as MD in acting capacity.

Until his appointment, Mr Koko was the Executive Director Finance in the agency.

Read full statement by Mr Shehu below.

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES PANEL OF INQUIRY ON NPA, ASKS MD, HADIZA USMAN TO STEP ASIDE

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the recommendation of the Ministry of Transportation under Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi for the setting up of an Administrative Panel of Inquiry to investigate the Management of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.

The President has also approved that the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman step aside while the investigation is carried out. Mr Mohammed Koko will act in that position.

The panel is to be headed by the Director, Maritime Services of the Ministry while the Deputy Director, Legal of the same ministry will serve as Secretary.

Other members of the panel will be appointed by the Minister.

Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media & Publicity)
The House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (Upstream) has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) 14 days ultimatum to appear before it. Should the NNPC fail to appear, the committee said, it will summon the Minister of Petroleum, President Muhammadu Buhari.

The committee is investigating the revocation and reversal order on the operating licences of OML 123, 124, 126 and 137.

The oil assets have been the subject of dispute between Chinese-owned oil companies and the federal government. The dispute led to the revocation and restoration of the mining licenses by the Buhari administration.

On Thursday, NNPC, Addax Petroleum Exploration Nigeria Ltd, Kaztech Engineering Ltd and Salvic Petroleum Resources Ltd all failed to appear before the committee. However, the Minister of Petroleum (State), Timipriye Sylva, and the Director of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Sarki Auwalu, appeared before the committee.

Myrki Adar (APC, Sokoto), the chairman of the committee, issued the ultimatum and expressed readiness to summon the president if the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mele Kyari, should fail to appear before the panel.

He disclosed that the NNPC sent a letter to the committee that the matter was at the Supreme Court. However, Mr Sylva disputed the claim that the matter was in court.

While issuing the ultimatum, Mr Adar said the panel will not hesitate to summon the president, since he is the petroleum minister.

Our message to all those that fail to appear before us as invited namely the NNPC, Addax petroleum company limited, Kaztech engineering ltd and Salvic petroleum resources limited.

We are giving them two weeks from today. We would reschedule this meeting from now to two weeks to appear before this committee and continue our business.

Unless they want us to invite President Muhammadu Buhari as minister of petroleum. If they do not come, we will not hesitate. Buhari is a minister. He appointed himself, approved by the parliament and he is doing his job. We would invite him. And I know as a law-abiding president he would come. If he comes, Nigerians should know that it is the failure of the NNPC to come that led him to appear before us.

Background

On April 6, the DPR revoked four oil assets belonging to Addax, now owned by Sinopec, a Chinese State oil company.

A presidential panel headed by a former senator, Magnus Abe, had accused the oil company of economic wastages.

The DPR revoked the four Oil Mining Leases (OMLs) citing the inability of the firm to comply with agreed terms.

The assets were re-awarded to two indigenous companies; Kaztec Engineering Limited/Salvic Petroleum Resources Limited (KEL/Salvic) Consortium.

Less than two weeks later, the federal government in a statement by the spokesperson to the President, Garba Shehu, restored the mining right of OMLs 123, 124, 126 and 137 to the NNPC which has a Production Sharing Contract with Addax Petroleum; thus reversing its operations back to Addax.

Aborted motion

Last week, a motion to investigate the matter was listed on the Order Paper of the House.

The motion was in the name of Nicholas Ossai (PDP, Delta). However, the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, asked the motion to be stepped down.

The motion was stepped down and not considered by the House.

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Minister Speaks

On Thursday, Mr Sylva said the NNPC wrote a counter-memo against his memo on the Addax assets. He added that he is yet to recognise the restoration order issued by NNPC.

I wrote a memo to Mr President and it was approved, and NNPC wrote another memo against my memo.

Having said that, the issue at hand is that no law was breached at all as far as Addax affairs are concerned. I am also not aware of any matter at the Supreme Court on this particular matter. I have just consulted the director of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) who also told me that he is not aware.

The matter of Addax was not commenced by me, this asset has been sub-optimally managed from the beginning of the acquisition to this moment, it has not been optimally operated.

When Sinopec group acquired this asset from Addax, production was 130,000 barrel per day, as at today, we struggle to produce 35,000 barrel per day, from this asset, because there are no new investments, and the asset has progressively declined. We believe that with the requisite investment, we would have probably taken the asset to beyond 130,000 barrel per day.

Obviously, there was an issue of mismanagement of the asset. Now, in the wisdom of the attorney general of the federation, he wrote to the president to say that this asset has not been properly managed. The letter was forwarded to me by Mr President for me to review, he said.

He added that NNPC is not in a position to withdraw a revocation or advise the withdrawal or revocation.

President Buhari is the substantive minister for petroleum and has been since 2015. However, back in December 2020, the Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, had said that the National Assembly cannot summon the President.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, was not queried, nor was she made aware of the allegations against her management prior to her suspension by President Muhammadu Buhari, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.

Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, on Thursday night announced that Mr Buhari had approved the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, to set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate Ms Usmans management of the NPA.

The President has also approved that the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, step aside while the investigation is carried out. Mr Mohammed Koko will act in that position, Mr Shehu added.

However, PREMIUM TIMES determined Friday morning that the NPA managing director was not told what her offences were or formally communicated before her suspension was announced by the presidency.

When contacted early Friday morning, Ms Usman confirmed that she neither received a query nor a suspension letter. She declined further comments on her ordeal.

Not querying her or making her aware of her offence(s) before suspending her is a clear breach of the processes stipulated in the governments own regulation for disciplining heads of government agencies.

According to a government circular dated May 19, 2020, and endorsed by the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, when there is an issue of impropriety against the head of an agency, the federal government requires a minister, through the permanent secretary of the supervising ministry, to refer the matter to the governing board of the affected agency in line with its enabling law and chapters three and 16 of the Public Service Rules on discipline and government parastatals.

The board will then issue the affected official a query and subsequently advise the minister of its findings and recommendations.

But whether the board is itself the source of the allegation of misconduct against the chief executive or the chief executive is the chairman of the board, the minister, on the advice of the permanent secretary, still has to ensure a query is issued, requesting an explanation from the accused official.

The Minister after due consideration of the submission from the Board shall, on the advice of the Permanent Secretary, forward the ministrys position along with the recommendations of the Board and explanation of the Chief Executive Officer to the Secretary to Government of the Federation for processing to Mr President, for a decision, the circular stated.

Upon receipt of the submission from the minister by SGF, the procedure then establishes another layer of the probe, requiring the SGF to without delay, cause an independent investigation and advise Mr President on the appropriate course of action, including interdiction or suspension in accordance with the principles guiding Sections 030405 and 030406 of the Public Service Rules, pending the outcome of the independent investigation.

Based on the outcome of the independent investigation, it shall be the responsibility of the SGF to further advise Mr President on the next course of action, the circular stated.

Continuing, the memo said it is the SGF that will implement and/or convey the approval and directives of Mr President on every disciplinary action against the Chief Executive Officers in the Public Service.

In this case, neither the governing board nor the SGF was carried along before action was taking on Ms Usman.

The chairman of the NPA board, Jide Adesoye, was not available to comment on this report. Repeated calls to his known telephone number were not answered. A source close to him said he was travelling abroad.

The spokesperson for the ministry was similarly unavailable.

The allegations against Ms Usman remain unclear as of 2 pm on Friday. But this newspaper learnt that Mr Amaechi and Ms Usman had been at loggerheads in the past few months over the procurement procedures for at least two multimillion-dollar contracts at the NPA.

Government insiders familiar with the matter said while Mr Amaechi wanted contractors handling the projects retained, Ms Usman insisted on a competitive tendering process in line with the Public Procurement Act 2004.

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This newspaper also learnt that Mr Amaechi recently accused the NPA management of low remittances of revenues to the countrys Consolidated Revenue Fund and demanded an audit of the agency.

Our sources said both the NPA management and the Authoritys governing board rebuffed him, saying the agency had remitted funds to the government in line with its budget and as detailed in its audited financial statement.

Mr Buhari reappointed Ms Usman for a second five-year term in January several months before the end of her first tenure. That development is said to have surprised Mr Amaechi, with whom Ms Usman has endured years of tension, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
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The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the power of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties.

The apex court made the pronouncement in a judgment dismissing an appeal filed by one of the 74 political parties deregistered by INEC in February 2020.

The appellant, the National Unity Party (NUP), had filed its case to challenge the earlier July 29, 2020 verdict of the Court of Appeal upholding its deregistration by the electoral body.

A member of the apex courts panel, Chima Nweze, who delivered the lead judgment on Friday, ruled that INEC rightly exercised its powers conferred on it by the Nigerian constitution in deregistering the party last year.

Still one hurdle to cross

The judgment delivered on Friday is not yet a total validation of the deregistration of all the 74 political parties announced in February 2020.

This is because there is still a more contentious appeal concerning 22 of the total 74 parties still pending at the Supreme Court.

The 22 political parties had defeated INEC at the Court of Appeal in Abuja which had, in a judgment delivered on August 10, 2020, ordered INEC to relist them.

INEC subsequently appealed against the judgment, and the appeal by the commission is still pending before the apex court.

The Court of Appeal in the judgment being contested by the electoral body affirmed the commissions power to deregister political parties but ruled that INEC went about the deregistration of the 22 parties in utmost contempt and disregard for the due process of law and the court.

The appeal by INEC had yet to be heard before the ongoing judiciary workers strike began on April 6.

Section 225(a) of the Nigerian Constitution, which came into effect with the signing of the amendment to the constitution in 2018, empowers INEC to deregister any political party on the grounds of poor electoral performance.

It provides specifically that a party is liable for deregistration if it fails to win at least 25 per cent of votes cast in one state of the federation in a presidential election, or one local government of the state in governorship election, or failure to win at least one ward in chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State House of Assembly election or one seat in the councillorship election.

More details later
The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, said on Friday, that ongoing investigations have revealed many highly placed Nigerians and businessmen involved in financing terrorism.

Mr Malami, who doubles as the Minister of Justice, said the strongly suspected financiers were already being profiled for prosecution.

The minister, who disclosed this while fielding questions from State House reporters in Abuja, said investigations revealing the activities of the suspected terrorism financiers were triggered by a recent conviction of some Nigerians in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) for funding Boko Haram.

This is coming amid heightened attacks by Boko Haram, non-state actors and other perpetrators of violent crimes in different parts of the country.

Daily Trust earlier in November 2020 reported how an appellate court in Abu Dhabi, UAE, affirmed the conviction of six Nigerians funding the dreaded terrorist group.

The newspaper also reported in April that dozens of persons had been arrested by security agencies in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on the suspected financiers and collaborations.

Wider investigations after UAE case

Confirming the reports on Friday, Mr Malami said the Nigerian government embarked on a wider and far-reaching investigations into terrorism financing after the conviction of Boko Haram financiers in UAE.

He said, Im happy to report that arriving from the wider coverage investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria, a number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable.

I mean reasonable grounds for suspicion of terrorism financing have been established, or perhaps has been proven to be in existence in respect of the transactions of certain high-profile individuals and businessmen across the country.

Profiling

According to him, the investigations are ongoing but have reached an advanced stage.

He added that the high-profile persons and businessmen found to be culpable are being profiled for prosecution.

Im happy to report that investigation has been ongoing for long, and it has reached an advanced stage. Arriving from the investigation, there exists, certainly, reasonable grounds for suspicion that a lot of Nigerians, high-profile, institutional and otherwise, are involved in terrorism financing and they are being profiled for prosecution.

In essence, it is indeed true that the government is prosecuting and its indeed initiating processes of prosecuting those high-profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism. It is indeed true.

Number of suspects not yet available

Asked to give the number of persons already arrested for the crime, Mr Malami said the actual number could not be ascertained until investigations were concluded.

But the minister confirmed that a large number of suspects were involved.

As to the number, investigation is ongoing and it has to be conclusive before one can arrive at a certain number. But one thing I can tell you is its a large number and they are being profiled for prosecution.

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It is indeed a large number, and Im not in a position to give you its precision as at now because the profiling and investigation are ongoing, he said.

Warning

Mr Malami also warned that no one involved in the crime would be spared.

The message is clear: nobody is going to be spared, no stone will be left unturned. We shall certainly and aggressively pursue those people that are involved in terrorist financing as far as the Nigerian State is concerned, he said.

Mr Malamis disclosure comes amid an increasing wave of attacks by Boko Haram in the North-east which has been the epicentre of the deadly activities of the dreaded terrorist groups for about 10 years.

There are recent reports that the group has extended its operations to the North-central part of Nigeria, which is still grappling with high incidence of mass kidnappings and killings by armed herders.

In April, Niger State government said Boko Haram had hoisted its flags in Kaure and Shiroro local government areas of the state.

The North-central state is about 140km to the Federal Capital Territory, Nigerias seat of power.

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, who confirmed this on Monday, said the terrorists have displaced over 3,000 residents of the affected communities.

Many believe that the bandits currently terrorising many states in the North-west through mass kidnapping are affiliated or breakaway members of the terrorist group and bandits displaced from war-torn nations in Africa.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman, was suspended as part of moves to allow independent audit of the accounts and remittance of the agency, documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES have shown.

According to details of a letter sent to President Muhammadu Buhari by Nigerias transport minister, Rotimi Amaechi, the yearly remittance of operating surpluses by the NPA from 2016 to 2020 was far short of the amount due for actual remittance.

In the letter, dated March 4, 2021, Mr Amaechi said within the stipulated years, the NPA recorded an outstanding unremitted balance of N165 billion (N165, 320, 962, 697).

Mr Amaechi thereafter suggested that the financial account of the NPA be investigated and audited.

In her response to the Chief of Staff, dated May 5, 2021, Ms Usman argued that the basis for arriving at the operating surplus of the NPA, upon which the budget office calculated the amount due as remittances to the federation account, was flawed and not in tune with the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

She said the figures provided by the budget office as the operating surplus for 2017 and 2018 were higher than the actual figures derived from the NPAs audited financial statements.

Audited Financial Statements of the Authority for the period 2017 and 2018 provides operating surpluses of N76.782 billion and N71.480 billion for 2017 and 2018 respectively, as contrary to the sums of N133.084 billion and N88.79 billion arrived at by tour office from the budgetary submission, she wrote.

She said in line with the template of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, the accessible operating surplus stood at N51.09 billion and N42.51 billion for the respective years. From there, due remittances (80 per cent of the amounts) to the government account stood at N40.873 billion and N34.065 billion respectively.

The NPA paid in N42.415 billion and N33.969 billion for the two years, she said.

For 2019 and 2020, Ms Usman said the NPA was awaiting the approval of its board of the agencys audited accounts to determine the amount to remit for the two years. In the meantime, she said NPA paid N31.683 billion and N51.049 billion for both years respectively.

Suspension and Probe

Ms Usmans suspension was made public first on Wednesday amid allegations of witch-hunting.

Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, on Thursday night announced that Mr Buhari had approved the recommendation of the Minister of Transport, Mr Amaechi, to set up an administrative panel of inquiry to investigate Ms Usmans management of the NPA.

The President has also approved that the Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman, step aside while the investigation is carried out. Mr Mohammed Koko will act in that position, Mr Shehu said.

A PREMIUM TIMES report Friday morning showed the NPA managing director was not told what her offences were or formally communicated before her suspension was announced by the presidency.

When contacted on Friday, Ms Usman confirmed that she neither received a query nor a suspension letter. She, however, declined further comments on her ordeal.

Documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES show that after Mr Amaechi wrote to the president requesting the audit of NPA, Ibrahim Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President, responded on March 30 conveying Mr Buharis approval of the ministers prayers.

Thereafter, the Ministry of Transport wrote to the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation on April 6, intimating it of Mr Buharis approval of the ministers prayers that NPA be audited.

However, the ministry in its letter signed by Magdalene Ajani, the Permanent Secretary, listed five audit firms and requested the Auditor-Generals office to approve any of them for the audit. In the alternative, the ministry requested the Auditor-Generals Office to grant it authority to advertise and select qualified audit firms to conduct the exercise.

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The audit firms listed by the ministry include KPMG Nigeria, Deloitte Nigeria, Price Water House Coopers (PwC), Ernest and Young Nigeria, and McKinsey and Company.

Things however took a dramatic turn when the Auditor-General, Adolphus Aghughu, in a letter dated April 16, notified the transport ministry that the NPA board had engaged Messrs Muhtari Dangana & Co (Chartered Accountants) and SIAO Chartered Accountants as external audit firms.

In the letter which he personally signed, the AG added that the said audit firms had indeed audited and published the accounts of NPA in 2016, 2017, and 2018 financial years, and the 2019 audit is ongoing. The Auditor-General added that its office had conducted periodic checks and released appropriate reports on the checks.

Quoting extant laws establishing the NPA and the Nigerian constitution, the Auditor-General concluded that reputable professional audit firms are already being engaged by the Board in line with the enabling Act. It added that there was no justification for the Ministry to advertise and select qualified Audit firms to conduct the exercise.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has directed Channels TV and Inspiration FM Lagos to pay a fine N5 million each for infractions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

Armstrong Idachaba, the acting director-general of the commission, announced this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Idachaba, a professor, explained that the NBC on Monday, April 26, served Channels TV a letter indicating the stations culpability and liability for infractions of the Code in respect to its broadcast of Politics Today of Sunday, April 25.

The acting D-G stated that the station violated Sections 3.11.1(b) and 5.4.3 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.

Similarly, Idachaba said that on May 2, in its World Report, Inspiration FM Lagos aired a broadcast of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) making secessionist claims in breach of 3.11.1(b) and 5.4.3 of the Code.

He said Channels TV and Inspirational FM broadcast secessionist, divisive, violent and inflammatory comments.

Sections 3.11.1(b) and 5.4.3 of the code state as follow:

Section 3.11.1(b), the Broadcaster shall ensure that no programme contains anything which amounts to subversion of constituted authority or compromises the unity or corporate existence of Nigeria as a sovereign state.

Section 5.4.3, in reporting conflict situations, the broadcaster shall perform the role of a peace agent by adhering to the principle of responsibility, accuracy and neutrality.

Mr Idachaba noted that the violations of the identified sections, being a `Class A offence, attracts sanctions in section 15.2.1 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code which provides the following:

Immediate order of suspension of broadcast services; suspension of licence and immediate shut down and seal up of transmitter, revocation of licence, seizure and forfeiture or transmitting equipment

(In) 15.5.1: the following penalties shall apply in respect of a breach committed by the broadcaster: light, N200,000 to N500,000; heavy, N500,000 to N4,999,000; severe, N5,000,000.

Mr Idachaba said that there was no doubt that all over the world, countries had taken measures through regulations and the law to curb excesses.

According to him, such include the destruction of lives, property and the unwanton breakdown of law characterised by negative broadcast of terrorist groups such as the IPOB.

He said that the United Kingdom Government took action against the IRA and banned it from airing inflammatory and divisive rhetoric to its use audiences.

Similarly, he said that France and other developed countries had taken actions against terrorist groups and their determination to use broadcast materials to inflame the society.

Following the announcements of liability to the sanctions stated in 15.1.1 and 15.1.2 both stations have accepted culpability for the infractions and earlier offered unreserved apologies for the breaches.

The NBC has reviewed the appeals and apologies from both stations, and has decided to set aside the option of suspension of licence.

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The Commission has, however, directed both stations (Channels TV and Inspirational FM) to pay N5 million penalty each to serve as deterrent, Mr Idachaba said.

The acting D-G, therefore, warned broadcasters to desist from giving voice and visibility to terrorist organisations wishing to wreak havoc on the country in the guise of freedom of speech.

The Federal High Court in Abuja declared the Pro-Biafra group, IPOB, as a terrorist and illegal group on Sept. 18, 2017.

(NAN)
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase (APC, Plateau), said Thursday that the Minority Leader of the Senate, Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP, Abia), ought to be in prison for failing to produce Nnamdi Kanu in court after standing as a surety.

He cited the example of Ali Ndume (APC, Borno), another senator, who was put in prison by Justice Okon Abang, over the formers failure to produce Abdulrasheed Maina, former head of the defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), whom he had stood for as surety.

Mr Wase made the remarks while responding to a Point of Order raised by Sada Soli (APC, Katsina) on Thursday.

Mr Soli, citing Order 6, Rules 1 and 3, accused the Minority Leader of the House, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) of misrepresenting facts of the events at the Executive Session that the House had on April 27.

The House had an Executive Session on April 27. At the end of the session, the lawmakers reached 12 resolutions on security.

In his reaction to the point of order raised on Thursday, Mr Wase said Ordinarily, for failing to produce Kanu Nnamdi, he (Sen Abaribe) should be in prison, just like Ndume was taken to prison.

I see somebody as Abaribe, who is the leader in the senate, championing that. Yes, there are many flaws. He bailed Kanu Nnamdi and during the ENDSARS, we knew what happened. Kanu then was the one who was asking for the head of Tinubu, destroy this, destroy that in the nation. But we have allowed him. He knew what happened to Ndume.

Ndume for bailing Maina was taken to prison for not producing him, but we allowed this man to go as opposition person. And that is why they could send everything back to the person. I am a presiding officer, I wish to be neutral as much as possible, he added.

Wase tackles Ndume

Last week, at the PDP emergency National Executive Committee (NEC), the House Minority Leader, Ndidi Elumelu, had remarked that many of our colleagues in the APC have seen reasons to join forces with us and they have expressed their readiness to cross over to our party.

On Thursday, Mr Wase said Mr Elumelu misrepresented what happened at the executive session. He said no member of the APC approached the Minority Leader to decamp.

Mr Speaker, it was a confidential matter. You know the meaning of executive session. He couldnt have gone there to report that one. Mr Speaker, I want to say that there is a kind of false platform that I am seeing because after that meeting sir, PDP caucus of both chambers went and had another discussion, a kind of build-up on the security situation. And I think Mr Speaker, we need to be serious.

I think there is a need for us, as a system, to change our tactics. It is not about opposition. If you are going to do opposition, do opposition that is right, give factual views and also be part of the solution to problems.

Uzoma Abonta (PDP, Abia) responded that the matter of Messrs Abaribe and Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is still in court. He argued that Mr Kanu jumped bail after the military invaded his home.

The last contact the man in question had was with the military. The Senator who bailed the man was going to court regularly. The senator did not default. He was called to show cause and he showed cause successfully. Why is it a point of reference in the parliament? Mr Abonta said.

Ruling

Ruling on the point of order, the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, said members ought to be careful in making pronouncements at a political gathering such as the NEC meeting.

Your point of order is noted, Mr Gbajabiamila ruled.

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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to publicly condemn all attacks on journalists and media organizations.

The group said Mr Buhari should issue a clear public statement to all government and security force officials prohibiting any acts of intimidation, threats, harassment, and arbitrary arrests of journalists and media workers, and state that such incidents will be immediately investigated and appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.

This was disclosed at the launching of SERAPs report on Thursday in Lagos titled Something to Hide? : Media Freedom Under Siege in Nigeria.

According to SERAP, the report written by veteran journalist, Richard Akinnola, said 36 journalists were attacked between January 2019 and July 2019, with 30 of the attacks recorded during the 2019 elections. Press Attack Tracker (PAT), a civic tech platform, provided the statistics.

The report also stated that 18 journalists were assaulted for covering the nationwide #EndSARS protests against police brutality in October 2020.

Dave Peterson, Senior Director, Africa Programmes, National Endowment for Democracy, while delivering his goodwill message virtually commended SERAP for the publication.

Nigeria is known for its dynamic press, and any threat to the Nigerian press and media around the world is a threat to democracy, he said.

Mr Akinnola, while presenting the report for SERAP said, It is fundamental and imperative that everyone, particularly journalists have and peruse the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

Citizens have a right to protest. Citizens should not be hindered from protesting peacefully. 

Nigerian government wants press under siege

Human Rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana, during the launch, said the government of Nigeria wants the press to remain under siege because they want to keep the information confidential.

According to Mr Falana, the government is desperate to silence the press.

Its to hide from Nigerians information about misgovernance, wanton corruption, regarding the reckless killings of the people, unwarranted abduction of our people including school children, undergraduates, secondary school students, and even primary school pupils.

Of course government is also determined to hide from us the fact that our country has been captured by the IMF and World Bank whose neoliberal economic policies have continued to put people in poverty. So you are not supposed to know why we are poor in the midst of plenty.

About two weeks ago an agency of the government, Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation suddenly announced that Channels Television [a programme aired by the station] has been suspended and fined N5 million. No trial was held, the NBC became the judge, the witness and the sole prosecutor in the same court charged the Channels Television in absentia, convicted the media organization and proceeded to punishment, he added.

Mr Falana said the conduct of NBC cannot be justified within the provision of the Nigerian Constitution.

I, therefore, submit that if Channels Television paid the fine of N5 million, it should be refunded without any further delay. Secondly, the NBC should apologize publicly to Channels Television and the Nigerian people for violating our collective rights.

Furthermore, the amended code should be withdrawn forthwith because Chairman of the Board who was supposed to preside over the meeting has said that the amendment was never passed and therefore nobody has challenged him and that is why the amendment has to be crushed and set aside.

Mr Falana said the government of President Muhammadu Buhari should leave office if it is unable to perform its statutory responsibilities.

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If a President is unable to perform the functions of his office, the National Assembly shall move for him and ensure he is neatly taken out of power through impeachment.

Section 14 sub-section 2 provides the primary purpose of a government shall be the security and welfare of the people. When the government cant guarantee your welfare or security what is left?

READ ALSO:

Those who are unable to govern us should be shown the way out, through the instrumentality of the law.

SERAPs report

The report by SERAP illustrated that Nigerias civic space has significantly shrunk in the past two years.

State actors at federal, state, and local government levels have carried out violations that have shrunk the civic space.

By taking actions that violate democratic freedoms, state actors have been culpable for the many infractions on the civic space in Nigeria. A number of non-state actors such as Boko Haram, (and other quasi-religious groups), political thugs, unknown gunmen, and some powerful individuals are also guilty of taking steps that violate freedoms thus shrinking the civic space in Nigeria.

The report concludes that state actors as government entities have legally binding obligations to ensure and promote an open civic space particularly because Nigeria is a democracy. So it is imperative that the government should promote freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly in the country.
Yet another teaching resource refers to fellow teachers as co-conspirators and advises them to remember that it will do more harm to teach both sides. This is not about both sides. This is about justice. Meanwhile, an educator training session in a North Carolina district indicated that parents are considered by teachers to be an impediment to social justice and suggested that the way to handle pushback is to ignore parental concerns and push the ideology directly to students.
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The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) has provided a N5billion grant to the Akwa Ibom State Government targeted at healthcare and social development as part of its annual $100 million dollars Annual Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal.

This was announced during a presentation of the grant award letter by ASR Africa to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel in Uyo, Thursday.

Speaking at the presentation, Kabiru Rabiu, representing the Chairman of ASR Africa and BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, commended Governor Udom for his strides in upgrading the State healthcare infrastructure and referral system at the Primary and Secondary levels, as well as the states handling of the COVID-19 pandemic for which the BUA Foundation donated five ambulances and 50,000 reusable facemasks during the pandemic.

These were distributed to students and vulnerable groups across the state.

He disclosed that the project initiation process and development of mutual accountability frameworks to guide the grant usage will commence immediately whilst adding that ASR Africa has also approved the immediate and initial disbursement of N2.5billion from the total sum to a jointly managed fund guaranteeing the commencement of the programme.

In his remarks, Governor Udom praised the Founder of the Initiative, Abdul Samad Rabiu, for his consistent commitment to social good and philanthropy.

He also added that the projects to be funded by the grant will be jointly approved and implemented in line with the ASR Africa Grants Utilisation Framework.

Furthermore, Governor Udom said Akwa Ibom State will continue to do more to boost social development and improve the healthcare infrastructure for its citizens considering the great strides have already been made.

While reiterating the purpose of ASR Africa, Ubon Udoh, Managing Director of ASR Africa, said, The initiatives core areas of intervention are Education, Health and Social Development in Africa and our main focus is on equipping facilities, researchers, healthcare practitioners and community-level service providers and also supporting the efforts of various Governments in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this initiative is to give back to the society. ASR Africa has set aside100million dollars annually for social development, health and education intervention in Nigeria and Africa through the ASR Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal.

Of this amount, 50million dollars is being committed to Nigeria and another $50million for the rest of Africa. Prior to now,, the initiative had donated N1billion each to the University of Ibadan, Oyo State and the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State under our education intervention programme.

Akwa Ibom state will be the first sub-national government to benefit from this Fund as well as the first to benefit from the healthcare component. We are currently evaluating other beneficiaries within Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

ABOUT ASR AFRICA

The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative seeks to support sustainable development initiatives in the Health, Education and Social Development within Nigeria and the rest of Africa, every year. For more information visit asrafrica.org or email asrafrica[at]buagroup[dot]com
Controversial Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, has explained his role and that of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, in the recent release of the 27 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State.

The students were freed by their abductors on Wednesday after spending over seven weeks in captivity.

They were among 37 abducted from the school on March 11, but some were rescued earlier.

The bandits demanded N500 million as ransom for their release but the state government had insisted it will not pay a dime to bandits or negotiate with them.

It remains unclear if the state government changed its stance to secure their release.

The state government was also silent on ransom payment in its confirmation statement issued by Samuel Aruwan, the commissioner for internal security.

But a newspaper, Daily Nigerian, reported that there was a prisoner exchange with the bandits by the government.

It said, as part of the deal brokered by Messrs Obasanjo and Gumi, a bandit was released from prison in exchange for the students.

The family of the students also paid ransom to the kidnappers, the newspaper reported, quoting a security source involved in the negotiations.

Gumi speaks

But on Thursday, while receiving the parents of the freed students on an appreciation visit, Mr Gumi explained the role of the former president in the pact.

The role myself and former President Olusegun Obasanjo played in the release of the 27 Afaka students is the role of mediators because the fight is not between us and them (bandits) but between the bandits and the government, Punch newspaper quoted him to have said.

What we understand is that these people are trying to attack the government by attacking the government institutions and take innocent children.

Having understood that we came to the conclusion that this is not a hopeless situation and that we can really go in and negotiate for the release of these children, which we did after so many ups and downs.

But in the long run, a conclusion was reached and these children are out. So, we are happy that, all of them are out and none was killed.

However, efforts to get Mr Obasanjos reaction proved abortive as his spokesperson, Kehinde Akinyemi, who had promised get back to PREMIUM TIMES on the report Thursday afternoon, did not respond to subsequent calls from our correspondent up till evening time.

The freed students are different from the 16 students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, who have yet to be released with their abductors threatening mass killing if a ransom is not paid.

Over 48 hours after the expiration of the ultimatum, the state government is yet to respond to the threats of the abductors.

But Mr Gumi said talk was ongoing with the abductors of the 16 students.

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The talk with the Greenfield University students abductors is also going on. You know they threatened to kill all of them after a particular deadline but after talking to them, they are now lowering their bar.

So, we are thankful they have stopped killing. And we are still negotiating with them. I hope this Afaka case will also encourage to know that there is hope in negotiation and release the children, Punch newspaper reported.
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Nigeria on Thursday recorded 28 new COVID-19 infections in six states across the country.

The new figure raised the total number of infections in the country to 165,301, an update published by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Thursday night indicates.

According to the update, no new death was recorded from the virus which has already claimed 2,065 lives in the country.

The number of deaths recorded from the virus has declined recently with only four deaths recorded in the last 22 days.

The new COVID-19 cases were reported in six states: Lagos-10, Rivers-7, Akwa Ibom-6, Delta-2, FCT-2 and Kaduna-1.

A breakdown of the data shows that 21 people were discharged on Thursday after testing negative for the virus. This brings the total number of discharged persons after treatment to 155,424.

Todays report includes Data from Akwa Ibom State recorded over the last two days and Data from Delta State recorded for 5th May, 2021, the NCDC said.

Meanwhile, over 7,000 infections are still active in the country, according to the NCDC.

Low cases

Nigeria has continued to report low COVID-19 cases since February.

The country has also taken precautionary measures to prevent importation of cases from countries experiencing a surge in COVID-19.

Nigeria recently banned travels from Brazil, India and Turkey. Brazil and India reported about half of the total number of new COVID-19 cases recorded globally last week, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Nigerian government said non-Nigerians who had travelled to any of the three countries in the previous 14 days would not be allowed into Nigeria.

While working to prevent imported COVID-19 cases, Nigeria is also continuing with its vaccination programme with over 1.2 million Nigerians receiving their first of two shots of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Nigeria has, so far, received about 4.4 million doses of the vaccine.
The Federal Government on Thursday met with the leaders of the striking Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN).

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, speaking with journalists at the end of the conciliatory meeting between the government negotiating team and the representatives of the unions, in Abuja, appealed to them to end their strike in view of steps being taken to meet their demand.

Courts across the country have been shut down since April 6 when JUSUN members began their strike to press for financial autonomy of the judiciary.

Some state Houses of Assembly are also said to be on strike with PASAN members similarly demanding the financial independence of the parliament at the state level.

Mr Ngige said government had made offers to the two unions, adding that the representatives of the unions would consult with their various National Executive Committees (NECs), and revert back.

The minister said a lot of work went into the governments proposal to the two unions, which substantially addressed their demands for judicial and legislative autonomy.

A lot of work went in. We have exchanged briefs with JUSUN and PASAN.

They have their demands, which they had earlier submitted. The government has given counter offers and properly addressed the burning issue of financial autonomy for state legislature and judiciary, Ngige said.

He said that questions were asked and answered, while critical observations were made and explained, working on the proposal given by the government.

According to him, the meeting was adjourned to enable JUSUN and PASAN take back the government proposal to their members of their National Executive Committees.

We expect them to work on the documents from tomorrow and if they are satisfied, they should inform us.

And you know that when they are satisfied, the logical thing is to call-off the industrial action. So, we are to receive their views on the government offer by Tuesday morning, he added.

Appeal for end to strike

Mr Ngige, however, said the discussions had been very fruitful, adding that they had moved from the initial position of ground zero, to ground 85.

He therefore, appealed to the striking workers to return to work to enable government meet the remaining part of their demands.

We cannot do this when legislation is closed in various states. We cannot also operationalise them when the courts are closed and heads of courts are not allowed into the courts or their offices.

We have made documentation and statistics for the state houses of assembly to make appropriate laws. So, we plead that you open the courts and state houses of assembly, the minister appealed.

Besides, we are menaced by bandits, terrorists, and arsonists, with the courts closed, the police cannot tackle insecurity, Mr Ngige said.

Unions representatives respond

Responding, the Vice Chairman of JUSUN, Emmanuel Abioye, and the National President of PASAN, Mohammed Usman, both promised to meet with their NEC, to study the situation and consider the offers before reverting back to the Minister of Labour.

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The meeting between the unions and the minister was the first after the earlier one scheduled to take place about two weeks ago failed to hold due to communication gap that led JUSUN leaders to stage a walkout from the venue.

JUSUN leaders later apologised to the minister over the walkout.

(NAN)
The Ogun State Commissioner for Environment who was accused of attempted rape by a teenager in January has secretly resigned his appointment from government, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

Abiodun Abdul-Balogun has also coerced the family of the victims not to testify against him in court, an action that has stopped police and the states department of public prosecutions from proceeding with the matter, sources said.

The accused did not deny when our correspondent confronted him with our findings. He simply pleaded that the matter be laid to rest.

How it started

A 16-year old secondary school student, Barakat Melojuekun, accused Mr Abdul-Balogun, of attempting to rape her in his residence on December 31, 2020.

She alleged that the commissioner fondled her breasts while reciting incantations, apparently to scare her. She also said her screams forced Mr Abdul-Balogun to jump off her and offer her N2,000 to shut up.

Mr Abdul-Balogun had offered her a lift, lobbied to get her telephone number, and promised to get her a job as a computer operator. Rather than getting the job, she claimed she was molested.

The teenager said she reported the case to her parents who escalated it to the police.

As expected, the police on January 1, 2021, invited the commissioner to Abigi Police Station for interrogation.

During this period, the only defence Mr Abdul-Balogun pulled was that he was being set up by his political opponents.

The allegations against the commissioner elicited outrage on social media and many Nigerians called for his removal from office and prosecution.

Suspension from office

Hours after PREMIUM TIMES report, the Ogun State Government announced the suspension of Mr Abdul-Balogun as commissioner.

The government in a statement signed by Tokunbo Talabi, the secretary to the Ogun State Government, said the commissioner should vacate his office pending the conclusion of the police investigation into the matter.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that police and the government promised to inform the public of the investigations outcome but nothing has been said four months after.

After this newspapers report on refusal of police to make its findings known to the public, sources confided in our reporter that Mr Abdul-Balogun has since left the government.

A close associate of the commissioner who did not want his name mentioned said the commissioner resigned from office months after the allegations in order to bury his shame and has since coerced the victims family.

Coercion

Before now, our correspondent reported that Mr Abdul-Balogun threatened the family of the victim. This forced the victim, Miss Melojuekun, in a short video, to plead with Nigerians to allow the matter be laid to rest.

In her video, she did not retract the allegations but simply said: you can recall that I was the young lady in the viral video about sexual harassment by the Commissioner for the Environment in Ogun State. I am using this opportunity to thank all meaningful Nigerians that showed their support and love towards this matter.

I now want to use this opportunity to appeal to meaningful Nigerians to please allow this matter to rest. Thanks, she said then in a shaky voice.

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This newspaper heard that the threat never stopped even after police completed their investigation and made its findings known to the Ogun State department of public prosecution for advice.

He threatened the victim and her family. He even offered them money that I was aware of back then but I cant say if the family accepted it or not. The refusal of the family has since stopped the police and government from prosecuting him, a source in the state ministry of justice told our correspondent.

Also, sources within Governor Dapo Abiodun administration told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Abdul-Balogun resigned following the shame that followed his suspension.

He could not defend himself against the allegations and the governor insisted that he was not going to reinstate him until he did. The commissioner had to resign.

When our correspondent reached out to the victim, she maintained that her parents have asked her to allow the matter rest.

Police, govt quiet

Sources also confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that since Mr Abdul-Balogun resigned from government, the police and Ogun State ministry of justice have failed to take the matter further.

The institutions also decided to keep mum on the matter in order not to trigger public outrage.

This newspaper spoke with the state police public relations officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on why the force refused to act but he put the blame on the department of public prosecutions.

We have long completed our investigation and we have sent the commissioners case file to the DPP for advice. We have since been waiting for the DPP to respond.

When PREMIUM TIMES pressed further on what the police found out in its investigation, Mr Oyeyemi simply said I cant disclose that except the DPP advice comes out. They are the ones that will tell us to either charge him to court or not. Police cannot tell you the outcome of their investigation so you have to reach the Attorney-General.

Our correspondent also reached out to the Attorney-General, Akingbolahan Adeniran, who confirmed that the matter has been put on hold since the embattled commissioner resigned.

He said Mr Abdul-Balogun has resigned his appointment. He is no longer a State Government official. The Police have indeed sent the case file including an affidavit from the victim that she is not willing to testify.

We cannot prove the offence without the victims testimony and it is our policy in sexual violence cases not to compel victim testimony. We have not publicised this in order not to expose her to danger from fanatics and others, he said in a text message to our correspondent.

Confronted with our findings, Mr Abdul-Balogun did not deny his resignation and allegations that he corced the victim and her family.

What do you want? I dont want to talk about this matter again. This is a matter I dont want to talk about. It was political. Even our leaders in politics have their past. It is the price for political office.

Im not going to say anything again. I dont want to comment further. Just do me that favour. I dont have comment, the embattled politician simply said.

An activist and lawyer, Ibukun Ajibade, condemned the state government and police for not keeping the public informed.

Something is fishy. The matter seems to have been settled behind the door and criminal matters are not meant to be treated that way. Criminal matters are to be prosecuted because crime are not committed against individuals.

It is not at the discretion of the victim to say shes not prosecuting the case or would not testify. The court can compel someone to even testify but I agree that if the victim is not cooperating, the success of the suit will be shaky.

I believe that the family have been coerced but if the state is serious with the matter, they can always take it further. The law is simply enacted in interest of the rich at the expense of the poor. It is not a family affair that should be settled on the basis of alternative dispute resolution or in a round table.
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The federal government has approved the dissolution of the governing council of Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) Ibadan, Oyo State.

The development comes amidst allegations of fraud and incompetence by Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the institute against its Director-General, Folarin Gbadebo-Smith.

NISER is a public research institute located in Ibadan, with a mission to provide information on economic and social ideas that will be pivotal to the nations development.

Its products and activities include publications of conference proceedings and research findings, organising of training workshops, and seminars.

According to the letter addressed to the Chairman of the governing council, Muhammad Bashar, on April 27, the dissolution is a result of the expiration of his led council.

The letter was sent by the federal ministry of finance, budget and national planning. It was marked MBNP/AB/SEC/2705/Vol.1/36 and signed by the ministrys permanent secretary, Olusola Idowu.

You may wish to recall that the Governing Board of NISER which was inaugurated on 8th March, 2018 by the Honourable Minister of Budget and National Planning following the approval of Mr. President, has now expired in accordance with the First Schedule, Section 1(4) of the supplementary provision of its establishment Act.

The Act provides for a Term of three (3) years for the Chairman of the Council and members to hold Office subject to either re-appointment for another 3-year Term or re-constitution.

In effect, the inaugurated Council ceases to have constitutional powers to carry out such responsibilities/functions as specified in Section 3(a)-(c) of the Act. Consequently, I write to bring the foregoing to your information and to state that all functions hitherto performed by the Governing Council including holding of meetings, etc stands suspended indefinitely pending the re-appointment or otherwise.

The Honourable Minister of State appreciates the invaluable services rendered by the Governing Council Members during your tenure and wishes them well in their future engagements, the letter read.

The Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, Muyiwa Babatimehin; Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Universities, Teaching Hospitals and Research Institutions, Mathew Olagunju; and Chairman, Non-Academic Staff Union, Theophilus Tubi had on March 19, written the governing council to investigate the institutes DG, Mr Gbadebo-Smith.

The workers also sent the petition to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

The governing council earlier initiated a process of investigating Mr Gbadebo-Smith before its dissolution.

It is not clear whether the latest development will truncate the investigation. The dissolved governing council chairman, Mr Bashar, did not respond to requests for comments.

Mr Gbadebo-Smith on his part had earlier said he is not interested in speaking with the press on the allegations.

He said this was because an investigative panel has been set up by the Minister of State for National Planning on controversies generated by promotion, research and publication inadequacies at the institute.
The International Criminal Court has sentenced Dominic Ongwen to 25 years of imprisonment. He was found guilty of a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Following the trial judgment Thursday, Mr Ongwen was convicted for the crimes he committed in Northern Uganda between July 1, 2002, and December 31, 2005, a statement by the court read.

Mr Ongwen had been held in custody for six years (from January 2015 till date). This will be deducted from the total time of imprisonment imposed on him, the statement noted. The sentence can also be appealed.

A summary of the courts decision read at the Hague-based court, in the Netherlands, by presiding Judge Bertram Schmitt noted that the Chamber was confronted with evidence of a perpetrator who wilfully and lucidly brought tremendous suffering upon his victims.

However, it is also confronted with a perpetrator who himself had previously endured extreme suffering himself at the hands of the group of which he later became a prominent member and leader.

For this reason, the court decided to give certain weight in mitigation to the circumstances of Mr Ongwens sentencing, the courts statement explained.

Genesis

As a child, Mr Ongwen was abducted and tortured by the Lords Resistance Army (LRA), a weakened rebel and heterodox Christian group listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. and accused of widespread human rights violations and war crimes.

But he would become a major at 18 and brigadier of the Sinia Brigade in his twenties, one of the four LRA brigades of the militia group, and lead forces to attack civilian populations around the swathes of central and east Africa.

For instance, in December 2009, the LRA forces under his command killed at least 321 civilians and abducted 250 others during a four-day rampage on Makombo, a village in the DR Congo.

Over these allegations, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Mr Ongwen alongside LRA founder, Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, and the army commander Okot Odhiambo.

All four LRA leaders were charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Ruling

While the defence argued that Mr Ongwen had limited mental capacity and acted under duress when he joined the guerilla forces, the court rejected the argument.

The court also rejected the arguments of the defence praying for traditional justice mechanisms. The joint judgment noted that there was no equivalent under the courts statute to replace a term of imprisonment with traditional justice mechanisms.

After analysing the gravity of each of the 61 crimes, for which Mr Ongwen was convicted, one after the other, the court said it found several aggravating circumstances applicable to some or even most crimes.

These aggravating circumstances included particular cruelty, the multiplicity of victims, the victims being particularly defenceless, and discrimination on political grounds and discrimination against women, with the highest individual sentences being punishable for 20 years.

It said it imposed individual sentences for each of the crimes, having taken into account Mr Ongwens childhood and torture in the hands of the LRA.

Due to this, the chamber said it decided against life imprisonment and it envisages a concrete prospect for Dominic Ongwen to eventually rebuild his life.

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The case against Mr Ongwen was opened in 2016, and earlier this year he was convicted of 61 charges including crimes against humanity and war crimes before he was sentenced Thursday.
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Saddened by the spate of insecurity in the country, the Nigeria Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, has tasked governments at all levels to improve their efforts to tackle the insecurity ravaging the country. The NSCIA is headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar.

Nigeria has seen an uptick in cases of violent attacks and kidnapping in recent weeks with concerns over the safety of Nigerians pushed to the front burner of national headlines.

Within the period, President Muhammadu Buhari has replaced the service chiefs and appointed a new inspector-general of police, but little has happened to improve the security situation in the country.

In a statement by its deputy secretary-general, Salisu Shehu, the NSCIA said it was important to assuage the heightened degree of insecurity in the country and the attendant fatalities, tensions, fear and confusion being foisted upon the citizenry.

For this, he added, the leadership of the country needs to up the ante in their efforts to protect the lives and properties of the citizens.

We also urge the Citizens to be vigilant and conscious of their neighbourhood and discharge their civic responsibilities of assisting the law enforcement agencies, the statement read.

The Council also enjoins the Muslim Ummah to utilise the opportunity of the last ten days of Ramadan to intensify prayers for the nations comprehensive peace and security.

The Council calls on all Muslims to ceaselessly engage in different supplication to Almighty Allah to grant succour to the challenges being faced by our Dear Nation.

It urged Muslims to intensify the acts of giving charity and assistance to the poor, while also tasking them to continue to support all efforts to sustain a united and indivisible Nigeria.
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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested three officials of the Taraba State Government over a N21 billion scam, PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.

The state officials, according to EFCC sources who sought not to be named because they have not been authorised to talk publicly about the matter, are a permanent secretary, a Director of Finance and Account and a cashier in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.

Top EFCC sources told this newspaper on Friday that the officials were arrested on Wednesday (May 5) and are still being held at the commissions headquarters in Jabi, Abuja, as of Friday.

The suspects have volunteered statements to investigators, this newspaper was reliably informed.

They were said to have been arrested over their alleged role in the withdrawal of N21 billion from the state coffers.

Sources said the money was withdrawn from the states accounts through cheques in tranches of at least N10 million each.

EFCC spokesman, Wilson Uwujaren confirmed the arrest.

When contacted over the phone by PREMIUM TIMES on Friday, Governor Darius Ishakus media aide, Bala Abu, said he was not aware of the arrest and promised to find out.

He had yet to revert to our reporter as of the time of filing this report.

Taraba under the spotlight

In July last year, the EFCC arraigned three political office holders in Taraba State on six counts of conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and forgery before the state High Court.

The defendants were Jedua Ahmed Dawud, a serving member of Taraba State House of Assembly, representing Sardauna Local Government Area of the state, while the second and third defendant, Oliver Wubon and Joseph Danladi John, were incumbent chairmen of Sardauna and Kurmi local government areas, respectively.

They were alleged to have stolen from the coffers of Sardauna Local Government Area, a total of N104,200,000, being funds meant for capital projects in the local government area, while the second and third defendants held the positions of Chairman and Director of finance of the local government area, respectively.

The offences the defendants were accused of were said to be contrary to Sections 96, 315 and 366 of the Penal Code of Taraba State and punishable under Section 315 of the same law.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday denied offering N1 million to anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of cybercrime suspects, widely referred to as Yahoo Yahoo Boys.

This clarification became necessary following phone calls by citizens wanting to cash in on notices in the social media by fraudsters promising a reward of one million naira (N1, 000,000) for friends, family and relatives of Yahoo Boys who hand them over to the EFCC, the commission said in a statement.

Wilson Uwujaren, the commissions spokesperson, said in the statement, that the false promotional post on social media bear hashtags like, #EFCC and #beagoodcitizen.

He quoted the post as reading, if you have a Yahoo Yahoo boy as Family, Friend or Relative, Kindly hand them over to us, and get a Massive reward of 1million naira.

Mr Uwujaren said the claim has been widely circulated on social media platforms.

Warning

The commission is taking steps to bring the promoters of the hashtags to justice, Mr Uwujaren said, but added that it will not be responsible for anyone who falls for this obvious scam.

He also clarified that the arrest of cybercrime suspects is not covered by the Federal Governments whistleblower policy which, according to him, is applicable only to public sector corruption.

He added that the commission welcomes information that could lead to the arrest of cybercrime suspects, but has no policy of financial reward for such informants.

PREMIUM TIMES observes that the viral fraudulent notice is likely leveraging on the heightened clampdown of the EFCC on cybercrime suspects.

Tens of these suspects are arrested in extensive operations by the operatives of the anti-graft agencies in different parts of the country virtually everyday.

Read full statement

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission wishes to inform the general public that it has not issued any notice in the social media promising financial reward for anyone with information that could lead to the arrest of a Yahoo Boy.

This clarification became necessary following phone calls by citizens wanting to cash in on notices in the social media by fraudsters promising a reward of One Million Naira (N1, 000,000) for friends, family and relatives of yahoo boys who hand them over to the EFCC.

The promo with #Efcc and #beagoodcitizen states, If you have a Yahoo Yahoo boy as Family, Friend or Relative, Kindly hand them over to us, and get a Massive reward of 1million naira.

The commission wishes to state that this message is alien to the EFCC, and members of the public are enjoined to disregard them.

Promoters of the hashtags are currently under surveillance and every effort will be made to bring them to justice.

While the commission welcomes information that could lead to the arrest of cybercrime suspects, it has no policy of financial reward for such informants. The fight against corruption and other forms of economic crime is a patriotic duty and Nigerians are encouraged to embrace it with altruism.

The whistle blower policy of the Federal Government which the commission is among the agencies saddled with its implementation, is applicable only to public sector corruption.

The public is warned that, the commission will not be responsible for anyone who falls for this obvious scam.

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We loved him so much and it was like so much of his spirit thats in this film and like his love of life and sort of delight on set every day, she continued. I mean I would take any excuse to hang out with those people again, so I would do anything. But I dont know. No ones mentioned it to me, so perhaps Im not in it [laughs].
Against the backdrop of rising security concerns in Abuja, many schools in the city have shut down over fears of abduction of students as has been witnessed in neighbouring Kaduna and Niger states.

A report by Leadership newspaper had heightened apprehensions in the Federal Capital Territory.

According to the report, hundreds of suspected bandits were seen four days ago alighting from a truck in Sabon Wuse area of Niger State, a town at the boundary with Bwari Area Council of Abuja.

The Kaduna State government has, however, explained that the people seen were unarmed Fulani herders mioving with their families from Niger to their permanent bases in Jos and Bauchi.

Panic

But following the initial report, some schools in Buhari shut down while others tightened security.

Asides housing the headquarters of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Bwari area council also has at least two higher institutions, Federal Government day/boarding colleges and other public primary and secondary schools.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the area on Thursday and Friday, some private schools where closed while the staff in the government owned schools said they were awaiting instructions from above.

However, a tertiary institution in the area, Veritas University, denied a report that it recently sent its staff home due to a security threat. Agbo Vincent of the universitys security unit, told this newspaper that the lecturers and other staff were asked to leave so as to prepare for the resumption of physical academic activities.

Students of the institution have been receiving online lectures due to COVID-19 for a while now. The staff were told to go and prepare for resumption of physical lectures, not due to security threats as people are saying, he said.

There is no memo or letter telling staff to go home because of fear of bandits attack, Mr Vincent told PREMIUM TIMES at the entrance of the deserted institution located in the Zuma area of Bwari.

A student of the institution who requested not to be named, told this reporter that they just resumed for a new semester when the school announced a mid-semester break. She said the development was a departure from the schools norm and may be connected to the fear of insecurity in Bwari and Abuja at large.

I know we just resumed. So there has to be something going on for the mid-semester break to be declared at the beginning of a semester.

Normally, we dont go on mid-semester break apart from religious holidays, the student told this newspaper Thursday night.

Waiting for orders from above

PREMIUM TIMES arrived at one of the L.E.A primary schools in Bwari at 1:30 p.m. when pupils were exiting the compound.

In the absence of the school principal, a teacher, Ladi Sule, dramatised the extent to which the news of bandits influx into the area had spread.

According to her, the school and others in the area were waiting for information from the education authorities on whether to shut down like some private schools or continue with their classes.

Ms Sule spoke about how teachers with children in private schools rushed out of classes to pick their children when they heard that some schools were not opened due to the story of the suspected kidnappers.

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We heard about it yesterday evening. As of this morning, we were waiting for any information from our (LEA) headquarters here in Bwari but nothing yet. Our teachers who have children in private schools said some of the schools did not open today.

Some even went back to pick their children. But for government schools, those within Bwari that I called said they are still in schools. Even our mother schools in Bwari Centrals told me they were still in school.

We really have no cause to tell our children (pupils) not to come to school, though we have also tightened our security here. Our gates have been locked since until it was time for them to go home, Ms Sule said, amidst the bustling noise of pupils playfully exiting the school compound.

The principal of Bishi-Ri International Group of Schools in Bwari said he was not aware of such news. He said no parent had raised such concerns too, which is why we see everyone going about their activities.

He refused to speak further and advised the reporter to write a formal letter if he wanted to know his name or be provided with more information on the issue.

PREMIUM TIMES also visited the mountainous and less populated areas of the district to assess the situation of things.

Most of the school were closed when this reporter arrived there. However, the security personnel on duty said classes were held but there was anxiety about security.

Bandits influx more of social media talks

At Federal Girls Government College (FGGC), the vice-principal, Muhammed Ibrahim, said the report of bandits arriving in Bwari was social media talks.

Mr Ibrahim is the VP of security and special duties in FGGC Bwari, a day/boarding school attended by children from different parts of Nigeria.

There had been a couple of attacks on girls only schools in different parts of the country, beginning with the abduction of over 300 students of Government Girls Secondary School on April 14, 2014 at Chibok in Borno State.

Mr Ibrahim tagged the story about the influx of bandits as a rumour he heard on a popular radio show three days ago.

We are quite aware of the rumour that is going on. I think we first heard on the radio about three days ago, he told this reporter.

Relying on the schools standing relationship with the district DPO, its fenced compound, and the police outpost in the school premises, Mr Ibrahim said FGGC is safe from bandit attack even though he admitted that some parents had expressed concerns.

What we have done here in our own case is to reach the DPO. We have kept close contact with him. Every night there has always been military surveillance of the school. In fact, this school is the commissioner of polices priority because Nigeria is here, almost all daughters of people from far and wide in Nigeria study here.

We are also lucky that the school is in town, not at the outskirts like some.

Parents have also been calling on this issue and we have also assured them of the safety of their children. We are very security conscious here, there is no cause for alarm, he assured this reporter, adding that the school principal was waiting for approval from the ministry to shift the students mid-term break closer.

Mr Ibrahim said such a step did not mean fear of insecurity in the area.

Parents, FCT speak on security threat

This newspaper, again on Friday morning, witnessed some schools in the area council going about their activities despite the choking atmosphere of possibly abductions.

Asides the branches of L.E.A in different corners of the area, PREMIUM TIMES noticed the students and staff of Government Day Secondary School, FGGC, Government Secondary School in Kuduru, Unique International Academy and Valid Crown International College going about their activities.

But some parents remain cautious.

Mr Segun (surname withheld) has two children in a private secondary school in Kuduru. He said, my children are at home as I speak to you and may not go to school until we are sure that the area is safe enough, he said.

Mr Segun said he noticed the presence of members of Civil Defence Corp and soldiers in different parts of the district on Thursday.

A parent, Sandra Benjamin, after dropping off his children at the one of the public secondary schools, expressed worries over the situation of the countrys insecurity at large.

Schools are safe

But the Education Secretariat of the FCT Administration (FCTA) insisted that its schools are safe.

The Director, Administration and Finance of the secretariat, Leramoh Abdulrazaq, in a statement issued on Thursday, said the news of security breach in FCT is false as he reiterated the administrations commitment to security.

In the face of emerging security challenges, the Education Secretariat has continued to strengthen its security personnel and surveillance with strict adherence to security tips and ensuring conducive learning environment with full compliance with the COVID-19 protocols.

The Abuja police spokesperson, Mariam Yusuf, did not answer calls from this reporter on Friday.

However, the FCT Police Command, in an earlier statement had dismissed the threat of an imminent Boko Haramt attack in the territory.
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A former minister of women affairs, Aisha Al-Hassan, popularly called Mama Taraba, is dead.

The former minister reportedly died in Egypt.

Ms Al-Hassan served as minister in the first term of President Muhammadu Buhari but expressed loyalty to a former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, when the latter fell out with Mr Buhari.

She later left the cabinet to contest the governorship seat in her home state of Taraba.

In his reaction to the death, President Buhari said he is deeply saddened.

The demise of the notable politician, Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan has left many saddened. Both in office and out of office, her concern for the education of the girl child, especially those of Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, who were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists, shone through.

Her death is a huge loss not only to the female gender activist community but to the country as a whole. Our condolences to her family, friends, National Assembly and government and people of Taraba State, the president SAS quoted as saying by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu.

In his reaction, Atiku Abubakar said:

I am grieved by the death of former Minister of Women Affairs, Sen. Aisha Alhassan. I asked about her condition this afternoon after I called her number without a response! Inna lillahi wainna Ilaihi Rajiun!, Mr Abubakar wrote on Twitter.
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there is an on-going rapid slide into anarchy, precipitated by the most serious collapse in security provisioning in our country, which is confronted by an almost complete lack of leadership or governance response to a multipronged crisis.

Yesterday, I participated in a workshop organised by General Saleh Bala (rtd.) on national security and Nigerias shrinking civil space. During the session, we noted that the loudest voices in the country today are those of discord and disintegration. Indeed, over the past few days, Nigerians have received several warnings from the Presidency, the military and security agencies not to break up the country. This is in reaction, I think, to loud cries from many Nigerians that they have had enough of being married partners to the other in the country and they want a divorce. I was alarmed when three days ago, the Nigerian military warned politicians and soldiers against any military coup in the country. The statement was from the Defence Headquarters, by its spokesperson, Onyema Nwachukwu, who said it was reacting to a call by a senior lawyer for the handing over of power to the military. It struck me that we are living in dangerous times.

Professor Nic Cheeseman and Dr Fola Aina just published a very interesting article in the prestigious journal, Foreign Affairs, warning the world not to call Nigeria a failed state, because in spite of appearances, Nigerias statecraft has produced mechanisms and practices to improve inclusiveness and that when the key surveys on the feelings of Nigerians are reviewed, antipathy towards each other have been reducing steadily and that therefore the resilience of the Nigerian state to fractures is being underestimated. The former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell and Dr Robert Rotberg, in an immediate response, announced yesterday that they will be publishing another article in the same Foreign Affairs to prove the opposite  that Nigeria is indeed a failed state.

Nic Cheeseman and Fola Aina have been subjected to a barrage of abuse and invectives for daring to suggest that the Nigerian state has not failed completely. Many have asserted that they are hired wordsmiths who have been paid by the administration to whitewash reality by doing a public relations job just at the moment when all Nigerians have concluded, on the basis of objective facts, that the state has died and they want out. Some academics have accused them of being spineless hagiographers seeking to turn the devil running the Nigerian state into a saint.

My position is that it is teleological to describe the state as having failed because it is never about the end game, it is always about on-going processes of construction and deconstruction and above all, the direction of movement. The same Ghana that was once described as the clearest example of a failed state in Africa is today being described as the opposite. I fall into the category of believers in the Nigeria project and I track the evolution of the Nigerian state to see how we can pull back from the brink. The analysis by Cheeseman and Aina sets out to find evidence about the resilient Nigerian state and as the Bible says, seek and you shall find, so they found what they were looking for.

These challenges have largely broken the social pact between citizens and the state. That is why today, Nigerians find themselves in a moment of doubt about their nationhood. It is similar to the two earlier moments of doubt we have experienced, 1962-1970 when we went through a terrible civil war and the early 1990s

As I have repeated so many times in this column, the Nigerian state is undergoing a three-dimensional crisis. The first one affects the political economy and it is generated mainly by public corruption over the past four decades that has created a run on the treasury at the national and state levels, threatening to consume the goose that lays the golden egg. The second one is the crisis of citizenship symbolised by ethno-regionalism, the Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder killings, agitations for Biafra, militancy in the Niger Delta and indigene/settler conflicts. The third element relates to the frustration of the countrys democratic aspirations in a context in which the citizenry believes in true democracy but is confronted with a reckless political class that is corrupt, self-serving and manipulative.

These challenges have largely broken the social pact between citizens and the state. That is why today, Nigerians find themselves in a moment of doubt about their nationhood. It is similar to the two earlier moments of doubt we have experienced, 1962-1970 when we went through a terrible civil war and the early 1990s when prolonged military rule created another round of challenges to the National Project. We survived those two moments but there is no guarantee that we shall survive the third. Nonetheless, there is a possibility that the current crisis as an opportunity to surge forward in fixing Nigeria.

Part of the problem today, however, is that the discussion in homes, offices, bars, religious gatherings, the mass media, social media, professional associations and all other fora in Nigeria today is that there is a real and imminent threat to the corporate existence of Nigeria. In addition, there is an on-going rapid slide into anarchy, precipitated by the most serious collapse in security provisioning in our country, which is confronted by an almost complete lack of leadership or governance response to a multipronged crisis.

My message to Nigerians is that it is not too late to save the country. Concerted citizen action can create the basis for offering Nigeria a new lease of life, provided proactive measures are taken to redress the crisis. Pressure can be put on the National Assembly to address the current governance failures we are experiencing.

Our greatest fear today should therefore be that of a self-fulfilling prophesy. The major outcome of the crisis facing the country has been the erosion of public trust. A toxic atmosphere has developed in which different actors are suspected of developing plots to destroy others. Actions of whatever type, as well as non-action or late action by governments and institutions are no longer taken at face value but are re-interpreted within narratives of coordinated plots by some groups to destroy or eliminate others or to take their land. There is no effective counter-narrative from government to create hope. The other challenge is agency. With almost half the country living in extreme poverty, a generation of young Nigerians has emerged with nothing to lose but their poverty. They are procuring arms and engaging in violence, banditry and insurrectional acts, thereby precipitating the march towards anarchy.

My message to Nigerians is that it is not too late to save the country. Concerted citizen action can create the basis for offering Nigeria a new lease of life, provided proactive measures are taken to redress the crisis. Pressure can be put on the National Assembly to address the current governance failures we are experiencing. The National Assembly would not act without pressure from constituents to their elected representatives to get out of the YES SIR mentality and carry out their constitutional responsibility to seek solutions based on the rule of law. Given the ethnic and religious tensions caused by poor governance, religious and community leaders have the onerous responsibility to talk to Nigerians to seek solutions to our problems by promoting inert-faith initiatives for peace, rather than fueling the drums of division. The religious arena must get out of its present reality of being the most toxic space in the country.

The task before us is the reconstruction of the Nigerian state. We cannot allow our political community to continue to crumble and suffer the outcome of state collapse, which Thomas Hobbes had assured us will make our lives nasty, brutish and short. Rebuilding the state must take the form of a new approach based on good governance, in which there is the effective, transparent and accountable use of public resources to provide public goods for citizens. If those who exercise state power cannot use it to improve the lives and livelihoods of citizens, then they would have to be replaced. Our state must also recover the capacity to have the monopoly of the use of legitimate violence in society. The armed forces and the police, in particular, must the rebuilt. As the state recovers, our traditional and religious institutions, as well as civil society have a huge role in playing their part in rebuilding the state.

A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Ever Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation. May the salutations of Allah, His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet, his family, his companions and his true and sincere followers until the Last Day  then to proceed:

Dear brothers and sisters! Eid-ul-Fitr or the Festival of Breaking the Fast is one of the most celebrated of all Muslim holidays, observed by over two billion Muslims around the world. During the entire month of Ramadan, Muslims observe a strict fast and participate in pious activities such as charitable giving, peacemaking etc. It is a time of intense spiritual renewal for those who observe it. At the end of Ramadan, Muslims throughout the world break their fast and celebrate their accomplishments in Eid-ul-Fitr.

Respected brothers and sisters! This year, Eid-ul-Fitr 1442 AH/2021 is expected In Shaa Allah to be celebrated on Wednesday, May 12 or Thursday, May 13. However, the exact date is subject to the sighting of the moon of Shawwal, 1442 AH, 10th month of Islamic Calendar, and the announcement from the Islamic leader.

Beloved servants of Allah! Eid-ul-Fitr, known as   in Arabic, is a religious festival for all Muslims around the world. Eid-ul-Fitr marks the end of noble month of Ramadan . Eid-ul-Fitr is Allahs reward for believers who fasted during the noble month of Ramadan. This is also believers thanking Allah for giving them the chance and the strength to carry out His commands during the blessed month of Ramadan. Traditionally, Eid-ul-Fitr is celebrated for three days in almost all Muslim countries.

Both Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-Al-Adha have great significance in Islam as the same is evident from the following Hadith, which was narrated by Anas Bin Malik (RA), who said:

Allah has given you better than those feasts (festivals of non-believers): the Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr. [An-Nasai]

Remember one thing that Fasting on Eid days i-e Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-al-Adha is forbidden as the same is evident from the following Hadith, which was narrated by Abu Said Al-Khudri (RA), who said that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

No fasting is permissible on the two days of Eid-ul-Fitr and EId-ul-Adha. [Bukhari]

Since it is a religious festival, Muslims all over the world celebrate this event with much fervour and each countrys celebrations vary as there is an influence of their traditions. Muslims all over the world celebrate the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr by starting the day with the Eid prayer. After offering prayer, Muslim greet each other with the customary Eid greeting, Eid Mubarak. Everyone gets new clothes made for the special occasion because every single person wants to look his/her best. The day is spent with friends and family get-togethers, indulging in delicious feasts and handing out gifts also known as Sallah gifts or Barka da Sallah in hausa language.

Eid-ul-Fitr is a time of happiness and enjoyment; and this is also evident from the following Hadith, which was narrated by Aisha (RA), who reported that Prophet (Peace be upon him) said to Abu Bakr (RA) (On the day of Eid when Abu Bakr (RA) saw two girls were singing the stories about the Day of Buath in Madinah):

.. O Abu Bakr! Every people have their Eid and this is our Eid. [Bukhari]

In another narration, it is said that Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) said to Abu Bakr (RA):

Let them be O Abu Bakr, for these are days of Eid.

Religious scholars have differing opinions on Eid prayers. However, all Muslims should attend prayers of both Eids as most scholars, on the basis of strong evidence, is of opinion that it is Wajib (obligation). One of the purposes behind Eid Prayer is to provide an opportunity to a large number of Muslims to attend congregations in an atmosphere of religious piety. Apart from prayer, the Eid sermon (after Eid Prayer) has also been made an integral part of this gathering and the prayer.

It is important and compulsory for a Muslim to pay Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr before offering of Eid Prayer. [Bukhari]

The time for Eid Prayer begins from the time the sun is three meters above the horizon until the sun reaches its meridian. However, it is better to offer the prayer in the early hours after the sunrise. [Abu Dawud]

Know that, Eid Prayer is performed without any Iqamah or Azan. [Muslim]

And Eid prayer consists of two Rakaats (Two Unit Prayer) during which Takbir (Allahu Akbar) is announced seven times. [Abu Dawud]

Rest of the Eid prayer is same as other prayer offered daily. After completing the prayer, it is Sunnah (some scholars say that it is Wajib/obligatory) to listen to the Sermon (Khutbah) after Eid Prayer. So one should stay for the Imams sermon to end after completing the Eid Prayer. After listening to the sermon, Muslims congratulate each other with greetings such as Eid Mubarak, Happy Eid, and   etc. However, the most common Eid Greeting Muslims like to wish their friends and fellow Muslims with, is Eid Mubarak.

A person should follow the teachings of the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) for every aspect of life. Same should also be applied for Eid Prayer. Following are some of the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) with regards to Eid prayer that every Muslim should follow:

1. Take a bath or perform ablution before going for prayer.

2. Use a toothbrush or Miswak to clean your mouth.

3. Wear your best clothes on this day.

4. Apply perfume.

5. Eat an odd number of dates before leaving for prayer of Eid-ul-Fitr. [Bukhari]

6. Make sure that you have paid Zakatul Fitr before offering Eid Prayer.

7. Recite the following Takbirats while going to and returning from Eid Prayer:

                 

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, la ilaha illallah, wallahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, walillahil hamd.

Meaning:

Allah is Most Great, Allah is most Great, Allah is most Great there is no god but Allah, Allah is Most great, Allah is most great, and to Allah be praise. [See Irwa Al Ghalil, vol. 3, page 125]

8. Listen to the Sermon (Khutbah) after offering Eid Prayer. [An-Nasai]

9. Use different ways while going to and returning from the Mosque (Eid ground) after offering Eid Prayer. [Bukhari]

Dear brothers and sisters! Narrated Ibn Umar (RA) that:

Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) made it incumbent (Wajib/obligatory) on all the servants or free Muslims, male or female, to pay one Sai of dates, barley or grain as Zakatul Fitr. [Bukhari]

According to above mentioned Hadith, Zakatul Fitr or Sadaqatul Fitr is Wajib/obligatory upon every Muslim including servant, freeman, male, female, young, new-born and old. Compulsion of Zakatul Fitr on a Muslim is same as the Nisab of normal Zakah (Nisab Is the exemption limit for the payment of Zakah).

The amount of Sadaqatul Fitr to be given by each person is an amount minimum or equivalent to one Sai of grain, barley or date. Sai is an ancient measure of volume and most common understanding is that one Sai is equivalent to approx. 2.25-2.5 KGs. However, Muslim scholars all around the world usually announce the amount of Zakatul Fitr to be paid during Ramadan.

As in normal Zakah, Zakatul Fitr is distributed among poor and needy Muslims. It is preferable to give Sadaqatul Fitr first to needy relatives, then to needy neighbours and then to other needy Muslims. And the Zakatul Fitr should be paid before the Eid Prayer.

Celebrate the day with your loved ones by indulging in delicious festive feasts and handing out gifts. Give out charity as much as you can so that your underprivileged Muslim brothers and sisters can also celebrate this blessed festival.

And please remember the entire Ummah and your country in your prayers and your Duas (Supplications).

Ya Allah, the blessed month of Ramadan is now coming to an end, please help us to remain steadfast in your religion. Grant us the knowledge of your religion.

Ya Allah, you are truly merciful, please forgive us. Choose for us, what is best.

Ya Allah, help us to succeed in this life and the hereafter.

Ya Allah, if we have been in anyway ungrateful, unjust, dishonest; please forgive us.

Ya Allah, we dont know if we will be alive next Ramadan, please forgive us. Grant us a place in paradise. Save us from hellfire.

Ya Allah, include us in the people who will be put in heaven without accountability.

Ya Allah, help us to spread your religion in the best of ways.

Ya Allah, please let us not be among the backbiters.

Ya Allah, forgive us if we have been among the arrogant. Ya Allah forgive us, grant us success, verily you are most forgiving, most merciful, ameen.

May Allah send His Salah and Salam upon our noble Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

And all praises and thanks are due to Allah alone, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true and sincere followers.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Ramadan 25, 1442 AH (May 07, 2021).
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Tupac Amaru became a mythical figure whose spirit guided not just Peru, but also a number of Latin American countries to independence. He led in the pantheon of Latin American liberators, which include Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Antonio Maceo The Bronz Titan, Augusto SandinoErnesto Che Guevera, Fidel Castro

I have a confession. Sometimes, I have caught myself thinking about the world and what humans have done to it. Many times, I have been lost in thought about humans and what they have done to other human beings. Several times, I have caught myself debating who have been the most vicious colonialists who, for lust and greed and in order to plunder riches, sent millions of other humans to early graves.

Does this infamous trophy go to the British, who massacred the Kikuyus in Kenya for daring to demand freedom? Even after the massacres and defeat of the people, the British still executed 1090 Kenyans. Can it be the Americans, who in their desperation to stop Vietnamese independence got some two million of them killed? Is it be the French who, in Algeria alone, killed over two million people in a vain attempt to stop the Algerian independence? Or is it the Germans who, in Namibia, wiped out about 75 per cent of the Herero population and some 50 per cent of the Nama poeople? That was the first genocide in the contemporary world, pushing that of the Armenians to the second place. In the course of that 1904-1908 genocide, the Germans practiced mass extermination, including gassing people. These methods they perfected and used over three decades later, exterminating some six million Jews.

I do not think any of these compare to the viciousness of Belgian colonialists who, in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, massacred fifteen million Africans. As incredible and horrifying as these stories of inhumanity are, I think the Spaniards hold the dubious trophy of being the most vicious colonialists in human history. There are simply no reliable statistics or estimation of the Spanish genocide against the colonised in Latin America.

Also unparalleled is the level of cruelty of the Spanish colonialists. If you think the Belgian execution of children over tax payment, or preference for severing the hands of victims for a reliable census of those killed, wait to read of the Spanish preferences, as exemplified in the trial and execution of the Peruvian patriot, Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, better known as Tupac Amaru, his family and lieutenants.

He adopted the name of an earlier anti-colonial ancestor and became known as Tupac Amaru II. His demands of the Spanish colonialists included the abolition of slavery and freeing of slaves, abrogation of taxes, freeing of the indigenous people and mestizos from sweatshops and mandatory public service, alongside the restitution of all ancestral lands to their rightful owners.

In rejecting three centuries of colonialism, Amaru also rejected the European political economy of: selling away and auctioning justice to those who subscribe to the faith according to which things should belong to whoever pays the most with no fear of God, breaking like animals the natives of the kingdom

Tupac Amaru also demanded the redistribution of goods and property among the poorest, the restitution of womens power and respect for women, and freedom of the peoples of America to form an Indian-Mestizo-Creole nation.

In rejecting three centuries of colonialism, Amaru also rejected the European political economy of: selling away and auctioning justice to those who subscribe to the faith according to which things should belong to whoever pays the most with no fear of God, breaking like animals the natives of the kingdom, taking the lives of all those who do not know how to steal

His rebellion from 1780 to 1783 was one of the largest uprisings in colonial Spanish-American history, fighting not just in Peru, but also in present day Chile, Argentina, and Colombia.

Two officers of his army, Colonel Ventura Landaeta and Captain Francisco Cruz betrayed him, leading to his capture and those of his family and several lieutenants. After severe torture, the Spanish judiciary, in a sentencing that remains quite bizarre and inhuman, ordered that Tupac Amaru watch the executions of his family, then have his hands and feet tied: to four horses who will then be driven at once toward the four corners of the plaza, pulling the arms and legs from his body. The torso will then be taken to the hill overlooking the city where it will be burned in a bonfire Tupac Amarus head will be sent to Tinta to be displayed for three days in the place of public execution and then placed upon a pike at the principal entrance to the city. One of his arms will be sent to Tungasuca, where he was the cacique (Native Chief) and the other arm to the capital province of Carabaya, to be similarly displayed in those locations. His legs will be sent to Livitica and Santa Rosas in the provinces of Chumbivilcas and Lampa, respectively.

On May 18, 1781, Tupac and other prisoners of war, were taken to the Plaza de Armas in the capital, Cuzco, for execution. His first son, Hipolito, first had his tongue cut out before being hung. He also witnessed the painful execution of his wife, Michaela Bastidas, an Afro-Peruvian, who had commanded a battalion of fighters. Even as she was being taken to the gallows in front of her husband and son, Fernando Micaela, she fought her executioners before being subdued. Her tongue was cut out but she could not be hanged because her neck could not reach the winch, so the executioners threw ties around her neck to strangle her. But she did not die immediately, so she was hit with a club, and viciously kicked in the breast and stomach until she gave up the ghost.

In the United States, Ms. Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panthers Movement in 1972, changed the name of her one year old son, Lesane Parish Crooks, to Tupac Amaru Shakur. Also known as 2pac, he became one of the most famous and nonconformist rappers in the world.

Tupac had his limbs tied to four horses which were beaten to run and tear him apart, but even in that condition, he tried to draw in the horses; eventually they could not severe his limbs, but dislocated them. Just before his tongue was cut off, Tupac Amaru told the colonialists: Ill be back and there will be millions of us. He was then beheaded.

A total of 73 leaders of the uprising, 32 of them women, were executed. Despite this, the revolt continued until the Spanish government issued an amnesty to all insurgents.

In the 20th Century, two guerrilla movements named themselves after Tupac Amaru; the Tupamaros in Uruguay and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement in Peru. In the United States, Ms. Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panthers Movement in 1972, changed the name of her one year old son, Lesane Parish Crooks, to Tupac Amaru Shakur. Also known as 2pac, he became one of the most famous and nonconformist rappers in the world.

Tupac Amaru became a mythical figure whose spirit guided not just Peru, but also a number of Latin American countries to independence. He led in the pantheon of Latin American liberators, which include Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, Antonio Maceo The Bronz Titan, Augusto Sandino (after whom the Nicaraguan revolutionaries named themselves the Sandinistas), Ernesto Che Guevera, Fidel Castro and Father Camilo Torres.

The 240th commemoration of Tupac Amarus vicious execution comes up on Tuesday May 18. He continues to rest in power.

Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of African workers, is a human rights activist, journalist and author.
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The horrifying reality of today is that there are not many options available to salvage the situation. The only way out is for the regions political leaders to wake up from deep slumber. They should worry less about their political future and take firm and decisive actions. Anything short of that, we would be attempting to escape Charybdis, while falling into Scylla

Around evening time on Monday, we saw some people in a bus approach the police station, shoot the gate open, killing all the six officials who tried to resist them. That was how one eye witness account narrated the dare-devil attack on a police facility in Imo State that happened on Monday, April 26. Meanwhile, in the nearby city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, five security officers, including two soldiers, were also murdered in cold blood around that same time.

According to a PREMIUM TIMES report, between February 23 and March 9, a space of just two weeks, at least 10 police officers were killed and six police stations razed in a wave of attacks targeting security forces in the South-East and South-South regions of Nigeria.

If the deadly attacks on the Nigerian security agencies continue, security experts warn, it could potentially complicate an already deteriorating security situation in the region. Potentially? Well, I hate to break it down for the gurus, but the bad days are here, alive and thriving. To many, especially the indignant South-East public, those attacks are sweet revenge. Years of repression and systemic injustice against the people in their homeland have left them permanently bruised and forever scarred. Its like the Biafran war never ended.

The ubiquitous unknown gunmen offensive of today is targeting mostly police formations, with just a few military officers killed thus far. I believe police casualties are more, simply because these are tactically easier to accomplish and not that the soldiers are hated any less. The people can hardly forget the likes of Operation Python Dance and the extra-judicial killings targeting young Igbo men in one guise or the other. I am pretty convinced that the honeymoon that the Khaki boys enjoy today will not last long. Unless something is done urgently, the gunmen will likely acquire the level of sophistication needed to take on the Nigerian military, sooner than later. The evolution of Boko Haram attacks in the North-East is a good history lesson to draw from.

In truth, the attacks are as repugnant and condemnable as they are counter-productive, but it would be a barefaced lie to feign ignorance of how we got here.

The challenge we face with ESN is that any organisation that cant be held accountable is a recipe for disaster. From stories told, there was a similar outfit that existed during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, simply called the Militia by locals at the timeUnfortunately, they ended up committing atrocities and horrific crimes against the very people they were meant to protect.

The role of the Nigeria security agencies, whether police or army, in the South-East seems more like a force of occupation. Of course, one has no doubt that there are still good men and women in uniform doing their best, but such individuals now exist only on the fringes. Their good efforts have been submerged in a sea of criminal activities of the mainstream, which thrive in the business of operating an elaborate extortion scheme in most parts of the country, but more so in the South-East region. In some cases, they have also been accused of aiding and abetting crime.

Japhet Nnaeto of the Department of Political science, Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State and his team of researchers published a report years ago following an extensive interrogation of the issues bothering on police extortion in the region. As at the month of April 2010, there were 1,350 roadblocks in the South-East. They reported that between the year 2009 and 2011, the Nigerian Police Force realised a total of N32.26 billion in the South-East out of the N53.48 billion made at Police roadblocks across the six geopolitical zones, quoting from a data supplied by the international society for civil society and rule of law. Now I am unsure of the reliability of this data but we have all heard stories of officers paying hefty sums of money, and lobbying to be posted to the South-East. We know its not out of love for Igbo people.

A big part of the problem could be gleaned from the constitution of police leadership dating all the way back to the time of independence. From Nigerias first Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Louis Edet (1964-1966) till the present IGP, Usman Alkali Baba, out of the 21 officers that have thus far served in that capacity, IGP Ogbonaya Okechukwu Onovo (2009-2010) is the only one to have come from South-East Nigeria. Of the five commissioners of Police in the South-East zone, none is Igbo.

Very recently, a friend had asked my take on the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)s Eastern Security Network (ESN). My response was that its difficult to fault Nnamdi Kanu and his group for creating a security outfit at this point in our nations history. While the political leaders in the South-East chose to play dirty politics, Ndigbo are being massacred, with their homes razed, farmlands destroyed and wives gang-raped. ESN has now been accepted by many as a child of circumstances, filling the huge security vacuum created by inaction on the part of our state governors.

The challenge we face with ESN is that any organisation that cant be held accountable is a recipe for disaster. From stories told, there was a similar outfit that existed during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, simply called the Militia by locals at the time. Like ESN, it was a community-based self-defence initiative formed to protect the people. At the time, the group also handled the responsibility of wartime local policing. Unfortunately, they ended up committing atrocities and horrific crimes against the very people they were meant to protect. Its just plain human nature to abuse power when not answerable to the people and with no consequences for infractions.

In Buharis Nigeria, with timid South-East governors, ESN, with all the foreseeable danger that comes with an unregulated militia, has become a matter of Hobsons choice for the people. The alternative is to become slaves to bloodthirsty foreign savages, aided and abetted by the state security architecture populated by men executing an ethnic agenda.

In Greek mythology, Homer lamented the difficult challenges encountered by those attempting to cross a narrow strait that connects the two Italian cities of Sicily and Calabria, called the Strait of Messina. Off the coast of Sicily was a whirlpool called Charybdis, and on the Calabria side was a rock shoal named Scylla that was described as a six-headed monster. Both were serious maritime hazards, positioned so close to each other, thereby posing an unavoidable threat to every passing sailor.

At one time when Odysseus, the legendary Greek king of Ithaca wanted to cross, he was advised to pass by Scylla. In that way, he might just lose some of his sailors but not risk the frightening possibility of the loss of the entire ship with its crew in a whirlpool. The point being that, either way, none of the circumstances offered his highness an escape without bearing some hefty cost.

Its been a couple of centuries after the passing of the Greek epic poet and Nigeria is over 5,000 kilometres away from Sicily, yet the people of South-East Nigeria have come to find themselves trapped between Homers rock and a hard place. In Buharis Nigeria, with timid South-East governors, ESN, with all the foreseeable danger that comes with an unregulated militia, has become a matter of Hobsons choice for the people. The alternative is to become slaves to bloodthirsty foreign savages, aided and abetted by the state security architecture populated by men executing an ethnic agenda.

The horrifying reality of today is that there are not many options available to salvage the situation. The only way out is for the regions political leaders to wake up from deep slumber. They should worry less about their political future and take firm and decisive actions. Anything short of that, we would be attempting to escape Charybdis, while falling into Scylla, and even the mere thought of that gives me goosebumps and leaves one perpetually in a funk.

Osmund Agbo, a public affairs analyst is the coordinator of African Center for Transparency and Convener of Save Nigeria Project. Email: eagleosmund@yahoo.com
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News of the release of the 27 kidnapped students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, Kaduna State, no doubt, calls for celebration. These students spent 50 good days in the camp of their captors. We saw them being beaten and assaulted in a trending video released by their kidnappers. It doesnt matter if two of the 29 students said to be in the bandits enclave after their abduction on March 11 are yet to be accounted for. As sad as this is, it seems to be of little relevance now. Apparently, the wave of euphoria around the release of the majority has overshadowed the despair of parents that may have yet to see their own children. These students could have been killed or maimed, no one knows. And even if we do, there is little or nothing anyone can do about it. In todays Nigeria, bandits have become kings. They are in charge. The state has surrendered to their authority. Its a case of everybody for himself and God for us all! While Nigerians are generally unsafe, students are fast becoming endangered species. They are kidnapped almost on daily basis. The latest occurred some hours ago, where an unspecified number of students of Abia State University Uturu, were abducted by gunmen.

As I write this, 17students of Greenfield University, a private university in Kaduna, are still with bandits. Twenty three of them were abducted from their school on April 20, 2021. The bodies of five of them were later found along some bush path. This was after the bandits had collected N55m from the parents of these students as confirmed by one of them, who spoke with the Hausa Service of Voice of America (VOA). The bandit, who identified himself as Sani Idris Jalingo, said the students were killed to show governments failure. He also threatened that his gang would keep killing them until their demands are met. He further said 10 brand new Honda motorcycles and N100m ransom should be given to his gang to secure the release of the students. Very bold and audacious! This is the level of atrocity in a country that has democratically elected leaders.

There is nothing more devastating than for parents to send their children to school and for those children to be kidnapped and killed for fun by blood thirsty criminals that freely move around without any fear of being arrested. With a voice laden with emotions, the father of one of the victims of Greenfield University students, Mr Yohanna Meck, said he was bidding his daughter, Dorothy, farewell in pains because he never thought of burying his child. I had a deal with my daughter. We did not conclude it because some people interrupted us and God, who knows the end from the beginning, approved the interruption so that Tirnom can go to His place, he had said at the burial ceremony.

He also revealed how the bandits had asked him and his wife to pay N800m ransom which they couldnt raise. He said the bandits asked them to tell Kaduna State Governor Nasir ElRufai and the school management to pay the money. This is similar to the accounts of some parents of the just released Afaka students. One of them said they paid N800, 000 to a man introduced to them by Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, a prominent Islamic cleric, while negotiating the release of their children. However, after collecting the money, the bandits claimed it was just for transportation and insisted that an additional N500m must be paid before the students could be released. One of the parents said: They (kidnappers) were after the government paying that money N500 million. They kept telling me Madam, go and talk to the government to pay the money. These parents disclosed this during a protest at the National Assembly on Tuesday before the miraculous release of their children on Wednesday.

By now everybody should know that bandits, kidnappers, insurgents and terrorists have not only become a parallel government in Nigeria, but more powerful than the legitimate government in power. This is in spite of the N10.2 trillion devoted to fighting insecurity in the country in the last six years. They have been killing, maiming and kidnapping for ransom with renewed strength, vigour and alacrity. Nigerians are being sent to early grave every day. To prove that Nigeria is overwhelmed, President Muhammadu Buhari has gone from issuing threats of crushing the criminals to begging them to soft-pedal on their activities. For example, while reacting to the abduction of Greenfield students on April 21, 2021, President Buhari threatened the bandits thus: Stop pushing me, I can crush you all. But as the bandits threatened to kill more students, we saw the President also changing tactics  moving from threat to appeal. Hence, on May 5, the President said: I appeal for the release of the students of Greenfield University and all other citizens held in captivity.

He had no choice. He knows that the state is weak. Imagine this: almost a month into the Greenfield students abduction, security forces, in the words of the President, are still doing their best to ensure that good triumphs over evil, and that all of the bandits and criminals terrorizing innocent lives and communities are brought to book. Despite granting radio interviews, Nigerian authorities are too weak to confront bandits. We have never had it so bad. I mean bandits in addition to granting interviews also having a public figure representing their interest and negotiating on their behalf?

I mean, what could have stopped our security forces from going after bandits that openly grant interviews and use registered telephone numbers to negotiate for ransom? It is either this government is deliberately condoning terrorism, or they just like to treat Nigerians with contempt! The authorities have been tough on Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, whose religious movement is not into crime; they sanction television and radio stations for airing interviews with IPOB representative but choose to turn the other eye when bandits and terrorists are interviewed. To add salt to injury, our minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, is telling us that banditry is not under the purview of the federal government, so it is not the presidents business to rescue abducted Nigerians.

We know the official representatives of bandits in Nigeria and nobody interrogates their activities. Sheikh Gumi even has the temerity to ask the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay kidnappers N100m ransom. According to him, The money they are asking for is too much; if I give you that money, you cannot run away with it. Nobody can run. So, why not give them the money, they release the boys and then we pursue them and get our money back and do what is necessary; it is simple logic. So, bring the money from the central bank. How can they move that money? We should not be stupid. As far as I am concerned, a personality like Sheikh Gumi is all our security agencies need if they are truly serious about fighting banditry. He knows them. It is either he helps the state in fishing these criminals out, or he is treated as an accomplice.

We cant continue on this destructive path. Students are neither safe in schools nor at home. Even when they manage to graduate, their safety is not guaranteed. We can still remember the gruesome murder of 26-year-old Iniubong Umoren, a graduate of Philosophy from the University of Uyo, while trying to job- hunt in the state.

As the chief executive and commander in chief of the Nigerian armed forces, President Buhari has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of all Nigerians. A country that cannot fight internal enemies cannot combat external foes. He has to guarantee Nigerias internal security before he can defend its territorial integrity. It is high time the President took a leadership approach to his job. Charismatic leaders dont beg criminals, they deal with them. The President should prove to Nigerians that he was an astute war commander, a general of global repute! I hate to see my President being perceived as weak and feeble. No, Nigerias President shouldnt be afraid of bandits, he should crush them!

Olabisi Deji-Folutile is the Editor-in-Chief, Franktalknow.com and member, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: bisideji@yahoo.co.uk.
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Governor Simon Lalong has commended the Nigerian Airforce for establishing a search and rescue base in Plateau State.

Mr Lalong gave the commendation when the new Commander of 551 NAF Station, Bidemi Marquis, paid the governor a courtesy visit in the Government House in Jos.

The governor expressed hope that the rescue command would strengthen surveillance to forestall security challenges.

He congratulated the commander on his posting to Jos, while assuring him of his support to enable him discharge his duties effectively.

He said NAF contributed to the relative peace enjoyed in Plateau, and expressed hope that his new appointment would further strengthen peace in the state.

The governor also thanked NAF for establishing secondary schools in the state, saying it has facilitated access to quality education to Plateau residents.

Speaking earlier, Mr Marquis, an Air Commodore, said the Chief of Air Staff, Isiaka Amao, had directed his officials to ensure security in their areas of operations through collaboration with constituted civilian authority.

He said the vision of Governor Lalong for transformation aligns with the vision of NAF, which was premised on ensuring peaceful coexistence for national development .

For a state to experience transformation there must be a driving force that will ensure that change.

For us to have speedy progress we must enhance national security.

I have been here for like two months now, I have seen the capability and potential of the state.

We are ready to play our constitutional role for people to go back to their business and for investors to come in to the state, he said. (NAN)
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The Kwara Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS) has solicited the support of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in dealing with the increasing rate of tax evasion in the state.

The Executive Chairman of KWIRS, Shade Omoniyi, made the appeal on Thursday when she led the management staff of the service on a working visit to the new Zonal Head of EFCC Ilorin Office, Usman Muktar.

We are here to seek your support in tackling the menace of tax evasion in Kwara.

We need the support of relevant government agencies like EFCC to curb tax evasion in public and private sectors within the state, she said.

The KWIRS boss decried the rate of tax evasion within the state, describing it as criminal.

She said the government could not properly provide the needed infrastructure when citizens and corporate organisations refused to pay tax.

We look forward to strengthening our relationship with EFCC in the area of gathering intelligence about tax payers and enforcement of relevant laws, the KWIRS boss added.

In his remark, the EFCC boss expressed appreciation over the visit, promising that the commission was ever ready to lend support to any agency of government, including KWIRS in achieving its mandate.

He said there was an ongoing process by the commission to have a tax fraud desk created in the zone.

When created, the Tax Fraud Desk in conjunction with the Special Control Unit against Money Laundering, will greatly help in dealing with issues of corruption, tax evasion and illicit financial flows within the state, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the KWIRS boss was accompanied on the visit by Omolara Ojulari, Director Accounts and Finance and Olatunji Balogun, Director Administration & Operation.

Others included Shehu Abdullahi, Director Legal and Compliance and Titilayo Ogunwale, Head, Corporate Affairs of KWIRS. (NAN)
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Nigerias electoral body, INEC, has announced dates for by-elections into two vacant legislative seats in Jigawa and Kaduna states.

The commission in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Festus Okoye, on Friday, declared June 19, 2021, as the date for the conduct of by-elections to fill the vacant seat for Gwaram Federal Constituency of Jigawa State and Sabon Gari Constituency in the Kaduna State House of Assembly.

While the Gwaram Federal Constituency of Jigawa State became vacant following the demise of Yuguda Hassan-Kila on March 4, the Sabon Gari Constituency in Kaduna state became vacant due to the failure of its former occupant, Aminu Shagali, to attend one-third of the assembly meetings.

The lawmaker was alleged to have snubbed the state assemblys meetings without just course.

According to the State Assembly, the vacancy occurred as a result of the Hon Members absence without just cause from one-third of the meetings of the Assembly for one year in contravention of Section 109 (1)[f] and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), INEC stated in the statement.

Mr Shagali, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and former speaker of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, has been representing the Sabon-Gari Constituency in the house since 2011 before he officially submitted his resignation letter to the Clerk of the House in February 2021.

The 40-year-old politician became speaker in 2015 and was reelected to preside over the assembly in 2019 allegedly on the recommendation of the state governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

The late Hassan-Kila was also a member of the APC representing the Gwaram Federal Constituency of Jigawa State for a second term before his death in Abuja hospital in early March.

He became the second federal lawmaker from Jigawa State to die in the current National Assembly, following Muhammad Adamu Fagen-Gawo who died in December 2019.

Other arrangements

Having fixed the date for the two by-elections, INEC added that both polls will hold using existing polling units in the concerned constituencies while it continues to work on the expansion of voters access across the country.

The Commission wishes to reiterate that since work on the expansion of voter access to Polling Units in the country is ongoing, the by-election will hold in the existing Polling Units and Voting Points across the Constituency covering Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the commission noted urging political parties to avoid rancorous primaries and violence during the campaigns and throughout the electoral process.

The commission said it will publish the notification for the elections on May 17 while the political parties have also been mandated to conduct their primaries between 18 and 24 of the same month.

The Access Code for online submission of nomination forms will be available for collection from 24th May 2021 at the Commissions headquarters in Abuja while the last day for submission of list of nominated candidates is 28th May 2021 at 6.00pm, INEC announced.
Even if Lewis were asked to return as the hunky Smith Jerrod, Cattrall is definitely not reprising the role in the series that made her a household name. The British actress hasnt minced words about her dislike of Sex and the City star and producer Sarah Jessica Parker, and has made it clear she has no interest in reuniting for any planned revivals.
The federal government is to restart operations at the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, by the end of 2023.

The Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uchechukwu Ogah, made this known when he paid a courtesy visit to the governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel at the Government House, Uyo, on Friday.

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that ALSCON in Ikot Abasi be revamped and reactivated before the end of the present administration.

President Buhari has mandated that ALSCON should be reactivated as soon as possible, so we believe that before the end of this administration ALSCON will be running.

A lot of approvals have been gotten from the Federal Executive Council, concession for the utilisation of gas, so I believe with all the efforts put in place, ALSCON will be a glorious outcome, Mr Ogah said.

He expressed optimism that at the end of the present administration, the company will commence operations.

The minister said that his two-day facility visit to ALSCON would ascertain the level of work at the company, and assured Akwa Ibom people that glorious days await the state soon.

He said legal issues around the company would be resolved, with the intervention of the federal government in the moribund status of the company.

It is a growing concern and we believe that they will be sorted out as we keep progressing, we believe that based on the intervention from the federal government all the legal issues will be resolved soon, he said.

Mr Ogah pointed out that the federal government seeks partnership with Akwa Ibom Government to create ease and a hitch-free atmosphere for solid mineral exploration in the state.

The collaboration would create opportunities for employment and wealth creation in the country, he said.

We believe that its time for Akwa Ibom to develop the solid minerals in the state, we are looking at how to synergise, to collaborate with the state government so that we can have good relationship between the Ministry of Mines and Steel and the state so that exploration of minerals in the state will be with ease and hitch-free.

There are a lot of solid minerals abundant in Akwa Ibom and we believe that the synergy we are creating will give rise to great opportunities that will lead to massive employment of the Nigerian youths and wealth creation for people, he said.

Responding, Mr Emmanuel stated that the reactivation of ALSCON would stimulate the entire economy in the country.

He promised that his administration would partner the federal government to ensure the aluminium factory comes back to live.

The governor described the steps taken by the federal government as positive, and in the interest of the country and the masses.

As a state, we are willing to give all the necessary support so that the project can actually come on stream.

Trust that we will work together and we will make it work, it is in the interest of the country, it is in the interest of the masses, it will help our economy, he said.

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Mr Emmanuel thanked President Buhari for approving the steps taken towards revamping ALSCON, and said that reviving the company was beyond partisan politics.

ALSCON, incorporated in 1989, was originally a joint venture project between the Nigerian government and two foreign technical partners, Ferrostaal AG of Germany and Reynolds International Inc. U.S.

The company for more than a decade has, however, been enmeshed in ownership tussle between a Nigerian-American consortium, BFIGroup, and a Russian firm, UC RUSAL.

(NAN)
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The Ebonyi State Government said it is ready to offer amnesty to bandits and other criminals terrorising the state, if they are willing to repent and lay down their arms for peace.

The Commissioner for Information in the state, Uchenna Orji, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abakaliki on Friday.

Mr Orji said Governor Dave Umahi was committed to the protection of lives and property of residents of the state and would use any legitimate means to achieve it.

He said that repentant hoodlums and all those who engaged in criminal activities in the state would be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.

The governors take is that of amnesty and offering the olive branch to them.

So, if they can surrender and lay down their arms, the government is ready to get them profiled, rehabilitated and engaged in life transforming empowerment programmes.

The #EndSARS N3 billion empowerment programme is not only for those who were involved in the protest. It is also for idle youths and women.

If this category of people can remember God, humanity and the wonderful strides, selfless and passionate work of our governor, I can tell you that he will develop a programme that will give an immediate intervention, Mr Orji said.

He said the idea was to ensure that every hoodlum was rehabilitated and reintegrated with their families and communities and not molested.

He said the security meetings convened recently by the governor were designed to find a solution to the increasing security challenges plaguing the state.

The engagement is also aimed at enhancing effective policing of our communities in order to ensure timely alert about security threats and breaches to relevant agencies, he said.

The commissioner said available security reports showed that most of the bandits come from communities within the state.

The truth is that these bandits and hoodlums are not totally outsiders.

From the history of those already arrested, we have a lot of engagement to do with some of our youths, who have been involved in banditry in the state, he said.

(NAN)
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Some men, suspected to be armed robbers, on Thursday evening, attacked a bullion van at Elemosho Village along the Akure-Ondo Expressway in Ondo East Local Government Area of Ondo State, making away with an undisclosed sum of money.

According to a witness, the robbers waylaid and attacked the bullion van belonging to one commercial bank, as it headed towards Akure at about 5 p.m.

The witness said in the operation, which lasted for about 20 minutes, the robbers shot three people and disappeared into the bush.

He said the villagers abandoned their houses and ran into the bush for safety on hearing the sporadic gunshots.

The robbers came to the scene in a Lexus car and waylaid the convoy, riddled two out of the three vehicles in the convoy with bullets.

They shot three people before they ran away into the bush. One of the victims was alive while it was not sure whether the other two survived.

Men of the Ondo State Security Network Agency, Amotekun, were invited to the scene and took one victim to the hospital, the eyewitness added.

In a reaction, the Commander of the Amotekun team, Adetunji Adeleye, who confirmed the incident, said his men took one of the injured persons to the hospital. He also said there was no life lost in the attack.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Tee-Leo Ikoro, said the robbers had run away before the security men got to the scene.

Mr Ikoro said the command had commenced investigation into the incident, indicating that detectives are on the trail of the bandits. (NAN)
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Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has threatened to sanction any traditional ruler in the state who is unable to contain the activities of cultists in his domain.

Mr Akeredolu gave the warning in a statewide broadcast in Akure on Thursday night.

The governor said that any traditional ruler that is unable to contain the activities of cultists in his domain would be sanctioned by the government according to the law.

The governor added that the state government would not hesitate to impose 24-hour curfew on any community where there were crises and any culpable traditional ruler would be sanctioned.

Every individual in possession of illegal firearms are advised to submit them to security agencies as government has mandated the security agencies to prosecute any person found with such weapons.

Parents are advised to control their wards on the use of drugs and other enablers as security agencies have been mandated to be on guard with a view to apprehending users of such drugs, he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that following the disturbing violence in Ikare-Akoko, Akoko North East Local Government Area, the Ondo State Government imposed a 24-hour curfew on the town.

The curfew took effect from 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

The government warned that security agencies have been deployed and mandated to enforce the curfew.

Accordingly, anyone who violates or contravenes this order shall face the full wrath of the Law.

The government warned that dire consequences await such defaulters.

Mr Akeredolu also ordered the immediate suspension of all activities relating to the Olokoja chieftaincy title.

In this regard, no one is permitted to parade himself as Olokoja, or engage in promotional activities relating to the title in question. (NAN)
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The Ogun Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) has said an unspecified number of persons were burnt to death in an auto crash on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.

Babatunde Akinbiyi, the spokesperson for TRACE, said this at a media briefing in Abeokuta on Friday.

He said the accident involved a silver Toyota RAV 4, with registration number, LND 13 GS, a silver Toyota Camry marked, GGE 369 GJ, and a Mazda bus with an unidentified number.

Mr Akinbiyi said the accident occurred at 8:20 p.m. on Thursday night.

The TRACE spokesperson said the commercial Mazda bus was allegedly involved in wrongful overtaking before it hit a parked, faulty, Toyota Rav 4.

The burnt commercial bus was involved in wrongful overtaking before it hit a stationary vehicle (Toyota Rave 4), parked in the middle of the road due to breakdown, and also hit a Camry car.

In the process it lost control, somersaulting severally before it burst into flames.

It cannot be ascertained if the Mazda bus was fully loaded, but burnt bodies were noticed at the accident scene, he said.

Mr Akinbiyi explained that two of the victims who sustained injuries were rescued and taken to Lagos State Accident and Emergency Centre and another one to the General Hospital, Gbagada for treatment.

He commiserated with the families of the dead victims, warning drivers to desist from speed, wrongful overtaking, and attitudes that expose other road users to risk and danger.

(NAN)
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The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the decision of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State to sack local government chairmen and councillors in the state.

The apex court also noted that the replacement of the sacked officials with caretaker committees was illegal and fined Mr Makindes administration N20 million.

While the court agreed that the tenures of the sacked council chairmen and councillors have expired, it ordered that all their outstanding salaries and allowances must be paid with immediate effect.

Few hours after his inauguration as governor in 2019, Mr Makinde sacked the officials who were elected in 2018.

He told them to hand over the property of their councils to the most senior staffer in their respective local government areas.

The officials, drawn from the 33 local government areas (LGAs) and 35 local council development areas (LCDAs) and their councillors, were members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

They were elected during the tenure of the immediate past governor, late Abiola Ajimobi.

The officials were later replaced with caretaker chairmen and councillors who belong to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Following their removal, the sacked officials under the umbrella of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) under the leadership of Abass Aleshinloye, approached an Oyo State High Court in Ibadan.

They argued that they were illegally removed by Mr Makinde. The matter did not favour them and they went to appeal.

But, the appeal court in its ruling in July 2020 ruled in favour of Mr Makinde.

Again, the sacked officials went to Supreme Court and on Friday, the apex court ruled in their favour.

With the judgement, the council election fixed for May 22, 2021, can now go ahead but APC, whose members went to court to challenge their sacking, would not be participating.
At least 90 shops and offices were razed in the fire outbreak that occurred at Kairo market in Oshodi, Lagos, on Thursday night, destroying goods worth millions of naira.

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) attributed the fire incident to some form of explosives and accelerants used by unknown individuals.

When PREMIUM TIMES visited the scene on Friday morning, scores of traders gathered at the entrance of the market, counting their losses and lamenting the disaster.

Kairo market is a popular textile market within the Oshodi market, a home of textile wholesalers and retailers.

The fire incident razed one part of the market, with several other shops spared due to the intervention of firefighters.

Foul play?

In a statement by the Director-General of LASEMA, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, initial investigations suggest that some form of explosives/ accelerants were used; indicating some foul play.

The LASEMA boss added that firefighters from the agency were exposed to violence at the incident scene, and equipment of the agency were damaged.

Members of the public sabotaged our efforts by cutting our hoses in the middle to save their individual shops which affected the overall efforts of our personnel and damage to our equipment.

Some members of our team were attacked with several sustaining injuries that required medical attention, Mr Oke-Osanyintolu said.

Traders lament

Meanwhile, emergency responders still at the scene of the incident shut both entrances into the market as recovery operations were still going on.

A fabric seller at the market, who identified herself as Alhaja Rashidat, said the fire started some minutes to 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Everybody had already gone home, those that were around explained that they heard an explosive sound and the fire started.

We saw one of the containers of the thing they threw to start the fire when we came this morning. We dont know whether it was bomb or they wrapped something in the container.

Although the traders shop was not affected in the incident, she said she knew people whose shops were completely razed.

The owner of the shop at the corner just bought goods worth (N)15 million two days ago because of EID celebration. Her shop was completely burnt, she even had some money inside, she said, pointing at the carcass of the shop.

PREMIUM TIMES could not find shop owners who were affected by the incident at the scene on Friday morning.

A witness to the incident, Ibrahim Bala said the fire started suddenly after many of the traders had gone home.

Usually, the market close at 6, many of them have gone home but some of us were in the market when the fire started. It started quickly and we saw smoke all over, he said.

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Mr Bala said none of them could move near the fire because it was huge.

Some people that have their shops far away climb the fence and fence and started packing some of their goods, but it was only small they could pack before the fire started spreading, he said.

Mr Bala estimated about 100 shops burnt in the fire incident.

Other traders who commented said electricity is shut down at the market at 6 p.m. every day and there was no way the fire could have been from electrical surge.

For years, we have never had light in the market at night. They take it once it is 6 o clock and wont bring it back till the following day. That is what the Nepa people have been doing that for years. This fire was set up by bad people, another trader said.

Meanwhile, LASEMA said it has informed relevant authorities including the Nigeria Police to carry out further investigations on the fire incident.
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The Ekiti #EndSARS Panel of Inquiry has recommended payment of over N3.07 million compensation to shop owners in Odua Textile building, whose goods were looted during the protest in Ado-Ekiti in October 2020.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Chairman of the Panel, Cornelius Akintayo, gave the recommendation on Friday in Ado-Ekiti.

Mr Akintayo, a retired judge, said the hoodlums, who were in search of the COVID-19 palliatives, vandalised four buses and looted goods belonging to the shop owners worth millions of naira during the protest.

The affected traders include Ayoola Olayinka, who requested N1,250,700 compensation but got N750,420 recommended, and Adetunji Adesanmi who requested for N1,330,000 but got N798,000 approved for him.

Olobatuyi Olawale who earlier wanted N833,500 compensation got a recommendation to receive N500,000. Adekeye Ganiyu pleaded for N906,000 as compensation but was recommended to receive N543,600.

Sunday Ajayi requested N759,284 compensation but the panel reduced the figure to N455, 571 for his looted goods and approved N30,000 for him to repair his damaged vehicle.

Mr Akintayo said the panel found that the victims shops were not broken into but the articles of trade in their vans were totally vandalised by the hoodlums.

The panel, therefore, recommended a 60 per cent compensation for the affected traders to re-equip their businesses.

(NAN)
The public is welcome to attend workshops continuing in May in which the City Council will be discussing the proposed budget for fiscal year 2022. The opportunity to offer comment has been scheduled for the public hearing, which is now set for 7:30 p.m. May 26.

The proposed FY22 budget covers July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.

Traditionally, multiple meetings take place between the administration and the City Council prior to the public hearing and public adoption of the budget. Several workshop sessions have already taken place since March.

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As of May 7, the remaining sessions are:

 Monday, May 10: Downtown Dearborn Development Authorities (Component Units), and Libraries

 Wednesday, May 26: Wrap-Up & Public Hearing

Sign up for our daily morning newsletter Click here and then look to the right side for the sign up to the morning newsletter for The News Herald, and you can get the top headlines de

The session on May 10 and the Wrap-Up session and Public Hearing on May 26 will be held in person in the Council Chambers at the Dearborn Administrative Center, 16901 Michigan Ave.

Please note that topics, dates, and times are subject to change.

Documents related to the proposed FY2022 budget will be continually posted on the website as they become available.

The budget must be approved by the City Council before the new fiscal year begins.

 Source: City of Dearborn

Wayne County Commission expresses support for police, calls for reform Wayne County Commissioners today adopted a resolution expressing support for law enforcement officials, while noting that reforms must continu

Dearborn Heights man charged with murder of his mother An elderly woman was found dead inside a Dearborn Heights house on the morning of May 4. Her son has now been charged with first degree murder

+6 Dearborn American Legion celebrates two members 100th birthdays American Legion Post 364 is continuing to give veterans turning 100-years-old a special birthday celebration. On April 29, dozens of members d
Wayne County Commissioners today adopted a resolution expressing support for law enforcement officials, while noting that reforms must continue to restore healthy relations between the police and public.

The resolution expressing support for police was sponsored by Commissioner Raymond Basham (D-Taylor), who said that he has met with local police officials to discuss recent issues and that one chief told him police felt like they were on an island in terms of public support.

I have seven police agencies in my district and theyre out there doing a fine job, Commissioner Basham said. I support our police departments as do the majority of the residents in my district.

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Sign up for our daily morning newsletter Click here and then look to the right side for the sign up to the morning newsletter for The News Herald, and you can get the top headlines de

The resolution notes that police officers in the United States of America are necessary and supported by a majority of the citizens in this country, regardless of political affiliation.

It also notes that, policing in the United States of America is an ever-evolving and expansive practice performed by thousands of officers, and for any with misplaced or contrived beliefs about their role, we know that they are vastly outnumbered by thousands-more honorable and dutiful officers who have sworn an oath to protect and serve the citizens of this country.

 Source: Wayne County Commission

Wayne County Commission calls for renewed U.S. relationship with Cuba Wayne County Commissioners recently called on the Biden Administration to reestablish relations with Cuba, a priority of the Obama Administrat

Members have been selected for new Wayne County Womens Commission Nineteen women from diverse backgrounds have been selected as members of the newly created Wayne County Womens Commission it was announced today.
All across the nation there is a slowdown in people getting vaccinated, he said. Its going to be a challenge for us. We as a community are going to have to try and encourage our friends and family members to voluntarily get vaccinated.
CHAMPLAIN [mdash] Theresa L. Ero, age 79, of State Rt. 276 passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, in St. Luke's Healthcare with her family at her side after being stricken ill while visiting her daughter in central New York. She was born on May 2, 1942, in Champlain, N.Y., a da
2020 was a year marked by hardships and challenges, but the Prince William community has proven resilient. The Prince William 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 Prince William Times be your community companion throughout 2021, and for many years to come.
Theyre finally coming to kill us

RT

May 7, 2021

Rebel News co-founder Ezra Levant announced that payment processor PayPal has canceled their account without an explanation.

The Canadian outlet has been critical of the Covid-19 lockdowns and the government of PM Justin Trudeau.

Look, this isnt a mistake. Its a cancel culture attack on the largest independent news agency in Canada. Its censorship, Levant announced on Thursday, in a fundraising appeal for legal fees to sue PayPal.

Theyre finally coming to kill us, the Rebel News account tweeted.

Rebel News is facing a coordinated attack by Big Tech. First YouTube censored and demonetized us, now PayPal has come for their pound of flesh. Visit https://t.co/h9cV7DVSf7 to help us fight back.https://t.co/tQijVzQsLr  Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) May 7, 2021

According to Levant, PayPal sent a form letter by email last Friday after business hours, informing the outlet that their account  which processed over 150,000 transactions for 8 million Canadian dollars over the past six years  was canceled. The email had no signature, contact information, explanation or way to appeal, Levant said.

Were a big client. But with no notice at all, they just breached the contract. They ambushed us, he wrote. Levant maintains Rebel News never breached PayPals terms of service, and that the company has simply ignored multiple letters from his lawyers.

Levant argues this is a coordinated effort, pointing to the fact that Google-owned YouTube handed Rebel News a week-long suspension before PayPal made its move. Moreover, in addition to the Rebel News account, PayPal shuttered Levants personal account, as well as that of the For Canada nonprofit, used to fundraise for charity projects.

Thats why I dont think this is a mistake. Theyre trying to destroy us. And they dont have the courage to even tell us to our face, said Levant, who co-founded the outlet in 2015.

While identifying as conservative, Rebel News has been critical of both the Liberal Trudeau government and the conservative provincial leaders such as Jason Kenney in Alberta and Francois Legault in Quebec.

Levant even speculated that PayPals action may have been related to the recent Rebel News revelation that Trudeau had funded the Anti-Hate Network  an offshoot of the US-based SPLC  to lodge malicious complaints against Trudeaus enemies.

He says Rebel News has lost about a million dollars as a result of the PayPal and YouTube actions, and wants to raise $150,000 to sue.

While PayPal is yet to comment on the matter, denial of service by banks and payment processors has been a popular way of shutting down unpopular outlets and online platforms over the past several years. Back in March, Gab CEO Andrew Torba revealed that several banks have refused to do business with his company citing bad coverage in the corporate press, urging like-minded Americans to cancel them all before they cancel us.

This article was posted: Friday, May 7, 2021 at 12:45 pm

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Infowars.com Videos:
Unspecified security risk to law enforcement data in officials refusal to turn over subpoenaed internet routers to state legislature

Gabriel Keane | National File

May 7, 2021

Law enforcement officials in Maricopa County, Arizona are refusing to turn over electronic devices subpoenaed by the Arizona State Legislature this week, claiming that compliance with the legislatures lawful order would create an unspecified security risk to law enforcement data.

A letter signed by the Maricopa County Attorneys Office and addressed to former Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett vigorously defended officials decision to not turn over internet routers, but did not elaborate on the purported risk that complying with the subpoena would cause.

While the County was delivering the subpoenaed material to the Senates custody on Thursday, April 22, 2021, MCAO was notified that delivering routers, or virtual images of routers, posed a significant security risk to law enforcement data utilized by the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office as well as numerous federal agencies, the letter stated, adding, We also learned that if criminal elements or others gained access to this data, it might compromise county and federal law enforcement efforts and put the lives of law enforcement personnel at risk.

The letter continued, For the past week, we have attempted to find a solution that would allow the County to provide virtual images of the routers as we had planned. But we have been unable to find a way to eliminate the significant risks to MCSO and its state and federal law enforcement partners.

As National File previously reported, Arizona Democrats recently settled a lawsuit with a firm involved in the audit of ballots cast in Maricopa County during the 2020 election:

After a lengthy lawsuit that saw the Democrats achieve few victories in their goal of stopping the audit of the 2020 ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, they have reached a settlement with the firm involved in the audit and the Senate Republicans that will see the firm, Cyber Ninjas, cease verifying the signatures on early voting envelopes with the signatures on file from the voter.

With only 9 days left to go before the audit is set to be completed, signature verification will cease immediately. According to the settlement, Cyber Ninjas and their agents will not compare signatures on early ballot envelopes with signatures from the voter registration file.The Senate Defendants warrant and represent that they are not currently comparing signatures on early ballot envelopes with signatures from the voter registration file, and will notify Plaintiffs within 48hours of any decision to undertake such signature comparison and afford Plaintiffs 48 hours to respond to resolve any concerns. Additionally, If the parties cannot resolve the issue in a mutually agreeable manner, Plaintiffs may seek emergency injunctive and/or declaratory relief in court to seek compliance with the law.

This article was posted: Friday, May 7, 2021 at 11:53 am

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Infowars.com Videos:
Thugs attack motorists in residential neighborhood

Chris Menahan | Information Liberation

May 7, 2021

Videos out of Portland on Thursday show a gang of antifa militants armed with AR-15s and shotguns blocking streets in a suburban neighborhood and attacking drivers who refuse to follow their commands.

Today, armed #BLM protesters in Portland shut down the road. They beat up this older man & stole his gun. Additionally, the rioters smashed out windows of another vehicle. One person was transported to hospital. Police made no arrests. #antifa pic.twitter.com/FS5guM41ap  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 7, 2021

You can see in this video there was a school bus behind them:

https://twitter.com/zerosum24/status/1390427967688519685

A person in another vehicle blocked by the crowd near North Alberta Street and North Michigan Avenue got into a dispute with people who surrounded him and took a firearm from him, as well as tools and keys, Portland Police said in a statement on the incident.

There were multiple such attacks.

BREAKING: Heavily armed anarchist militia surrounded and attacked a motorist at gunpoint in Portland, smashing glass, slashing tires pic.twitter.com/2fCf1c4jL7  Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) May 7, 2021

These videos of the same two incidents are a bit longer but theyll probably get deleted by YouTube:

Rest assured, police are ready and willing to act to arrest antifas victims.

On May Day, far-left protesters clashed w/a counter-protester (Michael Isaacs) outside Portland City Hall. Charles Stubbs (holding knife) says he'll slit the mans throat & mutilate him. Another threatened to hit him w/skateboard. Stubb was charged w/felonies but had case dropped pic.twitter.com/E6t4toB09X  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 6, 2021

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said two weeks ago he was going to go to war with antifa but it doesnt appear like he has made much progress.

Mayor Wheeler has extended the state of emergency in Portland through noon Monday. He asks members of the public to get license plates of people dressed all in black and report them to the police. "Our job is to unmask them, arrest them and prosecute them." pic.twitter.com/QsW73Me9fL  PDX Frontline Alerts (@pdxfrontline) April 23, 2021

Antifa (or some intersectional FBI agent) responded by releasing a video doxing his home address and threatening to kill him.

Disturbing death threat video being shared online by #antifa that caught the attention of the FBI. There is now an active @PortlandPolice investigation. @MrAndyNgo has censored the part that includes a home address of Mayor @tedwheeler. pic.twitter.com/CsneYyQ4KJ  The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 30, 2021

A left-wing journo reportedly was the first to share the video on Twitter.

BREAKING: The FBI has gotten involved after an #antifa group in Portland released a disturbing video that ended w/a threat to kill @tedwheeler (his address was shown). In this exclusive report, I uncover that a far-left journalist was involved in the video:https://t.co/yGEhc328ms  Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) April 30, 2021

The FBI is too busy hunting down grandmothers for trespassing in the Capitol building four months ago to do anything about antifas multi-year long insurrection in Portland.

This article was posted: Friday, May 7, 2021 at 12:05 pm

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Infowars.com Videos:
SINGAPORE, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- (S&P Global Ratings) --S&P Global Ratings said today that Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C.)'s (QNB) Green, Social, and Sustainability Bond Framework is fully aligned with the four components of the Green Bond Principles (GBP) and the four components of the Social Bond Principles (SBP), collectively referred to the Sustainability Bond Guidelines. The Framework Alignment Opinion report is available at Qatar National Bank's Green, Social, And Sustainability Bond Framework.



"The full alignment assessment reflects the bank's commitment to sustainable development, leveraging its capabilities to finance projects that can create a tangible impact where they operate," said Michael Puli, the primary contact at S&P Global Ratings.



The Green, Social, and Sustainability Bond Framework outlines QNB's process for project evaluation and selection, providing details about how the bank's Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Committee approves and oversees the eligible project portfolio.



"In terms of management of proceeds, the issuer commits to track the net proceeds and to remove from the portfolio any loan that ceases to fulfil the eligibility criteria," Mr. Puli said. "QNB intends to report the allocation of proceeds and the impact of the eligible categories based on relevant key performance indicators," he added.



QNB released its first sustainability report in 2018, established its Green, Social, and Sustainability Bond Framework in February 2020, and issued its first green bond on Sept. 22, 2020. It has since updated its framework to expand the use of proceeds (both exclusions list and eligibility criteria) to address issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic. QNB's total verified eligible green portfolio is valued at over US$1 billion (less than 1% of its total loan portfolio), with projects located in the U.K. receiving the most funding. We expect the green and social loan portfolio to increase as a proportion of QNB's lending, given sustainability is a key pillar to its strategy.



S&P's Green, Social, or Sustainability Framework Alignment Opinions are not credit ratings. They are a point-in-time second opinion on a seeker of finance's financing framework's alignment with the International Capital Market Assn.'s (ICMA's) Green Bond Principles (GBPs), Social Bond Principles (SBPs), or a combination of the GBPs and SBPs, collectively known as ICMA's Sustainability Bond Guidelines (SBGs), and/ or the Loan Market Assn.'s (LMA's) Green Loan Principles (GLPs; the Principles). FAOs reflect the financing framework only, and do not consider individual financial transactions. They remain effective until such time as there is a change in the financing framework or the relevant Principles.



This report does not constitute a rating action.



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SOURCE S&P Global Ratings
MIDDLEBURY, Conn., May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Timex Group, a world leader in watchmaking, and adidas, a global leader in the sporting goods industry, have entered into a global licensing agreement for watches. Timex Group will design, manufacture and distribute watches worldwide under the adidas Originals brand. The first collection will hit the market beginning of 2022.

"We could not be more excited to welcome adidas into our portfolio of brands," says Tobias Reiss-Schmidt, President & CEO of Timex Group. "There are few truly iconic brands, and adidas, with its rich history and authentic style, is at the very top of the list. We see a strong and increasing interest in watches among young Millennials and GenZ, and we look forward to introducing our adidas Originals watch collection to this next generation of consumers."

The new range launching in Spring 2022 will blend Timex Group's watchmaking and design expertise and adidas Originals' street culture inspiration and attention to sustainability. It will be sold across adidas owned stores, affiliates and e-commerce, and through Timex Group's global distribution network.

About Timex Group

Timex Group designs, manufactures and markets innovative timepieces around the world. Timex Group is a privately-held company headquartered in Middlebury, Connecticut with multiple operating units and over 3,000 employees worldwide. As one of the largest watch makers in the world, Timex Group companies produce watches under a number of well-known brands, including Timex, Nautica, Guess, Gc, Ted Baker, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Versus, Missoni, Furla and adidas.

Join Timex on social media: @timex

For more information, please visit http://timexgroup.com

About adidas

adidas is a global leader in the sporting goods industry. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany, the company employs more than 62,000 people across the globe and generated sales of  19.8 billion in 2020.

Contact Timex Group

Michala Oestereich

[email protected] | [email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1503488/Badge_of_Sport_Remastered_BWp.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1503489/Timex_Group_Black_OnWhite_RGB__1.jpg

Related Links

http://timexgroup.com



SOURCE Timex
ST. PAUL, Minn., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 3M (NYSE: MMM) today announced the following investor events:

Goldman Sachs Industrials & Materials Conference 2021 on Thursday, May 13, 2021 . Monish Patolawala, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will speak at 8:50 a.m. EDT .



on . Monish Patolawala, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will speak at . Wolfe Research Global Transportation & Industrials Conference on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 . Monish Patolawala, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will speak at 10:20 a.m. EDT .

These events will be webcast live and a replay will be available on 3M's Investor Relations website at http://investors.3M.com.

About 3M

At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily as our employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more about 3M's creative solutions to global challenges at www.3M.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews.

Investor Contact:

Bruce Jermeland

(651) 733-1807

Tony Riter

(651) 733-1141

Media Contact:

Tim Post

(651) 733-9789

SOURCE 3M

Related Links

www.3m.com


Tickets for the 7 p.m. Nov. 9 Orlando concert start at $45, but the arts center offers several upgrade packages. A $115 VIP ticket comes with a premium seat and selection of merchandise, including a princess sleep mask, stickers and a light-up wand. A $165 Royal Palace package includes the best seats and merchandise, plus invitations to the soundcheck and a preshow party with karaoke, a costume contest and other activities. Finally, a $215 Royal Meet & Greet package includes the perks of the other packages plus the opportunity to meet and take photos with members of the cast.
NEW YORK, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Skin Association (ASA) has announced the recipients of the 2021 David Martin Carter Mentor Award and the 2021 Research Achievement Awards.

For over three decades, ASA's David Martin Carter Mentor Award has honored members of the dermatology community who embody the characteristics that made the late Dr. David Martin Carter an inspiration to dermatologists, investigators, and medical students throughout the world. Dr. Carter and ASA's late founder, Dr. George Hambrick, worked tirelessly to grow the organization into a leading force to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and other skin diseases.

The 2021 David Martin Carter Mentor Award is being presented to Amy S. Paller, MD of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. As both a scientist and an active clinician, Dr. Paller, Department Chair and Walter J. Hamlin Professor of Dermatology, is dedicated to translating new discoveries about skin disease from bench to bedside.

For over thirty years, she has influenced the field of dermatology as a distinguished clinician, researcher, mentor and educator. She has served on the faculty of the Northwestern University since 1988, where she currently serves as director of the Northwestern University Skin Disease Research Center (SDRC), one of six SDRCs in the country. Her NIH-funded basic science and clinical research  which ranges from immune-mediated inflammatory diseases in children to diabetic wound healing and topical gene therapy for skin disorders  is frequently published in top journals, including JAMA, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of Clinical Investigation and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Congratulations to Dr. Paller and the 2021 Research Achievement Award recipients! We are honored to recognize these outstanding physicians in the field of dermatology for their vital work," said Howard P. Milstein, Chairman of ASA.

"We are excited to present the 2021 David Martin Carter Mentor Award to Dr. Amy Paller," said Dr. David Norris, President of ASA. "Dr. Paller is the 30th honoree to receive this prestigious award. Throughout her distinguished research career, she has prepared a generation of young scientists for careers in dermatology."

Recent recipients of the David Martin Carter Mentor Award include: Dr. Gerald Lazarus of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2014), Dr. Howard Baden of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2015), Dr. Barbara Gilchrest of Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (2016), Dr. Richard Edelson of Yale School of Medicine (2017), Dr. Kathleen Green of Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University (2018), Dr. Luis Diaz of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2019), Dr. John Stanley of the University of Pennsylvania, (2019) and Dr. Paul Bergstresser of UT Southwestern Medical Center (2020).

ASA's Research Achievement Awards were instituted in 1989 to identify established scientists in investigative dermatology and cutaneous biology. This year, ASA recognized those who have greatly advanced work related to autoimmunity and inflammation, skin cancer and melanoma, psoriasis, vitiligo and pigment cell biology, public policy and medical education, discovery and for the first time in the history of the awards, translational research.

The following Research Achievement Awards were presented:

2021 Research Achievement Award in Autoimmunity and Inflammation

Rachael A. Clark, MD, PhD

Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital

2021 Research Achievement Award in Skin Cancer and Melanoma

Martin A. Weinstock, MD, PhD

Brown University

2021 Research Achievement Award in Psoriasis

Johann E. Gudjonsson, MD, PhD

University of Michigan

2021 Research Achievement Award in Vitiligo and Pigment Cell Biology

I. Caroline Le Poole, PhD

Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University

2021 Research Achievement Award in Public Policy and Medical Education

Mark Lebwohl, MD

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

2021 Research Achievement Award in Discovery

Brian Kim, MD

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

2021 Inaugural Research Achievement Award in Translational Research

Robert S. Kirsner, MD, PhD

University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

"We are excited to present the Research Achievement Awards this year to such exceptional doctors. Drs. Paller, Clark, Weinstock, Gudjonsson, Le Poole, Lebwohl, Kim and Kirsner have all made impressive contributions in their respective fields. ASA is pleased to celebrate their many exciting achievements," said Dr. Norris.

ABOUT AMERICAN SKIN ASSOCIATION

ASA is a unique collaboration of patients, families, advocates, physicians and scientists, and has evolved over three decades into a leading force in efforts to defeat melanoma, skin cancer and important inflammatory and genetic skin diseases. Established to serve the now more than 100 million Americans  one-third of the U.S. population  afflicted with skin disorders, the organization's mission remains to: advance research, champion skin health  particularly among children, and drive public awareness about skin disease. For more information, visit americanskin.org.

SOURCE American Skin Association

Related Links

www.americanskin.org


LONDON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the United States saw a significant increase in gun violence in 2020 and recorded the highest toll in 20 years. With a lack of gun control, these numbers only continued to rise in 2021, with over 160 mass shootings  categorised as incidents involving four or more victims  occurring between January 1st and April 26th.

Recently, Lindsay Myeni, the wife of Lindani Myeni, who was gunned down in Honolulu, Hawaii, told the media that she was considering relocating to South Africa to raise her children. Despite her late husband being a South African national, acquiring its citizenship is a lengthy process that can take up to five years.

However, for time-strapped individuals, there is an alternative solution known as Citizenship by Investment. The process requires an applicant to invest in the host nation in exchange for second citizenship, taking as little as two to three months. Pioneered in the Caribbean, St Kitts and Nevis introduced the world's first Citizenship by Investment Programme in 1984 as a means of diversifying its economy and today is recognised globally as a Platinum Standard brand. Once contributing to its Sustainable Growth Fund  aimed at funding socio-economic development on the islands  applicants must undergo a rigorous vetting procedure. Only after passing the checks are applicants granted citizenship.

"In today's climate, a second citizenship is considered the ultimate Plan B," says Micha Emmett, CEO of CS Global Partners, a firm that specialises in investment migration. "Over the last year, we've seen an increase in enquires from Americans who are beginning to reevaluate their priorities whether its physical safety, better healthcare or a different lifestyle. Second citizenship can help investors carve out the life they desire."

The dual-island Caribbean nation boasts low crime rates in an idyllic setting with one of the fastest-growing economies in the region. Becoming a citizen grants access to increased travel freedom to nearly 160 destinations, including major business and travel hubs, the right to live, work and study in the nation and lifelong citizenship that can be passed down by descent.

A limited time offer is currently available under St Kitts and Nevis' Sustainable Growth Fund. Under the temporary discount, families of up to four can gain citizenship for $150,000 rather than the previous $195,000.

Contact: +447867942505, [email protected], www.csglobalpartners.com

SOURCE CS Global Partners
CHICAGO, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is pleased to announce a new partnership between Spectrum Dermatology (Spectrum) and Pinnacle Dermatology (Pinnacle). The partnership with Spectrum is another step in Pinnacle's strategy to build a strong dermatology practice platform operating in multiple geographic markets coast-to-coast. BGL's Healthcare & Life Sciences team served as the exclusive financial advisor to Spectrum in the transaction. The transaction furthers BGL's commitment to dermatology  and more broadly, the provider services sector  and represents its seventh completed dermatology transaction. The specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The transaction furthers BGL's commitment to dermatology and represents its seventh completed dermatology transaction. Tweet this Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is pleased to announce a new partnership between Spectrum Dermatology (Spectrum) and Pinnacle Dermatology (Pinnacle). The partnership with Spectrum is another step in Pinnacles strategy to build a strong dermatology practice platform operating in multiple geographic markets coast-to-coast. BGLs Healthcare & Life Sciences team served as the exclusive financial advisor to Spectrum in the transaction.

Headquartered in Scottsdale, Spectrum Dermatology is the largest dermatology practice in Arizona. Spectrum has seven locations and 31 providers serving Scottsdale and Greater Phoenix, including Paradise Valley, Arcadia, Desert Ridge, Chandler, and the entire West Valley. The practice provides surgical, medical, and cosmetic dermatology, as well as plastic surgery. Under the leadership of founder Dr. Nancy H. Kim, a leading Mohs surgeon, Spectrum is committed to providing outstanding dermatological treatments and aesthetic care with state-of-the-art techniques and the latest skin rejuvenation technology.

Pinnacle Dermatology, the nation's largest female-founded dermatology provider, was founded by leading Mohs surgeon Dr. Paula Lapinski. Under the new partnership, Spectrum's founder, Dr. Kim, will join Pinnacle's board of directors. Pinnacle provides a preeminent patient experience in comprehensive and compassionate skin care, and has expanded its services throughout multiple regions with offices whose values and standard practices are aligned with this mission. Pinnacle Dermatology is committed to providing responsive and passionate patient care, including patient education and population skin health management. Pinnacle is a portfolio company of Chicago Pacific Founders, a leading strategic private equity firm focused on investing in growth companies.

About Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia, and real estate offices in Chicago, Cleveland, and San Antonio. The firm is also a founding member of Global M&A Partners, enabling BGL to service clients in more than 30 countries around the world. Securities transactions are conducted through Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Company Securities, Inc., an affiliate of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company LLC and a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA and SIPC. For more information, please visit www.bglco.com.

SOURCE Brown Gibbons Lang & Company

Related Links

https://www.bglco.com


To help combat cyberbullying and drive mental health boosting positivity on social, Bliss and The Trevor Project are launching a TikTok campaign right where it all goes down  in the comments section. PepTok will tap influencers to rally their communities to collectively infiltrate and brighten comment sections with "Brighter Words," uplifting messages glowing with positivity.

Starting today, for every positive comment posted tagging @bliss, the brand will be donating $1 to The Trevor Project up to $100,000.

"We are thrilled to continue our partnership with The Trevor Project to help fund their life-saving resources for the LGBTQ community," said Tina Pozzi, Chief Brand Officer at Bliss. "As a brand, we have always stood for unapologetic happiness, and through this campaign we are able to bring these values to life by shedding a light on the importance of openly discussing mental health and using social media to create more supportive spaces."

Also launching today at 1PM PST, Bliss and The Trevor Project will be hosting their first-ever TikTok Live in an effort to kick off an open and honest conversation about mental health, social media and its impact on that, plus share tactics to avoid cyberbullying. Bliss will be engaging several LGBTQ advocates to help spread awareness for the campaign  Hyram Yarbro (Skincare by Hyram) will be hosting with Manny MUA joining as a guest to help spread bliss and positivity to viewers. They will also be joined by Chris Bright, Director of Public Training at The Trevor Project, who will share more about the organization's life-saving mission and resources.

"We know that LGBTQ youth who experience high levels of social support from family and friends are significantly less likely to attempt suicide compared to those with lower levels of social support  and social media is one area that can provide a strong foundation of support, so long as it's positive," said Shira Kogan (she/her pronouns), Director of Corporate Development at The Trevor Project. "Every dollar from Bliss' unique campaign will help support The Trevor Project's free, 24/7 crisis services, as well as TrevorSpace , the world's largest safe space social networking site for LGBTQ young people."

For more details on the campaign and to get involved, please visit Bliss or The Trevor Project on Instagram.

About Bliss

Bliss is a global iconic skin wellness brand and purveyor of unapologetic happiness. Founded in 1996 with a single New York City spa that ignited a modern skincare revolution, Bliss continues to deliver transformational results through leading edge, spa-powered products available at accessible prices nationwide and online, and Bliss branded spas globally. With a true belief that inner happiness unlocks outer beauty, Bliss offers products that are 100% cruelty-free and blissfully free from parabens, phthalates, SLS, SLES and more and is 100% recyclable.

For more information, visit blissworld.com or follow along on social media @bliss . #ThisIsBliss

About The Trevor Project

The Trevor Project is the world's largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people. The Trevor Project offers a suite of 24/7 crisis intervention and suicide prevention programs, including TrevorLifeline , TrevorText , and TrevorChat as well as the world's largest safe space social networking site for LGBTQ youth, TrevorSpace . Trevor also operates an education program with resources for youth-serving adults and organizations, an advocacy department fighting for pro-LGBTQ legislation and against anti-LGBTQ rhetoric/policy positions, and a research team to discover the most effective means to help young LGBTQ people in crisis and end suicide. If you or someone you know is feeling hopeless or suicidal, our trained crisis counselors are available 24/7 at 1-866-488-7386 via chat http://www.TheTrevorProject.org/Help, or by texting START to 678-678.

Contact

Alison Brod Marketing & Communications on behalf of Bliss

Dani Shaffer / [email protected]

Monica Efman / [email protected]



Kevin Wong

VP of Communications

The Trevor Project

[email protected]

SOURCE Bliss

Related Links

https://www.blissworld.com/


CARSON CITY, Nev., May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Carson Tahoe Health (CTH) joins the three percent of hospitals in the nation to have received Pathway to Excellence designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).

Carson Tahoe Health

The Pathway designation is a global credential that highlights an organization's commitment to creating a healthy work environment where nurses feel empowered and valued. CTH nurses - from the urgent cares and medical group clinics to the Regional Medical Center and surgery rooms - are an integral part of the healthcare team. And at Carson Tahoe, they have a voice in the policy and practice decisions that influence their work.

"Pathway nurses are engaged, resulting in higher job satisfaction, reduced turnover, improved safety, and better patient outcomes," says Joanne Miller, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer at CTH. "I am proud of each and every one of our staff who worked through a grueling pandemic, a major medical records transition, and a Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ) survey, to still put a priority on their commitment to excellence and on one another's well-being."

CTH nurses worked collaboratively with many other members of the organization to advance these areas:

Safety

Quality

Shared decision-making

Leadership

Well-being

Professional development

As a Pathway organization, Carson Tahoe leads the effort to enhance quality of care, patient and nursing safety, and the future of healthcare delivery," says Allen Fink, DO, MHA, CPE, FACEP, Vice President & Chief Medical Officer at CTH.

This news comes as we honor the first day of National Nurses' Week (May 6 - 12, 2021). The journey to this award came as a result of countless hours of all CTH staff working as a team.

"Although a necessary part of healthcare, it's not all about the surveys and awards - it's about taking great care of people," says Alan Garrett, CPA, CGMA, MBA, President & Chief Executive Officer at CTH. "That's what we do at Carson Tahoe  putting our community, which is comprised of our patients, guests, staff, and physicians at the forefront of all we do."

For more information on the Pathway to Excellence recognition program, visit ANCC's website at https://www.nursingworld.org/pathway.

To learn more about Carson Tahoe Health, go to www.CarsonTahoe.com .

Related Images

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SOURCE Carson Tahoe Health
CleanSpark Reports Net income For Second Quarter of $7.4 million or $0.28 basic earnings per share. Tweet this

As previously announced, the Company will be holding its second quarter 2021 live virtual earnings presentation and business update for investors and analysts on May 7, 2021 at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST.

To participate in our virtual meeting, please visit: https://globalmeet.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1408452&tp_key=56b26c1000

This URL can be used to access the live event or to watch the recorded version. A transcription of the event will be available on our website after the event.

Financial Highlights

Three months ended March 31, 2021

CleanSpark more than doubled its comparable quarterly revenues, with three-month revenues of $8.1 million , an increase of $4.4 million or 122% from $3.6 million for the same prior year period.

, an increase of or 122% from for the same prior year period. Net income for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was $7.4 million or $0.28 basic earnings per share and $0.22 fully-diluted earnings per share compared to a loss of $(5.8) million or $(1.13) basic and diluted earnings per share for the same prior year period, an improvement of $1.41 basic earnings per share and $1.35 fully-diluted earnings per share.

was or basic earnings per share and fully-diluted earnings per share compared to a loss of or basic and diluted earnings per share for the same prior year period, an improvement of basic earnings per share and fully-diluted earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP term, resulted in a non-GAAP net income for the three months ended March 31, 2021 of $1.7 million or $0.06 basic earnings per share and $0.05 fully-diluted earnings per share, compared to a loss of $(1.3) million or $(0.26) basic and diluted earnings per share for the same prior year period, an improvement of $0.32 basic earnings per share and $0.31 fully-diluted earnings per share.

Six months ended March 31, 2021

CleanSpark more than doubled its comparable six-month revenues, with six-month revenues of $10.4 million , an increase of $5.7 million or 124% from $4.6 million for the same prior year period.

, an increase of or 124% from for the same prior year period. Net income for the six months ended March 31, 2021 was $0.2 million or $0.00 basic earnings per share and $0.00 fully-diluted earnings per share compared to a loss of $(7.7) million or $(1.56) basic and diluted earnings per share for the same prior year period, an improvement of $1.56 basic earnings per share and $1.56 fully-diluted earnings per share.

was or basic earnings per share and fully-diluted earnings per share compared to a loss of or basic and diluted earnings per share for the same prior year period, an improvement of basic earnings per share and fully-diluted earnings per share. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP term, resulted in a non-GAAP net income for the six months ended March 31, 2021 of $1.0 million or $0.04 basic earnings per share and $0.03 fully-diluted earnings per share, compared to a loss of $(2.95) million or $(0.60) basic and diluted earnings per share for the same prior year period, an improvement of $0.64 basic earnings per share and $0.63 fully-diluted earnings per share.

Bitcoin Mining Production

In the quarter ended March 31, 2021, the Company produced more than 144 Bitcoins, and has produced an aggregate of 241 Bitcoins since acquiring its mining operations on December 10, 2021 through May 4, 2021 .

Balance Sheet Highlights as of March 31, 2021

Assets:

Cash: $157.2 Million

Digital Currency: $5.7 Million , or 115.2 Bitcoin

, or 115.2 Bitcoin Total Current assets: $178.5 Million

Total Assets: $292.6 Million

Liabilities and Stockholders' equity:

Current Liabilities: $7.3 Million

Total Liabilities: $8.9 Million

Total Stockholders' Equity: $283.7 Million

Working capital

We had working capital of $171.1 million as of March 31, 2021 compared to $2.9 million as of September 30, 2020, an increase of $168.2 million.

Operational Highlights - Quarter ended March 31, 2021

In March 2021 , the Company closed an underwritten public offering and received gross proceeds of $200 million , before deducting underwriting expenses and fees. This has been a catalyst to create significant growth. We have focused a large portion of the capital to expand our Bitcoin mining operations along with supporting our expanded sales and marketing initiatives for our Energy business.

, the Company closed an underwritten public offering and received gross proceeds of , before deducting underwriting expenses and fees. This has been a catalyst to create significant growth. We have focused a large portion of the capital to expand our Bitcoin mining operations along with supporting our expanded sales and marketing initiatives for our Energy business. Our project to add 30MW of additional power to support additional CleanSpark Bitcoin mining operations is ongoing. Upon completion of the project, this will bring the total power available for mining and data centers for CleanSpark subsidiaries from 20MW to 50MW. The capacity increase is underway and is expected to be complete by summer 2021. In addition to the 30 MW of additional power to be delivered by the local utility, CleanSpark expects to subsequently add renewable energy generating assets and energy storage to the site, which will be operated by the Company's patented mPulse controls.

We have seen rapid growth in our Electric Vehicle (EV) charging initiative, and we now have 11 Companies that are using our OpenADR software solutions to aid in load management for EV charging stations and balancing the impact the increased power demand has on the traditional grid.

We implemented new sales and marketing initiatives resulting in increased sales and contracted backlog. Contracted backlog consists of executed and binding contracts that will result in future delivery of products and services. As of March 31, 2021 , our contracted backlog was $21.6 million . This backlog has continued to grow as we further expand our sales efforts and as of May 6, 2021 , our contracted backlog was $24.5 million .

Parties interested in learning more about CleanSpark products and services are encouraged to inquire by contacting the Company directly at [email protected] or visiting the Company's website at www.cleanspark.com.

Investors are encouraged to contact the Company at [email protected], or by visiting the Company's website.

About CleanSpark:

CleanSpark, Inc., a Nevada corporation, is in the business of providing advanced software, controls, and technology solutions to solve modern energy challenges. CleanSpark has a suite of software solutions that provides end-to-end microgrid energy modeling, energy market communications, and energy management solutions. CleanSpark's offerings consist of intelligent energy monitoring and controls, intelligent microgrid design software, middleware communications protocols for the energy industry, energy system engineering, custom hardware solutions, microgrid installation and implementation services, traditional data center services and software consulting services.

The Company and its subsidiaries also own and operate a fleet of Bitcoin miners at its facility outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

For more information about the Company, please visit the Company's website at https://www.cleanspark.com/investor-relations .

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Management believes that the use of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or adjusted EBITDA, is helpful for an investor to assess the performance of the Company. The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as income (loss) attributable to common stockholders before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, impairment of long-lived assets, financing costs, stock-based compensation expense, other non-cash expenses, and expenses related to discontinued operations.

Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EPS is not a measurement of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP. Because of varying available valuation methodologies, subjective assumptions and the variety of equity instruments that can impact a company's non-cash operating expenses, CleanSpark management believes that providing a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes non-cash and non-recurring expenses allows for meaningful comparisons between the Company's core business operating results and those of other companies, as well as providing the Company with an important tool for financial and operational decision making and for evaluating its own core business operating results over different periods of time.

The Company's adjusted EBITDA measure may not provide information that is directly comparable to that provided by other companies in its industry, as other companies in its industry may calculate non-GAAP financial results differently, particularly related to non-recurring, unusual items. The Company's adjusted EBITDA is not a measurement of financial performance under GAAP, and should not be considered as an alternative to operating income or as an indication of operating performance or any other measure of performance derived in accordance with GAAP. CleanSpark management does not consider adjusted EBITDA to be a substitute for, or superior to, the information provided by GAAP financial results.





Three Months Ended



March 31, 2021

March 31, 2020 Net Income/(Loss) attributable to shareholders (US GAAP) $ 7,222,535 $ (5,815,098) Less: Depreciation, amortization and other non-cash items:







Depreciation and amortization

2,147,834

674,587 Stock based compensation

849,015

273,931 Interest, financing charges, non-cash amortization of debt discounts

28,382

1,891,283 Unrealized (gain)/loss on equity security

(343,000)

210,000 Unrealized (gain)/loss on equity security

(8,400,629)

1,441,763 Non-cash amortization of right of use assets

154,596

10,995 Total: $ (5,563,803) $ 4,502,559









Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA (after elimination of stock based and other non-cash expenses) $ 1,658,732 $ (1,312,539)









Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic

25,925,259

5,135,802 Loss per common share - basic $ 0.06 $ (0.26) Weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted

32,678,863

5,135,802 Loss per common share - diluted $ 0.05 $ (0.26)





Six Months Ended



March 31, 2021

March 31, 2020 Net Income/(Loss) attributable to shareholders (US GAAP) $ 55,005 $ (7,731,352) Less: Depreciation, amortization and other non-cash items:







Depreciation and amortization

3,226,263

1,381,069 Stock based compensation

5,199,658

910,200 Interest, financing charges, non-cash amortization of debt discounts

29,721

3,451,598 Unrealized (gain)/loss on equity security

(269,500)

(158,868) Unrealized (gain)/loss on equity security

(7,380,135)

(824,891) Non-cash amortization of right of use assets

166,460

21,726 Total: $ 972,466 $ 4,780,834









Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA (after elimination of stock based and other non-cash expenses) $ 1,027,471 $ (2,950,518)









Weighted average common shares outstanding - basic

25,925,259

5,135,802 Loss per common share - basic $ 0.04 $ (0.60) Weighted average common shares outstanding - diluted

32,678,863

5,135,802 Loss per common share - diluted $ 0.03 $ (0.60)

Forward-Looking Statements:

This release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the Company's plans and expectations for expansion of its energy initiatives, deployment of miners, the growth of the facility and other statements regarding the expectations, beliefs, plans, intentions, and strategies of the Company. The Company has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words such as "expect," "target," "anticipate," "believe," "could," "should," "estimate," "intend," "may," "will," "plan," "goal" and similar terms and phrases, but such words, terms and phrases are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Actual results, performance and achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation: delays in equipment and battery energy storage systems availability and delivery, the successful deployment of energy solutions for residential and commercial applications, the fitness of the Company's energy hardware, software and other solutions for this particular application or market, the expectations of future revenue growth may not be realized, ongoing demand for the Company's software products and related services, the impact of global pandemics (including COVID-19) on the demand for our products and services; and other risks described in the Company's prior press releases and in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to revise or update this press release (including any forward-looking statements contained herein) to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

Contact - Investor Relations:

CleanSpark Inc.

Investor Relations

(801)-244-4405

SOURCE CleanSpark, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.cleanspark.com


TORONTO, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Denison Mines Corp. ("Denison" or the "Company") (TSX: DML) (NYSE American: DNN) is pleased to report that the nominees listed in the management proxy circular dated March 23, 2021 (the "Circular") for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held yesterday in Toronto (the "Meeting ") were elected as directors of the Company. View PDF version

The Company is also pleased to report that all other items of business presented to its shareholders at the Meeting, as more particularly described in the Circular, were approved.

Detailed results of the vote for the election of directors are set out below.

Nominee Votes For % For Votes Withheld % Withheld David D. Cates 215,373,379 98.95 2,281,491 1.05 W. Robert Dengler 214,960,068 98.76 2,694,802 1.24 Brian D. Edgar 215,130,879 98.84 2,523,991 1.16 Ron F. Hochstein 165,957,889 76.25 51,696,981 23.75 Jun Gon Kim 215,935,313 99.21 1,719,557 0.79 David Neuburger 215,906,301 99.20 1,748,569 0.80 Jennifer Traub 215,444,377 98.98 2,209,594 1.02 Patricia M. Volker 215,797,396 99.15 1,857,474 0.85

The Board of Directors (the "Board"), on recommendation (after detailed review) of the Corporate Governance & Nominating Committee, approved the individuals nominated to shareholders for election to serve as directors of the Board and is confident of their suitability to serve on the Board and its Committees. The Company was advised that proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") recommended a "withhold" vote against Mr. Hochstein, which is believed to have impacted the voting results at the Meeting. According to their reporting, ISS has taken the position that Mr. Hochstein is not independent due to his prior role as CEO of the Company 6 years ago. Mr. Hochstein has served as President and CEO of Lundin Gold Inc. since 2014, resigning as CEO of the Company in March 2015.

Mr. Hochstein played an important role in the development of Denison during his tenure as CEO and during that time acquired considerable specialized knowledge of the uranium mining industry  which together with his breadth of technical and practical experience in the mining industry provides great value to Denison. Since Mr. Hochstein's resignation in 2015, the Company's asset base, management team, and strategy, have changed substantially. Accordingly, it is the position of the Board that Mr. Hochstein's prior executive positions with Denison do not interfere with his ability to exercise independent judgment as a member of Denison's Board.

The Company has provided more details on the results of all matters considered at the Meeting in its Report of Voting Results filed under its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.

About Denison

Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. The Company's flagship project is the 90% owned Wheeler River Uranium Project, which is the largest undeveloped uranium project in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan. Denison's interests in Saskatchewan also include a 22.5% ownership interest in the McClean Lake joint venture ("MLJV"), which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill that is contracted to process the ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest Main and Midwest A deposits, and a 66.90% interest in the Tthe Heldeth Tue ("THT", formerly J Zone) and Huskie deposits on the Waterbury Lake property. Each of Midwest Main, Midwest A, THT and Huskie are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill.

Denison is also engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Closed Mines group (formerly Denison Environmental Services), which manages Denison's Elliot Lake reclamation projects and provides post-closure mine care and maintenance services to a variety of industry and government clients.

Denison is the manager of Uranium Participation Corp., a publicly traded company which invests in uranium oxide and uranium hexafluoride.

Follow Denison on Twitter @DenisonMinesCo

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARDLOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information contained in this news release constitutes 'forward-looking information', within the meaning of the applicable United States and Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'plans', 'expects', 'budget', 'scheduled', 'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates', or 'believes', or the negatives and/or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur', 'be achieved' or 'has the potential to'.

In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: the composition of the Denison Board; expectations regarding Denison's joint venture ownership interests and the continuity of its agreements with third parties.

Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be accurate and results may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the factors discussed in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 26, 2021 under the heading 'Risk Factors'. These factors are not, and should not be construed as being exhaustive.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Any forward-looking information and the assumptions made with respect thereto speaks only as of the date of this news release. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this news release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in Denison's expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation.

SOURCE Denison Mines Corp.

Related Links

http://denisonmines.com/s/Home.asp


TORONTO, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Denison Mines Corp. ('Denison' or the 'Company') (TSX: DML) (NYSE American: DNN) today filed its Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management's Discussion & Analysis ('MD&A') for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. Both documents can be found on the Company's website at www.denisonmines.com or on SEDAR (at www.sedar.com) and EDGAR (at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml). The highlights provided below are derived from these documents and should be read in conjunction with them. All amounts in this release are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. View PDF version

David Cates, President and CEO of Denison commented, "During the first quarter of 2021, Denison capitalized on improved market sentiment for the role of nuclear energy, as part of the global clean energy transition movement, and entered into strategic financings that have significantly de-risked the Company's balance sheet and provide considerable financial flexibility for the Company. In addition to securing funding to continue to advance our flagship Wheeler River Uranium Project ('Wheeler River') through the Environmental Assessment ('EA') and feasibility study ('FS') processes, we were also the first to complete a novel future project financing initiative  involving the acquisition of 2.5 million pounds of U 3 O 8 to be held as a long-term strategic capital asset. Excluding the cash reserved to execute on our uranium purchase commitments, the Company's cash and investment holdings were reported at $96 million at the end of the quarter.

In parallel, our Saskatoon-based technical team continues to progress critical path projects related to the advancement of Wheeler River  including the full resumption of the EA process early in Q1, and the commencement of an ambitious 2021 Field Program at Phoenix. To date, we have already successfully drilled, cased and cemented the commercial scale wells in the 5-spot In-Situ Recovery ('ISR') test pattern located in Phase 1 of the Phoenix deposit. In support of our efforts at Wheeler River and in the Athabasca Basin region, the Company also entered into a Participation and Funding agreement and Exploration agreement with the English River First Nation ('ERFN'), whose traditional territory includes the Wheeler River property, as well as many of Denison's other interests in the Athabasca Basin region.

Additionally, in response to the unexpected announcement of a sale of JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited ('JCU') by Overseas Uranium Resources Development Co., Ltd. ('OURD'), Denison promptly delivered a binding offer to purchase JCU from OURD for $40.5 million, which we believe more appropriately reflects the underlying value of JCU's assets  including their 10% interest in Wheeler River."

HIGHLIGHTS

Successful completion of equity financing to fund the Environmental Assessment and Feasibility Study process for Wheeler River



Denison completed equity financings for gross proceeds of $40.2 million (including $3.9 million from an At-the-Market ('ATM') offering) in the first quarter of 2021. Subject to a decision to advance to a formal FS for the high-grade Phoenix uranium deposit (' Phoenix '), the proceeds from the offerings are expected, based on current estimates, to be sufficient to complete such FS process and the EA process.





Denison completed equity financings for gross proceeds of (including from an At-the-Market ('ATM') offering) in the first quarter of 2021. Subject to a decision to advance to a formal FS for the high-grade uranium deposit (' '), the proceeds from the offerings are expected, based on current estimates, to be sufficient to complete such FS process and the EA process. Financing completed for 2021 and 2022 high potential exploration programs



The Company completed a flow-through equity financing of $8.0 million in March 2021 . Proceeds of the financing will be used for eligible Canadian exploration activities in 2021 and 2022  including the Company's planned follow up on the discovery of high-grade uranium mineralization at the K-West target area, located approximately 4 km west of Phoenix on the Wheeler River property.





The Company completed a flow-through equity financing of in . Proceeds of the financing will be used for eligible Canadian exploration activities in 2021 and 2022  including the Company's planned follow up on the discovery of high-grade uranium mineralization at the K-West target area, located approximately 4 km west of on the Wheeler River property. Funded a project financing initiative involving the strategic acquisition of physical uranium



In March 2021 , Denison successfully completed a public offering for gross proceeds of $107,949,000 . The majority of the net proceeds of the offering are anticipated to fund the strategic purchase of uranium concentrates ('U 3 O 8 ') to be held by Denison as a long-term investment, which is intended to support the potential future financing of the advancement and/or construction of Wheeler River. At March 31, 2021 , the Company has committed to purchase 2.5 million pounds of U 3 O 8 at a weighted average price of US$29.61 per pound U 3 O 8 .





In , Denison successfully completed a public offering for gross proceeds of . The majority of the net proceeds of the offering are anticipated to fund the strategic purchase of uranium concentrates ('U O ') to be held by Denison as a long-term investment, which is intended to support the potential future financing of the advancement and/or construction of Wheeler River. At , the Company has committed to purchase 2.5 million pounds of U O at a weighted average price of per pound U O . Executed agreements with the English River First Nation



In April 2021 , Denison announced that it has entered into a Participation and Funding Agreement and Letter of Intent with the ERFN in connection with the advancement of the proposed ISR operation at Wheeler River. The Company also entered into an Exploration Agreement in respect of Denison's exploration and evaluation activities within the ERFN traditional territories. These agreements reflect Denison's desire to operate its business in a progressive and sustainable manner that respects ERFN rights and advances reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The agreements provide ERFN with economic opportunities and other benefits, and establish a foundation for future collaboration in an authentic, cooperative, and respectful way.





In , Denison announced that it has entered into a Participation and Funding Agreement and Letter of Intent with the ERFN in connection with the advancement of the proposed ISR operation at Wheeler River. The Company also entered into an Exploration Agreement in respect of Denison's exploration and evaluation activities within the ERFN traditional territories. These agreements reflect Denison's desire to operate its business in a progressive and sustainable manner that respects ERFN rights and advances reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The agreements provide ERFN with economic opportunities and other benefits, and establish a foundation for future collaboration in an authentic, cooperative, and respectful way. Commenced the 2021 ISR field program at Wheeler River



During the first quarter of 2021, the Company initiated the 2021 ISR Field Program, including the installation of a five-spot commercial scale well ('CSW') ISR test pattern at Wheeler River. Mobilization of drilling equipment necessary to complete the large diameter drill holes was completed in early April, and all five CSWs have been successfully drilled to target depths, cased, and cemented into position. The installation of the Test Pattern is the first step in the 2021 field program, which is designed to support the further de-risking of the application of ISR mining at Phoenix .





During the first quarter of 2021, the Company initiated the 2021 ISR Field Program, including the installation of a five-spot commercial scale well ('CSW') ISR test pattern at Wheeler River. Mobilization of drilling equipment necessary to complete the large diameter drill holes was completed in early April, and all five CSWs have been successfully drilled to target depths, cased, and cemented into position. The installation of the Test Pattern is the first step in the 2021 field program, which is designed to support the further de-risking of the application of ISR mining at . Discovery of new high-grade uranium mineralization at McClean Lake South



New high-grade unconformity-hosted uranium mineralization was discovered during the winter 2021 exploration program completed at the Company's 22.5% owned McClean Lake Joint Venture. Three of the final four drill holes completed by Orano Canada Inc., 77.5% owner and operator of the MLJV, returned uranium mineralization at the McClean South target area, with the results highlighted by drill hole MCS-34, which returned 5.04% eU 3 O 8 over 14.0 metres (including 14.86% eU 3 O 8 over 3.9 metres).

About Wheeler River

Wheeler River is the largest undeveloped uranium project in the infrastructure rich eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region, in northern Saskatchewan and is a joint venture between Denison (90% and operator) and JCU (Canada) Exploration Company Limited (10%). The project is host to the high-grade Phoenix and Gryphon uranium deposits, discovered by Denison in 2008 and 2014, respectively, estimated to have combined Indicated Mineral Resources of 132.1 million pounds U 3 O 8 (1,809,000 tonnes at an average grade of 3.3% U 3 O 8 ), plus combined Inferred Mineral Resources of 3.0 million pounds U 3 O 8 (82,000 tonnes at an average grade of 1.7% U 3 O 8 ).

The PFS was completed in late 2018, considering the potential economic merit of developing the Phoenix deposit as an ISR operation and the Gryphon deposit as a conventional underground mining operation. Taken together, the project is estimated to have mine production of 109.4 million pounds U 3 O 8 over a 14-year mine life, with a base case pre-tax net present value ('NPV') of $1.31 billion (8% discount rate), Internal Rate of Return ('IRR') of 38.7%, and initial pre-production capital expenditures of $322.5 million. The Phoenix ISR operation is estimated to have a stand-alone base case pre-tax NPV of $930.4 million (8% discount rate), IRR of 43.3%, initial pre-production capital expenditures of $322.5 million, and industry leading average operating costs of US$3.33/lb U 3 O 8 . The PFS was prepared on a project (100% ownership) and pre-tax basis, as each of the partners to the Wheeler River Joint Venture are subject to different tax and other obligations.

Further details regarding the PFS, including additional scientific and technical information, as well as after-tax results attributable to Denison's ownership interest, are described in greater detail in the NI 43-101 Technical Report titled "Pre-feasibility Study for the Wheeler River Uranium Project, Saskatchewan, Canada" dated October 30, 2018 with an effective date of September 24, 2018. A copy of this report is available on Denison's website and under its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.

Given the social, financial and market disruptions related to COVID-19, and certain fiscally prudent measures, Denison temporarily suspended certain activities at Wheeler River starting in April 2020, including the formal parts of the EA program, which is on the critical path to achieving the project development schedule outlined in the PFS Technical Report. While the formal EA process has resumed in early 2021, the Company is not currently able to estimate the impact to the project development schedule, outlined in the PFS Technical Report, and users are cautioned that certain of the estimates provided therein, particularly regarding the start of pre-production activities in 2021 and first production in 2024 should not be relied upon.

About Denison

Denison Mines Corp. was formed under the laws of Ontario and is a reporting issuer in all Canadian provinces. Denison's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (the 'TSX') under the symbol 'DML' and on the NYSE American exchange under the symbol 'DNN'.

Denison is a uranium exploration and development company with interests focused in the Athabasca Basin region of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. In addition to the Company's flagship project, Wheeler River, Denison's interests in Saskatchewan include a 22.5% ownership interest in the MLJV, which includes several uranium deposits and the McClean Lake uranium mill, which is currently processing ore from the Cigar Lake mine under a toll milling agreement, plus a 25.17% interest in the Midwest Main and Midwest A deposits and a 66.90% interest in the Tthe Heldeth Tue ('THT', formerly J Zone) and Huskie deposits on the Waterbury Lake property. The Midwest, THT and Huskie deposits are located within 20 kilometres of the McClean Lake mill. In addition, Denison has an extensive portfolio of exploration projects in the Athabasca Basin region.

Denison is engaged in mine decommissioning and environmental services through its Closed Mines group (formerly Denison Environmental Services), which manages Denison's Elliot Lake reclamation projects and provides post-closure mine and maintenance services to a variety of industry and government clients.

Denison is also the manager of Uranium Participation Corporation ('UPC'), a publicly traded company listed on the TSX under the symbol 'U', which invests in uranium oxide in concentrates ('U 3 O 8 ') and uranium hexafluoride ('UF 6 ').

Technical Disclosure and Qualified Person

The technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by David Bronkhorst, P.Eng, Denison's Vice President, Operations and/or Andrew Yackulic, P. Geo, Denison's Director, Exploration, each of whom is a Qualified Person in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain information contained in this press release constitutes 'forward-looking information', within the meaning of the applicable United States and Canadian legislation concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Denison.

Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as 'plans', 'expects', 'budget', 'scheduled', 'estimates', 'forecasts', 'intends', 'anticipates', or 'believes', or the negatives and/or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results 'may', 'could', 'would', 'might' or 'will be taken', 'occur', 'be achieved' or 'has the potential to'.

In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information pertaining to the following: projections with respect to use of proceeds of recent financings; exploration, development and expansion plans and objectives, including the plans and objectives for Wheeler River and the related EA and FS processes and 2021 Field Program, and exploration objectives, including plans for follow-up work at the K-West target area; the impact of COVID-19 on Denison's operations; the current objectives with respect to the strategic acquisition of uranium;; the estimates of Denison's mineral reserves and mineral resources or results of exploration, such as the uranium mineralization reported from the McClean Lake South exploration drilling program; expectations regarding Denison's joint venture ownership interests; expectations regarding the continuity of its agreements with third parties, including the agreements with the ERFN and Denison's intentions and objectives with respect thereto; and its interpretations of, and expectations for, nuclear energy. Statements relating to 'mineral reserves' or 'mineral resources' are deemed to be forward-looking information, as they involve the implied assessment, based on certain estimates and assumptions that the mineral reserves and mineral resources described can be profitably produced in the future.

Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made, and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Denison to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For example, the results and underlying assumptions and interpretations of the PFS as well as de-risking efforts such as the 2021 Field Program discussed herein may not be maintained after further testing or be representative of actual conditions within the applicable deposits. In addition, Denison may decide or otherwise be required to extend the EA and/or otherwise discontinue testing, evaluation and development work, including a FS at Wheeler River, if it is unable to maintain or otherwise secure the necessary approvals or resources (such as testing facilities, capital funding, etc.). Denison believes that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be accurate and results may differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information. For a discussion in respect of risks and other factors that could influence forward-looking events, please refer to the factors discussed in Denison's Annual Information Form dated March 26, 2021 under the heading 'Risk Factors'. These factors are not, and should not be, construed as being exhaustive.

Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Any forward-looking information and the assumptions made with respect thereto speaks only as of the date of this press release. Denison does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking information after the date of this press release to conform such information to actual results or to changes in Denison's expectations except as otherwise required by applicable legislation.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves: This press release may use terms such as "measured", "indicated" and/or "inferred" mineral resources and "proven" or "probable" mineral reserves, which are terms defined with reference to the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves ("CIM Standards"). The Company's descriptions of its projects using CIM Standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under the United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. . United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of measured or indicated mineral resources will ever be converted into mineral reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.

SOURCE Denison Mines Corp.

Related Links

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HACKENSACK, N.J., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Diamond Braces, a dental support organization specializing in orthodontic care, today announced the opening of its new Denville, NJ location. Located near Denville's bustling downtown, the new Diamond Braces office will be a destination for patients looking for their Diamond smile.

Diamond Braces' Denville office is the company's seventh New Jersey office and replaces its Dover location on McFarlan Street. The new office will make its home in the W. Main Street shopping center next to Starbucks, Great Clips, Moe's, and Walgreens, right off Route 46. Patients with time to kill can take a short trip to downtown Denville, where they can eat and shop to their heart's content.

The new office is a testament to Diamond Braces' dedication to safety and technology. Patients will walk into a safe waiting area complete with automatic hand sanitizer dispensers and a touchless thermometer. From there, they'll be treated to a personalized, highly technological experience thanks to state-of-the-art orthodontic equipment including digital scanners, 3D printers, and x-ray machines. Once their clinical work is complete, they'll meet with a friendly treatment coordinator to schedule their next visit. This streamlined in-office process is just a facet of the topnotch experience Diamond Braces offers to new and existing patients.

"Diamond Braces is determined to provide affordable, accessible, and amazing service to orthodontic patients throughout Denville and all of Morris County," said Dr. Oleg Drut, Chief Clinical Officer for Diamond Braces. "We're thrilled to be a part of the local community and look forward to giving our Denville patients a healthy, happy smile."

You can visit Diamond Braces' new Denville office at 4 West Main Street, Denville, NJ 07834. If you or someone you know in the Denville area is interested in starting or resuming orthodontic treatment, schedule a complimentary consultation on the Diamond Braces website or by calling the office at (973) 366-2244.

About Diamond Braces

Diamond Braces, a Diamond Plus Invisalign Provider, is a leader in high-quality orthodontic care on the East Coast. For over 20 years, Diamond Braces has been guided by their AAA principles of affordability, accessibility, and amazing service. This dedication to digital dentistry and a world-class customer experience has allowed Diamond Braces to serve over 100,000 smiles  at prices 30% less than other providers. For more information, visit www.diamondbraces.com

SOURCE Diamond Braces

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HOUSTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The George Floyd Foundation (GFF) announced today that they will host a George Floyd Commemorative Concert on Sunday, May 30, 2021 in Houston, Texas. The event will take place at the Fountain of Praise Church where George Floyd's funeral was held before he was taken to his final resting place in Pearland. The all white affair will commemorate the one-year marking of George Floyd's tragic death and serve as a reminder of the continued fight for #JusticeforGeorge (9:29) and so many others that have lost their lives unjustly, #SayTheirNames. There will also be a week of events in Minneapolis to mark the anniversary and it will culminate with this finale celebration in Houston on the 30th. Guests and virtual participants will include; Members of George Floyd's family, friends, VIP's, celebrities, political and community leaders and supporters representing various parts of the world.

The George Floyd Commemorative Concert on May 30, 2021 in Houston Marks The One Year Anniversary of George's Death Tweet this George& Floyd& Commemorative Concert

Event Details

The George Floyd Commemorative Concert (Houston, TX.)

An All White Affair Presented by The George Floyd Foundation

Date: Sunday, May 30, 2021

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm CT

Location: The Fountain of Praise Church in Houston (Dr. Remus E. Wright, Senior

Pastor and Mia K. Wright , Co-Pastor)

13950 Hillcroft Ave., Houston, TX 77085

Open To The Public, With Limited

Capacity

Link To Register to Attend:

https://www.tfop.org/georgefloyd

Media: Media must submit requests for coverage in advance for approval Live Onsite Coverage Available (Subject to space availability)

"We could not have predicted, that George Floyd, whose killing by police would inspire a year of worldwide protests, unifying people of all nationalities, calling for an end to systemic racism and police brutality. A year later, his injustice has continued to shake the nation and the world and it is our intention that the sacrifice of his life, is not in vain and does result in justice, saving other lives and ultimately change the world," says Shareeduh Tate, President of The George Floyd Foundation and George's 1st cousin.

About GFF

The George Floyd Foundation (GFF) was founded by the family of George Floyd as a response to the brutal murder of George Floyd that occurred for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, by the hands of the Minnesota Police Department. Georges 'I can't breathe' plea for his life was a cry heard around the world. The GFF is dedicated to ensuring that Georges plea never goes unanswered, that Georges voice is never again silenced and that the community is served by achieving greater access to social justice education and advocacy, youth services and workforce development programs to assist with relieving the burden of inequality and injustice.

The mission of the George Floyd Foundation is to create social justice equality and equity opportunities in the areas of social justice education and advocacy, youth services and workforce development. Website: https://www.thegeorgefloydfoundation.org

Though George Floyd's voice was TAKEN from him...

WE WILL NOT BE SILENT. #JUSTICEFORGEORGE

Media Contact: Priscilla Clarke, Clarke & Associates, LLC 240-476-9643, [email protected]

SOURCE George Floyd Foundation
Flowers, balloons and a poster with the Spanish word for "justice" is part of a growing makeshift memorial for Keishla Rodriguez whose lifeless body was found in a lagoon Saturday, at the entrance of where she lived in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, May 6, 2021. A federal judge on Monday ordered Puerto Rican boxer Felix Verdejo held without bail after he was charged with the death of Keishla Rodriguez and with intentionally killing the unborn child she was carrying. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) (Carlos Giusti/AP)
DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global CFTR Modulators Market Opportunity, Dosage, Price & Clinical Trials Insight 2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

"Global CFTR Modulators Market Opportunity, Dosage, Price & Clinical Trials Insight 2026" provides comprehensive insight on clinical and non-clinical factors that are driving the global CFTR Modulators market and its impact on the global pharmaceutical market landscape.

The report has been prepared in a view to deeply profile the current market trends along with the sales insight on 4 commercially available CFTR Modulators with their, market share and the clinical profile.

The advent of CFTR modulators in the management of cystic fibrosis has greatly transformed the overall market. Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) modulator therapies are targeted drugs which have been developed by the researchers to correct the malfunctioning protein made by the CFTR gene. Because different mutations cause different defects in the protein, the medications that have been developed so far are effective only in people with specific mutations.

Currently, four CFTR Modulators have been approved for the management of cystic fibrosis. Among them, Trikafta developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals is the first triple combination therapy available to treat patients who have at least one F508del mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, which is estimated to represent 90% of the cystic fibrosis population. This drug has shown high clinical response and has significantly enhanced the median survival rates in patients.

Trikafta was recently granted approval in late 2019 and within short span of time, the drug has dominated the overall CFTR modulator drug market. As of 2020, the novel drug Trikafta have sales of more than US$ 3 Billion which is expected to rise at high rates to reach about US$ 5 Billion by 2026. The high market size of the drug is mainly attributed to the increase in prevalence of the disease and the unmet need of combinational therapy in management of them. Moreover, the high adoption rate of this drug is due to its ability to enhance the median survival rates in patients.

The elexacaftor and tezacaftor contained in TRIKAFTA bind to the CFTR protein and facilitate the cellular processing of F508del-CFTR. The combination helps in increasing the amount of CFTR protein delivered to the cell surface, while ivacaftor aids in the gating of the CFTR protein at the cell surface. The combined effect of the three drugs boosts the amount and function of F508del-CFTR at the cell surface. The targeted nature of drug in the management of cystic fibrosis also aids in boosting the growth of CFTR modulator drugs market.

US is currently dominating the market and is expected to do so for next few years. This is mainly due to the rising Caucasian population in the region which has maximum risk of developing the disease. In addition to this, the high adoption rates of novel therapy as well as rising initiative by government to initiate research and development activities will also drive the future of the market. In addition to this, Europe and Asia are also competing to occupy a considerable position in the market by investing a huge amount in research and development.

It is expected that the drug Trikafta will dominate the market for next few years which is due to its triple combination which have better ability to tackle the complexity of cystic fibrosis disease. The overall CFTR modulator market will also witness high growth rates and rapid approval of several other modulators which are currently under clinical trials. It is expected that CFTR modulator drugs will emerge as a potential drugs in the management of cystic fibrosis in coming years.

"Global CFTR Modulators Market Opportunity, Dosage, Price & Clinical Trials Insight 2026" Report Highlights:

Global CFTR Modulators Market Opportunity: > US$ 20 Billion

Global CFTR Modulators Market Growth: 42% CAGR (2017 -2020)

Global CFTR Modulators Market Growth In 2020: 55%

Global CFTR Modulators Pipeline: >30 Drug

Commercially Available CFTR Modulators: 4 Drugs

Trikafta Market Share 2020: > 50%

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction to CFTR Modulators

1.1 Overview

1.2 Evolution of CFTR Modulators

2. CFTR Modulators Mechanism of Action

3. Global CFTR Modulator Market Overview

3.1 Current Market Scenario

3.2 Future Market Potential of CFTR Modulators

4. US CFTR Modulator Market Overview

4.1 Current Market Scenario

4.2 Future Market Potential of CFTR Modulators

5. ROW CFTR Modulator Market Overview

5.1 Current Market Scenario

5.2 Future Market Potential of CFTR Modulators

6. Ivacaftor (Kalydeco) - Clinical & Commercial Insight

6.1 Overview

6.2 Patents & Assignees

6.3 Price & Dosage Insight

6.4 Sales Analysis

7. Ivacaftor/Lumacaftor (Orkambi) - Clinical & Commercial Insight

7.1 Overview

7.2 Patents & Assignees

7.3 Price & Dosage Insight

7.4 Sales Analysis

8. Tezacaftor/Ivacaftor (Symdeko) - Clinical & Commercial Insight

8.1 Overview

8.2 Patent & Assignees

8.3 Price & Dosage Insight

8.4 Sales

9. Elexacaftor/Ivacaftor/Tezacaftor (Trikafta) - Clinical & Commercial Insight

9.1 Overview

9.2 Patent & Assignees

9.3 Price & Dosage Insight

9.4 Global Sales

10. Global CFTR Modulators Vaccine Pipeline Overview

10.1 By Country

10.2 By Company

10.3 By Patient Segment

10.4 By Phase

11. Global CFTR Modulators Clinical Trials Insight

11.1 Research

11.2 Preclinical

11.3 Phase-I

11.4 Phase-I/II

11.5 Phase-II

11.6 Phase-III

12. Marketed CFTR Modulators Clinical Insights

13. CFTR Modulator Drugs Market Dynamics

13.1 Favorable Parameters

13.2 Market Restraints

14. CFTR Modulator Market Future Perspective

15. Competitive Landscape

15.1 Vertex Pharmaceuticals

15.2 Eloxx Pharma

15.3 ReCode Therapeutics

15.4 Arcturus Therapeutics

15.5 AbbVie

15.6 Spirovant Sciences

15.7 Translate Bio

15.8 ReAlta Life Sciences

15.9 Southern Research Institute

15.10 4D Molecular Therapeutics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/j5pjf0

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

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DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Surgical Robotics Market 2021-2031: Focus on Vendor Analysis, Key Enabling Technologies, Emerging Platforms in Pipeline, 26 Company Profiles, and 45 Countries Data & Cross Segmentation" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global surgical robotics market is anticipated to grow with a robust CAGR of 10.2% during the forecast period, 2021-2031. The market for surgical robotics generated $5.46 billion in 2020, in terms of value and is estimated to reach $16.77 billion by 2031.

The global surgical robotics market is anticipated to witness tremendous growth over the forecast period primarily due to the increasing prevalence rate of chronic disorders, elevating global population coupled with the geriatric population, improving reimbursement policies, and public initiatives and funding to develop technologically advanced products. The market for surgical robotics (product type) is divided into three segments, namely, surgical systems, instruments & accessories, and services.

Surgical robotic systems primarily include surgical systems (capital equipment), instruments & accessories, and services (maintenance and up-gradation). In the past decade, the definition of these advanced technologies has expanded, involving the use of these systems for multiple surgical procedures ranging from general surgeries to orthopedic surgeries.

The ongoing trend of rising demand for surgical robotic systems is anticipated to continue in the future with the implementation of technological innovations and advancements in minimally invasive surgical procedures.

The healthcare landscape is changing immensely to keep up or to improve high-quality care by bringing down the expenses (cost). The variables, for example, the rising geriatric population on a worldwide level as well as different care standards between developed and developing economies, are posing a challenge to reconcile these issues. The minimally invasive surgery within the healthcare sector holds gigantic potential as it is considered as the best treatment alternative for open surgery.

These machines are extraordinarily structured to reach in areas where a normal specialist can't access without making a large incision. As the innovation advances prompting exponential development in robotic-assisted surgical procedures, medical centers will deliver high-quality care options by offering efficient and precise surgical procedures, with less patient discomfort. From patient perspective, quicker recuperation time, reduced risk of infection, shorter hospital length of stay, and small incisions or scars are the significant advancement in surgical robotics.

The global surgical robotics market saw rapid development since the first product introduced in the market. The growth is expected to be mainly attributed to primary drivers in this market, comprising elevating geriatric population, rising healthcare spending, increasing cases of chronic disorders, and expanding support from governments, among others.

The market is expected to grow at a significant growth rate due to the opportunities, such as a massive scope for phenomenal profits through venturous investments, integrative industry-academia collaboration, and novel surgical applications, which lie within its domain. Notwithstanding, there a noteworthy number of restraints, including a shortage of skilled professionals, and the high cost of surgical robotic systems and its associated surgical procedures.

According to a Senior Analyst, "The overall surgical robotics market has witnessed an increased influx of surgical robotics start-ups, nearly 65+ companies engaged in this market. The emerging players are trying to identify niche surgical applications for indication of use, moving their technological direction away from "me too" surgical platforms. The market in anticipated to grow double-digit rate during the forecast period, with the anticipated regulatory clearances of surgical robotics platforms in the future. Also, manufacturers are focused on developing advanced technological platforms such as long distance teleoperated systems, miniaturized systems, and autonomous systems to gain traction in the market."

Competitive Landscape

The total market was valued at $5,460.5 million in 2020 with Intuitive Surgical, Inc. dominating the global surgical robotics market by holding 79.82% of the market share in 2020. This market dominance was attributed to the company's presence within the market and huge market penetration in different regions.

Currently, the company offers its fourth generational surgical robotic platforms, first commercialized in 2014 (da Vinci Xi Surgical System). Stryker Corporation was responsible for 9.09% of the global market share in 2020, second only to Intuitive Surgical, Inc. The publisher anticipates that Intuitive Surgical will hold nearly 52.06% of the total market by the end of 2031.

In the past four years, i.e., (January 2017 to March 2021), the market has witnessed approximately 85 regulatory and legal developments, 56 funding activities, 51 partnerships, alliances, and business expansions, 15 mergers and acquisitions, and nine product offerings and upgradations.

Currently, most market players are involved in conducting regulatory and legal activities in the market, as is evident from the shares of funding activities and new offerings. There is a potential for mergers and acquisitions activities in the future as more and more start-ups enter the market targeting specific surgical applications and key players of the conventional surgical robotics market look to consolidate.

Surgical robotics market has a promising outlook, and successful start-ups may enter into merger agreements with the well-established players in the market. Strategic agreements such as partnerships, alliances, and business expansion hold the largest share, followed by mergers acquisitions, and product launches activities.

The comprehensive study of global surgical robotics market covers the following:

Market numbers on the segments that are influencing the market

More than 80 products present in the market

Over 70 companies were evaluated

Detailed market share analysis of each product type

Detailed analysis of the market potential on regional and cross segmentation in country-level analysis

Detailed assessment of vendors, unit sold, and installed base of surgical system

Industry Analysis

Regulatory Scenario

U.S.

De-Novo Pathway

European Union (EU)

Impact of the EU's Medical Device Regulations (MDR)

Expansion of Product Scope

Reclassification of Medical Devices as per Associated Risk, Contact Duration, and Invasiveness

More Supportive Clinical Investigations for Class III and Implantable Medical Devices

Dedicated Personal for MDR Compliance

More Emphasis on Post-Market Surveillance

Requirement of Common Specifications

Implementation of a Unique Device Identification (UDI) Mechanism

China

Japan

Benefits and Risks Associated with Robotically Assisted Surgical Devices (RASD)

Case Study: Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Key Enabling Technologies

Robotics Simulators: Empowering Precision Care

Rising Cases of Surgical Errors

Surgical Stimulators: An Alternative to Minimize Surgical Errors

Long Distance Teleoperated Surgical Systems



Autonomous Surgical Robotics Systems: A Technological Paradigm in Surgical Robotics



Haptics Enabling Force Feedback: An Awaited Advancement in the Field of Surgical Robotics

Case Studies on Novel Surgical Robotic Concepts

Insights on Emerging Platforms in Pipeline

Patient Compliances and End User Perception

Return on Investment Analysis: A Value-Based Business Model

Distribution and Marketing Strategies (for Start-Up Companies)

Distribution Strategies

Case Study: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ( Europe )

) Marketing Strategies

Case Study: Intuitive Surgical, Inc. ( Europe )

Patent Landscape

Minimally Invasive Surgeries: Opportunity Assessment

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Rising Incidence of Chronic Disorders Inciting the Use of Robotics-Assisted Surgical Procedures

Elevating Geriatric Population Changing the Adoption Patten for Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures

Rising Demand for Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures Signifying the Need for Robotics-Assisted Surgeries

Technological Advancements in the Field of Medical Surgeries

Market Restraints

High Cost of Surgical Robotic Systems and their Associated Procedures

Shortage of Skilled Professionals

Restrictive Reimbursement Landscape

Market Opportunities

Development of Low-Cost Surgical Robotic Systems

Implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Surgical Robots

Development of Surgical Simulators for the Training of Professionals

Market Trends

Operating Lease Programs Implemented by the Surgical Robotic Manufacturers

Company Profiles

Asensus Surgical, Inc.

Avatera Medical GmbH

CMR Surgical Limited

Corin Group

Curexo, Inc.

Globus Medical, Inc.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Medicaroid Corporation

Medrobotics Corporation

Medtronic plc

Meerecompany Inc.

Monteris Medical Corporation

Neocis, Inc.

PROCEPT BioRobotics Corporation

Renishaw plc

Siemens Healthineers AG

Smith & Nephew plc

Stereotaxis, Inc.

Stryker Corporation

THINK Surgical, Inc.

Titan Medical, Inc.

Venus Concept, Inc.

Vicarious Surgical, Inc.

Virtual Incision Corporation

Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ruzo4w

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


GARRISON, N.Y., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- "We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship him" (cf. Matthew 2:2) is the theme for the 2022 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It was discerned by the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) in Beirut, Lebanon, and finds its origins in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:1-12).

Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute

"The star in the east above Judea led the Magi to the birthplace of Jesus Christ, king and savior of all humanity," said Fr. James Loughran, SA, Director of Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute. "Two thousand years later, it still beckons us, lighting the way to Christ, who is the light of the world."

The Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) discerned the theme for 2022 and drafted the materials. An international group appointed jointly by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches finalized the texts, working remotely due to the pandemic. Fr. James Puglisi, SA, Director of the Centro Pro Unione, a ministry of the Friars of the Atonement that includes an ecumenical library and research center in Rome, serves on the international team.

Founded in 1974, the MECC is a regional ecumenical organization that brings together the Evangelical, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches in the Middle East to work towards the unification of church visions, perspectives and attitudes, especially on issues related to Christian presence and witness in the region and Christian-Muslim relations.

In choosing "We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship him" (cf. Matthew 2:2) as the theme for the 2022 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the MECC highlights the importance and meaning of the epiphany to Eastern Christians in revealing God's salvation to the world and showing the unity He desires among His creation. His light beckons us, as it did the Magi, to worship Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and the one true God and to open our treasures to Him. As Christian witnesses changed by our experience of the epiphany, we choose a new path of repentance and renewal by serving the Gospel and keeping Jesus's commandment of "loving one another as He has loved us." The theme reminds Christians worldwide to pray for closer communion with our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as for greater solidarity with all of creation.

"The epiphany of the birth of Jesus as God incarnate brought light, hope and unity to the world at a time of darkness and uncertainty," said Fr. James Loughran, SA. "As we face new challenges and struggles in our current day, the theme for the Week of Prayer in 2022 shows that Christ's light has not left us; it shines as brightly as ever, calling Christians everywhere to come together and follow the path of Jesus."

The traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is January 18-25. Servant of God, Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, founder of the Society of the Atonement, who initiated observance of the first "Church Unity Octave" in 1908, proposed those dates, which span the original days of the feasts of the Chair of St. Peter (Jan. 18) and the Conversion of St. Paul (Jan. 25), due to their symbolic significance.

The Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute (GEII) will produce materials for the 2022 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which will be available through the GEII website (geii.org) beginning in October.



About Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute (GEII)

A ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement based at the Interchurch Center in New York City and at Graymoor in Garrison, N.Y., GEII fosters and contributes to scholarship in the multi-faith and secular academy of religion. It is inspired by the Society of the Atonement's founder, Servant of God, Fr. Paul Wattson, SA, who believed that the Friars of the Atonement had a special calling to work toward unity of the church and people of all religious traditions, through prayer, dialogue and collaboration that lead to understanding, the common good, and a just, sustainable peace. For more information visit geii.org.

For more about the Friars, please visit www.atonementfriars.org

Contact: Jonathan Hotz

Director of Communications

(845) 424-2122

[email protected]

Related Images

week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity.jpeg

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

SOURCE Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute
PHOENIX, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. ("Harvest") (CSE: HARV, OTCQX: HRVSF), a vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator in the U.S., today announced a settlement agreement has been reached for Agrimed Industries of PA, LLC ("AGRiMED"). The membership interests of AGRiMED are owned by Harvest Health and Recreation Inc.

On May 6, 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Office of Medical Marijuana and AGRiMED reached a settlement agreement concerning the operation of AGRiMED, a medical marijuana grower processor facility in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The settlement agreement allows for the conditional renewal of AGRiMED's permit and will allow for the increased production of medical marijuana in Southwestern Pennsylvania, which will help serve patients across the Commonwealth.

About Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.

Headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, Harvest Health & Recreation Inc. is a vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator. Since 2011, Harvest has been committed to expanding its retail and wholesale presence throughout the U.S., acquiring, manufacturing, and selling cannabis products for patients and consumers in addition to providing services to retail dispensaries. Through organic license wins, service agreements, and targeted acquisitions, Harvest has assembled an operational footprint spanning multiple states in the U.S. Harvest's mission is to improve lives through the goodness of cannabis. We hope you'll join us on our journey: https://harvesthoc.com

Facebook: @HarvestHOC

Instagram: @HarvestHOC

Twitter: @HarvestHOC

Forward-looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" regarding Harvest's business strategies or prospects, which may be identified by the use of words such as, "may", "would", "could", "will", "likely", "expect", "anticipate", "believe, "intend", "plan", "forecast", "project", "estimate", "outlook" and other similar expressions. Such statements include, but are not limited to, the following: our ability to resolve existing and future litigation, regulatory actions and arbitrations on acceptable terms; our growth potential in our core cannabis markets and the sustainability of such growth; our ability to successfully and timely execute our business and operational plans; the development of favorable federal and state cannabis regulatory frameworks in the United States applicable to multi-state cannabis operators; and adverse changes in the public perception of cannabis. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and are based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management in light of management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, including assumptions in respect of current and future market conditions. Actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from that expressed in, or implied.

SOURCE Harvest Health & Recreation Inc.

Related Links

www.harvestinc.com


HONOLULU, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE: HE) (HEI) today reported consolidated net income for common stock for the first quarter of 2021 of $64.4 million and EPS of $0.59 compared to $33.4 million and EPS of $0.31 for the first quarter of 2020.

"Both our utility and bank reported stronger earnings for the first quarter of 2021 as Hawaii's economy began to recover," said Constance H. Lau, HEI president and CEO. "I am proud of the dedication of our employees and the resilience of our companies to continue to provide essential electricity and banking services for our customers while helping Hawaii reach its aggressive climate goals and 'build back better.'

"Our utility's strong performance reflects continued savings from the cost management program we began last year, with the benefits to be reflected in customer rates later this year. We're also focused on collaborating with stakeholders to ensure all interests are aligned as we continue the transition to performance-based regulation (PBR) and working together to bring projects from our renewable procurements to fruition.

"Our bank's strong first quarter results reflect good execution in an environment that remains challenging for bank profitability. Strong residential mortgage production and new ASB CARES or paycheck protection program loans are bright spots, while record deposit growth continues to outpace lending opportunities in this early stage of Hawaii's economic recovery. Our bank's results benefited from a reduction of reserves for credit losses, as certain commercial credits earned upgrades and our exposure to riskier unsecured consumer loans declined," said Lau.

______________________

1 Unless otherwise indicated, throughout this release earnings per share (EPS) refers to diluted earnings per share.

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC COMPANY EARNINGS

Hawaiian Electric Company's (Hawaiian Electric) net income for the first quarter of 2021 was $43.4 million, compared to $23.9 million in the first quarter of 2020, primarily driven by the following after-tax items:

$10 million lower operations & maintenance expenses compared to the first quarter of 2020, primarily due to i) lower staffing levels and efficiency improvements; ii) timing-related items, including higher bad debt expense in the first quarter of 2020 related to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on customers (such bad debt expense was later reclassified according to a Hawaii Public Utilities Commission decision allowing deferral), and fewer generating facility overhauls, some of which are expected to be performed later in 2021; and iii) higher costs in 2020 related to an increase in an environmental reserve and outside services to support the PBR docket and other customer service projects;

lower operations & maintenance expenses compared to the first quarter of 2020, primarily due to i) lower staffing levels and efficiency improvements; ii) timing-related items, including higher bad debt expense in the first quarter of 2020 related to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on customers (such bad debt expense was later reclassified according to a Hawaii Public Utilities Commission decision allowing deferral), and fewer generating facility overhauls, some of which are expected to be performed later in 2021; and iii) higher costs in 2020 related to an increase in an environmental reserve and outside services to support the PBR docket and other customer service projects; $5 million revenue increase from higher rate adjustment mechanism (RAM) revenues;

revenue increase from higher rate adjustment mechanism (RAM) revenues; $4 million revenue increase related solely to a change in the timing for revenue recognition within the year, which eliminates seasonality in recognizing target revenues and results in recognizing revenues evenly throughout the year, with target revenues recognized on an annual basis remaining unchanged;

revenue increase related solely to a change in the timing for revenue recognition within the year, which eliminates seasonality in recognizing target revenues and results in recognizing revenues evenly throughout the year, with target revenues recognized on an annual basis remaining unchanged; $1 million lower enterprise resource planning system implementation benefits to be passed on to customers; and

lower enterprise resource planning system implementation benefits to be passed on to customers; and $1 million lower non-service pension costs due to the reset of pension costs included in rates as part of a final rate case decision.

These items were partially offset by $1 million higher depreciation expense due to increasing investments to integrate more renewable energy and improve customer reliability and system efficiency.

______________________

Note: Amounts indicated as after-tax in this earnings release are based upon adjusting items using the current year composite statutory tax rates of 25.75% for the utilities and 26.79% for the bank.

AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK EARNINGS

American Savings Bank's (American) first quarter of 2021 net income was $29.6 million, compared to $15.7 million in the fourth, or linked, quarter of 2020 and $15.8 million in the first quarter of 2020. The increase in net income compared to the linked and prior year quarters was primarily due to a release of $8.4 million in provision for credit losses in the first quarter, compared to provisions for credit losses of $11.3 million in the linked quarter and $10.4 million in the first quarter of 2020.

Total loans were $5.3 billion as of March 31, 2021, down 0.4% from December 31, 2020. Total loans were lower primarily due to declines in the residential mortgage and home equity line of credit portfolios. While residential mortgage originations remained strong, the bank continued to strategically sell residential mortgage production in the secondary market. The decrease in these portfolios was partially offset by growth within the ASB CARES (Paycheck Protection Program) and commercial real estate portfolios. During the quarter, American originated $150 million in ASB CARES loans supporting small businesses and their employees.

Total deposits were $7.7 billion as of March 31, 2021, an increase of 4.9% from December 31, 2020. For the first quarter of 2021, the average cost of funds was 0.08%, down one basis point versus the linked quarter and down sixteen basis points versus the prior year quarter.

Overall, American's return on average equity2 for the first quarter of 2021 was 16.0%, compared to 8.6% in the linked quarter and 9.1% in the first quarter of 2020. Return on average assets was 1.40% for the first quarter of 2021, compared to 0.77% in the linked quarter and 0.87% in the same quarter last year.

In the first quarter of 2021, American paid dividends of $5.0 million to HEI. American had a leverage ratio of 8.3% at March 31, 2021.

Please refer to American's news release issued on April 30, 2021 for additional information on American.

HOLDING AND OTHER COMPANIES

The holding and other companies' net loss was $8.6 million in the first quarter of 2021 compared to $6.2 million in the first quarter of 2020. The greater net loss was primarily due to timing of charitable contributions to support communities affected by the pandemic.

_______________________

2 Bank return on average equity calculated using weighted average daily common equity.

BOARD DECLARES QUARTERLY DIVIDEND

On May 6, 2021, HEI announced that the Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.34 per share, payable on June 10, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 20, 2021 (ex-dividend date is May 19, 2021). This quarterly dividend is equivalent to an annual rate of $1.36 per share. Dividends have been paid on an uninterrupted basis since 1901. At the indicated annual dividend rate and based on the closing price per share on May 6, 2021 of $43.47, HEI's dividend yield is 3.1%.

WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL TO DISCUSS EARNINGS AND 2021 GUIDANCE

HEI will conduct a webcast and conference call to review its consolidated results and 2021 earnings guidance and outlook on Friday, May 7, 2021 at 7:30 a.m. Hawaii time (1:30 p.m. Eastern).

Parties in the U.S. may listen to the conference call by dialing (844) 834-0652. International parties may listen to the conference call by dialing (412) 317-5198. Parties may also access presentation materials and/or listen to the conference call by visiting the conference call/webcast link on HEI's website at www.hei.com under the "Investor Relations" section, sub-heading "News and Events  Events and Presentations."

A replay will be available online and via phone. The online replay will be available on HEI's website about two hours after the event. An audio replay will also be available about two hours after the event through May 21, 2021. To access the audio replay, dial (877) 344-7529 (U.S.) or (412) 317-0088 (international) and enter passcode 10153633.

HEI and Hawaiian Electric intend to continue to use HEI's website, www.hei.com, as a means of disclosing additional information. Such disclosures will be included on HEI's website in the Investor Relations section. Accordingly, investors should routinely monitor the Investor Relations section of HEI's website at www.hei.com in addition to following HEI's, Hawaiian Electric's and American's press releases, HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings and HEI's public conference calls and webcasts. The information on HEI's website is not incorporated by reference in this document or in HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's SEC filings unless, and except to the extent, specifically incorporated by reference. Investors may also wish to refer to the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Hawaii (PUC) website at dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms to review documents filed with and issued by the PUC. No information on the PUC website is incorporated by reference in this document or in HEI's and Hawaiian Electric's SEC filings.

HEI supplies power to approximately 95% of Hawaii's population through its electric utility, Hawaiian Electric; provides a wide array of banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses through American, one of Hawaii's largest financial institutions; and helps advance Hawaii's clean energy and sustainability goals through investments by its non-regulated subsidiary, Pacific Current.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release may contain "forward-looking statements," which include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and usually include words such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "predicts," "estimates" or similar expressions. In addition, any statements concerning future financial performance, ongoing business strategies or prospects or possible future actions are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and the accuracy of assumptions concerning HEI and its subsidiaries, the performance of the industries in which they do business and economic, political and market factors, among other things. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

Forward-looking statements in this release should be read in conjunction with the "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" discussions (which are incorporated by reference herein) set forth in HEI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and HEI's other periodic reports that discuss important factors that could cause HEI's results to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of the report, presentation or filing in which they are made. Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, HEI, Hawaiian Electric, American and their subsidiaries undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (HEI) and Subsidiaries CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME DATA (Unaudited)





Three months ended March 31 (in thousands, except per share amounts)

2021

2020 Revenues







Electric utility

$ 564,864



$ 597,442

Bank

77,131



79,738

Other

951



6

Total revenues

642,946



677,186

Expenses







Electric utility

495,750



553,484

Bank

41,835



60,335

Other

7,330



3,665

Total expenses

544,915



617,484

Operating income (loss)







Electric utility

69,114



43,958

Bank

35,296



19,403

Other

(6,379)



(3,659)

Total operating income

98,031



59,702

Retirement defined benefits credit (expense)other than service costs

2,435



(934)

Interest expense, netother than on deposit liabilities and other bank borrowings

(23,736)



(21,775)

Allowance for borrowed funds used during construction

747



688

Allowance for equity funds used during construction

2,191



2,015

Gain on sale of investment securities, net

528





Income before income taxes

80,196



39,696

Income taxes

15,365



5,803

Net income

64,831



33,893

Preferred stock dividends of subsidiaries

473



473

Net income for common stock

$ 64,358



$ 33,420

Basic earnings per common share

$ 0.59



$ 0.31

Diluted earnings per common share

$ 0.59



$ 0.31

Dividends declared per common share

$ 0.34



$ 0.33

Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding

109,221



109,051

Weighted-average shares assuming dilution

109,492



109,365

Net income (loss) for common stock by segment







Electric utility

$ 43,358



$ 23,905

Bank

29,556



15,761

Other

(8,556)



(6,246)

Net income for common stock

$ 64,358



$ 33,420

Comprehensive income attributable to Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

$ 20,342



$ 51,632

Return on average common equity (%) (twelve months ended)

10.0



9.2





This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto in HEI filings with the SEC. Results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for future interim periods or the full year.



Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (Hawaiian Electric) and Subsidiaries CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME DATA (Unaudited)





Three months ended March 31 ($ in thousands, except per barrel amounts)

2021

2020 Revenues

$ 564,864



$ 597,442

Expenses







Fuel oil

127,427



173,221

Purchased power

142,296



139,816

Other operation and maintenance

114,570



127,547

Depreciation

57,355



55,850

Taxes, other than income taxes

54,102



57,050

Total expenses

495,750



553,484

Operating income

69,114



43,958

Allowance for equity funds used during construction

2,191



2,015

Retirement defined benefits credit (expense)other than service costs

1,021



(381)

Interest expense and other charges, net

(17,983)



(16,594)

Allowance for borrowed funds used during construction

747



688

Income before income taxes

55,090



29,686

Income taxes

11,233



5,282

Net income

43,857



24,404

Preferred stock dividends of subsidiaries

229



229

Net income attributable to Hawaiian Electric

43,628



24,175

Preferred stock dividends of Hawaiian Electric

270



270

Net income for common stock

$ 43,358



$ 23,905

Comprehensive income attributable to Hawaiian Electric

$ 43,392



$ 23,931

OTHER ELECTRIC UTILITY INFORMATION







Kilowatthour sales (millions)







Hawaiian Electric

1,428



1,496

Hawaii Electric Light

245



252

Maui Electric

236



258





1,909



2,006

Average fuel oil cost per barrel

$ 63.87



$ 80.78

Return on average common equity (%) (twelve months ended)1

9.0



7.4





1 Simple average.

This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto in Hawaiian Electric filings with the SEC. Results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for future interim periods or the full year.

American Savings Bank, F.S.B. STATEMENTS OF INCOME DATA (Unaudited)





Three months ended (in thousands)

March 31, 2021

December 31, 2020

March 31, 2020 Interest and dividend income











Interest and fees on loans

$ 49,947



$ 52,629



$ 55,545

Interest and dividends on investment securities

8,673



7,590



9,430

Total interest and dividend income

58,620



60,219



64,975

Interest expense











Interest on deposit liabilities

1,462



1,709



3,587

Interest on other borrowings

27



11



313

Total interest expense

1,489



1,720



3,900

Net interest income

57,131



58,499



61,075

Provision for credit losses

(8,435)



11,307



10,401

Net interest income after provision for credit losses

65,566



47,192



50,674

Noninterest income











Fees from other financial services

5,073



4,541



4,571

Fee income on deposit liabilities

3,863



4,217



5,113

Fee income on other financial products

2,442



1,773



1,872

Bank-owned life insurance

2,561



2,051



794

Mortgage banking income

4,300



7,801



2,000

Gains on sale of investment securities, net

528









Other income, net

272



(187)



413

Total noninterest income

19,039



20,196



14,763

Noninterest expense











Compensation and employee benefits

28,037



27,156



25,777

Occupancy

4,969



5,171



5,267

Data processing

4,351



3,717



3,837

Services

2,862



3,214



2,809

Equipment

2,222



2,371



2,339

Office supplies, printing and postage

1,044



1,046



1,341

Marketing

648



1,527



802

FDIC insurance

816



775



102

Other expense

2,554



4,470



4,194

Total noninterest expense

47,503



49,447



46,468

Income before income taxes

37,102



17,941



18,969

Income taxes

7,546



2,283



3,208

Net income

$ 29,556



$ 15,658



$ 15,761

Comprehensive income

$ (16,198)



$ 18,306



$ 35,608

OTHER BANK INFORMATION (annualized %, except as of period end)







Return on average assets

1.40



0.77



0.87

Return on average equity

16.04



8.58



9.15

Return on average tangible common equity

18.06



9.67



10.39

Net interest margin

2.95



3.12



3.72

Efficiency ratio

62.36



62.83



61.27

Net charge-offs to average loans outstanding

0.18



0.36



0.44

As of period end











Nonaccrual loans to loans receivable held for investment

1.00



0.89



0.90

Allowance for credit losses to loans outstanding

1.73



1.90



1.49

Tangible common equity to tangible assets

7.3



7.9



8.3

Tier-1 leverage ratio

8.3



8.4



8.8

Dividend paid to HEI (via ASB Hawaii, Inc.) ($ in millions)

$ 5.0



$ 3.0



$ 28.0





This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto in HEI filings with the SEC. Results of operations for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for future interim periods or the full year.

Contact: Julie R. Smolinski Telephone: (808) 543-7300

Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Sustainability E-mail: [email protected]













SOURCE Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hei.com


ATLANTA, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Invesco Advisers, Inc., a subsidiary of Invesco Ltd. (NYSE: IVZ), announced today plans for a reorganization and tender offer for Invesco Dynamic Credit Opportunities Fund (NYSE: VTA) (the "Fund").

PROPOSED REORGANIZATION

The Fund's Board of Trustees has approved a proposal to reorganize the Fund into a newly created closed-end interval fund (the "Interval Fund"). The reorganization is subject to approval by Fund shareholders, who will be asked to vote on the proposal at the Fund's Annual Meeting of Shareholders expected to take place in September 2021 (the "Meeting"). A proxy statement/prospectus containing information about the proposed reorganization and the Meeting is expected to be mailed to the Fund's common shareholders of record as of the record date. It is anticipated that the Fund's Variable Rate Demand Preferred Shares will be redeemed prior to the record date.

The Interval Fund will offer four classes of shares (Class A, Class AX, Class R and Class Y) and will provide liquidity to shareholders in the form of quarterly repurchase offers. If the reorganization is approved, Fund shareholders will receive Class AX shares of the Interval Fund priced daily at the Interval Fund's net asset value ("NAV"). The Interval Fund will be managed with the same investment objective and similar investment strategy as the Fund, all as described in the proxy statement/prospectus, which will be filed publicly and is expected to be mailed to shareholders in or around July 2021. Shareholders should read the proxy/statement prospectus when available as it will contain important information about the reorganization and the Interval Fund.

It is anticipated that the closing of the reorganization will occur on or around October 2021 subject to shareholder approval and the satisfaction of applicable regulatory requirements and customary closing conditions.

TENDER OFFER

The Fund's Board of Trustees has also approved the commencement (subject to certain conditions) prior to October 1, 2021, of a cash tender offer for up to 20% of the Fund's outstanding common shares of beneficial interest at a price per share equal to 98.5% of the Fund's NAV per share. The tender offer will be completed prior to the closing of the reorganization described above. The Fund will repurchase shares tendered and accepted in the tender offer in exchange for cash. In the event the tender offer is oversubscribed, shares will be repurchased on a pro rata basis.

The commencement of the tender offer is pursuant to an agreement between the Fund and Saba Capital Management, L.P. ("Saba") and certain associated parties. Pursuant to the agreement, Saba has agreed to be bound by certain standstill covenants.

The Fund has been advised that Saba will file copies of the agreements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") as exhibits to its Schedule 13D.

TENDER OFFER STATEMENT

The above statements are not intended to constitute an offer to participate in the tender offer. Information about the tender offer, including its commencement, will be announced via future press releases. Shareholders will be notified in accordance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, either by publication or mailing or both. The tender offer will be made only by an offer to purchase, a related letter of transmittal, and other documents to be filed with the SEC. Shareholders of the Fund should read the offer to purchase and tender offer statement and related exhibits when those documents are filed and become available, as they will contain important information about the tender offer. These and other filed documents will be available to investors for free both at the website of the SEC and from the Fund.

For more information, call 1-800-341-2929.

This communication is not intended to, and shall not, constitute an offer to purchase or sell shares of any of the Invesco Funds, including the Fund or the Interval Fund.

Where to find additional information

In connection with the proposed reorganization, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be filed with the SEC. All shareholders are advised to read the definitive proxy statement/ prospectus in its entirety when it becomes available, because it will contain important information regarding the Fund, the Interval Fund, the reorganization, the Board's considerations in recommending the reorganization, the persons soliciting proxies in connection with the reorganization and the interest of these persons in the reorganization and related matters. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus is expected to be mailed to Fund shareholders in or around July 2021. Shareholders may obtain a free copy of the definitive proxy statement/prospectus (when available) and other documents filed by the Fund or the Interval Fund with the SEC, including the Fund's most recent annual report to shareholders, on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: [email protected]. Copies of all of these documents, once available, may be obtained upon request without charge by visiting the Invesco website at invesco.com/us. or by writing to the Fund, at 1555 Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30309, or calling 1-800-341-2929.

About Invesco Ltd.

Invesco Ltd. is a global independent investment management firm dedicated to delivering an investment experience that helps people get more out of life. Our distinctive investment teams deliver a comprehensive range of active, passive and alternative investment capabilities. With offices in more than 20 countries, Invesco managed $1.4 trillion in assets on behalf of clients worldwide as of March 31, 2021. For more information, visit www.invesco.com.

Invesco Distributors, Inc. is the US distributor for Invesco Ltd. It is an indirect, wholly owned, subsidiary of Invesco Ltd.

Note: There is no assurance that a closed-end fund will achieve its investment objective. Shares are bought on the secondary market and may trade at a discount or premium to NAV. Regular brokerage commissions apply.

NOT A DEPOSIT l NOT FDIC INSURED l NOT GUARANTEED BY THE BANK l MAY LOSE VALUE l NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY

Invesco

CONTACT: Jeaneen Terrio 212-278-9205 [email protected]

SOURCE Invesco Ltd.

Related Links

https://www.invesco.com


DRAPER, Utah, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Keto Chow is pleased to announce that its co-founders and ketogenic experts, Chris and Miriam Bair, were invited to be featured professionals on Season Two of the hit television series "Reversed," a diabetes docu-series focused on supporting participants in their endeavors to reverse stubborn excess weight, diabetes, and resulting health complications such as heart and mobility issues.

Lowering blood sugar numbers and reversing diabetes can save the participants' health and lifespans, and using a keto lifestyle is an exceptionally effective means for doing this. "Reversed" producer and celebrity chef Charles Mattocks, the nephew of reggae legend Bob Marley, champions the ketogenic way of life and has called upon the Bairs to inspire "Reversed" participants to accelerate their weight and fat loss through focusing on a keto lifestyle.

"We were so excited that 'Reversed' chose Keto Chow to be one of the sponsors of the show, to help simplify living a ketogenic lifestyle," said CEO and Co-Founder of Keto Chow, Chris Bair. "Charles and the other experts that came on the show are extremely well versed in healthy eating and advocates for a holistic lifestyle. We saw astonishing results while on-set and are excited at the continued success of the guests after returning home and living a keto lifestyle. Keto Chow will continue to support their efforts to reverse diabetes and inspire others to follow their example."

The show spotlights professionals who are experts in their fields who teach the "Reversed" guests how to completely rethink their approach to healthy living. Every episode positively impacts diabetic patients and inspires them to help others.

The "Reversed" website is

https://www.bellaandellemedia.com/season-2 and Keto Chow can be found on social media, including Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/ketochow/ ) and YouTube ( https://www.youtube.com/c/KetoChowYoutube ).

Keto Chow is the complete keto shake mix that gives the balanced vitamins, minerals, and holistic nutrition a body deserves. Its incredibly tasty meal mixes are ideal for cooking, baking, and shake-making, with flavors that knock out cravings while staying keto.

For more information and to shop all flavors of Keto Chow, visit www.ketochow.XYZ

Gregory Kirkham

[email protected]

SOURCE Keto Chow

Related Links

https://www.ketochow.xyz/


TAMPA, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Widget, the manufacturer and distributor of CBD brands Hemp Bombs and Nature's Script, announced the launch of a health and wellness line of gummies called Defense Boost that uses natural ingredients such as elderberry and apple cider vinegar to help support the body's immune system.

"We've always been focused on health and well-being with our CBD brands, and especially now people are looking for more choice, more convenience, and more enjoyable ways to stay healthy," said co-founder Kevin Collins. "We've expanded our in-house gummy manufacturing capacity and capabilities to introduce non-CBD products that specifically help people boost and maintain their immune systems."

Collins added that the company's mission has always been to anticipate exactly what consumers want in a health and wellness product, and to make those products accessible and affordable to those who want them.

The company recently featured Defense Boost on its podcast. You can listen to the episode here or download on your favorite podcast platform.

Global Widget's Hemp Bombs is the country's top-selling CBD brand in the retail convenience space, selling more CBD than all other competitors combined, according to third-party industry data from IRI and SPINS.

Defense Boost, available in retail stores and online, is a natural fit after the company expanded its manufacturing and distribution facility to accommodate its private brand division. The company now has the capacity to produce millions of gummies daily, with more confectionary machines coming online this year.

Defense Boost gummies come in four varieties, available in 12-count, on-the-go bags for a MSRP of $5.99 per package:

Elderberry, with 50 mg of elderberry per gummy

Apple Cider Vinegar, with 50 mg of apple cider vinegar per gummy

Vitamin C, with 23 mg of vitamin C per gummy

Sleep, with 5 mg of the sleep aid melatonin per gummy

The gummies are formulated using carefully selected ingredients and can be taken daily as part of a wellness routine.

"We make amazing gummies, and the response has been tremendous with our existing distribution network," said Vince Gillen, vice president of sales at Global Widget. "Our job is to help our food, drug and mass retailers meet consumer demand and stay on top of growing trends."

For information on Defense Boost, retailers can visit www.defenseboost.com.

About Us

Global Widget, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a vertically integrated CPG manufacturer, distributor and marketer of CBD and health and wellness products, and a leader in gummy production and packaging. The company is the trusted powerhouse behind the iconic CBD brand Hemp Bombs, along with health and wellness brands, Defense Boost, Mystic Labs and Black Diamond Kratom. With more than 110,000 square feet of facility space and more than 200 employees, Global Widget is one of the nation's largest CBD companies and a leading contract manufacturer providing quality products and support services to retailers and distributors worldwide. www.globalwidget.com.

Media Contact:

Joe Agostinelli, PR Manager

813.497.5752

[email protected]

SOURCE Global Widget

Related Links

global-widget.com


"As employers increase hiring activity, expect more tech workers to explore their career options." Tweet this

Employers across all sectors of the economy reduced their hiring of IT workers by an estimated 234,000 positions. This was the first decline after four consecutive months of employment gains.1 For the year IT occupation employment has increased by 72,000 positions.

Employer job postings for open IT positions held steady in April, increasing by a modest 1,690 over March, totaling nearly 309,000.

"As employers increase hiring activity, expect more tech workers to explore their career options," said Tim Herbert, executive vice president for research and market intelligence at CompTIA. "In a competitive labor market, companies will need to be even more diligent in their approach to work practices and corporate culture in retaining tech talent."

All five tech occupation categories showed solid employment growth last month, led by new hiring in IT services and custom software development (+6,200), information services, including search engines (+3,400) and telecommunication (+3,300), the category's best performance since January. Computer and electronic products manufacturing (+2,100) and data processing, hosting and related services (+1,600) were also in positive territory.

The latest job posting data shows that California, Texas, Colorado, Arizona and Florida had the largest month over month increase in IT job postings. Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles, Dallas and Sacramento had the strongest performance among metropolitan areas.

CompTIA's analysis also shows that a number of other regions have seen strong demand for IT workers so far this year, including Charlotte (18,543 IT job postings), Baltimore (16,182), Detroit (16,050), Raleigh (14,712), Tampa (13,542), St. Louis (12,092), Portland, Ore. (11,990) and Columbus, Ohio (11,102).

Industries with significant numbers of job openings for IT professionals in April included professional, scientific and technical services, finance and insurance, manufacturing, information, retail trade, public administration, health care and social assistance, educational services, and transportation and warehousing.

Employers continue to seek out software and application developers, advertising 93,500 open positions last month, more than the next four occupation categories combined. Still, demand for core IT talent remains solid, with employers advertising open positions for IT support specialists (26,000), systems engineers and architects (22,900), systems analysts (20,400) and IT project managers (19,100).

The CompTIA Tech Jobs Report is available at https://www.comptia.org/content/tech-jobs-report.

About CompTIA

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the estimated 75 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world's economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce. Visit www.comptia.org .

Media Contact

Steven Ostrowski

[email protected]

+1 630-678-8468

_____________________________

1 Monthly occupation-level data reporting from the Bureau of Labor Statistics may be subject to higher levels of variance and volatility.

SOURCE CompTIA

Related Links

http://www.comptia.org


WASHINGTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA), today released a comprehensive guide for capturing mobile advertising IDs to effectively evaluate which consumers are exposed to digital out of home (DOOH) media. The "OAAA DOOH Exposure Methodology Standardization Guidelines and Best Practices" will establish an industry-wide measurement standard, while allowing for ongoing improvements. The trade organization worked with top member industry leaders to develop the guidelines and best practices to empower omnichannel marketers to increase investment in DOOH and enable optimal adoption.

The framework focuses primarily on the retargeting and attribution use cases of DOOH exposure data. In addition, the guidelines break out recommendations by DOOH inventory types, specifying indoor and outdoor displays, and then, further by use case.

Key methodology topics addressed:

Required input variables from venue data

Required input variables from movement data

Required input variables from ad play data

Latitude/longitude precision, distance and average dwell time values by venue type

Output variables by use case

"By adopting this industry guidance, we have an opportunity to grow DOOH ad spending significantly," said Anna Bager, President and CEO, OAAA. "Standards like these enable accurate and transparent DOOH exposure data to be collected, leading to more credible and conclusive attribution of the channel's impact on business outcomes."

"There are different inventory types within the DOOH industry, and these inventory types require different input variables," said Eugenie Chen, Vice President of Data and Analytics, Vistar Media, who chaired the initiative. "We're excited to work with the OAAA and a hive-mind of industry thought leaders to compile these best practices and guidelines. Adoption will positively influence how the market views the effectiveness of DOOH as part of an omnichannel marketing strategy."

"As we continue to further our digital out of home advertising efforts, seeing these recommendations become standard operation procedure in the marketplace will make a qualitative difference in increasing advertiser spend and confidence in the measurement of the channel," added Leighann Terraforte, Director, Business Development, Foursquare, who also participated in the effort.

In addition to Vistar Media and Foursquare, key contributors to the "OAAA DOOH Exposure Methodology Standardization Guidelines and Best Practices" include: Adsquare, Clear Channel Outdoor, JCDecaux, Lamar Advertising, Lightbox, Veraset, Verizon Media, and Volta, with additional participation from Adelphic, AdQuick, Geopath, GSTV, MFour, The Trade Desk and Ubimo/Quotient.

The "OAAA DOOH Exposure Methodology Standardization Guidelines and Best Practices" will also take centerstage on May 26 at a session titled "Capturing Mobile Users Exposure to DOOH Campaigns" at the upcoming Future Proof: OOH Media Conference from the OAAA and Geopath. To access the guidance, please visit https://oaaa.org/DOOHExposureGuidelines.

About the OAAA

The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) is the national trade association for the entire out of home (OOH) advertising industry. OAAA represents more than 800 members, including leading media companies, advertisers, agencies, ad-tech providers, and suppliers which comprise over 90 percent of the industry. OOH media includes billboards, street furniture, transit, place-based media, and digital formats (DOOH) across every sector of the channel. OAAA is the unifying voice for the industry, the authoritative thought leader, and the passionate advocate for advancing OOH advertising in the United States. The legislative unit of OAAA advocates for the responsible growth of OOH with federal, state, and local government. OAAA-member media companies generously donate over $500 million in public service advertising annually. Founded in 1891, OAAA is headquartered in Washington, DC with offices in New York City. For more information, please visit oaaa.org.

SOURCE Out of Home Advertising Association

Related Links

https://oaaa.org/default.aspx


Im proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation that will bolster federal support for efforts to rescue and rehabilitate marine mammals that are in distress, and to improve emergency response and scientific research so we can act before its too late, she wrote in a statement.
LAUREL, Md., May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- RCT Endodontics (RCT) forms a non-profit called Trident Save-a-Smile to give back to the communities they serve.

RCT sets out to make a local impact by partnering with health and dental organizations to provide a day of donated endodontic treatments to low-income residents.

On Saturday, May 15th, 2021, RCT Endodontics will be hosting its annual Save-a-Smile Day, which promises to meet hopeful patients with compassion, gratitude and positive energy. Save-a-Smile is organized in conjunction with the American Association of Endodontists' (AAE) Save-Your-Tooth month, whose mission is to encourage the public to "get in the tooth-saving spirit." This is RCT's third Save-a-Smile event and the dental community's response has been tremendous thus far. Over the past three years, they have partnered with Spanish Catholic Charities and, this year, they are proud to donate endodontic treatments to select private dental practices in Maryland as well.

RCT Endodontics' founder Dr. Ronald Taylor states, "This is our third year giving back to the community, and each year the outreach grows. We always look forward to this event! It is enriching to work with a team that is just as enthusiastic as I am to give back to the community."

Director of dental services at Spanish Catholic Charities, Dr. Lucciola Lambruschini, states, "RCT has set a high standard in specialty dental philanthropy. They understand the incredible value of service to the community and donates their time and resources generously. Many of our low-income patients who live in this country illegally decide to risk losing their teeth or go to an unlicensed clinic instead of coming forward for professional root canal treatment. Drs. Ronald Taylor and Adam Orgel were the first specialists to create such an event in Maryland. Each year, their team participates with such joy and had inspired other endodontist specialists as well. They genuinely have something special at their endo group."

For more information, visit https://www.rctendo.com/save-a-smile-2021/

For media inquiries contact Crystal Mathura, Director of Business Development at [email protected] or call (301) 857-8700.

SOURCE RCT Endodontics
WILMINGTON, Del., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Reolink, a global innovation in smart security solutions, partners with County Theater, a nonprofit community theater in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to document the theater renovation and expansion project from start to finish, allowing the theater team and members to see the construction process in high image quality.

Click to watch more details about how Reolink assists in the expansion project of County Theater here.

Reolink assists in the renovation and expansion project of a non-profit community theater in Pennsylvania.

Since the start of the expansion project in January 2020, John Toner, funding director of the project, and his team had been looking for video services with construction site cameras, which can document the process of the jobs. However, they were told that it might cost $10,000 to $20,000 dollars.

Later, the team talked to Tom Brunt, a broadcast video engineer from TebWeb Innovations. Tom recommended Reolink as an affordable option to meet multiple needs - securing the site, providing online live feed, and generating high-quality time-lapse videos to show how the expansion proceeds. Tom's suggestion was accepted by John and his team, as it cost only 1/10 of the previous proposals.

Two Reolink RLC-511W WiFi security cameras were installed across the street and inside the new auditorium respectively, giving the theater members and donors 1920p HD images of how the construction was going on, from brickwork to internal work on electricity.

From start to finish, the expansion project spans 16 months. The Reolink cameras record every moment and deliver great images worthy of theater projection quality. The theater team has made a stunning time-lapse video, showing the whole process of the expansion project in three minutes. Once the video is uploaded to social media, it goes viral among theater's members and Reolink's users.

"It is always good to know that our users love the cameras, especially when they are applied in a nonprofit theater this time, "said Eva Nel, Reolink's marketing director, "We will continue delivering reliable products and services to enable our users to get the job done."

In addition to the two RLC-511W cameras, Reolink donates more devices, including two RLC-510WA Wi-Fi smart cameras and an RLK8-520B2D2 PoE NVR kit, to improve the theater's security.

The construction now completes and the expansion project time-lapse videos captured by Reolink will be shown to moviegoers when the theater reopens soon.

For any further updates, follow Reolink and County Theater on Facebook.

About Reolink

Reolink, a global innovator in the smart home field, is always dedicated to delivering the easiest and most reliable security solutions for homes and businesses. Reolink's mission is to make security a seamless experience for customers with its groundbreaking security products. Reolink products are available and sold worldwide, providing video surveillance and protection for millions of homes and families.

Contact

Reolink PR Team

Email: [email protected]

Address: 251 Little Falls Drive, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware 19808

Related Images

reolink-cameras-assists-non-profit.jpg

Reolink Cameras Assists Non-Profit Theater Renovation & Expansion Project

Reolink assists in the renovation and expansion project of a non-profit community theater in Pennsylvania.

SOURCE Reolink
During the event, Suning International teamed up with its subsidiary Laox, Japan's largest duty-free retailer; the Italian Trade Agency (ITA); SUP's, the world's preferred platform for branding, marketing and consulting services for overseas brands seeking to enter the Chinese market; and cross-border e-commerce supply chain company Shenzhen Qianhai Electric Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd ("EMATOU") to bring more international high-quality brands and products to Chinese consumers.

Suning International displayed its latest cross-border trade solutions, which include essential services such as customs clearance and warehouse operations, global supply chain and logistics services, new bonded and physical retail channel networks, and comprehensive financial management services.

On May 7, Suning International also held its 2021 Global Partner Conference, where the company introduced its "one-stop solution for overseas brands to enter China" program. Suning's digital solutions services, which include integrated cross-border trading and marketing services, help global brands enter, grow and expand in their target Chinese markets, as well as serve as an engine to boost cross-border dual circulation. Leveraging its channels and resources of Suning International, the program provides cross-border strategy consulting services, customized retail solutions and global trade, with the aim to develop Suning International into the biggest imported supply chain platform that empowers global brands to take root in China.

Suning International is expected to sign up over 1,000 new and emerging global brands for its one-stop solution, as the company seeks to bring more authentic, popular, and high-quality global products to China. At the same time, Suning International has further cultivated its reach through multiple channels to enhance its ability to service overseas brands. To date, the company has partnered with more than 5,000 international companies and introduced more than 1.2 global million products to Chinese consumers.

A one-stop solution supported by full-link services

With its years of cross-border retail experience, Suning International is committed to developing one-stop full-link customized retail solutions to accelerate the localization of overseas businesses. In addition to assisting overseas brands with market entry, Suning International provides companies with business planning services centered on localized strategic consulting and content marketing  realizing an end-to-end solution capable of supporting the world's biggest retailers. Furthermore, Suning International boasts strong resources and capabilities for joint promotion, and can maximize local brand coverage and development via its online and offline platforms.

As a recognized nam e for many emerging overseas brands entering the Chinese market, Suning International's eCommerce operation capabilities and brand marketing services generated a significant amount of interest during the exhibition period. More than 300 brands or agents formalized partnerships with Suning International during the expo.

With Suning Group's South China headquarters in planning, Suning International will harness its smart retail service capabilities to further develop the Greater Bay Area and Hainan Free Trade Port, and bring more authentic overseas products and services to Chinese consumers.

About Suning Group



Founded in 1990, Suning Group has two listed subsidiaries at home and abroad and more than 300,000 employees around the world, ranking the third in the Chinese private sector. Being committed to its mission of Leading the Industrial Advancements in Creating a Higher Quality of Life for All, it provides quality products and services to more than 700 million customers worldwide and has its business scope covering three main sectors: Retail, Real Estate, and Financial Service. Suning.com, the main subsidiary is a leading O2O smart retail service provider in China. In 2020, Suning.com maintained its position among the Fortune Global 500 and topped the 2020 List of China's 500 Most Valuable Brands with a brand value of RMB 296.815 billion.

About Suning International

Suning International is the international business arm of Suning Group, with two business platforms: cross border retail platform and leading cross border retail services provider Sup's. Suning International positions itself as an import supply chain retail service platform for the new decade, to fully empower growth and prosperity of global brands in the Chinese market.

SOURCE Suning Group
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SyBridge Technologies ("SyBridge"), a global technological leader in the tooling and mold industry, announced today that its subsidiary, Concours Technologies ("Concours"), has completed the acquisition of the assets of Toolplas Systems Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. ("Toolplas Mexico"). This transaction marks the further expansion by SyBridge in the service business, especially in serving customer needs in Mexico. New York based private equity firm Crestview Partners established SyBridge in 2019 and committed $200 million of equity to create a market leader spanning across end-markets, geographies, and advanced technological capabilities to provide value-added solutions to its customers.

The acquisition of Toolplas Mexico assets enables SyBridge to add a dedicated service center in the Queretaro area, where significant injection molding production is located. It also allows Concours' existing production facility in Puebla Mexico to focus on mold design, manufacturing, and validation. The addition of this Queretaro service center increases SyBridge's customer service network to four dedicated service facilities in North America; it will complement other locations in Alabama, Tennessee, and Ontario Canada.

"Queretaro is strategically located; having a service center there helps us to better meet customers' engineering changes, mold repair and maintenance needs in Mexico," said Tony Nardone, CEO of SyBridge. "We now have dedicated service centers in all 3 countries under USMCA and will add several more to match the manufacturing footprint of our customers. Building an industry leading technology and service business is a key element of SyBridge's overall growth strategy."

About SyBridge Technologies

SyBridge Technologies was established in 2019 by Crestview Partners to create a global technological leader that provides value-added design and production solutions across multiple industries. SyBridge is based in Southfield, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.sybridgetech.com.

About Concours Technologies, Inc.

Founded in 1994 and formerly known as Concours Mold, Concours Technologies designs, manufacturers and repairs tools and molds for its customers. With headquarters in Windsor, Ontario and additional manufacturing and services facilities in Alabama, Tennessee and Mexico, Concours Technologies is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SyBridge Technologies. For more information, please visit www.concourstechnologies.com.

About Crestview Partners

Founded in 2004, Crestview is a value-oriented private equity firm focused on the middle market. The firm is based in New York and manages funds with over $9 billion of aggregate capital commitments. The firm is led by a group of partners who have complementary experience and distinguished backgrounds in private equity, finance, operations and management. Crestview has senior investment professionals focused on sourcing and managing investments in each of the specialty areas of the firm: industrials, media, and financial services. For more information, please visit www.crestview.com.

For more information, please contact:

Jeffrey Taufield or Daniel Yunger

Kekst CNC

(212) 521-4800

[email protected] / [email protected]

SOURCE SyBridge Technologies
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Students from Brownsville, Texas will hear from astronauts aboard the International Space Station during a call at 10:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday, May 11 that will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet will answer prerecorded video questions from high school students at the Brownsville Independent School District. The downlink is being coordinated by the Children's Museum of Brownsville, the Brownsville Independent School District, and the South Texas Astronomical Society. Their Harnessing Opportunities through Perseverance in Exploration initiative is intended to spark interest in science and space exploration among students in the Brownsville and greater Rio Grande Valley communities.

Media interested in covering the event should contact Felipe Pena at 469-337-7522 or [email protected].

Linking students directly to astronauts aboard the space station provides unique, authentic experiences designed to enhance student learning, performance, and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Astronauts living in space on the orbiting laboratory communicate with NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston 24 hours a day through the Space Network's Tracking and Data Relay Satellites.

For more than 20 years, astronauts have continuously lived and worked on the space station, testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth. Through NASA's Artemis program, the agency will return astronauts to the Moon, with eventual human exploration of Mars. Inspiring the next generation of explorers  the Artemis Generation  ensures America will continue to lead in space exploration and discovery.

Follow America's Moon to Mars exploration at:

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/moon-to-mars

Follow NASA astronauts on social media at:

https://www.twitter.com/NASA_astronauts

See videos and lesson plans highlighting research on the International Space Station at:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


NEW YORK, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- TIAA was named #9 on the 2021 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, holding steady from its #9 rank in 2020. This achievement recognizes TIAA's longstanding commitment to fostering an inclusive workplace that reflects the diversity of the clients that it serves. DiversityInc's highly competitive and rigorous annual survey yields a data driven ranking based on six criteria: talent results in the workforce and management, senior leadership accountability, talent programs, workplace practices, philanthropy and supplier diversity. TIAA was also recognized on "Top Company" specialty lists for Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG), Black Executives, Talent Acquisition for Women of Color, and Executive Diversity Councils.

"Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is at the core of everything we do, especially when it comes to serving our clients and how we value our associates," said Sean Woodroffe, Chief People Officer at TIAA. "This became more important than ever as we navigated through the unprecedented events of the last year. We appreciate that we are at our very best when these core principles are universally adhered."

Following the murder of George Floyd, TIAA launched Be the Change  a new program created to uplift the firm's employees and communities through dialogue, education and engagement. Based on four pillars - facilitating change through understanding, dialogue, leadership and action; TIAA launched 10 programmatic and communication-based efforts in the month of June.

Despite associates shifting to remote work as a result of COVID-19, TIAA hosted a variety of virtual events to further its mission. More than 1,000 people joined TIAA's Be the Change Race Against Racism to raise awareness around injustice and inequality. Participants came together to ride bikes, run or walk with someone of a different race in support of the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic that uses DNA technology and reform laws to free innocent people from prison and prevent future wrongful conviction.

At the same time, TIAA launched its Summer of Service program, which provided associates with virtual opportunities to engage in their communities and support those impacted by COVID-19. To address the digital divide that was revealed as the country moved towards remote learning, TIAA partnered with EveryoneOn, a nonprofit that ensures all Americans have access to affordable internet and computers. For every hour of physical activity that employees and their families logged, TIAA funded a donation to the organization, totaling more than 8,600 hours. Additionally, TIAA donated 1,200 laptop computers to E2D for distribution in local communities in North Carolina.

TIAA also provided educational enrichment and enhanced financial acumen programs through tutoring and mentoring students, as well as providing educational materials to disadvantaged students and teachers in communities where TIAA associates work and live. Employees volunteered their time to create flashcards for students, donated school supplies, and used their skills to help nonprofits solve organizational challenges. Employees were also able to earn grant money on behalf of nonprofits for volunteering in their communities.

TIAA convened with other corporate leaders in the Charlotte, NC area as part of the Charlotte Corporate Community Roundtable to engage in meaningful conversations about local leaders' efforts to overcome racial disparities. A group of senior leaders from Lowe's, McKinsey, Novant Health, Truist and Charlotte Regional Business Alliance discussed their proactive approaches and intentional plans for their organizations to join the fight against racial inequality in recognition of the anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment.

TIAA's robust Supplier Diversity Program endeavors to develop strong working relationships with suppliers owned by minorities; women; veterans; disabled people; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. Our investment in diverse supplier development continues through mentoring programs, webinars, and scholarships to pursue immediate improvements to their business that may help them advance their clients' supply chain objectives. Additionally, we established a Sustainable Purchasing Program to answer the call from clients, associates and communities to operate in more environmentally and social responsible ways.

TIAA was proud to welcome Thasunda Brown Duckett to succeed Roger Ferguson as President and CEO of the firm. Thasunda has been a leading voice in the need to close the wealth gap between Black and white Americans and was the executive sponsor of JPMorgan Chase's Advancing Black Pathways, an initiative aimed at helping Black Americans close historical achievement gaps. She is now the second Black woman to currently lead a Fortune 500 company and will continue to champion TIAA's DE&I efforts.

"TIAA has made diversity, equity and inclusion a cornerstone of its culture. Now, more than ever, companies need to create cultures where employees can bring their true, authentic selves to work and be supported by their peers and mentors," said Thasunda Brown Duckett, President and CEO of TIAA. "Fostering a diverse and inclusive environment is not only the right thing to do but also what's best for the long-term health of our business."

The DiversityInc Top 50 list, issued yearly since 2001, recognizes the nation's top companies for diversity and inclusion strategies.

The top 50 companies and their rankings were announced at DiversityInc's virtual event on May 6th.

To view the entire Top 50 list and specialty lists, visit https://www.diversityinc.com/.

About TIAA

With an award-winning1 track record for consistent investment performance, TIAA (TIAA.org) is the leading provider of financial services in the academic, research, medical, cultural and government fields. TIAA has $1.3 trillion in assets under management (as of 3/31/20212) and offers a wide range of financial solutions, including investing, banking, advice and education, and retirement services.

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____________________________

1The Refinitiv Lipper Fund Awards are based on the Lipper Leader for Consistent Return rating, which is a risk-adjusted performance measure calculated over 36, 60 and 120 months. Lipper Leaders fund ratings do not constitute and are not intended to constitute investment advice or an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security of any entity in any jurisdiction. For more information, see lipperfundawards.com. The Award is based on a review of risk-adjusted performance of 39 companies for 2016, 36 for 2017, 35 for 2018 & 2019, and 30 for 2020. The award pertains only to the TIAA-CREF mutual funds in the mixed-asset category. Certain funds have fee waivers in effect. Without such waivers ratings could be lower. Past performance does not guarantee future results. For current performance, rankings and prospectuses, please visit TIAA.org.

2Based on approximately $1.3 trillion of assets under management across Nuveen affiliates and TIAA investment management teams as of 3/31/2021.

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SOURCE TIAA
LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Williams Homes, one of the largest, privately held residential builders and developers in the Western United States with operations in six markets spanning four states and growing, today announced the promotions of two key executives and a new hire. The announcement comes as the company celebrates its 25th anniversary and has its sights set on further expansion throughout the Western United States.

Company executives promoted include Michael Brunette to the position of Director of Sales, and Patrice Quishenberry expanding her role to serve as Director of Marketing and Community Outreach, and industry veteran Kathleen Magner hired as Southern California Sales Manager.

"Michael, Patrice and Kathleen are genuine attributes to our executive management team," said Lance Williams, Williams Homes' chairman and CEO. "As the company continues to grow, we are only as good as the vision, work ethic and leadership of those around us. I am confident that Michael, Patrice and Kathleen are equipped with all of the tools needed to help take Williams Homes to the next level."

Michael Burnette

Brunette, who joined Williams Homes in 2017, has been promoted to Director of Sales having previously served as Southern California Sales Manager since October 2019. In his expanded role Brunette will implement his expertise in development and execution of strategic plans to achieve sales goals and communicate progress of those goals to upper management, oversee division sales manages, sales team development and training, and ongoing understanding of industry-specific trends and landscapes that affect strategic direction and budgeting.

Patrice Quishenberry

As Director of Marketing and Community Outreach, Quishenberry will serve as the strategic leader in development of the Williams Homes brand throughout all divisions. Quishenberry's focus will be on further advancing Williams Homes' marketing department structure and processes, while supporting performance goals. Quishenberry brings more than 25 years of experience in new home real estate and development including sales, marketing, general management, and business development.

Kathleen Magner

As Southern California Sales Manager, Magner will utilize her 20-plus years of experience and knowledge of new home sales and marketing management to oversee Williams Homes' Southern California operations. She previously served as the Sales and Marketing Director at Watt Communities and most recently Area Sales Manager for Tri Pointe Homes.

About Williams Homes

Williams Homes is a residential homebuilder based in Los Angeles, California that specializes in building high-quality new homes for families. Founded in 1996, the privately-owned company has built thousands of homes throughout California during the last two decades and has recently begun out-of-state operations in Montana, Idaho, and Texas. Committed to insightful design and superior craftsmanship, Williams Homes continues to set a new standard in homebuilding and ultimately, the customer experience. For more information, visit www.williamshomes.com.

Media Contact

Lisa Silagy

ink PR Firm & Marketing Communications

310.755.8999 / [email protected]



SOURCE Williams Homes, Inc.

Related Links

williamshomes.com


DUBLIN, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Drinking Water Adsorbents Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis - by Product (Zeolite, Clay, Activated Alumina, Activated Carbon, Manganese Oxide, Cellulose, Others)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global drinking water adsorbents market was valued at US$ 511.81 million in 2019 and is projected to reach US$ 698.17 million by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% from 2020 to 2027.



Adsorbent materials possess the capability to absorb another substance. Adsorbents are extensively used to treat and remove impurities from drinking water, and they help in enhancing the overall water quality. The stringent regulations pertaining to water quality backed by initiatives taken by government to invest in water treatment industries promote the demand for drinking water adsorbents. Further, rapid urbanization coupled with economic growth and rising demand for bio-adsorbents are driving the growth of the drinking water adsorbents market.



Based on product, the drinking water adsorbents market is segmented into zeolite, clay, activated alumina, activated carbon, manganese oxide, cellulose, and others. The activated carbon segment led the market with the largest share in 2019. The market growth for this segment is attributed to the rising adoption of these material in removal of organic contaminants. Activated carbon is composed of a family of substances along with several types of carbonaceous materials that possess adsorptive properties. These materials exhibit rare physical properties that help in minimizing dissolved contaminants along with the taste and odor, color, and toxic impurities. Strict government regulations along with significant focus on research & development activities are expected to bolster the demand for activated carbon in global market during the forecast period.



By region, the drinking water adsorbents market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), South America (SAM), and Middle East & Africa (MEA). In 2019, North America contributed to the largest share in the market. The market growth in this region is primarily attributed to the presence of strong industrial base along with prominent manufactures significantly contributing to market growth, rapid urbanization, and surge in demand for fresh and portable water. The easy accessibility and availability of raw materials is yet another factor that propels the drinking water adsorbents market in North America.



The COVID-19 outbreak pandemic is adversely affecting economies and industries in various countries due to government-imposed lockdowns and travel bans, and business shutdowns. The chemical & materials is one of the major industries suffering serious disruptions such as supply chain breaks, technology events cancellations, and office shutdowns. The shutdown of various plants and factories in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa has restricted the global supply chain and negatively impacted the manufacturing activities, delivery schedules, and product sales. Furthermore, various companies have already predicted possible delays in product deliveries and slump in future sales of their products. The travel bans imposed by countries in Europe, Asia, and North America are hindering the business collaborations and partnerships opportunities. All these factors are hampering activities in the chemical & materials industry, which are restraining the growth of various markets related to this industry.



BASF SE; CYCLOPURE INC; DuPont de Nemours, Inc; Geh Wasserchemie; Kuraray Co. Ltd; Evoqua Water Technologies LLC; KMI Zeolite; Lenntech B.V; Purolite, and Tigg LLC are among the major players operating in the global drinking water adsorbents market.



The overall global drinking water adsorbents market size has been derived in accordance with to both primary and secondary sources. To begin the research process, exhaustive secondary research has been conducted using internal and external sources to obtain qualitative and quantitative information related to the market. Also, multiple primary interviews have been conducted with industry participants and commentators to validate the data, as well as to gain more analytical insights into the topic. The participants of this process include industry experts such as VPs, business development managers, market intelligence managers, and national sales managers, along with external consultants such as valuation experts, research analysts, and key opinion leaders, specializing in the global drinking water adsorbents market.



Reasons to Buy

Highlights key business priorities to assist companies realign their business strategies.

Features key findings and crucial progressive industry trends in the global drinking water adsorbents market, thereby allowing players to develop effective long-term strategies.

Develops/modifies business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering from developed and emerging markets.

Scrutinizes in-depth market trends as well as key market drivers and restraints.

Enhances the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation, and industry verticals.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology



4. Drinking Water Adsorbents Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.2.1 North America

4.2.2 Europe

4.2.3 APAC

4.2.4 MEA

4.2.5 SAM

4.3 Expert Opinion

4.4 PFAS Water Pollution Problem and Potential Solutions

4.4.1 PFAS Overview and Water Pollution Problem

4.4.2 Potential Solutions To Address PFAS Contamination



5. Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Growing Demand for Activated Carbon

5.1.2 Favourable Government Initiatives Regarding Drinking Water

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Availability of Substitutes

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Rice Husk Derived Adsorbents for Water Purification

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Adoption of Bio-Based Adsorbents

5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints



6. Drinking Water Adsorbents - Global Market Analysis

6.1 Drinking Water Adsorbents Market Overview

6.2 Drinking Water Adsorbents Market -Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

6.3 Market Positioning - Global Market Players



7. Drinking Water Adsorbents Market Analysis - By Product

7.1 Overview

7.2 Drinking Water Adsorbents Market, By Product (2019 and 2027)

7.3 Zeolite

7.3.1 Overview

7.3.1.1 Zeolite: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.4 Clay

7.4.1 Overview

7.4.1.1 Clay: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.5 Activated Alumina

7.5.1 Overview

7.5.1.1 Activated Alumina: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.6 Activated Carbon

7.6.1 Overview

7.6.1.1 Activated Carbon: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.7 Manganese Oxide

7.7.1 Overview

7.7.1.1 Manganese Oxide: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.8 Cellulose

7.8.1 Overview

7.8.1.1 Cellulose: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

7.9 Others

7.9.1 Overview

7.9.1.1 Others: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Revenue, and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)



8. Drinking Water Adsorbents Market - Geographic Analysis

8.1 Overview

8.2 North America: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market

8.3 Europe: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market

8.4 Asia-Pacific: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market

8.5 MEA: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market

8.6 SAM: Drinking Water Adsorbents Market

9. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Drinking Water Adsorbents Market

9.1 Overview

9.2 North America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

9.3 Europe: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

9.4 Asia-Pacific: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

9.5 Middle East and Africa: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic

9.6 South America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic



10. Company Profiles

10.1 BASF SE

10.1.1 Key Facts

10.1.2 Business Description

10.1.3 Products and Services

10.1.4 Financial Overview

10.1.5 SWOT Analysis

10.2 Cyclopure Inc.

10.2.1 Key Facts

10.2.2 Business Description

10.2.3 Products and Services

10.2.4 Financial Overview

10.2.5 SWOT Analysis

10.2.6 Key Developments

10.3 Dupont

10.3.1 Key Facts

10.3.2 Products and Services

10.3.3 Financial Overview

10.3.4 SWOT Analysis

10.4 KURARAY CO. LTD

10.4.1 Key Facts

10.4.2 Business Description

10.4.3 Products and Services

10.4.4 Financial Overview

10.4.5 SWOT Analysis

10.5 Geh Wasserchemie

10.5.1 Key Facts

10.5.2 Business Description

10.5.3 Products and Services

10.5.4 Financial Overview

10.5.5 SWOT Analysis

10.6 Evoqua Water Technologies LLC

10.6.1 Key Facts

10.6.2 Business Description

10.6.3 Products and Services

10.6.4 Financial Overview

10.6.5 SWOT Analysis

10.7 KMI ZEOLITE

10.7.1 Key Facts

10.7.2 Business Description

10.7.3 Products and Services

10.7.4 Financial Overview

10.7.5 SWOT Analysis

10.8 Lenntech B.V.

10.8.1 Key Facts

10.8.2 Business Description

10.8.3 Products And Services

10.8.4 Financial Overview

10.8.5 Swot Analysis

10.9 Purolite

10.9.1 Key Facts

10.9.2 Business Description

10.9.3 Products And Services

10.9.4 Financial Overview

10.9.5 Swot Analysis

10.10 TIGG LLC

10.10.1 Key Facts

10.10.2 Business Description

10.10.3 Products And Services

10.10.4 Financial Overview

10.10.5 Swot Analysis



11. Appendix



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/x7793y

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

Related Links

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DETROIT, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. (AAM), (NYSE: AXL) will receive $5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance development of its next generation Electric Drive Technology.

The cooperative agreement from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office is funding research projects in advanced batteries and electrification; advanced engine and fuel technologies, including technologies for off-road applications and alternative fueled engines; lightweight materials; new mobility technologies (energy efficient mobility systems) and alternative fuels technology demonstrations.

AAM will use the cooperative agreement funding to further the development of a low cost, high-performance, heavy rare earth-free 3-in-1 electric drive unit. AAM's 3-in-1 electric drive unit integrates power electronics with the electric motor and gearbox. This optimized design achieves industry-leading power density, performance and cost competitiveness.

"AAM is keenly focused on advancing innovations that further enhance the efficiency, performance and affordability of battery electric and hybrid vehicles," said David C. Dauch, AAM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe demand for sustainable propulsion systems will continue to grow in all vehicle segments. We are honored that the Department of Energy recognized the potential of AAM's electric drive technology to power a wide range of low and zero emission vehicle applications and look forward to advancing these developments with their support."

Electric Drive by AAM is a suite of innovative electric propulsion solutions that are scalable for all hybrid and battery electric vehicle segments from value-oriented mini vehicles to high-performance luxury crossovers/passenger cars and light trucks/SUVs. The systems leverage AAM's expertise in the design, engineering, analysis, testing and manufacturing of advanced driveline systems to engineer compact, quiet and efficient drive units that meet the most demanding customer requirements.

AAM was one of six Michigan projects to receive funding from the Department of Energy. AAM is working on the Electric Drive Technology at its Advanced Technology and Development Center on its World Headquarters Detroit campus.

About AAM

AAM (NYSE: AXL) delivers POWER that moves the world. As a leading global Tier 1 automotive supplier, AAM designs, engineers and manufactures driveline and metal forming technologies that are making the next generation of vehicles smarter, lighter, safer and more efficient. Headquartered in Detroit, AAM has approximately 20,000 associates operating at nearly 80 facilities in 17 countries to support our customers on global and regional platforms with a focus on quality, operational excellence and technology leadership. To learn more, visit aam.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements and other information relating to matters that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include uncertainty around the duration and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the factors detailed from time to time in the reports we file with the SEC, including those described under "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this report. We expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Media Contact

Christopher M. Son

Vice President, Marketing & Communications

(313) 758-4814

[email protected]

Investor Contact

David H. Lim

Head of Investor Relations

(313) 758-2006

[email protected]

SOURCE American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.aam.com


IRVINE, Calif., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Nehora Law Firm filed a lawsuit against United Airlines based on its client's contention that he suffered unspeakable humiliation, ridicule and physical harm at the hands of United Airlines. The firm's client, Louis Zaharias, is an elderly man who has dedicated the greater part of three decades to trying to locate his kidnapped children.

Nehora Law Firm advises that after a five-hour flight back home from visiting his 92-year-old Aunt Lil (who was in poor health), Lou was distraught to learn that his luggage, including sentimental gifts from his aunt, was lost by the airline. Nehora Law Firm explained that Lou, exhausted from the flight and upset that the airline lost his possessions, approached United Airlines' baggage claim office, where airline employees refused to provide him with a baggage claim form, first demanding an immediate inventory of his possessions. Lou was then segregated to a corner of the airport and was instructed that he could not leave the small area without giving up his right to reclaim his lost possessions. While struggling to inventory his belongings, Lou struck his head on a disguised plexiglass shelf attached to the wall, causing him to fall to the ground.

The firm alleges that United Airlines employees simply stared and watched Lou struggle. Lou was unable to fully stand up, and consequently proceeded to stagger across the airport looking for help. Lou's lawyers report that due to head trauma and being disoriented and in pain, Lou vomited and lost control of his bladder, while United Airlines employees laughed.

Nehora Law Firm further alleges that rather than call for medical help, the United Airlines employees contacted the police to have him removed from the airport. Unlike the United Airlines employees, Lou says the police were upset, and chastised United Airlines' employees for failing to help Lou obtain medical attention, which will be included in the lawsuit papers, according to Lou's lawyers.

Lou's lawyers suggest that as a result of the conduct of United Airlines' employees, Lou has been unable to resume working and has suffered, among other things, a traumatic brain injury, concussion, and injuries to his thoracic and lumbar spine, left shoulder and knees. Lou's attorneys also recently learned that Lou continues to undergo medical and psychiatric care, including counseling, multiple orthopedic procedures and is no longer able to work as a result of ongoing physical pain and undeniable emotional trauma.

Louis Zaharias retained Nehora Law Firm to represent him against United Airlines.

"Lou's story is tragic. The airline acted despicably, and we intend to vindicate Lou's rights," said Rick Nehora.

Company:

Nehora Law Firm

Address:

200 Spectrum Center Dr

STE 300

Irvine, CA 92618

United States

Contact Number: (949) 629 4349

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.nehoralaw.com

SOURCE Nehora Law Firm
I called some doctors offices around here and asked them to send people over, but I didnt get a warm response, Ahmad said.  I called one of the agencies here for farmworkers and told them to send them over. They asked me which vaccine I have, and when I told them they said they dont want that one.
"Today's closing of the sale of five land parcels in Maui Business Park Phase II ("MBPII") reflects continued buyer interest in this well-located project despite the challenges presented by COVID," said Jeff Pauker, A&B senior vice president, investments. "In response to this sales momentum, A&B is bringing to market additional lands with exceptional frontage along Ho'okele Street  Kahului's most active commercial corridor. The lands are being offered for sale or for build-to-suit leases. Purchasers/tenants of these land condominium units will benefit from adjacency to leading retailers including Target, Safeway, and Lowe's, as well as the many other local and national commercial and industrial users located in the business park."

An affiliate of R.D. Olson Development completed its purchase from A&B of five land parcels in MBPII's North Project area (units 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) totaling 6.3 acres for $10.9 million on Friday, April 30.

Alexander & Baldwin's newest land offerings are within MBPII's South Project area located off Hana Highway at Ho`okele Street. The 12 land condominium units recently released for sale range from 0.9 to 4.7 acres with asking prices from $44 to $58 per square foot.

The attached aerial view of Maui Business Park identifies the units recently sold or released for sale in relation to existing businesses and tenant's leasing A&B property.

Pauker concluded, "We're optimistic that continued success at Maui Business Park will soon translate into the opening of new businesses that support local jobs, residents, business owners, and Maui's overall economy."

A&B's exclusive broker for Maui Business Park is commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers. For additional information regarding Maui Business Park, visit mauibusinesspark.com, call 808-636-3999, or email [email protected].

ABOUT MAUI BUSINESS PARK

Maui Business Park is a 125-acre industrial-zoned development in central Kahului near the Kahului Airport and Harbor. Active sales continue for lots and condominium units ranging from 1/2-acre to 5 acres.

ABOUT ALEXANDER & BALDWIN

Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (NYSE: ALEX) (A&B) is the only publicly traded real estate investment trust to focus exclusively on Hawaii commercial real estate and the state's largest owner of grocery-anchored retail shopping centers. A&B owns, operates and manages approximately 3.9 million square feet of commercial space in Hawai`i, including 22 retail centers, ten industrial assets and four office properties, as well as 154 acres of ground leases. A&B is expanding and strengthening its Hawai'i CRE portfolio and achieving its strategic focus on commercial real estate by monetizing its remaining non-core assets. Over its 150-year history, A&B has evolved with the state's economy and played a leadership role in the development of the agricultural, transportation, tourism, construction, residential and commercial real estate industries. Learn more about A&B at www.alexanderbaldwin.com.

Media Contact

Lynn Kenton

(808)525-8404

(808) 499-5503

SOURCE Alexander & Baldwin

Related Links

http://www.alexanderbaldwin.com


HOUSTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- American Gilsonite Company (the "Company" or "AGC"), the world's principal commercial miner and processor of uintaite, the unique mineral marketed under its trademark name "Gilsonite", today announced that it posted financial and operating results for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 to the Company's Intralinks site on May 7, 2021.

The Company will host a conference call for holders of its Subordinated Notes and holders of the Company's common stock on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 10:00am ET. Craig Mueller, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Steven Granda, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss the Company's financial results and answer questions from the investment community.

A rebroadcast of this conference call will also be available through June 12, 2021. The dial-in information for both the conference call and the rebroadcast has been be posted to the Company's Intralinks website. Participants for the conference call are requested to dial in five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time.

Holders of the Company's Subordinated Notes and holders of the Company's common stock who have executed the Stockholders Agreement can request access to the Company's Intralinks site by contacting Michael Herley by email at [email protected] or by phone at 203-308-1409.

About American Gilsonite Company (www.americangilsonite.com)

AGC operates as an industrial minerals company and is the world's primary miner and processor of uintaite, a variety of asphaltite, a specialty hydrocarbon which AGC markets to industrial customers under its registered trademark name "Gilsonite". Gilsonite is a glossy, black, solid naturally occurring hydrocarbon similar in appearance to hard asphalt and is believed to be found in commercial quantities only in the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah. Because of its unique chemical and physical properties, Gilsonite has been used in more than 160 products. The Company sells its products to customers in four primary markets: (i) oil and gas, (ii) inks and paints, (iii) foundry and (iv) asphalt. AGC is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Contact: Michael Herley 203-308-1409

[email protected]

Related Links http://www.americangilsonite.com

SOURCE American Gilsonite Company

Related Links

https://www.americangilsonite.com/


NEW YORK, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Khaled Salem, the popular candidate for U.S. Senate running against Chuck Schumer in 2022, advised his constituents against traveling to Arab countries. He made this recommendation based on growing global personal safety issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Khaled raised serious concerns about international travel in light of rising infections and deaths in Arab nations. Based on the latest global socioeconomic research and rising indicators of excessive poverty, there is a greater possibility of active disease and non-compliance with COVID-19 guidelines in the Arab states than in other regions.

American Human Rights CEO and U.S. Senate Candidate Khaled Salem American Human Rights CEO and U.S. Senate Candidate Khaled Salem

"It is vital that American citizens postpone all travel to Arab countries in the Middle East," said Khaled. "The coronavirus is rampant, and unfortunately these countries are not as compliant as are many other nations in following pandemic guidelines. I believe that over the next weeks, and probably months, issues caused by the ongoing pandemic of 2020/2021 such as poverty, unemployment, and unequal access to healthcare, along with food scarcity, will add to the instability of the Gulf region. U.S. citizens must stay safe and not make plans to visit this unstable area. Until the leaders of these Middle Eastern countries focus on the chaos in their countries, business travel and tourism are dangerous."

Khaled also urged the Biden administration to pay close attention to these regions and direct resources toward protecting the State of Israel. His ultimate mission is for nations to work with Israel by ending scourge of Hamas and Hezbollah.Khaled hopes to serve in the U.S. Senate and make a difference in the world.

"Those who trust in the economic system or politics of Turkey are in denial of what is really happening there," said Khaled Salem. "The existing Turkish regime is an unconstitutional system entirely controlled by President Erdogan and his party. Foreign investment and the Turkish economy will inevitably continue to suffer and collapse if subsequent presidents follow Erdogan's lead. Arab countries and the EU are opposed to the existing system, while the US and Russian continue their present alliances with a Turkey that keeps its thumb on the necks of its people."

Khaled is asking the United States Department of State to start, as soon as possible, to make the place of birth optional on U.S. passports to protect dual citizens abroad from discrimination in most international Airports around the world.

Khaled policy positions argue for free university education, Khaled highlighted the irony of the US sending money to countries like Egypt and Middle East, which do provide free university, but whose people tend not to like America.

Khaled asks New York Voters to look not at his religion or where he came from, but rather what he offers to the citizenry in terms of policy.

Some other key policy positions from Mr. Salem's agenda include:



Free university education for American students with a $0 budget from the government to support this plan.

Laws and procedures to reduce domestic violence nationwide.

A reduction in U.S. military activity and presence in the Middle East .

A policy that requires these regions pay for American military services.

Establish a home loan program for middle class single parents with no penalty for credit history.

* Reduce the NY State Sales Tax for six years until the state recovers from COVID-19 economic hardship

Khaled is running in the next general election, scheduled for November 8, 2022. Thirty-four of the Senate's 100 seats are being contested in these elections.

For more information, visit https://www.khaled2022forcongress.com/

Or visit https://www.facebook.com/Khaledforcongress/ , https://twitter.com/KhaledYork , or https://www.khaled2022forcongress.com/donate

Media contact:

Khaled Salem

[email protected]

1518 348 6868

SOURCE Khaled Salem American Human Rights Organization CEO and U.S. Senate Candidate
AUSTIN, Texas, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With the average age of a commercial truck driver in the United States being 55, and many approaching retirement within the next 10 to 20 years, the demand or drivers is expected to increase. As a responsive, market-driven career school, Southern Careers Institute (SCI) offers a commercial motor vehicle operator (CMVO) training program that trains students for a careers as local, interstate regional, or interstate over-the-road (OTR) truck drivers, but also forges partnerships that help graduates secure employment The commercial trucking industry is a growing field that is largely recession-proof due to its critical role in the supply chain and partnerships like the new one between SCI and Spirit Truck Lines help support the industry.

"The trucking industry hauls about 70 percent of all freight transported in the United States. Southern Careers Institute's CMVO training program helps prepare the necessary workforce to meet that demand," said Roy Hawkins, Director of Strategic Partnerships. "SCI has been offering employer focused training for more than 60 years. We enable our graduates to more easily enter the job market by equipping them with in-demand skills they need to succeed."

SCI's CMVO program in Austin has a 93 percent graduate placement rate, while SCI's San Antonio location has a 100 percent graduate placement rate, based on graduates from July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020, who were placed in jobs in their field or related field of instruction, in accordance with reporting guidelines from the Council on Occupational Education.

"Spirit Truck Lines looks forward to offering SCI students a valuable entry into the life of driving a commercial vehicle," said Larry Elizondo, Director of Safety and Recruiting at Spirit Trucking, a partner to the program. "In working with SCI, I've seen the same excitement, energy, and commitment to success that Spirit Truck Lines has, and we certainly want to partner with organizations who think and act that way."

Students can complete SCI's CMVO program in as little as four weeks, although most will finish between six and 16 weeks. Training includes both hands-on experience on a driving range, and online classwork. In addition to acquiring safe driving skills, students learn about defensive driving, responding to road hazards, handling emergencies, driving under extreme weather conditions, and the dangers of distracted driving.

Learn more about Southern Career Institute's CMVO program, today! Click here.

About Southern Careers Institute

Southern Careers Institute began serving Texas students in 1960. They offer a diverse list of programs that create employment-ready students who can go on to serve their community.

With eight convenient locations in Austin, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Harlingen, Pharr, San Antonio NW Loop 410, San Antonio SW Military Drive, and Waco, Southern Careers Institute offers programs in:

Business : Administrative Assistant, Business Administration, Business Accounting Specialist

: Administrative Assistant, Business Administration, Business Accounting Specialist Beauty : Cosmetology Operator

: Cosmetology Operator Medical : Medical Assistant, Medical Billing and Coding, Medical Office Specialist, Nurse Aide, Pharmacy Technician

: Medical Assistant, Medical Billing and Coding, Medical Office Specialist, Nurse Aide, Pharmacy Technician Technology : Computer Support Specialist, Software Development, Data Science, Cyber Security

: Computer Support Specialist, Software Development, Data Science, Cyber Security Trades: Automotive Service Technician, Commercial Motor Vehicle Operator, Electrical Technician, HVAC, Welding

They also offer an online curriculum.

SOURCE Southern Careers Institute
ALPHARETTA, Ga., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Avanos Medical, Inc. (NYSE: AVNS) today reported first quarter 2021 financial results.

"We executed well in the first quarter highlighted by building momentum across our franchises and controlling costs, while remaining focused on the health and safety of our employees and meeting the needs of patients impacted by the virus," stated Joe Woody, Avanos' chief executive officer. "Although at the start of the quarter we experienced a slowdown in our Pain Management franchise due to pandemic-related hospitalizations, as those began to decline, we saw an acceleration across our therapies."

Woody continued, "The financial guidance we are committing to illustrates the confidence in our ability to deliver top-line growth, margin improvement and generate free cash flow in 2021 and beyond."

First Quarter 2021 Financial Highlights

Net sales totaled $181 million , even compared to the prior year.

, even compared to the prior year. Net loss for the quarter was $8 million , compared to net income of $4 million a year ago.

, compared to net income of a year ago. Adjusted net income totaled $11 million , compared to $8 million a year ago.

, compared to a year ago. Diluted loss per share was $0.16 , compared to earnings of $0.08 a year ago.

, compared to earnings of a year ago. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.23 , compared to $0.16 in the prior year.

Operational and Business Highlights

The Company established its first Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council consisting of 15 employees to further build upon its We Stand Together initiative to better understand its employees' perspective regarding the systemic issues of racial and gender inequality.

The medical journal, British Journal of Nursing published a recent article, "Nutritional Care in Relation to COVID-19," which highlights the clinical advantages of CORTRAK which enables patients to receive nutrition earlier upon admittance to the ICU for COVID-19.

Two independent, physician-led COOLIEF* publications appeared in the literature in the first quarter reinforcing the clinical outcomes of previous Avanos-sponsored clinical trials. One of these publications, led by

Dr. Steve Cohen at Johns Hopkins, concluded that the use of cooled radiofrequency was predictive of a better outcome for patients suffering from knee osteoarthritis. Another large retrospective knee series from the Ochsner system in New Orleans concluded that COOLIEF* was clinically effective for both managing pain and reducing disability.

First Quarter 2021 Operating Results

Net sales totaled $181 million, even compared to the prior year. Volume increased 1 percent, driven by strong demand for Digestive Health partially offset by softer demand for Respiratory Health due to a light cold and flu season and continued pandemic-fueled pressure in the Pain Management franchise. Growth was offset by unfavorable price and mix of 2 percent, while foreign currency exchange rates provided a 1 percent benefit.

Gross margin was 51 percent, compared to 57 percent a year ago. Adjusted gross margin was down to 52 percent, due primarily to higher than expected freight costs and unfavorable discounts and allowances, compared to 59 percent last year.

Operating loss was $12 million compared to profit of $1 million a year ago due to increased legal expense in connection with the potential resolution of the Department of Justice investigation into MicroCool and other surgical gowns. On an adjusted basis, operating profit totaled $16 million, compared to $14 million a year ago. Cost savings achieved through reduced spending during the pandemic and through our recent restructuring activities were partially offset by lower gross margin.

Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $22 million, compared to $20 million in the prior year.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet

Cash from operations less capital expenditures, or free cash flow, for the quarter was an outflow of $9 million, compared to an outflow of $11 million a year ago. The Company's cash balance was $100 million at the end of the quarter, compared to $112 million at year-end 2020.

Total debt at the end of the first quarter was $175 million, down $5 million compared to year-end 2020.

Full Year 2021 Outlook

The Company expects 2021 net sales to increase 2 to 4 percent, on a constant currency basis, compared to 2020 and earn between $1.10 and $1.25 of adjusted diluted earnings per share. This outlook reflects certain key assumptions, which are listed below:

The Company expects the foreign currency translation impact to be even to 1 percent favorable compared to the prior year.

The adjusted effective tax rate is anticipated to be between 25 and 27 percent.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This press release and the accompanying tables include the following financial measures that have not been calculated in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S., or GAAP, and are therefore referred to as non-GAAP financial measures:

Adjusted gross profit and margin

Adjusted operating profit

Adjusted income before tax

Adjusted tax provision and effective tax rate

Adjusted net income

Adjusted diluted earnings per share

Adjusted EBITDA

Free cash flow

These non-GAAP financial measures exclude the following items, as applicable, for the relevant time periods as indicated in the accompanying non-GAAP reconciliations to the comparable GAAP financial measures:

Incremental expenses associated with altering operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Expenses associated with restructuring activities, including IT-related charges.

Expenses associated with post divestiture transition activities.

Certain acquisition and integration charges related to acquisitions.

Expenses associated with European Union Medical Device Regulation ("EU MDR") compliance.

Expenses associated with certain litigation matters.

The amortization of intangible assets associated with prior business acquisitions.

The tax effects of the adjusting items.

Benefit associated with tax effects of the CARES Act.

The positive or negative effect of changes in currency exchange rates during the year.

The Company provides these non-GAAP financial measures as supplemental information to our GAAP financial measures. Management and the Company's Board of Directors use net sales on a constant currency basis, adjusted net income, adjusted diluted earnings per share, adjusted operating profit, adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow to (a) evaluate the Company's historical and prospective financial performance and its performance relative to its competitors, (b) allocate resources and (c) measure the operational performance of the Company's business units and their managers. Management also believes that the use of an adjusted effective tax rate provides improved insight into the tax effects of our ongoing business operations.

Additionally, the Compensation Committee of the Company's Board of Directors will use certain of the non-GAAP financial measures when setting and assessing achievement of incentive compensation goals. These goals are based, in part, on the Company's net sales on a constant currency basis and adjusted EBITDA, which will be determined by excluding certain items that are used in calculating these non-GAAP financial measures.

Reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the attached financial tables.

Conference Call Webcast

Avanos Medical, Inc. will host a conference call today at 9 a.m. ET. The conference call can be accessed live over the Internet at https://avanos.investorroom.com or via telephone by dialing 877-240-5772 in the United States. A replay of the call will be available at noon ET today by calling 877-344-7529 in the United States and entering passcode 10156077. A webcast of the call will also be archived in the Investors section on the Avanos website.

About Avanos Medical, Inc.

Avanos Medical (NYSE: AVNS) is a medical device company focused on delivering clinically superior breakthrough solutions that will help patients get back to the things that matter. Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, Avanos is committed to creating the next generation of innovative healthcare solutions which will address our most important healthcare needs, such as reducing the use of opioids while helping patients move from surgery to recovery. Avanos develops, manufactures and markets its recognized brands in more than 90 countries. For more information, visit www.avanos.com and follow Avanos Medical on Twitter (@AvanosMedical), LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains information that includes or is based on "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the current plans and expectations of management and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may," "believe," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan" or "continue" and similar expressions, among others. Such factors include, but are not limited to: weakening of economic conditions that could adversely affect the level of demand for our products; pricing pressures generally, including cost-containment measures that could adversely affect the price of or demand for our products; risks related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; shortage in drugs used in our Acute Pain products or other disruptions in our supply chain; changes in foreign exchange markets; legislative and regulatory actions; unanticipated issues arising in connection with clinical studies and otherwise that affect U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval of new products; changes in reimbursement levels from third-party payors; a significant increase in product liability claims; the impact of investigative and legal proceedings and compliance risks; the impact of the federal legislation to reform the United States healthcare system; changes in financial markets; and changes in the competitive environment. Additional information concerning these and other factors that may impact future results is contained in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

AVANOS MEDICAL, INC.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENTS

(unaudited)

(in millions, except per share amounts)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 Net Sales $ 180.7



$ 180.4

Cost of products sold 89.4



78.3

Gross Profit 91.3



102.1

Research and development expenses 8.3



9.4

Selling and general expenses 73.4



91.1

Other expense, net 22.0



1.0

Operating (Loss) Profit (12.4)



0.6

Interest income 



0.7

Interest expense (0.8)



(4.3)

Loss Before Income Taxes (13.2)



(3.0)

Income tax benefit 5.6



6.7

Net (Loss) Income $ (7.6)



$ 3.7









Interest expense, net $ 0.8



$ 3.6

Income tax benefit (5.6)



(6.7)

Depreciation and amortization 9.7



10.6

EBITDA $ (2.7)



$ 11.2









(Loss) Earnings Per Share





Basic $ (0.16)



$ 0.08

Diluted (0.16)



0.08









Common Shares Outstanding





Basic 48.0



47.8

Diluted 48.0



48.0



AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (unaudited) (in millions)



Gross Profit

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 As reported $ 91.3



$ 102.1

COVID-19 related expenses 



0.4

2020 Restructuring charges 0.2





Post divestiture restructuring charges 0.9



0.5

Post divestiture transition charges 0.1



0.8

Acquisition and integration-related charges 



0.1

Intangibles amortization 1.6



1.7

As adjusted non-GAAP $ 94.1



$ 105.6

Gross profit margin, as reported 50.5 %

56.6 % Gross profit margin, as adjusted 52.1 %

58.5 %





Operating (Loss) Profit

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 As reported $ (12.4)



$ 0.6

COVID-19 related expenses 



0.5

2020 Restructuring charges 0.2





Post divestiture restructuring charges(a) 0.9



0.5

Post divestiture transition charges(b) 



4.0

Acquisition and integration-related charges(c) 0.4



1.8

EU MDR Compliance(d) 0.2





Litigation and legal(e) 22.5



2.2

Intangibles amortization 4.2



4.8

As adjusted non-GAAP $ 16.0



$ 14.4















(a) Except for amounts impacting gross profit (see "Gross Profit" table), restructuring and IT charges are included in "Cost of products sold." (b) In the three months ended March 31, 2021, post divestiture transition charges include $0.1 million in "Cost of products sold" (see "Gross Profit" table) offset by a benefit of $0.1 million in "Selling and general expenses." (c) In the three months ended March 31, 2021, acquisition related charges are included in "Selling and general expenses". (d) European Union Medical Device Regulation ("EU MDR") compliance related charges are included in "Selling and general expenses". (e) Litigation and legal expenses are included in "Other expense, net."

AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (unaudited) (in millions)



(Loss) Income Before Taxes

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 As reported $ (13.2)



$ (3.0)

COVID-19 related expenses 



0.5

2020 Restructuring charges 0.2





Post divestiture restructuring charges 0.9



0.5

Post divestiture transition charges 



4.0

Acquisition and integration-related charges 0.4



1.8

EU MDR Compliance 0.2





Litigation and legal 22.5



2.2

Intangibles amortization 4.2



4.8

As adjusted non-GAAP $ 15.2



$ 10.8







Tax Benefit (Provision)

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 As reported $ 5.6



$ 6.7

Tax effects of adjusting items (9.9)



(3.6)

Effects of the CARES Act and other(a) 0.2



(6.0)

As adjusted non-GAAP $ (4.1)



$ (2.9)

Effective tax rate, as reported 42.4 %

223.3 % Effective tax rate, as adjusted 27.0 %

26.9 %













(a) In the prior year, the CARES Act, which allows for the carryback of U.S. net operating losses to prior years, provided an income tax benefit of $7.4 million.

AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (unaudited) (in millions, except per share amounts)



Net (Loss) Income

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 As reported $ (7.6)



$ 3.7

COVID-19 related expenses 



0.5

2020 Restructuring charges 0.2





Post divestiture restructuring charges 0.9



0.5

Post divestiture transition charges 



4.0

Acquisition and integration-related charges 0.4



1.8

EU MDR Compliance 0.2





Litigation and legal 22.5



2.2

Intangibles amortization 4.2



4.8

Tax effects of adjusting items (9.9)



(3.6)

Tax effects of the CARES Act and other 0.2



(6.0)

As adjusted non-GAAP $ 11.1



$ 7.9

Diluted EPS, as reported $ (0.16)



$ 0.08

Diluted EPS, as adjusted $ 0.23



$ 0.16







EBITDA

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 EBITDA, as reported $ (2.7)



$ 11.2

COVID-19 related expenses 



0.5

2020 Restructuring charges 0.2





Post divestiture restructuring charges 0.9



0.5

Post divestiture transition charges 



4.0

Acquisition and integration-related charges 0.4



1.8

EU MDR Compliance 0.2





Litigation and legal 22.5



2.2

Adjusted EBITDA $ 21.5



$ 20.2



AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. NON-GAAP RECONCILIATIONS (unaudited) (in millions)



Free Cash Flow

Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 Cash used in operating activities $ (3.3)



$ (5.8)

Capital expenditures (5.7)



(5.2)

Free Cash Flow $ (9.0)



$ (11.0)





2021 OUTLOOK



Estimated Range Diluted earnings per share (GAAP) $ 0.02

to $ 0.31

Intangibles amortization 0.26

to 0.26

Restructuring initiatives 0.20

to 0.16

Litigation and legal 0.52

to 0.46

Other 0.10

to 0.06

Adjusted diluted earnings per share (non-GAAP) $ 1.10

to $ 1.25



AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (unaudited) (in millions)



March 31,

2021

December 31,

2020 ASSETS





Current Assets





Cash and cash equivalents $ 100.1



$ 111.5

Accounts receivable, net of allowances 164.3



167.9

Inventories 165.2



168.9

Prepaid expenses and other current assets 18.3



18.9

Total Current Assets 447.9



467.2

Property, Plant and Equipment, net 173.4



175.3

Operating Lease Right-of-Use Assets 45.1



48.3

Goodwill 802.1



802.5

Other Intangible Assets, net 153.6



157.7

Deferred Tax Assets 15.4



10.0

Other Assets 11.3



11.8

TOTAL ASSETS $ 1,648.8



$ 1,672.8









LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY





Current Liabilities





Current portion of operating lease obligations $ 15.1



$ 15.5

Trade accounts payable 59.2



67.6

Accrued expenses 80.3



83.2

Total Current Liabilities 154.6



166.3

Long-Term Debt 175.0



180.0

Operating Lease Liabilities 50.1



53.3

Deferred Tax Liabilities 5.6



5.7

Other Long-Term Liabilities 10.9



11.0

TOTAL LIABILITIES 396.2



416.3

Stockholders' Equity 1,252.6



1,256.5

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY $ 1,648.8



$ 1,672.8



AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENTS (unaudited) (in millions)



Three Months Ended March 31,

2021

2020 Operating Activities





Net (loss) income $ (7.6)



$ 3.7

Depreciation and amortization 9.7



10.6

Net loss on asset dispositions 0.1





Changes in operating assets and liabilities (2.7)



(16.2)

Deferred income taxes and other (2.8)



(3.9)

Cash Used in Operating Activities (3.3)



(5.8)

Investing Activities





Capital expenditures (5.7)



(5.2)

Cash Used in Investing Activities (5.7)



(5.2)

Financing Activities





Revolving credit facility repayments (5.0)





Proceeds from the exercise of stock options 4.8





Cash Used in Financing Activities (0.2)





Effect of Exchange Rate Changes on Cash and Cash Equivalents (2.2)



(6.6)

Decrease in Cash and Cash Equivalents (11.4)



(17.6)

Cash and Cash Equivalents - Beginning of Period 111.5



205.3

Cash and Cash Equivalents - End of Period $ 100.1



$ 187.7



AVANOS MEDICAL, INC. SELECTED BUSINESS AND PRODUCTS DATA (unaudited) (in millions)











Three Months Ended March 31,













2021

2020

Change Chronic care







$ 121.1



$ 115.7



4.7 % Pain management







59.6



64.7



(7.9)

Total Net sales







$ 180.7



$ 180.4



0.2 %





















Total

Volume

Pricing/Mix

Currency

Other Net Sales - percentage change  %

1 %

(2) %

1 %

 %

SOURCE Avanos Medical

Related Links

http://www.avanos.com


San Antonio, TX, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Biglari Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BH.A; BH) announces its results for the first quarter of 2021.

Biglari Holdings Inc.'s earnings for the first quarter 2021 and 2020 are summarized below. To become fully apprised of our results, shareholders should carefully study our 10-Q, which has been posted at www.biglariholdings.com.

(dollars in thousands)







First Quarter

2021

2020







Pre-tax operating earnings (loss) $ 8,876

$ (5,973) Investment gains 84,847

(175,742) Income tax (expense) benefit (22,016)

43,830 Net earnings (loss) $ 71,707

$ (137,885)











March 31, 2021



March 31, 2020 Class A equivalent shares outstanding 620,592



620,592

Analysis of Results:

Investments affect our reported quarterly earnings based on their carrying value. We do not regard the quarterly or annual fluctuations in our investments to be meaningful. Therefore, our operating businesses are best analyzed before the impact of investment gains. As a consequence, in the preceding table we separate earnings of our operating businesses from our investment gains.

About Biglari Holdings Inc.

Biglari Holdings Inc. is a holding company owning subsidiaries engaged in a number of diverse business activities, including property and casualty insurance, media and licensing, restaurants, and oil and gas. The Company's largest operating subsidiaries are involved in the franchising and operating of restaurants.

Comment on Regulation G

This press release contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. In addition to the GAAP presentations of net earnings, Biglari Holdings defines pre-tax operating earnings outside of the investment gains/losses of the Company.

Risks Associated with Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ markedly from those projected or discussed here. Biglari Holdings cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, for actual results may differ materially from expectations. Biglari Holdings does not update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any projected results expressed or implied therein will not be realized. Further information on the types of factors that could affect Biglari Holdings and its business can be found in the Company's filings with the SEC.

SOURCE Biglari Holdings Inc.

Related Links

www.biglariholdings.com


NEW YORK, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- On Wednesday, May 5, 2021, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill to restore felons' right to vote after their release, and Brooklyn Borough President Candidate, Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead reacts with pure joy, as people on parole in the state of New York are now eligible to vote as soon as they leave prison

Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead (2021 Candidate for Brooklyn Borough President)

As the law goes into effect immediately, Whitehead states, "The signing of this bill is dear to me since I was once falsely convicted and arrested for a crime I did not commit, so I commend Andrew Cuomo for allowing this to happen. During that challenging time, I met a lot of black and brown people who were stripped of their right to vote." Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead was sentenced during one point of his life to 11 and 1/3 - 34 years in prison.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Whitehead pushes to abolish systemic racism within several facets of New York City Government. "I will fight to reform New York's criminal justice system by erasing Broken Windows of policing. I will support expanding bail reformas 95% of the people jailed on Rikers Island are black and brown and often too poor to make bail. Developing reentry programs is also at the top of my list of priorities once elected as Brooklyn Borough President," states Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead, who is the only candidate with a plan to fight systemic racism. "Also, I dedicate my campaign plan for the borough of Brooklyn to Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York's 12th congressional district, a district centered on Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Outside of running for Brooklyn Borough President, Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead is the pastor of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries (LOTIM) with locations in Brooklyn, New York and Atlanta, Georgia. With a mission developed to engage and assist members into developing their very own relationship with God, Bishop Whitehead sees fit to expand into the masses to take office in order to be the voice to his peers of prominence in Brooklyn.

With less than 60 days away from the election on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, Whitehead deems it necessary to educate felons of their rights in the wake of their first opportunity to get out and exercise his/her right to vote.

For more information on Bishop Lamor M. Whitehead, you may log on to his website at www.WhiteheadForBK.com or contact Lynn K. Hobson (Publicist) at (347) 385-4092.

Related Images

bishop-lamor-miller-whitehead.jpeg

Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead

Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead (2021 Candidate for Brooklyn Borough President)

SOURCE Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead
BlockBank aims to expand the user's knowledge base and positively their decision-making power. The cryptocurrency space, while full of opportunities for significant gains in terms of profit, is without its own drawbacks. Investing in it will mean big risks, considering the volatile nature of its market and the complexity of the industry. As a user-oriented platform, BlockBank aims to offer the users with the right set of information powered by AI-enabled analytics and risk management practices.

BlockBank is currently working to provide a built-in fiat gateway along with giving access to a non-custodial and cross-chain wallet for the users to hold their cryptocurrency. To name a few services and possibilities that will be offered by BlockBank include, real-time market analysis, robo-advisory, trade execution, price prediction, earning strategies recommendations, and finance tracking.

Smart Tools for the Cryptocurrency Space

BlockBank is on a mission to make the everyday user a smart trader. The application works on the premise that everyday users have lesser knowledge about the nuances of the DeFi platforms and its features, including smart contracts, etc. In addition to this, the lack of customer support and unfair tokenomics also make trading decisions difficult for the simple users.

BlockBank has signed an exclusive partnership with SKAEL to bring in artificial intelligence to the crypto ecosystem. SKAEL has worked with many top companies to bring about hyper-automation. Its goal is to help organisations save time and produce efficient results within a short timeframe. At the moment, Google, Oracle, Asurion and many other significant enterprises utilise the services of SKAEL.

The collaboration between BlockBank and SKAEL intends to bring in a unique Artificial Intelligence model to the blockchain space. BlockBank wants to provide an outstanding AI product capable of solving some problems in the blockchain space.

The company recently launched their record breaking IDO, releasing BBANK token as the native cryptocurrency of the BlockBank platform. Furthermore, depending on the Tier Level, the users can earn additional tier-wise APY.

Media Contact

Nolvia Serrano

Email - [email protected]

SOURCE BlockBank
OAKLAND, Calif., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Shield of California today announced $300,000 in community investments to nonprofit organizations that advance the health and well-being of youth and communities of color. The funding supports initiatives focused on youth development, social justice, and health equity.

Twelve organizations  six in the San Francisco Bay Area and six in the Inland Empire region of Southern California  will each receive $25,000 for a range of initiatives, including art programs, mentorship, technology training, housing, and social justice activism.

The announcement coincides with today's National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, as well as May's Mental Health Awareness Month, and builds on the work of Blue Shield's signature BlueSky youth mental health initiative. Blue Shield created BlueSky because youth mental illness is a pressing issue that demands early intervention: it's the number one reason California children are hospitalized, and half of all lifetime cases begin by the age of 14.

"These organizations are taking on hard challenges and finding new, innovative ways to inspire Black, Hispanic, Asian and foster youth to live their healthiest, most productive, and fulfilling lives," said Kimberley Goode, senior vice president of External Affairs, Blue Shield of California. "As a nonprofit health plan whose goal is to help improve the health and well-being of all Californians, Blue Shield is honored to collaborate and provide our support.

"Local nonprofits are key to building a healthier California as they work to break down barriers to well-being and economic opportunities and reduce stigma around mental health," Goode added. "Blue Shield selected this diverse group of organizations, who are trusted experts, working on the ground in their communities to drive meaningful change."

The organizations receiving funding are:

San Francisco Bay Area

Inland Empire Region

"Most foster youth in California have no source of income when they 'age out' and are expected to make it on their own," said Dontae Lartigue, CEO and co-founder, Razing the Bar in San Jose. "We have to be proximate, intentional, and be able to invest time in young people -- the way we would provide for our own children. When we do this as a community and as a system, that is when young people will thrive. We are grateful for Blue Shield's support to help us reach even more youths in need."

"This funding couldn't have come at a better time," said Pepi Jackson, president of the Riverside County Black Chamber of Commerce, which supports the Building Resilience in African American Families organization. "It will immediately help us to increase the character building services we provide to our young girls and boys who live in some of the most vulnerable communities in the Inland Empire. Thank you, Blue Shield!"

Blue Shield Takes Action for Mental Health Awareness Month

In addition to funding these community organizations, Blue Shield of California is engaged in several initiatives during Mental Health Awareness Month that are aimed at raising awareness about resources and reducing stigma. Activities include:

Today's announcement and the BlueSky program also embody Blue Shield of California's shared commitment to youth mental health with our state and local government partners. Our investments can synergize with Governor Newsom's $400 million state budget proposal for Medi-Cal to fund infrastructure and capacity to increase the number of K-12 students receiving school-based behavioral health services.

Since Blue Shield's BlueSky initiative launched in 2019 it has funded more than 6,700 youth counseling sessions in 20 middle and high schools in San Diego and Alameda Counties, and supported Youth Mental Health First Aid training for more than 2,000 educators statewide.

About Blue Shield of California

Blue Shield of California strives to create a healthcare system worthy of its family and friends that is sustainably affordable. Blue Shield of California is a tax paying, nonprofit, independent member of the Blue Shield Association with over 4.5 million members, over 7,500 employees and more than $21 billion in annual revenue. Founded in 1939 in San Francisco and now headquartered in Oakland, Blue Shield of California and its affiliates provide health, dental, vision, Medicaid and Medicare healthcare service plans in California. The company has contributed more than $150 million to Blue Shield of California Foundation in the last four years to have an impact on California communities.

For more news about Blue Shield of California, please visit news.blueshieldca.com.

Or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook.

CONTACT: Mark Seelig

Blue Shield of California

510-607-2359

[email protected]

SOURCE Blue Shield of California

Related Links

www.bcbs.com


HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Vibrant cutting edge Globe Photos/Bondly Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Team, are launching another exciting set of images for an epic NFT sale on Friday, May 7, 2 pm EDT.

NFT is the buzzword of the digital world. What is it? Basically a unit of data on a digital ledger called a blockchain, representing a unique art or photographic digital file.

Kayne Hepburn

Following up on Globe's recent NFT 'Stars of Hollywood's Golden Age' Sale success, they are featuring one of the world's best-selling music artists - KANYE WEST by pop artist Thomas Hussung. Kanye is 'Lucha Libre' fresh from divorcing a Kardashian and running for US President. Also in the sale, unique Audrey Hepburn and Frida Kahlo creations by Hussung, and completing the ensemble digital artist Carly Anne Amos's Hello Kitty! Mugshot.

Five pieces of art in total, each in a limited edition of just 25 NFTs available to purchase. The lucky owners of these NFTs will be granted early access to the upcoming Dali sale on 11th of May. If you own any of these pieces of art, you will be able to get into the Dali sale one hour before the sale opens to the public. Price: 0.1 ETH.

The Artists are German Pop artist, Thomas Hussung, best known for his Andy Warhol-inspired portraits of iconic figures. Venice, California based Carly Anne Amos is rapidly emerging as one of the nation's premier digital artists. Carly's art is currently being exhibited at the famous Celebrity Vault Gallery in Beverly Hills. Carly is collaborating with Globe Photos to reimagine classic images of Hollywood's most iconic celebrities in this smile-inspiring NFT series.

About Globe Photos

Globe Photos, Inc. is the owner of one of the world's largest collections of iconic photography and pop culture imagery, including more than 15 million images taken by 3,500 photographers, spanning the planet, over the last century.

www.GlobeCorp.co

About Bondly

Bondly is an interoperable, transparent and portable swap protocol designed to revolutionize traditional escrow methods and make everyone into their own digital marketplace. BondProtect is a Defi enabled eCommerce gateway specializing in integrating into your favorite online marketplaces very simply and easily with no integration fees, just staking tokens.

About ZUMA Press

Exclusive editorial representative of Globe Photos, Inc. globally.

ZUMA \'zu-ma\ n 1 : a really amazing picture agency 2 : Mayan for new day, solution, new vision 3 : Scott Mc Kiernan's loveable black lab. Started in the early 1990s by photojournalists for photojournalists - not shareholders or billionaires - ZUMA Press is now the world's largest independent press agency and wire service. http://www.ZUMAPRESS.com

Contact: [email protected]

Related Images

nft.jpg

NFT

Kayne Hepburn

nft.jpg

NFT

Bubble Gum

nft.jpg

NFT

Frida Kahlo

nft.jpg

NFT

Hello Kitty

SOURCE Globe Photos
After he was sentenced, Erick complained to the judge that his defense lawyer had been ineffective, saying his brother had uncovered important information she had missed during the discovery phase of the court case. He said he would have agreed to a 25-year prison sentence. The judge in December denied his request for a shorter prison term, but a new request is under consideration. Ericks lawyer, Lisa Baker McLean of Tampa, declined to discuss the case because there was a pending motion in court.
MIAMI, FL, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Cansortium Inc. ("Cansortium" or the "Company") (CSE: TIUM.U), (OTCQB: CNTMF), a vertically-integrated cannabis company operating under the Fluent brand, today announced that it has exercised its right to redeem up to the maximum of US$5 million of the convertible promissory notes (the "Notes") that were initially issued in the aggregate principal amount of US$10 million in February 2019 (as amended in August 2020 and February 2021). As a result of this redemption, the aggregate principal amount that remains outstanding on the Notes is US$5 million. The remaining Notes mature on December 1, 2022 if not earlier converted at the conversion price of US$0.60 per share.

"The reduction of this debt is continued improvement of our balance sheet, and we look forward to the our partnership with these noteholders as we grow the Company" said Cansortium CEO Robert Beasley.

About Cansortium Inc.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, and operating under the Fluent brand, Cansortium is focused on being the highest quality cannabis company in the State of Florida driven by an unrelenting commitment to operational excellence from seed to sale. Cansortium has developed strong proficiencies in each of cultivation, processing, retail, and distribution activities, resulting in successfully operating in the highly regulated cannabis industry. In addition to Florida, Cansortium seeks to create significant shareholder value in the attractive markets of Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, where the Company has secured licenses and established operations.

Cansortium Inc.'s common shares trade on the CSE under the symbol "TIUM.U" and on the OTCQB Venture Market under the symbol (OTCQB: CNTMF). Investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain information in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "targets", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "an opportunity exists", "is positioned", "estimates", "intends", "assumes", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent management's expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based on many opinions, assumptions, and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of this news release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in the public documents of the Company available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE Cansortium Inc

Related Links

www.cansortium.com


Stock Market Symbols

GIB (NYSE)

GIB.A (TSX)

cgi.com/newsroom

HELSINKI, Finland, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A) has been selected by Hansel Ltd., which operates the central procurement unit of the Finnish Government, to serve as the largest IT operating services provider to the Finnish public sector. CGI will be responsible for the data center and hybrid IT services used by numerous ministries, government agencies, cities and other public administration organizations.

"Hybrid IT services form the foundation of the day-to-day functions of public services that support our society that is becoming more digital every day. As such, these services and capabilities are critical for all of Finland," says Leena-Mari Lahteenmaa, President of CGI's operations in Finland.

The procurement decision was made as a result of a competitive, negotiated bidding process, and CGI's offer was selected as the best overall. The total value of the eight-year framework agreement is approximately 384 million euros (CA $576M). The majority of the services are provided to Valtori, which is responsible for government information and communication technology (ICT) services that meet high availability and security requirements. In total, the agreement covers Valtori and the dozens of organizations it serves, as well as more than 20 other public administration organizations.

"Over the years, we have been responsible for numerous mission-critical services in Finland and globally. We have significant experience in delivering these services to the public sector securely, efficiently and in a user-centric manner," adds Leena-Mari. "This new agreement is a strong expression of confidence in our expertise, and expands our footprint in the public sector. We look forward to applying our know-how to create a positive experience for both civil servants and residents in Finland."

CGI's broad range of data center and hybrid IT services are supported by its Management Foundation, a proven governance framework that provides quality service delivery excellence, as well as the use of the latest technologies, such as intelligent automation and advanced analytics.

About CGI

Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With 77,000 consultants and other professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from strategic IT and business consulting to systems integration, managed IT and business process services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. CGI Fiscal 2020 reported revenue is C$12.16 billion and CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com.

SOURCE CGI Inc.

Related Links

www.cgi.com


CINCINNATI, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the mental health crisis continues to grow in the region and across the nation, Cincinnati Children's is addressing the need for a continuum of care to improve outcomes with the groundbreaking for a new $99 million inpatient mental health facility in College Hill.

"One in every 10 children has a disability associated with or due to mental health issues," says Michael Sorter, MD. Tweet this $99 million project will transform behavioral healthcare at Cincinnati Children's. Watch this video to learn more about the nationwide need for improved mental health services for children. Exterior rendering of new College Hill mental health facility under construction at Cincinnati Children's

Children and adolescents are struggling with unprecedented levels of depression, anxiety, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, and other mental and behavioral health conditions. Mental illness is one of the most pressing health issues of our time, and it has been exacerbated with the isolation and the stressors associated with COVID.

"Cincinnati Children's has a deep commitment to mental health and a great inpatient facility and residential facility, but we're now transforming that to make sure it's got all of the right services, all of the right privacy, and all of the right capabilities to continue providing the very best care," said Michael Fisher, president and CEO of Cincinnati Children's. "As we point to the future, as a community and society, we have to prioritize education, prevention, treatment, and even a cure for mental health disorders."

Cincinnati Children's commitment to research and treatment of child and teen mental health goes back more than two decades, and the medical center has one of the largest behavioral health care systems for children and adolescents in the country. But the community still faces an uphill battle.

"One in every 10 children has a disability associated with or due to mental health issues. It's a tragedy that those needs don't get addressed. We want to make sure that we do not miss any of those kids," said Michael Sorter, MD, director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Cincinnati Children's. "The expansion is critical to what we want to do to improve our care, improve access to care and make sure we're more inclusive to families."

The new five-story facility will replace the current inpatient building on the College Hill campus. Encompassing 160,000 square feet, the state-of-the-art facility will be 68% larger than the current one. The new building will include private rooms for all inpatients. That will enable families to spend more time on the units and even stay overnight with their child.

"These transformational improvements allow us to build upon our foundation of safe, stable, and nurturing care and foster a therapeutic, engaging, and patient-centered environment for all," said Lori Stark, PhD, director of the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children's.

There will be dedicated spaces for group therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and recreational therapy. The facility will also be the new home for expanded services for patients with neurodevelopment disorders. College Hill is part of a mental health system of care that seeks to identify and prevent more severe diseases.

"This building will make it much easier to implement a new holistic, innovative, multidisciplinary team approach to care," said Tracy Glauser, MD, associate director of the Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation. "Our goal is to help kids navigate a mental health crisis more quickly, transition, and stay out of the hospital."

The expansion is made possible through a $36 million gift from the Convalescent Hospital Fund for Children, which covers about one-third of the cost. Cincinnati Children's operating revenues will cover another third of the project costs. An additional $36 million is still needed from philanthropic supporters in the community.

"The Convalescent Hospital Fund for Children has a long history of supporting children who struggle with chronic illnesses, but who haven't always been served. We have supported children with mental health conditions and children with developmental challenges and brain injury," said Susan Shelton, board chair for the Convalescent Hospital Fund for Children. "Through the work that we're doing together to raise the funds to build this building, we actually can make a difference. Treatment does make a difference for kids with mental illness. So, we all need to do this together."

The new building is scheduled to open in late 2023. Cincinnati Children's College Hill Campus is located at 5642 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45224. For more information, visit our website . To support fundraising efforts for the new facility, visit the College Hill Mental Health Campaign website .

To download video and sound, please click here.

SOURCE Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Related Links

www.cincinnatichildrens.org


SAN DIEGO, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- An all new cliteracy organization Clitoris.io is launching its first International Clitoris Summit on May 22, 2021, featuring 18 renowned speakers whose pioneer work in medicine, sexology, arts, and activism has contributed to giving the clitoris the voice it deserves.

"Our endeavour is to literally 'cliterate' the world!" says Dr. Denisa Rensen, Clitoris.io spokesperson. "The physical structure and function of the clitoris is still relatively unknown to most, this is a symptom of a much wider gender bias in medicine and culture. Our goal is to inform, and to celebrate the only organ in the human body whose exclusive function is pleasure."

The key scientist speaker of the 2021 Clitoris Summit is none other than Dr. Helen O'Connell, the world-famous Australian urologist who correctly mapped the clitoris in 1998 after a long history of anatomical misrepresentation.

"The discovery made by Dr. O'Connell's revealed that the clitoris and the penis are the exact same size and share the exact same tissue origins. This is the key signifier of gender equality at the anatomical level," explains Rensen.

Other pioneer doctors on the Clitoris Summit panel include, French surgeon Dr. Pierre Foldes who developed the clitoral restorative technique to reverse Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). Dr. Marci Bowers, OB-GYN and world-renowned gender affirmation surgeon, Dr. Eveline Veras, plastic surgeon known for her G-spot activating therapy, Dr. Rachel Rubin, urologist & clitoral adhesions researcher, and Dr. Jade McGaff, Hawaii's top integrative gynecologist and sexual rejuvenation expert.

"Furthermore, we are proud to include sexologists from different continents like Angelica Lindsey-Ali, founder of Muslim Wellness, Nigerian born Habeeb Akande, erotologist and author of The Kunyaza, and African Erotics Historian Uriel Nawaz," says Rensen. "We will also feature Laurie Handlers, of Extraordinary Lovers TV, Louisa Lorenz, German KlitNite founder, Keeley Olivia, UK pussy connoisseur, Chiari Ikemoto, Japanese Sex Educator, Jessica Pin, USA's top Clitoral Anatomy activist, and The Transgender Necessity founder, the mythopoetic Zhenevere Sophia Dao."

Clitoris summit Art experts include Jamie McCartney, creator of the iconic 'The Great Wall of Vagina', Alli Sebastian Wolf, creator of the 'Glitoris' and Luxembourg's Deborah de Robertis, the famous 'Origin of the World at Musee d'Orsay' performance artist.

During this free Zoom Summit, participants may donate to a selection of non-profit organizations that contribute to world cliteracy and clitoral wellness.

www.clitoris.io/summit

SOURCE Clitoris.io

Related Links

https://www.clitoris.io


WASHINGTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2021/CPSC-Awards-More-than-860-000-in-Pool-Safely-Grants-to-Five-State-and-Local-Governments-to-Combat-Pool-and-Spa-Drownings-and-Drain-Entrapments

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Acting Chairman Robert Adler and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23) announced today five awardees of a grant program aimed at preventing pool and spa drownings and drain entrapments. The state and local governments, selected by CPSC, will receive more than $860,000 in Pool Safely Grant Program (PSGP) grant funds. This funding will provide the awardees financial assistance for education, training, and enforcement of pool safety requirements that are intended to save lives and prevent serious injuries.

FY 2021 Pool Safely Grant Program Awards

Jurisdictions State Award Amount Florida Department of Health Florida $248,695 DuPage County Health Department Illinois $291,811 County of Middlesex New Jersey $128,800 District of Columbia Washington, D.C. $54,993 Loudoun County Virginia $142,968

"Unfortunately, drowning remains the number one cause of unintentional death to children ages one to four," said CPSC Acting Chairman Robert Adler. "These grants will help states and local governments reach consumers with lifesaving information to prevent pool and spa drownings and entrapments, and will help them to enforce pool safety requirements."

"Throughout my career I have been a passionate advocate for pool and spa safety. We must do more to stop these preventable tragedies, and I know that these grants are one of the key steps we can take to help save more children's lives," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "My overall goal is to reduce the number of child drownings across the country, and we can accomplish that by teaching children to swim, ensuring pools have the right safety equipment, and educating parents on the critical importance of supervising children in and near the water."

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (VGB Act), which Rep. Wasserman Schultz authored and led, was passed by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2007. The VGB Act authorizes the PSGP, which provides state and local governments with assistance for education, training, and enforcement of pool safety requirements.

CPSC's website www.PoolSafely.gov has more information on the Pool Safely Grant program and the VGB Act, as well as free, downloadable educational materials available to the public.

About the U.S. CPSC

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of thousands of types of consumer products. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products has contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.

Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the Commission.

For lifesaving information:

Visit CPSC.gov.

Sign up to receive our e-mail alerts.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram @USCPSC and Twitter @USCPSC.

Report a dangerous product or a product-related injury on www.SaferProducts.gov.

Call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 (TTY 301-595-7054).

Contact a media specialist.

Release Number: 21-132

SOURCE U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Related Links

http://www.cpsc.gov


ATLANTA, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A coalition of criminal justice reform advocates praised Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp for signing into law earlier this week a bill that would streamline processes within the state's probation system. Senate Bill 105 garnered bipartisan support, passing 169-2 in the Georgia House of Representatives and unanimously in the State Senate. Supporters say it is key to ending a "probation to prison pipeline" that continues to contribute to the problem of overincarceration.

Georgia has more people on community supervision than any other state in the country because of its average lengthy probation term of 6.3 years, compared to the national average of two years. Forty percent of probation sentences in Georgia exceeded 10 years, which has created an environment where 1 of every 18 Georgians are in the supervision system.

SB 105 will allow thousands of Georgians who have proven rehabilitation through good behavior a chance to escape the traps of technical violations  which include things like crossing county lines without permission  that could return them to incarceration. The bill also creates uniform eligibility requirements that protect public safety and incentivize good behavior so that people who are thriving in the community may be released from supervision in a safe and timely manner.

SB 105 is supported by a number of organizations committed to criminal justice reform, including the American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity Georgia, End Mass Incarceration Georgia Network, Faith and Freedom Coalition, Fighting Against Institutionalized Railroading, Georgia Justice Project, Greater Gwinnett Reentry Alliance, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, National Incarceration Association, Partnership for Southern Equity, REFORM Alliance, RED, Restore Her, and The Temple.

REFORM Alliance CEO Robert Rooks thanked Georgia lawmakers and Gov. Kemp for passing a bill that makes the probation system more effective and just.

"SB 105 is a bipartisan, evidence-based reform that will safely reduce the prison population, save taxpayer dollars and allow resources to be redirected towards true public safety priorities," said Rooks. "It is a sensible and essential step toward ensuring a probation system that gives Georgians a meaningful second chance and an opportunity for real redemption."

REFORM Alliance is a criminal justice nonprofit organization working to create safe communities by dramatically reducing the number of people trapped by the criminal justice system and expanding real pathways to work and wellbeing.

REFORM Alliance works with a bipartisan coalition of allies to support impactful reforms to Probation and Parole systems around the country in a variety of ways. We work directly with legislators and governors to identify or draft and pass bills, increase public awareness and interest with storytelling that communicates experiences of directly impacted individuals through digital and earned media campaigns, and advocate on the ground with our grassroots organizers and partner organizations.

Media Contact: Alex Weintz; 914.282.3229; [email protected]

SOURCE REFORM Alliance

Related Links

https://reformalliance.com


COLUMBUS, Ga., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Daniel Asher, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Top Hospitalist for his professional excellence in medicine and his exemplary contributions at Piedmont Columbus Regional.

Daniel Asher, MD

A well-recognized leader in healthcare, Piedmont Columbus Regional, has garnered a reputation of excellence since its establishment in 1836. Piedmont proudly serves the Columbus, GA area, continuously striving to deliver expert and compassionate care and build long-term patient relationships and strong connections within the communities. With a network of health and medical services through its two hospital campuses, Piedmont offers various services in brain tumor, cancer, heart, maternity services, pediatric emergency, neurosciences, primary care, quickcare, and transplant, to name a few.

Dedicated to serving the medical community, Dr. Daniel Asher is a distinguished night-time hospitalist at Piedmont Columbus Regional. He specializes in all facets of his work and treats hospitalized patients with a variety of illnesses. In his current capacity, Dr. Asher enjoys working with residents and consulting with other physicians to provide the highest quality care to his patients. In his current capacity, Dr. Asher has served on the frontlines treating countless COVID-19 patients throughout the pandemic that has unfolded in Georgia and nationwide.

In light of his academic achievements, Dr. Asher obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology/Biological Sciences from Saint Leo University. His medical career began after he earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in St. Kitts in 2017. Shortly after that, he completed a Family Medicine residency at Piedmont Medical Center, where he served as Chief Resident from 2019-2020 and continued his career.

Dr. Asher dedicates this recognition to his mother, Dr. Laura Remark, a family practitioner who inspired him to become a doctor.

To learn more, please visit https://www.piedmont.org/.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com


BENSALEM, Pa., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Law Offices of Howard G. Smith reminds investors of the upcoming June 15, 2021 deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in the case filed on behalf of investors who purchased Credit Suisse Group AG ("Credit Suisse" or the "Company") (NYSE: CS) American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") between October 29, 2020 and March 31, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period").

Investors suffering losses on their Credit Suisse investments are encouraged to contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss their legal rights in this class action at 888-638-4847 or by email to [email protected].

On March 1, 2021, Credit Suisse froze $10 billion in funds that were invested in financial products from Greensill Capital ("Greensill") and held by its supply-chain investment funds.

On March 8, 2021, Greensill filed for insolvency protection, and more than 1,000 investors in the Greensill funds marketed were unable to exit their positions.

On March 10, 2021, media reports revealed that Greensill investors had retained counsel and intended to sue Credit Suisse for their losses because Credit Suisse continued to market the biggest of the funds as a fully insured, low-risk product despite a decision by insurers during the summer of 2020 not to renew coverage.

On this news, the Company's American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs") fell $1.85, or 12.5%, to close at $12.85 per ADR on March 12, 2021, thereby injuring investors.

On Friday, March 26, 2021, several banks began liquidating billions of dollars' worth of shares that Archegos Capital Management ("Archegos") had swap positions on at fire sale prices after Archegos had failed to meet a margin call. By the time Credit Suisse tried to liquidate its own holdings of stocks underlying Archegos' swap contracts over the following weekend, prices had collapsed and Credit Suisse amassed billions of dollars in losses.

On March 29, 2021, Credit Suisse conceded that "the loss resulting from this exit . . . could be highly significant and material to our first quarter results." The Financial Times then pegged Credit Suisse's estimated losses at between $3 billion and $5 billion, more than a year's worth of the Company's net profit.

On this news, the market price of Credit Suisse ADRs fell another nearly 20%, from a close of $13.21 per ADR on March 25, 2021 to close at $10.60 per ADR on March 31, 2021.

The complaint filed in this class action alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that Credit Suisse's co-mingling of its lending, asset management, and private wealth management functions and imprudently aggressive pursuit of fees had materially diminished the Company's ability to properly assess and manage its own risk exposure to high-risk clients and potential liabilities from client losses; (2) that Credit Suisse had ignored numerous red flags in connection with the Greensill funds, such as suspicious shipment activities during an internal compliance check, and overrode the concerns of the Company's in-house credit-structuring team in packing and selling billions of dollars' worth of Greensill-linked securities to investors; (3) that Credit Suisse had conspired to allow Archegos to covertly take on billions of dollars in excessively concentrated and risky positions by utilizing highly leveraged total return swaps, placing the risk of loss associated with these positions on Credit Suisse and its investors; (4) that Credit Suisse was understating its exposure to risk and thus overstating its Tier 1 capital ratios in its public statements; and (5) that Credit Suisse's internal controls were inadequate to ensure that the Company's potential liability to customers and losses arising from its exposure to customer losses were properly accounted for, managed and disclosed to investors.

If you purchased or otherwise acquired Credit Suisse ADRs during the Class Period, you may move the Court no later than June 15, 2021 to ask the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff if you meet certain legal requirements. To be a member of the class action you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the class action. If you wish to learn more about this class action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020, by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at www.howardsmithlaw.com.

This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules.

Contacts

Law Offices of Howard G. Smith

Howard G. Smith, Esquire

215-638-4847

888-638-4847

[email protected]

www.howardsmithlaw.com

SOURCE Law Offices of Howard G. Smith

Related Links

http://www.howardsmithlaw.com/


"This is a rare opportunity for Dermody Properties to acquire an infill, value-add industrial building in a market with limited opportunities to increase the supply of space," said George Condon, West Region Partner for Dermody Properties. "Besides its central location, one of the building's greatest strengths is its cold storage space. It's expensive to build and in short supply. Companies supplying food to Bay Area consumers need more cold storage space."

Jason Ovadia, Mark Detmer, Ryan Sitov, Eddie Shuai, Patrick Metzger and Andie Fezell of JLL presented the opportunity to Dermody Properties. Dermody Properties has also engaged JLL to market the property for lease.

The property is located in the Bay Area's core industrial East Bay market with immediate access to Interstate 880, and it is less than a one-hour drive from the Port of Oakland as well as the Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose airports. With more than 7.7 million people in the Bay Area, customers will have access to multiple affluent population bases.

"The fact that this facility is food-production-ready makes it a highly desirable asset in the market given the growing demand from a last-mile perspective as it relates to home deliveries of groceries and meal prep kits," said Tim Walsh, Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Dermody Properties. "Having the infrastructure in place for cold storage is a strong advantage in this market and in the industry, where the current demand can't be met. This is an outstanding benefit for our customers, in addition to the property's strategic location from a logistics standpoint."

According to CBRE, the East Bay industrial market totaled more than 2.3 million square feet of absorption in 2020, more than doubling the net absorption of 2019. At the end of Q1 2021, the East Bay market has posted over 1 million square feet of positive net absorption with a consistently low vacancy rate at 2.8%. The increase in warehouse demand is driven by a global shift in the e-commerce industry from the quality of goods to speed of delivery supported by last-mile logistics.

About Dermody Properties

Dermody Properties is a privately-owned real estate investment, development and management firm that specializes in the acquisition and development of logistics real estate in strategic locations for e-commerce fulfillment centers, third-party logistics and distribution customers. Founded in 1960, Dermody Properties has invested in more than 89 million square feet of industrial space. In addition to its corporate office in Reno, Nev., it has regional offices in southern California, Atlanta, Phoenix, Seattle, Chicago and New Jersey. For more information visit www.Dermody.com.

CONTACT: Sara Robbins, KPS3, [email protected], 702-283-0447

SOURCE Dermody Properties
The report on the direct carrier billing platform market in the US provides a holistic update, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis.

The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the rising popularity of the subscription model of paid streaming services.

The direct carrier billing platform market in the US analysis includes end-users and geographic landscape. This study identifies the increased adoption of direct carrier billing platform in the mobile gaming industry and direct carrier billing enabling secure payments and convenience as the prime reasons driving the direct carrier billing platform market growth in the US during the next few years.

This report presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters.

The direct carrier billing platform market in US covers the following areas:

Direct Carrier Billing Platform Market In US Sizing

Direct Carrier Billing Platform Market In US Forecast

Direct Carrier Billing Platform Market In US Analysis

Companies Mentioned

Amdocs Ltd.

Apigate Sdn Bhd

Bango Plc

Boku Inc.

Centili Ltd.

Comviva Technologies Ltd.

Digital Turbine Inc.

DOCOMO Digital Ltd.

Fortumo OU

Oracle Corp.

Related Reports on Information Technology Include:

Direct Carrier Billing Platform Market by End-user and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025: The direct carrier billing platform market size has the potential to grow by USD 52.41 billion during 2021-2025, according to Technavio. Download PDF Sample

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2020

Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025

Five Forces Analysis

Five forces summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by End-user

Market segments

Comparison by End-user

Apps and games - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Online media - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Market opportunity by End-user

Market Segmentation by Market participants

Market segments

Comparison by Market participants

Content creators - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Merchants - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Carrier networks - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Platform providers - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Market opportunity by Market participants

Customer landscape

Overview

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Competitive scenario

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Industry risks

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Amdocs Ltd.

Apigate Sdn Bhd

Bango Plc

Boku Inc.

Centili Ltd.

Comviva Technologies Ltd.

Digital Turbine Inc.

DOCOMO Digital Ltd.

Fortumo OU

Oracle Corp.

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Technavio's in-depth research has direct and indirect COVID-19 impacted market research reports.

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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.



Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

Report: https://www.technavio.com/report/direct-carrier-billing-platform-market-in-us-industry-analysis

SOURCE Technavio

Related Links

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Button refused to let the movers leave when she laid down in front of the wheels of the moving truck with her child in her lap, the press release said.
DELRAY BEACH, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ed Morse Automotive Group announced today that it has acquired four dealerships in Lebanon, Saint Robert, and Rolla, Missouri. Ed Morse purchased the dealerships from Lindsay Auto Group and Fairground Auto Group.

These new dealerships will be:

Ed Morse Chevrolet , formerly Lindsay Chevrolet at 285 W. Elm Street, Lebanon

, formerly at 285 W. Elm Street, Ed Morse Ford , formerly Lindsay Ford at 260 W. Elm Street, Lebanon

, formerly at 260 W. Elm Street, Ed Morse Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, formerly Lindsay Chrysler Dodge at 809 Missouri Ave, Saint Robert

at 809 Missouri Ave, Ed Morse Chevrolet Buick GMC, formerly Fairground Auto Plaza at 100 Fairgrounds Rd, Rolla

"Our entrance into Missouri is exciting and we are honored to add these dealerships in the great communities of Rolla, Lebanon and Saint Robert. We are looking not only to continue these dealerships' history of exceptional deals and outstanding customer service but to make significant capital improvements as well. We also look forward to supporting the local communities with job growth and giving back to local non-profits," said Teddy Morse, Chairman and CEO of Ed Morse Automotive Group.

The Ed Morse Automotive Group is headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, and has been family-owned for 75 years. These acquisitions will add over 150 employees to its 1,400 plus employee base, growing their locations to 24 dealerships locations, 42 franchises and 15 automotive brands.

"Last year we expanded into Northern Texas and Oklahoma with tremendous success. We are very excited to add these dealerships to our family and look forward to establishing our trusted family name in such an important region," added Morse.

About Ed Morse Automotive Group

The Morse family has been in the automotive business since 1946 when Ed Morse founded Morse Motors with his father. 75 years later, Ed's grandson, Chairman/CEO Teddy Morse continues to build on the legacy and family tradition. Ed Morse Automotive Group continues to be one of the nation's most respected automotive dealer groups. www.edmorse.com

SOURCE Ed Morse Automotive Group

Related Links

http://www.edmorse.com


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SOUTHLAKE, Texas, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Contemporary lifestyle brand Free People is soon to have a new home in Southlake Town Square. Defined by femininity, creativity, curiosity and adventure, Free People offers unique women's apparel, intimate wear, shoes and accessories. Free People is expected to open in late 2021 in a 2,329-square-foot space at 1434 Main Street, next to Tommy John and across the street from LUSH.

Premier luxury outdoor furniture brand Summer Classics will open this summer at 301 N. Carroll Avenue in an 8,800-square-foot space near Market by Macy's, and will feature a line from Gabby Home Furnishings.

"These are exciting brands that wants to engage customers with the level of in-person, interactive experience that a home in Southlake Town Square can offer," said Jason Kasal, vice president and senior leasing director  western division with Retail Properties of America, Inc. ("RPAI"), owner and operator of Southlake Town Square. "Our walkable, well-edited collection of desirable brands is what continues to set Southlake Town Square apart as a lifestyle destination, and we're pleased to continue to grow and create opportunities for our guests to interact with the great brands that call us home."

Southlake Town Square will welcome many fresh new faces to its venerable mix of buzzworthy brands this summer.

Express Edit will open in Southlake Town Square, in a 2,066-square-foot space across from Michael Kors at 311 Grand Ave East in May. This new concept features a smaller collection curated specifically for the Southlake community, with women's and men's must-have styles handpicked by local influencers. The concept opened in Nashville's premier urban neighborhood, The Gulch, earlier this year and is making its Texas debut in Southlake.

On the heels of Whistle Britches chicken emporium's opening later this month in a 4,072-square-foot space at 1230 Main Street, renowned Dallas chef Omar Flores will open another new restaurant concept, Muchacho's, later this summer. Muchacho's is located at 431 Grand Ave East in a 4,475-square-foot space to offer the James Beard Award nominee's take on Tex-Mex.

Trophy Blooms, owned by award-winning local floral designer Madeline Ricketts, also opened its doors on May 22 in a beautiful, 916-square-foot location at 335 N. Carroll Avenue next to Nothing Bundt Cakes.

About Southlake Town Square

Located in the heart of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex in Southlake, Texas, Southlake Town Square is owned and operated by a subsidiary of RPAI. This 130-acre, open-air, mixed-use development boasts more than 120 specialty retail shops and restaurants, including the first Market by Macy's in the country, Apple, Madewell, Anthropologie, lululemon and Sephora, an upscale urban Hilton Hotel, offices, city and county government buildings, a U.S. Post Office and residential brownstones. To learn more, please visit SouthlakeTownSquare.com or call 817-329-5566. Connect socially with Southlake Town Square online via its Facebook or Instagram.

About RPAI

Retail Properties of America, Inc. is a REIT that owns and operates high quality, strategically located open-air shopping centers, including properties with a mixed-use component. As of March 31, 2021, the Company owned 102 retail operating properties in the United States representing 19.9 million square feet. The Company is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RPAI. Additional information about the Company is available at www.rpai.com.

Editor's note: High-res photos images are available here.

SOURCE Southlake Town Square
DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Online Automotive Retail Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2021-2025 Edition)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The report provides in-depth analysis of the global online automotive retail market, with detailed analysis of market size and growth. The report provides analysis of the global online automotive retail market by value and by region. The report further provides detailed regional analysis of the US and China online automotive retail market by value and by volume.



Moreover, the report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the overall global online automotive retail market has also been forecasted for the years 2021-2025, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.



The global online automotive retail market is bifurcated with numerous market players. Some of the major operating players in the global online automotive retail market are Cars.Com Inc., CarGurus Inc., TrueCar Inc. and COX Enterprises Inc. The four companies have been profiled in the report providing detailed analysis of their financial information and business strategies.

Regional Coverage

The US

China

After the rise in adoption of online platforms by the people globally, the automotive industry has also developed online platform or portals where the user accessing the internet can visit these automotive websites and portal to do online price and product comparisons at their location. Additionally, the particular websites and platforms also enable users to sell or purchase, new or used vehicles.



Furthermore, the user can also raise queries and can schedule a meeting with the dealer via online portal to know more about the specification of the product which the user intends to purchase. There are several online resources used to initiate automotive research, such as aggregator site, search engine, dealer website and OEM site.



The global online automotive retail market has propelled in the past few years and estimations are made that during the forecasted period (2021-2025) the market would rise at a progressive growth rate. The global online automotive retail market is expected to grow due to various growth drivers such as surging per capita income, upsurge in Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices, upsurge in number of smartphone users, increase in the number of digital buyers, emerging number of internet users, rise in global population and many other factors.



Though, the growth of the market is being negatively impacted by several challenges. Some of the prominent challenges faced by the market are consumer demand & macroeconomic issues and ride sharing



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction

2.1 Automotive Industry: An Overview

2.1.1 Eras of Automobile Industry

2.2 Online Automotive Marketplace: An Overview

2.2.1 Components to Initiate Automotive Research

2.3 Benefits & Drawbacks of Buying Car Online

2.4 Benefits & Drawbacks of Buying Car at a Dealership

2.5 Transformation in Car Purchasing Pattern



3. Global Market Analysis

3.1 Global Online Automotive Retail Market: An Analysis

3.1.1 Global Online Automotive Retail Market by Value

3.1.2 Global Online Automotive Retail Market by Region (The US and Rest of the World)

3.1.3 Global Online Automotive Aftermarket Penetration

3.2 Franchised Dealer Advertising Spending: An Analysis

3.3 Automotive Brands Advertising Spending: An Analysis

3.3.1 Global Automotive Digital Advertisement Share by Region

3.3.2 Global Automotive Digital Advertisement Growth Rate by Region



4. Regional Analysis

4.1 The US Online Automotive Retail Market: An Analysis

4.1.1 The US Online Automotive Retail Market by Value

4.2 China Online Automotive Retail Market: An Analysis

4.2.1 China Online Automotive Retail Market by Volume



5. Market Dynamics

5.1 Growth Drivers

5.1.1 Rising Population

5.1.2 Surging Per Capita Income

5.1.3 Upsurge in Internet of Things (IoT) Devices

5.1.4 Upsurge in Number of Smartphone Users

5.1.5 Increase in Digital Buyers

5.1.6 Emerging Number of Internet Users

5.2 Challenges

5.2.1 Ride Sharing

5.2.2 Consumer Demand & Macroeconomic Issues

5.3 Market Trends

5.3.1 Rising Demand of Used Cars

5.3.2 Surging Third Party Site Visits

5.3.3 Make Buying Smarter



6. Competitive Landscape

6.1 Global Online Automotive Retail Market Players: A Comparison

6.2 Global Online Automotive Retail Market Share by Players

6.3 The US Online Automotive Retail Market: Business Metrics Comparison (2019 Versus 2020)



7. Company Profile

7.1 Cars.Com Inc.

7.1.1 Business Overview

7.1.2 Financial Overview

7.1.3 Business Strategy

7.2 CarGurus Inc.

7.2.1 Business Overview

7.2.2 Financial Overview

7.2.3 Business Strategy

7.3 TrueCar Inc.

7.3.1 Business Overview

7.3.2 Financial Overview

7.3.3 Business Strategy

7.4 Cox Enterprises Inc.

7.4.1 Business Overview

7.4.2 Business Strategy

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pofrj3

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

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DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Application; Industry, and Geography" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Market for Drug Discovery Segment to Grow at Highest CAGR during 2020-2027.

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) Market is expected to reach US$ 1,888.5 million in 2027 from US$ 1,388.1 million in 2019, it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% from 2020 to 2027.

The market growth is mainly attributed to the increasing adoption rate of modeling tools in drug discovery and rising investments for drug discovery. However, low adoption rate of the technique in emerging countries is hindering the quantitative structure-activity relationship market growth.



Based on application, the quantitative structure-activity relationship market is segmented into drug discovery, molecular modeling, chemical screening, regulatory and decision-making, and other applications. In 2019, the drug discovery segment accounted for the largest share, and it is further expected to register the highest CAGR in the market during the forecast period.

The drug discovery process often involves the use of QSAR to identify chemical structures that could have good inhibitory effects on specific targets and have low toxicity (non-specific activity). According to Lipinski's Rule of Five, the prediction of partition coefficient log P is an important measure used in identifying "drug likeness." .



QSARs have a substantial role in toxicity prediction, drug design, and environmental fate modeling of food & beverages, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Moreover, predictive QSAR models are used by different regulatory agencies to do the estimation of chemical, physical, and biological parameters of chemicals with the helps of specific applications that precisely performs the tasks of decision-making contexts in chemical safety assessment.

Ineffective drug targets are the main reason leading to the failure of various late-stage clinical trials. With the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, numerous pharmaceutical companies have made investments in partnership agreements with software-based companies to develop better healthcare tools and technologies for avoiding drug failures.

For instance, Pfizer is using IBM Watson, a machine learning system, to enhance its search for immuno-oncology drugs. Sanofi has collaborated with Exscientia's artificial-intelligence (AI) platform, a UK-based start-up, to discover therapies to cure metabolic diseases. Genentech is enhancing its search for cancer treatments by using an AI-based system offered by GNS Healthcare. Therefore, most of the companies engaged in drug discovery are using AI tools to screen and identify compounds, calculate their potential, and minimize drug interactions that may cause issues later.



With the introduction of AI in the pharmaceuticals and healthcare sectors, the companies in these sectors are investing in collaborations with AI players for the development of better and advanced healthcare tools, which, in turn facilitates better identification of drug targets and aids in designing new drug candidates.

Thus, a rise in number of partnerships between pharmaceutical industries and AI companies, and government organizations has been witnessed on the global scale. For instance, in 2019, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust entered into a five-year partnership with DeepMind Technologies (Google), wherein the company is expected to assist the NHS in discovering therapies for the management of acute kidney injuries. The 100,000 Genomes Project of the UK is a global project that utilizes data and AI from NHS patients with rare diseases. The project also has Roche, Merck, and Biogen as partners.



The COVID-19 pandemic is causing massive disruptions in supply chains, consumer markets, and economies across the world. However, the high demand for promising tools for rapid and accurate drugs and vaccine development has boosted the demand for QSAR, thereby fueling the market growth.



Key Industry Dynamics

Market Drivers

Increasing Adoption of Modeling Tools in Drug Discovery

Increasing Economic Burden of Drug Discovery

Market Restraints

Less Adoption in Emerging Countries

Market Opportunities

Market Players Initiatives

Future Trends

Growing Adoption of QSAR and Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery

Companies Mentioned

Protoqsar Sl.

Intertek Group Plc

Bibra Toxicology Advice And Consulting Ltd

Covance Inc. (Labcorp)

Latham Biopharm Group

Nsf International

Creative Biolabs

Qsar Lab Sp. Z O

Dassault Systemes

The Report Segments Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship Market as Follows:



By Application

Drug Discovery

Molecular Modelling

Chemical Screening

Regulatory and Decision-Making

Other Applications

By Industry

Pharmaceuticals

Cosmetics

Environmental

Food and Beverage

By Geography

North America

US

Canada

Mexico

Europe

France

Germany

UK

Spain

Italy

Asia Pacific (APAC)

(APAC) China

India

Japan

Australia

South Korea

Middle East and Africa (MEA)

and (MEA) Saudi Arabia

UAE

South Africa

South and Central America (SCAM)

(SCAM) Brazil

Argentina

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ndk9t4

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

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Download Free Sample Report

The un-hackability of photons by laws of QM is one of the major factors propelling the market growth. However, factors such as high R&D and implementation costs will hamper the market growth.

More details: https://www.technavio.com/report/quantum-cryptography-solutions-market-industry-analysis

Quantum Cryptography Solutions Market: End-user Landscape

The adoption of quantum cryptography solutions in the defense segment is majorly driven by the need for a highly secure military weapon, surveillance, and communication systems to bolster the security interests in countries. Quantum cryptography will be able to provide distinct military and international diplomacy advantages in the post-quantum era. Military superpowers such as the US and China are increasingly funding and investments in developing quantum-safe technologies such as quantum cryptography. These factors are expected to further drive the global quantum cryptography solutions market in this segment.

Quantum Cryptography Solutions Market: Geographic Landscape

41% of the market's growth will originate from North America during the forecast period. The US is the key market for the quantum cryptography solutions market in North America. Market growth in this region will be slower than the growth of the market in APAC. North America is an early adopter of advanced technologies such as cognitive computing and machine learning which is primarily driving the quantum cryptography solutions market in the region. Moreover, the early adoption of such technologies has resulted in the comprehensive, advanced technology ecosystem in the region and extensive digitization across private as well as public sectors.

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Related Reports on Information Technology Industry Include:

Quantum Computing Market by End-user and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2021-2025: The quantum computing market size has the potential to grow by USD 7.35 billion during 2021-2025, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 18.95%. To get extensive research insights: Download Our Exclusive Sample Report

Quantum Cascade Laser Market by Product, Geography, and End-user - Forecast and Analysis 2020-2024: The quantum cascade laser market size is expected to grow by $ 81.05 mn and record a CAGR of 4% during 2020-2024. To get extensive research insights: Download Our Exclusive Sample Report

Companies Covered:

Honeywell International Inc.

Infineon Technologies AG

International Business Machines Corp.

MagiQ Technologies Inc.

Quantum Xchange

Qubitekk Inc.

QuintessenceLabs Pvt. Ltd.

Raytheon Technologies Corp.

SK Telecom Co. Ltd.

Toshiba Corp.

What our reports offer:

Market share assessments for the regional and country-level segments

Strategic recommendations for the new entrants

Covers market data for 2020, 2021, until 2025

Market trends (drivers, opportunities, threats, challenges, investment opportunities, and recommendations)

Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations

Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends

Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments

Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements

Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Technavio's in-depth research has direct and indirect COVID-19 impacted market research reports.

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Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2020

Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025

Five Forces Analysis

Five forces summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by End-user

Market segments

Comparison by End-user

Defense - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Government and public sector - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

BFSI - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Telecom - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Market opportunity by End-user

Customer landscape

Customer landscape

Geographic Landscape

Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

- Market size and forecast 2020-2025 Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Overview

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Honeywell International Inc.

Infineon Technologies AG

International Business Machines Corp.

MagiQ Technologies Inc.

Quantum Xchange

Qubitekk Inc.

QuintessenceLabs Pvt. Ltd.

Raytheon Technologies Corp.

SK Telecom Co. Ltd.

Toshiba Corp.

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

Report: https://www.technavio.com/report/quantum-cryptography-solutions-market-industry-analysis

SOURCE Technavio
DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Retail Execution Software Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Global Analysis by Enterprise Size and Application, and Geography" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Machine Learning to Revolutionize Retail Execution Business and Act as a Trend for Retail Execution Software Market during 2020-2027.



Retail Execution Software Market was valued at US$ 198.39 million in 2019 and is projected to reach US$ 303.26 million by 2027; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2020 to 2027.



In the retail industry, several challenges occur due to imbalance between demand and resource availability, as well as inadequate area mapping. Machine learning, an application of artificial intelligence, is the foundation of the next-gen of technologies. It offers systems the ability to learn from recorded data and experiences with the use of algorithms, patterns, and predictive insights.

Moreover, with the capabilities of machine learning, online retailers can swiftly acknowledge and identify customers who have been disconnected from their services. Additionally, retailers can ensure customer retention by reminding customers to reorder perishable products or share exclusive deals.



The on-demand retail industry continues to grow, with technology playing a major role in automating services to ensure better customer experience. In the US, number of online grocery shoppers has increased by 35 million, which proves that on-demand retail execution is a trend and a new wave of consumer behavior. By utilizing the advantages of machine learning, vendors in the market can automate and streamline the retail execution process. Thus, this trend is projected to boost the demand for retail execution software during the forecast period.



Geographically, North America led the retail execution software market in 2019 owing to relatively high density of consumer electronic devices, such as smartphones. Further, it represents ~33% of the global e-commerce purchases. High penetration of smartphone and internet drives the demand for the e-commerce in North America, which, in turn, propels the need for retail execution software for faster retail execution.

There are more than 3 million retail outlets in the US, contributing US$ 2.6 trillion to its GDP. Furthermore, the retail vendors are providing distinct types of services such as product grading and assortment, packaging, mobile applications, and e-mail and SMS alerts sending. The rise in focus on providing such value-added services in retail execution is one of the latest trends contributing to the growth of the market in North America.



Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, Costco, Kroger, and Target are among the enterprises having their origins in North America. With well-established retail sector, the presence of key retail execution software market players - such as Mobisoft Infotech LLC, POPProbe, Spring Mobile Solutions, and TRAX IMAGE RECOGNITION - is also supporting the market growth in this region.



Also, the adoption of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is more prevalent in the manufacturing, BFSI, and retail sectors across North America. SaaS incorporated with AI, and machine learning is changing North American customer services. The market is expected to witness a slight decline in growth over the next few quarters due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is expected to rise again at a healthy pace post pandemic.



Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Retail Execution Software Market



According to the latest report from World Health Organization (WHO), the US, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, Iran, and China are among the worst affected countries due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The crisis is adversely affecting the industries worldwide.

The global economy took the worst hit in 2020, and it is likely to continue in 2021 also. The outbreak has created significant disruptions in primary industries such as logistics, retail, and e-commerce. The sharp decline in the international logistics business industry is restraining the growth of the global retail execution software market.



Bizom (Mobisy Technologies Private Limited); EdgeCG (StayinFront, Inc.); Intelligence Retail; Mobisoft; POPProbe; Spring Mobile Solutions, Inc.; Trax Technology Solutions Pte Ltd.; Valomnia; WINIT; and Kantar Group are among the companies operating in the retail execution software market.

Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology



4. Retail Execution Software Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 PEST Analysis

4.3 Ecosystem Analysis

4.4 Expert Opinion



5. Retail Execution Software Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Growing Preference for Retail and E-Commerce Platforms

5.1.2 Increasing Integration of Payment Gateways with Retail Execution Software

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Growing Security Concerns

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Integration of Big Data Analytics Technology in Retail Industry

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Machine Learning to Revolutionize Retail Execution Business

5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints



6. Retail Execution Software Market - Global Market Analysis

6.1 Global Retail Execution Software Market Overview

6.2 Retail Execution Software Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)

6.3 Market Positioning - Five Key Players



7. Retail Execution Software Market Analysis - By Enterprise Size

7.1 Overview

7.2 Retail execution software Market, By Enterprise Size (2019 and 2027)

7.3 SMEs

7.4 Large Enterprises



8. Retail Execution Software Market Analysis - By Application

8.1 Overview

8.2 Retail Execution Software Market Breakdown, by Belt Enterprise Size, 2019 & 2027

8.3 Retail Operations

8.4 Field Service Management

8.5 Mobile Forms Automation

8.6 Field Sales

8.7 Trade Promotion Management

8.8 Employee Engagement



9. Retail Execution Software Market - Geographic Analysis



10. Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Retail Execution Software Market

10.1 Overview



11. Industry Landscape

11.1 Overview

11.2 Market Initiative

11.3 New Product Development

11.4 Merger and Acquisition



12. Company Profiles

12.1 Key Facts

12.2 Business Description

12.3 Products and Services

12.4 Financial Overview

12.5 SWOT Analysis

12.6 Key Developments

Bizom (Mobisy Technologies Private Limited)

EdgeCG (StayinFront, Inc.),

Intelligence Retail

Mobisoft

POPProbe

Spring Mobile Solutions, Inc.

Trax Technology Solutions Pte Ltd.

Valomnia

WINIT

Kantar Group

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/wdg5vt

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

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The Amazon robotics fulfillment center will include contemporary robotics technology, inventory and shipping operations in a multi-level building with a 650,000-square-foot foundation. The project will create over 1,000 full-time jobs with starting pay of $15 per hour and comprehensive benefits beginning on day one  full medical, vision and dental insurance; and 401(k) savings with a 50 percent company match. The development will generate 800 construction jobs, and Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 1,118 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 2,100 permanent new jobs in Northwest Louisiana.

"This new Amazon project is a major advancement for the Shreveport-Bossier City metro area and for Louisiana's economy," Gov. Edwards said. "In addition to providing strong benefits, Amazon will pay workers double the minimum wage or more in a state-of-the-art technology environment. Only a year ago, we dedicated Hunter Industrial Park as one site in a growing inventory of LED Certified Sites that now numbers 126 statewide. Through partnerships with our elected officials, economic development allies and utility partners, we are proving that great things are possible in Louisiana when we make smart plans for the future."

One of every five U.S. residents lives within a 500-mile radius of Shreveport, making the location enviable for distribution and logistics companies. Amazon will begin construction of its Shreveport fulfillment center immediately, with plans to open the site in September 2022 in time for its busiest e-commerce season.

"Amazon may be a global business, but it's made up of small businesses and communities. From the local jobs we bring, to the local people we employ, train, and upskillour business is made up of people from communities like Shreveport," said William Hicks, Regional Director of Operations at Amazon. "We're thrilled to be able to expand our operations in Northwest Louisiana and we look forward to becoming part of the fabric of the local community."

The Amazon Robotics fulfillment center in Shreveport is the largest of seven Amazon facilities operating, announced or under construction in Louisiana. The company's committed investment in the state to-date is more than $600 million and includes seven Whole Foods Market locations. In Shreveport, Amazon employees will pick, pack and ship smaller customer orders, such as books, toys, electronics and other household items.

"The City of Shreveport is committed to developing a diverse business community," Mayor Adrian Perkins said. "We are excited to be the new home for a state-of-the-art distribution center. This will be a valuable asset to our community and will provide employment opportunities to hundreds of our residents. This project could change the life trajectory for many of our citizens who are still dealing with the financial fallout from the ongoing pandemic."

"Great things are happening in Caddo Parish, and we are delighted to welcome Amazon into our parish and region," said Caddo Parish Commission President Lyndon B. Johnson. "The arrival of such a large and multidimensional distribution center to Caddo Parish will undoubtedly have a significant impact on our area's economy. The ability to utilize over 1,000 members of our community's diverse and talented workforce will enhance the quality of life for our residents, and is a result of the strong collaboration between our governing bodies and community partners to create a winning opportunity for Amazon and the parish."

LED and its economic development partners began formal discussions with Amazon about a potential Shreveport fulfillment center in August 2020. To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered the company a competitive incentive package that includes the comprehensive workforce solutions of LED FastStart, the nation's No. 1 workforce training and talent attraction program. To offset site infrastructure costs, Amazon will be eligible for a $5 million performance-based grant payable in two installments during 2022 and 2023. In addition, the Caddo Parish Industrial Development Board is negotiating a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreement with the company.

"The Caddo Parish Industrial Development Board (IDB) is excited about this project and proud of the part we've played," said Caddo IDB President Kyle McInnis. "Alongside North Louisiana Economic Partnership, LED, Caddo Parish, and the City of Shreveport, we have worked diligently to ensure that the tax incentives involved are attractive to the company while also providing substantial economic benefits to Caddo Parish and its citizens. Our board is made up of a diverse set of volunteer community leaders, all pleased to see our work lead to this great success. The project confirms that Caddo Parish is an attractive place for large-scale industrial development, and we look forward to more projects like this."

In 2020, Amazon ranked Louisiana No. 5 among all states for the fastest annual growth among its digital entrepreneur partners. More than 14,500 small and medium-sized businesses in the state participate in Amazon's fulfillment network and collectively recorded a 49 percent growth in recent year-over-year sales.



"We are thrilled to have Amazon become a new major employer in North Louisiana," said Chairman Chap Breard of the North Louisiana Economic Partnership. "Their decision to locate in Shreveport confirms that North Louisiana's competitive strategic location, strong stakeholder partnerships and project-ready industrial sites, like the Hunter Industrial Park that was certified in 2020, are critical for success in economic development." In addition to the entities noted above, NLEP gives special recognition to community stakeholders including Walker-Alley & Associates, the Shreveport-Caddo Metropolitan Planning Commission, Caddo Levee District, Engineering and Public Works Departments of the City of Shreveport, State Fire Marshall, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, and AEP SWEPCO for their responsiveness and collaboration in bringing this major project to fruition.

The hiring of most employees for Amazon's Shreveport fulfillment center will begin in the summer of 2022, approximately three months prior to the launch of the facility. To keep up-to-date with career opportunities at Amazon in Shreveport, visit Opportunities.LEDFastStart.com/global/en/Amazon.

About North Louisiana Economic Partnership

North Louisiana Economic Partnership, an Accredited Economic Development Organization, provides professional economic development services to a 14-parish region of North Louisiana, including lead generation and prospect management. The organization also represents the interests of North Louisiana with a unified voice and as a single point of contact. It acts as a catalyst, a convener, and a connector in the region to ensure that North Louisiana's economic development potential is realized. Its vision is for North Louisiana to be a thriving region-a destination for high quality talent, innovative companies, and global investment.

Media Contact: Angie White, Executive Vice President

(W) 318.677.2559

(E-mail) [email protected]

SOURCE North Louisiana Economic Partnership
SUGAR LAND, Texas, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- HCSS, a leading provider of innovative solutions that help heavy civil businesses streamline their operations, announces the celebration of the Houston Texas Woman's University (TWU) graduation with a drive-through event at its corporate campus. Graduation was held this past weekend on May 1, 2021.

driving through graduation

TWU is the nation's largest university, primarily for women. Texas Woman's University offers degree programs in the liberal arts, nursing, health sciences, the sciences, business, and education. TWU serves the citizens of Texas by graduating more new health professionals than any other university in Texas, offering a liberal arts-based curriculum that prepares students for success, and conducting research that impacts the prevention of several devastating diseases.

"This year's virtual graduation was, in many ways, better than traditional in-person graduations," said Mike Rydin, CEO and Founder of HCSS. "Since everyone who came to celebrate the graduates was in their cars, they were only 10 to 15 feet away from their grads. If this event had taken place in a stadium, you would be watching a faceless stream of gowned figures because of sitting so far away from the graduates."

Other special events occurred as well, such as the Hooding Ceremony recognizing doctoral degree candidates. For TWU doctoral candidates, family members and/or children could hood their graduate. Immediately after hooding, professional photos were taken in front of a backdrop with school officials, with family members included.

Every graduate received a copy of "Live Life Like Sophie Would," a book HCSS has produced to honor Mike Rydin's late wife and encourage the next generation to be lifelong learners, generous spirits, hard workers, and active people. Sophie worked for many years as a professor of Occupational Therapy at TWU and loved to pass on her wisdom to students. She also worked alongside Mike from the beginning of HCSS. Bringing the students to the HCSS campus to celebrate their future success seemed a fitting way to honor Sophie's legacy. Sophie graduated from TWU with a master's degree in Occupational Therapy.

About HCSS

Since 1986, HCSS has been developing software to help construction companies streamline their operations. Today, we are recognized as a pioneer and trusted leader in estimating, operations, and fleet software, serving thousands of construction companies across the nation. Visit www.hcss.com to learn more.

For More Information contact:

Becky Boyd

MediaFirst PR

Office: 770.642.2080 x 214

Cell: 404.421.8497

Email: [email protected]

Related Images

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Drive-through graduation at HCSS

driving through graduation

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TWU Graduation 2021

Graduation at HCSS

twu-2021-grads-get-professional.jpg

TWU 2021 Grads Get Professional Pictures Taken

pics

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Successful TWU Grad

TWU Grad

SOURCE HCSS
But the visual appeal of the image is clear. Karen on the right, the more petite friend at exactly 5 feet tall, smiles as she talks, engrossed in their private conversation. Both women are bunching their long sundresses up around their thighs as they splash in the surf. Their loose hair spills past their shoulders.
H&L Partners has promoted several of the agency's experienced managers in order to enact a smooth leadership transition. Tweet this

"The management team wants to continue the growth the agency has enjoyed over the last seven years by increasing our client base in a variety of industries," Alfano said. "We will also be enjoying growth in our other offices."

Trey Curtola is H&L's new Executive Chairman. Curtola has spent 17 years at the agency, the last three of them serving as its President. He believes the company's collaborative leadership spirit is essential to the fabric of H&L.

"We've got a strong team," Curtola said. "It was always a priority at top management to ensure strength in senior- and mid-level leadership. Josh was successful at doing that."

Crystal Sawyer has been elevated from Senior Vice President, Managing Director, to Executive Vice President, Managing Director, of the McDonald's brand, one of H&L Partners' biggest clients.

Tyler Martin, SVP, Managing Director; Chris Cronin, SVP, Group Account Director; Michael Ramirez, SVP, Media Director; Michael Castillo, SVP, Managing Director; and Mark Suarez, SVP, Managing Director, will remain in their leadership positions and continue to contribute to the company's consistent performance and exponential growth.

Nichol died in February. He worked at H&L for more than 26 years, building up the company's seven regional offices across the country.

About H&L Partners

H&L Partners is a full-service, integrated communications agency made up of diverse, collaborative, and multitalented individuals with broad expertise in all aspects of marketing and advertising. Based in Oakland, H&L Partners has offices in Atlanta, Miami, Chicago, St. Louis, Phoenix, and Charlotte. For more information, visit www.handlpartners.com .

SOURCE H&L Partners

Related Links

www.handlpartners.com


A resilient business strategy and stable fundamentals allow Hydro One to support its customers and communities while delivering positive financial results

TORONTO, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Hydro One Limited (Hydro One or the Company) today announced its financial and operating results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

First Quarter Highlights

First quarter earnings per share (EPS) and adjusted EPS was $0.45 , compared to EPS and adjusted EPS of $0.38 , for the same period in 2020. The increase was due mainly to approved rates for the transmission and distribution segments, and higher demand because of colder weather, partially offset by higher depreciation, amortization and asset removal costs, and higher work program costs.

, compared to EPS and adjusted EPS of , for the same period in 2020. The increase was due mainly to approved rates for the transmission and distribution segments, and higher demand because of colder weather, partially offset by higher depreciation, amortization and asset removal costs, and higher work program costs. Hydro One launched Connected for Life, a promise that helps customers stay connected to power while it helps them access financial relief and flexible service options. Since launch, the support provided to customers was four times higher than during the previous quarter.

The Company was requested by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) to build a 230-kilovolt double circuit transmission line between Chatham and Lambton to provide electricity in support of agricultural growth in the Windsor - Essex and Chatham areas.

and to provide electricity in support of agricultural growth in the - and areas. The Company received a regulatory decision regarding the implementation of the Ontario Divisional Court ruling regarding the deferred tax asset.

Hydro One Networks Inc. and Capgemini Canada Inc. entered into a new master services agreement for information technology services.

The Company's capital investments and in-service additions for the quarter were $527 million and $157 million , respectively, compared to $372 million and $225 million in 2020.

and , respectively, compared to and in 2020. Quarterly dividend declared at $0.2663 per share, payable June 30, 2021 .

"Hydro One continues to support our employees, customers and communities through these challenging times," said Mark Poweska, President and CEO, of Hydro One. "Our teams are focused on delivering essential power to homes, businesses and other essential services. We play a critical role in powering Ontario's economic growth by building essential, sustainable infrastructure, such as the new transmission line between Chatham and Lambton that will support the rapid growth of the agriculture industry in southwest Ontario."

Selected Consolidated Financial and Operating Highlights





Three months ended March 31

(millions of Canadian dollars, except as otherwise noted) 2021

2020









Revenues

1,811

1,850

Purchased power

894

1,007

Revenues, net of purchased power1

917

843

Net income attributable to common shareholders

268

225

Adjusting items 



Adjusted net income attributable to common shareholders1 268

225









Basic EPS

$0.45

$0.38

Diluted EPS

$0.45

$0.38

Basic Adjusted EPS1

$0.45

$0.38

Diluted Adjusted EPS1

$0.45

$0.38









Net cash from operating activities

517

548

Capital investments

527

372

Assets placed in-service

157

225









Transmission: Average monthly Ontario 60-minute peak demand (MW) 19,937

19,247

Distribution: Electricity distributed to Hydro One customers (GWh) 8,156

7,484





1 Non-GAAP Measures - Hydro One uses financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning under the United States generally accepted accounting principles (US GAAP) and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. Hydro One calculated the non-GAAP measures by adjusting certain US GAAP measures for specific items that impact comparability but which the Company does not consider part of normal, ongoing operations. Refer to the Non-GAAP Measures section of the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) for further discussion of these items.

Key Financial Highlights

2021 First Quarter Highlights

The Company reported net income attributable to common shareholders of $268 million during the quarter, compared to $225 million in the same period of 2020. This resulted in EPS and adjusted EPS of $0.45, compared to EPS and adjusted EPS of $0.38 in the prior year.

Revenues, net of purchased power, for the first quarter were $74 million higher than last year, mainly due to higher distribution and transmission revenues as a result of OEB-approved rates including the timing of the OEB decision on the 2020 rates received in the second quarter of the prior year, and higher energy demand and consumption driven by favourable weather.

Operation, maintenance and administration (OM&A) costs in the first quarter of 2021 were higher than last year, primarily due to higher work program spend related to vegetation management, information technology initiatives, and customer programs, higher volume of distribution station maintenance work, and costs related to the Peterborough Distribution and Orillia Power acquisitions, partially offset by lower corporate support costs. OM&A expenditures in the first quarter of 2021 also included other post-employment benefit (OPEB) costs that have been recognized in OM&A following the 2020-2022 OEB transmission decision and recovered in rates, therefore net income neutral.

Depreciation, amortization and asset removal costs for the first quarter were higher than last year, mainly due to growth in capital assets as the Company continues to place new assets in-service, consistent with its ongoing capital investment program.

Income tax expense for the first quarter of 2021 was higher than the prior year primarily due to higher income before taxes for the quarter.

Hydro One continues to invest in the reliability and performance of Ontario's electricity transmission and distribution systems, by addressing aging power system infrastructure, facilitating connectivity to new load customers and generation sources, and improving service to customers. The Company made capital investments of $527 million during the first quarter of 2021, and placed $157 million of new assets in-service.

COVID-19

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company's decisions and actions have continuously been guided by two priorities: to protect Hydro One's employees and to maintain the safe and reliable supply of electricity to Hydro One's customers. To date, Hydro One has been successful in achieving these priorities.

Notwithstanding the onset of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2021, Hydro One continues to operate safely as a result of the safety procedures and practices that the Company implemented in 2020. To date, Hydro One has experienced very few cases of workplace transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

Included in the Company's results for the first quarter are costs incurred as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. OM&A costs in the quarter include $4 million of COVID-19 related expenses, which primarily consist of direct expenses, including purchases of additional facility-related cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment.

Looking ahead, it is very difficult to determine or estimate the future impacts of COVID-19 on Hydro One's operations as it will be largely dependent on the duration of the pandemic and severity of the measures implemented to combat this virus. Electricity consumption and demand can be impacted by numerous variables, including weather, changing economic conditions and conservation efforts, making it difficult to estimate the impact of COVID-19 with any level of precision. Hydro One continues to take the necessary steps to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the Company's operations.

Selected Operating Highlights

Hydro One launched Connected for Life, a promise to help customers stay connected to safe and reliable power while our customer care team helps them access financial assistance and flexible payment options. The initiative builds on the Company's Pandemic Relief Program and its pledge to keep the lights on during the pandemic.

The Company was requested by the IESO to build a 230-kilovolt double circuit transmission line between Chatham and Lambton to provide electricity in support of agricultural growth in the Windsor-Essex and Chatham areas. The IESO is expecting the agricultural electricity demand in the region to grow from 500 MW today to about 2,000 MW by 2035. If approved by the OEB, the line would be in service by 2028.

Hydro One Networks Inc. and Capgemini Canada Inc. entered into a new master services agreement for information technology services for a period of just over three years. This agreement replaced an arrangement with Inergi LP for similar services that expired on February 28, 2021.

Subsequent to the quarter, the Company received a decision from the OEB regarding the implementation of the deferred tax asset. The decision concludes the process.

Common Share Dividends

Following the conclusion of the first quarter, on May 6, 2021, the Company declared a quarterly cash dividend to common shareholders of $0.2663 per share to be paid on June 30, 2021 to shareholders of record on June 9, 2021.

Supplemental Segment Information



Three months ended March 31, (millions of Canadian dollars)

2021 2020







Revenues





Transmission

448 400 Distribution

1,354 1,439 Other

9 11 Total revenues

1,811 1,850







Revenues, net of purchased power





Transmission

448 400 Distribution

460 432 Other

9 11 Total revenues, net of purchased power

917 843







Operation, maintenance and administration costs





Transmission

98 102 Distribution

167 148 Other

17 15 Total operation, maintenance and administration costs 282 265







Income (loss) before financing charges and taxes



Transmission

229 186 Distribution

193 186 Other

(10) (6) Total income before financing charges and taxes 412 366







Capital investments





Transmission

348 236 Distribution

176 135 Other

3 1 Total capital investments

527 372







Assets placed in-service





Transmission

48 129 Distribution

106 95 Other

3 1 Total assets placed in-service

157 225

This press release should be read in conjunction with the Company's first quarter 2021 unaudited consolidated financial statements and MD&A. These financial statements and MD&A together with additional information about Hydro One, including the audited consolidated financial statements and MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2020 can be accessed at www.HydroOne.com/Investors and www.sedar.com .

Quarterly Investment Community Teleconference

The Company's first quarter 2021 results teleconference with the investment community will be held on May 7, 2021 at 8 a.m. ET, a webcast of which will be available at www.HydroOne.com/Investors . Members of the financial community wishing to ask questions during the call should dial 1-866-221-1674 prior to the scheduled start time and request access to Hydro One's first quarter 2021 results call, conference ID 3790693 (international callers may dial 1-270-215-9604). Media and other interested parties are welcome to participate on a listen-only basis. A webcast of the teleconference will be available at the same link following the call. Additionally, investors should note that from time to time Hydro One management presents at brokerage sponsored investor conferences. Most often, but not always, these conferences are webcast by the hosting brokerage firm, and when they are webcast, links are made available on Hydro One's website at www.HydroOne.com/Investors and are posted generally at least two days before the conference.

Hydro One Limited (TSX: H)

Hydro One Limited, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is Ontario's largest electricity transmission and distribution provider with approximately 1.4 million valued customers, approximately $30.3 billion in assets as at December 31, 2020, and annual revenues in 2020 of approximately $7.3 billion.

Our team of approximately 8,700 skilled and dedicated employees proudly build and maintain a safe and reliable electricity system which is essential to supporting strong and successful communities. In 2020, Hydro One invested approximately $1.9 billion in its transmission and distribution networks, and supported the economy through buying approximately $1.7 billion of goods and services.

We are committed to the communities where we live and work through community investment, sustainability and diversity initiatives. We are designated as a Sustainable Electricity Company by the Canadian Electricity Association.

Hydro One Limited's common shares are listed on the TSX and certain of Hydro One Inc.'s medium term notes are listed on the NYSE. Additional information can be accessed at www.hydroone.com , www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov .

For More Information

For more information about everything Hydro One, please visit www.hydroone.com where you can find additional information including links to securities filings, historical financial reports, and information about the Company's governance practices, corporate social responsibility, customer solutions, and further information about its business.

Forward-Looking Statements and Information

This press release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such information includes, but is not limited to, statements related to: the Company's continuing support of employees, customers and communities; powering Ontario's economic growth; the Company's ongoing and planned projects, initiatives and expected capital investments, including anticipated outcomes, impacts and timing; investments in reliability and performance of the electricity system; the 2020-2022 transmission decision; impact of COVID-19 on the Company's business, operations and service; the Company's priorities in its response to COVID-19 and the actions and mitigation measures taken; the Company's efforts in relation to safety; the IESO's expectations relating to electricity demand; the master services agreements for information technology services; and payment of dividends. Words such as "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "attempt," "may," "plan," "will", "can", "believe," "seek," "estimate," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking information. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or actions and involve assumptions and risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking information. Some of the factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from the results expressed, implied or forecasted by such forward-looking information, including some of the assumptions used in making such statements, are discussed more fully in Hydro One's filings with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Hydro One does not intend, and it disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking information, except as required by law.

SOURCE Hydro One Limited

Related Links

http://www.hydroone.com


FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America has selected independent and minority- and female-owned Culture Brands as its African American marketing agency of record. Culture Brands will provide strategic marketing solutions for reaching and engaging African American audiences more effectively and will begin work this month with the launch of the all-new 2022 Tucson. Hyundai has entered a multi-year agreement with Culture Brands following a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process.

"At Hyundai, our vision is progress for humanity, and that includes making our marketing more inclusive and representative," said Angela Zepeda, CMO, Hyundai Motor America. "We selected Culture Brands for its expertise in reaching multicultural communities in culturally relevant ways. We can't wait to get started and be more strategic, targeted and authentic in how we communicate with African American consumers."

"At Culture Brands, we use our media platforms, consumer brands and partnerships to generate culturally relevant and affirming campaigns and content; we aren't just marketers, we are culture shapers and shifters," said Eunique Jones Gibson, CEO & Chief Creative Officer of Culture Brands. "We are honored that Hyundai has chosen Culture Brands as its collaborative partner and look forward to working with them to create and execute campaigns that resonate with the African American audience."

Culture Brands is known for developing innovative content that refutes stereotypes and champions audiences to celebrate unsung Black figures and unwritten history beyond 28 days a year. They currently house properties such as the award-winning platform Because Of Them We Can, as well as CultureTags, and Dream Village which executed a multi-city tour with OWN and American Family Insurance in 2018.

Culture Brands will collaborate with Hyundai to develop African American marketing strategies, create new vehicle campaigns, provide experiential and social media strategy, and consult on media buying decisions. In addition to the Tucson campaign, Culture Brands will support future model and IONIQ sub-brand launches, as well as Hyundai Hope On Wheels activities in 2021.

Culture Brands

Culture Brands is an independent, minority and female-owned agency that exists to authentically celebrate, reflect and represent African Americans in media. Founded in 2017, by 15-year advertising veteran Eunique Jones Gibson, we create culturally relevant and affirming campaigns and content that inspire African American audiences by ensuring they feel seen, heard and valued. At Culture Brands, we are constantly engaged in a two-way conversation with the African American community through our owned and operated media platforms and consumer brands such as the award-winning Because of Them We Can, Because of Them We Can Box (Just For Kids), #CultureTags and Dream Village. Culture Brands is headquartered right outside of the nation's capital in Hyattsville, MD.

www.culturebrands.co

Hyundai Motor America

At Hyundai Motor America, we believe everyone deserves better. From the way we design and build our cars to the way we treat the people who drive them, making things better is at the heart of everything we do. Hyundai's technology-rich product lineup of cars, SUVs and alternative-powered electric and fuel cell vehicles is backed by Hyundai Assuranceour promise to create a better experience for customers. Hyundai vehicles are sold and serviced through more than 820 dealerships nationwide and nearly half of those sold in the U.S. are built at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama. Hyundai Motor America is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, and is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea.

Please visit our media website at www.HyundaiNews.com

Hyundai Motor America on Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram

SOURCE Hyundai Motor America

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VANCOUVER, BC, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (the "Company") - (TSX: ITH) (NYSE American: THM) today announced that it has filed its unaudited first quarter Financial Statements and associated Management Discussion and Analysis and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three-month period ended March 31, 2021.

As of March 31, 2021, the Company had working capital of US$11.7 million.

Shareholders can obtain copies of the Company's unaudited first quarter Financial Statements and associated Management Discussion and Analysis and Form 10-Q on SEDAR at: www.sedar.com, EDGAR at www.sec.gov and on the Company's website at: www.ithmines.com. The Company will also provide hard copies of these documents, free of charge, to shareholders who request a copy directly from the Company.

About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. has a 100% interest in its Livengood Gold Project located along the paved Elliott Highway, 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

On behalf of

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

(signed) Karl L. Hanneman

Chief Executive Officer

This news release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

SOURCE International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

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NEW YORK, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- iStar Inc. (NYSE: STAR) announced today that Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen will be leaving iStar this month to join a company in the cryptocurrency infrastructure space.

Jay Sugarman, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We thank Jeremy for his contributions at iStar, and wish him well in his next endeavor. Given our strong capital markets and investor relations teams, as well as our deep accounting and tax teams, we will not seek a replacement in the near term, while we continue to execute upon our strategy of scaling the ground lease ecosystem and ensuring the full value of our portfolio is recognized by investors."

Jeremy Fox-Geen said, "While excited for my new opportunity, I am saddened to leave such a high-quality institution. iStar and Safehold are great companies, with strong leadership and a terrific team. I look forward to watching their continued success."

* * *



iStar Inc. (NYSE: STAR) is focused on reinventing the ground lease sector, unlocking value for real estate owners throughout the country by providing modern, more efficient ground leases on institutional quality properties. As the founder, investment manager and largest shareholder of Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE), the creator of the modern ground lease industry, iStar is using its national investment platform and its historic strengths in finance and net lease to expand the use of modern ground leases within the $7 trillion institutional commercial real estate market. Recognized as a consistent innovator in the real estate markets, iStar specializes in identifying and scaling newly discovered opportunities and has completed more than $40 billion of transactions over the past two decades. Additional information on iStar is available on its website at www.istar.com.

SOURCE iStar Inc.
AURORA, Colo., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- James Toliver Craig, DDS is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Top Dentist for his leadership, commitment, and professional excellence with Summerbrook Dental Group.

James Toliver Craig, DDS

Having led an impressive 14-year career of service, Dr. Craig has garnered an excellent reputation for demonstrating the highest level of professionalism, compassion, and integrity as a trusted dentist. He is currently practicing dentistry at Summerbrook Dental Group in Aurora, CO, where he utilizes his repertoire of expertise in general and cosmetic dentistry and all the latest technologies including 3D microscope, Xguide for dental implants, and the SOLEA laser to provide the best care possible. In addition to dentistry, he also offers TMJ ultrasounds and sleep medicine treatments, as well as teaches dental implant procedures for Noble Biocare, Implant Direct, and Hiossen. He is devoted to making his patients' day better, establishing positive, long-lasting relationships, and providing a safe environment for them to return for services.

To prepare for his dental career, Dr. Craig completed his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University, where he obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in Zoology. He went onto receive his Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree from the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Dentistry in 2006. Soon thereafter, he completed two years of research for the National Institutes of Health in bone substitutes and composites and is a contributor to many scholarly papers published in peer-reviewed journals on the topics of Bone Substitute Materials and Composite Filling material. Earlier in his career, Dr. Craig was a professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry, where he taught courses in Clinical Dentistry, Biochemistry and Histology and where he founded the International Dental Student program, bringing licensure to foreign-born dentists wishing to practice in the United States.

Remaining abreast of the latest dental advancements, Dr. Craig maintains active memberships and affiliations with several organizations including the American Dental Association, Colorado Dental Association, the Metro Denver Dental Society, the Mile High Cerec Study Club, the Academy of Osseointegration, the Integrated Dental Medicine Academy, the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and the Academy of General Dentistry. Additionally, he has contributed to many articles between 2007 and 2012.

In his rare spare time, Dr. Craig is notable for his contributions to the community. He devotes his time volunteering at the Food Bank for the Rockies and with Project: WE CAN HELP, which is an anti-bullying program sponsored by the Denver Police Department.

In looking to the future, Dr. Craig intends to help as many people as he can, especially his patients to get healthy throughout their whole lives. He wants his team to learn and grow to further their professional developments, and continue to teach dentists how to treat patients as "whole people" instead of as individual teeth.

Dr. Craig is happily married to his wife, Mrs. Angela Craig for 20 years, who often helps out at the practice. They have six children, and they all enjoy the outdoors, especially camping, snowboarding, fishing, hiking, rock climbing, and mountain biking. They also enjoy visiting theme parks and are often traveling to Disney, Universal, and Sea World.

For further information, please visit https://summerbrookdental.com/.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com


The family fun sing-a-long and story time are part of the Healthy Americas Foundation's Nuestros Ninos effort that is supported by The Centene Charitable Foundation. As part of the effort, Sesame Street in Communities bilingual (English and Spanish) videos, storybooks, and activities are being made available in new Comfy-Cozy spaces in Hispanic-serving early childhood centers in twenty cities. The spaces feature a comforting, safe space for children and families. Using the power of the beloved Muppets of Sesame Street, the bilingual resources being made available, are designed to help children handle their big feelings during these challenging times and foster nurturing connections between children and the caring adults in their lives. The bilingual resources are also available online at www.SesameStreetinCommunities.org.

"We are so proud to bring Sesame Street in Communities to families as part of Nuestros Ninos and we are thrilled to celebrate Mother's Day with these special family events," said Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, Senior Vice President of U.S. Social Impact, Sesame Workshop. "Together with our wonderful partners at the Healthy Americas Foundation and The Centene Charitable Foundation, we are building a circle of care around all children."

"The Centene Charitable Foundation is proud to support this important initiative in Hispanic communities throughout the country to promote the well-being of children," said Marcela Manjarrez-Hawn, Senior Vice President, Chief Communications Officer for Centene. "Together we can make a positive and lasting impact on the health and wellness of kids and families in all communities."

About Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, the pioneering television show that has been reaching and teaching children since 1969. Today, Sesame Workshop is an innovative force for change, with a mission to help kids everywhere grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. We're active in more than 150 countries, serving vulnerable children through a wide range of media, formal education, and philanthropically-funded social impact programs, each grounded in rigorous research and tailored to the needs and cultures of the communities we serve. For more information, please visit www.sesameworkshop.org.

About The Centene Charitable Foundation  Since 2004, the Centene Charitable Foundation has worked to make a difference in communities by investing in organizations and institutions that improve the lives of their neighbors and friends. A central element of Centene's business strategy involves their focus on the whole person, not just the physical body. That principle has shaped their approach to community investments, paving the way for Centene to continue its support of long-term and far-reaching initiatives that promote strong and healthy communities.

About the Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF)- The Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF) seeks to improve the health of individuals and families throughout the Americas. HAF's efforts are grounded in the experience of the National Alliance for Hispanic Health and its many partners. For more information, please visit www.healthyamericasfund.org.

SOURCE Healthy Americas Foundation (HAF)

Related Links

http://www.healthyamericasfund.org


Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Gibbs & Cox is the largest independent ship design firm focused on naval architecture and marine engineering. The company's world class naval architects, designers, engineers and program managers develop innovative vessel designs and naval capabilities. The acquisition positions Leidos to provide a broad set of engineering solutions to the US Navy and to an expanding set of foreign Navies.

"We are delighted to welcome the Gibbs & Cox team to the Leidos family," said Leidos Chairman and CEO Roger Krone. "Gibbs & Cox is widely regarded for developing the most talented and experienced naval designers in the world. We look forward to this new era of innovation while combining the best of both companies."

"We are excited to join Leidos, whose employee culture and history of innovation strongly mirror our own legendary 91-year history," said Gibbs & Cox President and Chief Executive Chris Deegan. "Gibbs & Cox will remain the nation's largest independent provider of maritime services. The combination of our world-class naval architecture, design and engineering services with Leidos' speed, security and scale will significantly enhance our combined offerings in the fast growing maritime undersea, autonomous and cyber security segments. We look forward to mapping a new Gibbs & Cox with Leidos for the next 90 years."

Advisors

Citigroup Global Markets Inc. served as exclusive financial advisor and Holland & Knight LLP served as legal advisor to Leidos. Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor and Greenburg Traurig, LLP served as legal advisor to Gibbs & Cox in connection with this transaction.

About Leidos



Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 39,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Va., Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $12.30 billion for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2021. For more information, visit www.leidos.com.

About Gibbs & Cox

Gibbs & Cox, Inc. is an independent engineering and design firm specializing in naval architecture, marine engineering, management support, and engineering consulting. The firm is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia with offices throughout the United States and Australia.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The forward-looking statements contained in this release involve risks and uncertainties that may affect Leidos' operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek," "project", "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can," "continue" and other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of the transaction or future operating or financial performance or events. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, economic, competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors. Accordingly, there is no assurance that the expectations of Leidos will be realized. This release also contains statements about the proposed acquisition of Gibbs & Cox that are based on assumptions currently believed to be valid but involve significant risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Leidos' control, which could cause Leidos' actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements with respect to the transaction, including risks relating to the completion of the transaction on anticipated terms and timing, including regulatory approvals, anticipated tax treatment, ability to retain key personnel, the dependency of the transaction on market conditions and the impact of a change in market conditions on the value to be received in the transaction, unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, uncertainty as to the expected financial condition and economic performance of the company following the closing, including future revenues, expenses, earnings, indebtedness, losses, prospects, business strategies for the management, expansion and growth of the company following the closing, Leidos' ability to integrate the businesses successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies, and the risk that disruptions from the transaction will harm Leidos' business. While the list of factors presented here is considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Unlisted factors may present significant additional obstacles to the realization of forward-looking statements. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, legal liability to third parties and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on Leidos' consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. For a discussion identifying additional important factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, see Leidos' filings with the SEC, including "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors" in Leidos' annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2021 and in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q which are available at leidos.com and at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made only as of the date of this release. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Leidos assumes no obligation to provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws.

SOURCE Gibbs & Cox, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.gibbscox.com


BEVERLY HILLS, Mich., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Lerner Advertising in Beverly Hills, Michigan is proud to announce that the agency has won first place honors for both :30 and :60 TV at this year's National Trial Attorneys Summit Golden Gavel Awards, held in Miami Beach.

It's the second year in a row that the agency has been recognized for their work and they thank attorneys William Mattar and Mike Morse for being adventurous enough to let them cut loose and be different. And the late, great Sam Collins for his brilliant ideas.
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Shift5, Inc., an operational technology data and cyber security company, announces Major General (Ret) Ed Wilson joins as the latest addition to their Board of Advisors.

Major General (Ret) Ed Wilson Joins Board of Advisors for Shift5

Major General (Ret) Burke E. "Ed" Wilson served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force and as a senior executive in the Department of Defense. MG (Ret) Wilson commanded at all levels from squadron to 24 Air Force during his three-plus decades in the military putting him at the forefront of cyber and space operations. He was instrumental to the initial fielding and employment of the nation's Cyber Mission Force to conduct defensive and offensive cyber operations, which included development of groundbreaking tactics, techniques & procedures and the associated mission systems. He then served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, supporting the Secretary of Defense and other senior government leaders with policies, strategies and plans to guide DoD's operations in cyberspace.

MG (Ret) Wilson graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and earned a M.S. in electrical/computer engineering from Northeastern University, and a M.A. in airpower art and science from the Air Force's School of Advanced Airpower Studies.

"MG (Ret) Wilson brings decades of experience leading strategic and policy change within the US Department of Defense. He played a crucial role in defining how the DoD operates in cyberspace, and he's continuing to serve that mission by advising Shift5's board and executive team as we deliver the Air Force's first persistent cyber defense capability to weapon platform owners and Mission Defense Teams." - Josh Lospinoso, CEO & Co-founder of Shift5

About Shift5

Our team has over six decades of combined active-duty military and intelligence community experience assessing the cybersecurity of, and conducting maintenance on, weapon systems, operational technology, and information systems. Shift5 also brings robust defense experience in operational technology data collection, edge processing, data analysis, weapon system vulnerability analysis, cyber-physical penetration testing, and quick-reaction software and hardware product development.

Learn More about Shift5

Media Contact:

Nicole Wheeler

Director of Marketing

[email protected] | (610) 246-1185

SOURCE Shift5
Its time we live up to the ideal of eradicating child hunger from the face of the earth. We must provide enough emergency aid to Yemen and other countries on the brink of famine. No child should be starving to death anywhere. No mother should experience the horror of watching this tragedy.
COLLEGE PARK, Md., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- When COVID-19 halted the global economy, business still carried on across borders. In Maryland, five companies stand out for weathering the storm and will be featured in a Maryland Business Adapts Roundtable, a virtual event from 9 a.m.-noon Thursday, June 3, 2021, organized by the Center for Global Business (CGB) at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.

"The event celebrates the adjustments during the pandemic of Maryland companies in international business while providing insights for topics like minimizing the business risk of their global operations or preparation for sudden operational changes," says CGB Executive Director Rebecca Bellinger.

"Representatives of companies any size can benefit by participating, including exporters or those thinking about exporting, plus entrepreneurs and business students," Bellinger says. "Participants further can take away insights for innovating workplaces both from case studies featuring the recognized companies and networking with peer participants."

Maryland Senator Ben Cardin will give remarks, in addition to those by opening speakers including Maryland Secretary of Commerce Kelly Schulz, University of Maryland President Darryll J. Pines and Maryland Smith Dean Prabhudev Konana.

A keynote address by Anthony Roche, McCormick Vice President for Human Relations  Global and Corporate Functions, will lead into formal recognition of the honoree firms, whose representatives will lead break-out panel discussions for deep dives into their pivots and practices that proved effective.

The panel discussions, moderated by Maryland Smith faculty experts, will involve:

Miltec UV (Stevensville) President Bob Blandford describing his company's effectiveness in maintaining cost efficiencies and restructuring operations to deter competition from abroad by diversifying product lines into higher value-added technology, clean and sustainable energy products.

United Source One (Belcamp) President and CEO Michael Imgarten sharing results from his company's international corporate restructuring with a focus on new import financing and distribution and expanding export markets. He also will discuss harnessing the SBA's Payment Protection Program.

RIFE International (Rockville) President and CEO Kwabena Osei-Sarpong discussing his firm's move to reimagine the future of the renewable energy industry and position the company for long-term global growth, including identifying innovative value-added services leading to cost-saving operations, a leaner balance sheet, and increased profitability.

Get Real Health (Rockville) President and Founding Partner Robin Wiener sharing insights on shifting from "hospital-centered" to "individual-centered" value-based healthcare through establishment of extensive healthcare expertise, data, and advanced IT networks. She also will discuss expanding telehealth solutions to the Indo-Pacific region and the UAE.

Rovner Products (Timonium) President and Owner George Reeder discussing utilizing a customized ERP system to optimize the use of resources, strengthening stakeholder relationships, investing in new technology, and training of employees to take advantage of opportunities in China.

These companies were publicly nominated and selected by a CGB-organized committee including Kislaya Prasad, Maryland Smith research professor and CGB Academic Director; and Signe Pringle, Maryland Deputy Secretary of Commerce and CGB Advisory Board member.

"These firms will offer valuable situational insights to other companies that participate in the roundtable and separately to Maryland Smith students and business students nationwide through open-source case studies available in fall 2021 classes," Bellinger says.

"Resilience is a key skill in business," Bellinger adds. "There is no greater situation for it to be tested than during a pandemic, and this can apply for companieswho may be right down the road from youwho successfully pivoted and adapted their strategies to minimize business risk of their global operations in challenging times."

Co-sponsors of Maryland Business Adapts are the Center for Global Business, Office of Career Services and Office of Executive Education at Maryland Smith, plus the U.S. Export Assistance Center, the Maryland Department of Commerce and the Maryland/DC District Export Council.

This event is supported in part by a Title VI grant program, CIBE (Centers for International Business Education), administered by the U.S. Department of Education.

Read more on the Maryland Business Adapts homepage and register via https://go.umd.edu/Tw7.

About the Center for Global Business

The Center for Global Business at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business connects the diverse members of the Maryland Smith community (students, faculty, staff, alumni) to the world and the world to the Smith School, to provide these members and partners with opportunities to gain a global mindset and build international business skills, and to serve as a Maryland resource center for companies seeking to take their goods and services into the global marketplace.

About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, specialty master's, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

Contact: Greg Muraski at [email protected].

SOURCE University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Miami Classical Music Festival (MCMF), an intensive training program for the next generation of classical musicians, has officially opened its call for student applications for summer 2021. MCMF will host global young artists selected from top conservatories and universities for three weeks of performances in multiple exciting Miami Beach venues. Student applications close on May 15, 2021.

MCMF 2021 is anchored by two opera productions: Jules Massenet's Cendrillon (Cinderella) and Benjamin Britten's Albert Herring. Both will be performed in one of the highest-profile venues in Miami Beach, the breathtaking Faena Forum .

A major cornerstone of the MCMF experience is the opportunity to perform core operatic literature with a full orchestra. The MCMF Orchestra is comprised of the country's most talented young instrumentalists, who will also have the opportunity to perform a series of festive patriotic concerts through the Independence Day weekend.

The 2021 Festival is designed with the health and safety of both participants and audiences as top priorities. To that end, MCMF is partnering with industry professionals to create the safest possible environment for the in-person Festival session, allowing students to confidently do their best artistic work, while adhering to CDC guidelines.

MCMF's highly respected Conducting Institute returns in 2021, led by acclaimed conductor and educator Mark Gibson. The program culminates in an in-person public performance that will be video-recorded.

The Betsy  South Beach has been the host hotel for MCMF since its founding and continues to be a special venue for evening student performances and more. Jonathan Plutzik, owner of The Betsy Hotel and Chair of the Ocean Drive Association said, "We embraced the potential of this exciting festival early on and are so excited to watch as it has become such an important cultural contributor to our Miami Beach community and the region."

The Faena Forum and Faena Art are a major sponsor and partner of MCMF 2021. Faena Forum is a pioneering new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning Rem Koolhaas/OMA and the home of Faena Art in Miami. Faena Forum was envisioned by Alan Faena as the cultural heart of Faena District Miami Beach, which encompasses six blocks of new development designed by OMA, Foster + Partners, and Brandon Haw, and the renovation of historic buildings.

For more information about applying to the program, visit www.miamimusicfestival.com .

Contact:

Please email [email protected] .

SOURCE Miami Classical Music Festival

Related Links

http://www.miamimusicfestival.com


WASHINGTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA and Axiom Space have signed a mission order for the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station and will host a teleconference with media at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 10, to discuss more details about the mission.

NASA has opened up the space station for commercial activities, including private astronaut missions, as part of its plan to develop a robust and competitive economy in low-Earth orbit. NASA's needs in low-Earth orbit  such as human research, technology development, and in-flight crew testing  will continue after the retirement of the International Space Station. Commercial industry will help meet these needs by providing destinations and transportation capabilities to continue these services as part of a broader low-Earth orbit economy. Enabling private astronaut missions to the station is an important step to stimulate demand for commercial human spaceflight services so that NASA can be one of many customers in low-Earth orbit.

The spaceflight, named Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), is scheduled to launch no earlier than January 2022 for an eight-day mission aboard the orbiting complex. The Axiom Space crew will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Teleconference participants are:

Phil McAlister , director, commercial spaceflight development, NASA Headquarters

, director, commercial spaceflight development, NASA Headquarters Angela Hart , manager, commercial low-Earth orbit development, NASA's Johnson Space Center

, manager, commercial low-Earth orbit development, NASA's Johnson Space Center Dana Weigel , deputy manager, International Space Station, Johnson

, deputy manager, International Space Station, Johnson Michael Suffredini , president and CEO, Axiom Space

, president and CEO, Axiom Space Michael Lopez-Alegria, vice president and Ax-1 commander, Axiom Space

Media may ask questions via phone only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please email Stephanie Schierholz no later than 10 a.m. Monday, May 10, at: [email protected].

For more than 20 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence in low-Earth orbit. The agency's goal is a low-Earth orbit marketplace where NASA is one of many customers, and the private sector leads the way. This strategy will provide services the government needs at a lower cost, enabling the agency to focus on its Artemis missions to the Moon and on to Mars while continuing to use low-Earth orbit as a training and proving ground for those deep space missions.

For more information about NASA's commercial low-Earth orbit economy effort, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


WASHINGTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA has awarded a contract to Harris Miller Miller & Hanson Inc. of Burlington, Massachusetts, to support a national campaign of community overflight tests using the agency's X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology research aircraft.

This cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a maximum potential value of approximately $29 million with an eight-year period of performance.

Significant subcontractors include:

Westat Inc. of Rockville, Maryland

Blue Ridge Research and Consulting LLC of Asheville, North Carolina

EMS Bruel & Kjr Inc. of Folsom, California

NASA is designing and building the X-59 research aircraft  a piloted, single-seat supersonic X-plane  with technology that reduces the loudness of a sonic boom to that of a gentle thump. NASA's aeronautical innovators are leading a team across government and industry to collect data that could allow supersonic flight over land, dramatically reducing travel time within the United States or to anywhere in the world.

The scope of the work under this contract includes supporting NASA in the planning, execution, and documentation of phase three of the agency's Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission.

NASA currently is working with Lockheed Martin Skunk Works of Palmdale, California, to design, build and conduct initial flight testing of the X-59 research aircraft as part of phase one of the mission. The team will work during phase two to prove the X-59 performs as designed and is safe to fly in the national airspace. During phase three, NASA will fly the X-59 aircraft over communities yet to be selected and ask residents to share their response to the sound the aircraft generates during supersonic flight.

NASA will provide the results of the community survey and the X-59 acoustic data collected during the community overflight tests to U.S. and international regulators for use in considering new sound-based rules to enable supersonic flight over land.

For more information on the X-59 aircraft and its development, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/X59

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


Driven by increasing demand for connectivity, electrification away from fossil fuels, and efficient sustainable energy sources, Navitas predicts GaN ICs can address markets estimated to grow to over $13 billion in 2026. Markets include mobile, consumer, enterprise (data center, 5G), renewables (solar, energy storage) and EV / eMobility.

With a proven leadership team with over 300 years of combined power semiconductor experience and a track record of extraordinary value creation, Navitas is in mass production and ramping shipments to many major OEM's and aftermarket suppliers, including Dell, Lenovo, LG, Xiaomi, OPPO, Amazon, Belkin and dozens of others. Over 18 million GaNFast power ICs have shipped, with zero reported field failures.

With a proprietary process design kit (PDK) and over 120 patents granted or pending, Navitas has an early mover advantage in the GaN market. A robust roadmap for new GaN generations and continued cost reductions accelerate the transformation to "Electrify Our World" away from CO 2 -burdened fossil fuels. Navitas estimates that GaN can impact up to 2.6 Gtons of CO 2 reduction annually by 2050.

Gene Sheridan, co-founder and CEO of Navitas commented: "Navitas was formed with the vision to revolutionize the world of power electronics, while addressing significant sustainability challenges for our planet. Not only has Navitas' world-class team invented and patented revolutionary new technology, but we have also overcome all the key hurdles associated with successfully bringing it to market. We are proud to enter the public capital markets with strong operating momentum and investor partners who share our enthusiasm for our long-term mission."

"We are excited to partner with Navitas," said Rick Hendrix, Chief Executive Officer of Live Oak, "This is the most compelling opportunity we have seen in the semiconductor industry, and we are delighted that Navitas' solutions contribute meaningfully to reduced carbon emissions through more efficient power delivery. The capital raised through this transaction will allow Navitas to accelerate that vision as they expand from mobile and consumer markets into even more power-intensive applications like data centers, solar energy and electric vehicles - all while delivering a significant CO2 reduction as part of their Net Zero initiative."

Navitas was originally funded by the company's management team, along with top venture capitalists with exceptional long term track records highly focused on disruptive businesses in the clean tech and electronics industries. Capricorn Investment Group, Atlantic Bridge and seed investor Malibu IQ, along with all current investors are rolling 100% of their equity into this transaction. Malibu IQ founder David Moxam noted, "With a doubling of electrical energy demand driving the global energy transition, Navitas' GaN Power ICs are already having a powerful, positive energy efficiency impact, benefiting all of us globally."

Transaction Overview

The transaction is anticipated to deliver up to $398 million of gross proceeds to the combined company, assuming minimal redemptions by Live Oak II's public stockholders. This includes an oversubscribed and upsized $145 million private placement of Class A common stock in Live Oak II at $10.00 per share (the "PIPE"), from a diversified group of top-tier institutional investors. Proceeds of the transaction will be used to fund Navitas' future growth initiatives. Existing Navitas shareholders will roll 100% of their equity into the combined company, demonstrating their conviction of Navitas' continued growth trajectory. The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the boards of Live Oak II and Navitas, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to approval by Navitas' shareholders, which has been secured through support agreements, Live Oak II's shareholders and other customary closing conditions, including any applicable regulatory approvals.

Advisors

Deutsche Bank Securities and Jefferies are serving as co-financial advisors to Navitas. Jefferies and BofA Securities are acting as placement agents on the PIPE and capital markets advisors to Live Oak II. Nomura Greentech and BofA Securities are serving as financial advisors to Live Oak II. DLA Piper LLP is serving as legal counsel to Navitas. Vinson & Elkins LLP is serving as legal counsel to Live Oak II. Winston & Strawn LLP is serving as legal counsel to the placement agents on the PIPE. Blueshirt Capital Markets LLC is serving as an advisor to Navitas.

Investor Conference Call Information

Management of Navitas and Live Oak II have recorded an audio webcast reviewing the proposed transaction and investor presentation, which will be available on www.navitassemi.com/ir.

About Navitas

Navitas Semiconductor Ltd. is the industry leader in Power ICs, founded in 2014. Navitas has a strong and growing team of power semiconductor industry experts with a combined 300 years of experience in materials, devices, applications, systems and marketing, plus a proven record of innovation with over 200 patents among its founders. GaN power ICs integrate GaN power with drive, control and protection to enable faster charging, higher power density and greater energy savings for mobile, consumer, enterprise, eMobility and new energy markets. Over 120 Navitas patents are issued or pending, and over 18 million GaNFast power ICs have been shipped with zero reported field failures.

About Live Oak Acquisition Corp. II

Live Oak II raised $253 million in December 2020, and its units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on the NYSE under the tickers "LOKB.U," "LOKB" and LOKB WS," respectively. Live Oak II 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. Live Oak II is led by an experienced team of managers, operators and investors who have played important roles in helping build and grow profitable public and private businesses, both organically and through acquisitions, to create value for stockholders. The team has experience operating and investing in a wide range of industries, bringing a diversity of experiences as well as valuable expertise and perspective.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

The information in this press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included in this press release, regarding the proposed transaction, the ability of the parties to consummate the transaction, the benefits of the transaction and the combined company's future financial performance, as well as the combined company's strategy, future operations, estimated financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projections of market opportunity and market share, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "could," "should," "will," "may," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "plan," "seek," "expect," "project," "forecast," the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words.

Live Oak II and Navitas caution you that the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including the possibility that the expected growth of Navitas' business will not be realized, or will not be realized within the expected time period, due to, among other things: (i) Navitas' goals and strategies, future business development, financial condition and results of operations; (ii) Navitas' customer relationships and ability to retain and expand these customer relationships; (iii) Navitas' ability to accurately predict future revenues for the purpose of appropriately budgeting and adjusting Navitas' expenses; (iv) Navitas' ability to diversify its customer base and develop relationships in new markets; (v) the level of demand in Navitas' customers' end markets; (vi) Navitas' ability to attract, train and retain key qualified personnel; (vii) changes in trade policies, including the imposition of tariffs; (viii) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Navitas' business, results of operations and financial condition; (ix) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy; (x) the ability of Navitas to maintain compliance with certain U.S. Government contracting requirements; (xi) regulatory developments in the United States and foreign countries; and (xii) Navitas' ability to protect its intellectual property rights. Forward-looking statements are also subject to additional risks and uncertainties, including (i) changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political and legal conditions; (ii) the inability of the parties to successfully or timely consummate the proposed transaction, including the risk that any required regulatory approvals are not obtained, are delayed or are subject to unanticipated conditions that could adversely affect the combined company or the expected benefits of the proposed transaction or that the approval of the stockholders of Live Oak II is not obtained; (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Live Oak II or Navitas following announcement of the proposed transaction; (iv) the risk that the proposed transaction disrupts Live Oak II's or Navitas' current plans and operations as a result of the announcement of the proposed transaction; (v) costs related to the proposed transaction; (vi) failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the proposed transaction; (vii) risks relating to the uncertainty of the projected financial information with respect to Navitas; (viii) risks related to the rollout of Navitas' business and the timing of expected business milestones; (ix) the effects of competition on Navitas' business; (x) the amount of redemption requests made by Live Oak II's public stockholders; (xi) the ability of Live Oak II or the combined company to issue equity or equity-linked securities in connection with the proposed transaction or in the future; and (xii) those factors discussed in Live Oak II's final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on December 4, 2020 under the heading "Risk Factors" and other documents of Live Oak II filed, or to be filed, with the SEC.

If any of the risks described above materialize or our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by our forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that neither Live Oak II nor Navitas presently know or that Live Oak II and Navitas currently believe are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Live Oak II's and Navitas' expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this press release. Live Oak II and Navitas anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause Live Oak II's and Navitas' assessments to change. However, while Live Oak II and Navitas may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Live Oak II and Navitas specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Live Oak II's and Navitas' assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

Important Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the proposed transaction, Live Oak II plans to file a registration statement on Form S-4 (the "Registration Statement") with the SEC, which will include a proxy statement/prospectus of Live Oak II. Live Oak II also plans to file other documents and relevant materials with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. After the Registration Statement has been cleared by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to the stockholders of Live Oak II. SECURITYHOLDERS OF LIVE OAK II AND NAVITAS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND OTHER DOCUMENTS AND RELEVANT MATERIALS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BEFORE MAKING ANY VOTING DECISION WITH RESPECT TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION AND THE PARTIES TO THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Stockholders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents containing important information about Live Oak II and Navitas once such documents are filed with the SEC through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

Participants in the Solicitation

Live Oak II and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of Live Oak II in connection with the proposed transaction. Navitas and its officers and directors may also be deemed participants in such solicitation. Securityholders may obtain more detailed information regarding the names, affiliations and interests of certain of Live Oak II's executive officers and directors in the solicitation by reading Live Oak II's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 25, 2021 and the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction when they become available. Information concerning the interests of Live Oak II's participants in the solicitation, which may, in some cases, be different than those of Live Oak II's stockholders generally, will be set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus relating to the proposed transaction when it becomes available.

Contact Information

For Navitas

Media

Graham Robertson, CMO Grand Bridges

[email protected]

Investors

Stephen Oliver, VP Corporate Marketing & Investor Relations

[email protected]

For Live Oak II

Adam J. Fishman, Managing Partner

[email protected]

Navitas Semiconductor, GaNFast and the Navitas logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Navitas Semiconductor, Ltd. All other brands, product names and marks are or may be trademarks or registered trademarks used to identify products or services of their respective owners.

SOURCE Navitas Semiconductor

Related Links

navitassemi.com


DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market Forecast to 2027 - COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis By Component, Solution Type, and End User" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The flight data monitoring systems market in North America is expected to grow from US$ 1,311.56 million in 2020 to US$ 2,012.23 million by 2027; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2020 to 2027.

The North America aviation sector is experiencing significant growth in air traffic volume in terms of passenger count and aircraft fleet. This is mainly due to increase in business and leisure travel because of higher disposable income. In addition to passenger air travel, the cargo air fleet volume is consistently rising in developed countries.

The constantly growing aircraft fleet volume year-on-year has been leading the aircraft operators to invest in in-flight data monitoring systems. The fleet operators are increasingly accelerating the procurement of flight data monitoring systems and software. FDM systems collect the occurrence data of the flight for fleet operators that helps identify and assess the risk.

The collected information is benefiting operators in managing operations, fuel efficiency, risk management, and adherence to standard operating procedures. The quality assurance personnel and maintenance technicians are using the FDM to enhance safety and operational efficiency while managing the fleet. Ensuring safety in flight has utmost importance in the aviation industry owing to which the demand for FDM is surging with increasing aircraft deliveries.

The FDM market growth can be attributed to increasing air traffic in developing economies, rising production of commercial aircraft, and increasing use of data analytics in flight operations. The biggest giants in the aerospace industry, such as Airbus and Boeing, are substantially involved in the production of commercial aircraft. They design, manufacture, and sell commercial aircraft along with fleet support services, primarily to the commercial airline industry worldwide.

Rising inclination toward flight safety operations, increasing number of flight data monitoring system and service providers, and surging aircraft fleet volumes are the key factors boosting the growth of the North America flight data monitoring systems market. Additionally, rising demand for light safety solutions is among the other factors expected to fuel the demand for flight data monitoring systems in North America.



The modern-day aircraft fleet are integrated with various hardware, such as flight data recorder and flight data acquisition unit. To record flight data, the fleet operators, drone operators, and investigation agencies require the flight data recorder, which includes rugged mission recorder, cockpit video recorder, engine-monitoring recorder, and quick access data recorders. Several data recorders offer swift and easy access to a removable medium and can record ~2,000 parameters, which is precise and accessible for ground analysis.

Appareo, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd., Guardian Mobility, Honeywell International Inc., L3Harris Technologies Inc., Safran Electronics & Defense, Scaled Analytics Inc., Skytrac Systems Ltd., and Teledyne Controls LLC are among the key players operating in the market.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction



2. Key Takeaways



3. Research Methodology



4. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market Landscape

4.1 Market Overview

4.2 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.3 Ecosystem Analysis



5. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market - Key Market Dynamics

5.1 Market Drivers

5.1.1 Rising Demand for Flight Safety Solutions

5.1.2 Growing Number of Aircraft Deliveries

5.2 Market Restraints

5.2.1 Expensive Flight Data Monitoring Systems and Availability of Alternative Solutions

5.3 Market Opportunities

5.3.1 Increasing Need for Helicopter Flight Data Monitoring (HFDM) Systems

5.4 Future Trends

5.4.1 Significant Increase in Offering of Flight Data Monitoring Services

5.5 Impact Analysis of Drivers and Restraints



6. Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market - North America Analysis

6.1 Overview

6.2 North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market - Revenue and Forecast to 2027 (US$ Million)



7. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market Analysis - By Component

7.1 Overview

7.2 North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market, By Component (2020 and 2027)

7.3 Hardware

7.4 Software

7.5 Services



8. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market Analysis - By Solution Type

8.1 Overview

8.2 North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market, By Solution Type (2020 and 2027)

8.3 On board

8.4 Ground



9. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market Analysis - By End User

9.1 Overview

9.2 North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market, By End User (2020 and 2027)

9.3 Fleet Operators

9.4 Drone Operators

9.5 Investigation Agencies



10. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market - Country Analysis

10.1 Overview

11. North America Flight Data Monitoring Systems Market - COVID-19 Impact Analysis

11.1 North America: Impact Assessment of COVID-19 Pandemic



12. Industry Landscape

12.1 Overview

12.2 Market Initiative

12.3 New Product Development

12.4 Partnership



13. Company Profiles

13.1 Key Facts

13.2 Business Description

13.3 Products and Services

13.4 Financial Overview

13.5 SWOT Analysis

13.6 Key Developments

Appareo

Curtiss-Wright Corporation

FLYHT Aerospace Solutions Ltd.

Guardian Mobility

Honeywell International Inc.

L3Harris Technologies Inc.

Safran Electronics & Defense

Scaled Analytics Inc.

Skytrac Systems Ltd.

Teledyne Controls LLC

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/tqxtdw

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


LOS ANGELES, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OLASTEO (our lives as seen through each other) is pleased to announce their 2021 Spring Virtual Experience, which will occur on Friday, May 14, and Friday, May 21.

This free, powerful, and transformative event marks OLASTEO's third experience of its kind, after hosting 25 scholars in February for their Winter Virtual Experience and 20 scholars in August for their Summer Virtual Experience .

OLASTEO 2021 Spring Virtual Experience

With the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to afflict the communities OLASTEO serves, the Spring Virtual Experience will once again be hosted remotely via Zoom. Taking advantage of this online space, OLASTEO has prepared two afternoons of next-level conversations and workshops where students will hear from and speak directly with inspirational speakers.

Friday, May 14:

OLASTEO welcomes legendary actor, social justice advocate, humanitarian, and restaurateur Danny Trejo , followed by Charles and Dynasty Taylor, the father-daughter co-directors of Mental Health in the Hood , an initiative dedicated to expanding awareness about mental health stigmas.

Friday, May 21:

OLASTEO scholars will hear from Samantha Fuentes , survivor of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and gun control advocate. The concluding session features Noelle Rodriguez , a dancer, and choreographer who uses her social media platform to promote body positivity.

Supplementing these experiential learning sessions, OLASTEO provides special lunches and snacks from our local food partners: Trejo's Tacos, Trejo's Coffee & Donuts , Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen , Southern Girl Desserts , East Los Sweets , Tamales Elena Y Antojitos , Pipcorn , and PathWater .

The meals will be delivered directly to the scholars' doors in a safe and socially distanced manner. Student participants will also receive special welcome packages, including OLASTEO gear, clothing from Hybrid Nation , and more. At the conclusion of the event, scholars are presented with appreciation gift bags that include books, gift cards, and a few surprises!

"Since the pivot to virtual experiences, our goal has always been to replicate the immersive experience of our Excursions in our scholars' homes to the best of our abilities. Overcoming challenges in real-time, like finding local, healthy food partners for lunch orders and ensuring stable internet connectivity for our scholars, gave us a deeper understanding of the communities we serve. From all this change, one thing has stayed the same: These kids never cease to amaze us," said Greg Root, OLASTEO Board Member.

Follow @OLASTEO on Instagram to learn more about our upcoming events!

ABOUT OLASTEO

At OLASTEO (our lives as seen through each other), our mission is to create experiences that empower students to serve as catalysts for social impact. We do this by curating a roster of influential speakers, interactive workshops, and immersive trips. With expanded mindsets, OLASTEO alumni are better prepared to take on the world and give back to their communities. Our work is centered in and around the South Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts, where we provide diverse and unique opportunities within and beyond LA.

Contact:

Aaron Friedman, Executive Director

OLASTEO

(504) 782-4820

[email protected]

https://olasteo.org/

SOURCE OLASTEO

Related Links

https://olasteo.org/


GUANGZHOU, China, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Onion Global Limited ("Onion Global" or the "Company") (NYSE: OG), a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable and future brands to young people in China and across Asia, today announced that it has priced its initial public offering (the "IPO") of 9,310,350 American depositary shares ("ADSs"), at US$7.25 per ADS. The aggregate offering size of the IPO is approximately US$67.5 million, assuming the underwriters do not exercise their over-allotment option to purchase any additional ADSs. Each ten (10) ADSs represents one (1) Class A ordinary shares of the Company. The ADSs are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 7, 2021 under the ticker symbol "OG." The IPO is expected to close on May 11, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company has granted the underwriters an option, exercisable for 30 days from the date of the final prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,396,550 additional ADSs to cover over-allotments.

AMTD Global Markets Limited and Huatai Securities (USA), Inc. are acting as the joint bookrunners of the offering and representatives of the underwriters.

A registration statement related to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the SEC. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

This offering is being made only by means of a prospectus forming part of the effective registration statement. A copy of the final prospectus relating to the offering may be obtained, when available, by contacting the following underwriters: (i) AMTD Global Markets Limited at + 852 3163 3288, or at [email protected]; and (ii) Huatai Securities (USA), Inc. at +1 (212) 763-8160, or at [email protected].

About Onion Global Limited

Onion Global Limited (NYSE: OG) ("Onion Global" or the Company") is a next-generation lifestyle brand platform that incubates, markets and distributes the world's fresh, fashionable and future brands ("3F brands") to young people in China and across Asia. Trusted by millions in Asia, Onion Global offers customers a wide selection of lifestyle goods and services that are appealing and unique, a one-stop convenience that enhances their online shopping experience by disrupting the conventional retail landscape in China. The Company has an extensive showcase of 4,001 brands from 86 brand partners on its global platform, and features 23 categories of lifestyle products, including beauty products, maternal and baby products, food and beverages, fast fashion and wellness products. As a leading retail and lifestyle brand platform, the Company offers an integrated solution for brand sourcing, omni-channel marketing, and technology-driven distribution channels that's been designed for new, inspiring and branded products to gain optimum exposure. Empowered by its proprietary technology and big data analytics, the Company identifies and sources from internationally well-known brands, as well as private label brands that represent the fast-changing trends favored by China's younger generations. Onion Global also facilitates millions of user interactions online to help brands build up their own user base, and connect with customers through the platform's influencers who actively promote and share their shopping experiences on social media. Onion Global aims to converge new retail concepts to reshape the lifestyle and consumer culture in China.

For more information, please visit: http://ir.msyc.com/.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the Company's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "potential," "continue," "is/are likely to" or other similar expressions. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the SEC. All information provided in this press release is as of the date of this press release, and the Company does not undertake any duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

Investors Contact:

Investor Relations

Onion Global Limited

[email protected]

Media Contact:

Christensen

China - Mr. Eric Yuan

+86 138-0111-0739

[email protected]

US  Ms. Linda Bergkamp

+1 480-614-3004

[email protected]

SOURCE Onion Global Limited
TAIPEI, Taiwan, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Multinational business process outsourcing (BPO) firm, Open Access BPO, announced its investment to expand its multilingual knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and call operations.

The investment adds a new Taiwan office. The global outsourcing firm has facilities in China, the Philippines, and its US headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Open Access BPO

Launched in 2014, Open Access BPO Taiwan in Taipei's Xinyi District helps global companies access the Asian market. It provides customer support and back-office solutions to businesses in various industries, including banking, e-commerce, fintech, high-tech, AI, telecommunications, and travel.

Open Access BPO Taiwan's second campus is a 1,090-sqm facility designated to support the company's growing KPO operations when it launches within the year. It is being developed by premier industrial and interior design firm Pinqual.

"Our Taiwan expansion represents Open Access BPO's commitment to a dynamic region where growing companies seek high-touch, multilingual solutions for best-in-class customer experience for their clientele," said Co-Founder and President of Operations, Henry Chang.

The expansion of the Taiwan office is part of Open Access BPO's three-year investment plan. During this period, the company will allocate $20 million to employ highly skilled multilingual associates.

About OPEN ACCESS BPO

Open Access BPO is a multilingual outsourcing firm headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its inception in 2006, it evolved from being a telemarketing company to a full-suite provider of scalable multichannel business solutions.

The company extends its expertise to both growing enterprises and established global brands from its operations facilities in Makati and Davao in the Philippines, Taipei, Taiwan, and Xiamen, China. Its multicultural workforce provides a wide range of outsourcing solutions, including multilingual customer support and content moderation in more than 30 languages.

Media Contact:

Janelle de Guzman

1-888-888-1519

[email protected]

11/F, Glorietta 2 Corporate Center, San

Lorenzo, Makati City 1224

SOURCE Open Access BPO
VANCOUVER, BC, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Organic Garage (TSXV: OG) (OTCQX: OGGFF) (FRA: 9CW1) announced that its 100%-owned subsidiary "Future of Cheese" has signed a manufacturing agreement with Ontario based Flamaglo Foods.

Organic Garage is an Ontario-based independent organic grocer with a growing footprint, increasing revenue and new business verticals.

Founded in 2005 by a fourth-generation grocer, Matt Lurie, Organic Garage's 4-outlet Toronto area chain did $24 million in sales last year.

Like Whole Foods (purchased by Amazon for $13.7 billion), OG targets health-conscious consumers.

Many urban millennials (25 to 40-year-olds) are seeking alternatives to big chain-stores.

"A growing number of the millennial generation express dim views of corporations and their leaders," reports Forbes Magazine.

Organic Garage is neighbourhood focused - with "a wide selection of healthy and natural products at everyday affordable prices."

"The North American organic sector posted a banner year in 2019, with organic sales in the food and non-food markets totaling a record $55.1 billion, up a solid 5% from the previous year".

Within this macro-trend, the market for non-dairy butter and cheese has multiple demand drivers.

"Primary lactose intolerance is caused by a decrease in lactase production with age, so that lactose becomes poorly absorbed," states Healthline.

"Lactose intolerance affects 517% of Europeans, 6080% of Africans and Asians and around 44% of North Americans" added Healthline.

According to Manufacturing.Net, "96% percent of North Americans love cheese" to the point that 39% would give up coffee for a year to avoid quitting cheese.

Future of Cheese products include cultured butter and cream cheeses made from sustainably and ethically sourced plant-based ingredients.

Organic Garage has been working with Flamaglo Foods at their HACCP certified facility.

HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) is a systematic and preventative system developed in the 1960s by NASA," states the Canadian Institute of Food Safety, "Today, HACCP principles form the basis of Food Safety Plans worldwide".

"This includes ingredient sourcing, batch testing, product manufacturing, packaging, storage and fulfillment," states OG, "All recipes and formulations will remain proprietary to the Company, and Flamaglo Foods has executed a strict confidentiality agreement related to the production and manufacturing of Future of Cheese products".

"Selecting a domestic manufacturing partner with the highest level of proven experience, knowledge and success in the plant-based food sector is a significant milestone for the company, and allows us to commence production of our initial line of products with confidence," stated Jen Wojtaszek, President of Future of Cheese.

Flamaglo Foods products are sold in more than 2,000 retail locations across Canada.

"My team and I are excited about the collaboration with Future of Cheese," stated Francis Lo, Co-Founder of Flamaglo Foods, "we look forward to working together to help transform their well-developed vision and recipes into exceptional products ready for the rapidly growing plant-based consumer market."

"When we acquired Future of Cheese, we want to build a sound foundation on the production side," Matt Lurie, President and CEO of Organic Garage told Proactive Investors, "Finding a partner like we have now allows us to do that, as we continue to look at other markets, whether it be US or Europe, this gives us a lot of flexibility".

"Flamaglo foods are pioneers in the space of plant-based products," confirmed Craig Harding, Co-Founder of Future of Cheese, "We just happened to catch them as they launched a state-of-the art brand new facility in late 2020'.

On March 17, OG announced the expansion of its Hand-Picked Partner program.

The expansion will initially consist of the placement of the Cali-Rolls sustainable sushi brand at the Organic Garage Junction location and the roll-out of the Tori's Bakeshop program across all four Company stores.

Tori's Bakeshop is the latest partner in a curated food concept that allows select vendors to sell unique, ready-made and specialized foods to Organic Garage customers through small-footprint, on site kiosks.

OG's geographic footprint is expanding.

On November 28, 2019, OG announced that it had begun construction of the Leaside location  which follows a formula of expanding its store footprint into high population density locations.

Leaside is located northeast of Toronto's downtown core and consists of over 229,000 households with an average household income of over $139,000 per year within a 5km radius.

The Global Plant-based Cheese Market is valued approximately USD $1.01 billion in 2019 and is anticipated to grow at a rate of more than 12.8 % over the forecast period 2020-2027," states Wise Guy Reports.

February 2021 marked the 12th consecutive month of sales increases at Organic Garage.

Full Disclaimer

SOURCE Global Stocks News

Related Links

https://globalstocksnews.com


That is what successful, long-term advocacy looks like. We must not only win policy and political victories, we also must protect them from those who want to reinforce and expand the carceral state. The mission of my life is to break down stigmas and barriers. People who have similar stories to mine deserve to have hope and opportunity when they come back from a mistake  and the only way to ensure that is vigorous, never-ending advocacy.
STUART, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Premier Private Jets, a Part 135 air charter company headquartered in Stuart, FL, has acquired Oakland Air, a full-service FBO, air charter and certified repair station at Oakland County International Airport. The acquisition brings Premier's charter fleet to 14 and greatly expands their capacity in the maintenance arena. The PTK facility will be rebranded Premier Jet Services.

"We are absolutely thrilled with this major acquisition, the first of many we anticipate happening as we expand Premier's footprint around the country," said Josh Birmingham, Chief Executive Officer of Premier Private Jets. "This acquisition will expand our 'floating fleet' of light and medium jets across the entire eastern part of the United States. We believe we can deliver better customer service at lower cost by in-sourcing key functions in our operations, and this is the first of many steps we will be making as we grow this exciting and expanding business model."

Premier's entry into the FBO arena will allow them to better manage fuel purchases and overnight aircraft maintenance needs. With aircraft based at strategic locations at airports targeted to business and leisure travel, Premier offers quicker response to customer schedules and offers competitive pricing through cost efficiencies.

"The Premier Jet Services FBO brand now gives us the opportunity to fully control the customer air charter experience from the ground up," Birmingham stated. "We expect to acquire additional FBOs and are presently seeking new opportunities."

In addition to supporting Premier Private Jets operations, the newly-acquired FBO will be expanded to attract private aircraft owners and third-party operators in Pontiac and the surrounding area. The company plans to modernize its passenger terminal facilities at PTK including an all new lobby, complete with a state-of-the-art air filtration system capable of defending against viruses such as COVID-19. "I'm excited about our plans to build a world-class FBO, complete with in-flight catering and cafe kitchen, as well as being the first to offer sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to all aircraft using Oakland County International Airport," Birmingham concluded.

About Premier Private Jets

Founded in 2013, Premier Private Jets operates a fleet of light and medium jets capable of operating to most destinations in North and South America. All aircraft are company-owned, wi-fi equipped, and have undergone refurbishment including standardized paint and interiors. The company maintains its own FAR Part 145 certified repair station in Stuart, Florida, and makes its maintenance services, including AOG, available to third-party aircraft owners and operators. Premier also operates a FAR Part 61 certified light jet training center. It is currently being expanded through the addition of two Level-D flight simulators to meet Premier's own flight training requirements as well as those of third-party Part 135 operators and private aircraft owners.

Contact Information

Premier Private Jets

2580 SE Aviation Way

Stuart, FL 34996

[email protected]

Tel: (772) 223-1219

https://premierprivatejets.com

SOURCE Premier Private Jets

Related Links

www.premierprivatejets.com


TAMPA, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ProV International, the global consulting firm that helps organizations streamline their customer, employee, and digital experiences, has shared an insightful case study. The leading consulting firm recently achieved outstanding success by installing base management & field resource management for Queensland's largest club, Royal Automobile Club of Queensland Limited (RACQ).

The case study highlights the successful implementation process of field service management solutions by ProV International for meeting the client's goals. The ProV team organized workshops in the MAP Solution phase to measure the client's business needs & find the best solutions.

RACQ is a mutual organization with 100 years of expertise & operational excellence. Queensland's largest club, RACQ provides roadside assistance, insurance, banking, travel, home assistance, and cars and driving benefits to its approximately 1.75 million members. Their commitment to advancement & constant innovation was the perfect match for ProV International.

The ProV FSM expert worked closely with the client to determine gaps & implement plans to speed up the system efficiency with their help. The expert analysed the situation from ground zero to develop a dynamic system of action. Subsequently, the ProV International Team brainstormed with RACQ to develop the pre-requisite for FSM and FSM upgrade versions.

ProV developed everyday field service management solutions to streamline workflow and optimize output. The first step was developing quote management, standardizing workflows related to field service, and installing base & field resource management. The process helped RACQ create integrated workflows with forms, digital signatures, and attachments. Using the field service management solutions, RACQ could set up specific user-profiles and enable customized access accordingly.

ProV's proven expertise in field service management made them the right partners for RACQ. When RACQ requested to streamline the workflow for enabling better management even remotely, the ProV International Team was up to the task. By integrating calendars, notifications & business rules to contract management & remote approvals in workflows, ProV smoothened the operational process.

ProV also assisted the client by implementing a self-service customer engagement module for accelerating customer experience. Improving workflow for process optimization with innovation is one of the prime outlooks for major IT service providers. ProV has proved time & again its capacity to welcome modernization at its door & adapt it for the benefit of its clients.

About ProV International. Inc

ProV International is a global IT consulting firm that specializes in streamlining processes, increasing service quality and keeping workplace productivity high. We promise to reduce your business's complexity with innovative tech solutions you won't be able to find anywhere else.

Serving a large spectrum of customers, we believe and invest in your organization's vision and goals. Start a conversation with us at https://www.provintl.com/contact-us

Press Contact: Lisa Wiggins, 8132812959, https://www.provintl.com

SOURCE ProV International. Inc

Related Links

https://www.provintl.com


CHARLEROI, Pa., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quality Pasta Company is proud to announce a new partnership with the National Autism Association (NAA), a nationally recognized support network for those dealing with Autism in their lives or the lives of a loved one. The NAA provides advocacy, research, education, safety tips, and a wealth of other beneficial services. As a new partner to the NAA, Muscle Mac will donate a portion of sales to help further their mission and refresh the packaging with the NAA logo to build awareness.

Wendy Fournier, President of the National Autism Association states: "We are thrilled to welcome Quality Pasta Company, the makers of Muscle Mac as a program partner in 2021. NAA's programs address the most urgent needs of the autism community. Muscle Mac's generous support will help us to provide much-needed direct assistance to families across the country."

Melanie Ruhe, Social Media Director at Quality Pasta Company adds: "We are very excited to support the mission of the NAA and we are proud that we are doing our part to support this worthwhile cause. The NAA has an amazing website filled with tools, advice, and guidance to help promote understanding and compassion for those living with autism; which made it easy for us to get involved with the NAA."

About the National Autism Association (NAA):

The National Autism Association is a not for profit support organization with a mission to respond to the most urgent needs of the autism community, providing real help and hope so that all affected can reach their full potential.

The National Autism Association can be found at: https://nationalautismassociation.org/ The NAA is a registered 501(c)3 organization.

For more information, contact us at www.quality-pasta.com or www.muscle-mac.com

[email protected]

SOURCE Quality Pasta Company
BOSTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Eaton Vance Short Duration Diversified Income Fund (NYSE: EVG) (the "Fund") held a special meeting of shareholders earlier today (the "Special Meeting"). At the Special Meeting, Fund shareholders approved a new investment advisory agreement with Eaton Vance Management, the Fund's investment adviser (the "New Agreement"). The vote tabulation, as certified by the Fund's proxy tabulator, AST Fund Solutions LLC, will be published in the Fund's next report to shareholders.

Conditional Tender Offer. As previously announced on March 9, 2021, the Board of Trustees of the Fund authorized a conditional cash tender offer for up to 25% of the Fund's outstanding common shares at a price per share equal to 99% of the Fund's net asset value ("NAV") per share as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the date the tender offer expires (the "Tender Offer"). The Tender Offer is conditional on Fund shareholders' approving the New Agreement, which this condition has now been met. The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer will be set forth in the associated Fund offering materials and additional press releases. If the number of shares tendered in the Tender Offer exceeds 25% of the Fund's outstanding common shares, the Fund will purchase shares from tendering shareholders on a pro rata basis (disregarding fractional shares). Accordingly, there is no assurance that the Fund will purchase all of a shareholder's tendered common shares in the Tender Offer.

Conditional Distribution Rate Increase. The Fund also announced on March 9, 2021 that, if shareholders approved the New Agreement, it would increase its regular monthly distribution on common shares to an annual rate equal to 10% of the Fund's then-current NAV. Because this condition has now been met, the Fund will increase its regular monthly distribution on common shares accordingly beginning in June 2021. Fund distributions may include amounts from sources other than net investment income. When that is estimated to be the case, shareholders will be notified on a monthly basis. The final determination of the tax character of Fund distributions will occur after the end of each calendar year, at which time that determination will be reported to shareholders. Fund distributions in any period may be more or less than the net return earned by the Fund on investments, and therefore should not be used as a measure of performance or confused with "yield" or "income." Distributions in excess of Fund returns will cause the Fund's net assets and NAV per share to decline.

About the Fund

Eaton Vance Corp. was acquired by Morgan Stanley on March 1, 2021. Its Eaton Vance Management, Parametric, Atlanta Capital and Calvert investment affiliates are now part of Morgan Stanley Investment Management, the asset management division of Morgan Stanley.

Except pursuant to a tender offer, common shares of the Fund are available for purchase or sale only through secondary market trading at their current market price. Shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount from their NAV. The market price of Fund shares may vary from NAV based on factors affecting the supply and demand for shares, such as Fund distribution rates relative to similar investments, investors' expectations for future distribution changes, the clarity of the Fund's investment strategy and future return expectations, and investors' confidence in the underlying markets in which the Fund invests. Fund shares are subject to investment risk, including possible loss of principal invested. Shares of the Fund are not FDIC-insured and are not deposits or other obligations of, or guaranteed by, any bank. The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money investing therein. An investment in the Fund may not be appropriate for all investors. Before investing, prospective investors should consider carefully the Fund's investment objective, strategies, risks, charges and expenses.

This announcement is not a recommendation, an offer to purchase or a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of the Fund. The Fund has not commenced the Tender Offer described in this release. The Tender Offer will be made only if the condition described above is satisfied, and only by an offer to purchase, a related letter of transmittal and other documents filed with the SEC as exhibits to a tender offer statement on Schedule TO, with all such documents available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. For the Tender Offer, the Fund will also make available to shareholders without charge the offer to purchase and the letter of transmittal. Shareholders should read these documents carefully, as they would contain important information about the Tender Offer.

This press release is for informational purposes only and is not intended to, and does not, constitute an offer to purchase or sell shares of the Fund. Additional information about the Fund, including performance and portfolio characteristic information, is available at eatonvance.com.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements, as defined by the U.S. securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors that may be beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE Eaton Vance Management

Related Links

www.eatonvance.com


SALT LAKE CITY, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Salt Lake County Auditor's Office will host its first-ever online tax-defaulted properties sale with auction site Bid4Assets.com. The county is required by state law to hold its tax sale annually. Transitioning the sale online will allow the Auditor's Office to conduct it safely, removing all COVID-19 associated concerns by allowing participants to bid from their laptops, cell phones and desktops.

A $500 refundable deposit is required to participate in this tax sale.

"Our office is on standby to assist anyone seeking to redeem their property," said Scott Tingley, Salt Lake County Auditor. "For the properties that do not redeem, Bid4Assets brings online capabilities, a wider potential sales audience and experience in piloting programs like this for other counties in Utah. We are confident the move to online tax sales will be a positive step forward for Salt Lake County."

Online bidding on the properties available will take place May 27, beginning at 8:30 a.m. MT. Auctions will close at staggered times starting at 10:00 a.m. MT. All auctions will be "no reserve" meaning the highest bid at or above the minimum will win the property. Minimum bids will vary greatly ranging from $27 to $130,301.

"We're looking forward to conducting Salt Lake County's first online auction," said Jesse Loomis, Bid4Assets' CEO. "We believe many other counties will follow Salt Lake County's innovations and by next year this will be how most of the state's tax sales are conducted. The service brings convenience to bidders, more revenues to counties and our services come at no cost to the county, guaranteed."

Bidders must register a free Bid4Assets account and fund a $500 refundable deposit plus a $35 processing fee to participate in this sale. Deposits are due May 21. To view a list of available properties and additional sale details, visit www.bid4assets.com/saltlake21.

About Bid4Assets

Bid4Assets (http://www.bid4assets.com) is an online auction site based in Silver Spring, Md. The privately held company auctions distressed real estate for the federal government, county tax collectors, county sheriff offices, financial institutions and real estate funds. Bid4Assets has conducted online public auctions for over 100 counties nationwide. Since its inception in 1999, the company has sold more than 125,000 properties nationwide and grossed over a billion dollars in auction sales.

Media Contact:

Jon Amar

[email protected]

925-270-6511

Related Images

salt-lake-county-auditors-seal.jpg

Salt Lake County Auditor's Seal

A $500 refundable deposit is required to participate in this tax sale.

SOURCE Bid4Assets Inc.
SAN DIEGO, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego Family Care ("SDFC") has learned of a data security incident that may have impacted personal and protected health information belonging to certain current and former SDFC patients and employees. SDFC has sent notification of this incident to potentially impacted individuals and has provided resources to assist them.

In December 2020, SDFC and its business associate, Health Center Partners of Southern California (HCP), became aware that their information technology hosting provider experienced a data security incident that resulted in the encryption of certain data. The hosting provider took steps to secure and restore its systems and launched an investigation with the assistance of computer forensics experts. At that time, SDFC did not know what, if any, data belonging to SDFC or HCP may have been involved in the incident.

On January 20, 2021, SDFC learned that, based on its hosting provider's investigation into the incident, certain SDFC and HCP data may have been accessed or acquired by an unauthorized individual. SDFC obtained a copy of the impacted data and engaged experts to conduct a thorough review to identify individuals whose information may have been involved in the incident. That review concluded on April 12, 2021. SDFC then took steps to identify current mailing addresses in order to effectuate notification to potentially impacted individuals.

There is no evidence of the misuse of any information potentially involved in this incident. However, on May 7, 2021, SDFC provided notice of this incident to potentially impacted individuals. In so doing, SDFC provided information about the incident and about steps that potentially impacted individuals can take to protect their personal information. SDFC takes the security of patient information very seriously and is taking steps to prevent a similar event from occurring in the future.

The following personal and protected health information may have been involved in the incident: individuals' names, Social Security numbers or other government identification numbers, financial account numbers, dates of birth, medical diagnosis or treatment information, health insurance information, and/or client identification numbers. However, not all of these data elements were affected for all individuals.

SDFC has established a toll-free call center to answer questions about the incident and to address related concerns. Call center representatives are available Monday through Friday from 6:00 am  6:00 pm Pacific Time and can be reached at (833) 664-1997.

The privacy and protection of personal and protected health information is a top priority for SDFC, which deeply regrets any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause.

SOURCE San Diego Family Care
Dr. Lesa Staubus, American Humane's staff veterinarian who regularly deploys with its rescue team, traveled to Hawaii to safely ensure Xxanthe's arrival and monitor her health. For more than a century, since the U.S. Secretary of War requested American Humane's animal first responders deploy to war-torn Europe, the organization has worked alongside the U.S. Armed Forces to protect animals and support the nation's troops.

As part of American Humane's military program, the organization assists veterans and active-duty personnel with bringing retired MWDs back stateside and providing for their veterinary care. To date, 44 teams of retired MWDs and their former handlers have been reunited.

"She knew exactly who I was right away and jumped right towards me which feels great," said SSgt. Alfson. "She's an amazing dog  she's like a human being."

Xxanthe, a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois trained in explosive detection, served with SSgt. Alfson for a year and a half during 2019 and 2020. For more than a year, since SSgt. Alfson was reassigned to Hickam Air Force Base, the pair have been separated.

Originally based in Mountain Home, Idaho, the pair deployed together to undisclosed locations in the Middle East as part of Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Operation Inherent Resolve, putting themselves in harm's way to keep their fellow troops safe from danger.

"It is a moral obligation to provide for our nation's veterans, including the military K-9s who work diligently to keep our men and women safe from harm," said Dr. Ganzert. "We were honored to bring together SSgt. Alfson and MWD Xxanthe and hope the coming years bring them friendship and joy."

In 2016, American Humane worked to ensure that the National Defense Authorization Act included language that guaranteed retired MWDs a retirement on U.S. soil and gave their former handlers first rights of adoption. Due to the physically demanding nature of service, American Humane works to ensure that the medical needs of retired MWDs are met to provide as comfortable a retirement as possible.

About American Humane

American Humane is the country's first national humane organization, founded in 1877. For more information, please visit www.AmericanHumane.org.

SOURCE American Humane

Related Links

http://www.americanhumane.org


NEW YORK, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, prominent investor rights law firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP ("BLB&G") filed a class action lawsuit for violations of the federal securities laws in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against FibroGen, Inc. ("FibroGen" or "the Company") and certain of its current and former senior executives (collectively, "Defendants"). The complaint expands the class period that was asserted in the previously filed related securities class action pending against FibroGen captioned Xu v. FibroGen, Inc., No. 3:21-cv-2623 (N.D. Cal.), and is brought on behalf of investors in FibroGen common stock between December 20, 2018 and April 6, 2021, inclusive (the "Class Period").

BLB&G filed this action on behalf of its client, the IBEW Local 353 Pension Plan, and the case is captioned IBEW Local 353 Pension Plan v. FibroGen, Inc., No. 3:21-cv-3396 (N.D. Cal.). The complaint is based on an extensive investigation and a careful evaluation of the merits of this case. A copy of the complaint is available on BLB&G's website by clicking here.

FibroGen's Alleged Fraud

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, FibroGen operates a research-based pharmaceutical company based on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutic agents to treat serious unmet medical needs. The Company's principal drug candidate is Roxadustat, a treatment for anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. The claims asserted in the case arise from Defendants' misrepresentations regarding the safety and efficacy of Roxadustat as compared to the current standard of care drug, Epogen.

Specifically, the complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made false and misleading statements regarding the risk of Major Adverse Cardiac Events ("MACE") incidents, a key safety endpoint scrutinized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA") when considering a New Drug Application ("NDA"). As a result of Defendants' misrepresentations, shares of FibroGen common stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period.

The truth began to emerge on May 9, 2019, when FibroGen announced topline results from the pooled safety analyses from its Phase 3 trials of Roxadustat. The Company highlighted positive MACE results, but issued qualified statements about the drug's risk when compared with the standard of care, such as "there is no clinically meaningful difference in risk." This statement indicated that there was, in fact, some difference in risk, yet FibroGen did not provide any of the data to show that the risk was not meaningful. In order to assuage investor concern over the safety of Roxadustat, FibroGen continued to "confirm[] the cardiovascular safety of [R]oxadustat," and assured investors that the Company "had all the guidance from the FDA (it) needed to put together a winning submission."

However, on March 1, 2021, after the market closed, FibroGen announced that the FDA was scheduling an advisory committee meeting to review Roxadustat's NDA, well over a year after its initial submission. An advisory committee meeting this late in the review process indicates that there is a problem with the application, and could, at best, delay the FDA's approval decision and at worst signal that the FDA may not approve the drug.

Then, on April 6, 2021, after the market closed, FibroGen revealed that the Company had made "post-hoc changes to the stratification factors" in its previously submitted Phase 3 trial resultsmaterial changes that made the drug appear to be a safe and effective treatment for chronic kidney disease. These disclosures caused a precipitous decline in the price of FibroGen stock.

The filing of this action does not alter the previously established deadline to seek appointment as Lead Plaintiff. Pursuant to the April 12, 2021 notice published in connection with the Xu action, under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, investors who purchased or otherwise acquired FibroGen securities during the Class Period may, no later than June 11, 2021, seek to be appointed as Lead Plaintiff for the Class. Any member of the proposed Class may seek to serve as Lead Plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain a member of the proposed Class.

If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact Scott Foglietta of BLB&G at (212) 554-1903 or e-mail at [email protected].

About BLB&G

BLB&G is widely recognized worldwide as a leading law firm advising institutional investors on issues related to corporate governance, shareholder rights, and securities litigation. Since its founding in 1983, BLB&G has built an international reputation for excellence and integrity and pioneered the use of the litigation process to achieve precedent-setting governance reforms. Unique among its peers, BLB&G has obtained several of the largest and most significant securities recoveries in history, recovering over $33 billion on behalf of defrauded investors. More information about the firm can be found online at www.blbglaw.com.

Contact

Scott Foglietta

Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP

1251 Avenue of the Americas, 44th Floor

New York, New York 10020

(212) 554-1903

[email protected]

SOURCE Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP

Related Links

http://www.blbglaw.com


BEIJING, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sogou Inc. (NYSE: SOGO) ("Sogou" or "the Company"), an innovator in search and a leader in China's internet industry, today announced that it will report its first quarter 2021 unaudited financial results on Friday, May 14, 2021, before U.S. market hours.

About Sogou

Sogou Inc. (NYSE: SOGO) is an innovator in search and a leader in China's internet industry. With a mission to make it easy to communicate and get information, Sogou has grown to become the second-largest search engine by mobile queries and the fourth largest internet company by MAU in China. Sogou has a wide range of innovative products and services, including the Sogou Input Method, which is the largest Chinese language input software for both mobile and PC. Sogou is also at the forefront of AI development and has made significant breakthroughs in voice and image technologies, machine translation, and Q&A, which have been successfully integrated into our products and services.

For investor enquiries, please contact:

Jessie Zheng

Sogou Investor Relations

Tel: +86 10 5689 8068

Email: [email protected]

For media enquiries, please contact:

Serena Liu

Sogou Public Relations

Tel: +86 10 5689 9999 (61958)

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Sogou Inc.

Related Links

www.sogou.com


QINGDAO, China, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- SOS Limited (NYSE: SOS) (the "Company" or "SOS") announced today that the first phase of the Leibodong Mine has been completed and 575 sets of ETH cryptocurrency mining rigs have been delivered.

SOS leased approximately 1350 square meters of space from Leibodong Hydropower Station in Hejiang County, Luzhou City, Sichuan, in late March. SOS started the construction of a cloud cryptocurrency mining center and has recently completed the first phase of approximately 300 square meters which can accommodate approximately 1,100 rigs.

The previously announced purchase of 575 ETH mining rigs were received on May 7. The Company expects its team should be able to complete inspection and installation of these rigs in the near future. Upon completion of the installation and full on-line operation of all these mining rigs, the Company expects to obtain approximately 400 GH of ETH hash.

Mr. Yandai Wang, CEO of SOS, commented, "The overall plan of SOS' digital currency business is systematically designed around blockchain technology. Leibodong project is a model for us to obtain low-cost electricity in Sichuan and other southwest regions, rich in renewable energy resources to expand our digital currency mining operations. The completion of the Phase I construction and the delivery of 575 ETH mining machines lay a solid foundation for the further success of our cloud cryptocurrency mining center in Leibodong. We expect our mining in Leibodong will provide us with multi-faceted experience to continue our research, development and commercialization of block-chain technology."

About SOS Limited

SOS is an emerging blockchain-based and big data-driven marketing and solution provider as well as cryptocurrency mining operator. The core infrastructure of SOS' marketing data, technology and solutions to insurance and emergency rescue services is built on big data, blockchain-based technology, cloud computing, AI, satellite, and 5G network, etc. SOS has created a cloud "software as a service (SaaS)" platform for emergency rescue services, with three major product categories: basic cloud, cooperative cloud, and information cloud. This system provides innovative marketing solutions to clients such as insurance companies, financial institutions, medical institutions, healthcare providers, auto manufacturers, security providers, senior living assistance providers, and other service providers in the emergency rescue services industry.

SOS has obtained a national high-tech enterprise certification and the title of "Big Data Star Enterprise," awarded by Gui'an New District Government. Staying on the forefront of digital technology innovation, the Company has registered 99 software copyrights and 2 patents. For more information, please visit: http://www.sosyun.com/ .

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, but not limited to, our expectations for future financial performance, business strategies or expectations for our business. These statements constitute projections, forecasts and forward-looking statements, and are not guarantees of performance. SOS cautions that forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which change over time. Words such as "may," "can," "should," "will," "estimate," "plan," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "seek," "target," "look" or similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements. Specifically, forward-looking statements may include statements relating to the Company's:

expected hash rate for its mining rigs;

expected mining results for the second quarter of 2021;

intention to grow and install more mining rigs;

ability to execute its business plan;

changes in the market for SOS' products and services; and

expansion plans and opportunities.

These forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release and our management's current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

These risks and uncertainties include, but not are limited to, the risk factors described by SOS in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). These risk factors and those identified elsewhere in this press release, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance and include, but are not limited to:

SOS's cryptocurrency mining, security and insurance businesses are still under development, with many uncertainties in research of relevant technologies;

failure to access a large quantity of power at reasonable costs could significantly increase SOS operating expenses and adversely affect our demand for SOS's mining machines;

shortages in, or rises in the prices of mining machines may adversely affect the Company's business;

any significant or prolonged failure in the data warehouse facilities and data mining facilities that SOS operates or services it provides, including events beyond its control, would lead to significant costs and disruptions and would reduce the attractiveness of its facilities, harm its business reputation and have a material adverse effect on its results of operation;

security breaches or alleged security breaches of our data warehouses could disrupt SOS operations and have a material adverse effect on its business, financial condition and results of operation; and

Chinese government's policies and regulatory oversight of crypto currency mining operation;

other risks and uncertainties indicated in SOS's SEC reports or documents filed or to be filed with the SEC by SOS.

Accordingly, forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date, and you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements in deciding whether to invest in our securities. We do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

SOURCE SOS Limited
Marcos Vilars article regarding street racing fever (We need to deal with the deadly street racing fever, May 7) makes some valid points, and I can only hope he is successful in his quest to better educate those who chose to race illegally. As a baby boomer, Im more supportive of actions that make it more painful for those who chose to race. When racers are caught, they should lose their car or motorcycle. Their license, if they have one, should be canceled. They should be heavily fined. And for those without a valid license, they they should spend time in jail. It has to hurt so bad, the racers wont want to risk it. One cant race if one has been taken off the road.
OAKDALE, Minn., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Croix Hospice is pleased to welcome Eric Lewis to the Finance team in the new role of Vice President and Controller. Eric has an extensive background in finance, most recently serving as Vice President and Controller of the Medicaid business at UnitedHealth Group. Eric will provide leadership for the accounting, reporting and policy aspects of finance.

Lewis' background includes financial leadership roles with UnitedHealth Group, Thomson Reuters and the former Pillsbury Company among others. He is an alum of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Lewis' position with St. Croix Hospice will support the agency's growth through leading all aspects of financial reporting, as well as policy development and implementation as the company continues to expand.

Since its founding in 2009, St. Croix Hospice has expanded to serve seven Midwest states through more than 35 branches. The Minnesota-based agency became a portfolio company of H.I.G. Capital in October 2020.

"We are happy to welcome Eric to our leadership team as he helps us execute on our growth strategies and perfect our policies," said Stephen Phenneger, President and Chief Financial Officer. "His healthcare industry expertise and rich background in finance will make him a wonderful addition to our team."

St. Croix Hospice has maintained uninterrupted hospice care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, adding three new offices so far in 2021  the most recent in Sioux City, Iowa. Services are available wherever patients call home, including private residences, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities.

"I am delighted to join the leadership team at St. Croix Hospice," said Eric Lewis. "It will be a privilege to maintain financial excellence in the company as they grow their ability to serve more people with expert hospice care."

About St. Croix Hospice

St. Croix Hospice supports patients, their families and caregivers when they need us the most, delivering exceptional hospice care 24 hours a day, 365 days a year wherever a patient calls home. With branches in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin, St. Croix Hospice takes pride in round-the-clock availability, prompt response and same day admissions, including evenings, weekends and holidays. Contact St. Croix Hospice 24/7 at 855-278-2764 or stcroixhospice.com.

CONTACT:

Amanda Cherico

[email protected]

612-364-6066

SOURCE St. Croix Hospice

Related Links

http://STCroixHospice.com


LITHIA, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Thousands of Tampa Bay and Lithia Florida residents seek chiropractic care to address ongoing back pain, neck pain, and joint pain issues. But Dr. Justin Scott, DC founder and clinical director at STRONGLIFE Chiropractic has been getting a lot of attention lately for the type of care he and his team are providing.

"We provide corrective chiropractic care, which unlike traditional chiropractic care, goes a few steps deeper to address and resolve the root cause of pain and related health issue," explains Dr. Justin Scott.

Dr Justin Scott, DC

Tampa Bay residents who suffer with chronic pain, certain dysfunctions, and even poor posture make the trek to Lithia to receive corrective care treatment at STRONGLIFE, because of Dr Justin Scott's 'whole-body' approach to care.

"We first start with a thorough exam, digital x-rays, and postural analysis to pinpoint the root cause of pain or dysfunction, and then rehabilitate the spine and correct its curvature back to what is considered 'ideal,'" says Dr. Justin Scott. "After the first few treatments, patients start noticing their pain decreasing but the real magic happens when the spine starts to realign back into shape."

Dr Justin Scott practices a technique called Chiropractic BioPhysics, or CBP - which is practiced by less than 1% of the chiropractors in the world. It is by far the most researched, published, and results-oriented chiropractic technique anywhere.

CBP combines biology, physiology, physics, geometry, and anatomy to identify the root causes of pain, discomfort, mobility issues, or altered state of health. Dr Justin Scott utilizes mirror-image adjustments, traction, and unique exercises to rehabilitate the spine back to health, lifting excess pressure off the nerves that carry vital life force into the limbs and organs. All this without invasive procedures or medication.

STRONGLIFE Chiropractic has become a destination for many who are running out of hope or options for a pain-free and healthy life. "For a lot of my patients, WE were their last hope," explains Dr Justin Scott. "Most patients who come to me are either considering surgery as their next step, or are tired of masking their pain with medication."

Contact:

Dr Justin Scott

[email protected]

813-655-5433

SOURCE STRONGLIFE Chiropractic

Related Links

https://stronglifechiropractic.com/


BOSTON, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The upheavals induced by COVID-19 generally widened preexisting gaps between leaders and laggards across industries and regions in the 2021 Value Creators Rankings, released today by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This is the 23rd annual edition of the rankings, which shed light on patterns and characteristics of the world's top value creators.

"The widening gap in value creation trajectories raises the stakes for all companies going forward," said Alexander Roos, a BCG managing director and senior partner. 'Top performers must deal with record-high expectations and valuation levels, while underperformers face mounting pressure, including from activists ready to engage after waiting out the market turbulence."

Since 1999, BCG has published annual rankings of the world's top value-creating companies, measured on the basis of total shareholder return (TSR) over the previous five-year period. To compile the 2021 rankings, BCG analyzed TSR at approximately 2,400 companies globally (slightly more than one-third of them US-based companies) from 2016 through 2020. In addition to providing our large-cap ranking of five-year TSR at the world's 200 largest companies by market valuation, we rank the top ten value creators in each of 33 industry sectors.

TSR measures share price gains and dividend yield for a company's stock over a given period. It is the most comprehensive metric of performance in shareholder value creation. Average annual TSR is the amount of TSR that a companyor group of companiesdelivered, on average, over the five years covered in the analysis.

Key findings:

The pandemic did not derail the strong capital market performance that characterized most of the preceding decade. In BCG's 2021 sample of approximately 2,400 companies, the average annual TSR for the preceding five years was 10.3%, up from 9.6% a year earlier.

Assessed over the full five-year period, North American companies are reasserting their dominance over Asian and European companies as value creators. They are overrepresented among both global top performers (41%) and industry TSR leaders (37%) in the 2021 rankings.

Companies in technology-focused industriestechnology companies as well as medtech companies, financial infrastructure providers, and green energy playersdominate the top of the rankings. The top echelon also includes traditional brick-and-mortar industries that have become more technology enabled or digitized in recent years, such as machinery, media and publishing, and health care services.

The year 2020 saw further widening of performance differences across industries. For example, technology companies delivered TSR of more than 50%, on average. In contrast, companies in the travel and tourism and oil and gas sectors lost significant ground in value creation during the global pandemic.

Looking ahead, capital markets' strong rebound during 2020 sets up a challenging environment for value creation. "To meet or beat investors' expectations for post-pandemic value creation, companies should focus on middle- to long-term performance by prioritizing the right investments," said Hady Farag, a BCG partner and associate director. "Doing so entails developing key technologies and talent, making the right portfolio choices, and having a well-aligned sustainability strategy."

BCG presents its 2021 BCG Value Creators Rankings in an online interactive format that allows users to delve deeper into the TSR performance of the top 50 large-cap companiesincluding examining how their performance has evolved since the firm initiated the Value Creators series in 1999and into the TSR performance of companies across 33 industries. The interactive presentation also disaggregates the TSR performance of individual companies into its key components.

The 2021 BCG Value Creators rankings can be viewed here.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected].

About Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Related Links

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"At Thinkific, our exceptional team is at the core of everything we do, from each product initiative we launch to every entrepreneur we're able to help," said Greg Smith, Co-Founder & CEO of Thinkific. "We are deeply committed to our people and over the last year, have seen them show incredible resilience and innovation while demonstrating our core values like 'Succeed Together', ' Learn and Grow', and 'Strive for Equality'. The fact that this accolade is largely driven by direct feedback from our team members about their experience working at Thinkific, makes this award even more special. We're actively recruiting across Canada and are excited to add even more incredible people to our team."

The annual list is compiled by the Great Place to Work Institute, a global authority on workplace culture. The selection process is employee driven with two-thirds of the total score coming from confidential employee survey results and the remaining one-third from an in-depth review of the organization's culture. This process offers a rigorous representation of the organization from an employee perspective, and an overall portrait of the workplace culture. This year's list captured the experience and sentiment of over 82,000 employees, rolling out to impact over 300,000 Canadian employees.*

Thinkific was also recently recognized by the Great Place to Work Institute as one of the Best Workplaces in Technology , one of the Best Workplaces for Women , and one of the Best Workplaces in British Columbia in addition to being named one of Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers .

Standout aspects of Thinkific's workplace, as recognized by team members, include:

A robust work-from-home culture: Thinkific provided significant support as its team transitioned to remote working during the pandemic and has continued to build upon this as they've shifted to a distributed-first teamhelping to set up home offices, providing meal kits and care packages, and hosting regular social events.

Thinkific provided significant support as its team transitioned to remote working during the pandemic and has continued to build upon this as they've shifted to a distributed-first teamhelping to set up home offices, providing meal kits and care packages, and hosting regular social events. Flexible working hours and holidays: Thinkific provides an open vacation policy and allows employees to adjust working hours as needed to fit their lifestyles.

Thinkific provides an open vacation policy and allows employees to adjust working hours as needed to fit their lifestyles. Continued education and development resources: Thinkific provides a multitude of opportunities for ongoing development and growth, including leadership training, an annual education stipend, and regular lunch and learns on topics ranging from accessibility and wellness to aboriginal heritage and inclusion training.

Thinkific provides a multitude of opportunities for ongoing development and growth, including leadership training, an annual education stipend, and regular lunch and learns on topics ranging from accessibility and wellness to aboriginal heritage and inclusion training. Additional mental health and discretionary spending: Thinkific employees are provided with a competitive benefits package, including $2,000 worth of support specifically for mental health care and have access to 24/7 support through the Company's Employee and Family Assistance Program.

Thinkific employees are provided with a competitive benefits package, including worth of support specifically for mental health care and have access to 24/7 support through the Company's Employee and Family Assistance Program. Inclusive company and diverse team: Thinkific's workforce comes from a wide range of different backgrounds. 48% of its team identifies as women (including 50% of the leadership team), and the Company provides paid parental leave top-ups.

*sentiment of over 82,000 employees, impacting over 300,000 Canadian employees numbers quoted from Best Workplaces in Canada 2021 press release .

About Great Place to Work:

Great Place to Work is the global authority on high-trust, high performance workplace cultures. It is a global research and consulting firm with a mission to build a better society by helping companies transform their workplaces. Great Place to Work provides the benchmarks, framework, and expertise needed to create, sustain, and recognize outstanding workplace cultures. In Canada, Great Place to Work produces both industry and demographic specific Best Workplace lists. This is part of the world's largest annual workplace study, which culminates in a series of national lists in over 50 countries, including the study's flagship list of 100 Best Companies published annually in Fortune magazine.

Globally, this survey represents the voices of 11 million employees, which are the primary determinant used in selecting winners. There's only one way to get on this list  your employees have to put you on it.

Check out www.greatplacetowork.ca

About Thinkific

Thinkific [TSX:THNC] makes it simple for entrepreneurs and established businesses of any size to scale and generate revenue by teaching what they know. Our platform gives businesses everything they need to build, market, and sell online courses and other learning products, and to run their business seamlessly under their own brand, on their own site. In 2020 alone, Thinkific's 50,000 active course creators earned hundreds of millions of dollars in direct course sales while teaching tens of millions of students. Thinkific is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with a distributed and growing team.

Thinkific is currently hiring for roles across Canadalearn more about these job opportunities at thinkific.com/careers . Stay up to date with #TeamThinkific on Facebook , LinkedIn , Instagram , and Twitter . For more information, please visit www.thinkific.com .

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), including statements with regard to the growth in the number of our employees. Words such as "expects", "anticipates" and "intends" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions and no assurance can be given that these trends will continue. Thinkific undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

SOURCE Thinkific Labs Inc.

Related Links

http://www.thinkific.com


"For thirty years we have been serving Puerto Rico and this agreement solidifies our strong relationship with our partners there as we continue to grow our service offerings to the island," said Trailer Bridge Chief Executive Officer Mitch Luciano. "We're a growing organization but our heartbeat is the people of Puerto Rico. They are a very passionate culture and we take that passion into every aspect of our business from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and all across North America."

Over the past two years, Trailer Bridge has made significant investments in the terminal infrastructure to provide customers with an efficient and seamless shipping experience. Terminal upgrades have included the installation of new lighting, new pavement, a refurbished ramp, and new offices for employees and customers. Trailer Bridge also implemented a new terminal operating system to increase visibility for equipment and cargo and partnered with a new security firm to provide a safer workplace.



"Transactions like this promote cost-efficient operations not only for the company but for Puerto Rico itself. We have been working closely to facilitate the construction projects to maximize flow and efficiency within their terminal operations," said Puerto Rico Port Authority Executive Director Joel A. Piza Batiz about the agreement during a Memorandum of Understanding signing with the Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) in April.



An award-winning, full-service logistics provider, Trailer Bridge provides ocean transport between the U.S. and the Caribbean with its fleet of ocean-going deck barges handling all types of cargo including containers, cars, breakbulk cargos, flat racks, ISO tanks, and more. In addition, the company offers over-the-road trucking, cross-border logistics, intermodal, and third-party logistics services providing a full supply chain solution for shippers around the globe.

Connect with a member of the Trailer Bridge team today for a personalized look at your supply chain needs at 1.844.TB.SHIPS or email [email protected] to request a quote.

About Trailer Bridge

Trailer Bridge is a privately held asset-owned logistics company that transports cargo across land, air, rail, and sea. A leader in transportation services, Trailer Bridge strives to provide customers the best possible service. This commitment to exceptional service has earned Trailer Bridge the Logistics Management Quest for Quality Award as #1 Ocean Carrier, Inc Magazine's Best Workplaces in America, as well as recognition as one of the (also need to mention Best places to work for inc.com). Best Places to Work in Jacksonville and as a Fastest Growing Company. Trailer Bridge is headquartered in Jacksonville, FL, and operates 12 offices with more than 200 employees across North America. For more information about Trailer Bridge, visit https://www.trailerbridge.com.

Contact: Whitney Croxton

[email protected]

904-720-7558

SOURCE Trailer Bridge

Related Links

http://www.trailerbridge.com


"Our number one ambition at Umpqua is to be there for our customers in good times and bad." Cort O'Haver, CEO Tweet this

"Our number one ambition at Umpqua is to be there for our customers in good times and bad. So being ranked as the top bank in our region in customer satisfaction means a lot, particularly after the extraordinary disruption of the past year," said O'Haver. "This recognition is above all a credit to our retail associates who've gone the extra mile for customers. It also reflects the value of our human digital approach, which is focused on providing customers access to smart, personalized service from a financial partner they know and trust."

In 2018, the bank launched Umpqua Go-ToTM, the industry's first human digital banking platform, which leverages technology to empower and scale deeper customer relationships. Go-To enables every customer  at no cost and regardless of account size  the ability to choose their own personal banker devoted to their financial needs. Through a secure chat platform, customers can connect with their personal banker in real time to resolve issues, ask questions directly, and get financial counsel. Go-To enrollment and use spiked more than 30 percent following the onset of the pandemic when customers needed urgent financial support.

Earning J.D. Power's top ranking is the latest accolade Umpqua has received and reflects the value of its human digital strategy. In 2019, Umpqua earned a Celent Model Bank of the Year Award for customer engagement. The bank was also named the Best Community Bank, USA 2020 by Capital Finance International for its support of more than 17,000 businesses during the first round of the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

About Umpqua Bank

Umpqua Bank, headquartered in Roseburg, Ore., is a subsidiary of Umpqua Holdings Corporation, and has locations across Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. Umpqua Bank has been recognized for its innovative customer experience and banking strategy by national publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fast Company and CNBC. The company has been recognized for eight years in a row on FORTUNE magazine's list of the country's "100 Best Companies to Work For," and was recently named by The Portland Business Journal the Most Admired Financial Services Company in Oregon for the sixteenth consecutive year. In addition to its retail banking presence, Umpqua Bank also owns Financial Pacific Leasing, Inc., a nationally recognized commercial finance company that provides equipment leases to businesses.

ABOUT J.D. POWER

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company's business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

SOURCE Umpqua Bank

Related Links

https://www.umpquabank.com


VANCOUVER, BC, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) ("WELL" or the "Company"), a company focused on consolidating and modernizing clinical and digital assets within the healthcare sector, will release its First Quarter 2021 financial results for the period ended March 31, 2021 before market open on Tuesday, May 11, 2021. The Company will also hold a conference call to discuss its results on the same day at 1:00 pm EST (10:00 am PST). The call will be hosted by: Hamed Shahbazi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Eva Fong, Chief Financial Officer; and Pardeep S. Sangha, Vice President Corporate Strategy and Investor Relations. Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the call.

Conference Call Details:

Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2021 Time: 1:00 pm EST (10:00 am PST) Dial-in: 416-764-8650 (Toronto local)

778-383-7413 (Vancouver local)

1-888-664-6383 (Toll-Free) Confirmation #: 5652 9388

The conference call will also be simultaneously webcast at the following URL:

https://www.well.company/for-investors/events/

WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP.

Per: "Hamed Shahbazi"

Hamed Shahbazi

Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director

About WELL Health Technologies Corp.

WELL is an omni-channel digital health company whose overarching objective is to empower doctors to provide the best and most advanced care possible while leveraging the latest trends in digital health. As such, WELL owns and operates primary and executive healthcare clinics in both Canada and the US, operates a multi-national digital Electronic Medical Records (EMR) business serving thousands of healthcare clinics and health systems of all sizes, operates a multi-national portfolio of telehealth services which includes one of the largest telehealth service providers in Canada. WELL is also a provider of digital health, billing and cybersecurity related technology solutions. WELL's wholly owned subsidiary CRH Medical is a leading provider of anesthesia services and the patented O'Regan hemorrhoid banding product to gastrointestinal focused clinics. WELL is an acquisitive company that follows a disciplined and accretive capital allocation strategy. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL". To access the Company's telehealth service, visit: tiahealth.com, and for corporate information, visit: www.well.company.

SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp.

Related Links

well.company


DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Battery Charger Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2021-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global battery charger market reached a value of US$ 21.7 Billion in 2020. A battery charger is a device which is used for transferring energy into a rechargeable battery by passing an electric current through it. Some battery chargers need to be manually disconnected by the constant voltage source whereas others may use a timer for cutting off the power at fixed intervals. Currently, the expansion of the electronics industry is the primary factor catalysing the demand for battery chargers. An increasing demand for electrical vehicles (EVs) and connected devices acts as another major force stimulating the growth of the battery charger market.



Over the years, several trends have been observed in the market like miniaturisation which have made these chargers powerful and faster, yet increasingly compact in size. In addition, various developments have been made so that battery chargers can cater to different functions without the need for separate cables. Growing focus and awareness regarding the importance of charging management is further encouraging the manufacturers to develop safe and rapid charging technologies. Apart from this, in order to expand their consumer-base, manufacturers have introduced wireless, smart and high temperature-resistant battery chargers. Looking forward, the publisher expects the global battery charger market to exhibit moderate growth during 2021-2026.



The competitive landscape of the market has also been examined with some of the key players being Accutronics Limited, Analytic Systems Ware Ltd., Anoma Corporation, Associated Equipment Corporation, Energizer Holdings Inc., Exide Technologies, Ferro Magnetics Corporation, FRIWO AG, HindlePower, Inc., Panasonic Corporation of North America, Phihong USA Corporation, Powerbase Industrial (HK) Ltd., Saft S.A., Salcomp Plc, Schumacher Electric Corporation, Scud (Fujian) Electronics Co. Ltd., Shun Shing Standard Corporation Development Ltd., Spectrum Brands Inc. (Rayovac Division), Uniross Batteries S.A.S, Yuasa Battery Inc. and others.



This report provides a deep insight into the global battery charger market covering all its essential aspects. This ranges from macro overview of the market to micro details of the industry performance, recent trends, key market drivers and challenges, SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces analysis, value chain analysis, etc. This report is a must-read for entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, consultants, business strategists, and all those who have any kind of stake or are planning to foray into the battery charger industry in any manner.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global battery charger market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What are the key regions in the global battery charger market?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global battery charger market?

What are the major application segments in the global battery charger market?

What are the major categories in the global battery charger market?

What are the major product types in the global battery charger market?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the global battery charger market?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the global battery charger market?

What is the structure of the global battery charger market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the global battery charger market?

How are battery chargers manufactured?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology

2.1 Objectives of the Study

2.2 Stakeholders

2.3 Data Sources

2.3.1 Primary Sources

2.3.2 Secondary /Sources

2.4 Market Estimation

2.4.1 Bottom-Up Approach

2.4.2 Top-Down Approach

2.5 Forecasting Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Battery Charger Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Price Analysis

5.3.1 Key Price Indicators

5.3.2 Price Structure

5.3.3 Margin Analysis

5.4 Impact of COVID-19

5.5 Market Breakup by Application

5.6 Market Breakup by Category

5.7 Market Breakup by Product Type

5.8 Market Breakup by Region

5.9 Market Forecast

5.10 SWOT Analysis

5.10.1 Overview

5.10.2 Strengths

5.10.3 Weaknesses

5.10.4 Opportunities

5.10.5 Threats

5.11 Value Chain Analysis

5.11.1 Overview

5.11.2 Research and Development

5.11.3 Raw Material Procurement

5.11.4 Manufacturing

5.11.5 Marketing

5.11.6 Distribution

5.11.7 End-Use

5.12 Porter's Five Forces Analysis

5.12.1 Overview

5.12.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers

5.12.3 Bargaining Power of Suppliers

5.12.4 Degree of Competition

5.12.5 Threat of New Entrants

5.12.6 Threat of Substitutes



6 Market Breakup by Application

6.1 Smartphones

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Laptops

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Electric Vehicles

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Tablets

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Digital Cameras

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Feature Phones

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast

6.7 Others

6.7.1 Market Trends

6.7.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Category

7.1 OEM

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Replacement

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Product Type

8.1 Wired

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Wireless

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region

9.1 Asia Pacific

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 North America

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Europe

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast

9.4 Middle East and Africa

9.4.1 Market Trends

9.4.2 Market Forecast

9.5 Latin America

9.5.1 Market Trends

9.5.2 Market Forecast



10 Battery Charger Manufacturing Process

10.1 Product Overview

10.2 Raw Material Requirements

10.3 Manufacturing Process

10.4 Key Success and Risk Factors



11 Competitive Landscape

11.1 Market Structure

11.2 Key Players

11.3 Profiles of Key Players

11.3.1 Accutronics Limited

11.3.2 Analytic Systems Ware Ltd.

11.3.3 Anoma Corporation

11.3.4 Associated Equipment Corporation

11.3.5 Energizer Holdings Inc.

11.3.6 Exide Technologies

11.3.7 Ferro Magnetics Corporation

11.3.8 FRIWO AG

11.3.9 HindlePower Inc.

11.3.10 Panasonic Corporation of North America

11.3.11 Phihong USA Corporation

11.3.12 Powerbase Industrial (HK) Ltd.

11.3.13 Saft S.A

11.3.14 Salcomp Plc

11.3.15 Schumacher Electric Corporation

11.3.16 Scud (Fujian) Electronics Co. Ltd.

11.3.17 Shun Shing Standard Corporation Development Ltd.

11.3.18 Spectrum Brands Inc.

11.3.19 Uniross Batteries S.A.S

11.3.20 Yuasa Battery Inc.



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/cxoodj

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

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DUBLIN, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Probe Card Market: Size, Trends & Forecasts (2021-2025 Edition)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the global probe card market with detailed analysis of the market by value, volume and by segments.



The report provides detailed regional analysis of Asia-Pacific, including the forecast of the market for the period 2021-2025. Taiwan, Japan, China are leading manufacturers of the product in the region. Growth of the global probe card market has also been forecasted for the period 2021-2025, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.



The global probe card market is highly consolidated as a few leading vendors hold the majority of market shares. The market has high entry barriers owing to the highly consolidated nature of the market and the requirement of technical expertise. It is anticipated that the vendors with cheaper and technologically advanced testing solutions will be able to capture a greater market share during the forecast period.



Further, key players of the global probe card market are FormFactor, Japan Electronic Materials Corporation and Micronics Japan Co., Ltd. whose company profiling has been done in the report. In this section of the report, business overview, financial overview and business strategies of the companies have been provided.



The global probe card market decreased in 2020 due to economic recession led by Covid-19. Projections are made that the market would recover in 2021 and rise in the next five years i.e. 2021-2025. The market can be segmented, on the basis of technology into: blade/tungsten, epoxy/cantilever, vertical probe and MEMS. The probe card market segmentation is also done on the basis of device into Foundry & Logic, DRAM, Flash and Engineering Systems. The market is bifurcated into advanced and traditional/ standard probe card on the basis of product type.



The growth drivers for the global probe card market are: emergence of TSV technology, the prevalence of miniaturization, rise in the semiconductor market and LED market. Despite the market is governed by various growth drivers, there are certain challenges faced by the market such as: continuous price pressure on vendors, cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry, and limited number of suppliers.



Some of the recent trends in the market include developments in the semiconductor market & LED market relating to probe cards, transition from cantilever probe cards to advanced probe cards and the emerging strong players.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Introduction

2.1 Introduction to Probe Card Market

2.2 Elements of Probe Cards

2.3 Types of Probe Cards

2.4 Applications of Probe Cards



3. Global Market Analysis

3.1 Global Probe Card Market: An Analysis

3.1.1 Global Probe Card Market by Production Volume

3.1.2 Global Probe Card Market by Value

3.2 Global Probe Card Market: Device Analysis

3.2.1 Global Probe Card Market Value by Device (Foundry & Logic, DRAM, Flash and Engineering Systems)

3.2.2 Global Foundry & Logic Probe Card Market by Value

3.2.3 Global DRAM Probe Card Market by Value

3.2.4 Global Flash Probe Card Market by Value

3.2.5 Global Engineering Systems Probe Card Market by Value

3.3 Global Probe Card Market: Technology Analysis

3.3.1 Global Probe Card Market Value by Technology (MEMS, Vertical, Epoxy, Blade and Other Technologies)

3.3.2 Global MEMS Probe Card Market by Value

3.3.3 Global Vertical Probe Card Market by Value

3.3.4 Global Epoxy/Cantilever Probe Card Market by Value

3.3.5 Global Blade/Tungsten Probe Card Market by Value

3.4 Global Probe Card Market: Product Type Analysis

3.4.1 Global Probe Card Market Value by Product Type (Advanced and Standard)

3.4.2 Global Advanced Probe Card Market by Value

3.4.3 Global Standard Probe Card Market by Value

3.5 Global Probe Card Market: Regional Analysis

3.5.1 Global Probe Card Market Value by Region (Asia Pacific and Rest of the World)



4. Regional Analysis

4.1 Asia Pacific Probe Card Market: An Analysis

4.1.1 Asia-Pacific Probe Card Market by Value



5. Competitive Landscape

5.1 Global Probe Card Market Players: A Comparison

5.2 Global Probe Card Market Players by Share: An Analysis

5.2.1 Global Probe Card Market Players by Market Share



6. Company Profile

6.1 FormFactor, Inc.

6.1.1 Business Overview

6.1.2 Financial Overview

6.1.3 Business Strategy

6.2 Micronics Japan Co., Ltd.

6.2.1 Business Overview

6.2.2 Financial Overview

6.2.3 Business Strategy

6.3 Japan Electronic Materials Corporation

6.3.1 Business Overview

6.3.2 Financial Overview

6.3.3 Business Strategy



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/sv4jbh

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


TAMPA, Fla., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Yara, a leading crop nutrition solutions provider, today announced the commercial launch of Agoro Carbon Alliance, a global business created for farmers to earn additional revenue through positive climate action. By adopting climate-positive practices, farmers can produce Farm Carbon Credits or climate-smart certified crops while helping to decarbonize food supply chains. Agoro Carbon puts farmers at the center of the solution by incentivizing and enabling them to change practices and connecting them to the growing number of businesses looking for ways to achieve their climate pledges.

Agoro Carbon will support farmers with the agronomical expertise to successfully sequester carbon in the soil and reduce emissions from the field. This will, in turn, generate high-quality, third-party certified carbon credits and increase farmers' income. Farmers who join Agoro Carbon can therefore generate an additional sustainability income from carbon cropping while maintaining or increasing crop yields. Farmers can make the transition to the climate-positive practices that best fit their operation and can choose the amount of acreage to enroll in the program.

"We could not have a better way to celebrate our 75th anniversary in North America," said Geraldo Mattioli, SVP North America. "The launch of Agoro Carbon Alliance illustrates our continued support for the Agricultural industry in this market, and our commitment to being a partner to the farmers and the network around them in the pursuit of sustainability and prosperity."

Agoro Carbon Alliance has registered farmers across Iowa, Nebraska, and Washington to participate in the first Agoro Carbon projects which will deliver Farm Based Carbon Credits in 2021. Anastasia Pavlovic, Managing Director, Agoro Carbon Alliance US, says, "This is an amazing opportunity to support growers across the US as stewards of their land to build resilient farms for future generations. We know these changes aren't easy for our growers and we are excited to bring additional income, practical support and help them mitigate risk as partners every step of the way," Pavlovic continues. "We have launched our first projects to an enthusiastic response from farmers, farmer groups, and retailers and we are looking forward to bringing this opportunity to more farmers in the coming months." Farmer enrollment for the 2022 growing season will begin this June.

Knowing that tackling climate change will require a collective effort from partners across industries, Yara invites farmers, retailers and distributors, cooperatives, technology providers, lenders, insurers and the food industry to join the Agoro Carbon Alliance. Yara will host a virtual introduction event on June 8 to formally unveil details of Agoro Carbon, with additional information on how to get involved. Those interested can learn more by registering for the event at www.yara.com/agoro/ .

To learn more about the Agoro Carbon Alliance and Yara, visit www.yara.com/agoro/ and www.yara.com .

About Yara

Yara grows knowledge to responsibly feed the world and protect the planet. Supporting our vision of a world without hunger and a planet respected, we pursue a strategy of sustainable value growth, promoting climate-friendly crop nutrition and zero-emission energy solutions. Yara's ambition is focused on growing a climate positive food future that creates value for our customers, shareholders and society at large and delivers a more sustainable food value chain.

To achieve our ambition, we have taken the lead in developing digital farming tools for precision farming, and work closely with partners throughout the food value chain to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food production. Through our focus on clean ammonia production, we aim to enable the hydrogen economy, driving a green transition of shipping, fertilizer production and other energy intensive industries.

Founded in 1905 to solve the emerging famine in Europe, Yara has established a unique position as the industry's only global crop nutrition company. We operate an integrated business model with around 17,000 employees and operations in over 60 countries, with a proven track record of strong returns. In 2020, Yara reported revenues of USD 11.6 billion.

www.yara.com

About Agoro Carbon Alliance

Agoro Carbon Alliance is creating a new solution to our carbon challenge that's grounded in the soil. Our partners are committed to decarbonizing farming by helping transform practices on every farm on the planet, generating reliable Farm Carbon Credits and certified climate-smart crops.

Guided by transparency, security and collaboration, we create incentive for farmers, buyers, and consumers to choose change from the ground up. Agoro leverages Yara's deep agronomic knowledge and credibility to make it possible for every farm to transition to climate-positive farming practices, restoring carbon to the world's soils, and reversing the effects of climate change.

Meet our members and join the journey at www.yara.com/agoro

SOURCE Yara
The majority casts the district courts decision as misconstruing religious expression while failing to safeguard the right to a unanimous jury verdict, Wilson wrote in the dissent. On this record, I cannot agree. The decision to remove Juror No. 13 was a tough call, and one the district court did not take lightly. But from the district courts superior vantage point, it was necessary to ensure that a verdict was rendered based on the law and evidence  a principle that is foundational to our system of justice.
"We are delighted to see the MFC Project structuring discussions progressing so efficiently and we continue to work with our partners to implement this as quickly as possible," said Power Metal CEO, Paul Johnson

PLC ( ) said a new company is to be created to advance the Molopo Farms Complex (MFC) in Botswana.

As previously announced, the AIM-listed metals exploration and development company has a 40% direct interest in the MFC project, which is targeting prospective magmatic intrusion-hosted massive nickel sulphide and platinum-group element (PGE) mineralisation. The other 60% of the project is owned by Kalahari Key Mineral Exploration.

Power Metal said it intends to retain ownership of its 40% interest in the MFC project at present and to reflect the new ownership structure several steps are planned.

Kalahari Key will remain a single project holding company and continue to manage the MFC project, and a new local board will be established including at least one director from Power Metal. The share capital of Kalahari Key will be restructured to reflect a new ownership structure for the MFC project with 60% of Kalahari Key shares held by existing Kalahari Key shareholders and 40% of shares held by Power Metal. The above 60% Kalahari Key shareholding will be held through a newly formed UK publicly listed company (PLC) in which existing Kalahari Key shareholders (including Power Metal) will have the same percentage ownership interest as currently held in Kalahari Key.

The plan is for this new PLC to be listed on a recognised stock exchange in London this year, where it will be a proactive resource exploration vehicle.

Power Metal said the new companys operations will principally include the advancement of the MFC project and the acquisition of additional opportunities, with a focus on Botswana.

Currently, Power Metal holds 18% of Kalahari Key and therefore with its 40% direct project interest has an overall effective economic interest in the MFC project of 50.8%.

Following the restructuring and upon settlement of the Kalahari Key rights issue in which Power Metal has participated the company will hold 21.7% of the new PLC, meaning its overall effective economic interest in the MFC project will increase to 53.02%.

The decision to create a new UK PLC to hold the remaining 60% interest in the MFC project is an important step. We believe the planned UK listing will enable fuller recognition of the MFC project's value, particularly given the notable exploration success already achieved and the level of interest being shown in the project, said Paul Johnson, the chief executive of Power Metal.

For Power Metal we are pleased to support the listing of the new vehicle, which will enable our holding in Kalahari Key to have demonstrable value, further building our working capital with additional listed equity.

In the interim, we continue to push on with technical work at the MFC project and further updates are anticipated in the near term, he added.

Shares in Power Metal were 2.9% higher at 2.45p in early deals.
The companys key asset is the Kayelekera Uranium Project in northern Malawi, Africa.

Ltd ( ) (OTCMKTS:LTSRF) non-executive director Grant Davey has continued to build his holding in the company with his fourth on-market purchase of shares this week with a total value of more than A$213,000.

In his latest purchase, on May 5 Davey acquired a further 250,000 shares worth A$46,250 in an indirect interest, increasing the number of securities held in that interest to more than 16.148 million.

This follows his purchase on May 3 of 303,602 shares valued at A$96,398, on May 4 of 200,000 shares valued at A$30,000 and May 5 of 246,398 shares valued at A$40,656.

OTCQB market trading

Last week, the company completed its secondary listing on the OTCQB market in the United States with the ticker LTSRF.

The secondary listing on the OTC Markets is aimed at enhancing the visibility and accessibility of the uranium development company to North American investors.

It will allow potential North American investors to both trade and settle during US trading hours in US dollars.

Kayelekera project

Lotus owns an 85% interest in the Kayelekera Uranium Project in Malawi that hosts a resource of 37.5 million pounds of U3O8 and historically produced around 11 million pounds of uranium between 2009 and 2014.

The company has completed a positive Restart Study which demonstrated that Kayelekera can support a viable long-term operation and has the potential to be one of the first uranium projects to recommence production in the future.

Lotus Resources has a market cap of approximately A$175.8 million while today shares have been almost 11% higher to A$0.205 cents, a new three-year high.
Mumbai, May 7 : In an effort to help industry workers deal with the second wave of Covid in Mumbai, filmmaker Aditya Chopra has launched the Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative.

The initiative, named after Aditya's father, the late filmmaker Yash Chopra, aims at providing support to daily wage earners of the film industry.

"The pandemic has pushed the backbone of our industry, the daily workers, to a breaking point, and YRF wants to support as many workers and their families who are in need due to the loss of livelihood. Yash Chopra Saathi Initiative is aiming to provide support to the pandemic-hit workers of our industry who we urgently need to focus on," Akshaye Widhani, senior vice-president, Yash Raj Films (YRF), says.

As part of the initiative, women and senior citizen workers will get Rs. 5000. In association with an NGO called Youth Feed India, ration kits will also be distributed to workers with a family of four for the entire month. The workers have to apply for this benefit through their website.

Aditya was also recently in the news for appealing to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to let YRF vaccinate 30,000 daily workers.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New York, May 7 : US defence officials have emphasised the strategic partnership with India in helping it in the time of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

"The US Defence Department will continue to stand by India in its moment of need and support US assistance efforts in the days and weeks ahead," Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl told India's Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar on Thursday, according to Pentagon's Deputy Spokesperson Jamal Brown.

Kahl and Kumar during their phone conversation "highlighted the enduring strength of the US-India strategic partnership, noting that the bonds between the two nations have only deepened in times of crisis".

"They reiterated their commitment to working closely with like-minded countries, including Quadrilateral partners Japan and Australia, to address the defining challenges of our time,' Brown added.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke about the Department's role in spearheading Washington's relief efforts for India by delivering supplies from the Travis Air Force Base in California deploying four of its largest aircraft.

Referring to the Department's contribution to fighting the pandemic, he said at a Pentagon news conference: "I should say just a word about the crisis facing our friends in India. We're moving urgently to support India's front-line health care workers and three US Air Force C-5M Super Galaxies and a C-17 Globe Master III have already delivered many tons of critical supplies." He said that the Department's "renewed focus on teamwork on several levels", includes "outreach to our allies and partners, who multiply our strength and make the world more stable and secure".

Austin said that that his first overseas trips "were all about investing in those relationships, including important business that we've already conducted" with the leaders of partners, including India.

During his visit to India in March, Austin met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to strengthen defence ties between the two countries as India emerges as an important partner in the US Indo-Pacific strategy.

At his Thursday news conference, Austin highlighted the Indo-Pacific region, where the US directly faces challenges from China.

The news strategy of "integrated deterrence" that the Pentagon is developing is "especially important for our priority theatre of operations, the Indo-Pacific", he said.

He said that integrated deterrence "is a new vision of how we defend the nation in all domains of conflict in a time when technology is changing the nature of warfare".

"We've started a global force posture review to make sure we're positioned well for the challenges that we face around the globe, but certainly there in the region as well," Austin said, adding that the China Task Force "is developing an important set of recommendations".

Speaking about integrated deterrence last week during a visit to the Indo-Pacific command headquarters in Hawaii, Austin said that that military's role is also "to buttress US diplomacy and advance a foreign policy that employs all of our instruments of national power".

It also includes developing defences against emerging cyber and space threats, according to the Defence chief.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)
Washington, May 7 : A US State Department official said Washington and Tehran could achieve a mutual return to compliance with the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal in the coming weeks if the Islamic Republic makes a "political decision".

The official said in a phone briefing on Thursday that the last three rounds of indirect talks between the US and Iran in Vienna "helped crystallise the choices", but noting "nothing has been agreed" on how to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reports Xinhua news agency.

"If Iran makes the political decision that it genuinely wants to return to the JCPOA as the JCPOA was negotiated, then it could be done relatively quickly and implementation could be relatively swift," the official told reporters.

"But we don't know if Iran has made that decision. There's still a lot of work to do in terms of agreeing on the sanctions, nuclear steps, but also the sequencing and the timetable for implementation of the steps that both sides are going to need to take," he said.

The official suggested that it is possible for Washington and Tehran to achieve a mutual return to compliance in the next few weeks, while stressing "this is ultimately a matter of a political decision that needs to be made in Iran".

The US delegation will return to Vienna this week for a new round of indirect talks with Iran.

"We just have to see whether the next round actually moves things forward, or whether we still are faced with unrealistic demands by Iran," said the official.

Abbas Araqchi, Iran's senior negotiator in Vienna talks, said last week that negotiating parties have reached "common ground in many cases", but there were still differences.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the US knows that it has to return to law and assume its obligations pertaining to the nuclear deal.

The JCPOA was reached in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the US, the UK, Russia, France, China, plus Germany) together with the European Union.

Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear weapons program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions.

Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments in May 2019, one year after the administration of former US President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
May 07 : Anupam Kher bagged the Best Actor award for his short film Happy Birthday at the New York City International Film Festival. The film also won the Best Short Film award at the international film festival. Helmed by Prasad Kadam and produced by FNP Media, Happy Birthday stars Anupam Kher and Aahana Kumra.

Showing his gratitude for winning the award, the Hotel Mumbai actor said in a statement, "Thank you New York City International Film Festival (NYCIFF) for this great honour. It's humbling to be declared the Best Actor in this prestigious film festival. The credit goes to the whole young team of 'Happy Birthday' and my co-actor Aahana Kumra, thanks to the director Prasad Kadam, and rest of the team."

Taking to Twitter, Anupam Kher wrote, Extremely happy to have won the #BestActor award at the #NYCIFF (New York City International Film Festival) for my short film #HappyBirthday. Also thrilled that it got the #BestFilm award too!! Thank you to the entire unit especially @AahanaKumra for their support!! Jai Ho!!

Extremely happy to have won the #BestActor award at the #NYCIFF (New York City International Film Festival) for my short film #HappyBirthday. Also thrilled that it got the #BestFilm award too!! Thank you to the entire unit especially @AahanaKumra for their support!! Jai Ho!!  pic.twitter.com/tmMm3z2QYp  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) May 6, 2021

Girish Johar, co-producer of the film, added in a statement, "It's really overwhelming to receive these two awards at an International Film Festival!! Anupam Sir, is a global icon, the more we say, it always falls short. He is pure GENIUS. While Ahaana was nominated for best actress, Prasad was also nominated for best director. Anupam Kher and Aahana had also collaborated in the 2019 film The Accidental Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Anupam Kher has several projects in the pipeline including The Last Show, Mungilal Rocks, Moh Maya, and The Kashmir Files. The actor will share screen space with Satish Kaushik in Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri directorial The Last Show. In The Kashmir Files, written and directed by Vivek Agnihotri, the actor will share screen space with Mithun Chakraborty. The film tells the story of exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.
May 07 : While India is battling the grave situation of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bollywood celebs are doing their best to work towards the relief work. Several actors as well as filmmakers and production houses are helping people in any way possible. While Aditya Chopra of the Yash Raj Films has written to the government and offered to vaccinate about 30,000 daily workers of the Hindi film industry, now, Karan Johar of Dharma Productions has joined hands with Yuvaa to amplify resources amidst the pandemic.

Taking to Twitter, Dharma Productions said in a statement that they have joined hands with Yuvaa to amplify their efforts in helping the community with resources. While the country has been significantly impacted by COVID-l9, the production house will use all its platforms to help people with verified information and receive resources pertaining to vaccination processes and mental health. The production house said it will help the community in any way possible.

Leveraging the leads, resources and verified information of @weareyuvaa, we will be extending our platforms to do our bit and amplify the same. pic.twitter.com/mVsVRxYnJ6  Dharma Productions (@DharmaMovies) May 6, 2021

In another Twitter post, Dharma Productions said, In case you have any questions, doubts or need help regarding the vaccination process in India or any mental health issue you would like to seek help for - Team Yuvaa and us will do our best to cater to the same. If you require any other SOS help, please reach out to Yuvaa.

In case you have any questions, doubts or need help regarding the vaccination process in India or any mental health issue you would like to seek help for - Team Yuvaa and us will do our best to cater to the same.



If you require any other SOS help, please reach out to Yuvaa..  Dharma Productions (@DharmaMovies) May 6, 2021

Earlier, Salman Khan, who is gearing up for the release of Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, pledged a part of the revenue from his film proceeds towards COVID-19 relief work as he took the decision on behalf of Salman Khan Films (SKF) along with the films co-producer-distributor Zee Enterprises.

Several other Bollywood celebs are also doing their bit and contributing to the relief work. Actor-producer John Abraham let some NGOs who are helping in relief work take over his social media handles to reach out to a wider audience. I will be handing over my social media accounts to NGOs we have partnered with across the country and all content posted on my handles will be exclusive to help connect those affected with the resources they require, John wrote on his Instagram handle.

Anushka Sharma did not celebrate her birthday due to the depressing times, instead, the actress said that she and her husband Virat Kohli will donate towards the COVID relief.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Thiruvananthapuram, May 7 : The handling of the Covid pandemic by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan won him and State Health Minister K.K.Shailaja lot of accolades and it was the major reason which helped him script a never before electoral victory witnessed in Kerala, when he mauled the Congress-led opposition and got a second successive term.

As he gets ready to be sworn in most likely on May 20, one thing is certain, there will be no honeymoon period for him, which normally any new government gets, as the pandemic which won him all round glory, is going to be his biggest challenge as well.

The Covid scenario in Kerala is such that on Thursday it reached a record high of 42,464 cases after 1,55,632 samples were tested and the total number of active cases stood at a staggering 3,90,906.

Not to mention the test positivity rate stood at 27.28 per cent and all these figures are the highest ever recorded in Kerala, which means one cannot bask in past glory.

The pandemic first surfaced in Kerala in Thrissur on January 30 last year, when a medical student form Wuhan in China tested positive but it was not until the first week of March, 2020, when the ongoing assembly session was curtailed that things started to turn for the worse and Kerala was the first state which decided to go ahead with a lockdown in the fourth week of March and soon the Centre came with a national lockdown.

A media critic on condition of anonymity pointed out, no doubt the situation was well handled by Vijayan and state Health Minister Shailaja and all those who know the well oiled machinery of the health department, it did not come as a surprise.

"Both Vijayan and Shailaja led from the front and got the world looking on Kerala. After some time, many felt that Vijayan was trying to build on to the accolades that was received and the situation was the Congress led opposition was caught on the back foot and they knew that if they do not handle it wisely, it could turn counterproductive," said the critic.

"The distribution of the monthly food kit to all families was the clincher and soon came the local body polls in December and he won. Knowing that his Covid war has gone down deep into the hearts of the people, he saw the writing on the wall and repeated it in the April 6 assembly polls.

"But now comes the real battle for Vijayan, as by now things have gone out of hand as with a huge caseload, any aberration could backfire and he has to tread carefully and how he does it is going to be the cynosure of all eyes," added the critic.

Apart from fighting the pandemic, Vijayan has another big task ahead of him as the State's finances are appallingly poor as the per capita debt of every Keralaite stands at Rs 1,05,000 up from Rs 46,075 in 2016.

When Vijayan took over in 2016, the total public debt was Rs 1.50 lakh crore and today it has touched Rs 3.20 lakh crore.

Apart from handling the pandemic, the task of selecting a new Finance Minister is another challenge, as the economist turned two term State Finance Minister Thomas Isaac is not there this time, as he came under the two successive term norm.

The biggest challenge before Isaac's replacement is he will just not be able to blame his predecessor, which was the norm for every new finance minister, as this is the first time a sitting government has retained power.

So all in all it's going to be tough for Vijayan and time will prove if Covid which helped him retain power, turns to be his nemesis.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
United Nations, May 7 : The UN honoured 336 personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2020, the highest number ever in a single year.

A memorial ceremony held online on Thursday, paid tribute to civilian and uniformed staff who died because of malicious acts, natural disasters and other incidents, reports Xinhua news agency.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its wider impacts, including on healthcare access, the number also included colleagues who passed from the disease or other illness.

"The year 2020 was like no other in the history of the UN," said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"The world faced a merciless pandemic that continues to sow tremendous suffering. Millions of families lost loved ones. The UN family was no different." He called for a moment of silence to remember the fallen colleagues, whose names were read out loud during the ceremony.

Representing more than 80 nations, they literally came from every corner of the globe, and reflected the diversity and richness of experience of the UN.

"They devoted their careers to advancing the vision and the values of the UN -- securing peace, promoting sustainable development, advancing human rights," said the top UN official.

Patricia Nemeth, president of the UN Staff Union, added that those who made "the ultimate sacrifice" for the organisation "did so in an effort to defend the freedoms of the most vulnerable, and provide for them the most basic needs that we all enjoy".

The personnel who died in 2020 will never be forgotten, the Secretary-General said.

He also underlined UN commitment to continue reviewing and improving practices related to staff safety and care.

"They embodied the essence of multilateralism -- people around the globe joining forces to build a better world. In their name, we pledge to continue that work.

"As we honour our dear colleagues, let us keep their memories alive through our work to build a life of dignity and hope for all," Guterres concluded.
New Delhi, May 7 : Calling the Central Vista project a "criminal wastage", former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged the Narendra Modi government to focus more on people's lives.

"Central Vista is criminal wastage. Put people's lives at the centre -- not your blind arrogance to get a new house," he said in a tweet.

The Congress and the several opposition parties have questioned the need of the new Parliament building, and suggested that all resources should be put to fight Covid-19 pandemic.

On Friday, India recorded 4.14 lakh fresh cases of Covid with 3,915 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Friday came three days after the reports of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has informed a government-appointed expert panel that the construction of the Prime Minister's residence under the ambitious Central Vista project will be completed by December 2022.

The CPWD, which is the project developer, had informed the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) that the expansion of the Parliament building and the construction of a new Parliament building will be done by November 2022 and the Prime Minister's residence will be constructed by December 2022.

The Ministry of Environment has already granted the clearance for the expansion and renovation of the existing Parliament building, which is part of the Rs 13,450 crore Central Vista Redevelopment Project.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Ive received so many calls and texts and emails, and have been stopped when Im out and about by people who are asking me that very same question. Matter of fact, they think I should run for statewide office and maybe challenge the governor, or challenge Sen. Rubio next year, she told POLITICO. Im seriously considering a statewide run. And well see what happens.
New Delhi, May 7 : After Apple gave users more control over their data sharing with app developers, Google has now pre-announced an upcoming safety section in Google Play that will help people understand the data an app collects or shares.

Starting Q2 2022, new app submissions and app updates will ask developers to include the information like what sort of data apps collect, how it's stored and how it's used.

Google will ask developers to share what type of data is collected and stored like users' precise location, contacts, personal information (name, email address), photos and videos, audio files, and storage files.

The company will also ask developers how the data is used, like app functionality and personalisation.

"Similar to app details like screenshots and descriptions, developers are responsible for the information disclosed in their section. Google Play will introduce a policy that requires developers to provide accurate information," Suzanne Frey, VP, Product, Android Security and Privacy, said in a statement on Thursday.

"If we find that a developer has misrepresented the data they've provided and is in violation of the policy, we will require the developer to fix it. Apps that don't become compliant will be subject to policy enforcement," she informed.

Google said that it will introduced new elements to highlight whether the app has security practices like data encryption, follows 'Families' policy, if the app's safety section is verified by an independent third-party provider and if the app enables users to request data deletion, if they decide to uninstall.

"All apps on Google Play - including Google's own apps - will be required to share this information and provide a privacy policy," the company said.

"In the future, we'll continue providing new ways to simplify control for users and automate more work for developers," it added.

On new privacy controls in iOS 14.5, Apple has said that the App Tracking Transparency requires apps to get the user's permission before tracking their data across apps or websites owned by other companies for advertising, or sharing their data with data brokers.

Apps can prompt users for permission, and in Settings, users will be able to see which apps have requested permission to track so they can make changes to their choice at any time.

Over 10,000 iOS apps have already adopted permission prompts to conform with Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, according to third-party data.
New Delhi, May 7 : Cracking its whip against the black marketeers, the Delhi Police on Friday said it has arrested two persons.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South Delhi Atul Bhatia said, that the Greater Kailash Police station team has arrested two persons, and also seized 10 medical oxygen concentrators and 82 plastic pipes used in concentrators, 3,486 digital thermometers, 263 digital gun thermometers, 684 oximeters and 10 nebulizers.

He said that on May 5, an information regarding a person selling Covid-related medical equipments at a higher price than market price, in M Block Market GK-1 area was received.

"Acting swiftly on the information, a team comprising Inspector Jai Prakash Nagar, Sub Inspector Anil Kumar and several others was constituted under the leadership of Inspector Ritesh Kumar, SHO Greater Kailash and overall supervision of ACP CR Park Lakshay Pandey, to nab the accused.

"Around 9 p.m., one Alto car was noticed coming towards M Block Market parking GK-1. The informer signalled towards the hoarder and team apprehended him," Bhatia said.

The accused was identified as Saeed, a resident of Jamia Nagar and four medical oxygen concentrators, 10 infrared machines, 20 oximeter and 40 thermometer were found in his possession.

During questioning, he stated that he works with one Muqueem and shares profit.

"On further raid, six medical oxygen concentrator and 82 plastic pipe used in concentrators were seized... 3,446 digital thermometer, 253 digital gun thermometer, 664 oximeter and 10 nebulizers were found from the warehouse of accused Muqueem located in Shaheen Bagh area of South Delhi," he said.

The official said that both the accused disclosed that they were selling essential life saving equipments on higher rates than the market price.

A case has been registered against both the accused.
San Francisco, May 7 : Google has announced new Assistant features for families, including improved broadcasts, bell reminders and new stories and games for kids.

Google said in a statement on Thursday that new Assistant feature will be rolled out globally on Mother's Day (May 9).

The Family Broadcast feature will now send messages to Assistant on smartphones as well, which family members can reply to.

The popular Family Bell reminders will now expand to eight new languages, including Hindi.

Google will now let users automatically remind family that someone needs to water the plants or remind your kids (or spouse) to clean up the house.

Since last summer, more than 20 million Family Bells have been rung to help families stay organised.

"Another highly requested feature we're rolling out today is the ability to have Family Bells ring across multiple home devices at one time (not just one smart speaker or display)," Google said.

Assistant is also getting new stories and games that you can access from a smart display or Android device.

Google said it is partnering with Pottermore Publishing to bring more stories later in the year, along with bringing the "Who Was?" series from Penguin Random House to smart display.
Kabul, May 7 : Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met the UK's Ambassador to Kabul, Alison Blake and discussed the peace process and support to the country's national security force, his office said in a statement.

The two sides also talked about a regional consensus on Afghan peace and stability on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

"A political solution and needed mechanism to reach the optimal goal, which is an independent, democratic and impartial Afghanistan was also parts of the agenda discussed between the two sides," the statement said.

The meeting came as the US and coalition forces have been leaving the country.

About 3,500 US forces and 7,000 NATO-led troops will be withdrawn before September 11.
Hyderabad, May 7 : The declining trend in new Covid-19 cases in Telangana continued as the state reported 5,892 infections during the 24-hour period.

The daily count has come down from 6,026 a day earlier. The new cases pushed the state's cumulative tally to 4,81,640.

The 24-hour period that ended 8 p.m. Thursday saw 46 more deaths. The cumulative death toll mounted to 2,625. The case fatality rate stands 0.54 per cent against the national average of 1.1 per cent.

For fifth day in a row, the state reported more recoveries than the new infections.

A total of 9,122 people recovered from Covid during the 24-hour period. With this, the cumulative number of recoveries has gone up to 4,05,164.

The recovery rate improved further to 84.12 per cent against the national average of 81.9 per cent.

The number of active cases has also come down further to 73,851. The number had crossed 80,000 early this week.

Government and private laboratories tested 76,047 samples during the 24-hour period.

According to the daily media bulletin released by the health department, the state has so far conducted 1,34,23,123 tests. Samples tested per million population improved to 3,60,642.

The number of daily cases in Greater Hyderabad dropped to 1,104. Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddy district adjoining Hyderabad reported 378 and 443 cases respectively.

Out of 33 districts in the state, 13 districts reported cases in double digits.

Nalgonda continues to see surge in cases. The district reported 323 new cases. Warangal Urban recorded 321 new cases followed by 263 in Karimnagar, 204 in Nagarkurnool, Sangareddy recorded 235 new cases followed by 231 in Siddipet, 224 in Warangal Urban, 223 in Karimnagar, 206 in Nagarkurnool and 201 in Siddipet.

Considering the downward trend in cases, the state government has ruled out imposing lockdown in the state.

Chief Minister K. Chandarsekhar Rao made it clear Thursday night that there would be no lockdown in the state as the move would bring the life to a standstill and would lead to a total collapse of the economy.

The chief minister, who returned to his official residence after recovering from Covid, chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the situation. He said lockdown would not help in bringing down the number of positive cases.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, May 7 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin turned emotional on Friday while paying his respects before his late father and former Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi's portrait at the latter's residence in Gopalapuram on Friday.

Stalin drove to Karunanidhi's residence at Gopalapuram from Raj Bhavan after taking oath of office and secrecy as Chief Minister.

Paying his floral tributes to Karunanidhi's photograph, Stalin with a small hand gesture conveyed that his father was not there to see him become the Chief Minister of the state.

Stalin's sister Selvi quickly consoled him.

Earlier on entering Karunanidhi's residence where his mother resides now, some party cadres burst crackers as a mark of celebration to which Stalin immediately showed his displeasure.

Stalin came to Karunanidhi's residence to seek his mother's blessings.

At Raj Bhavan, Stalin's wife Durga turned emotional on hearing her husband saying `"I Muthuvel Karunanidhia", while being administered Oath of Office and Oath of Secrecy.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Tokyo, May 7 : A bill to amend Japan's national referendum law on revision of the Constitution is likely to be enacted during the current parliamentary session, as a lower house commission approved the legislation.

The passage of the bill on Thursday was as a result of a majority vote by the pro-revision ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), its junior coalition Komeito ally, the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDPJ) and the Democratic Party for the People, reports Xinhua news agency.

The approval of the bill, however, only came as a result of the pro-revisionist LDP accepting the CDPJ's insistence that the bill be modified with a clause added, stating that restrictions must be placed on financing and media and campaign advertising for a national referendum within three years after the revised law comes into effect.

Some more specifics include the CDPJ only agreeing to back the bill to amend Japan's national referendum law on revision of the Constitution if the ruling party's plans for placing polling stations in highly-populated areas such as near train stations and shopping malls are restricted, as well as restrictions placed on media advertising on the referendum revision.

Without the restrictions being added to the bill, the CDPJ has argued that the LDP's deep-pockets for campaign funding would calculatingly influence voters' decisions.

The main opposition party's demands for the bill to be modified were met during a meeting earlier on Thursday between the secretary generals of the CDPJ and the LDP.

The modified bill is now expected to be backed by the lower house plenary session slated for next Tuesday prior to being sent to the upper house, lawmakers said.

The ruling LDP has remained committed to trying to rewrite Japan's post-war, pacifist charter, which has remained unchanged since the supreme law came into effect.

For the ruling party to propose a revision to the Constitution, a two-thirds majority is required in both chambers of Japan's bicameral parliament before a national referendum on the matter.

The opposition bloc, in contrast to the LDP, has been ardently opposed to revising the pacifist charter, particularly the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution.

The general public has also staunchly opposed any changes being made to Article 9 of the Constitution, which has been in effect since 1947 after the country's defeat in World War II.

Numerous, renowned Japanese scholars and political observers also believe that even if the ruling party were to manage to garner the two-thirds majority required in both houses of parliament necessary to call a referendum, they would fail to secure a majority in a national vote due to a reluctant public.
New Delhi, May 7 : Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying his government's lack of a clear and coherent Covid and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position.

He also said that government's failures have made another national lockdown almost inevitable, and to prevent a repeat of the manifold suffering caused by last year's lockdown, the government must act with compassion and provide critical financial and food support to "our most vulnerable people".

This is his second letter to the Prime Minister within a month. He has earlier written to Modi on April 9 calling for vaccinations to be opened up to "everyone who needs it" and an immediate halt on vaccine exports, predicting "catastrophic effects" on the economy if inoculations continued at the current pace.

His remarks came on the day when India recorded 4.14 lakh fresh cases of Covid in the last 24 hours, highest in a day.

In a three-page letter, Rahul Gandhi, who is also a Lok Sabha MP from Kerala's Wayanad, said: "I am compelled to write to you once more as the Covid-19 tsunami continues to ravage our country unabated." The Congress leader said "in such an unprecedented crisis, the people of India must be your foremost priority".

"I urge you to do everything in your power to stop the needless suffering that our people are going through," he said.

He further said that but it is also important to understand India's responsibility in a globalised and interconnected world.

"India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form. The double and triple mutant strains that we are currently grappling with are only the beginning, I fear," he said.

He highlighted that "allowing the uncontrollable spread of this virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world".

"It is, therefore, absolutely critical that we address several urgent issues without delay. We must -- scientifically track the virus and its mutations across the country using genome sequencing as well as its disease patterns, dynamically assess the efficacy of all vaccines against all new mutations as they are identified, rapidly vaccinate our entire population and be transparent and keep the rest of the world informed about our findings," he said.

Hitting out at the government, Rahul Gandhi said: "Your government's lack of a clear and coherent Covid and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position: today the disease is growing explosively." "It is currently on the verge of overwhelming all of our systems. Government of India's (GOIs) failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable," he said.

He suggested that in light of this, it is critical that our people are prepared for such an eventuality.

"To prevent a repeat of the manifold suffering caused by last year's lockdown, the government must act with compassion and provide critical financial and food support to our most vulnerable people. In addition, it must be ready with a transportation strategy for those who will require it," he said.

He also emphasised that he was aware that the Prime Minister is concerned about the economic impact of a lockdown.

"Inside and outside India, the human cost of allowing this virus to continue its march unimpeded will result in many more tragic consequences for our people than any purely economic calculations your advisors are suggesting," he said, adding that in times of crisis, various stakeholders must be taken into confidence so we can all work together to safeguard India.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, May 7 : As Covid-19 pandemic moves from the urban centres to the hinterlands ravaging the over-burdened healthcare system, the medical fraternity on Saturday urged the government to install oxygen plants in all hospital premises as oxygen cylinders and concentrators are unable to meet the surge in demand for the life-saving gas.

The fact is that oxygen concentrators/cylinders cannot reach every nook and corner of the country and hospitals with their own oxygen-generating infrastructure can only supply oxygen to critical patients in this dire situation.

In a life-saving measure, a oxygen generator donated by the French government was installed in record 18 hours at Narayana Super Specialty Hospital in East Delhi, which is helping the hospital fill 48 cylinders weighing 40 litres to 60 litres each in 24 hours.

According to Dr V Ramana Prasad, Senior pulmonologist, KIMS hospital Hyderabad, installing oxygen plants is the need of the hour and the "government must ensure that it is implemented to avoid oxygen deprivation to the needy patients in smaller cities and towns where the pandemic is surging".

The demand for oxygen has soared "seven-fold" in India amid the rising daily Covid-19 cases. According to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, the demand for life-saving gas spread from 12 states on April 15 to as many as 22 states on April 24.

In nine days, the demand for medical oxygen increased 67 per cent.

According to reports, India so far only has 1,224 tankers with a capacity of 16,732 MT to carry medical oxygen and the central government is in the process of manufacturing more cryogenic tankers.

The problem is that liquid medical oxygen is flammable and, in most cases, can't be flown and has to be moved via road, rail or sea, which takes longer time to reach the hospitals.

An oxygen plant within the premises can quickly deliver the live-saving gas to patients.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that they will set up 48 oxygen plants, including 21 that are being imported from France, across the capital.

"Medical collage hospital and large corporate hospitals can have permanent plants, but this is not possible for small hospitals/nursing homes," Dr Sumant Mantri, Senior Consultant, Pulmonologist at Apollo Hospital, Bangalore told IANS.

Dr Pratibha Dogra, Senior pulmonologist from W Pratiksha Hospital Gurgaon said that the hospitals in the country urgently need their own oxygen plants.

"We have to act urgently to increase oxygen production to meet the anticipated amount of oxygen requirement by covid patients given that we are still on the rising curve of the second wave," Dogra told IANS.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kiev, May 7 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the ongoing security situation in the country's borders along Russia with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kiev, according to an official statement.

During the talks on Thursday, Zelensky said that Blinken's visit is a signal to Europe and Russia of Washington's support for Kiev in the wake of the massive military build-up by Moscow in recent weeks along the border, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying Zelensky informed Blinken that currently Ukraine's conflict-hit region of Donbas is witnessing a decrease in sniper fire and the number of casualties, while the tensions on the Ukrainian-Russian borders have eased after the partial withdrawal of Russian troops.

During the conversation, Zelensky voiced his government's commitment to bring sustainable peace to Ukraine.

"The issue of ending the war for Ukraine is a priority, and a priority for each of us," Zelensky was quoted as saying by his press service.

For his part, Blinken said that Washington supports Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence and stands ready to continue its assistance for Kiev.

"We are actively considering the possibility of increasing cooperation and assistance to Ukraine in terms of security," Blinken said.

The Secretary of State praised the progress Ukraine has made on its reform path, urging continued efforts to deepen the land market, judiciary system and anti-corruption reforms.

At the talks, Zelensky invited US President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian media, Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier in the day for a working visit.

During his trip, Blinken also held talks with Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and other officials.

The visit comes in the aftermath of a massive military buil-dup by Russia in recent weeks along its border with Ukraine.

The US and its NATO allies expressed concerns about the movements of Russian troops, while Moscow said the maneuvers were purely defensive.

The ongoing conflict in Donbas, which began in April 2014, has claimed some 14,000 lives and left as many as 40,000 wounded.

Kiev has repeatedly blamed Moscow for inciting the conflict.

Russia, however, has denied the charges, saying the accusations are groundless.
New Delhi, May 7 : The Supreme Court on Friday said the Centre has to supply 700 MT of oxygen to Delhi every day till further orders.

A bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah said: "We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi on daily basis. Don't make us go firm." Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, counsel representing the Delhi government, mentioned before the top court the supply of oxygen received by Delhi. Mehra submitted before the bench that the Delhi government has received 86 MT on Friday till 9 a.m. and 16 MT of oxygen is in transit.

Justice Chandrachud said: "We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi and we mean business. it has to be supplied and we don't want to be coercive." The bench emphasized that its order regarding the oxygen supply to Delhi will be uploaded later in the afternoon, but asked the Centre to proceed and arrange the oxygen supply for the national capital.

Justice Shah added that Centre has to supply 700 MT oxygen every day till further orders.

The Delhi government had complained before the top court that it did not receive 700 MT oxygen, even after top court orders.

On May 5, the apex court had stayed a Delhi High Court order of May 4 by which showcause notice for contempt of court was issued against the Central government officers for its failure to meet oxygen supply required for the national capital.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kathmandu, May 7 : Tourism officials in Nepal have rejected claims about foreign climbers, attempting to summit Mount Everest and other peaks, being infected with the novel coronavirus.

"We have been notified that some climbers were airlifted to Kathmandu for respiratory problems and pneumonia. We were not officially notified that any one of them had tested positive for Covid-19," Bhishma Raj Bhattarai, a section officer at the Department of Tourism, told Xinhua news agency on Thursday.

Mira Acharya, Director of the Department, has been at the base Everest for the last few days.

"Nobody has complained to me that anybody has developed COVID-19 symptoms here," Acharya told Xinhua from the base camp over the phone.

CIWEC Hospital, a Kathmandu-based facility dedicated to the treatment of the mountaineers, had a few climbers airlifted from the base camp two weeks ago after they developed Covid symptoms.

"They were confirmed to be infected with coronavirus in the polymerase chain reaction test," Astha Pant, head of business development at the Kathmandu hospital, told Xinhua.

"All have been discharged from the hospital now. They were all foreigners." Pant, however, refused to give the exact number of the climbers who tested positive for coronavirus at the hospital.

The report about Covid-19 reaching the world's tallest mountain came at a time when around 2,000 mountaineers, their guides and helpers, along with some Nepali government officials, have gathered at the base camp before the climbers make their first bid on Sunday.

The Nepal government issued climbing permits for 408 climbers this year, a record high for Mt. Everest, according to the Department of Tourism.

In 2019, a total of 381 permits were issued.

Many mountaineers have arrived in Nepal to scale the tallest peak in the world and other Himalayan mountains this spring, as they could not visit Nepal last year due to the suspension of all expeditions over Covid risks.

"Four Nepali Sherpa guides, who were evacuated from Dhaulagiri base camp to Kathmandu on Tuesday after developing symptoms of Covid-19, tested positive for coronavirus," Mingma Sherpa, the chairperson of Seven Summit Treks, one of the leading expedition organizing companies in Nepal, told Xinhua on Thursday.

"They are people associated with different expedition teams." The Nepali government allowed 33 mountaineers to attempt Mt. Dhaulagiri (8,167m), the world's seventh tallest peak.

Tima Deryan, the first Lebanese woman and the youngest Arab ever to conquer Mt. Qomolgama in May 2019 when she was 26 years old, fell sick while she was trying to climb the 6,476-meter-high Mera Peak days ago.

She was airlifted to Kathmandu where she tested positive for Covid.

Earlier, Norwegian climber Erlend Ness became the first to test positive for Covid-19 at the Mt. Everest base camp and was flown by helicopter to Kathmandu, where he was hospitalised.

He told the press last month that he tested positive on April 15.

Mountaineering is an important source of income for the Nepali government, and it collected a total of $4.65 million in royalty fees for issuing permits to foreign mountaineers in the spring.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Yerevan, May 7 : Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said here that Moscow is committed to ensuring the security of its ally Armenia.

Lavrov made the remarks during the meeting with Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

"We are committed to the ensuring the security of our ally, the Republic of Armenia. This has been confirmed in your talks with President (Vladimir) Putin, as well as during the intensive and regular interactions between our Ministries," Lavrov told Pashinyan.

Lavrov also stated that Russia will continue to make efforts for the solution of all humanitarian issues concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the return of all the detainees, together with the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

For his part, Pashinyan assured the Russian Minister that Armenia is committed to implementing the agreements on the cease-fire of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that broke out in September 2020.

He reiterated that the peace process should be resumed to seek a final peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Prior to the meeting, Lavrov met his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazyan and participated in a joint press conference in Yerevan.

The two sides also signed an inter-governmental memorandum on ensuring biological security.

Lavrov arrived in Armenia on Tuesday for a two-day visit.
Male, May 7 : A probe is underway into the explosion in the Maldivian capital of Male during which former President and Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed sustained injuries, incumbent President Ibrahim Solih announced.

Taking to Twitter late Thursday night, Solih said: "Speaker of Parliament President Mohamed Nasheed is currently receiving treatment at ADK Hospital in Male for injuries sustained following an explosion outside his residence tonight.

"We are treating this matter with utmost seriousness and the investigation is currently underway." The ADK Hospital said that Nasheed was admitted with injuries at 8.30 p.m. on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

"He is currently being treated by a multi-specialty medical team. His vitals are currently stable," the hospital's official Twitter account said.

Local media reports said that the explosion originated in a motorcycle parked close to Nasheed's car near his residence in the capital.

The explosion went off as Nasheed was entering his car, injuring him as well as his bodyguard and a bystander.

Nasheed, 53, became the President in 2008 after winning the country's first multi-party elections.

He became Parliament Speaker, the second most powerful position in the country, after his party won the elections in April 2019.
New Delhi, May 7 : The Supreme Court on Friday said the Karnataka High Court order for the supply of 1,200 MT oxygen is reasonable and the High Court cannot remain silent when people are dying in the state. The top court declined to entertain Centre's plea challenging the High Court order.

At the outset, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta: "It is a well-calibrated, well-considered judicial exercise by the High Court. We will not leave the citizens of Karnataka in the lurch." Mehta submitted that his objection was in connection with the High Court interfering in the Centre's oxygen allocation plan amid the ongoing crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The top court emphasized that it wants to avoid "grave injustice" to the people. The Centre claimed that if the High Courts started giving directions for oxygen supply, it would become unworkable.

The top court said it is conscious of the difficulty faced by Centre, but the court would also have to think about what will happen if the requirement of oxygen supply for Covid-19 patients in a state is not met.

The Centre's counsel argued that it will face great difficulty if all High Courts begin passing order on the supply of medical oxygen to state. Mehta submitted that this leaves room for every High Court to start examining and allocating oxygen. "Please order that this be not treated as a precedent", Mehta urged before the top court.

Justice Chandrachud responded that the court is looking at a wider issue. The Centre's counsel remarked during the hearing: "Let all High Courts distribute the oxygen to states." The top court noted that its order does not preclude a resolution of the issue between the state and the Centre.

The Centre on Thursday had moved the Supreme Court against the Karnataka High Court order to enhance daily liquid medical oxygen (LMO) allocation for the state for treatment of Covid-19 patients from the existing 965 MT to 1,200 MT.

For several days, the top court has been hearing disputes between the Centre and various states over the supply of oxygen and other essential resources in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Los Angeles, May 7 : A bar owner in California was arrested on charges of selling fraudulent Covid-19 vaccination cards, the state's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) announced.

The authority received a complaint that fake vaccination cards were being sold at the bar in in Clements, San Joaquin County, and undercover agents were able to buy fake cards there on several occasions in an investigation operation, Xinhua news agency quoted a report by the ABC News It's not clear how much the cards cost or how many were allegedly sold.

"It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic. Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake Covid-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you." Tori Verber Salazar, San Joaquin County District Attorney, said in a statement on Thursday.

The suspect would face three felony charges, including carrying an unregistered firearm, forgery of a government seal and identity theft of Pfizer, CVS and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) published a public service announcement on March 30 warning the public that involving in fake vaccination cards business is a crime.

"If you make or buy a fake Covid-19 vaccination record card, you endanger yourself and those around you, and you are breaking the law," the FBI noted.

The news came when demand for vaccines is slowing down across most of California, meanwhile the vaccination rates across the state are showing wide disparities.

According to the latest data updated by the California government, 42.3 per cent of eligible residents have been fully vaccinated and an additional 18.6 per cent received at least one dose.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, May 7 : Armed opponents of the Myanmar military junta have killed three administrators appointed by them in the Yangon, Mandalay and Sagaing regions in targeted attacks.

Regime-appointed ward administrators and police informants have been attacked frequently since mid-April, but no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

IANS was the first to report the formation of armed resistance groups among ethnic Burmese from the hardline ranks of protesters upset with the random killings of their comrades.

The 'Federal Army' and few other such groups have now merged into the United Defence Force and hundreds of its new recruits have been undergoing weapons training in camps of ethnic rebel armies like Karen National Union (KNU) .

"It seems the first batch of these recruits are back in cities to start armed action," said a former NLD MP who has served in the army.

But he was not willing to be identified for fear of being dragged to interrogation by the junta.

Municipal ward administration offices, key to the junta's governance network, have been targeted with bomb attacks to oppose new appointments by the regime.

Newly-appointed ward administrators and police informants are increasingly being targeted for collaborating with the junta in arresting anti-regime protesters, striking government staff and other civilians opposing military rule.

A newly-appointed ward administrator was stabbed to death on Thursday by unknown men in Chanmyathazi Township of Mandalay region, police said.

On Tuesday evening, a Kyeekan village tract administrator in Khin-U Township, Sagaing, was stabbed to death outside the village, according to a military-run newspaper.

Motorcyclists also opened fire on the house of Witoke village administrator U Than Myint in Tamu Township, Sagaing, on Monday night.

Tamu is opposite Moreh in India's Manipur state.

U Than Myint and his wife were injured and his daughter and grandson were killed, police said.

The attack follows a search operation in the village by security forces looking for traditional firearms. During the raids, two villagers were beaten and detained by troops, residents told local mediapersons.

Communities across Sagaing are resisting the military with homemade firearms and slingshots.

On Tuesday, a ward administrator in Thaketa Township in Yangon was stabbed to death at his office by three men posing as informants.

Police stations and government and education offices have been attacked with firebombs and homemade bombs since March 14 when the regime killed more than 110 civilians in a day.

The armed resistance have also targeted Chinese business interests.

On Wednesday, three police guards outside an off-take station on the China-installed Rakhine-Yunnan oil and gas pipeline were hacked to death by sword and machete bearing attackers who got away without being identified.

China has expressed deep concerns over the safety of its investments since 32 factories run by its companies were set on fire at the Hlaingtharyar industrial zone on the outskirts of Yangon in March.

Now it has much to worry because the attack on police guards outside the off-take station in Singtaing township in Mandalay section of the 800 km-long pipeline follows social media threats by pro-democracy protesters to blow it up.

The crude oil pipeline carries 22 million tonnes of Middle East crude annually to China's Yunnan province after it is brought to Myanmar's western deep sea port of Kyaukphyu. The pipeline carries 12 million cubic metres of natural gas annually.

China also has a $16 million daily border trade with Myanmar.

The resistance groups are targeting Chinese interests to pressurise Beijing into convincing the Myanmar junta to end its repression and force them to restore parliamentary democracy.

At least 770 people have been killed by the security forces so far in indiscriminate firing on protesting columns, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

More than 3,600 people, including elected leaders, National League for Democracy members, election commissioners, doctors, journalists, protesters, writers and artists, have been detained since the February 1 coup.
New Delhi, May 7 : Reliance Industries (RIL) has sought permission to fly a team of experts from Israel to India to train and install a rapid Covid-19 identification solution, a source who spoke on assurance of anonymity said.

Reliance signed the deal in January this year with Breath of Health (BOH) to distribute the firm's swift Covid-19 breath testing system. The system developed by Israeli medical technology company identifies coronavirus carriers and patients in the early stages of the disease by exhalation and the results will be available within seconds. A mail sent to RIL remained unanswered.

Reliance signed a $15 million deal with Israeli company Breath of Health (BOH) to distribute the company's swift Covid-19 breath testing system in India.

According to the agreement, RIL will purchase hundreds of systems from the Israeli company in a deal valued at $15 million and will use them to conduct millions of tests a month at a cost of $ 10 million per month BOH is said to have developed a breath test system that identifies Covid-19 at a success rate of over 95 per cent.

Business portal Calcalist reported that B.O.H developed a breath test system that identifies Covid-19 at a success rate of over 95 per cent. Preliminary results from clinical trials it is conducting with Israeli hospitals Hadassah Medical Center and the Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer have shown a success rate of 98% compared to the standard PCR test authorized by global medical organizations.

The development of B.O.H's system began two years ago and was initially meant to provide early detection for cancer, Alzheimer's, and lung disease. The company's scientists decided to focus on adapting the system to detect Covid-19 following the outbreak of the pandemic, recognizing that it could be a crucial tool in the fight against the virus until the arrival of the vaccines, the report said.

B.O.H CEO Arie Laor said that the company had operated under the radar to date in order to focus on its clinical trials and the development of its system. Laor added that the agreement will help to accelerate the trials and that he is expecting results to be announced in the coming weeks.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Mumbai, May 7 : Actor Arjun Bijlani loves the romantic genre, but he confesses being more excited about trying out action on screen lately.

The fact is not surprising, perhaps, considering Arjun flies off to Cape Town for the shoot of the stunt-based reality show "Khatron Ke Khiladi 11", after featuring in the romantic music video "Mohabbat phir ho jaayegi".

"As much as I love the romantic genre, it's the action genre that has got me really kicked of late. I want to keep trying new things, stay ahead of time and entertain my audiences with the best of my abilities," Arjun asserted, while speaking to IANS.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Dhaka, May 7 : Police in Bangladesh said on Friday that it has arrested Gaji Yaqub Osmani, Hefazat-e-Islam's central assistant publicity secretary, for his involvement in the violent carnage carried out by the militant outfit in Brahmanbaria district and across the country in March.

Osmani was arrested on Thursday by a special team of Brahmanbaria district police, officials told IANS.

The 44-year-old is also the organising secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh's Brahmanbaria district committee.

In another development, a rape case was filed against Jakaria Noman Fayezi, publicity secretary of the Hefazat's newly-dissolved central committee, in Chittagong's Hathazari upazila on Friday.

Confirming the development, Abdullah Al Masum, additional superintendent of Chittagong Police, said the victim filed the case with Hathazari Model Police Station.

In the case statement, the victim said that she became acquainted with Fayezi through social media in September 2019.

In November of the same year, Fayezi rented a house and forced the victim to come Hathazari to stay.

Fayezi raped the victim many times over the next one year, the statement added.

He was arrested from Chakaria upazila of Cox's Bazar on Thursday.
Oswego, NY (13126)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Baghdad, May 7 : The Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) commandos killed three local leaders of the Islamic State (IS) terror group near Baghdad, the military said.

Yahia Rasoul, spokesman of the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, said in a statement on Thursday that the CTS forces attacked an IS hideout in the al-Radwaniyah area, southwest of Baghdad, reports Xinhua news agency.

Rasoul said that the victims had helped the suicide bombers, who carried out twin bombings on January 21 in a bustling outdoor market for second-hand clothes in the Bab al-Sharji area in downtown Baghdad.

A total of 32 people were killed and 116 others were wounded in the blasts.

The commandos also raided an IS hideout in south of Baghdad and arrested another local leader, Rasoul said, adding that based on information extracted from the detainee, the troops dseized a cache of weapons in the al-Yousifiyah area.

The security situation in Iraq has been improving since the security forces fully defeated IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, deadly incidents still occur sporadically in the war-ravaged country as IS remnants have since retreated into urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, waging frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians.
New Delhi, May 7 : Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan for "not owing responsibility", saying the Covid-19 pandemic in the country has turned to worse from bad.

"The pandemic situation is going from bad to worse. The insufficient supply of vaccines is a hard, bitter truth, but the government is in denial," the former Union minister tweeted.

"In Tamil Nadu, not all among 45+ are getting the first dose and a small number the second dose. Nobody between 18 and 44 is getting the vaccine," he claimed.

"The situation in other states is not very different. The PM and the Health Minister refuse to own responsibility and are making a mockery of democratic principles," Chidambaram said.

The Central government on Friday said that it has so far provided more than 17.35 crore vaccine doses (17,35,07,770) to the states/UTs free of cost.

Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 16,44,77,100 doses, as per the latest data.

More than 90 lakh Covid Vaccine doses (90,30,670) are still available with the states/UTs to be administered, the government said.

States with negative balance are showing more consumption (including wastage) than vaccine supplied as they have not reconciled the vaccine they have supplied to Armed Forces.

Furthermore, more than 10 lakh (10,25,000) vaccine doses will be received in addition by the states/UTs within the next 3 days, the government said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, May 7: India is mopping up medical equipment and supplies from friendly countries across the world as the Covid-19 second wave devastates the country. European countries, along with support from the European Union (EU), have been especially helpful in providing long-term and sustainable medical technologies to India.

On Thursday, the Italian embassy started an oxygen plant at the ITBP hospital in Greater Noida, near Delhi. The plant, which can provide oxygen to more than 100 Covid patients simultaneously, was installed in just 48 hours.

Italian ambassador Vincenzo De Luca switched on the oxygen plant which had been flown in through a special Italian Air Force flight along with 20 ventilators. Italy provided the plant with support from the EU. De Luca said, "Italy stands with India in the fight against Coronavirus. This is a global challenge that we must tackle together. The medical team and equipment provided by Italy will contribute to saving lives in these terrible moments." The other European countries to have rushed oxygen plants include France and Ireland. The Germans too are in the midst of sending an exceptionally large plant to assist in defence forces. Italian and French embassy officials are working with their technical teams to install the oxygen generators in an emergency mode.

A couple of days back the French had installed an oxygen generating plant at the Narayana Super Speciality Hospital in east Delhi. This plant can fill up 48 cylinders weighing 40-60 litres of oxygen in 24 hours. The plant was set up within one day of arrival at the airport.

For the Narayana Super Speciality Hospital, the French plant will supplement two existing generators. It would allow it to add more oxygen beds besides reducing dependence on oxygen procurement from outside.

Northern Ireland has sent much oxygen equipment to India. This includes two oxygen generators, over 1,200 oxygen concentrators and over 7,00 ventilators. Ireland sent the equipment through two shipments.

Germany is sending an oxygen generating plant for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Covid Hospital at the Delhi cantonment. Walter J Lindner, German ambassador to India, told media persons in Delhi that his country is sending a massive oxygen generating plant which will be operated by 12 paramedics from its defence forces. These paramedics will also train Indian defence personnel in the use of managing this plant.

Being brought in two air force transport planes A400M, the plant will produce 4,00,000 litres of oxygen per day. One of the planes landed in Delhi on Thursday evening while the other will follow in the coming days.

Other European countries to send aid include Finland, Austria and Belgium. Many European countries are providing the aid through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which is coordinated by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the European Commission.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Bogota, May 7 : Colombian President Ivan Duque rejected the "acts of violence" that have taken place in the past week during a national strike, including looting and damage to state and private property.

"We have to categorically reject violence and all manifestations and expressions that threaten the life, honour and property, rights and liberties of citizens," Duque said after meeting with high court representatives on Thursday.

On April 15, Duque sent a tax law initiative to the Congress that would reform the national tax system, which will raise taxes on the middle class, who took to the streets in protest throughout the country, reports Xinhua news agency.

For the last eight days, there have been heavy clashes in several cities between authorities and protesters, as well as damage to state and private property.

So far, 24 people have died in the protests and 46 others injured, according to El Tiempo newspaper.

The President stressed that all acts against citizens and public servants in the last few days must be investigated and punished.

Meanwhile, Duque and Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez announced on Thursday they hope to meet with strike organisers to negotiate their demands.

"We want to announce that the President and Vice President are willing to meet with all social actors in the country, including members of the strike committee, to meet urgently," Labor Minister Angel Custodio Cabrera said.
Toronto, May 7 : Three Punjabi men have been arrested for scamming an old woman in Toronto of $10,000 in the name of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Taranveer Singh (19), Ranveer Singh (19) and Chamanjyot Singh (21) of Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto, have been identified as the masterminds behind the scam.

According to the police, the 80-year-old woman victim received a call on May 3 from a suspect claiming to be from the CRA.

The woman was told to withdraw $10,000 in two $5,000 instalments and send the money by courier to a Brampton address.

She was told she would be arrested if she didn't pay immediately.

On May 4, the police intercepted the package and monitored its delivery location in Brampton, where it was scheduled to be picked up by the suspect.

When the suspect arrived to pick up the package, he was nabbed.

His interrogation revealed that two other suspects were also involved in the crime. They were also arrested.

The police recovered the victim's money from them and returned it to her.

The three men have been charged with extortion, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and possession of property over $5,000 obtained by crime.

They will appear in court on June 10.
Washington, May 7 : The White House slammed Florida after its Republican Governor signed into law a bill that will make it more difficult for certain residents of the US state to vote.

"The 2020 election was one of the most secure elections in American history. There's no legitimate reason to change the rules right now to make it harder to vote. That's built on a lie," Xinhua news agency quoted Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as saying to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday.

"The only reason to change the rules right now is if you don't like who voted, and that should be out of bounds," she said.

"There are some states with bad laws that are trying to make them good and some states with good laws, trying to make them even better. That's moving forward.

"Florida is moving in the wrong direction," Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre reiterated the White House's support for the House-passed legislation, H.R.1, that would expand access to mail-in ballots, early voting and automatic registration, among other provisions.

The bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier Thursday signed the state's new voting legislation into law.

The new law, Senate Bill 90, will restrict the use of absentee ballot drop boxes; implement additional requirements for voters to sign up for mail-in ballots; impose additional voter identification rules; prohibit volunteers and organisations from returning ballots on behalf of voters; and ban counties from accepting grants or private funds to pay for election-related expenses.

DeSantis said during the signing ceremony that "Floridians can rest assured that their votes count and that Florida will continue to conduct elections that are efficient, transparent and secure".

The law, however, met with immediate lawsuits from rights groups, challenging several provisions in the law while condemning it as a new voter suppression effort.

The Sunshine State's legislation is part of the Republican-led effort to restrict voting access nationwide in the wake of record turnout in the 2020 elections and former President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that last year's presidential election was marred by widespread voter fraud and was stolen from him.

A tally by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that 361 bills with provisions that restrict voting had been introduced in 47 states as of March 24.
New Delhi, May 7 : "There is no point writing my name. I am just doing what I can," says the 68-year-old, who makes it a point to bring food packets and soup for the 50 patients and volunteers at the Mini Covid Care Centre in Bal Bhavan in Chandigarh. Everyday. She says this is the least she can do.

So is the case with Shantanu Bhardwaj, who owns a shop in Sector-22. He makes a quick round to the Centre to ask if they need anything. "It is going to be a routine till the facility is operational." Run by the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Sewa Society, an NGO, which also runs three hospitals in the region, the 50-bedded Mini Covid Centre which started on May 4 is already full. "Even before the Chandigarh Administration invited NGOs and individuals to set up these centres, we were already thinking of starting one. In this case, the administration has given us the building while we set up the facility from our own resources in 36 hours including the piped oxygen facility set up by a Delhi-based team," says Harjit Singh Sabharwal, executive member of the Society. From engaging an entire team of health professionals including doctors, 14 nurses, technicians, cleaners, the volunteers of the society set up eight dormitories (four beds in each one) complete with piped oxygen, curtains, coolers, exhaust fans and television sets.

Impressed by their work, the administration has asked the society to take up the 100-bedded Infosys sarai too in PGI which has also been designated as a Mini Covid Centre. "It will be ready very soon, our volunteers are working at a break-neck speed. Ten doctors and fifteen nurses besides other staff have been commissioned for that centre." With contributions pouring in from across the country after a video about their effort went viral recently, he stresses that funding is not an issue. "When systems fail, it is the common man who steps forward to ensure that everything runs smoothly. Just today morning, I got a call from someone who said he would like to donate an ambulance. He kept insisting that I should tell him what else is required. People across age groups and economic strata are turning up to ask what we need. While leaving, many thrust an envelope in our hands," says the social worker.

Considering that 40 beds in the hospital are with oxygen, the executive member laments that it is not just Delhi, but even this region that is facing a lack of the same. "You cannot even imagine the kind of black marketing that is going on. Even oxygen regulators are in extremely short supply. These are the kind of things that keep us on our toes -- we are experienced enough when it comes to organisation, management and supervision." No patient is expected to pay any fee -- be it for the hospital, medicines, tests or food. "Not even for the expensive CT scans. I am in constant touch with the DC for medicines quota etc. Frankly, even if an injection costs Rs 2000, we don't care. It will be given for free. Those who can't afford expensive treatment also have a right to life, right? Sometimes I wonder, if a small organisation can manage things, what is stopping the government from engaging their best minds out in the field for better management?" There is a fervor of activity at the Indira Holiday Home in Sector 24 where another 48-bed centre has been set up by the The Competent Foundation and Bharat Vikas Parishad. Coordination on walkie-talkies and mobile phones does not cease. Attached with Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, for the regulation of admission of patients, list of medicines required to be kept at the centre etc, Sanjay Tandon, State president of BJP from Chandigarh, who founded and runs the NGO, Competent Foundation says, "This is a completely digitalised centre. Vital information regarding the patients, which is collected thrice a day, is communicated to the kin directly via e-mail. For the purpose of surveillance, CCTV cameras have been installed inside the halls. We can monitor the screens from home. The attendants can also keep a tab on the patient, while at home. So, we are working to develop it into a state-of-art facility." Ensuring that besides free treatment, patients are provided with steamers, toiletries, napkins, television sets etc, Tandon says that right now his effort is to ensure get at least 40 beds with oxygen running. "Impressed by our efforts, Manoj Kumar Parida, the Chandigarh UT Advisor has suggested that we increase the capacity to 100 beds." Adding that the foundation did not have to go in for a fund collection drive, the State President says, "My son uploaded a post on Facebook describing the initiative taken by the foundation and writing about the equipment and material required. You will be surprised to know that we ended up receiving thrice the amount of material we had asked for. When people find someone dependable, there is no dearth of support." And it is not just established NGOs that are coming forward in these unprecedented times. A group of teenagers from Chandigarh under the foundation 'Humanity Has Hope' (HHH) have formed a group of 50 volunteers from across the country -- including Chandigarh, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata -- to assist people with oxygen cylinders, hospital beds and ambulances. Using their phones and social media handles, these five youngsters -- Aanya Malik, Vaanya Gilhotra, Tara Khanna, Sanya Singal and Ishan Sindhwani (from Noida) who started the drive three weeks back spend hours verifying leads and sharing numbers with those in need. "We started with five helpline numbers, our personal mobile numbers. Now we have 50 volunteers with their numbers. Soon, we are also going to manage the ration part for Covid affected families," says Malik.

Speaking to IANS, Yashpal Garg, State Nodal Officer for Mini Covid Centres and Oxygen Supply says that in a pandemic situation, the assistance offered by NGOs and private individuals goes a long way in easing the stress on the over-burdened government system. "They have reduced our workload considerably by taking care of all arrangements in these Mini Covid Centres -- from funding, managing to supervising. Also, for them, it is not a job but a service. Their level of commitment is commendable."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Mumbai, May 7 : As foreign institutional investors (FII) largely pulled out investments in April amid the resurgent Covid crisis, software and services and real estate stocks ducked the subdued trend and attracted foreign funds during the second half of April.

As per a research report released by Emkay Global Financial Services, the FIIs showed maximum interest in software and services and real estate sector companies. For the fortnight April 16-30, 2021, the software and services and the real estate sector saw buying worth $281 million and $232 million respectively.

On the other hand, FIIs turned sellers for the Materials sector last fortnight, with the highest sectoral outflow of $570 million. FIIs also continued selling in banks and the energy sector, with each seeing outflows in excess of $200 million.

Automobiles and components stocks witnessed an outflow of $125 million, followed by $101 million worth of selling in diversified financial stocks.

Overall, FIIs turned net sellers in April, after six months. They pulled out net investments of Rs 12,039.43 crore last month. Over the past one year, FII inflow was unprecedented amid a stock market bull run and liquidity surge both in India and other economies.

However, in the past one month the severe Covid crisis and the eventual lockdowns have weakened the investor sentiments.
New Delhi, May 7 : As states take to lockdowns amid the severe Covid crisis, the Finance Ministry in a report has said that second wave of the Covid-19 poses downside risk to economic activities during April-June, although the impact is expected to be muted compared to that in the first wave.

The 'Monthly Economic Review' for April 2021 published by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) said that learning to "operate with COVID-19" provides a silver lining of economic resilience amidst the second wave.

"The second wave of COVID-19 has posed a downside risk to economic activity in the first quarter of FY 2021-22. However, there are reasons to expect a muted economic impact as compared to the first wave. Learning to "operate with COVID-19", as borne by international experience, provides a silver lining of economic resilience amidst the second wave," it said.

Noting that the global economy recovered further in March and April, powered with vaccination drives and fiscal stimuli by few large economies, it said that in India the momentum in economic recovery since the first wave moderated in April due to the second wave of coronavirus.

It said that agriculture continues to be the silver lining with record food grain production estimated in the ensuing crop year on the back of predicted normal monsoons.

Rural demand indicators like tractor sales recorded a growth of 172 per cent and 36 per cent compared to a low base in March 2020 and even the pre-Covid month of March 2019 respectively.

Industrial production showed mixed trends. While Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in February 2021 registered a broad-based decline of 3.6 per cent (YoY) and 3.9 per cent compared to January 2021, the eight-core index posted a growth of of 6.8 per cent (YoY) in March 2021 and 11.1 per cent compared to February 2021.

In FY 2020-21, the core sector contracted by 7 per cent compared to 0.4 per cent growth in FY 2019-20 with fertilizer being the sole growing sector and electricity recovering steadily in the second half.

The Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing rose further to 55.5 in April with consumer goods as the strongest-performing category, followed by capital goods and then intermediate goods. The rebound was also reflected in RBI's survey estimates on capacity utilization and manufacturers' optimism for the current year, the report said.

In the second half of FY 2020-21, GST collections registered a good growth and collections exceeded Rs 1 lakh crore in each of the last six months owing to economic recovery. GST collections registered another record high of Rs 1.41 lakh crore in April, indicative of continual economic recovery.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, May 7 : 'Yaar Julahay', an upcoming series of dramatic readings of writers who craft stories with the deftness of master weavers, is all set to premier on May 15, with the debut episode featuring Pakistani actress Mahira Khan reading Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi's classic story, 'Guriya'.

The Zee Theatre series of dramatic readings is spread across 12 engrossing episodes, and will air on DTH platforms -- Tatasky Theatre, Airtel Spotlight, Dish TV and D2H Rangmanch Active. The name of the series is inspired by a Gulzar poem.

'Yaar Julahay' also brings to life the stories of progressive Urdu and Hindi writers like Gulzar, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai, Munshi Premchand, Amrita Pritam, Qurratulain Haider, Balwant Singh, Asad Muhammad Khan, Ghulam Abbas, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Intezar Hussain. The readers will be stars like Sarmad Khoosat, Sarwat Gilani, Nimra Bucha, Fawad Khan, Sania Saeed, Irfan Khoosat, Yasra Rizvi, Samiya Mumtaz, and Faisal Qureshi.

'Guriya' highlights the story of two best friends Mehra and Bano. Bano has a doll (Guriya) that resembles Mehra but Mehra doesn't like that doll at all. With time their fondness and hate for the doll grows many folds. Towards the end comes an unorthodox twist to the storyline that subtly unfolds the mystery around the doll.

1916-born Qasmi was an Urdu-language Pakistani poet, journalist, literary critic, dramatist and short story author.

According to Shailja Kejriwal, Chief Creative Officer -- Special Projects, ZEEL, each episode of 'Yaar Julahay' features the immersive reading of a remarkable story that is as unique and complex as the subcontinent we live in.

"Each one of the featured writers has processed reality through characters that we can still identify with. It was a joy to work on these classic tales with Kanwal and Sarmad Khoosat because we have collaborated with them before and they always approach a project with a certain artistic sensitivity and deep respect for the material they are working with. Their sensibility was needed for a project as unique as this." Acclaimed director and actor Sarmad Khoosat says the series is inspired by 'Dastangoi', a tradition of creating and telling stories that defines South Asia.

He explains, "We have interpreted 'Dastangoi' in a contemporary way and there is also live and recorded music along with suggestive details articulating the theme of the story. For instance, when I directed Mahira Khan for the story 'Guriya', the set was strewn with dolls that in a way told their own story. They created an eerie atmosphere that augmented the narration and enhanced the inherent mood of the reading." Director Kanwal Khoosat adds, "This series attempts to introduce a newer audience to literature through a format that blends 'Dastangoi' with the Chamber Theatre technique where a reader has an environment, a minimal stage setting to not just read in but to perform, interpret and deliver a story in. In each reading, we have tried to maintain the integrity of the author's voice even as we amplify it through the digital medium to reach as many people as possible." Watch Yaar Julahay's first episode featuring Mahira Khan on May 15, 2021 on Tatasky Theatre.

(Siddhi Jain can be contacted at siddhi.j@ians.in)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, May 7 : A US Army trainee belonging to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina, was arrested after hijacking a school bus full of students.

According to Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, none of the 18 children were injured after they and the bus driver were held hostage on Thursday by an individual later identified by Fort Jackson as 23-year-old Jovan Collazo from New Jersey, reports Xinhua news agency.

The incident lasted about an hour.

It all started when Collazo, dressed in a physical training uniform and armed with an M4 rifle, jumped a fence and left the military post at around 7 a.m.

Lott said the trainee initially tried to flag people down and get into cars, eventually ending up at a bus stop where the children were boarding a school bus that he also got on.

"He got on bus and told the bus driver he didn't want to hurt him, but wanted him to take him to the next town," Lott said.

He said the suspect drove a few miles and was "having difficulties operating the bus" before becoming frustrated and had the kids and the driver get off the bus.

Collazo then drove the bus a few miles before abandoning it, leaving in the bus what Fort Jackson confirmed was an issued rifle with no ammunition inside it.

Lott said Collazo then wandered through neighbourhoods trying to get "rice and clothes".

Collazo, who Fort Jackson officials said was in his third week of basic training with his unit, was in the custody of Richland County Sheriff's Department (RCSD) and charged with 19 counts of kidnapping, carjacking, possessing a weapon on school property, armed robbery and weapons possession during a violent crime.

Milford Beagle Jr., Fort Jackson's commanding general, said during a news conference the suspect did not have access to ammunition, which is stored and monitored at a different site.

He said he believed that Collazo was likely trying to go home, and that the suspect brought his weapon along because leaving a weapon unattended is an indication someone is missing.

Beagle apologised for the "failure" on his side that led to the incident.

"To our community, this is something that was a failure with regard to me and my role in terms of our accountability procedures and processes," he said, adding he will fix the security loopholes going forward, "because the outcome potentially could have been much worse".

The RCSD is leading an investigation into the incident, with Fort Jackson having initiated its own probe.

Richland School District Two's Superintendent Baron Davis said all of the children were offered counselling services when they arrived at Forest Lake Elementary School, and the district remained focused on addressing their social and emotional needs.

Fort Jackson is the US Army's main production centre for basic combat training, according to its website.
New Delhi, May 7 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit out at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for his remark that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not listen to him during a phone call over the Covid-19 situation.

On Thursday, Modi spoke to the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the Covid-19 situation. Soren tweeted about the telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister at Thursday midnight and received criticism from the BJP.

"Respected Prime Minister called today. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki baat'. It would have been better if he had talked about work done and listened to the other side," Soren tweeted at 11.19 p.m. on Thursday.

Within an hour, Assam Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, tweeted: "Your tweet is not only against basic dignity, but also to make fun of the suffering of the people of the state for whom the Prime Minister called you to know about. You have lowered the dignity of the Chief Minister's post." Wishing that Jharkhand Chief Minister will retract his statement, Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, tweeted: "In my experience as a Chief Minister for several terms, Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been sensitive to the concerns of the states, particularly the northeast. I disagree with Hemant Soren and I hope he retracts his statement." Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Babulal Marandi, tweeted: "Hemant Soren is a failed Chief Minister. Failure in governance. Failure in tackling Covid-19 in the state. Failure to assist people. To hide his failures he demeans the office he holds. Wake up and work, Hemant Soren. The clock is ticking." BJP National General Secretary (Organisation), B.L. Santosh tweeted: "This is the level to which some politicians are stooping. PM calls and has detailed talk regarding Covid-19 crisis and this Chief Minister tweets so. Lacks minimum grace required for the position he holds."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Chennai, May 7 : Sharing autos in Chennai are a hit among the commuters as public transport buses are allowing passengers only at 50 per cent capacity. Besides, no standing passengers are allowed inside buses and so most of these vehicles do not stop at the desiganted stops.

The sharing autos of the city are emerging as the replacement for buses and most of the commuters who are not able to take a bus are using the sharing auto services which amount to around 60,000 numbers in Chennai city.

However, most of these shared autos are taking passengers above their allowed numbers creating crowding inside the vehicles which is a major health hazard given the spread of the virus transmission.

Harinarayanan , a commuter who regularly takes shared autos from Anna Nagar to Nungambakkam, told IANS: "I am a regular commuter of shared autos but now these autos are taking passengers beyond their allowed limits and in some cases they accommodate more than 6 passengers at a time and this is creating discomfort. The police are turning a blind eye to such a scenario and this is a major health hazard." The auto drivers however dismissed such allegations and Muruganandam , an auto driver who ferries passengers near Koyambedu market said, "We are aware of the situation and the grave danger the pandemic has inflicted on us as a society and hence we will not overlook the Covid standard protocol.

Maybe one or two sharing autos would have taken a few extra passengers and please donaAt generalize this. We are taking people only on the basis of the numbers allowed by the authorities." However, there were several instances of police charging the auto drivers for having taken more commuters than allowed and fined them.

Thangavelu.R, a traffic police sub-inspector attached to the Chennai traffic control room, said, "The police is on the alert and we are charging those autos who are violating the government guidelines in carrying more passengers and creating a crowd in the autos.

We have charged many auto drivers and this tendency has come down following the tough stand taken by the police. However we have to plug all holes to clear this menace." With the buses continuing to reduce the intake of passengers, the shared autos will continue to operate and most of them will pay a small amount and settle the matter.
Chennai, May 7 : Any help one needs in Virudhunagar district --one name that crops up each time is that of thirty-five-year-old Durai Prithviraj.

A Village Administrative Officer (VAO) with the Tamil Nadu state government and also a full-time social worker, Prithviraj was lauded by the Chief minister's special award for his service during the battle against Covid during 2020.

The VAO is now running two ambulances for the needy and these ambulances played a major role in saving the lives of several people during the first wave of the Covid pandemic.

Prithviraj was a social worker even during his college days but his determination to serve the society was triggered after his horrific experience when his brother, Rajesh, died in a road accident in 2011.

He ran from pillar to post to get an ambulance to bring the body of his brother to their native village, Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district.

Prithviraj told IANS: "My brother died as an ambulance did not arrive on time and we could not get hold of an ambulance to bring his body back home and we were asked to shell out a lot of money. I don't want anyone to face this situation in life and hence saved money to buy an ambulance." Now anywhere in Virudhunagar district, the name which comes in mind of police officials and administrative officials is that of Prithviraj when they need to transport Covid patients from homes to hospitals and from one hospital to Medical college hospital.

Arulnayakam, an officer with Virudhunagar district told IANS: "Whenever we want to transport a patient to a hospital and if the patient does not have money, we call Prithiviraj and he sorts out the matter." Officials remember him for distribution of food and even for taking care of Children in Child Welfare Centres.

The good Samaritan he is, Prithviraj has started a trust in the name of his late brother, Rajesh Udhavum Karangal at Aruppukottai in 2014. The NGO is taking care of the medicinal needs, educational needs and other volunteering needs.

In June 2020 when Covid cases started mounting there was a shortage of ambulances and by July 2020, the crisis mounted -- immediately Prithviraj pressed into service his ambulance.

Prithviraj said: "We needed one more ambulance and a good person donated the second ambulance to us which was helpful throughout the pandemic wave last year." The Village Administrative Officer is clear that no charge would be levied from those who don't have money to pay.

He said, "We don't charge anything from people who don't have money and even if people have money we don't ask ,if people are willing to donate we accept. In fact we are running our service through donations only, nothing else. The ambulance services were charging two times to three times the normal fare during the pandemic times and we were helping people without charging anything from those who don't have money." There are six volunteers who are involved in moving Covid patients and Prithiviraj buys, masks and PPE kits with donations taken from society as well as his senior government officials.

One of these ambulances with four beds have been handed over temporarily to the Virudhunagar Medical College Hospital as there was shortage of ambulances in the hospital.

Prithviraj believes in delegation. His policy is there is no need for all the work to be done completely by him or his trust and if needed he would support other initiatives.

He said, "The ambulance allocated to Virudhunagar Medical College Hospital did not arrive in time and hence they asked for my ambulance with four beds which I have handed over to the Medical college." The good Samaritan he is Prithviraj is ready to provide services to anyone in need around Virudhunagar and he and his team will reach out to anyone in need -- be it educational, medical emergency or need for food.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, May 7 : In order to minimise errors and the subsequent inconvenience caused to the citizens for online appointments for vaccination, the government is introducing a new feature of "four digit security code" in the CoWIN application from Saturday (May 8).

In a statement, the Union Health Ministry said, "It has been noticed in some instances that citizens that had booked their appointment for Covid vaccination through the CoWIN portal, but did not actually go for vaccination on the scheduled date, have received notification through SMS that a vaccine dose has been administered to them.

"Upon examination, it has been found to occur largely on account of the Vaccinator wrongly marking the citizen as vaccinated, i.e. an instance of a data entry error by the vaccinator," it said.

After introduction of new security features, now after verification if the beneficiary has been found as eligible, before administering the vaccine dose, the verifier/vaccinator will ask the beneficiary about his/her 4 digit code and then enter the same in the CoWIN system to correctly record the vaccination status.

"This new feature will be applicable only for citizens who have done an online booking for a vaccination slot. The '4-digit security code' will be printed in the appointment acknowledgement slip and will not be known to the vaccinator. The four-digit code will also be sent in the confirmation SMS sent to the beneficiary after successful booking of appointment. The appointment acknowledgement slip can also be saved and shown from the mobile," the ministry said.

The ministry claimed that this will ensure that, for such citizens who have booked an online appointment, the data entries regarding vaccination status of a citizen, are recorded correctly and only for those who book online appointments and avail the services at the centre where they have booked the appointment.

This will also reduce the opportunities of impersonation and wrongful use of flexibilities provided in CoWIN for facilitating vaccination coverage.

The Ministry advised that the citizens must carry a copy (digital or physical) of their appointment slip and or the registered mobile phone with appointment confirmation SMS, so that the 4-digit security code can be furnished for easy completion of vaccination recording process.

It is also advised that the security code may be furnished to the verifier or vaccinator before the vaccine dose has been administered.

This is important as the digital certificate would be generated after the vaccine dose administration.

Citizens must provide the security code to the vaccinator as the digital certificate will be generated only after the vaccination record has been updated with the security code.

"Citizen should get a confirmation SMS after the process has been successfully completed. The confirmation SMS indicates that the vaccination process has been completed successfully and the digital certificate has been generated. If one does not get the confirmation SMS, one should get in touch with the vaccinator/ vaccination centre in-charge," the ministry said.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Johannesburg, May 7 : The South African City of Tshwane warned visitors to the Rietvlei Nature Reserve in Pretoria and residents nearby to be vigilant as a cheetah who escaped from the reserve is still at large.

It has been reported that the two-year-old cheetah went missing on Tuesday and rangers have been searching for her, reports Xinhua news agency.

Local newspaper quoted Natalie Vos, Tshwane's functional head of nature conservation, as saying on Thursday that the animal escaped through a hole under the fence.

The cheetah has a neck collar that sends signals for tracing purposes, she said.

"We believe the battery of the collar around her neck might be low and that makes our search very challenging." Vos said the area where the animal was last seen "is very overgrown".

There are about 1,326 cheetahs in South Africa of which approximately 500 free ranging cheetah live on unprotected farm lands in the northern part of the country.
Beijing, May 7 : A study published on Friday revealed that China's annual emissions of greenhouse gases in 2019 exceeded the emissions of all developed countries combined for the first time.

In a comparison with European Union countries, the US and the other members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the study by US think-tank Rhodium Group estimates that China alone contributed 27 per cent of global emissions of CO2 equivalents that year, reports dpa news agency.

CO2 equivalents are a unit of measurement used to standardise the climate impact of different greenhouse gases.

The study said that global emissions reached 52 gigatons of CO2 equivalent in 2019, a 11.4 per cent increase over the past decade.

China's 27-per-cent share of global emissions was far larger than that of the US, which took second place with 11 per cent.

According to the calculations, India climbed to third place for the first time with 6.6 per cent of global emissions of CO2 equivalents.

The study also indicated that China's emissions have tripled since 1990.

They have increased by 25 per cent over the past decade.

But due to its large population, China's per capita emissions have remained considerably lower than those in the developed world.

Rhodium's study indicates that in 2019, China's per capita emissions reached 10.1 tonnes, just below average levels of 10.5 tons per capita across the OECD bloc in 2019.

This was still significantly lower than the US, which has the highest per capita emissions in the world at 17.6 tons per capita.

"While final global data for 2020 is not yet available, we expect China's per capita emissions exceeded the OECD average in 2020, as China's net GHG emissions grew around 1.7 per cent while emissions from almost all other nations declined sharply in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic," the authors write.

The study also noted that "China's history as a major emitter is relatively short compared to developed countries, many of which had more than a century head start." Strong economic growth and a large proportion of coal in China's energy mix are considered to be the main reasons for the increase in its carbon dioxide emissions.

As the world's largest coal consumer, China has promised new efforts in terms of climate protection.

At the virtual climate summit at the invitation of US President Joe Biden, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised two weeks ago that he would first "strictly limit" the increase in coal consumption by 2025 and then "gradually reduce it" by 2030.
Patna, May 7 : The Bhagalpur police have arrested two persons including a manager of a private hospital for trying to purchase Remdesivir injection in the name of a dead patient.

Puran Jha, ASP of Bhagalpur, confirmed the development. The accused were identified as Rahul Raj, the manager of Pulse hospital and Pintu Thakur, a tout. Another tout named Alam managed to escape during the raid.

The illegal nexus was unearthed after the owner of an authorized dealership of Remdesivir injection, Mukul traders, suspected Pintu Thakur who went there with a medical prescription from Pulse hospital.

"During investigation, it appeared that Pulse hospital applied for Remdesivir injection on the portal of the Bihar health department in the name of a corona positive patient admitted in the hospital. That patient died due to corona on Thursday afternoon around 3.30 p.m. Despite that the manager Rahul Raj sent Pintu Thakur to purchase Remdesivir injection on the medical prescription of a dead patient," Jha said.

"The owner of Mukul traders found Pintu Thakur's behaviour suspicious. He informed the Kotwali police station and the drug control department about the incident. Local police swiftly acted on the information and arrested Thakur. During interrogation, Pintu Thakur revealed the name of Rahul Raj and Alam. The police team raided the hospital and arrested Rahul Raj while Alam managed to flee from the spot," Jha said.

"Purchasing Remdesivir injection in the name of a dead patient is illegal. It was a nexus to purchase the injection and sell it at a higher price," Jha said.

In another incident, two persons including a doctor were arrested by Patna police on Friday.

The accused were identified as Dr Asfaq Ahmed and his brother-in-law Mohamad Altaf.

Bhaskar Ranjan, the DSP of Patna (Central), raided Rainbow hospital located at SP Verma road under the Gandhi Maidan police station and arrested them. Police recovered two Remdesivir injections from their possession.

"During interrogation, the accused revealed that they were selling the Remdesivir injection to the buyers for Rs 50000 after purchasing it for Rs 3400," Ranjan said.

Asfaq is the director of Rainbow hospital.
Jerusalem, May 7 : Israeli police said on Friday that they have arrested 15 people in clashes in eastern Jerusalem.

Early on Friday morning, stones were thrown at officers and vehicles in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, dpa news agency quoted the police as saying.

Fireworks were also set off.

Sheikh Jarrah is located in the Arab eastern part of Jerusalem, north of the Old City.

The neighbourhood has been the focus of attention for decades because of property disputes.

Both Israeli settlers and Palestinians claim ownership there.

Forced evictions of Palestinian homes have repeatedly provoked protests, some of them violent, in recent years.

A Supreme Court decision in a case involving four Palestinian families was expected next week.

For days, supporters of the families have been meeting in Sheikh Jarrah to break their Ramadan fast with the sunset iftar meal together outdoors.

According to the media, there have already been repeated clashes.

As the portal ynet wrote, settlers also sat down at a table on a street on Thursday evening.

Among them was the far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the central disputes in the Middle East conflict.

Israel claims Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible capital", while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as their capital.
May 07 : Animal lover actor John Abraham took to his social media profile and slammed the violent attack by a man who allegedly shot a stray dog using his riffle in Punjabs Patiala district.

The video is going viral on social media, where a young man loads his gun and shoot the dog sleeping nearby, killing the animal. The actor expressed his anger over the entire heinous incident and requested the citizens to raise their voices and spread awareness against animal cruelty.

John Abraham took to his Twitter and wrote, Heartbroken to report that last night a brutal act of animal violence was committed in Patiala, Punjab. I am extremely thankful to @asharmeet02 for raising an alarm about the cruel act & to the @PunjabPoliceInd @vikramduggalips for their stern action on the matter

Heartbroken to report that last night a brutal act of animal violence was committed in Patiala, Punjab.



I am extremely thankful to @asharmeet02 for raising an alarm about the cruel act & to the @PunjabPoliceInd @vikramduggalips for their stern action on the matter.  John Abraham (@TheJohnAbraham) May 6, 2021

There is no excuse for animal cruelty or violence of any form. Speak up for those who cant and set an example by condemning such horrific acts. #AnimalCruelty

Meanwhile on the work front, after multi-starrer Mumbai Saga, actor John is busy with Satyameva Jayate 2, Attack, Sardar Ka Grandson, Ek Villain Returns and Pathan.

SMJ 2 is a vigilante action film written and directed by Milap Zaveri with production by T-Series and distribution by AA Films. Based on the fight against injustice and misuse of power, it is an official spiritual sequel of the 2018 film Satyameva Jayate and stars John Abraham in a double role alongside Divya Khosla Kumar, Rajeev Pillai and Anup Soni in important characters.

As of April 2021, the release date of film has been postponed due to rise in COVID-19 cases.
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Group of Seven industrialised countries has called on the Libyan Government of National Accord to take all necessary measures to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by 24 December, pledging to support the ceasefire monitoring mechanism that was recently approved by the UN Security Council
Kabul, May 7 : Scores of militants have been killed in Afghanistan's Baghlan province as government forces launched a counter-offensive to repel Taliban attacks, a police official said on Friday.

"Scores of the armed insurgents have been killed over the past 48 hours and the Taliban attacks on Nahrin, Baghlan-e-Markazai and Dahn-e-Ghori districts have been repulsed," the official told Xinhua news agency.

He also added that reinforcement had been reached and the situation would be soon brought under control.

Taliban militants in have seized parts of the restive Baghlan province over the past few days.

In the meantime, Brigadier Safihullah Mohammadi who serves as a member of the reinforcement forces in Baghlan, told reporters on Friday that some 100 Taliban fighters had been killed and injured over the past two days during operations backed by fighting planes.

However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has rejected the claim, saying fighting has been continuing and the militants are defending their positions.

Taliban militants have intensified their activities since the start of the US-led forces's withdrawal on May 1.

According to the security officials, the Taliban has intensified activities in Helmand, Zabul, Baghlan, Herat, Farah, Faryab, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces, and scores of militants and security personnel have been killed.
New Delhi, May 7 : Advocate Mohit D. Ram, who was on the Panel Counsel for the Election Commission before the Supreme Court has tendered his resignation from the position.

According to the letter sent to the Election Commission, Ram said: "It was an honour to represent the Election Commission of India (ECI). I had a cherishing milestone of my career, in the journey which began with being part of the office of Standing Counsel of ECI and progressed as one of the panel counsels of ECI (since 2013).

"However, I have found that my values are not in consonance with the current functioning of the ECI; and hence I withdraw myself from the responsibilities of its panel counsel before the Supreme Court of India." The letter dated May 6, and was addressed to the director of law of the Election Commission

His association with EC started in 2013 when he was appointed as standing counsel for the poll body. Ram later became one of its panel counsel.

In the letter, Ram said he will undertake to ensure smooth transition of files, NOC and vakalatnamas in all pending matters with his office. On Thursday, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea by Election Commission, which sought a gag on media from reporting oral observations made by judges during court proceedings. However, Ram was not part of this matter.

The Election Commission had moved the top court against the strong observation made by the Madras High Court against it saying that the poll body should probably be put up for murder charges, as it failed to curb the "wanton abuse" of Covid-19 protocol during election rallies.

However, in its verdict, the top court remarked that the remarks of the High Court were harsh and inappropriate. "The High Court - if indeed it did make the oral observations which have been alluded to - did not seek to attribute culpability for the Covid-19 pandemic in the country to the EC. What instead it would have intended to do was to urge the EC to ensure stricter compliance of Covid-19 related protocols during elections," said the top court.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
London, May 7 : The UK's ruling Conservative Party has snatched a historically left-wing seat from the opposition Labour in a tense by-election in England.

Conservative party candidate Jill Mortimer won the north-east England seat of Hartlepool with a large majority, beating opposition Labour party candidate Paul Williams, reports dpa news agency.

She described it as a "truly historic" result.

It is the first time since its creation in 1974 that the seat has been won by a Conservative politician.

Previously it had only been held by Labour, at one point, a candidate who ran as an independent.

The result is a boost for Prime Minister Boris Johnson despite a rocky few months for the premier, with the country's successful vaccine campaign appearing to be a key factor.

It is equally a blow for Labour party leader Keir Starmer, who has only been chief for a year.

The win will make no difference to Johnson's influence in the British parliament, however, as his party already holds a majority.

The by-election was held on Thursday, the same day as local and mayoral elections across England, and votes for the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments.
Berlin, May 7 : German health authorities have urged caution as the country on Friday moved to ease restrictions on residents who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 or who have recovered after falling ill.

"The third wave appears to have broken," Health Minister Jens Spahn said, while noting that infection numbers remained high.

The downward trend had to be maintained, he said, "but that will not happen with overhasty lifting of restrictions", dpa news agency reported.

More than 31 per cent of the population had received the first shot of vaccine, the official disease control body the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) said on Friday, with 8.8 per cent now being fully vaccinated.

RKI President Lothar Wieler called for patience and cautious steps towards reopening.

The vaccinations led to hope that Germany "will soon be able to control the pandemic", he said.

"The pandemic is much like a balloon filled with air that we are keeping under water together," Wieler said.

This was a joint effort, and if all restrictions were lifted suddenly, the virus would spread rapidly again, he predicted.

Nevertheless, Germans were looking forward to a weekend without restrictions after the relevant legislation passed the upper house of parliament earlier on Friday.

There were hopes that the law could be signed by the President and published in the government gazette by the end of the day.

It was approved by the lower house on Thursday.

The new measures will allow these people to meet in unlimited numbers, and they will not be counted in the total when meeting others who have not been vaccinated.

Restrictions on being out after 10 p.m., the night-time curfew has been among the most resented restrictions, will also fall away for the two groups.

Nevertheless, masks and social distancing will continue to be imposed and in particular situations and buildings.

The provisions do not apply to people infected with mutations of the virus that are not widespread in Germany.
Mumbai, May 7 : Accusing the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) of 'betrayal', hundreds of resident doctors have launched a protest 'on-duty' demanding payment of arrears of their increased stipend announced last year, here on Friday.

The frontline medicos, working 24x7 for Covid-19 patients started a social media campaign and carried placards bearing slogans like 'BMC Betrayed Us', 'Betrayed, Still Working' in various city hospitals.

The doctors from the BMC's Sion, KEM and Nair hospitals are taking part in the protests which started last week symbolically by wearing black badges on duty.

At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown in August 2020, the Maharashtra government had approved a proposal of increased stipend of Rs 10,000 per month.

The resident doctors have demanded that the stipend arrears must be cleared in full and not adjusted with the incentives given for Covid duty as the BMC has planned.

If their demands are not met, the doctors plan to launch an 'on-duty' indefinite hunger strike from Monday, as per a statement by Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD).

Despite repeated attempts by IANS, top BMC officials were not available on Friday to comment on the MARD's ultimatum of hunger-strike from May 10.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Chennai, May 7 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday said that his government will bear all the expenses of the Covid patients in private hospitals.

The state health insurance cover will bear the expenses of Covid treatment in private hospitals hereon, the Chief Minister said in an order.

Stalin issued another order sanctioning Rs 2,000 each to the rice card holders in Tamil Nadu.

There are around 2.07 crore rice card holders in the state.

An official statement said, "The Chief Minister had signed an order to extend Rs 2,000 each to 2.07 crore rice card holders at an expenditure of Rs 4,153.39 crore." Stalin had also signed an order to reduce the price of public sector "Aavin" milk brand by Rs 3 per litre.

Besides, an order permitting women to travel in ordinary town buses free of cost was also issued.

The statement said, "The government will bear the additional expenditure of Rs 1,200 crore as subsidy to the transport corporations." Stalin also issued an order to constitute a new department "Chief Minister in your constituency".

An IAS officer will be posted to run the department on a day to day basis.

After taking oath of office, Stalin visited his mother Dayalu Ammal, his step mother Rajathi Ammal and paid his respects at the tomb of his father Kalaignar Karunanidhi and DMK founder- leader and former Chief Minister CN Annadurai.

He also paid floral tributes at the memorial of social reformer EV Ramasamy Periyar at "Periyar Thidal" at Vepery.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Thiruvananthapuram, May 7 : Malayalam filmmaker Shrikumar Menon has been arrested in a cheating case, police said.

Alappuzha police officials had reached his home in Palakkad on Thursday night and took him into custody.

The charge against him was he had collected around Rs one crore from an Alappuzha businessman, but failed to honour the agreement to make a film.

Menon time and again has the habit of courting controversies. In 2019, he was let off on bail by police after questioning him in the complaint given against him by actress Manju Warrier for defaming her.

He has directed Warrier in Mohanlal-starrer "Odiyan" as well as in several ad films.

In 2018, he had an issue with legendary writer and Jnanpith awardee M.T.Vasudevan Nair over a script.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, May 7 : A tweet by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not gone down well with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some others in the political circles.

In a tweet on Thursday night, Soren had alleged that the Prime Minister did not listen to him during a phone call to discuss the Covid-19 situation.

On Thursday, Modi spoke to the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the prevailing Covid-19 situation in their respective states.

"Respected Prime Minister called today. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki baat'. It would have been better if he had talked about the work done and listened to the other side," Soren tweeted at 11.19 p.m. on Thursday.

Within an hour, Assam Health Minister and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted: "Your tweet is not only against basic dignity, but also to make fun of the suffering of the people of the state for whom the Prime Minister called you to know about. You have lowered the dignity of the Chief Minister's post."

Hoping that the Jharkhand Chief Minister will retract his statement, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio tweeted: "In my experience as a Chief Minister for several terms, Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been sensitive to the concerns of the states, particularly the northeast. I disagree with Hemant Soren and I hope he retracts his statement."

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Babulal Marandi tweeted: "Hemant Soren is a failed Chief Minister. Failure in governance. Failure in tackling Covid-19 in the state. Failure to assist people. To hide his failures he demeans the office he holds. Wake up and work, Hemant Soren. The clock is ticking."

BJP National General Secretary (Organisation) B.L. Santosh tweeted: "This is the level to which some politicians are stooping. PM calls and has detailed talk regarding Covid-19 crisis and this Chief Minister tweets so. Lacks minimum grace required for the position he holds."

Soren's tweet also did not go down well with YSRCP leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who tweeted: "I have great respect for you, but as a brother I would urge you, no matter what ever our differences are, indulging in such level of politics would only weaken our own nation."

In another tweet, Reddy said: "In this war against Covid-19, these are the times not to point fingers but to come together and strengthen the hands of our Prime Minister to effectively combat the pandemic."

However, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera seized the opportunity to target the BJP, saying: "It is very serious and worrying that even at this time, the Prime Minister only wants to talk, not listen."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- Syndicated from IANS
Patna, May 7 : After a complete lockdown was imposed in Bihar to control the coronavirus infections, community kitchens have been started by the government at various places to feed the poor and deprived sections of society. Food is being prepared in these kitchens with different menus fixed for different days.

Due to the lockdown small-time businesses have once again been adversely affected. Daily wage labourers who are barely able to afford two square meals a day are facing extreme hardship. The Disaster Management department is now feeding the poor people through these kitchens.

At present, community kitchens are being run at 11 places in Patna. More than 6,000 people had been served food on Thursday. Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh said that in the last two days more than 9,000 people have benefitted from such kitchens.

According to information received by the Disaster Management department from the districts till Thursday late evening, more than three lakh people were given food on the first day of the community kitchens.

At present, there are 20 community kitchens being run in Bihar's Purnia district, in which 2,500 to 3,000 people were provided food on Thursday. Purnia District Magistrate Rahul Kumar said that Covid-19 guidelines are being followed in all the kitchens. He said that efforts are being made so that people eat food while maintaining social distancing.
Mumbai, May 7 : The key Indian equity indices closed in the green on Friday with the BSE Sensex settling above the 49,000 mark.

Healthy buying was witnessed in metal stocks, with several stocks touching their all-time high levels.

Shares of Tata Steel touched a 52-week high of Rs 1,192 and SAIL stock touched a 52-week high of Rs 145.85 per share.

Sensex closed at 49,206.47, higher by 256.71 points or 0.52 per cent from its previous close of 48,949.76.

It opened at 49,169.14 and has touched an intra-day high of 49,417.64 and a low of 49,036.38 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 14,823.15, higher by 98.35 points or 0.67 per cent from its previous close.

Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities noted that during the week, foreign institutional investors sold heavily in the cash segment to the tune of Rs 5,500 crore that should reverse immediately otherwise it would minimize the upside for the market.

"In the coming week, again our focus should be on metals and pharmaceuticals stocks. From the defensive, we prefer the technology sector over the FMCG sector," he said.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Abuja, Nigeria (PANA)  Nigeria will host the first edition of the 8-Sahel Countries Military Games in October the Defence Minister, retired Maj
Chandigarh, May 7 : Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Friday said the work of administration and arrangement of oxygen plants should be handed over to the military and the paramilitary for their safe and smooth functioning.

Vij said this step should be taken to deal with oxygen-related problems being faced at present, adding that such a step would be immensely helpful as even if one plant stops, then it may adversely affect the health of Covid patients.

"The state government is continuously making efforts to distribute oxygen as per requirement in all hospitals of the state. With the assistance of the Central government, 60 oxygen plants will be set up in government hospitals with a capacity of 30, 50, 100 and 200 beds in the state," he said in a statement.

The minister said work is presently going on to set up six oxygen plants in government hospitals. After Ambala, oxygen plants will soon start functioning in Panchkula, Faridabad and Hisar towns.

He said the production at oxygen plants installed in Karnal and Sonipat towns has started. Along with this, work is going on continuously to make government hospitals self-sufficient in oxygen.

On vaccinations, Vij said the state is fully prepared to vaccinate the children.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, May 7 : Swiss hearing care solutions provider Sonova has acquired the consumer electronics business of German audio brand Sennheiser for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced on Friday.

Subject to regulatory approval, the plan is to complete the transfer of the business to Sonova by the end of 2021.

Sennheiser had announced in February that it would focus on the professional business in the future while seeking a partner for its consumer electronics business.

"We couldn't have asked for a better partner than Sonova for our Consumer Electronics business," said Daniel Sennheiser, co-CEO at Sennheiser.

Dr Andreas Sennheiser, another co-CEO at Sennheiser added: "The combination of our strengths provides a very good starting point for future growth. We are convinced that Sonova will strengthen the Sennheiser Consumer Business in the long term and capture the major growth opportunities." India is among Sennheiser's top 10 markets globally and the second-largest market in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region after China.

"India has a great advantage with the growing appetite for the premium and connected sound ecosystem which has been further accelerated by the pandemic. We understand the evolving consumer preferences and we will be offering first-class audio solutions under the Sennheiser brand in future," said Kapil Gulati, Director - Consumer Segment, Sennheiser India.

With the takeover of the Sennheiser's consumer business, Sonova is adding headphones and soundbars to its hearing care portfolio, which includes hearing aids and cochlear implants, among other hearing solutions.

"Combining our audiological expertise with Sennheiser's know-how in sound delivery, their great reputation as well as their high-quality products will allow us to expand our offering and to create important touchpoints with consumers earlier in their hearing journey," said Arnd Kaldowski, CEO of Sonova.

Sennheiser will now concentrate its own strengths and resources on the Pro Audio, Business Communications and Neumann business areas.
Chennai, May 7 : Two-wheeler major TVS Motor, its group companies and Sundaram Clayton Limited have pledged Rs 40 crore to strengten India's fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The funds will be utilised to provide lifesaving supplies such as oxygen concentrators, PPE kits, medicines and medical equipment across the country. This initiative is undertaken by Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social arm of TVS Motor Company, and Sundaram Clayton Ltd," TVS Motor said on Friday.

According to TVS Motor, it will supply 2,000 oxygen concentrators to hospitals and health centres and over 20,000 food packets per day for essential services workers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh in the wake of the raging second wave of the pandemic that has gripped the nation.

The company will also distribute face masks, oximeters, PPE kits, hand sanitisers and essential medicines to more than 500 government health centres and hospitals in these states.

Additionally, the company will continue to facilitate all possible assistance to the Covid care centres in the rural areas across the country.

Having vaccinated all its employees above the age of 45 years, the company as a next step will ramp up its effort to extend the vaccination drive for everyone above the age of 18 years.

TVS Motor had earlier announced a contribution of Rs 60 crore towards relief efforts across various states during the first wave of the pandemic last year.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Thiruvananthapuram, May 7 : Till the vote count on May 2, the Congress was certain that it will return to power in Kerala but saw the Pinarayi Vijayan-headed Left create electoral history with an unprecedented second term. On Friday, it was a day of introspection by the Congress leadership with all stressing the need to stand united but also go in for an overhaul.

Congress state President Mullapally Ramachandran had expressed confidence that the Congress-led United Democratic Front would score a century in the 140-member Kerala Assembly, but let alone gaining power, the grouping saw ended up with 41 seats, down from 47 in the 2016 polls.

Subsequently, several leaders bayed for the blood of Ramachandran and also Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.

On Friday at the Political Affairs Committee meeting of the party which met here to discuss the debacle, Ramachandran lamented that he was being singled out.

At this, two-time Chief Minister Oommen Chandy got up and said since he was the Chairman of the Election Committee, he would take the full responsibility for the debacle.

Chennithala said he is ready to abide by any decision of the party high command and the legislature party here.

Kannur strongman and Lok Sabha member K. Sudhakaran and his colleague, K. Muraleedharan who was brought in to stop the BJP from retaining the Nemom seat but lost, said that they were happy to take up any responsibility that the party decided.

Both these leaders said that there is no point to blame any single leader for the debacle.

Party General Secretary Tariq Anwar, who could not make it to the meeting, turned up online and will soon submit a report to the party high command.

The Congresss has formed a team led by senior leader Malikarjuna Kharge and it is expected to arrive in the state and will speak to all concerned.

At the end of the meeting, the preliminary decision was that the party organisational structure should be overhauled and discussions on how it should happen will be taken at a two-day meeting shortly, in which the representatives of the high command also would be present.

What remains to be seen if the heads of Ramachandran and Chennithala will roll and if so, who will replace them.
New Delhi, May 7 : Mucormycosis, also known as black fungus, can turn dangerous if left untreated, doctors said on Friday amid reports of re-emergence of the rare deadly fungal infection among Covid-19 patients across hospitals in Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad.

The fungal infection is caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. These molds live throughout the environment. Mucormycosis mainly affects people who have health problems or take medicines that lower the body's ability to fight germs and sickness.

The common symptoms associated with the disease include headache, facial pain, nasal congestion, loss of vision or pain in eyes, swelling in cheeks and eyes and black crusts in the nose. The US Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention estimates Mucormycosis with an overall all-cause mortality rate of 54 per cent.

"Mucormycosis can be very dangerous if left untreated can cause mutilating damage to face, nose, eyes with disfigurement and loss of vision and also cause invasive brain infection," Dr. Mahesh Kumar, Consultant -Internal Medicine, Narayana Health City, Bengaluru, told IANS.

While "Aspergillus and Candida are more common fungal infections, but this infection is dangerous because it involves the sinus and brain and happens to those who are in an immunocompromised state and/or to patients on steroids," added Dr Vikas Maurya, Director and HOD, Pulmonology, Fortis Hospital, Shalimar Bagh.

According to health experts, Mucormycosis (previously called zygomycosis) has been a cause of disease and death in transplants, ICU and immunodeficient individuals since long. However, it is the rapid increase in numbers seen in unsuspected Covid patients which is a matter of grave concern. Patients who recover from the Covid infection are increasingly being pushed back into the ICUs. Last year, Mucormycisis had caused high mortality with many patients suffering from loss of eyesight, removal of nose and jawbone.

"Mucormycosis is affecting Covid patients more due to prolonged administration of steroids and subsequent immunocompromised state," Dr Suranjit Chatterjee, Senior Consultant, Department of Internal Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo hospital, New Delhi, told IANS.

"In Covid, patients get steroids and immunity goes down and they may get this infection," Maurya said.

People with diabetes, those on steroids and humidified oxygen for a long time, and Covid patients with pre-existing comorbidities are the most at risk. Others include patients like those post chemotherapies, those on long-term immunosuppressive drugs.

The Drug Controller General of India, in March this year, gave approval to Mumbai-based bio-pharmaceutical firm Bharat Serums and Vaccines Limited to use anti-fungal medication -- Liposomal Amphotericin B or LAmB -- as a medical intervention in patients of Mucormycosis.

The risk of this fungus can be avoided by avoiding prolonged use of steroids. The treatment also involves anti-fungal and surgery (if required) to remove the affected area, Chatterjee said.

Judicious use of steroids and immunosuppressive drugs especially in elderly, immunocompromised, cancer and diabetic patients with Covid, are needed during the course of treatment, Kumar advised.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hyderabad, May 7 : All major Municipal Corporations in Telangana now have women Mayors and Deputy Mayors as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Friday entrusted the key posts in Warangal and Khammam to women.

Women corporators of the TRS were unanimously elected as Mayors and Deputy Mayors of Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) and Khammam Municipal Corporation (KMC).

Former MP and TRS women wing President Gundu Sudha Rani was elected mayor of GWMC, the second biggest municipal corporation in the state after the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Though the post was reserved for BC/general candidate, the TRS choose a woman leader as the mayor.

Ponukollu Neeraja was named as Mayor of the Khammam Municipal Corporation. The post was reserved for women.

Interestingly, the TRS gave the posts of Deputy Mayors in both Warangal and Khammam to Muslim women -- Rizwana Shameem in Warangal and Shaik Fathima Zohra in Khammam.

With this, all major corporations in the state have women as Mayors and Deputy Mayors. In February, Gadwal Vijayalaxmi and Srilatha Reddy were elected as Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Greater Hyderabad respectively.

The TRS leadership declared the names of Mayors and Deputy Mayors of the GWMC and the KMC through sealed covers. Ministers in charge for the elections announced the names at the meetings of newly-elected corporators.

Elections for Chairpersons and Deputy Chairpersons of five municipalities were also held on Friday. Women were elected Chairpersons of Siddipet, Jadcherla and Kothur municipalities. The posts of chairpersons of Nakrekal and Atchampet municipalities were not reserved for women. The posts of three Deputy Chairpersons also went to women.

The TRS had made a clean sweep of elections held for seven urban local bodies on April 30. The results were declared on May 3. The ruling party not only retained power in these ULBs but also won enough seats to easily win the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in the two municipal corporations and Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson in the five municipalities.
Mumbai, May 7 : Accusing the Centre of "continued discrimination" against Maharashtra in the Covid-19 crisis, ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi constituent Congress on Friday slammed it for depriving the state from international aid arriving from 40 countries.

"The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has excluded Maharashtra from the list of states where the Centre plans to distribute the corona aid that has come from 40 countries," said party spokesperson and General Secretary Sachin Sawant.

He said that initially, the Centre sat on the relief materials, and when distribution was taken, the aid is being first given to Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar, etc, barring Maharashtra.

"We strongly condemn the Centre's move and want an answer from the BJP and its Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on why this grave injustice is being done to the people of Maharashtra," Sawant demanded.

Elaborating, he said around 25 flights load of help has arrived from abroad, including governments and from many people of Indian origin in those countries who want to help the people of their respective states in this country.

"When even the states have a right to this international aid, then why it is being allocated through the Centre like the PM Cares Fund and not directly given to the states. This is a breach of the federal system," said Sawant.

He said the Modi government has been consistently harassing the MVA government since the past nearly one-and-half years as it is being run by BJP's rival political parties.

"Earlier, the state was discriminated against in the supplies of Remdesivir, oxygen, ventilators, masks, PPEs, vaccines and now even for international aid for which priority is being given to the BJP-ruled states," Sawant said sharply.

In the past, the MVA constituents, Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress leaders have attacked the Centre repeatedly for meting out "stepmotherly treatment" on various fronts and now even denying the state Covid-related critical supplies besides other issues.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kolkata, May 7 : The Bharatiya Janata Party won 77 of the 292 seats in the recently concluded Assembly elections in West Bengal, way below the expectations of the party that was eying to wrest power from the ruling Trinamool Congress in the state.

But there is more that might bother the saffron brigade, which used all its resources in the run-up to the high-octane elections in its bid to breach the Trinamool citadel in Bengal.

A closer look into the winning seats of the BJP shows that nearly one-third of the party MLAs who made it to the state Assembly owed their political existence to other political parties before jumping ship to the saffron camp.

A lot has been said about Suvendu Adhikari, Nisith Pramanik and Mihir Goswami, who successfully retained their fort even after changing camps.

Adhikari was even more appreciated because he single-handedly dwarfed the mighty Mamata Banerjee, who was successful in retaining power in the state, but failed to combat son of the soil Adhikari in Nandigram, where she lost to her one-time close aide by a slender margin of 1,953 votes.

There are 18 more MLAs -- bulk of them who defected to the BJP from the Trinamool Congress -- who successfully retained their mass support even after changing their political ideology.

A close analysis of the winning BJP MLAs shows that 14 BJP candidates who won this time came from the Trinamool, including some big names like Adhikari in Nandigram, Pramanik in Dinhata, Goswami in Natabri and Mukul Roy in Krishnanagr North.

There are six more MLAs, including two former ministers in the erstwhile Left Front government in the state, who won on a BJP ticket this time. One came from the Congress while another one joined the BJP from the Gorkha National Liberal Front (GNLF).

The big names who came from the Trinamool and won on BJP tickets include Satyendra Nath Roy from Gangarampur in South Dinajpur, a former Trinamool minister, Tanmoy Ghosh from Bishnupur, Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury from English Bazar and Sikha Cahtterjee from Dabgram Phulbari in North Bengal.

Chatterjee defeated the all-powerful state Tourism Minster Goutam Deb in the elections.

Mukul Roy, who is considered to be a master political strategist and was the second in command in Trinamool, switched over to the BJP years back but he never contested any election. In the recent polls, Roy won from the Krishnanagar North constituency.

Pawan Singh, who won from the Bhatpara constituency in North 24 Parganas, switched over to the BJP from Trinamool along with his father Arjun Singh, who is also a BJP MP form North 24 Parganas.

The list of Trinamool turncoats who won on a BJP ticket this time also includes Biswajit Das from Bagda, Subrata Moitra from Berhampur, Tanmoy Ghosh from Bishnupur, and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee from Ranaghat NorthWest.

Apart from these, there are six other BJP MLAs who switched camps form the Left Front including two ministers in the former Left Front ministry.

Bamkim Ghosh -- a former CPM legislature and a minister in the Left Front government -- switched over to the BJP and won the election form Chakdah in Hooghly district.

Similarly, Narahari Mahato -- a major Forward Block leader in the tribal belt and a minister in the Left Front government -- won from the Joypur Assembly constituency in Purulia district.

Former Forward Block members Biswanth Karak won from Goghat, Tapasi Mondal won from Haldia, ex-RSP man Monoj Orao won from Kumarganj while former CPM leader Sankar Ghosh won from Siliguri - all on a BJP ticket this time.

Interestingly, Ashoke Lahiri, who was appointed CEA by the Government of India in 2002 during the prime ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and continued even when Manmohan Singh took the reins of the country, won from Balurghat.

Lahiri never had any political background and was projected as the finance minster if BJP came to power.

Similarly, actor-turned-politician Hiran, who won from Kharagpur Sadar, also didn't have any political allegiance before.
Srinagar : Suspected militants hurled a grenade on security forces in Nawa Bazaar area of Central Kashmir's Srinagar district here on Friday. (Photo: Nissar malik/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar : Suspected militants hurled a grenade on security forces in Nawa Bazaar area of Central Kashmir's Srinagar district here on Friday. (Photo: Nissar malik/IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Srinagar, May 7 : Three people, including two security personnel, were injured in a grenade attack in Srinagar on Friday, police said.

Police said militants hurled a grenade at CRPF troopers belonging to 36 Battalion in Nawa Bazar area of old Sringar.

"The grenade exploded, injuring three persons - police constable, Fayaz Ahmed, a CRPF jawan identified as Harish Kumar, and a civilian identified as Haziq Ali, belonging to Chanapora area of Srinagar city.

"The injured have been shifted to hospital where attending doctors have described the condition of all the three as stable.

"The area has been cordoned off for searches," a police officer said.
Lucknow, May 7 : After the spread of Covid-19 in urban pockets, the infection is gathering pace across rural areas in western Uttar Pradesh with villages in Muzaffarnagar district being the worst-hit. However, the number of villages impacted is yet to be officially included in the data compiled by the state government.

After the recent UP panchayat elections, the situation in the villages has worsened resulting in a large number of deaths. Most of the people are suffering from high fever. People are also facing breathing problems in certain areas. Patients infected with the virus have not yet been tested in most rural areas. Their overall health condition would be known only after undergoing testing.

The number of newly infected Covid-19 patients has been more during the last two to three days in different districts of western Uttar Pradesh. The number of patients discharged from hospitals is way less in number. On Thursday, 1,167 patients were identified in Meerut while only 750 were discharged. As many as 1,227 new patients were reported in Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida) while 1,027 were discharged. In Ghaziabad, 715 were discharged from hospitals as compared to 953 new Covid-19 patients. As many as 1,303 new patients were found in Moradabad while 907 were discharged.

In Muzaffarnagar, 704 new patients were found and only 356 were discharged. Similarly, in Saharanpur, 611 patients were discharged from hospital as compared to 687 new Covid-19 cases. On Thursday, 21 patients died in Muzaffarnagar, 15 in Ghaziabad, 12 in Meerut and 13 in Gautam Budh Nagar.

Compared to the first wave of the pandemic where the number of cases was limited, the ongoing wave has spread rapidly in tehsils and rural areas. According to the statistics of the state Health Department as on May 6, 63 cases were reported in Budhana tehsil, 94 in Morna tehsil, 175 in Muzaffarnagar Rural, 264 in Muzzafarnagar Urban, 59 in Khatauli tehsil and 57 cases in Jansath tehsil which has also reported 21 deaths. The state government has asked every village to undergo Rapid Antigen tests which would reveal the data on infected patients.

A social worker requesting anonymity said, "The havoc due to Covid-19 began in Muzaffarnagar district after the recent UP panchayat elections. Rural areas have been more affected. People are suffering from high fever in these areas. In Budhana tehsil and Khatauli area, a lot of infected people have been detected. Deaths are also taking place at a rapid rate. Many teachers and other employees have died of the infection. Many patients admitted are in a critical condition. Nearly 350 teachers are down with the infection. Nearly 20 primary and junior high school teachers have died due to the infection." Muzzafarnagar Additional Chief Medical Officer VK Singh said, "The infection is surging in Khatauli, Jansath, Muzaffarnagar and urban areas. Survey teams have been deployed in these areas. 50 teams are going door-to-door in the urban areas. One rapid response team (RRT) each is working with every five teams which includes a doctor. Each team visits a house to see the Covid-19 patient. If the patient's condition is normal they advise him to remain indoors. If the patient is critical, he is examined by doctors of the RRT team. In rural areas where the patient's condition is alarming, the RRT team provides treatment. 890 antigen samples were taken in rural areas, of which 27 samples tested positive. The patients who have tested positive are placed in home quarantine. There is widespread shortage of staff. Beds have been arranged in the community health centres to deal with the alarming situation."

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has welcomed the recent release of dozens of detainees by the command of the Libyan National Army (LNA), stating that it was encouraged by their commitment to new releases during Ramadan fasting for Muslims
New Delhi, May 7 : Ramping up the delivery of medical oxygen across the country, the Indian Railways said on Friday that it has delivered more than 2,960 MT Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in 185 tankers through its Oxygen Express trains to different states.

A Railway Ministry spokesperson said that the national teansporter is continuing with its journey to provide relief to the people by delivering liquid medical oxygen to various states across the country.

"So far, the Railways has delivered more than 2,960 MT LMO in 185 tankers to various states across the country," the spokesperson said.

He said that 47 Oxygen Express trains have already completed their journey.

Giving the break-up, the official said that 174 MT LMO has been offloaded in Maharashtra, 729 MT in Uttar Pradesh, 249 MT in Madhya Pradesh, 305 MT in Haryana, 123 MT in Telangana and 1,334 MT in Delhi.

He added that presently 18 tankers are on the run with more than 260 tonnes of LMO which are expected to reach Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi.

More loaded Oxygen Express trains are expected to begin their journey later on Friday night, he added.
Indian Air Force flight carrying first batch of oxygen cylinders from UK, landed in Chennai International Airport early this morning. Image Source: IANS News

Indian Air Force flight carrying first batch of oxygen cylinders from UK, landed in Chennai International Airport early this morning. Image Source: IANS News

Indian Air Force flight carrying first batch of oxygen cylinders from UK, landed in Chennai International Airport early this morning. Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, May 7 : The C-17 aircraft of Indian Air Force have conducted 400 sorties from within the country, including 351 to airlift 252 oxygen tankers of a total capacity of 4,904 Metric Tonnes (MT), till Friday.

Both the Air Force and the Indian Navy have intensified their efforts to aid the civil administration in tackling the grim Covid situation in the country by ferrying oxygen containers and medical equipment.

The cities the Air Force has covered include Jamnagar, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Panagarh, Indore, Ranchi, Agra, Jodhpur, Begumpet, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Surat, Raipur, Udaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Nagpur, Gwalior, Vijaywada, Baroda, Dimapur and Hindan.

The IAF aircraft also conducted 59 international sorties to airlift 72 cryogenic oxygen storage containers of 1,233 MT total capacity along with 1,252 empty oxygen cylinders.

The containers and cylinders were procured from Singapore, Dubai, Bangkok, the UK, Germany, Belgium and Australia. In addition, the C-17 and IL-76 aircraft have been tasked to airlift cryogenic oxygen containers, oxygen generators and ventilators from Israel and Singapore.

The Indian Navy deployed its ships -- INS Talwar, INS Kolkata, INS Airavat, INS Kochi, INS Tabar, INS Trikand, INS Jalashwa and INS Shardul -- to ferry oxygen containers, cylinders, concentrators and related equipment from friendly foreign countries.

Loading of oxygen containers and other medical supplies has also been planned on INS Tarkash, INS Shardul and INS Jalashwa from Doha, Kuwait and Muara, and Brunei, respectively, in the coming days.

Nine warships have been deployed for Operation Samudra Setu II to strengthen India's fight against the second wave of the pandemic.

While one has already delivered oxygen at New Mangalore, five others are homeward bound and will reach between the country between May 9 and May 11.

"The overall oxygen and medical supplies delivered or embarked are 11x27 MT LMO filled cryogenic containers, 2,300 oxygen cylinders, 57 oxygen concentrators, 8x20 empty cryogenic oxygen cylinders, 3,150 empty oxygen cylinders, 10,000 Rapid Antigen Test kits and 450 PPE kits," Indian Navy stated.
Mumbai, May 7 : The Cine and Television Actors' Association (CINTAA) is worried about the number of member artistes succumbing to death owing to Covid while shooting outside Maharashtra.

The association has demanded all health and safety protocols be strictly followed on set, and a copy of their Standard Operative Procedures (SOP) be shared by their members in order to examine any negligence that could have a severe impact on a unit.

SOPs have to be designed keeping in mind the new strain of the virus, which might show negative in the first RT-PCR and would mean isolating the cast and crew before and after the shoot.

The association is also worried about the fact that since actors travel regularly, they face a greater risk of infection.

"It is wonderful that TV shoots are shooting in a bubble, with necessary precautions, but we are worried that a secure bio bubble of the IPL has been breached, it will not take long for this disaster to strike TV shoots. There is a traffic of actors travelling to and from shoots, using flights and airports and the danger of infection is tenfold," stated a CINTAA spokesperson, urging producers to follow the 30-day model of payment till the pandemic is on.

"With medical costs skyrocketing, it is only prudent that expenses are completely covered, with no burden to our members," the spokesperson added.

Actors, who have refused to shoot due to the pandemic are being replaced overnight and CINTAA has insisted that they should be compensated. Also, it has questioned who would take ownership if an actor gets infected.

"Most of the producers are saying that cine workers are frontline workers, we would like to point out that if any category that actually comes in the shape of frontline workers are the actors, who have to perform their scenes without masks. Who have to come in close contact with the make-up artists, stylists and so on. So, they are most prone and susceptible to COVID infections," said the spokesperson.

"Hence, we are appealing to all the stake holders that we want to know on whom does the moral responsibility lie? If the actor contracts Covid, who is going to take care of the entire hospital/medical expenses, the insurance, injury cover, death cover, etc. Is the broadcaster taking the onus, studio taking the onus, or the producer association or individual producer is taking the onus, that is what we wish to know," questioned CINTAA.

They have also stressed the plight of the artistes who have one or two days of work in a show. CINTAA has expressed that there is a need to make sure that they are shooting in the vicinity of medical emergencies or have made arrangements on the set.

"The plight of actors who have one or two days of work is worse than film workers, as these actors have nowhere been included in the various charities being offered like Salman Khan's charity or Yash Raj vaccination drive, in spite this fraternity being at maximum risk at all levels, including their unsure livelihood. We are glad that the workers are being taken care of by the benevolent. But these actors should be included in such initiative beneficiary list," added the spokesperson.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, May 7 : The Delhi High Court on Friday issued notice to Aam Aadmi Party legislator Imran Hussain on a plea alleging hoarding of oxygen cylinders at his office.

The plea was moved before the Delhi High Court by one Vedansh Sharma alleging that the Delhi minister was hoarding oxygen cylinders at a time when the national capital is facing an acute shortage of medical oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients.

A division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli issued notice to the Delhi government and also sought Hussain's presence before it on the next date of hearing. According to the petitioner, such distribution by Hussain was illegal and unlawful.

The petitioner's lawyer Amit Tiwari, in order to substantiate the claim, cited a tweet by AAP Delhi account, which stated that free oxygen was available at Hussain's office. The petitioner's lawyer, emphasizing on the tweet, contended before the bench that the hoarding of cylinders was visible in the picture, and the court should take action against Hussain. However, the High Court was not convinced and told the petitioner's lawyer that the pictures don't show hoarding, instead people are standing in a queue, and some of them are taking oxygen from there.

During the hearing, the High Court noted that if Hussain was not "eating away from the allocated" quantity of oxygen for Delhi, then there is no need to raise an alarm. The bench also observed that the court would first have to examine where is he getting these oxygen cylinders from. "He may be getting from Faridabad (on his own)..you can't really have a problem. Even Gurudwaras are doing it", said the bench.

Senior advocate Rahul Mehra, representing the Delhi government, submitted before the bench that if there was any veracity in the allegations, the strictest possible action would be taken. Mehra added that at this juncture names don't matter, and party doesn't matter. He opined that the petitioner is free to approach the local police.

The bench observed that there may be a possibility that Hussain could be augmenting the supply of oxygen by providing it to his constituents. However, the High Court clarified that it was not sitting for conducting any inquiry.

The High Court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on May 10.
New Delhi, May 7 : Two days after warning that the third wave of Covid is inevitable, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government, K. VijayRaghavan on Friday stepped back, saying that it may not happen if strong steps and measures are taken.

Addressing the Union Health Ministry press briefing, he said: "If we take strong steps and measures, the third wave may not happen in all the places or indeed anywhere at all.

"It all depends on how much the guidelines are effectively implemented at local level." Asked about reports of mucormycosis among Covid-19 patients, NITI Aayog's Member, Health, Prof V.K. Paul said: "Mucormycosis (Black Fungus) is detected mostly in diabetic patients. We want to reassure that there is no major outbreak and we are doing proper surveillance of the situation." He pointed out that there are three factors triggering this fungal infection: uncontrolled diabetes, immunosuppression because of steroids or any other disease and exposure to a wet surface.

"Mucormycosis is absolutely preventable and if one's diabetes is under control, there is no reason to worry," Paul said.

Meanwhile, Additional Secretary, Health, Arti Ahuja said: "States and UTs, including Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, are showing early signs of plateauing or decrease in daily new Covid cases." About vaccine coverage, she said: "So far, a total 16.50 crore doses have been administered across all eligible categories. Over 12.66 crore people above 45 years have administered vaccines. 1,59 health care workers, 2.13 crore frontline workers and 11.81 lakh people aged between 18 to 44 years have been administered vaccines." As per government data, there are 24 states where the positivity rate is more than 15 per cent, nine states have a positivity rate between five to 15 per cent and three states have a positivity rate less than five per cent. The country is reporting daily new cases growth rate of one per cent in the last seven days.

Twelve states/UTs have more than one lakh active cases, seven states and UTs have 50,000 to one lakh active cases, and 17 have less than 50,000 active cases.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Mumbai, May 7 : As the country prepares for a potential "third wave" of Covid-19, the Maharashtra government on Friday announced it will fill up around 16,000 vacancies in the Public Health Department.

Health Minister Rajesh Tope told media persons that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has approved the major proposal and the posts lying vacant shall be filled up on an urgent basis.

While 12,000 posts fall in the Groups C & D, the rest are equally divided in Groups A & B categories, he added.

Earlier, the state government had allowed 50 per cent recruitment to the vacant posts but it could not be implemented owing the Maratha reservations issue before the Supreme Court.

After the SC verdict and owing to the strongly fear of a possible 'third wave' of Covid-19, Tope again made a strong plea for the 100 per cent recruitment as there will be huge need of manpower to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The final call will be taken in the state cabinet meet by Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar before initiating the process to fill up the vacancies.

The Group A posts include specialists to be filled up through the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, Group B comprises medical officers to be filled up by the Public Health Department Selection Board, and the Group C and D comprise the lower category of officials/clerical and similar posts.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Hyderabad, May 7 : Satyendra Mishra, a frontline doctor of Bundelkhand Medical College and Hospital in Madhya Pradesh, has been discharged from Yashoda Hospital at Secunderabad after treatment for Covid-19.

The young Covid warrior, who was airlifted to Hyderabad on April 19, was discharged on Thursday.

According to Srinivas Rajagopala, the Medical Director of Lung Transplantation at Yashoda Hospital, Mishra had extensive damage to his lungs due to Covid-19 and remained dependent on the ventilator with high oxygen requirements and at the critical phase of his illness.

"The first step we offered was prone ventilation and guideline-based care and he had a good response to this treatment and we successfully removed him from the ventilator by the end of the first week of treatment," he said.

"Notably, he did not have any superadded infection or need for higher-end antibiotics during this treatment, attesting to our excellent intensive care and nursing practices at our unit at Yashoda Hospitals Secunderabad," said Rajagopala.

The young Covid warrior was afflicted in the line of duty and suffered worsening lung damage that was not responding to oxygen therapy and intermittent non-invasive ventilation.

"It was clear that he needed ventilation and possibly extra-corporeal lung support (ECMO) to save him. It is also increasingly clear now that a significant proportion of Covid-ARDS patients remain ECMO dependent after 4-6 weeks and need lung transplantation and our centre is one of the few hospitals worldwide that have pioneered lung transplantation for Covid-19," Rajagopala said.

Mishra of the Department of Pulmonary Medicine in Bundelkhand Medical College in Sagar city had been treating Covid patients for more than a year. He recently contracted coronavirus and after his condition turned critical, health authorities in Madhya Pradesh decided to airlift him to Hyderabad for advanced treatment.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had assured all help for Mishra's treatment after his colleagues at Bundelkhand Medical College appealed for help to save him.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi, May 7 : The West Bengal government has asked the Supreme Court to set aside the Centre's differential policy for Covid-19 vaccines. It said it is "of the view that the pricing policy is ex-facie detrimental to the interest of the state governments and will result in an inequitable distribution of vaccines across the country." The state government, in an affidavit, said the Covid-19 vaccination policy must be underpinned by the principle that we are as strong as our weakest link; a single person deprived of vaccination would be to the collective detriment of a large section of society. "Any immunization policy must pass the muster of Part III of the Constitution of India and must be in furtherance of a person's fundamental right to health enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution", said the affidavit.

The state government also asked the top court to disband the "Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination." It urged the top court to tell the Centre to adopt and implement a uniform policy of procuring 100 percent doses rom vaccine manufacturers, which can be equitably distributed to the state governments and Union Territories for free.

"In the interest of transparency, it is prayed that this Court directs the two vaccine producers to explain the rationale and methodology for arriving at the current prices for the Covid-19 vaccines payable by the States; Profiteering at the time of a pandemic is something this Hon'ble Court ought not to countenance", added the affidavit.

The state government said vaccines must be considered as a "public good" and therefore should be free of cost for the public at the time of an unprecedented crisis and cannot be reduced to a market commodity. "The basis for arriving at the figures of Rs 400 (now Rs 300) and Rs 600, for Covishield and Covaxin, respectively, is completely opaque and in fact higher than the cost per dose for Covid-19 vaccines across the world", said the affidavit.

The state government contended that the price for Covid-19 vaccines should be capped at a uniform Rs 150 per dose. The affidavit added that the state governments cannot be made to negotiate and bargain individually on Covid-19 vaccine prices as well as the supply of vaccines with individual private players.

"It is prayed that this Court directs the Government of India to set aside the current differential vaccine pricing regime and directs the government of India to cap the prices of vaccines at a uniform fixed rate under Sections 3 and 19 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013 (Notified by SO 1221 (E) dated 15.05.2013 and as amended up to vide SO 1192(E) dated 22-03-2016); Such a step would not only ensure that no profiteering occurs at the time of a national crisis but would also ensure universal vaccine coverage", said the affidavit.

As on April 28, a total of 1,04,38,235 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in West Bengal. In the affidavit, the West Bengal government also pointed out about the expected increase in oxygen demand in the coming weeks. "It is humbly stated that with the expected increase in oxygen demand in coming weeks, the current rate of diversion of LMO outside the State of West Bengal will adversely impact the medical treatment of Covid-19 patients in the State", said the affidavit.

The government also recommended that the health secretaries of the states should be consulted twice a day to ensure the availability of real-time information on oxygen demand and availability.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
New Delhi/New York, May 7 : The government on Friday reiterated that India should be included in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) if the international body wants to be seen as a credible global leader.

In his statement at the high-level meeting of the UNSC on 'Maintenance of international peace and security: upholding multilateralism and the United Nations-centered international system', Foreign Secretary Harsh Shringla said, "At the core of India's call for reformed multilateralism, lies the reform of the UN Security Council, reflective of the contemporary realities of today." When power structures continue to reflect the status quo of a bygone era, they also start reflecting a lack of appreciation of contemporary geopolitical realities, he said.

"Multilateral institutions must be made more accountable to their membership, they must be open and welcoming to a diversity of viewpoints and cognisant of new voices," Shringla added.

"The Council must be made more representative of developing countries if it is to continue to engender trust and confidence in its ability to provide leadership to the entire world. It can deliver effective solutions only if it gives a voice to the voiceless rather than zealously guarding the status quo of the mighty," he added.

Several contemporary global challenges have come to the fore such as terrorism, radicalism, pandemics, climate change, threats from new and emerging technologies, growing asymmetric threats, disruptive role of non-state actors and the intensifying geopolitical competition, all of which call for a robust multilateral response, he said.

While the UN has addressed most of these issues somewhat partially and intermittently, our collective effort has nonetheless fallen short in providing effective and enduring solutions, particularly due to the infirmities within the multilateral system.

The year 2021, Shringla said, is a watershed moment in the history of the world, providing a timely opportunity to reflect on the effectiveness of the UN in achieving the goals and objectives that its founders had set out 75 years ago.

"The multitude of challenges of today's dynamic and interdependent world cannot be addressed with outdated systems that were designed to deal with the challenges of the past," he said.

The Covid-19 pandemic has sharpened our awareness of the depth of global interdependence, and on the fact that the world is only as resilient as the least resilient country, the Foreign Secretary said.

The events of the past year have clearly demonstrated how imperative it is for all countries to coordinate responses to the various challenges that the pandemic has brought to the fore.

Shringla said it is the lack of a coordinated global response that has exposed the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of the multilateral system as it stands today, providing a timely reminder for the pressing need for comprehensive reform.

While the pandemic exposed the fault lines from unreliable global supply chains to inequitable vaccine distribution, it has also underlined the need for global solidarity and strengthened multilateralism.

The re-imagined post-pandemic world will make profoundly different demands from the multilateral system, which must evolve accordingly so as to be fit for purpose and capable of inspiring confidence in its ability to effectively meet those demands, he said.

Today, the UN has 193 Member States, nearly a fourfold increase from 1945, he said.

"The narrow representation and privileges of a few in the primary decision-making organ of the UN poses a serious challenge to its credibility and effectiveness," Shringla added.

The Foreign Secretary also said that India believes that a renewal of vows towards a reformed UN-centered multilateral system will require genuine efforts on behalf of all member states.

For its part, India has always sought to strengthen the forces of cooperative multilateralism, he added.
Chennai, May 7 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who was sworn-in on Friday, told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the availability of oxygen in the state is very critical, citing the deaths of 13 patients in a government hospital at Chengalpattu.

In a letter to Modi, a copy of which was released to the media, he urged the Prime Minister to issued the revised oxygen allotment order for Tamil Nadu.

Stalin said: "The availability of oxygen in Tamil Nadu is very very critical and there was an unfortunate incident of 13 deaths at Chengalpattu 2 days ago. We request your kind intervention to get revised orders issued and provide full support to Tamil Nadu in this hour of crisis." Drawing the attention of Modi to the severe crisis with regard to availability of medical oxygen in the state, he said the daily consumption of oxygen is expected to touch 840 MT in next two weeks from the current consumption of 440 MT.

Stalin said at the emergency meeting held on Thursday by the officials of Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) with Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, it was decided to allocate, 40 MT from INOX, Kanjikode, Kerala for next four days, 60 MT from Praxair, Sriperumbudur (Linde Saint Gobain) of which 20 MT to be provided after two days, and 120 MT from SAIL and Linde, Rourkela to meet medium term needs.

"The revised allotment orders are still awaited," he said.

Stalin assured Modi of his full support and cooperation to the latter's efforts to tackle this unprecedented pandemic and save the nation.
Scott beefs up the screen time between his two stars. Russell Crowe as Robin Longstride, is a warrior just back from the Third Crusade and Cate Blanchett is a tough Maid Marion whose husband was killed in an ambush in France. New footage lets the couple's relationship blossom  especially during a new scene in Sherwood Forest. Extended footage is also sprinkled throughout, mostly during the battles sequences, while Scott reshuffles several scenes such as introducing Sheriff of Nottingham 10-minutes earlier.
New Delhi, May 7: His father Ahmad Shah Massoud was known as a Lion of Panjshir. But can Ahmad Massoud, the son of the legendary Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud also rise and be counted in shaping Afghanistans turbulent future? At the moment, the scion of the famous Afghan commander is pessimistic, as he apprehends a full-blown civil war, yet again, in the Hindukush, if the Taliban refuses to join peace talks, and the Americans pull out of Afghanistan by the September 11 deadline declared by US President Joe Biden.

Ahmad Massooud, the Tajik origin Panjsheri warned the Taliban that the Afghan mujahideen are ready for a military confrontation with the group, which once sheltered the dreaded Al Qaeda and its icon Osama bin Laden, if the Taliban do not abide by their stated commitment to peace.

"We must talk with [the] Taliban, we must make peace with the Taliban," but the insurgents must accept core values such as democracy and women's rights, Massoud told Tolo News, an Afghan television broadcaster. "At the same time, if the peace process is used to fuel the war machine, then the people are ready to pick up arms one more time." According to Tolo news, Ahmad Massoud is in touch with other warlords and "Jihadi' commanders. He has been telling them to stay unified even though President Ashraf Ghani has been sceptical of the strength of the mujahideen and has side-lined them from the issues at hand. Massoud told the channel: "In case the parties see a military solution as the way out for Afghanistan, then we will also make our own military preparations within the structure of the mujahideen, with the suggestions of the mujahideen, with the support of the people and under the umbrella of the Ulemas to bring an Islamic system that is the genuine demand of the people".

According to the news portal Gandhara, Afghan warlords are preparing feverishly anticipating a power vacuum should the Afghan government collapse and the Taliban launch a full-scale power grab.

In Herat, along the Iranian border, Ismail Khan, a well-established warlord has begun to mobilise forces to protect his people. Zulfiqar Omid, a Hazara activist and politician, on has setup a "resistance front" in the province of Daikundi, in central Afghanistan. Similarly, there Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an established human rights violator, has staged several rallies with his supporters in Kabul in recent months.

The situation in Afghanistan reminded me of the time when I had met the late Ahmad Shah Massoud in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, during the heat of the anti-Taliban resistance, just before his assassination on September 9, 2011. I asked him about his plans to takeover Kabul. His response was deeply analytical and spot on. "It is linked to certain conditions. It depends on how long Pakistan continues to help the Taliban and how long it stands behind them. Do you know we are not only fighting the Taliban at present but we are confronting three groups of forces comprising the Taliban, Arab mercenaries of Osama Bin Laden and elements from madrassas in Pakistan along with Pakistan's regular army? Among these forces, one is Afghani and the other two forces are non-Afghani." This was a time when India had got deeply involved in the Afghan "mess", following Pakistan backed Taliban's takeover of the country in 1996. New Delhi was anxious that with the Taliban's consolidation in Afghanistan, Pakistan would acquire "strategic depth" against India in a future war. Besides, Afghanistan would become the training ground and launchpad to push battle hardened international terrorists into Kashmir. Resource rich Central Asia, where India has also deep cultural connections would also get infected by the terror-virus.

Consequently, for the next five years after 1996, a variety of Indian diplomats would be in touch with the Northern Alliance leader, as they made the difficult journey from Delhi to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, then travel in rickety planes from the border to the Panjshir valley. India's assistance to the Northern Alliance ranged from providing ordnance and small armaments to food supplies and medicines.

During my meeting, he was surrounded by his companions and friends, including Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. They all mirrored their leader's steely resolve to carry on the good fight against an obscurantist foe, sponsored by an avaricious and meddling neighbour.

By the time the Indians established close contacts with Massoud, he was already a legendary commander.

Massoud had been at the forefront of the anti-Soviet jihad, his guerrilla tactics against the mighty Soviet army became the stuff of legends. The "lion of Panjshir", it was said, would lure the "Soviet bear" into his redoubt; they would walk right into the ambushes laid by Massoud's men; and when the Soviets withdrew, Massoud and his men occupied those areas.

Massoud was also a unifier. Born a Tajik, Massoud had done more in his short lifetime to try and unite Afghanistan's very diverse and tribal society riven across several traditional faultlines; Tajik vs Pashtun vs Hazara, Dari vs Pashto vs Farsi, Sunni vs Shia.

After the Soviet backed government fell in 1992 and president Mohammad Najibullah resigned, Massoud, along with several Mujahideen parties, signed the Peshawar Accord and enabled the formation of a coalition government to restore some semblance of peace to war torn Afghanistan. He became the interim defence minister.

After internal political tribulations and conflict within Mujahideen factions, the Massoud led Afghan government attempted peaceful settlement, but by this time the Taliban, backed by Pakistani ISI, had emerged as a major military force. It then laid siege against Kabul for several months, before toppling the government in September 1996 and establish its own regime.

Massoud then, once again went into resistance mode--consolidating the various ethnic groups of Afghanistan under the Northern Alliance, till his death, unable to see the ouster of the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks.

It would unfair to expect the young Ahmad Massoud to step into his father's very big shoes. But the son of the "Lion of Panjsher" does have a chance to find his place in the sun, as Afghanistan, yet again, undergoes one of its turbulent, and often bloody, political transitions.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative/
Hyderabad, May 7 : In view of shortage of the Covid-19 vaccines, health authorities in Telangana on Friday decided to vaccinate only those awaiting their second dose.

From Saturday, vaccine will be given to only those due for second dose, Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao told reporters. This arrangement will continue till May 12. However, there will be no vaccination on Sunday.

All persons eligible for second dose will be permitted to take the vaccine at government vaccination centres by spot registration by showing their certificate of partial vaccination.

The eligibility period for taking second dose is six weeks for Covishield and four weeks for Covaxin from the date of taking the first dose.

Rao pointed out that there are more than 11 lakh people in the state who are due for second dose. However, the state currently has only 3.74 lakh doses. He assured the people due for second dose not to be worried as the state expects another 3 lakh doses by May 15.

In the light of low allocation of vaccine till May 15 (4.69 lakh of Covishield and 2.16 lakh of Covaxin) and in order to optimally utilise the available doses, the special drive has been launched to cover the people who are eligible for second dose, he said.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who reviewed the Covid vaccination programme, took note of meagre allocation of Covid vaccine to the state. He spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to provide minimum 2 lakh doses per day.

Srinivasa Rao said vaccination for 18-44 age group will be launched only after receiving sufficient supplies.

He appealed to people to avoid public gatherings till the curve turns flat, and wear a double mask during travel and single mask at home as the virus is airborne.

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Bengaluru, May 7 : Reacting to Covid patients being brought near his official residence 'Cauvery' and the Vidhana Soudha complaining about lack of beds, Karnataka Chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday said that his government was pro-people and will help the needy, and therefore people need not resort to such measures.

After offering special prayers to Sri Annamma Devi, Bengaluru's chief deity, here for peace and respite from the Covid pandemic, he clarified that he was not saying it is wrong on their part to express their pain.

"The state government is well aware of the people's problems and we are taking measures. There's no need to come to my house or Vidhana Soudha. Ours is a pro-people government," he said.

On Thursday, in two separate incidents, families of Covid positive patients staged a sit-in protest outside Yediyurappa's official residence, and hours later, a family drove an ambulance carrying Covid patient in front of the Karnataka Assembly to secure a bed in hospital for the treatment of these patients.

Although, in both cases, officials did come to the rescue of these families and secured beds for these patients, unfortunately the family that protested in front of CM's residence wasn't lucky enough as their patient was declared brought dead by hospital authorities.

But the second incident took a political turn, with Karnataka Congress MLA Harris Nalapad's son Mohammed Nalpad storming with his supporters to stand by the family.

Both of these incidents occurred just a day after Bengaluru South MP, Tejasvi Surya, along with three party MLAs "busted" a cash for bed scam in his constituency, much to the embarrassment of his ruling BJP.

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Aizawl, May 7 : The Mizoram government has served a show-cause notice to the medical superintendent of the states lone medical college for his notification asking patients, including Covid patients, to pay for oxygen and other urgent medical support, officials said on Friday.

Mizoram's Special Secretary (Health), R. Lalramnghaka, issued the show-cause notice to H.C. Laldina, the superintendent of the state government-run Zoram Medical College and Hospital (ZMCH) on Thursday even as the notification was revoked by the state government on Wednesday.

"The notice has asked Laldina as to why he did not approach the concerned authority before issuing the notification charging fee for usage of oxygen, ventilator and high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC)," a health official said.

"Charging fees need the approval of the concerned authorities," the notice said, asking Laldina to reply on or before May 12.

The ZMCH notification asked the Covid patients to pay Rs 50 per hour for oxygen flow of up to five litres and Rs 75 per hour for oxygen flow of up to 12 litres, while the charge for non-Covid patients was fixed at Rs 30 per hour.

The notification also fixed Rs 120 per hour for Covid patients for the use of ventilator or HFNC.

Charging fees for the usage of oxygen at the government hospital, especially during the pandemic, is a policy matter of the state government, said the notice issued by the Special Secretary.

Mizoram's active caseload stood at 1,671 on Friday.

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Guwahati, May 7 : The Gauhati High Court has stayed the termination of 252 Junior Assistants engaged on contract basis to update Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC), as monitored by the Supreme Court.

The JAs were served a termination notice on March 26, three days after the Registrar General of India ordered the closure of the NRC office in Assam and refused to sanction funds after March 31.

The JAs were engaged in February 2015 at the district, sub-division and circle levels with fixed monthly remuneration for NRC-related works.

A High Court official on Friday said that hearing the petition filed by Biplab Kumar Medhi and 251 others JAs, Justice Prasanta Kumar Deka ordered the continuation of their service.

"Status quo as on date shall be maintained in respect of the service of the present petitioners," the judge said in his 47-page judgement.

Justice Deka has ordered to serve notice, returnable in two weeks, to the Centre, the RGI, Assam's Chief Secretary, Home Secretary and State NRC Coordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma.

"Prima facie I am satisfied that though admittedly the petitioners were engaged on the basis of specific terms of contract, however, keeping in view that the service of the petitioners are governed under Service Regulations, 2014, there is a case to be heard as to whether the issuance of the impugned notice of March 26, 2021 is proper in terms of the Service Regulations, 2014 and various terms and expression under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003," the judge said.

The draft of the NRC was published in August 2019, excluding 19.06 lakh people out of 3.3 crore applicants. Each of the 19.06 lakh people was to have been issued rejection slips, citing the reasons for their exclusion soon after the publication of the draft. However, the rejection slips are yet to be issued for the excluded people to approach a Foreigners' Tribunal within 120 days of receiving them. Around a 100 tribunals are tasked to scrutinise the documents of the excluded people and to decide if they would remain debarred or make it to the NRC.

The tribunals can declare a man foreigner, based on the Assam Accord of 1985, according to which immigrants, who entered the state after March 24, 1971, are to be detected and deported. The National Register of Citizens in Assam is being updated, based on this cut-off date.
New Delhi, May 7 : The Delhi government said in an official statement on Friday that mediapersons in the city will get free vaccine jabs at their respective workplaces.

"Mediapersons will be vaccinated by the Delhi government at their workplaces. The government has started the process of collecting data from the media organisations and the health department will come out with a final announcement soon," the statement said.

The Aam Aadmi Party-led government also said that it is fighting the pandemic with all its possible efforts.

It may be recalled that last month, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had urged the Centre to declare mediapersons as frontline workers to allow their immunisation on a priority basis.

"Journalists are reporting from most adverse situations. They should be treated as frontline workers and should be allowed vaccination on priority. Delhi government is writing to Centre in this regard," Kejriwal had tweeted on April 14.
Chandigarh, May 7 : Consequent to the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Punjab government on Friday set up a new three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising of senior IPS officers, and directed it to complete the investigations into the 2015 Kotkapura firing incident, preferably in six months, as per the court's orders.

An official spokesperson said that the newly constituted SIT, comprising ADGP, Vigilance Bureau, L.K. Yadav, Ludhiana's Commissioner of Police, Rakesh Agarwal, and DIG, Faridkot Range, Surjit Singh, would investigate the two FIRs (dated October 14, 2015 and August 7, 2018) registered in connection with the Kotkapura firing incidents.

As per the orders issued by the Home Department, the SIT would ensure meticulous compliance of the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court stipulating that there would be no interference from any quarter; internal or external, in the investigations.

The order explicitly states that the SIT shall work jointly, and all its members would put their signatures on all the proceedings of the investigation and the final report.

The members of the SIT would also be cited as witnesses in the list as the investigating officers, as per the the order.

The SIT would not report to any state executive or police authority regarding the investigations and would report only to the magistrate concerned, in accordance with law, it added.

The members of SIT have been also directed not leak any part of the investigation and refrain from interacting with the media regarding the various aspects of the investigations.

Further, the SIT members would not respond, directly or indirectly, to any doubt or opinion expressed by anyone regarding the ongoing investigations.

The SIT has been authorised to seek assistance of other person(s) and experts for the purpose of the investigation, added the spokesperson.
Jammu, May 7 : J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday discussed Covid preparedness and containment measures with the army's Northern Command chief Lt Gen Y.K. Joshi and senior officials from the Northern and Western Commands.

Northern Command's Chief of Staff, Lt Gen S. Hari Mohan Iyer, and 26 Division commander, Major Gen Neeraj Gosain were also present.

While appreciating and lauding the ongoing efforts of the army in providing necessary support in form of Covid care hospitals, Sinha asked the senior army officials of the Northern and Western Commands to explore the possibility of enhancing the capacity at 100-bedded Covid care facilities to 200 beds with oxygen support.

He also asked the officials of the Northern Command to collaborate their efforts with Western Command to augment the 100 bed capacity of the Covid-19 centre at Army Public School Domana, Jammu to 200 beds.

The Lt Governor assured that J&K government will provide every possible assistance and resources to the army for enhancing the already existing Covid care facilities in the UT including medical infrastructure, equipment, and oxygen supply.

The senior army officials apprised Sinha about the efforts put up by the army in the UT to combat the pandemic including the Western Command's 100-bedded Covid care centre at Army Public School Domana in Jammu, and the 250-bedded Covid hospital in Kashmir's Rangreth area jointly operationalised by Chinar Corps and the civil administration.

It was informed that treatment of Covid positive cases is also being done at military hospitals after the referral of civil administration.

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New Delhi, May 7 : Former armed forces doctors will now provide online consultation on the e-Sanjeevani OPD to all the citizens of the country.

With the country battling the raging second wave of the pandemic, the armed forces veterans have come forward to offer their services to help the people needing medical care.

Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar and the Director General of Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), Vice Admiral Rajat Datta, have asked the veterans to come forward to offer their services.

"This service can be availed by any civilian on the website https://esanjeevaniopd.in," the Defence Ministry stated.

The e-Sanjeevani OPD is a flagship telemedicine platform of the government developed by the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (C-DAC), Mohali, under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). It provides free consultations to Indian citizens.

Due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, the demand for doctors has gone up, while the supply has reduced as the doctors are being pulled out for Covid duties. This is where the defence veterans are stepping in to help.

The medical branch of the Integrated Defence Staff (IDS) is providing telemedicine service for the serving and retired defence personnel and has coordinated with the MoHFW and the NIC to roll out this Ex-Defence OPD for civilian patients.

Deputy Chief of the IDS (Medical), Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar, has urged the fraternity of retired AFMS doctors to join this platform and provide valuable consultation to the citizens when the country is going through a difficult time.

The initiative has drawn good response from the retired defence doctors and more are expected to join soon.

"Subsequently, a separate nationwide ex-defence doctors' OPD is envisaged. Their vast experience and expertise will help the larger clientele to obtain consultation from their homes and tide over the current situation," the Defence Ministry said.

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Hyderabad, May 7 : The Telangana government is taking special measures to ensure uninterrupted and speedy transportation of medical oxygen tankers.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar on Friday directed all the officials concerned to work with co-ordination. He asked Transport Department officials to form teams with experts in logistics to transport oxygen tankers in two routes onward and return from Angur, Odisha and Bellari, Karnataka in the shortest possible time.

He directed officials to discuss with railway officials to provide Green Channel facility for the non-stop movement of the Oxygen Express to minimise travelling time to three days from six days.

He also asked officials to provide police escort along with mechanics and other experts team to handle any untoward incidents enroute. He suggested officials to modify the tankers where they can be easily lifted by cargo aircraft.

He wanted officials to form teams with drivers and mechanics to ply the tankers round the clock to designated points and pool up additional tankers from private contractors to add to the present 30 fleet of tankers which are transporting oxygen.

Earlier, the Chief Secretary visited the government-run Gandhi Hospital, the biggest Covid treatment facility.

He inspected the new ward which been made ready for Covid patients in the library building with 160 additional beds. It will be started shortly.

Somesh Kumar also visited the triage facility and interacted with the doctors and staff.

He also inspected the new oxygen generation plant which has been started Friday with 4 tonne per day capacity. This will be able to cater to around 400 patients.

The top bureaucrat inspected the works relating sanitation, street lighting, and oxygen pipeline taken up to provide better facilities to the patients.

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I have had the chance to travel and experience numerous variations of school choice programs across the country, enabling me to build relationships with some of the leaders in this movement and giving me the insight as to what laws are necessary to allow school choice to thrive. These experiences have included visiting the Harlem Childrens Zone and meeting with Geoffrey Canada, one of the nations leading champions for school choice. Because of these experiences, I can help draft legislation that would allow the expansion of educational opportunities for all Virginia students and ensure every child has the chance to receive a first-class education regardless of their zip code. Additionally, because of the relationships I have fostered, I can create partnerships for Virginia with successful school choice organizations and charter schools across the nation, make school choice a reality for all students in Virginia, and ensuring no student is ever left behind.
Gandhinagar, May 7 : In a shocking incident, three members of a family committed suicide in the wee hours of Friday after cremating the head of the family who succumbed to Covid-19 in Gujarat's Devbhumi Dwarka district.

The police have registered a case of accidental death and further investigation is underway.

After the head of the family died of Covid in Dwarka City, the remaining three members of the family took the extreme step, the police said.

Businessman Jayeshbhai Vasantbhai Jain (60), who fell prey to Covid on Thursday evening, was the head of the family comprising his wife Shardaben (55) and sons Mukesh (38) and Durgesh (35).

After cremating Jain at the Dwarka crematorium, his wife and two sons returned to their home in the TV Station area at around 5 am on Friday. Soon after, all three of them consumed some poisonous substance and died, the police said.

"The family originally belonged to Nashik in Maharashtra and their Aadhaar card details show their residence in the Halol area of Vadodara. The incident came to light only after the milkman came to the house at around 8 am, following which the neighbours called the police," Inspector P.B. Gadhavi told IANS.

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New Delhi, May 7 : At times, Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has seemed more intent on removing criticism on Twitter than trying to control the Covid-19 pandemic, medical journal The Lancet has said in an editorial.

"Modi's actions in attempting to stifle criticism and open discussion during the crisis are inexcusable," Lancet said.

The editorial published in the world's most renowned medical journal said the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that India will see a staggering 1 million deaths from Covid-19 by August 1.

"If that outcome was to happen, Modi's government would be responsible for presiding over a self-inflicted national catastrophe," Lancet said in a scathing criticism of the government.

Lancet said India squandered its early successes in controlling Covid-19. Until April, the government's Covid-19 taskforce had not met in months, it said.

"The consequences of that decision are clear before us, and India must now restructure its response while the crisis rages. The success of that effort will depend on the government owning up to its mistakes, providing responsible leadership and transparency, and implementing a public health response that has science at its heart," Lancet said.

In the suggested course of action, Lancet said India must reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission as much as possible while the vaccine is rolled out.

"As cases continue to mount, the government must publish accurate data in a timely manner, and forthrightly explain to the public what is happening and what is needed to bend the epidemic curve, including the possibility of a new federal lockdown," it said.

Genome sequencing needs to be expanded to better track, understand and control emerging and more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants, it said.

"Local governments have begun taking disease containment measures, but the federal government has an essential role in explaining to the public the necessity of masking, social distancing, halting mass gatherings, voluntary quarantine, and testing," it added.

Lancet said the botched vaccination campaign must be rationalised and implemented with all due speed. There are two immediate bottlenecks to overcome: increasing vaccine supply (some of which should come from abroad) and setting up a distribution campaign that can cover not just urban but also rural and poorer citizens, who constitute more than 65 per cent of the population (over 800 million people) but face a desperate scarcity of public health and primary care facilities, the editorial said.

The government must work with local and primary healthcare centres that know their communities and create an equitable distribution system for the vaccine, it added.

Lancet said the scenes of suffering in India are hard to comprehend. As of May 4, more than 20.2 million cases of Covid-19 had been reported, with a rolling average of 3,78,000 cases a day, together with more than 2,22,000 deaths, which experts believe are likely to be substantial underestimated, Lancet said.

Hospitals are overwhelmed, and health workers are exhausted and becoming infected. Social media is full of desperate people (doctors and the public) seeking medical oxygen, hospital beds, and other necessities, it said.

Lancet said that yet before the second wave of cases of Covid-19 began to mount in early March, Minister of Health Harsh Vardhan declared that India was in the "endgame" of the epidemic.

The impression from the government was that India had beaten Covid-19 after several months of low case counts, despite repeated warnings of the dangers of a second wave and the emergence of a new strain, it added.

"Despite warnings about the risks of superspreader events, the government allowed religious festivals to go ahead, drawing millions of people from around the country, along with huge political rallies -conspicuous for their lack of Covid-19 mitigation measures," the editorial said.

The message that Covid-19 was essentially over also slowed the start of India's Covid-19 vaccination campaign, which has vaccinated less than 2 per cent of the population, it said.

"At the federal level, India's vaccination plan soon fell apart. The government abruptly shifted course without discussing the change in policy with states, expanding vaccination to everyone older than 18 years, draining supplies, and creating mass confusion and a market for vaccine doses in which states and hospital systems competed," it added.

The crisis has not been equally distributed, with states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra unprepared for the sudden spike in cases, quickly running out of medical oxygen, hospital space, and overwhelming the capacity of cremation sites, and with some state governments threatening those asking for oxygen or a hospital bed with national security laws, Lancet said.

Others, such as Kerala and Odisha, were better prepared, and have been able to produce enough medical oxygen in this second wave to export it to other states, it said.
Hyderabad, May 7 : Telangana has secured conditional exemption from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of vaccines, an official statement said on Friday.

Exemption from Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021 has been granted as part of government's constant endeavour to enhance the scope of drone usage in the country and assist the nation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, a Civil Aviation Ministry statement said.

Last month, Telangana was granted conditional exemption for conducting experimental delivery of Covid-19 vaccines within Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) Range using drones.

To accelerate the drone deployment process to formulate application-based models, the grant has been extended to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS). The trials may commence by end of May.

Earlier this month, 20 consortia were also granted permission to conduct BVLOS experimental flights of drones. BVLOS trials will help create the regulatory framework for drone deliveries and other major applications.

Meanwhile, the Telangana government said on Friday that the airspace in Vikarabad was already cleared by the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and is currently being reviewed by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). Once that is cleared, the operations shall begin and the same are being planned with a target to start in 4th week of May or early June, subject to all other clearances by the MHA.

The flights would be conducted in Vikarabad district with the Area Hospital as the hub. The programme shall last 24 days, where four batches would perform sorties for six days each. The payload for the drones would be vaccine cold storage boxes equipped with temperature sensors and data loggers to record the performance. In each batch of six days, the initial 2 days would be only doing VLOS flights, followed by BVLOS flights over different distances.

"The approval for BVLOS flights was paramount to the nature of Medicine from the Sky Project. The success of these trials would establish the use-case and pave the way for adoption the drones at scale and leveraging them for the healthcare supply chain," state Principal Secretary, IT, Jayesh Ranjan, said.

The approval for BVLOS, in addition to VLOS, was critical to explore the feasibility of the intended last mile coverage. This is because the medical centres at remote locations are typically far beyond the VLOS range of the vaccine/medical distribution hubs. The BVLOS clearance is a major step towards thoroughly testing the drones over long distances and thus, gathering information on their reliability. This also indicates that the Central government is confident of the domestic drone industry and their technical capabilities to undertake such trials while strictly adhering to all the safety requirements and standard operating procedures.

The 'Medicine from the Sky' project was launched by state Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao during the Indian Economic Summit in late 2019. This initiative of the state government is spearheaded by the Emerging Technologies Wing of the ITE&C Department in partnership with the World Economic Forum.

The EoI that was released during Wings 2020, to invite participants for this study had received 16 applications, of which seven would be undertaking flights in the Vikarabad district under this project.

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New Delhi, May 7 : Continuing with its efforts to augment human resources for the management of Covid-19 cases, the Central government on Friday issued an advisory for induction of trained Ayush human resources for clinical management of the virus infection.

The decision to deploy Ayush (ayurveda, yoga, unani, sidhant and homeopathy)professionals on the frontlines of the Covid war is in continuation of decisions taken a few days back to boost availability of medical personnel to fight the pandemic such as postponement of the NEET-PG Exam, giving priority to medical personnel completing 100 days of Covid duties in forthcoming regular government recruitments, and deployment of medical interns in covid management duties under the supervision of their faculty.

In a statement, the Ayush Ministry said that its doctors are institutionally qualified professionals, well-trained in various aspects of medical care.

"They have already proven their competence in various Covid management roles in different institutions across the country. Some of the institutions under the Ministry like the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi which functions as a Covid Care Centre, are efficiently managing Covid-19 cases at present," it said.

As per the statement, states and UTs have trained nearly 1.06 lakh Ayush professionals in different aspects of Covid management, and 28,473 professionals have been deployed for Covid-19 activities.

Training to Ayush professionals in different aspects of Covid management was also provided by the Ministry through the Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) digital platform and 66,045 Ayush professionals completed it. The Ministry and the Health Ministry have jointly provided training to 33,000 Ayush master trainers.

"Thus, a large number of Ayush professionals have already been prepared through various efforts to take up frontline tasks in the fight against the pandemic. Details of about 8.32 lakhs of Ayush manpower have been compiled through the initiatives of the Ministry and provided on the Covid Warriors portal," the Ministry said.

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Patna, May 8 : At a time when ambulance operators are breaching the regulatory protocols in place to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in Bihar, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, the president of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP), on Friday raised questions over 30 ambulances found at a plot in Amnaur block in Saran district of the state.

The ambulances were reportedly purchased under the MP fund in 2019 and were kept at the plot belonging to the relatives of BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy. The name of Rudy is also mentioned on every ambulance.

"We had learnt that ambulances were kept at a plot in Amnaur in Saran district. When we checked, we found 30 ambulances there. The place has several hoardings with the name of Rajiv Pratap Rudy on them. We removed the covers from the ambulances in the presence of security personnel," Yadav said.

"We have learnt that over 100 ambulances were kept on the campus. But as they learnt about our plan of action, they shifted the majority of the ambulances from the premises. We managed to unearth 30 ambulances at the plot," Yadav added.

"Keeping in view the growing demand for ambulances at a time when the operators are charging exorbitant rates for their use, why were these ambulances kept in one place? Why were they not put in use at this time of crisis? I want to know from the Bihar government whether local MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy had informed the district administration about their availability.

"If yes, why did the district administration not use them? And if Rudy did not inform the local administration, it is a failure of the authorities. These questions need to be answered. I demand a high-level probe into the matter," Yadav said.

"At this time of crisis, instead of providing free services, the state government has fixed the rates for ambulances. Now we see they are not even using the ambulances purchased using taxpayers' money," the JAP leader said.

Reacting to the allegations, Rudy said: "Pappu Yadav is doing low standard politics. He does not know how many ambulances are in operation in Saran district. There are 80 ambulances in the district and 56 of them are operational. The remaining ambulances are kept on the campus due to the unavailability of drivers in these Corona times. Pappu Yadav should do politics in Madhepura. People of Saran will not get influenced by him."
New Delhi, May 8 : Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday assured West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of all help to fight Covid in the state.

In a letter to Banerjee, who has just taken over for her third stint in power, he said that since the very onset of the pandemic, the Centre has been supporting each and every state across the country not just financially, but also through requisite diagnostics, therapeutics, medical devices, vaccines and other essential material and services.

Earlier, Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue instructions for immediate allocation of at least 550 metric tonnes of medical oxygen to the state.

Posting his four-page letter to Banerjee, Harsh Vardhan tweeted: "Diagnostics, therapeutics, medicines, oxygen,or augmenting health infra. Rest assured Mamata Didi, whatever West Bengal needs, Narendra ModiJi's Government stands resolute to provide, in order to help it effectively fight Covid 19 pandemic." Referring to her letter to the Prime Minister, he said: "First of all, I would like to point out the high test positivity rates in many districts of the state, which is over 40 per cent in some districts. As you have been the Health Minister yourself, you will appreciate that this means that testing needs to be significantly ramped up. We wish the state of West Bengal is ahead of the curve when it comes to tracking infection, by testing more." On the need to augment the health infrastructure in the state, he suggested that West Bengal may look at various innovations being done across the country to increase availability of beds and healthcare facilities.

Listing the Centre's support, he wrote that as on date, West Bengal has already been provided a total of 1,18,83,340 vaccine doses and further 2,00,000 doses are in the pipeline for immediate supply.

"Government of India has so far provided West Bengal with 18.38 lakh N95 masks, 4.84 lakh PPE kits, 1,245 ventilators and 43.5 lakh Hydroxychloroquine tablets for management of Covid-19 pandemic," he noted.

On Centre's help to meet the state's oxygen requirement, he wrote: "As many as five Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants have been sanctioned for West Bengal, out of which two have already been installed and made functional. Similarly, 849 D-Type and 1,504 B-Type oxygen cylinders have been allocated to West Bengal. Out of this, 700 will be delivered on or before May 21. This entire support has been provided free of cost." "In view of the recent surge in Covid cases across the country, demand for drugs like Remdesivir and Tocilizumab has increased substantially. As many as 94,400 vials of Remdesivir have, accordingly, been allocated to West Bengal for the period April 21, 2021 to May 9, 2021. On the Tocilizumab front, the Central government is making all efforts for equitable availability across the country, based on the active case load in each state." The Health Minister said that apart from the delivery of these essential medical devices and drugs, West Bengal has been supported with a financial grant of Rs 295.28 crore under the Covid-19 package.

On oxygen, he said: "West Bengal has been allocated 308 MT of oxygen to meet the demand from April 25 onwards. In this regard, we had allocated the maximum possible amount to West Bengal at the time of the issue of the aforesaid order." He said that the Indian Council of Medical Research has facilitated setting up 74 Covid testing labs in the government sector and 54 labs in the private sector.

"I assure you that the Centre is committed to taking all required steps to help the states in their fight against Covid-19 and shall continue to hand-hold them during this challenging time of the pandemic by providing requisite resources," he said.

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-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Agartala/Imphal, May 8 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to Chief Ministers of Tripura, Manipur and Sikkim on the Covid situation in these three northeastern states.

Officials said that the Prime Minister took stock of the situation related to health care facilities and vaccination in these states.

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb thanked the Prime Minister for sending 60 oxygen concentrators. "Thank you Hon'ble PM Shri Narendra Modi ji & GOI for providing 60 oxygen concentrators to help people of Tripura in its battle against Covid-19. I appeal to everyone to maintain social distance, wear masks and follow Covid related protocols together we will defeat Covid," Deb said in a tweet.

Manipur Chief Minister N.Biren Singh, in a tweet, said: "I'm grateful to the Hon'ble PM Shri Narendra Modi ji & HM Shri Amit Shah Ji for calling me to assess the Covid-19 situation in Manipur & assuring of every necessary assistance. Their concern & support have always uplifted our spirit and we believe we can win this fight very soon."

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-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Moscow, May 8 : Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed issues related to bilateral ties and exchanged congratulations on the 76th anniversary of the victory in World War II during a telephone conversation on Friday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"Russia and Israel jointly oppose attempts aimed at rewriting the history of World War II, glorifying Nazism and denying the Holocaust," the Kremlin said.

Putin expressed wishes of health and well-being to Israeli veterans in light of the upcoming Victory Day commemorations, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Both leaders expressed commitment to closer bilateral cooperation, the Kremlin added.
Moscow, May 8 : The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has signed deals with three Chinese biopharmaceutical companies for the production of over 260 million doses of its Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus in the past weeks, according to statements published on the website of the RDIF.

The first contract was signed with China's Shenzhen Yuanxing Gene-tech Co., Ltd. on March 29 for the production of over 60 million doses of the Sputnik V jab that is scheduled to start this month, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Another agreement was reached on April 1 with a subsidiary of a key leader in the pharmaceutical field, the Tibet Rhodiola Pharmaceutical Holding, namely TopRidge Pharma, for the production of over 100 million doses per year.

The most recent agreement was reached on April 19 with a subsidiary of a major Chinese biopharmaceutical producer Hualan Biological Engineering Inc. for the production of over 100 million doses.

The three deals together amount to a production of over 260 million doses of the jab, which will facilitate supply and could be sufficient to fully vaccinate over 130 million people worldwide, according to the RDIF.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the RDIF, said cooperation with China would significantly "help increase production capacities," adding that the country is one of Russia's key partners in this field.

"China is one of the major production hubs for Sputnik V and we are ready for increasing the scope of partnership with local producers to meet the rising demand for the Russian vaccine," he added.
London, May 8 : The British government on Friday announced a "green list" of countries from which travellers are not required to quarantine upon return to England.

Portugal, Israel, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand are among 12 countries and regions on the "green list" of travel destinations from May 17 for people in England, British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said.

Speaking at a press conference at Downing Street, Shapps said that Covid tests will still be required before and after travel to these destinations.

Shapps described the step as "tentative" as concerns remain "about resurgence of Covid", the Xinhua news agency reported.

Under the new traffic light system, Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal have been added to the "red list", which means travellers from those countries will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days on their return.

Shapps said that the government's latest decision was "necessarily cautious". "We must make sure the countries we reconnect with are safe," he added.

Countries on the green, amber and red lists would be reviewed every three weeks from May 17, according to Shapps.

The British government is only responsible for coronavirus restrictions in England. The devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are responsible for their own policies in relation to public health matters. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not said when they might ease their strict travel restrictions.

Another 2,490 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,431,043, according to official figures released on Friday.

The country also reported another 15 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 127,598. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

More than 35 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

Earlier Friday, Public Health England declared a coronavirus strain first detected in India, known as B1617.2, as "variant of concern".

Experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is "still not out of the woods" amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of pandemic on the European continent.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the US as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Miyares won an open seat to the 82nd District for the House of Delegates in November 2015, becoming the first Cuban-American elected to the Virginia General Assembly, according to his biography. He is a vocal opponent of efforts to defund the police, which became a rallying cry in other parts of the country following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minnesota. But in interviews with The Virginian-Pilot, local activists have expressed little appetite for the call, which means far different things to different people, from literally abolishing the police to simply cutting funding on traditional public safety and investing instead in community resources.
We work very hard to give students a high-level education with the flexibility that prepares them to be contributing members of society.

21st Century Cyber Charter School is proud to announce that senior student, Tiana M, has been selected to travel to Greece and serve refugees in crisis at Camp Moira. The flexibility of Tianas schedule has allowed her to balance schoolwork, a job and time spent volunteering to help those in need.

21st Century Cyber Charter School serves Pennsylvania students in grades six through 12. The flexible, individualized working environment is designed to meet the specific needs of the student and allow them to find success in and out of the classroom.

Tiana explains her schedule saying, I find the schedule at 21cccs very flexible and the 21cccs program has helped me to give my time to helping others and working.

Tiana says her inspiration came from students like her. I have seen several people that I know go overseas to help the refugees in the camps and I thought it looked like a great opportunity to expand my knowledge of refugees and to help with the kids over there.

Tianas ultimate goal is to bring joy to those in need and to put a smile on their faces during hard times. After graduating from 21st Century Cyber Charter School, Tiana plans to pursue her dream of working at a daycare for kids who have disabilities.

The entire 21st Century Cyber Charter School is inspired by Tiana and her fellow students.

Interim CEO, Brian Cote, says Tianas story is a great example of the mission of 21st Century Cyber Charter School. We work very hard to give students a high-level education with the flexibility that prepares them to be contributing members of society."

About 21st Century Cyber Charter School:

Established in 2001, 21st Century Cyber Charter School serves Pennsylvania students in grades 6 through 12. 21CCCS features the best academic track record of any cyber charter school in the state, including average 2016 SAT scores in the top 5% of all Pennsylvania public schools. 21CCCS provides students with a flexible, individualized learning environment catered to meet specific student needs. 21st Centurys asynchronous learning environment provides students with 24/7 course access, and a 56-hour per week window where they can work one on one with PA certified, highly qualified teachers.


Upgrade My Crawl Space presents a new kind of smart home solution that helps homeowners streamline crawl space upgrades and realize performance improvements from such upgrades.

Shipshape Solutions Inc., a company with a vision for every home to be safe, reliable and efficient, today announced the launch of Upgrade My Crawl Space to help homeowners weatherize and monitor their crawl spaces.

Approximately 26 million single family homes nationwide, many of them in low-income communities, have crawl spaces that do not comply with modern building standards, according to a 2018 study published by Southern California Edison. It was not until 2013 that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory published the definitive study on proper crawl space design. Before 2013, building codes required venting crawl spaces, but we now know this leads to mold growth, wood rot, termite infestation and wasted energy.

Building on Shipshapes existing technology platform, Upgrade My Crawl Space empowers homeowners by helping to;



Recommend contractors

Compare quotes

Identify financial incentives

Monitor performance

Upgrade My Crawl Space presents a new kind of smart home solution that helps homeowners streamline crawl space upgrades and realize performance improvements from such upgrades. Shipshape is working with utility providers, local contractors, manufacturers and policy makers to make crawl space upgrades more accessible to homeowners.

Upgrade My Crawl Spaces debut coincides with a renewed government focus on reducing carbon emissions by weatherizing single family homes. President Biden and Vice President Harris outlined a plan to build a modern, sustainable infrastructure and an equitable clean energy future, which includes a commitment to weatherize at least two million low-income homes over the next four years.

According to a report published by Shipshape, weatherizing 26 million crawl spaces in the United States would reduce carbon emissions by approximately 0.85% or over 17 million tons of carbon each year. According to the study by Southern California Edison, crawl space upgrades reduce HVAC energy consumption by 15% to 32%. This energy savings is monumental considering nearly one-third of U.S. households reported financial stress in paying energy bills," according to the latest Residential Energy Consumption Survey by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Poorly designed crawl spaces are a problem nationwide, but, unfortunately, these problems are ten times worse among low-income and minority populations, said Alexander Linn, Founder and CEO of Shipshape. Now that modern building science has acknowledged this problem, we have a moral imperative to help homeowners avoid the long-term health consequences, financial damage and wasted energy that can result from a part of their home thats out of sight and out of mind.

Shipshape was selected to participate in the Techstars EnergyTech Accelerator last year, a program sponsored by industry leaders including Alabama Power. We took our team to Alabama for three months to take full advantage of the opportunity for Shipshape to design the Upgrade My Crawl Space offering with input from the team behind Alabama Powers Smart Neighborhood developments, according to Shipshapes Founder and CEO, Alexander Linn

For more information, visit http://www.upgrademycrawlspace.com.

About Shipshape Solutions Inc.

Shipshape is on a mission to make homes smart enough to take care of themselves. Shipshape believes every home should be safe, reliable, efficient and well maintained. The company operates a first of its kind proprietary smart home predictive maintenance platform that offers solutions to homeowners to reduce the costs of home maintenance and operations. The Shipshape platform integrates an ecosystem of smart home hardware to enable advanced analytics and recommend actions that will reduce risks and improve system performance. Shipshapes software platform unlocks the value of sensor data to enable a whole new era of the smart home.
Randy Larsen, AssuredPartners President said, We want to extend a warm welcome to the team and clients of TAI. Their knowledgeable staff, strong client base and growth in the market will allow us to continue to deliver on our promise of partnership.

AssuredPartners, Inc. is proud to announce that Texas Associates Insurors Agency, LP (TAI) of Austin, TX has joined AssuredPartners. TAI will be the fourth acquisition in April and the 16th acquisition in 2021. The team of 48 will remain under the leadership of the partners of TAI which includes JD Steanson, Randy Reynolds, Gary Grissom, James Russell and Coy Sunderman. The agency currently reports $10 million in annualized revenues.

Our unique approach to risk management and insurance has positioned Texas Associates Insurors among the top agencies in The State of Texas. We are happy to continue that growth by joining the AssuredPartners family and partner with them to continue serving our clients, said JD Steanson, President.

AssuredPartners Regional President, Randy Russell, stated, TAI possesses a strong dedication to understanding their clients needs. We are pleased to have such a knowledgeable partner with industry expertise.

Randy Larsen, AssuredPartners President said, We want to extend a warm welcome to the team and clients of TAI. Their knowledgeable staff, strong client base and growth in the market will allow us to continue to deliver on our promise of partnership.

For more information on Texas Associates Insurors Agency, please visit: http://www.txassoc.com

ABOUT ASSUREDPARTNERS, INC

Headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida, AssuredPartners is a full-service insurance broker providing commercial insurance, risk management, employee benefits through consulting and services. With over 7,500 employees located in offices throughout North America, London, Belgium and Scotland, AssuredPartners is in the business of building relationships. While cementing powerful, lasting relationships built on trust earned from working openly and honestly with our partners. Thats what we call, Power through Partnership. For more information, call 513-624-1779, email jamie.reinert@assuredpartners.com or visit http://www.assuredpartners.com.
Aiden Wolf, a Pennsylvania native, carpenter, and artist who spent two years on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina to explore his heritage, has completed his new book Crows Blood: Seven Days: a gripping and potent novel that keeps the pages turning until the stunning conclusion.

When exSpecial Forces specialist turned bounty hunter Devon Sanders gets a call from his old Army buddy FBI Agent Bryan James to help track down three fugitives for the murder of a federal agent on the Cherokee Indian Reservation, his whole world falls into shambles. As the investigation unfolds, a high-stakes conspiracy is unveiled, as Sanders, James, and partner, Agent Jade Magara, soon find themselves on the opposite side of the law and being hunted by local, state, and federal law enforcement as well as secret government assassins! Confronted by a shocking truth from his past, Devon is forced to make a life-and-death decision, utilize every alternate resource available, and rely on his special ops military training to expose the corruption of a malicious foe deeply rooted within the shadows of the government in order to protect the innocent and preserve justice.

Published by Page Publishing, Aiden Wolfs engrossing book is a superb choice for avid crime fiction readers.

Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase Crows Blood: Seven Days at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing understands that authors should be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
Judy Allread, a native of California who attended California State University, has completed her new book Graciously Grieving: a gripping and potent memoir about surviving grief.

Author Judy Allread writes, Do we keep it inside and pretend it never happened? Never! Denial works for many people, but it really doesnt work as I mentioned earlier as it will pop up again when you least expect it. You see, if you dont deal with your grief, it will sneak up again and again when everything seems to be doing well and you wont recognize it. It gets worse before it gets better.

My best advice is to deal with the sadness. Cry out loud, feel the pain. Reach out to people, read about it, or write about it. I used to keep a journal writing to my husband on how the kids were doing. Tell your story to whoever will listen and tell it often. Every one of your friends and family will experience grief, so help each other out. Try a grief group. I have been in many and just left one after ten years. I wasnt sad all the time, but the friendships in the group made it a safe place to be.

Published by Page Publishing, Judy Allreads heartbreaking memoir describes the loss of the loved ones Judy has experienced during her life and how she made it through

Judy has suffered multiple losses. Starting with her grandparents, she has also lost both of her parents, her husband and her daughter. Through all the trials and tribulations, Judy endures and gets through tragedies without letting them stop her life. She has learned to not ignore her feelings, because it will make everything worse. She discovered she needs to connect with others and talk about her feelings and reminisce about loved ones. Readers will be inspired to survive through their own tragedies in life, as Judy has during her life. This is a wonderful resource for anyone who has experienced grief.

Readers who wish to experience this inspiring work can purchase Graciously Grieving at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes Store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create, not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues and focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
Fluffy Fox and The Little Turtle: a darling childrens tale.. Fluffy Fox and The Little Turtle is the creation of published author, Matthew Barnes, a loving father of two.

Barnes writes, Fluffy Fox loves playing with her friends, but she is worried because she is losing the fur on her tail. She is faced with a tough choice and doesnt know what to do. What choice will she make, what will her friends thinkand who is little turtle?

"This childrens book is one that your children will want you to read to them over and over again. The lovely characters and beautiful illustrations will make this a book you will want to share.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Matthew Barnes new book is enjoyable object lesson for little ones everywhere.

With sweetly detailed pages and a touching tale within, Barnes first childrens title is certain to become a favorite for any reader.

View a synopsis of Fluffy Fox and The Little Turtle on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase Fluffy Fox and The Little Turtle at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Fluffy Fox and The Little Turtle, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
The Aviation Agencys broad experience and deep relationships across the aviation industry is what got our attention and they have delivered since day one.

AviationManuals (http://www.aviationmanuals.com), the leading provider of manual development services and Safety Management System (SMS) software, announced that it selected The Aviation Agency as its agency of record for advertising and media. The Aviation Agency will develop and deploy an integrated advertising, media, communications, and public relations strategy to help build greater awareness of AviationManuals operations manuals, software solutions and expertise in aviation safety.

"We are strong advocates for aviation safety for business aviation flight departments, FBOs and commercial drone operators around the globe, said Mark Baier, CEO of AviationManuals. The Aviation Agencys broad experience and deep relationships across the aviation industry is what got our attention and they have delivered since day one. They have already generated visibility for us with creative storytelling and insightful strategies. We look forward to increasing our awareness and market momentum through this partnership.

All of us at The Aviation Agency are excited to be named AviationManuals agency of record, said Bryan Del Monte, President of The Aviation Agency. We know that they are as eager as we are to work in partnership to bring their company to new heights by leveraging their knowledge and perspectives to help foster future growth. This is a leading company that serves an important mission in the market, and were honored they chose us as their partner.

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About AviationManuals: Founded in 1996 AviationManuals philosophy is to make operations manuals and Safety Management Systems (SMS) accessible to every business aviation flight department, FBO and commercial drone operation. Headquartered in the Washington DC metro area, they support over 4,500 operators worldwide, and are the leading provider of manual development services and Safety Management System (SMS) software for business aviation flight departments, aircraft management companies, and independent owner / operators around the globe.

For more information visit http://www.aviationmanuals.com

About The Aviation Agency: The Aviation Agency is a full-service advertising agency that blends flight, culture, and marketing expertise, to deliver powerful integrated solutions that move our clients business. Founded in 2018, The Aviation Agency works with companies across the aviation industry including aerospace, avionics, maintenance and repair, OEM, aftermarket products, and defense markets.

For more information visit http://www.theaviationagency.com
Some Said We Wouldn't Make It but God!: an emotional tale of the power of family bonds. Some Said We Wouldn't Make It but God! is the creation of published author, Catherine Judkins Allison, a loving wife, mother, and grandmother who grew up in Virginia and was the sixth out of fourteen children to John and Ella Judkins.

Catherine shares, Growing with thirteen siblings and was considered poor, she is a true believer who turned from rags to riches. The word riches is not just money but peace and happiness. This shows that is up to you to move forward and reach your goals. Yet no negative thoughts come to mind. Give God the glory over every thought, and when you meet your goal, be thankful. This is the first generation, and there will be a part 2 for the second generation. Remember to be thankful and pass it on to help others.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Catherine Judkins Allisons new book is a sweet family history that examines family ties.

Mrs. Allisons storytelling has a charming nostalgia that reminds readers of hearing tales of past family members as told by the family matriarch.

View a synopsis of Some Said We Wouldn't Make It but God! on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseSome Said We Wouldn't Make It but God! at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Some Said We Wouldn't Make It but God!, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.


He Has Risen In Me: a deeply contemplative work that invites its readers to a transcendent view of God. He Has Risen In Me is the creation of published author Donald Ennis, a man who deeply loves God and wants to help the world know and love God the way he does.

Ennis shares, Look to God whenever you are in need of hope

Look to him now and forever

Believe in him at no fear

Pray daily to him.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Donald Enniss new book allows the readers a peek into his devotional life and in the process affords them greater freedom to love God like never before.

The author skillfully combines poetry with homiletic and pastoral verbiage to get his message across. In doing so, he has authored a book that at times reads like a homily, at others a book of poetry, and at others still a letter from a trusted pastor.

View a synopsis of He Has Risen In Me on YouTube.

Consumers can purchase He Has Risen In Me at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about He Has Risen In Me, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Flight Path Museum scholarship award ceremony We are grateful for our generous scholarship benefactors who continue to be dedicated to provide educational opportunities for students to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace

Students planning careers in aviation or aerospace can now apply online for competitive annual scholarships offered through Flight Path Museum LAX. The deadline for applications has been extended to June 1, 2021.

Seven scholarships totaling $20,000 are offered this year to deserving students. These include the museums Pete Conrad Scholarship and the Anton Acherman, Clay Lacy, Morrey Plotkin and Howard Drollinger scholarships funded by Flight Path benefactors. This year, two new $2,500 scholarships sponsored by Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo have also been added.

Qualifications, selection process details and application forms are available on the museum website at https://flightpathlax.com/scholarships/

We are grateful for our generous scholarship benefactors who continue to be dedicated to provide educational opportunities for students to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace, said Agnes Huff, PhD, Flight Path Museum LAX board president. One of our previous scholarship recipients is now a commercial airline pilot and many others are well on their way to rewarding careers in our industry.

Flight Path Museums Pete Conrad Scholarship was named for the famed Apollo 12 and Gemini 11 astronaut who walked on the moon and set a space endurance record. The Anton Acherman Scholarship, created in memory of distinguished mechanical engineer Anton Acherman, is funded by his family, friends and airport area businesses. The Clay Lacy Scholarship was established by one of Californias most notable commercial pilots and aviation entrepreneurs who has generously funded this scholarship for many years.

The Morrey Plotkin Scholarship perpetuates the legacy of Flight Paths founding chairman and longtime benefactor and is funded by the Plotkin family. The Howard Drollinger Scholarship, funded by his family foundation, honors Drollingers support of aviation education, decorated service as a World War II Army Air Corps navigator, and business leadership in the LAX area.

The Polar Air and Atlas Air scholarships were recently established by these all-cargo air carriers to provide opportunities for more students to pursue careers in aviation and/or air cargo.

We are very thankful for Polar Air Cargoand Atlas Air for establishing these two new scholarships, added Huff. Airfreight is a significant pillar in our nations supply chain and serves as an economic generator around the world. Businesses and individuals increasingly depend on rapid and timely air cargo delivery, as demonstrated by the growth of e-commerce and express delivery that is enhancing our daily lives.

About Flight Path Museum LAX

Located in the former West Imperial Terminal, Flight Path Museum LAX is temporarily closed due to the pandemic but expects to reopen with a limited schedule in mid-July. The Museum is operated by nonprofit Flight Path Learning Center of Southern California in cooperation with Los Angeles World Airports, the agency which operates Los Angeles International Airport and Van Nuys Airport. For more information, visit the website at http://www.flightpathlax.com and follow us at Instagram & Twitter @flightpathlax and Facebook at @flightpathmuseum.
Virginia needs an experienced fighter for Attorney General. Virginia has been ill-served by Mark Herring, who has put politics ahead of protecting our streets, supporting our police, and your right to self defense. He hasnt fought to get our schools opened. I am the only candidate in the field who is currently representing Virginia families in a suit against Arlington County schools to reopen the classroom to in-person education. I defended churchgoers right to attend church  and won. Virginia needs a new chief advocate in their Attorney General who knows how to fight and win.
Today, ahead of Free the Pill Day on May 9, a coalition of more than 100 national, state, and local reproductive health, rights, and justice organizations, researchers, and health care providers are celebrating their commitment to moving birth control pills over the counter in the United States. On the third-annual Free the Pill Day, the coalition is calling for over-the-counter birth control pills that are backed by science, fully covered by insurance, affordable, and available to people of all ages.

61 years since the birth control pill was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, people still face barriers to access  barriers that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing economic crisis. Especially now, over-the-counter birth control pills would give people greater options to control their reproductive health, particularly those who face the greatest barriers.

More than 99% of women ages 15-44 in the U.S. who have ever had sex have used some form of birth control and 60% are currently using birth control. Birth control pills are about 99% effective when used exactly as directed and 91% effective with typical use.

Birth control pills are one of the best studied medicines on the market today, said Dr. Tina Raine-Bennett. We have decades of research that point to their safety and effectiveness.

Despite their common use, safety, and effectiveness, people still face barriers to getting a prescription for birth control. One-third of adult U.S. women who have ever tried to obtain prescription birth control reported barriers to access.

For many people in the U.S., getting and refilling a prescription for birth control is not easy, and the pandemic has made access even more challenging, said Kelly Blanchard, president of Ibis Reproductive Health. Over-the-counter birth control pills can help bridge the gaps in access so everyone has the ability to make the best decisions for themselves, their families, and their health.

Barriers to a birth control prescription include having access to a health care provider, the cost of a visit with a provider, lack of insurance coverage, time away from work or school and other disruptions, childcare, and transportation. These barriers disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, AAPI, and Latinx people, young people, immigrants, LGBTQ+ folks, and those working to make ends meet.

Reproductive justice includes making decisions about our own bodies and lives with dignity and respect, said Denicia Cadena, policy director at Bold Futures New Mexico. Over-the-counter birth control pills remove some of the barriers that stand in the way of that. We all need the ability to control our reproductive health and lives  whoever we are, wherever we live, and however much money we have.

People of all ages are behind removing the barriers to birth control: 70% of women ages 18-49 support over-the-counter birth control pills and 76% of young people believe birth control should be available without a prescription.

Young people shouldnt have to jump through unnecessary hoops to gain access to the contraceptive care they need, said Angela Maske, the Free the Pill campaign manager at Advocates for Youth. Thats why were launching the #FreeThePill Virtual Store, to call attention to the barriers in the way of access, and visualize the future young people are fighting for.

The Free the Pill Virtual Store invites visitors into a world where birth control pills are available over the counter and on the shelves without restrictions. Store visitors will learn about the barriers in the way of access, earn merchandise, view #FreeThePill art from artists like Mona Chalabi, and take action to make birth control pills available over the counter, covered by insurance, and free of age restrictions.

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Free the Pill, operated by Ibis Reproductive Health, is a campaign to educate and engage the public in support of an over-the-counter (OTC) birth control option in the United States. The campaign supports an OTC pill that is affordable, covered by insurance, and available to people of all ages. #FreeThePill
Our mission at Halo is to move science forward by connecting scientists directly with companies that can help bring their innovations to life.

The winners of Fast Companys 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced this week honoring the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality.

Halo, a partnering platform where companies and scientists join forces to bring new innovations to marketing, was one of just 10 finalists in the new Software Category

Now in its fifth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 33 winners, more than 400 finalists, and more than 800 honorable mentionswith Health and Wellness, AI & Data among the most popular categories. A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. Plus, several new categories were added, including Pandemic Response, Urban Design, and Architecture. The 2021 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Brazil to Denmark to Vietnam.

Showcasing some of the worlds most inventive entrepreneurs and companies tackling exigent global challenges, Fast Companys Summer 2021 issue (on newsstands May 10) highlights, among others, a lifesaving bassinet; the worlds largest carbon sink, thanks to carbon-eating concrete; 3D-printed schools; an at-home COVID-19 testing kit; a mobile voting app; and the worlds cleanest milk.

Our mission at Halo is to move science forward by connecting scientists directly with companies that can help bring their innovations to life, said Kevin Leland, Founder and CEO of Halo. Its gratifying to be recognized and to also bring attention to scientists across the world who dedicate their lives to positively impacting human health and our environment.

There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, its important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems, says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.

About the World Changing Ideas Awards: World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Companys major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.

About Halo

Halo is a partnering platform where companies and scientists join forces to bring new innovations to market. Through a simple, streamlined RFP process, companies can quickly review proposals with their team, learn about new technologies and cultivate relationships with the scientists behind them. For more passive scouting and brand building, companies can highlight existing research partnerships and technology interests on their innovation page. Since launching in January 2020, Phd scientists and startups across 65 countries and 6 continents have submitted more than a thousands proposals on Halo. To learn more, visit halo.science/sponsors.
Heropa now has Microsoft Co-Sell Ready status Achieving the Co-sell Ready status reflects our strong relationship with Microsoft and their ongoing support of Heropa in the Microsoft ScaleUp Program. We look forward to working with Microsoft to further grow Heropa, said Jason Kinsella, CEO of Heropa.

Heropa, a Virtual IT labs platform, today announced it has achieved Microsoft IP Azure Co-sell Ready (co-sell) status. Heropa helps enterprises sell software and deliver software training to customers via virtual labs.

The Microsoft co-sell program is a top-tier Microsoft partner program, and enables Heropa to work together with Microsofts sales organization to rapidly grow the sale and usage of Heropa on Microsoft Azure. The co-sell program has generated more than $9.5 billion in contracted partner revenue and over 36,000 IP co-sell wins since its launch in 2017.

Achieving Microsoft Co-sell Ready status is a key milestone in Microsofts ongoing support of Heropa as a participant within in its Microsoft ScaleUp Program, which offers access to sales, marketing and technical support for growth stage technology companies.

Heropa is the pre-eminent Virtual IT labs platform for businesses that want to sell or train their software via labs and consolidate their solutions around Microsoft. Heropa leverages many of Microsoft Azures custom capabilities including nested virtualization capability to provide access to hands-on labs on demand. By allowing users to directly access labs with Hyper V, they can easily create labs and build courses that require installation of bare metal virtual machines.

To view Heropas listing on Microsoft Appsource, please click here.

About Heropa

Heropas mission is to simplify the delivery of complex software environments so hands-on learning can happen. We use groundbreaking technology to provide virtual IT labs to enterprise software companies and training organisations to drive better ROI on training budgets and sales enablement.

Our clients run virtual labs on Heropas high performance infrastructure across 20 locations globally to hold virtual instructor-led classrooms and events; deliver hands-on, self-paced software training; and showcase complex software in sales demos and POCs.

Discover Heropa today at https://www.heropa.com/, or contact us for a demo.
We are a firefighter/paramedic owned and operated establishment with instructors throughout the Chicago Area.

With COVID-19 forcing businesses to close their doors, there were few companies who didnt feel the sting of this pandemic. COVID-19 created an economic crisis that many businesses werent able to recover from, and many smaller establishments had to close their doors for good because of this.

The only way to stay afloat in this situation was to comply with state and federal regulations regarding social distancing and mask-wearing. Many businesses adopted these practices into their daily procedures, and these groups were able to keep their doors open despite the pandemic. Illinois Safety LLC was one of these groups. As a provider of CPR classes in Chicago, the need for this business didnt stop or slow down. Public education and certification for vital skills like CPR and first aid were still important, despite the state of the world. And so Illinois Safety LLC kept their doors open and adopted social distancing guidelines among their staff. The company kept their students and teachers safe by practicing social distancing in the classroom, wearing masks, performing routine temperature checks, and maintaining a sanitized workspace.

While the threat of COVID-19 is gradually starting to die down, Illinois Safety LLC is continuing to service its customers by providing CPR classes in Chicago. The company plans to continue on with business as usual, and is looking forward to accepting new students into their programs.

About Illinois Safety LLC

As a Chicago CPR and first aid certification provider, Illinois Safety LLC offers on-site classes for colleges, schools, corporate businesses, gyms, day-cares, and more. The companys Chicago CPR and first aid classes include:



PALS

Certification for ACLS

Certification for Basic Life Support (BLS)

HeartSaver First Aid CPR AED

We are a firefighter/paramedic owned and operated establishment with instructors throughout the Chicago Area, says Illinois Safety LLC owner Joe Witz. Our instructors are all current firefighters and paramedics that bring their hands-on experience back to the classroom. Our students can rest easy knowing that their staff is trained to react.

If you are in the city of Chicago, feel free to stop by Illinois Safetys office: https://g.page/cpr-classes-chicago?share

Illinois Safety LLC

11219 S Kedzie Ave

Chicago IL 60655

630-503-7982


Not all insurance companies provide online car insurance quotes. And when they do, they are generally just estimates. However, drivers can buy car insurance online through some insurance comparison websites., said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that presents how drivers can obtain the best car insurance policy online.

For more info and free car insurance quotes, visit: https://compare-autoinsurance.org/how-to-get-car-insurance-online-2/

Nowadays, more and more people have access to the internet. The digital revolution has opened up an entirely new way of doing business. Drivers are no longer required to work with local car insurance companies. They can shop online at their own convenience. Besides the incredible convenience and choice offered by internet-connected devices, algorithms are also able to process a whole slew of data points at once in order to pinpoint the best car insurance options faster and more accurately than ever before.

By using brokerage websites for comparison shopping, drivers can compare quotes instantly, view quote packages ranked from cheapest to most expensive, buy car insurance policy online or over the phone, make apples-to-apples comparisons, obtain real quotes from reputable provides, avoid scams or sign-up for text alerts.

To get an insurance policy online, drivers need to first enter their ZIP code and do the following:



Enter info about the vehicle. All comparison sites will ask the drivers about the vehicle make and model, or about features like a GPS system or safety equipment that can affect the price of insurance. Luxury vehicles and cars with expensive safety features or high-end audio cost more to repair and will increase the price of insurance. The likelihood of a vehicle to be stolen will also affect the price of insurance.

Enter info about how the car is being used. Drivers who use their cars to commute to work will pay more than those drivers who use their cars only on vacation or for pleasure driving. Also, how many miles are driven each year is an important factor that needs to be mentioned. Furthermore, policyholders will be asked if they own the car, they are making payments, or they lease it.

Enter info about the driver. In this section, drivers are required to fill in personal information such as name, age, location, gender, marital status, credit score, and education level. With these data, insurance providers can use statistics to predict how likely a driver can crash. For instance, teen drivers generally have higher insurance rates because theyre more likely to get in a car accident than almost any other age group.

Add information about past or current insurance coverage options. Drivers will have to tell if they are currently insured or not, if their car insurance lapsed, details about past insurance claims, details about their previous insurance company, how long they have been with the previous insurer, or deductible level.

Add information about previous car accidents, or tickets. The driving record can make a big difference in the final insurance quote. A history of accidents, speeding tickets, and DUIs can obviously raise the car insurance rates, but drivers can also get higher insurance quotes if they dont have a driving record yet.

The final results include more than just a sample of waiting providers and rates. Drivers can view and purchase coverage from auto insurance companies precisely matched to their insurance profile.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school.

Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters in Graphic Design Degree Programs.

Intelligent.com analyzed 171 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 8 making it to the final list for Online Masters in Graphic Design Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-graphic-design-degree-programs/

2021 Online Masters in Graphic Design Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order):

Academy of Art University

Arizona State University

Liberty University

Maryland Institute College of Art

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Quinnipiac University

Savannah College of Art and Design

Vermont College of Fine Arts

About Intelligent.com

Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/.
Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school.

Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters in Hospitality Management Degree Programs.

Intelligent.com analyzed 137 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 10 making it to the final list for Online Masters in Hospitality Management Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-hospitality-management-degree-programs/

2021 Online Masters in Hospitality Management Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order):

Florida Atlantic University

Florida International University

Johnson & Wales University

Purdue University

Roosevelt University

University of Central Florida

University of Houston

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

University of New Orleans

University of North Texas

About Intelligent.com

Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/.
Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school.

Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters in Interior Design Degree Programs.

Intelligent.com analyzed 129 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 10 making it to the final list for Online Masters in Interior Design Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-interior-design-degree-programs/

2021 Online Masters in Interior Design Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order):

Academy of Art University

Atlantic International University

Ball State University

Boston Architectural College

Brenau University

Chatham University

Samford University

Savannah College of Art and Design

Stephen F. Austin State University

University of California, Los Angeles

About Intelligent.com

Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source
Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for online degree rankings and higher education planning, has announced the top online programs for 2021. The comprehensive research guide is based on an assessment of 1,280 accredited colleges and universities in the nation. Each program is evaluated based on curriculum quality, graduation rate, reputation, and post-graduate employment. The methodology also uses an algorithm which collects and analyzes multiple rankings into one score to easily compare each school.

Students who pursue any one of these programs can expect to gain employment much quicker in comparison to candidates without a degree. In addition to accessibility and cost, the steady job growth in this market is one of the many reasons Intelligent.com researched and ranked the Top Online Masters in Journalism Degree Programs.

Intelligent.com analyzed 143 schools, on a scale of 0 to 100, with only 14 making it to the final list for Online Masters in Journalism Degree Programs. To access the complete ranking, please visit: https://www.intelligent.com/best-online-masters-in-journalism-degree-programs/

2021 Online Masters in Journalism Degree Programs featured on Intelligent.com (in alphabetical order):

Arizona State University

Ball State University

Clarion University of Pennsylvania

Emerson College

Harvard University

Kent State University

Mississippi College

National University

Regent University

The University of Alabama

University of Memphis

University of Missouri

University of Nebraska

University of South Florida St. Petersburg

About Intelligent.com

Intelligent.com provides unbiased research to help students make informed decisions about higher education programs. The website offers curated guides which include the best degree programs as well as information about financial aid, internships and even study strategies. With comprehensive, user-friendly guides and hundreds of program rankings, Intelligent.com is a trusted source among students and prospective students. To learn more, please visit https://www.intelligent.com/.
Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the lawsuit against Genex Services, LLC, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The San Diego employment law attorneys at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a lawsuit against Genex Services, LLC, alleging the company violated Labor Code  2699, et seq. seeking penalties for DEFENDANTs alleged violation of California Labor Code  201, 202, 203, 204, 210, 226(a), 226.7, 351, 510, 512, 558(a)(1)(2), 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802. The lawsuit against Genex Services, LLC, is currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court, Case No. 37-2021-00010977-CU-OE-CTL. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

Cal. Lab. Code  2802 expressly states that "an employer shall indemnify his or her employee for all necessary expenditures or losses incurred by the employee in direct consequence of the discharge of his or her duties..." During employment, PLAINTIFF and other AGGRIEVED EMPLOYEES were allegedly required to use their personal home offices to work remotely in order to complete their job duties. As a result, they allegedly incurred unreimbursed business expenses.

PAGA is a mechanism by which the State of California itself can enforce state labor laws through the employee suing under the PAGA who do so as the proxy or agent of the state's labor law enforcement agencies. An action to recover civil penalties under PAGA is fundamentally a law enforcement action designed to protect the public and not to benefit private parties. The purpose of PAGA is not to recover damages or restitution, but to create a means of "deputizing" citizens as private attorneys general to enforce the Labor Code. As a result of their rigorous work schedules, "PLAINTIFFS and other AGGRIEVED EMPLOYEES were from time to time denied their proper rest periods by DEFENDANT and DEFENDANTs managers."

For more information about the lawsuit against Genex Services, LLC, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is an employment law firm with offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago that dedicates its practice to helping employees, investors and consumers fight back against unfair business practices, including violations of the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act. If you need help in collecting unpaid overtime wages, unpaid commissions, being wrongfully terminated from work, and other employment law claims, contact one of their attorneys today.

***THIS IS AN ATTORNEY ADVERTISEMENT***
Davis said hes been reflecting on the people who live in the area near 36th Street where a lot of the crimes took place. I cant help but think of the life in that neighborhood and what it must be like, the judge said.
Leading IT strategy and consulting firm, MainSpring Inc., announced the addition of Amer Yaqub as a Senior Technology Advisor. Amer brings a strong track record of business consulting and development experience with leading companies in a number of industries that will help support and accelerate our growth,  said MainSpring Chief Strategy Officer Ray Steen.

Amer began his career in sales at AT&T working with small and medium sized businesses in Baltimore, Maryland. He then built up his marketing and business development skills at Quaker Oats and ConAgra in Chicago, IL. Moving back to the Washington D.C. area in 1998, he joined the Washington Post where he helped launch two new advertising categories including Technology and established strong partnerships with top companies including IBM, Verizon, Dell, Microsoft and Google. When the Post acquired Foreign Policy in 2008, he was named Publisher and over the next seven years spearheaded the business relaunch of one of the worlds oldest and most influential media titles.

Most recently, Amer was Vice President of Business Development at Homesnap, a leading real estate app for realtors and Vice President of Business Development for ScaleUp Executives helping develop an online training platform about COVID-19 that enables employees from any sized organization to safely return to work during the pandemic.

Amer earned an economics degree from Carnegie Mellon, has an MBA from Columbia University and is an adjunct management professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus. He has been a guest speaker on marketing trends and current business/technology issues at Syracuse, Columbia, George Mason and conferences in the United Kingdom, Liberia, Russia and India. Amers deep knowledge of the challenges that businesses, NGOs and associations face in todays fast-paced IT environment will be invaluable and comes at a unique inflection point in our companys almost 30 year history, Ray adds.

About MainSpring

MainSpring, Inc., is an IT strategy and consulting firm that arms organizations with the strategy, tools and resources to impact their mission. Their proactive methodology helps countless organizations use technology to become more productive, secure and scalable.

Founded in 1993, MainSpring is headquartered in Frederick, Md., with offices in Florida, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin. The firm supports a wide range of clients including businesses, nonprofits and government agencies such as the Department of Defense. Learn more at http://www.gomainspring.com.


The American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York)  the voice of the consulting engineering industry  released a poll among NYC Democrats, which found that nearly half of likely voters are undecided about their choice for City Comptroller, confused about how ranked choice voting will work, and concerned that the city isnt doing more about infrastructure.

Conducted for the ACEC New York City PAC, the survey by the Honan Strategy Group, found that City Council Speaker Corey Johnson leads the race for Comptroller with 19% of the voters, about double Council Member Brad Lander (10%), media commentator Michele Caruso-Cabrera (9%) and State Senator Brian Benjamin (8%), who are all statistically tied, but 47% havent settled on a choice yet.

Sixty seven percent had no second choice for Comptroller, but of those that did, 16% mentioned Johnson, 10% mentioned Lander, with the others in low single digits or 0%.

Nearly two thirds of voters said they knew about the citys new ranked choice voting system (25% said a great deal, 38% said some), but only one third correctly answered that voters can cast ballots for up to 5 candidates for each office (33%). Twenty seven percent cited incorrectly the old voting method where votes are either cast for only one candidate (10%) or where there was a runoff of the top two vote getters (17%).

Asked to grade NYCs infrastructure, 31% gave it a D or F, and another 34% gave it a C. Only 29% of those polled gave it an A or B grade.

Sixty eight percent of voters responded that it was very important that NYC elect a Mayor, Comptroller, Borough President and City Council who will make investing in infrastructure a top priority, but only 36% think the candidates are talking about the issue enough.

Eighty five percent of respondents are worried about NYCs future (49% said very concerned, and 36% said somewhat concerned), with 49% believing NYC is very vulnerable to a significant weather event such as Superstorm Sandy, compared to 18% who are very concerned about a possible blackout or brownout this summer.

Strengthening critical infrastructure to withstand climate change and a rising sea level is very important to 69% of voters, with 77% saying it is very important that New York City needs to be more energy efficient and reduce its carbon footprint, and 71% saying that the citys transportation infrastructure should be reimagined so people are less dependent on cars and have better mass transit options and places to walk.

By a margin of two to one, New Yorkers think we should invest more in maintaining existing infrastructure and building new, even if it means raising taxes (57% said yes, while 27% said no).

With just six weeks until New Yorkers go to the primary polls, candidates should appreciate that voters are concerned about the citys future and looking for leadership on climate change, transportation and a commitment to maintaining our infrastructure, said Jay Simson, President & CEO of ACEC New York.

ACEC New York City PAC chair and professional engineer Tom Schoettle added, Infrastructure spending needs to be a priority for the citys recovery and long-term future, and the candidates who commit to that priority can ride a broad consensus to victory.

The survey, taken between April 16, 2021 and April 21, 2021 consisted of 520 self-identified likely Democratic primary voters, and has an overall margin of sampling error of +-4.29 %. A more in-depth analysis can be found at https://acecny.org/page/release-nyc-poll-2021

Founded in 1921, ACEC New York is an association representing nearly 300 firms representing every discipline of engineering related to the built environmentcivil, structural, mechanical, electrical, environmental, geotechnicaland affiliated companies. Our shared goals are to further the business interests of our membership, enhance the quality and safety of the environment we live and work in, and help ensure the vitality of our communities. The ACEC New York City Political Action Committee is funded by voluntary donations from engineers throughout the metropolitan area. For more information, visit http://www.acecny.org.

Honan Strategy Group is a Democratic polling, market research, and data analytics company headquartered in New York City. The executives of Honan Strategy Group have conducted hundreds of public opinion research studies over the last 20 years and have worked for the like of; Hillary Clinton, Mike Bloomberg, Tom DiNapoli, Eliot Engel, Ruben Diaz Junior, Nathalia Fernandez, Stacy Lynch, Ahmadou Diallo, Elizabeth Crowley, Betsy Gotbaum, Bill Thompson, Ed Towns, City & State magazine, among many others, as well as major Fortune 500 companies and not for profit organizations. For more information, visit http://www.honanstrategy.com.
Phil Stackpoole, VP of Sales and Shannon Goodman, VP of Administration Phil and Shannon have been instrumental in Transor's sustained growth, both domestically and internationally.

Transor Filter CEO, Irv Kaage, announced new promotions at their corporate headquarters located in Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Mr. Phil Stackpoole has been named VP of Sales and Ms. Shannon Goodman has been promoted to VP of Administration.

Mr. Stackpoole joined the company in 2008 in a sales capacity and rose to the position of National Account Executive prior to his promotion. He continues to manage company interaction with large international manufacturers located in the US along with others in the cutting tool field.

Ms. Goodmans promotion is from the position of Office Manager/Assistant to the President to VP of Administration. She has been an integral part of the organization as she is involved with sales, logistics, HR and financial matters. Her attention to detail has been vital to the growth of the company.

Both of these individuals, stated CEO Kaage, have been instrumental in Transors sustained growth both domestically and internationally. They will continue to play key roles as Transor continues to expand both here in the US and through our offices in Latin America and Asia.

For complete details, contact Transor Filter USA; 515 Busse Road, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007; 847.640.0273, FAX: 847.640.0793 or email info@transorfilter.com

ABOUT TRANSOR FILTER

Transor Filter is a world leader in providing filtration solutions for a variety of manufacturing applications such as grinding, honing, lapping, super finishing and EDM. In addition, Transor manufactures a complete line of high performance EDM dielectrics and grinding oils. Over 18,000 Transor units have been installed in over 30 countries. Transor has offices in the US, Latin America, Europe and Asia providing sales and service.
Performance Brokerage Services, Inc. "We were fortunate to have found a buyer that equally believes in servicing their communities." - Paul Kechnie, Performance Brokerage Services

Performance Brokerage Services, the leading automotive dealership brokerage firm, advises in the sale of Lindsay Auto Group in Missouri to Ed Morse Automotive Group.

The sale included Lindsay Ford and Lindsay Chevrolet in Lebanon, and Lindsay Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Saint Robert. The stores will remain at their current locations and be renamed Ed Morse Ford, Ed Morse Chevrolet, and Ed Morse Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram.

Lindsay Auto Group was established in 1970 by the Lindsay family with the opening of Lindsay Chevrolet in Lebanon. In 1993, they opened Lindsay Ford of Lebanon, followed by Lindsay Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Saint Robert in 2004. Following the sale, Larry Lindsay of Lindsay Auto Group commented, It was a pleasure doing business with Paul Kechnie of Performance Brokerage Services, and Ed Morse Group. Everything went smoothly.

Over the past 5 years, Performance Brokerage Services has represented for sale over 200 automotive dealerships, making it the highest volume automotive dealership brokerage firm in North America. Paul Kechnie, the exclusive agent for this transaction and the Midwest Partner for Performance Brokerage Services commented, Working with Ed Morse Automotive Group was an absolute pleasure. They did everything they said they would do and were extremely efficient. For over 50 years, the Lindsay family has maintained an incredible reputation. We were fortunate to have found a buyer that equally believes in servicing their communities. It was an honor represent the Lindsay family and assist with this life changing event.

Founded in 1946 by Ed Morse and his father, Morse Motors grew to become an automotive retail giant, Ed Morse Automotive Group, with 24 dealership locations, 14 different domestic and import brands, and employing over 1,250 people. Ranking 60th on Automotive News list of top-150 US dealerships, the group retailed over 14,000 new vehicles and generated over $1.3B in revenue in 2020.

75 years later, Eds Grandson, Teddy Morse, serves as the companys Chairman and CEO. Morse continues his familys legacy of charitable work in their local community, and as an award-winning business in the automotive industry.

We view this as an opportunity to enter the great communities of Lebanon and Saint Robert, all vibrant car-buying markets. We are looking not only to continue these dealerships history of great deals and outstanding customer service, but to make significant capital improvements. We also look forward to supporting the local community with job growth and giving back to local non-profits. We are very excited to add these Missouri dealerships to our family and look forward to establishing our trusted family name in such an important region, commented Morse.

Randy Hoffman, Executive Vice President for Ed Morse Automotive, commented, Paul Kechnie from Performance Brokerage Services was fantastic to work with. From a communication perspective, it felt as if he was working for both parties, even though he made it clear he was representing the seller. I look forward to working with Paul in the future. He was just phenomenal.

About Performance Brokerage Services

Performance Brokerage Services, Inc. is the nations highest volume dealership brokerage firm, specializing in intermediary services to buyers and sellers of automotive, commercial truck, motorcycle, RV and equipment dealerships.

Performance Brokerage Services offers a unique approach by providing complimentary dealership assessments, no upfront fees, no reimbursement of costs and is paid a success fee only after the transaction closes.

Clients benefit from utilizing an extensive network of industry related accountants, attorneys, hundreds of registered buyers and longstanding relationships with most of the auto manufacturers.

With corporate offices in Irvine, California, and 5 regional offices in Utah, Florida, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey, Performance Brokerage Services provides its clients national exposure with local representation.

After 25 years, 700 transactions, and with a 90% closing rate, the companys reputation is unmatched and governed by the utmost ethical conduct, integrity and transparency.

For more information about the services offered by Performance Brokerage Services, visit https://performancebrokerageservices.com.
She was witness to a lot of things in her youth. So from that moment when the film premiered was good healing. To see herself on that screen was good medicine. Even though she isnt with us today, it still means the world to know Dear Georgina is being shared and that she is still being heard.

Dear Georgina, a short documentary about Passamaquoddy elder Georgina Sappier-Richardson who was removed from her home and community in downeast Maine by child protection services at the age of 2, had streaming launch today in honor of Mental Health Awareness month. The film follows Georgina as she attempts to re-integrate herself into the community she barely knew. It can be streamed for free on Upstander Project at: upstanderproject.org/georgina.

Directed by award-winning filmmakers Adam Mazo and Ben Pender-Cudlip and produced by Upstander Project and producers N. Bruce Duthu and Tracy Rector, Dear Georgina is a follow-up to the Emmy award-winning documentary, Dawnland (2018), in which Georgina told a portion of her harrowing story of surviving foster care.

Mom had a special quality to her. She talked to and listened to anybody. Storytelling was always part of her healing, said Dwight Parrett, Georginas son. She was witness to a lot of things in her youth. So from that moment when the film first premiered at Camden [International Film Festival] was good healing. For her to see herself on that screen was good medicine. Even though she isnt with us today, it still means the world to know that Dear Georgina is being shared widely and that she is still being heard.

A series of community-focused preview screenings and panel discussions will lead up to the wide release of Dear Georgina including a special screening on April 28th with Portland Press Herald and the Abbe Museum. The screening will be followed by a live Q&A with Penobscot Nation Tribal Ambassador Maulian Dana and filmmaker and Upstander Project director Adam Mazo, moderated by Portland Press Herald Arts Reporter Bob Keyes.

Georginas experiences and way of storytelling resonated so deeply with us. Our hope is that viewers will be inspired by Georgina to explore their own family historys and hear stories from their elders. We have witnessed how Georginas healing process has encouraged others to share their stories and there is medicine and power in that experience for the storyteller and those listening. Our highest aspiration is that watching Dear Georgina prompts deep reflection and societal change to address the ongoing crisis of Indigenous child removal, said film co-director and producer Adam Mazo.

A companion viewers guide to Dear Georgina was developed by Dr. Mishy Lesser to help educators and viewers understand how historical and intergenerational trauma impacts the emotional lives of children and young people. It also links Georgina's story to the more recent separation of children from their families at international borders. Some teachers recognize they dont have the lived experiences of their students and need to understand what students and their families have survived. The film helps them do that, says Lesser. According to Judi Freeman a high school history teacher in Boston, Whats great about this film for educators is that it digs deep into ... one womans story particularly when she is the age of many of my students. Everything about the film is centered on Georginas testimony and perspective. We hear her pain, we consider the what ifs and we feel her humanity as she tries to reconcile her life experience and her identity.

Dear Georgina had its world premiere in 2019 at the Camden International Film Festival with Georgina in attendance. Since then, the film has screened at over 20 film festivals around the globe.

For the viewers guide and more information about the film, please visit: https://upstanderproject.org/georgina

###

ABOUT UPSTANDER PROJECT

Upstander Project was founded in 2009 by filmmaker Adam Mazo and educator and curriculum designer Dr. Mishy Lesser. Upstander Project films focus on ignored social histories past and present and their companion teaching guides support educators committed to using film in their classrooms to teach hard history. Dawnland, First Light and Dear Georgina  about the historic Maine-Wabanaki Truth & Reconciliation Commission and healing from trauma  focus on the forced removal and assimilation of Wabanaki children in Maine while illuminating the survival and cultural heritage of Native Americans. Upstander Project films have won numerous awards including the 2019 National News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Research for Dawnland. The films have been seen by millions on PBSs Independent Lens, at international film festivals, conferences, and museums and the standards-aligned teaching guides are used in thousands of classrooms.

ABOUT DEAR GEORGINA  SYNOPSIS

In 1941 at age two Georgina Sappier-Richardson was removed from her home and Passamaquoddy community in downeast Maine by child protection services. She spent the next 16 years in 4 different foster homes. Terror and abuse followed, and she never saw her parents again. Georgina is just one of countless thousands of Indigenous children with similar stories.

DEAR GEORGINA follows this Passamaquoddy elder from Motahkomikuk as she tries to fill in the blurry outlines of her identity. Now a grandmother and summer visitor to her home community, Georgina attempts to re-integrate.

She remembers, When I was 30 years old and I went back to the reservation this Indian lady told me, You look exactly like your mother as a young person. So that made me feel special, made me feel real.

But despite her gregarious personality and infectious laugh, she remains an outsider straddling two different worlds. This propels Georginas lifelong mission to find herself. At the end, Georgina travels to her foster community in northern Maine. Determined to reclaim some fragment of her lost childhood she makes an incredible discovery, but will it help heal decades old wounds?
"Every day, our employees inspire us to build a more inclusive, diverse, and welcoming company whose success is driven directly by the success of our employees," said Dhiraj Sharma, Chief Executive Officer at Simpplr.

Simpplr, the premiere employee communications platform, has been recognized as a winner of the 2021 Bay Area Best Places to Work, an awards program presented by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Award applicants were evaluated and ranked across five categories according to the number of Bay Area employees. The ranking found companies in the region whose employees rate them as the highest on such values as fun, collaborative culture, solid compensation and benefits offerings and other amenities, and management practices.

In addition to this recognition, Simpplr has been praised as a top Bay Area employer with high marks by employees on review sites such as Glassdoor and a previous win as a SFBTs Best Places to Work in 2020. The company is growing at a rapid pace with plans to double its workforce within the coming year.

"Every day, our employees inspire us to build a more inclusive, diverse, and welcoming company whose success is driven directly by the success of our employees," said Dhiraj Sharma, Chief Executive Officer at Simpplr. "Throughout 2020, our employees have adapted to new work environments and scenarios. The company collectively came together to ensure work-life balance and proper support were accessible to all."

Simpplr's growth is fostered by the success of its platform and validation by the market for a virtual headquarters solution. In 2020 alone, Simpplr grew annual recurring revenue by 130% while serving more than 300 customers at a 97% retention rate. As the company continues to lead the modern intranet market, it needs the best talent to help sustain its growth. Simpplr plans on increasing its hiring plans over the next year and welcomes the best talent to apply.

About Simpplr

Simpplr is today's modern employee intranet. Our software helps companies connect their workforce by streamlining internal communications and forging employee connections. We pride ourselves on our incredible user experience. Our product's employee adoption rates are multiples higher than industry averages. And it integrates well with other world-class, cloud-based technologies. Learn more at http://www.simpplr.com

About 2021 Bay Area Best Places to Work

Best Places to Work is an innovative publication and awards program produced by the San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal. San Francisco Business Times and the Silicon Valley Business Journal send surveys directly to employees, who then answered a series of questions about their work-life. Employees rated their company on critical subjects, including work-life balance, compensation, benefits, and more. The employers administered the survey through a service provided by Quantum Workplace, our research partner. The rankings are numeric based on Quantum's scoring process. By ranking companies and sharing best practices, we facilitate idea sharing and help other companies learn from the best.
We are in absolute awe of what our students have achieved.

Salt Lake Community College proudly announces it is conferring degrees and certificates on Friday, May 7, to more than 3,600 graduates for the 2020-21 academic year. While the college is officially awarding degrees this week, SLCC graduates will be celebrated for their achievements during an in-person commencement ceremony scheduled for Aug. 6 at the Maverik Center in West Valley City.

This year, SLCC is graduating 3,634 students, including 143 veterans and more than 850 students who are receiving honors or high honors. More than 1,600 graduates are first in their families to complete a college education. SLCCs youngest graduate is 15, and the oldest is 68. Graduates come from 46 different countries and 34 states. The most popular degrees conferred after General Studies or General Education are Business and Nursing, followed by Psychology, Computer Science and Criminal Justice.

SLCCs traditional commencement ceremony takes place in the spring but has been moved to August as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the college also had to make adjustments to its commencement ceremony and honored its class of 2020 in an online presentation. This year, SLCC will invite graduates from both 2020 and 2021 to walk across the commencement stage and be recognized for their accomplishments.

We are in absolute awe of what our students have achieved, said Dr. Deneece G. Huftalin, president of SLCC. Both classes of graduates deserve to be congratulated in person and honored in front of their family members and friends. We are excited to see everyone this summer and cant wait to pay tribute to our students academic successes as well as the mettle they showed when the pandemic suddenly upended their entire college experience.

During the August ceremony, graduates will hear from Tim Huval, chief administrative officer of Humana, in a keynote address. Huval is a 1989 graduate of SLCC and a former employee of the college. In 2018, Huval suffered a debilitating health crisis that confounded doctors and required months of recovery. Having Tim speak at this years commencement is so timely, said Huftalin. While the past 15 months have tested our students, it has also certainly shown them they have what it takes to triumph over any challenge. Tims personal story is a demonstration of perseverance and is sure to inspire our graduates as they move into the next chapter of their lives.

Salt Lake Community College is Utahs largest open-access college, proudly educating the states most diverse student body in 8 areas of study at 12 locations and online. The majority of SLCC graduates transfer to four-year institutions, and thousands more are trained in direct-to-workforce programs. In 2023, the institution will celebrate 75 years of providing Utahns with education and training in fields that contribute to the states vibrant economy and high quality of life.
These types of bridges just naturally fit, blending seamlessly into the parka regular bridge is just not as fun.

The Miami County Park District is hosting the official opening of the Stillwater Prairie Connector Bridge, which connects Stillwater Prairie Reserve with Maple Ridge, at 10 a.m. ET today, May 7. The event will be held on the Maple Ridge side of the bridge, at 10430 State Route 185 in Covington.

The Miami County Park District contracted with Woolpert to provide bridge design, survey, hydraulic engineering and construction assistance. Miami County Park District Executive Director J. Scott Myers said the district secured a grant to purchase 50 acres adjacent to the Stillwater River and needed the bridge to provide a connection between these two parks, which are divided by the river. He said the district elected to build a suspension bridge because it was more in line with the adventurous spirit of the park setting.

These types of bridges just naturally fit, blending seamlessly into the parka regular bridge is just not as fun, Myers said. With this Stillwater bridge, you dont see it until youre on top of it. When the wood weathers, it will look like it has always been there.

The Stillwater Prairie Connector Bridge is 170 feet long and has a 32-inch-wide deck with 42-inch-high netting. Woolpert Project Manager Nathan Fischer said it is believed to be one of the longest pedestrian suspension bridges in the county and possibly the state, although record-keeping for these types of bridges is not precise.

Suspension bridges breed a different level of excitement because you can feel them moving as you cross them, and they take a specific skillset to execute well, Fischer said. Weve been doing more of these bridges at Woolpert and taking road and bridge design to the next levelfrom timber bridges to cable bridges to roadway bridges, ranging from the simple to the extremely complex. I am constantly impressed by the depth and breadth of the work that we do, and how extremely deep our bench is.

In 2019, Woolpert and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources won an Association for Bridge Construction and Design award for their Hemlock Pedestrian Bridge in Hocking Hills State Park. The bridge was inspired by the one featured in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Woolpert also designed the Mohican Cable Pedestrian Bridge at Mohican State Park in Loudonville, Ohio, which is slated to open later this month.

Woolpert Structural Design Team Leader Tom Less said there are many layers of calculations involved in the design and construction of suspension bridges. Due to its length, the Stillwater Prairie Connector Bridge initiated an extensive construction-stage analysis of its catenary curve.

We were able to replicate in math what we were seeing in the field to ensure the bridge was progressing according to plan, which was a comfort for the contractor, Brumbaugh Construction, and the park district, Less said. Brumbaugh was resourceful and showed great ingenuity throughout the project, rigging a sled that slid under the bridge so they would have a platform to work from while avoiding impacts to the river. Its one thing to design a bridge, and its another to figure out how youre going to put all the pieces together. This one had a lot of pieces.

Less added that, in addition to the initial design complexity, Woolpert and Brumbaugh worked together to find solutions when COVID-related supply chain issues arose. Myers said the parks system was confident that Woolpert would be able to answer any questions that came up. He said he is very happy with how the Stillwater Prairie Connector Bridge turned out and how it aligns with the unique features throughout the district.

Our parks system has multiple types of parks, from the limestone-based, 37-foot waterfall at Charleston Falls to the deep ravines heading down to the Stillwater River at Maple Ridge, Myers said. Everybody in Miami County has their favorite park, and we appreciate the support of our local citizens through levies, programs and by visiting the parks. We actually set visitation records in each of the last two years, cracking one million visitors in 2019 and 2020. Hopefully, 2021 will be our best year yet.

About Woolpert

Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, recently earned its fifth-straight Great Place to Work certification and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been Americas fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has over 1,100 employees and 42 offices in three countries. For more, visit woolpert.com.
Kimberly Koll, founder of Heritage Homes San Diego Partnering with Side enables us to expand our business and gives us more time to provide world-class service to our clients.

Kimberly Koll today announced Heritage Homes San Diego and its partnership with Side, the only real estate technology company that exclusively partners with high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages to transform them into market-leading boutique brands and businesses. The affiliation will ensure that Heritage Homes San Diego, a firm that takes a forward-thinking approach to real estate and offers high-caliber client service, is powered by the most advanced platform in the industry.

Koll has consistently been a high achiever in the industry. The San Diego Association of Realtors awarded her Rookie of the Year in 2017 and named her on their 40 Under 40 list in 2020, and she was recently featured in Real Producers magazine. She has built long-lasting client relationships through her tireless client advocacy and commitment to integrity, professionalism, and unmatched customer service.

Heritage Homes San Diego is a full-service real estate firm that builds on Kolls high referral rate and deep understanding of the local market, specialized knowledge of 55-plus neighborhoods, and corporate and military relocation expertise. The firm assists buyers and sellers throughout San Diego, including within Poway Unified School District and the I-15 Corridor.

Partnering with Side will ensure Heritage Homes San Diego remains on the cutting edge of the evolving real estate market while allowing its agents to continue delivering premium services to their clients. Heritage Homes San Diego agents are fully supported by a one-of-a-kind premium brokerage platform, which provides transaction management, property marketing, lead generation, business growth opportunities, vendor management, and infrastructure solutions.

Partnering with Side enables us to expand our business and gives us more time to provide world-class service to our clients, said Koll. Sides state-of-the-art platform keeps our back-end operations flawless and efficient, which allows us to focus on doing what we do best  creating the best possible real estate experience.

Side is led by experienced industry professionals and world-class engineers who develop technology designed to improve agent productivity and enhance the client experience. Based on its belief that homeownership is a fundamental human right, Side is on a mission to improve the public good by providing top-performing real estate agents, teams, and indie brokerages with the best system, support, service, experience, and results.

About Heritage Homes San Diego

Heritage Homes San Diego matches buyers and sellers with houses and communities that support their present and future goals. Even above their market expertise, forward-thinking approach, and high-caliber service, agents at Heritage Homes San Diego are known for the lifelong friendships they build with their clients. The firm focuses on representing properties in the San Diego market, with a particular focus on communities within the Poway Unified School District and the I-15 Corridor. To learn more, visit visit heritagehomesre.com.

About Side

Side transforms high-performing agents, teams, and independent brokerages into successful businesses and boutique brands that are 100% agent-owned. Side exclusively partners with the best agents, empowering them with proprietary technology and a premier support team so they can be more productive, grow their business, and focus on serving their clients. Side is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit http://www.sideinc.com.
Dr. Michael A. Jazayeri A serious procedure such as plastic surgery is not the time to shop on price

An April 29 article in New Beauty reports on a case of medical tourism in Mexico that left two of three women with severe complications, and the third deceased. The article reports that all three women traveled together from California to Tijuana for procedures with the same doctor who advertised himself as a plastic surgeon but who was not listed with Mexicos Association for Plastic Surgeons. The article says that the two surviving women experienced kidney failure and sepsis while the third victim died during the procedure from a lack of oxygen and blood supply. Orange County-based plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Jazayeri says that this may be an extreme example, but tragedies of this type can be a very real risk if prospective patients take risks with dubious providers.

Dr. Jazayeri says he understands that money can be tight these days, and the lure of cheap plastic surgery abroad in places like nearby Mexico can be tempting. However, he stresses that looking for a plastic surgery is not the time to shop on price The Newport Beach surgeon says that part of the reason these discount procedures can be offered for a fraction of the cost here in the U.S. is that many of these so-called doctors are not under strict regulation and may not be fully qualified to perform plastic surgery. Furthermore, Dr. Jazayeri says that when these procedures go wrong or results are disappointing, patients end up spending much more than planned on a secondary procedure to fix the mistakes. They often end up paying a vastly larger price tag than if they had gone to a fully qualified board-certified plastic surgeon to begin with  and thats not including the pain and heartache of living with a botched procedure.

Dr. Jazayeri says that while procedures may cost more at home, patients are paying for a qualified plastic surgeon with years of experience and knowledge. The Orange County-based doctor says that individuals should, of course, do thorough research while looking for the finest possible plastic surgeon in the United States or anywhere. In particular, Dr. Jazayeri says  whether they are seeking out breast and buttock augmentation, a facelift, or any other type of procedure, patients should only consider seeing a board-certified plastic surgeon like himself. In addition to the extra two years of study required to become a plastic surgeon, board-certified plastic surgeons must undergo an additional rigorous examination process overseen by top experts in the field to obtain their qualifications.

Readers interested in learning more about Southern California board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Jazayeri can call (714) 834-0101 or visit his website at http://www.drjaz.com.


Deshayla E. Harris, 28, of Norfolk, was shot and killed March 26 near the parking lots. Police have said she likely was killed by a stray bullet. Several people have been arrested in connection with multiple shootings that night, but no one has been formally accused of killing Harris. Donovon Lynch, of Virginia Beach, was also shot and killed that night by a police officer just a block away. Police have said Lynch, 25, was brandishing a weapon that night, though his family disputes that.
VXI Global Solutions' new Global CFO, Michael Festa Michael brings to us his extensive experience in leading turnarounds, transformations, complex deals, and building high-performance teams that are confident in their ability and can be relied on to execute their mission, said David Zhou, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of VXI.

VXI Global Solutions, LLC., a leader in customer experience (CX) management, announced today that Michael Festa has been named Global Chief Financial Officer.

Michael has more than 30 years of experience including Business Process Outsourcing portfolio optimization and completion of critical negotiations, most recently as Vice President for Special Projects at Xerox and Chief Financial Officer of Bigmoon Power, a company that provides electricity through sustainable energy.

Michael brings to us his extensive experience in leading turnarounds, transformations, complex deals, and building high-performance teams that are confident in their ability and can be relied on to execute their mission, said David Zhou, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of VXI. Michael is the right leader for VXI right now.

Before Bigmoon Power, he held the position of Chief Transformation Officer for Conduent where he led the spinoff of the company from Xerox and delivered a significant increase in strategic transformation savings. He joined Xerox services in 1990 and held the positions of Corporate Officer and Chief Financial Officer. He also headed the Mergers and Acquisitions group and drove business development initiatives, while also overseeing the Intellectual Property Operations Group.

Michael holds a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Seton Hall University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

About VXI

VXI is a customer experience company, passionate about designing solutions that augment its clients' business processes to deliver higher revenue, greater profitability, and happier customers. Founded in 1998, the company has 35,000 employees across 43 locations in North and Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. VXI offers omnichannel customer care and growth services using technology and tools, including purpose-built productivity-enhancing applications that drive higher sales conversion, CSAT, and related key metrics for its clients. Known for its transformation mindset, the company's IT arm, Symbio, offers digital and business transformation solutions that are seeded in its innovation philosophy of co-creation and seamless augmentation. http://www.vxi.com
CONCORD [mdash] Doris McKenzie April 19, 1927 - January 7, 2021 Doris Ann Tilley McKenzie passed away January 7 at the Gardens of Taylor Glen in Concord NC. Doris was born in Rainelle, WV to Claude and Eula Tilley. She is survived by her twin sister Dora Lee Campbell of Shelby and her childr
Little more than a year after millions of Americans of all ages and races took to the streets in the wake of George Floyds murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, denouncing systemic racism and demanding social reform, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish a history of the Black Lives Matter movement for middle grade readers. Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter by New York Times journalists Veronica Chambers and Jennifer Harlan will be released on August 17 under HMHs Versify childrens imprint curated by Kwame Alexander.

Call and Responsethe title refers to an oral tradition in which a speaker and their audience interact with each other during the speakers presentationdraws from the New York Times archives as well as other primary sources to chart the progress of the Black Lives Matter movement. The hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter emerged in 2013 after George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin. Not only do Chambers and Harlan rely upon the reporting done by their colleagues at the New York Times over the years, but they also include approximately 100 photographs to further familiarize readers with the the grassroots movement that culminated with the protests that swept the nation last summer.

Call and Response, Chambers told PW, attempts to answer the following questions, thus providing a starting point for children to initiate conversations with peers, parents, teachers, and librarians: What is the history of systemic racism? What is the history of the police state? What is the history of protest? What forms do protest take?

Chambers explained that the first half of the book is really about how the movement was built. The narrative is supplemented by a chapter defining systemic racism. We talk about the murders of Black people. Readers might be nine or 10 years old, so we were very careful with our language. The goal of the book is not to take on the killings, but rather to show the power of protest, what happened over the past seven years that literally became the biggest movement our nation has ever seen.

Chambers describes the second half of the book as her favorite section, because that is where the lift isan exploration of political and social protest in American culture, and the roles they play in the lives of everyday people: young people, musicians, artists, muralists.

Its a section that relies heavily on both historical and contemporary images, Chambers explained, with most of the photographs included taken by New York Times photographers such as the paper's first Black staff photographer, Don Hogan Charles. There is also a photograph taken by Gordon Parks, who for years chronicled the African American experience for Life magazine. The pictures tell a story, she said. I love the pictures of kids at protests, the pictures of families. The way you see young people come alive in the streets, on bicycles, on horses, on skateboardsits very powerful. I am so excited to visit classrooms and go online with kids and talk about that section of the book.

While acknowledging that Call and Response explores topics that might upset some readers, Versify editor Weslie Turner strongly believes that such a book is long overdue. Growing up Black in America, Turner pointed out, I never had the luxury of turning my eyes away from things that may or may not have been age-appropriate for me. The conversations about race, and ethnicity, and privilege Ive had over the course of my life would have been infinitely easier if more of my white peers had known about these things from the ages that I knew about them.

Describing the production process, Turner emphasized the painstaking attention that was paid to the wording of the text. We were very intentional about the way that we described things. But we did not pull punches or pull back on factual information, even if those facts were things that some people think children might not need to know aboutbecause there are children who need to know about those things every day.

Turner expressed confidence in Call and Responses potential for crossover appeal, noting, I think that there are adults who get excited about having a very basic explainer for things. There are people besides young readers looking for factual information about BLM. They might know the three words but may not have all the factual information: what it is, where it came from, and what it stands for.

Call and Response is not Chambers first foray into publishing childrens books that touch on the volatile mixture of politics, race, and popular culture. She is the author of a number of books for adults and children; she wrote the text for the picture book Shirley Chisholm Is a Verb!, illustrated by Rachelle Baker (Dial, 2020), and also wrote a book she describes as very much like Call and Response, about people who changed the world, Resist: 35 Profiles of Ordinary People Who Rose Up Against Injustice and Tyranny (HarperCollins, 2018).

Most recently, Chambers paired with Harlan and the staff of the New York Times to write a history of womens suffrage in the U.S. for middle graders, Finish the Fight: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (Versify, 2020). It was really a great experience working with Versify and its editors, Chambers said. That led to this BLM book.

While Chambers acknowledges that working on Call and Response was one of the hardest things Ive ever done, she feels strongly that children should be part of the national conversation on systemic racism that has emerged in the wake of police brutality towards Black people. Kids want to be part of the conversation, Chambers said, noting that she had approached writing Call and Response from the perspective of a journalist, a passionate childrens author, and the mother of a teenager who had participated in her first march last year. They are more curious than many adults and they appreciate a good story. They can handle the truth.

Call and Response: The Story of Black Lives Matter by Veronica Chambers of the New York Times. HMH/Versify, Aug. $21.99, ISBN 978-0-35-857341-8
Publishers Weeklys inaugural U.S. Book Show, a three-day virtual conference to help build buzz about fall 2021 books, has announced three speakers for its Childrens Books Day. The event is live-streaming and available on-demand through August 31.

Senator Elizabeth Warren is set to open the day with a keynote conversation with her editor, Laura Godwin, to discuss the senators first picture book, Pinkie Promises (Holt), a tale of loyalty, female empowerment, and political engagement, illustrated by Charlene Chua. Senator Warren will speak on Thursday, May 27, at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

Caldecott Medalist Brian Selznick, author of The Invention of Hugo Cabret and many other works for children, will give a live talk that afternoon, followed by a q&a about his forthcoming novel, Kaleidoscope (Scholastic Press).

In addition, executive producer and host of the Emmy-Award winning Top Chef Padma Lakshmi, who is also an award-winning cookbook author, will be discussing her childrens book debut, Tomatoes for Neela (Viking), illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Juana Martinez-Neal. Her talk is set to take place midday.

Publishers Weekly will donate a portion of the proceeds of the U.S. Book Show to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. A pre-recorded piece will also be played at the opening of Childrens Books Day to promote and build awareness of the organizations support of literacy and education.

The show will run from May 2527 and features a variety of editor, book, and author panels; livestreaming q&a sessions with editors; topical library panels; programming geared to publishing professionals; networking opportunities and awards celebrations; and exhibit halls featuring more than 200 publishers. The full schedule and registration information is available online.
Do you remember reading a mammoth mesmerizing book that transported you to other worlds and times so that all you cared about was turning the next page? If so, I give you another one: Anthony Doerrs new novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land (Scribner), and I hope you have a comfy chair.

Doerrs follow-up to his 2014 megaselling, Pulitzer Prizewinning All the Light You Cannot See is an immersive, ambitious epic with three major story lines, moving between 1453 Constantinople, an Idaho library in the present, and a spaceship decades into the future hurtling toward a new planet. The connecting piece is an ancient text, written by the Greek author Diogenes about Aethon, who wants to become a bird so he can fly to the paradise of Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Nan Graham, Doerrs editor, says this about the book: Tony soars over his own incredibly high bar. She talks about the authors empathy for his characters: The three different sets of characters are so moving. You love them, one after another you fall in love with them.

Early on, Cloud Cuckoo Land introduces Konstance, a young girl alone on an interstellar spaceship in the future. And in 15th-century Constantinople, under attack from Ottoman armies, another young girl, Anna, talks to Omeir, who is born with a split that divides his upper lip from his gum all the way to the base of his nose, on the other side of the citys walls. At a library under siege in present-day Idaho, we meet Seymour, a socially conscious teenager whose T-shirt reads I LIKE BIG BOOKS, and Zeno, the achy old man who has devoted himself to translating the story of Aethon.

The book, Doerr says, is a love letter to libraries and booksthe book is dedicated to librarians. I thought about how to dramatize the power of books. Each character falls in love with this text as it moves through history, and each becomes a steward for the text. Doerr also emphasizes the book culture of Constantinople, where copies were preserved and survived over generations. He tells me he got into books as a boy because of the library. The library was practically a babysitter. You could leave yourself and enter worlds. Its such a rich life when you get to be a reader. Books can give you multiple lives.

It was when he won the Rome Prize and lived at the American Academy in Rome for a year with his familydocumented in the 2007 memoir Four Seasons in Romethat Doerr started thinking about walls, inspired by dinner conversations with a scholar at the academy who was researching walls as art. I had never lived in a city that big or that old, he says of Rome. I started looking at the defensive walls around Rome, thinking about walls and tyrants. I saw pictures of the insane walls around Constantinople.

Doerr describes them in Cloud Cuckoo: Theodosius the Second began constructing these walls, four miles of them, to connect with the eight miles of sea walls the city already had. The Theodosian walls had an outer wall, two meters thick and nine high, and an inner one, five meters thick and twelve highwho can guess how many bodies were broken in their construction?

And theres the theme of technology that runs through Doerrs work. New technology is revolutionary, he says. All the Light was about radio and how Hitler used radio during World War II; until gunpowder was invented, walls were the preeminent defense.

Doerr began working on Cloud Cuckoo in 2014, but it was just notes. I started concentrating in 2015 and ironically we get this president talking about walls!

Graham has been with Doerr from the beginning, ever since agent Wendy Weil sent the first book, a collection of short stories, The Shell Collector, which Scribner published in 2002. Graham says she remembers dithering for three months with her editorial assistant Gillian Blake (now publisher of Crown) about whether or not to buy the book. She paid little, and the book was a success; 11,000 copies in hardcover, she tells me, adding, Ive been there for all of them.

All the Light was Doerrs first book represented by Amanda Binky Urban at ICM Partners. Wendy Weil was my original agent, he says. It was very sad when she died. Urban reached out months later with an email and Doerr went to her offices in New York City. It was amazing, he recalls, to see the shelves with all my favorite writers. Binky saw Cloud Cuckoo first and Nan got it May 31, 2020.

Graham says, Weve had maybe four meals over the last seven years in which he tells me something. I knew about the girl and the boy on either side of the wall, and then he said he was going into the future and I thought, what?

Doerr doesnt sell a book until its done. I always finish a book before submitting it, he says. Im too anxious to write a book that has a monetary value on it. When I write the whole idea of capitalism, New Yorkall of it falls away and what I do is solve the puzzle of my work. He says Konstance was an early character and the one he was most nervous about, because readers had to imagine space and the future.

Graham lauds Doerrs range of humanity and his attempt to find reasonable hope, noting, Doerr so speaks to this moment of the need for compassion. Hes what we need now. I cant gush enough. She acquired North American and audio rights to Cloud Cuckoo Land, and it will be published September 28 simultaneously in the U.K. with 4th Estate. To date, rights have been sold in 18 other territories .

Doerr writes in a letter of introduction to the book, I tried to pour all of my love for our astonishing, green, wounded world into this novel.... Primarily this is a book about our planetin itself a vast libraryand the stories that connect us.

As for me, I dont anticipate joining Konstance in space and Im not planning a visit to Idaho, but you can bet Im going to take a good look at those walls next time Im in Istanbul!
One of the unintended consequences of the pandemic and the shift to virtual author events is that booksellers and publishers have had the opportunity to put together events for overseas authors who would not usually tour the U.S. The possibilities are endless, said Pierce Alquist, director of the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Mass. The pairings and creative panels we have done are once-in-a-lifetime events. She cited a virtual event in February during which Russian author Maria Stepanova discussed her book In Memory of Memory (New Directions): Alquist, who ran the event, was in Boston; Stepanova was in Moscow; her translator, Sasha Dugdale, was in the U.K.; and the moderator, Elif Batuman, was in Brooklyn. In another far-flung example, for an Earth Day event in April, Point Reyes Bookstore in Point Reyes, Calif., hosted a talk with Icelandic writer Andri Snaer Magnason in conversation with local author Rebecca Solnit about Magnasons On Time and Water (Open Letter).

Sales for such events are good, but I dont think anyone is having sales at the same level as before, Alquist said. The audiences, though, have typically doubled over those of in-store events, drawing people from across the U.S. and, increasingly, abroad.

To promote the events and sell more books, Brookline Booksmith has partnered with other bookstores. For the Stepanova event, it teamed up with Lighthouse, a store in Edinburgh, Scotland, to sell books in the U.K. Last year, for a September event at which French-Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga discussed her book Igifu (Archipelago) with Ethiopian American writer Maaza Mengiste, Brookline Booksmith partnered with City of Asylum in Pittsburghanother store known for its strong programs featuring international writers.

City of Asylum is getting ready to host the first Pittsburgh International Literary Festival, which will run May 1221. Japanese author Mieko Kawakami will appear with translators Sam Bett and David Boyd to discuss her novel Heaven (Europa Editions), and Polish Nobel Prizewinner Olga Tokarczuk will participate with translator Jennifer Croft.

When we do live events, whenever possible, we like to put authors and translators together in the same room, said Sara Balabanlilar, marketing and sales director for Deep Vellum Books in Dallas, a publisher of translated literature that also runs a bookstore. Since we use a lot of local translators, it is easier for us when we can get the author to Dallas, but with some authors, that just isnt possible.

One example is the Peruvian author Claudia Ulloa Donoso, author of Little Birds, who lives north of the Arctic Circle in Bodo, Norway. Deep Vellum will host a virtual event with her and translator Lily Meyer later this summer.

Balabanlilar noted that virtual events allow publishers to extend the promotional cycles of books beyond the brief windows around publication, and they allow Deep Vellum to hold private events for its benefactors. In some instances, the publisher has also incorporated editors into the mix, such as at an event last September with Pergentino Jose, author of Red Ants, and his editor David Shook, of Deep Vellum imprint Phoneme.

Deep Vellum is among the partners of the 2021 PEN World Voices Festival, running May 1822. Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, senior programs director for PEN America, said that there is added excitement for this years event, which includes more than 20 panel discussions with authors from abroad and the U.S. I think after a year of lockdowns, authors are not only eager to speak to an audience but to speak to each otherto feel a sense of community again. She added that one silver lining of the pandemic is that authors have been more accessible, and thus easier to work with. Weve not had some of the scheduling conflicts or logistics nightmares we have experienced in the past.

Emily Cook, cofounder of Cursor Marketing Services, which works with numerous international publishers to promote their books in the U.S., echoes Shariyf. Typically, when you are working with an author from abroad, it is very labor intensive and you need to schedule everything far in advance, she said. Virtual events are far more flexible.

Cook said the era of virtual events has been surprisingly good for the international publishers she works with. One London-based author, Raffi Berg, author of Red Sea Spies (Icon Books), has had 18 virtual events through the Jewish Book Council since October, with indie partners such as Malaprops in Asheville, N.C.; Flashlight Books in Walnut Creek, Calif.; and Reads & Company outside Philadelphia. This is pretty great, considering we had a three-city tour planned for April 2020 that was, of course, swiftly canceled, Cook added.

With the spread of vaccines, Cook said she had cautiously planned in-person events starting in July but has now had to cancel themmost notably the North American tour for bestselling author Peter Wohlleben. Wohlleben, who lives in Germany, is instead doing virtual events, including one on May 16 with naturalist Jane Goodall, sponsored by Books & Books in Miami and the Miami Book Fair.

Still, Cook said, as convenient as online events may be, she looks forward to the day when they are more a memory than a fact of life. We all expect virtual fatigue to reach an apex through the summer months, she added. But theres hope that the general public, if still in various states of lockdown, will come back for online stuff when cold weather sets in again. Can the pandemic truly last that long? Lets hope not.
First quarter financial reports from five major trade publishers showed that the sales momentum that built up through last year has carried over into 2021, while companies year-over-year sales comparisons also benefitted from the slump in late March 2020.

Two of the publishers that reported results could be doing so for the last time. Simon & Schuster might see its acquisition by Bertelsmann/Penguin Random House completed before results for the second quarter are released. And the sale of Houghton Mifflin Harcourts trade division to HarperCollins is still expected to be completed by June 30.

HMH Books & Media posted sales of $42.7 million in the first quarter, a 12% jump over the same period last year, and its pretax loss was cut to $2.9 million, from $7.7 million. HMH had nothing else to say about the trade division other than that the company will enter into a transition services agreement with HC to perform certain support functions for a period of up to 12 months. While HMH still awaits the completion of the sale, it has already closed its New York City office.

For its part, HC saw profits jump 45% in the first quarter, with a 19% increase in revenue, compared to the first three months of 2020. Sales rose to $490 million, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, depreciation, and amortization) hit $80 million. Susan Panuccio, CFO of HC parent company News Corp, said the sales increase was driven by solid gains in the general trade and childrens divisions in the U.S. and increases in the U.K., and in its foreign-language categories. Backlist was the big driver of the gains, accounting for 62% of sales in the quarter, Panuccio said. In terms of format, digital sales jumped 38%, with e-book sales up 38% and digital audiobooks rising 42%.

Neither Bertelsmann nor ViacomCBS offered anything new about when the purchase of S&S may be completed. In a brief financial update, Bertelsmann said PRH was one of several of its divisions to post double-digit organic growth in the first quarter over the same period in 2020.

S&S, now classified as a discontinued operation by parent company ViacomCBS, saw sales increase 8.8% over the first quarter of 2020, to $185 million, and operating income increased to $27 million, from $15 million. CEO Jonathan Karp said the strongest gains came in the publishers international division, where revenue was up 21%. In the U.S., sales were up in both the adult and childrens divisions, boosted by a number of frontlist hits as well as continuing strong backlist sales. Total digital sales rose 8% in the quarter, and print book sales had a healthy increase, Karp noted. The digital increase was driven by audio, where sales increased 17%. E-book sales were about flat.

When the sale of S&S is completed, Lagarderes Hachette Book Group will become the third-largest trade publisher in the U.S. In the first quarter, HBGs sales rose 9.1% over the first quarter of last year. HBG CEO Michael Pietsch said the increase was driven by strong hardcover sales of both adult and childrens/YA titles, and he noted that HBGs distribution business had double-digit gains.

Total sales for the Lagardere Publishing division rose 11.6% in the first quarter, to 509 million. In addition to the sales increase in the U.S., revenue was up in France and the U.K., offsetting declines in Spain and Latin America. Though the company said digital formats did well in the quarter, e-books accounted for 9% of total revenue in the first quarter of 2021, down from 9.7% in the first quarter of 2020. Downloadable audiobooks share of revenue fell to 4.6%, compared to 5.9% one year earlier.

Executives at both News Corp and Lagardere remained cautious about expectations for the rest of 2021, as more of the economy reopens and consumers have more ways to spend their time and money besides reading. Though industry trends are favorable, Panuccio said, we continue to monitor closely the sustainability of recent consumer spending patterns, such as the increasing free time for consumers to read and the increase in the average number of books purchased.
After a year of upheavala fearful pandemic, swelling demands for social justice, and a challenging national election the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association on Thursday announced a slate of 2021 Christian Book Awards winning titles that highlight reconciliation, inspiration, and consolation. ECPA president Stan Jantz, congratulating all the winners, said in a year of uncertainty and turmoil, "readers turned in record numbers to Christian books."

During a live webcast, presented for hundreds of industry professionals, authors, and publishers, the ECPA also presented its Pinnacle Award, given only four times since the awards program was created in 1978, to Max Lucado, whose books have sold over 145 million copies worldwide.

Lucado was also given the honor of announcing the top honor of the day. Be the Bridge: Pursuing Gods Heart for Racial Reconciliation, (WaterBrook) by Latasha Morrison was named the 2021 Christian Book of The Year as well as winner of the Faith & Culture category. Her call for racial unity amidst a divisive culture, published in October 2019, became a New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller in 2020 and won Christianity Todays Book Award. Jantz described Morrison's book as "a compelling vision of what it means for every follower of Jesus to become a bridge buildercommitted to pursuing justice and racial unity in light of the gospel."

WaterBrook also published the winning memoir I've Seen the End of You: A Neurosurgeon's Look at Faith, Doubt, and the Things We Think We Know by neurosurgeon W. Lee Warren.

Zondervan imprints garnered three award winners: The NIV Study Bible Fully Revised Edition in the Bibles category; The New Testament in its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature and Theology of the First Christians, by N.T. Wright and Michael Bird, from Zondervan Academic and SPCK (IVP/UK) in Bible Reference; and Suffer Strong, an audiobook written and narrated by Katherine and Jay Wolf, produced by Gabe Wicks/ HarperCollins Christian and published by Zondervan tied in the audio category.

The audio co-winner was Chasing Vines, written and narrated by bestselling Bible teacher Beth Moore, produced by Lisa Smith/ Oasis Audio, published by Tyndale House Publishers. SPCK (IVP/UK) also had a winner in the childrens book category with Extraordinary Women of the Bible, by Michelle Sloan, illustrated by Summer Macon.

Two devotionals both aimed at younger readers, also took honors. The young peoples literature category top spot went to Baker Books Praying Girls Devotional by Sheila Walsh. And Tommy Nelsons devotional and gift title How Great Is Our God: 100 Indescribable Devotions About God and Science, by Louie Giglio, is aimed at children.

A Thomas Nelson Gift book author Dawn Barton received the best new author award for her honest and sometimes raw stories of finding Jesus amid personal tragedies, Laughing Through the Ugly Cryand Finding Unstoppable Joy.

There were 12 categories overall in the awards program. The list of winners also includes Moodys Bible study entry, The Way Home: God's Invitation to New Beginnings, by Tessa Afshar; Ligonier Ministries Christian Living entry Show Me Your Glory: Understanding the Majestic Splendor of God, by Steven J. Lawson; Crossways ministry resources entry Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church, by Paul David Tripp.

More about all the honorees can found at ChristianBookAwards.com.
Simone Davies and Junnifa Uzodike. Workman, $19.95 (288p) ISBN 978-1-5235-1240-9

Montessori teachers Davies (The Montessori Toddler) and Uzodike deliver a calming and encouraging guide to using the Montessori principles of child-led exploration. Focusing on the Montessori philosophy of giving them as little help as possible and as much as necessary, the authors encourage parents to respect a newborns self-development. They advise communicating with babies from the beginning by using rich, beautiful language to ask permission before picking them up, watching carefully for their responses, and never interrupting their concentration. For each stage of development, the authors suggest creating an exciting but orderly environment that a child can safely explore: art should be hung at babies eye level, a movement mat can help babies before they learn to crawl, a floor bed can prevent a crawling baby from rolling out while still allowing them to crawl out independently, and a wall bar with a mirror behind it can support babies who are ready to stand. The authors also touch on developmentally appropriate objects, such as mobiles to help with visual development, and a low table and chair for babies who can sit. The guide is thoughtfully and beautifully laid out: block text, bulleted lists, and simple line illustrations accent the many anecdotes about babies and their living spaces from around the world. For parents interested in Montessori concepts of child development, this will be an invaluable resource. Color illustrations and photos.
Carolyn E. Johnson, associate vice provost for diversity and inclusion, has announced that she will retire from Purdue on June 30. Throughout her career, Johnson has been a steadfast and engaged advocate on a wide range of diversity issues and has often lent her expertise and guidance to equity and inclusion projects across the University and around the globe. In retirement, she will continue to stay engaged with Purdue as associate vice provost for diversity and inclusion emerita. A celebration of Johnsons 35-year career with Purdue will occur at a later date.

Formerly a public school teacher and administrator, Johnson began her Purdue career in 1985 as a senior research associate in the African American Studies and Research Center (AASRC) in the College of Liberal Arts. She regularly taught a course titled Black Women Rising, coordinated an annual symposium on African American Culture and Philosophy in addition to numerous other programs and events, and served as chief editor of the academic newsletter Nommo: Power of the Word and interim director of AASRC several times.

Throughout her career, Carolyn has sought out and developed opportunities for meaningful dialogue, with an emphasis on religion, race and conflict, says John Gates, vice provost for diversity and inclusion. Her impressive international experience has informed her work at Purdue, and we are the better for it.

Whether serving as an election monitor in Liberia, working with minoritized Burakumin communities in Japan or studying the experiences of Black people in post-Communist Europe, Johnsons expertise in planning and guiding discussions has enabled countless people to push past their own anxieties toward meaningful dialogue. Having worked in over 100 countries around the globe, Johnson is guided by a deep appreciation for the complexities of the human experience and a conviction that it is by voicing the things that make us uncomfortable that we truly learn about ourselves and each other.

In 2006, Johnson was named director of Purdues Diversity Resource Office, where she was instrumental in building out the DiversiKey Certificate Program. She also led the Diversity in the Classroom and Diversity in the Professoriate initiatives, launched three campus conferences on diversity (Connections, Intersections, and Transformations), developed a Visiting Global Scholars program, and initiated Diversity at Work, a multi-part professional development series for Purdue staff.

Through her leadership of the campus Diversity Roundtable and Diversity Summit, as well as related events, she created opportunities for members of various diversity committees across campus to link and align their efforts and to participate in professional development that strengthened the work in their colleges and units. From 2008 to 2009, Johnson served as interim chief diversity officer and, from 2017 to 2019, as special advisor to the provost.

I have called on Carolyn many, many times for her valuable input and counsel, says Jay Akridge, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity. I respect her wisdom and appreciate her dedication to helping us work toward a better, more inclusive campus community.

Johnson was named associate vice provost for diversity and inclusion in 2019. As she worked closely with Akridge and Gates, her efforts have been focused on supporting multicultural and minority program directors, identifying opportunities for institutional improvement in the recruitment and success of students, staff and faculty, as well as acting as a liaison to the University Senate's Equity and Diversity Committee.

In the local community and beyond, Johnson has been an engaged advocate for positive change through her service as executive director of the Hanna Community Center, a member of the President's Council of DePauw University and as a board member for numerous organizations including Bennett College, the Urban League, the American Red Cross, the NAACP, Girl Scouts of America, United Way, YWCA and the World Council of Churches' Institute Oecumenique de Bossey (at the University of Geneva, Switzerland). An active member of the United Methodist Church, she previously served as president of United Methodist Women.

Johnson earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree in elementary education from Indiana University in 1968 and 1970, respectively. She received her doctorate in educational administration from Purdue in 1985.
In explaining why the search warrant should be granted, Chesapeake Detective T.N. Adams wrote in the affidavit that Proffitt was laid off from her adjunct job at TCC. When applying for unemployment benefits, she did not report the income she was receiving from the City of Chesapeake, the detective wrote. On her unemployment benefits claim application, Proffitt said she had been working 30 hours a week for TCC, according to the document filed in Circuit Court in Norfolk, where the main TCC campus is located.
Food

So Bad it's good

The newest Berks County breakfast joint is both Bad and popular

Fresh-baked biscuits, homemade sausage gravy and local coffee and pastries are now being served in Lower Alsace Township.
Spring Twp.

Man taken into custody after standoff, police say
Column

Not time to take holiday break
Despite April being a maintenance and lower demand month, U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico have been rising to record levels (Figure 1).

Piped supply to our southern ally averaged 6.2 Bcf/d in April, up from 5.1 Bcf/d for all of 2020.

On April 14, the all time record was set when exports reached 7.1 Bcf/d.

New pipelines for U.S. gas to Mexico have been the key story.

Namely, the Waha-to-Guadalajara system (Wahalajara) came online last year, and exports from West Texas (the Permian basin) can now reach Mexican users on the Pacific side of the country, effectively replacing the need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports into the Manzanillo terminal.

And more gas import pipelines are essential for a poorer country that demands affordable energy: piped U.S. gas to Mexico in 2020 averaged an incredibly low $2.10 per MMBtu, compared to over $5.00 for LNG.

Mexico relies on the U.S. for 70-80% of its gas, and gas generates 65% of electricity.

The rise of Mexicos gas imports comes as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) has promised to end such energy reliance on the U.S.

The resource nationalistic president wants Mexico to extend its own self-sufficiency in the wake of the great Texas energy freeze in February that left 4.7 million residents in northern Mexico without electricity.

But AMLOs contradiction is that, while he demands more self-sufficiency, he also opposes opening up Mexicos energy market to more foreign and private expertise and investment, the very requirements that the 2013 Energy Reforms were designed to install.

He has dangerously reverted back to the resource nationalism that had previously gripped Mexico since the 1930s.

Pushing back on non-state participation, AMLO actually seeks new laws to favor the countrys two-stated owned giants, CFE (gas/power) and Pemex (gas/oil).

They are both highly inefficient, however, from a lack of competition that has stagnated them for many decades.

For example, Pemex is now over $100 billion in debt, making major outside help mandatory.

Thus, despite AMLOs wishes, the reliance on the U.S. for primary generating fuel natural gas will continue.

U.S. shale gas is expected to remain cheap, so it will be hard for Mexicos own declining domestic production to compete.

Unrealistically and unfairly, climate activists compare Mexico to the U.S. and Canada in terms of what should be for climate goals.

Half of Mexico falls below the poverty line, and residents have just a fraction of the income and energy usage as their rich North American neighbors (Figure 2).

There are, however, a number of things that AMLO and Mexico could do on climate.

Mexico has a world-class solar power resource with some of the lowest contracted renewable prices, yet AMLO has suspended new power auctions indefinitely.

Due to high nitrogen content, a dearth of pipelines, and other processing issues, natural gas flaring has been surging, an obvious waste of the very same product that Mexico needs to produce much more of.

In 2020, Pemex flaring grew nearly 70% to over 0.5 Bcf/d, which amounts to about 15% of Pemexs entire gas output.

Environmentalists should realize though that more natural gas is why the U.S. has been cutting CO2 emissions faster than any other country and doing so without the business hampering regulations and mandates that plague Europe.

Speaking of Europe, climate advocates must also know that even the European Union has announced that natural gas will be central to its energy-climate plans for net-zero carbon  an energy realism wakeup call for the center of the green movement.

President AMLO has been looking to utilize more fuel oil, hydropower, and even coal for power generation needs, putting wind, solar, and gas on the back burner.

The recent legislative reform to favor CFE over private sector power generators (Electricity Industry Law) has caused an outcry from environmental groups and business leaders.

Adding to the confusion, however, CFE is now slated to put out international tenders to build six new gas-fired power plants, in what is seen as one of the few opportunities for critical private investment.

And more residential and industrial gas usage will help evolve a still rather nascent gas market.

Only 8-10% of Mexican homes have access to gas.

On all fronts, Mexico requires more energy connections with the U.S.

The Texas freeze in February showed the need for greater energy integration for both allies.

Texas own gas plants had trouble getting natural gas, with the states gas production down 45-50% during the crisis.

In theory, if better positioned, Mexico could have actually helped Texas: the natural gas pipeline network that feeds Mexico from Texas is reversible.

Policy and poor planning continues to cripple Mexicos energy market.

Mexico has just a few days of gas storage available, while most OECD partners have a few months worth.

Against the advice of experts, AMLO has become seemingly obsessed with building highly expensive refineries, which can cost $7-10 billion per facility.

Pemex has favored secondary oil recovery at its legacy onshore and shallow water fields, as opposed to bringing in more resources and expertise to develop immense deepwater and unconventional opportunities.

Pemex revenues just get siphoned off to feed the federal budget, leaving few resources for upstream investment.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Mexico has some 550 trillion cubic feet of shale gas potential and perhaps tens of billions of barrels of deepwater crude oil available.

Since peaking in 2004, Mexicos own oil production has been sliced in half to about 1.8 million b/d, which means a simultaneous loss of the integral associated natural gas that comes along as a byproduct of crude extraction.

AMLO has also halted bid rounds for more E&P, preventing the awarding of new contracts to non-state companies  giving even more pause to potential participants.

Mexican presidents serve one six-year term, so AMLO will be out in 2024 and a new leader could bring back a reopening of the 2013 reforms.

But the coming June midterms could give him more power to change the constitution and block private participation even more.

The outside interest should remain: Mexico has a fast-growing young population and holds substantial new energy needs.

The International Monetary Fund expects 5% economic growth this year and 3% in 2022.

Last March, the private sector pitched a $92 billion investment plan to the AMLO administration.

Jude Clemente is the Editor at RealClearEnergy.
There's no calculated plan behind the attacks on Senator Tim Scott. In a culture war, it's sheer lizard-brained hatred.
Who is Sir Nick Clegg, the Facebook vice president of global affairs who is placing Americas culture of free speech in manacles by continuing to ban Donald Trump from the platform? The man who wrote the Facebook post barring Trump in January and will decide whether to make it permanent is a career British liberal politician, once famously described as David Camerons condom by Boris Johnson.
The poll shows that many voters believe those are pressing concerns the government needs to address, with nearly half of the polled coastal voters reporting they believe sea level rise will directly impact them in the next decade. A little more than 60% of statewide voters said flooding and climate change already are having a serious impact on the commonwealth, according to the poll. And 62% of likely voters consider flooding a serious threat to Virginias economy.
This month, the state of Idaho's legislature moved to ban public schools and universities from teaching critical race theory. It was not the first time Republicans moved to ban CRTa framework for understanding the way race has impacted our history and continues to impact our present.
Donald Trump remains banned from Facebook Inc.s global echo chamber, and thats a good thing. After the social media company banned him in January for inciting a deadly insurrection at the Capitol, its Oversight Board  the outside group the company established to monitor controversial content and arbitrate thorny issues such as Trumps exile  said Wednesday that his hist
Facebook's tyrannical blacklisting of former President Donald Trump, an elected politician 74 million Americans voted for, is wholly un-American and must be stopped before our nation veers off the cliff and permanently loses precious liberties our brave veterans and troops have lost life and limb protecting: the right to free speech, freedom of thought and to assemble without penalty.

And perhaps most importantly, the right to free elections, without interference from social media companies that deceptively manipulate what voters see and don't see to tip the outcome of elections in Democratic candidates' favor.

"Facebook's internal ruling to ban former President Trump reinforces their active role in stifling free speech, " U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told me via email on Thursday. "Until their power is checked, Big Tech will continue to employ arbitrary standards and closed-door decision-making to silence conservative voices."

Alarmingly, unelected billionaires in Silicon Valley, namely Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and other almighty oligarchs are rampantly engaging in chilling censorship reminiscent of Communist China and other oppressive regimes that don't share our values of freedom of expression -- the cornerstone of a Democracy.

Big Tech tries to justify its censorship of conservatives by claiming they're blocking "hate speech" or "misinformation" from spreading on its platforms. What a farce. Consider the extreme political bias it exhibits daily by permitting scores of Democratic politicians and others on the left to spread #FakeNews and destabilizing propaganda at will. A glaring example is the massive, four-year "Russia collusion" misinformation campaign that Hillary Clinton and her allies in the Democratic Party and legacy media launched against Donald Trump and his administration.

If Twitter, Facebook and other Big Tech companies applied their "rules" fairly and consistently, then Clinton, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and others that trafficked harmful misinformation -- debunked by the Mueller investigation -- would have been booted from these platforms long ago. This also includes scores of so-called journalists on CNN and elsewhere that disseminated the drip, drip, drip of disinformation to delegitimize the results of the 2016 election.

It's well known that the main objective of Big Tech -- run by far-left political activists -- is to keep establishment Democrats in power. So, they give a free pass to those who support its vast political agenda while bringing the hammer down and silencing those who dare to express an opposing viewpoint.

But that's not all. Big Tech's frightening control over speech and ever-growing influence over U.S. elections and our cultural and political discourse aren't the only serious issues warranting immediate action by lawmakers. These social media oligarchs allow designated terrorist groups like Hezbollah to use its platforms, as well as cartels and human traffickers -- but not the former leader of the free world.

Let that sink in.

The Alliance to Counter Crime Online and the Counter Extremism Project have spent years tracking how violent groups like ISIS, Mexican cartels and Hezbollah utilize Facebook. It found that Hezbollah, for example, "has used Facebook to broadcast propaganda, recruit for attacks, report on the activities of its leadership and even shill for money," Josh Lipowsky & Gretchen Peters wrote in Morning Consult last November. "Hezbollah also uses social media to promote fund-raising campaigns, meaning Facebook is effectively facilitating terror financing. In 2019, for example, Hezbollah's Islamic Resistance Support Association ran a crowdfunding campaign on Facebook to 'Equip a Jihadi.'"

We've got a serious problem in America when designated terror groups and other violent criminals and human traffickers are on Facebook but not the former president of the United States -- or many of his law-abiding supporters who've been wrongfully silenced or de-platformed.

If any American is "OK" with that, then perhaps they ought to turn in their U.S. passport and move to Communist China, Iran or another dictatorship that silences political dissents. They'll feel right at home.

In the meantime, conservatives, and all Americans that care about free speech and liberties we hold dear, should boycott Facebook and Twitter by shutting down their social media accounts. Big Tech won't be able to control what we say, the information we see, misuse our data, violate our privacy and engage in other abuses if we're not on their platforms.

It's that simple.

Americans should take their voice and advertising dollars elsewhere. That's the quickest way to weaken Big Tech's power -- when millions of voters flee these platforms for good.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
On the surface, Joe Biden seems to be doing pretty well. But underneath, there are signs of problems, areas where partisan overstretch threatens the underpinnings of what some are hailing as the new order of things.

Joe Biden enjoys a 54% average job approval rating, a good mark for a president midterm or facing reelection but below the 100-day numbers of every post-World War II president except Donald Trump. Biden's 42% disapproval is higher than theirs and about equal to Trump's. That may understate things if, as The Cook Political Report's Amy Walter suggests, polls are undersampling Republican voters.

The deepening partisan divisions of the last quarter century are not over and done with.

Biden's appeal to white non-college voters apparently remains limited. Thus the retirement of downstate Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos, head of House Democrats' campaign committee for the (disappointing) 2020 cycle. Her district voted 58% for Barack Obama in 2012 and voted 50% to 48% for Trump last year; she won by a margin of only 52% to 48%.

Similarly, Rep. Tim Ryan is leaving his Youngstown-Akron district for an iffy U.S. Senate run in Ohio, and suburban Pittsburgh's Conor Lamb may do so in Pennsylvania. He hasn't been helped by local Democratic environmental regulators whose decisions caused U.S. Steel to cancel a $1.5 billion investment.

Nor are Biden Democrats doing all that well among the upscale voters repelled by Trump. The May 1 special election in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex resulted in the nomination of two Republicans in a district that Trump carried by only a margin of 51% to 47% last year. Republican candidates won 62% of the votes and Democrats only 37%.

This may reflect liberal apathy. The audience for Joe Biden's April 28 speech was about 30% smaller than Trump's audience for his 2020 State of the Union. Viewership of pro-Biden MSNBC and CNN is down by even larger percentages. And the never-Trump constituency seems to be fading as well.

Now that Trump is out of office and off Twitter, Trump haters are no longer watching to savor his latest outrage and schmooze over it with likeminded friends.

Meanwhile, upscale voters don't seem enchanted with the woke Biden agenda when they see it up close. Across the metroplex, turnout was high as voters in affluent Southlake, Texas, voted 70% to 30% to oust school board members who mandated critical race theory instruction, which the Biden Education Department wants to encourage.

Their reactions were apparently similar to those of New York elite school parents, as reported by the Manhattan Institute's Kay Hymowitz. So much for "systemic racism."

Even in hyperliberal Austin, 57% of voters reinstated a law banning camping in public spaces. The desire to "keep Austin weird" evidently doesn't go so far as endorsing California-style tent cities under every overpass.

Biden's connection with homeless policy may be tenuous; not so with what's happening on our southern border. Despite administration insistence that there's no problem, even Biden himself has described it as a "crisis."

His insistence in his televised April 29 speech that it was under control didn't impress Democrats with border constituencies. "What I didn't hear tonight was a plan to address the immediate crisis at the border," said Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

Though Biden might "say that we have everything under control," said Laredo-based Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, "we're not paying attention to the border's communities. And it's not under control. I can tell you that." He's right: One hundred and seventy thousand people were apprehended at the southern border in March, the highest monthly total since 2006.

Perhaps that's the reason for the retirements of border Democratic Reps. Filemon Vela of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Ann Kirkpatrick, who represents Tucson and Cochise County, Arizona.

There's no question that most voters -- other than hardcore Democrats -- reject the administration spin, like Kamala Harris' pathetic claim that "lack of climate adaptation and climate resilience" are causes of the surge of migrants at the border. A CNN poll shows 78% agreeing that the border is in "crisis," while an NBC poll shows 59% disapproval to 35% approval of Biden's performance on border security and immigration.

The Biden-Harris claim that nothing is amiss at the border bespeaks an inability to understand what is absurd -- which can be fatal in politics. It's also apparent in the claim of there being "systemic racism" among police, which reached absurd lengths when Democratic partisans criticized police for shooting one black girl who was about to stab another.

As homicides increase in city after city at the highest rates ever measured, and as tens of thousands keep crossing the border illegally, a lukewarm overall-positive rating and a de-energized core constituency may not be enough for Democrats to hold on to their current tenuous majorities.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
Athens, GA (30605)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Athens, GA (30605)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, with mostly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, with mostly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Greenville, NC (27833)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
John Koopmann, a Lake Host at Spofford Lake, in Spofford, N.H., talks with Michael Collier, from Walpole, N.H., about places the boat has been before the boat goes into the water on Tuesday, June 8, 2021.
BRATTLEBORO  Koffee Kup Bakery and its assets may soon be in the hands of a New Brunswick husband and wife who own the largest family-owned a
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 55F. Winds light and variable.
The man, who lived in Surry County, was reported missing Monday morning after he did not return home they day before. The U.S. Coast Guard said Hines 29-foot boat was found Monday on the James River, near Grays Creek, with signs that it had been recently occupied.
Tim Wessel is serving in his fifth year on the Brattleboro Select Board, after serving as both chair and vice-chair. He writes twice monthly on the convergence of politics and policy in Windham County. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of the Brattleboro Reformer.
Beckley, WV (25801)

Today

An isolated thunderstorm possible this evening, then occasional showers overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

An isolated thunderstorm possible this evening, then occasional showers overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, left, and lawyer Rusty Webb enter the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse in Charleston, W. Va., Monday, May 3, 2021, for the start of the opioid trial. The trial is set to start in a lawsuit filed in West Virginia accusing three drug distributors of fueling a local opioid epidemic with excessively large shipments of painkillers over several years. (Kenny Kemp/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)
For a number of Connecticuts leading investors, evaluating their portfolios performance involves much more than just calculating the monetary return on investment.

Officials at Westport-based Bridgewater Associates, the worlds largest hedge fund, and state Treasurer Shawn Wooden are among those who have responded to clients and constituents concerns by taking a more holistic approach to deploying capital. They reflect the growing number of companies and government agencies that are scrutinizing their investments societal and environmental impact  a shift accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic and other global threats such as climate change.

This is in many ways a reflection of us saying this is no longer a fringe issue, Karen Karniol-Tambour, Bridgewaters co-chief investment officer for sustainability, said in an interview. Were seeing a very large percentage of our bodies of clients around the world saying this is one of their most-important strategic issues.

Reasons for sustainable investing

Contributed photo /Bridgewater Associates

Bridgewater announced last month a new sustainable investing venture. The initiative builds on the firms longstanding use of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) principles to assess the impact of its investments, according to executives.

This is a formalization of a research effort and a client partnership effort that has been underway for a number of years, said Carsten Stendevad, Bridgewaters other co-chief investment officer for sustainability, who formerly served as CEO of Denmarks national pension fund. You start with a deep focus on research, and then you let the research drive the process. This is a long-term strategic priority for Bridgewater, and thats how we approach it.

The firms first sustainability-specific strategy, known as the All Weather Sustainability Strategy, will launch at the end of the second quarter or the beginning of the third quarter. Investors will have two access points: a direct fund available through Bridgewater and a fund offered by European asset management firm Lyxor.

Bridgewater has the capacity to make large-scale investments in the new undertaking. Its approximately $150 billion in assets under management rank No.1 in size among hedge funds. Its investor base includes sovereign wealth funds, public and corporate pension funds, university endowments, charitable foundations, supranational agencies, foreign governments and central banks.

We call this basically three-dimensional investing, saying I dont only care about risk and return  in other words, how much money do I make and do I have any risk of losing it  I also care about impact in the world, Karniol-Tambour said. The more investors say This is really important to me, and if you invest my money, I need you to think about and measure everything to do with impact, the more we have to have a deep, developed way of doing that.

As a reference point, Bridgewater officials cited the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Those objectives focus on issues such as clean water and sanitation, economic development, education, poverty and environmental concerns such as climate change.

Irfan Khan / TNS

What we love about the UN Sustainable Development Goals is theyre very broad, Karniol-Tambour said. They have a comprehensive vision where the pieces are interconnected. For example, to deal with the climate, youre not making people poorer. Its all kind of one view. And theyre very widely agreed upon and accepted.

UN officials said they were heartened that the Sustainable Development Goals were guiding the investment decisions of the likes of Bridgewater.

The rapid mobilization of all resources, including finance, both public and private, is essential for the achievement of the goals, said Daniel Shepard, a UN spokesman. It is, moreover, important that the investments made are aligned with the SDGs, which will enable them to generate long-term sustainable returns. We are at an important pivotal moment where the decisions and investments we make now will determine whether we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in a greener and sustainable manner.

Bridgewaters new venture aligns with the focus of Ray Dalio, its founder and co-chief investment officer, who frequently speaks about global issues such as economic inequality.

The reason the system is broken is because its not an equal-opportunity system, Dalio, a Greenwich resident, said in November 2019 at the Greenwich Economic Forum. There are justifiable complaints about the failure of that system to produce education. It needs to be reformed in a way that works better.

While they are gaining increased attention, ESG principles have influenced investment decisions for decades.

There is a significant fraction of the population that has environmental concerns, said Lawrence J. White, a professor of economics at New York University. To the extent that gets expressed through investment behavior  i.e., Gee, I really dont want to invest in a petroleum-related company  its similar to people saying 40 years ago, I dont want to invest in a tobacco company or a company that is doing business in apartheid South Africa.

Growing state investment in renewable energy

Contributed

Sustainability concerns are also shaping the state governments investment strategy.

In March, state Treasurer Shawn Wooden announced Connecticuts first investment solely focused on renewable energy, with a $100 million commitment to a fund managed by BlackRock, the worlds largest asset manager. The fund focuses on wind and solar energy and aims to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Since Wooden took office in 2019, clean energy has figured prominently in the first-term Democrats plan for diversifying the investments of the states retirement plans and trust funds for public-sector employees. He doubled the Connecticut investment portfolios target allocation in infrastructure and natural resources from 2 percent to 4 percent. Including the BlackRock fund, Connecticut has investments totaling about $860 million in funds focused on energy and infrastructure.

In his explanation of the states investment strategy, Wooden cites a Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecast that renewable energy will account for 57 percent of all new U.S. capacity between 2020 and 2024 and 74 percent of all U.S. capacity by 2050.

There are some of the view that you actually cant invest in ways in that are beneficial to society and generate good returns. I have just the opposite philosophy, Wooden said in an interview. The reason we are so committed to ESG is because we believe that that is how we are going to maximize returns in the future, while managing risk.

More Information New initiatives undertaken by Westport-based hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and the Connecticut Treasurer's Office show how institutional investors are increasingly focusing on the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) impact of their investments.  Bridgewater has launched a sustainable investing initiative. A reference point for the venture will be the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals.  In March, state Treasurer Shawn Wooden announced Connecticut's first investment solely focused on renewable energy, with a $100 million commitment to a fund managed by BlackRock.  In 2019, the state Treasurer's Office joined a coalition of institutional investors to demand that the 20 largest publicly traded electricity generators in the U.S. commit to producing net-zero carbon emissions.  Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that renewable energy will account for 57 percent of all new U.S. capacity between 2020 and 2024 and 74 percent of all U.S. capacity by 2050. Source: Bridgewater Associates, Connecticut Treasurer's Office, Bloomberg New Energy Finance See More Collapse

Among related initiatives, the state Treasurers Office joined in 2019 a coalition of institutional investors cumulatively representing more than $1.8 trillion in assets to demand that the 20 largest publicly traded electricity generators in the U.S. commit to producing net-zero carbon emissions.

Last November, Connecticuts retirement plans and trust funds co-filed a resolution seeking disclosure from banking giant Wells Fargo about how it intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions related to its financing activities. As a benchmark, the resolution cited the goals of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015.

Connecticut has invested about $107 million invested in Wells Fargo, which ranked No. 30 on last years Fortune 500 list.

In March, Wells Fargo announced a plan to achieve by 2050 net-zero greenhouse gas emissions  including financed emissions from entities that it financially supports.

When I present to the (credit) rating agencies, they ask questions about climate change and risk and what are we doing to manage for that as a state, Wooden said. Its one of the biggest issues confronting not just our country, but the globe.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
HARTFORD  The often-emotional nationwide political battle over ballot access reached the state Capitol on Thursday, but the House of Representatives, in a bipartisan vote, approved legislation that could change the Connecticut Constitution and create procedures for early voting.

The 115-26 vote came after a 90-minute afternoon debate. Twenty-two Republicans joined Democrats in approving the first of two proposed amendments to the Constitution. The bill next heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass and allow Connecticut voters to decide on Election Day, 2022, whether they want early voting options.

A more controversial resolution to expand the availability of mail-in balloting will reach the House next week and will be a heavier lift. It would need 17 House Republicans joining all Democrats to reach the 75 percent approval needed for it to also be on the 2022 statewide ballot.

Thats unlikely to happn, people in the legislature say. That measure is more likely to win a simple majority this year come before state voters in 2024 after the next General Assembly election, under state rules that require either 75 percent approval in both houses or majority approval in General Assembly votes separated by an election.

Democrats have a 97-54 majority in the House and a 24-12 edge in the Senate.

The issues come at a time when Republican-dominated legislatures around the country, in reaction to false claims that Donald Trump won re-election, are passing laws to limit voter access, including action Thursday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Republicans who supported of the early votng bill included Rep. Harry Arora, of Greenwich; House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford; Rep. Patrick Callahan of New Fairfield; Rep. Laura Devlin of Fairfield; Rep. Vincent Ferraro of West Haven; Rep. Stephen Harding of Brookfield; Rep. Kathy Kennedy of Milford; Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria of Seymour; Rep. Jason Perillo of Shelton; Rep. Terrie Wood of Darien; Rep. David Yaccarino of North Haven, and Rep. Joseph Zullo of East Haven.

Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause in Connecticut, said she was encouraged by the bipartisan vote. I was disappointed that we didnt have a unanimous vote, but thats to be expected, she said. We urge the Senate to act quickly.

I think its pretty self-explanatory after the last year in this country, said Speaker of the House Matt Ritter outside the Capitol prior to the House session. At the end of the day, folks, Connecticuts Constitution puts us in a bad place by not allowing early voting.

The early voting amendment ballot question, which was under-promoted and not clear and failed in a 2014 statewide election, was revived in the House and Senate in 2019, but not by the 75 percent margin, thus the need for another votes this year.

Forty-three states and the District of Columbia have varying kinds of early voting.

Another pending bill would expand automatic registration beyond the state Department of Motor Vehicles to other locations, such as state colleges and universities; and allow those convicted felons on parole to also cast ballots.

As lawmakers debate election access issues, Youll hear things about fraud, Ritter said. People love to use the word fraud or they will point to one example when things didnt go right. In a society where voting is really the core of our democracy, people are going to vote not because of one random story from another state.

He added, Has there ever been fraud in elections? Yes, there has. It is so rare, it is such an unlikely crime that we should enfranchise the 99.999 percent of good actors in our state and not punish everybody for that.

The early voting measure is expected to pass the Democratic-dominated state Senate. If ratified by state voters, it would allow the General Assembly to establish details, such as the length of time for balloting before the traditional November election days, said state Rep. Dan Fox, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the Government Administration and Elections Committee, who introduced the legislation on the House floor at 3:50 p.m. Thursday.

Fox noted that the question voters would see on the ballot would read: Shall the Constitution of the State of Connecticut be amended to permit the General Assembly to provide for early voting? Fox said that if approved, the committee would develop rules that would later come before the House and Senate.

During the debate, Republicans criticized the questions lack of details.

I, for one, believe that a vision should be in place before we vote on it, said Rep. Gale Mastrofrancesco, R-Wolcott, ranking Republican on the elections committee, who voted against the bill. We need to have a plan. I think its fair that the voters of Connecticut have some information, if this passes, whats going to happen?

She was critical of the open-ended nature of the early voting, depending on the legislature in 2023. What is the cost to the towns? I dont want to vote on a blank check. Its very frustrating, the way we operate here.

Rep. Stephanie Thomas, D-Norwalk, vice chairman of the committee, said national polling indicates that 60 percent of the nation approves a 15-day period of voting. She recalled a committee public hearing in which hundreds of people testified in favor of the bill, at a time when COVID-19 has people afraid of appearing in public; weather events can be a hindrance; and busy workers have long commutes that can interfere with their proximity to the polls between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Its a unique and wonderful opportunity to empower our citizens, Thomas said.

Rep. Bill Buckbee, R-New Milford, said he had no problem amending the Constitution with important resolutions like this, but he voted against it. I think the people dont have the information, as we dont, so Im glad its going to the people, he said, adding that the state has an antiquated voter database. I think were putting a fresh coat of paint on a car thats not running well.

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, noted that there could be no amendments to the proposal, because it was approved in the previous legislature in that exact wording.

Election law should never be a partisan issue, Candelora told reporters inside the Capitol before the debate. When it becomes partisan, I think we all should be concerned. He noted that early Thursday, after a partisan debate and vote, the Senate approved legislation to allow no-excuse, mail-in balloting in municipal elections this year. The bill, now pending before the House, includes a pilot program for several towns and cities to create ballot signature-verification processes.

He said voter identification requirements and the length of time for early voting are major issues that have to be worked out. I think there is a level of discomfort in ruling on these provisions, Candelora said during the House debate.

While we are trying to balance the ability for people to have access to voting, we have to be mindful of protecting the integrity of the vote, Candelora said. Sadly,whether it be from foreign interference or movements throughout the country, there has been growing concern about our election laws and whether our elections are valid.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
The critics are right. From the Oversight Boards inception, it faced doubts about whether it was truly independent of the company and its chairman, Mark Zuckerberg, and truly capable of taking a firm stand that might conflict with Facebooks business model. Here, in its first major decision, it failed to put the doubts to rest.
NEW HAVEN  A local real estate company that owns a defunct East Rock site where delays in a proposed condominium development are worrying neighbors, could face daily fines of up to $100.

Those fines would be collected via an enforcement action laid out in New Havens anti-blight ordinance. The city has issued a notice that conditions on the site allegedly violated that blight policy.

During inspection last week, a city official noted an alleged dilapidated building exterior, problems with landscaping maintenance and trash or rodent harborage on the lot, according to the code violations listed in the violation notice. A fourth alleged violation says the site, located at 191 Foster St., causes an alleged hindrance to enjoyment of adjacent properties.

The site is owned by 191 Foster Street NH LLC, a holding company of the New Haven real estate company Ocean Management, run by Shmuel Aizenberg. The city Planning Commission in 2018 approved a plan to build condominiums there.

Property manager Melissa Saint, whose business was brought on to represent the developer, said Thursday a maintenance manager was being sent the site to address the blight issues.

She also said the developer is moving forward with building permit applications so that construction can begin.

Meghan Friedmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

Once home to the Lehman Bros. printing press, the property went through several owners after the business went belly-up in 2008, city land records show, with the latest sale occurring in 2017.

Ocean Management has made significant property purchases in the city as recently as January, also through holding companies.

The Foster Street site, which can be seen from a number of residents backyards, now is a mostly-vacant expanse of grass and dirt, with one boarded-up, concrete building.

After a demolition of other structures and subsequent cleanup, neighbors complained of seeing little activity on the lot for at least a year.

Concerns about the delay were raised during the East Rock Community Management Teams meeting last month, and Ward 10 Alder Anna Festa has said she has received calls from constituents whose backyards abut the lot.

Its an eyesore, Festa, who represents the neighborhood, has said of the Foster Street property.

Saint last week told Hearst that environmental cleanup on the property took longer than expected, wrapping up last spring. Since then, the developer has been working on design plans, she said, adding that site grading was expected to begin this summer.

But concern about the delay had spread to City Hall.

The City is very concerned about the extended delay and current condition of the site, Michael Piscitelli, New Havens economic development administrator, said via email Thursday. Based on a site inspection and recent inquiries, we entered the blight complaint this week and will be following up accordingly.

Meghan Friedmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

Once a property owner receives notice of an alleged violation of New Havens anti-blight ordinance, they have 10 days to correct the problem, the policy says. If they fail to do so, the city can issue a written citation, according to the ordinance, which indicates blight violations can carry daily fines of $100.

If the owner demonstrates that he/she intends in good faith to rehabilitate or demolish the premises or that the violation has occurred as result of a casualty loss for which insuance (sic) is available, enforcement officers can issue a written stay of enforcement, per the ordinance.

Blight Complaint by Helen Bennett on Scribd

meghan.friedmann@hearstmediact.com
Lebanon, IN (46052)

Today

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 67F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
POTTSVILLE  Charlie S. Williams will spend more time in state prison and on probation after admitting Thursday to a Schuylkill County judge that he broke into a hospital in July 2019 in Pottsville.

Williams, 47, of Pottsville, pleaded guilty to burglary, with prosecutors withdrawing charges of theft and receiving stolen property.

Judge Charles M. Miller accepted the plea and, pursuant to an agreement between prosecutors and Williams, sentenced the defendant to spend one to three years in a state correctional institution and an additional year on probation. He made the prison term consecutive to one Williams already is serving.

In addition, Miller sentenced Williams to pay costs, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $196 restitution to Lehigh Valley Health Network, and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.

Im going with the sentence, Williams said. Ill keep the plea bargain. Im good.

Pottsville police charged Williams with breaking into the fourth floor of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Schuylkill S. Jackson Street (the former Pottsville Hospital) on July 18, 2019.

He took a TV, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer N. Foose said.

Williams already is an inmate at SCI/Houtzdale in Clearfield County, and Miller conducted the hearing by videoconference.
POTTSVILLE  A Tamaqua man will spend time on house arrest and probation after admitting April 29 to a Schuylkill County judge that he stole a rented computer, possessed methamphetamine twice and drove under the influence of drugs once.

Zachery A. Zimmerman, 29, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one each of DUI and theft of leased property.

Judge Christina E. Hale accepted the plea and, pursuant to an agreement between Zimmerman and prosecutors, sentenced him to spend 15 days on house arrest with electronic monitoring and 30 months on probation, pay costs, a $1,000 fine, $200 to the Substance Abuse Education Fund, $150 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $2,183.67 restitution, perform 10 hours community service and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.

State police at Schuylkill Haven alleged Zimmerman was DUI and possessed meth on Aug. 2, 2017, and possessed meth again on Feb. 6, 2018, while Rush Township police alleged he stole the computer on March 20, 2019.

Hale also accepted guilty pleas from, and, pursuant to agreements between prosecutors and defendants, imposed the indicated sentences on, the following people:

James R. Barlet, 50, of Schuylkill Haven; DUI, driving under suspension and disregarding traffic lane; 72 hours to six months in prison, $1,625 in fines, $100 SAEF payment and 10 hours community service. Prosecutors withdrew charges of failure to notify police of accident and seat belt violation.

Stephen L. Gelatt, 22, of Pleasant Mount; unauthorized use of a motor vehicle; 24 months probation consecutive to Wayne County sentence, $50 CJEA payment and mental health evaluation. Prosecutors withdrew charges of theft and conspiracy.

Pedro R. Grullon, 41, of Tamaqua; no contest plea to DUI and driving under suspension-DUI related; 25 days house arrest with electronic monitoring, 35 days strict supervision, four months probation, 90 to 180 additional days house arrest with electronic monitoring, $1,300 in fines, $100 SAEF payment and 20 hours community service, with sentence effective May 20.

Daniel Kostenbauder, 33, of Wyndmoor; possession of a small amount of marijuana and improper driving without lights; 30 days probation, $25 fine and $100 SAEF payment. Prosecutors withdrew charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and no rear lights.

Dennis M. Kuhar, 40, of Lake City; DUI, accident involving damage to unattended vehicle or property and forgery; time served to six months in prison with immediate parole, $1,025 in fines, $100 SAEF payment and 10 hours community service. Prosecutors withdrew charges of criminal trespass, theft, receiving stolen property, careless driving and two counts of disregarding traffic lane.

Nathaniel R. Russell, 31, of Pottsville; harassment and loitering and prowling at nighttime; 30 days to 12 months in prison and no contact with victims, with sentence effective immediately. Prosecutors withdrew a charge of disorderly conduct.

John A. Tucker, 27, of Pottsville; possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia; 12 months probation and $100 SAEF payment. Prosecutors withdrew a charge of speeding.

All defendants who were sentenced must pay costs as a part of their sentences.

In other court action, a Saint Clair man will not have to spend more time behind bars after admitting April 30 to a Schuylkill County judge that he assaulted a woman in August 2020 in Minersville.

Stephen S. Kubeika, 33, pleaded guilty to simple assault. Prosecutors withdrew charges of strangulation and harassment.

President Judge William E. Baldwin accepted the plea and, pursuant to an agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, sentenced Kubeika to time served to 23 months in prison with immediate parole, pay costs and $50 to the CJEA account, and submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.

Minersville police charged Kubeika with committing the assault on Aug. 9, 2020.

Baldwin also accepted guilty pleas from, and, pursuant to agreements between prosecutors and defendants, imposed the indicated sentences on, the following people:

Christian D. Ashby, 24, of Shenandoah; driving under the influence and fleeing or eluding police; sentencing deferred.

Victoria N.M. Binkley, 29, of Tremont; possession of drug paraphernalia; 12 months probation consecutive to current sentence and $100 payment to the SAEF. Prosecutors withdrew a charge of possession of a small amount of marijuana.

Sara R. Breig, 45, of Philadelphia; DUI; sentencing deferred.

Zachary P. Matsago, 27, of Frackville; DUI; 72 hours to six months in prison, $1,000 fine, $100 SAEF payment and 10 hours community service, with sentence effective at 9 a.m. May 14. Prosecutors withdrew a charge of careless driving.

Roland Miller, 41, of Pottsville; terroristic threats; six to 23 months on house arrest with electronic monitoring, $50 CJEA payment, mental health evaluation and submission of a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities. Prosecutors withdrew charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct.

Roxann M. Miller, 42, of Mahanoy City; possession of a controlled substance; two to 23 months in prison, 12 months consecutive probation, $100 SAEF payment and $113 restitution to the state police crime laboratory in Bethlehem, with sentence effective at 9 a.m. May 7.

Michael D. Moore, 38, of Verona; DUI; five days to six months in prison, $300 fine and $100 SAEF payment. Prosecutors withdrew a charge of failure to keep right.

Honnie R. Santiago, 45, of Pottsville; public welfare fraud; 12 months probation and $500 restitution to the state.

Shawn J. Schreffler, 25, of Pillow; possession of drug paraphernalia; $500 fine and $100 SAEF payment. Prosecutors withdrew charges of DUI, possession of a small amount of marijuana and careless driving.
A Pottsville man will spend time in federal prison and more on supervised release after a judge sentenced him Tuesday in connection with two separate incidents, prosecutors said Thursday.

Joshua Keller, 30, must spend one year and one day in prison, and an additional two years on supervised release, U.S. District Judge Robert D. Mariani ruled. Mariani also ordered Keller to pay $39,393 restitution.

Keller previously pleaded guilty to one count each of destruction of government property and lying during the purchase of a firearm, Acting U.S. Attorney Bruce D. Brandler said Thursday.

Methamphetamine played a role in each of the crimes Keller committed, according to prosecutors.

In the one case, prosecutors alleged that, while under the influence of meth, Keller vandalized two General Services Administration vehicles in a Virginia parking lot. Keller repeatedly hit the vehicles with a tire iron and sprayed their interiors with a fire extinguisher, according to prosecutors.

In the other case, Keller bought a firearm for another person in exchange for meth, prosecutors said.

The GSA Office of Inspector General investigated the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott R. Ford.
100 years ago  1921

Tickets are selling rapidly for the euchre card game to be held Thursday evening, May 12, at Charltons Hall, Pottsville, for the benefit of St. Stephens Church, Port Carbon.

75 years ago  1946

WASHINGTON  The government submitted to John L. Lewis and soft-coal operators today a proposition for settling the 37-day old mine strike. Terms of the proposal were not immediately disclosed. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, will take the proposal before the unions 250-man policy committee meeting at 2:50 p.m. EST.

50 years ago  1971

ORWIGSBURG  Richard Hornsby Maurer received the doctorate of philosophy degree April 25 at commencement exercises at the University of Pittsburgh. The degree was awarded for the work in the field of high energy physics. Maurer is a 1960 Blue Mountain High School graduate.

25 years ago  1996

Mary A. Sitcoske wonders what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Do people start drinking  and then feel badly about their opportunities and lifestyle and where they are? she asked. Or do they realize that first and then start drinking as a refuge? Sitcoske asked that question in the context of the Schuylkill Community Health Partnership, a two-year study into the local health picture conducted under the auspices of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center and Pottsville Hospital. In nine focus groups conducted by the partnership, the issue of poor self-image kept cropping up again and again, Sitcoske said. Poor image, the partnership concluded, is a demotivator, preventing people from attacking the five other key health-problem areas: substance abuse, unhealthy teen behavior, family problems, preventive care access and elderly isolation. Although people are becoming more positive about their surroundings, Schuylkill County is still unappreciated, unrecognized and unknown, said Sitcoske, who is heading the partnership effort to change that.
POTTSVILLE  After more than two years of detours, traffic is back on a stretch of Progress Avenue.

The road was reopened to motorists late Thursday afternoon after the final yellow lines were painted on it earlier that day.

Its a weight lifted off our shoulders, Mayor James T. Muldowney said just before the road closed signs were removed from the street by crews from Susquehanna Supply Co., the construction company that handled the repairs.

The section of road in front of the former Giant grocery store was closed after being damaged by flooding in 2018, with traffic being diverted around it. City officials waited for funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to plan and complete the repairs, which was made available in February 2020. Crews from Susquehanna Supply Co., a division of Quandel Construction, have worked on the repairs since December.

It was a long road to get here and Im thrilled its done, the mayor said, noting the construction didnt take as long as securing the funding for it.

The reopened section includes new asphalt, traffic lines, turn lanes on the southbound side, sidewalks on both sides of the street and parking spots in the former grocery store lot.

On Thursday, construction crews removed the signs diverting motorists around the road as Muldowney, Project Manager Sean Reilly, Streets Department Shop Foreman Dave Williams and Tim Tohill, a project engineer for Alfred Benesch & Co., Pottsville, the projects engineer, looked on.

Muldowney became the first motorist on the repaired street, driving his red sedan on the southbound lane, turning at Progress Avenue and Laurel Boulevard, then driving down the northbound lane.

For Williams, who was on the street when it flooded and assisted the construction company, seeing the road finished was satisfying.

Im very pleased to see it open, he said.

Williams said having the entire road opened is particularly beneficial for employees at the Pottsville Post Office, the rear of which is on the street. The closure meant mail trucks had to use West Harrison Street and turn onto North Centre Street to do deliveries. Doing so during rush hour meant mail was delayed, Williams added.

After the mayor drove on the street, the second person to drive on it was a post office employee, who smiled as she drove onto the street from the post offices parking lot.

The mayor said the streets department did a good job working with Susquehanna Supply Co. and said before it closed in July 2020, Giant was cooperative throughout the closure by allowing motorists to drive through the parking lot.

Surveying the finished street, Reilly said he satisfied with how it came out.

Im very happy with the end product, he said.
Aizawl, May 7 (PTI) The African Swine Fever (ASF), which killed more than 1,700 pigs in over a month in Mizoram, is yet to be contained, an official said on Friday.

The disease is spreading to other areas even though the daily death toll in the epicentre showed a declining trend for a few weeks, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department Joint Director (Livestock Health) Dr Lalhmingthanga told PTI.

Earlier the state government had declared Lungsen village and Electric Veng in Lunglei district, Armed Veng and Edenthar neighbourhoods in Aizawl, Keitum village in Serchhip district, and a locality, Vaipi-I, in south Mizoram's Siaha town as the epicentres of the ASF.

Lalhmingthanga said that some more areas would be declared as epicentres and affected areas.

At least 1,728 pigs have died due to ASF since the first death was reported on March 21 at Lungsen village in Lunglei district near the Bangladesh border, he said.

The monetary loss caused by the ASF is estimated to be Rs 6.91 crore, he added.

Twenty-one pig deaths due to the ASF were reported on Thursday, Lalhmingthanga said.

The prevailing pig disease has affected five districts -- Aizawl, Lunglei, Serchhip, Lawngtlai and Mamit.

At least 866 unusual pig deaths have been reported so far in different parts of the state that are outside the ASF affected areas, the official said.

Samples for tests have been collected from the pigs that had unusual deaths, he said, adding that the cause of the deaths is yet to be established.

There are 11 districts in Mizoram and it shares inter-state borders with Assam, Manipur and Tripura. The state also shares international boundaries with Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The ASF infection is suspected to be caused by pigs imported from neighbouring Bangladesh and Myanmar, officials said. PTI CORR SBN SOM SOM

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
In the wake of the devastating spread of COVID-19 infections, Poland stepped forward in lending its medical support to India. On Friday, a total of 100 oxygen concentrators arrived from Poland in the National Capital as a part of humanitarian assistance amid grave repercussions of the virus spread in India.

Earlier today, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs acknowledged receipt of the same and paid his gratitude for the delivered consignment. He posted,



International collaboration continues! Consignment of 100 oxygen concentrators arrives from Poland. Thank our EU partner  for this support. pic.twitter.com/VBqWC8ikoP  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 7, 2021

Nations solidarity to India's COVID-19 crisis

Amid ascending COVID-19 figures in India, media reports, and gutting images of collapsing medical infrastructure, several countries have been outpouring solidarity with India's ordeals. Previously, Romania on behalf of the European Union, United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, China, Singapore, Bhutan amongst few others have come forward in providing assistance to India in procuring tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, transporting mobile oxygen plants, drugs, and vaccines against the destructive COVID-19 second-wave. This inflow of medical oxygen from overseas would meet oxygen requisites across states which are currently facing grave shortages. In the recent past, COVID-19 patients have succumbed to the virus due to a dearth of medical oxygen supply at hospitals.

Earlier today, a shipment containing 449 ventilators, 100 oxygen concentrators amongst other medical supplies arrived in India from the Netherlands. Establishing that India values this support from the Netherlands, MEA spokesperson informed on Twitter that another round of medical equipment would be consigned over the coming days. He said,



Further strengthening our multifaceted cooperation. First of the shipment of 449 ventilators, 100 oxygen concentrators & other medical supplies from Netherlands arrives. Over the coming days, remaining medical equipment would be shipped. Value this support from our friend  pic.twitter.com/P3zGZwW3X5  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 6, 2021

Switzerland too came forward in lending their support to India, Arindam Bagchi took to Twitter to pay his gratitude and establish the long-standing friendship between the two nations. He said,



Taking forward our close, broad and longstanding friendship. Grateful to Switzerland for consignment of 600 oxygen concentrators, 50 ventilators and other medical supplies that arrived early this morning. pic.twitter.com/MKFmYbCvsV  Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 6, 2021

Exponential hike in COVID-19 infections across India since the inception of the second wave of the pandemic has evidently overburdened Indian production sectors, the medical infrastructure, and thousands of frontline medical staff in the country. While COVID-19 management and curbs have been harder for India to attain, solidarity has been an outpouring from numerous countries.

COVID-19 tally India

India breached a new grim record after it recorded 4,12,262 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. This was the highest single-day spike since the outbreak of COVID-19. Extended the total tally of cases in India to 2,10,77,410. As of May 7, there are 35,66,398 active COVID-19 cases in the country which has witnessed 3,29,113 recoveries and 3,980 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 16.48 crore, the health ministry said on Thursday. On the 111th day (May 6) of the vaccination drive, a total of 22,98,530 vaccine doses were given -- 10,24,548 beneficiaries received the first dose and 12,73,982 took the second dose -- according to a provisional report, the ministry said,
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday took to his official Twitter handle and informed that he had close consultations with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar last week. He further said that during these consultations, ways to increase the import of LMO to India were discussed. "Deeply appreciate the initial gesture of goodwill with complimentary LMO supplies particularly from UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain & Saudi Arabia.

COVID: Dharmendra Pradhan thanks Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar

Pradhan stated that he had received their wholesome support for ensuring the commercial supply of LMO to India, at a time when the country is battling the second wave of the pandemic. The Union Minister said, "With the active support of his counterparts, India is in the process of securing commercial supplies of LMO into the country through logistics management by Indian Oil and Gail India in the coming weeks."

Upon receiving COVID foreign aid, the Union Minister said, "My deep appreciation to HRH Abdulaziz, HE Dr Sultan Jaber, HE Sherida al-Kaabi for their extended support & special gesture of solidarity with India through the offer of ISO Containers for the next 6 months. Assurance of steady commercial supply of LMO to India is also welcomed."

COVID-19 situation in India

As the world continues to grapple with the Coronavirus pandemic, India so far has recorded over 2,14,91,598 positive cases, out of which, 1,76,12,351 have recovered and 2,34,083 have died. As per the latest reports from MoHFW, in the past 24 hours, 4,14,188 new cases, 3,31,507 fresh recoveries and 3,915 deaths have been reported. Currently, the total number of active cases in the country is 36,45,164.

(Image: Twitter: @dpradhanbjp)
SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts engaged with media and answered questions Thursday during a virtual press conference in Houston after returning to Earth.

The four astronauts, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Soichi Noguchi safely returned from the International Space Station on Sunday, making the first U.S. crew splashdown in darkness since the Apollo 8 moonshot.

The Dragon capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Panama City, Florida, just before 3 a.m., ending the second astronaut flight for Elon Musk's company.

It was an express trip home, lasting just six and a half hours.

The astronauts, three American and one Japanese, flew back in the same capsule  named Resilience  in which they launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in November.

"The windows right there, so I glanced out of the window (during return on Dragon capsule) and, oh, my gosh, it it just took my breath away because right there in front of my face is the Milky Way," NASA astronaut Michael Hopkins said.

"I would say from my standpoint, it felt a little bit softer than landing on land and then having the rocking motion after you land in the water. I think we got very lucky with sea state. It could have been a lot more dramatic than it was. So, some subtle differences, but with a lot of similarities as well," NASA astronaut Shannon Walker said while comparing her experience of traveling on the Dragon capsule compared to the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

The 167-day mission was the longest for a crew capsule launching from the U.S.

The previous record of 84 days was set by NASA's final Skylab station astronauts in 1974.

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On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. became the first man to reach space onboard the Freedom 7 space capsule. On Thursday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) commemorated the 60th anniversary of the first American astronaut that travelled approximately 116 miles in space. Taking to its official Twitter handle, NASA wrote: 60 years ago today, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American to travel in space, climbing 116 miles (188 km) above Earth. Shortly after, President John F. Kennedy committed the United States to a lunar landing before the end of the decade. Shephard had led the United States as a country in its space efforts during the cold war era with the Soviet Union. Moscow had launched its worlds first satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957. Both US and the Soviet Union found were locked in a race to put the first human being into space.

[Credit: NASA]

First suborbital flight to space

In 1958, US NASA initiated Project Mercury under which it selected its first group of astronauts in 1959 to begin training for the worlds first manned mission. Meanwhile, Moscow started its own human spaceflight program, under which it shortlisted a team of 20 cosmonauts in 1960. In April 1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin completed a single orbit around the Earth aboard Moscow made Vostok capsule. However, Shepherd took the first suborbital flight to the space that earmarked President John F. Kennedys vision of the US achieving the worlds first lunar landing before the end of the decade.

60 years ago today, Alan Shepard became the first American in space.



Happy #NationalAstronautDay to our @NASA_Astronauts. From the Mercury 7, to the astronauts of the Artemis generation today, and all those who made history in between, thank you for always exploring. pic.twitter.com/kfGw0gjqIF  NASA's Johnson Space Center (@NASA_Johnson) May 5, 2021

[Credit: NASA]

Inclement weather scrubbed the first launch attempt on May 2, 1961, and NASA decided it was time to announce that Shepard would indeed be making the first flight. On May 5, the weather proved more cooperative and Shepard climbed aboard Freedom 7 atop the Redstone rocket poised on Launch Pad 5 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, now the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida, NASA explained in the release.

[Credit: NASA]

Project Mercury was started by NASAs The Space Task Group (STG) at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. It struck a contract with McDonnell Aircraft Corporation of St Louis to design the spacecraft and took its first successful test flight in December 1960. NASA also selected its first first-ever group of astronauts on April 9, 1959. The group consisting of M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, John H. Glenn, Virgil I. Gus Grissom, Walter M. Schirra, Alan B. Shepard, and Donald K. Deke Slayton called themselves the Mercury 7 astronauts. As the US launched its first manned mission, an estimated 45 million Americans anxiously watched the liftoff on live television, including the then President of the US Kennedy at the White House. After more than two hours of delays due to technical issues, the rocket engine ignited at 9:34 a.m. Eastern time, propelling Shepard skyward and into the history books, said NASA.

[Credit: NASA]

[Credit: NASA]
The Navy already knows exactly how to bring its shipyards into the 21st century. The Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan, the SIOP, is a state-of-the-art plan for a total re-engineering of each Navy shipyard using digital modeling. But because the Navy is strapped for funds, the available funding that the Navy can apply to this plan will not be enough, given the need to grow the fleet to keep pace with the Chinese and Russian fleets.
I felt really heavy, said one of the four astronauts on May 6 who returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) after spending over 160 days in space. The crew was blasted off from Earth's atmosphere in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule and also brought back with a splashdown off Florida early May 2 (local time) which was also NASAs first nighttime ocean landing in over half a century.

Describing their experience of the mission, one of the astronauts in the groups called Crew-1, Victor Glover said on Thursday that there was an instance when he had to tell himself to breathe and that he felt like those cartoons. It was also the first regular mission to be taken and then returned from space aboard a spacecraft built by Elon Musks aerospace company, SpaceX.

"There was a point where I was just saying to myself, breathe. Inhale, because I felt really heavy -- I felt like those cartoons when they experience G and your face is just sagging down," said Victor Glover of Crew-1.

He further said, "I expected it to be so dynamic -- and so challenging -- that the actual event I think, was a little less than what I was expecting, and so it was enjoyable all around. The weight of the acceleration was mainly concentrated in the astronauts chest and hence, it reportedly made it difficult to breathe. However, he noted that launch and entry are such unique experiences.

"I felt like those cartoons when they experience [g-forces] and your face is just sagging down. - @AstroVicGlover recounting his first experience reentering Earth aboard @SpaceXs Crew Dragon Resilience. pic.twitter.com/j0W0ls0Ti6  NASA (@NASA) May 6, 2021

I think we all need to be able to dream in all colors."  @AstroVicGlover offers his perspective on being the first Black astronaut to embark on a long-duration spaceflight aboard NASA's @SpaceX Crew-1 mission. pic.twitter.com/nOmBwGtSJK  NASA (@NASA) May 6, 2021

NASA-SpaceX launch of astronauts from American soil

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA has contracted Elon Musks SpaceX to launch astronauts into space from American soil which did not happen since 2011 after the end of the space shuttle program, until now. In the years that followed 2011, the United States space agency was forced to pay for rides to the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz vessels that land on dry land.

Talking about splashdown landing in the homeland, US astronaut Shannon Walker said, Landing in the water was interesting because none of us really knew what to expect, but I would say from my standpoint, it felt a little bit softer than landing on land.

You spend less time under a parachute on the Dragon than you do under the Soyuz, she added. Further, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi also said that the landing was smooth. He said, Impact was very, very minimal, and right after splashdown. We feel the waves, we come back to the water planet...That's a great feeling."

 @NASA's @SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts are back on planet Earth and ready to answer your questions!



Join us today at 3:45pm ET as they chat about their historic mission to the @Space_Station and their return home. Ask your questions by using #AskNASA: https://t.co/wR90N886lp pic.twitter.com/KdbfI3WNph  NASA Commercial Crew (@Commercial_Crew) May 6, 2021

LIVE: NASAs @SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts give their first update after returning to Earth. Have questions? Use #AskNASA. https://t.co/pWvaHVPi8n  NASA (@NASA) May 6, 2021

Image credits: @Commercial_Crew/Twitter
The Maldives police said Friday an explosion that wounded former President Mohamed Nasheed was an act of terrorism but no suspects were identified.

Australian police said they are ready to assist the investigation.

Nasheed, 53, was wounded in the blast Thursday night outside his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, Male, police said.

Officials said his injuries were not life-threatening.

Maldives police did not give details on possible suspects or the bomb device.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Photos circulated on social media showed a ripped-up motorcycle at the scene.

Nasheed is the current Parliament speaker and was the first democratically elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago, from 2008 to 2012.

He has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law.

The Maldives is known for its luxury resorts but has seen rare violent attacks.

Violence has been blamed on a rise in religious extremism.

The Maldives has one of the highest per capita numbers of militants who fought in Syria and Iraq.

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Residents of Goma expressed mixed feelings about the state of siege declared by the authorities in East Congo that came into effect on Thursday.

Republic of Congo president Felix Tshisekedi ordered a state of siege for 30 days in Ituri and North Kivu provinces, where rebel groups are responsible for attacks against civilians, the government and security forces.

The measure replaces the civil administration - including elected governors - with military personnel or members of the national police, that could have the power to arrest and prosecute civilians in military courts.

Human rights groups were concerned about the consequences of the decision and have called on authorities to ensure that the state of siege will not undermine the human rights of the population which is already suffering with high levels of violence.

"I'm a bit pessimistic, pessimistic because I don't think that in 30 days, we'll be able to finalise this war here," said Leopold Baguma, a Goma resident, reacting to the siege on the day it came into affect.

Others showed more enthusiasm with the measure.

"We pray God that this works, because the people of this province have already suffered many atrocities from the armed groups," said Yassin Ndayi who lives in the region.

During a news conference in Goma Carly Nzanzu Kasivita, civil Governor of Nord-Kivu province who will be replaced by a military in the coming days, backed the decision of the head of the country and called on people to support the armed forces.

He also appealed to young rebels to abandon fighting for armed groups.

In the latest violent episode in the region an Islamic leader who openly denounced extremism was killed in Beni during evening prayers following days of deadly attacks that left at least 19 people dead.

The rebel group Allied Democratic Forces was allegedly behind the killing of the religious leader.

The ADF originated in neighboring Uganda and has long been a threat in eastern Congo.

A Congolese military campaign was launched against the rebels last year and fighters have since dispersed and fled into eastern Congo, where dozens of armed groups are fighting to control the mineral-rich land.

Rebels have responded to the military offensive with increased attacks, killing more than 800 people last year.

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Melbourne, May 7 (PTI) Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from COVID-hit India from next Saturday and the first repatriation flight will land in the city of Darwin the same day, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday.

The Australian government, for the first time in history, recently imposed a temporary ban on its citizens from returning home, if they have spent time in India up to 14 days before flying back.

The government threatened to prosecute them with a possibility of five years of jail term or a penalty of 66,000 Australian dollars (USD 50,899).

The move triggered a backlash with several lawmakers, doctors, civil societies and businessmen criticising the government for "abandoning" Australians in India and threatening the travellers with a hefty penalty and a jail term.

The government's order on the matter is set to expire on May 15.

Following the National Security Committee on Friday, Morrison agreed it saw "no need to extend it beyond that date".

Australia will charter three repatriation flights between May 15 and May 31. The first flight into Darwin will touch down on May 15. Direct commercial flights from India are still banned.

Morrison said flights being organised to repatriate stranded Australians will be "focused on bringing those Australian citizens, residents and families who have been registered with our high commission and consular offices within India." "It will also be targeted (at) those 900 most vulnerable of the group," he said after the latest national Cabinet meeting "I have asked the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to do a review of those registrations those who been registered in India to ensure they are current. And that will assist a proper prioritisation of placing people on those flights," Morrison said.

''The charters will be undertaken by the Australian crews, and they will require rapid antigen testing prior to departure," he said.

He said that three flights will land in Darwin by the end of this month while Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria were also open to taking in more flights from India which means there could be six flights potentially.

Morrison, while addressing a media conference, said a three-week pause on flights from India has slowed the rate of COVID-19 infections in quarantine facilities.

''We have already facilitated the return of around 20,000 Australians from India, and this has been a big task. And that task will commence again on May 15, he said.

''All of this is about sensibly preventing a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia, and doing that responsibly, while at the same time doing everything we can to sustainably bring Australians home from what is currently the most significant hot spot for those travelling into Australia of anywhere in the world right now," Morrison said.

"The biosecurity order is doing its job. It is doing what we intended it to do. It will run for the term we intended for it to run, and then that will be replaced by arrangements made beyond that point to ensure we can prevent the third wave,'' he said.

Media reports said that Morrison was due to speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi later on Friday to see what further assistance Australia can give.

"I want to thank in particular, in Australia, our Australian community of people who are of Indian descent. The Indian community here in Australia. I thank them for their patience. I thank them for their understanding," Morrison said.

"...I know they will be welcoming the fact these repatriation flights will be returning once again but also believe we will be able to do that because of the actions we have taken on a sustainable basis," he added.

Official figures say there are currently 9,000 Australians in India who want to return home.

With a record 4,14,188 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,14,91,598, while the active cases crossed the 36-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

Meanwhile, Australia's chief medical officer Paul Kelly stood firm on advice on India travel suspension.

"With the data, we had in terms of the increasing cases coming from India, where they have had over 2 million cases in the past week, with thousands of deaths, the contrast between their expense and our experience, and I joined the prime minister in my heart going out to people in India and those with loved ones in India," Kelly said.

"We had to take that into account to protect Australia using the data we had last week. And it's working." Kelly said.

According to ABC news, many Australians have fled to Sri Lanka from India. The federal government is now working with Sri Lanka towards ensuring people who board flights to Australia have received a negative test. PTI NC NSA AKJ NSA

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Maldives first democratically elected president and current Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed is now in a critical condition after he was injured in a blast on Thursday, May 6, near his home. Maldives police said that they treat the explosion as an act of terrorism but did not give details on possible suspects or the bomb device. As of now, no one has claimed responsibility for the blast. Nasheed, who is now 53, became the first democratically elected leader of the Maldives after a 30-year autocratic rule.

Following an explosion on Neeloafaru Magu in Male, Speaker of Parliament President Mohamed Nasheed has sustained injuries and is currently receiving treatment at ADK Hospital.

1/2  Maldives Police (@PoliceMv) May 6, 2021

Police are currently active on the scene and we urge the public to refrain from going to that area for the time being. We will keep updating the public.

2/2  Maldives Police (@PoliceMv) May 6, 2021

All that you need to know

He served as president from the year 2008 to 2012. He resigned amid protests in the region. His party colleague, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, won the vote. Nasheed remained an influential figure and was elected Parliament speaker in 2019

According to the reports by AP, Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed said that the police did not detect any military-grade components in the explosives used. However, the police are trying to identify four possible suspects but no arrests have been made.

President Nasheed underwent a successful final, critical, life-saving procedure this afternoon. Over the course of past 16 hours he had life-saving surgery on injuries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs. He remains in a critical condition in intensive care.  ADK Hospital (@ADKHospital) May 7, 2021

Nasheed has championed global efforts to fight climate change, particularly rising seas threatening the low-lying islands of his archipelago nation. Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a tweet described the blast as an attack on Nasheed. Jaishankar wrote, "Deeply concerned at the attack on Speaker @MohamedNasheed. Wish him a speedy recovery. Know that he will never be intimidated".

(Image Credits: AP)
North Korea has warned its citizens against propaganda leaflets from the South against Pyongyang sent via balloon over the divisive border and said that it could carry coronavirus. The state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper in North Korea urged people to stay away from the leaflets, as per news agency Yonhap report. The warning that is floating in the secretive state reportedly says, Even when we come across a strange object flying in the wind, we must consider them as a possible route of transmission of the malicious virus rather than a natural phenomenon. It further advised people to think and move according to COVID-19 protocols.

The warning for North Korea came just a day after police in Seoul raided the office of an activist who said that he used balloons to float hundreds of thousands of propaganda leaflets towards North Korea violating the contentious new law. A well-known North Korean defector, Park Sang-hak is the first person to be investigated since the legislation took effect in March.

The new South Korean law allows punishment for anti-Pyongyang leafleting with up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won ($27,040). The law has prompted South Koreans to criticise Seoul authorities, According to critics, South Korea has attempted to mend ties with North Korea costing people their freedom of expression.

What did balloons carry?

While Park admitted last week that he launched 500,000 propaganda leaflets by balloon into North Korea, Seoul Metropolitan police said the raid on the Seoul office of the activist was related to his announcement on April 30 regarding the leaflets. As per reports, balloons launched by Park carried 5,000 US $1 bills and 500 booklets about South Koreas economic development along with 500,000 leaflets. However, the authorities denied revealing more details of the investigation.

Dismissing the fears regarding punishments allowed in the law, Park told the reporters that he would keep launching balloons despite the new legislation. He said, Even if we get three years in prison or even 30 years in prison ... well continue to send anti-North leaflets to let our ragged, starving compatriots in North Korea know the truth.

Image credits: AP
Dozens of protesters held a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Manila on Friday, demanding China to get out of territories in the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines.

A protester wearing a mask bearing a face of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte pretended to sleep under a mosquito net to symbolize his inaction on the disputed South China Sea issues.

The escalating feud between Manila and Beijing started after more than 200 Chinese vessels suspected by Philippine authorities to be operated by militias were spotted in early March at Whitsun Reef.

Philippine's defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana and foreign sSecretary Teodoro Locsin demanded the vessels leave, then the government deployed navy and coast guard vessels to the area.

China said it owns the reef and the Chinese vessels were sheltering from rough seas.

Many of the Chinese vessels have left Whitsun, about 175 nautical miles (325 kilometers) west of the Philippine province of Palawan, but several have remained moored in the area, part of a shallow atoll partly occupied by China and Vietnam.

The Philippine government says the reef is within an internationally recognized offshore zone where Manila has exclusive rights to exploit fisheries, oil, gas and other resources.

While being careful with his pronouncements on China, Duterte blasted two respected former Philippine officials who have criticized his handling of the country's territorial conflicts with Beijing.

He used expletives and called former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio "idiotic."

Del Rosario and Carpio were among the Philippine officials who brought the country's conflict with China to international arbitration in 2013.

The arbitration tribunal ruled largely in favor of the Philippines based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea and invalidated China's claims to virtually the entire South China Sea on historical grounds.

China refused to participate in the arbitration, ignored the 2016 ruling and continues to defy it.

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A gun battle between heavily armed gang members and police erupted in the Jacarezinho favela, in the northern part of Rio de Janeiro, leaving one policeman dead, along with 24 suspected gang members, according to police.

Police raided the favela at dawn, deploying dozens of heavily armed special forces into the tightly packed neighborhood of 40,000 residents.

Police said they were investigating the recruitment of teenagers by the Red Command gang, (Comando Vermelho) who are heavily involved in drug and arms trafficking.

Police also consider Jacarezinho to be one of the group's headquarters.

A police helicopter swooped in low in the early morning hours, while gang members fled over rooftops and alleyways, firing back at police commandos.

One resident described the moment police entered her home chasing a bleeding suspect.

"About 8 o'clock this morning a criminal came into my house, since I live in a favela I had no way to keep him out, he had a bullet wound and then the police came and asked whether any gang members were in the house, and I nodded with my head, yes, because I didn't want to endanger my family. So the police came in and killed the kid in my daughter's room," 43-year-old Flavia Luciana told journalists in the blood-stained foyer of her modest home.

The force identified 21 members of the group that dominate the territory with a "warlike structure of soldiers equipped with rifles, grenades, bulletproof vests, pistols, camouflaged clothing and other military accessories."

In the first three months of the year, the Candido Mendes University's Public Safety Observatory registered 257 police operations that, on 12 occasions, resulted in three or more deaths.

Many of them appear to violate a ruling by Brazil's Supreme Court last year that ordered the police to suspend operations during the pandemic, restricting them only to "absolutely exceptional" situations.

The Supreme Court declined to comment when asked by The Associated Press if Thursdays operation would qualify.

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While US-China relations are already stooping low due to disagreements on a range of issues, the resumption of student visa applications at the US embassy in China also got off to a rather bitter start. In a Twitter-like Chinese platform, Weibo, the American embassys social media post has angered several Chinese students as the citizens of the Asian country interpreted the post as the US comparing the students to dogs. Under former US President Donald Trumps leadership, America last year had barred nearly all non-US citizens who were in China from entering the United States after the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, on May 5, the US embassy posted on Weibo asking Chinese students what they were waiting for as US President Joe Biden adminsitration lifted some of the restrictions of his predecessor. The post in Chinese said, Spring has come and the flowers are in bloom. Are you like this dog who can't wait to go out and play?" which was accompanied by a video of an excited puppy trying to climb over a safety gate. Shortly after the video was posted, it drew flak against American authorities as Weibo users felt that the comparison was not only inappropriate, but also insulting.

They did it on purpose

Further deteriorating the already strenuous US-China ties, Weibo users reportedly perceived that the United States officials did it on purpose referring to the comparison of the excited furry animal with Chinese students. One user on Weibo wrote, Is this American humour? I believe they did it on purpose! Meanwhile, another user of the Chinese social media said, Dogs in American culture basically have positive meanings, but in Chinese culture and idioms, they are mostly negative. Reportedly, many others also quipped that the master of the students was now calling them back to the US.

An English-language tabloid, Global Times, which is also considered the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party and is run by CCPs Peoples Daily, cited Chinese netizens saying that the post by the US embassy was blatant racism. Owing to the intense criticism, the post was deleted and the spokesperson for the US embassy in China reportedly issued an apology on May 6 to anyone who was offended by the remarks. Similar remarks denouncing the post were also shared on Twitter replying to the user who posted the Weibo post's snapshot.

People are obviously raged and complaining. pic.twitter.com/5SBe7VpfRX   (@realskan) May 5, 2021

Don't they even have any cultural sensitive staffers? I can only conclude they did it on purpose to insult the Chinese students.  Huigoon (@Huigoon) May 5, 2021

Racism is too deeply ingrained in American psyche  Global Politics (@Geopol2030) May 5, 2021

Wrong on every level  JoJo (@UniversalTokens) May 5, 2021

Image credits: AP/Twitter
The U.S. top military leaders say that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan is going "according to plan" and believe the country's troops are prepared.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged that continuing without American support on the ground will be a challenge for the Afghans as they try to hold off Taliban insurgents.

Speaking at a Pentagon press conference, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the U.S. has not settled on a plan yet to continue supporting the Afghan Air Force, which is heavily dependent on the U.S. for maintenance, training and repairs.

He said some U.S. aid may have to be done from outside the country, but officials are also looking at whether some contracts may be turned over to Afghan control.

This was the first news conference Milley and Austin have done together since the Biden administration took office in January.

President Joe Biden announced last month that all American troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, 2021. NATO allies have said they will do the same, and troops have already begun leaving. Austin said the drawdown is going according to plan.

The Pentagon has said there were about 2,500 U.S. troops there in recent months, but Milley said the total rises to 3,300 if special operations forces are counted. Military commanders have also said that additional forces will flow in to help with security and logistics for the drawdown.

Pentagon officials have said they will do all they can to monitor terror threats and help the Afghans from other locations in the region, described as over the horizon. But officials have not detailed where those would be.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have threatened Afghan journalists, saying those who give one-sided news in support of Afghanistans intelligence service must stop or face the consequences. On Thursday, gunmen killed a former Afghan TV presenter as he was traveling in the southern city of Kandahar, according to a provincial official, who said other journalists in the area have been warned that extremists are targeting them also.

Within about two months of the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001, the countrys Taliban rulers were removed from power and militarily defeated. But within several years, they had regrouped, rearmed and reasserted themselves, taking advantage of sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan. In recent years the Taliban achieved a battlefield stalemate with U.S.-supported Afghan government forces.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Then COVID hit, with multiple repercussions. Rather than reinvent the way they teach or return to the classroom when they dont feel safe, some teachers who had been close to retirement or thinking about changing careers left the profession. Some young people who had dreamed of become teachers saw the struggles with virtual learning and changed their minds.
The United States, in a bold bid, decided to support waive patents on much-needed COVID-19 vaccines joining the stance of over 120 countries. However, the move was quickly opposed by Germany on May 6 that could still potentially derail the proposal at the World Trade Organisation, which requires the consensus of all members to pass. Even pharmaceutical companies have expressed their disagreement with growing support for coronavirus vaccine patent waiver, proponents also view the move as essential for the wider distribution of the jabs across the globe.

As per the Bloomberg report, the drug companies have a powerful ally in Germany along with other nations such as Switzerland, UK. When US President Joe Biden announced Americas support to the waiver, shares of US and European Unions (EUs) vaccine makers toppled on Wednesday. At the core of US vs Germany is an arcane 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property (IP) rights also known as TRIPS.

What exactly US agrees to support?

Fearing correctly that COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing would be dominated by wealthy nations, India and South Africa in October 2020 proposed that the rules of WTOs TRIPS agreement should be eased. However, WTO decisions are based on consensus and hence, all 164 nations have to agree. Marking a reversal in its previous position on the discussion, the Biden administration has announced support for waiving patents on COVID-19 vaccines, however, not on treatments or other technology used to fight the disease.

As per reports, ten meetings in seven months have been unsuccessful in producing a breakthrough with 60 proposal sponsors by emerging economies backed by renowned scholars. If WTO adopts the waiver, it would allow pharmaceutical companies to developed COVID-19 vaccines without any fear that they might be sued by another entity that already holds the patent on the product.

The India-South Africa proposal of October 2020 says that the property rights such as patents, industrial designs, copyright and protection of undisclosed information delays the timely access to affordable vaccines and medicines that are essential to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The nations have also demanded the waiver to be practised for an unspecified time period allowing yearly review until its termination.

Who opposes waiver and why?

Reportedly, huge drug and pharmaceutical companies oppose the proposed patent waiver including nations such as Britain, Switzerland, Germany among others. As per the Bloomberg report, spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkel on May 6 said that the leader weighed in against Americas support of the waiver saying that it would create severe complications for the production of vaccines.

"The limiting factor for the production of vaccines are manufacturing capacities and high-quality standards, not the patents," the German government spokeswoman said. "The protection of the intellectual property is a source of innovation and this has to remain so in the future."

While the US has marked a reversal on its stance, the critics of the waiver reportedly argue that vaccine development is unpredictable and costly. Therefore, according to big players in the industry such as Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, IP protection has helped them to provide the incentive for the development of jabs in record time and the same will happen as the firms continue to tackle the new emerging variants of the coronavirus. However, proponents have also said that some of the money that drugs company are saying was utilised in vaccine production, was public funds.

Whats next?

There have been varying views from nations across the EU and reportedly WTO spokesperson Keith Rockwell has said that there are likely to be more negotiations considering the situation. "It's such an important issue that there needs to be some form of movement," he told reporters. "Let's see if the EU comes forward with some other kind of idea. We'll have to wait and see how that goes."

Even though US support of waiver is a milestone achievement, it necessarily does not imply more jabs. For one thing, the WTO has to actually adopt the waiver. As per a Guardian report, vaccine production especially amid the pandemic has emerged as complex formulations. Even experienced nations have flagged problems in scaling up the production. The manufacturing process is equally important as the patented recipe of the jab and the WTO has no power to force firms such as Pfizer and Moderna to share the technology and knowledge that is used to produce the vaccines.

It would not deliver more vaccines next week, but if they had done this a year ago, we would now have results, reportedly said Ellen t Hoen, a medical IP expert and campaigner regarding the changing stance of nations in support of the waiver of vaccine patents. She reportedly also said that sharing technology and expertise with manufacturers around the world would make production and distribution easier.

Meanwhile, at WTO, the talks are presently stalled after the 10th round of talks on April 30. The supporters of the waiver have said that they would revise their text from October 2020 for the next TRIPS council meeting in the second half of May. Later, more discussions will also take place in June.

Image credits: AP/PTI


WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military may continue to train Afghan security forces, but do it in other countries after American forces leave Afghanistan, the top U.S. military officer said Thursday, calling it one of several options the Pentagon is considering.

Speaking at a Pentagon press conference, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the U.S. has not settled on a plan yet to continue supporting the Afghan Air Force, which is heavily dependent on the U.S. for maintenance, training and repairs. He said some U.S. aid may have to be done from outside the country, but officials are also looking at whether some contracts may be turned over to Afghan control.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged that continuing without American support on the ground will be a challenge for the Afghans as they try to hold off Taliban insurgents. This was the first news conference the two have done together since the Biden administration took office in January.

President Joe Biden announced last month that all American troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. NATO allies have said they will do the same, and troops have already begun leaving. Austin said the drawdown is going according to plan.

The Pentagon has said there were about 2,500 U.S. troops there in recent months, but Milley said the total rises to 3,300 if special operations forces are counted. Military commanders have also said that additional forces will flow in to help with security and logistics for the drawdown.

Pentagon officials have said they will do all they can to monitor terror threats and help the Afghans from other locations in the region, described as over the horizon. But officials have not detailed where those would be.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, has warned that Afghanistans military will certainly collapse without some continued American support once all U.S. troops are withdrawn. He has expressed concerns that Afghan forces may be unable to prevent the Taliban from taking more ground, and said the Afghans will need help and funding to maintain and fly their aircraft.

Milley said last week that Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some bad possible outcomes against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have threatened Afghan journalists, saying those who give one-sided news in support of Afghanistans intelligence service must stop or face the consequences. On Thursday, gunmen killed a former Afghan TV presenter as he was traveling in the southern city of Kandahar, according to a provincial official, who said other journalists in the area have been warned that extremists are targeting them also.

Within about two months of the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001, the countrys Taliban rulers were removed from power and militarily defeated. But within several years, they had regrouped, rearmed and reasserted themselves, taking advantage of sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan. In recent years the Taliban achieved a battlefield stalemate with U.S.-supported Afghan government forces.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Marking the first address since acquiring the role of Charge DAffaires at the US Embassy in India, Daniel B. Smith on May 7 said he will advance US President Joe Bidens objective of strengthening the bilateral relations between both the countries. Noting the crippling second wave of COVID-19 in the country, Smith also reiterated that the US stands with India to showcase solidarity. He said US President attaches great importance to the US-India relationship and added that he is looking forward' to working collaboratively with India.

Daniel B. Smith on May 3 was appointed as US Charge d'Affaires to India and said that he is ready to work. On Friday, he also said that the American government is working around the clock in order to provide life-saving assistance to India to assist the nations fight against COVID-19.

Smith said on Friday, Namaste. My name is Daniel Smith and Im the new Charge DAffaires at the US Embassy in India. Im here to advance US President Bidens objective of strengthening the US-India partnership. The President attaches great importance to this relationship and I look forward to working towards even closer cooperation between our governments and people.

This is a challenging time for people in India. The COVID-19 virus has touched the lives of many. The United States government is working around the clock to provide life-saving assistance to India as we combat the virus together. The American people and American companies stand with India. AS President Biden has said, India was there for us, and we will be there for them. Thank you and I look forward to working with you, he added.

Welcome to Mission India, Charge DAffaires Daniel B. Smith! He joins us in continued support of the #USIndia partnership. The United States stands with India as we work together to combat COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/1ShOFv4XlP  U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) May 7, 2021

Daniel Smiths previous works

He was the former US acting Secretary of State and in 2018, he took the role as the director of the Foreign Service Institute. Prior to this, Smith has also been the Career Ambassador in the United States and in 2014, he was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research. In 2010, the present US envoy to India was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Greece). Smith entered the US government in 2007 as Executive Secretary.

Earlier, Smith had previously also noted the "difficult times" that India is currently facing with the resurgence of COVID-19 and shortage of medical supplies but also pledged to help the nation as New Delhi assisted Washington. Smith's maiden remarks on Twitter after taking over the position came as United States Agency for International Developments (USAIDs) sixth emergency shipment in six days landed in India on May 5.

The American people continue to deliver life-saving assistance to India, with the 6th flight of emergency relief in 6 days! This shipment includes a climate-friendly oxygen generation unit which can turn air into oxygen. Thanks to the people of California! #USIndiaDosti pic.twitter.com/b6conyzovH  U.S. Embassy India (@USAndIndia) May 5, 2021

Namaste, I'm Dan Smith, the new Charge d'Affaires at the U.S. Mission in India. These are difficult times, but I'm ready to get to work in support of the #USIndia partnership. Just as India helped the U.S., the U.S. will stand with India. I look forward to working with you all.  Charge DAffaires Daniel B. Smith (@USAmbIndia) May 3, 2021

Image credits: @USAndIndia/Twitter
With Republicans in Washington turning up the heat on Rep. Liz Cheney, the defiant third-term congresswoman faces mixed reviews at home.

So far, Wyomings governor and congressional delegation have opted against sticking their necks out for Cheney, who faces ouster from House GOP leadership over her opposition to former President Donald Trump.

But she retains considerable Republican support in the state, with a string of prominent former lawmakers recently rallying to her defense.

Gov. Mark Gordon deflected Thursday when asked if Cheney deserves removal as House GOP conference chairwoman for countering Trumps repeated lies that voter fraud cost him the election.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer are the real threats to Wyoming, he said.

Gordon said in a statement he will work with Wyomings congressional delegates regardless of what the House does.

Gordon had supported Cheney just three months ago, calling her a key part of our delegations stature and saying her GOP leadership job was increasingly essential to countering President Joe Bidens agenda.

Cheney was among 10 Republicans in the House to vote for Trump's impeachment on charges that he incited the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol early this year. As conference chairwoman, the No. 3 House GOP leadership job, she is tasked with coordinating Republican messaging.

Instead, she has found herself increasingly at odds with most of her party as Trump keeps insisting, without credible evidence, that fraud kept him from reelection. Cheney survived a leadership vote in February, but Republicans in the House are preparing for another next week, with Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., emerging as a top candidate to replace her.

Despite the political risk facing Cheney, Wyoming's two Republican senators, John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, weren't riding to her defense, either.

The Wyoming delegation doesn't always agree except on countering the Biden administration, Barrasso said in a statement when asked about Cheney's situation.

He didn't answer a question about why he didnt join her in disputing Trumps false claims that fraud deprived him of victory.

Lummis, who was Wyoming's congresswoman for four terms before Cheney, didn't respond at all when asked if she would stand up for Cheney.

Political peril hasn't kept Cheney from doubling down, in a Washington Post editorial Wednesday, on saying Republicans should reject Trump's false claims and support appointment of a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Meanwhile, some other well-known Wyoming Republicans have spoken up in Cheney's defense, including former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, former state Rep. Tim Stubson and former state GOP Chairman Matt Micheli.

She's already facing four primary challengers next year, however, including state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, of Cheyenne, and state Rep. Chuck Gray, of Casper.

Liz Cheney should be kicked out of leadership  this vote should be held immediately. And our campaign for Congress will kick her out of office! Gray tweeted Tuesday.

(Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed; only the image & headline may have been reworked by www.republicworld.com)
Two weeks after President Xi Jinping took part in the U.S.-sponsored climate summit of world leaders, it is hard to tell whether China has made a commitment to tougher carbon reduction deadlines or not.

In a carefully worded statement on April 22, Xi left it unclear whether China will go beyond pledges that he made last September to reach a peak in carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Particular attention was paid to China's largest source of carbon emissions -- the country's consumption of high- polluting coal.

While China is rapidly increasing its renewable energy capacity, it also continues to burn over half of the coal consumed in the world.

"The targets of carbon peak and carbon neutrality have been added to China's overall plan for ecological conservation. We are now making an action plan and are already taking strong nationwide actions toward carbon peak," Xi said at the summit hosted by U.S. President Joe Biden.

"Support is being given to peaking pioneers from localities, sectors and companies.

"China will strictly control coal-fired generation projects, and strictly limit the increase in coal consumption over the 14th Five-Year Plan period and phase it down in the 15th Five-Year Plan period," Xi said.

While some analysts saw positive signs in Xi's pledge to "strictly limit the increase" in coal use during the 2021- 2025 period, they also voiced concern that the formula would still allow coal consumption to grow.

The plan to "phase it down" would put off the task of actual reductions until the next five-year plan for the 2026- 2030 period. By that time, coal use will have reached a higher plateau, making gradual cuts less effective in reducing future emissions.

Climate experts say China's plans are too slow to get started with actual reductions.

"Many provinces believe that the use of fossil energy can continue to be substantially increased before 2030. They are even planning to reach a new and higher peak of carbon emissions during the 14th Five-Year Plan and will only consider the decline after reaching the 'new peak,'" said Jinnan Wang, dean of the Environmental Planning Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), China Energy News reported in January.

Last year, China's coal consumption rose 0.6 percent to 4.04 billion metric tons, according to Reuters, even though coal's share of total energy fell from 57.7 percent to 56.8 percent.

The trends appear likely to continue this year.

Although the National Energy Administration estimates that coal's share of total energy will fall below 56 percent, the China Electricity Council expects power consumption to rise by 7-8 percent, driving coal volumes higher, Argus Media reported.

S&P Global Platts Analytics estimates that coal-fired power generation will peak "by 2027," giving a boost to coal consumption for another 6-7 years.

New Plants

Xi's summit statement also said nothing specific about a key issue for environmental advocacy groups -- the continuing construction of coal-fired power plants.

"Xi's commitment was positive but did not mark a breakthrough, climate experts said, as it would still allow for the construction of hundreds of coal-fired power stations planned for the next five years," The Guardian reported.

In one of many recent studies, the London-based think tank TransitionZero said that China must close 588 coal-fired power plants over the next decade and halt new projects immediately to meet Xi's climate targets.

A recent study by researchers including experts at the University of Maryland Center for Global Sustainability, the North China Electric Power University and Tsinghua University counted 1,037 coal plants currently operating in China with nearly 3,000 individual generating units.

China added 38.4 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired generating capacity last year and has approved 73 GW of new projects, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

In a recent study, the Global Energy Monitor said that China has 247 GW of new coal plant capacity under development.

At an April 27 press briefing, a senior environmental official said that the decision to keep building coal power projects was mainly driven by concern for local jobs.

"They mainly help guarantee people's livelihoods, and guarantee the flexibility and security of our energy grid," said Li Gao, director-general of the MEE's climate change department, as reported by The Straits Times.

Shutdowns and cancellations of the projects are likely to meet with local resistance, job losses and unrecoverable costs.

Zou Ji, president of Energy Foundation China, said that the plan to "strictly limit" the increase in coal consumption would make it "very risky" to invest in new coal plants now, the official English-language China Daily reported on April 27.

But it is unclear how Xi will deal with the problem of projects already in progress. The plan to delay the "phase down" of coal use until the 15th Five-Year period suggests that a solution has yet to be found.

Hopes have also been clouded for cooperation on climate change despite pre-summit meetings in Shanghai between U.S. special envoy John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.

Following Xi's speech at the summit, political tensions emerged as Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned of links to political differences.

At a forum sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, Wang said that "cooperation would depend on how the United States responded to Beijing's policies regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang," The New York Times reported.

"If the United States no longer interferes in China's internal affairs, then we can have even smoother cooperation that can bring more benefits to both countries and the rest of the world," the paper quoted Wang as saying.

Start time

But China's government has also sent mixed signals on when its efforts to curb carbon emissions will begin.

On April 28, the government announced tariff changes for steel imports and exports to take effect May 1, aimed at encouraging mills "to cut crude steel output, guiding the industry to cut energy consumption," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The move to rein in production from a major industrial source of pollution after record crude steel output of over 1 billion metric tons last year may be the first of its kind.

China's reluctance to advance new targets has stood in contrast to Biden's announcement that the United States would roughly double its carbon reductions by cutting 50-52 percent of emissions by 2030 compared with 2005 levels. The previous commitment in 2015 by former President Barack Obama called for a cut of 26-28 percent by 2025.

Mikkal Herberg, energy security research director for the Seattle-based National Bureau of Asian Research, said the new U.S. plan was designed to put China on the spot.

"There was a very heavy overlay of geopolitics and deteriorating U.S.-China relations in the Biden climate summit outcome," Herberg said, citing a pre-summit speech by Secretary of State Antony Blinken that identified climate technology as an area of competition with China.

"It's difficult to imagine the United States winning the long-term strategic competition with China if we cannot lead the renewable energy revolution. Right now, we're falling behind," Blinken said on April 19.

"The Biden administration is quite clearly using the 'China threat' to help mobilize domestic support for its climate agenda," said Herberg.

"But Xi is certainly not going to let a Biden summit get any credit for more ambitious coal and climate policy," he said.

"So, Xi basically reiterated the posture of the 14th Five- Year Plan, which is to continue reducing coal's share of energy but without an explicit focus on absolute reductions on coal use until later in the decade," said Herberg.

It's more likely that Xi will save an announcement of any upgraded targets for the U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties, known as COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland in November.

"That promotes his posture as a responsible global player in the global process and doesn't reward the U.S. for any step up in ambitions," Herberg said.
Kem Sokha is working to convince the ruling party to normalize politics after a three-year deadlock.

Former Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha (R) talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen (L) at a ceremony mourning Hun Sen's mother-in-law in Phnom Penh, May 5, 2020.

Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha is trying to convince Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) to discuss a political solution to the countrys prolonged political stalemate, a top official with the banned opposition party said Friday.

More than three years after Kem Sokha was arrested and his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) was banned by courts loyal to Hun Sen, he is working to convince the ruling party to return to the negotiation table to discuss national reconciliation and has asked other countries for help, the Kem Sokha ally said.

We have asked for the international community intervention in order for the disputed parties to be able to talk, said Suon So Rida, a former CNRP lawmaker and Kem Sokha loyalist, told RFA. We cant allow any situations that can lead to revenge or our strategy will fail.

Kem Sokha is working on three major facets of his plan for national reconciliation, Suon So Rida said, including meeting with diplomats whose countries are signatories to the Paris Peace Accords that ended years of war and helped set up a democratic country in Cambodia to ensure they uphold the pact.

Political commentator Em Sovannara said Kem Sokha has maintained his widespread popularity because he will not request political rehabilitation and is committed to nonviolent means. He urged the CNRP to draw more international support for its push for a political resolution.

[International support] will give the opposition party political bargaining strength without which the opposition party has been unable to fight for justice until now, he said.

But another analyst, Kim Sok, said the CNRPs soft approach to dealing with the CPP wont benefit the opposition party.

The CPP and Hun Sens family have been controlling Cambodia under many parliament mandates because of the soft approach policy [of the opposition party] until the government disbanded the party and persecuted its members from top to bottom, he said. The democrats cant stand up now.

Suon So Rida said that Kem Sokha is doing what he can to move forward.

Any talks must ensure that both parties understand each other, because if we incite Cambodians to take revenge on each other, we wont reach the talks, he said.

Cambodias Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP in November 2017 and barred its members from taking part in political activities, two months after the arrest of Kem Sokha for his role in an alleged scheme to topple Hun Sens government.

The ban, along with a wider crackdown on NGOs and the independent media, paved the way for the CPP to win all 125 parliamentary seats in the countrys 2018 general election.

Kem Sokha was put on trial beginning in January 2020 but the hearings were suspended two months later on the pretext of the coronavirus pandemic. Hun Sen has hinted that the trial may not resume for years, and may not conclude until 2024, long after the next election cycle.

In the meantime, Kem Sokha remains under judicial supervision until his trial ends. He is forbidden to engage in political activities within Cambodia, though he met with the European Unions ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation, at his residence on May 4.

Kem Sokha has met with Hun Sen only once  in May 2020  since the CNRP was disbanded, Suon So Rida said.

Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Oncologist Zhang Yu says the failure to find evidence of wrongdoing by a Shanghai colleague is 'out and out lies.'

Zhang Yu (right), an oncologist at Peking University No. 3 Hospital (left), is shown in an undated photo.

A Chinese doctor who blew the whistle on a colleague's treatment of a cancer patient has rejected the results of an official probe into the case.

Zhang Yu, an oncologist at the Peking University No. 3 Hospital, hit the headlines after accusing dozens of doctors at top hospitals in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou of malpractice in their treatment of cancer patients.

Among them, Zhang named Lu Wei, a deputy chief physician at Xinhua Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University, accusing him of deceiving a patient with advanced stomach cancer into paying out thousands of U.S. dollars on unapproved treatments.

He accused Lu of prescribing natural killer cell-based cancer immunotherapy, which is not yet approved in China for clinical use. The patient died in December after the 30,000 yuan treatment. Zhang alleged that the treatment had likely accelerated his demise.

China's National Health Commission launched an investigation into Lu's conduct, but concluded that his management of the case had "basically" complied with Chinese law and medical guidelines.

Zhang fired back with a second post on Wednesday, calling the findings by the expert panel "out-and-out lies" and an endorsement of medical malpractice. He has vowed to continue to speak out about the issue.

An investigation by the cutting-edge news site Caixin later found that Lu Wei had business links to the company that administered the therapy.

According to Zhang, Lu was also in the habit of strongly recommending that his patients get their genomes sequenced at Shanghai Iread Gene Technology, a biotech company established in 2016. Lu has claimed he received no commission for these referrals.

'Getting rich, letting people die'

He Anquan, a physician now based overseas who once practiced medicine in Shanghai, said the kinds of accusations Zhang Yu had made sounded familiar and plausible to him.

"The entirety of China's vast medical system and healthcare industry and the whole of Chinese society are all singing from the same hymn sheet, the same song about getting rich and letting people die," He told RFA.

"The medical malpractice pointed out by Dr. Zhang Yu isn't going to be affected one bit [by the scandal]," he said.

Repeated calls to Zhang Yu and Lu Wei went unanswered on Thursday.

Both doctors are currently suspended from medical practice, according to Chinese media reports.

Beijing-based political commentator Hua Po said he believed Zhang Yu was telling the truth.

"Some patients, although they're unaware of the inside story, when they go to the hospital, will be subjected to fraudulent practices and money-spinning by doctors and medical institutions," Hua said.

"It's all about cleaning out your pockets," he said.

Rights activist and health rights campaigner Hu Jia said Zhang would likely face retaliation from the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for his outspokenness, amid a zero tolerance policy for any kind of public dissent.

"Industry insiders who blow the whistle on these issues, whether or not they are resolved, will likely face total suppression by the system," Hu said.

"This is something we are very concerned about."

Need for an open debate

Wuhan doctor Ai Fen, who is now unable to work after receiving botched treatment for a detached retina, said she also worries about the repercussions for Zhang.

Ai was one of the doctors who first sounded the alarm on Dec. 30 about the emergence of a mystery virus in Wuhan that seemed similar to SARS.

She worries that Zhang Yu, like her, will face the risk of suppression because of telling the truth.

"Zhang Yu is insisting on an open debate, which means he could lose his medical license," Ai said. "This shows how much confidence he must have."

"The National Health Commission will never admit that cancers were overtreated, because too many vested interests are involved," she said.

"Everyone knows that this is wrong ... and many people are willing to speak out in private, but not publicly," Ai said.

Former state journalist Liu Shui said Zhang is now taking on the CCP and the machinery of state alone.

"He has put the National Health Commission in an embarrassing position ... this kind of courage is very important," Liu said. "They are definitely going to retaliate against him."

"The entire healthcare system is a huge mass of vested interests," he said.



Reported by Xiaoshan Wu, Chingman and Jia Ao for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
The family of Chang Weiping has been prevented from complaining through official channels about allegations of torture and falsification of evidence.

Authorities in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi have rejected an official complaint from family of detained rights lawyer Chang Weiping, who is currently under investigation for "subversion of state power" after he attended a December 2019 gathering of dissidents in the southeastern city of Xiamen.

Chang's wife Chen Zijuan said the family had complained that he had been tortured during a period of incommunicado detention -- known as residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL) -- as well as about the way in which police were using interviews with people he had known to try to build a case against him.

"I had an altercation with the staff of the Shaanxi provincial state prosecutor's office, and they shut the door of the reception area and all the staff left," Chen said.

"The staff ... actually claimed that they had no control over the way that police investigate cases," she said.

"They tried to send me off to the supervisory committee, but my lawyer told me that investigations into torture are managed by the procuratorate [prosecution]," she said.

Chen, along with rights attorneys Bao Longjun and Ren Quanniu, had earlier tried to file their complaints with the Baoji municipal police department, but had been turned away there as well, she said.

Authorities in the northern Chinese province of Shaanxi have formally arrested rights attorney Chang Weiping on suspicion of "subversion of state power," his wife said on Monday.

Chang was redetained in October 2020 after he spoke out about being tortured following an earlier detention in connection with a dinner gathering of human rights lawyers, dissidents, and rights activists in the southeastern port city of Xiamen in December 2019.

The charge against him appears to have been changed from "incitement to subvert state power," which carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, to the more serious charge of "subversion of state power," which has no upper limit on length of custodial sentence.

Held in remote area

According to Chen, police had no legal basis to detain Chang, and are now holding him in the Fengxian Detention Center in a mountainous area outside Baoji city, with scant transportation links.

"In terms of public transportation, there are only two buses a day going to that place, which is very inconvenient and there is no expressway," she said.

"We drove for more than two hours in total, of which two hours were very hard going on mountain roads," she said.

Once in Fengxian, Chen filed an application for review of the investigation procedures with the department running the case.



"Judging from their reaction body language, I think we were refused," she said.

Chen said police had also forced "testimony" from people known to Chang in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Guangzhou.

"This is tantamount to falsifying testimony," Chen said. "They were likely given prewritten 'confessions' and not allowed to leave until [they had signed them]."

"Either that, or they were encouraged to say that Chang Weiping said things that he didn't say," Chen said.

She cited one example, in which an interviewee was pressured to "admit" that Chang had talked about bringing down the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), when he had told them he was unable to represent them following the loss of his lawyer's license.

"They are trying to depict Chang Weiping as an opposition leader, a political dissident," Chen said.

Call for international investigation

Du Song, director-general of the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group said China should be investigated as Chang's torture allegations under international treaties.

"China has no mechanism for monitoring [torture allegations], and no department is authorized to be the first port of call," Du said.

"China has been a party to the Convention against Torture since 1988. Articles 20 and 30 of the Convention allow for international human rights experts to investigate suspected cases of torture, but China refuses to implement these provisions," Du said.

The European Bar Association and Amnesty International have both called for Chang's release in recent months.



Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin and Cantonese Services. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Htay Htay Tun, who lives and works in the Middle Eastern emirate of Dubai, is the sister of Myanmar Army Major Hein Thaw Oo, who defected last month from the 99th Light Infantry Division in Meiktila, Mandalay region, to join anti-junta protesters in northeast Shan state. The highest-ranked known military defector to break with the army since the military coup on Feb. 1 that overthrew the democratic government of country leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Hein Thaw Oo gave an interview from in hiding with RFAs Myanmar Service. He described major corruption in senior army ranks and expressed willingness to join hands with an anti-junta military force that was taking shape and has since been unveiled. Shortly after that interview was broadcasted on April 20, his sister received threatening phone calls from the military pressuring her to return from the United Arab Emirates and help find her brother or face sedition charges. She spoke by telephone to RFAs Washington, D.C.-based editor Khin Maung Soe and discussed her intention to support the opposition to the junta, including the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a shadow parliament.

RFA: Is it true that you have received threats after RFA broadcasted the interview with Major Hein Thaw Oo?

Htay Htay Tun: Yes. They called me around 4:00 p.m. on April 20. They asked if my brother officially defected from the service and if I have any connection with him. I told them I dont have any connection with him. They said they knew I was lying. They said they knew I had told my mother that he has become a Buddhist monk. The next day they called me again. They asked my brothers location and urged me to tell the truth, or they would issue a warrant for me. I told them I didnt know where he is and that was the truth. But they didnt believe me and they tried to persuade me with another tactic: They said they knew I would return to Myanmar soon and said they would arrange air tickets if I returned. They said I must return.

RFA: How did you reply?

Htay Htay Tun: I told them I didnt have any plan to return and that I dont have any connection with my brother. They said if I dont disclose his location I would be committing treason. An officer from my brothers unit  a major, I think  said they would issue a warrant for me.

RFA: How many times did they contact you?

Htay Htay Tun: They contacted me three times.

Htay Htay Tun, sister of Maj Hein Thaw Oo, in undated photo from her Facebook page.

RFA: So they havent contacted you again?

Htay Htay Tun: Yes. They havent contacted me again. But, later, my friends told me they are now inquiring about my mother and my younger brother, asking if I had returned to Myanmar.

RFA: How did you learn about Major Hein Thaw Oos defection to join the democratic forces?

Htay Htay Tun: After he left the military, he contacted me. He told me to tell my mother that he is in a safe place. I told my mother. But, I didnt want my mom to worry about him, so I told her that he had become a monk and was doing meditation. My mom was worried about him. So my mom told them what I said to her. Since then, the military has tailed me. They have contacted me on Facebook messenger. I have repeatedly told them I dont know his whereabouts. After his interview with RFA was published, they continuously contacted me by phone.

RFA: How do your family members view his defection?

Htay Htay Tun: We all think he did it for justice. I didnt know the extent of impact caused by the military coup as it had just happened. But, later, I learned that the military had begun to act violently. I wanted to get involved in these movements myself. But, now my brother has done it, and I am proud of him. I admire him for doing something I cannot do. Our father is also a military serviceman. He is a man of righteousness and my brother is now following suit.

I am going to support the movement to liberate our country again, both the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

RFA: How do you view the militarys shooting and arresting people and looting private property?

Htay Htay Tun: Mainly, they are acting under orders and they are also trying to derive benefit from the situation, which they see as an opportunity. The salary of an ordinary soldier is so low that they can barely afford a mobile phone. Despite the pay rises, they cannot catch up with rising prices as their families grow. Their small salary is the only benefit they get. Thats why they have been stealing phones and motorcycles. They have gotten an opportunity to possess property they never have had in their lives. The military has turned blind eye to these actions.
Anti-coup protesters flash the three-finger salute of defiance during a demonstration in Yangon, May 6, 2021,

Facing unrelenting popular resistance to military rule three months after they ousted the elected government , Myanmars junta has increasingly turned to hostage taking  grabbing family members to force wanted opponents to surrender, legal experts and rights activists said Thursday.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Myanmar, a Thailand-based NGO that has tracked more than 770 killings of civilians and more than 3,700 arrests since the Feb. 1 army takeover, has also document 40 people who have been taken hostage by the military to get at opponent of the junta or supporters of the shadow government.

The well-known film actor couple Pyay Ti Oo and his wife Aindra Kyaw Zin are now in detention at Shwe Pyi Tha Interrogation camp, charged with incitement under Section 50(a) of the Penal Code, after turning themselves in to protect their children, a friend told RFA.

They (police and soldiers) asked the family to call them back. They threatened to arrest the children and family if they don't show up, said a source close to the couple.

Families of members of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) of work stoppages by professionals including teachers, civil servants, bankers and doctors are a major target, as are relatives of supporters of the new National Unity Government (NUG), made up of ousted lawmakers and ethnic minority leaders.

In the Mandalay region of central Myanmar, the military and police raided the home of a schoolteacher involved in the anti-military movement and arrested her mother and younger brother, a second bother said.

"She is a school teacher who had joined the CDM. About 40 soldiers and police raided the house one day without any arrest warrant being issued. And our mother and brother were arrested because they could not find her, he told RFA.

Soldiers also searched the home of Yan Naing Lin, an electrician in the Bago Division of central Myanmar, seizing his wife, mother and brother without releasing them for about three weeks, he said from hiding.

"I havent been able to contact them since April 15th. I cant find out where they are detained. Their main thing is to get me. I dont know whether they will release my family or not if I surrender, Yan Naing Lin told RFA.

Illegal everywhere

The military has accused him of making a hand grenade, he said, adding that he is unable to produce evidence to support his innocence and he isnt sure his family would be released even if he cooperates.

According to local media reports, incidents of hostage-taking have become more frequent, with most of those detained to force the surrender of a wanted relative remaining in custody.

Khin Maung Zaw, one of the lawyers for deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said the tactic is illegal everywhere.

"In every country, the law permits action to be taken only against the perpetrator and no one else can be prosecuted in his place, he told RFA.

Taking hostages to pursue suspects is not the action of an organization that works with a constitution and existing laws," said journalist Si Thu Aung Myint

It is more like the work of a terror gang," he said.

The brutal crackdown on anyone who has been involved in anti-government protests has driven many demonstrators and NUG supporters into hiding.

"Ever since we decided to join the CDM, we have considered the consequences, said a doctor in Mandalay, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

We knew we could lose our jobs, our licenses could be revoked, and we might have to go to jail. We might even get killed. But we never thought our children, our families would be harmed. This is worrisome.

Security forces walk past shops as they search for protesters, who were taking part in a demonstration against the military coup, in downtown Yangon, May 6, 2021. Credit: AFP

Hindu, Chinese woman killed

The military's actions transcend simple human rights abuses, said Nicky Diamond, of the NGO Fortify Rights.

"Not only are they violating human rights. Their actions are so vicious that they are violating the obligations of the military to protect the people of the country, he told RFA.

RFA tried to contact Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun to ask about the allegations but reporters phone calls to the junta spokesman went unanswered.

The family of Aung Khaing Myint, 33, were told Wednesday to inspect his body, they told RFA.

We saw his body at the 1,000 bed hospital in Shwedaung. They said he was arrested in connection with the bombing of Innwa Bank in Sagaing and that he had died after jumping out of the car following the arrest, said a relative.

They didnt show us the whole body  just the face  and we saw beating marks on his cheeks and throat and bruises on his chin, the family member said.

We are Hindus and told them we need to hold our religious rites but they refuse to give the body back, added the bereaved family member.

In Mandalay, junta soldiers shot two ethnic Chinese Myanmar nationals who were coming home after getting coronavirus vaccinations at a local hospital, killing one and wounding the other, said witness.

A passing motorcyclist was showing a three-finger salute and the soldiers fired four shots at him but instead hit the Chinese couple on another motorcycle, the source said.

The woman was hit in the face and died on the spot but the guy who got hit near the jawline was taken for medical treatment to Nandwin hospital. The womans body was taken to Chinese Yunnan Temple after an autopsy, said the witness.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
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The generals ruling Myanmar appear to fear the countrys young because 'they have the courage to fight back,' one rights group says.

Myanmar security authorities are targeting the countrys youth in a crackdown on opponents of the Feb. 1 coup that has seen hundreds of young people detained and others killed or forcibly disappeared, rights groups and a U.N. agency say.

Hundreds of young people in Myanmar have been arrested in crackdowns on anti-junta protests and charged with opposing the countrys military rulers under Section 505(a) of Myanmars Penal Code, and many have been tortured in custody, sources say.

Many young people in Myanmar have also been killed, said UNICEF, the United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide, in a May 5 statement.

Among these, 53 children under the age of 18, including seven girls, have been killed since the army took power, and at least 1,000 children and youths are now being held without access to lawyers or their families, UNICEF said.

UNICEF is extremely concerned about the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Myanmar, Marc Rubin, UNICEFs East Asia and Pacific Regional Adviser for Emergency, said in an email response to questions from RFA. The delivery of key services for children has already been seriously disrupted.

Without urgent action, these children will suffer many negative impactsphysical, psychological, emotional, educational and economic, Rubin said.

The generals ruling Myanmar appear to especially fear the countrys young because of their strong resistance to the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, said Nickey Diamond of the rights group Fortify Rights.

They have the courage to fight back. So [the generals] have to intimidate these young people. Thats why they are targeting and arresting them, Diamond said, adding, I think this will make young people even more united, though, and they will find new ways to defeat their enemy.

Detained and killed

Young men arrested by junta forces are sometimes held for months without word to their families, with their bodies then returned after they are killed, sources say.

On April 6, the bodies of two youths were recovered at a hospital in Monywa city after they and three other villagers were arrested four days before by security forces during a raid on Thabye village in Sagaing regions Yinmabin township

Nothing more has been heard of the three villagers still held, one family member told RFA, saying that a cousin was among the group still missing.

We have made enquiries to Monywa, but there has still been no information about them, he said. We are worried that something may happen to them if these arrests are still kept in the dark.

Meanwhile in Mandalay, Kaung Htet Nainga 22-year-old student at Yadanarbon Universitywas shot and dragged into a car by soldiers on April 24, a family member said, adding, It is hard to describe my feelings. [The soldiers] are doing whatever they want.

We have no right to take legal action, and I am in no position to do anything about this. I just collect whatever information I can, he said.

The family searched for Kaung Htet Naing in local police stations and hospitals, but now believes he may have been killed and his body cremated along with others by soldiers in a local cemetery, as evidence found at the cemetery appeared to connect the missing man to the scene, RFAs source said.

'Taking the lead'

Speaking to RFA, one young man living in Myanmars former capital Yangon said he now sees Myanmars revolution against military rule developing along two tracks. One will be a mass movement involving open protests, he said.

The other will be armed resistance, with those who have learned military skills fighting with weapons.

Young people are taking the lead in many ways, he said, adding, [The junta] thinks they can scare people if they can just stop the young.

I think thats why they are targeting more of us now, he said.

Reported by RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Tibetan settlement officers are trying to procure medical resources from Indian authorities in their respective states, with some states beginning to impose lockdowns.

The number of COVID-19 infections among Tibetan residents of India continued to climb this week, with five deaths in one community recorded as the country struggles with a second wave of the pandemic that has seen cases surge since March, sources say.

Tibetans living in Dehradun, capital of northern Indias state of Uttarakand, are among those hardest hit, a Tibetan welfare officer named Norbu told RFA on Thursday.

The cases of COVID-19 infection have increased a lot in our area, and many of those patients are surviving on life-saving ventilators, Norbu said. But now we are running out of precious resources like medical oxygen.

At the moment we have around 305 COVID-19 patients who come from our Tibetan settlements in Dehradun, and five of them have died, Norbu said.

In Indias capital city Delhi, 312 Tibetans have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began in 2020, said Sonam Topgyal, president of the U-Tsang Samyeling Tibetan Settlement in Majnu-ka-tilla in the citys North Delhi district.

Of that number, 272 have recovered, Topgyal said, adding that 45 Tibetans have tested positive in the Samyeling settlement itself, with three Tibetans having died.

Because of shortages of medical oxygen and oxygen tanks here in Delhi, we are trying to get some of those resources from Dehradun and Paonta, an industrial town in northern Indias state of Himachal Pradesh, Topgyal said.

And some of our critical patients are being taken to Chandigarh and Dehradun for treatment, he said.

Tibetan settlement officers around India are trying to procure medical resources from Indian authorities in their respective states, and some states have begun to impose temporary lockdowns, with Himachal Pradesh announcing a 10-day curfew beginning May 7, sources said.

India has seen 412,262 new cases of infection and 3,980 deaths over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of reported infections past 21 million and overall deaths to 230,168 since the pandemic began, Reuters reported on May 6.

Hospitals continue to report shortages of beds and oxygen supplies, and the virus is now spreading quickly in the countrys villages and rural areas, with many deaths likely going unreported, sources say.

Estimates of the number of Tibetans living in India after fleeing their Chinese-ruled homeland range from 120,000 to 150,000.

Reported by Lobsang for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Fifteen cities and provinces trace cases back to of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases.

A Vietnamese health care worker checks the temperature of a woman filling out a health declaration form outside the Hanoi General Hospital before entering the medical facility in Hanoi, May 5, 2021.

A new round of coronavirus infections in Vietnam has spread to a swath of cities and provinces from a facility of the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in the capital Hanoi, the countrys latest COVID-19 epicenter, according to state media reports.

As of Thursday, 52 confirmed cases originating from the hospital were found in 15 different cities and provinces, including Hanoi with nine cases, Hai Duong province with seven cases, and Vinh Phuc and Thai Nguyen provinces with five cases each, the reports said.

Other provinces and cities in Vietnam are continuing to trace the movement of people who were in the medical facility from April 14 to May 5, the day that the hospital was put into isolation.

Vietnams Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long has called the hospitals second facility a citadel in protecting the health of people in northern Vietnam from the pandemic.

So far, the facility in the capitals Dong Anh district has provided treatment for more than 1,000 COVID patients, including many critical ones. No deaths related to COVID-19 have been recorded at the medical center.

Thanh Long said other hospitals nationwide could learn from facilitys quarantine management practices and asked them to carefully and continuously screen their workers and people at high risk of infection to prevent the spread of COVID at health facilities.

Several confirmed virus cases were detected last week among people who had completed 14 days of mandatory quarantine and had received negative test results twice, according to local news reports.

There were at least four people  a Vietnamese returning from Japan, two Chinese, and one Indian  who tested positive after ending isolation periods, according to VietnamNet online newspaper. They had no interaction with each other while in quarantine. Upon their return home from the facilities, the four infected people traveled to many places.

The recent developments of the pandemic in the world have been very complicated, and the new outbreaks are often stronger, more widespread, and more devastating than the previous ones, Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long told state media on Wednesday.

Given this situation, we are very concerned about the threats of the infection from outside, he said.

Quarantine length increased

Vietnamese health experts said the carriers could have been infected at the quarantine facilities in hotels where they stayed, or they could have contracted the virus abroad and have had an incubation period of more than 14 days, or they could have become infected after leaving the centers, according to the publication.

But they acknowledged that errors in the testing process with the poor handling of samples, collection of unqualified samples, or errors with the testing equipment could have resulted in the negative results.

The experts also recommended that hotels in particular put in place stricter isolation measures to prevent infections.

The Health Ministry said that the supervision of positive cases after 14 days of mandatory quarantine recently had been loosened. But on Tuesday, the ministry sent an urgent notice to all Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention nationwide to hold people who had completed their 14-day isolation periods and had tested negative twice.

The following day, the Health Ministry announced that mandatory 21-day quarantine periods would go into effect the same day for people entering Vietnam from another country and those having been in close contact with others who tested positive for the virus.

On Thursday, the government recorded a total 3,090 COVID cases, including 68 new ones, and 35 total deaths since the pandemic began in the Southeast Asian nation in January 2020.

Authorities ordered students in 18 provinces and cities to stay at home after Vietnam confirmed 64 locally transmitted virus cases between April 29 and May 6, according to state media.

During the third wave of COVID in Vietnam earlier this year, students in 36 provinces and cities had to study online for two to three weeks depending on where they were located as a measure to contain the spread of the highly contagious respiratory virus.

An awareness issue

Health officials say that the Vietnamese have been negligent when it comes to COVID prevention measures and have lowered their guard against the pandemic.

During the public holidays of April 30 and May 1, beaches from north to south were crowded with people, despite warnings of a possible new outbreak.

Dr. Dinh Duc Long expressed concerns over the new outbreak in Vietnam, saying that the situation is very tense with unpredictable developments.

The risk is very high, [and] perhaps we are facing the highest risk since the pandemic started in 2020, he said. In the past, the pandemic was far away, but now many countries in the region have been heavily affected.

He also said that it was dangerous that the Chinese people were still able to enter Vietnam illegally while the country is short of vaccines.

Dihn Duc Long cited high numbers of beachgoers on Vung Tau Beach southeast of Ho Chi Minh City during the recent public holiday, saying The government and most people are determined to combat [the COVID outbreak], but some are very negligent and underestimate it.

Its an awareness issue, he added.

But ordinary citizens raised questions about the authorities handling of the latest outbreak.

Tuyet Hanh told RFA that she worries about Vietnam, a poor country of 95 million people, becoming like India which has recently seen record numbers of COVID cases and related deaths daily.

If the government covers up information about the outbreak, we will fall into the same situation as India, she said. The death toll will skyrocket as Vietnams health system would be overloaded.

A resident of Yen Bai province who gave his surname Minh, said that people have let down their defenses when it comes to protecting themselves from being infected with the virus.

People have lowered their guard as the pandemic has lasting for too long, he told RFA via Facebook Messenger. People have been tired of it and felt the economic bite.

Reported by RFAs Vietnamese Service. Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is urging Iranian authorities to release from prison three journalists who it said are being denied appropriate medical care after almost certainly catching COVID-19 while in detention.

Baktash Abtin, Reza Khandan Mahabadi, and Kayvan Samimi Behbahani must be freed at once, the Paris-based media freedom watchdog said on May 7.

Abtin and Mahabadi are members of the Association of Iranian Writers, which has come under pressure by authorities who have summoned, threatened, and jailed its members.

Behbahani is the editor of Iran-i Farda (Tomorrow's Iran), the magazine of the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran, a political group that presents itself as a "nonviolent, religious semi-opposition."

The three are serving sentences ranging from three to six years in prison on charges including anti-state propaganda and acting against Irans security.

The 48-year-old Abtin was transferred to the infirmary of Tehrans Evin prison on April 4 with a serious pulmonary condition that was confirmed by X-ray, according to RSF.

It said Mahabadi, 59, and Behbahani, 72, also have COVID-19 symptoms and their condition is also very worrying.

Behbahani already served six years in prison after a previous arrest in 2009.
Amnesty International says it has decided to redesignate Aleksei Navalny as a prisoner of conscience after the human rights watchdog earlier this year stopped referring to the jailed opposition politician as such over past comments he made that reached "the threshold of advocacy of hatred."

Navalny has not been imprisoned for any recognizable crime, but for demanding the right to equal participation in public life for himself and his supporters, and for demanding a government that is free from corruption, the London-based human rights group said in a statement on May 7.

These are acts of conscience and should be recognized as such.

There was no immediate reaction from Navalny, but a close associate, Leonid Volkov, tweeted that "the ability to acknowledge mistakes and move forward is the most important thing that distinguishes normal people from Putins," referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Amnesty International announced in February it would stop referring to the Kremlin foe as a prisoner of conscience on the grounds that in the past he had made comments over his alleged advocacy of violence and discrimination and comments that included hate speech.

But the group said in its latest statement that the Russian government and its supporters used that decision to further violate Navalnys rights.

As a result, Amnesty International launched a review of its approach to the use of the designation prisoner of conscience and decided as an interim step to not exclude a personsolely based on their conduct in the past.

We recognize that an individuals opinions and behavior may evolve over time. It is part of Amnestys mission to encourage people to positively embrace a human rights vision and to not suggest that they are forever trapped by their past conduct.

Amnesty International said it made a "wrong decision" and apologized "for the negative impacts this has had on Aleksei Navalny personally, and the activists in Russia and around the world who tirelessly campaign for his freedom."



By confirming Navalnys status as prisoner of conscience, the watchdog is highlighting the urgent need for his rights, including access to independent medical care, to be recognized and acted upon by the Russian authorities, according to the statement.



It added that the designation of an individual as prisoner of conscience doesnt imply the endorsement of their views by Amnesty.

Navalny is serving a 2 1/2 year prison sentence on embezzlement charges that he says were trumped up because of his political activity.

He recently ended a hunger strike that he had been holding to demand he be examined by his own doctors amid what he has described as a deliberate campaign by Russian prison officials to undermine his health.

The 44-year-old has been in custody since January, when he returned to Russia following weeks of medical treatment in Germany for a nerve-agent poisoning in August 2020 that he says was carried out by operatives of the Federal Security Service (FSB) at the behest of Putin. The Kremlin has denied any role in the poisoning.

His incarceration sparked numerous protests across Russia which were violently dispersed by police.

Navalny's anti-corruption organization has targeted many high-profile Russians, including high-ranking government officials.

In the course of his political career, he has also come under criticism for his association with ethnic Russian nationalists and for statements seen as racist and dangerously inflammatory.
MINSK -- More than a dozen activists in Belarus, including a Russian citizen, have been handed prison sentences amid a continued crackdown following months of protests sparked by a disputed presidential election last August that authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka claims to have won.

Tens of thousands of Belarusians have taken to the streets after the presidential poll to demand Lukashenka step down and new elections be held. He has refused to hold talks with opposition leaders. Security officials have arrested thousands in the protests in a crackdown that has become more brutal with each passing month.

In the latest wave of court cases, the Moscow district court in the western city of Brest on May 7 sentenced a Russian citizen, Danila Chemodanov, to one year in prison for violating public order.

That came hours after seven Belarusian nationals -- Viktar Labko, Syarhey Naulik, Kiryl Lud, Uladzislau Navitski, Radzivon Kandratsyuk, Viktoryya and Alena Lyskovich -- were sentenced to open prison terms of between 18 months and two years on similar charges.

The open prison system is known across the former Soviet Union as "khimiya" (chemistry), a name that goes back to the late 1940s when convicts were sent to work at dangerous industries, mainly chemical factories, and allowed to live in special dormitories instead of being incarcerated in penitentiaries.

These days, a "khimiya" sentence means that a convict will stay in a dormitory not far from their permanent address and work either at their workplace as usual or at a state entity defined by the penitentiary service.

Six other Belarusian citizens -- Alena Hnauk, Maryya Skakavets, Vasil Charnteski, Yury Chubryk, Valyantsina Zhukouskaya, and Lyudmila Lutskaya -- were handed parole-like "freedom limitation" sentences for periods between 18 months and two years.

The 14 defendants were found guilty of "active participation in unsanctioned rallies that disrupted public order" in Brest on September 13.

One of the defendants in the case, the 24-year-old Chemodanov, pleaded guilty, while five defendants pleaded partially guilty, and the remaining eight pleaded not guilty.

A day earlier, the Frunze district court in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, sentenced 45-year-old Syarhey Sikorski to nine years in prison after finding him guilty of taking part in mass disorder and the possession and distribution of illegal drugs.

Sikorski was among demonstrators in Minsk on August 11 who protested against the official results of an August 9 presidential election that handed victory to Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994. Opposition politicians say the vote was rigged and that their candidate, Svyatlana Tsikhaouskaya, won.

When riot police arrived to disperse one rally, demonstrators began pelting them with stones and other objects. Sikorski was present at the rally but said at the trial that he "did not do anything wrong" and was trying to assist people attacked by the police. It was not immediately clear if he had commented on the drug allegations.

Investigators said that when Sikorski was detained at his home in September, he was under the influence of drugs, which they claim was later confirmed by tests that found mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug of the amphetamine class, in his body.

The investigators also said that police found the drug in Sikorski's apartment and later investigations revealed that he sold the drugs at least once to an acquaintance.

Meanwhile, the Pershamay district court in the Belarusian capital on May 6 sent another protester, Yauhen Rapin, to three years in "open prison" on charges of damaging a security camera on the wall of a detention center in Minsk during an anti-Lukashenka rally in October.

Rapin, the father of three children, pleaded guilty and asked for a mitigated sentence.

Also on May 6, a court in the western city of Brest sentenced local resident Syarhey Zubovich to 18 months of "freedom limitation," a parole-like sentence for insulting online the then-chief of the Main Directorate for the Fight Against Organized Crime and Corruption, Mikalay Karpyankou, who currently serves as a deputy interior minister.

Zubovich pleaded guilty. The court also ruled that Zubovich's Samsung mobile phone must be confiscated since it was "a tool used to commit the crime."

In another western city, Pruzhany, a court on May 6 sentenced local resident Lyudmila Tsaranu to 18 months of "freedom limitation" for "distributing false information about a police officer via the Internet."

Tsaranu's posts on social networks targeted police officer Syarhey Urodnich, accusing him of "falsification of protocols and lying at the trials" of anti-Lukashenka activists.

Tsaranu rejected the charge, though she refused to testify at the trial.

Several demonstrators have been killed in the postelection violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used against some of those detained.

In response to the ongoing crackdown, the West has slapped sanctions on top Belarusian officials. Many countries, including the United States, as well as the European Union, have refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of the former Soviet republic.
MINSK -- Belarus's authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka has downplayed a criminal complaint filed in Germany on behalf of 10 Belarusians alleging that the strongman has committed crimes against humanity.



Speaking two days before Belarus commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany, Lukashenka referred on May 7 to the German lawyers who filed the case as the "heirs of fascism" and said they were in no position to judge him.



The lawyers said on May 5 that, on behalf of "torture victims," they had submitted a complaint to federal prosecutors in the German city of Karlsruhe against Lukashenka "and other Belarusian security officers."



"Who are they to judge me? For protecting you and my country? I do not reproach them. But they are the heirs of the generations who unleashed that war," he was quoted by the official BelTA news agency as saying.

The 66-year-old Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, was officially declared the winner by a landslide of a disputed presidential election in August 2020. This triggered almost daily protests demanding that the longtime strongman step down and new elections be held.

The opposition says the vote was rigged, and the West has refused to recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate leader of Belarus.



Security officials have cracked down hard on the demonstrators, arresting thousands, including dozens of journalists who covered the rallies, and pushing most of the top opposition figures out of the country.

Several protesters have been killed in the violence and some rights organizations say there is credible evidence of torture being used by security officials against some of those detained.

Lukashenka has refused to talk to the opposition about a new elections and responded on May 7 to a call from some U.S. lawmakers a day earlier for Belarus to hold a new vote by saying that he will do so only if the United States does the same.



"Let the Americans call early elections and we will call an election in Belarus that very same day," BelTA cited him as saying.



He added that he considers the results of last year's U.S. presidential election as having been "falsified," a claim pushed by former President Donald Trump and many of his supporters despite showing no proof to back up their words.



The United States has imposed sanctions on Lukashenka and other senior Belarusian officials over the bloody crackdown. The European Union has followed suit.



Lukashenka looked to placate protesters in December by saying that there needed to be constitutional amendments before an early presidential election could be held.



His opponents, however, have called Lukashenka's gesture a sham to help him cling to power.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said that the time and place for his proposed summit with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are still being worked out.

"I'm confident we'll be able to do it. We don't have any specific time or place. That's being worked on," Biden told reporters at the White House on May 7 when asked about meeting Putin in June -- during his planned trip to Europe.

He said that Russia's massive buildup of military forces near Ukraines border and in annexed Crimea does not impact my desire to have a one-on-one meeting with Putin.

And you'll notice he had more troops before. He's withdrawn troops."

Biden in April offered a meeting in a third country to discuss spiraling tensions over issues including military threats to Ukraine, the SolarWinds cyberattack on U.S. computers, and Russia's treatment of jailed opposition activist Aleksei Navalny.

"We're working through the question of some logistics - place, location, time, agenda, all the specifics - that was always going to happen at a staff level. It's really up to them what they want to achieve," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on May 7.

The Kremlin said it was studying the possibility of a Putin-Biden meeting.

"We continue to analyze the situation," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked whether the Russian side has officially agreed to the proposed summit.

Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, on April 25 said that planning for a face-to-face meeting between the two presidents was underway, adding: "June is being named, there are even concrete dates.

Biden has repeatedly stated that while he will be tough on Russia over any hostile policies, he is also seeking to cooperate where the two sides have mutual interests. This includes on such issues as nuclear proliferation, climate change, the Iran nuclear deal, North Korea, and fostering peace and stability in Afghanistan.

During a trip to London on May 3, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington wants a more stable, more predictable relationship with Moscow but that will depend on Kremlin policies and how recklessly or aggressively it decides to act.

On May 7 in Kyiv, Blinken denounced Moscow's "reckless" actions against Ukraine and said the United States is considering Ukraines request for "additional" military assistance to help deter Kremlin aggression.

WATCH: U.S. Doesn't Accept 'Spheres Of Influence,' Blinken Says

Last month, Russia amassed tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine's borders as well as in Crimea, the biggest mobilization since Moscow seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014 and war broke out in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is backing separatists.

For his first overseas trip since taking office in January, Biden plans to join the other leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized nations for a summit in Britain set for June 11-13.

He will then fly to Brussels to participate in a NATO summit on June 14 and attend an EU-U.S. meeting with the blocs 27 leaders.

With reporting by Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made a veiled dig at Russia and China when he told the UN Security Council that the actions of some big powers are sending a wrong message to other countries.

In a virtual session on May 7 attended by the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers, Blinken stressed the need to uphold international commitments, focus on human rights, and respect the principle of equality of all nations.

Blinken said that when UN member states -- particularly permanent council members -- violate these rules and block attempts to hold accountable those who violate international law, it sends the message that others can break those rules with impunity.

He didnt name any countries, but his remarks appeared aimed especially at China and Russia, which along with the United States and its allies France and Britain are permanent, veto-wielding powers of the 15-member council.

The foreign ministers of Russia and China, Sergei Lavrov and Wang Yi, both stressed the importance of maintaining the United Nations as the center of multilateralism, which the U.S. top diplomat did not.



The session came amid spiraling tensions between Washington and Moscow over issues including Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea region, the conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Syria, alleged meddling in elections in the United States and other democracies, cyberattacks allegedly from Russian hackers, and the poisoning and jailing of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

WATCH: U.S. Doesn't Accept 'Spheres Of Influence,' Blinken Says In Comments Aimed At Russia

Washington and Beijing are also at odds over influence in the Indo-Pacific region and human rights in Hong Kong and the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where the treatment of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups has drawn condemnation from the international community.

Blinken said countries don't respect a founding UN principle of sovereign equality -- according to which every sovereign state possesses the same legal rights as any other sovereign state in international law -- when they purport to redraw the borders of another country, threaten force to resolve territorial disputes, claim entitlement to a sphere of influence, or target other countries with disinformation, meddle in elections, and go after journalists or dissidents.

Blinken also said that governments that insist what they do within their own borders is their own business dont have a blank check to enslave, torture, disappear, ethnically cleanse their people, or violate their human rights in any other way.

Addressing the Security Council session, Lavrov accused Western nations of developing their own rules and trying to impose them across the world.



Not all of our partners are guided by the imperative of working honestly to establish genuine multilateral cooperation.



Wang of China called for equity and justice, not bullying or hegemony, and stressed that international law must apply to all and there should be no room for exceptionalism or double standards.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
KARAKUL, Russia -- A wildfire has ravaged a 16th century Tatar village in Siberia that authorities had planned to turn into a tourist attraction.

The Omsk Tatars National and Cultural Autonomy group said the fire that started on the afternoon of May 6 lasted for about 15 hours and completely destroyed 25 buildings, including 14 private houses and a shop in the village of Karakul in the Omsk region that borders with Kazakhstan.

Firefighters were brought to the site as the wildfire reached the village, but they couldn't overcome heavy winds that fanned the flames across the village.

Karakul is a unique, centuries-old settlement of Siberian Tatars with very old wooden houses, carrying traditional Tatar carvings on the buildings' facades, windows, and doors.

The village is also known across Russia for preserving ancient Siberian Tatar culture and traditions going back to the time of the Khanate of Sibir.

The Omsk Tatars National and Cultural Autonomy group has launched a fundraising campaign to help restore the village.
Iran held a fourth round of high-level talks with world powers on May 7 aimed at returning the United States back into a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

The negotiations, which kicked off in Vienna in early April, are focused on creating a road map for Washington to lift sanctions on Iran and for Tehran to reinstate restrictions on its nuclear program that were laid out in the agreement.

Under the accord known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran had pledged to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for an easing of international sanctions. But former President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the pact in May 2018, saying it needed to be renegotiated, and started reimposing sanctions on Iran.

Iran reacted by stepping up its violations of the accord by enriching uranium to a greater purity, stockpiling more than allowed, and introducing more advanced centrifuges.

Tehran also pushed the remaining parties in the deal -- France, Britain, Russia, and China -- for economic relief.

The deal is intended to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Iranian officials have consistently denied Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons, saying its nuclear ambitions are purely for civilian purposes.

U.S. President Joe Biden has said he wants to rejoin the deal, but that Iran needs to return to compliance.

When asked at the White House on May 7 if he thought Tehran was serious about the talks in Vienna, Biden said: "Yes, but how serious, and what they are prepared to do is a different story. But we're still talking."

Earlier, Iranian state television quoted the countrys top negotiator as saying Washington had expressed its readiness to lift many of its sanctions, but that Tehran is demanding more.

"The information transferred to us from the U.S. side is that they are also serious on returning to the nuclear deal and they have so far declared their readiness to lift a great part of their sanctions," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.

"But this is not adequate from our point of view and therefore the discussions will continue until we get to all our demands.

Russian delegate Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted that the delegations agreed on the need to intensify the process and seem to be ready to stay in Vienna as long as necessary to achieve the goal.

Alain Matton, a spokesperson for the EU delegation in Vienna, said the expert talks will continue in the coming days.

Because the United States is currently out of the deal, there is no American representation at the talks. Diplomats from the participating countries involved are shuttling between the Iranian side and a delegation from Washington elsewhere in Vienna.

On the eve of the latest round of talks, a senior U.S. administration official laid out all of the steps Washington is prepared to take in order to rejoin the nuclear deal.

The official, who spoke to reporters on a conference call on May 6, said Iran shouldn't expect major new concessions, and success or failure now depends on Iran making the political decision to accept those concessions and to return to compliance with the accord.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview it was unclear whether Iran is prepared to make the decisions necessary to return to full compliance with the agreement.

They unfortunately have been continuing to take steps that are restarting dangerous parts of their program that the nuclear agreement stopped. And the jury is out on whether theyre prepared to do whats necessary, he said in an interview broadcast on May 6 on NBC.

Araqchi said after the third round of talks ended on May 1 that Tehran stands by its demand for the United States to lift sanctions across a range of sectors, including oil, banking, and most individuals and institutions.

In parallel with the nuclear talks, Iranian media reported last weekend that there was an agreement between Tehran and Washington for the release of prisoners held by each side.

Washington and London have dismissed or downplayed the reports, as well as others that have said the United States is considering unfreezing some Iranian assets.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, AFP, and dpa
MOSCOW -- Police in Moscow have detained Veronika Nikulshina, a member of the Pussy Riot protest group, without explanation.

Nikulshina wrote on Instagram on May 7 that four police officers apprehended her near her apartment block without saying why they were taking her into custody.

A video of the incident was distributed by the Open Media group on Telegram.

Nikulshina's lawyer, Mansur Gilmanov, told Open Media that his client was detained on suspicion of being disobedient toward the police.

The Interfax news agency cited a source in law enforcement as saying that Nikulshina was detained "to prevent possible provocations during rehearsals for a military parade" before Victory Day, which will be marked on May 9.

Pussy Riot members are well-known for various stunts they perform across Russia to challenge the policies of the authorities and raise human rights issues.

The group came to prominence in 2012 after its members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for a stunt in which they burst into Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral and sang a "punk prayer" against Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister and campaigning for his return to the presidency at the time.

Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were close to the end of their two-year prison sentences when they were freed in December 2013 under an amnesty they dismissed as a propaganda stunt to improve Putin's image ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova founded Mediazona in 2014, with activist Pyotr Verzilov becoming publisher.

With reporting by Interfax
PODGORICA -- Still rutted with historically fraught questions of religious and national identity, Montenegro's political path took a sharp turn in August.



That's when a diverse coalition of Serbian nationalists, populists, centrists, socialists, environmentalists, and anticorruption campaigners won just enough votes to edge out the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) that had run the former Yugoslav republic for 30 years.



A record turnout among Montenegro's some 540,000 registered voters demanded change and heralded impatience with President Milo Djukanovic and the perceived clientelism that helped make him one of Europe's longest-serving democratic leaders.

But now, as the incongruous 10-party coalition and its "cabinet of experts" approach six months in power, signs are mounting of roiling ethnic and national tensions as well as political obstacles that could further divide -- or even destabilize -- the Balkans' smallest state.



Alongside a fast-paced reset in official relations with the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church headquartered in Belgrade, pro-Serbian Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic's bid to refashion the country's laws on nationality and citizenship has sparked "Montenegrin Spring" protests.

"We've got a polarized society in which I find myself on neither side and it seems to me I dont belong to such a society," Lazar, a 23-year-old in the capital, Podgorica, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.



He described the "sides" as the "Komitis," a reference to ethnic Montenegrin nationalists, and a "Serbian world" envisaged by proponents of closer cultural and political ties with Serbia.



"Whether these tensions will be resolved," Lazar said, "I'm not sure it will happen anytime soon, and it seems to me that we're sinking deeper and deeper into divisions."



Using My Religion



Within weeks of taking power in early December, Krivokapic's government introduced changes to a year-old Law on Religious Freedoms.

The amendments had been sought by the Serbian Orthodox Church and its Montenegrin arm since the law's passage by Djukanovic and his allies in late 2019 -- and Krivokapic's For the Future of Montenegro alliance had promised ahead of the elections to make such changes.

One of the most contentious elements in the new law was an obligation for religious communities to prove their ownership of churches and other property prior to 1918, when Montenegro joined the future Yugoslavia under disputed circumstances and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church's assets were eventually taken over by the Serbian church.



That led the Serbian church to fear the nationalization of its 700-plus churches and other sites in Montenegro if the law was rigorously enforced.



Its rushed, late-night passage by parliament was boycotted by pro-Serb parties, including some in the current coalition, and sparked months of clergy-led public protests that helped fuel opposition to Djukanovic and the DPS.

The 62-year-old Krivokapic -- whose side jobs have included decades teaching information technology at a Serbian Orthodox seminary in Cetinje, not far from Montenegro's capital -- made rescinding parts of the law his government's top priority.

Coalition lawmakers quickly approved the amendments and overrode Djukanovic's veto in January.



Around half of Montenegro's 620,000 citizens are thought to attend Serbian Orthodox services.



A far smaller -- but vocal -- number of Montenegrins attend services of the mostly unrecognized Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which Djukanovic has spent decades promoting as the rightful successor to the defunct church of the same name.

"The scar is, so to speak, still open," Emil Saggau, research fellow at Lund University's Center for Theology and Religious Studies, said. "The Serbian Orthodox Church might have won the battle for now, but the conflict is not over. If they dont use the situation to defuse things further it might create a political and religious backlash."



But Krivokapic didn't stop there.

Since amending the Law on Religious Freedoms, he has seemingly single-handedly prepared a Fundamental Agreement to regulate relations between the Montenegrin state and the Serbian Orthodox Church.



Krivokapic has kept its contents secret, but he and the new Serbian patriarch, Profirije, are expected to sign it as soon as this week.

Saggau called the agreement with the Belgrade-based church the "logical next step" because the Serbian church "has technically been in a sort of legal gray zone" since Montenegro regained independence in 2006.



The deal could "normalize the relationship," he said, and "restore the Serbian Orthodox Church to the same position as the Jews, Muslims, and Catholics" in Montenegro.



"It is therefore hardly surprising that they came to an understanding," Saggau said.



He called it a "deep blow" to the noncanonical Montenegrin church.



Otherwise 'Mixed' Reviews



Freedom House described Montenegro's leadership in its Freedom In The World 2021 report as "a government of nonpartisan experts...[and] a de facto minority government supported by an ideologically heterogenous parliamentary majority, leaving it vulnerable to instability as its work begins in earnest."



So rejigging church-state relations may have been the easy part.



It was the issue that most observers agree provided the decisive momentum going into the elections that flipped the result Krivokapic's way.



"On other reforms or stated policy priorities, the picture [so far] is mixed," according to Kenneth Morrison, a professor of modern Southeastern European history at Britain's De Montfort University.

Among the new government's successes, he cited Foreign Minister Djordje Radulovic's pledge that Montenegro won't deviate from its Euro-Atlantic orientation, although he noted that there has been "some skepticism regarding this."

Morrison also mentioned last month's arrest, in the coastal city of Kotor, of suspected senior figures in the Kavac clan, which is purported to be heavily involved in international drug trafficking and other serious crimes.



He said those arrests and a blunt public warning to the group by Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic could signal the coalition's intent to make tackling organized crime "a key cornerstone of government policy."



"But it is really too early to judge, more broadly, the efficacy of the new government," Morrison said.



However, the government's legislative vigor and its promised reforms have remained stalled since December.



One of the leaders of the senior governing Democratic Front complained last month that "the government hasn't sent a single legislative proposal to parliament since December, and that shows a lack of strategy."



But that same Democratic Front has reportedly conditioned its support for new legislation on judicial and prosecutorial changes that smack of payback for convictions against two of its members for an alleged coup plot around the 2016 elections that involved Serbians and Russians.



Such threats from the ranks of a disparate, three-bloc coalition with a collective one-seat majority hints at the potential for delays in the government's legislative agenda.



"Given the very narrow majority that they have in parliament and, equally, how narrow the margin of their victory was in the 2020 elections, they are never going to be an overwhelmingly popular government," Morrison said.



To make matters worse, as the COVID-19 pandemic grinds on, it is taking a huge toll on Montenegro's tourism industry, which represented more than one-fifth of gross domestic product two years ago.



'Shifting Center Of Gravity'



But Krivokapic has not been idle on one of the country's most contentious topics: nationality.



Amended regulations that Krivokapic floated in March would provide a path to citizenship for tens of thousands of foreign residents currently prevented from becoming Montenegrin by a ban on dual citizenship.



Many of those residents are Serbian, prompting Montenegrin critics to decry the change as a thinly veiled "Serbianization" of their country, which split from a joint state with Serbia after a referendum in 2006.



"Patriotic" protests, many of them organized under the banners of a "Montenegrin Response" or a "Montenegrin Spring," erupted in Podgorica and other cities in April to push back against Krivokapic's initiative.



And nationalist incidents and demonstrations have been on the rise since election night when the DPS was sidelined by pro-Serb, pro-reform, and anti-corruption parties but some of the most boisterous celebrants sang Serbian national songs and waved Serbia's tricolor flag.



"There were protests and efforts to draw attention to institutional corruption prior to the elections, which is one of the many reasons the results aggregated the way they did," Kurt Bassuener, a senior associate at the Democratization Policy Council, a Berlin think tank, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service. "But I think those who voted with that motivation clearly underestimated the potential downside -- how quickly and how far the political center of gravity could shift."

Montenegrin Interior Minister Sergej Sekulovic warned in late April that the postelection period has been marked by increased tensions and confrontation.



He said 152 rallies -- almost all of them organized via social media and without permits -- had attracted more than 130,000 attendees since August.



Such events "deeply divide the public and encourage an environment of intolerance and violence," Sekulovic warned.



He cited attacks on religious buildings, incitement of religious and national hatred, and ethnic polarization.



"It appears to me that what had seemed to be a solid popular majority for Montenegrin statehood and identity as a multiethnic state was far less deeply rooted than many Montenegrins, let alone outside observers, believed," Bassuener said.



Nationalism is a particularly painful topic in the Balkans, where wars that broke out amid the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s killed at least 130,000 people, many of them victims of ethnic cleansing.



In early April, Krivokapic requested the dismissal of Justice, Human and Minority Rights Minister Vladimir Leposavic after he questioned the UN war crimes court's description of the 1995 Serb killings of thousands of Bosniak men in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica as genocide.



The Democratic Front's parliamentary leader said Leposavic wouldn't be removed "for as long as the DF exists" and added that every "Serb in Montenegro has the same view as Leposavic."



A newly released poll this week showed that nearly two-thirds of Montenegrins think there are still the kind of ideologies and policies in place in their country that were responsible for the bloodshed of the 1990s. One-third of respondents agreed with Leposavic that it has not been "unequivocably established" that Srebrenica was genocide.



Parliament is due to debate Leposavic's cabinet fate on May 11.

The atmosphere was toxic enough in late April for an elementary-school principal in the northern town of Pljevlja to be slated for dismissal after a photo on social media showed her wearing a shubara, a traditional peasant hat frequently worn by Serb soldiers during 20th-century conflicts, including the wars of Yugoslav succession.



Krivokapic was forced to comment on the case after a Democratic Front lawmaker raised the issue in parliament.



It's not necessarily a good look for NATO's newest member and a country that many have long regarded as the Western Balkans' most eligible candidate for EU accession.

Ethnicity, nationality, and the sanctity of post-Yugoslav borders are already causing headaches in Brussels with the recent leaks of purported "nonpapers" among EU member states, one of which purported to suggest the breaking up of Bosnia-Herzegovina.



Just this week, 266 intellectuals, artists, and other public figures from throughout the Balkans warned in an open letter to the U.S., EU, and NATO governments of the ongoing "pursuit of border changes or ethno-territorialism" in the region. It urged them to "confront" a "clear and present danger" stemming from decades of "deterrence failure."



"There is still time for the U.S. and EU to arrest the current trajectory, which would eventually end in violence," the signatories warned.



Boris Raonic, president of the Podgorica-based Civic Alliance, an NGO that promotes civil and democratic society and human rights, says the international community could help combat runaway nationalism with messaging and other encouragement "if there's no desire or readiness by politicians in Montenegro" to do it.



"What is certain is that they don't need another hotspot in the Balkans," Raonic said.

Writing and reporting by Andy Heil in Prague with reporting by Aneta Durovic and contributions by Bojana Moskov from Podgorica
PRAGUE -- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has called on Russia to stop "targeting" journalists after one of its contributors lost an appeal against her inclusion on Russias controversial registry of foreign agent media.

The City Court in the western Russian city of Pskov on May 5 said the inclusion of RFE/RL contributor Lyudmila Savitskaya on the Justice Ministrys list was lawful.

Lyudmila is not a 'foreign agent' -- she, and RFE/RL journalists Denis Kamalyagin and Sergei Markelov, are Russian nationals providing objective news and information to their fellow citizens. We call on the Russian government to stop targeting journalists and blocking the Russian people's access to information, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said in a statement late on May 6.

Russias so-called foreign agent legislation was adopted in 2012 and has been modified repeatedly. It requires nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign assistance and that the government deems to be engaged in political activity to be registered, to identify themselves as foreign agents, and to submit to audits.

Later modifications of the law targeted foreign-funded media. At the end of 2020, the legislation was modified to allow the Russian government to include individuals, including foreign journalists, on its foreign agents list and to impose restrictions on them.

Activists have described the "foreign agent" legislation as restrictive and intended to demonize independent groups.

Savitskaya and four other people -- Sergei Markelov, a freelance correspondent for the North.Realities (Sever.Realii) of RFE/RL's Russian Service; Denis Kamalyagin, editor in chief of the online news site Pskovskaya gubernia and a contributor to RFE/RL's Russian Service; human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov; and artist and activist Darya Apakhonchich -- were included in the foreign agent media list in December 2020. The ministry did not give any justification for why these individuals were listed.

'You Have Turned Everything On Its Head'

In court on May 5, Justice Ministry representatives presented as evidence against Savitskaya articles she had written about anti-government protesters, alleged torture in Russian prisons, and the blocking of electronic communications in the areas around prisons.

They also presented a large number of documents marked for official use only from the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor-Generals Office, and other agencies that Savitskaya and her attorneys were not allowed to examine. They have said they will appeal the case to a higher court.

In her closing statement at the appeal, Savitskaya ridiculed the country's justice system saying the Justice Ministry was "fighting against the wrong people" as all she was doing was "simply" reporting the facts and writing "in such a way that the authorities pay attention to the misfortunes of citizens and help them with their problems."

"You have turned everything on its head, Justice Ministry representatives. You call a person whose work is to help people a 'foreign agent.' But the real foreign agents are not here in this courtroom. They are in the Kremlin and the State Duma," she told the court.

"They are the ones who every day are passing repressive laws, taking away the rights to life and liberty from citizens, and barring people under the threat of prison from speaking the truth. They are the agents of some sort of foreign-to-us-all totalitarian state. They are. Not me. I am a journalist and I remain a journalist," she added.

Savitskayas defense argued that none of the materials presented indicated that she was working at the behest of any foreign power.

In her remarks, Savitskaya noted that the Justice Ministry "made an interesting selection of my articles" in an attempt to "make me out to be a politician."

"You cleverly forgot to include my articles about veterans who are living in rotting shacks; about the prisoners in concentration camps, who at the states orders are huddling in railway-station closets; about the child diabetics who are not being given the medicines they need; about the Pskov paratrooper who voted for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin his entire life and died during a military mission in Syria and about his wife, who was not granted his military pension," she said.

"People in judicial robes and military epaulets with ranks bow obsequiously to our jaded authorities, which remain nonetheless an insatiable conspiracy. The law is finished and only terror remains. 'Do you think this regime will last forever?' I asked in court. The three in epaulets and the one in the judges robe remained silent. They all understand -- it is just that today [the system] came for someone else," she added.

In 2017, the Russian government placed RFE/RLs Russian Service, six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services, and Current Time on the list.

Earlier this year, Russian courts began imposing large fines against RFE/RL for failing to mark its articles with a government-prescribed label as required by rules adopted in October 2020. RFE/RL is appealing the fines.

RFE/RL has called the fines a state-sponsored campaign of coercion and intimidation, while the U.S. State Department has described them as intolerable.
A verdict is expected on May 11 in the trial of 19-year-old Olga Misik, who became well-known after reading from the Russian Constitution to riot policemen in Moscow in 2019. Misik delivered a fiery courtroom speech which has been widely discussed on social media. She faces up to three years in prison for splashing paint on government buildings during a protest last year.
As deadly violence erupted on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border last week, two peaceful Kyrgyz-majority districts of Tajikistan -- located hundreds of kilometers away from the conflict zone -- found themselves dragged into media reports of evictions and deportations.

Kyrgyz media falsely reported that Tajikistan began deporting ethnic Kyrgyz from its Lakhsh and Murghob districts, sparking a barrage of angry social-media comments.

RFE/RL contacted authorities in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- including local mayors and police -- as well as several ethnic Kyrgyz in Lakhsh to establish what was happening. It also contacted several residents of Kyrgyzstan who say they know people who were deported from Tajikistan.

Neither Tajik nor Kyrgyz officials could confirm reports that ethnic Kyrgyz were being sent out of Tajikistan.

But both sides said in recent years and months, Tajik authorities have indeed been telling ethnic Kyrgyz they cannot obtain Kyrgyz passports unless they first renounce their Tajik citizenship.

Tajikistan doesnt allow dual nationality with any foreign country except for Russia. Kyrgyzstan prohibits dual citizenship with any of its bordering states -- Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and China.

We do indeed tell people that they must choose between the two citizenships, Faizullo Barotzoda, the mayor of Lakhsh district, told RFE/RL on May 5.

WATCH: Fallen Officers' Families Grieve In Wake Of Conflict On Kyrgyz-Tajik Border

But the mayor insisted the requirement is not related to the latest border conflict between the two Central Asian countries.

Over the past year, about 100 ethnic Kyrgyz from Lakhsh have given up their Tajik citizenship and chosen to keep their Kyrgyz passports, Barotzoda said. About the same number of people decided to renounce their Kyrgyz passports and keep their Tajik citizenship, he added.

Asked about deportations of ethnic Kyrgyz from Tajikistan, Barotzoda said: There have been cases in which Kyrgyz citizens who violated the immigration rules -- a 60-day, visa-free stay -- were deported from Tajikistan.

But he said he wasnt aware of any such deportation since the border conflict erupted on April 28.

Barotzoda did, however, give RFE/RL a list of 42 Tajik citizens, most of them ethnic Kyrgyz, who were sent back to Tajikistan through the Karamik border crossing between May 3 and May 6.

RFE/RL has asked Kyrgyzstans Border Service for comment but had not received a response as of May 7.

The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry claimed it knows of Tajikistans expulsions of Kyrgyz citizens, both those visiting or permanently living in Lakhsh. But it offered no evidence of the claim.

The ministry added on May 4 that its been closely watching the situation since mid-March amid reports of unannounced inspections of ethnic Kyrgyz peoples documents by Tajik authorities in Lakhsh.

Meanwhile, in the town of Murghob in eastern Tajikistan, district Mayor Husniya Rajabzoda said no deportations are taking place. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up 60 percent of Murghobs population of some 16,000 people.

In Kyrgyzstan, the border service of the State Committee for National Security denied statements by the head of a Russian human rights organization that some Tajiks flying in from Russia had been beaten at airports in Bishkek and Osh since the border violence in late April.

Valentina Chupik, a Moscow-based human rights activist, said Kyrgyz officials should "do something with their employees" at the airports to prevent the harassment, which she claimed included beatings and extortion.

Tajik citizen Khursandmurod Khomidov, who flew from Russia to Osh on his return to Tajikistan on April 30, said he and several others were ordered to pay money at the Osh airport and later were beaten by Kyrgyz border guards at the border.

And Nuriddin Ilyosov, a Tajik citizen studying at Osh University, told RFE/RL that Kyrgyz guards extorted money from him at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border crossing at Dustlik.

Well-Integrated Communities

In Lakhsh, ethnic Kyrgyz schoolteacher Bakhtiyor Aitmatov told RFE/RL that Kyrgyz and Tajiks communities live peacefully and are unaffected by the border violence that occurred some 700 kilometers away from his village.

I didnt hear about anyone being kicked out of their homes. Im hearing it for the first time now from you, Aitmatov said, when asked about reports of deportations from Lakhsh.

Ethnic Kyrgyz make up just over half of the Lakhsh districts 57,000 people, which was previously named Jirgatol and is located in Tajikistans Rasht Valley.

Kyrgyz and Tajiks are very much integrated [and] mixed marriages are very common in Lakhsh, Aitmatov said.

Aitmatov lives in the Lakhsh town of Jirgatol, where he works at a school attended by both Kyrgyz and Tajik students. He said several people in his extended family have married ethnic Tajiks, and their children consider themselves both Kyrgyz and Tajik.

The family keeps close contact with Aitmatovs elder brother and two uncles who moved to Kyrgyzstan permanently several years ago and received Kyrgyz citizenship.

Under a program called Kairylman (a returnee), Kyrgyzstan offers citizenship for ethnic Kyrgyz who move to the country from abroad. Tens of thousands of ethnic Kyrgyz have obtained citizenship since the program was launched in 2007.

Separately, thousands of ethnic Kyrgyz relocated from Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan during the Tajik civil war in the 1990s.

During that war, Kyrgyzstan also offered asylum for hundreds of Tajiks who fled the violence in their home country.

'Six Hours To Leave'

Akimalidin Kalbekov, a resident of Kyrgyzstans Chui Province, offers a different story.

Citing a friend from Lakhsh, Kalbekov told RFE/RL that ethnic Kyrgyz who dont want to give up their Kyrgyz passports are being forced to leave Tajikistan immediately.

[Tajik authorities] give them six hours to leave the country. Around 100 citizens are leaving Jirgatol, Kalbekov said on May 5. My friend came from Jirgatol.

Kalbekov didnt want to give his friends name over concern of possible retaliation against his relatives in Tajikistan. He said the friends wife has decided to stay in Lakhsh for the time being.

Another Chui resident, Rakhimbek Kasymov, said he worries about the hardship awaiting those deported from Tajikistan.

When they come to Kyrgyzstan they have nowhere to live, Kasymov said on May 5. Some stay in relatives houses and have many difficulties.

Kyrgyz-Tajiks Expelled

The Lakhsh local government says that 19 Tajik citizens -- most of them ethnic Kyrgyz students -- were deported by Kyrgyz officials to Tajikistan late on May 3. Twenty-three more reportedly were also returned to their home country through the same border crossing between Batken and Lakhsh on May 6.

After being tested for the coronavirus, they are currently staying in quarantine in Lakhsh.

Contacted by RFE/RL, several of them said Kyrgyz officials told them they should return to Tajikistan because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Among them are at least five people who have both Kyrgyz and Tajik passports.

Its not known how many ethnic Kyrgyz Tajiks have obtained a Kyrgyz passport while keeping their Tajik citizenship, though some sources estimate some 10,000 Kyrgyz just from Lakhsh and Murghob have done so. Its unclear if they have told Kyrgyz authorities that they have not renounced their Tajik nationality or vice versa.

An official at the Internal Affairs Department in Lakhsh told RFE/RL that some of those dual citizens who chose to keep Tajik citizenship are farmers.

They have up to 10 hectares of farmland leased from the state and they dont want to lose that, the official said. If they chose Kyrgyz citizenship they would have to obtain a residency permit and face completely different rules for renting the land and [paying] taxes.

The official, who is directly involved in the inspection of documents, spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Many other ethnic Kyrgyz Tajik citizens use their "second" Kyrgyz passports to get jobs in Kyrgyzstan, with the large southern city of Osh being a popular destination.

Some ethnic Kyrgyz hope that Bishkek and Dushanbe reach an agreement on dual-citizenship or a special arrangement for citizens to work and subsequently claim pensions and other social benefits in the neighboring state.

But with the ongoing tensions and deadly violence that has occurred, its unlikely the neighbors would consider such a step in the near future.

RFE/RL correspondent Maksat Zhangaziev contributed to this report in Bishkek
In an interview with RFE/RL during a one-day visit to Kyiv on May 6, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed to stand up for the right of journalists to do their jobs. His comments came as RFE/RL finds itself under increasing pressure in Russia, where authorities demand that it identify itself as a foreign agent in accordance with legislation that critics say is designed to crack down on independent media and NGOs. In recent weeks, RFE/RL has been confronted with multiple legal challenges and a record amount of fines for refusing to label its content. The targeting of RFE/RL has raised concerns the Russian government may be moving to shutter RFE/RLs operations inside Russia. Blinken was asked whether he thought there was a chance to influence the situation.
To receive Steve Gutterman's Week In Russia via e-mail every Friday, subscribe by clicking here. If you have thoughts or feedback, you can reach us directly at newsletters@rferl.org.

Halfway between opposition leader Aleksei Navalnys grim winter homecoming and September parliamentary elections that will test President Vladimir Putins legitimacy, analysts say Russia has entered a new era of repressions that poses risks for the Kremlin -- and will be hard to reverse.

Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward.

'A Major Policy Shift'

When Federation Council speaker Valentina Matviyenko scheduled a meeting of the upper house of parliament after President Vladimir Putins state-of-the-nation speech last month, she said it would follow an address for a new time. It was unclear what she meant, and speculation that her remarks signaled some aggressive move by Moscow -- such as a merger with Minsk or a new offensive against Ukraine  has not been borne out so far.

But she was not wrong: It is a new time.

Since Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny was jailed upon his return to Russia in January -- and arguably since his poisoning last August, or even earlier -- there has been a substantial alteration in the Kremlins approach, analysts say, and one that will be hard to reverse, even if Putin wants to.

Different observers have put it in different ways: One wrote of a worst-case scenario coming true; another said that Putins Kremlin is killing off hope; while a third tweeted that the Russian state has gone all in on repression.

Still another said the level of repression and authoritarianism in Russia today marks a milestone in the political decay and intellectual debasement of late Putinism.

There is no way of escaping the realization that a major policy shift has taken place in Russia, Mark Galeotti, an analyst, author, and expert on the state security services, wrote in an article published in The Moscow Times on May 1.

A regime that for 20 years sought to be an exemplar of a kind of hybrid authoritarianism, he wrote, has shifted to a more menacing style of rule that could be called post-post-authoritarianism -- or maybe just plain, old-fashioned authoritarianism.

'Fearful' Kremlin

Since Navalnys return, this shift has for some, at least, come to seem inevitable. Each week, perhaps even every day, has brought multiple fresh signs of an intensified crackdown on dissent -- what Freedom House called Putins vicious efforts to silence dissenting voices ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

The attempted murder of Aleksei Navalny in 2020 and his imprisonment. This year was just the most prominent demonstration of the regimes cruelty, the U.S. government-funded NGO said in its annual Nations In Transit report, released on April 28. Russias National Democratic Governance score dropped to its lowest possible position, the report said.

The suppression of protests with unprecedented severity, the extension of the foreign agents law to practically any citizen involved in political activities, and plans to tighten state control over the Internet all suggest that the Kremlin is fearful of its critics and determined to secure a choreographed victory in the fall 2021 elections by any means necessary, it said.

But like other major moves that have ratcheted up tensions with the West in recent years, such as the seizure of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, it was not easily predictable. And it was not widely predicted -- certainly not before it became clear, just 14 months ago, that Putin would hand himself the option of seeking two more six-year terms after his current Kremlin stint ends in 2024.

I didn't think the Kremlin would go all in on repression as quickly and as deeply as it has, Sam Greene, a political analyst and director of the Russia Institute at King's College London, said in an April 30 thread on Twitter.

In November 2018, Greene looked at the challenges facing Vladimir Putin, the options on his menu, and tried to predict what hed do, he wrote. Looking back, I was right about most things, but wrong about one. I wish I hadnt been.

Among four paths Putin might choose to take in a bid to solve his problem, Greene wrote in 2018, one was to break the constitution by engineering an end to term limits for himself, as Greene accurately predicted Putin would do.

The Risks Of Repression

But he predicted Putin would stop short of seeking to break the people, to turn to wholesale repression in order to cow opponents and make democratic legitimacy less important.

Greene guessed wrong, he wrote, because he misunderstood the cost-benefit analysis from the Kremlins point of view.

He thought that Putin would reason that increased repression created risks, if only because it could spark an unpredictable dynamic of contention, and would decide not to take that risk, Greene wrote. But in the Kremlin, the question was evidently posed differently: Was it riskier for the Kremlin to have an autonomous opposition, or to have none? The answer is clear.

Putins administration has gradually concluded that it is no longer bound by the niceties of democratic procedure, Greene went on. The Kremlin -- much like the Chinese authorities in Hong Kong, or its neighbors in Minsk -- has decided that outright repression is now a legitimate form of governance.

Other analysts have also suggested they thought, or at least hoped, that such a dire turn of events was unlikely as well as unfortunate.

I am struck by the extent to which Russia today, and US-Russian relations today, resemble the worst-case scenarios of those possible Russia futures studies we wrote in the 90s and oughts, Olya Oliker, Europe and Central Asia director at the International Crisis Group, wrote on Twitter on April 30.

Greene bet against the break-the-people option because, he wrote, Given that the relationship with the opposition was manageable, why risk it?

Galeotti suggested that he also struggled to understand why the Kremlin decided to take the path it has chosen.

Despite years of challenges to the viability of a hybrid or postmodern brand of authoritarianism that relied largely not so much on fear and force as control of the narrative, he wrote, Putins regime was still solidly in power. There was no meaningful opposition, the elite were either content or fearful of losing what they had, and the states capacities, from financial reserves to repressive capabilities, in healthy surplus.

This makes it all the harder to explain the apparent decision to drop the mask and turn to much more openly repressive measures, he wrote.

'A Throne Of Bayonets'

He indicated there may have been several factors. One of them: The challenge mounted by Navalny, whose arrest and imprisonment have sparked several rounds of nationwide protests since his return on January 17 following treatment for the nerve-agent poisoning he blames on Putin. Another: Sheer momentum.

Once you start along some roads, its hard to stop, Galeotti wrote. When [Navalny] survived and defiantly returned to Russia the regime clearly felt it had no alternative but to imprison him, lest it look weak. And once his movement began to hold mass protests, which spread beyond the usual metropolitical set and into towns and cities across the country, then the logic of cracking down more broadly became hard to resist.

Another ingredient is the Kremlins narrative -- deep-rooted and still growing, it seems, despite a lack of evidence -- according to which the West, and in particular Washington, is bent on undermining Russia and pushing Putin from power. Theres debate about whether Putin and other Russian officials believe that, but Moscows actions suggest that may not matter much.

In any case, Galeotti wrote, while the scale of repression can and will be modulated depending on the needs and fears of the Kremlin at any time, the road the Russian state has taken is not a path that can be retraced.

Putins is now a throne of bayonets -- and billy clubs -- and he will have to sit on it, he wrote in The Moscow Times article.

Greene, too, warned that Putin and his government have passed a point of no return. They will share the risks run by other states that have cracked down hard, from China to Belarus, where Alyaksandr Lukashenka has chosen violence and repression as the means to retain power amid determined opposition to his 26-year rule following a deeply disputed election last August.

China may never again be able to govern Hong Kong with the consent of its residents; Lukashenkas rule will last only as long as the police are content to keep him in power, Greene wrote. For the Kremlin, too, there is no turning back.
CRESTLINE -- Amtrak announced Friday it hopes to launch passenger rail service connecting Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati -- including a new train station in Crestline.

The plan, which would return passenger service to Crestline for the first time in three decades, is dependent on Congress approving the $80 billion in Amtrak funding proposed by President Biden in his $2 trillion national infrastructure plan.

The event served as a pep rally for the plan, including a request that the public help convince their representatives in Washington to support the proposal.

Derrick James, senior manager for government affairs for the 50-year-old National Railroad Passenger Corporation, aka Amtrak, broke the news during a press conference with local elected officials and others in the village hall.

"What we would like to do is expand passenger rail service. One of the routes we would like to implement is a route connecting some of the most wonderful cities in Ohio -- Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Crestline," James said. "Crestline is uniquely positioned in Crawford County.

"Crestline is big in our hearts, but not necessarily huge in population. It has Galion at one end and Mansfield at the other, easy access to U.S. 30."

He said if the proposal goes forward, a new Amtrak facility would be built in Crestline with one or two platforms. James said the passenger service would would cooperate with the freight haulers that use the tracks.

The proposal would have six trains coming through and stopping in Crestline each day, three northbound and thee southbound. Amtrak had a stop in Crestline for years before closing its local operation in November 1990.

He said Amtrak anticipates 386,000 annual passengers on the route.

James described the expansion proposal as a "process" and declined to speculate on when someone would be able to board a passenger train in the community of 4,448, or what ticket prices may be.

"I'm not going to answer that," he said. "There are too many unknowns right now. For us to move forward on this proposal to come to Crestline, we need Congress to give us the authority to do so."

James said Amtrak is proposing to add 30 new routes and 160 cities across its network.

James was joined in the announcement by Crestline Mayor Linda Horning Pitt, state Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin) and state Rep. Riordan T. McClain (R-Upper Sandusky).

"We're all been praying a lot about getting Amtrak back here," Pitt said. "We are just so blessed and fortunate that we are a selected site with the expansion."

McClain said he was happy to see the proposed investment into Crestline.

"We are so happy that Amtrak has made this decision to bring back the rich history that Crestline has to the rail," McClain said.

Reineke congratulated the village and Crawford County.

"We look forward to helping you any way we can in the state and we are happy to have Amtrak here," Reineke said.

James said Amtrak now has a 21,000-mile national network serving 500 stations. He said national passenger service is still viable, but added "the real growth is in corridors of 100 to 400 miles."

"That's where the passenger train can compete and be relevant against both cars and planes," he said.

Amtrak began in 1971 to provide medium and long-distance intercity service in the contiguous United States and some Canadian cities. It was founded as a quasi-public corporation, receiving a combination of state and federal subsidies.

James said Amtrak, often troubled by chronic lateness since its inception, has improved its service in recent years and that its ridership nationally has grown.

"Our system is not as rich and not as broad as we would like it to be. We have great service in some places but not very great in others," he said.
LUCAS -- The Malabar Farm Foundation announced this week it has launched a new updated website in support of the historical preservation efforts at the 1940s-era home of Ohio Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Louis Bromfield.

"When I first thought of the creation of the Malabar Farm Foundation, I wanted to continue the legacy and life of Louis Bromfield," said Louis Andres, Malabar Farm Foundation Founder. "What better way to promote and preserve his writings and expand his influence than through today's internet technology?"

Since its founding in 1993, the Malabar Farm Foundation has provided support totaling over $2 million in projects to the ODNR, Malabar Farm State Park, including the construction of the Visitors Education Center in 2006.

"We are happy to announce ... the launch of the newly updated and redesign of the Malabar Farm Foundation website at www.malabarfarm.org," the organization stated in a press release. "Visitors from all over the country, and around the globe, come to explore the grounds and tour the Big House. In a normal year, Malabar Farm is host to thousands of visitors.

"Here are a few of the Louis Bromfield and Malabar Farm claims to fame."

Bromfield was the author of 30 best-selling books and wrote the screenplay for numerous Hollywood movies.

Bromfield wrote the script for Walt Disney's 1938 film "Ferdinand the Bull."

Bromfield was a vocal proponent of soil and water conservation and is known by some as the "Father" of sustainable agriculture.

The 1945, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall wedding took place in the Big House.

The Pugh Cabin at Malabar Farm were featured in the movie "Shawshank Redemption."

Conservation and Preservation Projects

In 1993, the Malabar Farm Foundation, Inc. was established as an all-volunteer, community advisory board and private non-profit foundation to provide assistance to Malabar Farm State Park in preserving the legacy of Louis Bromfield through donations, projects, fundraising, and grants.

In 2014, the Malabar Farm Foundation began funding a restoration and preservation project for Louis Bromfields extensive art collection in the Big House at Malabar Farm.

To date, 43 oil paintings, 3 watercolor paintings, and a series of French still-life prints have been restored by the Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA) in Cleveland.

Over 100 pieces of artwork are still in need of restoration work. The Foundation has contributed more than $100,000 toward this effort, and the work continues.

When the art restoration project is complete, the Foundation hopes to turn its attention to the preservation of original Bromfield family textiles on display in the Big House.

"This new website brings Bromfield's works to a new generation still dealing with many of the same environmental and conservation issues we face even today," Andres said. "Bromfield was a powerful influencer using the power of his pen.

"Today, the foundation can influence the next generation using the power of the internet."

What the New Website has to Offer

The vintage look of the new foundation website gives it a unique feel and distinct 1950's era look that showcases the land, legacy and life of Louis Bromfield and Malabar Farm. The new website focuses on the history and legacy of the farm and the ongoing role the Foundation plays in the renovation and preservation of the Bromfield home and its many artifacts.

"This new website celebrates Bromfield's Life and Legacy and the important role the foundation plays in the preservation and education of future generations," Andres said

The website includes many never-seen photos, a virtual tour of the Big House, a blog, updates on renovation/preservation projects, a bibliography and a filmography of Bromfield's works. The new website will offer artwork from local artists, books, ebooks, and items created by the Malabar Farm Spinning and Weaving Guild for purchase.

Part of the proceeds will support preservation efforts and collaboration with other local community organizations.

This project was made possible through the volunteer efforts of Louis Andres, Malabar Farm Foundation Founder and First Executive Director, and Ginger Patterson, IT Volunteer and Founder of Growth Zone Media.

This project was completed in local partnership with DRM Productions. The website is a great resource to learn and explore the legacy of Louis Bromfield and involve our community of friends. In addition, a new Facebook page @Malabar Farm Foundation was also recently launched.

It features upcoming events and historical highlights. The public is invited to come and explore Malabar Farm's new home on the web at www.malabarfarm.org.
The group raised 64mln in new money for the company through the placing

Wholesaler Kitwave PLC has confirmed plans to list on AIM following a placing and secondary sale of shares at 150p.

The group which supplies confectionery, alcohol, tobacco and groceries, will be valued at 105mln at the placing price.

Kitwave has followed a buy-and-build strategy in recent years, snapping up ten distributors since 2011 and it said it will use the AIM listing to continue with this strategy.

The group will raise 64mln in new money to reduce debt through the placing with existing shareholders banking a further 17.6mln through the secondary sale.

Kitwave, which is based in North Shields, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, said the placing had been significantly over-subscribed with strong support from institutional investors.

Following the placing, management will own 22.3% of the shares.

Trading on AIM is scheduled to begin on 24 May 2021.

It follows a range of IPOs in the broader retail and associated sectors in recent months, including a float for electricals distributor Supreme earlier in the year and one for online specialist Moonpig, Russian discounter Fix Price's IPO in March and in the same month for budget fashion outlet InTheStyle, and the biggest of the lot, the 3.7bn arrival of Dr. Martens.
SHELBY  Shelby City Council has come out against a provision in a bill before the Ohio Senate that would force the Shelby City Health Department to merge with Richland Public Health.

All five members of council co-signed a letter dated May 4 to Rep. Marilyn John and Sen. Mark Romanchuk denouncing the language in the two-year state budget bill that would effectively abolish many of the state's city health departments.

An earlier version of the Ohio House budget bill called for merging all departments within cities of fewer than 50,000 residents. The amended version passed in the House on April 21 includes a required evaluation before any action is taken. It now goes to the Ohio Senate for approval.

Cities with fewer than 50,000 residents that have a local health department would be required to evaluate "the efficiency and effectiveness" of merging with the county department versus remaining on their own. The criteria would be created by the director of health and state auditor.

If a local study concludes a merger is "advisable," the city would be forced to consolidate soon after.

While this language is watered down from its original form that would've required the immediate elimination of the Shelby City Health Department, local officials are still unsettled.

"This is very troubling," said council member Nathan Martin during a committee-of-the-whole session at council on Monday. "This almost feels like an attempt to get the intended outcome without having to deal with the political blowback, under the guise of efficiency and effectiveness."

All 88 counties in Ohio have a countywide health department. Shelby is one of 25 additional cities which have their own unique departments. Of those 25 cities, 19 of them would be potentially impacted by this provision, including Shelby.

The Shelby City Health Department has provided public health services to the Shelby community since 1923.

In the letter to the statehouse, authored primarily by council member Garland Gates, the prime concern of council comes from the language requiring a study examining the "efficiency and effectiveness" of merging with the county health department.

"Quite frankly, we are concerned that the criteria for such a study will lead to a foregone conclusion," the letter reads. "Why is it that only (city health districts) must conduct this study? Is it assumed that the general health districts - by the sole virtue of their populations - are efficient and effective?"

Martin argued that accountability for efficiency and effectiveness of the health department lies in the hands of Shelby constituents, not elected officials in Columbus. Numerous tax levies have passed in favor of the health department over the years, signaling local support.

"Even if they came up with a perfect process for determining 'efficiency and effectiveness,' it will be imperfect because of who's coming up with it," Martin said. "This is a danger, fundamentally, to accountability."

The letter to the statehouse also notes that the Shelby City Health Department has completed the "complicated, time-consuming and expensive" process of accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board. The department will receive its accreditation on May 14; the process began in 2016.

"As chairman of the safety committee, I've watched them work towards accreditation and they are really passionate about that," said council member Derrin Roberts. "Our health department does a very good job."

A separate letter advocating for the merits of the department will come from the Shelby City Health Department itself. Mayor Steve Schag said the letter would include facts and figures of how many hours and dollars went into the process of accreditation, as well as highlighting the department's response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Editor

I have been editor of the Rockdale Citizen since 1996 and editor of the Newton Citizen since it began publication in 2004. I am also currently executive editor of the Clayton News Daily, Henry Daily Herald and Jackson Progress-Argus.
Roanoke Rapids, NC (27870)

Today

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
The explorer believes success would represent a "company-making achievement".

US Oil & Gas Plc (USOP) said it has submitted Notices of Staking for three drill locations - Eblana-7, Eblana-8 and Eblana-13 - in its West Play, in Nevada.

The company said that the proposed well sites are located in one of two zones with interpreted Palaeozoic slide block structures suggested by geophysical and geochemical data. They are in Zone 1 which spans some 4,064 acres. Estimates for the three sites see some 86.5mln barrels of prospective resources of original oil in place.

According to the company, the zones appear to be analogues of Railroad Valleys Grant Canyon Field and it says that if this is proven by well results it could anticipate exceptionally high flow rates.

The first well on the slate is Eblana-7 which is targeting 28.83mln barrels of oil in place.

The company said it is exploring all possible routes to raise the necessary funding, including approaches to institutional investors and private placings.

It added that it has considered the possibility that potential investors may be deterred by the risk that insufficient funds will be raised to drill at least one well, so the company plans to set a deadline of September 30 2021.

By that deadline it must raise sufficient funds to drill a single well, otherwise all funds will be returned to participants.

Intensive data analysis of the West Play over the past year has revealed two potentially large slip block zones that appear to be excellent analogues of the Grant Canyon field, said chief executive Brian McDonnell.

While work on the East Play continues, we are expending maximum effort to achieve at least one drill in the West as soon as possible.

He added: A successful well whose productivity even approached that of Grant Canyon would be a company-making achievement. That is our opportunity and our goal, and with the support of shareholders and the investor community, that goal is within reach.
Roanoke Rapids, NC (27870)

Today

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
ACM cladding accounted for 22% of the blocks facade

Housebuilding shares dipped after a fire at a tower block in the east of London involving the same cladding material that caused the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Reports said that fire at New Providence Wharf had left people injured and affected the 8th, 9th and tenth floors of the 19-story before being put out.

Developer Ballymore had been under pressure from residents to remove the ACM cladding since the Grenfell disaster four years ago and work was due to begin in April, it told the East London Advertiser.

In a statement issued today, Ballymore said: Our thoughts are with everyone who has been affected by this mornings fire at New Providence Wharf. The safety of our residents is paramount and we are working closely with the London Fire Brigade.

We can confirm that the fire was quickly brought under control by the Fire Brigade and is now extinguished. Our response team are on-site to support residents and assist with alternative accommodation where necessary.

ACM cladding accounts for 22% of the blocks facade, the company said.

Earlier this year, the UK government introduced new legislation and set up a 5bn fund to remove flammable cladding from tower blocks to prevent a repeat of Grenfell, but that only covered building more than 18m high.

Owners of flats in low-rise blocks are required to take out loans to cover the cost and that has effectively made the properties unsellable, says owners groups, while they face escalating costs for insurance and requirements such as fire watch wardens.

PLC ( ) said yesterday it had removed and replaced all ACM cladding from its developments at a cost including remedial work at Citiscape, Croydon, of 163.1mln.

Shares in Barratt dropped 0.5% to 776p while London-focused developer PlC ( ) shed 1.9% to 4,660p.
Prior to the pandemic, most participants received their WIC benefits monthly. But to better support families during the sporadic food shortages in the early days of the pandemic, more states began providing benefits electronically, and expanded the list of WIC-approved foods. That gave families more flexibility in items they could choose--including around the fat content of milk, increases in the size of whole grain items and the count of eggs. And, WIC partnered with manufacturers and retailers to address disruptions to the supply chain. More states also began to provide benefits electronically instead of just on paper vouchers.

New Report Explores How COVID-19 Has Impacted WIC

Now, more than a year into the pandemic, WIC continues to pivot to meet new challenges. But in order to remain the vital resource for families that WIC is today, it needs more support and resources. I spoke with Brian Dittmeier, senior public policy counsel at the National WIC Association, about their new report on how the pandemic has affected WIC, how WIC has adapted to continue serving its participants, and what is still needed to ensure that it can meet the needs of its participants.

Federal Support Needed to Ensure WIC Continues to Support Families

The WIC program is a lifeline to millions of women, mothers and children across the country. In fact, right here in New Jersey, almost 135,000 people participated in 2019thats more than 53 percent of eligible residents. You can learn about how essential WIC and other child nutrition policies are in your state here. And listen to stories of parenting and how WIC is a necessary resource for moms to provide the best health and well-being for their young children.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored existing inequities in our public health system and the need for federal support in providing families with healthy meals and nutrition support. As such, USDA and Congress should ensure the current waivers that are enabling families to access WIC services during the pandemic remain in place for as long as needed, and that states and WIC offices have the technical support they need to continue serving families effectively.

When the pandemic finally ends, we must ensure that support for WIC continues and expands. That means that Congress should increase WIC funding to extend eligibility to postpartum mothers through the first two years after giving birth and to children through the age of six to align with participation in school meal programs. There should also be efforts to enable infants and children to participate for two years before having to reapply, instead of 6 to 12 months as it is now.

Policymakers must also work to increase racial equity in WIC participation, including making WIC packages more culturally inclusive, providing targeted support based on health disparities, and providing breastfeeding support that is inclusive and relevant for women of color. These and other updates to the program can help it build on its track record of success, and capitalize on how local WIC agencies across the country have responded to the pandemic.

WIC is truly one of our countrys most vital programs, not just for the number of families it serves, but for the impact it has. Bo-Yees family is just one of many who have been able to eat healthier and access essential services thanks to WIC. But there are many more women, children and families who need WIC. We must ensure that WIC has the support to continue to innovate and reach all the families that need it.

Read our policy brief which analyzes research on how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC impact the health and food security of young children.

About the Author


Marblehead - Dorothy G. (Harrison) Hogan, beloved wife of the late L. Timothy Hogan, passed away peacefully at home on Sunday, May 30. She was born in Providence, R.I., to John and Margaret (Hill) Harrison. She grew up in Salem and spent many summers in Maine. She graduated from St. Mary's H
A couple dozen protesters gathered outside the Shadowridge Country Club on Thursday to protest a scheduled speech by Janet Levy, a political activist who has spoken across the country on what she calls the Islamist infiltration of American society.

But Levy fell ill early Thursday morning, and at the last minute had to cancel her appearance as the keynote speaker for a meeting of the Federation of Republican Women in Vista, according to the groups president.

Levy, whose writings appear on websites such as American Thinker, could not be reached for comment. Her blogs also appear on womenagainstsharia.com, including a 2010 posting questioning whether the United States is a de facto sharia state, and arguing that Muslims now enjoy more freedom of religion and speech under our Bill of Rights than non-Muslims.

Saundra Waecker, president of the local Federation chapter, said she was surprised by the small protest outside the event.

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I cant believe its controversial to look at the other side  the infiltration, the money being spent, Waecker said

Among the attendees at the luncheon was Juliet Cunningham, an Iraqi Christian who said she moved to the United States in 1979. She said she wanted to hear Levy speak because she educates people about Islam.

Outside, however, two dozen or so protesters  many of whom oppose the policies of President Donald Trump  held up signs with phrases supporting Muslims or with statements such as Love trumps hate.

Vista resident Judith Brighton, holding a sign that read I stand with my Muslim neighbor, said she came to protest because I am just thoroughly opposed to fear-mongering.

Have you seen her (writings)? Brighton asked. If you have, then you know why I came.

The Federation of Republican Women in Vista is a local chapter of a national organization founded in 1938, that aims to inform the public through political and legislation action, and promote the principles and policies of the Republican party, according to the groups website.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

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Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
( ) is incrementally piecing together, step by step, the Judith Gas Field Project in Victoria, according to director Phil McNamara.

In a quarterly activities report, he said the next major project milestone would be securing an exploration and production partner for the drilling of the Judith 2 Well.

McNamara said: In late 2020 Emperor Energy significantly reduced Permit Risk when the relevant government authority, NOPTA, extended the Permit Term for the Judith Gas Field.

In January 2021, we have seen completion of the project Pre-Feasibility by APA thus providing clarity on the proposed plant site, approvals process, scheduling and project costs.

In early April 2021 we secured a licence to an ultra-modern set of Seismic Data across Judith that provides us with far greater clarity in interpretation of the Resource.

Step by step Emperor Energy is incrementally piecing this project together with our next major milestone to be securing an Exploration and Production Partner for the drilling of the Judith 2 Well.

Completion of Pre-FEED

During the quarter, the Pre-Front End Engineering Design (Pre-FEED) was completed for the provision of midstream infrastructure and services related to gas that will potentially be produced from the Judith Gas Field in the 100% Emperor Energy owned VIC/P47 Permit in the offshore Gippsland Basin, Victoria.

The pre-FEED was completed by and is the first stage of work to be progressed from an MoU established between the companies in October 2019.

APA carried out this work using a balanced combination of in-house and external expertise.

The design basis was 80 million standard cubic feet per day of sales gas across a 25-year project life with gas processing to meet the AS4564 gas sales specification.

This is based on four initial production wells with a fifth well introduced in Year 15 to maintain delivery pressures.

Well delivery rates are based on Gas Reservoir Dynamic Modelling previously completed by independent reservoir engineering consultants engaged by Emperor Energy.

Pipeline and termination

According to the company, the subsea design allows for flexible jumper lines to transport raw gas from each wellhead to a six-slot manifold where all gas is collected and delivered in a single stream to the Pipeline End Termination.

The latter provides the interface to a 40 kilometres x 300 millimetres nominal bore pipeline delivering raw gas to the proposed Judith Processing Plant.

This pipeline selection provides a suitable balance between friction loss, economics, slugging and ramp-up rates.

A 40-kilometre subsea control Umbilical from subsea wells to the proposed new Judith field gas processing train at the site of the existing Orbost Gas Processing Plant (pictured above) runs in parallel to the pipeline.

Design of the Judith processing plant is based on using available space adjacent to the existing Orbost plant to construct a separate gas train tailored to the Judith gas composition. There will be operating synergies with the existing gas plant.

The gas would be delivered through 11 kilometres x 250 millimetres Nominal Bore export pipeline running in parallel with the existing Orbost export pipeline, which would then deliver gas to an upgraded Newmerella gas metering station connecting into the Eastern Gas Pipeline.

The Eastern Gas Pipeline is a key gas supply artery between the Gippsland Basin in Victoria and NSW and transports natural gas to Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong as well as a number of regional centres.

Project execution and scheduling

The Pre-FEED study provides a project execution plan laying out the basis for project delivery organisation, procurement strategy, contracting strategy, fabrication methodology, logistics, construction methodology, commissioning, and testing.

The key regulatory approvals required for the project are identified and a detailed project schedule has been analysed.

The study indicates that a Final Investment Decision (FID) could be achieved 14 months after commencing the project front end engineering design (FEED) otherwise referred to as a full feasibility study.

Commercial operation could then be achieved within a further 38 months of the FID.

A budget estimate of the cost of the FEED has been forecast at A$9 million.

New Seismic Data analysis

Last month, Emperor Energy completed a commercial agreement with global seismic company CGG for the purchase of a licence to access newly acquired 3D seismic data covering the Judith Gas Field and Greater Judith Structure.

This new seismic data was acquired by CGG in 2020 as part of a multi-client 3D Seismic Survey that covered much of the Offshore Gippsland Basin, including the Judith Gas Field.

The survey was carried out using state-of-the-art equipment and techniques incorporating 7000-metre-long acquisition cables, generating the highest quality reservoir resolution ever seen in the Gippsland Basin.

Already, Emperors team of consulting geologists and geophysicists have confirmed the acquired data represents a major improvement in quality, as well as providing high definition across the Judith Gas Field and much of the Greater Judith Structure.

Seismic sections across the Judith Gas Field indicate that high amplitude/low impedance responses are well developed in the sections correlating with the Judith gas sands intersected in the Judith-1 well and can be seen extending significantly up-dip into the Greater Judith Structure from the original Judith-1 gas discovery drilled in 1989 by Shell.
PITTSBORO  Two former Chatham County deputies are facing criminal charges in connection to an off-duty incident that happened last month in Pittsboro.

Alexis Bonilla, 24, of Siler City, and Gregory D. Barrett, 27, of Robbins, are charged with one count each of carrying a concealed gun after/while consuming alcohol.

Bonilla also is charged with discharging a firearm inside the Pittsboro city limits, according to a release from the Chatham County Sheriffs Office.

A third officer, now a former Siler City police officer, was not carrying a weapon and is not accused of violating any laws, the release said.

The officer was not identified.

On April 11, just past 10 p.m., Pittsboro police and Chatham County deputies responded to a report of shots fired inside the city limits, officials have said.

Upon arrival, three people were standing in a parking lot near the area of the where gunshots were heard. They were identified as the off-duty law enforcement officers.

All had been consuming alcohol and refused to answer questions, according to an earlier release from the Chatham County Sheriffs Office.

More than one personal firearm was found, which complicated the investigation, the release said.

Bonilla and Barrett were immediately suspended pending an internal investigation that resulted in their terminations April 19 on grounds of dishonesty and multiple violations of policy, the release said.

Bonilla and Barrett are scheduled to appear in court May 26 in Pittsboro.
SANFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT

Shots fired in the city limits were reported at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday in the 300 block of South Gulf Street near Wall Street. No injuries or property damage reported.

John Tarrence Bristow, 19, of 909 S. Vance St., Sanford, was arrested at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday on Thornwood Drive on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Gerardo Israel Chirinos-Peralta, 47, of 317 McIver St., Sanford, was arrested at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in the 200 block of Maple Avenue on charges of breaking and entering and larceny.

Mallina Jinae Sampton, 21, of 500 Dudley Ave., Sanford, was arrested at 1:11 p.m. Wednesday at her residence on a misdemeanor charge of larceny.

Damage to a water fountain and wall was reported at 12:12 p.m. Wednesday at Mid Carolina Innovations, 488 Commerce Drive, Sanford.

LEE COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

Jordan Douglas Harrison, 23, of 118 Valley Pine Lane, Sanford, was booked into the Lee County Jail at 3:35 p.m. Wednesday on charges of trafficking methamphetamine, maintaining a drug dwelling or vehicle, misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of firearm by a felon.

Rachel Leigh Mabe, 34, of 1803 Thurn Drive, Sanford, was booked into the Lee County Jail at 2 p.m. Wednesday on a charge of failing to appear in court.

Cameron Lee Wade, 33, of 4930 Colon Road, Sanford, was booked into the Lee County Jail at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday on charges of failing to appear in court, resisting a public officer and a parole violation.

HARNETT COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE

Percyful Junior McIntyre, 36, of 1505 Overlook Court, Sanford, was arrested at 9:28 a.m. on charges of possession of firearm by a felon, misdemeanor possession of marijuana and driving while license revoked.
Production is ~2,818 boe/d (69% oil), an increase of 14% from Q1 2021 production of ~2,475 boe/d (68% oil) while capital expenditure has been 20% under budget.

( ) (FRA:R1Y) is extremely pleased with flow rates from three horizontal Sunburst Formation operations performed by subsidiary Blackspur Oil Corp at the core Brooks area in Canada which have exceeded type curve estimates by 28%.

As well as the combined IP30 flow rates of 505 boe/d (80% oil-weighted) in March exceeding the budgeted 393 boe/d for the three wells, capital expenditure was also 20% under budget at C$2.2 million.

These flow rates demonstrate the top tier economics of open hole Sunburst wells.

Improving operational performance

Calima CEO and president Jordan Kevol said: We are extremely pleased with the results from the most recent three Sunburst wells at our Brooks core area here in Canada.

"Our goal is to exceed our existing type curve averages and to continue to improve operational performance.

"We have done that with this well program. 505 boe/d on C$2.2 million of capital deployed is an excellent result.

Production increases

Current production is approximately 2,818 boe/d (69% oil), an increase of 14% from Blackspurs quarter one 2021 production of approximately 2,475 boe/d (68% oil).

For 2021, Calima forecasts 3,000 boe/d average production and a December 2021 exit rate of 3,400 boe/d, delivering approximately C$18 million of adjusted2 EBITDA for the 8 months ending 31 December 2021.

Type Curve Economics

Providing encouragement are the Type Curve Economics for Sunburst conventional wells of US$60 WTI with:

Payback expected in less than six months;

Estimated Ultimate Recovery of Sunburst wells is ~218,000 boe (77% Liquids);

Net back (1st year) C$34.04 boe; and

Before tax IRR >500%.

These results provide momentum for Calima which this week resumed trading on the ASX as a conventional oil and gas producer.

The company is confident that this will continue after completing the acquisition of Blackspur as well as a strongly supported capital raising which raised A$37.9 and now the flow rate results.

Blackspur is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Calima, acquired on April 30, 2021.

Active drilling program

Over the coming months, Calima plans an active, low-risk drilling program developing proven reserves.

A total of six Brooks and Thorsby development wells will commence in late May 2021.

Kevol said: "We are optimistic that the results will continue to improve with time, as the most recent well to come on production is still cleaning up and has the potential for increased production.

"We look forward to resuming drilling operations in the coming weeks and are excited about the potential to accelerate our 2021 well programs.

By drilling multiple wells, the company will benefit in strong economies of scale.

Drilling will be funded with operating revenue (currently C$4 million per month) and the working capital facility provided by .

The drilling program for the next three months is:

Three Brooks (Sunburst) wells commencing late-May 2021; and

Three Thorsby (Sparky) wells commencing mid-July 2021.

Over the coming weeks, should energy prices remain strong, the company will consider acceleration of its 2021/22 drilling campaign so long as it can be done in a financially prudent manner.
Are you looking for Costcos Mothers Day deals? Costco is the members-only wholesale discount chain offering multiple membership levels for those who want wholesale bargains for personal or business use. When there are holidays, like all other retailers, Costco offers bargains and deals, and Mothers Day is no exception.





Costcos Mothers Day Deals on Flowers

The Costco official site has a Mothers Day section which includes the usual offerings of floral arrangements, especially for the holidays. The Costco Mothers Day section is not necessarily a page full of dealsthis is more of a gift guidebut there are some good examples of competitive pricing that puts Costco on top in flowers.

One such example? A 1-800 Flowers Lovely Mom Roses set includes 36 roses with a Mom sentiment vase for $64.99 plus applicable taxes, shipping, etc. The Costco Mothers Day 50-Stem Hot Pink Roses or 50-stem Red Roses options do not include a vase but do feature a whopping 50 stems for only $44.99 plus applicable taxes, shipping, etc.

Get a $10 Costco Shop Card

Costco Mothers Day Deals: Home Goods

The trick to finding good deals in the Mothers Day gift guide or when just searching the Costco official site for other options? Look for the listings that feature sale pricesnot all of them do! Some are just gifts at the usual prices, such as the Mikasa double-walled stainless steel four-piece mug set at $39.99 at press time (subject to change).

Thats not a sale price, but the listing right next to it on the Costco Mothers Day gift guide, the Ellery Park nine-piece dining set has a $300 manufacturers rebate (available at press time, your experience may vary). It pays to read that fine print!

Costco Deals: Tech For Mom

Mothers Day gift-giving is a lot more modern these daysMoms use technology the same as anyone else, so why not give Mom a tablet, earbuds, or even a smartwatch? Smartwatches for mom can be a great choice and Costcos Samsung Galaxy Active 2 Smartwatch 40mm  Pink Gold with bonus charging dock may appeal to the tech-savvy mom.

Heres one catch for those interestedon the Costco official site this item is listed at a Members Only price that only those with active Costco memberships can see. Becoming a member could lead you to some good Mothers Day savings on tech.

Members Only?

There are, in general, more members only deals in tech than sales but there are some Mothers Day Deals to be hadsome Smart Cooking Systems (Ninja grills and related items) as well as some Roomba type robotic vacuum cleaners are also listed with manufacturers rebates or other discounts.

Some might balk at Costco savings when they have to pay a membership fee to get into the Costco club but keep in mind that signing up for the everyday value Gold Star membership can lead to cash rewards up to $1,000 per year on Eligible Costco and Costco Travel purchases. Those incentives could make up the difference in the membership fees for the right types of purchases and frequency of purchases.

Give the gift of savings! Learn more.

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If you enjoy reading our blog posts and would like to try your hand at blogging, we have good news for you; you can do exactly that on Saving Advice. Just click here to get started. Check out these helpful tools to help you save more. For investing advice, visit The Motley Fool.
CEP-2 will build on the encouraging outcomes of the CEP-1 pilot study where the chemo-enhancing effect of Veyonda was used to lower dosages of chemotherapy in patients with advanced solid cancers.

Noxopharm is confident that the majority of chemotherapy drugs in use today would benefit from being combined with Veyonda.

( ) traded higher after revealing that a CEP-2 study will begin shortly for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Investigational New Drug (IND) application for Veyonda in first-line sarcoma treatment.

The study, which is part of the companys Chemotherapy Enhancement Program (CEP), is set to proceed with a contract research organisation appointed.

IND was granted by FDA earlier this year on evidence that Veyonda may increase generally poor response rates of sarcoma cancers to chemotherapy.

Shares higher

The contract research organisation will oversee the study designed to provide proof-of-principle of the ability of Veyonda to enhance chemotherapy and Noxopharm's appointment marks the companys commitment to act on this valuable opportunity.

Shares were as much as 20.6% higher today to A$0.585 while the company's market cap is approximately A$135.3 million.

"CEP program a key part"

Chief executive officer Dr Graham Kelly said: Soft tissue sarcomas are in that basket of cancers where there has been remarkably little advance in survival statistics over the past few decades, and the horizon looks to hold little change.

What we have seen to date with Veyonda gives us confidence that a combination of Veyonda and doxorubicin has the capacity to make that change.

We want to see Veyonda eventually used as a standard companion drug in cancer therapy - that is behind the companys four-pillars oncology strategy of which the CEP program is a key part.

Proof-of-principal indication

The company has selected soft tissue sarcomas as its proof-of-principle indication for demonstrating chemotherapy enhancement by Veyonda, following the US FDA approval of the IND application for Veyonda in combination with common chemotherapy drug, doxorubicin, for patients with soft tissue sarcomas.

Sarcomas have very limited treatment options with only an estimated 14% of soft tissue sarcomas responding to chemotherapy. It is a rare cancer, with an estimated 13,400 new cases to be diagnosed in the US in 2021.

Noxopharm is confident that Veyonda, with its unique mix of immunotherapy actions, has the means to change soft tissue sarcomas responding to chemotherapy and that the majority of chemotherapy drugs in use today would benefit from being combined with Veyonda, thereby creating a multi-billion dollar drug opportunity in its own right.

Establishing Veyonda as standard booster

The aim is to establish Veyonda as a standard booster of all four major forms of cancer therapy  chemotherapy, external radiotherapy, internal radiotherapy and checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

Each of those four sectors represents a major commercial opportunity, but collective success in two or more sectors stands to raise the potential industry value of Veyonda immeasurably.

The CEP-2 study is a key plank in that strategy because after 50 years, chemotherapy still remains the backbone of cancer therapy, a position anticipated to continue for the foreseeable future with the global chemotherapy market widely predicted to reach US$50+ billion by 2024.

CEP-2

CEP-2 builds on the encouraging outcomes of the CEP-1 pilot study where the chemo-enhancing effect of Veyonda was used to lower dosages of chemotherapy (carboplatin) in patients with advanced solid cancers (breast, ovarian, lung, prostate).

Further study details:

CEP-2 builds on that positive experience by using higher dosages of Veyonda (expected to provide a greater chemo-enhancing effect) and patients undergoing first-line treatment (tumours expected to respond better to combination treatment);

CEP-2 is a Phase I study where approximately 40 patients with a range of soft tissue sarcomas will receive the Veyonda/doxorubicin combination as a first-line treatment;

Global clinical research organisation, Parexel Biotech, has been engaged to oversee the study and site selection is underway in the US and Australia. The clinical protocol has been established and the study will start enrolling patients following site selection and ethics approvals; and

The companys strong cash position around a successful $23 million capital raise in December 2020 means it can proceed with this study, although the company continues to seek global sources of non-dilutive funding.

More details on the CEP-2 study will be shared as the project progresses.

This study is dedicated to the memory of Jennie Young, the second patient to receive Veyonda.

Jennie had metastatic leiomyosarcoma that was considered by her doctors to have successfully responded to a Veyonda/doxorubicin combination when given on compassionate use grounds.

That experience, backed by considerable positive pre-clinical data, forms the rationale for conducting this study.
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Four astronauts who recently returned from the International Space Station said their reentry into Earth's surface and ocean splashdown felt "very heavy."

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule bringing the crew back to Earth splashed down early Sunday off the coast of Florida, marking Nasa's first evening ocean landing in more than 50 years.

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi, landed on Earth at 2:56 a.m. EDT off the coast of Panama City, Florida, in a parachute-assisted reentry.

Crews successfully recovered the spacecraft and astronauts on SpaceX rescue vessels. The astronauts took a flight to Houston after returning to land.

It was the first regular mission to be launched from the ISS and then returned on a spacecraft designed by Elon Musk's company.

After 167 days in space, the longest duration mission for a U.S. spacecraft since the final Skylab mission in 1974, Dragon and the Crew-1 astronauts, @Astro_illini, @AstroVicGlover, Shannon Walker and @Astro_Soichi, returned to Earth this morning! pic.twitter.com/vuWPPrreyh  SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 2, 2021

Why The Heavy Feeling?

One of the astronauts in the group known as Crew-1, American Victor Glover, said he felt like those cartoons where they feel G and their face just sags down.

"There was a point where I was just saying to myself, breathe. Inhale, because I felt really heavy," Glover told AFP per NDTV.

Glover had expected the landing to be so exciting - and so difficult - that he was disappointed when it turned out to be a little less than he had anticipated. He went on to say that his experience had been fun in every way.

He went on to say that when the landing actually happened, it was a little less than he had expected. But, he said flying and returning are such unique experiences.

It was difficult to breathe because the force of acceleration was concentrated in the chest.

Shannon Walker, a US astronaut, said in a Straits Times report that landing in the water was fascinating because no one knew what to expect. From his own perspective, he said they were softer than landing on the ground.

According to Walker, they spent less time under a parachute than on the Soyuz.

Meanwhile, Soichi Noguchi, a Japanese astronaut, said the landing went smoothly.

He said the impact was "very, very minimal," that they felt the waves right after splashdown and that they had finally returned to the water world.

"That's a great feeling," he said in a France24 report.

ALSO READ: SpaceX's Three Wealthy Private Crew Paid $55M Each To Reach ISS in 2022 via Axiom Space





Space Tourism

Space "tourists," who aren't trained astronauts, will soon take their seats on Dragon.

According to US astronaut Mike Hopkins, space tourists will be able to handle bumpy reentry trips.

Hopkins said it's not going to be entirely special to them after the civilians go through centrifuge preparation.

Since the space shuttle's final flight in 2011, CBS News said the Crew Dragon is the first American spacecraft to send astronauts into orbit from American soil.

NASA has relied on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts from the United States and partner agencies to and from the International Space Station for the past nine years, paying more than $80 million per seat under recent contracts.

The Crew Dragon and, finally, Boeing's Starliner CST-100 capsules are aimed at ending the dependence on Russia while also allowing private-sector production in low-Earth orbit.

RELATED ARTICLE: Blue Origin: Jeff Bezos to Auction off First Space Tourism Flight Aboard New Shepard for July

Check out more news and information on Space on Science Times.
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Sharks have officially shown that they can circumnavigate the globe using Earth's magnetic fields.

Wired said scientists have been baffled for five decades as to how sharks travel 12,000 miles a year from South Africa to Australia and return to the same breeding grounds.

There are no street signs to guide them and no fixed landmarks to guide them for most of the journey. Currents and water levels are normally changing. The sun goes down at night and the stars fade away throughout the day. Yet the sharks continue to swim and charts a nearly perfect straight line through the ocean.

A recent report on juvenile bonnethead sharks discovered that the fish are sensitive to changes in the planet's magnetic field and use it as a means of navigation. Experts uploaded their paper, titled "Map-Like Use of Earth's Magnetic Field in Sharks," in the journal Current Biology.

What About Earth's Magnetic Field?

Experts have speculated for decades that sharks use the Earth's magnetic field as a kind of atlas. Still, it has been tricky to prove because sharks are notoriously difficult to research. It's challenging to keep them in captivity, and some species are gigantic. ABC News said the great white shark can grow to be 20 feet long and weigh over 2,000 pounds.

As a result, researchers led by Florida State University's Professor Bryan Keller studied twenty wild young bonnetheads trapped and became unwitting participants. They wanted to examine where the sharks would try and swim with the help of a magnetic field.

ALSO READ: Earth on Geomagnetic Storm Watch, NASA Says Occurrence Not Terrifying as It Sounds





Shark's Magnetic Navigation

It's challenging to scale up an experiment to the point that it can be studied in a controlled laboratory environment. A group of experts explains how they did it in their study. Keller designed an apparatus that could copy complex magnetic fields to test the long-held sharks' magnetic navigation theory. According to Bangkok Post, he constructed a 10-foot wooden cube with a large tank in the middle.

He then wrapped a mile of copper wire around the cube at predetermined intervals. When connected to electricity, the copper conducts an electrical current and generates a magnetic field. Keller may create a stronger or weaker field by adjusting the strength, simulating unique conditions that sharks could encounter in the ocean.

Navigating Sharks

If the sharks orientated themselves in a certain way based on the intensity and angle of the magnetic field, it would be evidence that they were using the knowledge to figure out where they were on the planet and which way to swim. Other species, such as sea turtles, have been studied using this method.

For the first time, researchers have witnessed how sharks used that capacity to infer location. Even so, there was a limit. Academic Times said the magnetic field of the cube was insufficient to track established navigators such as the great white. Keller explained that they needed a shark that was not too large but still migratory to research these species using this method.

RELATED ARTICLE: Godzilla Shark From 300 Million Years Ago Finally Gets a New Name, Classified as New Species

Check out more news and information on Animals on Science Times.
A contractor is mobilising for the airborne survey as a key step to advancing and testing a conceptual new ISR field at Big Lake Uranium Project in South Australia.

The company is targeting sandstone hosted uranium within the Moomba Gas Fields in northeast South Australia.

( ) has started mobilising a contractor for an airborne electromagnetic survey as the first step to test the potential for a greenfield ISR uranium opportunity at Big Lake Uranium Project in South Australia.

The purpose of the survey is to delineate interpreted palaeochannels within the Eyre formation of the Tertiary sediments that would form a favourable environment for uranium deposition.

SkyTEM Australia has been contracted to complete the survey utilising the SkyTEM 304 system, which is proven to deliver accurate data from the top few metres to depths of up to 350 metres.

A total of 1,350 line kilometres are proposed, over north-south lines spaced at between 400 and 500 metres, to cover the prospective target area.

Towards first pass drill testing

Alligator CEO Greg Hall said: We are hugely excited to commence airborne exploration of the Big Lake project and we see the program as a key step to advancement and testing of a conceptual new ISR field in South Australia.

The intention is for the survey to allow focused first pass drill testing in Q3 2021.

AGEs exploration is targeting channel-hosted roll front resources comparable to existing resources such as Honeymoon, Four Mile and Beverley within South Australia.

Exploration grant

The project was granted funding under the South Australian Governments Advanced Discovery Initiative (ADI) scheme.

This provides funding as part of the governments Growth State Agenda to accelerate mineral discovery through innovative exploration and research projects in regional and frontier terrains throughout South Australia.

Following completion of the stage 2 application to the scheme in March 2021, the company was awarded $152,400 towards its Greenfields exploration for ISR uranium deposits in the Cooper Basin.

Hall said: The South Australian ADI scheme is an excellent program with strong competition for funding and shows the departments committed and ongoing support towards the mineral industry with a combined $10 million in grants to be awarded as part of the scheme.

We are proud to be operating in two outstanding supportive Australian jurisdictions of South Australia and the Northern Territory for our uranium exploration programs.

Earning period

Alligator and the shareholders of Big Lake Uranium Pty Ltd agreed on an extension to the Earning Period from July 21, 2021, to December 31, 2021, to enable completion of the proposed work program.

In lieu of granting the extension, Alligator has agreed to the payment of a variation consideration in the form of a one-off cash payment of $30,000 within 10 business days of the proposed variation becoming into effect.

The proposed variation extends the time to satisfy the milestone for the relevant performance shares, which are categorised as the acquisition shares.

This constitutes an amendment to the terms of those performance shares and any change to or amendment of the performance shares requires prior ASX and shareholder approval.

Alligator will be engaging with the ASX to seek a waiver from this requirement on the basis that the extension was required as a result of a Force Majeure event created by the COVID pandemic.

Big Lake opportunity

Alligator entered into a share sale agreement with Big Lake Uranium (BLU), a privately-owned company and a holder of exploration licence 6367 in the Cooper Basin in South Australia, in 2019 which provides the opportunity to earn 100% interest in the project.

The company is targeting sandstone-hosted uranium in the Moomba Gas Fields, South Australia, and it also targets REDOX and roll front uranium mineralisation within paleochannels of the Lake Eyre formation.
The phase 1 reverse circulation drilling program is targeted to provide additional information that could support a potential further mining and ore leaching campaign at White Dam.

First hole of the 2021 drilling program at White Dam in South Australia

Ltd ( ) (FRA:36G) has started phase 1 of its reverse circulation (RC) drilling program at its White Dam Gold-Copper joint venture, focussing on two of the three resource areas  Vertigo and White Dam North, about 50 kilometres south-west of Broken Hill in South Australia.

Phase 1 of the current program consists of around 43 holes for 3,250 metres at Vertigo and 10 holes for 750 metres at White Dam North.

The drilling results and resource outcomes are expected to feed into the study on the mining and treatment of additional material at White Dam.

It is also targeted at evaluating the magnitude of life extension and expansion potential available at White Dam.

The White Dam operation continues to produce strongly with forecast June 2021 quarter gold sales unchanged at 550  650 ounces on a 100% basis.

The current JORC (2012) resource at White Dam is 4.6 million tonnes at 0.7 g/t gold for 101,900 ounces gold.

Potential to drive expanded production

GBM managing director and chief executive officer Peter Rohner said: We are pleased with the operational performance of White Dam and the improving free cash flow generation from copper and gold sales, particularly with stronger commodity prices.

GBM has now initiated the Phase 1 RC drilling program to provide additional information that could support a potential further mining and ore leaching campaign at White Dam.

This has clear potential to drive expanded production, greater cash flow generation, and substantial extension to project life.

The Phase 1 program targets both infill and extensional drilling of the mineralisation to the southeast.

This resource material was not extracted during the last White Dam mining campaign due to lower prevailing gold prices and higher cyanide soluble copper grades.

The initial focus of the program is on the Vertigo zone, which has a current JORC 2012, mineral resource estimate of 1.7 million tonnes of 0.7 g/t gold and 38,300 ounces of gold.

After this, the program will focus on transitioning the White Dam North zone, which has a current JORC (2012) mineral resource estimate of 1.2 million tonnes at 0.5 g/t gold for 20,300 ounces gold.

Key drilling objectives

The key objectives of the Phase 1 RC drilling at White Dam are:

Upgrading inferred category resource material and improving resource confidence in these zones;

Increasing overall resources in these zones; and

Providing additional copper assay data.

White Dam

The White Dam joint venture commenced on 1 July 2020 and the company has the option to purchase 100% of the project by 30 June 2021, which includes all the tenements and processing infrastructure.

White Dam also contains a broader exploration tenement package with considerable potential for further resource accretion, given further exploration.
King County officials over the past several months have been working to make it easier for people to get their COVID-19 vaccines.

A helpline launched by Hopelink can now help people overcome one more barrier: transportation.

People can call the Coordinated Vaccine Transportation Helpline at 425-943-6706 as a "one-stop-shop for finding and securing transportation support to and from vaccine appointments in and around King County," the organization said in a news release this week.

We want to ensure transportation is not the barrier to accessing the vaccine in our community, Staci Sahoo, director of mobility management at Hopelink, said.

People across the state, including older residents, people with disabilities and people with language barriers, struggle with transportation, the organization said. Officials and organizations have been working to eliminate those barriers and give people the tools they need to get vaccinated.

No one should second-guess how they will get to their vaccine appointment, Sahoo said. We want to put their mind at ease by giving them one less thing to worry about.

The helpline, which launched earlier this year, is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and offers interpretation services. There are no eligibility requirements. The organization is working with a number of partners including Sound Generations, Catholic Community Services of Western Washington, King County Metro, Puget Sound Educational Service District, Hopelinks Non-Emergency Medical Transportation, Lyft and Uber.

"This program aims to support communities that are the most vulnerable and need access to the vaccine sites; this includes BIPOC communities, seniors, immigrants, refugees and individuals with disabilities," the news release said.

According to the most recent data, about 44% of people across Washington have received at least one vaccine dose and nearly 32% are fully vaccinated. Out of the eligible population 16 and older, more than 39% have been fully vaccinated.

Officials in recent days have expressed some concern over vaccine demand.

"We're so close, but we need everybody's help and we are concerned about what looks like some slowdown in vaccination rates and numbers," said Michele Roberts, who leads the COVID-19 vaccine planning and distribution team at the Department of Health, during a news briefing earlier this week. "So if you haven't been vaccinated yet, what are you waiting for?"

In recent days, Safeway and Albertsons pharmacies in Washington, along with CVS stores, announced they would offer walk-in COVID-19 vaccine appointments, so people don't need to book slots in advance. Several clinics across Seattle and King County also said they would no longer require appointments.

Until more people are vaccinated, people should continue to take precautions including wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings.
Remote Monitored Systems PLC (RMS) is currently focused on the development of a face mask through one of its subsidiaries, Pharm 2 Farm Ltd.

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In addition, the company is implementing an enhanced growth strategy via the appraisal of complementary acquisition or investment opportunities.
When it comes to sparkling wine, there are a ton of different options out there, but for many it comes down to the choice of Champagne versus Prosecco. It's a battle of Italian versus French sparkling wines.

If youre not familiar with the differences between the two, it goes beyond the nationalities of each sparkler, and involves the grapes used, the production process, and even when you might drink each one (though theres no bad time for either, in our book). Read on for the differences between Champagne and Prosecco, according to certified sommeliers.

The production process

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When we talk about Champagne, we're talking about wines that undergo a specific process  known as the traditional method or the methode Champenoise  and that are made, specifically, in the region of Champagne, France, says Hannah Selinger, a Certified Sommelier and freelance lifestyle writer.

The easiest way to understand this production is that grapes are fermented, turning their sugars into alcohol, yielding a byproduct of carbon dioxide, which is not contained. The resulting wine is then bottled and fermented a second time, but this time the carbon dioxide is captured, says Selinger. The result is a wine that is double-fermented and bubbly. I don't want to get too far in the weeds here, but there are also only certain grapes that can be used in Champagne (technically seven, but the three most prominent varieties are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier).

Champagne also undergoes a process called Riddling. Riddling refers to what happens during Champagnes second fermentation in the bottle. Its essentially a gentle tilting of the bottle over the course of months and months so that the neck of the bottle collects the dead yeast cells, which are then extracted from the bottle, says Selinger.

Sometimes this is done by hand, sometimes the winemaker uses a machine called a gyropallette. Proseccos process is a little simpler, and accounts for the difference in taste and the carbonations texture.

Prosecco, which comes from the Veneto region of Italy, is made using the so-called 'tank method,' says Selinger. A still wine is produced, just like in Champagne, and then the wine is fermented a second time in an enclosed tank that prevents the carbon dioxide from escaping, thus making the wine bubbly.

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This is why you might find the bubbles in Prosecco to be a little rougher than the smooth little pearls floating up from a glass of Champagne. The bubbles, or bead, in tank method wines will be larger and coarser, and the wine will have a less uniform texture than wines made by the traditional method, says advanced sommelier Michael Scherzberg. However, this method is appropriate  and even preferred  for sparkling wines emphasizing fruit and varietal aromatics rather than the toasty, nutty, creamy flavors derived from the breaking down of the yeast lees in the traditional method. The traditional method, in this case, refers to how Champagne is made.

In other words, Prosecco has larger and coarser bubbles and a fruitier flavor, while Champagne is smoother, with smaller bubbles and warmer, earthier flavors.

Where the wine comes from

Youve probably heard this before, but where the wine is made is integral to its name. Case in point: If youre drinking sparkling wine from France that isnt officially labeled as Champagne, its probably not  even if its made using the methode Champenoise, says Selinger.

Instead, its probably something called Cremant.

Other sparkling wines that come from France that are made in the same way but that are not in the designated region are allowed to use the title Cremant, which specifies that they are methode Champenoise, but not from the area of Champagne, she says.

Cremant can also be made from all different kinds of grapes, not just those used in Champagne, so Selinger says the difference in taste might be noticeable even to casual drinkers. Thats not a knock, though, she says  Cremant is super delicious  its just different. It's just a matter of what a grape tastes like, she says.

Its the same for Italys Prosecco: Just like how all French sparkling wine isnt Champagne, not all Italian sparkling wine is Prosecco  though Prosecco is the most important and renowned Italian sparkler, says Michelle Erland, a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers and an Italian Wine Ambassador through Vinitaly International.

Prosecco, says Selinger, is a designation of place and grape. She says that Prosecco can only be produced in its specific Italian denominazione di origine controllata (designation of origin, or DOC) and only from one grape: the Glera.

Authentic Prosecco DOC is easily distinguishable by the government seal, which must be applied on each bottle, adds Erland.

The price tag

So if theyre both sparkling wines, what makes Champagne so expensive  and special-occasion-worthy? Aside from sheer brand recognition (what drink screams fancy more than Champagne?) a lot of the price comes from the more elaborate production process, which not only involves the delicate riddling process, but in general takes longer than you might expect.

Basically, there is more labor and more equipment and more time involved in making Champagne, making it more expensive, says Selinger. Champagne takes at least 18 months to go to market, which means winemakers have to charge more for it.

And thats an accelerated timeline  Vintage Champagnes are aged for up to three years! Prosecco, on the other hand, can be made in just 30 days, which accounts for its comparatively cheaper price.

The purpose

While both are delicious for drinking on their own, one is probably the winner if you want to mix the sparkling wine with other elements. No one disagrees that a splash of Champagne makes for a great topper for some cocktails, but if youre wanting to get serious about mixed drinks, Proseccos relatively affordable price tag makes it a better option. It pairs well with the traditional Italian dishes as well as other international cuisines, says Erland  and a decent Prosecco drinks well on its own. With its moderate alcoholic strength, Prosecco DOC can be used for aperitifs, toasts and at social gatherings, she says.

Personally, I use it for cocktails, like bellinis, for which it's well suited, adds Selinger. To me, Champagne is a more serious wine, but not in a bad way. I prefer Champagne to Prosecco if it's just a matter of drinking.
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The man accused of stabbing two older women in San Francisco on Tuesday has been charged with two counts of premeditated attempted murder and various other felonies, the San Francisco District Attorneys Office announced Thursday.

Prosecutors will also ask that suspect, 54-year-old Patrick Thompson, be held in jail while he awaits trial, officials said. District Attorney Chesa Boudin plans to personally represent the prosecution at Thompsons arraignment Friday.

The incident immediately garnered attention because the two victims are of Asian decent and the attack came amid a nationwide rash of violence against people in the Asian community, with many of the high-profile attacks occurring in the Bay Area. Prosecutors are still working with police investigators to determine if there is evidence to support a hate crime allegation, officials said.

Boudin said he visited the victims and their families in the hospital on Thursday and described the victims strength and courage as inspiring. One woman is 64 and the other is 83.

Their pain was tangible and will serve as a constant reminder of the importance of our work to make San Francisco safer for all, Boudin said in a statement. I am grateful to the medical team at San Francisco General Hospital, who helped to make sure the victims are still with us today.

In addition to attempted murder, prosecutors have charged Thompson with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of elder abuse, and enhancements including great bodily injury, great bodily injury on elders and personal use of a deadly weapon. If convicted on all counts, Thompson could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Reports of Anti-Asian hate crime have spiked in many major cities so far in 2021, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino. In San Francisco, hate crimes rose by 140%  from five to 12  in the first quarter of 2021, the report shows.

The announcement of charges comes two days after San Francisco police responded to the area of Fourth and Stockton streets and found the victims suffering from multiple stab wounds.

Both women were hospitalized for their injuries, and the older victims status on Wednesday was elevated from life threatening to a non-life threatening condition. The 63-year-old victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Officials identified the suspect after reviewing an image connected to the incident and recognizing Thompson from previous police contacts, police said Wednesday.

Thompsons latest case comes nearly four years after he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon and battery, according to court records reviewed by The Chronicle. A judge in that case deemed Thompson incompetent to stand trial and ordered he receive mental health treatment at a state hospital in Napa.

Thompson was later released with electronic monitoring and then to a mental health diversion program, which defense attorneys argued that he successfully completed in August 2020.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
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With catastrophic drought forecast this summer, more than 50 recreational lakes across the state will look like silver dollars in a field of pennies for people hoping to escape the heat.

Northern Californias destination lakes range from the large and popular, like Whiskeytown Lake west of Redding, to the tiny and beautiful, such as Lower Sardine Lake in Plumas National Forest.

Water levels were already low at several recreational lakes, but a second straight dry winter has left reservoirs across the state at 45% of average levels for the date, according to the state Department of Water Resources. While melting snow usually fills hundreds of mountain lakes in early summer, the states annual survey in April rated snow water content at only 17% statewide.

As water is released to agricultural plots in the Central Valley and farther south to Southern California, many reservoirs will look like miniature Grand Canyons by mid-summer and dust bowls by the fall. These include Indian Valley Reservoir in Lake County, already just 22% full, and giant Lake Isabella east of Bakersfield, at 16% full, where the snowpack in the Kern River watershed that usually feeds it has already melted, according to DWR automated stations.

But there is hope for a successful summer lake trip if you know where to look. Across Northern California, here is a look at what you can expect at 50 popular lakes.

Bay Area

Giant Los Vaqueros north of Livermore, with the dam now 226 feet high, is 80% full, far above historical levels. Los Vaqueros receives water from the delta, not storm runoff, so it is largely insulated from drought. Across the Bay Area, it will provide the best opportunities for boating (rentals only) and fishing in the coming months.

For boating and camping, two lakes are in decent shape for May: Lake Chabot (77% full) in Castro Valley, where campgrounds are set on wooded terraces well above the lake level, and Del Valle Reservoir (75% full) south of Livermore. At the other lake with lakeside campsites, Coyote Lake near Gilroy, the scene is already grim with the lake level at 27%.

In Santa Clara County, boating has already been restricted to just Calero (41%) near Morgan Hill and Lexington (31%) near Los Gatos, with other lakes shut down to all boats, including Stevens Creek (17%) near Cupertino.

On the Peninsula, Upper and Lower Crystal Springs and San Andreas reservoirs are close to full from water imported from the Tuolumne River, but no boating, fishing or water access is permitted.

Napa and Sonoma counties

Because of its relatively small size, Lake Hennessey, east of Napa, is affected less by receding water levels than the big reservoirs. With access for small boats with no more than 10-horsepower engines, it is often ideal for kayaks, canoes and inflatables.

Lake Berryessa (69% full) is in good shape and Clear Lake is hovering just above its low water level. But there is trouble ahead for Lake Sonoma (39%) and Lake Mendocino (30%).

Thomas Hedtke / Special to The Chronicle

Sierra foothills

While trouble looms for many lakes across Gold Country, several will remain in great shape into summer for camping, boating and fishing.

Pardee is 87% full and East Bay Municipal Utility District always keeps it the highest of the reservoirs it manages. Near Colfax on Interstate 80, Rollins Lake (91%) is a jewel on windless mornings. In Stanislaus National Forest, Cherry Lake is 85% full and its campground and surrounding forest was fully protected from the Rim Fire.

Snake-like Englebright Lake near Smartville is expected to be kept at high levels throughout summer, currently at 92%, and has 96 boat-in campsites along 19 miles of shoreline. Outside of Sonora, Tulloch Reservoir is also always kept high and is now at 93%.

But be careful when planning trips to the following lakes, where water levels are low: Camanche (53%), San Luis (50%), Millerton (43%), Oroville (42%), Folsom (37%), Pine Flat (34%), Kaweah (26%), Hensley (23%), Success (23%) and Isabella (16%).

Lake Tahoe region

Lake Tahoe (down 3.84 feet from full) and surrounding lakes including Independence, north of Truckee (74% full and rising), and Donner (73% and rising) are in good shape going into summer.

The Crystal Basin and its lakes, campgrounds, boat ramps and trailheads, set high on the west flank of the Sierra Nevada north of Highway 50, provides a destination with an array of opportunities.

Water levels at Union Valley, Ice House, Loon and Gerle Creek reservoirs are all 100% of normal or above for the date.

The high country near Carson Pass has a series of small lakes, several with campgrounds, that will be in great shape as the snow melts off in the next month. Getaways include Caples, Kirkwood, Woods, Red and Burnside lakes.

But there could be trouble ahead for Frenchman (65%), Davis (63%), Bullards Bar (60%), Beardsley (48%) and Stampede Reservoir (41%).

North Sierra

The Lakes Basin Recreation Area is filled with great, small lakes with campgrounds, including Lower Sardine Lake, Packer Lake, Haven Lake, Snag Lake, Gold Lake and several that require short walks in the vicinity of Mount Elwell, such as Long Lake.

Though the trailheads for Carr Lake and Lindsey Lake always fill on summer weekends, the Bowman Lakes Recreation Area provides opportunities for short walks to small, gorgeous lakes for spectacular easy backpacking trips: Island Lake, Penner Lake, Milk Lake, Glacier Lake and several others. Drive-to camps are available at Rucker, Lindsey, Carr Lake Trailhead, Bowman, Canyon Creek and Grouse Ridge.

Tom Stienstra /

Shasta-Cascade

Several recreation lakes are now full and will be kept that way well through summer: Lake Siskiyou (99% full) near Mount Shasta, Lewiston (95%) north of Weaverville, Manzanita Lake (95%) at Lassen Volcanic National Park and Lake Britton (92%) at McArthur-Burney Falls State Park.

The Trinity-Divide Country in Shasta-Trinity National Forest provides drive-to access, often 4-wheel drive in the backcountry, and trailheads for 40 lakes, including popular and gorgeous Castle Lake, and lesser known Gumboot, Mumbo, Toad, Tamarack, Lily Pad, Picayune, Kangaroo and others. Excellent short backpack trips are available to Deadfall, Porcupine and Bull lakes.

But some are in rough shape going into summer, including Trinity (53%), Shasta (50%) and Black Butte (32%). Also keep an eye on Lake Almanor, currently 65% full.

Tom Stienstra is The San Francisco Chronicles outdoor writer emeritus. Email: tomstienstra2021@gmail.com Twitter: @StienstraTom
Teenagers and young adults statewide and in many parts of the Bay Area are getting coronavirus shots at significantly lower rates than older residents, prompting health officials to step up efforts to persuade young people to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

Statewide, just 32% of those aged 16 and 17 have gotten at least one shot, compared with 60% in the overall eligible population and 70% or more among people over 50, state data shows.

The Bay Area has similarly lower vaccination rates among young people, according to the five counties that provided breakdowns for teenagers and young adults, generally defined as people in their late teens and 20s.

Getting more young people vaccinated is critical for Californias long-term effort to control the coronavirus. They are less likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19, but if unvaccinated they can still transmit the virus to people who are at greater risk. Its not known whether vaccinated people can do so  infectious-disease experts believe it is possible but rare.

Although new cases among all age groups have plummeted since the winter surge, they are dropping more dramatically in older groups, according to state data analyzed by Dr. George Lemp, an infectious disease epidemiologist and former director of the California HIV/AIDS research program at the University of California.

One likely explanation for the difference is that more older people have been vaccinated.

We need to move as quickly as we can to vaccinate Californians, particularly younger populations, to drive these numbers down further, Lemp said.

And now that schools are expanding in-person learning, health officials want as many students as possible to be protected against the virus.

Most children do fine, but there are definitely children that dont do fine if they develop COVID, said Dr. Naveena Bobba, deputy health director for San Francisco. And especially in older-age kids, 16- and 17-year-olds, it looks like they spread the disease very similar to adults.

One reason for younger peoples lagging vaccination rates could simply be timing: Most have been eligible for vaccines for only a few weeks, while people 65 and older have had months to get their shots under Californias age-based rollout.

In Contra Costa County, one of the first large California counties to open up shots to everyone as young as 16, just over half of people in people in their teens and 20s have gotten at least one shot. That is notably lower than the 71% total among the countys overall eligible population, but its also higher than the totals for young people elsewhere in the Bay Area and statewide. That suggests other areas could improve in the next few weeks.

Some young adults  or for teens under 18, their parents, who must give permission share the same concerns that have given some older adults pause. Some parents feel the vaccines have not been tested enough and would not want their children to be inoculated unless schools mandate it, said Kate Moore of Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco.

Moore is not among them: She has a 16-year-old son who has received his first dose and a 13-year-old daughter who is excited to get hers once the Food and Drug Administration authorizes the vaccines for children as young as 12.

In addition to the perception among young people that they arent at great risk from COVID, its likely that some who have had the disease believe theyre already protected from reinfection without a vaccine, said Will Harper, a spokesperson for Contra Costa Health Services. That could account for a large number of vaccine-reluctant people: The 19-to-30 age group has the highest COVID rate in Contra Costa County.

Health experts, however, say people who have had COVID should still be vaccinated because reinfection is possible, and a vaccine is likely to provide stronger and more long-lasting immunity than the natural immunity gained after an infection.

To encourage young people to get vaccinated, Contra Costa County is organizing clinics at schools for older teens and for those 12 to 15 once the FDA authorizes the Pfizer vaccine for them. San Francisco is similarly setting up clinics for teenagers and their families, including at City College.

Santa Clara County will hold three student night clinics at the Levis Stadium mass vaccination site from Tuesday through Thursday. Officials will hand out $10 Starbucks or Chipotle gift cards for the first 100 people 16 to 19 who show up each evening, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The county recently held weekend vaccination clinics for teens and their families at James Lick and Overfelt high schools in San Jose, and plans to hold a similar event next week at Gilroy High School. The two San Jose clinics vaccinated 284 people ages 16 to 18.

Its moving forward nicely, the countys vaccine officer, Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, told the Board of Supervisors this week.

About 37% of 16- and 17-year-olds in Santa Clara County have gotten at least one shot  barely half as many as the total eligible population.

To reach young people, county Supervisor Cindy Chavez created a youth ambassador program, which recruited hundreds of volunteers like 20-year-old Erica Huynh of San Jose to get the word out to their peers and friends about vaccinations.

Huynh, who is studying neuroscience and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, posts links on her Instagram to information about vaccine safety and efficacy and how to book appointments. She also answers questions from her followers about side effects and vaccine eligibility. She got vaccinated early because she works part-time at a Sunnyvale nursing home and believes sharing her experience will reassure those with doubts.

A lot of the work, Huynh said, is passing along vaccine science and research to combat misinformation on social media. She said she hopes that as people see those around them getting vaccinated, theyll feel more at ease seeking vaccinations.

The country just opened up to 16 and older just a couple weeks ago, so Im hoping its just initial scared feelings, Hunyh said, and as people see that more people are getting the vaccine, theyll feel more comfortable.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho
Businesses mostly have the power to require employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. But while many businesses across the nation are deciding against vaccine mandates  to avoid facing privacy concerns and the potential for a public uproar by defiant employees  those in the Bay Area are more likely to ask their employees to get the shots.

Recent data from a U.S. census small business survey done during the second full week in April shows that some local Bay Area businesses have not been deterred from requiring proof of vaccinations.

While nationally only about 3% of businesses surveyed required employees to show proof of having been vaccinated, that number was more than double, at 7.5%, in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metropolitan statistical area, or MSA.

The survey data is of businesses requiring employees to come back to in-person work. Percentage calculations excluded businesses that said not applicable, which means they did not have employees physically coming to work in the last week.

Many larger companies, like Facebook, with workforces that can work remotely, are encouraging instead of requiring vaccines.

Recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more than 41% of the San Francisco MSAs population are fully vaccinated, with a slightly higher percentage of the countys total population having received at least one shot.

While 7.5% is a small fraction, it was the second highest in the nation in terms of areas surveyed, behind only the MSA that includes New York City and parts of New Jersey, where about 7.7% of businesses required vaccine proof. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim area came in third, with 6.2% of businesses asking for proof.

Whether to get the vaccine at all is a highly contentious issue for many, with some experts predicting so-called herd immunity in the U.S. may be unreachable in part due to vaccine hesitancy and refusal.

Add to that a mandate from a third party, like an employer, and the potential for the issue to become even more contentious increases. Underscoring the potential for strong resistance to vaccine mandates, the survey found that some metro areas, like Phoenix, had no data on businesses that answered yes to requiring vaccines, but high percentages of businesses who explicitly said they were not requiring vaccination proof. In Phoenix that number was estimated at close to 90%.

Whether to require vaccine proof is a question companies are really struggling with, said Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Berkeley who also consults with companies on their approach to vaccinations in the workplace.

Swartzberg said that many of the large companies he consults with are staying away from vaccine mandates but that particularly for a small company it would make sense, especially if employees are working in-person.

It would ensure they didnt have a super-spreading event, Swartzberg said, along with making it more likely workers would show up in the first place and not have to call in sick or fear the virus.

Employers asking employees about their vaccination status is allowed under federal and state guidance issued during the pandemic, but can still carry privacy risks, according to Hannah Sweiss, an employment lawyer at law firm Fisher Phillips who is part of the companys COVID-19 task force.

You can ask an employee about what their vaccination status is, Sweiss said. But you cant dig deeper.

Companies can ask what type of shot an employee received and when, but have to be careful about asking only one group or another for fear of potential discrimination claims, Sweiss said.

Sweiss said there is not a broadly accepted standard of what constitutes a vaccination record, and the act of requesting and storing employee medical records carries with it significant privacy obligations for a company.

The census survey also asked companies if they required proof of a negative coronavirus test from employees in the last week before coming to work. A higher percentage did compared to vaccine proof, despite the approach being less foolproof, according to Swartzberg, the infectious disease expert.

The census area that includes San Francisco came in fourth, with 9.1% of small businesses  12% among those that required employees to physically come into the office  saying they had asked employees to test negative for the virus in the last week before coming to work.

The New York census areasaw 17.7% percent of businesses operating in person require a negative test.

The national average saw about 7.5% of small businesses, or about 9% among those requiring employees to come into work physically, require a negative test, according to the survey.

If youre testing sporadically its probably not going to have much of an impact on the safety of the people working in that business, Swartzberg said, noting that even the cheapest rapid antigen tests cost $20 apiece and employees would need to take them every day before work to reliably detect infections.

Polymerase chain reaction tests, which detect viral genetic material, are usually more expensive and can take days for results to come back, leaving a person open to possible infection in the meantime, Swartzberg said.

Swartzberg said he had no data that might hint at why Bay Area businesses were more likely to require proof of a vaccination or a negative test, but guessed that it could have to do with the regions prior experience with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The San Francisco Bay Area was the epicenter of that pandemic in the 1980s, he said. The early chaotic days of that pandemic saw huge friction between the public, the government and health officials in the Bay Area, although it eventually reached a balance.

I think were seeing a halo effect of that now, Swartzberg said. It may very well relate to a sense of community responsibility in the Bay Area that is stronger than in other parts of the country.

Chase DiFeliciantonio and Yoohyun Jung are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com, yoohyun.jung@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice, @yoohyun_jung

Editors note: The text and charts in this story have been updated to reflect the correct census data for businesses asking employees to test negative for the virus in the last week before coming to work.
Tocvan Ventures (CSE: TOC) Vice President of Exploration Brodie Sutherland joined Steve Darling from Proactive to shares news the company has results of some metallurgical work at its flagship Pilar Gold-Silver Project in Mexico. Preliminary results have been received from two samples.

Sutherland telling Proactive these results align with analysis completed by past operators which displayed similar gold recoveries of 90 to 92%. The company is continuing their Phase 2 drill program and more metallurgical testing.
With the Bay Area rapidly reopening as coronavirus rates dwindle and vaccines grow increasingly widespread, flower vendors and florists are rushing to prepare for Mothers Day this Sunday  their industrys busiest day of the year.

And many say they also expect a busy year ahead.

Its gonna be like the Roaring 20s again, said Jeanne Boes, the general manager of the San Francisco Flower Mart, which reopened just in time for Mothers Day last year after a month-long shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, Bay Area flower vendors and florists say they have seen an increase in inquiries for weddings and graduations that were postponed last year. Many customers have also continued to purchase flowers for their homes during a year of working remotely, according to industry operators.

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

Flower prices are likely to be higher this year due to a shortage in supply, according to some vendors in the Bay Area and across the United States. Bay Area vendors said shipments could be delayed by the ongoing effects of the pandemic in the U.S. and worldwide.

Its still a stark difference from last year, when the flower industry was among the hardest hit at the onset of the pandemic. Growers were forced to destroy their flowers because truckers, flower shops and street kiosks were not considered essential businesses.

In San Francisco, wholesale vendors at the Flower Mart scrambled to destroy their inventory or donate it to local markets, senior centers and neighbors.

Paula Vergara, who co-owns Delirio Flowers with her family, said she lost about $50,000 worth of flowers last April.

I (couldnt) believe my eyes watching how many flowers (were) going into the garbage, Vergara recalled on a recent Wednesday after the morning rush at San Franciscos historic wholesale flower market at Fifth and Brannan streets.

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

Sales have been steady since the flower market reopened last April. Some vendors said that took them by surprise because they thought most people were focused on buying the basics like food, water and cleaning supplies.

Lupe Rico, who owns Lupe Farms, said 2020 was one of his busiest years.

We had one of the best years from the last 10 years that I (can) remember, Rico said. Sales have been good all year round since (the market) reopened last year.

Rico said he hopes this year will be the same, or better.

Floral designer Ariana Marbley, who owns Esscents of Flowers in Oakland and buys most of her flowers from the Flower Mart, began making home deliveries after all her clients canceled their weddings and events.

I was nervous and went into panic mode, she recalled.

Jessica Christian / The Chronicle

But Marbley said that after she began collaborating with other small business owners, home deliveries took off. She began doing small, intimate weddings late last year and is now gearing up for more this summer.

For Vergara, sales last year were better than expected. This year is off to an OK start, she said, because some people are still not ready to return to a pre-pandemic normal.

Buying flowers also is a luxury not everyone can afford, she said  especially during a pandemic that devastated the economy and disproportionately impacted low-income communities.

Shes still not worried, though.

With Mothers Day on Sunday and weddings booked for the summer, Vergara said shes ready to deliver flowers and return to some version of normalcy.

Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
Good morning, Bay Area. Its Friday, May 7, and a historic Bay Area lighthouse inn is worried about closing forever after a power crisis. Heres what you need to know to start your day.

Teenagers and young adults statewide and in many parts of the Bay Area are getting coronavirus vaccinations at significantly lower rates than older residents, prompting health officials to step up efforts to persuade young people to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

Catherine Ho reports on why getting young adults vaccinated matters.

 Should California allow distance learning in fall? Lawmakers, educators battle over future of education.

 Bay Area vaccine hesitancy is lower than the rest of the U.S. Heres who remains skeptical  and why.

 Another Bay Area county is set to move into the yellow tier, while another is still stuck in the red tier. Heres whats holding it back.

 Bay Area businesses are more likely to require vaccinations than those in other U.S. regions.

Around the Bay

Jessica Christian/The Chronicle

 Going fast: Why this years Folsom Lake super-bloom is so amazingly rare  and troubling.

 Not all staffers are happy: Renowned Zuni Cafe is getting rid of tips, joining a wage equity movement in the Bay Area.

 Making their local requests: Congress is bringing back earmarks. Heres what Bay Area lawmakers want to spend.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

 We still have lives to touch: East Brother lighthouses power crisis could cost $1 million to fix. Is the S.F. Bay island inn about to close forever?

 Chronic underfunding: Mayor London Breed grew up in S.F. public housing, which the city is struggling to fix. Some tenants plan to sue.

 Another potential path to removal: Windsor officials request a grand jury investigation of Mayor Dominic Foppoli for willful or corrupt misconduct over sexual assault accusations.

Datebook

CAAMFest

In an alternative universe, Dante Bascos life might have played out differently. As a teen in the 90s, the Pittsburg native was already in an elite Hollywood circle of child stars, especially after playing the memorable Rufio in the 1991 Steven Spielberg film Hook. Would he be on track to play leading roles?

I remember a director telling me probably in my late 20s or early 30s: Dante, man, if you were white or Black, you would have had a totally different career, Basco recently recalled in an interview with The Chronicle.

The actual version of how things played out, though, is far more interesting. If Hollywood wouldnt cast a Filipino American as a leading man, Dante Basco would make his own movie.

More from Datebook:

 Ways to celebrate Mothers Day weekend in the Bay Area.

 Rare piece of art by Grateful Deads Jerry Garcia to be sold as non-fungible token for more than $1 million.

 A guide to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month events in the Bay Area.

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.
San Francisco police shot and wounded a man they said was a known auto burglary suspect, sending him to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.

Police released few details about the shooting at a news briefing hours after the 12:48 p.m. incident on Varney Place near Third Street in the citys South Park neighborhood.

San Francisco Police Officer Robert Rueca said plainclothes officers were conducting an investigation of auto burglaries when they spotted a known suspect vehicle and people that were known as auto burglary suspects.

Officers shot at the suspect for reasons that were not disclosed. Rueca would not say if the suspects fired at police and would not disclose how many shots had been fired or in what part of the body the man was shot.

In addition to the suspect that was shot and taken to the hospital, two others fled. The wounded suspect has not yet been arrested or booked, Rueca said.

As is customary in police shootings in San Francisco, a town hall meeting reviewing the incident will be held within 10 days, he said.

Police blocked traffic on Brannan Street between Second and Third Street. A dozen officers, including Police Chief Bill Scott, gathered on Jack London Street and long strings of yellow police tape were stretched throughout the area, keeping people from the scene.

Police warned that traffic in the area would be delayed as they investigate the incident.

Michael Cabanatuan Steve Rubenstein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com subenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan @steverubeSF
A potentially dangerous combination of dry vegetation and strong winds is expected to descend on Northern California this weekend, bringing heightened risk of fire to a broad stretch of the interior that includes Solano County, officials said.

The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch for more than a dozen counties, extending as far north as Redding and as far south as Modesto beginning at 8 a.m. Saturday through 6 p.m. Monday. Meteorologists may extend the watch if conditions remain conducive to fire, said NWS Sacramentos Hannah Chandler-Cooley.

Much of Solano County could see fire-sparking winds above 30 mph throughout the weekend, Chandler-Cooley said. Dixon and Vacaville are likely to be the hardest hit, she said, with predicted gusts up topping out at 40 mph.

The region remains parched, recording humidity levels as low as 9% and 10%, she said. The combination of low humidity and high winds could easily spark a fire, she said.

Even without the expected winds, we have seen fires starting, Chandler-Cooley said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. had not announced any Public Safety Power Shutoffs, which preemptively cut power to some customers to prevent equipment from sparking fires.

Lt. Jackson Harris of the Solano County sheriffs office urged residents to enroll in the countys alert system ahead of the weekends fire weather.

We need residents to be prepared, Harris said. People need to know that, should a fire begin, they are going to need to take precautions.

Harris also encouraged Solano County residents to avoid mowing their lawn during peak daytime hours and to take steps to prepare for potential power outages.

We take every fire weather watch seriously, he said.

Nora Mishanec is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nora.mishanec@sfchronicle.com
Tens of thousands of people in the Bay Area and across Northern California experienced an earthquake early warning system for the first time late Thursday, after a magnitude 4.7 quake near Truckee activated the U.S. Geological Surveys ShakeAlert system.

While the initial alerts werent perfect  some far from Truckee were warned of a much stronger quake than the one that actually occurred  Thursdays earthquakes provided an important test for the system, which can give people crucial seconds to take cover before an earthquake strikes.

Heres what you need to know about the ShakeAlert system:

What is ShakeAlert?

It is impossible to predict earthquakes. But using more than 1,000 sensors placed throughout the West Coast, the USGS is able to detect earthquakes right as the first seismic motion reaches the surface of the earth.

Preliminary information about the earthquake is then transmitted to one of three USGS processing centers, where, through an automated process, a determination is made whether the quake is significant enough to issue an alert.

Right now, there are more than 1,100 sensors up and down the West Coast, said Dr. Robert de Groot, the USGS communication coordinator for ShakeAlert. The USGS hopes to have 1,675 by the end of 2025.

How do I sign up?

There are three ways to receive early warnings from ShakeAlert. A mobile application called MyShake is free in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. Through a USGS partnership with Google, Android users in California automatically receive ShakeAlert warnings.

The Android and app warnings are triggered in response to magnitude 4.5 earthquakes and greater. Wireless Emergency Alerts, similar to Amber Alerts, are used in response to earthquakes greater than a 5.0 magnitude, according to state officials.

At least 30,000 people received warnings about Thursdays earthquake through the mobile apps, de Groot said. Officials are still calculating the number of people who received the alerts from Google, but said it could be a significant number.

During a magnitude 4.5 earthquake that struck Southern California last September, about 2.2 million people received alerts, de Groot said.

I didnt feel any shaking. Why did I get an alert?

ShakeAlert technology is still being tested. The location of Thursdays earthquake  a rural and rugged part of the Eastern Sierra  presented a challenge to ShakeAlert because of the limited number of sensors in that area, de Groot said.

The decision of who gets an alert is also automated.

ShakeAlerts first estimate of the size of Thursdays earthquake was a magnitude 6.0, meaning alerts got sent far beyond where any shaking was actually felt.

The alert system recognized within one-tenth of a second that the earthquake was a magnitude 4.7, the USGS said. But by that time, alerts had already been sent.

The USGS said on Twitter that a small foreshock may have gotten mixed in with the mainshock signal.

Were still looking into this though and will know more shortly, USGS officials tweeted. The agency added that it understands this event was upsetting for many people, especially those who might have received a #ShakeAlert-powered alert and didnt feel shaking.

Michael Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: michael.williams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @michaeldamianw
The death of Mario Gonzalez in Alameda illustrated a paradox in modern policing, according to three legal scholars: Armed, uniformed officers are the default response to minor quality-of-life issues. Yet theyre often the least suited to handle them.

That issue will dominate a special Alameda City Council meeting on Saturday, as officials deal with fallout from the April 19 incident. Gonzalez, a 26-year-old man from Oakland, was detained for no apparent crime, then restrained by three officers and a civilian parking employee until he went limp.

The officers went out there with the intention, no doubt, of doing the right thing, said former Boston police Lt. Thomas Nolan. There were missteps that were made.

He added that Gonzalez may have died because the officers followed their training  not in spite of it.

Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft called the Saturday meeting along with Vice Mayor Malia Vella, who is running for the state Assembly seat vacated by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. They hope to hasten plans to shift some 911 calls away from law enforcement, an idea that has captivated leaders in other cities, though most have been slow to implement it.

Alameda meeting Saturday's City Council meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m., with public participation by Zoom. See More Collapse

Sometimes, when youve come through a crisis, its just the right moment to seize on saying, OK, we need to make change. But we need to bring people along with us, Ashcraft told The Chronicle.

Shes seeking council approval to compile a list of groups or agencies to handle minor complaints in the short-term, then develop a more far-reaching strategy that involves civilian responders accompanying police. City officials do not yet have a concrete vision or the means to fund such a program.

Many people see Gonzalezs death as a case study for a larger debate about how and when to deploy police officers. The scene, captured in body-camera footage that the city released on April 27, had all the elements of a minor encounter gone wrong: a disoriented man lingering in a park; two callers voicing suspicion; an officer breezily asking questions  then requesting backup. Gonzalez resisted being handcuffed, and died after police pinned him for five minutes.

Emotions grew raw as the video hit social media a month before the anniversary of George Floyds murder in Minneapolis. Activists and family members of Gonzalez held rallies, decrying the officers conduct as violent and excessive force. One group of protesters gathered near the park where Gonzalez died, carrying signs that vilified residents who called police. You have blood on your hands, one sign read. Klanameda Kop Kallers, read another.

Others defended the officers, saying they had tried to build a rapport with Gonzalez. In the body-worn camera footage, the first officer to arrive  later identified as Eric McKinley  talks to Gonzalez for nine minutes before ultimately walking over to handcuff him. Throughout the exchange, McKinley remains calm and never raises his voice.

Based on what I could see, it appears that theyre doing things to try to de-escalate, in terms of staying calm and trying to keep Mr. Gonzalez engaged in conversation, Alamedas interim police Chief Randy Fenn said in an interview Thursday.

Acknowledging the city is still waiting for the results of three investigations  from an outside law firm, the Alameda County Sheriffs Office and the district attorney  Fenn noted that his officers didnt use batons or Tasers on Gonzalez.

Nolan, now an associate professor of sociology at Emmanuel College in Boston, criticized the officers actions, starting with McKinleys decisions to call for backup, check for warrants and repeatedly ask Gonzalez to identify himself.

Every step that the officer took set the tone of a criminal investigation, rather than an attempt to help someone, he said.

The former police lieutenant contended that the officers could have assessed whether Gonzalez was a threat to himself or others, and then called for medical help. Alternatively, they could have driven Gonzalez home or even left him in the park, Nolan suggested.

Its not quite that easy, Fenn said.

If the officers think Mr. Gonzalez is impaired to the point where hes not able to care for his own safety, then by walking away, we actually become liable, potentially, for what happens, Fenn said. If he stumbles out into traffic, if he gets hit by a car, if he has some other issue  frankly, we could bear significant liability.

Christine Cole, executive director of the Crime and Justice Institute  a Boston nonprofit that advocates for reforming the legal system  pointed out the many ways in which officers are constrained when they receive a call for service.

When the police are dispatched to the call, theyre not going to say, Well, we cant help you, Cole said.

People expect officers to react quickly and confidently, Cole said. A more effective response requires patience and resources.

What was standard and expected yesterday is no longer acceptable tomorrow, said attorney Alison Berry Wilkinson. She represents the officers in the case, and says they and their profession are caught in a moment of societal introspection, when its no longer clear what people want from police.

Even before the uprisings that followed Floyds murder last May, cities throughout the nation were contemplating civilian responses to low-level calls for service, such as public intoxication, loitering, or people behaving erratically but not violently. Oakland officials began studying a new model two years ago, eventually deciding to house it within the citys fire department.

Only a few cities have built up the infrastructure to test-run alternatives to 911. The CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets) program in Eugene, Ore., is widely considered a standard-bearer. Two years ago Olympia, Wash., began dispatching unarmed crisis responders, in the hope they would be less confrontational and more nimble than police. Sacramento set up a similar office last year, and appointed an interim director to run it.

Ultimately, the idea is to connect people to services rather than arrest and incarcerate them. Gonzalezs death shows the need for such innovations, said Michael Lawlor, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven.

At the end of the day, the police have handcuffs, Lawlor said. Theres probably a hundred other options that could be explored, have been explored by people who had the training and resources to deal with this differently.

Chief Fenn said he has long supported the idea of transferring quality-of-life complaints over to civilian responders.

The issue is not a willingness of police to unload that burden, he said. Its just where does it go? Who is able to do this on a 24-7 basis?

Alameda was already on track to send mental health professionals to some 911 calls, Councilmember John Knox White said, citing the councils unanimous vote in March to pursue such a program.

Anger and pain over Gonzalezs death helped accelerate that plan, or at least heightened the urgency. The details remain elusive.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @rachelswan

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcrafts last name.
A group of ecologists, volunteers and a lepidopterist trudged up a Marin hillside in the warm sun last week, nets and coolers in hand. They scoured the grassland for a small butterfly with silver-gray wings and the occasional pop of copper-orange, a color scheme that helps it blend into the yellowing grasses and spring poppies.

They were collecting California ringlet butterflies to relocate to the Presidio of San Francisco, where they havent been seen since 2007. While its not the prettiest butterfly, nor the rarest, wildlife experts say the return of the fuzzy gray insect to the Presidio is a vital part of the national parks slow transformation back into something approaching its native self.

What it represents is an effort that we in the Presidio are taking to manage the landscape in a new way, said Lewis Stringer, associate director of natural resources at the Presidio Trust, which manages the 1,491-acre park along with the National Park Service. Theres a recognition that with a loss of biodiversity you have to keep the common things common.

After gingerly collecting five male and five pregnant female California ringlets in the Marin Headlands, Presidio Trust ecologists drove them across the Golden Gate Bridge and released them near Inspiration Point, an area where the Presidio Trust has been restoring serpentine grassland, the butterflies native habitat, for many years. The team will continue to capture and release small numbers of butterflies until they reach 100. Then theyll repeat that each year for two more years to re-establish a population.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

Releasing them is always very satisfying and exciting, said Presidio Trust wildlife ecologist Jon Young, who is in charge of collecting the insects. Whats really satisfying is seeing a new generation rear on its own.

The Presidio Trust was established 25 years ago, two years after the National Park Service took over the land from U.S. Army. Since then, trust and NPS staff and volunteers have restored and replanted grasslands, coastal bluffs, oak woodlands and tidal marshes that had been paved over with asphalt or crowded out by non-native trees and weeds. They also reintroduced native insects and animals, including several endangered species.

They include the Western pond turtle, which recently showed a sign of a healthy population when ecologists found a baby last month for the first time since they reintroduced it to Mountain Lake in 2015, and the variable checkerspot butterfly, which now flutters all over the park after being reintroduced in 2017. Coyotes showed up on their own, as did silver digger bees, which hadnt been seen in Presidio in significant numbers in a century.

An important reason to return native animals and plants is that complex ecosystems are more resilient to climate change, Young said. Another is just to re-establish normalcy.

Gabrielle Lurie/The Chronicle

To walk in a California grassland and not see a ringlet flying around, it seems like something is off, Young said. Theyre such a California grassland species.

Even though the grasslands at Inspiration Point have been restored, the ringlets wont come back on their own because they cant fly very far  not across the Golden Gate nor from nearby San Bruno Mountain nor Candlestick Point, where there are lots of them.

In an area where theres a lot of grass, youre probably going to find ringlets, Young said.

The challenge in collecting them, though, is that ringlets dont flit showily from flower to flower, especially the pregnant females, who tend to hunker down in the grass. That was the population Young targeted in the Marin Headlands, hoping they would lay their eggs immediately upon their arrival in the Presidio.

Young and lepidopterist Liam OBrien, along with other staff and volunteers, also collected some males, which are far easier to find because they tend to be on the move. To coax the females out, the collectors dragged their butterfly nets slowly along the ground until one jumped up and could be caught safely. Its a painstaking process.

COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California.

Theres a lot of running around  there are some badger holes to avoid. Its not just fun and games, Young said.

After catching the butterflies, the experts check their gender. The pregnant ones  thats basically all females this time of year  can be distinguished by their slightly broader abdomens, each filled with a dozen to two dozen eggs. The collection crew places each butterfly in a clear plastic deli container, and the females go into a cooler with a bit of ice to keep them calm. That way, they dont burn as much energy and damage their wings during transit, Young said.

After collecting the quota of five females and five males, the team headed back to the Presidios Inspiration Point. Once the group opened the containers, the butterflies flew out and found new spots in the grass to settle.

Some would lay their eggs right away. The females have only a few more weeks to live, if they avoid being eaten by predators. The hope is that the butterflies born of their eggs reproduce, Young said.

The Presidio Trust hopes to launch more projects like this, such as bringing back populations of California quail and red-legged frog.

The goal is to demonstrate that these parklands can be really genuine wild places that support the kinds of species that used to be here and that are not longer here, Stringer said. With the crisis of biodiversity loss were seeing across the world, we have to be engaged this way. Its not that hard to do.

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan
Welcome to Pandemic Problems, an advice column from The Chronicles engagement reporters that aims to help Bay Area residents solve their pandemic-related conundrums  personal, practical or professional. Send your questions and issues to pandemicproblems@sfchronicle.com.

Todays question is fielded by The Chronicles Kellie Hwang.

Dear Advice Team: I was disappointed to learn that the Moderna vaccine is only 85% effective in adults over 65 based on clinical trials. I am 72 with no comorbidities and had a definite response of typical short-term side effects after the second dose of Moderna. This gave me confidence that the shot was working.

But since most of my older friends and relatives were injected with the Pfizer vaccine, I am wondering whether I can switch to Pfizer for any subsequent booster shots a year from now, as has been predicted? I really want the maximum protection out there because I live alone and do not want to even be a carrier of COVID as nobody really is clear about the long-term effects of the disease for those who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

Thank you for your attention to this question.

More Information About Pandemic Problems Send your questions and issues to pandemicproblems@sfchronicle.com. We cannot respond to all questions, but your submission will be read and considered. Please be as specific as possible, but try to keep it concise. We may edit your submission for space, clarity or spelling and grammar. Keep the people and situations in your letter anonymous by changing the names (including yours) and details. We will remove any identifying information. Emails, letters, tweets or other messages you send become the property of The Chronicle and may be published online and in print. Important: This column cannot address immediate risks to your health and safety. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 to reach a counselor at a locally operated crisis center 24 hours a day for free. Text "Connect" to 741741 to reach a crisis counselor any time for free. Emails or other communications you send become the property of The Chronicle and may be published online and in print. By submitting a question, you agree to The Chronicle's Terms of Use, which are available for review at https://www.sfchronicle.com/terms_of_use/ , and acknowledge its Privacy Notice, which is available for review at https://www.sfchronicle.com/privacy_policy/. The advice offered in this column is intended for informational purposes only. Use of this column is not intended to replace or substitute for any professional, financial, medical, legal, or other professional advice. If you have specific concerns or a situation in which you require professional, psychological or medical help, you should consult with an appropriately trained and qualified specialist. The opinions or views expressed in this column are not intended to treat or diagnose; nor are they meant to replace the treatment and care that you may be receiving from a licensed professional, physician or mental health professional. This column, its authors, the newspaper and publisher are not responsible for the outcome or results of following any advice in any given situation. You, and only you, are completely responsible for your actions. See More Collapse

Dear Reader: These are some interesting questions and concerns that you raise. Lets break it down.

First, you mention that the Moderna vaccine was found to be less effective in individuals over 65 during the clinical trials, which is true. In an analysis from the New England Journal of Medicine, patients 18 to 65 showed an efficacy of 95.6%, while the rate was 86.4% for those older than 65. Pfizer, on the other hand, reported that efficacy was over 94% in individuals over 65 years.

However, experts say the effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine for your age group in the real world likely is even higher than in the trials.

I talked to Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, and she said that in the clinical trial for the Moderna vaccine, only four symptomatic COVID-19 infections occurred in people over 65 of about 3,580 in the trial.

With a limited number of events in a subgroup, the percent efficacy in a trial can appear lower than in the entire population tested, she said. However, the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines, even among those who are older, is much higher than that percent.

She said based on the CDCs real-world tracking of breakthrough infections, or people who are fully vaccinated and still get sick from COVID-19, the percentage of those who become sick is very small: As of April 26, 95 million Americans have been fully vaccinated and just 9,245 of them contracted COVID-19. Gandhi said this shows the high effectiveness of both mRNA vaccines. (Both Pfizer and Moderna are mRNA vaccines, which use messenger RNA to teach our cells how to mount an immune response to the coronavirus.)

Robert Siegel, professor of virology and immunology at Stanford University, said the real-world data so far indicates that these vaccines perform at least as well as in clinical trials in prevention of both infection and severe disease.

So the bottom line is, people in your age group are very well protected from the coronavirus whether they received the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine.

Next, there is the question of how long vaccine protection lasts and if boosters will be needed down the line. Experts still dont know the answer to this because the vaccine trials are ongoing and they are collecting data in real time. Based on studies of natural immunity, experts can deduce that protection will last at least six to eight months.

Moderna announced last month its vaccine is 90% effective at protecting against COVID-19 and 95% effective against severe disease at six months. Pfizer also said its vaccine is highly effective after six months.

Moderna announced Wednesday that early data from an ongoing clinical trial for a booster vaccine show it is effective against the variants that originated in Brazil and South Africa. Two studies published Wednesday show the Pfizer vaccine is very effective at preventing the worst outcomes from the variants that originated from the United Kingdom and South Africa.

Your last question is about mixing and matching possible booster doses. Gandhi said there should not be a problem mixing vaccine doses down the line.

We as practicing physicians dont look at the brand name of the vaccine when we give boosters in the real world, she said. Moreover, there is evidence that mixing and matching different vaccines may actually boost the immune response to COVID-19, and this strategy is being tested right now in the U.K.

Right now, people in the U.S. should receive the same brands in a two-dose vaccine regimen.

But either because of shortages or to boost a persons immune response, some countries are encouraging people to mix and match their doses  for example, one dose of an mRNA vaccine and another of a viral vector vaccine like AstraZenecas, which uses a modified version of a different virus (the vector) to deliver instructions to human cells. Some manufacturers are even purposely developing two different types of vaccines.

But for right now, its too early to be concerned about booster shots.

It is not yet time for the public to start worrying about what booster to get, Siegel said. When the time comes, there is little reason to believe there will be a significant difference between Pfizer and Moderna.

Pandemic Problems is written by Chronicle Advice Team members Annie Vainshtein and Kellie Hwang, combining thorough reporting and guidance from Bay Area experts to help get answers and find a way forward.
CalSavers, the employee-funded, state-managed retirement system for millions of Californians whose employers have no retirement plan, is a valid program that does not conflict with federal pension laws, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday, rejecting a conservative groups challenge.

The program was established by state law in 2017 and is being phased in through June 2022, when all private employers with five employees or more will have to register their workers names with the state. Employees can opt out of the program, but those who participate have a percentage of their pay automatically transferred to a Roth individual retirement account in their name.

The state says a recent study showed about 7.5 million Californians worked for businesses that lacked a retirement plan  57% of all private-sector employees, and 82% of those making $14,000 or less. So far, CalSavers says, 10,298 employers have registered and 140,719 employees have accounts with funds totaling $68 million. Those figures will increase after June 30, when all employers with 50 workers or more are required to sign up.

Similar programs have been adopted by six other states and the city of Seattle.

CalSavers was challenged by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which said the law was an employer pension plan covered by federal regulations that do not authorize such state-managed plans. But the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Thursday that CalSavers, funded entirely by employees, is not an employer plan and therefore is not regulated by ERISA, the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

It is the state that has established CalSavers and the state that maintains it  and not eligible employers, Judge Daniel Bress said in the 3-0 ruling, upholding a March 2020 decision by a federal judge.

The state decides which employers and employees are eligible for the program, and a state board makes investment decisions and manages the money, Bress said. He said some employers may find CalSavers irritating or even burdensome, and some may respond by eliminating their own ERISA retirement plans, but CalSavers itself is not covered by ERISA.

Bress was appointed by President Donald Trump, whose Labor Department filed arguments with the court opposing the law, a filing that was withdrawn by President Bidens administration. Another member of the panel, U.S. District Judge Clifton Corker of Tennessee, temporarily assigned to the appeals court, was also appointed by Trump. The third member, Judge Andrew Hurwitz, was appointed by President Barack Obama.

State Treasurer Fiona Ma, chairwoman of the CalSavers Retirement Savings Board, said the ruling preserves a simple solution to level the playing field for workers who for too long havent had access to workplace-based retirement plans. There is no reason to deny millions of hardworking Californians access to this savings program when the alternative is to see them work until they are physically unable to, or suffer the hardships that come with little to no savings.

It is a huge boon especially for low-income people who tend not to have access to employer retirement plans, said attorney Dara Smith of the AARP Foundation. She noted that legal arguments supporting the program were also filed by Small Business California and the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Associations lawyer, Laura Dougherty, said it would consider an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

CalSavers imposes burdens and risks on private employers since participation is mandatory for most employers who do not offer a company retirement program, Dougherty said. CalSavers imposes risks on employees since it doesnt follow federal standards for retirement programs and authorizes commingling with Californias already troubled public pension plans.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Oisin Fanning highlighted that Brown's combination of oil and gas and financial experience will be invaluable to the company as its continues to seek growth

( ) has appointed John Brown as its new non-executive director.

Brown was previously chief financial officer or finance director for a number of London-listed companies in the oil and gas sector  including , Bowleven PLC and Pittencrieff Resources PLC.

After joining the board, Brown will chair San Leons audit and risk committee and will be added to the nomination and remuneration committees.

"We are delighted to welcome John to San Leon. His combination of oil and gas and financial experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to seek to grow San Leon's operations, said chief executive Oisin Fanning.

Browns appointment comes as the company seeks to rebalance the number of executive directors and non-executive directors on the board. Alongside Browns addition, the company noted that Alan Campbell will step down as director of commercial and business development.

"I am also grateful to Alan for stepping down from his board role at this time as part of our corporate governance restructuring," said Fanning."Alan has been a key figure in the transformation and growth of the company. He remains a core part of the team."

Campbell remains a member of the executive management team and continues his role leading the companys commercial and business operations.
People need fish and clean water, not carpools. It is time to reform our water rights system. Recent articles in this paper have discussed the drought and proposals for actions such as trucking hatchery salmon. Discussions of real solutions, such as reassessing water rights for large farms, which use 80% of the states water but export crops, are not discussed.

These articles quote farmers, fishermen, even environmentalists that are worried about the salmon extinction, but they ignore Native people who say that salmon extinction is cultural genocide and the millions of Californians who still lack access to clean water, many of whom watch as almond orchards get clean water while they do not.

Who gets clean water in California is a social and racial justice issue. It is not about fish versus farms. The drought highlights the fact that California has to reassess its antiquated water rights systems. Cities and rivers should not be without water while farms flood-irrigate grass.

Californias water rights system was created while Indian land was being taken. It was before people of color could vote or own land. It is racist and classicist and prioritizes corporations above clean water for cities, people and fish.

Regina Chichizola, Orleans, Humboldt County

Untangle S.F.s streets

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is pinching down Van Ness Avenue, a construction zone for many years. Market Street is all but closed to autos and covered in unsightly and upsetting red paint. Park and city streets all over town are closed, making travel confusing. Conflicting bicycle lanes and traffic calming devices make intersections more dangerous. There are many giant barriers that are graffiti magnets blocking transportation through Golden Gate Park. High-occupancy vehicle lanes will soon restrict auto traffic on already clogged 19th Avenue-Park Presidio. Extensive attempts to reduce pedestrian fatalities have changed numbers very little. Is this the urban environment we want, controlled by the ideological whims of the unelected MTA? San Francisco Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors need to assert the jurisdiction of local elected officials over city streets. Changes to city streets must be necessary, sensible, effective, beautiful and an improvement over what has existed before.

Traffic calming? Lets open up all closed streets to normal traffic.

William Klingelhoffer, San Francisco

Reparations are due

Regarding S.F. reparations task force soon to begin work (Front Page, May 4): To the nearly two-thirds of Americans and 90% of Republicans who oppose the idea of providing reparations to our Black neighbors, let this white guy point out the obvious lesson taught by Rally set after Black student accused of theft (May 5). As long as a Black fifth-grader can be perceived as a sandwich stealer by Safeway security, despite showing his receipt of purchase, reparations are due to his community. To coin a phrase, consider that the cost of doing systemic racism.

Stefan Gruenwedel, San Francisco

Fracking ban too costly

Regarding Newsom reportedly planning phase-out of fracking permits in California (April 22): Gov. Gavin Newsom is out of line and out of his mind if he thinks this executive order is going to benefit the people of this state. Banning oil and gas production in California is the last thing we need right now. This decision isnt based in science. It isnt based in trusting our democratic process. At best, its a publicity stunt.

At worst, its a direct attack on our working-class families and every Californian who relies on affordable fuel to get to and from work every day.

Banning nearly 20% of the states oil production means a higher cost of living in a state that is already unaffordable for most, especially right now. Higher electricity bills. Higher gas bills. Higher grocery bills. Businesses and families are trying to recover from the economic losses from the past year. Dont kick us when were down. I ask the governor to focus on solutions that will help Californians prosper and thrive. We need reliable resources. We need energy we can afford. This executive order is not what we need.
SACRAMENTO  Californias population shrank slightly last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, the first time the state has measured an annual decline in more than a century of tracking.

The sharpest declines were mostly in coastal regions, the state Department of Finance found, while inland areas where more new single-family homes are being built defied the statewide trend and added people.

The department released estimates Friday concluding that Californias overall population decreased by 0.46% in 2020, a net loss of 182,083 people that officials attributed largely to a surge in deaths and a steep decline in immigration because of the pandemic.

The drop to the current population of 39,466,855 follows decades of slowing growth, as both the birth rate and migration to California have fallen. State demographers estimated an increase of only 0.2%, or 87,494 people, in 2019.

But H.D. Palmer, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance, said the state projected that the decline  the first since data collection began in 1900  would be temporary.

Our demographers anticipate we will return to slightly positive growth 12 months from now as the pandemic is brought under control and we see changes to immigration policy, he said.

The population decline comes as California is already reeling with questions of identity and the political consequences of its plateauing growth.

Reports of residents leaving San Francisco and other cities during the pandemic led to months of debate over whether California was experiencing an exodus. Critics argued that the state had become inhospitable to all but the wealthiest households, though it turned out that most people were moving within California.

The U.S. Census Bureau also announced last week that California would lose a representative in Congress for the first time in the states history, after its population increased more slowly than the country as a whole during the past decade.

The fundamental issue is the availability of housing, said Hans Johnson, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Some communities have simply run out of space to expand, while others have made it harder to build.

Johnson published an analysis of census data this week that showed those moving to the state are generally wealthier, more highly educated and younger than those leaving  underscoring how soaring home prices and rents have created a financial barrier to living in California. In a survey of people who moved away, a quarter cited housing as the reason.

I dont see us ever going back to the period when we were gaining large numbers of people, Johnson said.

The same factors are driving Californians inland, away from expensive coastal cities that have been the historic population centers. While every Bay Area county except Contra Costa lost residents last year, the neighboring counties of San Benito and San Joaquin had among the fastest growth in the state. The foothill region outside Sacramento also experienced significant gains.

San Francisco lost 1.7% of its residents last year, one of the steepest declines of any large city of California. But Oakland, which has become one of the hottest real estate markets in the state, bucked the trend, growing by 0.7%.

Despite a switch to remote work during the pandemic that accelerated movement out of cities, Leora Lawton, executive director of the Berkeley Population Center, said she expects their populations will stabilize in the long run. Cities provide a natural social network for young people just starting their careers, she said, and are an incubator for new businesses.

Young adults need to be around other people to form friendships, to find partners, in order to find their sense of self, said Lawton, who has studied the effects of social isolation. Peoples mental health is really suffering with this pandemic, and I just dont think its going to be a permanent shift among younger workers.

The Department of Finance pointed to two main factors for the state population decrease in 2020: California experienced about 51,000 excess deaths because of the coronavirus, 19% more than the average of the previous three years. And only an estimated 29,300 people moved to the state from other countries, a decline of nearly 123,000 from 2019. Much of that drop was due to international students inability to travel to university campuses because of pandemic restrictions.

Other long-term trends contributed. More Californians move to other states each year than Americans from other states move to California. That outflow has been steadily increasing for decades, to about 311,000 last year, according to the Department of Finance, and now eclipses net international immigration.

That leaves only natural population growth. But the birth rate has been falling, as it is across the country  and it took a dive during the pandemic, with about 24,000 fewer babies born last year than expected.

Palmer said state demographers anticipate California will benefit as the Biden administration begins to lift former President Donald Trumps immigration policies, such as restrictions on H-1B visas and a lower refugee cap. California is home to a disproportionate number of highly skilled foreign workers, refugees and other immigrants.

We are a destination state, by virtue of California being California, Palmer said.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
SACRAMENTO  Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have been emphatic that public schools in California must reopen for full-time, in-person learning this fall.

But that push has inspired a new debate in Sacramento: Should they create an exception for students who prefer to stay remote or who learn better outside the classroom?

The issue is dividing some lawmakers and educators as the Legislature wades into negotiations over a new state budget that could determine what, if any, amount of distance learning will be funded for schools.

Beyond the fall academic term, this decision also could reshape how the state defines public education for years to come. Distance learning, instead of an emergency solution during a deadly pandemic, could be embedded as a fixture of Californias schools if advocates get their way.

You learn best if youre in a classroom, said Assembly Member Patrick ODonnell, a Democrat from Long Beach who chairs the Education Committee. But Im also recognizing that the world around us has changed forever.

State law requires school districts to provide students with a set amount of instructional time with a teacher present, typically about five hours per day. During the coronavirus pandemic, California waived that law and allowed teachers to fill instructional minutes with live on-screen sessions and at-home assignments.

Most school districts in California now have reopened for students who choose to come back in person, with the option to continue at home available in most cases.

About 55% of public school students are still learning remotely, according to an analysis by EdSource. That number includes students in districts that havent reopened, but the vast majority live in districts that have resumed in-classroom learning at least part time.

Its clear some parents arent comfortable sending their kids back to school campuses, said state Sen. Connie Leyva, a Democrat from Chino (San Bernardino County) who chairs the Education Committee. While its clear most students learn better in a classroom, she said, districts need to offer alternatives.

This is all of our first pandemic, so we have to be willing to be a little bit flexible, Leyva said. Distance learning should be extended into the fall and possibly further.

Californias waiver that allowed for distance learning expires June 30, so legislators have little time left to make what could end up being a far-reaching decision.

The demand to continue virtual learning faces fierce opposition from some politicians and parents. They say many students have suffered academically and emotionally while away from their teachers and peers.

They are demanding state officials set strict limits on when or how distance learning  or hybrid models  could be used. They do not want to see a repeat of the past year, where some schools reopened in the fall while others remained online for months longer.

Research shows disadvantaged students falling further behind their peers with pandemic distance learning, often due to unequal technology access or family circumstances.

A survey last month by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that 86% of adults and 83% of public school parents are concerned that students are losing ground academically during the pandemic.

In addition, health experts say they are seeing a surge of young people seeking emergency mental health services, given the lack of social interaction and stress.

Newsoms office said the states success in slowing the coronavirus  with the lowest transmission rate in the country and more than 31 million vaccine shots administered to people 16 and over  has paved the way for schools to return to normal.

Due to this significant progress, Governor Newsom expects schools to be fully reopened for 100% in-person instruction in the fall, a spokesperson said in an email to The Chronicle.

Assembly Member Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Budget Committee, has urged the Legislature to let the waiver that enabled a year of distance learning expire. He said the sluggish return to in-person learning has siphoned students away from public schools, which lost more than 160,000 students amid the pandemic.

Districts should be more focused on what type of education theyre providing for their students, Ting said. If theyre providing a strong education, every family will flock back. Theres no question.

The push to extend at least the option for distance learning comes both from educators and administrators. Options could include new online-only academies or hybrid models, where some students spend limited time on campus.

Alameda County Superintendent L.K. Monroe said the majority of students can expect to be back in classrooms, but districts should consider at least partial distance learning for families who want it and for students who learn better in the remote environment.

I see no reason why the fall should not have us back to normal with an option or two, Monroe said. There is no unified district superintendent who does not want to come back to school as close to normal in the fall.

Some educators and school officials want the state to go further, to fundamentally reconsider its public education model by permanently extending remote options.

Such a move would be a turn toward a service orientation and away from the industrial-era model of education that is not well suited for many of todays families, said Troy Flint, a spokesperson for the California School Boards Association, which supports continued distance learning.

He added, Its critical that we use this opportunity to rethink and transform a system that isnt serving all students well.

Some teachers also are on board. Jeff Freitas, president of the California Federation of Teachers, one of the states largest educator unions, said virtual learning makes sense for a small subset of middle and high-school students who performed better at home during the pandemic.

We need to meet the students where they are. We need to meet the families where they are, he said. We need individualized education.

Supporters say distance learning also prepares students for the world they will encounter after graduation, particularly as many employers are vowing to keep workers remote, pandemic or not.

ODonnell, the Education Committee chair in the Assembly, said because online learning isnt going away, the Legislature should focus on how to professionalize it. California already has about 300 online-only charter schools serving students who are signed up for independent study. ODonnell has proposed a bill, AB1316, that would require such schools to use credentialed teachers and face more stringent auditing requirements.

Anyone, regardless of educational attainment, can open an online charter school, he said. Its the Wild West; there are no requirements.

But the push to end distance learning often has been driven by parents.

Megan Bacigalupi, a Oakland mother and organizer with Open Schools CA, said she fears expanding the state waiver for remote learning could give districts an excuse to not reopen classrooms in the fall.

Bacigalupi said she quit her job as an attorney in March to help school her two boys, a kindergartner and a second-grader in the Oakland Unified School District, at home. Her second grader has dyslexia and hates learning on a computer screen, she said.

Absent some clear guidance from the state, weve got this piecemeal situation across California, Bacigalupi said. Districts really missed an opportunity to do what was right for kids.

Dustin Gardiner and Jill Tucker are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dustin.gardiner@sfchronicle.com, jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dustingardiner, @jilltucker
The day after two Bay Area men were convicted in a fatal stabbing during a scuffle with an Italian police officer, the lawyer for one of the men said the verdict lacked reason and compassion.

Craig Peters, the family attorney for 21-year-old Finnegan Elder, criticized the jury for ordering Italy's harshest punishment of life imprisonment to Elder and his friend, 20-year-old Gabriel Natale Hjorth.

"They gave him and they gave Gabe a sentence that is befitting a Mafia boss who wantonly kills innocent people,'' Peters, a spokesman for the Elder family, told the Associated Press in an interview Thursday.

How could these two boys possibly be in that same league? So from a reasoned standpoint, the verdict didnt make any sense to hold them guilty on every single charge, Peters said. "And from a compassion standpoint, it made no sense to put them on the same level as cold-blooded killers ... even the prosecutor acknowledged there was no premeditation here.

Months after the July 26, 2019 slaying of Carabinieri Vice Brigadier Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome, prosecutors asked for indictments for the two friends who met as classmates at Tamalpais High in Mill Valley. They described the defendants, then 19 and 18, as being in cahoots from start to finish, even though only one of them wielded the knife in what their lawyers steadfastly contended was in self-defense.

When the trial ended Wednesday night, more than 14 months later, the jury convicted both on all charges and handed down life sentences  a ruling that Peters called a mockery of justice.

READ MORE: Marin classmates found guilty in murder of Italian police officer, given life sentences

Elder of San Francisco said that he stabbed the 35-year-old Cerciello Rega because he feared he was being strangled as the two scuffled on a Rome street. Gabriel Natale-Hjorth of Marin County testified that at his friend's request, he hid the knife in their hotel room after the stabbing.

Each was convicted of five identical counts: murder, attempted extortion, resisting a public official, injuring the officer's plainclothes partner and carrying the attack-style knife outside of home without due cause.

Natale-Hjorth testified that he didn't know Elder had a knife on him.

The two police officers, in casual summer plainclothes, had been dispatched to follow up on an alleged small-scale extortion attempt. The two Americans had paid for cocaine in a Rome nightlife district but didn't get it. In retaliation, they snatched a backpack with a cellphone that belonged to the go-between of the botched deal. The go-between told police he had been contacted by Natale-Hjorth, who told the man he'd give back the bag and the phone if they got their money back.

The parents of Elder and Natale-Hjorth both shared statements with ABC 7 News regarding the verdict.

Leah Elder, Finnegan's mother, texted that she was "stunned, heartbroken, angry."

Natale-Hjorth's parents wrote, "Our family is astounded that Gabriel was convicted, without a shred of evidence against him, of a crime he did not commit. We can only hope that the appeals court will make its decision based on the facts, as opposed to the prosecution's unfounded arguments, and therefore recognize Gabriel's innocence."

Franco Coppi, a lawyer representing some of Cerciello Rega's family, said the jury's decision reflected the gravity of the deed, an atrocious crime.

Still, he declined to pronounce himself satisfied, "because I cant help but think that such a harsh sentence falls upon two young men in their 20s.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

Last fall, San Francisco-based data analytics company Splunk announced they wouldnt return to the office until September 2021. Then, CEO Douglas Merritt moved to Austin, Texas.

The writing was on the wall, but Splunk just announced that the tech company will allow most of its employees to work remotely permanently, as first reported by the San Francisco Business Times. It has also listed almost 100,000 square feet of office space for sublease at its headquarters at 250 Brannan St. in SoMa.
When I speak with with small-business owners across a range of industries, we constantly find ourselves asking, Will the vaccine restore the economy? Will it make things go back to normal?

Im not advising people on whether to get the vaccine or not. However, I feel its important to discuss how vaccinations might affect entrepreneurs across the country and in different industries, and what they can expect moving forward.

But first, some data.

Correlation between vaccinations and the economy

While studies show that vaccines prevent millions of deaths annually worldwide, there exists an economic return on vaccinations. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) estimates the annual economic return to be between 12% and 18%.

Throughout history, the economy has been improved thanks to vaccinations, as some diseases become reduced or nearly eradicated. The smallpox vaccine is estimated to have saved the world economy by $1.35 billion per year, and the polio vaccine has saved the worlds governments $27 billion in treatment and rehabilitation costs.

More recently, researchers at the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania found that doubling the pace of daily vaccinations to 3 million (about double its current level) would increase employment by 2 million jobs and gross domestic product by 1 percent by summer 2021.

Small businesses have long been known to serve as the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, creating two-thirds of net new jobs and driving U.S. innovation and competitiveness, according to the Small Business Administration. If an increase in vaccinations will lead to an increase in employment, it stands to reason that small businesses will be the biggest beneficiaries, as they would be the enterprises growing enough to warrant the hiring of new employees.

As part of President Bidens American Rescue Plan  and as an incentive to spur vaccinations businesses with fewer than 500 employees can receive a tax credit of up to $511 per day for each employee taking time off to receive and recover from the vaccine. This is encouraging.

Related: How to Adapt in a Rapidly Changing Economy

Impact of vaccinations on small businesses

Data about smallpox and polio vaccinations may mean little to folks struggling to figure out when customers will return. Further, the world was a different place when smallpox and polio were a threat to populations.

The whole idea of vaccinations is to reach herd immunity, or a critical point when enough of a population is immune so as to stop the spread of the disease. Herd immunity may take years, though some regions may reach it faster than others.

Unfortunately, state and local governments have largely been dictating when and how businesses can remain open, which restricts foot traffic and ultimately revenues.

For businesses looking to plan ahead, its always a good idea to consider short- and long-term funding options. The second-draw PPP expires May 31, and if a business doesnt qualify, several other opportunities exist.

Related: How Will Covid-19 Impact the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs?

Some industries may be slower to recover

Some areas or industries may return to normalcy faster than others. Understanding this can be helpful for small-business owners looking to plan ahead.

Central business districts will take a while to return to their pre-pandemic state. Corporate tenants have benefited by negotiating their leases or letting them lapse, increasing profitability. However, those negotiations and lapses have had the opposite effect on small businesses in and around central business districts. Ive had to advise several entrepreneurs who normally served those business customers to pivot to new markets, such as delivery to other, outlying areas.

Related: 7 Tips For Cannabis Companies Entering Lease Negotiations

What about the travel industry?

Travel-related businesses, including businesses located in tourist-heavy areas, will also take time to return to pre-Covid levels. Its not that folks arent traveling at all: Research from Airbnb indicates that Americans do want to travel but prefer to stay somewhere close to family or nearby.

This can mean that air travel will still take time to return to pre-pandemic levels, and small businesses that cater to tourists, such as ground transportation operators, cafes or local attractions, will need to wait much longer.

There has been much speculation about when the cruise industry is expected to reopen and passenger ships will set sail again. Between March 1 and July 10, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discovered almost 3,000 cases of Covid-19 and 34 deaths across 123 ships.

However, at some point in 2021, cruising is poised to return, notes AARP. The CDC lifted its no-sail order in October and laid out new guidelines. While there will be mandates for shorter cruises (7 days maximum), temperature screenings and social distancing, it is unclear whether ships will require proof of Covid-19 vaccination before boarding. Vaccinations will be a requirement for crew members, but the rules are evolving because of the different health requirements of the countries of the ports at which the ships dock.

Related: Will the Online Travel Industry Recover From the Impact Of COVID

Perceptions and moving forward

Mass vaccinations are a way to restore confidence in public health and by default, the economy, but they're much more than that. Its about perception  perception of safety, perception of normalcy.

While I am making no judgment calls about the suitability or efficacy of the vaccine, or on peoples decision to get vaccinated, it will take much more than herd immunity to restore the economy.

Nonetheless, its a good start.

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Delta 9 also said it expects its total production costs to improve in the quarter to $0.75 per gram from $0.80 per gram in 4Q 2020

Delta 9 said 2021 looks to be a promising year for the company

Delta 9 Cannabis Inc ( ) (OTCQX:DLTNF) announced it anticipates first-quarter 2021 revenue of between C$12.9 million and $13.3 million, up from $11.8 million during the same period last year, as the company sold more cannabis in its retail operations.

Delta 9 also said it expects its total production costs to improve in the quarter to $0.75 per gram from $0.80 per gram in 4Q 2020.

Our 1Q 2021 performance demonstrates another quarter of year-over-year growth. This quarter we continue to add additional retail stores across central Canada, expand our B2B business into the US market place and find efficiencies to lower our wholesale production cost per gram, Delta 9 Cannabis CEO John Arbuthnot said in a statement.

In 1Q, we have seen a degree of seasonality and relative Canadian cannabis market weakness affecting our business and impacting sequential revenue growth; however, we remain bullish that the remainder of 2021 looks to be a promising year for Delta 9, Arbuthnot added.

As well, Delta 9 anticipates total 1Q cannabis production of 2,178,181 grams, up sequentially from the 2,128,288 grams produced in the December quarter.

The company added that it expects to process 210,138 total retail transactions in 1Q, up from 202,347 during the previous quarter.

Delta 9 said it will release its final 1Q results on May 17, 2021.

Delta 9 Cannabis is a vertically integrated cannabis company focused on bringing the highest quality cannabis products to market. The company sells cannabis products through its wholesale and retail sales channels and sells its cannabis grow pods to other businesses.

The company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Delta 9 Bio-Tech Inc., is a licensed producer of medical and recreational cannabis and operates an 80,000 square foot production facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Delta 9 owns and operates a chain of retail stores under the Delta 9 Cannabis Store brand.

Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com
LATEST May 10, 1 p.m. A day after multiple California Highway Patrol representatives failed to respond to SFGATE inquiries regarding a Bay Area driver's reckless stunt, the CHP's Golden Gate Division issued a statement on the man's behavior, calling it an "unusual incident."

The law enforcement agency said in a Facebook post that it "has been made aware of an incident involving a man riding in the backseat of a Tesla traveling on Bay Area roadways, with no other person being seated in the driver seat." It is currently under investigation.

Photos shared by the agency also show the passenger grinning for a camera.

CHP MADE AWARE OF AN UNUSUAL INCIDENT INVOLVING A TESLA The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has been made aware of an... Posted by CHP  Golden Gate Division on Saturday, May 8, 2021

May 7, 1:10 p.m. One mans deeply dangerous exercise in hubris was caught on camera this week.

The man was purportedly recorded in Berkeley on Tuesday sitting in the back seat of what looks to be a Tesla Model 3. He looks straight into the camera recording him while the car, without a driver, speeds on by. (The video was shared by YouTuber Ingineerix, who said he's friends with the man recording.)

Hes using Teslas much-hyped autopilot feature  fully autonomous driving that the company has privately revealed to the California DMV does not work without human supervision.

In fact, Tesla was subject to severe scrutiny when a car in Texas crashed and killed two people; no one was in the drivers seat. Consumer Reports found days later that Tesla's vehicles can be manipulated to turn on the autopilot feature even without a driver in the seat.

And it apparently isnt this mans first time. At least two other social media reports shared online appear to show the man in the same car, identified by the same license plate number in one case, pulling the same dangerous stunt. One of the witness accounts said he was steering the vehicle using his feet on the wheel, all while sitting in the back seat.

A tweet first surfaced by SFist called out the San Francisco branch of the CHP: Does [CHP San Francisco] care whether people are in the drivers seat of their new Teslas or not?

Its a valid question.

The man who recorded the risky autopilot stunt, who asked for and received anonymity in accordance with Hearst's ethics policy, told SFGATE that he went through multiple hoops trying to get CHP or Tesla to hold the dangerous driver accountable.

He purportedly provided the info to Teslas customer service, who told him to contact CHPs Oakland branch. CHP allegedly told him that there was nothing they could do, and to contact 911.

He called CHPs main complaint line, and the representative allegedly suggested filing a report in-person, with the caveat that it wouldnt punish the driver. All it would do, he explained, is hit him with a proverbial slap on the wrist  a warning letter to not do it again.

While the incident itself is scary  and could have fatal consequences  whats perhaps equally worrying is that according to this mans account, no one wants to address this dangerous situation.

We wanted to verify this account with the CHP, so called their hotline. We left a voicemail to CHPs San Francisco office, with no response as of publication time.

We also called CHPs Oakland office  the same one that our witness did  and ended up playing a game of phone hot potato. We were redirected five times, in which we were sent to CHPs larger Bay Area division. The last person we spoke to told us to email the CHP Golden Gate Divisions media contact. (A response has not been received as of publication time.)

(Its also worth noting, again, that Tesla has no PR person SFGATE or any media company can speak to since its press team was eliminated, meaning that this mans foolishness could not be explained one way or another by the company itself.)

This fiasco leaves Bay Area drivers at risk any time they enter the road. There are real concerns that Teslas autopilot comes with fatal flaws and can be circumvented so easily that it's become something of a gimmick in online spaces to push the feature to its limits.

Meanwhile, the agencies that should be responsible for punishing this reckless driver have apparently stalled.
An attempt to sell the Greensill business fell through earlier this year and it likely that the company will be dissolved or liquidated - but not until March of next year.

David "Dave" Cameron will be trotting off to the Palace of Westminster next week

The administrators of Greensill Capital UK said US$3.7bn of the US$17.7bn of assets the failed supply chain finance firm had under management had been collected by mid-April.

The administrator, Grant Thornton, expects to pay back about US$275mln of the US$1.46bn in claims to Greensills unsecured lenders.

The claims on Greensills UK unit include US$500mln owed to several trade insurers, including Tokio Marine Holdings, Chubb, Swiss Re and the Zurich Insurance Group.

A meeting of creditors to the UK business will be held on May 14 but the administration is not expected to end until March 2022, at which point the business will be liquidated or dissolved.

Greensill Capital, which used to buy up firms invoices at a discount, parcel them up and sell them on, went belly-up after insurers stopped insuring the company.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that former prime minister, David , will give evidence before the Treasury committee next week in the House of Commons over his controversial role as a go-between for the company.

Lex Greensill, the companys founder, is also set to appear before members of parliament (MPs), as part of the Treasury Committees enquiry into the collapsed companys attempts to embed itself into the governments purchasing decisions mechanism.

Lex Greensill has yet to comment on the collapse of his company while Cameron has admitted to poor judgement when he decided to use the old boys network rather than official channels when lobbying for Greensill.

The committee is determined to answer the key question as to whether HM Treasury responded appropriately to the lobbying on behalf of Greensill Capital, including that carried out by David Cameron, said Mel Stride, the conservative MP who is chairing the cross-party Treasury committee.

Following our first evidence session of the inquiry last week with experts, next week well hear from two of the key figures: Lex Greensill and David Cameron. The committee will want to carefully examine their actions in relation to Greensill Capital and its interactions with HM Treasury, Stride said.
"Our posture's gonna be that we're posted outside of DC, awaiting the president's orders. We hope he will give us the orders. We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia."

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, in November, looking ahead to Jan. 6
South Africa: Young people encouraged to consider poultry farming

Young people should consider poultry farming when starting a business - this was the advice given to those contemplating starting a business.

The poultry industry is one of the most advanced sectors in terms of farming in the world. I think all young people should consider it for farming. If you think of something called biotechnology, you cant think of anything than a day old chick that is raised for meat, or a layer that is raised to be able to lay an egg, said the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Developments Dr Nkhane Baldwin Nengovhela.

Nengovhela highlighted this during a virtual poultry masterclass webinar series held on Thursday.

Government, in partnership with the South African Poultry Farmer's and Supplier's Association hosted the Poultry Masterclass Webinar series, an information sharing session on poultry farming and network support available through government agencies and poultry associations.

The masterclass is part of series that the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) is hosting to promote entrepreneurship as a contributor to economic growth.

Dr Nengovhela said theres still room for the country to grow the industry.

South Africa is now producing additional one million broiled chickens per week.

Lessons learnt

Emerging poultry farmer Mbali Nketsi from Zuurbekom in Johannesburg, shared her experience of working in the sector.

I was afraid of chickens but I always knew that I want to do poultry farming one day, said Nketsi who was raised in rural areas.

Nketsi is the founder of Hen Home, which is run by farmers. The farm currently has 438 chickens producing eggs, which are being sold to local coffee shops. Residents also buys eggs directly from farmers.

Nketsis journey into poultry farming started last year during lockdown, where she found herself spending more time on social media watching videos and stories shared by small scale poultry farmers in various provinces.

While scrolling through Twitter, she came across a video wherein Irene Farms and Poultry owner, Nana Nene shared her expertise.

Nketsi reached out to Nene and pitched her idea of starting poultry farming.

I dragged my mother along where we went for training with Nene. What I love about Nene is that she gives practical solutions and words of encouragement to start small, as opposed to being intimidated by farmers who are ahead of you, Nketsi said.

After completing the training, Nketsi and her mother invested money to get a coop which cost around R15 000.

We decided to start with 500 layers because I wanted a minimum of 10 trays [of eggs] to start per day because we didnt know how the market was going to react, Nketsi said.

However, the first mistake they made was to start the business from their backyard, as neighbours started complaining about the noise and smell of the chickens.

Also, bylaws do not allow the running of a farm in a residential area.

The pair had to look for a plot to rent, where they started with chickens laying eggs at 18 weeks.

What I also realised with farming is that, it is a numbers game, the more chickens you have, youve got demand. Sometimes I have to go to other farmers who have capacity and more chickens than me and I have to buy extra from them to meet the demand from my customers, she notes.

Nketsi also expressed joy at having her eggs being used by a local coffee shop.

I get so excited when I see my eggs being used in a coffee shop. Those are little milestones that you do reach as a business. My dream is to play in a commercial space one day and have 5 000 to 10 000 chickens, and even move to broiler section, because some customers want both chicken and eggs, Nketsi said.

For Nketsi, poultry farming is exciting and rewarding.

It is very therapeutic. sitting at a plot away from the noise, just you and the chickens, and fresh air.

She encouraged other up and coming poultry farmers to go for training, including how to take care chicks and vaccination, among others.

Find someone who can hold your hand and show you the ropes, she said. - SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-05-07. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
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Sharon, PA (16146)

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Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms mainly during the evening. Low around 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

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SHELTON  Zita Carrano took over a dance studio in Bridgeport in the 1940s, a time when shows featured dancers in simple costumes, a silver tinsel-style backdrop and a live band.

Three quarters of a century later, Carranos studio  the former Zita Carrano Dance Studio now named Kicks Dance Center and run by the late owners daughter and granddaughters  uses lavish costumes and iPhones for musical accompaniment to create that Broadway experience.

But it is less the style and more the substance that has families coming back, generation after generation, to the studio that has called Shelton home for more than 40 years after relocating from the Park City.

Its beyond the technique  which they know and teach so well  it is the positivity, the building of self-esteem that has kept this place running, said Sara Mayer, once a student at the studio and now an honorary auntie to the young people now performing.

The owners say they pride themselves on creating a safe environment where students can express emotion through art, nurturing acceptance by encouraging students to use the common bond of dance to lift each other up and to instill positive self-image and confidence.

The studio offers dance instruction for all ages, starting at 3 and up to high school age.

This is a wonderful place  Ive built so many lasting friendships here, thats why so many people keep coming back, said Mayer, who started dancing with Carrano at 5, more than three decades ago, and now works for the operation.

Megan Baird said her mother attended the studio in the 1960s, and she and her sister, Carol Tammany, followed suit in the early 2000s. Baird said the family atmosphere led her to enroll her children, Lexi, 9, and PJ, 6, making it three generations hitting the Kicks Dance Center floor.

There is no competition in here, Baird said about the studio. You are free to be yourself, develop your own love of dance  you are accepted here. For me, dance was an escape, it was so much fun. No pressure.

Baird, a Shelton resident, loved the experience so much as a student, she has since returned as an instructor for the younger age groups.

Carrano passed the torch to her daughter, Nancy Altieri, who started dance training with her mother at 3 years old and began professional training in New York City by the age of 12. Altieri attended the renowned Broadway Dance Center and studied ballet at Steps of NYC and Ballet Etudes of Connecticut.

It was under Altieri that the studios annual production began to incorporate a Broadway flare.

Now Altieris daughters, Julie Arcos and Christina Michaud, are directing shows in the same place they learned the art of dance  a passion they now pass on to dozens of young people every year.

Its so emotional for me when I think about my time here. Thats why I keep coming back, Mayer said. There are so many special memories.

Arcos said her family takes pride in the fact so many adults come back and tell them that their studio was the one constant thing in their life that created a creative outlet for them and built their confidence, poise and friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

Arcos recalled, as a child, how amazed she and her sister were at watching the business behind the scenes  seeing the classes and showcase from conception on paper to coming to life onstage.

Everyone and everything has to be carefully thought about and planned out, Arcos said. My fondest memories have been of our spring group rehearsals where our students practice as we coordinate all of our scenes together.

This is when you can see our dancers build their confidence and friendships and how much of a dance family we are together, Arcos said. The electricity and enthusiasm in the studio are unbeatable.

Arcos said her mother and grandmother would take she and her sister to New York City where the girls would attend dance conventions and take classes with international teachers and performers.

We were so fortunate to live so close to NYC and hop on the train to see Broadway shows and the Radio City Rockettes, Arcos said. This inspired us to dream bigger and eventually we were seeing some of our own students auditioning and eventually performing in those Broadway shows and at Radio City.

It is such an incredible feeling to see your students start as a 3-year-old in your studio and grow up to be a professional dancer, Arcos said.

The studios most recent Rockette, Marcella Kiernan, came back this year and performed in its alumni tap routine during Kicks Dance Centers 75th anniversary show last weekend at the Klein Auditorium.

Our main goal is to build confidence in each child and create a lifetime love of dance, Arcos said. Many children continue to dance throughout college on dance teams. Some make it a professional career, while some find their passion of working with children and become teachers. We are so thrilled to see them continue their love of dance throughout adulthood.

For more information on Kicks Dance Center, visit https://www.kicksdancecenter.com/

brian.gioiele@hearstmediact.com
Shippensburg, PA (17257)

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 69F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 69F. Winds NW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Ludington, MI (49431)

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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 63F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph..

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1. By now everyone should know that the best way to reduce the number of new cases of infection by COVID-19 is to inject vaccines. It does not matter which...

1 week ago
Page Content

Several U.S. states are taking actions to encourage the unemployed to find work amid labor shortages, including opting out of the supplemental $300 federal unemployment benefit for the jobless in their states and reinstating requirements that those receiving unemployment benefits show they are actively looking for work.

Montana was the first state to announce it was ending federally subsidized $300-a-week expanded unemployment benefits. It will instead offer a one-time $1,200 bonus for Montanans who re-enter the workforce, the Montana Free Press reported.

"Montana is open for business again, but I hear from too many employers throughout our state who can't find workers," Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, announced May 4 in a statement. "Incentives matter, and the vast expansion of federal unemployment benefits is now doing more harm than good. We need to incentivize Montanans to re-enter the workforce."

In Montana, there are now more weekly job postings than there were before the pandemic, the state labor department said in a brochure explaining the shift in benefits, and the state unemployment rate is nearly back to pre-pandemic lows at 3.8 percent.

Montana unemployment recipients can get between $151 and $510 weekly from the state's program, The Washington Post reported, "meaning people claiming unemployment benefits from the state were getting between $451 and $810 weekly because of the federal boost. The minimum wage in the state is $8.65 per hour, adding up to $346 per week for a full-time job."



On May 7, just days after Montana's announcement, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, a Republican, said his state also will be ending federal pandemic unemployment benefits for its residents. "What was intended to be a short-term financial assistance for the vulnerable and displaced during the height of the pandemic  [is] incentivizing and paying workers to stay at home rather than encouraging them to return to the workplace," McMaster said.



The following week, the Republican governors of Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi also said they would forego federal funding for the $300-a-week supplement to unemployment insurance. [Update: subsequently, over a dozen states said they were ceasing the $300 weekly extra federal unemployment benefit early, while also ending jobless benefits to workers who have exhausted their state-level benefits.]



Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said he plans to reinstate a requirement that people in the unemployment system will have to start showing how they looked for work once an executive order waiving a weekly work-search requirement ends May 29, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

"We suspended that last year at this time because, quite frankly, there weren't jobs," DeSantis said, whereas now there is "a surplus of jobs" in the state, and particularly in the restaurant, lodging and hospitality sectors.

Shortly afterward, Republican and Democratic governors of several other states said they were also reinstating looking-for-work requirements in order to receive unemployment benefits, including Arizona, Indiana, Vermont and Virginia.

Hiring Challenges



Nationwide, many employers say they can't hire because extended, expanded federal and state unemployment insurance (UI) payments have caused potential job candidates to drop out of the labor force. Meanwhile, employers' UI taxes are also going up.

"It does seem like a double hit," said Joe Kane, executive vice president at Total Management Solutions Inc., which offers severance management services.

During an April webinar by HR advisory firm Buck, Kane pointed out that the American Rescue Plan Act provides an additional 29 weeks of unemployment benefits to people who exhaust their regular state benefitswith $300 per week supplemental coverageinto September 2021, following earlier federal UI supplemental payments under prior legislation.

"There are circumstances where workers can claim up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits," Kane said, with $750 per week in benefits on average, "and higher in some states."

On May 7, the same day that the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced hiring activity fell significantly in April, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called for ending the $300 weekly supplemental unemployment benefit to address labor shortages.

"We need a comprehensive approach to dealing with our workforce issues and the very real threat unfilled positions poses to our economic recovery from the pandemic," said Neil Bradley, the chamber's executive vice president and chief policy officer. "Based on the chamber's analysis, the $300 benefit results in approximately one in four recipients taking home more in unemployment than they earned working."

According to The Wall Street Journal, "Proponents of the supplemental unemployment benefits have said the measures remain necessary to support out-of-work people still struggling with COVID-19's economic fallout, and give unemployed workers time to search for better-paying jobs."

For more information, SHRM Online has gathered the following articles.

DOL Supports Enhanced Benefits

U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh was disappointed by Gov. Gianforte's decision, according to a statement by U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) spokesman Michael Trupo.

"Choosing to eliminate these critical benefits will have the greatest impact on the most vulnerable," Trupo said, adding that workers who are at a higher risk from contracting COVID-19 or who live with a vulnerable family member must now "make an impossible choice" between their health and their economic security.

The DOL has not seen evidence that enhanced unemployment benefits are keeping people out of the labor force, Trupo said.

(The Washington Post)

Employment Growth Slows Sharply Amid Labor Shortages

The U.S. Department of Labor's closely watched employment report on May 7, which showed a plunge in temporary help jobsa harbinger for future hiringas well as decreases in manufacturing and retail employment, could sharpen criticism of generous unemployment benefits.

The enhanced jobless benefits, including a government-funded $300 weekly supplement, pay more than most minimum-wage jobs. The unemployment benefits were extended as part of a massive $1.9 trillion COVID-19 pandemic relief package approved in March.

"Many will view the poor returns from last month as confirmation that enhanced unemployment benefits are curtailing labor supply," said Curt Long, chief economist at the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions.

The moderate pace of hiring could last at least until September when the enhanced unemployment benefits run out.

(Reuters)

Waiting for the Right Job

In a red-hot economy coming out of a pandemic and lockdowns, with unemployment still far higher than it was pre-pandemic, businesses can't find enough people to hire.

Surveys suggest why some can't or won't go back to work. Millions of adults say they aren't working for fear of getting or spreading COVID-19. Businesses are reopening ahead of schools, leaving some parents without child care. Many people are receiving more in unemployment benefits than they would earn in the available jobs.

A University of Chicago study found 42 percent of those on benefits receive more than they did at their prior jobs, and the share is higher when factoring in temporary health insurance offered through relief bills.

Lorne Zaman lost his job as a concert promoter in Los Angeles more than a year ago. He hasn't worked since, supporting himself on savings, stimulus checks and unemployment benefits, which have been about $750 a week in recent months.

"I really enjoyed what I did," he said. "If the government is going to pay you to stay home, you're going to do that unless that job you really want comes along."

(The Wall Street Journal)

Restaurants Can't Find Staff

"We're only open four days right now and we really can't see us opening anymore until we feel safe and confident that we have the amount of staff to man the tables," said Bill Castro, owner of El Meson in Dayton, Ohio, a restaurant serving Central and South American dishes, He has people applying but then many don't show up for interviews, which he believes is due to unemployment checks that have been extended to September.

"I have people that I've offered to come back, and they almost say, 'I'm not really interested until the money that I'm getting runs out,' " he said.

Policy Matters Ohio, a progressive think tank, said in a statement that the unemployment benefits "help hundreds of thousands of Ohioans stay afloat, but it's not nearly enough," arguing that Congress has extended unemployment benefits for much longer in previous recessions.

(Dayton Daily News)

Signing Bonuses and Benefits

Illinois-based Portillo's Hot Dogs LLC boosted hourly wages in markets including Arizona, Michigan and Florida, and is offering $250 hiring bonuses to attract job applicants.

Fast-food operators, including owners of Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches restaurants, are offering signing bonuses for recruits. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is offering free college tuition to employees who work at least 15 hours a week after four months on the job.

Taco Bell is giving paid family leave to company-store managers. McDonald's owners are assessing what pay and benefits its U.S. employees most want, to better pitch the Golden Arches as an employer.

Atlanta-based restaurant operator Daniel Halpern, who runs 50 TGI Friday's and other restaurants, recently increased hourly wages and is offering employees immediate pay. He said he is still short about 900 workers.

(The Wall Street Journal)




Page Content

Chipotle Mexican Grill is facing a $150 million lawsuit for allegedly violating New York City's predictable-scheduling law at the fast-casual restaurant chain's 80 to 90 locations in the city.

Among other mandates, the Fair Workweek Law requires retail and fast-food employers in the Big Apple to provide employees with 14 days of notice regarding schedule changes or pay employees a premium.

We've rounded up articles and resources from SHRM Online and other trusted media outlets on the news.

'Widespread' Violations Alleged

New York City officials said Chipotle's violations of the predictable-scheduling law were "widespread" from 2017 to 2019. The lawsuit claims that Chipotle changed employee schedules without proper notice, denied employees time off and failed to provide premium pay, in addition to other violations. The suit covers about 6,500 Chipotle workers in the city who experienced about three scheduling infractions on average each week, according to the lawsuit.

(The New York Times)

Sick-Leave Violations Also Alleged

New York City officials also alleged that Chipotle violated the city's paid-sick-leave law by allowing employees to take only 24 hours of such leave each yeareven though the law provides employees with up to 40 hoursand for denying employees time off to care for sick relatives (which is a covered reason for taking leave under the law).



(Forbes)

Chipotle Calls Case 'Dramatic Overreach'



Chipotle plans to fight the charges. "We make it a practice not to comment on litigation and will not do so in this case, except to say the proceeding  is a dramatic overreach and Chipotle will vigorously defend itself," said Laurie Schalow, Chipotle's chief corporate affairs officer, in a statement to Restaurant Business. "Chipotle remains committed to its employees and their right to a fair, just and humane work environment that provides opportunities to all."

(Restaurant Business Online)



What Are Predictable-Scheduling Laws?

Predictable-scheduling laws usually target the retail and hospitality industries, where "on-call" or "just-in-time" scheduling has become commonplace. The laws generally require companies to post employees' work schedules in advanceusually seven to 14 days ahead of timeand provide "predictability pay" penalties when employers make last-minute schedule changes. New York City's Fair Workweek Law has been in effect since May 2017.

(SHRM Online)

Employment Protections Expanded for Fast-Food Workers

Another New York City ordinance, effective July 4, will end at-will employment for certain businesses in the fast-food industry by requiring covered employers that fire workers to do so for "just cause" following progressive discipline. The law also prohibits employers from significantly cutting employees' hours. At-will employment means an employer can fire a worker for any reason, with a few exceptions, such as unlawful discrimination. When just-cause dismissal is required, the termination must be for a reason as defined by a statute or collective bargaining agreement.

(SHRM Online)




Congress president Rahul Gandhi (file photo) Calling the Central Vista project a "criminal wastage", former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday urged the Narendra Modi government to focus more on people's lives. "Central Vista is criminal wastage. Put people's lives at the centre -- not your blind arrogance to get a new house," he said in a tweet.



The Congress and the several opposition parties have questioned the need of the new Parliament building, and suggested that all resources should be put to fight Covid-19 pandemic.



On Friday, India recorded 4.14 lakh fresh cases of Covid with 3,915 deaths in the last 24 hours.



Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Friday came three days after the reports of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has informed a government-appointed expert panel that the construction of the Prime Minister's residence under the ambitious Central Vista project will be completed by December 2022.



The CPWD, which is the project developer, had informed the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) that the expansion of the Parliament building and the construction of a new Parliament building will be done by November 2022 and the Prime Minister's residence will be constructed by December 2022.



The Ministry of Environment has already granted the clearance for the expansion and renovation of the existing Parliament building, which is part of the Rs 13,450 crore Central Vista Redevelopment Project.










Having arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday, the bulk vaccines will be packaged locally to support Pakistan's fight against Covid-19, the company said.

Islamabad, May 7 (IANS) The first batch of China's CanSino Covid-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased in bulk has arrived in Pakistan, the CanSino Biologics Inc. said on Thursday.

On Monday, Special Assistant to the Pakistani Prime Minister on Health Faisal Sultan said that the local production of the single-dose CanSino Covid-19 vaccine is about to commence in the country to facilitate its vaccination drive, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The start of the local production of the CanSino vaccine will gradually make Pakistan largely self-sufficient in meeting its Covid-19 vaccine needs, he told local media.

In late March, the first batch of finished CanSino Covid-19 vaccines that the Pakistani government purchased from China arrived in Islamabad.

Earlier, the third phase trials of the CanSino vaccine had been conducted in Pakistan and it is the second Chinese Covid-19 vaccine that Pakistan approved for emergency use in the country.

Currently, Pakistan is facing a third wave of Covid-19 and the positivity rate has seen a sharp rise, forcing the Pakistani authorities to continue tightening the anti-pandemic measures and facilitating the vaccination drive.

A total of 4,198 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Pakistan during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 845,833, out of which 18,537 died and 743,124 recovered, according to the data released by the country's health ministry on Thursday.

--IANS

int/rs
The Chinese ambassador said that the China-Laos anti-epidemic cooperation has become an important carrier for building a community with a shared future. "We will not forget that when China was struggling to fight the epidemic, the Lao side donated cash and batches of anti-epidemic materials to China."

The Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines were handed over by Chinese Ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong in the Lao Health Ministry on Tuesday.

Vientiane, April 29 (IANS) The third batch of China-donated Covid-19 vaccines has arrived in and been handed over to Laos.

"Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Laos, China has dispatched two expert teams, provided a large amount of supplies, helped build nucleic acid testing laboratories, and donated three batches of vaccines," the Xinhua news agency quoted the Ambassador as saying.

The Covid-19 epidemic in Laos has spread rapidly this month, Ambassador Jiang said, adding "We believe that under the strong leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and the government, the brotherly Lao people will surely overcome the epidemic. We are willing to continue to provide assistance to this end."

Lao LPRP central committee politburo member, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune said on the same occasion that whenever it is in difficulties, Laos will surely receive the precious assistance from the Communist Party of China, the Chinese government and the Chinese people.

China's vaccines are safe, reliable and efficient, Kikeo said, adding that the Lao side has already vaccinated front-line high-risk border personnel, medical staff and some citizens with Chinese vaccines.

"I have also been vaccinated (with Chinese vaccines) without any side effects, and everyone takes it into their confidence here," Kikeo said.

Kikeo believed that his country, with the strong support from China, will surely win the final victory over the pandemic.

--IANS

int/rs
Ahmad Massooud, the Tajik origin Panjsheri warned the Taliban that the Afghan mujahideen are ready for a military confrontation with the group, which once sheltered the dreaded Al Qaeda and its icon Osama bin Laden, if the Taliban do not abide by their stated commitment to peace.

At the moment, the scion of the famous Afghan commander is pessimistic, as he apprehends a full-blown civil war, yet again, in the Hindukush, if the Taliban refuses to join peace talks, and the Americans pull out of Afghanistan by the September 11 deadline declared by US President Joe Biden.

"We must talk with [the] Taliban, we must make peace with the Taliban," but the insurgents must accept core values such as democracy and women's rights, Massoud told Tolo News, an Afghan television broadcaster. "At the same time, if the peace process is used to fuel the war machine, then the people are ready to pick up arms one more time."

According to Tolo news, Ahmad Massoud is in touch with other warlords and "Jihadi' commanders. He has been telling them to stay unified even though President Ashraf Ghani has been sceptical of the strength of the mujahideen and has side-lined them from the issues at hand. Massoud told the channel: "In case the parties see a military solution as the way out for Afghanistan, then we will also make our own military preparations within the structure of the mujahideen, with the suggestions of the mujahideen, with the support of the people and under the umbrella of the Ulemas to bring an Islamic system that is the genuine demand of the people".

According to the news portal Gandhara, Afghan warlords are preparing feverishly anticipating a power vacuum should the Afghan government collapse and the Taliban launch a full-scale power grab.

In Herat, along the Iranian border, Ismail Khan, a well-established warlord has begun to mobilise forces to protect his people. Zulfiqar Omid, a Hazara activist and politician, on has setup a "resistance front" in the province of Daikundi, in central Afghanistan. Similarly, there Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an established human rights violator, has staged several rallies with his supporters in Kabul in recent months.

The situation in Afghanistan reminded me of the time when I had met the late Ahmad Shah Massoud in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan, during the heat of the anti-Taliban resistance, just before his assassination on September 9, 2011. I asked him about his plans to takeover Kabul. His response was deeply analytical and spot on. "It is linked to certain conditions. It depends on how long Pakistan continues to help the Taliban and how long it stands behind them. Do you know we are not only fighting the Taliban at present but we are confronting three groups of forces comprising the Taliban, Arab mercenaries of Osama Bin Laden and elements from madrassas in Pakistan along with Pakistan's regular army? Among these forces, one is Afghani and the other two forces are non-Afghani."

This was a time when India had got deeply involved in the Afghan "mess", following Pakistan backed Taliban's takeover of the country in 1996. New Delhi was anxious that with the Taliban's consolidation in Afghanistan, Pakistan would acquire "strategic depth" against India in a future war. Besides, Afghanistan would become the training ground and launchpad to push battle hardened international terrorists into Kashmir. Resource rich Central Asia, where India has also deep cultural connections would also get infected by the terror-virus.

Consequently, for the next five years after 1996, a variety of Indian diplomats would be in touch with the Northern Alliance leader, as they made the difficult journey from Delhi to the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, then travel in rickety planes from the border to the Panjshir valley. India's assistance to the Northern Alliance ranged from providing ordnance and small armaments to food supplies and medicines.

During my meeting, he was surrounded by his companions and friends, including Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. They all mirrored their leader's steely resolve to carry on the good fight against an obscurantist foe, sponsored by an avaricious and meddling neighbour.

By the time the Indians established close contacts with Massoud, he was already a legendary commander.

Massoud had been at the forefront of the anti-Soviet jihad, his guerrilla tactics against the mighty Soviet army became the stuff of legends. The "lion of Panjshir", it was said, would lure the "Soviet bear" into his redoubt; they would walk right into the ambushes laid by Massoud's men; and when the Soviets withdrew, Massoud and his men occupied those areas.

Massoud was also a unifier. Born a Tajik, Massoud had done more in his short lifetime to try and unite Afghanistan's very diverse and tribal society riven across several traditional faultlines; Tajik vs Pashtun vs Hazara, Dari vs Pashto vs Farsi, Sunni vs Shia.

After the Soviet backed government fell in 1992 and president Mohammad Najibullah resigned, Massoud, along with several Mujahideen parties, signed the Peshawar Accord and enabled the formation of a coalition government to restore some semblance of peace to war torn Afghanistan. He became the interim defence minister.

After internal political tribulations and conflict within Mujahideen factions, the Massoud led Afghan government attempted peaceful settlement, but by this time the Taliban, backed by Pakistani ISI, had emerged as a major military force. It then laid siege against Kabul for several months, before toppling the government in September 1996 and establish its own regime.

Massoud then, once again went into resistance mode--consolidating the various ethnic groups of Afghanistan under the Northern Alliance, till his death, unable to see the ouster of the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks.

It would unfair to expect the young Ahmad Massoud to step into his father's very big shoes. But the son of the "Lion of Panjsher" does have a chance to find his place in the sun, as Afghanistan, yet again, undergoes one of its turbulent, and often bloody, political transitions.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative/
The SGRH said in an official statement on Thursday that in the last two days, the doctors have found six cases of Mucormycosis.

New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) The doctors at one of the leading private hospitals in Delhi, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH), said on Thursday that they have found a rise in 'Mucormycosis' cases triggered by Covid-19 at the hospital.

Mucormycosis (previously called zygomycosis) is a serious but rare fungal infection caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes. These molds live throughout the environment. Mucormycosis mainly affects people who have health problems or take medicines that lower the body's ability to fight germs and sickness.

"We are seeing a rise again in this dangerous fungal infection triggered by Covid-19. In the last two days, we have admitted six cases of Mucormycisis," said Manish Munjal, a senior doctor at SGRH.

He also stated that last year, this (Mucormycisis) deadly infection had caused high mortality with many patients suffering from loss of eye sight, removal of nose and jaw bone.

According to Munjal, Mucormycosis is known colloquially as the 'black fungus', caused by mucormycetes molds.

In the statement, the doctors at SGRH further asserted that use of sterroids in the treatment of Covid infection and patients having diabetes as comorbidity could be one of the reasons for this rise in black fungus infection again.

Covid patients with weak immunity are more prone to this deadly infection.

Early clinical suspicion on symptoms such as nose obstruction, swelling in the eyes or cheeks and black crusts in the nose should immediately prompt a biopsy and start of antifungal therapy as early as possible.

"This infection is commonly seen in Covid recovered patients with comorbidities such as diabetes or kidney/heart failure or cancer," said Ajay Swroop, another senior doctor at SGRH.

At present, around 550 Covid patients are being treated at SGRH.

--IANS

pd/arm
"The two sides will evaluate the outcome of this round of consultations and agree on the next steps," Xinhua news agency quoted a joint statement issued after the talks were concluded on Thursday, as saying.

Cairo, May 7 (IANS) After a two-day "exploratory round of consultations" in Cairo, Egypt and Turkey said that they will evaluate the outcome of the talks in a bid to normalize ties after eight years of rift.

The two-day talks started on Wednesday with a meeting between Egyptian and Turkish delegations co-chaired by Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister Hamdi Sanad Loza and his Turkish counterpart Sadat Onal.

Tension rose between Egypt and Turkey following the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to the mass protests against his controversial rule and his currently-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group.

Morsi and the Brotherhood were backed by Ankara.

Cairo and Ankara also have conflicting positions over the conflict in Libya and the maritime borders in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

"The discussions were frank and in-depth. They addressed bilateral issues as well as a number of regional issues, in particular the situation in Libya, Syria, Iraq, and the need to achieve peace and security in the Eastern Mediterranean region," said the joint statement.

--IANS

ksk/
Italian ambassador Vincenzo De Luca switched on the oxygen plant which had been flown in through a special Italian Air Force flight along with 20 ventilators. Italy provided the plant with support from the EU. De Luca said, "Italy stands with India in the fight against Coronavirus. This is a global challenge that we must tackle together. The medical team and equipment provided by Italy will contribute to saving lives in these terrible moments."

On Thursday, the Italian embassy started an oxygen plant at the ITBP hospital in Greater Noida, near Delhi. The plant, which can provide oxygen to more than 100 Covid patients simultaneously, was installed in just 48 hours.

The other European countries to have rushed oxygen plants include France and Ireland. The Germans too are in the midst of sending an exceptionally large plant to assist in defence forces. Italian and French embassy officials are working with their technical teams to install the oxygen generators in an emergency mode.

A couple of days back the French had installed an oxygen generating plant at the Narayana Super Speciality Hospital in east Delhi. This plant can fill up 48 cylinders weighing 40-60 litres of oxygen in 24 hours. The plant was set up within one day of arrival at the airport.

For the Narayana Super Speciality Hospital, the French plant will supplement two existing generators. It would allow it to add more oxygen beds besides reducing dependence on oxygen procurement from outside.

Northern Ireland has sent much oxygen equipment to India. This includes two oxygen generators, over 1,200 oxygen concentrators and over 7,00 ventilators. Ireland sent the equipment through two shipments.

Germany is sending an oxygen generating plant for the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Covid Hospital at the Delhi cantonment. Walter J Lindner, German ambassador to India, told media persons in Delhi that his country is sending a massive oxygen generating plant which will be operated by 12 paramedics from its defence forces. These paramedics will also train Indian defence personnel in the use of managing this plant.

Being brought in two air force transport planes A400M, the plant will produce 4,00,000 litres of oxygen per day. One of the planes landed in Delhi on Thursday evening while the other will follow in the coming days.

Other European countries to send aid include Finland, Austria and Belgium. Many European countries are providing the aid through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which is coordinated by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of the European Commission.

(This content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)

--indianarrative/
Authorities have installed roadblocks on toll roads as well as ordered suspensions of the air, sea, and rail transportation, reports Xinhua news agency.

Jakarta, May 7 (IANS) The Indonesian government has started putting measures in place ahead of of Eid Al-Fitr to ban the annual mass exodus, locally known as "mudik", which takes place at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in an effort to curb Covid-19 spread.

The restrictions will take effect until May 17 with the only exceptions for civil servants, police and military officers, and those who need to travel for work.

It is the second time for the Indonesian government to carry out the policy that was introduced last year.

The fasting month Ramadan started on April 13 in Indonesia this year and is expected to end on May 13.

Indonesia has so far reported 1,697,305 coronavirus cases, with 46,496 deaths, according to the Health Ministry.

--IANS

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Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren (File Photo) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit out at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for his remark that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not listen to him during a phone call over the Covid-19 situation. On Thursday, Modi spoke to the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over the Covid-19 situation. Soren tweeted about the telephonic conversation with the Prime Minister at Thursday midnight and received criticism from the BJP.



"Respected Prime Minister called today. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki baat'. It would have been better if he had talked about work done and listened to the other side," Soren tweeted at 11.19 p.m. on Thursday.



Within an hour, Assam Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, tweeted: "Your tweet is not only against basic dignity, but also to make fun of the suffering of the people of the state for whom the Prime Minister called you to know about. You have lowered the dignity of the Chief Minister's post."



Wishing that Jharkhand Chief Minister will retract his statement, Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio, tweeted: "In my experience as a Chief Minister for several terms, Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been sensitive to the concerns of the states, particularly the northeast. I disagree with Hemant Soren and I hope he retracts his statement."



Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and senior BJP leader, Babulal Marandi, tweeted: "Hemant Soren is a failed Chief Minister. Failure in governance. Failure in tackling Covid-19 in the state. Failure to assist people. To hide his failures he demeans the office he holds. Wake up and work, Hemant Soren. The clock is ticking."



BJP National General Secretary (Organisation), B.L. Santosh tweeted: "This is the level to which some politicians are stooping. PM calls and has detailed talk regarding Covid-19 crisis and this Chief Minister tweets so. Lacks minimum grace required for the position he holds."




Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo MK Stalin, who was sworn-in as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Friday, immediately took charge of his duties and signed an order to provide Rs 4,000 to each COVID-19 family in the state as "Corona relief."

He has promised to give the first installment of Rs 2,000 in May.

Stalin also announced the state government will bear expenses for all corona-related treatments to state government insurance cardholders in the empanelled private hospitals.

Stalin also announced free bus travel for women, reduces aavin milk price by Rs 3, govt to bear corona treatment in pvt hospitals.

According to media reports, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has signed an order to provide Rs 4,000 to each family as corona relief. The first instalment of Rs. 2000 will be paid in the month of May. Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin has announced an epidemic relief of Rs 2,000 for more than Rs 2.07 crore rice ration card holders. He has also reduced the price of avin milk.

Party president Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin was sworn in as tamil nadu CM on Friday after DMK's landslide victory in the assembly elections. Governor Banwari Lal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to 68-year-old Stalin at a simple ceremony held at Raj Bhavan. Stalin then took over as cm of the state for the first time. After Stalin, a total of 33 ministers were sworn in, out of which 15 MLAs will take over as ministers for the first time.

Chennai: MK Stalin takes charge as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu at the Secretariat. pic.twitter.com/gbo4MJkNBJ  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

These were the first set of orders that the minister passed soon after taking the oath at Raj Bhavan.

Along with Stalin 33 other ministers from his party also took the oath. The names include 19 former ministers and 15 new faces.

There are two women among the newly sworn-in ministers.

Stalin's son Udhayanidhi does not figure in the list of ministers. He will hold several portfolios including Home, General Administration, Special Initiatives, Special Programme Implementation and Welfare of Differently-Abled Persons.
On Thursday, the Prime Minister reiterated his unequivocal support for Jersey and confirmed that the two royal navy offshore patrol vessels "would remain in place to monitor the situation as a precautionary measure", according to a statement from 10 Downing Street.

London, May 7 (IANS) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Navy vessels would remain in place to monitor the situation in waters of the the British Channel island of Jersey as both sides are involved in a post-Brexit fishing dispute.

Last week, the Jersey government introduced a new licensing system under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), requiring French boats to show they have a history of fishing in the island's waters to obtain permits for operation in the area, reports Xinhua news agency.

French fishermen complained about the difficulties in obtaining the fishing licenses and France even warned it could cut electricity supplies to Jersey.

As the largest of the Channel Islands, Jersey imported 95 per cent of its electricity from France.

"It's really important that we are able to work with those fishermen to help them provide the necessary evidence so that, if required, their licenses can be amended," Senator Ian Gorst, Jersey's external relations minister, told the BBC.

On December 30, 2020, British lawmakers approved the post-Brexit trade deal signed between Britain and the European Union (EU).

Last month, the European Parliament also gave its seal of approval to the deal.

The deal, which came after nine months of arduous negotiations between the UK and the EU, is the biggest bilateral trade deal signed by either side, covering trade worth around 668 billion pounds.

--IANS

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During the talks on Thursday, Zelensky said that Blinken's visit is a signal to Europe and Russia of Washington's support for Kiev in the wake of the massive military build-up by Moscow in recent weeks along the border, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying

Kiev, May 7 (IANS) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the ongoing security situation in the country's borders along Russia with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kiev, according to an official statement.

Zelensky informed Blinken that currently Ukraine's conflict-hit region of Donbas is witnessing a decrease in sniper fire and the number of casualties, while the tensions on the Ukrainian-Russian borders have eased after the partial withdrawal of Russian troops.

During the conversation, Zelensky voiced his government's commitment to bring sustainable peace to Ukraine.

"The issue of ending the war for Ukraine is a priority, and a priority for each of us," Zelensky was quoted as saying by his press service.

For his part, Blinken said that Washington supports Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence and stands ready to continue its assistance for Kiev.

"We are actively considering the possibility of increasing cooperation and assistance to Ukraine in terms of security," Blinken said.

The Secretary of State praised the progress Ukraine has made on its reform path, urging continued efforts to deepen the land market, judiciary system and anti-corruption reforms.

At the talks, Zelensky invited US President Joe Biden to visit Ukraine.

According to the Ukrainian media, Blinken arrived in Kiev earlier in the day for a working visit.

During his trip, Blinken also held talks with Prime Minister Denys Shmygal, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and other officials.

The visit comes in the aftermath of a massive military buil-dup by Russia in recent weeks along its border with Ukraine.

The US and its NATO allies expressed concerns about the movements of Russian troops, while Moscow said the maneuvers were purely defensive.

The ongoing conflict in Donbas, which began in April 2014, has claimed some 14,000 lives and left as many as 40,000 wounded.

Kiev has repeatedly blamed Moscow for inciting the conflict.

Russia, however, has denied the charges, saying the accusations are groundless.

--IANS

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A major international food and agri-business firm in Singapore associates with the Indian High Commission and other public and private sector majors to offer crucial medical supplies to help India's battle against the coronavirus pandemic. Olam International, headquartered in Singapore, it is collaborating with Temasek, Temasek Foundation, Singapore Airlines, Kerry Logistics, SATS (Singapore Airport Terminal Services Ltd), Air India, the Pan IIM Alumni Association and the High Commission of India in Singapore to gather and airlift essential medical equipment to address the critical oxygen requirements in India.

For Past four days the partners have sent 200 oxygen concentrators, 51,000 oximeters, 825 hospital-grade BiPAP machines and 30 tele-ventilators from Singapore to India, and is determined to continue to work towards providing more essential medical supplies to the country, Olam said.

Olam continues to work with a coalition of private and public sector associates including the Pune Platform for COVID-19 Response anchored at MCCAI, Singapore High Commission in India, ACT Grants, Swasth Alliance, Manipal Foundation, HCG, Medanta, local health authorities, various India business groups and many others.

We have seen the severe impact this pandemic has had on people and communities across the world, and it is a heartbreaking situation as it now sweeps through India," says A Shekhar, Executive Director at the Olam Group and CEO of Olam Food Ingredients.

"We will continue to support relief efforts while ensuring we keep our staff, partners and operations on the ground safe. As it has been said, no one is safe until everyone is safe, he said. Separately, Olam has also launched a company-wide donation drive to raise funds for COVID-19 relief efforts in India. These funds collected through contributions from employees will be directed fully towards COVID-19 relief programmes at the local, state or federal level in India. Meanwhile, permanent residents in Singapore Prantik Mazumdar and Dipti Kamath have raised SGD 204,960 ($1,53,828) as of Thursday through crowd funding platform Milaap.

"We are inspired because 1,043 people from 10 nations have supported our project," tabla!, a Singapore weekly on the Indian community, quoted Mazumdar as saying.The husband and wife duo are working with Swasth Hindustan Mission in Bengaluru and Mission Oxygen in Mumbai to distribute the concentrators.Also, a group of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University alumni, have also taken to Milaap to raise funds and help India overcome the oxygen shortage.

"About 600 people from all over the world have contributed and we have raised about USD100,000. We are now buying oxygen concentrators," Rahul Singh, a bank employee and NTU 2010 graduate.

These concentrators will be given to Community Empowerment Lab and Mercy Mission for distribution at the ground level in Uttar Pradesh and Bengaluru.

Indian expats Rohit Dwivedi, Gaurav Mishra and Seema Devgan have raised SGD 100,000 ($ 75,058) from the people in Singapore, the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, Australia and Hong Kong. The trio is working with NGO Delhi Youth Welfare Association to distribute essential medical equipment in India.

Linus Ng, executive director of CHARIS says, "We are now focused on working with our partner organisations to judiciously and effectively deploy the funds."
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Michelle Ellis said she was horrified when coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines first began to be administered in the United States.

She felt the speed of the vaccines emergency use approvals by the Food and Drug Administration was potentially prompted by fiscal incentives to move through the process quickly and expressed a distrust toward the previous presidential administration.

I am a believer in science, Ellis, 50, a Port Richmond resident, told the Advance/SILive.com during a phone interview. But, you know, I also believe that we are ruled by money in this country.

Ellis is part of nearly half of Staten Islands adults who have yet to receive a coronavirus vaccine, a percentage of people that is worrying officials on the borough who are concerned that widely circulating and highly-contagious variants could give rise to new surges of infection later this year.

Despite vaccines now being widely available to the adult population, with abundant appointment slots open and walk-ins eligible at all city-run sites, New York City Health Department data shows a precipitous drop in daily doses administered after a steady rise in the first months of the vaccine rollout.

Part of that decline could be attributed to levels of either refusal or trepidation to receive a vaccine. A Gallup poll that surveyed over 300,000 people in 117 countries last year, before vaccines were widely distributed, found that about three in 10 people would be unwilling to be immunized.

The causes of vaccine hesitancy or flat-out denial are wide-ranging. Studies have contributed religious beliefs as a factor; distrust of governmental authority has been viewed as a deterrent; and even conspiracies have fueled reluctance.

For Ellis, personal experiences have partially shaped her current decision making.

After being required to get an MMR shot for a job offer in 2017, she said she lost complete use of her arm for a year  causing her to lose the position, which required her to lift heavy objects.

At the end of the day, I dont know if another needle in my arm, let alone two needles in my arms, are going to render me and render my arms useless, said Ellis.

She holds similar concerns for her wife, who has multiple sclerosis and also has had adverse reactions to the MMR shot in the past.

When youre immunocompromised, theres no schedule as to whats going to happen, said Ellis.

Twelve nurse stations were set up to administer the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine at the pop-up COVID vaccination site at the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center on April 8, 2021 (Staten Island Advance/Giavanni Alves)

THE JOHNSON & JOHNSON PAUSE

Once heralded as a tool to boost vaccine rates, the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine was put on pause as health authorities investigated a handful of extremely rare, serious blood clots  mostly in women  before eventually resuming use of the vaccinations.

More than eight million Johnson & Johnson doses have been administered in the U.S., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows.

The temporary stoppage, however, may have caused long-term damage to the vaccination effort, said Dr. Ginny Mantello, the boroughs director of health and wellness.

I think the J&J pause set us back a little bit, said Mantello. People who were saying, Were gonna wait and watch, are now like, See, we told you that theres risks, look what came out with J&J and whats to say were not going to find out tomorrow that Pfizer and Moderna have this risk and that risk? 

So I think that that definitely hurt us, said Mantello, who expressed that she felt the pause did more harm than good, despite understanding the federal health agencies concerns.

Ellis, concerned about exposing herself to the risk of two separate doses, said she initially preferred the Johnson & Johnson vaccine before the pause. Then, as she saw incidents of clotting in women around her age, said she no longer wanted to receive the one-dose shot.

I know, percentage wise, with the J&J its like really, really, really minor, said Ellis, speaking of the number of significant side effects reported from the companys shot. But, I dont know. I mean, I worry about my quality of life anyway as Im getting older because Im feeling all the aches and pains of being 50.

SKIPPING 2ND DOSE

The importance of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is immense, officials said, especially amid an immunization campaign that was riddled with technical issues that initially made scheduling one appointment, nonetheless two, a difficult proposition.

CDC data indicates that millions of Americans have skipped their second dose appointments.

And while one recent study by the agency found that health care and emergency workers at high risk of coronavirus exposure who only received one dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines had an 80% reduction in risk, a second dose proved to be about 90% effective  an improvement health officials said is especially important as COVID-19 variants have proven to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

Teri Russo, 81, a Pleasant Plains resident and a former Staten Island Advance Woman of Achievement, received her first dose earlier this year but has decided to not get a second shot after she endured severe arm pain and inflammation, citing concerns that shes unsure the effect another dose could have on her multiple sclerosis.

Like many Staten Islanders, the COVID-19 pandemic hit close to home for Russo.

In the early days of the pandemic, her whole family, including herself, contracted the disease. She was affected with strong symptoms for 10 days, and her son, who was 46, ended up in the hospital for 11 days before he died.

Now, she said she is waiting to see what reactions occur as a result of ongoing vaccinations, saying that she does not think authorities did enough trials to properly vet the vaccine.

Federal health authorities have said that all three vaccines currently granted emergency use authorization have went through a rigorous, multiple-phase trial process that has enrolled tens of thousands of people.

Signs at pop-up vaccination site at St. Philips Baptist Church, Port Richmond, run by the state and Northwell Health. (Tom Wrobleski/Staten Island Advance)

HERD IMMUNITY IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN THIS YEAR

Before vaccinations were widely available, some health officials floated potential goals for the nation to reach herd immunity  a level of vaccinations that would effectively snuff out outbreaks of the virus.

Some have said that number could be 70% of the total population, with others saying it could be closer to 90% as variants skirt the protection offered by current immunizations. In some areas of the country, those levels are within reach, though it is a long way off for others.

But, with vaccination levels slowing, Mantello said herd immunity is likely not attainable in the near future.

It certainly seems very daunting given where we are, said Mantello. Given where we currently are, it seems like its not that easy a task. Its not going to happen this year, for sure.

Borough President James Oddo echoed those sentiments, saying, I dont see how we get there, based on the built-in universe of folks who are adamant theyre not going to get it, layered on top of all the other difficulties that weve been talking about.

That path, which falls short of the high hopes expressed at the onset of the vaccination rollout, could lead to a doubled-edged sword that creates distinct issues in future months.

Were not going to get to that number that we all want, said Oddo. Were not going to get to it on a timeline that we anticipated, which then leads to, I think, what will be the next chapter  and I think it will be incredibly tricky and stir up all kinds of emotions yet again, and thats going to be the private sector and governmental mandates.

Additionally, both Oddo and Mantello expressed grave concern that the continued spread of the virus could grant the possibility of even more deadly variants to emerge, possibly fueling an outbreak next fall and winter.

If we dont have a goal of 70 to 80% by the end of the summer and by the fall, I think we still run a big risk when we start going back in the colder months and we go back indoors, said Mantello. We might see another spike in the fall.

I think we need to not have this false sense of security, said Mantello.

Scenes from the pop-up COVID-19 vaccination site at St. Philips in Port Richmond on March 23, 2021. (Staten Island Advance/ Alexandra Salmieri)

POOR VACCINATION RATES AMONG MINORITY COMMUNITIES

Part of the disparity between goals of health officials and the percentage of people vaccinated in New York City can be attributed to low levels of doses administered in Black and Latino communities, both on Staten Island and citywide.

Despite outspoken efforts to reach minority communities, Mayor Bill de Blasios plan to vaccinate priority neighborhoods that were particularly hard hit by the pandemic has not resulted in significantly positive results.

As of May 4, just 30% of Black adults in New York City had received at least one dose of a vaccine, compared to 68% of white adults, according to city Health Department data, and only 37% of Latino adults received a shot.

That rate is nearly identical on Staten Island, with 30% of Black adults receiving at least one dose, 35% of Latino adults and 69% of white adults.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo previously urged Black and Hispanic communities to get vaccinated, despite historic distrust due in part to the nations infamous Tuskegee Experiment.

However, the extremely low vaccination levels in this community, according to Oddo, should be of high concern.

In many aspects of healthcare, disparities result from neglect or other imbalances, and, unfortunately, a lot of the underlying conditions that fuels the serious illness and the deaths, said Oddo.

Here, everyone has been talking about that in New York State, from the governor to the mayor and theres been a concerted effort, locally  our members of clergy  theres been a concerted effort to address these communities, and despite that, or in spite of that, the numbers are still much too low, and that is extremely troubling, added Oddo.

Borough faith leaders have gotten vaccinated in an effort to set an example, dispel myths and reduce hesitancy, and faith leaders have been working with the city and state to organize vaccination pop-ups at respective houses of worship, many in Black and brown communities.

Local community organizations like La Colmena have also been hubs for mobile vaccination sites targeting the Latino community.

The persistent low-levels of vaccinations in Black and Hispanic communities shows that distrust is a complicated issue that has been fortified with years of disconnect, Oddo said.

I think it just speaks to the depth of the levels of distrust built up over decades and decades, he said. But to me, the only solution is the same solution for other stubborn problems  you just got to continue to get after it.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Authorities allege that a 65-year-old man stabbed and tried to rob an 85-year-old inside an adult care facility in New Brighton.

Michael Scott stands accused in the incident, which occurred around 5:30 p.m. April 24 inside Harbor Terrace Adult Care and Assisted Living facility at 110 Henderson Ave., according to the criminal complaint and public records.

Give me all your money, the criminal complaint alleges Scott told the victim.

After the 85-year-old man refused to comply, Scott allegedly punched and used a knife to slash the victim below his left eye, according to the criminal complaint.

The defendant fled, but was apprehended and was initially taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton for evaluation, police said.

The victim had to be treated at a local hospital for his injuries, which included a laceration, bruising and redness under his left eye, and pain in his mouth.

The suspect has been charged with attempted robbery, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, attempted petit larceny and harassment, according to the criminal complaint.

Bond has been set at $300,000/$100,000; the suspect is due back in court Thursday, according to public records.

Scott was previously sentenced to time served after being convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in Manhattan Criminal Court in September 2010, according to the criminal complaint.

The care facility did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An attorney for the suspect did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harbor Terrace Adult Care and Assisted Living facility is located at 110 Henderson Avenue in New Brighton. (Staten Island Advance)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An Eltingville doctor who previously pleaded guilty for prescribing opioids in exchange for sexual favors was sentenced to 57 months in prison Thursday, the United States Department of Justice announced.

Joseph Santiamo, who had offices on Richmond Avenue, was arrested in 2019 as part of a wide-ranging sweep in the northeast stemming from the alleged distribution of over 3.25 million opioid pills in pill-mill clinics and doctors offices.

The various schemes resulted in more than $800 million in fraudulent medical insurance claims, officials previously said.

For some of his patients, there was no medical necessity for Santiamo to treat them with oxycodone, nor to prescribe the large quantities that he did, the U.S. Attorneys Office said in a statement. In addition, Santiamo solicited sexual favors from certain of his younger patients in exchange for unlawful oxycodone prescriptions.

Santiamo solicited sexual favors from patients under the age of 40 and did so despite evidence that certain patients were abusing opioids, the statement added.

In addition to his prison term, U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp sentenced Santiamo to three years of supervised release and fined him $30,000.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police raided an apartment in Port Richmond where they allegedly confiscated illegal drugs including crack cocaine, heroin and meth.

William Dale, 63, was arrested when officers armed with a search warrant raided his apartment on Park Avenue at 6 a.m. on April 22, according to the criminal complaint based on an investigation by Narcotics Borough Staten Island.

On a table, officers allegedly found several loose rocks of crack cocaine and a plastic zipper bag containing that stimulant, four glass pipes with crack-cocaine residue, three glassine envelopes of heroin and a straw with residue of that opioid, plus empty plastic zipper bags of the type typically used to package drugs, according to the criminal complaint and police.

Police searched Dale and allegedly found a rock and 17 plastic zipper bags containing crack cocaine, a rock of methamphetamine, a glassine envelope holding heroin, and four films of the opioid antidote buprenophine and nalaxone, according to the criminal complaint and police.

Dale has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia, according to the criminal complaint.

Bond has been set at $25,000 for the suspect who is due back in Criminal Court on May 19, according to public records.

An attorney for the suspect did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
STATEN ISlAND, N.Y.  In an effort to add excitement to a difficult and unpredictable school year, Christie Byrnes, a special education teacher at at P373R Robert Randall School at Morris Intermediate School, said her school applied for a grant which would expand and enhance the arts program at the Brighton Heights school.

And the school was chosen!

As a result, special education students will perform Shrek the Musical Jr. Friday May 7 during a live virtual premiere at noon, which will be available for playback at 6 p.m. Note links will be available the day of the performance.

The show will be live streamed and viewed remotely, so all families can join the viewing party and interact through the chat.

It was a great honor to be selected among other schools citywide, by the Shubert Foundation/Musical Theatre Internationals Broadway Junior Program, Christie said. With an abundant hard work and dedication from staffers and students we were able to create our first ever virtual Broadway Junior Show, Shrek The Musical Jr. And it has truly exceeded our expectations.

HOW IT ALL TOOK SHAPE

School principal Christine Hoffman forwarded an email to the team with the intention of adding some excitement to the unusual school year.

From the left, students, Grace Oshins Murphy (Mama Ogre), Rocco Cortez-Gomez (Young Shrek) and James Quarco (Papa Ogre).(Courtesy/Christie Byrnes) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance

We followed prompts, applied for the grant, attended a series of interviews and received the email that our school was chosen among schools in New York City to receive the Shubert Foundation/Musical Theatre International (MTI) Broadway Junior Program grant, Christie said.

We were absolutely ecstatic knowing the performance was going to have such a positive impact on our middle school students, Christie added. Although we faced some hardships along the way, the end result proved that no amount of social distancing, masks and school closures could obstruct students from creating a performance that is nothing short of extraordinary. The students strength and diligence and support of staff and families, made the uplifting and joyous experience possible. And behind our masks we were always smiling.

"Shrek The Musical Jr." is set for Friday, May 7 with a virtual premiere at noon. (Courtesy/Christie Byrnes) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance

Theatre and the arts allow for such wonderful opportunities in which students can expand their imagination, explore diversity, build upon social emotional skills, and discover an appreciation for self-expression. It is with great pleasure, I congratulate students and staff on their success and look forward to our arts program flourishing as well as further developing a relationship with the Shubert Foundation/Musical Theatre International (MTI), Hoffman said.

The production team, from the left, Christie Byrnes, Sean Connor, Lauren O'Neill, Tifani Natale, Jamie Forlenza, Christina Cafazzo, and Kirsten Rorke. (Courtesy/Christie Byrnes) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance

Speech therapists and directors Lauren ONeill and Tifani Natale were also elated over the opportunity for students to present a musical.

This experience has been extremely rewarding and positive in a time of uncertainty. Its great to promote a variety of social skills, such as peer to peer interaction, and role playing through acting, they each stated.

Christie, who also doubles as the schools music director pointed out, Singing and music has always been a passion of mine and I frequently incorporate it within my own classroom. I was elated to be able to share that passion with our students, and it was truly amazing to see them embrace and exhibit their own musical talents while building confidence at the same time. To say I am proud of them is an understatement, as their dedication and exemplary work have made this experience absolutely magical!

Kirsten Rorke, art director, said, My role as an art educator was to bring together a thematic study of the play, with an interesting and well crafted background set. Our students learned to see how visual details and style can enhance the storytelling of a scene.

From the left, students, Noah Talovera (Shrek), Halima Allaoui (Fiona), Elijah Adams (Donkey), who are part of the "Shrek The Musical Jr." cast. (Courtesy/Christie Byrnes) Staten Island AdvanceStaten Island Advance

Special ed teachers and choreographers Jamie Forlenza and Christina Cafazzo noted working with students to create the choreography was a wonderful and collaborative experience.

When we began teaching the dance numbers, we quickly noticed students adding in their own dance moves and style. By the end of the play we were just trying to keep up! Our students have been so dedicated throughout the entire process and we couldnt be more excited to share this with everyone, they said collectively.

And STEM teacher/production manager Sean Connor said, While making the edits to the film, I was extremely impressed with the student talents. It was a very fun-filled experience to be able to piece together all the student media, showcasing their unique artistic, musical and theatrical abilities. Overall, the play was a smashing success!

ELATED STUDENTS TALK OUT

Seventh grader Grace Oshins Murphy said, It was incredible! I liked to be Mama Ogre because I like to sing. And in closing said: Shrek Jr. the Musical was really cool! Eighth grader, Maximus Zeas, agreed, Shrek is awesome!

Noah Talovera, who played the lead role as Shrek, said, This musical has been fantastic. I loved singing, dancing and acting with all my friends! I feel Ogre-tastic! I cant wait for my family to see the show. The show will be filled with action, adventure and drama! I will be signing autographs for all the people!

Christie offers special thanks to Monica Cespino-Dowd for costume design, Laura Borgwardt, production advisement, teachers, related-service providers, paraprofessionals and families for their support. But most of all to the Middle School Students of P373R.
STATEN ISLAND N.Y.  A cannon salute honors the new captain in command.

The Coast Guards Change of Command ceremony was held on the grounds of Fort Wadsworth.

Coast Guard Sector New York holds a change-of-command ceremony at Fort Wadsworth on May 7, 2021. (Staten Island Advance/ Alexandra Salmieri)

Cannons were fired at the beginning of the ceremony where Capt. Zeita Merchant relieved Capt. Jason P. Tama, who was in command of the Coast Guards New York sector for the past year.

Capt. Jason Tama and Capt. Zeita Merchant at the change-of-command ceremony hosted at Fort Wadsworth on May 7, 2021. (Courtesy of Dennis Rees)

Capt. Tama will take on the role of Director of Resilience and Response for the National Security Council in Washington, D.C.

The tradition is conducted to ensure a smooth transfer of responsibility and the continuation of trust and authority within the chain of command.
Northbrook, IL -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/07/2021 -- The report "Temperature Controlled Packaging Solutions Market by Type (Active, Passive), Product, Usability (Single, Reuse), Revenue type (Product, Service), End-Use Industry (Pharma and Biopharma) & Region - Trends and Forecasts Up to 2026", size is estimated to be USD 34.4 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 80.1 billion by 2026, at a CAGR of 18.4% between 2021 and 2026 Biopharma and Pharma are major end-use industries for TCP market. It includes Vaccines, drugs, enzymes, tissues, gene therapies, cell therapies and others are some examples of the product from the industries. These products require a lower temperature for shipping. In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for the COVID-19 vaccine, cell and gene therapies, other flu vaccines have increased significantly. The growing demand for pharmaceutical products is driving TCP market during the forecast period. Moreover, utilisation of advance insulation material in packaging and increasing demand of reusable container due to lower environment impact are other driving factors for TCP market.



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By end use industry, Pharma account for largest share of TCP market

Pharma industries include products that are derived from synthetic or chemical processes (artificial sources). The medicines, raw materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), and other drugs require a temperature-controlled environment to maintain their efficacy and other properties. The demand for pharma products is growing steadily across the globe and for safe & secure distribution, these products are shipped in temperature-controlled packaging (TCP) solutions. The growing demand for pharmaceutical products expects to drive the market for temperature-controlled packaging solutions during the forecast period.



Single use account for largest share of TCP market by usability

Single-use packaging systems are basic containers that are suitable for one shipment. These containers are a lightweight and an inexpensive option for shipment of temperature sensitive products. The single-use products provide a low total cost of ownership (TCO) to its customers. The growing demand for pharmaceutical or biopharma products (Vaccines, cell and gene therapy, and clinical trials) is expected to drive the market for single-use packaging systems in the forecast period.



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Products account for largest share of TCP market by revenue type

Temperature-controlled packaging providers focus on high-performance shippers/containers and refrigerants for safe and secure shipment of payload over long transit time. These packaging systems are available in various sizes and temperature ranges. Primarily, there are three types of shippers/ containers available; Expanded polystyrene (EPS), Polyurethane (PUR), and Vacuum insulated panel (VIP). In the COVID scenario, the demand for vaccines, drugs, and cell & gene therapy has increased. The distributions of these products have increased the demand for temperature-controlled packaging products.



By type, Active system account for largest share in TCP market

Active temperature-controlled packaging systems encompass a dedicated refrigeration unit installed onboard They are mainly electricity or battery-powered and more secure options for shipment of highly temperature-sensitive products. It is a suitable solution for highly temperature-sensitive products such as pharmaceuticals which require shipping at a fixed temperature. Active systems are expensive option and are suitable for the shipment of large volumes payload with substantial transit time, such as international shipments. As these containers are offered on lease, companies worldwide are increasingly adopting active temperature-controlled packaging systems, which is driving growth of this segment



By product, insulated shippers account for largest share in TCP market

Insulated shippers are lightweight, reusable, recyclable, and economical. These shippers encompass two pieces that include a tight-fitting lid and a seamlessly moulded body. Insulated shippers are mainly used as a packaging material, as they ensure safe transportation of various temperature-sensitive products. These are suitable for carrying a temperature-sensitive payload of volume ranging from 4 liters to 100 liters. These shippers enable quick preconditioning & packing of payload and maintain the temperature of payload duration for about 48 hours to 120 hours, which could increase with appropriate insulating materials and refrigerants. These shippers are ideal for pharmaceuticals and clinical trial shipments.



North America accounted for the largest share in the global TCP market

North America accounted for the largest share of the TCP market in 2020, followed by APAC and Europe. The region accounted for a significant global pharmaceutical market share with the presence of leading pharmaceutical industries in the US. This large share is mainly attributed to the technological advancements in the packaging industry of this region. Leading temperature-controlled packaging manufacturing companies such as Pelican BioThermal LLC (U.S.), Sonoco Products Company (U.S.), Cold Chain Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), FedEx Corp. (U.S.), and AmerisourceBergen Corp. (U.S.) are based in North America. These companies are investing in R&D activities to develop innovative products for the packaging industry.



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Recent Developments :

- In March 2021, Cold Chain Technologies planned to expand its temperature-controlled solutions in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) region by opening new regional headquarters in the Netherlands.

- In November 2020, Sonoco Products Company launched EOS line of parcel shippers. The product is recyclable temperature control packaging system. The product is made for life science and perishable food products.

- In November 2020, Cold Chain Technologies planned to open new facility in Lebanon, US for distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.

- In October 2020, Pelican BioThermal LLC introduced the new line of Golden Hour One, the new line of products for military. The product is smaller and is suitable to carry blood and platelets.

- In February 2020, Pelican BioThermal LLC announced the acquisition of NanoCool LLC (Albuquerque, New Mexico). The company is involved in production of temperature-controlled packaging systems.

- In January 2020, Sonoco Products Company acquired Thermoform Engineered Quality, LLC from ESCO Technologies, Inc (US). The company is a manufacturer of thermoformed packaging for health care and other markets.



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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  Cops hope to attract volunteers and donations to a Friday cleanup of Veterans Park in Port Richmond.

Officers from the 121st Precinct plan to descend on the park located on Bennet Street across from St. Philips Baptist Church around 3 p.m.

Veterans Park is Staten Islands oldest park dedicated to our American Veterans, and is located in the heart of Port Richmond, officers wrote in a flyer promoting the event. Our goal is to brighten up and revitalize the park for a clean safe environment and to hold future fun events for the community.

The event will be the first of the NYPDs new Community Solution Project on Staten Island, and the latest on the borough trying to address litter concerns.

A flyer from the 121st Precinct promoting a Port Richmond cleanup to be held Thursday, May 6, 2021. (Courtesy: NYPD)

Anyone interested in making a donation should reach out to the 121st Precincts Community Council at CommunityCouncil121@gmail.com or reach out to the precincts community affairs division at 718-697-8703.

According to the New York City Parks Department, Veterans Park is Staten Islands oldest park, and appears on some of the first street maps of Port Richmond in 1836 when it was labeled as the village green or common.

A local law renamed the park in 1949 in honor of American veterans, according to the Parks Department.
STATEN ISLAND N.Y.  A day dedicated to the ones who have put themselves on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic for the past year.

The hospitals on Staten Island spent the day recognizing their nurses commitment and dedication to their jobs and patients.

Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) set up a lunch to thank the nurses for their continued hard work.

It recognizes that we know that the nurses are important to us and the community and we just want to take that special time to say thank you, said Rosemarie Stazzone, chief nurse officer and chief operating officer at RUMC.

Richmond University Medical Center hosts a lunch as a way to honor their nurses on May 6, 2021. (Courtesy of RUMC)

Stazzone explained that the lunch was a small gesture to show her staff that they are appreciated this week and always.

Saying that the nurses are more now than ever is really an understatement. I think this past year certainly demonstrated how important the nurses role is for the outcome of patients, she added.

Richmond University Medical Center hosts a lunch as a way to honor their nurses on May 6, 2021. (Courtesy of RUMC)

Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) started National Nurses Week by honoring their nurses at a ceremony held in the Regina McGinn Center.

Several nurses were recipients of national and local awards that celebrated their achievements and compassion over the past year.

Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) started National Nurses Week by honoring their nurses at a ceremony held in the Regina McGinn Center in Ocean Breeze on May 6, 2021. (Staten Island Advance/Alexandra Salmieri)

The ceremony highlighted the struggles nurses faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Your commitment and perseverance is what got us through this last year to be able to take care of our patients and our community, said Myrna Capabianco, chief nurse officer at SIUH.

Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH) started National Nurses Week by honoring their nurses at a ceremony held in the Regina McGinn Center in Ocean Breeze on May 6, 2021. (Staten Island Advance/Alexandra Salmieri)

Because of that, you make me proud to be a Staten Island University nurse, said Capabianco as she applauded the nurses.

Christina Rodriguez, an ICU nurse at SIUH North Campus, accepts her award for nursing excellence on May 6, 2021, in Ocean Breeze. (Staten Island Advance/Alexandra Salmieri)

Following the ceremony, SIUH hosted lunch to show their appreciation.

MORE ON NATIONAL NURSES WEEK

Nurse Appreciation Day kicked off National Nurses Week, which runs from May 6 through May 12, Florence Nightingales birthday.

The annual celebration honors and thanks nurses around the country for the constant efforts and work they do.

This years celebration is extra special because the American Nurses Associated (ANA) extended the Year of the Nurse and Midwife into 2021.
Update: In a letter to City Council Minority Leader Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island) posted Friday afternoon, Department of Transportation Commissioner Henry Gutman wrote that the department intends to return the Staten Island Ferry to full service as soon as possible, but that it needs to hire more staff.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Its been over a year since the Staten Island Ferry provided full overnight service, and theres still no telling when it will be restored.

Despite plans for a major reopening of New York City later this month, the city has yet to make any indication as to when it plans to bring back the half-hourly overnight service on the Staten Island Ferry that has been curtailed since the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In March 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Staten Island Ferry would be shifting to hourly service around the clock due to declining ridership and lack of staffing during the initial coronavirus outbreak.

Regular service was restored during daytime hours in June, as the city began to slowly reopen and more people returned to work, but overnight service, from midnight to 6 a.m., has remained on an hourly basis.

New York Citys subway system is slated to resume 24-hour service on Monday, May 17, after more than a year of overnight closures implemented in late-April of last year to allow for increased cleaning amid the pandemic.

Two days later, on May 19, the state will lift a majority of its ongoing coronavirus restrictions on New York City, including occupancy limits on things like retail, food services and gyms.

However, despite these other planned reopening efforts, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has repeatedly ignored inquiries as to when full overnight service on the Staten Island Ferry will be restored, frustrating commuters and elected officials alike.

Restoring and maintaining around-the-clock half-hour service on the Staten Island Ferry has been a priority of Borough President James Oddo, who authored the bill mandating 24/7, half-hour service back in 2013.

I think Staten Island has demonstrated a lot of patience, and weve done the right thing. We dont want empty boats traveling back and forth burning money on principle, Oddo said. Ive been waiting for the decision to be made to restore 24-hour subway service because, to me, that was the starting gun for the Staten Island Ferry.

Oddo went on to discuss the significance of restoring full overnight service on the Staten Island Ferry, both for residents looking to enjoy a night out in the city once it fully reopens and for those who rely on overnight service to travel to and from work during off-peak hours.

First, there is the universe of Staten Islanders who are responding to the mayors calls and everyones call for reopening the city... Theres a lot of folks on Staten Island who are itching to enjoy everything that Manhattan has to offer, and its ridiculous to ask them to endure hourly service, Oddo said.

But then theres the second universe... there are folks who use this overnight service as their means to commute to work. Theyve endured a hardship. As the city is reawakening, its even more important to provide them with this service, he added.

The borough president said he had talked to de Blasio earlier this week about the issue, with the mayor indicating that he will look at current ridership numbers, discuss the matter with the DOT and get back to Oddo in the near future.

Clearly hes gotten the message, and I expect to hear back from him and the city relatively soon, Oddo said.

Councilman Steven Matteo (R-Mid-Island), a candidate for the upcoming borough presidency, has also been a vocal proponent of restoring full overnight service over the past year.

Most recently, the councilman penned a letter to de Blasio and DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman earlier this week imploring the city to bring back half-hourly overnight service on May 17, to coincide with the restoration of 24-hour subway service.

The decrease in Ferry service was a temporary measure that was taken due to the emergency we were facing and the dramatic decrease in ridership, Matteo said. With our City reopening, it is time to reinstate service consistent with the terms of Local Law 88, the legislation the borough president passed in 2013 that mandated at least half hour service during non-rush hours.

CITYS MOST RECENT RESPONSE

The DOTs most recent response on this issue came back in January, when former DOT Borough Commissioner Tom Cocola responded to a letter sent by Matteo, citing continued low overnight ridership compared to pre-pandemic levels as the main reason full service has yet to be restored.

With respect to the question of when we will begin increasing service again, there are a number of factors involved, with primary being a sizable increase in ridership, Cocola wrote at the time.

In January, late-night ridership levels had remained at just 40% to 60% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the DOT.

Our review indicates that the number of passengers for the 23:30 [11:30 p.m.] trips from Whitehall Terminal have stayed consistent at between 50%-60% of last years count, wrote Cocola. We also reviewed the 23:00 [11 p.m.] and 00:30 [12:30 a.m.] trips, which showed that the ridership aboard those ferries have also remained consistent... at just below 50% and 40%, respectively.

The department also pointed out that it is currently using the larger, Barberi-class ferry boats during overnight hours and that increasing service by incorporating smaller, Austen-class boats would leave passengers less room to social distance.

While the Austen-class with two decks and a maximum capacity of 1,107 passengers is certainly available, and up to the task to carry the average number of passengers for both the average weekday service of 161 passengers, or the average weekend service of 224 passengers, it was decided that the Barberi-class would afford more room for social distancing and peace of mind, Cocola wrote.

When asked in January what percentage of pre-pandemic ridership would need to return in order to restore full service, the DOT failed to provide a specific threshold, instead stating that the department will continue to assess the ever-changing situation.

DOT will continue to monitor the ridership levels to determine when we will be resuming the 30-minute service overnight, a DOT spokesperson told the Staten Island Advance/SILive.com.

CONCERNS ABOUT SERVICE REDUCTION

In April 2020, Oddo told the Advance he was deeply concerned about the mayors ability to unilaterally override the legislation that the borough president had passed back in 2013, as he has done by reducing service during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Its a secondary issue for now, in the midst of a pandemic, but its an important issue for Staten Island because the precedent is one that Im concerned about -- the notion of invoking emergency provisions to undo a local law, Oddo said at the time.

The news troubled Oddo, who voiced concerns regarding unilateral executive action being used to undercut legally-mandated service for Staten Islanders.

I get it,' Oddo said. I understand were in a war. I understand were in a pandemic. I understand it makes no sense to have that level of service when ridership is decreasing. But I worry about, and I think Staten Island always has to worry about, allowing unilateral action by an executive.

A representative from the mayors office told the Advance/SILive.com that the mayor is legally permitted to induce service reductions in the event of an emergency, and that the office is working with Oddo to ensure the safety of Staten Island commuters.

The law very clearly gives us the power to change the schedule during an emergency,' said mayoral spokeswoman Olivia Lapeyrolerie. We will continue to work with the borough president to determine the best ways to protect Staten Islanders health and safety.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  New York came 89 people short of retaining its full delegation to Congress after last years Census, and is currently on track to lose one of its seats in the House of Representatives.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has suggested possible legal challenges to the count, but should the apportionment of the Houses 435 seats remain in place, it means the states delegation map will look different after the decennial redistricting process.

Despite the uncertainty, Jeffrey M. Wice, who heads New York Law Schools Census and Redistricting Institute, said now is the time for New Yorkers to inform themselves about the process and how it will affect them.

The best thing right now is for New Yorkers to understand the importance of the process, he said. This is the ramp-up time for education, training, and preparation.

Based on the 2010 Census, U.S. congressional districts had an average population a little over 710,000 people  a threshold Staten Island is highly unlikely to come close to after the 2020 Census.

Census 2020 determined how the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be divided among states for the elections running from 2022 through 2030. (AP file photo)AP

After redistricting, Staten Island could have one district for the whole borough and part of either Manhattan or Brooklyn similar to the current district that covers the Island. Legally, the borough could be split into two districts.

Wice said that for congressional redistricting, Staten Island needs to be connected to either Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan since theyre both accessible from the Island via the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge or the Staten Island Ferry, respectively.

You have to have some degree of contiguity, and ferries and bridges provide that, Wice said adding that there is a criteria on compactness meaning a split of the borough into two districts would likely lead to challenges.

A knowledge of how the process works and the way current boundaries are set up can give residents a better opportunity to provide testimony at redistricting hearings, which Wice said he expects to start in the early summer.

Localized data that is needed to redraw district lines wont be available until after August, and it isnt yet possible to make any broad predictions about how congressional districts will look going forward, according to Wice.

We dont have any ability to analyze the data at the local level yet, Wice, whos worked with the Democratic Party on redistricting issues since the 1980s, said. Those who think they know whats going to happen are the least informed and the farthest from the process.

Locally, the process has drawn the attention of Staten Islands politically minded, with a focus on the congressional seat held by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn).

She defeated her opponent, former Democratic Rep. Max Rose, with about 51.6% of the vote in what was one of the nations most hotly contested congressional elections last November.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool)AP

Malliotakis expressed confidence in her chances going forward during an interview with the Advance/SILive.com, but the seat has already drawn the attention of Democrats with progressive Brittany DeBarros declaring her candidacy after Mallitoakis held the office for a little more than a month.

If you cant beat somebody on policy, then trying to change their district lines would be incredibly disappointing to the community, she said. Staten Island needs to remain intact. Staten Island, as a community, has needs that are very different than the rest of the city.

Malliotakis suspects more of Brooklyn will be added to the district. Rose won a narrow margin in the part of the district across the Verrazzano with about 50.3% of the vote, according to records from the city Board of Elections.

As cause for their own confidence regarding the seat, Staten Island Democratic Party Executive Director James Clinton pointed to some of Malliotakis votes, like the one against the American Rescue Plan, and her opposition to the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, widely considered to be one of the most pro-labor pieces of federal legislation in decades.

Rep. Malliotakis will have a hard time defending her record regardless of how the lines are drawn, he said. We look forward to the independent commission drawing lines fairly and having a strong Democratic candidate fight for the best interests of our Island.

The party believes the Island should remain covered by one district. The Staten Island Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Currently, the state-level redistricting process, responsible for congressional seats and those to the state legislature, falls under the authority of a commission established by a 2014 amendment to the State Constitution. Redistricting for City Council seats is governed by a different local process.

Proponents of the Independent Redistricting Commission intended to shift power away from the State Legislature, but its faced early controversy.

In early March, a member of the commission and 2014 Conservative Party candidate for Congress, Ross Brady, and a 2020 Republican candidate for State Senate, Angela Renna, filed a New York Supreme Court petition calling for the state to release $1 million in legislated funding the commission needed to do its work.

The state budget that passed in April allotted an additional $4 million for the commission. George Winner, who sits on the commission, told the Wall Street Journal that they expect to have their first set of maps complete by November.

Map proposals need to be approved by the State Legislature, which can draw its own lines if it rejects two rounds of proposals. For the first time in decades, a single party, Democrats, have complete control over both chambers of the Legislature and the governors mansion.

The commissions first proposal is due Jan. 15 next year and the second is due Feb. 28. An amendment that will be on the ballot in this years November general election would shift those dates to Jan. 1 and Jan. 15 in 2022, and Nov. 15 and Jan. 1 in future redistricting processes.

The subject of partisan gerrymandering, the practice of drawing district lines to unfairly favor a political party, has led to the introduction of the federal For the People Act, which addresses things like election administration, campaign finance, and redistricting.

Wice and his colleague at New York Law School colleague Nicholas Stabile published a paper in March that lays out what the new systems could look like for states, including changes to this years process. The legislation passed the House in March, but has not yet moved forward in the Senate.

Wice said he doubts a version of the bill that passed the Senate would become law  it would set deadlines this year that, if missed, would lead to the federal courts taking over a states redistricting  but that the Senate might take up the bill later this summer.

The work in New York is just getting started, he said. This is where things start.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday said he would seek a change in state rules so that New York City could give free COVID-19 vaccinations to tourists visiting the Big Apple.

De Blasio said that tourists would be offered free Johnson & Johnson doses at iconic city locations like the Empire State Building, Times Square and Central Park under the plan.

Its not known if Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers will approve of de Blasios proposal.

Cuomo on Thursday said that the states one-day COVID-19 positivity rate was 1.27 percent, the lowest its been since last Oct. 22.

The governor said that Thursday was the first day that every region in the state had a positivity rate below 3 percent since last Nov. 5.

De Blasio also announced that the city would allocated $25 million to hire 1,500 musicians, performers and artists to do paintings, pop-up performances and concerts around the city.

De Blasio, modeling the program on New Deal initiatives from the Great Depression, said that the program would help artists whod seen their livelihoods damaged by the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has turned our world upside-down, and we need information like we never have before.

How many new cases were there on Staten Island today? How many deaths? How many people have been released from the hospital?

What are out elected officials, federal, state and local, doing to keep New Yorkers safe?

What other news is top of mind?

More importantly, when are we going to get back to normal, whatever normal is?

Its almost too much to keep up with.

So every day around 4 p.m., Mark and I take to Facebook Live to give you all the information you need. You can then look for this written wrap-up on SILive.com at the end of the day.

Well give you the numbers and all the latest news. Well answer your questions. Well follow up on your news tips.

Well share the good news too, the way that the Staten Island community is coming together in this time of crisis. Or well just share this strange and unique pandemic moment with you, as fellow Staten Islanders.

Were all in this together. Well all get through this together.
By Wong Tai-Chee



As early as December 2018, The Guardian had accused Malaysia's "Top Glove", the largest medical glove company in the world of using forced labour, excessive overtime, debt bondage, and passport withholding to exploit their labour, which did not comply with international labour laws. Subsequently, the Minister of Human Resources of Malaysia directed officials to inspect the Top Glove factory. The investigation report showed that the company did not have forced labour, forced overtime and debt bondage. However, when the Guardian asked the company to respond with materials collected by the reporter from the company's 16 workers, Top Glove rejected the request.

To put it bluntly, the Malaysian labour law is not the British labour law. Although Malaysia is a former British colony, the social movements and labour system reforms of the bipartisan parliamentary system of Britain did not extend to the colonies it exploited, as this did not conform to the colonial interests. After independence, Malaysia, due to its weak industrial foundation, must rely on relatively low-tech products to compete in the international market at the primary and intermediate stages, where treatment and working conditions of workers are seen as most critical elements of competition. In response to this, the Malaysian government has adopted a gradual and orderly pro-capital and repressive trade union policy in order to support industrial development and stabilize corporate and private tax sources.

As to why The Guardian accused "Top Glove" of imposing debt bondage on foreign workers, it must be explained that since they generally cannot afford recruitment fees and international flight expenses, the mode of repayment for such fees was also formulated by a jointly signed memorandum of understanding between the Malaysian government and the labour-exporting countries. The expenses paid in advance by the employer are gradually deducted from workers' payroll after they start work. A foreign worker from Bangladesh or Nepal has to shoulder heavy debts. It is reported that each person has to bear between over 10,000 to 20,000 ringgit.

Looking at the industrialization problems of developing countries since World War II, the dilemma is still inseparable from the three elements of production cost, technical content and international market competitiveness. Among these, the most important one is to break through the production cost. Taking China 30 years after reform and opening up as an example, in order to open up the world market for its low- and medium-priced industries, China shifted radically from the "urban workers' welfare system" of the extreme left during the Cultural Revolution to the "extreme right towards migrant workers without benefits" when it began its urban economic reforms from the 1980s.



Under the new situation whereby farmers are allowed to work freely in cities, more than 200 million rural surplus labourers have poured into the booming large cities in search of a better life, working hard for China's industrialization and modernization. As they have never enjoyed any benefits in the countryside, they don't ask about benefits when working in the cities. They are just happy to have a job and live a good life. They also have no idea what building a world-class power is about in their minds, and they do not understand why Western welfare states say that they can work like ants, regardless of low remuneration and virtually no welfare. As construction workers, they can squat on the construction site to have lunch and do not seem to care when sleeping at night with a simple mat and blanket in the site dormitory!

After the reform and opening up, Chinese farmers have seized the opportunity to improve their material lives and are willing to create wealth for the country and themselves regardless of whether they have welfare. They use the price advantage of "Made in China" to build a world factory and sell their products to all corners of the world. They help create the high China-style economic growth rates, and a gigantic GDP immediately behind the United States in just 30 years. Western capitalist welfare states, especially the United States, are almost stunned and can't believe it.

In the face of Chinese competitors who play cards with different rules, the United States is not prepared to admit defeat and recognize China's rules of game. The United States' response is to use Western humanitarian allegations of forced labour as an argument, because the West has no right to require China or other developing countries to amend their labour laws or make interpretations in accordance with Western court standards and logic. After all, what is the definition of forced labour according to the international law?

If we follow the interpretation of the new regulations published by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2016, "forced or compulsory labour" is defined as "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily". The scope of activities covers both public and private sectors. The meaning of threat of a penalty includes direct and indirect criminal sanctions, such as physical violence, mental threats, non-payment of wages, or wage deductions. Penalty also covers depriving victims of their due rights, such as being promoted, changing jobs, or leaving an employment relationship. ILO's supervision comprises equally the responsibility of employers or recruiting agencies in making false promises to the hired.

However, the International Labour Organization also lists five situations that are not "forced labour":

1. Compulsory military work that is enforced in accordance with the needs of national defence;

2. Obligatory work that normal citizens are compelled to perform;

3. Prison or detention labour under the supervision and management of the government;

4. Work that is compulsory for the protection of life or property and other emergency situations under the threat of war or disasters, or disasters; and

5. Simple community service that the community representative believes is required to be performed in the interests of the community.

From the above-mentioned general provisions of the International Labour Organization, we would like to know whether the Xinjiang Uyghur minority group, which is currently hotly speculated in the international community, is involved in the issue of "forced labour". From an objective standpoint, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's denial and description of it being part of the Western anti-China conspiracy theory seem to be unable to convince the Western media. I am more inclined to believe that the Xinjiang Uyghur independence elements have been active for a long period of time. It is very possible that the detained Xinjiang independence suspects are made to perform some prison labour under the supervision of the government. It is normal to send them to non-mechanized cotton fields for work, and this does not fall under the "forced labour" category. Making this clear to the world community can at least win the support and sympathy of Western intellectuals, although Western politicians may not believe it!

Let's look back at the Top Glove incident in Malaysia. In the face of Western politicians' attacks on cheap industrial products from developing countries, Top Glove has also been dragged into the "forced labour" accusation for not having respected human rights. As of today, the US Customs once again seized products of Top Glove worth about US$ 520,000 for violating the US forced labour law. The United States also accused the company of "modern slavery, which not only harms labour but also threatens the economy." "Threats to the economy" obviously refers to threats to the US economy, which is an honest statement.

This article does not seek to support that employers can take advantage of the shortcomings of labour law and wantonly exploit labour in order to achieve rapid economic growth. Indeed, we also take a very cautious look at the human rights and humanitarian standards required by the West, because behind such standards, there could also be a hidden agendum where the Western capital seeks to suppress poor developing countries from breaking through their economic bottleneck. Even so, it is most difficult to strike a balance between the two, and the labour movement is an important part of the balance.

Look at Malaysia again. Since the left-wing Labour Party was banned as an illegal party in 1969, the labour movement in Malaysia has sunk to the bottom. Immediately after 1969, the ruling party United Malays National Organisation began to use the extreme-right racial politics to govern, on the one hand, to protect the interests of the majority of Malays to build a xenophobic cohesion, and to buy out Malay elites to build crony groups. On the other hand, this policy was used to stimulate the dissatisfaction of ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, which has consumed most of their daily political life energy and attention. Yet, they can hardly resist the Malay racial politics. Fortunately, the unequal distribution of crony interests and the increasing conflicts of interest sharing have given ethnic minorities a chance to breathe and stand up again.

(Wong Tai-Chee has his B.A and M.A degrees in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Paris, and earned his PhD in Human Geography from the Australian National University. After teaching 20 years in Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, he retired in 2013. He then worked as Distinguished Professor for two years at Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, China, and as Dean and Professor at the Southern University College, Johor until the end of 2018. He was Visiting Professor to University of Paris (Sorbonne IV), Visiting Fellow to Pekin University, Tokyo University and University of Western Australia. His main research interests are in urban and economic issues, and more recently on Malaysian politics. Besides his 15 self-authored and edited book volumes, he has written over 100 academic articles and published widely in international journals.)
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Prime Minister Silveria E. Jacobs questions follow-through from the Netherlands on liquidity support and requests Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte's intervention to address unnecessary delays and have the loan agreement for the liquidity support sent to St. Maarten without any further delays.





St. Maarten has largely complied with all the conditions placed by the government of the Netherlands, and thus, the current delay is inexplicable.





In March 2021, the first delay of the fifth tranche of liquidity support was due to the questions of the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) surrounding the support for this trajectory from the Parliament of St. Maarten. Clarification of meaning of the petition that was submitted to the United Nations(UN) was requested. This matter was ultimately resolved after State Secretary Knops approved the letter from the Chairman of Parliament, providing clarity on the petition; the request for liquidity support for St. Maarten was once again placed on the agenda of the RMR meeting for April 23, 2021.





During this meeting, the RMR decided that St. Maarten will receive the much-needed NAf. 39 million after signing of the implementation agenda for the execution of the country package.





The signing of the implementation agenda was the agreed condition for allocating the fifth tranche of liquidity support. Prime Minister Jacobs met and signed the implementation agenda with State Secretary Knops on Monday, April 26, 2021.





Prime Minister Jacobs stated, "Once the RMR has taken a decision to grant liquidity support, a loan agreement is a necessary step for the release of the liquidity support. So far, weve experienced that the loan agreement is sent right away after the decision is taken. This has been the case in the last two RMR decisions granting liquidity support. However, today Friday, May 7, will be two weeks that have passed since the RMR decided to grant St. Maarten the liquidity support and the loan agreement has not yet been received. Once the loan agreement has been received, it will be signed by the Minister of Finance for finalization.





On both the technical and ministerial levels, contact has been made with the Ministry of BZK to receive updates on the status of the loan agreement. Contact was made immediately, last week with BZKs technical staff and the loan agreement was promised by the end of the week, which would have been a week away from the last RMR meeting, and to this day, we have not received the loan agreement, Prime Minister Jacobs continued.





Prime Minister Jacobs has exhausted every effort to acquire the loan agreement, including reaching out to State Secretary Knops a few days ago. He indicated that he would follow up; however, no prospect was provided regarding when the loan agreement will be finalized and sent. Contact has even been had with the Dutch Representation office here on the island and they too are indicating that they have no information on the status of the loan agreement. So far, the only indication shared from the Ministry of BZK was that key personnel were out on vacation, leading to the delays. No timeline was given as to when the loan agreement would be sent.





Given the fact that there have been no positive responses, nor has the loan agreement been received, Prime Minister Jacobs sent a letter to the RMR addressed to Prime Minister Rutte on May 6. In the letter, Prime Minister Jacobs outlined the experience St. Maarten has had with delays and a lack of communication. She has requested that Prime Minister Rutte intervenes and implores the Ministry of BZK to move forward with the process and facilitate St. Maarten with the loan agreement by today, May 7, so that it may be finalized. This way the funds can be made available to St. Maarten by early next week.





Prime Minister Jacobs hopes for a swift resolution that would ensure the needed liquidity is sent to St. Maarten. This latest delay only puts further pressure on the relationship between St. Maarten and the Netherlands which both parties have agreed to work on.




Developers are generally risk adverse. What sells well and caters to an audience generally gets built.

However, in the case of Daramu House, an award-winning project by Tzannes (recipient of both a commercial and sustainable architecture awards from the Australian Institute of Architects), it was touch and go.

The curvaceous glass walls also create a liquid-like feel. Credit:Ben Guthrie

A companion building to Tzannes International House Sydney, completed in 2018, there was initial resistance by developer Lendlease, given there was little uptake from tenants to occupy a timber building, then the highest commercial building made from timber in the southern hemisphere.

However, as it was nearing completion, one of Tzannes champions from Lendlease, Jeremy Tompson, felt that potential tenants needed to see the completed design before committing.
Nearly 2000 Indigenous artefacts have been repatriated from overseas galleries, museums and universities after a call out for the return of objects significant to Australias cultural heritage.

Those from the single largest collection -1848 objects that were in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem for more than half a century - will be returned to traditional communities by the end of the year.

The items - including ax heads, scrapes and chopping tools thought to be many thousands of years old - are being catalogued. Where clear provenance can be determined, they will in the coming months be returned to Indigenous communities in NSW, Tasmania, Victoria and the Northern Territory.

As well as those already returned, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has identified more than 100,000 items in public overseas collections.

The government institute made more than 300 approaches to collecting institutions ahead of the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cooks 1770 journey to Botany Bay.
The first film ever shot of Uluru was taken during the exhumation of an Indigenous man gunned down by a policeman. Its a reminder of the relationship between colonial violence and Australias most iconic locales. In a sense, theyre all crime scenes.

In Return to Uluru, award-winning historian Mark McKenna highlights the recency of dispossession in the Northern Territory and Central Australia. After all, the Coniston Massacre  in which as many as 150 Aboriginal people were murdered  took place in 1928, just after Don Bradman made his first-class debut.

Bill McKinnon seen with his daughter Susan in 1941. Credit:

Well into the 20th century, the NTs white inhabitants saw themselves as engaged in a low-intensity conflict against the Indigenous population, a war that they werent sure they would win. As late as 1929, a correspondent to a local paper openly called for ethnic cleansing and genocide, explaining that until the Northern Territory is absolutely free of natives it will never be a civilised state and will never be populated.

Return to Uluru tells the story of Constable Bill McKinnon, the policeman who shot a man called Yokununna in 1934. McKinnon had joined the force in Stuart in 1931, two years before the town renamed itself Alice Springs. Tough, adventurous and charismatic, he singlehandedly patrolled a vast area. That meant enforcing an order in which, as McKenna says, millennia-old blackfella sacred sites became whitefella outposts virtually overnight, with white law used to justify the theft.
If you stripped away the plot of Giuseppe Verdis Aida, leaving behind only the spectacle  the grand costumes, the triumphant music, the dancers, the epic sets  that would be enough to keep an audiences attention.

With all the movement and colour on stage, it would be easy for the story to get lost. So its all the more impressive that, 150 years after Aida was first performed, Opera Australias Melbourne staging brings new depth to the story, as well as adding to the visual grandeur.

One of the most noticeable innovations of the production is the set of floor-to-ceiling screens that glide around and reframe the stage. Director Davide Livermore demonstrates great restraint (with the exception of recurring shots of an unnecessarily distracting panther), augmenting scenes with backdrops of violent, moody weather, and creating imagery and emotion that otherwise would not be possible on stage.

The bigger accomplishment, however, is more subtle and comes back to character. As far as love stories go, beneath all the suffering, Aida is and always has been pretty thin.

Aida (Leah Crocetto) is a slave in ancient Egypt who catches the eye of an up-and-coming military captain, Radames (Stefano La Colla), and they fall deeply in love. Unfortunately, the Pharaohs daughter Amneris (Elena Gabouri) loves the captain too. Unknown to those around her, Aida is secretly a princess of Ethiopia, and when Egypt goes to war, Radames is sent to bring down her homeland.

Amneris is initially played as something of a villain, and for most of the production Radames should be thought of as one as well. In scenes where the trio appear together on stage, Crocettas strong soprano voice easily eclipses the other two. Her anguish is the deepest  and this is reflected by the space her voice takes up. As Amneris grows as a character, however, so too does the strength of Gabouris singing as she comes into her own.
Coming home with my first-born felt so peculiar. While in hospital, there was always someone around, but this was the first time it was just the three of us. My husband and I spent the first few days just staring at our daughter  between what felt like a never-ending cycle of feeding, burping and nappy-changing. We welcomed the continuous procession of visitors, but when the visits tapered off and the euphoria faded, the over-tiredness hit us like a freight train.

Jo White, a Melbourne-based social worker and counsellor who advocates for women navigating their way into motherhood, explains that post-partum care encompasses all aspects of physical and emotional wellbeing. It is important to acknowledge that sometimes our expectations and beliefs about parenthood can be different to the reality, she says.

The sooner you can make having time for yourself a part of your daily routine, the better. And reaching out to others when you need it is a form of self-care. Credit:Stocksy

Also vital, she adds, is that new parents have someone to turn to for help, whether a friend or a mental health professional. Or both. The earlier you can reach out for help, the sooner you can be supported, she says.

I was fortunate to not experience a bout of baby blues with either of my children, nor the more serious postnatal depression that affects around one in seven mothers (and an estimated one in 10 fathers). But I still needed help.
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Six people who tested positive for COVID-19 in hotel quarantine in the past three weeks had already been fully vaccinated overseas, revealing the difficulties with implementing a vaccine passport system.

NSW reported no new local cases on Friday, but the mystery of how an eastern suburbs couple caught a COVID-19 infection brought into hotel quarantine by a US traveller remains unsolved.

With fewer than 80,000 NSW residents fully vaccinated, recent cases indicate the state is not ready to allow vaccinated travellers to skip quarantine. Credit:Kate Geraghty

According to data from NSW Healths weekly COVID-19 surveillance report, between April 10 and May 1, six people in quarantine who reported being fully vaccinated were among the 150 overseas cases recorded.

One had received a one-shot vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson, and the remaining cases had received both doses of a two-shot vaccine, such as Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna.
The NSW education system lags the rest of Australia and the world when it comes to teaching a second language, teachers warn, with only one in 20 students from an English-speaking background studying another language to the Higher School Certificate.

Their concerns come as proposed changes to the national curriculum would cut cultural context out of language lessons to let students focus more on fluency, upsetting some teachers who argue that a countrys culture is essential to studying its language.

But Ken Cruikshank, the director of the Sydney Institute for Community Language Education, said those changes would be moot for NSW students, since their mandated study of an overseas language  100 hours  was too brief to learn much anyway.

NSW students lag the world in learning second languages, teachers say. Credit:Tanya Lake

Professor Cruikshank said Australia devoted far less time to languages than other countries in the developed world, and NSW was well behind other major states, such as Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, particularly in primary school.
A 39-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly leaving a man with critical facial and upper body injuries on an inner-northern Brisbane residential driveway.

Emergency services were called to the unit complex on Kedron Brook Road in Wilston at 6.40am on Friday.

Paramedics, including the specialist high acuity response unit, took the 68-year-old Wilston victim to the Royal Brisbane and Womens Hospital, where he remains in a critical condition.

Acting Inspector Mick Ackery said police found two men at the scene when they arrived after a nearby resident called triple-zero.
Sunshine Coast retiree Garry Lockhart faced the most volatile situation of his long career when his rescue team stormed a Sydney jail to save three prison officers who had been taken hostage in a riot.

The ordeal broke out about 9pm on October 23, 1986, when two prisoners burst into the office of the Metropolitan Remand Centre on the third level of Long Bay Gaol in Malabar, Sydney, armed with a mallet and a heavy piece of timber.

The damage at Long Bay Jail after the riot. Credit:Sydney Morning Herald

Three prison officers were taken hostage by the armed inmates in wing 13 of the jail.

Despite attempts by the officers to negotiate with the prisoners, they were locked in a nearby cell before about 70 inmates took control of a section of the centre.
The strain is more transmissible and it is more severe, and the severity comes to lower age groups, Professor McCaw said. His advice echoes that of leading government officials and advisers, who have been frank in conceding they can provide no guarantee if the months Australia has enjoyed without any major coronavirus outbreaks will last or for how long. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Victorias Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton this week tweeted that while Australia had the great fortune of being effectively free of COVID-19, the pandemic rages on globally. This presents a serious and ongoing risk to Australia and vaccination is our best protection against it, Professor Sutton wrote.

The federal governments advisory group on vaccines has also recently said that the risk of serious disease and death in Australia remains and cautioned that delays to vaccine uptake increase the vulnerability of the population. Just over 2.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine have been given in Australia to date, well short of the 48 million needed to vaccinate everyone aged over 16. The nations rollout have been hit by twin issues of supply shortages, followed by a hit to confidence with news of a rare complication linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine in about 1 in 100,000 instances following the jab (the risk is lower for older people). The key coronavirus vaccines likely to be used in Australia have been showing impressive results in reducing the number of people falling ill with the disease. In phase 3 trials, mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna registered an efficacy of higher than 90 per cent. AstraZenecas efficacy was above 80 per cent, and thats been backed by emerging real-world data.

Australians aged in their 50s became eligible for a coronavirus vaccine this week, and infectious disease experts are urging people to take up the opportunity to get inoculated, warning that Australia has reached a particularly dangerous time in the global pandemic, which is still thought to be in its infancy, despite having already claimed more than 3.2 million lives. The number of new cases of coronavirus is at a record high worldwide, with more than 800,000 fresh infections recorded daily, putting ever-growing pressure on the nations quarantine arrangements. And more dangerous variants are emerging with the potential to impact younger people, at the same time that social distancing is being relaxed in Australia. The biggest issue for Australia is the fact that the pandemic and epidemic is growing. Its actually worse than ever [and] the virus is very different to the original Wuhan strain, said Dr Suman Majumdar, infectious diseases physician at the Burnet Institute. Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University said complacency was also an issue. As winter approached, people with symptoms may ignore them, allowing the virus to spread extensively before being detected.

The way were mixing now, across all generations, means that if we dont have enough people vaccinated, the virus can still move so rapidly, particularly with the new variants, Professor Bennet said. We could even just, with a large cluster, learn the hard way about the importance of the vaccine if we have been too slow in getting enough people covered. Professor McCaw said other countries had been using the vaccine to get out of unfolding disasters and turn the tide of thousands of deaths but Australia had a unique opportunity to use it to avoid the consequences of uncontrolled spread. These vaccines are game changers, he said Improvements to the nations hotel quarantine system were important to reduce the risk of outbreaks but was not a long-term solution, Professor McCaw said. There would not be a significant impact on how the virus spread until there was wide take-up of vaccines among all age groups.

Loading It would be unwise to think that the risk of this virus has gone once we have vaccinated the vulnerable, he said. Especially given that we would expect the B117 variant to come in. We could easily have a situation where our hospital system was overwhelmed with lots and lots of sick young adults. University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short said there was evidence the British variant, otherwise known as B117, was more transmissible and possible more severe, but as it stood, vaccines still worked well against it. Then you have other variants, like the South African variant, where there is reduced vaccine efficacy, but there is still pretty good vaccine efficacy, Dr Short said.
Homicide squad detectives are continuing to investigate the death of a 17-year-old at a Werribee basketball stadium, after another teen was questioned and then released without charge.

Emergency services were called to Eagle Stadium on Ballan Road in Werribee at about 5.50pm on Friday night following reports of an injured male.

The Wyndham Vale teenager was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and later died.

A 15-year-old, also from Wyndham Vale, was arrested and questioned about the death but has since been released from custody without charge.

No one has been charged in relation to the 17-year-olds death.
Compliance with QR codes has plummeted across Victoria, with one government survey showing fewer than half the visitors to hospitality venues reported checking in every time in April.

The state governments centralised coronavirus check-in system will become mandatory for many businesses from the end of May, in a push to boost usage and streamline the process.

NSW made it compulsory for restricted businesses to use a government QR service in January, the ACT made its app mandatory from March and Queensland mandated the use of its service from the start of this month.

But Victorian businesses have been allowed to use their own electronic record-keeping systems and these were not required to link to the governments system until the end of April.
The architect of a curriculum reviews draft changes on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history says critics are in denial about Australias true identity and want children to be taught an outmoded version of the national story.

We cant prepare the kids for 1962, weve got to prepare them for 30, 40, 50 years down the track, because the world is going to be different, said Mark Rose, chair of curriculum authority ACARAs Indigenous advisory committee.

History has been at the heart of all reviews of the Australian curriculum.

What were doing is really exposing kids to the reality of what is Australia: it is multicultural; it is Indigenous; it is located with Asia all around us and it has a rich colonial history in which Aboriginal people have participated.

Professor Rose, a Deakin University pro-vice chancellor who is also of Gunditjmara heritage, led a 12-month review that found the curriculum was outdated and did not reflect Australias First Nations peoples calls for truth-telling.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivers his federal budget speech next Tuesday evening, he will almost certainly herald the success of the governments JobKeeper program, which bolstered the economy throughout the pandemic. The program, like others implemented in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, was an economic lifeline designed to keep businesses afloat and nearly 3.5 million people employed. It also had a fundamental flaw. The government couldnt force companies that recovered faster than expected and even their grew profits, to pay the subsidy back. It was research produced by proxy adviser Ownership Matters in September last year, and updated in March, which highlighted the degree to which major listed companies had benefited from JobKeeper, despite not experiencing the sharp falls in profits they had feared at the start of the pandemic. Some of them, including Premier Investments, which owns brands Smiggle and Peter Alexander, and furniture group Nick Scali, have since bowed to public pressure triggered by the research and returned millions. The Treasurers proxy firm proposals have been endorsed by business leaders but questioned by major investor groups. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen This is just one example of how proxy advisers have emerged as a force in the Australian investment landscape, and a headache for listed companies and the director class. Another example was miner Rio Tintos annual meeting on Thursday, where nearly two-thirds of shareholders voted against the companys executive remuneration report, in the aftermath of the destruction of the 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters. Proxy advisers, Institutional Shareholder Services and CGI Glass Lewis, had recommended its clients, institutional investors, vote against the report. In Australia, there are four proxy advisers - ISS, Ownership Matters, CGI Glass Lewis and the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) - that conduct research on large listed companies. They advise institutional investors on how to vote on mergers or governance issues, such as executive pay, and on environmental and social matters from climate change to diversity on boards at annual general meetings.

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Proxy advisers have long drawn the ire of company directors but now the four firms find themselves at odds with the federal government, which wants to regulate them. Frydenberg said the move was necessary to increase proxy firms transparency and accountability, given the influence they have on institutional investors, companies and the sharemarket. But many investors fear the reforms are at best misguided, and at worst, part of a war on his political rivals that could hurt retail shareholders. Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques resigned following the Juukan Gorge cave disaster. Credit:Bloomberg For years, company directors and their lobby groups, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Institute of Company Directors, have called for greater regulation of proxy firms. They have complained that proxy advisers dont engage enough with companies, dont give companies time to clarify errors and fail to correct inaccuracies, which the proxy firms have disputed. Such criticism led to a review of proxy advisers by the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), in 2017. After completing its review, ASIC didnt recommend a code of conduct or regulation for proxy advisers, as some directors had hoped, but instead insisted that proxy advisers and companies strive for greater engagement. Now four years later proxy firms are facing regulation which will require them to hold a financial services licence. They already do but their current licence is only for a portion of the services they provide. They also have obligations under the Corporations Act. Other changes proposed by the government require that institutional investors make their voting records public, including where those votes differed from the advice of proxy firms. The governments proposed regulation is facing pushback not only from proxy advisers but also institutional investors.

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Matt Williams, a portfolio manager at Airlie Funds Management, has described the governments proposed regulation as a misfire. Institutional investors receive vast amounts of research from stockbrokers and proxy advisers, in addition to their own research, which Williams says is then used to formulate decisions. Its a point of view and we use that information to come up with our own assessment, he says. [Proxy advisers] influence is potentially overblown by companies and now in the federal governments mind. Airlie, which has more than $5 billion in funds under management, subscribes to Ownership Matters research. Airlie portfolio manager Matt Williams says the influence of proxy advisers is overblown. Credit:Peter Rae The governments sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, which has $226 billion under management, also uses proxy adviser research. The Future Fund, like Williams, has made the point that its decisions are made by its investment team and are independent of proxy advisers. Ownership Matters Dean Paatsch describes the proposed regulation as disheartening. There is no identifiable harm from the work of proxy advisers, he argues. No investor has made any complaints to ASIC that the use of proxy advice has caused them detriment, or that theyve been misled or deceived. So its hard to work out who this proposal benefits, except perhaps protecting the hurt feelings of company directors, who might not want any dissent to their proposals at general meetings. Vas Kolesnikoff, head of research for ISS in Australia and New Zealand, labelled the governments proposed regulation as misguided. One of the most contentious changes in the proposed regulation is that company boards and management would be given proxy adviser research ahead of annual general meetings. That research makes recommendations to institutional investors on how to vote on various issues. Companies then would have five days to comment on the research and voting recommendations and proxy firms would have to give those responses to its clients.

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The policy would disenfranchise investors, giving them less time to consider their votes on important governance matters and threatening the integrity of the research they pay for, said Glass Lewis general counsel Nichol Garzon. This bad idea was abandoned in the US after widespread opposition last year, and makes no more sense in the Australian market. Treasurys other proposed options also pose potential threats to the independence, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness of proxy advice. Angus Armour, the Australian Institute of Company Directors chief executive, disagrees. He says the objective of the proxy adviser regulation is to improve market integrity and confidence in such firms data, and says it is important that companies had the opportunity to review and give feedback on proxy advisers reports. Its desirable for the companies, desirable for the market, that that testing takes place. However, Armour says the AICD didnt expect one of the proposed changes put forward by the government, which would affect the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors. The government is considering forcing proxy firms to be independent of superannuation funds. We all want independence in our advice, thats desirable, says Armour. But he says its also important that public policy is consistently applied to all parties. So I suppose were looking at this one and saying, Well, why is this particularly targeted? And we dont know. We didnt ask for this. ACSIs members, which are superannuation funds and many of them union-backed industry super funds, control more than $1 trillion in assets, of which $200 billion is invested in the Australian sharemarket. It means that ACSI advises funds that control, on average, 10 per cent of every ASX200 company. These changes, especially the proposal to require super funds to be independent of a proxy adviser, could make it very hard for us to continue, said Louise Davidson, ACSIs chief executive. Credit:Wayne Taylor The growing influence of union-backed industry superannuation funds has been a concern of the government. And their power is expected to increase as the superannuation guarantee rises over the next four years from 9.5 per cent to 12 per cent.

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NSW, Victoria and Queensland will take at least one planeload each of returning citizens as soon as flights restart from India, where 173 Australian children are stuck without their parents.

South Australia and Western Australia are also actively considering taking repatriation flights as Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the government aimed to have 1000 citizens and permanent residents home by the end of June. The flight ban will end on May 15.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says repatriation flights will begin again from India from May 15. Credit:Kate Geraghty

Direct flights into Sydney and chartered repatriation flights to Darwin were halted late last month through an order under the Biosecurity Act, when the number of cases in quarantine rose dramatically with the majority detected in people arriving from India.

The biosecurity order is doing its job. It is doing what we intended it to do. It will run for the term we intended for it to run, and then that will be replaced by arrangements made beyond that point to ensure we can prevent the third wave, Mr Morrison said on Friday afternoon.
A surge in new jobs will add at least $20 billion to the federal budget in a new sign of the strength of the economic recovery, adding more to the nations finances than record prices for iron ore.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the substantial gain would be confirmed in next weeks budget alongside major investments in aged care, mental health and more intensive training programs to help the unemployed.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But the surprise revenue gains, far stronger than Treasury predicted only months ago, will not change the governments timing on tax reform despite calls from Liberal backbenchers to bring forward sweeping income tax cuts due in 2024.

Mr Frydenberg hosed down talk of a new stimulus in the budget on Tuesday by saying the spending would be aimed at workers and sectors that needed the most help.
The decision to place a sudden halt on Indian flights sparked widespread outrage, not least because of the way the late-night announcement explicitly invoked the spectre of hefty fines or imprisonment for those who breached the ban. The strength of the backlash forced Prime Minister Scott Morrison to walk the rhetoric back several days later with a declaration that there was effectively zero chance such penalties would be applied. Repatriation flights from the subcontinent will now resume from the middle of this month, Morrison announced yesterday, saying the pause has had the desired effect of reducing the COVID-19 caseload inside Howard Springs. Scott Morrisons controversial ban on travel between Australia and India will end next week. Credit:Kate Geraghty But there will be stringent pre-boarding testing of those seeking to return. We are doing it safely, to prevent a third wave here in Australia, but we are doing it sustainably as well, he insisted at a media briefing following national cabinet.

The governments now rushing to put the final touches on the promised expansion of Howard Springs from 850 to 2000 places, as recommended last year by former senior public servant Jane Halton, while encouraging the states - particularly NSW and Queensland - to receive some Indian repatriation flights as well. Politically popular as hard border policies have been, the heart-rending images of Indias COVID crisis have engendered deep unease, not least in the medical community. Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah, a Victorian infectious diseases expert and co-founder of Healthcare Workers Australia, says endeavouring to place even greater barriers in the way of citizens seeking sanctuary back home is unconscionable. We are now in a situation where there is a humanitarian and moral imperative to bring our people back, not just from India, but from everywhere she says. Those 36,000 or more people [still stranded abroad] have gone through enough financial and emotional hardship. Now their risk of acquiring COVID in many parts of the world is actually going up, unless they are in one of those really high vaccinating countries like the UK and the US.

Yet keeping the virus bottled up inside quarantine facilities while our national vaccination rate is still so low remains the great challenge. It is hotel ventilation systems that most worry those in the medical and occupational health fields pushing for change. A quarantine support officer at his station near the lifts at the Four Points hotel. It is hotel ventilation systems that most worry those in the medical and occupational health fields pushing for change. Credit:Jason South Howard Springs great advantage is its air-gapped protection, says Kate Cole, president-elect of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists. She points to the now internationally accepted consensus that COVID-19 can spread via aerosols (tiny droplets that sit suspended in air for minutes, or even hours)  a consensus reinforced with updated advice from the World Health Organisation on April 30.

But its advice she says Australian authorities, particularly the federal governments Infection Control Expert Group, have been too slow to accept. Professor Raina MacIntyre from the Kirby Institute labels the attitude of federal authorities airborne denialism, a charge the government denies. Loading At the moment every time you open a [hotel room] door, aerosols can come out of that occupants room into the corridor and we have seen many hotels that dont have independent ventilation systems within the corridors, so contaminated air is building up in those environments, Cole says. If that cant be mitigated through engineering, then really the lowest risk to Australians right now is to move towards the Howard Springs model. Epidemiologist Professor Mike Toole from Melbournes Burnet Institute agrees and would like to see a Howard Springs - or something similar - in every state and territory.

He counts at least 20 leaks of the virus from hotel quarantine in Australia since the start of the pandemic, often triggering snap lockdowns, border closures or other forms of social restriction. Globally, Toole says, the pandemic has never been worse. Only 2 per cent of the vaccine doses that have been administered so far have been in the 92 poorest countries in the world, he says. Unless there is a miracle and we have a lot more vaccine than we have at moment, I cant see us being safe at least until 2024. The Australian Medical Association has also used the furore over the India flights suspension to mount a fresh push against vulnerabilities in the hotel quarantine system. The WA government recently announced it was dropping three hotels from its quarantine program because of ventilation risks, using that to justify a cut in its international arrivals program. We really want to see our national cabinet exploring what is the post-hotel quarantine future, AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid told journalists on Tuesday. These facilities [hotels] were never designed for the purpose theyre being used for. There will be an ongoing risk no matter what controls are put in place. And were going to need quarantine for many, many months and probably years into the future looking at how this pandemic is rolling out around the world we need facilities similar to the way that Howard Springs is set up around our major cities so that we can bring Australians safely home.

The federal government, he said, should put their hand in their pockets and have such facilities ready for use as early as next year. Ananda-Rajah thinks the country cant wait that long. She says authorities should be looking at stop-gap measures if necessary such as caravan parks, army barracks, even tents. Infectious diseases specialist Dr Michelle Ananda-Rajah. Credit:Eddie Jim We need to be looking at creative solutions... on the outskirts of major cities, near hospitals, and also near a workforce that is capable of servicing these sorts of areas. The NSW and federal governments continue to insist hotel quarantine has been remarkably effective overall - a 99.99 per cent success rate the prime minister says - and the Berejiklian government is adamant it wont be considering alternatives. But Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia have kept up the pressure for new approaches.

WA premier Mark McGowan wants Canberra to look at Christmas Island or Curtin airbase near Derby. Morrison slapped this down on Friday, saying defence and immigration facilities were not there just sitting idle and would not be made available. Queensland is still backing a proposal from the Wagner family to construct a facility near the privately-run Wellcamp airport outside Toowoomba, with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk fuming this week that she cant get a simple answer from Canberra on whether it would allow international passenger flights to land there. Around the world: quarantine rules England: Arrivals must quarantine for 10 days at home or elsewhere and take two coronavirus tests in quarantine. If you have been in a country on the travel ban red list in the 10 days prior, you need to quarantine in a government-approved hotel and test on days 2 and 8.

New Zealand: Almost everyone must stay in managed isolation for at least 14 days (336 hours) and do a health assessment and test negative for COVID-19 before entering the community; either a managed isolation facility (if no symptoms) or quarantine facility (with symptoms). If youre evacuated from overseas youll go straight to the hospital on arrival.

Canada: Federal quarantine applies. If you can enter and have no symptoms, you must quarantine for at least 14 days. Quarantine includes a mandatory three-night pre-paid booking at a government-authorised hotel at your cost. You must show you have a suitable plan to quarantine.

United States: Travel not permitted from China, India, Brazil, Britain, Europes Schengen zone and others. Citizens, lawful permanent residents, some family members and others who meet exceptions and have been in one of those countries within 14 days, are allowed. Unvaccinated travellers must self-isolate for seven days and test on days 3 and 5.

Singapore: Depending on exemptions, passengers need to be in their departure country for 21 or 14 days before arriving and book and pay for a test. Must register with the official contact-tracing app and self-isolate for 48 hours or until a negative test result. Morrison though is sounding increasingly receptive towards plans being drawn up by Victoria for a proposed 500-bed, purpose-built facility in Melbournes north. That is something we are closely considering, the prime minister said on Friday.

Loading Not everyone, even in the health community, believes the country should rush headlong into building new quarantine facilities as long as theres no clear endgame for emerging from our national cocoon. I think the feds and the states need to sit down and have a very serious conversation about an exit strategy, says one senior insider. This notion that we keep quarantining people forever and a day - we cant continue to run the country like that. At some point the government has to say, at what point do we have enough vaccine coverage to actually open the borders? Can we open them slowly, who would we let in? Until you have done that you dont know whether its [a good idea] to actually go and build additional quarantine facilities. The time may come when other alternatives  such as well monitored home quarantine  could better supplement existing facilities once the population is more widely vaccinated.

Some point as an example to the UKs relatively recent traffic light system. Those returning from countries designated as red (highest risk) have to enter quarantine hotels while those from countries designated amber can wait out the quarantine period at home, and those from green nations need only adhere with testing requirements. Professor John Kaldor of Sydneys Kirby Institute says the chief focus now should be on making the quarantine facilities we have as watertight as possible. There is no question that there has to be an exit strategy but it will have to be staged, Kaldor says. You cant go to purpose-built facilities overnight. So no matter where we ultimately go with purpose -built facilities, we have got a number of months to make sure our current system, which has been steadily improving, is made as effective as it can be. Cole and Ananda-Rajah are urging, for a start, the uniform adoption of fit-tested N95 respirators throughout the quarantine system and a nationally consistent regime across all states and territories.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is under renewed pressure to dump Andrew Laming from the Coalition party room when the embattled backbencher returns to Parliament next week.

Dr Laming will arrive in Canberra in time for the federal budget to be handed down on Tuesday.

Andrew Laming is expected to return to Parliament next week. Credit:Andrew Meares

It will be Dr Lamings first time in Parliament since Mr Morrison ordered him to take medical leave and undergo empathy training in late March after he was accused of harassing two women online and taking a photo of a womans bottom with her underwear visible while she bent over.

A Saturday morning protest has been planned for Dr Lamings Bowman electorate, east of Brisbane, with local state Labor MPs Don Brown and Kim Richards expected to attend.
The Morrison governments recent indisciplined commentary on the possibility of Australian military engagement in a future US-China war over Taiwan is both politically juvenile and potentially damaging to our core national security interests.

For 50 years, successive Australian governments have not speculated publicly on what Australia would do in the event of a military crisis or conflict over Taiwan. Scott Morrison, Defence Minister Peter Dutton and aspiring defence secretary Michael Pezzullo have spectacularly breached that bipartisan convention over the past fortnight. Classified military briefings have also been leaked. These three have sought to deflect criticism over the precise parsing of their language, but the net effect has been to elevate the idea of a looming war  and Australias probable involvement in it  as the focus of the already dysfunctional Australia-China relationship.

Tension in the skies. A Taiwanese F-16 flies near a Chinese bomber as it passes near Taiwan in 2020. Credit:AP

Previous Australian governments have been tight-lipped about potential Taiwan military scenarios for good reason. Such a conflict would involve the worlds two biggest militaries and likely become the most violent and destructive war in Asia since 1945. Given the horrendous choices that would present the government of the day, Australia should not at this stage compromise the independence and flexibility of our national decision-making. And nobody can predict with any certainty which scenarios might arise between cyberattack, maritime blockade, territorial invasion or something else entirely.

In Canberra, Washington, Beijing and Taipei, our officials have done everything possible to

prevent any such war from occurring while also forestalling any change to the status quo through the application of Chinese coercion. With Washington, our aim has been to ensure the US has sufficient military deterrence in the region to cause China to defer its longheld ambition to take Taiwan  if necessary by force. In Beijing, we have encouraged China to conclude Washington is determined to defend Taiwan  not least because, if the US failed to act, it would destroy American credibility among its other allies. As for Taipei, we have sought to discourage successive Taiwanese governments from any unilateral declarations of independence (or steps in that direction) that would cross Beijings most fundamental red lines.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size As I began writing this in November 2019, I sat in the centre of a political firestorm. The president of the United States was smearing me almost daily from the South Lawn of the White House. He invoked my name at rallies to incite his base. Wheres Hunter? replaced Lock her up! as his go-to hype line. If you wanted, you could even buy a Wheres Hunter? T-shirt directly from his campaign website: $25, sizes small to 3XL. Not long after, supporters sporting MAGA caps appeared outside the driveway gate of the private house I was renting in Los Angeles with my wife, Melissa, then five months pregnant. We called the police to shoo them away. Yet threats  including an anonymous text to one of my daughters at school, warning her that they knew where I lived  forced us to seek a safer address. Melissa was scared to death  for her, for us, for our baby. I became a proxy for Donald Trumps fear that he wouldnt be re-elected. He pushed debunked conspiracy theories about work I did in Ukraine and China. It was a predictable enough tactic. I expected the president to get far more personal far earlier to exploit the demons and addictions Ive dealt with for years. Wheres Hunter? Im right here. Ive faced and survived worse. Ive known the extremes of success and ruin. With my mother and baby sister killed in a car accident when I was two, my father suffering a life-threatening brain aneurysm and embolism in his 40s, and my brother dying way too young from a horrible brain cancer, I come from a family forged by tragedies and bound by a remarkable, unbreakable love. For the record: Im a 51-year-old father who helped raise three beautiful daughters [from my first marriage to Kathleen Buhle Biden], two in college and one who graduated last year from law school, and now a year-old son. I earned degrees from Yale Law School and Georgetown University, where Ive also taught. Ive been a senior executive at one of the countrys largest financial institutions, worked as counsel for Boies Schiller Flexner, which represents many of the worlds largest organisations, served on the board of directors of the national passenger rail service (appointed by Republican president George W. Bush) and chaired the board of the nonprofit World Food Program USA. Ive done serious work for serious people. Im also an alcoholic and a drug addict. Ive bought crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, DC and cooked up my own inside a hotel bungalow in Los Angeles. Ive been so desperate for a drink that I couldnt make the one-block walk between a liquor store and my apartment without uncapping the bottle to take a swig. In the past five years alone, my two-decades-long marriage [to Buhle Biden] has dissolved, guns have been put in my face, and at one point I dropped clean off the grid, living in $59-a-night Super 8 motels off interstate highways while scaring my family even more than myself.

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That deep descent came not long after I hugged my brother, Beau, the best friend Ive ever had and the person I loved most in the world, as he took his last breath. We took Beau off life support late on the morning of May 29, 2015. He was unresponsive and barely breathing. Doctors told us he would pass within hours of their removing his tracheostomy tube. So I sat at my big brothers bedside and held his hand. He was 46. After Beau died, I never felt more alone. I lost hope. Ive since pulled out of that dark, bleak hole. My recovery never could have happened without the unconditional love of my father and the everlasting love of my brother, which has carried on after his death. Beau (at left) and Hunter with Joe and Joes first wife (and the boys mother), Neilia, in 1972. Credit:Getty Images Ive had a single flash of memory from the earliest and most consequential moment of my life. It is December 18, 1972. My dad has just won the race for junior US senator from Delaware; he turned 30 three weeks after the election, barely beating the Senates age requirement before taking his oath in January. He is in Washington, DC that day to interview staff for his new office. My mother, Neilia, beautiful and brilliant and also only 30, has taken me, Beau, and our baby sister, Naomi, Christmas-tree shopping. Beau is almost four. Im almost three. We were born a year and a day apart  virtually Irish twins. In my minds eye, this is what happens next: Im seated in the back of our roomy white Chevy station wagon, behind my mother. Beau is back there with me, behind Naomi, whom we both call Caspy; pale, plump, and seeming to have appeared in our family out of nowhere 13 months earlier, she was nicknamed after one of our favourite cartoon characters, Casper the Friendly Ghost. Shes sound asleep in the front passenger seat, tucked into a bassinet. I wake in a hospital with Beau in the bed next to mine, bandaged and in traction. Hes mouthing three words to me, over and over: I love you. Suddenly, I see my mothers head turn to the right. I dont remember anything else about her profile: the look in her eye, the expression of her mouth. Her head simply swings. At that same moment, my brother dives  or is hurtled  straight towards me. Thats it. Its quick and convulsive and chaotic: as our mother eased the car into a four-way intersection, we were broadsided by a tractor trailer carrying corncobs.

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My mother and little sister were killed almost instantly. Beau was pulled from the wreckage with a broken leg and myriad other injuries. I suffered a severe skull fracture. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital with Beau in the bed next to mine, bandaged and in traction. Hes mouthing three words to me, over and over: I love you. I love you. I love you. Thats our origin story. Beau became my best friend, my soulmate and my Pole Star since those virtually first conscious moments of my life. Three weeks later, inside our hospital room, Dad was sworn into the Senate. Beau and I never really grieved the loss of our mother and baby sister. This was in part because we were so young. But more than that, it was because of our fathers heroic marshalling of family to surround and enfold us in uninterrupted love. It has taken me more than 40 years to acknowledge that original loss, address that original trauma, recognise that original pain. When our dad remarried five years after the accident, as we called it, he gave us the bonus of the mom we have now (When are we going to get married? Beau and I would pester Dad, constantly encouraging him to propose). A high-school teacher from Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, Jill Biden did an amazing job of taking over the role of our mom  with a curious public looking on. I consider her to be my mother as much as one can possibly imagine.

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Yet I still longed for what was lost, even if I couldnt quite remember it. It has taken me more than 40 years to acknowledge that original loss, address that original trauma, recognise that original pain. And it has taken that long for me to understand that my doing so isnt a betrayal of those who tried their mightiest to save Beau and me from the worst of it. Beau (at left), Hunter, Joe and Joes future wife Jill. Credit:AFP The first drink I remember taking was a glass of champagne when I was eight. My dad had just been re-elected to the Senate, in 1978, and I was at an

election-night victory celebration. I took the glass under a table and drank the whole thing. I didnt know what I was doing, really: to me, champagne was just a fizzy drink. I wasnt trying to get drunk. Next thing I remember, my grandfather took me outside to get some fresh air and straighten up. The first drink I ever took, knowing what I was doing  or, more accurately, knowing what I shouldnt be doing  was in the summer between eighth and ninth grades. I was 14, staying overnight at the house of my best friend. His parents went out for a while and we swiped a six-pack from the garage, splitting it between us. I woke up early the next morning to make nine oclock Mass and felt like shit. I got up in the middle of the service, made my way outside and threw up. Dad thought I had the flu. Still, the drinking was a revelation. It took away my inhibitions, my insecurities and, often, my judgment. It made me feel complete, filling a hole I didnt even realise was there: a feeling of loss and my sense of not being understood or fitting in. Beau didnt take his first drink until he turned 21, when it was legal. He drank socially after that, then quit at 30. One reason: Dad and his vocal aversion

to alcohol. Some of his relatives had struggled with alcoholism. He saw it as a problem that loomed large in the family history. It scared him. He made a conscious choice not to be seduced by it and he encouraged Beau and me to do the same. Beau could. I couldnt. Drinking took away my inhibitions, my insecurities and, often, my judgment. It made me feel complete, filling a hole I didnt even realise was there.

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My senior year was the roughest. Dad had dropped out of the Democratic primary for president a few weeks after school began. It was a confusing, angering disappointment for us all. All of that paled compared to Dads life-threatening aneurysm, which knocked him down in February 1988. He was rushed to Walter Reed Medical Centre, where he was given last rites before surgery. Hed barely recuperated when he suffered a pulmonary embolism, and then he had surgery for another aneurysm  all within four months. I visited him at Walter Reed almost every weekend. He was barely recognisable: tubes everywhere, head shaved, staples across his skull. Severed nerves caused the left side of his face to droop. Then, in June, I did absolutely the last thing anybody else needed to deal with: I got busted for cocaine possession. I was doing it with a friend and a girl from our class in a car parked outside a house party. Cops knocked on our window, found the drugs and cuffed us. I was 18. I ended up doing a pretrial intervention with six months of probation, after which the arrest was expunged from my record. It scared me straight  for a while. I knew Id let down Dad. Hunter (at left) and Beau with their father in 2004. Credit:Jim Graham/Redux/Headpress 2016: The diciest time to buy was in the predawn morning, stepping into a place where its inadvisable to be at 4am, with a pocketful of cash and no weapon. You learn little things to protect yourself. You never approach someone before they approach you: you dont want to look too desperate  as if showing up anywhere at 4am doesnt look desperate enough  because anybody whos in the business of selling crack is in the business of ripping people off. When I could, I tried to buy from a user instead of someone who was obviously a dealer. Crack addicts usually came back with something of substance if I also gave them money to get some for themselves, and then promised them more. Theyd be reliable right up until the point where they got all that they needed and then, almost invariably, theyd rip me off, too. No honour among us crackheads. In Nashville, I was a bloodhound on the scent. I followed my usual modus operandi. I headed to the sketchiest part of town and looked for a gas station or liquor store that served as a congregating spot for homeless addicts. It rarely took long before somebody asked if I could help him out with some change. Id hand him whatever was in my pocket, then ask for a favour: You know where I can buy some hard? I found my guy in less than an hour.

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Washington: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday (Friday AEST) there was no plan at this point to shoot down the remnants of a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge back through the atmosphere this weekend.

The Long March 5B rocket blasted off from Chinas Hainan island on April 29, carrying the Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters for three crew members on a permanent Chinese space station.

The Tianhe launch was the first of 11 missions needed to complete the station.

A Long March 5B rocket carrying a module for a Chinese space station lifts off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. Credit:AP

Speaking with reporters, Austin said the hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was that it would come down between Saturday and Sunday.
With COVAX, the WHO-led vaccine-sharing program, struggling to gain momentum because of vaccine shortages, pleas have been growing to do something about what rights groups term vaccine apartheid. Wealthy countries have secured more than half of nearly nine billion doses locked up in purchase agreements to date. Developing countries that are most in need, such as virus-beleaguered India, meanwhile, have struggled to get their share. A woman receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in Reading, England. Credit:PA The waiver, which would affect firms like Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, would give other companies across the world access to the information needed to make their own vaccines and remove legal barriers stopping them from doing so. Advocates say this would enable more manufacturers across the globe to produce vaccines and help combat dwindling supply.

Surely in this once in a hundred years moment of crisis, we can find it within us to forget about profits and think about humanity, Dr Ayoade Alakija, co-chair of the Africa Union Vaccine Delivery Alliance. Loading The argument has to be for these big pharma to release the formula so we can save lives across the world. But while Fauci said he supports efforts to boost vaccine supply, he warned that a waiver could potentially end in a protracted legal battle as it needs to be agreed by the World Trade Organisation. Going back and forth, consuming time and lawyers in a legal argument about waivers - that is not the end game, he said.

People are dying around the world and we have to get vaccines into their arms in the fastest and most efficient way possible. While Bidens backing adds political impetus to get a deal done, other countries with big pharmaceuticals sectors, including Britain, Japan, Switzerland and those in the European Union, are opposed to the waiver and have the ability to block the proposal. Loading What this decision will do, if it goes forward, is benefit countries like China that are aggressively trying to obtain US technology to bolster their own domestic champions, Republican Senator Mike Crapo said in a statement. Pharmaceutical companies also strongly oppose any efforts to do away with intellectual property rights. Companies argue that without the money patents bring in there is little incentive for them to undertake the expensive task of developing and bringing drugs to market.

This decision will remove the incentives and rewards for the innovators on who our very lives depend, Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases expert and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Centre for Health Security, said on Wednesday. If rights can be waived away, they arent really rights. This is the wrong decision. Big companies also argue that they are already operating at full capacity and that they have already taught manufacturers in other countries how to make their vaccines. While this so-called tech transfer has worked well during the pandemic so far, it uses up considerable resources. Industry experts say companies may not be able to produce the drugs quickly even without patent protections, pointing to supply chain issues and the wider technological know-how that is not included with patents.

Thomas Cueni, the head of the pharmaceutical lobby group IFPMA, said at a panel recently that making vaccines isnt like following a Mary Berry recipe. It is a far more complex process - and even if you do follow it recipe it does not always go to plan. Following the US announcement the IFPMA added that the waiver is a distraction from the real challenges in scaling up production and distribution of vaccines globally: namely elimination of trade barriers, addressing bottlenecks in supply chains and scarcity of raw materials and ingredients in the supply chain, and a willingness by rich countries to start sharing doses with poor countries. Meanwhile, countries like India, which is now battling the worlds worst outbreak of COVID and has only fully vaccinated two per cent of its 1.4 billion population, need help now. Even campaigners for the waiver admit that it will not mean vaccines will be available overnight. Arguably the strongest argument for a temporary waiver is that patents were never designed for use during global emergencies such as wars or pandemics, wrote Nature magazine in a recent editorial. Telegraph, London
Pond Island:_--- TelEm Group has announced the late opening of its offices on Monday, May 10th due to a General Meeting with personnel at the start of the workday.

TelEm Groups Human Resources & Development Department has scheduled the meeting to take place starting at 8:00 am sharp, noting that TelEm Groups Main office on Pond Island will open at 9:30 Monday, while the branch office at Simpson Bay will open at 10:00 a.m.

The Human Resources & Development Department has meantime also informed that TelEm Group offices will be closed on Thursday, May 13th, and Friday, May 14th in keeping with the observance of Ascension Day.

TelEm Group customers and members of the public are kindly requested to mark these dates in their calendars to avoid any disappointments when visiting company offices and locations. The company meantime apologizes for any inconvenience caused.
South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND  Whether or not the South Bend police tapes case will go to trial remains uncertain heading into the weekend, as St. Joseph County Superior Court Judge Steven Hostetler will likely not rule on the issue until next week.

Hostetler is tasked with determining if a group of current and former South Bend police officers have legal standing to challenge the release of certain audio recordings made at the police department that allegedly contain racist comments and discussion of illegal activity.

If Hostetler finds the officers do have standing, the case will go trial, scheduled to start Tuesday, where a jury will decide if the recordings in question can be released publicly.

If the officers are found not to have standing, the trial will be canceled, because there are no parties able to oppose the South Bend Common Councils subpoena for the recordings. Whether or not the judge rules the tapes can be released publicly at that point is unclear.

Attorneys for the council and the officers presented evidence and questioned witnesses at a hearing on the matter Thursday. Hostetler said he intended to rule on the issue by Friday. However, an order issued on Friday called for jurors to appear for jury selection on Tuesday as opposed to Monday, indicating the judge will likely not make a ruling until Monday at the earliest.

This case has been going on a long time and its important to get the right answer, not the quick answer, Hostetler said at the end of Thursdays hearing.

The issue of the police tapes dates back to Feb. 4, 2011, when former police department communications director Karen DePaepe came across recorded phone calls on the line of Brian Young, a captain at the time, while she was troubleshooting equipment. Young had unknowingly inherited a telephone line that previous officers used to record calls.

Daniel Pfeifer, an attorney representing the officers, said during Thursdays hearing that the judges ruling will not bring closure in the case because the issue of whether certain tapes were made illegally remains unresolved.

Whatever the courts ruling is, its not going to be the end of the case, Pfeifer said. After 11 years, there needs to be some resolution.

The case had been scheduled to go to trial this week, but attorneys for the Common Council wrote in court filings on April 27 that the officers challenging the councils subpoena, James Taylor, Sheldon Scott and Scott Hanley, lacked standing to do so.

The council said it was challenging the officers standing so close to the date of the trial because it had only recently interviewed DePaepe, who testified on Thursday that none of the officers in question were recorded on the tapes. Because the officers arent on the tapes, the council contended, they shouldnt have standing.

Attorneys for the officers questioned DePaepes credibility during the hearing, stating she has a motive to dislike Young and Steve Richmond because they were involved in a departmental investigation that led to the demotion of her husband, Rick McGee, who worked in the unit at the time. The officers also argued they had a public interest right to challenge the tapes, because so few people know who is included in the recordings.

If the case does go to trial, a jury would examine whether officers gave their implied consent in the creation of recordings made after Feb. 4, 2011.

Hostetler has previously ruled tapes created before Feb. 4, 2011, the date DePaepe discovered Youngs line was being recorded, can be released, though he has said no recordings can be released until all appeals are exhausted.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Silveria E. Jacobs questions follow-through from the Netherlands on liquidity support and requests Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte's intervention to address unnecessary delays and have the loan agreement for the liquidity support sent to St. Maarten without any further delays.

St. Maarten has largely complied with all the conditions placed by the government of the Netherlands, and thus, the current delay is inexplicable.

In March 2021, the first delay of the fifth tranche of liquidity support was due to the questions of the Kingdom Council of Ministers (RMR) surrounding the support for this trajectory from the Parliament of St. Maarten. Clarification of the meaning of the petition that was submitted to the United Nations(UN) was requested. This matter was ultimately resolved after State Secretary Knops approved the letter from the Chairman of Parliament, providing clarity on the petition; the request for liquidity support for St. Maarten was once again placed on the agenda of the RMR meeting for April 23, 2021.

During this meeting, the RMR decided that St. Maarten will receive the much-needed NAf. 39 million after signing of the implementation agenda for the execution of the country package.

The signing of the implementation agenda was the agreed condition for allocating the fifth tranche of liquidity support. Prime Minister Jacobs met and signed the implementation agenda with State Secretary Knops on Monday, April 26, 2021.

Prime Minister Jacobs stated, "Once the RMR has taken a decision to grant liquidity support, a loan agreement is a necessary step for the release of the liquidity support. So far, weve experienced that the loan agreement is sent right away after the decision is taken. This has been the case in the last two RMR decisions granting liquidity support. However, today Friday, May 7, will be two weeks that have passed since the RMR decided to grant St. Maarten the liquidity support and the loan agreement has not yet been received. Once the loan agreement has been received, it will be signed by the Minister of Finance for finalization.

On both the technical and ministerial levels, contact has been made with the Ministry of BZK to receive updates on the status of the loan agreement. Contact was made immediately, last week with BZKs technical staff and the loan agreement was promised by the end of the week, which would have been a week away from the last RMR meeting, and to this day, we have not received the loan agreement, Prime Minister Jacobs continued.

Prime Minister Jacobs has exhausted every effort to acquire the loan agreement, including reaching out to State Secretary Knops a few days ago. He indicated that he would follow up; however, no prospect was provided regarding when the loan agreement will be finalized and sent. Contact has even been had with the Dutch Representation office here on the island and they too are indicating that they have no information on the status of the loan agreement. So far, the only indication shared from the Ministry of BZK was that key personnel were out on vacation, leading to the delays. No timeline was given as to when the loan agreement would be sent.

Given the fact that there have been no positive responses, nor has the loan agreement been received, Prime Minister Jacobs sent a letter to the RMR addressed to Prime Minister Rutte on May 6. In the letter, Prime Minister Jacobs outlined the experience St. Maarten has had with delays and a lack of communication. She has requested that Prime Minister Rutte intervenes and implores the Ministry of BZK to move forward with the process and facilitate St. Maarten with the loan agreement by today, May 7, so that it may be finalized. This way the funds can be made available to St. Maarten by early next week.

Prime Minister Jacobs hopes for a swift resolution that would ensure the needed liquidity is sent to St. Maarten. This latest delay only puts further pressure on the relationship between St. Maarten and the Netherlands which both parties have agreed to work on.
Hyperloop Technology Market Growth Drivers, Key Expansion Strategies, Upcoming Trends and Regional Forecast by 2027

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Industry Players

As COVID-19 breakthrough and its fears are rising, Market Research Future finds in its study that the Hyper loop Technology Market 2020 might see a bright future and expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period 2022-2027. Despite the long-term impact of COVID-19, the market would surpass its previous valuations by the end of 2027.

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Hyperloop Technology Growth Boosters

Market Research Future offers a most recent distributed report on the global hyperloop technology industry and conveys key bits of growth and giving an upper hand to customers through a point by point report. The global pandemic of COVID-19 is redefining of business strategies in the hyperloop technology. Hyperloop is likely to be the fifth mode of transport in the future. At present, hyperloop is in a maturity stage, and several companies have started testing this technology.

The remarkable rise in demand for faster transportation mode has significantly driven the demand for Hyperloop Technology Market Share. The factors such as the cheap transportation cost as compared to other transportation modes, energy-efficient & environment-friendly nature propel the growth of the market. With this, decongestion of traffic is also a factor highly anticipated to provide lucrative opportunities for global market expansion in the coming time.

In 2019, the third hyperloop test track was noticed under-construction. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HyperloopTT) has progressed with assembling its tubes for constructing a 1-kilometre-long test track near its R&D centre in France. On the other hand, Hyperloop One has also developed 500 meters long hyperloop test track in Nevada, US, where hyperloop one achieved a speed of 200 miles per hour.

Similarly, In India, Government of Maharashtra has conferred the status of a public infrastructure project to Mumbai-Pune hyperloop project executed by Pune Metropolitan Regional Development Authority. Thus, to clear doubts and to speed up the USD 10 billion projects, Richard Branson of Virgin Hyperloop One met Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the recent time for the expansion of Hyperloop Technology Market Forecast. These developments have proofed that being in the phase of coronavirus pandemic, the market is propelling at a swift pace with balanced revenues, yet urges to witness more and more investment in the future timeline.

Segment Review

In terms of component segment, the market has included tube, capsule, a propulsion system (electromagnetic propulsion and passive magnetic propulsion system) and station.

In terms of type segment, the market has included passenger and freight.

Vendors Landscape

The prominent vendors in the market of hyperloop technology are Virgin Hyperloop One (U.S.), Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (U.S.), Dinclix GroundWorks Global Limited (India), TransPod (Canada), Hardt Global Mobility (The Netherlands), Arrivo (U.S.), Hyper Chariot (U.S.), and Zeleros (Spain).

Regional Framework

The geographical analysis of the hyperloop technology market is studied for Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the rest of the world.

Currently, no deployments are being made in the actual transportation system. However, there have been many routes proposed for Hyperloop technology from the year 2022. Among those proposed routes are India, the United States, Slovakia, UAE, Canada, Belgium, China, Sweden, and Norway.

The first Hyperloop transportation will be deployed in the route of Dubai to Abu Dhabi. This would cover a distance of almost 160 Km in about 12 minutes. As per the entire investments in the Hyperloop technology market, The Middle East will lead the market in the year 2022. Following the Middle East, the U.S. might capture the second spot, with its project of Los Angeles to San Francisco, which is also possible to be deployed by 2023. The approval of government towards the growth of hyperloop technology is the leading factor fuelling market development. Further, capital investments will also add a significant role in the growth of hyperloop technology.

The Hyperloop technology market in Europe will be in close competition with the Asia Pacific as there are various countries such as Sweden, Belgium, and Slovakia planning to deploy Hyperloop projects. The prominent companies like Virgin Hyperloop One have plans to deploy its project in Mumbai Pune route. In contrast, an Indian origin company DGWHyperloop will deploy the country?s first Hyperloop transportation in Andhra Pradesh by 2024.

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At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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Real-Time Payment Market Trends, Challenges, Growth forecast, Opportunities, Forecast to 2027

Overview

Real time or real-time payments, also known as immediate payments, enables enterprises and organizations in sending and receiving payments simultaneously in real time. Collaboration by financial institutions and merchants for providing convenience to customers has led to formation of standards which ensure seamless financial transactions. The Real Time Payment Market report by Market Research Future (MRFR) considers various factors and challenges to be faced by the industry for the period of 2018 to 2023 (forecast period). The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact are noted in the report.

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Regional Overview

North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the rest of the world regional market for real-time payment are primarily covered in the global real-time payment market research report. The report also covers country-level markets spread across North America ? the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In South America ? Brazil and other country-level real-time payment markets are covered in the report. In Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, the country-level real-time payment markets covered are China, India, Japan, and others. The real-time payment market research report also covers the regional market for real-time payment spread across European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany, etc. The real-time payment market research report further explores other regional markets from the rest of the world including real-time payment markets of the Middle East and Africa. As per the global real-time payment market research report.

Market Scope

The Real Time Payment Gateway Market is expected to reach USD 23.57 billion by the end of the forecast period with a CAGR of 29.7% over the forecast period. It was valued at USD 5.12 billion in 2017. The cost of printing and circulation of costs, storage and distribution, and check-cashing and ATM transaction fees are expected to drive the market demand exponentially. Development of online commerce sites and adoption of smart devices for conducting financial transactions can drive market demand. The need to pay merchants and utilities for essential services can fuel the market.

Usage of real-time payments for faster collection of taxes and initiatives for digital wallets and online transactions are expected to pave the way for the Real Time Payment Industry. The growth is driven by its use by small business owners for settling payment claims and partnerships between financial services corporations and banks for introducing new technologies can benefit the market. However, security challenges can hamper market growth.

Competitive Outlook

Apple Inc, ACI Worldwide Inc, Visa Inc Class A, Wirecard AG, Worldline SA, Mastercard Inc, Paypal Holdings Inc, Temenos AG, Fidelity National Information Servcs Inc, and Fiserv Inc are key players of the global real time payment industry. Other players include Capgemini SE, Ripple Labs Inc, Ant Financial Services Group, Global Payments Inc, Intelligent Payments Group Ltd, Montran, Financial Software & Systems Pvt. Ltd, Icon Solutions Ltd, ACE Software Solutions Inc, REPAY, Finastra, IntegraPay, Obopay, Nets A/S, and others.

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About Market Research Future:

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

Contact:

Market Research Future

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William Douglas "Doug" Gadberry, 62, of Stanford, passed away Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at the St. Joseph Hospital of Lexington. Arrangements are pending and will be announced later by Morris & Hislope Funeral Home. Condolences may be expressed to the family at: www.morrisandhislope.com.
Secure access control is helping to shape the post-pandemic world

With the continued rolling back of COVID restrictions in the UK, there is a palpable sense of relief. A mixture of mass vaccinations, widespread testing, and track and tracing of the infection is helping to enable a healthy bounce back for businesses  with secure access control taking an important role in facilitating this. However, rather than just being a reaction to the wake of the pandemic, there is every sign that the economy, and consequently the security sector as well, are both rebuilding and reshaping for the long-term new normal. Prioritising Safety Already deemed an essential service even during the first wave of the pandemic, the security industry has of course taken a vital role in protecting people and property throughout the crisis. Now that venues in the UK are starting to reopen again, our services are key to occupancy management and ensuring that disease transmission is limited as far as possible. Access control is also key in reassuring people that their safety is a priority. Making the upgrade Its all been about choosing the most suitable components and technology that already existed with a few tweaks Businesses and organisations have a duty of care to their employees and the safety of visitors  so controlling access, employing lateral flow testing, and deploying suitable Track & Trace mechanisms are all key components. I think those outside our industry are surprised to learn that most of the technology being deployed and used hasnt just magically developed since COVID appeared  its all been about choosing the most suitable components and technology that already existed albeit with a few development tweaks or adjustments for the situation at hand. This includes using or installing facial recognition readers rather than using fingerprint or contact tokens, it is swapping to automatic request to exit sensors instead of buttons; it is using powered secure doors rather than having people all grab the same handle. Using mobile credentials is also a key technology choice  why not use the highly secure, easy to manage, cost-effective, and of course contact-free benefits of this approach? Touchless solutions We have seen a clear shift in organisations looking to protect their staff and visitors. For instance, we have a big utility customer in Southeast Asia that has just replaced close to 200 sites using fingerprint readers with an additional facial recognition capability. We have also seen a big rise in demand for touchless request to exit sensors and Bluetooth Low Energy Readers for use with smartphone authentication. Working together Integration of security systems is of course nothing new, but in the post-pandemic or endemic age, it has perhaps never been more important. Installations need to be simple, straightforward, and rapid to help maintain safe distancing but also to ensure systems can be deployed as soon as they are needed. The world is changing and developing rapidly and there is simply no place for systems that dont work with others or cause the end-user considerable cost and inconvenience to upgrade. This flexible delivery of security solutions perfectly matches the evolving and increasing demands of the market. Its clear that end-users want systems that work well and can easily integrate with their existing systems  not only security but all the other business components which work in unison with each other over a shared network. Great opportunities ahead The recent work-from-home trend is also clearly changing the way organisations and businesses interact with the built environment. Lots of companies are downsizing, offices are being split up, there is lots of revitalisation and reuse of existing office space  all of which creates considerable opportunities for security providers. UK inflation more than doubled in April 2021 with unemployment figures dropping and the Pound rising in value There are also, in the UK at least, clear signs that the construction industry is rapidly growing again -with a forecast of 8% rebound and growth this year. UK inflation more than doubled in April 2021 with unemployment figures dropping and the Pound rising in value  all positive signs for UK-based security providers. Undoubtedly the highly successful UK vaccination rollout has helped considerably, but there are signs that the Eurozone looks set to improve considerably over the next few months as well. Using integrated access control Undoubtedly the pandemic has made security markets around the world more aware of the benefits of integrated access control in managing the needs of the new normal COVID endemic environment. For example, as a business, we have always had keen interest from the UK healthcare sector, but over the last 12 months, we have seen a big growth in previously modest international markets including Morocco, Kuwait, Bahrain, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand  all of which are very keen to adopt improved access control solutions. Learning the lessons Nobody would deny the last year or so has been unprecedentedly tough on everyone, as a society we have had to make huge changes and sacrifices. Governments, organisations, and businesses all need to be better prepared in the future, to understand the things that went wrong and those that were successful. However, there is a world beyond the immediate pandemic and its effects. Flexible working practices and the changes these will have to the way we live and work will undoubtedly present great opportunities for the security sector in helping the world evolve. The pandemic has been a wake-up call for many organisations with regards to their duty of care to employees  particularly when it comes to mental health and providing a sensible work/life balance. Where we work and the safety of these facilities has received far more scrutiny than before. Flexible security systems Integrated security solutions have a vital role to play in not only protecting the safety of people during the post-lockdown return to work but also in the evolution of the built environment and move towards smart cities - which inevitably will now need to consider greater flexibility in securing home working spaces rather than just traditional places of work. Importantly, powerful access control and integrated security systems need to be flexible to the uncertainties ahead. The COVID pandemic has shown that nothing can be considered certain, except the need for greater flexibility and resilience in the way we operate our professional and personal interactions.
David Jackson

USA TODAY

COLUMBIA, S.C.  As Mike Pence discussed his tenure as vice president with about 500 religious Republicans, some listeners couldn't help but wonder if they were seeing a preview of coming attractions.

I said to my husband, Did you think this was a trial run for a campaign speech? said Beth Atwater, an attorney from Lexington, South Carolina, who attended Pence's speech before the Palmetto Family Council last week.

Republicans across the country are pondering Pence's chances of becoming president  thanks in part to the man who remains at the heart of GOP politics and made Pence vice president: Donald Trump.

Trump and some allies criticize Pence for refusing Trump's demands that he help overturn his election loss of Joe Biden. The insurrection by pro-Trump rioters Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol put Pence's life in danger.

Republicans who want the party to move on from Trump see the former vice president as part of the problem  a loyalist who too often enabled the president.

Pence hasn't said he's running for president, but he raised eyebrows with his reemergence in public in South Carolina, home of a key GOP primary in 2024. He has a lineup of events in the coming months that looks like an attempt to appeal to Trump voters without alienating their leader.

Building a base for a presidential run is always challenging, Republicans said, but Pence's predicament is unique.

"I just don't see the path," said Denver Riggleman, a former GOP congressman from Virginia and an outspoken critic of Trump.

Making the moves

Pence is one of several Republicans making the kind of moves one does when exploring a presidential run.

The former vice president has created a political committee, Advancing American Freedom, to promote and defend the policies of the Trump-Pence administration. It has run web ads featuring Pence on issues such as border security.

Young America's Foundation, a conservative group, announced that Pence will give the keynote address at its National Conservative Student Conference in August in Houston. Pence plans to campaign for Republican candidates in the 2022 congressional races.

The former vice president is writing an autobiography scheduled to be published in 2023, a year before the presidential election.

In deciding where to make his first first speech since leaving office, Pence picked South Carolina  home of the first-in-the-South primary that has been pivotal in Republican nomination battles.

Friday, Pence will attend an early cattle call of eight potential Republican candidates not named Trump. Texas Republicans organized a private meeting of donors to hear from Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and Rick Scott.

Sarah Longwell, a GOP strategist who ran a group called Republican Voters Against Trump in 2020, said Pence's challenges in a 2024 race are many.

"No. 1, Trump is going to attack him as insufficiently loyal," she said, and Trump voters who believe the election was stolen will blame Pence.

Republicans who want to shed Trump see Pence as complicit in the administration's actions, including the drawn-out protests of the election.

Longwell said, "People who love Trump don't like him, and people who hate Trump don't like him."

'A Christian, a Conservative, a Republican  in that order'

During his half-hour speech in a downtown Columbia ballroom last week, Pence said that serving alongside Trump was "the greatest honor of my life," though he didn't mention the ex-president's name that much. He spoke more about the administration's record and criticized the Biden administration over immigration, spending, taxes, abortion and religious freedom.

In his opening, Pence recited a standard self-description: "I'm a Christian, a conservative and a Republican  in that order."

Though vice presidents often find it hard to emerge from the shadow of the presidents they served, the job has become a stepping stone toward the Oval Office. Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and Joe Biden were elected to the presidency as former vice presidents. Hubert Humphrey (1968), Walter Mondale (1984) and Al Gore (2000) won the Democratic nominations but fell short in the general elections.

None of those former veeps faced the kind of obstacle within their own party that Pence has in Trump.

Pence has to answer one question first: Will he run if Trump does? The former president said he is considering another race in 2024 but won't make an announcement until after the 2022 congressional races.

Normally, a former vice president would be in "the top spot" for the next election, but "in a Trump GOP, it is more complicated," said Mike DuHaime, former political director for the Republican National Committee.

Despite Pence's "fealty over the four years," DuHaime said, "Trump may have forever damaged his reputation with Trump supporters by calling him out during the election lie and the Capitol riot on Jan. 6."

Pence, who frequently talks about his religious faith, does have support from at least one important Republican constituency: evangelical voters such as the ones who saw him speak at the Palmetto Family Council.

Tim Miller, a former Republican political strategist who saw Pence in Columbia, said he has "a base of support with evangelicals, which is better than most have, but can he expand out of that?"

Members of Trump's "Make America Great Again" caucus may remain suspicious.

"Hard to imagine the MAGA voters are ever going to love him," Miller said.

'He did the right thing ... And it's going to cost him'

One of Pence's biggest hurdles to a potential run isn't just his association with Trump but Trump's own criticisms of him.

At a Republican donor conference last month at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said he was still "disappointed" that Pence did not move to block the counting of electoral votes from states that went for Biden.

In a statement this week attacking Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Trump said the election result would have been different "had Mike Pence referred the information on six states (only need two) back to State Legislatures."

Trump denounced his vice president at a rally Jan. 6 that preceded the insurrection at the Capitol, where some Trump supporters roamed the halls looking for Pence and calling him a traitor.

Riggleman, the former congressman from Virginia, said he has seen Trump-Pence yard signs in his district with the vice president's name painted over or otherwise vandalized.

He said he likes Pence and believes the vice president acted honorably in refusing to interfere Jan. 6 when Congress met to confirm Biden's victory. "He did the right thing for the country that day," Riggleman said. "And it's going to cost him."

One thing potentially working in Pence's favor: Few people are paying attention to the Republican presidential race.

Jenny Beth Martin, honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action, said reporters and political activists are interested in the early jockeying, but most Americans are worried about things such as schools opening once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.

When the time for attention comes, she said, "the grassroots would want to know first and foremost whether Trump is going to want to run."

'A long time away'

At the Columbia Convention Center, South Carolina Republicans said they believe compatriots in their state and elsewhere  places such as Iowa and New Hampshire  will judge Pence on his merits. They are intrigued by how Pence might navigate the issue of Trump.

Kelly Ross, who works for a nonprofit company in Greenville, said Pence's base of voters is different from Trump's, and the election "is a long time away" in any event.

Others said the Pence-Trump dispute over Jan. 6 will mean little to Republicans in 2024.

"I think people forget things and get over them and move on to what's best for the country," said Cathy Wells, a housewife from Lexington.

In short, many said, they'll wait and see.

"It's kind of hard to tell," said Atwater, the attorney from Lexington. "You know, politics changes so quickly."
Amy Kinsley is an assistant professor of aquatic epidemiology in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine in the University of Minnesotas College of Veterinary Medicine.
Audrey Kletscher Helbling is a Faribault writer, blogger and former journalist who grew up in a little house on the prairie. Really. Find her blog, Minnesota Prairie Roots, at mnprairieroots.com.
Everyone of a certain age knows the iconic sex-ed scene in the 2004 comedy Mean Girls. The grossly incompetent school gym teacher, complete with tracksuit and stopwatch, warns a class of teens that if they have sex they will get pregnant and die. While funny and meant to represent a hyperbolized version of the sexual education that teens receive in school in the US, this is unfortunately not far off from the real thing.

Its no secret that sex ed in America is broken, and has long been the basis of an ideological tug-of-war.

Fewer students receive comprehensive sex education in the US now than at any time in the past 20 years. With only 17 states requiring that information to be accurate, much is left up to interpretation and information gleaned from anything found on the internet  including porn.

Image credit: Ariel Saint White

With over 15 years of experience in the sexual wellness space, artist and entrepreneur Ariel Saint White is working to better these numbers. Sex ed in America particularly fails women, whose bodies and sexuality are typically surrounded by shame and confusion. What if sex and female anatomy were normalized in childhood, girls grew up with an understanding of the changes in their bodies, boys recognized that the female body was to be respected, and consent was embedded within the fiber of our society?

Related: How This Startup Is Looking To Disrupt The Women's Healthcare ...

This was the world imagined by Saint White when she first founded My Little Yoni. Backed by OBGYN Dr. Debra Wickman, and other leading experts, My Little Yoni is the worlds first vagina superhero, a character who comes to life in toys and books. Yoni is reminiscent of a vulva yet comfortably nonsexual. As Dr. Wickman notes, Yoni not only teaches the importance of all kids learning proper anatomy, but promotes body positivity, respect, and consent in an age appropriate way. My Little Yoni packs a powerful message within a playfully colored and winged exterior.

Creating change at the root level

By providing accessible, doctor-approved sex education and tools to moms and kids, Saint White aims to create systemic change at the root level, providing parents and children with comprehensive sex ed that empowers better choices and shame-free development. After speaking to hundreds of other moms, Saint White realized how difficult parents find it to have sex ed related conversations with their kids.

These conversations have never been more important. As of 2020, only 20 states and the District of Columbia required that sex education programs include information about contraception. But 39 states require that sex education programs contain information about abstinence, and 29 of these require abstinence to be heavily stressed. Forget any mention of birth control, consent, or sexual orientation.

Saint White has found a niche in our society that lasers in on a problem that is under-discussed and often avoided. Shrouded with outdated taboo, sexuality and sex education are often pushed to the shadows without getting the proper attention they deserve. Parents dont know how to address these subjects with their kids, nor do they typically realize that the school system is leaving the youth grossly unprepared. As an organization, My Little Yoni would normally be overlooked by mainstream investors and advertisers, but by speaking directly to parents and with the help of doctors and sex educators, they were able to raise funds from the community they serve and tackle the problem.

With schools and the government failing us, it falls on parents to step things up and provide their children with early, accurate, and positive sex education. Yet for most, this is a difficult task that they cant or wont do, especially stacked up against the myriad demands of modern parenting.

We have to stop expecting schools to provide this crucial education and instead help parents address these topics directly inside the home, leading to immediate, positive change that prepares our kids for the future, notes Saint White. Since most parents dont know where to start, we wanted to make the process easier and more approachable, and My Little Yoni was a way to do that.

The conversation doesn't have to be so heavy

With My Little Yonis brightly colored body and heart-shaped face in the room, these conversations become easier to havemore enjoyable, positive, and open. My Little Yoni is uplifting and light while being an educational, fun and easy way of introducing a conversation that too often happens too late in life, if at all. Lisa, mom to Tuff, 5, and Nyla, 7, says, My Little Yoni makes the subject more approachable, and thats what we use toys and play for. It just makes it an easy topic to talk about.

The symbols we surround ourselves with are powerful  often more so than words. Having Yoni around the home from a young age facilitates questions from children that drive these vital but often challenging conversations, removing stigma and supporting kids to be curious and even lead the discussion. Starting this kind of communication early enough helps girls feel in charge of their own bodies and make strides towards combating myriad issues from insecurity, to engaging in sexual activity before they are ready, to bullying.

Related: Will CBD Improve Your Sex Life?

Working in the sexual wellness space, I witnessed how many women never received adequate sex education as children and struggle with shame surrounding their vulvas. I realized there needed to be resources for moms and kids to interrupt this cycle, says Saint White. We need to raise the next generation differently, where kids learn about vulva anatomy and sex as a normal part of life.

Making magic

The Yoni dolls have quickly become a favorite among new mothers. Jamilah Mapp, co-host of the popular podcast Good Moms Bad Choices, was an early adopter  My Little Yoni quickly became a favorite of her seven-year-old daughter. In my household we use My Little Yoni as an educational tool, to learn about the basic anatomy of the body, and also as a tool to demystify the vagina! says Mapp.

Image credit: Ariel Saint White

Now, Saint White has written Yoni Magic, a 10-part book series offering shame-free, medically accurate education on topics including periods, how babies are made, gender identity, LGBTQ+, consent, and more, each with eye-catching brightly-colored illustrations. A give-back model is central to their mission: For every book sold, My Little Yoni donates one book to at risk families across the nation. Saint White shares, there are book deserts across the country where there might only be one childrens book for every 300 households. With our donation program we strive to not only provide necessary, quality sex ed resources but to simultaneously promote literacy and reading materials. Having your own books is a source of pride and learning that all children deserve.

The new book series Yoni Magic, announced via kickstarter, raised over 240% of their publishing goal, showcasing just how much parents are in need of assistance when it comes to preparing their children with comprehensive sex ed. As a benefit-focused organization My Little Yoni is committed to providing free, quality sex education, and all contributions help provide positive sex ed to families who need it most.

While the entire series will be published in June 2021, their first book Yoni Magic: The Amazing Truth, released in 2020, details vulva anatomy, the internal reproductive system, and how to treat vulva owners with respect. Candice, mom to ten year old Mallory, was struggling to talk about the body and reproduction with her increasingly curious daughter. Candice noticed that after reading the book with her daughter, the difference in Mallorys posture when she started reading vs. after she was done with the book was amazing! She sat up taller with more confidence.

Why early sex ed?

The Yoni Magic books are accessible to kids ranging from 3+ to 9+. Beginning sex ed early has proven to prevent unwanted pregnancies, STDs, and even abuse. One of My Little Yonis sex educator board members, Cath Hakason, notes that early sex ed also contributes to healthier body image and gender identity, better parent-child communication, making better and safer sexual decisions, and being more tolerant of individual differences.

As sex ed in the US has become more and more conservative, elsewhere in the world it has become more progressive. In the Netherlands, one of the most gender-equal countries, children begin learning about the body and sex at the age of 4. On average, Dutch and American teenagers have sex for the first time around the same age, but American teens give birth at five times the rate of their Dutch peers, have a greater number of abortions, and have much higher rates of STI cases.

Beyond the statistics, the social attitude around sex is vastly different. Beyond their unparalleled gender-equality, young adults in the Netherlands sleep around less and communicate more with their partners. Referred to as sexuality education, the goal is bigger than arming students with the basics--it is about being able to have open conversations about relationships.

Benefits of early sex ed are long term. Resources like the Yoni Magic book series and the My Little Yoni doll aim to make this easier for parents. Many of us grew up with Barbie, who had no genitals  not to mention an inhuman waistline. While the education system may have failed many of us, Saint White shows that we can do better for the children in our lives.

Related: Supreme Court Rules That Federal Law Barring Sex Discrimination ...

Copyright 2021 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
The Old Corner Saloon fashions itself as a small-town institution. Sitting on a historic plot of land in California's Central Valley, the bar offers free pool, weekend karaoke and a regular "Ladies Night" - "the place where old friends return," its website says.

But lately, state authorities allege, patrons have visited the establishment for a service unmentioned on its social media accounts or in its overwhelmingly positive Google reviews: to buy a fake coronavirus vaccination card.

Agents with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control arrested Old Corner's owner on Tuesday, charging 59-year-old Todd Anderson with three felony crimes, including identity theft, forging government documents and carrying an unregistered firearm. He was also charged with falsifying medical records, a misdemeanor. Authorities suspect another bar employee in the case, but the investigation is ongoing.

It is the California agency's first arrest for the sale of fraudulent vaccine cards, said spokesman John Carr. State and federal officials say they aren't aware of any others elsewhere in the country, either. If it is the first case of its kind nationally, it would represent a watershed moment in the coming fight against the forgeries that security experts have long warned about.

When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention debuted the cards, which have been given out to approximately 150 million people, some analysts were aghast at how easily copied the four-by-three-inch paper credentials were. Since then, scams have blossomed online and plagiarism how-to guides have sprouted across the already-fertile fields of conspiracy-theory forums.

Public health officials worry that the fakes could undermine the inoculation effort and that people could use them to misrepresent their vaccination status at school, work or during travel, potentially posing a risk to others.

"It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic," Tori Verber Salazar, district attorney of San Joaquin County, said in a statement. "Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake covid-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you."

In San Joaquin, which sits east of the San Francisco Bay area, 24 percent of the population is vaccinated, lagging behind the state's overall share of nearly 33 percent.

Anderson, who posted bail the day after his arrest and will appear in court later this month, could not be reached for comment, and it is unclear whether he has legal representation. A worker answering the bar's phone hung up when a reporter asked about Anderson's case.

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, known as ABC, described its investigation in an agency news release. Authorities began investigating Anderson's alleged operation after ABC received a tip that the bar in Clements, about 40 miles south of Sacramento, was selling fraudulent cards.

Over a month, undercover agents purchased four fake cards at the business for $20 each. Authorities say Anderson had a loaded and unregistered firearm when they arrested him. They also searched the bar, finding two more completed vaccine card fakes, 30 blank cards and a laminating machine.

Investigators say they do not know how many total cards were sold and tracking them down may prove impossible. ABC plans to file disciplinary action against the bar, which could lead to suspension or revocation of its liquor license, an agency release said.

Experts say there are probably many more of these cases.

When Max Anderson, who is no relation to Todd Anderson, got his initial vaccine dose and received his vaccine card, his first thought was: Really? This is it? No QR code, bar code, watermark, anything that would make it harder to replicate?

As the director of strategy for Concentric, a security and risk management firm, it was natural he would ask these questions. But, he said, he also thought someone in the federal government would have, too.

"It was pretty obvious that document protection wasn't taken into consideration when these cards were created," Max Anderson said. "This would have been a pretty easy problem to solve had the right people been consulted or the right time and effort been put forward."

He estimated that the forgery problem "is more widespread than we even think at this point."

"You can buy anything on the deep dark web," he said. "So I would imagine, if you can buy drugs and weapons, you could quite easily buy a blank vaccination card."

A former administration official involved with the vaccine effort told The Washington Post last month that plans for a digital system were underway, but that technical setbacks and time pressure forced them to rely instead on paper cards, which the CDC had reserved as a "fail-safe" option. Officials have also had to battle the increasingly politicized environment around so-called vaccine passports, which would be available through smartphone applications and allow users to prove they have been vaccinated.

Now, with some businesses and universities planning to require such vaccination verification before allowing people to travel, enter stores or take classes, those who refuse to get a vaccine have gone looking for ways to fake it.

"That hesitancy combined with the fact that if you do have the vaccine you get special privileges, that has created an atmosphere that is ripe for exploitation," Max Anderson said.

In late March, the FBI issued a public service announcement warning that making or buying fake vaccine cards is illegal and that forgeries "have been advertised on social media websites, as well as e-commerce platforms and blogs."

On April 1, a group of attorneys general sent a letter to the CEOs of Twitter, Shopify and eBay demanding that they crack down on the scams proliferating on their sites.

That month, agents from California's ABC would enter the Old Corner Saloon undercover.

The bar's website describes Todd Anderson as a Minnesota native who has lived in San Joaquin County since 1986. He purchased the place in 2005, and it now sells wine from his own label, Anderson Vineyards. Anderson runs the bar with "the same industrious, inventive and congenial spirit" as the founders of the town of Clements, the site says.

"It's a clean, safe place to come have fun and it still has the old country saloon atmosphere," Anderson is quoted as saying. "It's the finest drinking establishment in the west; that's my tag line."

- - -

The Washington Post's Dan Diamond contributed to this report.
NEW CANAAN  A New Canaan man has been charged in the fatal shooting of his wife at their Down River Road home, police said Thursday.

Albert Kokoth, 77, has been charged with second-degree assault, second-degree assault with a firearm and illegal discharge of a firearm, police said.
STAMFORD  Two teenagers have been charged in connection to a shootout that happened in broad daylight Tuesday in the citys West Side neighborhood.

Capt. Richard Conklin said two Stamford teens  one 17 years old, the other 15  were arrested during predawn raids on their West Side homes Friday morning.

Conklin said the two teenage boys arranged a drug deal outside of 58 Liberty St. on Tuesday in the hopes of robbing the dealer of drugs and money.

It was a purported drug deal gone bad, so to speak, but the people who set it up, that was their motive right from the beginning, he said.

The plan backfired, however, and devolved into a shootout, Conklin said. No one is believed to have been injured, police said at the time.

During the early morning raids, police recovered one of the two guns believed to have been used in Tuesdays shootout from the home of the 17-year-old, Conklin said. He was arrested on charges of unlawful discharge of a firearm, possession of a pistol without a permit, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, criminal attempt at first-degree robbery and criminal attempt at first-degree assault.

The 15-year-old boy was charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and criminal attempt at first-degree robbery.

Both teens were detained at the Bridgeport Juvenile Detention Center on Friday.

Conklin said investigators also seized numerous items of evidence connected to a spree of robbery-related crimes in recent weeks from the two homes. He said the two teens are expected to face more charges in the future.

Conklin also added that the investigation into Tuesdays shootout is still ongoing, and more arrests are expected to be made.
STAMFORD  Emotions ran high at Stamford Superior Court as a 21-year-old city man was arraigned Friday on murder charges in connection with the 2018 shooting death of a 16-year-old boy.

Isaias Delacruz was midway through his court hearing when his mother stood up and began shouting angrily.

Dont say nothing, his mother yelled in Spanish, after professing her sons innocence.

Delacruz, who was appearing remotely at the hearing from the Stamford courts holding facility, began shouting inaudibly back to his mother before marshals calmed him down.

The proceedings were stopped until court marshals escorted his mother, who refused to sit and continued shouting, from the courtroom.

He was arrested in the slaying Thursday while appearing in court on an unrelated matter. Delacruz, who was 18 at the time of homicide, was charged with murder, conspiracy at murder and carrying a pistol without a permit in the death of Marcus Hall.

Hall was shot multiple times on the night of Sept. 20, 2018, in the area of 62 Pequot Lane, police said. The killing of the Westhill High School student and aspiring skateboarder left the West Side community shaken to its core.

Capt. Richard Conklin said in a statement that the investigation into Halls homicide remains active, adding that an additional arrest is expected in the coming weeks.

Investigator Louis Burdi said in the warrant that police used surveillance footage, witness testimony and anonymous tips to help build the case against Delacruz.

Multiple witness accounts place Delacruz and Jonathan Gotti Montero-Delossantos in the area of the Southwood Square Complex, also known as the Village, on the night Hall was killed, Burdi said in the warrant.

Security camera footage in the area of the complex helped police identify a small white sedan with a distinctive dark-colored gas cap door and dark-colored rims as a vehicle of interest, Burdi said.

Officers tracked down the vehicles owner, who confirmed picking up Delacruz and Montero-Delossantos on the night of the shooting and taking them to the Southwood Square Complex, the warrant said.

The witness told police that the two then disappeared for about 20 minutes, then returned and asked her to drive in the opposite direction, the warrant said. The witness said she had no knowledge of the shooting, the warrant said.

This witness account was corroborated by at least three other individuals and video surveillance from the area, the warrant said.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

Montero-Delossantos, who is currently in prison for an unrelated drug conviction, had not been charged in the shooting death as of Friday.

In the Friday court hearing, attorney Mark Welsh argued that the $2 million bond on Delacruz should be lowered.

He does not have the money to post the bonds were talking about in the first place, Welsh said.

Welsh instead asked Judge Bruce Hudock for a nominal bond increase on Delacruzs four other pending court matters.

Assistant State Attorney Michelle Manning, however, argued that if the judge were to move the bond at all, it should be to raise it. It was at this point that Delacruzs mother began to shout in Spanish.

Ultimately, Welsh got one of his wishes as Hudock raised the bond on each of Delacruzs files by $5,000, but not before he also raised the bond in the murder case to $2.25 million.

The murder case was later transferred to the Part A docket, where the districts most serious cases are heard.

Delacruz is next scheduled to appear in court on May 28.
STAMFORD  A 21-year-old Stamford man has been charged with murder in the 2018 slaying of 16-year-old Marcus Hall.

Isaias Delacruz, 21, was arrested by police on Thursday as he attended Stamford Superior Court on an unrelated criminal matter.

Contributed Photo / Stamford Police Department

Delacruz was held on $2 million bond on murder, conspiracy at murder and carrying a pistol without a permit charges.

Hall was shot multiple times on the night of Sept. 20, 2018, in the area of 62 Pequot Lane. The killing of the Westhill High School student and aspiring skateboarder left the West Side community shaken to its core.

Westhill High principal Michael Rinaldi at the time said Hall was well loved by his peers and his teachers.

Contributed Photo

His aunt Darlene Avery-Lamar called Hall a good kid.

This shouldnt happen to good kids, she said in 2018. He was loved. He didnt deserve this.

Hall spent two nights in the hospital in critical condition before his family took him off life support.

Capt. Richard Conklin said in a press release that the charges against Delacruz, who wouldve been 18 at the time of homicide, were tied to his role in Halls death.

The Department commends the array of investigators and members of the Stamford State Attorneys Office that have worked on this long-term investigation. The Department, once again, offers its condolences to the Hall family, and hopes that todays arrest begins to provide them with a sense of justice, Conklin said in the release.

Conklin said the investigation into Halls homicide remains active.

He added that an additional arrest is expected in the coming weeks.

Delacruz is scheduled to be arraigned on Friday.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo

`
Milton, PA (17847)

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Milton, PA (17847)

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Ofcom fines Abu Dhabi Channel for breaking fairness and privacy rules

Ofcom has today fined Abu Dhabi Media Company PJSC (ADMC), a total of 250,000 for serious breaches of our fairness and privacy rules on its Abu Dhabi Channel service.

Todays sanctions follow Ofcoms decisions to uphold complaints made on behalf of Dr Mahmoud Abdual Rahman Al-Jaidah and Mr Hamad Mohammed Ali Al-Hammadi. Our investigations found that in two respective programmes - A documentary about Mahmoud Al-Jaidah and the secret organisation in the UAE and Confessions of a Qatari intelligence agent to damage the reputation of the UAE  the individuals concerned were unfairly treated and their privacy was unwarrantably infringed.

Among other things, we found that the Abu Dhabi Channel failed to obtain Dr Al-Jaidahs and Mr Al-Hammadis informed consent to be interviewed. In addition, material facts which cast serious doubt on the reliability of their alleged confessions to crimes against the United Arab Emirates were left out of the programmes.

Given the seriousness of these breaches, we have imposed two financial penalties totalling 250,000, which will be passed on to HM Paymaster General.

On 20 December 2020, ADMC informed us that it would no longer be making the Abu Dhabi Channel available in the UK, and surrendered its licence to broadcast with effect from 1 January 2021.

Further information on our sanction decisions are available
DX: One groups post-pandemic travel plan: Get as far away as possible

Die-hard ham-radio operators brave storms, sharks, brutal temperatures to set up temporary transmitting stations in the most remote spots around the world.



Of the many post-pandemic travel plans being hatched around the world, few are as extreme as what ham-radio operator Dom Grzyb has in mind.



The semiretired Polish businessman looks to spend tens of thousands of dollars this year to lead a group of eight to Bouvet Island in the southern Atlantic, an uninhabited locale largely covered in glacial ice. The odds arent favorable.



High winds and massive waves batter ships entering the region. Among travelers who manage to catch sight of Bouvet Island, which belongs to Norway, some never make shore. Slivers of beach give way to steep rock and ice formations that reach 100 feet and higher.



Its the most remote island in the world, said Mr. Grzyb, 47 years old. Its also one of the most dangerous places in the world.



Bouvet Island also ranks as the second most-wanted place in the world to contact among ham-radio enthusiasts. These destinations lure the most adventurous of the estimated three million operators world-wide to set up temporary transmitting stations.



https://www.wsj.com/articles/post-p...adio-fans-as-far-away-as-possible-11620312400
The dude in Forty Fort accused of committing election fraud in his dead mothers name in an effort to earn former President Donald Trump an extra vote waived his right to a preliminary hearing Thursday.

Robert Richard Lynn, 67, was charged with felony counts of forgery and interference with an election for allegedly signing an absentee ballot application for his mother, who died in 2015, and sending it to the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections.

During a brief hearing Thursday, prosecutors withdrew the felony charges while adding a misdemeanor count of violating mail-in ballot regulations.

Lynn initially pleaded guilty to the charge and Magisterial District Judge Daniel ODonnell immediately sentenced him to six months of probation in an agreement defense attorney Joseph Blazosek described in court as fair and just.

However, the plea was subsequently withdrawn because magistrates do not have jurisdiction to impose sentence in such cases. Lynn then waived his right to a hearing on the charge, allowing it to be forwarded to the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.

Lynn was allowed to remain free on $10,000 unsecured bail with a dispositional hearing before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas set for July 9.

Blazosek and Lynn declined to comment as they left court.

The Luzerne County Bureau of Elections discovered the alleged fraud when it received an absentee ballot application in the name of Marie P. Hannigan, who was Lynns mother. The application included Hannigans purported signature and listed the reason for the request as visiting great-grandkids Oct. 24-Nov. 10, according to the charges.

But a search of voter records showed Hannigan was born in 1931, last voted in 2014 and was listed as deceased on Aug. 21, 2015, prosecutors said. In addition, the signature on the ballot application looked nothing like the signature on file for Hannigan.

When detectives confronted the registered Republican about the allegations, Lynn first claimed his mother was inside the house, then admitted she was deceased and that he forged her name and signature on the application, prosecutors said.

The case gained national media attention leading up to the presidential election last fall after Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Trump loyalist, offered up to $1 million in rewards to anyone who caught voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, mockingly responded that he had a dude in Forty Fort who fit the bill.

Fetterman, who is running for U.S. Senate, subsequently began selling T-shits saying, My dude in Forty Fort as a campaign fundraiser, saying the slogan had taken a life of its own.

In a Twitter post around Thanksgiving, Fetterman took a shot at Lynn for providing huge comedy to the state and proof that voter fraud is rare, but said that as the chairman of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons he would pardon Lynn if convicted.
Hazleton, PA (18201)

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Hazleton, PA (18201)

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Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

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President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's decision to ban the use of chemical fertilizers for agriculture in Sri Lanka is a good one but not a practical one. The people who are suffering from a Global pandemic are caught up in a kind of social chaos that has never happened before. In such a situation, this decision would directly affect the weakening of the political power of the President.

There may be several people who advised, motivated and advocated the President in making the relevant decision. The President was surrounded by two key figures in informing the public about this. One is Athuraliye Rathana Thero. The other person is Channa Jayasumana, a minister of this current government. These two are not characters guided by any practical intelligence. One has proven throughout times that he practices the Buddha Dhamma for the sake of satisfying his self-indulgences. The other is a subject who uses God Natha to deceive the local communities in Rajarata.

Rathana Thera introduced the same project under the previous government and the state spent a huge financial and human resources. It has had no effect on the country and the national economy. He must be held accountable for the grave failure before allowing him to involve in any national endeavour of this government. Channa Jayasumana was also a person who, during the spread of the coronavirus, introduced locally made Syrups throughout the country to mislead the entire population. He has caused damage to the reputation of the government better than anyone else. These are cowardly opportunists in disguise, not characters who came down to work for the welfare of the people or the growth of the country.

What is needed is a strategic plan to ban the use of chemical fertilizers in the local agro sector. It is a program that will take a long time. For this, an initiative similar to the President's Dialogue with Village should have been used. The people of the country can get used to giving up the use of chemical fertilizers by creating the necessary environment for it. Strict laws shall play minimum roles if there are no substances to implement.

The first step is to conduct a feasibility study with an honest team that will not deceive the President and work out an action plan. In this regard, it is important to understand the basics of the national programmes that countries such as India, Ethiopia and Uganda have put in place recent past. Then several pilot projects should be introduced to implement that plan. It is important to make it a national program based on the success of those pilot projects. Gazettes rectifying laws are required for this national programme. Without the necessary basic measures, trying to throw away the frying pan needed to quench the hunger of the poor will not benefit the President or the people. But an impractical programme can only satisfy the leeches around the President.


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The Republican Party has decided to make woke its public enemy No. 1, weaponizing the word against its political opponents.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called out woke companies for turning against GOP voting reforms in Georgia and elsewhere.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called out the woke mob for pressing a publisher to cancel publication of his book.

Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte of Montana even attacked the woke state of Washington for refusing to source its electricity from coal mined in his state.

Thats an awful lot of name-calling for as unwoke a clan as ever there was.

To Democrats, woke means awareness about inequality and injustice.

To Republicans, it means anything progressive, liberal or Democratic. Woking someone, you might say, is the Republicans current way to run against the culture and values of Democrats when a Democratic president remains popular.

It is not a new term, but it is now the term for tagging Democrats. Its like calling them ugly. Or stupid. Or uncultured. Of course, once the GOP and its largely white-male membership co-opts a popular term, one may presume its cultural power is about to fade.

At least one commentator has suggested as much. Elijah Watson, news and culture editor for hip-hop site Okayplayer, recently suggested on NPR that its time to retire woke  a word that was something that we were taking seriously and then it kind of transformed into something ironic and then it became a meme and then it became a trademark.

Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville went on an anti-woke rant last month during an interview with Vox. Wokeness is a problem, and we all know it, he said, before launching into a critique of what he called the faculty lounge language Democrats often speak and regular folks do not understand.

They talk about communities of color, he said. I dont know anyone who speaks like that. I dont know anyone who lives in a community of color. I know lots of white and Black and brown people and they all live in . . . neighborhoods.

In contrast, Donald Trumps facility with plain talk and memorable slogans was crucial to his success. He broke it all down for his followers: Woke is destroying the country. Anyone can understand and, importantly, repeat those five words.

Republicans have latched on to woke out of necessity. They know they need something, or someone, to blame  and fast  for President Joe Bidens popularity and their own failings. This is especially critical now that Republicans have come under fire from some smart people in their own party for sticking with Trump.

Former president George W. Bush went first, saying that if the Republican Party stands for exclusivity and white Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, then its not going to win anything. Last month, during an interview with NBCs Today, Bush said todays GOP is isolationist, protectionist and to a certain extent nativist. (Bush modified those remarks a few days later to say that not all Republicans fit that description, noting it excluded a lot of Republicans who believe we can fix the problem.)

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, went next. As he was about to address his states Republican convention on May 1, the former Republican presidential nominee was booed and heckled. Who knew that Mormons, the nicest people on the planet, knew how to boo? In an instant of pure Mitt-ness, Romney batted away words such as traitor and communist and said, Arent you embarrassed?

Uh, no, as a matter of fact. The party that elected Trump obviously cannot be embarrassed. But normal people should be.

You can boo all you like, Romney finally said. Ive been a Republican all of my life. My dad was the governor of Michigan, and I was the Republican nominee for president in 2012.

Romney left out that he was also a very successful governor of Massachusetts. But to Trumpublicans, all that matters is that Romney voted to impeach their president.

Now they are after Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who, in addition to refuting the Big Lie of the stolen election, did the very polite  but apparently suicidal  thing and bumped fists with Biden last week. For her treachery, she is likely going to be replaced as House Republican Conference chair by someone who knows how to stay on script.

This GOP, which is nothing like the storied Republicans who raised these three so-called traitors, just is not being very smart right now. By trying to shut down or marginalize people such as Romney and Cheney, it may soon fulfill Bushs prophecy of extinction.

KATHLEEN PARKER is a columnist for The Washington Post.
Ashtabula, OH (44004)

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Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

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Partly cloudy skies during the evening giving way to a few showers after midnight. Low 63F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.
One common factor that is working behind the scene to bring international pressure on the Sri Lankan Government is the role of diaspora Sri Lankans. This factor cannot be ignored any more, and its strength is increasing by the year.

by Dr Ameer Ali

In the wake of United Nations Human Rights Commissions resolution passed in Geneva, to which only four Muslim countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia and Uzbekistan) voted for Sri Lanka, and encouraged by that resolution, the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has issued a separate statement condemning the Sri Lankan Governments discriminatory laws against Muslims in the name of deradicalisation and counter terrorism.

That statement also notes with serious concern the arbitrary arrests and incarceration of Muslims under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), and torturing them to force confession out of them for some imaginary allegations.

On the face of it, OIC-IPHRC statement appears just a statement and authorities in Sri Lanka could ignore that as one more of its kind. However, if one understands how OIC works behind the scene to influence governments of its 57 members of which all but one, members of United Nations and 42 of them have Muslim majority population, Sri Lankan Government would be advised to take the statement little more seriously.

Sri Lankas relations with Muslim countries

Until the current NGR-MR regime came to power, Sri Lankas relations with Muslim countries had been exceptionally cordial. There was an unwritten alliance of convenience between Muslims and governments in power, from which both stood to benefit.

While governments benefited by winning markets for domestic exports in the Middle East and through financial assistance from affluent Arab nations by way of investments and aid, Muslim community at home benefited un turn from governments through special preferences extended to its members in the name of affirmative discrimination.

The cordiality between Sri Lanka and Muslim world reached its apex during the 1970s, and the 1976 Non-Aligned Conference held in Colombo was its most ostentatious display. In fact, the treatment of Muslims at home became a show case for domestic governments to show to the world and defeat the spread of a vicious campaign during the civil war that Sri Lanka was ethnically discriminating its minorities.

What made OIC issue damning statement against Sri Lanka?

All that has changed now and for the first time, OIC, which is normally a sleepy organisation weakened by internal dissensions, has acted in unison and issued a damning statement against Sri Lanka. What made it to do so?

One common factor that is working behind the scene to bring international pressure on the Sri Lankan Government is the role of diaspora Sri Lankans. This factor cannot be ignored any more, and its strength is increasing by the year.

Over 70 years of misgovernment has created a multiethnic and multireligious Sri Lankan diaspora community, consisting of Burghers, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese. Quite a significant number among them have advanced professionally and financially, and are becoming influential and a force to be reckoned with in the politics of Western democracies. Their influence was recognised even by Sri Lankan diplomats when they accounted for Sri Lankas defeat at UNHCR in Geneva.

The diaspora community wants their country of birth to prosper and regain its lost fame as a democratic, economically resourceful, highly literate and socially advanced country, but realises that such recovery is not possible unless the country is cleansed of its corrosive politics buried in corruption, nepotism, ethno-religious chauvinism, protected by the military. All what the expatriates could do is to bring pressure from outside.

It was that pressure from a small but steadily growing Muslim diaspora, which worked behind the scene to make OIC act. Through OIC that pressure would be felt by governments of some influential Muslim countries, which belong to the same camp that got the UNHCR resolution passed in Geneva. Therefore, it is sheer short sightedness on the part of the current regime to jeopardise the cordial relations built over several decades with Muslim nations.

The Muslim world is much larger and richer than Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia and Uzbekistan put together. Depending on China and Russia to veto any sanctions recommended under UNHCR resolution, and imposed by at least one or two Muslim countries is to court economic disaster.

Utility value of the concept of Muslim ummah

It is during times of adversity Muslim minorities feel the utility value of the concept of Muslim ummah. As the two professors, James Piscatori and Amin Saikal argue, umma is a tool for a variety of social, and political actors (Islam Beyond Borders: The Umma in World Politics, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 160) to achieve a variety of social and political ends.

In general, when Muslim minorities are oppressed and made subject to intolerable discrimination and injustice, and when their own leaders stand helpless, they appeal as last resort for assistance from co-religionists outside their own countries. This is a unique institution in Islam that at times can serve limited purposes. To the oppressor this may look unpatriotic. However, if appealing to UNHCR is not unpatriotic, then how could it be unpatriotic when some Muslim actors appeal to OIC and ask for assistance? It is this rationale that appears to have instigated diaspora Muslims to approach OIC.

Solution to the Sri Lankan Muslim issue

Even then, solution to the Sri Lankan Muslim issue should be found within Sri Lanka. International pressure on the Government can be of limited assistance but not a permanent cure. The discontent against the regime is growing amongst all communities. That noisy protest arising spontaneously from motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, while the Chinese VVIPs cavalcade was passing through was one demonstration of that discontent.

While the epidemic is playing havoc with peoples lives mostly because of the Governments inconsistencies in adhering to expert advice, and with the national economy in tatters, the regime is desperately searching for tactics to hold on to power by deflecting criticisms against it.

Picking the Easter carnage, which should not be condoned under any circumstance, for that purpose, and unwilling to expose to the public the full story behind that horror and identity of the boss who masterminded it, Muslims are scapegoated and portrayed as security threat.

It is in this context that Minister Chamal Rajapaksas recent remark that without security no development is possible causes concern to the discerning. How can the Minister guarantee security while his Government deliberately creating space for insecurity to grow?

Is that why the Government is arresting Muslims on trumped up charges in the name of protecting national security? Is that why rehabilitation centres are cropping up to populate with Muslim suspects and to carry out the so called deradicalisation program? If that is also insufficient, will the regime then look for another July 1983? A desperate regime can resort to desperate measures.

Given this disturbing scenario, how should Muslims make use of the rising discontent and join efforts by others to bring about a regime change? The OIC statement may give some psychological satisfaction for a beleaguered community. Will that statement be translated into some form of action by Muslim countries is yet to be seen?

However, with an impotent Muslim leadership at home, the time has come for the community to think of the unthinkable and join hands with other citizens to work towards a better future  a subject to be discussed in a separate piece.

(The writer is attached to the School of Business & Governance, Murdoch University, Western Australia.)
Published: 7 May 2021

Current expenditure on education increased in real terms in 2019

Current expenditure on education increased by 2.7 per cent in real terms in 2019 compared to the previous year. Current expenditure per student increased in 2019 by 2.3 per cent. Current expenditure on education and current expenditure per student have decreased in real terms compared to 2010. Between 2000 and 2019, total current expenditure on education and current expenditure per student were in real terms highest in 2010.

Real development of current expenditure on education 2000  2019

There are differences in the expenditure development of various sectors of education. Expenditure on pre-primary and comprehensive school education have grown in real terms compared to 2010. Expenditure on other sectors of education has decreased. Expenditure on vocational education has fallen most in real terms over the 2010s.

Current expenditure on education relative to GDP was 5.1 per cent in 2019. The share has been falling starting from 2010. In 2019 the share remained at the same level than in the previous year.

Current expenditure was converted to correspond to the price level of 2019 by means of the industry-specific price index of national accounts describing public education expenditure. Real change means that the effect of price changes has been taken into account. The data starting from 2017 are not fully comparable with those for earlier years due to the change in housing supplement included in student financial aid.

Current expenditure on regular education system by type of expenditure 2019

Type of expenditure EUR million % Pre-primary education 1) 372 3,0 Comprehensive school education 5 081 41,4 Upper secondary general education 753 6,1 Vocational education 1 819 14,8 University of applied sciences education 961 7,8 University education and research 2) 2 287 18,6 Other education 479 3,9 Financial aid for students 518 4,2 Total 12 269 100,0

1) Pre-primary education for 6-year-old children (pre-school education) in daycare centres and comprehensive schools.2) Includes universities' external financing for research.

Current expenditure on education totalled EUR 12.3 billion in 2019. Costs of comprehensive school education made up the biggest share of current expenditure on education. EUR 5.1 billion were used on comprehensive school education in 2019. The shares were next biggest in university education and research, on which EUR 2.3 billion were spent and in vocational education, on which EUR 1.8 were used.

Source: Education. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Mika Tuononen 029 551 3504, Vesa Hamalainen 029 551 2594, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (214.1 kB)

Updated 7.5.2021

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Educational finances [e-publication].

ISSN=1799-0963. 2019. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 10.6.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/kotal/2019/kotal_2019_2021-05-07_tie_001_en.html
A more recent publication of this set of statistics is available. Latest publication: Foreign Shipping Traffic 2021, April

Published: 7 May 2021

Sea transport decreased in March

The goods volume of foreign sea transport was in total 8.1 million tonnes in March 2021. Sea transport decreased by 5 per cent from last year's March. Exports decreased by six per cent and were 4.3 million tonnes. Import volume decreased by three per cent and amounted to 3.8 million tonnes.

Foreign sea Transport by month (tonnes) in 2019 to 2021

General cargo was transported most, in total 1.6 million tonnes, which is 19 per cent of all transport. The second most transported was oil products, one million tonnes, and crude oil, 0.8 million tonnes.

Container transport

A total of 1.1 million tonnes of containers were transported through Finnish ports in March 2021, which is 20 per cent more than in March 2020. The number of containers transported was 78,397 (140,440 TEU containers) 1) . Exports of containers went up by 30 per cent measured in tonnes and imports went up by 0.3 per cent compared to March 2020.

Vehicle transport

A total of 145,544 transport equipment were transported in foreign sea traffic in March 2021. Most transports of transport equipment were trucks. In March, 63,896 trucks were transported. The second most transported were truck trailers, 40,440 and passenger cars belonging to passengers, 37,425.

Passenger traffic

A total of 167,474 persons were transported in passenger traffic in March 2021. In all, 100,493 persons travelled between Finland and Estonia and 62,756 persons between Finland and Sweden and 4,188 passengers between Finland and Germany. Passengers made up 34 per cent of the number of passengers in March 2020 and only 14 per cent of the number of passengers in March 2019. In March 2021, no passengers of foreign cruise ships arrived in Finland.

Vessel traffic and goods volume in the Saimaa Canal

A total of 3,532 tons of transport were registered through the canal in foreign traffic.

1) TEU, the basic measurement unit of container traffic, refers to one container that is twenty feet long, eight feet wide and 8.5 feet high.

Source: Transport and tourism, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Matti Kokkonen 029 551 3770, Sami Lahtinen 029 551 3207, matti.kokkonen@tilastokeskus.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (165.6 kB)

Updated 07.05.2021

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Foreign Shipping Traffic [e-publication].

ISSN=2670-2002. March 2021. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 10.6.2021].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/uvliik/2021/03/uvliik_2021_03_2021-05-07_tie_001_en.html
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USR PLUS (Save Romanian Union, Liberty, Unity and Solidarity Party) Co-Chairman Dan Barna has announced on Friday that he will run in the party's congress this year in order to stay at its helm, adding that there is a "very good atmosphere" inside the USR PLUS, with elections for county leaders to come up next, report agerpres.

Asked by journalists in a press conference if he would run for the USR PLUS leadership, Dan Barna said that he wished to take this project further. "It is a project we have been working on for a long time and I wish to take it further," he underscored.

On this occasion, Barna pointed out that at the end of June there would take place elections for the USR PLUS county leaders nationwide."Yes, there will be elections all over the country at the level of county branches, by the end of June, beginning of July, actually on June 30, give or take a few days, we'll have elections nationwide on a local level, and then, somewhere in the first half of September we'll also have the National Congress for the national leading body," Barna also said.He voiced confidence in the chances USR PLUS stands of having a long-term evolution on the political stage of Romania.He participated in Sibiu, on Friday, in his capacity as Deputy Prime Minister, in the opening of a driving licence exam room in Sibiu Municipality.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna said on Friday in Sibiu that he considers personal responsibility for health to be most important incentive for vaccination against COVID-19, and that the government is discussing operational ways moving forward to increase the impact of the mass vaccination campaign.

He was asked by journalists at a news briefing whether or not the government is discussing financial stimulation for Romanians to get vaccinated. "It's a discussion of what models might be operational moving forward to increase the impact of the vaccination campaign. I think personal health responsibility is the most important incentive. Beyond that, once again, using the levers we've talked about so far, we are looking into alternatives to see what good practices the other countries have," said Barna, co-president of the Save Romania Union - Freedom, Unity and Solidarity Party (USR PLUS) in the ruling coalition.

He reiterated his call to citizens to get vaccinated so that they can return to a normal life as soon as possible, also highlighting the fact that Health Minister Ioana Mihaila, is currently vaccinating people in her hometown in Bihor County, agerpres.ro confirms.

"Our colleague Ioana Mihaila is currently vaccinating in her hometown in Bihor county; she is administering vaccinations herself," said Barna, who participated on Friday in the opening of a driving test room in Sibiu, on 9 Str. Andrei Saguna.
President Klaus Iohannis is attending, Friday and Saturday, in Portugal's City of Porto, within the Social Summit, the informal reunion of the European Council, as well as in the EU-India Summit in videoconference format, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Presidential Administration informs.

The Porto Social Summit has as central topic the optimal implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. The event targets drawing up the priorities of the social agenda for the next decade, so that it responds to the challenges of the green and digital transition.

President Klaus Iohannis will have an intervention during the second thematic session regarding competencies and innovation, in the panel on education, competencies and innovation.

The agenda of the informal reunion of the European Council will feature the relations between the European Union and India, in the perspective of the EU-India informal summit, as well as the elements referring to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The EU-India Summit will approach topics that regard the consolidation of cooperation in the effort to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, reaffirming the interest of both parties regarding the continuation of development of trade relations, the promotion of efficient multilateralism, the consolidation of cooperation in what regards the main foreign policy and security challenges, as well as encouraging cooperation in the realm of connectivity. The adoption of a joint EU-India political statement is also in view, focusing mainly on aspects regarding the management of the COVID-19 pandemic and durable social-economic and digital recovery, reports Agerpres.
President Klaus Iohannis said on Friday at the EU Social Summit, in Porto, Portugal, that education systems in European Union countries need to be more interconnected with the labor market and stressed the need for flexibility so that Europeans can study where they want and have the chance to find a good job.

"It is a well-known fact that a good education gives you more chances in life. It is obviously valid for individuals, but we must be very aware that it is more and more valid for our societies. (...) Our education system, and it is not only valid for Romania, but in general for all European education systems - are a bit conservative. (...) We need to be more interconnected with the labor market," Iohannis said.

President Iohannis emphasized the need for flexibility between the states of the European Union in terms of education and the labor market, agerpres.ro confirms.

"I want Romania to have quality education, to have flexibility, to give people a good chance and a good connection with the labor market, but to be realistic, we have a single market, so the labor market should not be defined as a national labor market but should be correlated with a single market. In order to give European children, students and adults a good chance at life, we need to be flexible not only with the national education system, but we need to increase flexibility between our states, we need to give people the chance to study where they want to study, but on the other hand we have to give them the chance to find a good job and that needs a certain correlation at European level. (...) If we want to increase education in Europe, and it is our only chance to remain competitive, we need to do much more with our education systems, to work on details, to work on fundamentals," said the head of state.

He also mentioned the "Educated Romania" project, pointing out that it is being worked on with all partners from schools, universities, unions, employers, parents and students' associations.

The head of state is participating, on Friday and Saturday, in Portugal, in Porto, in the EU Social Summit, in the informal meeting of the European Council, as well as in the EU - India Summit, in videoconference format, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A number of 100,800 vaccine doses produced by AstraZeneca have left on Friday morning the Cantacuzino National Institute for Medical-Military Research and Development venue, with the destination the Republic of Moldova.

"In order to support the Republic of Moldova authorities involved in the fight for combating the COVID-19 pandemic, the Romanian Government has decided to continue granting humanitarian aid, with a new batch of vaccines against COVID-19," reads the Facebook page of Rovaccinare platform.

The mission is carried out with the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU)'s transport means, on the Bucharest - Chisinau route and back.

The humanitarian aid offered to the Republic of Moldova, represented by medical equipment and vaccines against COVID-19, comes as part of the support package announced by the president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, on the occasion of his visit in December 2020, in Chisinau, according to the quoted source, reports agerpres.
A number of 350 outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) were active in Romania on Friday, affecting 153,397 animals, informs the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA).

Of the 350 active outbreaks, 10 outbreaks were recorded in commercial holdings and 4 outbreaks in type A commercial holdings.

From Thursday (April 29) to Thursday (May 6), 9 new ASF outbreaks were registered: three in Salaj County, two outbreaks in Maramures County and one each in Bihor, Sibiu, Suceava and Vaslui Counties, agerpres.ro confirms.

During the same period, 4 outbreaks of African swine fever were extinguished: two outbreaks in Mures County and two in Satu Mare County.

Since the first signaling of the presence of ASF virus in Romania, on July 31, 2017 and until now, 5,594 cases have been diagnosed in wild boars in 41 counties. In accordance with European provisions, wild boar cases shall be extinguished at least 2 years after their occurrence.

There is no vaccine for this disease, the only way to protect animal health is to comply with biosecurity conditions.

African swine fever does not cause disease in humans, but this virus has a disastrous impact on the economic and social level, says ANSVSA.
The name Kazakhstan Square was given to the square between the Free Press House, no. 1 Free Press Square and Bucharest Business Park, according to a draft decision adopted in Friday's meeting of Bucharest's General Council, with 47 votes 'for', 3 'against' and 4 abstentions, agerpres.ro confirms.

On June 30, 2020, the Nur-Sultan Square (the capital city of Kazakhstan) was inaugurated in the same place, during an event organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Romania, attended by Dan Tudorache, former mayor of Sector 1, and Nurbah Rustemov, ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

According to the specialist report, the General Directorate of Landscape Architecture and Public Monuments of the Municipality of Bucharest requested, at the proposal of the Kazakh Embassy in Bucharest, the change of the name "Nur-Sultan" to "Kazakhstan".

According to the approval report, signed by the mayor general, Nicusor Dan, the naming of Kazakhstan Square to a public space in Bucharest will strengthen the bilateral relations between Romania and the Republic of Kazakhstan, having a significant contribution to the development of cultural and humanitarian cooperation between the two peoples.
The Justice Ministry announced on Friday that with the coming into force, on May 2, of the Law on specific measures on justice during the COVID-19 pandemic, both civil and criminal trials can take place online.

"Up until now, the use of online media was accepted only in the case of criminal proceeding hearings, with the consent of the person concerned," the Ministry said in a statement.

Specifically, Law No. 114/2021 on specific measures on justice during the COVID-19 pandemic comes with the following new elements:

* In civil trials - when possible, and with the agreement of the parties, the courts may decide to hold hearings via video conference, without the physical participation of the parties in the courtroom.

* In criminal trials, the persons deprived of liberty, other than those under house arrest, may be heard via video conference, without their consent being required. These provisions do not apply in the following cases: the hearing during the criminal investigation, the trial of cases with juvenile defendants, the judicial rehabilitation cases and court hearings declared non-public.

"The new provisions apply throughout the duration of the state of alert, in order to prevent and combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for a 30-day period after the end of the state of alert. Apart from exceptional situations, we want online trial hearings to become a normality. To this effect, the Justice Ministry is currently working on several projects for turning courts digital, as undertaken in the Governing Program," the Ministry mentions, reports agerpres.
ST. LOUIS  Health agencies across the region, now with ample COVID-19 vaccine in hand, are finding some corners of the region difficult to reach.

In several neighborhoods, including in Wellston, Pagedale and north St. Louis, less than one-quarter of the residents have been vaccinated  half that of wealthier west St. Louis County suburbs.

Health officials said the disparity can be traced, in part, to long-standing gaps in access to medical care, the lack of transportation, and less convenient vaccination sites.

There are certainly people who do automatically reject the idea of this particular vaccine, said Spring Schmidt, deputy director of the St. Louis County Department of Public Health. But most people are just hesitant, and questioning  or they want it to be easier, and more available.

Residents gave multiple reasons: St. Louis resident Sharna Carter, 28, said she isnt around people much, and doesnt think she needs it.

Tiffany Jones, 31, from St. Louis, is worried about the flu-like side effects, and hasnt yet sat for the jab.

Pagedale resident Annie Benjamin, 55, said it took her a while, but she ultimately decided to because she has to go into peoples homes as part of her job as a home health aide.

Karan Riley wants to get the vaccine. Her sister got COVID-19, and Riley knows she needs to get vaccinated. But she doesnt know where to go.

My niece is looking into it for me, said Riley, 54, from St. Louis.

When health organizations here began vaccinating area residents last winter, supply could not keep up with demand. As more vaccine became available, the state opened mass vaccination sites, run with the help of the Missouri National Guard, to answer the overwhelming call. Residents drove hours to find doses, and waited in milelong lines.

The effort seems to be helping: As high-risk groups, like seniors, got vaccinated, COVID-19 case numbers started to fall in those same cohorts. And statewide cases have plateaued in recent weeks.

But the effort to vaccinate St. Louis-area residents is now shifting. The most eager and most able  those with the ability to sign up online, take time off of work and drive to regional clinics  have largely been vaccinated. The pace of vaccinations has since dropped by half: On Friday the state health department reported a seven-day average of about 25,000 doses administered, down from a peak of 50,000 on April 14. The national seven-day average declined to 2.1 million doses on May 1, from a height of almost 3.27 million on April 11.

For weeks, health departments have been reevaluating their strategies, moving toward more small events within communities and a redoubling of efforts to make doses as easy to find as possible.

On Wednesday, the Jefferson County Health Department, after struggling to fill appointments at its larger vaccination site in Festus, announced that it would close that location on June 15. The department will offer vaccinations at its office in High Ridge, and shift its efforts toward more pop-up clinics at businesses and other community locations.

On Thursday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons office announced that the Missouri National Guard would, over the course of May, scale back its involvement with mass vaccination sites. But targeted vaccination teams  who bring vaccine directly to neighborhoods  would continue in the St. Louis and Kansas City regions.

Dr. Alex Garza, who leads the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, said the large-scale sites were more appropriate when there was overwhelming demand for the vaccines.

But now its, I think, more of getting out into the community, Garza said at a Wednesday briefing. So rather than people coming to the vaccine, vaccine goes to the people.

Bible study

Vaccination data from the Department of Health and Senior Services suggests that residents in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County have received the COVID-19 vaccines in lower rates than the rest of the region. For ZIP codes in north St. Louis, the percentage of residents who have received at least one dose ranges from roughly 18% to 24%. In inner north St. Louis County, rates range from 21% to 27%. By comparison, 41% of residents in St. Louis County received one dose, and 38% across the state.

Rates through the regions south and central corridor  from Richmond Heights to Chesterfield to Augusta  largely exceed 50%.

The data isnt perfect. ZIP codes with lower populations have higher margins of error. And DHSS said that records were not included in cases where the ZIP code a patient provided did not match the county where that ZIP code is located.

Still, the data shows broad trends delineating vaccine haves and have-nots.

Pastor Rodrick Burton, of New Northside Missionary Baptist Church in Jennings, said he thinks it would help to have mobile vaccinations at places like bus and train stations. And he thinks there should be more public health messaging from voices that young people would listen to, like people of their own age, on social media.

The health departments had to react so quickly, and they were already hollowed out, Burton said. But if theres any additional resources, they would do well to do a larger campaign of messaging, information, awareness, through voices that are contextual and age-appropriate.

Burton said he has given presentations during Bible study about the vaccines, and the church has been giving congregants information about vaccine events in the area.

At the Gemini Barbershop in Pagedale, owner Howard Fields said he regularly asks his customers whether they have been vaccinated.

Theres a lot of people who dont have it yet, said Fields. Theyre just afraid of it.

Fields and one of his customers, Edward Jones, 55, both said they were encouraged when they saw that the president had gotten vaccinated.

As he sat and waited for a haircut, Jones, of St. Louis, described how he was vaccinated at a local dialysis center. Now, he said, he encourages others to seek the vaccines.

Im high risk without it, Jones said.

No excuse now

Schmidt, the county health deputy director, said the county has dedicated more vaccine sites, staff and doses to North County. But long-standing disparities continue to spell lower vaccination rates: Some residents cant find child care or transportation. Full-time workers cant take time off. And there are fewer health care providers of all types.

There are fewer dentists, Schmidt said. There are fewer mental health providers. There are fewer primary care providers.

Some vaccine sites have experimented with early hours, or late hours. And mass vaccination sites have been intentionally placed along public transportation routes.

At a laundromat in Wellston, as she folded laundry with her mother, Audra Summlin, 48, of St. Louis, said she received her second shot in February, after she was encouraged to get vaccinated at work.

Summlin said she believes she had COVID-19 in the winter, when she experienced a cough, chills, shortness of breath and a sore throat. She said she is regaining her sense of smell, but lost her sense of taste.

Many people dont believe the depths of the dangers, Summlin said, of contracting COVID-19. They do not believe it will happen to them.

If it hadnt been encouraged at work, she said she might have waited longer because the vaccines were still so new. She said she worried that she would be injecting something into my body that wasnt good, that really wasnt meant for me.

Now, she thinks, there is no excuse to skip the vaccine.

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BRUSSELS  Carlos Brito, who built Anheuser-Busch InBev into the worlds biggest brewer during 15 years at the helm, will step down as CEO in July to be replaced by the groups North America boss as it shifts focus from acquisitions to boosting sales.

The brewer of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois lagers said on Thursday its board had unanimously elected Michel Doukeris, the former head of sales, to succeed fellow Brazilian Brito as of July 1.

Chairman Martin Barrington said Doukeris expertise in brands, consumers and innovation meant the 48-year-old was ideally suited for the companys next phase.

That phase could be more focused on boosting sales of over 500 brands than on acquisitions in an already concentrated brewing market.

This should not come as a shock to investors. ... Michel was the clear lead internal candidate, said Trevor Stirling, beverage analyst at Bernstein Securities, adding Doukeris had an impressive track record, notably in China and Asia-Pacific.

AB InBev shares rose around 4% in early trading.

Brito, 61 today, arrived when the brewer was called InBev, the result of a 2004 merger between Belgiums Interbrew and Brazils AmBev, which he headed.
We expect to add between 100 to 200 people in St. Louis, Clark said.

Clayco plans to expand into most of 2127 Innerbelt Business Center Drive in Overland, a 45,000-square-foot building next door to its existing office. It has the building under contract to buy from an entity affiliated with The Staenberg Group, a company led by longtime developer Michael Staenberg. The Staenberg Group will remain a tenant. Clayco also will maintain its office in downtown Clayton.

The West Coast expansion has been in the works for at least two years. The COVID-19 pandemic created an even better opportunity for the company to expand there  with not only cheaper office space to rent in the Los Angeles area but also a weaker market that will make it easier for Clayco to poach a team of employees from one company, whats called lift out recruiting, instead of making acquisitions to grow Claycos workforce.

The timing really was perfect for us because we think that the market will come back extremely hot and rapidly, Clark said.
While children rarely get seriously ill from the coronavirus, they can still get sick and spread it to others. In Florida, since the start of the pandemic, 7% of COVID-19 cases have been among 5- to 14-year-olds. Of that number, 614 were hospitalized and five have died, according to the Department of Health.
Statham plays H, the new guy at a Los Angeles-based armored truck company, Fortico, where the drivers have come to see themselves as prey for increasingly brazen predators, bands of highly trained thieves dressed like construction bandits or motorcycle gangs who stick up the trucks in broad daylight and have no qualms about murder.

The quiet H stands out among the jocular and colorfully nicknamed drivers, who taunt one another with crass, sexually humiliating smack talk. Unflappable doesnt even begin to describe his ability to stay cool, calm and collected in the face of mayhem, inspiring some to describe him as a dark spirit.

Statham has cornered the market on performances that are stoic and lethal, and thats all Ritchie asks of him in Wrath of Man, surrounding him with a murderers row of beguiling character actors, allowing Statham to be the chillingly still eye of the storm. But Ritchie also allows the actor to mature a bit, to grow from a cocky young buck into a man carrying an unspoken burden, a silent pain that motivates his every move.
I said, No, you have to do something, Bush said. But he was adamant, and he said, Just go home. Let it abort. You can get pregnant again because thats what you people do.

Bushs sister was with her. They didnt know what to do. So her sister picked up a chair and threw it down the hallway. Nurses came running.

A nurse put her on a stretcher and called Bushs doctor, who placed a cervical cerclage on the opening to her uterus. Her daughter, Angel, is now 20. Zion is 21.

This is what desperation looks like. That chair flying down a hallway, Bush told the committee. Every day, Black women are subjected to harsh and racist treatment during pregnancy and childbirth. Every day, Black women die because the system denies our humanity.

The hearing, held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., was called by the House Committee on Oversight Reform to examine how racism in health care affects the disparities in Black maternal mortality, which has likely been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. ranks 55th in the world and is the worst among similarly developed nations. The risk falls more on Americas Black residents.
UPDATED with details from arrest records

MARYLAND HEIGHTS  A scuffle at a family-owned Mexican restaurant led to the arrests of four customers Wednesday who were celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

An owner of Casa Juarez Mexican Town restaurant said as many as six customers became unruly and that she was assaulted. One of the customers used pepper spray on two employees, she said.

"In 20 years, we never had an issue like this," said Luz Flores.

The restaurant is at 12710 Dorsett Road. Flores said the incident began after the 10 p.m. closing time. She said the customers at two tables had been complaining all evening about various things, then started a fight when they were asked to leave.

Flores said she was pushed in the chest by one man, then her husband intervened and several of the customers attacked her husband.

Employees followed the customers onto the parking lot to take photographs of their license plates, to provide the information to police. One of the male customers they were following pulled a gun and began to walk toward the restaurant, but no shots were fired, Flores said.

"I screamed, 'Everybody get inside,'" she said.
CLAYTON  Attorney Mark Gaertner stepped down from the St. Louis County Board of Police Commissioners this week to become a municipal judge, marking the third resignation from the board that oversees the county police department within about six months.

Gaertner called County Executive Sam Page on Thursday to inform him he had been appointed as a municipal judge in Chesterfield, said Pages spokesman, Doug Moore, on Friday.

Moore said the county charter would not allow Gaertner to stay on the commission as a judge.

We are grateful for his service and commitment to public safety in St. Louis County, Moore said.

Gaertner, a partner at the Holloran Schwartz & Gaertner law firm, was appointed to the board in 2016 and was its longest serving member before his resignation.

His is the third departure from the board within about six months, leaving two vacancies on the five-member body that has the final say on the departments chief and policies.
Its long overdue, said the Rev. Phillip Duvall. If we dont pay the workforce and keep them competitive, theyre going to go somewhere else where they are respected for a competitive wage. If you want quality, we have to pay for it.

Burris, who was hired in September as the fifth official to lead the troubled jail since 2019, has cited a 70% drop in reported use-of-force incidents in the jail as a sign of improvements at the facility including greater transparency and medical care. Higher pay for frontline staff would keep the positive momentum going, he said.

Council members, including Ernie Trakas, Lisa Clancy and Kelli Dunaway, have said they support the proposal but need to consider it in detail. Trakas and Councilman Tim Fitch questioned in particular how the county would pay for the increases beyond the three-year federal deadline the county has to spend ARP funds.

Can we use the funds still, and if we cant, how do we continue that pay after those funds run out? Fitch said.

Burris said the three years would give the jail and county enough time to adjust for the budgetary impact and that he is seeking other sources of funding, including federal grants, to help sustain the pay increase.
From Dizzy Dean to Robin Williams, take a look back at some of the stars as they were photographed on this day throughout history.
Any time you bring something into a store thats going to increase foot traffic, youre going to increase sales, said Eileen Acello, an expert on food marketing at Florida Atlantic University. Publix, in particular, does a very good job of merchandising. Theyre very good with their displays in the front of the store that piece things together for you, whether its seasonally or something related to a meal or their BOGOs. And when you walk in, the pharmacys usually off to the right or left in the front of the store. And they dont miss opportunities.
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

ROCK PORT, Mo.  Ask Adam McLane who is responsible for the Atchison County Levee setback project and he credits the landowners whose farms in far northwest Missouri were flooded by the Missouri River in 1993, 2011 and 2019.

It was the levee district, says McLane, who lives in St. Louis. Hes the Missouri state director for The Nature Conservancy. The worlds largest conservation nonprofit served as a convener of sorts on the project to move the levee back and connect about 1,000 acres of flood plain and wetlands to the Missouri River to protect against future flooding.

Regan Griffin is a board member for the levee district. His family has been farming the area for more than a century, with some of their land owned by ancestors as far back as the 1860s. He credits The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for creating an atmosphere of teamwork on the massive project.

It was like a perfect Venn diagram, Griffin says. The overlapping circles of interest led to a unique project that could become a flood-control model for the rest of the Missouri River Basin, if not the nation.

The project is due to be completed by mid-summer and could have an impact on St. Louis, more than 360 miles away, the next time the river floods.
Stopping the steal

Finally, a genuine case of voter fraud has been confirmed in Pennsylvania, where a man admitted in court that he used his dead mothers identity last November to mail in a fraudulent vote  for Donald Trump. Bruce Bartman, 70, pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury and one count of unlawful voting. He was sentenced to five years of probation and will be barred from voting for four years.

Bartmans mother died in 2008. He also attempted to cast a fraudulent mail-in ballot for his mother-in-law, who died in 2019, but he didnt get the absentee ballot in time.

According to The Associated Press, Bartman apologized to the judge, explaining: I was isolated last year in lockdown. I listened to too much propaganda and made a stupid mistake.

The case further disproves Trumps continuing big lie that he was denied reelection because of mail-in voter fraud, in that Bartman wasnt able to get away with it. Pennsylvanias voting system caught the fact that a dead person had registered to vote, which led to Bartmans arrest.

Hes ba-aack
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They leave the airport and their first stop is Dutchys. I hear just from the immediate neighborhood there are 20 South African families that live 20 minutes from the store. Ive read somewhere that there are 30,000 plus in Florida. I kind of think there has to be more. I get customers from the Keys right through to about Stuart coming here for the shopping. I had a couple here from Coral Gables Saturday to do lunch and shopping.
The United States has sent nearly a hundred Special Forces, air force and military specialists to Mozambique in March 2021. Officially, some were there to train local special operations troops for two months. Most of the Americans were there assessing the situation for Africom (African Command), the American organization responsible to monitoring the military situation throughout Africa. Providing advice and training to African countries is done when a country requests it. Africom then determines what is going on there and what American military aid would be useful. The final decision is a political one and Africom reports on what it can do with forces available. In most cases Africom monitors or provides some training assistance for local forces. This is something the U.S. Army Special Forces has been doing since the 1950s. That training assistance often escalates to counterterrorism and less often to taking sides in a civil war.

Afrcom has been remotely monitoring the situation in Mozambique for years. The State Department and CIA do that as well, via embassy personnel who have diplomatic immunity. The embassy-based monitoring is more limited than what U.S. SOCOM (Special Operations Command) personnel can do. These are U.S. Army Special Forces which has, since the 1950s, continued using methods first developed and widely applied during World War II, when American troops who spoke the local languages and understood local customs helped organize and supply local resistance forces fighting German or Japanese occupiers. Many of these Americans belonged to the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), which was created during World War II to collect information on resistance forces inside occupied countries, often by sending in OSS personnel to worth with local resistance groups and report back the state of the resistance and what further assistance might help. Britain had a similar organization that operated mainly in Europe.

OSS was disbanded after World War II, but once Russia started the Cold War several years later, by taking control of local governments in East European countries that had been liberated by Russian forces at the end of the war, the United States sought to revive the OSS. This became urgent after Russia ordered North Korea forces, and later Chinese troops, to try and take control of South Korea, where the last American trainers and advisors had departed in 1950. The Korean War went on for three years, killing about four million people, most of them civilians followed by Chinese and North Korean troops. About 36,000 American troops were killed along with 4.500 from other foreign contingents that joined the UN force opposing the invasion. South Korea lost 162,000 troops, North Korea about 200,000 and the Chinese over 400,000. The Korean war never officially ended; the 1953 agreement was a ceasefire with ceasefire line roughly where the 1950 border between the two Koreas was in 1950 was.

The lack of information about the pre-war situation was later found to be a major factor in the United States misunderstanding the situation in the region. This led to the expansion of the newly established CIA and creation of the Special Forces, both based on successful OSS activities during World War II. Since the 1950s the Special Forces, with its troops organized into separate groups, each specializing in the languages and cultures of one region has been a primary method of assessing what is actually going on in potential hot-spots. These assessments often contradict current popular beliefs and are discredited, minimized or ignored. History is all about misunderstanding whats going on elsewhere.

Africom obtains Special Forces troops from the 3rd Special Forces Group, which specializes in African languages and cultures. Africa has hundreds of different local languages and most African countries use a local widely known foreign language, usually English or French, as a common language for business and government. In East Africa, former Portuguese colonies like Mozambique use Portuguese as a common language. Many local police and military speak or understand some Portuguese. The American Special Forces can send in some troops who speak Portuguese and this makes it easier to train local troops, usually in how to deal with Islamic terrorist tactics.

Special Forces training missions also obtain a lot of useful information on what is really going on in a country suddenly confronted with a rebellion, Islamic terrorists or other crises. While Special Forces troops are highly trained career combat troops, their primary skills are foreign languages and knowledge of local culture. Special Forces training missions are often accused of being mainly about espionage, but theres nothing clandestine or hidden about how the Special Forces get to know the local troops they are working with and impart essential military skills to local troops who know these lessons could help them survive the violence going on or developing locally.

Which brings us back to Mozambique, a country torn apart by nearly half a century of warfare. Modern Mozambique came to be in the 1500s when Portugal, conquered and colonized the area, creating the current borders. This explains why the country consists largely of coast and interior areas reachable via rivers that enabled the early Portuguese to easily control areas its ships could reach. What ended Portuguese rule was an early 1960s anti-colonial movement throughout Africa that led most other European colonizers, but not Portugal, to depart. Portugal held on until 1975, when political unrest back in Portugal included calls for setting the colonies free. This meant nearly 300,000 Portuguese left Mozambique, taking with them a major portion of the new nations technical personnel and skilled administrators. Mozambique elected its own government but that only lasted two years before a fifteen-year long civil war began. This civil war was far more damaging than the shorter, and less successful anti-colonial war. The civil war killed over a million people and drove more than 20 percent of the population from their homes for months or years. Nearly two million of those refugees fled the country.

Mozambique has been suffering wars or threats of war since the 1960s. Mozambique is a largely coastal country north of South Africa and south of Tanzania. Most of the coastline runs parallel to the large island of Madagascar. The current population of 30 million is a lot larger, and less prosperous, than the six million living there in 1950. For over a thousand years Mozambique had, like many other parts of East Africa, consisted of coastal cities that prospered by serving as market places where people from the interior could obtain all manner of foreign goods. Mozambique was part of a vast trading network using dependable seasonable winds to allow ships to move good from East Africa to the Persian Gulf, India, Indonesia and eventually Europe and the world.

The 1960s Mozambique rebellion against the Portuguese colonial government left about 60,000 dead, 94 percent of them rebels and civilians. The rebels were never a real threat to the colonial government but Portugal eventually realized that their African colonies were expensive to maintain and unpopular with European and African governments. Eventually most Portuguese agreed as well.

The first post-colonial Mozambique government was socialist and run by politicians who wanted to establish a communist police state for the greater good. This triggered a civil war in 1977 that killed over a million people, most of them civilians, before it ended in 1992. With the collapse of European communist governments and the dissolution of the Soviet Union between 1989 and 1991, the Mozambique communists agreed that their God was dead (but might get better) and accepted true democracy. Some tensions between communists and democrats remained and there were brief outbursts of violence in 2013 and 2018. A 2019 agreement eliminated most of that tension just as a new threat, from Islamic terrorists, was developing.

The current ruling political party in Mozambique is Frelimo, which is led by families that supplied leaders for the original anti-colonial rebels and the various post-colonial groups that fought each other for supremacy. Frelimo is hostile to any foreign military assistance, even by other African nations offering UN sponsored peacekeepers. Small numbers of foreign troops are tolerated as long as they make themselves useful and do not threaten Frelimo. Currently American and French special operations troops are welcome because the Americans have a reputation for helping and not causing trouble. The French are acceptable because a French led consortium, organized by Total, a major French oil and gas firm, has nearly finished work on a $20 billion investment to create the largest natural gas deposits in Africa into a producer of natural gas for mostly for export.

While Total brought in a lot of foreign technical and engineering personnel not available in Mozambique, a lot of less-skilled jobs went to locals. Frelimo insisted those jobs go to people considered loyal to Frelimo. That meant most of these jobs ended up going to Frelimo loyalists from outside the Moslem majority northern Cabo Delgado province where all the natural gas was. In Africa, that sort of thing does not end well.

Mozambique is already one of the most corrupt nations in Africa, a continent containing too many of the most corrupt nations worldwide. That corruption follows a familiar pattern once sudden wealth appears, usually in the form of previously undiscovered natural resources. Frelimo stays in power by distributing what money and resources it has to those who can help to keep Frelimo in power. The new natural gas wealth, several hundred billion dollars worth over the next 25 years, has led the Moslem minority, especially those in Cabo Delgado province, to get angry and many are angry enough to start another war. A little over half the 2.2 million people in Cabo Delgado province are Moslem and neighboring (inland) Niassa province is 60 percent Moslem. Niassa has only 1.8 million people and these two provinces are the only ones with a Moslem majority. Most (63 percent) of the 5.7 Mozambique Moslems are a minority in coastal areas south of the two Moslem majority provinces.

The previous Mozambique civil wars were mainly about politics and tribal alliances. Religion was not a major factor because more than four centuries of Portuguese rule had left the population mostly (60 percent) Christian, with about 20 percent practicing ancient local religions or no religion at all. About 19 percent were Moslem, mostly in the north. Until the huge natural gas deposits were discovered, the north was poor and not worth fighting over. In the last decade it became clear that Mozambique was really going become one of the largest natural gas producers in the world. Anyone who noted how this worked out in the rest of Africa realized this was going to make some Mozambique politicians very rich while everyone else remained poor. That got the northern Moslems receptive to calls for rebellion and that led to Islamic terrorists taking the lead, as they often do in Moslem majority areas. It only took a few years for several small Islamic terror groups to get organized and then agree to merge to form the larger Ansar-al-Sunna group. Starting out with less than a hundred gunmen and even more unarmed supporters, it took about four years of fighting, growth and a few spectacular victories for Ansar-al-Sunna to reach nearly a thousand gunmen. At that point the Moslem rebels decided to become an ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) affiliate called ISCAP (Islamic State Central Africa Province).

Cabo Delgado and Niassa provinces are adjacent to Tanzania, a nation of 56 million and a larger (35 percent) Moslem minority. Islamic radicals from northern neighbors Tanzania, Kenya and Somalia were the key to creation of ISCAP. These other African terrorists tend to favor al Qaeda over ISIL but major victories in Cabo Delgado made the more vicious and fanatic ISIL more popular. Moslems are a minority in East Africa but an aggressive one when it comes religious matters. Thats a major reason why most East Africans are either Christians or follow ancient local religious practices. The Islamic terrorists still finance themselves via smuggling, extortion and outright theft and the coming natural gas income bonanza will provide more to steal.

Frelimo lost control of the situation in late 2020 because the 11,000 strong Mozambique armed forces are used more for policing than for soldiering. This is a typical move for African rulers, who note that a more professional military could become a threat to their power. That means the ten infantry battalions were not only poorly trained soldiers but were mainly used as poorly trained police. Three of these battalions were classified as special operations troops but that means they were considered more loyal to Frelimo and were treated better than other troops. As long as Frelimo kept each of these three battalions paying attention to internal threats, including the other special operations battalions, the government was safe. This was a typical technique for paranoid government to maintain their power. A flood of new natural gas income threatens to upset this precarious balance and ISCAP is a visible, painful and very dangerous example of how this works.

Frelimo knows that the few American and French troops they have let into the country are there to try and measure the severity of the threat to Frelimo rule. Frelimo expects to get details the assessment, which the United States and France hope will persuade Frelimo to make more rational and pragmatics decisions on how to proceed.

Meanwhile, in March 2021 Total declared Force Majeure (emergency beyond their control) and shut down the natural gas facilities. Nearly all foreign personnel were evacuated and only enough people left behind to monitor the unfinished natural gas extraction, processing and exporting facilities. Frelimo thought Force Majeure was premature but lawyers advised that Total was within its contractual rights to declare an emergency because ISCAP gunmen had recently come with six kilometers of the natural gas complex and their next attack may well take them into the complex.

Frelimo had already asked Portugal and the EU (European Union) to send military trainers and advisors. Those teams are no the way and Africom has to decide if the U.S. should join the effort.

Frelimo refuses to accept foreign troops, even UN supplied peacekeepers. Instead, Frelimo is seeking mercenaries but is not finding any numerous or reliable enough to get the job done. Russia had allowed the Wagner Group to supply several hundred Russia veterans but seven of these were killed and many more wounded in the recent effort to keep ISCAP from the Total compound. Wagner Group assessed the situation and reported back to Russia that the next attack would fall largely on the Wagner military contractors because they, and a similar number of South African mercenaries were the only reliable defenders in the area and the Mozambique troops appeared shaken and less capable of surviving another attack. Russia ordered the Wager Group forces out of the combat zone. The South Africans may follow and the situation is desperate.
The Board of Directors warmly thanks Dr. Philippe Pouletty, Managing Director of Truffle Capital, for his exceptional contribution to the development of the CARMAT project, and proposes the appointment of three new directors, Florent Battistella, David Coti and John B. Hernandez.

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Regulatory News:

CARMAT (FR0010907956, ALCAR), the designer and developer of the worlds most advanced total artificial heart, aiming to fulfill an unmet medical need by providing a therapeutic alternative to people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure, announced today the reorganization of its governance with the proposed appointment of Florent Battistella, David Coti and John B. Hernandez as directors. These appointments will be submitted for approval at the upcoming General Meeting of CARMAT at May 12, 2021.

Jean-Pierre Garnier, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: "Following the CE mark and in the context of the new industrialization and commercialization phase of the total artificial heart, which leads us to rotate the directors on the Board, we are pleased to welcome Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Coti and Mr. Battistella to the CARMAT Board of Directors. Their expertise and experience, both commercial and industrial, will be very useful in this new strategic phase of the Company, particularly with the launch of our Aeson prosthesis on the European market. On behalf of CARMAT's Board of Directors, I would like to thank Philippe Pouletty, the co-founder of CARMAT, for his many contributions, particularly the decisive help he provided during difficult times in the early existence of the Company. Without his passion for this ambitious and complex project, the CARMAT artificial heart would not have become a reality today."

Dr. Philippe Pouletty, Managing Director of Truffle Capital, concludes: "We are very proud to have founded CARMAT with Airbus and Prof. Alain Carpentier and to have supported the Company during thirteen exciting years.

Florent Battistella

Florent Battistella, 60, is a graduate engineer from INSA Toulouse and holds a PhD in solid state physics from Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse. From 1983 to 1988, he held research positions at the CNRS in France and at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. From 1988 to 2004, he worked in production at IBM (semiconductor manufacturing), then in the automotive sector at Valeo, and finally at Solectron (electronics manufacturing) where he was Vice President Operations, in charge of 9 European sites. From 2004 to 2011, he was Vice-CEO, then Chief Operating Officer and finally CEO of emerging countries at Converteam, a company under LBO acquired by General Electric in 2011. He then founded Nisima, a holding company, which holds stakes in various firms, notably in the naval and aeronautical sectors.

David Coti

David Coti, 38, holds a double degree in international business (ESSEC International and Plekhanov University in Moscow). He started his career in the 2000s by creating a distribution company in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). As an investor particularly interested in emerging markets, life sciences, biotechnologies and "clean technologies", he has been managing since 2015 various family offices, including those of the Gaspard family (Bratya SPRL and Corely SPRL), owner of the Lyreco group. He is also, since 2016, Vice President Marketing of TBR, a company specialised in digital marketing. Finally, he is a member of the governance committee of Investir &+, an investment structure that supports the growth of entrepreneurs developing projects with a strong social or environmental impact.

John B. Hernandez

John B. Hernandez, 54, is currently Clinical Director and Head of Clinical Research and Medical-Economic Affairs at Google. Previously, he served from 2016 to 2018 as Head of Medical-Economic Affairs and Market Access at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences). John B. Hernandez holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Chapel Hill (North Carolina), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in health policy from Pardee RAND Graduate School (California). Before joining Google in 2016, he served in executive roles at major medical device companies including Boston Scientific where he served as Vice President of Clinical Research and Vice President of Health Economics and Outcomes Research from 2001 through 2010 and Abbott Vascular where he served as Vice President of Health Economics and Outcomes Research from 2010 through 2016. Previously, he was a health services researcher at the RAND Corporation, a consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Director of e-Clinical at Quintiles (now IQVIA).

The Board of Directors acknowledged the resignation of Truffle Capital, of which Dr. Philippe Pouletty was the permanent representative, from his position as Director of CARMAT.

The Board of Directors of the Company expresses its warmest thanks to Dr. Pouletty for his contribution and involvement in the work of the Board of Directors during his term of office, in particular as Chairman of the Recruitment and Remuneration Committee.



About CARMAT: the worlds most advanced total artificial heart

A credible response to end-stage heart failure: CARMAT aims to eventually provide a response to a major public health issue associated with heart disease, the worlds leading cause of death: chronic and acute heart failure. By pursuing the development of its total artificial heart, Aeson, composed of the implantable bioprosthesis and its portable external power supply system to which it is continuously connected, CARMAT intends to overcome the well-known shortfall in heart transplants for the tens of thousands of people suffering from irreversible end-stage heart failure, the most seriously affected of the 20 million patients with this progressive disease in Europe and the United States.

The result of combining two types of unique expertise: the medical expertise of Professor Carpentier, known throughout the world for inventing Carpentier-Edwards heart valves, which are the most used in the world, and the technological expertise of Airbus Group, world aerospace leader.

The first physiologic heart replacement therapy: given the use of highly biocompatible materials, its unique self-regulation system and its pulsatile nature, the CARMAT total artificial heart could, assuming a successful clinical development, potentially save the lives of thousands of patients each year with no risk of rejection and with an enhanced quality of life.

A project leader acknowledged at a European level: with the backing of the European Commission, CARMAT has been granted the largest subsidy ever given to an SME by Bpifrance; a total of 33 million.

Strongly committed, prestigious founders and shareholders: Matra Defense SAS (subsidiary of the Airbus Group), Professor Alain Carpentier, the Centre Chirurgical Marie Lannelongue, Truffle Capital, a leading European venture capital firm, ALIAD (Air Liquides venture capital investor), CorNovum (an investment holding company held 50-50 by Bpifrance and the French State), the family offices of Pierre Bastid (Lohas), of Dr. Antonino Ligresti (Sante Holdings S.R.L.), of the Gaspard family (Corely Belgium SPRL and Bratya SPRL) and of M. Pierre-Edouard Sterin (BAD 21 SPRL), Groupe Therabel as well as the thousands of institutional and individual shareholders who have placed their trust in CARMAT.

For more information: www.carmatsa.com



Name: CARMAT

ISIN code: FR0010907956

Ticker: ALCAR

Disclaimer

This press release and the information contained herein do not constitute an offer to sell or subscribe to, or a solicitation of an offer to buy or subscribe to, shares in CARMAT ("the Company") in any country. This press release contains forwardlooking statements that relate to the Companys objectives. Such forwardlooking statements are based solely on the current expectations and assumptions of the Companys management and involve risk and uncertainties. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, whether the Company will be successful in implementing its strategies, whether there will be continued growth in the relevant market and demand for the Companys products, new products or technological developments introduced by competitors, and risks associated with managing growth. The Companys objectives as mentioned in this press release may not be achieved for any of these reasons or due to other risks and uncertainties.

No guarantee can be given as to any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements, which are subject to inherent risks, including those described in the Universal registration document filed with the Autorite des Marches Financiers on February 24, 2021 under number D.21-0076 as well as changes in economic conditions, the financial markets or the markets in which CARMAT operates. In particular, no guarantee can be given concerning the Companys ability to finalize the development, validation and industrialization of the prosthesis and the equipment required for its use, to manufacture the prostheses, satisfy the requirements of competent authorities, enroll patients, obtain satisfactory clinical results, perform the clinical trials and achieve commercial objectives.

Aeson is an active implantable medical device commercially available in Europe ONLY, CARMAT SA., CE0344. The Aeson TAH is intended to replace ventricles of native heart and is indicated as a bridge to transplant in patients suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure (INTERMACS classes 1-4) who are not amenable to maximal medical therapy or LVAD and are likely to undergo heart transplant in the 180 days following device implantation. The decision to implant and the surgical procedure must be executed by Health Care professionals trained by the manufacturer. Carefully read the documentation (clinician manual, patient manual & alarm booklet) for characteristics and information necessary for patient selection and good use (contraindications, precautions, side effects).

In the USA, Aeson is currently exclusively available within the framework of clinical trials.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506006290/en/

CARMAT

Stephane Piat

Chief Executive Officer

Pascale dArbonneau

Chief Financial Officer

Tel.: +33 1 39 45 64 50

contact@carmatsas.com

Alize RP

Press Relations

Caroline Carmagnol

Tel.: +33 6 64 18 99 59

carmat@alizerp.com

NewCap

Investor Relations &

Strategic Communication

Dusan Oresansky

Quentin Masse

Tel.: +33 1 44 71 94 94

carmat@newcap.eu

Source: CARMAT
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EAG Laboratories is expanding its medical device testing capabilities with a new 20,000 square-foot laboratory located in St. Louis, Mo.

The new laboratory is a bespoke design to support the requirements of the medical device industry. It increases EAGs analytical capabilities, allows for improved turnaround times and helps meet evolving requirements from the FDA as well as the European Union Medical Device Regulations (MDR).

Specialty features of the laboratory include:

A cleanroom designed for particle isolation and identification

A dedicated medical device polymer analysis laboratory

State-of the-art instrumentation to support biocompatitility testing of ISO 10993-18 programs for medical devices and combination products

EAG scientists have been investigating and resolving product failures for more than half a century and have a deep understanding of materials and testing procedures. The medical device laboratory expansion allows EAG to leverage that knowledge and apply it toward supporting the growing and vitally important medical device industry.

The St. Louis laboratory is ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 17025 accredited; FDA-registered and DEA Licensed, and offers analytical support in terms of materials characterization, failure analysis, particle identification, contaminant identification, analyte quantitation, and ISO 10993-18 chemical characterization.

About EAG Laboratories

EAG Laboratories is the global leader in materials and engineering sciences and supports thousands of clients with 20+ locations throughout Europe, Asia, and the U.S. For more information visit eag.com. EAG Laboratories parent company, Eurofins Scientific, is a multi-billion global leader in scientific testing services with a portfolio of over 200,000 validated analytical methods.

About Eurofins  the global leader in bio-analysis

Eurofins is Testing for Life. With over 50,000 staff across a network of more than 800 laboratories in over 50 countries, Eurofins companies offer a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods.

Eurofins Shares are listed on Euronext Paris Stock Exchange.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005431/en/

For further information:

Stuart Mitchell

marketing@eurofinsEAG.com

Source: EAG Laboratories
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders in a virtual-only format due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting will be held on May 11, 2021 beginning at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/GAP2021. A webcast replay will be available through www.gapinc.com for at least 30 days following the meeting.

Shareholders will be able to attend the 2021 Annual Meeting, vote shares electronically and submit questions by logging in and using the 16-digit control number included in the Notice of Internet Availability of Proxy Materials, on the proxy card or on any additional voting instructions accompanying the proxy materials.

Guests may join the virtual 2021 Annual Meeting in listen-only mode. No control number is required.

About Gap Inc.

Gap Inc., a collection of purpose-led lifestyle brands, is the largest American specialty apparel company offering clothing, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. The company uses omni-channel capabilities to bridge the digital world and physical stores to further enhance its shopping experience. Gap Inc. is guided by its purpose, Inclusive, by Design, and takes pride in creating products and experiences its customers love while doing right by its employees, communities, and planet. Gap Inc. products are available for purchase worldwide through company-operated stores, franchise stores, and e-commerce sites. Fiscal year 2020 net sales were $13.8 billion. For more information, please visit www.gapinc.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005083/en/

Investor Relations Contact:

Steve Austenfeld

(415) 427-1807

Investor_relations@gap.com

Media Relations Contact:

Chris Cooney

Press@gap.com

Source: Gap Inc.
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Generational Equity, a leading mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately held businesses, is pleased to announce the sale of its client, Design Space InPharmatics, LLC to ProductLife Group. The acquisition closed April 23, 2021.

Located in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, Design Space InPharmatics (DSI) offers one-stop, full-service regulatory and CMC consulting to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, leveraging multidisciplinary teams comprised of close to 50 manufacturing, quality, and regulatory affairs experts.

DSI consultants bring decades of experience to every stage of the regulatory and product development process, from initial selection of development and manufacturing sources, design and evaluation of the investigational manufacturing process through the scale-up for commercialization to and through approval.

Over the last ten years, the Company has contributed to more than 60 original INDs, 25 NDAs/BLAs and produced materials for more than 50 interactions with the European and U.S. agencies.

Headquartered in Paris, France, ProductLife Groups (PLG) mission is to improve human health by delivering regulatory compliance services for the safe and effective use of medical solutions. For almost 30 years, PLG has supported clients through the entire product life cycle, combining local expertise with global reach spanning more than 110 countries.

PLG provides consulting and outsourcing services in the areas of regulatory affairs, quality and compliance, vigilance and medical information, covering both established products and innovative therapeutics & diagnostics. With a goal of continuously improving the value delivered to people and customers, PLG is committed to long-term partnership, innovation, flexibility, and cost efficiency.

The strategic acquisition of DSI, which further strengthens PLGs biopharma capability and provides a strong foothold in North America, is the next step in PLGs global expansion plan. This new alliance will pave the way for further acceleration of the two companies growth plans by allowing clients to benefit from additional expertise, as well as from PLGs extensive geographic reach.

Ive been very impressed by DSI. Their experts all have decades of practical industry and agencies interaction experience, providing an unparalleled perspective on how to navigate new product development in a complex and evolving regulatory environment and ultimately arrive at market in the most efficient way. We will leverage this experience to support our clients in their global efforts to accelerate the path to approval and to implement compliant drug development strategies, commented Xavier Duburcq, PLG CEO.

Together PLG and DSI will be able to support clients in all stages of the product lifecycle, from pre-clinical work to post-approval compliance though the review and approval processes and market-entry strategy. This is a very exciting step for us all, Duburcq added.

Commenting on the merger with PLG, Edward Narke and Anthony Durning, co-founders at DSI, and Brian Lihou, newly appointed General Manager of DSI, said, We could not be more pleased to become part of a global leader in the life sciences regulatory and compliance industry. Joining PLG is exciting, both for DSI as a business, as well as for our clients, which will now have access to additional specialist expertise and international coverage spanning more than 100 countries.

Generational Equity Executive Managing Director, M&A-Technology Practice Leader, David Fergusson, and his team led by Managing Director, M&A, Moses Shmueli, with the support of Vice President, Mergers & Acquisitions, Tristan Keeffe, successfully closed the deal. Senior Managing Director Ashok Tandon established the initial relationship with DSI.

The success of DSI was led by Edward Narke and Anthony Durning, two exceptional entrepreneurs, who envisioned and executed very thoughtfully to build such a valuable company. With PLG as a partner, I expect to see DSI continue to grow and I look forward to following the continued achievements of the combined entities, said Shmueli.

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/20210506005053/en/

Carl Doerksen

972-232-1125

cdoerksen@generational.com

Source: Generational Equity
RABAT, Morocco--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Morocco and the United Nations will be marking the first-ever International Argan Tree Day on May 10th, 2021. The Argan tree, a tree specific to the Kingdom of Morocco, will thus be celebrated every year on May 10, as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity and ancestral source of sustainable development.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506005652/en/

February 22, 2021: The United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution proclaiming May 10 of each year as the International Argan Tree Day (Photo: AETOSWire)

The proclamation of the International Argan Tree Day was announced on March 3, 2021, when the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a draft resolution initiated by Morocco and hailed by all United Nations member states.

This milestone is a culmination of Moroccos quest to mobilize the international community to protect and further develop the countrys Argan industry. It is also an international recognition of the Kingdom's efforts, guided by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to call attention to the Argan trees significant value, with the launch of a comprehensive program for the planting of 10,000 ha of Argan trees in the Souss-Massa-Draa region, Morocco.

The UN resolution highlights the key role of the Argan tree sector in achieving the 2030 Agenda goals and its contribution to sustainable development in its economic, social and environmental dimensions. It also underlines the key role of this sector in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 5 on the financial empowerment and emancipation of women in rural areas; strengthening social and solidarity economy as a means to implement the SDGs; eradicating poverty in all its forms and boosting human development by supporting cooperatives and other agriculture organizations working in the argan field.

Praising the achievement, HE Omar Hilale, Morocco's Permanent Representative to the United Nations said: Protecting this cultural heritage lies at the very heart of the missions undertaken by the Kingdom of Morocco and the proclamation of International Argan Tree Day is a recognition of these efforts. Marking this day is an invitation to learn, share and celebrate this ancestral tree, which produces the most coveted oil, often called the countrys Liquid Gold. It is also a way to leverage culture as a lever for sustainable socio-economic development.

A high-level event will be organized to mark this first celebration and will be chaired by Aziz Akhannouch, Moroccos Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Waters, and Forests, as well as high-ranking speakers, notably:

- Omar Hilale, Morocco's Permanent Representative to the United Nations,

- Volkan Bozkr, President of the United Nations General Assembly,

- Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations and Chair of the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG),

- Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO,

- Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General,

- Anita Bathia, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women,

- Maria Henela Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General,

- Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund.

The event, slated to take place on May 10 from 2 to 4 pm UTC, will be streamed live on the United Nations' Web TV, YouTube, and social media.

*Source: AETOSWire

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506005652/en/

Sara Azennag

sara@internationaldayofargania.org

Source: Journee Internationale de lArganier
CARSON CITY, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vidler Water Resources, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement to lease up to 1,926 acres of its land in Maricopa and La Paz Counties in Arizona to an affiliate of one of the worlds largest producers of wind and solar energy. The agreement is structured as an option for up to five years to lease up to 1,926 acres for $500 per acre per year for 26 years with two five-year options to extend the lease. The agreement also provides for a lease rate increase of 2% per annum over the term of the lease. In addition, Vidler also agreed to reserve 2,000 of its Arizona Long-Term Storage Credits for construction purposes for a price of $1,630 per LTSC, utilizing Vidler facilities to recover the water.

Vidler Water Resources President and Chief Executive Officer, Dorothy Timian-Palmer, commented:

We are extremely pleased to enter into an agreement to lease certain of our Arizona properties. We have worked previously with this company on our other properties, and we have found them to be an excellent partner with first-rate innovative and sustainable energy solutions for the communities they serve. We are glad to play our part in increasing the regions alternative energy supplies. The affiliates parent company is actively involved in the Data Center and Green Hydrogen power space, and we look forward to the opportunities our alliance may bring and allow us to utilize our Harquahala Long-Term Storage Credits in the Basin where they are stored or the Phoenix metropolitan area. The mega-drought that is occurring in the Western U.S. is driving entities to seek water supplies that would not have been considered in the past. As the mega-drought continues, we believe it will have an upward impact on pricing of water supplies.

We are also currently in negotiations with Ten West Link, as they require an easement across several of our Harquahala Valley, Arizona properties. The Ten West Link Transmission Project is an electrical Interconnection that would provide 500 KV Transmission between substations in Tonopah, Arizona and Riverside County, California. The power transmission activity in Harquahala is attracting various solar and other alternative energy facilities to propose projects in the Harquahala Basin and we have Long-Term Storage Credits that can be used for both operation and construction needs that can be recovered throughout the Basin.

About Vidler Water Resources, Inc.

As of December 31, 2020, our primary holding was Vidler Water Company, Inc. (Vidler), a water resource and water storage business, with assets and operations primarily in the Southwestern U.S.

Our business is to source, develop and provide sustainable potable water resources to fast-growing communities throughout the Southwest U.S. that lack, or are running short of, available water resources.

We conduct our business by working closely with many constituents in these communities: regulators, utilities, Native North American tribes, community leaders, residential and commercial developers and alternative energy companies. We ensure the water resources we develop and sell are sustainable and provide benefit to the citizens of the communities and regions we serve.

Currently, we believe the highest potential return to shareholders is from a return of capital. As we monetize our water and real estate assets, rather than reinvest the proceeds, we intend to return capital to shareholders through a stock repurchase program or by other means such as special dividends. Nonetheless, we may, from time to time, reinvest a portion of proceeds from asset monetizations in further development of existing assets, if we believe the returns on such reinvestment outweigh the benefits of a return of capital.

OTHER INFORMATION

At December 31, 2020, we had a market capitalization of $173.8 million, and 18,583,366 shares outstanding.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains statements that may constitute forward-looking statements, which are based on information currently available, usually identified by words such as "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "plans,'' "projects," "expects," "hopes," "intends," "strategy," ''focus," "outlook," "will," "could," "should," "may," "continue," or similar expressions, which speak only as of the date the statement was made. Such statements are forward-looking statements and are 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, and such statements are subject to the safe harbor created by those sections and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical or current fact, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our business objectives, our ability to monetize our water resources and the future prices that may be obtained for our water resources, the future demand for our water resources, our ability to reduce net operating cash use, our ability to source additional revenue streams, our ability to preserve and utilize NOLs to offset taxable income and reduce our federal income liability, and our ability to monetize assets and return capital to shareholders through stock repurchases or through other means. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties.

A number of other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations, such as: any slowdown or downturn in the housing or in the real estate markets in which Vidler operates; fluctuations in the prices of water and water rights; physical, governmental and legal restrictions on water and water rights; a downturn in some sectors of the stock market; general economic conditions; the impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic on the demand for real estate, the pace of real estate development, and demand for water resources to support residential and commercial real estate development; prolonged weakness in the overall U.S. and global economies; the performance of the businesses in which Vidler operates; the continued service and availability of key management personnel; and potential capital requirements and financing alternatives.

For further information regarding risks and uncertainties associated with our business, please refer to the Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Risk Factors sections of our SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained by contacting us at (775) 885-5000 or at http://vidlerwater.com.

We undertake no obligation to (and we expressly disclaim any obligation to) update our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events, or otherwise, in order to reflect any event or circumstance which may arise after the date of this press release, except as may otherwise be required by law. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210506006206/en/

Dorothy Timian-Palmer

President and Chief Executive Officer

(775) 885-5000

Source: Vidler Water Resources, Inc.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics centre in Boves, France, August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has paused its annual Prime Day sale in India, a company spokeswoman said on Friday, as the country battles a severe second wave of coronavirus infections that has left thousands dead.

In the past week, India has reported 1.5 million new infections and record daily death tolls as its hospitals run out of beds and medical oxygen.

Amazon, Google and several Indian firms have jumped in to help the world's second biggest population battle coronavirus by pitching in with everything from airlifts of medical equipment and funding pledges to making medical oxygen.

Amazon's plans to pause its Prime Day event in India was first reported by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/06/amazon-delays-prime-day-in-india-and-canada-because-of-covid-19.html early on Friday.

The event, offered only to members by Amazon, is typically held in July to boost sales. The discounts are a key way Amazon markets Prime, a fast-shipping and media-streaming service that incentivizes subscribers to do more shopping on Amazon.

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
CONTINUE TO DELIVER REVENUE GROWTH AT BOTH ELECTRICITY AND ENERGY STORAGE SEGMENTS REITERATE 2021 ANNUAL ADJUSTED EBITDA GUIDANCEINCREASED ENERGY STORAGE PIPELINE TO 2 GW

RENO, Nev., May 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: ORA) today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

KEY FINANCIAL RESULTS

Q1 2021 Q1 2020 Change (%) GAAP Measures Revenues ($ millions) Electricity 145.0 142.9 1.5 % Product 8.6 47.4 (81.8 )% Energy Storage 12.7 1.8 589.1 % Total Revenues 166.4 192.1 (13.4 )% Gross margin (%) Electricity 44.9 % 50.0 % Product 6.6 % 22.0 % Energy Storage 62.4 % (5.6 )% Gross margin (%) 44.3 % 42.6 % Operating income ($ millions) 49.9 61.1 (18.3 )% Net income attributable to the Companys stockholders 15.3 26.0 (41.4 )% Diluted EPS ($) 0.27 0.51 (47.1 )% Non-GAAP Measures Adjusted Net income attributable to the Companys stockholders 24.1 26.0 (7.3 )% Adjusted Diluted EPS ($) 0.42 0.51 (17.6 )% Adjusted EBITDA1 ($ millions) 99.2 106.0 (6.4 )%

(1) Reconciliation is set forth below in this release

Our first quarter results reflect continued strength from our Electricity and our rapidly growing Energy Storage segments that were able to partially offset a $9.9 million reduction in gross profit in the Product segment that was adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the $4.9 million of insurance income related to Puna that was received in the first quarter of last year, commented Doron Blachar, Chief Executive Officer. We continue to show revenue growth in both the Electricity and Energy Storage segments and are expecting to maintain growth and improve Adjusted EBITDA.

Ormats pipeline of energy storage projects continues to expand, and we have secured large quantities of batteries that will be delivered over the next four years on competitive terms in order to support our growing needs, added Mr. Blachar. This segment continues to contribute positive Adjusted EBITDA and we are increasingly confident that growth will accelerate.

This year we will lay additional groundwork to accelerate the growth of our Electricity and Energy Storage segments, added Mr. Blachar. Governments around the world continue to support renewable energy, and the current U.S. administration has indicated an eagerness to invest in infrastructure, particularly for clean energy. We are well-positioned to take advantage of these trends. We expect to increase our combined geothermal, energy storage and solar generating portfolio to approximately 1.5 GW by 2023, with a significant contribution coming from our energy storage business. This will enable an annual run-rate of $500 million in Adjusted EBITDA towards the end of 2022.

FINANCIAL AND BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders was $15.3 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, compared to $26.0 million, or $0.51 per diluted share in the first quarter of last year, representing a decrease of 41.4% and 47.1%, respectively, mainly as a result of the February power crisis in Texas, which led to emergency regulations impacting our Rabbit Hill energy storage project, as well as the slowdown in Ormats Products segment;

Adjusted net income attributable to the Company's stockholders was $24.1 million, or $0.42 per diluted share compared to $26.0 million or $0.51 per diluted share in 2020. Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders in the first quarter of 2021 was adjusted to exclude a one-time net expense of $12.1 million pre-tax and $8.8 million after tax related to the February power crisis in Texas, which caused a significant increase in demand for electricity on the one hand and a decrease in the electricity supply in the region on the other hand, leading to a significant increase in the Responsive Reserve Service market price. The following is a breakdown of the pre-tax net expense as recorded in our P&L: Revenue of $5.4 million under Energy Storage segment Expense of $3.0 million under General and Administrative Expenses Loss of $14.5 million under Derivatives and Foreign Currency Transaction Gains (Losses);

Adjusted EBITDA decreased 6.4% to $99.2 million, from $106.0 million in the first quarter of last year mainly due to a $9.9 million reduction in Product segment gross profit this quarter and BI insurance income of $4.9 million recorded in the first quarter of last year (a reconciliation of GAAP net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA is set forth below in this release);

Electricity segment revenues increased slightly compared to the first quarter of last year, supported by a contribution from newly added capacity at the Steamboat Complex and from Punas resumed operation, partially offset by curtailments in the Olkaria complex in Kenya due to COVID-19 and lower resource performance in the complex that caused a reduction in generation. We are evaluating a recovery plan to restore the complexs generating capacity;

Product segment revenues decreased 81.8% to $8.6 million, down from $47.4 million in the same quarter last year, impacted mainly by COVID-19;

Product segment backlog stands at $37.2 million as of May 5, 2021;

Energy Storage segment revenues were a record $12.7 million compared to $1.8 million in the same quarter last year. The increase was mainly related to higher revenues at our Rabbit Hill project driven by the February power crisis in Texas, and revenues from our Pomona asset in California which was acquired in July 2020;

We announced the commercial operation of the 10 MW/40 MWh Vallecito Battery Energy Storage System (Vallecito BESS). The Vallecito BESS provides local resource adequacy to Southern California Edison (SCE) under a 20-year energy storage resource adequacy agreement. In addition, the facility will provide ancillary services and energy optimization through participation in merchant markets run by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO);

The Puna power plant is currently generating approximately 20 MW. We plan to connect two injection wells during the second quarter and are targeting close to full capacity in mid-2021. While the enactment of the new PPA, signed with HELCO at the end of 2019, was recently delayed by the PUC, we will continue selling electricity under our existing long-term PPA;

McGinness Hills expansion is completed and we are in late stage of start-up; and

We released two energy storage systems for construction, the 20 MW/MWh Andover and the 7 MW/MWh Howell, that are located in New Jersey and will sell ancillary services to PJM. We are targeting commercial operation in the first half of 2022.

2021 GUIDANCE

Total revenues of between $645 million and $680 million;

Electricity segment revenues between $570 million and $580 million; The electricity segment includes $33 million from the Puna power plant in Hawaii, assuming we will meet our target of bringing the plant close to full operation in mid-2021;

Product segment revenues of between $50 million and $70 million;

Energy Storage revenues of between $25 million and $30 million;

Adjusted EBITDA to be between $400 million and $410 million; Adjusted EBITDA attributable to minority interest of approximately $32 million.



The Company provides a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA, a Non-GAAP financial measure for the three months ended March 31, 2021. However, the Company is unable to provide a reconciliation for its Adjusted EBITDA guidance range due to high variability and complexity with respect to estimating forward looking amounts for impairments and disposition and acquisition of business interests, income tax expense, and other non-cash expenses and adjusting items that are excluded from the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA.

DIVIDEND

On May 5, 2021, the Companys Board of Directors declared, approved, and authorized payment of a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share pursuant to the Companys dividend policy. The dividend will be paid on June 1, 2021 to stockholders of record as of the close of business on May 18, 2021. In addition, the Company expects to pay a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share in each of the next three quarters.

CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS

Ormat will host a conference call to discuss its financial results and other matters discussed in this press release on Thursday, May 6th, at 9 a.m. ET. The call will be available as a live, listen-only webcast at investor.ormat.com. During the webcast, management will refer to slides that will be posted on the website. The slides and accompanying webcast can be accessed through the News & Events in the Investor Relations section of Ormats website.

An archive of the webcast will be available approximately 60 minutes after the conclusion of the live call. Investors may access the call by dialing:

Participant dial in (toll free): 1-877-511-6790 Participant international dial-in: 1-412-902-4141 Conference replay US Toll Free: 1-877-344-7529 International Toll: 1-412-317-0088 Replay Access Code: 10154447

ABOUT ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES

With over five decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (REG), with robust plans to accelerate long-term growth in the energy storage market and to establish a leading position in the U.S. energy storage market. The Company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter  a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. The Company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed for utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 3,200 MW of gross capacity. Ormat leveraged its core capabilities in the geothermal and REG industries and its global presence to expand the Companys activity into energy storage services, solar Photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage plus Solar PV. Ormats current 932 MW of geothermal and Solar generating portfolio is spread globally in the U.S., Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Honduras, and Guadeloupe and its 83 MW energy storage portfolio is located in the U.S.

ORMATS SAFE HARBOR STATEMENT

Information provided in this press release may contain statements relating to current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about future events that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements generally relate to Ormat's plans, objectives and expectations for future operations and are based upon its management's current estimates and projections of future results or trends. Actual future results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties.

For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" as described in Ormats Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 26, 2021 and from time to time, in Ormats quarterly reports on Form 10-Q that are filed with the SEC.

These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES, INC AND SUBSIDIARIESCondensed Consolidated Statement of OperationsFor the Three-Month periods Ended March 31, 2021 and 2020 Three Months Ended March 31, 2021 2020 (Dollars in thousands, except per share data) Revenues: Electricity 144,988 142,856 Product 8,643 47,411 Energy storage 12,721 1,846 Total revenues 166,352 192,113 Cost of revenues: Electricity 79,851 71,368 Product 8,074 36,978 Energy storage 4,780 1,949 Total cost of revenues 92,705 110,295 Gross profit 73,647 81,818 Operating expenses: Research and development expenses 876 1,619 Selling and marketing expenses 4,276 4,794 General and administrative expenses 18,606 16,745 Business interruption insurance income  (2,397 ) Operating income 49,889 61,057 Other income (expense): Interest income 263 402 Interest expense, net (19,016 ) (17,273 ) Derivatives and foreign currency transaction gains (losses) (16,866 ) 393 Income attributable to sale of tax benefits 6,355 4,132 Other non-operating income (expense), net (331 ) 78 Income from operations before income tax and equity in earnings (losses) of investees 20,294 48,789 Income tax provision (3,007 ) (18,148 ) Equity in earnings (losses) of investees, net 542 (735 ) Net income 17,829 29,906 Net income attributable to noncontrolling interest (2,570 ) (3,873 ) Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders 15,259 26,033 Earnings per share attributable to the Company's stockholders: Basic: 0.27 0.51 Diluted: 0.27 0.51 Weighted average number of shares used in computation of earnings per share attributable to the Company's stockholders: Basic 55,988 51,036 Diluted 56,735 51,526

ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES, INC AND SUBSIDIARIESCondensed Consolidated Balance SheetFor the Periods Ended March 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 March 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents 376,630 448,252 Marketable securities at fair value 27,735  Restricted cash and cash equivalents 88,449 88,526 Receivables: Trade 139,711 149,170 Other 10,513 17,987 Inventories 38,408 35,321 Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings on uncompleted contracts 20,876 24,544 Prepaid expenses and other 22,613 15,354 Total current assets 724,935 779,154 Investment in unconsolidated companies 104,519 98,217 Deposits and other 52,956 66,989 Deferred income taxes 119,217 119,299 Property, plant and equipment, net 2,148,589 2,099,046 Construction-in-process 471,548 479,315 Operating leases right of use 15,627 16,347 Finance leases right of use 8,336 11,633 Intangible assets, net 189,249 194,421 Goodwill 24,237 24,566 Total assets 3,859,213 3,888,987 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued expenses 148,071 152,763 Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings on uncompleted contracts 12,686 11,179 Current portion of long-term debt: Senior secured notes 24,963 24,949 Other loans 36,240 35,897 Full recourse 26,168 17,768 Operating lease liabilities 2,935 2,922 Finance lease liabilities 3,171 3,169 Total current liabilities 254,234 248,647 Long-term debt, net of current portion: Limited and non-recourse: Senior secured notes 306,891 315,195 Other loans 276,186 284,928 Full recourse: Senior unsecured bonds 698,271 717,534 Other loans 59,601 59,556 Operating lease liabilities 12,332 12,897 Finance lease liabilities 5,851 9,104 Liability associated with sale of tax benefits 107,105 111,476 Deferred income taxes 87,421 87,972 Liability for unrecognized tax benefits 3,094 1,970 Liabilities for severance pay 18,202 18,749 Asset retirement obligation 64,354 63,457 Other long-term liabilities 6,086 6,235 Total liabilities 1,899,628 1,937,720 Redeemable noncontrolling interest 9,706 9,830 Equity: The Company's stockholders' equity: Common stock 56 56 Additional paid-in capital 1,264,828 1,262,446 Retained earnings 558,644 550,103 Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (6,920 ) (6,620 ) Total stockholders' equity attributable to Company's stockholders 1,816,608 1,805,985 Noncontrolling interest 133,271 135,452 Total equity 1,949,879 1,941,437 Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interest and equity 3,859,213 3,888,987

ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES, INC AND SUBSIDIARIESReconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA For the Three-Month Periods Ended March 31, 2021 and 2020

We calculate EBITDA as net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. We calculate Adjusted EBITDA as net income before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for (i) termination fees, (ii) impairment of long-lived assets, (iii) write-off of unsuccessful exploration activities, (iv) any mark-to-market gains or losses from accounting for derivatives, (v) merger and acquisition transaction costs, (vi) stock-based compensation, (vii) gain or loss from extinguishment of liabilities, (viii) gain or loss on sale of subsidiary and property, plant and equipment and (ix) other unusual or non-recurring items. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are not measurements of financial performance or liquidity under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States, or U.S. GAAP, and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of liquidity or an alternative to net earnings as indicators of our operating performance or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We use EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA as a performance metric because it is a metric used by our Board of Directors and senior management in evaluating our financial performance. However, other companies in our industry may calculate EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA differently than we do.

The following table reconciles net income to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA for the three-Month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

Three Months Ended March 31 2021 2020 (Dollars in thousands) Net income 17,829 29,906 Adjusted for: Interest expense, net (including amortization of deferred financing costs) 18,753 16,871 Income tax provision (benefit) 3,007 18,148 Adjustment to investment in an unconsolidated company: our proportionate share in interest expense, tax and depreciation and amortization in Sarulla 2,465 2,677 Depreciation and amortization 40,829 35,288 EBITDA 82,883 102,890 Mark-to-market gains or losses from accounting for derivative 2,086 (561 ) Stock-based compensation 2,097 1,989 Merger and acquisition transaction costs 484 540 Reversal of a contingent liability (418 )  Allowance for bad debts related to February power crisis in Texas 2,980  Hedge losses resulting from February power crisis in Texas 9,133  Settlement expenses  1,188 Adjusted EBITDA 99,245 106,046

ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES, INC AND SUBSIDIARIESReconciliation of Adjusted Net Income attributable to the Company's stockholders and Adjusted EPSFor the Three-Month Periods Ended March 31, 2021 and 2020

Adjusted Net Income attributable to the Company's stockholders and Adjusted EPS are adjusted for one-time expense items that are not representative of our ongoing business and operations. The use of Adjusted Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders and Adjusted EPS is intended to enhance the usefulness of our financial information by providing measures to assess the overall performance of our ongoing business.

The following tables reconciles Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders and Adjusted EPS for the three-month periods ended March 31, 2021 and 2020.

Three Months Ended March 31 (Dollars in millions except, per share data) 2021 2020 Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders $ 15.3 $ 26.0 One-time net expense related to February power crisis in Texas $ 8.8 $  Adjusted Net income attributable to the Company's stockholders $ 24.1 $ 26.0 Weighted average number of shares diluted used in computation of earnings per share attributable to the Company's stockholders 56.7 51.5 Diluted Adjusted EPS 0.42 0.51

Ormat Technologies Contact:Smadar LaviVP Corporate Finance and Head of Investor Relations775-356-9029 (ext. 65726)slavi@ormat.com Investor Relations Agency Contact:Rob FinkFNK IR646-415-8972rob@FNKIR.com

Source: Ormat Technologies, Inc.
ENCINO, Calif., May 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tokio Marine HCC  Cyber & Professional Lines Group today announced that Kareen Boyadjian has been appointed Vice President of Underwriting, effective April 1, 2021, reporting to Michael Palotay, the groups Chief Underwriting Officer. Based in Encino, California, Ms. Boyadjian oversees the healthcare segment of Cyber, manages the personal lines cyber product called NetGuard Select and serves as the national product lead for Medefense, a healthcare regulatory billing errors and omissions (E&O) product.



We are pleased for Kareen on this well-deserved promotion, said Mr. Palotay. Over the past decade, she has been instrumental in growing our healthcare cyber and regulatory book, which represents a key segment of our specialty business. Most recently, Kareen has been leading, marketing and developing underwriting strategies for NetGuard Select, our new personal lines cyber product. She is an innovative and critical thinker when it comes to meeting the unique needs of the market and delivering meaningful solutions to our customers and distribution partners.

Ms. Boyadjian joined Tokio Marine HCC in 2011 as an underwriting assistant. With over ten years of Cyber underwriting and production experience, she is recognized in the marketplace as a strong, professional leader and advocate for women pursuing their professional careers. Ms. Boyadjian was nominated to participate in Tokio Marine HCCs Elevating Women in Leadership program in 2020.

I really love what I do and the clients with whom I work every day, said Ms. Boyadjian. I am eager to grow the business and support our partners nationally.

About Tokio Marine HCC

Tokio Marine HCC is a member of the Tokio Marine Group, a premier global company founded in 1879 with a market capitalization of $36 billion as of December 31, 2020. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Tokio Marine HCC is a leading specialty insurance group with offices in the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. Tokio Marine HCCs major domestic insurance companies have financial strength ratings of A+ (Strong) from S&P Global Ratings, A++ (Superior) from A.M. Best, and AA- (Very Strong) from Fitch Ratings; its major international insurance companies have financial strength ratings of A+ (Strong) from S&P Global Ratings. Tokio Marine HCC is the marketing name used to describe the affiliated companies under the common ownership of HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc., a Delaware-incorporated insurance holding company. For more information about Tokio Marine HCC, please visit www.tokiomarinehcc.com.
Because of our relationship in Israel, we are able to find the best and most appropriate ways to provide this relief to those in need, she noted. We work through partners and we support them that way. We have such a connection in the region, and were able to identify the organizations and experts in this field.
NEW YORK, May 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of the securities of XL Fleet Corp. (NYSE: XL) between October 2, 2020 and March 2, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period), of the important May 7, 2021 lead plaintiff deadline.

SO WHAT: If you purchased XL Fleet securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the XL Fleet class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2055.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than May 7, 2021. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience or resources. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020 founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs Bar. Many of the firms attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: According to the lawsuit, defendants throughout the Class Period made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) XL Fleets salespeople were pressured to inflate their sales pipelines to boost the Companys reported sales and backlog; (2) at least 18 of the 33 customers that XL Fleet featured were inactive and had not placed an order since 2019; (3) XL Fleets technology had been materially overstated and offered only 5% to 10% of fleet savings; (4) XL Fleet lacks the supply chain and engineers to roll out new products on the announced timeline; and (5) as a result of the foregoing, defendants positive statements about XL Fleets business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.

To join the XL Fleet class action, go to http://www.rosenlegal.com/cases-register-2055.html or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email pkim@rosenlegal.com or cases@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

-------------------------------

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 lrosen@rosenlegal.com pkim@rosenlegal.com cases@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com

Source: The Rosen Law Firm PA
Paid press release content from OTC PR Wire. The StreetInsider.com news staff was not involved in its creation.

Carrollton, Texas, May 07, 2021 OTC PR WIRE MDM Permian Inc. (OTC Pink: MDMP) today is proud to announce the addition of Mr. Don Raper to the executive team. Don has been appointed to the position of Director of Business Development.

Don G. Raper is a senior financial manager with over 33 years of financial security experience. Don has formally worked with three publicly traded companies in the energy sector as the Head of Capital Markets that included NGAS Resources, Inc., Magnum Hunter Resources, Inc. and Miller Energy Resources, Inc. He has also done a number of 1031 real estate transactions.

Through private placements and public registered offerings, Don has been personally responsible in raising over $3.1 billion through the broker/dealer, RIA, and financial planning channels. In 2012, he arranged through his network a $500 million perpetual preferred shelve offering for Miller Energy Resources, Inc.

From 1998-2003 Don was an independent Senior Consultant for GE private asset management, where he established a Texas-registered advisory firm (RIA) on behalf of GE to sell their separate account programs. He grew the company from a start-up to over $100 million under management within 4 years. He sold his book of business in 2004.

In the mid- 1980s Don owned/operated a Dallas based Broker/dealer and did self-clearing of direct participation on a variety of projects that included real estate, oil and gas and operating companies.

Don has the 39, 63, 65 and 22 series FINRA licenses.

We are extremely excited to have Don join the MDM Permian, Inc. executive team, says Michael L. Rafael, President/CEO of MDM Permian, Inc. his appointment as our Director of Business Development will allow the company to further its goals of lease acquisition and development in the Permian Basin. It is my pleasure to join the MDM Permian, Inc. team. I am looking forward to sharing their exciting story with my network of investors and assisting with the growth of the company! said Mr. Raper.

The company is currently seeking to fund efforts in Permian Basin of West Texas for acreage and production. The expansion effort is expected to cover approximately 15,000 to 25,000 acres. Thereafter, MDM will be seeking additional funds to develop the leased acreage.

Dons expertise in the fund-raising arena will allow the company to grow, adding value for our shareholders and helping to move the company to higher levels of the OTC structure, stated Mr. Rafael.

About MDM Permian, Inc.:

Based in Carrolton, Texas, MDM Permian, Inc. is a publicly traded energy company with interests in oil and natural gas wells, mineral prospects. The Companys business plan includes building value through reserves and production in the Permian Basin of Texas. MDM Energy, Inc. (the wholly owned operating subsidiary of MDM Permian, Inc.), has been actively involved in the oil and gas industry since 1981 with offices located in Carrolton, Texas.

Michael Rafael has nearly 40 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, serving as founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of MDM Energy, Inc.(MDM).

Mr. Rafael has been directly involved in the drilling, completion, and operation of over 300 oil and gas projects, primarily in the Illinois Basin, and directly supervises and oversees field operations. Mr. Rafael works directly with contract geologists, petroleum engineers and geophysicists from start to finish.

For more information about the company, please visit https://www.mdmenergy.com.

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mdmpermian

Safe Harbor Act: This release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involves risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, the ability to meet customer demand, the ability to manage growth, acquisitions of technology, equipment, or human resources, the effect of economic business conditions and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.

For additional information, view the companys website at www.mdmpermian.com or contact MDM Permian, Inc. at (214) 651-9900
ARLINGTON, Texas, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- ATP Flight School has opened a new advanced pilot training center at the Arlington Municipal Airport (GKY) in Arlington, TX. The modern facility represents the next evolution of ATP's 30-year presence training pilots in the Dallas area and is an integral part of addressing the post-pandemic pilot shortage.

Every aspect of the 13,875 square-foot facility was developed to deliver airline pilot training as efficiently as possible. Carefully designed classroom and briefing spaces complement an advanced simulator bay containing multiple flight training devices (FTDs). The ATP Arlington Campus also includes a new state-of-the-art FAA Certified Level 6 Cessna 172 FTD specifically designed for advanced training and successful certification outcomes. Dedicated ramp space provides a home to multi-engine Piper Seminoles and new Garmin G1000-equipped Cessna 172s - all meticulously cared for by ATP's onsite maintenance.

Aspiring pilots training at the facility can take advantage of the fastest track to becoming an airline pilot in ATP's Airline Career Pilot Program. Starting with zero experience, students graduate in just nine months and complete the Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program at nearby ATP JETS using full-motion Airbus and Boeing simulators. Partnerships with Dallas-based regional airline Envoy Air provide graduates with a direct path to a career at American Airlines, while nearly 30 additional alliances offer pathways to all other major airlines, including Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, and United Airlines.

"With more alumni having gone on to fly for American Airlines than any other major airline, ATP is proud to make this investment in Dallas," said Michael Arnold, Director of Marketing, ATP Flight School. "The increased capabilities of the new Arlington flight training center will be crucial in meeting the training demands of the post-pandemic pilot shortage."

With a shortage of qualified airline pilots representing 10% of the total professional pilot workforce by 2023, the Arlington facility joins ATP's 60 other locations nationwide to increase capacity and train 20,000 airline pilots over the next 10 years.

Media Contact Michael Arnold Director of MarketingATP Flight School904-595-7950 pr@atpflightschool.com

Related Images

atp-flight-school-arlington-tx.jpg ATP Flight School - Arlington, TX The new Arlington facility joins ATP's 60 other locations to increase capacity and train 20,000 airline pilots over the next ten years.

atp-flight-school-arlington-tx.jpg ATP Flight School - Arlington, TX The modern facility represents the next evolution of ATP's 30-year presence training pilots in the Dallas area.

atp-flight-school-arlington-tx.jpg ATP Flight School - Arlington, TX Carefully designed classroom and briefing spaces complement an advanced simulator bay containing multiple flight training devices (FTDs).

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/atp-flight-school-opens-new-pilot-training-center-in-dallas-with-plans-to-train-20-000-pilots-by-2030--301286271.html

SOURCE ATP Flight School
LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Flowhaven, the industry's leading Licensing Relationship Management platform (LRM), today announced it has strengthened its U.S. sales team with new leadership hires. Adam Christensen has joined the company as U.S. Sales Director, and Chris Davlin and Rebecca Dennis as U.S. Sales Managers. These new additions will report directly to Jessica Trinca, U.S. General Manager.

The addition of these positions is the latest in a series of organizational developments to sustain the company's accelerated growth. Flowhaven had a record-breaking first quarter in 2021 with a number of customer acquisitions across new verticals including universities, record labels and more. In the last year, Flowhaven raised $16M in funding led by Sapphire Sport, and more than doubled its team in Helsinki, Finland, Los Angeles and London. The company also has plans to open offices this year in New York, Berlin and Tokyo to support customers locally.

"Hiring the best and brightest leaders has always been core to our company's successand Adam, Chris, and Rebecca are the perfect example," said Kalle Torma, Flowhaven. "Not only do they have proven expertise leading teams at companies like Electronic Arts, Disney, and Lucasfilm; they also embody Flowhaven's values of collaboration, community and trust. Their contributions will be key for us as we continue to innovate and expand globally."

Adam Christensen brings more than 15 years of sales and operations experience to Flowhaven. As U.S. Sales Director, he will be responsible for the company's national sales strategy and execution. Most recently, he served as Director of Alliances and Partner Sales at Claravine, where he led the company's strategic channel efforts. Previously, he was Senior Licensing Business Development Manager at Electronic Arts managing the company's strategic brand licensing initiatives. There, Christensen closed seven-figure partnerships with household brands such as Walmart, Toys-R-Us, Barnes & Noble, GameStop, Target, Liverpool and many more. Previous roles included Disney Interactive, among others.

As U.S. Sales Manager, Rebecca Dennis will be responsible for scaling revenue operations across the Western United States. Prior to joining Flowhaven, she held several positions at Global Licensing Group, a division of Informa, with a focus on Licensing Global Magazine. She also worked on the company's Licensing Expo and Brand Licensing Europe events. Prior to joining Flowhaven, Rebecca spent nearly a decade in sales and revenue operations positions within the fashion industry.

Chris Davlin joins Flowhaven as U.S. Sales Manager and will oversee the brand's continued growth across the Eastern United States, with a focus on New York City where Flowhaven plans to open offices by end of year. Her responsibilities will include synergizing the company's sales efforts with centralized marketing support to deliver curated content to experts in the licensing space. Previously, Chris held a number of sales roles at such companies as Hint, and ran her own licensing and business development consultancy. She also held licensing roles at prominent brands, including Lucasfilm for Disney Consumer Products, where she acted as Project Manager for Star Wars Day 2014. There, she successfully executed Maythe4th campaign, performed all preparation for Disney Consumer Products division, and doubled Star Wars Day social media presence by exceeding 2.1B impressions and 1.1M global posts.

ABOUT FLOWHAVEN

Flowhaven is the leading brand Licensing Management Platform (LRM). Flowhaven enables licensing professionals to automate every phase of the brand licensing workflow process within a single solution, including planning and strategy, account and agreement management, content distribution, design approvals, royalty reporting and more. Flowhaven is modernizing the brand licensing process for such household brands as Sanrio SEA, Nintendo, Games Workshop, and Crunchyroll.

Flowhaven has offices in London, Los Angeles and Helsinki, and is backed by prominent venture capital firms Sapphire Sport, Global Founders Capital and Icebreaker.vc. For more information, please visit: https://www.flowhaven.com/

Media Contact: Ignacio Ramirez 415-517-6708 ignacio@switchpr.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brand-licensing-software-leader-flowhaven-bolsters-north-america-sales-team-with-strategic-hires-301285940.html

SOURCE Flowhaven
NEW YORK, May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- VNUE, Inc. (OTC: VNUE), a leading music technology company developing solutions to provide new revenue opportunities to recording and touring artists, record labels and the live merchandising industry, as well cutting edge technology for songwriters, music publishers, and rights holders to better monetize and protect their catalogs, is excited to announce that it has entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement (the "CSPA") with Triton Funds, LP ("Triton") (www.tritonfunds.com), the nation's largest student venture investment fund, for an investment by Triton in the Company's common equity of as much as $2 million. VNUE expects other investors to come on board as well, led by Triton.

Triton has agreed to invest up to $1 million in common stock of VNUE through the purchase of shares the Company has agreed to sell to Triton, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the CSPA. In addition, in connection with the CSPA, Triton may invest up to an additional $1 million pursuant to warrant agreements.

Triton is primarily focused on investments that will have a lasting positive impact on the Millennial generation with a portfolio of both private and public companies.

Casey Barraza, an Analyst at Triton Funds, commented, "After speaking with key members of the management team like CEO Zach Bair, it was clear to the Triton Funds team that VNUE, Inc. has the 'secret sauce' needed to make a profound impact on the music industry and advocate for music artists. We hope that our investment will provide the Company with the capital needed to continue to develop and commercialize the Soundstr Technology."

Zach Bair, CEO and Chairman of VNUE, said, "Triton is an amazing and credible source of capital that will allow VNUE to continue the commercialization of our groundbreaking Soundstr Music Recognition Technology (MRT), and to further expand our "instant live" music recording and production model, particularly our digital platforms, and Soundstr as it relates to SaaS (software as a service). This investment represents a strong vote of confidence and validation from Millennial and Gen-Z investors about VNUE's direction and technology, and we look forward to proving them right over the coming years. After five years of receiving small amounts of funding, this finally provides fuel in the tanks to 'swing the bat' and fully execute to our plan."

For questions regarding this investment, or if you would like to invest, please contact the Triton Funds email at tritonfundsllc@gmail.com

About VNUE, Inc. (www.vnue.com) VNUE, Inc., (OTC: VNUE) is a multi-faceted music technology company dedicated to monetizing the live music experience for artists, labels, writers, and publishers, with products such as its set.fm instant content distribution platform (www.set.fm), exclusive license partner and "instant live" pioneer DiscLive (www.disclive.net), and protecting the rights of artists and writers with the company's Soundstr music recognition technology (MRT) (www.soundstr.com). The veteran entrepreneurs, artists and songwriters behind VNUE, led by music and tech entrepreneur and recording artist Zach Bair (www.zachbairmusic.com), are passionate about the future of their industry and ensuring that rights holders' value is not lost amid always-changing technology. VNUE also holds a 4.99% stake in RockHouse Live International, a new live music venue & restaurant chain that was recently launched in Clearwater Beach Florida, and which is expanding globally.

About TRITON FUNDS LLC Triton Funds is the nation's largest student venture investment fund, managed entirely by students from UC San Diego located in Southern California. With $25M AUM, Triton Funds has taken an active part in both the San Diego ecosystem and nationwide, focusing on investments that will have a lasting positive impact on the Millennial generation with a portfolio of both private and public companies. The aim of Triton Funds is to create a student learning platform that will provide real-world experience and help bridge the gap between a STEM dominated university and Wall Street, helping students jumpstart their careers in finance, while providing strategic capitalization, business development support, and engineered exits to organizations with a viable future in the modern economy. Follow the Triton Funds story by visiting the Triton Funds website, Instagram, Twitter, or reach out directly via email. More information can be found at http://www.tritonfunds.com

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/triton-funds-to-invest-up-to-2m-in-vnue-inc-301284494.html

SOURCE VNUE, Inc.
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill., May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilden, part of PSG, a Dover (NYSE: DOV) company, and a worldwide leader in specialty pumps, today announced the release of its new Equalizer Surge Dampeners  Integrated SD Series (ISD) bolted metal option. Installed at the pump's discharge, Wilden ISD Series dampeners have been specifically engineered to reduce fluid pressure and flow fluctuations for a smoother discharge flow. This function protects system equipment and helps extend the life of Wilden air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pumps, including by decreasing noise and increasing efficiency.

"Wilden ISD Series dampeners offer a tremendous benefit to end-users because they have been specially designed to minimize vibration and control pipe hammer. This is a critical consideration when trying to protect system piping and downstream instrumentation," said Erik Solfelt, Diaphragm Pump Product Director, Wilden. "A welcomed addition to our innovative line of pump accessories, these new metal surge dampeners provide users with a simple, reliable and efficient solution for otherwise challenging applications."

The new ISD Series stainless steel metal dampeners are available in 25 mm (1), 38 mm (1-1/2) and 51 mm (2) sizes. The bolted-construction design and PTFE, Buna backed, integral piston diaphragms offer maximum process fluid containment. This makes them an ideal solution for a wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, oil and gas, paint and coatings, and chemical.

For more information about Wilden and its line of surge dampeners, please visit wildenpump.com. Wilden is a product brand within PSG, a Dover company. For more information on PSG, please visit psgdover.com.

About Wilden Pump and Engineering Company:

Jim Wilden revolutionized the pumping industry when he invented the air-operated double-diaphragm (AODD) pump in 1955. Since that time, Wilden Pump and Engineering Company has been at the forefront of bringing AODD technology into the future by building its extensive infrastructure, knowledge base and intellectual capital. Wilden offers a comprehensive line of safe, reliable and energy-efficient AODD pumps  including the Pro-Flo SHIFT Series, Pro-Flo Series and Specialty Series  for critical pumping applications in the general industrial, paints and coatings, oil and gas, chemical process, water and wastewater, hygienic, mining, ceramics, and military and marine markets. Additionally, Wilden offers the largest selection of AODD diaphragms in the world to ensure your unique application demands are fully met. Headquartered in Grand Terrace, CA, USA, Wilden is part of PSG, a Dover company. To learn more about Wilden, please visit wildenpump.com.

About PSG:

PSG is a global pump and dispensing solution expert and leading manufacturer of pumps, systems and related flow-control technology for the safe and efficient transfer of critical and valuable fluids and materials. Headquartered in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, USA, PSG is comprised of several world-class brands, including Abaque, All-Flo, Almatec, Blackmer, Ebsray, EnviroGear, Griswold, Hydro Systems, Mouvex, Neptune, Quattroflow and Wilden. PSG products are manufactured on three continents  North America, Europe and Asia  in state-of-the-art facilities that practice lean manufacturing and are ISO-certified. PSG is part of the Pumps and Process Solutions segment of Dover Corporation. For additional information on PSG, please visit psgdover.com. PSG: Where Innovation Flows.

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 approximately 24,000 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.

PSG Contact:Christine Nunez(909) 422-1774christine.nunez@psgdover.com

Dover Media Contact:Adrian Sakowicz, VP, Communications (630) 743-5039asakowicz@dovercorp.com

Dover Investor Contact:Andrey Galiuk, VP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations (630) 743-5131 agaliuk@dovercorp.com

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/wilden-releases-new-equalizer-surge-dampeners--integrated-sd-series-isd-available-in-metal-301284604.html

SOURCE Dover
Mathew Z. Rosiere, 37, of Fond du Lac, unexpectedly passed away on Friday, June 4, 2021. He was born on May 18, 1984, in Pawnee, OK, the son of Michael Z. Rosiere and Sandra K. Kennedy. While he was in high school, he was active in football and wrestling. Mathew loved hard rock music, played
Changes to the SunCommercial's back end processing means the e-edition is getting a facelift. The biggest change is the e-edition, by default, is now presented in Text view.
It would be the companys first year-round ship outside of Port Canaveral, where the cruise line is headquartered. Theres no word yet about which ship might call Port Everglades home or where it would go. Typically, Disney cruises stop at the companys island Castaway Cay in the Bahamas.
Two men convicted of murder and aggravated robbery over the Red Fox Tavern shooting more than 30 years ago have been jailed for life.

Father of two Chris Bush, 43, was gunned down at the pub in Maramarua in October 1987 and the offenders fled with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, coins and cheques.

Mark Hoggart and another man with name suppression were found guilty after a seven-week trial in the High Court at Auckland earlier this year.

This morning, Justice Woolford sentenced both men to life imprisonment for murder. They would be eligible for parole after serving 10 years in prison.

The unnamed man has been sentenced to a concurrent eight year sentence for aggravated robbery, while Hoggart has a concurrent seven year sentence for aggravated robbery.

The two men were arrested and charged in 2017, after police decided to re-investigate the cold case in 2016.

During the trial, the jury heard the men were considered suspects in the earlier investigations, but there was never enough evidence to lay charges.

The Crown argued a web of circumstantial evidence pointed to the defendants being the two heavily-disguised offenders who burst into the tavern late on the Saturday night of Labour weekend in 1987.

Photo: Supplied / NZ Police.

The Crown said the man with the sawn-off shotgun who fired at Bush was the unnamed defendant, while Hoggart was the man wielding a bat, who subdued the other bar staff and took the money from the safe.

The Crown said both men had a motive - they were effectively broke and needed the money from the robbery.

Their movements before and after the robbery were consistent with them having committed the crime, the Crown said, and they were not able to account for where they were at the time of the robbery and lied about it in their interviews with the police.

Both men appeared to come into a significant amount of cash in the days and weeks after Labour weekend, purchasing motorbikes and cars, the Crown said.

There was also evidence during the trial that the unnamed defendant had talked in prison about committing another aggravated robbery after his release, and the Red Fox Tavern had come up in conversation as a good target, the Crown said.

A car matching the description of one belonging to Hoggart was seen near the Red Fox Tavern the night before the robbery, with two men inside, and the Crown said it was the defendants scoping out the area in preparation.

During the trial, one Crown witness said the unnamed defendant also hinted at his involvement in the crime - and when the witness suggested to him that two shotguns would have been better, he replied "one shotgun and a bat was enough".

Photo: RNZ / Katie Todd.

Lawyers for the two defendants argued that the wrong men were on trial.

The unnamed defendant's lawyer Christopher Stevenson said another man - Lester Hamilton - was responsible.

Hamilton died in 2003, but a prison inmate, who gave evidence for the defence, said Hamilton had confessed his involvement to him while they were both in jail.

Stevenson said the Crown needed to prove that Hamilton was not the offender - and there was far more evidence of Hamilton being responsible and his client was innocent.

Hoggart's lawyer Craig Tuck said his client had been almost invisible in the evidence heard during the trial and there was nothing that pointed to him being involved in the crime.

In a statement released this morning, Detective Senior Sergeant Albie Alexander says the sentencing concludes a 34-year-old case which was never far from the mind of the Bush family or Police investigators.

"Counties Manukau CIB staff, led by recently deceased Detective Inspector Gary Lendrum, set about reviewing the investigation in 2016 following new information coming to Polices attention.

"The investigators worked tirelessly on this historical case, ultimately leading to the arrest and charging of two individuals in 2017.

"I would also like to acknowledge the sound and solid foundations set for the team by previous Police staff in both previous investigations in 1987/88 and 1999/2000."

Albie says the subsequent trial and outcome are a testament to the professionalism and strength of not only the Bush family but witnesses, investigators and the Manukau Crown solicitors staff that successfully prosecuted this matter.

The Bush family wish to convey to the public that they are extremely pleased with the outcome of the trial and thankful that those responsible have finally been held to account for what happened so many years ago.

"The family wished to acknowledge their friends, current and former Police staff that worked on the investigation and the Manukau Crown Solicitors office for their dedication and compassion shown to the family through what has been an extremely difficult 34 years," says Albie.

Chriss widow, Gaye Bush, says having some closure after all these years brings about a sense of relief and justice for the family and it is now time to move forward and put this painful chapter behind us.

-Additional reporting by RNZ/Sarah Robson.
Farmers are great at looking after their animals and their farms, but they also need to look after their most important assest on the farm, themselves and those who work in the business.

That is the message from ACC and Farmstrong as farmers all over New Zealand get ready to meet the workload of another demanding winter season.

Agriculture is New Zealands biggest export earner but its also one of our most high-risk industries.

In 2020, there were 22,796 farm-related injury claims accepted which came at a cost of $84 million to help people recover. That is over 60 farmers getting injured every day.

In all, ACC has spent more than $383 million on farm related injuries in the past five years, with the cost in 2020 the highest from this period.

In the past five years in the Bay of Plenty there have been 7846 farming related injuries accepted by ACC, with 1635 injuries in 2020. This was the highest number of claims for a year in this period.

The top three types of farming injury in 2020 were soft tissue injuries (66 per cent), laceration, puncture or sting (17 per cent) and fracture or dislocation (six per cent).

While many businesses in 2020 adopted remote working and were affected by COVID-19, life for farmers carried on as normal and there was no break from the long hours.

Farmstrong is a rural wellbeing initiative for farmers and growers to help them live well to farm well. It encourages farmers to share their stories and to look after themselves as well as they do their pasture and livestock.

In 2016 ACC became a strategic partner of Farmstrong, joining FMG and the Mental Health Foundation.

Last year, ACC increased their investment to $3.5 million over the next five years.

The investment in Farmstrong is one of ACCs injury prevention investments in the rural sector. Other investments include a subsidy on roll bars or crush protection devices for quad bikes.

ACC also partnered with the NZ Shearing Contractors Association and Federated Farmers to develop Tahi Ngatahi  an online training platform for shearers and other woolshed workers.

Farmers spend their lives growing our food and milk and helping our economy, but they're not great at looking after themselves, says Virginia Burton-Konia ACCs Head of Workplace Safety.

Were proud to be partnering with Farmstrong and its focus on simple tools like getting enough sleep, eating right and getting some exercise.

Farmers need to get better at putting in systems to look after the most important asset on the farm, themselves and those who work in the business.

An ACC-funded study for Farmstrong shows 58 percent of recently injured farmers linked their accident to stress associated with farm work. A quarter of them said it was a major factor.

Exhaustion, lack of sleep, the stresses of farming, being isolated from friends and family, and being unable to take a break all add to the risks that a farmer or farm worker will have an accident, the research shows.

The support Farmstrong receives from ACC, alongside that provided by the founding partners Mental Health Foundation and FMG is key to being able to reach more farmers and growers over the next five years, says Farmstrong spokesperson Gerard Vaughan.

Last month ACC launched a new injury prevention campaign called Preventable. The campaign lays down a wero (challenge) to all New Zealanders to stop and take a moment to assess the risks at home, work and play.

By taking a moment to prevent injury, they can keep doing the things they love and keep from harming others around them.

We are challenging all New Zealanders to have a Hmmm, says Virginia Burton-Konia.

Its important for everyone, especially farmers, to take a moment to think about what they are about to do and think about what could go wrong to prevent injury.

Farm-related injuries  BY THE NUMBERS

 In 2020, there were 22,796 farm-related injury claims accepted which came at a cost of $84 million to help people recover.

 In all ACC has spent more than $833 million on farm related injuries in the past five years, with the cost in 2020 the highest from this period.

 In the past five years in the Bay of Plenty there have been 7,846 farming related injuries accepted by ACC, with 1635 injuries in 2020. This was the highest number of injuries for a year in this period.

 For more information on Farmstrong visit: https://farmstrong.co.nz/

Preventable  BY THE NUMBERS
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Dear reader,

Our best work as the largest local news outlet in Central New York holds our elected officials accountable and leads to important changes in our community. Rarely, however, do we see the swift results from our reporting as we did on Friday, April 23.

First thing that morning, reporter Samantha House published a story about the Onondaga County Sheriffs Department being one of few organizations its size in the state that doesnt have body-worn cameras. In an interview, Sheriff Gene Conway said he couldnt see prioritizing spending the money it would take to outfit his team with cameras over other expenses and that he had no plans to implement such a program.

A few hours after the story published, Sheriff Conway held a news conference during which he criticized our reporting and said if given the money, he would support adding the cameras. In Samanthas story, Conway denied seeing a letter from County Executive Ryan McMahon two months prior in which he offered county funding to pay for the cameras. In response later the same afternoon, McMahon said during his own news conference that the county would fund a body camera program for the sheriffs department. After years of putting off this important purchase, some real progress was made on the issue in less than 24 hours.

I asked Samantha and her editor Steve Billmyer to share some behind-the-scenes details of how this story came together.

Heres our Q&A:

Trish: What was the genesis of the story?

Sam and Steve: When a Jamesville teenager was shot to death by police during a mental health call in March, we discovered none of the four officers who shot at him were wearing body cameras. That surprised us, given that many police departments across the country have body cameras. We decided to look into it.

The officers who shot at the teen hailed from three agencies: the New York State Police, the DeWitt Police Department and the Onondaga County Sheriffs Office. We found that troopers were starting a body camera program April 1 and that DeWitt police  who already had cameras for patrol officers  would be expanding the program to include the entire force. The sheriffs office was the only agency with no plans to add cameras. That left us with an important question: Why?

Trish: When did it become apparent the sheriff and county executive were not on the same page on this issue?

Sam and Steve: An interview with the sheriff, who has held the job since 2015, revealed he had no plans to pursue a program. We spoke to the county executive and discovered he had a completely different view: He planned to ask the county Legislature to fund a program in next years budget. Interviews with other county officials, including the district attorney, showed body cameras were widely considered a priority  even if they werent for the sheriff.

Trish: Why did we feel this was an important story for the community to know about?

Sam and Steve: Body cameras protect both the public and police. They are considered an important part of police reform  a way to increase transparency and trust. The cameras hold everyone involved accountable.

It was unusual for a sheriffs office the size of Onondaga Countys not to have body cameras. It bucked national trends. And locally, the sheriffs office  the second biggest law enforcement agency in the county  was one of the only agencies left without cameras: At least 10 of the 15 law enforcement departments in the county have cameras.

We felt it was important for us to shed light on that disparity and put the elected officials opinions on the record. The article exposed the sheriffs inaction and served as a wakeup call, leading other elected officials to pursue a program that day.

Trish: Anything else youd like to add for our readers?

Sam and Steve: Any news organization could have done this story, but they didnt. Thanks to the support of our subscribers and advertisers, we have reporters and editors with the experience and time to look into complex issues, ask the important questions, do the research, and write fact-based articles that make our community better.
Syracuse, N.Y.  The Syracuse Community Health Center will start construction this fall on a long-awaited new $22.5 million home for its operation at 930 S. Salina St., a block away from its existing location.

The center, which serves primarily low-income patients with limited access to medical services, got approval from the state last month to build on a vacant three-acre lot at the corner of South Salina and West Taylor streets. The new 56,000-square-foot building will replace the centers main patient care facility at 819 S. Salina.

Even though the new two-story structure will be smaller than the centers 78,000 square-foot existing building, it will be able to accommodate more patients because of its efficient design, said Mark Hall, the centers president and CEO.

In this file photo, Syracuse Community Health Center staff meet patients who arrived to get tested for Coronavirus. (James T. Mulder photo)James T. Mulder | jmulder@syracuse.com

The centers existing 70-year-old facility is a conglomeration of three separate buildings. Its a maze and not optimal for the provision of health care services, he said.

Health care has become more competitive and patients expect to get their care in modern facilities with up-to-date equipment, he said.

The center, founded in 1978, is one of about 1,300 community health centers nationwide created by federal legislation that provides some funding for the facilities. The centers are required by law to cater to medically underserved populations. The health center is open to all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.

It offers a wide array of services including primary care, mental health, dental, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, eye care and podiatry.

The non-profit first announced plans to put up a new building on that site in 2011, but shelved the proposal because of financial problems, Hall said.

The center lost $1.7 million in 2016 and $2.9 million in 2017. Hall said the centers financial situation was precarious when he was named interim president and CEO in 2018.

We had lost millions of dollars, our cash position was poor and we had a few days of cash on hand, he said.

An illustration of the lobby of a new building the Syracuse Community Health Center will put up at 930 S. Salina St.

The center has been operating in the black for the past three years and expects to finish 2020 with a surplus of more than $2 million. It has an annual budget of $24 million and employs about 180 people.

After it shelved the plan to put up a new building, the center decided to renovate its main facility at 819 S. Salina and its two satellite clinics at 1938 E. Fayette and 603 Oswego streets with a state grant.

But when Hall was named permanent president and CEO in 2019 he convinced the centers board to use most of the grant money instead to construct the new building that he said will accommodate our needs in the 21st century.

The center received state grants of $12.8 million in 2016 and $6.2 million in 2018. About $17.8 million of the grant money will help pay for the new building. The center will borrow $2.4 million and use $2.24 million from its savings to pay for the balance of the project.

Construction is expected to be done by late 2022 or early 2023.

The center sees about 30,000 patients a year at all its locations. In addition to its three clinics, the center provides health services in eight schools in the Syracuse City School District.

Workers secure a sample taken from a patient motorist at the Syracuse Community Health Center COVID-19 mobile test site, 819 S. Salina St., March 26, 2020.Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com

The centers 819 S. Salina St. office has served as Onondaga Countys main Covid-19 testing site since the pandemic began more than a year ago. More than 50,000 people have been tested there. The Covid-19 testing has raised the centers visibility in the community and generated a lot of goodwill, according to Hall. He said the center plans to launch a marketing campaign soon to further elevate its profile.

We are proud of what weve been able to accomplish during the pandemic and where weve come in the past three years, Hall said. We are making our claim to being recognized as a major health care provider in Central New York.

The center is still deciding what to do with its 819 S. Salina St. building once it moves. It leases some space on the second floor to Access Dental Laboratories, a Black-owned business that makes dentures, crowns and other dental appliances. Hall said the center may lease space in the building to other businesses and retailers when it leaves.

Hall said the centers construction project will help revive the citys South Salina Street corridor. JMA Wireless is converting the former Coyne Textile industrial laundry nearby on Cortland Avenue into a high tech 5G component factory that will employ 100 people. Developers are also working on a $7 million building known as Salina 1st, an office, residential and light manufacturing facility at 1081 S. Salina St.

There really hasnt been major investment in this part of the city in 60 years, Hall said. We are proud to contribute to the economic revitalization and hope it will continue to stretch down South Salina.

James T. Mulder covers health and higher education. Have a news tip? Contact him at (315) 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com
Syracuse, N.Y.  An Oswego County man who sodomized a 7-year-old girl in 1999 pleaded guilty Thursday to several child pornography charges, federal prosecutors said.

Gary Goodale, 40, of Fulton will be sentenced to at least 35 years and up to 50 years in federal prison, according to a news release issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York.

Goodale admitted he received images of child pornography on his personal computer, and that he possessed child pornography on three different devices, prosecutors said. Images of child pornography were found on his cell phone, and on two portable storage devices, they said.

He also admitted to possessing sexually explicit images of two minors that he produced himself, prosecutors said.

Goodale pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography and three counts of possession of child pornography, prosecutors said.

In 1999, Goodale was sentenced to eight years in state prison for sodomizing the seven-year-old girl, according to The Post-Standard archives and state records. Goodale was accused of raping her as many as 10 times, according to the archives.

Goodale is a Level 3 registered sex offender, according to the NYS Sex Offender Registry. Level 3 is the worst designation, given to people with a high risk of repeat offense and where a threat to public safety exists.

Goodales sentencing date is scheduled for Sept. 8, prosecutors said.

Staff writer James McClendon covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach him at 914-204-2815 or jmcclendon@syracuse.com.
Onondaga Countys two largest high schools are scrambling for a place for their commencements after learning the New York State Fair wont be able to honor their reservations.

Cicero North Syracuse and Liverpool high schools both had completed applications and had tentative reservations for the Expo Center.

Liverpool applied last July, but the districts were notified in early March the Expo Center might not be available in late June because its a Covid vaccine site, said Troy Waffner, fair director.

The Expo Center continues to operate 24 hours a day seven days a week administering Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, Waffner said. He said the clinics will continue as long as people need shots. The fair is allowing no other events there in June, he said.

Liverpool is looking at its options for a big group, Superintendent Mark Potter said.

Liverpools graduating class hovers around 600. With 7,300 seats at the Expo Center and the states 30-percent capacity limit at indoor celebrations, that would have meant about 2,190 people for an event. Liverpool was considering two ceremonies with each student getting four tickets each, Potter said.

By mid-April, it became clear the Expo Center wouldnt be available, so the district looked at the Lakeview Amphitheater or NBT Stadium. Outside venues can pack in more people.

Both venues have drawbacks, especially with weather concerns, Potter said. The loss of the Expo Center is a pretty major kink for us,' he said.

The district is now looking at using its own stadium, which has about 4,000 seats.

CNS officials said they knew the Expo Center might not be available, so they have been looking at other options. But neither district has a site now.

We are the largest suburban high school in the area and obviously need a big venue,' said Lori Cook, speaking for North Syracuse. Planning such a large celebration has been a challenge  especially with so much uncertainty and changing guidance.

Waffner said there is too much equipment and coolers to temporarily move the vaccination site so graduations can occur.

Every single day, we are doing 2,000 vaccines at that site, and we just dont have an end date,' he said.

Schools chartered by the state Department of Education receive a 30% discount off the buildings standard one-day rental rate of $10,570, so the districts would have paid $7,399 each.

Elizabeth Doran covers education, suburban government and development, breaking news and more. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact her anytime at 315-470-3012 or email edoran@syracuse.com
Robert Gavin, Times Union (TNS)

Albany, N.Y.  Appellate justices in Albany on Thursday ordered a woman in Central New York to remove a rock from her driveway that is painted with a Confederate flag or risk a change of circumstances in the custody case of her multiracial daughter.

In a unanimous 5-0 ruling, appellate justices allowed the couple to retain joint custody of the child, who was born in 2014 and attends school in the Dryden Central School District in Tompkins County.

But if the Confederate-flag-decorated rock is not removed by June 1, Family Court would be obliged to factor its presence into any future best interests analysis regarding the child, stated Justice Stanley Pritzker, who authored the decision by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Courts Third Department, the states second-highest court.

The mother, identified only as Christie BB, testified at a fact-finding hearing that she had a rock with a Confederate flag painted on it at her home, Pritzker said in the ruling.

In response to questioning, the mother testified that she has never used any racial slurs in front of the child or at all, the ruling said.

Pritzker noted that neither Tompkins County Judge Joseph Cassidy, who presided over the matter in 2018, nor the childs law guardian had addressed the mothers possession of a small Confederate flag painted on a rock near her driveway.

Appellate justices, however, took up the issue.

Given that the child is of mixed race, it would seem apparent that the presence of the flag is not in the childs best interests, as the mother must encourage and teach the child to embrace her mixed race identity, rather than thrust her into a world that only makes sense through the tortured lens of cognitive dissonance, Pritzker wrote.

Further, and viewed pragmatically, the presence of the Confederate flag is a symbol inflaming the already strained relationship between the parties, Pritzker continued. As such, while recognizing that the First Amendment protects the mothers right to display the flag if it is not removed by June 1, 2021, its continued presence shall constitute a change in circumstances and Family Court shall factor this into any future best interests analysis.

Justices John Egan, Sharon Aarons, Molly Reynolds Fitzgerald and John Colangelo concurred with the ruling.

The father, identified as Isaiah CC, was represented by Ithaca attorney Andrea J. Mooney.

The childs law guardian, Ithaca-based attorney Jason Leifer, told the Times Union he believed the mother had moved into the residence only recently and was not sure if she was responsible for the rocks presence. But he supported the courts reasoning.

I think its appropriate, Leifer said.

But the attorney said he thinks the flag-related portion of the ruling could create opportunities for parties to litigate political views and opinions that inflame a strained relationship and create tension thats not in the best interests of a child.

I think parties will now raise objections to many symbols and opinions held by the other party, including some that the majority of society does not find offensive, Leifer said. Whats going to have to happen is this  if the issue is raised the court will need to hear evidence of the child how the childs well-being is negatively affected by a parents views and opinions. In some cases this will be easy, such as if a child is being indoctrinated into a hate group, but in many cases it wont be so easy.
Syracuse, N.Y.  Landing gear down, seat trays up and locked, Sandy Williamsons flight from Detroit was about to touch down in Syracuse when, suddenly, it was not.

Were coming down, were coming down and then all of a sudden, we just went right back up and, swish, it was really fast, said Williamson. A few minutes went by and the pilot said, Unfortunately, we cant land in Syracuse and we dont know where were headed. 

The Delta flight on April 29 wound up diverting to Kennedy Airport in New York City for the night. Williamson, who is from Detroit, said she stayed with her brother in Manhattan for the night, then took a Delta flight the next morning to Syracuse, where she is visiting a friend.

She said many people on the flight from Detroit were upset.

For a lot of people, it was a huge inconvenience, she said. I was bummed.

The problem? Low clouds and the recent shutdown of Syracuse Hancock International Airports main runway for an upgrade.

Such diversions are a rarity at the airport, which has a reputation of staying open no matter the weather, even during the areas notoriously brutal winters. But they have happened at least three times since the airports main runway was shut down April 28.

Planes will have to use the airports secondary runway while the main runways asphalt is replaced and new, LED lights are installed. The project is scheduled to last through Sept. 28, 2021.

Landing on the secondary runway is not a problem in good weather, but it can be a challenge during bad weather.

Both runways at the airport have systems that emit radio signals that help guide planes down when visibility is poor. But theres a difference between the systems on each runway.

The main runway has an advanced instrument landing system, or ILS, that helps to not only line up planes with the runway, but also keep them on the proper glide slope as they descend.

The secondary runway, on the other hand, has a less advanced system that helps line up planes with the runway but does not guide their descent.

Airport Director Jason Terreri said it is not unusual for an airports secondary runway to have a less sophisticated ILS than that of the much more frequently used main runway. The FAA, which installs and maintains them, decides which runways get which systems, he said.

With either system, pilots must at some point see the runway before deciding whether to land or go around. At Syracuses airport, the decision height is 200 feet above the ground for approaches from one side of the main runway and 150 feet from the other side.

But pilots must be able to eyeball the runway from 250 feet up when approaching from one side of the secondary runway and from 300 feet high when approaching from the other side.

Thats why flights have diverted from Syracuse with more frequency lately. Terreri said several days of cloudy weather meant that some planes did not have the minimum visibility needed to land on the secondary runway, landings they likely could have made if the main runway was open.

Terreri said pilots have the option to go around as many times as they wish to look for a break in the clouds and attempt another landing. But, depending on how much fuel their aircraft has left, they may decide to divert to another airport and wait for the weather to clear in Syracuse, he said.

Depending on the airline, they could divert to someplace close like Rochester, but they may also divert to places as far away as Detroit or New York City, where the airline may have more crews and planes available to eventually get passengers to Syracuse, Terreri said.

This is something pretty common in our industry, he said. Its just not something that everyone in Syracuse is used to dealing with.

Neither the airport nor the Federal Aviation Administration keeps data on flight diversions. But Terreri said it does not happen often in Syracuse.

In the summer months when youve got storms, you may have one, maybe two episodes where you have a diversion, but then well go five months without a single diversion, he said.

Syracuse, with its 9,003-foot main runway, the longest in Upstate New York, is often the place where planes headed to other airports in the Northeast divert to when the weather is bad at their destination.

Were the diversion airport, Terreri said. We get diversions all the time from Watertown, anything going into New York, Philly, Boston, because were on the way. They see theyre socked in, so they divert to Syracuse. Weve had flights from London land here and then wait to get into JFK.

Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
Van Buren, N.Y.  A woman was treated by emergency medical technicians Thursday after she fainted while firefighters were putting out a fire at a house in Van Buren, fire officials said at the scene.

The woman was not in the ranch-style home on Northrup Boulevard while it was on fire, Lakeside Fire Chief Michael Kolakowski said. The womans status was not known, but her injuries were considered non-life threatening, he said.

Fire crews responded to the fire at about 6 p.m. and found the single-family home full of smoke with visible flames coming from the roof, Kolakowski said.

There were people in the house, a wood-frame structure built in 1958, when the fire started, but they were able to get out on their own before fire crews arrived, Kolakowski said. No one was injured, he said.

Nearly 50 firefighters from seven different agencies assisted the Lakeside Fire Department, Kolakowski said. The fire was under control in less than 15 minutes, he said. No firefighters were injured, he added.

Fire trucks, ambulances and police cruisers blocked traffic from entering Northrup Boulevard which is located just off State Fair Boulevard in Van Buren. Neighbors could be seen standing on the street watching fire crews work on the house fire.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation, Kolakowski said. There was structural damage to the back and east side of the home.

A house fire with visible flames and smoke was reported in Van Buren on Thursday, May 6, 2021. James McClendon | jmcclendon@syracuse.com

Staff writer James McClendon covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? Reach him at 914-204-2815 or jmcclendon@syracuse.com.
To the Editor:

Open Letter To Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, Onondaga County Legislature, Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and the Syracuse Common Council:

I feel strongly that $3 million of the more than $200 million in new federal rescue monies recently received by the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County should be designated and dedicated to the resumption and long-term continuation of the Syracuse Jazz Fest.

For the last 31 years, I have been a tour/production manager for many of the music industrys top national and international touring musical artists. I have toured with Dolly Parton, Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath, Shinedown, Cher and Lady Gaga, to name just a few of the artists. All of that began at Jazz Fest when I was a 17-year old undergraduate student at Syracuse University.

Jazz Fest gave me my first opportunity at being involved as an equal on the production team for a major festival. I was allowed and encouraged to attend festival board meetings. I was able to voice my ideas and opinions. In my senior year at SU, I helped to produce a six-camera music documentary about Jazz Fest. This experience and the contacts I made during the festival that year served as a springboard to start my career.

I can tell you that today, wherever I am in the world, the reputation of the Syracuse Jazz Fest is so stellar that it is widely considered to be one of the premier festivals to attend in the world. I happened to be wearing a Jazz Fest T-shirt once when I was in Cape Town, South Africa, and one of the local record company reps came up to me and told me that his dream was to go to both the Montreaux Jazz Fest (Switzerland) and the Syracuse Jazz Fest because he had read about them often in Jazz Times Magazine. Similar things have happened to me in the Netherlands and in Moscow. I know a lot of people in the Syracuse region and area appreciate the Jazz Fest, but I dont think they really know just what sort of impact and reputation the festival has worldwide. We are on par with major jazz and music festivals throughout the world! Other countries definitely know about the Syracuse Jazz Fest. Paraphrasing the Whos in Whoville (from Dr. Seuss) ... We are here!

I have read that Interstate 81 has divided the city in half since it was built, uprooting a once vibrant and once thriving African-American business and residential community and 15th Ward. Ive also read about the Everson Museum recently selling off its Jackson Pollock so it might have the money to diversify its collection. However, for the last 35 years the one thing in Syracuse that has consistently supported artists of color, women artists, emerging artists, regional artists and student artists, as well as the local economy, has been the Syracuse Jazz Fest. Its already diverse and inclusive and always has been, and it really needs to continue on for the next decade with the new public monies that are now available.

Maryjo Spillane

Baldwinsville

Related: How Ryan McMahon plans to spend $142M: sports complex, rural broadband, job grants, more
The passenger gets out the car, goes to the driver side, and hes punching the driver, he said. The driver, you know, you defend yourself.
In a time thats been far from normal for high school students due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, students are looking forward to getting out and socializing with their peers.

Last year, schools had to cancel proms - as well as all other activities - as the pandemic hit and most schools switched to remote learning.

But finally, prom season is back.

This year many proms are being held, but they will all be a bit different due to the pandemic.

Masks at all times except when eating or drinking. Social distancing on the dance floor: Stay 6 feet apart! No outside dates, even from another grade in the school. Limits of 150 people inside or 500 outside. Covid testing or vaccines required for those attending.

Schools bring back proms, but do you really want to dance 6 feet apart? Its all going to be awkward

Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard reached out to schools to see if we could resume our tradition of sending photographers to their proms, senior balls and other formal dances. Many said yes; a few said they would prefer not to allow outsiders this year.

Beginning this weekend, we will share photos from the events we can cover. Our coverage can be found anytime at syracuse.com/proms.

Students of Thomas J. Corcoran High School in Syracuse celebrated at their senior prom Friday, June 14, 2019. The event was held at Traditions at the Links in East Syracuse.Joanna Young

Contact Brenda Duncan anytime: 315-470-2265 | Email | Twitter
New York  Permanent solutions were needed to ensure employers in New York state take precautions to keep their employees safe during public health emergencies involving airborne illnesses, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

The governor said it became clear during the Covid-19 pandemic that many employers did not have such guidelines, which he temporarily rectified through the use of Executive Orders.

Cuomo signed into law the NY Hero Act  the first of its kind in the United States  which outlines enforceable healthy and safety standards that private employers have to follow to keep their employees and communities safe.

The NY Hero Act also gives workers the authority to help keep themselves and their workplace safe from disease.

This is a historic step forward for working people and a preventative measure that will ensure were better prepared for the next public health crisis, Cuomo said.

The state Department of Labor (DOL) will develop and be responsible for enforcement.

The standards will encompass several different areas of workplace safety, including what type of ventilation indoors is necessary and when employees would need to wear face masks  two standards that employers dealt with when employees returned to work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Companies with at least 10 employees will also be required to form a special oversight committee to monitor implementation of new safety standards, NYNow reported.

If a business doesnt adopt a safety plan it faces a $50 fine per day, up to $200 per day if there are multiple violations within a six-year period, according to the report. Employees could bring their employers to court for law violations.

The law takes effect in 30 days.

FOLLOW KRISTIN F. DALTON ON TWITTER.
A former postal carrier in Western New York will avoid jail and a big fine for not delivering the mail.

Brandon Wilson, 27, of Buffalo, pleaded guilty in January to delaying or destroying U.S. mail. The charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a $100,000 fine, but WIVB reports he was fined just $200 for the incident.

Wilson, who was a U.S. Postal Service worker assigned to the West Seneca post office, was traveling on I-90 when he accidentally got in the wrong lane and ended up at the Canadian border crossing on the Peace Bridge shortly after 7:30 p.m. on Election Day Nov. 3, 2020. Authorities found a bin in his trunk containing 701 pieces of mail, including three absentee ballots sent out by the Erie County Board of Elections, and a USPS employee uniform and identification badge.

When asked about the mailings in his trunk, Wilson initially claimed they belonged to him and his mother but could not explain the mail addressed to other people. He eventually admitted stealing mail from his delivery routes and placing it into his car on at least four instances beginning in September 2020.

Wilson intended to whittle down the amount of mail in the trunk of his vehicle by placing a small amount of the mail into USPS mis sort containers in the morning before his shift began, said Brendan M. Boone, a special agent for the Postal Services Office of Inspector General. Wilson last reintroduced mailings into the mail stream in this fashion approximately three weeks prior [to] the date of the interview.

The mail was reportedly found during a standard sweep by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the international bridge, which connects Buffalo, N.Y., with Fort Erie, Ontario, in Canada. Wilson, who was hired by the Postal Service in 2019, denied throwing out any mail or taking any greeting cards, cash or checks from mail on his route and also denied knowing there were absentee ballots in the mail found in his car, which also included 106 political mailings, 218 first-class mailings and 305 standard mailings.
Missing Buffalo State College student Saniyya Dennis appears to have died by suicide, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said Thursday.

Dennis, 19, was last seen leaving her dorm on April 24. Officials said a video showed her in the elevator of her dorm building around 11 p.m., and hours later her cell phone pinged near Goat Island in Niagara Falls; she was reported missing two days later after family members couldnt reach her.

According to WIVB, Flynn said an exhaustive investigation showed Dennis boyfriend broke up with her after an argument earlier in the day on April 24. She continued attempting to contact him and threatened to kill herself, according to at least two people.

The boyfriend, who was in New York City the entire time, is not considered a suspect.

It appears that this poor girl took her own life, the DA told reporters Thursday.

The search for Dennis had focused on Niagara Falls earlier this week, and a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to her return. Her body has not been recovered, but Flynn said helicopter searches would continue.

The Buffalo News reports Buffalo State is offering help to students through its Counseling Center at 878-4436. Crisis Services in Erie County also offers a free, 24-hour hotline for anyone experiencing a personal, emotional or mental health crisis at 716-834-3131.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255; toll-free, confidential calls are available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. People can also contact the Crisis Text Line for emotional crisis support by texting HELLO to 741741.
TAHLEQUAH [mdash] Louis Allen Bohanon, age 61, passed away peacefully on Monday, May 31, 2021, at his home in Gideon, Oklahoma with his family by his side. He was born October 15, 1959, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, to Louis Cain Bohanon and Beulah Mae Ryals. He was raised by his stepfather, Leon 
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Not only did Ms. Foran tie the victim up and was whipping him, she burnt his eye, Lopes said. There is video that shows her yelling at him and stating that he doesnt feel pain and you can hear him on the video crying out for help saying that he does feel pain.
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Florida Department of Health has ended its daily reports of COVID-19 activity and has shuttered its dashboard that had provided a visual account of cases, deaths, testing and other information since March 2020.
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Those budget amendments, which have since been scrapped from being placed on a city agenda, came within months of other forms of spending that leaders passed for themselves to do their part-time job. That included a $25,000 personal initiative fund and a $15,000 local travel fund, on top of their salary, car and phone allowances, and out-of-town travel money.


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Microsoft on Monday announced it is purchasing Nuance Communications, a natural language to computer processing company, in a deal valued at $19.7 billion.

In the all-cash transaction, Microsoft will acquire all of Nuance's outstanding stock for US$56 a share, a 23 percent premium over the share price at the close of the market last Friday. The deal, which is Microsoft's largest since it acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for more than $26 billion, is expected to close at the end of the calendar year.

Mark Benjamin will remain CEO of Nuance and report to Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of cloud and artificial intelligence at Microsoft, the Redmond, Wash. company said in a statement.

"Nuance's popular healthcare-focused products and services will provide Microsoft an instant revenue stream and relationships with existing Nuance customers," noted Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm in Hayward, Calif.

"More importantly," he told the E-Commerce Times, "Nuance will open the door for Microsoft to sell and upsell other healthcare-related services and solutions."

According to Microsoft, Nuance solutions are currently used by more than 55 percent of physicians, 75 percent of radiologists and 77 percent of hospitals in the United States.

In its most recent fiscal year, it continued, which ended in September, Nuance's Healthcare Cloud revenue showed year-over-year growth of 37 percent.

The acquisition will double Microsoft's total addressable market in healthcare to nearly $500 billion, the company added.

Playing Catchup

"Nuance provides the AI layer at the healthcare point of delivery and is a pioneer in the real-world application of enterprise AI," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explained in a statement.

"AI is technology's most important priority, and healthcare is its most urgent application," he continued. "Together, with our partner ecosystem, we will put advanced AI solutions into the hands of professionals everywhere to drive better decision-making and create more meaningful connections, as we accelerate growth of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare and Nuance."

The acquisition will help Microsoft catch up with its cloud rivals, maintained Jack E. Gold, founder and principal analyst at J.Gold Associates, an IT advisory company in Northborough, Mass.

"Microsoft is pretty far behind AWS and Google in natural language processing in the cloud. Microsoft has been a third-place player," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"Nuance gives Microsoft the ability to attack the enterprise, which is really important to them for Azure, but it also gives them instant credibility because they're getting a real, natural-language processing system," he said.

"Rather than develop everything in-house," he continued, "they needed something to give them a quick kick-start, and Nuance gives them that."

Looking Beyond Healthcare

While giving Microsoft a mighty presence in healthcare, the Nuance acquisition will give the Redmond crew much more in the future.

"AI Spending will reach $110.7 billion by 2024," observed Ritu Jyoti, program vice president for the worldwide AI and automation research practice at IDC.

"Banking, retail, manufacturing and healthcare will approach close to more than half of global spend," he told the E-Commerce Times. "So while initially, Microsoft may be focused in healthcare solutions, longer term its focus will be much broader."

He explained that beyond healthcare, Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions across interactive voice response (IVR), virtual assistants, and digital and biometric solutions to companies around the world across all industries.

"This expertise will come together with the breadth and depth of Microsoft's cloud," he said, "including Azure, Teams, and Dynamics 365, to deliver next-generation customer engagement and security solutions."

Nuance, too, will benefit from being under Microsoft's wing.

"It expands markets dramatically for Nuance," Gold said. "It'll help get it out of its niches. It can be in almost any space with Azure."

King explained that while Nuance has done well since shifting its focus to healthcare solutions, it appears to have hit the ceiling in terms of business and revenue growth.

"Being part of a far larger and better funded company, like Microsoft, should [provide] Nuance and its employees a brighter future," he said.

Key Healthcare Tech

The Nuance acquisition shows not only how important healthcare is to Microsoft, but how important voice recognition technology is to the future of healthcare, maintained Paddy Padmanabhan, founder and CEO of Damo Consulting, a Villa Park, Ill. growth strategy and digital transformation advisory firm that works with healthcare enterprises and global technology companies.

"Voice-enabled healthcare is still in its very, very early stages relative to its potential impact. There is a huge market waiting to be opened up," he said in a statement.

"Conversation AI tools such as that of Nuance have started making a big difference in ambient clinical computing, specifically in the transcription of doctor-patient encounters," he observed.

"The next stage of growth for voice will be in clinical decision support, enabled by stronger integration with EHR systems, that will take the form of AI-enabled functions that will improve the quality of the patient experience and outcomes," Padmanabhan added.

He explained that as digital transformation accelerates, the use of emerging technologies such as voice will drive care delivery in the hospital and in the home.

"Amazon has already made significant moves in home-based care which include its voice-enabled Alexa services as a central component," he noted. "Microsoft's Cortana offering hasn't made as much of a mark as Alexa in the healthcare context."

"Microsoft had to make a move to meet the competition head on, and the Nuance acquisition may be the best bet it can make at this time," he continued.

"The field has essentially now narrowed down to two players in the voice-enabled healthcare delivery space," he added.

Next Gen Interface

The Nuance acquisition also reveals the role of conversational AI in Microsoft's roadmap for the future.

Lian Jye Su, artificial intelligence and machine learning principal analyst at ABI Research, explained in a statement that Microsoft has attempted to bolster its own conversational AI both through in-house development, with Cortana, and through acquisition, by buying Semantic Machines in 2018.

"However, all these have yet to allow Microsoft to replicate the success of Amazon, Google, and Apple in the consumer space and IBM in the enterprise space," he asserted.

Su added that Microsoft is also feeling the threat from the conversational AI capabilities demonstrated by AI players in China, such as Alibaba, Baidu, iFlyTek, Mobvoi, Zhuiyi, and Unisound.

"The acquisition of Nuance Communications will elevate Microsoft's capabilities and allow Microsoft to develop both consumer and enterprise-focused conversational AI solutions," he said.

He added that the move by Microsoft also acknowledges the importance of conversational AI and natural language processing capabilities to the future of AI.

"This announcement validates the efforts of many natural language processing hardware and software startups," he observed. "As the market slowly matures, voice command and control have the potential to replace touch control in many use cases and become the main interaction method for the next-generation user interface."

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.


SpaceX has recently achieved a massive milestone after it successfully launched and landed the Starship SN15 last May 5, and now, CEO Elon Musk campaigns for public support for the Mars mission soon. The CEO said that he wants to "make humanity a multiplanet species," and for this to happen, he needs public support and backing.

The popular private space company from Elon Musk has done what was thought to be an almost impossible task, and has successfully landed the Starship with the SN15 prototype, after months of explosions and fails. The company is now celebrating the achievement which it has attained with the SN15 after the different problems that occurred with the SN8, SN9, SN10, and SN11.

People may have missed three Starships after SN11, but it was completely reasonable as to why SpaceX jumped from 11 to 15, and it was because of the SN15 Mk. 1, Mk. 2, and Mk. 3 which served as its initial prototype. SpaceX and Starlink are already considered as two of the most prominent space agencies in the world, especially as it aims to provide humans the next-level tech.

Read Also: Elon Musk Guarantees Service to SpaceX Starlink 500k Applicants for Internet-Challenge is in Urban Areas

Elon Musk: SpaceX Needs Public Support for Mars Mission

In a series of tweets by the SpaceX CEO (@elonmusk), he has explicitly campaigned for the "public support" for the company's incoming venture of having a Mars mission as it reached its awaited milestone. It was known that the Starship project is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle that SpaceX needs for its Mars mission as it is the vessel for that.

Public support for life on Mars is critical to making it happen  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2021

The Stainless Steel-made spacecraft was made for Mars and it was conceptualized by the space company in 2012, under the leadership and vision of Elon Musk. The Starship has first seen its first flight in 2019, back when it was still a prototype for its initial high-altitude launches, after transitioning to a launch and land maneuver that has started in 2020.

Musk mentioned in his tweet that he wants the Mars mission to happen, and one of the ways to further the project is via public support, meaning that the campaign should both come from the company and the people. This is a rare occurrence from the SpaceX CEO, as he mostly shares information via his social media accounts only, and not requesting anything from the public.

Elon Musk: Humanity as a 'Multiplanet Species'

On the other hand, what follows the call to the campaign is Musk stating that humanity should soon become a "multiplanet species," which means that people should have the choice and ability to venture from Earth to Mars. And how will the world achieve that? It is through Musk and SpaceX's plans of commercial space travel from the home planet towards space.

Make humanity a multiplanet species!  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2021

Related Article: SpaceX Starship SN15 Landing Success-Uses 2 Raptor Engines to Descent with 'Nominal' Data, Full Stack Soon?

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Mars has been the subject for the past months now, especially as the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter has been showing progress photos as they explore and examine the Red Planet for NASA. The main goal of the Mars mission is to determine if the planet is liveable for human standards, and a recent claim by scientists shows proof of life on Mars with mushroom fungus.

Proof of life on Mars may not be the typical extraterrestrial creature that is being imagined by most conspiracy theorists, sci-fi novels, films, or movies, and by children. There are many forms of life including plants and other animals that can live on any surfaces like insects, but in this case, life on Mars is theorized to be mushrooms that are attached to rocks from NASA's photos.

While this may be a massive letdown for some, this is something to marvel at for the scientists that argue its existence and proof that Mars has life and is capable of supporting it for the many organisms. The NASA Ingenuity helicopter and Perseverance rover are on the mission for this specific discovery, and soon find if human life is applicable for the planet.

Read Also: NASA Discovers 'Sunspots' Forming on the Sun, Sprays of Plasma Seen on Surface-Is this Dangerous?

Mars' Proof of Life: Mushroom on a Rock

According to researchers Dr. Rhawn Gabriel Joseph, Dr. Rudolph Schild from Harvard-Smithsonian, and Dr. Xinlei Wei, a microbiologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the photos were taken from NASA's Curiosity rover. These images have presented a close look at the exploration of the earlier spacecraft that has been on Mars earlier than the current missionaries.

The study entitled "Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior from Sequential Images" narrates that the file photos from NASA's Curiosity rover show evidence of life found on rocks that were in the Red Planet. While this study does not prove anything and is currently a working theory for the academics that are studying it, it presents an idea that may explain Mars' physiology.

According to Daily Mail, these scientists have dubbed these odd-looking organisms or suspected fungi to be "mushrooms," which are the same ones found on Earth, which also grow on rocks and certain areas. However, mushrooms or fungus are known to be dwellers in moist or damp areas, and Mars currently has no traces of water on its surface.

Is the Fungus a Fluke, No Life on Mars?

While there is no way of knowing if these mushrooms are real or not, this study is best considered as a working theory for the scientists and has no concrete proof that these are living organisms on the Red Planet. Moreover, the images that the scientists have based on are from the Curiosity rover, and the current Perseverance mission may yet to prove this further or shut down the theory.

Related Article: How to See NASA Rocket Black Brant XII Launch: This Spacecraft is Visible to the Naked Eye

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Facebook and Twitter have shut down the reposts from Former President Donald Trump's social media, a.k.a. WordPress Blog, after fans have tried to share the information via the big tech's platforms. However, it seems that this would soon be over as Florida has been working to pass a new law that prevents social media companies from censoring politicians.

After the stepping down of Former POTUS Trump from his post a few months ago, he has been removed off the surface of the internet, particularly with social media platforms that wanted him off public eyes. While these platforms have their reasons for this, it was because of the alleged propaganda and misinformation that Trump has posted during his term, and towards its end.

The Social Media without "Cancel Culture," was the promise of Trump with his awaited platform and come back to the digital world after months of being unable to present his views online due to Facebook and Twitter ban. However, instead of having a full-fledged social media with all of the features he promised, it turned out to be a WordPress blog, which has the Facebook and Twitter share function, likes (which are not working), comments, and newsletter subscription.

Read Also: Trump's Facebook Remains Suspended: Social Network to Decide His Comeback in Six Months

Facebook, Twitter Shuts Down the Reposts from Trump's Social Media

In the recent development of the WordPress blog called "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump," Twitter has banned the users that have reposted links or words from the Former President's platform. The reason for this was because of Trump's current ban on the short-word social media, which prevents him or anything he says to circulate.

According to Reuters, accounts that have reposted links that redirect to the blogsite have been banned automatically, and are said to have violated the community standards by the platform. While Facebook is not immediately banning this act, what it does is censor the people who repost the blog content, and removes the posts before it circulates.

Florida Censorship Law: Social Media Companies Cannot Ban Politicians Anymore

The power of the two largest social media platforms in the world is seen to be massive and absolute, and this is something which they have been carrying out on their own, without any regulating body. While initially, Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas wants this to stop, it may be coming to take away its powers soon.

According to USA Today, Florida is now working on a new law that would prevent censorship and kicking out politicians from using the social media platforms that are present in society now. This means that with this being passed, Trump may regain his platform and accounts back, but it would depend on the law's jurisdiction amongst other states of the country.

Related Article: Donald Trump's 'Social Media' is a WordPress Blog-Facebook, Twitter Ban Still Active

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Screenshot From Commons.Wikipedia.org) Elon Musk's Mars Timeline Could Be As Early As 2024 for Uncrewed Flights

For those familiar with Elon Musk, the SpaceX CEO has been very public about his plans to bring humanity to Mars. As of the moment, Mars seems like a plan that is still very far from today but Elon Musk has suddenly clarified that going to Mars could happen as early as 2024 for the uncrewed flight!

SpaceX's Presence in Boca Chica

An article by The Atlantic was shared on Twitter in which Elon Musk replied to. The article included how Elon Musk moved to California, where SpaceX was reportedly headquartered. The article talked about SpaceX's presence in Boca Chica and painted a picture of what the first city could look like.

The article then detailed the first city, according to Musk, as made of pressurized glass domes. Elon Musk reportedly stated that they will terraform Mars in order to make the planet closely resemble Earth. The SpaceX CEO is now still more focused on the "getting there" part.

Elon Musk on Mars

In 2019, Elon Musk had an interview with Popular Mechanics wherein he called Mars life as "quite manageable." but noted that the planning will really focus on knowing what to do when they get there for food, water, and for fuel. He then noted that once people get there, it becomes straightforward.

According to a space analyst and the author of the book Rise of the Space Age Millennials, Laura Forczyk, NASA still remains to do fantastic work, but when it really comes down to changing the whole space sector, SpaceX is oftentimes the one people think of. Her book details how Millennial subjects actually pointed to SpaceX's achievements as their own source of inspiration.

Read Also: China's Tianwen-1 Mars Rover Snaps First Photo of the Eerie Red Planet Amid Challenging Entry

SpaceX Mars Schedule

As of today, not a lot of Americans really believe that going back to the moon should actually be a priority and they are also not really jazzed about astronauts setting straight off for Mars, either. Although the government can push for the moon, unlike private company SpaceX, NASA has to at least explain where the government's money would go to and why.

When talking about Mars, one of the main questions that gets thrown around a lot is when will this finally happen? There have been speculations as to when the manned flights could happen to Mars and it pretty much seems like still far away. According to Elon Musk's reply on Twitter, a vague but still informative statement was given regarding the possible Mars flight.

Elon Musk was then asked on Twitter if he still aims to keep his target at a 2026 launch window. The answer by Musk, although non-definitive, noted that 2024 is actually not out of the question for an upcoming uncrewed flight and that it could happen soon. Although in no way is this target year final, it gives a glimpse at what year is Elon Musk entertaining for the upcoming Mars flight.

2024 is not out of the question for an uncrewed flight  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2021

Related Article: Mars has a Chandler Wobble Similar to Earth, Space Probe Finds: Here's What it Means

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Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
COVID-19 has plagued the world enough, and now, vaccines are fighting back against its harmful effects on human health, particularly with Pfizer and BioNTech's mRNA-based shots that can protect against strains. While COVID-19 or the coronavirus is the main target of Pfizer's vaccine to immunize the body, it was recently discovered that it also is effective against the U.K. and South Africa variants.

Pfizer and BioNTech's mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine was the first to be granted the Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the country. It has been almost five months since the first administration of the virus and has eased up on the different restrictions imposed among the states.

However, it is still recommended to observe the proper social etiquette and health protocols in public, especially as it has not yet been administered to everyone and people can still get infected by it. Initially, it was proposed by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to have a "COVID-19 Pill" to be used to protect against the virus and as treatment whenever getting infected.

Read Also: Pfizer, AstraZeneca Vaccine Side Effects Are Not Too Than Expected, Study Suggests

Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine: Effective Against 2 Strains

COVID-19 has evolved and mutated into different strains for different countries, and each one of them has a distinct characteristic based on the physiology and country of origin. The first to hit a worldwide stage was the U.K. variant and was followed by the South Africa strain, both considered to be more aggressive and infectious than the original.

A study from Qatar published via the New England Journal of Medicine has discovered that Pfizer and BioNTech's current and only vaccine for COVID-19 is "extremely effective" against said strains. The study entitled "Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants" narrates how the researchers found that Pfizer's immunity shot hinders the harmful infection of these strains in the human body.

B117 is known as the U.K. variant, while B1351 is from South Africa. The research claimed that Pfizer's shot is 97.3 percent effective in preventing the development of severe symptoms or cases in any strain of COVID-19, while it is 100 percent effective against the UK and South Africa variants. Certainly, this research's claims highly praise Pfizer's vaccine and the immunity it brings.

Pfizer Booster No More?

While severe cases may have high hopes for the vaccine, infection rates are significantly lower for Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine, as it can only guarantee 87 percent against the UK strain, and 75 percent against South Africa's. Still, these data and numbers are sufficient to keep a person protected from the virus, which brings the question of Pfizer's development of booster shots.

Initially, Moderna has been reported to looking into a further booster shot against COVID-19 strains, which would focus on South Africa and Brazil strains of the virus soon. Currently, there is no announcement on Pfizer's end, regarding the booster.

Related Article: FDA to Authorize Pfizer Vaccine for Adolescents in the Next Few Days

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The NASA photos which have captured the possible life on Mars featuring growing fungi are off the charts. However, the claims reported that the fungi are flourishing on the red planet, but scientists said that is not the real case.

Previous Report About NASA Photos Showing Mushroom on Mars

In the latest article written by UNILAD, the scientists believed that there is an actual life thriving on the red planet at the moment. This theory is venturing on Mar's viability to be a living planet to some life forms.

Dr. Rudolph Schild, Dr. Xinli Wei, and Dr. Rhawn Gabriel Joseph created the theory after conducting a study on the images generated by NASA's Curiosity rover.

The usual headline that we see such as "NASA Photos Prove There Is Life On Mars" is an eye-catching phrase that will hook the readers to be enticed in such discovery.

However, the error in some articles reporting about the possible life on Mars infrequently incorporates scientific evidence to support the claims.

Read Also: NASA Rocket Black Brant XII Launch is Visible to the Naked Eye: Here's Where You Need to Look

The bad science paired with publicity could spell misinformation that should be avoided at all costs.

The Bad on the 'Mushroom on Mars' Theory

Joseph is one of the scientists who theorize that the fungi on Mars could indicate a possibility of life on the planet. On his brainmind.com website, it states there that he has contributed a lot in the field of neuroplasticity during the 1970s.

Joseph has been publishing claims for more than 10 years. Mainly, they are all about pseudo-scientific findings that he had written in his journals.

Oftentimes, his studies have managed to reach the press, but on a scientific note, experts often criticized the legitimacy of his scientific journals in the field of space science.

CNET reporter Jackson Ryan has previously published an article about Joseph's claims. Moreover, it even reached the point that experts renounced the articles and suggested that it should undergo "critical assessment" and "proper" literature citation.

Yet in another instance, his claims have been published in the Advances in Microbiology journal. The said journal is involved in the malicious copying of scientific articles in different sites, Nature reported. This means that papers do not undergo quality checks before being officially published.

Joseph's new paper entitled "Fungi on Mars? Evidence of Growth and Behavior From Sequential Images" deals with the possible life on the red planet through the help of an "inaccurate" methodology for the deduction.

Together with his co-authors, Joseph made use of NASA photos to conclude that the fungal growth on Mars translates to a possible living.

"Claiming that mushrooms are sprouting all over Mars is an extraordinary claim that requires better evidence than an analysis of photographic morphology by a known crank who has claimed, on the basis of the same kind of analysis, that he has seen fields of skulls on Mars," the University of Minnesota Morris biologist Paul Myers said.

Myers has been keeping a track of Joseph's previous activities.

As per the scientists' statement, the majority of them came up with the agreement that the Mars' surface is not an ideal location for the mushroom to grow.

On top of the report, scientists' and researchers' confidence in their studies could be impacted by the misinformation that quickly spread these days.

For Australian astrobiologist, Brendan Burns, all available evidence says that the red planet's surface is difficult to live in.

The people should be careful in reading what they believed in. In the long run, it could damage the reputation of the scientists as well as the big organizations like NASA, which are dedicated to carrying out a study to find legitimate signs of life on another planet.

Related Article: NASA Photos Show 'Mushroom' Fungus Growing on Rocks in the Red Planet-Is There Life on Mars?

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Written by Joseph Henry

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
It seems like Netflix is not considering launching a brand new Netflix for its Netflix. Basically, it would be a new platform that covers behind the scenes just like Netflix. The company is now considering covering the platform N-Plus.

Netflix Could have a New Platform

The company reportedly started sending out certain surveys to consumers. This would include TNW's (from which this story came from) Abhimanyu Ghoshal. The survey reportedly asked them if they would be willing to use the service.

The article by TheNextWeb noted that it would include many services that would reportedly allow users to go even deeper in-depth with the streaming service's official content. The survey also noted that N-Plus would include images, text, and even video feeds that users can sign up for interviews, news, analysis, deep dives, how-tos, games, audience conversation, podcasts, music, and a number of others.

Netflix Survey Points Towards N-Plus

The survey reportedly also notes that the N-Plus results could show up on Google's very own searches and that the upcoming Netflix app could send users notifications regarding the upcoming behind-the-scenes content. It reportedly does not seem like everything on the N-Plus will directly be behind a certain paywall.

Netflix also notes that parts of it could actually be viewed by just about anyone that has access to a web browser. This means that it could seem like the platform is now considering its expansion into more editorial written content instead of just the regular videos.

N-Plus Streaming Platform

A recent report by Protocol reportedly suggests that the upcoming N-Plus could even include certain things like custom playlists that could be shareable with people who reportedly aren't signed up for the service just yet. This would reportedly add a social element to the whole streaming platform.

It's now possible that the N-Plus could even be used in order to influence future productions by actually taking into account feedback even before finishing its filming. However, the "Plus" part makes it seem like Netflix could actually plan to charge its customers more for certain exclusive content. The survey, however, suggests that this will not be the case.

Read Also: New Netflix Feature Saves Viewers Time Looking for 'What to Watch': Introducing the Shuffle!

Netflix VS Competitors

Still, with Netflix consistently hiking up its prices every few years, it wouldn't actually be surprised if this indeed ended up being the actual case. Of course, just because there is a survey, this still isn't a guarantee that N-Plus will in fact, become a reality. The company, however, has clearly been thinking about the possibility of an N-Plus for quite a while. It would also be a neat way to differentiate itself from the whole ever-growing list of different streaming services.

With Netflix competitors like Disney+ or Hulu growing even more popular by being the main releases for blockbuster movies, the streaming platform is now looking for ways to make more money and keep up with the competition. As to whether or not N-Plus becomes a thing is something that only an official announcement can confirm.

Related Article: Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown: What is the Reason Behind This? Is the Situation Serious?

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Written by Urian B.

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(Photo : (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)) SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - DECEMBER 21: A general view of the Apple Store in Bondi Junction on December 21, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Sydney's northern beaches is on lockdown, as a cluster of Covid-19 cases continues to grow causing other Australian states and territories to impose restrictions on travel ahead of the Christmas holidays. As the list of venues impacted across Sydney increases, people are encouraged to get tested and isolate.

Apple has announced in a press release that it is awarding II-VI, a leading optical technology manufacturer, an additional $410 million. CEO Tim Cook tweeted that the latter helps power some of the prominent features of the former, such as FaceID, Memoji, and Portrait Mode.

The investment that Apple has extended to II-VI (pronounced as "two-six") will "create additional capacity and accelerate delivery of future components for iPhone," Apple said in a press release.

Initially, the Cupertino company gave $390 million in 2017 to II-VI from its Advanced Manufacturing Fund. It means that in total, Apple has already given $900 million to the tech manufacturer.

Additionally, the initial payment paved the way for the revival of the long-shuttered building into a high-tech manufacturing facility.

Apple's investment is also set to produce 700 manufacturing jobs in Sherman, Texas; Warren, New Jersey; Easton, Pennsylvania; and Champaign, Illinois.

II-VI is also part of Apple's Clean Energy Program. The company is already using 100% renewable energy in manufacturing.

Read More: Apple AirTags Hidden Debug Mode on iOS 14.5: Here's How to Use and Activate it on iPhone

Augmented Reality is "Critically" Important to Apple

Furthermore, the said development raises the possibility that Apple will keep FaceID, The Verge reports. II-VI supplies the vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers of the mentioned feature.

The report adds that the continuing relationship of Apple and II-VI could propel the former's future in both augmented reality and virtual reality.

Cook said, via New York Times, that AR is "critically" important to the future of the company. The CEO further said that he imagines AR used in our life's key aspects, such as health, education, retail, and even gaming.

Additionally, the II-VI CEO Vincent Mattera Jr. said that the partnership "sets the stage for a new wave of breakthrough technologies that we believe will enable a wide range of applications that will benefit our world for decades to come."

Apple's Future with AR

It has been reported that the iPhone 13 will include a Time-of-Flight sensor. The sensor, which would be supplied by II-VI, could further help the Portrait Mode feature.

Separately, Apple recently won a patent that combines AR with thermal technology. It is supposed to make any surface touchscreen. Something to look forward to, indeed!

The Cupertino company, in addition, is also rumored to launch two headsets that would employ AR, Bloomberg reported. The future products are codenamed N421 and N301.

The N421 is supposed to be the Apple AR Glasses, a lightweight headpiece.

On the other hand, N301 will be a cinematic speaker system with a high-resolution display.

Both rumored gadgets are said to have a HomePod-style spatial audio feature, bringing a realistic AR experience.

Moreover, AR in Apple's future even goes as far as iPhone 14, Ming-Chi Kuo, an Apple analyst claimed. The leak further adds that the AR will complement the 8K video recording of the future smartphone.

Related Article: Apple M2 Chips Could Launch As Early as July 2021! Sources Suggest Announcement on WWDC 2021

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Joseph has pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder count and will be a star witness at the trials of Jenkins and Dale, which are not yet scheduled. Joseph faces a sentence of at least five years and up to 20 years in prison, based on his cooperation.
Ventilator shortages are widespread especially the supplies are in dire need of decreasing. In hopes of helping the dilemma of the breathing device, a 12-year-old boy from Winnetka, Illinois has developed a unique kind of ventilator that is made out of legos.

For an elementary pupil, a lego can only be a source of happiness with it being a mere toy, but for Anthony Hartman who is currently in 7th Grade, there's more to enjoying life with toys through helping more people in a more useful way.

7th Grader Crafts a Lego-Made Ventilator Amid Pandemic Scare

In a report by NY Press News, Hartman has been using his free time in constructing random things in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. While other kids are focused on their robots and dolls, he is thinking of a way on how to alleviate the problems of the country when it comes to the healthcare crisis.

For this cause, Hartman came up with the idea of crafting a ventilator which he believes could be an important solution to combat the looming shortages of the device.

Read Also: FDA Approves Formlabs' 3D-Printed Ventilator Converter

Hartman named his invention "EVentilator2020" which is mainly built from accumulating the small piece of building toys.

According to the 7th grader, he saw that a lot of universities have been making cheaper units of respirators out of their resources.

After seeing them, he grew inspired in trying to engineer his own version of the ventilator, but with the help of a Lego piece, which is a unique component of his creation.

During his in-house stay, he spent his time wisely so he could focus on finishing his invention. Before it became complete, it took him several weeks since it is time-consuming on his part.

But, through the knowledge that he acquired from becoming the chief engineer of the LEGO League Robotics team in middle school, he carried out his aim to help those who are in need at the moment.

It was made possible through the incorporation of the LEGO Mindstorm EV3 motors and robotics bricks.

"He's always been creative, he's always been thinking outside the box," Yuki, Anthony's mother said.

The Contest that Inspired Hartman in his Endeavor

Hartman is an extraordinary kid who is very active in many engagements in the school which are mainly robotics. Since 2019, he has been participating in numerous undertakings like the Kids Think Tank contest where he joined last summer.

In the end, Hartman did not win the contest, but this paved the way for him to strive for his future creation.

For Kid Idea Tank founder, Lowey Sichol, the competition is a channel for kids to think creatively with the application of entrepreneurial skills, as well as brainstorming, collaborating with others, and pitching, ACB7News reported.

In hopes of extending help especially to the struggling persons who need a breathing device, Illinois hopes that his EVentilator2020 proposal to LEGO will be accepted.

For a country like India which is currently suffering from an oxygen supply shortage, Hartman's invention could potentially help them.

Related Article: Maker of $11,000 Ventilator Valves Threatens to Sue Volunteers Using $1 3D-Printed Replicas That Just Saved 10 Coronavirus Patients!



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In with the old, out with the new-at least with memory. Kingston is helping pave the way for DDR5 to become mainstream, and their latest kits are aimed at overclocking enthusiasts.

Kingston just announced that they recently set a handful of OC-supported DDR5 memory kits to motherboard partners (obviously for testing purposes), reports TweakTown. The already blazing-fast DDR5 memory modules feature the patented Kingston touch: a preset XMP profile and support to let mainboard manufacturers manually adjust the PIMC (power management integrated circuit) beyond base DDR5 ratings.

In layman's terms, these Kingston DDR5 sticks can overclock like champs. Considering how unimaginably fast base DDR5 speeds already are (some select manufacturers already teased 5600 MHz modules), looks like avid overclockers will be able to set new world records in no time.

Read also: Samsung's First HKMG-Based DDR5 Memory Can Reach 7200 Mbps-Advanced Computing Now On Its Way

Details, Details, Details

According to Kingston, they sent the modules to ASUS, Gigabye, MSI, and ASRock, among others, as reported by WCCFTech. Of all these motherboard makers, however, ASUS is the only one for now whose products have been spotted-at least digitally.

The boards just got early support in HWinfo and will be featuring the LGA 1700 socket, which supports both 12th gen Alder Lake and 13th gen Raptor Lake chips from Intel on the Z690 chipsets. Perhaps ASUS is now testing the Kingston DDR5 kits on a slew of ROG Maximus XIV boards, which are obviously going to possess overclocking features.

As for AMD, there's not much word to go on about when it's going to officially adopt DDR5. Though it is safe to say that with the release of the Ryzen 5000 series, Team Red is going to have a new socket with the release of Zen 4, according to Tom's Hardware. To keep things simple, let's just assume that the new socket will be AM5.

The big-name RAM maker plans to launch their DDR5 line by Q3 2021, though there's still some speculation that the release might be delayed. It's worth noting that back when DDR4 was new, it wasn't until 3 years after the tech was perfected that it got launched. Maybe DDR5 might need a bit more time for polishing as well, but it seems like its release this year is inevitable.

What Makes These Kits Better?

Kingston might not be as revered as some of its competitors in the RAM space (i.e. GSkill, Corsair, etc), but it looks like they want their DDR5 modules to be among the best in the market upon launch.

The company claims that the kits they sent to board partners feature higher base speeds than normal DDR5, as well as much tighter timings due to binning. Coupled with high-quality power delivery on top-end boards, these RAM kits can reach clocks far greater than any DDR4 memory module could. In fact, competing memory maker TeamGroup reported that some modules can be pushed to as high as 2.6V (from a 1.1V base spec) with extreme cooling solutions like LN2.

Related: Next Generation DDR5 RAM Will Offer Twice The Bandwidth Of DDR4, But When Will It Arrive?

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Written by RJ Pierce

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Robert Franklin, an iPhone 6 user, decided to sue Apple after his smartphone exploded because of an alleged battery defect. The iPhone 6 user, who lives in Texas, United States, said that he was looking for a class-action lawsuit against the tech giant manufacturer.

He claimed that Apple is selling defective batteries. Aside from this, Franklin noted that the tech giant firm is violating its warranty promises after his iPhone 6 exploded in front of his face back in 2019.

On the other hand, the iPhone 6 user said that the defect could endanger other users because it can lead to a possible explosion, igniting their smartphones.

"Robert Franklin was listening to music on his iPhone 6 when he noticed the music playing on his iPhone began to skip. As he picked up his iPhone to investigate, [it] suddenly exploded and caught fire in his face," stated in the complaint.

iPhone 6 Has a Battery Issue?

According to Gizmo China's latest report, Franklin suffered from injuries to his wrist and eyes because of the alleged iPhone 6 battery issue. He said that this flaw is the main reason why his smartphone suddenly exploded.

Also Read: Signal Allegedly Prevents Cellebrite's Data Cracking Software: Here's Why Your iPhone Needs It

Aside from this, the iPhone user also said that he suffered from economic loss due to the incident, including medical treatment for his injuries and the cost to replace his iPhone.

The tech giant manufacturer began rolling its iPhone 6 back in 2015. Franklin bought one back in 2018, which is a year before the incident happened. Because of this, some experts said that it is not clear what condition his Apple smartphone was in before the explosion.

If Franklin's smartphone is already in a bad state, this could also add up to why his device exploded.

Things to Avoid to Prevent Smartphone From Exploding

MUO previously provided some of the things you need to avoid so that your smartphone's battery would not explode unexpectedly. Here are some of them that you should know:

Avoid dropping your device

Avoid using incorrect chargers

Avoid putting your device on a wet or damp surface

Avoid using your smartphone in a very hot place

For more news updates about iPhone and other Apple devices, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Rumors Claim iPhone's Find My App Has a Hidden AirTags Debug Mode on iOS 14.5: How to Use It?

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Written by: Griffin Davis

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FTC (The Federal Trade Commission) accuses Apple of conducting "anti-competitive repair restrictions." Because of this, the federal agency claimed that the giant iPhone maker is preventing some businesses and companies from having work.

The Federal Trade Commission added that these repair restrictions affect small companies and have negative effects on the consumers.

This repair restriction issue forced FTC to suggest a combination of new right-to-repair laws and better enforcement of the current regulations.

"In a new report to Congress, the Federal Trade Commission identifies numerous types of repair restrictions," said FTC.

The federal agency added that these include limiting the availability of spare parts, making diagnostic software unavailable, as well as using adhesives that make parts difficult to replace.

FTC Vs. Apple

According to 9to5Mac's latest report, the Federal Trade Commission has been collecting evidence from various businesses and consumers for around two years now. The agency did this since Congress is the one that requested it.

Also Read: Apple Gives $410 Million to Company That Powers FaceID, Memoji

And now, FTC said that it discovered scant evidence to support manufacturers' complaints about Apple's repair restrictions. The federal agency said that their proof is based on responses to the Commission's requests for public comments.

Aside from this, the evidence is also based on empirical research issued in connection with Apple's previous workshop called "Nixing the Fix: A Workshop on Repair Restrictions," which took place back in July 2019.

Because of this, FTC's report concluded that the tech giant manufacturer has denied work for repair businesses. On the other hand, the agency added that other companies with this kind of restriction also make the product hard to repair.

FTC said, via its official post, that the consumers lose out when it comes to the buyers because some gadgets are impossible or uneconomic to fix and other products are much expensive to repair.

What FTC plans to do

Because of Apple's alleged anti-competitive repair restrictions, FTC said that it would support stated and federal enforcement actions and additional right-to-repair legislation.

The federal agency said that it will do this so that it can address the unlawful repair restrictions of Apple. You can click this link to see more details.

For more news updates about Apple and other tech giant manufacturers, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Apple is Currently in Trouble After iPhone 6 User Sues Them for Alleged Battery Defect

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Facebook ads had become a major destination for drug manufacturers who are looking to expand their customer base.

The use of social media giant's targeted ads had attracted big pharmaceutical companies, as it could show ads to users based on interests and activities and its capability to show ads to those potential patients.

How Do Facebook Ads Help Big Pharma in Finding Potential Customers?

Big pharmaceutical companies have been spending billions on Facebook ads as the feature helps them target their ads to users who likely suffer from specific illnesses.

According to the data gathered by Markup's Citizen Browser project, which Markup reported on May 6, people who marked interests in "oxygen," "bourbon," and "Diabetes mellitus awareness" had seen an increase in ads for prescription pharmaceuticals.

The project also found that people who had shown an interest in "cancer awareness" have seen ads on Facebook that offers Zejula, a drug by pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline that is prescribed for advanced ovarian cancer patients.

Facebook also built "community pages" to bring together users who share a particular medical condition, which was ultimately sponsored by drug manufacturers who offer medicine to treat community members' condition.

"Pharma is as anxious to use social media as social media is to sell it to them," consulting firm DTC Perspectives CEO Bob Ehrlich said.

Additionally, Facebook had also started utilizing Marketplace and search results to put ads in, going directly against the search engine giant Google.

However, the report clarifies that Facebook ads do not offer advertisers categories that explicitly identify people's health conditions. The company established a collection of health-related data that is considered sensitive.

These data include people who suffer from medical procedures, testing, treatment, and types of medical devices and health trackers that a person uses.

Also Read: Goodbye Facebook: SAP, Chobani, and Pfizer Also Boycotting Facebook Ads

Privacy Concerns Utilizing Facebook Ads

Facebook's targeted ads have had their fair share of criticisms, but the most notable one is social media users' privacy concern.

Apart from paying a $5 billion fine to settle privacy concerns when they were alleged to have improperly obtained the data of up to 87 million Facebook users, a well-known company said that Facebook's targeted ads are not even the most effective advertising strategy.

Even privacy experts were skeptical of Facebook's strategy to keep its users' sensitive health information private.



"It's too little too late. It doesn't address some of the fundamental issues that the design and the use of the platform have created," The Harlow Group principal and healthcare lawyer David Harlow said.



Facebook spokesperson Tom Channick said that the social media giant does not collect user's medical history for advertisers to take advantage of; rather, they focus on user's activities to assess interest categories.



Most pharmaceutical companies who have been running ads on Facebook declined to comment about their advertising practices, while Novartis spokesperson Jamie Bennett defended that their company's main goal is to reach target audiences "where it matters simply."

Related Article: Signal Reveals Too Much Truth About Facebook Ads, Gets Banned From Running Ads

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Tehachapi, CA (93561)

Today

Clear skies. Gusty winds during the evening. Low 41F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

Clear skies. Gusty winds during the evening. Low 41F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
He was booked into the Palm Beach County Jail about 3:22 p.m. and was released on his own recognizance about one hour later, records show.
Madisonville, KY (42431)

Today

Cloudy skies during the evening with areas of fog developing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy skies during the evening with areas of fog developing after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
Pohorence then looks as if he is reaching for his gun, and the man says hell leave and continues backing away with his hands raised. Pohorence then grabs the mans shoulder and attempts to sweep his legs out from under him. The man falls face down, and Pohorence pins him to the ground.
Amazon.com's new 111,918-square-foot South Baton Rouge Distribution Center in Industriplex near Siegen Lane and Interstate 10. The developer and the general contractor for the Amazon fulfillment center that will be built at Cortana Mall will hold an online question and answer session next week for local companies interested on bid opportunities for the massive project.
If Louisiana Creole as a language is endangered, then Google may have a lifeline to toss its way.

Google revealed last week that it is introducing a progressive web app, Woolaro, through its Google Arts & Culture team, that uses machine learning to provide words for 10 at-risk languages from around the world.

They are Yugambeh, an aboriginal language from Australia; Yiddish, a High German derived language of the Ashkenazi Jews; Tamazight, spoken in North Africa and the Sahara region; Rapa Nui, spoken on Easter Island; Nawat, an Uto-Aztecan language from southwestern El Salvador; Maori, spoken in New Zealand; Calabrian Greek, used by ethnic Griko people in southern Italy; Sicilian, from the Italian island; Louisiana Creole, French-based and mostly spoken in Louisiana; and Yang Zhuang, a Tai language spoken in southwestern China.

UNESCOs Atlas of the Worlds Languages says Louisiana Creole, with 7,000 to 9,000 speakers in Louisiana, California, Illinois and Texas, is one of those imperiled languages. It originated in colonial Louisiana before 1803 and was used by some enslaved and free people of color and whites, according to scholars.

But some Louisiana Creole enthusiasts believe the Google app will help spread knowledge about the language and help those who are interested in learning it. Jessica Ryan, representing Google, said Oliver Mayeux, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge who has studied the language, put together a team to create the Woolaroo app, which was revealed last Thursday.

Mayeux, whose father is from Louisiana, has retained scholarly interest in the language since he was a teenager.

The app is described as an open-source photo-translation platform powered by machine learning and image recognition. The user can provide an image to the app, which will recognize what is shown in the image and provide relevant words in the selected endangered language.

For example, the app recognized a photo of a tree and provided the word narb to describe it in Louisiana Creole.

In Louisiana, Google partnered with a team behind "Ti Liv Kreyol," which it described as the first book for learning Louisiana Creole. The group included Herbert J. Wiltz of Lafayette, a former Lafayette Parish teacher who compiled lesson plans for teaching the language and who continues to organize efforts to teach Louisiana Creole, a language he learned from his grandmother.

+6 Will crowds return to live festivals this fall? Here's why event planners are hopeful Iberia Parish has returned to at least some live tourism events with great success this spring, with plans for a more complete live schedule i

Growing up, my parents didnt teach it, he said. But my grandmother never shooed me away.

It was by listening to her and those with whom she conversed that he learned the language, which he said has stayed with him. I wanted to do something with it, he said.

What hes done since has included study, travel and teaching. He said hes been involved with Creole Inc., which includes people in St. Martinville and other nearby communities who have tried to revitalize the language through efforts such as Louisiana Creole tables, meetings over coffee where people can converse in the language. He said he was planning a meeting for such a table Saturday via Zoom.

People still speak Louisiana Creole, he said, but its the elderly, not the young, and that has to change to keep the language going.

We are not doing enough to generate interest, he said.

In south Louisiana, he said, Creole ancestors have moved away to Houston and California, and people there continue to speak it. But many of them are elderly.

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Wiltz said some people mistakenly believe that zydeco musicians are singing Louisiana Creole, but he said thats rarely the case nowadays. Clifton Chenier tried to incorporate Louisiana Creole in his music and Wiltz said Zydeco Joe, born in Carencro, was nimble in his use of Louisiana Creole.

Herman Fusilier, who hosts the Zydeco Stomp on KRVS public radio from noon-3 p.m. Saturdays, said some musicians have gone out of the way to incorporate Louisiana Creole in their music. They include Corey Ledet, who has been working on the language with Wiltz, and Sean Ardoin of Lake Charles, whose family is steeped in the Creole traditions.

Ardoins family, Fusilier said, go back to the roots of zydeco and have created Creole songs. He said that can create a fine line for musicians to walk  singing in a language they understand but that their audience might not recognize.

SOLA Giving Day topples previous records; more than $1.8 million raised Despite a year of disaster and pandemic in Acadiana, the fourth annual SOLA Giving Day toppled all previous records for donations by generatin

Young people didnt grow up speaking Creole, Fusilier said. Some may know a few words but might rather hear something they understand.

Young people like Jonathan Mayers, an artist from Baton Rouge, did not understand Kouri-Vini, a native language of Louisiana during Louisianas colonial period, from which Louisiana Creole evolved. But he embraced it because it was spoken by ancestors.

Mayers had pursued studies in Cajun French prior to turning to attention to the language his ancestors spoke in places such as Pointe Coupee Parish. Some 10 years ago, he learned about his fathers familiarity with Louisiana Creole  at least with the cadence and the nuance of the language  and he made it a point to learn more.

He said he provided some voice for some of the vocabulary on the app as well as for some phrases.

Adrien Guillory-Chatman, born in Lafayette but raised in Chicago, also worked on the app. She said her family spoke Louisiana Creole but she only learned a few words or phrases while growing up. Learning the language was not encouraged, she said, although the elders spoke it.

She said she started studying the language about seven years ago. An educator and a lifelong learner, she said people she knew at the local Catholic church spoke it and she wanted to speak it as well.

+13 Honoring Kathleen Blanco: Why the Iberia native, former governor's stock continues to rise NEW IBERIA  Former Gov. Kathleen Blancos political reputation has been in a state of recovery, and impetus for the turnaround seems to be co

She said she started her study with a six-week course and continued to pursue greater mastery of the language. She joined a practice group on Facebook and pursued language exercises and conversation over social media.

She said there are Creole tables in Chicago. They were halted by the pandemic but revived through Zoom. She and others continue the Zoom meetings, she said, in hopes that as soon as things open up again, we can get together and form a community of speakers.

She rates herself as an intermediate learner of Louisiana Creole. But shes determined. Working on the app, she said, encouraged her to keep working on her language skills. She said the app has already encouraged her to add on to the available language and refine it.

She said her Guillory family is from St. Landry Parish, and she counts Louisiana Creole speakers among them.

She said when she first started reclaiming la creole, she would walk her dogs and look at things around her and name them in Creole. That became a daily routine. Now, the answers to what's around her on her walks are as close as the app.
Wanda Williams, a registered nurse, waves a flag letting people know her station is ready for the next person during an Ochsner Health vaccination event at the Xavier University Convocation Center on Friday, April 9, 2021. Approximately 3,000 people will be able to receive their initial Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine dose during the event. This was the first mass vaccination Ochsner has hosted at the university. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Looking from the top down, a lineman works on the power lines along River Road near The Water Campus Tuesday March 16, 2021, in Baton Rouge, La. It's shocking how important electrical juice is in the scheme of things.
The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld a Baker man's convictions and two life terms plus 15 years for raping two young girls and sexually abusing another over the course of a decade.

At Terence Roshell Dawson's 2018 trial, an East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutor called him a "master manipulator."

Dawson, 46, was found guilty on two counts of aggravated rape and one count each of sexual battery, oral sexual battery and indecent behavior with a juvenile.

Aggravated rape carries a mandatory life sentence.

Baker man called 'master manipulator' convicted of rape, other sex crimes involving young girls A Baker man described by a prosecutor as a "master manipulator" was convicted Tuesday of raping two young girls and committing a sex crime aga

He was sentenced in 2019 by state District Judge Fred Crifasi, who labeled Dawson's crimes "hideous."

The state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal in November let Dawson's convictions and sentences stand.

This week, the Supreme Court unanimously denied his appeal without issuing a written explanation.

Dawson claimed Crifasi, the trial judge, erred in allowing prosecutors to introduce evidence of his 1991 juvenile conviction in Mississippi for sexual battery of a victim under the age of 14.

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Dawson argued the so-called "lustful disposition" evidence was prejudicial and introduced solely to portray him as a "bad person." He claimed the evidence unfairly bolstered the state's claim that he was a chronic sexual predator.

"It is clear that the age and gender of the victim in that case are squarely consistent with the ages and gender of the three victims of the offenses for which he was tried in the instant case," the 1st Circuit wrote last fall.

One of Dawson's rape victims testified at his sentencing that he deserved the death penalty.

Two victims discuss their rapes as children in sentencing of Baker man: 'This pain is forever' A young woman and a teenager, both raped by a Baker man when they were girls, battled through tears Tuesday as they described at his sentencin

"This pain is forever," the young woman said to Dawson as she struggled to read her statement. "I really hate you with a passion. I still have flashbacks and nightmares of you raping me."

The other rape victim said she felt "betrayed" by Dawson.

"That night, I lost everything," she said. "I lost my voice. I lost my trust.  Most importantly, I lost myself."

Crifasi said each victim was "pursued and groomed separately."

Prosecutor Melissa Morvant said Dawson used candy, ice cream and fried chicken to bribe the girls into having sex with him. She said he told one girl that the sex acts were merely acts of love.
World War II veteran Johnnie Jones, Sr. poses for a portrait at his home in Baton Rouge, La., Tuesday, May 28, 2019. Jones, who joined the military in 1943 out of Southern University in Baton Rouge, was a warrant officer in a unit responsible for unloading equipment and supplies onto Normandy. He remembers wading ashore and one incident when he and his fellow soldiers came under fire from a German sniper. He grabbed his weapon and returned fire along with the other soldiers. It's something that still haunts his memories. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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The foundation has a particular focus on health, poverty and education and its grants included about $US1.75 billion to vaccine initiatives, diagnostics and research during the coronavirus pandemic. What did he do this week? After 27 years of marriage the couple filed for divorce on Monday. The Gates tweeted in tandem that after a great deal of thought and a whole lot of work on their relationship they had made the decision to end their marriage. Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives, the Gates said.

We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives. Charitable work: Melinda and Bill Gates in Bangladesh in 2005. Credit:AP The couple first met when Melinda was a product manager at Microsoft and in deciding whether to wed, Bill made a list on a whiteboard. In the Netflix documentary Inside Bills Brain Melinda recounted how she walked into his bedroom to find him listing the pros and cons of marriage. The pair continued this rigorous approach to family life holding six-monthly strategy meetings to decide goals, plan family trips and decide what they wanted their children to learn.

Why is this important? When a couple splits after 27 years of marriage it has big ramifications for both them and their family and friends but when the couple in question are some of the richest and most influential philanthropists in the world the shockwaves are even greater. The Gates have been quick to stress their divorce will have a limited impact on their foundation which has 1600 staff around the world and where they will remain co-chairs and trustees. However there may be some uncertainty in the long term around the foundation and what will happen to the estimated $US130 billion not yet deployed through the foundation.

The Gates are the largest owners of farmland in America and have vast investments through their holding company Cascade Investment which owns large stakes in the Four Seasons hotel chain and the Canadian National Railway while their family home is a $US130 million mansion just outside Seattle complete with an indoor trampoline room. What happens next? It is unknown whether the couple had a prenuptial agreement but the division of their wealth has already begun with Cascade Investment transferring securities worth more than $US1.8 billion to French Gates, who now prefers to be referred to by her maiden name, a day after the divorce was announced. Massive assets: The Gates home, dubbed Xanadu 2.0, in Medina, Washington. Credit:Reuters Its unlikely this is all French Gates will get and some guidance could be taken from the recent high profile split of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Mackenzie Scott, where Scott came away with a quarter of the Amazon shares the couple jointly owned.

Loading For Gates at least it provides some diversion from conspiracy theories circulating over the past year which included false claims that he refused to vaccinate his children, helped engineer COVID-19 to reduce the worlds population and that the vaccines he was funding contained traceable microchips. Why would I want to track people? Gates told Good Weekend earlier this year. What would I do with that kind of information? The biggest tragedy is that these conspiracy theories hold people back from getting vaccinated or wearing masks. In the same interview Gates signalled he wasnt ready to ease into a quiet retirement spent playing bridge and reading books just yet. I used to think people at 65 didnt have much to add to the world, he said. Ive definitely changed my view on that.
MST Maquee gaming analyst Rohan Sundram said Apollos $500 million offer to include the gaming services division in a sale was an added sweetener that gave Tabcorp and exit strategy for an asset that could otherwise be difficult to shift if the company was split up.

Apollos bid matches the latest offer UK betting group Entain lobbed last week , but it also proposed a $4 billion deal that would include Tabcorps poker machine servicing business.

The New York-headquartered fund upped the stakes in the contest for Tabcorps underperforming wagering and media division with a $3.5 billion bid revealed on Thursday afternoon.

Private equity giant Apollo faces an uphill battle to win crucial support from industry bodies for its bid for Tabcorps wagering division from Australias racing industry given its lack of experience as a bookmaker.

But that fact Apollo was not a proven wagering operator could make it harder to win racing industry support, Mr Sundram said, presenting a potential road block given Tabcorps various agreements with state racing bodies.

The likely existence of change of control provisions amongst [Tabcorps] multiple agreements with various racing bodies... further complicate an already complicated matter and would take some time to negotiate through, he said.

Media heir Lachlan Murdoch is also interested in Tabcorps betting assets to grow on the success of his Fox Corporations Fox Bet operation in the US, while Australian online wagering pioneer Matthew Tripp has also positioned himself to be involved in a deal.

The interest in the TAB business - which has been losing ground to online competitors such as Sportsbet and Entains Ladbrokes for the past decade - has prompted Tabcorps Steven Gregg-led board to launch a strategic review looking at options including a sale, or a demerger to split up the $10 billion companys wagering and lotteries arms into two ASX-listed companies.

Australias state racing bodies will be key to any sale getting over the line, given a new owner will need to renegotiate the TABs monopoly retail and totaliser betting licences. The industry bodies get the majority of their funding through tie-ups with the TAB and are expected to prioritise a new owner that can best compete in an industry that has been consolidating around a handful of major global players.
What role does fear play in the workplace? A manager once reminded me that despite what he termed the new age management ideas about engagement, inclusivity and respect, fear works to motivate.

Its probably most evident in insecure and precarious work. According to a 2018 report, fewer than half of all Australians in the labour market hold full-time jobs with leave entitlements. Vulnerable or structurally disadvantaged groups such as women, the young, migrants and those with disabilities are over-represented in less secure jobs. For white, educated males, it is more likely this kind work would be a conscious choice.

Exploiting fear: Women are over-represented in less secure jobs where they are more vulnerable. Credit:iStock

Its obvious that if you depend on your employer to grant you a days work, to put you on the roster or to give you a shift, this is breeding ground for fear. You are far less likely to arc up and insist upon your employment rights (where they exist) for things like sick leave or pay, or holidays.

The recent spate of underpayment scandals exposed by this newspaper also suggests that for many, their wages do not, or only barely, cover their living expenses. So perhaps the issue of holiday leave is utterly and wrongly irrelevant.
DeSantis said this week the primary would be Nov. 2 with a general election Jan. 11, and on Thursday he signed an executive order setting those dates. Under the governors schedule  which state law gives him the authority to set  the seat would be vacant for more than nine months. Thats far longer than other recent Florida congressional vacancies.
Four villagers who allege Ben Roberts-Smith was involved in the unlawful death of an Afghan farmer faced the risk of violent repercussions from the Taliban if details about them are disclosed before a coming defamation trial, a court has heard.

Lawyers for Mr Roberts-Smith, a decorated former Australian soldier who is suing The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald for defamation, have called on a judge to order an Australian military inquiry and the federal police to release documents about the Afghan villagers before the trial starts in the Federal Court on June 7.

Ben Roberts-Smith. Credit:Cole Bennetts

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing the news outlets over reports he allegedly committed murder on deployments to Afghanistan and that he allegedly punched his mistress in the face in Canberra in 2018. He denies the allegations and argues the reports are defamatory because they portray him as a criminal.

The news outlets are defending the claim using a truth defence.
Emergency departments across Perth were working under pressure in the lead-up to the weekend with ambulances ramped outside all major hospitals on Friday.

Nine ambulances were waiting to offload patients outside Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Friday afternoon, with the ED operating beyond capacity. Some had been stationed outside the door for three hours.

Ambulances wait outside of the emergency department at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in March. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola/File photo

Ambulances were also ramped outside Royal Perth, Armadale, Joondalup, and Fiona Stanley hospitals.

WAtoday understands SCGH was bed blocked on Thursday, with about 12 mental health patients stuck in the emergency department awaiting assessment.
The federal government has been accused of wasting tens of millions of dollars on unused COVID-19 tests sold to them by WA mining magnate Andrew Twiggy Forrest during the early stages of the pandemic.

Nine News reported almost two million tests could be thrown out at the end of May when they reach their expiry date.

Mr Forrests Minderoo Foundation secured 10 million COVID-19 tests from a Chinese company in April 2020, as Australia was going through its national lockdown and there was a global shortage of testing reagents.

The tests were paid for by Minderoo Foundation and reimbursed by the government at a cost of $186 million.
Australians stranded in India will be able to come home later this month after repatriation flights resume and more than 1000 people are expected to return by the end of June.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the three-week pause on flights has worked to slow the rate of COVID-19 infections in quarantine and the first flight into Darwin will touch down on May 15.

We have already facilitated the return of around 20,000 Australians from India, and this has been a big task. And that task will commence again on the 15th of May, he said.

Direct flights into Sydney and chartered repatriation flights to Darwin were halted late last month through an order under the Biosecurity Act, as the number of cases in quarantine rose dramatically, the majority detected in people arriving from India.
The Labor Partys preselection of candidates across 22 federal seats in Victoria has been blocked until at least the end of May after a Supreme Court judge temporarily upheld a challenge by 10 unions against the party.

The decision reverses Labor leader Anthony Albaneses demand for the national executive to fast-track the preselection process and choose candidates by Friday.

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese wanted candidates preselected by Friday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

It will also extend party infighting over the candidate for the new seat of Hawke, an expected safe Labor seat in Melbournes north-west, which continued on Friday as three party members confirmed they would put their hands up for nomination.

Former party state secretary Sam Rae, the candidate favoured by powerful factions who signed a stability deal this week, will be challenged by Maribyrnong councillor Sarah Carter and former Melton council candidate Deepti Alurkar.
Bangkok: Young protesters against military rule in Myanmar have come up with new ways to reduce the chances of a deadly response by the authorities.

About 70 marchers, mostly young people, staged a five-minute flash mob in the biggest city, Yangon, on Thursday, chanting in support of the civil disobedience movement, then scattered into the downtown crowds, borrowing a tactic used by the Hong Kong protest movement.

Protests against the February army coup also took place in other places including Mandalay, the countrys second-biggest city, where Buddhist monks marched, and Dawei in the south-east, where the demonstrators included engineers, teachers, university students and members of LGBT groups.

Anti-coup protesters shout slogans during a flash-mob demonstration on Thursday, in Yangon, Myanmar. Credit:AP

Demonstrators in Dawei tore up and set fire to textbooks as they called for a boycott of schools, which are due to re-open soon after a long shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Chinese demand for Australian iron ore will add up to $20 billion to Tuesdays federal budget as importers stockpile the critical resource fearing further deterioration of the diplomatic relationship between the two nations - which is in turn sending prices to record heights.

The increase in tax revenue from Australias largest export, worth double what the government spends on childcare each year, follows a sharp decline in the Australia-China relationship. A year of tit-for-tat escalation over national security and human rights disputes culminated in the suspension of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue on Thursday.

Workers take a break at a stockyard in Shanghai. Demand for Australian iron ore has held up well despite tensions between the two countries. Credit:Bloomberg

Chinas Foreign Ministry warned for weeks that China would retaliate over the Morrison governments decision in April to cancel Victorias Belt and Road agreement. On Thursday night it said Australia had to take responsibility for its actions.

It should stop the insane suppression targeting China-Australia cooperation, stop politicising and stigmatising normal exchange and stop going further down the wrong path, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.
Just in time to celebrate its 25th anniversary, the long-running revival of Chicago will resume its run at the Ambassador Theatre on Tuesday, September 14. Tickets are on sale now.

With a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago is directed by Walter Bobbie and choreographed by the late Ann Reinking. The production features set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Tony Award winner William Ivey Long, lighting design by Tony Award winner Ken Billington, sound design by Scott Lehrer and casting by Stewart/Whitley.

Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago's slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines, the likes of which might just as easily be ripped from today's tabloids. The production, Broadway's longest-running American musical, marks its 25th anniversary in November.

The opening date is subject to the approval of the New York State Department of Health and the Governor, and the production anticipates that masks will be required for all patrons and front-of-house staff. Additionally, audience members may need to provide proof of vaccination or negative Covid test. Exact regulations are still to be determined. Tickets purchased for any show through January 17, 2022 will be able to be refunded or exchanged for any other date until two hours before the performance.
A televised and streaming edition of AIDS Walk: Live at Home will take place on May 16. Funds raised will principally benefit GMHC, Vivent Health, CrescentCare, AIDS Walk San Francisco Foundation, Lifelong, as well as supporting dozens of other AIDS organizations.

AIDS Walk: Live at Home will feature performances and appearances by Billy Porter, Heather Headley, Rita Moreno, Tony Goldwyn, Liz Callaway, Alex Newell, Rosie Perez, Carson Kressley, George Takei, and stars from RuPaul's Drag Race.

With live segments planned, including "Viewing Parties" from New York's Central Park Boathouse and the National AIDS Memorial Grove in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, AIDS Walk: Live at Home will be broadcast on ABC7/KGO-TV in the Bay Area and streamed live on CBSN and AIDSWalk.net.
In this May 14, 2020 file photo Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., speaks during House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Staff Reporter

Nyamekye Daniel has been a journalist for five years. She was the managing editor for the South Florida Media Network and a staff writer for The Miami Times. Daniel's work has also appeared in the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Herald and The New York Times.
It should be fairly sunny, said NWS meteorologist Steven Ippoliti of Saturdays weather. We dont have any rain forecast, and temperatures for Broward will be in the low to mid 80s with somewhat dry air, so it should feel not as humid. It should be a pleasant day.
Up for debate:

Live legislation tracker

Check out the latest developments on bills pending before state lawmakers in four key topics.
Hastings represented the district for more than 28 years and was in declining health for a very long time before he died on April 6 at age 84. He started out as a young civil rights lawyer on the rough and racist streets of Fort Lauderdale in the mid-1960s and was old enough to remember what it was like when white people made sure that Black people couldnt vote.
Pedestrians pass an office location June 11, 2020, for the New York State Department of Labor in the Queens borough of New York.
Staff Reporter

Tim Gruver is a politics and public policy reporter. He is a University of Washington alum and the recipient of the 2017 Pioneer News Award for Reporting. His work has appeared in Politico, the Kitsap Daily News, and the Northwest Asian Weekly.
The U.S. Navy is making plans to sail into Cheyenne for a Navy Week, July 26  August 1, should the present health climate permit it.

This would be the first Navy Week in Cheyenne since 2015. The Navy Office of Community Outreach is working closely with community partners in Cheyenne and carefully monitoring guidance from public health officials to determine how to best support in-person events. Navy Weeks have been conducted virtually since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Cheyenne Navy Week will feature live demonstrations, performances, and engagements throughout the week including, Senior Navy Leaders  Vice Adm. Sean Buck, Superintendent of U.S. Naval Academy, and senior civilian Navy leaders with ties to Cheyenne and surrounding area; Namesake Sailors  Sailors serving on USS Cheyenne, a Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine and USS Wyoming (SSBN 742), an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine.

There will be Hometown Heroes  In-person and virtual events featuring Wyoming natives serving in the Navy. The Navy Band Southwest will have live performances at Depot Plaza and Cheyenne Frontier Days Parades. There will be Naval History and Heritage Command Educational presentations and lesson plans about the deep ties between Wyoming and the Navy. The USS Constitution will have In-person Sailor demonstrations and live virtual tours aboard the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy. There will be Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Educational STEM presentations by technicians, medics, and divers, and many other education-focused groups and events.

Navy Weeks are the services signature outreach program, designed to allow Cheyenne citizens the opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Navy Weeks are coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO).

The Navy is excited to reconnect with the people of Cheyenne, and we are committed to doing so safely and responsibly, said NAVCOs director, Cmdr. John Fage. Our Navy Week in Cheyenne will allow us to show everyone what their Navy does for them and why having a strong Navy is critical to the American way of life. We are excited to continue connecting with the communities we belong to and serve and are looking forward to a great Navy Week.

Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navys flagship outreach effort into areas of the country without a significant Navy presence, with over 260 Navy Weeks held in more than 85 different U.S. markets. Cheyenne is the seventh Navy Week in 2021.

During a Navy Week, we coordinate about 75 outreach events with corporate, civic, government, education, media, veterans, community service, and diversity organizations in the city, said NAVCO Navy Week program manager Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Anderson. The 2021 schedule is exciting for us. Well be in several brand-new markets, as well as returning to communities like Cheyenne.

For more information on 2021 Navy Weeks, visit http://outreach.navy.mil. For more information on Cheyenne Navy Week, visit https://outreach.navy.mil/Navy-Weeks-2021/Cheyenne/ or contact Lt. Ian McConnaughey at (901) 229-5709 or ian.mcconnaughey@navy.mil.
Batavia, NY (14020)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 57F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Towanda, PA (18848)

Today

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 61F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
I was shocked to read that the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill forbidding doctors from performing abortions on women who were pregnant with a fetus that would be born with a disability. This means that a woman who had a fetus with no brain (yes, it happens) would have to carry it for nine months and go through labor because the Republicans in Tallahassee deemed this type of abortion similar to the Nazis effort to establish a master race. Once again, this is men attempting to control women, by making a personal and private decision that should be made by pregnant women.
Towanda, PA (18848)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening, then skies turning partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 60F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
ONEONTA - Mrs. Uhlig passed away on November 18, 2019. A memorial service will be held for Carol H. Uhlig at 12:30 p.m., Monday, June 14, in the Bookhout Funeral Home 357 Main Street, Oneonta, with Rev. Stephen D. Fournier, officiating. Friends may call at the Bookhout Funeral Home from 11 a
An 18-year-old woman has been admitted to Malaga's Regional Hospital in a critical condition after being stabbed more than ten times by her ex-boyfriend.

The young woman has stab wounds to the head, neck, stomach and back and has lost a kidney as a result of the attack.

The incident happened after midnight on Tuesday in the doorway of an apartment building in Arroyo de la Miel, Benalmadena, where her ex-boyfriend lives.

Sources have told SUR that the pair dated for almost two years until the relationship broke up last January.

Since then, the alleged attacker is claimed to have harassed the young woman, including on social media.

The reason for the meeting last Tuesday appears to have been to settle a small debt that the alleged attacker had with his ex-girlfriend. Apparently, she told him to leave the sum in an envelope in her mailbox, but he refused and asked her to go to his home to collect the money.

Upon arrival, the 25-year-old Moroccan man was waiting for her with a knife with which he allegedly attacked her in the apartment buildings doorway.

The first call to the emergency services was made by a neighbour, who was alerted by the noise. A few minutes later, a second call was made by the alleged attacker himself.

Health workers stabilised the victim at the scene. She was then rushed by ambulance to the Clinico Hospital in Malaga in a serious condition, but given the nature of her injuries was later transferred to the Regional Hospital.

The alleged attacker has been arrested by the National Police. He was initially taken to the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella, as he had suffered cuts to his hands during the attack. He was admitted, under police custody, for observation.
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An award-winning political journalist, John L. Micek is Editor-in-Chief of The Pennsylvania Capital-Star in Harrisburg, Pa. Email him at jmicek@penncapital-star.com and follow him on Twitter @ByJohnLMicek.
1 Person Killed, 6 Injured in Alleged Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Incident: Sheriff

One person died and six were injured, including three children, in what appears to be a carbon monoxide poisoning incident in Indiana, officials said.

Deputies with the Scott County Sheriffs Office responded to a Lexington home on Wednesday, according to the sheriffs office in a statement. Officials then learned that a gas-powered generator was being operated inside the home without proper ventilation.

Generator manufacturers such as Generac say that gas-powered portable generators should not be operated inside an enclosed space, as the exhaust contains carbon monoxide.

The Scott County Coroners Office pronounced Terri Hart, 51, dead, according to the sheriffs office.

Four others, including a 23-year-old, a 6-year-old, a 4-year-old, and a 3-month-old, were hospitalized. The office did not provide details about their condition.

Two other adults were treated at the scene but werent hospitalized, authorities said.

An autopsy and toxicology are pending, but investigators said there is a possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, the sheriffs office said in the statement.

The office, meanwhile, said it does not believe foul play was involved, and the incident was being treated as a non-criminal death investigation.

Scott County Sheriff Jerry Goodin told WLKY that the family moved into the home on Tuesday and didnt have electricity.

Until we know all the facts and we can talk to the people who we need to talk to, to find out just exactly why they were there, why they should not have been there or why they should have been there, we just dont know, Goodin said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that accidental carbon monoxide poisoning kills more than 400 people per year. The gas is emitted when fuel is burned in cars, engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, and furnaces.
5 Freed After Hostage Situation at Wells Fargo Bank in Minnesota, Suspect in Custody

Suspect identified as Ray Reco McNeary

An hourslong hostage situation at a Wells Fargo bank in St. Cloud, Minnesota, resolved peacefully with no casualties after all five captives were released and a suspect was taken into custody late on Thursday.

A peaceful resolution, the best outcome we could have today, St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said late on Thursday at a news conference after more than eight hours since police were called to the incident, the St. Cloud Times reported.

St. Cloud police said they were dispatched to the bank at 200 33rd Avenue South around 1:50 p.m. regarding a report of a possible robbery.

The suspect was identified as Ray Reco McNeary, according to multiple reports. Anderson told reporters that McNeary was a customer who was upset about a transaction, according to St. Cloud Times. The branch manager reported the matter to the police who received the alert shortly after.

Five bank employees were held hostage inside the building, Anderson said. A SWAT team and FBI agents were on the scene on Thursday afternoon helping St. Cloud police with negotiations with McNeary to release all of the hostages.

One hostage was released just before 6:30 p.m. local time and another hostage was released around 7:00 p.m., according to local reports. Both were female, according to video footage shared by a reporter for a local TV station.

It appears a hostage was released from the bank, followed by someone throwing a wad of cash out the door, WCCO reporter Jeff Wagner wrote on Twitter, where a video showed a woman leaving the bank. He later posted another video of the second woman being released and led outside the bank.

Two more videos later showed another two hostages leaving the bank, one just after 7:50 p.m. and another at about 8:00 p.m.

Anderson told reporters that some hostages were released by McNeary while others made a run for the door and successfully fled, including the fifth and final hostage. When the final hostage made it out of the door around 10:20 p.m., St. Cloud police and FBI tactical teams entered the door at the same time and arrested McNeary.

It was unclear whether McNeary had any weapon and investigators were still at the bank while the press conference was underway, Anderson noted. He said that McNeary had an extensive criminal history that goes back about a decade and was due in court on Thursday related to a violent offense.

A spokesperson for Wells Fargo previously said that the bank was cooperating with local law enforcement and recognized that the situation was a traumatic moment for the community and Wells Fargo staff.

Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall told the press conference that her office is communicating with the U.S. Attorneys Office to clarify agency will file charges against McNeary, reported WCCO. The charges are expected to include bank robbery and kidnapping.
A view shows one of the hostels where gunmen abducted students of the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization, in Kaduna, Nigeria, on March 12, 2021. (Stringer/Reuters)

29 Nigerian Students Released 2 Months After Being Kidnapped

KADUNA, NigeriaKidnappers have released the remaining 29 students they were holding captive on Wednesday, nearly two months after abducting them from a forestry college in Nigerias Kaduna state.

Gunmen took 39 students from the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization in northwest Nigeria on March 11 and previously released 10 of them. The newly released students arrived at police headquarters in Kaduna city on Wednesday night looking weak, forlorn and wearing dirty, torn clothing.

One female student could not walk alone and was carried into the building, while another was rushed to the hospital.

Police did not allow journalists to speak to the students.

More than 700 people have been abducted from schools in northwest Nigeria since December in a rash of kidnappings for ransom in the volatile region.

Kaduna Governor Nasir El-Rufai has repeatedly said his state government will not negotiate with bandits, as the criminal gangs are known, or pay ransoms.

Abdullahi Usman, chairman of the parents association, said a ransom was paid for the students release, but refused to say who had paid or how much.

Friday Sanni, father of two abducted girls, said police had not yet allowed parents to see them. As he waited, he fretted over the fate of his daughters Rejoice, 17, and Victory, 19.

We pray it is all of them, he said.

Parents of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization students who have been abducted attend a meeting in Kaduna, Nigeria, on April 28, 2021. (Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

President Muhammadu Buhari released a statement that welcomed the release of 27 students. His office did not respond to questions regarding the discrepancy in the number.

Kaduna police spokesman Mohammed Jalige said all remaining students had been released and would undergo medical examination before their release on Thursday.

Samuel Aruwan, the Kaduna state commissioner for internal security, said in a statement that the government rejoiced with the freed students, and called on them to put the past behind and work hard towards a happier and successful future ahead.

He did not comment on whether a ransom was paid.

By Garba Muhammad
Sales of alcohol-free beer, wine, and spirits have more than doubled over the past year at BWS and Dan Murphys (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Alcohol-Free Drinks on the Rise in Australian and Global Markets

Sales of non-alcoholic and low-alcohol beer, wine, and spirit beverages have more than doubled over the past year at BWS and Dan Murphys, two of Australias major alcohol retailers.

The two major retailers reported a sales growth of 103 percent for the 2020 financial year, which peaked during Christmas in 2019 and July 2020. It also saw a rise in March 2020 when the Australia went into lockdowns due to the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

Adam Fry, general manager of buying and merchandising at Endeavour Group, the company that runs both retailers, attributed the rise to consumers new preference.

This is a reflection of a broader trend where consumers are choosing to moderate, with particular interest from customers in metro areas, he said in a statement. We expect this trend to continue.

Meanwhile, the alcohol consumption per capita in Australia is expected to fall by an average of 1.2 percent every year before 2025, as forecast by industry research firm Fitch Solutions.

The most frequently cited reason for Australian consumers decrease in alcohol consumption was personal health/lifestyle factors, Fitch told The Australian.

In addition, awareness campaigns and initiatives launched by non-profit organisations and the Australian government has further accelerated this healthification trend, he said.

From 2016 to 2019, the proportion of ex-drinkers increased significantly from 7.6 percent to 8.9 percent, according to statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The rise in popularity of zero and low-alcohol products is not limited only to Australia.

The category gained up to 3 percent within the total beverage alcohol market, and its total volume is forecast to grow by more than 31 percent by 2024, according to the new No- and Low-Alcohol Strategic Study 2021 by IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

The study examined the markets of 10 focus countries and found that Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States accounted for over 75 percent of sales for this no-and-low alcohol beverage market.

What were seeing is a moderation trend thats sweeping across key global markets, and thats bringing with it increased demand for reduced alcohol, or alcohol-free drinks, said Mark Meek, CEO of the London based company.

Brand owners will have an important role to play in the future development of no- and low-alcohol, as increasing the breadth of products available to consumers and their price points will support category growth and broaden its appeal.
A sign advertising jobs at the entrance of a restaurant, as Miami-Dade County eases some of the lockdown measures put in place during the COVID-19 outbreak, in Miami, Fla., on May 18, 2020. (Marco Bello/Reuters)

American Employers Added Just 266,000 Jobs in April as Businesses Struggle to Find Workers

Americas private employers in April added a paltry 266,000 jobsa proxy for new hiresdespite job openings at near record-high levels, suggesting businesses are struggling to find workers and reinforcing the view that some of the Biden administrations fiscal relief measures are disincentivizing people from seeking work.

The governments jobs report, released Friday, shows that nonfarm payroll employment rose by 266,000 in April, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers. In the report, the Labor Department also sharply lowered its estimate of Marchs job gain to 770,000 from its earlier estimate of 916,000.

Meanwhile, the most recent job openings report, released on April 6, showed that there were 7,367,000 nonfarm job openings in February, only slightly lower than the record high of 7,574,000 in November 2018.

Along with a decline in cases of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus and as states and localities ease restrictions, businesses have added jobs for four straight months, Fridays Labor Department figures show. Aprils job openings and labor turnover survey, meanwhile, shows the number of available jobs has been rising steadily since December 2020, when they stood at 6,752,000. Yet the unemployment rate ticked up to 6.1 percent from 6 percent in March, Fridays figures show, suggesting available jobs are simply not being filled.

Some experts have suggested that government unemployment benefits may be partly to blame for labor market slack, or unmet demand for paid labor.

Ongoing fiscal relief in the form of unemployment benefits could, in some cases, delay returns to the labor force and therefore delay reduction in labor market slack, said Nick Reece, portfolio manager at Merk Investments LLC, in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

Nick Eberstadt, political economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, told The Epoch Times that, while relief measures were justified at the height of the pandemic-induced recession, President Joe Bidens massive spending, both passed and proposed, could have a negative impact on parts of the economy.

In the depths of the emergency last year, there was a very compelling argument for government action, he told The Epoch Times. But maintaining emergency measures in non-emergency times may have unintended consequences, he added.

Incentivizing training skills and getting back to work would be better for our country than incentivizing indefinite unemployment, joblessness, he said, while criticizing Bidens proposed expansion of welfare programs for having no work requirements.

Rep. David Kustoff (R-Tenn.) commented on the jobs report in an interview on Newsmax, saying that many small business owners have told him that we cannot get people to come to work.

The federal government has provided essentially a disincentive to want to find jobs, to want to work, and so that jobs report does not surprise me.

He said that the extended unemployment benefits under the American Rescue Plan run through September, adding, I think were going to see more of that, where people are going to say, Look, I can make almost the same money by staying at home rather than going to work, why do I need to go to work?

Meanwhile, restaurant owners and managers from New York, California, Washington, and Chicago told The Epoch Times that hiring woes have become a nightmare, in addition to a spate of other challenges like indoor occupancy rules. They said in interviews that the federal unemployment bonuses handed out during the pandemic incentivized people to stay home instead of working.

Mark Fox, a Dublin native who lives in New York City, owns four restaurants in the Big Apple. While business is now finally starting to pick up, hiring troubles have slowed down the momentum.

We have difficulty hiring hourly workers, bartenders, servers, bar-backs, busboys, runners, overnight cleaning staff, Fox told The Epoch Times inside his flagship restaurant, The Ragtrader & Bo Peep Cocktail and Highball Store.

We are probably 60 employees short, he said. I have one restaurant in Greenwich Village that I havent reopened yet because they dont have the manpower.

Mark Fox, owner of The Ragtrader & Bo Peep Cocktail and Highball Store in New York City on April 29, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

The Ragtrader & Bo Peep Cocktail and Highball Store in New York City on April 29, 2021. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

The Ragtrader, a 300-seat restaurant in its fourth week of reopening, was hit hard last year. Fox said he lost a devastating amount of money. He said revenue levels currently are half of what he made in 2019 but that the needle is moving in the right direction.

Hudson Riehle, the senior vice president for research at the National Restaurant Association said hiring difficulties in the sector are surging.

When it comes to recruiting workforce, in January, 7 percent of restaurant operators rated recruitment and retention of workforce as their top challenge; by April that number had risen to 57 percent, Riehle told The Epoch Times.

The labor squeeze has become so dire in the restaurant industry that one McDonalds location in Florida started paying $50 to anyone who would show up for a job interview. Other franchises like Taco Bell, which needs at least 5,000 new employees, are holding hiring events in parking lots.

With fewer people in the workforce, the stimulus supports still in place, worker safety concerns, the need for caregivers to remain at home, and much greater competition with other industries for workers, operators are returning to pre-pandemic recruitment techniques for hiring, Riehle said.

Some economists say employers will have to offer higher pay to draw more people back into the job market.

The U.S. economy remains more than 8 million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level.

Bowen Xiao and Emel Akan contributed to this report.
Antifa, BLM Activists Armed With Rifles Block Traffic, Assault Drivers in Portland

A large group of Antifa and Black Lives Matter protesters clashed with people this week during a march in Portland and at least one person was hospitalized for reasons that were not specified, police said.

The confrontations between protesters and citizens happened in broad daylight on Wednesday and involved multiple people and separate cases.

At least two of the incidents were captured on video, showing armed protesters getting into a conflict with two drivers who appear to attempt to drive through their march.

In one such incident, armed protesters surrounded a red Interstate Dodge Chrysler, slashed the tires of the vehicle, broke the rear window, and held the driver hostage after accusing him of driving through their protest, according to a video that was posted on video sharing platform BitChute.

Dispatchers with the Portland Police Bureau also said they received multiple calls from people that were driving in the area and got blocked by a crowd of protesters.

One person said people in the crowd broke out their vehicle windows, damaged tires, and sprayed them with some kind of irritant, police said in a press release.

Police were also called near North Interstate Avenue and North Killingsworth Street after someone reported that a pedestrian was hit by a car in relation to the protesters marching in the streets.

As officers arrived they did not find any pedestrians who claimed to have been struck, police said. The large group had moved away, still walking in nearby streets, some openly carrying firearms.

In another incident that was captured on video, a crowd of protestersmostly dressed in black clothing and some carrying weaponsare seen yelling at the driver of a red Ford pickup truck, who was reportedly armed with a gun.

A voice is heard yelling at the driver to put his gun down, which he appears to be following, while also responding to one of the protesters to stop pointing his gun at him.

You got about five seconds to lower that [explicit] weapon, the driver is heard yelling at the protester, who at first does not to follow the order and continues to point his rifle at him.

You point a [explicit] weapon at me, the driver of the vehicle continues to shout. It is unclear according to the footage about how the confrontation started or who raised their weapon first.

After the brief verbal altercation, the unidentified driver gets back inside his truck as he tries to leave the scene, but protesters surround the truck and kick his car, prompting him to get out of his truck again.

As the driver exits his vehicle, protesters tackle him to the ground after he appears to draw his gun.

Get the weapon! Get him on the ground! a voice is heard shouting in the video. It is unclear if he actually pointed a weapon.

Authorities in Portland said they are collecting as many statements as possible and are now seeking more information from witnesses about the incidents.

According to the video, it appears the driver of the Ford got blocked by a vehicle of the crowd showing signs of BLM and justice for Patrick Kimmonsa 27-year-old black man who was fatally shot by two police officers after Kimmons fired five shots and wounded two men at a parking lot near a strip club in Portland over two years ago.

The shooting was determined lawful and in self-defense by a grand jury who reviewed investigative files and video footage from security cameras overlooking the parking lot. Both officers involved were cleared of any wrongdoing about one month after the incident.

From NTD News
Authorities in Spain are calling for the public's help to track down a brother and sister who were reported missing in Estepona on 29 January.

Leonardo, 5, and Stephanie, 6, were reported missing by their father - who holds custody of both children - and now Spains Ministry of the Interior, the Foundation Aid to Minors and Adolescents at Risk (ANAR), SOS Desaparecidos and the NISDE - Association of Children without Rights - have posted images of both the children on social media asking for the publics help.

The father has told SUR that all indications show that the children are with their mother, who has dual Russian-Spanish nationality. He said the mother should have returned the children to him on 29 January, but he has not heard from them.

They have not seen their family for 96 days or been to school, he said desperately. According to the father, the children cannot leave Spain by court order.
ICE agents carry out an operation to arrest illegal immigrants in Philadelphia, Pa., on Sept. 25, 2019. (ICE)

Arizona, Montana Ask Court to Halt Biden Administrations Narrowing Deportation Guidance

Arizona and Montana attorneys general are asking a judge to order the Biden administration to stop abiding by guidance that narrowed which illegal immigrants should be deported, leading to a new record-low number of deportations in April.

In interim guidance issued in February, acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Tae Johnson ordered agents only to focus on deporting illegal immigrants presumed to be priorities linked to national security, border security, or public safety.

That meant illegal immigrants convicted of driving while under the influence or assault would not be deported, the White House said.

After the order, and similar guidance, the number of illegal immigrants ICE booked per month plummeted, from over 5,000 to about 2,000, according to a court document filed by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

The number of deportations also dropped, from 5,732 in the bulk of January to under 3,000 in April.

ICE is averaging one arrest in the interior of the country per 2.5 months per officer, Brnovich and Knudsen, both Republicans, said.

They argued the guidance violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it is arbitrary and capricious, with ICE failing to supply a reasoned analysis for the change in policy. They also charged that the guidance clashes with 8 U.S. Code  1231, which dictates details of removing illegal immigrants.

If the court doesnt block the guidance, plaintiffs believe they will suffer irreparable harm through escalating costs they must bear due to the decrease in removals, as well as the monetary cost of crime given the statistical certainty of recidivism, they said.

It is illegal and unconscionable for the federal government to force the release of dangerous criminals into Arizona communities when they are required to be deported by statute, Brnovich said in a statement. Upholding the rule of law and preserving public safety must always come before any political or special interest group agendas.

The filing came in Arizona, State of et al v. United States Department of Homeland Security et al, which originated in U.S. District Court in Arizona earlier this year.

An ICE spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email: As a matter of policy, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on pending litigation. However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement with or stipulation to any of the allegations. As part of the Department of Homeland Securitys homeland security mission, our trained law enforcement professionals adhere to the departments mission and values, and uphold our laws while continuing to provide the nation with safety and security.

In a separate filing, lawyers for the government asked District Judge Susan Bolton, a Clinton nominee, to dismiss the lawsuit.

They asserted that Congress has vested the Homeland Security secretary with broad authority and that Montana and Arizona are seeking to displace the executive branchs enforcement discretion by effectively dictating which noncitizens must be removed, in what order, and when.

The states lack standing and fail to clear thresholds in place to actions challenging policies on the basis of the Administrative Procedure Act, defendants also said.

The court previously denied the plaintiffs motion to halt the Biden administrations 100-day deportation pause, because a federal judge in Texas already halted it for now. But Bolton said during a hearing last month that the ICE guidance could be addressed separately.
A general view of Veterans Memorial Coliseum shows ballots being reviewed during an audit of the 2020 election, in Phoenix, Ariz., on April 29, 2021. (Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic via AP/Pool)

Arizona Senate President Says She Thinks Election Audit Will Uncover Irregularities

The 2020 election audit going on in Arizonas largest county will likely uncover some issues, the states Senate president said on Thursday.

I hope we dont find anything serious. I think well find irregularities that is going to say, you know what, theres this many dead people voted, or this many who may have voted that dont live here anymore. Were going to find those, Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, a Republican, said on Arizona PBS.

We know those exist, but everybody keeps saying, You have no proof. Well, maybe well get the proof out of this so we can fix those holes that are there. I hope theres no fraud thereI dont even like using the word, because that would truly shake the utter ground of everything we believe in in our election system. But ifand I mean a big ifthere is, then it will be turned over to the authorities, they can take care of it and the Senate will do whatever we can to close down those loopholes, she added.

The state Senate ordered the audit of Maricopa County ballots and machines after the November general election. After the county fought against subpoenas, it agreed to send most of the subpoenaed materials, and the audit started on April 23. The county is still withholding routers.

Fann and others involved in the process have seen harsh criticism from Democrats, including Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs. On MSNBC on Thursday night, Hobbs called the audit a circus and said people from across the political spectrum have called her office expressing concern about it.

They have been able to see what a sham it is, and that it is not actually a real audit, and that its not going to determine anything different about the election than we already know, that it was a free and fair election, she said.

In addition, the Arizona Democratic Party tried halting the audit, claiming the auditors were violating the law with lax security and poor ballot handling.

A judge ultimately decided not to stop the process, and the parties later reached a settlement that was touted by Democrats but panned as changing nothing by Cyber Ninjas, the company running the process.

Fann said the audit is not about changing election results, which saw Democrats win the presidential race and a U.S. Senate race. She said it is about restoring confidence in elections among the approximately half of voters that polls indicate distrust the entire election system.

Some of the 2.1 million ballots cast during the 2020 election, are brought in for recounting at a 2020 election ballot audit ordered by the Arizona Senate at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 22, 2021. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo)

Democrats do not want this audit done, she said on television on Thursday. They talk about conspiracy theories, but Ill tell you what theres almost like a reverse conspiracy theory now as to trying to demean this audit. Im going to be very, very clear here because this is something that just isnt getting reported enough. This election is not about [former President Donald] Trump, its not about overturning the election or electors or anybody else. This is about 49 percent of Arizona voters have no confidence in our election system, she said.

Fann also challenged critics who argue that Maricopa County already performed a forensic audit, among other reviews.

The county chose two firms that only certify machines, and one of them, Pro V&V, certified the machines to begin with, she said.

That is not a forensic audit, she said.

The current process, on the other hand, is reviewing all of the nearly 2.1 million ballots cast in 2020, in addition to thoroughly investigating the tabulators and other machines used.

The Senate-ordered audit was originally expected to wrap up by May 14, when teams will have to vacate the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix because of high school graduations that are set to take place there. The Senate liaison, though, told The Epoch Times this week that it could run longer.

I was hoping that they would be a little further along than they are right now, Fann said, but added she was pleased with the progress. Its a huge undertaking. Its the first time anybodys every done this to this magnitude. So, I think theyre doing pretty good considering all the [factors] going on.
Australian Federal Trade Minister Dan Tehan at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, on Dec. 9, 2020. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

Australian Ministers Open for Talks After Beijing Axes Economic Dialogue Platform

Trade Minister Dan Tehan has expressed disappointment at the suspension of high-level economic dialogue by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), stressing that the Australian government is always open for talks to resume.

On Thursday, the CCP indefinitely suspended all future activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, following last months termination of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) arrangements by Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

Tehan told Channel Seven on Friday, We want to have a dialogue with China; we want to be able to work through our differences.

We have a very important economic relationship, which has helped both counties, he said. Our hope is we will be able to have a dialogue over time and work through these differences.

If decisions are taken which impact on our commercial relationship, ultimately, in the end, it harms both nations, Tehan added.

The suspension of the Dialogue marks the first material response from Beijing, following the governments cancellation of the BRI deal signed by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Belt and Road Initiative protest rally held on the steps of Victorian parliament on June 7, 2020. (Grace Yu/Epoch Times)

The foreign minister, who is in London for Group of Seven (G-7) Plus meetings, played up the value of the Dialogue.

We have been very clear that we were willing and able to participate in an ongoing strategic and economic dialoguethat is ultimately a decision for China, she told reporters.

Australia is very ready to engage in dialogue with our counterparts at any level.

The genesis of the Dialogue began in 2013 under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard as part of a larger effort to build closer ties with Beijing. The first meeting was held in 2014 with her successor Tony Abbott.

The third and last Dialogue was held in 2017 with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who was treasurer at the time.

Bilateral talks largely froze throughout 2020, after Beijing imposed a number of trade restrictions and tariffsoften characterised as economic coercionon Australian product exports in response to calls from the Morrison government to investigate the origins of COVID-19.

This has led experts to label Beijings move as mere symbolism, saying the CCP has effectively run out of ammunition in its economic coercion tactics against Australia.

By going thermonuclear on trade in 2020, they now have no substantive ways to punish Australia anymore and have to scrap around for impact-free acts of pure symbolism, Jeffrey Wilson, research director of the Perth USAsia Centre, wrote on Twitter.

Australian beef is seen at a supermarket in Beijing on May 12, 2020 (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)

China has placed sanctions against practically all Australian exports it can, investment has collapsed, and intergovernmental discussions are non-existent, he added. It now has no substantive leverage over Australia and has to resort to largely meaningless acts of symbolism.

James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, warned that symbolism mattered greatly in international politics.

Symbolism, after all, was what motivated the Australian government to tear up Victorias Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China, he wrote in The Conversation.

The deal was not legally binding and didnt commit the Victorian government to anything, he added. But the federal government wanted to send a message: it would do this and not be deterred by the threat of Chinese retaliation.

He warned that Beijing could exercise its nuclear option and potentially axe the ChinaAustralia Free Trade Agreement.

Meanwhile, Australian exporters have spent the last few months working to diversify their trade markets away from China, to reduce risk and exposure to Beijings actions.

Wine, barley, salmon, and coal exporters have been successful at finding new homes for their product.
Biden Order Rescinds Trump Plan to Collect Facial Scans, DNA From Immigrants

President Joe Bidens administration on Friday rescinded a Trump-era plan to collect facial scans and DNA from immigrants when they apply to enter the United States.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has withdrawn a proposed rule that would have expanded department authorities and requirements for collecting biometrics by removing age restrictions; requiring submission of biometrics for every applicant, petitioner, sponsor, beneficiary, or other individual filing for or associated with any immigration or naturalization benefit or request unless DHS waives or exempts the biometrics requirement.

Former President Donald Trump last year proposed the expansion of collecting facial scans, eye scans, and voice data for individuals seeking entry, which would then be used to verify people who had left the country. The rule would have also allowed the federal government to collect information from younger children, including DNA and scans.

DHS, meanwhile, said that its move to rescind the proposal is designed to reduce barriers and undue burdens in the immigration system, adding that DHS will continue to require submission of biometrics where appropriate and remains committed to national security, identity management, fraud prevention, and program integrity.

In 2019, the Trump administration called for the collection of DNA of migrants who are detained by U.S. authorities, arguing it was allowed under a 2005 law and could help detect fraud and solve cold cases. If the proposal was enacted, it would vastly expand such collections that DHS said would help prove family relationships, verify identities, and check criminal histories.

The American Civil Liberties Union had criticized the rule, saying it would hinder legal immigration and raised questions about government surveillance.

Since taking office, Biden has issued a number of orders rescinding Trump-era immigration rules, including suspending the U.S.-Mexico border wall construction, the remain in Mexico policy, and dozens of more executive actions. According to an analysis of the Migration Policy Institute, Biden unleashed more than 90 executive actions during his first 100 days in office.

The early Biden actions have, among other things, narrowed the scope of immigration enforcement in the U.S. interior, terminated most travel and visa restrictions imposed during the prior administration, extended humanitarian protections, made immigration benefits more accessible, and adopted something of a new approach to border enforcement. Biden also notably pledged his support for sweeping immigration legislation that includes legalization for the nations estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants, the analysis noted.

However, Republicans and even some Democrats have been sharply critical of the administrations immigration policy and messaging.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Bill Gates-Funded Company Releases Genetically Modified Mosquitoes in US

Genetically modified mosquitoes have been released for the first time in the United States as part of an experiment to combat insect-borne diseases such as Dengue fever, yellow fever, and the Zika virus.

UK-based biotechnology firm Oxitec, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said it released the mosquitoes in six locations in Monroe Countys Florida Keys: two on Cudjoe Key, one on Ramrod Key, and three on Vaca Key.

Its part of an effort to help tackle a disease-transmitting invasive mosquito populationthe Aedes aegypti mosquito speciesthats responsible for virtually all mosquito-borne diseases transmitted to humans, according to the company.

These mosquitoes make up about 4 percent of the mosquito population in the Keys, and transmit dengue, Zika, yellow fever, and other human diseases, as well as heartworm and other potentially deadly diseases to pets and other animals.

The experiment is in collaboration with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District (FKMCD), and was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an independent advisory board.

Over the next 12 weeks, fewer than 12,000 mosquitoes are expected to emerge each week, for approximately 12 weeks. Untreated comparison sites will be monitored with mosquito traps on Key Colony Beach, Little Torch Key, and Summerland Key.

If successful, some 20 million additional genetically modified mosquitoes will be released later in the year.

We really started looking at this about a decade ago, because we were in the middle of a dengue fever outbreak here in the Florida Keys, FKMCD Executive Director Andrea Leal said during a video news conference. So were just very excited to move forward with this partnership, working both with Oxitec and members of the community.

The insects released by the biotechnology firm are all male, so they dont bite. Theyre expected to mate with the local biting female mosquitoes, and in doing so, they will pass on a lethal gene that will ensure their female offspring die before reaching maturity.

According to Quartz, areas including Malaysia, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, and Panama, where similar experiments have been carried out, have seen mosquito populations drop by as much as 90 percent.

The project has faced backlash from residents, who say their consent was not sought for the experiment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
People queue to enter terminal 2, as tighter rules for international travellers start, at Heathrow Airport, amid the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, London, Britain, Jan. 18, 2021. (Henry Nicholls/Reuters)

Britain to Reopen Foreign Holidays to Just a Handful of Countries

LONDONBritain will allow international travel to resume from May 17 after months of banning most trips abroad, but nearly all major destinations were left off its list of countries open for quarantine-free holidays.

Just 12 countries and territories made the so-called green list. They include Portugal, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, and the tiny Faroe Islands.

The top four destinationsSpain, France, Italy, and the United Stateswere among those left off, angering stricken airlines and holiday companies battling for survival. Those four sit in the amber category, requiring self-isolation for those returning to the UK.

Turkey, another big holiday destination, was added to a red list. That requires travellers to spend 10 days in managed hotel quarantine on their return, which they must pay for themselves.

While a legal ban on all non-essential international travel will be lifted for the first time since January, the government said people should still avoid travelling to countries on the amber or red lists for leisure.

Today marks the first step in our cautious return to international travel, with measures designed above all else to protect public health and ensure we dont throw away the hard-fought gains weve all strived to earn this year, transport minister Grant Shapps said.

Airlines, holiday companies, and tourist hotspots in southern Europe have been waiting for big-spending Britons to start travelling again, but they will have to wait a few months longer for a full rebound to take off.

With Portugal as the first major Mediterranean holiday destination to make the green list, Thomas Cook and Club Med said bookings there were already up 250 percent on last Friday. TUI said it had added more flights to Portugal.

The list will be reviewed every three weeks. It applies only to people from England for now, but devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are expected to accept it too.

Those travelling to countries on the green list will have to take two COVID-19 tests, one before arrival back into the UK and one within two days of returning.

Excess of Caution

Trade bodies for pilots and airlines, airports, and holiday groups said Britain was being excessively cautious and such a limited reopening would continue to drag on an industry that had taken great strides to manage safe travel.

Experts have also said prices could shoot up for bookings to the few places on the green list. Shapps said airports could also see longer delays as COVID-19 test results must be checked.

Many destination countries also have their own requirements, with many still effectively closed.

This excess of caution from the government is extremely disappointing for everyone who works in the travel sector, Brian Strutton of the British Airline Pilots Association said.

The travel industry had argued that Britains rapid vaccination programme should enable it to open up more quickly. But the government has prioritised efforts to prevent coronavirus variants from entering the country.

Heathrow Airport, the countrys biggest, and British Airways both urged the government to add more countries to the green list when it next reviews travel in early June, and to let those who have been fully vaccinated travel without restrictions.

The government should help people plan ahead by publishing a list of countries expected to be on the green list for the summer holidays so that passengers are not faced with high prices for last-minute bookings, Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said.

Before the announcement, the head of British Airways-owner IAG had also called on the UK and the United States to open a travel corridor, given their high vaccination rates.

($1 = 0.7208 pounds)

By Sarah Young and Kate Holton
New York State Attorney General Letitia James takes a question at a news conference in New York, N.Y., on Aug. 6, 2020. (Kathy Willens/AP Photo)

Broadband Companies Paid for 8.5 Million Fake Comments on Repeal of Net Neutrality: New York AG

The New York Attorney Generals office said in a Thursday report that a campaign funded by the broadband industry submitted millions of fake comments supporting the 2017 repeal of net neutrality.

The report (pdf), headlined How U.S. Companies & Partisans Hack Democracy to Undermine Your Voice, concluded that nearly 18 million of the more than 22 million comments that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) received during its 2017 rulemaking process were fake.

This type of fraud has significant consequences for our democracy, the report notes. Federal and state agencies rely on public comments to set standards that govern many aspects of our lives, from public health to consumer protection to the environment, and, in this case, the rules that govern how we share and consume content over the internet.

The report found that a broadband industry group, called Broadband for America, spent some $4.2 million on a campaign that involved hiring companies known as lead generators that ended up yielding over 8.5 million of the fake comments.

The objective of the campaign was to make it appear as though there was widespread grassroots support for the net neutrality repeal, according to the report.

Broadband for America includes major internet providers like AT&T, Comcast, and Charter.

While the report criticized the industry group for ignoring red flags and called its behavior troubling, the report did not find that the broadband companies had direct knowledge of fraud and so they were not found to have broken the law.

The industry group did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

The principle of net neutrality requires Internet Service Providers (ISP) to treat all internet traffic equally, preventing them from treating their own services or customers more favorably.

Critics have argued that net neutrality would slow down the internet, make it more difficult to block spam, require the hiring of more government bureaucrats, and discourage investment in high-speed internet. Proponents argue that repealing net neutrality makes it easier for ISPs to abuse their gatekeeper roles in ways that harm consumers and threaten public safety.

Some experts have framed the issue as that of who ultimately controls the internet, saying net neutrality makes it possible for the government to be in charge, rather than the free market.

In 2017, the FCC decided to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality rules by means of what it referred to as the Restoring Internet Freedom Order, which went into effect in 2018, was then challenged in court, but was ultimately upheld.

The process leading up to the FCCs decision was preceded by a public comment period, with the New York Attorney Generals investigation finding that the process was dogged by fraud.

The FCCs acting chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, said in a prepared statement to media outlets that widespread problems with the record of the 2017 proceedings was troubling and the agency has work to do in order to improve the commenting process.
California Bar Owner Allegedly Sold Fraudulent COVID-19 Vaccination Cards

The owner of Old Corner Saloon in Clements, California, was arrested and charged for allegedly selling fake COVID-19 vaccine cards, California state officials announced Wednesday.

California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) officials received a complaint that the saloon owner was selling fake vaccination cards and opened an investigation in April, according to the agency. Undercover ABC agents allegedly purchased fraudulent vaccination cards from the Old Corner Saloon on multiple occasions in April, the agency said.

Agents arrested the owner of the business on allegations of selling the fraudulent cards, a California ABC Spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. He was booked at the local county jail on charges of violating Penal Code Section 471.5 (altering a medical record), Penal Code Section 472 (forgery of a public seal), Penal Code Section 530.5 (identity theft), and Penal Code Section 182(a) (conspiracy).

The owner of the Old Corner Saloon was arrested for selling fake vaccination cards and officials recovered a loaded unregistered firearm during the arrest leading to a felony charge, according to the California ABC. The agency is also seeking a criminal complaint against another employee, though no additional details were provided.

It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic, San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said in a statement. Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you. The San Joaquin County District Attorneys Office is grateful for the partnership with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for their work in this case.

California ABC officials worked with San Joaquin County Sheriffs Office and District Attorneys Office officials to execute a search warrant at the business and found materials used to distribute the fake vaccination cards, the California ABC reported.

A disciplinary action will be filed against the business which can include a suspension or revocation of the saloons ABC license, according to the agency.

By Kaylee Greenlee

From The Daily Caller News s Foundation

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
A health official receives a dose of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, at Infectious Diseases Hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Jan. 29, 2021. (Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters)

Canadian Woman Dies of Rare Blood Clot After Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine: Family

Family and friends said an Edmonton, Canada, woman died after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in April.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced the death of a woman in her 50s on Tuesday after she had received the vaccine but didnt confirm her name.

I am sad to report tonight that we have confirmed Albertas first death from VITT following vaccination from the AstraZeneca [COVID-19] vaccine, Hinshaw wrote on Twitter. My sincere condolences go out to those grieving this loss. VITT refers to vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia, which is a type of rare blood clot linked to COVID-19 vaccines.

She added that wed promised to alert Albertans as soon as possible in such confirmed instances, adding: While any death is tragic, its important to remember that risk of dying or other severe outcomes remain far greater than the risks following AstraZeneca vaccine. This marks the second VITT case and only related death out of 253,000 AstraZeneca doses in Alberta to date.

Family members told the network that it was Lisa Stonehouse, a 52-year-old mother from Edmonton, who died after getting the shot. Wilfred Lowenberg, who said he is the godfather to Stonehouses son, told CTV that she received her first AstraZeneca shot on April 21 before developing an adverse reaction.

Her daughter didnt deserve this, and neither did her parents, he added. Her parents lost their only daughter, and no parent should have to suffer through that, just as no child of Jordans age should have to lose both her parents before the age of 20.

Covenant Health, a local healthcare provider, said in a statement that her death is being investigated.

We offer our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones at this difficult time, said spokeswoman Karen Diaper, as reported by CP24.

Health Canada Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma said Wednesday that there have been about a dozen reported cases of blood clotting triggered by vaccines in Canada.

Whats really important to note about these is that its something that can be diagnosed and can be treated, she said, according to reports.

AstraZeneca was suspended in several European countries earlier this year due to the clots. Denmark last month became the first country to permanently suspend usage of the vaccine.

Danish health director Soren Brostrom said in mid-April that the suspension was carried out because we must weigh this against the fact that we now have a known risk of severe adverse effects from vaccination with AstraZeneca, even if the risk in absolute terms is slight.

EU health regulators said in March that the AstraZeneca vaccine should still be used because the benefits outweigh the risks.

Officials are of the opinion that the vaccines proven efficacy in preventing hospitalization and death from COVID-19 outweighs the extremely small likelihood of developing blood clots, the EU said. However, in the light of its findings, patients should be aware of the remote possibility of such syndromes.

And AstraZeneca, in March, said it would like to offer its reassurance on the safety of its COVID-19 vaccine based on clear scientific evidence, adding that a careful review of all available safety data of more than 17 million people vaccinated in the European Union and UK with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country.

COVID-19 is the illness caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

The Epoch Times has contacted AstraZeneca for comment.
CCP Prevents Chinese Expats in India From Returning Home to China

As the epidemic in India continues to spread, many countries have made plans to evacuate their citizens. But Chinese citizens working in India are prohibited from returning to China. Chinese expats said the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) told India not to issue travel permits to Chinese citizens.

On May 6, Taiwanese media the Central News Agency (CNA) reported that a Chinese national surnamed Zhang, who works in the technology manufacturing field in India, planned to return to China for a May holiday and to escape the COVID-19 epidemic in India, but he was twice denied an e-Pass.

Due to stricter control on peoples movement in most cities in India, Zhang was required to obtain an e-Pass online in order to go outside. Zhangs first application for the e-Pass was rejected for lack of relevant company documents proving that he was returning to China for vacation. In a second application, he submitted the required documents but was again rejectedthis time without any reason given.

According to Zhang, the Chinese Embassy in India told the Indian government that the CCP temporarily refused to allow Chinese citizens to return to China and that is what actually prevented Zhang from getting the e-Pass.

Volunteers cover a dead body before transporting it to a cremation site in New Delhi, India, on May 5, 2021. (Courtesy of United Sikhs)

A Taiwanese citizen working in India told CNA that a mainland Chinese colleague who is a loyal patriot to the CCP became disillusioned when the CCP prevented him from returning to China and that caused him to condemn the regimefor the first time.

However, on April 30 the Chinese ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, announced in an exclusive interview with Global Times, a regime-controlled news agency, that employees of Chinese-funded enterprises, students, and other Chinese in India are in close contact with the Chinese embassy there. He said the embassy provides them with expert guidance and advice, as well as epidemic prevention materials.

According to the CNA, when it contacted various offices in the New Delhi Chinese Embassy on May 6, no one answered the phone.

Additionally, the Chinese regime has been stirring up public opinion against expats trying to return to China from India, through its state-run media Xinhua News. On May 5, Xinhua and other major Chinese news outlets reported that three Chinese expats, suspected of being infected with the Indian variant of the CCP virus, brought it back to China.

On May 6, one of the major Chinese news portals 163.com, published an article that reported the death toll in India would exceed 1 million, and that Chinese expats had fled back to China with the mutant virus. It also said Chinese and Singaporean netizens were calling to ban them from returning. The report cited numbers published by the Chinese health department18 confirmed Chinese who returned from India infected with the Indian variant of the virus have been found in different parts of China since mid-April.

A passenger traveling from New Delhi arrives at Pearson Airport in Toronto, Canada, on April 21, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Frank Gunn)

By contrast, other countries have launched plans to evacuate their citizens from India. The U.S. State Department issued the highest-level travel warning at the end of April, advising U.S. citizens to leave India as soon as possible. Nonstop flights from India to the United States continue to operate. South Korea announced on May 2 that the South Korean government will arrange special flights on May 4 and May 7 to evacuate Korean expats from India. Iraq and New Zealand are also evacuating their citizens from the virus-stricken country.

The COVID-19 outbreak in India is now spreading rapidly. Since April 21, more than 300,000 cases have been reported daily.

The CCP virus, which first started in November 2019 in Chinas Wuhan City, had infected more than 155.6 million people and claimed over 3.2 million lives worldwide as of May 6. However, the numbers from countries such as China and Iran are not reliable due to a lack of transparency.
The president of the Junta de Andalucia, Juanma Moreno, has issued an ultimatum to the national government this Friday (7 May) during a visit to the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella.

The head of the regional government has pressed the central government for a solution to the second dose problem with the AstraZeneca vaccine, that is now only authorised for people aged between 60 and 69. A first dose of the formula was initially given to many essential workers below that age range when it was first introduced. They are now waiting for a decision about which vaccine they will receive for their second dose.

We have 150,000 stagnant AstraZeneca vaccines sat in the fridge. For this reason I ask the government either to send Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or, as a second option, that the regions be allowed to use the AstraZeneca for the second dose for those who wish to take it voluntarily.

He warned, Either the government makes a quick decision or we will make it. But I am not going to allow there to be tens of thousands of stagnant vaccines when there are people falling ill."

Moreno was speaking while visiting the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella, insisted that he wants the government to solve it, since, currently, there are more AstraZeneca vaccines arriving but we cannot vaccinate people more because we have age limits.

The Andalusian president has also, once again, asked the public "not to relax" once the state of alarm ends this Sunday. The pandemic is still here; last week 100 people (in the region) died as a result of Covid.

Every day people are infected, patients are admitted to hospitals and there are those in intensive care units fearing for their lives," he said.
The regulating dam of the Nam Theun 2 power dam under construction is pictured in Laos' Nakai plateau on June 28, 2007. (Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP via Getty Images)

CCPs Mekong River Belt and Road Projects a Faustian Bargain, Says Expert

Renowned expert hydrologist Wang Weiluo has likened Belt and Road deals between countries along the Mekong River and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as Faustian bargains, saying that while they bring investment they are deals with the devil that hurt livelihoods.

Speaking to the Hong Kong Epoch Times, Wang said that the dams on the Mekong River are destroying the ecological environment and directly threatening the development of fisheries and the livelihood of tens of millions of fishermen in the Mekong River basin.

His comments come after CCP mouthpiece Xinhua reported that Chinese leader Xi Jinpings speech to the U.S.-led virtual climate summit was a guideline to build a human community with a shared future, while touting seven hydropower stations on the Nam Ou River in Laos built by the CCP as a perfect example.

Nam Ou River in Laos is one of the 12 principal tributaries of the Mekong River, the largest river in Southeast Asia. The Mekong originates on the Tibetan Plateau and runs through six countries, including China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Over the past five years, the CCPs One Belt, One Road program, often referred to as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has targeted the Mekong River Basin and invested in a number of major infrastructure projects, including hydropower stations.

Map of the Mekong river basin. (Wikimedia Commons)

CCP Invests in Mekong River to Control Southeast Asian Countries

Expert hydrologist Wang said the CCP views infrastructure projects in the Mekong River Basin as just as nationally significant for China as CCP leader Xi Jinping described the Three Gorges dam project when he said they were a major national important weapon that must remain in Beijings hands.

Likewise, Wang said the Chinese regime would view the infrastructure projects along the Mekong River in the same way and have the same ability to impact Chinas rise or decline.

Wang noted that the operation of hydropower stations along the Mekong River directly affects all aspects of local energy supply and river channel management.

However, Wang noted that the countries along the transboundary river have handed their national important weapons to the CCP.

The CCPs promotion of the BRI in the Mekong River Basin reveals its ambition to control not only Chinas major national important weapons but also those of the Mekong Basin countries, in order to control Southeast Asia, Wang noted.

Over the past 10 years, hydropower development in the Mekong River Basin has been expanding. There are 11 projects in operation or in planning, including seven hydropower stations in Laos, two in Cambodia, and two on the Lao-Thai border.

The construction of hydropower stations in the Mekong River Basin is one of Beijings key BRI efforts in Southeast Asia. In Laos, the CCP has already built the 100,000-kilowatt Nam Lik 1-2 hydropower station, the 120,000-kilowatt Nam Ngum 5 hydropower station, and the Nam Ou River hydropower station under the so-called Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model (pdf).

Map of Mekong River. (Wikimedia Commons)

Using the BOT model, the Chinese regime would sign a 20-year or longer concession agreement with a local government after investing in the construction of these hydropower stations.

In Cambodia, the CCP has also invested in Kirirom 1 and 3 hydropower station projects, Kamchay hydroelectric station, Tatay hydropower station, Stung Atay hydroelectric power project, Lower Stung Russei Chrum hydropower station, and Lower Se San 2 hydropower station, all under the BOT model (pdf).

Take the Sino-Lao cooperation project Nam Phay Hydropower Station as an example. The Chinese side holds 85 percent of the projects equity and will have a 25-year concession period after the project is officially put into commercial operation.

Wang pointed out that although the CCPs investment in these infrastructure projects has boosted local economic growth, the deals are nonetheless a Faustian bargain, and the costssuch as rivers being blocked and ecology and natural environment being damagedwill far outweigh the benefits of the hydropower plants.

Threatened by Dams, Mekong River May Become Another Yangtze

Fisheries in the Mekong River Basin now face the threat of dams that disturb fish migration and ecology and causes economic loss due to development.

In a study titled Rivers of Giants  Giant Fish of the Mekong, the WorldWide Fund for Nature (WWF) said that dams on the Mekongs mainstem and tributaries are the greatest and most pressing threat to the Mekongs giant fish because they disrupt the migratory routes of giant fish.

Wang Weiluo said the dams block the downward flow of sediment which contains nutrients for the fish. The water flowing from the reservoir is also several degrees cooler than normal river water, which can also disrupt fish reproduction.

According to Taiwans Ministry of Economic Affairs Bureau of Foreign Trade, the Mekong River has seen a 76 percent decline in freshwater fish and a 94 percent decline in the number of giant fish since 1970.

Cambodian fishery officials examine the carcass of a giant catfish at the Department of Fisheries in Phnom Penh on November 15, 2011. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Nature magazine reported that an estimated 60 percent of the catch in the Lower Mekong Basin is made up of migratory fish that need to cross the river unimpeded to spawn in suitable areas. The construction of dams will impede the migration of these fish and put many of them at risk of extinction.

According to the Mekong River Commission, the loss of fish due to dams is estimated to be nearly $23 billion by 2040. In addition to fisheries, the loss of forests, wetlands, and mangroves could be as high as $145 billion. The dams will also reduce sedimentation and limit rice growth along the Mekong River.

Wang Weiluo said that the dams in Chinas Yangtze River basin have left the Yangtze fishery in dire straits. He said the CCP has imposed a 10-year ban on fishing in key areas of the Yangtze River basin. This will likely create uncertainty for the tens of millions of fishermen in the Mekong River Basin who dont want the Mekong to become another Yangtze.

The Mekong River is known as a natural fishery and is famous for its 1,148 species fish species, ranking third in the world in fish diversity after the Amazon and the Congo River basins.

The Lower Mekong Basin has the largest inland capture fishery in the world, with a total annual catch of 2.3 million tons of fish valued at $11 billion, providing up to 80 percent of the animal protein needed by the people of the Mekong River Basin on a daily basis.

The Mekong River is also home to many economically valuable fish, including the worlds largest freshwater stingray. Four of the worlds top ten freshwater fish live in the Mekong River, including the giant freshwater stingray, Mekong giant catfish, giant pangasius (dog-eating catfish), and giant barb (pdf).
Smoke billows from smokestacks and a coal-fired generator at a steel factory in northern China's Hebei Province, on Nov. 19, 2015. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

China Emits More Greenhouse Gas Than Developed Countries Combined: Report

China emitted more greenhouse gases (GHG) than the United States and all other developed countries combined in 2019, according to a report published on May 6 by New York-based research firm Rhodium Group.

The report found that China alone was responsible for over 27 percent of total global emissions, with the United States being a distant second at 11 percent. India was ranked third with 6.6 percent, followed by the 27-country bloc of the European Union at 6.4 percent.

Chinas emission reached nearly 14.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2019, more than triple 1990 levels and a 25 percent increase over the past decade, according to the report. Global emissions in 2019 topped 52 gigatons.

Additionally, Chinas per capita emission reached 10.1 tons in 2019, which increased nearly three times over the past two decades, according to the report. The figure was slightly lower than the 10.5 tons per capita average found across the 37 nations making up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

While final global data for 2020 is not yet available, we expect Chinas per capita emissions exceeded the OECD average in 2020, as Chinas net GHG emissions grew around 1.7% while emissions from almost all other nations declined sharply in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report stated.

China is the worlds largest coal producer and user. According to data from San Francisco-based NGO Global Energy Monitor, there were 1,082 coal-fired power stations operating in China as of January this year. Moreover, China is building 92 more stations and 135 are in the pre-construction phase.

Meanwhile, Beijing has also been financing fossil projects at countries that have signed up to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road). According to the New York-based nonprofit Council of Foreign Relations, China was involved in 240 coal plants in these countries in 2016.

BRIs fossil fuel investments will make combating climate change more difficult, the nonprofit concluded.

Beijing has locked BRI countries into a coal-consuming energy future, the AFP reported in December last year, with ongoing Chinese coal projects in countries including Zimbabwe and Pakistan.

BRI is an investment initiative Beijing rolled out in 2013 to build up trade routes linking China and other parts of the world.

In response to the Rhodium Groups report, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) took to Twitter to warn about working with Beijing on climate change.

Communist China is the worlds worst polluter & we cant trust it will do anything to change course, Scott wrote.

He added: Addressing our changing climate requires real solutions, but we cant pretend toothless agreements with mega-polluters like Communist China will do anything to advance that work.

China and the United States pledged to cooperate on fighting climate change following a trip to China by U.S. special envoy for climate John Kerry in April. Kerrys trip was criticized by several Republican lawmakers, including Scott, saying it was a fruitless endeavor.

Days after Kerrys trip, Chinese leader Xi Jinping took part in a U.S.-led climate summit on April 22, during which he said that China would strictly limit its coal consumptions from 2021 to 2025, and phase it down in the following five years. Xi also reiterated his previous pledge in September last year about China becoming carbon neutral by 2060.

Kerry recently drew more criticism from several Republican lawmakers over his remark in an interview with Foreign Policy.

We have differences on economic rules, on cyber. We have other differences on human rights, geostrategic interests, but those differences do not have to get in the way of something that is as critical as dealing with climate, Kerry told Foreign Policy.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the New York Post that Kerry should reconsider his priorities.

Demanding the CCP stop committing genocide doesnt get in the way of climate change negotiations, and to imply climate issues are more critical than the lives of millions of oppressed people living in China is insensitive and improper, McCaul stated.

In January, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, took to Twitter on May 6 to say that Kerrys remarks are disgusting and morally wrong.

Communist China is committing genocideforcing millions of #Uyghur Muslims into labor camps, subjecting many to crimes against humanity. The U.S. cant turn a blind eye and brush off these abuses, Pfluger wrote.
Taiwan Conflict Could Ruin Global Economy: Biden Aide (May 6)

A White House advisor warns against making a clear statement on Taiwan. They say backing Taiwan in case of war with China would have significant downsides.

Seven of the worlds most advanced economies say no to communist Chinas human rights abuses. Theyre also standing with Taiwan.

A U.S. court rules on the fate of a Chinese company. Its allowed to continue trading on the American stock market, despite its alleged ties to the Chinese military.

The World Trade Organization has a new deputy director-general. The position has been filled by a senior Chinese official, amid growing concerns about Beijings unfair trade practices.

Australia is rethinking its 99-year lease to a Chinese firm. The company rents a sea port there. But in case of war in the South China Sea, it could be part of a key strategy.

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Special Report on Controversies Surrounding CCP Virus Origins | China in Focus

The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease, has killed 3 million people. But one question has never been answered. Where does the virus actually come from?

Some believe the pandemic may have first leaked from a Wuhan lab. In a special report, we look at the arguments and whats behind the controversy.

And you can watch it on The Epoch Times newspapers new platform Epoch TV. China in Focus is partnering with the platform where you can watch our exclusive special reports every Friday night.

In them, well explore questions like the origins of the CCP virus; how China lures foreign companies in, steals their technology, and kicks them out; how the ancient Chinese philosophy of good governance differs from the current Communist regime, and much more.

Be sure to check out these investigative episodes by clicking on the link in the description down below.

And dont forget to subscribe to this channel if you really want to understand whats happening with China.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more first-hand news from China.

For more news and videos, please visit our website and Twitter.
China Threat Will Unify Indo-Pacific Region post-India COVID Crisis, Experts Say

Experts said that U.S. support and Chinas behavior during the current Indian COVID crisis would make the security alliance of the Quad (U.S., Australia, Japan, and India) more robust.

Although unnamed in the March Quad summit (The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) joint statement, the China threat would bind the geopolitical union in the long run. Political factors, next year and beyond, drive the long-term regional outlook more than how the Indian government is handling COVID now.

Our (U.S.-India) relationship is still very strong, said Major Randy Ready at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). He told The Epoch Times that the outbreak didnt have any current impact on security operations between U.S. and India, as no exercises were planned during this time. If anything, the U.S. support to India has made the partnership even stronger.

Initially, America was silent for a few days before it pledged support to India, which stirred some misgivings in the Indian media and public. Rahul Mishra, a senior lecturer at the University of Malaya, described the U.S. delay as one rough patch that wouldnt affect the long-term U.S.-India relationship. Mishra grew up in India and is teacher in Kuala Lumpur. He acknowledged the perception that perhaps Russia was more reliable came up again in India, and said the perception would probably be managed in the next six months.

The current COVID outbreak in India would strengthen the Quad cooperation, according to Srikanth Kondapalli, professor in Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. In his view, the outbreak highlights the importance of the vaccine partnership, a centerpiece of the Quad where India will produce at least 1 billion COVID vaccines for the world by the end of 2022.

The future for the Quad is pretty bright, said Mishra, who added that the four countries are keen in strengthening and institutionalizing the Quad. And European powers, including the U.K. and France, are also showing interest. He said that European support might help the Biden administration take more concrete actions, as Biden wasnt doing enough on China.

Rahul Mishra, a senior lecturer at the University of Malaya, grew up in India (Courtesy of Rahul Mishra)

China Threat Will Unify Indo-Pacific Region

Tosh Minohara, professor of U.S.-Japan Relations and Diplomatic History at Kobe University, doesnt believe the Quad should be about vaccine partnership or climate change as it currently is. The Quad should be about how to maintain liberal democracy and the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific region, he told The Epoch Times.

The Quad would start to evolve and function, with Quad-plus countries such as the Philippines and South Korea acting more in unison, according to Minohara, as the elections in both countries next year would probably generate governments tougher on China.

As a historian, he sees the analogy between the 1930s and now. During the 1930s, Japan was the challenger to the existing established order. The world restricted Japans aggressive expansion with the ABCD encirclement. ABCD stands for American, British, Chinese, and Dutch.

As the Quad evolves, Minohara believes that it should redefine itself as more than an ABCD encirclement, a strong partnership with lots of cooperation. It creates more anguish for the encircled country. The difference is that in the 1930s no countries were so economically dependent on Japan as they are on China now.

He said that its good to have friends in Europe, but the U.S. and regional players are the keys. In his view, Xi Jinping has to take Taiwan, probably before 2030, ideally without a war or military conflict, because Xi wants to surpass Mao Zedong, as the greatest communist leader of China.

Minohara made another analogybetween Poland and Taiwan. Hitlers 1939 invasion of Poland, out of which Hitler probably didnt expect a war, was an example of how many wars started with miscalculations. He said that he would not be surprised if a regional conflict would be the outcome when Xi Jinping tries to take Taiwan.

He believes that the U.S. will defend Taiwan as America will lose world leadership if it doesnt. In 2025, we will probably see a new U.S. administration more aggressive on China. The China threat is what will unify the United States of America.

The Indo-Pacific is the most consequential region for Americas future. It hosts our greatest security challenge, and it remains the priority theater for the United States, said commander Admiral John C. Aquilino, the new USINDOPACOM on his first day on the job at the change of command ceremony on April 30. The U.S. Department of Defense announced that Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III will attend an Asian security summit in Singapore next month to make clear how much we are prioritizing the Indo-Pacific theater.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III attended the change-of-command ceremony for Indo-Pacific Command at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, on April 30, 2021. (Sgt. Brittany Chase/Department of Defense)

Minohara shared that, in Japan, many China scholars hold the view that its game over already. No matter what America does, China will be the next power. He said that this type of opinion really underestimates the U.S.: Americans are no pushovers. He noted that many Japanese didnt see the link and so treat Taiwan as a separate issue.

To him, the limitation of a dictatorship is that it depends on one person. When Xi Jinping is no longer Party leader, Xinjiang, Tibet, and other regions might splinter off, leading to a smaller China that is a lot easier to manage for the world. In the end, the U.S. will prevail, he added.

Negativity on China Nearing Cultural Level in India

The one country Indians are becoming most negative toward is China. An August 2020 Mood of the Nation poll by India Today found 91 percent of Indians agreed that banning Chinese apps and denying contracts to Chinese companies is the right approach to counter Chinese aggression. Kondapalli said that public opinion toward China might have become more negative since then.

Although everybody calls it COVID-19, everybody knows that the virus originated from Wuhan, said Kondapalli. He said that the CCP was portraying India in a way that, with the latest COVID outbreak, Indias rise would be problematic. His view is that China is trying to convince the world, especially investors, that India is not safe for investment.

He said that during the last week of April, the Global Times organized a live report from India, where they used cash to recruit the Chinese students or workers who had remained. These people reported from the ICUs (Intensive Care Unit) and crematoriums and took many photographs.

On May 1, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Political and Legal Affairs Commission posted a graph on Weibo titled ignition in China vs. ignition in India, putting a picture of Chinas space mission beside a picture of Indians burning corpses of deceased COVID victims.

It is Hindu tradition to burn a corpse, believing that the migration of the soul happens during cremation, and the flames send the person to heaven. Kondapalli said that the Indians were deeply offended by the images, and the negative feelings toward China began to reach the cultural level. He sees a multi-partisan consensus in India to be tough on China, especially on the border issues.

Srikanth Kondapalli, professor in Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi (Courtesy of Srikanth Kondapalli)
Yuan Xie, 30, pleaded guilty on May 6, 2021, for his role in smuggling endangered turtles from the United States to China. (U.S. Justice Department)

Chinese Man Pleads Guilty for Role in Scheme to Smuggle Endangered Turtles to China

A Chinese national living in California has pleaded guilty to conspiring to smuggle hundreds of endangered and vulnerable turtles from the United States to China, according to federal prosecutors.

The Justice Department announced that 30-year-old Yuan Xie participated in a scheme with another Chinese national, Xiao Dong Qin, that would see 769 live turtles smuggled into China. The crime occurred between May 2017 and October 2018, court documents said.

The live turtles purchased by Xie from reptile dealers across the country are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the department said.

His arrest came following a two-year investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which found that Xie facilitated the purchase and transportation of approximately 134 Florida box turtles, 178 eastern box turtles, 127 North American wood turtles, 220 spotted turtles, 77 diamondback terrapins, 25 three-toed box turtles, seven yellow-blotched map turtles, and one Blandings turtle from his former residence in Eugene, Oregon.

The total cost of the turtles was determined to value over $150,000 and the estimated market value would have been double the amount in the Chinese pet trade.

As part of his plea agreement, Xie has agreed to pay $2,233 in restitution to a rehabilitation facility near Chicago and The Turtle Conservancy near Los Angeles for the costs associated with caring for the turtles seized by law enforcement.

He faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 12, 2021.

His co-defendant, Qin, 35, was sentenced to two years probation and nearly $8,000 in restitution in February last year.

In late April, a 35-year-old man was arrested after authorities found 35 live songbirds stuffed inside hair curlers and attached to his clothing. The man, Kevin Andre McKenzie, was accused of traveling from Guyana to John F. Kennedy International Airport unlawfully carrying three dozen finches.
Coffee Shop Manager Is Reunited With Baby He Helped Deliver as Barista 18 Years Ago

An Illinois teen who was born in a Starbucks bathroom 18 years ago had a heartwarming reunion with the barista who helped his mom give birth.

At the Starbucks in West Edens Plaza in Wilmette last month, Jonathan Celner was reunited with Griffin Baron, who was a 21-year-old Starbucks manager on the day Jonathans mother went into labor at the establishment.

I heard high-pitched screams coming through the wall and thought someone had locked themselves in the bathroom, Griffin told The Record Northshore, explaining that he had been on break around 5 p.m. on that fated day in 2002.

Starbucks in Edens Plaza, Wilmette, Illinois. (Screenshot/Google Maps)

After arriving on the scene, Griffin asked a customer, Tricia Monico, to go into the bathroom and see what was going on. What she reported was nothing like what hed imagined.

When Tricia came out her face was white and she said, Call 911, recalled Griffin. Then she said, This lady is having a baby.

After calling 911, Griffin said he grabbed some hot towels, saying, because thats what I think you do. He then opened the bathroom door to find Lisabeth Rohlck, Jonathans mom, gripping the bathroom rails with one hand, and holding onto Trisha with the other.

Lisabeth was 37 weeks pregnant and had been driving when she felt pain in her side. Starbucks just happened to be the closest place with a bathroom.

The rest happened in a blur.

Tricia [was] holding her hand and saying Youre doing great, youre doing great and four minutes later: Waaaah, said Griffin.

Jonathan as a baby and his mom Lisabeth Rohlck. (Courtesy of Jonathan Celner)

EMTs arrived on the scene not long afterward, to hear Griffin calling, Get the hell in here and cut this cord!

It was a moment Griffin would never forget; but until March 21, 2021, he never saw Lisabeth or Jonathan again.

I had always wanted to know what happened to him, Griffin said, adding that the reunion was a big smile moment for him.

After a Google search a few years ago, Griffin learned that Jonathan had since lost both of his parentshis mother to cancer, and his father to a heart condition.

I went on GoFundMe and donated for the two kids and wrote in the memo box that I had wanted to talk to the family and give them my perspective on that day, Griffin said.

Eventually, Jonathans aunt got in touch with Griffin and helped him find her nephew.

After finally meeting Jonathan, Griffin says they talked for about an hour.

The Starbucks manager introduced the 18-year-old to the baristas at his store and shared the story of Jonathans birth with those on duty.

Griffin Baron (L) and Jonathan Celner. (Courtesy of Griffin Baron)

Of his birth, Jonathan said he grew up knowing about the circumstances surrounding his birth and wondering about the people who had assisted his mom.

[My mom] would always tell me the story and would say how insane those next few weeks were for herjust a total media circus, the Oakton Community College student told Good Morning America. When Griffin reached out, it came full circle, which was cool.

According to GMA, Jonathans story is so well known that he sometimes receives a free Starbucks drink on his birthday if he shares his story with the baristas.

He is a super cool kid, Griffin told The Record of their meeting. He didnt know a lot of the insanity of what it was like. It was good to finally fill in all these holes that we had.

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COVID-19 Death Toll Now at 6.9 Million: China Should Pay at Least $19 Trillion in Damages for Mass Murder

Commentary

A new study found that the COVID-19 global death toll is double that of prior estimates by the World Health Organization. The WHO estimated 3.2 million deaths, but Director Chris Murray at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington told the Financial Times that the actual toll is significantly worse.

The new study, by IHME, estimates that the coronavirus killed 6.9 million. Not including economic damages from the lockdown, suffering to survivors, costs borne by society from hospitalization and new vaccines, future damages from the ongoing growth of the pandemic, or criminal penalties, China is already responsible for approximately $19 trillion in damages, according to my calculations.

Deaths in the United States are estimated at nearly 900,000 rather than the 570,000 of prior estimates, according to the IHME study. India has an even worse underestimate, with actual deaths calculated at three times the official numbers. Russian deaths are now estimated at 593,000 rather than the official tally of 109,000. The Institute explained that test quality inconsistency and under-reporting of care facility deaths explain prior undercounts.

The new mortality figures were calculated by subtracting pre-COVID death trends from the actual death trends during the pandemic. The University of Washington adjusted the estimate for indirect changes from the pandemic, for example higher deaths from fear of hospitals during the pandemic, and lower deaths from reduced vehicular traffic.

The old underestimates tend to let China off the hook and ease government claims that they did well in limiting the effects of COVID. But China must not escape.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations confirmed two key facts. First, the Wuhan lab concealed its work with Chinas military. And second, several researchers exhibited COVID-like symptoms in Fall 2019.

Analysts argue that China is legally responsible for the pandemic. Harvard Law professor James Kraska wrote in March: As the novel coronavirus incubated in Wuhan from mid-December to mid-January, the Chinese state made evidently intentional misrepresentations to its people concerning the outbreak, providing false assurances to the population preceding the approach of the Lunar New Year celebrations on Jan. 25.

China expert Gordon Chang wrote in an email that the country intentionally spread COVID-19 beyond its borders, and called it a form of mass murder. He provided three major reasons for this conclusion.

First, the regime tried to convince the world that COVID-19 was not human-to-human transmissible when it knew that it was.

Second, after Beijing admitted the diseases transmissibility, it then attempted to convince the world that the disease would not lead to many infections and deaths when it knew that it already had, thereby misleading public health officials into not taking precautions they otherwise would have adopted.

And third, China pressured [other countries] to not impose travel restrictions and quarantines when it was locking down its own country.

According to Chang, Beijing simultaneously arguing that countries should not ban Chinese travelers while maintaining lockdowns unmistakably suggests an intent to spread the disease beyond Chinas borders. He argues that China saw how COVID-19 had crippled China. If they wanted to cripple other societies with the virus, they would have done what they in fact did . They maliciously spread the virus to the world.

According to Changs source, Chinas National Health Commission ordered every lab, hospital, and other research facility in China to destroy samples of the coronavirus on Jan. 3. The intention could have been to destroy evidence. Chang said the destruction of samples was contrary to best practices during an epidemic. The universal practice is to keep samples, especially during the early stages of an epidemic when they are needed for contact tracing and vaccine development.

The title of Professor Kraskas March article concluded that claims against China for COVID-19 could be in the trillions. He wrote in an email that, In the law deaths are calculated as an economic cost of the deceaseds expected earnings, potential inheritance and job benefits, and goods and services that they would have produced in their lifetime, plus the costs of their medical support and funeral expenses. In general, these costs have been in the $2.5-3.0 million range for a single person. These costs could (and should) be added to a claim against China for wrongful death, in my view.

Multiplying 6.9 million COVID-19 deaths by $2.75 million per person indicates that China should compensate families for $19 trillion in wrongful death damages from COVID. This does not include future damages from the ongoing pandemic, suffering by survivors, societal economic loss from lockdowns, or criminal penalties for what Mr. Chang calls mass murder. Total additional damages could also be in the trillions.

If China fails to pay these costs, our governments should force China to pay by attaching its foreign assets. Sovereign immunity is no excuse for unelected governments that are no better than terrorists, according to University of Chicago professor Teng Biao and human rights lawyer Terri Marsh.

If our own governments fail to aggressively prosecute China for its COVID-19 crimes, they are derelict in their most sacred duty to protect the citizenry.

Anders Corr has a bachelors/masters in political science from Yale University (2001) and a doctorate in government from Harvard University (2008). He is a principal at Corr Analytics Inc., publisher of the Journal of Political Risk, and has conducted extensive research in North America, Europe, and Asia. He authored The Concentration of Power (forthcoming in 2021) and No Trespassing, and edited Great Powers, Grand Strategies.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Rep. Cuellar Says Border Not Under Control and Biden Administration Playing Shell Game With Optics

A Texas Democrat who has been critical of the White Houses immigration policies said in separate interviews on Fox News and MSNBC that aired Thursday that the border is not under control and that the Biden administration is playing a shell game by shifting unaccompanied minors from one tent to another tent.

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) said in an interview on NBC Nightly News that recent photos showing far less crowded housing conditions for unaccompanied migrant children in Border Patrol custody in Donna, Texas, paint a misleading picture of the border crisis.

What theyre doing now is theyre moving the kids from the Border Patrol tents over to next door to the HHS facility. With all due respect, its all a shell game, Cuellar said, referring to facilities run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Cuellar made similar remarks in an earlier interview with Border Report, when he said, all theyre doing is theyre moving kids from one tent to the other tent and saying, Oh, theyre not in the Border Patrol [custody].

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which operates the Border Patrol facilities, says the children are in HHS custody but declined to disclose the location, according to Border Report.

Officials at DHS didnt immediately respond to The Epoch Times for comment.

The agency said the recent photos demonstrate the tremendous progress that DHS and its partners have made to safely and efficiently transfer these children out of CBP custody and into the care of HHS.

Photos released May 4 by the Biden administration show the Donna facility nearly empty, in contrast to photos released in March that showed throngs of youths being packed tightly into the facility.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki says unaccompanied minors are spending less time in federal processing facilities.

Immigrant children inside a pod in a Department of Homeland Security holding facility in Donna, Texas, on March 30, 2021. (Dario Lopez-Mills/Pool via Reuters)

The amount of time children spend in [Border Patrol] custody is down 75 percent, from 131 hours at the end of March to under 30 hours now, Psaki told reporters this week.

Republicans have blamed President Joe Bidens messaging on immigration as well as a rollback of some Trump-era policies for the surge of illegal immigration and crowding at border facilities.

In March, immigration agents apprehended over 172,000 individuals seeking to illegally enter the United States. According to the latest report by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, more than 351,800 encounters were made in the first three months of 2021, compared to 107,700 during the same period in 2020.

The Biden administration has blamed the influx of illegal immigrants on seasonal factors and the crowding at facilities on a broken immigration and asylum system inherited from the Trump administration, a narrative Psaki once again pushed at the May 4 briefing.

After four years of an immigration system rooted in destructive and chaotic policies, President Biden is taking the challenge head on and is building a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system, she said.

Cuellar disputed the notion that the system was broken in an interview on the Fox News Rundown podcast that aired Thursday.

To say that the whole system was broken down, I would disagree, Cuellar said, adding that he disagreed with some Trump-era policies, like the child separation policy. But he criticized the Biden administration for doing away with the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, dubbed the Remain in Mexico policy. Experts have told The Epoch Times that former President Donald Trumps MPP program effectively ended the Obama administrations catch and release protocol given to U.S. border officers and significantly reduced the number of migrants arriving at the southern border in 2019.

The Migrant Protection Protocols program, I think that one, instead of just getting rid of that, I think we should have repurposed that, Cuellar said.

Or even the agreements we had with Central America and Mexico that got taken away and now theyre trying to do something else, trying to reach some sort of agreement. We should have not gotten rid of those agreements. We should have repurposed those agreements, Cuellar said.

The Biden administration in February suspended Trump-era asylum agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, as part of Bidens bid to undo his predecessors immigration policies. The so-called safe third country agreements, signed in 2019 by the Trump administration and the Central American nations, require would-be refugees to first apply for asylum in those countries before applying in the United States.

In April, the Biden administration signed deals with Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala to tighten their borders in an attempt to stem the flow of migration, later promising to provide aid to so-called Northern Triangle countries in a bid to ameliorate the often dire living conditions there that drive people to leave their homes in search of a better life in the United States.

The White House recently announced $310 million in emergency aid to Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, collectively known as the Northern Triangle, and Biden has proposed a broader $4 billion aid package over the course of four years that would tackle the root causes of migration, like poverty, corruption, and crime.

Critics have argued it wont do much to stem the flow of migration to the United States.

Its magical thinking to believe that anything the U.S. government does can eliminate the need for many families in this region to make choices involving migration, said Michael Clemens, the director of migration, displacement, and humanitarian policy and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, in remarks to Vox.

Not only that, but sending economic aid could even spur more people in Central America to leave their homes.

Clemens research with Princeton Ph.D. candidate Hannah Postel, as cited by Vox, found that foreign aid that focused on economic development was, in fact, associated with increases in emigration from poor Northern Triangle countries as the aid was insufficient to improve living conditions significantly enough to make people want to stay, but provided sufficient resources for them to decide to undertake the long trek north.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
A farmer plants corn in the Marvin Chapel field in Mount Airy, Maryland on May 19, 2020. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Farmers Sue Biden Administration Over Racist COVID Relief Plan

A disabled white farmer has sued President Joe Bidens administration over his COVID-19 loan forgiveness program, alleging he cant participate because he is white.

Adam Faust, a white resident of Chilton, Calumet County in Wisconsin, is one of five Midwestern farmers who filed a lawsuit on April 6 that accuses the federal government of violating their constitutional rights, Fox 11 reported.

The other plaintiffs are farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Ohio who have direct loans with the Farm Service Agency or USDA-backed loans and are otherwise eligible for the loan-forgiveness program in ARPA, except for the color of their skin, according to the lawsuit.

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed the suit on behalf of the white farmers in federal court in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

As per the lawsuit, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) provides $4 billion to forgive loans for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.

The phrase socially disadvantaged includes explicit racial classifications, according to the lawsuit, which states that in order to be eligible for ARPAs debt relief, farmers and ranchers must be black, Native American, Hispanic, Asian American, or a Pacific Islander.

It contends that other farmerswhite farmers, for exampleare ineligible.

Were plaintiffs eligible for the loan forgiveness benefit, they would have the opportunity to make additional investments in their property, expand their farms, purchase equipment and supplies, and otherwise support their families and local communities, the lawsuit states.

Because plaintiffs are ineligible to even apply for the program solely due to their race, they have been denied the equal protection of the law and therefore suffered harm, it adds.

The lawsuit requests that the court enter a temporary and preliminary injunction preventing defendants from applying racial classifications when determining eligibility for loan modifications and payments and to declare that the racial classifications are unconstitutional.

Faust, who is the owner of Faust Farms, branded the program racist.

It was just out and out racist, and I really dont think that there should be racism allowed in the federal government at any level, he told Fox 11.

If somebodys green, I think they should be allowed to participate, based on their actual qualifications for the program, and not just picking an arbitrary thing like race.

I dont see where theyre gonna be impacted any different than anybody else, Faust said. Ive never seen any government program based solely on that. I mean, if it wouldve been against any other race, everybody wouldve been onboard and wouldve been complaining immediately!

As per a press release from the U.S. Department of Agriculture published on April 29, the American Rescue Plan included provisions for USDA to pay up to 120 percent of loan balances, as of Jan. 1, 2021, for Farm Service Agency (FSA) Direct and Guaranteed Farm Loans and Farm Storage Facility Loans debt relief to any socially disadvantaged producer who has a qualifying loan with FSA.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture told Fox 11 that it was reviewing the lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice, but that the USDA plans to continue to offer loan forgiveness to socially disadvantaged farmers.

The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S. Department of Justice for comment.
FEC Drops Investigation Into Stormy Daniels Hush Money Payments

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) has closed its investigation into whether former President Donald Trump broke campaign finance rules when his then-attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in alleged hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election.

The bipartisan election commission, which is evenly split between three Republicans and three Democrat-aligned commissioners, dropped the inquiry and closed the file in the case known as Matter Under Review (MUR) #7313, according to the case docket summary and other documents.

The FEC voted on the inquiry in a closed-door meeting in February, according to the New York Times while the commissions case file docket was updated with related information more recently.

Assistant General Counsel Lynn Tran, in a March 31 letter to the Trump Organization (pdf), wrote that the FEC had considered the allegations raised in the complaints and there were an insufficient number of votes to find reason to believe Trump Organization LLC may have violated the Act and Commission regulations as alleged. Tran added that documents in the case would be placed on the public record within 30 days.

The FEC was probing whether the funds Cohen admitted to paying Daniels were paid for the purpose of influencing the 2016 presidential general election, according to a Jan 2018 complaint in the case (pdf).

Two of the FECs Republican commissioners voted to discontinue the probe, while two Democrat-aligned members voted to proceed, with one Republican recusing herself and a Democrat not present to weigh in on the matter, according to The New York Times and The Washington Post. A majority vote was required to advance the inquiry, so it was dropped.

Two of the Democrat-aligned commissioners released a statement on May 6 (pdf) criticizing their Republican colleagues decision to drop the case. They argued that Cohens sworn testimony that the payment was made for the principal purpose of influencing the election more than satisfies the FECs reason to believe standard to authorize a probe.

Cohen was convicted in 2018 of lying to Congress, tax evasion, and other charges, and was sentenced to three years in prison.

The Republican commissioners released their own statement (pdf) on April 26, arguing the dismissal was a matter of prosecutorial discretion and that the matter was statute-of-limitations imperiled due to a prolonged lack of a quorum on the FEC, and that pursuing the probe was not the best use of agency resources.

With Cohens punishment, the public record is complete, the Republican commissioners added.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating campaign finance law by making the payment to Daniels as well as another payment of $150,000 to model Karen McDougal shortly before the election.

Both women claim to have had sexual encounters with Trump more than a decade ago and that the money was intended to buy their silence. Trump has denied the encounters and has repeatedly told reporters he knew nothing about a payment to Daniels.

Trump issued a statement on May 7 following news that the case had been dropped.

The Federal Election Commission in Washington, D.C., has totally dropped the phony case against me concerning payments to women relative to the 2016 Presidential Election, Trump wrote.

It was a case built on lies from Michael Cohen, a corrupt and convicted lawyer, a lawyer in fact who was so corrupt he was sentenced to three years in jail for lying to Congress and many other things having nothing to do with me. I thank the Commission for their decision, ending this chapter of Fake News.
Feds Underestimate Real Cost of National Daycare, Provinces Likely to Fund Shortfalls: Report

Canadas national daycare may cost billions of dollars more than estimated by the federal government, causing fewer Canadians families to benefit from it or accept a widely accessible but low-quality care unless provinces fork out more money to handle the shortfalls, according to a report.

Released by think tank Cardus on Thursday, the report estimates that Canadas universal child care program will cost between $17 billion and $36.3 billion by 2025, depending on how the program is implemented.

The low-cost model, which projected $17 billion, is only possible with the poorest staff-to-child ratios currently in place in Quebec, the authors noted, adding that the Quebec system has shown to be of poor quality and has negative outcomes for children and parents alike by peer-reviewed research.

The high-cost model requires provinces to chip in $23.3 billion to cover the remaining cost after federal funding and parents fees are considered, if the quality of child care is to be on par with what universal child-care proponents advocate.

Our model calculates the provincial share of daycare funding as the difference between the federal and parent contribution and our cost estimates, the report said. The federal government promises a fifty-fifty cost sharing with the provinces, but this sharing is not guaranteed over time.

How the provinces will handle funding shortfalls is unknown. Thus the risk of an uneven distribution of care, or care of mediocre or poor quality, is a significant possibility, it added.

The federal budget of 2021 proposes a national daycare at a cost of $30 billion over five years, with a yearly cost of $9.2 billion after that, in hopes of reducing the cost of childcare for Canadian families to an average of $10 per day by 2025-26. It also promises a 50/50 cost share with provinces and territories.

Childrens backpacks and shoes are seen at a daycare, in Langley, B.C., Canada, on May 29, 2018. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Cardus criticised the federal budget for missing details such as staff salaries, cost of infant care, staff-to-child ratios, per-space payments for home daycares, and square footage per child and cost per square foot in the capital costs, important metrics necessary to justify how the cost for the universal program works.

The federal government needs to provide more detail on its proposal, the think tank said in a statement released Thursday.

To come up with a realistic cost estimate, the report included the missing metrics into the model for calculation. The model also assumes a five-year phase in of new child-care spaces, for 70 percent of children aged one through five, a percentage suggested by national-daycare proponents.

By year five, with federal spending of $9.2 billion and estimated parent fees of $3.6 billion, provinces would have to cover the remaining $4.2 million, thus totaling $17 billion based on the low-cost model.

As for the high-cost model, with a similar amount from the federal government, and estimated parent fees of $3.8 billion, provinces would end up chipping in as much as $23.3 billion to close the gap to reach $36.3 billion.

Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre questioned the affordability of the program.

Even if the billions in Liberal spending actually creates a daycare space, it will not be more affordable. It will simply put more of the childcare cost on parents tax bills & require money goes to state care, Poilievre wrote on Twitter last month.

The Cardus report noted that while the current federal program focuses on increasing female labour force participation, it excludes other considerations that could hurt Canadians.

The national plan as currently conceived provides no assistance, and may indeed harm, other forms of care that children are now receiving due to arrangements made with family members, neighbours, and community, as well as home-based and centre-based providersforms of care that parents are choosing because it is what works best for them and for their child, the report states.

When given a choice, most parents make decisions about work and child care not with a view to GDP expansion but according to what they believe to be best for their family.
This combination of photos provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota on June 3, 2020, shows Derek Chauvin, from left, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Federal Grand Jury Indicts 4 Former Officers Involved in George Floyds Death

A federal grand jury has indicted four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death last year and said they violated Floyds constitutional rights when he was restrained face-down, according to indictments that were unsealed Friday.

Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng, and Tou Thao were named in the indictment (pdf), although Thao, Chauvin, and Keung were charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and excessive force. The four officers were charged with failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Chauvin was convicted last month on charges of murder and manslaughter in Floyds death and is awaiting sentencing in a Minnesota maximum security prison.

The new federal charges come in addition to the states cases, which means that all four could face new trials in federal court. Thao, Keung, and Lane face trial on the state charges in August and they are free on bond.

The grand jury also indicted Chauvin in a separate case stemming from a 2017 incident where he allegedly pinned a 14-year-old boy during an arrest. Court documents alleged that Chauvin hit the boy with his flashlight, grabbed him by the throat, and hit him again, the Star Tribune reported.

Floyd, 46, died May 25 after Chauvin pinned him to the ground before it was uploaded to social media, where it went viral in late May 2020, sparking nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and riotsas well as left-wing calls to defund the police.

Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd, and state prosecutors have asserted that Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. State prosecutors also said that Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during over nine minutes of restraint.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably in the situation and that Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial, citing many issues including the judges refusal to move the trial due to publicity.

A four-page document filed by Nelson earlier this week contends that Chauvins constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial were violated. He cited alleged errors made by the prosecution and judgeas well as juror misconduct, witness intimidation, and the impact of publicity.

A juror in Chauvins trial, Brandon Mitchell, said he partook in Black Lives Matter protests last year.

Id never been to D.C., he told The Associated Press of attending the event. The opportunity to go to D.C., the opportunity to be around thousands and thousands of black people; I just thought it was a good opportunity to be a part of something.

At the event, speakers included Floyds family members and family members for Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner.

Mitchell said that he responded no to questions sent to prospective jurors that pertained to protests. The first question asked: Did you, or someone close to you, participate in any of the demonstrations or marches against police brutality that took place in Minneapolis after George Floyds death? And the second question asked: Other than what you have already described above, have you, or anyone close to you, participated in protests about police use of force or police brutality?

The Epoch Times has contacted Nelson for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference about the opening of a COVID-19 vaccination site at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Jan. 6, 2021. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Florida Voting Integrity Bill Immediately Faces Lawsuits After Becoming Law

A Florida bill that seeks to protect the integrity of elections has been hit with legal challenges immediately after it became law.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 6 signed into law the Republican-backed Senate Bill 90, which adds safeguards to the way people vote using ballot drop boxes and mail-in ballots. The bill has been heavily opposed by civil rights activists and Democrats, who argue that the measure disproportionately burdens African American and Latino voters right to vote, which they say amounts to voter suppression.

Shortly after the law was enacted, several voting rights groups filed two separate lawsuits seeking to block the enforcement of the law and declare that the measure violates the U.S. Constitution and federal law.

Both of the suits were filed in a federal court in Tallahassee and claim that SB 90 is illegal because the restrictions dont apply to all Florida voters equally. The suits argue that the law was crafted in a way that would create substantial hurdles for senior, young, and minority voters and for voters who wish to vote by mail.

SB 90 is a bill that purports to solve problems that do not exist, caters to a dangerous lie about the 2020 election that threatens our most basic democratic values, and, in the end, makes it harder to vote without adequate justification for doing so, one of the lawsuits claimed (pdf).

The lawsuits took particular issue with the new safeguards on ballot drop boxes such as the availability, location, and supervision of the boxes. The plaintiffs also opposed measures banning organizations and volunteers from collecting absentee ballots, additional requirements for re-requesting absentee ballots, and the provision that bans solicitation activities around polling locations including the distribution of free food and water.

Together, these foregoing provisions  target almost every aspect of the voting process, and they do so without a legitimate purpose, much less a compelling state interest that can justify their restrictions on the franchise, one of the lawsuits alleged.

One of the lawsuits was co-filed by Democratic attorney Marc Elias of Perkins Coie, on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, and several individuals.

Meanwhile, the other lawsuit (pdf) was filed by NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF), Disability Rights Florida, and Common Cause.

LDFs assistant counsel Zachery Morris said in a statement that the law represents a direct and swift backlash to Black voters historic turnout during the 2020 election season.

The laws suppressive and discriminatory provisions make it clear that the Florida Legislatures goal is to erect additional hurdles to inhibit Florida voters, especially disabled voters, Black voters, and Latino voters, from accessing the ballot box. These efforts are shameful and they are not new. We cannot allow elected officials to suppress votes under the guise of election integrity, Morris said.

Responding to the lawsuits, DeSantiss office characterized the claims as meritless and argued that they grossly mischaracterize the legislation.

A spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email: With the Governors signing of SB 90, Florida will remain a leader on election security, ballot integrity, and the protection of every vote. Floridas new election reforms make it easy to legally vote but hard to cheat. We look forward to defeating these baseless claims in court.

The enactment of Floridas SB 90 comes weeks after Georgia passed a similar law aimed at protecting the sanctity of the ballot box. Democrats have been unilaterally opposed to both election measures and their criticism of the measures has led to a list of multinational corporations such as Delta and Coca-Colaand their CEOsechoing those concerns.

Kemp and Republicans have repeatedly pushed back on Democratic talking points about Georgias law, characterizing the narrative as misleading. Kemp has previously said that its easier to vote in Georiga with the new law than it is in New York.
French journalist Olivier Dubois is photographed while reporting in Nioro, Mali, on Sept. 14, 2020. (Michele Cattani/AFP via Getty Images)

French Reporter Kidnapped by Jihadi Rebels in Northern Mali

BAMAKO, MaliJihadi rebels kidnapped French journalist Olivier Dubois on April 8 while he was working in Malis northern city of Gao, the chief of Reporters Without Borders has announced.

A video released Wednesday shows Dubois saying he was kidnapped by the al-Qaida-linked group JNIM. In the video he calls on his family, friends and authorities to work for his release. The video could not be independently verified.

Reporters Without Borders chief Christophe Deloire confirmed the kidnapping to The Associated Press, and called for the reporters release.

We ask the Malian and French authorities to do everything possible to obtain his release and send all our support to his family and loved ones, he posted on Twitter.

Dubois was reporting in Gao in northern Mali and did not return to his hotel after lunch on April 8, Deloire said. Dubois usually works for LePoint Afrique.

The French Foreign Ministry confirmed his disappearance, saying they are in touch with his family and Malian authorities.

French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said authorities are currently making usual checks on the video and declined to provide more details.

We are working closely with the Malian authorities, he said. We are reiterating our demand not to go to that area (in Mali) that is especially risky.

Arnaud Froger, head of Reporters Without Borders Africa desk, told the AP this video seems to indicate and confirm our worst fears.

We will see during the day if this information concerning his kidnapping is acknowledged by the different authorities, but obviously everything points in the direction that he is the hands of an armed group in the northeast of Mali right now.

Reporters Without Borders is calling on the authorities to do everything they can, to put every means at their disposal to try to secure his release and to make sure he can be freed without any further delay, Froger said.

Mali has been in turmoil since a 2012 uprising prompted mutinous soldiers to overthrow the president. The power vacuum that resulted ultimately led to an Islamic insurgency and a French-led campaign that ousted the jihadists from the cities they controlled in northern Mali in 2013.

But insurgents remain active and extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the ISIS terrorist group have moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali since 2015, attacking targets and stoking animosity and violence between ethnic groups in the region.

By Baba Ahmed
General: Chinas Africa Outreach Poses Threat From Atlantic

WASHINGTONThe top U.S general for Africa is warning that a growing threat from China may come not just from the waters of the Pacific but from the Atlantic as well.

U.S. Gen. Stephen Townsend, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Beijing is looking to establish a large navy port capable of hosting submarines or aircraft carriers on Africas western coast. Townsend said China has approached countries stretching from Mauritania to south of Namibia, intent on establishing a naval facility. If realized, that prospect would enable China to base warships in its expanding Navy in the Atlantic as well as Pacific oceans.

Theyre looking for a place where they can rearm and repair warships. That becomes militarily useful in conflict, said Townsend, who heads U.S. Africa Command. Theyre a long way toward establishing that in Djibouti. Now theyre casting their gaze to the Atlantic coast and wanting to get such a base there.

Townsends warnings come as the Pentagon shifts its focus from the counterterrorism wars of the last two decades to the Indo-Pacific region and threats from great power adversaries like China and Russia. The Biden administration views Chinas rapidly expanding economic influence and military might as Americas primary long-term security challenge.

U.S. military commanders around the globe, including several who may lose troops and resources to bolster growth in the Pacific, caution that Chinas growing assertiveness isnt simply happening in Asia. And they argue that Beijing is aggressively asserting economic influence over countries in Africa, South America and the Middle East, and is pursuing bases and footholds there.

The Chinese are outmaneuvering the U.S. in select countries in Africa, said Townsend. Port projects, economic endeavors, infrastructure and their agreements and contracts will lead to greater access in the future. They are hedging their bets and making big bets on Africa.

Chinas first overseas naval base was built years ago in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa and it is steadily increasing its capacity. Townsend said as many as 2,000 military personnel are at the base, including hundreds of Marines who handle security there.

They have arms and munitions for sure. They have armored combat vehicles. We think they will soon be basing helicopters there to potentially include attack helicopters, said Townsend.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (front C) poses with African leaders, including Malawis President Arthur Peter Mutharika (2nd row, 2nd-R), during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, China, on Sept. 3, 2018. (How Hwee Young/AFP/Getty Images)

For some time, many have thought that China was working to establish a Navy base in Tanzania, a country on Africas eastern coast, that has had a strong, longstanding military relationship with Beijing. But Townsend said it appears theres been no decision on that yet.

He said that while China has been trying hard to get a base in Tanzania, its not the location hes most concern about.

Its on the Indian Ocean side, he said. I want it to be in Tanzania instead of on the Atlantic coast. The Atlantic coast concerns me greatly, he said, pointing to the relatively shorter distance from Africas west coast to the U.S. In nautical miles, a base on Africas northern Atlantic coast could be substantially closer to the United States than military facilities in China are to Americas western coast.

More specifically, other U.S. officials say the Chinese have been eyeing locations for a port in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Defense Departments 2020 report on Chinas military power, said China has likely considered adding military facilities to support its naval, air, and ground forces in Angola, among other locations. And it noted that the large amount of oil and liquefied natural gas imported from Africa and the Middle East, make those regions a high priority for China over the next 15 years.

Henry Tugendhat, a senior policy analyst with the United States Institute of Peace, said China has a lot of economic interests on Africas west coast, including fishing and oil. China also has helped finance and build a large commercial port in Cameroon.

He said that any effort by Beijing to get a naval port on the Atlantic coast would be an expansion of Chinas military presence. But the desire for ocean access, he said, may be primarily for economic gain, rather than military capabilities.

Townsend and other regional military commanders laid out their concerns about China during recent congressional hearings. He, along with Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, and Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, are battling to retain their military forces, aircraft, and surveillance assets as the Pentagon continues to review the shift to great power competition.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is conducting a global posture review to determine if Americas military might is positioned where it needs to be, and in the right numbers, around the world to best maintain global dominance. That review is expected to be finished in late summer.

By Lolita C. Baldor
General Says US May Train Afghan Forces in Other Countries

WASHINGTONThe U.S. military may continue to train Afghan security forces, but do it in other countries after American forces leave Afghanistan, the top U.S. military officer said Thursday, calling it one of several options the Pentagon is considering.

Speaking at a Pentagon press conference, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the United States has not settled on a plan yet to continue supporting the Afghan Air Force, which is heavily dependent on the United States for maintenance, training, and repairs. He said some U.S. aid may have to be done from outside the country, but officials are also looking at whether some contracts may be turned over to Afghan control.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged that continuing without American support on the ground will be a challenge for the Afghans as they try to hold off Taliban insurgents. This was the first news conference the two have done together since the Biden administration took office in January.

President Joe Biden announced last month that all American troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. NATO allies have said they will do the same, and troops have already begun leaving. Austin said the drawdown is going according to plan.

The Pentagon has said there were about 2,500 U.S. troops there in recent months, but Milley said the total rises to 3,300 if special operations forces are counted. Military commanders have also said that additional forces will flow in to help with security and logistics for the drawdown.

The U.S. Pentagon in Arlington County, Va. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Pentagon officials have said they will do all they can to monitor terror threats and help the Afghans from other locations in the region, described as over the horizon. But officials have not detailed where those would be.

Gen. Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, has warned that Afghanistans military will certainly collapse without some continued American support once all U.S. troops are withdrawn. He has expressed concerns that Afghan forces may be unable to prevent the Taliban from taking more ground, and said the Afghans will need help and funding to maintain and fly their aircraft.

Milley said last week that Afghan government forces face an uncertain future and, in a worst-case scenario, some bad possible outcomes against Taliban insurgents as the withdrawal of American and coalition troops accelerates in the coming weeks.

The Taliban, meanwhile, have threatened Afghan journalists, saying those who give one-sided news in support of Afghanistans intelligence service must stop or face the consequences. On Thursday, gunmen killed a former Afghan TV presenter as he was traveling in the southern city of Kandahar, according to a provincial official, who said other journalists in the area have been warned that extremists are targeting them also.

Within about two months of the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001, the countrys Taliban rulers were removed from power and militarily defeated. But within several years, they had regrouped, rearmed, and reasserted themselves, taking advantage of sanctuary in neighboring Pakistan. In recent years the Taliban achieved a battlefield stalemate with U.S.-supported Afghan government forces.

By Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor
Great-Grandma Artist, 88 Years Old, Paints Portrait of Donald J TrumpSays I Am a Patriot

This unassuming great-grandma painter actually has a burning patriotic streak instilled in herwhich she has expressed in her art, painting the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Though shes 88 years old and enjoys painting watercolors of her grandkids in her spare time, under that amicable exterior lies a passionate love of country in her beating heart.

Almost as passionate about politics as she is for art, Florence Delaney recently combined the two by painting an archival-quality oil portrait of the former president.

This bold artistic, political work may call to mind the viral Trump painter Jon McNaughton with its populist, folksy feel aspiring toward classical caliber.

A portrait of Donald J. Trump by Florence Delaney. (Courtesy of Mona Shray)

Her love for former President Trump began when she heard him speaking during his first campaign.

President Trumps message resonated in my heart so deeply that I saw renewed hope for America in President Trump, she told The Epoch Times. His love for the country really stood out.

His message was contrary to the actions of elected officials promising to protect and make a stronger America but never delivering on their promises.

She said Trumps policies have created a strong, thriving America, placing the needs of its citizens before those of others in other countries.

I decided that I could paint a portrait of President Trump that would project the great leader that he is for America, she said.

Florence Delaney. (Courtesy of Mona Shray)

Florence began researching. She took hundreds of snapshots of Trump on television and at two of his rallies where she committed to memory his mannerisms, style, and presence in order to capture his true personality, the artist said.

The painter researched other official White House portraits, including those of past presidents, and studied the Colorado State official portrait of President Trump.

Then, she selected an archival quality 20-by-24-inch Belgian canvas to paint in oil his portraitwhich she hopes to one day present him and Melania, while accompanied by her five children.

This, she admits, might be wishful thinking.

Born during the Great Depression, Florence was instilled with patriotism as a young girl through her working on the farm where she grew up in North Dakota.

From a very young age, I worked from dawn till dusk alongside my parents and my eight siblings farming wheat and raising livestock, she said.

In those challenging years growing up on the farm, I developed a strong work ethic, enduring sense of responsibility, and unfailing commitment to family and country.

I am a Patriot.

Unlike Jon McNaughton, though, Florence has yet to establish herself as a well-known patriotic painter of Americana.

(L) Paintings by Florence Delaney; (R) Florence Delaney as a child. (Courtesy of Mona Shray)

Pouting Michelle by Florence Delaney. (Courtesy of Mona Shray)

So far, her portfolio consists of watercolor and oil paintings of her children and grandchildren, bright flowers, and landscapes that inspire her imagination. Out of these, one of her more impressive works, titled Pouting Michelle, portrays her grandchild, using color to create tones of light and shade, and intricate details to express delicate lace on the hat.

My daughter, Mona, says that I paint with such detail that my paintings are examples of how the ordinary becomes extraordinary, said Florence.

A doodler as a child, Florence loved drawing and painting while in school but stopped when she became a mombuilding a family is one of her proudest achievements, she said, in addition to running her businesses.

Then when her children went off into the world one by one, empty-nest syndrome led her back into painting. She soon began taking watercolor lessons and ventured into oil.

Eventually, she became good enough to teach a beginners watercolor class, though she considers herself an amateur. I have always painted out of the joy of painting and for the love of my family and friends, she added.

Florence is eager to share more about her patriotism and invites our readers to contact her at FlorenceDelaneyFineArt@gmail.com

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 at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
Its No Longer About Taiwan, Its About Us

Its 1941 all over again; like Japan, China is very vulnerable from being cut off from what it needs to survive.

Commentary

Retired Adm. James Stavridis has a book out, 2034, in which a war breaks out with China. It escalates to include a nuclear exchange and the seizure of Taiwan. There have been a number of interesting reviews as the admiral (there is a co-author) accrues book sales based on his former status. Stavridis is well known as a vocal senior retired officer and is in what we call the retired generals and admirals club, a very exclusive group.

What the admiral misses is the gravity, acceleration, and immediacy of Beijings plans. The book should be called 2021 because we are facing immediate conflict with China. China needs three things that we dominate: food, energy, and access to the capital market. We control it, they need it. We take it for granted, they dont. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) war machine also needs access to dual-use chips. Taiwan has them and we desperately need them also.

And then Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes a comment that sows confusion, saying our purpose is not to contain China. Words matter and Blinkens comment unshackles the planners of the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) and perhaps assures conflict, just like our actions with Japan in 1941.

Maybe containing isnt the exact right word for the U.S. policy on China, but an expression very close to it should be used. China needs what we have, they need it now, and our current administration doesnt seem to realize the advantage theyre sitting on and are intent on vacuous policy comments that are hyper-analyzed by the CCP information warfare machine.

Furthermore, as Steven Mosher points out in his book Bully of Asia, the CCP feels its their time to displace the United States and become the worlds uncontested Hegemon. This means displacing or destroying the United Statesright now. Things are coming to a head now, not in 2034.

Thucydides Trap? Maybe

The often used and hard to pronounce Thucydides Trap paradigm is often thrown around to describe the approaching catastrophe. Simply put, its the collision of a rising power with a fading dominant power. China may be given the term rising power, but much of the acceleration of the timetable for war is its dire need for what we have. So a desperate power may be more apropos for the CCP.

In many ways, were back to a World War II-era grand strategy on centers of production, resource control, and the ability to generate war material on scale. Taiwan is our center of production for chips and must be defended as our Silicon Valley West. Would we have let Detroit fall to the Axis in World War II and just shrugged our shoulders?

I urge the Biden administration to move to the arsenal of democracy mode immediately to build capacity to deter and prevent war, but that doesnt seem to be the top priority for the administration.

Turning little boys into little girls, turning coal miners into coders, or placing William Burns as head of the CIA, an appointee with stunningly questionable connections, may be the priorities of the administration, which doesnt impress but only emboldens the CCP. We need to come together as a nation and realize the immediate existential threat were facing.

Will China go against Taiwan as their first move? Maybe, but if I was a PLA/PLAN (Peoples Liberation Army Navy) planner, Im not sure I would want to attempt the first opposed landing in CCP history against Taiwan. A dry run is in order, and northern Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines, looks much more appealing.

The quick establishment of a Co-Prosperity trade enclave in the Philippines would be a much better way to exercise the logistics and planning functions for complex military projections. Theres not much the Philippine military and government could do if a large Chinese amphibious group showed up with no warning at a major beach or port (lets say the old U.S. Navy Base at Subic Bay).

This action would secure the right shoulder of PLAN access to the deep Pacific. The Philippine operation would also prep the PLA/PLAN for the much more difficult move on Taiwan.

Taiwan is no longer about unificationits about two things: securing the TSMC chip production industrial base and securing the left shoulder of Chinas main access point to the second island chain, which includes the sovereign U.S. Territory of Guam and the Northern Marianna Islands.

When the CCP moves on the Philippines or Taiwan, theyre not stopping. Its about knocking the United States down and replacing us. Everything will be on the table including nuclear strikes against sovereign U.S. territory.

Avoiding War

We have the upper hand and can avoid this war, but the current administration doesnt seem to know it.

Its of the utmost importance that the Biden administration realizes its facing an immediate showdown with China. Not in 2034, but right now. America has the decisive control of food, energy, and the capital markets which the administration must start using as tools against the spiraling military preparations of the CCP. The U.S. military enterprise and industrial base needs to be placed on an urgent footing to prevent war.

This includes forgotten World War II- and Cold War-era precepts of an industrial base on scale. The Navy public-private shipbuilding partnership needs to go on a 24/7 schedule to reestablish itself and pull out of its dismal status. By my count, there are essentially two large, carrier-size drydocks on the West Coast, and these will be much needed to return a battle-damaged carrier to service.

Furthermore, the lanes available for large ship construction on the West Coast are filled up by the leisurely pace of current Navy shipbuilding and ship repair. There is no surge capacity as it stands now for repair or construction. The Panama Canal is essentially under Chinese control already, so leveraging East and Gulf coast shipyards isnt a certainty. A naval crisis this is. Halsey (and Reagan) would be confounded at the current naval state of affairs.

Massive funding is needed immediately for the shipyard industrial base and shipbuilding program. One key rule to make this an efficient ramp-up: This must be multi-year appropriations and authorizations so that funding can be wisely spent over time, not subject to the horribly inefficient one-year cycles that significantly drive up costs of capital projects due to extreme budget uncertainty.

The Air Force needs similar immediate attention to generate overwhelming air power. The Marine Corps, Army, and Space Force need right sizing and transformation also. Missile defenses need to be greatly expanded for Pacific Islands, Alaska, and the mainland United States. Once the CCP starts, nothing will be off the table.

The Capital Hill Autonomous Zone may look like a shambles now, but it will be un-shambled when the CCP unleashes a nuclear strike on Seattle. Many more things need to be done, but it all starts with the resolve and clarity of the president in power. The more we sweat now, the less well bleed later. The more unclear we are, the more well bleed later.

The window is rapidly closing on even the most optimistic of administration watchers and their hope of Blinken and a few others maintaining successful deterrence of a brazen China.

If the current administration declines to take this situation seriously, perhaps we need the previous administration back in place to protect the American citizens and the nation. But the downriver effects of the Maricopa County election forensic recount are material for another story.

Retired Col. John Mills is a national security professional with service in five eras: Cold War, Peace Dividend, War on Terror, World in Chaos, and now, Great Power Competition. He is the former director of cybersecurity policy, strategy, and international affairs at the Department of Defense. On Gab: @ColonelRETJohn. On Telegram: Daily Missive

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on March 5, 2021 in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Lindsey Graham: Republicans Cannot Move Forward Without President Trump

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Thursday suggested that GOP is still the party of former President Donald Trump.

It comes as House Republicans are moving to remove No. 3 Republican Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) after her critical comments about the former president.

I would just say to my Republican colleagues, can we move forward without President Trump? The answer is no, Graham told Fox News. Ive always liked Liz Cheney, but shes made a determination that the Republican Party cant grow with President Trump. Ive determined we cant grow without him.

In an opinion article for the Washington Post on Wednesday, Cheney again criticized Trump and said the Republican Party needs to move on from the the Trump cult of personality and claimed he is attempting to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy work. In February, Cheney was 1 of 10 Republicans in the House who voted to impeach the former president.

Graham noted that Trumps economic populism and America First agenda are popular. Cheney drew the ire from Republicans after she called a proposal from Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) about how Republicans can retain working-class voters neo-Marxist.

If you dont get that, youre making the biggest mistake in the history of the Republican Party, Graham said.

Cheney survived a vote among House Republicans earlier this year, but several top Republicans have expressed dismay with her leadership in recent days. Cheneys likely successor as head of the House Republican Conference, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), is considered a staunch Trump supporter.

House Republicans need to be solely focused on taking back the House in 2022 and fighting against Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi and President [Joe] Bidens radical socialist agenda, and Elise Stefanik is strongly committed to doing that, which is why Whip Scalise has pledged to support her for Conference Chair, Lauren Fine, a spokesperson for House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), told The Epoch Times in an email on Wednesday.

And Trump, in a statement this week, said he is endorsing Stefanik.

We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First. Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator, Trump wrote in a post.

Its not clear when a vote could be held on Cheneys position, although some Republicans have speculated that could be by the end of May.
Opinion columnist Sam Somogye discusses the benefits of returning to in-person classes for Texas A&M following a stint of virtual learning due to the pandemic.
Women walk from the airport tarmac after being deported from the United States, in Guatemala City, Guatemala, on May 30, 2019. (John Moore/Getty Images)

Record-Low Deportations Part of Bidens Plan to Dismantle ICE: Former ICE Chief

The record-low number of deportations in the United States in April signals that the Biden administration is working toward abolishing immigration enforcement, the former acting chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says.

Its terrible. You got record numbers, people coming into the country illegally being released, and a record low of people being removed, Thomas Homan, who headed the agency during the Trump administration, told The Epoch Times.

But thats by design, this isnt an accidentthey want to dismantle ICE. Rather than abolish them, which they had a tough time doing theyre just making them not effective. Looks like its working, he added.

The end goal, according to Homan, is completely halting immigration enforcement.

They want open borders because they think theyre going to be all future Democratic voters. This is about perpetual power of the government, he said.

ICE and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has not been asked during recent briefings about the low number of deportations.

Only 2,962 deportations were carried out in April, according to the agency. That does not include expulsions made under Title 42 emergency powers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

An ICE spokesman said via email earlier this week that the agency has concentrated its limited law enforcement resources on threats to national security, border security, and public safety, which has allowed ICE to focus on the quality of enforcement actions and how they further the security and safety of our communities rather than the simple quantity of arrests and removals.

Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan 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)

A recent surge in illegal border crossings, meanwhile, has shown little signs of slowing down. Over 177,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended by border agents in April, according to preliminary numbers, with another 42,620 aliens evading authorities.

President Joe Biden upon entering office quickly reversed or dramatically altered key Trump-era measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration, including completely undoing the program that forced asylum seekers to wait outside the country for their claims to be heard. In February, ICE announced new interim guidelines for deportations that narrowed the agencys focus to only three priority areas: national security, border security, and public safety.

If an illegal immigrant is encountered who doesnt fall under one of the areas, an agent must seek approval from their field office before taking any action.

Republicans and some analysts said the low April numbers should not be a surprise given the narrowing deportation criteria.

With the Biden Administration willfully ignoring the rule of law, its no wonder we have a crisis at our southern border, Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) wrote on Twitter.

Andrew Arthur, a resident fellow in law and policy for the Center for Immigration Studies, a research institute that looks at how immigration impacts America, said the current restrictions on ICE incentivize illegal immigration.

As bad as the situation at the border is, interior non-enforcement is, if anything, worse. But you dont see children crowded into makeshift detention centers under foil blankets when ICE isnt allowed to deport criminals, he wrote in a blog post. The current non-enforcement rules are the reason aliens are coming, though, because they send the signal that once those aliens get into the United States, they will get to stay.

Charlotte Cuthbertson and Samuel Allegri contributed to this report.

Follow Zachary on Parler: @zackstieber
Maldivian police officers secure the area following a blast in Male, Maldives on Thursday, May 6, 2021. (Mohamed Sharuhaan/AP Photo)

Maldives Police Say Blast That Hurt Former President Act of Terrorism

MALE, MaldivesPolice in the Maldives said Friday an explosion that wounded former President Mohamed Nasheed and four others including a British national was an act of terrorism and they are attempting to identify four possible suspects. Australian police said they are ready to assist the investigation.

Nasheed, 53, was wounded in the blast outside his home Thursday night as he was about to get into his car, police said. He was in critical condition in an intensive care unit after life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs, ADK Hospital said in a statement Friday evening.

Nasheed has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law.

Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed said police are treating the blast as an act of terrorism against the former president. Two of Nasheeds bodyguards and two apparent bystanders, including a British citizen, were also wounded, he said.

Police have not detected any military-grade components in the explosives used, Hameed said. They are trying to identify four possible suspects but no arrests have been made, he said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blast. Photos circulated on social media showed a ripped-up motorcycle at the scene.

Nasheed is the current Parliament speaker and was the first democratically elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago, serving from 2008 to 2012.

In this Feb. 14, 2019, file photo, former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed delivers a lecture on climate change in New Delhi, India. Nasheed has been injured in a blast Thursday, May 6, 2021 near his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, police said. (Manish Swarup/AP Photo File)

Current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said in a televised speech that Australian Federal Police investigators will arrive on Saturday. The Australian police force said it will assess what assistance they can provide the investigation.

The Maldives is known for its luxury resorts but has experienced occasional violent attacks. In 2007, a blast in a park in the capital wounded 12 foreign tourists.

Violence has been blamed on a rise in religious extremism. The Maldives has one of the highest per capita numbers of militants who fought in Syria and Iraq alongside the Islamic State group.

Maldives authorities announced in January that eight people arrested in November were found to have been planning to attack a school and were in the process of building bombs in a boat at sea. Police said they also conducted military training on uninhabited islands and recruited children.

Hameed said it was not known whether the attack on Nasheed was linked to that group.

Nasheeds presidency ended 30 years of autocratic rule, but his own term was cut short when he resigned amid protests. He was defeated in the subsequent presidential election and was convicted of terrorism under his successor for having arrested a top judge while president, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

He was allowed to go to Britain for medical treatment and received asylum there in 2016. His party colleague, Solih, won the 2018 presidential election and Nasheed was able to return home.

Nasheed has remained an influential figure and was elected Parliament speaker in 2019. He has championed global efforts to fight climate change, particularly rising seas threatening the low-lying islands of his archipelago nation.

Neighboring Indias external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, in a tweet described the blast as an attack on Nasheed.

Wish him a speedy recovery. Know that he will never be intimidated, Jaishankar said.

By Mohamed Sharuhaan
Man Who Tried to Get People to Surround Pro-Trump Protesters Convicted by Jury

A Florida man who called for surrounding supporters of former President Donald Trump was convicted Thursday of issuing threats to kidnap or injure.

Daniel Baker issued a call to arms for other leftists to violently confront protesters at Floridas Capitol.

Armed racist mobs have planted the Confederate flag in the nations [sic] Capitol while announcing their plans to storm every American state Capitol on or around inauguration day, Baker wrote on Facebook on the Defend Tallahassee page, which he created, on Jan. 12 We will fight back. We will circle the state Capitol and let them fight the cops and take the building. Then we will encircle them and trap them inside.

We will drive them out of Tallahassee with every caliber available. They are staging an armed takeover so only an armed community can stop them! We can win! We have a duty to and a duty to win, he added.

Baker said he had already recruited military veterans and urged anyone else who could to show up and help.

Before posting the call, Baker had bought an AK-47-style .22 caliber semi-automatic rifle and ammunition, according to court documents. He once served in the military.

Baker posted a similar missive on the page of WTXL, a local news station, in response to an article about the Tallahassee Police Department being prepared for any Inauguration Day protests.

No large gatherings occurred at the Florida Capitol on Jan. 20.

Baker, who has described himself as a member of Antifa, a far-left, anarcho-communist network, told jurors this week that he was joking.

After being harassed continuously for the past five years, if I create this presence of the far-left boogey man that the far-right believes is an Antifa super soldier, theyd be less likely to do a drive-by and shoot at me, Baker said.

He also claimed he had not planned on attacking anyone unless he was attacked first, or if law enforcement was in need of reinforcement.

Stephen Kunz, an assistant U.S. attorney, told the jury that the claim clashed with what Baker wrote on Facebook.

In the last two years, Mr. Bakers rhetoric has gotten out of control to the point law enforcement had to step in. This isnt a joke, Lazaro Fields, another prosecutor, said in closing arguments.

Baker faces up to 10 years in prison, a $500,000 fine, and six years of supervised release. His lawyer declined to comment.

The free exercise of speech is central to our democracy, Jason Coody, acting United States attorney for the Northern District of Florida, said in a statement. However, the defendants threats of armed violence to inhibit expression of political views different than his own are both unlawful and dangerous. This office and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting public safety, and the jurys verdict today has ensured that the defendant will be held accountable for his actions.

Antifa groups criticized the verdict.

Bakers call for armed defense against far-Right threats was in the immediate aftermath of Trumps failed coup. Lets make sure Baker gets strong support! Sentencing is in August, the Atlanta Antifascists wrote on Twitter.
Media Bias Creates Perception of Police Systemic Racism: Professor

Evidence doesnt support the claim that theres systemic racism among police, and the media has contributed to that misperception, according to associate professor Wilfred Reilly from Kentucky State University.

I think that present company of course accepted a great deal of the blame here has to go to the U.S. media and, to a lesser extent, the world media, Reilly recently told NTD, The Epoch Times sister media.

Reilly is the author of Taboo: 10 Facts You Cant Talk About. The first chapter of the book is called The Police Arent Murdering Black People.

Wilfred Reilly in an interview with NTDs The Nations Speaks, on May 3, 2021. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Among people who describe themselves as very liberal, over 30 percent of them thought that the number of unarmed black men killed by police in 2019 was about 1,000, another 14 percent thought it was about 10,000, and another 8 percent thought it was more than 10,000, Reilly said, citing a study (pdf) published February by the Skeptic Research Center.

In reality, the total number of unarmed brothersunarmed black menkilled by police in the most recent year on record was 18, Reilly said.

Theres a reason for that incredible discrepancy between reality and what people perceive, he continued. And a lot of that is the information that people are consumingthe sensationalist content we see out there so much in, in particular, the USA.

Reilly said that the media reports heavily when a black man is killed by police, while in a typical year, about 50 percent of people shot by police are Caucasian, and another 20 percent are Hispanic.

So again, the image doesnt match the reality, he added, saying the data doesnt reflect the narrative of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The BLM movement claims that theres systemic racism in the country and calls for defunding the police.

A protester is holding a defund the police sign at a Black Lives Matter protest in Manhattan, New York City, N.Y., on July 13, 2020. (Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times)

President Joe Biden has also said theres systemic racism among police in the country.

In his recent address to a joint session of Congress, Biden said he wants to root out systemic racism in our criminal justice system, and to enact police reform in George Floyds name, referring to the black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes during an arrest last year. His death sparked widespread protests and riots and renewed calls to defund the police.

I dont think we need a sweeping reform of all of American policing or something like that, Reilly said. Crackdown on individual bad cops and departments, fight racism, thats about it. Keep the cops on the streets.

Bernie Kerik, the former police commissioner of New York City, called Bidens statement delusional.

The left knows  they have no proof, none whatsoever, of systemic racism or systemic police brutality in the police services involving the 800,000 men and women that are police officers in this country, Kerik told NTD.

The chances of you being shot and killed in the United States as an unarmed male, unarmed black male is like 0.00018. That is far from systemic, Kerik said.

So this is one of the terms that they continue to use, that they like to use, but the bottom line is, if they want to reform anything, they have to reform the leadership within the Democratic Party, where the leaders in cities like Atlanta, and Chicago, and Baltimore that have the highest violent crime and highest murder rates; they have to come forward and tell their communities what the problem really is. Its not the cops.
Meteor Shower From Part of Halleys Comet to Light up Australian Night Sky

Australians will be treated with an incredible display as one of the best meteor showers this year streaks across on the morning of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, if weather permits.

The Eta Aquariids meteor shower, whose peak activity is usually on or around May 5, was formed by bits of rock and ice that had broken off from Halleys Comet, the iconic naked-eye comet that appear every 75-76 years.

It is believed that the meteors of the Eta Aquariid shower that people currently see separated from Halleys Comet hundreds of years ago. However, unlike its distant relation, which can only be seen up to twice in a human lifetime, the Eta Aquariids come around to earth every year, usually between April 19 to May 28.

These chunks of ice and rock hurtle through space at incredible speed and then burn up in the Earths atmosphere, astronomer Brad Tucker from The Australian National University in Canberra said.

It makes for an incredible display of streaking, bright lights and is one of the best meteor showers you will see all year.

The meteor shower will be visible across Australia, with 15 to 20 shooting stars be able to be spotted per hour during the display.

Meteor showers can be seen annually on earth with the Perseid Meteor Shower above occurring every year between July and August. The above image was taken at Black Rock Desert on August 12th 2015. (Perseid Meteor Shower by Trevor Bexon/Flickr[CC BY 2.0 (ept.ms/2haHp2Y)) And you dont need a telescope. Look up, and let your eyes soak in the display, said Dr Tucker, who suggest star gazers to look East from preferably 2:30am to 3am, and to look out for planets Saturn and Jupiter, the two brightest objects in the sky.

There will be a thin crescent Moon in the sky, but it wont be that bright, which means the sky should be pretty nice and dark, he said. Looking further away from the Moon will allow you to see fainter meteors.

While an expected dark sky can offer a good viewing condition, the weather may get in the way of enjoying the meteor shower display.

Sydney is expecting showers this week until Friday, and it is forecast to be partly cloudy in Melbourne before the weekend, rainy and cloudy in Perth, and partly cloudy in Adelaide.

The next astronomical event to expect in this month is a super blood moon on May 26, which presents a red moon on a total lunar eclipse.

A blood moon is seen during a full lunar eclipse. This lunar event was caught on film in the southern Bavarian village of Raisting, near Munich, Germany on July 27, 2018. (REUTERS/Michael Dalder)
Missing New York College Student Believed to Have Taken Her Own Life: DA

Authorities in New York said they suspect that a missing Buffalo State University student took her own life, but they have not discovered her body.

Saniyya Dennis, 19, was last seen leaving her residence hall on April 24, officials said.

It appears that this poor girl took her own life, Erie County District Attorney John Flynn told reporters on Thursday. He said that her body has not been located but they reached their conclusion based on a timeline.

Flynn said that on April 24, Dennis got into an argument over the phone with her boyfriend, who lives in New York City. After attempting to contact him dozens of times to no avail, she called another friend in New York City and said she would kill herself, according to the district attorney.

Flynn added that she was seen leaving the campus at around 11 p.m. on that day, adding that she was seen throwing away personal items in a garbage can. Based on that footage, Flynn said it led officials to believe she wasnt coming back to her dorm, WGRZ reported.

Dennis then sent a photo of Niagara Falls to her friends on Snapchat at around 1 a.m., said the district attorney. The last outgoing text from her phone was 1:22 a.m., he added, saying there was no cellular activity from her phone.

New York State Park Police Major Clyde Doty told WGRZ: Its a sensitive case to work with, and to deal with. We all do work the hardest we can to bring closure to this matter the best way we possibly can. The State Park Police will continue our efforts, as we always do in cases likes these.
National Border Patrol Council Endorses Elise Stefanik to Replace Liz Cheney

The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) endorsed Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to replace Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for the position of GOP conference chair if she leaves the post next week.

As President Bidens policies continue to create the worst surge in illegal immigration in our history, it is more important than ever for our leaders to share a unified message in Congress on the importance of border security, Brandon Judd, the president of the NBPC, told Breitbart.

He sent out a five-paragraph endorsement, in which he mentioned that he has interacted with many legislators throughout the time he has been president of the organization, giving him certainty that Stefanik is suitable for the job.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik is the strongest member to share and grow our message of securing our border and protecting our communities, Judd said. I am happy to say Congresswoman Stefanik easily fits into the first category. She is one of the most ardent supporters of the Border Patrols mission as well as law enforcement generally.

The NBPC, established in 1967, is a labor union that acts on behalf of agents and helps the staff of the Border Patrol.

According to its official website, it exclusively represents approximately 18,000 Border Patrol agents. NBPC is under the Department of Homeland Security, and is directed by Customs and Border Protection.

The president of the NBPC asserted that Stefanik has been assisting the reduction of drugs and criminals pouring into communities.

Representative Stefanik supports funds to build the wall, technology to augment the Border Patrols capabilities, and more resources for the men and women on the front lines. I am truly grateful to say in the strongest possible terms that Elise opposes policies that have been so dangerous for our communities such as sanctuary cities, licenses for illegal immigrants, and public assistance for those who chose to violate our immigration laws, Judd said.

She also opposes amnesty for those whose very first act in coming to the U.S. was to knowingly and willingly cross our borders illegally. Representative Stefanik has been a true border security champion.

Earlier this week, former President Donald Trump also endorsed Stefanik for the same position, in a statement in which he blasted Cheney, who has been on uneasy terms with him for months after she and nine other Republican House members voted to impeach the then-president.

We want leaders who believe in the Make America Great Again movement, and prioritize the values of America First. Elise Stefanik is a far superior choice, and she has my COMPLETE and TOTAL endorsement for GOP Conference Chair. Elise is a tough and smart communicator! Trump wrote.

Stefanik has been a key ally of Trump, particularly during his impeachment trails, earning her an endorsement from the former president. However, some Republicans have expressed concern over her voting record on border issues, Breitbart reported, noting that her timely endorsement from NBPC provides a significant boost to her appeal.

Stefanik then expressed her gratitude on social media.

Last month, Cheney, in an appearance on Fox, reiterated her attitude toward Trump and the Jan. 6 Capitol breach incident.

Ive been very clear about my views about what happened on Jan. 6, about my views of the presidents culpability, I obviously voted to impeach him, I think that it was the gravest violation of an oath of office by any president in American history, she said last month on Fox News.

Her leadership position has since been under fire.

On Thursday, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said in an appearance on Fox that the vast majority of the Republican Party disagrees with her and that they have enough votes to replace her.

I think that for sure the votes are there and I think it will happen, most likely next Wednesday, Jordan said.
A sign for the Department of Justice is seen in Washington, on Jan. 12, 2021. (Sarah Silbiger-Pool/Getty Images)

New York Man Charged in $4 Million Piggy Bank COVID-19 Relief Scam

A dual resident of New York and Florida has been changed with fraudulently obtaining and laundering nearly $4 million in funds from the COVID-19 relief Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), according to prosecutors.

Gregory J. Blotnick, 34, of New York City and West Palm Beach, is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $3.8 million in federal COVID-19 PPP funds on the basis of eight falsified loan applications, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a May 6 release. The forgivable PPP loans, enacted as part of the CARES Act, were meant to help small businesses weather the impact of the pandemic recession.

Prosecutors allege Blotnick laundered and misused the fraudulently obtained funds, including by placing more than $3 million in losing stock trades, even though he certified he would use the money only for business-related purposes.

Not only did Blotnick fraudulently obtain almost $4 million in relief funds reserved for those suffering serious financial harm from the tragic COVID-19 pandemic, he also lied about how he would use those funds, placing millions of dollars in losing stock trades, said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the DOJs Criminal Division.

Blotnick submitted the fraudulent loan forms to various lenders on behalf of five of his businesses, including his New York City-based hedge fund management firm, Brattle Street Capital LLC, per the release.

False information on the forms included the number of his employees, federal tax returns for his businesses, and payroll documentation, prosecutors alleged.

The funds made available through the Paycheck Protection Program are intended to help businesses and their workers get through the financial hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, not to enrich the unscrupulous few who, like this defendant, lie to obtain those funds for their own personal profit, said Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig for the District of New Jersey.

Blotnick has been charged by criminal complaint (pdf) with eight counts of wire fraud affecting a financial institution and six counts of money laundering.

The charges announced today serve as a reminder that those who mislead lenders and seek to defraud the CARES Act will be held accountable, said Special Agent in Charge Robert Manchak of the Northeast Region of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Office of Inspector General (FHFA-OIG).

If convicted, Blotnick faces up to 20 years in jail for each count of wire fraud and up to 10 years for each count of money laundering.

It is unclear whether Blotnick has entered a plea. The Epoch Times could not immediately locate an attorney for Blotnick, who is scheduled for an initial court appearance by videoconference on May 20.

In the months since the CARES Act was passed, the DOJs Fraud Section attorneys have prosecuted more than 100 defendants in more than 70 criminal cases, while the division has seized more than $65 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds.
A Long March 5B rocket, carrying China's Tianhe space station core module, lifts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province, China, on April 29, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

No Plan to Shoot Down Chinese RocketPentagon Chief

WASHINGTONU.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday there was no plan at this point to shoot down the remnants of a large Chinese rocket expected to plunge through the atmosphere this weekend.

The Long March 5B rocket blasted off from Chinas Hainan island on April 29, carrying the Tianhe module, which contains what will become living quarters for three crew members on a permanent Chinese space station.

The Tianhe launch was the first of 11 missions needed to complete the station.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks during a briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, on May 6, 2021. (Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

Speaking with reporters, Austin said the hope was the rocket would land in the ocean and that the latest estimate was it would come down between Saturday and Sunday.

The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid published by the official Peoples Daily, characterized reports that the rocket is out of control and could cause damage as Western hype. The situation is not worth panicking about, it said, citing industry insiders.

The United States has said it is committed to addressing the risks of congestion due to space debris and wants to work with the international community to promote leadership and responsible space behaviors.

By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) is seen during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, on Dec. 2, 2020. (Greg Nash/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Ohio Republican Party Censures, Calls for Resignation of Rep. Anthony Gonzalez

The Ohio Republican Party censured and called for the resignation of Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) for his vote to impeach former President Donald Trump earlier this year.

On Friday, the state GOPs governing board called on Gonzalez to resign after a divided vote. They also voted to censure him and nine other Republicans who impeached Trump and lent their votes to support the unconstitutional, politically motivated impeachment proceeding against him, according to the resolution.

Gonzalez resorted to emotional conclusions that misplaced blame on President Trump, the President of Law and Order and America First, their resolution read. We believe that Congressman Gonzalez knowingly and willfully violated his oath of office.

A spokesperson for the Ohio GOP confirmed to news outlets that Gonzalez and the nine other Republicans who impeached Trump were censured and called for Gonzalezs resignation. The Epoch Times has contacted the Ohio Republican Party and Gonzalezs office for comment.

Over the long arc of history, Gonzalez said earlier this year when he voted to impeach Trump, I believe that this is the right vote, and I believe it sends the right message to all future presidents and anybody who considers taking the Oval Office.

The state GOPs vote Friday echoes similar votes to rebuke or censure several other Republican impeachment-supporting House members by local or state parties. Five out of the seven GOP senators who voted to convict Trump in February have faced similar blowback.

And in late February, Trump, in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), sharply criticized Republicans who joined Democrats in the impeachment efforts.

The former president earlier this year threw his support behind his former aide Max Miller for Gonzalezs seat. Miller on Friday said the GOP has voted to hold Anthony Gonzalez accountable for abandoning his constituents, his promises and the Republican Party, adding that regardless if he resigns or not we are going to continue spreading our strong, pro-Trump, America First message to every corner of this district.

The Ohio GOPs censure motion also listed the other House Republicans who impeached Trump: Reps. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Tom Rice (R-S.C.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Peter Meijer (R-Mich.), David Valadao (R-Calif.), and John Katko (R-N.Y.).

The move by the Ohio Republican Party shows Trump has enduring support among Republicans even after he left office. The former president defeated President Joe Biden by about 8 percentage points in Ohio in 2020.

Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, perhaps has the most to lose of the Republicans who impeached Trump after House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said earlier this week that he would back Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to replace her as head of the House Republican Conference. Separately, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Fox News that a number of Republican House members have questioned Cheneys leadership ability after her frequently critical comments about Trump.
Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi...
Security personnel of Pakistan's Frontier Corps patrol near the newly inaugurated Badini Trade Terminal Gateway, a border crossing point between Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Pakistan's border town of Qila Saifullah in the southwestern province of Balochistan, on Sept. 16, 2020. (Banaras Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

Pakistan Says 4 Soldiers Killed in Ambush by Afghan Terrorists Along Border

QUETTA, PakistanFour Pakistani soldiers were killed and six wounded in an ambush by terrorists from Afghanistan along the border between the two countries on Wednesday, Pakistans military said.

The soldiers were working on fencing along the border in the Zhob district, an area of Pakistans Balochistan province, the military said in a statement. Zhob sits across from Afghanistans eastern Paktika province.

Late on Wednesday the Tehrik-e-Taliban, a banned terrorist group operating along the border, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement shared with Reuters.

Security officials in Paktika province said they had no knowledge of the incident.

Pakistans Foreign Office said it had asked Afghanistan to take action against the terrorists.

A statement said the Afghan embassy in Islamabad had been asked to convey Pakistans concerns to the relevant Afghan authorities to undertake effective measures against organized groups of terrorists operating from the Afghan soil.

Pakistan says it is constructing a fence along its 2,500 km (1,500 mile) frontier with Afghanistan to secure the area, despite Kabuls protests that the barrier would divide families and friends along the Pashtun tribal belt straddling the colonial-era Durand Line drawn up by the British in 1893.

Security forces from the two countries occasionally exchange fire along the disputed border. In July 2020, at least 22 people were killed as crowds waited to enter Afghanistan from Pakistan at a border crossing, with both Pakistani and Afghan soldiers exchanging fire.

In April a car bomb at a luxury hotel in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, killed four people in an attack later claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. Chinas ambassador to Pakistan was staying at the hotel but was not present during the attack.

By Gul Yousafzai
A woman receives her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the mass vaccination site at Ripken Basebal in Aberdeen, Md., on May 5, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Pfizer, BioNTech Ask US Regulators for Full Approval of COVID-19 Vaccine

Pfizer and BioNTech are asking drug regulators in the United States for full approval for their COVID-19 vaccines.

The two companies announced on May 7 that they initiated a rolling submission for a biologics license application by submitting nonclinical and clinical data, including the most recent analyses from a phase three clinical trial, to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming weeks.

They plan to submit more data in the coming weeks to complete the application.

We are proud of the tremendous progress weve made since December in delivering vaccines to millions of Americans, in collaboration with the U.S. Government, Albert Bourla, Pfizers chairman and CEO, said in a statement. We look forward to working with the FDA to complete this rolling submission and support their review, with the goal of securing full regulatory approval of the vaccine in the coming months.

The BLA submission is an important cornerstone of achieving long-term herd immunity and containing COVID-19 in the future, added Ugur Sahin, CEO and co-founder of BioNTech.

The companies asked for priority review. If that request is approved, a decision would come within 6 months instead of the typical 10-month time frame.

The FDA didnt immediately respond to an inquiry.

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University of Public Health, called the initiation a major development.

Here is why. Obviously, on some level, day-to-day vaccinations will continue, and in that way its not a huge deal, but its a signal that we have so much safety data now on millions and tens of millions of people that we can get the full authorization, the full approval. It will also give confidence to a lot of people who have been on the fence, businesses that want to mandate it for workers coming back. So I do think itll end up being a big deal, he said during an appearance on ABC.

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla talks during a press conference in Puurs, Belgium, on April 23, 2021. (John Thys/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Regulators late last year granted emergency use authorization to COVID-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, some of the earliest regulatory authorization of shots against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus anywhere in the world.

Both shots use messenger RNA technology, a brand new way of developing vaccines.

Moderna plans on starting the biologics license application later this month.

The FDA greenlit the Pfizer shot on Dec. 11, 2020, less than one month after the company and its partner BioNTech asked for emergency authorization.

Regulators said they found that data from an ongoing trial analyzing the vaccine showed that the known and potential benefits of the shot outweighed the known and potential risks. The authorization was for people aged 16 or older.

Since then, over 134 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in the United States. Its the most used COVID-19 vaccine in the country.

Also on May 7, Pfizer and BioNTech asked regulators to allow children between the ages of 12 and 15 to get the shot. Once enough data is acquired, the companies plan to request full approval for that age group.

Doctors have argued that COVID-19 vaccination for children is not necessary.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech during a ceremony at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines, on July 17, 2017. (Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images)

Philippine President Apologizes for Taking Unapproved Sinopharm Jab, Requests China Withdraw Doses

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte warned Filipinos not to follow his example and get the China-made Sinopharm vaccine which has not yet been approved by the countrys health regulator for use against the CCP virus.

Duterte, who was able to get the Sinopharm jab via a compassionate use permit despite the drug not yet being approved, has since asked the Chinese embassy to return 1,000 unused doses that were donated by Beijing.

Following criticism, Duterte told Filipinos, Dont follow my steps.

Its dangerous because there are no studies, it might not be good for the body. Just let me be the sole person to receive it.

Both the president and his security personnel sparked widespread criticism after receiving China-made vaccines against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

Lets just pull them out (of the country), so that theres no issue, Duterte said of the Sinopharm doses still in the country.

The 76-year-old leader at first defended his actions, according to local media Rappler, saying it was a personal request.

What was injected in me, its the decision of my doctor and all things said, this is my life, the controversial leader said, before accepting the criticism levelled at him.

We are sorry for the things you are criticizing us for, we accept responsibility, he said. We are sorry, you are right, we are wrong.

The Philippines is one of the hardest-hit countries in southeast Asia, with a total of more than 1 million infections and more than 16,000 deaths, according to ABS-CBN News.

Duterte mentioned that China should only send Sinovac jabs in future, which have been approved by relevant Philippine authorities.

The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) believes that Sinovac shots are effective in preventing COVID-19 infections in adults (18-59), but there is no data available regarding the risk of serious adverse effects, according to Reuters. In the case of Sinopharm jabs, the group shows very low confidence in them about the same risk on certain patients.

The efficacy of China-made vaccines has been questioned since their trial data lacks transparency. The CCPs cover-up of domestic vaccine-related deaths has also heightened public concern.

A Chinese netizen with the username Shan Xia Hua Yi Zi revealed that her 28-year-old brother, a border police officer in Shenzhen city in Chinas southern Guangdong province, died on April 15 after taking two Sinopharm shots respectively on Jan. 11 and Feb. 8, according to NTD, an affiliate of The Epoch Times.

After she posted online about her brothers death online, she received a call from her brothers employer and the local Futian Health Authority who warned her against the negative impact her posts might create. She then found her posts had been deleted without notice.

In Hong Kong, similar death reports were published in local media outlets. On April 26, the Hong Kong Department of Health reported that a 63-year-old male doctor died 10 days after receiving his second dose of the Sinovac vaccine.

As of April 26, data showed there had been 24 death cases after getting vaccinated in Hong Kong, 20 of whom had been inoculated with Sinovac jabs, though no evidence suggests a link between their deaths and the vaccine, Apple Daily reported.
Photographer Was Shaking From Excitement After Spotting 5 Elusive Florida Panthers in a Day

A photographer from Miami Beach was left shaking with excitement after a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with five elusive Florida panthers, from behind the lens, in one day.

Ezra Van had been tracking wild Florida panthers, the official state animal, for years without luck.

I poured over Fish and Wildlife research maps and reports, talked to rangers, locals, law enforcement who worked night shifts, set up alerts for panther sightings, and put 38,000 miles on my truck, he wrote in a personal account that was shared with The Epoch Times.

Van saw a lot of other amazing wildlife, but no panthers. He was in the Everglades Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve Park on Jan. 13 when that changed, after he chose a parking spot a few miles along the main road based on his knowledge of footprints, trail intersections, and water levels.

Van sighted his first lone panther from this spot, around 200 meters away. Unable to capture a good photo, he waited patiently for the panthers return, but to no avail.

Then, at sunset, as he was just leaving at the entrance, an extraordinary sight appeared: a Florida panther chasing and toying with an injured turkey vulture, followed by three additional cats.

I was about 60 meters away in the truck and frantically started taking pictures and video, Van wrote. It looked like it was a mom and three adult cubs, and mom was teaching them how to hunt.

Later, Van shared his incredible footage on YouTube.

It seemed to be a practice run only; leaving the turkey vulture alone in favor of resting on the grass, the family of four eventually retreated into the Everglades. One of them, Van told WFOR-TV, looked over and meowed at him before the four departed.

The Florida panther, protected by the Endangered Species Act of 1973, is one of the most endangered mammals on the planet.

Alligator Ron Bergeron, otherwise known as the mayor of the Everglades, claims that Florida panther cubs will stay with their mother for roughly two years. Vans sighting, he says, owes to years upon years of intensive conservation efforts.

We put together a panther team to study it and today we estimate we now have somewhere around 180 to 230 panthers across the beautiful Everglades, Bergeron told the media outlet.

Its biggest enemy is loss of habitats and collisions with cars, Bergeron continued, adding that the preserve needs more crossings in order to avoid vehicle collisions with panthers.

Vans Jan. 13 experience has certainly left a lasting impression.

I cant lie, I was still shaking from excitement an hour later, the covert photographer wrote in his personal account. Many of the rangers that work days say they have been there decades and have never seen a panther.

The sheriff, he went on, reported seeing panthers during night shifts every once in a while, but Vans sighting of five in one day, and four at once, was nothing short of a once-in-a-lifetime event.

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 at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
The Orange County Sheriffs Department released these sketches with hopes of identifying two men suspected of following a teen girl in Rancho Santa Margarita. (Courtesy of the Orange County Sheriff's Department)

Police Seek Men Who Followed Teen Girl

The Orange County Sheriffs Department is asking for help identifying two men who they say followed a 15-year-old girl while she was out for a run in Rancho Santa Margarita.

The men on May 4 were driving in a northbound bicycle lane on Antonio Parkway, between Tijeras Creek and Via Entrada, about 4 p.m., closely following the teen, police said.

When they stopped and exited the white Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck near her, the girl began running away from them. At that point, police said, the men hopped back into their truck and continued following her.

When she showed them her cell phone, they left the area, police said.

In a news release, the OCSD released two sketches of the suspects. Police are asking for the publics help identifying the men as the investigation continues.

Our investigators are going to canvass the area and look for any type of surveillance cameras, and I know that theyre in the process of doing that, OCSD spokesperson Todd Hilton told The Epoch Times.

The vehicle is described as an older white Chevrolet 1500 truck with black fenders.

Anyone with information is asked to call 949-770-6011.
An aerial view of Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory in Shanghai, China on March 20, 2021. Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory is reportedly producing vehicles at a rate of about 450,000 cars per year. (Xiaolu Chu/Getty Images)

Ready to Exit China? Tesla Pays Off $614 Million Loan for Its Shanghai Factory

News Analysis

Tesla has recently repaid in full the $614 million loan for the construction of its Gigafactory 3, a super factory located in Shanghai. After the news broke out, the rumor that Tesla may be preparing to leave the Chinese market spread fast on social media.

The construction of the Shanghai plant began at the end of 2018 and officially opened in December 2019.

In April 2021, we fully repaid the $614 million in aggregate principal of our secured term loan facility in connection with the construction of Gigafactory Shanghai (the Fixed Asset Facility) and the facility was terminated, Tesla stated in a Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 27.

After the termination, the $758 million of unused commitment under the Fixed Asset Facility included in the debt and finance lease table as of March 31, 2021 above was no longer available, the statement read.

Chinese state media reported that the main funding for Teslas Gigafactory 3 came from syndicated loans. Since March 2019, Tesla has reached loan agreements with various banks in China. At the time, Tesla said it could borrow up to 9 billion yuan (about $1.382 billion) within three years, and mortgaged against the land and buildings of its Shanghai factory.

At present, Tesla Gigafactory 3 has paid off all its syndicated loans issued from Chinese banks.

A Chinese netizen said: Elon Musk suddenly paid off the $614 million debt for Teslas Shanghai facility, which may be the prelude to Teslas withdrawal from China. The complex business environment and many uncertainties [in China] are making foreign companies anxious. Can forcing out foreign companies really make domestic companies rise?

Another netizen wrote: Now it can retreat at any time, without leaving a tiny bit of technology.

Netizen Stella Loves to Sleep wrote: I really hope that you hurry up and withdraw! Even we ordinary people can not stand it. She was referring to the insult Tesla had to endure in a recent customer complaint incident.

Another netizen commented: The main thing is that Teslas open patent drives the development of domestic new energy trams. It can be said that without Tesla, it would be difficult for our country to have domestic new energy trams.

People visit a Tesla booth during the media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai, China April 16, 2019. (Aly Song/Reuters)

The CCP Uses Tesla to Drive Domestic Brands

In 2014, Chinese leader Xi Jinping set the tone that the development of new energy vehicles is the only way for China to move from being a major automotive consumer to a strong automotive manufacturing country, and has reiterated it since. To this end, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has invested heavily in subsidies for the electric vehicle industry and is suspected of stealing technology.

In 2018, then U.S. President Donald Trump pushed a trade agenda focused on confronting the CCP over unfair trade practices. In March 2018, Trump signed a memorandum to impose tariffs on Chinese imported goods worth about $50 to $60 billion annually as a penalty for Chinas theft of American intellectual property (IP).

In April 2018, Beijing pledged to lift the restriction on the proportion of foreign shares in special vehicles and new energy vehicles.

In July 2018, Tesla signed an agreement with Shanghai Lingang Free-Trade Zone to build a super factory as a sole proprietorship. The Shanghai authorities significantly streamlined the process, with the entire approval process taking less than five months.

Over the past five years, Teslas revenue in mainland China has exceeded $14 billion. China has become the second largest market for Tesla in the world after the United States.

Teslas success in China has directly driven the countrys development of the pure electric vehicle industry. Teslas U.S.-listed China brand rivals, such as NIO and XPeng, have all achieved record sales in 2020, and their share prices have soared accordingly. In addition, Chinese companies such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Baidu, and Evergrande also started to enter the new energy vehicles industry.

Tesla Suppressed After Huaweis IPO

Last month, Chinas state media claimed that Huawei is the only Chinese company that is capable of competing with Tesla. Huaweis first smart luxury all-electric car was launched in Shanghai on April 17.

The FBI has stated that Huawei is a private company, but it is dependent on the Chinese regime for resources and funding. Huawei has been touted a national champion enterprise by the CCP, usually an official designation given to state-owned entities. This implies that the telecom conglomerate, which makes routers, cell phones, and other equipment, is a key element of the CCPs economic policy, including the acquisition of foreign technology.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said in a statement released last May that Huawei is an untrustworthy vendor and a tool of the Chinese Communist Party, beholden to its orders.

Tesla has become the focus of criticism by the CCPs official media after a Tesla car owner made a scene at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition on April 19. A woman surnamed Zhang, who was wearing a T-shirt with the words brake failure, stood on top of a Tesla car and shouted, Teslas brakes failed!

According to Chinese media, Zhang said that in February, she was driving a Tesla Model 3 when the brakes failed, causing her to crash into two cars and nearly killing four family members. She demanded a high amount of compensation, but refused to cooperate in getting a car inspection as proposed by Tesla.

On April 20, state media Xinhua News Agency and other media outlets affiliated with the CCP Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs issued a series of articles denouncing Tesla, forcing the electric carmaker to issue a public apology.

On April 22, Tesla released Zhangs driving data before the accident, showing that she was driving at a high speed before the car crashed, and Teslas automatic braking system slowed her down considerably.

On April 23, state-run media Economic Daily issued an article saying, Before the cause of the accident is identified, the relevant authorities should order Tesla to immediately suspend production and sales for rectification.

On April 25, China Central Television (CCTV) described Tesla as out of control.

At the same time, complaints about Tesla have also emerged in many places in China. In February, Tesla was summoned by five departments, including the State Administration of Market Supervision and the Central Internet Information Office of the CCP, on the grounds that consumers had complained about the quality of its products.

Prior to that, data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) last October showed that in the third quarter of 2020, the Tesla Model 3 had the lowest number of complaints among all the best-selling passenger cars in China, with its complaint-to-sales ratio remaining stable at less than one in 10,000.

Taiwan scholar Hong Bo-xue said, The CCP has been absorbing international funds and using various deceptions. When it grows stronger, it starts to get rid of the one that helped it. Taiwanese and Japanese businessmen have known this for a long time. Now the CCP has thrust the knife into Tesla, because it has learned to make electric cars and does not need Tesla anymore.
Results Tally up Billions in Profit From Texas Freeze for Gas and Power Sellers

Natural gas suppliers, pipeline companies, and banks that trade commodities have emerged as the biggest market winners from Februarys U.S. winter blast that roiled gas and power markets, according to more than two dozen interviews and quarterly earnings reports.

The deep freeze caught Texass utilities off-guard, killed more than 100 people and left 4.5 million without power. Demand for heat pushed wholesale power costs to 400 times the usual amount and propelled natural gas prices to record highs, forcing utilities and consumers to pay exorbitant bills.

After the storm, few companies wanted to talk about their financial gains, unwilling to be seen as profiting off others hardships. But a clearer picture is emerging from quarterly earnings and as utility companies smarting from big bills sue to recoup their losses.

The biggest winners were companies with access to supplies, including leading energy trader Vitol, gas suppliers Kinder Morgan, Enterprise Products Partners and Energy Transfer, and banks Goldman Sachs, Bank of America (BOA) and Macquarie Group.

The firms combined stand to reap billions of dollars in profits by selling gas and power during the storm, according to interviews and reviews of public documents. It is possible that some companies may never collect on those sales due to ongoing litigation, however.

Losers include producers that could not deliver oil and gas due to frozen wellheads, gathering systems, and processing stations. The weeklong output loss cost shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources $80 million, Chevron about $300 million, and Exxon Mobil $800 million.

Utilities are complaining of price gouging and of unwarranted supply cancellations. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is reviewing gas and power markets for potential market manipulation.

Goldman Sachs and Vitol did not comment. BOA did not respond to a request for comment.

Maximum Withdrawal

Energy Transfer, which can store about 60 percent of U.S. daily gas consumption in areas hit hardest by the February freeze, could report a $850 million profit from selling the fuel to utilities and industrial customers during the storm, according to analysts at East Daley Capital. Other people familiar with its operations say that figure could be higher.

Energy Transfer did not comment for this story. The company reports results on Thursday.

Overhead power lines are seen during record-breaking temperatures in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Feb. 17, 2021. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)

Rival Enterprise Products Partners said the storm led to gains of about $250 million in the first quarter.

Kinder Morgan, another gas storage and pipeline operator, earned about $1 billion during the storm, the vast majority from higher gas prices and sales. Anticipating high demand, Kinder Morgan said it dispatched workers and backup generators ahead of the storm to its gas storage and pipeline facilities.

At the beginning of February, gas prices ranged from $2.50 to $3 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) at hubs from Houston to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Prices began climbing on Feb. 11 into the hundreds of dollars, with Tulsas hub surging to a record $1,192.86 on Feb. 17, according to government data.

Thats what happens when you go from a very well supplied market to a very tight market, and in this case a catastrophically tight market, said one natural gas trader. That was very localized pain, and it really surprised a lot of people.

Energy traders with three Texas electric cooperatives told Reuters they paid as much as $400 per mmBtu during a four-day stretch that began Valentines Day weekend. They requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the crisis. San Antonios municipal utility CPS Energy said its gas bill for the week was about $700 million.

Ive been tracking natural gas markets for 20 years. Ive never seen price increases like we saw, said Tyson Slocum, an energy and environmental advisory committee member at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a director at Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization.

Winning And Losing

Australias Macquarie, the second-largest marketer of U.S. natural gas, said its trading around the storm boosted its overall profit outlook for the year by about 10 percent, which analysts estimated at about A$400 million ($317 million).

Ahead of the storm, Macquarie traders researched how previous cold fronts disrupted infrastructure to prepare a plan, said sources within the firm, who requested anonymity. The company did not comment for this story.

Texass grid operator ERCOT canceled $1 billion in service charges and state officials are considering securitizing unpaid ERCOT bills from electric companies that defaulted.

Many of the firms that profited from trading, such as Goldman Sachs and BOA, are also facing losses from their exposure to utilities and electric co-operatives that have declared bankruptcy, according to court filings.

BOA made hundreds of millions via its trading arm, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, but it is owed nearly $480 million by Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, which filed for bankruptcy.

Disputes over price gouging and reneged contracts have also emerged after some suppliers declared the freeze was a force majeure event that allowed them to suspend contracts.

Macquarie was sued by Exxon seeking to void an $11 million gas bill. CPS Energy sued BP, Chevron, Energy Transfer, and others for submitting bills that ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Texas wind farm operators also have filed lawsuits against trading arms of JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, maintaining the cold snap was an extreme event that overrode contracts for power generation and delivery.

By Devika Krishna Kumar, Scott DiSavino, Jessica Resnick Ault, and Gary McWilliams
A model of an autonomous "Smart City" is seen on the Oracle display stand during the TechXLR8 event at ExCel in London on June 12, 2019. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Smart Cities Likely to Be Targeted by Malicious Actors, Cyber Expert Warns

Emerging smart cities will likely become attractive targets for malicious actors, an expert at the UKs National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC ) warned on Friday.

The warning came as NCSC published its first guidance for the development of smart cities in the UK.

In a blog post introducing the guidance, Ian Levy, the NCSCs technical director, said that an Italian Job would be catastrophic in the 21st century when computers control more aspects of our physical lives than ever before.

Levy was referring to the 1969 heist film The Italian Job, in which magnetic storage tapes for the Turin traffic control were switched to create a gridlock as a part of the escape plan.

A similar gridlock attack on a 21st-century city would have catastrophic impacts on the people who live and work there, and criminals wouldnt likely need physical access to the traffic control system to do it, the blog reads.

Failures within individual systems can have terrible impacts, but as they are increasingly connected and become interdependent, the compound effects are magnified, Levy wrote.

Combine this with the potential privacy intrusion (for example, if the data are collected or processed in a dumb way) and theres lots to worry about.

Levy said that as these connected places [smart cities] become increasingly joined up, the ubiquity of the services they provide will likely make them a target for malicious actors.

He said now is a good time to take precautions because these so-called smart cities are just emerging in the UK.

The Connected Places Cyber Security Principles published on Friday is the first guidance for national and local authorities and cybersecurity professionals. Levy said the NCSC expects to create some very specific guidance over the coming years.

NCSC is a part of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the UKs National Security Agency.

Last month, GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming warned that the UK and its allies must adapt to evolving technology to stay ahead of digital threats, naming the speed of technology growth in China and Russia as major concerns.

Fleming said the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic and the increased reliance society had placed on technology had not only benefited the UK and its allies, but also our foes, who have exploited accelerations in connectivity and poor cybersecurity.

In response to this threat, Fleming said it was now vital that the UK adapt in order to keep up with the evolving threats, calling it a moment of reckoning.

PA contributed to this report.
Wreckage and debris from a capsized boat washes ashore at Cabrillo National Monument near where a boat capsized just off the San Diego coast, in San Diego, Calif., on May 2, 2021. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)

Suspected Smuggling Boat Captain Kneed Border Patrol Agent in Face: Authorities

SAN DIEGOA man accused of piloting a boat overloaded with illegal immigrants that crashed into rocks off San Diegos coast and killed three people kneed a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the face who was trying to put a leg shackle on him on the beach, authorities said.

Investigators said in an affidavit filed Tuesday in federal court in San Diego that the agent was not seriously injured but the hit left a red mark on his forehead.

A total of 33 people were pulled from the water after the 40-foot trawling-style boat smashed into rocks and broke apart Sunday, tossing people into the rough sea off Cabrillo National Monument. Besides the three who died, two others were still hospitalized, including one in critical condition.

Wreckage and debris from a capsized boat washes ashore at Cabrillo National Monument near where a boat capsized just off the San Diego coast, in San Diego, Calif., on May 2, 2021. (Denis Poroy/AP Photo)

Investigators say Antonio Hurtado, a U.S. citizen, was piloting the boat, and he was arrested on suspicion of bringing in or harboring illegal immigrants and assaulting an officer, according to the affidavit. Twenty-one passengers identified Hurtado in a photo lineup as the captain of the vessel.

He was treated in a hospital and turned over to immigration authorities. His lawyer, Melissa Bobrow, declined to comment.

The illegal immigrants told investigators they paid between $15,000 and $18,000 each to be smuggled into the United States on the boat.

All but one were Mexican citizens, including two 15-year-olds who were traveling alone, a boy and a girl. A Guatemalan man remains hospitalized.

Maria Eugenia Chavez Segovia, 41; Maricela Hernandez Sanchez, 35; and Victor Perez Degollado, 29, drowned after suffering blunt-force injuries to their heads, according the San Diego County medical examiners office.

Navy rescue swimmer Cale Foy did his best to save them. He was hiking with his wife and three kids when he noticed the vessel approaching the rocky, wind-swept San Diego coastline as 5- to 8-foot waves were crashing.

A moment later, a wave slammed the boat, and Foy saw it hit the rocks. He spotted people tossed into the rough sea before the vessel broke into pieces.

All of a sudden, we see people jumping into the waves and on top of the rocks, and it was: I have to be there. I have to help,' Foy said.

He immediately ran toward the shore in what would become the most dramatic rescue mission of his 17-year career. Foy and another young sailor who was also out hiking and is in basic training as a Navy SEAL recruit were among the first to respond.

We could hear people frantic, kind of chaos, screaming, Foy said.

Navy rescue swimmer Cale Foy looks on at Naval Air Station North Island, in San Diego, Calif., on May 4, 2021. (Gregory Bull/AP Photo)

In a T-shirt, pants and hiking boots, Foy ran into the waves, took a chance and dove under, praying that he would not be slammed into rocks below.

After Foy and the Navy SEAL recruit got past the pounding surf, they came upon a large piece of the boats cabin and grabbed it to rest.

Then the two headed toward the screams. They helped three men who survived get to the wreckage.

Then Foy saw a woman face down in the water, wearing a life preserver. She was unconscious.

Foy used his body to keep her head out of the water, carrying her on his chest as he swam toward the floating debris. He placed her on it and then pulled it toward a lifeguard boat that had arrived.

He got her into the boat, hopped in and started CPR on her as they rolled over the waves.

Foy traveled with the lifeguard boat back to land and continued to do CPR for 20 more minutes.

Despite his efforts, she died, he said.

Foy stayed for another two hours on the dock, helping tend to people brought in on the lifeguard boats.

In the end, Foy and the Navy SEAL recruit got six illegal immigrants to the floating wreckage. Four of them survived.

We just jumped in and helped out with what we could, Foy said.

By Julie Watson
Tallahassee Sues to Reveal Names of Police Officers Involved in Use-of-Force Incidents

The City of Tallahassee, Florida, is challenging a state constitutional amendment that bolsters crime victims rights by curbing the states open-records laws.

Floridas First District Court of Appeal ruled on April 6 in the case that the amendment, which shields the identities of crime victims, covers police officers who are victims of crime.

Tallahassee officials argue the ruling has the effect of interfering with the ability of the public to hold police accountable in a state renowned for its laws guaranteeing public access to government records.

The appeal comes less than a month after the U.S. Department of Justice decided not to pursue criminal charges against the still-unidentified U.S. Capitol Police officer involved in the fatal shooting of 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt during the security breach at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, while Congress was in the process of officially certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

The federal government has withheld the identity of the police officer. Unlike many other police organizations, there is reportedly no rule requiring the U.S. Capitol Police force to provide the name of the shooter.

In two separate encounters, crime suspects threatened Tallahassee police officers with deadly force, according to the appeals court ruling.

Faced with the imminent threat of harm, the officers responded in kind, resulting in fatalities. Following the encounters, the City of Tallahassee revealed its intent to disclose the identities of the police officers to the public. The officers and their registered bargaining representative, the Florida Police Benevolent Association Inc.  opposed public disclosure of the officers identities and sought a declaration from the trial court that the officers were entitled to the protections granted crime victims.

The appeal, cited as City of Tallahassee v. Florida Police Benevolent Association Inc., was filed with the Florida Supreme Court on May 4. The current mayor of Tallahassee is John E. Dailey, a Democrat who succeeded Andrew Gillum, also a Democrat, in 2018.

Amendment 6 was approved by Sunshine State voters in 2018, receiving a 61.6 percent yes vote, according to Ballotpedia.

The ballot question dealt with three separate proposals. One added specific rights of crime victims, collectively known as Marsys Law, to the state Constitution; another raised the judicial retirement age to 75 from 70; and another prohibited state courts from deferring to an administrative agencys interpretation of a state statute or rule in lawsuits.

The effort to enshrine Marsys Law across the United States came about after Marsalee (Marsy) Nicholas was murdered by her former boyfriend. A week later, her brother and mother were shocked to encounter the ex-boyfriend at a grocery store, unaware he had been released by the authorities. A legal reform movement emerged led by the brother, tech billionaire Henry Nicholas.

The legal case now before the Florida Supreme Court is touted as the first major test of whether Marsys Law is at odds with government transparency guarantees incorporated into what are arguably the nations most sweeping public-records laws.

The appeals court ruled that there is nothing in Marsys Law that excludes law enforcement officersor other government employeesfrom the protections granted crime victims.

A police officer meets the definition of a crime victim under Marsys Law when a crime suspect threatens the officer with deadly force, placing the officer in fear for his life.

The two police officers mentioned in the legal proceeding were involved in separate use-of-force incidents. The officer identified as John Doe 2 shot a black transgender person in May 2020 in an incident that received national media attention, according to TV station WJXT.

Because the officer was the victim of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the incident involving Natosha Tony McDade, the police association argued he was entitled to privacy protections under Marsys Law.

The First Amendment Foundation, the Florida Press Association, and various media outlets intervened in the legal proceeding, saying that applying Marsys Law to law enforcement officers would undermine government transparency laws.

The appeals court ruling overturned a ruling by a Leon County Circuit judge who determined the explicit language of Marsys Law was not intended to apply to law enforcement officers when acting in their official capacity and ordered the city to release the officers names.

Cassandra K. Jackson, city attorney for Tallahassee, said the city brought the case out of concern about government transparency.

The city of Tallahassee is seeking review of the appeals court decision finding that police officers, while performing their public duties, are to be afforded the protections of Marsys Law, Jackson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.

This case is one of great public importance to the State of Florida in its appellate level interpretation of Article 1, Section 16 of the Florida Constitution (Marsys Law). With respect for the Courts opinion and appreciation of the difficult work performed by police officers every day, the decision has far-reaching implications related to public transparency and is deserving of final review by Floridas highest court.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association didnt immediately respond to requests for comment.
Texas House Passes GOP-Backed Election Integrity Bill

The Texas state House on Friday passed a GOP-backed election overhaul bill that would add new penalties and rules, becoming the latest state Republican-led legislative body to pass similar legislation in recent days.

The House passed Senate Bill 7 on a 78-64 mostly party-line vote. The bill, which was first passed in the Senate but was significantly reworked in the House, will now head back to the Texas state Senate for a vote.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday lauded the Republican state lawmakers for passing the bill in the House.

This bill will help ensure that we have trust & confidence in the outcome of our elections, Abbott wrote in a tweet. One step closer to my desk & making it TX law.

The measure will make it a felony to provide voters with a vote-by-mail application if they hadnt already requested one. It would also bar the usage of public funds to facilitate the distribution of mail-in voting applications.

A person commits an offense if the person knowingly collects or possesses a ballot voted by mail or official carrier envelope from a voter in connection with vote harvesting services, the bills text reads.

A poll worker stamps a voters ballot before dropping it into a secure box at a ballot drop off location in Austin, Texas, on Oct. 13, 2020. (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

Also according to the bill, poll watchers can only be removed by a judge if the watcher engages in activity that would constitute an offense related to the conduct of the election. During the Nov. 3, 2020, election, numerous Republican poll watchers stated that they were treated unfairly or kicked out of polling places in areas like Philadelphia, Detroit, and Atlanta.

Democrats and progressive groups criticized the bill and claimed it is tantamount to voter suppression, deploying similar rhetoric used against election integrity bills that were passed and signed into law in Florida and Georgia in recent days. Texas Democratic Party chair Gilberto Hinojosa echoed claims made by Democrats in other states by saying the bill is an attempt to silence voters in Texas, especially voters of color.

But Republicans, including Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach, said that the measure is a strong [and] sensible election integrity legislation that ensures and protects full access to the ballot box while deterring and cracking down on illegal activity that undermines our elections.

The Texas bill is one of a number of state election laws that are being debated and worked on in Republican-led legislatures following the Nov. 3, 2020, election.

Democrats have said that restrictions against mail-in ballot access are a ploy by Republicans in response to former President Donald Trumps election loss, while Republicans have said vote-by-mail leads to fraud.

On Thursday morning, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed Floridas election integrity bill. Several Democratic-aligned groups then promptly filed lawsuits in response.
People walk past a giant inflatable representation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson outside the Mill House Leisure Centre where the count process for the Parliamentary By-election is taking place in Hartlepool, England, on May 7, 2021. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

UK Conservative Party Scores Historic By-election Win Against Labour

Britains ruling Conservative Party scored a major victory on Friday when it won the parliamentary seat for Hartlepool, a traditional Labour stronghold, for the first time since it was created almost 50 years ago.

Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer took the seat, which had been Labour-held since it was formed in 1974, with a majority of 6,940.

Mortimer gained 15,529 votesmore than half the total castwith Labours Dr. Paul Williams trailing with 8,589.

Conservative Party candidate Jill Mortimer speaks after she was declared the winner in the Hartlepool Parliamentary By-election at Mill House Leisure Centre, in Hartlepool, England, on May 7, 2021. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

The result was in part due to voters who backed the Brexit Party in 2019when it took a quarter of the voteswitching to the Conservatives.

In her victory speech, Mortimer hailed the truly historic result and said she was immensely proud to be the first Conservative MP in Hartlepool for 57 years.

Labour have taken people in Hartlepool for granted for too long, she said. I heard this time and time again on the doorstep and people have had enough and now, through this result, the people have spoken and have made it clear it is time for change.

She pledged to work tirelessly for people in the constituency, adding: I will not let you down, I will not fail you.

Steve Reed, Labours shadow secretary for communities and local government, said the defeat was absolutely shattering, but blamed it on the previous Labour leadership under Jeremy Corbyn and its hard-left policies.

I think what this shows is that, although we have started to change since the cataclysm of the last general election, that change has clearly not gone far enough in order to win back the trust of the voters, and weve just seen that in spades in Hartlepool, he told BBC Breakfast.

But the Labour leftsidelined since Keir Starmer became leader last yearsaid the defeat shows that the party must now change direction.

Labour MP Diane Abbott, who was shadow home secretary during Corbyns leadership, branded it a crushing defeat for Labour and urged Starmer to rethink his strategy.

Not possible to blame Jeremy Corbyn for this result. Labour won the seat twice under his leadership. Keir Starmer must think again about his strategy, she wrote on Twitter.

The by-election was triggered when the previous Labour MP Mike Hill stepped down in March following claims of sexual harassment and victimisation.

PA contributed to this report.
A Chinese worker carrying materials for a project of the CCP's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in Lao, on Feb. 8, 2020. (Aidan Jones/AFP via Getty Images)

Underpaid, Overworked, Abused: Chinese Migrants Working on the Regimes Belt and Road Initiative

Chinese migrants signed on to work for the CCPs (Chinese Communist Partys) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with hopes of earning a good wage and sending support to their families back in China. Instead, they got stranded in several countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been subjected to a number of human rights violations with no possible recourse in sight.

According to a report (pdf) by New York-based China Labor Watch (CLW), state-owned companies overseas curtailed Chinese migrant workers ability to travel during the pandemic and denied them medical treatment. Flights were hard to get and prohibitively expensive due to the Chinese regimes limit on international flights coming into the country and workers were threatened if they tried to leave.

A Victims Story

CLW conducted several interviews with Chinese laborers working in various overseas BRI projects. One worker at an oil shale-fired power plant in Jordan said they were not provided with any personal protective equipment when the CCP virus broke out. According to a worker, known as Victim A in the report, it was only after an inspection by Jordanian government officials that they were provided with one mask per week.

For weeks after the project ended in April 2020, Victim A and other workers went to the Chinese Embassy in Jordan to protest and demand their right to return home. Chinese police contacted Victim As family and warned that if he continued to protest, his name would be put on a blacklist and never be permitted to enter China again.

Nonetheless, he had no choice but to persist. He was left with no income or savings after only being paid for his first six days of work, despite working for five months. Victim A and other workers had pled with upper Chinese staff in the project office to help them return to China, but the staff responded with warnings of having them arrested for lack of working visas, and had local security guards expel them from the premises.

After four months of protesting in front of the embassy, the workers were finally put on a charter flight and returned to China in mid-August. But more than 300 Chinese workers were still stranded in the same worksite of the Attarat power plant when they left.

For fear of retribution, Victim A told his story on the condition of anonymity. The CLWs report contains 22 Chinese workers experiences on BRI projects in Indonesia, Algeria, Singapore, Jordan, Pakistan, Serbia, and other countries. Most of them concealed their identities.

The BRI Idea

The CCPs flagship BRI project is a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure scheme that seeks to increase the CCPs influence through global trade links while generating income for China through a finance mechanism that invests in infrastructure-based development.

First announced in 2013, the BRI idea eventually led to the CCP securing 205 signed cooperation agreements with 140 countries and 31 international organizations by Jan. 20, 2021.

All of the BRI projects are financed through Chinese state-controlled lenders.

For example, the $2.1 billion oil shale-fired power plant in Jordan is supported by a $1.6 billion debt with the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Seventy percent of the equipment was imported from China, valued at more than $540 million. Chinas Guangdong Power Engineering Corp. led the engineering, procurement, and construction of the plant under a turnkey contract.

Chinese Laborers Experience the Same Transgressions

Victim As experience in Jordan is not unlike the stories described by several other migrant Chinese workers on BRI projects. They typically enter a country with a tourist or business visa, and their passports are immediately seized upon arrival. The compound where they work and live is generally in an isolated field, and they are forced to work extremely long hours.

Victim A was introduced to the job by a friend of his father. Lured by the good pay and a fair contract, he went to Jordan in December 2019.

His passport was taken away as soon as he got off the plane, and he was told there was no contract. If Victim A wanted to leave, he would have to pay a $1,240 penalty plus an expensive ticket for a return flight. Unable to afford the fine, he stayed on with the deceptive employer.

A Chinese laborer works at a construction site in Colombo Port City, a part of Chinas multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 24, 2020. (Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP via Getty Images)

None of the workers received proper medical treatment for injuries. According to the report, one worker died in the dormitory without treatment after being infected with the CCP virus. His body was only found two days after his death. Most of them did not receive the promised salary, and some could not afford the living expenses while working. Some workers said they were detained and beaten by security guards if they argued with management or attempted to strike.

Therefore, not many sought help.

Fear of Reprisal

Workers were reluctant to tell their experiences to the CLW for fear of the CCPs surveillance on their phones.

The report revealed that when one worker who had been stranded in Indonesia went through Chinese customs, the inspectors stopped him and checked his WeChatChinas most popular multi-purpose social media app.

He was wary of asking too many questions about the situation of other workers in the WeChat group, and he was careful about complaining too much because he had no way to know who was reading the group chat messages, said the report.

The report pointed out that they could be accused and suspected of violating national laws and endangering the national security of the Peoples Republic of China,' a typical charge for dissidents in China.

According to Chinas Ministry of Commerce, the number of overseas Chinese workers reached 992,000 at the end of 2019. The actual number should be triple that, at least 3 million, Li Qiang, the director of CLW told Radio Free Asia.

How could the Chinese regime take benefits to other countries when it does not care about its own people? Li questioned, the narrative is they [the workers] dont want to return home, but many of them, as far as we know, are all eager to return to their home country. Many of them have not been able to return home for three years.
In these still images from surveillance footage, a woman the FBI believes is Marilyn Hueper is pictured inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (FBI)

Unsealed Warrant Confirms FBI Raided Alaska Home Searching for Pelosis Laptop

Couple say it's a case of mistaken identity

An unsealed search warrant shows that the FBI raided a couples home in Alaska because agents believed one of them was involved in the theft of a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosis (D-Calif.) office during the U.S. Capitol breach on Jan. 6.

But the couple say the FBI has the wrong person and that the bureau and other agencies are being weaponized.

The warrant, dated April 22 and recently made public, details how Paul and Marilyn Hueper came to the FBIs attention. Both were identified as refusing to follow mask regulations on an Alaska Airlines flight in February and were banned from flying with the carrier in the future. About a week later, the FBI was contacted by a person whose name was redacted, described only as witness 1.

That person provided the FBI with an Instagram photo posted by Paul Hueper and claimed that a photo circulated by the bureau of a woman inside the Capitol during the breach was Marilyn Hueper. Agents reviewed surveillance video and concluded that Marilyn Hueper was part of a group that entered Pelosis office and took an HP ProBook laptop from a desk there.

Agents then successfully applied for a search warrant for the Huepers home in Homer, where they run an inn and spa.

The warrant authorized the FBI to seize the laptop if it were found on the premises, along with any other property believed to be stolen from the Capitol.

Agents raided the house on April 28.

Marilyn Hueper is at least the second person agents have claimed may be in possession of the laptop. They previously cited a tipster who claimed that Riley June Williams, a Pennsylvania woman, may have taken it with plans to sell it to Russian intelligence officials. But Williamss friend told The Epoch Times that the tipster was an abusive ex-boyfriend who is from Russia, and court filings indicate that the computer hasnt been found in Williamss possession.

The Huepers say the woman spotted inside the Capitol is a different person. They say they were no closer than 100 yards from the building on Jan. 6.

Its definitely a case of mistaken identity, Paul Hueper told The Epoch Times. They had a very similar jacket, but the other woman had this really ugly Christmas sweater on, and Marilyn was just wearing a white, red, and pinstripe blue shirt, mostly white.

Surely the FBI could see that, unless their investigative work is just that weak that they cant pick up these small things.

While the agents were allowed to seize electronic devices from the couples home, Marilyn Hueper says they also took a copy of the Declaration of Independence. That signaled to her that theyre trying to say something or trying to intimidate.

She urged people to educate themselves on what rights they have. The Huepers believe they gave up a lot of rights during the search because of a lack of understanding.

We have to know how to hold them accountable, which means we have to learn what is lawful and what isnt and put their feet to the fire, she said.

Paul Hueper added: Its just really frightening, seeing our government weaponize different facets of these different agenciesthe FBI, IRS, CIA, and so forthagainst American citizens. This is the stuff of police state legends. This is where the USSR got formed and where Venezuela got formed and Cuba, and on and on down the line.

So Americans dont really realize where this police state tactic kind of government is leading us, and I dont care if youre Democrat, Republican, if youre independent, if youre Libertarianwake up Americans, your rights are getting taken away and they are slipping away fast.

If we dont take a stand as the people and stop depending on the government  if we as the people dont wake up and take a stand, and take a loud stand, were going to wave goodbye to the lives that weve built them to be and the freedoms that weve enjoyed.

The Huepers also contest the situation with Alaska Airlines, saying that Marilyn only had her mask off while eating and drinking, and that Paul had his mask on the entire time.

Alaska Airlines didnt respond to a request for comment. The FBI declined to comment. No criminal charges have been filed against the Huepers as of May 7.
Police arrest and interrogate American citizen Jason Matthew Balzer, center, in Chiang Mai province northern Thailand before charging him for intentionally murdering his pregnant wife in Nan province, Thailand, on May 6, 2021 (Thai Provincial Police Region 5 via AP)

US Citizen in Thailand Charged With Murdering Thai Wife

BANGKOKPolice in Thailand said Friday they have charged a U.S. citizen from the state of Colorado with murdering his pregnant Thai wife.

Jason Matthew Balzer, 32, was interrogated Friday in the northern city of Nan where he had lived with Pitchaporn Kidchob, said police Lt. Col. Somkiat Ruam-ngern. The murder charge carries a maximum penalty of death.

Police arrest and interrogate American citizen Jason Matthew Balzer, center, in Chiang Mai province northern Thailand before charging him for intentionally murdering his pregnant wife in Nan province, Thailand, on May 6, 2021 (Thai Provincial Police Region 5 via AP)

Balzer was arrested Thursday in the northern city of Chiang Mai and confessed to killing his 32-year-old wife, said Maj. Gen. Weerachon Boontawee, chief of Provincial Police Region 5s Detective Department. It was unclear if Balzer had a lawyer representing him. Balzers last known residence in the United States was in Longmont, Colorado.

According to Weerachon, Balzer said Pitchaporn had given him hope, so he married her and bought her a house in Nan, her home province. Balzer said he became enraged when she tried to chase him out, so he stabbed her with a knife, the police officer said.

He said Balzer put her body in a rubbish bin that he sealed and buried in the woods about 3 miles from their home. Balzer then drove on a motorbike to Chiang Mai, where he was arrested, Weerachon said.

Police had been alerted to a possible crime when Pitchaporns mother, who was unable to reach her daughter by phone, went to the couples house and found bloodstains.

Balzer, a programmer, met Pitchaporn in Thailand in 2017 and they were married in the United States, after which Balzer quit his job, sold all his property, and moved to Nan, the newspaper Thai Rath reported, citing Provincial Police Region 5 commander Prachuab Wongsuk.

Balzer said he did not know his wife was three months pregnant, Prachuab said.

According to media reports from Colorado, Balzer has been in previous legal trouble.

The Boulder Daily Camera reported that Balzer in December 2019 pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree assault in Boulder District Court and was sentenced to two years of probation. It said he had originally been charged with attempted murder and six related charges, but his victim would not testify in court.

The Greeley Tribune reported that Balzer and a second man were stopped by police on Dec. 30, 2020, in the town of Mead for a possible traffic violation, and were found to be transporting 72 guns.

Balzer was arrested for 74 violations of a protection order, two felony counts of possession of an illegal weapon, and two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon, the report said. He was released from custody after posting bail, it said.

By Chalida Kvitthayavechnukul and Grant Peck
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a daily press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington on May 5, 2021. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

White House Press Secretary Says Team Tells Biden Not to Answer Questions From Reporters

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that her team at times tells President Joe Biden not to answer questions from reporters.

Psaki made the remarks during an appearance on CNNs podcast The Axe Files with David Axelrod.

CNN Senior Political Commentator Axelrod brought up an incident from earlier this year when the president was put on the spot by CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins about whether a provision to raise the minimum wage to $15 would be part of the pandemic relief bill that was signed into law in March.

The president at the time was unaccompanied by his communications team and answered the question.

Axelrod asked the press secretary how she manages scenarios where Biden takes impromptu questions from reporters.

He was right, but it must have given you a lot of heartburn and [made you] ask yourself, Why are we allowing him to roll around in the hallways doing impromptu interviews? Axelrod asked.

He takes questions nearly every day hes out [with] the press, Psaki said.

That is not something we recommend. In fact, a lot of times we say dont take questions,' Psaki told Axelrod, noting that at the time, she had finished work for the day and the president was on his way back to his residence.

She continued, But hes going to do what he wants to do because hes the president of the United States.

The president has only held one formal press conference, which took place 65 days into his presidency on March 25, after mounting pressure from critics and journalists. Biden waited longer than any other president in four decades to hold the formal briefing.

By contrast, his 15 predecessors held solo press briefings within the first 33 days of their respective presidencies. Former President Donald Trump took questions after 27 days in office, while former President Barack Obama held a formal press conference 20 days into his first term.

The president gave his first prime-time address on March 11 but took no questions afterwards.

Photographs taken during his first solo press conference showed that he consulted notes that assisted him with key policy points and data, and appeared to show numbered images of reporters attending the event.

The president took answers only from a list of reporters whose outlets and names were listed and numbered on a cue card. Biden took 31 questions from reporters, notably ignoring those from Fox News and The New York Times.

The White House didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki calls on a reporter during a press briefing in the White House in Washington on April 16, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/AP Photo)

White House Press Secretary Signals Shes Stepping Down Next Year

White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Thursday that she will step down next year, according to a recent interview.

I think its going to be time for somebody else to have this job, in a year from now or about a year from now, she told longtime Democratic operative-turned-political commentator David Axelrod on his CNN podcast. I dont want to miss moments. I dont want to miss things, and Im very mindful of that as well, she said, referring to her two young children.

Psaki said that while its a great job to have, it will be hard to leave. I also never thought Id be here, and I also love my kids a lot, she remarked.

Her comments to Axelrod came on the heels of an interview earlier this year with the New York Times, where she said she would give someone else a chance to be press secretary.

I think there frankly needs to be diverse spaces and voices as communicators. Women, certainly, but beyond that, she said at the time, without elaborating.

In the same podcast, Psaki was asked about President Joe Bidens press appearances, saying that the White Houses communications department doesnt want the president to engage with reporters who shout questions.

That is not something we recommend, Psaki said in the CNN interview. In fact, a lot of times we say Dont take questions.

But, she ultimately conceded, Hes going to do what he wants to do, because hes the president of the United States.

Psaki has worked within the Democratic Party sphere since the early 2000s, having been employed during former President Barack Obamas first presidential run in 2008. She also served on his White House communications team as deputy press secretary and deputy communications director before becoming a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State.

After leaving the Obama administration, Psaki joined CNN in 2017 and remained at the network until 2020, where she worked as a political contributor. In November 2020, Psaki left CNN and joined the Biden transition team after the election.

When it was announced last year that she would be joining Bidens team, Psaki received flack from conservatives over a viral photo of her in 2014 wearing a pink Russian fur hat that bears the Soviet Unions hammer-and-sickle insignia. She was seen alongside her boss, former Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Zuckerberg Shows Grudging Recognition of Facebooks Need for Freedom

Commentary

Shut up, he explained.

The most famous quotation from the works of Ring Lardner (18851933) originally appeared in his comic novel of 1920, The Young Immigrunts. (Many of Lardners comic effects were achieved by deliberate misspellings.) For a century the quotations frequent citation in the works of others suggested that this was the best joke he ever wrote.

Its not a joke anymore.

To absolutely no ones surprise, Facebook confirmed on Wednesday that the indefinite ban on the account of former President Donald Trump was to continue.

What was a surprise, however, was that the Oversight Board, with a decided anti-Trump tilt, that was set up by Mark Zuckerberg to relieve himself of the responsibility of being Facebooks chief censor as well as its chief executive, declined to make the ban permanent.

Instead, they tossed this hot potato back to Zuckerberg, saying that it was he, or the company he had founded, who would have to make the final decision on Trumps Facebook fate in the next six months.

Its like the old fable of the mice who agree to protect themselves by hanging a bell around the neck of the catand then find that there is no one among them brave enough to be the one who will bell the cat.

But what do the Facebook people have to be afraid of?

Certainly not Trump himself, now out of power and vulnerable, like his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, to politically motivated prosecutions for invented crimes brought by vengeful Democrats in the FBI, the Biden Justice Department or the Southern District of New York.

In the old days, such a politicization of federal law enforcement would have been a huge scandal, but no one save its victims seems to care about it today. Certainly no one in the legacy media careswhich is one reason why Facebook must know that it has nothing to fear from them either.

For there can be no doubt that Facebooks nominal competitors in the old media would surely only applaud anything it (or anyone else in the new media) could do to deprive the former president of a platform, or even a voice.

Some Trump supporters might cancel their own Facebook accounts in sympathy, of course, but with 2.7 billion users world-wide neither the company nor Zuckerberg would be likely to feel their loss.

No, I think we have to conclude that, moral pygmies and left-wing camp followers though they may be, the Facebook folks must still haveunlike the media who lie constantly and shamelessly in the service of their various ideological truthsa vestigial conscience about canceling those who disagree with them.

Also, perhaps, about pretending that their disagreement poses such an existential threat to the country and the planet as to require their cancellation.

Some people at Facebook or its Oversight Board might even still get the joke in Shut up, he explained.

This comparative moral advantage is not entirely due to their own merit. For, unlike the old media, the new media do notat least, not yetdepend for their survival on becoming ideological monocultures. Quite the reverse.

Knowing what The New York Times or the Washington Post have become, anyone who still reads these newspapers, or who watches CNN or any of the big network news shows, can be doing so only to have his or her own prejudices confirmed.

The success of these organs during the Trump years shows that the cancellation of Trump-ite and other dissenters who dare to disagree with the media consensus is now what these big media companies are for.

That cannot be true of the millions and billions of Facebook users whose intellectual equilibria, unprotected by the medias hot-house from the frosts and shocks of real life, can still tolerate a measure of disagreement among Friends without supposing that the world is about to end.

On the one side, then, Zuckerberg must be afraid of the reaction of more Facebook Friends than just those of Trump to his cancellation. Many more than those who cancel their accounts in disgust will simply drift away over time once they realize the homogeneity of point of view that will soon come to prevail on the platform when everybody talks in platitudes, like Joe Biden.

The Facebook folks must know that the constituency in favor of free speech among the platforms users is much greater than that of the mainstream mediaof which, on the other side, they are nevertheless also afraid.

Such is the power of intellectual fashion, and such is the power of the media to set the fashion.

Such, too, is the deference still paid to that power by upstarts like Zuckerberg, who must still not be able quite to believe his luck in having got so rich and so powerful so quickly.

Still, his hesitancy to toe the medias party line on the Trump cancellation suggests that at some level he must know that his success rests on very different foundations from those of the media his company has so largely superseded.

It is a foundation, like that of the Republics, of freedom; and, also like the Republic, the company is unlikely long to endure without it.

James Bowman is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The author of Honor: A History, he is a movie critic for The American Spectator and the media critic for the New Criterion.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
EDWARDSVILLE  For U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-IL, Friday mornings visit to the COVID-19 vaccine clinic at Edwardsville American Legion Post 199 served three purposes.

Duckworth spread the word about the importance of being vaccinated. But she also honored the Illinois National Guard for its role in vaccine clinics in Illinois, and she talked with fellow veterans at Post 199.

This is when I love my job, when I can get out and talk to folks, and any time I can honor the National Guard and our veterans service organizations, its a good day for me, said Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran. There are National Guardsmen and Guardswomen who have been away from home since February. But they are so dedicated to doing their jobs and making sure that we get vaccines in arms and keep people healthy.

I got to meet another Huey pilot, so we flew the same aircraft, at the end of his career and at the beginning of mine, she said. We rotorheads like to get together and talk.

Duckworths 30-minute visit included a tour of Post 199 and a discussion with Madison County Public Health Director Toni Corona.

Having Sen. Duckworth visit to communicate the importance of the vaccine, as well as to show her appreciation of the National Guard, who have made this possible for all of us in Madison County, is absolutely a benefit, Corona said. We appreciate that we have had a lot of dignitaries visit our vaccination clinics over the last several months since weve started.

Were very proud of the operation and were very proud of the swiftness and the precision of the vaccination clinics as far as getting people in and out quickly, Corona said. Were trying to make it as easy as possible for people to get the vaccine.

Duckworth met for about 10 minutes with Illinois National Guard members working at Fridays clinic. The National Guard has played a key role in COVID-18 vaccination efforts in Madison County, including the mass vaccination site at the Gateway Convention Center in Collinsville.

The last 10 minutes of her visit featured a meeting with Ron Swaim, the senior vice commander of Post 199 and junior vice commander of the 22nd District.

Not only does this mean a lot to me personally because of having Sen. Duckworth here today, but it also means a lot to our post, Swaim said. We strive to help our community as much as we can and to be involved in this is a great honor and privilege.

Its a privilege and an honor to have Lieutenant Colonel and Senator Tammy Duckworth in our building, Swaim said. She has given a lot for this country and its special for me on a personal level to have her come here and for me to have a chance to talk to her.

Duckworth also used Fridays appearance to encourage people to get vaccinated.

I have two daughters who are 3 and 6 and they cannot get vaccinated yet. But its important for people to get vaccinated if they are eligible, Duckworth said. If you dont do it for yourself, do it for the people that you love.

Until we get to over 70 percent vaccinated, were not going to get herd immunity and we will not be able to open our economy back up, she said. You cant hug your nephews and nieces or your grandparents, so its worth it to get vaccinated.

Duckworth said she is pleased with Illinois vaccination efforts but said there is more to be done.

We have to reach out to hard-to-reach folks and we also have to convince folks who are hesitant about being vaccinated, Duckworth said. We need to listen to people and understand why they are hesitant.

Corona said it is important for people not to wait to get vaccinated.

We dont know how long the clinics like this will be available and how much longer it will be so easy to get it done, she said. We want everyone that has gotten a vaccine to go out and tell 10 people that havent received the vaccine yet to come in and get it.
3 1 of 3 Thomas Turney | For the Intelligencer Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Thomas Turney | For the Intelligencer Show More Show Less 3 of 3





EDWARDSVILLE  Illinois Department of Natural Resources officials paid a visit Wednesday to survey the health of the lakes and fish in LeClaire and Joe Glik parks.
EDWARDSVILLE  A man from Collinsville and another man from Maryville were charged with DUIs last week.

Jacob Rieken, 26, of the 300 block of North Parkview, Maryville, was charged April 25 with aggravated driving while under the influence, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Troy Police Department. According to court documents, Rieken drove a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado Pickup while under the influence of alcohol and while his driving privileges were revoked or suspended.

Bail was set at $10,000.

Meanwhile, David S. Thompson, 52, of the 1100 block of Ridge, Collinsville, was charged April 24 with driving with a revoked license, a Class 4 felony. The case was presented by the Collinsville Police Department. According to court documents, Thompson drove a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado on North Keebler Road in Collinsville while his license was revoked due to a 1994 conviction for driving under the influence or a similar out-of-state offense and Thompson was previously convicted of driving while license revoked on Sept. 16, 2002.

Bail was set at $10,000. Other felony charges filed April 28 by the Madison County States Attorneys Office include:

 Charles D. Patterson, 28, of the 100 block of First Avenue, Edwardsville, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a Class 4 felony. The Metropolitan Enforcement Group of Southwestern Illinois (MEGSI) presented the case. According to court documents, on Oct. 9, 2020, Patterson was found with 15 grams of ketamine, a controlled substance. Bail was set at $20,000

 Antwann L. Thomas Jr., 19, of the 500 block of South Clinton Street, Collinsville, was charged with one count of unlawful possession of cannabis greater than 100 grams and one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, both Class 4 felonies. The Collinsville Police Department presented the case. According to court documents, on April 26, Thomas had between 100 and 500 grams of a substance containing cannabis plus he had less than 15 grams of a substance containing oxycodone/hydrochloride, a controlled substance. Bail was set at $30,000

 Rachel E. Tarrance, 35, of the 400 block of Drost Street, Maryville, was charged on April 27 with a Class 2 felony (offenses relating to motor vehicles) and five Class 4 felonies (attempting to elude a police officer; two counts of aggravated assault; two counts of criminal damage to government supported property). The Granite City Police Department presented the case. According to court documents, Tarrence was driving an allegedly stolen purple 2013 Honda Pilot with Missouri license plates. Tarrence then attempted to evade Granite City Police Officer after he attempted to pull her over. Tarrance also disobeyed at least two stop signs or traffic lights in her attempt to get away from the officer. Tarrance knowingly drove in such a manner that the officer and a detective feared being struck by the SUV. She struck an unmarked detective vehicle, a Ford Fusion sedan. Tarrance then continued to damage streets in and around Wilson Park. Bail was set at $100,000

 Jeremy A. Mitchell Jr., 23, of the 6700 block of Clay School Road, Collinsville, was charged on March 23 with aggravated fleeing or trying to elude a police officer, a Class 4 felony. The Collinsville Police Department presented the case. According to court documents, Mitchell was behind the wheel of a 2010 Dodge Challenger, and he attempted to flee after being told to pull over by a police officer. His attempt at fleeing included disobeying at least two traffic control devices. Bail was set at $20,000

 Juan L. Rojero-Ramirez, aka Juan L. Rojero, 34, of the 3200 block of Princeton, Collinsville, was charged April 23 with one count of stalking, a Class 4 felony. The Madison County Sheriffs Department presented the case. According to court documents, Rojero stalked Maria Guadalupe Rojero on the following dates: Dec. 20, 2020 at or around 1:30 a.m., when he allegedly came to her residence, knocked on all doors and windows and watched her through her bedroom window; Jan. 7, when he allegedly followed from Cahokia Mounds State Park to her home; and April 23, when he entered her residence without permission. Bail was set at $15,000

 Bryon J. Richard, 44, of the 1400 block of Alice Street, Collinsville, was charged April 27 with one count of offenses related to motor vehicles, a Class 2 felony. The Collinsville Police Department presented the case. According to court documents, Richard allegedly stole a 2005 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Bail was set at $30,000

 Kayla M. Rose, 22, of the 500 block of South Clinton Street, Collinsville, was charged April 26 with one count of aggravated battery, a Class 2 felony. The Highland Police Department presented the case. According to court documents, Rose allegedly injured a police officer, by striking him in the groin, scratching his arm and kicking him in the face, knowing that he is a police officer. Bail was set at $50,000

In a case filed on April 29:

 Jeremy A. Mitchell, Sr., 41, of the 6700 block of Clay School Road, Collinsville, was charged with one count of aggravated home repair fraud, a Class 2 felony, and theft by deception over $500, a Class 3 felony. The Collinsville Police Department presented the case. According to court documents, on April 18, Mitchell allegedly entered into a written agreement for $950 with Dianne Bohn, for a home repair in the 700 block of Lillian Street in Collinsville. Mitchell promised work he did not intend to perform and he knew would not be done. He also obtained the $950 from Bohn by knowingly deceiving her.

Added to this is a third charge, driving with a suspended license, a Class 4 felony. According to court documents, Mitchell drove a 2003 Chevrolet Avalanche on East Main Street in Collinsville while his license was suspended effective March 3, 2011. Bail was set at $75,000

Reach reporter Charles Bolinger at 618-659-5735
I love action adventure movies. I marvel at how our heroes and heroines can shoot and kill hundreds of bad guys while never receiving a scratch themselves when they are shooting with 9mm pistols and the dozens of bad guys are all unloading multiple rounds from automatic rifles. Amazing shooting by our protagonists and Tom Clancys Without Remorse is no exception.

An elite Navy SEAL Team kills a group of Russian spies during a top-secret operation. Back in the U.S., a group of undercover Russian soldiers take revenge on those SEALs and kill several of them, including the pregnant wife of one of Tom Clancys action heroes, John Clark, in which this movie is introduced as former Navy SEAL John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) and explains how he changed his name.

Kelly seeks revenge and pursues the assassins at all costs. He joins with a fellow SEAL, Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith), and snarky CIA agent Robert Ritter (Jamie Bell), on a mission into Russia to extract an American spy when they undercover a plot to create a war between the U.S. and Russia.

I loved Michael B. Jordan. His acting is excellent. I have always liked Jamie Bell. I became a fan when he starred in Turn: Washingtons Spies, an original series on AMC. In Without Remorse, Guy Pearce as Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay plays the villain protagonist equally well.

My biggest criticism of Tom Clancys Without Remorse is that it is nothing like the book. If you read Clancys books, you wont recognize this story from the book, except Kellys name. I have read everything Clancy ever wrote, and as I was watching the movie, I didnt remember anything about it.

Another problem I had with the film is that there are no actual female Navy SEALs. As of now, no woman has ever become a SEAL. The writers needed to do more homework on SEALs before they included a female SEAL.

My last problem with Tom Clancys Without Remorse is that all the fight scenes were filmed at night and you cant see what is happening. I knew people were being shot, but I couldnt tell who because everyone was a shadow.

The cinematography left a lot to be desired. When you cant see the action, it might as well be on the radio. Most of the important scenes occurred in the dark of night. The director should have had them operate under a full moon, or think of something so the audience can follow the action.

The story and screenplay were by Academy Award-nominee Taylor Sheridan and by Will Staples, based on Clancys characters. Without Remorse was directed by Stefano Sollima. Good thing Clancy is dead or I think he would be really angry they were using his name to promote this movie. You can catch this movie on Amazon Prime.

Without Remorse is rated R and I give it three out of five stars.

Movie critic Mary Cox lives in Wood River and studied film at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has worked in L.A. with various directors and industry professionals. Contact Mary at mary.cox@edwpub.net.
Isabella, Gratiot and Clare counties all continue to lag the state in overall vaccination rates, but two of them have better-than-state rates in vaccinations for the highest risk age groups.

Across the state, 51.5 percent of its 8.1 million eligible residents -- 4.1 million -- have received at least one vaccination shot, according to state records.

The highest overall vaccination rate in the three counties was Clare County's 43.15 percent, or 10,997 of 25,488 eligible residents.

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Gratiot was second at 42.03, or 14,212 of 33,817. Isabella was third at 41.17 percent, or 24,335 of 59,112.

Among the highest risk age groups, people 65 and older, things were reversed.

Isabella County's vaccination rate was 76.96 percent, Gratiot's was 76.51 percent and Clare's was 68.48 percent. Michigan as a whole was at 75.7 percent.

No new deaths were reported across the three counties on Friday and 47 confirmed cases.

Eighteen of those cases were reported in Isabella County, which brought its cumulative total to 5,163, with 84 deaths.

Gratiot had 17 confirmed cases reported among its people. That brought its cumulative total to 3,097, with 110 deaths. In Clare County, an additional 12 confirmed cases were reported, bringing its cumulative total to 1,967 cases, with 73 deaths.

Elsewhere in mid-Michigan, no new deaths were reported, with new and cumulative cases and deaths as follows:

In Gladwin County, two new cases were reported for a cumulative total of 1,842, with 47 deaths;

In Mecosta County, an additional 12 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 2,893, with 30 deaths;

In Midland County, an additional 17 new cases for a cumulative total of 6,507, with 75 deaths; and,

In Montcalm County, an additional 32 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 5,083, with 102 deaths.

Statewide, 30 new deaths were reported for a total of 17,969 and another 2,758 cases were reported for a cumulative total of 860,808.

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+2 Prosecution of Shepherd woman in November stabbing delayed again An official federal indictment has been delayed again for a Shepherd woman accused in the November stabbing death of a Mt. Pleasant woman.
John Buckley, whose name adorns one of the Mt. Pleasant area's canoe liveries, is planning to use his 80th birthday to raise money for seniors.
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Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

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In an apparent spoofing scam, a caller representing himself as an Allen Park police officer told his victim that she needed to pay $4,000 to avoid going to jail.

Police were notified of the incident at approximately 4:30 p.m. April 30, when the victim filed a report at the police station.

The victim said the caller identified himself as a lieutenant from the Allen Park Police Department. The caller said the woman missed her court date on that day and a failure to appear warrant for her arrest had been issued.

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The scammer told her to go to the store and buy eight MoneyPak prepaid money cards at a value of $500 each. Once she purchased them, someone would call her back to get the card numbers over the phone so they could freeze the warrant for her arrest.

The victim did as instructed, giving the scammer numbers for the prepaid cards, totaling $4,000.

After she gave the scammer the numbers, he advised her to take the cards to the post office and mail them to an address in Washington, D.C. The woman did not mail the cards.

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According to the victim, the Caller ID on her phone indicated the call from the scammer came from the Allen Park Police Departments phone number. Spoofing is a practice some scammers use that disguises a call so it appears to come from a known, trusted source.

The officer who took the police report made copies of the prepaid cards and receipts from the purchases. He advised the victim to contact the MoneyPak fraud department to attempt to stop the transactions.

Downriver firefighter, wife each require amputations after motorcycle crash in Florida A Downriver firefighter and his wife each have lost a leg as a result of a motorcycle accident while vacationing in Florida.

Man watches thief steal girlfriends car at Melvindale gas station In what appears to be a classic crime of opportunity, a Melvindale man who left his vehicle unlocked at the pump to walk inside a gas station 
Metro Detroiters can get a COVID-19 vaccination without an appointment at Ford Field.

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The switch from an appointment to the walk-in opportunity starts today, Meijer announced along with FEMA and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

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They said the open  and free  clinics will be held through Monday, May 17.

They are providing the single shot J&J vaccine as well as either the first or second Pfizer vaccine. You must be at least 18 years old to receive the J&J vaccination, and if receiving the Pfizer shot, those under 18 must have a parent or guardian with them.

If you have had the first shot, even if received at a different location, you must be at least 21 days since the first dose and you must bring your CDC vaccination card.

The location is Ford Field, and attendees are asked to enter through Gate G. Free parking is available at the parking structure at 1902 St. Antoine in Detroit.

The walk-in hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

You can sign up online or text EndCOVID to 75049, or else you can call the COVID-19 hotline at 888-535-6136, pressing 1.

A medical professional is to be available to answer any questions about the vaccines.

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AKWA IBOM, 07 May 2021  The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) has provided a N5billion grant to the Akwa Ibom State Government targeted at healthcare and social development as part of its annual $100 million dollars Annual Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal. This was announced during a presentation of the grant award letter by ASR Africa to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel in Uyo, Thursday.

Speaking at the presentation, Kabiru Rabiu, representing the Chairman of ASR Africa and BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu, commended Governor Udom for his strides in upgrading the State healthcare infrastructure and referral system at the Primary and Secondary levels, as well as the states handling of the COVID-19 pandemic for which the BUA Foundation donated 5 ambulances and 50,000 reusable facemasks during the pandemic, and which were distributed to students and vulnerable groups across the state. He disclosed that the project initiation process and development of mutual accountability frameworks to guide the grant usage will commence immediately whilst adding that ASR Africa has also approved the immediate and initial disbursement of N2.5billion from the total sum to a jointly managed fund guaranteeing the commencement of the programme.

In his remarks, Governor Udom praised the Founder of the Initiative, Abdul Samad Rabiu for his consistent commitment to social good and philanthropy. He also added that the projects to be funded by the grant will be jointly approved and implemented in line with the ASR Africa Grants Utilisation Framework. Furthermore, Governor Udom said that the state will continue to do more to boost social development and improve the healthcare infrastructure for its citizens considering the great strides have already been made.

While reiterating the purpose of ASR Africa, Ubon Udoh, Managing Director of ASR Africa said, The initiatives core areas of intervention are Education, Health and Social Development in Africa and our main focus is on equipping facilities, researchers, healthcare practitioners and community-level service providers and also supporting the efforts of various Governments in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this initiative is to give back to the society. ASR Africa has set aside100million dollars annually for social development, health and education intervention in Nigeria and Africa through the ASR Africa Fund for Social Development and Renewal. Of this amount, 50million dollars is being committed to Nigeria and another $50million for the rest of Africa. Prior to now,, the initiative had donated N1billion each to the University of Ibadan, Oyo State and the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna State under our education intervention programme.. Akwa Ibom state will be the first sub-national government to benefit from this Fund as well as the first to benefit from the healthcare component. We are currently evaluating other beneficiaries within Nigeria and the rest of Africa.
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The Federal Government on Friday said it has commenced profiling, towards prosecution, well-placed Nigerians suspected of being financiers of terrorism in the country.

Briefing journalists on Friday in Abuja, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said the arrest of the suspects followed the recent convictions of some Nigerians on terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

He said that investigations conducted have established reasonable evidence of the involvement of the highly placed individuals, businessmen and institutions across the country in financing the Boko Haram terrorists.

Malami said: As you will actually know, sometimes back there were certain convictions of Nigerians allegedly involved in terrorism financing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

That gave rise to wider and far-reaching investigations in Nigeria and Im happy to report that arising from the wider coverage investigation that has been conducted in Nigeria, a number of people, both institutional and otherwise, were found to be culpable.

I mean a reasonable ground for suspicion of terrorism financing has been established or perhaps has been proven to be in existence in respect of the transactions of certain higher-profile individuals and businessmen across the country.

Although Malami declined to disclose names of the terrorist financiers nor the number of those found culpable, he simply stated that a large number of persons were involved, adding that he is not at liberty to disclose further, as investigations (which have reached an advanced stage) and profiling continue.

He added, Im happy to report that investigation has been ongoing for a long and it has reached an advanced stage.

Arising from the investigation, there exists, certainly, reasonable grounds for suspicion that a lot of Nigerians, high-profile, institutional and otherwise, are involved in terrorism financing and they are being profiled for prosecution.

In essence, it is indeed true that the government is prosecuting and its indeed initiating processes of prosecuting those high-profile individuals that are found to be financing terrorism. It is indeed true.

The message is clear: nobody is going to be spared, no stone will be left unturned. We shall certainly and aggressively pursue those people that are involved in terrorist financing as far as the Nigerian state is concerned.

Nigeria has been grappling with series of security challenges ranging from Boko Haram terrorism in the northeast to banditry in the northwest, kidnapping for ransom in several parts of the country, ritual, agitations for secession among several others.

The country has been battling insurgency for over a decade with over 36,000 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the northeast.

As part of measures to rejig the entire security architecture, Buhari earlier this year replaced his four top military commanders in a bid to better combat the insurgency that has also displaced more than two million people from their homes since 2009.

ISWAP split from mainstream Boko Haram in 2016 and became a dominant group, launching attacks on military bases and ambushing troops while abducting travellers at fake checkpoints.

Since 2019, the army has mostly withdrawn from villages and smaller bases into so-called super camps, fortified garrisons meant to give better protection against attacks.

But critics say the strategy has left jihadists with more freedom to roam untouched in rural areas and has made highways vulnerable to kidnappings and assaults.
Baker College and Oakland Community College have signed an articulation agreement that will streamline transfers from OCC to Baker.

The agreement, effective immediately, enables OCC students to easily transfer into select bachelors degree programs at Baker College.

The agreement will minimize credit loss and duplication of coursework, according to a release from Baker.

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Additionally, Baker will waive new student application fees for eligible students admitted in connection with the OCC agreement.

Under the new arrangement, Baker College and OCC agree that any student who has successfully completed coursework or programs at OCC may transfer the course credits as indicated in transfer guides toward their degree at Baker.

The associate to bachelors degree pathway will be available across a variety of programs, including business administration (management), computer science, game software development, information assurance, information systems, information technology and security and psychology.

These new pathways allow OCC graduates to earn 80-90 credits prior to transferring to Baker College for the completion of a bachelors degree.

More information is available at baker.edu and oaklandcc.edu.

Baker College is a private, not-for-profit college with several campuses around the state, including one in Auburn Hills and one under construction in Royal Oak.

OCC has campuses in Farmington Hills, Southfield, Royal Oak, Waterford Township and Auburn Hills.

Oakland County high schools dominate U.S. News & World Report ranking Half of the top 10 public high schools in the state are in Oakland County, according to the most recent ranking by U.S. News & World Repor

Warren man arrested after driving car into ditch, parking over curb at Holiday Inn A 47-year-old Warren man was arrested for drunk driving for the sixth time and driving with a suspended license for the second time, after he 

Three intoxicated residents arrested Three intoxicated residents had run-ins with police last week and were arrested, one with assault and one for drunk driving, according to Troy
A man with a lengthy record of intoxicated driving was arrested recently in Troy, after being accused of leaving the scene of an accident.
News

Treasure Lake could see new 100 fire hydrants

Sandy Twp., Aqua close to agreement to install fire hydrants at Treasure Lake

DuBOIS  As part of a significant water infrastructure upgrade at Treasure Lake, Aqua Pennsylvania is poised to install up to 100 fire hydrants in the semi-private residential development, located in Sandy Township, by the end of the year. To move the hydrant installation process forward, the township supervisors have to sign an agreement and consent to pay the hydrant rental fees.

Originally, the township did not sign the agreement because Aqua wouldnt paint the hydrant bonnets in accordance with National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards  the color of the bonnet indicates the available water flow from the hydrant, said township Manager Shawn Arbaugh.

Arbaugh noted that Sandy Township has an ordinance in place which requires newly installed hydrants to have the bonnets painted in accordance with NFPA standards.

We (township) finally agreed on language to allow the bonnets to be painted, said Arbaugh.

The agreement outlines that Aqua agrees to install up to 100 fire hydrants in Treasure Lake in mutually agreeable locations and Sandy Township would agree to pay the fire hydrant rental fee of $25.86 per hydrant per month, said Arbaugh.

Additionally, Arbaugh said, the agreement allows the township, Treasure Lake personnel, or a nonprofit organization to paint the bonnets in accordance with NFPA standards.

At this weeks supervisors meeting, which was held at the Lakeview Lodge in Treasure Lake instead of the township municipal building, the board tabled the agreement to ensure they have an understanding of what operation and maintenance activities are performed on the fire hydrants. Action on the agreement may be taken at their next regular meeting scheduled for May 17.

Aqua has agreed to provide the township with the specific maintenance they do on the fire hydrants because the agreement doesnt specify maintenance requirements of the hydrants.

Prior to the supervisors decision to table taking action on the agreement, Aquas Western Division Area Manager Jim Willard said, its been a long time coming ... for folks within Sandy Township and the Treasure Lake development, in particular, fire protection has been of the utmost importance.

When Aqua purchased the Treasure Lake water system in 2013, the system was not capable of providing fire flow nor was it ever designed or intended to provide fire flow, said Willard, adding that one of the early requests from the Treasure Lake Property Owners Association seven or eight years ago was that theyd like to see fire flow.

That is a long time coming because we had to have a sufficient source development, sufficiently sized mains and sufficient storage, said Willard. And without all three of those things having a fire hydrant doesnt do anything other than let a small pool of water come out.

Since 2013, Willard said Aqua has invested tens of million of dollars in the water system to address water quality, reduce leakage and provide the upgrades necessary for fire flow.

Willard expressed appreciation to Arbaugh and the rest of the township team for being able to work out what I think is a good agreement that is in the best interest of our mutual people that we serve  your residents, our customers, same people.

With the agreement, Willard said Aqua is ready to move immediately with the installation hydrants and increasing the number up to 100.

Its quite feasible that we could have that many hydrants in by the end of this year, said Willard.

Early on, said Willard, Aqua has been working with the Sandy Township Volunteer Fire Department and identified 50 locations throughout the development where they will install hydrants, if the agreement is approved.

Aqua will be replacing 28,500 feet of water main this year alone, said Willard, and this year that should be the initial focus of where the hydrants will be.

Then we will see how many hydrants that is and identify other areas and prioritize and throttle development, said Willard.

Aqua has budgeted $350,000 this year for the installation of the hydrants. In addition, Aqua has been working on another major project in Treasure Lake for many years, the new upgraded treatment facility, which will significantly increase capacity, Willard said.
Metro Detroiters can get a COVID-19 vaccination without an appointment at Ford Field.

The switch from an appointment to the walk-in opportunity starts today, Meijer announced along with FEMA and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

They said the open  and free  clinics will be held through Monday, May 17.

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They are providing the single shot J&J vaccine as well as either the first or second Pfizer vaccine. You must be at least 18 years old to receive the J&J vaccination, and if receiving the Pfizer shot, those under 18 must have a parent or guardian with them.

If you have had the first shot, even if received at a different location, you must be at least 21 days since the first dose and you must bring your CDC vaccination card.

The location is Ford Field, and attendees are asked to enter through Gate G. Free parking is available at the parking structure at 1902 St. Antoine in Detroit.

The walk-in hours are 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

You can sign up online or text EndCOVID to 75049, or else you can call the COVID-19 hotline at 888-535-6136, pressing 1.

A medical professional is to be available to answer any questions about the vaccines.
At first Susan Carlson thought her symptoms were from spring allergies. Then reality hit.

Susan and her husband Ken, who both had received first doses of the vaccine, tested positive for COVID the week of April 19. The Macomb Township couple was able to be infused with monoclonal antibodies in the days after their diagnoses.

I truly believe that treatment stopped my symptoms from getting worse and I truly believe it kept my husband out of the hospital, Carlson said during a Henry Ford media briefing on Thursday.

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It happened so quickly, you hear stories on TV and you just dont want to believe it could happen to you. I was very grateful to have something to take advantage of and get it done, she added.

Monoclonal antibody infusions have been touted as one of the most effective treatments for COVID-19.

This treatment, when given within 10 days of onset of symptoms and a positive COVID test, is extremely effective in neutralizing the virus and preventing the symptoms from getting worse and the disease from getting more severe and avoiding hospitalization and protecting people from dying from COVID, said Dr. Adnan Munkarah, vice president and chief clinical officer at Henry Ford.

During the third surge of cases in April, Henry Ford averaged about 190 infusions per week, hitting 200 some weeks.

We know that clinical trials have shown it is effective in 70% of patients preventing hospitalization and reducing death and it is effective in the multiple variants we are seeing, Munkarah said.

Carlson said she had heard of the treatment from friends, but she had not expected to need it.

On April 17 she and her husband  shes 58, hes 59 were at home with their children hanging outside and then playing cards.

We were outside and the blooming trees, like every year I get a little sneezing, my husband did too. That's all we thought. Weve been very careful masking, we each had our first vaccine, Carlson said. My son who lives with us is fully vaccinated. My daughter and her boyfriend had their first vaccines. ... My oldest son did not get his vaccine yet. We were playing cards hanging out.

Then the next morning her husband said he felt like he had a cold and it was not going away.

I still felt more allergy kind of things. Then, all of a sudden, by the evening it came on him very suddenly. He was tired, got chills, sore throat, fever, his chest was really heavy and he started to cough, Carlson said.

The next morning he was tested, getting a PCR test from Henry Ford.

He did a virtual visit and the doctor was very proactive. With his cough, with his fever, he gave him some steroids and an inhaler and he right away suggested the monoclonal treatment, Carlson said.

He got an appointment for the monoclonal antibody infusion at Henry Ford Macomb for the next day.

He felt very energized after that. For two days prior he was very bad. He was able to drive himself to the visit, came home, he was pretty tired, slept that day, slept most of the next day but then even though his cough was getting worse, he had energy, he could get up, look at his emails and try to do work. He could take care of himself where a couple days prior that wasnt the case  he didnt want to get out of bed, she said.

It happened so quickly. I dont think hes called in sick five days in the 30-plus years hes worked at his job. He does not sit in bed very easily.

She was scheduled to get her second dose of vaccine the Thursday of that week.

Then, all of a sudden, two days after my husband, I got the sore throat, I had a very weird pressure in my chest that was quite scary. I had a virtual visit, said Carlson whose test came back positive.

She had her monoclonal antibody treatment on Friday, April 23.

I wasn't feeling that great - nothing near what my husband was feeling. They got me to a chair right away, started the medicines and again everyone was very friendly,'' Carlson said. "There were a lot of people there getting the same thing. We all had similar stories, we were very grateful we had something like this. I was very tired later that night, slept most of Saturday but once Sunday hit I was able to move around, make us food, be interested in things and get back to normal. I was much more comfortable.

Her husband had more energy but still had his cough that was scary to his wife. They had a fingertip test to monitor his oxygen. He was never critical enough to be hospitalized.

They both returned to work this week. For him it was 15 days after his antibody infusion, it was 13 days for her.

Her son, daughter and daughters boyfriend also tested positive.

Two of them had the first vaccine but we were only about two weeks into the vaccine, Carlson said. My husband was only about 8 days into his, so were really not sure where he got it from. But he obviously was exposed before he got the vaccine, we believe because of the timing of everything.

They are extremely grateful to have access to the monoclonal antibody treatment.

They told us everything over the phone what to expect and thats exactly how the treatments went, Carlson said. Weve had several friends who have done it as well, its a great tool to have.

+3 Walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations available at Ford Field Metro Detroiters can get a COVID-19 vaccination without an appointment at Ford Field.

Legislation may exempt high school commencements from state's COVID-19 restrictions For the second year, Oakland County high schools are grappling with providing seniors with a traditional commencement ceremony while still pro

COVID hospitalizations drop 42% in 3 weeks at Henry Ford; vaccine rate not high enough In the past three weeks the Henry Ford Health System has seen a 42% drop in hospitalizations and admissions for COVID-19.

Michigan coronavirus cases rise above 3,000 New confirmed cases of coronavirus ticked up above the 3,000 level Thursday for the first time in several days with more than 50% of the state
A parole hearing accessible to the public is scheduled to be held this month for a man convicted of killing an Oakland University student who he met through an escort service in 1995.

Kenneth Tranchida, 67, was a 41-year-old drifter when he killed Tina Biggar, 23, of Farmington Hills whose body was found in Southfield about a month after she went missing on Aug. 23, 1995. Besides working for the escort service, Biggar, a psychology major, had been researching prostitutes and AIDS for a class project at OU.

Court records show Tranchida admitted killing Biggar, explaining that she had financial problems so he decided to put her out of her misery and to end it for her. Biggar died from blows to the head and neck.

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Tranchida pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and being a habitual offender. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1996. A few years later he attempted to withdraw his plea, but that was turned down by the state Court of Appeals.

Tranchidas parole hearing will be held via Microsoft Teams on May 18, beginning at 11 a.m. To access, go to https://tinyurl.com/4r3bp8mf. Anyone interested in watching it must confirm attendance by May 14 by calling 517-335-1736 .

Tranchida is housed at Muskegon Correctional Facility.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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+2 Convicted murderer charged with killing again in Pontiac, nonfatal shooting of another A convicted murderer accused of killing again in Pontiac has been arraigned on charges and scheduled for his next court date.

+3 Teen withdraws plea in Pontiac murder case A Pontiac teenager has withdrawn his plea in a murder case after an Oakland County Judge declined a plea agreement.

+3 Trial scheduled for man accused of supplying drugs that killed Kiessling brothers, teen friend Trial is scheduled for a Lake Orion man accused of providing drugs to a group of friends, resulting in fatal overdoses for three of them at an

Exchange of gunfire reported on Pontiac street, resident narrowly avoids being hit A Pontiac man narrowly escaped being shot after an exchange of gunfire happened outside his home Sunday, with one bullet reportedly coming thr

Woman reports being shot at after filing assault complaint against boyfriend, suspect at-large A Pontiac woman reported being shot at from a moving vehicle Monday afternoon, suspecting her boyfriend was involved as he allegedly had assau

+4 Trial date set for Farmington Hills teen accused of murdering mother Trial has been scheduled for a Farmington Hills teenager, accused of killing his mother in 2017 and then trying to cover it up as an accidental fall.
Three intoxicated residents had run-ins with police last week and were arrested, one with assault and one for drunk driving, according to Troy
Trial has been scheduled for a Farmington Hills teenager, accused of killing his mother in 2017 and then trying to cover it up as an accidental fall.

Muhammed Al-Tantawi, 19, will have been in custody for more than four years before his case goes to trial in Oakland County Circuit, with jury selection set to begin Sept. 7  provided COVID-19 restrictions on trials are lifted by then.

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Al-Tantawi was barely 16 years old when he was charged with murdering his mother, Nada Huranieh, 35, who was found dead on a patio below an upper level window at the familys home on Aug. 21, 2017. Investigators believe the scene was staged to make the death look like the result of an accidental fall, but say evidence proves otherwise  including shadows captured on a home surveillance DVR that reportedly indicate someone pushing a body out the window.

Al-Tantawi was arrested the day after the death.

Besides a pause due to COVID-19 restrictions, the case has been delayed because of Al-Tantawis defense attorneys appealing Oakland County Circuit Judge Martha Andersons 2018 ruling to not suppress statements the teen made during an at-home police interview, claiming he hadn't been properly Mirandized. The Court of Appeals upheld Andersons decision, but the Michigan Supreme Court struck it down in February of this year, citing the prosecutions concession that Al-Tantawi subjected to a custodial interrogation without being advised of his rights. Justice David Viviano dissented.

Al-Tantawi spent the first years of his incarceration in Oakland County Childrens Village, then was moved to the Oakland County Jail last summer, where hes held without bond.

ALSO SEE:

Woman reports being shot at after filing assault complaint against boyfriend, suspect at-large A Pontiac woman reported being shot at from a moving vehicle Monday afternoon, suspecting her boyfriend was involved as he allegedly had assau

Exchange of gunfire reported on Pontiac street, resident narrowly avoids being hit A Pontiac man narrowly escaped being shot after an exchange of gunfire happened outside his home Sunday, with one bullet reportedly coming thr

+3 Trial scheduled for man accused of supplying drugs that killed Kiessling brothers, teen friend Trial is scheduled for a Lake Orion man accused of providing drugs to a group of friends, resulting in fatal overdoses for three of them at an
Phuket adds Krabi, Trang to red zone entry requirements

PHUKET: Phuket officials have added Ranong, Krabi, Trang and Phatthalung to the list of red zone provinces for which people arriving from must comply with the requirement to prove that they are fully vaccinated or have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of arriving, or else face a rapid antigen test as an initial step to determine whether or not they are infected.

COVID-19Coronavirushealthtourismtransport

By The Phuket News

Friday 7 May 2021, 12:38PM

A man is tested at the Phuket Check Point at Tha Chatchai as part of the process of being allowed onto Phuket. Photo: PR Phuket

The provinces were added to the previous list of 21 red zone provinces in an order issued late yesterday (May 6).

As such, the full list of 25 red zone provinces, including Phuket, required to abide by the more stringent measures in order to enter Phuket as of last night is now: Bangkok, Chonburi, Chiang Mai, Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, Suphan Buri, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Rayong, Tak, Nakhon Ratchasima, Udon Thani, Sa Kaeo, Khon Kaen, Songkhla, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Narathiwat, Surat Thani, Ranong, Krabi, Trang, Phatthalung and people who leave Phuket and return.

Regarding the cost of the rapid antigen test, if required, the order repeated from the previous order (now rescinded): The Ministry of Public Health is responsible for the cost, except foreigners must be responsible for their own expenses.

The news was announced by Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong yesterday (May 6).

The official order, signed by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, is marked to remain in effect until May 15.

The order issued late yesterday also made formal the requirement for all goods transport drivers passing through the checkpoint onto the island during the hours 11pm to 5am, when all other traffic onto the island is prohibited, to pass the same requirements as people arriving from red zone provinces.

Under the order, drivers of trucks delivering essential goods must have completed two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine recognised by the Thai Food & Drug Administration (FDA) or the drivers must have been tested for COVID-19 by RT-PCR or rapid antigen test within 72 hours before departure and be able to prove such with a medical certificate.

If any driver is unable to prove [the above] with a certificate, they must wait until the time that Phuket Check Point normally opens [so they may be tested by health officials], the order noted.

Drivers must also show the goods they are delivering to staff at the checkpoint, the order added.

The checkpoint onto Phuket was ordered to close nightly from 11pm to 5am after health officers working there became exhausted.

In the first seven days since the requirement came into effect on Apr 22, the officers had tested more than 22,000 people coming onto the island.

As of Wednesday (May 5), the medical workers at the checkpoint had tested more than 40,000 people.
Phuket new infections fall

PHUKET: Phuket recorded just five new infections yesterday (May 6), marking the end of more than a week of the number of new infections being recorded in double digits.



By The Phuket News

Friday 7 May 2021, 06:20PM

According to the Official COVID-19 Information Center Phuket, operated by the Phuket office of the Ministry of Interior, the five new infections bring the total number of people confirmed as infected in Phuket Since Apr 3 to 498.

The number of people from other provinces brought to Phuket to be treated for symptoms of COVID-19 has also risen, to five.

The Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) reports the locations of the infections in Phuket, accurate as of 6pm last night (May 6), as follows:

Wichit  52 infections

Rassada  47

Patong  45

Phuket Town  45 (Talad Yai 28, Talad Neua 17)

Cherng Talay  43

Chalong  42

Kathu  38

Kamala  32

Srisoonthorn  30

Rawai  28

Thepkrasattri  19

Koh Kaew  15

Pa Khlok  10

Karon  9

Sakhu  8

Mai Khao  8

With the total number of people in Phuket treated for symptoms of COVID infection since Apr 3 now standing at 503, the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) reports that 287 of those have recovered and been discharged from medical care.

The remaining 216 patients are still receiving treatment as follows: Vachira Phuket Hospital 44; Patong Hospital 16; Thalang Hospital 10; Bangkok Hospital Phuket 34; Bangkok Hospital Siriroj 13; Mission Hospital Phuket 19; along with 80 people receiving treatment at Field Hospitals.

Meanwhile, the rapid antigen testing of people arriving to enter the province continues, with medical officers yesterday (May 6) testing 322 people at the airport, 1346 people at the Phuket Gateway and 657 people at the Phuket Check Point at Tha Chatchai.

In total, medical officers at the entry points to Phuket have tested 42,565 people since the campaign began on Apr 22.

The officers reported one new person testing positive for the virus yesterday, brining the total number of people arriving to enter the province testing positive for the virus by the rapid antigen test to 23.

Of those, 17 were confirmed to be infected with the virus while five were determined to be false positives. The one case testing positive yesterday has yet to be confirmed by more stringent tests as an actual COVID infection.
Phuket officials consider lifting rapid test requirement

PHUKET: Phuket officials are conjuring whether to continue the rapid antigen test for people arriving in Phuket at all from May 15, now that it has been announced that it would no longer be free for Thais from that date on.

COVID-19Coronavirushealthtourism

By The Phuket News

Friday 7 May 2021, 11:35AM

Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong (left) explains the rapid antigen test situation while visiting the Phuket Check Point in Tha Chatchai yesterday (May 6). Screenshot: PR Dept

Phuket Vice Governor Piyapong Choowong announced the move to reconsider lifting the rapid antigen test requirement during a live broadcast interview from the Phuket Check Point at Tha Chatchai yesterday (May 6).

As of Apr 22, all people arriving from red zone provinces have been required to prove they are fully vaccinated or had tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of arriving.

If the arrival could not prove either, the arrival would be required to undergo a rapid antigen test as an initial step to determine whether or not they were infected.

The test is free for Thai nationals, but foreigners must pay B500 per rapid antigen test.

The cost of the test was initially B300 per person when it was announced that the requirement would apply to all people.

However, the cost was increased to B500 per test when it was decided to apply the cost of the test to foreigners only.

The decision to charge only foreigners for the test came after the National Health Security Office (NHSO) provided a budget of B40 million to Phuket in order to conduct the rapid antigen tests.

The move to reconsider whether or not to require rapid antigen tests at all follows Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew on Wednesday (May 5) announcing that the rapid antigen test will not be free for Thais from May 15.

Vice Governor Piyapong yesterday explained, I want to explain that the National Health Security Office [NHSO] was willing to pay for the cost of the rapid test for us up until May 15. As we do not have the budget to support paying for the test, if we still have to test arrivals [after May 15], we need to ask them to pay for it,

Meanwhile, from now until May 15, we are considering whether we will further conduct the rapid test or not because we have not found any person testing positive for many days, and the number of people found positive from the test is very low, he said.

At last report, from Apr 22 through to Wednesday (May 5), a total of 40,240 people have been tested on arrival at the airport and at the checkpoint leading onto the island by road.

Of the 40,240 arrivals tested, the tests identified 22 people as positive for COVID-19.

However, further tests confirmed that only 17 of the 22 were actually infected, the remaining five were false positives.

We still have a number of new infected cases in Phuket every day, but the number is from people inside our community on the island. Currently, most of the infected cases were found after they gathered for gambling, V/Gov Piyapong said.

To be clear, until May 15, we will still test arrivals with the rapid antigen test, but after that we have not concluded whether we will continue testing or not. if we decide to keep testing, the NHSO has already sent us a good sign to continue paying for the cost of conducting the tests, he added.

I know my explanation contradicts the news from the governor on Wednesday, but on that day, we had not yet received the good sign [sic] from the NHSO, he noted.

The information can change all the time. There are things that are beyond our authority. Please follow our announcements, V/Gov Piyapong urged.
Rung released on bail after 59 days

THAILAND: The Criminal Court has approved bail for the temporary release of Rassadon co-leader Panusaya Rung Sithijirawattanakul on condition that she must not get involved in activities deemed to dishonour the monarchy.

politics

By Bangkok Post

Friday 7 May 2021, 10:30AM

Panusaya Rung Sithijirawattanakul (left) is greeted by her sister after she was released from the Central Womens Correctional Institution yesterday. Photo: iLaw.

After an inquiry into her bail request yesterday morning (May 6), the court first scheduled handing down the decision at 3pm but later resecheduled it twice to 4pm and 5pm.

Ms Panusayas mother put up a bond of B200,000 and acted as her guarantor.

The court set a few conditions for her release. She must not act in the same manner that she had been charged with, which tarnishes the monarchy.

As well, she must not join any activity that may cause unrest in the country, leave the country without permission and must report to the court as scheduled.

Ms Panusaya, a third-year sociology student at Thammasat University, first broke the ceiling when she read a 10-point statement on monarchy reform during a rally at Thammasat University on Aug 10 last year.

The statement was prepared by the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration to which she belongs. It later became a core group under the Rassadon umbrella, which demands changes ranging from the resignation of the prime minister, a new constitution and monarchy reform.

She subsequently led several youth rallies and was arrested on multiple charges, including sedition and royal defamation.

On March 8, she was arrested and the court had until now denied her bail.

While in jail, she joined her friend Parit Penguin Chiwarak in a hunger strike demanding bail for all political detainees.

As of yesterday, Ms Panusaya was detained for 59 days and on hunger strike for 38 days.

On April 29, Thammasat students elected Dome Revolution, a party led by her, to their Student Council. All parties contesting in the election were progressive.

Earlier on April 23, two key activists - Somyot Prueksakasemsuk and Jatupat Pai Boontararaksa were also released on bail after they agreed to the same conditions.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

An isolated thunderstorm possible this evening, then occasional showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

An isolated thunderstorm possible this evening, then occasional showers overnight. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
@rachelravina on Twitter

Rachel Ravina is a journalist covering news and lifestyle features in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. She grew up in Blue Bell and graduated from Penn State. She's also a news enthusiast who is passionate about covering topics people want to read.
"We take seriously the comments, reactions and feelings that are being represented by those on social media and others reaching out to the school district and school." - North Penn School District statement.

npsd
Tonight the Parks Department and Community Board 3 will be looking for public input about a new park they plan to build on Pier 42, at the end of Montgomery Street. Its always been the plan to tear down the abandoned shed, pictured above, and turn the large space adjacent to the East River Promenade into a public recreation area. Several weeks ago the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. allocated $14 million for the first phase of the project.

This evening, State Senator Daniel Squadron, who along with U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, pushed for the LMDC funding, will help set up the discussion. There will then be a presentation from city officials, which will include a timetable for demolition and construction as well as a refresher on previous plans the community developed for Pier 42 (a decade ago an urban beach and boat launch was envisioned).

Officials emphasize that tonights discussion will begin an entirely new community visioning process. While it will take several years to plan and build the park, demolition of the shed could happen later this year. Neighborhood non-profits, including Hester Street Collaborative, have talked about holding community events at Pier 42, as a way of reclaiming the space for public use.

Tonights meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the BRC Senior Center, 30 Delancey Street.
Media Content Creator

Ian Ostroff is a writer/reporter who resides in Montreal. He is passionate about getting to know the people and places that make his hometown so great. In his spare time, you can find him at the gym, eating ice cream, or working on his novel(s).
Progress_news

Clearfield man facing arson charges after setting off hotel sprinkler

jbenamati / Lawrence Twp. Vol Fire Co. In this photo courtesy of Lawrence Township Vol. Fire Co. Station 5, water damage from a sprinkler can be seen on the first floor of the Super 8 Motel located along Clearfield Shawville Highway.

A Clearfield man was arrested after setting off the sprinkler system in a bathroom at the Super 8 Motel early yesterday morning.

According to the Lawrence Township Police, at 2:49 a.m. police responded to an activated smoke alarm at the Super 8 Motel along the Clearfield Shawville Highway.

Upon arrival police observed water flowing down the hallway from a room, which was being rented by Aaron Schmitt, 32, of Clearfield.

Officers entered the room and saw the fire sprinkler in the bathroom actively spraying water and Schmitts cat was cowering on the corner of the bed in the flooded room.

Lawrence Township Fire Company No. 1 (Station 5) arrived on scene and shut off the sprinkler.

Schmitt was in the hotel lobby on the phone and police told him several times to remove his cat from the room but he refused.

Police then retrieved the cat and handed it to Schmitt while he was in the office.

Schmitt then slammed the door on the police officers. When police re-entered the room, Schmitt slammed the cat on the floor and began to fight with the police officers.

Schmitt was handcuffed and taken into custody.

Upon further investigation, police found a burned piece of paper on the bathroom light that was beside the fire sprinklers.

Burned pieces of paper were also found in the water that flooded the hallway.

It was also discovered that Schmitt called 911 and the Clearfield County Control non-emergency number numerous times while police and other emergency services were on scene.

Schmitt was housed in the Clearfield County Jail on attempted arson, criminal mischief, resisting arrest and other charges.

Schmitt appeared to be intoxicated at the time of the incident, Sgt. Julie Curry said.

In a telephone interview with The Progress, Jay Patel, general manager of the hotel, said the hotel is fully operational and is open for business.

When The Progress spoke to Patel at noon yesterday, Patel said cleaning crews were still on scene and he didnt yet have an damage estimate. He said four rooms were damaged by water but it was not significant. He said the sprinkler that went off was located in the bathroom and it was a first floor room, so most of the damage involved water damage to the carpeting in Schmitts room, the hallway and three other rooms. And he said the fire department responded quickly to the scene and shut off the water, limiting the damage.

The sprinkler in the bathroom was also damaged and was replaced, Patel said.

We are fortunate it wasnt worse, Patel said.

He said two guests staying in nearby rooms were affected by the incident and said they checked out of the hotel after the fire alarm went off, but he said they were very understanding and were not angry at the hotel.

Patel said Schmitts room is located near the hotel lobby and when the fire alarm went off, Schmitt exited the room. When staff asked him what happened, Schmitt said he didnt know and claimed he just got out of the shower.
Please note The Sun Chronicle is providing this story and all of our local coronavirus coverage for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the pandemic. Please visit our dedicated coronavirus coverage page for more stories. If you'd like to support our mission, please subscribe.
GRANITE CITY  About 70 people gathered at Granite City Hall Thursday morning to pray for government, business, people and other aspects of society as part of the annual National Day of Prayer.

Other area events included a remote event in Alton and in-person events in Jerseyville and Granite City.

They were joined by groups around the country.

The theme this year is Lord, pour out Your Love, Life and Liberty, based on the Bible verse from 2 Corinthians 3:17  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Pastor Chris Sedabres of the Second Baptist Church in Granite City organized this years event.

Its important to pray for our nation, to come together in a spirit of unity, especially in these times, he said. We didnt promote it to have a big crowd. We promoted it because we believe in the importance of prayer, and to bring spiritual leaders together and try to get everybody involved in that one spirit.

A combination of pastors, public officials and others prayed for different aspects, ranging from Seeking Gods guidance and provision in our lives to Healing and Forgiveness.

Well be praying today about some of the things that are going on in our community, Sedabres added. But we know thats not only a community problem, but a nationwide problem.

Altons event was sponsored by the Riverbend Rotary Club. Club President Trish Holmes, who also serves as director of member services for the RiverBend Growth Association, called it a great opportunity for all community members to join us as we lift the city and region in prayer.

Im thrilled that Riverbend Rotary took the initiative to bring the program back. Like so many other important things, it was derailed by COVID last year, said emcee Ron Wenzel, pastor of Rosewood Heights Community Church and First Baptist Hartford.

Altons event  livestreamed on Facebook and broadcast on the radio  included opening remarks by Holmes, proclamations by the mayors of Alton and Godfrey, and multiple prayers.

Those scheduled to pray included Alton Mayor Elect David Goins, praying for the city of Alton and emergency responders; Marquette High School student Lauren Maher praying for youth; Lewis and Clark Community Collegel Trustee Larry Trent praying for military and government; Rotary Past District Gov. Larry Thompson praying for education; Cara Pascal, executive director of Thrive Metro East praying for the sanctity of life; Sister M. Anastasia of OSF Health Care praying for health care facilities and workers; Kim Hardin praying for the family; Nick Darr praying for business; Pastor Ryan and Charnette Hardin of Enjoy Church praying for racial reconciliation; and Mike Roberts praying for media.

The Alton event will be available on the Riverbend Rotary Alton Facebook page.

In Jerseyville, a live event was set for 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday at LifechurchX, 300 Bluebird Lane. Like other locations, officials, public figures and others were set to pray for different aspects, ranging from first responders to local churches.

A second live event was set for 7-10 p.m. at the Second Baptist Church, 2100 Illinois Ave., Granite City.

Historically, days of prayer have been held since 1775 when the Continental Congress designated a time for prayer in forming the nation, according to the National Day of Prayer website. In 1863 Abraham Lincoln called for a day of prayer.

The National Day of Prayer was established by Congress as an annual event in 1952. The law was later amended in 1988 designating the first Thursday in May.

For more information visit the National Day of Prayer website at www.nationaldayofprayer.org.
EDWARDSVILLE  Representatives from Anderson Healthcare, Triple Net Management, The Korte Company, and City of Edwardsville ceremoniously broke ground Friday on a new addition to the Anderson Healthcare Goshen Campus.

We are excited to add a 50,000-square-foot medical building to our Goshen Campus in Edwardsville, said Anderson Healthcare President and CEO, Keith Page.

This unique two-story building will help us consolidate many of our Anderson Medical Group primary care practices into one convenient location, he explained. The facility will have clinical space for approximately 20 providers.

In addition to Anderson Medical Group physicians, the building will house several outpatient services including an imaging center, urgent care, lab services and outpatient rehab therapies.

The imaging center will be known as the Goshen Imaging Center and will be an affiliate of the Maryville Imaging Center located in Maryville, said Page. We are also in discussions with a healthcare partner to offer urgent care services specific to pediatrics.

The $20 million project is being developed by Triple Net Management. Triple Net Management is led by Terry Johnson, a veteran commercial real estate broker and developer with 35 years experience in office, retail, investment, and land sales. We have had the opportunity to work with Terry in the past on a similar project and know that it will be a first-class facility, said Page.

The project was approved by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board earlier this year. Anderson has also been working with closely with the City of Edwardsvilles Planning and Zoning Division. The project is slated to be complete in summer 2022.

The building will be on the northwest quadrant of the Anderson Healthcare Goshen Campus in Edwardsville. The campus is situated on Goshen Road across from the Meyer Center YMCA and adjacent to District Drive. Access to the medical building will be via the main entrance on Goshen, as well as another entrance off of District Drive. The building is being designed and built by The Korte Company.

The Anderson Healthcare Goshen Campus opened its first building anchored by Anderson Surgery Center and SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital Specialty Clinic last fall. A free-standing rehabilitation hospital, known as Anderson Rehabilitation Institute, is nearing completion and set to open this summer on the campus. It is a joint venture between Anderson Healthcare and Kindred Healthcare, LLC.
EDWARDSVILLE  The appointment of a new Madison County administrator and a director of the IT Department will be on the agenda for the county boards special meeting Tuesday.

The meeting is set for 5 p.m. Tuesday at the County Board room. It will be the first in-person meeting in more than a year because of COVID-19.

The meeting was originally set by Madison Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler to introduce a potential redistricting of the County Board seats that would reduce the board to 25 from 29 members. The additions to the agenda went online Thursday, and Prenzler formally announced the additional items for the agenda on Friday.

Those two positions have been vacant since the firing of county administrator Doug Hulme and information technology director Rob Dorman in April 2020.

Prenzler has proposed appointing current Madison County Community Development Administrator Dave Tanzyus as county administrator, and acting ID Director Chris Bethel to fill that position.

I believe both gentlemen will do a great job, Prenzler said.

At the April County Board meeting members balked at approving several appointments until Prenzler named a new county administrator. After some discussion, Prenzler noted he was considering Tanzyus, but havent had a chance to move forward on this.

Tanzyus was appointed to the Community Development position in December, and has extensive experience in government.

He served as district director for U.S. Rep. Mike Bost; oversaw the southern region of the State of Illinois Comptrollers Local Debt Recovery Program under Judy Baar Topinka; served as Madison Countys commissioner on the Bi-State Development Board (Metro), which included a term as Metros Audit Committee chairman during two Metro Link expansions.

Tanzyus also worked for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and on the (then) federally funded Comprehensive Child Development Program. He served as an elected board member and president to the Collinsville Area Recreation District.

He has a bachelors degree in history from Oral Roberts University and a master of arts in communications from Lindenwood University.

Bethel started working for IT in January 2017. He began as a project manager, then became manager of network services. Hes served as interim IT director for the department during the past year.

He has a bachelors degree computer management and information systems from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Prior to the county, Bethel worked in various IT positions, including computer operator, assistant network administrator.

Bethel also worked as a legislative aide/communications liaison, communications analyst and as district director for Illinois State Rep. Dwight Kay.

Tuesdays meeting was originally set for Prenzler to introduce a potential redistricting of the County Board seats that would reduce the board to 25 from 29 members.

The current 29 is the maximum allowed under state law.

There had been previous discussions about reductions, but not action has been taken. The issue is coming to the forefront because redistricting occurs every 10 years after census data becomes available. In 2022 all County Board seats will be up, and it is the time that any changes would be considered.

Masks will be required at the meeting.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Florida man on Thursday was sentenced to federal prison after traveling to Edwardsville to cash counterfeit checks.

Elvin Lugo-Cales, 47, of Orlando, Florida, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison and 3 years of court supervision after his release. In January, Lugo-Cales pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, use of a false passport and aggravated identity theft.

Information released by Assistant United States Attorney Luke J. Weissler stated that, on March 2, 2020, Lugo-Cales and his co-defendant, Johnny Collado, flew from New York to St. Louis for the sole purpose of defrauding banks using stolen identities. Weissler said the two were paid members of a criminal organization based in New York.

According to court documents, Collado was the driver and coordinated the scheme through text messages with a co-conspirator in New York. Lugo-Cales was known in the scheme as a soldier  a person willing to travel to a new city, walk into banks and conduct fraudulent transactions face-to-face with bank tellers using fake IDs and counterfeit checks.

On March 5, 2020, Collado drove Lugo-Cales in a rental car to a US Bank location in Edwardsville, according to court documents. While Collado waited in the car, Lugo-Cales went inside the bank and walked up to a teller  to present a counterfeit check for $3,650 made payable to an identity theft victim from Colorado. The check had a forged endorsement and the victims social security number written on the back. Lugo-Cales also presented a false U.S. passport card bearing Lugo-Cales photograph and the name of the victim. He then asked the bank teller to cash the check.

The teller recalled an internal e-mail she had received about a man traveling in the St. Louis area and trying to cash counterfeit checks. Seeing that Lugo-Cales fit the description of the suspect, she notified her bank manager and stalled the transaction while the manager called the police.

Lugo-Cales grew nervous and demanded the bank teller return his check and passport card. When the teller refused, he left the bank and drove away with Collado, leaving behind the counterfeit check and passport card with his picture on it.

The two men were pulled over and arrested a short distance from the Edwardsville bank.

According to court documents, Lugo-Cales had more $1,500 cash in his pocket at the time of his arrest. Collado had numerous items concealed near his crotch, including more than $25,000 in cash, multiple counterfeit IDs, counterfeit credit cards and 19 blank counterfeit checks.

During the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Staci M. Yandle said identity theft is a very serious offense that destroys peoples lives.

Collados sentencing is set for May 20 at 11 a.m.

The investigation was conducted by the Edwardsville Police Department and the U.S. Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Weissler.
By Mary Ann Schwindt

schwindt@grinnell.edu

Grinnells pizzeria Pagliais is teaming up with the Grinnell Colleges Cultural Attache Program to serve up some international flavors from Thailand, Brazil and India. In an event called Tastes of the World, Grinnellians had the chance to try some specialty pizza inspired by the tastes of Divyansh Singh `23, Carolina Novaes `23 or Sun Yuvachitti `24. Each student helped model a unique pizza after the cuisine from their home country through the partnership of the Cultural Attache Program and Pagliais.

Although the program was slated to offer the pizzas through May 16, as of May 4 all have since sold out.

The Cultural Attache Program links international students at Grinnell College with community organizations. International students apply for the program and work individually with Emily Perry, international student advisor at Grinnell College. The organizations goal is to help international students share their culture with Grinnell and foster connections between townspeople and international residents of Grinnell.

Yuvachitti is from Bangkok, Thailand. He took inspiration from Massaman Chicken Curry, a Thai-Muslim dish that combines a curry created from a coconut milk base with ginger, garlic, lemon grass, chili powder and specific pastes, among other ingredients. The fusion pizza will be a simplified version of the dish that aims to be more in tune with American consumers tastes, said Yuvachitti.

Pizza shouldnt just remain as this one dish that is unchangeable with time. It is a dish that evolves, said Yuvachitti. Food is such an effective gateway to get to know other peoples cultures. Eating is something we all share. Like no matter where we are from, no matter our background, eating and dining is something that brings us together.

Novaes is from Porto Alegre, Brazil. She was inspired by Romeu e Julieta, a dish served throughout Brazil as a sweet treat. Guava fruit and cheese will be on top of the dough in the fusion pizza, introducing a touch of dessert to the typically savory meal known to most Grinnellians.

It is just exciting to have something that is so common in Brazil sold here, in the middle of Iowa, said Novaes.

When initially approached for the project, Novaes considered the flavors present in Porto Alegre; German and Italian cuisines and barbeque spices. But when she imagined a few possible fusions, she decided to do a dish that is more simplistic, with items more easily accessible in the United States. Once she saw the lack of dessert-type pizzas in Grinnell, she aimed to give residents a taste of the common meal, Romeu e Julieta.

Singh is from Kolkata, India. His pizza is based on Chicken Tikka Masala, a butter chicken dish that is one of the most common representative dishes of Indian food outside of India. Originating from Delhi and Northwestern India, the chicken is roasted in spices, cloves, cinnamon and more.

The sauce is created with tomato, garlic, ginger and onion, and blended with heavy cream to serve as the pizzas base.

My idea of cooking has always been mixing a bunch of spices to see how it works out, said Singh, a self-professed fusion fanatic.

Singh says his mother didnt allow him into the kitchen until the 10th grade, which lead him to sneak into it at night and experiment. Always looking to try something new, Singh said he has enjoyed cooking for his floormates in the Norris dorm and that he enjoyed having people eat with him as his family often hosted friends at meals back home.

In the past, as opposed to food-based partnerships, the Cultural Attache Program has focused more on connecting students with the Mayflower Community and local Grinnell grade-schools, as the Programs goal was to help students give presentations to larger groups. But the pandemic caused Perry to seek more creative outlets, since the ability to easily congregate disappeared.

Perry asked around for ideas that could promote more engagement with the Programs Cultural Attaches, and she heard their desire to share cuisine. This led Perry to reach out to Donnette Ellis, the community relations and grant coordinator at Grinnell College, who introduced Perry to Joey Pagliai, the owner of the local restaurant. Perry then proposed the idea of a fusion pizza event that could expose Grinnellians to the home flavors of international students at the College.

How it would integrate the town with these cultures was what was really inspiring, said Pagliai.

Working with each student individually, Pagliai perfected the translation of the original dish to pizzas with advice and input from the students. This resulted in 20 frozen medium pizzas prepared for the Romeu e Julieta and Massaman Chicken Curry fusion pizzas and 30 Chicken Tikka Masala fusion pizzas. Each pizza will come with instructions on how to join the virtual event on May 16 at 6 pm CST for the Cultural Attaches explanation of their flavors and the history of the dish in their home countries.

My hope is that it is an opportunity to not only try these flavors but to also learn more about how diverse and interesting food cultures are around the world, said Perry. She said that although there are a limited number of pizzas for this event, if it goes well, she hopes to have similar partnerships within the community in the future.

The wait may not be long, as unexpected friendship blossomed in the Program between Pagliai and Singh. The two hit it off from the first pitch meeting in early April when Singh showed up with recipes in hand. The bond has only grown stronger as the two have tried out variations of Indian fusion pizza at Pagliais after hours and connected over their love for cooking.

Singh said the night was full of laughter and jokes as they tried combination after combination.

This one is really props to him, I just kind of showed up and helped and he was able to show me how to do that  the process with [Indian fusion pizzas] was something I would never have done by myself. I actually made some at home and it was good, but it was nowhere near the level it was when he cooked, said Pagliai.

The pair talked to each other about their perceptions of Grinnell and they both said they learned a lot from the experience.

As international students we dont really get to meet a lot of the non-student American population  other than our professors and administration staff. Getting to meet the townsfolk has really been an interesting experience, said Singh. I walked in expecting nothing.

I think sometimes if you dont feel welcomed you would not want to try to learn from someone  at least from the town, said Pagliai. I think once people feel the warmth of the town then they will really enjoy small town living.

Pagliai and Singh are in the talks of creating more fusion pizzas together, but first, they must see how well the event, Tastes of the World, goes.

We do not really have a lot of options so Pagliais, just by introducing ethnic styled pizzas, is really like a push for the town to experiment with different flavors, said Singh. That is a really good step towards introducing more elements and variety and culture.
BELLEVILLE  Illinois American Water announced today that results published in the companys 2020 water quality report indicate highquality water throughout its Illinois service area.

The report is issued for each service area and highlights the companys efforts to provide drinking water that meets or is better than standards required by the Environmental Protection Agency. It includes local drinking water source information and test results, including substances detected in the water and their levels. Commonly asked questions and the associated answers concerning drinking water are also included.
Calhoun County Sheriffs Office

 Charles H. Gilbert, 71, of Pearl was booked into Greene County Jail at 7:22 p.m. April 30 on charges of driving under the influence and obstructing justice.

Greene County Sheriffs Office

 Jack L. Green, 31, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 12:51 p.m. Sunday on a charge of manufacture or delivery of cannabis.

 Ashley M. Belless, 38, of Canton was booked into Greene County Jail at 1:46 p.m. April 29 on a Jersey County arrest warrant accusing her of possession of a controlled substance and a Greene County warrant accusing her of failing to appear in court.

Carrollton Police

 Chelsea A. Herder, 28, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 7:47 p.m. Wednesday on a Jersey County arrest warrant accusing her of retail theft and criminal trespass to property.

 Douglas G. Smith, 42, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:52 p.m. Sunday on a domestic battery charge.

 Tracey Lynn Smith, 50, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:21 p.m. Sunday on a domestic battery charge.

 Heather M. Gibson, 37, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:18 p.m. April 30 on a charge of driving while license is canceled.

 Joseph M. Angle, 36, of Carrollton was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:48 a.m. April 30 on a charge of possession of methamphetamine or an analog substance.

Greenfield Police

 Amanda K. Boyd, 33, of Jacksonville was booked into Greene County Jail at 5:20 a.m. Wednesday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, manufacture or delivery of cannabis, possession of cannabis and possession of a controlled substance.

Roodhouse Police

 Dylan M. Kinkead, 29, of Beardstown was booked into Greene County Jail at 11:44 p.m. Saturday on a charge of driving while license is revoked or suspended.

White Hall Police

 Austin K. Williams, 23, of Winchester was booked into Greene County Jail at 1:15 a.m. Thursday on a charge of possession of methamphetamine.

 Nathan A. Daniels, 38, of Winchester was booked into Greene County Jail at 2:43 p.m. Saturday on charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of a narcotic instrument and possession of adult-use cannabis in a motor vehicle.
SOUTH ABINGTON TWP.  If the state continues to fund the Scranton School District unfairly, receivership may be unavoidable, the superintendent said Thursday.

At a news conference at Abington Heights High School, district leaders from throughout Lackawanna County called on state legislators to pass both charter school funding reform and to not only invest more in public education, but to distribute it fairly.

The impact may be greatest in Scranton, which Superintendent Melissa McTiernan described as being in dire straits. Even though the districts finances have improved in the two years since the state placed it in financial recovery, projections show a need for years of property tax hikes that leave little for salary increases, curriculum updates or facility upgrades.

Under receivership, the state could void all contracts and leave the school board with little power.

If the state placed all basic education funding through the fair funding formula, Scranton would receive about $4,000 more per student each year  or about $39 million.

Im responsible for 10,000 kids, McTiernan said. I cant give them what they need, and I feel like Im failing them.

Advocacy organization PA Schools Work and other statewide groups held simultaneous press conferences across the state Thursday.

Gov. Tom Wolf and public education advocates call the states education funding system one of the worst in the country. Pennsylvania has the widest funding gap between wealthy and poor school districts of any state, with the wealthiest school districts spending 33% more on each student than the poorest districts.

The states share of total district spending is 38%, which ranks the state 44th in the country. As a result of the lower state contribution, Pennsylvania school districts rely more on local property taxes to fund budgets.

Pennsylvania created a fair funding formula six years ago to distribute money in a way that reflects a districts needs, factoring in student enrollment, the needs of the student population and district wealth and capacity to raise local revenues. But that formula only applies to new investments the state makes in basic education funding. Wolf proposed putting all funding through the formula starting with the 2021-22 budget, which the Legislature must pass next month.

Putting all funding through the formula would cause more than half of the states 500 districts to receive a lower allotment, so Wolf seeks another $1.15 billion so no school receives less next year. The proposal is funded through an increase in the personal income tax rate, which Republican legislators have said they will not support.

Superintendents also pushed for charter school reform, which the governor has also proposed.

School districts in Northeast Pennsylvania expect to pay an additional $36.2 million in charter school costs this academic year, as families sought alternative options because of the pandemic.

Superintendents cited lower proficiency and graduation rates for cyber charter schools.

There is no accountability, Dunmore Superintendent John Marichak said. We cant figure out why there are different rules for different people.  Tell anyone you can, we need help.

Carbondale Area School Director David Osborne said rising charter school costs and a lack of special education funding increases have led to furloughs and little money left to negotiate a new teachers contract. About $1.9 million of the districts $22 million budget goes to charter schools.

State Reps. Bridget Kosierowski, D-114, Waverly Twp., and Mike Carroll, D-118, Avoca, pledged to continue to fight in Harrisburg.

The General Assembly violates the state constitution by not providing adequate funding, Carroll said.

There needs to be a major change, he said. We have a real challenge in Pennsylvania.
Brendan Munoz and his family planned all along to visit Steamtown National Historic Site to celebrate the little boys seventh birthday.

The timely return of a Big Boy helped make it extra special.

The morning after Steamtown quietly put its Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy No. 4012 locomotive back on public display, members of the Roselle Park, New Jersey, family were among the first visitors to stop Thursday to ooh and aah at the massive steam engine.

Weve been waiting to see the Big Boy, and here it is, Sarah Munoz, 39, said as she and her husband, Michael, ushered a wide-eyed Brendan and his sister, C.C., 4, up to the locomotive.

She paused to take it all in.

Oh, goodness, she said. Its so big.

Steamtown moved the No. 4012 out of the shop with minimal fanfare Wednesday after an extensive cosmetic restoration that stretched over 19 months and included asbestos abatement and a new paint job.

The locomotive, which has always been one of Steamtowns most popular attractions, is one of just eight surviving Big Boys and the only one in the eastern United States. It operated from 1941, until 1962.

We have people who come from all over the world to see the Big Boy, so to have it back out there is wonderful, Steamtown Superintendent Cherie Shepherd said. It looks like it would have looked when it rolled out of the factory, and we are really proud of that.

Previously located on the north side of the Steamtown parking lot, the locomotive will now be on permanent display on a lightly curved section of track along the lots southern edge.

As Park Ranger Flor Blum and volunteer Will Enkulenko were pointing out to visitors Thursday, the placement on a slight curve will help highlight a unique feature of the Big Boy.

When viewed from the front, the locomotive appears to be broken, but the engine is actually articulated. That allowed the Big Boy and its tender, which weigh 600 tons and measure almost 133 feet from end to end, to operate around curves.

Aside from its sheer size, the Big Boys most impressive feature is probably its engineering, Shepherd said.

As an engineer myself, Im amazed by the technology and just the machinery itself, she said.

Although Brendan is the hardcore railfan in his family and insisted on wearing his Big Boy T-shirt to the park Thursday, Sarah Munoz said it is easy to be impressed by the locomotive, especially when all youve seen before are photographs.

It is an incredibly impressive feat of industrial strength, she said. Its humbling.

The return of the Big Boy comes as Steamtown prepares to observe National Train Day on Saturday and continues to celebrate National Preservation Month through May.

Although the parks museums remain closed, the roundhouse area and outdoor exhibits are open. Under federal guidelines, visitors are required to wear face masks in areas where social distancing cannot be maintained.

We are going to pull some more stuff out for this weekend and highlight some of the restoration thats been done in the park and talk about some of the projects that will be coming up, Shepherd said. Hopefully, its a nice weekend for us.
Editor: The contrast between the heroic work of Scranton public school teachers and paraprofessionals, who are there for students every day despite long-expired contracts, and the tone deafness and lack of transparency of the Scranton School Board is astonishing.

Educators have been denied new contracts for nearly four years. At least 33 frustrated teachers have left for neighboring districts that treat their educators as professionals. The district furloughed 143 paraprofessionals in October and many only recently were recalled. Sadly, several paraprofessionals have moved to different careers. Yet, the school board carries on as if it has immunity from community concerns and the law.

In the past six months, the board has lost two important court cases, one over violating Pennsylvanias Sunshine Act  which requires meetings to be open to the public  while pushing to furlough paraprofessionals, an irony considering board President Katie Gilmartin campaigned on a promise of transparency. In the most recent case, the board was ordered to meet with the Act 93 school administrators negotiating team on bargaining agreement matters, a step in the contract negotiating process that the board, led by Gilmartin, has refused.

Instead of focusing on what it takes to bring excellent, equitable public education to all students in Scranton  and doing it in the light of day  the board wastes precious time and dollars blatantly violating the law. Its sad that the board is intent on cutting the very services and people that children need more than ever and not helping to make Scranton a place where great teachers and school staff want to spend their careers.

This board needs to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and valuable time and focus on fixing what is broken in this district, negotiating fair contracts to keep and attract great educators, and moving the district forward.

ROSEMARY BOLAND

PRESIDENT, SCRANTON FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

Editor: Here we go again. Members of the Scranton Federation of Teachers are outraged and may go on strike.

Well, go ahead and see where that takes you. Teachers said retroactive pay must be part of a contract deal and teachers who reached the bump step would be owed $80,000 or more.

They also want their salaries to go from $59,000 to $81,220. Now $81,220 for nine months of work amounts to $9,000 per month. If they worked 40 hours per week for one month that would amount to $56.25 per hour.

Lets back up a few years. I do not remember seeing any of these teachers protesting the University of Scrantons purchase of property in the Hill Section where it built dormitories. That took properties off the tax rolls and put pressure on existing taxpayers. The Times-Tribune recently published an article saying that liens were filed against 2,600 Scranton property owners for not paying taxes. A retired person who has lived in Scranton his whole life can no longer afford to live here.

Now if any of you very intelligent, high-priced people with masters degrees could figure out the tax loss of the city from the university taking over all that property, you might be able to see where your raises went.

Scranton has the highest property tax in this area and a lot of the residents are elderly and on fixed incomes and do not know how they will pay their taxes. The greed of the unions is killing us. The state must step in and stop this or some of our elderly will be homeless. I hope that makes overpaid union people happy and proud.

DAVID B. TAYLOR

SCRANTON

Editor: Perhaps the best line among many great lines in President Jee Bidens joint address to Congress on April 27 was his reference that trickle-down economics never worked.

Republicans have fed us this nonsense for decades. When resources are put in the hands of the masses, they will be put it back in the economy and create growth and wealth. Just look at the nearly $2 trillion in tax cuts given mainly to the rich in 2017. This did little to help the economy.

So lets bury the trickle-down theory once and for all.

MIKE MAESTRI

WYOMING

Editor: The sinking of the Indonesian submarine 502 on April 21 and the breakup of the vessel and death of 53 crew members highlights the hazards of operating in the oceans.

The 502 sinking brings back memories of the sinking and destruction of the USS Thresher on April 10, 1963 off the New England coast, with the loss of 129 men. A Navy inquiry determined most likely there was flooding in the engine room possibly from faulty piping causing coolant pumps to slow or stop and trigger a reactor shutdown with a loss of power. Subsequently, the Navy implemented the SUBSAFE program for quality assurance and certification for submarines.

Additionally, the Navy implemented a safe testing program that ensured all submarine testing would be conducted in accordance with stringent testing parameters.

DONALD MOSKOWITZ

LONDONDERRY,

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Editor: Scranton mayoral candidate John Murray suggests that being from here must be an essential qualification for being mayor.

I suppose, then, that I am not qualified to vote in the election, not being from here, a resident only since 2013. I must not be a legitimate Scrantonian.

I endorse Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti for reelection.

C. STANLEY HALE

SCRANTON
Saint Leo University Brian Bailey and senior director Chase starts a new tradition at Saint Leo with the "Luck of the Lion" celebration partnering with Domino's Pizza, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, Horizon Staffing, and Amerigroup.
Timothy Seth Bryant Pennington was born on January 30, 1988 in Corbin, Ky. He departed this life on June 3, 2021 to be with his Lord and Savior, whom he accepted as a young boy at his church, West Corbin Baptist. Seth was assured of his salvation and knew where he would spend his eternity. S
London, KY (40741)

Today

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

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Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Westerly, RI (02891)

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds light and variable..

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Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.
Westerly, RI (02891)

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 62F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Port Allen, LA (70767)

Today

Chance of a shower or two during the evening, followed by partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Chance of a shower or two during the evening, followed by partly cloudy skies overnight. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Activist investor Edward Bramson has sold his entire 6 per cent stake in Barclays, he announced today.

The move marks the end of a high-profile, three-year battle to overhaul the bank by Bramson, who, since buying the stake in 2018, has tried to scale back Barclays' investment banking arm and remove chief executive Jes Staley.

Sherborne Investors, Bramson's investment vechicle, said it was selling the stake to focus on another company that offered 'a better return' to its shareholders than Barclays - although it did not name it.

Onto new pastures: Sherborne Investors, Bramson's investment vechicle, said it was selling the stake to focus on another company that offered 'a better return' to its shareholders

'Corporate raider' Bramson repeatedly called for Barclays to curtail its investment banking arm, increase returns for investors and demanded a board seat.

He also recently accused the Barclays chief of a 'series of dubious judgments' which had 'degenerated into a series of public spectacles', including maintaining a relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

But despite being backed by major funds including Aviva and Schroders, Bramson struggled to gain much traction.

Barclays shares rose following the news of Bramson's exit and were up 2.5 per cent to 181.62p in afternoon trading on Friday.

The share price surge reflects the fact that Staley was right about sticking to the investment banking arm, according to Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson.

'The investment banking arm at Barclays has been doing rather well,' he said, noting that profits at the division rose 22 per cent to 12.5billion last year - its best since 2014.

'Staley was mainly right, Bramson was mainly wrong,' Wilson said.

And added: 'When consumer and business growth markets are strained  like during the pandemic  volatility in financial markets creates a good environment for trading revenues to prosper.

'Moreover, the stock has enjoyed some decent returns in the last year, getting back to around the level it was at before the pandemic, so its a handy time to exit.'

Bramson recently accused Barclays boss Jes Staley of a 'series of dubious judgments' which had 'degenerated into a series of public spectacles', including maintaining a relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

Barclays shares have risen around 80 per cent over the last year and are around 20 per cent higher than in February 2020, just before the pandemic took hold.

But the bank's shares have fallen roughly 15 per cent since Sherborne first declared its stake in Barclays in March 2018.

Sherborne Investors Management said in a statement today: 'Business is not a science and so people of goodwill may, therefore, sometimes differ.

'In that spirit, Sherborne Investors expresses its most sincere wish that things will turn out well for Barclays, its employees, and its investors.'

Barclays revealed earlier this year that Staley, 63, was being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority over whether he had been open enough with his employer about his connections to Epstein, who committed suicide in jail last year.

Staley visited Epstein in Florida in 2008 while he was serving a 13-month sentence for child sex offences, and seven years later joined him at his Caribbean retreat, branded Paedo Island.
Cresaptown, MD (21502)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 66F. Winds light and variable.


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Thomasville, GA (31792)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
FEDERAL COURTS

Former King of Prussia teacher charged in child sex operation

Former King of Prussia teacher charged in child sex operation
Princeton, KY (42445)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening will give way to occasional showers overnight. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from COVID-ravaged India next week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday, as state officials reported that an outbreak in Sydney appeared to be contained.

Morrison stood by his decision to impose a biosecurity order last month barring all travel to and from India, a policy that drew heavy criticism from lawmakers, expatriates and the Indian diaspora.

Morrison said the travel ban, which was controversially backed by jail terms and financial penalties for anybody who attempted to circumvent it by flying via a third country, had prevented Australias hotel quarantine system from being overwhelmed.

The order that we have put in place has been highly effective, its doing the job that we needed it to do, and that was to ensure that we could do everything we can to prevent a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia, Morrison told reporters.

Australia will charter three repatriation flights between May 15 and May 31, prioritising around 900 people deemed most vulnerable, Morrison said. The government estimates around 9,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents are in India.

Prospective travellers will need to return a negative COVID-19 test, and will be required to undertake the standard 14-day hotel quarantine imposed on incoming travellers.

Morrison said his government is unlikely to allow the resumption of direct commercial flights from India in the near term and has instead asked state authorities to accept additional repatriation flights.

The Australian leader, who has rejected suggestions the hardline approach will damage the countrys bilateral relations with India, said he will speak with his counterpart Narendra Modi later on Friday.

SYDNEY OUTBREAK STABLE

New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian, meanwhile, said New Zealands decision to partially suspend a travel bubble with Australia as a result of new infections in Sydney was an overreaction.

State health officials were still trying to track the missing links in the case of a 50-year-old man who was diagnosed earlier this week with an Indian variant of COVID-19 that he passed on to his wife.

Genomic sequencing had linked the case to a returned traveller from the United States, but there was no clear transmission path between the two people.

However, state health officials reported on Friday that more than 13,000 tests conducted over the past 24 hours had found no additional cases, easing concerns about a wider outbreak.

Berejiklian on Thursday imposed new social distancing restrictions in greater Sydney, including mask wearing on public transport and limits on home gatherings.

With many people expected to gather over the weekend for annual Mothers Day celebrations, the restrictions are scheduled to remain in place until Monday morning.

We may never find that missing link, Berejiklian told the Nine Network Today show about the Sydney case, the first in NSW in more than a month.

Thats why we ask everybody to come forward and get tested. Every time theres a positive case, we can match it to see if its part of the same strain.

SOURCE: REUTERS
The speaker of parliament in Maldives, former President Mohamed Nasheed, was being treated for shrapnel wounds and in stable condition after a blast outside his family home on Thursday, a spokesman for his governing Maldivian Democratic Party said.

Two close family members, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters Nasheed was talking and responsive before being treated under anaesthesia at the hospital.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a close ally of Nasheed, said an investigation into the explosion was under way.

Images from state TV channel PSM showed security services securing the scene of the incident in the capital Male. A foreign tourist was also injured, the channel reported.

Strongly condemn the attack on Speaker of Parliament, President Mohamed Nasheed this evening, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said in a tweet.

Cowardly attacks like these have no place in our society. My thoughts and prayers are with President Nasheed and others injured in this attack, as well as their families.

Nasheed, who became Maldives first democratically-elected president in 2008, has remained an influential figure since leaving office in 2012. He is president of the governing party and, after returning from a period in exile, has served as parliament speaker since 2019.

The archipelago has been known in the past for political unrest as well as Islamist militant violence.

In 2015, former president Abdulla Yameen escaped unharmed after an explosion on his speedboat, while a 2007 blast blamed on Islamist militants targeted foreign tourists and injured 12 people.

SOURCE: REUTERS
U.S., Iranian and European officials said on Thursday there were wide gaps between Washington and Tehran on resuming compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, though a U.S. official said an accord was possible within weeks if Iran decided it wanted one.

Is it possible that well see a mutual return to compliance in the next few weeks, or an understanding of a mutual compliance? Its possible yes, a senior U.S. State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Is it likely? Only time will tell because, as I said, this is ultimately a matter of a political decision that needs to be made in Iran, the official added during a telephone briefing.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington did not know whether Iran was prepared to make the decisions needed to return to full compliance.

The jury is out, Blinken told NBC News in an interview, according to a preliminary transcript.

Irans top nuclear negotiator, Abbas Araqchi, said there remained a long way to go.

When it will happen is unpredictable and a timeframe cannot be set. Iran is trying (for) it to happen as soon as possible, but we will not do anything in a rush, Araqchi told Iranian state TV.

U.S. officials return to Vienna this week for a fourth round of indirect talks with Iran on how to resume compliance with the deal, which former President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, prompting Iran to begin violating its terms about a year later.

The crux of the agreement was that Iran committed to rein in its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain the fissile material for a nuclear weapon in return for relief from U.S., EU and U.N. sanctions.

Tehran denies having nuclear weapons ambitions.

A European diplomat said Washington had made a comprehensive proposal that included removing sanctions in key sectors such as oil, gas and banking and had indicated some openness to easing sanctions related to terrorism and human rights.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomat said Iran had not shown a willingness to curtail any expertise it may have gained from work on advanced centrifuges nor to destroy them.

The diplomat said there was a growing view among Western diplomats that Irans negotiating team was on a tight leash and that Irans supreme leader may believe Tehran can extract more from Washington and so may not be pushing for deal before Irans June 18 elections.

The U.S. official said a deal could be revived before the elections but put the onus on Iran, saying Tehran must avoid asking Washington to do more than what is envisaged in the original agreement while itself seeking to do less.

The pace would have to accelerate for us to get there in the coming weeks and no guarantee that that will be the case, he said.

The U.S. official described false reports last weekend about a deal to release U.S. citizens detained in Iran as an unspeakable cruelty and he said there are separate talks about prisoners.

Were treating it independently, he said.

SOURCE: REUTERS
ALBANY  The Center for Economic Growth in Albany and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark are presenting a seven-part virtual tour of the Danish offshore wind industry beginning May 12.

The one-hour noon-time sessions will run through June and follow an online conference CEG held last month on the Capital Region's upcoming role in assembling offshore wind turbines at the Port of Albany. The Danish government, a leader in the offshore wind industry, participated in that earlier event.
At the age of 9, Benjamin Lerner started playing the piano. It was a late start by music conservatory standards. He had Aspergers syndrome and traditional teaching methods didnt always suit him. Instead, his teacher numbered his fingers together, and they developed a new system that helped Lerner leap to playing concert piano pieces.

Lerner was connected to talented and high-achieving people. His mother was a successful journalist with the USA Today group. His great-grandfather was Irving Berlin, the legendary composer and lyricist. All these shining careers put a different kind of pressure on the young Lerner.

I felt like I was performing not just when I was playing piano, but in every situation, said Lerner. I wanted to embody the same legacy of intellectualism and musicality that my family had become known for, and it was hard to live up to.

Lerner enrolled in the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami to study hip-hop. But college brought its own pressure, and Lerner began to self-medicate, turning to alcohol and marijuana. After a wisdom tooth extraction, he developed an addiction to oxycodone, and then to cocaine and heroin.

At the same time, Joshua Sherman, a physician based in Vermont, was working with addicts and speaking out about the opioid addiction problem. In October 2018, Sherman, who also owned Old Mill Road, a Vermont-based media company, was building a recording studio in Arlington. A month later, he was invited to speak at a panel hosted by Fed Up Vermont, an organization raising awareness about opioid addiction in Vermont.

One elderly person stood up and said, 'Im 80 something years old, I've got three damaged grandkids that I'm now raising. I don't have the health for it, and I don't have the money for it, and what am I supposed to do?' said Sherman.

This changed something in Sherman and made him want to do something about the epidemic beyond treating patients.

Shortly after, when he opened his recording studio, a former patient introduced Sherman to Lerner, who had been sober since 2016. They met at the studio, where Lerner played two of his songs, Dan and Dave and Liquid Fentanyl.

What happened was, he basically, created a new hybrid genre of music, integrating classical piano and rap, said Sherman. And when he sat down at the piano, and I heard this new sound. I thought, This is really brilliant. And what's so brilliant about it is that he's able to articulate all of the struggles of addiction and sobriety, which so many people suffer from but cannot articulate.

Sherman asked Lerner if he would record a song with him at his studio, just to see how well they worked together as a team.

So many people who've known people who struggle with addiction know how difficult it is. You can get burned, said Sherman. And so I wanted to really test Benjamin to see, was he reliable? Was he going to show up? Was he going to be prepared? He not only was prepared, and not only did he show up, but he proved himself to be an incredible collaborator, a very open operator to ideas and suggestions.

Sherman secured an artist residency position for Lerner at the recording studio through 1761 Arts, a nonprofit organization.

The two then developed and produced the album Clean.

For Lerner, it was a way to get his musical career back, something he had taken a break from while getting his life together.

I really got into seeing how I could combine the piano with the rap, he said. Amazing because I was able to unite them in a way that I never had. And I had created these songs, but they were in a rough draft mode. And so, when Joshua Sherman and I connected, we were able to kind of elevate it to the next level, because he's a producer.

Lerner, the rapper and composer, found that his skills fit perfectly with Sherman, the producer. They would combine their individual experiences, Lerner by bringing hip-hop and Sherman by using his background in musical theater. But what helped set a solid base was that they both had the same goal  as a doctor for Sherman and as a recovery counselor for Lerner.

A huge part of medicine is asking the tough questions and solving problems, said Sherman. One of the things that I found was that Benjamin and I had really great conversations where I would ask the hard questions about his experiences, and he answered very honestly, truthfully, articulated the ideas clearly, and often would say something that would make me say, well, that's a song.

This was how the pair developed each song in the album. The song, Surrender, for example, sprung from when Sherman asked Lerner about the particular moment between him and his parents.

My parents never gave up on me, he said. They surrendered to the belief and understanding that the pathology of my disease was stronger than they were. Lerner and Sherman decided to call the song Surrender because they felt that one cannot talk about addictions without addressing the toll it takes on family and loved ones.

The duos work soon grew beyond the album, expanding to a column in the Vermont News Guide called Clean and most recently, a show on WEQX (FM 102.7) called Clean Jams which discusses rap, hip-hop, and recovery. It airs 11 p.m. on Thursdays.

Something that Lerner considers instrumental in his recovery is the peer counselor program that his rehabilitation facility offered, where people could bring in others that they knew, to speak on sobriety and spread positive messages through the group. This was something that kept Lerner inspired and allowed him to stay connected, and now post-rehab fuels his passion for advocacy even more.

When I connected with Joshua Sherman, one of my fears was that I wasn't going to be able to continue my recovery advocacy work if I pursued a career in music and writing, he said. And what he said is, I can understand that but do you think that maybe you can reach more people with your message through words and music, then you just working one on one?

And I really had to sit and think about that. For now, I'm using the music and I'm using my love of words and love of language with the column to share the same things that I share one on one in my sobriety fellowship meetings.
Back a few weeks before everything in the country was shut down  including movie theaters  because of the pandemic, I saw what I didnt know then was to be my last in-theater film for the next 14 months.

Even on that Sunday afternoon as I settled in to watch Portrait of a Lady on Fire in the Criterion Cinemas in Saratoga Springs, there was a sense of unease. Dread was in the air, words like coronavirus were on everyones lips, and masks were looking like an inevitability.

Being one of only three people in the theater helped, but I never did shake the feeling of should I be here right now?

Months later in these pages, when the deadly modern plague was at its full force and we were all self-quarantining at home, I expressed doubt that I would be back inside a theater anytime soon, and that included once a mythical vaccine was discovered.

Ah, what more than a year in isolation can do to the best-laid plans.

Two weeks past my second Pfizer shot  thank you, science!  and with several local movie theaters having opened as we all took baby steps toward a return to normalcy, my reasons for resistance were fewer and my desperation to return to my preferred mode of recreation and escape was all-consuming.

I told myself going back inside a darkened auditorium was both practical and professional. In fact, I had the same purpose now that I had more than a year ago with that French film  catching up on the Oscar nominees before the awards ceremony.

Beyond the cataclysmic death toll notched by the pandemic, there were also countless other casualties, both big and small, left in its wake. Id like to say concern for myself and others ranked higher on my list of pros and cons about whether to finally come home to my home away from home, but I just really needed it. Badly.

With my self-imposed deadline looming and with confidence that theater owners were being diligent about health and safety protocols, I took that first step and logged onto the Landmark Spectrum 8 Theatres website to order my ticket for Minari. Seeing the on-screen seating chart with its limited capacity and spaced-out availability boosted my confidence slightly.

Arriving at the theater was uneventful; how easily we slip back into old rhythms. Inside, though, it was back to current reality with hand sanitizing stations, limited contact and masks, mask, masks. The theater itself looked just as I remembered  if there had been a massive leak situation rendering most of the seats unusable, closed off now and covered in yellow caution tape. A fitting symbol for the crime that was 2020.

Settling into my aisle seat, I debated between shallow breaths (as if that would make any difference) and deep, bottom-of-the-lung inhalations to gauge any differences in air flow and ventilation. I sensed no changes. Should I have? Is that good or bad?

But then the magic that only movies can bring was on display at last when the screen started to flicker with digitized light. I was lost in the lives of others, the beautiful images and the powerful acting, the sounds, sights and emotions.

The sole distraction was the relentless pulling up and down of my mask for snacking. Im not usually the traditional movie theater popcorn kind of guy, but I thought in this case the situation warranted such a statement. I didnt mind covering back up while not eating or drinking  although, do coronavirus germs take a good sport break every time we take a snack break? It was more the social stigma I was imagining from my fellow audience members. That guy is definitely keeping his mouth and nose exposed for longer than he needs to, I pictured them saying.

I survived my first re-entry and was ready for another. Same theater, this time for The Father. The experience was already commonplace. Everything was the same  until it wasnt.

The film, about a man gradually succumbing to dementia, had a purposely misleading and fractured narrative. This was just too much for the pair of ladies to my left. Full-voiced questions like Is this part real or is he imagining it? and Wait, whos that? She looks like a different person lasted throughout the whole screening.

Its an inconvenience Ive encountered often at the Spectrum and it filled me with the same kind of seething irritation it always had. There was no softening on my part due to time away or global tragedies. And thats when I realized it: I was fully back!
CUOMO INVESTIGATIONS

Nursing home COVID-19 deaths

Did the governor's administration manipulate the data?

Allegation: The administration's potential manipulation of data regarding the number of nursing home residents who died of symptoms associated with COVID-19. Cuomo's administration has faced scrutiny over his senior aides' clashes with state Department of Health officials over reporting on the number of deaths in nursing homes. The FBI's probe, first reported by the Times Union on Feb. 17, has focused on whether the administration sought to downplay the number of deaths in order to elevate Cuomo's public persona as he gained national attention for his handling of the pandemic and authored a book about it. The probe also is focused on information and data the Cuomo administration provided to the U.S. Justice Department in response to a request for the records last year. The governor has refused to release that correspondence. Cuomo has also been served with federal subpoenas for records  and has not made those public, either.

Investigation: The probe is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn is working with the FBI, which has interviewed dozens of current and former health department officials. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Justice Department's Civil Division in Washington, D.C., are also involved in the investigation.

Criminal exposure: Attorneys familiar with the case have privately characterized the federal investigation as "facts in search of a crime." People briefed on the investigation said the FBI may be examining whether members of the administration falsified statistics or other data on nursing home fatalities, and whether the submission of that data was tied to the receipt of any federal money. There could also be lesser offenses for providing false information to the federal government.

Potential outcome: The Justice Department could pursue an indictment of anyone who provided false information to the federal government. The investigation also could be closed without a grand jury review of the evidence or charges being filed.
Kolkata, May 7 (UNI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying with the surge in Covid cases, Bengals oxygen requirement is going up and at such a time, the Centre is diverting its oxygen supply to other states.

Ms Banerjee wrote to Mr Modi that Bengals consumption of medical oxygen has gone up from 470

MT to 550 MT per day over the past week.

I wish to bring to your kind notice a very critical issue regarding supply of Medical Oxygen(MO) in the state of West Bengal, the chief minister wrote in her letter.

In my earlier letter dated 05.05.2021 1 had mentioned that the consumption of MO is increasing rapidly due to increase in COVID positive cases in the State. It has gone up to 470MT per day in the last 24 hours and expected to increase to 550MT per day in next 7 to 8 days, she wrote.

Chief Secretary of my state had already taken up the issue with Union Health Secretary, and other officials, on numerous occasions earlier for urgent allocation of 550 MT of MO per day for West Bengal, Ms Banerjee said.

However, instead of allocating the same as per the requirement of West Bengal, Government of India has increased allocation of MO to other States, from the total production in West Bengal, during the last 10 days from 230M T to 360MT, keeping the allocation for West Bengal constant at 308 MT per day despite its requirement being of 550 MT per day, the chief minister said.

It will not be out of place to mention that daily production of MO in our State is around 560MT, she said.

Considering the critical situation, I would request you to kindly have the allocation of MO reviewed and instructions issued for an immediate allocation of at least 550 MT per day of MO preferably out of the total produced MO in West Bengal. It will help us in making necessary logistics arrangements and ensure a smooth supply of MO to all health facilities of the State. Any allocation of MO less than the requested amount, will not only adversely affect the supply of Medical Oxygen but may also result in loss of lives of the patients in the State, the chief minister wrote.

I am looking forward to your kind intervention and cooperation in this regard urgently, she added.

UNI BM RN
Hunt Real Estate

Hunt Real Estate, which operates more than 50 residential branch offices throughout New York, Massachusetts and Arizona, has grown again.

The firm announced last week it bought All American Properties, a locally-owned company in Glens Falls. All American had been in business for 20 years. All 20 affiliated agents will join Hunt's Glens Falls branch office at 333 Glen St. All American sold more than $21 million in volume in 2020 and was the largest locally-owned realty company in the city.
RENSSELAER - The controversial SA Dunn landfill will have to apply for what would essentially be a new permit rather than for a renewal of their existing permit to accept construction and demolition debris. That would be a more extensive process, with more scrutiny than a renewal.

The landfills current permit runs until July 2022.

State Department of Environmental Conservation officials said the new permit, known as an "enhanced renewal process" amounts to getting a new permit and all the scrutiny that entails. That decision was in light of ongoing concerns from the community over the truck traffic, dust and odor complaints.

The landfill, one of the state's largest of its kind, has in recent years drawn criticism with nearby residents complaining of rotten egg odors, windblown debris, dust and truck traffic. The landfill, which used to be a gravel pit, is also next to Rensselaers Pre-K-12 public school complex.

Waste Connections, the Texas-based company which operates the landfill, has made a number of improvements over the past few years under the direction of DEC. Those include a gas collection and burning system to cut down on sulfuric or rotten egg odors as well as augmentation of a berm between the facility and the school to block dust and blowing sand.

There also is an on-site monitor and odor complaint hotline.

Still, residents continued to complain about the landfill. Rensselaer Mayor Mike Stammel welcomed news of the enhanced permit process since he believes it would allow a full and updated airing of concerns about the facility.

I had very little faith in the process that had originally been done, Stammel said.

Approval of the landfill had become a political issue in the city and Stammel, a Republican, ran on that in his successful challenge to acting Democratic Mayor Rich Mooney, who took over after longtime former Mayor Dan Dwyer, who died in 2018.

The landfill was approved and began operating during the Dwyer administration.

Renewals are often looked at as no significant modifications and are often rubber stamped, said David Ellis, one of the landfills opponents and member of the Rensselaer Environmental Coalition. Dunn's negative impacts on the community is requiring DEC to take a harder look at all renewals, he said.

If there are public hearings and comment periods, its likely that some city residents will talk about the heavy truck traffic to and from the landfill.

Additionally, a study in 2020 from Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility found traces of PFAS or Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in tributaries around the landfill.

Those chemicals, though, arent usually associated with construction debris such as lumber or drywall. And the DEC said theyve seen no impact on drinking water supplies in the area. The agency earlier characterized the PFAS findings as fear mongering.

Either way, the landfill has gotten busier over the years. The facility accepted about 300,000 tons of material in 2015 when it started operating. By 2017, it was accepting almost 500,000 tons, according to DEC records.

Truck visits rose from about 12,000 to more than 19,000 during that period.

Landfill manager Jeff Burrier said they will work with officials and the city in the permitting process.

Well continue to work collaboratively with DEC, local elected officials, and the community heading into the permit renewal process, Burrier said.



We expect a fair and thorough review of our application. Weve always expected and we welcome a vigorous public comment period during the renewal process, and part of our role will be to make sure all parties involved are aware not only of the significant economic impact of SA Dunn, but the investments weve made to environmental technology making our facility cleaner, greener, and more efficient.


cjmckendry/Getty

The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, in partnership with the Preservation League of New York State, will host a class for real estate agents and design professionals about historic properties.

The class, Architecturally Speaking for Professionals, will take place via Zoom from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, May 21. Admission is $50 and completion is worth three continuing education credits. Representatives from the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, the city's planning department, the state Historic Preservation Office and the Adirondack Trust Co. will share their knowledge and resources about listing, buying, selling, or rehabilitating older properties. A local Realtor well-versed in rehabilitating historic properties will speak.
SARATOGA SPRINGS - The former operator of Siro's Restaurant, the celebrated bar and restaurant on the edge of the Saratoga Race Course, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly falsifying his insurance paperwork and liquor license, Saratoga Springs police said.

Scott R. Solomon, 35, of Cohoes, turned himself in after a warrant was issued on charges of offering a false instrument, possessing a forged instrument and two types of forgery, all of which are felonies, police said.

"(An) investigation revealed that both documents were indeed fraudulent in nature and the allegation is that Solomon was aware of that fact when he filed them with the City of Saratoga Springs," police said in a statement.

When reached on Friday, Solomon said he didn't want to comment on the charges. He was under investigation since August after he allegedly filed the forged paperwork with the city. The action led to Solomon's license for food and drink being revoked, thus shutting down the popular hub for post-racing parties.

Solomon and a silent partner started leasing Siro's in 2019, though they no longer hold an interest in the business.

Commissioner of Public Safety Robin Dalton said at the time that the shutdown "was the last resort."

We dont want to shut down businesses in the city," she said.

Solomon also turned himself in to police in September after he was accused of stealing money from Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan's campaign.

At the time of his arrest, Sheehan's chief of staff, David Galin, said that Solomon had been enlisted as a fundraising consultant for the campaign in October 2017 and had allegedly misused a campaign credit card to make nearly $22,000 in unauthorized personal expenses.

"Several of the unauthorized charges on the Capital One card include KeyBank cash advances, PayPal transfers, a cash withdrawal from Saratoga Federal Credit Union, MoneyGram payments, dry cleaning services and food from a variety of eateries," Galin said in a deposition. "At no time was Scott authorized to use the credit card for personal expenses of any type, as doing so would be a violation of campaign finance law."

Solomon's attorney Andrew Sofranko could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the owner of Siros. Scott R. Solomon is the former operator.
New Delhi, May 7 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea seeking a stay on the construction work underway for the Central Vista project in New Delhi as the matter is pending with the Delhi High Court.

A Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari, however, granted liberty to petitioners to approach before the Delhi High Court for early hearing.

"We hope and trust that the High Court shall consider the request of early hearing and pass an order", the bench said.

Senior counsel Siddharth Luthra, appearing for petitioners pointed out the humanitarian health crisis at present.

"If this project is deferred by 4 to 6 weeks nothing will happen. We suspended IPL. We have a situation where the spread of COVID is unprecedented," he argued.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, on behalf of the Centre, opposed the plea and argued that it will set a very wrong precedent to entertain a special leave petition against an order of adjournment.

Petitioners Anya Malhotra and Sohail Hashmi knocked on the doors of the top court after the Delhi High Court refused to put a stay on the Central Vista redevelopment project and adjourned the matter to May 17.

The plea contended that the construction of the project has a "super spreading potential and threat" to the workers who are being exposed to the infection daily while working and that too without payment.

The construction work for the Rs 20,000 crore project in the heart of the capital's power corridors has been brought under the ambit of "essential services", a move that has angered the opposition.

The opposition and activists have hit out hard at the government for continuing with work on the project in the middle of the pandemic.

The plan also recently received an environmental clearance which paves way for a new home for the Prime Minister to be built by December 2022.

UNI JW SB 1623
Frank Pizatella, Jr. passed away Saturday, June 5, 2021 at age 87. Frank grew up in Watson, West Virginia. He was a proud graduate of West Fairmont High School (1952) and Fairmont State College (1958) where he was a member of the first golf team to qualify for the National Tournament. A Vete
Tipperary County Council is delighted to announce that Tony Kirwan Civil Engineering Contractors of Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford has been awarded the contract for the Tipperary Town Market Yard Upgrade Project. This contract, with a value of 494,290, was signed on 5th May 2021 at the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District Offices at Rosanna Road, Tipperary Town.

This project is part of the phased Town Centre Improvement Scheme for Tipperary town which will improve connections from the Tipperary Excel Heritage Centre to the River Ara. This phase of the project will upgrade a section of Market Yard as a pedestrian friendly area. The physical works will comprise of the following elements:



upgrading of the traffic system;

upgrading of pavements including new kerbing and paving;

resurfacing of road sections;

upgrading of the lighting system;

installation of a new pedestrian crossing on Mitchell Street linking the Excel Heritage Centre (which incorporates Tipperary Town Library facility and Tourist Office) with the Market Yard and Town Centre;

installation of street furniture and planting;

installation of bespoke canopy structure for casual trading.

Works will commence this summer. While there will be some disruption during the works, this will be kept to a minimum. The car park, market stalls and market traders will continue to remain open for business during the project works. This project is being funded through Project Ireland 2040 and the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund (RRDF) from the Department of Rural and Community Development together with funding from Tipperary County Council.

Councillor Michael Smith, Cathaoirleach of Tipperary County Council and Councillor John Crosse, Cathaoirleach of Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District both welcomed the signing of this contract with Tony Kirwan Civil Engineering Contractors as a significant investment in Tipperary town centre and confirmed the Council`s ongoing commitment to the delivery of town renewal projects across the county. Councillor Michael Smith said  I look forwarded to the completion of this project which will increase the attractiveness of the town centre and provide a pleasant pedestrian friendly space which will also benefit businesses in the area



Councillor John Crosse added that the signing of this contract in addition to other works planned for the town, confirms Tipperary County Council`s commitment and ambition to the delivery of urban renewal and regeneration within Tipperary town. I believe that this project will greatly enhance the town centre and be a further catalyst for regeneration.



Tipperary County Council`s Chief Executive, Joe MacGrath said that Tipperary County Council is eagerly anticipating delivery of these public realm works which are one of many similar projects throughout the county that will enhance and improve the way historic town centres function on a day-to-day basis, ensuring they are welcoming and attractive to shoppers and visitors alike.



Tipperary County Council is grateful for the patience and understanding of our businesses and citizens throughout the period of the works and will communicate any key information through the Councils website and social media channels as the project progresses.
May 06, 2021





Experts have performed studies that show a clear correlation between phone addiction and academic performance. It's important to take note of both possibilities and threats it can bring. This article will dive further into this topic.

What Does the Statistic Say?

Cell phone use statistics found that 95% of students bring their phones to class every day. With 92% using them to text in class, and even 10% admitted to having texted during an exam (Tindell and Bohlander, 2012). This is enough data to cause controversy and have many wondering about the healthy use of these technology gadgets among the young population.







For many years there have been numerous discussions on the influence of cell phone use on the grades of students and their performance. These free examples of argumentative essays on cell phones in school at https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/cell-phones/ provide arguments both for and against using phones in the classroom. The idea of addiction in young people is terrible, whether it's drug addiction or internet use. And with a clear rise in technology addiction over the course of the years, many worry about the future of our generations.

We all live in a world where technology is becoming more and more widespread each day. Even many of our elders now have mastered the ability to navigate through the web with a cell phone. However, what the experts are concerned about is the negative effects of cell phones on students.

How Mobile Phone (News - Alert) Use Affects Student Grades

A recent study found that cell phone use was having a bad impact on the fitness of U.S college students. The data collected for the study explained that because students spend more time online, they have a more sedentary life. This same study also found evidence that proved how phones affect students' grades.

Jacobsen and Forste, in a study developed in 2011, found negative effects of cell phone use among college students in the United States. They were reported to have a lower GPA (grade point average).

Of course, this topic is a controversial one. While numerous cell phone research shows how their use affects students' performance, there have also been other interesting ones.

If your child has been getting lower grades in their essays, it might not be a casualty. Studies have shown that students overestimate their capacity to multitask. They might be paying less attention to how they write, and that will lead to lower performance in class.

Do American Schools Regulate Use of Phones?

Many schools have been wondering whether to prohibit cell phone use in their installations. Back in July, California passed a law that gives public schools the authority to ban phone usage. Of course, except for calls for emergencies or other special circumstances.

Another school in Michigan has recently prohibited carrying or using a phone during the school day.

This is certainly a trend rising in many American schools. And probably for the better, as it is proven that it affects students' performance.

Should We Fight the Use of Phones at School?

This topic is a controversial one. While numerous studies show how cell phone use affects students' performance, there have also been other interesting ones.

Other examples of studies show the contrary, as Chen and Tzeng's study did. In their research back in 2010, they found that students using the internet for information and to learn more about their homework topics was associated with better academic performance.

However, using the internet for other things such as video games lowered the levels of academic performance among students. Many might argue that how students use their cell phones impact deeply in their performance, rather than just the use itself. If a student uses the cellphone for research on their paper, then it is nothing to worry about.

On the other side, those who say cell phones should be allowed in schools often cite educational benefits. For example, a quick google search might dissolve some doubts or strengthen the knowledge in many topics. This has to be done carefully and through a rigorous control method. This way maybe students can enjoy a little bit of technology a day without the bad effects.

Conclusion

There are many strong opinions when it comes to this topic. The research has found strong evidence of lower performance among students when cell phone use is in the way. However, maybe this can be reduced by strict control of what goes on inside the classroom.
UW Faculty Member Contributes to Study of What Farms in the UK Should Look Like

Bethann Garramon Merkle, an assistant professor of practice in the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology, and director of research impacts assessment at UWs Biodiversity Institute, makes field observations at Happy Jack Recreation Area near Laramie. Merkle was a contributing author of a recent paper, titled What Does the U.K. Public Want Farmland to Look Like?, that was published in the April 15 issue of Land Use Policy. (Bethann Garramon Merkle Photo)

In a post-Brexit world, United Kingdom residents have a strong preference for diverse farm landscapes that include low-intensity livestock and trees, with a general dislike of wind turbines and crop monocultures.

This is according to a nationally representative survey study (2,050 participants) in which a University of Wyoming faculty member was involved. The mixed-methods approach also included a survey in which 80 U.K. residents participated in collage-creating workshops to understand aesthetic preferences for their perceived ideal and environmentally friendly farm landscapes. They each completed two collages and a short survey to explain their choices.

The whole point of the paper was to build an understanding of what the U.K. public wants in the face of imminent, major changes in their land use/agriculture/environmental policies, says Bethann Garramon Merkle, an assistant professor of practice in the UW Department of Zoology and Physiology, and director of research impacts assessment at UWs Biodiversity Institute. The U.K. used to be part of the European Union (EU), so it used to adhere to EU policies and incentive programs. Now, the U.K. government is tasked with developing a new policy framework. Now is the time to understand what the U.K. public wants prioritized in those policies.

Merkle was a contributing author of a paper, titled What Does the U.K. Public Want Farmland to Look Like?, that was published April 15 in Land Use Policy. The international and interdisciplinary journal is focused on the social, economic, political, legal, physical and planning aspects of urban and rural land use.

Niki Rust, a research associate in the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University in the U.K., was the papers lead and corresponding author. Others who contributed to the paper were from Newcastle University; the University of Cape Town in Cape Town, South Africa; and Environment and Parks, Government of Alberta in Canada.

While this particular study took place in the U.K., Merkle sees the research methods as useful closer to home.

I see it having a lot of relevance for us in Wyoming and North America broadly, as it uses a mixed-methods approach to better understand what citizens actually want to see on the landscape, she says. We are deep into these kinds of discussions in Wyoming right now, so these kinds of public consultation studies can be valuable for us, too.

This study is a powerful example of the relevance and, I would even argue, necessity of using cross-disciplinary approaches to understand public opinion, Merkle continues. We used both a survey and a collage process, which provided a more robust understanding than if we had used either approach alone. Given UW President Ed Seidels interest in interdisciplinary work, this study is a valuable example of how that can be operationalized in ways that mutually benefit research efforts and public policy.

Participants in the collage-based workshop use their art skills to show what they would prefer U.K. farms to look like. (Niki Rust Photo)

For example, some participants in the collage exercise ideally liked to see livestock on farms. However, to make the same farms environmentally friendly, those same participants thought it would be better to have less livestock, more trees and renewable energy options, such as wind farms. Yet, they admitted that wind farms are not aesthetically pleasing to look at.

The U.K., as part of the EU, previously adhered to EU policies and incentive programs that provided subsidies to landowners and farmers based on the amount of land they managed. Now that the U.K. has separated from the Common Agricultural Policy, the U.K. government is tasked with developing a new policy framework for agriculture and farming.

Following the data collection and analysis phases of the study, Merkle was involved with theoretical, applied and art-science integration components of the research. The papers results found that facilitated, arts-based methods can be useful for visualizing public expectations and preferences.

As indicated in the paper, its not exactly a surprising result, but there also isnt a lot of quantified evidence that this approach is useful in the context we studied, Merkle says. So, finding that out is both helpful for methods/efforts in public consultation and also a valuable contribution to our understanding of how arts-based methods can be used to enhance more quantitative research methods.

While political decision-making on farmland in the Mountain West does not quite have the same urgency as the current situation in the U.K., our region is experiencing two intersecting influences that make the process used in the U.K. study relevant here, Merkle says. First, farmers, public lands users, policymakers and researchers are all acutely aware that local ecosystems are changing rapidly. At the same time, federal land management and community consultation policies and approaches are shifting in step with the current administrations priorities.

For both of these reasons, our study can provide a potential model for how researchers, agencies and communities could work to understand what their stakeholders want to see in the landscapes of Wyoming and the Mountain West, Merkle says.
[May 05, 2021] Accelleran, a global leader in 4G/5G Cloud-Native OpenRAN platforms, raises Series B financing to accelerate its growth in support of roll out of 5G networks worldwide

ANTWERP, Belgium, May 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelleran, a leading provider of OpenRAN software solutions for 4G/5G networks announced a EUR 6,8M Series B funding round led by Cogito Capital Partners, with participation of Qbic, and existing investors Capital-E and AAAF. The funding will be used by the company to fuel its global expansion. As 5G network deployments accelerate across the globe and the OpenRAN system of standards gathers momentum, service providers from mobile operators, to edge computing infrastructure providers, to system integrators are turning to Accelleran's proven 4G/5G RAN cloud-native software. 5G networks provide an enhanced broadband experience with speeds of up to 1 Gbps and latency of 10ms, as well as a platform for cloud and AI-based services. The global 5G services market is expected to exceed US$250 Bn by 2027, according to Acumen Research. Belgium-based Accelleran provides OpenRAN Software solutions for operators of 5G networks. With Accelleran's unique software architecture, clients unlock the true potential of software-defined networks, network virtualization, and RAN intelligence to better manage private, public, and neutral-host networks. Accelleran's dRAX delivers proven containerized software components to enable real-world deployment of multi-vendor, intelligent, and disaggregated OpenRAN, in alignment with the open standards such as the O-RAN Alliance. These Cloud-Native components deliver reliable, cost-effective, and scalable solutions for both 4G and 5G networks, including artificial intelligence-based automation. "From its inception, Accelleran has been a pioneer in applying cloud-based virtualization software architectures to mobile telecom, what is now commonly known as Open or Virtual RAN," said Frederic van Durme, CEO of Accelleran. "The new financial backing and domain expertise of Cogito and Qbic, and the continued support of Capital-E and AAAF, will allow us to realize our mission to becom a global, independent provider of mission critical software components for the RAN."



"We are excited about Accelleran's prospects and impressed with the quality and scalability of the platform they've developed," said Martin Jasinski, Cogito's General Partner. "We are strong believers in the future of OpenRAN-based, private 5G networks and see Accelleran as one of the emerging global leaders in a market that is about to enter a hypergrowth phase." "Through this Series B funding, we are pleased to support Accelleran's further development, and look forward to working with them as they address the huge market opportunity around disaggregated RAN," said Sofie Baeten, Managing Partner at Qbic.

"We look forward to continuing to support Accelleran, together with new investors, in building out key go-to-market partnerships, with particular focus on the US and European markets," said Marc Wachsmuth, Managing Partner at Capital-E. About Accelleran Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Antwerp, Belgium, Accelleran provides disruptive software, solutions and services for Open 4G and 5G RAN and vRAN. The company's unique approach supports genuine cloud-native deployment of RAN software components on the edge, in the cloud or embedded in the RRU. Accelleran's commitment to openness enables multi-vendor radio deployments and delivers open RAN data for AI-enabled network algorithms. With a strong track record as the cellular industry's leading RAN design, test and integration team, Accelleran is the natural choice for carrier-grade, reliable, portable and performant Radio Access Network Solutions and Services across multiple markets such as Private Networks, Fixed Wireless, Public Mobile, Neutral Host and IoT. For further information about Accelleran, please visit our website www.accelleran.com . About Cogito Capital Cogito Capital Partners is a venture and growth capital firm based in Warsaw, Poland and New York, USA. Cogito invests in late-stage B2B tech companies predominantly operating in CEE and other European countries, but with global expansion potential. Cogito focuses primarily on enterprise software, fintech/insurtech & digital health sectors, partnering with entrepreneurs seeking investors with CEE regional presence and global reach. For further information about Cogito, please visit our website cogitocap.com. About Qbic Qbic is an early-stage and sector-agnostic, inter university fund that invests in spin-offs and in young innovative ventures with a technology link to the Qbic associated universities and knowledge centers. Qbic is managed by an independent team of experts in investments and management. With around  100 million in resources, Qbic is one of the largest spin-off funds in Europe. Qbic I started in 2012 and allocated all its resources to 18 ventures. Qbic II is now in its final investment year and has so far built a portfolio of 16 investments. www.qbic.be About Capital-E Capital-E is an early-stage venture fund focused exclusively on semiconductors & system software related ventures in Europe. With over 100 m  of assets under management, the funds are led by an independent team with expertise in electronics and a balanced mix of entrepreneurial, industrial and VC experience. More information can be obtained at www.capital-e.com. About AAAF The Ark Angels Activator Fund NV (AAAF) is an ARKIV fund in the ARKimedes scheme of the Flemish investment company PMV. The shareholders of the fund are PMV, ING Belgium and 57 business angels, members of BAN Flanders. The fund has 14.8 million euros under management and has invested, together with business angels and other co-investors, in Flemish SMEs in their start-up, growth or transformation phases (www.aaafund.be).

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[May 07, 2021] Canada and Alberta support infrastructure investments to upgrade Yellowhead Tribal College's STEM facilities

EDMONTON, AB and TREATY 6 TERRITORY, AB, May 7, 2021 /CNW/ - Together, Canada, Alberta and Indigenous peoples are working in partnership to deliver infrastructure projects that meet the interests and needs of Treaty First Nations and help advance reconciliation for the benefit of current and future generations of all people in Canada. Today, the Honourable Jim Carr, Minister and Special Representative for the Prairies, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, the Honourable Prasad Panda, Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure, and Dr. Diana Steinhauer, President of the Yellowhead Tribal College, announced joint funding to upgrade educational facilities at the Yellowhead Tribal College. Once the project is completed, students will benefit from a restructured classroom and laboratory, expected to increase educational attainment in the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The Yellowhead Tribal College strives to achieve academic excellence and student success by providing academic programs and services founded on the worldview of the Anishinabe, Nehiyaw and Isga peoples. The project announced today will also support the College's mandate, particularly in STEM fields, by generating interest and growth in student enrollment, notably among Indigenous students. The project includes removing walls to widen an existing classroom and laboratory, complete with electrical system and electrical connections, exhaust fans and control devices, air ducts, fume hoods, and new flooring. The Government of Canada is investing more than $176,000 in this project through the Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Yellowhead Tribal College is contributing over $43,000, and the Chemical Institute of Canada is contributing $15,000 through its Chemical Education Foundation. Quotes "Yellowhead Tribal College integrates Indigenous People's traditional knowledge of the land with advanced science. By investing in the College's classroom and laboratory, we're encouraging post-secondary education, and equipping tomorrow's scientits, engineers and inventors to become world leaders."



The Honourable Jim Carr, Minister and Special Representative for the Prairies, on behalf of the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities "Construction at the Yellowhead Tribal College will help protect the lives and livelihoods of Albertans by supporting good-paying jobs for Edmonton area workers, providing economic benefits throughout the local community, and ensuring students have access to the modernized facility they need to help achieve their learning and career goals."

Prasad Panda, Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure "Not only does this project build on the foundation of the spirit of Treaty No. 6; it is a collaborative enterprise for the benefit of current and future students. A safe place to learn, cognitively, spiritually and physically, is created by this project. Creating change by including the First Nations' way of knowing, it also provides opportunities to engage with Elders in a science lab." Chief Tony Alexis, Yellowhead Tribal Development Foundation Quick facts Through the Investing in Canada Plan, the Government of Canada is investing more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada's rural and northern communities.

Plan, the Government of is investing more than over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and rural and northern communities. In Alberta , the Government of Canada has invested more than $5 billion in 352 infrastructure projects under the Investing in Canada Plan. Associated links Investing in Canada Plan Project Map:

http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gmap-gcarte/index-eng.html Federal infrastructure investments in Alberta:

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/investments-2002-investissements/ab-eng.html Investing in Canada: Canada's Long-Term Infrastructure Plan:

https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/plan/icp-publication-pic-eng.html Yellowhead Tribal College:

https://ytced.ab.ca/ Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn

Web: Infrastructure Canada SOURCE Infrastructure Canada

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[May 07, 2021] Government of Canada invests nearly $1 million to bring high-speed Internet to 4,557 more homes in the Durham region

Ontarians in rural communities to benefit from increased connectivity OTTAWA, ON, May 7, 2021 /CNW/ - The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how much we rely on our connections. Now more than ever, Canadians across the country need access to reliable high-speed Internet as many of us are working, learning, and staying in touch with friends and family from home. Right now, too many Canadians living in rural and remote communities lack access to high-speed Internet. Through the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) Rapid Response Stream, the Government of Canada is taking immediate action to get Canadians connected to the high-speed Internet they need.

Today, Ryan Turnbull, Member of Parliament for Whitby, on behalf of the Honourable Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, announced $999,200 in federal funding to bring high-speed Internet to 4,557 underserved households in the communities of Orono, Hampton, Blackstock, Enniskillen, Columbus, Solina, Manchester, Burketon Station, Pontypool, Raglan, Ashburn, Myrtle Station, Kendal, Nestleton Station, North Oshawa and Macedonian Village. Ruralwave is investing an additional $542,000, and Bell Canada is investing an additional $210,000. The projects being announced today were approved within six months of the November 2020 formal launch of the now $2.75-billion UBF. Projects funded under the UBF, as well as through other public and private investments, will help connect 98% of Canadians to high-speed Internet by 2026 and achieve the national target of 100% connectivity by 2030. Today's announcement builds on the progress the Government of Canada has already made to improve critical infrastructure in Ontario. Since 2015, the federal government has invested more than $2.85 billion in over 4,060 infrastructure projects in Ontario communities with a population of fewer than 100,000 people. These investments mean 481 km of new or upgraded roads that are making our communities safer; more than 938 projects to provide residents with cleaner, more ustainable sources of drinking water; and more than 5,427 additional housing units built in rural communities, helping ensure all Ontarians have a safe place to call home.



Quotes "The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that reliable, high-speed Internet access is a necessity, not a luxury. This significant federal government investment through the Rapid Response Stream of the Universal Broadband Fund will bring Internet access to more than 4000 households across rural areas in Durham, including in Brooklin, Myrtle, Ashburn and the Macedonian Village in Whitby. This high-speed Internet access announcement means more families in our communities will be better supported to work, study and access other essential services from home."

 Ryan Turnbull, Member of Parliament for Whitby

"The last year has put a spotlight on the vital role connectivity plays for Canadians and businesses in communities across Canada. I thank the Government of Canada for their support and investment to connect more Canadians to fixed wireless home Internet in Clarington and Enniskillen and high-speed fibre connectivity in Burketon and Tyrone."

 Dan Risebrough Barnes, Director of Operations, Ruralwave, powered by Rogers "Access to high-speed broadband networks will be a driver of Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and of future social and economic prosperity, and Bell has committed to further accelerating our industry-leading capital investment plan over the next two years to connect even more communities across the country. We're proud to invest $210,000 and to partner with the Government of Canada in providing residents of Macedonian Village with access to the fastest fibre home Internet speeds available."

 Bruce Furlong, Senior Vice-President, Access Engineering and Deployment, Bell Canada

Quick facts Canada's Connectivity Strategy aims to provide all Canadians with access to Internet speeds of at least 50 megabits per second (Mbps) download / 10 Mbps upload.

The Universal Broadband Fund (UBF) is a $2.75-billion investment designed to help connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet. Applications to the UBF were accepted until March 15, 2021 , and are now being evaluated.

investment designed to help connect all Canadians to high-speed Internet. Applications to the UBF were accepted until , and are now being evaluated. The UBF is part of a suite of federal investments to improve high-speed Internet. The suite includes the Connect to Innovate program, which is expected to connect nearly 400,000 households by 2023, and the recently announced $2-billion broadband initiative from the Canada Infrastructure Bank. Associated links Backgrounder: Universal Broadband Fund and Telesat low Earth orbit satellite capacity agreement

Universal Broadband Fund

Connect to Innovate Program  Project status updates

Canada Infrastructure Bank announcement

High-Speed Access for All: Canada's Connectivity Strategy Stay connected Follow Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on Twitter: @ISED_CA SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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[May 07, 2021] IBM Extends HBCU Initiatives Through New Industry Collaborations

ARMONK, N.Y., May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today it has extended its IBM Global University Program with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to 40 schools. IBM is now working with the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education (AABHE), 100 Black Men of America, Inc., Advancing Minorities' Interest in Engineering (AMIE) and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to better prepare HBCU students for in-demand jobs in the digital economy. In parallel, the IBM Institute for Business Value released a new report with broad-ranging recommendations on how businesses can cultivate more diverse, inclusive workforces by establishing similar programs and deepening engagement with HBCUs. IBM's HBCU program momentum has been strong in an environment where only 43% of leaders across industry and academia believe higher education prepares students with necessary workforce skills.* In September 2020, IBM announced the investment of $100 million in assets, technology and resources to HBCUs across the United States. Through IBM Global University Programs, which include the continuously enhanced IBM Academic Initiative and IBM Skills Academy, IBM has now: Distributed no-charge access to cloud, AI and quantum computing software, courseware, tutorials and over 330 university guest lecturers across 40 HBCUs.

Trained over 247 HBCU faculty in AI, blockchain, cloud computing, cybersecurity, data science, design thinking, Internet of Things and quantum computing.

Awarded 15 students from nine HBCUs with inaugural IBM Masters Fellowship Awards to help progress their work in disruptive technologies, regardless of their field of study. Building on this work, IBM and key HBCU ecosystem partners are now collaborating to expedite faculty and student access and use of IBM's industry resources. American Association of Blacks in Higher Education is involved in numerous initiatives such as addressing the pipeline of Black faculty and staff in higher education, bringing issues pertinent to Black faculty and staff to the attention of the larger academic community and recognizing African American achievements and accomplishments to higher education. Through this new collaboration with IBM, AABHE members can access industry resources at no cost to help remove gaps in some of the most in-demand skills areas.

is involved in numerous initiatives such as addressing the pipeline of Black faculty and staff in higher education, bringing issues pertinent to Black faculty and staff to the attention of the larger academic community and recognizing African American achievements and accomplishments to higher education. Through this new collaboration with IBM, AABHE members can access industry resources at no cost to help remove gaps in some of the most in-demand skills areas. Advancing Minorities' Interest in Engineering is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to expand corporate and government alliances with the 15 ABET-accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering to implement and support programs to attract, educate, graduate and place underrepresented minority students in engineering and computer science careers. IBM Global University Programs like the IBM Academic Initiative and the IBM Skills Academy provide access, assets and opportunities for AMIE's HBCU faculty and students to gain high-demand skills in areas like AI, cybersecurity, blockchain, quantum computing and cloud computing.

is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to expand corporate and government alliances with the 15 ABET-accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering to implement and support programs to attract, educate, graduate and place underrepresented minority students in engineering and computer science careers. IBM Global University Programs like the IBM Academic Initiative and the IBM Skills Academy provide access, assets and opportunities for AMIE's HBCU faculty and students to gain high-demand skills in areas like AI, cybersecurity, blockchain, quantum computing and cloud computing. 100 Black Men of America, Inc . is collaborating with IBM across its 102 U.S. and international chapters to enable leaders and mentors to introduce students to resources they may not be aware they have access to for developing crucial skills in high-demand areas.

is collaborating with IBM across its 102 U.S. and international chapters to enable leaders and mentors to introduce students to resources they may not be aware they have access to for developing crucial skills in high-demand areas. United Negro College Fund will collaborate with IBM to help students maximize their potential by growing their awareness of industry opportunities for in-demand skills and by providing access to no-cost resources businesses use daily so students can pursue those skills for their 37 members.



"Investing in Black Technical Talent: The Power of Partnering with HBCUs," IBM describes how HBCUs succeed in realizing their mission and innovate to produce an exceptional talent pipeline, despite serious funding challenges. IBM explains its approach to broad-based HBCU collaboration with a series of best-practices for industry organizations. IBM's series of best practices include:

Identify the schools that make the right fit

Define your strategy and commit to it for the long term

Get support from the top

Keep a partner mindset

Define shared metrics for success

Evaluate, improve and repeat To download the full report, please visit: LINK. HBCU students continue to engage with IBM on a wide range of opportunities. These include students taking artificial intelligence, cybersecurity or cloud e-learning courses and receiving a foundational industry badge certificate in four hours. Many also attend IBM's virtual student Wednesday seminars with leading experts, such as IBM neuroscientists who discuss the implications of ethics in neurotechnology. Statements from Collaborators

"HBCUs typically deliver a high return on investment. They have less money in their endowments, faculty is responsible for teaching a larger volume of classes per term and they receive less revenue per student than non-HBCUs. Yet, HBCUs produce almost a third of all African-American STEM graduates,"** said Valinda Kennedy, HBCU Program Manager, IBM Global University Programs and co-author of "Investing in Black Technical Talent: The Power of Partnering with HBCUs." "It is both a racial equity and an economic imperative for U.S. industry competitiveness to develop the most in-demand skills and jobs for all students and seek out HBCU students who are typically underrepresented in many of the most high-demand areas." "100 Black Men of America, Inc. is proud to collaborate with IBM to deliver these exceptional and needed resources to the HBCU community and students attending these institutions. The 100 has long supported and sought to identify mechanisms that aid in the sustainability of historically black colleges and universities. This collaboration and the access and opportunities provided by IBM will make great strides in advancing that goal," stated 100 Black Men of America Chairman Thomas W. Dortch, Jr. "The American Association of Blacks in Higher Education is proud to collaborate with IBM," said Dereck Rovaris, President, AABHE. "Our mission to be the premier organization to drive leadership development, access and vital issues concerning Blacks in higher education works perfectly with IBM's mission to lead in the creation, development and manufacture of the industry's most advanced information technologies. Together this collaboration will enhance both organizations and the many people we serve." "IBM is a strong AMIE partner whose role is strategic and support is significant in developing a diverse engineering workforce through AMIE and our HBCU community. IBM's presence on AMIE's Board of Directors provides leadership for AMIE's strategies, key initiatives and programs to achieve our goal of a diverse engineering workforce," said Veronica Nelson, Executive Director, AMIE. "IBM programs like the IBM Academic Initiative and the IBM Skills Academy provide access, assets and opportunities for our HBCU faculty and students to gain high-demand skills in areas like AI, cybersecurity, blockchain, quantum computing and cloud computing. IBM is a key sponsor of the annual AMIE Design Challenge introducing students to new and emerging technologies through industry collaborations and providing experiential activities like IBM Enterprise Design Thinking, which is the foundational platform for the Design Challenge. The IBM Masters and PhD Fellowship Awards program supports our HBCU students with mentoring, collaboration opportunities on disruptive technologies as well as a financial award. The IBM Blue Movement HBCU Coding Boot Camp enables and recognizes programming competencies. IBM also sponsors scholarships for the students at the 15 HBCU Schools of Engineering to support their educational pursuits. IBM continues to evolve its engagement with AMIE and the HBCU Schools of Engineering." "The IBM Skills Academy is timely in providing resources that support the creativity of my students in the Dual Degree Engineering Program at Clark Atlanta University," said Dr. Olugbemiga A. Olatidoye, Professor, Dual Degree Engineering and Director, Visualization, Stimulation and Design Laboratory, Clark Atlanta University. "It also allows my students to be skillful in their design thinking process, which resulted in an IBM digital badge certificate and a stackable credential for their future endeavors." "We truly value the IBM skills programs and have benefitted from the Academic Initiative, Skills Academy and Global University Awards across all five campuses," said Dr. Derrick Warren, Interim Associate Dean and MBA Director, Southern University. "Over 24 faculty and staff have received instructor training and more than 300 students now have micro-certifications in AI, cloud, cybersecurity, data science, design thinking, Internet of Things, quantum computing and other offerings." "At UNCF, we have a history of supporting HBCUs as they amplify their outsized impact on the Black community, and our work would not be possible without transformational partnerships with organizations like IBM and their IBM Global University Programs," said Ed Smith-Lewis, Executive Director of UNCF's Institute for Capacity Building. "We are excited to bring the resources of IBM to HBCUs, their faculty, and their students." "IBM Skills Academy is an ideal platform for faculty to teach their students the latest in computing and internet technologies," said Dr. Sridhar Malkaram, West Virginia State University. "It helped the students in my Applied Data Mining course experience the state of the art in data science methods and analysis tools. The course completion badge/certificate has been an additional and useful incentive for students, which promoted their interest. The Skills Academy courses can be advantageously adapted by faculty, either as stand-alone courses or as part of existing courses." About IBM:

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud, AI and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. For more information visit: https://newsroom.ibm.com/home. *King, Michael, Anthony Marshall, Dave Zaharchuk. "Pursuit of relevance: How higher education remains viable in today's dynamic world." IBM Institute for Business Value. Accessed March 23, 2021. https://www.ibm.com/thought-leadership/institute-business-value/report/education-relevance **Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System IBM Media RelationsContact:

Carrie Bendzsa

Carrie.bendzsa@ca.ibm.com

+1613-796-3880 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-extends-hbcu-initiatives-through-new-industry-collaborations-301286617.html SOURCE IBM

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[May 07, 2021] Leidos Completes Acquisition of Gibbs & Cox

RESTON, Va., May. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Leidos Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LDOS) ("Leidos"), a FORTUNE 500 science and technology leader, today announced the completed acquisition of Gibbs & Cox, Inc. ("Gibbs & Cox") for approximately $380 million in cash. The transaction was previously announced on Feb. 23, 2021. Gibbs & Cox will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and will be combined with Leidos' maritime systems division. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Gibbs & Cox is the largest independent ship design firm focused on naval architecture and marine engineering. The company's world class naval architects, designers, engineers and program managers develop innovative vessel designs and naval capabilities. The acquisition positions Leidos to provide a broad set of engineering solutions to the US Navy and to an expanding set of foreign Navies. "We are delighted to welcome the Gibbs & Cox team to the Leidos family," said Leidos Chairman and CEO Roger Krone. "Gibbs & Cox is widely regarded for developing the most talented and experienced naval designers in the world. We look forward to this new era of innovation while combining the best of both companies." "We are excited to join Leidos, whose employee culture and history of innovation strongly mirror our own legendary 91-year history", said Gibbs & Cox President and Chief Executive Chris Deegan. "Gibbs & Cox will remain the nation's largest independent provider of maritime services. The combination of our world-class naval architecture, design and engineering services with Leidos' speed, security and scale will significantly enhance our combined offerings in the fast growing maritime undersea, autonomous and cyber security segments. We look forward to mapping a new Gibbs & Cox with Leidos for the next 90 years." Advisors Citigroup Global Markets Inc. served as exclusive financial advisor and Holland & Knight LLP served as legal advisor to Leidos. Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor and Greenburg Traurig, LLP served as legal advisor to Gibbs & Cox in connection with this transaction.



About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 39,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Va. , Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $12.30 billion for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2021 . For more information, visit www.Leidos.com. About Gibbs & Cox

Gibbs & Cox, Inc. is an independent engineering and design firm specializing in naval architecture, marine engineering, management support, and engineering consulting. The firm is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia with offices throughout the United States and Australia. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The forward-looking statements contained in this release involve risks and uncertainties that may affect Leidos' operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek," "project", "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can," "continue" and other words of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of the transaction or future operating or financial performance or events. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, economic, competitive, legal, governmental and technological factors. Accordingly, there is no assurance that the expectations of Leidos will be realized. This release also contains statements about the proposed acquisition of Gibbs & Cox that are based on assumptions currently believed to be valid but involve significant risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Leidos' control, which could cause Leidos' actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements with respect to the transaction, including risks relating to the completion of the transaction on anticipated terms and timing, including regulatory approvals, anticipated tax treatment, ability to retain key personnel, the dependency of the transaction on market conditions and the impact of a change in market conditions on the value to be received in the transaction, unforeseen liabilities, future capital expenditures, uncertainty as to the expected financial condition and economic performance of the company following the closing, including future revenues, expenses, earnings, indebtedness, losses, prospects, business strategies for the management, expansion and growth of the company following the closing, Leidos' ability to integrate the businesses successfully and to achieve anticipated synergies, and the risk that disruptions from the transaction will harm Leidos' business. While the list of factors presented here is considered representative, no such list should be considered to be a complete statement of all potential risks and uncertainties. Unlisted factors may present significant additional obstacles to the realization of forward-looking statements. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, legal liability to third parties and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on Leidos' consolidated financial condition, results of operations or liquidity. For a discussion identifying additional important factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, see Leidos' filings with the SEC, including "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and "Risk Factors" in Leidos' annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 1, 2021 and in its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q which are available at http://www.leidos.com/ and at the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made only as of the date of this release. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Leidos assumes no obligation to provide revisions or updates to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by securities and other applicable laws. Contact:

Melissa Duenas

(571) 526-6850

Melissa.L.Duenas@leidos.com

Thomas Doheny

(571) 474-4735

Dohenyt@leidos.com View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leidos-completes-acquisition-of-gibbs--cox-301286647.html SOURCE Leidos Holdings Inc.

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[May 07, 2021] MetroNet Announces Expansion of 100% Fiber Optic Network to City of Des Moines

MetroNet today announced that it will be bringing its 100 percent fiber optic internet, TV and phone service to businesses and residents within the City of Des Moines. MetroNet expects to invest approximately $70 million to fully fund the building of its network in Des Moines, bringing the total invested in Iowa communities in excess of $150 million. MetroNet does not require any investment from communities where they construct their 100 percent fiber optic network, providing residents and businesses with symmetrical, Gigabit speed internet service. MetroNet currently serves the Iowa communities of Davenport, Bettendorf, and Ames, and is currently in the process of bringing its 100 percent fiber optic network to the communities of Ankeny, Urbandale, Gilbert, Grimes, Johnston, Clive, Le Claire, Nevada and Mason City. "We're extremely pleased that a solid Midwestern company such as MetroNet is going to provide 100 percent fiber optic high-speed services to our residents," said Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie. "From the beginning, our goal for broadband services for Des Moines has been access to all homes, schools and businesses, affordability of service for all customers and an activation plan that ensures users understand, appreciate and utilize the benefits of the technology and services." MetroNet is bridging the digital divide as one of the fastest-growing providers of fiber optic high-speed broadband services in the nation and is known for its superior customer service provided through a strong local presence. MetroNet delivers affordable, symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Gigabits with no long term contracts to homes and businesses in underserved communities in America. The company expects its network to be available to over one million residential households and business locations in the near term, providing service options to hundreds of communities. "MetroNet is excited to provide the City of Des Moines wth a 100 percent fiber optic network, helping to future-proof another great Iowa city. We are excited to be adding Des Moines to our growing list of Gigabit cities across the United States and are very appreciative of the support we have received from the Des Moines Mayor, Frank Cownie and his team," said John Cinelli, MetroNet President & CEO. "We are proud to serve and work with this great community while providing choice, competition, and unparalleled customer service."



Construction activities will commence immediately with physical construction starting this coming fall. New customer installations are expected to start in the spring of '22. In new MetroNet markets, residents will receive communication by mail about construction activity in their neighborhood 30 days prior to starting and the company provides additional messaging, such as yard signs, to let residents know when the temporary construction process is beginning in their neighborhood. MetroNet crews are marked by ID tags and branded vehicles.

Residents and businesses that are interested in MetroNet services may visit construction.metronetinc.com to receive updates on construction throughout their community and to indicate their interest in receiving services. MetroNet will establish a storefront located in Des Moines for customers to have direct access to customer service and sales. Customers will be able to visit the store to speak with customer service representatives and sign-up for services. Additionally, MetroNet plans to hire local market management positions, sales and customer service professionals, and service technicians to support the Des Moines area. For those interested in joining the MetroNet team, visit metronetinc.com/careers in the coming months to search available positions and submit applications. About MetroNet: MetroNet is a 100 percent Fiber Optic Company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana. The customer-focused company provides cutting-edge fiber optic communication services, including high-speed Fiber Internet, full-featured Fiber Phone, and Fiber IPTV (News - Alert) with a wide variety of programming. MetroNet started in 2005 with one fiber optic network in Greencastle, Indiana, and has since grown to serving and constructing networks in more than 100 communities across Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Texas. MetroNet is committed to bringing state-of-the-art telecommunication services to communities - services that are comparable or superior to those offered in large metropolitan areas. MetroNet has been named in the top 50 small and medium companies on Glassdoor and has been honored with a Glassdoor Employees' Choice Award recognizing MetroNet among the Best Places to Work in 2020. For more information, visit www.MetroNetinc.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005359/en/

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[May 07, 2021] PacSun Announces Leadership Transition

PacSun today announced a leadership transition whereby Alfred Chang, PacSun President, and Michael (Mike) Relich, Interim CEO of PSEB Group, will be elevated to Co-Chief Executive Officers, and Brieane (Brie) Olson (News - Alert) , PacSun's Chief Brand Officer, will be promoted to President. Mr. Chang has served as President of PacSun since 2018 and has over 20 years of experience in the retail industry, including serving in multiple senior positions since joining the company in 2006. Mr. Relich, who has more than 30 years of retail operations and system experience, has served as Interim CEO of PSEB Group, which owns PacSun and Eddie Bauer, since August 2020 and previously served as PSEB's Chief Operating Officer. Ms. Olson has over 20 years of experience in the retail industry and has served as Chief Brand Officer of PacSun since July 2020, and previously served in multiple senior positions since joining the company in 2006. Founded in 1980, and acquired by Golden Gate Capital in 2016, PacSun is a pioneering brand in youth culture dedicated to delivering an exclusive collection of the most relevant brands and styles to a community of inspired youth. The company represents leading brands including Vans, Fear of God Essentials, Champion, and John Galt, as well as its own labels. PacSun generated over $700 million in sales in 2020, representing growth over 2019, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital sales more than doubled in 2020, now representing 50% of the brand's sales. 2021 year-to-date sales are up 105% versus the same period last year and are up 48% as compared to the same period in 2019. Digital sales in 2021 have increased 65% versus the same period last year and are up more than 170% as compared to the same period in 2019. PacSun was recently ranked as the #3 apparel brand among teens,1 a product of the company's relentless focus on the brand's strategy, strong social media presence, and partnerships with key collaborators like John Galt, Fear of God Essentials, and Emma Chamberlain. Neale Attenborough, PSEB Chairman and Operating Partner at Golden Gate Capital, said, "Alfred has established himself as a visionary leader for PacSun and Mike has driven operational excellence through his strong stewardship of PSEB. The company is enjoying success through a strong roster of brand partnerships with the most coveted youth culture brands in the market, and a terrific bench of seasoned leaders. We are confident the company will accelerate its trajectory under the leadership of Alfred and Mike, combined with Brie's creative, merchandising, and marketing expertise." Mike Montgomery, Managing Director at Golden Gate Capital, said, "PacSun is finding great success and resonating with consumers. The company's winning brand strategy and thriving e-commerce platform has made it one of the most sought-after retailers for teens and young adults. Since acquiring the company in 2016, EBITDA has more than tripled. We are excited about the opportunities ahead for PacSun and look forward to continuing to support the team." Mr. Chang said, "Over the past 1 years, we have evolved PacSun to create not only a better brand for our customers, but a stronger internal culture. By focusing foremost on our community and what means most to them - not just fashion and trends, but creativity, culture, diversity, and inclusion - we have created a dynamic and relevant lifestyle brand that represents so much more than just great products. I am incredibly proud of the company PacSun is today and thrilled to assume this role alongside Mike, a colleague that I respect immensely."



Mr. Relich said, "This is an exciting time in PacSun's history and I am pleased to assume the Co-CEO role. It has been a pleasure working closely with Alfred over the last couple of years and I know from experience that our skills and leadership styles complement each other perfectly. We have a leading brand, strong operational and technology infrastructure in place, and a winning strategy - all driven by the best team in the business. PacSun has tremendous momentum and I believe the best is yet to come." Ms. Olson said, "It has been deeply rewarding to see PacSun thrive since I joined the company 14 years ago, and I am excited to continue building upon our unique brand identity. I look forward to working with Alfred, Mike and the rest of our amazing team to continue to strengthen our platform."

As Co-CEOs, Mr. Chang and Mr. Relich will have distinct oversight of key business functions. Mr. Chang will be responsible for setting and driving PacSun's brand strategy, including design, merchandising, marketing, retail and e-commerce. Mr. Relich will oversee operations, including sourcing/supply chain, distribution, planning & allocation, IT, finance, legal, and human resources. Both will serve on the PacSun Board of Directors. As President, Ms. Olson will continue to have oversight of merchandising/design for both Men's and Women's, as well as brand marketing and creative. In a separate press release issued today, it was announced that Authentic Brands Group and SPARC Group LLC have entered into an agreement to acquire Eddie Bauer from PSEB. Upon completion of the transaction, which is expected by June 1, 2021, Mr. Chang, Mr. Relich, and Ms. Olson will assume their new roles at PacSun. Alfred Chang Biography Mr. Chang joined PacSun in 2006 as Senior Buyer for Men's Merchandising and served in multiple senior positions at the company, including as Chief Brand Officer and EVP of Marketing and SVP of Men's Merchandising and Design. Mr. Chang has over 20 years of experience in the retail industry and has been critical in establishing PacSun as a leading lifestyle retailer known for its exclusive collections of the most relevant brands and styles. Mike Relich Biography Mr. Relich assumed the role of COO of PSEB in November 2019. Under his leadership, the company significantly streamlined and improved operations at its Groveport, Ohio distribution center. Mr. Relich also led IT, overseeing the existing IT roadmap and improving that area operationally and financially. More recently, Mr. Relich spearheaded PSEB's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which enabled the PacSun and Eddie Bauer brands to continue to perform and operate smoothly and safely. Previously, Mr. Relich served in various COO roles for iconic brands such as Lucky Brand, Crate and Barrel, and GUESS?, Inc. Mr. Relich also served as the CIO and SVP of e-com for GUESS?, where he was responsible for building the system infrastructure that enabled the company to grow from a $640 million North America-centric business in 2004 to a $2.3 billion global operation with over 1,700 stores in 87 countries. Brie Olson Biography Ms. Olson joined PacSun in 2006 as Senior Design Director (Women's) and has held roles of increasing responsibility since that time. Prior to being named Chief Brand Officer in 2020, she held the titles of Chief Merchandising Officer and Senior Vice President of Merchandising and Design. Ms. Olson has over 20 years of experience in the retail industry and has played an instrumental role in building and strengthening PacSun's brand through innovative strategies with a Gen Z focus. ABOUT PACSUN PacSun is a leading specialty retailer offering a cross-section of emerging brands and trending fashion through the lens of youth culture. Throughout the contemporary, streetwear and active lifestyle markets, PacSun partners with the best brands to offer curated collections, rare and exclusive products, and creative collaborations on every level. Founded in 1980, Newport, CA (News - Alert) . Curated in Los Angeles. ABOUT GOLDEN GATE CAPITAL Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with over $19 billion in cumulative committed capital. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing across a wide range of industries and transaction types, including going-privates, corporate divestitures, and recapitalizations, as well as debt and public equity investments. Notable recent multi-unit consumer investments sponsored by Golden Gate Capital include Tidal Wave Auto Spa, The Learning Experience, Invo Healthcare and Mavis Express Tire Services. For more information, visit www.goldengatecap.com. _____________________________

1 Source (News - Alert) : Piper Sandler, "Taking Stock with Teens Survey" - Spring 2021 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005459/en/

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[May 07, 2021] Rosita Longevity Wins University of Chicago's Alumni New Venture Challenge and $50,000 to Grow Healthy Lifestyle App for Seniors

The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Alumni New Venture Challenge (ANVC), a program dedicated to supporting University of Chicago alumni across the globe in launching and developing their startup ventures. Seven teams presented their business plans to a panel of judges during a virtual finals event Thursday, May 6, for a chance at a $100,000 investment pool. First place, and $50,000, was awarded to Rosita Longevity, based in Valencia, Spain. Cofounded by Chicago Booth alumni Juan Cartagena, MBA '12, and Clara Fernandez, MBA '19, Rosita Longevity is a mobile app that promotes healthy lifestyle habits for seniors, with the goal of increasing healthy life expectancy by five years. Two teams that tied for second place each will receive $25,000. Gravitrek, based in Arizona and cofounded by Booth alum Kira Burns, MBA '07, makes a walker-type device that simulates a reduced-gravity environment to help people with physical disabilities be more mobile. Project Hive Pet Company, based in Minneapolis and cofounded by Melissa Rappaport Schiffman, MBA '94 MA '94, is amission-driven brand of premium dog toys and treats that gives a share of proceeds to organizations that restore bee and butterfly habitats.



"The camaraderie and support that teams showed one another was inspiring," said Gorana Kolar, senior associate director at the Polsky Center. "And despite all the challenges of launching a business during a pandemic, the teams made tremendous progress and have so much to be proud of." The ANVC, now in its third year, is one of five tracks of the New Venture Challenge, a top-ranked university accelerator at the Booth School of Business that has helped launch nearly 400 companies that are still active today. The NVC, a pioneering program when it launched in 1996, this year marks its 25th anniversary.

The alumni track, which is open to all University of Chicago alumni, is run out of six geographic regions, with alumni volunteering to serve as co-chairs to organize regional semi-finals events. Three of the regions are in North America, with the West Coast, Midwest and East Coast serving as hubs. The others are Asia-Pacific, Latin America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). Of the 57 teams that applied to be in this year's ANVC, 28 were selected to compete in the regional semi-finals, with access to mentors and online resources from the Polsky Center to help them prepare. Seven of those 28 teams advanced to the finals. "One of the truly special things about the ANVC is that it exemplifies the broad, global reach of the University of Chicago and its business school," said Dan Sachs, executive director of education and programs at the Polsky Center. "It is a vehicle for building a global network of entrepreneurs that support each other in launching and growing businesses." About the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Chicago The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation applies world-class business expertise from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business to bring new ideas and breakthrough innovations to market. With a 60-person professional staff, the Polsky Center drives the creation of new ventures and commercial partnerships at the University of Chicago and beyond. As a global leader in entrepreneurship education, the Polsky Center is home of the Edward L. Kaplan, '71, New Venture Challenge, one of the top accelerator programs in the nation. The Polsky Center provides training for aspiring entrepreneurs and those seeking a career in private equity, venture capital, and entrepreneurship through acquisition. Learn more at polsky.uchicago.edu and follow updates on Twitter (News - Alert) @polskycenter. Fill out the "Get Started with the Polsky Center" online form to access our resources and subscribe to our newsletters. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005440/en/

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[May 07, 2021] Westaim Announces Details for Investor Day and AGM

The Westaim Corporation ("Westaim" or the "Company") (TSXV: WED) is pleased to announce that it will host its Annual Investor Day on Wednesday May 26, 2021 at 10:00am (Eastern Time) virtually with a live video presentation. The agenda will include a business overview and discussion with management from Westaim, Arena Investors, and Skyward Specialty followed by a question and answer session. The presentation including the accompanying slides will be available on the Company's website, www.westaim.com, for at least 180 days. If you are interested in attending the Investor Day, please REGISTER HERE. Westaim also released its Notice of Annual and Special Meeting ("AGM") with participation details included within the Management Information Circular document 2021 Management Information Circular on its website and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The AGM will occur virtually at https://web.lumiagm.com/246343901 on Wednesday May 26, 2021 at 9:00am (Eastern Time). About Westaim Westaim is a Canadian investment company specializing in providing long-term capital to businesses operating primarily within the global financial services industry. The Company invests, directly and indirectly, through acquisitions, joint ventures and other arrangements, with the objective of providing its shareholders with capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. Westaim's strategy is to pursue investment opportunities with a focus towards the financial services industry and grow shareholder value over the long term. Westaim's investments include significant interests in Skyward Specialty, Arena Investors, and Arena FINCOs (as such terms are defined in the Company's annual information form dated March 25, 2021 (the "AIF")). Westaim's common shares are listed and posted for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "WED". Fo more information about Westaim, please visit www.westaim.com.



About Skyward Specialty Skyward Specialty is a property and casualty insurance holding company with nearly a billion dollars in premium and $2 billion in assets. Skyward Specialty has highly respected businesses in specialty lines including management and professional liability, healthcare professional liability, medical stop loss, surety, E&S property and liability, large commercial property, programs, as well as multi-line solutions for the energy, trucking and construction industries.

Skyward Specialty's subsidiary insurance companies consist of Houston Specialty Insurance Company; Imperium Insurance Company; Great Midwest Insurance Company; Oklahoma Specialty Insurance Company; and Boston Indemnity Company, Inc. These insurance companies are rated A- (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company. Skyward Specialty was formerly known as Houston International Insurance Group. For more information about Skyward Specialty, its people, and products, please visit www.skywardinsurance.com. About Arena Investors Arena Investors is an institutional asset manager, founded in partnership with Westaim. With $2.2 billion of invested and committed assets under management as of January 1, 2021, and a team of over 60 employees in offices globally, Arena Investors provides creative solutions for those seeking capital in special situations. The firm brings individuals with decades of experience, a track record of comfort with complexity, and the flexibility to engage in transactions not typically addressed by conventional financial institutions. For more information about Arena Investors, please visit www.arenaco.com. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release contains certain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"), including with respect to timing of the AGM and Investor Day and the release of the Company's 2021 first quarter results. All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "achieve", "could", "believe", "plan", "intend", "objective", "continuous", "ongoing", "estimate", "outlook", "expect", "project" and similar words, including negatives thereof, suggesting future outcomes or that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management of Westaim at the date the statements are made based on information then available to Westaim. Various factors and assumptions are applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking statements including past practice of the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to and involve a number of known and unknown, variables, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Westaim, which may cause Westaim's actual performance and results to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: foreign exchange risk, regulatory rules and required approvals; market volatility and market disruption and the impact of pandemics. No assurance can be given that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Additional information regarding risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's business are contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in the AIF filed on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 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/20210507005615/en/

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[May 06, 2021] JIS Service Learning Supports Communities in Need

JAKARTA, Indonesia, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Seventeen-year-old Sangwook is on a mission to help narrow the digital divide in Indonesia. As a 21st-Century learner whose studies greatly depend on digital technology, he recognizes that computers are "like treasure boxes which are full of educational potential," and firmly believes that equal access to computers and the internet can make all the difference in a child's education. So, with the help and expert guidance of the Service-Learning Program at Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS), where he is currently a Junior, Sangwook and members of his Plugged-IN club are working hard to make technology fun and accessible for everyone -- especially young learners from disadvantaged backgrounds. They teach twice-weekly lessons to elementary school students who get hands-on experience learning about various tech-related topics. "Each week had a specific theme and at least one interactive activity," Sangwook explained with enthusiasm. "One example is a QR code scavenger hunt: Students and club members worked in teams to complete various technology-related challenges around campus by scanning QR codes. Lots of running around and lots of energy." Plugged-IN is one of the 35 student-led clubs at JIS High School that takes part in collaborative community engagement as part of the school's Service Learning Program. Essentially, these clubs operate like a network of non-profit organizations that aim to respond to an authentic need of the community, explained JIS Service Learning Coordinator Jodi Berry. "Service learning offers students opportunities to lead, collaborate and develop philanthropic values that lead to civil participation," she said. "With guidance from the JIS High School Service Council and faculty advisor, students work together to launch campaigns, fundraisers and larger initiatives and projects that support our community partners in need."



Like Sangwook, JIS Grade 12 student Nelson saw the importance of addressing the needs of vulnerable, underprivileged children. To help make a difference, he joined not one, but two service learning clubs: House of Hope, which engages with children from the Panti Akhiruz Zaman orphanage through games, sporting activities and English and math lessons; as well as the Conquer Cancer Club, which visits children struggling with cancer and entertains them with arts and crafts lessons. "Service learning allows students to build a good moral character. I believe that an important element of education is to be able to engage with students and people in the community around us," he said. "Not only have service projects given me the skills to work together and collaborate with people, but they have also taught me to be more empathetic and caring to those less privileged than myself."

But then the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything. With health restrictions in place from the government and students moving to online learning, it became impossible for Nelson and other service learners to engage directly with the people they've worked so hard to help. JIS service learning clubs found themselves having to rethink and redesign their entire approach to community outreach. For Sangwook and Plugged-IN, that meant shifting their lessons to Zoom -- which only emphasized the very issue they were trying to address. "The pandemic exacerbated and exposed the issue of the digital divide in Indonesia. We learned that many students are forced to stay home with no access to technology and unable to attend online school during lockdown," he said. "Therefore, our priority now is to help them go through these difficult times. I think that our core motivation has always been the same; it comes from the belief that technology can enrich -- or possibly change -- one's life." In addition to teaching online lessons, the Plugged-IN club has spent the past year organizing donation which drives to collect secondhand gadgets. These are then channeled to Indonesian state-school students who have been struggling to participate in virtual classes during the pandemic because their families can't afford the necessary technology. "We have donated almost 100 devices, including smartphones, desktop computers, laptops and iPads. The process has been a long one; we asked people and companies around us for devices, collected them, repaired them and put them into packages along with accessories, masks and instructions," Sangwook explained. Nelson, meanwhile, has been dedicated to helping both House of Hope and Conquer Cancer Club put together and deliver care packages -- filled with materials for various activities, essential food items, hygiene kits -- to the children he once met with regularly. But he wanted to do more. He wanted to reach out and help as many children as possible using his strengths and what he believes is the key to a better future for them: education. He used his free time to write an English-Indonesian workbook with illustrations and engaging activities titled Let's Learn Basic English With Billy, which has been published and is currently for sale. For every book he sells, he donates a copy to a local school or orphanage. "The book teaches Indonesian children the basics of English literacy, including basic vocabulary, sentence structure, forming questions and grammar. Through this book, I hope to help Indonesian children acquire English literacy at a young age and provide them with the keys to the world," Nelson said. "Additionally, I also led a collaboration project with seven of the service clubs at JIS, where each club created an English lesson video that paired with a lesson taught in the book. These videos are intended to complement the book's lessons." Service learning at JIS demonstrates several "competencies" in 21st-Century Education, such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication, which Berry said were needed to overcome the urgent issues we face today. JIS, however, considers "compassion" as another core competency. "We're at a time when the biggest world problems cannot be solved alone. We have to be able to work together to create a better world for all," she said. "Above all, service learning is an approach to develop those competencies, to complement what students are learning inside the classroom with experiences and opportunities outside the classroom." SOURCE Jakarta Intercultural School

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DeSantis ban on vaccine proof may send one company's cruise ships out of Florida
[May 07, 2021] SVKM's NMIMS School of Design collaborates with Design Laboratory at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for global ethnic study

Remember Now is a project to assist individuals and organizations in preparing better for future potential epidemics MUMBAI, India, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NMIMS School of Design (SOD), a leading institute for future-scoped design education, has partnered with Design Laboratory (D-Lab), a collaborative initiative by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) aimed at the application of design frameworks and methods to address the behavioral issues influencing public health, for Remember Now, a research project to gather data that can help individuals and organizations prepare better for future pandemics. Fourteen students from SOD's B. Des. (Humanising Technology) program participated in the study as field researchers, applying remote ethnography methods to gather data about how people are living, learning, working, and playing while coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, and to identify key barriers and drivers of behavioural change that could lead to meaningful insights. The research was undertaken with the guidance of Prof. Manisha Phadke, Prof. Sameer Tendulkar, and Dr. Shreya Maulik, and in compliance with Harvard's protocols. The information gathered during the study will facilitate the design of objects, services and environments with built-in abilities to detect harmful pathogens, to support people in their daily lives. Remember Now is one of three projects under the D-Lab initiative, Whole Life: Designing Life After COVID-19, which also includes Sketch Tomorrow, a series of brainstorming sessions that leverages expert experience and data from Remember Now to ideate solutions, and Prototype Future, which aims to plan strategies to implement the ideas. Prof. Manisha Phadke, Director, NMIMS School of Design, said, "We believe that a designer's primary duty is to produce thoughtful, long-lasting designs that meet societal needs. As we all are fighting with the second phase of the pandemic, and have no idea how many days or months it will take to get back to some semblance of normal, it is incumbent upon the design community to come together and field the challenge of creating processes, services and products that will take into account the prospect of a changed world and all inherent risks. We are proud of our students for their commitment and diligence towards the greater god, and their single-minded focus on producing research that will power a better future for all."



"Collaborating with the faculty and students of the NMIMS School of Design has been productive and delightful. The quality of their education prepared them to be valuable partners with the 14 other research groups around the world," said Patrick Whitney, Core Faculty, D-Lab & Professor in Residence, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "When the NMIMS team joined, we knew high quality research would be conducted. As this initiative advances, we look forward to continue our collaboration," added Andre Nogueira, Core Faculty, D-Lab & Associate Researcher & Instructor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

The research undertaken by SOD students for Remember Now has shed light on the Indian diaspora's diversity of cultural backgrounds and various prejudices. Learnings included the various conditions that influence how people interact with one another, how effectively they are able to adapt their lives to new public health protocols, the various ways people are currently incorporating rituals and celebrations into their lives, and their capacity to revisit various health aspects of their lives. The preliminary findings have been useful in better understanding how people from various socioeconomic groups and geographic locations maintain their identity, relationships, and contentment during this unusual period. The idea is to use this work as a foundation for improving people's well-being and assisting organizations in positioning themselves better to combat the next pandemic. About SVKM's NMIMS School of Design: SVKM's NMIMS Deemed-to-be-University School of Design offers a holistic multidisciplinary education in design. With ultra-modern labs and studios, the school offers a pioneering program in the application of technology and design with B.Des. (Humanising Technology). Backed by a talented faculty, the school offers the most well-rounded education on all aspects of design. For more information, visit https://design.nmims.edu Follow us on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NMIMS.Design/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/nmims-schoolofdesign/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nmims.sod/ About SVKM's NMIMS: Established in 1981, NMIMS is today recognized as a globally reputed university with strong industry linkages. It offers multiple disciplines across 8 campuses that consist of 17 specialized schools, more than 17000 students, and about 750 full-time faculty members, 10 faculty members with Fulbright Scholarship and Humboldt International Scholarship for post-doctoral researchers. It is known for its consistent academic quality and research-focused approach towards holistic education. Website: https://www.nmims.edu/ Follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/nmims_india

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/nmims_india/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nmims_india/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NMIMS.India/ About Design Laboratory (D-Lab) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH): The Design Laboratory is a group of people who are developing and demonstrating design processes and approaches to enhance people's well-being. At the intersection of architecture and public health, we conduct research and improve education and translation programs. Website: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/d-lab/designing-life-after-covid-19/

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[May 07, 2021] Eclypsium Awarded AFWERX SBIR Phase One Contract to Explore Air Force Use of Enterprise Device Security Platform

Eclypsium, the enterprise device security company, today announced it has been awarded a U.S. Air Force, AFWERX Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 1 contract. The contract will allow Eclypsium to conduct feasibility studies with the Department of Defense (DoD) to demonstrate how the company's enterprise device security platform supports unprecedented device visibility, risk management, and threat detection. With ongoing supply chain attacks burying deep into critical information technology assets, little-known firmware and hardware components stand as some of the highest impact, most unguarded threats facing modern organizations. The risk posed to government systems has become far more widespread due to th availability of tools, hardware and firmware knowledge, and the wealth of vulnerabilities for attackers to target. Eclypsium's technology provides comprehensive device visibility and defends against vulnerabilities and threats hidden within devices. This lower level of visibility is essential to a resilient cybersecurity strategy.



"Nation states represent a significant, persistent cyber espionage and attack threat to our military and critical infrastructure systems," said John Loucaides, VP Federal Technology at Eclypsium. "As adversaries continue to expand their capabilities into the many devices in our infrastructure, the DoD must deploy the most advanced cyber defense measures available. We are pleased that they have chosen Eclypsium to bring more holistic device visibility and security across an array of devices, components, and environments to the Air Force." For more information visit eclypsium.com/fed or contact our federal team at usg@eclypsium.com

About Eclypsium Eclypsium delivers a comprehensive device security platform for government and commercial organizations. From laptops to servers to network infrastructure, Eclypsium provides automated, comprehensive visibility and protection across all the devices that organizations rely on, all the way down to firmware. The Eclypsium platform can be deployed in the cloud or on-premise in minutes, utilizing an organization's existing staff and resources. Eclypsium was named a Gartner (News - Alert) Cool Vendor in Security Operations and Threat Intelligence, a TAG Cyber Distinguished Vendor, one of the World's 10 Most Innovative Security Companies by Fast Company, a CNBC Upstart 100, a CB Insights Cyber Defender, and an RSAC Innovation Sandbox finalist. For more information, visit eclypsium.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005044/en/

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[May 07, 2021] TCP Group attends the first CICPE, contributing to the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port

HAIKOU, China, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Hosted by China's Ministry of Commerce and the Hainan provincial government, the first China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) , the largest consumer goods boutique exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region, is being held at the Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center. TCP Group, the inventors and owners of the Red Bull brand and trademarks in China and globally, have brought its diversified product portfolio from its global 'House of Brands', including Red Bull, to CICPE. While bringing classic flavor and even more innovative products to Chinese consumers, TCP is also contributing to Hainan's development as an international hub for tourism consumption. TCP's participation in CICPE is not only a homeward journey marking the company's return to Hainan, where it first entered the China market nearly three decades ago, but also signals TCP's commitment to supporting Hainan's development as an important new global window for opening up, sharing, innovation and cooperation. TCP is committed to providing Chinese consumers with high-quality and legal Red Bull products and hopes to contribute to China's beverage industry and the wider economy through a strategy focused on long-term investment and constant innovation. TCP also aims to support the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port by contributing to the implementation of the Overall Plan for the Hainan Free Trade Port through practical actions and facilitating greater cooperation with high-quality resources in the global consumer economy.



At CICPE, Red Bull's booth was launched under the theme "Red Bull's Homecoming and Innovation for the Future", demonstrating TCP's determination to pursue cooperation for common growth with Hainan. The booth features the gold can Red Bull, representing joint prosperity and excitement. The main body of the booth is surrounded by streamlined ribbons, which symbolize the feeling of returning home. The red, yellow, and blue colors of the main body complement each other, representing the commitment of TCP and the Hainan Free Trade Port to look back at the past together, make progress together, and innovate for the future.

In addition to the creative booth design, TCP also brought its global 'House of Brands' product lines to the exhibition. Red Bull?An Nai Ji Drink and Red Bull?Vitamin Flavor Drink, the Red Bull products that have been favored by consumers since their launch, have attracted significant attention at the exhibition site. These two products were successfully launched after TCP announced a new business model and new partnerships in June 2019, with the aim of continuing to deepen its presence in the Chinese market. Red Bull An Nai Ji Drink, featuring American ginseng extract, is a new flavor for the Red Bull product line launched by TCP, mainly aimed at members of China's younger generation who are constantly willing to try new things. Red Bull Vitamin Flavor Drink, as a hero product of TCP Group, is aimed at the brand's many loyal Chinese consumers who are fans of the classic taste of Red Bull. In addition to Red Bull, TCP also brought Ready, one of Thailand's most popular premium energy drinks, and Sponsor, Thailand's number one electrolyte drink, as well as the best-selling functional drink Mansome and Sunsnack. As an international brand that has invested in the Chinese market for nearly 30 years, TCP has a deep and longstanding relationship with Hainan. Wenchang is the ancestral homeland of Mr. Chaleo Yoovidhya, the inventor of Red Bull. In 1993, Red Bull's first factory in China, Hainan Red Bull Energy Drink Co. Ltd. was established in Qiongzhou. Mr. Saravoot Yoovidhya, CEO of TCP Group, pays close attention to the local development of Hainan and the business layout in China, hoping to make contributions to local economic development with the help of the influence of the Red Bull brand. Discussing the significance of the first CICPE and the strategic layout of TCP's future business, Mr. Saravoot Yoovidhya said, "TCP and the Yoovidhya family view CICPE as an incredible opportunity to pursue common development together with the Hainan Free Trade Port. At the same time, under the guidance of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the Long-Range Objectives through 2035, TCP will further promote the transition of the industry towards a model focused on upgrading consumption, driving innovation, and fostering more sustainable development, all with a view to better meeting the needs of Chinese consumers." SOURCE TCP Group

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[May 07, 2021] A new gold backed blockchain network opening the door to crypto-equity - Gold Coin Reserve

VILNIUS, Lithuania, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The adoption of blockchain technology over the past decade has revolutionized many industry sectors. From securing data to supply chain management, blockchain application has revamped efficiency levels and allowed participating businesses to thrive and outperform competitors.

Blockchain technology also allowed businesses to circumvent municipal laws in order to raise capital from retail investors whilst understating the risk levels associated with the investment in those companies and completely disassociating the consideration passed to the investor from the companys equity. This was known as the utility token boom of 2017, where companies raised millions in ICOs, that had very little to no substantive business activity or generating cash flows. The benefit to them was that the utility tokens offered were more so regarded as products of the companies rather than securities, which meant that the cash flows generated were legally interpreted as revenues rather than capital. Why is this important, you ask? Well, its important because as an investor, you are afforded far less statutory protection as a consumer than as an investor. Since the boom and bust of the ICO era, a new type of tokenised offering emerged, the STO or Security Token Offering. Here companies and the respective intermediaries attempted to create a hybrid structure between a utility token and company equity, whereby the purchaser would be granted the same rights/protections under the law as a company shareholder, yet still enjoy the benefits of a tokenised ecosystem. The world was excited to greet this new STO, as capital raising companies scrambled to build out such digital equities. Alas, the market was too optimistic and counted on this ecosystem being completed in time for companies to execute their investors exit strategies. What was the problem, you ask? Well, thats very simple. There was no marketplace for security tokens to be traded due to a lack of legal compliance. With no liquidity, there was no exit strategy for investors, and thus no capital gain incentives for them to invest in security tokens... and so the hype died and security tokens became a thing of the past, as other blockchain-oriented phenomena emerged (ie. the recent NFT boom). The reason behind the security tokens incompatibility with legal cmpliance was the inability for security tokens to act as equity, due to the various functional features that company shares possess, as well as the inherent interaction with a municipal regulator through the issuance/governance of such shares.



Now for the first time, a new network is being designed and built by eMoney Bank in collaboration with the world-renowned CBDC developers Superhow from Lithuania. This new network, the GCR Network, is being built on central banking level protocols, by the aforementioned development team, in such a way so as to be able to interact with the technical systems of local regulators, whilst still maintaining all of the functionality of company shares. The goal here is to finally have a blockchain network that can sustain a regulatory-compliant ecosystem, which allows companies to build their security tokens and provides a portal through which these tokens can be traded on a secondary market. The GCR Network is built in such a way as to allow continuous growth of the network, with stable fees and network speeds (regardless of the networks congestion levels). This is achieved by having a stable coin at the center of the network, which will not increase with network usage, like Ethereum and other such networks. It appears that eMoney Bank has partnered with an international telco in order to stabilize network speeds through the use of global telecommunication supernodes.

The stable coin at the Centre of the system is known as Gold Coin Reserve (GCR), a multi-network digital asset, which has already received significant market popularity, already averaging an impressive $16,000,000 in daily transactions. The digital assets remain pegged to the spot gold price and is rumored to also be backed by gold reserves. Holders of GCR are also rewarded for holding their assets in term deposits through staking benefits, where they receive an ongoing growth on their holding at the companys crypto-banking trading interface, the GCR Alliance platform - an offshoot from the company website (goldcoinreserve.io). The interface also allows users to stake USDT in term deposits as well as buy digital assets with Euros and exit back into bank accounts, where their digital assets are converted back into Euros. The company boasts about the new GCR Networks resilience to external attacks and is rumored to soon be announcing a global hackathon event, encouraging hackers to hack its testnet network sometime this month, presumably in order to battle test it prior to launch next month. Media Contact - Company - Gold Coin Reserve

Website- https://goldcoinreserve.io

Web - https://trading.goldcoinreserve.io/en-us/#/convert

Twitter- https://twitter.com/goldcoinreserve

Telegram- https://t.me/goldcoinrsrv Name - Samiran Mondal

Email- Newscoverage.agency@gmail.com

Telegram- https://t.me/samiranmondal

Website- www.newscoverage.agency



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[May 07, 2021] Dodge Momentum Index Increases in April

The Dodge Momentum (News - Alert) Index posted an 8.6% gain in April, climbing to 162.4 (2000=100) from the revised reading of 149.5 in March. The Momentum Index, issued by Dodge Data & Analytics, is a monthly measure of the first (or initial) report for nonresidential building projects in planning, which have been shown to lead construction spending for nonresidential buildings by a full year. April's gain marks the fifth consecutive monthly increase, and similar to February and March, was due to a large increase in institutional buildings entering the planning stage while commercial planning eased by less than one percent. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005017/en/ APRL 2021 DODGE MOMENTUM INDEX (Graphic: Business Wire)



Since hitting its nine-year low in January, institutional planning has rebounded substantially, climbing 77% over the last three months. Healthcare and laboratory projects continue to dominate the sector, pushing institutional planning 50% higher on a year-over-year basis. Conversely, the commercial component has slipped in recent months as fewer warehouse projects have entered planning, though the sector is 21% higher than in April 2020. Overall, the Momentum Index is 31% higher than last April, which was the first full month of COVID-19 shutdowns.

There were 13 projects with a value of $100 million or more that entered planning within April. The leading commercial projects were a $400 million mixed-use office project in San Francisco CA (News - Alert) and a $250 million warehouse project in Mesa AZ. The leading institutional projects were the $300 million first phase of The Cove JC laboratory and education facility in Jersey City NJ and a $175 million laboratory project in Boston MA. April's data highlights the nascent recovery underway in institutional building. However, given the average length of time between planning and project start, this rise will likely not impact construction starts until late 2021 or early 2022. About Dodge Data & Analytics: Dodge Data & Analytics is North America's leading provider of commercial construction project data, market forecasting & analytics services and workflow integration solutions for the construction industry. Building product manufacturers, architects, engineers, contractors, and service providers leverage Dodge to identify and pursue unseen growth opportunities that help them grow their business. On a local, regional or national level, Dodge empowers its customers to better understand their markets, uncover key relationships, seize growth opportunities, and pursue specific sales opportunities with success. The company's construction project information is the most comprehensive and verified in the industry. Dodge is leveraging its more than 125-year-old legacy of continuous innovation to help the industry meet the building challenges of the future. Learn more at www.construction.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005017/en/

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[May 07, 2021] Anaplan Announces Date for First Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Earnings Conference Call

Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE:PLAN) will report results for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2021 before the market opens on Thursday, May 27, 2021. The results will be included in a press release with accompanying financial information that will be released before market open and posted on the Anaplan Investor Center website. Anaplan's executive management team will hold a conference call and webcast beginning at 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. ET to share financial results and business highlights. Event: Anaplan First Quarter Fiscal Year 2022 Earnings Conference Call

When: Thursday, May 27, 2021

Time: 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. ET

Live Call: Please see online registration





Replay: (800) 585-8367 or (416) 621-4642 with passcode 7487517

Live Webcast: https://investors.anaplan.com or with replay available for 12 months About Anaplan

Anaplan, Inc. (NYSE: PLAN) is a cloud-native enterprise SaaS (News - Alert) company that empowers global organizations to orchestrate business performance and execute digital transformation with confidence and agility. Leaders across industries rely on our platform-powered by our proprietary Hyperblock technology-to connect teams, systems, and insights from across their organizations to continuously adapt to change, transform how they operate, and reinvent value creation to compete in today's digital economy. Based in San Francisco, Anaplan has over 175 partners and more than 1,600 customers worldwide. To learn more, visit anaplan.com. Investors and others should note that the Company routinely uses the Investor Center section of its corporate website to announce material information to investors and the marketplace. While not all of the information that the Company posts on its corporate website is of a material nature, some information could be deemed to be material. Accordingly, the Company encourages investors, the media, and others interested in the Company to review the information that it shares on www.anaplan.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005329/en/

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[May 07, 2021] Global Intellectual Property Software Market (2021 to 2025) - Featuring Aistemos, Anaqua and CPA Global Among Others - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Global Intellectual Property Software Market 2021-2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The publisher has been monitoring the intellectual property software market and it is poised to grow by $2.28 billion during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of almost 14% during the forecast period. The report on the intellectual property software market provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current global market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by the use of intellectual property software to improve efficiency, and rising investments in R&D. The intellectual property software market analysis includes the deployment segment and geographic landscape. This study identifies the need to comply with regulatory requirements as one of the prime reasons driving the intellectual property software market growth during the next few years. Companies Mentioned Aistemos Ltd.

Anaqua Inc.

CPA Global Ltd.

Dennemeyer Group

IPfolio Corp.

LexisNexis Legal and Professional

Patrix AB

QUESTEL SAS (News - Alert)

TORViC Technologies Inc.

Thales Group The report on the intellectual property software market covers the following areas: Intellectual property software market sizing

Intellectual property software market forecast

Intellectual property software market industry analysis <> The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.



The publisher presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. The market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast the accurate market growth. Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary Market overview 2. Market Landscape Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis 3. Market Sizing Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2020

Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025 4. Five Forces Analysis Five forces summary

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition 5. Market Segmentation by Deployment Market segments

Comparison by Deployment

On premises - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Cloud based - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Market opportunity by Deployment 6. Customer landscape 7. Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation

Geographic comparison

North America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Europe - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

APAC - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

MEA - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

South America - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Key leading countries

Market opportunity by geography

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends 8. Vendor Landscape Competitive scenario

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Industry risks 9. Vendor Analysis Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

Aistemos Ltd.

Anaqua Inc.

CPA Global Ltd.

Dennemeyer Group

IPfolio Corp.

LexisNexis (News - Alert) Legal and Professional

Patrix AB

QUESTEL SAS

TORViC Technologies Inc.

Thales Group 10. Appendix Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/4qis3u View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005362/en/

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[May 07, 2021] Xenter, Inc. Appoints Industry Leaders Robert S. Langer, Elazer R. Edelman, David J. Bearss and Mark Stautberg to Board of Directors; Closes $12M Series A

Xenter, Inc. (XenterMD.com), the world's first start-up Device-Data-Drug healthcare technologies company, today announced the appointment of four additional industry leaders to its Board of Directors and the closing of a $12M Series A offering of preferred stock. The additional members are Robert S. Langer , an Institute Professor at MIT (News - Alert) and the most cited engineer in history and 4th most cited individual in any field who has authored more than 1,500 scientific papers. He is also a co-founder and board member of Moderna.

, an Institute Professor at MIT (News - Alert) and the most cited engineer in history and 4th most cited individual in any field who has authored more than 1,500 scientific papers. He is also a co-founder and board member of Moderna. Elazer Edelman (News - Alert) , M.D., PhD , Director of the Center for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Interventional Cardiologist and Senior Attending Physician in the cardiac critical care unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

, Director of the Center for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Interventional Cardiologist and Senior Attending Physician in the cardiac critical care unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. David J. Bearss, PhD , biotech industry leader and serial entrepreneur with multiple therapeutic drug company exits and Senior Managing Director, UTAH Therapeutics Accelerator at the University of Utah.

, biotech industry leader and serial entrepreneur with multiple therapeutic drug company exits and Senior Managing Director, UTAH Therapeutics Accelerator at the University of Utah. Mark Stautberg, a widely recognized senior commercial leader and former SVP of Sales for Boston Scientific and life science industry executive at numerous multi-national and start-up MedTech businesses. Founded in 2020 by seasoned life sciences entrepreneur Richard J. Linder, Xenter is innovating new wireless technologies and techniques for interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and neurointerventional radiology, as per the company's April 7 announcement. Additionally, Xenter is launching a digital health platform that will leverage new wireless interventional devices that provide physiologic data and images simultaneously and enable patients to have access and control of their medical data. Robert S. Langer is one of 12 Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); being an Institute Professor is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member. He has written more than 1,500 articles, which have been cited more than 340,000 times; his h-index of 286 is the highest of any engineer in history and tied for the 4th highest of any individual in any field. His patents have been licensed or sublicensed to more than 400 companies. He served as Chairman of the FDA's Science Board (its highest advisory board) from 1999-2002. His over 220 awards include both the United States National Medal of Science and the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation (he is one of 3 living individuals to have received both these honors), the Charles Stark Draper Prize (often called the Engineering NobelPrize), Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, Albany Medical Center Prize, Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Kyoto Prize, Wolf Prize for Chemistry, Millennium Technology Prize, Priestley Medal (highest award of the American Chemical Society), Gairdner Prize, and the Dreyfus Prize in Chemical Sciences. He holds 35 honorary doctorates and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors.



Elazer R. Edelman, M.D., Ph.D., is the Edward J. Poitras Professor in Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Senior Attending Physician in the coronary care unit at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He and his laboratory have pioneered basic findings in vascular biology and the development and assessment of biotechnology. Dr. Edelman directs MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Clinical Research Center (CRC) as well as the Harvard-MIT Biomedical Engineering Center (BMEC) - all dedicated to applying the rigors of the physical sciences to elucidate fundamental biologic processes and mechanisms of disease. Dr. Edelman received Bachelor of Science degrees in Bioelectrical Engineering and in Applied Biology from MIT, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (News - Alert) from MIT, a Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics from MIT, and an M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School. His graduate thesis work, under the direction of Prof. Robert Langer, defined the mathematics of regulated and controlled drug delivery systems. After internal medicine training and clinical fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at the BWH he spent six years as a research fellow in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School with Prof. Morris J. Karnovsky working on the biology of vascular repair. Many of his findings have been or are now in clinical trial validation. More than 300 students and postdoctoral fellows have passed through Dr. Edelman's laboratory enabling publication of more than 680 original scientific articles and some 80 patents.

Dr. Edelman is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the Association of University Cardiologists, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Inventors, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Engineering. David J. Bearss, Ph.D is an experienced entrepreneur and drug developer. Dr. Bearss has a consistent and successful track record of drug discovery and development that spans the last 20 years in both academic and industrial settings. He is an expert in small molecule drug development and in the use of genetic model systems in drug discovery. He has deep experience in translational research focused on drug development and the use of genetic markers to predict drug sensitivity. Dr. Bearss has been involved in the discovery of 15 compounds that have transitioned to INDs and moved forward in clinical development. He has been a co-founder of 5 biotech companies and has been an active scientific advisor to several others. Dr. Bearss served as Chief Scientific Officer at Montigen Pharmaceuticals and SuperGen Inc. overseeing early drug discovery and development. He was the founding Co-Director of the Center for Investigational Therapeutics at the Huntsman Cancer Institute as well as an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah and Associate Professor of Physiology & Developmental Biology at Brigham Young University. Dr. Bearss was the founder and CEO of Tolero Pharmaceuticals which he led through its acquisition by Sumitomo DaiNippon Pharma in 2017. He stayed on after the acquisition as CEO of Tolero and as Global head of Research and CSO of SDP Oncology. He is also serving as the Senior Managing Director, UTAH Therapeutics Accelerator at the University of Utah which is focused on helping new therapeutic technologies discovered at the University of Utah transition to clinical development. Dr. Bearss has published more than 80 manuscripts and book chapters, has over 50 patents issued or pending and has won several awards for his scientific achievements. ?Mark Stautberg has more than 35 years of medical device Sales & Marketing experience, most notably at Boston Scientific as the Senior Vice President, Sales for the Cardiovascular businesses. As SVP from 1998-2004, he grew sales ten-fold & led the launch of the TAXUS Drug Eluting Stent to unprecedented adoption, market share, revenue & speed. During Mark's entire fourteen plus years at Scimed/Boston Scientific, he held key roles that led to their position as the leading company in Interventional Cardiology. Prior to Boston Scientific, Mark had roles of increasing responsibility at Baxter International, including Director of Marketing for the Hospital Supply Division. He also served on numerous medical device company Boards, both private & public, where he mentored commercial teams to success. Mark has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati. Xenter's first product, which the company will announce shortly, is a medical device that not only combines the function of multiple existing devices but will also revolutionize the field of interventional medicine by producing valuable Physical Intelligence data and enabling advanced Artificial Intelligence solutions, leading to improved patient outcomes while reducing the cost, complexity and invasiveness of cardiac procedures. About Xenter Xenter, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that is focused on developing new wireless medical device technologies, innovative digital health tools that will enable individual patients to own and manage their health information, and novel therapeutic drugs utilizing Physical Intelligence and patient-supplied data. Xenter has assembled a team of medical scientists, chemical engineers, medical device engineers, researchers, data scientists, and some of the world's most accomplished entrepreneurs and industry veterans to solve some of the largest challenges in healthcare, medicine and engineering. For more information about Xenter, visit XenterMD.com. #InterventionalCardiology #DigitalHealth View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005435/en/

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[May 07, 2021] ORYZON Reports Results and Corporate Update for Quarter Ended March 31, 2021

MADRID, Spain and CAMBRIDGE, Ma., May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oryzon Genomics, S.A. (ISIN Code: ES0167733015, ORY), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging epigenetics to develop therapies in diseases with strong unmet medical need, today reported financial results for the first quarter of 2021 and provided an update on recent developments.

Dr. Carlos Buesa, Oryzons Chief Executive Officer, said: Oryzon continued to make strong progress in our pioneering work in personalized medicine in epigenetics during the first quarter. The enrollment of our first patient in the Phase IIb study with vafidemstat in borderline personality disorder and the ongoing collaborations in precision medicine with Columbia University, Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai and INGEMM are significant steps forward in our epigenetic approach to CNS. The Phase II trial ALICE, investigating iadademstat in combination with azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia, continues recruitment and is progressing as planned. We finished the first quarter with a reinforced cash position of $45.2 million, which provides funding for the further development of our exciting pipeline until 1Q 2023. First Quarter and Recent Highlights Iadademstat in oncology: The ongoing Phase II trial ALICE, investigating iadademstat in combination with azacitidine in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), continues recruitment. Preliminary results for this trial, last presented at the ASH-2020 conference, show robust signals of clinical efficacy, with 85.7% of reported objective responses, of which 58.3% are complete remissions (CR/CRi). Long responses are maturing, with 4 patients in response already for > 1 year, and the longest remission > 2 years (still ongoing). Of patients with > 120 days on treatment, 40% have overcome their dependency on blood transfusions. Iadademstat and azacitidine combination appears to be safe and well tolerated. The company plans to provide a new clinical update on ALICE at the European Hematology Association (EHA)-2021 conference.

FDA Orphan Drug Designation granted to iadademstat for the treatment of AML. The drug now has orphan designation in both U.S. and EU.

New trials in combination in AML and solid tumors are under preparation. The company believes that there is potential for fast market regulatory paths in both areas. Oryzon expects to announce further details in 2H 2021.

Vafidemstat in neurological and inflammatory disease: Started patient enrollment in the Phase IIb clinical trial with vafidemstat in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The study, named PORTICO, is a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase IIb to evaluate the efficacy and safety of vafidemstat in BPD patients. The trial has two primary objectives: reduction of aggression/agitation and overall BPD improvement. The study will include 156 patients, with 78 patients in each arm, and has a pre-defined interim analysis to adjust the sample size in case of excessive variability around the endpoints or an unexpectedly high placebo rate. Sites in the U.S., Spain and at least two other European countries will participate in the trial, with three Spanish hospitals activated in the first stage. Following a successful pre-IND meeting with the U.S. FDA, Oryzon will proceed to file an IND application in 2Q 2021.

Submitted Clinical Trial Application (CTA) to the Spanish Medicine Agency (AEMPS) for a new Phase IIb clinical trial (EVOLUTION) to evaluate vafidemstats efficacy on negative symptoms and cognition in schizophrenia patients. Dosing of the first patient is expected in 1H 2021. This project is partly funded by public funds from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and will be performed in collaboration with the Research Institute of Vall dHebron (VHIR) in Barcelona.

Entered preclinical collaboration on autism with researchers from the Seaver Autism Center at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai led by Dr. Joseph Buxbaum. This collaboration will explore the effects of vafidemstat in animal models defective for Shank3 developed and characterized by the team of Dr. Buxbaum, which recapitulate many symptoms of a variety of autism known as Phelan-McDermid Syndrome (PMS). Deletions or mutations at the end of chromosome 22 lead to a defect of the Shank3 gene and produce PMS in humans. This collaboration is complementary to the work the company is already undertaking in the field of precision medicine in PMS in collaboration with the Institute of Medical and Molecular Genetics (INGEMM) of the La Paz University Hospital in Madrid. A pilot study is ongoing with INGEMM to phenotypically characterize up to 40 PMS patients using a battery of validated scales in the field. Results of this pilot study are expected in 3Q 2021. The aim is that this cognitive, behavioral and functional baseline assessment of PMS patients will inform a future clinical study with vafidemstat.

The precision medicine collaboration in schizophrenia with researchers from Columbia University in New York is advancing. The goal is to perform an exhaustive functional psychometric characterization of up to 60 individuals carrying mutations in the Setd1a gene to build a foundation for a subsequent precision psychiatry clinical trial with vafidemstat for SETD1A-associated psychiatric disorders. Results of this characterization study are expected in 3Q 2021. SETD1A is a histone methyltransferase that is a key schizophrenia susceptibility gene.

ETHERAL 12 month data presented at the AD/PD-2021 virtual conference, confirming the safety of vafidemstat treatment in the elder population with Alzheimers Disease (AD) in the aggregated data of 140 patients. The reduction of CSF levels of the inflammatory YKL40 biomarker was also confirmed after 12-month vafidemstat treatment. Additional data from the REIMAGINE-AD trial were also presented, confirming a significant reduction in agitation-aggression after 12-month treatment in moderate AD patients.

Finalized recruitment in the ongoing study in severe Covid-19 patients, named ESCAPE. This is an open-label, randomized, double arm Phase II trial to assess the efficacy and tolerability of vafidemstat in combination with standard of care, to prevent progression to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). The study was initially designed to recruit 40 patients but was later upsized to 60. Analysis of data is ongoing and preliminary results are expected in 1H 2021. Financial Update: First Quarter 2021 Financial Results Research and development (R&D) expenses were $4.3 million for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2021 at the same level for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2020. General and administrative expenses were $1.30 million for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2021 compared to $0.85 million for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2020. Net losses were $2.04 million for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2021 compared to net losses of $1.15 million for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2020. This is due to a higher investment in research and non-capitalized development of the ESCAPE clinical trial and non-recurring expenses. The result is in accordance with the specificity of the biotechnology business model, in the development phase of the Company, with a long-term maturation period for its products, and without recurrent income. Negative net result of $2.13 million (-$0.04 per share) for the last 3 months ended March 31, 2021, compared to a negative net result of $1.27 million (- $0.03 per share) for the 3 months ended March 31, 2020. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $45.2 million as of March 31, 2021, compared to $32.1 million as of March 31, 2020. ORYZON GENOMICS, S.A. BALANCE SHEET DATA (UNAUDITED)1 (Amounts in thousands US $) March 31st,





March 31st,

2020 Cash and cash equivalents 45,157 32,121 Marketable securities 0 155 Total Assets 111,872 84,469 Deferred revenue 0 0 Total Stockholders' equity 86,896 65,709

ORYZON GENOMICS, S.A. STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)1 (US $, amounts in thousands except per share data) Three Months Ended

March 31st 2021 2020 Collaboration Revenue 0 0 Operating expenses: Research and Development 4,278 4,316 General and administrative 1,302 846 Total operating expenses 5,580 5,161 Loss from Operations -5,580 -5,161 Other income, net 3,536 4,013 Net Loss -2,044 -1,148 Net Financial & Tax -89 -116 Net Result -2,133 -1,264 Loss per share allocable to common stockholders: Basic -0.04 -0.03 Diluted -0.04 -0.03 Weighted average Shares outstanding Basic 52,761,554 45,488,554 Diluted 52,761,554 45,488,554 1 Spanish GAAP * Exchange Euro/Dollar (1.1725 for 2021 and 1.0956 in 2020) About Oryzon

Founded in 2000 in Barcelona, Spain, Oryzon (ISIN Code: ES0167733015) is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company considered as the European champion in Epigenetics. Oryzon has one of the strongest portfolios in the field. Oryzons LSD1 program has rendered two compounds, vafidemstat and iadademstat, in Phase II clinical trials. In addition, Oryzon has ongoing programs for developing inhibitors against other epigenetic targets. Oryzon has a strong technological platform for biomarker identification and performs biomarker and target validation for a variety of malignant and neurological diseases. Oryzon has offices in Spain and the United States. Oryzon is one of the most liquid biotech stocks in Europe with +90 M shares negotiated in 2020 (ORY:SM / ORY.MC / ORYZF US OTC mkt). For more information, visit www.oryzon.com.

About Iadademstat

Iadademstat (ORY-1001) is a small oral molecule, which acts as a highly selective inhibitor of the epigenetic enzyme LSD1 and has a powerful differentiating effect in hematologic cancers (See Maes et al., Cancer Cell 2018 Mar 12; 33 (3): 495-511.e12.doi: 10.1016 / j.ccell.2018.02.002.). A first Phase I/IIa clinical trial with iadademstat in refractory and relapsed acute leukemia patients demonstrated the safety and good tolerability of the drug and preliminary signs of antileukemic activity, including a CRi. Beyond hematological cancers, the inhibition of LSD1 has been proposed as a valid therapeutic approach in some solid tumors such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC), neuroendocrine tumors, medulloblastoma and others. Iadademstat has been tested in four clinical trials (two in monotherapy in SCLC and AML, and two in combination, in SCLC and AML) in more than 100 patients. In the combination studies, ALICE (ongoing), a Phase IIa trial in combination with azacitidine in elderly or unfit AML patients, and CLEPSIDRA (finalized), a Phase IIa trial in combination with platinum/etoposide in second line ED-SCLC patients, preliminary efficacy results have been reported. About Vafidemstat

Vafidemstat (ORY-2001) is an oral, CNS optimized LSD1 inhibitor. The molecule acts on several levels: it reduces cognitive impairment, including memory loss and neuroinflammation, and at the same time has neuroprotective effects. In animal studies vafidemstat not only restores memory but reduces the exacerbated aggressiveness of SAMP8 mice, a model for accelerated aging and Alzheimers disease (AD), to normal levels and also reduces social avoidance and enhances sociability in murine models. In addition, vafidemstat exhibits fast, strong and durable efficacy in several preclinical models of multiple sclerosis (MS). Oryzon has performed two Phase IIa clinical trials in aggressiveness in patients with different psychiatric disorders (REIMAGINE) and in aggressive/agitated patients with moderate or severe AD (REIMAGINE-AD), with positive clinical results reported in both. Additional finalized Phase IIa clinical trials with vafidemstat include the ETHERAL trial in patients with Mild to Moderate AD, where a significant reduction of the inflammatory biomarker YKL40 has been observed after 6 and 12 months of treatment, and the pilot, small scale SATEEN trial in Relapse-Remitting and Secondary Progressive MS. A Phase IIb trial in borderline personality disorder (PORTICO) has been recently initiated and the company is preparing a Phase IIb trial in schizophrenia patients (EVOLUTION). The company is also deploying a CNS precision medicine approach with vafidemstat in certain genetically defined patient populations. Vafidemstat is also being explored in a Phase II in severe Covid-19 patients (ESCAPE) assessing the capability of the drug to prevent ARDS, one of the most severe complications of the viral infection. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This communication contains, or may contain, forward-looking information and statements about Oryzon, including financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, capital expenditures, synergies, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally identified by the words expects, anticipates, believes, intends, estimates and similar expressions. Although Oryzon believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors and holders of Oryzon shares are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Oryzon that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in the documents sent by Oryzon to the Spanish Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV), which are accessible to the public. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and have not been reviewed by the auditors of Oryzon. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. All subsequent oral or written forward-looking statements attributable to Oryzon or any of its members, directors, officers, employees or any persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statement above. All forward-looking statements included herein are based on information available to Oryzon on the date hereof. Except as required by applicable law, Oryzon does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. This press release is not an offer of securities for sale in the United States or any other jurisdiction. Oryzons securities may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. Any public offering of Oryzons securities to be made in the United States will be made by means of a prospectus that may be obtained from Oryzon or the selling security holder, as applicable, that will contain detailed information about Oryzon and management, as well as financial statements. IR, US IR & Media, Europe Spain Oryzon Ashley R. Robinson Mary-Ann Chang Patricia Cobo Emili Torrell LifeSci Advisors, LLC LifeSci Advisors, LLC / Carlos C. Ungria BD Director +1 617 430 7577 +44 7483 284 853 +34 91 564 07 25 +34 93 515 13 13 arr@lifesciadvisors.com mchang@lifesciadvisors.com pcobo@atrevia.com

cungria@atrevia.com etorrell@oryzon.com



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[May 07, 2021] TulsaLabs to Collaborate with GTX Corp to Develop Blockchain Authentication and Security for its NFC Supply Chain Tracking Solutions

Tulsa, OK, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- TulsaLabs, a division of AppSwarm, Corp. (OTC: SWRM), to develop blockchain solutions around GTX Corp's Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and GPS human and asset tracking platform; (OTC: GTXO) (GTX or the Company), a pioneer in the field of wearable GPS human and asset tracking systems and a supplier of Health and Safety medical supplies and devices, announces collaboration with GTX. GTX Corp previously utilized a third-party provider, which is no longer in business, for its Blockchain authentication will begin working with TulsaLabs on developing and vertically integrating blockchain technology into its track and trace solutions to increase transparency, security, compliance, provenance, and automated administrative operations using smart contracts. Where supply chain management has become hyper important in our post-pandemic recovery, making sure perishable foods, beverages and pharmaceuticals such as vaccines which require, authentication, chain of custody, temperature control, and transparent visibility throughout the transportation process are managed seamlessly and securely by utilizing blockchain technology, stated Patrick Bertagna, GTX Corp CEO. GTX Corp's NFC Veritap solution provides real-time temperature sensing and data logging across the supply chain necessary for the transportation of perishables; food, drinks, pharmaceuticals, and other temperature-sensitive products that can be negatively affected by conditions in transit. These built-in security measures can prevent the distribution of contaminated supplies in the marketplace and unauthorized modification of data logs, allowing brands, retailers, distributors, and freight forwarders to verify shipment quality and authentication. By accessing data from an API off current blockchain protocols, or private Hyperledger networks we look to provide a secure and safe, contactless connection of data about product origin, authentication, and certifications, throughout the entire GTX supply chain solution. GTX also distributes an extensive line of wearable echnology and Personal Protective Equipment PPE, owns and licenses a portfolio of patents in the GPS and wearable technology space, and is a GSA-approved military and government supplier. The Companys products are available at its online store, Amazon, and global distribution partners. To find out more about how you can buy or become an authorized reseller of GTX products, contact GTX at info@gtxcorp.com



About TulsaLabs TulsaLabs is a startup accelerator that assists in providing access to seed funding, training, and mentorship to blockchain startups to help them pass successfully through the early stages of business growth. https://tulsalabs.io/

About APPSWARM AppSwarm is a technology company specializing in accelerated development and publishing of mobile apps and other software platforms for gaming and business applications and seeks to acquire symmetric business opportunities. AppSwarm partners with and assists other development firms in technology development, business management, and funding needs. For more information, visit us at www.app-swarm.com or follow us on www.facebook.com/AppSwarm Twitter https://twitter.com/AppSwarm or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/appswarm/ LEGAL AppSwarm, and its affiliate labs, are strictly research firms focused on the development of blockchain applications, and in no way is involved with the buying, selling or the issuance of any cryptocurrencies, or investment advice. Investor and Media Contacts: AppSwarm, Corp.

888-886-8583

info@app-swarm.com About GTX Corp GTX Corp (OTC: GTXO) is a pioneer in smart, mobile, and wearable GPS tracking and recovery location-based solutions, supported through a proprietary IoT enterprise monitoring platform and intellectual property portfolio. GTX offers a global end-to-end solution of hardware, software and connectivity and develops two-way GPS tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products and enterprise applications. GTX utilizes the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF, NFC and BLE technology, enabling subscribers to track in real time the whereabouts of people or high value assets. GTX is known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole -- think Dr. Scholls meets LoJack, the worlds first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimers, dementia, autism and traumatic brain injury. GTXs business model is built around technology innovation and holds over 85 patents, with many issued patents in GPS tracking. The company has international distributors servicing customers in over 35 countries and is a U.S. Military Government contractor. Other customers include public health authorities and municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and consumers. Forward Looking Statements "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risk and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, product demand, market acceptance risks, fluctuations in operating results, political risk and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with OTCMarkets.com and as required to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks could cause SWRM's actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, the Company.



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[May 07, 2021] Safehold Announces Jeremy Fox-Geen Stepping Down as Chief Financial Officer

Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) announced today that Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Fox-Geen will be leaving Safehold's manager, iStar Inc., this month to join a company in the cryptocurrency infrastructure space. Jay Sugarman, Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We thank Jeremy for his contributions at Safehold, and wish him well in his next endeavor. Given our strong capital markets and investor relations teams, as well as our deep accounting and tax team, we will not seek a replacement in the near term, while we continue to execute upon our strategy of scaling the ground lease ecosystem and ensuring the full value of our portfolio is recognized by investors." Jeremy Fox-Geen said, "While excited for my new opportunity, I am saddened to leave such a high-quality institution. iStar and Safhold are great companies, with strong leadership and a terrific team. I look forward to watching their continued success."



About Safehold: Safehold Inc. (NYSE: SAFE) is revolutionizing real estate ownership by providing a new and better way for owners to unlock the value of the land beneath their buildings. Through its modern ground lease capital solution, Safehold helps owners of high-quality multifamily, office, industrial, hospitality and mixed-use properties in major markets throughout the United States generate higher returns with less risk. The Company, which is taxed as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and is managed by its largest shareholder, iStar Inc., seeks to deliver safe, growing income and long-term capital appreciation to its shareholders. Additional information on Safehold is available on its website at www.safeholdinc.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005468/en/

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[May 07, 2021] MedShare to Give Expectant Mothers in Underserved Bay Area Communities Access to State-of-the-Art Philips Ultrasound Imaging Solutions in Time for Mother's Day

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced that it has donated state-of-the-art Philips (News - Alert) ultrasound imaging solutions to MedShare, an Atlanta-based humanitarian aid organization dedicated to global health, which will distribute the solutions to safety net clinics like Axis Community Health in Northern California. Through MedShare's Safe Birthing Initiative (SBI), which looks to strengthen the capacity of maternity and neonatal units in communities using global best practices, Philips ultrasounds will help to address birth equity challenges for underserved communities in the U.S. As MedShare engages with local clinics and helps expand their OBGYN services, it also aims to demonstrate that the addition of diagnostic ultrasound equipment in community-based health practices can help patients receive better and more efficient care, which can lead to better health outcomes for mothers and newborn children. Despite being a region known for wealth and technological advancement, the Bay Area is not immune to the impact of social determinants of health. There are stark racial disparities for pregnant women in the Bay Area who receive early prenatal care, including those in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties.1 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), infant mortality in the Bay Area is four times higher for African American women than white women, and African American women are three to four times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth.2, 3 Most deaths are preventable, and the CDC is calling for systematic, policy-driven, and community-based changes to the current system of maternal care. "By adding Philips ultrasound capabilities, we can not only give these moms their first look at their baby and make prenatal care more convenient, we can detect issues with the pregnancy faster, providing that woman with the support she needs for a healthy pregnancy and baby," said Dr. Dawnell Moody, chief medical officer of Axis (News - Alert) Community Health. "Our community deserves the same kind of health technologies found in private hospitals and working with MedShare, we have been able to expand our ability to provide quality prenatal care. To receive this donation on Mother's Day makes it even more meaningful." The U.S. health care 'safety-net' is a fragmented network of public hospitals, free or charitable clinics, federally qualified community health centers (CHCs) and other healthcare organizations united only by their shared mission-to provide care to individuals regardless of ability to pay. According to the California Association of Free and Public Clinics, there are nearly 7.5 million uninsured Californians, while at the same time, free clinics are facing an overall decrease in their funding of 20 percent.4 To help fill this gap, organizations like MedShare, whose mission of repurposing and donating clinically viable medical equipment in underserved communities, are helping to bring healthcare to those who need it most. "MedShare has worked wit over 64 safety net clinics in the Bay Area to donate supplies and equipment, and we understand that while these organizations are serving those with the greatest need, they are in need themselves," said Charles Redding, chief executive officer and president of MedShare. "Working together with partners like Philips and Axis Community Health, we can provide clinicians with the tools they need to strengthen care in their communities and give every baby the chance of a great start in life."



If you want to understand how to support birth equity, or Axis Community Health please visit here. For more information about Philips Healthcare Disparities and Corporate Social Responsibility programs or MedShare, please visit here. About Axis:

Axis Community Health, located in eastern Alameda County, provides medical, dental and behavioral health services for low-income and uninsured patients and serves 14,000 people with 100,000 visits across all services annually. 72% of Axis's patients have incomes less than the federal poverty rate (up to $25,250 for a family of 4); 22% have incomes between 101 and 200% of poverty (up to $48,500 for a family of 4). Axis staff include physicians, nurse practitioners, dentists, mental health professionals and support personnel. Staff are multi-lingual and provide services in a culturally-sensitive manner. Axis is a designated Federally Qualified Health Center, and nationally recognized as a quality leader among all clinics in the country. Axis is committed to its mission of providing quality, affordable, accessible and compassionate health care services that promote the well-being of all members of the community. For more information, visit www.axishealth.org.

About MedShare:

MedShare is a 501c(3) humanitarian aid organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people, communities, and our planet by sourcing and directly delivering surplus medical supplies and equipment to communities in need around the world. MedShare's programmatic approach addresses specific health challenges through its Primary Care Program, Maternal & Child Health Program, Disaster Relief Program, Infectious Disease Control & Prevention Program, and Biomedical Equipment Training & Repair Service. For more than 20 years MedShare has strengthened global healthcare and supported sustainable development in low-resource communities. For more information, please visit the organization's website at www.medshare.org. About Royal Philips:

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and well-being, and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum - from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2020 sales of EUR 17.3 billion and employs approximately 77,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter. ______________________________

1 Data provided by Kids Count (https://datacenter.kidscount.org/), 2021

2"Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: August 2018. www.cdc.gov

3 "Infant Mortality." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: August 2018. www.cdc.gov

4 https://www.californiafreeclinics.org/uploads/2/5/8/8/25882505/nafcc_checkup_infographic_california_v2.pdf View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005479/en/

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[May 07, 2021] Namecheap's June 'Expert Summit' Offers Free Masterclasses by Professionals for Online Business Owners & Aspiring Entrepreneurs

PHOENIX, May 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Namecheap, the world's second-largest domain registrar and leading provider of products that power online business and digital creators, announces its second annual 'Expert Summit.' Kicking off June 1, and continuing till the end of the month, Namecheap's Expert Summit brings together leaders in business strategy, marketing, design, and more to offer free bite-sized and easy-to-follow masterclasses  packed with clever advice, exclusive tips, and informative tutorials. The virtual summit aims to help online innovators launch new businesses or take their existing ones to new levels of success. Registration is now open and entirely free. arly registrants will receive first notice and access. Each video lesson will offer online business owners and aspiring digital entrepreneurs unique insight from a professional into their specific area of expertise. All sessions will be less than 30 minutes. Watch along with others when each video streams live, or view on demand after the livestream.



Namecheap's 2021 Expert Summit masterclass topics include: email marketing, networking, search engine optimization, public relations, branding, paid social media, podcasting, link building, and much more. For more than two decades Namecheap has been committed to making the Internet more accessible and affordable for everyone. Register today to receive the complete schedule of masterclasses throughout June.

About Namecheap Namecheap is an ICANN-accredited domain registrar and technology company founded in 2000 by CEO Richard Kirkendall. Celebrating two decades of providing unparalleled levels of service, security, and support, Namecheap has been steadfast in customer satisfaction. With over 13 million domains under management, Namecheap.com is among the top domain registrars and web hosting providers in the world. To learn more about Namecheap, visit namecheap.com. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/namecheaps-june-expert-summit-offers-free-masterclasses-by-professionals-for-online-business-owners--aspiring-entrepreneurs-301286743.html SOURCE Namecheap

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[May 07, 2021] Exchange Bank Announces Brian Rober, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Exchange Bank (OTC: EXSR) announces Brian Rober to Exchange Bank as senior vice president and chief information officer. In his role as head of Technical Services, Brian sets objectives and strategies for the IT department, selects and implements technology solutions to streamline internal operations and helps design and customize technological systems and platforms to improve customer experience. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005520/en/ Brian Rober, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer, Exchange Bank (Photo: Business Wire) Brian has over 20 years of experience in the tchnology and risk fields within the banking industry. He spent the last 10 years at FIS, overseeing a team of more than 100 IT professionals and managing the IT infrastructure and support for 150 community banks that outsourced all aspects of their IT. During his time with FIS, Brian drove the strategic opportunities around capital planning, disaster recovery, emerging technologies, automation efforts, client reporting, platform migrations, engineering, service desk and security posture for those clients. Before FIS, Brian worked for two different community banks in many different capacities.



Brian holds a bachelor's degree in Business from Cal Poly (News - Alert) , San Luis Obispo and is currently enrolled and working towards a master's degree in Cybersecurity. About Exchange Bank

Exchange Bank is a 15-time winner of the North Bay Business Journal's (NBBJ) Best Places to Work survey, a recipient of the 2020 North Bay Community Philanthropy Award and the 2020 Healthiest Companies in the North Bay Award. NorthBay biz magazine named Exchange Bank the 2020 Best Consumer Bank and Best Business Bank. The Petaluma People's Choice Awards named Exchange Bank the Best Local bank and the North Bay Bohemian's Best of 2020 Readers Poll named Exchange Bank the Best Business Bank and Best Consumer Bank. Exchange Bank can also be found in the NBBJ's Book of Lists as a leading lender and wealth management advisor-retaining the #1 position in SBA 7(a) lending in Sonoma County for 2020. www.exchangebank.com. Member FDIC - Equal Housing Lender - Equal Opportunity Employer View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005520/en/

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[May 07, 2021] The European Equity Fund, Inc. and The New Germany Fund, Inc. Declare Distributions

The European Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE: EEA) and The New Germany Fund, Inc. (NYSE: GF) (each, a "Fund," and, collectively, the "Funds") announced today that its Board of Directors declared the distributions set forth below. GF's total distributions will be paid in stock except that any stockholder of record as of May 17, 2021 may elect to receive such distribution in cash. EEA's total distributions will be paid in cash. Details for the Funds' distributions are as follows: Declaration - 5/7/2021 Ex-Date - 5/14/2021 Record - 5/17/2021 Payable - 6/25/2021







Fund Ticker Net Investment Income per Share Short-Term Capital Gains per Share Long-Term Capital Gains per Share Total Distribution per Share The European Equity Fund, Inc. EEA $0.0325 $0.0000 $0.0000 $0.0325 The New Germany Fund, Inc. GF $0.0175 $0.1939 $0.7212 $0.9326

For more information on each Fund, including the most recent month-end performance, visit www.dwsfunds.com or call (800) 349-4281. Important Information Investing in foreign securities, particularly those of emerging markets, presents certain risks, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic changes, and market risks. Any fund that concentrates in a particular segment of the market will generally be more volatile than a fund that invests more broadly. The shares of most closed-end funds, including the Funds, are not continuously offered. Once issued, shares of closed-end funds are bought and sold in the open market through a stock exchange. Shares of closed-end funds frequently trade at a discount to net asset value. The price of a fund's shares is determined by a number of factors, several of which are beyond the control of the fund. Therefore, a fund cannot predict whether its shares will trade at, below, or above net asset value. Investments in funds involve risk. Additional risks of the Funds are associated with international investing, such as currency fluctuations, political and economic changes, market risks, government regulations and differences in liquidity, which may increase the volatility of your investment. Foreign security markets generally exhibit greater price volatility and are less liquid than the US market. Additionally, the Funds focus their investments in certain geographical regions, thereby increasing their vulnerability to developments in that region and potentially subjecting the Funds' shares to greater price volatility. Some funds have more risk than others. These include funds, such as the Funds, that allow exposure to or otherwise concentrate investments in certain sectors, geographic regions, security types, market capitalization, or foreign securities (e.g., political or economic instability, which can be accentuated in emerging market countries). The European Union, the United States and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to Russian military and other actions in recent years. These sanctions have adversely affected Russian individuals, issuers and the Russian economy. Russia, in turn, has imposed sanctions targeting Western individuals, businesses and products. The various sanctions have adversely affected, and may continue to adversely affect, not only the Russian economy, but also the economies of many countries in Europe, including countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The continuation of current sanctions or the imposition of additional sanctions may materially adversely affect the value of the Funds' portfolios. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the laws of such state or jurisdiction. War, terrorism, economic uncertainty, trade disputes, public health crises (including the recent pandemic spread of the novel coronavirus) and related geopolitical events could lead to increased market volatility, disruption to US and world economies and markets and may have significant adverse effects on the Funds and their investments. NOT FDIC/ NCUA INSURED * MAY LOSE VALUE * NO BANK GUARANTEE

NOT A DEPOSIT * NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY The brand DWS represents DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA and any of its subsidiaries such as DWS Distributors, Inc. which offers investment products or DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc. and RREEF America L.L.C. which offer advisory services. (R-083136-1) (05/21) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210507005495/en/

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NASHVILLE During National Police Week (May 9-May 15), the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) and the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy (TLETA) will raise awareness of the ultimate sacrifices made by Tennessee law enforcement officers, as well as the family members, friends and fellow officers they left behind.

Established by a joint resolution of Congress in 1962, National Police Week pays special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty for the safety and protection of others. This year, the names of 394 officers killed in the line of duty are being added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC. These 394 officers include 295 (182 fatalities are COVID-19-related) who died during 2020, plus 99 officers who died in previous years but whose stories of sacrifice had been lost to history until now. In Tennessee, the names of eight fallen officers will be added to the memorial during the ceremony.

During May 9May 15, the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum will deliver programs to keep current officers safe and healthy, as well as ceremonies to honor those fallen officers whose names have been recently added to the Memorial. The 33rd Annual Candlelight Vigil will happen virtually on Thursday, May 13 at 8:00 p.m. EDT.

At the start of each shift, every law enforcement officer knows that he or she may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice of his or her life in order to save someone else, said TLETA Director Brian Grisham. Law enforcement officers are called upon to demonstrate bravery each day in the face of enormous obstacles and at great personal risk. I commend the heroism of Tennessee law enforcement and I extend my heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of every officer who lost his or her life while protecting his or her community.

The Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy (TLETA) was authorized by the 1963 General Assembly for the purpose of training state, county and city law enforcement officers. The Academy, which is based in Donelson, was brought under the Department of Safety in 1983 and joined TDCI in 2006.

TLETAs Basic Police School course provides technical and tactical expertise in addition to the ethical and professional standards needed to be a successful law enforcement officer. This year, TLETA expects to train more law enforcement officers than ever before through its Basic Police Recruit and specialized training courses.

About the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance: Fostering fair marketplaces, public safety, and consumer education that promote the success of individuals and businesses while serving as innovative leaders. Our divisions include the State Fire Marshals Office, Insurance, Securities, Regulatory Boards, Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy, Tennessee Emergency Communications Board and TennCare Oversight.

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ANDERSON COUNTY, SR 61 Bridge over Norfolk Southern Railway and Market Street in Clinton: SR 61 East is reduced to one lane through this bridge repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changing conditions, lane shifts, and use extreme caution through this area.

ANDERSON COUNTY, US 25/SR 9 Bridge over Clinch River between SR 61 and Carden Farm Drive: SR 9 northbound is reduced to one lane approaching the bridge as crews continue work in this area. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changing conditions, lane shifts, and use extreme caution through this bridge construction project.

BLOUNT COUNTY, US 129 North and South between SR 35 Hall Road and Tyson Boulevard: Motorists should be alert for workers present, possible lane closures and brief stoppages of traffic through this roadway construction project. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-115-alcoa-highway-hall-road-to-tyson-blvd.html

BLOUNT COUNTY, SR 335 Hunt Road between Ambrose Street and Ramsay Street: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures at various times as crews install utilities through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present directing traffic and use extreme caution through this area.

BLOUNT COUNTY, SR 33 between Foothills Mall Drive and Henry Street: Motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this intersection improvement construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changed conditions, and use extreme caution through this area.

BLOUNT COUNTY, US 321 between Jones Avenue and Lamar Street: Motorists should be alert for possible daily lane closures as crews perform roadside work through this project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 South near Mile Marker 134.7: On Monday, May 10, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 North and South between Mile Markers 135 and 142: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 North near Mile Marker 143: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning on Sundays through Thursdays through this project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 South near Mile Marker 154.4: On Friday, May 7, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following

morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, I-75 North near Mile Marker 155.9: On Monday, May 10, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

CAMPBELL COUNTY, SR 63 between Myers Lane and Frontier Road/Woodson Lane: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and/or 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for slowed or stopped traffic, expect potential delays and use extreme caution

through this area.

CARTER COUNTY, US 19E/SR 37 Bridge over the Doe River and Riverview Road: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures through this bridge repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

COCKE COUNTY, I-40 West near Mile Marker 440.5: On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

COCKE COUNTY, I-40 East near Mile Marker 440.3 and 446.1: On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the

following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

CLAIBORNE COUNTY, SR 63 between Old Town Creek and US 25E/SR 32: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert

for workers present, expect delays and use extreme caution through this area.

GREENE COUNTY, US 11E/SR 34 both directions between Blue Springs Parkway and Forest Road in Mosheim: Motorists should be alert for lane closures and lane shifts through this area for bridge repair operations. These lane closures will remain in place 24/7 until repairs are complete. Motorists should be alert for workers present, changing conditions, and

use extreme caution in this area. This bridge repair project is estimated to be complete on or before October 31, 2021.

HAMBLEN COUNTY, SR 34 near Commerce Blvd.: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists

should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

HAMBLEN COUNTY, SR 160 near Commerce Blvd.: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, I-40 West near Mile Marker 413: On Sunday, May 9, 2021, motorists should be alertfor possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following

morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

JEFFERSON COUNTY, I-81 North and South between Mile Markers 0 and 7.5: On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

JOHNSON COUNTY, SR 167 at Log Mile 7.5: Motorists should be alert for single lane roadway with temporary traffic signal through this slide repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slowed traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-40 East and West between Mile Markers 376 and 383: On Sunday, May 9, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible rolling roadblocks to occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. as utility crews perform overhead line work. Motorists should be alert for slowor stopped traffic, expect delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-40 West near Mile Marker 396.5: On Friday, May 7, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following

morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-75 North and South between Mile Markers 110 and 112: On Monday, May 10, 2021 through Wednesday, May 12, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution

through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-75 North and South between Mile Markers 110 and 112: On Thursday, May 13, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this

area.

KNOX COUNTY, I-640 West between Mile Markers 8 and 3: On Monday, May 10, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible rolling roadblocks to occur between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 2 a.m. the following morning as crews perform attenuator repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow or stopped traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, Various Interstates through Knoxville: On Thursday, May 6, 2021 and Monday, May 10, 2021 through Thursday, May 13, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible mobile lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform roadway maintenance activities. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow or stopped traffic, and use extreme caution in this area.

KNOX COUNTY, US 129/SR 115 Alcoa Highway between Topside Road and Maloney Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures and lane shifts as crews perform work through this project. Motorists should be alert for new traffic patterns. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduce speed and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-115-alcoa-highway-little-river-to-maloney.html

KNOX COUNTY, US 129/SR 115 Alcoa Highway between Maloney Road and Woodson Drive: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures and lane shifts as crews perform work through this project. Motorists should be alert for new traffic patterns. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduce speed and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-115-alcoa-highway-maloney-to-woodson.html

KNOX COUNTY, US 441 Broadway Viaduct between Jackson Avenue and Fifth Avenue: US 441 Broadway Viaduct over Norfolk Southern Railroad in downtown Knoxville is closed for bridge replacement. The Broadway Viaduct will be closed to all traffic for the duration of the project. During the closure, Broadway will be closed from the intersection of Oak Avenue, Worlds Fair Park, and Jackson Avenue to just north of the Depot Avenue intersection. Depot Avenue will also be closed. These closures will ensure the safety of workers and motorists as crews demolish the old bridge and reconstruct the new bridge. Primary and Local Detour Routes around the bridge closure will be in place. For detour routes and project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/broadway-viaduct.html

KNOX COUNTY, US 441/SR 71 Chapman Highway between Highland View Drive and Burnett Lane: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/chapman-highway-evans-to-burnett.html

KNOX COUNTY, SR 62 Western Avenue between Copper Kettle and Texas Avenue: Motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this resurfacing project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, SR 162 Pellissippi Parkway West at Hardin Valley Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

KNOX COUNTY, SR 332 Concord Road between Turkey Creek Road and Northshore: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and new traffic patterns through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area. For project information, go to https://www.tn.gov/tdot/projects/projects-region-1/sr-332-proposed-widening.html

LOUDON COUNTY, I-75 North and South between Mile Markers 79 and 84: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this resurfacing project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, expect delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

LOUDON COUNTY, I-75 North and South near Mile Markers 83: Beginning 8 p.m. Friday, May 7, 2021 through 6 a.m. Monday, May 10, 2021, I-75 will be reduced to one lane in each direction around the clock as crews perform bridge deck repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow or stopped traffic, expect potential long delays, and use extreme caution through this area. Motorists should consider seeking alternate routes during peak travel hours to avoid this closure.

LOUDON COUNTY, SR 2 between Loudon Middle School and Carter Street: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

ROANE COUNTY, I-40 West between Mile Markers 340 and 344: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures at various times through this slope stabilization project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, lane shifts, and use extreme caution through this area.

ROANE COUNTY, I-40 East near Mile Marker 353: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews set portable barrier rails through this slope stabilization project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

SCOTT COUNTY, US 27/SR 29 between Industrial Lane and Second Avenue: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect possible delays, and use caution through this area.

SEVIER COUNTY, I-40 East near Mile Marker 406.3: On Sunday, May 9, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

SEVIER COUNTY, SR 71 between US 411 and Macon Lane: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

SULLIVAN COUNTY, I-81 North & South between Mile Markers 57 and 63: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures nightly between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this bridge repair project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow or stopped traffic, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution in this area. This bridge repair project is estimated to be complete on or before May 31, 2021.

SULLIVAN COUNTY, SR 36 at SR 126: Motorists should be alert for possible nightly lane closures between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning through this intersection improvement project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

SULLIVAN COUNTY, SR 126 Memorial Boulevard at SR 36: Beginning May 10, 2021, motorists should be alert for lane reductions that will remain in place around the clock through this intersection improvement project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, changed traffic patterns, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution

through this area.

SULLIVAN COUNTY, SR 355 between Log Miles 1 and 3: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

UNICOI COUNTY, I-26 East and West near Mile Marker 33: Motorists should be alert for lane closures as I-26 will be reduced to one lane in each direction around the clock through this bridge repair project. Wide loads should follow signed detour routes. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area. This project is estimated to be complete on or before August 31, 2021.

UNICOI COUNTY, SR 81 between Log Miles 0 and 1.8: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. through this resurfacing and safety

project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

UNICOI COUNTY, SR 107 between 6th Street and SR 173: Motorists should be alert for possible lane closures daily between the hours of 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. through this resurfacing

and safety project. Motorists should be alert for workers and equipment present, expect potential delays, and use extreme caution through this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, I-26 East and West near Mile Marker 23.5: On Wednesday, May 12, 2021, motorists should be alert for possible lane closures between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. the following morning as crews perform guardrail repairs. Motorists should be alert for workers present, slow traffic, and use extreme caution through this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, SR 93 between Davis Road and Fire Hall Road: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this construction project. Motorists should be alert for workers present, reduced speeds, and use caution through this area.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, SR 354 Boones Creek Road at I-26: Motorists should be alert for possible temporary lane closures through this project. Motorists should be alert for new traffic patterns and follow new guide signs and pavement markings through this intersection. Motorists should be alert for workers present, expect delays and use extreme caution through this

area.

For information on statewide interstate construction motorists can access the Tennessee Department of Transportation SmartWay website at https://smartway.tn.gov/traffic

TDOT is now on Twitter. For up to the minute traffic information in Knoxville and the Tri-Cities follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/knoxville511. For statewide travel information follow www.twitter.com/TN511
District 47 - West TN  Northern

DYER COUNTY, SR-3 (US-51): The repair of bridges on US 51 (SR 3) over SR 211 in Dyersburg will cause temporary lane closures throughout the project. *Speed limit has been reduced to 55 MPH.

DYER COUNTY, SR-3 (US-51): The repair of bridges on US 51 (SR 3) over the South Fork Forked Deer River will cause temporary lane closures throughout the project.



Restrictions: Beginning January 25, 2021, Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction with a 12 6 lane restriction.

DYER COUNTY, SR-3 (US-51): The repair of bridges on US 51 (SR 3) over SR 211 in Dyersburg will cause temporary lane closures throughout the project. *Speed limit has been reduced to 55 MPH.



DYER COUNTY, SR-3 (US-51): The repair of bridges on US 51 (SR 3) over the South Fork Forked Deer River will cause temporary lane closures throughout the project.



Restrictions: Beginning January 25, 2021, Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction with a 12 6 lane restriction.

DYER COUNTY, SR-20: The repair of bridge on US 412 (SR 20) over Hogwallow Road will cause temporary lane closures throughout the project. *Speed limit has been reduced to 55 MPH.



HENDERSON COUNTY (New Lexington By-Pass): The grading, drainage, construction of bridges and retaining walls, signals and paving on US 412 (SR 459) from US 412 (SR 20) west of Lexington to near SR 22 south of Lexington. Motorists should watch for trucks entering and exiting the roadway.



HENRY COUNTY, SR-54: The grading, drainage, construction of bridges, retaining wall and paving on SR 54 from near Rison Street to near Smith Road. Motorists should watch for trucks entering and exiting the roadway. *Speed limit has been reduced to 35 MPH.



OBION COUNTY, Future I-69 (Phase 3): Grading, drainage, construction of bridges and paving on future I-69 from west of SR 21 to US 51 (SR 3) will cause possible lane closures throughout the project.



Tuesday, October 13, 2020: Bethlehem Road north from Clifford Rives Road to Lindenwood Road will be closed. Claude Tucker Road north from Cloys Road to Section Line Road will be closed. Detour routes are posted.

WEAKLEY COUNTY, US 45E (SR-43): The repair of bridge on US 45E (SR 43) over the North Fork Obion River and Overflow will cause temporary lane closures throughout the project.



TDOT DISTRICT 47 MAINTENANCE:



Wednesday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 12, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.: There will be possible lane closures at various locations in Region IV to repair pavement and/or retrace pavement markings on an as needed basis.

District 48 - West TN  Middle/Southern



HARDIN COUNTY, SR-69: The construction of a Bulb Tee bridge over Doe Creek along with grading, drainage, and paving may cause temporary lane closures on SR 69 at LM 10.06. Motorists should watch for trucks entering and exiting the roadway.

HARDIN COUNTY, SR-128: The grading, drainage and paving on SR 128 from south of Pyburns Drive to north of SR 226 (Airport Road). Motorists should watch for trucks entering and exiting the roadway.



HAYWOOD COUNTY, (SR-1): There will be temporary daytime lane closures east and westbound on SR1 LM.26.7 to 27.3 for repair of bridges on SR1 over I-40. One lane will remain open at all times.



HAYWOOD COUNTY, SR-19 (Brownsville Bypass): The construction of an I-Beam bridge along with grading, drainage, and paving may cause temporary lane closures on SR 19 (Brownsville Bypass) from east of SR 87 to west of Windrow Rd. One lane will remain. Motorists should watch for trucks entering and exiting the roadway. Speed limit is reduced to 45 MPH within the project limits. Shaw Chapel and King Road are closed at SR 19 and a detour put in place. Haralson St (Old SR19) is now open.



HENDERSON COUNTY, SR-22: The repair of the bridges on SR 22 over Big Beaver Creek and Little Beaver Creek. Motorists should watch for crews and equipment in the roadways. One lane will remain open in both directions.



Restrictions: February 1, 2020 there was a 12 width restriction put in place.

MADISON COUNTY, I-40 (Concrete Repair):



Wednesday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 12, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.: The On ramps and Off ramps at Exit 93 will have construction activity but will remain open. Flaggers will be present on the ramps.

Wednesday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 12, 7:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m.: I- 40 eastbound from MM 87.6 to MM 95.0 will be down one lane for saw cutting and removal and replacement of damaged concrete.

LOOK AHEAD



Wednesday, May 12 through Wednesday, May 19, 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m.: The On ramps and Off ramps at Exit 93 will have construction activity but will remain open. Flaggers will be present on the ramps.

Wednesday, May 12 through Wednesday, May 19, 7:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m.: I- 40 eastbound from MM 87.6 to MM 95.0 will be down one lane for saw cutting and removal and replacement of damaged concrete.

MADISON COUNTY, I-40: Resurfacing on I-40 westbound from the Haywood County Line to near Lower Brownsville Rd.

Wednesday, May 5 through Friday, May 7 and Sunday, May 9 through Wednesday, May 12, 7:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m.: There will be nighttime temporary inside and outside lane closures on I-40 westbound from MM 67 to MM 74.4 for OGFC paving operations. Additionally, there will be intermittent shoulder closures during daytime hours to allow for flowable fill curing time. Speed limit is reduced to 60 MPH during active closures.

MADISON COUNTY, I-40: The widening of I-40 east of US 45 (SR 5) MM 82 to east of US 70



(SR 1) MM 87 in Jackson, including bridges, retaining walls and installation of TDOT Smartway Intelligent Transportation System.

Wednesday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 12, 7:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: (AS NEEDED) I-40 east and westbound from MM 82 to MM 87 will have intermittent left and right lane closures to repair any potholes/maintenance issues.

One Lane Closed until Summer of 2021: Campbell St. will be down to one lane in each direction over I-40 for Phase 1 bridge construction activities.

Closed until Summer of 2021: Old Henderson Rd. Bridge over I-40 will be closed to thru traffic for Phase 1 bridge demolition activities. Detours will be posted for traffic.

Closed until Summer of 2021: Watson Rd. Bridge over I-40 will be closed to thru traffic for Phase 1 bridge demolition activities. Detours will be posted for traffic.

LOOK AHEAD



Wednesday, May 12 through Wednesday, May 19, 7:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: (AS NEEDED) I-40 east and westbound from MM 82.0 to MM87.0 will have intermittent left and right lane closures to repair any potholes/maintenance issues.

Friday, May 14, 7:00 p.m., to Monday, May 17, 6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from MM 85.5 to MM 86.5. Median crossovers will be utilized during this time frame to allow crews to safely demolish the Watson Rd. overpass bridge. For a majority of the weekend, either eastbound or westbound traffic will have 2 through lanes depending on which portion of the bridge is being demolished. For example, if the South portion of the bridge is being demolished, eastbound traffic will be reduced to one lane and use the temporary crossover to shift traffic to the westbound side, while westbound traffic will still have 2 though lanes. If the North portion of the bridge is being demolished, westbound traffic will be reduced to one lane and use the temporary crossover to shift traffic to the eastbound side, while the eastbound traffic will still have 2 through lanes.

MADISON COUNTY, SR-186 (US 45 Bypass) and I-40: Interchange improvements on SR 186 (US 45) north and southbound from the I-40 ramps to Old Hickory Blvd for paving and construction of retaining walls. Widening of I-40 from just east of Exit 79 to just east of Exit 82.

Thursday, May 6 and Friday, May 7, 9:00 a.m.3:00 p.m.: SR 5 (Highland Avenue) will have intermittent left and right lane closures both north and southbound from Vann Drive to the Carriage House/Ridgecrest intersection for signal installation activities.

Thursday, May 6 through Friday, May 7, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from Exit 79 to Exit 82 for paving activities.

Friday, May 7 through Monday, May 10, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from Exit 79 to Exit 82 for paving activities.

Monday, May 10 through Wednesday. May 12, 9:00 a.m.3:00 p.m.: SR 5 (Highland Avenue) will have intermittent left and right lane closures both north and southbound from Vann Drive to the Carriage House/Ridgecrest intersection for signal installation activities.

Monday, May 10 through Wednesday, May 12, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from Exit 79 to Exit 82 for paving activities.

LOOK AHEAD



Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14, 9:00 a.m.3:00 p.m.: SR 5 (Highland Avenue) will have intermittent left and right lane closures both north and southbound from Vann Drive to the Carriage House/Ridgecrest intersection for signal installation activities.

Thursday, May 13 through Friday, May 14, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from Exit 79 to Exit 82 for paving activities.

Friday, May 14 through Monday, May 17, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from Exit 79 to Exit 82 for paving activities.

Friday, May 14 through Monday, May 17, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: FULL CLOSURE SR 5 (Highland Avenue) will be CLOSED both north and southbound from Vann Drive to Carriage House/Ridgecrest intersection for milling, final surface paving, and permanent striping. (BACKUP DATES: Friday, May 21 through Monday, May 24, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.)

Monday, May 17 through Wednesday. May 19, 9:00 a.m.3:00 p.m.: SR 5 (Highland Avenue) will have intermittent left and right lane closures both north and southbound from Vann Drive to the Carriage House/Ridgecrest intersection for signal installation activities.

Monday, May 17 through Wednesday, May 19, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: I-40 both east and westbound will have intermittent lane closures from Exit 79 to Exit 82 for paving activities.

TDOT District 48 MAINTENANCE:



Wednesday, May 5 through Wednesday, May 12, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.: There will be possible lane closures at various locations in Region IV to repair pavement and/or retrace pavement markings on an as needed basis.

NON-TDOT Work



MADISON COUNTY, SR-5

Thursday, May 6, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.: Close the right lane of SR 5 (N. Highland Ave), beginning 1000' south of E Forest Av, to allow for AT&T maintenance work in existing manhole.

District 49 - West TNSouthwest



FAYETTE COUNTY, I-40: Resurfacing of I-40 from Shelby County Line MM 27 to near Exit 35 MM 35.

Wednesday, May 5 through Friday, May 7 and Sunday, May 9 through Friday, May 14, 7PM-7AM: I-40 east and westbound from MM 27 to MM 35 will have lane closures for nighttime resurfacing operations. Speed limit will be reduced to 60 MPH during active closures. Weather Permitting.

FAYETTE COUNTY, SR-196: The repair of bridge over Shaw Creek will cause a lane closure with temporary traffic signal near MM 7.0.



SHELBY COUNTY, I-55: Bridge repair on SR 14/Third St. (US-61) over I-55.



LOOK AHEAD

Friday, May 21 8:00 p.m. through Monday, May 24, 6:00 a.m.: All lanes on I-55 southbound from Mallory to I-240 will be closed to perform bridge repair work. Detours will be provided. Weather Permitting.

SHELBY COUNTY, SR-14: There will be lane closures on both north and southbound SR 14/Third Street (US-61) over I-55 for bridge repairs.

Restrictions: Traffic is reduced to two lanes in each direction with a 12-0 lane restriction.

SHELBY COUNTY, SR-14: The grading, drainage, construction of concrete Bulb-Tee and I-beam bridges, signals and paving on SR 14 from east of Old Covington Pike to SR 385 will cause possible lane closures throughout the project. *Speed limit has been reduced to 45 MPH.



SHELBY COUNTY, SR-14: Construction on SR 14 for a widening project from SR 385 to east of Kerrville Rosemark Rd. There will be possible temporary lane closures throughout the project. Access to SR 14 from McCalla Rd West will be permanently detoured to Donnell Rd. *Speed limit has been reduced to 45 MPH.



TIPTON COUNTY, SR-59: The emergency slide repair of SR 59 near MM 1.0 will cause a road closure with full detour signed.



TDOT District 49 Random On-Call Signing



Wednesday, May 5 through May 11, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: There will be nighttime lane closures to install overhead signs in Madison County on SR 223 NB, MM 14.6MM 15.0; one lane will be CLOSED.THP will assist with traffic control. Weather Permitting.

Wednesday, May 5 through Tuesday, May 11, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: There will be nighttime ramp closures to install overhead signs in Madison County on SR 223 NB on ramp to I-40 EB and on

SR 223 NB on ramp to I-40 WB. The ramps will be CLOSED. Weather Permitting.

LOOK AHEAD:

Wednesday, May 12 through Tuesday, May 18, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: There will be nighttime ramp closures to install overhead signs in Madison County on SR 223 NB On ramp to I-40 EB and on

SR 223 NB on ramp to I-40 WB. The ramps will be CLOSED. Weather Permitting.

TDOT District 49 On-Call Guardrail/Concrete Barrier Rail Repair



Wednesday, May 5 through Tuesday, May 11, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: There will be night time lane closures at various locations on SR 3 (Shelby County), SR 385 (Shelby County), SR 14 (Shelby County), I-40 (Fayette and Shelby Counties), I-269 (Shelby and Fayette Counties), I-55 and I-240. One lane will be CLOSED to repair damaged guardrail. THP will assist with traffic control. Weather Permitting.

Wednesday, May 5 through Tuesday, May 11, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: There will be nighttime ramp closures in Shelby County at I-40 WB EXIT 8 Off ramp to SR 14, I-40 EB EXIT 8 Off ramp to SR 14 NB, I-40 EB EXIT 8 On ramp from SR 14 SB, I-40 EB EXIT 16 Off ramp to SR 177, I-240 WB EXIT 25A Off ramp to I-55 SB, I-240 WB EXIT 23B to Airways SB, I-240 EB EXIT 28 On ramp from South Parkway, I-40 EB EXIT 24/25 Off ramp to SR 385 WB/I-269 SB and SR 205, I-55 SB EXIT 9 Off ramp to Mallory, I-55 NB EXIT 11 On ramp from McLemore. Weather Permitting. If weather prohibits, the closures will be on the next available night.

Thursday, May 6 through Wednesday, May 12, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.: There will be daytime lane closures at various locations in Lauderdale County, SR 3, MM 7.0MM 21.0 and SR 209,

MM 15.016.2. Flagmen will be used to direct traffic where necessary. Weather Permitting.

LOOK AHEAD:



Wednesday, May 12 through Tuesday, May 18, 8:00 p.m.-6:00 a.m.: There will be nighttime ramp closures in Shelby County at I-40 WB EXIT 8Off ramp to SR 14, I-40 EB EXIT 8 Off ramp to SR 14 NB, I-40 EB EXIT 8 on ramp from SR 14 SB, I-40 EB EXIT 16 off ramp to SR 177, I-240 WB EXIT 25A Off ramp to I-55 SB, I-240 WB EXIT 23B to Airways SB, I-240 EB EXIT 28 On ramp from South Parkway, I-40 EB EXIT 8 to SR 14 NB, I-40 EB EXIT 8 On ramp from SR 14 SB, I-40 EB EXIT 24/25 Off ramp to SR 385 WB/I-269 SB and SR 205, I-55 SB EXIT 6B to I-240 WB, I-55 SB EXIT 9 Off ramp to Mallory, I-55 NB EXIT 11 On ramp from McLemore, and I-55 NB EXIT 12C On ramp from Metal Museum. Weather Permitting.

TDOT District 49 MAINTENANCE



Thursday, May 6 through Wednesday, May 12, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.: There will be possible lane closures at various locations in Region IV to repair pavement and/or retrace pavement markings on an as needed basis.

From your desktop or mobile device, get the latest construction activity and live streaming SmartWay traffic cameras at www.TNSmartWay.com/Traffic. Travelers can also dial 511 from any land-line or cellular phone for travel information, or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TN511 for statewide travel or for West Tennessee follow https://twitter.com/NicLawrenceTDOT .



As always, drivers are reminded to use all motorist information tools wisely and Know Before You Go! by checking travel conditions before leaving for your destination. Drivers should never tweet, text or talk on a cell phone while behind the wheel.

In 2016, the Tennessee Department of Transportation lost three workers in the line of duty. All three were struck by passing motorists. Those tragedies bring the total number of TDOT lives lost to 112. We dont want to lose another member of our TDOT family. Were asking you to WORK WITH US. Click on the WORK WITH US logo to learn more.
A kerfuffle over throw-away charity jobs for youngsters has bigger implications for the politics of Kansas City.



Check the cover story . . .

Fox4: Kansas City leaders questioning metro nonprofit about intern workers not being paid

The premise is simple enough . . . The Chamber claims they don't pay interns and the mayor wants more cash.



But that's not the whole story . . .



This remark is curious and reveals an important rift . . .

Mayor Lucas and his staff question why the Chamber, given its large number of member businesses, doesnt pay its interns. The mayor said thats in sharp contrast to programs led by Hire KCs summer employment program, which offers paid summer internships to high school students from at-risk neighborhoods.

So far, that program has received 900 applicants to fill 500 summer jobs.

For us, whats most important is making sure were getting kids opportunities, but opportunities look like real work. Part of real work is getting paid at the end of the day. Were making sure we get that as well, Lucas said.

So far it looks like The Chamber is holding steady. Meanwhile, we've seen a few cringe-y allegations of discrimination planted by paid trolls who support the mayor on a few social media outlets in hopes of trying to stir up negative publicity.

However . . .



One of the most powerful institutions in Kansas City openly rejecting the Mayor's demand for more money exposes division betwixt the biz community vs. the city hall honcho.



A clever politico with connections and a decent track record might be able to take advantage of this opportunity and a surprising unforced error by Mayor Q.

Sure, this is a subtle clue behind the scenes of cowtown politics but local biz people traditionally use money to keep politicos off their back. Denying the mayor crumbs for youngsters inadvertently exposes widespread biz community frustration with city hall that has now taken hold among power players.

Developing . . .


Just a few quick news items for close readers and the most dedicated denizens of the discourse . . .



Kansas City Stars Still Shine For Charity

Big Slick KC to host virtual talent show fundraiser for Children's Mercy KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Big Slick KC is back again in 2021 with a new type of fundraiser to support Children's Mercy Hospital. Big Slick KC is usually a weekend full of events that benefit the hospital, especially focusing on eradicating childhood cancer and pediatric medicine.

Popstar Plans KC Comeback

Justin Bieber's bringing his rescheduled Justice World Tour to KC's T-Mobile Center next May Matt Sayles SOURCE: Matt Sayles Justin Bieber is bringing his rescheduled Justice World Tour to Kansas City's T-Mobile Center next May.The tour was supposed to kick off this summer but because of varying state COVID-19 restrictions, the tour has been moved to 2022.

JoCo Vaxx Steps Up

Johnson County: More than 30% of residents fully vaccinated against COVID-19 KANSAS CITY, Mo. - More than 30% of Johnson County residents are fully vaccinated, according to a new COVID-19 vaccine database. The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment on Wednesday announced that its COVID-19 dashboard now provides vaccination data, including the number of eligible residents to receive a shot, as well as breakdowns by geographic and demographic information.

Starlet Fashion Statement

Salma Hayek Sparks Reaction With Tattooed Tank Top Selfie Salma Hayek is getting called "crazy" as a tattooed tank top selfie crouch stuns her 17.8 million Instagram followers. The Hollywood superstar, 54, has been ramping up the promo for her various 2021 releases on social media, with this year proving mighty busy for the Mexican as she features in MCU movie The Eternals, Amazon Prime Video flick Bliss, and The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.

Protecting The Vaxx

Covid vaccine makers' shares seesaw after Biden administration says it will back patent waivers Shares of Covid vaccine makers seesawed Thursday after the Biden administration said it would back a motion before the World Trade Organization to waive patent protections of the mRNA technology used to make the shots. Pfizer fell Thursday by as much as 5% from Wednesday's close while Moderna dipped by almost 12% before both stocks recovered most of those losses.

Prez Trump Rises Again?!?

Pollster Frank Luntz: 'I would bet on' Trump being 2024 GOP nominee Veteran GOP pollster Frank Luntz says that former "could never win" the 2024 general election, but that he "would bet on" Trump to be the GOP nominee. "If Donald Trump runs for president as a Republican, he's the odds-on favorite to win the nomination," Luntz said during an appearance on The New York Times podcast "Sway" released Thursday.

Progressives Denounce Caitlyn

Jenner has hangar pains after Hannity interview OAKLAND - Move over French Laundry, there's a new social media obsession: Hangar Guy. GOP recall candidate Caitlyn Jenner may have played right into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's hands when she lamented on Fox News that a neighboring private plane owner at her airport hangar is abandoning California because he "can't take" seeing homeless people anymore.

China Power Play

China's carbon pollution now surpasses all developed countries combined Carbon pollution from China's bustling, coal-intensive economy last year outstripped the carbon pollution of the US, the EU, and other developed nations combined, making up a whopping 27 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. As China's economy has grown in the last 30 years, so too have its emissions.

Stars Under Protection

Kardashians drop $37M to build compound on Britney Spears' old property: report A $37 million property once home to Britney Spears is saying "Hit me baby one more time" - this time, to the Kardashian family. Just before Christmas, Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner purchased neighboring lots for custom homes in Hidden Hills, the upscale LA enclave where they and their famous friends have settled in recent years.

Locals Send Love Amid COVID

As India battles with COVID-19 crisis, Kansas City group raises funds for relief KANSAS CITY, Mo. - India set new records once again Thursday, with more than 400,000 new cases of COVID-19 and nearly 4,000 deaths as a second wave hits the country. The crisis is being felt here locally where people of Indian descent have family now trapped in the nation whose healthcare system is crumbling.

Police Testimony

Kansas City police officer shot in the head talks about his recovery, new outlook After months of recovery, police Officer Tyler Moss is back at work and was the guest of honor at a lunch Thursday afternoon."Just thankful for everyone that saved my life," Moss said.Moss said that he has a lot of people to thank."The sergeant that drove me to the hospital, the surgeons, the doctors at Truman," he said.Moss was shot in the head while responding to a disturbance call July 2 near 31st Street and Van Brunt Boulevard.

Armed With Creativity

Artisan creates beautiful jewelry from spent bullets Designing and creating jewelry was not always something Joanne Parks imagined doing as a business, but through a series of events her unique jewelry business bloomed. Joanne Parks is the owner of BOLO Boutique and specializes in handcrafted jewelry pieces made from spent bullets.

And this is the OPEN THREAD for right now . . .


Tragic story about rampant crime and the horrific impact on local families . . . Read more:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Family tells FOX4 a Kansas City father shot and killed Wednesday night was picking up a pizza when the shooting happened. Police say the shooting happened inside a Domino's around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday near 49th and Blue Parkway.
Progress and the inevitable march toward the corporate marijuana industry.

Read more . . .

TOPEKA, Kan. - The Kansas House has moved forward with a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in Kansas, voting 79-42 Thursday. The bill will now head to Senate. Earlier this week, a House committee approved the measure to send it to the full House, a first in Kansas.
Kansas City wants to dump a "tiny homeless village" on Northeast and the neighborhood is now quickly organizing resistance.



We've got a few errands, phone calls and a coffee run to undertake but here are the basics for now . . .



- City Hall plans to build a homeless village near a site that environmental officials have ruled toxic. They might or might not realize that the adjacent area has also been impacted by an EPA ruling.



- A recent Zoom meeting was rampant with neighborhood complaints and questions. The managers of this effort from the Mayor's office didn't have much luck convincing constituents. They view the homeless warming project at Bartle Hall as a success and see the upcoming village as an extension of their work.



- Northeast leaders have recruited one of the biggest names in the local legal community to represent them in their fight. Yes, he's from THAT political family that holds sway from this cowtown to the nation's capital.



An insider puts it best and his quote seems to sum up the fight so far . . .

"The mayor is advocating for the homeless and nobody has a problem with that . . . KC is a very compassionate place. But WHO IS GOING TO STAND UP FOR HOME OWNERS AND TAXPAYERS?!?! The people who live, work and invest in Northeast deserve representation as well and right now our community has said NO to this project in its current configuration.

"Northeast has changed over the years, there are people who live here now who are highly skilled and have the resources to stand up to City Hall. I hope the mayor and the supporters of the tiny homeless village realize that . . . "



Developing . . .


@IsaacAvilucea on Twitter

Isaac Avilucea is The Trentonians main municipal scribe. A two-time prior restraint winner and testicular cancer survivor, he relishes his reputation as the "Mean Girls" reporter that followed his 18-day stay at the now-defunct North Adams Transcript.
L.A. Parker is a Trentonian columnist. Find him on Twitter @LAParker6 or email him at LAParker@Trentonian.com.
Johnstown, PA (15901)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Johnstown, PA (15901)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low near 65F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low near 65F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
At the invitation of Mr. Philiso Phodiso Valashia, Commissioner of Customs, Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS), and WCO Vice-Chair for the East and Southern Africa (ESA) Region, Dr. Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General, participated in the 27th ESA Governing Council Meeting, held virtually on 6 May 2021.

In his opening remarks, Secretary General Mikuriya expressed his sincere gratitude to the Regional Vice-Chair for the invitation to take part in the Meeting and highlighted the role played by the WCO in supporting the ESA region during this challenging time. He went on to describe the WCOs immediate priorities as outlined in the COVID-19 Action Plan for the next 18 months, from January 2021 to June 2022, and elaborated on the Organizations new working methods through a brief presentation.

Prior to the official opening of the Governing Council Meeting, the Heads of all the ESA Customs Administrations were joined by Dr. Mikuriya to watch footage of the virtual signing ceremony for a Host Country Agreement, which took place on 3 May 2021, conferring legal status to the Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) ESA, located in Nairobi, Kenya. At the signing ceremony, the Government of the Republic of Kenya was represented by the Honorable Ambassador Raychelle Omamo, Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and the WCO ESA Region was represented by its Vice-Chair, Mr. P. P. Valashia.

The Vice-Chair welcomed all Governing Council Members and looked back on a difficult year that had resulted in tragic loss of life within the regional Customs community, including the passing of Mr. Happias Kuzvinzwa, former Commissioner of Customs, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority. A minutes silence was held in his honour. Mr. Valashia went on to stress that the region now faced the process of recovering from the pandemic. Accordingly, Customs administrations were expected to make a significant contribution to bolstering Recovery, Renewal and Resilience for a sustainable supply chain by implementing the ESA Regional Strategy.

The Vice-Chair acknowledged the invaluable support provided by the WCO to the region through leadership, guidance and exploring new working methods to maintain capacity building delivery to the Organizations Members. He also expressed great appreciation to the ROCB and other regional bodies for their tremendous contributions to the ESA Region and its Governing Council. Mr. Valashia went on give an account of his stewardship and achievements during his tenure as Vice-Chair, which would come to an end in June 2021.

The Meeting also heard comments by Mr. Larry Liza, Director, ROCB, WCO ESA Region, who presented the ESA Annual Report 2020-2021. In addition, the Governing Council was apprised of the content of reports by the Regional Steering Group (RSG) and the Finance and Governance Committee (FGC). These reports enabled the Meeting to review progress with the implementation of the Regional Strategy and to make recommendations and decisions for further action.

In his closing remarks, Secretary General Mikuriya joined the Vice-Chair to thank the ESA Heads of Customs for taking part in the Meeting. He took note of the points raised during the discussions in relation to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement and migration to the Harmonized System (HS) 2022, and assured the audience of the WCOs continuous support and assistance through the delivery of capacity building projects and programmes.
Terre Haute, IN (47803)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy late with a few showers. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, mainly cloudy late with a few showers. Low 68F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
With support from the Customs Cooperation Fund of Eurocustoms, the WCO held a Virtual National Workshop on PCA for the Republic of Kazakhstan from 26 to 30 April 2021. The Workshop was conducted in cooperation with the WCO Regional Office for Capacity Building (ROCB) for Europe. Two experts from German and Zambian Customs contributed to this activity as key resource persons.

Over 50 Customs officers working in PCA and related departments from all over Kazakhstan took part in the daily Virtual Workshop sessions over a five-day period.

Within the WCO, PCA has been identified as a means of measuring and improving compliance. During the Workshop, particular focus was placed on teaching strategies to help the Kazakhstan Customs Administration increase voluntary compliance by traders.

The participants gained an understanding of the importance of introducing soft approaches to PCA in addition to hard approaches, such as criminal investigations, enforcement and the application of penalties in order to enhance Customs strategies. In this regard, the two experts described how PCA was implemented in their respective administrations, touching on the related organizational structure, obligations and rights of both taxpayers and Customs officers, the legal framework, including penalties, and the importance of public awareness.

The Workshop participants then learned about the theory behind and specific applications of Customs risk management in PCA. More precisely, they were introduced to the basic concept of risk assessment for targeting and to examples of risk indicators used in risk assessment. In addition, the participants learned how the principles of due diligence were applied within a Customs administration, both in terms of similarities and differences in the PCA concept and the AEO programme and in terms of coordinating operations. The participants were also taught about information sources required for PCA, the importance of information-sharing among departments, the benefits of exchanging information with the tax administration and the challenges of coordinating PCA activities during joint audits.

The participants expressed their appreciation for the practical content of the Workshop. It is hoped that the knowledge gained from this event will be used for the further development and application of PCA in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Canton, GA (30114)

Today

Overcast with showers at times. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Overcast with showers at times. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Canton, GA (30114)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 68F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.
On 29 and 30 April 2021, the WCO Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Ricardo Trevino Chapa, participated in the XLI Meeting of Directors General of Customs of Latin America countries, Spain and Portugal.

This event was held virtually as part of the annual Meeting on the Multilateral Agreement on Mutual Assistance and Cooperation (COMALEP), with Peru as this years host country.

This Meeting brought together representatives of the 21 COMALEP signatory countries and delegates from government agencies and the private sector. It provides a platform for Members to exchange experiences and best practices in the trade facilitation domain.

Deputy Secretary General Trevino Chapa opened the Meeting along with the WCO Vice-Chair for the Americas/Caribbean Region, Mr. Werner Ovalle Ramirez, the Deputy National Superintendent of Peru Customs (SUNAT), Mrs. Marilu Llerena, and the International Affairs Administrator of Mexico Customs (SAT) and Permanent Representative to the COMALEP Secretariat, Mr. Juan de Dios Vazquez.

On this occasion, Mr. Trevino Chapa gave a presentation on the WCO Data Analytics Capacity Building Project (BACUDA - BAnd of CUstoms Data Analysts), one of the Organizations strategic tools aimed at raising awareness and building data analytics capacity for Customs administrations.

The Meeting was split into several panel sessions that discussed important topics including Customs cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate trade and prevent trafficking of counterfeit goods, combating of corruption and information sharing, to name but a few.
Deputies Help Save Life of Child Struck by Mower

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Two McCracken County deputies are being credited with helping save the life of a young girl who was partially run over by a mower Thursday afternoon.The McCracken County Sheriff's Office says deputies responded at 1:15 p.m. to a home in the 6000 block of Old Mayfield Road after getting a distress call of an unknown nature.Deputies Zack Dunigan and Kenneth Baldwin arrived a short time later and discovered an 18-month old girl had been riding with an adult on a zero-turn lawnmower when she fell off and was struck in the leg by the engaged blades, causing severe injuries to her leg.Dunigan and Baldwin applied what's known as a Combat Application Tourniquet to the child's leg to control the bleeding.The child was taken to a local hospital by ambulance. Due to inclement weather in the area air transport was not available. Deputies later escorted the ambulance to the Kentucky-Tennessee state line with the assistance from the Kentucky State Police. Once in Tennessee, the Tennessee Highway Patrol took over the escort until it reached its final destination at a Nashville area children's hospital.Sergeant Ryan Willcutt said the child is now out of surgery and in stable condition.Willcutt said all members of the McCracken County Sheriff's Office are issued a CAT, as well as a belt holster for these types of situations.Sheriff Matt Carter thanked the ER staff at Mercy Health-Lourdes Hospital, Mercy Regional Ambulance, McCracken County Deputy Coroner and Paducah Firefighter Jake Blackwell, as well as the Kentucky State Police and Tennessee Highway Patrol for their assistance."I'm proud of the fast actions by all involved in this incident and by all reported accounts, their quick actions saved this young girls life. Corporal Dunigan and Deputy Baldwin were truly real life hero's yesterday. I ask that the community please keep this child and the family in your thoughts and prayers as they face the days ahead" Carter said.
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Comer: No Budget Cuts For LBL

By West Kentucky Star Staff

WESTERN KENTUCKY - Congressman James Comer told a Cadiz radio station Wednesday that no budget cuts are planned for programs at Land Between the Lakes.In an interview with WKDZ's News Edge, Comer said news of cuts was a miscommunication between the U.S. Forest Service and local government leaders.He said, "A federal employee with the Forest Service had a meeting with local elected officials without my or Senator Mitch McConnell's knowledge, and laid down a budget that they were not supposed to release because it wasn't finalized. It had a bunch of blanks in there. The blanks were for salaries."According to Comer, the federal employee didn't realize that the Biden administration is reconstructing the budget and changing where salary information is placed.Comer said he was surprised when he saw news of budget cuts for Land Between the Lakes and immediately began investigating."I was suspicious when I heard the news story that there were cuts because I don't think the Biden administration has cut anything in the first 100 days," Comer said. "I communicated with (Senate Leader) McConnell, and we started looking into it."Comer reiterated that there would not be any cuts and said he thinks it's likely that LBL may see an increase instead.Due to the confusion, Comer says they have put measures in place to avoid this kind of trouble in the future.On the Net:
At the United National Congress' usual Monday Night meeting, Leader of the Opposition Kamla Persad called for a Commission of Enquiry into the Government's handling of the Covid-19 Pandemic and any related matters.
Over the past day, May 6, the invaders launched 16 attacks on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area.

The armed formations of the Russian Federation fired 120mm and 82mm mortars banned under the Minsk agreements, heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and tripod-mounted man-portable antitank guns near Luhanske (59km north-east of Donetsk); 82mm mortars, hand-held antitank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns  outside Novhorodske (35km north of Donetsk); 82mm mortars, hand-held antitank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, tripod-mounted man-portable antitank guns  in the area of Pivdenne (40km north-east of Donetsk), the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

In the area of Pyshchevyk (25km north-east of Mariupol), the enemy used heavy machine guns, near Shumy (41km north of Donetsk)  small arms.

Near Talakivka (17km north-east of Mariupol), two VOG-17 grenades were dropped from UAV on Ukrainian positions.

In the suburbs of Novotoshkivske (53km west of Luhansk), the armed formations of the Russian Federation opened fire twice from grenade launchers of various systems and small arms.

Near the village of Zaitseve (62km north-east of Donetsk), the enemy launched an attack from heavy machine guns.

In the area of the village of Novotroitske (36km south-west of Donetsk), the invaders opened fire from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms.

In the suburbs of Pisky (11km north-west of Donetsk), Russian occupiers opened fire from grenade launchers of various systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms. As a result of the enemy shelling, two servicemen of the Joint Forces received fatal gunshot wounds.

Another Ukrainian serviceman received a shrapnel wound.

Ukrainian defenders fired back in response to the shelling of the Russian-occupation forces.

Outside Pivdenne, the invaders used hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers to deliver POM-2 mines.

The Ukrainian side of the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) informed the OSCE representatives about the actions of the armed formations of the Russian Federation.

As of 7 a.m. on May 7, five ceasefire violations by Russian-occupation forces were recorded.

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On behalf of the delegation of the Benelux countries, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes noted that they personally made sure that Luhansk region is changing and living conditions are improving.

On May 6, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Stef Blok, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn made a joint working visit to Luhansk region.

"During the meeting at the Regional State Administration, the ministers got acquainted with the current security situation in the Joint Forces Operation area," the press center of the Luhansk Regional State Administration informs.

Serhiy Haidai, the chairman of the Luhansk Regional State Administration  Chairman of the Luhansk Regional Military-Civil Administration, noted that a third of the territory of Luhansk region was occupied.

"But thanks to our military, who restrain the Russian aggression, we have made a positive breakthrough over the past two years, in particular, in building infrastructure," Haidai said.

He stressed that the regional authorities cooperated with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

On behalf of the delegation of the Benelux countries, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes expressed gratitude and said: "Today we have personally made sure how Luhansk region is changing and the living conditions of the local population are improving. We express our full support for Ukraine, its territorial integrity and sovereignty."

During the meeting, Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces, Major General Eduard Moskaliov, reported that the Russian leadership continued to look for ways to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and prevent the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Russia is trying to artificially aggravate the situation in the JFO area by intensifying attacks.

"Currently, the number of personnel of the occupation troops is about 28,000 people. In addition, the number of ceasefire violations by the enemy has increased significantly since the beginning of this year. A total of 951 violations have been recorded, including the use of mortars and artillery. These actions aim to provoke the Ukrainian troops to fire back. The enemy fires at our populated localities and infrastructure facilities. Fifteen such attacks have been recorded since the beginning of the year. Despite this, the situation in the JFO area remains under control," the statement reads.

Photo credit: loga.gov.ua

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Ukraine's National Guard has received the third helicopter under a contract with France's Airbus Helicopters, the National Guard's press service has reported on Facebook.

"The third Airbus H225 helicopter arrived in the [Ukrainian] capital today. It is supplied to the National Guard of Ukraine as part of the development of the single system of aviation security and civil protection of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry," the report said.

According to National Guard Commander Mykola Balan, together with this helicopter, the National Guard already has in its arsenal three modern aircraft, and their pilots have received theoretical and practical training from their colleagues in France.

He clarified that in general, the National Guard plans to expand its fleet to 12 helicopters, which will be used for the rapid movement of personnel over long distances to perform tasks, the evacuation of the sick and wounded, and for search and rescue operations.

According to the report, the National Guard is to receive four more helicopters from the French company this year.

The construction of new hangars for storing and servicing French helicopters is currently being completed in Oleksandriia, Kirovohrad region.

The National Guard recalled that the first Airbus Helicopters H225 arrived at its air base on December 21, 2018 and the second in December 2019.

Earlier reports said that the National Guard would receive ten helicopters in 2021-2022 as part of a contract with French company Airbus Helicopters.

Photo credit: Ukrainian National Guard/Facebook
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the Armed Forces of the Italian Republic have signed a bilateral cooperation plan for 2021.

Military and political consultations of the delegation of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine with representatives of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of the Italian Republic took place in Rome on May 5-7, Ukrinform reports with reference to the ministrys press service.

During the consultations, the parties discussed topical security issues, as well as the state and prospects of Ukrainian-Italian cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries.

"During the talks, further ways of bilateral military-political and military cooperation for 2021-2022 were identified. The parties presented assessments of the development of the military and political situation in the European region, and outlined the directions of reforming the national armed forces," the statement reads.

The Ukrainian delegation briefed its Italian counterparts on the current situation in Donbas and focused on the reform measures being carried out in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in particular on the transformation and development of the military management system and its transfer to NATO standards.

The need to consolidate the support of our state on the part of the Allies was noted, including the provision of a NATO Membership Action Plan, which will help deter the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. It was also emphasized that Ukraine's integration into the Euro-Atlantic security space and obtaining full membership in NATO is a constitutional norm today," the report says.

In addition, the Italian colleagues noted the importance of developing relations with Kyiv in the defense sphere, and expressed support for Ukraines independence and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.

As Ukrinform reported, on April 20, Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Taran and U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Ukraine Kristina Kvien discussed the United States' support for capacity building of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and defense reform according to NATO standards.

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EU foreign ministers have discussed the situation with the massing of Russian troops in occupied Crimea and possible ways to de-escalate tensions, but Russia's desire to participate in this work remains unclear, according to EU High Representative Josep Borrell.

He said this at a press conference following a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on Thursday, May 6, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"We went on to discuss Russia's recent [military] build-up in illegally-annexed Crimea and on the Ukrainian border. We discussed the de-escalation of the tensions and the implementation of the Minsk agreements as the only way forward for a lasting political solution. But it is unclear that Russia wants to engage fully in this respect and 'unclear' is a mild word," Borrell said.

In his speech, he mentioned Ukraine one more time, but in a very important context, regarding the provision of strategically important satellite images.

Borrell said that it was the first time in almost 30 years that the Board of the European Union Satellite Centre, based in Torrejon at the outskirts of Madrid, meets at a political level.

"For me, the Satellite Centre is a very important asset for our institutions and agencies, for Member States, for our missions and operations, because it provides us with a critical geopolitical intelligence analysis. It also provides [support] to our partners such as the OSCE [in] Ukraine or the United Nations in Libya with an invaluable view of what is happening on the ground," he said.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Stef Blok and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn have assured Ukraine of support for its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The diplomats stated this at a joint press conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our unwavering support for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders," said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes.

Wilmes stressed that this visit demonstrates support and friendship to Ukraine.

In turn, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Stef Blok expressed support for the actions of the Ukrainian Government: "I would like to express my support for the important measures taken by the Government. The Netherlands and the Benelux countries are important trading partners for Ukraine and we are very keen to support further investment and trade for the benefit of the people of Ukraine.

He also thanked the Cabinet of Ministers for cooperation in the MH17 case.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn also stressed support for Ukraine: "I think the Benelux has always had a constant position. Our countries continue to support Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

As reported, the foreign ministers of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are on an official visit to Ukraine on May 6-7. On May 6, they visited the Shchastia entry-exit checkpoint in Luhansk region.

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During the talks in Kyiv, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg discussed additional actions to deter Russia, support Ukrainian reforms and the Crimean Platform.

"We talked about what the EU and its individual member states could do to deter Russia. We talked about supporting Ukrainian reforms. We talked about the Crimean Platform, and we will be waiting for guests from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg and their participation in this platform," Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said at a joint briefing with the foreign ministers of the Benelux countries in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Ukrainian minister thanked his colleagues for their strong support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and for visiting our country to show solidarity in the face of Russian aggression. Kuleba recalled that the last visit of the Benelux countries ministers was paid to Ukraine in 2015. According to him, their current arrival is a real manifestation of support and friendship.

"We continue to work on all the issues we discussed today, from countering Russian aggression and promoting Ukraine's European integration to Ukraine's accession to the Istanbul Convention and combating the COVID-19 pandemic," Kuleba noted.

As reported, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Stef Blok, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn make a joint working visit to Ukraine. On May 6, they visited the line of contact in Luhansk region to get acquainted with the security situation in the zone of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

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Marshall Co. Man Arraigned on Capitol Riot Charges

By West Kentucky Star Staff

BENTON - A Marshall County man charged with crimes related to the January 6 riots at the US Capitol was in court Wednesday.Federal Court records say Clayton Ray Mullins of Benton was arraigned by video conference, and entered not guilty pleas to three felonies and five misdemeanor charges.Mullins was arrested February 23 and charged with assaulting a DC Metro Police Officer, along with obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, resisting or impeding officers, engaging in physical violence, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. An additional charge of assaulting an officer was added in April.Videos and photographs of the riots were shared on social media, and federal agents were able to identify Mullins, leading to the charges.His case was transferred from the Western District of Kentucky to the DC District. Mullins' case has been combined with co-defendants Jeffrey P. Sabol, Peter Francis Stager, Michael John Lopatic, Sr., and Jack Wade Whitton. Their next court appearance is a status hearing by video teleconference on July 21.On the Net:
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed with the foreign ministers of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg the situation in eastern Ukraine and confirmed the invitation to the leadership of the three countries to take part in the Crimean Platform.

This was discussed at the meeting of President Zelensky with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and the Federal Cultural Institutions of the Kingdom of Belgium Sophie Wilmes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Stef Blok and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn, the press service of the Head of State informs.

In particular, Zelensky thanked the ministers for starting their visit to Ukraine with a trip to the east on their own initiative.

"I think it's important not to know what is happening there in words, but to see everything with your own eyes. I know that you were in the town of Shchastia in Luhansk region. You saw our attitude towards Donbas. We are investing in infrastructure," he said.

The President stressed that it was important not only to resolve the issue of de-occupation of the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but also to make those who live in this territory, cross the contact line, feel human.

He President briefed the ministers in detail on the security situation in Donbas, as well as on the steps Ukraine is taking to achieve peace.

Zelensky also praised the unwavering position of the Benelux countries in support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as practical assistance in ensuring national security.

In turn, the senior officials of the Benelux countries praised Ukraine's consistent adherence to the truce in Donbas.

As the President's Office notes, in context of the build-up of the Russian Federation's armed forces on the borders of Ukraine, the interlocutors expressed a common opinion on the inadmissibility of such actions, as they pose a threat to European security and stability.

Zelensky called on the Benelux countries to support our country's European integration aspirations, in particular by signing declarations on Ukraine's European prospect.

The meeting participants also discussed the issues of the Crimean Platform. The President confirmed the invitation to the leadership of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to take part in the inaugural summit of the Crimean Platform on August 23-24, 2021 in Kyiv.

As reported, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium Sophie Wilmes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Stef Blok, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn make a joint working visit to Ukraine. On May 6, they visited the line of contact in Luhansk region to get acquainted with the security situation in the zone of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine.

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The Ukrainian government is working on providing medical oxygen to India as part of the fight against coronavirus.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal said this on the air of the 1+1 TV channel on Thursday evening, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Ukrainian government has offered its support to the Indian government. So, like all countries, we asked India what kind of assistance from Ukraine could be provided to them. They gave up everything except oxygen, so Ukraine is ready to supply oxygen to India. These issues are being worked out technically, and we will be among the countries supporting India, Shmyhal said.

The prime minister also commented on the coronavirus vaccination process in Ukraine. According to him, the situation has shown that more than 80,000 people can be vaccinated per day.

As reported, in recent weeks, India has faced a critical situation with the incidence of coronavirus - the country lacks hospital beds and medical oxygen.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, India has recorded 21,077,410 coronavirus cases. More than 230,000 people have died.

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Four Ukrainian tourists who got stuck in the mountains of Nepal after they climbed Mera Peak in the Himalayas have already been transported by a rescue helicopter to Kathmandu, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko has told Ukrinform.

Ukrainian diplomats in India and Nepal are looking for ways to bring the tourists back home.

Nikolenko said that the Embassy of Ukraine in India and the Honorary Consulate in Nepal were in contact with the tourists.

"With the assistance of Ukrainian diplomats, the group managed to get to Kathmandu by a rescue helicopter on May 7. The possibility of their repatriation is being worked out now," he said.

Nikolenko said that the situation was complicated by the fact that strict COVID-19 restrictions are currently in place in Nepal. In this regard, the Nepalese government suspended domestic flights on May 3 and international flights on May 6. The bans will be in effect until May 14. He added that the search for ways out of the country was also negatively affected by the rapid spread of coronavirus disease in India, which usually serves as a transport hub for tourists in Nepal.

Nikolenko said that the Ukrainian embassy had officially asked the Nepalese authorities to help Ukrainian citizens return home as soon as possible and, together with the honorary consul in Nepal, they were keeping the matter under control.

Two Ukrainians, Iryna Kyshakevych and Olha Boldariieva, were climbing Mera Peak in the Himalayas with a group of Ukrainian tourists and got stuck on the third day at a height of 5,000 meters due to lockdown in Nepal. In a post on Facebook on May 6, they asked for the evacuation of four Ukrainian tourists from Nepal.

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Aguiratou Diallo (right) and her family, who were internally displaced following violence, pictured in Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso, in January.  UNHCR/Moussa Bougma

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply concerned by the humanitarian consequences of recent violence in Burkina Faso that has killed 45 people and forced more than 17,500 people to flee their homes over the past 10 days.

Gunmen carried out a series of attacks in three separate regions, burning down houses and shooting civilians dead. The assailants also ransacked health centers and damaged homes and shops.

In the East Region more than 4,400 people fled to the towns of Foutouri and Tankoualou following an attack on the village of Kodyel. In the North Region, violence pushed 10,200 people to flee towards Ouahigouya  an area that already saw arrivals earlier this year. While in the Sahel Region, over 3,200 people have been recently displaced. Our teams are seeing an increasing trend of people fleeing towards larger, more secure urban centres.

Most people are arriving with few or no belongings. Some have been generously welcomed by host families, while others have sought refuge in public buildings such as schools and other temporary shelters. They are in urgent need of food, shelter, clean water, and health care.

In Ouahigouya, our teams and partners are registering new arrivals and providing psychological support and shelter assistance. Insecurity in some areas of the East and Sahel Regions is limiting our ability to reach those most in need.

UNHCR calls for concerted action towards peace and stability and stands in solidarity with the Burkinabe authorities and the victims of violence. Together with our partners, we are ready to assist those newly displaced and to support the authorities and host communities on the frontlines of the response.

Violence in Burkina Faso has forced more than 1.14 million people to flee their homes in search of safety in just over two years. The country continues to host more than 20,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mostly from Mali. More resources are needed to address the growing humanitarian needs. Funding for UNHCRs response remains critically low, with only 22 per cent of the US$ 91.6 million requested so far received.

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Sonora, CA (95370)

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Partly cloudy skies. Low 37F. WNW winds at 10 to 15 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

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Partly cloudy skies. Low 37F. WNW winds at 10 to 15 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.
Woburn, MA (01801)

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.
Adela Rodriguez, left, walks with her son, Yandel Rodriguez, 12, at the high school where people were evacuated after a shooting at the nearby Rigby Middle School earlier Thursday, May 6, 2021, in Rigby, Idaho. Authorities said that two students and a custodian were injured, and a female student has been taken into custody. (AP Photo/Natalie Behring) PHOTO:AP Photo/Natalie Behring

Girl Shoots 3 at Idaho School; Teacher Disarms Her

By The Associated Press

BOISE - A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to her Idaho middle school, shot and wounded two students and a custodian and then was disarmed by a teacher Thursday, authorities said.

The three victims were shot in their limbs and expected to survive, officials said at a news conference. Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson says the girl pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School in the small city of Rigby, about 95 miles southwest of Yellowstone National Park.

A female teacher disarmed the girl and held her until law enforcement arrived and took her into custody, authorities said, without giving other details. Authorities say they're investigating the motive for the attack and where the girl got the gun.

We don't have a lot of details at this time of why'  that is being investigated, Anderson said. We're following all leads.

The girl is from the nearby city of Idaho Falls, Anderson said. He didn't release her name.

Police were called to the school around 9:15 a.m. after students and staffers heard gunfire. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded, and students were evacuated to a nearby high school to be reunited with their parents.

Both of the students who were shot were being held at the hospital, and one of them might need surgery, said Dr. Michael Lemon, trauma medical director at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

Still, both students were in fair condition and could be released as early as Friday. One of the students had wounds in two limbs and might have been shot twice, he said.

The adult was treated and released for a bullet wound that went through an extremity, the doctor said.

Schools would be closed districtwide to give students time to be with their families, and counselors would be available starting Friday, said Jefferson School District Superintendent Chad Martin.

This is the worst nightmare a school district could ever face. We prepare for it," Martin said, but you're never truly prepared.

Police tape surrounded the school, which has about 1,500 students in sixth through eighth grades, and small evidence markers were placed next to spots of blood on the ground.

I am praying for the lives and safety of those involved in todays tragic events, Gov. Brad Little said in a statement. Thank you to our law enforcement agencies and school leaders for their efforts in responding to the incident.

Lucy Long, a sixth-grader at Rigby Middle School, told the Post Register newspaper in Idaho Falls that her classroom went into lockdown after they heard gunshots, with lights and computers turned off and students lined up against the wall.

Jefferson County's prosecutor said decisions about criminal charges wouldn't be made until the investigation is complete, but that they might include three counts of attempted murder.

The attack appears to be Idahos second school shooting. In 1999, a student at a high school in Notus fired a shotgun several times. No one was struck by the gunfire, but one student was injured by ricocheting debris from the first shell.
Sonora, CA (95370)

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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 37F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

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Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 37F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
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YOU CAN always tell when someone is about to be canceled. The open letter or press release will say something like, While remain committed to
Illinois Further Eases Coronavirus Restrictions

By The Associated Press

CHICAGO - Illinois will further lift coronavirus pandemic restrictions this month including increasing capacity limits at museums, events and gyms.Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Thursday that the changes will start May 14 with the goal of full reopening next month if cases continue to decline.Capacity at museums, theaters, gyms, offices and stores will be increased to 60% from 50% currently.Pritzker says the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 1,778 new COVID-19 cases, which is the the lowest in several weeks.
Plaistow Police Chief Douglas Mullin has been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into an alleged assault on one of his polic
We may never know if a Manchester police officers act of kindness to a teen would-be shoplifter will make a difference in the teens life. But it certainly brightened the day of a lot of Manchester residents and others who read our story or saw the TV newscast about Officer George Morales.
Ball to Host Womens Financial Literacy Conference

By The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Kentucky Treasurer Alison Ball is hosting a free virtual financial literacy conference for women.A statement from Balls office says the Smart Women Smart Money conference offers women the opportunity to improve their knowledge about finances in multiple areas.Conference sessions on June 4 will go over several topics including budgeting, investing, saving and getting out of debt.There will also be information on credit scores, insurance and homebuying.Ball says the goal of the conference is to inspire and empower women to lead financially successful lives.See more information at the link below.On the Net:
In the history of the world there have been some very bad ideas: Screen doors on submarines. New Coke. Eliminating nearly 22 child protective social worker positions at the NH Division for Children, Youth and Families. While the first idea is a joke and the second idea a marketing failure, t
Benjamin Nolot and Exodus Cry Are Fighting Human Trafficking

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(Photo : Benjamin Nolot and Exodus Cry Are Fighting Human Trafficking )

Recently, Deidre Pujols, Founder of Strike Out Slavery, sat down with Benjamin Nolot, Founder and CEO of Exodus Cry, to have an in-depth discussion about the perils of human tracking. The two had previously shared stages at the United Nations and the White House. Nolot presented the latest news relevant to the topic and shared the efforts of Exodus Cry to help end these horrendous occurrences.

A Fight Against Evil from the Beginning

The conversation begins with Nolot sharing his mission to put an end to human trafficking. Nolot's interest in fighting this cause began as an early adolescent, after viewing the film, "The Accused." The movie shares a story of a woman who is publicly gang-raped in a bar and fights for justice against her attackers. While growing up, the concerns of inequality between men and women and the fact that some men act as predators towards women, haunted him. He shares how deeply troubled he felt, and still feels, that people experience rape.

As he prepared to put his feelings into action, he met a widowed woman who supported his cause and invested in his vision. This helped fund the organization and allowed Exodus Cry to focus on fighting human trafficking. After forming Exodus Cry, Nolot spent the next four years traveling the world, practicing investigative journalism and exploring issues that relate to global sex trafficking. He produced a documentary called, "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls," which helped get the story of human trafficking out into the world.

Exodus Cry operates by making a substantial impact on two fronts. They perform direct intervention in human trafficking situations and they also work towards abolition and a world where this systemic injustice is brought to a permanent halt. That has turned into 13 years of fighting human trafficking.

Filmmaking to Shed Light

One major contribution Nolot has made in the fight against human trafficking is shining light on the global nature of the problem. He is able to use his skills as a documentarian to do this, by capturing and sharing the tragic nature of the issue.

Nolot achieved success with "Nefarious" due to the contributions and bravery of survivors who were willing to share their stories. Perspectives from trafficking survivors helped to explain some of the root causes of human trafficking, while illustrating the possibility of true redemption.

After "Nefarious," Nolot set out to create a documentary to take an in-depth look at the sexual landscape of America and found a deeply integrated system of exploitation and assault. "Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution" is available on Netflix and explores the ways culture in the US can lead to horrific violations. Nolot plans to follow up with several more documentaries about the porn industry and its role in fueling human trafficking.

The Problem with Pornography

Nolot discusses some of the latest news coming from "Big Porn." The pornography industry is 90% dominated by a single company called MindGeek, which owns Pornhub. The problem with pornography, Nolot explains, is manifold.

The reason why it has created a crisis situation in human trafficking is due to mismanagement and abuse that is led by companies like MindGeek. The loose guidelines that these companies follow do not require the disclosure of age or consent verification from participants in their videos. There have been instances with porn content that is documentation of legitamate rape of underage teens and children. Victims of these videos are forced to relive their trauma repeatedly as it is viewed around the globe by millions.

In his mission to put an end to this cycle, Nolot has seen some real results. Exodus Cry created Traffickinghub which, to date, has gathered more than 2 million signatures demanding change. This has put extreme pressure on the industry and helped inspire a New York Times Op-Ed by Nicholas Kristof. Due to the advocacy of Exodus Cry and the community following the article's release, MindGeek deleted 10 million videos and removed their download button feature from their website. These website updates resulted in MindGeek removing 80% of their existing content. Nolot explains the indication of how deep the problem really is with so much more to be done.

Social Media Threats on the Horizon

Nolot and Deirdre Pujols then discuss how social media has become a potential contributor to creating a culture of exploitation. Instagram allows content that is becoming more and more sexual. The platform has seen much improvement, including better regulations and more robust reporting features. However, new threats are constantly appearing in the digital world, including a new site called OnlyFans, that became a trend as economic difficulties arose from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is just another way in which exploitation is being further encouraged in our society.

Prostitution's Price

Nolot explains how dangerous prostitution is and that consensual sex can only occur when there is desire on both sides. With prostitution, only one person, "the John," desires the sex, while the sex worker (or prostitute) is paid for the crime that occurs. Nolot has dedicated much of the last decade to speaking with prostitutes and former prostitutes to better understand the dangers that surround this.

A Call to Action

For those who want to help in the fight against human trafficking, there are many opportunities for involvement. Nolot recommends educating oneself through individual research and noted a few resources as a guide to those looking for more information on human trafficking. These include Exodus Cry's podcast, Rachel Moran's book, "Paid For" and Gail Dines' book, "Pornland." Exodus Cry will also be releasing a book later this year and the two following documentaries are available to watch on YouTube and Netflix respectively, "Nefarious: Merchant of Souls" and "Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution."

At the moment, Nolot's main focus is putting pressure on the Canadian Parliament. MindGeek is headquartered in Montreal and, by taking action, Nolot is confident that legislation can make a real difference. Statistics show that 1 in 4 women will be assaulted during college alone. Human trafficking, and the culture that promotes it, is an issue that affects everyone. It's a problem that we must work towards ending. Nolot and Exodus Cry are committed to creating a world where prostitution, rape, and human trafficking exist only in the past tense. Find out more about Benjamin Nolot, Exodus Cry, and their mission on their website: https://exoduscry.com.

See Now: Facebook will use AI to detect users with suicidal thoughts and prevent suicide

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Access the Experts: Dustin White In this installment, White answers the question: What are the pros and cons of hosting big sporting events like the Olympics or the College World Series?

In This Installment of Access the Experts Assistant Professor of Economics Dustin White, Ph.D, answers the question: What are the pros and cons of hosting big sporting events like the Olympics or the College World Series? About White White is an expert in health, labor, and sport economics, as well as industrial organization and data analytics. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Washington State University and his BA in Economics from Brigham Young University. He is passionate about utilizing big data, and works to incorporate statistical learning methods into his work in Economics.

Access the Experts

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Located in one of Americas best cities to live, work and learn, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) is Nebraskas premier metropolitan university. With more than 15,000 students enrolled in 200-plus programs of study, UNO is recognized nationally for its online education, graduate education, military friendliness and community engagement efforts. Founded in 1908, UNO has served learners of all backgrounds for more than 100 years and is dedicated to another century of excellence both in the classroom and in the community.

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ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 07th May, 2021) The UAE today sent a plane carrying 50 metric tonnes of food supplies to the People's Republic of Bangladesh as part of its initiatives during the holy month of Ramadan.

Abdullah Ali Al-Hammoudi, Charge d'Affaires to the UAE Embassy in Dhaka, said: "The UAE shares historical ties with Bangladesh characterised by friendship and cooperation in various fields.

Todays aircraft was sent to help address the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as these circumstances require solidarity and international cooperation, especially during the holy month of Ramadan."

He added, "In April 2020, the UAE sent a plane containing 7 metric tons of medical supplies to Bangladesh to support the country in containing the spread of COVID-19. These supplies benefited more than 7,000 healthcare workers in their efforts to combat the pandemic."
Bogota, May 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :Colombia's government on Thursday invited protest leaders to a dialogue in an attempt to calm tensions following more than a week of deadly demonstrations against President Ivan Duque.

At least 24 people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces while hundreds more have been injured.

Thousands of Colombians including indigenous people, unions and students have taken to the streets to express anger over the government's policies on health, education and inequality.

They have also denounced what they see as a heavy-handed and lethal response from security forces.

"We have to listen to all sectors of the country but the country also has to listen to the government," presidential advisor Miguel Ceballos told Blu Radio. "That includes those marching but also those not marching." Ceballos said the government would meet protest leaders, including the National Strike Committee, on Monday.

"The government first wanted to invite those that organize the National Strike Committee although understanding that the mobilizations are not exclusive to this group," said Ceballos.

The National Strike Committee represents various groups including indigenous people, unions, environmentalists and students.

Ceballos later wrote on Twitter that Duque and Vice President Lucia Ramirez would attend the meeting.

Protest leaders have said they would be prepared to have talks directly with Duque, but not with intermediaries.

"The dialogue needs to be those on the streets, which is young people," said Bogota Mayor Claudia Lopez, one of the protesters' main targets.

Duque has faced occasional mass protests against his rule since 2019 and the latest social movement began on April 28, initially against a tax reform that has since been withdrawn.

Although the demonstrations have largely been peaceful, there have been violent clashes throughout the country.

The government blames the violence on armed groups including left-wing rebels and drug traffickers.

The United Nations, European Union, United States and NGOs have accused security forces of using excessive force.

Speaking to journalists in Washington on Thursday, Interior Minister Daniel Palacios said various government agencies were collaborating to determine who was responsible for the violence and "if there has been any use of excessive force for them to be held accountable."
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BRUSSELS, 7 May (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) : Stressing the success of anti-pandemic measures, EU leaders on Friday are holding an in-person summit for the first time this year.

The two-day summit, organized by the Portuguese government, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, will take place in Porto.

EU heads of states and governments will discuss the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic, including the bloc's response to the US initiative to waive patent rights for vaccines in order to end the pandemic more quickly.

Following up on a 2017 initiative of the EU, the summit is originally dedicated to the bloc's social welfare policy.

According to the summit's leaked closing declaration, EU leaders will pledge to fight social inequalities and poverty and to promote more opportunities for the long-term unemployed, elderly, and people with disabilities.

The personal meeting of the EU heads of states and governments is meant to emphasize the success of accelerated vaccination campaigns and spread hope that life can get closer to pre-pandemic norms.

This message is particularly important for the hosting Portuguese presidency, which in recent months has been strongly advocating COVID-19 certificates and EU borders opening ahead of the summer season.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Premier Mark Rutte preferred to join their counterparts via video link to make an example to the public.

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela will also attend the summit virtually, since he has to quarantine after his wife tested positive for the virus.
San Francisco, May 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :Facebook's top executives set up an independent oversight board to avoid having to make tough decisions about explosive content -- but the panel's first major ruling on Donald Trump sent the ball right back into Mark Zuckerberg's court.

The panel on Wednesday opted to uphold the ban on the former US president's use of the leading social media network, saying Facebook was right to oust him, but sidestepped an overall decision on whether he will ever be allowed back.

It gave the company six months to justify why his ban should be permanent -- leaving a grenade in Zuckerberg's lap on the issue of free speech, and spotlighting weaknesses in the platform's plan for self-regulation.

"Facebook didn't want to make the decision because it's politically loaded," said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and dean of its school of Information.

"So they kick it down to the oversight committee and the oversight committee says, 'We don't want this, you decide'," he noted, adding that the board had "punted on the hard question" of Trump's long-term access to Facebook.

Zuckerberg has treated the case like Kryptonite, reportedly asking the company's top public affairs executive Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister, to write a first draft of his statement defending the ban, and then to decide whether to refer the case to the oversight board.

That is not surprising, according to Sarah Roberts, an assistant professor of information studies at University of California, Los Angeles.

"Zuckerberg has pretty famously made these comments about not wanting to be in the business of being the arbiter of truth," Roberts told AFP.

"It's not like you can just kind of throw up your hands." - 'Coward's way out' - Farid said he supported Facebook's ban of Trump, both for downplaying the deadly coronavirus pandemic and for his words on January 6 to his supporters, who later stormed the US Capitol.

He believed Facebook was likely seeking a decision from the oversight board that would shield it from criticism, Farid reasoned.

"The fact that the one time they had a chance to actually do something they took the coward's way out doesn't bode well for the oversight board," said Farid.

So is self-regulation even possible? For Farid, it has already failed in myriad industries, giving little reason to believe it would work for social media.

Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi agreed, saying: "It's a little ridiculous that you set up a board to provide a check, and it puts the power and responsibility back on Facebook.

" Of course, content regulation on social media is a daunting challenge. Should politicians be governed by separate rules? Milanesi says and the United States could start by instead making rules about how deceitful or inflammatory politicians can be on such platforms.

"Can you make powerful people accountable in a different way on social media?" she asked.

Farid noted that such rules would not prevent someone like Trump from turning to other online outlets -- the former president, for example, just launched a new blog.

- Comment chaos? - At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, US lawmakers unleashed torrents of criticism at the leaders of the top social networks, and promised new regulations to stem rampant online disinformation.

Zuckerberg, Twitter's Jack Dorsey, and Google's Sundar Pichai faced a barrage of questions from lawmakers who blamed their platforms for drug abuse, teen suicides, hate, political extremism, illegal immigration and more.

Democrats slammed the platforms for failing to stem misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines and incitement ahead of the Capitol riot on January 6.

Republicans revived complaints that social networks were biased against conservatives.

The tech CEOs said they were doing their best to keep out harmful content.

"We believe in free expression, we believe in free debate and conversation to find the truth," Dorsey said.

"At the same time, we must balance that with our desire for our service not to be used to sow confusion, division or distraction. This makes the freedom to moderate content critical to us." Dorsey advocated establishing open protocols to serve as shared guidelines for social media platforms when it comes to regulating content.

Zuckerberg confirmed anew his belief that private companies should not be the judges of truth when it comes to what people say.

He offered lawmakers a proposal to reform the liability shield known as Section 230, suggesting that platforms have systems in place to filter and remove illegal content.

Lawmakers said they would introduce their own proposals to reform Section 230.

Roberts, the UCLA professor, said the idea of changing Section 230 had prompted concern because of the "potential for unintended consequences," given that lawmakers are starkly divided on how to police social media.
Washington, May 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :Four astronauts just returned from the International Space Station described on Thursday their reentry into Earth's atmosphere and ocean splashdown after more than 160 days in space.

A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the crew back to Earth splashed down off Florida early Sunday in NASA's first nighttime ocean landing in more than 50 years.

"There was a point where I was just saying to myself, breathe. Inhale, because I felt really heavy -- I felt like those cartoons when they experience G and your face is just sagging down," said American Victor Glover, one of the astronauts in the group called Crew-1.

It was the first regular mission to be taken and then returned from the ISS aboard a spacecraft built by billionaire Elon Musk's company.

"I expected it to be so dynamic -- and so challenging -- that the actual event I think, was a little less than what I was expecting, and so it was enjoyable all around," Glover said.

The weight of acceleration was concentrated in the chest, making it difficult to breathe.

But then, "launch and entry are such unique experiences," he said.

NASA has contracted SpaceX to launch astronauts into space from US soil, something that has not been possible since 2011 with the end of space shuttle program.

Since that time until now NASA was forced to pay for rides to the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz vessels, which land on dry land.

"Landing in the water was interesting because none of us really knew what to expect, but I would say from my standpoint, it felt a little bit softer than landing on land," said US astronaut Shannon Walker.

"You spend less time under a parachute on the Dragon than you do under the Soyuz," he said.

Soon, space "tourists" -- civilians who are not professional astronauts -- will take their places on Dragon.

US astronaut Mike Hopkins believes that space tourists will be able to handle the rough reentry rides.

After the civilians go through some centrifuge training "it's not going to be completely unique to them," he said.

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi said the landing was pretty smooth.

"Impact was very, very minimal, and right after splashdown. We feel the waves, we come back to the water planet.

"That's a great feeling."
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Tunis, May 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :Tunisia ordered a partial lockdown from Sunday for the week-long Eid al-Fitr holidays, warning that any further increase in coronavirus infections could overwhelm specialist care facilities.

Announcing the measure on Friday, Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said Tunisia was going through "the worst health crisis in its history".

Mosques, markets and non-essential businesses will be closed under the new restrictions, which come as Muslims mark the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, Mechichi told reporters.

"Health institutions are at risk of collapse," Mechichi said, adding that medics were stretched to the limit, with around 100 people a day dying of Covid-19.

More than 500 people are currently in intensive care, an unprecedented number that has required medics to set up field hospitals, and the North African country is struggling to meet the demand for oxygen.

Under new rules, travel will be banned between regions, gatherings and celebrations prohibited, and a 7:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew imposed.

Tunisians are encouraged to leave their homes only for what is strictly necessary, government spokeswoman Hasna Ben Slimane said.

The Mediterranean country, with a population of around 12 million, has recorded more than 300,000 coronavirus cases and over 11,200 deaths.

Tunisia's economy has lurched from one crisis to another since the country's 2011 revolution, with GDP estimated to have contracted by a record 8.2 percent last year.

Mechichi had said several times in recent weeks that Tunisia is unable to afford to repeat the restrictions put in place in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
Beshear Provides Update on COVID-19

By West Kentucky Star Staff

FRANKFORT - On Friday, Governor Andy Beshear updated Kentuckians on the latest coronavirus vaccination information from across the state.The governor said 1,851,835 people have received at least their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.Beshear said Kentucky's sales tax receipts from April hit $486.5 million and the state's vehicle usage tax receipts hit over $64 million. He said these are the highest ever reported in the history of the state and are generated from economic activity."Our economy is heating up. We are doing it right  safely and sustainably," said Gov. Beshear. "We cannot give up now. We are picking up economic momentum while putting the health and safety of our people first. We are lifting more restrictions each month as we get more folks vaccinated, open our schools and protect our neighbors from this virus that has already killed more than 6,500 Kentuckians."Beshear reported 638 new cases of the virus and a positivity rate of 3.50 percent.
ANKARA,May 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :A Turkish charity association is looking to help 15,000 families in Turkey, as well as distribute food parcels in 25 countries -- many under lockdown -- during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Mehmet Cengiz, chairman of the Deniz Feneri (Lighthouse) Association, told Anadolu Agency that the number of people asking for aid had increased, mainly due to the pandemic and its outcomes.

He said the items requested included especially food and cleaning materials.

Based on the demand, Cengiz said, the charity concentrated on food and cleaning materials instead of providing collective iftar, or fast-breaking meal programs, noting that Deniz Feneri distributes mostly food parcels and hot meals across Turkey during the fasting month.

Also, due to coronavirus-related restrictions, collective iftar programs are not planned for Ramadan this year, he added.

Besides, the plans were canceled to host collective iftars in 20 countries across three continents on the 15th day of Ramadan to mark the Day of Orphans of the Islamic World, he said.

- Ramadan aid around globe Meanwhile, Cengiz underlined that the charity group would distribute food packages to families and Eid allowance to orphans in 20 states, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burundi, Palestine, Montenegro, Lebanon, Macedonia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Also, even partially, the collective iftar programs will be organized for the needy in Burundi, Sudan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, and Yemen, while hot meals will be distributed in Palestine's Gaza Strip and Yemen during the whole month of Ramadan.

He went on to say the food parcels and hot meals will be distributed to thousands of Syrian families in the rural area of northwestern Idlib province.

Idlib falls within a de-escalation zone forged under an agreement between Turkey and Russia. The area has been the subject of multiple cease-fire understandings, which the Assad regime and its allies have frequently violated.

The food and cleaning materials will be distributed in two camps -- set up by Deniz Feneri in Syria's Azaz region -- a home for thousands of people.

Cengiz went on to say that people who want to join the aid campaign can donate 175 Turkish liras (around $21) for monthly food packages for a family of four.

He emphasized that the association also slaughters animals for religious occasions and distributes meat to the needy.

An animal can cost around 1,400 Turkish liras ($168) in Turkey and 770 Turkish liras ($92) abroad.
UNITED NATIONS, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th May, 2021 ) :The United Nations paused on Thursday to honour its 336 personnel, including six Pakistanis, who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2020 -- the highest number ever in a single year.

The memorial ceremony, held online, paid tribute to civilian and uniformed staff who died because of malicious acts, natural disasters and other incidents.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its wider impacts, including on healthcare access, the number also included colleagues who passed from the disease or other illness.

The Pakistani civilian and uniformed staff included: Imtiaz Hussain (MINUSCA); Sepoy Muhammad Azhar Aziz (MONUSCO); Mohammad Arif Khan and Kashif Salem (UNHCR); and Bashir Ahmad and Abdul Razaq (UNICEF).

"The year 2020 was like no other in the history of the United Nations", Secretary-General Antnio Guterres told the gathering.

"The world faced a merciless pandemic that continues to sow tremendous suffering. Millions of families lost loved ones. The UN family was no different." The Secretary-General called for a moment of silence to remember the fallen colleagues, whose Names were read out loud during the ceremony.

Representing more than 80 nations, they literally came from every corner of the globe, and reflected the diversity and richness of experience of the UN.

"They devoted their careers to advancing the vision and the values of the United Nations - securing peace, promoting sustainable development, advancing human rights", Guterres said.

Patricia Nemeth, President of the UN Staff Union, added that those who made "the ultimate sacrifice" for the Organization "did so in an effort to defend the freedoms of the most vulnerable, and provide for them the most basic needs that we all enjoy." The personnel who died in 2020 will never be forgotten, the Secretary-General said. He also underlined UN commitment to continue reviewing and improving practices related to staff safety and care.

"They embodied the essence of multilateralism -- people around the globe joining forces to build a better world. In their name, we pledge to continue that work", he said.

"As we honour our dear colleagues, let us keep their memories alive through our work to build a life of dignity and hope for all."
"We have to promote Pakistan's positive and enlightened image all over the world and the role of the officers of the Ministry of Information is of paramount importance in this regard"

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :"We have to promote Pakistan's positive and enlightened image all over the world and the role of the officers of the Ministry of Information is of paramount importance in this regard".

This was stated by Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain who attended the certificate distribution ceremony of the participants of 2nd Domain Specific Mid Carrier Management Course-(31st MCMC )for Mid Career Officers of Information Group here as chief guest.

He said that the Information Service Academy was playing a key role in enhancing the capacity of Information Group officers to adapt to modern requirements and deal with present day challenges.

The minister said that the ISA will be equipped with state-of-the-art information technology facilities to make the information group and media training process more efficient and advanced.

Deputy Director General ISA Sameena Farzeen said the academy has launched Domain Specific Mid Career Course for Information Group Officers in Grades 18 to 19.

The 4-week course included a workshop on strategic communication data, visualization tools, content creation for digital media, statement formulation and other technical issues, Samina Farzin said.

Chaudhry Fawad distributed certificates among the officers who passed out the Domain Specific Mid Career Course.

Leading personalities from the media sector gave lectures during the course.

Information Secretary Shahera Shahid and other senior officers of the Ministry were also present on the occasion.
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The EU's food watchdog on Thursday said that a widely-used additive, known as the artificial colouring E171 on food labels, should "no longer be considered safe" for consumption

Rome, May 6 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th May, 2021 ) :The EU's food watchdog on Thursday said that a widely-used additive, known as the artificial colouring E171 on food labels, should "no longer be considered safe" for consumption.

E171 contains nanoparticles of titanium dioxide, and is commonly used in consumer products. In food, it is used mainly as a whitening and brightening agent in sweets, chewing gum, white sauces and cake icing.

But its use in food was suspended in France last year over health fears.

The Italy-based European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said that following a review of the evidence, there was a risk that titanium dioxide nanoparticles could cause DNA damage, and no safe level for its daily intake could be established.

"Taking into account all available scientific studies and data, the panel concluded that titanium dioxide can no longer be considered safe as a food additive," said Maged Younes, chair of EFSA's expert panel on food additives.

It is now up to the European Commission and individual EU member states to decide whether to ban the additive.

France suspended its use in food last year, following research suggesting titanium dioxide could cause pre-cancerous lesions in lab rats.

"A critical element in reaching this conclusion is that we could not exclude genotoxicity concerns after consumption of titanium dioxide particles," Younes said in a statement.

"After oral ingestion, the absorption of titanium dioxide particles is low, however they can accumulate in the body." Genotoxicity refers to the ability of a chemical substance to damage DNA.

Matthew Wright, chairman of EFSA's working group on E171, added: "Although the evidence for general toxic effects was not conclusive, on the basis of the new data and strengthened methods we could not rule out a concern for genotoxicity.

"And consequently we could not establish a safe level for daily intake of the food additive."
While the decision of the US President Joe Biden administration to support temporarily waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines may strike someone as a bold one, the proposal is actually not novel and also somewhat demagogic, experts have told Sputnik

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) While the decision of the US President Joe Biden administration to support temporarily waiving intellectual property protections for coronavirus vaccines may strike someone as a bold one, the proposal is actually not novel and also somewhat demagogic, experts have told Sputnik.

The debate over the initiative has been going on since October, when South Africa and India proposed to the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property rights on vaccines and other medical technologies necessary in the fight against the pandemic.

Earlier in the week, the Biden administration threw its support behind the initiative, citing the extraordinary circumstances that necessitate appropriate responses.

The move however had a mixed reception among global players. While some, like French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin, supported the waiver, the German government was less keen on the idea.

Meanwhile, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus praised the US for making that call and urged others to follow that example but did note that the waiver should be accompanied by a transfer of technology.

Some, like Jean Ruelle, a virologist at the Experimental Research Institute of the UCL Clinics in Belgium, have been quick to describe the US gesture as an attempt at populist rhetoric that may luck sufficient nuance.

"The announcement made by the Biden administration in the US that they want to waive patents on the COVID-19 vaccines, to accelerate world vaccination is a bit of a communication stunt. It is a simplistic approach and the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was right to correct that the temporary suspension of patents for the vaccines was no panacea,'" Ruelle told Sputnik.

Prof. Paul Belleflamme, an intellectual property specialist at the school of Management of UCLouvain university, is of a similar mind, describing the announcement as "a little demagogic," contrasting it with a more circumspect approach adopted by Germany.

"The issue of drug companies abandoning patents or not is at the centre of the debate today in the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is not new. It was also called for during the AIDS epidemic and for other diseases," Belleflamme told Sputnik.

Nevertheless, the patent expert allowed for a possible boost to vaccination drives in developing countries.

"This abandonment of patents, which is promoted now, could indeed boost vaccination campaigns by allowing potential producers in less industrialized countries to launch vaccine production units.

One thinks of India and South Africa which are asking for it at the WTO level, but of many other countries as well. Yes, this could speed up the fight against the pandemic by increasing the production of vaccines in the world," Belleflamme stated.

Both he and Ruelle specified that a simple waiver of intellectual rights is not enough, echoing Tedros' comments about technology transfer.

"The transfer of the production technologies, including subcontracting for the raw materials is complicated and would take months, whether the patent is given to the new production unit, or is the object of a traditional license to produce, including strict quality control," the virologist explained.

SIDE EFFECTS FOR PHARMECEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Another elephant in the room is that the vaccine developers may not just accept the decision to waiver their intellectual rights that robs them of their profits, especially as developing a new vaccine is not a cheap endeavor all by itself.

"It will not be easy to reach an agreement with the producers: the pharmaceutical industry federations do not agree and insist on the danger of thus drying up the sources of innovation in the field of vaccines, by destroying the profitability of products placed on the market," Belleflamme predicted.

Ruelle did welcome a debate on intellectual property but also warned about possible downsides for researchers.

"Waiving patents would be a serious breach of the system of intellectual property protection, which is essential for the security of laboratories when they engage in expensive research that could very well fail," the expert cautioned.

Belleflamme went on to raise the issue of public and private research, saying that while a state can fund research for public benefit, a private enterprise has an edge when it comes to taking a shot in the dark.

"Innovation is, in essence, surprising and atypical. Private companies are ideally suited to developing new products from new processes," the professor added.

The expert also brought attention to the fact that it is possible to organize technology transfer under free market conditions.

"Let us not forget that patents already make it possible to negotiate transfers of technology, by granting licenses to produce a vaccine. Licenses are already granted for the production of Covid vaccines. It is a competitive market: private firms are sellers and states are buyers; this is the framework for negotiations. Forcing the hand of industrialists would have long-term consequences and will not solve anything," Belleflamme stated.
CHISINAU (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) The Moldovan government hopes to come to an agreement with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) on reducing the costs of organizing early parliamentary elections but is not considering the possibility of refusing to finance them altogether, Acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi said on Friday.

Last week, Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed a decree on the dissolution of parliament and announced that snap elections would take place on July 11. The caretaker government has said that it could allocate money for the purpose only from the reserve fund, which now has 98 million lei ($5.5 million), while the commission asks for 125 million lei.

"We are waiting for the decision of the finance ministry to understand whether it is possible to replenish the reserve fund; after that, a meeting with the Central Electoral Commission will take place, we will ask to review the expenses. We do not consider the possibility of refusing to finance the elections, there is a presidential decree, the government is obligated to allocate money," Ciocoi said on the air of the national Jurnal tv broadcaster.

The official believes that the expenses can be cut if the commission reviews some spending categories. In particular, the government advises the CEC not to spend part of the funds to purchase protective face masks, gloves and antiseptics, as the state has all the necessary supplies.

"We want to have a sincere, open discussion with the CEC to find a compromise, to determine the amount that the government can allocate and that the CEC can use to organize the election. If the CEC does not compromise, then we will have to make efforts to satisfy the financial requests of the CEC, but with the risk that there will be no money left in the country's reserve fund," the prime minister added.

Commenting on the prime minister's remark, the head of Moldova's pro-presidential Party of Action and Solidarity, Igor Grosu said that if the government refused to finance the elections, citizens could take to the streets to defend their right to vote.

"We know from what sources money can be allocated, we hope that a decision on the allocation of funds for the elections will be made at the next government meeting. Otherwise, we reserve the right to defend our rights. Unfortunately, those who try to usurp power are only afraid of citizens," Grosu said, as broadcast by TVR Moldova, confirming that he refers to protests.

If the government does not find the necessary funds, its members may face criminal punishment for obstructing the legal process, among other things, the politician added.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev expressed their readiness to provide all necessary support to stabilize the situation on the border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Kremlin said on Friday.

"While discussing the situation in the Central Asian region, including in the light of recent events on the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border, the presidents welcomed the agreements between Dushanbe and Bishkek on the political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict, and reaffirmed their readiness to contribute in every way to stabilization of the situation," the official statement reads.

According to the statement, the two leaders also agreed to continue contacts at various levels.

A local conflict between residents of the border regions of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan on April 29 escalated into an armed confrontation between the military of the two countries. Clashes between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards lasted more than six hours. As a result, 36 Kyrgyz citizens were killed, about 200 were injured. Tajikistan reported 19 dead and 87 injured. More than 300 buildings were destroyed.

On the same day, the sides agreed to cease fire and withdraw forces from the border, but the next day the shots were fired again. The countries reached another truce in the late afternoon of April 30. All the military was pulled back from the conflict zone.
PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) A Hungarian lab's tests of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, which was sent to Slovakia, showed that the vaccine was reliable, Slovak Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky said Friday.

Slovakia received the first shipment of Sputnik V on March 1.

As the country does not have certified laboratories to do the tests, it sent 46 ampoules to Hungary's Official Medicinal Control Laboratory.

"The test results of Sputnik V vaccine in Hungary are negative, which means it's all good," Lengvarsky told reporters in a televised briefing.

Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said on April 26 that the country would approve Sputnik V for use if it tested well in Hungary.
Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the status of human rights in Myanmar, on Friday called on states to impose an arms embargo against the Asian nation's military government that seized power earlier this year

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th May, 2021) Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the status of human rights in Myanmar, on Friday called on states to impose an arms embargo against the Asian nation's military government that seized power earlier this year.

The official praised efforts of over 200 organizations to bring this issue to the UN Security Council and described the need to stop the flow of weapons and two-way weapons technology as a matter of life and death.

"I urge governments who support cutting the flow of weapons to a brutal military junta to consider immediately establishing their own arms embargo against Myanmar while simultaneously encouraging UN Security Council action," Andrews said in a statement.

The expert mentioned working on updating a list of countries that have already imposed arms embargoes against Myanmar's military authorities and will publish the fresh list next month.

"Additionally, I urge organizations and advocates who have called for UN Security Council action to simultaneously urge governments to impose their own arms embargo. They can begin by carefully reviewing the list of nations who have established arms embargoes, and reach out to those who have yet to do so," Andrews stated.

The Myanmar military overthrew the civilian government and declared a year-long state of emergency on February 1, which triggered waves of nationwide civil unrest against military rule. In response, the military carried out cracked down against all protests, not shying away from using lethal force.
The UN's human rights office (OHCHR) Friday called on Israel to immediately halt all forced evictions, including those in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, as well as to exercise maximum restraint in the use of force while ensuring safety and security there

UNITED NATIONS, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th May, 2021 ) :The UN's human rights office (OHCHR) Friday called on Israel to immediately halt all forced evictions, including those in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, as well as to exercise maximum restraint in the use of force while ensuring safety and security there.

Eight Palestinian refugee families residing in Sheikh Jarrah are facing forced eviction due to a legal challenge by the Nahalat Shimon settler organization, with the risk "imminent" for four of the families, according to the office.

OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville said in Geneva that the evictions, if ordered and implemented, would violate Israel's obligations under international law.

"Given the disturbing scenes in Sheikh Jarrah over the past few days, we wish to emphasize that East Jerusalem remains part of the occupied Palestinian territory, in which International Humanitarian Law applies," he said. "The occupying Power must respect and cannot confiscate private property in occupied territory, and must respect, unless absolutely prevented, the laws in force in the country." The spokesman went on to note that Israel cannot impose its own set of laws in occupied territory, including East Jerusalem, to evict Palestinians from their homes.

On Thursday, Tor Wennesland, UN Special Coordinator for the middle East Peace Process, also urged Israel to stop demolitions and evictions in the neighbourhood, in line with its obligations under international humanitarian law.

"In addition, the Absentee Property Law and the Legal and Administrative Matters Law are applied in an inherently discriminatory manner, based solely on the nationality or origin of the owner", OHCHR spokesperson Colville said.

"In practice, the implementation of these laws facilitates the transfer by Israel of its population into occupied East Jerusalem. The transfer of parts of an occupying Power's civilian population into the territory that it occupies is prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime", he added.

The OHCHR spokesperson also said that forced evictions could violate the rights to adequate housing and to privacy and other human rights of those who are evicted.

"Forced evictions are a key factor in creating a coercive environment that may lead to forcible transfer, which is prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention and is a grave breach of the Convention." Colville also called on Israel to respect freedom of expression and assembly, including of those who are protesting against the evictions, and to exercise maximum restraint in the use of force while ensuring safety and security in East Jerusalem.
A scene from Battle of Shanghai [For China Daily]

Battle of Shanghai, a theatrical production produced and performed by the Shanghai Circus School and Shanghai Acrobatic Troupe, will be staged at the Tianqiao Performing Arts Center in Beijing on May 8 and 9.

Marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the theatrical production, adapted from a Chinese movie of the same title in 1959, tells a patriotic story through 20 shows combining acrobatics, magic and multimedia technology, to portray combat scenes and heroic characters against the backdrop of the War of Liberation (1946-49) in Shanghai.

The show premiered in Shanghai in May 2019 and then toured other Chinese cities, including Haikou of Hainan Province, Fuzhou of Jiangxi Province, Guangzhou of Guangdong Province and Suzhou of Jiangsu Province.

A scene from Battle of Shanghai [For China Daily]

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)
(@FahadShabbir)

The Untied States is committed to ensuring that NATO's door is open to all aspirants who meet the obligations for membership in the alliance, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the gaggle on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2021) The Untied States is committed to ensuring that NATO's door is open to all aspirants who meet the obligations for membership in the alliance, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the gaggle on Thursday.

"The Biden administration is committed to ensuring that NATO's door remains open to aspirants when they are ready and able to meet the commitments and obligations of membership and contribute to security in the Euro-Atlantic area," Jean-Pierre said when asked about Ukraine's intent to join the alliance.

The United States supports Ukraine's effort to advance reforms pertaining to the rule of law and economic growth, Jean-Pierre added.
The All-ABOARD pilot project aims to build diversity, equity, and inclusion in the geosciences. In the fall, or as soon as pandemic restrictions lift, four teams will take part in a unique in-person retreat that will partially take place on a research ship (such as this one, the RV Sally Ride) operated by the U.S. Academic Fleet. Photo: U.S. Navy

Written by Kristen Kusek, Communications Director for USF CMS

A cross-departmental team from USF is one of four groups chosen nationwide to participate in a new National Science Foundation (NSF) pilot program called All-ABOARD, which stands for Alliance-Building Offshore to Achieve Resilience and Diversity. The goal of this two-year program hosted by Columbia University to advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives in STEM.

The USF team, named A Bulls Eye for JEDI, includes members from the USF College of Marine Science (USF CMS), College of Education, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the College of Engineering. The All-ABOARD experience includes a series of online training webinars (kicked off last week!) and culminates in a weeklong retreat, half of which will take place aboard a research vessel operated by the U.S. Academic Fleet. The programs leaders will provide continued support and consultation through the fall of 2022 to help ensure accountability amongst each team.

This program is timely and aligns well with our strategic goals and USFs Principles of Community, said Tom Frazer, dean of the USF CMS. Marine science is one of the least diverse STEM fields, and while we have a solid history of work to improve diversity in the College, there is so much more to do.

The City of St. Petersburg recently announced it will contribute $125,000 to the University of South Florida Foundation to help enhance diversity in the ocean sciences.

The All-ABOARD program aims to build on the power of shipboard experiences and leverage successful professional development models to provide cross-generational teams of geoscience leaders with the tools they need to advance JEDI initiatives on their home campuses. Each project team includes four members representing different career levels within the institution.

The USF teams goal is to build upon its work to date and develop new strategies to increase the number of underrepresented students in ocean science, including road maps for improving student retention.

When scientists get on a research vessel, barriers come down, said Brad Rosenheim, USFs team leader and associate professor in the College of Marine Science. Established senior scientists and neophyte oceanography students, as well as everyone in between, share shoulder-to-shoulder work experience, confined quarters, meals, and practically everything together while aboard a ship.

The other bonus is work can get done without the usual distractions of life on land  like phones ringing and mail to be sorted. The All-ABOARD cruise wont involve science research, but it will provide a uniquely bonding space conducive to focus and conversation.

Students have more power to affect change than we realize, said USF team member and anthropology graduate student Kris-An Hinds, and collective student groups can be unstoppable forces. With the tools, support, and resources provided by All-ABOARD, Im hopeful that well be able to push forward meaningful change at USF.

The USF team that prepared the application includes:

Dr. Ana Arellano*, Diversity Recruiter, Instructor, Chemical Oceanographer, College of Marine Science

April Ellis*, Graduate student, College of Marine Science

Kris-An Hinds*, Graduate student, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Anthropology

Dr. Ruthmae Sears*, Associate Professor of Mathematics Education, College of Education

Michelle Platz, Graduate student, College of Engineering

Dr. Brad Rosenheim, Associate Professor, College of Marine Science

Dr. David Naar, Associate Dean and Professor, College of Marine Science

Sarah Grasty-Prueitt, Senior Biological Scientist and Education Outreach Coordinator, College of Marine Science

Dr. Dana Thompson Dorsey, Director / Professor, College of Education / David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching

Dr. Robert Potter, Senior Associate Dean / Professor, College of Arts & Science (Chemistry)

Dr. Maya Trotz, Professor, College of Engineering

Megan Kramer, Graduate student, College of Engineering

*Indicates members of the core, four-person team who will be the main participants in the program. They will report back to the larger group and everyone will work collectively strategize meaningful JEDI initiatives at USF.

Lamonts Sharon Cooper is leading the All-ABOARD project along with Benjamin Keisling, a postdoctoral research fellow in geochemistry.

Were trying to look at these offshore experiences in a new way, as an opportunity to bring people together in mutual trust and nurture every participant into the kind of leader that all geoscientists need to be, said Keisling. That is at the core of what were doing.

The other groups chosen by the All-ABOARD project team in a competitive application process are from Coastal Carolina University, Salisbury University, and West Virginia University.
Valdosta, GA (31601)

Today

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 70F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
In a recently published book, Cardinal Nzapalainga reflects on his life as a Spiritan priest, Archbishop of Bangui, Cardinal, peacemaker, hopes and challenges of life in CAR.

Paul Samasumo  Vatican City.

Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga, the Archbishop of Bangui in the Central African Republic (CAR), has just published a book with the French journalist Laurence Desjoyaux titled Je suis venu vous apporter la Paix (roughly translated as I come to bring peace). Vatican News Cyprien Viet caught up with the Cardinal to talk about the book.

A complex conflict

As Archbishop of Bangui, Cardinal Nzapalainga has worked tirelessly to promote peace and reconciliation among the warring factions of CAR and a people fractured by civil war and constant insecurity.

United Nations reports indicate that there is some improvement towards peace since the conflict started in 2013. However, the security situation in CAR remains precarious, as evidenced by recent rebel attacks on the outskirts of the capital, Bangui. The attacks were in violation of the 2019 Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in CAR (Accord Politique pour la Paix et la Reconciliation en RCA).

Instability in the Central African Republic is driven by complex realities. These include politics, ethnicity, religion and historical grievances against the alleged marginalisation of Muslims in the country. Insecurity is also fuelled by regional and international actors. The situation is not helped by the fact that CARs national government has struggled to govern the whole country because various armed groups control mineral-rich areas of the sovereign territory. The groups collect taxes in areas under their control. Some of CARs politicians and warlords have also exploited religious sentiments for selfish political purposes. By roping in religious feelings, Christians are sometimes pitted against Muslim communities. Nevertheless, it has to be said that traditionally, various religious communities have peacefully co-existed for years in CAR.

Three religious leaders and The Platform

Starting in 2013, when thousands of people fell victim to atrocities, killings and countless violations of human rights, Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga worked with an imam and a protestant pastor to foster national peace and reconciliation.

Joining forces with Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, president of the Central African Islamic Community, and Reverend Nicolas Guerekoyame-Gbangou, president of the Evangelical Alliance in the CAR, the three religious leaders created what has come to be known as, The Platform. This is a forum officially known as the Interfaith Religious Platform of the Central African Republic. Through this forum, the three religious leaders promote interreligious dialogue in communities divided by hatred and fear. They are united in the belief that peace can only be restored to CAR through healing and reconciliation. This healing, they say, should start from within the hearts of ordinary persons and in the communities where they live.

It has not always been plain sailing for The Platform. In spite of international acclaim, the trio have had a share of crticis from suspicious locals sceptical about their intentions. The Platform has sometimes struggled, at the local level, to get across its message of peace and reconciliation. However, the three religious leaders are forging ahead, courageously.

Inspired by Pope Francis visit to CAR

Today, Cardinal Nzapalainga is considered one of the most listened-to persons on matters to do with the Central African Republic. In his book, the Cardinal speaks about his lifes journey and continuing peace-making efforts.

Inevitably one of the highlights the Cardinal talked about is Pope Francis visit to CAR in 2015. The Cardinal told Vatican News Cyprien Viet that Pope Francis visit was like a light coming into the darkness. We were prisoners of violence, prisoners of despair, of anguish. We could not see how to get out of this tunnel. The Popes visit brought us together, brought us peace, brought us hope. Today, in CAR, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics acknowledge Pope Francis as a man of peace. The Pope reached out to Muslims and showed himself as one who dared to take off his shoes to pray with them. What a mark of respect! Pope Francis also dared to go to the Protestants (FATEB -the Evangelical School of Theology in Bangui). Such simplicity, what humility! This is also a Pope who dared to do what no other Pope in history has done: Open the Holy Door (of the Cathedral in Bangui thus inaugurating the Year of Mercy) outside Rome. For Catholics, this was something unheard of! And we find ourselves, again and again, reminiscing about the Popes visit to our country. It was a gift from God, narrated the prelate of Bangui.

The meteoric rise of Cardinal Nzapalainga

Cardinal Dieudonne Nzapalainga, C.S.Sp., the Archbishop of Bangui, Central African Republic, was born on 14 March 1967 in Mbomou under the Diocese of Bangassou, Central African Republic. After primary school, he entered the minor seminary of Saint Louis in Bangassou and then the Saints-Apotres major seminary of Philosophy of Otele, Cameroon, before continuing his studies at the Daniel Brottier Spiritan major seminary, in Libreville Gabon.

He made his first vows in the Congregation of the Spiritan Fathers on 5 September 1993 and his perpetual vows on 6 September 1997. Cardinal Nzapalainga was ordained a priest on 9 August 1998. In the following years, he obtained a Licentiate in Theology at the Jesuit Centre Sevres, in France. He was, however, recalled to the Central African Republic by his superiors to carry out the function of regional superior.

On 14 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangui. He was ordained Bishop on 22 July of the same year aged 45. On 19 November 2016, the Archbishop of Bangui was elevated to the office of Cardinal by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Nzapalaingas book, Je suis venu vous apporter la Paix, is published in French by Mediaspaul.

(paul.samasumo@spc.va)
Indonesian police carry the coffin of an officer killed in a gun battle in Papua, Indonesia (AFP or licensors)

Escalating violence in the province of Papua, Indonesia, has prompted Church leaders in the region to call on the military and separatist groups to declare a ceasefire in order to find a dignified, humane, open, and respectful solution to the crisis.

Vatican News staff reporter

The Church in the province of Papua in Indonesia is calling on military leaders and rebel groups to declare a truce to avoid the risk of escalation of violence in the region.

Church leaders have expressed concern that a recent move by the government to add separatists to a list of terrorist groups could exacerbate tensions in the eastern Indonesia. A note from the Diocese of Timika, Papua, describes the decision as an unproductive move that could undermine the efforts of religious leaders to forge peace in the region.

Separatist groups, including the West Papua National Liberation Army, have claimed responsibility for attacks on military targets, but have also been accused of attacking unarmed civilians.

In April, the West Papua NLA ambushed and killed the militarys resident intelligence chief, General Putu Danny Karya Nugraha, prompting a forceful response from the government. Human rights groups have raised concerns that the army will carry out reprisals against civilians in response to the assassination.

Papua has been the scene of protests against human rights violations and abuses by the Indonesian military.

In a letter sent to the Fides News Agency, the Apostolic Administrator of Timika, Father Marthen Kuayo, says Church leaders in the diocese are deeply concerned about the recent violence and the response that has increased tension in Papua in recent weeks. He adds, Civilians are the first innocent victims of clashes between rebels and security forces, and often innocent families are displaced or even victims of the crossfire.

Father Kuayo says the local Church is calling on both military and separatist leaders to show restraint and observe a ceasefire in order to find together a dignified, humane, open and respectful solution.
Lawyer Dinh Tien Hoang from Vietthink Law Firm

Article 159 of the Law on Housing allows foreign individuals to purchase and own houses if they meet the regulations on entry into Vietnam, or meet the condition of applying for an investment license for housing projects in Vietnam.

According to Decree No.51/2009/ND-CP guiding implementation of some articles of Resolution No.19/2008/NQ-QH12 on piloting permit foreign organisations and individuals to buy and own houses in Vietnam and the 2003 Law on Land, this new regulation is appropriate.

However, when the government issued the Law on Land 2013 and Decree No.99/2015/ND-CP, the guidance for this regulation was skipped, causing confused implementation at grassroots levels when carrying out procedures in handing over house ownership to non-Vietnamese people. Under the provisions of Clause 7, Article 9 of the 2003 Law on Land, foreign individuals investing in Vietnam under the Law on Investment are leased land by the State of Vietnam as land users.

Decree 51 also stipulates that foreign individuals who own an apartment in Vietnam have the right to use the public space of that apartment building in the form of leased land with one-time rental payment for the entire lease term.

Thus, according to the 2003 land law and Decree 51, foreign individuals can still own houses and have the right to use the leased land in the form of a one-time rental payment for the entire lease term.

However, at present, the 2013 iteration of the law does not include a regulation noting that foreign individuals are the land users. Meanwhile, the Law on Housing 2014 does allow non-nationals to buy and own homes.

That means Decree 99 has replaced Decree 51, but it has no regulations on land use rights of foreign individuals in the case of buying and owning houses. In reality, up to now, there are no documents from government authorities to guide this issue. This is a significant shortcoming that requires specific guidance soon. Decree 99 does not specify in which areas foreign individuals are not allowed to buy homes. The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security have the responsibilities of specifying prohibited areas or areas restricting foreign citizens, and the two ministries will provide written notice to provincial peoples committees to direct the Department of Construction to specify each commercial housing project in the province that can be sold to overseas individuals and organisations.

However, so far, only some provinces can issue this notice and it will likely take much more time for other provinces to do the same.

This means project developers are unable to know if their commercial housing projects are eligible to be sold to foreign buyers. Furthermore, there is a risk of being forced to compensate buyers in projects sold to non-nationals but defined as not belonging to the allowed areas.

Decree 99 stipulated that foreign organisation and individual ownership of units in an apartment building may not exceed 30 per cent of total units in one apartment building. In the event of an area with geographical boundary equivalent to ward level with many apartment buildings for sale or lease purchase, those organisations and individuals may own no more than 30 per cent of the total units of each apartment building, and not more than 30 per cent of the total units of all apartments.

For housing projects which have separate houses for sale or lease-purchase, the overseas organisations and individuals ownership must not exceed 10 per cent of the total number of separate houses for each project. In an area with a geographical boundary equivalent to ward level with several projects where the number of individual houses are more than 2,500 units, then the ownership must not exceed 250.

However, the above current calculation of the number of houses has caused many difficulties for both government authorities and developers  for example, in determining an area with geographical boundary equivalent to ward level and assessing population fluctuations in a specific area.

Besides that, in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, many new urban areas have a large number of foreigners living there, such as Thao Dien in District 2 and Phu My Hung in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City; and The Manor in South Tu Liem or the area surrounding West Lake in Hanoi. There would be a very high possibility that these areas will exceed the maximum number of houses foreigners are entitled to own.

In general, the removal of restrictions on house ownership for non-nationals in Vietnam is a positive action. However, to attract foreign currency flowing into the real estate market of Vietnam, government authorities need to take measures to overcome the aforementioned shortcomings completely.
Civic leaders to spend 70,000 on marketing campaign to revive Wrexham town centre

Civic leaders are planning to spend 70,000 to fund a marketing campaign aimed at reviving Wrexham town centre.

Businesses in the town have been forced to close on a number of occasions throughout the coronavirus pandemic due to lockdown measures. It has resulted in footfall in the main shopping area dropping significantly since the outbreak began in March last year.

As we have previously reported Wrexhams Civic Leadership Group (CLG) is now seeking external experts to create new branding and a marketing campaign to attract people back to the town.

A tender notice issued by the group, which includes representatives from Wrexham Council, Glyndwr University and other key organisations and businesses, states: Wrexham town centre has been in decline for a number of years and this has been exacerbated by the impact of the global Covid pandemic.





The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of public and private life beyond all recognition and consequentially the impact on the economy and society at a local, national and international level is likely at a scale not seen since the 1940s.

The country and therefore Wrexham town centre has experienced various periods of lockdown since March 2020.

Some headline impacts of lockdown include that typically, there have been only 21 town centre shops that have traded throughout this period.

Our vision for Wrexham is that it should be a place where we can test unique and innovative solutions to the problems we face and restore public confidence.

We support green infrastructure and biodiversity and wish to show our ability to adapt to changing circumstances in light of the challenges we, along with many places in Wales and the UK, are facing.

The document shows rates relief grants worth more than 24.5 million have been paid to 2,076 businesses in Wrexham during the pandemic.

It also highlights that the town has come under acute pressure after losing big name stores like Debenhams in the last year.

It adds: Cleanliness, hygiene, safety and ability to social distance, both in-store and in public areas, have been cited as key factors in attracting people back to town centres.

Clear signage, accessibility and walkability are therefore all important factors, as are fresh food and everyday essentials within walking distance of peoples homes and improved air quality.All partners of the CLG will actively commit to positive PR around the town centre, alongside promotion of the new branding.

The notice shows funding for the contract has been provided by the Welsh Government, Wrexham Council, Glyndwr University and Coleg Cambria.

The successful bidder will be expected to deliver a six-month marketing campaign, including a strong brand concept, in both English and Welsh.

The contract is expected to be awarded in June, with the promotional campaign beginning in August.

By Liam Randall / Wrexham.com
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai (centre) poses for a group photo with participants of the meeting in Hanoi (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Despite there being no commitments on services and investment in the Vietnam - Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the pact has nonetheless been a boost to trade and economic ties between the two countries.

The view was shared at the fourth meeting of the Vietnam - Chile free trade council, which was held online and chaired by Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai and Vice Minister of Trade at Chiles Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rodrigo Yanez.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trades European - American Market Department, the two countries have enjoyed robust relations over the years.

Despite the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, two-way trade in 2020 topped 1.28 billion USD, up 4.43 percent year-on-year and 2.5-fold higher than the figure recorded in 2013, prior to the FTA coming into effect.

Chile is now one of Vietnams four largest trade partners in Latin America, while Vietnam is the largest trade partner of Chile in ASEAN.

Trade in goods in the first four months of this year rose 15.3 percent year-on-year to 401.1 million USD, with Vietnams exports standing at 321.3 million USD, up 11.8 percent.

Both sides recognised the efforts made to implement the FTA.

The subcommittee for trade in goods discussed matters regarding tariffs and origin of goods and considered the application of electronic certificates of origin to simplify procedures for exporters in both countries.

Meanwhile, the subcommittee for hygiene and phyto-sanitation worked on import procedures for several agricultural products.

Vietnam has begun risk analysis on Chilean kiwi fruit while the South American country said it will begin analyses of Vietnamese rambutan in July.

Both agreed to step up measures to help Vietnamese and Chilean businesses capitalise on the Vietnam - Chile FTA as well as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), after it is ratified by Chile. The latter agreement will make a significant contribution to bolstering bilateral cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and investment.
By John Frangos - Partner, Tilleke & Gibbins

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the aviation industry to face arguably the most challenging time in its history. Airlines across the world, including in Southeast Asia, have been deeply affected by the prolonged and universal halt to international air travel.

Domestic flights have provided some much-needed revenue to local carriers. But with multiple and unforeseen waves of new virus cases, lockdowns and other travel restrictions, and a public generally fearful of travelling, domestic flights have not been enough to make up for the massive shortfall in revenue lost from international air travel.

Despite all the current gloom for the aviation industry, there may be light at the end of the tunnel as the world glimpses life after the pandemic. This is mainly down to vaccinations. With people confined to their homes for over a year in many Western countries, there is pent-up demand to travel. As those people are vaccinated, they will want to get out of their houses and fly somewhere.

Moreover, household savings have increased for those fortunate enough to be working throughout the pandemic in their homes, and with few options to go out and spend. This combination of travel demand and increased disposable income is a strong combination for positive growth in the post-pandemic aviation industry.

In the context of Vietnam, which to date has managed to minimise outbreaks from occurring in the country, from around the middle of September 2020 airlines announced to fly again and increase the frequency of many domestic flights. Airlines also sought to restore some international commercial routes to meet the needs of passengers, contribute to connecting trade, and maintaining production and business activities.

However, despite domestic demand, true recovery and economic success can only occur when passengers can again travel internationally, both inbound and outbound. As such, the critical questions are when the recovery will happen, and if airlines can withstand the financial adversity until the recovery.

Indeed, there is still a lot of uncertainty on when the world will travel again and fly internationally on airlines. According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the main variables include, among others: how long the pandemic will last and at what level of severity; how long will lockdowns and travel restrictions continue; when will travellers feel confident again to fly; and how long and deep will the global recession be.

In a large part, the solution to these problems depends on how quickly countries can vaccinate their populations. For people to fly internationally again, and for countries to welcome international travellers, all concerned must be - and feel - safe. This means everyone involved in an air travellers flight from country A to country B is vaccinated. This includes the passengers, airport staff, airline crew, taxi drivers, hotel staff, tour guides, shop owners, and more.

Different countries are at different stages with respect to vaccinations. This uneven vaccination path means it will take longer for travellers from vaccinated countries to visit countries whose populations remain unvaccinated. This is even if vaccinated travellers are at low risk of contracting the virus.

There are still unanswered questions, for example, on whether a vaccinated person can pass the virus to someone else. Additionally, countries with low rates of vaccinations will still likely have mandatory quarantines, required tests, and other burdensome requirements to shield their populations from exposure to COVID-19. Lockdowns and other domestic travel restrictions in the unvaccinated host country are also more likely to exist. All of these factors can affect a vaccinated travellers choice to fly to these locations.

The airlines and other aviation industry companies that will be in a position to recover are those that can continue to withstand financial adversity over an extended and uncertain period of time. This is very difficult for many carriers, as the wave of recent airline insolvencies has demonstrated.

In neighbouring Thailand, national carrier Thai Airways and budget carrier Nok Air both filed for business reorganisation in Bangkoks Central Bankruptcy Court. NokScoot went out of business completely, and liquidated. Even in the best of times, airlines have razor-thin margins and are especially susceptible to external shock events, like the pandemic or the November 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

This means that airlines with substantial financial reserves and access to loans (usually from the government) are more likely to recover as the pandemic passes. However, it also means that airlines will likely be heavily in debt and see their financial resources drained to survive the pandemic. So even post-pandemic success will be challenging for the aviation industry.

What is more, in addition to paying back loans, airlines will likely have to spend additional sums on increased hygiene measures to lower risk of virus exposure and make travellers feel confident about traveling. This will cause increased expense. Budget carriers will probably face an especially difficult time in a post-pandemic recovery.

The result will be that only the best-run, least in debt, and most efficient carriers of all stripes, budget or otherwise, have the best chance of a successful recovery.

With the above in mind, Vietnams general success to date in controlling the pandemic puts Vietnamese airlines in a favorable position. For example, in a report dated at the end of September last year, Fitch Ratings observed that passenger traffic at Vietnamese airlines are expected to rebound faster than in other countries of Southeast Asia, due to Vietnams low numbers of cases.

This is positive news for Vietnams aviation industry. But airlines success and paths to recovery will be closely tied to how soon the region and entire world can emerge from the pandemic.
Siemens ups outlook after tripling profit in Q2 (Source: siemens.com)

Siemens, which makes products ranging from trains to factory equipment, said in a statement that it booked bottom-line net profit of 2.4 billion euros ($2.9 billion) in the period from January to March, up from 697 million euros a year earlier.

Underlying or operating profit rose by 31 percent to 2.1 billion euros as revenues increased by nine percent to 14.7 billion euros and orders were up 11 percent at 15.9 billion euros.

"As our order intake and revenue in the second quarter impressively demonstrate, our customers place great trust in us," said chief executive Roland Busch.

"Growth momentum came, in particular, from the automotive industry, machine building, our software business and - from a geographic perspective - from China," Busch said.

"On this basis, we are even more confident about the second half of our fiscal year and are raising our guidance significantly," said chief financial officer, Ralf Thomas.

Siemens said that although it continued to "a complex macroeconomic environment influenced by Covid-19, we expect our businesses to continue to deliver a strong performance in the second half of fiscal 2021."

Full-year revenue was projected to grow by between nine and 11 percent,

"In line with the results already achieved during the first half of fiscal 2021 and the expectations described above, we raise our outlook for net income to the range from 5.7-6.2 billion euros", well above the previous projected range of 5.0-5.5 billion euros, the statement said.
Le Minh Sang, health specialist at World Bank Vietnam

Hospitals across the world have been transforming their traditional bureaucratic structures and moving toward autonomisation as a potential solution for improving performance and outcomes. Hospital autonomy aims to reform the relationship between the government and service providers through delegation of decision rights to the hospital management team. The central government envisages public hospitals as independent entities with legal personality and grants hospitals greater managerial autonomy, while retaining hospitals as public institutional identity and their accountability to government priorities.

In the early 1990s, the government embarked on initiatives to encourage the mobilisation of all possible resources in society toward key public services. Over the subsequent decade, this policy became important in mobilising private resources for public service delivery and, at the same time, to ensure access to improved services for the population, especially the disadvantaged groups.

In the health sector, the socialisation policy was built on previous government initiatives to mobilise resources from within society for healthcare, such as the introduction of user fees in public healthcare facilities and contributory social health insurance. The socialisation framework also entails the development of private healthcare providers and the increasing autonomy of public health institutions.

Since 2002, the Vietnamese government has granted increasing levels of autonomy in service delivery, organisation, human resources, and financing to public hospitals. The overarching policy objective is for public hospitals to become financially autonomous, which entails a reduction of direct subsidies for recurring costs and an increase in user fees for curative services.

By 2018, four leading public hospitals were granted full autonomy status and 27.4 per cent of public hospitals could fully self-finance their operations, while 68.4 per cent of public hospitals became partially financially autonomous.

While shifting to the status of financially autonomous, public hospitals still retain a vital role in achieving universal health coverage for the Vietnamese people. The hospital network in Vietnam is dominated by public institutions, which account for approximately 85 per cent of total hospitals, and 94 per cent of total hospital beds, much higher than those in neighboring countries such as China (47 and 81 per cent), Thailand (74 and 79 per cent) and the Philippines (40 and 47 per cent).

In addition, 57 per cent of public hospitals in Vietnam are district hospitals, which are an integral part of the grassroots health network and are responsible for the delivery of preventive health and primary care services. Nearly 19 per cent of public hospitals are specialised care institutions, providing healthcare services for vulnerable groups.

Achievements and concerns

Autonomisation permits public hospitals in Vietnam to mobilise investment capital through different financing modalities. One modality is for public hospitals to take on debt to purchase assets, and another common model is a joint venture for provision of medical equipment through which private investors purchase new medical equipment at public hospitals and charge higher fees for use of these equipment than for publicly provided equipment.

By 2017, central hospitals under the Ministry of Health (MoH) and local hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh cities have mobilised more than VND9 trillion ($391 million) through these modalities. In recent years, there have also been large-scale co-branded, co-located hospital models where the private partners contributed a total investment capital of VND2.6 trillion ($113 million) to build new hospitals in Dong Nai and Binh Dinh provinces.

Hospital autonomy has led to an expansion of healthcare services, an increase in hospital utilisation, a growth in total hospital revenues and an improvement in human resources. The most striking trends associated with autonomisation were the rapid extension of patient-requested services and the increased utilisation of diagnostic services, leading to a more intensive style of care with more laboratory tests and imaging per case and higher spending per treatment episode.

Hospital revenues increased dramatically in provincial and municipal hospitals, where the largest revenue shares came from user fees for private or patient-requested services as well as surgical and obstetric services. No significant effect of autonomy on total hospital cost was found as hospital managers moved toward greater cost-control across all levels. Autonomisation has led to improvements in human resources, including increased income of hospital staff, boosted motivation and a sense of shared enterprise, as well as training and skills.

Studies showed different levels of patient satisfaction. Interviews with hospital staff suggested that autonomy contributed possibly to user satisfaction, though data did not always support such claims. Those who used private services express a higher patient satisfaction index but concerns remain about cost. Researchers found no evidence that hospital autonomy affected in-hospital death rate or complication rate.

The provision of costly profit-generating services for middle- or high-income groups has also raised concerns about the equity and efficiency of public services. Capital mobilisation efforts have generally focused on geographic areas with high revenue potential, resulting in higher out-of-pocket expenses. At the same time, it has not necessarily expanded access to care for those living in poorer areas. Central hospitals and those in large cities, as well as their patients, benefit more than those in poorer provinces and rural areas.

The majority of joint ventures invested in imaging and laboratory equipment, leading to over-provision of laboratory tests and over-utilisation of technologically sophisticated diagnostic equipment. Public hospitals have even established private wards within their campuses to maximise revenue by offering greater choices of accommodation and medical services but charging higher fees than regular services for normal patients.

The weak management of joint-venture projects in autonomous hospitals poses a reputation risk. There have been mounting concerns about non-transparent selection of the private partner, non-competitive procurement of assets, and ineffective appraisal of the financial plan. The joint venture is not required to undergo standard performance monitoring or follow standard financial accounting procedures.

With so much of the capital for equipment investment contributed by hospital staff, who then stands to benefit privately from its use, it is reasonable to think that this would encourage even more supplier-induced demand for services and overuse.

More autonomisation could permit public hospitals in Vietnam to mobilise more investment capital

Key challenges

Similar to nations where out-of-pocket payment remains a major source of health financing, hospital autonomy in Vietnam had no discernible effect on healthcare quality. While public hospitals face numerous challenges on the path to full autonomy, there are three key issues.

Firstly, the accountability mechanism for hospital performance is insufficient. The MoH and provincial departments of health are relying mainly on regulation and self-assessment to ensure the quality of healthcare providers. Hospitals are required to self-measure their quality against the MoHs 83 quality criteria, the majority of which reflect structural and non-clinical factors, and are expected to report to relevant health authorities for evaluation once a year.

However, the hospital quality assessment report is not accessible to the public since there is no mechanism to disclose such a document. Measurement of clinical process and outcomes against key performance indicators is rarely carried out. The national healthcare accreditation system is still under-developed, and only some pioneer hospitals have been accredited against international standards.

Secondly, perverse incentives failed to align hospital behaviours with public objectives. Fee for service is the most commonly used provider payment mechanism in Vietnam. Since 2012, user fee schedules (whose levels are set by the government) have been raised substantially following an official timeline to eventually ensure full cost recovery as facilities become financially autonomous. This creates a perverse incentive for over-servicing.

Public hospitals can also top up staff income from the operating surplus. The socialisation policy encourages public hospitals to raise capital from the private sector to invest in new medical technologies and on-demand services and charge higher fees for the use of those equipment and services. These factors create powerful incentives for hospitals to offer expensive, high-technology services, some of which may be medically unnecessary, but are also interpreted by patients as a signal of quality.

Finally, hospital administrators lack management competencies to perform delegated decision rights. Management competencies are critical for hospital managers to cope with development and operational issues arising from the new context in which decentralisation and autonomy policies have been introduced. However, so far little attention has been paid to health management training in Vietnam.

While almost all public health managers agreed to introduce public-private partnerships (PPP) to overcome budget constraints and infrastructure challenges, a serious shortage of public sector expertise to manage and oversee complex PPP projects might be the most limiting factor in the implementation of health PPPs in Vietnam.

As the government commits to deepen decentralisation consistently, public hospital autonomy in Vietnam is inevitable and irreversible progression. Only with a comprehensive view and proper implementation of different elements of hospital autonomy, can the country achieve the desired outcomes from this reform.

International experience and evidence from in-country studies suggests that Vietnam can make hospital autonomy a greater success through strengthening performance accountability to ensure hospital quality and efficiency, introduce payment systems that promote cost consciousness such as diagnosis-related groups, and improve management competencies for public hospital administrators.
Deputy Foreign Minister and head of Vietnam's ASEAN SOM Nguyen Quoc Dung (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi - Deputy Foreign Minister and head of Vietnam's ASEAN SOM Nguyen Quoc Dung attended the 34th ASEAN-US Dialogue held in the form of videoconference on May 6.

Speaking on behalf of ASEAN states, the Vietnamese official emphasised that amid increasing challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, climate change, competition for natural resources and sovereignty claims, countries need to bolster cooperation and dialogue, build trust and the rule of law, as well as uphold the sense of responsibility, behave according to standards and respect each other to ensure an environment of peace and stability for development.

Highlighting efforts by ASEAN and the US in addressing challenges to regional stability and development, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Vietnam said ASEAN and the US should strengthen coordination to ensure peace, security and prosperous development in the region through ASEAN-led mechanisms, promote a rules-based regional order and adherence to international laws, and resolve disputes in a peaceful manner.

Dung also reiterated ASEANs principled stance in the East Sea issue, and voiced a hope that the US will continue to play a constructive role and back ASEANs efforts in building the East Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation, as well as the blocs role in helping Myanmar.

For his part, US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Atul Keshap affirmed that US President Joe Bidens administration attaches importance to the strategic partnership with ASEAN, supports ASEANs central role and ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), and wants to enhance cooperation with the organisation in settling current challenges.

ASEAN countries spoke highly of the USs contributions to cooperation, development, peace and stability in the region. They appreciated an aid worth 112 million USD from the US to help the organisation cope with COVID-19.

The two sides agreed to foster collaboration in trade-investment, human resources development, renewable energy, marine cooperation, response to natural disasters and climate change through the US's development cooperation programmes such as the Partnership for Regional Optimisation within the Political-Security and Socio-Cultural Communities (PROSPECT), the Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade and E-Commerce (IGNITE), and in development gap reduction via the Mekong-US Partnership.

ASEAN and the US affirmed to closely coordinate to contribute to maintaining peace, safety and stability in the region, including maritime security and safety in the East Sea, which is among major shipping routes of the world with potential risks and complicated developments.

The US underlined its support for ASEANs principled stance on the East Sea issue; welcomed the bloc to perform its role in promoting cooperation, dialogues, and trust building; ensuring the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and the building of an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in line with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS.

Regarding the Myanmar issue, the US welcomed outcomes of the ASEAN Leaders Meeting held on April 24, expressing its support for ASEAN in fostering dialogues and reconciliation to help Myanmar stabilise the situation.
Analysts are raising concerns that a Chinese update to its maritime traffic law will help Beijing tighten control over disputed Asian seas by legalizing interception of foreign vessels and authorizing fines against their operators.

The standing committee of the National People's Congress voted April 29 to amend the Maritime Traffic Safety Law, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The revised law, as spelled out clause-by-clause in the Xinhua report, says foreign vessels passing through waters under Chinese jurisdiction should obtain permission first. Chinas State Council and other government departments may take necessary measures to stop the passage of foreign ships into territorial waters, the law says. It cites traffic safety and environmental protection as reasons.

Ships crews under the law are to do their part to protect the marine environment and captains will be responsible for emergency responses to anyone on board suspected of having an infectious disease, Xinhua added.

Violators of the law can be fined up to about $47,000.

Chinese officials probably intend to use the law selectively to make foreign vessels leave the contested South China Sea or discourage them from getting near it, experts say. China already uses its coast guard, fishing fleets and island-building activity to fortify its claim over 90% of the sea.

I just see this as a continuing part of Chinas policy of asserting its sovereign jurisdiction over the South China Sea, constantly putting pressure on claimant states and trying to drive a wedge between them and the U.S., said Carl Thayer, an emeritus professor from the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea that stretches from Hong Kong south to Borneo. The waterway is rich in fisheries and undersea fossil fuel reserves.

U.S. warships passed into the sea 10 times last year to reflect Washingtons view that the sea is open internationally, irritating China each time. The United States has no claim in the sea, but analysts say the Southeast Asian states and Taiwan look to Washington for support as its superpower rival China expands its navy.

More broadly, Chinese leaders see the revised law as part of a salami slicing strategy to assert South China Sea claims, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. They will invoke the law selectively and in some cases against Southeast Asian vessels, he forecast.

Beijing has increasingly turned to domestic laws to bolster its offshore interests. The government bans fishing in the northern part of the disputed sea in the middle of each year to protect fishing stocks, for example, and in January it approved a Coast Guard Law that authorizes firing on foreign vessels. Chinese authorities have boarded foreign boats before, Thayer said.

Increasingly China will use domestic laws to enforce its internal jurisdiction within the South China Sea, Vuving said.

China, which cites historical records to ground its maritime claims, landfills small islets for military use to bolster its claims further. Fishing fleets from Vietnam and the Philippines use much of the South China Sea. Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam tap the same waterway for undersea energy reserves.

Revisions to the maritime safety law will add support for Chinese claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, where the government contests a chain of islets with Japan and Taiwan, said Andrew Yang, secretary-general of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies think tank.

Any effort to support legitimacy by stopping foreign-registered boats, however, will increase friction with the rival claimants, he said.

I dont think they are going to deliberately stop foreign ships, but they certainly will calculate risks and interests in order to conduct [the] necessary measures, Yang said.
Phnom Penh City Hall will continue to use a three-color zone system to control the spread of COVID-19 in the capital and officials have lashed out at critics who say the measures, especially in red zones, have resulted in food shortages.

The municipal administration officials lifted lockdown measures that were announced on April 15 and will keep in place the designation of red, orange, and yellow zones in the city. The new zones released on Wednesday have resulted in a reduction of red zones with City Hall saying it wanted more targeted restriction to bring down the case count.

A night curfew from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. remains in place and dine-in at restaurants and alcohol sales are still prohibited.

Deputy Phnom Penh Governor Keut Chher urged people to follow preventive health and administrative measures announced by City Hall. He asked people in red and orange zones to remain patient with authorities.

We are already aware that all of you living in the red zone and the orange zone will face difficulties because the [lockdown] will continue, but we dont have any choice besides this lockdown to protect the lives of others, he said.

Residents in red zones are prohibited from leaving their homes except in medical emergencies. All business activity, including at public markets, are banned and the government has taken up the responsibility of providing food and essential items to citizens in red zones.

This has led to food shortages in red zones with rights groups urging the government to ensure equitable distribution of food. Local authorities have rejected these accusations and said protests asking for food aid were politically motivated.

Keut Chher said critics of the governments lockdown measures only shouted opposing views and were not helping the government save people from food shortages.

When we talk about this group, we dont want to say much because they dont spend any time with us and [they] never join us, he said at the same press conference. Lets ask them if they do anything? Nothing!

He also mocked critics for not having the courage to go in and distribute aid to people facing food shortages in the red zones. But, Human Rights Watch has criticized the Cambodian government for blocking United Nations agencies and other aid groups from accessing red zones.

A Human Rights Watch statement from May 5 reported that 300,000 people had been affected by restrictions placed in red zones.

Many have not been able to get food, medicine, and other necessities for weeks. Local and international groups have expressed their readiness to assist directly to those most affected, but the authorities have denied them access, the statement reads.

Theng Savoeun, who heads the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, said municipal authorities should listen to their critics and work to better assist people facing food shortages regardless of their political affiliations. Apart from food shortages, he said residents in red zones were concerned about paying rent and utility bills because they had lost income due to the stringent lockdown measures.
UNITED NATIONS (AP)  At least 155 million people faced acute hunger in 2020, including 133,000 who needed urgent food to prevent widespread death from starvation -- and the outlook for 2021 is equally grim or worse, a report by 16 organizations said Wednesday.

The report, which focuses on 55 countries that account for 97% of humanitarian assistance, said the magnitude and severity of food crises last year worsened as a result of protracted conflicts, the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, and weather extremes that exacerbated pre-existing fragilities.

The 155 million people faced crisis," emergency" or catastrophe/famine" levels of food needs, an increase of around 20 million people from 2019, it said.

According to the report, two-thirds of the people in those crisis levels were in 10 countries -- Congo, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, Sudan, northern Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Zimbabwe and Haiti. The 133,000 facing starvation, death and destitution were in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen.

The number of people facing acute food insecurity and requiring urgent food, nutrition and livelihoods assistance is on the rise, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in the forward to the 307-page Global Report on Food Crises.

There is no place for famine and starvation in the 21st century, he said. We need to tackle hunger and conflict together to solve either.

Arif Husain, the World Food Programs chief economist, said at a U.N. news conference for the release of the fifth annual report that the biggest driver of food crises is conflict, which accounted for 99 million people in 23 countries facing a food crisis last year.

Unless we start finding political solutions to conflicts, the number of people needing humanitarian assistance will keep increasing, he said.

According to the report, 40.5 million people in 17 countries faced acute food insecurity last year because of economic shocks including the fallout from the pandemic.

First and foremost, Husain pointed to declining incomes as a result of the 255 million jobs lost in the pandemic  four times more than the financial crisis in 2008. He also expressed concern that the amount of debt taken on by countries large and small to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus has exploded.

Dominique Burgeon, director of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organizations office in Geneva, said 60% to 80% of the 155 million people facing acute food insecurity depend on agriculture, but last year FAO was able to assist only about 30%.

The report presented some other grim statistics from 2020: 75.2 million children under 5 years old living in the 55 countries were stunted in their growth and 15.8 million were wasted, or underweight for their height.

In terms of the prevalence of people facing crisis, emergency or famine levels of food needs, the report said Central African Republic, South Sudan and Syria had more than half their analyzed populations at the crisis level or worse, and five countries -- Afghanistan, Haiti, Lesotho, Yemen and Zimbabwe -- had between 40% and 45% of their populations at those levels.

Looking to 2021, the report said, food crises are becoming increasingly protracted and the ability to recover from new adverse events is becoming more difficult.

Conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, and large-scale economic crises are expected to extend food-crisis situations in 2021, necessitating continuing large-scale humanitarian assistance, it said.

The report made forecasts based on 40 of the 55 countries, saying those for the other 15 countries weren't available.

It said over 142 million people in those 40 countries are forecast to face food crises, emergencies or catastrophes this year. Around 155,000 people are likely to face catastrophe/famine" through mid-2021  around 108,000 in South Sudan and 47,000 in Yemen, the report said.

WFPs Husain said, for example, that providing one single meal per day for a year for 34 million people would cost about $5 billion, saying that the most critical needs are funding and humanitarian access.

Without that, we wont be able to save lives, he said.
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NASA celebrates the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepards history-shaping flight. Plus, private spaceflight sets a launch date, and wine from space lands on Earth with an out-of-this-world price tag. VOAs Arash Arabasadi has the Week in Space.
Carol Guensburg, Ndimyake Mwakalyelye

Gwen Lister co-chaired a 1991 journalism seminar in Windhoek, Namibia, whose participants produced an influential text calling for a free, independent and pluralistic press. The Windhoek Declaration led to World Press Freedom Day.

Thirty years ago, dozens of African journalists gathered at a conference in the then-new nation of Namibia to strategize how to better serve the public and minimize risks of their jobs.

In Africa today  in many countries journalists, editors and publishers are victims of repression  they are murdered, arrested, detained and censored  the journalists wrote in a document that denounced government controls and economic and political pressures.

Their Windhoek Declaration called for support of an independent, pluralistic and free press.

It did help to pave the way for a more free press on the continent  and certainly, I think, also wider acceptance of the phenomenon of free and independent press, Gwen Lister, a Namibian journalist who co-chaired that gathering, told VOA.

The gathering and its declaration inspired similar charters and gave rise to World Press Freedom Day, marked every May 3. This years main celebration returned to Windhoek, Namibias capital, for the 30th anniversary.

Lister served as a champion for the 2021 event, which rolled out an update of the document. The Windhoek+30 Declaration addresses both new and ongoing challenges: economic viability for independent media, competition from social media platforms that share but do not verify information, media literacy and journalists safety.

Namibia gained independence from South Africa in 1990, with a bill of rights that protected press freedom.

That was a really big deal, if you like, for Africa, Lister said, suggesting it factored into the countrys selection for the initial conference. Also, South Africa was just emerging from the apartheid era.  Most governments on the continent were controlling both the print media and the radio.

Most of the assembled journalists worked in print and at least some were setting up independent media, even in the face of very hostile governments, Lister said.

This weeks Windhoek conference, like the original, was organized by UNESCO and Namibias government.

The countrys backing shows a commitment to the values of democracy and transparency, state Information Minister Peya Mushelenga said in an interview last month with Toivo Ndjebela, editor of the daily Namibian Sun newspaper and Listers conference co-champion.

Mushelenga said Namibia prizes free speech and values journalism for its role in informing the public. We do not take the media as adversaries, he told Ndjebela.

Namibia ranks best among African countries and 24th among the 180 nations worldwide surveyed for the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.

But, as Lister pointed out, press freedom is a struggle thats never entirely won.

Snapshots from Africas media landscape underscore her point.

 In Burkina Faso, two Spanish journalists  David Beriain and Roberto Fraile  were killed April 27 by armed men while working on an anti-poaching documentary. (A third victim, Rory Young of Ireland, directed the nonprofit Fundacion Chengeta Wildlife program.) Beriain and Fraile were added to UNESCOs toll of journalists killed on the job, bringing the total to 1,452 deaths recorded worldwide since 1993. Seventeen have been reported so far this year.

 In Kenya, Mariel Muller, a correspondent for Germanys public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) was hit twice by tear gas canisters fired by police while covering a Nairobi protest over COVID-19 restrictions on May 1. The news organization has written to Kenyan authorities and demanded an explanation.

 In Zimbabwe, investigative reporter Hopewell Chinono has been arrested three times since July, most recently in January for allegedly communicating falsehoods about purported police violence. The countrys top court dismissed that charge April 28, saying it lacked legal grounds. Chinono previously had been charged with inciting violence for backing anti-government protests and for obstructing justice. He has fiercely criticized President Emmerson Mnangagwas administration, alleging corruption and human rights violations that the government denies.

 In Angola, Chela Press editor Francisco Rasgado faced criminal defamation charges for a Facebook post last July that accused Benguela provinces then-governor, Rui Falcoa, of graft. Falcoa, now secretary of information for the ruling Peoples Movement for the Liberation of Angola party, sought roughly $1.5 million in damages. Rasgado also could have been sentenced to at least six months in prison if convicted. Instead, a trial court acquitted him  on World Press Freedom Day.

Pandemic fallout

COVID-19 has added another layer of difficulty, with safety precautions restricting mobility and limiting on-the-ground reporting. The global economic slowdown has fueled media closures, layoffs, furloughs and salary cuts, the journal Columbia Journalism Review reported in March, noting the impact varies by country but remains a lingering worldwide media crisis.

Epifania Fernandes, a journalist with O Democrata newspaper in Guinea-Bissau, told VOA that sometimes the agency is unable to pay salaries for three or four months. However, it is understandable due to the difficulties it is going through.

It will take different approaches to ensure the vitality of journalism that serves the public, said Guy Berger, UNESCO director for freedom of expression and media development.

A former South African journalist who also has led the journalism school at Rhodes University in Eastern Cape province, Berger added that young people entering the field really have to be actors in trying to experiment with new models.

At the moment, the people who carry the costs of doing journalism are not the ones who profit from it, Berger said. He suggested public resources to support journalism in a way that doesnt corrupt journalism.

The Windhoek+30 Declaration urges fair and transparent distribution of any public funds for media.

The document offers 16 other recommendations, starting with asking governments to commit to creating a positive enabling environment for freedom of expression and access to information.  It lays out steps for UNESCO and other intergovernmental agencies, technology companies, journalists and others to support information as a public good.

Surveys by organizations such as the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism show an erosion of public trust in news media. Thats why media literacy training has to be part of that effort, Lister said.

Contributors to this report include Joao Marcos from Angola and Lassana Cassama from Guinea-Bissau, both for VOA Portuguese, and Columbus Mavunga from Zimbabwe.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-06 19:46:25|Editor: huaxia

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Cypriot Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou speaks at a press conference in Nicosia, Cyprus, on May 6, 2021. Cyprus is to reopen most businesses next week after a two-week lockdown imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the government said Thursday. The government also announced in a statement that a so-called "coronapass" will be introduced to enable people to enter hospitality venues, shopping malls and retail shops. (Photo by George Christophorou/Xinhua)

NICOSIA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Cyprus is to reopen most businesses next week after a two-week lockdown imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the government said Thursday.

The government also announced in a statement that a so-called "coronapass" will be introduced to enable people to enter hospitality venues, shopping malls and retail shops.

The pass means that the holder has received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, or has contracted the virus in the past six months or has a valid 72-hour old negative PCR or rapid test.

The statement, issued after a cabinet meeting, said people will be free to move without having to request permission via SMS, but a curfew will remain in force between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. after the end of the current lockdown at midnight on Sunday.

Students of all grades will also return to class as of Monday after a 15-day holiday recess, provided that they and their teachers will have a negative coronavirus test.

People will also be able to go to the beaches and meet in groups of up to 10 in public places and in private houses.

Further relaxations of virus restrictions will come into force as of May 17, when weddings and other gatherings of up to 200 people outdoors will be allowed, while casinos will be permitted to operate at 30 percent of their capacity.

Cinemas and theaters can operate with a maximum attendance of 50 people until May 17, and after that at 30 percent of their capacity -- provided that people attending will have a "coronapass."

Private businesses will continue to run with 30 percent of their staff present, but as of May 17, 50 percent of staff can be physically present.

Cyprus is counting on vaccination as a means of returning to normality. The Health Ministry has said that up to 60 percent of the population will have received at least one vaccine dose by the end of June, when the tourism business, which provides about 25 percent to the Cypriot economy, is expected to come back to life. Enditem
Critics are accusing Zimbabwe's ruling party of seeking to undermine the judiciary after lawmakers late Tuesday approved constitutional amendments so the president can hand pick top judges.

The amendments, which await President Emmerson Mnangagwas signature to become law, allow him to choose judges for the Constitutional, Supreme and High Courts without the approval of legislators.

Long-time ruler Robert Mugabe had similar powers for years until they were stripped away in the constitution that was passed in 2013.

Dewa Mavhinga, head of Human Rights Watch in southern Africa, urged rights organizations in Zimbabwe to challenge the law in court or hold protests.

It is a law that should not be allowed to see the light of day because it undermines the rule of law in Zimbabwe. (It) is an authoritarian law that undermines the principle of separation of powers because it puts excessive powers in the office of the president and strips and weakens the judiciary in the sense that it gives the president power to appoint senior judges without going to public interviews," Mavhinga said.

The amendments would also allow a sitting president to extend the age of retirement of the chief justice by five years. Zimbabwes sitting chief justice, Luke Malaba, turns 70 this month and was due to retire.

The amendments bill also extends - by 10 years - the quota of 60 women in the 350-person parliament. The quota was supposed to end with the current term in 2023.

Another change would give the president the right to appoint his two vice presidents, instead of the vice presidents being elected.

Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi  who is from the ruling ZANU-PF party  told reporters that he was happy about the constitutional amendments.

What happened is very historic. What this means is we are now going to remove the contentious running mate clause that was badly drafted. So, its a very joyous occasion; it allows government and even political parties to start planning for the 2023 elections knowing fully well that the womens quota is there. Our empowerment agenda is on course, Ziyambi said.

Opposition leader Douglas Mwonzora was one of the chief drafters of the 2013 constitution. But some of members of his Movement for Democratic Change party voted in favor of the amendments which passed Tuesday.

The majority of the women in the Senate did vote for the bill. Obviously, it is clear that they were voting for the womens quota and the youths quota. It is not a typical bill in which a leader or leaders of a party would whip people. Because that basically means whipping people against their gender. But we remain fortified that the running mate clause must be reinstated. We also think that the clause relating to the judges has to be dealt with, Mwonzora said.

Critics say Mnangagwa took advantage of lockdown regulations, which forbid protests, and introduced the constitutional amendments, which have been condemned on social media by main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance and its leader, Nelson Chamisa.
Zimbabwean opposition and rights groups have held an online protest against proposed constitutional amendments that would allow the president to handpick top judges. Thousands of people viewed the Thursday night rally, which was streamed online to avoid arrests amid a coronavirus lockdown and ban on public gatherings.

Stanley Gwanzura  better known as Pastor G, a Zimbabwean gospel musician  sang It Shall Be Well as the opposition and rights groups started the online rally Thursday evening.

Jestina Mukoko, a director of a rights NGO named the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was one of the organizers of the #ResistDictatorshipConstitution rally.

Should we just allow a few people to amend the constitution? As Zimbabweans, should we allow ourselves to be short-changed? It removes the tenets that we want to aspire to get to as Zimbabweans: democracy, transparency and accountability. If these amendments are allowed to take root, it means what we will have at the end is a dictatorship and this is why we are saying #ResistDictatorshipConstitution, Mukoko said.

The three-hour plus online rally sought to mobilize Zimbabweans to stop President Emmerson Mnangagwa from signing the amendments into law.

The amendments, passed by parliament Tuesday, would allow the president to appoint judges to the Constitutional, Supreme and High Courts without lawmakers approval. The president would also choose his two vice presidents without an election and be able to delay the retirement of the chief justice by five years.

Critics are accusing the ruling ZANU-PF party of seeking to undermine the judiciary.

Among those who took part in Thursdays protest was 22-year-old Namatai Kwekweza, who is already facing charges of holding a protest last year against the amendments.

She said young Zimbabweans must rise up against the movement to amend the constitution, which was hailed as progressive by most countries in 2013.

These people are authoring standards by which Zimbabweans in 2013 agreed to be governed. They are authoring those standards without the consent of the people. The people of this country would have said no. The lockdown was taken advantage [of]. They knew the civil society, the opposition could not mobilize, because we were under the lockdown, Kwekweza said.

Tafadzwa Mugwadi, director of information for ZANU-PF, said the removal of a running mate clause was meant to ensure a president can chose his vice presidents and ensure stability of the government. On hand-picking judges, Mugwadi said the procedure is not without precedent.

The process of appointment of Supreme Court judges in the United States of America is no different from the framework that has been put in place. This is what happens across jurisdictions. The point that I am trying to make is not to say we are trying to follow the United States of America on this issue but the justice delivery system is a technical task that requires maturity, wisdom and experience, he said.

But contrary to Mugwadi's comparison, in the U.S., presidents nominate Supreme Court justices but they must win approval in the Senate.

Along with the online protesters, the amendments have been condemned on social media by main opposition party the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance and its leader, Nelson Chamisa.

However, the president is expected to sign the bill in the next few days.
Sterling Heights, MI (48312)

Today

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly clear. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low near 65F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Sterling Heights, MI (48312)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then becoming mostly clear after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then becoming mostly clear after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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Grass Valley,CA (69.5 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : The whole house shook as though a bulldozer was moving us. Items on surfaces made noises but did not fall off. Made the dog go crazy! And it lasted about two minutes. Strong for about 30seconds. Wild! | 8 users found this interesting. Nevada City, Felt it here shook the whole house. / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating

Cold springs (36.7 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s It said 6.0 on my phone not a 4.2 and the location of it changed as well it was closer to tahoe than what you're showing | 3 users found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

2000 Larsen Drive Camino, California (84.9 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : The walls and floor shook a little bit. I was on my bed and felt it shaking under me. My pictures and dresser mirror visibly vibrated and rattled. There was a faint, low rumbling noise. My dog didn't like it and started barking. It lasted about 10-15 seconds. | 8 users found this interesting.

Tahoma / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : I have lived in my house since 2008 and have felt a handful of earthquakes. In the past couple of weeks I have felt three of them 3.5, 3.2 & 4.2. I have never experienced them in such close proximity to one another. | 8 users found this interesting.

Grass Valley (72.1 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s House shook,windows rattling,slight jumping, dog woke-up | 8 users found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Auburn Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake : Weak lateral chaking | 7 users found this interesting.

Spanish springs / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : I was in the tub it felt like my tub lifted then when back down fast. I almost came out of my skin lmao | 4 users found this interesting.

Clio, CA (37.9 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Mild shaking and no apparent damage to home/structure. Heard that there was a 6.0 earthquake about 43 miles from our home | 3 users found this interesting.

pollock pines CA (82.7 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : light shaking and could see objects swinging, shaking was weak enough that it was hard to tell when it stopped. felt like the ground was shaking quickly side to side | 2 users found this interesting.

Donner Lake / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 10-15 s : Heard and felt two loud jolts, bangs, groaning, house shaking glass vibrating, animals alarmed. | 4 users found this interesting.

Davis (162 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) : My couch just moved and I'm sitting on it in an upstairs apartment!! | 3 users found this interesting.

Placerville, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Initial shock/jolt, followed by slight shaking which increased in intensity for several seconds, then subsided. | 2 users found this interesting.

Samantha Vaughn. Are home, Fernley, NV (92.7 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : Very,very mild bump, felt while sitting on couch, felt mainly in lower back!! California native so I guess I noticed it even though it wasn't a big shake!! | One user found this interesting.

Home at east end of Donner Lake (15.9 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Heard it outside coming from SE, then rolled thru the house with shaking towards NW. My response was "Woah" | One user found this interesting.

Fair Oaks CA 95628 (90.6 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s : The couch shook, as did the windows and hanging decorations. Its was tiny but I still felt the shake | One user found this interesting.

132 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : I was laying in bed and i felt my bed and body move side to side. I looked at my blinds and they were moving also. | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : The house shook slightly and it startled me enough so that my heart dropped to my stomach. | 3 users found this interesting.

Reno, NV / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I sort of heard it first, like the wind hitting the house but different. It is very windy tonight. Then I felt a shake, pause, then a longer shake, like 3 shakes. My dog growled at it and I told her it was ok and that it was over. | 3 users found this interesting.

Bedroom / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : It felt like a semi truck hit our house! Nothing fell or broke that we know of. | 3 users found this interesting.

Oroville, Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : My desk chair and computer felt like it moved and I thought I imagined it. Then about 5 minutes later there was a warning message on my phone about an earthquake. This was my first time experiencing an earthquake. | 3 users found this interesting.

110.2 km NNW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : Little shaking with a pretty good bump | 3 users found this interesting.

Reno NV (40.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : It was like a jolt as if someone hit the apartment building and then a slight rolling motion for a second or two. | 3 users found this interesting.

Pollock Pines / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : House shook and stopped and shook again. | 3 users found this interesting.

15742 N Bloomfield Rd, Nevada City / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : A boom, then a rumble, horizontal shaking of structure. We were seated - looked at each other and stayed in place until the shaking stopped. | 3 users found this interesting.

Carmichael (127.7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : I felt a side to side movements and saw liquids (like my fish tank or drink) swaying an unusual amount. | 3 users found this interesting.

Sacramento / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : I was in garage and started to hear like a vibration then it sounded as if the panels on the wall moved in a shifting kind of sound and then I got an alert that there was a earthquake.i was amazed | 2 users found this interesting.

Pollock Pines CA (83.3 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Couch moving sideways | 2 users found this interesting.

Sparks, nevada (53.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Laying in bed, bed shook and water was moving in dog bowl. | 2 users found this interesting.

Verdi Nv / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Definitely felt the shaking sideways. I used to live in CA so used to them, but this one definitely was strong enough and long enough I stopped waiting for it to subside. | One user found this interesting.

Camino, Ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : 3 quick pressure poundings to my eardrums a pause and then a single bump with an audible deep low soft sound which could be felt through the floor. | One user found this interesting.

Susanville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Home alone sitting quietly in my chair. It is a rocking recliner, but the movement was not back and forth it was side to side like the chair was gently being pushed side to side 3-5 seconds | One user found this interesting.

Fernley, Nv 89408 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s : Sitting in my recliner in living room and the front large window was creaking for several minutes. Then a few minutes later my chair was rocking back and forth. Didtr disturb my parrot or dog. | One user found this interesting.

newcastle, ca (93.7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : it was windy last night, so we thought it was the wind just blowing really hard, but then we felt the couch we were sitting on shake for a few seconds. knew it was definitely an earthquake.

Magalia CA, USA (117.2 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s : Felt a strange bobbing/bounce from my 2nd story floor while watching TV The sensation was enough to distract my attention as an unusual sensation. I did not witness anything shake or move that I have hanging or on my shelves. I only felt the gentle slight bouncing in my seat.

nevada ren (41.4 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : i felt it right away and got up from my shaking bed. it was light but noticable. the floor was vibrating, and i got startled when it made the house creak and settle again. very loud creak noise, like snapping a large stick. did make me uncomfortable

Carmichael, CA (128.4 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : We have a 2 story house and I'm on the second floor in my room and all of a sudden my bed shakes back and forth twice... The ceiling fan sways slightly as well and the blinds rattle slightly. Made my heart jump.

Yuba city (118.9 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 5-10 s : While lying in bed the room sounded as though it was rumbling. The bed moved along with small objects.

Arnold, CA (136.8 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I heard rumbling and felt slight vibrations. The vibrations were not enough to make hanging light fixtures swing, but I could feel it while sitting in my recliner.

spanish springs NV (57 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Seated at a desk with hands on the desk. Felt like I was pushed back a few times then looked up to watch our cat tree sway back and forth for a few more seconds.

Citrus Heights CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : My bed moved back and forth. | 2 users found this interesting.

Carson City NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : Chair I was sitting in rocked back and forth for a couple seconds. Nothing more. | 2 users found this interesting.

Reno Nv / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : We are located off Red Rock road, we heard a bang then a shake. Dogs acted weird before it happened. | 2 users found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe (64.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Im in South Lake Tahoe. There was a loud thump like someone had jumped on the roof and then creaking and shaking. Really scared me | 2 users found this interesting.

Dixon ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : Two vertical bumps | 2 users found this interesting.

cold springs (38.1 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 15-20 s : i was in the 89 earthquake in the bay area it felt the same way very violent side to side movement | 2 users found this interesting.

95628 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Sitting at the my computer, on or around 9:36 P.M. May 6, 2021 monitor began to sway along with the cabinet . House creaked a few seconds. | 2 users found this interesting.

Petaluma / not felt : Didnt feel anything. Too far away I guess, but got alert on Apple watch | 2 users found this interesting.

Olympic valley, ca 96146 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Felt a small earthquake approx 10 minutes prior. Heard this one rolling toward the house before ot actually shook the house. Shook ror 2-5 secs. | 2 users found this interesting.

Stockton, CA 95209 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 10-15 s : Felt several waves, maybe up and down. Mirror on dresser rocked throughout throughout the earthquake. | 2 users found this interesting.

South lake Tahoe,CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : A quick jolt | 2 users found this interesting.

south lake tahoe, ca (67.1 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 10-15 s : In a small motorhome that shook, like rocking a small boat back and forth. Felt it for about 10 sec, slight pause then done in about 15 sec. Started 9:35 pm PT. | 2 users found this interesting.

Truckee, CA. Silver Spur Dr (20.9 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 10-15 s : Very strong shaking, not just a jolt, but continuing for 10-15 seconds. | 2 users found this interesting.

reno nv / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : 11-story apartment building in downtown Reno, Nevada swayed back and forth for about 3-5 seconds. | 2 users found this interesting.

Minden, NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Rocking motion while sitting on couch, noticed hanging lamps swinging lightly. | 2 users found this interesting.

Foresthill, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : My RV shook and vibrated | 2 users found this interesting.

Reno, Nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : Not severe shaking, but seemed long in duration | 2 users found this interesting.

Reno, NV / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 10-15 s : My daughter thought it was the wind. Waves followed the shaking. | 2 users found this interesting.

Shingle Springs, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : At first I thought it was a heavy gust of wind, but wasnt windy. I was on the second floor of our house and the TV shook a bit, the floor seemed to sway back and forth | 2 users found this interesting.

95633 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : A deep boom followed instantly with a sudden shift followed by slight rocking | 2 users found this interesting.

Tahoe (34.5 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Thought someone was jumping in the other room for a second and then the whole house shook for a couple seconds pretty hard and rattled everything. | 2 users found this interesting.

Sparks, NV / not felt : I got a text from a friend in North Reno asking if I felt the earthquake. She felt it where she lives in N. Reno but I didnt feel it in Sparks. | 2 users found this interesting.

Reno, NV (44.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : Felt it for about 3-4 seconds. Few sec of very minor shaking then a jolt. | 2 users found this interesting.

Sacramento / not felt : My sister in Nevada City really felt it. | 2 users found this interesting.

Reno, NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : There was a smaller shorter shake right after it stopped | 2 users found this interesting.

Colfax (64.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Seemed long but not particularly violent. | 2 users found this interesting.

Davis, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : slight motion in the house | 2 users found this interesting.

Sparks / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : The apartment cracked and my chair swayed lightly for less than a minute | 2 users found this interesting.

Reno, NV / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling : I heard it first then felt the house start to vibrate . | 2 users found this interesting.

Roseville California / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : Bed slightly shaking | 2 users found this interesting.

Sparks (49.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : My house started shaking | One user found this interesting.

Lemmon Valley NV (45.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : Shook the bed and rattled the house. | One user found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe California (153.7 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Ground shaking house making cracking noises dishes banging | One user found this interesting.

Fair Oaks, CA (121 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : shake | One user found this interesting.

Roseville CA (119.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Nothing to big just a little shake | One user found this interesting.

Dixon (173.1 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short : Bed and wall shook upstairs | One user found this interesting.

Sun Valley Nevada (47 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s A good jolt | One user found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Carson City, NV (59.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : Dull vibration. Chain on ceiling fan slightly moving. | One user found this interesting.

151.1 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Weak swaying hanging lights swaying | One user found this interesting.

Carmichael, CA (128.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : One moderate shake that moved from west to east. | One user found this interesting.

146.5 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake : Very subtle... just felt a couple of shakes side to side for about 10 seconds. | One user found this interesting.

Reno (42.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) : Rolling waves | One user found this interesting.

Stead airport (42.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short hanger rumbled. sharp jolt but very short in duration. | One user found this interesting. (reported through (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short

Lodi, CA (170.6 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Aftershock | One user found this interesting.

Verdi Nv / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Definitely felt the shaking sideways. I used to live in CA so used to them, but this one definitely was strong enough and long enough I stopped waiting for it to subside.

Jennie in northeast Santa Rosa. / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I'm in a second story apartment and also felt a 4.0 eathquake about 2 weeks or so ago, but it was closer- in Calistoga and more intense, including a low bang sound

Pollock Pines / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Was watching tv, house started vibrating, shook for about 10 seconds and stopped with a hard bang. My first earthquake and it sucked!! Don't want to feel it again!! LOL!

Susan Ile, OR / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Lying in bed the beds started shaking and the water in my bottled water in the night stand was shaking.

In bed watching TV / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s : Heard the sound first, then saw the ceiling fan swinging, and the bed began to shake back and forth. My dog started barking and cat running ~ I felt nauseas and then it stopped.

Tahoe Vista / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / complex motion difficult to describe / 10-15 s : Like someone very strong grabbed our room and shook it as hard as they could. Our room is right on the beach.

Reno, NV. Lakeridge, Carriage House / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : In bed and the dog and I felt severe shakes, jolts side to side, a pause and then again.scary! Jerry in living room felt it too. Wardrobe doors came open.

Grass Valley California / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : I was laying in bed and it felt like a wave was underneath my house. I could hear the shaking and rattling. It almost made me get out of bed and scared me out of my wits.

Rancho Cordova California / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s : I was sitting in my recliner and I felt my recliner gently sway sideways back-and-forth lightly and I looked up at some hanging things on my ceiling and they were swinging gently. It felt like the same feeling I had when they had the earthquake in San Francisco when the World Series Baseball was starting. I was watching it from my recliner and felt that earthquake.

Grass Valley / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : I thought my husband got up. I could feel movement in the floors. Then a small. Shake and bump. Once I realized it wasnt him I knew it was an earthquake.

Sacramento CA 95826 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Sitting on my sofa and felt it move two times right together, kind of a rolling feeling but very light. There were no trucks or other vehicles driving by at the time.

Murphy, zephyr cove, Nv / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : Zephyr Cove, my dog was laying down and stood up immediately ands looked around then went outside to check on things.

North Highlands / Weak shaking (MMI III) : I live in a mobile home. Am sitting on my bed and Ive been feeling it for about 5 minutes. Still going on.

Washoe valley, nevada / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling : I heard it first then the shaking/rolling happened. It was slight movement but enough to hear and feel it. I was laying in bed.

Yuba City / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Bed was swaying back and forth quickly | One user found this interesting.

Sacramento / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : I was laying in bed and my bed started shaking but nothing I love you else was moving around.. it lasted for about 3 seconds | One user found this interesting.

taylor, carmichael, california / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : walls moving in upstairs bedroom, enough shaking to be scary | One user found this interesting.

Carson City, NV / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : It fest very rocky, rolling, slowed then built again. Moderate but enough to alert my cats. They have been alerting me to others in the past 24 hours and the building should to jiggle my screen like with wind | One user found this interesting.

Truckee,Ca. / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s : Rattling and shaking | One user found this interesting.

Sacramemto / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s : Similar to small bumps in the road | One user found this interesting.

rancho cordova, ca (120.3 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : mobile home shaking | One user found this interesting.

Central Reno (42.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Felt the air whoosh, bed shaking, rolling, rumbling | One user found this interesting.

Alta CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : moderate shaking | One user found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : It was small and short, light shaking but almost 10 minutes after reported north of Truckee. Weird! 1,2 is what I felt. From Santa Cruz, Ca originally. Experienced the 1989 quake and many smaller quakes there. | One user found this interesting.

Reno, NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Vibrations from floor | One user found this interesting.

Placerville California (38.1 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Felt like a fright train was going through my yard. Did 2 of them about 30 seconds apart. I live in the foothills on 2 acres and don't feel any kind of trucks going by. | One user found this interesting.

122.7 km WSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : I felt a wave. | One user found this interesting.

Lincoln, California / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : my bed was shaking upstairs | One user found this interesting.

Penn Valley / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : It was a shaking sensation, also like a ripple. | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley (70.6 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 15-20 s : Started soft and then SLAMMED the house. Felt stronger than the Loma Prieta Quake from here. Sure glad it wasn't centered in LA because this one was way stronger. It rattled the heavy steel cabinets and left them rocking | One user found this interesting.

Walnut Grove, Ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : My bed was swaying a little | One user found this interesting.

Carson City / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / very short : Just a soft roll.. | One user found this interesting.

Reno, NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s : The house shake, dogs barked, bottles clinked | One user found this interesting.

Quincy, California (58.8 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Felt slight shaking while sitting in chair. | One user found this interesting.

Fair Oaks / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : very light movement in my chair. didn't last long | One user found this interesting.

Sutter / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Sitting on couch and my back jolted off the couch and like swayed me back and forth a few times. | One user found this interesting.

Grass valley, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 20-30 s : Whole upstairs of house was swaying and rattling pics on the walls, even shaking my memory foam mattress my son was laying on! Lights just went out! | One user found this interesting.

sierraville / Strong shaking (MMI VI) / 5-10 s : felt like a bomb went off and kept going off | One user found this interesting.

Calpine, CA (24.3 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : First rattling, then significant rolling and tilting for a few seconds. | One user found this interesting.

Truckee / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Rumble and shaking, seemed like 2 seconds | One user found this interesting.

Rancho Cordova, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : At 9:36 pm PST, I felt a small rocking movement in my solid chair and at the same time there was a slight cracking sound of the drywall. Then I checked for nearby earthquakes & sure enough the one in Truckee just happened. I don't know the magnitude. | One user found this interesting.

Carmicahel, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : Like my dog was pushing under the couch | One user found this interesting.

Bass lake / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : Floor shook a lot | One user found this interesting.

West Sacramento / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : water in glass was shaking visibly | One user found this interesting.

Sacramento, California / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : A shake very quick for about 2 seconds, then another for about a second | One user found this interesting.

Truckee, CA / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Felt two big vertical bumps, like something in my house collapsed. | One user found this interesting.

Nelson canyon. Kelsey Calif / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : 2 loud booming sounds and shaking | One user found this interesting.

Soulsbyville Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Just rattling of pots and pans Twain Harte Ca | One user found this interesting.

Garden valley, CA (83.3 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Was on the toilet and I felt something like the house sort of shook very subtle and very brief. I asked my wife who was laying in bed in the next room if she felt something and she said no. Then a couple minutes later I got an alert on my phone about a possible earthquake | One user found this interesting.

Pollock Pines, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 30-60 s : there was a sudden slam like someone slammed a door but they didn't. then there was light rattling for about a minute. | One user found this interesting.

Gabrielle Armstrong, Reno, Nevada, Home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Shaking and rumbling. Obviously an earthquake but not serious. | One user found this interesting.

Penryn (100.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Everything in room started shaking | One user found this interesting.

Reno, Nv. 89506 (100.5 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Fast hard shake lids fell out of cupboard | One user found this interesting.

30.1 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Felt the shakes | One user found this interesting.

Plumas Lake Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : A small sway and my tea in cup was rippling | One user found this interesting.

Fair Oaks / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : Laying in bed and the bed moved side to side. | One user found this interesting.

Sparks (52.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : Honest to god I felt like I was stoned for a little bit. I was in bed and it started to feel like my bed was creating waves! | One user found this interesting.

Sacramento Pocket neighborhood / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : My bed moving and a plant was moving! | One user found this interesting.

19.9 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : We heard a rumble followed by a sharp jolt, the tapering vibration. | One user found this interesting.

Grass valley, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 20-30 s : Whole upstairs of house was swaying and rattling pics on the walls, even shaking my memory foam mattress my son was laying on! Lights just went out! | One user found this interesting.

164.6 km NW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : Got a notification but felt no shake | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Light to moderate shaking | One user found this interesting.

89429 (92.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 10-15 s : In bed laying down bed and mobile home shook enough to make us look outside | One user found this interesting.

Sab Jose / Weak shaking (MMI III) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / very short : Just an extremely brief rolling aftershock. Hanging lights swung for a few seconds. | One user found this interesting.

Sparks NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : I was lying on my bed and all of sudden felt like the whole building was moving back and forth. Immediately looked it up to make sure i wasnt going crazy. Roomate was in kitchen and also felt it. | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley (70.8 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : 2 distinct bumps | One user found this interesting.

Reno NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Shaking horizontal | One user found this interesting.

Sacramento / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : I was on my bed and it felt like there was a ghost underneath shaking my bed back and forth, a little more than light shaking | One user found this interesting.

Paradise California / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Scary as there is a large half dead yellow pine tree in my neighbors yard that was marked by a professional registered forester today as being needed to be cut down! | One user found this interesting.

Orangevale CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : I was in one room and my husband was in another. My husband thought I was behind him and pushed the sofa once. I heard our floor creek and my chair slightly move. I thought it was him. I came in and started checking to see if there was a quake. When I saw this report that there was an earthquake, thats when he told me what he had experienced. | One user found this interesting.

Magalia, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Felt my recliner shake a bit and heard my clock chimes shake | One user found this interesting.

Orangevale California / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Two of us felt our recliners move or shake slightly side to side a couple seconds and floor lamp was still moving a bit after shaking stopped | One user found this interesting.

San Remo Dr. Sparks, NV (53.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Lateral shaking easily recognizable as an earthquake. | One user found this interesting.

35.4 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Quick quake | One user found this interesting.

In bed in North Carson City nv (60 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : 3-4 shakes of my bed | One user found this interesting.

Natomas lake Sacramento (136.9 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Very subtle bump very light. | One user found this interesting.

Roseville (118.7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : very short. rattled my desk and things on top. i was sitting in my chair and i felt a shaking | One user found this interesting.

37.6 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Right to left shift back and forth. I was sitting on couch and my upper body moved side ways.Heard a little rattle. Saw wall move very little. | One user found this interesting.

7069 Heatherwood Dr. Reno NV 89523 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Scary | One user found this interesting.

Reno / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : Big bump | One user found this interesting.

North east Reno Nevada 89512 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / very short : Rocked back and forth 3 times then a drop like the floor fell for a second | One user found this interesting.

Applegate (76 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Anxious | One user found this interesting.

Grass valley / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short : Jolt from the nort east | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley (71.1 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : felt the floor shift under my chair and heard the walls vibrating | One user found this interesting.

Marysville, CA (115 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Swaying back and forth for a few seconds. | One user found this interesting.

Sparks, NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Little rocking while sitting on the couch. Ceiling fans were swinging | One user found this interesting.

Some testy, nv (34 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : We were lying in bed & there was one sharp shake from one side to the other (once, then it stopped) | One user found this interesting.

Placerville ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Slight shake | One user found this interesting.

Paradise, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Laying in bed, and thought the dog had gotten up on the bed making it move. | One user found this interesting.

Grass valley / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Sideways motion 10 seconds approximately no damage. | One user found this interesting.

Vacaville ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 5-10 s : Light side to side movement | One user found this interesting.

Neveda city ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Lying on my twin bed in rv with my husband next to me in his bed then rv started rocking side to side for 5-10 seconds | One user found this interesting.

43.4 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 20-30 s : Bed felt like rolling on 23 floor and walls creaking | One user found this interesting.

Auburn CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Loins rumble | One user found this interesting.

Reno (41 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Two separate horizontal shakes. A couple plants leaves moved. Maybe some lights flashed | One user found this interesting.

Sparks, NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking and the ceiling fan moved. | One user found this interesting.

Reno, Nv / Weak shaking (MMI III) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : Rumbling then a wave. | One user found this interesting.

Reno, Nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Small shaking at first then got stronger | One user found this interesting.

Placerville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Felt while sitting on the couch and the creaking continued across the living room to the front of the house | One user found this interesting.

Sacramento, California / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Gentle swaying of couch and window blinds. | One user found this interesting.

Placerville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Shaking | One user found this interesting.

35.6 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Sideways shaking about 4 secs | One user found this interesting.

Carmichael CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Sitting on the sofa I felt it jiggling sideways. | One user found this interesting.

Louise, Sacramento / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : Sitting still, watching Netflix, husband and I both felt it. | One user found this interesting.

71.9 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s : Felt earth undulating beneath me | One user found this interesting.

Truckee / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Short but powerful jolt | One user found this interesting.

Carson city / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : Light shaking | One user found this interesting.

Placerville California / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Doors rallled windows shuck. Havent felt one in a long time. | One user found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : Light jolt followed by rolling feeling | One user found this interesting.

Richmond / not felt : Did not feel anything. | One user found this interesting.

Santa clara (273.4 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : Didnt feel it | One user found this interesting.

89506 / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 2-5 s : Entire room shook. | One user found this interesting.

Reno (39.8 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Single shift | One user found this interesting.

Clio ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short : Felt as laterally shake | One user found this interesting.

North Reno / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 1-2 s : Couch moved in a wave format | One user found this interesting.

Reno NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : N/A | One user found this interesting.

SACRAMENTO (148.7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s : Felt suddenly dizzy and a sense of swaying. Also felt a low vibration. Noticed that objects in the house were slightly swaying. | One user found this interesting.

Colfax, ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Most significant in 20 that i have felt in Colfax, ca | One user found this interesting.

Reno / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Shaking side to side | One user found this interesting.

Moraga, CA, USA 94556 / not felt : No ground movement | One user found this interesting.

Citrus Heights / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 15-20 s : Rocking steadily, thought the big flatscreen was going to tumble. | One user found this interesting.

95667 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Horizontal shift Rumble | One user found this interesting.

Carmichael, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Our couch shook like someone bumped up against it and the water in our fish tanks sloshed. | One user found this interesting.

reno, nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 10-15 s : My whole bed started shaking and it was very noticeable that an earthquake occurred | One user found this interesting.

Sparks, NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Swaying back and forth with lots of creaking and gushes of what sounded like strong winds outside. | One user found this interesting.

Chico, ca (133.1 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : My China hutch shook slightly and rattled the glasses | One user found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Just shook.. | One user found this interesting.

Sacramento / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Light shaking. | One user found this interesting.

Grass valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : In bed reading and bed jolted. | One user found this interesting.

Reno, nv / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shaking the couch I was sitting on. | One user found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : Woke me up | One user found this interesting.

Lodi ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Chair shaking | One user found this interesting.

Carmichael, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Like the second story was shifting | One user found this interesting.

Garden valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Shook my windows | One user found this interesting.

Church St in Georgetown, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 10-15 s : Walls were shaking and the whole house rattled. | One user found this interesting.

Tahoe City, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Light Shaking and rattling | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : Short. Felt the couch jiggle. | One user found this interesting.

South Lake Tahoe / Light shaking (MMI IV) : A good shake | One user found this interesting.

Reno (47.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s : a sharp jerk then lite shaking. | One user found this interesting.

Arbuckle california (156.9 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / very short : Bed felt like it moved back and forth | One user found this interesting.

Reno / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 15-20 s : Moving | One user found this interesting.

Sparks, NV / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 10-15 s : Weak in Spanish Springs area | One user found this interesting.

Georgetown, ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Floor made a creaking sound, sitting on bed and bed was shaking | One user found this interesting.

West Sacramento, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Like my chair swayed sideways back and forth a few times. | One user found this interesting.

Carmichael, ca (125.3 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Slight swaying of my easy chair | One user found this interesting.

Truckee, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 1-2 s : First earthquake for me! | One user found this interesting.

North natomas / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Blinks moving and vibration on the couch | One user found this interesting.

Northwest reno / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s : Just felt rocking got me out of bed | One user found this interesting.

Grass Valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s : Strongest Ive felt since I have lived here since 1977. | One user found this interesting. Time to move away from that volcano lol ,just kidding / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Bear Valley CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : Heard the windows cracked and a mild shake | One user found this interesting.

Nevada city,ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Slight shaking in house. Windows rattled | One user found this interesting.

Grass valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : Shaking | One user found this interesting.

Downtown Truckee / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) : Immediate pop and then rumbling. | One user found this interesting.

Carmichael / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : light shake on couch | One user found this interesting.

89523 Northwest Reno (47.6 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

95.3 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Felt light shaking inside house.

Sacramento (142.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex motion difficult to describe / 2-5 s

51.3 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s

Georgetown, Ca (76.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / very short : It woke me and rattled the window and my dogs cage that is right next to my bed.

394.8 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

portola (41.4 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV)

95670 (146.9 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) : Heard creaking from building sway and minor sway under feet

Sacramento (127.3 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Sparks, NV (50.2 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : Felt a large jolt and then shaking to light rolling.

43.5 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s

Applegate, CA (76 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Woke me up out of my sleep.

Nevada city ca (52.3 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating Slight shaking preceded by a loud high pitch squeal lasted for about 1 minute light shaking (reported through (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating

Walnut Grove (169.9 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I was laying in my bed it felt like I was on a boat

Olympic Valley, CA 96146 (30 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 15-20 s : My building was shaking enough that the glass shade of a floor lamp was swinging.

356.6 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Lincoln (98.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

65.3 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

78.8 km WSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Carson city nv (58.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Sacramento (120.9 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : My bed starting moving side to side

Susanville, CA (87.6 km N of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

citrus heights , CA (122 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : i was sitting down and started feeling a shake and looked at my chandler and it started moving

Sacramento (21.9 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

221 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : I didn't feel it oddly enough, 100 miles away from epicenter btw

41 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Felt like rip or jolt at end. Little shake

Colfax Ca (68.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

Foresthill (59.7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / several minutes

Cold springs, Nv. 89508 (38.4 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 10-15 s : Back and forth movements at first the side to side circles. Hard thump to start.

39.4 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s

86.9 km N of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

near Somerset CA (100.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : It felt as if the house was jumping!

41.2 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s : i felt my bed and objects around me swaying in all directions

Arnold, CA (149.7 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 15-20 s : shake went on for some time

Carson City, NV (55.8 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Slight sideways jerk and small tremors after

Sparks nv, (54.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

72.4 km WSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Reno, NV 89506 (3 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating

Reno (41.1 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Lemmon Valley (43.6 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / very short

113.7 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Vacaville,Ca 95687 (190.5 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

36.8 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Reno (38.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

33.6 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Reno,NV (141.3 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s : Like my house became a squiggly line

Reno NV (47.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Minden, NV. (63.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

269.8 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s

35.4 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 10-15 s

Penn valley ca (78.3 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Fernley, NV (91 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

40.9 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s : Lights were swaying, plus I felt it.

Woodland, CA (152.8 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

Reno, nv 89523 (37.3 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : Short, moderately strong shake

37.2 km NE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Reno, nv (47 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Suisun City, CA 94585 (199.2 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt Did not feel this quake. (reported through (reported through our app / not felt

120.3 km WSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

yuba city (110 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

33.2 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

138.1 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Truckee, ca (18.4 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Sacramento (138.3 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short

129.5 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short

San Jose (290.2 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very strong shaking (MMI VII) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions)

65.5 km SSE of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt : Nothing. My ceiling lamp didn't even m9ve.. At all..

94.2 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Reno Neveda (228.9 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : Sitting on couch was lightly moving

47.1 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s

Stead Reno / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : I felt rolling

Reno (41.5 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short

Wheatland California / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 5-10 s

Gardnerville, Nv. 450 Alex Ct. / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Somerset / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Orangevale (116.3 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Georgetown (75.4 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Weak shaking. Didnt know it was an earthquake at first

Nevada city ca / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / very short : Woke me up from a nap my upstairs apartment was shaking so hard

Georgetown (75.4 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : Weak shaking. Didnt know it was an earthquake at first

Truckee,CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Incline village, nv / Light shaking (MMI IV) / complex motion difficult to describe / 5-10 s : Jolt, then shaking of building; followed by second jolt & shaking. I was awake in bed, reading...looked up & watched the room move. No displaced things, or damage.

Yuba City California / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s

8725 Tom Kite Trail, Reno, NV 89523 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : One sharp jolt that rattled the house. Lasted about 1 second.

Jessica North Hills Reno / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Felt like a rumble and a short one at that.

Cameron Park, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

95.6 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Diamond springs

Cold Springs, Reno, NV / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : I hard, quick jolt. Our chandelier swung slightly.

Nevada City, CA (56 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

24.5 km ESE of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Hayward / not felt

Nevada City, Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

96.1 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

reno nv / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Nevada city ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 10-15 s

Fernley Nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Truckee / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Yuba City / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 20-30 s

Reno, NV. Lakeridge, Carriage House / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : In bed and the dog and I felt severe shakes, jolts side to side, a pause and then again.scary! Jerry in living room felt it too. Wardrobe doors came open.

Grass Valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vibration and rolling / 30-60 s

Verdi / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 20-30 s

Carmichael, Ca. / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s : Felt the movement I became a little dizzy.

Reno / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating : I felt jt

Glenshire Truckee CA / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 15-20 s

Foresthill (21.3 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Pioneer California / Light shaking (MMI IV) : My house shook and the walls were creaking

Graeagle California / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

308.7 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

40.7 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Orangevale, Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III)

Sacramento Ca / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 5-10 s : i live on the 9th floor of an apartment building and felt it immediately. and it lasted for a good 5-10 seconds with mild aftershocks following right away too. amazing!

Sacramento, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : very slight movement. Saw lamp waving. Last maybe 3-5 seconds

7069 Heatherwood Dr. Reno NV 89523 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : Scary

grass valley, ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

Alta Sierra, Grass Valley, Ca (72.4 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 15-20 s

Reno Nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Knew it was a quake turned on local news & did not here anything

96130 (109.1 km NNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 1-2 s

Yuba City, Ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Sacramento / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s

Reno NV (41.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Shook the house forward and back once. Rattled pictures on the walls.

Rancho Cordova, CA (127.7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Carmichael, California. / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging : I was in bed and the bed was moving. My dogs were barking too.

Clio, Calif / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / very short

118.8 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / very short

Penn Valley / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s : It was a shaking sensation, also like a ripple.

Susanville ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 1-2 s

North Valley Reno NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Loud bang & then a mild swaying motion lasting a half minute or so.

Reno Nv..north valleys / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / 2-5 s : Felt quite a movement of my bed,first to one side, then the other, then tapered off to trembling..about 3 seconds total

3 km NNW of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s : I was sleeping it woke me up

313.6 km S of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II)

Carson City NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 10-15 s

Placerville, CA. USA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Sitting on the couch with legs up, felt like it got pushed against the wall but it was already against the wall.

Reno (41 km E of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : Two separate horizontal shakes. A couple plants leaves moved. Maybe some lights flashed

Sacramento / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short : Single, quick lateral movement; house made a popping noise.

Reno, NV 89508 (624.7 km NNE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : Went out to water at 8:30 pm dog wanted in car so I let her. When done she wouldnt get out. Husband got her out and we went in to go to bed. We were downstairs in basement and dog would not stop staring at stairs. I heard three thumps and she kept staring at the stairs. We went up to see if the wind had damaged anything. I guess it wasnt the wind.

susanville, ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / very short : Felt/heard a single jolt followed a minute or two later by a much stronger/louder jolt (think: mad daughter slamming the front door).

pleasant hill, ca / not felt

Dutch Flat Ca 95714 (51.6 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 5-10 s : Very abrupt, instantly noticeable, I was walking and it disrupted my balance a bit

Rio Vista,CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 5-10 s

267.1 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt

Sparks, NV / not felt

Quincy CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Reno (45.8 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

CARSON CITY, NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 30-60 s

lemmon valley, nv (48 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : It felt like the house shifted back and forth and about 2 seconds after that it felt as if it went up and down. Lasted for maybe 5 - 6 seconds total.

Sparks / not felt

Garden Valley / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Reno / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Blairsden ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s

Carson City, NV (62.4 km ESE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Vibration of bed, chain pulls on light/fan vibrating.

Santa Rosa, CA (236.2 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s : There were 3 in this area around 2000 hours. all were minor but enough to know it was an earthquake.

Placerville, Ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short : Felt house shake a little while laying in bed.

Cameron Park, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) : Mostly a loud noise, more of a jolt

Reno / Weak shaking (MMI III) / complex rolling (tilting in multiple directions) / 5-10 s : Rolling for like 8ish seconds

Fiddletown, CA 95629 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating : Shaking, some noise, lamp shade moving.

Sun Valley, NV 89433 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Being from San Francisco I knew what it was but have heard similar noise from passing heavy trucks.

Grass Valley, Nevada County, California / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s : Just a rumbling kind of shake. I live on the second floor and was laying in bed. It woke me up and it almost felt like a massage coming through my bed.

Yuba City CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Just an abrupt shake in Yuba City ca

75.7 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s : I heard it but didnt feel any movement. Sounded like a woosh of wind that hit my window. Checked on line but didnt see any report of earthquake. My daughter texted this morning and asked if I felt it and that confirmed my suspicion. Foresthill, CA

South Lake Tahoe / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Watching tv / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Been thru lots of them since Oct 1989....

South Lake Tahoe, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Richmond (247.9 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Reno, nv / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Fresno, CA (305.3 km S of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt

Yuba City CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : Just an abrupt shake in Yuba City ca

Placerville CA / Moderate shaking (MMI V) : My house felt like it moved side to side.

Suisun / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : Was sitting in a recliner and felt it wobble side to side minimal movement kind of rolling

Sparks, NV 89436 (52.5 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s The walls creaked a bit. (reported through (reported through our app / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Stockton California Grange Ave (186.7 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s (reported through our app / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Grass Valley, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Stead, NV / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Our whole apartment shifted horizontally, and a tall lamp teetered back and forth. Pretty light.

Placerville / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s : Light shaking

Penn Valley California / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Big jolt with light shakes

137.5 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

14614 Gold Creek Ct, Grass Valley CA 95949 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 10-15 s : I could feel it coming and intensify. Solid shaking (even, in all directions) for about 10 seconds, then fading.

Blairsden ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 30-60 s

Sparks (2.7 km WNW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s : I was lying down on couch and thought roommate was trying to move couch to wake me. Felt two distinct moves. Very brief but strong enough to know exactly what it was.

South lake Tahoe / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Stead Reno / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Reno 5700 winnemucca ranch road / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 2-5 s

20.1 km SE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s Rumble and quick shake followed by light tremors. House creaked. (reported through (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s

Garden valley ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 2-5 s

Reno, Nevada / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Grass Valley, CA (80.3 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : I felt one large jolt. Nothing fell off of shelves or tables.

Lodi (171 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : In top floor of Motown and though someone was pushing my bed. But I was alone.

Grass Valley California (73.1 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 2-5 s

Sacramento, CA (134.6 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt Slept through the whole time (reported through (reported through our app / not felt

Pollock Pines CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single lateral shake / very short : House creaked, shook very slightly.

Rancho Cordova, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s

Garden Valley, CA (85.1 km SSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Dinner (14.4 km SSE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Orgon house / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

35.4 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : Shaking and hard bump

LAKE ALMANOR (105.4 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 1-2 s (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 1-2 s

Grass Valley / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Home / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : Light shaking

Sacramento, California / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : A shake very quick for about 2 seconds, then another for about a second

Lodi California / not felt

Orangevale CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : I was in one room and my husband was in another. My husband thought I was behind him and pushed the sofa once. I heard our floor creek and my chair slightly move. I thought it was him. I came in and started checking to see if there was a quake. When I saw this report that there was an earthquake, thats when he told me what he had experienced.

Tahoe City / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Garden Valley, CA (1.6 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

nevada city, ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 20-30 s : We were standing in the kitchen and all of a sudden, the windows started rattling, fridge rattled rattling. Not a big deal, just noticable and then it stopped.

Roseville / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 5-10 s : I was laying on the couch and I felt a rolling rumbling sensation thru the couch. My closet door moved in and out. There was a loud sound out side from the Large Garbage Container door suddenly Opening and slamming Closed.

Garden Valley/Georgetown area / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 5-10 s : Watching tv in bed. Husband thought big dog had bumped the bed while scratching. She was sound asleep on her bed.

Stead Reno / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 2-5 s : I felt rolling

Orangevale, CA / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Slight movement of chair, long enough to recognize and think is that an earthquake? Yep I think that was. Dogs barked.

39.4 km NE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 1-2 s : Felt like it moved the couch and the wind blew into our house...first time Ive ever felt an earthquake here!!

Grass Valley, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Fairly short shaking. Light fixture was swinging. Dogs jumped.

Oroville / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vertical swinging (up and down) / very short : a quick side by side rock

Reno, NV (44.7 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s I thought my cat cat was under the couch again. Just a quick thump. (reported through (reported through our app / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Pollock Pines, CA / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 15-20 s : Pretty strong and long quake for the region

Minden, NV (69.2 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

67.2 km SW of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 2-5 s

Tahoe Keys, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) : Loud creaking of house. Light shaking of couch I was sitting on. Dogs barking.

Nevada city, CA (7 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

sacramento / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / very short

Susanville,CA 96130 / Weak shaking (MMI III) / single vertical bump / very short : A bump, then a smaller second bump

Sacramento, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

Nevada City, Ca / Light shaking (MMI IV) / 5-10 s

Verdi / Light shaking (MMI IV)

Grass Valley, Ca / Weak shaking (MMI III) / 15-20 s : Heard and felt rubbling and glass shower doors started vibrating.

Davis CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / very short : The bed shook

Carson City, NV / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 30-60 s : My house was creaking. There was slight movement. The noise of the movement of the boards and roof was noticeable.

75.4 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s Pronounced upward shock followed by 3-7 seconds of lateral shaking strong enough to swing a chandelier (reported through (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / both vertical and horizontal swinging / 2-5 s

79.8 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s : rumbing and a sharp jab and another big rumble

Grass Valley (73.5 km WSW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : I was sitting on a couch and felt a brief bump. I thought the cat had jumped onto the couch, but no cat. Later thought it may have been an earthquake. 9:30 sounds about right.

51.2 km E of epicenter [ Map ] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : Was lying in bed could feel the bed shake for a brief couple seconds iMessage

Cold springs / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s

79.8 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s

Carmichael, CA. 95608 / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

reno, nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single lateral shake / 10-15 s : My whole bed started shaking and it was very noticeable that an earthquake occurred

Grass Valley Ca / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) : Sounded loud before it hit. Like a 18 wheeler was about to drive through my house. Then the power went out. Thats what I want to know ~ WHY did the power go out???

Vacaville, CA. / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / very short : I was sitting in my recliner and felt the slightest bump against my chair. Very minor! My clock read 9:36 pm but my clock is several seconds fast.

Carson City, NV (1.2 km NW of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

FERNLEY, NV (91.4 km ENE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Weak shaking (MMI III) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 5-10 s : One in three adults recognized it as a quake. other two thought it was a strong gust from the winds we had all day/evening that made the house creak a bit. Felt like two brief movements. Many quakes experienced from previously living in So. CA over 50 years. So I know a quake when I feel one.

Castro Valley / not felt

267.4 km SSW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Red Rock, north of Reno (36.9 km NE of epicenter) [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / vertical swinging (up and down) / 2-5 s : Single large jolt followed by waning shaking

38.5 km ENE of epicenter [ Map ] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s (reported through our app / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Reno, Nv. / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Stateline, nv (66.8 km SE of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

CARSON CITY / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / 2-5 s : Felt a big loud jolt, like a banging. I thought my roommate upstairs was stomping on the floor or fell.

Lake Oroville Kelly Ridge / not felt

Sacramento, CA / not felt : Heard a strange hum, like the glass in the windows was vibrating. Glassware and crockery in shelves were also rattling faintly. What was most noticeable was my cat galloping back and forth and bouncing off the walls. She was clearly disturbed by whatever she was hearing/feeling.

Fair Oaks, CA / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / 1-2 s : Very weak shake like someone bumped into my bed.

Rancho Cordova / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 1-2 s

Jackson ca / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / vibration and rolling / 2-5 s

Nevada City, Ca / Moderate shaking (MMI V) / vibration and rolling / 1-2 s

Oroville Ca / not felt : We felt nothing

Reno, nevada / Weak shaking (MMI III) / very short

Nevada City / Light shaking (MMI IV) / single vertical bump / very short : Our house lost power briefly.

Meadow Vista / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Fernley Nevada / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Sacramento California (141.6 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s (reported through our app / not felt / rattling, vibrating / 5-10 s

Novato, CA (240.9 km SW of epicenter) [ Map ] / not felt : Absolutely nothing

Rocklin / Weak shaking (MMI III) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 5-10 s : I was lying on the bed and felt the rocking from side to side, also the glass sliding doors in the bath swayed with a sound

Reno / Light shaking (MMI IV) / horizontal (sideways) swinging / 2-5 s : Swaying hanging objects

Cold Springs / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 10-15 s

Reno / Weak shaking (MMI III) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s : It felt like crackling in the ceiling or almost like hail falling onto roof . Maybe it was dry rafters cracking from movement

Carson is city, 89706 / Light shaking (MMI IV) / simple rolling (tilting sideways along one direction) / 10-15 s : Dog and I both took notice. Nothing fell but it rolled.

357.1 km WNW of epicenter [ Map ] / not felt (reported through our app / not felt

Folsom / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / rattling, vibrating / 1-2 s
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The Alabama Senate concurred with the House of Representatives to pass a medical marijuana bill Thursday night.

The bill now heads to Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature.

Stay with WAAY 31 on air and online for updates.
Huntsville Police Officer William Darby has been found guilty of murder.

Defense attorney Robert Tuten issued this statement, referring to Darby as "Ben": "Everyone is shocked by the jurys verdict. While we appreciate their hard work and will give their verdict the respect that it deserves, we still disagree with their decision. Officer Ben Darby will appeal this verdict. Once reviewed at the Appellate level, this verdict will not stand.

"Officer Darbys case is extremely important to all Alabama Law Enforcement. This case will clarify Alabama law regarding on-duty police shootings and will impact the way law enforcement protect Alabamians and perform their duties. We look forward to the appeal of this case.

The jury in his trial issued its verdict Friday.

Darby has been on trial all week for the murder of Jeffrey Parker. a suicidal man he shot in 2018 while Parker held a gun to his own head during a confrontation with police.

Police say Darby only shot after Parker refused to drop his weapon.

Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray issued this statement after the verdict: We are in the first stages of shock. While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer. Officers are forced to make split-second decisions every day, and Officer Darby believed his life and the lives of other officers were in danger. Any situation that involves a loss of life is tragic. Our hearts go out to everyone involved."

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle issued this statement: While I respect the jurys opinion, I disagree with the verdict. We recognize this was a hard case with a lot of technical information to process. Officer Darby followed the appropriate safety protocols in his response on the scene. He was doing what he was trained to do in the line of duty. Fortunately, Officer Darby has the same appeal rights as any other citizen and is entitled to exercise those rights."

Stay with WAAY 31 for updates.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-06 22:02:41|Editor: huaxia

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A man walks past a polling station at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, Britain, on May 6, 2021. Millions of voters in Britain are going to polling stations for local elections in what political commentators have dubbed as the Super Thursday, which is seen as a major test for Britain's main political party leaders. More than 5,000 seats are up for grabs in city hall and town hall elections, with the mayor of London and 12 provincial mayors along with police and crime commissioners also being elected. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

LONDON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Millions of voters in Britain are going to polling stations for local elections in what political commentators have dubbed as the Super Thursday, which is seen as a major test for Britain's main political party leaders.

More than 5,000 seats are up for grabs in city hall and town hall elections, with the mayor of London and 12 provincial mayors along with police and crime commissioners also being elected.

People in Scotland and Wales will also decide the shape of their devolved parliaments, and in the northern English town of Hartlepool there will be a by-election to choose a new lawmaker for the Westminster parliament.

Eagerly awaiting the results when the votes are counted Friday and Saturday will be the British prime minister and leader of the Conservative Party, Boris Johnson, and the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, as well as Scotland's first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, among others.

"In a sense Johnson starts ahead, but this will be the first big test for Starmer because he needs to demonstrate an improvement on his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn," elections expert Matt Cole from the University of Birmingham told Xinhua.

In a commentary published Tuesday, the London-based Daily Telegraph newspaper said: "With so many different electoral layers piled on top of each other, it's harder than ever to predict what the impact of Thursday will be."

Elections due last year were postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic until now, resulting in multiple elections in most towns and cities.

Cole said the real questions are what is the election really about.

"Is it optimism about coming out of the COVID-19 lockdown, or longer term anxieties about the economy when the measures of support taken by the government need to be paid for?"

Cole said it will also be a real test of whether the impact of the so-called "Red Wall" successes of Johnson's Conservative Party in the 2019 snap general election has remained or gone away.

Johnson's party made spectacular gains in traditional Labour seats in that election, in what were mainly pro-Brexit seats.

"In that respect Hartlepool will be a litmus test, showing whether the successes were a result of Brexit being agreed and signed, or will it have echoes that determine future politics. It's about a style of politics rather than getting Brexit done," Cole added.

"How long the ripples of Brexit will last in the political pond is the question."

Meanwhile, Labour's Sadiq Khan faces an election for Britain's top job in local government as mayor of London, with polls giving him a comfortable lead over the Conservative candidate and other challengers. Most political commentators expect Khan to remain as mayor of London.

In Scotland, Sturgeon hopes to win seats in the devolved Scottish parliament.

Currently, the SNP holds 61 of the 129 seats. Sturgeon is hoping some gains will give her an overall majority at Holyrood to boost her calls for a new referendum on independence for Scotland from Britain.

The Conservatives, with 30 members, have second most number of seats, ahead of Labour's 23.

Meanwhile, in Wales, the Conservatives are pushing hard to challenge the governing Labour Party in the Welsh Parliament.

According to observers, a Conservative victory would be a huge approval for Johnson's twin-track campaign focusing on the massive opportunities of Brexit and the success of the COVID-19 vaccination program.

On the other hand, defeat for Starmer, especially in Hartlepool, held by Labour since 1974 when the constituency was created, would be a significant blow and set the tone for other results.

Johnson and the Conservatives are currently enjoying a lead in popularity according to a number of opinion polls in recent days. The latest by pollsters Survation gives the Conservatives a 17-point lead over Labour.

However, given the unpredictability of polls, it remains to be seen how the remake-up of council chambers as well as devolved governments will impact the political landscape in Britain, said analysts. Enditem
Florence Utilities reports that, as of 6:09 p.m., about 8,550 customers are without power.

The outages come after a round of severe weather pushed through the area.

Follow the Florence Utilities outage map HERE for updated details.

Turn to WAAY 31 for everything you need to know to stay safe during severe weather. Chief Meteorologist Kate McKenna, Meteorologist Rob Elvington, Meteorologist Carson Meredith and Ashley Carter will provide you with the most accurate information on storms by using our StormTracker Early Warning Radar Network.

Stationed in Muscle Shoals, Decatur and Guntersville, the radars provide the best data for all of North Alabama by scanning EVERY community in North Alabama.

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Huntsville Police Officer William Darby has been found guilty of murder.

The jury in his trial issued its verdict Friday.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle issued this statement: While I respect the jurys opinion, I disagree with the verdict. We recognize this was a hard case with a lot of technical information to process. Officer Darby followed the appropriate safety protocols in his response on the scene. He was doing what he was trained to do in the line of duty. Fortunately, Officer Darby has the same appeal rights as any other citizen and is entitled to exercise those rights."

Darby has been on triall all week for the murder of Jeffrey Parker. a suicidal man Darby shot in 2018 while Parker held a gun to his own head during a confrontation with police.

Police say Darby only shot after Parker refused to drop his weapon.

Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray issued this statement after the verdict: We are in the first stages of shock. While we thank the jury for their service in this difficult case, I do not believe Officer Darby is a murderer. Officers are forced to make split-second decisions every day, and Officer Darby believed his life and the lives of other officers were in danger. Any situation that involves a loss of life is tragic. Our hearts go out to everyone involved."

Stay with WAAY 31 for updates.
Update from Huntsville Utilities at 9:30 p.m.: Approximately 2,100 customers are still without power. The biggest change since the last update is that more customers in south Huntsville are back on the system, though it is still the largest outage in the service area.

We also have confirmed a sixth utility pole down.

Crews will continue to work throughout the service area until all power is restored.

We appreciate the patience of our customers as crews work to restore service as quickly and safely as possible.

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Update from Huntsville Utilities at 8:30 p.m.: Crews are still working to replace poles and lines that were brought down by a fast-moving storm system that passed through the service area earlier this evening.

Since the last update, crews have been able to restore service to a significant number of customers in the Harvest/Monrovia area, where two utility poles were brought down along Mt. Zion Road. Crews are working to replace the poles, repair the damage, and complete restoration.

In south Huntsville, three utility poles were brought down along Drake Avenue. Crews are on site working to repair the damage in that area as well.

There are numerous other outages scattered throughout the service area. Many of these were caused by limbs and trees falling into power lines. Electric Operations will continue to work until all damage is repaired and all power is restored.

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Update from Huntsville Utilities at 7:30 p.m.: There are approximately 2,700 customers without power. The largest outages are in the Harvest/Monrovia area and south Huntsville. There are also numerous, smaller outages scattered throughout the service area.

At least five utility poles are confirmed down, all requiring replacement. Two of these are along Mt. Zion Road and three are along Drake Avenue near the Huntsville Aquatics Center.

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Update: Huntsville Utilities issued the following update:

In addition to the Harvest/Monrovia outage, crews are responding to power outage in south Huntsville impacting customers from Bob Wallace Avenue south to Airport Road and from Triana Boulevard east to L & N Drive.

Regarding the Harvest/Monrovia outage, Madison County Fire and Rescue reports two utility poles with power lines are down along Mt. Zion Road.

In both cases, service will be restored as quickly as possible.

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From earlier:

More than 1,300 customers are without power in Madison County Thursday night.

Huntsville Utilities crews are responding to a power outage in the Harvest/Monrovia area impacting customers from Nick Davis Road south to Capshaw Road and from Wall Triana Highway east to Indian Creek Road.

Huntsville Utilities says service will be restored as quickly as possible, and the cause is unknown.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 69F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-06 22:57:30|Editor: huaxia

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Photo taken on May 2, 2021, shows an ice pop posed in front of its prototype -- the Yanghu Water Street in Changsha, Hunan Province. (Yanghu Water Street management/Handout via Xinhua)

CHANGSHA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Heated competition among Chinese tourist sites amid the post-pandemic May Day holiday has left a cool taste in tourists' mouths.

Though summer is still a month away, travelers at tourist hotspots are snatching up ice pops shaped like local landmarks or iconic treasures as a novel way to mark their visits.

The sweet-tooth trend was ignited when some tourists flocked to social media to post pictures of ice cream bars in the shape of two millennia-old bronze masks unearthed from the legendary Sanxingdui Ruins on Saturday, the first day of the May Day holiday.

The ice cream, rolled out by the Sanxingdui Museum in Sichuan Province, boasts two flavors -- "bronze" and "excavation" -- which are matcha and chocolate.

Other tourist destinations in China soon joined the social media carnival with their own offerings, from Wuhan's Yellow Crane Tower to the catholic church in Qingdao, attracting tourists to take pictures of the ice pops in front of their prototypes.

"I would visit these scenic sites just for these ice cream bars," a netizen remarked on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, under a flurry of photos of multitudinous ice cream.

Photo taken on May 4, 2021, shows an ice pop shaped like the Yueyang Tower in Hunan Province. (Yueyang Tower management/Handout via Xinhua)

Yueyang Tower, a tourist magnet perching along the Dongting Lake in Hunan Province, said it sold more than 22,000 ice pops, priced at 18 yuan (2.8 U.S. dollars), in the shape of the ancient building during the five-day holiday.

"We hope the ice cream can give visitors a better taste of the ancient wisdom and life philosophy the building has stood for," said Li Caixia, a director of the tourist site's management.

Chinese tourist sites and cultural institutes have invested heavily into the development of creative cultural products, which is believed to contribute to the boom in cultural tourism in recent years.

"The trendy, unique and creative cultural products like the ice cream have won over many younger-generation consumers," said Zhou Yunqing, a sociology professor at Wuhan University. "It is also a manifestation of China's growing cultural confidence."

China's tourism market has seen a strong comeback during the May Day holiday thanks to the effective control of COVID-19. Total passenger trips made during China's May Day holiday are expected to reach 267 million, representing a significant increase compared with the same period last year, according to official data.

Nearly 18.83 million railway passenger trips were made on Saturday, the first day of the holiday, marking an increase of 9.2 percent from the 2019 level and hitting a new single-day high. 
Italian government under rising pressure to push back or scrap curfew as Italy opens up to foreign tourists.

Italy could revise its nationwide covid curfew on 16 May, according to the country's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio.

Italy's nightly curfew of 22.00 is under increasing attack from those in the hospitality sector and the government is facing pressure to put it back to midnight or get rid of it completely.

The curfew is also causing rising friction among the government's coalition parties, with the centre-right pushing for it to be scrapped entirely, while regional authorities are seeking for it to be scaled back to 23.00 at least, reports Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Identifying 16 May as a "desirable date," Di Maio told Italian television channel La7 that "everyone wants to get out of this nightmare" but warned that it "won't be a free for all."

Di Maio said he is working, together with the health and tourism ministers, "to let foreign tourists" come to Italy this summer, reports Italian news agency ANSA.

The date of 16 May comes the day after Italy will allow foreign tourists to visit, giving a 'green' national travel pass to those who have been vaccinated, have just tested negative or can prove they have recently recovered from covid-19.

Earlier this week Italian premier Mario Draghi said: "The time has come to book your holidays in Italy," adding: Our mountains, our beaches, our cities are reopening.

Tourism minister Massimo Garavaglia followed up Draghi's comments two days later saying that the travel pass would be "valid for everyone" and making particular reference to visitors from the US and UK.

For official information relating to the covid-19 situation in Italy, in English, see the health ministry website.
Onlookers surprised to see public city bus join funeral procession in Rome suburb.

It is not every day that a public bus joins in the funeral cortege of a private citizen but this is what happened in a Rome suburb on the morning of 4 May.

"Ciao bello mio, riposa in pace" read the message in the box that normally displays the bus number and destination, reports Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

The unusual event occurred in the western Primavalle district of the capital after the funeral of a 43-year-old local man, who was reportedly a bus driver.

The bus was first parked outside the parish church on Via di Torrevecchia, before joining "dozens of roaring motorbikes" in the funeral cortege, the Corriere reports.

The vehicle, although marked with ATAC livery, belonged to the Roma TPL company which operates bus routes in the city suburbs.

After the funeral the procession reportedly made its way past the deceased's home, in an area known by locals as 'the Bronx.'

It's a tradition around here. It always happens, we go with the hearse under the dead man's house," a lady told the Corriere, before acknowledging that it was "indeed unusual" to see a city bus in the procession.

Locals were divided over whether a public bus should have been used for private purposes, with some quoted in the Corriere as saying it was "a nice gesture" and pointing out that there were "much worse things" to worry about.

Even the parish priest, Father Crispino Borgia, did not appear surprised when contacted by the Corriere: "Outside there were a lot of people, then I saw many motorbikes and I also noticed the bus with the message. However, I can assure you that it was a very composed funeral, the same as all the others."

Others were not so impressed with the incident. It's a shameful thing" - said one local who asked to remain anonymous - "I'm sorry for the man but you can't use a bus that is supposed to be for public transport for something that is not public."

"Only in Rome could it happen" - another local, a man in his thirties, told the Corriere - "Do you think such an absurd event could ever happen in Paris, London or Madrid?"

Photo - video Corriere della Sera
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 00:57:54|Editor: huaxia

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YEREVAN, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Thursday said here that Russia is committed to ensuring the security of its allied Armenia.

According to the reports of local Armenpress, Lavrov made the remarks during the meeting with Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan.

"We are committed to the ensuring the security of our ally, the Republic of Armenia. This has been confirmed in your talks with President Putin, as well as during the intensive and regular interactions between our Ministries," the report quoted Lavrov as saying to the Armenian prime minister.

Lavrov also stated that Russia will continue to make efforts for the solution of all humanitarian issues concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including the return of all the detainees, together with the other Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

For his part, Pashinyan assured the Russian foreign minister that Armenia is committed to implementing the agreements on the cease-fire of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that broke out in September 2020.

He reiterated that the peace process should be resumed to seek a final peaceful settlement of the conflict.

Prior to the meeting, Lavrov met with his Armenian counterpart Ara Ayvazyan and participated in a joint press conference in Yerevan.

The two sides also signed an intergovernmental memorandum on ensuring biological security.

Lavrov arrived in Armenia on May 5 for a two-day visit. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 01:04:10|Editor: huaxia

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COLOMBO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Former Maldives president and parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed was injured Thursday in an explosion in capital Male, local media reported.

The explosion, suspected to be a bomb blast, went off as Nasheed was getting into his car outside his home, state TV channel PSM reported.

Some reports said a foreign tourist was also injured in the explosion, while other reports said one of Nasheed's bodyguards was also taken to hospital. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 04:57:48|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan Taliban had not launched any attack against U.S. and coalition forces since the drawdown began, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Thursday.

"There have been no attacks against U.S. and coalition forces since the retrograde began on or about May 1, and that is also consistent for the past year," Milley said during a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Meanwhile, he noted that the Taliban continued its attacks against the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF).

At least 11 Afghan security forces members were killed in militants' attacks in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday night, Afghan authorities confirmed on Thursday.

Both Milley and Austin reaffirmed that U.S. assistance for the ANSF would continue after the withdrawal. "We hope through our continued support, the Afghan security forces can be effective ... but we expect that this will be a challenge for them," said Austin.

Milley told reporters that the primary objective for the U.S. military in Afghanistan at this point is to complete a safe and coordinated withdrawal no later than September.

According to Milley, a military base in Helmand, Afghanistan had been closed, and approximately 60 C-17 transport aircraft had departed with various equipment. "Over 1,300 pieces of equipment have been transferred either to the Defense Logistics Agency for destruction or to the ANSF for their use."

The top general said the U.S. military would deploy six additional B-52 bombers and 12 F-18 fighters to offer contingency support during the withdrawal.

The military earlier had sent B-52 bombers and extended the deployment of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to the region to increase force protection. The White House said last week that elements of an Army Ranger Task Force would also temporarily deploy to Afghanistan.

President Joe Biden in April announced the withdrawal would begin on May 1, the deadline date for a full U.S. withdrawal under an agreement reached between the former Donald Trump administration and the Afghan Taliban.

The Taliban had warned of consequences if the Biden administration fails to follow through that deadline.

About 3,500 U.S. forces and 7,000 NATO troops will be withdrawn before Sept. 11, the day which is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that drew the United States into the war in Afghanistan. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 05:11:14|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, said on Thursday that the U.S. federal government is likely to run out of borrowing room and breach the debt limit after Oct. 1.

"Treasury's updated guidance means that the 'X Date' will likely arrive after the start of fiscal year 2022," Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at BPC, said in a statement, referring to the date when the federal government will no longer be able to pay its bills in full and on time.

"That would realistically allow Congress to address the debt limit as part of an appropriations package and potentially pair that move with a longer-term reform of the statute to eliminate financial risk from these recurring episodes," he said.

Akabas also cautioned that the unique fiscal environment of a pandemic adds unprecedented uncertainty to any debt limit forecast.

"While uncertainty is perhaps greater than ever before, the way to minimize short-term financial risk remains the same: acting on the debt limit soon," he said.

Akabas's updated forecast came after the U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it may take certain "extraordinary measures" to continue to finance the government on a temporary basis if the debt limit is reinstated on Aug. 1.

"In light of the substantial COVID-related uncertainty about receipts and outlays in the coming months, it is very difficult to predict how long extraordinary measures might last," the department said, noting extraordinary measures could be exhausted much more quickly than in prior debt limit episodes.

As part of a two-year budget deal passed by U.S. Congress in August 2019, the federal debt limit was suspended through July 31, 2021. If lawmakers can't reach another agreement before then, the ceiling would automatically be reinstated on Aug. 1 and the U.S. Treasury wouldn't be able to raise additional cash from the sale of government securities.

As of today, the U.S. national debt has exceeded 28.25 trillion U.S. dollars. Enditem
Washington, IN (47501)

Today

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.
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Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It was as if parts of Daniel Carr fell away, never to reappear, as he spun from conflict to conflict. East Timor. Iraq. Afghanistan. When he left the Australian Army in 2018, there wasnt much left of the young man who signed up in 1996, keen to go soldiering. Ive got whats called a dissociative disorder, Carr says, his words coming slowly. I dont feel empathy. Im very hyper-alert. I no longer drive a vehicle because I became very erratic and dangerous. I nearly drove straight into a tree with my family in the car. Loading Carr is among the uncounted Australian veterans who suffer various extremes of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and associated mental health burdens.

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He is also among many of those whose lives have been consigned to the shadows who agreed to emerge for the camera of award-winning photographer Chris Hopkins. Many of these veterans have contemplated or attempted suicide. Their portraits speak volumes. Virtually all of them say they know of comrades who have taken their own lives. Daniel Carr served in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. He says the royal commission will be very raw and painful for a lot of people but its a necessary evil. Credit:Chris Hopkins Carr attributes his survival to the support of his wife, Maryanne, and treatment in a string of psychiatric wards. Without Maryanne, he says, I wouldnt be here. As Australia finally prepares, through a royal commission, to confront suicides among veterans, those afflicted with the fallout of seeing and experiencing too much while serving the military cautiously welcome the inquiry. I nearly drove straight into a tree with my family in the car. Daniel Carr

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The royal commission will be very raw for a lot of people, very painful, says Carr. But its a necessary evil. Carr, once of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment - serving in East Timor in 1999 and Iraq in 2004 - and the 2/14th Light Horse Regiment in Afghanistan in 2004, eventually suffered a breakdown while stationed at Puckapunyal in Victoria. He and Maryanne and their two autistic children - a daughter aged 18 and a son, 16 - now live near Hervey Bay in Queensland, a place Carr describes as calming. Hes not the man I fell in love with and married, but were still here and together, says Maryanne, speaking on their 20th wedding anniversary. The Hervey Bay area has become home to a significant community of veterans, many of whom suffer PTSD. I felt lost Daniel Spain, who was discharged from the army suffering depression after returning from an eight-month posting in Afghanistan, finally found the support he needed among other veterans in Hervey Bay.

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I was struggling, there was lots of alcohol involved, and I felt lost, says Spain. I was 22 when I was in Afghanistan. I was gung-ho and I wanted to be there, but I dont think I was developed enough to always deal with the stress of situations. When I was discharged I only knew the military and I didnt know how the world outside worked, even the most simple things. I had two periods in the public psychiatric ward at Townsville hospital after attempts at suicide. I slit my wrists once and accidentally took too much of my medications another time. Daniel Spain was discharged from the army suffering from depression. He is a part-time social worker at a hospital in Hervey Bay where I see people like myself coming in. Credit:Chris Hopkins The woman who became my wife, Jess, decided we should sell the house in Townsville and come to Hervey Bay to engage with our families. I found a sense of belonging here. I got in contact with the veterans community and I started getting peer support from older veterans whove seen it all.

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With support from his wife, their families, the veteran community and access to mental health treatment through the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Spain describes himself as pretty good now. He is a part-time social worker at a hospital in Hervey Bay where I see people like myself coming in. And he became president of a group called Veterans of Australia, formed under the guidance of members of the Vietnam Veterans Association to assist and advocate for younger veterans. I only knew the military, I didnt know how the world outside worked. Daniel Spain Its motto is honour the dead, but fight like hell for the living. You have to pull back the mat Kathryn Simeon spent 17 years in the navy but suffered a serious back injury when a 100-kilogram electrical transformer fell on her while aboard HMAS Canberra.

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Victorians should be shocked by the latest leaked hotel quarantine report which reveals months of bungles and mismanagement in the system when we were told it was fixed. Sloppy practices, untrained staff and poor hygiene standards should be of great concern to millions of Victorians still traumatised from last years lockdown.

Missed tests and wearing the same mask for long periods of time are worrying, but what is of most concern is the governments willingness to mislead the public and deflect blame for outbreaks. This has the potential to do much greater harm.

The Holiday Inn quarantine hotel at Melbourne Airport was the source of one of Victorias outbreaks. Credit:Penny Stephens

After a decade of decay, trust in public institutions and parliaments increased during the pandemic.

According to the Trust Index, when compared to 28 other nations, Australia saw the largest jump in the overall trust of its government towards the end of last year.
West Australian Premier Mark McGowan has urged the Commonwealth to mend its relationship with China following news Beijing had cut off diplomatic contact with the Australian government under a key communication agreement.

During a press conference on Thursday, Mr McGowan said he wasnt familiar with the details of the decision but warned against using hostile language when dealing with a superpower like China.

Premier Mark McGowan celebrates the 30th anniversary of the WA-Zhejiang sister-state relationship with Province Communist Party of China Secretary Che Jun on November 10, 2017. Credit:Twitter/@MarkMcGowanMP

My position on relations with China is very clear; I think we need to rebuild the relationship and I think we should stop language about war, conflict, and hostilities, he said.

I dont think that sort of language is helpful to anyone and I expect the Australian public wouldnt want that sort of language either.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 07:03:21|Editor: huaxia

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The latest meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) Joint Commission is held in Vienna, Austria, April 27, 2021. (EU Delegation Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)

A senior U.S. official suggested that it is possible for Washington and Tehran to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal in the next few weeks, while stressing "this is ultimately a matter of a political decision that needs to be made in Iran."

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- A senior State Department official said on Thursday that the United States and Iran could achieve a mutual return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal in the coming weeks if Tehran makes a "political decision."

The senior official said in a phone briefing that the last three rounds of indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Vienna "helped crystallize the choices," but noting "nothing has been agreed" on how to revive the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"If Iran makes the political decision that it genuinely wants to return to the JCPOA as the JCPOA was negotiated, then it could be done relatively quickly and implementation could be relatively swift," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "But we don't know if Iran has made that decision."

"There's still a lot of work to do in terms of agreeing on the sanctions, nuclear steps, but also the sequencing and the timetable for implementation of the steps that both sides are going to need to take," he said.

The official suggested that it is possible for Washington and Tehran to achieve a mutual return to compliance in the next few weeks, while stressing "this is ultimately a matter of a political decision that needs to be made in Iran."

U.S. delegation will return to Vienna this week for a new round of indirect talks with Iran. "We just have to see whether the next round actually moves things forward, or whether we still are faced with unrealistic demands by Iran," said the official.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi arrives at the venue of Iran nuclear deal talks in Vienna, Austria, April 6, 2021. (Photo by Georges Schneider/Xinhua)

Abbas Araqchi, Iran's senior negotiator in Vienna talks, said last week that negotiating parties have reached "common ground in many cases," but there are still differences.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the United States knows that it has to return to law and assume its obligations pertaining to the nuclear deal.

The JCPOA was reached in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council -- the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, plus Germany) together with the EU. Tehran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear weapons program in exchange for decreased economic sanctions.

Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its commitments in May 2019, one year after the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. 
Two of the nations top policy experts, Bernie Fraser and Andrew Podger, have urged Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to dump at least part of his stage three personal income tax cuts and use the money to increase spending on aged care and other critical services.

As a long-running public survey showed support continuing to decline for the $17 billion a year tax cuts to middle and high-income earners, Mr Fraser and Mr Podger said future budgets would face a revenue squeeze if the tax cuts were maintained.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But tax experts said without the reforms, the nations personal tax system will become increasingly reliant on the incomes of high wage earners and overly complex.

The budget will extend for another year the low and middle-income tax offset, heading off a tax increase of up to $1080 next year for 10 million workers earning less than $126,000. The government remains committed to its legislated stage three cuts, which deliver their largest benefits to people earning more than $200,000 a year.
So Morrison and those around him are confident they have a majority of voters behind them on banning travellers. They are probably right. Voters have rewarded state premiers for slamming their borders shut. Morrison used to complain about Labor premiers like Mark McGowan and Annastacia Palaszczuk for doing this. Now he just copies them. Loading But the Indian ban is not as popular as it first looked. Labor MPs like Ed Husic warned last week against severe restrictions on Australians coming from India. Then the Indian community responded with fury to the decision last weekend. Then some of the governments own backbenchers caught up and pushed back. Why? Because they could feel the anger in their communities. A lot of that anger is about the way this was done. It was plain dumb to issue an emergency determination at midnight. It was daft to do so without any warning to the people being targeted, yet community leaders say they got no hint of the sanctions in an online meeting with Foreign Minister Marise Payne earlier on Friday. This is what happens when politicians give themselves unchecked power: they eventually use it in the dead of night. The sanctions in the Biosecurity Act date back to 2015, including the ultimate penalties of $66,600 in fines and five years in jail, but the move to invoke them in the pandemic was made on March 18 last year in an emergency declaration from Governor-General David Hurley, at Hunts request.

Parliament has never reviewed that declaration. Worse, it cannot strike it down in the way it can with most regulations, which are usually disallowable instruments and subject to votes in either chamber. To compound the problem, last Fridays move cannot be disallowed by the Parliament, either. Morrisons response to the backlash was to search for someone to blame. When radio station 3AW host Neil Mitchell pointed out on Thursday that it was a mistake to emphasise the punishment, Morrison denied doing so: Well, we didnt. The media did. He said the government did not accentuate the penalties. Wrong. The jail terms were in the fourth paragraph of Hunts statement. That response, blaming the media, suggests Morrison is learning all the wrong lessons. His message this week was that Australians could trust his government with this far-reaching power because it would never be used. The real lesson is that the government needs to wield its power with more care.

Governments will always find it easier to punish than to help, so the severe sanctions on travellers from India have highlighted the vacuum in Morrisons border policy: his inability to create a bigger quarantine facility, faster, to assist Australians coming home. Loading (This includes Australians who chose to leave the country during the pandemic to go to India or elsewhere: they were overseas after the government approved their travel.) The Howard Springs camp near Darwin is the key to bringing more people home, thanks in part to decisions by state leaders to cap arrivals in hotel quarantine. The camp is forecast to reach a capacity of 2,000 at the start of June. It has been at least six months since the government talked about expanding Howard Springs. The camp was named in the quarantine review by former public servant Jane Halton as an ideal reserve location for 3,000 people. National cabinet backed her recommendation on October 23.
Male, Maldives: The Australian Federal Police will assist the investigation into an explosion that wounded former Maldives president and current Parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed.

On Friday, Maldives current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said the blast was an attack on the countrys democracy and economy. He said AFP officers would arrive on Saturday. Neither Solih nor police gave further details about the attack and no one has claimed responsibility.

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed delivers a lecture on climate change in New Delhi, India, in 2019. Credit:AP

Nasheed, 53, was wounded in the blast as he was getting into his car outside his home on Thursday night, Male time, and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, Male, police said.

He is stable, surgeries ongoing, a spokesperson from Nasheeds ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said on Friday.
San Francisco: Twitter suspended several accounts this week that were set up to share statements from a new part of former US president Donald Trumps website, saying they broke its rules against evading an account ban.

Trump was banned from Twitter, where he had more than 88 million followers, and multiple other social media platforms following the deadly January 6 siege of the US Capitol by his supporters.

Donald Trump has been taken offline for repeated violoations of social media guidelines. Credit:AP

On Tuesday, a page was added to Trumps site, dubbed From the Desk of Donald J. Trump, where he posts messages that can be shared by his audience to both Twitter and Facebook.

As stated in our ban evasion policy, well take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account, a Twitter spokesman said in a statement.
Warning: graphic imagery.

Rio de Janeiro: At least 25 people were killed in a police raid on Thursday morning in what police and researchers are calling one of the deadliest police shootings in the history of this notoriously violent oceanside metropolis.

Shortly after dawn, police entered the sprawling favela called Jacarezinho early on Thursday morning, sending in bulletproof helicopters, armoured vehicles and dozens of heavily armed police officers to do battle in one of the strongholds of the powerful criminal gang, the Red Command. Police said the criminal group had been enticing children into its ranks.

Blood covers a street after a police operation targeting drug traffickers in the Jacarezinho favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Credit:AP

The conflict dragged on for hours as residents huddled inside their homes, unable to leave. Images showed blood splashed across alleys and households, a room piled with bodies, and people scurrying across rooftops clutching rifles as black-clad police moved into the vast warren of squat brick houses.
Television images showed a police helicopter flying low over the Jacarezinho favela as men with high-powered rifles hopped from roof to roof to evade officers. Others didnt escape. Residents take pictures of blood on the street after the shoot-out in the Jacarezinho favela. Credit:AP One resident told the Associated Press how a man barged into her home around 8am bleeding from a gunshot wound. He hid in her daughters room, but police came rushing behind him. She said that she and her family saw officers shoot the unarmed man.

Hours later, his blood was still pooled on her tile floor and soaked into a blanket decorated with hearts. About 50 residents of Jacarezinho poured into a narrow street to follow members of the state legislatures human rights commission who conducted an inspection following the shootouts. They shouted Justice! while clapping their hands. Some raised their right fists into the air. Drugs and packaging seized during the police raid are displayed for the press at the city police headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. Credit:AP Felipe Curi, a detective in Rios civil police, denied there were any executions. There were no suspects killed. They were all traffickers or criminals who tried to take the lives of our police officers and there was no other alternative, he said at a news conference.

Curi said some suspects had sought refuge in residents homes, and six of them were arrested. Police also seized 16 pistols, six rifles, a submachine gun, 12 grenades and a shotgun, he said. Bolsonaros son Carlos, a Rio city councillor who is influential on social media, supported police. He expressed condolences to the family of the fallen officer on Twitter, while skipping any mention of the other 24 dead or their families. The President didnt refer to the incident at all in his weekly live broadcast on Facebook. A cop who doesnt kill isnt a cop, Brazils President Jair Bolsonaro once said. Credit:AP Bolsonaros political rival, former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said any operation that produces two dozen deaths doesnt qualify as public security. That is the absence of the government that offers education and jobs, the cause of a great deal of violence, said Lula, who is widely expected to mount a challenge to Bolsonaros reelection bid next year.

International advocacy groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urged public prosecutors to thoroughly investigate the operation. Even if the victims were suspected of criminal association, which has not been proven, summary executions of this kind are entirely unjustifiable, said Jurema Werneck, Amnestys executive director in Brazil. Weapons and drugs seized during a police raid are displayed for the press. Credit:AP The Rio state prosecutors office said in a statement to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo that it would investigate accusations of violence, adding the case required a probe that was independent of police. Police violence and crime has in recent years been one of the countrys most polarising political discussions. Police forces kill thousands of Brazilians every year, most black and poor. In 2019, police killed about 5800 people.

The countrys Supreme Court issued a ruling last year prohibiting police operations in Rios favelas during the pandemic unless absolutely exceptional. Loading The order came after police fatally shot a 14-year-old in a home where there was no indication of any illegal activity. The teens death sparked a Brazilian iteration of Black Lives Matter protests held across the citys metropolitan area for weeks. The ruling, which remains in force, caused a decline in police operations throughout the middle of last year, as reflected by a plunge in the number of shootouts reported by Crossfire, a non-governmental group that monitors violence, and in official state data on deaths resulting from police intervention. But both indicators have crept back up to around pre-pandemic levels. The Candido Mendes Universitys Public Safety Observatory said Rio police killed an average of more than five people a day during the first quarter of 2021, the most lethal start of a year since the state government began regularly releasing such data more than two decades ago.

Loading Renata Souza, a state MP raised in Complexo da Mare, a dangerous and large favela frequently targeted by police, called the liberalisation of police violence a policy of death. Security police should be about justice and not vengeance, she tweeted on Thursday. The governor of Rio is following in the steps of the president and is making genocide a state policy. Silvia Ramos, a social scientist at University Candido Mendes said In this badly planned operation a police officer was killed, and this operation became one of revenge.
Wilmington, DE (19810)

Today

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 07:43:26|Editor: huaxia

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RIO DE JANEIRO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- At least 25 people were killed and another five injured on Thursday in an intense shootout in northern Rio de Janeiro between police and suspected drug traffickers.

According to the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police, one police officer died as a result of the shootout, while the other 24 people killed were allegedly members of a criminal organization that dominates the Jacarezinho favela.

The event occurred in the early hours of Thursday in Jacarezinho during a Civil Police operation against drug trafficking and organized crime in the area.

Audio and video pieces circulating on social media networks showed intense gunfights and gas bomb explosions in several parts of the favela, and images taken from helicopters showed armed people fleeing across the rooftops and terraces.

Jacarezinho is dominated by the so-called Red Command, the largest criminal faction in Rio de Janeiro.

Unlike many of the city's populous slums that sit on the hills, Jacarezinho is in a flat area where criminals have set up barricades to make it difficult for security forces to access.

The Red Command is allegedly behind several homicides, robberies, trains hijackings and recruitment of minors for drug trafficking in Jacarezinho, according to the police. Enditem
Wilmington, DE (19810)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Katherine Armstrong will serve as vice president of culture, which will focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in the company. (Photo provided by Churchill Downs, Inc.)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 08:53:56|Editor: huaxia

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RIO DE JANEIRO -- At least 25 people were killed and another five injured on Thursday in an intense shootout in northern Rio de Janeiro between police and suspected drug traffickers.

According to the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police, one police officer died as a result of the shootout, while the other 24 people killed were allegedly members of a criminal organization that dominates the Jacarezinho favela. (Brazil-Shooting-Death toll)

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COLOMBO -- Maldives former president and parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed was injured Thursday in an explosion in capital Male, authorities said.

Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla said in a tweet that Nasheed was receiving treatment at the ADK Hospital in capital Male. "We will keep the public informed on (former) President Nasheed's condition as we receive updates," she said. (Maldives-Former President-Blast)

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YEREVAN -- Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Thursday said here that Russia is committed to ensuring the security of its allied Armenia.

According to the reports of local Armenpress, Lavrov made the remarks during the meeting with Armenian caretaker Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan. (Armenia-Russia)

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UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations paused on Thursday to honor 336 personnel who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2020, the highest number ever in a single year.

The memorial ceremony, held online, paid tribute to civilian and uniformed staff who died because of malicious acts, natural disasters and other incidents. (UN-Dead Personnel-Guterres) Enditem
Local

NOW SHOWING: Highway 18 Outdoor Theatre owner talks opening this weekend, and changes ahead

File photo Lee Burgess, owner of Highway 18 Outdoor Theatre in Jefferson, will be opening the theater for the season this weekend. He is showing classic movies until studios release new ones.

JEFFERSON  For those who thought they would be soaring in a fighter jet with Maverick and Iceman this summer, that reunion will have to wait.

The sequel to Top Gun now has been pushed into the fall.

While the summer blockbuster season has yet to take flight, the chance to sit under the stars and watch a movie during the pandemic is set to begin a new season Friday.

The Highway 18 Outdoor Theatre in Jefferson will open with a double feature this weekend. And, after socially distant vehicles last year, this season has more in store for movie lovers.

Its looking like we will get some first-run products, said owner Lee Burgess, who said movies like Top Gun: Maverick are pushed off, but other films like the Fast and Furious saga F9 look to be a go.

The theater will open this weekend with a double feature for families with The Croods: A New Age and Despicable Me.

With new films still slow to come out, the theater is sprinkling in classics to get audiences back to movie watching outside of their couch.

The weekend of May 14, the theater will have Gremlins followed by Caddyshack.

And on Memorial Day weekend, the shark and dinosaurs will be back. Jaws is the original summer blockbuster that did well last season paired with Jurassic Park.

Studios are still looking to pull stuff off the schedule, Burgess said.

The new Minions film also is delayed until next year.

But with F9, summer is getting back on track this year. Also, the new Black Widow film is still set for release.

We have to fill in with more classic stuff, Burgess said, but he hopes new films will be available.

While normally it would be open during the weekend, Burgess kept the theater last season to a Friday through Sunday schedule. He will follow that again this year, he said, unless F9 starring Vin Diesel does well. He is leaving open the option of being open seven days a week.

There were plenty of challenges to opening the theater last season. While people flooded outdoor theaters looking for something to do, Burgess said revenue was down.

We werent open until the end of June, he said. Normally we opened in early May. But the more important thing was no first-run releases. We were forced to run older content.

Burgess said revenue for the year was about half that of a normal year, but still he was happy to be open.

The fact that we were able to get open and cover expenses was a plus, he said. Business was down, but we are alive and kicking.

Perhaps no business has been hit harder by the pandemic than the movie theater industry, especially indoor theaters where many still only are open a few days a week, if at all.

Changes this summer at the outdoor theater include not restricting parking. Vehicles are spaced 6 to 10 feet apart anyway, and everyone is outdoors.

The change comes as more that 40% of Wisconsin residents have been vaccinated.

Burgess said theater staff still are going to serve concessions at windows instead of inside the food court, but as more COVID guidelines change, the dining area rules could change this summer as well.

He said anyone not vaccinated should wear a mask, and people should practice social distancing. And everyone who enters a restroom should wear a mask.

While people often offer suggestions on what summer classics they want to see on the big screen, Burgess said he usually has a gut feeling for what films will bring people to the movies.

I got a pretty good idea what I will be running, he said.

And this summer could be time to take a DeLorean ride, or take some sound advice and never go into the water again.
Bill Burt and George Bremer discuss the NFL schedule and Tom Brady's return to New England; Elton Hayes and Kevin Brockway reflect on Coach K's retirement; and Clay Horning breaks down the worst defensive play in baseball in recent memory.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 08:56:20|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

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BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina reported on Thursday 24,086 new COVID-19 infections and 399 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 3,095,582 cases and 66,263 deaths.

The province of Buenos Aires, with 1,353,376, and the city of Buenos Aires, with 356,170, have the highest numbers of cases.

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HAVANA -- Cuba reported on Thursday more than 1,000 new COVID-19 infections for the third consecutive day, with 1,060 cases, to total 112,714, the Ministry of Public Health said, adding that there were another seven deaths reported, bringing the total to 701.

The ministry's director of hygiene and epidemiology Francisco Duran reported during his daily broadcast that of the new cases, 35 were imported ones.

- - - -

BUENOS AIRES -- Argentina's Health Minister Carla Vizzotti said on Thursday that the number of COVID-19 cases has stabilized in the country, but at a high number.

During a press conference on the epidemiological situation, Vizzotti said that the exponential increase in the number of infections in Argentina has stopped.

- - - -

DOHA -- Qatar on Thursday announced 593 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 209,470.

Qatari Health Ministry also confirmed that 1,321 more people recovered from the virus, bringing the overall recoveries to 198,227, while the total fatalities increased by four to 493.

- - - -

RABAT -- A total of 360 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Morocco on Thursday, taking the national tally of infections to 513,016, the Moroccan Ministry of Health said.

In the past 24 hours, six people died from the disease, taking the death toll to 9,049 in the country, while 293 people were in intensive care units, the ministry said in a statement.

- - - -

ANKARA -- Turkey on Thursday confirmed 22,388 new COVID-19 cases, including 2,401 symptomatic patients, raising the total number of cases in the country to 4,977,982.

The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 304 to 42,187, while the total recoveries climbed to 4,626,799 after 37,298 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, according to the Turkish Health Ministry.

- - - -

BEIRUT -- Lebanon registered on Thursday 1,017 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 531,234.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths from the virus went up by 25 to 7,415, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported. Enditem
Today

Partly cloudy and muggy with an evening shower or t-storm.

Tonight

Partly cloudy and muggy with an evening shower or t-storm.

Tomorrow

Partly sunny, more seasonable, and turning less humid; a spotty morning shower, especially south of the Lehigh Valley.
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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 09:37:43|Editor: huaxia

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BAKU, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijan's acting health minister Teymur Musayev on Thursday hailed the CoronaVac vaccine made by China's biopharmaceutical company Sinovac Biotech as fully safe.

Speaking at a press briefing of the operational headquarters for COVID-19 prevention and control, Musayev said that 1.6 million people in the country have got their first dose of the Chinese-made vaccine so far, while 600,000 people have received both.

He said Azerbaijan enrolled the CoronaVac vaccine for mass vaccination, describing it as "completely safe."

Infection cases among those who received both doses were minor, he said.

"We embark on a new phase of vaccination against COVID-19 in Azerbaijan from May 10 that will enable citizens above 18 to be vaccinated. This means we now have sufficient quantities of the jab," Musayev said.

Azerbaijan launched the mass vaccination in January. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 10:39:40|Editor: huaxia

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A health worker is seen at an isolation ward of a hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, April 26, 2021. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

With record high numbers in daily infections and fatalities, the outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 in Nepal is leaving the country in dire struggle to manage the pandemic. What is the reason behind the latest spike?

KATHMANDU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Nepal is witnessing new record highs of COVID-19 infections and deaths with each passing day, making it harder for the government and the patients to survive the pandemic.

Nepal reported on Thursday a new record of 9,070 coronavirus infections, with 54 patients losing their lives in the last 24 hours.

A day earlier, 58 people succumbed to the global pandemic and 8,605 new cases were reported. While on Tuesday, Nepal recorded 55 COVID-19-related fatalities and 7,587 new infections. On Monday, the figures were 37 and 7,388 respectively.

All were new highs at the time.

The first case of COVID-19 was detected in the country in January 2020, and now the outbreak of the second wave is leaving the country in dire struggle to manage the pandemic.

"The surge in the new infections and deaths is worrying," Dr. Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson with the Ministry of Health and Population, told Xinhua. "We are struggling hard to deal with the present situation."

On April 30, the ministry issued a statement saying the hospitals were running out of beds and there was not an adequate supply of oxygen.

Due to the lack of hospital beds, the patients are being treated in open space in different parts of the country, and there are reports of people losing their lives over the acute shortage of treatment facilities.

A team of young volunteers work to prepare an COVID-19 isolation center at a new building of Bir Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, May 5, 2021. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

According to officials at the Health Ministry and public health experts, there are primarily three reasons behind the latest spike.

First, they referred to political rallies launched by different parties and social gatherings such as marriages and other occasions. Different parties, mainly the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), had been organizing mass rallies in different parts of the country until last month to show their political strength. Meanwhile, dozens of people gathered together across the country as April and May mark the marriage season.

Second, the porous border with India is a major factor for the COVID-19 spread in Nepal. Officials say Nepali citizens are returning home as the pandemic is crippling the southern neighbour.

Nepal shares a 1,800-km-long open border with India, where the COVID-19 tally surpassed 21 million on Thursday as 412,262 new cases were registered across the country in the past 24 hours.

Gautam said checking the entry of people from India has been a problem as they tend to enter from other places even when the control of official border points is tightened.

Lastly, a new variant of the coronavirus knowns as B117 spreads faster than the previous ones, and it is hurting Nepal as well.

A man works at an oxygen cylinder factory in Kathmandu, Nepal on April 29, 2021. (Photo by Sulav Shrestha/Xinhua)

Most parts of Nepal, which has a population of around 30 million, has been under a two-week prohibitory order since April 29 as part of the efforts to break the chain of the spread.

"The prohibitory orders alone don't control the spread," Dr. GD Thakur, former director general at the Department of Health, told Xinhua. "The government should expand the tests and expedite contact tracing."

He said as around 40 percent of the tests have turned out to be positive, there are certainly hundreds of people at the community level who are infected.

Government officials say currently they are in dire need of ventilators, monitors and oxygen cylinders. "The Chinese government has pledged to grant 20,000 oxygen cylinders. We are in the process to bring them," Gautam said. "We have requested other countries for support but no pledge has been made so far."

Under a work plan unveiled by the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday, the government plans to receive the cylinders gifted by the Chinese government by May 14.

In a video conference on April 27, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterparts from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka agreed to deepen cooperation as South Asian countries were facing a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) -- An external review of how the Hartford Police Department handled an investigation into a betting incident has completed.

A report put out by Integrated Security Services (ISS) was released on Thursday following an investigation into a dead pool incident where a Hartford police detective started a bet asking where Hartfords first murder of 2021 would happen. The report also outlined a review of how the department handled the investigation into the incident.

Back in December, Hartford Police Det. Jeffrey Placzek of the Hartford Police Department's Major Crime Division, sent a text message to 20 colleagues, including three members of the citys Major Crime Division.

The premise of the text was to organize a dead pool, wagering where Hartfords first homicide of 2021 would happen.

Officers who participated or didnt report the incident were disciplined.

When information about the incident was released, Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody had said he would be sending the investigation for an independent, outside review, at the request of members of the city council.

In the internal review report released on Thursday, ISS stated Based on all the documents reviewed, ISS concurs that Detective Placzek's actions were inappropriate and unprofessional. That said, there is no indication that his intent was anything other than trying to be humorous. No members of the Hartford Police Department or the public were injured or suffered any negative consequences. Objectively, there is no indication of any racially motivated theme in his text.

In a statement following the release of this report, Chief Thody said This independent report concludes, among other findings, that the department acted in a timely and effective manner, but also expresses the view that the discipline I proposed in response to this incident is excessive. I believe that the callousness and lack of compassion expressed in his text was in no way humorous and was profoundly damaging to our community. I believe that transfer, demotion and suspension were absolutely justified. It will take a long time to repair the damage this incident caused to the community, the Department, and the relationship we share. I stand by the need for swift, meaningful, and fair discipline to discourage this type of behavior, and encourage supervisors to do the right thing quickly. Members of the community were deeply impacted and lost faith in the Police Department. The Department's reputation was damaged and our officers along with it. I think this report highlights the need for more interaction and understanding between the police and the community. Officers need to better understand the community, and be sensitive to the implications of all of their actions and words, joking or not, and the public needs to better understand the police officers and what this traumatic job can do to a person's outlook on life. And I need to focus on officer mental health and make sure there are positive, evidence-based resources available to our officers. We have taken steps to increase access to mental health supports, including through expanded in-service training, a more proactive employee assistance program, and developing a more active chaplain corps.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin also released a statement on Thursday saying "The dead pool text was deeply damaging to our community, and the Chief imposed discipline swiftly and appropriately. I agree one hundred percent with the Chiefs decision that this warranted significant discipline.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 10:42:44|Editor: huaxia

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MANILA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines received an additional batch of the Sinovac CoronaVac vaccine from China on Friday morning, said the country's Department of Health (DOH).

According to the DOH, the Philippines has administered more than 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, primarily to frontline healthcare workers and the elderly.

The government aims to inoculate up to 70 million Filipinos this year to achieve herd immunity.

The Southeast Asian country is ramping up vaccination efforts as it continues to battle a surge of COVID-19 infections fuelled by more infectious variants and people's complacency to safety protocols.

"Our speed in vaccination is greatly dependent on the availability of the vaccines," the DOH said.

China donated the first batch of CoronaVac to the Philippines on Feb. 28, allowing the country to kick off its vaccination drive on March 1.

The Philippines has reported a total of 1,080,172 COVID-19 cases as of Thursday, including 17,991 deaths. Enditem
Quincy, IL (62301)

Today

Mainly clear. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low near 70F. Winds light and variable.
Quincy, IL (62301)

Today

Mainly clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.
Today

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.

Tonight

Thunderstorms this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Low 69F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.

Tomorrow

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 10:45:38|Editor: huaxia

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JOHANNESBURG, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Late South African rugby player Lindani Myeni's wife Lindsay Myeni confirmed Thursday that she was suing the U.S. police over the death of her husband in Honolulu in U.S. Hawaii State.

"We are still suing the Honolulu police department ... I think we'll get closer to justice," she told reporters after a memorial service of her husband in Empangeni in South Africa's eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal.

The 29-year-old sportsman, who was unarmed, was shot dead by police on April 14.

Reports said Myeni was killed during a confrontation with the Hawaii police, who said they took action in response to a burglary call. However, Lindsay Myeni told the press that the burglary accusation was nonsense as her husband had indicated he was on his way home.

Lindsay Myeni said while the U.S. government had not assisted her young family, she was thankful to the South African government.

"The SA government has been very helpful, putting the funeral and everything together for free. It's so sweet of them," she said, adding that she would need the government's help to secure a citizenship to stay in South Africa.

Lindsay Myeni is an American with two young children with her late husband. She said she would like to raise her children in South Africa.

"Right now, I feel like this is the safest country to raise them. I don't want to raise kids that are considered Black in America. Clearly, they are not safe," she said.

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Premier Sihle Zikalala delivered a eulogy at the memorial service, describing the late sportsman as a compassionate person.

"Those who took Lindani's life want us to believe that he was a criminal and a violent man, but those who knew him intimately tell tales of a soft-spoken, gentle giant who was always considerate and compassionate," Zikalala said.

He said that the passing of the rugby player dealt a devastating blow to the country, and that the U.S. government must respond to the outrage over his killing by ensuring justice.

The late sportsman's funeral will take place on Saturday in KwaZulu-Natal, his home province. Enditem
Today

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Low 69F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.

Tomorrow

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon. High 82F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Children are invited to Mothers Day Craft, May 7, from 4 to 5 p.m. This is a Zoom program just for them to make Mother's Day gifts like paper flowers, and cards. Craft materials will be available at the librarys drive-thru window. An an email will be sent out when they are ready for pick up. Children will need markers, glue and scissors. Registration is required. The program is for children preschool ages three-years-old to five-years-old. and in kindergarten, and up. Questions may be emailed to lkeogh@wiltonlibrary.org, or call the childrens library desk at 203-762-6336. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org to register.

Story times this month

Kids can Zoom right into various story times including special appearances by Wilton police and firefighters. Children ages four through six years can enjoy Ready Readers Live, May 10, May 17 and May 24, from 4:15 to 4:45 p.m. Toddlers, from ages one-year-old to three-years-old, can be part of Zooming Toddler Story Time May 12, May 19 and May 26, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Little ones, ages six months to two years-years-old are in for a treat with Mother Goose on the Loose May 13, May 20 and May 27, from 11 to 11:30 a.m. Children ages two years-old, and up have two special interactive offerings with Wiltons finest, Police Officer Story Time Live, May 13, from 10 to 10:30 a.m. and Firefighter Story Time Live, May 25, from 10 to 10:30 a.m. All of the story times are on Zoom. Registration for these programs is required. Zoom invitation links will be emailed to all people who are registered. Any questions may be emailed to children@wiltonlibrary.org. To register, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org.

Readers gather

Wilton Library Readers gather together this month, the month of May, May 12, from noon to 1:30 p.m. over Zoom. The group is led by professional book discussion leader Susan Boyar who will be discussing Transcendent Kingdom by author Yaa Gyasi. Attendees may feel free to munch on their lunches while discussing the book. There is one more session for the readers current season, June 9, with the discussion of the book, Bolaway, by author Elizabeth McCracken. Registration is required for either session so that the Zoom links can be emailed to all registrants a few days before the meetings. To register, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org. Questions may be emailed to kzeibak@wiltonlibrary.org.

Family peace

Children ages four-years-old through seven-years-old with their grown-ups are invited to join Virtual Family Meditation May 13, and May 27, from 4 to 4:30 p.m. Wilton resident Anju Pandey will lead the classes as part of Mental Health Wellness month. This 30-minute Zoom session will give participants a taste of mindfulness in a fun, easy setting with some mindful breathing exercises, games, and book reading. Register one person in your party for each class.

Zoom links will be emailed the day of the program. There is no fee. Register for each date separately. To register, visit www.wiltonlibrary.org. Questions may be emailed to aszabo@wiltonlibrary.org.

New business resources

Small businesses are the backbone of every community, and they have been very hard hit during the pandemic. The library has curated quick links to various resources that can be helpful to small business owners. The information dedicated to small business can be found at www.wiltonlibrary.org, click on the Research tab, then scroll to Online Resources, click on Business Information and scroll to Small Business Resources. The direct link is https://www.wiltonlibrary.org/research/business-information From the CBIA (Connecticut Business & Industry Association) assistance to SCORE retirees as mentors, from ct.gov help to the Small Business Reference Center, there is a lot information for small businesses. A Wilton Library card is needed to access the resources. The librarys reference librarians are happy to help people with any questions by visiting them at the library, calling 203-762-6350, or emailing reference@wiltonlibrary.org.

Reminder: Childrens Book Week continues through Saturday. Check out the librarys website for the reading challenge, and the bookmark supplies. Visit www.wiltonlibrary.org for information, and to register for any of the librarys virtual programming, and for information about the Digital Library or any of the librarys databases. For those Wilton residents needing a library card to access the Digital Library, call 203-762-6334. If anyone has questions about accessing, or using the Digital Library, email reference@wiltonlibrary.org.


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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 11:14:08|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday, reiterating the importance of multilateralism.

The following are some key remarks made by Xi on various occasions on multilateralism.

May 6, 2021

Noting that the United Nations (UN) has gone through rare and complicated situations in recent years, Xi said when talking with Guterres that multilateralism has received more and more support as a result.

Pursuing multilateralism is inseparable from the United Nations, international law and cooperation among countries, Xi said.

The world needs genuine multilateralism, Xi said, adding that all countries should act in accordance with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, refrain from pursuing unilateralism and hegemonism, and should not use multilateralism as a pretext to form small circles or stir up ideological confrontation.

China will continue to support the work of the United Nations and that of Secretary-General Guterres, and uphold genuine multilateralism, Xi said.

April 22, 2021

To build a community of life for man and nature, we must be committed to harmony between man and nature, green development, systemic governance, a people-centered approach, multilateralism, and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, Xi said while addressing the Leaders Summit on Climate via video link from Beijing.

April 20, 2021

All countries should follow the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, uphold true multilateralism, and make the global governance system more fair and equitable, Xi said while delivering a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021.

April 16, 2021

China opposes "vaccine nationalism" and a man-made vaccine divide, and is willing to work with the international community, including France and Germany, to ensure timely access to vaccines for the developing world, Xi said while attending a video summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing.

Jan. 26, 2021

Multilateralism is about having international affairs addressed through consultation and the future of the world decided by everyone working together, Xi said when addressed the World Economic Forum Virtual Event of the Davos Agenda.

"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," Xi said.

Nov. 22, 2020

"In my view, the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits should guide our way forward," Xi said at the Group of 20 (G20) Leaders' Summit via video link. "We should uphold multilateralism, pursue openness and inclusiveness, promote mutually beneficial cooperation and keep pace with the times." Enditem
The headline last week was attention-grabbing but a tad misleading: Paddington 2 dethrones Citizen Kane as best film of all time.

The headline last week was attention-grabbing but a tad misleading: "Paddington 2 dethrones Citizen Kane as best film of all time."

Heres the background: Citizen Kane, Orson Welless 1941 masterwork, which once enjoyed a 100 per cent "Fresh" rating on the aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes, now has 115 positive reviews and one pan. Meanwhile, Paddington 2, a movie about a little bear "who spreads joy and marmalade wherever he goes," has 244 reviews, and theyre all positive.

BLOOMBERG WARNER BROS. PICTURES Meanwhile, Paddington 2, a movie about a little bear "who spreads joy and marmalade wherever he goes," has 244 Rotten Tomatoes reviews, and theyre all positive. Warner Bros. Pictures

Of course, Paddington himself, being a kind and modest bear, was mostly concerned about the feelings of "Mr. Kane." ("I do hope Mr. Kane wont be too upset when he hears Ive overtaken him with rotten tomatoes," he tweeted.)

But Paddington superfans  and I enthusiastically count myself among them  felt that Rotten Tomatoes had just confirmed what they already knew. Paddington 2 is a wonderful, wonderful movie that deserves all the hype it gets.

The sudden toppling of Kane came about through the work of Rotten Tomatoes archival project. Charged with digging up contemporaneous reviews of older films, the project found a rather tetchy analysis of Citizen Kane from 80 years ago.

TRIBUNE MEDIA TNS A Chicago Daily Tribune review of the film Citizen Kane was published on May 7, 1941, which dropped the acclaimed movie's Rotten Tomatoes rating down to 99 per cent. (Chicago Daily Tribune/Chicago Tribune/TNS)

Written under a pseudonym for the Chicago Tribune, it accused the film of "sacrificing simplicity to eccentricity." Also, for some reason, the reviewer was not keen on the work of Joseph Cotten.

That ding demoted Citizen Kane to 99 per cent. There are several other films that still retain their perfect RT scores (Seven Samurai, Battleship Potemkin, The 400 Blows), but clearly there was something catchy about picking out Paddington 2 as the natural heir to Citizen Kane.

For decades now, Citizen Kane has been the self-assured and confident cliche of cinematic greatness, the Citizen Kane of Citizen Kane movies.

And now, it has been overtaken by a dear little bear in a duffel coat. Cue the memes.

The coronation of Paddington 2 brings up several points about movies and how we rate them. First off, it reinforces the sheer wonderfulness of all things Paddington. Secondly, it demonstrates that Top 10 lists and "greatest movie ever" statements are irresistible  humans love to rank things  but theyre also wacky and arbitrary.

Finally, the Kane vs. Paddington faceoff reminds us that while aggregate review sites are handy, it helps to know how they work.

Metacritic, whose scores tend to be lower than RTs, uses an averaging system that differentiates between an overwhelmingly positive review and one thats merely "meh."

RT, on the other hand, uses a rudimentary yes/no system, where an absolute rave gets the same weight as a "pretty good, could do better" review. In other words, a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesnt mean every single critic rated the movie at 100 per cent. It means that 100 per cent of critics, basically, liked it.

And that makes perfect sense for Paddington 2 because this all-ages comedy-adventure film is likable  immensely, incontrovertibly likable. That could, in fact, be its defining quality.

CP Paddington 2 ends with a big Hugh Grant musical production number. My goodness, whats not to like? (Joerg Carstensen/dpa via AP)

Telling the story of a lost bear who has been adopted by a nice London family called the Browns, the movie is bursting with happiness but also just a little sad, in that good Pixar way. Its visually inventive and filled with glorious colour. Its clever but completely uncynical. And it ends with a big Hugh Grant musical production number. My goodness, whats not to like?

Paddingtons path to cinematic acclaim is also adorably unexpected, which adds to its ultimate triumph. Adapting Michael Bonds gentle childrens books is the kind of thing the movies often mess up. Yet 2014s Paddington and the 2017 followup Paddington 2 manage to retain the sweet simplicity of the book series  which began in 1958  while bringing in everything that is wondrous about cinema.

The combo of live action  featuring the usual crew of crack British character actors  with CGI and animatronics could have gone horribly wrong. But it works, with deft, seamless craft: Paddington is charmingly furred, wonderfully expressive and appealingly voiced by Ben Whishaw.

For film wonks, there are intricate physical comedy sequences and elaborate chase scenes that riff on silent film stars such as Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and the semi-silent French master Jacques Tati.

Theres a touch of Wes Anderson, too, in Paddingtons vision of London, with costumes and settings that are super-stylized and slightly out-of-time.

CP And finally, theres Paddington himself, prone to mild catastrophes but hugely well-intentioned and eternally optimistic. (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

And finally, theres Paddington himself, prone to mild catastrophes but hugely well-intentioned and eternally optimistic. He looks for the good in people, and he finds it. And he has lovely manners: As Paddington often says, "If were kind and polite, the world will be right."

Paddington makes everyone around him  and that includes the audience  better, happier, more hopeful. In the current age of divisiveness and meanness, Paddington feels like a hero for our time.

Paddington 2 might not be "the best film of all time," but it could be the best film for right now.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca
REGINA - Saskatchewan is extending its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan to include children aged 12 and older with expected first doses by the end of the school year.

Premier Scott Moe speaks at the Legislative Building in Regina on Tuesday, April 6, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michael Bell

REGINA - Saskatchewan is extending its COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan to include children aged 12 and older with expected first doses by the end of the school year.

Officials told a news conference Thursday the vaccines will be administered in school-based programs, pharmacies and clinics.

Health Minister Paul Merriman said the plan to offer shots in schools and timelines, as well as the parental consent process, are still being finalized.

When the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available in schools, the province said parents can expect to hear from public health officials and from their school divisions.

The announcement comes a day after Health Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 and up.

Saskatchewans chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said vaccine trials in younger children remain underway.

"We fully expect those trials to be very positive in terms of the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines," he said. "We fully expect that by July or August, we will have information on vaccinations in children under 11.

"We dont expect them to be very different from the vaccinations that are already available."

Also Thursday, the province reported 156 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of active infections to 2,158. There were 173 people in hospital due to the virus, and 41 of them were in intensive care.

The province said that later this month it will begin scheduling second vaccine doses for those 85 and older, or those who received their first dose before Feb. 15. The second-dose rollout is to be offered to people in the same sequence as the first doses.

And while first shots will continue to be offered at the same time as second doses, Merriman said he expects minimal overlap.

"Its going to happen so quickly, it will only be a couple days overlap," he said.

The province is also delivering vaccines to pharmacies, a process that Merriman said is going "extremely well."

He encouraged everybody who is eligible for their first or second dose to get it.

"After 14 long months, we are finally getting past the point of controlling COVID-19," said Merriman.

"We are now in a position where we can beat COVID-19. But theres only one way to do that, and thats by everybody getting vaccinated  the end is in sight, but we have to keep going."

Officials project that all Saskatchewan adults will be eligible to book their second dose by July 31.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2021.

 By Julia Peterson in Saskatoon
CALGARY - The CEO of Enbridge Inc. says "bad things" will happen if Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer succeeds in carrying out her order to shut down its Line 5 pipeline through the Great Lakes region next week.

The Enbridge logo is shown at the company's annual meeting in Calgary on May 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY - The CEO of Enbridge Inc. says "bad things" will happen if Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer succeeds in carrying out her order to shut down its Line 5 pipeline through the Great Lakes region next week.

But Al Monaco added he doesn't think that's going to happen given court-ordered negotiations between the state and his company, and Enbridge's court battle against the order to shut down the pipeline that runs beneath the Straits of Mackinac by May 12.

"You just can't take 540,000 barrels per day out of the market and not have bad things happen, ultimately, to consumers and pet-chems (petrochemical plants) and refineries. It's just a very bad outcome," said Monaco on a conference call Friday to discuss first-quarter results.

The federal Liberal government is pushing back against the order and considering taking action under the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty with the United States that allows for the uninterrupted flow of energy between the two countries.

After winning some of the state permits needed for a project to build a concrete tunnel to encase the pipeline under the waterway and mitigate the risk of leaks, Enbridge is going ahead with seeking contracts for its construction, said Vern Yu, president, liquids pipelines.

The cost will likely be higher than the initial estimate of US$500 million, he said, without being specific.

Enbridge revealed it has proposed a carbon capture, use and storage pipeline project to potential customers in northern Alberta, where Canada's oilsands projects are located.

The project would be bigger than the existing Alberta Carbon Trunk Line in central Alberta that has capacity to transport 14.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from industrial sites for enhanced oil recovery, said Yu, and is one of many similar proposals Enbridge is pursuing.

"We're in discussions with multiple parties in the U.S. about potential opportunities as I think we bring a lot of expertise to building these types of projects," said Yu on the call.

"We're talking with customers in the Gulf Coast, customers in the Midwest and the Rockies as well as what we're doing in Canada."

Monaco said the profitability of CCUS projects is "challenged" but that could change as the Canadian government reveals details of investment tax credits for carbon capture it unveiled in its recent budget. He added he hopes those credits are similar to what's being offered in the United States.

Enbridge reported a first-quarter profit of $1.9 billion compared with a loss of $1.4 billion in the same quarter last year when it took a number of large one-time charges.

Operating revenue totalled $12.2 billion, up from $12 billion in the first three months of 2020.

The first quarter results included a gain of $300 million related to the mark-to-market value of derivatives used to manage foreign exchange risk.

In the first quarter last year, the company says it took a $1.7-billion charge related to the value of its investment in DCP Midstream LLC, as well as a $2.0-billion charge related to derivatives.

On an adjusted basis, Enbridge says it earned 81 cents per share for the quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 83 cents per share in the same quarter last year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ENB)
PORTO, Portugal - European Union leaders and their large following of diplomats and advisers met Friday in Portugal for two days of in-person talks, signalling their belief that the threat from COVID-19 on the continent is waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout.

A view of the Crystal Palace on Thursday, May 6, 2021, which will be the venue of an upcoming EU summit in Porto, Portugal. European Union leaders are meeting for a summit in Portugal on Friday, May 7 sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

PORTO, Portugal - European Union leaders and their large following of diplomats and advisers met Friday in Portugal for two days of in-person talks, signalling their belief that the threat from COVID-19 on the continent is waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout.

The pandemic was a constant presence, however. Meeting face-to-face for the first time this year, the leaders converged on a 19th-century riverside Customs building in the picturesque Atlantic coast city of Porto. Face masks concealed their smiles but they enthusiastically bumped elbows and fists and chatted. They sat apart, without a table, in a large hall and balanced sheaves of paper on their laps, a small plastic water bottle at their feet.

The (pandemic) recovery is still in an early stage, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen conceded. We're still having a difficult time with all the negative impact of the pandemic.

Scores of police, staff and journalists at the summit wore masks and had to undergo PCR tests before being allowed to attend.

The summit hopes to repair some of the economic damage the pandemic has wreaked in the bloc. In a late addition, EU leaders will also discuss proposals to share COVID-19 vaccine technology to help speed the end of the pandemic for all the world.

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi, right, elbow bumps European Commissioner for An Economy that Works for People Valdis Dombrovskis as he arrives for an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal, Friday, May 7, 2021. European Union leaders met for a summit in Portugal on Friday, sending a signal they see the threat from COVID-19 on their continent as waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout. Their talks hope to repair some of the damage the coronavirus has caused in the bloc, in such areas as welfare and employment. (Jose Coelho, Pool via AP)

On Saturday, the leaders will take part in an unprecedented meeting, via videoconference, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country needs more help amid a devastating virus surge  and who can smooth the path toward an elusive bilateral trade deal.

EU leaders appear keen to try and convey a sense of normalcy, of slowly returning to normal, said Antonio Barroso, a political analyst at Teneo.

That's a key consideration for southern EU countries like Portugal, Spain and Greece, where tourism is an economic mainstay.

Despite a slow start to its inoculation drive, the EU has passed the milestone of 150 million vaccinations given out and reckons it can reach what it calls sufficient community immunity in two months time. The European Commission has proposed relaxing restrictions on travel to the bloc this summer.

Yet who can travel, when and where remains a sensitive question for Europeans. Pandemic improvements have been uneven across the continent and many EU citizens remain subject to coronavirus restrictions. In a political nod to those concerns, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte did not travel to Portugal.

Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela also did not attend in person because he was in quarantine after his wife tested positive.

The summit made a splash in Porto, with a population of 200,000, whose many hotels have been shut down since last spring due to COVID-19 restrictions.

With the pandemic exposing inequalities and bringing greater hardship in the bloc, the talks will look at how to ensure the rights of EU citizens are protected in employment support, gender equality and social services.

COVID has taken the covers off and shown the gaps in care, says Laura Rayner, a policy analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think-tank . So many people, through no fault of their own, have found themselves requiring some support.

The EU is looking for the endorsement in Porto of three headline targets: an EU employment rate of at least 78%, at least 60% of adults attending training courses every year, and reducing the number of those at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million people, including 5 million children.

The push for social safeguards has caused some tensions. Last month, 11 EU governments welcomed the Porto effort but warned central EU authorities against meddling in national policies.

Plans for a face-to-face EU-India summit in Porto fell through after Modi cancelled his trip due to the pandemic. But Saturday's talks will be the first time an Indian leader joins a meeting with all of the EUs leaders.

The talks with Modi are important because India and the EU spent six years trying to negotiate a free trade deal before giving up in 2013. Among the thorny issues were vehicle parts and digital privacy.

____

Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.
BERLIN - Factory production and exports increased strongly in Germany in March, according to official statistics released Friday, developments that bode well for the second quarter in Europe's largest economy as it struggles to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Old Opera house is reflected in a puddle in Frankfurt, Germany, on a rainy Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

BERLIN - Factory production and exports increased strongly in Germany in March, according to official statistics released Friday, developments that bode well for the second quarter in Europe's largest economy as it struggles to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.

The Economy Ministry said industrial production rose 2.5% in March over February when adjusted for seasonal and calendar factors.

The increase followed drops of 1.9% in February and 2.2% in January. ING economist Carsten Brzeski noted that on the year, industrial production was up a strong 5.1%.

In a separate encouraging report, German exports were up 1.2% in March over February, and up 16.1% over March of last year, according to seasonally and calendar adjusted figures from the Federal Statistical Office.

After weaker industrial data in the first months of the year on the back of a long Christmas break, harsh winter weather and the Chinese New Year, industry has finally gained momentum, Brzeski said.

Looking ahead, filled order books and low inventories bode well for industrial activity. Fiscal stimulus and investment initiatives around the globe should also benefit German industry.

In the first quarter, exports were up overall 2.4% over the same quarter of 2020, with a strong 4.8% rise in exports inside the European Union brought down by a 0.3% drop to non-EU countries. Imports rose 4.5% in the EU and fell 0.1% from outside the EU.

The first quarter of 2021 was the first since Britain's exit from the EU, and Brzeski noted it was the first time ever the United Kingdom had dropped out of Germany's top five most important export destinations.

In the first quarter, German exports to Britain dropped 17.6% while imports from Britain dropped 27.7% over the same quarter in 2020.

Germanys economy did better last year than several others in Europe as it was supported by manufacturing, which has taken less of a hit than services during the pandemic.

German authorities havent imposed any shutdowns on industry during the crisis, but many restrictions on businesses such as restaurants, bars, hotels and leisure facilities remain in place.
OTTAWA - Canada's national unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent in April. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):

OTTAWA - Canada's national unemployment rate was 8.1 per cent in April. Here are the jobless rates last month by province (numbers from the previous month in brackets):

_ Newfoundland and Labrador 13.9 per cent (12.4)

_ Prince Edward Island 8.2 per cent (8.1)

_ Nova Scotia 8.1 per cent (8.6)

_ New Brunswick 8.5 per cent (9.2)

_ Quebec 6.6 per cent (6.4)

_ Ontario 9.0 per cent (7.5)

_ Manitoba 7.4 per cent (6.8)

_ Saskatchewan 6.6 per cent (7.3)

_ Alberta 9.0 per cent (9.1)

_ British Columbia 7.1 per cent (6.9)

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021 and was generated automatically.
Manitoba is among four provinces that arent keeping up with the economic damage being caused by the growing third wave of COVID-19, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Thursday.

Manitoba is among four provinces that arent keeping up with the economic damage being caused by the growing third wave of COVID-19, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Thursday.

With a rising number of regions currently under stringent public-health restrictions across the country, many provincial governments have extended or expanded their emergency relief programs for struggling storefronts and companies.

However, Manitoba  along with Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador  is not one of them, while businesses in other provinces have access to a widely available grant program with no strings attached.

"I have to give props to Manitoba for the Bridge Grant, which was a well-designed and relatively successful program," said Jonathan Alward, Prairies director for CFIB, about the $5,000-a-pop grant that has yet to be extended.

"But were looking at very tight capacity limits right now and businesses are under tremendous pressure and debt... I think its time the government seriously look at expanding grants right now, or we can expect a lot more closures coming up."

Hard-hit storefronts in Manitoba are facing over $180,000 in coronavirus-related debt, according to CFIBs latest estimates. "And thats just what theyve incurred because of and during the pandemic," said Alward.

To measure the reach of provincial programs, CFIB conducted four case studies of how a dine-in restaurant, a small retailer, a dry cleaner and a new gym would fare in each province.

In most cases, grants helped cover less than one-tenth of new debt. In Manitoba, no such grant existed to cover any debt at all.

Economic Development and Jobs Minister Ralph Eichler hinted at further assistance for businesses earlier this week, but was hesitant to answer questions about that directly.

"If we need to do another program, we certainly will," Eichler told the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce at a virtual event this week. "It may not be the same program we have before."

The Tories have designated $300 million under the 2021-22 provincial budget for extended support like the Bridge Grant. A provincial spokeswoman, however, would not say when or if those funds will be used.

Instead, the Manitoba government spokeswoman touted the province for having the "most generous" programs in the country, and said they are in constant talks with the business community about "creating an environment for a sustained reopening of our economy."

CFIB says talks are one thing, implementing urgent suggestions is another. The business advocates are calling for all provinces to ensure urgent aid packages with accessible applications are immediately available, so that funds can be released to those that need them as quickly as possible.

"At the end of the day," Alward said, "you cant tell people to operate in a certain way or not operate at all, and then expect not to support those that are impacted.

"If this doesnt change soon, we can expect massive fallouts."

temur.durrani@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @temurdur
The U.S. railway regulator has approved CP Rail's voting trust in connection with its proposed purchase of Kansas City Southern.

Canadian Pacific Railway locomotives are shuffled around a marshalling yard in Calgary, Alta., Wednesday, May 16, 2012. The U.S. regulator has approved CP Rail's voting trust for Kansas City Southern. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

The U.S. railway regulator has approved CP Rail's voting trust in connection with its proposed purchase of Kansas City Southern.

The Surface Transportation Board described Canadian Pacific's trust agreement as "warranted" and "acceptable with some modifications."

The decision announced Thursday follows its earlier agreement that the transaction would be governed by a waiver KCS received in 2001.

The STB's latest ruling allows KCS shareholders to receive cash and shares of CP and for its shares to be transferred to an independent trust once shareholders of both railways approve the transaction.

CP Rail President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Creel called the board's ruling a "critical milestone" in the proposed merger.

"We are proceeding full steam ahead to complete this historic combination, creating the first truly North American single line railroad," Creel said in a release.

"We are continuing to prepare our formal merger application and proxy filing for a shareholder vote in the near future."

Meanwhile, rival bidder Canadian National Railway says it is encouraged by the STBs decision to approve CP's voting trust and is confident the regulator will reach the same decision about CN's "identical voting trust."

"Approving both voting trusts will allow KCS to choose the bid it judges to be best for its shareholders," it said in a news release.

Canada's two largest railways are in a heated and rhetorical battle to acquire Kansas City Southern.

Calgary-based CP Rail's bid is valued at US$25 billion, but CN then announced a cash-and-stock bid valued at US$33.7 billion.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2021.

Companies in this story: (TSX:CNR, TSX:CP)
Ronald Smith sounds tired.

Despite good news last month, when a bill to resume executions in Montana was unexpectedly defeated, the Canadian on death row in that state is in a sombre mood.

Ronald Smith, a Canadian on death row in the United States. is shown at the state prison in Deer Lodge, Mont., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland

Smith, originally from Red Deer, Alta., has been facing capital punishment since 1983 for killing two young Montana men in 1982.

"I thought we were screwed," he said in an interview with The Canadian Press from Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, Mont.

"I didn't think there was a chance in hell that this wouldn't be approved. Once my daughter found out, I explained to her which road we were going down and what the probable outcomes were going to be. I was that sure that it was over."

All executions have been stayed in Montana since 2015 because the state requires the use of an ultra-fast-acting barbiturate, which is no longer available. There hasn't been an execution in Montana since 2006.

Montana's house of representatives passed a bill in February that would have amended protocol to include any substance in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death. But the senate voted it down 26-24.

The execution issue is likely to arise again in two years when the state legislature reconvenes.

"Obviously, I'm happy about it, but at the same time it keeps running through the back of my head, 'Oh crap. I'm stuck sitting around here again,'" Smith sighed.

"A lot of people look at it and say, 'Well at least you're alive,' but I'm really not. I'm just sitting around like a bump on a log is all I'm doing, and after almost 40 years of this, anything is preferable."

Smith, 63, rephrased his response when asked if he would prefer to be executed.

"Well, maybe not preferable, but I wouldn't be bothered by it. As soon as I heard what was going on, I accepted it. I went, 'OK, cool. I don't have to deal with this crap anymore.'

"I was worried about my family because they were going to take it hard. Personally, I don't care. I've hit that point where I've done enough of this. If they're (legislators) not going to cut me a break, than go ahead and do away with me."

Smith and Rodney Munro, both high on LSD and alcohol, shot and killed two Indigenous cousins near East Glacier, Mont., in 1982. They admitted to marching Harvey Mad Man, 23, and Thomas Running Rabbit, 20, into the woods by a highway. They shot each man in the head with a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle.

Court heard that Smith and Munro wanted to steal the victims' car. Smith also said at the time that he wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.

He was initially offered a plea deal that would have taken the death penalty off the table, but he rejected it. He pleaded guilty and asked to be put to death, but later changed his mind. He has had five execution dates set over the years. Each has been overturned.

The victims' families have continued to push for Smith to be executed.

Munro took the plea bargain, was eventually transferred to a prison in Canada, and has been free since 1998.

"He's been out 23 years and doing well and I wish him all the very best. Had I taken that plea deal, then I'd have been out a long time ago. It's hard not to have that in the back of your mind on a pretty regular basis."

Smith said he's content with paying for his crimes, but would like to be transferred to a prison in Canada, where he has a daughter, two sisters, grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

"I'm getting pretty much what I deserve for the crime I committed," he said. "If I was in a position where I could see my family on a constant basis, then leave me locked up. I don't care.

"It is what it is. I committed the crime."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.

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OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the conviction of a youth found guilty of sexually assaulting another teenager in a case involving alcohol and capacity to consent.

The flag of the Supreme Court of Canada flies in Ottawa, Monday March 15, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the conviction of a youth found guilty of sexually assaulting another teenager in a case involving alcohol and capacity to consent.

In its ruling Friday, the high court also affirmed the constitutionality of a provision that denies young people automatic rights of appeal available to adults convicted of indictable offences.

A 15-year-old boy was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl during a beach party in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough in 2016.

The two teenagers, friends from school, were drinking at the party and had intercourse a short distance from a bonfire.

The girl told police she did not remember the sexual activity.

In his defence, the boy said the girl had asked for sex and he thought she was able to give consent.

One of the girl's friends arrived at the party later and found her severely intoxicated, but key to the case was how soon after the sexual encounter she had made the discovery.

The trial judge found the girl was not capable of consenting to sex and that the boy, beyond a reasonable doubt, knew or was wilfully blind to this fact.

The ruling was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal. However, one judge would have allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction.

The youth, who cannot be identified publicly, then took his case to the Supreme Court, which granted leave to appeal.

In its decision Friday, the high court concluded the verdict in the case was reasonable.

In writing for a majority of the court, Justice Rosalie Abella said the trial judge's grounds for finding the boy guilty of sexual assault "are model trial reasons: rigorous and thoughtfully explained."

Adults have an automatic right to appeal to the Supreme Court when there is a dissent in the court of appeal on a question of law, or when the appeal court enters a finding of guilt on a Crown appeal from an acquittal at trial.

A majority of the Supreme Court found that denying these rights to young people under the Youth Criminal Justice Act was constitutionally valid.

Writing for four of five justices who took this position, Chief Justice Richard Wagner said the provision in question can deny the Crown, not just the young person, an automatic right of appeal.

He added that, given the particular costs for young people, an automatic oral hearing and an in-depth review of the record by a full panel "will not serve their interests in every case."

Wagner also rejected the notion that young peoples access to the Supreme Court had lagged behind, saying it "is not borne out by any evidence in the record before us."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 11:47:10|Editor: huaxia

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A woman wearing a face mask waits for the approaching metro train at the platform in central station in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, on May 6, 2021. Sweden reported 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 6,526 new cases detected in the past 24 hours. (Photo by Wei Xuechao/Xinhua)

STOCKHOLM, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Sweden reported 1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Thursday with 6,526 new cases detected in the past 24 hours.

It has also recorded 691.52 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the past 14 days, making it the hardest-hit country in the European Union, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Thursday.

Many schools were still shut down following the outbreak of the pandemic last year, and teachers and parents were critical of the way the government handled the pandemic, local media reported.

HIGH FATALITY

The death toll from the virus has reached 14,158 as of Thursday in Sweden since the pandemic started, according to date published by the Public Health Agency's press conference.

Sweden has accelerated its vaccination program in the last few weeks, and yet the national count of COVID-19 cases is believed to top a million, as Sweden may be testing more extensively than other countries, the Swedish Public Health Agency said.

Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of the department of microbiology at the Public Health Agency, admitted the number of infections in Sweden has been underestimated and that one in four Swedes may have antibodies.

Senior citizens have fallen easy victim to the virus, not the least among death cases. Up to date, 9,609 of death cases in Sweden were found in people aged 80 or older, according to data from the Public Health Agency.

The high death toll is a result of cluster outbreaks at nursing homes, especially during the first wave, critics said.

UNIQUE ROUTE

Except senior residents, other Swedes could go about their daily affairs pretty much as usual, while their elderly relatives and inhabitants had to endure strictly enforced lockdowns.

The government has taken measures to prevent the virus from entering nursing homes, and demanded distance education for high schools and university students since March last year. Restrictions on the size of crowds in public places were also put in place.

Nevertheless, the Swedish strategy was based on advice rather than curfews. The Swedish authorities took a different attitude towards the usage of facial masks.

The Public Health Agency believed masks could create a false sense of security and even increased the risks of infection if not handled properly.

The public were asked to wear face masks when using public transport in January this year, yet this is still not mandatory in Sweden.

In March last year, Dagens Nyheter newspaper revealed that a leaked email showed that a Swedish state epidemiologist took a positive attitude toward "a slow spread of infection among school children and their parents to build up herd immunity."

LESSONS LEARNED

In June last year, Ebba Busch, leader of the Swedish Christian Democrats, criticized the government's strategies.

"In February, thousands of Swedes were allowed to land at Arlanda airport from areas that already had a large spread of infection. Then they were allowed to go straight out into the community," Busch said.

However, government ministers denied that this was part of Sweden's strategy when testifying before the Committee on the Constitution last month.

They also insisted that the government never had a formal strategy and that the restrictions were imposed on an ad-hoc basis based on advices from the Public Health Agency.

Six months after Busch's criticisms, King Carl XIV Gustaf vented his frustration in his traditional Christmas interview with Swedish Television. By then Sweden had reported 7,000 COVID-19 deaths.

"I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died and that is terrible," he said.

A commission of inquiry set up by the government in June last year was more specific in its criticism.

In the first report released in December, the commission concluded that nursing homes were "ill-prepared and equipped to deal with the pandemic" and that these problems had been known for a long time.

"The current government -- as well as previous governments -- bears the ultimate responsibility for these shortcomings," the report said.

The government presented a plan that all adults in the country will be offered vaccines before mid-September.

By Thursday, a total of 2,769,411 individuals, or almost 34 percent of the adult population, had received at least one dose of vaccine. Just over 794,000 individuals, or 9.7 percent of the adult population, were fully vaccinated.

At the press conference on Thursday, the Public Health Agency warned that the situation might worsen despite the vaccinations and asked all Swedes to strictly follow the authorities' advice on the prevention of the pandemic. Enditem
I got my first shot of Pfizer vaccine last weekend, and while Im relieved to have started my journey to possible COVID-19 immunity, Im also feeling more than a little guilty.

Opinion

I got my first shot of Pfizer vaccine last weekend, and while Im relieved to have started my journey to possible COVID-19 immunity, Im also feeling more than a little guilty.

All things being equal, Im not sure people like me should be vaccinated right now. Ill knock on wood repeatedly while I explain why.

Im only in my late 50s (which Im told is the new 40s), in good health (knock-knock), and I have a job that allows me to stay well away from the front line of the pandemic.

So, how is it that Im already half-vaccinated and others of clearly greater need are not? Such as Manitobans who care for organ transplant recipients.

This week, the Canadian Transplant Association wrote a letter to provincial Health Minister Heather Stefanson asking Manitoba ensure organ recipients get their second doses of vaccine within the prescribed time limits set by manufacturers.

The association also asked Manitoba to prioritize household caregivers of organ recipients to ensure they do not inadvertently pass on COVID-19 to their immunocompromised wards.

Stefansons response?

According to Mark Miles, director of the Manitoba chapter and recipient of a heart transplant in 2015, there has been nothing but silence.

"With an issue like this, why wouldnt you take time to respond?" he said.

For some weeks, school teachers have been getting the same treatment. Given the importance of keeping schools open, teachers have demanded on an almost daily basis to move to the front of the vaccine line.

Out of the blue last week, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister floated a bizarre plan to have teachers travel to North Dakota to get vaccinated, much like truck drivers have been doing.

The plan has failed to materialize and, this week, the vaccine implementation task force told teachers they would not be prioritized.

Manitobas approach has largely mirrored that taken in most of Canada.

Health-care workers and the elderly, particularly those in long-term care facilities, were given the first doses, along with Indigenous people. Other groups (police, firefighters and paramedics) were also given early access.

Lately, Manitoba has taken to opening up eligibility to any adult, of any age and occupation, in certain hot-spot areas or neighbourhoods.

However, like a deadly game of musical chairs, teachers have consistently been among those left without a seat.

Although there is no conceivable way this, or any other government in the country, could satisfy the expectations of every group that wanted to be vaccinated on a priority basis, Manitobas approach to dose distribution has been quite a muddle.

Like many governments, it has relied heavily on age as the determining factor. While that will eventually get the job done, its important to remember last fall, when epidemiologists and public health experts were debating the best way to distribute vaccines, there was a fairly vigorous debate about how much age should be used to determine eligibility.

In December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions vaccine advisory committee recommended a three-stage launch: the first cohort would include health-care workers and residents of long-term care; followed by essential workers (everything from emergency responders to police to teachers to critical retail and transportation); followed by adults with high-risk medical conditions, and adults 65 years of age or older.

Critics claimed this approach would lead to an exponential increase in the number of deaths among the elderly.

However, proponents pointed out while older people are more vulnerable to dying from COVID-19, they were catching the virus from younger people who move about more.

It should be noted even with most elderly and health-care workers vaccinated, COVID-19 is still running rampant in most countries. Mortality may be down because the most vulnerable got a jab, but the threat is as great as it has ever been.

If the early focus is going to be on the elderly and sick, then, at some point, every vaccine effort has to pivot to protect the broadest definition of essential workers. New Zealand, which has been as successful as any country in controlling the virus, vaccinated its border personnel first, even before the elderly and health-care workers.

The next time, as soon as we reach a point where the risk of mortality is lessened, we have to stop worrying about age and concentrate more on those people who are the greatest risk of acquiring the virus and passing it on to others.

Its really pointless to offer a jab to a perfectly healthy, 50-something journalist when there are teachers and organ transplant caregivers with a greater need.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
The Manitoba Teachers Society has renewed calls to shuffle all K-12 students in COVID-19 hot spots to full-time remote learning.

The Manitoba Teachers Society has renewed calls to shuffle all K-12 students in COVID-19 hot spots to full-time remote learning.

Following Thursday's announcement of a record number of new daily cases since mid-December, the union put out a release in favour of halting in-person instruction.

Schools in both Winnipeg and Southern health regions should immediately be downgraded to critical (code red) on the provinces pandemic response system, said president James Bedford, who represents 16,000 public school teachers.

"If we dont do something now, then were very likely looking at (potentially) having to shut down for the rest of the school year," Bedford told the Free Press.

He said its been "deeply troubling" to hear from more teachers home sick with COVID-19 over the last two weeks than he has during any other time in the school year. The union believes the safest thing to do is close schools in high-risk areas for at least two weeks to avoid the crisis situation experienced by Alberta and Ontario in recent weeks, Bedford said.

All schools in Ontario are teaching students online; schools in Alberta will go online as of Friday.

More than three months ago, the union wrote to the province to call for the prioritization of teachers in the vaccination rollout.

While many school employees are eligible because of their age, or because their home or workplace is in a designated priority hot spot, not all staff can get a vaccine.

Last week, the premier hinted a plan to immunize school staff in North Dakota was in the works; but no new details have been released since his comments.

Bedford said he was expecting to hear more details about the option this week.

He added Thursday, "I certainly hope we dont see 20,000 people lined up at the border Saturday, expecting to get vaccinated."

At least 574 new cases among school staff and students have been reported since April 21, according to the province's online school dashboard. The dashboard indicates 17 schools are fully operating in remote learning at present, while there are three active outbreaks.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Hospitality beat seniors care and health care in a poll that asked Manitobans to rate their post-pandemic priority.

Hospitality beat seniors care and health care in a poll that asked Manitobans to rate their post-pandemic priority.

A Winnipeg Free Press poll conducted by Leger found 39 per cent of Manitobans say the hospitality and tourism sector should be the government's highest priority post-pandemic.

Eighteen per cent said it should be growing the economy; 15 per cent backed investing in long term care for seniors; 11 per cent said paying down the deficit created by the pandemic; and just three per cent said health care.

Shaun Jeffrey, CEO of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said he wasn't surprised by the high level of support for his industry.

"Our industry has been closed the longest of any industry and, because it has been taken away, it will be something people want to be back in as soon as possible. We're just chomping at the bit.

"We appreciate the support."

But Jan Legeros, executive director of the Long Term and Continuing Care Association of Manitoba, said she was disappointed to hear that during a pandemic  which has killed hundreds of seniors in care homes  only 15 per cent of Manitobans said the province should make helping that sector its highest priority.

"That's very discouraging given all that we've been through and everything we've seen," said Legeros.

"We already fund 30 per cent lower than most comparable (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. I would have hoped long-term care would have been no lower than No. 2.

Retired doctor Lisa Bryski, one of 200 physicians who signed a letter this week, urging Manitoba to impose more restrictions to cut COVID-19 cases, said she isn't disappointed that health care scored only three per cent support.

She is pleased restaurants fared best because it shows "Manitobans know health care support will still be there.

"I think they are showing they care for the suffering of people post-pandemic. They want to take care of each other. They know health care will be a priority, so they want to help others."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Sunday will be a painful Mother's Day for Ruth Zimmerman.

Her 76-year-old mother Jean died in December after contracting COVID-19 while being treated for diabetes complications at St. Boniface Hospital.

How it works Click to Expand The survey of 800 Manitoba adults was conducted from April 23 to May 2 using Leger's research panel. Leger, using the results of the 2016 federal census, weighted the results using age, gender, and region to create a representative sample of the population. If the survey had been conducted through a probability sample, the margin of error would have been plus or minus 3.46 per cent 19 times out of 20.

"We followed all the rules and she got it anyway," Zimmerman said Thursday. "I look back on my mom's last year and we didn't see her as much as I would have liked.

"If I knew what I know now I would have seen her more, even if I broke the rules."

As the pandemic drags into its 15th month, Zimmerman isn't alone with her feelings.

A Winnipeg Free Press poll conducted by Leger a few days before the explosion of COVID-19 cases this week found that while a majority of Manitobans continue to follow public-health orders, 31 per cent, or about three in 10, admit they haven't always done so.

As well, 63 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement, "I am getting sick and tired of all the health restrictions and limits on where I can go and who I can see. These rules can't end soon enough for me."

Manitobans aren't particularly skilled at predicting the future, the poll revealed. More than half (56 per cent) of respondents, said they recalled thinking the pandemic was going to last six months at most. That number rose to 65 per cent for those between the ages of 18 and 34.

There is a significant amount of apprehension about what life will look like going forward, as 75 per cent said they'll limit interactions with others and stay away from crowded places  even if permitted by public-health officials  because of variant strains of the virus. But 39 per cent said once they've had a shot they're heading back to their normal lives and seeing family and friends again.

Leger's Andrew Enns said he wasn't really surprised by any of the findings.

"In modern history, there is no precedence for the length of this lockdown."  Esyllt Jones, a history professor at the University of Manitoba

"It's the COVID fatigue," he said.

"When you think back to March 2020, how long did you think it would go? Well, with 56 per cent saying six months or less, you have, by now, those... who are getting really impatient."

That makes enforcing restrictions challenging.

"They say you have to follow the rules just a little longer, but it is tough for people," Enns said. "Sometimes it just falls on deaf ears now. The notion about don't gather outside your household, well I know people are doing that now."

Manitobans' post-pandemic priority: restaurants Click to Expand "We appreciate the support," said Shaun Jeffrey, CEO of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association. Posted: 6:59 PM May. 6, 2021 Hospitality beat seniors care and health care in a poll that asked Manitobans to rate their post-pandemic priority. A Winnipeg Free Press poll conducted by Leger found 39 per cent of Manitobans say the hospitality and tourism sector should be the government's highest priority post-pandemic. Read Full Story

The survey may offer clues as to the reason for the level of pushback against health orders in some rural communities.

"While inside the city, 53 per cent felt the pandemic would be done in six months, outside the city 60 per cent thought that," he said.

Esyllt Jones, a history professor at the University of Manitoba who has studied the flu epidemic of 1918-19, said newspaper accounts at the time didn't indicate whether people were getting fed up with restrictions as the situation wore on.

"It wasn't an option then to work from home," said Jones. "There were school closures but they were relatively short-lived. "And public health was still trying to work on coercive measures. They were placarding peoples' homes. That's what they did with infectious disease at the time."

But, similar to the current situation, church leaders supported restrictions at the beginning but advocated opening up things later on, she said.

"In modern history, there is no precedence for the length of this lockdown," she said.

Dr. Anand Kumar, an ICU physician, said while he wants to see another hard lockdown, he agrees everyone has grown weary of life during COVID-19.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Dr. Anand Kumar: "... What do you expect?"

"I think it's because of the constant restrictions which are consistent with this government," said Kumar. "If you are trying not to overload the health-care system but release restrictions before the numbers are low enough to go completely back to normal, what do you expect?

"This is the expected consequence of it. Manitobans have every right to be tired."

Kumar said instead of a "relatively normal summer," he believes Manitobans should now brace themselves for stricter measures in the coming weeks.

Related Items Click to Expand Articles May 6, 2021: Public support of small business outstrips government concern Tom Brodbeck

"ICU numbers are spiking now," he said.

David Kron, executive director of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, said even vulnerable people are finding it tough to keep following the public-health orders.

"We certainly can relate to these things in the poll," said Kron. "Just myself, I'm tired.... why aren't things changing?

"People with disabilities can be at high risk, but I totally understand why people feel this way because they are tired. I know some who have literally not left home since it started."

John Dobbin, whose elderly mother and father both got COVID during an outbreak at the Victoria Hospital last year, says he'll visit both Sunday at a personal-care home, but it will be more of a wellness check than a Mother's Day celebration.

"I'll be dressed in a gown, mask, go through the checks at the front door," said Dobbin. "It is tough. I am exhausted afterwards.

"I'd like them to have more freedom of movement, but I've got too much at stake with them. I know no one wants to hurt their mom. People are saying they are sick and tired, but there are worse things. You could be sick with COVID."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
WINNIPEG - Manitoba's top doctor told a court challenge of the province's public health rules Friday that restrictions on faith-based gatherings had to be imposed because health care was being overwhelmed during the pandemic's second wave.

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba chief public health officer, takes off his mask to speak during the province's latest COVID-19 update at the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG - Manitoba's top doctor told a court challenge of the province's public health rules Friday that restrictions on faith-based gatherings had to be imposed because health care was being overwhelmed during the pandemic's second wave.

Seven churches are fighting public health orders meant to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

"We couldnot be wrong," Dr. Brent Roussin testified in Court of Queen's Bench. "We had to limit places we knew transmission was going to occur because our hospitals were full."

Roussin, chief public health officer, told court there were numerous clusters of infections linked to faith-based gatherings before churches were closed down last November.

At the time, non-essential stores were also shuttered and group gatherings banned as cases surged and a deadly wave of infections swept through long-term care homes.

"Our hospitals were full of COVID-19 patients. Our ICUs were full of COVID-19 patients," Roussin testified.

"We had to act on the trends we were seeing. We were in crisis."

Roussin, who has a medical and a law degree on top of a master of public health, has been the face of Manitoba's response since the beginning of the pandemic.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a Calgary-based group representing the churches, has said Manitoba's public health rules are unjustified violations of charter-protected freedoms.

The churches are arguing their right to worship and assemble has been violated by the restrictions, which has led to "a crisis of conscience, loneliness and harm to their spiritual well-being.''

Public health orders targeting churches were loosened in January.Worship services are currentlyrestricted to 10 people or 25 per cent capacity, whichever is less, and everyone is required to wear a mask.

Government lawyers have told court it's within the bounds of the legislature to grant the chief public health officer authority to impose reasonable rules.

Jared Brown, a lawyer for the churches, questioned if the application of public health orders was fair, whether enforcement was applied evenly and if the restrictions were successful.

"Shutting down churches has not stopped community spread," Brown said.

Roussin said cases dropped after the restrictions came into place. But he agreed that community transmission is still taking place and added the more infectious variants have brought new challenges.

The Manitoba government reported 502 new COVID-19 cases Friday, the highest one-day count since the pandemic's second wave. Health officials said they are adding intensive care beds to prepare for a surge of hospitalizations.

Brown spent much of his cross-examination asking Roussin about studies, data collection and the efficacy of the PCR test, one of the main ones used to detect the virus.

Roussin said PCR tests have been important to understand what is happening in the community. Seven per cent of positive cases show up in hospital about 10 days later.

He told court there would be severe economic and societal consequences if COVID-19 were allowed to spread unchecked.

Roussin testified that hospitals fill up and more health-care workers are out sick when there's significant community infection. It can mean serious problemseven for people who don't have the virus but need health services.

He said that the goal with public health orders is to keep people safe, avoid deaths as much as possible and minimize social disruption. The province is still studying some of the unintended or unexpected consequences of the orders, he added.

Roussin told court many physicians and nurses have called for even tighter restrictions.

"Im bound by using the least restrictive means."

The constitutional challenge is one of the latest attempts by churches across the country to quash pandemic restrictions on faith gatherings.

The Justice Centre has filed similar challenges in Alberta and British Columbia.

In Alberta, a pastor accused of violating public health orders was on trial earlier this week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.
Winnipegs mayor is urging the province to greatly increase the fines for violating public health orders.

Winnipegs mayor is urging the province to greatly increase the fines for violating public health orders.

As the citys test positivity rate for COVID-19 edged beyond 10 per cent Thursday, Mayor Brian Bowman said steeper fines and more visible enforcement are needed to help ensure every rule is followed to combat the spread of the virus.

"I hope theyre considering significantly increasing the fines. I would start by looking at a minimum doubling, if not tripling, those fines. Make them significant and send that message for those that are choosing willingly, to just violate provincial public health orders (that) theres going to be significant consequences," said Bowman.

The mayor said hed also like to see the province make its enforcement efforts more visible.

"The visibility, in particular, would go a long way towards discouraging violations of the provincial public health orders and also demonstrating respect for all of those law-abiding citizens who are doing their absolute best to comply," said Bowman.

In an enforcement update Tuesday, the province said 112 warnings and 58 tickets were given out for alleged health order violations from April 26 to May 2. Those included fines of $1,296 each for various individual offences, $298 for failing to wear a mask in an indoor public place and $5,000 per business violation.

The recipients were accused of a variety of offences, including holding gatherings in private homes, failing to self-isolate after a COVID-19 exposure and participating in large outdoor rallies.

The Manitoba government rejected the mayors claims, noting more than $1.8 million in fines have been issued since April 2020.

"Contrary to assertions and speculations by the mayor of Winnipeg, Manitoba actually has the most significant per capita enforcement record of all Canadian provinces. Manitoba is outpacing most other provinces on COVID-19 enforcement efforts and has issued 1,294 tickets for public health violations since the beginning of the pandemic," said a spokesperson for Manitoba Justice, in an emailed statement.

The spokesperson added that regular news releases detailing the number of tickets, make it clear the health orders must be followed. As an added deterrent, those who dont pay the fines wont be able to renew their driver's licence until they do so, she said.

The Canadian Press reported that less than 10 per cent of the $1.7 million in fines the Manitoba government has issued to suspected rule-breakers had been collected as of April 28.

Joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
A convicted sex offender has been sentenced to another year in prison for falsely confessing to the sex crimes of another inmate.

A convicted sex offender has been sentenced to another year in prison for falsely confessing to the sex crimes of another inmate.

Michel Bruneau, 31, was convicted of one count of obstruction of justice following a trial last year.

Bruneau and another convicted sex offender, former elementary school teacher Remi Dallaire, were housed in the same unit at Headingley Correctional Centre in 2018. Dallaire allegedly persuaded Bruneau to write a detailed letter confessing to sexually assaulting a young girl.

Dallaire, later convicted of sexually assaulting the girl, tried unsuccessfully to reopen his trial, pointing to the written confession as evidence someone else had committed the crime. A judge rejected the confession, saying it had "no air of reality" and sentenced Dallaire to eight years in prison.

Bruneau recanted just one day after providing Dallaire with the eight-page confession, claiming Dallaire had promised to pay him a large sum of money and said he would have someone hurt him if he did not comply.

Provincial court Judge Stacy Cawley rejected a four-year sentence recommendation from the Crown. She said it was too harsh because Bruneaus cognitive challenges and a likely diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder made him an "easy target" for Dallaires plan.

"Mr. Bruneau was a pawn in Mr. Dallaires scheme. Dallaire had everything to gain by Mr. Bruneau confessing to a crime he did not commit," the judge said.

Bruneaus lawyer argued at trial he had only agreed to write the confession to placate Dallaire until he felt it was safe to report him to authorities.

Cawley rejected Bruneaus claim that he feared Dallaire, saying "we may never know the true motivation behind why (he) participated in this scheme."

Bruneau may not have come up with the plan, but it was his willing participation that set it in motion, Cawley said.

"Mr. Bruneaus actions created a risk that justice would, in fact, be obstructed, even appreciating his quick recantation," she said. "It is not a small thing to say you committed a crime that you did not commit. That is a fraud on our system."

In March, Bruneau was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sexually abusing three children from the same Manitoba Housing complex.

Court heard at trial that Bruneau befriended the victims mothers to gain access to the children. At separate times, he moved in with two of the boys mothers and was considered a father figure. Bruneau repeatedly abused the children while showering together or sleeping in the same bed.

All three victims reported the abuse, resulting in Bruneaus arrest in the fall of 2016. Released on bail, he was ordered to have no contact with the victims and stay away from the housing complex. But within weeks, Bruneau, disguised as a woman, returned to the complex and convinced the boys mothers that he had been wrongly accused. The two boys were convinced to recant their police statements at the same time Bruneau continued to abuse them.

Bruneau is still before the court, accused of contacting one of his victims while in custody, and convincing the boy and his mother to send him pictures of the boy in the mail.

Dallaire will stand trial for obstruction of justice in July.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Nearly 15 years after he was hired by Manitoba Education, John Finch retired as a public servant this year  earlier than planned  because of his concerns about the growing politicization of the department in charge of K-12 schooling.

Nearly 15 years after he was hired by Manitoba Education, John Finch retired as a public servant this year  earlier than planned  because of his concerns about the growing politicization of the department in charge of K-12 schooling.

Finch, 56, worked in consultant, managerial, and co-ordinator roles during his career in the department; most recently, he was in charge of learning support and technology, a unit responsible for all curricular areas outside of numeracy and literacy.

He left his post in early January, two months before the Pallister government released the kindergarten to Grade 12 review, an action plan to address it, and Bill 64 (Education Modernization Act).

"I really wasnt seeing the values that I had reflected in the department any longer; theres no educators in the senior ranks," he told the Free Press.

"Assistant deputy ministers have traditionally been educators, but thats not the case now, and so you have people that dont necessarily understand how schools function making the decisions on what should happen within schools."

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS John Finch retired as a public servant this year because of his concerns about the growing politicization of the department in charge of K-12 schooling.

Finch, who got his start in education as a public school teacher, had planned to retire in a years time, but said the prioritization of policy over educational philosophy, in part, prompted an earlier leave. He sees Bill 64, which aims to overhaul the existing school governance model, as a political decision rather than one related to curriculum or education management.

"I cant think of anyone in the education department who would think about removing elected trustees from the education milieu of Manitoba. Its something that I think took everybody by surprise. It certainly did not come from the education department. It wasnt even in the K-12 review," Finch said.

The commission tasked with examining all things education recommended the province downsize its school board roster into six to eight regional boards, and create both appointed and elected trustee positions for them.

Instead, the province wants to replace all 37 English boards with a centralized authority run by government appointees who will oversee 15 regions. The new model will allow for administrative services to be streamlined. It also calls for approximately $40 million in the $2.5 billion-education budget to be redirected to classrooms, according to Education Minister Cliff Cullen.

Assistant deputy ministers have traditionally been educators, but thats not the case now, and so you have people that dont necessarily understand how schools function making the decisions on what should happen within schools.  John Finch

Amalgamation of some kind makes sense, Finch said, but what has been proposed  Winnipeg as a single region with more than 100,000 students, 41 times the size of the smallest region, a combination of Evergreen and Lakeshore  "makes absolutely no sense from a management perspective."

"Hanover, Seine River, the areas that were (not) combined have a political perspective that would match the government perspective," he added.

The contents of the legislation only reinforce his worry that major curriculum developments in the works could be subject to political involvement, given various new advisory councils made up of external appointees will be created to consult on everything from curriculum to funding.

The challenges the department faced in overseeing dozens of entities during the COVID-19 pandemic are being used as rationale for change.

I cant think of anyone in the education department who would think about removing elected trustees from the education milieu of Manitoba... It certainly did not come from the education department. It wasnt even in the K12 review.  John Finch

Finch, however, said divisions were "far more responsive" in comparison to government-led efforts, which require a time-consuming approval process, when it came to everything from setting up remote learning to providing nutrition support.

"Some of the school divisions, for example, went way beyond what we ever had envisioned  Winnipeg School Division was using their culinary arts kitchens to send meals to students at home, to the magnitude of a couple thousand per day," said Finch, who worked on the departments COVID-19 nutrition program. "The response that we had for the home nutrition learning program didn't come close, and it took three months for our nutrition program to get off the ground."

He credits Deputy Education Minister Dana Rudy for playing a key co-ordination role in communicating with superintendents about their needs throughout the pandemic, but said he doubts scrapping agile divisions will result in a more responsive system.

Rudy was executive director and chief allied health officer of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority before she moved to Manitoba Education in February 2020  one month before the province was originally scheduled to release the K-12 review. The current assistant deputy minister's resume includes leadership roles in the families and finance departments.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Finch worked in consultant, managerial, and co-ordinator roles during his career.

Cullen, who is in charge of the education portfolio, has a background in agricultural and environmental sectors.

In a prepared statement Thursday, he said, "We know not everyone will agree with decisions made by their current elected government.

"The role of Manitoba Education is to provide leadership and oversight to the system and ensure a consistent standard of high-quality education is available to all students across the province. The strategic direction for the education system set by the department is grounded in educational philosophy and informed by expert advice including that from educators."

The education minister added the province is confident in the qualifications and credentials of its dedicated ministry staff and will continue to engage educators on the future of the public school system.

Meantime, Finch said he hopes there is some "sober second thought" about the changes on the table.

"We have a really good education system in the province and the way that its being characterized it's basically saying, (Teachers), youre not doing your job so government is going to step in and make it better, without really specifying how theyre going to make it better."

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie
Theres a reason why government support for small business is the top priority among Manitobans in a new Leger/Free Press poll: small- and medium-sized operators have born the economic brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Theres a reason why government support for small business is the top priority among Manitobans in a new Leger/Free Press poll: small- and medium-sized operators have born the economic brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost everyone seems to recognize that  except the Manitoba government, which has tried since the beginning of the pandemic to provide affected businesses with as little support as possible.

The survey, conducted April 23-May 2, asked respondents to prioritize where the province should turn its attention once the pandemic is over. The No. 1 answer was: "Supporting the recovery of small business, such as the restaurant and hospitality, and tourism sectors."

At 39 per cent, it was well ahead of all other choices, including "growing the economy" at 18 per cent, and "investing in long-term care for seniors" at 15 per cent.

Theres no question public-facing businesses, especially smaller operators, have made the biggest economic sacrifices. Theyve been forced to shut their doors for extended periods of time, or severely curtail operations.

Some of have gone bankrupt, many are on the brink of insolvency. Others are heavily in debt and may take years to recover. Some will never recover.

Thats not the case for most other sectors of the economy, including big industry, trades and construction. They werent shut down; whatever sacrifices they made pale in comparison.

Small- and medium-sized businesses, particularly in hospitality and retail, have paid a disproportionate price. Despite that, they have not received fair compensation.

The public appears to recognize that.

Premier Brian Pallister doesnt.

"It isnt small-business people alone that are suffering, its a heck of a lot of other people, too. Ill tell you what: were not going to reopen all the small businesses just because somebodys yelling about it."  Premier Brain Pallister

He made that pretty clear in December, when many small businesses were shut down a second time. When asked what his message was to small operators who had to bear the economic brunt of public health restrictions, the premier lectured them about the pain all Manitobans were feeling.

"It isnt small-business people alone that are suffering, its a heck of a lot of other people, too," he said. "Ill tell you what: were not going to reopen all the small businesses just because somebodys yelling about it."

Pallister takes more of a survival-of-the-fittest approach. Government forced small enterprise to shut down (or limit operations) for the greater good of society, but its now up to them to figure out how to get back on their feet.

The province has provided businesses with some limited financial aid, including the $15,000 Bridge Grant (which is now closed). The grant amount is a pittance for those facing losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When pressed, Pallister has said the province's pockets aren't deep enough to compensate small business beyond that. Meanwhile, the government plans to borrow $302 million to accelerate an education property tax cut plan over the next two years  money that will have to be repaid by future generations (with interest).

Manitoba is not alone. All governments in Canada are guilty of failing to adequately support small business during the pandemic.

Most of Ottawas aid was geared toward big business, or was so convoluted and complex (such as the disastrous rent subsidy program, which took the federal Liberals months to straighten out) many small operators couldnt access it.

Wage subsidies do nothing for businesses forced to shut their doors.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business released an analysis Thursday of how provincial programs have failed to adequately compensate small businesses. Many didnt qualify for aid at all, even though they were adversely affected by public health orders.

What the Leger survey shows is many Manitobans recognize the inherent unfairness of shutting down small businesses and failing to adequately compensate them.

The provincial government should take its cue from the public on this one.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government announced further restrictions as COVID-19 numbers continued to surge to near-record levels Friday.

Premier of Manitoba Brian Pallister speaks at a news conference in Winnipeg, Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The Manitoba government is increasing fines for people who repeatedly violate COVID-19 public health orders and is offering sick leave pay for workers affected by the pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski

WINNIPEG - The Manitoba government announced further restrictions as COVID-19 numbers continued to surge to near-record levels Friday.

Starting Sunday morning and until May 30, the cap on outdoor gatherings will drop to five people from 10. Restaurants, bars and patios must close to in-person dining but can still provide takeout and delivery services.

Gyms, museums, art galleries and libraries will have to close and indoor religious services will be prohibited. Barbers, hair salons and estheticians will have to shut their doors.

Organized team sports will not be permitted. Dance, theatre and music schools will close. The maximum capacity at retail stores will drop to 10 per cent from 25.

"The latter part of this week, we've seen a dramatic rise in cases and that's translating into a dramatic rise in (intensive care) numbers," Dr. Brent Roussin, chief public health officer, said.

"We have to take these strong actions now to protect our health-care system, to protect Manitobans."

The changes came as the province announced 502 new COVID-19 cases  the highest one-day number since the middle of the second wave of the pandemic last winter  and one death.

The number of people testing positive for the virus had risen to 9.6 per cent provincially and 11.3 per cent in Winnipeg.

Intensive care beds, which normally number 71, were expanded to 129 at the peak of the second wave and were approaching that number again Friday.

"The numbers that we're seeing come in, admitted to (intensive care), especially this last week, have been high," said Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer with Manitoba Shared Health.

"If we sustain those high admission numbers over the next days, not even weeks, we could reach that number."

The expansion would mean diverting more staff from other areas of health care and more delays in elective surgeries, she added.

Manitoba schools remain open, but Roussin said that could change very soon as the government was "actively looking at" the possibility of moving to remote learning.

The government also promised Friday to increase penalties for people who repeatedly break public health orders.

Fines for individuals that currently range from $298 to $1,296 will be doubled for a second or subsequent offence, Premier Brian Pallister said.

"There is a small selfish minority of people that aren't doing their part. And in doing so, they are putting the health of themselves and others at risk," Pallister said.

Those who refuse to pay can have their wages garnisheed and be blocked from renewing their driver's licence.

Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew said the province should have toughened public health orders weeks ago when case counts started to climb.

"While there have been numerous warning signs, while there have been many, many people raising the alarm  we haven't seen that quick response, we haven't seen that decisive action," Kinew said.

The province has also been expanding its vaccination program as more international supplies arrive.

Health officials reduced the minimum age for doses among the general population at government-run super sites and pop-up clinics to 40 from 45. Vaccines are also available to Indigenous people, certain front-line workers and people living in high-transmission areas starting at age 18.

Pallister said he was dropping a plan to have teachers and other school workers drive to North Dakota, where vaccines are plentiful, to get a shot.

The teachers union was against the idea, Pallister said, so North Dakota will instead ask the United States government for special permission to export its vaccines to Manitoba. Pallister said that will take longer than his original idea.

Pallister also announced funding for a new sick-leave program for workers affected by COVID-19. Employers can apply for up to $600 per worker for days off due to getting a vaccine, self-isolation or illness. The money is aimed at covering up to five days of leave.

The Manitoba Federation of Labour said the program was flawed because it depends on employers to apply.

"The program is voluntary, not legislated like Ontario's paid sick days program. So it will only apply to workplaces that decide to provide paid sick days," federation president Kevin Rebeck said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 12:54:48|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China has reversed the rising trend of cross-border gambling through multiple nationwide and special operations since 2020, the Ministry of Public Security said Friday.

Chinese police have investigated 18,000 cross-border gambling and gambling-related criminal cases and apprehended more than 110,000 suspects during the operations, figures from the ministry showed.

More than 3,400 online gambling platforms, over 2,800 illegal payment platforms and underground banks, some 1,400 illegal technical teams and more than 2,200 gambling promotion platforms were broken up, it added. Enditem
Winnipeggers who rely on accessible bus service solely during the winter could soon have a longer riding season.

Winnipeggers who rely on accessible bus service solely during the winter could soon have a longer riding season.

However, the timeline would still be shorter than it was prior to 2020.

Winnipeg Transit Plus is proposing to offer access to winter-only clients from at least Nov. 1 to April 15, pending city council approval. Up to 250 clients qualify for that seasonal service due to mobility challenges in moving over ice and snow.

A manager could also start up winter service if the seven-day Environment Canada forecast predicts a snowfall of three centimetres and/or freezing rain, ice or a wind chill of -15 C of colder.

Presently, winter weather conditions must occur, not just be in the forecast, to trigger winter-only access.

Marcia Barkman, a Transit Plus rider, said the new proposal would improve what was in place last winter, when the guaranteed service period shrunk to Dec. 15 to March 31 (from the previous block of Oct. 15 to April 15). Under that policy, extra dates could still be added following wintery weather.

Barkman said the rides are needed throughout the winter to ensure users can go to work, book appointments and shop.

"If this isnt set in place I bet you a majority of the disabled (community) are going to end up (stuck) at home," she said Thursday.

Barkman said snow and ice make her walks far more risky, making it much more difficult to access standard buses in the winter, since she has a significant limp due to cerebral palsy.

"With (cerebral palsy) comes balance issues. There may be sometimes when youre OK, and then other times you could be walking on a sidewalk and the sidewalk looks absolutely clear and then the next thing, you are flat on your nose," she said.

Both Barkman and Patrick Stewart, a consultant with the Independent Living Resource Centre, said theyd prefer a return to the full Oct. 15 to April 15 service period.

"Restoring the old policy would be the best way to go, but this is a very positive step," said Stewart. "With snow and ice, the degree in which they impact someones mobility, someones safety cant really be overstated."

Stewart said the new proposal reflects concerns from many riders with limited mobility over the previously reduced season. Those complaints increased following an early dump of snow that did stick around, which ultimately led the city to start service at the end of October 2020.

He said having at least some fixed dates is key to ensuring Transit Plus riders can plan their lives.

"Having fixed dates is certainly whats in the best interests of consumers of the service... It errs on the side of safety. It also errs on the side of common sense," he said.

When the city approved a shorter winter service timeline in early 2020, it based the change on a review of snow accumulation in Winnipeg over the past decade. That review found October snow didnt tend to stick around more than three days and significant snowfall rarely accumulated until mid-December.

Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of the public works committee, said he expects the latest winter proposal would improve service, though hell await feedback to determine his final vote.

"I think its a better balance than what we had before, in particular knowing that we have a (clear) definition now for what winter conditions (that would trigger the service) are," said Allard.

The St. Boniface councillor said the city must ensure accessible rides are available when cold and ice sets in.

"I think this goes towards this direction of ensuring were aligning service with actual weather conditions. (Its) the right direction given the increasing unpredictability of our weather in Winnipeg."

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
More than a week after Manitobas top doctor acknowledged the possible presence of the India variant in the province, nothing more has been said about it.

More than a week after Manitobas top doctor acknowledged the possible presence of the India variant in the province, nothing more has been said about it.

On April 26, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin told a news conference about an unconfirmed positive result for B.1.617, the same strain of COVID-19 that is causing widespread deaths in India. He said public-health officials had "early indications" in late April that a positive case of COVID-19 linked to international travel may have been caused by B.1.617. As of Thursday, that was still not confirmed, and a provincial spokesperson had no additional information.

That particular strain of the virus has not been classified as a variant of concern. It is considered a variant of interest in Canada, and is not subject to the same kind of mandatory surveillance that is in place for the three variants of concern (the U.K., South Africa and Brazil strains), although Roussin has said Manitoba is treating all variant cases as if they are variants of concern.

As the virus evolves faster than Canadians can be vaccinated, identifying and tracking new and potentially dangerous mutations is particularly important. Specific screening tests to detect emerging variants do not exist. New variants can only be detected via genetic sequencing, and over the past year, most of that work was being done in Winnipeg at the National Microbiology Lab.

Now, provinces are increasingly doing their own sequencing, and more than a dozen labs across the country do that work. Between five and seven per cent of Canadas positive COVID-19 test results are sequenced to look for emerging variants, said Dr. Catalina Lopez-Correa, executive director of the Canadian COVID Genomics Network.

The U.K., considered a world leader in sequencing, does eight per cent. The focus has been on sequencing positive COVID-19 samples from international travellers, but as more people are vaccinated, Canadian labs are looking more closely at samples from people whove been reinfected with COVID-19 after being vaccinated.

To keep track of quickly emerging variants, and understand which ones to watch out for, Canada and other countries have been categorizing COVID-19 strains as variants of interest or variants of concern.

There are 10 variants of interest in Canada, including the India variant. All of those 10 variants have genetic mutations that indicate at least one of these traits: theyre more contagious, they cause more severe illness or more illness among age groups that previously havent become seriously ill, theyre more difficult to detect or theyre resistant to vaccines. Variants of interest wont be upgraded to the variant of concern label until further studies offer more proof.

Its unlikely screening tests, which are faster than genetic sequencing, will be developed for variants of interest.

It takes at least three weeks for a lab to develop a new PCR screening test, a senior Manitoba health official told the Free Press during a recent technical briefing. By that time, the landscape may have changed considering how quickly the virus evolves. Its not considered practical to design a new screening test for each variant of interest.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Potential changes to Manitoba's Police Services Act could amount to an attack on local democracy and force Winnipeg to pay for a policing budget it can no longer control, Mayor Brian Bowman says.

Potential changes to Manitoba's Police Services Act could amount to "an attack on local democracy" and force Winnipeg to pay for a policing budget it can no longer control, Mayor Brian Bowman says.

A day later, a provincial minister deemed the comments "ridiculous," stressing talks on possible changes are still underway and no decisions have been made.

Bowman told media he strongly opposes four of the 70 recommendations made in a recent independent review of the act.

"It is, effectively, a takeover of a local police service by the provincial government, if in fact, the province accepts the recommendations," he said late Thursday afternoon.

"It is, effectively, a takeover of a local police service by the provincial government, if in fact, the province accepts the recommendations." Mayor Brian Bowman

"Im raising this issue today because there is time for MLAs, including the government, to reject those recommendations that have been brought forward that would erode, and essentially be an attack, on local democracy."

If the four changes are approved, the following would occur:

an arbitrator (possibly the Manitoba Police Commission) would handle any Winnipeg Police Service budget disputes between city council and the Winnipeg Police Board;

WPS would take over the boards role to act as a community liaison; and

police boards would become the employer of all local policing employees, including the chief, while also overseeing collective bargaining.

In addition, another recommendation calls to replace two municipal appointees to the board with provincial ones.

"These four recommendations would give unelected provincial appointees a controlling majority on the Winnipeg Police Board and make those appointees responsible for setting the police budget and negotiating the collective bargaining agreements All of this, while placing the bill for provincial decisions with Winnipeg taxpayers," said Bowman.

The mayor argued the budget moves could produce policing costs the city cant afford.

"Right now, one-third of the tax-supported operating budget, roughly, is the police service. That number could go up significantly, if that would ultimately be the decision of the provincial representatives," said Bowman.

The mayor also argued removing the boards role to consult with the public would undermine calls for citizens to have more say in law enforcement.

Replacing two municipal members with provincial ones, on whats currently a seven-member board, would bring the provincial total to a majority of four.

Coun. Markus Chambers, chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board, said a key concern is the two members who are removed would be those who also sit on city council. He noted the review states a municipal councils role "should not extend to co-governing the police service or overseeing the police board."

"You have representation of close to 100,000 people, the two council members are elected to serve. Thats a huge, huge voice in the community," Chambers said Friday.

"By removing that, and having non-elected members sit in service on that board, 100,000 people are not being heard as effectively."

The citys website notes the Winnipeg Police Board can currently have a total of seven to nine members, with five to seven appointed by the city and two appointed by the province. The proposed change would reduce the municipal portion to three to five of the members.

While that doesnt guarantee a majority of provincial appointees if the recommendation is approved, the mayors office noted the board has always had just seven members since its creation.

In an emailed statement, Manitoba Justice Minister Cameron Friesen said the province is still considering the recommendations of the Police Services Act review, and is seeking community feedback to help guide decisions.

"The mayor is making ridiculous comments that have absolutely no basis, and are completely unhelpful. If the mayor has such strong concerns about the (act) review, why is it that has he never picked up the phone to discuss those concerns?" Friesen said Friday.

Provincial officials have discussed the matter with some city councillors, including Chambers, Friesen added.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga
TWO Winnipeg-based international relief organizations have launched appeals to help people in India suffering from that nations COVID-19 emergency.

TWO Winnipeg-based international relief organizations have launched appeals to help people in India suffering from that nations COVID-19 emergency.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief will be working with its partners in India to provide emergency medical supplies and food, said David Turner, senior manager of communications and marketing.

"The details are still to be worked out, but we want to provide people with access to vaccines and other medical supplies," he said.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank will be providing food, said Musu Taylor-Lewis, who directs resources and public engagement.

"The food needs are increasing," she said. "In the midst of this medical crisis, we know that people already vulnerable to poverty and hunger are made even worse off."

Taylor-Lewis hope Canadians will be generous.

"We know things are challenging in Canada right now, but we believe Canadians want to be part of a global response for India," she said.

Both organizations are responding as part of the Humanitarian Coalition, a consortium of 12 leading Canadian relief groups that work together to raise funds for humanitarian needs in the developing world.

One person who knows firsthand about the current needs in India is Shaji Kangapadan, a project manager at CLWR.

Kangapadan, who is responsible for organizing that organizations response to the needs in India, said his mother and brother in India are safe and healthy. But two of his friends have died of COVID-19, and he hears about many others falling ill and dying.

"Every second post on my Facebook feed is about someone dying," he said.

Unlike other past disasters in India, this one is affecting the whole country and all levels of society, Kangapadan said.

"All the preparedness and knowledge for how to respond to a disaster has gone out the window with the virus."

What feels good is being able to do something to help.

"Im glad to be involved," he said. "Its good to be part of this relief effort. I hope many Canadians step up to respond, not just for India, but for the safety of us all."

Those who want to donate to CLWR to help people in India can do so at www.clwr.org. To donate to the Foodgrains Bank, go to www.foodgrainsbank.ca.

faith@freepress.mb.ca
A low-cost airline fare isn't cheap if it leaves you stranded at the airport because of a glitch on its website.

A low-cost airline fare isn't cheap if it leaves you stranded at the airport because of a glitch on its website.

Winnipegger Noor Ali, and eight other passengers, missed their Flair Airlines flight to Toronto because they couldn't connect to the company's website  either at home or at Winnipeg's airport via their phones  to print off or show boarding passes before the plane took off at 5:30 p.m.

"I'm totally upset about it," said Ali shortly after he finally returned home.

"I have a business but two other people were going for an immigration interview they had been waiting for, for three and a half years. There were two others who were in tears. Another had a boarding pass, but they couldn't get the tags for their luggage. And there was no one at the Flair counter to help."

Ali called the Free Press about the situation and, as of 8 p.m., the Flair website was still down more than an hour after a reporter tried to log in.

A call to Flair had a recorded message saying the Edmonton-based company closes at 3 p.m. Mountain time, but an email to a company spokesperson said they would have to investigate the matter before responding.

Ali said he was able to finally start text messaging with someone from the company, just before 5 p.m., but with the delay between the questions and answers, the person with Flair said at 5:31 p.m. "I'm sorry but the plane left. The reason why there are no staff at the airport counters as they are already at the boarding gate assisting other passengers to board the plane."

Ali said he was finally able to speak to a Flair manager by phone who told him that he and others should have arrived at the airport three hours before their flight.

"I said I depended on their app. It was not my fault," he said.

"It's not my first flight with them, it's my regular practice. Last year, before the shutdown, I flew with them at least seven times."

Flair Airlines bills itself as Canada's only independent ultra low-cost carrier. Last month, it announced a new route between Ottawa and Kelowna, B.C., with fares starting as little as $59.

A recent company news release said the airline is expanding to 19 destinations by the summer and is adding 13 new Boeing 737 aircraft to its fleet this year.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
SIMPLY stated, racism is built into Canadas education system. What is new about the government of Manitobas Bill 64, however, is that if it is passed into law, it will further entrench systemic racism.

Opinion

SIMPLY stated, racism is built into Canadas education system. What is "new" about the government of Manitobas Bill 64, however, is that if it is passed into law, it will further entrench systemic racism.

Bill 64 fails to explicitly focus on systemic or equity issues, and proposes changes that actively undermine voices from equity-seeking groups. At a time when communities of colour continue to articulate the need for advancing racial equity through education and justice, the unveiling of Bill 64 demands attention and outrage.

Racism starts with the very name of Bill 64  the Education Modernization Act. Using the language of "modernization" assumes that the proposed policy is designed for "progress"; in this way, language is used by the government to obscure the reality that what is being offered is actually having a negative impact on equity-seeking groups.

It also assumes that our colonial institutions and racial capitalistic relations are something to be reformed, rather than abolished and rebuilt. However, the main issue with Bill 64 is more than semantics or epistemology.

Bill 64 does not adopt an explicit anti-racist approach to address inequities in education, and thus fails to address the systemic issues facing families who self-identify as Black, Indigenous or members of other equity-seeking groups. The Bill is related to the K-12 Education Commission Report, within which there is no mention of racism, equity or poverty in the entire 309-page document.

However, there is one mention of "anti-racism," along with "gender equity," but these are discussed as liability issues to be "accommodated" as part of "respect for human diversity." This contradicts the empty acknowledgement made in the beginning of the document, that "the philosophy of inclusion is a foundational principle of the education system in Manitoba."

In 2020, the Newcomer Education Coalition released The State of Equity in Education Report to advocate for more representation of racialized newcomers among school staff and boards in Manitoba. As the report states, "In 2018, of the 54 school trustees on the school boards of the six school divisions in the city of Winnipeg, only three are trustees who are persons from racialized communities." The report also emphasizes on the important role that school boards can play in leading and influencing decisions on equity policies and practices.

For these reasons, community advocates want school divisions to be more "intentional and accountable" about addressing equity in schools. This will ensure that curriculum, programs and activities are more appropriate and responsive to the education needs of racialized families. Bill 64 does the very opposite by ignoring the needs of students based on their race or any other equity issue.

Racialized students, especially those who identify as Indigenous or Black, continue to face racism in schools. They are disproportionately represented in school discipline and suspensions. Racialized students also are often streamlined into lower-track education programs, if not pushed to criminalization  often referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline. Racialized students must cope with negative educational outcomes and their impact on mental health and well-being with limited to no supports.

In a push to further undermine racialized communities, Bill 64 plans to shirk public accountability by excluding the voices of racialized communities. Most racialized communities live in Winnipeg. The proposed changes will reduce the 37 school divisions to 15 catchment areas, each with one representative, not proportional to student population.

In doing so, the Winnipeg catchment area will be given one voice to represent 55 per cent of Manitobas student-of-colour population. The voices of equity-seeking groups in Winnipeg will be muffled.

The decrease in public accountability is accompanied by increased government control of schools. Communities Not Cuts Manitoba has highlighted, under its #StopBill64 hashtag, that the government plans to "eliminate elected school boards and replace them with an appointed  unaccountable  panel to oversee education for the entire province."

The appointed panel will be politically influenced and, most likely, not reflective of the various racialized communities in Winnipeg.

By pushing for more government control along with equity-blind policies, the proposed bill, if passed into law, will be very damaging in a province that is designed and maintained through conditions of inequities. This will further privilege white middle-class lives and provide a school culture that is more accommodating of white supremacy.

We need to work toward dismantling racist policies and institutions to create conditions of care. Bill 64 will make it more difficult than it already is to advocate for opportunities and supports for racialized communities.

Fadi Ennab is an instructor at the University of Winnipeg, a researcher with the Manitoba Research Alliance and a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative  Manitoba.
A plan to vaccinate Manitoba school staff in North Dakota has been shelved, but the premier held out the possibility the state could ship doses here instead.

A plan to vaccinate Manitoba school staff in North Dakota has been shelved, but the premier held out the possibility the state could ship doses here instead.

Last week, Premier Brian Pallister announced he was working with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on a plan to extend to school staff the "essential worker cross-border vaccination initiative." To date, close to 1,000 Manitoba truckers who regularly drive in the U.S. have been vaccinated in the state.

"It was my hope we could have teachers vaccinated in North Dakota," Pallister said Friday. "My friends at the Manitoba teachers union thought that was disrespectful... It wasn't meant that way. It was to help facilitate those who could travel 45 minutes to get a vaccine," the premier said.

Manitoba Teachers' Society president James Bedford, who'd been lobbying for months for teachers to be prioritized for vaccination here, last week called sending them across the border to get the shot a "crazy, Band-Aid solution."

Pallister said Friday that North Dakota is waiting for the White House to allow the vaccines to be shipped from that state to Manitoba.

Burgum "has been nothing but a saint through this process," the premier said.

North Dakota is donating surplus doses from its stockpile of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to its northern neighbour. "I appreciate very much the efforts he's made," Pallister said.

"It's unprecedented to have an American state shipping vaccines across the line into another country," said Pallister. "We need approval from the White House."

Meanwhile, Manitoba has vaccinated close to 500,000 people, Pallister said. The number of vaccines North Dakota might ship to Manitoba is "potentially several thousand," he said.

"It's a small, side issue but it is an important one. If we can get additional vaccines into arms, that's great for us in Manitoba."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
While most Manitobans have settled into the current set of pandemic restrictions, a recent poll shows nearly as many are less comfortable with a potential outdoor mask mandate.

While most Manitobans have settled into the current set of pandemic restrictions, a recent poll shows nearly as many are less comfortable with a potential outdoor mask mandate.

A recent survey of 1,000 Manitobans by research firm Prairie Research Associates found while 82 per cent of those polled are on board with wearing face coverings in indoor public spaces, just 18 per cent feel the same way about the possibility of a mask mandate in outdoor public spaces.

While 38 per cent of those polled strongly opposed the idea  floated by the province amidst the third wave  25 per cent were only supportive in certain situations, and 20 per cent held a neutral opinion.

In April, chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said Manitoba was mulling a possible mandate to combat rising COVID-19 case counts.

The previous year of messaging, that being outside was a safe alternative to gathering indoors, might be spurring the divide, Prairie Research partner Nicholas Borodenko said Thursday.

"For a long time, I think that the message from various levels of government was that being outdoors is safe, plus I think a lot of the public health orders sort of support that idea and I'm not sure that the messaging around the variants and it being more susceptible to transmission outdoors is resonating with people," he said.

Those in Winnipeg and outside the capital feel similarly in terms of strong support for the idea  19 per cent in the city, 15 per cent beyond the Perimeter Highway  with those outside the city much less likely to hold a middle-ground view on the idea.

While 17 per cent in Winnipeg were strongly against an outdoor mask mandate, 32 per cent of those polled outside the city said the same.

Borodenko said he wasnt surprised by the split, noting rural Manitobans often have a lot more public outdoor space to spread out in. While it might make more sense to mask up while navigating a busy Winnipeg sidewalk, it may seem less sensical if your closest neighbour is a ways down the road.

"I grew up in rural Manitoba, (and I think of) me being on my gravel road on my bike, or where the next home was a quarter of a mile away," he said. "Do I need my mask outside? I think it's a difference, rural Manitoba is a very large place. And so that's probably a lot to do with what the opposition is."

Steinbach resident and pastor Kyle Penner said he wouldnt be surprised if some in his community, and in more rural areas, would be more opposed to an outdoor mask mandate, noting both the physical distance between some people and historical pushback to government intervention.

"There's just a certain level of acceptance of government involvement in (Winnipeggers) lives," he said. "And rural folk are hesitant about that, because we just live more independently."

The poll of 1,000 adult Manitobans was conducted April 13-16. It was not collected through a probability sample of Manitobans, but if it had, its margin of error would be within plus or minus 3.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_
MINNEAPOLIS - A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of wilfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

This combination of photos provided by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office in Minnesota on Wednesday, June 3, 2020, shows from left, Minneapolis Police Officers Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao. Chauvin. (Hennepin County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

MINNEAPOLIS - A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of wilfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter and is asking for a new trial. The other three are set for state trial on Aug. 23. Its not clear what will happen in this case, but generally the state charges play out before federal charges do.

The indictment sends a strong message about the Justice Department's priorities. Floyds May 25 arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked mass protests nationwide that called for an end to racial inequalities and police mistreatment of Black people.

When President Joe Biden was elected, he promised hed work to end disparities in the criminal justice system. The indictments were handed up about a week after federal prosecutors brought hate crimes charges in the death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and announced two sweeping probes into policing in two states.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said the federal charges against the officers show the Justice Department does not excuse it nor allow police to act as though as what they do is acceptable behaviour in the line of duty.

What we couldnt get them to do in the case of Eric Garner, Michael Brown in Ferguson, and countless others, we are finally seeing them do today, Sharpton said.

Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Lane, Thao and Kueng made initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, and remain free on bond. Chauvin is held in state custody as he awaits sentencing on the state charges and hasn't yet appeared in federal court.

While all four officers are charged broadly with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority, the indictment breaks down the counts. A count against Chauvin alleges he violated Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and from unreasonable force by a police officer.

Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. Its not clear why Lane, who held down Floyds legs, is not mentioned in that count, but evidence in the states case shows that Lane had asked twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the use of force and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably and Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial.

Nelson had no comment on the federal charges. Kueng's attorney also had no comment. A message left for Thao's attorney wasn't immediately returned; Lane's attorney was unable to talk when reached by The Associated Press, and messages left later were not returned.

Ben Crump and the team of attorneys for Floyd's family said the civil rights charges reinforce the strength and wisdom" of the Constitution. We are encouraged by these charges and eager to see continued justice in this historic case that will impact Black citizens and all Americans for generations to come, the attorneys said in a statement.

To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe an officer acted under the colour of law, or government authority, and wilfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights. Thats a high legal standard. An accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officers part isnt enough to support federal charges; prosecutors have to prove the officer knew what he was doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.

The indictment in Floyd's death says Chauvin kept his left knee on Floyd's neck as he was handcuffed and was not resisting. Thao and Kueng allegedly were aware Chauvin had his knee on Floyds neck, even after Floyd became unresponsive, and wilfully failed to intervene to stop Defendant Chauvins use of unreasonable force. All four officers are charged with wilfully depriving Floyd of liberty without due process, including the right to be free from deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.

The other indictment, against Chauvin only, alleges he deprived the 14-year-old boy, who is Black, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boys neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and after the teen, whom he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin used body weight to pin him to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times before dating back to 2014, including four times state prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.

Bob Bennett, an attorney for the teenager, said the familiar behaviour from Chauvin showed Floyd wasnt his first victim.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting the state charges, said the federal government is responsible for protecting the civil rights of every American and federal prosecution for the violation of George Floyds civil rights is entirely appropriate.

Chauvin was convicted on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Experts say he will likely face no more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced June 25. The other officers face charges alleging they aided and abetted second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Any federal sentence would be served at the same time as a state sentence.

At the White House on Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden didnt have a direct reaction to the indictments. She added that the Floyd case was a reminder of the need to put police reform in place through our legislative process.

Balsamo reported from Washington.

Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 13:09:57|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Public Security has vowed to intensify crackdown on the spread of pornographic content online, especially crimes related to child pornography.

Public security authorities nationwide will continue to fight against the distribution of pornography through short video, livestreaming, social media and online gaming platforms, the ministry told a press conference in Beijing on Friday.

According to the ministry, Chinese police have apprehended more than 700 suspects in over 600 cases involving pornography and publication of such illegal contents since the start of the year. Enditem
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Were really getting the residents involved. Ive been having them come to me with their favorite car growing up and what make and model it was, Burch said. She found pictures of the cars and strung them up at the event so residents could find theirs.

A residents son-in-law, Dennis Gorder, helped arrange the parade, driving his own sky blue 1957 Ford Fairlane. He said the Cruisers started doing drive-bys for nursing homes and childrens birthday parties last spring when COVID-19 first shut everything down.

It seemed to make everybody feel good, he said, especially when they couldnt visit indoors. Now you can, but we still thought, like with memory care up there, itd be good for them and good to get the people out.

Many people react well to seeing cars from the 1950s and 60s because they remember them from their childhoods, he said.

No matter where we go with any of our classic cars here ... people come up and talk to you about it, Gorder said. You know, Oh, my dad had one like that, or my uncle had one, or something like that.  I think it spurs a lot of memories of their youth, and I think that just helps the whole feeling about themselves and everything else.
I think we have assumptions, but we have to get in there and really figure out what the concerns are, Stewart said. We like to deal in data and not assumptions. So once we have a firm understanding of what those people who havent gotten it, then we will have a course of action.

One of the biggest boosts to numbers will be the vaccination of younger people. Children 16 and older can currently receive Pfizer vaccines. A request from the company to the FDA will likely be approved early next week for emergency use in children 12 to 15 as well.

The recent halt of Johnson & Johnson vaccines due to a rare but serious blood clot development in fewer than 10 recipients out of roughly 6 million was ended, providing additional doses for the county to administer to the public. A drive-up free vaccination clinic hosted by the department Thursday offered both the Johnson & Johnson as well as the first Moderna shot.

Im optimistic, Stewart said. Not everyone is going to come to us, we understand that. There might be some education we have to do, more so with those that are very reluctant to get it. Were cautiously optimistic.

Follow Bridget on Twitter @cookebridget or contact her at 608-745-3513.

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Just as outrageous, Trump called the mob who stormed the Capital patriots who love our country, even after theyd yelled Hang Pence, and Hang Pelosi and physically attacked members of the Capitol police. The thought that any true American or true Christian could support him defies all common sense.

Then there are those who believe the dishonest and crazy Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and some others on Fox News. In a rare move last week, two of Rupert Murdochs News Corp companies, Fox News and The New York Post, were forced to correct the lies being spewed from them about a Joe Biden plan to ban red meat, and the lie that the government bought Vice President Kamala Harris childrens book and distributed them to all the immigrant children. Naturally, most of their audience didnt see the corrections, so they still believe the lies.

If someone hears a story that sounds outlandish, it just makes sense to check the veracity of it on other news sites. But some people are too lazy to do that, or else theyd rather believe the lies because they play into their biases. And thats one of the main reasons the people in this country are so divided.

We all need to try to dig out the truth, whether we like it or not. And we need to elect lawmakers who will do the same and be straight with us. As patriots, thats our responsibility to ourselves, our loved ones and our country.

Pat Nash has lived in the Baraboo area, off and on, for more than 35 years. Contact her at patnash5149@gmail.com.
He woke up before midnight and found her there.

Sedlmeier allegedly told officers that he did not believe Mattila used drugs and he had a few drinks that night, but she had not. Officers also talked to Mattilas mother, who told them her daughter said she had been using opiates.

According to the criminal complaint, Sedlmeier agreed to meet with law enforcement a few days later, and he admitted to having a heroin addiction and said he had assumed Mattila was a heroin user as well.

Sedlmeier said Mattila stayed with him two nights and on both nights they traveled to Milwaukee to purchase heroin with the help of another man who drove them there.

Sedlmeier said on the night of her death, he did not offer Mattila much heroin, but she had become upset earlier and he noticed his remaining two lines of heroin were missing after finding her.

An autopsy of Mattila found her cause of death was multi-drug toxicity of fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl.
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Sweet Peas Pies closed out the tour with a walk through the beginnings of its remodel on the corner Music Block building from 1897. The wholesale pie business is relocating to Mayville from Minnesota and will operate a small storefront selling pies and ice cream. Owner Rachel Smith said she hopes to eventually provide a space behind the store for customers to sit and enjoy a treat while overlooking the Rock River.

Your community really comes off as unbelievably quaint, like theres a charm here that is pretty special, said Ben Muldrow, branding specialist working with the WEDC.

Discussions took place following the tour that focused on ways to create an environment thats inviting to shoppers, workers and visitors while preserving the historical character. They also talked about the need to establish cooperation by building partnerships with the various groups that have a stake in the commercial district.

On Tuesday, Muldrow revealed a design for logo along with several brand extension plans that will eventually lead to new signage. The city of Mayville is having a new gateway sign made out of large steel letters that will be placed on the corner of Horicon and Main Streets.
In the case of Waupun, we provided a loan and a grant, said Nathan Billinghurst of U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development said, The grant that we provided ($8.1 million) is the largest grant that was awarded in the history of our program going back to the 1960s. This is an important milestone for Waupun and the USDA office in Wisconsin. Were looking forward to our 40-year partnership through this critical infrastructure project.

Company and government representatives praised Waupun for its willingness to innovate, and for its leadership in implementing the upgrade.

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Changing phosphorus discharge limits are mandated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources DNR and the Environmental Protection Agency. New, more stringent limits are being implemented and Waupun plans to meet those standards.

If you look at the big scheme of things, we arent doing this because we want to, but because we have to, said Waupun Utilities Finance Director Jeff Stanek. This is the most long-term, cost effective project we could choose. It just so happens that its new technology, its green and is hopefully where the whole industry is going to go. This was our best, lowest cost, long-term alternative.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 13:54:36|Editor: huaxia

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A train prepares to leave Xi'an International Port for Kazakhstan in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, April 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Yibo)

XI'AN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has seen a robust growth of cargo volume delivered via the China-Europe freight train service, with more than 50,000 carriages of cargo transported so far this year.

The X8155 train carrying 50 carriages of electric kettles, modems, children's bicycles and other goods departed from the station of Xi'an International Port on Thursday, bringing the number of train carriages of such service to over 50,000.

As of Thursday, 50,060 carriages of cargo have been delivered from or to Xi'an via the China-Europe freight train service this year, up 19.8 percent year on year, according to the China Railway Xi'an Group Co., Ltd.

Food, electronics, construction materials and medical equipment are among the main categories that are transported.

As the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affected sea and air transport capacity, the China-Europe freight train service has played a significant role in stabilizing international logistics. The service has ensured the smooth transportation of goods including epidemic control materials, given its stability and all-weather features. 
Other election-related bills wont come up for a vote in the committee without significant changes, Bernier said.

We have to take into consideration unintended consequences, Bernier said. I dont care that the governors going to veto the bills. Im going to make sure that if I vote yes on something, its something I can defend and support, whether this year, next year or under the next governor, whoever that will be. I am not going to pass through bad legislation thinking its going to get vetoed, and hoping that it does get vetoed.

Bernier said she has fundamental issues with some of the election bills. She said some bills have provisions that should be combined together, as well, making them premature for a floor vote. She said the committee process so far has been extraordinarily painful.
PARDEEVILLE  Pardeeville FFA leaders hope their first in-person events in more than a year signal a return to normalcy in 2021-22.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pardeeville FFA participated in several virtual events and watched its membership drop from the usual 40 to 50 members to only about 20 in the 2020-21 school year, FFA advisor and Agri-Science teacher Amanda Seichter said. But the group will host, in person, their annual Elementary Ag Day for more than 100 third- and fourth-grade students May 14 at the high school.

FFA students from the area will then participate in the Wisconsin State FFA Convention in the week of July 5, Columbia County State Fair in Portage from July 21-25 and in-person officer training at the conclusion of the fair.

It almost feels like the whole world is opening up this spring, Pardeeville FFA advisor and Agri-Science teacher Meagan Vujnovich said. The kids are excited to be together and do things in person, and were excited they get to show off everything theyve learned.
Launch of new online magazine Nature Africa

Wits University is a founding partner of the new online magazine reporting on scientific research and policy across Africa.

Nature Africa is part of the Springer Nature stable of prestigious journals. The new digital magazine began publishing freely accessible science news, research highlights, and feature stories by African researchers, on 3 May 2021.

Nature Africa in context

Knowledge needs to be shared to make a difference in the world. Sharing ideas triggers new ideas, poses more questions and introduces diversity into our thinking patterns. All of which is good for research and its beneficiaries, the people of the world.

The problem is, some regions where knowledge is produced have an advantage in spreading their views over others, says Dr. Robin Drennan, Director: Research and Innovation at Wits. Researchers in the global north, for example, seem more able to share their thinking with the world, and theirs is often received as the only view of a particular research question. But there are other equally legitimate and evidence-based views that do not get shared equally.

Nature Africa intends to give a voice to good quality research emanating from Africa and sharing this on a global stage.

Professor Lynn Morris, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation at Wits, says: Wits is very pleased to be supporting Nature Africa, a new freely available publication that aims to showcase African research. It will stimulate discussion around pertinent topics and highlight impactful research relevant to the continent. We hope that this publication will grow and become a major forum for scientists, policy makers and funders committed to a better life for all.

About Nature Africa

Nature Africa will cover the highest impact research taking place across the continent and communicate this to scientists and decision-makers in and outside Africa.

Alongside news stories and research highlights, Nature Africa will also publish feature articles, opinion pieces and commentaries. The languages of publication are English and French.*

Led by Chief Editor, Akinlabi Kazeem Jimoh, Nature Africa will draw attention to African research that drives growth and development across the continent. He says, We hope to tell and be part of the African growth story which often does not receive the attention it deserves.

As a vibrant destination for researchers of all career levels across disciplines, Nature Africa will promote research discourse and enable the discussion of scientific achievements by providing a place where ideas can be celebrated, challenged, critiqued and built on.

A diverse range of articles will be written by journalists and researchers, and topics relevant for Africa will be covered alongside broader issues.

Content in Nature Africa is free to access at https://www.nature.com/natafrica, thanks to the financial support of a consortium of partners including Wits University, University of Cape Town, University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, University of KwaZulu-Natal, and Stellenbosch University.

Wits University supports the idea of placing our scholars work firmly on the global stage and therefore we are happy to make a financial commitment to help get this channel of research communication off the ground, says Drennan.

Note* Nature Portfolio has sole responsibility for all editorial content. Nature Africa is not a peer-reviewed journal and will not consider primary research articles for publication.
ILION, N.Y.  The new owners of Remington in Ilion have called 230 former employees back to work, in line with the goal they made to bringing back at least 200 workers by the end of April.

Richmond Italia, the principal with the new company, RemArms, says they expect to bring more workers back soon.

Gun production resumed at the facility last month.
A bar owner who allegedly sold fake Covid-19 vaccine cards at his Northern California business has been charged with multiple felonies, including forgery and identity theft.

Todd Anderson, 59, of Acampo, California, was arrested Tuesday at his bar, the Old Corner Saloon, John Carr, a spokesperson for the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, told CNN.

ABC received a complaint that fake vaccination cards were being sold at the bar and opened an investigation, the agency said Wednesday in a statement. In April, undercover agents were able to buy four fake cards from the bar as part of their investigation, Carr said. They paid $20 for each card, he said.

It's not clear how many cards were sold in total. Agents found two completed cards and 30 blank ones with a laminating device, Carr said. ABC said agents also found an unregistered firearm with Anderson during the arrest at his bar in Clements, nearly 35 miles southeast of Sacramento.

'This is the first case the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) has investigated that involves allegations of the sale of Fraudulent COVID-19 Vaccination Cards,' Carr told CNN via email.

Anderson faces three felony charges, including carrying an unregistered firearm, forgery of a government seal and identity theft of Pfizer, CVS and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office. He is also charged with creating a false medical record, a misdemeanor.

The arraignment for Anderson is expected to be May 18 in Lodi, California, according to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office. A spokesperson for the DA's office didn't know whether he had retained legal representation.

The arrest comes as nationwide vaccination rates have fallen. While the United States averaged 3.38 million doses administered per day across a week in mid-April, the current seven-day average is 2.19 million doses per day, according to CDC data. The most recent numbers as of Wednesday show daily vaccinations have dropped by nearly 20% from last week.

San Joaquin County District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar expressed concern about the sale of fake vaccination cards.

'It is disheartening to have members in our community show flagrant disregard for public health in the midst of a pandemic,' Salazar said in a statement. 'Distributing, falsifying or purchasing fake COVID-19 vaccine cards is against the law and endangers yourself and those around you.'

Health officials last year decided that everyone who receives a Covid-19 vaccine will be given a vaccination record card showing their full name, date of birth, type of vaccine and dose dates to keep track of immunization.
A federal grand jury has indicted four former Minneapolis police officers in connection with the death of George Floyd, alleging the officers violated Floyd's constitutional rights, according to court documents filed in federal court in Minnesota.

The indictment says Derek Chauvin -- who was convicted last month on state murder charges in the Black man's death -- deprived Floyd of the right to be free from 'unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a police officer.'

Tou Thao and J. Alexander Kueng were also charged in connection with their failure to intervene in Chauvin's use of unreasonable force, per the indictment. Chauvin, Thao, Kueng and the fourth officer, Thomas Lane, all face a charge for failing to give Floyd medical aid.

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According to the indictment, 'the defendants saw George Floyd lying on the ground in clear need of medical care, and willfully failed to aid Floyd, thereby acting with deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of harm to Floyd.'

Chauvin also was charged in a separate indictment related to an incident in which he allegedly used unreasonable force on a Minneapolis 14-year-old in September 2017, the Justice Department said in a statement Friday.

The first count of that indictment says Chauvin 'held the teenager by the throat and struck the teenager multiple times in the head with a flashlight,' per the DOJ statement. A second count says he 'held his knee on the neck and the upper back of the teenager even after the teenager was lying prone, handcuffed, and unresisting, also resulting in bodily injury.'

CNN has reached out to attorneys for all four officers for comment. Chauvin's attorney Eric Nelson declined to comment, as did Thomas Plunkett, an attorney representing Kueng. CNN also has reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department and the city's police union for comment.

Floyd's death on May 25, 2020, sparked protests nationwide against police brutality and racial injustice.

Bystander video showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while the 46-year-old, handcuffed and lying prone in the street, gasped for air, telling the officers, 'I can't breathe.'

Thao, Kueng and Lane were on the scene with Chauvin. They also face state charges, including aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. They have pleaded not guilty, and their joint trial is expected to be held this summer.

The three former officers appeared with their attorneys in federal court Friday via video conference, and all three were released on $25,000 bond. Chauvin, who's awaiting sentencing on state convictions in June, remains in custody.

The new federal charges are separate from the civil investigation into Minneapolis policing practices announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland last month, the Justice Department said Friday.

The attorneys representing Floyd's family said in a statement that they are 'encouraged by these charges and eager to see continued justice in this historic case that will impact Black citizens and all Americans for generations to come.'

The statement from civil rights attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci, and L. Chris Stewart said, 'the additional indictment of Derek Chauvin shows a pattern and practice of behavior.'

Stewart told CNN's Pamela Brown during an interview Friday that they spoke with Garland after the indictments and shared how the family reacted.

'It was emotional,' Stewart said. 'They are ecstatic about it. We actually talked to Attorney General Garland today, and I have not heard such passion or sympathy and intention from an attorney general in a very long time. First thing he started with, he said that no one is above the law and that meant a lot.'

Stewart added, 'He just expressed his sympathy, and you could hear the intention in his voice and the determination to get the family justice. It meant a lot. We were very honored that he did that.'

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who led the state's prosecution against Chauvin, called the charges 'entirely appropriate,' saying the federal government had a 'responsibility to protect the civil rights of every American and to pursue justice to the fullest extent of federal law.'

News of the indictments was celebrated by civil rights leaders and activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network, who said in a statement the charges show 'we have a Justice Department that deals with police criminality and does not excuse it.'

'For many years we have tried to get the federal government to make it clear that these crimes are not only state crimes but violate civil rights on a federal level when police engage in this kind of behavior,' the statement said. 'What we couldn't get them to do in the case of Eric Garner, Michael Brown in Ferguson, and countless others, we are finally seeing them do today and this is a significant development for those of us who have been engaged in the struggle and police reform movement.'

Asked about the indictments Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said they and the Chauvin verdict were reminders that 'there's still more that needs to be done.'

'While that was a moment of justice, certainly, that it is just the beginning,' Psaki said. 'And it's a reminder of the need to put police reform in place through our legislative process and put those reforms in place across the country.'
ROME, N.Y.  Older adults in the Rome community gathered on Black River Boulevard Thursday to rally for the reopening of senior centers.

The seniors stood outside of the Copper City Community Connection Senior Center, with signs reading Active senior, happy senior and Honk to open Center.

Senior centers give them an opportunity to socialize and do activities that they havent been able to do throughout the pandemic.

"It's been proven time and time again it's important to address loneliness and isolation that so many seniors are impacted by, said Susan Street, executive director of Copper City Community Connection.

Rallies like this have been held across the state to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reopen the centers.

Utica and Rome recently announced the public would soon be able to attend common council meetings in person, as part of a phased-in approach to reopening. The mayors of both cities said they are coordinating to work on reopening senior centers.
Utica, N.Y. - After a year like no other, in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week, Compassion Coalition of Utica hosted a teacher supply drive-thru giveaway Thursday afternoon.

Because of the pandemic I wanted to do something a little extra special for teachers this year, said Rachel Daughtry, Compassion Coalition Director of Agency Relations.

This is Central New York's first-ever elementary teacher supply drive-thru giveaway that served 260 local elementary school teachers and provided goods for 7,800 students in Herkimer, Madison, and Oneida counties.

Compassion Coalition's "Equipped 2 Teach" program partnered with Yoobi and Chobani yogurt to help educators.

Each of the teachers receive a box for 30 students. In the box is everything thats essential for elementary teachers: scissors, glue crayons colored pencils, hand sanitizer. We know that local students are being impacted and nobody has done anything like this for local teachers, so this is wild it's so fun, said Daughtry.

Fellow teachers and others volunteered to pass out much-needed supplies.

Normally teachers are always spending their own money on school supplies for the kids and this just helps relieve some of that pressure especially with it being such a tough year. The teachers are so appreciative, said Gina Buono, eighth grade English teacher.

There is another giveaway on Friday visit here for more information.
TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI)In a press conference on Friday members of the Indiana Public Health Association discussed the significant dangers of Senate Enrolled Act 5.

"We are here today to urge our legislatures to not override the Governor's veto and to urge all Hoosiers who value public health to contact their state legislatures about this important issue," said Tippecanoe County Health Officer, Dr. Jeremy Adler.

Governor Holcomb vetoed the bill on Tuesday stating "the time wasn't right to jeopardize the flexibility of local health officials as the state recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic."

"Examples of measures that would be affected by this bill include things like county wide mask mandates and other local measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19," said Adler.

However Republican supporters said the step was meant to provide a "check and balance" protecting the rights of business owners following complaints about COVID-19 orders closing or limiting businesses.

The association is asking to collaborate with legislators on a more comprehensive approach to improve public health.

"We can do this," said Ripley County Health Officer David Welsh. "We have a lot of good folks who are public health minded in the state. We can take all the concerns that people have raised. We can come out with a really good process."

Indiana legislators can override Holcomb's veto by a simple majority vote in both chambers but members with the Indiana Public Health Association hopes there can be compromise.

"The other issue is the creation of a whole new infrastructure at the county level to hear the appeals, to process complaints, to consider all of the evidence to be able to do this job effectively," said Paul Halverson who is the Founding Dean & Professor for Indiana University Richard M Fairbanks School of Public Health.

You can view the full presser here.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 16:18:07|Editor: huaxia

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Many Chinese workers have been working around the clock to produce oxygen generators for India in the hope that more lives could be saved.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI)  The Clinton County Sheriff's Office hosted a breakfast Thursday recognizing the National Day of Prayer.

Several prominent Republican politicians were on hand for the event, including State Sen. Brian Buchanan, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and U.S. Rep. Jim Baird.

The three conservatives struck a harmonious tone, emphasizing unity, giving thanks and urging the country to get back on track and overcome the nation's challenges and divisions.

"Here's a group of people who know their highest authority isn't the government, it's God," Rokita said during the event. "And with all the crazy going on in the country and the world and the state even, it's important for us to remember."

Clinton County Sheriff Rich Kelly says he wanted to recognize in prayer law enforcement, military members and veterans, many of whom were in attendance.

"When you look around and there's not a prayer that's for our military, law enforcement, fire, then yes, that need has to be filled and that's why we did it," he said in an interview after the event.

Wendy Combs shared her battle against drug addiction and incarceration to ultimately become the county jail's kitchen manager.

"I'm actually doing my very best to pay it forward and show others with God, hard work and a community of people that have become more like family, that you too can go from incarceration to inspiration," she said at a podium in the 51 West Event Center in Frankfort.

U.S. Representative Jim Baird urged the nation to build understanding and look past disagreements.

"In these times where we seem to be so divided, prayer can help bring us back together," he said to the crowd, which included many Clinton County elected officials.

"We need to make sure that we work together and come out with better solutions ... that's an important part of the legislative process and no one group and no one person has all of the answers," Baird said in an interview after the event.

Thursday is the 70th National Day of Prayer in the U.S.
"It's free," Nick Edwards says. "It doesn't cost us nothing. So why not? Why would you not, with what's going on? Why would you not do it? Come get your shot."
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 16:21:53|Editor: huaxia

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A child riding on an electric tricycle visits a bazaar in Hami City of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 20, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

- "If making a decent living is 'forced labor,' then should they only deserve 'forced poverty' and 'forced unemployment'?" said Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai.

- "Feigning concerns about Xinjiang's human rights, they are thinking about using Xinjiang to contain China," the ambassador said, calling on those Western countries to listen to what the 25 million Xinjiang people of various ethnic groups and the 1.4 billion Chinese people say.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China will not acquiesce to any external attempt to destabilize Xinjiang, or even to split up China and obstruct the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, said Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai on Thursday.

During the "Xinjiang Is a Wonderful Land" online meeting co-hosted by the embassy and the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Cui said that Xinjiang affairs are internal affairs of China, and the 1.4 billion Chinese people of various ethnic groups will not allow any interfering forces to contain China's development.

"In the United States and other Western countries, lies about Xinjiang still hold sway. Systemic slandering and unilateral sanctions against China are rife," the ambassador said, "but lies cannot stand the scrutiny of facts."

Dancers perform in Awat Township of Korla City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, April 10, 2021. Located on the northern edge of Taklamakan Desert, Korla City, famous for its fragrant pears, is dubbed by locals as the "City of Pear." (Xinhua/Ding Lei)

"The so-called 'genocide' is just a downright lie," Cui said, citing figures of the Uygur population in Xinjiang, which has doubled from 5.55 million to over 12 million in the past 40-plus years.

Describing "forced labor" as "groundless," Cui said, "Workers in Xinjiang choose their jobs, including those in the high-income industry of cotton picking, on their own volition. They sign labor contracts as a free and equal party, their rights and interests are well protected, and they enjoy full remuneration."

"If making a decent living is 'forced labor,' then should they only deserve 'forced poverty' and 'forced unemployment'?" asked the ambassador.

"Feigning concerns about Xinjiang's human rights, they are thinking about using Xinjiang to contain China," the ambassador said, calling on those Western countries to listen to what the 25 million Xinjiang people of various ethnic groups and the 1.4 billion Chinese people say, and "tell truth from falsehood, and right from wrong."

A villager makes textile at an embroidery cooperative in Tekes County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, July 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)

Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, said Xinjiang spends more than 70 percent of its general public budget expenditures every year on protecting and improving the livelihoods of all its ethnic groups.

"There has been no violent terrorist attack in Xinjiang for over four years," the official said, adding that the region has made unprecedented achievements in economic and social development and the people's livelihood.

The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are unwavering in their determination to safeguard national unity, national security, ethnic solidarity, and the country's prosperity and stability, he told the audience.

During the event, a Uygur woman representative, a graduate trainee of vocational education and training center, an Imam, and a migrant worker shared their stories about how the Chinese government's policy has benefited the people and how Xinjiang people have overcome difficulties to live a better life. 
CLARKSVILLE, TN (WSMV) - Being a military spouse, often in a new city, there becomes an importance to finding a place to belong.

Moms Kelli Berger and Sarah Talone understand that need.

Thats why theyre part of a community, called Stroller Strong Moms Clarksville  affectionately known as SLAM, or Sweat Like a Mother.

It was in this group, doing high intensity, boot camp style workouts that Kelli and Sarah met Kaitlyn Harris.

She was an equestrian, a Fort Campbell spouse and mom to a nine-month-old son.

We both had been in the army and got out after we had our first babies, and joined SLAM, Talone said.

She was a great mom. We got to witness how much she loved her baby, Berger said.

Wednesday morning, Kaitlyn was killed in a head on crash on Tiny Town Road near Peachers Mill.

PD: 21-year-old woman dies in crash in Clarksville The Clarksville Police Department has identified the woman who died in a crash on Wednesday morning.

She was only 21.

Clarksville Police are investigating what happened, and say charges are expected.

Today, two moms who understand how vital it is to belong to a community are offering help to Kaitlyns husband and young son.

He doesnt know what SLAM love is, but hes about to learn, Berger said. Were here for them in any way  maybe the quiet ways no one thinks about.
In the week since the Liberal-National government declared it illegal for Australian citizens to flee Indias coronavirus catastrophe and return to their country of origin, the callous and anti-democratic measure has been condemned by a broad array of human rights organisations, civil liberties groups and working people.

On April 30, the government activated draconian measures under the Biosecurity Act. Not only did it issue a blanket travel ban on India until at least May 15, it stated that any citizens stranded there would face criminal prosecution if they sought to enter Australia. The government explicitly threatened fines as high as $66,000 or five years imprisonment for those who violate its edict.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The government, with the Labor oppositions support, has effectively blocked tens of thousands of Australians from returning throughout the pandemic, with stringent international arrival caps and a pittance of assistance to people at the mercy of profiteering airline companies. But the India ban is the first time the right of return has been openly criminalised.

The measure epitomises the criminally-negligent and profit-driven response of the ruling elite to the pandemic. The entire political establishment has refused to develop an effective quarantine program, instead sending almost all international arrivals to private hotels to isolate. The hotels, which do not have protections against airborne transmission and are not medical facilities, have been the source of some 17 COVID-19 outbreaks in the community over the past six months.

Rather than address the quarantine shambles, the government has decided to gamble with the lives of some 9,000 citizens in India, at least 650 of whom are deemed to be at a high-risk of succumbing to the coronavirus. Under conditions in which India is now registering more than 400,000 confirmed infections a day and over 4,000 deaths, and its hospital system has been completely overwhelmed, the ban could amount to a death sentence.

Victims of the policy have spoken out. Numbers of them have travelled to India over recent months to aid elderly and vulnerable relatives. In comments to the Guardian, Subra Somayajula explained that he had gone to India earlier this year to care for his mother, who had been stricken with stage-4 breast cancer, and has recently tested positive for COVID. Somayajula has been her primary carer as she is bed-ridden and requiring constant care.

Somayajula said that with the government ban, I feel rejected and betrayed, that my contribution to the community, my life and Australian citizenship isnt worth much. This uncertainty caused by the Australian governments decision is worsening anxiety and contributing to poor mental health, not just for me but for those I am close to.

Somayajula and others have also noted that the ban places them in a potential limbo. India does not allow for dual nationality, so those who have emigrated to Australia and become citizens there have had to renounce their Indian citizenship. If they are in India, they do not have the minimal rights associated with citizenship, including potentially to healthcare, and they have now also been deprived of their due as Australian citizens.

Civil liberties organisations have condemned the ban as a breach of fundamental human rights. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has warned that the blockade could breach international law, including article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which decrees that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.

The office noted that it has repeatedly emphasised the narrow authority to refuse nationals return, and considers that there are few, if any, circumstances in which deprivation of the right to enter ones own country could be reasonable.

Gary Newman, a 73-year-old Australian citizen in the Indian city of Bangalore, has filed a legal challenge, due to be heard in Australias Federal Court on Monday.

The case will argue that the governments invocation of sweeping powers under the Biosecurity Act was not proportionate or appropriate and adapted to achieve the purpose as required under law. The challenge will also assert that the blockade is unconstitutional, in that it violates an implied right of citizens to return to Australia, and that there is no head of power, nor any implied source of power authorised to institute such a ban in the constitution.

The government has doubled down, with senior ministers, including Health Minister Greg Hunt, who issued the order, insisting that it is legal. They are seeking to take advantage of the anti-democratic character of the Constitution, which does not contain any bill of rights or explicitly recognise a range of civil liberties, from press freedom and freedom of speech, to those associated with citizenship.

At the same time, the government has cynically claimed that it did not intend to threaten prosecution when it issued the ban last week. Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the media that likelihood of anything like that occurring is pretty much zero. As numerous commentators have noted, if that were the case there would have been no reason for the government to invoke the extraordinary powers. And whatever the governments spin, if people do seek to circumvent the ban, they are at the mercy of federal authorities who could impose criminal charges.

The governments evasions are aimed at dampening down the anger that the blockade has provoked. Australia has a large Indian population, numbering over 600,000 and Indian community organisations have issued strong statements opposing the measure and pointing to its discriminatory character.

But the opposition has extended far more broadly. The ban has repeatedly trended on Twitter, where hundreds of thousands have condemned its callousness, and pointed to its broader implications for the democratic rights of ordinary people and the very institution of citizenship. Media commentators, including some who have supported the Morrison government, have felt compelled to condemn the measure because of its brutal character. Government backbenchers have reportedly also warned Morrison of the backlash the ban is provoking.

The response is deepening a crisis of the Morrison government. Having been falsely hailed as stable and effective by much of the corporate media last year, it has been mired in a succession of shambles over recent months, including over the handling of sexual misconduct scandals and the glacial pace of the countrys vaccine rollout, which is among the slowest of advanced capitalist countries.

While walking back some of the tough rhetoric that accompanied the announcement of the ban, the government is continuing to signal that it will do virtually nothing for citizens stranded in India. Ministers have stated they fully expect the ban to be lifted on May 15, but have only outlined plans for one repatriation flight, which would only carry a handful of those wishing to return. They will have to test negative before boarding, meaning that those infected by the potentially-deadly virus will be left to their fate in Indias dysfunctional health system.

The government has resisted calls for an overhaul of the quarantine system, as it has throughout the pandemic. Instead it appears that returnees from India will be sent to the existing Howard Springs facility in the Northern Territory, which had already announced an upgrade in capacity from 800 in quarantine at a time to 2,000.

Federal authorities state that the safe level of infections at Howard Springs, as well as the hotel quarantines, is two percent of returnees. This is an admission that the quarantines are failing their central purpose.

Outbreaks in virtually all of the major cities over the past six months have been traced back to the private hotels, which, in addition to their inadequate infrastructure, are staffed by low-paid, predominantly casual workers who are frequently compelled to work multiple jobs.

In the latest case, two infections have been detected in Sydney this week. The husband and wife who have tested positive have not travelled abroad, but the man had been to an optometrist located in the same building as a hotel quarantine and genomic sequencing has linked his case to that of an American traveller there.

Even though New South Wales authorities do not know how the virus leaked and have said that there are probably people in the community infected with the Indian double mutant variant, the state government has only reinstituted a mandate for mask-wearing on public transport and indoor areas. There is no lockdown and the borders remain open. Even this cosmetic response has been condemned by sections of business, who have insisted that all safety measures must be lifted to boost corporate profit.

The federal Labor Party opposition has cynically condemned the Morrison government for its failure to develop effective quarantines. But Labor and its leader Anthony Albanese have functioned as a constructive opposition throughout the crisis, including by passing the majority of the government's budget last October, which provided a bonanza for big business and the rich and a pittance for health.

State administrations, the majority of them Labor-led, have joined the Morrison government in an extra-constitutional national cabinet, which has frequently ruled by decree throughout the pandemic. State Labor governments have directly overseen the shambolic hotel system.

The quarantine crisis and the Indian ban refute claims that Australia has escaped the pandemic. They demonstrate that the ruling elite is committed to the same brutal policies that have resulted in mass illness and death worldwide, based on subordinating the safety and the lives of working people to corporate profit-interests.
The Republican Party in the House of Representatives is moving decisively to purge Representative Liz Cheney, the third-ranking member of the leadership, over her continued denunciation of Donald Trumps claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

On Tuesday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy made it clear on Fox News that he had lost confidence in Cheney. And on Wednesday, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, the second-ranking Republican, called for Cheneys removal and threw his support to Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, one of the main defenders of Trump during two impeachment trials.

Liz Cheney (Photo: Wikipedia)

The next meeting of the Republican House Conference is next Wednesday, May 12, and if any member demands a vote, there will be a secret ballot that Cheney is certain to lose. A second ballot would then choose her replacement in the congressional leadership.

Cheney is a diehard reactionary with a long record of advocating imperialist war and repression, going back to her years as a Fox News commentator, after her father Dick Cheney completed his term as vice president. She was particularly vitriolic in her opposition to individuals like Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, who exposed the crimes of American imperialism.

She has become a target today because she has vociferously opposed the claim by Trump that the 2020 election was stolen and held him responsible for the violent attack on Congress on January 6 by Trump supporters seeking to block the certification of the electoral votes that gave Joe Biden his victory. She was one of 10 House Republicans, who voted to impeach Trump for his role on January 6.

In February, McCarthy opposed an effort to remove Cheney as chair of the House Republican Conference, and she won a secret ballot vote easily, by a margin of better than two to one. Since then, however, Trump has consolidated his grip on the Republican Party, at both the state and national levels.

There is, of course, a certain irony in Liz Cheney being removed because she will not go along with what she called Trumps big lie about the 2020 elections. Through her father, she is forever associated with a previous big lie, the claim by Vice President Cheney and President George W. Bush that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, which justified their invasion and occupation of the country in 2003.

But the Republican Party has moved so far to the right that it is likely to remove Cheney from the congressional leadership, while Trump supporters in Wyoming are mounting a well-financed campaign to oust Cheney from her seat in Congress altogether, by defeating her in the Republican primary next year.

Cheney addressed the basic issue underlying the campaign to remove her in an op-ed column in the Washington Post published on its website Wednesday night, and in its Thursday print edition, under the headline, The GOP is at a turning point. History is watching us.

She pointed to Trumps continued claims that the 2020 election was a fraud and was stolen. His message: I am still the rightful president, and President Biden is illegitimate. Trump repeats these words now with full knowledge that exactly this type of language provoked violence on Jan. 6.

She continued: Trump is seeking to unravel critical elements of our constitutional structure that make democracy workconfidence in the result of elections and the rule of law. No other American president has ever done this.

She went on to argue what, in previous eras of American politics, would have been considered political ABCs: The electoral college has spoken. More than 60 state and federal courts, including multiple Trump-appointed judges, have rejected the former presidents arguments, and refused to overturn election results. That is the rule of law; that is our constitutional system for resolving claims of election fraud.

The question before us now is whether we will join Trumps crusade to delegitimize and undo the legal outcome of the 2020 election, with all the consequences that might have.

Significantly, Cheneys closing appeal was not so much to the Republicans but to the Democratic Party, which now controls both houses of Congress, to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6 storming of the Capitol.

Trump and the Republican House leadership have responded to Cheneys declarations with rage, while redoubling efforts to replace her with Representative Stefanik, who actually voted with Trump far less often than did Cheney, and once chaired the moderate Republican Tuesday Group. Stefanik came to prominence with her strident defense of Trump during the first impeachment effort by the Democrats in the fall of 2019, which she vocally opposed as a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Cheney has drawn far more support and sympathy from the Democratic Party than from the Republicans. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said that it was a shame that Cheney was being ousted, adding, I think Liz Cheneys greatest offense apparently is she is principled, and she believes in the truth.

Speaking with reporters Wednesday at the White House, President Biden called the conflict within the House Republicans a mini-revolution and expressed regret over the damage being done to the opposition party. We badly need a Republican Party, Biden said. We need a two-party system. Its not healthy to have a one-party system.

He lamented, I think the Republicans are further away from trying to figure out who they are and what they stand for than I thought they would be at this point.

This statement is remarkable both for what it reveals about Biden and the Democrats, and what it covers up about the Republicans and Trump. Biden fears the crisis of the Republican Party may damage the two-party system, which has served the American ruling class for decades as the principal barrier to the working class entering into an independent political struggle against the profit system.

The Democrats need the Republican Party as a pretext for blocking action to meet the social needs of working peopleWed love to do this, but we cant because of Republican oppositionand to give bipartisan sanction to the military interventions required by American imperialism around the world.

And for all of Bidens supposed incomprehension, the Republicans have clearly figured out who they are and what they stand for. With the purging of Cheney, the Republican leadership has declared that the 2020 election was illegitimate and the January 6 attack on Congress justified. The Republican Party is the party of Donald Trump, rejecting democracy and elections and taking an authoritarian and fascistic direction.

It is no accident that Republican state legislatures and governors in virtually every state are passing laws to make voting more difficult and to criminalize assistance to voters, all based on bogus claims that the 2020 elections involved massive fraud.

Representative Stefanik recently appeared on the talk show hosted by Steve Bannon, Trumps former fascistic counselor, and referred to Trump several times not as the former president but as the president, whose support she was proud to have.
Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe visited Sri Lanka for two days last week as part of Beijings efforts to strengthen its influence in the region under conditions of deepening geopolitical tensions and US-led military preparations against China.

Wei briefly visited Bangladesh on his way to Colombo, telling President Abdul Hamid that China and Bangladesh should make joint efforts against powers outside the region setting up a military alliance in South Asia and practicing hegemonism.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, right, and Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe fist bump as they avoid traditional hand shake as a precaution against the coronavirus during their meeting in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, April 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Although Wei did not specifically name any country, he was clearly referring to the de facto Quadrilateral (Quad) alliance led by the United States and involving Japan, Australia and India. On March 11, US President Biden held an online meeting with Quad leaders, making clear that his administration would be strengthening military and strategic ties to confront China.

Weis trip to Colombo is the second visit by a high-level Chinese official in the past nine months. Last October, former Chinese foreign minister and Political Bureau member Yang Jiechi came to Sri Lanka. According to media reports, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be arriving in Colombo next month.

Wei held bilateral talks last week with Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. He also met with Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne, a retired major general, in the presence of three Sri Lankan armed forces commanders. Both sides said the discussions were extremely fruitful but provided few details.

The Xinhua news agency reported that President Rajapakse told Defense Minister Wei that Sri Lanka has been pursuing an independent foreign policy and will never bend to pressure from major powers outside the region, as well as never forge an alliance with any country. While the report did not indicate which major powers the president was referring to, Washington and New Delhi are openly hostile to Sri Lankas growing relations with Beijing.

Colombos connections with Beijing are extremely important for two main reasons. Firstly, the Rajapakse government confronts a deepening economic crisis and growing foreign debt, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Exports have sharply declined, tourist revenues have all but collapsed and the country is required to pay $US4.5 billion annually in foreign loan and debt repayments until 2025. In order to avoid default, Colombo has turned to Beijing for financial assistance.

In March, Chinas Peoples Bank signed a three-year $1.5 billion currency swap deal with Sri Lankas Central Bank, and on April 12 Colombo obtained a $500 million loan from the China Development Bank. Even before the latest financial arrangement, Sri Lanka owed Beijing over $5 billion in loan repayments.

Secondly, the Rajapakse government is counting on Chinese support to counteract political pressure from the US and other western countries over Colombos human rights violations.

In March, the US co-sponsored a resolution presented to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by a Core Group on Sri Lanka, whose members include the UK and Germany.

The resolution, which was passed in a majority vote, called for an investigation into war crimes committed during the final months of Colombos communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. At least 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed and numerous other human right violations committed during this time. It also requested the collection and preservation of evidence that could be used in a future prosecution of Sri Lankan military leaders.

The US and its allies are not concerned in the slightest about the violation of democratic rights or war crimes committed in Sri Lanka or anywhere else. The UNHRC resolution is in order to pressure Colombo to distance itself from China. Although New Delhi, for tactical reasons, abstained on the UNHRC vote, it expressed support for the resolution. China and Russia voted against the resolution.

The government of former President Mahinda Rajapakse faced similar US-led resolutions at the UNHRC in 2011, after it turned to China for financial support. While Beijing campaigned heavily on behalf of Colombo in the UNHRC at that time, Mahinda Rajapakses government was ousted in 2015, following a US-sponsored regime-change operation.

Four years later in 2019, the pro-China Maldives President Abdulla Yameen was forced from office in an Indian-backed and Washington-sponsored removal.

Defence Secretary Gunaratne last week thanked Wei for Chinas support in the UNHRC. Wei said Beijing was looking forward to working with Colombo to enhance practical cooperation and to promote bilateral relations to a greater extent. He promised a $7.73 million grant for military assistance.

Weis visit coincided with agitation against the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill by Sri Lankan opposition parties and other groups. The $1.4 billion Port City was built by the China Communications Construction Company with a loan from Beijing.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and several other formations have mounted a virulent anti-China campaign against the project, alleging that Port City will become a Chinese colony. The racist agitation lines up with the US-led opposition to Port City and other Chinese investments in Sri Lanka.

Washington and New Delhi claim that Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, and other poor countries, are debt traps used by Beijing to further its hegemonic ambitions. Last October, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Sri Lanka, openly denouncing China as a predator and demanding that Colombo line up against Beijing.

China regards Sri Lanka as vital to its efforts to retain a foothold in the Indian Ocean, secure its crucial energy supplies and counteract aggressive US military preparations. The Chinese-funded Port City in Colombo and Hambantota Port are crucial links in its strategic Belt and Road Initiative.

To boost its influence in the region, Beijing also held a six-country South Asia dialogue on April 27 on COVID-19 and economic cooperation. Foreign ministers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka participated in the meeting. India was not invited.

The Sri Lankan government, like a number of its counterparts in the region, is attempting a desperate balancing act. Washington has made clear many times, however, that it will not brook any wavering as it seeks to ensure American imperialisms hegemony in the Indo-Pacific, including, if necessary, through war.
An incessant debate about special rights for those who have received a COVID-19 vaccine or recovered from an infection is being conducted in the German media. Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn announced on Tuesday that as soon as Saturday they will enjoy several exceptional freedoms. The considerable attention paid to this issue is aimed above all at facilitating the opening of the tourist sector and all areas of the economy. In the midst of the third wave of the pandemic, this amounts to playing with fire.

Intensive care (Photo: Calleamanecer / Wikimedia)

Over 3.5 million people in Germany have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, and more than 84,000 COVID-19 patients have lost their lives. Almost 20 million people around the world are currently infected with the coronavirus. In Germany, there are currently around 300,000 active infections, of which 4,800 patients are gasping for breath in intensive care units. Hundreds of patients lose this battle every day, dying an entirely unnecessary death.

Politicians prefer to ignore these horrifying figures and facts. Instead they claim, like Social Democratic chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, that the fact that around 30 percent of the population has received their first vaccine gives already a sense that things will be better during the summer. The vice chancellor made these comments on Monday on the ZDF show What next, Mr. Scholz? The vaccine pace is accelerating rapidly, he said. Weve already come a long way.

Scholz, like all other leading politicians, is conveying a completely false sense of security. Only 8 percent of the population has received two vaccine doses, which is far removed from any reliable protection from the virus across society as a whole.

On NDRs coronavirus podcast, Sandra Ciesek, head of virology at Frankfurts University Hospital, warned that any prediction about the coronavirus pandemic is vulnerable to disruption. The vaccine campaign must be continued for at least another four weeks before the rate of those vaccinated would approach 50 percent, and further openings could be even contemplated, she said.

In connection with the current incidence rates, the vaccination figures indicate an even greater danger for those not yet vaccinated, above all, workers and young people. For them, the risk of infection is much higher than in the first and second waves. This is because infections among those over 80 contributed considerably to the overall incidences. Today, amid the third wave, the situation is very different. A significant portion of the elderly is now vaccinated. While an incidence of 100 no longer represents a great threat to them, it poses an even greater threat to younger and middle-aged workers.

COVID-19 infections remain high. A glance at the coronavirus map reveals the staggering fact that inspite of vaccinations, only a handful of districts and cities across Germany have had incidences below 50 infections per 100,000 inhabitants within the past seven days, which was once the upper limit for openings. The upper limit before the so-called federal emergency brake takes effect, an incidence of 100, is surpassed in the vast majority of districts.

Opening up under these conditions is like allowing the first gust of wind to revive the embers of a fire.

This is what happened in India, a country of 1.3 billion people, where daily infections had declined to around 9,000. The government assumed that the pandemic was over; restrictions were lifted, and they resorted to a policy of herd immunity. But when a new, so-called double mutant emerged, new infections rose exponentially. Currently around 400,000 people are being infected every day, and people are dying in the street because hospitals can no longer treat them and provide them with oxygen.

These parallels are of absolutely no concern to the politicians and journalists in Germany. They are much more concerned about the next round of openings, first in the tourist industry, and then for society as a whole, while businesses have been open throughout. People who have received two doses of the vaccine and those who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection will soon be able to visit a hairdresser, shop, restaurant or gym without a negative coronavirus test. They will also be allowed to travel without quarantine and with no negative test to other countries. The government agreed to these measures on Tuesday, and they will pass the lower and upper houses of parliament by the weekend.

Numerous people are warning against these new regulatory exceptions, not least because vaccine passes are extremely easy to falsify. Those who have to deal with the pandemic first hand on a daily basis, such as doctors and nurses in intensive care, ambulance drivers and workers in elderly care facilities, are extremely concerned. They have been working for over a year under incredibly difficult conditions. Now in the third wave, they are confronted with significantly younger patients and the new, more infectious virus variants.

ICUs are packed to capacity and threatened with collapse. This was revealed in a recent case in the Salle-Orla district in the state of Thuringia. A seriously ill patient could not be transferred in time to the ICU in Schliez because all beds were occupied. The 66-year-old cancer patient died in the ambulance while waiting to be admitted. The district in the southeast of Thuringia currently has an incidence of 530 new infections over the past seven days per 100,000 inhabitants.

The conditions in ICUs were also examined in an episode of the ARD programme FAKT on Tuesday evening from the Saale district in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. A doctor at the Carl-von-Basedow Hospital in Merseburg, Dr. Sven-Uwe Hake, confirmed that growing numbers of younger patients are being admitted. Shockingly, its affecting people aged under 30. They are as old as my children, he said. This has become routine and a sad reality.

Dr. Karsten zur Nieden, head of the ambulance service in Halle, commented on the governments plans for lifting restrictions. As a doctor who cares for extremely ill COVID-19 patients every day, he doubts whether now is the right time. There is no real recovery, and we must fear that if we open up too early, we will pay dearly for it later, he said.

The virus has an ever clearer social profile. The more precarious jobs, the greater the risk faced by individuals. Cramped working and living conditions and a lack of restrictions help the virus to accelerate, and the pandemic has vastly increased social inequality. While the stock markets increase, and companies, banks and the superrich enrich themselves on multibillion-euro state bailouts, workers and the poor are bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

Repeated major outbreaks are occurring in workplaces, schools and child care facilities. One recent example is an outbreak on the Thiermann asparagus farm in Diepholz, Lower Saxony. Numerous infections were first identified in the districts child care centres, before mass tests returned about 120 infections among the 1,000 employees. Mainly Romanian seasonal workers were infected by the British variant B.1.1.7 in Diepholz. So as not to interrupt the harvest, the notorious workplace quarantine was imposed on the asparagus farm.

The working class bears the main burden of the pandemic, while the rich are in a much better position to protect themselves. The most well-known example of this currently is the low-income neighbourhood of Chorweiler in Cologne. The incidence rate is over 500. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 963 people have been infected. In the villa district Hanhwald, not a single infection has recently been recorded.

Chorweiler also disproves the standard propaganda about alleged vaccine scepticism among workers. Since Monday, a mobile vaccine bus has been used to inoculate residents. The response surpassed all expectations. People have been waiting patiently every day in long queues that stretch around the entire square for an opportunity to get vaccinated.
A new global excess mortality estimate of deaths caused by the coronavirus paints a truly harrowing portrait of the real state of the ongoing pandemic. While official counts of the pandemic place the current global death toll at more than 3.26 million, the study calculates the dead at 6.93 million.

The study was conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), a research center at the University of Washington. Throughout the pandemic, Dr. Chris Murray and his team have sought to use numerical methods to track and predict the cases and deaths caused by the pandemic, and are cited often by various agencies and departments of the United States government.

People watch burning funeral pyres of their relatives who died of COVID-19 in a ground that has been converted into a crematorium in New Delhi, India, Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Ishant Chauhan)

As the authors note, however, such reports, based on officially recorded statistics, are inherently underestimations. The amount of testing and reporting of deaths in countries, and in states and provinces within those countries, changes over time and varies greatly across national lines. Reported cases are also subject to manipulation for political reasons.

By estimating the excess mortality of a given regionthe deaths in excess of previously calculated averages for a defined periodresearchers at the IHME were able to get a more robust picture of the disastrous state of the spread of the disease in each country studied, as deaths as a whole are generally recorded with some degree of accuracy. Importantly, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, this analysis looks at excess deaths across the entire planet.

Once we completed this analysis, Murray said in an interview accompanying the data release, our understanding of the magnitude of COVID to date has been much worse than what we have been thinking so far. We have estimated to date that 6.9 million people have died from COVID globally already.

In terms of absolute number of deaths, the United States, India, Mexico, Brazil and Russia have the most fatalities caused by COVID-19. In the US, more than 905,000 people have died, 58 percent more than records indicate. In India and Mexico, deaths stand at 654,000 and 617,000, respectively, nearly triple officially acknowledged deaths. The adjusted number of dead in Brazil stands at nearly 596,000, about 46 percent above official counts. And Russia has an excess death count about that of Brazil, 593,000, indicating the tally of the dead in that country has been undercounted by at least a factor of five, around double previous excess mortality estimates.

Other countries had even higher ratios of excess mortality to reported mortality. Japans death toll was estimated to be more than 10 times higher. In Egypt, under the yoke of a blood-soaked military dictatorship backed by the imperialist powers, the IHME reports that the pandemic has claimed more than 12 times the lives reported by that regime. And in Kazakhstan, the total COVID-19 deaths are at least 14 times more than government tallies.

Notably, these adjusted death counts reveal high death counts in whole regions that to date have reported relatively low numbers of COVID-19 deaths. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, the ratio of actual cases to reported cases ranges from 1.6 to 4.1, suggesting many tens of thousands more human lives have been lost in those countries that previously thought. A similar situation exists across the Indian subcontinent and in numerous countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

The COVID-19 fatality rates, deaths per 100,000 people, reveal equally stark disasters in other parts of the world, particularly eastern Europe, the Balkans and Central Asianot coincidentally regions that have suffered drastic declines in their living standards in the past three decades as a result of the restoration of capitalism after the dissolution of the USSR and imperialist intrigue and war. In Azerbaijan, for example, the official pandemic death rate is 44.6, whereas excess mortality figures estimate a death rate of 648.8, a more than 14-fold increase. In Belarus, the estimated actual death rate is nearly 17 times the official numbers, nearly 460 dead for every 100,000 people.

Officially reported and estimated global daily death counts. Credit: IHME

Moreover, unlike previous excess mortality studies, the current IHME model was careful to as much as possible not include deaths not directly caused by the virus itself. They analyzed six drivers of all-cause mortality related to the pandemic, broad categories that make up the excess death counts. These include COVID-19 itself, deaths caused by delayed or deferred health care, deaths from increased mental disorders and drug use, a reduction in deaths from injuries because of lockdowns and social distancing mandates, fewer deaths from other diseases, including the flu, and measles, and reduced deaths from heart or lung conditions because many of those individuals instead died prematurely from the coronavirus.

The predictions also used weekly and monthly all-mortality data, rather than yearly, to get a very granular view of how the death rates in different countries changed over time.

This approach allowed the IHME team to accurately calculate deaths caused by the coronavirus even in places where excess deaths actually went down for the above reasons, as well as to differentiate between deaths caused by the virus itself and those caused by the pandemics impact on society. In total, the scientists were able to exclude 615,000 deaths that occurred from March 2020 onward, providing a very clear picture of the colossal death toll of the pandemic.

The data also suggest many areas for further study on the indirect human cost of the coronavirus. They show that, for example, opioid deaths in the US increased by about 15,000 last year, likely a result of increased anxiety and depression brought on by the immense social crisis.

In addition, the study makes clear the even its immensely high excess mortality calculations are likely an underestimation. In Europe, they excluded data during five weeks of late summer when a heat wave made accurately estimated COVID-19 deaths much more difficult. They were also not able to use the reported all-cause deaths data from Brazil, which has been plagued by an incomplete registration of deaths since near the beginning of the pandemic and was forced to use a secondary record instead.

The authors further note that As the evidence is strengthened in the coming months and years, it is likely that we will revise our estimates of the total COVID-19 death rate upward in future iterations of this work. This will no doubt especially hold true for areas like sub-Saharan Africa where even reported deaths, the yardstick of this method, are difficult to get with any specificity and are generally undercounts.

Such a frank admission about the ongoing global catastrophe must not terrify but galvanize the entire working class. The cost in human lives is more than double official records, and likely even higher. And as new variants spread unchecked in countries such as India, the death toll is already spiraling to new heights. If millions more deaths are to be prevented, the response to the pandemic must be forcibly wrenched, through the method of class struggle and the struggle for socialism, from the politicians and oligarchs who have let the bodies pile high in their thousands.
The current surge in COVID-19 infections throughout India has no precedent in the entire course of the COVID-19 pandemic. A new record of daily cases was set just yesterday when the toll reached an astronomical high of 412,618, accounting for nearly half of the 850,000 global cases reported.

A worker sprinkles fuel on burning funeral pyres of COVID-19 victims at an open crematorium set up at a granite quarry on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, Wednesday, May 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

The number of deaths in India from the coronavirus was also the highest ever reported for the country, reaching 3,980. By every account, these numbers are vastly understated, given Indias archaic and dysfunctional official registry for documenting mortality.

Globally, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases is approaching 160 million, while reported deaths stand at 3.26 million. For 10 successive weeks, daily COVID-19 cases throughout the world have been climbing steadily. This appears to have reached a new plateau last week with an increase of only 0.13 percent from the previous week.

Deaths, however, continue to rise. Yesterday, worldwide, there were 14,567 deaths tallied. South America accounted for 4,418 of these, as Brazil and many Latin American countries continue to face repeated surges of new infections followed by deaths that seem unending. Meanwhile, North America and Europe have reported 1,303 and 2,809 deaths respectively, down from their peaks just a few months ago.

Asia reported 5,713 deaths, with India contributing the lions share to this grim statistic, a complete inverse of the developments, in the first year of the pandemic, when Europe and the US appeared as the epicenters of the pandemic, and the poorer countries were relatively less affected.

The reversal of fortunes for the US and Europe is by no means because of a change in tactics or implementing scientific and critical public health measures. Instead, the imperialist centers have taken advantage of possessing well-developed pharmaceutical industries which, with massive government funded, rolled out effective vaccinations much more quickly than initially expected.

The ensuing policy of vaccine nationalism means to inoculate the population and declare the pandemic finally over, while the most tragic and ominous developments continue in Latin America and Asia (as well as in the poorer sections of the advanced regions themselves).

Across the world, there have been 1.21 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines given thus far, predominately favoring high-income nations. The US has administered 250 million doses, fully vaccinating 32.3 percent of its population, with at least 45 percent having received one dose of a vaccine.

While supply issues and rare vaccine-related blood clotting complications perturbed immunization efforts throughout the EU in February and March, the recent drive has seen over 160 million doses so far administered, with the proportion of the population vaccinated reaching over 35 out of 100 people. Though India has itself delivered 160 million doses from its sizeable pharmaceutical industry, this represents barely more than 10 percent of the population. Only 30 million are fully vaccinated, representing just over 2 percent of the population.

In both the United States and the EU, the combination of mass vaccination and mass exposure to the virus means a considerable proportion of the population may have achieved some level of immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, lessening the number of people who are naive to the virus and making new large-scale outbreaks less likely.

Significantly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently estimated that approximately 115 million people in the US had been infected by COVID-19 as of April 14, 2021, more than triple the official figure of 30 to 35 million. Combined with the more than 100 million vaccinated, and allowing for some overlap between the two groups, this means that at least half the US population, and far more than half of all adults, carry some antibodies to COVID-19.

This is the underlying cause of the well-publicized declines in certain regions of the United States, even while significant outbreaks continue in Florida, Texas, Michigan and other states. In Southern California, Los Angeles County, once the American epicenter, reported only 170 cases and 15 deaths yesterday.

But for India, which represents almost 18 percent of the worlds population, much of its population remains unvaccinated and entirely susceptible. Currently, 21.48 million cases of COVID-19 and 234,000 deaths have officially been reported in India.

Despite halting the export of vaccines to concentrate on the domestic front, the vaccination program is struggling due to problems caused by supply issues, leading to the flare-ups of national vaccination wars as competition between states for these treatments grows heated. India has even approved Russias Sputnik V vaccine for use, with the arrival of the first shipment this week.

Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, a New Delhi physician as well as an expert in vaccines, public policy, and health care systems, told CNBC on Wednesday, Even if the projected supply was available, India has opened the vaccination to a far bigger population than probably any setting can expect the vaccines (to cover). It is essentially an outcome of a limited supply and vaccination policy that is not mindful of supplies. No amount of advanced planning could have assured that sort of supply, which is needed now with the opening of vaccination for 940 million people in India.

Despite possessing the worlds largest vaccine manufacturing capacitythese include the Serum Institute of India and Baharat Biotech, which manufactures Covaxinthe Indian government is being severely criticized for allowing millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to be exported to Europe and the UK. The two manufacturers, combined, are barely manufacturing 100 million doses per month.

Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of the Serum Institute, which makes the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine, told the Financial Times that the vaccine shortages were expected to continue until the end of July. The company had not boosted capacity earlier because there were no orders, we did not think we needed to make more than one billion doses a year.

After criticism was laid against the company for price gouging, he promptly tweeted: As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of @SerumInstIndia, I hereby reduce the price to the states from 400 to 300 rupees per dose, effective immediately. Just two weeks ago, Jairam Ramesh, a senior politician and former federal minister to the main opposition party, had tweeted his dismay that the central government will continue to pay 150 rupees per dose for Covishield (the AstraZeneca vaccine). This is not cooperative federalism. This will bleed dry the already reeling state finances. Atrocious!

So much for a philanthropic gesture. Even as experts warn that the actual death toll may be five to 10 times higher than official figures, profit concerns predominate. These reactions and developments are part and parcel of Indian capitalism and characteristics of its subordinate role within the imperialist system as a whole.

The World Trade Organizations General Council has taken up the issue of temporarily waiving all intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines to facilitate a broader manufacturing base for these vaccines and their distribution, which are presently shackled by legal as well as physical constraints on the number of vaccines that can be produced. These have the support of the World Health Organization and more than 100 countries, who are desperately looking to begin vaccinating their populations who remain immunologically naive to the coronavirus and constrained by public health impediments to fully opening their commerce.

Yesterday, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that the Biden administration believes strongly in intellectual property protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines. However, even if such measures were eventually accepted, all parties involved know that, unlike the speed with which the vaccines were developed, negotiations and actual implementation would face repeated delays and bureaucratic impediments.

Vaccine manufacturers remained defiantly oppositional. Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath, chief executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization trade group, told AP, Handing needy countries a recipe book without the ingredients, safeguards, and sizable workforce needed will not help people waiting for the vaccine. Stephen Ubl, president and CEO of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, noted, The US decision will sow confusion between public and private partners, further weaken already strained supply chains and foster the proliferation of counterfeit vaccines.
The Liberal-National Coalition government announced last Friday that all Australian citizens trapped in India, where the COVID-19 pandemic is raging out of control, are forbidden from returning to Australia until at least May 15, under the threat of criminal action including imprisonment and massive fines.

The blatantly anti-democratic and callous declaration has provoked widespread opposition. There is grave concern, not only for the thousands of Australian citizens stranded overseas, but also over the deadly situation facing the Indian population, including many thousands with relatives in Australia.

Members of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality have spoken to students and workers about the blockade and the broader crisis in India.

Sachith, a tertiary teacher from Melbourne, said this ban is bad. It is unconstitutional for Australians. To me, it is the governments duty to provide safe travel if the citizens want to come back, and to provide assistance to them. I cannot see a plan to get citizens home and that to me is the most worrying thing.

Sachith

Commenting on the situation in India, Sachith said the health system is cracking. There is a huge influx of sick people and a lot of fear. People are fearful of what will happen. All the hospitals are full of patients. There is a huge triage system. If people are not severely ill, they are not coming into the hospital.

Sachiths entire family lives in South India. Their situation is very bad, they all have COVID, he said. I have been very worried. My family got the vaccine because they are frontline workers in the COVID zone, but COVID is part and parcel of their life. My parents had COVID, and they have now had the vaccine. My brother and sister also tested positive.

Sasikala, a nurse also from Melbourne, stated that in India, theyre struggling for life, worried for life. It is painful to see them suffering like that. We have cousins, brothers, sisters, they cant go anywhere, they are imprisoned inside the house. My family comes from southern India, and my husbands family is northern.

On the Australian government ban Sasikala said: You cant ban one country, it is discrimination, but this is happening everywhere. It is not only Australia that hasnt given much help to India, but other countries as well. It is painful to see.

We all have to share everything. Even wealthy people have to donate, it should come out of their bank balance. When the world is in such a crisis every country has to think about helping every other country. Why are we worrying about differences? Why fight now? Really, I dont know if the government is helping people or creating the problem.

The WSWS also spoke to Diya (pseudonym), a 26-year-old Indian student who is completing a double Masters degree at Macquarie University in Sydney. In order to meet her visa requirements, she is forced to complete 8 units of study each year. She is currently paying $5,000 per unit of study.

Diya said her experience of studying in Australia has been a roller coaster ride coming from India trying to make ends meet. And I really thought that Australia, as a first world country, would welcome international students. At first, I did feel welcomed. But with the COVID-19 crisis, I have started feeling not at home over here.

Diya referred to the discrimination she, and international students face, when it comes to employment opportunities. It makes me feel sad because I dont come from a wealthy family, she said. I come from a middle-class family and its difficult for my parents to pay my tuition fees. The fees for international students are three to four times higher than those for domestic students.

To lessen the burden on her parents, Diya started working day and night. However, once the pandemic hit she struggled to get work and the only support she received from the Australian government was 12 weeks of free accommodation.

I couldnt get any work from March to October due to everything being shut down, she explained. The university gave student loans and grants which, to be honest, are like another part of their business. I feel exploited by these universities.

Diya described how the loan system worked from the university: They gave us a $2,000 grant and $2,000 loan. So, $2,000 without repayment, but how can $2,000 allow you to survive six to seven months? I am paying $250 per week for one room in a shared apartment. And they increased the fees by $1,000 per unit, can you imagine?

On the India ban, Diya described the situation she and thousands of international students are facing. We are literally stuck here, she commented. We cant go back to India because if we go back, we cant return to Australia, well be fined. Its such a sad state of affairs that people of Indian origin, who have now become Australian citizens, also cant come back. It is illegal for them to come back to Australia. These people thought Australia was their country because theyve got citizenship, but no! Its discriminatory.

Another international student at the University of Melbourne wished to remain anonymous. She stated that the situation facing international students is not fair. They are taking international students, but they are not allowing them to come in. I came in February 2020 and we were not fairly treated. People have come here to have a career. They couldnt just drop everything and go home. Now I am working part-time, and financially it is a bit better now, but last year I had to ask for help from my parents.

Asked about the situation in India, she said: My parents are there, its really bad. My mother is in her late 40s, my father is in his 50s. They are in Mumbai. We cant rely on the official numbers of COVID infections and deaths. It is probably much worse than reported.

The Indian government should have taken precautions. Instead they had large rallies for the upcoming elections. There was the biggest mistake of the Modi government. And the politics in India means that some states are not getting much vaccine. Vaccine is available nowhere in Mumbai.

Commenting on the Australian blockade, she said: If this ban is going to go for very long, the government should think of Australian citizens in India. They should consider their situation, it is very unsafe. I think the COVID situation in Australia is not out of control and the Australian government should help India much more than they have.

She concluded: It is OK to protect ones own country against the pandemic, but it is important to think about the whole world. It is not just one place which should be left to fight alone.
A degrading jingoistic spectacle played out this week between the UK and France over fishing rights in the waters around Jersey.

Up to 60 French fishing vessels blockaded the islands St Helliers port for several hours Thursday, overseen by two Royal Navy gunboats and two French military vessels.

Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands and home to just over 100,000 people. Located 14 miles from the French Normandy coast and 85 miles south of the UK, it was brought under the English/British crown with the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, remaining so when King John surrendered his claim to the Duchy of Normandy in 1259.

HMS Tamar on April 27 2021, prior to being sent to Jersey (source: Wikimedia Commons-Forces News)

The island is not formally part of the UK but a self-governing Crown Dependency whose defence is the UKs responsibility. Like the other Channel Islands, Jersey uses its strange constitutional status to operate as a tax haven, with a zero percent default corporation tax rate and flat 20 percent income tax rate. The Corporate Tax Haven Index gave the island a haven score of 100 out of 100 in 2020, ranking eighth worst in the world.

Following Brexit, European Union (EU) fishing boats wanting to fish within 12 miles of the UK coast, including Jersey, need to receive a license and must prove that they have fished in those waters previouslyfor at least 10 days over a 12-month period within the last three years. Seventeen out of the 41 larger French boats who applied have not received licenses, with British authorities claiming they have not been able to provide the necessary details. UK Conservative government Environment Secretary George Eustice blamed the European Commission and said licenses would be issued as soon as they have provided that data.

Those who have received licenses also say that the UK has introduced additional conditions on how they are allowed to fish, which they claim will drive two-thirds of them out of business.

The French fisheries ministry said it considered these conditions null and void, commenting, If the United Kingdom wants to introduce new measures, it must notify the European Commission. Commission spokeswoman Vivian Loonela said it had indicated to the UK that we see that the provisions of the EU/UK Trade and Co-operation Agreement, that we recently agreed have not been respected.

Late last month, French fishermen protested by setting up burning barricades blocking lorries laden with UK fish, unloaded in France, from reaching seafood markets. They threatened to blockade Jersey to prevent it receiving supplies. A freight ship, the Commodore Goodwill, was briefly trapped in the harbour before being allowed to leave.

The British and French governments responded by escalating the situation, using it as a platform to strut their nationalist credentials. Britain despatched HMS Severn and HMS Tamar to the scene, each equipped with heavy weaponry. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said they were being deployed to conduct maritime security patrols. France sent the Athos and the Themis on a patrol mission to guarantee the safety of the French flotilla.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke with Jersey officials yesterday morning to reiterate his unequivocal support for Jersey, according to a Downing Street spokesperson. Rear Admiral Chris Parry told the Daily Mail, If they don't like something locally in Normandy or Brittany they always go and blockade something or somebody. I think they're forgetting the Royal Navy is the group that's really good at blockading people.

Former head of the Royal Navy Lord West told Times Radio, If they wanted to move a couple of fishing boats, you would no doubt be boarded by Marines and you would arrest the people involved and then hand them over to the local police to be dealt with.

After you have arrested some, their boats are impounded and thats normally the thing that makes fishermen be very careful.

The Labour Party lent support to this militarist posturing. Shadow Defence Secretary John Healey commented, The threats on Jersey are completely unreasonable. The Navy's experience in sensitive situations will help reassure residents and protect Britain's broader national interests.

In France, Europe Minister Clement Beaune has declared, We wont be intimidated by these manoeuvres. David Sellam, head of the Normandy-Brittany sea authority, threatened, We're ready for war. We can bring Jersey to its knees if necessary.

Earlier this week, Maritime Minister Annick Girardin told the French parliament, In the (Brexit) deal there are retaliatory measures. Well, we're ready to use them. Regarding Jersey, I remind you of the delivery of electricity along underwater cables. Even if it would be regrettable if we had to do it, we'll do it if we have to.

Ninety-five percent of Jerseys electricity is provided by France via undersea cables.

This provoked hysterical comparisons in the British government to the Nazi occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War. At least the Nazis kept the lights on, wailed the Telegraph, paraphrasing a government source. Whitehall claims to be reviewing the UKs energy links with France in response to the threats, considering routing undersea cables through the Netherlands instead.

The British media revelled in the nationalist filth spewing out from both sides of the Channel. The Daily Mail issued the headlines, quoting fishermen on either side, Were ready for war, Our new Trafalgar, and This is an invasion. It was joined by the Daily Express and the Daily Mirror in publishing variations of Boris sends gunboats to Jersey on yesterdays front page.

Lord Daniel Hannan, a leading figure in Brexiteer Conservative circles, pushed a war on two fronts in his piece in the Mail, Emmanuel Macron, the new Napoleon? No, he's a Poundland Putin.

Michael Hookem, former deputy leader of the UK Independence Party, wrote in the Express, EU thought we'd cave on fish but Brexit is about standing up and fighting back. The Telegraph warned of future conflicts in its editorial, French belligerence is only the start of the fishing industry's worries.

The immediate turn to threats, denunciations and the deployment of the military in a minor dispute over fishing is a product of the imperialist powers ever-deeper descent into nationalist reaction.

Brexit expressed and advanced a sharp nationalist turn in world politics, with the Brexiteers, led by Johnson, leading the way to a bullish championing of the national interest, into which all class divisions were supposedly dissolved. This campaign has only intensified, as the Conservative government attempts to consolidate a patriotic political front at home in support of an increasingly aggressive trade and military policy abroadaided every step of the way by the Labour Party.

Frances tit-for tat response over Jersey shows the European powers can offer no progressive response, with each aggressively pursuing their national agenda within the framework of the EU.

With geostrategic competition and class tensions massively intensified by the pandemic, outbursts of chauvinism will become routine.

The working class has no dog in these fights, which aim to set workers of different countries against each other in a struggle to increase the fortunes of their respective ruling billionaires. Workers interests can only be defended through a unified international struggle, against the British, French and European ruling class, for workers power and the United Socialist States of Europe.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 16:45:47|Editor: huaxia

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SHANGHAI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's research icebreaker Xuelong 2, or Snow Dragon 2, concluded the country's 37th Antarctic expedition on Friday, and returned to the home port in Shanghai.

Xuelong 2 embarked on the scientific expedition on Nov. 10, 2020, from Shanghai and traveled more than 36,000 nautical miles over the past 179 days.

The vessel carried supply and rotational staff to China's Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station in the region. Marine ecosystem and environmental investigations were carried out as part of the expedition during the trip.

The team also successfully carried out rescue operations for international Antarctic expedition members and forged international cooperation in the Antarctic expedition material supply. It has withstood the test of COVID-19, as zero infections were reported among the team members.

This is the first time that Xuelong 2 has completed a single-vessel expedition around the Antarctic.

As China's independently developed polar icebreaker and scientific research vessel, Xuelong 2 is 122.5 meters long and 22.32 meters wide, with a designed displacement of 13,996 tonnes. It can continuously break ice as thick as 1.5 meters at a speed of 2 knots (3.70 kph) to 3 knots (5.56 kph).

Before the expedition, Xuelong 2 had completed one mission to the South and North Pole, respectively, since its delivery in July 2019. Enditem
A ceasefire has been declared in the border conflict that erupted last week between the Central Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. According to press reports, a total of 54 people died on both sides and hundreds more were injured. The Kyrgyz side reported 36 dead, including at least two children.

The two states, impoverished former republics of the Soviet Union, share a 1,000 kilometer frontier, of which about 40 percent is disputed. The zone is situated in the water-rich and fertile Fergana Valley, a region over which neighboring Uzbekistan also lays claims.

Map of Central Asia

The latest round of fighting began in late April, with villagers in the Tajik province of Sughd and the Kyrgyz province of Batken throwing projectiles at one another. Regular troops stationed on both sides quickly became involved, using guns and mortars to assault one another. Hundreds of homes and other structures were torched in the fighting, including schools and a kindergarten.

Kyrgyz residents claim that the Tajik military deployed an attack helicopter. Roadblocks temporarily cut off part of Kyrgyz territory from the rest of the country. The Kyrgyz government in Bishkek evacuated 60,000 residents, although that order has been lifted since the May 1 ceasefire took hold.

Russia, which has military bases stationed in both countries, indicated its willingness to mediate between the two sides, and Vladimir Putin will meet with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon on May 8.

At the center of the conflict are competing claims over the Kok-Tash reservoir, a body of water drawn from the Isfara River, which is essential for irrigating agricultural lands and maintaining pastures along both sides of the border. Population growth in the Tajik and Kyrgyz neighboring provinces is putting pressure on the essential but limited natural resources in the area. The situated has worsened since 2014 when Kyrgyzstan started development projects, including the building of roads, which threatened to cut off Tajik access to the reservoir.

The disastrous economic situation in both countries has intensified the long-standing conflict, in which clashes have erupted repeatedly over the last two decades. Kyrgyzstans GDP fell during 2020 by 9 percent due to the impact of the coronavirus, which has infected nearly 97,000 people in the country of less than 6.5 million. Tajikistan, with a lower rate of infection but larger population, is still posting economic growth, although it has slipped from 7.5 percent before the pandemic to just 2.2 percent last year.

Both countries have now racked up large budget deficits. Their economies are heavily reliant on remittances from citizens working in low-wage, highly exploitative jobs in Russia. Money sent home from those working abroad accounts for 28 percent and 33 percent of Kyrgyz and Tajik GDP, respectively. In a vicious anti-immigrant action aimed at deflecting social anger inside Russia, the Kremlin recently declared that all the Central Asian countries must get their undocumented citizens out of Russia by mid-June.

The ceasefire declared earlier this week between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will do nothing to resolve the long-term conflict. On Wednesday, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov made a point in his annual address to the nation of stating that the country had to create an army composed of well-prepared and properly equipped divisions ready to carry out military actions.

The cross-border conflict in the Fergana Valley is the direct product of the dissolution of the Soviet Union by the Stalinist bureaucracy in 1991. Over the course of Soviet history, the boundary lines of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were redrawn on several occasions, including in the 1920s and the 1950s. Despite the changing map, united in a single country, the populations of the two republics moved back and forth across the internal borders and made shared use of the regions resources.

When Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan spun off into independent states, the corrupt ruling elite in each newly formed country claimed whichever version of the former Soviet mapthe one from the 1920s or the one from the 1950swould give them the most. Each side has endlessly whipped up ethnic chauvinism in an effort to channel popular frustrations over widespread poverty behind their respective economic and geostrategic agendas.

The region has long been the object of imperialist meddling, with the United States playing a central role in the 2005 Kyrgyz Tulip Revolution, through which it sought to bring to power a regime more subservient to Washington. The outcome has been years of political upheaval, instability and violence. As part of the war in Afghanistan, the US has developed close relations with the Tajik government and Bishkek has received significant funds from the US as part of the war on terror. More recently, the region, which has significant economic ties to China, has been further destabilized by the US-led confrontation with Beijing.
As grocery store workers at the food retail giant Loblaws contend with the COVID-19 pandemic, low-wages and precarious employment, the company that controls Canadas largest grocery store chain is making money hand over fist. On Wednesday, Loblaws reported first quarter profits for 2021 were up by a massive 30 percent compared to the first quarter of 2020.

Striking Dominion supermarket workers (Unifor)

The lavish payments made to company executives for 2020 were also recently announced. With overall food purchases slightly up due to an increase in at-home cooking during the pandemic, top executives met 90 percent of their personal compensation targets and were rewarded with bonus payments across the board. This included total compensation packages of $3.55 million for Loblaws Executive Chairman Galen G. Weston Jr. and $6.4 million for departing company President Sarah Davis.

As if intentionally seeking to add insult to injury, Loblaws unveiled an appreciation bonus for workers, which ranged from a risible $25 for part-time workersthe vast majority of the companys store workforceto $175 for full-time staff.

The Loblaws conglomerate is the largest retail food distributor in Canada, employing some 200,000 workers. It is owned by the Weston dynasty, the third richest family in Canada. Aging company oligarch Galen Weston Sr., who died last month, oversaw a family empire worth C$13 billion. The patriarch liked to split his time between a spacious downtown Toronto residence, a private island in Georgian Bay, holdings in London, England and family compounds in Florida and the Bahamas.

The lavish compensation of the Weston executive team was not an unusual occurrence. In one snapshot of corporate fortunes taken between March and September 2020, Canadas billionaires got $37 billion richer during the pandemics first 6 months.

Canadas three main grocery outlets drew the ire of grocery workers across the country, when in a highly provocative and apparently coordinated move, they announced that they were scrapping a $2 per hour COVID-19 pandemic premium or bonus last June. Loblaws, the Metro supermarket chain and Empire, the parent company of Sobeys, IGA, Safeway and other chains, introduced the bonus in late March 2020. They did so to dampen worker anger and anxiety about being exposed to the highly contagious and potentially lethal coronavirus in their workplaces while the country was in near total lockdown. Additionally, it was recognized that if the bonus was not introduced, grocery stores would struggle to get workers to show up because they would have been able to earn more on the governments poverty-level Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

The worker bonus was touted by corporate bosses and the mainstream media alike as an example of the ruling elites recognition of supermarket workers as heroes. This was a crucial element in the fraudulent narrative that everyone was pulling together in the face of the pandemica narrative that has been promoted by the trade unions, as they herd workers back into unsafe nonessential workplaces. Indeed, across the top of the homepage of the Canadian Labour Congress there is a banner that reads: In Canada, weve weathered the pandemic by sticking together and supporting each other.

In reality, while workers received a few crumbs in emergency support, the federal Liberal government and Bank of Canada handed over more than $650 billion to the financial markets, banks and big business.

Last summer, Weston management worked to impose further givebacks on grocery workers. 1,400 grocery workers at the conglomerates Dominion stores network in Newfoundland and Labrador rejected a rotten contract that their union, Unifor, had endorsed and went out on strike in August. The rejected tentative deal only provided for a $1 per hour raise, gradually disbursed over the life of a proposed three-year contract.

When the strike began, 83 percent of the Dominion workforce was made up of low-wage part-time employees with no or minimal benefits. Fully three-quarters of the workers made less than $14.00 per hour, with a majority of the part-timers labouring at or just above the provincial poverty-level minimum wage of $11.65 (since raised by the province to $12.15).

The strike in Newfoundland was the first grocery contract dispute in Canada since the beginning of the pandemic. But in the 202122 period, contracts covering workers at 2,400 other Loblaws outlets will expire. Loblaws was therefore determined to crush the strike in Newfoundland and force the acceptance of the miserable contract offer in order to set a nationwide benchmark.

In this, Loblaws management enjoyed the support of Unifor. The union systematically isolated the Newfoundland strikers, refused to call for solidarity strike action by other grocery store workers, and restricted its activities to sending a few regional union reps to the strikers picket lines. When the capitalist courts predictably imposed injunctions on workers barring all but the most token picketing, Unifor rolled over and accepted them without a fight.

After a bitter 12-week strike with workers left isolated by their union and attacked by the police and the provincial courts, Loblaws with union acquiescence pushed through a deal almost identical to the one that the workers had overwhelmingly rejected before the strike began.

Backdated to October 2019, the new contract provided a paltry pay increase of $1.35, now spread over four years. But only full-time workers and part-timers with more than five years seniority received the full $1.35. In a further insult, Dominion management threw in a store gift card. Most workers received cards worth just $50 or $100, with the few remaining high seniority full-time staff receiving $500 cards.

As the World Socialist Web Site noted at the time, (T)here is no question an appeal for job action in support of the striking Dominion workers would have won powerful support among workers across Canadabeginning with the hundreds of thousands of supermarket workers, including many at other Loblaws outlets, whose contracts have or will soon expire.

But such a working class counteroffensive was precisely what Unifor was determined to prevent. A close ally of the federal Liberal government, (Unifor President Jerry) Dias and the Unifor apparatus have responded to the pandemic and the eruption of the greatest crisis of global capitalism since the Great Depression of the 1930s by deepening their anti-worker corporatist partnership with big business and the state. (See Unifor sells out militant Newfoundland Dominion grocery strike)

The connivance of the trade unions in the destruction of jobs, wages and benefits in the grocery industry reached a new low with the sellout and defeat of the Newfoundland strike. But the attacks on grocery workers living standards have a long and sordid history. In 1990, the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) set a miserable precedent with Loblaws in Ontario when it gave away the principle of across-the-board wage increases in favour of a new wage structure tied to hours worked. The floodgates were opened for a steady destruction of full-time jobs in the industry.

Then in 1993, UFCW executives organizing workers at Albertas Safeway network convinced workers that the company would close stores if they did not swallow wage and job cuts and accept the companys right to employ a virtually unlimited number of part-time workers. That major concession was followed up with a similar deal rammed through after a bitter three-month strike at 63 A&P-owned Miracle Food Mart stores in Ontario. By the mid-1990s, retail food market chains from coast to coast had created a precarious-employment, poverty-wage, minimum-to-no-benefits regime throughout the industry, with the unions now openly acting as junior partners of the corporations.

Grocery workers at Loblaws stores and other outlets can only take forward their struggle for decent-paying, secure jobs and protective measures against the threat posed by COVID-19 by breaking politically and organizationally with the rotten pro-capitalist unions. They should establish rank-and-file committees at every grocery store to organize and coordinate a working-class-led counteroffensive aimed at securing wage increases and job security for all, and expropriating the vast wealth hoarded by corporate executives and rich investors so that it can be deployed to meet critical social needs amid the pandemic, like a well-funded health care system.
Deepal Jayasekera is the assistant national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. He has written extensively on the politics of the Indian subcontinent and on the national question in Sri Lanka. He made these remarks at the 2021 International May Day Online Rally held by the World Socialist Web Site and the ICFI on May 1.

Speech delivered by Deepal Jayasekera to the 2021 International May Day Online Rally

Dear Comrades,

The COVID-19 pandemic is surging in South Asia, bringing deadly consequences for nearly the 1.9 billion inhabitants in the region.

By May Day last year there were about 50,000 coronavirus cases and nearly 2,000 deaths from the pandemic in South Asia. Within one year, the number of infections has increased to a staggering 19 million and more, an increase by 380 times, with over 230,000 deaths, an increase by 115 times.

This surge of coronavirus cases and deaths is the outcome of the criminal policies of the ruling elites the world over, who have placed profit interests of big business over human lives.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global issue and cannot be overcome within a single country or even within a single region. The international working class must take matters into its own hands to mobilize globally available resources to fight the deadly pandemic.

Early last year, having ignored the impending danger of the pandemic, the governments in South Asiamainly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lankawere forced to declare lockdowns in March 2020. However, these lockdowns had not been adequately associated with crucial measures, such as mass testing and contact tracing, or, above all, substantial allocation of financial resources to upgrade the already underfunded public health care systems, and to provide support for the millions of workers who had lost their income due to the closure of businesses and industries.

Governments have miserably failed to achieve their declared aims. Moreover, the bourgeois leaders moved to reopen industries rapidly, to defend the profit interests of the capitalists. Even under the current rapid spread of the pandemic, the South Asian ruling elites, like their global counterparts, are continuing with their ruthless official policy of herd immunity and keeping the economy open.

India has become an epicenter of the pandemic, reporting the highest number of daily cases in any country in the world. Since April 22, it has been recording over 300,000 cases daily, pushing up the total COVID-19 infections to almost 18 million, second only to the US, and marking the second largest number of total cases in the world.

Since April 21, over 2,000 deaths have been reported per day. As of now, Indias total death toll has jumped to over 200,000. Even under the current disastrous situation, the Modi government continues to rule out a national lockdown to control the pandemic, placing the profit interests of the capitalists over the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

In Pakistan, the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan was the last to impose a lockdown in the region and the first to lift it last year. Under the present deadly conditions of the pandemic, with over 800,000 total cases and over 17,000 deaths, Pakistan is now ruling out another national lockdown.

In Bangladesh, with over 750,000 COVID-19 cases and over 11,000 deaths, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been forced to declare a lockdown, which has been extended up to May 5. But underscoring her governments commitment to the profit interests of big business, industries including the garment sector have been allowed to function.

In Sri Lanka, the governments boasts of controlling the pandemic are punctured by a second wave of the virus. A total of 100,000 cases and a death toll of over 650 have been reported. Nonetheless, the government of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse refuses to impose a lockdown, following Modis example. Instead, the government blames the people, insisting that they live with the virus by acting according to health guidelines.

As a part of the international upsurge of the working class, the workers and oppressed masses in South Asia have entered into struggles, including strikes and protests.

Due to the economic crisis intensified by the pandemic, a heavy economic burden has been placed upon workers by governments and corporations across the region, leading to an assault on jobs, wages and living conditions.

In Sri Lanka, during the past months alone, teachers, workers in the health care sector, postal, electricity, water supply and drainage, banks and railways, as well as the plantations, tourism and apparel industries have carried out protests and strikes in the public and private sectors.

The ruling class has responded to these strikes by seeking to divide and weaken the working class, aiming to crush the growing working class opposition by mobilizing fascistic forces, whipping up communalism and speeding up preparations for a military-police dictatorial rule. Act like a Hitler, declared the Minister for Transport Dilum Amunugama, urging President Rajapakse to establish a presidential dictatorship to crush the growing opposition, pointing to the campaign by sections of the Sri Lankan elite.

To counter these reactionary measures of the ruling elite, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka fights to unite Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim workers across communal divisions, in an independent movement based on a socialist program.

In line with the perspective of the ICFI, in opposition to the preparations of imperialist war and dictatorship, and based on a politically independent strategy, the SEP (Sri Lanka) has stepped forward to build a broad working class movement in South Asia.

The working class has been prevented from mounting such an independent political movement mainly by the treacherous role of the so-called left parties and unions, such as the Stalinist Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, and the Communist Party of India, or CPI.

In Sri Lanka, all the unions, including the CWC in the plantations and Free Trade Zones and the General Services Employees Union, are openly collaborating with the government and companies in imposing assaults on jobs, wages and working conditions, to the extent of abetting the police in arresting and locking up workers.

We call upon the workers in South Asia to politically and organizationally break from these treacherous parties and unions. Unify their struggles to defend social and democratic rights, and form their own rank-and-file committees.

The SEP (Sri Lanka) has already taken the initiative to develop rank-and-file committees in the health care, education, garment and plantation sectors, as well as to rally artists and defend freedom of expression.

Developing this initiative further, the SEP (Sri Lanka) is fighting to rally the working class

in support of the ICFIs call for an International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.

Above all, the working class in the region, winning over poor farmers and the other oppressed to its side, must adopt a revolutionary socialist strategy of fighting to overthrow capitalist rule.

Here, this strategy must be based on the theory of Permanent Revolution elaborated by Leon Trotsky. According to Trotsky, in countries of belated capitalist development, like those in South Asia, the tasks of the democratic revolution can only be achieved under the leadership of the working class. Such an independent political movement of the working class should aim to establish a Union of Socialist Republics in South Asia and internationally.

To provide revolutionary leadership for the working class, the Socialist Equality Party of Sri Lanka, in close collaboration with the ICFI and utilising its publication, the World Socialist Web Site, is fighting to build sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in South Asia, particularly in India.

Thank you, comrades!
Tomas Castanheira is a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group, which is fighting to build a Brazilian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International. He gave these remarks to the 2021 International May Day Online Rally held by the World Socialist Web Site and the ICFI on May 1.

Speech delivered by Tomas Castanheira to the 2021 International May Day Online Rally

Greetings from Brazil to this international May Day rally, which represents the development of the only genuine answer of the global working class to the historic crisis we are experiencing.

After more than a year of suffering and privations under the COVID-19 pandemic, the working masses in Brazil are facing an even more savage wave of infections and deaths from the disease. April was the deadliest month of the pandemic in Brazil, as 80,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19, bringing the terrible death toll in the country to over 400,000.

The COVID-19 conflagration in Latin Americas largest country has spread throughout the region at a staggering rate. The P.1 variant of the coronavirus, which together with the rejection of lockdown measures is responsible for the explosion of cases in Brazil, is already becoming dominant throughout the South American continent.

Like Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela have had their largest death toll in a month since the pandemic began. Argentina and Colombia have broken daily death records in recent weeks, and are experiencing their worst peaks of infections. Chile, despite being significantly more advanced in its vaccination process, is experiencing an unstoppable rise in new cases that is overcrowding its health care system.

The failure to control the pandemic in Brazil exacerbates the dangers not only to the Latin American population, but to all humanity. Dozens of dangerous mutations already identified by scientists are now developing in different parts of the country. Neglecting this situation will predictably result in the generation of strains even more aggressive and resistant to vaccines.

But the Brazilian ruling class is unwilling and incapable of mounting any struggle against the deadly pandemic. With a tiny percentage of the population vaccinated, and with thousands dying every day from the disease, the coordinated efforts of all bourgeois parties are aimed at the wholesale reopening of economic activities.

The most radical advocate of this social murder policy is Brazils fascistic president, Jair Bolsonaro. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bolsonaro has consistently promoted a herd immunity policy, maintaining that the entire population should become infected by the virus and that no measures that impede capitalist profits should be allowed.

To ensure this, Bolsonaro has relied on the immense economic pressures placed on the working masses. The pandemic was accompanied by the explosion of a social crisis that had been brewing over the past several years in Brazil.

Tens of millions of workers suddenly found themselves unemployed. The income from informal labor abruptly disappeared. Wages were cut and the purchasing power of Brazilian families was eroded by a sharp increase in food prices.

The payment of a minimum emergency aid by the government in the first year of the pandemic was calculated to keep workers on a starvation budget that would force them into the infected workplaces.

As the new, overwhelming wave of COVID-19 was hitting Brazil, at the beginning of the year government aid was cut, throwing millions more into poverty and spreading hunger into the homes of Brazilian workers.

Alongside the worsening pandemic and social crisis in Brazil, Bolsonaro has intensified his authoritarian drive, seeking ever more insistently to impose dictatorial measures against the working class and ensure the capitalist policy of herd immunity through repression.

A week ago, Bolsonaro claimed in an interview that his army is ready to occupy the streets and secure what, in fascist language, he calls the right to work. He also claimed that he is systematically preparing with his cabinet a violent response to a coming popular uprising in the streets in response to poverty and hunger.

The fascistic reaction advocated by Bolsonaro, despite the grave dangers it poses to the working class, is an expression not of ruling class strength, but of its weakness. The capitalist oligarchy that Bolsonaro represents is terrified of the growth of an irrepressible working class movement heading toward a clash with the prevailing social order.

In recent years, protests have spread across Latin America in response to the growth of social inequality, which has radically worsened since the pandemic. The mass uprising in the streets of Chile in late 2019 was a harbinger of the political processes that will dominate the region over the next period.

A wave of strikes that is growing in different sections of the Brazilian working class, in opposition to the policy of murder and widespread impoverishment, expresses the developing social opposition.

Over the past few months, educators in Sao Paulo have maintained a strike against the reopening of the countrys largest school system, which has been joined in recent weeks by teachers in the states of Pernambuco and Minas Gerais. Strikes by bus drivers and other transportation workers have intensified in capital cities across Brazil, and in addition to fighting layoffs and pay cuts, are coming out more and more against workplace infections and deaths.

Outbreaks of infections in Petrobras units have also provoked strikes by oil workers, which have been joined by demonstrations of app drivers and app delivery workers, as well as truck drivers, against the rise in fuel prices and demanding better payments.

These processes objectively raise the need for the unification of the struggles of the working class. They are therefore viewed with extreme nervousness by the unions. This was demonstrated in a letter from the Transport Workers Confederation, demanding governmental funding of the companies to mitigate the growing general strike movement in their ranks.

During the pandemic, the unions actively worked to demobilize working class resistance against the murderous capitalist policies. In addition to having advocated for the unsafe reopening of factories, the countrys largest trade union federations, CUT and Forca Sindical, merged at the end of the year in a new corporatist formation, IndustriAll Brazil, with the declared goal of defending the competitiveness of Brazilian capitalism and cooperating with big business organizations.

These corrupt trade unions are oriented to defending the social privileges of the Brazilian billionaires who increased their assets by more than 70 percent during the pandemic. They are linked to the Workers Party and its allies, who today are forcing the criminal reopening of schools and other economic activities in the states they rule.

These political forces, that pose as an opposition to Bolsonaro, give voice to a wing of the bourgeoisie that believes the actions of the fascistic president will cause instability in the country and threaten their profits.

These differences find direct expression on this May Day. While the trade union federations have called for an event that brings together former presidents Lula and Cardoso and several other openly right-wing figures, in the name of forming a reactionary front of bourgeois opposition, Bolsonaros supporters are organizing street protests for the total reopening of the economy and the immediate establishment of a presidential dictatorship in Brazil.

The only May Day event that defends the genuine interests of the Brazilian working class and workers all over the world is this one, organized by the International Committee of the Fourth International.

A progressive solution to the crisis in Brazil is impossible without a definitive break with the unions and all forces of the national bourgeoisie.

Fighting the pandemic, social inequality and the threat of dictatorship demands the unification of the struggle of Brazilian workers with their brothers in Latin America and throughout the world through the construction of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.

And this requires the building of a conscious revolutionary leadership in the working class, a Brazilian section of the ICFI.
The Board of Governors and chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is moving forward with a restructuring plan that will merge six universities into two. The result will be the slashing of thousands of jobs and the erosion of the quality of education, even as tuition continues to rise.

PASSHE consists of 14 public universities across the state, enrolling over 95,000 students and employing over 11,000 workers and faculty. It ranks 48th in the nation in terms of public expenditure on higher education.

William Pitt Union at the University of Pittsburgh. (Photo: pitt.edu)

Enrollment in PASSHE has been decreasing since the Great Recession, declining by 21 percent, as students seek other opportunities to find careers without being weighed down with boatloads of debt. Last year, officials estimated revenue loss of $52 million due to declining enrollment and refunds issued to students who refused to attend schools that unsafely reopened.

Cuts will happen at every university, including the to-be merged universities of Mansfield, Lock Haven and Bloomsburg on the one hand and California, Clarion and Edinboro on the other.

Sworn in by Democratic Governor Tom Wolf in 2019, the current chancellor, Dan Greenstein, a former employee of the public-education-attacking Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said, Im talking about [a] fundamental transformation and redesign of the state system. Last summer, the first round of cuts hit professors, adjuncts and school employees. According to the plan revealed at the end of last month, this was only the first bloodletting of the forthcoming jobs massacre.

According to a new study done by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, 809 faculty positions will be cut by 2023, reducing faculty staffing from the 2019 level of 5,069 to 4,260, a 16 percent cut. Combining those job cuts with non-teaching staff layoffs, at least 1,531 workers will be given their walking papers, resulting in a 14 percent decline in systemwide employment. The student-faculty ratio will skyrocket on average by 15 percent.

The most cuts will happen at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), where 383 workers will lose their jobs, followed by Edinboro University with 236 and Shippensburg University with 185. The impact will be felt in the university communities, with one report describing the effect of the merger as comparable to the ongoing experiences in Pennsylvania with factory closures and job destruction.

At no point has Greenstein proposed to cut his own pay and benefits or the large sums of cash university presidents receive, nor has he asked the state government to provide more funds for PASSHE. Greensteins annual salary is a $380,000 a year, while university presidents make from the mid-$250K to almost $400K a year4 to 6 times more than an average professor. The chancellors budget proposal for 2023 will reduce funding by $44.2 million, compared to 2019 levels.

Students and parents hoping that tuition will become more affordable for working-class families wont find anything in this draconian plan to reduce costs. According to the Northeast Proposed Implementation Plan Report, one integration goal is to reduce the cost of degree attainment by 25%. But, as the report then states, This goal does not assume primarily a reduction in tuition. Instead, it proposes to reimburse student wages off-campus and promote summer job opportunities.

The burden on families of sending their children to a PASSHE school is well-known. The director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Marc Stier, noted, Those universities which were once the engines of social mobility in Pennsylvania have become much less effective at that task as tuition has gone up, making PASSHE schools less accessible to working people. Moreover, as a percentage of median income for families, the cost of a Pennsylvania four-year-degree is now the second least affordable in the country, tying Alabama.

Far from defending the rank-and-file membership, the unions, have not moved one muscle to parry the blows coming from Greenstein and Wolf.

The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 13, representing more than 65,000 in the state and more than 3,000 at PASSHE, issued a mildly written press release opposing the job cuts to save face with their rank-and-file members. At the same time, the union said it is not opposed to any changes at all to the system and is ready to work with PASSHE leadership towards a better outcome for all involved. To put this two-faced language differently, the unions plan to let job and benefit cuts happen if they can be equal partners in this new scheme.

The Association of Pennsylvania State College & University Faculties (APSCUF) staged an impotent online rally. Opening remarks were given by Jamie Martin, the president of APSCUF. Her indifference to the lives of educators and students was clearly stated when she attacked the hybrid learning model of Greensteins plan, and demanded a return to in-person learning. We need face-to-face courses, he stated.

Later in this talk session, she bragged about the amount of money she has saved PASSHE by offering early retirements, cutting benefits and firing workers: I feel as if weve done quite a bit to help the system save money  last year we offered an enhanced sick leave payout program  the system came to us talking about the need to reduce number of faculty and we entered into an agreement with them. We had 258 total members retire. 219 of them received the incentive  39 didnt. That will increase savings!

She also touted the fact that APSCUF will save $40 million dollars next year by forcing its members to take an early retirement, some of whom wont receive the package, and that the last contract had a pay freeze and a significant number of members were laid off. We will continue to do what we can for cost savings! she declared at the end.

An alternative exists outside the corporatist trade unions for those students, faculty and workers who want to fight this barbaric plan. It is the Pennsylvania Rank-and-File Safety Committee, part of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC), which has been fighting to save the lives of educators, students and parents against the herd immunity policies of the ruling class.
In an article titled, An Unexpected Pandemic Side Effect in Peru: A Comeback For TB, NPR (National Public Radio) gives a sobering account of the rise of tuberculosis (TB) in Peru and much of the developing world because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Peru, in 2019, the nonprofit health care organization Partners in Health (PIH) began a screening program called TB Movil, which brings TB testing to the community via two vans equipped with X-ray machines that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to diagnose TB quickly and accurately. The vans are operational in the three northernmost districts of Perus capital, Lima.

Carabayllo hillside slum north of Lima Peru work done by Partners in Health on treatment of MDR-TB. Photo courtesy of Partners in Health

Martin Valencia Garcia, a community agent of TB Movil, noticed that after the onset of COVID-19, patients likely stopped seeking further tests and treatment. Speaking of a 52-year-old patient who was in his care before COVID-19 but has since lost touch with him, Garcia remarked, He could not do the exams, and since he couldnt do the exams, he couldnt be diagnosed, and he couldnt receive treatment.

Under disruptions caused by COVID-19, Luz Villa-Castillo, a study coordinator at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, pointed to the masking of a rising tuberculosis caseload as fewer patients sought diagnostic testing and received inconsistent treatment. Villa-Castillo suspects many milder strains of TB may have likely become resistant.

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, Peru, like most countries across the globe, went into partial lockdown with restrictions on movement and commerce. While lives were certainly saved, job losses were extensive, leading to more than six million people left unemployed by the second quarter of 2020, with many jobs permanently destroyed. With public transportation capacity cut by 50 percent, many younger workers who depended on these modes of commuting were unable to go to work and lost their jobs.

The stresses of economic devastation coupled with a lack of transportation also meant that many patients with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) most likely stopped seeking treatment and were lost to followup evaluation and care.

Worldwide, TB is one of the top 10 causes of death and the leading cause from a single infectious agent. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that a total of 1.4 million people died from TB in 2019 (including 208,000 people who also had HIV).

The infectious disease is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which usually affects the lungs, causing the signature bloody coughs. Most infections, however, are described as latent TB, producing no symptoms, and the person is considered not contagious.

The primary risk is that about 10 percent of these individuals will go on to develop the active disease. The risk is as high as 5 percent in the first two years, climbing at a rate of 0.1 percent per year afterwards. The elderly or those with compromised immune systems, such as people living with HIV, malnutrition or diabetes, or people who use tobacco, have a higher risk of falling ill with active TB.

TB is considered a poor mans disease, with 95 percent of cases and deaths appearing in developing countries. In 2019, out of the estimated 10 million people who fell ill with TB worldwide, 2.2 million cases were attributed to undernutrition. Another 1.4 million cases were attributable to alcohol use disorder and smoking, practices that continue to exist disproportionately in poorer sections of global communities.

Yet the disease is both preventable and curable. The WHO stated that, since 2000, an estimated 63 million lives were saved through early diagnosis and treatment of TB. For most who have access to treatment, a rigorous six-month course of four antimicrobial drugs, which need to be taken daily, can be curative. But without the support of health care workers and health infrastructure, patients may not be able to complete the full course, which can lead to the development of drug-resistant strains.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most effective first-line anti-TB drugs. Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is also resistant to second-line medications, which are much more toxic and less effective than the first-line medications. Treatment schedules for MDR-TB are arduous, possibly lasting up to two years, with medicines that are both expensive and difficult to take due to their side effects. MDR-TB remains a public health crisis and a health security threat.

A global total of 206,030 people with multidrug- or rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB) were detected and notified in 2019, a 10 percent increase from 186,883 in 2018. Globally, only 57 percent of patients with MDR-TB have been successfully treated. About 3 percent of new cases and 18 percent of existing ones are drug-resistant.

Around the world, TB health care facilities and personnel have been diverted to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey by the Stop TB Partnership, an international organization fighting to eradicate TB, noted that of the top 20 high-burden TB countries, which represent 54 percent of all TB cases in the world, staff, isolation wards, and specialists had frequently been redirected to provide COVID-19 care, with many TB laboratories and research teams essentially shut down. TB diagnostic supplies and drug shipments have been drastically disrupted, leaving infected patients without medical recourse.

To place the impact of the pandemic on the burden of drug-resistant TB into its dire context, as the NPR report stated, even before COVID-19, in 2018, of the nearly 500,000 new MDR-TB cases, only a third were given an effective treatment. Peru has the highest estimated RR/MDR-TB burden of the Americas, with 9 percent of TB cases being drug-resistant, according to 2017 data.

A Stop TB Partnership study conducted in India, Kenya and Ukraine estimated that second-line treatments for drug-resistant TB will drop to as low as 25 percent in those countries due to coronavirus-related disruptions.

In October 2020, the WHO warned that the pandemic is threatening to reverse the global progress against TB. TB notifications in three of the highest-burden countriesIndia, Indonesia and the Philippinesfell by 25 to 30 percent from January to June of 2020, compared with the same period in 2019. The agency estimated that roughly 85 percent of people who are diagnosed with TB and notified could be successfully treated. However, according to their modeling estimates, if the number of TB patients detected and notified globally falls by 25 to 50 percent over a three-month period due to disruptions in TB services, deaths related to the disease could reach as high as 400,000 just for 2020.

A 2015 report published by Oxfam titled, Inequality in Peru: Reality and Risks, paints a devastating portrait of the deplorable conditions caused by extreme poverty and substandard infrastructure in the country. The report found that more than half a million households had no electricity. An estimated 1 million households are not connected to the public water network, 2.5 million lack sewage, 7 million do not yet have access to safe drinking water, and in rural areas, less than 5 percent of households drink chlorinated water. The pandemic has only exacerbated these grim statistics.

Perus ruling class has for decades conducted a concerted assault on the working class. Perhaps this has been best personified by the Wall of Shame that separates the slum dwellers of Lima from the wealthier neighborhood called Casuarinas.

Korey Finn of Lehigh University depicts in his paper, The Informal Economy in Peru: a blueprint for systemic reform, a deplorable picture of misery sustained by an informal economy that collapsed under the pressures of COVID-19. Finn describes the shantytown in the outskirts of Lima in the following passage. The Peruvians here are seldom able to travel into the city for income opportunities, finding whatever work they can within their neighborhoods to provide for themselves and their families. One woman described making a living by selling milk, bread, and other essentials in the neighborhood mini mart, earning less than $2 a day. These Peruvians have one thing in commonthey operate in the pervasive informal economy, which disproportionately affects Peruvian workers.

Where an informal Peruvian worker could make as little as $2 a day, Wikipedia lists seven billionaires in the country who collectively hold $11.9 billion. This level of inequality is not sustainable, and Peru, having gone through three presidents in a week last November, is poised for a social explosion. The health care crisis exemplified by the resurgence of TB under these squalid conditions ripe for the spread of the bacterium only confirms the complete indifference of the ruling class towards much of the population.

The independent action of Peruvian workers, linking arms with the working class of the Americas, can prepare for such a social explosion, and direct it to the formation of a socialist state, which would be the only solution for reversing the disastrous health care crisis in the region.
Last weekend, the president of El Salvador, 39-year-old Nayib Bukele, consolidated his control over all branches of government by replacing the judges of the Constitutional Court and the attorney general, who had opposed his power grab.

Exploiting mass opposition to the austerity and social inequality presided over by the parties that ruled El Salvador since the end of its civil war in 1992the far-right National Republican Alliance (ARENA) and the ex-guerrilla Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)Bukele has been able to secure massive votes.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele (gov.sv)

His party, New Ideas (NI), won a two-thirds supermajority of 58 seats in the unicameral Legislative Assembly in the February 28 elections. This compared to 14 seats for ARENA and only four for the FMLN. Moreover, New Ideas won 58 percent of all mayoral races. By gaining control of the Constitutional Court and attorney generals office, Bukele has removed the last institutional checks on his power.

Throughout his term, Bukele has also cultivated support in the National Police and military by attacking opposition parties for resisting massive loans to build up the security forces. This culminated on February 9, 2020 with a military occupation of the Legislative Assembly led by Bukele.

He has also exploited a sharp drop in homicides during his termwhich was due to a multitude of factorsto insist on granting greater powers and resources to the police and military, despite their long record of death-squad activity.

Imitating Trump and other fascistic forces, he has sowed hostility toward an amalgam of all shades of political opposition together with gang members, journalists, some figures of the local business elite and the Jewish billionaire George Soros.

His surge in popularity is tenuous and largely based on a one-time $300 pandemic stipend last year, an unfinished new hospital for COVID-19 patients, and the administration of almost 1 million vaccine doses, a much faster rollout than in neighboring Central American countries.

El Salvador, however, saw the largest increase in official poverty in 2020 across Central America, according to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America. This has been reflected in an exponential increase this year in Salvadoran migrants detained at the US-Mexico border. Moreover, the entire Central American isthmus is seeing a devastating surge in the pandemic.

A section of the media and political establishment internationally have denounced Bukeles assault on democracy. Luis Almagro, head of the Organization of American States and Washingtons main coup organizer in the region, claimed that Bukele could go down the road of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia.

However, Bukele has only exposed the facade of democracy that US imperialism and the local oligarchy imposed following the end of the civil war in 1992. The opposition to Bukeles actions from sections of the ruling elite is the result of fears that he will only inflame social anger, alienate certain business groups or lean too much on China, which has provided most of El Salvadors vaccines.

As Bukele has repeatedly made clear, the shift toward dictatorship in El Salvador is aimed against working class resistance to the diktats of finance capital.

In fact, he hired the same ultra-right Venezuelan politicians involved in the US-backed regime change operations against President Nicolas Maduro to run the New Ideas electoral campaign, as reported by the right-wing outlet Globovision.

In dismissing the countrys top judges, the New Ideas legislators pointed to rulings preventing Bukele from decreeing economic reopenings without legislative approval during the pandemic. They are basically taking away our power to re-start the economy, declared Bukele at the time.

The reopenings, ultimately backed by all political parties, were carried out after a meeting with a faction of the countrys traditional oligarchs headed by the billionaire Roberto Kriete, the richest Salvadoran. These are the same long-time backers of the political parties Bukele claims to oppose. Nonetheless, the president announced that he had reached a consensus with a very representative group of the great national business leaders.

In an interview with Diario El Salvador this week, Kriete backed Bukeles handling of the pandemic and called on him to use his new powers to go on the offensive: Modernize the banking laws, modify the Commercial Code, modify everything that has to do with incentives  eliminate bureaucracy, eliminate procedures and really give a chance to the business sector, local as well as foreign.

The Bukele administration has also acquired immense loans, incurring interest payments to the financial vultures that are expected to absorb up to 35.6 percent of the countrys tax revenues this year. The ruling elite will do everything possible to place the full weight of these costs upon the backs of the working class.

In preparation for mass repression, Bukele has used the pre-trial hearings over the 1980 El Mozote massacre to reassure the police and military. With an estimated death toll of 1,000 civilians, this was the largest single massacre in Latin America during the 20th century. The atrocity included troops throwing babies in the air for target practice as part of the fascist operations against left-wing opposition to the US-backed military-controlled dictatorship.

The Bukele administration has blocked any judicial access to the secret military files regarding the El Mozote massacre. Last September, with demeaning hostility toward the Salvadoran masses, he declassified files on national television that turned out to be copies of files already made public and lacking any relevant military information.

In a separate media stunt, he visited El Mozote in December to promise economic aid and rant against the former administrations as well as the lawyers of the victims for allegedly profiting from the massacre. He traveled to El Mozote on one of Krietes helicopters.

On April 22, the US Embassy in El Salvador reaffirmed its support for the Bukele administration, reporting that the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) had donated $431,911 worth of protective and hospital equipment to El Salvador, in addition to $25 million in other US donations. For more than 50 years, SOUTHCOM has focused its efforts on developing ties and strengthening its alliance with El Salvador, the embassy report states.

President Joe Biden himself, as a US Senator, had feigned opposition to unqualified military aid to the Salvadoran junta, only to then broker compromises to ensure that funding was approved, such as his 1983 amendment to require that training of Salvadoran troops by U.S. trainers be carried on outside of El Salvador, as reported recently by the Intercept.

During a closed-door meeting on Monday with foreign diplomats, Bukele compared opponents of his takeover of the Constitutional Court to the tens of millions of people who thought it was fine to burn Jews in an oven in Nazi Germany. This comment, which sparked widespread condemnation, can only be interpreted as an expression of callous indifference to the historic crimes of fascism.

The pandemic as well as the hurricanes and droughts, exacerbated by climate change that have ravaged Central America, have exposed the inability of capitalism to meet the most basic needs of the working masses. The response of both the Salvadoran ruling elite and US imperialism is a headlong drive toward dictatorship.
San Francisco, California has witnessed a surge in anti-Asian violence over the last year.

According to the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, San Francisco saw the second largest increase in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes, following New York City. Assaults have more than doubled, increasing by 140 percent between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

The skyline of San Francisco, seen from the Coit Tower (Credit: Wikimedia)

There have been several high-profile attacks just since March.

On Tuesday, two elderly Asian women were stabbed at a bus stop in downtown San Francisco. The women, aged 63 and 84, both remained hospitalized as of Wednesday but are expected to survive.

Police have arrested suspect Patrick Thompson, a 54-year-old African American man, who was arrested in 2017 for a stabbing at a homeless shelter.

The Friday before this stabbing, Bruce, 36, an Asian American, was brutally assaulted while walking his one year old with a stroller in San Francisco. He was repeatedly punched from behind and knocked down to the ground outside of a market.

In April, 53-year-old Chiling Lee was stabbed five times on his way home from his work in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. He sustained a punctured lung and broken rib in the assault and robbery.

In the Richmond District of San Francisco, also in April, a woman only identified as Ms. Lee, was held at gunpoint. She had been followed back to her home by two suspects who, in surveillance video, forced her to the ground and robbed her before speeding off.

In March, Derek Tam, a street vendor, was working outside the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco when a man grabbed his cell phone. Tam asked for his phone back, afterwards the man punched him in the face and told him to go back to his country.

Also in March, Danny Yu Chang, 59, was struck from behind and beaten unconscious in the citys financial district. His face was fractured, and his eyelids swollen shut from the attack. The same alleged assailant, Jorge Devis-Milton, 32, also stabbed another man, 64, that same day, knocking him to the ground and sending him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that between January and March there were at least 16 violent crimes against people of Asian descent in the city.

In another incident in neighboring Oakland in March, a 75-year-old Asian man was assaulted and robbed, leaving him brain dead. The attack happened near Lake Merritt in the morning, and the two suspected assailants, Elbert Britton and Teaunte Bailey, are in custody.

These attacks are just some of the latest incidents of rising violence against Asian Americans. An analysis of 16 jurisdictions by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino found, overall, a 164 percent increase in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes when comparing the first quarters of 2020 and 2021.

Though each individual incident has its own reason and story, many involving robbery, the general, nationwide increase in violence against Asian Americans is indisputable.

While the Biden administration and its pseudo-left allies have sought to portray this rise in violence as being the product of deep-seated racism in the American population, the surge is the product of the criminally negligent response of the ruling class to the pandemic and its attempt to blame China for the virus, as part of a broader economic and military campaign against the country.

The United States government, including both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, is involved in an unprecedented buildup of military forces against China. Earlier this year the US military asked Congress to double its budget in the Pacific, including establishing a new network of precision strike missiles around China.

President Donald Trump ramped up the drive to war against China with the most significant trade war since the early 20th century. Trump repeatedly stoked anti-Asian xenophobia, blaming the COVID-19 pandemic on China, calling it the Chinavirus and Kung Flu.

In February, the World Socialist Web Site published an article debunking the efforts of the Washington Post to peddle its disproven conspiracy theories that COVID-19 originated from a lab in Wuhan, China. The article was censored by Facebook for over a month until last week.

The Biden administration, far from deescalating tensions between the United States and China, has doubled down on the USs commitment to war preparations. In addition to expanding the Pacific military budget, he has vowed to outcompete China economically and militarily, describing President Xi Jinping as a thug who must be pushed back. Efforts to brand Chinas actions against the Muslim Uyghur minority in western Xinjian as genocide are part of these preparations.

The cumulative effects of these bellicose actions and preparations for war, both ideologically and militarily, express themselves in the rise of anti-Asian hate violence.

Bonnie Glaser, director of the China Power Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, told the South China Morning Post, The fact that both Republican and Democrat administrations have framed the relationship as strategic competition and highlighted numerous threats that China has posed, its not surprising that more and more Americanswho are reading and hearing about this on a daily basisare more and more concerned, and have an unfavourable view of China.

According to a Pew Research poll conducted in February, 9 out of 10 Americans see China as a competitor or an enemy, up from 46 percent two years ago.
The West Coast Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committees are meeting at 2:00 p.m. PST this Saturday, May 8. Register here to attend and invite your coworkers and friends to join the meeting!

This week, many schools have expanded in-person learning in a number of major districts across the West Coast of the United States, including in Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland and Seattle. This takes place as more infectious SARS-CoV-2 variants continue to pummel hospital systems and health care facilities in states from Michigan to New York, as well as in neighboring Canada and countries from the Philippines to Brazil and India, the latter of which has become the global epicenter of the pandemic.

As the suffering and death toll rises globally, educators and parents have been at the receiving end of an unending barrage of pseudoscientific claims that classrooms are safe to reopen.

In attempts to quell opposition and provide a false sense of security for concerned parents and staff regarding the safety of classrooms, dozens of school districts throughout California and hundreds nationwide, have spent millions of dollars on needlepoint bipolar ionization devices (NBPIs). Manufacturers deceptively claim their ionizers remove particulate matter from the air and have anywhere from 90-99 percent proven effectiveness to remove viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, from classrooms and other indoor settings.

The San Diego Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee interviewed atmospheric chemist Dr. Delphine Farmer, one of the researchers in a recent independent peer-reviewed study, conducted in partnership with experts from three different universities. Their study found that the NBPIs studied did not significantly reduce particulate matter in the air and were much less effective at removing SARS-CoV-2 than the manufacturers claimed.

Atmospheric Chemist Delphine Farmer from Colorado State University

The watershed study revealed that NBPIs had an entirely negligible effect on removing the airborne particles of coronavirus, the primary method of transmission. Rather than the average manufacturers claim of 99.9 percent effectiveness at removing the virus, the NBPIs reduced 20-30 percent of the virus from surfaces only, which also had no significant impact of deactivating coronavirus more than just letting the virus naturally decay. Additionally, researchers exposed that the efficiency of these products in real scenarios, such as in classrooms, would be even lower.

Dr. Farmer explained that their study used a chamber to simulate an actual room with organic compounds floating in the air. The findings were damning. Farmer said, We ran the test with ionizer on and ionizer off, and there was no statistical difference in removal of air particles. She noted that ionizers do not actually accomplish their bold claims in real world settings, and rather than removing or neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 particles in the air, they instead produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are bad for lung health.

The study tested ionizers manufactured by Global Plasma Solutions (GPS). GPS bases its claims of a 99 percent removal of coronavirus from the air on a company-funded study that tested the devices ability to clean the air in a chamber the size of a shoe box. In its clinical trials, the small air chamber was pumped with 27,000 ions per cubic centimeter in order to achieve the desired results.

Last September, the founder of GPS, Charlie Waddell, admitted during an interview with Zane Davis, business development manager for Direct Supply TELS, that the level of ions put into the air will be around 20 times lower than the clinical trials. He stated, We just want to get levels up to 1,500-2,000 ions per cubic centimeter to have a positive impact for the indoor levels of ions in the building.

The environmental test chamber where researchers conducted air purifier experiments. (a) is the exterior with instruments set up outside, and (b) is inside the chamber with mock-up furnishings and materials. Credit: Illinois Tech

Dr. Farmer outlined that there is a major difference between the peer-reviewed study performed by her and her colleagues, versus the data sheets provided by these companies. She emphasized that these so-called findings cannot be trusted, stating, Theyve got some numbers. Its not peer-reviewed; the company would have paid an independent testing firm to run a set of tests and then they choose your results.

She stressed the importance of peer-reviewed studies, where scientists have to be highly detailed in the layout of their methods, setup and experiment so that it can be reproduced by anyone reading it and the same results arrived at. She stressed that this process is really the hallmark of trying to acquire a body of evidence, because such studies are also subject to a review of methods and findings by an array of anonymous experts in the field.

California is the wealthiest state in the country, yet a number of school districts throughout the state have placed ionizers into classrooms instead of investing in upgrades to their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and implementing proven industry-regulated air filtration practices.

Ionizers are manufactured to release a mixture of positive and negative reactive ions into the air, which then supposedly react with virus and bacteria particles and either deactivate or kill the virus on surfaces or reduce particulate matter in the air by agglomerating particles so that an air filter will pick them up.

However, there exists no science that the removal of COVID-19 from the air actually occurs. A number of chemists and scientists, who are experts in air quality, have referred to ionizers as snake oil from an unregulated industry that makes huge claims not backed by any peer-reviewed studies.

The millions spent installing these devices in schools across the US and internationally have produced extraordinary profits for the companies producing these magic bullet devices. Their executives and major shareholders are among the growing pandemic profiteers, who have enriched themselves during the crisis with false claims.

Dr. Marwa Zaatari is a mechanical engineer, expert on indoor air quality and member of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) epidemic task force. She noted in a recent tweet that more than 250 districts, schools and universities have already purchased and installed ionizer models the EPA has linked to potentially harmful byproducts, such as ozone or formaldehyde. She also indicates the list is far from exhaustive and estimates well over $60 million was spent.

Here in San Diego County, the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD), with a student population of over 39,000 students, has installed GPS iWave R NBPIs in every classroom. Dr. Zaatari showed in a twitter post responding to a teacher that these devices are not effective and produce harmful VOCs. GPS iWave manufacturers claim that the devices remove 99.4 percent of SARS-CoV-2 particles, to which Zaatari responds with the following tweet and video experiment, demonstrating that this level of efficiency can be achieved in a small, one cubic foot box, but the same data cannot be found in a large classroom setting.

The San Diego Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee calls for the immediate closure of all schools and nonessential businesses, not only locally but in all the nations of the world where the pandemic has been allowed to lay waste to the health of the working class population. Although daily new cases are declining in much of the US, children remain unvaccinated and at-risk for contracting COVID-19, with an estimated 10 to 15 percent having persistent Long COVID symptoms. Furthermore, the continued spread of the virus while the population is insufficiently vaccinated creates the conditions for the virus to mutate and become more vaccine resistant.

In opposing the reckless reopening of schools, we recognize that in many cases teachers are being forced back in. Under these conditions, we will continue to fight for school closures while demanding that the following safety measures be universally implemented:

Where present, all ionizers in use in schools and classrooms should be immediately turned off and removed.





Full funding must be provided for the highest levels of modernization of HVAC systems for all schools, including MERV 13 filters and an air exchange rate of six per hour as recommended by the ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers).





Every school building must be provided with a carbon dioxide sensor to monitor air exchange, and whenever levels surpass 1,000 parts per million, that building must be emptied to allow fresh air to recirculate.





Nurses must be staffed at every school, and students, teachers and staff must receive daily testing.





Full and accurate reporting of all cases among students, staff and associated households, along with robust contact tracing.





Districts and schools must report numbers (not names to ensure privacy) of students, staff and associated household members diagnosed with COVID-19 and any associated deaths, which must be tracked through mandatory contact tracing.





The mass hiring of teachers, school employees and bus drivers to reduce class sizes and bus capacity to no more than 10 students.

Dr. Farmer emphasized her support for educators fighting for their safety and that they should remain remote in the midst of the pandemic. She added, I think teachers are used to thinking through problems and questions of logic. You grade assignments, but grade these companies. Think about it from exactly that same perspective of did they give me enough information, and do I need to ask for more?

In California, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is carrying out the reopening policies demanded by the ruling class. Biden has inherited the tasks put before Trump, more readily utilizing the trade unions to help carry out these policies. From Chicago to Detroit, New York to Los Angeles and here in San Diego, none of the teachers unions has waged any effort to remain remote. The warnings by leading experts on indoor air quality have fallen on deaf ears of the Sweetwater Education Association, which has continually told educators that the combined Swiss cheese model of masks, distancing, plus ionizers will keep them safe.

Only small numbers of students are entering classrooms this week, as the majority of parents and families remain concerned about the unsafe conditions in schools. Educators, on the other hand, have been given no choice, and many have been forced to either resign or take leave if they refuse to go in. According to the Learning Policy Institute, Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), one of the largest school districts in California, reported that there has been a 35 percent increase in teacher leaves of absence. A survey by the UK National Education Union last month showed that one in three teachers was planning to quit the profession.

The San Diego Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee calls on educators and other sections of workers to organize and unite internationally to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 and fight for the highest safety measures in all workplaces. We support the call to build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees in order to secure the resources and political program to end the pandemic and its greatest benefactors, the capitalist elites.

We encourage all educators opposed to the reopening of schools and interested in fighting for the highest safety measures and for the preservation of life to attend a meeting of the West Coast Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committees at 2:00 p.m. PST this Saturday, May 8. Register here to attend.
Britain is to deploy warships to the Black Sea this month. Central to NATOs provocations against Russia, the deployment is part of unprecedented military operations and war games exercises being conducted in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, Middle East, Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

The HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier with seven helicopters visible onboard at Portsmouth harbour. May 1, 2021 (credit: WSWS media)

In April, Russia began to amass substantial military forces near the Ukrainian border, after the Ukraine regimearmed to the hilt by Washingtonendorsed a strategy to recover Crimea. Following the far-right 2014 coup in Kiev, which was supported by the US and the European Union (EU), Russia annexed the strategically vital peninsula.

On April 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that he was ready for war with Russia and that the population would stand to the last man amid threats of supportive action from the US and other NATO powers. A day later, the Kremlin began to pull back troops and military equipment from the border.

As tensions escalated in the Black Sea, the UK ramped up its presence in the region, with RAF Typhoon jets based in Romania, armed with Paveway bombs and Brimstone missiles, taking part in a NATO Black Sea region air policing mission.

Last month, the London Times, citing senior naval sources, reported that a number of warships will peel off in the Mediterranean from the main Carrier Strike Group force being led by the aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, and head through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea. Warships involved are to include a Type 45 destroyer armed with anti-aircraft missiles and an anti-submarine Type 23 frigate. The Times reported, RAF F-35B Lightning stealth jets and Merlin submarine-hunting helicopters are to stand ready on the task groups flag ship, the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, The UK and our international allies are unwavering in our support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Giving more details on its Carrier Strike Group mission of record size and scope, the MoD announced last week, The UK Carrier Strike Group will be NATOs first 5th generation Carrier Strike Group, underlining the UKs leading role in the Alliance. CSG21 [Carrier Strike Group 21] will participate in NATO exercises such as Exercise Steadfast Defender, and provide support to NATO Operation Sea Guardian and maritime security operations in the Black Sea.

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the interests of competing imperialist powers have transformed the Black Sea region into a powder keg that could ignite a worldwide conflagration.

The new head of the UKs foreign intelligence service, MI6, is on record as having told Russian President Vladimir Putin that if his military had engaged Ukraines, there would have been a huge price to play.

Speaking to Times Radio and the Sunday Times, Richard Moore, who took over as MI6 head last October said, The Russians are in absolutely no doubt of where the UK stands on this issue. And they are in absolutely no doubt of where the [US] Biden administration stands on this issue, because channels are open.

Referring to Russia engaging in a pattern of reckless behaviour, Moore added, It is why we have co-ordinated so closely with our allies to make sure we are getting firm messages back to President Putin.

The threats are in line with the designation of Russia by Boris Johnsons government in its Integrated Review of security, defence, development and foreign policy, as the the most acute direct threat to the UK and the Euro-Atlantic region.

In the subsequent Defence in a Competitive Age defence review, also published in March, Russia was again singled out as posing the greatest nuclear, conventional military and sub-threshold threat to European security. The review stated, Russia is the most acute threat in the region and we will work with NATO Allies to ensure a united Western response, combining military, intelligence and diplomatic efforts. It pledges to work within the alliance to deter nuclear, conventional and hybrid threats to our security, particularly from Russia.

In his interview, Moore attempted to reignite the Skripal affair that dominated UK politics during 2018. Theresa Mays and then Johnsons government claimed, based on unproven allegations and with no concrete evidence, that agents of the Kremlin attempted to assassinate the double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a deadly nerve agent, Novichok. I still get angry about Salisbury [where both were poisoned] because I know how near we came to very significant casualties, Moore said.

He solidarized with the right-wing opponent of Putin and stooge of the imperialist powers Alexei Navalny, citing the thousands of protesters on the streets of wellnot just Moscowof a number of cities as proof that there is a deal of disaffection with Mr Putin.

Moore described Russia as an objectively declining power economically and demographically. He speaks for senior political and military figures who are actively contemplating and planning for war with Russia and China, one that would be fought using nuclear weapons.

Russia still retains at least 4,500 nuclear warheads assigned for use by long-range strategic launchers and shorter-range tactical nuclear forces. As of 2019, its armed forces comprised almost one million active-duty personnel, the fourth-largest in the world, and over 2.5 million reservists.

Appraising Russias vast nuclear arsenal in March, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wrote, Of the stockpiled warheads, approximately 1,600 strategic warheads are deployed: just over 800 on land-based ballistic missiles, about 624 on submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and 200 at heavy bomber bases. Another 985 strategic warheads are in storage, along with about 1,912 nonstrategic warheads. In addition to the military stockpile for operational forces, a large numberapproximately 1,760of retired but still largely intact warheads await dismantlement, for a total inventory of approximately 6,257 warheads.

Further evidence of the war danger surfaced this week with the MoD revealing that HMS Queen Elizabeth will be central to Royal Air Force raids in Iraq and Syria to be conducted as part of Operation Shaderthe UKs six years long intervention in those countries on the pretext of fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The MoD said, This will be the first time UK fighter aircraft are embarked on an operational aircraft carrier deployment since 2010 and will be the largest number of F-35Bs [fighter jets] ever to sail the seas. It boasted, F-35B Lightning fast jets will be the cutting edge of the Carrier Strike Groups (CSG21) formidable power in the air.

Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey MP added, This is a prime example of the UK Armed Forces stepping forward with our allies to confront persistent threats around the world. It is Global Britain in action.

The Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender leaves the naval base in Portsmouth harbour for exercises in Scotland, prior to deployment to the Indo-Pacific region. May 1, 2021 (credit: WSWS media)

At the G7 Foreign ministers meeting in London this week, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab attacked Putin and demanded an end to his brinkmanship sabre-rattling on the border of Ukraine, the cyber-attacks and misinformation and the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, that was not just a human rights abuse but a use of chemical weapons on Russian soil.

Raab said he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed a whole range of security issuesIran, Afghanistan, continuing concerns about Russia, in particular on the border with Ukraine.

Blinken warned that if Russia chooses to act recklessly or aggressively, well respond.

Addressing the Russian threat this week, Chief of the Air Staff, Sir Mike Wigston told PA, Anything is possible and the world is an increasingly unstable place.

Noting that the F-35B Lightning jets would be deployed over Iraq and Syria, PA asked if they could also be redeployed against Russia. Wigston replied, A couple of wise old admirals I was chatting to a few weeks ago said to me never ever expect a carrier deployment to go to plan. Something will always come up.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 16:53:38|Editor: huaxia

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A visitor tries perfume in the Fashion Life Exhibition Hall of the first China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, May 7, 2021. Slated for May 7-10, the first China International Consumer Products Expo has attracted 648 overseas companies and 1,365 brands from 69 countries and regions, as well as 857 enterprises and 1,263 brands from China. Covering 80,000 square meters, the expo will be the largest consumer goods expo in the Asia-Pacific region, the organizers said. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

HAIKOU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage and the world economy drags on, the first China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) marks a major step by China to further open its market and bolster the global economy.

The four-day event opened on Thursday in the southern island province of Hainan. It is the first-ever expo focusing on quality consumer goods held by China at the national level.

Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido was the first cosmetics company to sign up for the expo. It also participated in the China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai in 2019 and 2020, attracted by the world's most promising consumer market.

Shiseido China CEO Kentaro Fujiwara said the CICPE has created a global platform for international investors to display and trade consumer products. He said it has injected new impetus into global consumption growth, showing China's consistent efforts to share its market opportunities with the rest of the world.

"We are very optimistic about the favorable investment environment in China and confident in the prospects of the Chinese market. We will introduce more new brands, products and technologies into China," he said.

Shiseido is one of the 648 foreign enterprises showcasing over 1,300 brands to consumers at the expo. Covering 80,000 square meters, including 60,000 square meters of international exhibition space, it is expected to be the largest exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Foreign enterprises and brands account for the majority of the exhibitors, which once again proves China's firm determination to promote higher-level opening-up," said Wang Bingnan, China's vice minister of commerce. "It also demonstrates that foreign enterprises are optimistic about the Chinese market and full of confidence in China's economic development."

Switzerland, as the event's guest country of honor, has an exhibition area of approximately 1,100 square meters for 40 well-known luxury goods and high-end consumer goods enterprises.

The expo marks another big step forward in the construction of the Hainan free trade port (FTP) and the acceleration of China's integration into the global economic system, said Swiss Ambassador to China Bernardino Regazzoni.

China in 2018 proposed the establishment of a free trade zone in Hainan and began construction of the Hainan FTP last year. On April 8, China released a guideline in support of easing market access in the Hainan FTP. That was one among many efforts to build the province into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

"The expo is an ideal platform for global high-end brands to enter both Hainan and the whole Chinese market," said Sung Hae Lee, chief representative of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency, which organized the attendance of 50 small and medium-sized firms in the fields of cosmetics, daily necessities and food and healthcare products at the expo.

"We hope the Hainan FTP will become an important gateway for China's opening-up and play a key role in promoting the innovation-driven, high-quality development," said Wang, China's vice minister of commerce.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, the total value of China's imported consumer goods reached nearly 1.6 trillion yuan (about 244.3 billion U.S. dollars) in 2020, accounting for 11 percent of total imports. In the first quarter of this year, China's imports of consumer goods increased by 18.1 percent year on year.

"The potential of the Chinese consumer market will encourage global brands to enhance innovation and increase investment in China, injecting great vitality into the recovery of the global consumer market and economic development," said Yann Bozec, president of Tapestry Asia Pacific, which is also participating in the expo with its latest products. Enditem
Striking coal miners and their families in Brookwood, Alabama, are bracing for a drawn-out battle against Warrior Met Coal, where nearly 1,100 coal miners have been on strike for five weeks. The first job action called by the United Mine Workers (UMWA) in more than a quarter of a century began on April 1. The company has adamantly refused miners' demands to restore pay cuts from 2016, although Warrior has enjoyed record output and profits for years.

Striking Warrior Met Coal miners (Source: UMWA)

Warrior Met is a major producer of metallurgical coal for the steelmakers in Asia, Europe and South America. It is owned by some of the powerful Wall Street financial institutions, including Blackrock, SSgA Funds, the Vanguard Group and Fidelity Management. With investors making fortunes from the rising stock marketeven as more than 3 million people worldwide and 600,000 in the US died from the pandemicthe corporate and financial elite are determined not to accede to any of the demands of workers for improved wages and working conditions.

In a meeting on its first-quarter results Wednesday, Warrior executives assured investors that they could meet customer orders of 4.9 to 5.5 million tons even if the strike continues for the remainder of the year. Warrior CEO Walter Scheller said the company was executing our business continuity plans and would meet customer demand with existing coal inventory and expected production during the rest of the year.

Asked if he were concerned that a new contract with the UMWA would lead to an unexpected rise in labor costs, the CEO dismissed such fears, saying labor costs had a very small impact over the last five years, primarily with things just like bonuses based on the benchmark pricing. The company was more concerned with rising transportation royalties than labor costs, the CEO told investors.

In the central Alabama coalfields, about 40 miles southwest of Birmingham, miners are convinced the struggle could go on for another six months or longer. On the picket line, one miner told the World Socialist Web Site, Ive worked in different mines for nearly 20 years. Of all the years Ive worked, the last five have been the worst, pointing in particular to the wage cut and management abuse. A mine is a mine. It doesnt matter if its 400 feet or 1,200 feet deep. Its dangerous and its hard. But we gave up a lot because of the promise that they would make things right with our next contract.

The miner said the company was solely focused on profit not with safety and the quality of workers lives. Miners want to work if you pay them right, treat them good and give them time with their families. Theyll stay loyal and work until they retire. But now, miners want to leave, and they only stay so they can feed their families.

He said mining had destroyed many marriages because miners had to work so much overtime and had little time to spend with their wives and children. When they were off, much of the time was spent recuperating from work, the veteran miner said.

The mines around Brookwood are the deepest and some of the gassiest mines in North America.

Picketers who spoke to the WSWS recalled the 13 miners who died when methane explosions ripped through Mine #5 on the afternoon of September 23, 2001. Surviving miners and the families blamed Jim Walter Resourcesthen the owner of the mineand Alabama officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) for covering up dangers at the mine.

In 2015, Jim Walter Resources, also known as Walter Energy, filed for bankruptcy. This was part of a wave of insolvencies of at least 50 coal companies, including Patriot, Peabody, Arch and Murray Coal, which used the bankruptcy courts between 2010 and 2019 to gut the jobs, wages and pensions of miners. In 2016, the UMWA agreed to massive concessions, including a $6-an-hour pay cut, ostensibly to shore up the newly restructured company Warrior Met Coal, which is run by many of the same executives, including CEO Scheller, who had thrown the previous company into bankruptcy.

Over the ensuing five years, the UMWA has enforced this pro-company sweetheart contract on miners, even as supervisors gloated over the bonuses that they, not the miners, got for meeting production quotas. It is apparent that UMWA President Cecil Robertswho has not called a strike since taking over union presidency in 1995only authorized the walkout because of the uncontrollable determination among miners to recoup all their losses.

On April 9, Roberts tried to ram through another five-year deal that restored only $1.50 of the $6 pay cut workers suffered in 2016, while maintaining the hated attendance system. The miners responded by rejecting the deal by a vote of 1,006 to 45, burning copies of the contract outside the union hall and denouncing Roberts as a sellout.

It is clear this resounding rejection by the workers sent shock waves throughout the Washington, DC-area offices of the UMWA and the AFL-CIO, which is headed by the former leader of the UMWA, Richard Trumka. Having been unable to get the miners to swallow another pro-company contract, it appears that Roberts and Trumka, like the Warrior Met coal bosses themselves, have decided to drag the strike out and try to starve the miners into submission.

Although the UMWA has $164 million in assets and paid out $0 in strike benefits last year, the miners and their families are only being paid $650 every two weeks in strike benefits, if they put in 16 hours a week on the picket line. The AFL-CIO national headquarters, with assets of $116 million, has donated a total of $25,000 to striking miners!

As a result, the miners have been forced to take second and third jobs, delay medical visits, and organize bake sales and other fundraising events to survive. At one such fundraiser on May 1 outside the Local UMWA hall, miners wives, seeking to raise funds to sustain the strike, sold baked goods, soft drinks and t-shirts with the logo No contract, No Coal! that sell for $20 each.

The miners wives told reporters from the World Socialist Web Site that their families had already been living paycheck-to-paycheck before the strike and were only getting by if their husbands could work a lot of overtime. With the strike now in its fifth week, the miners are trying to string together any jobworking on cars, electrical work, weldingto pay their bills.

When my husband was working overtime at the mine, he got home at 4 a.m. and the most he saw the kids was for 30 minutes a day, said one wife who has four children. With the strike, hes seeing even less of me and the kids because he is working multiple jobs and taking any side job he can get.

The UMWAs treatment of the Warrior strikerswho are waging the most important miners struggle in more than a generationis a travesty. While Roberts never tires of saying that Warrior miners are in a fight against Wall Street, he has done nothing to utilize the unions resources to sustain the embattled miners. While putting striking miners on starvation rations, Roberts and Trumka continue to collect annual salaries of $210,693 and $286,000, respectively.

The UMWA, like the rest of the AFL-CIO long ago abandoned any defense of the working class. The UMWA, the United Steelworkers and other unions are isolating the Warrior Met miners and are opposed to any broader mobilization of miners, even at the Shoal Creek Mine and other nearby mines in Adger and Oak Grove, or workers at US Steels Fairfield Works.

If this strike is not to be defeatedlike Trumka and Roberts did to the AT Massey and Pittston strikes in the 1980s and early 1990sWarrior Met miners must take the struggle into their own hands. This means forming a rank-and-file strike and negotiating committee, democratically controlled by workers themselves, to fight for the broadest mobilization of the working class to stop Warriors strikebreaking operation and to restore the concessions handed over by the UMW.

To sustain this fight, workers and their families require resources. The rank-and-file committee should demand an increase in strike benefits to $750 a week, plus full medical coverage for workers families. To pay for this, we suggest that the UMWA sell off its $164 million in assets and reduce the pay of Roberts and the rest of the UMWA staff to the level of a striking worker.

The resistance of the working class is growing from ExxonMobil workers in Texas, Virginia Volvo Truck workers, and ATI steelworkers in Pennsylvania and other states, to Massachusetts nurses and grad students in New York City. This is part of an international movement including striking workers in Colombia and Turkey.

We urge Warrior Met Coal miners to join the growing network of rank-and-file committees by contacting us at wsws.org/workers and to read the call for the formation of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees.
May 6 marked the 60th day on strike for the nurses of St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. They have been on strike since March 8, fighting for better patient outcomes and a safer workplace, particularly in the context of the coronavirus pandemic.

The central demands of nurses are that patient assignments on all medical-surgical units be capped at four patients to every one nurse and that two additional nurse units be maintained to respond to overflow and critical cases.

Nurses on the picket line at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts (Credit: MNA Facebook)

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) bargaining committee and hospital management met for several hours but were unable to settle on an agreeable proposal to take to the rank-and-file. This speaks to the intransigence of hospital owner Tenet Healthcare. What is clear from the statements released by Tenet is that it has no intention of acceding to the nurses demands on staffing and is content that the strike be prolonged.

Meanwhile, the MNA will not discuss the details of their discussions, reportedly to avoid unnecessary rancor, as the bargaining committee looks for areas of flexibility where it can make concessions. According to statements made by hospital management, it has asked the federal mediator to encourage the union to present the hospitals latest offer to the membership.

Since the first surge of COVID-19 last year, nurses have decried chronic understaffing, inappropriate assignments, inadequate and insufficient PPE, high turnover, ancillary staff layoffs and punitive management. They voted overwhelmingly to authorize strike action by 89 percent.

The conditions at Saint Vincent persist at hospitals throughout Massachusetts and the country. A randomized survey released this week of over 500 nurses, published during National Nurses Week by Beacon Research of Boston, found that a majority of nurses say that patient care is getting worse and they consider the primary cause to be a lack of time to spend with the patients, owing to understaffing, excessive assignment ratios, a lack of ancillary staff and vacant positions.

On nine of ten survey questionsincluding safe COVID-19 protocols controlling facility spread, adequate time off to cope with the impact of caring for COVID-19 patients, and emotional support servicesa majority of respondents characterized hospitals responses to the pandemic as poor.

The survey spotlighted dangerous workplace conditions. Of those who contracted COVID-19, 76 percent were confident they had contracted it on the job. Nearly 60 percent of respondents reported at least one instance of workplace violence in the last two years, 20 percent faced increased violence in the last year, and only 33 percent felt very safe at work.

A separate Massachusetts General Hospital study found that health care workers were 12 times as likely as community members to contract COVID-19.

Of nurses surveyed, 76 percent said they support the St. Vincent strike, including 69 percent who arent represented by the MNA.

During the pandemic, health care workers across the country, from Hawaii to Massachusetts, are seeking to fight against unsafe conditions in the nations hospital system. However, under the control of unions, strikes have either been prevented or, where they have taken place, have resulted in sell-out contracts, providing workers with paltry wage increases, preserving corporate profits and, most importantly, leaving unsafe conditions intact.

For their part, the Democrats are attempting to contain and end the St. Vincent strike. Throughout the strike, Congressman Jim McGovern has run the back channels between the MNA and St. Vincent Hospital management trying to coax Tenet back to the table. Now that talks between the MNA and Tenet have resumed, the delegation once again has appealed to the corporation to negotiate.

The nurses of St. Vincent remain in a powerful position. They have the support of their colleagues, the community and the working class. They have demonstrated great resolve throughout the pandemic and now nearly two months into the strike. They have walked the picket for 60 days without strike pay, even though their substantial dues payments support dozens of union executives with six-figure salaries and a union war chest in the millions.

However, their strength is stymied because the MNA continues to isolate their struggle even though there are currently several other MNA bargaining units that are working with expired contracts.

Under the leadership of the MNA and its Democratic Party supporters, the struggle for patient safety and worker well-being is being subjugated to the forces of corporate profit. The MNA remains the second largest lobbying group in Massachusetts, second only to the health care industry lobby, directing its attention and workers dues money to the two big-business parties.

The growth of opposition in the working class is developing into a struggle against the corrupt trade unions. This is expressed in the strikes of miners in Alabama, graduate students in New York City, and Volvo workers in Virginia. Rank-and-file committees of teachers, autoworkers and Amazon workers are forming the initial centers of struggle in the working class, independent of unions and the Democratic Party.

The Socialist Equality Party calls on the working class, starting with the nurses of St. Vincent Hospital, to broaden the struggle against Tenet Healthcare and the for-profit health care system, which have demonstrated their contempt for human life throughout the pandemic. The SEP and WSWS call for the building of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees, beginning with the formation of rank-and-file committees in every workplace and neighborhood.
From the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) to the Left Party, all the parties in the Bundestag (federal parliament) are trying to ban opposition to their right-wing herd immunity policies, blatant social inequality and growing militarism from the ballot paper. For months, they have refused to adjust the electoral registration requirements of new parties to the pandemic situation. This is particularly aimed at the candidates of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party, SGP), which opposes their right-wing policies.

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) together with Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soder (CSU) and Berlin Mayor Michael Muller (SPD) on their way to a press conference at the Chancellor's Office on April 26 (Michael Kappeler/Pool via AP)

According to electoral law, parties not yet represented in the Bundestag or one of the state legislatures must collect more than 27,000 signatures to be eligible for election throughout the federal territory. The signatures must be handwritten and then individually verified by the electoral office.

This undemocratic practice has always had the purpose of keeping new parties off the ballot. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, in which contact must be reduced to the essentials, it is tantamount to excluding any opposition. This is because canvassing for signatures is largely based on personal contact and spontaneous conversation with strangers on the street, in public places and on the occasion of events, as the Berlin State Constitutional Court stated. This is simply impossible under pandemic conditions.

Yet despite this clear situation, the parties in the Bundestag have refused to adapt the ballot access conditions to the pandemic since the time for collecting signatures began in June last year. Now, more than four-fifths of the time has elapsed and there is still no regulation.

Only after numerous state constitutional courts had called for a significant reduction in the number of signatures required, did the Greens introduce a bill on April 20 to reduce it to 30 percent of the original amount. The Berlin state constitutional court had previously set this size as the absolute maximum. In the debate, even Christian Democratic parliamentary deputy Ansgar Heveling had to admit that a reduction to 30 percent might not be sufficient to safely exclude a constitutional disadvantage.

Nevertheless, the governing coalition of the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) sharply attacked the Greens bill. For example, Mahmut Ozdemir (SPD) said that lowering the number of signatures would mean unequal treatment of those parties that had already collected the total number of signatures. He thus makes his months of inactivity the starting point for further attacks on democratic rights. Finally, he blatantly called on the parties to canvass thousands of doors to collect the required signatures despite the pandemic.

The CDU and SPD, fearing constitutional problems, nevertheless announced that they would introduce their own bill to lower the quota. According to press reports, the figure could be lowered to 25 percentbut there have been no official announcements on this yet. Since a decision is not expected until June at the earliest, parties wishing to contest the general election are being deliberately kept in the dark until shortly before the deadline for submitting signatures.

The actions of all the parties in the Bundestag are aimed at barring opposition to their right-wing policies from the ballot paper. Even if they were to reduce the number of required signatures shortly before the end to avoid an open breach of the constitution, the systematic delay is aimed at making it impossible for parties to participate in the elections.

In this context, even a reduction of the signature requirements is completely unacceptable from a democratic point of view. Under pandemic conditions, handwritten signatures should not be used as a criterion for electoral admissibility at all. The procedure could have been changed to online signatures at an early stage or suspended completely.

The insistence on handwritten signatures systematically favours radical right-wing parties that reject the social distancing rules and can easily collect signatures at coronavirus deniers demonstrations, for example. The socialist candidates of the SGP, on the other hand, will not risk the health of their supporters and passers-by even for a reduced number of signatures to comply with the undemocratic electoral law.

The fundamental attack on basic democratic rights is directed against the growing rejection of the right-wing policies of all Bundestag parties, which largely correspond to the programme of the far-right AfD. The herd immunity policies of the establishment parties at federal and state level have placed the profits of the corporations before the health of the population and are responsible for almost 100,000 deaths in Germany.

At the same time, billions of euros have been thrown at the banks and corporations. Amid the pandemic, the 10 richest Germans have increased their fortunes by 35 percent to $242 billion. Billions are also being allocated to rearmament. Last year, Germany increased its military spending by 5.2 percent, more than any other country in the world. On the other hand, 40 percent of workers have had to accept income losses, some of them severe. Budgets for education, health and social services will be cut massively in the current year.

All the establishment parties are preparing to escalate these policies further after the elections. The CDU candidate for chancellor, Armin Laschet, stands for the profits before lives policy like no other and has regularly attacked the federal governments inadequate measures to contain the pandemic from the right. SPD chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, who is currently federal finance minister, is directly responsible for the transfer of wealth from those at the bottom to those at the top and the vast sums spent on expanding the states means of suppression at home and abroad.

The nominally left-wing opposition parties are not an alternative and even attack the reactionary policies of the grand coalition from the right on many issues. For example, the Green Party chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock accuses the federal government of passivity in foreign policy and demands a more aggressive stance against the nuclear powers Russia and China. She wants to admit Ukraine into NATO and the EU and to upgrade a European army.

Sahra Wagenknecht, the lead candidate of the Left Party in North Rhine-Westphalia, is openly following Nazi traditions of thought. She agitates against immigrants, wants work only for Germans and defends German capital against its allegedly greedier foreign competitors.

The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei gives the enormous opposition to these policies a voice and a socialist perspective. That is why its candidates are to be kept off the ballot paper by undemocratic means. Herd immunity policies, militarism and social inequality are incompatible with democratic rights for the people.

With its attempt to ban the SGP from the ballot paper, the government is continuing its efforts to suppress the party. Three years ago, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as Germanys secret service is called, had, for the first time, smeared the SGP as left-wing extremist and placed it under surveillance by the intelligence agencies. This was justified on the basis that the SGP, among other things, opposed alleged nationalism, imperialism and militarism. After the SGP filed a legal complaint, the federal interior ministry justified its surveillance on the grounds that the SGP fought for a democratic, egalitarian, socialist society.

The partys response to this stated: The attack on the SGP is, more broadly, directed against all left-wing and progressive movements. The attack invokes the criminal traditions of authoritarianism and fascism in Germany. The Interior Ministrys attack on the SGP is intended to set a dangerous precedent. It will be used to legitimize state action against organizations, groups and individuals who oppose social inequality, environmental destruction, state repression, the build-up of the military or other injustices of capitalist society.

The same applies to the measures against the electoral registration of opposition parties. The SGP is at the centre of these attacks because it opposes the politics of herd immunity and the massive shift to the right, thus expressing the broad opposition in the population. But the attack is directed against any form of resistance to capitalist barbarism.

The SGP, therefore, demands the admission of all parties regardless of the number of signatures of support. At the same time, we call on all readers who are eligible to oppose the attack on democratic rights and support the SGPs entry on the ballot.
Bitter factional conflict has erupted inside Canadas Green Party. As the fifth-largest party in parliament with three MPs, the Greens remain a relatively minor player in bourgeois political life. But the dispute, fuelled by a heavy dose of racialist identity politics, has been picked up by broader sections of the privileged middle class and small-l liberals around the Toronto Star to bolster their reactionary narrative that race and gender, not social class, are the key divides within contemporary political, economic, and social life.

Annamie Paul during her unsuccessful attempt to win a House of Commons seat in 2019. (Wikipedia)

Aggressively leveraging her status as a black Jewish woman, Annamie Paul won a hotly-contested election last fall for the position of Green Party leader. As the successor to long-term Green leader Elizabeth May, who along with the rest of the Green Party establishment backed her candidacy, Paul became the first black woman to lead a federal political party in Canada. Predictably enough, this development prompted a torrent of favourable media coverage. In unison, the media hailed the historic character of Pauls victory, even though this former Canadian diplomat and human rights lawyer had no discernible political differences with May, whose close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus big business Liberal government and support for Canadian rearmament and imperialist wars in the Middle East are widely known.

The exaggerated trumpeting of Pauls historic achievement cannot be understood outside of the major role identity politics has come to play in establishment politics, with blather about human rights and a feminist foreign policy used as progressive cover for the aggressive assertion of Canadian imperialisms predatory interests on the world stage.

In early April, the Star ran a sensationalist investigation claiming that Paul was the victim of systemic racism within the Green Party. The article reported that allies of May in party leadership bodies were obstructing Pauls leadership, that Paul had been asked to pay back $50,000 for a by-election campaign she lost, that she worked for three months without an employment contract, and that her opponents had rejected some of Pauls nominees to leading positions.

In truth, the Star piece rested almost entirely on a deliberate leak by a single Paul loyalist, Sean Yo. The manager of Pauls unsuccessful Toronto Centre by-election campaign, Yo himself unintentionally exposed the flimsy nature of the allegations. He could point to no concrete racist incident, and no political issueonly the skin colour of Pauls political opponents! I want to be very clear that Im not trying to paint this organization as overtly racist. Im saying that theres been prolonged, profound challenges in Annamie being effective in this role ... and I observe that the leadership level of this organization is primarily white. In 2021, that means something, Yo asserted.

For representatives of the prosperous middle class like Yo, who aspire to leadership positions within the political and corporate elite, this most certainly does mean something. Accusations of the disproportionate number of white people on leading committees or boards, whether they be in the Green Party or a major corporation, are one of the mechanisms by which privileged members of the black and other minority middle classes weaponize the charge of racism for their own personal advancement. Their goal is equity, i.e. an equal distribution of positions of power and privilege within the capitalist state, academia and private corporations among the wealthiest 5 or 10 percent of the population based on categories of gender, race and sexual orientation. Meanwhile, the widening social gulf between the working class majority and the top 10 percent and its capitalist foundations remain untouched.

No major political disagreements between the faction around Paul and the loyalists of former leader May have yet been made public. On the contrary, both factions have supported the continuation of the Green Partys right-wing course, including by supporting the ruling-class drive to keep nonessential businesses open amid the pandemic, lavishing praise on US President Joe Biden and providing very vocal support for the Canadian ruling elites vicious anti-China campaign. At most, there appear to be certain divisions over electoral tactics, with the faction around Paul seeming to advocate a more confrontational approach towards the Liberals on the campaign trail, and making identity politics appeals more central to the Greens electioneering.

At its core, the faction fight revolves around positions within the party leadership. Paul reportedly objected to a decision by the faction around May to appoint five new members to the Green Party Fund, which is responsible for carrying out the partys commercial transactions, without opening up the positions to nominations. Matthew Piggott, a Paul loyalist, was also terminated as national field director for the upcoming federal election campaign under unclear circumstances in early March, and Dana Taylor was appointed by the Greens federal council as the partys national executive director over Pauls objections. Mays allies, for their part, have countered the charges of race-based opposition with their own identity politics-based claims, circulating an open letter that denounces the counterproductive scapegoating of women.

The Green Party endured a divisive leadership race in 2020, pitting the partys establishment, represented by Paul, against various pseudo-left elements. These forces included Socialist Action, which deployed its own member, Dimitri Lascaris, into the leadership race. The ecosocialism advocated by Lascaris had nothing whatsoever to do with socialism, amounting to Green New Deal type calls for timid social reforms and economic protectionist measures aimed at promoting green capitalism. Lascaris strong result in the contest, finishing with little more than 2,000 fewer votes than Paul, triggered absurd claims among various pseudo-left groups that the Greens could become an instrument for radicalizing workers and even fighting for socialism. In reality, this small party of the privileged petty bourgeoisie, like Green parties around the world, does not and has never had any connection to the working class. To the extent that it can attract the interest of a small section of politically disoriented youth, this is above all due to the rightward lurch of the social democratic NDP and its trade union backers over the past four decades. (See: The Green Party of Canada chooses a new leader: Multiple political frauds for the price of one)

That being said, sections of the ruling elite view the Greens as a useful political mechanism that may be called upon to play a more prominent political role sooner than many may think. The ruling class criminal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has included the mass infection of the population by keeping businesses and schools open, the funnelling of hundreds of billions of dollars in bailout funds to big business and the financial oligarchy, and the provision of little more than emergency rations to workers and the health care system has deeply discredited the entire political establishment. As working class strikes and protests against dangerous working conditions, and attacks on wages and jobs grow, the ruling class may determine that it is necessary to bring forward a new political trap for young people and sections of the middle class, replete with a pseudo-progressive garb of racialist identity politics to cover up the Greens essentially right-wing program.

This explains why the Star has given such prominence to the entirely unsubstantiated allegations made by Yo, Green Party diversity coordinator Zahra Mitra, and other unnamed individuals. Underscoring the extent to which rabid racialism and identity politics dominate the political outlook of the upper-middle-class elements and progressive sections of the ruling elite associated with the Star, it favourably reported Yos laughable declaration that Paula run-of-the-mill bourgeois politician on the makeis one of the most important figures in Canadian political history.

Within a matter of hours of the publication of its investigation, the Star threw fuel on the fire of the factional dispute. Senior columnist Bob Hepburn urged Pauls opponents to resign their leadership positions within the party, no doubt to ensure that they be equitably occupied. Paul needs to take command of the federal council, intoned Hepburn. She can do that by convincing May loyalists ... to voluntarily step aside, clearing the way for party members to elect Paul loyalists... For good measure, Hepburn demanded May give up her British Columbia seat so Paul can enter the House of Commons by winning likely the only safe Green seat in the country.

In other words, May and her allies either surrender their positions voluntarily or be driven out through a filthy campaign based on unproven allegations of racism. As Zahra Mitra put it in an email, the continued presence of May and her loyalists is sending equity-seeking participants the message that the party is not a safe space for them.

While the eventual outcome of this unsavoury spat remains uncertain, what is clear is that the Greens are marching in lockstep with the rest of the political establishment ever further to the right. None of the competing factions deserves any sympathy, let alone support from the working class.

That the Greens represent no alternative to the status quo of pro-war, pro-austerity right-wing politics is shown by developments in Germany, the country that first gave rise to a Green Party. There, the Greens are emerging in the current federal election campaign as the frontrunner to nominate the successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel. Green Party lead candidate Annalena Baerbock has made a name for herself as a vociferous proponent of NATOs and Germanys military rearmament to confront Russian aggression, and along with the rest of the Greens leadership has fully endorsed the German ruling elites COVID-19 policy of prioritizing business profits over saving lives. When the Greens last served in Germanys federal government between 1998 and 2005, they were responsible for organizing the first foreign military intervention by the German armed forces since World War II, and cooperated with the Social Democrats to impose an onslaught on the social welfare system and workers wages and working conditions under the banner of the Agenda 2010.

The Green Party in Canada would play a no less reactionary political role were it ever given the chance.
Middle and high schools reopened across France this week, following the reopening of primary schools a week ago. The school reopening dates were set at the beginning of the limited lockdown announced at the end of March, with Macron provocatively declaring that no health indicators would change his decision to reopen schools as scheduled.

Emmanuel Macron [Sebastien Nogier, Pool via AP]

In the course of the limited lockdown, the rate of reproduction of the virus (R) did not fall below 0.9 until May 3, when it reached 0.88. With an R of 0.9, it takes about a month to reduce daily cases by half. During the two previous lockdowns, the R had fallen much lower and the end to restrictions took place with a far lower number of daily cases. The seven-day average of cases was 20,866 on May 4.

Supporting Macrons timeline, Health Minister Olivier Veran announced that he intended cases to drop quickly below 20,000 for the second stage of the reopening on May 19. He made this statement even as schools were reopened and the 10 kilometre travel limit was ended.

But the number of people hospitalised, which is independent of the variation in testing and gives a robust indicator of the evolution of cases with a time delay of about 10 days, remains high. On May 4, 1,591 people were newly hospitalised and 28,427 were being treated for coronavirus. For the past six months, 25,000 to 30,000 people have been hospitalised for COVID-19 on a permanent basis.

As in other European countries, Macron has decided to let the virus circulate at a high level under a policy, in all but name, of herd immunity, which he now calls living with the virus. European leaders are ending lockdowns at every turn, knowing full well that this will accelerate the epidemic. At most, they pretend to hope that vaccination campaigns will limit the increase in mortality.

The epidemic has been killing an average of 300 people a day since the beginning of the year, but the government considers the situation to be completely acceptable. In France and elsewhere, governments continue to trivialise the daily deaths of hundreds of people. Newspapers and the mainstream media hardly report the daily death toll as previously. The threshold of 100,000 deaths was passed in April without the media seriously examining the reasons for this catastrophe.

There is an attempt to desensitize the population to mass death, which is presented as inevitable, and not the result of well-defined policies that can be opposed and rejected.

The government announced that regions could be reopened if they were below the threshold of 400 cases per 100,000 people, which corresponds to a very active spread of the virus. The hardest-hit regions such as Ile-de-France have only just fallen below this threshold.

Epidemiologist Dominique Costagliola, who previously severely criticised the limited lockdown, told Le Monde: All other countries have much lower thresholds, 40 in Japan, 100 in many countries. In France too, we even had a threshold of 50, which was forgotten without any explanation.

She added, The likelihood ... of avoiding further hospital saturation is low. She predicted lots of deaths, lots of hospitalisations, lots of long-term coronavirus patients, which will weigh on future health costs, general demoralisation of hospital staff, restriction of other care. This echoes modelling by the Italian epidemiologist Stefano Merler. Merler predicts that, despite the impact of the vaccines, daily mortality will rise to between 600 and 1,300 in July, due to reopening policies.

Two brothers who called for a music concert in Lyon, which brought together 250 young people on March 30, were given a three-month suspended prison sentence for endangering the lives of others. But the press never relates this severe sentence to the behaviour of the Macron government, which sends hundreds of people to an avoidable death every day. The conclusion is that they should expect to enjoy complete judicial impunity.

While the threshold of 60 and 70 percent of immunised adults had previously been cited as the level required for preventing the spread of the virus, the Pasteur Institute has estimated that with the arrival of more contagious variants vaccination coverage will have to be much higher. According to the institute, if the level of contagiousness of the variants is confirmed, and If the vaccination campaign focuses solely on the adult population ... more than 90% of adults would have to be vaccinated for a complete relaxation of control measures to be possible.

According to epidemiologists, in order to ensure the safety of the population, the first reopening measures should not take place until a significant proportion of the population has been vaccinated and the circulation of the virus has been reduced sufficiently to allow the tracing and isolation of all cases. Yet European governments are ending lockdowns while vaccination is largely insufficient and the number of cases is high everywhere. About 10 percent of the French population is fully vaccinated, with 24 percent having received at least one dose.

In addition to the illnesses and deaths this policy brings, it encourages the mutation and development of new variants that can bypass the immunity acquired naturally by the disease or by vaccines. For example, Brazilian and South African variants with this characteristic more than doubled in the second half of April in the Ile-de-France region. This is a repeat of the policy from last year, at the end of the second wave of the virus, when the reopening allowed the English variant to establish itself massively within the space of weeks.

The irrationality of the health policy pursued by European governments is clear. The enormous economic and social sacrifices of the working class during the lockdowns is being systematically squandered by the policy of living with the virus.

The Macron government came to power with a programme to destroy decades of social gains of the working class and favour the most base exploitation of labour by capital. This policy, which benefits a tiny minority of the population, has produced a social catastrophe. The subordination of social life to private profit is incompatible with the rational management of a complex society that benefits the majority of the population.

But an alternative must also be proposed and fought for. This alternative is a socialist policy against the coronavirus, determined by science and coordinated internationally by the working class.

For this, new means of mass working-class struggle must be developed. The International Committee of the Fourth International has called for the creation of an International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees. For the working class to fight back, a way must be found to coordinate its struggles in factories, industries and countries against the ruling class. New forms of organization will allow action independently of the pro-capitalist trade unions, which are openly aligned with the ruling-class policy of herd immunity, and the pseudo-left political organizations that promote them in order to suppress working-class struggles. The perspective that must guide and unify these struggles is of world socialist revolution.
For months, there have been vicious attacks on Professor David Miller by MPs and pro-Zionist lobby groups for criticising Israeli policy towards the Palestinians, with calls for him to be dismissed from his post at the University of Bristol. It is the centre-piece of a bogus anti-Semitism witch-hunt on university campuses throughout Britain that threatens to clampdown on freedom of expression and academic research.

David Miller (credit: @Support_Miller)

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS), dedicated to fostering an enduring commitment to Israel among Jewish students and the recipient of funding from Israel, along with Conservative and Labour Friends of Israel MPs have demanded the university investigate Miller. The Jewish Chronicle thundered that he had no place on any campus, saying, When academics move from research and inquiry, however controversial, to what amounts to intimidation, attacking one group of students, a line is crossed.

They claimed, in a deliberate distortion, that in one of his lectures he had criticised Israel for wanting to impose its will over the world and had said some Jewish students were being used as political pawns by a violent, racist foreign regime, whereas he had warned of the potential harm caused by UJS in its highly partisan campaigning for Israel and Zionism. They were particularly incensed because Miller had shown the links between various Zionist organisations in Britain, such as the Community Security Trust, Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) and UJS to the State of Israel.

A cabal of pro-Israel activists, including Lord Ian Austin, the virulently anti-Palestinian Labour peer, opponent of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and now the governments trade envoy to Israel, along with the British of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Chronicle, have called for Miller to be fired. Following complaints from some Jewish students, Avon and Somerset Police are carrying out an investigation into a hate crime or hate incident taking place during lectures at the University of Bristol to see whether any offence was committed.

Conservative MPs have attacked the university, calling it a hotbed of antisemitism and accusing it of fostering a climate similar to that of 1930s Nazi Germany, citing reports from Jewish students that they felt unsafe and unprotected on campus. Several MPs have called on Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, to explain why she had not spoken directly to the university or threatened sanctions such as withdrawing funding.

In the House of Lords, Lord Parkinson, responding to a question about the governments attitude towards Professor Millers lecture and what is being done to ensure the safety of [Jewish] students, said that although universities are independent, We consider that the University of Bristol could do more to make its condemnation of Professor Millers conduct clear. He added, Students also can and should contact the police if they believe the law has been broken. Professor Miller has expressed some ill-founded and reprehensible views and the government wholeheartedly rejects them.

In March, after receiving a letter signed by 100 MPs accusing the professor, without citing any evidence, of inciting hatred against Jewish students and anti-Semitic conspiracy fantasy, the university succumbed to pressure and announced that it had launched an investigation, although it did not state when or why.

Miller, a professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol, has for years focused his research on propaganda, lobbying and spin. He founded and directed the non-profit company Public Interest Investigations that runs Spinwatch and Powerbase, has written several books on propaganda, spin and lobbying and carried out studies on the Israel lobbys activities, including co-authoring Bad News for Labour: Antisemitism, the Party and Public Belief .

His research made him the target of a rotten smear campaign by the Labour Party, falsely alleging anti-Semitism, and earned him the enmity of the pro-Israel lobby and parliamentary war hawks of both parties, as well as the Israeli government. Act.IL, a troll army directed and funded by Israels Ministry of Strategic Affairs to counter pro-Palestinian activists, called on users of its appmany of them paid employees or students in receipt of a stipendto attack an Al Jazeera opinion piece by former National Union of Students president, Malia Bouattia defending Miller.

Last May, after the Labour Party suspended his membership, Miller resigned. The Labour Party has justified a mass purge of its left-wing membersincluding Corbyn and his supporterson concocted charges of anti-Semitism based on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism. The IHRA equates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, most notoriously in a list of 11 examples including describing the establishment of Israel as a racist endeavour.

Israels nation-state law makes explicit what has long been implicit: that Israel is a nation-state for the Jews alone, with the declaration, The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people.

Miller noted that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had received a 50,000 donation from pro-Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinninformation which was not disclosed until after polls had closed in the party leadership election. Miller described the targeted harassment of himself and other left-wing members as confirming the degree of influence that Zionist advocates and lobbyists for Israel have over disciplinary processes and Party policy.

These attacks on Miller have been opposed in an open letter by nearly 400 academics, including Noam Chomsky, Ahdaf Soueif, Norman Finkelstein, Judith Butler, Ilan Pappe, John Pilger and Deepa Kumar and his colleagues at the University of Bristol. They argued that there had been unrelenting and concerted efforts to publicly vilify Miller, who is an eminent scholar whose research on the manipulation of narratives by lobby groups has been crucial to deepening public knowledge and discourse in this area.

A general petition supporting him has garnered several thousand signatures. The Support David Miller campaign said, We are appalled to learn that the University of Bristol has wilted to the demands of pro-Israel campaign groups by launching an unnecessary investigation into Professor Miller's well-evidenced comments. It added, Every academic and student in the country should be deeply concerned about this coordinated attack on academic freedom.

Pro-Israel groups, including the UJS, are using the IHRA to deny a platform at universities to speakers critical of Israel and lobby governments to cut funds to any universities hosting an Apartheid Israel Week and to regulate content on social media platforms.

These moves come as Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has announced plansin the name of guaranteeing free speech at UK universitiesto create the legal framework for state intervention on campuses, to protect right-wing reactionaries and silence protest. His proposals include placing a free speech condition on universities which want to access public funding, allowing the Office for Students (OfS) to fine institutions which breach the condition, appointing a free speech champion to investigate alleged breaches and recommend redress, and allowing academics, students or visiting speakers to sue for compensation under a new statutory tort where they claim to have had their free speech infringed.

The new arrangements will apply directly to student unions, which the government is looking at bringing under the remit of the OfS tasked with forcing universities to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA definition not only provides a mechanism to attack free speech regarding opposition to Israel and the ethnic-nationalist ideology of Zionism and to cancel pro-Palestinian events, but also to more broadly censor, silence and criminalise left-wing views and organisations, while whipping up and legitimising anti-Muslim sentiment, and shifting political discourse sharply to the right in line with Washington and Londons aggressive policies in the Middle East.

Far from seeking to oppose anti-Semitism, such efforts are aimed at dictating what can and cannot be said at universities and in academic research as well as prescribing the subject matter of research itself. These authoritarian moves are bound up with efforts to militarise the campuses and turn them into centres for government propaganda and adjuncts of Britains war machine, necessarily directed against the widespread anti-war sentiment among students and youth.
There was once a fear that took over the Republican Party and the nation.

It was spread by a bullying demagogue who accused his opponents of being traitors and communists.

He leveled attacks without evidence, said he represented "Americanism with its sleeves rolled up."

His supporters embraced a cult of personality drenched in conspiracy theories, sure that God was on their side.

Their intensity -- their crushing certainty -- intimidated most politicians into silence. They did not want the trouble of being attacked by the party's activist base. They knew it was wrong but worried that if they told the truth they could lose a primary election.

But one woman spoke up.

She was from Maine and her name was Margaret Chase Smith -- the first woman popularly elected to the US Senate. It was 1950 and her target was Sen. Joe McCarthy.

The freshman senator stood alone on the floor of the Senate and issued what she called a "Declaration of Conscience."

No cameras captured the speech that day, but here's part of what she said:

"Today our country is being psychologically divided by the confusion and the suspicions that ... spread like cancerous tentacles of 'know nothing, suspect everything' attitudes."

An election was looming and Chase wanted the GOP to win, but she said, "I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny -- Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear."

She denounced the pursuit of "selfish political gain at the sacrifice of individual reputations and national unity" -- an approach that played into the "totalitarian techniques" of "confuse, divide, and conquer" ... that, if "unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life."

Her stand would inspire more of her fellow senators to find the courage to speak up.

And McCarthy would ultimately become isolated, consumed by lawsuits and scandals, revealed as a petty, paranoid narcissist. He died friendless and reviled.

The fact that Joe McCarthy's lawyer -- Roy Cohn -- later went on to mentor Donald Trump is more than a coincidence of history, doubly ironic because Donald Trump was the Kremlin's preferred candidate in two elections.

But the most relevant echo here is the lonely stand of Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney and her looming purge from House leadership for the sin of refusing to back the Big Lie -- that Trump and not Joe Biden won the presidency.

Donald Trump will look no better than Joe McCarthy in the eyes of history -- and neither will his spineless apologists.

Republicans Kevin McCarthy and Steve Scalise have found a young congresswoman named Elise Stefanik to check the box and fill the slot for a woman in "leadership" -- a word that's been apparently redefined by this party to mean "unquestioning follower."

The divisions inside the Republican Party used to be about ideology.

But that's not what's at work here, because Liz Cheney is far more conservative than New York's Stefanik by every policy measure.

Cheney voted with Trump almost 93% of the time. Stefanik just 77%.

Cheney has a 77% rating from the American Conservative Union, while Stefanik has a 44% rating.

And the fiscally conservative Club for Growth fired off a tweet saying that, according to their rankings, Stefanik has the 4th worst fiscal record among Republicans in the House.

So this isn't about ideology. It's about a cult of personality in a party consumed by fear ... and it can cause opportunistic people to shed their principles like a snake's old skin.

Stefanik, for example, worked in the Bush-Cheney administration and has been an acolyte of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. When the Harvard-educated, upstate New Yorker was elected in 2014, she became the youngest woman (at that time) elected to the House. She promised to work across the aisle and modernize the Republican Party. In 2016, she was a supporter of John Kasich.

What happened? Apparently the age-old siren song of power and money over ethics.

When Trump was impeached the first time, Stefanik saw an opportunity to play partisan pit bull -- and she was rewarded with $13 million in donations for her reelection campaign.

Sucking up to Trump paid -- and she won praise from the President and Fox News.

So when it came time to vote to overturn the election -- after the January 6 attack on the Capitol -- Stefanik was an easy recruit for the sedition caucus. She became just another Ivy League populist who attacks democracy and then complains when she's called out.

Now, it seems she sees an opportunity to ride the Big Lie to more power. Her reelection slogan might as well be "liars prosper."

Liz Cheney has chosen another path -- and a higher reward -- writing in The Washington Post: "History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process. I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be."

That's a Declaration of Conscience for our times -- a reminder that our political differences don't matter much compared to our stance on defending the truth and democracy itself.
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WTVA) - Buddys doctors say his new facial skin is healing nicely.

Mississippi States College of Veterinary Medicine is currently caring for Buddy after a juvenile intentionally set fire to the dogs face in Tate County.

During his skin graft surgery, doctors placed fish skin over the dogs face.

A specialist examined Buddys eyes and believe hell be able to see.

Currently, bandages cover his entire face except for his nose and mouth.

According to the Tunica Humane Society's Facebook page, Buddys fur is regrowing around his nose.

Previous Article - MSU veterinary school caring for Buddy the dog
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - The Columbus Police Department released body camera footage of officers slamming a mentally ill man to the ground.

Police Chief Fred Shelton said the officers responded Sunday morning to a report of a man exposing himself to motorists.

The viral video shows three Columbus Police officers confronting the man, and one officer lifted the man and slammed him to the ground.

On Thursday Police Chief Fred Shelton said the viral video doesnt paint the whole picture; it doesnt give a fair view of what really happened.

During a special city council meeting, Shelton showed the viral video and the officers body camera footage. After reviewing the footage, the council decided not to punish the officers.

The police department released the body camera footage on Thursday.

The only force we used was use enough force to bring the subject under control so we can arrest him," the police chief said.

Shelton said the police officers arrested the man for disorderly conduct, indecent exposure, and resisting arrest.

Read More - Columbus PD video draws criticism
AMORY, Miss. (WTVA) - After a year's delay, student actors in Amory are finally getting to perform in Aladdin Jr.

WTVA reporter Chelsea Brown spoke with student actors on Thursday, just hours before showtime.

Performance of Aladdin Jr at Amory High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021.

Amory High School students ready for performance of Aladdin Jr. Photo Date: May 6, 2021. Amory High School students ready for performance of Aladdin Jr. Photo Date: May 6, 2021. Performance of Aladdin Jr at Amory High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021.

Watch the interviews in the video above.

Production began before the pandemic last year, but Amory High School administrators put the show on hold due to the pandemic.

But some students believe the play is better now after the wait, crediting better chemistry among the group.

As a safety measure, organizers will only fill 50% of the schools auditorium during shows.

Performances are scheduled for Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m.

There will be two shows on Saturday, one at 2 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m.

The final performance is scheduled for Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased by calling the Amory High School office.
South Africa: SA, UK to continue healthcare collaboration

South Africa and the United Kingdom (UK) have committed to continue working together towards strengthening the global international health system.

This as South Africas International Relations and Cooperation Minister, Dr Naledi Pandor, met with Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK, Dominic Raab on Thursday.

The two leaders co-chaired the 12th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission in the UK.

The two countries agreed to continue the collaboration, including on genomic sequencing. The Ministers also committed to working together through the G7 and G20 to strengthen the global international health system, said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in a statement.

The UK and South Africa have both contributed significantly to the global COVID-19 response since the pandemics outbreak.

The two Ministers discussed their shared concern for global health security, in particular vaccine access for all.

South Africa and the UK are alive to the importance of increased vaccine manufacturing capability, including in Africa, and agreed to work together on this priority.

The Ministers committed to further develop UK-South Africa science and innovation partnerships, in support of both countries economic recovery from COVID-19, said DIRCO.

South Africa and the UK are strategic partners with a broad and vibrant relationship, led by a commitment to liberal values, democracy and the rule of law.

The two countries share a wide array of mutual interests and continue to deepen collaboration to jointly tackle global challenges.

The trade and investment relationship between the UK and South Africa is valued at 8.0 billion per annum.

In addition, the Ministers discussed the opportunity the UK-Southern African Customs Union + Mozambique Economic Partnership Agreement holds to grow this and agreed on a set of actions to capitalise on the freedoms provided by the new bilateral free trade agreement.

They welcomed the establishment of a new UK-South Africa Investment Taskforce that would support the expansion of existing investment and the entry of new UK investors into South Africa.

In light of the UKs COP26 Presidency during 2021, climate  in particular the transition to a lower-carbon economy - formed a significant part of discussions. The UK noted that it has contributed over 220m in multilateral funding since 2015 and has added 3.5m bilaterally in support of this transition, DIRCO said.

The Ministers also discussed their support for rules-based multilateralism and actions that could be taken in support of regional peace, stability and good governance.

The Ministers agreed that the implementation of the commitments, secured through the Joint Commission, would be overseen by Deputy Minister Alvin Botes and the UKs Minister for Africa, James Duddridge.

The Ministers reaffirmed the bonds of friendship and solidarity that exist between South Africa and the UK and looked forward to the next meeting of the Bilateral Forum, to be hosted by South Africa.

Pandor was in the UK to attend the Group of Seven (G7) Foreign and Development Ministerial meeting. The two-day meeting got underway in London on Tuesday.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-05-07. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
CROWN POINT  Barbara Parker was moved to tears as she worshiped God in the historic Lake County courthouse courtroom Thursday.

Parker, who has only lived in the city for 10 months, said she was called to Crown Point, where she had a connection at Living Stones Church.

The sermons and prayers given by seven Crown Point pastors all embodied what Parker, and what she says God, want to see for the world.

"It was the heart of God. I want to see these things happen that were prayed  the unity," Parker said.

"This is God's heart, the unity and the Great Awakening and people coming to know Jesus, and this country coming back to what it was founded to be that we will send out to other countries and we will be the great country we were made to be."

Parker was one of the dozens worshiping, singing and praying in the historic courtroom Thursday for the citys National Day of Prayer gathering. The event was held virtually last year.

The observance was created by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1952, according to the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

"We're so excited to be gathering; that word 'gather' has a whole new meaning to us through the obstacles that we have worked through as a community, said the Rev. Jon Cuozzo of South Point Community Church, who delivered the welcome address.

Although "it seems to always rain on the first Thursday in May," Cuozzo, chairman of the event, said he was grateful to be gathered in the historic courtroom.

The theme for this year's National Day of Prayer was love, life and liberty, with each of the mini sermons and prayers centered around each.

"Prayer unites us. This is so neat that this isn't any just one body of local believers. This is the larger body of Christ gathering," Cuozzo said, with many murmuring, "yes" and "amen."

"I think this is a little bit of a glimpse of what heaven will actually be like."

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'He will heal our land'

Clerk-Treasurer Dave Benson, who was present in Crown Point Mayor David Uran's absence, noting the mayor was ill, led the group in saying the Pledge of Allegiance and then read a proclamation, acknowledging Thursday as the National Day of Prayer in Crown Point.

The proclamation urged "all the citizens of this great city to gather together on that day in homes, at work, in places of worship, to pray in his or her own manner for the unity of the hearts of all mankind."

Pastors and leaders from Momentum, Bethel, CrossPoint, Trinity Lutheran, Living Stones, Southlake Christian and Southlake Baptist churches then shared prayers with the crowd before the ceremony closed with a rendition of "God Bless America," performed by Dustin Rouse, of Bethel Church, with the crowd singing.

"The theme of love, life and liberty doesn't always seem to be present in our world today. Instead, we find a loveless response to our caring. We find the lifeless world filled with death and decay," the Rev. Stephen Henderson of Trinity Lutheran Church said. "We find not liberty, but anarchy in our midst, and yet this event, we get to gather together united with one voice."

The cities of Portage and Hammond also observed the day of prayer, with Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. also proclaiming Thursday National Day of Prayer in Hammond.

"As Hammond prospers, we also shall prosper," the Rev. Sam Hamstra of Anthem Church said, inserting the city into a scriptural passage from Jeremiah.

Hamstra then led the group in prayer for the community and its leaders.

Pastors from various churches delivered sermons and community members helped lead the group in prayer.

"If God is to hear us, then the object of our prayer must be that we want to God to answer our prayers," said the Rev. Herman Polk Sr. of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church.

"And as we come on this National Day of Prayer, it does not matter what the problem is. It does not matter who the people are, except the people of God. If we would raise our voices in prayer, if we would raise our faith in calling on the name of the Lord, He will heal our land. Amen."

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 17:26:16|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese-built seaport in Kenya's coastal county of Lamu will receive its first ship on May 20, the Kenyan government has said.

China Communication Construction Company has completed construction of berth one of the country's second commercial port, while berths two and three will be completed by October, the National Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.

The Treasury said the construction of the first phase of the port, comprising three berths, started in 2015, while subsequent phases will be undertaken by the private sector under a public-private partnership framework and eventually result in 23 berths along its 10 km shore length.

The port's capacity to handle cargo traffic will reach 23.9 million tons by 2030.

A flagship infrastructure project under Kenya's national development blueprint, Vision 2030, the port of Lamu creates a transport corridor that links landlocked South Sudan and Ethiopia to the Indian Ocean. Enditem
FULTON, Miss. (WTVA) - The Complete 2 Compete (C2C) program relaunched in Mississippi on May 5.

The program is a statewide initiative sponsored by the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning and the Mississippi Community College Board.

Mississippi's Complete 2 Compete aims to help adults who attended college, but don't have a degree, get their degree. Mississippi's Complete 2 Compete aims to help adults who attended college, but don't have a degree, get their degree.

Its mission is to help Mississippi adults who attended college but don't have a degree get their degree.

The statewide program was active from 2017 to the fall of 2020. However, because of a source of funding change, state administrators suspended the program.

"Set the foundation for my family, encourage them to finish their education," Itawamba Community College (ICC) applicant Bryan Morrow said of the program.

Morrow, who is currently a state trooper, has been out of school for about 10 years. He will return to the classroom this summer.

Morrow will take criminal justice classes and plans to pursue a four-year degree.

"Students have been checking with us on and off about once every month to see if the program is ready to start," ICC recruitment coordinator Emily Tucker said.

Open this link to view more information about the program and FAQs.

Through the C2C program, ICC has graduated 86 students.
CARROLLTON, Ala. (WTVA) - The man convicted of murdering another man two years ago in Pickens County will spend at least 15 years in prison.

Zocimo Hernandez, 25, pleaded guilty to murdering Hernan Diego in the spring of 2019.

A motorist found Diego, 34, in the middle of a Pickens County road the night of April 6, 2019. He was originally from Mexico City, Mexico.

Diegos boss reported him missing the following morning after he failed to appear for work at a chicken processing plant in Brooksville, Mississippi.

Investigators found Diegos abandoned vehicle near a Walmart store in Northport, Alabama. They found blood in the vehicle.

Hernandez confessed to the murder and stealing Diegos vehicle. Investigators also recovered the handgun used in the murder near Hernandez's home in the Moundville, Alabama, area.

According to District Attorney Andy Hamlin, the two men knew each other and got into an argument. Diego apparently believed Hernandez had placed a voodoo curse on him.

Hernandez will be required to serve 15 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
SALTILLO, Miss. (WTVA) - Computer science students at Saltillo High School now have the tools they need to bring their imaginations to life.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) presented teacher Jason Pannell with $5,000 for a new electronic textile program.

TVA awards STEM grant to Saltillo High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021.

TVA awards STEM grant to Saltillo High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021. TVA awards STEM grant to Saltillo High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021.

TVA awards STEM grant to Saltillo High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021. TVA awards STEM grant to Saltillo High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021. TVA awards STEM grant to Saltillo High School. Photo Date: May 6, 2021.

He teaches students how to create objects with programmable lights.

The e-textile industry is emerging, he said, but its used in coding and manufacturing.

Your resume needs to have all the basic skills of the emerging technology, he said. So through this program, hopefully, most students will come out with the credentials to be in these futuristic jobs that arent that far away.

The money is among $800,000 TVA provided to schools across the utility's service region for STEM programs.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP)  The Alabama House of Representatives on Thursday approved medical marijuana legislation, a vote that came after a lengthy debate in which several Republican lawmakers described their evolution to support the measure.

Representatives voted 68-34 for the bill that would allow people with a qualifying medical condition to purchase marijuana after getting a recommendation from a doctor. The bill now returns to the Alabama Senate for concurrence or to be sent to a conference committee.

The House approval came eight years after a medical marijuana bill won the 2013 Shroud Award for the deadest bill that year in the House of Representatives. Republican Rep. Mike Ball, who handled the bill in the House, said hearts and minds have slowly been changed on the issue. Ball, a former state trooper and state investigator, said he too changed his mind on medical marijuana and became emotional at times as he discussed the passage of the bill.

Every year that we delay getting help to people who need it, there are more people and more people who are suffering because of it. Weve still got another year or so before this gets set up and cranked up, but at least we have hope now, Ball said.

More than a dozen conditions, including cancer, a terminal illness, depression, epilepsy, panic disorder and chronic pain would allow a person to qualify. The bill would allow marijuana in forms such as pills, skin patches and creams but not in smoking or vaping products.

Representatives voted to name the bill after the son of Democratic Rep. Laura Hall, Darren Wesley Ato Hall. Hall first introduced a medical marijuana bill over a decade ago after her son died of AIDS. Hall said that he couldnt take AZT, which doctors prescribed for him.

Representatives debated the bill for nearly 10 hours Tuesday until lawmakers adjourned shortly before midnight without a vote. Representatives approved the bill Thursday after two hours of debate.

The lengthy debate brought impassioned discussion that included lawmakers expressing fervent opposition or how they changed their minds on the issue after the illnesses of family members.

This can change the quality of life for the people that we love, said Republican Rep. Allen Farley, a former police officer.

The bill faced a filibuster from opposed Republicans who worried that it could be a gateway to recreational use or that medical marijuana could end up in the hands of teens.

What makes us think we know more than the FDA. My other thought is what if were wrong. What if we approve and pass this bill and it is a gateway like it has been for Colorado, Republican Rep. Rich Wingo of Tuscaloosa said Tuesday.

The Alabama Senate approved the bill by a 21-8 vote in February after 15 minutes of debate. However, the House of Representatives has traditionally been more skeptical of medical marijuana proposals and required the bill to go through two committees before coming to the floor.

A medical marijuana bill in 2013 won the Shroud Award for the deadest bill in the House.

They laughed at me, former Democratic state Rep. Patricia Todd, the sponsor of the 2013 bill said Thursday of the reaction she got from some Republicans then.

Im glad to see it passed. Its long overdue, Todd said.
When I was a kid, I could not wait to leave this state and live somewhere bigger. Somewhere cooler. Somewhere else. Anywhere else.
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Charleston, WV (25301)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 17:45:02|Editor: huaxia

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ISTANBUL, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police detained on Friday at least eight suspected Islamic State (IS) members in Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, local media reported.

Turkish anti-terrorism units simultaneously launched operations in 15 locations across Istanbul to capture the suspects allegedly linked to conflict zones, the state-run Anadolu agency noted, without revealing further details.

Video footage aired by media outlets showed security forces raiding an apartment and conducting searches.

The nationalities of those detained were not immediately clear.

The IS has conducted a spate of deadly attacks in Turkey since 2015. Since then, Turkish counter-terrorism units have been conducting operations against the group's members in the country. Enditem
Kingwood, WV (26537)

Today

Overcast with showers at times. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Overcast with showers at times. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 40%.
Charleston, WV (25311)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Charleston, WV (25311)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with more showers at times. Low 66F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
Clarksburg, WV (26301)

Today

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 17:54:36|Editor: huaxia

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HONG KONG, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong will shorten the quarantine period from May 12 for inbound visitors who have been fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Travelers will face varied arrangements depending on their places of departure as public health authorities have divided overseas areas into five categories based on the severity of the pandemic, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government said Friday.

People from low-risk areas including Australia and Singapore will have their mandatory quarantine shorted from two weeks to one plus self-monitoring for seven days, Thomas Chan, the permanent secretary for food and health (health), said at a press conference.

Chan said those granted the shorter quarantine should take the second shot of the COVID-19 vaccine two weeks before their arrival.

The current 21-day quarantine period for those from medium-to-high-risk places will be reduced to two weeks plus seven days of self-monitoring. But the policies for visitors from places of extremely and very high risks remained unchanged.

Inbound visitors from the mainland, Macao or Taiwan, except those under the "Return2hk" travel scheme, will undergo seven-day quarantine plus self-monitoring for seven days. Enditem
Staff writer Kailee Kroll can be reached at (304)626-1439, by email at kkroll@theet.com or on Twitter at @kaileekroll.
Weather Alert

...HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY EVENING THROUGH LATE THURSDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...West winds 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph possible. * WHERE...Southeast Wyoming along and east of the Laramie Range. This includes but is not limited to Douglas, Esterbrook, Lusk, Wheatland, Torrington, Cheyenne and Vedauwoo. * WHEN...6 PM MDT Thursday until 6 AM MDT Friday. * IMPACTS...Mainly to transportation. Strong crosswinds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles, including campers and tractor trailers. In addition, high winds combined with hot and dry conditions will lead to extremely critical fire weather conditions. Any new fires could spread rapidly. Burning of any kind of strongly discouraged! PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates on this situation. Fasten loose objects or shelter objects in a safe location prior to the onset of winds. &&
Weather Alert

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THURSDAY TO MIDNIGHT MDT THURSDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...Southwest winds 35 to 45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph expected. * WHERE...Lower elevations of Carbon and Albany counties. This includes but is not limited to Rawlins, Saratoga, Elk Mountain, Laramie, and Shirley Basin. * WHEN...10 AM MDT Thursday until Midnight MDT Thursday night. * IMPACTS...Mainly to transportation. Strong crosswinds will be hazardous to light weight and high profile vehicles, including campers and tractor trailers. In addition, high winds combined with hot and dry conditions will lead to extremely critical fire weather conditions. Any new fires could spread rapidly. Burning of any kind of strongly discouraged! PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A High Wind Warning means a hazardous high wind event is expected or occurring. Sustained wind speeds of at least 40 mph or gusts of 58 mph or more can lead to property damage. &&
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 17:55:07|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday that the Chinese side is ready to work with Turkmenistan to plan for the future of bilateral ties, implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state in their phone conversation, and jointly push China-Turkmenistan relations to a new level.

Wang made the remarks during his telephone conversation with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov.

He noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Thursday, and the two sides have reached important consensus, which will inject strong impetus into the development of bilateral relations.

China has always cherished its friendship with Turkmenistan, and supported its policy of permanent neutrality, a series of major initiatives put forward by the country in the international community, as well as its various reform and development measures, he said.

The Chinese side is going to hold the second meeting of foreign ministers of China and five Central Asian countries, and seeks to make joint efforts with Turkmenistan to further deepen the cooperation between China and five Central Asian countries through this meeting, Wang added.

For his part, Meredov noted that the two heads of state held a rich, frank and friendly conversation on Thursday, and the consensus reached by both sides will lay a solid foundation for deepening the bilateral ties.

Turkmenistan will work with China to earnestly implement the consensus between the two heads of state, make every effort to push forward Turkmenistan-China relations and expand cooperation in various fields, he said.

He added that his country believes that the meeting of foreign ministers of China and five Central Asian countries will provide a good opportunity to promote bilateral ties and regional cooperation. Enditem
Weather Alert

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TO 9 PM MDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Southwest winds 35 to 40 mph with gusts up to 65 mph expected. * WHERE...Green Mountains and Rattlesnake Range, Upper Green River Basin, South Lincoln County, Rock Springs and Green River, Flaming Gorge and East Sweetwater County. * WHEN...From 10 AM to 9 PM MDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Damaging winds may blow down trees and power lines. Power outages are possible. Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...The dry air mass will lead to low afternoon RH values in the single digits, leading to critical fire weather conditions. Any fire could spread extremely rapidly. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... People should avoid being outside in forested areas and around trees and branches. If possible, remain in the lower levels of your home during the windstorm, and avoid windows. Use caution if you must drive. &&
Armie Hammer has resurfaced for the first time since he was accused of rape in March.

The 34-year-old actor  who was dropped from film projects and by his talent agency amid the allegations, which he has denied  was photographed dining out in the Cayman Islands.

According to the photo agency selling the photos, the actor dined with a group of friends at Macabuca oceanfront tiki bar, which boasts uninterrupted views of the Caribbean Sea, and "no alcohol was consumed."

Armie Hammer, photographed at a restaurant in the Cayman Islands, made his first appearance since being accused of rape in March. (Photo: SplashNews.com)

It's not the kind of spot you go if you don't want to be seen, according to the restaurant, which describes the venue as "the place to be." There's even a web cam focused on the tables at all times.

Hammer now has a crew cut and has shaved his facial hair.

In March, a 24-year-old woman claimed that she was "violently raped" by Hammer in 2017. She claimed they met on Facebook and, between 2016 and 2020, had a relationship  while he was married to Elizabeth Chambers  that was both violent and abusive. She said, "I thought he was going to kill me."

Armie Hammer and his party at Macabuca on Grand Cayman. (Photo: SplashNews.com)

Hammer's attorney said the star "maintained that all of his interactions with [his accuser]  and every other sexual partner of his for that matter  have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory." The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Hammer has been the suspect in an ongoing sexual assault investigation since Feb. 3.

Hammer has been in the headlines since January, when screenshots of graphic Instagram DMs he allegedly sent various women between 2016 and 2020 first surfaced. The messages described sexual fantasies including violence, rape and cannibalism.

Armie Hammer on the red carpet in November 2020. (Photo: Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

In addition to his rape accuser, several women who claimed to have relationships with Hammer came forward. Paige Lorenze, an Instagram model who dated Hammer for four months last year, claimed he used a knife to brand her and bruised her to mark her. Another woman, app founder Courtney Vucekovich, who Hammer dated last year, said he told her he wanted to "break my rib and barbecue and eat it" and accused him of emotional abuse that she sought treatment for. Jessica Ciencin Henriquez, a writer who was briefly linked to Hammer last summer, tweeted at the time this was all unfolding, "If you are still questioning whether or not those Armie Hammer DMs are real (and they are) maybe you should start questioning why we live in a culture willing to give abusers the benefit of the doubt instead of victims."

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Hammer's rep called all the claims "patently untrue."

Hammer and his wife of 10 years, Chambers, announced in July that they were separating. They had been quarantining in Grand Cayman with their two children, and she remained there after the split while he initially returned to the U.S.

She has said she's shocked, heartbroken and devastated" by the allegations against her soon-to-be ex.

Hammer wasn't able to return to Grand Cayman to see their children until the holidays. In early January, during his first trip back and as his DM scandal unfolded, he posted videos on his private Instagram account of a woman in lingerie on a bed, referring to her as "Miss Cayman." He then issued a public apology clarifying "that the person in my video, which was stolen from my private Instagram, is not Miss Cayman"  after the Miss Cayman Islands Universe Committee Chairperson launched an investigation into the video.

Other videos shared on that same account saw Hammer talking about a drug test he had to see in order to visit his children. He said said he passed it despite having "THC and benzos," or benzodiazepines, "in my piss," adding, "Divorce is so fun. Not as fun as drugs. But what is.

Hammer has lost multiple films (Billion Dollar Spy, Shotgun Wedding) and a series (The Offer) amid the fallout and will no longer be part of Broadway's The Minutes. He was also dropped by talent agency WME and his personal publicist.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 19:28:36|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A batch of anti-epidemic supplies has been largely collected and will be sent to Nepal as soon as possible, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing when asked whether China will provide Nepal with anti-epidemic assistance as the COVID-19 epidemic in Nepal has worsened rapidly in recent days, with the number of confirmed cases reaching a new high.

Wang said that as friendly neighbors and strategic cooperative partners, China and Nepal have joined hands to help each other and written a new chapter of China-Nepal friendship since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Noting the recent severe situation in Nepal, Wang said China understood the challenges Nepal was facing and would continue to do its best to provide support to the Nepali side.

At the recent video conference of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on COVID-19, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China will provide Nepal with a new batch of anti-epidemic supplies.

At present, the batch of supplies is almost complete and will be sent to the Nepali side as soon as possible. Meanwhile, local governments and sectors of Chinese society are also actively donating needed supplies to Nepal, the spokesperson said.

"We believe that under the leadership of the Nepalese government and the joint efforts of all parties, the Nepalese people are sure to overcome the pandemic at an early date and see their lives and production return to normal," Wang said. Enditem
In 2016, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., was one of a handful of prominent Republicans to skip the GOP convention in Ohio and later refused to mention former President Donald Trumps name when asked if she would vote for him.

Four years later, after becoming one of his staunchest defenders, Stefanik delivered a keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, calling Trump "the only candidate who is capable of protecting the American dream," and voted to challenge the results of the election in two states on Jan. 6.

Now, shes on the verge of joining Republican leadership, as a growing number of lawmakers call for Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., to be replaced as the No. 3 House Republican amid her repeated criticisms of Trump for falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen.

"My vision is to run with support from the president and his coalition of voters," Stefanik, 36, said Thursday of Trump in an interview with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon.

PHOTO: House Speaker Paul Ryan administers the House oath of office to Rep. Elise Stefanik during a mock swearing in ceremony on Capitol Hill, Jan. 3, 2017. (Jose Luis Magana/AP, FILE)

While allies say Stefaniks relationship with Trump and position in the party is reflective of support for Trump among GOP voters and her district, some former colleagues dont recognize the New York Republican today.

"Its hard to square the two," said Barbara Comstock, a former Republican congresswoman from Virginia and an ABC News contributor. "Dealing for Trump was a challenge, and everyone had a different way of dealing with it."

Stefaniks office declined to make her available for an interview or respond to messages seeking comment on the record.

"She's doing exactly what she is supposed to be doing as an elected official," Carl Zeilman, the chairman of the Saratoga County Republican Committee, told ABC News. "She's changed [with] the way the constituency wants her to represent the district."

A rising GOP star

After graduating from Harvard University in 2006, Stefanik, who volunteered for the state GOP party in high school, worked in former President George W. Bushs White House, serving on the Domestic Policy Council and in the office of Josh Bolten, Bushs then-chief of staff.

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Several years later, she worked on Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaigns, crafted the partys policy platform and led debate preparations for Romneys running mate, former Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. -- who would later call her the "future of the Republican Party."

PHOTO: Rep. Elise Stefanik arrives for the House Republican leadership elections at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Nov. 17, 2020. (CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images, FILE)

She soon set her sights on Congress after moving back to New York and working in her familys lumber and plywood business.

Local Republicans and political observers recall Stefanik outworking her competition in the 2014 GOP primary for New Yorks 21st Congressional District, one of the largest in the eastern United States that was carried by former President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

"She made a point to come and meet with each chairman and introduce herself and what she was running for. She attended large meetings, small meetings, firehouse meetings, whatever it was she made sure to be here," Fulton County GOP Chairman Susan McNeil told ABC News.

MORE: Cheney not fighting, but not backing down in face of Trump, Republican backlash

Pledging to bring fresh ideas and a new generation of leadership to Congress, Stefanik, with endorsements from Romney, Ryan and other GOP leaders, won her primary and easily defeated her Democratic opponent in November, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.

A moderate wary of Trump

Beginning her career on Capitol Hill as a moderate, Stefanik initially endorsed and voted for former Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 GOP presidential primary. She later backed Trump for president as the GOP nominee against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

But Stefanik, like Romney and other prominent establishment Republicans, skipped the partys nominating convention in Cleveland that summer, with her office saying she would remain at home to focus on constituent work.

She criticized Trump after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape in October 2016, but later confirmed she would support her partys nominee for president, declining to mention Trump by name.

At the start of Trumps term in office, Stefanik was a leader of the centrist GOP Tuesday Group caucus, voted against Republicans 2017 rewrite of the tax code and criticized Trumps controversial ban on refugees from seven Muslim countries.

Like Cheney, she also criticized his posture toward Russia and NATO, and defended special counsel Robert Muellers investigation.

According to FiveThirtyEights "Trump Score," which tracked how often Republicans voted for the former presidents agenda, Stefanik scored a 77.7%, roughly 15 points lower than Cheneys 92.9%.

"There are areas where I disagree with the president, but if there are areas I agree with, then I am going to work with him," she told the Post-Star newspaper of Glen Falls, New York.

Stefanik was among the Republicans who later stood on stage with Trump at Fort Drum -- the large Army installation in her district and the home of the 10th Mountain Division -- in August 2018 when he signed the annual defense policy bill into law.

"That was a pivot or fulcrum type moment," Jeff Graham, the former mayor of Watertown and a longtime Stefanik supporter, told ABC News.

Trump defender and top surrogate

The next year, Stefanik emerged as one of Trumps staunchest defenders as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, working closely with conservative Trump allies such as Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to rebuff Democrats impeachment investigation into whether the president improperly withheld foreign aid to Ukraine.

PHOTO: Rep. Elise Stefanik speaks during the Republican National Convention seen on a laptop computer in Tiskilwa, Ill., Aug. 26, 2020. (Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE)

Stefanik later served as a top surrogate for Trump and spoke in prime time on the third night of the Republican National Convention in Washington in the summer of 2020.

This district was considered for a long time a moderate district, filled with Rockefeller Republicans, but that seems to have changed, former Rep. Bill Owens, a Democrat who retired in 2015 after representing the area, told ABC News. Its clearly moved far to the right, and shes followed that trend.

Stefanik has used her new platform and profile in Republican circles to help support and recruit GOP women to run for Congress -- an effort that grew out of frustrations following the partys 2018 midterm losses.

With her political action committee, E-PAC, Stefanik raised millions of dollars for GOP candidates in 2020 and supported the record number of GOP women elected to Congress last year.

Challenging election results

Stefanik was among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania on Jan. 6, after a mob of pro-Trump protestors stormed the Capitol in a clash that left several people dead -- and defended questioning the results in two other states in a floor speech after the riot.

Like other Republicans who baselessly challenged the election results, she faced calls to resign from Democrats and was removed from the advisory board of the Harvard University Institute of Politics for her comments about the election results.

On Thursday, one day after Cheney wrote a Washington Post op-ed calling for Republicans to reject Trumps "cult of personality," Stefanik told Bannon she fully supported the controversial Republican-backed audit of election results in Arizona, which election experts have worried will further undermine confidence in the electoral process.

But she also said she would work on "sending a clear message that we are one team, and that means working with the president and working with all of our excellent Republican members of Congress."

MORE: Cheney sees 'turning point' for party already turned to Trump: The Note

House Republicans can vote to remove Cheney from their leadership team as early as next week and install Stefanik in her place in a subsequent vote.

While some conservative groups have questioned Stefaniks voting record, a broad swath of the GOP conference -- a mix of freshmen and veteran lawmakers, as well as centrists and some conservatives -- has publicly endorsed her to succeed Cheney in the No. 3 leadership position.

More importantly, she has the support of Trump, who called her a "smart and tough communicator" in a statement on Wednesday.

Stefanik "is an ambitious politician who sees her future in the Republican Party in one leadership role or another and has worked out that the potential for the party to move in a more moderate direction is not there -- and given that, has thrown in with [Trump], Tim Weaver, a political science professor at the State University of New York at Albany, told ABC News.

Assuming Stefanik can keep her seat through the upcoming redistricting cycle in New York -- controlled by Democrats in Albany -- her rise to House leadership with Trumps support could put her "in a prime position" for a leading role in the party, he added.

Graham, the former Watertown mayor, praised Stefaniks rise in Washington and her representation of upstate New York -- and said her relationship with Trump was reflective of her constituents and many GOP voters.

"Nobody quite knew where the whole Trump thing was going to go," Graham said. "She was cautious. As they say in politics, she evolved."

Rep. Elise Stefanik on path to GOP leadership after aligning with Trump originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
BEIRUT (AP)  The leader of Lebanons militant Hezbollah group on Friday indicated his support for a dialogue between Iran one one side and the U.S. and Saudi Arabia on the other.

Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech that such talks could benefit Tehran and its allies and calm tensions in the region. Iran is a top backer of Hezbollah.

The U.S. and Iran recently resumed indirect talks about getting Tehran and Washington to return to the nuclear deal. Meanwhile, Iraq is hosting talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as Riyadh seeks to end its years-long war in Yemen where the kingdom is fighting Iran-backed rebels.

We support any Iranian dialogue with international, regional or Arab powers," Nasrallah said in the hour-long speech. We consider it as helpful to calming tension in the region."

Nasrallah's comments were his first since news emerged of Baghdad-mediated talks last month between Tehran and Riyadh.

There has been growing unease among Gulf Arab partners over Americas re-engagement with Iran. Through intermediaries in Vienna, Tehran and Washington have discussed a return to Iran's nuclear deal with world powers. Former President Donald Trump in 2018 pulled America out of the deal, saying it does not do enough to prevent Tehran from pursuing a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes.

Washington's Gulf Arab allies have been pressing that a return to the nuclear deal should address Iran's support for regional proxies, including Hezbollah.

Iran has never sold out its allies and friends," Nasrallah said. It never gave them up, never comprised their interests or even negotiated on their behalf.

He also said he cannot confirm nor deny reports of secret talks between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Riyadh has boycotted the government in Damascus since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

Such talks, however, would be logical," Nasrallah said, as Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of Tehran, has solidified his hold on power. Riyadh, along with other regional powers such as Turkey, had supported Syria's opposition since the start of the civil war in 2011.
Two American tourists were sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court on Wednesday (May 5) for the 2019 murder of a policeman near their hotel in Rome, in a case that shook the nation.

Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, had admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega in the early hours of July 26, 2019, while his friend Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was tussling with another police officer.

However, the pair say they had acted in self defense because they thought the two policemen, who were not in uniform at the time, were thugs out to get them after a botched attempt to buy drugs.

Elder shook his head as the verdict was read out, while Cerciello Rega's widow Rosa Maria Esilio wept.

She spoke outside the court.

"This verdict is the result of a long and painful process that will not bring Mario back to me, it will not bring him back to life and it will not give us back our life together. Today is the first step towards a new justice and Mario will be an example for those who need justice."

The court rejected the Californians' testimony and handed down the toughest punishment possible in Italy.

The pair were also found guilty of attempted extortion, assault, resisting a public official and carrying an attack-style knife without just cause.

Under Italy's penal code, criminals serving life terms can be eligible for parole after 21 years, if they have a good behavior record.

The defense lawyers immediately announced they would appeal.

Video Transcript

NARRATOR: Two American tourists were sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court on Wednesday for the 2019 murder of a policeman near their hotel in Rome in a case that shook the nation.

Finnegan Lee Elder, who was 19 at the time, had admitted to stabbing Mario Cerciello Rega in the early hours of July 26, 2019, while his friend, Gabriel Christian Natale-Hjorth, then 18, was tussling with another police officer. However, the pair say they had acted in self defense, because they thought the two policemen, who were not in uniform at the time, were thugs out to get them after a botched attempt to buy drugs.

Story continues

Elder shook his head as the verdict was read out while Cerciello Rega's widow, Rosa Maria Esilio, wept. She spoke outside the court.

INTERPRETER: This verdict is the result of a long and painful process that will not bring Mario back to me. It will not bring him back to life. And it will not give us back our life together. Today is the first step towards a new justice. And Mario will be an example for those who need justice.

NARRATOR: The court rejected the Californian's testimony and handed down the toughest punishment possible in Italy. The pair were also found guilty of attempted extortion, assault, resisting a public official, and carrying an attack-style knife without just cause. Under Italy's penal code, criminals serving life terms can be eligible for parole after 21 years if they have a good behavior record. The defense lawyers immediately announced they would appeal.
A police operation against a group of alleged drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday ended in a shootout that left at least 25 people dead, Reuters reported.

Why it matters: It is the country's deadliest police raid since 2005, per Reuters.

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The big picture: The shootout occurred in Jacarezinho, one of Rio's largest favelas, and targeted a group that had operated in the area for years, police said.

One of the fatalities was a police officer, the rest were suspected members of the targeted group, including several of its leaders, Reuters reported, citing police.

At least 10 suspected members were arrested.

Human rights activists condemned the raid, calling it a "massacre," per The Guardian.

"It's extermination  there's no other way to describe it," Pedro Paulo Santos Silva, a researcher at Rio's Center for Studies on Public Security and Citizenship told The Guardian. "This was a massacre."

Rio civil police detective Felipe Curi denied any executions took place, per AP. There were no suspects killed. They were all traffickers or criminals who tried to take the lives of our police officers and there was no other alternative, he said at a news conference.

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(PA)

Polls have closed across England, Scotland and Wales and votes will be counted over the coming days in the largest test of political opinion outside a general election.

On what has been dubbed Super Thursday, voters took part in contests which could shake up British politics and have profound implications for the future of the United Kingdom.

Labour faces a humiliating loss in Hartlepool in a blow to Sir Keir Starmers leadership.

Votes are being counted in the by-election with Labour fearing Boris Johnson will demolish another brick in the red wall of the partys former northern heartlands.

The Hartlepool parliamentary contest is the main focus and it looks set to show how hard Sir Keirs job of rebuilding support for Labour will be.

Tories at the by-election count were confident of victory, while early results in council contests in the north-east also appeared to show voters deserting Labour.

Bookmakers have made Tory Jill Mortimer favourite to take the seat in a rare by-election victory for a governing party, with a result expected early on Friday.

Counting begins: Ballot boxes arrive at Mill House Leisure Centre in HartlepoolPA

Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon earlier conceded Labour has not got over the line in Hartlepool.

Asked whether Labour would be claiming victory in the by-election, Mr McMahon told Sky News: It would be difficult to do that given how we see the numbers beginning to pan out.

Pressed on whether he was conceding defeat, he added: It is pretty clear in the way the ballots are landing that we are not close to winning this despite our best endeavours, despite the hard work of many fantastic volunteers and despite a fantastic candidate, who of course is a local GP working at Hartlepool hospital who has been working on the frontline during the pandemic.

And so I think we have given it our all but sometimes you dont get over the line on the day.

Thats where we are, thats the reality of where we are. We havent got over the line, thats quite clear from the ballots.

A 30ft inflatable Boris Johnson erected outside Mill House Leisure Centre in Hartlepool, where votes are being countedPA

Over the coming days results elsewhere could have an even more dramatic influence on the state of the nations politics.

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Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeons push for a second independence referendum means the stakes are high in the Holyrood contest, with results expected to be announced on Friday and Saturday.

The SNP is expected to emerge again as the largest party in the Scottish Parliament after the election, but it wants to win an overall majority of MSPs as it pushes for a second independence referendum  something which polls suggest remains in the balance.

PA Wire

Mr Johnson has refused to countenance another referendum, setting up the potential for constitutional fireworks over the coming years if Ms Sturgeon gets the outcome she desires.

The SNP leader insisted her focus would be on tackling coronavirus and rebuilding the economy.

But when the Covid crisis has passed, we will give the people of Scotland the opportunity to decide if they want the recovery to be in the hands of the likes of Boris Johnson and the austerity-driven Tories or to put Scotlands future in Scotlands hands with independence.

Results of the elections  which also include the Welsh Parliament, police and crime commissioners and English local authorities and mayors  are expected to continue filtering through until Monday as counting will take longer than normal due to coronavirus restrictions.

PA Wire

The Hartlepool contest will be one of the earliest results, with counting taking place overnight.

The seat was held by Labour with a majority of 3,595 in 2019, even as other bricks in the red wall crumbled  in part due to the Brexit Party splitting the Tory vote.

Both Mr Johnson and Sir Keir made three visits during the campaign in a sign of the importance it represents to their parties.

The Prime Minister insisted it would be a very tough fight to win Hartlepool, a seat that has been Labour since its creation in 1974.

But the Conservatives hope to achieve a hat trick of successes, winning Hartlepool and retaining the mayoralties in Teesside and the West Midlands.

Mr Johnson said: Its Conservative mayors who are bringing new investment and local jobs to their areas. A new freeport and green jobs are on their way to Teesside and new trams, Metro lines and station upgrades to the West Midlands.

More has been delivered by Conservatives in four years than complacent Labour politicians have delivered in decades.

If Hartlepool goes to the Tories it could be a difficult long weekend for Labour.

YouGov local election polling suggested the Tories could take over as the largest party in Bolton and Dudley, while Labour sources also fear they could lose control of both Sunderland and Durham councils for the first time in half a century.

Sir Keir said it would take time to rebuild his party after the worst general election result since 1935 under Jeremy Corbyn, adding: I never thought we would climb the mountain we have to climb in just one year.

In his final message to voters he sought to underline the shift from Mr Corbyn, stressing this is a changed Labour Party which was under new leadership.

But a senior Labour source admitted its been a tough one while shadow cabinet minister Thangam Debbonaire admitted the partys message had not been cutting through.

Asked on the BBCs Question Time if it would be curtains for Keir if Labour loses Hartlepool, she said: I know that Keir has a vision for making this country the best country to grow up in, the best country to grow old in. I know we want to rebuild the economy. I know we want to build a better country to grow up and grow old in.

Weve got a great team who cannot wait to be able to cut through more and I hear what people are saying, its not cutting through, I get that.

I think thats a lesson for the Labour Party that were going to have to take into account.

For Labour, success is expected in the form of Sadiq Khan winning a second term in London, probably late on Saturday.

In Wales, Mark Drakeford hopes to maintain Labours grip on the Senedd  but he may find himself forced to forge a new coalition to stay as First Minister.

That could mean talks with Plaid Cymru, whose leader, Adam Price, has committed to an independence referendum within five years if his party wins a majority.

Read More

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Fair Start for Kids becomes law

The most significant funding and investment in child care in Washingtons history was signed into law Friday by. Gov. Jay Inslee.

The Fair Start for Kids Act attempts to remedy the struggling child care sector by expanding the child care industry and provider supports and increasing access to subsidies and reducing copayments, among other things. Its supported financially by a new excise tax. The law become official during a virtual celebration of child care providers throughout the state. The governor declared May 7 Child Care Provider Awareness Day in the state.

The Yakima Herald-Republic will dive more into this new law and other legislative developments in the next edition of The Growth Gap.
Little ones learning

In the apple, cherry, peach and pear classrooms of Blossoms Early Learning Center in downtown Yakima, 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income or high-risk families are building skills and confidence in areas like communication, counting, writing and critical thinking across both English and Spanish.

On a morning in mid-April, 4-year-old Lucille Salapang-Duncan was in the peach classroom making patterns with small plastic bears of different sizes and colors.

How many small ones do you have? one of the classroom teachers asked her. One, two, three, four, five, six, Salapang-Duncan counted confidently.

In addition to counting bears with different features, she could explain how she decided what came next in the pattern and list of their colors with confidence.

Nearby her, some students were practicing using scissors, developing fine motor skills.

A few doors down in the cherry room, some Jennifer Martinezs students were practicing tracing the letters of their names. Others were reading or playing with slime.

A lot of their play is very intentional, so that theyre getting some kind of skill, Martinez said. Even if theyre just sitting down drawing, we like to always communicate with them, asking them questions  open ended questions  in order for them to communicate and build their language skills with us.

Teachers throughout the building said creating a warm, nurturing environment where the kids felt safe and excited to learn and communicate was key. They also wanted to pass some of these small learning opportunities onto parents.

Martinez said she encourages the parents of her students to do simple activities with their kids throughout the day, such as pick a color to point out as they go about the day. This helps kids work on memory skills and making connections, for example.

Some families  do struggle knowing how to get those good activities and skills to help their students, she said. A lot of it is because parents are working or they are low income. They dont really have that time to learn and know how to help their kid develop.

Martinez is speaking from experience as a student and teacher. She participated in an early learning program like Blossoms when she was a kid. Today, she is passionate about giving the same opportunities to working families and their children, building foundational skills and overcoming learning challenges like language before they enter the K-12 system.

 Janelle Retka
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 19:53:58|Editor: huaxia

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TEHRAN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Iranians on Friday marked the annual Quds (Jerusalem) Day nationwide in support of Palestinians.

The ceremonies were mostly held online, amid the concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, for the second year in a row.

Mass rallies to mark Quds Day used to be held in the streets and squares of the Iranian cities before the pandemic hit the country in early 2020.

On Friday, the Iranians swarmed to the social media and expressed their fury with Israel.

In the capital Tehran and some other cities, a number of people gathered in the squares to show their protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. They burned the Israeli flag and chanted anti-Israel and anti-U.S. slogans.

In Tehran's Palestine Square, anthems and songs condemning the "crimes of the Zionists" were sung.

Motorists also held rallies in the streets by raising the Palestinian flags.

In a statement on Thursday, Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged the Muslims around the world to mark Quds Day and demonstrate their objection to what it called "the violation of rights of Palestinians."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that the establishment of sustainable peace in Palestine will be realized only through the settlement of basic problems in the Palestinian crisis," the ministry statement said, adding Israel should end its occupation policy.

Quds Day, initiated by Iran in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians, is an annual event held on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, which falls on May 7 this year.

Protests are held on the day every year in Iran and some regional countries to protest against Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem since the 1967 war. Enditem
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Greensboro, NC (27407)

Today

Overcast with showers at times. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Overcast with showers at times. Low 69F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 19:57:44|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A mainland spokesperson on Friday lashed out at separatists seeking "Taiwan independence," saying they shall be judged by history.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the remarks in response to a query on the comments made by Joseph Wu, an official with Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, during a recent interview with an Australian media.

By obfuscating cause and effect, Wu and his like attempted to fool Taiwan compatriots and mislead the international community, Zhu noted.

Reiterating that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inseparable part of China's territory, Zhu said Taiwan will never be separated from China.

Warning the DPP authorities and separatists like Wu not to misjudge the situation, Zhu said any attempts to seek "Taiwan independence" will lead to a dead end.

"We have the determination and capability to deter separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence,' defend China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and safeguard common interests of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait," Zhu said. Enditem
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VILLANOVA, Pa.Villanova School of Business (VSB) professor Jonathan Doh, PhD, has been elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Management (AOM)the largest and most prestigious professional organization of management scholars globally. Election as an AOM Fellow is a permanent designation and honors a select group of scholars who have made significant contributions to the science and practice of management and distinguished themselves at the top of their fields.

I am deeply humbled by this recognition from the most accomplished scholars in management, Doh said. It reflects well on the supportive culture of Villanova and the School of Business where teacher scholars are encouraged to excel in research, teaching and learning and in contributions to policy and practice.

In addition to serving as Professor of Management and Operations, Doh also holds several other positions at VSB, including Associate Dean of Research and Global Engagement, Rammrath Chair in International Business and Co-Faculty Director of the Moran Center for Global Leadership. Arriving at VSB in 2001, his teaching and research focus on the intersection of international business, strategic management and corporate responsibility. Doh is a leading scholar in international business, who continues to have a substantial impact on his scholarly field, serving as an editor of and publishing in leading journals.

Doh has published more than 85 refereed articles, 35 chapters, a dozen teaching cases and eight books. Many of his publications appear in elite or top-tier management, international business and ethics/social responsibility journals, including Academy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Management Information Systems Quarterly, Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal, among others. His most recent books are Aligning for Advantage: Competitive Strategies for the Political and Social Arenas, and International Management: Culture, Strategy and Behavior, a best-selling international management text.

He has presented more than 80 papers at international conferences, and served AOM, the Academy of International Business, and the Strategic Management Society in numerous capacities. He has also served as Associate Editor and Special Issue Editor at several journals and competed a four-year term as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of World Business in 2018. He became General Editor of Journal of Management Studies, after previously serving as Senior Associate Editor. Doh was ranked as the 12th most prolific international business scholar for the period 2001-2009 and in 2015, he was elected a Fellow of Academy of International Business.



Dr. Doh brings tremendous prestige to Villanova and is the epitome of the Villanova teacher-scholar, where scholarship and teaching complement each other, said Joyce E. A. Russell, PhD, the Helen and William OToole Dean of VSB. We are honored to have such a celebrated faculty member, role model and leader within the School of Business.



Founded in 1936, AOM has nearly 20,000 members from over 120 countries that include professors and PhD students in business schools at universities, academics in related social science and other fields and practitioners who value knowledge creation and application.

Dr. Doh richly deserves this honor, which is bestowed on less than one percent of the management scholars who belong to the Academy of Management, said Donald Siegel, PhD, Foundation Professor of Public Policy and Management at Arizona State University and Dean of Fellows of the Academy of Management. Jonathan was cited for his path-breaking research on international business, strategic management and corporate social responsibility. He is the quintessential intellectual boundary spanner. Jonathan joins an elite group of scholars who have made major contributions to the science and practice of management.

The Villanova School of Business (VSB) undergraduate program is top-ranked among business schools in the nation. Its online graduate business programs are ranked #5, and its online MBA program is ranked #17 by U.S. News and World Report. VSB has been at the forefront of business education since it was founded in 1922. Serving over 2,700 undergraduate and graduate students, VSB is home to five Centers of Excellence  the Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate, the Elenore and Robert F. Moran Sr. Center for Global Leadership, the Center for Business Analytics, the Center for Marketing & Consumer Insights and the Center for Church Management  with each designed to foster innovative, cross-disciplinary research and applied opportunities for students. VSB is known for academic rigor; creativity and innovation; hands-on and service learning opportunities; a firm grounding in ethics; and an applied education that prepares students to become outstanding leaders and global citizens within the ever-changing, complex, and fast-paced world of business. For more, visit business.villanova.edu.

About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova Universitys Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six collegesthe College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nations top universities, Villanova supports its students intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu.
Hungary has agreed with Croatia to mutually recognise immunity certificates allowing holders unrestricted travel between the two countries, the foreign minister said on Facebook.

Under an agreement reached on Wednesday, Hungarian nationals who have been vaccinated can travel to Croatia with no obligation to isolate or get tested, Peter Szijjarto said.



The technical details will be posted on the Hungarian Foreign Ministrys Consular Service website during the week, he said.



Talks with other neighbouring countries are ongoing on the matter of accepting certificates, Szijjarto said.



The first neighbour Hungary agreed with on mutually recognising immunity certificates was Serbia last week.





Photo courtesy FM's Facebook page
Our resident drinks guru, Dez OConnell, returns with another look at traditional Hungarian beverages. This time: TRiSPiRiT palinka.

I have a minor confession to make. Im a palinka snob. Well yes, Ive got high standards for most spirits but there are fantastic drinks, across the backbar shelves, for not much dollah in other categories.



When it comes to the Hungarian fruit brandy however, as with other Eau-de-vies like Grappa or Schnapps, you get what you pay for. The fruit, the care of the fruit and the delicacy of the distillation, costs.



If I have a shot of your run of the mill commercial palinka, Im a bit disappointed but try to give it the benefit of the doubt that it's been made with the best intentions (nevermind whether it strictly sticks to the protected rules of the spirit production).



The higher end of the market has some great stuff coming out now. By that I mean only a handful of distillers though. And heres where Im going to piss off a lot of Hungarians and foreign locals: Hazi (home made or commissioned home fruit made) is generally awful. It seems like the Emperors new clothes.



Everyone says its traditional to have a rough, super high alcohol shot that you really dont want to go back to, it seems that it must be delicious and all part of the fun. Many will say to me that thats what real palinka is and any deviation is just fancy modern nonsense.



If that were to be the case then Id probably have given up on the stuff after the first few years of pretending to enjoy the paint stripper having just butchered a pig. Yes, there are exceptions.



There are some good Hazis out there but theres a reason why some of the Hungarian nicknames for palinka are tuzes viz (fiery water), keritesszaggato (fence ripper (as the farmer collapses whilst leaning on his fence) and possibly my favourite, boszorkanyfing (witches fart).



Actually, come to think of it, I might have to charge XpatLoop for close protection after this goes out :)



I first met Tamas Kokany in 2017 when we were brought together by a mutual friend who was designing the labelling for Tamas first range of palinkas to hit the market. Due to my prejudices previously mentioned, I was just doing someone a favour really and I didnt expect much.



I had tasted a lot of palinkas by then and already had a couple of producers that I, in the main, thought were getting it right and were already on the shelves of the bars I worked with.



After an hour of the two of us tasting, he asks the dreaded question of course. So whaddyathink?



I was really pleased to say that I thought they were magic and would he mind if I tasted them all again (sometimes when work and pleasure merge, these things happen).



By then Tamas had been working on TRiSPiRiT palinka for three years, learning and experiencing the trials and tribulations of fruit and distillation. Just repeating the Hungarian mantra of, if the fruit is good enough for jam, then its good for palinka, is not much of a guide. Id prefer to eat perfectly ripened fresh fruit anyway and thats what will make a fabulous palinka.



By the time the booze had got to me the work and study had clearly paid off. However, it was just the foundation. The problem with great palinka is that the Hungarian fruit it requires is inconsistent year to year just as grapes are in wine making. So one year might yield an awesome peach from somewhere up north but the next year less so.



Tamas reflects this in TRiSPiRiT - once the good raspberry palinka is gone, it might not come back until the time is right. Its a sort of vintage system as with wine. There were several TRiSPiRiTs that also fell a bit short for me, in part I imagine because the fruit wasnt of the usual standard.



For a variety of reasons, Im rather cynical when I see a big brand producing the same fruit spirit every year without fail. Recent vintages that have shone are the Cabernet Sauvignon grape from Szekszard and the Japanese flat peach from Ordacsehi.



TRiSPiRiT is so called as the founders were Tamas and his two best mates - three souls in the spirit business if you like. A crucial part of the elegance and aromatics of great palinka is the distillation still itself. The German company Mullers Aromat still series is like a blend of the traditional and high-tech with a huge number of delicate variables to get the aromatic beauty the distiller is going for. Naturally, the boys had to get their mitts on one.



This spirit is some rare gear by the way only really available in good bars but a few of the varieties have made their way to Culinaris, Wolt (Babka) and Opera Trafik.



Alright then Mr. Bartender, what does it taste like?!



Ive chosen these two as they are my favourites at the moment and can be enjoyed across the board of palinka drinkers, whether they be your friend who has popped over for a city break or for your Hungarian relative who keeps banging on about the old school stuff.



Room Temperature and it should be noted that both improve after some time exposed to the air. This isnt a shot kids! Were looking for a journey.



* TRiSPiRiT VI. Piros Vilmos Korte Palinka (Red Williams Pear) 2020 40% abv

Nose: smashed, ripe red pear with some citrus zest

Taste: vegetal, chunky pear skin then mint and pear. Jammy and perfumey at the same time.

Finish: Spices, citrus and luscious pear



* TRiSPiRiT II. Stanley Szilva Palinka (Stanley Plum) 2020 40% abv

Nose: Cakey (is that a word?), amaretto and lavender, reminiscent of Szilvas Gomboc, the plum dumplings

Taste: less floral, more christmas spice, red wine tannins and then slightly underripe dark plum.

Finish: More of the above. Approachable for the novice yet traditional enough for the local (apart from my first next-door neighbour Pistabacsi who frowns on anything below 65% abv).



By Dez O'Connell, Bar & Drink Consultant

www.facebook.com/betterbars
But the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use a newer technology that involves injecting a piece of messenger RNA that codes for the spike protein. Once injected, the mRNA induces the body to make enough of the protein to stimulate the immune system.

The J&J shot involves still another approach, using a disabled virus to deliver the instructions for making the protein.

Rupp said UNMC was one of the top-enrolling sites for the adult Novavax trial, with nearly 500 participants. The trial is being carried out at more than 100 locations across the country. Meridian also participated in adult trials.

Rupp said he anticipates that Novavax will present adult data to the FDA in a month or two. He anticipates that the agency will decide whether to approve it for use later this summer.

The adolescent portion of the trial will be smaller, Rupp said, seeking to enroll about 3,000 participants nationwide. The UNMC arms of both the adult and adolescent Novavax trials are being led by Dr. Diana Florescu, a professor and infectious diseases specialist in UNMCs internal medicine department.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:07:30|Editor: huaxia

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KUALA LUMPUR, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Badminton Malaysia Open scheduled for May 25-30 has been postponed to a later date, following the recent surge of new COVID-19 cases in the host country, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Friday.

The event, which was one of the last Olympic qualifying tournaments for the Tokyo Olympics, will no longer take place within the qualifying window ends on June 13, the world governing body of badminton said in a statement.

"All attempts were made by the organizers and BWF to provide a safe tournament environment for all participants, but the recent surge in cases left no choice but to postpone the tournament," it said.

Malaysia has recently seen several thousand new infections daily, with the government reimposing a movement control order in parts of the country, including the capital Kuala Lumpur from May 7 to 20.

Malaysia on Friday reported 4,498 new COVID-19 infections, the first time the country recorded more than 4,000 cases in 24 hours since early February, bringing the national total to 432,425 cases. Enditem
YORK  There was hardly any city-owned land left in the industrial park in York, as this area of the city has become nearly completely developed by private enterprise over the last 20 years. This week, an offer for one of the last parcels was before the city council and they have agreed to move forward.

The matter regarded the sale of Lot 3, Block 1, to Highway Heavy Repair for the amount of $90,465.

Highway Heavy Repair is a construction company with a current focus in the area of bridge repair work for the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

The company is asking to purchase the lot for their equipment storage, York City Attorney Charles Campbell told the council during their regular meeting. You will need to establish an ordinance and then publish notices regarding the intent to sell, allow objections if there are any and if none, you can close on the sale.

The sale would be for 4.89 acres.

In talking with Lisa Hurley (executive director of the York County Development Corporation), they want to build a warehouse.

The land is an irregular-shaped piece along the curved road near the bus barn.
YORK -- The Nebraska Soil Carbon Project is ready to enroll acres for producers in the Upper Big Blue and Central Platte Natural Resource Districts.

This project will provide greater financial incentives to producers who utilize key conservation practices in central Nebraska. Farmers can adopt soil health practices -- including cover crops, no-till, and diverse crop rotations -- that store carbon in the soil. This stored carbon can be utilized by private companies to help reach their goals around sustainability. Depending on the practices implemented, producers will earn up to $45 per acre each year.

The goal is to have about 100 producers install these soil health practices on 100,000 acres of farmland over the next five years. For this first year, producers will enroll between now and June 15. The expectation is to enroll 20,000 acres in the first year across the two NRDs.

The Nebraska Soil Carbon Project is a collaboration between the two Natural Resources Districts (NRDs), Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), The Nature Conservancy, Ecosystem Services Market Consortium, Cargill, Target and McDonalds. The Nature Conservancy manages the new program, which will provide $8 million for farmers in the next five years.
All five members of Nebraska's Republican congressional delegation teamed up with the Nebraska Farm Bureau and the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce Thursday to voice their opposition to federal tax hikes proposed by the Biden administration and some members of Congress.

Discussions in Washington have "centered around ramping up capital gains, estate (death) taxes and corporate taxes," the newly formed coalition called Nebraskans for Tax Truth said.

Raising taxes in those areas "would have far-reaching impacts that not only threaten Nebraska's family businesses and primary economic sectors," the coalition said, but also "Nebraskans who rely on those businesses for employment."

Sen. Deb Fischer said "those extreme tax increases would be devastating for Nebraska's families, ag producers and the economy as a whole."

Rather than focusing on "efforts to tax and spend, and then tax and spend more," Sen. Ben Sasse said, the Biden administration "should be finding more trade markets and cutting red tape so we can keep feeding the world."

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry said the decision is "whether we stand with the American farm family ... or watch as large corporations and trust funds gobble up more land, all because of tax considerations."
Reinvigorating the DeWitt facility has been a full-team company effort, he said. Theres been a lot of collaboration and team involvement in getting the products to the shelves.

The four Eagle Grip products launched so far are currently available on Amazon. Benninghoff said plans are in the works to sell Eagle Grip products through other retailers.

The DeWitt plant formally reopened in October 2018 with a town celebration. Since then, Malco has invested tens of millions of dollars into renovating the factory, purchasing the equipment and materials and, of course, hiring a local workforce.

It took us from 2018 until now to get to the quantity and quality that we liked and wanted to sell, said Eric Peterson, the companys director of sales and marketing.

Malcos investment was bolstered by a matching $500,000 grant from the states Nebraska Advantage program.

For the DeWitt community, the Eagle Grip product launch completes the journey back to being a place of manufacturing prowess.
Joining the fight against Covid-19, TVS Motor Company has announced that the company has set up a Rs 40 crore package to fuel the fight against Covid-19 in the country.

In its official statement, the two-wheeler manufacturer said that it will undertake this initiative along with the social arm of TVS Motor Company and Sundaram-Clayton Ltd called Srinivasan Services Trust.

The company is looking to provide lifesaving supplies like oxygen concentrators, PPE Kits, medicines and medical equipment across the country. TVS will also be delivering around 2,000 oxygen concentrators to hospitals and health centres and over 20,000 food packets per day for essential services workers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Himachal Pradesh.

Additionally, TVS said that itll distribute over a million face masks, thousands of oximeters and PPE kits, hand sanitisers and essential medicines to 500+ government health centres and hospitals. TVS Motor will also facilitate all possible assistance to Covid-19 care centres in rural areas across the country.

Venu Srinivasan, Chairman of TVS Motor Company, said, "We are experiencing an unprecedented crisis due to the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in our country. This situation demands that we unify our efforts towards mitigating the severe impact of the pandemic. We are working with the Government to provide assistance to various health centres in rural India and create easy medical accessibility at the grassroots. We are focused on doing whatever it takes to alleviate and enhance the quality of lives of the communities we serve, as we have done in our 100-year history."

Prior to TVS, several other auto manufacturers in the country have stepped up against Covi-19, including carmakers such as Maruti Suzuki, Honda and MG Motor India.
New Delhi: The Malaysia Open Super 750 tournament, one of badminton's last two Olympic qualifying events, was on Friday postponed due to a recent COVID-19 surge in the host country, dealing a severe blow to the Tokyo hopes of Indian stars like Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth. The USD 600,000 event was scheduled to be held in Kuala Lumpur from May 25 to 30.

"All attempts were made by the organisers and BWF to provide a safe tournament environment for all participants, but the recent surge in cases left no choice but to postpone the tournament," Badminton World Federation said in a statement.

"BWF can confirm the rescheduled tournament will no longer take place in the Olympic qualifying window. New tournament dates will be confirmed at a later date."

The decision came as a huge setback for London Olympics bronze-medallist Saina and men's star Srikanth's last hopes of Olympic qualification.

Following the postponement of the India Open (May 11-16), Saina and Srikanth's qualification for the Tokyo Games hinged on the Kuala Lumpur event followed by the Singapore Open (June 1-6).

It is highly unlikely that the Indian duo will be able to travel to Singapore as the country has suspended all flights from COVID-ravaged India.

The Badminton Association of India had earlier said that as per the laid-out guidelines, for any Indian to enter Singapore, they have to either be in quarantine in a foreign country other than India for 14 days to be allowed to enter Singapore.

"Alternatively all players have to maintain a 21 days quarantine in Singapore."

Malaysia too has banned all flights from India and BAI had been exploring alternative routes to reach there via Doha or Sri Lanka but with the suspension of the Kuala Lumpur event, efforts would now be directed towards Singapore.

Indian shuttlers who have already made the cut for the Olympics include PV Sindhu, B Sai Praneeth and the men's doubles pair of Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy.

Besides the quartet, Srikanth, Saina and the women's doubles pair of N Sikki Reddy and Ashwini Ponnappa were supposed to participate in the two Olympic qualifiers.
New Delhi: GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC), a WHO-GSDP (World Health Organisation-Good Storage and Distribution Practices) certified major Gateway Location in India, is uniquely positioned to handle temperature sensitive Cargo and ensure its seamless distribution.

GHAC is equipped to serve both outbound and inbound vaccine shipments by providing world-class infrastructure for requisite temperature-controlled zones. GHAC has been continuously working towards efficient handling and distribution of COVID relief materials.

Hyderabad region is set to be the single largest concentration of COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacities globally, with an estimated 3.6 billion doses of various makes of vaccines expected to be produced by facilities in the region over the next 18-24 months. Given that Hyderabad is Indias premier pharma and vaccine manufacturing hub, GHAC has developed world-class infrastructure and playing an active role in ensuring unbroken cold chain for COVID vaccine supply.

Handling vital COVID related shipments

 Since the beginning of pandemic, GHAC has seamlessly handled several freighters carrying Vaccines, medical equipment and COVID relief material like PPE Kits, masks, sanitizers etc. More importantly, in the recent months starting January 2021, GHAC has handled more than 100 tonnes of COVID vaccines that were distributed from Hyderabad to various parts of the country.

 For the 1st time in India on 1st May 2021, GHAC successfully handled the large import shipment of the Sputnik V vaccines from Russia, which required specialised handling and procedures to meet the stringent time and temperature (-20 deg. C) constraints. The handling of this critical shipment marked a major milestone for the country.

Vaccine Logistics initiatives

 In order to address the anticipated surge in movement of COVID vaccines at Hyderabad, GHAC has been expanding its landside and airside facilities and streamlining processes to meet the unique requirements for vaccine shipments and temp-controlled pharmaceuticals.

 The existing Pharma zone facility is also being expanded to almost double the area for handling increased movements of Vaccine and Pharma shipments. In addition to the above, it has also increased the capacities of all temperature zones viz. 15-25 degrees, 2-8 degrees and -20 degrees Celsius.

 The entire Pharma Zone including the newly expanding area is equipped with temperature and humidity sensors with alarm alerts along with CCTV surveillance to check temperature excursions in real time. The temperature recording and monitoring is being done with data loggers in exclusive cold storage for temperature sensitive cargo like vaccines/pharma.

 GHAC is introducing Cold Super Store as part of the extended pharma zone to mitigate any temperature excursions during unloading of pharma shipments. It had launched a custom built large Cool Dolly, a Mobile Refrigerated Unit for airside transportation of large pallets till aircraft, maintaining the Cold-Chain.

 During this pandemic situation, GHAC has been closely working with all the air cargo stakeholders while having dedicated Task Force and specific Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place for acceptance, screening, and handling of temperature sensitive COVID vaccines. The undertaken facilities upgrade will result in better cargo acceptance and processing time and thereby enhancing operational efficiencies.

Technology & Partnerships

 At the onset of 2021, GHAC has partnered with Dubai Airports for launch of HYDXB-VAXCOR, a first of its kind of strategic initiative in the industry to address the unique logistical challenge of moving vaccines between Dubai and India through Hyderabad airport as a hub. This strategic partnership envisages several benefits and value added benefits such as priority handling, seamless movement, expanded uplift capacity through anchor carriers and high level of visibility for status/temperature data.

 GHACs e-Reception systems ensures hassle free entry and exit of the refrigerated trucks on the landside. For ensuring smooth last mile delivery, GHAC facilitates the movement of cargo to different parts of the country with its trucking partners who provide Road Feeder Service.

 GHAC has also been gearing up towards Technology enhancements and has been recently integrating Vaccine Ledger, a next-gen Block Chain solution to deliver enhanced Track and Trace solution and real-time monitoring of vaccine shipments from Hyderabad.

Improved Connectivity

 GHACs major airline partners are connecting Hyderabad to different parts of the country and the world. Currently, Hyderabad Airport has direct services to 58 domestic destinations and around 150 destinations globally including all major cargo hubs of the world.

 To facilitate connectivity across its extended catchment areas, GHAC has partnered with TSRTC to provide the first mile and last mile connectivity to various parts of South and Central India. TSRTC is successfully operating its fleet from last six months.
India is reeling under a big crisis as COVID-19 cases are increasing day by day and companies, taking note of the situation and employees' health have given Work From Home (WFH).

One of the companies named Zerodha has made a decision that there would be no phone calls regarding work that will be made to the staff after 6 pm. The companys founder and CEO Nithin Kamath took to Twitter to announce the decision and he further revealed that the move is to help reduce the feeling of burnt out and brain-fried.

At Zerodha, we have just killed all work-related chats post 6 pm & holidays. Also trying to get as many conversations to be asynchronous, moving them from chat to our internal instance of @discourse. Curious to see if this helps reduce the feeling of burnt out & brain fried, Kamath tweeted.

Due to WFH, multitasking has shot up and therefore, it affects the performance of employees to a greater extent and could potentially damage a brain, he said.

Apparently, multitasking hurts performance and may even damage the brain. Being part of multiple discussions on different topics in different chat groups simultaneously (Multitasking) has gone up exponentially post WFH, the Founder and CEO of Zerodha said in the second tweet.

Zerodha, an online platform that invests in stocks, derivatives, and mutual funds started its operations on August 15, 2010, with the goal of breaking all barriers that traders and investors face in India in terms of cost, support, and technology.

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New Delhi: The spiralling crisis from resurgence of COVID-19 cases in India has brought in a huge humanitarian crisis. Zomato in its bid to support to contain the spread of the Novel Coronavirus is providing medical supplies to equip the state governments and supporting agencies to combat the contagion effectively and efficiently.

As part of Mission Sanjeevani, Zomato delivery boys will now supply medical kits by health department to COVID patients in Noida who are under home isolation. The first batch of medical kits being supplied by Zomato delivery boy was flagged off by District Magistrate of Gautam Buddha Nagar Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj.

Amid the sudden and steep surge in the number of coronavirus cases, the district administration earlier used to issue medical prescription to nearly 4,000 patients who were confined in home isolation. However, these patients would have to buy the medicine supplies by themselves. But owing to containment and home isolation, now Zomato delivery boys will come to the rescue of such people. The medical kit contains vitamin C, vitamin D, paracetamol, Azithromycin, doxy zinc tablets.

The health department will constantly monitor the delivery system. CMO Dr Deepak Ohri has said that departments ACMO has been entrusted with the task of monitoring the delivery system. He will ensure that the COVID patients who are under home isolation, get medicines in the stipulated time. The report card of the same will be maintained by the health department.

How can you order home delivery of medical kits?

The entire exercise is to make sure that people dont have to come out of their homes, and those under isolation, who dont have support system can be helped. As per the DM, all people need to do is to reach out to the district administration and the needful will be done by it.

India COVID-19 cases above 4 lakh, record daily rise

India on Friday reported a record daily rise in coronavirus cases of 414,188, while deaths from COVID-19 swelled by 3,915, according to health ministry data. India`s total coronavirus infections now stand at 21.49 million, while its total fatalities have reached 234,083. The South Asian nation has added 1.57 million cases and nearly 500 deaths this week alone, said Reuters.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:08:21|Editor: huaxia

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Wreaths laid by Xinhua News Agency are seen to commemorate the deaths of three Chinese journalists killed during a NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy, in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, May 7, 2021. The NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 was commemorated on Friday by officials from the Serbian government and Chinese embassy. The NATO bombings of Yugoslavia started on March 24, 1999. During the 78-day military attack, 2,500 civilians were killed, and around 25,000 objects were damaged, including airports, hospitals, schools, cultural monuments and road infrastructure, according to the Serbian government. (Photo by Wang Wei/Xinhua)

BELGRADE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 was commemorated on Friday by officials from the Serbian government and Chinese embassy.

Wreaths were laid by the Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Darija Kisic Tepavcevic, head of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) Vladimir Radomirovic, Chinese ambassador to Serbia Chen Bo and citizens to commemorate the deaths of three Chinese journalists killed during a NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy on May 7, 1999.

Chen thanked the Serbian people for keeping the memory of the attack alive, reminding that the martyrs of the attack "paid the price of truth, justice, and righteousness with their lives."

"We will never forget the crime conducted by the aggressor, who most brutally violated the human rights, in the name of the so-called protection of human rights," she said.

Chen said that the newly built Chinese cultural center here represents a new symbol of the iron friendship between Serbia and China and the striving of both countries for justice.

Minister Kisic Tepavcevic said that that the Chinese people and Chinese journalists were "together with us in the hardships" and that is why the Serbian people come here to honor them every year.

"The People's Republic of China is our great friend, who always provides immense support to us in all challenges that we come across. It is a true privilege to have such a friend like the Chinese people," she said.

The NATO bombings of Yugoslavia started on March 24, 1999. During the 78-day military attack, 2,500 civilians were killed, and around 25,000 objects were damaged, including airports, hospitals, schools, cultural monuments and road infrastructure, according to the Serbian government. Enditem
New Delhi: Rabindranath Tagore, one of the most celebrated and revered polymaths India ever had left behind a rich legacy of work inspiring generations across the globe. Tagore, also known as Gurudev played a pivotal role in shaping Bengali literature, art, and music. On his 160th birth anniversary, let's get to know him a little better.

These lesser-known facts about Gurudev will surely inspire you:

1. Rabindranath Tagore was the youngest of thirteen surviving children. He was born in the Jorasanko mansion in Calcutta to Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. Unfortunately, his mother died at an early age and his father travelled widely for work. He was nicknamed Rabi.

2. Interestingly, the Tagore family was at the forefront of the Bengal renaissance. Their family published literary magazines; theatre and recitals of Bengali and Western classical music featured regularly.

3. Rabindranath Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. It was for the beautifully written Gitanjali.

4. The Bard of Bengal's compositions were chosen by two nations as national anthems: India's Jana Gana Mana and Bangladesh's Amar Shonar Bangla. Also, the Sri Lankan national anthem was inspired by his work.

5. Tagore had a unique vision for school training which he conceptualized and named the school Visva-Bharati. Tagore employed a brahmacharya system: gurus gave pupils personal guidanceemotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Teaching was often done under trees. He staffed the school, contributed his Nobel Prize monies, and his duties as steward-mentor at Santiniketan kept him busy: mornings he taught classes; afternoons and evenings he wrote the students' textbooks. He fundraised widely for the school in Europe and the United States between 1919 and 1921.

6. Tagore's Nobel Prize was stolen from the safety vault of the Visva-Bharati University, along with several other of his belongings on March 25, 2004. However, on December 7, 2004, the Swedish Academy decided to present two replicas of Tagore's Nobel Prize, one made of gold and the other made of bronze, to the Visva-Bharati University. It inspired the fictional film Nobel Chor.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will on Friday review the COVID-19 situation and the daily demand for medical oxygen in the national capital.

The COVID-19 review meeting, which will be held at the chief minister's residence, will be attended by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, health secretary and all the district magistrates.

The national capital recorded 335 COVID-19 deaths in a day and 19,133 new cases even as the positivity rate dropped below 25 per cent for the first time since April 18, according to the bulletin issued by the Delhi health department on Thursday.

    700    ,                ,            pic.twitter.com/UvkuVHCZcB  Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 6, 2021

Earlier on Friday, the Supreme Court directed the Centre to ensure that Delhi gets 700 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen supply every day. Soon after that, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal called for a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in the national capital.

This top court order has come as a relief to the people of Delhi. For over two weeks Delhi`s hospitals have been fighting for oxygen supply.

Delhi had received 730 MT of oxygen on Wednesday and had requested the Centre to continue supplying 700 metric tonnes of oxygen every day.

Kejriwal had on Thursday said that the Delhi government is capable of increasing around 9000-9500 beds for COVID-19 infected patients at it existing Covid care centres including hospitals.

In its order, the Supreme Court directed the Centre, "When we say 700 MT, it means (the amount of medical oxygen to be supplied) every day to Delhi. Please do not drive us to a situation to take coercive steps. We are clarifying that it will be 700 MT every day."

According to the Delhi government`s data, out of 1919 ICU beds with ventilators available in Delhi`s hospitals, only four are vacant (till 2.30 PM on Friday).

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New Delhi: The Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi on Friday announced that a mass COVID-19 vaccination drive will be held for all the media houses in wake of the rising coronavirus cases and has offered to vaccinate all journalists for free.

The decision has came hours after a high-level meeting of cabinet ministers chaired by Kejriwal to discuss the COVID crisis in Delhi.

Delhi Government has decided to organize a mass #COVID19 vaccination drive for all the Media houses (Electronic Media/Digital Media/Print Media). The Government will organise vaccination drive at their offices & bear the cost. pic.twitter.com/AiTWdJqXNK  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

Earlier, the Uttar Pradesh government had announced to provide free COVID-19 vaccines to journalists and their families. Following the footsteps of several other states like Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha and others had declared journalists as frontline warriors and decided to give them priority in their respective vaccination drive.

Meanwhile, the national capital on Friday reported 19,832 new COVID 19 cases, around 19,085 recoveries and 341 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per data released by Health Department. With these numbers, the total cases now stand at 12,92,867 with 11,83,093 total recoveries.
Chennai: Two Tanzanian nationals were caught smuggling 15.6 kg Heroin worth Rs 100 crore at the Chennai International Airport on Friday (May 7). It was reportedly 'among the biggest narcotics seizures made in Chennai'.

The accused arrived in Chennai, as they did not find a direct flight from their home country to Bengaluru. One of them was traveling to India for treatment in Bengaluru and was accompanied by an attendant on a Visa that was granted based on communication with a Bengaluru hospital.

Air customs officials at the airport, who maintained a high vigil, based on information regarding narcotics smuggling from African countries, intercepted the duo.

Senior officials said that the duo appeared nervous and gave evasive replies on being questioned, following which their baggage was examined.

"Even when their clothes and personal belongings were emptied, the empty suitcases were noticed to be very heavy. That's when the suitcases were examined thoroughly and the packets were found concealed beneath the trolley rods, pasted neatly to the shell of the suitcase, Commissioner of Customs, Rajan Chaudhary told Zee Media.

Five plastic packets were recovered from each trolley suitcase. On testing, 15.6 kg of white coarse powder suspected to be Heroin valued at Rs 100 crore was recovered and seized under The NDPS Act 1985, read with Customs Act.

In this case, they had smeared some spicy powders to hoodwink the dog squads and make it all the more difficult to detect. This is a new smuggling route from Africa and this is among the biggest narcotics seizures made in Chennai, Chaudhary added.
Puducherry: Seventy-one year old AINRC founder N Rangasamy was on Friday (May 7) sworn-in as Chief Minister of Puducherry for a record fourth time but will be heading his maiden coalition cabinet, with alliance party BJP slated to be inducted into the ministry.

On Friday, Rangasamy alone was sworn in as the other Ministers belonging to the AINRC and BJP would be inducted in the next few days, a party source said.

Known to be a simple, soft-spoken and accessible leader, Rangasamy is famous for driving around in a two- wheeler across the streets of Puducherry, even as a CM.

A former Congress veteran, he floated his All India NR Congress in 2011 after being replaced as CM then by the AICC following complaints from V Narayanasamy, then Congress Lok Sabha MP representing the UT.

Rangasamy started off his electoral politics on an unsuccessful note by losing his first Assembly poll from Thattanchavady in 1990 when he was defeated by his political arch rival V Pethaperumal of the Janata Dal.

However, he was elected from the same segment the next year and was rewarded with the Agriculture portfolio in the cabinet.

Again in 1996, he won on a Congress ticket.

In 2001, when the Congress won again, he took over the reins of the UT and continued to helm Puducherry after leading the party to a successive win five years later as well.

However, things took a different turn with Narayanasamy intensifying his criticism of Rangasamy on several counts and the AICC replaced him as CM with V Vaithilingam in August 2008.

In 2011, Rangasamy floated his All India NR Congress, which joined hands with the J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK and won the then polls.

The AINRC came out successful with 15 members and had the support of one independent which together gave Rangasamy the minimum strength of 16 on its side and he formed the government under his stewardship.

He ditched the AIADMK at the time of forming the government in 2011, prompting strong criticism by the late Jayalalithaa who described him as a 'traitor' later.

The AINRC contested the 2016 poll on its own but failed to ensure a clinching performance, with the Congress- DMK combine with 17 members forming the government.

Rangasamy became opposition leader in 2016. He kept a low profile for some time before the Congress government, led by Narayanasamy, fell in February 2021 after it was reduced to a minority in the wake of a spate of resignations by his party MLAs.

Rangasamy is a graduate in Commerce and also in legal studies. He did not practise as he swung into active politics.

Thattanchavady has been his pocket borough all along and did not disappoint him during the April 6 polls as well.

Though he sought election simultaneously from Yanam, an enclave of the union territory in Andhra Pradesh, he was defeated by an Independent candidate there.
Puducherry: AINRC Chief N Rangasamy on Friday (May 7) will be sworn in as Chief Minister of Union Territory of Puducherry at a brief ceremony.

Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan would induct Rangasamy as Chief Minister at a brief session on the precincts of Rajnivas here.

Official sources said Rangasamy alone would be inducted as Chief Minister tomorrow although he would be heading an NDA dispensation which has the BJP as the other constituent.

According to party sources, the swearing in of other ministers, including those from BJP will take place in the next few days.

Usually, the strength of a ministry in Puducherry would be six including Chief Minister.

There is however a reported move to have one Deputy Chief Minister now although there is no precedent in this regard.

A Namassivayam, who joined the BJP in January after quitting the Congress is tipped for the post of Deputy Chief Minister.

The concurrence of the Centre is awaited for the appointment of Deputy Chief Minister, BJP sources said.

The AINRC bagged 10 seats out of the 16 it contested in the April 6 polls while the BJP garnered six out of the nine seats it contested.

The total strength of the Assembly is 30 and sixteen is the magic number for formation of a ministry. The AINRC and BJP has a combined strength of 16. There are six independents elected to the House and they are by and large supporters of Rangasamy.

The DMK has emerged victorious from six segments out of 13 seats it contested. The Congress fared poorly by annexing only two out of the 14 seats it contested.

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Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh Police on Thursday (May 6, 2021) filed cases against six private hospitals in the state for irregularities in COVID-19 treatment.

The announcement was made by State Vigilance and Enforcement Director General KV Rajendranath Reddy. He also revealed that the irregularities came to light after joint teams of Vigilance and Enforcement, Drug Control and Medical and Health departments have held raids in over 30 hospitals in the last two days.

The six private hospitals in the state have been booked for irregularities like charging patients higher than the government fixed price slabs, treating COVID patients without permissions and not delivering treatment under Aarogyasri Scheme.

He further added, vigilance officials have registered complaints in the respective local police stations, based on which cases were registered against the hospitals under provisions of sections 188, 420, 269 of IPC, and section 51(a) of disaster management act.

As per the State Vigilance and Enforcement Director General, two of the private hospitals in Piduguralla town of Guntur district were booked for charging exorbitant fees, while one private hospital in Puttur town of Chittoor district for not providing COVID treatment under Arogyasri health scheme.

Reddy also added that another private hospital in Vijayawada was booked for admitting COVID patients without having permission, while a private hospital in Srikakulam was charged over misappropriation of Remdesivir injections and selling medicines without bills.

Lastly, a private hospital in Kadapa was charged for not issuing bills to COVID patients despite paying money.

The Vigilance and Enforcement Director General in a statement informed that these irregularities were found in raids held on Wednesday and Thursday.

(With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: Amid rising COVID-19 infections in the country the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) last month cancelled Class 10th exams and postponed Class 12 Board exams.

Many other state boards also adopted the same policy to safeguard children against the COVID-19 surge.

But as per the latest developments, the COVID-19 cases in India has crossed 2-crore mark and the nation has been reporting more than 4 lakh daily cases from past 2 days. Following these grim figures, many parents, teachers and students have been reaching out to the government and experts to cancel the CBSE 12th board exams.

A retired teacher Mr Mohanty, while talking on the issue, said There has never been a situation like this for most of the people of the world. This is a worldwide pandemic and the situation India is in, cannot be ignored. We can hope for things to improve but by when? No one can truly tell. Given the circumstances, how far into the year do we continue to postpone the exams? told a national news agency.

Many students have lost a family member to the pandemic  they are young 17 or 18-year-olds and already worried about life, tackling grief and uncertainty. With all that is happening, the government must consider cancelling the exams and finding an alternative assessment plan like they have done for Class 10, said a school counsellor in Delhi.

In the meantime, the CBSE has still not come up with any new notification on the matter, even though CBSE related posts are trending on social media platforms day after day.

#cancel12thboardexams2021 trends on social media:

Thousands of students have taken it to their social media accounts to raise the issue to the Education Ministry. Twitter is flooded with post with #cancel12thboardexams2021, which is also one of the top trends on the micro blogging website with over million tweets.

Earlier, while announcing the postponement of Class 12 board exam 2021, CBSE had said that the decision on the revised date sheet for examinations will be taken after June 1, 2021.

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday (May 7) asked the Centre to keep supplying 700 MT of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to Delhi for treating COVID-19 patients on a daily basis till further orders. Headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud, an apex court bench took note of the submission of the Delhi government on deficient supply of LMO to the national capital and warned that it will pass orders against officials concerned if 700 MT of LMO is not supplied daily.

Representing the Delhi government, senior advocate Rahul Mehra mentioned before the top court the supply of oxygen received by Delhi. He also submitted before the bench that the Delhi government has received 86 MT on Friday till 9 am and 16 MT of oxygen is in transit.

Justice Chandrachud said, "We want 700 MT to be supplied to Delhi and we mean business. it has to be supplied and we don`t want to be coercive."

The bench also emphasized that its order regarding the oxygen supply to Delhi will be uploaded later in the afternoon, but asked the Centre to proceed and arrange the oxygen supply for the national capital. Justice Shah further added that the Centre has to supply 700 MT oxygen every day till further orders.

The Centre on Thursday told the Supreme Court that being a constitutionally elected government it is acting responsibly to alleviate the suffering of people due to COVID-19 by making every possible effort to augment the supply of Oxygen.

It rebutted the Delhi government's accusation that oxygen allocation is being done arbitrarily and favoured the creation of an effective mechanism to deal with allocation and distribution of Oxygen to the states. The apex court was told that the Delhi government has made it a "Centre versus Delhi fight".

Earlier on May 5, the top court had stayed the contempt proceedings against the Central government officials initiated by the Delhi High Court over the issue.

In another case, wherein Karnataka HC ordered directing Centre to supply 1200MT of oxygen to the state, the Supreme Court refused to interfere, asking the Centre to increase the daily liquid medical oxygen (LMO) allocation for the state from 965 MT to 1200 MT for treating COVID-19 patients.

The bench of justices DY Chandrachud and M R Shah said that the high court order of May 5 is well-calibrated, deliberated and judicious exercise of power.

It refused to accept the Centre's contention that if every high court starts passing orders for allocating oxygen, it will throw the supply network of the country haywire.

(With Agency Inputs)
New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday (May 7, 2021) wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to increase the allocation of medical oxygen for the state of West Bengal.

Amid the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the state, the West Bengal CM has requested the Centre to supply additional medical oxygen as demand is skyrocketing.

CM Banerjee requested PM Modi to issue instructions for an immediate allocation of at least 550 MT per MO for the COVID-hit state.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee writes to PM Modi regarding supply of Medical Oxygen (MO) in the state. CM Banerjee requested PM Modi to issue instructions for an immediate allocation of at least 550 MT per MO. pic.twitter.com/MsManq9uKW  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

Considering the critical situation, I would request you to kindly have the allocation of MO reviewed and instruction issued for an immediate allocation of at least 550 MT per day of MO preferably out of the total produced MO in West Bengal, CM Banerjee wrote in her letter.

CM Banerjee in her letter revealed that the allocation for West Bengal has been fixed at 308 MT whereas the state now required 550 MT of medical oxygen everyday.

Any allocation of MO less than the requested amount, will not only adversely affect the supply of medical oxygen but may also result in loss of lives of patients in the state, West Bengal CM stated in her letter to PM Modi.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:14:41|Editor: huaxia

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YAOUNDE, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Some 40,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Cameroon since mid-April, health minister Manaouda Malachie said on Friday.

These included 23,882 doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine and 16,089 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine administered as of Thursday in the central African nation, the minister said on social media.

"Government is encouraging the target populations to be vaccinated for collective protection," he said.

On Tuesday, Manaouda told a cabinet meeting that the COVID-19 situation, which had witnessed an upsurge, was now stable following the vaccination campaign, which was launched on April 12, shortly after Cameroon received its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines donated by the Chinese government. Enditem
New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of all MPs of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on Friday (May 7) to discuss the second wave of COVID-19 and bring into action a political strategy to deal with the situation.

Congress leader Gandhi will address the virtual meeting at 11 am and will hear out the view of all its MPs in both houses of Parliament on the COVID-19 situation in the country.

Former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also be part of the virtual meeting.

This is also the first meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) after the budget session of Parliament that ended in March.

This will be her first internal meeting with party MPs after the Congress party's drubbing in recent assembly polls in five states, where it failed to wrest back Kerala and Assam and scored a zero in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, the country has seen a record over 4.12 lakh cases in the last 24 hours and around 400 deaths, even as many states are currently under lockdown.

The Congress has been highly critical of the government in its handling of the COVID situation during the second wave which has caused a large number of deaths across the country and patients are scurrying for ICU beds, oxygen and life saving drugs.

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Chennai: DMK president MK Stalin will be administered the oath of office as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu by state Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Friday (May 7) at the Raj Bhavan premises. The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 9 AM.

After getting the Governor's invitation to form government, Stalin on Thursday evening released a list of 34-member cabinet, retaining senior leaders like Duraimurugan along with 15 ministers for the first time. The list, containing names and portfolios of the ministers, was sent to the Governor for his approval and it was approved.

Stalin, who is set to assume office as Chief Minister for the first time, will hold Home and other portfolios including public, general administration, all India services, district revenue officers, special programme implementation and welfare of differently abled persons, according to the release.

Stalin reportedly said the names of certain departments have been renamed, including the agriculture department which shall now be agriculture and farmers welfare.

Party veteran and general secretary Duraimurugan, who had held portfolios like Public Works during the previous DMK rule (2006-11), would be Minister for Water Resources in charge of irrigation projects and others including mines and minerals. Duraimurugan is among 18 former Ministers who have been inducted in the Cabinet.

Former Chennai Mayor Ma Subramanian and party's north Chennai strongman, P K Sekarbabu are among the 15 who would be first time Ministers. Subramanian and Sekarbabu have been allocated the departments of Health and Family Welfare and Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments respectively.

Palanivel Thiagarajan, a former investment banker, has been allocated Finance and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi School Education department. Thiagarajan and Poyyamozhi would be ministers for first time and belong to prominent families that spearheaded the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu and also worked for the DMK for long.

The cabinet has two women ministers, P Geetha Jeevan, a former minister, who has been given social welfare and women empowerment and N Kayalvizhi Selvaraj who has been designated Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare.

Selvaraj, who will be a first time minister, had trounced BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief L Murugan from Dharapuram constituency.

V Senthil Balaji, who was a transport minister between 2011 and 2015 during the previous AIADMK rule led by J Jayalalithaa and who joined the DMK in 2018, has been given the electricity department and portfolios of prohibition and excise.

Tiruchirappalli based party strongman and former Minister, K N Nehru has been named Minister for Municipal Administration, a department handled by Stalin during the party's previous tenure. KKSSR Ramachandran, another veteran and former Minister, would be the Revenue Minister.

I Periyasamy, who was Revenue Minister in his previous stint in government, has been designated Minister for Cooperation. K Ponmudi has got back the higher education department he had held during 2006-11.

Tiruvannamalai's party heavyweight, E V Velu, who was Food Minister previously, has been named Minister for Public Works. M R K Panneerselvam, also a former Minister, would now be Minister for Agriculture and Welfare of Farmers.

Thangam Thennarasu, also former Minister, and S Reghupathy, former union mininster of state for environment, would be ministers for industries and law respectively.

K R Periakaruppan, T M Anbarasan, M P Saminathan, all former Ministers, have also been named ministers and allotted the departments of Rural Developement, Rural Industries and Information and Publicity. K Ramachandran, a former Minister, has been given forests department.

S Muthusamy (Housing), Anita R Radhakrishnan (Fisheries) and S R Rajakannappan (Transport) are among the others who form part of the 34-member Cabinet.

C V Ganesan (Labour), T Mano Thangaraj (Information Technology), M Mathiventhan (Tourism) are among the first time Ministers.

R Sakkarapani (Food), R Gandhi (Handlooms and Textiles), P Moorthy (Commercial Taxes), S S Sivasankar (Backward Classes Welfare), Siva V Meyyanathan (Environment), Gingee K S Masthan (Minorities Welfare) and S M Nasar (Dairy) are also first-timers.

Years ago, KKSSR Ramachandran, S Reghupathy, S Muthusamy, S R Rajakannappan, Anita R Radhakrishnan, V Senthil Balaji and P K Sekarbabu had all been with the AIADMK.

Barring Sekarbabu, others had also served as ministers in the AIADMK government. Ramachandran had been a Minister during the DMK rule (2006-11) as well.

The new cabinet announced by Stalin has some unusual and unique names. He has proposed KN Nehrus name as Minister for Municipal Administration, while another minister R Gandhi has been named for Handlooms and Textiles, Khadi and Village Industries Board, and Boodhan and Gramadhan. R Gandhi, however, is a sitting MLA from Ranipet constituency.

KN Nehru is DMKs principal secretary and is the sitting MLA from the Tiruchi West constituency. The leader was named after Jawaharlal Nehru by his father, who was a staunch Congressman. The family later shifted allegiance to the DMK in the late 1960s.

In the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, the DMK won 133 seats, and along with allies, including Congress, the alliance has a total seat strength of 159 in the 234-member Assembly. The AIADMK won 66 seats and its allies the BJP and the PMK could win four and five seats respectively.

(With Agency Inputs)

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New Delhi: American scientist Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine in 1955 refused to get a patent for it. Because of that, the world was able to beat the terrible disease. But times have changed and humans have changed too. About 3.2 million people have died from the coronavirus worldwide but despite this, the vaccines have not been made patent-free as the companies making these vaccines do not want their money-printing machines shut down.

Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary on Friday (May 7) discussed the patent politics being played on the global fora while the common man is suffering from the pandemic.

At present, there are more people in the world and fewer vaccines. Because of this, there is a shortage of vaccines in many countries. Many poor countries do not have vaccines at all. This crisis can end only when the production of vaccines can be started in every country. But patents are a major hurdle in this.

In the month of October last year, India and South Africa sent a proposal to the World Trade Organization demanding the removal of the Intellectual Property rights of the coronavirus vaccine. Both countries said that all the research related to the vaccine and all the information related to their manufacture should be shared with other companies also so that they can also produce the vaccine.

After several months of debate on this proposal, now the US has also given its support to it. Apart from the US, the European Union has also said that it is ready to discuss it. Britain has also agreed.

But one country is still opposed to this - Germany. Its view is that the production of the vaccines cannot be increased by making them patent-free. The important thing is that the WTO will need the support of all countries to pass the proposal of India and South Africa. The chances of it happening dont look good.

The US has two major vaccines Pfizer and Moderna. If it agrees to remove the patent from the vaccines, then the pressure will increase on other countries as well.

However, it is not so easy. Because first of all the member countries have to agree on this subject in the WTO. And even if an agreement is reached, the companies making the vaccines can approach the court. The case can get entangled for a long time, while the world needs vaccines now.

The pharma companies cite two arguments against making vaccines patent-free. The first is that even after removing the patent, companies will not be able to produce it, because to make a vaccine raw material is required which is limited. The second argument is that in the name of higher production, fake vaccines will enter the market, due to which people can die.

What can the Government of India do?

The central government can issue the Compulsory License to third-party companies for the manufacture of Covaxin. This is not possible in case of Covishield as its patent lies with the Oxford University. Serum Institute of India Company of India is only producing it.

If the vaccines are made patent-free, not just the people of our country will get the benefit, but it will ensure that the vaccines are available to the poorest of people around the world. This is what India wants.

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New Delhi: The Goa government on Friday (May 7) announced a 15-day curfew in the state from May 9 to contain the spread of coronavirus infection. In another decision, carrying negative COVID-19 test report or a vaccination certificate has been made mandatory for visitors arriving from other states.

During the curfew period, grocery shops can remain open from 9 am to 1 pm while there would be no restrictions on pharmacies and other medical facilities, said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The decision to impose curfew had to be taken as people are disobeying existing restrictions, he told reporters. "Hardly 25 per cent of people have to actually move out of house. But we have seen people unnecessarily loitering outside," he said.

CM Pramod Sawant makes COVID-19 negative test report or vaccination certificate mandatory in Goa

A COVID-19 negative test report or vaccination certificate will be mandatory for the tourists arriving in the state, he said.

All events, wedding functions, gatherings banned during the curfew period in Goa

All events including weddings should be cancelled for the period of curfew as such gatherings are contributing to the spread of the virus, Sawant said.

On May 6, Goa reported its highest daily rise of 3,869 COVID-19 cases besides 58 deaths.

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday (May 7) issued a notice to Arvind Kejriwal government over a PIL that sought three meals a day and other basic necessities for the homeless in the national capital.

The plea was filed by Bandhua Mukti Morcha (BMM), a registered organization working for the marginalized people in the country.

It urged the high court to direct the Delhi government and the urban shelter improvement board, DUSIB, to provide three meals a day to the homeless in all the shelter homes.

Acting on the plea, a bench asked the Delhi government and DUSIB to file their response in the matter.

The organisation told the bench comprising Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh that the second wave of COVID-19 and the resultant curfew has hurt the workers who are unable to gain employment.

"Most of the workers staying at shelter homes don't have any documentation. Some are interstate migrant workers who don't have a Delhi-based ration card. Therefore, the workers have little means to feed themselves and their children, read the plea, PTI reported.

"In the shelter homes, people are reported to be sick. However, the isolation centres which were running in 2020 have been closed," it added.

The plea also demanded soaps, detergents, hand sanitizers, hand wash and masks to urban homeless in all shelter homes in the national capital and also medical aid.

Delhi government standing counsel Santosh K Tripathi told the court that the three meals a day scheme was discontinued last year itself and only two meals are being provided now.

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New Delhi: India recorded over 4.14 lakh new COVID-19 cases and 3,915 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the Union Health Ministry on Friday (May 7, 2021).

India is facing a deadly second wave of COVID-19 and has reported a total of 2,14,91,598 cases out of which 1,76,12,351 people have recovered, while 2,34,083 have succumbed to the infection. Currently the active cases in the country stands at 36,45,164.

India still remains the world's second-worst coronavirus-hit country and has been recording more than 4,00,000 new COVID-19 infections from the past two days.

The government further revealed that twelve states namely Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Bihar and Haryana cumulatively account for the majority of India's total active coronavirus cases.

Additionally, Rajasthan government announced on Thursday (May 6) a complete lockdown in the state. The lockdown will come to force from 5:00 am of May 10 till 5:00 am of May 24. All activities except essential services, have been completely banned. Weddings have been prohibited.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot made the announcment after a meeting of the Council of Ministers.

People arriving in the national capital from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana through any mode of transport will have to undergo 14 days of mandatory institutional quarantine, said an order issued by the Delhi government.

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BENGALURU: India`s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi warned on Friday that unless the deadly second COVID-19 wave sweeping the country was brought under control it would devastate India as well as threaten the rest of the world.

In a letter, Gandhi implored Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare for another national lockdown, accelerate a countrywide vaccination programme and scientifically track the virus and its mutations.

Gandhi said the world`s second-most populous nation had a responsibility in "a globalised and interconnected world" to stop the "explosive" growth of COVID-19 within its borders.

"India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form," wrote Gandhi.

"Allowing the uncontrollable spread of the virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world."

India`s highly infectious COVID-19 variant B.1.617 has already spread to other countries, and many nations have moved to cut or restrict movements from India.

British Prime Minister Boris said on Friday the government needed to handle very carefully the emergence of new coronavirus strains in India that have since started to spread in the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile tonnes of medical equipment from abroad has starting to arrive in Delhi hospitals, in what could ease the pressure on an overburdened system.

VACCINATION RATES

In the past week, India has reported an extra 1.5 million new infections and record daily death tolls. Since the start of the pandemic, it has reported 21.49 million cases and 234,083 deaths. It currently has 3.6 million active cases.

Modi has been widely criticised for not acting sooner to suppress the second wave, after religious festivals and political rallies drew tens of thousands of people in recent weeks and became "super spreader" events.

His government - which imposed a strict lockdown in March 2020 - has also been criticised for lifting social restrictions too soon following the first wave and for delays in the country`s vaccination programme.

The government has been reluctant to impose a second lockdown for fear of the damage to the economy, though many states have announced their own restrictions.

Goa, a tourism hotspot on the west coast where up to one in two people tested in recent weeks for coronavirus have been positive, on Friday announced strict curbs from Sunday, restricting timings for grocery shops, forbidding unnecessary travel and urging citizens to cancel all gatherings.

While India is the world`s biggest vaccine maker, it is also struggling to produce and distribute enough doses to stem the wave of COVID-19.

Although the country has administered at least 157 million vaccine doses, its rate of inoculation has fallen sharply in recent days.

India vaccinated 2.3 million people on Thursday, the most this month but still far short of what is required to curb the spread of the virus.

RECORD INFECTIONS

India reported another record daily rise in coronavirus cases, 414,188, on Friday, bringing total new cases for the week to 1.57 million. Deaths from COVID-19 rose by 3,915 to 234,083.

Medical experts say the real extent of COVID-19 is likely to be far higher than official tallies.

India`s healthcare system is crumbling under the weight of patients, with hospitals running out of beds and medical oxygen. Morgues and crematoriums cannot handle the number of dead and makeshift funeral pyres burn in parks and car parks.

Infections are now spreading from overcrowded cities to remote rural villages that are home to nearly 70% of the 1.3 billion population.

Although northern and western areas of India bear the brunt of the disease, the south now seems to be turning into the new epicentre.

In the southern city of Chennai, only one in a hundred oxygen-supported beds and two in a hundred beds in intensive care units (ICUs) were vacant on Thursday, from a vacancy rate of more than 20% each two weeks ago, government data showed.

In India`s tech capital Bengaluru, also in the south, only 23 of the 590 beds in ICUs were vacant.

The test-positivity rate  the percentage of people tested who are found to have the disease  in the city of 12.5 million has tripled to almost 39% as of Wednesday, from about 13% two weeks ago, data showed.

Syed Tousif Masood, a volunteer with a COVID-19 resource group in Bengaluru called the Project Smile Trust, said the group`s helpline was receiving an average 5,000 requests a day for hospital beds and oxygen, compared with 50-100 such calls just one month ago.

"The experts say we have not yet hit the peak," he said. "If this is not the peak, then I don`t know what will happen at the real peak."
Chennai: Kamal Haasans fledgeling political party Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) is witnessing mass resignation of its top rung leaders after the party faced a severe rout in their maiden Assembly Elections in Tamil Nadu. The developments came to light after the partys Central Governing Body (CGB) met at their headquarters in Chennai on Thursday (May 6) evening.

ZEE News has learnt that Haasan had asked members of his partys Central Governing Body (CGB) to tender their resignations from the respective posts they held (not from the primary membership of the party), following which they obliged. This was ostensibly done because Haasan wanted to do some soul-searching and make fundamental changes in the party, after drawing a blank.

He demanded the resignation and we complied. I think it is because of the defeat and it is the Presidents decision to look into who is required in the Central governing body. He lost by a small margin, but he did win hearts. It was a wrong constituency selection, had he contested anywhere in Chennai he wouldve won hands down CK Kumaravel a top entrepreneur, who was asked to resign from the CGB told ZEE News.

Shortly after the meeting ended, MNM issued a statement saying that CGB members Dr R. Mahendran, Muruganandam, Maurya, Thangavelu, Umadevi, CK Kumaravel, Sekar and Suresh Iyer have resigned. However, it also added that Kamal Haasan would decide on accepting these resignations and the further course of action.

Among those who resigned is Dr R. Mahendran, who served as the Vice President of the fledgeling party. However, unlike others, Mahendran had tendered his resignation (both from the VP post and primary membership) to Kamal Haasan. He also shared with the media, an 8-page letter he had written to Kamal Haasan, outlining the reasons for his decision to quit and a single-page letter written to the party cadre.

Mahendrans letter to Haasan said that the actor had a non-democratic style of running the party and that Kamal had favored some advisors and consultants whose services did not benefit the party in any manner. It alleges that Kamals party was being pushed to function like a fan club and that the veteran actor was being managed and manipulated by his advisors. I had lost all hope for any semblance of change in how the party is being run over the past one and a half years Mahendran had written, urging Kamal Haasan to look back at their journey.

There was no discussion with the Governing body or EC after the poll rout, neither was any planned, but today Haasan comes and says that this is my party, when the other members pleaded that this was our party. Stating the so called re-structuring of the party, hes asked the others to resign, whereas I had prepared myself to leave the party, over the last one month. Its reactionary, this is the style of functioning I knew that he will continue to have. Mahendran told Zee Media. Mahendran believes that if his exit changes the party, then it is his biggest service to the party.

A while after Mahendrans statement was released, Kamal Haasan shared a statement accusing Mahendran of being a betrayer, who did not let others grow and as someone who was trying to pin the blame of his incompetence and dishonesty on others. There was a collective voice asking for the ouster of betrayers. The first among the list of betrayers was Dr.R. Mahendran the statement said, without elaborating any further.

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Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected a plea of private labs challenging the recent decision of the State government to reduce the cost of RT-PCR COVID-19 test from Rs 1,700 to Rs 500.

The court said that prima facie the government has arrived at rates of RT-PCR tests after conducting a market study.

Noting that the charges in many of the other States in the country, including Haryana, Telangana, and Uttarakhand, were within the same range, Justice N Nagaresh said, "Therefore, I do not find any reason to pass an interim order."

Counsel for the Kerala government informed the court there were several complaints that the rate of the RT-PCR tests in the State was the highest in the country at Rs 1,700.

He pointed out that the labs in many other States in the country were charging only Rs 400-500.

Claiming that they were not heard before the government decided to reduce the rate, the petitioners said it was arbitrary and violative of principles of natural justice.

The petitioners asserted the new order goes against the order of the apex court where labs were permitted to charge a rate prescribed by Indian Council of Medical Research.

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New Delhi: A four-member team of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday (May 7) met West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhawan in order to assess reports of widespread post-poll violence in the state.

The team led by Govind Mohan, Additional Secretary of the Ministry, met Dhankhar at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata.

Four member MHA team led by Govind Mohan, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India met West Bengal Governor today at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata. pic.twitter.com/AxSmDRMOou  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

The team had arrived in the state on Thursday and held meetings with the chief secretary, home secretary and the DGP at the secretariat, PTI reported.

On May 6, the Home Ministry had asked West Bengal Governor to give a report on the law and order situation in the state.

The Home Ministry had also asked the state government to submit a report. "The governor has been asked to assess the situation and submit his report to the ministry at the earliest," the officials had said.

The four-member team also including Additional Secretary Education Ministry Vinit Joshi, Joint Director of Intelligence Bureau Janardan Singh and IB Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) IB, Nalin-- arrived in Kolkata earlier to assess the ground situation.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said 16 people lost their lives in post-poll violence in various parts of the state.

Many incidents of violence were reported in several parts of West Bengal after the results of the assembly elections were declared on May 2. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alleged that nine of its party workers have been killed in the post-poll violence by Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons, while the allegations have been denied by the ruling party.

(With inputs from agencies)

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GARY  Teachers and paraprofessionals working in the Gary Community School Corp. were paid one-time bonuses Friday in recognition of their extra efforts to continue providing a quality education over the past year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Indiana Distressed Unit Appeals Board authorized stipends of $2,100 for teachers and $1,000 for paraprofessionals as recommended by Paige McNulty, manager of the state-run school district.

WATCH NOW: Final state budget plan makes historic investments in education, infrastructure

McNulty thanked DUAB for holding a special meeting to authorize the bonuses so the money could be paid to educators on the final day of Teacher Appreciation Week.

Funding for the stipends comes from federal COVID-19 aid provided to the school district over the past year. An authorized use for the federal assistance is "hazard pay," or bonuses, for employees who continued working through the pandemic.

"We very much recognize all the hard work our teachers and parents have had to put in this year with virtual learning," McNulty said. "There's no better way to show our appreciation to our teachers and paraprofessionals."

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State Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, a DUAB member, said educators often are verbally thanked for the work they do and he's grateful the federal government has made resources available to reward them financially as well.

WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops: Monitoring LaPorte with Specialist Justin Dyer

"The public service that school staff provide to our communities through the guidance and education of our students is extremely valuable, and I hope the stipends awarded today serve to clearly communicate that fact," Melton said.

The one-time payments are separate from the $1 million in permanent pay raises already provided to Gary teachers following voter approval in November of a $71.2 million temporary tax hike referendum.

In coming months, all Hoosier teachers could see pay increases as local school boards decide how to allocate the historic $1.03 billion, or 9.1%, increase in tuition support for Indiana elementary and high schools approved in April by the General Assembly.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:24:37|Editor: huaxia

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A woman receives a shot of COVID-19 vaccine in Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Matthew Martin Brink)

The delays in supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa linked to the crisis in India could reignite new waves of infections in the continent, a World Health Organization official said.

NAIROBI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The delays in supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa linked to the crisis in India could reignite new waves of infections in the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) official said Thursday.

Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa said during weekly virtual briefings that the COVID-19 vaccine supply crunch combined with new variants could undermine efforts to contain the pandemic in the continent.

"While we call for vaccine equity, Africa must also knuckle down and make the best of what we have. We must get all the doses we have into people's arms," Moeti said in a statement.

According to WHO, Africa currently accounts for 1 percent of COVID-19 vaccines administered globally, down from 2 percent a few weeks ago amid supply bottlenecks.

People receive COVID-19 vaccines in Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 28, 2021. (Xinhua/Matthew Martin Brink)

Moeti said that low vaccination coverage in Africa where eight doses per 1,000 people have been administered compared to 150 doses per 1,000 people globally, bodes ill for the continent's quest to flatten the curve.

Statistics from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) indicate that 37.6 million doses had been acquired in the continent while 20.2 million had been administered as of May 4.

The pan African health agency said that the top five countries in Africa in terms of administering the highest number of doses include Morocco, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Kenya.

Moeti said WHO has rallied behind efforts to mitigate the harmful impact of the COVID-19 vaccine supply crunch in Africa that includes appealing for a donation of excess doses from wealthy nations and fast-tracking establishment of structures to boost local manufacturing of the life-saving commodity.

She said meticulous planning, training of health workers, and investments in cold chain infrastructure are key to ensure the next phase of COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Africa is seamless.

Richard Mihigo, an immunization and vaccine development program coordinator, WHO regional office for Africa said that diversifying sources of COVID jab could offer some respite to the supply crunch that has stalled inoculation drives in the continent. 
Pune: A group of people allegedly manhandled some police personnel at Sangamner town in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district after the latter rebuked them for gathering at a place despite the COVID-19 restrictions, an official said on Friday (May 7).

The incident took place in the Mughalpura area of the town on Thursday evening, following which police registered an offence against 10 to 15 people, he said. "The police personnel had spotted the mob on a street, following which they rebuked its members and tried to disperse the crowd.

However, some of the people manhandled a couple of policemen. After the incident, some more people came to the spot," said Manoj Patil, Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar. "A case has been registered against 10 to 15 people under relevant sections of the IPC sections and police are in the process of apprehending some of the accused," he said.

Prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC, banning the assembly of five or more people at one spot, are currently in force across Maharashtra to contain the spread of coronavirus. The state on Thursday reported 62,194 COVID-19 cases, taking its cumulative tally to 49,42,736, while 853 deaths pushed the toll to 73,515.

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Srinagar: Amid the rising demand for medical oxygen required in the treatment of COVID-19, the suppliers in Kashmir have diverted the oxygen from the industrial units to the hospitals.

Over 3000 COVID-19 positive patients are currently admitted to various hospitals across the union territory due to which the demand for medical oxygen has increased sharply.

Earlier the suppliers provided 55 percent of oxygen they manufactured to the industrial areas and only 45 percent to the hospitals. But now, they have stopped their supply to industries and all of their produce is going towards meeting the demand of medical oxygen needed in the hospitals.

Mohd Shafi, who runs a private oxygen plant, said, We are working 24x7 supplying oxygen cylinders to SKIMS and SMHS. Two weeks prior to this we were supplying just a few cylinders but now in every 24 hours, we supply 25 truckloads with 11 cylinders to both the hospitals of Kashmir. The demand for oxygen cylinders in hospitals has increased sharply.

Shafi said that last year the demand for oxygen was not so high. He added that they have stopped all the supplies to the industrial units after the COVID-19 second wave erupted in the Kashmir division.

The private plant owners have said that they are doing their best to meet the demand but if the number of positive cases continues to rise, it will be a tough task then. They have urged the government to plan for such a situation beforehand.

The authorities have said that the hospitals in Srinagar have a demand of 20,000 LPM of oxygen out of which 16,000 LPM is met by the oxygen plants in the hospitals and the remaining supply is met by bulk cylinders supplied by the private gas agencies.

In view of the acute shortage of oxygen, the central government has completely banned the use of liquid oxygen for industrial purposes.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday (May 7) spoke to Chief Ministers of three states - Manipur, Sikkim and Tripura and discussed the situation related to coronavirus COVID-19, ANI quoted government sources as saying.

On May 6, the Prime Minister had dialled Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Telangana besides the lieutenant governors of Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry and took stock of the COVID-19 situation in their states.

The prime minister's interaction with Chief Ministers is part of his exercise to deal with the pandemic situation.

Meanwhile, reacting to the telephone conversation on COVID-19 situation, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren took a dig at PM Modi, and saidthat he just did his Mann Ki Baat instead of discussing the situation in the state. Soren said this after getting a call from PM Modi on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Thursday. He added that the PM should have talked business.

"Today the respected Prime Minister called. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki Baat'. It would have been better if he would have talked business and heard the issues," the Jharkhand Chief Minister said in a tweet.

Official sources said Soren was unhappy as he was not allowed to present the issues concerning his state before PM Modi and instead, it was only the Prime Minister who talked about the COVID-19 situation.

India COVID-19 infection climbs to 2.14 crore, active cases crosses 36-lakh mark

With a record 4,14,188 new coronavirus cases being reported in a day, India's infection tally climbed to 2,14,91,598, while the active case count crossed the 36-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll from the pandemic has increased to 2,34,083 with 3,915 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

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New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday accused the Narendra Modi government of having failed the people of the country in handling the pandemic and demanded that an all-party meeting be convened immediately on the COVID-19 situation.

The battle against the COVID-19 pandemic transcends political differences and everyone has to fight it together as a nation, she said at a virtual meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

She also demanded that a meeting of the standing committees must be convened to ensure collective action and accountability to combat the COVID-19 pandemic better. Launching a fierce attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi charged that India is crippled by political leadership that has no empathy for the people and has failed the people of the country.

"Let us be absolutely clear -- the system hasn't failed. The Modi government has been unable to constructively channelise India's many strengths and resources. I say this categorically - India is crippled by a political leadership today that has no empathy for the people. The Modi Government has failed the people of our country," she told the MPs.

I say this categorically - India is crippled by a political leadership today that has no empathy for the people. The Modi govt has failed the people of our country. - Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi at Congress Parliamentary Party Meeting#COVID19India pic.twitter.com/qY6GBmOomx  Congress (@INCIndia) May 7, 2021

She said the Congress firmly believes that fighting the COVID-19 pandemic is not a 'Government versus Us' battle but a 'Us versus Corona' battle.

"This battle transcends political differences. We have to fight this battle together as a nation. In that spirit, as a first step, I believe that the Modi government must urgently call an all-party meeting on the COVID-19 situation," she said.

"The Congress Party also demands that standing committees must be convened to ensure collective action and accountability to combat the pandemic better," she said.

Gandhi told the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge to bring to the notice of the Presiding Officer the Report of Standing Committee on Health presented in October 2020 and demand that he take action on the recommendations of the report.

"The situation brooks no delay. Tackling this COVID crisis requires able, calm and visionary leadership," she said. The nation, she charged, is sinking under the weight of the Modi government's indifference and incompetence and told party MPs that this is the time to rededicate themselves in the service of our people.

The Congress chief said the meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Committee was being held in extraordinary circumstances, with India being in the grip of a deadly health disaster.

She said thousands have died and millions are scrambling to access basic healthcare, life-saving medicines, oxygen, and vaccines. It is heart-breaking to see people battling for their lives in hospitals, on roads, waiting in vehicles, far too many for want of any medical help at all, she said.

"And what is the Modi government doing? Instead of alleviating their suffering and pain, it has abdicated its fundamental responsibilities and duties towards the people," she lamented.

She also alleged that the government's vaccination policy is inequitable and will exclude millions of Dalits, Adivasis, Other Backwards Classes, as well as the poor and the marginalised.

"It is utterly shocking to see the Modi government abdicate its moral obligation and its sworn duty towards the people," she said.

(With PTI inputs)

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NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police and Delhi's AIIMS hospital on Friday denied that underworld gangster Chhota Rajan has died due to the deadly coronavirus COVID-19 infection. Chhota Rajan, 61, was admitted to Delhi's Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on April 26 after he tested positive for COVID-19.

Several reports surfaced today that the Mumbai underworld gangster, who was undergoing treatment at the AIIMS after his condition deteriorated, died due to COVID-19 related complications in the afternoon. However, the police and AIIMS hospital dismissed the report and stated that he is alive and is being treated.

"News of death of Tihar jail inmate Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje @ Chhota Rajan s/o Sadashiv Nikalje is wrong. He was found COVID-19 positive in Tihar Jail on 22.04.2021 and admitted in AIIMS on 24.04.2021," DGP Tihar tweeted today.

News agency ANI too reported that underworld don Chhota Rajan is still alive, citing an AIIMS official.

Underworld don Chhota Rajan is still alive. He is admitted at AIIMS for treatment of #COVID19: AIIMS official (File photo) pic.twitter.com/gvAgKDuPqC  ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2021

Rajan, 61, was lodged in solitary confinement in one of the biggest cells at Delhi's high-security Tihar Jail. He was not even allowed to interact with other prisoners due to security concerns. However, officials suspect that he may have contracted the virus from some asymptomatic jail officer.

The dreaded gangster, who was once part of the Mumbai serial blasts case accused Dawood Ibrahim led D-Company, had tested positive for Covid-19 and was then admitted to the AIIMS. He was deported from Bali, Indonesia, in 2015. Notably, all the criminal cases registered against him in Mumbai were transferred to the CBI and a Delhi-based special court was constituted to try him in the cases.

Chhota Rajan was facing around 70 criminal cases pertaining to extortion and murder in Mumbai. He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018 in a murder case of journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.

Last month, a special CBI court in Mumbai had acquitted Rajan and his aide in connection with the murder of Hanif Kadawala who was an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case.

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Kolkata: West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh Friday (May 7) said that party legislatures will boycott the election for the speaker in West Bengal assembly and its newly elected lawmakers will not attend the House till the post-poll violence in the state is controlled.

The speaker's election is slated for Saturday.

"We will not attend the speaker's election tomorrow. We will also not attend the sessions of the House," Ghosh told reporters at the state assembly.

He also said, "We will not come to the assembly till our MLAs get full protection. We will only come when our MLAs will be able to walk alongside our workers".

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Thursday said that 16 persons -- both from Trinamool Congress and the BJP and one from the ISF had lost their lives in the post-poll violence in the state. The results were declared on May 2.

"We will expect that the government will take initiative to stop the violence and compensate those affected in the violence," Ghosh added.

Banerjee had announced that family members of each of those killed in the violence after the eight-phase election in the state will be given Rs 2 lakh each by the government as compensation.

A four-member fact-finding team of the union home ministry is visiting the state to look into the reasons for the post-poll violence.

They met the West Bengal chief secretary, home secretary and director general of police at the state secretariat and met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday seeking a report on the violence.

The union home ministry has asked Dhankar to give a report on the law and order situation in the state, particularly the violence that took place following the declaration of the election result.

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New Delhi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has taken a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he just did his Mann Ki Baat instead of discussing the COVID-19 situation in the state. Soren said this after getting a call from PM Modi on the COVID-19 situation in the country on Thursday.

The Jharkhand CM said the PM should have talked business. It may be noted that PM Modi spoke to him and the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Telangana about the COVID-19 situation on Thursday.

"Today the respected Prime Minister called. He only spoke his 'Mann Ki Baat'. It would have been better if he would have talked business and heard the issues," the Jharkhand Chief Minister said in a tweet.

                            Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) May 6, 2021

Official sources said Soren was unhappy as he was not allowed to present the issues concerning his state before PM Modi and instead, it was only the Prime Minister who talked about the COVID-19 situation.

Jharkhand is among the 10 states and Union territories that are collectively accounting for over 75 per cent of daily COVID-19 deaths in the country, according to latest data. The others in the league are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.

Jharkhand reported 133 COVID-19 fatalities on Thursday, taking the death toll due to the viral disease in the state to 3,479, while 6,974 cases pushed the state's infection tally to 2,70,089.

The mortality rate in the state remains higher at 1.28 per cent against the national mortality rate of 1.10 per cent. According to a bulletin issued by the state health department, the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients is 76.26 per cent in Jharkhand as against the national average of 82 per cent.

Soren digitally inaugurated a 528-bed makeshift COVID-19 hospital at Ranchi's Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on Thursday. Of the 528 oxygenated beds, 327 were set up at the RIMS multi-storey parking lot, 73 at the oncology department and 128 at the old building of the institute.

Soren said 108 more beds will be set up with the help of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), the country's largest energy conglomerate.

On Wednesday, the chief minister had digitally inaugurated 250 beds at a dedicated COVID health centre at Koderma.

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Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Friday (May 7) passed an order putting a cap on the rates of X-Ray, CT scan charged by private laboratories in the state.

According to the order, private diagnostic centres can charge a maximum of Rs 1500 for High Resolution CT or CT scan and Rs 250 for Digital Chest X-Ray or X-Ray.

The rates specified include consumables, sanitization and other things and are applicable for patients of all ages.

The decision was taken after the authorities found out that some laboratories are charging exorbitant amounts for these tests, putting unreasonable financial burden on the COVID-19 patients.

In view of surge in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka, majority of the patients are undergoing High Resolution CT and Digital X-Ray as a diagnostic tool. Some of the laboratories are charging exorbitant amounts for these tests, putting unreasonable financial burden on the COVID-19 patients, read the order.

Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under section 4 of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act 2020, read with section 11 of the Karnataka Private Medical Establishment Act, 2007, the prices are fixed as follows for High Resolution CT/CT and Digital X-Ray / X-Ray done at Private Diagnostic Centers, Private Medical Establishments, Scanning Centers, etc. in the State of Karnataka, it added.

The administration has warned of strict action under the provisions of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act and the KPME Act against those who violate the order.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has said a lockdown to curb the rise in COVID-19 cases could be inevitable if people do not cooperate.

"People are not following the Janata Curfew properly. They are not abiding by our warnings. Hence, lockdown could be inevitable," he told reporters near Annamma Devi Temple here ahead of a crucial meeting later Friday in view of the alarming rise in coronavirus cases.

According to him, the government will finalise in a day or two about the stringent measures required to control COVID.

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New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday (May 7) defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi when Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren bashed PM Modi over a phone conversation on the Covid crisis in the state.

"Dear Hemant Soren, I have great respect for you, but as a brother I would urge you, no matter whatever our differences are, indulging in such level of politics would only weaken our own nation. In this war against Covid-19, these are the times not to point fingers but to come together and strengthen the hands of our Prime Minister to effectively combat the pandemic." He tweeted by saying mentioned statement.

Dear @HemantSorenJMM,

I have great respect for you, but as a brother I would urge you, no matter what ever our differences are, indulging in such level of politics would only weaken our own nation. (1/2) https://t.co/0HZr56nOj2  YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (@ysjagan) May 7, 2021

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren commented on Thursday (May 6), when Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a phone call with the leaders of Odisha, Telangana, Jharkhand. Jagan Mohan Reddy was there in the phone call.

                            Hemant Soren (@HemantSorenJMM) May 6, 2021

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren tweeted by saying that, "Respected Prime Minister called today. He only talked about his "Mann Ki Baat". It would have been much better if he would have talked business and listed the necessary issues."

CM Hemant Soren was not very happy as he did not get to speak about his concerns and it was only Prime Minister Narendra Modi who talked, a report from PTI said.

According to data published by the government, Jharkhand is one of the top ten states and union territories that account for more than 75 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in the country. The other states include Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan.

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Bengaluru: The second wave of coronavirus has impacted the entire nation severely. The state of Karnataka has also suffered from the COVID crisis. Amid the pandemic, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday (May 7) said a lockdown to curb the rise in COVID-19 cases could be inevitable if people do not cooperate.

"People are not following the Janata Curfew properly. They are not abiding by our warnings. Hence, lockdown could be inevitable," he told reporters near Annamma Devi Temple here ahead of a crucial meeting later Friday in view of the alarming rise in coronavirus cases.

According to him, the government will finalise in a day or two about the stringent measures required to control COVID.

"If people wish that stringent measures should not be taken, then people should cooperate by wearing masks and maintaining social distancing," the Chief Minister said. Otherwise, strong measures will become necessary, he added.

Regarding the oxygen crisis, Yediyurappa said he has been trying to resolve the issue honestly.

To a question on COVID patients and their relatives coming to the CM's house and Vidhana Soudha seeking a hospital bed, he said this was improper and people should stop it.

"I won't say it is wrong to voice their woes. I understand their sufferings and I am trying to resolve their problems because we are pro-people," the Chief Minister said.

He said people should avoid coming to CM House or Vidhana Soudha as the officials would get in touch with them.

The Chief Minister hailed Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya for exposing the hospital bed scam in which the beds reserved for COVID patients in private hospitals were blocked by a few people and allotted for a bribe.

"Tejasvi Surya had obtained the list (of scamsters) after much effort and brought the irregularities in allotment of bed to the COVID patients to the notice of the government," Yediyurappa said.

He, however, took a dig at Congress MLA and former minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan for speaking ill of Tejasvi Surya.

The COVID cases in Karnataka have increased at an alarming proportion. The state is reporting about 50,000 cases daily and has about 5.5 lakh active cases. The daily fatalities too were exceeding 300.

The top five states which have registered maximum COVID-19 cases are Maharashtra with 62,194 cases, followed by Karnataka with 49,058 cases, Kerala with 42,464 cases, Uttar Pradesh with 26,622 cases, and Tamil Nadu with 24,898 cases. About 49.55 per cent of the new cases are reported from these five states, with Maharashtra alone responsible for 15.02 per cent of the new cases.

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Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:25:49|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's foreign trade expanded 28.5 percent year on year to 11.62 trillion yuan (about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in the January-April period as global recovery picked up and pent-up demand was unleashed.

This marks an increase of 21.8 percent from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

Exports jumped 33.8 percent from a year earlier while imports climbed 22.7 percent in yuan terms.

The trade surplus increased 149.7 percent to reach 1.02 trillion yuan in the January-April period.

In April alone, exports jumped 22.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.71 trillion yuan, GAC data shows.

China's exports sustained sound momentum, said Zhou Maohua, an analyst with the China Everbright Bank, noting that this was driven by the recent strong global economic recovery.

Friday's data shows that China's exports to the European Union rose 36.1 percent to 974.69 billion yuan, and exports to the United States surged 49.3 percent to 1.05 trillion yuan in the first four months.

The stimulus in developed economies sustained demand for products manufactured in China, noted Lu Ting, chief China economist with securities firm Nomura.

The country's imports climbed 32.2 percent from a year earlier to 1.44 trillion yuan in April.

China's manufacturing sector has seen improving vitality, and manufacturers have started to build their stocks, driving the rapid growth of imports of products including energy resources, said Gao Ruidong, chief macroeconomist at Everbright Securities.

The rising prices of bulk commodities have driven up China's import value, according to Li Qilin from Hongta Securities. China's imports of iron ore, soybeans and copper all increased in the first four months, GAC data shows.

In April, China's trade surplus narrowed 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 276.5 billion yuan. Enditem
New Delhi: In view of rising cases of coronavirus across the state, the Karnataka government led by BS Yediurappa on Friday (May 7) announced a complete 14-day long statewide lockdown. Announcing the decision, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that all hotels, pubs and bars will remain closed across the state.

Eateries, meat shops and vegetable shops can operate from 6am to 10am, said the government order.

The Chief Minister also announced a ban on intra-state travel in view of alarming cases of coronavrius in Karnataka. In addition, a cap on the number of guests at wedding has been imposed, i.e. only 50 people are allowed at wedding ceremonies.

The highest single day count of 592 COVID-19 deaths in Karnataka on May 7 showed that clamping curfews was not effective and result oriented steps like a complete 14 day lockdown imposed at the start of the pandemic was necessary, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.

The state has been witnessing a steep rise in COVID cases with a daily caseload of about 50,000 and fatalities are also going up at an alarming proportion. The active cases are close to 4. 5 lakh in the state.

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New Delhi: As the COVID-19 crisis in India gets increasingly daunting and severe every day, more and more international figures are taking cognizance of the alarming situation in the country. Recently, Hollywood star Hugh Jackman took to Instagram to amplify global sensation Priyanka Chopra's fundraiser for India's COVID-19 crisis as he reposted a post from Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Give India's fundraiser page.

The 'X-Men' actor took to his Instagram on Thursday (May 6) and attached a link to the fundraiser with a sticker on top that read, "Support India".

Have a look at his post:

After Jackman amplified Priyanka's fundraiser, the 'Dostana' actress took to her Instagram to thank the 52-year-old with a folded hands emoji.

After Chopra put forth the news of her fundraiser for COVID-19, many Bollywood celebs such as Katrina Kaif, Zoya Akhtar, and Parineeti Chopra had also taken to spread the message by reaching out to their followers.

Earlier, the actor had set up a fundraiser at GiveIndia, one of the largest organizations in the country providing COVID relief, to contribute towards the fight against the pandemic.

She had requested the 27 million of her Twitter followers to donate how much ever they can.

According to her statement, the funds will go towards the healthcare physical infrastructure including COVID care centres, Isolation centers, and oxygen generation plants, medical equipment, vaccine support.

On the work front, Priyanka is shooting for the Amazon-backed spy series 'Citadel' co-starring Richard Madden. The project is helmed by the Russo Brothers of 'Avengers' fame. The actress had completed shooting for 'Text for You' with Sam Heughan, Celine Dion, Russell Tovey, and Omid Djalili.

According to reports, the 'desi girl' will also be seen in an Indian wedding comedy with Mindy Kaling, which she will co-produce and feature in. She also has 'Matrix 4' in the pipeline.
New Delhi: Veteran Bollywood music director Vanraj Bhatia died today at his residence in South Mumbai. The noted composer was ailing for some time. He was 93.

Vanraj Bhatia made a notable contribution to Indian New Wave Cinema with his exceptional music. He bagged the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the television film Tamas (1988), the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Creative and Experimental Music (1989) and India's fourth-highest civilian honour, the Padma Shri (2012). He died in Mumbai in May 2021.

Several celebrities and fans mourned the National Award-winning music composer's demise. Actor Farhan Akhtar too expressed his grief on Twitter. He wrote: RIP #VanrajBhatia .. apart from the many other brilliant musical works he created, I vividly remember the theme of Tamas that started with a shriek so filled with anguish, it could send a chill up anyones spine and break anyones heart.

RIP #VanrajBhatia .. apart from the many other brilliant musical works he created, I vividly remember the theme of Tamas that started with a shriek so filled with anguish, it could send a chill up anyones spine and break anyones heart.  Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) May 7, 2021

Smriti Irani too condoled his death. She tweeted: Shocked to learn about the passing away of Vanraj Bhatia. Wagle ki Duniya , Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, he leaves behind countless memories in his scores. My condolences to his loved ones & fans.  

Shocked to learn about the passing away of Vanraj Bhatia. Wagle ki Duniya , Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, he leaves behind countless memories in his scores. My condolences to his loved ones & fans.    Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) May 7, 2021

Vanraj Bhatia had composed music for films like Manthan, Bhumika, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, 36 Chaurangi Lane, Drohkaal.

May his soul rest in peace!
New Delhi: 7th Pay Commission latest updates --In what would come as a huge relief for lakhs of Central government employees and pensioners, Minister for State for Finance, Anurag Thakur had in March this year told Parliament that they will get full benefits of dearness allowance starting July 1, with all the three pending installments being restored prospectively.

The three installments of dearness allowance for central government employees and DR for pensioners, due on January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020 and January 1, 2021, were frozen in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. A meeting regarding was stipulated for May 8 which has also been postponed. Now media reports say that this meeting is expected to be held in the last week of this month.

Constant negotiations have been held between officials of the National Council of JCM, Department of Personal and Training (DoPT) and Department of Expenditure in the Ministry of Finance to resolve the matrix issue of the 7th Pay Commission. An important meeting between these officers was scheduled to be held on May 8 in this regard, but due to the spiralling rise in corona cases in the country, this meeting has been cancelled. Now this meeting can be held in the last week of this month.

On the agenda of this meeting, Shiv Gopal Mishra, secretary of the National Council of JCM, Staff Side, has purportedly said that they are in constant touch with the government. The payment of three installments of DA pending will be one of the main agenda, JCM has also told the central government that if it is not possible for them to pay three installments of dearness allowance at the same time, it will also give it to the central employees as partial payment.

The decision now to restore it from July, 2021 would benefit about 50 lakh central government employees and more than 65 lakh pensioners. However, any increase in DA from July 1 will only be effective from that day, meaning the employees would not get any arrears on non revision of DA for previous period.

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New Delhi: India is currently faced with the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, which is far more ruthless than the first one. While Indians are already facing issues related to mental, physical or financial health, scamsters are cashing in on their plight with their dubious tactics that are hard to catch in the first place.

Even last year, many fraudsters milked the plight of many, sometimes in the name of help, sometimes in the name of treatment and sometimes in the name of giving help. To protect their customers from falling into the trap, three big banks of the country have issued alerts. The aim here is to make their customers aware of the ways thugs can cheat them.

Heres what SBI, PNB and ICICI Bank are sharing with their customers.

SBI : Beware of QR code scams

State Bank of India, the country's largest bank, has cautioned its customers that you should not scan the QR code at all if you are receiving money because when you scan the QR code, you do not get the money. For this, SBI has also released a video.

PNB : Dont fall for fake calls or SMS

Similarly, the Punjab National Bank in the public sector warned the customers that if someone tries to call you or tries to mislead you in one or another way, do not fall for it. Do not get involved in any fake call or SMS. PNB has said that fraudsters have all the ways to mislead you.

ICICI Bank : Share with extra care

ICICI Bank has warned customers not to share banking or any financial information with anyone. ICICI Bank has said that its customers should always remember that bank employees do not ask for details of their account by calling or sending SMS. Only a fraudulent person tries to ask you for a bank detail by phone or by sending an SMS or any link.
New Delhi: Malayalam filmmaker Shrikumar Menon has been arrested in a cheating case, police said.

Alappuzha police officials had reached his home in Palakkad on Thursday night and took him into custody.

The charge against him was he had collected around Rs one crore from an Alappuzha businessman, but failed to honour the agreement to make a film.

Menon time and again has the habit of courting controversies. In 2019, he was let off on bail by police after questioning him in the complaint given against him by actress Manju Warrier for defaming her.

He has directed Warrier in Mohanlal-starrer "Odiyan" as well as in several ad films.

In 2018, he had an issue with legendary writer and Jnanpith awardee M.T.Vasudevan Nair over a script.
CHENNAI: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu by Governor Banwari Lal Purohit during a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhawan on Friday. Besides Stalin, the Governor also administered the oath to 33 other lawmakers as the Ministers.

With this, the DMK led by MK Stalin has seized power, after a ten-year gap, for a sixth time in its history by winning the 2021 Assembly elections securing a comfortable majority on its own.

68-year-old Stalin, the man who is now being seen as the face of the 'Dravidian movement', has been trying hard to fit into the shoes of his late iconic father and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi.

With the DMK-led alliance winning a comfortable majority in the state assembly, MK Stalin will now make sincere efforts to establish himself as the new 'Dravidian poster boy and a leader of masses like his charismatic father.

This is also evident from the fact that soon after taking over as the Chief Minister, Stalin changed his Twitter bio that now reads: "Belongs to the Dravidian stock."

This is an apparent reference to the DMK founder and Dravidian party's first chief minister CN Annadurai's famous Rajya Sabha speech in 1962, during which he proclaimed himself to be of the Dravidian stock and different from the southern leaders of his time.

"I claim Sir, to come from a country, a part in India now, but which I think is of a different stock, not necessarily antagonistic. I belong to the Dravidian stock. I am proud to call myself a Dravidian. That does not mean that I am against a Bengali or a Maharashtrian or a Gujarati. As Robert Burns has stated, A man is a man for all that. I say that I belong to the Dravidian stock and that is only because I consider that the Dravidians have got something concrete, something distinct, something different to offer to the nation at large. Therefore, it is that we want self-determination, Annadurai had said.

CN Annadurai was elected chief minister in 1967 and was the first chief minister of the Dravidian party, which came to power after ousting the Congress. Since that day, only Dravidian parties have ruled Tamil Nadu or have had a major say in power.

However, after the Chinese aggression in 1962 and the events thereafter, Annadurai dropped his separatism demands. After Annadurais death, the baton of the ''Dravidian movement'' was passed on to 'charismatic' M Karunanidhi till his political heir and son Stalin took over the reins of the party.

MK Stalin is also no novice in southern politics since he has canvassed for his fathers party during elections as a teenager and stood witness to the horrors of the Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

From quelling rebellion within his party, settling scores with his estranged brother MK Alagiri to finally taking over the reins of the party after his maverick fathers death in August 2018 at the age of 94, MK Stalin has gradually matured in politics.

In 1969, Karunanidhi was elected the DMK president, a post created for him following the death of party founder CN Annadurai and he continued to serve as the partys undisputed leader for over five decades.

68-year-old Stalins rise as the DMK chief heralded a new era in the Dravidian party, making him only the second man after his father to be elected as party president.

Growing under his father's shadow, Stalin, who was known for his flamboyant ways in his younger days, has slowly transformed himself into a mature political leader despite a series of flip-flops and gaffes made by him on various occasions in the past.

Ably aided by Prashant Kishors I-PAC ahead of the assembly election in the state, MK Stalin took great effort in rebranding himself as the new icon of the Dravidian ideology. The DMK election campaign was also designed to project BJP as a ''Hindi-belt party'' that is thrusting its authority and the Hindi language upon Tamils.

It is noteworthy how the DMK and its allies kept reminding people about how the Narendra Modi-powered BJP was insulting the Tamil language, culture, pride during the entire election campaigning.

Stalins election campaign highlighted the alleged attempt made by the BJP to deny the states OBC communities their due. The party also succeeded in projecting the AIADMK as a ''proxy'' for the BJP and its ''slave.''

The DMK made the most of Tamil Nadus aversion to the saffron party, its ''Hindutva'' ideology, the anti-incumbency factor against the E Palaniswamy government and the colossal fall of Kamal Haasans Makkal Needhi Maiam, which saw the party winning 159 of the 234 seats in the state.

After his debacle, it is unlikely the mega film star will have a future in the states political landscape. He possibly over pitched himself and the results proved that he cant hold his own on the electoral field.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has always fashioned itself as a crusader for social justice and Tamilian pride. In this contest, it will be interesting to watch how Stalin handles the massive mandate which his party has got and how he treats the Centre-state relationship.

Having finally realised his dream of being the Chief Minister and considering his Dravidian ideology, it will be interesting to watch how he deals with the NDA regime at the Centre. The DMK has always accused the Narendra Modi-led NDA government of thrusting its federal spirit on the state on several occasions. Hence, it will be keenly watched as to how the new DMK regime at the helm in Tamil Nadu negotiates crucial administrative issues with the Centre.

As a chief minister, Stalin will have to demonstrate a great deal of courage in handling these issues with the Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre. As the DMK chief, he cannot let internal party feud and insecurities overshadow his decisions. In fact, he has already taken a wise decision by not including his son in the cabinet  which otherwise would have dented the credibility of his government and lead to allegations of nepotism.

Among other challenges, Stalin will have to keep the rampant corruption in check since DMK big guns are tasting power after a decade-long. However, his immediate challenge would be to keep the catastrophic second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic in check and ensure the availability of the anti-COVID-19 vaccines and expediting the vaccination drive.

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In a bid to secure its platforms, Google is enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) by default for a few user accounts soon, the tech giant announced in its official blog. Mark Risher, Director of Product Management, Identity and User Security at Google said in a blog post that soon the company will start automatically enrolling users in 2SV if their accounts are appropriately configured.

The move is taken to protect its users from online threats. Users who believe that their passwords are secure or complex might also get their accounts 2FA secured. In case, Google activates 2FA authentication to your account, dont imply that your password was weak. You can anyway check the security status of your account in Googles Security Checkup.

In the blog, Google explained that 2FA is one of the best ways one can protect their account from data breaches. In case, you have an easily guessable password or an easy one for bots, you can secure your account by having another verification in place. And thats where 2FA comes in handy.

For validating 2FA, users will have to enter their passwords along with a simple tap via a Google prompt on their phone whenever they sign in. Using their mobile device to sign in gives people a safer and more secure authentication experience than passwords alone, Google said.

Google noted that more people are now getting worried if their passwords are secure or not. Last year only, searches for how strong is my password increased by 300%. Unfortunately, even the strongest passwords can be compromised and used by an attacker  thats why we invested in security controls that prevent you from using weak or compromised passwords, the tech giant explained.
At a time when Indias relationship with China is worsening amid a healthcare crisis, the Indian government has decided to halt the approvals for the import of several electronic devices from China.

The import is placed on electronic products with wifi modules such as Bluetooth speakers, wireless earphones, smartphones, smartwatches and laptops. American and Chinese brands such as computer makers Dell and HP as well as Chinese smartphone makers like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Lenovo are likely to feel the pinch of the delay orders.

Most brands would be looking to delay launches in India, one of the largest consumer electronics market in the world. The Communications Ministry's Wireless Planning and Coordination (WPC) Wing has reportedly held the approval requests for all product launches in India, according to sources quoted in a Reuters report.

So far, over 80 such applications are reportedly pending with the WPC. Several Indian firms are also waiting for approval to import their products from China.

It is important to note that the decision has come at a time when the Indian government is trying to achieve greater economic self-reliance, especially with schemes like production linked incentives (PLIs) in the arsenal.

So far, several projects of smartphone makers have been approved under the PLI scheme that aims to make India a production hub. However, consumer electronic brands are now finding themselves in a difficult position, as they are unable to get their products in the country.

Setting up a complete production facility would also mean a big-ticket investment and a lot of patience. In both scenarios, they are at the losing end, at least in the short term.
Noida: The Gautam Budh Nagar District Magistrate on Friday issued an order for private hospitals reiterating the cost of the treatment provided for COVID-19 should be in accordance with the amount fixed by the state government.

The order reminded that the price for RTPCR tests and the treatment given for coronavirus positive patients has already been set by the Yogi Adityanath-led givernment in Uttar Pradesh.

Further, the notice said that action will be taken against violators found guilty of over charging then they will be punished under the epidemic act.

GB NAGAR

DM order on private hospitals complaint:- pic.twitter.com/0ozuqbZ4RU  Information Dept GBN (@DeptGbn) May 7, 2021

In case of a situation where a citizen is being overcharged than they can lodge a complain on the number 9354357073 with relevant documents.

On May 5, the Noida Authority commenced the service of supplying oxygen to COVID-19 positive residents in home isolation.

Noida Authority will furnish over 170 refilled oxygen cylinders to RWAs in the coming days. The service- Oxygen Refilling Bank- has been started by the Authority to aid COVID-19 patients isolated at home in procuring medical oxygen.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:37:07|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China's exports and imports are both expected to see robust momentum in the coming months amid strong global and domestic economic recovery, British think tank Oxford Economics said in a report released Friday.

"We expect export momentum to remain robust in the coming months," said the report, adding that a strong global economic recovery would underpin China's exports through 2021, despite the likely retreat of pandemic-related demand later this year.

Apart from exports, the British think tank also said that "we think import momentum should pick up in the coming months due to the ongoing domestic recovery."

"We expect robust sequential economic growth will resume after temporary weakness in Q1 (the first quarter) and are optimistic about exports and manufacturing investment," said the think tank, noting that consumption should "gain pace again as consumers become more comfortable with public health conditions and their economic situation."

The report came as China's official data showed earlier in the day that the country's total imports and exports of goods surged 28.5 percent year on year to 11.62 trillion yuan (about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars) in the first four months of 2021.

This marks a surge of 21.8 percent from the pre-epidemic level in 2019, China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

Exports jumped 33.8 percent from a year earlier while imports climbed 22.7 percent in yuan terms, the official data revealed.

Meanwhile, China's booming domestic tourism also fueled the consumption as the country has effectively contained the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination rate is increasing steadily.

During the latest five-day May Day holiday, which ended on Wednesday, China recorded a total of 230 million domestic tourist trips during the holiday, up 119.7 percent from last year, according to China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Tommy Wu, a lead economist of the Oxford Economics, told Xinhua that "domestic travel will likely recover to close to pre-pandemic levels during the Labor Day (May Day) holiday, which is definitely encouraging."

"That said, should we see a strong positive outturn on consumer spending during the Labor Day (May Day) holiday, it will be a very encouraging sign that household consumption recovery is probably back on track again," Wu added.

China's appealingly market has offered huge opportunities to the world manufactors and investors, as the world's second largest economy pledged to further open its market and bolster the global economy.

"China's recovery from the pandemic gives hope to the world, Hainan's International Consumer Products Expo is a practical step to bring such hope to other countries," said Xiong Yu, a professor at Britain-based Surrey Business School in the University of Surrey.

The China International Consumer Products Expo, to be held from May 7 to 10 in China's island province of Hainan, is expected to be a new window for the country's high-level opening-up drive. Enditem
Canberra: Australia will lift a ban on its citizens returning from COVID-ravaged India in a week, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday (May 7, 2021), as state officials reported that an outbreak in Sydney appeared to be contained.

Morrison stood by his decision to impose a biosecurity order last month barring all travel to and from India, a policy that drew heavy criticism from lawmakers, expatriates and the Indian diaspora.

Australian citizens stranded in Covid-ravaged India will be able to return home from May 15, Prime Minister added. "The National Security Committee of Cabinet has confirmed that it will have done its job by then, and as a result we see no need to extend it beyond that date," Morrison told reporters.

Morrison said the travel ban, which was controversially backed by jail terms and financial penalties for anybody who attempted to circumvent it by flying via a third country, had prevented Australia`s hotel quarantine system from being overwhelmed.

"The order that we have put in place has been highly effective, its doing the job that we needed it to do, and that was to ensure that we could do everything we can to prevent a third wave of COVID-19 here in Australia, Morrison told reporters.

Australia will charter three repatriation flights between May 15 and May 31, with some 900 people deemed most vulnerable are expected to be prioritised, Morrison said.

Prospective travellers will need to return a negative COVID-19 test, he said, adding that officials had not yet decided when commercial flights to and from India would be allowed to resume.

New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian, meanwhile, said New Zealand`s decision to partially suspend a travel bubble with Australia as a result of new infections in Sydney was an "overreaction."

State health officials were still trying to track the missing links in the case of a 50-year-old man who was diagnosed earlier this week with an Indian variant of COVID-19 that he passed on to his wife.

Genomic sequencing had linked the case to a returned traveller from the United States, but there was no clear transmission path between the two people.

However, state health officials reported on Friday that more than 13,000 tests conducted over the past 24 hours had found no additional cases, easing concerns about a wider outbreak.

Berejiklian on Thursday imposed new social distancing restrictions in greater Sydney, including mask wearing on public transport and limits on home gatherings.

With many people expected to gather over the weekend for annual Mother's Day celebrations, the restrictions are scheduled to remain in place until Monday morning.

We may never find that missing link, Berejiklian told the Nine Network "Today" show about the Sydney case, the first in NSW in more than a month.

"Thats why we ask everybody to come forward and get tested. Every time theres a positive case, we can match it to see if its part of the same strain."

Live TV
New Delhi: Coronavirus has spread its tentacles on the world's highest peaks, infecting several climbers. The deadly virus has struck climbers on the world's seventh-highest peak, Dhaulagiri, which is located 345 kilometers (214 miles) west of Everest, according to a CNN report.

The report quoting the chairperson of tour operator Seven Summits Trek Mingma Sherpa said that at least 19 people have been evacuated from the camps of the mountain, out of which seven were tested positive, while 12 others were scheduled to take a test after showing symptoms.

The Norwegian climber was reportedly infected with COVID-19 on Mount Everest in late April. According to Polish climber Pawel Michalski's Facebook post, as many as 30 people infected on Everest, have been evacuated from base camp as they were tested positive.

The COVID-19, which has infected over 156 million and killed over 3 million people around the world, according to the website Worldometers, forced China to cancel permits to the world's highest peak in March last year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the mountain nation generates a large part of its revenue from the tourism sector, many Nepalis depend on climbing for their livelihoods. This year's permits had given a ray of hope to numerous local guides, sherpas, and chefs, but the second surge has played a spoilsport.

Nepal has made it mandatory for everyone arriving in the country through charter or under the air bubble scheme to mandatorily undergo 10 days quarantine in hotels. All travelers will have to produce a negative polymerase chain reaction test (RT-PCR) result done within 72 hours prior to departure for entry into Nepal.

Paused for a year in 2020, Nepal this year has issued record-high permits to scale Mount Everest. As per the data of the Department of Tourism that oversees and grants permits for expeditions, a total of 408 members, including 93 women, from 43 teams have received permission for Mt Everest.

(With Agency Inputs)

Live TV
Washington: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday (May 6) the process of removing all contractors from Afghanistan working with the United States was underway as part of President Joe Biden`s withdrawal of forces from the country.

The remarks are the clearest indication yet that Biden`s April order to withdraw all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 extended to U.S.-funded contractors.

Asked whether the Pentagon had issued orders to withdraw not just American troops but also contractors, Austin said: "We`re going to responsibly retrograde all of our capabilities that we are responsible for and the contractors fall in that realm as well."

Speaking with reporters, Austin said the contractors could, however, renegotiate their contracts in the future.

As of April, there were nearly 17,000 Pentagon contractors, including about 6,150 Americans, 4,300 Afghans and 6,400 from other countries.

The departure of thousands of contractors, especially those serving the Afghan security forces, has raised concerns among some U.S. officials about the ability of the Afghan government and military to sustain critical functions.

`NOT A FOREGONE CONCLUSION`

Austin said the drawdown was going according to plan so far.

But Afghan security forces are locked in daily combat with the Taliban, which has waged war to overthrow the foreign-backed government since it was ousted from power in Kabul in 2001.

In just two days, the Taliban captured a second district in the northern province of Baghlan on Thursday (May 6).

The Afghan government says the Taliban have killed and wounded more than 50 troops in attacks in at least 26 provinces during the last 24 hours, while its forces killed dozens of Taliban over the same period.

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said there had been sustained levels of violent attacks against Afghan security forces but none against U.S. and coalition forces since May 1.

Milley, in the same news conference, said it was too early to speculate on how Afghanistan would turn out after the withdrawal of U.S. forces given that Afghanistan had a significantly sized military and police force and the Afghan government was still cohesive.

"It is not a foregone conclusion, in my professional military estimate, that the Taliban automatically win and Kabul falls or any of those dire predictions," Milley said.
Berlin: The third wave of the coronavirus pandemic appears to be broken, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday, as social distancing measures and an accelerating vaccination campaign help lower the infection rate.

"The third wave appears to be broken," Spahn told a regular weekly news briefing on Germany`s pandemic management.

The head of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, Lothar Wieler, said the incidence of COVID-19 infections was falling across all age groups, and he was hopeful of soon controlling the pandemic in Germany.

The share of the population that has received a first vaccine shot has reached 31.5%, with 900,000 getting a dose on Thursday, putting Germany "in the fast lane" by international comparison, said Spahn.

In a push to accelerate Germany`s vaccination drive, Spahn on Thursday allowed the shot from AstraZeneca to be given to all adults - reversing earlier curbs imposed after earlier reports of rare cases of blood clotting.

The decision followed moves by several German federal states to allow people to get the AstraZeneca shot, in consultation with their doctors.

"We are convinced that this offer is attractive for those who would otherwise not get vaccinated so quickly," said Spahn, adding that 1 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine would be delivered to doctors` practices next week.
New Delhi: The United Kingdom is sending the world's largest cargo plane carrying three 18-tonne oxygen generators and 1,000 ventilators to India as the country battles the COVID-19 surge.

Each of the three oxygen generation units - the size of 40ft freight containers - produces 500 litres of oxygen per minute, enough for 50 people to use at a time, according to a statement by the British High Commission here.

"The UK is sending surplus oxygen generators from Northern Ireland to India. The flights are carrying three surplus 18-tonne oxygen generators and 1000 ventilators. Each generator produces 500 litres of oxygen per minute," The UK High Commission in India tweeted.

The UK is sending surplus oxygen generators from Northern Ireland to India. The flights are carrying 3 surplus 18-tonne oxygen generators and 1000 ventilators Each generator produces 500 litres of oxygen per minute. are working together to tackle #Covid https://t.co/e5ANLUltAt  UK in India (@UKinIndia) May 7, 2021

The shipment is expected to reach India on Sunday (May 9) morning, where the Indian Red Cross will help transfer them to hospitals. This support, previously announced, is in addition to 200 ventilators and 495 oxygen concentrators, which the UK sent to India in late April, said the high commission.

The High Commission said that the latest assistance package has been sourced by the Department of Health and Social Care and is fully funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: "The UK is sending surplus oxygen generators from Northern Ireland to India. This life-saving equipment will support the country`s hospitals as they care for vulnerable Covid patients."India is currently dealing with a second COVID-19 wave that has swept through the nation, straining the country`s health infrastructure and overburdening frontline medical workers.

Good to see the UK sending three shipping container-sized oxygen generators from Belfast to India. Each can be used by 50 people at one time, helping India's Covid-19 battle. We will only beat this pandemic if we work together. pic.twitter.com/ysd1j6VRjW  Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) May 7, 2021

Several countries around the globe including the UK, Russia, and the US have extended support to India as it continues to struggle with the increase in its health infrastructure needs.

(inputs from ANI)

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Beijing/Geneva: In a big relief for China, the WHO on Friday finally granted the conditional approval to its Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, a move that could help Beijing step up its vaccine diplomacy amid the surge in coronavirus vaccines in several countries.

China has approved about five of its vaccines for emergency use and especially using Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines for both at home and abroad.

The Sinopharm vaccine was authorised by 45 countries and jurisdictions for use in adults, with 65 million doses administered, according to official media reports. But many countries hesitated using the vaccine as it has not secured recognition from the World Health Organisation.

While WHO has listed the Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, Janssen vaccines for emergency use, the Chinese vaccine got delayed recognition due to data related issues.

China was eagerly awaiting the global health body's nod for it to aggressively push the vaccine among different countries.

A press release issued by WHO in Geneva on Friday listed the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, a first for a Chinese vaccine, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally.

The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

The two jab vaccine is an inactivated vaccine called SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell). Its easy storage requirements make it highly suitable for low-resource settings, the WHO press release said.

It is also the first vaccine that will carry a vaccine vial monitor, a small sticker on the vaccine vials that change colour as the vaccine is exposed to heat, letting health workers know whether the vaccine can be safely used, it said.

Sinopharm vaccine efficacy for symptomatic and hospitalised disease was estimated to be 79 per cent, all age groups combined, the WHO said. The efficacy is, however, below the efficacy rates of other WHO vaccines which are in the range of 90 per cent. However, the WHO has okayed Sinopharm usage from 18 years and above, clarifying lingering doubts about its usage for people above 59 years. China itself listed the vaccine for people in the age group of 18 to 59 years which raised doubts about its efficacy in the senior citizens population.

Clarifying this issue, WHO said, ?Few older adults (over 60 years) were enrolled in clinical trials, so efficacy could not be estimated in this age group. Nevertheless, WHO is not recommending an upper age limit for the vaccine because preliminary data and supportive immunogenicity data suggest the vaccine is likely to have a protective effect in older persons."

"There is no theoretical reason to believe that the vaccine has a different safety profile in older and younger populations," it said.

"The addition of this vaccine has the potential to rapidly accelerate COVID-19 vaccine access for countries seeking to protect health workers and populations at risk," said Dr Mariangela Sim'o, WHO Assistant-Director General for Access to Health Products.

"We urge the manufacturer to participate in the COVAX facility and contribute to the goal of more equitable vaccine distribution," he said.

China has committed to provide 10 million vaccines to the UN-backed COVAX facility to be distributed among the developing countries. But it could not deliver it as it required WHO approval for its vaccines.

COVAX aims to send vaccines for free to 92 lower-income countries and to help another 99 countries and territories procure them.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:59:32|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that China is willing to strengthen cooperation with and provide support and assistance for Sierra Leone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xi made the remarks during a telephone conversation with Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Sierra Leone, Xi pointed out that over the half century, no matter how the international situation changes, the two countries have always supported each other on issues related to their respective core interests and major concerns, and have always stood firmly together at critical moments in the face of such major infectious diseases as Ebola and COVID-19.

The two sides, he added, have always maintained a high level of political mutual trust and are good brothers and good friends.

Chinese medical teams, expert teams, anti-epidemic supplies and vaccines have played a positive role in Sierra Leone's epidemic prevention and control, he said.

Stressing that this year is important to the two countries, their parties and their relations, Xi suggested that the two sides join hands to hold 50th-anniversary celebrations, carry forward their traditional friendship, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and promote common development.

China will continue to provide as much support and assistance as its capacity allows for Sierra Leone's national economic development, he said, adding that as the world is undergoing transformations rarely seen in a century, the two sides should strengthen unity and cooperation, firmly support each other, and jointly safeguard international equity and justice as well as the common interests of developing countries.

The Chinese side, he said, is willing to work with Sierra Leone to strengthen coordination within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the FOCAC. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 21:27:07|Editor: huaxia

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Wang Qun (L, front), Chinese envoy to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, talks with Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi (R, front), at a meeting of the Joint Commission on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria, May 7, 2021. (EU Delegation Vienna/Handout via Xinhua)

VIENNA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Friday urged all parties concerned to increase a sense of urgency and transform good political will into concrete actions, as negotiations on getting the United States and Iran to resume compliance with the historic 2015 Iran nuclear deal have entered the fifth week in Vienna, Austria.

Wang Qun, Chinese envoy to the United Nations and other international organizations in Vienna, made the remarks after attending Friday's meeting of the Joint Commission on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the Iran nuclear deal.

He urged all parties involved to continue to focus on and expand the consensus, avoid mutual accusations and jointly push forward the process of negotiations.

After the previous four weeks of intensive negotiations, the areas of consensus and the crux of disagreement have all become clearer, Wang said.

The meeting was chaired by Enrique Mora, the deputy secretary-general and political director of the European External Action Service and attended by representatives of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and Iran.

The Chinese envoy also said that China supports the European Union as the coordinator of the talks and in proposing a complete package of texts for formulas as early as possible. He voiced hopes that each party to the negotiations will foster a favorable atmosphere for this, rather than setting preconditions.

China is willing to exert joint efforts with the other parties for a breakthrough in the talks at an early date, and strive for an early full resumption of compliance with the JCPOA, Wang said.

Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organization, said in a tweet on Friday that the meeting "opened a new round of the talks on full restoration of the nuclear deal." "The participants agreed on the need to intensify the process," he wrote.

Alain Georges Matton, communication and public information officer at EU Delegation to International Organizations in Vienna, told reporters on Friday that experts will continue discussions in the working groups and the EU will continue on separate talks with all participants.

The U.S. administration under former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and unilaterally reimposed sanctions on Iran. In response to the U.S. moves, Iran gradually stopped implementing parts of its JCPOA commitments from May 2019.

The JCPOA Joint Commission began to meet in offline format on April 6 in Vienna to continue previous discussions in view of a possible return of the United States to the JCPOA and on how to ensure the full and effective implementation of the JCPOA. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 21:27:58|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with African countries is always China's resolute strategic choice.

In a telephone conversation with Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi, Xi said China supports the DRC playing its role as the rotating chair of the African Union, and stands ready to work with the DRC to cement communication and coordination and make a success of the next meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Noting that the DRC is an important cooperation partner of China in Africa, Xi said the two countries have enjoyed a good tradition of mutual support and mutual trust.

The Chinese side, Xi said, always views and develops its relations with the DRC from a strategic and long-term perspective, supports the country in its efforts to safeguard national independence, sovereignty, security and development interests, and stands ready to increase political and governance exchanges with the DRC.

The DRC's participation in the Belt and Road Initiative has set up a new platform and opened up new prospects for bilateral cooperation, Xi said.

The Chinese side, he added, is ready to work with the DRC to plan their cooperation for the next stage, and strengthen practical cooperation in such areas as economy, trade, infrastructure, health, agriculture and culture, so as to lift bilateral relations to new highs.

Xi stressed that with joint efforts from both sides, the traditional friendship and political mutual trust between China and Africa have been deepening continuously, their cooperation in trade, investment and other fields has maintained a strong momentum, and their collaboration in international affairs has grown increasingly close.

He suggested that China and Africa deepen cooperation in such fields as construction of free trade zones, public health, peace and security, as well as climate change, and jointly open a new chapter of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Xi also said that China supports Africa in implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and will encourage the international community to join forces in supporting Africa's development. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 21:37:44|Editor: huaxia

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ULAN BATOR, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's foreign trade turnover rose 50.6 percent year on year to 4.4 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of this year, according to data released by the Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA) on Friday.

The country registered a surplus in its foreign trade balance as exports exceeded imports by around 535.4 million dollars in the January-April period, the MCGA said.

Exports jumped 81.8 percent year on year to 2.4 billion dollars, largely contributing to the overall growth, it said.

China remains Mongolia's top export destination in the period, accounting for 92.5 percent of Mongolia's total exports, according to the MCGA. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 22:53:18|Editor: huaxia

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by Hayati Nupus

JAKARTA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia's Merak port which separates the two major islands of Java and Sumatra will only open two of its eight docks on May 6-17 in observing a travel ban on the annual exodus, locally known as "mudik", ahead of the Islamic holy festival Eid al-Fitr to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"The two docks are only for vehicles carrying logistics and staples," Ira Puspadewi, managing director of the state-owned passenger ferry operator PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry, said.

In the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, this big port was usually crowded with hundreds of thousands of people on their way back home to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr festival with their families. This year, vehicles carrying passengers were prohibited from crossing to Sumatra Island and they were asked to turn around.

The travel ban imposed by the government also applies to travel by air or land, with road blocks erected on toll roads and regional borders.

"This policy applies to all passenger cars, buses, ships and aircraft, in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19," said Adita Irawati, an official at the Transportation Ministry.

Indonesia is a Muslim-majority country with a tradition of urban migrants returning to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr with their families after the fasting month Ramadan. This year, Eid al-Fitr falls on May 14 in the Southeast Asian country.

According to a survey by the transportation ministry, 7 percent of the surveyed people have said they would continue their homecoming journey despite a travel ban.

President Joko Widodo admitted he was worried that many people would be reckless to "mudik" this year. Moreover, Indonesia has a history of long holidays followed by increased mobility, and consequently a spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Such situation in the past had caused a strain on the medical system, with hospitals filled with new patients and bed occupancy rate exceeding the normal limit. The death toll from COVID-19 had jumped to 2,000 per month following long holidays, compared to up to 900 in other months.

"I understand, we all definitely miss our relatives, especially for Eid. But let's prioritize safety together by not going back to our hometowns," said Widodo.

The president has urged governors, regents and mayors throughout Indonesia to continue to convey the ban on "mudik" to the public and order health protocol discipline.

At the same time, the Indonesian government is anticipating a spike in COVID-19 cases. Moreover, three new variants of the coronavirus, which are more contagious, have entered Indonesia.

The Indonesian police have deployed a total of 155,000 personnel in 381 checkpoints from South Sumatra in the west, the most populous Java Island, to Bali in the eastern part of the archipelagic country.

"On the first day of the ban, we intercepted 23,573 vehicles that were suspected of going on a homecoming trip," said Indonesian National Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono.

Some people had flocked back to their hometowns before the travel ban took effect on Thursday. In Central Java, one of the 34 provinces in Indonesia, for example, official data showed around 2,000 urban migrants returned home per day before May 6.

"This shows that we really have to be prepared," said Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo.

The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia increased 6,327 in the past 24 hours to 1,703,632, with the death toll adding by 167 to 46,663, the Health Ministry said on Friday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 22:54:41|Editor: huaxia

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-- Vivas said that some Western media outlets have made up lies, maliciously discredited Xinjiang, and used propaganda as a weapon to hinder China's progress.

-- "The job of journalists is to reflect realities, whereas in the West, their job is to lie," lamented the veteran journalist. "If I have any advice for you, it is to reveal the truth, always the truth and nothing but the truth."

-- "I have visited a lot of countries and regions, but I have not seen such rapid development," Vivas said, noting that Xinjiang's development and progress over the past two years is quite obvious.

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- "There was a media rampage against me, but not against my book on Xinjiang," French writer Maxime Vivas has said during a video dialogue with e-celebrities from Xinjiang.

Having visited Xinjiang "from one end to the other" and "seen a lot of things" during his trips, Vivas recounted what he saw in a book entitled "Uygurs, to put an end to fake news," which was published in France last December.





SMEARING XINJIANG TO HINDER CHINA'S DEVELOPMENT

"Why the Western media never question the testimony about Xinjiang," asked Aytunam Ablikim, a vlogger from south Xinjiang's Hotan City. A vlog of her and her mother making a dress in a tailoring shop has been described as "forced sewing" by Western media.

This undated combo photo shows French writer Maxime Vivas and the French edition of his book "Uygurs, to put an end to fake news". (Xinhua)

Vivas said that some Western media outlets have made up lies, maliciously discredited Xinjiang, and used propaganda as a weapon to hinder China's progress.

"I visited factories, schools, and farms (in Xinjiang). I saw a huge difference between what I saw there and what the French media said," answered the 79-year-old author.

"Media talk a lot about Xinjiang, but a lot of French people know nothing about it, (they) don't even know its captial city," Vivas said, adding that before he visited Xinjiang, he knew little about it.

Noting that in the media battle, the truth always lags behind the lie, he warned that "you just have to be patient and above all never let yourself go down to their level."

"Over time, we'll win" and the truth will come out, the writer said, adding that some intellectuals are starting to dismantle the lie of genocide in Xinjiang.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, and William Schabas, professor of Law at Middlesex University, London, recently published an article "The Xinjiang Genocide Allegations Are Unjustified" on Project Syndicate.

This undated photo shows a portrait of French writer Maxime Vivas. (Xinhua)

Surprised by the rapid changes in Xinjiang, the French writer encouraged young people to share their daily lives on social networks to show the true face of Xinjiang.





"ALWAYS THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH"

"Where does your courage to speak the truth come from in the midst of the Western media hype about Xinjiang?" This is the question of Hurixdam Ablikim, a journalism student, whose goal is to show the real Xinjiang to the world.

"The job of journalists is to reflect realities, whereas in the West, their job is to lie," lamented the veteran journalist. "If I have any advice for you, it is to reveal the truth, always the truth and nothing but the truth."

Vivas said that he had checked everything in his book with "extreme thoroughness." "Not only are there no lies in my book, there are no mistakes," he noted.

After the publication of the book, the writer recalled that there was a media rampage against him, "which is by no means surprising."

A farm machine works in a field in Yuli County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Zhipeng/Xinhua)

"What I am criticized for is not the content of my book, it is for having written a book that is not an anti-Chinese book," Vivas said.



The writer has declined all interviews with French newspapers. "The media that wanted to interview me all tried to set up a trap for me, and it was always a kind of police interrogation instead of the normal interviews about a book," he said.

He noted now there are a lot of writers and journalists in France who think China as he does, but they cannot speak out "under the media pressure."

"With permanent lies about Xinjiang, people can only see the lies," Vivas said. "I said to myself that maybe we need to reestablish the truth."

In a few months, a book about China written by 15 intellectuals from different countries, edited by Vivas, will be published in France. "This is my way of continuing to work to spread the truth about China," he added.





RAPID PROGRESS IN XINJIANG

"We all feel very happy living in Xinjiang," said Maulanjan Tursun, a food blogger from Kashgar, who asked the writer how he evaluates Xinjiang's development.

"I have visited a lot of countries and regions, but I have not seen such rapid development," Vivas said, noting that Xinjiang's development and progress over the past two years is quite obvious.

Tourists are seen at a teahouse in the ancient city of Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Sept. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)

"This depends on a series of effective policies and measures, and vocational education and training centers have also played an important role in vocational skills training," he said.

The writer also shared what he saw and heard about in Xinjiang with these young people. "I have seen villagers move from mud huts to new homes with access to water, electricity and Internet service."

In his book, Vivas mentioned an encounter with a 41-year-old farmer who, with the help of the local government, had set up a small tracksuit manufacturing business and became the head of the enterprise with 80 employees. With her own income and government scholarships, she sent her son to study abroad.

"I was invited to a family of former nomads where I ate mouton which was presented in a very delicious way. I was amazed by the dance and music performances of Xinjiang, and the architecture of Kashgar is really remarkable too," he added.

The writer expressed the hope that more Westerners will explore this beautiful place by themselves.

"Next time you (Vivas) come to Xinjiang, we will cook you pilaf and noodles," said the young people. 
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 23:49:53|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Foreign ambassadors said on Friday that they are grateful for efforts and contributions China's non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have made in promoting social development and people-to-people exchanges, expressing hope for more and closer cooperation in the future.

In an event to mark the second anniversary of Chinese President Xi Jinping's reply letter to the China-Laos Friendship Nongping Primary School as well as the Silk Road Community Building Initiative, Lao ambassador to China Khamphao Ernthavanh expressed gratitude for China's valuable support and help to her country's construction and development.

The primary school in Laos' capital Vientiane, which was funded by the China Foundation for Peace and Development in 2012, has become a symbol of friendship between Laos and China in the new era, Khamphao told the audience, saying that cooperation between the two countries has achieved fruitful results.

In his reply letter on April 29, 2019, Xi said he hopes students in the school will study hard to make themselves great contributors to Laos' national development as early as possible, and become successors in promoting bilateral friendship.

Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, the Nepalese ambassador to China, said Chinese NGOs, such as the China NGO Network for International Exchanges, have actively participated in fields of culture, education, health and human rights protection, and played a significant role in improving public welfare and increasing people-to-people exchanges around the world.

Noting that NGOs in Nepal and China have their respective advantages, Pandey called for more mutual learning and experience-sharing between the two sides.

"I would like to call on NGOs of both countries to come together, and forge closer partnerships for mutual benefits," he said.

The event, held by the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, was also attended by ambassadors and diplomats of Mongolia, Lebanon, Namibia, Pakistan and Cambodia. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 00:08:20|Editor: huaxia

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UNITED NATIONS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Volkan Bozkir on Friday urged all UN member states to strengthen implementation of the UN Charter.

"I urge all member states of the United Nations -- including the members of this Council -- to strengthen implementation of the Charter," the UNGA president told the Security Council's high-level videoconference briefing on "Maintenance of international peace and security: Upholding multilateralism and the United Nations-centered international system."

"These actions should be the baseline, for the rules-based international order," he added.

"Strong and effective multilateralism, based on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law, and justice are the foundations for security, stability, peace and prosperity," said the president.

"Importantly, the multilateral system benefits all of us, from small states to the largest ones. Multilateralism plays a crucial role in fostering dialogue and trust, managing security challenges, such as terrorism and weapons proliferation. And it provides a framework for states to resolve disputes peacefully and without coercion," he added.

Talking about the importance of the Security Council, the president said that the Council is entrusted with a special responsibility in relation to international peace and security.

"Right or wrong, for millions of people around the world, the Security Council is the face and embodiment of the United Nations. Its success or failure to achieve its mandate is seen as the success or failure of the UN," he said.

Noting that on many occasions, the Council has been divided and unable to rise to the challenge, Bozkir said that the reform of the Security Council, "is a core interest of UN member states."

Turning to the issue of vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said that "vaccinating the people we serve, we are in a literal sense, failing to protect civilians from the most widespread, deadly threat facing the world today."

"We need to reinforce UN reforms, which support an integrated approach to the challenges we face. Sustaining peace requires us to address peace and security challenges in all their dimensions," he said.

The briefing is one of the signature events of China's presidency. China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the meeting. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 00:17:39|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Economists and experts believe that the first China International Consumer Products Expo that kicked off on Thursday offers a platform for companies that seek opportunities in the Chinese market and China's opening-up efforts will help with the global economic recovery.

Covering 80,000 square meters, the expo held in Haikou, China's southern Hainan Province, is the largest consumer goods expo in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the organizers.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday sent a congratulatory message to the expo, saying the expo, serving as a global platform of displaying and trading high-end consumer products, is conducive to all countries sharing opportunities provided by the Chinese market and conducive to global economic recovery and growth.

It will also enable China to offer the world more quality consumer products, he added.

Fabrice Megarbane, L'Oreal's president for north Asia zone and chief executive officer of L'Oreal China, said that the expo is a boutique trading platform gathering resources in the global consumer sector, and provides new opportunities for global consumer brands to enter the huge Chinese market.

The opening of the expo demonstrates China's determination to further improve the level of its opening-up, and L'Oreal has full confidence in the future of the Chinese market, he said.

Natee Taweerifuengfung, president of the Thailand-based Siam think tank and vice president of the Panyapiwat Institute of Management, said that the expo is part of China's series of efforts to further reform and open up its economy, and China's large consumer market offers massive development opportunities to the world's huge industrial capacities and supply chains.

This is not the first time that China has held a new international exhibition that contributes to global economic growth, said Diaa Helmy, secretary-general of the Cairo-based Egyptian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

Egypt has a great location and great cooperation with China built on the basis of confidence and friendship, he said, noting that it is the time for Egypt to seize the opportunity and support constructive and positive cooperation with China at all levels, particularly in logistics.

China's efforts like hosting the expo are not only conducive to regional trade, but also will help with the world's economic recovery, said Fathulbari Makhdoom, a columnist and analyst in Afghanistan's state-run Kabul Times newspaper. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 01:15:39|Editor: huaxia

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-- Fosun is among many Chinese companies racing against time to produce and provide medical supplies urgently needed by pandemic-hit India. Its first batch of donated medical protective supplies arrived in Mumbai on May 2.

-- Since April China has provided more than 5,000 ventilators, more than 21,000 oxygen generators, more than 21.48 million face masks, and some 3,800 tons of medicine.

-- "China is quietly helping India," wrote a netizen named shrikantchandra. "Very good work by China in helping India in medical crisis."

NEW DELHI/ZHENGZHOU, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Aspiring to become a medical student at the university, 18-year-old Devyanshi from Delhi, India, has been extremely concerned about the COVID-19 epidemic in her country.



India was facing a very "critical situation," she said in a video interview with Xinhua recently.

"There is an acute shortage of ventilators, oxygen cylinders, medicines and also medical stuff," she said. "People are dying in great numbers due to this."

India is the second country after the United States to record more than 20 million COVID-19 cases. On Friday, it registered a record high of 414,188 new cases in the past 24 hours, more than 300,000 a day for half a month in a row, and a death toll surpassing 230,000.

Devyanshi hopes that India could seek help from other countries, and she is not alone.

According to Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong, since last month China has provided more than 5,000 ventilators, more than 21,000 oxygen generators, more than 21.48 million face masks, and some 3,800 tons of medicine.

"In the past two weeks, 61 cargo flights have been in operation from China to India, transporting various urgently needed medical supplies for India," he tweeted Saturday.

File photo taken on April 15, 2021 shows staff members working on the production line at Zhengzhou Olive Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua)

STAY STRONG, INDIA

A video footage the Chinese ambassador posted on social media earlier this week showed Chinese companies, including the Shanghai-based Fosun Pharma, were producing and packing medical equipment for India.

On May 2, Fosun's first batch of donated medical protective supplies, 100,000 masks, arrived in Mumbai, western India. The company told Xinhua on Friday that 150 ventilators donated by Fosun Pharma's subsidiary Gland Pharma were to be delivered to Hyderabad in central India. More than 20,000 oxygen generators are also to be provided soon.

In the video footage, a group of Fosun staff shouted: "Stay strong, India."

Guo Guangchang, chairman of Fosun International, said on his social media account: "today .. .countries have extensive converging interests and are mutually dependent. Together let's join hands to fight the pandemic."

Fosun Pharma is not the only Chinese company that provides medical equipment for India.

Sun Weidong also shared another video clip, in which workers of a Chinese oxygen generator manufacturer, the Zhengzhou Olive Electronic Technology Co. Ltd, were bustling in the factory, producing and packing the machines during the May Day holiday.

According to Qu Yunping, sales manager of the company, they received orders from India at the end of April. A total of 18,000 oxygen generators were needed. Zhengzhou Olive added another production line and workers, operating overtime against its current daily production capacity of 700 to meet the need.

Ms An Junhong was in charge of quality supervision in the factory, who only took four days off after the Spring Festival in February.

"We have so many orders from overseas," she told Xinhua, adding they work from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m each day.

Talking about India, the 40-year-old woman said she learned about the COVID-19 situation there by browsing on her mobile phone.

"My friends and I also shared information about India with each other on WeChat," she said. "I know how severe it is."

"So it is not just about doing our job," she said. "It is a matter of life and death. I think we help saving lives."

Medical workers prepare an oxygen equipment for COVID-19 patients in Kolkata, India, May 3, 2021. (Str/Xinhua)

Along with the equipment, there is a message that she would like to convey to the Indian people: "take good care of yourself, take protective measures and hopefully you could bring the pandemic under control soon."





THANK YOU, CHINA

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of condolences to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Friday over the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

In the message, Xi said China is willing to strengthen anti-pandemic cooperation with India, and provide support and help to the country. The human race belongs to a community with a shared future, Xi said, adding that only through solidarity and cooperation can all countries across the world defeat the pandemic finally.

A doctor in the Uttar Pradesh state in India, Rachna is now busy treating patients with COVID-19.

"Almost 40 countries from all over the world are helping us, and out of that China has come forward which is really appreciable," she told Xinhua. "It is supporting us by supplying us major medical instruments like ventilators, medicines, oxygen concentrators."

Many ordinary people in India took to social media to express their gratitude for the support from China.

"Thank you very much for doing overtime work for India and making quick supplies," Trivedi Pankaj left the comment on the Chinese ambassador's account.

File photo taken on April 15, 2021 shows staff members working on the production line at Zhengzhou Olive Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. (Xinhua)

"Very good work by China in helping India in medical crisis," wrote shrikantchandra. "While the Western gov'ts are banning flights and their newspapers making noises, China is quietly helping India."

Noting "a close neighbor is better than a distant relative," Vikram Singh wrote. "We must enhance mutual understanding, trust and goodwill, driving relations forward."

"Thanks China," wrote Aditya. "Hope this help paves way for recovery of relationship of neighbors."

(Video reporters: Zhao Xu, Sun Qingqing, Xie Binbin. Video editors: Kan Jingwen, Xu Haijing)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 01:42:28|Editor: huaxia

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chairs the UN Security Council's high-level videoconference briefing on "Maintenance of international peace and security: Upholding multilateralism and the United Nations-centered international system" on May 7, 2021. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired a high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday, calling for win-win cooperation to practice true multilateralism.

Under the initiative of China, the rotating presidency of the UNSC this month, the UNSC held the meeting on "Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Upholding Multilateralism and the UN-centered International System" via video link.

Wang put forward four propositions for all parties to practice true multilateralism:

Firstly, all parties should pursue win-win cooperation, not zero-sum game. All countries should conduct dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect. No country should expect others to lose, but should strive to win together with other countries to achieve universal security and common prosperity.

Secondly, all parties should seek fairness and justice, not bullying.

Wang said the core is to promote the democratization of international relations, so that all countries share the responsibility for governance and jointly promote peaceful development, and the key is to promote the rule of law in international relations, abide by universally recognized international laws and mutually agreed international agreements.

International rules are not the patents and privileges of a few countries, and should be abided by all countries, without exceptionalism and double standards, he added.

Thirdly, all parties should focus on action, instead of only talking the talk.

Multilateralism must focus on problems and solve problems, otherwise it will not stand and go far, Wang said, adding that all countries should incorporate their national interests into global interests.

He said all countries should consider both the present and the long-term interests, and must not undermine the sustained peace of the world and the sustainable development of the world at the cost of short-term need.

"In particular, major countries must set an example and take the lead in providing global public goods," Wang said.

Fourthly, all parties should respect diversity, and refrain from pursuing supremacy.

Each country has its own unique history and culture, and needs to take a development path that suits its own national conditions, Wang said, adding that dividing the world by ideology runs counter to the spirit of multilateralism and represents a retrogression of history.

"All countries are happy to see the United States change its practices in the past few years, truly practice multilateralism, and make its contributions to this end," Wang said.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Mexico, Vietnam, Niger, Tunisia, Kenya, Ireland, Norway, Estonia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, U.S. secretary of state and the deputy foreign ministers of India, Britain and France attended the meeting. President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Volkan Bozkir briefed the meeting.

Hailing China's initiative to hold this meeting, the participants agreed that under the current situation, the international community should strengthen solidarity and cooperation, continue to follow the purposes and principles of the Charter of the UN, and strengthen the authority and role of the UN.

They also believed that all parties should join hands to respond to global challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change, uphold the UN-centered international system, maintain international peace and promote common development. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 09:27:10|Editor: huaxia

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ABUJA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria aims to attain self-sufficiency in the production of maize by 2022, given a remarkable increase in the output over the past six years, the country's central bank chief said Thursday.

At the launch of the 2021 maize wet season farming and first maize pyramid in Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, told an audience in the northwestern state of Katsina that the aim of becoming self-sufficient in maize production would be achieved through a synergy between the government, stakeholders, and resilient farmers.

The remarkable progress so far was achieved with the support of the Anchor Borrowers' Program (ABP) of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, said Emefiele.

Through the ABP, he said, the country's top lender would support farmers in cultivating over 500,000 hectares of maize in 2021.

"In 2019, it was 100,000 hectares, and that of 2020 was 250,000 hectares cultivated, but we hope to increase the target in 2021 to 500,000 hectares," he said.

With a population of about 200 million, Nigeria must end food import which has continued to drain the country's external reserve and create unemployment and a disruption in the commodity value chain, Emefiele added.

Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Muhammad Nanono told a workshop in Abuja on March 30 that about 5 billion U.S. dollars worth of food is imported yearly into the most populous African country. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 13:42:30|Editor: huaxia

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MAPUTO, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambican government received Thursday a batch of humanitarian aid including food products and medical equipments from China.

The delivery of the donation was witnessed by Mozambican Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Veronica Macamo and Chinese Ambassador to Mozambique Wang Hejun.

Macamo said that China's timely aid came in response to the Mozambican government's appeal for humanitarian assistance.

"We see China as a friendly country that Mozambique and the Mozambicans can count on," she added.

Wang, for his part, said that China is always willing and will continue to work with international partners to find solutions to help Mozambique.

"The humanitarian aid provided by China is a clear demonstration that the Chinese government will firmly support the Mozambican government," he said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 15:04:13|Editor: huaxia

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KAMPALA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The ruling by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on a former rebel commander has drawn mixed reactions from victims in northern Uganda, where the rebellion left tens of thousands of people dead and over 1.4 million others homeless.

The ICC in The Hague on Thursday sentenced Dominic Ongwen, a former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel commander, to 25 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in northern Uganda.

Judges handed down the sentence to Ongwen following a trial in February, in which the ex-child soldier was found guilty of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity committed between July 1, 2002 and Dec. 31, 2005.

Ongwen, a former child soldier who rose through the rank and file of the LRA, was among the five top commanders of the outfit who were indicted by the ICC. The other three are said to have died, apart from rebel leader Joseph Kony who is still in hiding.

"As victims, we are so disappointed with the jail sentence given to Ongwen. The victims wanted Ongwen to be in prison for life," James Omona, victims' mobilizer in Odek village in northern district of Omoro, told Xinhua in a phone interview.

"He was a notorious LRA who committed a lot of atrocities. The judges should have given Ongwen a life sentence. We believe justice hasn't been done," Omona added.

The court ruling was screened live from The Hague to various villages in northern Uganda -- where the war took place, and in the capital Kampala.

"The judgment sends a message that perpetrators of the crime will be held accountable. It doesn't matter how long," said Sarah Kihika Kasande, head of office of the International Center for Transitional Justice in Uganda, in a live television analysis.

The period of his detention between Jan. 4, 2015 and May 6, 2021 will be deducted from the total time of imprisonment imposed on him.

Brian Kalenge, a lecturer with the faculty of law at Uganda Christian University, said he believes that "the 25 years is justifiable."

"You know the background of this case -- he was also abducted as a child; he was forced to do these hostilities," Kalenge said.

The sentence may be appealed before the ICC Appeals Chamber by either party to the proceedings, according to the court. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 17:54:36|Editor: huaxia

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ACCRA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Ghana on Friday took delivery of some 350,000 doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine at the Kotoka International Airport, in a boost to the country's fight against the pandemic.

Receiving the vaccines on behalf of the government, Chief Director of the Ministry of Health Kwabena Boadu Oku-Afari told journalists that the arrival of the vaccines was a "big relief" for Ghana.

"Even if you have the money to buy, it is not easy these days to get them," he said. "So this is very timely and a big relief for the country."

Ghana's COVID-19 immunization program suffered setbacks early this year due to inadequate vaccine supplies.

The delay in the procurement of additional COVID-19 vaccines is occasioned by the global scramble for vaccines and the unavailability of vaccines, said Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, director-general of the Ghana Health Service.

Ghana was the first country in the world to receive 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility on Feb. 24.

The government has also received 50,000 does of vaccines from the Indian government and 165,000 doses from telecoms giant MTN.

Ghana started its mass inoculation program on March 2, and the GHS said a total of 849,527 doses of the vaccines had been administered as of April 30.

The government has set a target of immunizing some 20 million people by the end of the year.

According to the GHS, the country's total confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 92,856 on Friday, with 90,480 recoveries and 783 deaths. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 19:41:58|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with African countries is always China's resolute strategic choice.

In a telephone conversation with Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi, Xi said China supports the DRC playing its role as the rotating chair of the African Union, and stands ready to work with the DRC to cement communication and coordination and make a success of the next meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 22:16:48|Editor: huaxia

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BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Friday that China is willing to strengthen cooperation with and provide support and assistance for Sierra Leone in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Xi made the remarks during a telephone conversation with Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio.

Noting that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Sierra Leone, Xi pointed out that over the half century, no matter how the international situation changes, the two countries have always supported each other on issues related to their respective core interests and major concerns, and have always stood firmly together at critical moments in the face of such major infectious diseases as Ebola and COVID-19.

The two sides, he added, have always maintained a high level of political mutual trust and are good brothers and good friends.

Chinese medical teams, expert teams, anti-epidemic supplies and vaccines have played a positive role in Sierra Leone's epidemic prevention and control, he said.

Stressing that this year is important to the two countries, their parties and their relations, Xi suggested that the two sides join hands to hold 50th-anniversary celebrations, carry forward their traditional friendship, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and promote common development.

China will continue to provide as much support and assistance as its capacity allows for Sierra Leone's national economic development, he said, adding that as the world is undergoing transformations rarely seen in a century, the two sides should strengthen unity and cooperation, firmly support each other, and jointly safeguard international equity and justice as well as the common interests of developing countries.

The Chinese side, he said, is willing to work with Sierra Leone to strengthen coordination within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the FOCAC.

For his part, Bio expressed warm congratulations on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between Sierra Leone and China.

Bio said that China, in the spirit of putting people first, has made remarkable achievements in getting rid of poverty and fighting the COVID-19 epidemic, which has not only made itself stronger, but also made important contributions to world peace, security and economic growth.

He thanked China for its concrete and practical assistance for Sierra Leone's economic and social development and the African country's fight against the pandemic, saying that China is a true and trustworthy good friend of Sierra Leone and the African people.

Sierra Leone firmly upholds the one-China policy and firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, Bio said.

Sierra Leone stands ready to work with China to deepen their friendship, strengthen cooperation in such areas as education, health and food security, and advance cooperation within the framework of the FOCAC, he added. Enditem
Press Release

May 7, 2021 PINUNO BILL PUSHES TO ESTABLISH PRODUCT SAFETY ONLINE INFORMATION CENTER Senator Manuel "Lito" Lapid has filed a bill which seeks to establish a Product Safety Online Information Center which will be in the form of a website so that it will be easily accessible to the public. The online information center will contain recalls, prohibitions, bans, defects and other relevant safety information on consumer products and motor vehicles, as well as their ingredients or components. "Karapatan ng bawat consumer sa ating bansa na maprotektahan sila mula sa mga produkto na hindi maayos ang pagkakagawa o kaya naman ay naglalaman ng mga delikado o hazardous components. Mapapaigting ang proteksyong ito para sa mga consumer kung mabibigyan sila ng iba't-ibang ahensya ng gobyerno ng kumpletong impormasyon kaugnay sa product safety lalo na kung ang nasabing produkto ay nirecall, pinagbabawal o napatunayang sira at hindi ligtas gamitin. Ang mga impormasyong ito ang syang layuning mailagay sa online information center na aking pinapanukala," Pinuno explained. Senate Bill 2144 seeks to strengthen the information dissemination and consumer education of regulatory bodies and agencies. The features of the said website are as follows: a) Searchable list of all valid and existing product recalls, prohibitions, bans, defect notices, and other relevant safety information b) Alerts on latest recalls, prohibitions, bans, defect notices, and other safety announcements c) Simple, plain-language explainers of recalls, prohibitions, bans, defect notices, and other safety announcements in English, Filipino, and other local language or dialects as may be necessary d) A platform for reports and complaints on possible safety issues and information on how to spot and detect unsafe or defective products through labels, identification numbers, batch and lot numbers, vehicle identification numbers (VIN), etc; e) Information on how to reach and contact manufacturers, retailers, distributors, and other related businesses connected with recalled, prohibited, banned, or defective products; f) Integration with existing consumer complaint and grievance procedures of the implementing government agencies g) Other feature and information as the implementing government agencies may deem necessary in order to foster convenience, quick-access, and a user-friendly and practical interface The management and maintenance of the online information center will be a multi-agency effort involving the Department of health (DOH) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with respect to food, drugs, cosmetics, devices and substances. The Department of Agriculture (DA) and Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) meanwhile will be responsible for products related to agriculture, including fertilizers and pesticides. The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will manage the information with respect to motor vehicles while the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be responsible for other consumer products. The said agencies shall enlist the technical assistance of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) for the setting up and maintenance of the website and its support infrastructure. The goal of this bill is simple: to keep our consumers informed on product safety issues and concerns in the most accessible and comprehensive manner. "Sa pamamagitan ng isinusulong nating Product Safety Online Information Center, hindi na kailangan pang magpakahirap ng mga consumer na hanapin ang mga impormasyong kaugnay sa iba't-ibang produkto sa pamamagitan ng pagtingin sa mga website ng iba't-ibang ahensya ng gobyerno, kasama na rin ang mga website ng mga manufacturers, retailers at distributors. Mahalagang may iisang website na maglalaman ng mga impormasyong magbibigay ng warning kung delikado ba o hindi na dapat gamitin pa ang isang produkto," Pinuno said.
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 23:35:28|Editor: huaxia

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NAIROBI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- When the Kenyan government announced in March that the elderly would be given priority in COVID-19 vaccination, Andrew Wandera, a resident of Busia, Kenya, heeded the call.

The 62-year-old retired teacher visited the main referral hospital in the county a few days after the announcement and got the jab.

Wandera recounted Friday that he influenced other older persons in his church and neighborhood to get the vaccine.

"There were lots of misconceptions in the village about the vaccine, with some saying one becomes very sick after getting it but I used myself as an example to encourage fellow elders to get the vaccine," said Wandera by phone, adding his wife, 59, also got vaccinated.

Such efforts from people like Wandera and increased awareness among the elderly in the country have seen the group lead in the number of those vaccinated in the east African nation.

At least 531,540 persons who are aged 58 and above have been vaccinated by far in the east African nation, according to the Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe.

The number represents more than half of those who have been vaccinated in the country, with 911,515 people having taken the vaccine as of Friday.

Other targeted persons are teachers, health workers and security officers.

Some 160,468 health workers have been vaccinated in the country, followed by 142,624 teachers and 76,578 security personnel.

Willis Akhwale, chairman of COVID-19 Vaccine Development Taskforce, said recently that the elderly are targeted because they are at severe risk and account for 60 percent of recorded deaths in the east African nation.

Since the outbreak of the disease in March 2020, 2,865 people have died in the country due to COVID-19 as of Friday.

Kenya launched the vaccination program on March 8, with the first phase targeting 1.25 million people at high risk of infection.

While many of Kenya's elderly went to be vaccinated because they are among high-risk groups, young people have also taken the jabs because of the nature of their jobs.

"Our employer organized for us to take the vaccine because we handle cash and interact with tens of people daily," said Caroline Nelima, a banker in Nairobi.

Other professionals who have been vaccinated besides bankers, teachers, health workers and security officers, are journalists and long-distance drivers.

Kenya's vaccination drive has, however, been hit by a shortage of the doses as India, the main supplier of the AstraZeneca vaccine, has suspended exports as its COVID-19 cases surge.

The east African nation is now working with Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) for assistance in procuring more vaccines, according to Kagwe.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Kenya rose to 162,666, with 1.7 million tests conducted as of Friday. And 110,653 patients have recovered from the pandemic. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 00:23:46|Editor: huaxia

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DAR ES SALAAM, May 7 (Xinhua) -- A Tanzanian senior official told parliament on Friday the government plans to employ 10,467 health workers to fill the shortage of health personnel in rural areas across the East African nation of about 60 million people.

Festo Dugange, the Deputy Minister of State in the President's Office responsible for Regional Administration and Local Government, said the health workers will be employed in the 2021/2022 financial year that begins on July 1.

Dugange told the House in the capital Dodoma that the health workers will include laboratory technicians, medical technicians and pharmacists.

The minister said the health workers will be deployed in health centers and dispensaries in rural areas across the country. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 01:01:14|Editor: huaxia

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South Sudanese health workers read Chinese language notes during the opening of lessons at Juba Teaching Hospital in Juba, South Sudan, on May 7, 2021. Several South Sudanese health workers on Friday started enrolling for Chinese language lessons being taught in Juba by members of the eighth batch of Chinese medical team. (Photo by Denis Elamu/Xinhua)

JUBA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Several South Sudanese health workers on Friday started enrolling for Chinese language lessons being taught in Juba by members of the eighth batch of Chinese medical team.

Moses Maror, 42-year-old medic in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Juba Teaching Hospital, said he is interested in learning Chinese language so as to better understand Chinese medical procedure and medicine.

"I am interested in learning Mandarin Chinese to communicate well with my Chinese counterparts in the department of obstetrics and gynecology," said Maror.

Pawil Arop Yor, Acting Director General of Juba Teaching Hospital, thanked the Chinese government for supporting the training of medical doctors in Mandarin Chinese, in addition to providing medicines and other medical assortments to the main referral hospital.

"They are doing a lot of things here. I would like to thank the Chinese government for helping us with medicines and now they are going to teach us Chinese language," said Yor in Juba on Friday during the launch of the training.

The Chinese government has been supporting South Sudan in improving health services in Juba Teaching Hospital.

In March, the Chinese government signed a development pact with South Sudan for the expansion and modernization of the Juba Teaching Hospital to enhance medical services. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 09:55:27|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins has made announcement to pause the quarantine-free travel from Australia's New South Wales state to New Zealand after more local cases found in Sydney.

While the source of infection of the cases announced in Sydney in the last two days is investigated, Health authorities in the Australian state of New South Wales have placed immediate restrictions on people in Sydney and surrounding regions following the detection of the two locally acquired cases.

The new rules, which came into place on Thursday afternoon and will continue until Monday morning.

However, the Australian side called New Zealand's decision to pause the travel bubble an "overreaction."

Whole genome sequencing has linked the case to a recent returnee who arrived in Australia from the United States. A household contact of the case has returned a positive test, according to a statement on Thursday.

An epidemiological link is yet to be determined between the case and the recent returnee, Hipkins said.

Officials have assessed that with several outstanding unknowns in the situation in Sydney, it is safest to pause quarantine free travel for any flights leaving New South Wales after 11:59 p.m. Thursday night. This will be under constant review, he said.

"The government is aware this will cause some disruption to travelers but strongly believes a cautious approach is the best course of action while investigations continue," the minister said. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 10:09:36|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Friday that the ban on travel from India would end on May 15, paving the way for thousands of Australians stranded in the country to return home.

The controversial ban, which was introduced in response to India's coronavirus crisis, made it a criminal offence to try and enter Australia within 14 days of being in India.

Morrison said the National Security Committee of Cabinet agreed there was no need to extend the ban beyond the planned date of May 15.

"What we will be doing is receiving our first repatriation flight into the Northern Territory as part of the charter arrangements that we have with our airlines to bring back those first people from India at that time," he said.

There are about 9,000 Australians who are stuck in India and want to come home.

Morrison said vulnerable people would be prioritized for places on board three repatriation flights set to take off from India before the end of May.

The flights will land in the Northern Territory with passengers to quarantine at the Howard Springs facility.

"Bringing back the most urgent of cases," Morrison said. "There will be rapid antigen testing put in place for everyone getting on the flights." Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 10:14:22|Editor: huaxia

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CANBERRA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government must spend billions of dollars per year in order to deliver on the recommendations of the aged care royal commission, a report has found.

The report, which was published by the Australia Institute's Center for Future Work on Friday, said that the federal government must pour an extra 10 billion Australian dollars (7.7 billion U.S. dollars) per year into the aged care system to fix it.

It noted that Australia's public spending on aged care is much lower than other industrial countries with better records of aged care service, and highlighted five specific options for raising new funds.

"In sum, there can be no argument that Australia - one of the richest countries in the world - can not 'afford' to provide top-quality, respectful care to the elders who helped build our economy and our society," said the report.

"That effort must start with the 2021-22 Commonwealth budget. There is no immutable economic or fiscal 'constraint' holding back the government from doing right by Australia's elders."

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety published its final report at the start of March after a two-year inquiry.

It found that the system is "besieged by neglect" and made 148 recommendations for change based on the core principles of "care, dignity and respect."

At the time Prime Minister Scott Morrison committed 452 million Australian dollars (351.8 million U.S. dollars) to undertake a "generational" overhaul of the system.

The report said that the government has a wide range of fiscal options at its disposal to support the urgent transformation of Australia's aged care system.

"The only question is whether this government places enough priority on caring for our seniors with the quality and dignity they deserve," said the report. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 12:08:59|Editor: huaxia

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WELLINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported one new case of COVID-19 in managed isolation with no community cases recorded on Friday.

The newly imported case came from United Arab Emirates, and was in a managed isolation and quarantine facility in Auckland, according to the Ministry of Health.

Three previously reported cases have now recovered. The total number of active cases in New Zealand is 26, and the total number of confirmed cases is 2,278, said a ministry statement. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 16:34:51|Editor: huaxia

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MANILA, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Friday 7,733 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 1,087,885.

The death toll climbed to 18,099 after 108 more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said.

The Philippines, which has about 110 million population, has tested over 11 million people since the outbreak in January 2020.

To break the transmission chain of COVID-19, Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said all arriving travelers are required to undergo 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

"The first 10 days of which shall be observed in a quarantine facility, which the remainder to be completed under home quarantine in their respective local government units of destination," Roque announced on television.

Roque said travelers will be swab tested on the seventh day. "Despite a negative test result, the arriving travelers shall complete the facility-based quarantine period of 10 days," he added.

Roque said the Bureau of Quarantine "shall ensure strict symptom monitoring while in the quarantine facility for 10 days."

The revised testing protocol stemmed from the experts' findings that the viral load is at its peak around seven or eight days after exposure.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a separate online briefing that the DOH recommended the new rules to the inter-agency coronavirus task force to ensure that travelers, including Filipinos, are "properly isolated and break the chain of transmission."

The Philippines still bars foreign tourists from entering the country. Only foreigners with valid visas, such as diplomats and investors, are allowed. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 23:57:17|Editor: huaxia

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ISLAMABAD, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan embarked on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia Friday evening to enhance bilateral relations and cooperation, said a statement from Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said earlier that during the visit, the prime minister's consultations with the Saudi leadership will cover all areas of bilateral cooperation including economic, trade, investment, energy and job opportunities for the Pakistani workforce.

Ahead of the prime minister's arrival, Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa had already reached Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and had meetings with the civil and military leadership.

Pakistani army's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement on Friday that the army chief had a meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Both sides discussed matters of mutual interest, regional security situation including recent developments in the Afghan peace process, bilateral defense, security, collaboration for regional peace and connectivity, according to the statement. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 00:35:38|Editor: huaxia

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SYDNEY, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Premier of the Australian state of Western Australia (WA) Mark McGowan urged Australia's federal government to mend relations with China, local media reported on Friday.

McGowan made the remarks at a press conference on Thursday after China announced its decision to indefinitely suspend all activities under the framework of the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue beginning Thursday, said a report by online newspaper WAtoday.

McGowan said he wasn't familiar with the details of the decision by China but warned against using "hostile language" when dealing with China, according to the report.

"My position on relations with China is very clear; I think we need to rebuild the relationship and I think we should stop language about war, conflict, and hostilities," McGowan was cited by the report as saying.

"I don't think that sort of language is helpful to anyone and I expect the Australian public wouldn't want that sort of language either," he said. Enditem
Home > 2021 > Review Essay: Intertwined Lives: PN Haksar and Indira Gandhi, by Jairam (...)

by KS Subramanian

Intertwined Lives:

PN Haksar and Indira Gandhi

by Jairam Ramesh

Simon & Schuster, India, 2018, pp.518, Price Rs. 799

This remarkable book is about Parmeshwar Narain Haksar arguably Indias most influential and powerful civil servant under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Haksar was Indira Gandhis alter ego during her period of glory. The eminent administrator and diplomat, was educated in Allahabad and London; and was called to the Bar from Lincoln s Inn. He studied Physics, Mathematics, Anthropology and Law. He became a diplomat in independent India under the inspiration of Jawaharlal Nehru and served in Lagos, Vienna and London as well as New York and Geneva in different capacities. Thereafter, he was Secretary in the Prime Ministers Secretariat (1967-1971); Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister (1971-1973); Member, Atomic Energy and Space Commission (1967-1977) and Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission (1975-1977).

The book is very well organized with summaries at the beginning of every important chapter covering the professional career of Haksar facilitating easy reading. At a critical juncture in modern Indian history, Haksar was not only the most powerful civil servant in India but also the second most powerful person in the country. He did not derive his authority from Indira Gandhi. He contributed in no small measure to her own dominance.

During his education in early years (1929-1935) in Allahabad he became politically conscious and was drawn to the communist ideology. As a student in London (1935-42) he became known as student Molotov because he resembled in his scholarship the renowned Soviet scholar and politician. On return to India, he practised as an advocate in Allahabad (1943-47).

Haksar was not a competitionwallah but was appointed to the foreign service by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. His diplomatic career lasted from 1947 to 1965. While in New Delhi from 1955 and 1960, he worked closely with Nehru who was also the External Affairs Minister. India-China relations developed rapidly during this period and led to the 1962 border war. The author notes, however, that nothing extraordinary during this period which pointed to Haksars future greatness. What then was the work entrusted to him by the Prime Minister during this critical period when China-India relations acquired serious importance? The author is silent.

During 1965-67, the lives of Haksar and Indira Gandhi became truly intertwined and Haksar became some sort of a local guardian to Indira Gandhis sons in the UK and became virtually a part of Indira Gandhis family. She became Prime Minister in January 1966 and immediately drew Haksar into her innermost circle. He was the alter ego of Indira Gandhi after he became Secretary to the PM from 1967 to 72. He played a pivotal role during the Bangladesh crisis (1971) and helped his PM ensure Bangladeshs liberation by generous support to the freedom fighters of that country. He was Indias Chief Negotiator at Shimla, Delhi and Dhaka and substantially contributed to the evolution of the Shimla Agreement (1972) with Pakistan. He was Indira Gandhis ideological anchor and moral compass.

During 1973-74, Haksar was the PMs Special Envoy. In 1975, he became Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and helped the PM formulate and implement the 20-point programme. However, there was a permanent rupture between his family and Indira Gandhi in March 1977. He left all his official positions in May 1977 and brought to an end his full time, three decades-old association with the Indian state.

From 1977 to 1998, Haksar stayed in his own house Shantiniketan in the New Delhi suburb and headed important committees and research institutions writing regularly. He became a friend and philosopher to civil servants, activists and NGOs.

Haksars estrangement from Indira Gandhi during 1978-84 was a significant feature. In 1975, Haksars family and he were harassed by the express orders of the PMs younger son. In 1979, she had publicly seemed to question his integrity. But Haksar had always known that his relationship with her went back decades. He had been an acolyte of Prime Minister Nehru. She had picked him up from relative obscurity in the diplomatic service and had installed him right next to her. This was perhaps the reason why he continued to be loyal to her amidst all the knocks he had received. He seemed to believe that she was the only political personality who embodied the values dear to him:

secularism, socialism and democracy (the Emergency notwithstanding), scientific temper and a global world view.

Unfortunately, the book does not record the views of PN Haksar on some of the major internal conflicts in the country such as Maoist violence, violence in the Northeast, and increasing instability in J&K and the Punjab. His views on the arrest in 1953 of Sheikh Abdullah and his imprisonment for over ten years and their consequences for the country, could have been discussed. However, on pages 390-394, the book records the conversation between PN Haksar and Sheikh Abdullah and Begum Abdullah and his recommendations for improving the situation in Kashmir.

In 1984, the PM was unhappy with Governor BK Nehru and Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and wanted to get rid of them. The only person who disagreed was PN Haksar who said the Governor was perfectly good and Farooq Abdullah was a duly elected Chief Minister though a bit impulsive. However, both the dignitaries were removed.

Haksar was Chairman, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta; Director, Press Trust of India; Member, National Integration Council; and Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Among the honours that he received were the Kasturi Ranga Award (1981), Soviet Land Nehru Award (1987) and Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration (1989). Haksar, unlike BK Nehru and LP Singh refused to accept the award of Padma Vibhushan when it was offered to him.

In October 1984, Haksar felt Indira Gandhis loss deeply and also the horrendous killing of Sikhs that followed her assassination. He said what happened on October 31 was utterly shameful for the country when confronted with the passion of countries like Japan and China. Despite 75 years of struggle for freedom and nearly four decades of independence, even a simple idea like secular nationalism has not found naturalisation in the Indian habitat. It wanders around like a strange animal in a hostile jungle to be devoured by wild beasts of Hindu, Muslim and other revivalists.

On the occasion of the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi, Haksar found it difficult to write about that unfathomable person as he described her. Haksar and Sharada Prasad, the two important people in the life of the Prime Minister, found nothing in her life that they found worth recording.

Haksar authored several books and an autobiography. He wrote on Foreign Policy, and edited a journal, Man and Development. He had close affinity with many senior journalists and thinkers. He had two daughters.

In the current Indian context, Haksars advocacy of close friendship with neighbours especially China must be noted. He visited China in 1984 and 1986 paving the way for Rajiv Gandhis truly historic visit to China in December 1988 and the signing of two major treaties in 1993 and 1996. He held that politics may change but not geography.

Despite some notable omissions, this is a well-written book of significance in contemporary Indian politics.

(The writer is a former senior civil servant)
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:26:41|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Those under-40s will be offered an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine as a precaution, British health authorities announced Friday.

The latest advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent expert advisory committee that advises Britain's health departments on immunisation, marks a shift to existing guidance where those aged under 30 were given an alternative to Astrazeneca over blood clotting concerns.

Latest data from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) showed there have been 242 blood clots in combination with low platelets in more than 28 million people who had the AstraZeneca vaccine up to April 28.

Previously, the MHRA had said the balance of risk for the AstraZeneca vaccine against coronavirus is very favourable for older people but "more finely balanced" for younger groups.

The JCVI said an alternative jab should only be given where it does not cause a major delay in immunization as experts fear that a significant delay to the vaccine rollout could increase the risk of a third wave.

The AstraZeneca jab is the only one of the three licensed vaccines that can be distributed at fridge temperature. The JCVI suggested that in some circumstances, AstraZeneca may be the only practical dose to offer.

People who have already had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine with no relevant side effects will also be offered it second time around, according to regulators.

The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine continue to "outweigh the risks for the vast majority of adults", regulators said.

More than 34.9 million people have been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the latest official figures.

Experts have warned that despite progress in vaccine rollout, Britain is "still not out of the woods" amid concerns over new variants, particularly those first emerged in South Africa, Brazil and India, and the third wave of pandemic on the European continent.

To bring life back to normal, countries such as Britain, China, Russia, the United States as well as the European Union have been racing against time to roll out coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 20:37:07|Editor: huaxia

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LONDON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- As votes are still being counted after the close of polling stations Thursday night, the result of this year's Scottish parliamentary election is believed to have a far-reaching impact on the future of the United Kingdom (UK).

PUSH FOR INDEPENDENCE

Scotland's First Minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Nicola Sturgeon, has vowed to push for a second referendum of Scotland's independence from the UK if she gets elected again.

Currently, the SNP holds 61 of the 129 seats. Sturgeon is hoping some gains will give her an overall majority at the Scottish parliament, known as Holyrood, to boost her calls for the new referendum. The Conservatives, with 30 members, have the second most number of seats, ahead of Labour's 23.

The election result is expected on Saturday, and it is not just Holyrood that will be carefully watching the count, but also many at Westminster (the British parliament).

David Phinnemore, professor of European Politics at the Queen's University Belfast, said the result could impact whether or not there will be a second referendum on Scottish independence.

"I suppose if the SNP doesn't get the majority, fall short of that majority, then it takes some of the pressure off in terms of Scottish independence," Phinnemore told Xinhua.

"The SNP is not going to go away. The whole question of Scottish independence isn't going to go away. But I think some of the momentum will have been taken out of this move towards a second referendum or the question of independence," he said.

Phinnemore believed that if the SNP does win the election by a considerable majority, it could even impact the push for independence from other devolved nations in Britain.

"People are concerned that if you see Scotland leaving the UK, then that's the UK unraveling, and that will just add to the voices in favor in Northern Ireland in favor of Irish unification," he said.

"It's not just in terms of Scotland's position in the UK that this election is important, but also the more broadly for the UK, and I think it could act as a bit of a stimulus, a bit more support in Wales, where we are seeing increased support for independence although we're well short of the majority," he said.

"But at least the issue has been reignited that there is the debate, there is the discussion ongoing," he said.

MIXED CONCERNS

Phinnemore said there is a mix of concerns among Scottish voters.

"Obviously, a number of them are wanting to see an independent Scotland because they don't feel as though Scotland's actually been listened to during the Brexit process, or indeed, the COVID process. Equally, you obviously got people who want to see this very much opportunity to say, we don't want independence," he noted.

There are some voters who are concerned that independence will bring unwanted disruption, Phinnemore said.

"It (independence) may seem attractive. And obviously, those supporters of independence are trying to make it attractive. But if you think Brexit was going to be disruptive, then Scottish independence will just be more disruptive," he said.

"And it'll create even greater uncertainty. And, actually, we don't need the additional cost and uncertainty on top of Brexit on top of COVID that we've experienced before," he said.

"But then again, obviously, people have not been satisfied with the way in which Scotland's been treated in the UK. Over the last number of years, I believe there's a strong case for independence for Scotland to do well, on the outside. And obviously, as part of that, potentially rejoin the European Union," he added.

BREXIT TRIGGERS SCOTLAND'S BID

There are many historical and political factors for Scotland's bid for independence from the UK, but Phinnemore believed Brexit has really spurred it.

In the 2016 Brexit referendum, a majority of Scots voted for Britain to stay in the EU.

"Following the referendum, Theresa May said she would negotiate Brexit on behalf of the whole United Kingdom. But I think most people see this as essentially being driven by what English Tories want," Phinnemore said.

"And that sentiment is very strong in Scotland, particularly amongst those who were identified more Scottish than British would actually be supportive, at least sympathetic to the idea of independence," he added.

Also, there is a big unknown which Brexit brought to Britain -- its economic effects.

"The big unknown in all this is about the economic effects of it because of the terms of withdrawal. Because let's face it together, there are still transfers in Scotland from Westminster, Scotland would have to fund those themselves. There's the question about what proportion of debt does Scotland take on, what are going to be the key resources coming in," Phinnemore said.

"And obviously, independence in the context of Brexit is different to independence in the context of membership in the European Union. And I think one of the concerns, if we look at the Brexit dimension is, if Scotland were to rejoin the European Union, you'd have to have border checks and withdrawals on North South across the English Scottish border," he said.

"And we know those are problematic, they are disruptive. And so from that dimension, there'll be costs, involved costs, which wouldn't have been there last time round," he added. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 21:36:52|Editor: huaxia

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BERLIN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The third COVID-19 wave in Germany "appears to be broken" as high infection figures were falling again, said Minister of Health Jens Spahn during a regular weekly press conference on Friday.

The number of COVID-19 infections in Germany increased by 18,485 within one day, around 5,800 less than one week ago, according to figures released Friday by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the federal government agency for disease control and prevention.

The incidence rate of reported COVID-19 cases in Germany in the past seven days per 100,000 citizens also fell from around 129 on the previous day to 125.7, according to the RKI. A week ago, the seven-day-incidence rate stood at around 153.

However, Spahn warned against an early easing of COVID-19 restrictions in Germany. In this phase of the pandemic, it was "still really a matter of not gambling away what has been achieved." Confidence paired with prudence was needed. "Too much impatience, on the other hand, would only help the virus."

Almost 7.4 million people in Germany were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, bringing the country's vaccination rate to 8.8 percent, according to the RKI. A total of 26 million people received at least one dose of vaccine.

Until COVID-19 restrictions could be largely dropped, the share of immune people to the prevailing variant B.1.1.7 in Germany would require to be "well above 80 percent" before the pandemic was under control, RKI President Lothar Wieler said during the press conference.

To date, almost 3.5 million COVID-19 infections have been officially registered in Germany since the outbreak of the pandemic. The death toll has climbed to 84,410, according to the RKI figures released on Friday. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 00:29:32|Editor: huaxia

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KIEV, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian troops will participate in a United States-led multinational exercise dubbed Defender Europe 21, the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Friday in a statement on Facebook.

According to the statement, the Ukrainian forces will join the Dynamic Front maneuvers, which would be carried out at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany, bringing together 1,800 troops from 16 nations, including the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Defender Europe is an annual joint exercise designed to build readiness and interoperability between the United States, NATO and partner militaries.

Ukraine, which actively cooperates with NATO, has been seeking to join the organization since 2014. The alliance, however, has not promised Kiev immediate membership prospects. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 01:07:00|Editor: huaxia

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LISBON, May 7 (Xinhua) --- Europe's post-pandemic economic recovery will only succeed if it is "fair and inclusive," said Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa on Friday as he opened the Porto Social Summit, an event hosted by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Echoing Costa's message, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen emphasized that Europe is "stronger when it is united by social programs."

"Together we are stronger, together we can make our social rules work for all Europeans. Together we can deliver on Europe's promise," she said.

According to von der Leyen, the objective of the summit is "to build a social Europe that is capable of realizing our ambitions."

Prime Minister Costa, who chairs the Council of the EU, said that "The time has come to rapidly launch economic and social recovery based on the engines of climate and digital transitions in a sustainable way."

These transitions "generate opportunities, but they also generate great anguish and much anxiety for millions of workers, as well as fears for small and medium-sized companies that fear losing competitiveness with the new environmental demands."

"The European Union must not forget the flip side of these transitions, the need for a strong social pillar to combat inequality, to create new jobs, to ensure requalification and social protection," Costa said.

He also stated that the European Commission's plans "are not only a response to the current situation, but above all, they are an instrument for the future."

According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic has "revealed the importance of a strong social state," in addition to "multiple weaknesses that still exist in our societies."

"A precarious society is not a resilient society. Recovery cannot just meet the present emergency and the time has come to combine emergency with recovery," he concluded.

Thanking Costa for hosting the Social Summit, von der Leyen said that "the pandemic uncertainty is not over yet and recovery is still at an early stage."

"Thanks to our single market social economy, we can give people certainty, who now more than ever need tangible and positive changes."

The two-day summit is attended by President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, the European Council President Charles Michel, the Commission's Executive Vice Presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, as well as 24 European heads of state and government and other political and institutional leaders, social partners and civil society.

Topping the agenda is the action plan presented by the Commission in March, which sets out three major goals for 2030: have at least 78 percent of the European population in employment, ensure that at least 60 percent of adults participate in trainings, and lift 15 million people out of poverty and social exclusion. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-08 01:12:25|Editor: huaxia

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HELSINKI, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The value of Finnish exports of goods rose by 12.5 percent, while exports to China surged by 50.5 percent in March this year, according to statistics published by the Finnish Customs on Friday.

Statistics show that in March 2021, the value of Finnish exports was 5.7 billion euros (6.8 billion U.S. dollars), increasing by 12.5 percent from the corresponding month in 2020, and the value of imports was 6 billion euros, rising by 11 percent year-on-year.

Finland's export growth in March was driven largely by the surge in the value of exports to China, which amounted to 312 million euros, with a sharp increase of 50.5 percent. Besides, Finland's imports from China also increased drastically by 22.6 percent with a value of 487.8 million euros, said the Customs.

In March, Finnish exports to European Union (EU) member countries increased by 7.6 percent, and exports to non-EU countries rose by 19 percent. Imports from EU member countries increased by 8.5 percent and imports from non-EU countries were up by 15 percent.

Compared to March of the previous year, among the export growth, the value of pulp and timber rose the most, while oil and petroleum products took the lead among the import increase.

During the January-March period, the total value of Finnish exports increased by 3.6 percent and the value of imports by 0.6 percent year-on-year. The trade deficit amounted to 985 million euros, comparing to 1.4 billion euros in deficit in the correspondent period last year, said the Customs. (1 euro=1.21 U.S. dollars) Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 06:22:56|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The White House on Thursday slammed the state of Florida after its governor signed into law a bill that will make it more difficult for certain Floridians to vote.

"The 2020 election was one of the most secure elections in American history. There's no legitimate reason to change the rules right now to make it harder to vote. That's built on a lie," deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"The only reason to change the rules right now is if you don't like who voted, and that should be out of bounds," she said. "There are some states with bad laws that are trying to make them good and some states with good laws, trying to make them even better. That's moving forward."

"Florida is moving in the wrong direction," Jean-Pierre said.

Jean-Pierre reiterated the White House's support for the House-passed legislation, H.R. 1, that would expand access to mail-in ballots, early voting and automatic registration, among other provisions. The bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis earlier Thursday signed the state's new voting legislation into law. The new law, Senate Bill 90, will restrict the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, implement additional requirements for voters to sign up for mail-in ballots, impose additional voter identification rules, prohibit volunteers and organizations from returning ballots on behalf of voters, and ban counties from accepting grants or private funds to pay for election-related expenses, among other restrictive measures that Florida Republicans said would provide "guardrails" to prevent anyone from "gaming the system" in the future.

DeSantis said during the signing ceremony that "Floridians can rest assured that their votes count and that Florida will continue to conduct elections that are efficient, transparent and secure."

The law, however, met with immediate lawsuits from rights groups, challenging several provisions in the law while condemning it as a new voter suppression effort.

The Sunshine State's legislation is part of the Republican-led effort to restrict voting access nationwide in the wake of record turnout in the 2020 elections and former President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claims that last year's presidential election was marred by widespread voter fraud and was stolen from him.

A tally by the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at New York University found that 361 bills with provisions that restrict voting had been introduced in 47 states as of March 24. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 12:13:04|Editor: huaxia

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HAVANA, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The six-decade U.S. embargo against Cuba has damaged its national banking system, a senior official from Cuba's Metropolitan Bank said on Thursday.

Some international banks have canceled operations in Cuba, due to the embargo imposed by the United States on the island, Mariana Torres, vice president of the bank, told a press conference.

It has also caused estimated damage worth 28 million U.S. dollars to Cuba's banking and financial system between 2019 and 2020, and seriously affected "funding provided by Cuban banks to local entrepreneurs," she said.

The U.S. administrations have even imposed fines on foreign companies trading with the Caribbean nation, Torres said.

Torres made the remarks ahead of the Cuban government's presentation of its annual draft resolution against the embargo before the UN General Assembly in June, which was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

First imposed in 1962, the embargo was tightened by former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which banned U.S. flights to Cuban cities except for Havana, barred U.S. cruise ships and yachts from visiting the Caribbean nation, and limited remittances that Cuban-Americans send to their families on the island. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2021-05-07 13:57:09|Editor: huaxia

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WASHINGTON, May 7 (Xinhua) -- China will not acquiesce to any external attempt to destabilize Xinjiang, or even to split up China and obstruct the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, said Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai on Thursday.

During the "Xinjiang Is a Wonderful Land" online meeting co-hosted by the embassy and the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Cui said that Xinjiang affairs are internal affairs of China, and the 1.4 billion Chinese people of various ethnic groups will not allow any interfering forces to contain China's development.

"In the United States and other Western countries, lies about Xinjiang still hold sway. Systemic slandering and unilateral sanctions against China are rife," the ambassador said, "but lies cannot stand the scrutiny of facts."

"The so-called 'genocide' is just a downright lie," Cui said, citing figures of the Uygur population in Xinjiang, which has doubled from 5.55 million to over 12 million in the past 40-plus years.

Describing "forced labor" as "groundless," Cui said, "Workers in Xinjiang choose their jobs, including those in the high-income industry of cotton picking, on their own volition. They sign labor contracts as a free and equal party, their rights and interests are well protected, and they enjoy full remuneration."

"If making a decent living is 'forced labor,' then should they only deserve 'forced poverty' and 'forced unemployment'?" asked the ambassador.

"Feigning concerns about Xinjiang's human rights, they are thinking about using Xinjiang to contain China," the ambassador said, calling on those Western countries to listen to what the 25 million Xinjiang people of various ethnic groups and the 1.4 billion Chinese people say, and "tell truth from falsehood, and right from wrong."

Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, said Xinjiang spends more than 70 percent of its general public budget expenditures every year on protecting and improving the livelihoods of all its ethnic groups.

"There has been no violent terrorist attack in Xinjiang for over four years," the official said, adding that the region has made unprecedented achievements in economic and social development and the people's livelihood.

The people of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are unwavering in their determination to safeguard national unity, national security, ethnic solidarity, and the country's prosperity and stability, he told the audience.

During the event, a Uygur woman representative, a graduate trainee of vocational education and training center, an Imam, and a migrant worker shared their stories about how the Chinese government's policy has benefited the people and how Xinjiang people have overcome difficulties to live a better life. Enditem
Alyssa Battistoni in The Nation:

The economist Branko Milanovic has been a central participant in the debates of this emerging field, as well as one of its most idiosyncratic contributors. Born in Belgrade when it was part of Yugoslavia, Milanovic wrote his dissertation on income inequality in his home country long before it was a fashionable topic. He went on to research income inequality as an economist at the World Bank for nearly two decades before taking up a string of academic appointments; he currently teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. But he is not your typical World Bank economist: Milanovic knows his Marx and, though not a Marxist himself, has long insisted on the value of class analysis and historical perspectives to economics, while also dabbling in political-philosophy debates about distributive justice. His experience of life under actually existing socialism, meanwhile, gave him critical distance from the end-of-history narratives that were trumpeted in much of the West after the fall of the USSRas well as from the end-of-the-end-of-history hand-wringing that has proliferated since 2016. The discourse, then, seems to be catching up to where Milanovic has been all along.

More here.
Qatars public prosecutor has ordered the arrest of Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al-Emadi for questioning over alleged embezzlement of public money and power abuse.

State-run news agency, QNA, on Thursday said countrys ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani dismissed Al Emadi who has been finance minister since 2013, the year Sheikh Al Thani ascended to power.

The public prosecutor subsequently issued the arrest of the prominent minister after reviewing the papers and the reports sent by the Attorney Generals office, alleging crimes related to the public office, such as damaging public money, exploiting the job, and abusing power.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, indicated that the investigation is ongoing.

No one is above the law in Qatar, and the investigation of the Minister of Finance is still ongoing, he said. The arrest of the minister is unprecedented.

Al Emadi is credited with the gas-rich countrys revamped financial system. He is also reckoned with the transformation of Qatar National Bank from a local champion into the regions biggest lender as its chief executive from 2007 to 2013.

He also serves as chairman of the banks board, presides over the executive board of Qatar Airways and is board member of the countrys powerful sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority.
Julian Baggini in Prospect:

How did one of the greatest philosophers who ever lived get so much wrong? David Hume certainly deserves his place in the philosophers pantheon, but when it comes to politics, he erred time and again. The 18th-century giant of the Scottish Enlightenment was sceptical of democracy anddespite his reputation as the great infidelin favour of an established church. He was iffy on the equality of women and notoriously racist. He took part in a pointless military raid on France without publicly questioning its legitimacy.

In unravelling the Hume paradox, what we find is that the very qualities that made Hume such a brilliant philosopher also made him a flawed political thinker. There are implications here for contemporary academic philosophywhose much-vaunted transferable critical skills turn out not to transfer so well after all. Styles of thinking that work brilliantly in some domains fail miserably in others: indeed, some of our biggest mistakes arise when we transfer a way of thinking apt for one domain to another where it just doesnt fit. There are consequences, too, for day-to-day and working life: Hume shows that the smartest person in the room isnt necessarily the smartest choice for the job. And then there are general implications for the way in which a healthy intellectual scepticism, the essential precondition for rational enquiry in science and much else, can easily become a fatalistic cynicism about the prospects for building a better society.

More here.
Egypt Thursday sent to Tunisia a shipment of medical equipment valued at 12 tons to support the North African country in its efforts to fight the ongoing global pandemic.

An aircraft of the Egyptian armed forced landed at El Aouina military base, near capital Tunis, with the donation. There are no details on the equipment but Egyptian sources say they will back Tunisias efforts in keeping the pandemic at a bay.

Tunisia is struggling to contain contaminations after more than 50 days into the vaccination program.

Wednesday the health ministry reported 1,410 new cases and 86 deaths linked to the pandemic. The new data bring total contaminations to 317,010 since the report of the first Case in February. The death toll stands at 11,208. 272,505 people have recovered from the respiratory disease.
Another consignment of marijuana has been destroyed days after a court in Embu burned cannabis with an estimated street value of Ksh4 million.

A court in Kilungu, Makueni County on Thursday morning suspended its session to torch 2,556 kilogrammes of marijuana worth Sh76 million in street value.

Kilungu Senior Resident Magistrate Charles Mayamba and Mukaa Deputy County Commissioner Kaburu Kaimba presided over the destruction of the marijuana haul in an open field in Sultan Hamud township.

We have destroyed 2,556 kilogrammes of bhang worth Sh76 million after the Kilungu Law Courts convicted those who were transporting the narcotic, Kaburu said.

The weed which was in 53 sacks was the exhibit in a narcotics trafficking case that the court concluded a fortnight ago.

The court sentenced one Nathaniel Odhiambo Wambi to 10 years or an alternative of paying a fine of Sh5 million.

The convict was arrested after the lorry he was driving was involved in an accident at Malili township along the Mombasa-Nairobi highway on the night of August 13, 2020.

The court, however, exonerated the owner of the truck, who had fled the accident scene. The court heard that the owner had authorised the vehicle to transport jaggery and not cannabis.

Wambi was driving from the Isebania border town to Mombasa and had stashed the sacks of weed behind a few sacks of maize.
Officers from the Anti Counterfeit Agency (ACA) on Thursday seized more than 20,000 counterfeit N95 masks with a value of Sh21 million.

Acting on a tip-off, authorities raided a leading city hospital and recovered the masks which bared the M3 Co.N95 logo. The masks had been supplied by a company named John Gray Ltd.

The raid followed a tip-off by hospital officials about a suspicious supply by a company named John Gray Ltd. Hospital officials said the consignment was delivered to the hospital earlier this week and failed internal quality & standard tests at the facility. The goods made in China marked one of the biggest single seizures of personal protective equipment since COVID 19 pandemic began, ACA said in a statement.

ACA enforcement manager Lindsay Kipkemoi implored hospitals and medical facilities to report suspected counterfeit supplies to the Authority.

We are living in unprecedented times of COVID 19 pandemic with thousands of Kenyans dead and affected from Covid-19.

Its not only criminal to sell counterfeit personal protective equipment but morally evil to take advantage of this situation. These products pose health & safety risks to first-line responders & to consumers as they provide a false sense of security to users, she said.

The counterfeit masks were taken to ACA Depot and investigations launched to identify the owner/s of the Company.

Anti-Counterfeit Act 2008, makes it an offense to trade in counterfeit goods. Suspect/s faces up to 5yrs in prison and/or Min. fine of 3 times the retail value of original goods.
The Kisumu County government says it has moved with speed to stop the further spread of the COVID-19 variant from India.

Kisumu Health CEC Prof. Boaz Otieno-Nyunya said the county has confined eight foreign nationals who tested positive for the deadly variant from India.

In a statement, Prof. Otieno-Nyunya said at least 100 other people who came into contact with the 8 had also been placed under quarantine.

He said the Kisumu administration has since stepped up surveillance and contact tracing to contain the spread of the virus.

Following gene sequencing carried out on samples by the National government testing laboratories, it has been ascertained that one of the samples turned positive for the Indian variant of COVID-19, said the CEC.

The County Government has confined at least 8 foreign nationals who tested positive to the Indian variant and is currently conducting an elaborate contact tracing to help stop the spread of the virus. All the 8 who were working at a local factory are suspected to have recently travelled from India.

Prof. Otieno added: At least 100 other workers who are said to have had close contact with the 8 have been placed under strict quarantine as the county moves with speed to stop a further spread of the Virus. The situation is under control but we urge Kisumu residents to continue adhering to the COVID-19 protocols to help keep away the stubborn virus.
South Africa: Health care workers urged to vaccinate in Sisonke Protocol

South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) investigators in the Sisonke Protocol have called on unvaccinated health workers to register for and receive the Johnson and Johnson trial inoculation as it heads towards its final week.

In a statement issued on Friday, the SAMRC said to date, 366 101 healthcare workers have been vaccinated since the trial commenced in March. Of these, 73 478 had been vaccinated since 28 April when the trial recommenced after an earlier suspension by the South African Health Product Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).

As of the end of Thursday, 6 May, we have vaccinated 366 101 health workers, 73 478 of whom since we recommenced vaccination. We thank our teams of researchers and Department of Health staff who are working tirelessly to bring vaccines to as many health workers as possible, including in some of the countrys most remote regions such as northern KwaZulu-Natal and rural Eastern Cape, the SAMRC said.

The council urged all unvaccinated health personnel to come forward should they wish to receive a one-and-done dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine through Sisonke.

"We wish to let health personnel know that we have doses and capacity to extend the Sisonke trial to health workers who are not directly patient-facing.

The anticipated third wave has thankfully been slower to arrive than expected, and has provided a window of opportunity in which to vaccinate health workers and personnel. We urge all health workers and personnel, who have not yet been vaccinated, to take up this offer before a resurgence of cases this winter to protect themselves and our health systems, said the SAMRC.

The Johnson and Johnson vaccine provides 80% protection against severe COVID-19 illness and death, based on local data.

We understand many people may be concerned about the safety of the vaccine following the pause, said the SAMRC, adding that severe side-effects are exceedingly rare, although severe COVID-19 is not.

Based on all data from South Africa and the United States, we know that severe side-effects like severe allergy (anaphylaxis) or the rare clotting condition called VITT (Vaccine-induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia) affect between one and four people per million people vaccinated, whereas severe COVID-19 is likely to kill 35 000 people per million cases, should we experience another surge in infections, said the council.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2021-05-07. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Nyali MP Mohammed Ali alias Moh Jivho Pevu is laughing all the way to the bank after a court awarded him Sh1 million in a defamatory case against The Star newspaper.

The Radio Africa Group-owned daily had on March 10, 2018, published an article with the heading Mohamed Ali caught up in CDF Bursary Scam, as he fires three.

The local paper had claimed Moha was under investigation by the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (EACC) over embezzlement of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

In June 2018, Mohammed Ali sued the Star for defamation saying the article dented his credibility, profession, and reputation.

He also indicated he had never been investigated by the EACC nor did he have any power to fire any personnel of the CDF committee.

Milimani Resident Magistrate S. Gitonga ruled that the Star had misrepresented the facts in a story.

Noting that the publication issued a correction and apologized to Moha, the magistrate ordered the Star to pay for the damages caused by the initial publication.

Based on the foregoing and owing to the fact that the plaintiff was afforded a right of reply and a clarification was published on May 11 and 12, 2019, which sought to make clarifications and directly apologised to the plaintiff, and taking into consideration the provisions under section 16 A of the defamation Act Cap 36 of the Laws of Kenya, I award the plaintiff a sum of Ksh1 million as general damages for the tort of defamation, ruled the judge.

The defendant was also ordered to foot the cost of the suit.

Mohammed Ali later took to social media on Thursday to announce the ruling.

I have been awarded Ksh 1 million over a publication that was carried by the star in which the newspaper alleged that I had been caught in the embezzlement of CDF funds. The story was found to have been defamatory. For the young upcoming Journalist deal with the facts like we did, he tweeted.
Authorities in Mombasa county arrested a Tanzanian national who was posing as a disabled mother to beg money from unsuspecting Kenyans in the streets of the coastal city.

The County inspectorate Deputy Director in charge of operations, Ibrahim Basafar, said his officers acted on a tip-off from members of the public who reported a suspicious group of foreigners around Makadara in Mombasa.

The officers nabbed a 23-year-old Tanzanian national and discovered that the children she was caught with were rented from Kenyan parents.

Our officers have been investigating this syndicate of con artists from Tanzania. We even have a court case against one suspect who traffics them to Mombasa, Basafar said.

According to the county officer, the con woman makes between Ksh15,000 t0 Ksh 20,000 per day and pays the mother to the child Ksh3,000.

Basafar warned parents against renting their children and urged well-wishers to spend money on genuine and urgent cases.

We have people at Coast General Hospital who cant afford medication. They are in pain. These are the people we need to help and not these con men, Basafar said.

The Tanzanian woman was charged with two accounts of obtaining money by false pretense and another of being in the country illegally.

She pleaded guilty before Senior Resident Magistrate Rita Amwai and was sentenced to 1 yr in prison for the charge of obtaining money by false pretense or part with a fine of Ksh50,000.

On the second count of being in Kenya illegally, Judge Amwai gave repatriation orders after fulfillment of the first judgement.
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TALLAHASSEE, FL  The Surgeon General of Florida has issued a statement that rescinds some previously issued public health advisories concerning COVID-19, that expands vaccine eligibility, and that encourages a return to normal state services. His statement reads as follows:



"State Surgeon General Issues

Public Health Advisory Rescinding

Previously Issued Advisories,

Expanding Vaccine Eligibility,

and Encouraging the Resumption of

In-Person Government

Operations and Services Statewide

Today (4/29/21), State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees issued a Public Health Advisory rescinding the public health advisories issued on March 25, 2020, June 22, 2020, July 21, 2020 and January 21, 2021. The Public Health Advisory also expands vaccine access and eligibility to any individual in Florida who is present in Florida for the purpose of providing goods or services for the benefit of residents and visitors of the state. Finally, the Public Health Advisory encourages government offices to conduct in-person operations and services.

State Surgeon General Dr. Scott Rivkees considered several factors while issuing this public health advisory:

Nearly nine million individuals have been vaccinated in Florida and scientific studies show that the COVID-19 vaccines protect individuals from COVID-19, and dramatically diminish hospitalizations and deaths caused by the virus.

Continuing COVID-19 restrictions on individuals with no end in sight, including the long-term use of face coverings and withdrawal from social and recreational gatherings, pose a risk of adverse and unintended consequences.

Florida has a sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines to provide an opportunity for every eligible Floridian who wants to be vaccinated.

Read the full Public Health Advisory here.

About the Florida Department of Health

The Florida Department of Health, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov."
International freight company FedEx is transporting more than 25,000 oxygen concentrators and converters to India via the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum and other multinational companies. FedEx delivered an initial consignment comprising 1,000 critical oxygen concentrators to New Delhi on April 30.

FedEx will donate more than 3,400 oxygen concentrators, converters, and nearly 265,000 KN95 masks for direct relief in Mumbai. The international courier giant will deliver critical COVID-19 medical supplies to Mumbai hospitals on May 8 (Saturday).

Besides this, the firm is working with its customers and non-profit organisations to deliver medical supplies and aid to India.

Also read: COVID-19: How foreign aid reaches India

"We have been on the frontlines delivering relief since the start of the pandemic, and are responding to the urgent situation in India now. FedEx will continue to deliver lifesaving medicine, personal protective equipment (PPE), and other critical supply until this pandemic is over," FedEx President and COO Raj Subramaniam said.

FedEx has shipped over 80 kilotonnes of personal protective equipment, including over 2.2 billion masks globally. It has also pledged $4 million in cash and in-kind transportation support to help organisations like Direct Relief and International Medical Corps for sending COVID-19 vaccines around the world.

Also read: 'Heartbroken' Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledges support in India's COVID-19 battle

The Memphis-headquartered company is also a founding member of the Global Task Force on Pandemic Response, which is a public-private partnership by the US Chamber of Commerce and supported by the Business Roundtable. This is aimed at giving businesses a platform to mobilise and deliver resources in areas worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delivery of life-saving supplies by FedEx is a part of its FedEx Cares 50 by 50 goal to help 50 million people around the world by the company's 50th anniversary in 2023.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

Also read: Amazon distributing American ventilators under USIBC aid to India

Also read: British Airways send aircraft with COVID-19 medical supplies to Delhi
Night curfew -- from 6.30 pm to 5 am -- will be imposed in Arunachal Pradesh for the entire month, starting Saturday, and all shops and business establishments have been told to down shutters by 4 pm, as part of the state government's measures to check the spread of COVID-19, a senior official said. According to the government order, released on Friday, inner line permits (ILPs) will not be issued to tourists during the month, and government offices will have to function with 50 per cent Group C and Group D staff on any given day.

No curb has been imposed on employees belonging to Group A and Group B categories, the order said.

Persons with disability, expectant mothers and women with kids will be allowed to work from home.

"All deputy commissioners have been asked to identify containment zones in their districts, keeping in view the emerging situation, and strictly enforce COVID-appropriate behaviour among people," Principal Secretary (health) Dr Sharat Chauhan told reporters over a video conference, following a high-level meeting with top officials, which was chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu.

"There will be no restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of individuals," he said.

"Shopkeepers should maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) and make sure customers wear masks and maintain distance. Restaurants can take home delivery orders till 6.30 pm," he said, adding that only 20 persons will be allowed to attend marriages and funerals at a time.

The Capital Complex region -- comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli and Banderdewa areas will, nonetheless, observe a seven-day lockdown from May 10.

Deputy Commissioner of the region, Talo Potom, stated that the lockdown will come into force from 5 am on May 10 and would remain effective till May 17.

The administration has already declared several areas as micro containment zones, Potom said.

"Steps would be taken to ensure smooth supply of essential items in the vulnerable zones. Also, a two-day buffer period has been given for people to buy necessary items," he added.

Also read: COVID-19 crisis: PM Modi making 'mockery of democratic principles', says P Chidambaram

Also read: Moderna hikes 2021 COVID-19 vaccine sales forecast to $19.2 bn
India has asked state-run banks to withdraw funds from their foreign currency accounts abroad, two government officials and a banker said, as New Delhi fears Cairn Energy may try to seize the cash after an arbitration ruling in a tax dispute.

Cairn was awarded damages of more than $1.2 billion plus interest and costs in December in a long drawn-out tussle with the Indian government over its retrospective tax claims. While New Delhi has filed an appeal, the London-listed firm has started identifying Indian assets overseas, including bank accounts, that could be seized in the absence of a settlement, which Cairn says it is still pursuing.

The company has registered its claim against India in courts in the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Singapore and Quebec, moves that could make it easier to seize assets and enforce the arbitration award.

"Earlier this week a guidance was sent to state-run banks to withdraw funds from their nostro accounts," one of the government officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters, adding that the finance ministry had issued the guidance.

A nostro account refers to an account a bank holds overseas at another bank in the currency of that jurisdiction. Such accounts are used for international trade and to settle other foreign exchange transactions. The finance ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A banker from one of India's 12 state banks, who also asked not be identified, confirmed the ministry had sent the guidance and said the government was concerned courts abroad could order funds in their jurisdiction be remitted to Cairn.

"There was an apprehension that some courts may take a drastic measure saying whatever the offshore funds of the government of India, those may be taken over or frozen for the time being," the banker told Reuters. "Our assets are tantamount to assets of the government of India as we are owned by them."

The Indian Banks' Association, an industry body representing lenders, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. At least two state banks also did not respond, while others could not be reached outside of regular office hours.

Cairn said in February it was discussing several proposals with the government to find a solution. "Cairn continues to have constructive engagement with the government of India," a spokesman for the company said when asked about the case on Thursday.

But the second Indian government official said talks between New Delhi and Cairn were making little progress and said the ministry's request to banks showed the government was worried that the British firm could move quickly to seize assets.

The dispute began after a previous Indian government decided to impose capital gains tax retrospectively on some companies, such as Cairn and telecoms operator Vodafone Plc, which also took its case to arbitration and won. The cases scared off foreign investors and dealt a blow to the government of Manmohan Singh, who lost power in a 2014 election to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi's government has said it would not make retrospective tax claims in future but it has defended outstanding cases.

Also read: India places orders to lift regular supplies from Saudi Aramco in June
India's COVID-19 outbreak could peak in the coming days, according to a mathematical model readied by advisers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The group's projection has put them more in line with other scientists, who have also suggested a mid-May peak for the country.

India registered a record single-day hike of 4.14 lakh fresh COVID-19 case on Friday, May 7, taking the country's coronavirus tally to 2.14 crore, the health ministry's data showed.

Also Read: India to reach 'peak' of 2nd Covid wave in 20 days from now, says SBI Research

With 3,915 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the death toll inched to 2.34 lakh. Meanwhile, experts are of the view that the reported numbers likely downplay the real toll because India's hospitals and crematoriums have been overwhelmed, which makes the evaluation of any peak particularly complicated.

Nevertheless, the estimates may become pivotal as PM Modi has been averting a nationwide lockdown, rather choosing to let states enforce their own curbs to stem the spread of COVID-19.

"Our predictions are that the peak will come within a few days," Mathukumalli Vidyasagar, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in Hyderabad, told Bloomberg, referring to a model he readied with Manindra Agrawal, a professor from IIT Kanpur.

Also Watch: When will 2nd COVID wave peak in India and will we have a 3rd wave?

"As per current projections, we should hit 20,000 cases per day by the end of June. We will revise this as needed," he noted.

Vidyasagar's team had in April wrongly projected that the COVID-19 wave would peak by the middle of last month.

The assessment was due to erroneous parameters, as "the pandemic was changing rapidly, even wildly, until about a week ago," he tweeted at the time.

Researchers are largely of the view that the coming few weeks will be tough for India.
While the anti-COVID-19 vaccines are effective as a preventive measure against the virus, experts believe that the jabs can't guarantee 100 per cent protection from the coronavirus in all situations. Hence, taking precautions has become extremely important, both, for those who had recovered from infection and those who are not infected.

Dentists have now recommended that a person who has recently recovered from COVID-19 should immediately change their toothbrush. They believe that doing so can save the person from re-infection as well as others who utilise the same washroom.

"If you or anyone in your family and friend circle have contracted Covid-19, once recovered, please ensure to change your toothbrush, tongue cleaner etc. These can harbour the virus, and it is best they are discarded," explained Dr Pravesh Mehra, HOD Dental Surgery, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi.

Dr Bhumika Madan, Consultant (Dental), Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, agreed with Mehra's assessment. Madan added that she usually recommends to persons who had been infected with seasonal flu, cough and cold to change their toothbrush and tongue cleaners upon recovery.

"We are advising the same to Covid-19 patients too. If you have contracted Covid-19, you should change your toothbrush and tongue cleaner after 20 days of getting the first symptoms," Madan further added. The doctor explained that bacteria/virus builds up over time on the surface of the toothbrush and this is known to cause upper respiratory tract infections.

"As a prevention, we prescribe using mouthwash and betadine gargle that helps in reducing build-up of virus/bacteria in the mouth. If a mouthwash is not available, rinsing the mouth with warm saline water also works fine. Apart from this, one must maintain oral hygiene and brush twice a day," Madan stated.

How COVID-19 can spread via toothbrush?

COVID-19 is known to spread through droplets released when a person coughs, sneezes, shouts, talks and laughs. The coronavirus is also airborne meaning that once released from an infected person it can stay in the air for a while and be transmitted to other people.

COVID-19 can spread through toothbrush and tongue cleaners as these items belonging to an infected person are likely to have a significantly high concentration of SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. Hence continued use of these items can lead to re-infection or fresh COVID-19 infection in others.

If someone in a household has contracted coronavirus then it is advisable that the toiletry items (toothbrush, tongue cleaner etc.) used by the infected person should be thrown out.

(Edited by Mohammad Haaris Beg)

Also Read: Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin announces Rs 2,000 COVID relief, cut in Aavin milk rate

Also read: COVID-19 second wave reaches ill-equipped rural India
Hong Kong: Inbound traveller quarantine adjusted

(To watch the full press briefing with sign language interpretation, click here.)

The Government today announced that quarantine requirements for inbound travellers and returnees from certain overseas places will be adjusted from May 12 based on the vaccine bubble concept.

Those who are fully vaccinated, ie after 14 days following the administration of two COVID-19 vaccine doses for production of antibodies, will have their quarantine period reduced.

Permanent Secretary for Food & Health (Health) Thomas Chan told a press briefing this afternoon that the quarantine adjustments took into account the risk assessment of travellers countries of origin.

"We are shortening the quarantine (periods) according to the risk groups. So for these inbound travellers, what we would require (is that they are) only fully vaccinated and (have a) negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test (result)."

Those coming from the low-risk countries of Australia, New Zealand and Singapore will need to undergo quarantine at designated hotels for seven days instead of the original 14 days, plus seven days of self-monitoring. They should also undergo a post-arrival COVID-19 test on a designated day.

The quarantine period for travellers from medium and high-risk places at the designated hotels will be reduced from 21 to 14 days. This will be followed by seven days of self-monitoring and COVID-19 tests on two separate days.

The quarantine arrangements for people who have stayed in very high-risk places will remain unchanged, while flights from extremely high-risk places will be banned.

For those who arrive from the Mainland, Taiwan and Macau other than the through the Return2hk scheme, their quarantine period will be halved to seven days, plus seven days of self-monitoring and they will also need to undergo a post-arrival COVID-19 test on a designated day. Mr Chan said this measure will also come into effect on May 12.

This story has been published on: 2021-05-07. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Benchmark indices continued their winning run for the third straight session today amid strong corporate results and positive global cues. Sensex climbed 256 points to end at 49,206 and Nifty rose 98 points to 14,823. Top Sensex gainer was HDFC rising 2.70 per cent, after reporting a 31 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,669 crore for the March quarter.

M&M, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, ITC, ONGC and UltraTech Cement were the other Sensex gainers, rising up to 2.68 per cent.

Shares of Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Kotak Bank and ICICI Bank tumbled up to 2 per cent on Sensex. On a weekly basis, Sensex advanced 424.11 points or 0.86 per cent and Nifty jumped 192.05 points or 1.31 per cent.

"Market opened with a gap up tracking heavyweights gains and was able to maintain its optimism to the end, supported by the global market. Global bourses were largely positive as easing restrictions on movement in the US and Europe along with the expectation of better US job data signalled a faster economic rebound in the western markets.

"Metal stocks are continuing their upbeat movement on improved sectoral outlook while mid-cap stocks underperformed their peers," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. BSE midcap and small cap indices fell 8.29 points and rose 34 points, respectively

Metal stocks led the rally with BSE metal index climbing 987 points and oil and gas index rising 118 points.

India reported a record 4,14,188 new coronavirus infections in a day, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,14,91,598, while the active cases crossed the 36-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll has increased to 2,34,083 with 3,915 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours.

Market breadth was positive with 1,687 stocks rising against 1321 falling on BSE. 171 stocks were unchanged.

Market cap of BSE listed firms rose to Rs 211.24 lakh crore.

Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Head of Technical Research, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas said, "On the daily chart, Nifty has recently broken out from an Inside bar & is seeing the follow through action on the upside. So the overall structure shows that the trajectory is likely to remain positive for the short term. 15,000 will be the key short term level on the upside to watch out for. Breach of this psychological level on the upside on closing basis will pave the way to the all time high of 15431. On the flip side, the near term support zone shifts higher to 14600-14650."

Global markets

France's CAC 40 rose 0.2% to 6,370 while Germany's DAX added 1.3% to 15,389. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.6% to 7,120. S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% to 4,204 and Dow futures gained 0.3% to 34,555. Futures for the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 were also higher.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 recouped early losses to edge up nearly 0.1% and finish at 29,357.82. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% to 7,080.80, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.6% to 3,197.20. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gyrated much of the day ending nearly 0.1% lower at 28,610.65, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.7% to 3,418.87.
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COVID-19 in India: Centre issues guidelines for vaccination of aviation staff

The Centre on Thursday, issued an advisory to facilitate swift COVID-19 vaccination of aviation personnel working in government as well as private entities. As per the guidelines, civil aviation community provided unhindered services for the movement of people in need and essential cargo including critical medical cargo like vaccines, medicines, Oxygen Concentrators, etc., thus their vaccination remains a priority.

COVID-19 crisis: JSPL raises daily oxygen supply limit to 120 tonnes per day

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) on Thursday said it has ramped up its daily oxygen supply limit to 120 tonne/day for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Till date, the company has supplied over 1,000 tonne of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) to various health centres in nine states of India, a company spokesperson said.

Swiggy to prioritise Genie orders as deliveries jump 350% in 15 days

With the COVID-19 wave II severely impacting India, Bengaluru-based food tech platform Swiggy has stated that it will prioritise deliveries through its hyperlocal pick-up and drop service, Genie. Swiggy, in the last 15 days, has witnessed a 350 per cent increase in the delivery of over the counter (OTC) medicines through Genie services

Single-dose COVID vaccine Sputnik Light approved in Russia; shows 80% efficacy

Russia on Thursday authorised a single-dose version of the COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V, said the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's sovereign wealth fund that helped financed the vaccine. The new version of the COVID-19 vaccine - Sputnik Light - has an efficacy of around 80 per cent, compared to Sputnik V's 91.6 per cent, said the developers of the shot.

Bad bank's success depends on support from pvt lenders: SBI MD

State-run lenders will take a lead in creation of the bad bank, but the sick asset resolution platform needs the support of private banks and other lenders to be successful, State Bank of India Managing Director Swaminathan J said on Thursday. The government is yet to announce the specific contours of the NARC or the bad bank and has also only said that it is willing to provide some sovereign guarantee to help the platform.

India welcomes US support for proposal to waive off patent protection rules on Covid-19 vaccines

India has welcomed the US support for a relaxation in the norms of the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) agreement to ensure quick and affordable access to Covid-19 vaccines and medicines for developing countries. During his recent phone call on April 26 with US President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told him about India's initiative at the WTO, which was aimed at the benefit of humanity.
Council plans to sell Peninsula land

Central Coast Council plans to sell six parcels of land on the Peninsula "to assist with its financial position".

The land includes the Bullion St carpark in Umina and land occupied by a residential land lease "lifestyle village" in Fassifern St, Ettalong.

It also includes three blocks in residential areas: 23-23A Memorial Ave, Blackwall; 83-85 Brisbane Ave, Umina; and 7-9 Angler St, Woy Woy.

Two of the three sites contain established shade and habitat trees.

A treed area of one acre adjacent to Peninsula Plaza in Austin Butler reserve is also listed, which the shopping centre owner has offered to purchase.

The land parcels were part of a third "tranche" of land sales across the region.

Council staff recommended that the land be sold at the April 27 council meeting, without advertising or community consultation.

However, council administrator Mr Dick Persson decided to advertise the proposal after a protest organised by the Central Coast branch of the Australian Conservation Foundation was held in front of the Wyong Council chambers.

Branch president Mr Mark Ellis of Woy Woy said the rally was organised to protest the haste and lack of transparency in selling off these and other community lands and assets.

He said the land on the Peninsula had more than 80 trees and included land that the community fought to protect in 2015.

"The loss of these lands and the trees would only add to the urban heat island effect, with the Peninsula already recognised as being the hottest on Coast."

He said the pocket parks needed to be retained to provide food and habitat for vulnerable local native species, such as the grey-headed flying fox, and for future generations of residents in an increasingly-crowded area zoned for medium-density development.

Mr Ellis said the Peninsula was already suffering loss of tree cover, habitat and open space due to the Council's planning policies.

"They are creating harsh, hot and uncomfortable neighbourhoods that are unpleasant, unattractive and becoming unliveable.

"They are a recipe for social problems in the longer term and are quickly creating an environment that unsuitable for raising children."

Mr Ellis said that, while the Administrator criticised some protesters for not having constructive suggestions, the council itself had no positive plans for the Peninsula.

He said the council should prepare a master plan for the future of the Peninsula in consultation with the community before it sells assets.

It should actively engage with the Peninsula community to discuss which assets and services the community wants to retain and which it is willing to relinquish, he said.

For example, the community may well prefer the council sold the Peninsula Leisure Centre than selling the pocket parks, he said.

Mr Persson resolved at the council meeting that the proposed sales "be deferred to allow for the conduct of community consultation for a period of not less than 21 days, with a further report to be provided to Council to consider submissions made during the exhibition period".

Submissions will be accepted until 5pm on Friday, May 21.
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[May 06, 2021] Harte Hanks To Announce First Quarter 2021 Results and Host Investor Conference Call on May 13, 2021 AUSTIN, Texas, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Harte Hanks (OTCQX: HRTH), a leading data-driven multi-channel marketing solutions firm, announced today that the company will release financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021 on Thursday, May 13, 2021 after the close of the market. Management will host a conference call and live webcast to discuss these results on the same day at 4:30 p.m. ET. To access the live call, please dial (866) 548-4713 (toll free) or (323) 794-2093 and reference conference ID 6013966. The conference call will also be webcast live in the Investors Events section of the Harte Hanks website and can be accessed from the link here .

Following the conclusion of the live call, a telephonic replay will be available for 48 hours by dialing (844) 512-2921 or (412) 317-6671 and using the pin number 6013966. The replay will also be available for at least 90 days in the Investors Events section of the Harte Hanks website. About Harte Hanks: Harte Hanks is a global marketing services firm specializing in multi-channel marketing solutions that connect our clients with their customers in powerful ways. Experts in defining, executing and optimizing the customer journey, Harte Hanks offers end-to-end marketing services including consulting, strategic assessment, data, analytics, digital, social, mobile, print, direct mail and contact center. From visionary thinking to tactical execution, Harte Hanks delivers smarter customer interactions for some of the world's leading brands. Harte Hanks has approximately 3,200 employees located in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. For more information, visit Harte Hanks at www.hartehanks.com , call 800-456-9748, or email us at pr@hartehanks.com . View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/harte-hanks-to-announce-first-quarter-2021-results-and-host-investor-conference-call-on-may-13-2021-301286015.html SOURCE Harte Hanks

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The seven-member Expedition 65 crew aboard the International Space Station will be orbiting Earth until October after watching the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts depart over the weekend.

The five astronauts and two cosmonauts staying behind prepared for the next SpaceX Cargo mission and researched a variety of space phenomena today.

NASA and SpaceX are targeting June 3 for the launch of the next Cargo Dragon mission to resupply the orbital lab. NASA Flight Engineer Shane Kimbrough and station Commander Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency began getting the station ready for the upcoming space shipment. The duo organized the Permanent Multipurpose Module and the Kibo laboratory module today to make room for the new cargo.

Monday's science activities ran the gamut of robotics, human research and drug development. Research on the orbiting lab can improve the health of humans on and off the Earth, benefit a range of industries, and advance the commercialization of space.

The Astrobee robotic assistants were flying around inside Kibo testing automated rendezvous techniques as Kimbrough monitored the activities. Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency wore a virtual reality headset and reached for virtual objects to help scientists understand how weightlessness affects the central nervous system.

NASA Flight Engineer Megan McArthur cleaned up the Microgravity Science Glovebox after closing out the Transparent Alloys physics study. Flight Engineer Mark Vande Hei of NASA checked out emergency hardware then set up gear for an immune system study that may promote the development of new vaccines and drugs to treat diseases.

Roscosmos cosmonaut and Flight Engineer Oleg Novitskiy worked on inventory updates and cargo transfers from the ISS Progress 77 resupply ship. Flight Engineer Pyotr Dubrov installed hardware for a Russian experiment that monitors the Earth's atmosphere in ultraviolet light.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

Astrobee/ROAM: The crew configured the JEM to support the Astrobee ops, the appropriate experiment support software was loaded to the Astrobee free-fliers, and a series of ROAM experimental operations was performed. Many tests were performed successfully and good data was obtained. Relative Operations for Autonomous Maneuvers (ROAM) demonstrates processes for a robotic craft to rendezvous with debris in space. Space debris includes satellites that could be repaired or taken out of orbit, but many of these objects are tumbling, which makes rendezvous and docking challenging. ROAM uses the space station's Astrobee robots to observe and understand how targets tumble and uses this information to plan ways to safely reach them.

Celestial Immunity: In preparation for the experimental sessions, the crew gathered the appropriate hardware, configured the Life Science Glovebox, and transferred thawing-assist items to SABL to condition. This project seeks to gain a broad understanding of how gravity affects overall human immune function and potentially uncover novel pathways of immune function that can be exploited to develop better vaccines and immunobiologics for human use. The project will build on earlier studies that evaluated lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) function in microgravity. The project will also evaluate whether gravity-regulated immune pathways are affected by age by examining cells from young adult and elderly donors in parallel.

GRASP: The crew performed 3 versions of the GRASP experiment in the quasi-free-floating configuration. The ground teams reported the sessions appeared to go very well. The purpose of the Gravitational References for Sensimotor Performance: Reaching and Grasping (GRASP) investigation is to better understand how the central nervous system (CNS) integrates information from different sensations (e.g. sight or hearing), encoded in different reference frames, in order to coordinate the hand with the visual environment. More specifically, the science team seeks to better understand if, and how, gravity acts as a reference frame for the control of reach-to-grasp.

MSG Work Volume Clean: In preparation for the next user of the MSG, the crew cleaned several threaded holes. This was performed due to water that was released from a previous MSG user that may have resulted in deposits in these threaded areas. The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a rack-level payload facility located in the U.S. Laboratory module on the International Space Station (ISS). MSG provides resources such as power, data, video, heat rejection, vacuum, nitrogen and containment for investigations. The facility is well suited for handling hazardous materials when crew are present. MSG is capable of accommodating both physical science and biological research payloads.

Story Time from Space - 8: In preparation for the experiment, the crew installed the Thermal Balance experiment software on an appropriate SSC (Station Support Computer). Story Time From Space (STFS) combines literacy and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) subjects with basic science demonstrations. The Story Time From Space-8 Heat Transfer Demo uses a Sun-Earth-Space model to demonstrate concepts of radiative heat transfer. It is performed on the International Space Station by an astronaut and videotaped, along with a reading of the book Give Me Some Space, and the videos and educational materials are made available on the STFS website.

Transparent Alloys: Following the completion of the Transparent Alloys series of experiment runs, the crew removed the hardware to prepare for the next user of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) facility. The Transparent Alloys study is a group of several investigations, with the METCOMP being the most recent to be performed. This investigation conducts research on layered structures in peritectic systems by in-situ observation. Investigations of peritectic metallic systems show a wide range of possible microstructures. Bands, islands, tree-like microstructures and coupled growth appear when the primary and peritectic phase solidify in a competitive manner. To improve the understanding of appearing morphologies during solidification, transparent model systems with a plastic phase are quite attractive.

Systems

Mobile Servicing System (MSS) Operations: Robotics Ground Controllers maneuvered the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) and used the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) to stow the Robotics Micro Conical Tool (RMCT) in the Tool Holster Assembly (THA). Ground Controllers then translated the Mobile Transporter (MT) from Worksite 7 (WS 7) to WS 2.

Cupola Bump Shield Disassembly: The crew removed two Cupola Side Window Bump Shield doors. The doors will be returned to the ground where teams will analysis the effects of radiation on the materials.

Restraints & Mobility Aids (R&MA) Audit: The crew audited two CTBs searching for spare Multi-Use Brackets, Flexible Brackets, and Laptop Desks. Broken Multi-Use Brackets will be stowed separately for return to the ground.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Today's Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Robotics Micro Conical Tool (RMCT) Stow

Mobile Transporter (MT) Translation

Command and Control Software (CCS) Mobile Transporter (MT) Diagnostic Buffer Collection List (DBCL) Dump

Look Ahead Plan

Tuesday, May 4 (GMT 124)

Payloads:

AC Touch, Celestial Immunities, Myotones, Standard Measures/Repository, Story Time-8, SUBSA prep

Systems

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Secondary Oxygen Pack (SOP) Swap

In-Flight Maintenance Port Stall Mounting Bracket Remove & Replace

ISS Crew Orientation

Wednesday, May 5 (GMT 125)

Payloads:

AC Touch, Astrobee off, Celestial Immunity, ManD print remove, Standard Measures/Repository, SUBSA hardware setup

Systems

Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations

Crew Dragon Tablet Sync

Node 3 Endcone Stowage Cleanout

Thursday, May 6 (GMT 126)

Payloads:

Astrobee on, Celestial Immunity, Food Acceptability, Standard Measures/Repository, SUBSA/BRAINS

Systems

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Hydrogen Sensor ORU Purge Adapter (HOPA) Operations

OGS R&R

Adlink Mini PC Restow

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Emergency O2 PBA move

Astrobee Docking Station Power Cycle

Swap Air PBA CTBs

Progress 445 (DC1) Cargo Transfers and IMS Ops

Emergency Equipment Return

Restraints & Mobility Aids (R&MA) Audit

Port Crew Quarters Fan Troubleshooting

JEM Stowage Consolidation for SpX-22

Charger Node 2 Relocate

Filling (separation) of EDV (KOV) for Elektron or EDV-SV

Big Picture Words for Resupply Air Tanks

Astrobee ROAM Operations

Cupola Bump Shield Disassembly

Resupply Air Tank Setup & Initiation

USOS COMMON HATCH WINDOW COVER AUDIT

Story Time 8 Thermal Balance Software Install

Celestial Immunity Hardware Gather

Transparent Alloys Hardware Stow

Dragon 22 Prepack

Celestial Immunity SABL Insert

Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Retrieve

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COLUMNISTS Basia's Corner

REMEMBER ME. My name is Ignacy Domeyko, born in Niedzwiadka Wielka (Russian Empire) on July 31, 1802.

In my youth I was a subject of the Russian empire, however I was brought up in the culture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth  a multicultural state whose educated and dominant classes spoke Polish.



I enrolled at Vilnius University, known as the Imperial University of Vilno. In 1816, I was a student of mathematics and physics, studied under Jedrzej Sniadecki. I became involved with the Philomaths, a secret student organization dedicated to Polish culture and restoration of Poland's independence and was a close friend of Adam Mickiewicz.

During the investigation and trials of Philomaths in 1823-1824 Mickiewicz and I spent months incarcerated at Vilnius' Uniate Basilian Monastery.

After participating in the November 1830 Uprising, I served as an officer under General Dezydery Chlapowski, but a year later I was forced into exile in order not to face Russian reprisals.

I traveled through Germany and arrived in France, where I earned an engineering degree at Paris School of Mining, and studied at the Sorbonne whereby I maintained my political engagements with Belarusians, Poles and Lithuanians.

However, in 1838, I left for Chile where I made substantial contributions in mineralogy and the technology of mining. Here I studied several unknown minerals, advocated for civil rights of the native tribal people and was a meteorologist and ethnographer and was credited with introducing the metric system to Latin America.

I served as a professor at a mining college in Coquimbo, and later rector at the University of Chile for 16 years. In 1849, I gained Chilean citizenship, but declared, "I may now never change my citizenship but God grants me hope that where I may be  whether in the Cordilleras or in Paneriai (suburb of Vilnius) I shall die a Lithuanian. However, at this time, term "Lithuanian" designated any person, whatever his ethnicity.

In 1884, I returned for an extended visit to Europe and remained there for five years visiting my birthplace as well as Paris and Jerusalem.

In 1887, I was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Upon my return to Santiago, Chile in 1889, I passed away at the age of 86. (To be continued.)



TRADITION/CUSTOM. Thousands of years ago, customs and festivals were a sign of spring. Many of these ancient practices are still observed in May activities such as the Maypole dances, Sun dances and the May Day Parade. The dances around the Maypole were of great importance to the Romans, Druid and Phoenicians for it was their way of entreating Mother Earth to give them a prosperous season. Also, ceremonies were held to drive away evil spirits who were responsible for cold, darkness, illness and barrenness. The Maypole was a symbol of life and fertility. In ancient Rome the celebration was called "Floralia" or the feast of Flora which lasted five days. While in ancient Briton, the Druids, who were sun-worshippers, lit fires on the first day of May, a mark of honor to the sun. This practice was called "Beltun" meaning "Bel's Fire." Lighting the bonfires became known as Beltane fires. (To be continued).



SPECIAL. The traditional Mother's Day dates back to the spring celebrations in ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, wife of Cronus, the mother of all of the gods and goddesses. Later it evolved into Mothering Sunday which was celebrated in England, the fourth Sunday of Lent. However, this special holiday spread to the United states and again as a religious time in which to honor Mother Church. Finally, in the year 1872, in the United States, Julia Ward Howe suggested that a Mother's Day be held in the states, but not much came of that. A woman named Anna Jarvis was devoted to her mother until her death in 1905 and was left to care for her blind sister Elsinor. In 1907, Anna Jarvis with the help of friends and neighbors started a campaign to have an official day declared as Mother's Day. A year later, Anna organized a church service to honor her late mother. She then persuaded the church to continue holding a Mother's Day observance on the second Sunday of May. In 1911, this holiday honoring mothers had become a popular day, celebrated in many states. The House of Representatives adopted a resolution in 1913 that requested the president and other officials of the federal government wear a carnation on Mother's Day. President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday to be observed every second Sunday in May.



POLONUS POLISH PHILATELIC SOCIETY. In the September 2013 issue of the Polonus Bulletin was an interesting article by Jan Niebrzydowski, "Bardzilowska Letters to Polish POWs 1939-1945." The article shows a letter sent on Sept. 11, 1944 from Boston to Oflag VIIA (Murnau). The U.S. Censor returned the letter to sender because it was franked with a 3 cent stamp bearing the slogan Win the War" depicting the eagle wings in the shape of the letter "V." This letter was withheld at the Foreign Mail section of the New York Post Office-Morgan Annex bears the personalized label of Postmaster Albert Goldman. In 2017, Poland issued a 2.60 zl stamp recognizing the value of Polish credit and savings unions, as a source of funds for millions of people in the country's rural area and small cities. Poland's savings and credit unions are known as SKOKs (Spoldzielczych Kas Oszczednosciowo-Kredyrtowych). The stamp portrays Franciszek Stefczyk founder of the credit cooperative movement in Poland.

Also, a 2.60 zl stamp designed by Andrzej Gosik recognized the ninth largest city in Poland  Lublin. The picturesque and historic Old Town in the city has been preserved as shown in the panoramic view on the stamp. The Polonus Society has arranged with the Lithuanian Philatelic Society to have reciprocity in regard to translation of Polish and Lithuanian materials. For additional information pertaining to this translation service, contact Andrew Katz via katz95040@yahoo.com. Join the Polonus Polish Philatelic Society today and check out their website at www.polonus.org.



GAME. Forfeit was originally a crime. A forfeit is more than a penalty in games with us today. In Old English days a forfaite was a crime. If you were discovered committing a forfeit, you were arrested. This French word is a compound of the old French words fors "outside" and fait "done" hence it meant done outside and thus beyond the bounds of the law. This led to the original meaning of transgression.



To all the mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers  Happy Mothers Day!






"What we will do is take our time. We will analyze in detail the law that has been passed at insistence; the Executive Branch will give its opinion on the case at the appropriate moment," he announced.





In this sense, the Head of State pointed out that his administration is evaluating calmly and without haste the measures that could be adopted against the regulation.





When asked if the Executive Branch would file a claim of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court , the top official insisted that his administration continues to analyze calmly a sensitive issue like this one.





The statesman said the convenience is being assessed as well as what negative effects it (the withdrawal of part of the funds) could have "because anyone knows that if a quantity of money is withdrawn in a short time, some kind of disturbance can occur in what is financial stability."





The top official recalled that the Executive Branch upon vetoing the bill approved by Congress proposed a series of modifications, but that only two of the three proposals were accepted by the Legislative Branch.









However, the Peruvian leader pointed out that there are three or five Congress members who instead of being parliamentarians seem to be "blackmailers" as they propose to file an impeachment motion if the Executive Branch does not do what this group wants.





"Please, that is not a way to do politics and less so in Peru, especially at a critical moment like the one we are in," he remarked.





Mr. Sagasti also recalled that when he was a Congressman, he had proposed a comprehensive reform of the pension system, which should consist of: a change in the current system, as well as labor and tax reforms.
?????? Se trata del primer envio de las 700 mil vacunas contra el Covid-19 que llegaran esta semana de parte de ese laboratorio internacional.#PongoElHombro #NoBajemosLaGuardia https://t.co/J9rOjOnMni
?? Ahora | La titular de la PCM participa en el reconocimiento a Maria Jesus Alvarado, conmemorando los 50 anos de su fallecimiento. Alvarado fue educadora, periodista y activista social, fundamento la necesidad de otorgar derechos civiles y politicos a las mujeres. pic.twitter.com/prjyf1kdoA
YEREVAN, MAY 6, ARMENPRESS: Guillermo Altares, a well-known journalist and former head of the international section of the Spanish daily El Pais, published an article in the same newspaper entitled "Genocide Denied for Political Reasons", noting that there is more documentary evidence on the Armenian Genocide than the Holocaust.



"Armenpress" presents the unofficial translation of the article:



''Only 30 countries called 1915 genocide, the murders of the Armenians, despite the fact that historians do not hesitate to use this term.

When the Armenian Genocide took place, the term genocide had not yet appeared. But it was this crime against humanity that ushered in the era of mass extermination in the early 20th century, prompting Polish lawyer Rafael Lemkin to look for a new term to describe an atrocity previously unnamed -the killing of ethnic or religious groups just for the sake of it and because that they are existed.



This is not the only paradox related to 1915-1918. Up to 1.5 million pre-planned extermination and deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Independent historians are more than convinced that it is about the genocide, but it was recognized only by 30 countries, the last of which was the United States last week. Spain has not done that yet! Turkey even considers the use of this term under Article 301 by Turkish Criminal Code a crime and generalizes these killings in the context of World War I.



"The Armenian Genocide is an established fact in academia", explains Taner Akcham, a well-known Turkish historian, genocide scholar and professor at Clark University in the United States. Taner Akcham, considered by The New York Times to be the Armenian Genocide Sherlock Holmes, devoted his entire career to seeking and publishing evidence (that the killings of Armenians were not unplanned or sudden massacres, but state policies pursued by the Young Turks who came to power in 1908). They remained until 1918, when the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I. In the history of the Ottoman Empire, violence against Armenians and against Christians in general- 200,000 Armenians were killed during 1894-1896- was regular, but until then no one had set a goal of total annihilation. "Even the US administration, the Congress or the staff have no doubt that what happened to the Armenians can be described as genocide", said Akcam. It was planned and I can easily state that there is more documentary evidence on the Armenian Genocide than on the Holocaust. We have many certified telegrams that clearly show the genocidal intention of the Ottoman authorities" says Akcham.



In books like ''A Shameful Act'' the Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility or Killing Orders- Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide'', Akcham reveals the coded telegrams of Young Turks Interior Minister Talat Pasha (who has been killed in 1921 by an Armenian soldier), which leave no doubt about his intentions. For years the Turkish government claimed that they were fake, but after his intelligence work, Akcham proved that they were real. According to one of them in 1915 and in September at the beginning of the massacre Talaat Pasha ordered the following: "The government has decided to exterminate all Armenians living in Turkey, not sparing women, children or the sick. As tragic as these methods of destruction may seem, we must end their existence without listening to our consciousness'', Although the originals were destroyed, Akcham found the photos of the telegrams in New York in 2015.



There are obvious facts that before the Holocaust, during which 6 million people were killed, the Nazis took note of what happened in Turkey for their plan to exterminate European Jews. ''On 1939, August 22, Hitler addressed his generals about the impending war with Poland'' said Benjamin Carter Hett, an American historian and author of ''The Death of Democracy'', a book about Hitler's rise to power. According to one of them, Hitler said: "After that, who remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?" The other two interpretations do not contain these words. But the fact that this transcript was circulated by The New York Times in 1945 shows that a connection has been established between the massacres of Armenians an Jews since the 1940s.



"Undoubtedly it had a great impact on Lemkin'' says in his autobiography Jose Ricardo de Prada, one of Spain's leading experts on international justice. Samantha Power, who served as Ambassador to the United Nations under President Barack Obama in 2002 was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for for the book "Problem from Hell. America and the Age of Genocide". There he recounts how Lemkin, a student in Lviv, argued with a professor who justified the massacres of Armenians, arguing that in the end every government had the right to do to its citizens what it wanted, including to kill them. Like "a farmer who can kill his own chickens". It was because of that debate the idea emerged that there should be laws above states that would punish these crimes.



"During the Armenian Genocide, there was no one like Hitler" said Taner Akcham, when he asked about comparing the two crimes against humanity and added: "The genocide was a decision of a political party, implemented by a political party- Union and Progress. This is one of the main differences between the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. The other is that the Young Turks did not have the racist ideology that the Nazis had. Of course, they were nationalists, but they made the decision to commit genocide because they thought that the existence of Armenians was a threat to the empire, they thought that killing of Armenians could neutralize that threat".



The genocide was accompanied by mass deportations to the Syrian deserts, and with the most brutal massacres. Ethnic cleansing was universal.

Neither the Holocaust nor the Armenian Genocide achieved their ultimate goal, which is to wipe out Jews and Armenians from the face of the earth. But, yes, they managed to destroy the millennial cultures of the Jews in Eastern Europe, the Armenians of Anatolia. Both Auschwitz and Der Zor, a Syrian desert camp where tens of thousands of Armenians starved to death, abandoned Jewish cemeteries, forgotten Polish synagogues, or the ruins of the medieval Armenian capital of Ani, perpetrated by the new Turkish authorities, are reminiscent of 20th century horror''.
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Head of the Armenia-Latvia parliamentary friendship group Anush Beghloyan thanked the Parliament of Latvia for the recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide.

As head of the Armenia-Latvia friendship group, I want to express my special gratitude to my colleague, head of the Latvia-Armenia friendship group Maria Golubeva who has also provided great support to the adoption of this resolution. We bow before and thank all political forces and members of the Latvian parliament who have voted in favor of the solution of this very important issue for the Armenian people in Latvia, she said.

The Armenian MP stated that this process has taken place since 2018 and is a result of efforts of many politicians, friends of the Armenian people, political parties and the Armenian Embassy in Latvia.

On May 6 Latvia has officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide in a resolution adopted by its parliament (Saeima).

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ)  the most senior member on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee  has called on House appropriators to allocate at least $50 million for food security, housing, medical aid, infrastructure, and other pressing needs in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh)  citing the vast death and destruction caused by Azerbaijans Turkey-backed attack last year, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

In a letter addressed to the leaders of the House Appropriations subcommittee that writes the foreign aid bill, Rep. Smith noted that, In September 2020, Azeri forces, supported by Turkey, embarked on a devastating war of conquest in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that caused thousands of casualties, rendered thousands more homeless, and destroyed vital infrastructure, underscoring the need for not less than $50 million shall be made available for humanitarian assistance in Artsakh to support food security, housing, medical assistance, and vital infrastructure.

Congressman Smith also forcefully condemned credible reports that the Republic of Turkey funded mercenaries recruited from the Syrian National Army to fight with the Azeri army that invaded Artsakh, calling on his Congressional colleagues to appropriate not less than $500,000 shall be made available to the Secretary of State for a report that the Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate Congressional Committees, on the role of Turkey in the recent attack on Artsakh.

In his letter, Rep. Smith called for the strengthening of Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support, a statutory restriction on U.S. aid to Azerbaijan, and for suspending all U.S. military aid, including under Section 333 Building Partner Capacity Program, to Azerbaijan until its government ceases its attacks against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and agrees to an equitable resolution of the conflict.
The SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts are back in Houston after splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico early Sunday completing a 168-day mission.

The quartet will have a news conference on NASA TV then participate in a Facebook Live event on Thursday.

NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Victor Glover with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Soichi Noguchi will talk to reporters and answer social media questions on Thursday. The NASA TV news conference starts at 3:45 p.m. EDT. The Facebook Live event will begin at 4:35 p.m. and last 20 minutes.

Back in space, seven Expedition 65 crew members will be orbiting Earth on the International Space Station until October. The five astronauts and two cosmonauts are participating in a variety of research today to understand how living in space affects the human body.

Microbes can change characteristics in microgravity and scientists are testing anti-microbial coatings on the station. Today, an astronaut touched a sample with the coating representing a high-touch surface. The sample was stowed in a science freezer and will be returned later to Earth for analysis. Results could mitigate health issues on spacecraft and planetary surfaces.

The Celestial Immunity study taking place today on the orbiting lab is exploring how the immune system adapts to weightlessness. The astronauts look at human blood cells for age-associated effects giving scientists insights into the development of new vaccines and drugs to treat diseases.

Some of the crewmates also had ultrasound scans today to understand how long-term microgravity affects their muscle's biochemical properties such as tone, stiffness and elasticity. Samples, including blood, saliva and urine, were also collected and stowed for the Standard Measures and Repository biology studies.

On-Orbit Status Report

Payloads

AC Touch: Per standard procedure, the crew touched both the coated and uncoated coupons for this long-term investigation. Boeing Environment Responding Antimicrobial Coatings tests is an antimicrobial coating on several different materials that represent high-touch surfaces. Some microbes change characteristics in microgravity, which could create new risks to crew health and spacecraft systems, as well as create the possibility of contaminating other planetary bodies. The samples will remain in space for approximately six months and then will return to Earth for analysis.

Celestial Immunity: The crew performed activities related to the inoculation, treatment injection, and sample collection for the Celestial Immunity cultures. This starts the 3 weeks of activities related to the experiment. This project seeks to gain a broad understanding of how gravity affects overall human immune function and potentially uncover novel pathways of immune function that can be exploited to develop better vaccines and immunobiologics for human use. The project will build on earlier studies that evaluated lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) function in microgravity. The project will also evaluate whether gravity-regulated immune pathways are affected by age by examining cells from young adult and elderly donors in parallel.

Myotones: The crew reviewed the big-picture words, set up the appropriate hardware, and performed a Myotones measurement session with the Myotones device. The Muscle Tone in Space (Myotones) investigation observes the biochemical properties of muscles (e.g. muscle tone, stiffness, elasticity) during long-term exposure spaceflight environment. Results from this investigation can provide a better understanding of the principles of human resting muscle tone. This could lead to the development of new strategies for alternative treatments for rehabilitation on Earth, as well as for future space missions.

SUBSA prep: The crew gathered the appropriate hardware and reviewed the procedures for the later installation of the SUBSA hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). The first SUBSA investigation to be performed will be the BRAINS investigation. BRazing of Aluminum alloys IN Space (SUBSA-BRAINS) examines differences in capillary flow, interface reactions, and bubble formation during solidification of brazing alloys in microgravity. Brazing technology bonds similar materials (such as an aluminum alloy to aluminum) or dissimilar ones (such as aluminum alloy to ceramics) at temperatures above 450C. It is a potential tool for construction of human space habitats and manufactured systems as well as repair tool for damage from micrometeoroids or space debris.

Systems

Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) Communications Unit (CUCU) Removal - The CUCU system was retired in place post SpaceX-20, with the hardware remaining installed in Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station (ExPRESS) Rack 6 Locker 7. In order to prepare for an upcoming payload that will be installed in the Locker 7 location, the CUCU was disconnected and removed from the rack today. The connection made today also applies to the external UHF antennas which will be tested via ground pass tests scheduled tomorrow and Thursday with Armstrong Flight Research Center. The ground pass tests will evaluate the SSSR/UHF signal strength and full end to end path as a final confirmation that the system is operating nominally.

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Secondary Oxygen Pack (SOP) Swap - Crew completed an activity to swap SOPs between EMU 3006 and EMU 3004. The SOP (S/N 1013) originally installed on EMU 3004 has a leak rate within spec that is approaching the minimum Go/No-Go pressure. Swapping the SOPs between suits will install SOP S/N 1013 on EMU 3006, which is closer to the end of its certified life and is planned to return on SpaceX-24.

Crew Alternate Sleep Accommodation (CASA) Bumpout Configuration - Ground teams reviewed photos of CASA with the bumpout collapsed as part of the final approval for internal stowage and identified that the front panel is not installed onto the side panels as expected. Teams are working a forward plan to resolve the configuration.

Robotic Operations - Yesterday the Mobile Transporter (MT) was translated from Worksite 7 to Worksite 2, and the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) was maneuvered to a park position. Today the SSRMS was maneuvered to External Stowage Platform 3 (ESP-3) and Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) successfully grasped and extracted the NiH2 Battery Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) from Site 6. Robotic operators are preparing to translate the MT to Worksite 3 and install the NiH2 battery and FRAM on Cygnus Site 1 for disposal.

Completed Task List Activities:

None

Today's Ground Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (SPDM) Flight Releasable Attachment Mechanism (FRAM) Stow

HRF Rack 1 Rack Power Up Commanding

Atmosphere Revitalization System (ARS) Lab Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Zero Calibration

Look Ahead Plan

Wednesday, May 5 (GMT 125)

Payloads:

AC Touch

Astrobee off

Celestial Immunity

ManD canister swap

Standard Measures/Repository

SUBSA hardware setup

Systems

Transfer Cygnus Cargo Operations

Crew Dragon Tablet Sync

Node 3 Endcone Stowage Cleanout

Thursday, May 6 (GMT 126)

Payloads:

Astrobee on

Celestial Immunity

CIR bottle gather

Food Acceptability

Standard Measures/Repository

SUBSA/BRAINS

Systems

Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Oxygen Generation System (OGS) Hydrogen Sensor ORU Purge Adapter (HOPA) Operations

OGS R&R

Adlink Mini PC Restow

Friday, May 7 (GMT 127)

Payloads:

AC Touch

Astrobee off

Celestial Immunity

CIR manifold bottle replace

ELF sample holder change

ESA EPO AstroPi config

Food Acceptability

Food Physiology

JAXA video take 1

HRF2 troubleshooting deconfiguration

Nanoracks Platform 2 module remove

Standard Measures/Repository

Systems

Crew Provisions Consolidation

Environmental Health System (EHS) - Compound Specific Analyzer-Combustion Products (CSA-CP) Extended Maintenance

In-Flight Maintenance Starboard Stall Mounting Bracket Remove & Replace

Today's Planned Activities:

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Resupply Air Tank Setup and Initiation

Antimicrobial Coatings Touch

Celestial Immunity Thaw and Centrifuge

Celestial Immunity LSG Staging

Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Insertion

Celestial Immunity MELFI Sample Retrieve

Celestial Immunity Treatment and Sample

Countermeasures System (CMS) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Cylinder Flywheel Evacuation

Columbus cleanup for Myotones

Columbus cabin restore after Myotones experiment

iWatch Charge for SpX CREW DRAGON

Remove SpX-CREW DRAGON iWatch from charger

Acoustic Monitor Battery Swap

Acoustic Monitor Setup for Crew Worn Measurements

Environmental Health System (EHS) - Formaldehyde Monitoring Kit (FMK) Deployment Operations

Environmental Health System (EHS) Grab Sample Container (GSC) Sampling Operations

Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Water Recovery System (WRS) Sample Analysis

Environmental Health System (EHS) Total Organic Carbon Analyzer (TOCA) Sample Data Record

ETHOS CTB Reorganization

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Installation In EMU Don-Doff Assembly (EDDA) Upside Down

Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Secondary Oxygen Pack (SOP) Swap

Health Maintenance System (HMS) - ESA Nutritional Assessment

Health Maintenance System (HMS) Profile of Mood States (POMS) Questionnaire

HRF Generic Frozen Blood Collection Hardware Setup First Time Performance

HRF Generic MELFI Sample Insertion Operations

HRF Generic MELFI Sample Retrieval And Insertion Operations

HRF Generic Saliva Collection 10 Minutes

HRF Generic Urine Collection Male

COTS UHF Comm Unit (CUCU) Removal with RF Coupler Demate

In Flight Maintenance (IFM) Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Quick Disconnect (QD) Locate

In-Flight Maintenance Port Stall Mounting Bracket Remove & Replace

IMS delta file prep

ISS Crew Orientation

LSG Primary Crew Restraint Initial Fold

LSG Crew Restraint Installation Initial (Primary)

Discharge Makita drill tool batteries (4 count: No.2, No.3, No.4, No.5). Charging Makita Drill Tool Battery No.2. Tagup with specialists as necessary

Myotones Device Data Transfer

Myotones Big Picture Words reading

Myotones Kit Gathering for Session 1

Myotones Device Setup with EPM Laptop - Session 1

Myotones Measurements

Photo T/V (P/TV) Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Exercise Video Stow

Photo/TV Camcorder Setup Verification

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Event in High Definition (HD) - JEM

Public Affairs Office (PAO) High Definition (HD) Config JEM Setup

Station Support Computer (SSC) Ethernet Swap

Story Time 8 Thermal Balance Black Light On

Story Time 8 Thermal Balance Black Sphere Setup

Story Time 8 Thermal Balance Hardware Stow

Story Time 8 Thermal Balance White Light Off

Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules Hardware Gather

REAL. Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules (SUBSA) OBT

Solidification Using Baffles in Sealed Ampoules OBT

Emergency RS ISS VHF-1 Comm Checkout from USOS

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YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. The works aimed at returning the Armenian prisoners of war from Azerbaijan are a key part of the activity of the Office of the Prosecutor General. Russias Prosecutor General is also fully engaged in these processes, Armenias Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan told reporters in the Parliament, commenting on the question relating to the criminal case launched in the prosecution over the recent war unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh.

The works on returning the prisoners of war are the most serious part of our daily activities. Russias Prosecutor General is also fully engaged in this process. By using this channel, there is an opportunity to both clarify the lists, and also transform the grounded information about the torture, killings of POWs, and thus, putting a clear legal demand together with our colleague that these incidents should be followed by legal processes, Mr. Davtyan said.

He noted that all those facts are recorded by criminal cases, and his Office shares that respective proving information with the Russian partners.

Asked whether Azerbaijani officials have been declared wanted or not, Artur Davtyan said there are numerous persecutions, however, he refused to talk about it publicly.

Armenia has announced that he has returned all prisoners of war and other detained persons to Azerbaijan in accordance with the All For All principle. Azerbaijan, however, hasnt still returned all Armenian POWs, thus violating point 8 of the 2020 November 9 statement signed by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan. There is factual evidence on torture, ill treatment against the Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan. 19 cases of murder of Armenian POWs have already been confirmed.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Government has outlined an action plan until 2040 under its strategy for developing the energy sector.

The program highlights the construction of high-capacity solar power stations.

Armenia has big potential in this sector, and it is envisaged that in the next years we will have up to 1000MW photovoltaic stations, Karen Asatryan, the Director of the Renewable Resources and Energy Efficiency Fund of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures said at a news conference. He said the total output of these stations will be up to 15% of the entire electric-energy production.

Its planned that concrete work will be done in the direction of wind energy as well. Its planned that by 2040 well have up to 500MW wind power plants of systemic significance. These stations will be based on the public-private partnership.

The next important component of the strategy is the liberalization of the energy market, as a result of which Armenia will have a new level energy system. Anyone producing electric-energy will be enabled to sell it directly to consumers.

Asatryan says another direction is energy saving. We can have up to 40% energy saving, he said. Each saved kilowatt costs cheaper than producing it. We are making efforts so that energy saving becomes a part of our everyday lives. Active work in this direction is done in public buildings, and soon apartment buildings will also be involved.

Speaking about the ongoing construction of Masrik-1, a 55MW solar power plant in Gegharkunik province, he said it will be completed in 2024. The investor is a Spanish company. he said.

Now, works are underway in the direction of developing a construction project of 120MW solar power plants. We hope to have new tenders next year. Now, tender processes are underway regarding other solar power plants, like the construction of the Ayg-1 and Ayg-2, each 200MW capacity. The winners will be known in the next months. Those interested include Russian, Chinese and UAE companies.

Asatryan noted that over the time the legislative framework has been improved and it allows regular citizens or companies to install solar power systems for their own use. 4600 stand-alone power systems were installed as a result. In one year, a 59% growth in solar power production was recorded, he said. Asatryan says they expect up to 600,000,000 dollar investments in the solar power sector by 2030, and up to 500,000,000 dollar investments in the wind power sector.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. The European Union Delegation to Armenia would like to announce the launching of the Europe Day 2021 activities in Armenia on 10th May, the Delegation told Armenpress.

The activities will be held under the EU-Armenia Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement theme and will include thematic discussions, cultural events and regional events in Gyumri and Debed. The activities will take place in online-offline formats, ensuring compliance with COVID-19 protocols at all times.

The Europe Day celebrations will commence with thematic online discussions on Road Safety, Regional Development and Environment, they will continue with regional events concentrated on youth and innovation, as well as tourism and will also include a holographic projection, placement of a photobooth in major cities and musical inputs. The celebrations will culminate with an online concert on 19th May, which will be livestreamed via EU Delegation social media.

The Embassies of EU Member States accredited to Armenia will also join the celebrations.

The European Union Delegation to Armenia would like to inform the media representatives that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the attendance to offline events is limited this year.

However, all the details about the activities will be available on the Delegations social media accounts:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eudelegationtoarmenia(link is external)

Twitter: https://twitter.com/eu_armenia(link is external)

Instagram: euinarmenia

For media inquiries please contact Anahit Azatyan, Press and Information Officer, EU Delegation to Armenia [email protected](link sends e-mail).

***

On 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, necessary for peaceful relations and development. Today, the 9th of May has become a European symbol (Europe Day) which, along with the flag, the anthem, the motto and the single currency (Euro), identifies the political entity of the European Union. Europe Day is the occasion for festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and neighbours.
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Caretaker minister of education, science, culture and sport of Armenia Vahram Dumanyan has sent a letter to the UNESCO Director General, expressing his concerns over the actions being carried out by Azerbaijan in Shushis Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, the ministry told Armenpress.

In the letter Mr. Dumanyan stated that during the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Artsakh in autumn 2020, Azerbaijan, among other war crimes, has deliberately targeted the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral, as a result of which one of the two domes of the Church has been destroyed. Moreover, the photos and videos spread on the internet prove that the Church has been vandalized after the end of the hostilities, and the second dome has also been damaged by the Azerbaijani forces.

Recently, Azerbaijan, under the pretext of renovation works, has removed the dome of the Cathedral, trying to change the historical and architectural look of the monument and distort its Armenian identity.

In his letter the Armenian caretaker minister noted that there are many grounds to believe that Azerbaijan is deliberately blocking the entry of UNESCO experts to the Armenian cultural heritage sites aimed at hiding its war crimes. Moreover, Azerbaijan is actively conducting a policy of falsifying the historical facts, calling the Armenian cultural heritage sites in Artsakh as Caucasian Albanian.

Highly valuing the key role of UNESCO in the preservation of cultural heritage, Vahram Dumanyan called on the UNESCO Director General to condemn the attempts of eliminating and appropriating the Armenia cultural heritage sites.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, 7 MAY, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 7 May, USD exchange rate up by 0.64 drams to 522.09 drams. EUR exchange rate up by 2.49 drams to 630.68 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.06 drams to 7.05 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.10 drams to 726.75 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price up by 555.35 drams to 30434.78 drams. Silver price up by 7.75 drams to 448.59 drams. Platinum price up by 209.77 drams to 20679.84 drams.
STEPANAKERT, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. On May 7, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh David Babayan sent letters to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk on the threat to water security of Artsakh, the Artsakh MFA told Armenpress.

The letters particularly state, that the military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020, put the water security of the Republic of Artsakh in serious jeopardy. After the signing of the trilateral statement on secession of hostilities on November 9, 2020, the Karvajar (Kelbajar) areawhich is the principal water source of Artsakh was ceded to Azerbaijan. Currently approximately 98 per cent of the water used in the Republic of Artsakh originates in Karvajar. The Arpa River and Vorotan Riverwhich provide water to Lake Sevan, where 80 percent of Armenias water resources are concentrated, and without which Lake Sevan would face an ecological catastrophe - originate in Karvajar, too.

Hence today, more than at any other time in the history of Republic of Artsakh, it is of paramount importance to ensure the water right and security of the Republic. The ever-existing threat of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan against Artsakh, along with the long-lasting state policy of Armenophobia and massive hate campaign against the ethnic Armenians, which is coordinated and supported by Azerbaijani authorities, necessitates substantial security measures. The letters also call on the OSCE to establish an international monitoring mechanism in the area whence the key rivers noted originate. Otherwise, the Artsakh peoples basic right to water  and, as such, their very existence  will be endangered, yet again.
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. Spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan commented on the May 5 statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs.

ARMENPRESS reports, referring to the remark that in some statements there are calls addressed to all sides to release all war prisoners, Anna Naghdalyan emphasized that Armenia has fully implemented its commitments in line with the 8th point of the November 9 trilateral declaration and has returned all Azerbaijani war prisoners.

Question  How would you comment on the May 5 statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chars over the POWs issue. Are there any Azerbaijani POWs or other detainees in Armenia.

Answer - Armenia has fully implemented its commitments in line with the 8th point of the November 9, 2020 trilateral declaration and has returned all Azerbaijani war prisoners, including two Azerbaijanis convicted of the murder of a minor in 2014.

The increasing pressure from various countries and international organizations against Azerbaijan shows that a consensus of the international community on the immediate repatriation of Armenian prisoners of war and hostages is being formed in line with the demands of the international humanitarian law.

Question  How would you comment on the accusations coming from the Azerbaijani side over not providing information about missing persons during the 1st Artsakh war and minefields?

Answer  Under the light of the increasing international pressure to release the hostages Azerbaijan is trying to bring forward false agendas for finding an excuse for not implemented humanitarian obligations assumed by it.

Armenia is always ready to cooperate with its international partners for solving humanitarian issues.
YEREVAN, MAY 7, ARMENPRESS. The Turkish defense ministry used the word ''genocide'' on its Twitter page, responding to the adoption of the declaration recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Latvian parliament, but a few minutes later deleted the note, ARMENPRESS reports the Greek City Times informs, publishing the screen shot of the Turkish defense ministrys Twitter note.

''We reject and do not recognize the Latvian Parliament's decision on the genocide'', read the Twitter page of the Turkish defense ministry.

Latvia officially recognized and condemned the Armenian Genocide on May 6. 58 out of 100 members of the Saeima voted in favor of the resolution.
Some of the items (see portable toilets to the right) that arrived from Jamaica via a Bahamian vessel, to aid in the relief of displaced persons. (Photo Credit: API SVG)

In a show of solidarity for St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Governments of Jamaica and the Bahamas joined forces to bring relief supplies to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.





The Bahamian vessel HMBS Lawrence Major, a Bahamian Defence Force vessel, arrived here on Tuesday 27th April with relief supplies from Jamaica.





Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Saboto Caesar; Minister of Tourism and Area Representative for North Leeward, Hon. Carlos James; and Honourary Consul of Jamaica to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mrs. Morine Williams were present to welcome the contingent and accept the various donations.





Minister of Agriculture Hon. Saboto Caesar thanked the Government and People of the Bahamas for the use of their vessel. Minister Caesar said we are one region, one people. He extended gratitude to the Government and People of Jamaica for their hard work and assistance.





The Commanding Officer of the HMBS Lawrence Major, Omarv Saunders, said it was a pleasure and privilege to assist in any way they can in the recovery efforts.





"After Hurricane Dorian we were assisted by our Caribbean brothers so we know what it is to require help and to get help from our Caribbean brothers, the Lieutenant Commander stated.





Honourary Consul of Jamaica to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mrs. Morine Williams promised that this "is the first of other donations to come.





Items donated included portable toilets, cots, blankets, food items, water, veterinary supplies, and childrens activity books, among others. (Source: API SVG)




A Canadian man who now lives in Australia has listed the three things his friends back home make fun of him for.

On TikTok, Paul, or @paul_ferrante, revealed since he moved to Australia, he's adopted a few things his mates back home find funny.

The first thing is the inflection when he talks.

"They've definitely called me out for everything I say tends to sound like a question," Paul explained.

"Definitely blaming you guys for that one," he added, presumably speaking to Australians.

A Canadian has explained on TikTok how Australia has changed him. Source: TikTok/paul_ferrante

The second thing his Canadian friends blame him for is how he now has a new-found appreciation for coffee.

"Number two is admittedly I've become like an absolute coffee snob," he said.

"I used to drink drip coffee all the time, it's pretty much all we know in Canada, but since moving here I've been a slave to the flat white and I just can't go back anymore."

And number three is the way he pronounces certain places in Australia  like Melbourne and Cairns.

In Australia, we know Melbourne is pronounced 'Mel-bin' and Cairns is 'Cannes'.

However, Paul explained in Canada Melbourne would be pronounced 'Mel-born' and Cairns would be 'Carnes', accentuating the 'R' in both.

"So now whenever I say something like Melbourne or Cairns to someone back home, they rip on me saying I'm trying to be Australian," he explained.

People were praising Paul, the "honorary Aussie", in the comments.

"Never had a bad coffee here in Australia," someone said in the comments.

"Keep pronouncing it the right way," someone else said, referring to the cities.

"Send us to rip on them! They're saying it wrong."

"Took 7 years but the Aussie gene is starting to show," he wrote in the caption on TikTok.

Story continues

The Canadian did clarify in the comments he still pronounces 'about' as 'aboot', in true Canadian style.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Storeor Google Play.
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month! Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread from the bite of a tick infected with the bacteria. Unfortunately, Lyme disease and several other tick-borne diseases have been increasing in New York through an increase in tick numbers, a warming climate and humans coming in contact with them.

Fortunately, not all ticks are a health threat to humans. There are an estimated 1,000 named species of ticks worldwide and about 100 in the United States, of which approximately 20 are a major public health concern or of veterinary importance. The three most common ticks in New York are the American dog tick, the lone-star tick and the blacklegged tick, often called the deer tick, which carries Lyme disease.

Ticks are classified as ectoparasites, which are parasites that live on the outside of the host. They do not jump, fly or drop from trees, but instead hold on to vegetation with their back legs and wait with their front legs stretched out for a host to come by. Most ticks are found either on the ground or on plants up to 18 inches off the ground. Once on a host they crawl upwards, seeking an ideal place to attach and start feeding.
Q. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would that be?

A. Well, I might try an overnight bus trip to Princeton, New Jersey! I think my shelter people feel I am a scholarly kind of cat, so they named me after a very prestigious Ivy League school  Princeton University. I would like to visit there to see what is so special about Ivy League.

Q. If you could have a job what would that be?

A. Well, speaking of Princeton (both me and the university) perhaps, after years and years of study, I could become a distinguished professor! I know, that's not going to happen, but since you asked the question that's my answer. I really don't want a job anyway.

Q. If you could meet someone famous who would that be?

A. As long as Princeton University is my main topic today, I might like to meet a famous alumnus! That would be Mr. Jeff Bezos! You know, the Amazon guy? Since he is big into helping charities, maybe I could talk him into building us a new shelter. I think he has a few billion dollars in spare change to do that! Thank you Mr. Bezos for your help!

Q. Do you have an interesting fact to share?
If that happens, a local effort to repurpose materials from the Wall Street church likely won't come to fruition.

A preservationist group called CR0WD  Circularity, Reuse, 0-Waste Development  has been in contact with the city about sending those materials to the Quarter Acre Project in Ithaca. Andy Roblee, a member of the group and the Historic Resources Review Board, told The Citizen the project provides land and materials to people of African and indigenous ancestry to build sustainable communities.

"We thought that short of saving the AME Zion church, the second best thing would be to take the materials and at least maintain that connection with that community," he said.

Several moving parts would have had to align for the effort to succeed, Roblee continued. The city would have had to obtain its demolition court order and take ownership of the property, then worked with CR0WD to prepare a request for proposals for deconstruction of the church, rather than demolition. Meanwhile, the group would have had to secure funding from local foundations and elsewhere to cover the additional cost of deconstruction. Whatever happens next, the experience will prove helpful the next time CR0WD attempts a similar repurposing effort, Roblee said.
At the start of a virtual roundtable with central New York business leaders and elected officials on Friday, U.S. Rep. John Katko asked them what they think is the top infrastructure need for their area.

The responses were what he expected.

Beyond surface transportation infrastructure, broadband and water systems were identified as major priorities. Cayuga County Legislature Chairwoman Aileen McNabb-Coleman, who was one of the participants on the virtual roundtable, said they are working on a regional water plan to address concerns with Cayuga and Owasco lakes, both of which supply drinking water to communities in the county.

McNabb-Coleman added that there's also work on regional broadband upgrades. Access to high-speed internet was mentioned as a challenge throughout the district. Corey Dunham, Syracuse's chief operating officer, said broadband is a priority for the city.

Katko agreed that broadband is needed across the district. While acknowledging that the "digital divide is real," he said the lack of high-speed internet in some communities has posed challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"For kids who are home from school, if you don't have access to the internet, you have a problem," he said.
U.S. Rep. John Katko said Friday that he will support an upstate New York colleague, U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, for House Republican conference chair if U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney loses the leadership position.

Katko, R-Camillus, responded to questions about the potential House GOP leadership shake-up during a video conference with reporters. Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, holds the No. 3 leadership post, but has been criticized for her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump and repeated denunciations of Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Katko said Cheney "is a good friend of mine" and noted that he supported her for conference chair after the impeachment. Cheney and Katko were among 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But if there is a vacancy, Katko revealed that he will support Stefanik to succeed Cheney.

"I have every confidence that Elise will be a superb leader for all of our conference, not just some," he said. "Elise and I came in together and she knows me as well as she knows conservatives. She knows that I have a different type of district than a lot of conservatives."
In a recent letter to the editor, David Pappert, Andrew Sheridan, Rick Gagliardi and Kathy Malenick endorse Rep.Lee Zeldin for governor.

Heaven forbid!

Let me remind readers that this is the same Lee Zeldin who joined with 125 other GOP members of the House to overturn the 2020 election. Even though there was no credible evidence of election fraud, even though 60 court cases on the issue were lost, even though AG Barr and the Supreme Court determined there was no election fraud, even though Trumps own cybersecurity official claimed this was the safest election in history, Lee Zeldin parroted the Trump line and voted to overturn the will of the people.

Zeldins support of Trumps Big Lie extends to the support he offered Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene when she was removed from committee assignments based on her hateful speech and her support of conspiracy theories. Zeldins defense was this: "I strongly disagree with Congresswoman Greene's statements prior to her entry to Congress, which peddled bizarre conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic tropes, and perpetuated dangerous falsehoods about the September 11 attacks. They were indefensible, wacky, harmful, and wrong.

Yet, he voted to support her.
German carmaker Volkswagen recently said that it was in a serious mess due to the ongoing shortage of semiconductors. Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said that the impact of this shortage would intensify and hit profits in the second quarter, according to a report by news agency Reuters.

The company saw a five-fold increase in its operating profits in the first three months of the year. However, the CEO added that the chip crisis would hit their June earnings substantially.
After graduating, Holbrook plans to continue her studies at Northern Arizona University in the fall, pursuing a bachelors degree in business marketing. The transition has been surreal, she said, and took a tremendous amount of resilience on her part.

But Holbrook made sure to mention that she could not have accomplished her goals by herself. Her parents have been integral in providing the support she needs to finish her studies -- whether thats preparing meals for the family or watching the kids during late night classes.

I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for [my parents]. Being a single mom is not always easy, Holbrook said, I definitely cherish the moments that [the kids] get to spend with them, too, because I think it's important for grandparents to be a part of their grandkids' lives.

Thats not to say she did not enjoy the busyness that came with motherhood and pursuing a college degree. In fact, the opportunity to step away from work and focus on her studies came as a reprieve, bringing newfound time to spend with her kids, she said.

The close proximity while attending Zoom at home had unexpected perks, as well. Modeling her own behavior in class, Holbrook looked to set a good example for her children.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- With the unstoppable tide of automotive electrification, battery swapping is considered to be a significant energy supply method for electric vehicles (EVs) that Chinese government is vigorously developing and popularizing with many supporting policies.

China's Ministry of Finance announced in April 2020 the subsidy scheme for new energy passenger vehicles priced below 300,000 yuan ($45,700) would be extended to the end of 2022. Nonetheless, the price restriction is not applicable to the cars with swappable batteries.

The policy indicates that while most premium EV makers will have to reduce prices to qualify for the scheme, NIO, whose entire product lineup comes standard with swappable battery pack, will still enjoy the governmental grant without harming profitability. Clearly, the exception is offered to boost battery swapping business.



NIO's battery swapping facility; photo credit: NIO



In May 2020, the battery swapping station was officially written into the Report on the Work of the Government as an important part of new infrastructure construction. Then in last July, Xin Guobin, vice-minister of the MIIT, said China would step up efforts to advance the construction of battery swap infrastructures to promote quality growth of the new energy vehicle (NEV) sector. The battery swapping mode would be piloted in regions including Beijing and Hainan, and enterprises were also encouraged to develop new battery charging and swapping technologies, he added.

The Safety Requirements of Battery Swap for Electric Vehicles (called the Requirements for short), a national voluntary standard jointly hammered out by such companies and institutions as BAIC BJEV, NIO and China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), was approved by the National Technical Committee of Auto Standardization (NTCAS) in last August. It serves as the first national standards for the development of the battery swapping business.

The latest important guidance existed in the Planning on the Development of New Energy Vehicle Industry issued by the State Council in November 2020. In this document, the government highlights faster moves on the construction of battery swapping infrastructures and the promotion of battery swapping model.

Many provincial and municipal governments, including Shanghai, Hainan, Tianjin, Beijing, Fujian and Hunan, also released policies to support the development of battery swapping business.

For instance, Shanghai will perfect the management system for the application of battery swapping facilities and subsidize the eligible operation of battery swapping services, according to the Implementation Plan on the Development for Speeding up the Development of New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2025) issued by Shanghai municipal government in February.

Hainan provincial government launched an action plan in March, which says local authorities will further step up efforts to construct EV charging and battery swapping infrastructures for rest stops in highways, and pilot the battery swapping model in some eligible areas.

Meanwhile, Hainan government also said it will strive to deploy 2,000 new energy vehicles equipped with swappable batteries in 2021, and encourage authorities of cities and counties to rationally build battery swapping stations.



The growing number of incentives will not only enable such automakers as NIO and BAIC BJEV to double their efforts to strengthen presence in battery swapping area, where they have long been at the forefront, but also have attracted more new players to this field.

As the first Chinese automaker who developed battery swapping technologies and services dedicated to private users, NIO unveiled at the NIO Day 2017 the first-generation Power Swap station, and opened its first battery swap station in Nanshan High Tech Industrial Park, Shenzhen on May 20, 2018. As of March 24, 2021, the startup had completed 2 million battery swaps and deployed 193 power swap stations across China.

The NEV subsidy policy that excludes battery swappable vehicles from the price threshold of 300,000 yuan greatly benefits NIO. Encouraged by the government stimulus, NIO is trying to consolidate its leadership in battery swapping domain by diversifying its services, forming more partnerships and upgrading facilities.

On August 18, 2020, NIO, CATL, Hubei Science Technology Investment Group Co., Ltd. and a subsidiary of Guotai Junan International Holdings Limited (collectively the Partners) jointly established the Battery Asset Company. NIO and the Partners would each invest 200 million yuan ($30.579 million) and hold 25% equity interest in the joint venture respectively. The Battery Asset Company is dedicated to purchasing and possessing the battery assets, and leasing the battery packs to users who subscribe to the BaaS (Battery-as-a-Service) model.

Just two days after the JV foundation, NIO officially launched the BaaS that allows users to buy a car without the battery. The successful launch of the BaaS model will enable NIO users to benefit from the lower initial purchase prices of our products, flexible battery upgrade options and assurance of battery performance, said William Bin Li, founder, chairman, and CEO of NIO.

Then NIO signed a framework agreement with State Grid Electric Vehicle Service Co., Ltd. (State Grid EV) in last December to jointly build 100 charging and battery swapping stations in China this year, striving for a thorough connectivity among vehicles, EV charging and power swapping facilities.



NIO Power Swap Station 2.0; photo credit: NIO



At the NIO Day held in January this year, NIO officially announced the second-generation battery swap stationPower Swap Station 2.0to provide freshly charged batteries for NIO's EVs. According to the brief description, the new station is capable of offering up to 312 battery swaps per daythree times more than the previous generation.

BAIC BJEV, Changan New Energy and Geely are also main automakers that work on battery swapping model, while their businesses mainly focus on taxis and ride-hailing service.



As an early mover in this area, BAIC BJEV started pre-research of battery swapping model as early as 2010 and kicked off in 2018 relevant scale operation. It has currently grasped such core technologies as the vehicle positioning system, the fast-swap connection system, the chassis-based battery swapping system, the battery lifecycle management as well as the fast battery swapping network operation. The automaker has already launched its fourth-generation battery swapping station, which can swap a battery pack within only 30 seconds and offer 400-500 battery swaps per day.



Battery swapping station of Geely Technology Group; photo credit: Geely Technology Group



Geely Technology Group unveiled its intelligent battery swapping stations in Chongqing and Jinan last year. The company plans to deploy 5,000 power swap stations by the end of 2025 in the Southeast Asian market and on the inter-city and inter-province highways across China.

Changan New Energy launched in September 2020 its first battery swapping station in Chongqing and put the station into pilot operation at the same time. The facility was jointly developed by the members of the battery swapping alliance initiated by Changan New Energy in last July, which consists of CATL, Aulton, State Grid EV, Energy Tower (a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Tower) and other companies. It mainly works for taxis, ride-hailing service, inter-city transport and logistics business.

This year, SAIC Motor and FAW Group also joined the lineup of automakers that develop battery swapping business. Last month, SAIC Motor PV signed a MoU with Aulton, a leading Chinese battery swapping solution provider, and celebrated the launch of the battery swappable Roewe Ei5, whose battery pack can be swapped in only 20 seconds at Aulton's battery swapping stations.

During the same month, Fawer, a subsidiary of FAW Group, claimed it would plow 9 million yuan ($1.376 million) in a joint venture co-founded with companies including Aulton and FAW Mobility, and the joint venture would focus on providing battery swapping service for FAW's vehicles.

To gain a foothold in the market, automakers adopt different approaches, which can be generally classified into two methods, namely cooperating with battery swapping service operators and independently developing technologies and building facilities.







Aulton's battery swapping station at Auto Shanghai 2021



In the aforesaid automakers' efforts, a name, Aulton, has been frequently mentioned. According to the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA), Aulton had 286 battery swapping stations by the end of December 2020, accounting for 51.5% of the country's total number. Its strong presence in China's battery swapping industry has made such automakers as SAIC Motor, FAW Group, GAC Group, Changan Automobile and ZEDRIV queueing to partner with it.

Aside from Aulton, State Grid is also speeding up its battery swapping deployment. The Chinese state-owned electric utility monopoly has formed strategic partnerships with the likes of BAIC Group, FAW Group and Dongfeng Motor, to jointly explore the business model of the separating ownership of vehicles and batteries, and co-construct and operate battery swapping stations.

Some carmakers, like NIO, opt to build power swap facilities by themselves. EVCIPA's data show that NIO had 175 battery swapping stations by the end of 2020, only second to Aulton.

However, even the player like NIO decided to form in-depth cooperation with State Gird as it is well aware of the fact that standalone efforts can not suffice to a full-fledged development.

On April 15, NIO announced a strategic partnership with Chinese state-owned oil producer Sinopec to co-build EV charging and battery swapping infrastructures. Meanwhile, NIO's first Power Swap Station 2.0 was officially launched at a service station of Sinopec in Beijing.
A section of the items from the BVI. (Photo Credit: API SVG)

Relief items, the result of a coordinated effort to mobilise support for volcano-ravaged St. Vincent and the Grenadines by a number of civic organisations in the British Virgin Islands, arrived here on Tuesday 27th April.





The combined effort involved the Lions Club of Tortola on Tortola, the Valley Sound Lions Club on Virgin Gorda, the BVI Rotary Family, BVI Red Cross, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Association (SVG Association), the Department of Disaster Management (DDM), the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), Tree of Hands the BVI Police Force and the Government of the Virgin Islands.





Minister of Agriculture Hon. Saboto Caesar was on hand to accept the donations and to welcome Sergeant Sean McCall, Public Relations Officer of the Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations.





Minister Caesar extended thanks to the Government and People of the BVI for their love "sent to us in our time of great need.





He recalled his visit to the BVI in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, noting that it was "really good to see the return of solidarity.





Public Relations Officer of the Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations Sergeant Sean McCall noted the parties involved in putting together the donation describing it as "all coming together to lend a helping hand.





He also acknowledged the solidarity that "you showed to us back in 2017 with Hurricanes Irma and Maria.




For the past two weeks, Northern Arizona University's Union Fieldhouse has hosted the countys Pfizer vaccine rollout. Anyone 16 or older wishing to get a first or second dose of the vaccine can still walk in or make an appointment.

With most university students heading home for the summer this past weekend, however, the focus has shifted to outreach for those who cannot travel to the main site. Mobile vaccination centers, or pop-up sites as they are more commonly called, are staffed by the same health professionals who administer at the Fieldhouse. By going out into the community, especially areas that are more underserved, the goal of these pop-ups coincides with the international objective to end the pandemic and prevent new variants of COVID-19 from emerging.
These new technologies are far more minerals-intensive than the systems theyre replacing. An EV uses six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car. And an onshore wind plant requires nine times more mineral resources than a gas-fired power station.

Unfortunately, the United States is now heavily reliant on China and other nations for these raw materials. In fact, Americas mineral-import reliance has doubled in just the past two decades. And thanks to aggressive, mercantilist policies, China now controls 70 percent of the worlds lithium supplies, 80 percent of rare earth metals, and roughly 70 percent of the worlds graphite.

A key concern is that China utilizes extremely toxic practices to extract these resources. In Inner Mongolia, Chinese mining operators have poured refining waste into a poisonous artificial lake large enough to be visible on Google Earth. And Chinas Bayan-Obo dumping site consists of dangerous sludge roughly three times the size of Central Park.

In contrast, Americas mining operators adhere to the worlds most stringent environmental standards. However, the permitting process for new U.S. mines can often take up to a decade. Countries such as Australia and Canada typically approve new mines in only two to three years, though  even while imposing equally strict environmental controls.

To meet soaring demand and reduce imports from China, the United States must start mining more of these resources at home. The good news is that the U.S. possesses more than $6 trillion in mineral reserves. Its time for federal policies to change in favor of U.S. mining and materials processing. Otherwise, President Bidens clean energy agenda could fall short of its goals  and leave the U.S. dependent on Chinas reckless mining industry.

Michael Stumo is CEO of the Coalition for a Prosperous America. Follow him at @michael_stumo

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For decades, oil and gas companies have taken advantage of a broken federal leasing system in an effort to stockpile our nations precious public lands. The industrys exploitation of this system has prompted Montanans and other stakeholders across the West to call for reforms to the leasing system. Those calls have gotten louder over the last few years as its become more apparent the system is undermining our public lands, outdoor recreation economy, and the economic health of local communities.

Thankfully, the Biden administration acted quickly upon taking office, putting a temporary pause on all new oil and gas leasing so it can review the system and make it work better for everyone. As the administration uses this pause as an opportunity to evaluate the leasing program, its crucial that it address the glut of public lands the industry has leased.

Across the American West, 9.9 million acres of public lands are tied up in leases but sitting idle. Thats an area more than four times larger than the size of Yellowstone National Park providing little to no benefit to taxpayers or wildlife. In Montana, 942,577 acres  more than half of the total acres leased for oil and gas drilling  are tied up in stockpiled leases that generate no more than $2 per acre a year, result in no local jobs, and prevent agencies from managing the land for recreation and conservation.
The Mandan Progress Organization is bringing back its Touch a Truck event this spring, for curious children and job-seeking teens and adults.

Last year's event was reconfigured to a coloring book activity for children due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, heavy equipment, emergency service vehicles, construction trucks and more will line Main Street again, on Saturday, May 15. Much of the equipment on display will be accompanied by operators who will tell children about the vehicles and help them explore the rigs.

Touch a Truck was created by a group of MPO members who recognized an opportunity to bring big machines and little kids together, Board President Layn Mudder said. Last year we were able to combat a COVID-driven cancellation by creating a coloring book, but nothing beats an up-close encounter with heavy equipment.

Touch a Truck is set from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The first 1  hours is a dedicated Quiet Time when no horns or sirens will be used, to accommodate children who have noise sensitivities.
A judge has dismissed one claim in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and two of its agents in the 2017 death of a Standing Rock Reservation man, saying the officers were in compliance with all training provisions.

The family of George Ryan Gipp in a lawsuit filed in July 2020 claims Gipp was unarmed, obeyed instructions and posed no threat to law enforcement when he was shot by BIA Officers Raymond Webb and Gary Sandland Jr. No criminal charges were filed against the officers.

Gipps family in the lawsuit alleges excessive force, assault and battery, negligence on the part of the officers for which the BIA is liable, and negligence by the BIA in its training of the officers. The family seeks unspecified money damages.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor in an order signed last week agreed with one part of a motion made in August 2020 by then-U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley. The United States presented unrefuted evidence that the officers were in compliance with all mandatory training provisions at the time of the shooting, Traynor said.

The ruling doesn't change the face of the case, said Thomas Conlin, Minneapolis attorney representing Gipp's family.
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"It was my hope 25 years ago as a mom, and soon to be with a newborn, that I wanted my children to grow up with nature around them, with strong healthy trees. The trees did have a purpose."

-- Margie Zalk Enerson, speaking at an event marking the 25th anniversary of an effort to save elm trees in Bismarck's Cathedral Area Historic District.

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"Its astounding to see the ... impact that these wildfires have had in our state so far this year, and it further reinforces the need for fire prevention from everyone in the state."

-- Beth Hill, acting outreach and education manager for the North Dakota Forest Service, reporting that there have been 806 confirmed wildfires burning 78,326 acres -- 8  times the number of acres that burned in the state in all of 2020.

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"They are very light and very cool. My son weighs more -- he's 2 and is 35 pounds."

-- Anne Brunner, of Bismarck, after trying one of the Bird rental scooters available on city streets.
Left: Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves asserted that we have to do better than abandoning our children and elderly at the Shelters. Right: Michelle Forbes, Director. NEMO, substantiated the claims of the practice of abandoning children and elderly persons at the Shelters.

A most gut-wrenching disclosure was made during a discussion between Prime Minister Hon. Ralph Gonsalves and Director of the National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO), Michelle Forbes, as they spoke on NBCs Eyeing La Soufriere last Monday, May 03.





The Prime Minister reported that there were issues which "have come to my attention which I wish to speak on .[which are] in danger of breaking our social solidarity, and they are extremely disturbing.





He began by enquiring of Ms. Forbes about the situation of the abandonment of some children in emergency shelters.





The NEMO Director responded to the inquiry with: "We have children of primary school age being left alone for quite some time; teenagers being abandoned; people going back home and just leaving them there in the emergency shelters and not even indicating to the shelter managers that youre stepping out or going to be where. So you have all of these unattended children sometimes within the emergency shelters.





The Prime Minister questioned about an estimated number of unattended children and received the response of, "We have about fiftyboth teenagers and young children.





Ms. Forbes explained further that the adults in question often claimed that they are returning home to clean up. They have not been keeping in contact with the shelter managers and were never be seen again for "a couple of days.





The issue of abandonment of elderly persons in shelters also came up, to which the Prime Minister interjected with alarm, "You cant leave your elderly folk like that!





It was revealed that persons brought their elderly relatives to shelters and some just simply left them (elderly) there.





In a related matter, Forbes informed that NEMO has provided two emergency shelters to house persons who have mobility issues and/or are bed-ridden. She said that there were 30 persons in the shelters with one of the shelters currently housing 22 people.





She described these Shelters as basically "functioning like a hospice where we have home helpers going and taking care of them.





The Ministry of Health has provided support by way of hospital beds for those people that NEMO has at the two shelters, Forbes said.





Notwithstanding action taken, PM Gonsalves felt that there was a necessity to appeal to the caring instincts of such people, and pleaded to those involved to "be honest with the people in the shelter about their whereabouts and their other commitments, and encouraged them to make a visit every now and again.





Almost at a loss for words, the Prime Minister made a strong appeal to persons practising such abandonment.





"Im just appealing to persons, he charged. "You know what you have to do. You know it is wrong to leave your elderly like that, at the mercy of other people. Even though people are helping to take care of them, you cant also abandon your children; come on!





He pleaded that the matter be conducted in a pleasing and civilized manner as, despite the challenges which exist, "all of us are together in this thing.
Wow is all I can say to Saturday's letters to the editor.

Protect North Dakota's Constitution claims they are not weakening the power of the voter by requiring a super majority of the voters to change the Constitution. If 59% of the voters vote for change and it requires a 60% vote to make the change; 8% of the voters are ignored completely by not making the change (only 51 % required now). That is weakening the power of the voters.

Roger Gazur says that not allowing one shirt with an offensive message is wrong. Would he complain if a student wore a DEATH TO CONSERVATIVES shirt instead of one that means death or a life of slavery to Blacks? I bet he would. He claims that not being allowed to drink or buy cigarettes until age 21 is discriminatory and so is not driving until licensed. All who live that long will turn 21 and a license can be earned. Transgender people won't age out of the disrespect shown their identity and can't earn the right to be respected by some people. That is a big difference. As for Moose and rabid parenting at games; would you fake being gay just to play and rabid says it all.
Global Threat Landscape Report A Semiannual Report by FortiGuard Labs

The world rarely comes to a consensus on anything, but pretty much everybody agrees that putting 2020 behind us was a good thing.

In many ways, everyone prefers to move on rather than revisiting the cyber threat landscape of the past year. But like it or not, the echoes of 2020 continue to reverberate into 2021 in both the physical and digital worlds.

Thus, this report goes back into the second half of 2020, so companies can move forward into a better, more secure future.

Inside the report, uncover:

Top threats & features stories from the 2nd half of 2020

The SolarWinds breach that shook the industry

Beyond SolarWinds: An APT roundup

The runaway ransomware threat

And more
The British Library's papyri are full of surprises. We've often described how our Greek papyri provide insights into the lives of women, children, teachers and even magicians, but even we were astonished, while cataloguing the collection, to come across a number of fragments containing fascinating descriptions of extraordinary creatures.

A fragmentary school composition about the phoenix, written on the back of a tax register (Egypt, 2nd century AD): Papyrus 2239, fragment 1 verso

The first fragment probably dates from the 2nd century, is written on the back of a tax document, and describes a wondrous bird in Greek prose. According to the text, 'This bird can be seen ying through the air with its plumage gleaming, gold and light blue all over, being wondrously similar to the sea. The plumage of its wings seems to imitate the echo of the storming wind. It lives alone even as an adult, rich in wisdom, peaceful not carnivorous.'

Based on parallels in other texts, this miraculous bird can be identified as the phoenix. The bird in question was said to have lived in Egypt and, after living for 1,000 years, to have burned itself alive before resurrecting again from its ashes. Our papyrus provides new information about the colour of the bird, as well as the fascinating information that it could sing in an extraordinary voice which 'had an eternal quality, one with the entire universe'.

The phoenix in a bestiary (England, 2nd quarter of the 13th century): Harley MS 4751, f. 45r (detail)

Our second fragment comes from a 4th-century codex and contains a text in verse, probably from a play. The first legible portion of this papyrus describes another mythical creature, a female beast 'with tresses of long hair. Her tail she curls up under her lions feet and sits down carrying back her wings. Exposed to sunshine, the monsters back glistens with gold, if a cloud comes, a sombre splendour, like a rainbow, is reflected on it. It is murderous and chants magical verses of a riddle: "One thing there is that has sense that walks on four feet, then on two and three  whats that?"'

Two fragments from a play, probably the Oedipus of Euripides (Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, 4th century AD): Papyrus 3042, fragments 1-2 recto

It is this riddle about a creature that first walks on four legs, then on two and finally on three that helps us identify this beast. It is the Sphinx of Greek mythology, whose riddle refers to a man, who as a boy crawls on four legs, as an adult walks on two, and finally in old age leans on a stick as its third foot. The Sphinx was said to have a female head, a lion's body and wings; but the colour of its plumage is described uniquely in this papyrus.

The Sphinx from the Histoire ancienne jusqu'a Cesar (France, 2nd quarter of the 14th century): Royal MS 20 D I, f. 2v (detail)

Our third example dates from around 1,900 years ago. It is found on a papyrus roll containing Greek verses, presumably from a tragedy. The first readable portion of the text describes an horrific monster, 'a compound, with double nature: bull and man, it bears a bulls head square set on its shoulders, it walks on two legs with a black shaggy tail, it has a look of horror and a tail and strength of ' The rest of the text is missing.

Fragment from a play, presumably The Cretans by Euripides (Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, 2nd century AD): Papyrus 3044, fragment 2 recto

Despite the fragmentary condition of this papyrus, the two-fold nature of the bull-man makes it obvious that this is a description of the Minotaur. This creature was born from the love of the Cretan queen Pasiphae and a bull. Imprisoned in the mazes of the kings palace, it was fed with the human flesh of slaves until Theseus, a young prince from Athens, helped by Pasiphaes daughter Ariadne, chopped off its head with his sword.

Theseus combatting the Minotaur from the Histoire ancienne jusqu'a Cesar (France, 2nd half of the 13th century): Add MS 19669, f. 96v (detail)

Although this papyrus provides no new details about the Minotaur's appearance , it's an interesting witness to the long-lived tradition of the monster of Crete. Seeing these exciting fragments, one cannot help wondering what other mysteries remain to be revealed among the British Librarys Greek papyri.

Peter Toth

Follow us on Twitter @BLMedieval
One of the newest EAP projects to go online is EAP890, which contains two collections of Mongolian newspapers, covering the period 1936-1945.

Written in traditional Mongolian script, these newspapers offer a fascinating insight into the history of Mongolian politics and society. They also provide a Mongolian perspective on international affairs, including the dominant global event of the period: the Second World War.

What's in a name?

But beyond the content, even to the untrained eye, this collection shines a light on a key period in Mongolias history, as the influence of the Soviet Union intensified eastwards after the 1917 Russian revolution.

Even if you cannot read the traditional Mongolian script these newspapers are written in, a quick glance at different editions of the Ardyn Undesnii Erkh collection prompts a simple question: why did the name of this newspaper keep changing? The answer lies not in typographical errors and careless editing; it is much more profound.

The newspaper title when printed in traditional Mongolian script was always consistent (see yellow boxes below). But alongside this was a variant title written in an alternative script (see red boxes).

In the following examples from four different months in 1941, the variant titles were written differently in each edition. In February 1941, the variant title is very similar to the current Romanised transliteration. But month by month this gradually changed to something that closely resembles the modern Cyrillic spelling.

13 February 1941 (EAP890/1/1/54/3)

12 March 1941 (EAP890/1/1/55/4)

12 May 1941 (EAP890/1/1/57/2)

23 June 1941 (EAP890/1/1/58/6)

What is going on?

These changing titles are indicative of a pivotal period in Mongolian history. They reveal a process of linguistic revolution, which act as an important indicator of the broader social and political changes that Mongolia experienced during the mid-20th century.

The Sovietisation of Mongolia

Situated in the heart of central Asia, Mongolia is surrounded by two global superpowers: Russia to the north and China to the south. Between the late 17th and early 20th centuries, Mongolia was controlled by the Chinese Qing dynasty. Throughout this period, local dialects predominantly used the vertical Mongolian script, which was adapted from the Old Uyghur alphabet after Genghis Khan captured an Uyghur scribe at the beginning of the 13th century, during the formative years of the Mongol Empire.

After the fall of the Chinese Manchu dynasty in 1911, Mongolia swayed between independence and continued control by the new Republic of China, until Russian troops entered Mongolia in 1920 and defeated the Chinese army a few months later.

In 1924, the Mongolian People's Republic was established and during subsequent decades Mongolia became increasingly aligned with the recently formed Soviet Union.

During the 1930s, Mongolia was subject to a series of brutal purges. Buddhist monasteries were destroyed and tens of thousands of people were killed. This process intensified as the world drifted towards war. Notable politicians, including Mongolian prime ministers Peljidiin Genden and Anandyn Amar were arrested and shot in the Soviet Union, accused of counterrevolutionary activity and spying for Japan.

These purges were ordered by the Soviets, but largely overseen by Khorloogiin Choibalsan - sometimes referred to as the 'Stalin of Mongolia'. Choibalsan was in Russia as a student when the 1917 Bolshevik revolution took place. He returned to Mongolia inspired by the Bolshevik cause and after Stalin came to power in Moscow, Choibalsan gradually emerged as the principal conduit for Soviet influence in Mongolia. By 1939, after the arrest of Amar, Choibalsan had become Mongolia's dominant political leader.

12 March 1941 (EAP890/1/1/55/4). Pictured: Joseph Stalin (top); Khorloogiin Choibalsan (bottom right)

Khorloogiin Choibalsan with Soviet military officers, 1940 (EAP264/1/2/1/10)

During the next few years, the Sovietisation of Mongolia continued unabated and part of this effort included Russifying the Mongolian language.

Linguistic revolution

While violent purges provide stark evidence of political change, alterations to the national language were also a significant part of the Sovietisation process.

Initial attempts to unify languages within the communist sphere centred on the Latin script. A 1932 Soviet report explained that a unified script would create a system for use by the working masses, as opposed to multiple narrow systems designed for use by the ruling classes. During the late 1930s this objective continued, but Cyrillic became the preferred, unifying writing system.

The first two extracts above, from early 1941 editions of Ardyn Undesnii Erkh, represent a hangover from those initial aborted efforts to Latinise languages within the Soviet Union during the 1920s-30s and replica efforts in Mongolia. In the early 1930s, a Latin alphabet containing 24 dominant characters emerged in Mongolia. This shift was subsequently aborted and in 1937 the former Minster of Education was prosecuted for crimes which included trying to destroy the Mongolian national script. But in early 1941, after the rise of Choibalsan, Latinisation re-emerged. And on 21 February 1941, a resolution was passed in Mongolia to approve a 42-letter Latin script. This decree was short-lived, though, as a month a later, on 25 March, Cyrillic was adopted as the preferred alternative to the traditional Mongolian script. Five years later, this change was enforced

The processes of both Latinising and Russifying the Mongolian language were neither straightforward nor definitive. The subtle and gradual alterations to both the Latin and the Cyrillic versions of the titles evident in these newspaper demonstrate this. The task of using new alphabets to represent an existing language was subject to intense linguistic debate.

As the last national newspapers printed in traditional Mongolian script before the forceful switch to the Cyrillic script on 1 January 1946, these two newspaper collections offer an important insight into the nature of those debates and provide a potentially useful dataset to help better understand the mechanics and subtleties of this linguistic revolution.

By the time of this enforced change, Unen had already transitioned. When the final edition available in this collection was published on 31 December 1945, the only remnant of the traditional Mongolian script was the title; the rest of the newspaper was printed in Cyrillic.

Unen, 1 January 1942 (EAP890/1/2/1/1), left; Unen, 31 December 1945 (EAP890/1/2/45/11), right

When the Sovietisation process began, the titles were the first parts of these newspapers to change. When the process was complete, they were the last thing to remain.

Beyond communism and 21st century challenges

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of communism in Mongolia, efforts have been made to resurrect the traditional script, which is still used in the autonomous Inner Mongolian region of China. This was initially scheduled for 1994, but Cyrillic was re-confirmed as the national script by the Mongolian parliament in 1995.

Twenty years later, in February 2015, the Mongolian government passed a new law which asserted that the traditional Mongolian script, found in these two newspapers, should once again be the national script by 2025. But it may not be that simple.

As I discovered when cataloguing this project, implementing this policy requires technical change as well as political will. It had been our intention to catalogue the collection using the traditional Mongolian script that the newspapers were predominantly written in. However, while the traditional Mongolian script was added to the unicode standard in 1999, there are several design issues that remain unfixed and a lack of support for fonts required to display the script correctly. The 2025 target has provided renewed motivation to address these issues. But it remains to be seen if and when the existing technical problems will be resolved.

For now, therefore, the titles for these collections appear in the EAP catalogue only in the modern Mongolian Cyrillic script and transliterated Latin script.

But once you get beyond the name, the digitised content is there to be explored in the traditional Mongolian script - providing a window into the past and possibly the very near future of Mongolia and the significance of its national script.

By Graham Jevon

With thanks to the EAP890 project team led by Bayasgalan Bayanbat for digitising this content, and to Eleanor Cooper with whom discussions about the language and scripts inspired this post.

Further reading

Charles Bawden, The Modern History of Mongolia, (2002).

Henry S Badsher, 'The Sovietization of Mongolia', Foreign Affairs (April 1972), pp. 545-553.

Uradyn E Bulag, Nationalism and Hybridity in Mongolia (1998).

Stephane Grivelet, 'The Latinization Attempt in Mongolia', http://acta.bibl.u-szeged.hu/16597/1/altaica_039_115-120.pdf

Stephane Grivelet, 'Reintroducing the Uighur-Mongolian Script in Mongolia Today', Mongolian Studies, Vol. 18 (1995), pp. 49-60.
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Deal said that about 20 minutes before the shooting, there had been "a knife-wielding confrontation" involving Hill, Martinez-Torres and a third man, who was not charged. Martinez-Torres and the other man left in a car, but Martinez-Torres soon returned with a .22-caliber rifle.

"Brian told me he believed something had to be done to prevent a future violent encounter," Deal said. "That's not self-defense in New York."

"I don't think that's self-defense anywhere," the judge interjected.

"I had to dodge bullets," Edwards told the killer. "You just walked over and kept shooting."

Because of the severe internal injuries Hill suffered, doctors couldn't save his life despite multiple surgeries.

"You really tore my son up. It was better that God took him than for him to have to live that way," Edwards told Martinez-Torres.

But after reading a passage about forgiveness aloud from the Gospel of St. Matthew, Edwards said, "I forgive you, Fat Boy. God has something for you. Is that why you took the plea  or because you knew you couldn't win?"

Deal said Martinez-Torres had a troubled childhood.
While Martzloff was known for an abrasive and sometimes confrontational communication style, Brown-Hall is praised by many for his ability to communicate calmly and respectfully even in the most heated situations.

Some parents in Williamsville who have pushed for in-person instruction five days a week have raised concerns about the fact that Brown-Hall led the reopening this year in Buffalo, which was the last district in New York State to reopen for in-person instruction.

What we have to acknowledge is that every district is different, Brown-Hall said. The entire pandemic hit Black and brown families in the inner city differently. What worked in Buffalo may not be the right answer to how you approach it in Williamsville. Thats why you take a collaborative approach with stakeholders.

Among Brown-Halls duties as chief of staff in the Buffalo Public Schools for the past six years has been helping to negotiate contracts with the Buffalo Teachers Federation and several other unions.

He was somebody that you could trust, and somebody that really cared about the students, said Phil Rumore, president of the teachers union. We would often disagree, but he was somebody that I always felt was trying to do what was right.
Leaders of Western New York's Covid-19 vaccination effort said Friday that plans are ready to go for vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds against the virus.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve use of the Pfizer vaccine for that age group within days, according to Dr. Nancy Nielsen, who heads a vaccination planning committee for Western New York.

Erie and Niagara counties, which already have scheduled vaccination clinics at schools, are ready to expand them and make vaccines available to pediatricians as a means of immunizing younger people.

For now in the U.S., Pfizer vaccines can be given to no one under 16 years old. The other vaccine makers, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, say their products shouldn't be given to anyone under 18.

The demand for vaccines has been dwindling among adults, either because they've been vaccinated already or they're not willing to be.

In Erie County as of Friday morning, 60.6% of the population over age 16 already has received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 47.4% of the over-16s are fully vaccinated.

Thus, shots for school-age children may move the country closer to herd immunity and to the reopening of all schools on a traditional in-person basis.
Latter-day Charities, the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has donated to several organizations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in response to the La Soufriere volcanic eruption.

In addition, the church meetinghouse in Kingstown has been designated a shelter and 46 evacuees from the red zone, including members, are safely residing at the building.





Members worked tirelessly to buy and package 200 food hampers which were handed over to the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO). These packages included crackers, cocoa, pasta, spaghetti, milk, sausage, canned beef, toothpaste, toothbrush, toilet paper, paper towel, cooking oil, peas, rice, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, peanut butter, and toiletries.





NEMO also received 450 cases of water.





Additionally, 1000 hygiene kits and personal care items have been purchased by the church and prepared by both Rotary Club members and church members in Grenada. A monetary donation was made to the Salvation Army to distribute food and water to the communities.





Two containers with tents, blankets, flashlights, towels, water, rice, and other food supplies arrived last week from Puerto Rico, and these supplies will be distributed among members of the church and other refugees. Ten wheelchairs and three nebulizers are also part of the donations of the church.





Moreover, members volunteered to install more portable toilets and showers for the people in the shelter. A series of age-appropriate activities and programmes for children, youth and adults have been implemented.





Though families are unable to attend their local church services, online devotionals are being held each night to provide emotional and spiritual support for the residents of the shelter. (Source: Church of Jesus Christ)




Wisconsin health officials said Thursday that they have ordered only a fraction of the COVID-19 vaccine doses the federal government had set aside for the state for next week, another sign of plateauing interest in the shots.

Interest in the vaccine has been waning across the country. President Joe Biden's administration announced Tuesday that it would shift doses from states with lower demand to states with more interest.

The federal government has allocated 86,580 first doses of the Pfizer vaccine, 65,900 first doses of the Moderna vaccine and 10,200 doses of the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the state for the week starting Monday. Wisconsin Department of Health Services spokeswoman Elizabeth Goodsitt said the agency has ordered 9,120 Pfizer doses, 2,070 Moderna doses and just 2,100 Johnson & Johnson doses.

Demand for the vaccines in Wisconsin is softening, Goodsitt said, noting that one in three Wisconsin residents are now fully vaccinated. She added that vaccinators are working through their existing inventories before ordering more doses, she said.
This will be the first time in Wisconsins history that we have a facility like that that will be able to help women and young girls, said Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Irma, a budget committee member.

I think that investing in this now will not only save the state taxpayers money, which is very important, but more important and the ultimate goal of this is to give our youth, some whove had the most horrific starts in their lives, it will give them a chance and an opportunity to come back and hopefully have a happy, healthy and productive life as they move forward.

Borrowed funds

In approving the request from the Department of Health Services to expand the facility, lawmakers are making use of borrowing already outlined in the last state budget. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers already approved about $44 million in borrowing for the project, and Evers, through a veto, was able to shift $15 million in borrowing authorized for another mental health facility in northern Wisconsin that Republicans wanted to Mendota instead. Still, more will be needed in the state budget.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  Over a year into the pandemic, the Philippine unit of regional low-cost carrier AirAsia continues to suffer setbacks from the pandemic, with passenger volume dropping 91% in the first quarter of 2021.

In a statement on Friday, its parent company AirAsia Group Berhad said the local unit only flew about 168,000 passengers in the period from 1.79 million a year earlier.

However, the firm considered it as a "strong rebound" as it was 43% up compared to the passenger traffic recorded in the last quarter of 2020.

The government continues to limit the number of international travelers entering the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from 3,000 to 1,500. In an aim to decongest hospitals, the government also reimposed modified enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila and nearby provinces until May 14, which means only essential travel is allowed.

"AirAsia expects to see solid domestic demand in its key ASEAN markets in the next few quarters as the majority of the population receive their vaccinations and due to strong pent-up demand," the group said.

AirAsia Group Berhad has operations in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  For Miss Universe 1969 Gloria Diaz, all Rabiya Mateo has to do is enjoy this year's pageant without worrying.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' New Day on Friday, the award-winning veteran actress was all praises for Mateo, the Philippines' bet in the 69th edition of the Miss Universe pageant which will be held on May 16 in Florida, USA..

"She's beautiful. She doesn't have to do much," Diaz said of the 24-year-old Mateo. "She just has to have presence of mind. And she has to enjoy every second of what's happening."

"And she must remember, in the pageant, whether you win or lose, it's just the beginning," added the Philippines' first Miss Universe titleholder.

Diaz shared how much beauty pageants changed over time compared to when she competed for the crown herself.

"Oh my gosh, it's not only by a mile. Maybe 500 miles," she laughed.

"We never did any ads of alcohol, deodorant, or banking," Diaz recalled. "Most of the time we were staying abroad. I don't know how they're doing it now," Diaz said.

"But the girls are getting more beautiful, taller, but many of them are older also," she said.

The Miss Universe icon was only 18 when she won the coveted crown on July 19, 1969 in Miami Beach, also in Florida.

"Now, they are very, very professional," Diaz added. "And they really are out there to work."

"But before it wasn't like that," she said. "We were just 18, 19, or 20 and that makes a world of difference."

Diaz' daughter, model-entrepreneur Isabelle Daza, may have not followed her mother's footsteps, but she also acknowledged the pressure and the courage that comes with being a beauty queen today.

"I don't think I ever really aspired to be a beauty queen although I have so much admiration for her (my mom) and to all the beauty queens," Daza said in the same interview.

"It's really very brave and vulnerable for you to put yourself out there and be judged for all of that," she said.

Mateo, a native of Iloilo, is among the 74 candidates who will compete for the Miss Universe 2020 crown.

She graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy from Iloilo Doctors College.

Mateo said she hopes to become the fifth Miss Universe from the Philippines, and join the elite group of Diaz, Margarita Moran, Pia Wurtzbach and Catriona Gray.

RELATED: Rabiya Mateo on Miss Universe Q&A preps: 'It's like reviewing for board exam!'

This year's pageant will be held at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida on May 16 (May 17 in Manila).
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  The Philippines on Friday tallied over a million recoveries from COVID-19 more than a year since the local outbreak began. While majority of patients only suffer mild symptoms, there are those who barely survive.

Jon Montes caught COVID-19 in March and spent a month in hospital. At one point, his doctors thought he wouldn't make it after passing out for an entire day, thinking he would go into cardiac arrest any second.

"I really thought I was going to die that night," he told CNN Philippines, recounting he remembers feeling tired from a hemoperfusion session  a process that cleans the blood of toxins similar to dialysis  and woke up unable to feel his hands and limbs.

He was so weak he couldn't pick up his phone to call his relatives while on his hospital bed. Montes said he briefly woke up to utter his final prayers - that God take care of his 80-year-old mom left at home, and that his family would not feel shattered should he pass away.

"Noong nagising ako, tumulo ang luha ko and I believe I can say miracles do come true," said Montes, fighting back tears.

The 40-year-old businessman first experienced flu-like symptoms on March 2 and lost his sense of smell. He eventually felt restless and had body pains. He knew the risks as someone living with diabetes and two autoimmune diseases, so he drove himself from Bulacan to a Quezon City hospital the next day.

Montes showed strong recovery and was discharged 10 days later, having only suffered fever and a painful headache that needed steroids to manage.

All was well  he could walk around and do household chores again until one day, his food seemed bland again. He recalled eating a yang chow dish and found it tasting like plain rice.

Then his knees grew weak and he fell. He gasped for air and his fingers were turning blue. The doctors explained COVID-19 hits people with autoimmune diseases differently, even if he had already tested negative for the virus on March 6.

Montes was rushed back to the hospital on March 22, with a relative driving for him as he was already too frail. There, he was given a high-flow nasal cannula to let him breathe, as an oxygen tank wasn't helping restore his oxygen level which fell to 84%. A healthy person must have a blood oxygen level of 95% or higher.

Apart from physical pain, the mental toll was unbearable.

"How can I tell you that I'm okay when I'm all alone inside the room and I don't even know if I'm going home alive? Ang humirap lumaban kasi wala kang madaingan sa paligid mo [It's hard to fight back because there's no one there to bear it with you]," Montes recounted, saying he would randomly cry while in isolation.

"There are times that I can feel pain at the center of my chest and at the sides of my back, para bang bigla ka na lang didiinan na sabay yung dalawang baga mo [it's like someone is suddenly putting pressure on your lungs]."

This pang of loneliness also made it harder for Chesterzel Gonzales, a 25-year-old survivor. While he suffered mild COVID-19 in April and needed an oxygen tank for 8 days, it was harder to know that four other family members also battled the disease in other rooms in the house.

"Every minute, every hour, I keep on praying. Sabi ko: Lord, heal me kasi madami pa akong gustong gawin. It's really hard for me na wala kang support system noong una," said Gonzales, who initially thought that his fever was merely a side effect of taking his first vaccine shot as he runs a maternity clinic. The symptoms progressed as he was not yet fully protected by the jab.

[Translation: Every minute, every hour, I keep on praying. I said: Lord, heal me because I have many other goals to pursue. It's really hard for me that I didn't have a support system at first.]

RELATED: Home care for asymptomatic, mild or moderate COVID-19 patients may be an option - expert

Gonzales has since tested negative, but he still suffers from constant cough, fatigue, and weak sense of smell. On his eighth day in isolation, he decided to make public his COVID-19 status and found solace in the well wishes of friends and the shared misery with fellow patients.

For Montes, the scars are deeper a month since he was discharged. He has been losing hair from medication and continues to battle pneumonia which will take 3 to 6 months for full recovery, according to his doctor. The hospital confinement, professional fees, and private nurse which he hired to keep him company also cost him 2.1 million, already excluding PhilHealth and other medical benefits he could avail.

The Department of Health has been reminding the public to wear face masks and face shields properly, keep a safe distance from others, and to isolate and get tested when symptoms appear in the face of more infectious COVID-19 variants.

Montes' bout with the coronavirus was life changing. Now, it's a story of hope for thousands of patients to fight hard and get well.

"When you are sick and somebody would tell you, 'laban ka pa, gusto ka pa naming makita, [keep fighting, we want to be with you again]' it helped me fight," he said.

"Nakakawala talaga ng pag-asa 'yung pag-iisa during sickness. Since na-survive ko, sabi ko ilalaban ko na matulungan ko ang iba na ilaban din 'yung buhay nila [It's really disheartening to be alone during sickness. Since I survived, I said I will do what I can to help others to also fight for their lives]."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  The Philippine Bar Association is eyeing a virtual debate for President Rodrigo Duterte and retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on the West Philippine Sea.

PBA President Rico Domingo told CNN Philippines' The Source on Friday that they want to hold a debate in a format where they could raise the discourse on the sea dispute and not let it "go down to the level of the gutters."

"We are sure that there would be a very circumspect discussion, a sedate discussion and not really something that would involve cuss words, or any of these insinuations or innuendos. We want a hard, high-level type of discussion," Domingo said.

But Domingo stressed that while they are looking at an online debate, the mechanics of the debate will still be up to the two parties, who are both "eminently qualified and experienced lawyers." If Duterte or Carpio would want an in-person debate, he said the PBA would also be willing to scout for a venue.

Domingo added they could also have an interpreter translate the discussion in Filipino in real time so that it would be fully understandable, even to the masses.

Duterte earlier challenged Carpio to a debate, particularly on the withdrawal of Philippine ships from the Scarborough Shoal in 2012.

Carpio then "gladly accepted" Duterte's challenge and PBA's offer. He even dared the President to resign if the latter is proven to be lying in accusing him and former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario of having a hand in the withdrawal at the time of Philippine ships from Scarborough Shoal during a standoff with China.

But what are the chances of the debate happening in the first place? Domingo said, it will now be "at the convenience" of Duterte on whether he is willing to push through. He added that this was precisely why they wanted to offer their services to have a "clear, coherent, transparent, and definitive" discussion.

In his Monday address, Duterte stressed that he never promised to retake the West Philippine Sea when he ran for president in 2016, a statement that was contrary to his previous claim that he would ride a jetski to plant the Philippine flag on man-made islands occupied by China. Carpio called this a "grand larceny" for making a "false promise" to get 16 million votes.

READ: Duterte: Retaking West Philippine Sea was never a campaign promise

Domingo also shared his thoughts on Duterte downplaying the Philippines' 2016 victory in its case against China before a Hague-based arbitral tribunal. Duterte described the tribunal award as merely "a piece of paper" that he could throw in a " waste basket."

"With all due respect to the President, considering that hes a brother in the legal profession...the arbitral tribunal had already ruled in 2016 definitely. As lawyers, we are supposed to abide by the ruling. Whether we like it or not, we have to abide by that," he said.

"Thats why we want this debate. And I hope the President will listen to us affirmatively. The people deserve to be told what exactly the issues are. The people will have to be told what the remedies for the enforcement of this arbitral ruling are," Domingo added.
Romario Morgan did not live to even begin to fulfill his contract as a fruit pickers.

by Sheron Garraway





The family of 22-year old Vincentian Romario Morgan, who was found dead in a hotel in Canada, wants answers.





Reports from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) revealed that Morgan was discovered unresponsive and flat on his back on April 29th, in a Mississauga hotel where he was in quarantine, in accordance with the mandatory 14-day isolation required for persons entering Canada.





According to Morgans older sister, Roshina Jack, Morgan had received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in early March before he left the country. He was in Ontario to pick fruits and his cousin had gone with him.





Jack, still in shock from the news, said the family would like answers.





The family doesnt know when Morgan left St. Vincent and when he arrived in Canada, but family members know he left after the La Soufriere erupted on April 9.





They were told he took a cruise ship to Grenada and then travelled on to Canada.





His cousin, Jack said, was isolating in the same hotel and when he realized that Morgan was not responding to messages (telephone), he asked another worker to check on him. That worker found him dead.





"He was just lying there. There was no blood, nothing, Jack said the cousin reported.





The company that had employed Morgan called his mother to let her know an autopsy was scheduled for last Friday. The family awaits the results.





Jack said she did not know the name of his employer.





CBC reported that a police investigation has been launched to determine the death of Morgan.





There is also word that the activist group Justice for Migrant Workers is monitoring investigations by the police, but has also called for an independent investigation into Morgans death, to determine if there is a connection to his work.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  President Rodrigo Duterte could have taken further steps to raise the sea ruling at the United Nations to bolster the Philippines' position over the West Philippine Sea after he affirmed last year the country's 2016 arbitral win, a former envoy to the UN said Friday.

Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source, former Philippine envoy to the United Nations Lauro Baja said Duterte failed to come up with concrete steps to assert the country's sovereign rights after his statement before the United Nations General Assembly on September 2020.

"The shelf life of such statements are good for a day or two. Without a follow-up, those statements just go to the dustbin of the UN archives. The meat of the public proposal or the statement should be followed by concrete steps to validate those statements," Baja said. "We havent had any. We have not even gone to the UN."

In his speech last year, Duterte thanked other countries who supported the tribunal decision that invalidated China's sweeping claims in the South China, including in areas within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone or the part of the waterway Manila refers to as the West Philippine Sea. But Baja said nothing happened after that.

He said the Philippines could have sought the help of member-nations by coming up with a resolution calling on China to follow the tribunal decision. Beijing continues to reject the ruling. which recognized Philippine sovereign rights in areas within its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf that China claims.

Two weeks ago, Duterte publicly asked Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who played a role in securing the arbitral win, if the UN can order China to surrender its sea claims.

Carpio then responded by saying that the Philippines cannot just "fold up" and give up amid Chinese incursions in the West Philippine Sea. He added that getting a UN resolution in the Philippines' favor also means that the world community is behind the country.

But in his recent public address, Duterte downplayed the country's arbitral victory to a simple "piece of paper" which can be thrown in the waste basket. He also denied making a campaign promise to ride a jetski to plant the Philippine flag on man-made islands occupied by China.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has filed 83 diplomatic protests against China under the Duterte administration. The National Task Force on West Philipine Sea also assured that the country will continue law enforcement activities in Philippine waters.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7) The Inter-Agency Task Force has allowed point-to-point air travel for leisure purposes from NCR Plus to select tourist spots, its spokesperson said Friday.

"Inaprubahan at in-adopt ng inyong IATF ang (The IATF approved and adopted the) guidelines on point-to-point air travel for leisure purposes from the NCR Plus areas of the DOT," IATF and Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised announcement.

Roque stressed the policy will still be subject to specific guidelines being crafted by the Tourism Department.

"Antayin po natin at abangan ang mga guidelines ng DOT tungkol dito pero pupuwede na pong pumunta sa mga tourist spots, pero point-to-point po iyan," Roque added.

[Translation: Let's wait for the guidelines of the DOT regarding this, but going to tourist spots will now be allowed, but this will be point-to-point.]

The NCR Plus  composed of Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal  is still under modified enhanced community quarantine until May 14. Non-essential travel to and from these areas remains prohibited under MECQ.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has eased age restrictions to allow more on-site registrations for the national ID system.

Ang mga menor de edad 15 to 17 kasama rin po ang mga seniors, yung mga above 65, palalabasin lang po ng kanilang mga tahanan para po magrehistro sa Philippine Identification System, announced Presidential and IATF Spokesperson Harry Roque on Friday over state-run network PTVs Sentro Balita.

[Translation: Minors aged 15 to 17 along with seniors will only be allowed outside of their homes for registration to the Philippine Identification System.]

Step 2 registration involves in-person validation of supporting documents, along with capturing of biometric information like fingerprints, iris scans and front-facing photographs at the Philippine Statistics Authoritys registration centers.

Prior to this announcement, the said age groups may only go outside for essential errands and when going to work.

Roque likewise announced that point-to-point air travel for leisure purposes is now allowed in the National Capital Region Plus subject to the soon-to-be released guidelines of the Department of Tourism.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 8)  A group of health experts is asking the Food and Drug Administration to cancel the compassionate use permits it issued to COVID-19 vaccines without emergency use authorization (EUA) amid safety concerns.

In a statement signed by members of the Healthcare Professionals Alliance against COVID-19, the group said it "recommends to policymakers that existing CSPs for any COVID-19 vaccines without EUAs be rescinded, and that the said vaccines undergo proper EUA process before being administered to any Filipino."

This is following the recent inoculation of President Rodrigo Duterte with China's Sinopharm vaccine, which has yet to apply and receive EUA in the Philippines.

The group noted that six out of ten Filipinos are still hesitant to receive coronavirus shots. It is now a challenge to convince them to do so and using a vaccine without EUA further erodes the trust and confidence of the people, it added.

The HPAAC said it is crucial that only vaccines with EUA are made available to the public, since such authority issued by experts assures the safety and efficacy of these COVID-19 shots.

"This will ultimately improve vaccine uptake since it will assure the people that any COVID-19 vaccine that is offered to them for vaccination is safe, effective, and equitable," the group said.

On Monday, the President received his first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine, which the Palace said was among the doses granted with the compassionate use permit.

After being criticized for using Sinopharm, Duterte apologized to the public and asked the Chinese Ambassador to withdraw their donated doses.

In December, the FDA started to look into the entry of "smuggled" Sinopharm vaccines to the country after it was revealed that members of the Presidential Security Group had already been vaccinated with the unregistered doses.

It was only in February 2021 that the state regulator granted the PSG a special compassionate permit to use 10,000 doses of Sinopharm's vaccine.

The FDA has so far issued EUA to COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Gamaleya, Sinovac, Bharat Biotech, and Janssen.
(CNN)  The Biden administration is weighing unfreezing $1 billion in Iranian funds that the country could use for humanitarian relief, amid the negotiations for the US to reenter the 2015 nuclear deal and bring Iran back into compliance with its terms.

It is not clear whether the release of the funds would occur unilaterally, but one line of thought is that it could serve as a useful goodwill gesture to Tehran, according to three people briefed on the internal deliberations, as the talks in Vienna enter their second month with no concrete signs yet of a breakthrough. The Iranians continue to demand sanctions relief in return for compliance with the nuclear deal.

The funds would not be provided in cash; instead, they'd be allocated to a Swiss channel, known as the Swiss Humanitarian Trade Arrangement, which was set up last year to allow humanitarian aid like food and medicine to be sent to Iran without violating US sanctions.

But the plan is facing opposition from Iran hawks in Congress who are privy to the discussions, said one Republican congressional staffer. The staffer said that some on Capitol Hill view the idea of unfreezing any of Iran's money as a concession that would diminish the US' leverage.

But some experts see the move as something that could create momentum in the talks.

"If it demonstrates the kind of good faith that can cause reciprocal good faith from the Iranian side, then it is potentially a good step forward," said Thomas Countryman, who served as US assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation from 2011 to 2017.

A congressional Democratic aide separately confirmed that the US negotiating team had recently consulted with congressional staff about humanitarian relief and how that might work, including unfreezing funds to place in the Swiss channel. A US official acknowledged that the plan has been under consideration, but said the chief goal right now among US negotiators is a mutual return to the nuclear deal.

Experts said another option would be for the US to allow the International Monetary Fund to approve a request from Iran for $5 billion to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trump administration had sought to block that loan, arguing Iran could divert the funds to boost its economy.

"Reporting suggesting we are weighing the release of Iranian funds as a unilateral gesture to Tehran is not true, which we made clear prior to publication," State Department Spokesman Ned Price said. "As we have said, any substantial move by the U.S. would have to be part of a process in which both sides take actions."

CNN has reached out to the National Security Council for comment.

The debate underscores the sensitivity of the negotiations and has also laid bare a disagreement between the White House and its chief envoy for the talks, Rob Malley, as the new administration tries to balance the negotiations with political considerations at home.

Malley has been pushing for several months for the funds to be unfrozen and used for humanitarian purposes, said people familiar with the efforts. But the White House had been reluctant to release any of the money before any progress had been made on reentering the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal, a source familiar with the matter said.

Optics and political considerations have also been at play. Then-President Barack Obama faced steep opposition from Republicans when it was revealed that his administration had transferred about $1.7 billion to Iran in early 2016. Then, as now, the money technically belonged to Iran anyway and did not come from American taxpayers. But the backlash was swift, and former President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized the decision both on the campaign trail and while in office. He ultimately withdrew the US from the Iran deal in 2018 and imposed new sanctions that Iran has demanded be fully removed before the country will return to compliance with the nuclear deal.

The discussions about unfreezing the funds also come amid waning optimism that there will be a breakthrough in the talks and a full return to the nuclear deal before Iran's June elections, the people familiar with the deliberations said, which could result in the country's hardliners gaining more power and therefore make striking a deal with the US more difficult.

A senior State Department official, speaking to reporters before a new round of talks begins in Vienna on Friday, said the negotiations so far had "helped crystallize the choices" that need to be made by both Iran and the US. The official said a return to the deal could be "relatively swift" since "we're not inventing something new," but that progress "is ultimately a matter of the political decision that needs to be made in Iran."

Pro-Iranian media reported last weekend that the US had agreed to unfreeze $7 billion in Iranian funds and arrange a prisoner swap as part of the negotiations, but the State Department rejected the prisoner swap reports as false and a senior official told reporters on Thursday that those responsible for the leak were guilty of "unspeakable cruelty." The department did not weigh in on the reports that the US would unfreeze funds, but a source briefed on the talks said the $7 billion figure was incorrect.

The White House is at the same time facing pressure to tread cautiously from Israel, which sent a delegation to Washington last week to discuss, among other things, the ongoing Iran deal talks. In a brief meeting with Biden last week, Israeli top intelligence official Yossi Cohen reiterated what Israel has been saying publicly, said one person familiar with the meeting: namely, that it believes Iran cannot be trusted and that the US should not return to the nuclear deal.

Biden reiterated his commitment to the US-Israel relationship, the person said, and reassured Cohen that the US views a return to the deal only as a jumping-off point for further discussions about lengthening and strengthening its terms, to ultimately include limits on other areas of Iran's malign behavior in the region.

"On the issue of Iran, there has been clear and consistent communication between the Biden administration and the Israeli government at every level," said Halie Soifer, the CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, who served as then-Sen. Kamala Harris' national security adviser.

"The Biden administration and the Israeli government share the fundamental objective of denying Iran a nuclear weapons capability, which is driving President Biden's effort to get Iran back into compliance with the JCPOA," Soifer said, adding that she believes the Biden-Cohen meeting was a "positive development."

Axios reported earlier this week that Biden had told Cohen that a US-Iran deal is not imminent. And on Sunday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said as much publicly.

"There's still a fair distance to travel to close the remaining gaps" in the talks between the US and Iran, Sullivan told ABC News. "Those gaps are over what sanctions the United States and other countries will roll back; they are over what nuclear restrictions Iran will accept on its program to ensure that they can never get a nuclear weapon. So the short answer is, there is no deal now."

CNN's Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette contributed to this report.

This story was first published on CNN.com "US weighs unfreezing $1 billion in Iranian funds"
(CNN)  The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday updated its explanations on how coronavirus is transmitted, stressing that inhalation is one of the main ways the virus is spread and placing less emphasis on the risk of picking it up from surfaces.

The changes to the CDC website are in line with a gradual shift in the agency's advice to stress that the virus spreads through the air -- either to be breathed in, to get into the eyes or to settle onto surfaces that people later touch.

"COVID-19 spreads when an infected person breathes out droplets and very small particles that contain the virus. These droplets and particles can be breathed in by other people or land on their eyes, noses, or mouth. In some circumstances, they may contaminate surfaces they touch. People who are closer than 6 feet from the infected person are most likely to get infected," the agency says on its updated website.

"How people get this virus can be boiled down to three very simple concepts," Dr. John Brooks, chief medical officer for the CDC's Covid-19 response, told CNN.

"Keep the air clean, avoid getting exposed on your mucus membranes and keep your hands clean."

People more commonly catch the virus when they are standing close to someone who is infected and particles fly out to either land on the face or to be breathed in, the new explainer stresses. Less commonly, people catch the virus from breathing air contaminated by people who are further away, or by touching a contaminated surface and then touching their own eyes, nose or mouth.

"If you and I are standing within a few feet of each other talking, we now know infectious particles are flying out, even if you are talking softly," Brooks said.

The new explanations do not change what people need to do, but might help the public better understand how the virus spreads, Brooks said. Guidance remains the same -- wear a mask when near other people or inside and sharing air with others, keep a distance from others when possible and wash hands frequently. And get vaccinated.

The CDC also updated its scientific brief on how the virus spreads.

"Modes of SARS-CoV-2 transmission are now categorized as inhalation of virus, deposition of virus on exposed mucous membranes, and touching mucous membranes with soiled hands contaminated with virus," the new guidance reads."The principal mode by which people are infected with SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is through exposure to respiratory fluids carrying infectious virus," it adds.

CDC added to its science brief on mask use to counter fears about the safety of wearing masks. "Research supports that mask wearing has no significant adverse health effects for wearers," it said.

Masks don't just filter the air, Brooks pointed out. "Wearing a mask covers your mucus membranes. It is more difficult to touch your mouth when a mask is over it," he noted.

Scientists who had been lobbying for the changes had both praise and criticism.

"I'm really happy with a whole lot of this stuff. I think it's an important and major step forward," Dr. Donald Milton, who studies how viruses are transmitted at the University of Maryland, told CNN.

But Milton signed a letter along with six other experts on aerosols to say the CDC needs to do and say more.

"However, we are concerned that CDC's accompanying document, How COVID-19 Spreads, is misleading, and potentially harmful," they wrote.

"In that document CDC says that breathing in small droplets and particles (i.e., aerosols) that contain the virus when people are far apart or have been in the same enclosed space for more than a few minutes is UNCOMMON (our emphasis) This will lead people to continue to think that maintaining distance is sufficient to prevent transmission."

It's not, they said.

"We know that transmission at distances beyond 6 feet occurs because of superspreader events, careful studies of smaller outbreaks, and the physics of aerosols. It can easily happen indoors in a poorly ventilated environment, when people are not wearing masks."

They want CDC to push for better ventilation in places such as meatpacking facilities where air is recirculated, and to emphasize the importance of face masks known as respirators, including N95 respirators, in places where people are forced to breathe recycled air.

"If you are working in a meatpacking plant where they recirculate the air because they have got to keep it cold, and you are elbow to elbow with other people, you need that better respirator to protect you," Milton said.

Meat and poultry processing facilities have been sites for several Covid-19 superspreading events and workers in those industries have been especially likely to become infected.

"They are just putting up Plexiglass shields, which can make it worse," Milton complained. He and other aerosol experts have said plastic shields can help concentrate potentially infected air and do little to protect people from the virus, other than stopping large droplets from nearby coughs, sneezes and talking.

I don't disagree," Brooks said in response. "This is not new guidance. This is the beginning of how, perhaps, guidance will begin to evolve," he added.

"I would stay tuned. This is an issue we are concerned about."

This story was first published on CNN.com, "CDC website now emphasizes coronavirus spreads in the air."
A grade of 75 is pasang awa (barely passing) for most students educated in the Philippines.

But non-profit organization Silid Aralan, Inc. (SAI) has recently announced that they are on the lookout for the country's 75 worst performing students whose grades are under 75, in their nationwide search called "75 Under 75." The winners of the search will join their Ground Zero Program, the NGO's 13-year-old method that focuses on experiential learning rather than textbook learning; on teaching soft skills rather than hard skills; and on customizing the children's education according to their passions, hobbies, and learning styles.

Their learning venues are usually located just a few meters away from the nearby public school  but compared to a typical classroom, the chairs are mostly replaced by mats and pillows on the floor. Arcie Mallari, founder and CEO of Silid Aralan explains that this is similar to how the children learn inside their homes. Marami sa kanila [ang] natututo nakadapa o nakahiga kasi sa bahay nila ay ganoon. So we bring that inside the room, he says. But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, just as with in-person classes in schools, Silid Aralan's after-school sessions also shifted online.

Silid Aralan, Inc. reaches out to academically challenged public school students and aims to develop their love for learning. Photo courtesy of SILID ARALAN

The program aims to help the majority of students in public schools  80% of whom get an average grade of 79 or lower, says Mallari in a call with CNN Philippines Life.

Maraming organization na nagtu-tutor [at] tumutulong pero doon lang sa mga magagaling.

In contrast, the kids who need the most help dont learn what they need to be learning. Mallari recalls the time when he first moved to a settlement in Payatas back in 2002 and encountered third-year high school students who could barely read, if at all. Nagtaka ako. If they're Grade 9 or Grade 10, [bakit] hindi marunong magbasa o nahihirapan sa pagbabasa? he says. Paano sila nakapasa at nakarating sa high school?

It starts at home

To get some answers, public-school teacher Bonifel Sahagun of Kasiglahan Village Elementary School in Rodriguez, Rizal says that public schools are starting to visit the homes of their students who are failing. Everything from the student's tardiness; lack of interest in studying, motivation, self-confidence, and perseverance; and poor self-esteem are all rooted in problems at home, such as the familys financial problems, their community's environment, poor nourishment, or sadly even child labor.

Sahagun acknowledges that their interventions are probably not enough; the least they can do is adjust timelines to ensure that the student accomplishes their academic requirements.

Silid Aralan takes the learners out of the classroom because they believe experiential learning is as valuable in the formation of the childs growth and development. Photo courtesy of SILID ARALAN

Mallari, who founded Silid Aralan in 2007, also credits the failing grades partly to the typical mindset that people have about referring to ones grades to identify their level of intelligence. Again, ang basehan ng magaling: grades.

Every day pumapasok ka sa school at alam mo na sinasabihan ka ng teacher mo na hindi ka magaling o bobo ka o mahina ka. Pagdating mo sa bahay, ganoon din. So nare-reprogram talaga iyon sa utak ng bata at nagma-manifest yung behavior niya dahil sa mga naririnig niya.

But Mallari notes, different students have different ways of learning. He shares that most of the students they mentored in Silid Aralan are the kind of students who learn by doing, and not merely sitting down and listening to the teacher. Kaya hindi mataas ang grades nila eh, he explains. Sila yung pagkakinig nila, Gawin na natin! Natututo sila hindi dahil sa lecture; natututo sila kasi ang daming beses silang nagkakamali, pero resilient sila. Kapag nagkakamali sila, gagawin pa rin nila hanggang matutunan nila.

Different types of intelligence

Mallari is quick to point out that what theyre doing is not merely an academic tutoring program. They dont teach English, math, or science, but they teach soft skills, manners (even bringing the kids to hotels and fast food joints to learn the proper way of holding a spoon and fork) and building up self-esteem. Pinapataas namin yung dignidad at yung pagtingin ng mismong learner sa sarili niya  na hindi dahil mahirap siya ay bobo siya, na hindi dahil basurero siya ay hanggang doon lang siya.

Silid Aralan Alumna Elisha Barrunuevo, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in information technology and now works as the team leader of encoders in a distribution services company, can attest to this. "Ang pinaka-valuable life lesson na natutunan ko sa SAI ay 'Walang batang bobo,'" she says. "Kung dati ay panay palakol ang grade ko, nagkaroon na ako ng line of eight at nine [na grades] at napasama pa ako sa top 10 ng aming section.

Silid Aralan also involves the children in a lot of play, dance, singing and the arts, in order to engage their bodily-kinesthetics and technical intelligence.

Some of Silid Aralans learners during a trip to the grocery, one of their common activities that attempts to teach the learners soft skills as simple as falling in line, computing expenses, and basic manners with fellow customers. Photo courtesy of SILID ARALAN

This is how Kent Ian Vargas, who with his family was relocated from an informal settlement in Quezon City to Montalban, Rizal, experienced a lot of firsts. "First time ko ma-experience ang air-conditioned na room. Dito ako unang nakakita ng mga colored na libro; nakakita at nakagamit ng computer; natutong kumanta, sumayaw at mag-drawing; makapunta sa zoo at iba't ibang lugar," he recalls. "Unti-unti, hindi ko namalayan na nagkakaroon na ako ng confidence at nae-enjoy ko na pala ang pag-aaral. Nakakapag-recite na rin ako sa klase at nagiging leader na rin sa group activities."

From grades in the line of seven during third grade, he started getting a line of nine and graduated top two of his class in the sixth grade. Now Vargas is a public-school teacher, a master's student at Philippine Normal University, and a donor and member of Silid Aralan's Board of Trustees.

Passing it on

A donor shells out 10,800 annually for the next 10 years to support the learner's membership to Silid Aralan. When Mallaris team did their computations comparing the donors monetary donation from the learners post-Silid Aralan success, they found that there is an immediate SROI (or the social return on investment).

Kunwari naging public school teacher ang isang learner. Kung inisponsoran siya ni Donor ng 108,000 sa buong 10 years, we found na more or less ay nasa 222,025 ang SROI niya sa unang taon pa lang pagka-graduate ng learner, says Mallari. This is computed based on a variety of factors, including their contributions to SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG (or, generally, their contributions to the economy); their monthly salary and support to their families; and their donations to Silid Aralan, their public schools, and the church, among many others. Kinompute din namin ito: kung hindi sila napunta sa Silid Aralan, ano sila ngayon? Baka maraming tambay, kasi tinignan din namin [iyong] mga kaklase nila na katulad nila dati na ngayon ay tambay.

Mallari has high hopes not just for Silid Aralan but, ultimately, the Philippine education system; he hopes that Silid Aralans fewer lectures, more experiential learning mentoring model will soon be adopted by the countrys public schools. After all, it is now institutionalized in many developed countries such as Finland, Japan, and Singapore.

My hope is, eventually, matatanggal na tayo doon sa academic na point-of-view na [ang] magagaling na bata ay yung magagaling lang magkabisa, magaling sa math, science, and English, he says, dahil lahat ng bata, may kaniya-kaniyang galing.

***

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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7) The Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced it approved a company's application to register ivermectin as an anti-nematode drug.

Nematodes are roundworms.

FDA Director General Eric Domingo confirmed in a message to CNN Philippines that a certain company  Lloyd Laboratories  applied for a Certificate of Product Registration for locally-manufactured ivermectin as an anti-nematode drug.

"It was granted after they submitted data to support quality and stability of the product," Domingo said.

The pharmaceutical company is one of two local firms which earlier expressed intent to register with the FDA for ivermectin production. The other company is Pascual Laboratories Inc., according to reports.

Ivermectin is still not registered in the country for prevention or treatment of COVID-19. The FDA earlier gave six hospitals compassionate special permits to administer the anti-parasitic drug to coronavirus patients.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation is targeting to release this month the indemnification package for vaccine recipients who suffer serious side effects or even die after a COVID-19 vaccination, PhilHealth Vice President for Corp. Affairs Shirley Domingo said Friday.

"Approved na po ito. May guidelines ito. Iyong inaayos lang po natin ay iyong funding po nito...Siguro within a month or lesser mare-release na natin. Basta within this month," Domingo told a briefing.

[Translation: This has already been approved and has guidelines. What we are finalizing is the funding. Maybe within a month or sooner, we will release this. For sure, within this month.]

"Kung na-vaccinate sila [against] COVID-19 at nagkaroon sila ng serious adverse event ibig sabihin may matinding side effect, or kung mahospitalize sila or huwag naman sana, pero kung nabawian ng buhay dahil diyan. Lahat po ito pasok doon sa benefit na iyon," she said.

[Translation: Covered by this benefit are those who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 but had a serious adverse event such as experiencing severe side effects, getting hospitalized, or dying.]

The COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte in February, allocated 500 million for the COVID-19 National Vaccine Immunity Fund.

The country has inoculated over 2 million Filipinos since it began rolling out the COVID-19 immunization program on March 1, according to data from the National Task Force Against COVID-19.

The government aims to protect against COVID-19 up to 70 million Filipinos this year to achieve herd immunity.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7)  An all-Filipino crew onboard a container vessel from India is receiving emergency medical help after 12 members tested positive for COVID-19, including two seafarers in critical condition, officials said Friday.

The maritime sector of the Department of Transportation on Friday reported that MV Athens Bridge departed India on April 22 then made a stop in Malaysia. When it arrived in Vietnam on May 1, it was found that 12 of the 21 Filipino crew members tested positive through RT-PCR tests.

The Philippine Coast Guard on Thursday received a request from the captain of the vessel  which was docked near Corregidor  to evacuate two crew members who were in critical condition.

The two critical patients were removed from the vessel and brought to a hospital in Manila. MARINA OIC Deputy Administrator Capt. Jeffry Solon said they are in stable condition.

The rest of the crew are quarantined inside the vessel and given medical supplies, including oxygen tanks, while docked in Manila.

But the Department of Health said the 10 other patients, and nine crew members who tested negative for COVID-19, will be transferred to a Bureau of Quarantine facility after the vessel was deemed unfit to be used for isolation due to lack of rooms.

"Ngayong umaga nagdesisyon na ang Bureau of Quarantine that we will transfer those identified positive sa isang quarantine facility here in Manila. Also, ang mga na-expose na crew members ika-quarantine na rin," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a briefing.

[Translation: The BOQ decided this morning that we will transfer the positive cases to a quarantine facility in Manila. Those who have been exposed to the patients will also be quarantined.]

The 10 mild cases and the nine other crew members will undergo another swab test. If they test positive, their samples will be subjected to genomic sequencing to check if they are carrying new COVID-19 variants, including the "double mutant" B.1.617 variant first found in India.

Meanwhile, the samples of the two critical patients have been sent to the Philippine Genome Center.

Aside from the seafarers, there are five people who traveled from India tested positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in the Philippines. Their samples are also being reviewed. The DOH is also tracking the other passengers they came in contact with.

The country has yet to record a case of the B.1.617 variant that carries two mutations. It's not yet clear how many infections have been linked to this double mutant variant, or whether the strain is any more dangerous, but India's health ministry said "such mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity."

The Philippines has imposed an entry ban until May 14 on inbound passengers who traveled to India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan to prevent the entry of the variant first detected in India.

India has been recording the world's highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases in its catastrophic second wave of infections, The country's cases have soared to over 21 million, while more than 234,000 people have lost their lives, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Public access to emergency shelters could well see some added controls.

Details of a new set of protocols related to emergency evacuation shelters were expected to be released this week.





As it stands, access has been restricted to at least two shelters where there have been reports of cases of COVID-19.





Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said on radio on May 2 that he had been informed by the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), of reported of cases of COVID-19 at a shelter in Biabou, this being in addition to the first reported cases at a shelter in Stubbs.





THE VINCENTIAN was reliably informed that as of May 5, there were 32 cases of COVID-19 recorded at shelters.





On May 2, NEMO issued a release that of the 18 cases recorded, 16 cases were evacuees in emergency shelters  14 cases from government shelters and two from persons staying in private homes  based on tests done on April 30.





"People at the shelters, I am urging you first of all, be tested. Do not oppose the testing, Gonsalves said.





He had been making the call for some time since the explosive eruptions at La Soufriere started last month and on radio interviews on a few occasions, pinted to persons refusing to be tested for COVID-19.





"If we have an outbreak at the shelters, old people and persons with co-morbidities will have to be either hospitalized or die, the Prime Minister warned.





"There are strong and healthy reasons for being tested and taking the vaccine, he continued.





According to Gonsalves then, officials within the Ministry of Health were expected to outline new protocols for the shelters.





He also indicated then that he had seen a draft of the document.




Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7) The Philippines is expecting the arrival of at least seven million COVID-19 vaccine doses this month, Malacanang said on Friday.

"Nagagalak po ako na itong buwan ng Mayo ay hindi po bababa sa pitong milyon ang darating na bakuna," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised announcement.

[Translation: We're happy because this month of May, there will be at least seven million vaccines arriving in the country.]

Earlier in the day, the country received a bulk shipment of 1.5 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. This is the seventh batch of vaccine deliveries from the Chinese manufacturer.

Apart from this, Roque confirmed the government is also expecting the arrival this Saturday of two million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by British-Swedish AstraZeneca.

This particular shipment will be the third batch of vaccines coming from the COVAX facility  a global initiative led by the World Health Organization, vaccine alliance Gavi, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations that seeks member countries' equitable access to the vaccines.

RELATED: Pfizer, AstraZeneca vaccines under COVAX expected to arrive in May

Early last month, Health authorities issued an order to suspend the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine after European drug regulators found a link between the coronavirus shot and a few cases of unusual blood clots with low platelet count.

The Department of Health then announced on April 19 that it has approved the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation to lift the order.

In its latest statement, the DOH explained the Vaccine-Induced Thrombosis and Thrombocytopenia (VITT) "is a very rare condition of blood clots associated with low platelet counts that can occur 4 to 28 days after receiving a viral vector vaccine such as AstraZeneca."

It further emphasized there are no known risk factors for the condition and the benefits of receiving the coronavirus shot still outweigh the risks.

The department also issued updated guidelines in the management of side effects after inoculation. These include strengthened post-vaccination surveillance in all implementing sites to spot possible adverse events following immunization, and training of on-site health workers on the detection and handling of possible symptoms of VITT and refer these cases to the appropriate facility.

The government needs to inoculate at least 70 million Filipinos to achieve herd immunity. Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr. earlier said the government targets to administer enough shots to achieve herd immunity in Metro Manila and nearby provinces by November.
The Columbus City Council showed its support for law enforcement during its regular meeting this week with a proclamation designating Respect for Law Week.

I think that we take for granted the safety and the protection that we have in our community, Mayor Jim Bulkley said.

Bulkley read the proclamation during the meeting, saying law enforcement is key to make any town more hospitable for residents and visitors. The proclamation declared this week  May 2-8, 2021  as Respect for Law Week; it asks residents to join the Optimist Club of Columbus in carrying out that message.

The proclamation states, The problems of crime touch and affect all segments of our society and can erode the moral and economic strengths of our communities.

Our vitality as a community and as a society depends to a great degree on the willingness of each individual member to give of his or her time and talents in volunteer service.

The proclamation ends by saying Optimist clubs around the nation have sponsored and supported programs that are geared toward stopping crime and encouraging respect for the law.
Original black-footed ferret surveys by NCE scientists in 2013 noted very elusive ferrets in North Dakota, but could not formally document them and funding was discontinued. The black-footed ferret is yet to be documented in North Dakota.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is located in North and South Dakota and is under the direction of Jeff Kelly, director of the tribal Game and Fish Department. The two-year study proposes to assess presence and abundance of possible impacts to ESA-listed species like northern long-eared bats (listed as Threatened) and black-footed ferrets (listed as ESA Endangered), both of which have been documented in areas being considered for wind energy development on the reservation. Standing Rock proposes to survey for both bats and ferrets in order to properly manage and conserve these rare species in the face of potential developments. Senior Research Scientist Kurt Tooley and Biologist Jordan Kort will be heavily involved with the effort.
If every nurse at CHI Health-Schuyler is as driven as Gina Frerichs, the hospital is in great hands.

Frerichs  a registered nurse (RN), lactation consultant and child passenger safety technician  started her nursing career in 2003. She has worked at the Alegent Health Memorial Hospital and Schuyler Clinic, East-Central District Health Department and the Veterans Affairs clinic in Norfolk, all while living in Columbus with her husband and four children.

Frerichs is something of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to nursing. She's had experience in extended care, public health immunizations, obstetrics (OB) and currently works as a swing nurse at CHI-Schuyler caring for medical, surgical and rehab patients and assisting in the ER and OB.

She's also a substitute RN for Columbus Public Schools.

Frerichs said she was originally torn between a life in law enforcement and becoming a neonatologist, a specific type of pediatrician who cares for newborn infants. She said she's been able to enjoy the best of both worlds, though.

"I was in the U.S. Army Reserve in the 530th Military Police Battalion in Columbus. I joined my senior year of high school at Scotus Central Catholic in February of 1996 and completed my enlistment in February of 2004," Frerichs said.
To get to this point, Ruth switched to pre-nursing from pre-med at the University of Nebraska  Omaha and then went to the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing in Omaha for nursing classes.

She knew the director and, toward the end of nursing school, did her preceptorship in Columbus. The preceptorship is when a student goes out and works side by side with an active nurse.

I got paired with Kim Eisenmann who is my current director and she was my preceptor, she said. When you start that process, you are more or less watching to see how to do things. And then by the end of the process, the goal is for you to be almost completely independent with that nurse still there to assist you.

Essentially, the student would not be licensed but could potentially function as a nurse.

Eisenmann, the director of maternal child health, has worked at the hospital for 20 years in the OB department.

I happened to be chosen by my boss at the time to be her preceptor, Eisenmann said. We worked together for several years on the floor  and then when I took the director job, the service line coordinator position came up and she applied for that.

Ruth is a great nurse, she added.
When Mandy Olson was at her sixth-grade graduation, she knew right then and there she was going to be a nurse.

Olson, who was born and raised in Norfolk, said she took a career path test around that time and her results came out to be for nursing.

Nursing was always something I wanted to do, said Olson, a registered nurse at Faith Regional Health Services. There was never (another) career path that I even thought about taking. I was always wanted to help people and its a great way to help people.

Olson said as an RN, shes with people during their worst times, their best times and everything in between.

Her job has run the gamut. Shes worked in endocrinology, neurology and recently she took ownership of the COVID-19 Immunization Clinic at Faith Regional Health Services, 2700 W Norfolk Ave. in Norfolk. She additionally has her own neuroscience clinic.

Olson said working last year during the height of the COVID-19 was nerve-racking. She added the virus was unknown for some time, which meant clinical work changed.

My doctors drive from out of town so there were a couple of months that they werent even allowed to come in until we learned more about COVID, she said.
She's very compassionate, Cerv said. And she thinks she can save everybody, and she tries her darndest to do that. She tries to be very accommodating, makes things work.

Getting to know patients and their loved ones is what Willison loves about her work.

You get to know your families, we really try to stick with the same couple of staff with your patients, Willison said. Whereas in the hospital, you may see them on your 12-hour shift and then they're discharged by the time you come back or you have a different pod.

The hospice side of her work can be difficult when the patient comes into the program at the end of their life.

The ones that were in there for a while and you get to know them (and) their families, it's a better bond better, and easier to take care of them to them, she said. They're just really symptom-management focused."

In her spare time, Willison enjoys going on walks, reading and spending time with her two teenage sons.

For those considering a career in nursing, Willison noted there are a variety of settings in which to work, such as clinic, nursing home, home health, acute care and dialysis.
These are recent reports of missing children made to local law enforcement. If you think you have seen a missing child, contact the National C
"I don't know if Dr. Nila Novotny knows this, but one of the big reasons I wanted to initially work at the hospital was because I thought that was the only way I was going to be able to go on a mission trip," Gina said.

Every year or so, CCH's Novotny gathers staff from CCH and other hospitals around the country and travels around the world to administer medical care.

"She does free surgeries (for people) in third world countries that don't have the money to afford it," Gina said.

Frey said she learned about the program while in nursing school.

After graduating, while her dad was at CCH for surgery, a nurse  Lynn Muth, with whom Gina now works  told her she would be a good fit for the hospital and encouraged her to fill out an application.

Gina did, and she started working at CCH in 2014. She's been a part of the acute care unit (ACU) since the beginning but said she has also joined the intensive care unit (ICU) to challenge herself.

For better or for worse, Gina said the last year has been one of the most professionally challenging of her life, largely due to COVID-19.

"My heart just hurts from some of the things that we've had to see," Gina said.
The original list of communities on mainland St. Vincent where VINLEC customers will receive a suspension in their electricity bills has been revised.





Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of VINLEC, Thornley Myers, described the revised list as excluding some from the original list and including new ones.





The new list covered communities on the Northeastern (Windward) portion from Mount Young Northwards, and the Northwestern (Leeward) section, from Belle Isle upwards.





Belle Isle and Gordon Yard and others have been added to the list for the Leeward side of the island, while Park Hill, South Rivers, Chester, Gorse and Grand Sable were taken off the list for those on the Windward.





According to Myers, consumers in the Red and some within the Orange Zones had not been using electricity since the evacuation order was made on April 8.





"We are not going to burden them any further at this point, Myers said, and "have decided to suspend billing to several areas, those where persons have been evacuated although there was a period when they did consume electricity, that is not our concern at this time.





While customers in the affected areas are getting a temporary suspension on their electric bills, Myers said that VINLEC will not be offering the same to those in the area, who are living in their homes and using electricity.





He reasoned that it was not in their best interest to have a suspension, because when the meter is eventually read there may be a significant amount of energy consumed up to that point, and the customer may end up with a large bill.
A Pennsylvania district attorney who had cast the case against him as a pack of vicious lies pleaded guilty Friday to pressuring clients for sex when he was a defense attorney and then coercing them to keep quiet about it.

Bradford County District Attorney Chad Salsman admitted guilt and resigned from office three months after claiming he had committed no crimes and hinting he was the victim of a political smear by the states top prosecutor.

Salsman, who took office a year ago, was charged Feb. 3 with sexually assaulting women who were his clients in criminal and child custody cases when he worked as a defense attorney. The accusers told a grand jury that he groped them, sought nude photos, and pressured or forced them into sexual acts, sometimes on his office desk.

He pleaded guilty to reduced charges of witness intimidation, promoting prostitution and obstruction of justice, according to the Pennsylvania attorney generals office. The prostitution charge is a felony that carries a maximum of 11 years in prison. Salsman will be sentenced July 9.

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It also comes after last years slugfest in Pennsylvanias courts and statehouse over its fledgling mail-in voting law. That was capped by about half the Republicans in Pennsylvanias Legislature  including Grove and House GOP leaders  urging members of Congress to block Pennsylvanias electoral votes from being cast for the winner of the presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden.

Even before that, Republican lawmakers had blocked the top election priority of counties: to process an impending avalanche of mail-in ballots before Election Day, amid warnings that Trump could use a protracted post-election vote count in the battleground state to undermine confidence in the election.

In 2014, Pennsylvanias courts struck down a GOP-penned law requiring a state-issued photo ID for voters, saying its backers failed to demonstrate the need for it and that it imposed an unreasonable burden on the right to vote because it did not require that a valid photo ID be convenient and available to voters.

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The law, then among the nations strictest, was signed in 2012 by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican. Every single Democratic lawmaker voted against it, and it was never enforced before courts blocked it.
Knowledge of the law is not enough. Strong interpersonal and problem-solving skills are essential, since many situations that elder law attorneys face are not black and white. Family members may also possess unrealistic expectations about care services or have difficulty coming to agreement on a course of action, which requires additional finesse.

Usually, the client of an elder law attorney is the oldest family member or the one who requires the most care. Even when an individual is experiencing symptoms of dementia and cannot make decisions independently, this individual is still be considered to be the client. The attorney is obligated to make recommendations based on the clients best interest.

How do you determine if you need an elder law attorney? Does your situation involves one or more of the following: health and long-term care planning, disability/special needs planning, public benefits (including Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security), powers of attorney or guardianship, determining legal capacity for decision-making, and handling all aspects of an individuals estate?

An elder law attorney can help you put the pieces of your puzzle together. Other issues that are often intertwined with the above needs include insurance; housing; abuse, neglect or exploitation of an older adult; retirement; and identification of and access to public and private resources. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (www.naela.org) can help you find an elder law attorney in your area.

Learn more about the articles author, and other community education opportunities, at www.keystoneelderlaw.com. Check out the book, Long Term Care Guide: Essential Tools for Solving the Elder Care Puzzle, at the Whistlestop Bookshop or Amazon, and see Keystones free directory of services for older adults at www.mypeaceguide.com. Keystone Elder Law has offices in Mechanicsburg and Carlisle. Call 717-697-3223 for a free telephone consultation.

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Devon Conn said it was terrifying and amazing at the same time.

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"Once we took off I looked around and everyone seemed scared and excited," Conn said. "No one let go of the straps and continued looking around at the ground and other aircraft flying. It was so cool. The cadre brought us pizza from Domino's it was amazing."

Piper Tull also said it was scary at first but once she got in the air she was super happy about it.

"It was really pretty and the cars looked really little when looking at them form the sky," Tull said. "I really want to get on it and fly again."

Francis said the event really was flawless, despite concerns about the weather, everything fell in line.

"It's great when you have the firefighters, police, school administration and teacher support all come together," Francis said. "We have an amazing city and the people are the best in the world. Many people say they want to leave Fredericktown but often find the best things in life are right here."

Francis said the National Guard enjoys visiting with the cadets and is very supportive.
I dont think 15 years is enough, then theyre also eligible for parole or get time off for good behavior. If its a first offense and they dont have a record, they wont even get 15 years, its probably less than four years.

Williams said anyone who drives under the influence of any substance, and their impaired driving causes a fatal accident, should have to suffer the consequences of longer sentences, with no negotiations or plea deals for those who have prior records of reckless or malicious actions. Thats why, she said, shes working with a legislator.

We can never get our loved ones back, these laws are not fair or just, Williams said. Theyre not strict enough. If someone kills a parent who leaves minor children behind, they should also have to pay financial restitution to the person who raises the children while theyre minors.

While discussing it further, she broke down.

I shake constantly. Im inside and out, shaking so much. Its horrible. I dont sleep much, I dont eat much. And when you see their 3-year-old son say to everyone he sees, My mom, my dad and my baby are dead, and hell turn to me and say Mawmaw, do you think theyre still dead? Do you think theyre really dead?
The Nagol is Back! VTOs guide to this years Nagol, plus where to stay and play in south, central and north Pentecost.
While the terminal building at the decommissioned E.T. Joshua Airport has taken on a modified use, the runway and its fringes remain for all intents, open for use.

A gradual return to interactions between teachers and students here has been mounted by the Ministry of Education (MOE).





A MOE release indicated that psychosocial support and some l formal instruction have commenced with students housed in shelters.





This is a precursor to the return of formal instruction, beginning with Form 5 and Grade 6 students on May 17, to be followed on dates to be announced for Form 4 and Grade 5 students, and then for all others.





The return to face-to-face learning amidst the use of schools as emergency shelters, demands that alternate space to house students will be identified.





And even though a possibility exists where persons from the Orange Zone could be given the all-clear to return home as the volcanos explosive activity has diminished, meaning that some schools might be freed up, there would still be need for alternate space.





Towards this end, Prime Minister Hon. Ralph Gonsalves announced a plan for government to construct temporary school buildings at the E.T Joshua runway/tarmac, while extensive rehabilitation takes place on other schools.





This plan was revealed as he made a visit to the World Food Programme storage facility located at the E.T Joshua Tarmac.





"On the second half of the runway, we going to build two, maybe three temporary schools, he assured, "because there are nine schools which we had to [build] before the volcano. We were going to do two, we have to do now a third one.





He said that the other temporary schools were built while extensive rebuilding was taking place. He explained that one school to be rebuilt was in Sandy Bay but it is preferable to construct a school on the tarmac instead to cater to the numbers of students in shelters.





He was clear that, in light of the possibility of cessation of explosive activity by the La Soufriere volcano, operations should have been underway to readily engage students in schools.





"We want to be ready, if anything, to start the process shortly in relation to the temporary schools, the PM stated.
Board member James Bryant said he didnt want to comment on the proposal until he could see it in action.

I have to see it, he said. I trust the judgment of principals who will be hiring these folks to work in their buildings. I do know that when I taught, safety was a concern. When I went into the building, I wanted to feel safe, so did a lot of other people, the students and the teachers.

Board member Lashundra Bryson Morsberger said the goal of the job description was to give principals latitude to find the right person.

If you find the right person, you can get them the training that they need and you can bring them up to where you want them to be, she said. Its new. We can tweak it.  Were starting somewhere.

With Thursdays vote, the division can start hiring the care and safety assistants. There will be a total of eight, four of whom will be at Charlottesville High School. Buford Middle School will have three, and the other will be at the Lugo-McGinness Academy. Some assistants will come from existing positions, leaving five who will need to be hired before the 2021-22 school year.
Last spring saw a large drop in the number of people flying in and out of town, officials said.

We served about 750,000 passengers in 2019. When we went into 2020, we were soaring that high again. If airlines added more seats to their flights or more flights going out, our travelers were filling them, Crawford said.

Then came COVID-19. According to information released by airport officials, the airport lost about 10% of its income during Fiscal Year 2020, which ended in June 2020. For the current fiscal year, the airport could have seen a 46.6% budget drop if not for a monetary infusion from the federal governments CARES Act.

With the federal funds, the airport had to cut its budget only about 10%.

The airport does not receive funding from local governments. The majority of its budget comes from flight operations, concessions, parking fees and other income that it generates, as well as Federal Aviation Administration-funded projects and operations.

This airport would not have survived as it did without the federal CARES money. The CARES money has been the lifeblood for us and allowed us to weather this storm, Crawford said.
RICHMOND  Six Republicans hope to earn a part-time salary to preside over the state Senate starting next year.

The job is lieutenant governor. And the $36,321 salary isnt the draw; its holding an office that puts the occupant one step from the governors mansion.

The lieutenant governor votes to break ties on most legislation in the Senate. Many Virginia governors once held the job, among them current Gov. Ralph Northam, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Democrats Doug Wilder and Chuck Robb and Republican John Dalton. The last Republican to hold the office was Bill Bolling, who served as lieutenant governor from 2006 to 2014.

Here, in alphabetical order, is a final look at the six candidates for lieutenant governor Republican delegates will consider during Saturdays convention. Voting will be held at locations across the state and could take several days to tally. All six hope that, should they win the nomination, enough voters in Virginia are turned off by exclusive Democratic control in Richmond that theyll elect the first Republican to win statewide since 2009. (Democrats will choose their nominee for lieutenant governor from six candidates in a June 8 primary.)
Jones repeatedly argued the attorney generals office could take a more proactive role in addressing unnecessary police violence, echoing his recent calls for Herring to do more in response to a string of police shootings in Virginia and to fully support rolling back qualified immunity doctrines that can shield police officers from civil rights lawsuits.

When I saw the video of Derek Chauvin putting his knee on George Floyds neck, I felt that, painfully. I felt the bullets in my back like I was Jacob Blake who was shot in Wisconsin, Jones said. Virginians are demanding reforms as it relates to our justice system, which we know has vestiges of the Black codes, Jim Crow and mass incarceration. We need an attorney general who will rise to meet this moment, who wont be silent.

Herring defended his civil rights record, said hes called for repealing qualified immunity at the federal level and repeatedly suggested his opponents assertions about what his office is and isnt doing were off-base.

Right after Michael Brown was killed in Ferguson I engaged with community leaders all across Virginia and then launched the largest police training initiative that our office has ever done, focusing on de-escalation and racial bias recognition, Herring said. I can continue to lead, as I have, in an aggressive and progressive way.
Will Cleveland, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center who works closely on Virginia energy issues, called it noticeable  that Shobe seems to be saying what we have been saying for years: the only growth sector at all is in data centers.

However, Cleveland said that in testimony before the State Corporation Commission, the SELC has been pretty critical of simply applying formulas to past growth because the data center industry is much more complicated than that.

By 2050, we have no idea what the options are going to be for behind-the-meter generation and storage. We have no idea how efficient the data centers are going to become or whether theyre going to start to operate with their own on-site solar, he said.

Shobe said that while the forecast helps us figure out the best path forward, it also highlights the need for more detailed information about what Virginia electricity providers should plan for in coming decades, particularly as they decarbonize their generation fleets in response to the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

I think theres a real need for us to do more and know more and to try to tighten this forecast up at least as far as data centers are concerned, he said.
In theory, the Trump administration and North Korea had agreed to a complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, but failed to agree on its formula. In the 2019 Trump-Kim summit at Hanoi, the U.S. proposed removal of sanctions for denuclearization, but North Korea rejected it. Pyongyang had taken a phased approach and sought sanctions removal in return. Ever since, there has been no improvement in ties.

After Mr. Biden assumed office, North Korea had conducted short-range missile tests, which the U.S. saw as a provocation. Mr. Biden does not have many good options in dealing with North Korea. The U.S.s key goal in northeastern Asia is the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. And the only practical way to achieve this is through diplomacy because a military strike on North Korea, a nuclear power, is out of the question. Though the Trump-Kim summits did not lead to any breakthrough, they have still created a diplomatic momentum for engagement. Despite its threats to expand its nuclear program, North Korea sticks to the self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range ballistic missile tests. The North, as acknowledged by Mr. Kim recently, is going through a tough economic crisis and is open to talks. Mr. Biden should seize this opportunity and try to reach common ground with Mr. Kim that addresses both North Koreas economic worries and the U.S.s nuclear concerns. That should be the focus of the Biden administrations new North Korean strategy.
The Brooklyn, New York-based SVG Relief Committee, USA., Inc. says Vincentian nationals in the United States remain "resolute in their efforts to provide much-needed relief aid to their volcano-ravaged homeland.





Verna Arthur, chairperson of the Committee, told THE VINCENTIAN on Wednesday that her compatriots are leaving no stones unturned in assisting in the relief efforts.





"Another container was packed in preparation for shipment to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, said the Pauls Avenue, Kingstown native.





"That continued enthusiasm and team spirit to help our brothers and sisters in SVG during these trying times, is resolute, she added, stating that "there are enough items at Friends of Crown Heights (Educational Center in Brooklyn) to pack another container.

"However, we are crossing our fingers and toes on receiving the military plane, continued Arthur, alluding to a recent request by New York Democratic Congressional Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Gregory Meeks to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to secure aircraft to airlift disaster relief supplies procured from private citizens from New York City (NYC) to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.





In addition to the standard shipping arrangements by sea, Vaughan Toney, the Vincentian-born president and chief executive officer of the Friends of Crown Heights Education Center, and a member of the SVG Relief Committee, USA, Inc. told a recent handing-over ceremony, of a container of relief supplies by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, that the Committee was "making every effort to secure a military transport aircraft to expedite the delivery of these supplies to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.





New York City Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo  who represents the 35th Council District, which includes the communities of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights and parts of Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn  also disclosed, at the same ceremony, that she and the City Council were working with Congresswoman Clarke, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, and Jeffries "to get (military) transport to get supplies there (to St. Vincent and the Grenadines).





Arthur said, if the military aircraft does not materialize, "we will revert to option B (the container).





"Nevertheless, items are still being collected in preparation of the next move, Arthur said. "We are now focusing on items which will help facilitate the clean-up effort, e.g. power wash, scrubbing brooms, shovels, etc.





"(And) the monetary drive is still on-going, and I urge persons to give generously in this regard, continued Arthur, disclosing that the Committee received a US$10,000.00 cheque to aid in the relief efforts, from Pastor Louis Straker, Jr., son of former St. Vincent and a US$1,000.00 cheque from Jermaine Cameron, the Jamaican-born principal of the Eagle Academy in Staten Island.
Tamil Nadu: After 10 hours, Sri Lanka frees 86 Indian fishermen

May 07,2021 | Source: The Hindu

Eighty-six Indian fishermen, detained for about 10 hours by Sri Lankan Navy personnel on charges of crossing the Indian waters while fishing in the Palk Strait, were later let off and they returned home early on Wednesday. According to reports reaching here, 86 fishermen from Pamban and other hamlets had ventured into the sea on May 3 in 11 boats. The Sri Lankan Navy personnel, on surveillance, secured the fishermen and took them to a camp, where they were detained for 10 hours. After recording their names and other details, police and Fisheries department officials in Sri Lanka warned the Indian fishermen and let them off. Around Monday night, they were all handed over to Indian authorities.



Let off with warning



Coast Guard officials said that due to the pandemic, the fishermen were let off with a warning by the Sri Lankan authorities. The officials urged the fishermen not to violate the maritime boundaries. Meanwhile, fishermen association leader Rayappan claimed that the fishermen were well within the Indian waters. However, he thanked the Indian authorities for the safe return of the fishermen. A senior official in the Fisheries Department here said 300 fishermen had ventured into the sea on Monday. We have been repeatedly educating the fishermen not to cross the IMBL. Moreover, with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sri Lankan Navy personnel, too, had intensified surveillance.

 2021, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD.
Gujarat: Died in Karachi jail on March 26: Pak hands over mortal remains of fisherman

by Gopal B Kateshiya

May 07,2021 | Source: The Indian Express

Pakistan authorities on Thursday handed over mortal remains of Gujarat fisherman Ramesh to Indian authorities at Wagah-Attari border crossing point on Indo-Pakistan international border in Punjab on Thursday. The fisherman had died in a Karachi jail on March 26 and officers of Gujarat government said that his body will be flown to Ahmedabad on Friday morning. Our officers have just been handed over mortal remains of the fisherman. They will bring the mortal remains to Ahmedabad by air via Delhi tomorrow morning, D P Desai, in-charge fisheries commissioner of Gujarat told The Indian Express on Thursday evening. A superintendent and an assistant superintendent of fisheries department of Gujarat had landed in Amritsar in Punjab on Thursday afternoon to receive the mortal remains.



Desai said that generally mortal remains from Pakistan are brought on board flights landing at Mumbai or Delhi. But this is for the first time that we have received mortal remains of an individual at Wagah. Therefore, we are bringing them to Ahmedabad by air and from Ahmedabad, the body would be taken to the village of the fisherman by road and handed over to his family, the commissioner further said, adding the flight carrying Rameshs mortal remains would land at Ahmedabad airport at 9 am on Friday. Ramesh was apprehended by Pakistan in May 2019 for allegedly violating territorial waters of Pakistan while fishing at the Arabian Sea off Kutch coast. A Pakistan court had convicted him and sentenced him to imprisonment. His prison sentence had ended in July 2019 but he had continued to languish in a Karachi jail as he was never granted consular access by Pakistan despite an agreement between India and Pakistan providing for such access within three months of arrest of each others nationals. As Ramesh was never granted consular access, he could never be repatriated and his nationality was verified only after his death. The delay in nationality verification also delayed repatriation of his mortal remains.



Had he been released and repatriated upon completion of his sentence in July 2019, Ramesh would have been alive today. Incidents like this call for honouring in letter and spirit the Agreement on Consular Access, Jatin Desai, former general secretary of Indian chapter of Pakistan-India Peoples Forum for Peace and Justice (PIPFPD), said. Jatin Desai, the Mumbai-based journalist, had been making efforts to bring Rameshs mortal remains back to India. After Rameshs arrest by Pakistan, his mother died soon after. Last year, his father also died. Ramesh is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, eldest of them being 13 years of age.

 2021 The Indian Express [P] Ltd.
World News: Land tenure security and recognition of tenure rights is a key plank in addressing biodiversity loss, says Civil Society Organizations

May 07,2021 | Source: Forest Peoples Programme

A new discussion paper by CSOs, Human Rights in the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: Options for integrating a human-rights based approach to achieve the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity proposes steps to integrate human rights into the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The Framework, which contains overarching global goals and targets, will be negotiated and adopted by government Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and will guide actions for conservation and management of natural resources over the next decade. The Framework is a follow-up to the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.



Integrating a human-rights based approach to achieve the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity has been a sustained demand of organizations representing indigenous peoples and local communities and civil society engaged in the CBD processes. In this document, available in English and Spanish, the authors collate and present key human rights-related language as proposals for the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. The document takes its point of departure in the recommendations made by the 'Thematic Workshop on Human Rights as enabling condition in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework,' held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 18 to 20 February 2020. The compilation has been prepared by a group of participants from the Chiang Mail workshop, representing Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), CBD Alliance, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), Fundacion Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), Deutsche Gesellschaft fu?r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, ICCA Consortium, Natural Justice, SwedBio at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Tebtebba Foundation, WWF Indonesia, the CBD Womens Caucus and Women4Biodiversity.



According to the authors, the document is not an attempt to coalesce around single proposals for Target text, nor for Indicator proposals. Instead, the document seeks to present and display the many ways in which current text under negotiation could be enriched and improved through the integration of human rights concerns. It reiterates that human rights and a healthy planet are mutually dependent. Across human cultures  particularly of Indigenous peoples and local communities  are diverse worldviews, values, ethics and spiritual beliefs that embody and guide people's reciprocal relationships with the rest of the planet. A key plank in addressing biodiversity loss, the authors note, is land tenure security and recognition of tenure rights. These tenure rights support the systems of governance and knowledge that enable biodiversity management and protection.



The document also underlines the links between biological and cultural diversity; the need to halt industrial drivers of biodiversity loss, including by eliminating perverse investments and incentives that negatively impact biodiversity and human rights; and the importance of ensuring the safety of environmental human rights defenders.



The document is available at: https://www.forestpeoples.org/en/briefing-paper/2021/human-rights-post-2020-global-biodiversity-framework-options-integrating-human
Kennedy, a grants manager for the Benton Community Foundation, cites her experience in the Philomath PTO and Chamber of Commerce.

As a parent of a second-grader and incoming kindergartener, I will advocate for my childrens education, and for the education of every child. Our kids should be our first priority, she said in election information provided to Benton County. I will work with other board members and the administration to make sure that every student has access to a quality education.

Position 4 features a race between Joey McGlinchy and Erin Gudge.

McGlinchy, a business owner and government compliance specialist, cited experience on the citys planning commission and the school districts budget committee.

As we enter a full year of educational struggles, directly related to closures, we need solid plans in place to get our youth back on track. As a new father, watching the struggle of many children and then thoroughly listening to stakeholders  students, staff, parents, and taxpayers  I feel compelled to run for the school board, he said in election information provided to Benton County.

McGlinchy said he supports a full-time return to in-person instruction and career and technical education.
State

Texas House hunkers down for late-night debate on GOP-backed elections bill

Charlie Pearce/For The Texas Tribune Mail-in ballot envelopes are shown at the Travis County Elections division headquarters. Senate Bill 7 would increase penalties for voting crimes and bar mass distribution of applications for mail-in ballots.

AUSTIN  The Texas House hunkered down Thursday evening for what was expected to be hours of emotional debate on one of the most contentious measures of the session, a GOP-backed elections bill that would empower partisan poll watchers, increase penalties for voting crimes and bar mass distribution of applications for mail-in ballots.

Discussion of the legislation did not kick off until early evening and was expected to stretch well into the night. Any vote was expected to fall strictly along party lines in the chamber, which has 83 Republicans and 67 Democrats.

Rep. Briscoe Cain, the bills author, said the legislation aims to protect voters and prevent future election crimes. He said it was not filed in response to the 2020 elections, which he conceded were free and fair.

The purpose of this is to make them even more safe and secure, said Cain, R-Deer Park. We dont have to wait for bad things to happen to try to protect and secure these elections.

But Democrats, wearing personalized masks emblazoned with the words GOOD TROUBLE, peppered him with questions about the legislations true intent and purpose, raising questions about voter suppression and how the bill might have unequal negative effects on voters of color. Many of the questions laid the groundwork for litigation if the bill becomes law.

Its a straight-up assault on voting rights, said Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie. Key provisions of this bill will almost certainly be overturned by the courts.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, made election integrity an emergency item this legislative session. GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, have also prioritized the issue.

Democrats say the bills echo controversial voting laws recently passed in Georgia and Florida and represent a reaction to the huge voter turnout in November. Many of the bills specific provisions crack down on voting procedures that Harris County had planned to institute last year.

Its old Jim Crow, dressed up in what our colleagues are calling election integrity, said Rep. Jessica Gonzalez, a Dallas Democrat who serves as vice chair of the House Committee on Elections. This is by far the worst piece of legislation that Texans have seen.

The legislation would prohibit local election officials from barring or ejecting poll watchers, who work on behalf of candidates to observe elections, and would prohibit sending mail-in ballot applications to voters unless they request them.

It would also criminalize or increase penalties for having certain interactions with voters and their ballots for the purpose of influencing how they plan to vote; paying or offering to pay someone to help people vote; and intentionally miscounting or altering ballots.

Democrats warn that the legislation would discourage voter assistance, especially for elderly Texans or those with disabilities, and perpetuate a racist history in Texas that has dissuaded voters of color from exercising their rights.

Cain pushed back, stating, I dont believe this bill suppresses any votes.

Democrats had drafted more than 100 amendments to the bill. After three hours of debate, the House had voted on one, which failed along partisan lines. A short time later, Rep. John Turner, D-Dallas, raised a point of order, a procedural tactic that temporarily halted debate with the hopes of killing the bill on a technicality.

Thursday nights debate marked the second time this session Republican leaders discussed divisive voting legislation late into the night. In March, the Texas Senate passed another bill after an hours-long overnight debate.

The Senate bill includes stricter penalties than the Houses version. Last week, Cain advanced that legislation through the Elections Committee after swapping it out in its entirety for the House bill. The changes would have to be approved by the Senate, or the differences hashed out in a conference committee, before the bill could advance to Abbotts desk.
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 75F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 75F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Abu Dhabi's Masdar said it has joined hands with Taaleri Energia, a Greek company investing in utility-scale wind and solar assets, to develop a 65MW solar photovoltaic project.

The project, which is Masdar's first investment in the Greek market, will be managed through its JV firm Masdar-Taaleri Generation (MTG).

The co-development was announced at a virtual signing ceremony, attended by Dionyssios Zois, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the UAE, and Sulaiman Hamed Salem AlMazroui, UAE Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic.

According to Masdar, the project will be developed by MTG alongside local partners, the Constantakopoulos family and Autohellas.

"We are extremely pleased for todays virtual signing of the agreement between two prominent Greek business groups, the Constantakopoulos family and Autohellas, and the joint venture between Masdar, the UAEs renewable energy leader, and Finlands Taaleri Energia, a prominent international player in clean energy, to establish a solar photovoltaic project in Greece," Zois said.

"We congratulate all the business groups involved and specifically Masdar on their very first investment in the Greek renewable energy sector and we hope that this agreement will pave the way for additional Emirati investments in Greece, either from Masdar or other UAE entities," he added.

AlMazroui, in turn, said: "Todays signing is a milestone occasion that will enhance the longstanding cooperation between Greece and the UAE. We are pleased to support the countrys climate change efforts and contribute to their goal of producing 35 percent of their energy mix from renewables by 2030."

"We look forward to strengthening our relationship further by expanding our bilateral collaboration in the near future," he noted.

The project is located in the region of Viotia, approximately 65 kilometers north of the Greek capital, Athens, and is in the advanced development stage, with construction expected to be completed in 2023. It is intended that the project will participate in Greeces feed-in-tariff premium auction scheme in late 2021.

CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi said: "As Masdar celebrates its 15th anniversary in the renewable energy sector, we are proud to be expanding our global presence by making the first investment in Greece."

"We look forward to working with our partners and leveraging our international expertise in clean energy projects to support the diversification of the countrys energy mix, while advancing our common climate change mitigation goals," he stated.

Kai Rintala, Managing Director of Taaleri Energia, said: "This is a high-quality solar PV development project in one of the Taaleri SolarWind II funds key markets for solar investments and further demonstrates the value of our joint venture and cooperation with Masdar."

When complete, the solar PV plant will produce over 100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity annually, he added.

Achilles V. Constantakopoulos said: "We are proud to be part of this multi-stakeholder venture for the development of a significant photovoltaic project in our country, and to join reputable groups which are leaders in their respective fields."

"Together, we can contribute to Greeces and our groups sustainability targets, in maximizing the use of renewable energy," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Customers are returning to Colorado restaurants, bars, retail shops and other businesses, but they may not have anyone to take their order and serve them, help them find merchandise or take their payment.

That's because many businesses in the state's service sector are struggling to hire enough workers to handle the increased number of customers and sales now that many COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have been lifted. Business owners report they can't get anyone to respond to their job postings and help-wanted ads, let alone show up for an interview, accept a job and start working.

The Colorado Department of Labor and Employment adopted an emergency rule this week designed to push more people receiving unemployment benefits to return to the job market. The rule will cut off jobless benefits if applicants fail to show up for a scheduled interview or first day of work, which has become a growing problem.

The rule allows the Division to consider the failure to appear at a scheduled interview, failure to appear for a scheduled exam, failure to report for the first scheduled day of new work, or failure to complete required pre-employment activities to disqualify them from continued unemployment benefits unless the claimant can establish reasonable justification for the specific failure.

Of course, refusing to return to work because the claimant earns more on UI (unemployment insurance benefits) is NOT acceptable and could constitute fraud, a department spokesperson said in an email.

Some states took it a step further: Montana and South Carolina floated plans this week to cut off federally funded pandemic unemployment assistance at the end of June, citing complaints by employers about severe labor shortages, according to the Washington Post.

That means jobless workers there will no longer get a $300-a-week federal supplement to state benefits, and the states will abandon the federal program called the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA) that helped so-called "gig" workers, contractors or self-employed workers.

Colorado Restaurants, hotels, bars and retailers were hit hard by the pandemic and restrictions on capacity  the sectors including those industries lost two-thirds of the nearly 360,000 jobs shed in the first months of the pandemic. While the number of job postings  many in the restaurant, hotel and retail industries  are the highest since the pandemic began, laid-off workers aren't returning to the old jobs in big numbers.

The Colorado Restaurant Association estimates that 70,000-100,000 restaurant jobs lost in 2020 have not be refilled.

Weve had hiring issues, its been incredibly hard, said David Farahi, Chief Operating Officer of Monarch, operator of the newly opened Monarch Casino Resort Spa in Black Hawk. Weve been trying to hire hundreds of people since November. Weve had job fairs every month. We have seen theres a correlation between the number of people who come to the job fair and if people anticipate their unemployment benefits being extended or not.

Monarch is trying to add 200 more workers to its existing employee base of 700.

The labor shortage is worsening even though Colorado's unemployment rate is more than double its level before the pandemic  more than 200,000 people are out of work and the unemployment rate is 6.4%.

Ryan Gedney, senior economist for the state labor agency, said the shortage may result from a timing issue  consumers are more willing to leave their homes than workers who would serve them.

Consumer demand for goods and services has increased since February/March, and that can be tied back to multiple rounds of federal relief, improving weather, and wider rates of vaccinations among the adult population," Gedney said. "However, while older adults have had vaccination options for a while, vaccinations were not widely available to the 16+ Colorado population until the beginning of April. This could impact the labor supply of industries like restaurants, who rely on a relatively younger population of workers than most industries.

Hesitant to find work

So why aren't those who don't have a job applying for the more than 150,000 jobs that are listed as open? Officials with the Pikes Peak Workforce Center cite several reasons:

 Some potential applicants for restaurant and retail jobs, especially younger people who haven't yet gotten both doses of the COVID vaccine, are worried about their health and safety around people who may not be wearing masks and staying at least six feet apart in a workplace that might not be well ventilated. Vaccines were restricted to those over 49 years old until early April.

 Applicants with small children may not be able to find child care since some child care centers have closed and most others have reduced capacities due to social distancing guidelines and reduced hours due to a lack of workers on their part.

 Those collecting unemployment benefits are receiving both traditional unemployment benefits, which have been extended several times, and an extra $300 a week included in the last stimulus package, both through Labor Day. Erica Romero, business relations team lead for the jobs center, estimated that can total about $15 an hour, or $2.68 an hour more than Colorado's minimum wage and more than some entry-level restaurant and retail jobs.

 Restaurants and small retailers are competing for employees with Amazon, which is hiring for all its distribution plants in Colorado, but especially in Colorado Springs where its massive fulfillment center that will open later this year. Other retailers, including Costco, Hobby Lobby, Target and Walmart, are paying wages that start at $15-17 an hour. Those employers also are offering bonuses and benefits many restaurants and small retailers can't afford.

 Laid-off restaurant, bar and other hospitality workers have found jobs in other industries and aren't interested in returning to their previous careers. Some are worried that they could face another layoff if the pandemic worsens again, triggering more restrictions on restaurants, retailers and other businesses.

Looking for applicants

Christopher Howes, president of the Colorado Retail Council, said member retailers aren't getting many applicants for openings, making it difficult for them to keep with strong sales growth.

Some members are definitely experiencing very low job applicant rates here in Colorado, Howes said in an email. It has made it difficult to keep up with staffing needs in a growing consumer market such as Colorado as people continue to move to the Mountain West.

Brenda Studley, vice president of recruiting for Allied Universal security and facilities services company, said the company is trying to onboard 250 employees for hospital security positions in Fort Collins and Aurora.

A lot of it is due to growth, as security is really growing, Studley said via video conference. These were essential jobs, so we actually never slowed down last year. Weve got new clients, and our existing clients are growing. And weve had to add positions like temperature checkers and greeters.

The number of applicants for those positions has decreased in the last 30 days, as has the number of people searching online and our job boards traffic, she said. Weve got more jobs than people as the state opens up. Its a big challenge for all employers, this low applicant flow.

Allied has more than 3,000 employees statewide, and branch offices in Lakewood and Colorado Springs  a great location for recruiting former military, Studley said.

The company is holding two job fairs this month at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, and two in coming weeks at the Hyatt Regency in Aurora.

Weve had to go for people who arent looking for a job, Studley said, ramping up the bonus to existing employees who make referrals and combing the CDLE unemployment data base of resumes.

Where are the homebuilders?

Construction workers were hard to find before the pandemic, and the problem just got worse last year. The Colorado Association of Home Builders cites CDLE stats that show there are 175,000 construction workers in Colorado, but by 2027 that workforce will need to grow to 220,000 workers. Thats 60,000 more workers needed in the next six years.

Damon DiFabio, director of the Colorado Homebuilding Academy, said the school has been around since 2017 to help address the shortage, especially targeting under-employed or unemployed.

Our classes have been full, DiFabio said.

The school operates from a Denver campus at Precision Builders, 445 W. 53rd Place in Denver, and also has a Colorado Springs campus. They are continually running pop up schools at active construction sites, so students can learn hands-on and earn certification.

The Academy has graduated 984 students since its inception, 76 in Q1. Of those Q1 graduates, 35 got construction jobs, he said.

Weve really ramped up and hope to expand more, DiFabio said. Our demographic is those with all different learning levels, and education levels and who have different issues. While so many are motivated and want trade jobs, sometimes they have something else in their lives theyre dealing with like homelessness, child care, mental issues and/or addiction.

The Academy offers resources, and partners with many organizations that do as well, he said.

Graduates not only get a certificate, but also a tool bag with $200 worth of tools.

Our fee is waived for anyone who wants to purse a job in the industry, DiFabio said.

Not all industries impacted

Some companies have not had issues filling roles, but for higher-paying financial services jobs.

Were confident we will continue to able to find talent here in Colorado for our 375 open positions were hiring over the next 5 months, said Janelle OHaugherty, Fidelity Investments spokeswoman in an email. This effort is part of an established growth pattern weve been in over the last year at Fidelity Investments. In fact, we were able to successfully grow our customer-facing teams by 77% in 2020. We met our hiring goals for 2020, bringing on more than 5,000 new employees across the country and 525 in Colorado.

Fidelity has operations in Greenwood Village, and more than 1,000 Colorado employees.

Industries with the strongest recovery across the state are Finance and Insurance, Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities (includes things like delivery services, warehousing centers, and the postal service), Management of Companies (corporate offices), and Retail (home improvement stores, grocery stores) - all of these industries have gained back over 100% of the jobs lost during the pandemic, according to CDLE.

Gedney said this recovery is different from that of the Great Recession 2008-10.

The relationship between unemployment and filling job vacancies is very different now than in prior recessions, because we are still in the middle of a global pandemic, Gedney said. Structurally, this is a vastly different recession and road to recovery that Colorado and the nation experienced during the Great Recession and early 2000s recession.

As of Wednesday, there was 79,740 jobs posted on the states job database ConnectingColorado.com.
Recently the ghost town of Silver City, Idaho, has been making headlines for nonspecter but definitely spooky reasons. The off-the-grid city in Owyhee County (about two hours southwest of Boise) has been invaded by billions of the creepiest crawling things you may ever have the misfortune to see.
Leading airport services provider National Aviation Services (NAS) has renewed its contract with the Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC) and Aqaba Airports Company (AAC) to operate and manage Aqaba Air Cargo Terminal (AACT) for another 20 years.

Aqaba with its strategic location and status as Jordans special economic zone is a regional hub for trade, tourism and culture. The air cargo terminal, located within the King Hussein International Airport has been key to Aqabas logistics capabilities since its establishment in 2004.

As the exclusive cargo services provider, NAS has been the driving force at AACT since 2006, providing world class services including ground operations, cargo handling, warehousing services, bonded storage, safety and security services as well as ground equipment. The company introduced an advanced cargo management system to comprehensively manage every aspect of the cargo business ranging from pricing, cargo operations and billing to supply chain management. NAS also invested in the modernization of the cargo services by automating processes and providing transparency and tracking services to customers, which greatly supports import and export in the country.

Hassan El-Houry, Group CEO of NAS, said: We are excited to renew our contract and serve the Aqaba Air Cargo Terminal for another 20 years. In the last term, we fulfilled our commitment to the country by maintaining the highest levels of service with a strong focus on safety and security while investing into the development and operations of air cargo services. This helped unlock Aqabas air cargo potential and put Jordan on the global map for trade in line with the Royal vision to transform Aqaba into a world-class business hub and leisure destination. We also offered a platform for export growth that was sustained by His Majesty King Abdullah IIs leadership as a driver for international trade and job creation. With the renewed agreement we aim to further enhance the air cargo offering in the country and introduce new initiatives in the near future.

In 2020, NAS also successfully completed the Regulated Agent third country validation process (RA3) for air cargo operations in Aqaba. This internationally recognised validation and certification process ensures EU regulatory compliance for air cargo transportation to EU countries. The validation demonstrates NASs compliance with EU air cargo security regulations and standards, including access control, cargo screenings, external and internal audits, among others.

El-Houry highlighted: "Jordan's economic environment is favourable to foreign investment. With NAS's investments into Jordan's aviation industry, we also remain committed to growing the country's economic prosperity in the coming years." - TradeArabia News Service
Ongoing

Get Outside with Alabama: A free webinar series on horticulture and home gardening will be held each Wednesday in May 1 at 1 p.m. and will continue through June 2. Connect at auburn.zoom.us/j/82398811386.

Diabetes Empowerment Education Program: The Alabama Extension Office with Auburn University will host a six-week series of Zoom classes on diabetes self-management strategies beginning on May 25 at 10 a.m. Register at https://auburn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEqdO2urjkrGt2pkb9ubRAD7mlNrupM4z3h.

Back to School Bash: Annies Cafe is teaming up with Coffee County Family Services to throw the 3rd Annual Back to School Bash. From now until the summer, the organizations will be collecting certain items for children K-12 throughout Coffee County for the upcoming school year in August. Paper bags are available at Annies Cafe, come pick one up and fill it with socks and return it to Annies Cafe by May 28. For questions about the program or if you want to assist as a business, call Family Services at (334) 393-8538 or Annies at (334) 347-6622
Potential solutions from the two councilmen were moving the parade from Main Street to Edwards Street or keeping Lee Street open until just before the parade.

Johnson said he took an oath to serve the city in its entirety, not just for one portion of the city, and that they might be setting a dangerous precedent in blocking off Friday nights from the event calendar.

I understand where theyre coming from, but does that mean no events and no closing of the streets? he said. I can see this town one day blocking downtown from the Methodist church to the Baptist church. Were growing. Lets concentrate on parking.

People know we have the parade on that Tuesday, but we have eight months to get the word out. There are so many Fridays in the year. I dont have a business, but Im not going to concentrate on just that one Friday. I know people want to eat in those places, and theyre going to get to those places. It may be inconvenient, but if theyll park way out at the end of Walmart and walk all that wayif you park at the courthouse, its not that far to those areas.

Councilman Greg Padgett said he can understand the argument from each side, but the main thing that continues to stick out to him is the lack of parking.
Both designs use the same bright color scheme. Along with the new logos for downtown Enterprise and Main Street, the presentation also included possible designs for banners, signs and advertisements that incorporate the new branding.

Main Street Enterprise Director Cassidi Kendrick said that she was pleased with the way the branding turned out and how the whole process went.

I couldnt be more happy with the way that this looks, especially the buildings that were chosen to be up there, Kendrick said. Every other building up there has a historic marker in front of their place to show their significance of being in our downtown. We have so many beautiful architectural elements in our district that we could have highlighted a million more, but this turned out so wonderful.

T-shirts and stickers using the new design were available for purchase after the presentation, and Kendrick said the logos would be used on more merchandise and the website for downtown Enterprise.

Wirth said she is excited to come back to Enterprise and see how the designs are implemented.

Its so exciting, Wirth said. Theres always been a level of, Lets go out and get things done thats been exciting about Enterprise, and to have this kind of group show up to the reveal knowing that theres still more work ahead for them to implement, its very satisfying. Theyre still interested, theyre still engaged, theyre still involved, and I hope theyre happy because this is the result of everything they provided to us.

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I am truly honored to have been able to work with him. He is dedicated to community service and has made many personal sacrifices in order to make our community safer, Davis said. The citizens of Enterprise have little to no idea how much effort he has made in their safety and protection.

Capt. Joey Stephenson started working at the Enterprise Fire Department in 2001 and said hes seen the department come a long way from what it was when he started, and it was all done under the leadership of Chief Herring.

Retired Capt. Ricky James agreed, saying Herring has helped the department grow by leaps and bounds. When James started work in 1982, the EFD only had two stations, four fire engines and 15 men. Today, the department has seven fire engines, four stations and 51 men.

He has always tried to move the fire department forward with new equipment and education, and he always looked after his men from the day he hired them until they retired. James said. I can honestly say I am very proud to have worked under his leadership and guidance. The fire department is like a family and Chief Herring is the father figure everyone looks up to.

Stephenson concurs with James, Stephens and Shaver that character is a big factor in the respect that Herring commands both locally and across the state.
An elite group of ninth and 10th graders from throughout Alabama attended the Alfa Youth Leadership Conference at the 4-H Center in Columbiana April 29-30.

Students applied for the conference which focused on training future leaders. It is sponsored by the Alabama Farmers Federation, Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation, county Farmers Federations and Alabama Farm Credit (AFC).

This meeting helps prepare students to be future leaders, but in many cases theyre already leaders in their school and community, said Wiley Bailey, who helped coordinate the conference for the Federation. Its important to inspire young leaders and get them involved as advocates for agriculture and to encourage them to serve their communities.

Attendees came from 30 counties and worked to identify personal strengths, develop negotiation skills and discover a passion for service.

The agenda included team-building activities at the 4-H Centers challenge course and teen safety workshops.

AFC was a new supporter of the program this year and sponsored motivational speaker and leadership trainer Rhett Laubach who challenged students to be a positive influence on their peers.
JACKSONVILLE (AP)  A federal appeals court ordered a new trial on Thursday for former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, once a powerful Florida Democrat.

She had served just over two years of a five-year sentence for fraud and other crimes related to a purported charity for poor students that prosecutors said she had used as a personal slush fund.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the judge in Browns case violated her Sixth Amendment right to a unanimous jury verdict. The panel voted 7-4 to vacate Browns 2017 convictions and sentence.

The appeals court decided that the judge in Browns case abused his discretion by removing a juror who expressed, after deliberations had begun, that the Holy Spirit told him that Brown was not guilty on all charges. The juror repeatedly assured the judge that he was following the jury instructions and basing his decision on the evidence, but the judge concluded that the jurors statements about receiving divine guidance were categorically disqualifying, court records said.
ORLANDO (AP)  Gatorland is offering a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the person who taped shut an alligators eyes and snout, leaving it for dead.

I was absolutely outraged, I mean that anyone would do that to any living creature, Gatorlands Savannah Boan told WKMG.

The incident happened last month when Barbara and Jack Thornton found the bound gator near the Wekiwa River in Seminole County. They called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the neighborhood also offered up a $500 reward for information, WESH reported.

The agency is continuing to investigate.

It is a felony to kill, capture or possess an alligator in Florida.

Im just blown away because this started as a Nextdoor post I made after we discovered and since then its absolutely snowballed, said Jack Thornton.

Gatorland takes in distressed alligators, and Boan urged people to call them if they find one in need.
It's one of nature's weirdest events, featuring sex, a race against death, evolution and what can sound like a bad science fiction movie soundtrack.

Some people may be repulsed. Psychiatrists are calling entomologists worrying about their patients, Shrewsbury said. But scientists say the arrival of Brood X is a sign that despite pollution, climate change and dramatic biodiversity loss, something is still right with nature. And it's quite a show.

Raupp presents the narrative of cicada's lifespan with all the verve of a Hollywood blockbuster:

"You've got a creature that spends 17 years in a COVID-like existence, isolated underground sucking on plant sap, right? In the 17th year these teenagers are going to come out of the earth by the billions if not trillions. They're going to try to best everything on the planet that wants to eat them during this critical period of the nighttime when they're just trying to grow up, they're just trying to be adults, shed that skin, get their wings, go up into the treetops, escape their predators," he says.
Farmers harvest rice in the Mekong Delta Province of Soc Trang. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Tran.

Vietnam has exported $1.01 billion worth of rice in the first four months of 2021, up 1.2 percent year-on-year, thanks to higher rice prices.

The volume of rice exports during the period dropped 11 percent year-on-year to 1.9 million tons, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

However, as the average export price rose 13.4 percent year-on-year to $534 per ton, its value topped that of last year.

The Vietnam Food Association has forecast that the nations rice export value will continue to rise because of higher selling prices.

Vietnam plans to produce 43 million tons of paddy and targets exporting 6.5 million tons of rice this year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The nation was the worlds second largest rice exporter last year at 6.25 million tons.
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MALE, Maldives  Maldives first democratically elected president and current Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed was injured in a blast Thursday near his home and was being treated in a hospital, police said.

Home Minister Imran Abdulla told a local television that Nasheeds injuries were not life-threatening and that the government will get the assistance of foreign agencies in the investigations.

Police said they were investigating and urged people to avoid the blast area in the capital, Male, in a text message that didnt give further details.

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Photos circulated on social media showed a ripped-up motorcycle at the scene but police did not say whether the blast was an assassination attempt. However, neighboring Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in a tweet described the blast as an attack on Nasheed.

Wish him a speedy recovery. Know that he will never be intimidated, Jaishankar said.

Nasheed, now 53, became the first democratically elected leader of the Maldives after a 30-year autocratic rule. He served as president from 2008 until 2012 when he resigned amid protests. He was defeated in the following presidential election and became ineligible to enter the 2018 election due to a prison sentence. His party colleague Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the 2018 presidential election.

In 2019, Nasheed was elected Parliament speaker and he has remained an influential political figure.

Nasheed has championed global efforts to fight climate change, particularly warning that rising seas caused by global warming threaten the low-lying islands of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.

He has also been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in this predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law.

Maldives is known for its luxury resort islands but has seen rare violent attacks. In 2007, a blast in a park in the capital wounded 12 foreign tourists.

____

Associated Press journalist Krishan Francis contributed to this report from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Why it matters: There are over 3 billion smartphone users around the world and almost a third of those devices use Qualcomm modems that have a large number of vulnerabilities, allowing attackers to unlock your SIM and listen in on your conversations, among other things. Given the way the vast Android ecosystem works, the fix will take a while to reach all affected devices.

If the BLURtooth vulnerability didn't look particularly worrisome, now we have a new security problem that creates a potential backdoor into a third of all mobile phones in the world, including high-end Android phones made by Samsung, LG, Google, OnePlus, and Xiaomi.

According to a report from security firm Check Point Research, it found no less than 400 vulnerabilities on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Digital Signal Processor (DSP) subsystem last year that were eventually patched in November 2020. More recently, however, researchers stumbled upon yet another vulnerability while taking a close look at Qualcomm's Mobile Station Modems.

The Mobile Station Modem is a system-on-a chip that provides all the processing, device management, and wireless networking capabilities on many modern phones. The first of its kind was designed by Qualcomm in 1990, and today it is found on around 40 percent of all smartphones. Check Point researchers looked at how that can be used as a potential attack vector for malicious actors. More specifically, they looked at Android's ability to talk with the MSM's various components and peripherals through a proprietary communication protocol called the Qualcomm MSM Interface (QMI), something that is possible on 30 percent of all smartphones in the world.

The issue they found was of the heap overflow variety, and can be exploited by a malicious actor using an app installed on the phone, either sideloaded or from an alternative app store. Check Point researchers used a process known as fuzzing on the MSM data service to see if they could find a way to inject malicious code inside Qualcomm's real-time OS (QuRT), which is responsible for managing the MSM and is designed to be inaccessible even on rooted Android devices.

The QMI voice service, one of many services exposed by the MSM to the Android operating system, can be used to take over the MSM and inject code in QuRT. The attacker then gets easy access to your SMS and call history, and can start listening in on your voice conversations. Furthermore, they can unlock the SIM using the same vulnerability and bypass all security measures put in place by both Google as well as phone manufacturers.

The good news is that Qualcomm has disclosed the existence of the bug to all affected customers and has already released a patch in December 2020. However, there is no information on which phones will receive the patch -- only the promise that the vulnerability will be included in the public June Android Security Bulletin under CVE-2020-11292.

Given how quickly most Android phone manufacturers stop issuing security patches, it's likely that some lower end devices will remain unpatched, while flagships have a higher chance of receiving the fix in the coming months.

Either way, the vulnerability affects hundreds of millions of phones, including those equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G-capable mobile platforms -- the Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 870.
ISTANBUL - EU commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, is visiting Turkey on Friday. She will meet with the vice president, Fuat Oktay and the ministers of foreign affairs and interior, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Suleyman Soylu.



"The talks will focus on the management of migrants, including the implementation of the related aspects of the declaration EU-Turkey", from March 16, 2016, Brussels said, stressing that the mission follows up on the meeting a month ago in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the presidents of the European Commission and Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, which was very much discussed due to the so-called 'sofagate' snub when von der Leyen was left without a chair at the summit with the two male leaders.



Ankara stressed that the agenda of the visit includes "dialogue on the liberalization of visas", another key theme for Turkey.
Reuters

U.S. regulators on Monday approved Biogen Inc's aducanumab as the first treatment to attack a likely cause of Alzheimer's disease, sending its shares soaring, despite controversy over whether the clinical evidence proves the drug works. Biogen said it has priced the drug, to be sold as Aduhelm, at $56,000 per year. Aducanumab aims to remove sticky deposits of a protein called amyloid beta from the brains of patients in earlier stages of Alzheimer's in order to stave off its ravages, which include memory loss and the inability to care for one's self.
Sjkcfoonyew4.edu.my scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

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PAGE TITLE SJK (C) Foon Yew 4 - Welcome DESCRIPTION Welcome to the official website of SJK(C) Foon Yew 4, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. This website is designed and maintained by Soong Ai Lean. KEYWORDS OTHER KEYWORDS sekolah, foon yew, pencapaian,



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Last weekend was not a safe time to be on Albuquerques interstates, with two wrong-way drivers causing two fatal crashes within 24 hours. But then, its rarely a safe time to be on N.M. roads.

A car headed the wrong way on Interstate 40 early Sunday struck an SUV and then smashed into a tractor-trailer near San Mateo, killing the wrong-way driver. Another wrong-way driver caused a head-on crash on I-25 early Saturday that left two people dead. Deputies said an off-duty Cuba Police Department officer was driving north on southbound I-25 when his car ran into an SUV, killing two men in the SUV and seriously injuring its driver.

Those fatalities follow a single-car crash April 1 near the Big I that killed a 7-year-old girl and a 2-month-old boy. Two 23-year-old mothers who had been drinking wrangled over whether it was safe to drive. Each lost a child when the car went airborne and crashed into a concrete barrier. And April 29, a California man led deputies on a high-speed chase on N.M. 14, crashing into multiple vehicles. It started after a woman reported an SUV ramming into her car.

These cases will work their way through the court and insurance systems. But what if victims didnt have to try to be made whole because such accidents were prevented?

Believe it  technology is within reach that can prevent similar mayhem. In fact, its already in many vehicles.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-New Mexico, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, are co-sponsoring legislation that would utilize a variety of drowsy/drunken/reckless driving prevention systems  including driver monitoring, lane assist and automatic braking  to prevent a vehicle from veering out of lane, hitting an object or even moving. Ken Snyder, executive director of Utahs Shingo Institute, says the software in new vehicles would require a tweak at little or no cost.

The Reduce Impaired Driving for Everyone (RIDE) Act co-sponsored by Lujan and Scott, and a similar measure in the U.S. House called the HALT Act, would give the U.S. Department of Transportation authority to make distracted, impaired or fatigued driving detection technology mandatory in new vehicles. Volvo and Toyota already have in-vehicle systems that can detect erratic driving and/or alcohol impairment and bring a vehicle to a stop. Nissans system triggers a voice alert and tightens the seat belt to get the drivers attention.

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More than 10,000 people a year are routinely killed in the U.S. in alcohol-related crashes. The CDC says 1,254 people were killed in New Mexico in alcohol-related crashes between 2003 and 2012. And New Mexico ranks as the worst state in the nation for pedestrian fatalities, with 30 people struck and killed by vehicles in the Albuquerque area last year, 42 in 2019, and 35 in 2018.

This technology already exists, Lujan says. If you can have a conversation about self-driving, autonomous vehicles, you can absolutely implement technology that is going to save peoples lives. There shouldnt be a question about this.

Technology is the best hope weve seen to reduce drunken driving and the related carnage on our roads. Yes, the devil is again in the details, and driver monitoring does present some privacy concerns. But merely being on public roads requires the concession of some privacy. Congress should pass the RIDE/HALT acts,which have the potential of being technological game-changers and a dramatic leap forward in making our roads a safer place to be.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Claude Levesque, president of the Quebec Jockey Club and prominent Standardbred owner and breeder, is excited for the start of the 2021 race season at Hippodrome 3R.

"There is not that much to say," Levesque laughed, "except that we are very excited to get our race meet underway and that we are ready to race!"

The Hippodrome 3R opening day Friday (May 7) card gets underway with a special post time of 5:30 p.m. A free race program is available at www.hippodrome3r.ca.

"The weather forecast for Friday is excellent," Levesque added. Our racetrack surface is in prime shape. We have 10 races, all with full fields of eight horses, and I know that our horsepeople are ready to return to racing.

All that we are missing is our race fans, Levesque said. And maybe we will be able to add them by mid-summer, but we are not counting on that. It would be great as racing is not the same without race fans cheering. I am glad we are able to start racing. We will be the only track in all of Canada racing Friday.

Most important, Levesque added, is that we will continue to do COVID protocols in our race paddock. I am proud of all our employees and our horsepeople who did safe practice, as we did not have one COVID case all last season and we want the same again this season.

We also want to see how many horses are entered for our qualifying races on Saturday, Levesque explained. If there are a lot more horses coming here to qualify, we might even consider racing two days next week, Friday and Sunday. But we have to wait and see on that.

For opening day, there are two Preferred Paces and one Preferred Trot on the race card.

The Preferred 1 Pace, carded as race seven, features Mickeymaksomespeed, a nine-time winner last year, from post five for driver Richard Simard and trainer Michel Allard. Mickeymaksomespeed won his qualifying race last week at H3R in 1:59.4 by 3-1/4 lengths and takes on Big Petes Style (post one), also a qualifying winner last week in 1:59.4, as well as Woodbine invaders Solid Man (post six) and Take The Deal (post seven).

The Preferred Handicap Trot (race five) features top mare Kinnder High Class (post six), who won 10 of 13 starts and set a track record last season at H3R. The lone mare in the field, Kinnder High Class will go up against track record holder Wildwild Men (post eight), Franks Angel (post seven), and Pompano Park shipper Captain Krupnik (post three).

Trainer Francis Richard, who will be gunning for his fifth straight training title at H3R, is back in action along with last seasons leading driver, Pascal Berube.

For more information, visit www.hippodrome3r.ca. The website is in both French and English.

To view Friday's complete entries, click the following link: Friday Entries  Hippodrome 3R.

(Quebec Jockey Club)
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Former Fine Gael TD Maria Bailey has said she welcomes proposed legislation to regulate social media platforms.

Ms Bailey told Newstalk Breakfast of the abuse she suffered following her controversial claim against a Dublin hotel for a fall from a swing.

I was at the epicentre of persistent abuse over the course of approximately nine months and that just takes a toll on anybody, whether that's myself directly or the people around me, by abuse, ridicule, intimidation and it was exceptionally stressful and isolating.

The former TD said: You find that you're in the middle of a pile-on and you're a lone voice in a very loud pile of abuse and the volume is so loud that the truth and facts can't be heard or don't want to be heard. Ms Bailey said that the abuse she suffered was in relation to documents that were made public without her consent.

I was silenced in fear and I'm not anymore.

At the peak of the online abuse, she said that her father was in the final stages of motor neurone disease. On the weekend of his death, people were arriving at her door, she said, despite an appeal to media organisations to respect her privacy.

Ms Bailey said that the abuse suffered by women online is different from that experienced by men. It is of a more personal or sexual nature and that can be really hard.

Peoples opinions and criticism were part and parcel of politics, she acknowledged. But when its something in your private life and when the full facts haven't been put out there, nor should they be, that pile-on is too much."

Supports were available, people needed to know that they were not alone, she said.

Ms Bailey said she was hoping to see reform in how social media platforms were regulated when it came to abusive comments online.

I'm delighted to see this Bill going through the Oireachtas at the minute and finally there will be compliance and regulation that will be put in place and these online platforms will no longer be self-regulatory, that there will be an online safety commissioner involved and there will be recourse, she added.

What we do have is false accounts, as well as people with real accounts and the recourse, can be very limited there.

An Online Commission would be a move in the right direction, she said.

It won't be a catch-all because once something goes online the damage is done, but at least now there will be someone looking at the content and these online platforms will come under regulation and I think that's really important.
Peraton's almost never-ending fight to keep State Department work

In what seems like a never-ending battle, Peraton has filed another protest involving an incumbent State Department contract.

Dating back to 2009, Peraton has supported the State Departments office of consular systems and technology under a contract known as Service Delivery Outreach and Operations or SDO2.

The State Department awarded the contract to Vistronix in 2018 through a recompete. But Peraton successfully argued that Vistronix had a conflict of interest and the award was rescinded. The next time, a new award went to ManTech International.

Peratons protest of the award to ManTech led the State Department to pull it back for corrective action. Peraton then protested again because they thought the corrective action was too narrow. The Government Accountability Office denied the protest over the corrective action.

The State Department moved ahead with the corrective action and again chose ManTech. Peraton filed another protest.

The same cycle then repeated itself: the State Department took a corrective action, which Peraton challenged as being too narrow.

For that corrective action, the State Department wanted to allow companies to substitute key personnel. Peraton argued new key personnel would impact other parts of their proposals, so they should be allowed to make other revisions.

Unlike the earlier protest, GAO agreed with Peraton this time and told the State Department to either allow the revisions or prohibit anyone from substituting key personnel.

With that suggestion from GAO, the State Department said it would not allow substitutions of key personnel.

Peraton came back with another protest in late 2020. More than two years had passed since the State Department issued the solicitation in January 2018. Peraton argued that the agencys requirements had changed and were different from those in the original solicitation.

GAO ruled that Peratons objections were untimely because they knew of the changes for months. They only protested when it looked like they were going to lose the competition, according to GAO.

So the State Department again made an award to ManTech. Again Peraton has filed a protest, arguing that the evaluation was not done properly. If had been, Peraton says it would have been picked over ManTech.

A decision on the latest protest is expected in August. Unless there is another corrective action.

This is one of those protest stories that is easy to hate. Since the first award, in late 2018, Peraton has filed seven protests. Because the protests havent resolved anything, Peraton has continued to provide services under the contract they won in 2019.

On one hand, one can argue that Peraton is just filing protests to prolong its work on the contract.

But to be fair -- GAO has ruled in Peratons favor on some of the protests and the State Department itself has taken corrective actions to fix mistakes that Peraton has identified in its protests. So these protests have merit. They are not frivolous.

Does that mean Peraton will ultimately prevail and keep the work? I doubt it, but well see.

Hopefully, the State Department is learning something through this saga. But Im skeptical of that too.
English French

MONTREAL, April 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. (TSX-DNG) (Dynacor or the "Corporation"), an international gold ore industrial corporation servicing ASMs (artisanal and small-scale miners), is pleased to announce the appointment of Rocio Rodriguez-Perrot, former French Foreign Trade Advisor - Peru section and lawyer to its Board of Directors effective immediately.

"We are very pleased to see Rocio join Dynacor's Board of Directors," states Jean Martineau, President and CEO of Dynacor. "Rocio is an accomplished lawyer with vast international market experience, especially in negotiations and tendering processes in concessions and projects. She will bring valuable insight and legal guidance to Dynacor's interests worldwide."

Ms Rodriguez-Perrot, proficient in Spanish, French, English and Italian, is a lawyer at one of Perus leading law firms, Rossello Attorney at Law, which advises international groups in forming subsidiaries, participates in public tenders and public procurement contracts. Rocio has extensive experience as a negotiant working with clients in a wide range of projects, including concessions, projects in public and private partnerships, public market dealings and tender processes.

She joined Rossello Attorney at Law in 2013. In 2016, Rocio started with IN Groupe  IN Continu et Services S.A.S, providing legal guidance and management of the Peruvian branch.

Among other accolades, Ms Rodriguez-Perrot served as French Foreign Trade Advisor in the Peruvian section working with a collegial group under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of France for the development and strengthening of French investments.

ABOUT DYNACOR

Dynacor is a dividend-paying industrial gold ore processor headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The corporation is engaged in gold production through the processing of ore purchased from the ASM (artisanal and small-scale mining) industry. At present, Dynacor operates in Peru, where its management and processing teams have decades of experience working with ASM miners. It also owns a gold exploration property (Tumipampa) in the Apurimac department.

The corporation intends to expand its processing operations in other jurisdictions as well.

Dynacor produces environmental and socially responsible gold through its PX IMPACT gold program. A growing number of supportive firms from the fine luxury jewelry, watchmakers and investment sectors pay a small premium to our customer and strategic partner for this PX IMPACT gold. The premium provides direct investment to develop health and education projects for our artisanal and small-scale miners communities.

Dynacor is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (DNG) and the OTC in the United States under the symbol (DNGDF). Dynacor is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (DNG).

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements in the preceding may constitute forward-looking statements, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Dynacor, or industry results, to be materially different from any future result, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements reflect managements current expectations regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this news release.

Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX): DNG

OTC (United States): DNGDF

Shares Outstanding: 38 795 984

Website: http://www.dynacor.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DynacorGold

PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/01def413-53fa-4116-b3fc-dc1342dc4105
2021 SEMA Hall of Fame Inductees Announced







Jessi Combs, Rick Love, Bob Moore, and Carl Schiefer join elite group of pioneers and legends --

DIAMOND BAR, Calif. (May 6, 2021) -- Four dedicated individuals who contributed to and have had an impactful influence on the automotive specialty equipment industry are being honored as new SEMA Hall of Fame members. They will join an elite group of icons who comprise the SEMA Hall of Fame, as they are officially inducted at the SEMA Installation & Gala on July 30 in Las Vegas, Nev.

The four newest SEMA Hall of Fame members are Jessi Combs, Rick Love, Bob Moore, and Carl Schiefer.

Jessi Combs: Jessi Combs built an accomplished career in the automotive industry as the host of several television programs, founder of a variety of businesses, and an accomplished fabricator and racecar driver. With an infectious passion and youthful enthusiasm for the industry, Combs served as a host for many SEMA events, including the SEMA Installation & Gala and the SEMA Awards Banquet at the SEMA Show. As a lead in the historic 2012 SEMA Businesswomens Network (SBN) All-Female Ford Mustang Build, Combs served as a role-model for women in the industry and continued to inspire women through the launch of The Real Deal, a collaboration with fellow SBN member Theresa Contreras designed to inspire confidence, break stereotypes, and motivate other women to pursue their passions. In 2019, Combs set a land speed record for women, 522.783 mph, on a dry lake bed in Oregon  a feat that resulted in an accident that led to her untimely death at the age of 39.

Rick Love: While freelancing as a writer/photographer for Rodders Digest magazine in 1982, Rick Love created a home workshop and leaned on his electronics degree to do wiring and air conditioning installations for other hot rodders. It was this A/C work that caught the attention of SEMA Hall of Famer and founder of Vintage Air Jack Chisenhall. Chisenhall asked Love to assist the company at rodding events, and continued to promote him over the years to his current position of president, in charge of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the entire company. Despite his busy schedule at Vintage Air, Love never wavers to volunteer his time, expertise, and energy to helping the industry. As a true car guy, he advocates for the industry. Having served multiple terms as chairman of the SEMA Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA), Love is an ambassador for SEMA and constantly recruits and encourages businesses to get involved.

Bob Moore: Bob Moore appropriately authored a monthly column in Aftermarket Business magazine titled Ahead of the Curve. As electronic catalogs evolved and the Internet began to dominate the way consumers researched and purchased products in the early 2000s, Moore was a pioneer in establishing standards for product data in the automotive aftermarket. As a SEMA Board Member and the co-founder and chairman of the SEMA Business Technology Committee (which has evolved to what is now the SEMA Data Co-op), Moore was instrumental in creating standardized data for the specialty-equipment industry. He spent years scrutinizing the specialty-equipment industrys needs to determine the attributes that consumers look for that will help businesses sell more products, resulting in the first-ever one-stop product information data pool. Moore was awarded the 2010 SEMA Chairmans Service Award from then-Chairman of the Board Rick Rollins, who noted, We are fortunate to have someone with his leadership and determination driving some of our industrys most critical initiatives.

Carl Schiefer: As the son of the first SEMA Hall of Fame recipient Paul Scheifer, Carl Schiefer built a legacy of his own by founding one of the first marketing agencies dedicated to automotive brands. Schiefer Media was created in 1985 as an enthusiast media agency with an original focus on automotive aftermarket and related enthusiast categories. With an impressive list of clients, including Edelbrock, Mothers, Bilstein, and Royal Purple, Scheifer Media was instrumental in bringing motorsports brands to the mainstream public. He initiated advertising for automotive brands on television  a practice that may seem standard today, but was unusual at the time and significantly expanded market reach to a nationwide audience. Perhaps what sets Carl apart from other marketers is his passion for the industry; Carl raced Top Gas and Top Fuel dragsters amongst the greats, including Don Garlits, Tommy Ivo, and the Smothers Brothers. Although retired from Schiefer Media, the agency continues to operate as SCS, with Carls son James as CEO.

In addition to formally introducing Combs, Love, Moore, and Schiefer as SEMA Hall of Fame members during the 2021 SEMA Installation & Gala, the annual event on July 30 will include recognitions of the newly elected and the outgoing SEMA Board members. All SEMA members and industry professionals are invited to join the celebration and can purchase tickets at www.sema.org/gala.

About SEMA

SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association founded in 1963, represents the $46.2 billion specialty automotive industry. The industry provides appearance, performance, comfort, convenience and technology products for passenger and recreational vehicles. Association resources include market research, legislative advocacy, training and product development support, as well as leading trade shows such as the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, NV, and the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Trade Show in Indianapolis, IN. For more information, visit www.sema.org, www.semashow.com, or www.performanceracing.com.
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FARMINGTON  Farmington diners will see a new entry into the local fast-food market later this year when a veteran New Mexico restaurant franchisee brings the Slim Chickens brand to the city.

Dennis Ekstrom, who owns 12 restaurants across the state, said he has plans to open a Slim Chickens franchise in the former Serious Texas Bar-B-Q restaurant location at 3475 E. Main St. in Farmington. Slim Chickens is an Arkansas-based chain that was launched in 2003 and now operates more than 100 restaurants in locations across the United States, as well as in the United Kingdom and Kuwait. It specializes in chicken tenders and wings, but also serves sandwiches, wraps, salads, sides and desserts.

Ekstrom is no stranger to Farmington, having owned the local Dennys diner until 2019. He also owns every Del Taco location in the state, including the one in Farmington.

More: Steakhouse specializing in mutton opening in Bloomfield

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I know Farmington extremely well, he said. I like it because its its own town. I like its resources, I like the fact that its friendly, I like the culture and I like the mix.  Im comfortable there. Its got a great business market, and its always been very good to me.

Ekstrom said designs for his new eatery are being completed, and he expects to begin renovation in four to six weeks. The building covers approximately 2,400 square feet, and he anticipates construction will take 90 days, putting its opening date in late summer.

My goal is to be open by September or late August, if Im lucky, he said.

The building renovation alone is expected to cost $1 million, Ekstrom said, and he expects to spend another $400,000 to $500,000 on furniture, fixtures and other equipment. The restaurant likely will open with 70 to 80 employees, he said, but over time, that number will decrease to approximately 50.

More: Painted pianos project will open 2nd season in Aztec this weekend

The Farmington Slim Chickens location is just one of 10 franchises Ekstrom plans to open in the New Mexico-El Paso market over the next 10 years. Other locations are planned for Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Rio Rancho.

Ekstrom said his perception of the Farmington market when he got into it several years ago was that it was underserved by the national fast food operators. Even though several national chains have moved in the past few years, he believes there is still plenty of room for growth.

The national brands that are here outperform the national brand average, he said.

He did acknowledge Slim Chickens will face plenty of competition in Farmington, especially from Chick-fil-A, which he described as perhaps his No. 1 rival.

But I think competition makes people do all the right things, he said. I love to compete.

Ekstrom said his fast-food franchises have come through the COVID-19 pandemic very well, even though the dine-in segment of the restaurant industry has been very hard hit by the business restrictions that have accompanied efforts to contain the virus. He is bullish about the future of all his fast-food operations.

Thats exactly right, he said. Drive-thrus have done quite well. Weve been kind of the beneficiary of that shift to drive-thrus.  People used to vote with their feet with dine-in, and now they vote with their cars with drive-thrus.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Veteran NM franchisee bringing Slim Chickens brand to Farmington

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Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com

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Attendees take part in G7 foreign ministers meeting in London, Britain May 5, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers' meeting ended with a platitude-filled statement which "called on" a dozen countries and regions to change their behaviors. One of them being China.

It would be a shame to not reciprocate: Stop your hypocrisies!

By now, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang are "old" tactics that the West has employed again and again to interfere in China and undermine its stability. The West calling for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong is like a pyromaniac calling for more fire trucks after an arson spree. Hong Kong had no democracy under the British until being granted limited representation on the eve of the 1997 handover. Under the British Empire, Hong Kong residents were neither full citizens of their own land nor British citizens.

After the handover, the rights and representation of Hong Kong people have increased significantly. The "One Country, Two Systems" worked quite successfully until foreign forces lured young people into attempts at their own color revolution. This triggered a spree of rioting, property destruction and assault that grounded the Hong Kong society to a halt.

Does this sound like human rights?

Voices in the West have been warning of the cultural genocide allegedly taking place in Tibet for decades. These voices were planted and encouraged by the U.S. and other forces seeking to destabilize China. The campaign was effective  for many years, standing up for the "endangered Tibetan culture" was very much in vogue among Western musicians and actors.

However, after all these years, Tibetan culture is as strong and vibrant as ever in China. Tibetans are richer, healthier and more educated than ever, and their culture is thriving. Some Western tourists may lament there are fewer poor people barely eking out a living with subsistence farming or herding. Perhaps the loss of such photo opportunities is what "cultural genocide" meant all along?

Today's claims of genocide in Xinjiang echo the fake claims made about Tibet decades ago. The main difference is terrorism. In reaction to a series of terror attacks by extremists, the Chinese government engaged in a vast, multidimensional anti-terrorism program to try to improve living standards and increase job opportunities for Uygurs to stop domestic terrorist attacks.

The plain fact is that China is not going to change its domestic policies that aim to keep the country stable and free from malign foreign influence because the G7 "calls for" it. Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Iraq are instructive enough to show what Western concerns about "human rights" ultimately bring about. China has the wisdom, determination and strength to not end up as another nation broken at the hands of the West.

Repeated interference simply strains relations with no purpose but demonizing China. Foreign analysts are talking about war with China more and more frequently. Beating the drum of human rights and dehumanizing a rival country as an "enemy" participating in "crimes against humanity" is a long-established step to establish justifications for potential military conflict. China "calls on" the G7 to live up to their own principles, stay out of China's domestic affairs, and remember the tragic cost of its members' history of failed military adventures. (Source: CGTN)
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- COVID-19 is having major mental health consequences for children and youth across Canada and will have a lasting  and potentially devastating impact - if governments do not act now, say members of the Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates (CCCYA).



This pandemic is more than a physical health crisis. What we are now seeing is that, for child and youth mental health, COVID-19 is a critical situation in the making, said CCCYA President and Saskatchewan Advocate for Children and Youth, Dr. Lisa Broda. This is alarming as pre-pandemic public investment in mental health was already painfully inadequate, so without significant and thoughtful investment now and in the future by governments at all levels in all provinces and territories, we are staring down a catastrophe.

While COVID-19 is impacting the mental health and well-being of children, youth, and families in every area of the nation, each province and territory faces distinct challenges based on the resources and supports that are available and the types of restrictions that have been necessary in their areas. However, research suggests that even if COVID-19 is not directly impacting a community, family or child, the pandemic is raising young peoples anxieties and fears no matter where they live.

Across the country, provincial and territorial childrens advocates are seeing similar themes related to mounting pressures on young people connected to the pandemic and markedly insufficient mental health services to support them. The CCCYA has long advocated the imperative to address the gaps, fragmentation, lack of coordination and need for a more robust array of services and supports, including supportive housing, substance use services and transitional supports. The pandemic increases the urgency for these deficiencies to be rectified.

Young people who were struggling before the pandemic are barely coping now, and in some cases, have given up, said Newfoundland and Labradors Child and Youth Advocate Jackie Lake-Kavanagh. Children in families where incomes have been lost, where poverty is their reality, or where family violence may be a factor are enduring enormous stress, and that is bearing out in behaviour issues, problems with school, disrupted sleep and suicidal ideation. Its also worth noting that when parents are stressed, children are, too. So, supporting child and youth mental health means supporting entire families.

Over the course of the pandemic, young people have had to figure out new ways of learning and connecting. In many areas of the country, children and their families have been dealing with school closures and re-openings, a shift to online learning that many experienced as a seismic event, and the inability to see their friends, participate in extracurricular activities or even see their family members which has led to social isolation, exacerbating the problem.

Literature shows that young people are now spending more time online and on social media, which, in some cases, has resulted in increased bullying and heightened risk of exploitation.

Racism is also intensifying the disproportionate impact on some children. Anti-Asian racism has been a major issue, particularly, and there are long-standing racism concerns in the health care system which may disproportionately impact Indigenous children and families. In the case of Indigenous youth, the mental health services that do exist are often not culturally appropriate.

First Nations, Metis, Inuit, and Urban Indigenous youth are also dealing with ongoing legacies of colonialism which have created pre-existing adversities. These include socioeconomic disadvantages such as overcrowded, unsafe housing, lack of access to clean water and extreme food insecurity  conditions that are already known to put childrens mental and physical health at risk. The added impact of the pandemic is magnifying those conditions.

Other specific groups are experiencing amplified challenges. For young people in care, transitioning to adulthood has long been a frightening precipice; now, during the pandemic, its even more alarming. While some governments have put emergency measures into place, much more needs to be done to support these young people to address the mental health issues they are experiencing.

For those who use substances  many of whom have co-occurring mental health challenges  COVID-19 has ushered in new, potentially fatal dangers due to a toxic drug supply and restrictions on gatherings that mean more people are using alone. Prior to the pandemic, overdose numbers in many areas of the country were declining, particularly in B.C. and Alberta, but that trend was reversed in 2020, and continues in 2021. Young people, sadly, are not exempt.

The mental health stresses for children and youth with special needs are also unique and profound. Manitobas recent report, Bridging the Gaps: Achieving Substantive Equality for Children and Youth with Special Needs, along with British Columbias December report Left Out: Children and Youth with Special Needs in the Pandemic, showed that services for children and youth with special needs were sorely lacking prior to the pandemic. The arrival of COVID-19 has significantly intensified pre-existing issues with access to services and respite care, adding on new layers of difficulty, resulting in children and youth in crisis and families who are at the breaking point.

What the advocates are seeing in their offices is supported by external research. A November study conducted by Dr. Charlotte Waddell at Simon Fraser Universitys (SFU) Child Health Policy Centre, COVID-19 and the Impact on Childrens Mental Health, released by B.C.s Representative for Children and Youth, clearly showed that, based on past pandemics, we can anticipate dramatic increases in the number of children and youth experiencing mental health challenges.

This report provided compelling evidence that governments must invest in already under-funded child and youth mental health services to mitigate major increases in mental health problems that are clearly emerging for young people as a result of the pandemic, said Dr. Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.s Representative for Children and Youth. Many of the mental health challenges children experience are preventable and all are treatable. Before the pandemic, there were long wait lists across Canada for mental health services and, over the last year, those wait lists have only increased. We need to make sure that governments are committed to mental wellness for young people and are prepared to provide sufficient resources to back up that commitment.

Several other research studies have reached the same or similar conclusions. For example, the University of British Columbias Child and Youth Mental Health during a Pandemic study found that two-thirds of children and youth in B.C. are struggling with mental health issues. A Health Canada study showed that key populations living with vulnerabilities are being left behind and noted that the most significant impacts of COVID-19 on mental health are likely to be felt after the pandemic. The Canadian Paediatric Society has highlighted specific challenges for First Nations, Metis, Inuit, and Urban Indigenous young people. Research from UBCs School of Nursing on children with medical complexities found a vast majority of parents indicated that their mental health was worse than a year previously. And research from McMaster Universitys Dr. Magdalena Janus found parental mental health deteriorated rapidly when schools closed  stress that has immediate impacts on children and youth.

Going forward, CCCYA members will be conducting further research in this area. For example, SFUs Dr. Waddell is working with B.C.s Representative to examine the impacts of COVID-19 on mental health for First Nations, Metis, Inuit and Urban Indigenous young people, the intersection of mental health and children and youth with special needs, as well as helpful interventions.

As distressing as the current situation around mental health is, the good news is that research shows that children do well when their communities have more socioeconomic resources, when they have social supports, and when they receive effective parenting, said Broda. We need governments to understand that, as we move out of the pandemic, we must prioritize addressing the mental health issues Canadian youth face and are going to face post pandemic. This is the reason why government investment in holistic, culturally appropriate family- and community-based approaches is so critical.

The Canadian Council of Child and Youth Advocates is an association of government-appointed children's advocates, ombudsman and representatives in the provinces and territories who hold explicit legislated mandates to protect the rights of children and youth in Canada. Government appoints them as independent officers of the legislatures in their respective jurisdictions.

For more go to www.cccya.ca

Backgrounder Follows

Media contact:

Karen Topolinski  ktopolinski@saskadvocate.ca

Manager, Communications and Public Education



Backgrounder

Recent Canadian Studies related to COVID-19 and its impacts on Child and Youth Mental Health

B.C. Representative for Children and Youth, SFU Child Health Policy Centre, COVID-19 and the Impact on Childrens Mental Health, (November 2020) https://rcybc.ca/reports-and-publications/covid-19-and-the-impact-on-childrens-mental-health/



B.C. Representative for Children and Youth, Left Out: Children and youth with special needs in the pandemic (December 2020) https://rcybc.ca/reports-and-publications/cysn-report/



Manitoba Childrens Advocate, Bridging the Gaps: Achieving Substantive Equity for Children and Youth with Special Needs (2021) https://manitobaadvocate.ca/wp-content/uploads/MACY-Report-Bridging-the-Gaps-Achieving-Substantive-Equality-for-Children-with-Disabilities-in-Manitoba.pdf



BC Childrens Hospital, University of British Columbia, Dr. Quynh Doan, Child and Youth Mental Health during a Pandemic (ongoing), https://myheartsmap-pandemic.bcchr.ca/ords/f?p=234:1



Mental Health Commission of Canada, COVID-19 and Mental Health: Policy Responses and Emerging Issues, Preliminary Scan (2020) https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/2020-06/COVID_19_policy_responses_emerging_issues_eng.pdf



From risk to resilience: An equity approach to COVID-19: Chief Public Health Officer of Canada's Report on the State of Public Health in Canada 2020 (October 2020) https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/publications/chief-public-health-officer-reports-state-public-health-canada/from-risk-resilience-equity-approach-covid-19.html



Mental Health Commission of Canada Lockdown Life: Mental Health impacts of COVID-19 on Youth in Canada https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/2021-02/lockdown_life_eng.pdf



Canadian Paediatric Society, COVID-19 and Indigenous children in Canada: What can paediatricians do? https://www.cps.ca/en/blog-blogue/covid-19-indigenous-children-in-canada-what-can-paediatricans-do



Public Health Ontario, Negative Impacts of Community-based Public Health Measures on Children, Adolescents and Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Update https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/he/2021/01/rapid-review-neg-impacts-children-youth-families.pdf?la=en



Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child & Youth Mental Health and Childrens Mental Health Ontario. Potential Impacts of COVID-19 on Child and Youth Mental Health: Considerations for service planning during and post-pandemic (July 2020) https://www.cymh.ca/en/projects/resources/covid-19/covid-19_pandemic_impacts_on_child_and_youth_mental_health_wcag.pdf



Childrens Mental Health Ontario, How the Pandemic Impacts Childrens Mental Health https://cmho.org/how-the-pandemic-impacts-childens-mental-health/


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, last Thursday, gave the go-ahead for a GOP election integrity law that limits absentee voting and how many drop boxes will be used.

While signing the measure, Florida's Republican governor said it would put the state ahead in the race to prevent vote-rigging.

"Right now, I have what we think are the country's strongest election integrity laws," he said. "We're also banning the harvesting of votes. We're not going to allow political hacks to go out there and grab satchels of votes to dump in a drop box," reported The Epoch Times.

Republican Election Bill to prevent vote-rigging

The bill includes voter signature verification, use of a "wet signature" actually signed on documents kept on file, amendments to distance restrictions for voters at voting stations, early voting sites, and related sites, election workers overseeing ballot drop boxes, and more verification requirements for dropping off ballots, noted the Florida Senate Government.

According to the bill's text, it would also limit who can submit a finished mail-in ballot, forbid election officials from entering consent agreements, and require voters to submit yearly requests for absentee ballots.

This law states that all drop boxes are accessible to all voters in the US, who are legal voters with the proper credentials. All the drop boxes should be supervised physically, not remotely when the Ron DeSantis-approved Republican Election Bill comes into effect.

Read also: 2 Pennsylvania Women Face Election Fraud Charges After Attempting to Vote in Place of Deceased Mothers

"A ban on the use of private funds for election-related expenses" seems to be a reply to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other groups providing support to some state groups and localities last year to help with the electoral process that did not turn out good.

Republicans have expressed alarm that the money overwhelmingly favored Democrat-aligned areas at the cost of the GOP.

Governor DeSantis said that by approving the bill, all Floridian votes count. Voters will have integrity and transparency for democracy.

The bill has been criticized by Democrat-aligned groups, corporate news outlets, and even corporations, with the NAACP and Common Cause stating that they will immediately file a lawsuit in court alleging that it disenfranchises black, Latino, and disabled people.

In response, the Dems immediately tapped into their banner of racial politics. That is what President Biden has been doing with his impartial announcements.

Democrat state Rep. Michele Rayner last April 28 on the state House floor, repeated Biden's mention of Jim Crow about the Georgia election laws. He did not substantiate what he said as most Democrats.

The election measures signed by DeSantis and Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and proposals currently being debated in Texas and Arizona have been met with opposition from democrats.

After Kemp signed Georgia's bill several weeks ago, multinational corporations like Delta and Coca-Cola-and their CEOs attacked his state; Republican lawmakers have called for such firms to be denied donating funds. The Democrats and CEOs are now in collaboration to discredit such bills.

BREAKING: Minutes after Governor DeSantis signs new voter suppression law, @LWVFlorida, @BlackVotersMtr, @ActiveRetirees file federal court lawsuit.



Proud to be part of the legal team supporting these great organizations protecting the right to vote!https://t.co/KvPqM6wvhA  Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) May 6, 2021

Democrat election attorney Marc Elias said his team filed a lawsuit opposing the bill on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Florida, the Black Voters Matters Fund, and the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans minutes after Ron DeSantis approved the Republican Election Bill, as stated on his Twitter.

Related article: 'Lockdowner Biden' Receives Criticism from Ron De Santis over Immigration Policy amid Pandemic

@ 2021 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An Irish woman charged with membership of the Islamic State has won a court case fighting her exclusion from the UK.

Lisa Smith had been barred from the UK by the British Home Secretary under regulations that allow for the exclusion of EEA nationals on the grounds of "public policy, public security or public health... prohibiting that person from entering the United Kingdom".

She was served with a notice by the British Home Secretary to exclude her from the United Kingdom on the grounds of national security in December and appealed to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) sitting in London.

At a hearing last month, it was agreed that Irish people can be excluded from the UK, but not dual nationals.

Ms Smith argued that she had close family connections to the North of Ireland and often travelled across the border for a variety of reasons. She argued that because her father was born in Belfast, he was entitled to be treated as a dual national and by virtue of his dual nationality, it would be unlawful to exclude her from the jurisdiction.

The British Home Office argued that because her parents were not married when she was born  they are still not married  she is not a British national.

The appeal heard that it is "discriminatory under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to treat those children of unmarried parents any differently, to those of married couples".

SIAC has today ruled in Ms Smiths favour and allowed her appeal. The decision to exclude her has been determined to be discriminatory.

Darragh Mackin, solicitor for Ms Smith, said that the ruling was significant for the Good Friday Agreement.

Todays ruling is hugely significant for the upholding of basic human rights principles which include the right to be free from discrimination. The decision to exclude our client was discriminatory and contrary to the basic principles underpinning the Good Friday Agreement.

"As an Irish citizen who resides in a border town, it was always asserted that to restrict her from travelling across the border was unlawful and could not be stood over. We warmly welcome the courts determination today which will now reinstate our clients basic rights to travel to the North of Ireland at her convenience.
CENTREVILLE, Va., May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN), in partnership with the Modern Military Association of America (MMAA), is proud to announce Jonathan Hegwood, military spouse and U.S. Army veteran, as the inaugural recipient of the 2021 MMAA Donna Johnson Military Spouse Scholarship.



After beating Stage III lymphoma, Hegwood began pursuing his Bachelor of Business Administration in Computer Information Systems at West Texas A&M University. He was also recently appointed to a Commission on equity in his hometown that directly advises his city's government on issues of equity and inclusion through the lens of his lived experience. His prominent contributions are focused on "techquity," a way to use his technology expertise to help bridge gaps in equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Were committed to the lasting support of our nations military members, veterans, and their families, said Chuck McGregor, vice president of military and veterans affairs for Parsons. The chance to work with MMAA to present this scholarship to support military spouses and contribute to the promotion of inclusion and equality for all is the least we can do. We are so excited for Jonathan and look forward to seeing the great things he will accomplish.

Hegwood will receive the scholarship based on his ongoing advancement of STEM education and his demonstrated commitment to continuing the legacy of Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson, a Parsons employee who was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan.

MMAA is the nations largest non-profit organization dedicated to advancing fairness and equality for the LGBTQ military and veteran community, making a difference through education and advocacy. In November 2020, MMAA and Parsons established the 2021 scholarship in memory of Army National Guard Staff Sergeant Donna Johnson so military spouses may continue their education and personal development.

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 were making an impact.

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
Today

A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 96F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

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Clear. Gusty winds diminishing after midnight. Low 64F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  Universal Electronics Inc. (UEIC) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $7 million.

On a per-share basis, the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company said it had profit of 49 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and stock option expense, came to 89 cents per share.

The remote control maker posted revenue of $150.5 million in the period.

For the current quarter ending in July, Universal Electronics expects its per-share earnings to range from 87 cents to 97 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $153 million to $163 million for the fiscal second quarter.

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Universal Electronics shares have risen 12% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $58.57, a rise of 48% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on UEIC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/UEIC
Dave Hughes appeared on The Project on Friday night with his wife Holly Ife and their children.

The riotous interview quickly descended into chaos when the 50-year-old comedian joked that his kids make fun of him.

While Holly and Dave's children Tess, six, Sadie, eight, and Rafferty, 10, giggled, Dave complained: 'This is a true story, guys.

Funny! Dave Hughes appeared on The Project on Friday night with his wife Holly Ife and their children. The riotous interview quickly descended into chaos when the comedian joked that his kids make fun of him. Holly and Dave pictured with Tess, six, Sadie, eight, and Rafferty, 10

'Recently I told my daughters, when they didn't want to eat the wraps I made, "Daddy's a big deal. Google him".

'They did and they liked most of the nasty comments on the internet about him,' he said.

Earlier in the interview, which was to promote Dave's new book How (Not) To Annoy Mum, Dave's son Rafferty poked fun at his father's stand up comedy skills at a recent family party.

Laughs: 'Recently I told my daughters, when they didn't want to eat the wraps I made, "Daddy's a big deal. Google him". They did and they liked most of the nasty comments on the internet about him,' Dave said

Not a fan? Earlier in the interview, which was to promote Dave's new book How (Not) To Annoy Mum, Dave's son Rafferty poked fun at his father's stand up comedy skills at a recent family party. 'It was alright. It wasn't that good,' the precocious pre-teen said

'It was alright. It wasn't that good. It was young, it was 10-year-old humour,' the precocious pre-teen said.

It comes after Dave and Holly celebrated their fourteenth wedding anniversary late last year.

'This day 2006. #stillbatting,' Dave captioned a photo photo of the smiling bride and groom, which he shared to Instagram.

Sweet: Dave and Holly celebrated their fourteenth wedding anniversary late last year. 'This day 2006. #stillbatting,' Dave captioned a photo photo of the smiling bride and groom

In May 2020, the radio announcer and his journalist wife celebrated the anniversary of their first date, which was a mere three days after they first laid eyes on each other.

During a segment on Dave's Hit Network radio show, the duo celebrated 18 years together by reminiscing about the good times they've shared.

'Luckiest day of my life, no doubt about it,' Dave said on air.

'I was under a lucky star that night,' Holly, 40, agreed.


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Minister Coveney addresses UN Security Council meeting on Multilateralism

Press release

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney T.D., today addressed a UN Security Council meeting chaired by China on multilateralism and the United Nations.

The meeting focussed on the role of the United Nations and the multilateral system in addressing global challenges such as COVID 19, climate change and the maintenance of peace and security.

The Minister emphasised that the COVID 19 pandemic has demonstrated the vital need for multilateral cooperation.

We must uphold the multilateral system, promote respect for international law, and ensure that the United Nations is equipped to meet global challenges. Ireland takes this responsibility deeply seriously.

Minister Coveney spoke of the the crucial role of international organisations and agreements, and of how multilateralism enhances national sovereignty.

Through the UN and regional organisations, we are working collectively to reduce poverty and hunger, promote and defend human rights, increase access to education and healthcare, protect migrants and refugees, advance gender equality and build sustainable peace.

Vital institutions, such as the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, uphold international law and protect human rights, which apply equally to all.

Landmark agreements such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, seek to shape a sustainable and secure future for all of the inhabitants on this planet. Collective multilateral engagement enhances our sovereignty, rather than diminishes it.

The Minister also emphasised Irelands continued support for Security Council reform, to make the Council more representative and more capable of acting in response to crises:

A reformed and more representative Council, that better reflects global 21st century realities, would have an enhanced legitimacy. That legitimacy is essential to deliver on this Councils mandate to maintain international peace and security.

ENDS

Press Office

7 May 2021

Note to Editors

The meeting, chaired by China, is one of the signature events of Chinas Presidency of the Council in the month of May.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of China, Mr Wang Yi, will chair the meeting.

Other participants include US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the foreign ministers of a number of other Security Council members.

The meeting will begin with a briefing from Mr. Volkan Bozkr, President of the United Nations General Assembly

The meeting is available to view on UN Web TV: http://webtv.un.org/

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Demandbase Buys InsideView and DemandMatrix

US-based go-to-market specialist Demandbase has made two acquisitions: sales and marketing intelligence firm InsideView, and technographic data and intelligence provider DemandMatrix. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.



From its HQ in San Francisco, InsideView gathers real-time social media and business sales intelligence, with a platform containing tens of millions of validated contact and company profiles. DemandMatrix is headquartered in Cupertino, California and uses artificial intelligence to uncover intent data, helping B2B marketing and sales teams identify and target the right accounts based on their propensity to buy a particular technology. Demandbase says the buys significantly expand its 'One' B2B Go-To-Market Suite, providing the data to understand and engage accounts and target them with the right message at the right time.



Following the deals, Demandbase will offer five components. These are: Firmographics, from InsideView which includes data on more than twenty million accounts worldwide; Technographics, powered by DemandMatrix, offering insight into a company's current tech stack and future tech needs; Intent Data, uncovering topics that companies are actively consuming across the web; Account Identification, enabling users to identify the account of any visitor on a web page; and Contacts, powered by InsideView, providing insight on the people who work at the businesses.



InsideView CEO Umberto Milletti, and Meetul Shah, CEO of DemandMatrix, will continue to run the day-to-day operations of their businesses, while serving as members of the Demandbase executive team. Demandbase CEO Gabe Rogol (pictured) comments: 'We're proud to join forces with these two great companies. We are transforming how B2B companies go to market, helping them deliver great experiences at every stage of the account journey. This requires great data - and we now have the premium B2B data and intelligence solutions to help companies identify, understand and engage their customers and prospects'.



Web sites: www.demandbase.com , www.insideview.com and www.demandmatrix.com .




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Cece Linder was living in a 770-square-foot apartment outside Washington, D.C., last spring when the area went into lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In May 2020, after a few months of both living and working in the small space, Linder decided to leave the capital area and move into the 2,000-square-foot (186-square-meter) beachside home she jointly owns with her parents in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Now she gets to see the sunrise over the water each morning before work.

If Im teleworking anyway, why not move to this other place that is more visually attractive, its beachside, and someone can occasionally cook for me? Linder said. Though that didnt exactly work out. My mom has me cooking for them.

Linder was not alone in her thinking. According to a new study and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, she was one of thousands of people who migrated out of the nations largest metropolitan areas and into smaller ones during the pandemic.

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The study found that, like Linder, many of the migrants werent driven by new jobs or weather  or even a fear of the virus  but a desire to be closer to family and a freedom to make it happen because of remote working. Although the pattern of people moving from larger to smaller cities has been going on for several years, the pandemic exacerbated that trend, said Peter Haslag of Vanderbilt University, who conducted the study on migrant motivations with Daniel Weagley of Georgia Tech. Their paper has not yet been published.

The data adds to understanding of how the pandemic has changed where and how Americans live. The moves were most common among those with higher incomes and more job flexibility. If the trends continue, it could have long-term implications for real estate markets, tax bases and the wealth inequality in cities, according to researchers.

For us, the question is, is this a temporary blip or is it going to continue? Haslag said. If work-from-home really is going to be a factor in job and company decisions, and by allowing work and location to be separate decisions, people are going to be able to optimize their locations, if they have the right jobs.

The Census Bureau data shows that the New York metro area  which was hit early by the new coronavirus  declined by about 108,000 residents, or 0.5%. Roughly 216,000 residents moved out of the metropolitan area, but the natural increase from births and gains in international migration offset the departures. The New York metro area has experienced decelerated growth over the past several years, but last years decline was a bigger bite of the Big Apple than in 2019, when it lost 60,000 residents.

The nations next largest metro areas  Los Angeles and Chicago  also experienced greater population declines last year compared to the previous year: around 0.5% last year compared to 0.3% in 2019 for both metros. San Francisco also had a drop of around 0.5% last year compared to a 0.1% gain in 2019.

I think some core urban counties like Manhattan, San Francisco and others may have taken a bigger brunt of pandemic-related out-movement, as well as lower immigration, said William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. Overall, it was a year of slow growth with selective movement out of some urban centers.

Smaller metros in the Sun Belt and West, several with large communities of vacation homes, saw the biggest population gains last year, mostly driven by migration. Led by the Florida retirement community The Villages, the metros seeing population increases between 3% and 4% included St. George, Utah; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Coeur dAlene, Idaho.

Sun Belt megalopolises, such as Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, also grew last year, though not as much as their smaller cousins.

The Census Bureau data captured changes in states, metros and counties between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020. The last third of that time-frame overlapped with the first three months of the spread of the virus in the U.S. Population-change estimates are different from the 2020 census, a head count of every U.S. resident that determines how many congressional seats each state gets. Those numbers were released last week. Population changes are estimated using data on births, deaths and migration.

Haslag and Weagley estimate that 10% to 20% of the 300,000 interstate moves they studied between April 2020 and February 2021 were influenced by the pandemic. Their study used four years of long-distance moving data obtained from UniGroup, the parent company of United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit.

Job-related reasons for moving dropped from 46.6% of responses before the pandemic to 34.5% after the start of the pandemic in the U.S. in March 2020, while the desire to be closer to family jumped from 24.7% to 29.9%. The researchers theorized the jump for family reasons was due to people wanting to create social bubbles with family members, and the drop in job-related reasons was due to remote working and the decoupling of jobs from offices.

Its not really about the infection rate when it comes to moving. Its about all the other things that came with the pandemic, whether it was to be closer to family or work from home, Haslag said. That was really surprising to us.

Higher-income households moved less because of job loss or to take a new job than for other reasons such as lifestyle or the ability to work remotely. In fact, 75% of those who cited the ability to work remotely had annual households earnings of $100,000 or more. Lower-income households were more likely to move for financial reasons such as job loss or to move to a place with a lower cost of living, the researchers said.

David Mann and his wife, Lauren, had been wanting to move to the U.S. southeast from Dallas to be closer to family and friends for some time, but it was the pandemic that made it possible. Knowing they could work from home in their jobs in supply-chain consulting and merchandise planning, they made the leap and moved to Atlanta last summer.

Working from home gave us the opportunity to move without having to look for new jobs, Mann said.

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
Huntington, WV (25701)

Today

Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with a few showers after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 68F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
TORONTO, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Animal Alliance of Canada stresses that World Migratory Bird Day is important because it raises awareness about need to protect migratory birds and their habitats. It highlights the threats faced by migratory birds, points to their ecological importance, and stresses the need for international cooperation to conserve them.



Thats why it is so troubling that the Ontario government and Parks Canada fail to celebrate the spectacular return of the Double-crested Cormorant, whose population was driven to precarious numbers twice in the last two centuries and rebounded in the last 70 years.

Under Premier Ford, Ontario has declared the cormorant a game bird, which it is not, so that hunters can shoot them from mid-September to the end of December and let them go to waste. It is an outright attack on a migratory bird population that deserves our admiration and protection.

On days just before and after World Migratory Bird Day (May 8, 2021), Parks Canada is conducting a cormorant cull on Middle Island, part of Point Pelee National Park. Instead of celebrating and nurturing a spectacular waterbird colony, comprised in part of cormorants, Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night-Herons, and Great Egrets, the park has subjected this little island and its migratory bird population to yearly cormorant culls, killing over 20,000 of them to date.

This year is no exception even though Ontario is in an emergency lockdown. Parks Canada staff insisted that the cull must take place and the first day of shooting was May 6, 2021.

So once again, Animal Alliance of Canada, Zoocheck and Cormorant Defenders International urge the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson to signify the importance of World Migratory Bird Day and order his Parks Canada staff to cancel the cull.

Liz White

Animal Alliance

416-809-4371 or liz@animalalliance.ca

Rob Laidlaw

Zoocheck

rob@zoocheck.com
Copperas Cove, TX (76522)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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New York, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market Research Report by Type, by Technology, by Door Type, by Mounting Type, by End User, by Application, by Sales Channel - United States Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06063343/?utm_source=GNW



Market Statistics:

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.



The United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market is projected to grow with a significant CAGR in the forecast period. Economic development and substantial infrastructure development have constituted regional revenue generation. Further, the patterns associated with domestic production, import and export, and consumption have helped market participants to analyze and capitalize on potential opportunities. Besides, the qualitative and quantitative parameters provided in the report with detailed analysis highlights the driving and restraining factors of the United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Type, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Indoor Type and Outdoor Type.



Based on Technology, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Multiplex Condensing, Remote Condensing, and Self-Contained.



Based on Door Type, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Hinged, Manual Sliding, and Power Sliding.



Based on Mounting Type, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Floor and Non-floor.



Based on End User, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Food Processing Industry, Food Service Industry, and Retail Food Service.



Based on Application, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Breweries, Chemicals, Cold Storage Warehouse, Commercial Kitchen & Restaurants, Convenience Stores, Floral Storage, Hospitals & Mortuaries, Hypermarket, Mobile Refrigeration System, Pharmaceuticals, Research laboratories, Retail Food & Beverage, and Supermarket.



Based on Sales Channel, the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market studied across Aftermarket and OEM.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers 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 United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market?

6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the United States Walk-in Refrigerators & Freezers Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06063343/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  Healthcare Trust of America Inc. (HTA) on Thursday reported a key measure of profitability in its first quarter. The results beat Wall Street expectations.

The real estate investment trust, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, said it had funds from operations of $98.3 million, or 44 cents per share, in the period.

The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for funds from operations of 43 cents per share.

Funds from operations is a closely watched measure in the REIT industry. It takes net income and adds back items such as depreciation and amortization.

The company said it had net income of $22 million, or 10 cents per share.

The medical office building real estate investment trust posted revenue of $191.5 million in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $189.5 million.

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Healthcare Trust of America expects full-year funds from operations in the range of $1.73 to $1.79 per share.

The companys shares have increased slightly more than 2% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $28.20, a climb of 15% in the last 12 months.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on HTA at https://www.zacks.com/ap/HTA
Lawton, OK (73501)

Today

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  The special election to fill a vacant Albuquerque-area congressional seat, which got underway this week with the start of early and absentee voting, is breaking new ground in New Mexico.

Thats because for the first time, qualified residents will be able to register to vote and cast a ballot on the same day through Election Day.

The arrival of Election Day voter registration is due to a 2019 law that, per its terms, has been gradually phased in to give county clerks more time to prepare.

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For the first two years after the law was enacted, voters could register to vote or change their registration up through the Saturday before Election Day.

This is the first time voters have this opportunity to register to vote on Election Day, said Mandy Vigil, the elections director for the Secretary of States Office, who acknowledged elections officials had not expected to have to implement the change so soon.

Previously, New Mexico had set a deadline to register to vote at 28 days before an election.

But Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, who pushed for the change, argued recent technological advances  including a statewide voter database that can be updated in seconds  made such a deadline unnecessary.

She also said same-day voting registration might increase voter participation in a state that has received low ratings for political engagement, adding the states old law sometimes led to voters showing up to vote but being unable to cast ballots due to registration glitches.

To prepare for this years change, the Secretary of States office recently conducted a training with New Mexico county clerks and their staffers, Vigil said.

She also said the state has already been using the same voting systems since 2019, which should help minimize any technical issues.

In addition, same-day voter registration is only available in person at county clerks offices and certain early voting sites, as the 28-day deadline still applies to online and mail-based registration.

Nationwide, 21 states had enacted same-day voter registration laws as of last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Along with New Mexico, both Utah and Colorado are also among the states that have adopted such laws.

But support of same-day voter registration isnt unanimous, as some critics of the practice claim it can open the door to voter fraud.

Rep. Alonzo Baldonado, R-Los Lunas, who voted against the bill in 2019, said setting the voter registration deadline before Election Day would still give voters plenty of time to make sure they are registered to vote.

We already struggle on Election Day to get everything counted and turned in, Baldonado told the Journal.

This years special election for the 1st Congressional District seat is necessary because Deb Haaland, a Democrat who was reelected to the seat last year, stepped down after being confirmed as U.S. interior secretary in March.

Four candidates have qualified for the special election ballot  Republican Mark Moores, Democrat Melanie Stansbury, Libertarian Chris Manning and independent Aubrey Dunn.

As of Thursday morning, just 923 registered voters had cast ballots in the race  827 via in-person voting and 96 via absentee ballots.

Of the total amount, 614 votes were cast by registered Democrats and 218 were cast by registered Republicans. Unaffiliated voters, Libertarians and those affiliated with minor political parties made up the rest.

However, more than 18,000 absentee ballots had been requested by voters in the congressional district, according to data from the Secretary of States office.

The 1st Congressional District encompasses most of Albuquerque, all of Torrance County and small sections of surrounding counties.

Election Day for the special election is June 1.
After the recent expansion of its domestic portfolio, Special Effects strengthens its international presence by joining forces with a Spanish AV firm, VA361 Productions, with locations in Madrid, Barcelona and Marbella.

The collaboration between the two companies started 9 years ago, after they both joined the AV Alliance network and delivered many international events in collaboration across Europe.



In addition to conscious expansions and an internationally active attitude, the similar leadership thought process will certainly help to develop necessary synergies and to adapt our international strategies to the latest market trends after the long-awaited re-launch of our industry.  said Zsolt Kassai, CEO of Special Effects.



Besides building synergistic solutions to streamline resources, this cooperation brings a special benefit to us: the remarkable business and management approach of Special Effects that we have experienced during our past collaborations can now be applied to grow and improve both companies  added Francisco Gomez, Managing Director of VA361.



Complementing knowledge and resource sharing, the companies plan to establish a joint research & development branch, a creative and design team, as well as education for technicians and engineers.



Our current partner firms and subsidiaries will have a major role in this process. In order to successfully synergize strategic and operative procedures, we find it critical to set up an inter-corporate management team, too.  highlighted Zsolt Kassai.



Click here to visit Special Effects Zrt. online
More than 2,500 manufacturing sector workers showed up at the Divali Nagar site in Chaguanas to receive their first dose of the Sinopharm Covid-19 injection at the start of a public/private sector vaccination drive.

The Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA) collaborated with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Trade to facilitate the process.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  As the Minnesota Legislature enters the last full week of its 2021 session, lawmakers face long hours of tough negotiations as they seek to agree on a balanced budget by next Monday's mandatory adjournment date. And given the Legislature's partisan split, the final package is expected to make only incremental changes instead of sweeping overhauls.

There are deep disagreements over what should be in the major spending bills that will form the core of the next two-year budget. The task of resolving them is harder this year than in 2019 because lawmakers are still meeting remotely due to the pandemic, with fewer chances for one-on-one deal-making.

If the divided Legislature can't pass all its budget bills by the adjournment deadline, they'll have to go into an overtime special session to finish the work. Here's a look at some of the major issues in play:

THE BUDGET

The main two-year budget, which takes effect July 1, is built around 12 catch-all bills ranging from agriculture and education to public safety and taxes. Conference committees have been reviewing the differences between the House and Senate versions, but the real nitty gritty of trying to bridge those differences will get underway in the coming week.

Lawmakers were fortunate heading into the session that the state had a projected $1.6 billion surplus despite the pandemic. And state government is getting $2.6 billion from President Joe Bidens $1.9 trillion stimulus package. So painful cuts aren't on either side's agenda.

TAXES

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and House Democrats proposed tax increases aimed at wealthy Minnesotans to provide ongoing funding for increased spending on education and other programs. But Senate Republicans have said tax increases are a non-starter. They say it makes no sense to raise taxes when there's already a surplus.

The House tax bill creates a fifth income-tax bracket of 11.15% for couples filing jointly who earn $1 million or more, or $500,000 and up for individual filers, which would raise an estimated $564 million over two years. The Senate bill has bigger tax breaks for pandemic-related unemployment benefits and forgiven federal Paycheck Protection Program loans.

POLICING

It remains up in the air whether the Legislature will approve any major police accountability legislation this session. House Democrats, led by the People of Color and Indigenous Caucus, passed an ambitious slate of proposals aimed at building on a policing package enacted during a special session last summer.

But Senate Republicans have resisted further action  even after the conviction of former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd  saying they want to give law enforcement agencies time to implement the changes of last summer. Policing bills didn't even get a hearing in the Senate. Leaders have left it to a conference committee negotiating the public safety budget bill to see if any compromises are possible.

COVID-19

While Walz announced on Thursday that he's lifting most of the state's COVID-19 restrictions in time for Memorial Day weekend, Republicans say he didn't go far enough. Disputes over how the Democratic governor uses his emergency powers to respond to the pandemic have strained relations at the Capitol since last summer. But House Democrats have blocked numerous GOP attempts to roll back those powers. Republicans aren't giving up and hope to gain at least a voice in decisions over how Walz spends federal coronavirus relief money.

ELECTIONS

Senate Republicans have passed a voter ID bill, framing the issue as a way to ensure public confidence in elections. But the idea is going nowhere in the House. Democrats say Minnesota's elections are already free and fair, and point out there's no evidence that voter fraud is a significant problem in the state. They say the bill is really aimed at suppressing turnout among minorities and the elderly. Minnesota voters rejected a voter ID amendment to the state constitution in 2012.

ENVIRONMENT

A battle is brewing in the conference committee for the bill that funds environmental programs, including the Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Zoo. Republican Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, of Alexandria, has threatened to block the entire bill unless Democrats agree to scuttle Gov. Tim Walz's clean car plan, which aims to accelerate the switchover to electric vehicles. That threat raises the specter of a shutdown of state parks just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.

REDISTRICTING

Minnesota is going to keep its eight seats in the U.S. House, barring a successful challenge by New York state to the 2020 census results. But the granular data needed to redraw the states congressional and legislative districts to reflect population shifts away from rural Minnesota isnt going to be available until later this year. So legislators havent been able to do much substantive work this session. And the partisan split between the House and Senate means the sides probably wont agree on new maps anyway, so the job is expected to once again fall to the courts.

MARIJUANA

Legalizing recreational cannabis for adults has been a personal priority for Democratic House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who spent much of 2020 airing the proposal at public forums around the state. Winkler has promoted it as a matter of racial equity since Blacks are arrested for marijuana more often than whites, even though their usage rates are similar. His legalization bill is headed for a floor vote in the coming week.

But the Senate hasnt given a single hearing to a companion bill. GOP Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka said from the beginning that he didnt consider it a priority and saw no reason to rush before learning more about legalizations adverse effects in other states. So the debate is likely to continue in the 2022 session  and the next election campaign.
The Maldives speaker of parliament and former president, Mohamed Nasheed, was in critical care on Friday after being severely wounded in a bomb blast outside his home, hospital authorities said, in what police are treating as a terrorist attack.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for Thursday's explosion in the capital Male that has revived security concerns in the Indian Ocean islands, known for luxury resorts but which have also faced political unrest and Islamist militant violence.

Nasheed, the Maldives first democratically elected president who is now parliament speaker, had previously warned about militants infiltrating the Islamic country. He was getting into his car when the blast occurred.

Read more: Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed injured in 'assassination attempt'

Local media said the explosion was caused by a device planted on a motorcycle parked near his car.

Doctors operated to remove shrapnel from Nasheed, who is now in critical condition in intensive care, ADK hospital said.

"Over the course of the past 16 hours he had life-saving surgery on injuries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs," the hospital said in a statement.

In 2015, former president Abdulla Yameen escaped unharmed after an explosion on his speedboat. In 2007, a blast that was blamed on Islamist militants targeted foreign tourists and injured 12 people.

Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed said 450 officers had been deployed to investigate the latest incident.

"We are treating this as a terrorist attack," he told a news conference, adding that the national security threat level had been raised to its highest rating of 3.

The government is seeking technical support from foreign partners in the case. A team from the Australian Federal Police is expected to join the investigation on Monday.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a close ally of Nasheed, said Thursday's blast was an attack on nation's democracy and its economy.
Reyna Patricia Ambros Zapatero is a survivor.

In May 2018, she was forced from her car, just outside her home in Tamaulipas, Mexico, by armed men, wearing the uniform of the Mexican Navy. The men took her on a long car journey, at the end of which, Zapatero was forced from the car, and taken to a room where she was hooded and assaulted.

"During my detention, I was beaten and kicked in various parts of my body," she said. "I was ordered to sit down and then glued to the wall. I could hear other people being beaten and screaming in pain."

But, her detention was short-lived. Three days after arrival, she was hooded, bundled in a car and driven to a far location. The driver threatened Zapatero and her family with death if she attended any more demonstrations or filed a complaint. She was left on the side of a road in the early hours of the morning, where passing motorist later found her and took her to hospital.

She credits her quick release in part to the intervention of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) via its Urgent Action procedure.

"I am sure that the urgent action of the CED brought my situation to the attention of the Mexican State," Zapatero said. "I think it was key for (the Navy) to release me."

Zapatero presented her story at the closing of the 20th session of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED) . The CED is where States can seek support in their fight to eradicate and prevent enforced disappearances and for people to seek justice for disappeared loved ones at an international level.

Committee member Horacio Ravenna said there are still challenges in finding solutions to cases such as Zapatero's.

"Her presence here today is proof that international intervention can contribute to save lives," he said. "Today, you are the voice of others who have appeared alive. Your testimony comforts us in the pain of our daily frustrations."

An urgent action is a request from the Committee to a State party to immediately take all necessary measures to search and locate a disappeared person and investigate their disappearance. The urgent actions are the result of petitions filed by relatives, legal counsel or anyone having a legitimate interest in searching for the disappeared person. Generally, the Committee makes an intervention in 48 hours.

Yet, any time being held against your will is too much, said Patricia Zapatero.

"I hope that one day I will receive real reparation for what I have suffered and that my case will be truly investigated," she said. "It is impossible to recover just like that. I need justice and reparation. We all need to be able to walk the streets of our cities without fear."

7 May 2021
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GENEVA  European leaders voiced increasing skepticism Friday that a U.S. proposal to lift patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines would solve the problem of getting shots into the arms of people in poorer countries, with some instead calling for more exports of the doses already being produced.

While activists and humanitarian groups have cheered the Biden administrations decision and urged others to follow suit, European Union leaders are hammering home the message that any benefit from a temporary waiver of intellectual property protections would be long in coming. Instead, theyve taken the U.S., in particular, to task for not sharing more vaccines with the rest of the world.

You can give the intellectual property to laboratories that do not know how to produce it. They wont produce it tomorrow, said French President Emmanuel Macron at a summit in Portugal, even though he has also said he would agree to waive the protections.

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EU officials insist rewriting rules in the World Trade Organization could take months or even a year, and say theyve found few examples  if any  that intellectual property issues are whats holding up the rollout of vaccines.

Supporters of a patent waiver have argued it would allow more factories around the world to produce the shots, increasing the supply, especially in poorer countries. The decision ultimately is up to the 164-member WTO, and if just one country votes against a waiver, the idea will fail.

Macron said the key issues are really donations and exports  an argument also made by the pharmaceutical industry  and he said the United States should do more on that front.

The U.S. does not have an export ban on vaccines nor does it prohibit the export of ingredients for the shots. But the federal government controls hundreds of millions of doses manufactured in the country under the terms of its contracts with drug makers, and is first in line for some raw materials produced by U.S. suppliers.

The U.S. has sent Canada and Mexico about 4 million doses from its stockpile of vaccines from AstraZeneca  which hasnt yet applied for authorization in the U.S.  and it plans to begin exporting as many as 60 million doses in coming months. Last week, the U.S. also redirected some raw materials used for AstraZeneca to India as part of its relief efforts for the hard-hit country.

Macron boasted, however, that almost half of the doses produced on in the European Union  or about 200 million  have been allowed to be exported.

We are the most generous in the world of developed nations, he said.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Friday that the U.S. is going to work with international partners, with the pharmaceutical companies to up the supply, to get as much supply out to the global community as possible.

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala echoed some of the sentiments expressed by European leaders at a virtual conference Friday, noting that lifting patent protections could help expand fair access to vaccines but might not be the most critical issue in expanding vaccine production.

Other key steps include reducing restrictions on the export both of vaccines and the ingredients needed to make them, sharing the know-how behind the shots, training manufacturing personnel and increasing manufacturing capacity globally.

Meanwhile, Germany, a research powerhouse with strong biotech and pharmaceutical sectors, spoke out against waiving the protections  and also urged more exports.

The main issue is not the question of patents. The main issue is the question of production capacity, German Health Minister Jens Spahn said, noting that producing vaccines like one developed by German firm BioNTech  and manufactured with Pfizer is very complicated.

Instead, he stressed that developed countries whose vaccination campaigns are going well should export more shots.

Well be exporting a lot more, he said. I can only welcome if the United States change their policy and make vaccination doses available for other countries.

Fatima Hassan, a human rights lawyer and director of the Health Justice Initiative in South Africa, welcomed the Biden administrations announcement but said its eight months too late.

We cant basically wait for months for this waiver to be finalized, she said. Hassan said the countries that have overordered vaccines are ironically blocking the waiver and the ability of people in low income parts of the world to access the vaccines.

___

Winfield reported from Rome. Associated Press journalists Frank Jordans and Dorothee Thiesing in Berlin, Samuel Petrequin in Brussels, Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, Zeke Miller and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington and AP Medical Writer Linda A. Johnson in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

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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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FORT WORTH, Texas  Prosecutors in Texas said Thursday that they wouldnt seek the death penalty for a 78-year-old man arrested last year and accused of the 1974 abduction and slaying of a teen girl.

The Tarrant County district attorneys office has submitted documents seeking life imprisonment without parole for Glen McCurley, arrested in September on a capital murder charge in the slaying of 17-year-old Carla Walker.

District Attorney Sharen Wilson said they determined justice would best be served by a sentence ensuring McCurley will spend the rest of his days in prison.

Walkers family supported the decision, she said.

Police had said the Fort Worth high school student was with her boyfriend in a car outside a bowling alley after a Valentines Day dance on Feb. 17, 1974, when a man pistol-whipped the boy and abducted her. Searchers found her sexually assaulted and strangled to death three days later near a lake near where she had been abducted, prosecutors said.

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McCurleys attorney, Steve Miears, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: We are continuing our investigation of the case.

The case had gone unsolved for 46 years before investigators reopened it in 2019. Police linked it to McCurley through advancements in DNA technology.

McCurley is jailed on a $500,000 bond while awaiting trial.
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WASHINGTON  The Biden administration is signaling that Iran shouldnt expect major new concessions from the United States as a new round of indirect nuclear talks is set to resume.

A senior administration official told reporters Thursday that the U.S. has laid out the concessions its prepared to make in order to rejoin the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that former President Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018. The official said success or failure now depends on Iran making the political decision to accept those concessions and to return to compliance with the accord.

The official spoke to reporters in a State Department-organized conference call on the eve of the negotiations resumption in Vienna. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. position going into the fourth round of closed-door talks at which the remaining participants in the nuclear deal are passing messages between the American and Iranian delegations.

The comments came after Secretary of State Antony Blinken complained of Iranian intransigence in the talks during a visit to Ukraine.

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What we dont know is whether Iran is actually prepared to make the decisions necessary to return to full compliance with the nuclear agreement, Blinken said in an interview with NBC News in Kyiv. They unfortunately have been continuing to take steps that are restarting dangerous parts of their program that the nuclear agreement stopped. And the jury is out on whether theyre prepared to do whats necessary.

Iran has thus far given no indication it will settle for anything less than a full lifting of all the Trump sanctions and has balked at suggestions it would have to reverse all of the steps it has taken that violate the deal. Iranian officials have in recent weeks said the U.S. has offered significant, but not sufficient sanctions relief, but they have not outlined exactly what they would do in return.

The administration official said the United States is ready to return to the explicit terms of the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, as they were negotiated by the Obama administration, but only if Iran will do the same. The official said the United States will not accept doing more than required by the JCPOA to bring Iran back into compliance.

The deal gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. Much of that relief evaporated after Trump pulled out and re-imposed and expanded U.S. sanctions. Iran responded by breaking though the deals limits on uranium enrichment, the use of advanced centrifuges and other activities such as heavy water production.

After previous rounds of talks in Vienna, the administration had said there was flexibility in what it might offer to Iran, including going beyond the letter of the deal to ease non-nuclear sanctions from the Trump era that nonetheless affected the relief the Iranians were entitled to for agreeing to the accord.

That is still the case, although the officials comments on Thursday suggested that the limits of that flexibility had been reached. The official would not describe the concessions the U.S. is prepared to make but said any that it finds to be inconsistent with the nuclear deal would be stricken.

The official declined to predict whether the fourth round would produce a breakthrough but said it remains possible to reach an agreement quickly and before Irans June presidential elections that some believe are a complicating factor in the talks. The official said the outlines of what both sides need to do is clear. We think its doable, the official said. This isnt rocket science;

But, the official said success depends on Iran not demanding more than it is entitled to under the terms of the original deal and by verifiably reversing the steps it has taken that violate it.

The Biden administration has been coy about what specific sanctions it is willing to lift, although officials have acknowledged that some non-nuclear sanctions, such as those Trump imposed for terrorism, ballistic missile activity and human rights abuses, may have to be eased for Iran to get the relied it is entitled to. Thats because the some entities that were removed from sanctions under the nuclear deal are now penalized under other authorities.

The official did say that the administration no longer believed that the Trump administration had improperly or illegitimately imposed some of the those non-nuclear sanctions with the sole purpose of trying to frustrate a potential return to the deal.

The official said the administration does not question the evidentiary basis of those sanctions. However, the official said the administration is looking to see if they are consistent with a return to the deal, which it has already determined to be in the U.S. national security interest if Iran comes back into compliance.

If we think it is inconsistent with a return to the JCPOA to maintain a particular designation, then we are prepared to lift it, the official said.
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AUSTIN, Texas  Nine Twitter users who sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for blocking them on the social media platform have regained access to the Republicans posts, their attorneys said Thursday.

The users blocked by Paxton included college students, a journalist, a U.S. Army veteran and the leader of a progressive political group. All said in a lawsuit filed last month that Paxton denied them access to his tweets after they criticized his policies.

They were represented by the ACLU and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, which cheered Paxtons reversal.

It shouldnt take a lawsuit for Attorney General Paxton to comply with the Constitution, Kate Huddleston, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement.

Paxtons office did not respond to a request for comment.

A federal appeals court ruled in 2019 that former President Donald Trumps tweets were overwhelmingly official in nature and that he violated the First Amendment whenever he blocked a critic to silence a viewpoint. Twitter banned Trump from the platform two days after the deadly attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters on Jan. 6.

In March, Twitter sued Paxton alleging Texas top law enforcement officer was trying to retaliate against the company for banning Trump. It came after Paxtons office demanded that Twitter and other tech companies hand over content moderation policies and troves of internal communications.

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Statement by Minister Coveney at the UNSC Open Debate on Upholding Multilateralism

Statement

Thank you Mr. President. Allow me first to congratulate you, Minister, on Chinas assumption of the Presidency of the Council. I also wish to thank you very much for organising todays important debate on promoting multilateralism.

Id also like to thank President Bozkir for his powerful words today.

Mr. President,

When China last held the Presidency of this Council, in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic cast a dark shadow across many parts of the globe.

There is one clear lesson coming out of what we collectively faced in the last year, and that is that global challenges are too great for any nation, regardless of their size or their means or their power, to face alone. We can only face them successfully when we face them together.

A strong and fair rules-based international order, with the United Nations at its core, remains our best option - our only option - to address the multitude of challenges that we face across the world.

Mr. President, I would like to make four key points today.

First, the complexity and interdependency of our world requires a functioning multilateral system.

We depend on a network of multilateral institutions to govern and regulate the international economy and trade, global public goods - such as health and the environment -, and many other areas of human activity central to our way of life.

These institutions must operate in an open, equitable and a rules-based manner.

Through the UN and regional organisations, we are working collectively to reduce poverty and hunger, promote and defend human rights, increase access to education and healthcare, protect migrants and refugees, advance gender equality and build sustainable peace.

Vital institutions, such as the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court, uphold international law and protect human rights, which need to apply equally to everybody.

Through the COVAX Facility, vaccines are being delivered to millions of people, with a lot more still to do. The World Health Organisation continues to support States in fighting the pandemic and preparing for the next pandemic. In February, this Council spoke in unison to demand that parties to conflicts facilitate the delivery of vaccines.

Landmark agreements such as the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, seek to shape a sustainable and secure future for all of the inhabitants of this planet.

Collective multilateral engagement enhances our sovereignty, rather than diminishes it.

This wider system of multilateralism may have its shortcomings - and I will return to this point - but without it, we would face a world ruled by might and zero-sum competition, rather than one shaped by partnership and cooperation.

And we do not have to look far, to the lessons of history, to see where that road leads us.

My second point, Mr. President, is that multilateralism is essential if we are to achieve the promise of the UN Charter to spare succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

The UN, and this Council, have a unique legitimacy for the maintenance of international peace and security. No other body can aspire to represent humanity in all its rich diversity and complexity.

To take one example, peacekeeping operations continue to play a critical role in preserving peace, preventing the resurgence of conflict and protecting civilians.

Peacekeeping saves lives, and prevents conflict. For more than six decades, Irish women and men have served in UN Peace Operations across the Middle East, Europe and Africa. They have served proudly alongside peacekeepers from across the world, including many countries on this Council today.

Peacekeepers now face new challenges, and we must ensure that they are fully equipped to meet those challenges.

We must also prepare so that when the time comes for peacekeepers to leave, we have put in place the resources and planning to preserve the peace they leave behind.

We need to become much better at linking peacekeeping to peacebuilding, ensuring continued and sustained support for countries emerging from conflict and there are far too many of those and finding durable solutions to the causes of those conflicts in the first place.

Thirdly, just as no state alone can adequately address global challenges, no one arm of the multilateral system can craft the solutions that we need today.

We see this is many arenas, but let me take one example, an obvious one.

Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation. Its impact is global and our collective security is very much at risk. The future of this planet and of generations to come relies upon facing up to that reality.

A concerted multilateral response - with all organs of the United Nations, including this Council, playing their role - is urgently needed.

We must match our ambition with action.

We know that climate change can exacerbate existing tensions and drive conflict and insecurity, but we also know that effective climate action can build peace.

As Co-Chair with Niger of the Informal Expert Group of Security Council members on climate and security, Ireland is working to forge consensus on this critical issue.

And I would urge all countries and colleagues to join us in those efforts.

Mr. President, my final point,

To sustain and uphold the legitimacy and relevance of the United Nations, we need to see institutional and political reform in the United Nations.

Ireland is a strong advocate for the Secretary-Generals reform agenda.

The UN must be capable of addressing intersecting challenges that cut across each of its three pillars.

Our citizens dont live in separate boxes, labelled Human Rights, Peace and Security and/or Development. Nor do global challenges - climate change, migration, conflict and fragility, inequality  they dont fit neatly into separate boxes.

Extensive efforts have been made to promote greater collaboration across the pillars of this organisation, including across the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding nexus. Important progress is being made to improve the effectiveness and cohesion of the UN development system.

And I want to recognize and applaud those efforts.

But we cannot address the issues facing the multilateral system without reforming this Council itself.

Ireland has long argued for a larger and more representative Council. I reiterate my call today to address the historic and unjust underrepresentation of Africa as a continent, for example.

We also need to assess not just our actions, but also our inactions on this Council.

Too often, this Council has been unable to act to alleviate immense suffering due to the use, or the threat of the use, of the veto. Such inaction affects the legitimacy of our whole system and the trust that people have in it. Such inaction is unacceptable, and I would argue immoral also at times.

Each of us at this table has a responsibility to find the political will necessary to build consensus. Those who sit here permanently bear a particular responsibility.

A reformed and more representative Council, that better reflects global 21st century realities, would have an enhanced legitimacy. That legitimacy is essential to deliver on this Councils mandate to maintain international peace and security for the sake of every country.

So let me conclude,

We have a collective responsibility to strengthen and defend the United Nations and the international rules based order.

We must uphold the multilateral system, promote respect for international law, and ensure that the United Nations is equipped to meet these global challenges.

Ireland takes these responsibilities very seriously, and I know others do too.

Thank you Mr President.

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He is more dangerous and effective than any man we have in the field.  Typical action-movie cliche line from Tom Clancys Without Remorse.

The Amazon Prime Video original movie Tom Clancys Without Remorse has to be considered one of the more disappointing films of 2021 so far, given the long and rich history of entertaining adaptations of Clancys work and the vibrant star power of its leading man. Michael B. Jordan has plenty of opportunities to fire off weapons and flex his muscles here but delivers a surprisingly flat and underwhelming performance playing the kind of action antihero perfected by the likes of Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Liam Neeson, The Rock, Charlize Theron and  we could go on forever. You know, the kind of guy or gal who often starts out as a cop or a soldier but becomes disillusioned with the system after a betrayal and goes ROGUE and OFF THE GRID.

Thats exactly the kind of cliche, er, character, Jordan portrays here. We have seen John Kelly as a supporting player in previous film adaptations of Clancy books (Willem Dafoe played him in Clear and Present Danger in 1994, and Liev Schreiber in The Sum of All Fears in 2002), but now he is front and center in an origins story as the senior chief of an elite team of Navy SEALs sent into Syria to extract a CIA agent ostensibly being held captive by the Syrian army. The ensuing rescue mission/shootout is indicative of many of the impressively choreographed but murky action sequences that permeate Without Remorse, where theres lots of shouting and shooting and explosions and carnage, but its often difficult to keep up with the proceedings as we squint through the dust and darkness. One assumes the intention was to replicate the true chaos inherent in such situations, but that doesnt necessarily make for clearly defined cinema.

We know theres a problem with this mission from the get-go because its telegraphed via the duplicitous and smarmy CIA operative Robert Ritter (the chameleonic Jamie Bell, excellent as always), who smirks and calls John sweetheart and brushes off his concerns, even after its determined the bad guys arent soldiers, theyre ex-Russian military turned mercenaries, and they dont play by any established rules of war. Nevertheless, the mission is a qualified success, with John and his colleagues gunning down numerous anonymous henchmen.

Cut to a few months later, with John and his eight-months-pregnant wife, Pam (Lauren London), hosting a cookout at their Washington, D.C.-area home, which is a REALLY nice spread and looks more like something a wealthy senator might own. All is well and peaceful; in fact, John is retiring from the SEALs to take a lucrative and relatively safe gig doing private security. What could possibly go wrong?

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Well, John could be chilling on the sofa later that night, listening to his favorite jams on his noise-canceling headphones, so hes late to spring into action when Russian assassins get their revenge for that Syrian mission by gunning down his wife and unborn child and seriously wounding John before he kills most of them. (One gets away.) As John puts it later, in one of the many, many lines that will ring familiar with fans of this genre: They took everything from me! Also: Now were going to play by my rules!

And off we go on our path of vengeance. After a brief period of mourning, John sets out on a mission to find out whats really going on and to gain his revenge on anyone connected with the massacre in his home. For a time, Without Remorse becomes a prison picture, and not a very good one, as John fends off a myriad of corrupt guards with orders to kill him. And then hes recruited by his longtime friend and former SEAL supervisor Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith) and the aforementioned CIA operative Ritter to lead ANOTHER dangerous mission, this time to Russia. Despite Johns frequent observation hes just a pawn in a larger chess game (theres even an early foreshadowing scene involving an actual game of chess), he agrees to take the gig, which might just help to uncover a conspiracy to start a war between the United States and Russia. (Its complicated. And convoluted.)

Based on the 1993 novel of the same name (with many updates and revisions) and directed by Stefano Sollima (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), Without Remorse was filmed largely in the legendary Babelsberg Film Studios just outside Berlin, and while you can see ample evidence of the preparation and the attention to detail and the large-scale ambition on screen, it never quite jells into an involving character study or a fresh action tale. Jordans line readings reflect the by-the-book nature of the story, and when the main villain is finally revealed, its hardly a surprise  and his demise is borderline ridiculous.

Halfway through the end credits, theres a scene setting up further adventures. Even this Easter egg is overwrought, as two characters stand side-by-side in the night, gazing at the Washington Monument and setting up the sequel. Heres hoping when that happens, John is given a better vehicle to drive.

TOM CLANCYS WITHOUT REMORSE

3 stars

RATED: R (for violence)

WHEN: Now streaming

WHERE: Amazon Prime Video
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David Climaco Garcia took time during the pandemic to get back to the basics of writing music.

He worked so much on it that he ended up with enough material for a new album, Between the Devil and Me, which will be released June 25.

(The album) is about taking stock of who you are, Garcia says. All of it was written during the pandemic, and it was important for me to capture it.

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Garcias first single from the album is Down by Her Riverside Home. It was released on May 6.

Its a song about a mother who has lost her child, he says. Its in the vein of La Llorona story. She just wanders around by the water there. All my songs are cinematic. Its a little spooky, and I think theres a whole thing about the rivers of the Southwest that are these thin ribbons of life in big deserts. They collect energy.

Garcia says the proceeds from the single will be donated to support the wilderness advocacy group New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.

The single was pre-released on Bandcamp, and weve raised a good amount of money for them, he says. The money is specifically earmarked to get the upper Gila River designated as wild and scenic. There are recurring threats to the river and you dont see wild rivers very often. It might be the only one in New Mexico. Its a song to the river, and its beautiful and amazing.

Garcia has been writing songs for 31 years, after getting his first guitar at age 15.

The writing process for this album was another great experience in his career.

I was in the mode of studying pop form songs and American song form standards, he says. The songs on the albums are imprints on different pop songs forms. They freed me up, and they populated from my subconscious. It was really a remarkable time.

Garcia emerges from a midcentury highway culture that still dominates the American imagination.

The Albuquerque-based songwriter draws from New Mexicos Southwestern Americana, a blend of classic cowboy and country sensibilities mixed with his own Spanish and Native American lineage.

He has assisted sessions with Neil Young, The Donnas, and Portisheads Geoff Barrow at the studio Bill Putnam built for John Coltrane in the 1960s.

While an editor and New Mexico post supervisor on the Academy Award-nominated film Hell or High Water, he jammed with Jeff Bridges.

The songs run the gamut, he says. All of the stories that are in my mind come from the events in my life. Its been an incredible journey to share them with the world.

Online

To listen to or order Down by Her Riverside Home by David Climaco Garcia, visit davidclimacogarcia.com
Non-essential cross-border travel must be stopped by enforcement if required, Northern Irelands Health Minister has warned.

In a letter to Irish Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly, Robin Swann warned of a spike in Covid-19 cases in border counties.

The lifting of pandemic restrictions and the vaccination programme in Northern Ireland has outpaced those in the Republic, raising fresh concerns over cross-border travel.

In a letter to Mr Donnelly on Wednesday, Mr Swann warned of a fresh increase of community transmission of Covid-19.

He said that governments in both jurisdictions should do everything possible to prevent non-essential cross-border travel.

The letter said: I wish to place on record my concern at the potential for cross-border interactions to fuel a fresh increase in community transmission and Covid-19 cases in respective jurisdictions.

Our two jurisdictions are at different junctures, in terms of number of cases, the current trajectory of the epidemic, vaccination progress and Covid-19 restrictions.

However, that should not hamper continued co-operation in key areas.

In particular, I believe we should be doing all we can to prevent non-essential cross-border travel at this time.

This will require clear messaging, backed up by enforcement if required.

Mr Swann requested an urgent meeting with Mr Donnelly, department officials and senior public health bosses from both jurisdictions to consider what additional actions are required.

He said recent data from both sides of the border must be taken seriously and elicit an appropriate response.

The letter adds: In the present circumstances, crossing the border for non-essential shopping or socialising purposes creates an unnecessary risk of virus spread.

The island, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland  and not least its border areas  has suffered too much already to allow that to happen.

On Sunday, the HSE and the Public Health Agency (PHA) issued a joint statement warning of the risks of an increase in transmission.

It follows concerns around a spike in cases in Co Donegal.

The county has the highest incident rate in the Republic, at 293.4 cases per 100,000 people, compared with 127.3 nationally.

Two new walk-in testing centres were established in the county this week on the back of rising cases.

Gardai announced a dedicated phone line for reporting Covid-19 breaches on Tuesday, in a move that was criticised locally.

There were 26 positive cases recorded in Donegal on Thursday, out of 393 nationally.
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Governments Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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SUGAR LAND, Texas  Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AAOI) on Thursday reported a loss of $15.6 million in its first quarter.

The Sugar Land, Texas-based company said it had a loss of 59 cents per share. Losses, adjusted for non-recurring costs and pretax expenses, were 21 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for a loss of 27 cents per share.

The maker of fiber optic products used by cable TV providers posted revenue of $49.7 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $49.4 million.

For the current quarter ending in July, Applied Optoelectronics expects its results to range from a loss of 21 cents per share to a loss of 14 cents per share.

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The company said it expects revenue in the range of $51 million to $56 million for the fiscal second quarter.

Applied Optoelectronics shares have fallen 15% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $7.22, a decrease of 33% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AAOI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AAOI
Vax Live, hosted by Selena Gomez, will promote the COVID-19 vaccine with a star-studded lineup, Jupiter's Legacy brings superhero drama to Netflix and Aidy Bryant's Shrill enters into its third and final season on Hulu this weekend.

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In addition, Elon Musk is hosting Saturday Night Live with musical guest Miley Cyrus on NBC, Rob McElhenney and Charlotte Nicdao return for Mythic Quest Season 2 on Apple TV+ and popular video game series Resident Evil presents its eighth installment on consoles and PC.

Here's a rundown on some of the films and television shows that are set to be released this weekend.

Films

'Mainstream' -- VOD

'Monster' -- Netflix

Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Hudson and Jeffrey Wright star in this adaptation of the Walter Dean Myers novel of the same name, which premieres Friday on Netflix. Anthony Mandler directs this legal drama about a honor student and aspiring filmmaker who is charged with murder.

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TV

'Jupiter's Legacy' -- Netflix

Comic book Jupiter's Legacy, from Mark Millar and Frank Quietly, comes to life in this live-action series, which arrives Friday on Netflix. Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb and Ben Daniels star as superheroes who are struggling to adjust to a changing world. The next generation of heroes, played by Elena Kampouris and Andrew Horton, try to live up to their parents' ideals.

'Shrill' Season 3 -- Hulu

Aidy Bryant returns for the third and final season of Shrill, which comes to Hulu on Friday. The last season will continue to introduce new societal judgements to Bryant's Annie, whose doctor suggests gastric bypass surgery.

'Mythic Quest' -- Apple TV+

Mythic Quest returns for a second season Friday on Apple TV+. Creator and star Rob McElhenney and Charlotte Nicdao will be returning to the office to work on their popular video game following a pandemic-themed special that was released last year. The new season will explore how the platonic relationship between their characters Ian and Poppy have changed since the pandemic.

'Vax Live: A Concert to Reunite the World' -- ABC, CBS, YouTube, iHeartMedia stations, Fox

Selena Gomez is hosting this start-studded event, which will promote the COVID-19 vaccine. President Joe Biden, first lady Dr. Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Chrissy Teigen, Ben Affleck, David Letterman, Gayle King, Jimmy Kimmel, Nomzamo Mbatha, Olivia Munn and Sean Penn will be making appearances. Jennifer Lopez, Eddie Vedder, Foo Fighters, J Balvin and H.E.R. will be performing. The show will air across ABC, CBS, YouTube and iHeartMedia radio stations on Saturday at 8 p.m. EDT. Fox will also broadcast the concert at 11 p.m. EDT.

'Saturday Night Live' with Elon Musk, Miley Cyrus -- NBC

Entrepreneur Elon Musk is set to host the next installment of Saturday Night Live, which airs Saturday at 11:30 p.m. EDT on NBC. Miley Cyrus is serving as the musical guest.

'Biography: Booker T' -- A&E

The life and career of two-time WWE Hall of Famer and professional wrestling legend Booker T will be explored in this upcoming episode of Biography, which airs Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT on A&E. Booker T, who also competed in WCW, is a six-time World Champion, winner of the 2006 King of the Ring tournament and is an 11-time Tag Team Champion.

'Ziwe' -- Showtime

Ziwe Fumudoh hosts a new variety series on Showtime, which premieres Sunday at 11 p.m. EDT. Ziwe will feature musical numbers, interviews and sketches that challenge America's discomfort with race, politics and more.

Video games

'Resident Evil Village' -- PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S and PC

Developer and publisher Capcom introduces the eighth installment in the Resident Evil series, which releases Friday across multiple platforms. Players once again take on the role of Ethan Winters following the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, who must save his newborn child. Players will shoot their way through zombies, werewolves, witches and more inside a snow-covered village.
Galveston, TX (77553)

Today

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 80F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low around 80F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
Story Highlights 57% support requiring vaccination proof to travel by airplane

55% back vaccination substantiation to attend events with large crowds

Vaccinated adults, Democrats, largely support proof for all activities

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- COVID-19 vaccinations continue to climb in the U.S., but significant vaccine hesitancy persists. Majorities of Americans support businesses requiring people to show proof of vaccination in order to participate in some public activities, but not others.

Specifically, U.S. adults favor mandated vaccination certification for travel by airplane (57%) and to attend events with large crowds, such as concerts or sporting events (55%). However, there is less public support for proving vaccination to go to one's workplace (45%), stay in a hotel (44%) or dine indoors at a restaurant (40%), with majorities opposing it in each instance.

Americans' Preferences for Requiring Proof of Vaccination for Participation in Activities Would you favor or oppose businesses requiring people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to do the following over the next several months? Favor Oppose % % Travel by airplane 57 43 Attend events with large crowds, such as sporting events or concerts 55 45 Go to your worksite to do your job* 45 55 Stay in a hotel 44 56 Dine in at a restaurant 40 60 *Among those employed full or part time. Gallup panel, April 19-25, 2021

These findings are from Gallup's ongoing COVID-19 probability-based web panel survey, which was conducted April 19-25, as the daily vaccination count in the U.S. began to decline after peaking earlier in the month.

The European Union nations, among others, have resolved to employ a so-called "vaccine passport" system to aid the safe return to normal life. This program provides a digital certificate to those who have been fully vaccinated that allows them to travel inside --- and outside -- their country. The Biden administration has said it will not enact a similar national program in the U.S. Yet, some state governments and private and non-profit businesses in the U.S. plan to implement such a measure as a way to allow safe participation in certain activities. New York already has a voluntary digital passport system, but many Republican governors have expressed their opposition to them, including some who have issued executive orders against them.

The use of government-mandated "passports" does raise legal and constitutional questions involving equal access, privacy and a lack of uniform standards which may not survive likely court challenges. However, legal experts are generally in agreement that private organizations or businesses can require proof of vaccination as a means of protecting their employees' and customers' health -- as well as limiting their own legal liability should someone catch COVID-19 while at their business.

Demographic Differences in Support for Requiring Proof of Vaccination

Support for vaccination proof also varies by current vaccination status and concern about getting the disease.

No more than 8% of those who say they will not get vaccinated favor proof of vaccination to engage in any of the five activities, compared with majorities between 52% and 74% of those who have gotten vaccinated or plan to do so.

Meanwhile, 55% to 77% of those who are worried about contracting the coronavirus approve of mandatory vaccinations before participating in all five public activities, but less than half of those who are not worried about infection approve.

Americans' Preferences for Proof of Vaccination to Participate in Activities Based on COVID-19 Attitudes % Who favor businesses requiring people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to do each over the next several months Travel by airplane Go to events

with large crowds Go to your worksite

to do your job* Stay in a hotel Dine in

at a restaurant % % % % % Vaccination status Have been/Will be vaccinated 74 71 59 56 52 Will not get vaccinated 8 7 6 6 5 Worry about getting COVID-19 Very/Somewhat worried 77 72 66 59 55 Not too/Not at all worried 49 48 36 37 34 *Among those employed full or part time. GALLUP PANEL, April 19-25, 2021

These relationships are partly influenced by partisanship but are not fully explained by party differences, given that the opinion gaps by vaccination status exceed those by party.

Republicans and Democrats have opposing views on requiring proof of vaccination in various settings, consistent with Republicans' subdued concern about the coronavirus and their lesser willingness to get vaccinated. No more than 28% of Republicans support requiring people to provide proof of vaccination to participate in any of the five activities. At the same time, majorities of Democrats ranging from 62% to 85% favor mandatory vaccine certification to take part in all five.

Partisans' Preferences for Proof of Vaccination to Participate in Activities % Who favor businesses requiring people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to do each over the next several months Travel by airplane Go to events

with large crowds Go to your worksite

to do your job* Stay in a hotel Dine in

at a restaurant % % % % % Party identification Democrat 85 82 69 66 62 Independent 47 47 38 35 30 Republican 28 25 16 22 19 *Among those employed full or part time. GALLUP PANEL, April 19-25, 2021

Bottom Line

Although a majority of U.S. adults have been at least partially vaccinated against COVID-19, one-quarter remain steadfast in their unwillingness to be immunized. With vaccine supply now outpacing demand in much of the U.S., majorities of the public think those who want to fly on an airplane or attend an event with large crowds should first be required to show proof of vaccination. But the majority are opposed to the same requirement for venues with smaller crowds of people, such as workplaces, restaurants and hotels.

Although the Biden administration says it does not plan to put a vaccine passport program in place in the U.S., individual states, private companies and non-profit organizations are free to devise their own guidelines for requiring vaccines.

Learn more about how the Gallup Panel works.
Lake City, Colo., May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This year, Green Builder Media again honors companies that have taken exemplary steps towards sustainability with our annual "Eco Leaders" selections. In response to the increasing urgency of our climate emergency, this year's theme is "Decarbonization."

Getting to net zero energy is paramount if were going to reach our climate goals, but the hard, cold truth is that it isnt enough. Its time to explore the next frontier of climate actionembodied carbon.

What has your company done to reduce emissions generated from manufacturing, transportation, operations, and product use?

Have you reimagined your industrial and manufacturing activities? Have you replaced carbon-intensive materials like steel, cement, chemicals, and paper? Have you transitioned to electric fleets? Do your products contribute to making our built environment net zero? Is your company, your manufacturing process, and your product line part of the solution?

How? Please tell us your Decarbonization story in 500-700 words. Submit with at least three high-resolution (300 dpi, at least 5 inches wide) images, not including headshots or company logos. Also, no more than one product shot, please. Typical non-product photos include installations, people using or demonstrating a product, interior and/or exterior shots, or employee training.

Submissions are required by the end of the day (PST) Friday, May 28. To see last year's winners, download the issue here.

Please submit information via email to melissa.smith@greenbuildermedia.com

About Green Builder Media

Green Builder Media is North Americas leading media company focused on green building and sustainable living, affecting positive change by providing inspirational information to over 200,000 progressive building professionals and millions of early-adopter and first-mover consumers who are interested in sustainable living. Green Builder Media generates award-winning editorial, including breaking news, prominent market research, original insights, and visionary thought pieces. With a comprehensive suite of content marketing, digital, social, and print media options, high-profile demonstration projects, market intelligence, data services, and live events, the company offers a blend of visionary and practical information covering a broad spectrum of sustainable living topics, including building science, healthy homes/indoor air quality, Internet of Things, smart home technologies, energy efficiency, intelligent water, indoor air quality, resilient housing, renewables, and clean transportation.

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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

Heleen Archuleta, a sophomore at Cuba High School who lives in the Counselor community of the Navajo Nation, was U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujans virtual guest for President Bidens joint address to Congress in April.

But the 16-year-old Navajo student didnt have internet at home  or electricity  to watch the presidents remarks live.

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(The pandemic) exacerbated existing disparities between the communities that have (internet) access and those that dont, including many of our tribal and pueblo and rural communities, Lujan said during a panel discussion of tribal, federal and state leaders held remotely Thursday. If we can close this gap for Heleen, we can make incredible gains across America and especially across the Navajo Nation.

The U.S. Department of Commerces new Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program will direct a total of $1 billion to tribal governments, colleges and organizations.

Grants could fund tribal broadband infrastructure, free or reduced-cost internet, and distance learning and telehealth programs.

We all realize thats a drop in the bucket, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.

Only 46% of households on tribal lands have basic broadband access, according to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the internet gaps for students and employees across the 27,000-square-mile reservation.

The geographical terrain makes broadband access and development an expensive challenge here on Navajo and all across Indian Country, Nez said. Lack of electrical infrastructure, the existence of many dark zones with no cellular services available, the lack of fiber and few broadband service providers all lead to limited and expensive broadband services.

Other barriers include tribes being unable to access unused spectrum on or near their lands, and a complicated federal approval process for tribal internet projects that overlap with state or federal land.

The New Mexico Legislature appropriated about $130 million in the recent session for broadband programs, and created the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion.

We want every single New Mexican, no matter where they are, to be connected, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said.

The state is also nearing completion on a $3.2 million contract for a Sceye Inc. study using blimp-like balloons to provide internet, which could bridge the access gap for rural tribal areas.

The Commerce Department anticipates they will begin accepting grant applications this summer.
Those employed in the local manufacturing export sector were among the first to receive their first Covid 19 vaccination jabs on Sunday as part of a new public/private partnership aimed at the mass vaccination of specific sectors of the economy in the first instance.
Atlanta, Georgia, May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute (ENI) of Georgia State Universitys Robinson College of Business has won two awards for supporting entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds at the 35th annual International Conference on Business Incubation (ICBI35) of the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA).

InBIA is the largest member-based entrepreneurial support network in the world with more than 1,200 members in 30 countries representing incubators, accelerators and entrepreneurship centers.

The ICBI35 conference, held April 25-30, included a showcase in which attendees heard awards finalists present their entries in the fast-paced PechaKucha format in which slides advance every 20 seconds. ENI associate director Jackie Davis was a presenting finalist.

Georgia States ENI was the only entrepreneurship center to take home two awards, both of which focused on the institutes work supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship Center of the Year Award: Sector Focused Category

Specialty Award for Most Innovative Program for the Main Street Entrepreneurs Seed Fund  a business accelerator program supporting underrepresented students, recent alumni, and Georgia State community entrepreneurs with seed funding and mentorship

Receiving these prestigious awards is a testament to the commitment of Georgia State University and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute to eliminating achievement gaps for all entrepreneurs and serving as a national model for inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation, Davis said.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute of Georgia State University's Robinson College of Business fulfills a university-wide mandate to strengthen the entrepreneurial and innovation culture across campus. ENI aims to be a national model for inclusive entrepreneurial education and innovation. Its activities span academics, co-curricular activities, and community and industry partnerships.

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Todd Gould sits inside the Indiana State Museum.

Hes spent all day blowing off dust from books and papers.

Its something he dearly enjoys and a loving part of his job as a filmmaker.

Research is key to his projects, and he often spends months or even years deep diving into a subject.

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His film, Ernie Pyle: Life in the Trenches, will be broadcast on New Mexico PBS at 10 p.m. Sunday, May 9, on Channel 5.1.

Ernie is pretty fascinating, Gould says. He wanted to tell personal stories of his subjects and became famous for that.

More than 75 years after his death, famed World War II correspondent Pyle remains one of the most accomplished and beloved journalists in American history.

Ernie Pyle: Life in the Trenches examines the external and internal battles of Pyles life, from his coverage of soldiers fighting on the European and Pacific fronts of World War II to his struggles with alcoholism, depression and a troubled marriage.

The film follows Pyle from his beginnings as a cub reporter in northern Indiana to his travels across the U.S. covering the Great Depression, and finally, to his firsthand reports from the foxholes alongside American troops during World War II.

At the height of his popularity during World War II, 40 million people read Pyles dispatches from the front lines of the war, often told from the perspective of the common U.S. soldier.

The documentary reveals that through some of the darkest chapters in Americas history, the Great Depression and World War II, the voice of Ernie Pyle became the voice of the American people  a voice of promise, grit, and determination. It also steps on the life he built in Albuquerque.

The film is narrated by Emmy award-winning journalist and former CBS News anchor Dan Rather.

Actor Jonathan Banks  from TV series Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul  gives voice to Pyle and his most acclaimed writings and personal correspondence to his closest friends and family.

Ernie didnt really stick in one place for too long, Gould says.

Pyle grew up in a small town in Indiana, and he couldnt stand the thought of becoming a farmer.

He headed to Indiana University, although he left before graduating.

Within a couple years of leaving college, hes telling stories of every day Americans doing extraordinary things, Gould says. It was something people could relate to. When he went off to war, he was telling the stories of the privates that were up on the front lines. That was his beat.

Gould says a lot of people know Pyle for his war correspondent work because it was effective and powerful.

He wanted the documentary to show all facets of Pyles life.

My challenge was to try and track his entire career, Gould says. As I got to know more about his personal life, I found his personal demons, and he was trying to negotiate that as well as he could. He had depression and was a heavy drinker and smoker. His wife had some mental health issues, and he was trying to cope with that. People didnt see that challenge.

Gould says Pyle worked to balance the back-and-forth between war zones  both professionally and personally.

His life was filled with anxiety and pain, he says. But he was such a prolific writer, readers couldnt really tell.

Gould says that although Pyle was also a vagabond, he found solace in New Mexico, specifically Albuquerque.

I think it says something about Albuquerque that there is this man who went to every state in the U.S. and all over the world, he says. He chose the one place to have an actual home to settle down, and it was Albuquerque. That says a lot about the landscape and the people. He fell in love with New Mexico.

Pyles house at 900 Girard SE became the Ernie Pyle Library and is a National Historic Landmark.

There is also an elementary school that bears his name in Albuquerque.

On April 29, the film picked up four Lower Great Lakes Chapter regional Emmy nominations.

Its been a lot of years of work, Gould says. These nominations are the cherry on top of what has been an amazing project.

ON TV

Ernie Pyle: Life in the Trenches will air at 10 p.m. Sunday, May 9, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1. It will stream on the PBS Video app after the broadcast.
The HSE has written to maternity hospitals advising them it is time to lift visiting restrictions for partners of pregnant women, the head of the HSE has said.

Maternity hospitals have been criticised for the slow pace of easing restrictions despite vaccination and falling caseloads, but have now been advised to increase access.

This would ease limits for partners from just attending the anomaly scan, active labour, and neonatal units to normal access.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid said: We believe the conditions are right that restrictions should be lifted.

If hospitals cannot yet comply, they will be asked to communicate this clearly to women.

Mr Reid also said he is more hopeful now than at anytime since the pandemic started, and praised the hard work of the public as well the vaccination impact.

He said: I think the public can have greater assurance. We are seeing benefits for the medically vulnerable, I think people can look forward with greater confidence.

However he continue to appeal to school-goers to stay home if they have symptoms of Covid-19.

Referring to the great sacrifices young people have made, he said public health teams have reported far too often the source of a school outbreak is a symptomatic student.

Looking at the vaccination roll-out, he said they are on track to reach their target this week, with Friday the busiest day so far of the roll-out at 45,000 doses given.

They expect this week to deliver between 250,000 and 270,000 doses. There are now 2,000 vaccinators working alongside HSE teams, and a further 2,000 in the recruitment pipeline.

There are 436,000 people registered on the portal, with 63% of those aged 65 to 69 with their first dose.

Vaccination starts for the over-50s next week, with 100,000 expected according to Damian McCallion, national lead on vaccines.

Vaccination using the single-shot Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine started on Thursday. A HSE-run clinic is expected to vaccinate 700 homeless people over two weeks.

Mr Reid said their request to Government for flexibility in the rollout is based on wanting to keep the pace and momentum going, we have put it together on the basis of utilising all available vaccines through May and June.

Pharmacies

He added: We have used GPs, vaccination centres, we do see pharmacies as part of the plan moving forward."

So far 800 pharmacies have signed up for the programme. Mr McCallion said the plan was to use AstraZeneca and J&J in pharmacies, but this may be adjusted depending on the advice received this week.

Increasing Covid-19 case numbers in counties like Cork which previously had very low numbers is a sign vigilance is still needed, chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said.

He said concerns about low numbers registering for vaccines have been unfounded, saying the numbers so far are astonishingly high numbers compared to the uptake of the flu vaccines.

Chief operations officer Anne OConnor said there are outbreaks in just five nursing homes this week. There were no new outbreaks last week.

Non-Covid care

Ms OConnor said non-Covid care is returning.

"We are seeing that our cancer services now are operating at full belt," she said.

But she warned there is an ongoing increase in demand on emergency departments. She highlighted growing trolley numbers in Cork University Hospital and Galway University Hospital.

That coupled with the Covid position is very challenging in some of our acute sites at the minute, she said.
Angola, IN (46703)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

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Thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low around 65F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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NEW YORK  Medical student Natty Jumreornvong has a vaccine and protective gear to shield her from the coronavirus. But she couldnt avoid exposure to the anti-Asian bigotry that pulsed to the surface after the pathogen was first identified in China.

Psychiatry patients have called her by a racist slur for the disease, she said. A bystander spat at the Thai-born student to go back to China as she left a New York City hospital where shes training.

And as she walked there in scrubs Feb. 15, a man came up to her, snarled Chinese virus, took her cellphone and dragged her on a sidewalk, said Jumreornvong, who reported the attack to police. The investigation is ongoing.

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For health care workers of Asian and Pacific Islander descent, it seems like were fighting multiple battles at the same time  not just COVID-19, but also racism, says Jumreornvong, a student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have faced a tide of harassment and attacks in many settings during the pandemic. But those in health care are feeling the particular, jarring anguish of being racially targeted because of the virus while toiling to keep people from dying of it.

People in my community have gone from being a health care hero to, somehow, a scapegoat, said Dr. Michelle Lee, a radiology resident in New York. She rallied 100 white-coat-clad medical workers in March to denounce anti-Asian hate crimes.

Were not bringing you the virus, said Lee, who recalls strangers on the street spitting on her twice in the last year. We are literally trying to help you get rid of the virus.

People of Asian and Pacific Islander descent make up about 6% to 8% of the U.S. population but a greater share of some health care professions, including around 20% of non-surgeon physicians and pharmacists and 12% to 15% of surgeons, physical therapists and physician assistants, according to federal statistics.

Before the pandemic, studies found that 31% to 50% of doctors of Asian heritage experienced on-the-job discrimination ranging from patients refusing their care to difficulty finding mentors. Thats a lower proportion than Black physicians, but higher than Hispanic and white doctors, according to a 2020 study that reviewed existing research. In a separate 2020 study of medical residents, all those of Asian heritage said patients had quizzed them about their ethnicity.

Columbia University medical student Hueyjong Huey Shih recalls being confronted with a lot of assumptions, all boiled into one very inappropriate question from a colleague in a hospital: Was Shih an only child because of Chinas former one-child policy?

The Maryland-born Shih, whose family hails from Taiwan, said the colleague apologized after being set straight. Writing in the health news site Stat, he and medical students Jesper Ke and Kate E. Lee implored health institutions to include Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders experiences in anti-racism training.

For generations, Asian Americans have contended with being perceived as perpetual foreigners in a country with a history of treating them as threats. Officials wrongly blamed San Franciscos Chinatown for an 1870s smallpox outbreak, barred many Chinese immigrants under the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and forced Japanese Americans into internment camps even as tens of thousands of their relatives served in the U.S. military during World War II.

During the pandemic, former President Donald Trump repeatedly called COVID-19 the China virus and by other terms that activists say fanned anger at Asian Americans.

Police reports of anti-Asian hate crimes in 26 big U.S. cities and counties shot up 146% last year, while hate crimes overall rose 2%, according to California State University, San Bernardinos Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism. The advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate fielded nearly 3,800 reports of assault, harassment and discrimination from mid-March 2020 through the end of February  before a gunman killed eight people, including six of Asian heritage, at Atlanta-area massage businesses in March.

The statistics dont break out health care workers among the victims.

The escalation makes racism seem a lot scarier than the virus to Dr. Amy Zhang, an anesthesiology resident at the University of Washingtons hospitals.

Its a constant fear. You never know when youre going to get targeted, she says.

Early in the pandemic, she came face-to-face with the risk of COVID-19 while intubating patients. And face-to-face with racism when a white man on the street muttered a vulgarity at her about China and giving us smallpox, then started following her while yelling racial epithets and sexual threats until she got inside the hospital, she said.

Despite the fact that I clawed myself out of poverty to chase the American dream, despite the fact that I can and have saved lives under stressful conditions, none of this protects me from racist vitriol, Zhang wrote in Crosscut, a Pacific Northwest news site. Shes a daughter of Chinese immigrants who worked long hours for low wages.

These days, New York physician assistant student Ida Chen carries pepper spray all the time, sets her cellphone to let all her friends know her location and doesnt roam far alone. For a time, she hid the roots of her dark brown hair under a hat so only the dyed blonde ends would show.

She started taking those precautions after a man biked up to her on a Manhattan street in March 2020 and sneered that hed be into you, but I dont want to get the coronavirus, then followed her while hollering slurs until she called 911, she said.

I went into medicine thinking: I treat people with the best intention possible, said Chen, who has Chinese heritage. It hurts that someones not reciprocating that kind of empathy and good intentions.

Chen and some others say the Georgia shootings propelled them to speak out about what they see as longtime minimization of anti-Asian racism.

The whole reason I became a doctor is to help my community, says Lee, a daughter of South Korean immigrants with no other physicians in the family. If I dont speak up for my community, what have they sacrificed  done everything theyve done  for?

Jumreornvong, who identifies as queer, said she had experienced discrimination before. But it felt different to be targeted because of her race, and in a country where she pictured the American dream as trying to make it a better place for everyone and yourself.

For a moment, I was a little pessimistic about whether or not the people want me here, she said. But she focused on how colleagues rallied around her, how the hospital expressed support, how patients have shown appreciation for her work.

I still do believe in the best of America, she said.
September trial set for Minnesota man charged with vehicular homicide

A September trial has been set in a case connected to a fatal crash in Watertown from 2019.
A Cork GP has described a gradual rise in Covid-19 cases as "a concern" and has urged people to remain vigilant around guidelines.

It comes as new figures show that a number of areas across both the city and county have seen an increase in Covid-19 cases.

Last night, 42 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Cork bringing the number of cases reported in the county in the past 14 days to 440.

Dr. Mary Favier. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Speaking to the Echo, Cork GP and Covid-19 Adviser to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), Dr. Mary Favier noted the importance of sticking to public health guidelines.

Its a concern across many counties in the last week in terms of a week-on-week increase in the five-day moving average and the 14-day incidence. So, its just to remind people how infectious this disease is, how were almost there.and to be really careful around the things they know so well and so easily forget in terms of hand hygiene and masks and distancing.

She said that anticipating the relaxation of the rules may have caused people to get ahead of the relaxation of the rules.

The cases in Cork have been low for a very long time so I think were probably patting ourselves on the back a little bit, she added.

Need for caution

Dr Nuala O'Connor.

Cork GP and ICGP Clinical Lead on Covid-19, Dr Nuala OConnor, said that while there is a huge amount of positives when looking at the overall picture of Covid-19 in Ireland, at the same time we must be careful not to become complacent.

Cork GP Dr John Sheehan said that an increase in case numbers was anticipated with a return to school and an increase in movement.

However, he noted that while the number of Covid-19 cases are creeping up the number of hospitalisations is not increasing.

Although the numbers are creeping up, they are mainly creeping up in young people which obviously isnt ideal, but at least we know from the data that the rate of serious illness amongst young people and the rate of hospitalisation among young people is much, much lower.

I think thats being reflected in the number of people being admitted to hospital isnt very high although the number of people with Covid is creeping up.

Dr. John Sheehan. Picture Dan Linehan

He said that the increase in cases makes the case for a cautious reopening as planned.

I think it really makes the case for a cautious reopening and having a brake if needs be, where they can put a brake on the reopening, he said.

By doing this slowly it also allows us to see and to track the increase in rate and put a brake on it if necessary but also as each week is moving, the total number of people being vaccinated is increasing and that is reducing our overall risk, he added.

Where are cases being reported in Cork?

According to the latest figures, one Local Electoral Area (LEA) in Cork has recorded a 14-day Covid-19 incidence rate per 100,000 population that is higher than the current national rate.

The data, for the 14-days up to May 3, shows the national 14-day incidence rate currently stands at 134.1.

The Midleton LEA, which includes the town of Youghal, reported a rate of 189.3 with 86 cases of Covid-19 recorded.

Last week, the rate stood at 118.8 with 54 cases. This was a significant increase when compared to previous figures.

The Cork City South West LEA had the second-highest incidence rate this week at 127.5 with 60 new cases in the area which was an increase of 40 cases when compared to last week.

The Cork City South Central LEA also saw an increase in cases this week, recording an incidence rate of 100.9 compared to 25.9 last week.

There were 39 new cases in the area according to the latest data.

The Fermoy LEA had an incidence rate of 74.2 this week with 27 cases compared to 25 cases and a rate of 68.7 last week.

The Cobh LEA had the second-highest incidence rate last week and this week recorded a rate of 73.3 with 25 cases of Covid-19 in what was a slight decrease in cases.

The Carrigaline LEA also a significant increase in the number of confirmed cases as 25 were recorded this week, increasing the incidence rate from 17.1 to 71.1.

The Cork City South East LEA reported a rate of 67.8 and 29 cases while the Cork City North West LEA had a rate of 67.2 which was the same as last week.

The Mallow LEA reported an incidence rate of 44.6 with 13 new cases while the Cork City North East LEAs rate stood at 37.9.

The Bandon-Kinsale LEA recorded 13 cases this week and an incidence rate of 34.9 compared to 13.4 last week.

The Macroom LEA had eight new cases and a rate of 21.7.

The Skibbereen-West Cork LEA recorded five Covid-19 cases this week and an incidence rate of 16.5. The area had less than five cases last week.

The Kanturk LEA and the Bantry-West Cork LEA again recorded less than five cases.
Employees of Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) say they have were blindsided with a 33 1/3 per cent pay cut in their salaries.

While some workers were under the impression the cut was supposed to occur next fortnight, many were unprepared for managements move.

One employee told the Express yesterday while talk was being bandied about a few days ago with regard to the pay cut, she thought more notice would have been given to staff since globally theres a pandemic. I am hurt and disappointed.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Canadian Barista Institute has partnered with French Press Coffee Roasters, Barista Canada and Keffa Coffee to raise awareness and funds for the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre in R. Michael Ratcliffes name.



It was 2 years ago on May 9th, 2019 when we lost our energetic, thoughtful and inspiring dear friend far too early. We hope you will join us to remember Michael Ratcliffes friendship and continue to celebrate his legacy!

How the Fundraiser Works

The French Press Coffee Roasters are generously donating their time as well as the coffee beans. The Canadian Barista Institute and Barista Canada will match dollar for dollar the money raised to bring awareness to the Downtown Eastside Womens Centres good works in Michaels name.

The Coffees

The 1st 250 gram bag, "From Harrar to Eternity'' featuring Harrar Mesela, a Naturally processed coffee from the Harrar region of Ethiopia. The title of this coffee comes from one of Michaels many puns based around the song by Nick Cave From Her To Eternity. From Harrar to Eternity is super tasty when prepared for filter pour over or espresso coffee.

The 2nd 250 gram bag The Jackie Gleason Drip, features another coffee from Ethiopia. The Jackie Gleason Drip is a washed coffee from Limu Gera that is bright and juicy. Michael often thought of himself as a modern day Jackie Gleason, hence this homage to both superb gentlemen.

We will fundraise until May 16th, 2021 after which the coffee will be roasted and shipped out shortly thereafter.

Please visit https://www.fpcoffeeroasters.com/shop-1/michael-ratcliffe-memorial-fundraiser to make your purchase-donation. Thank you!

Artwork on the coffee bags by Catherine Gauthier aka Coffee Mommy
WESTPORT, Conn., May 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HMG Strategy, the Worlds #1 digital platform for enabling technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world, is excited to be hosting its 2021 HMG Live! Washington, D.C. CIO Executive Leadership Summit on May 11. HMG Strategys highly interactive digital events bring together the worlds most distinguished and innovative business technology leaders to discuss the most pressing leadership, strategic, cultural, technology and career challenges and opportunities that technology executives face today  and into the future.



The 2021 HMG Live! Washington, D.C. CIO Executive Leadership Summit will focus on how CIOs and tech leaders can help the CEO and line-of-business leaders identify new opportunities in core, parallel and new markets, along with identifying what the future of work looks like- including providing the infrastructure and tools needed to help support a new way of working.

As vaccines are reaching millions of people and regional economies are beginning to open, CIOs and technology leaders need to look for innovative ways to accelerate revenues and profits by reimagining and reinventing the business with the executive team, said Hunter Muller, President and CEO of HMG Strategy.

HMG Strategy is also excited to have special guest speaker and bestselling author Stephen M.R. Covey share his insights on why a high-trust culture can operate with greater efficiency and at less cost along with recommendations for CIOs and technology executives to cultivate trust with the CEO, the Board and across the organization.

Top-tier CIOs and technology executives speaking at this event will include:

Bharat Amin , Executive Vice President & CIO, Huntington Ingalls Industries

, Executive Vice President & CIO, Huntington Ingalls Industries Judith Apshago , VP IT, Corporate and Operations Technologies, Amtrak

, VP IT, Corporate and Operations Technologies, Amtrak Tyler Best , SVP & CIO, Adient

, SVP & CIO, Adient Vince Campisi , SVP, Enterprise Services & Chief Digital Officer, Raytheon Technologies

, SVP, Enterprise Services & Chief Digital Officer, Raytheon Technologies Michael Cannon , CTO, Stafford County, VA

, CTO, Stafford County, VA Francisco Fraga , Chief Technology and Information Officer, Campbell Soup Company

, Chief Technology and Information Officer, Campbell Soup Company Neil Green , SVP and Chief Digital Officer, OTIS

, SVP and Chief Digital Officer, OTIS Kristie Grinnell , Global CIO & Chief Supply Chain Officer, VP, General Dynamics IT

, Global CIO & Chief Supply Chain Officer, VP, General Dynamics IT Mike Huthwaite , Founder & CIO at Large, Huthwaite & Associates

, Founder & CIO at Large, Huthwaite & Associates Stuart Kippelman , CIO, Parsons Corporation

, CIO, Parsons Corporation Israel Martinez , Industry Advisor, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

, Industry Advisor, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Quintin McGrath , Senior Managing Director, Technology Management & Enablement, Global Technology Services, Deloitte

, Senior Managing Director, Technology Management & Enablement, Global Technology Services, Deloitte Boyden Rohner , Associate Director for Vulnerability Management, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

, Associate Director for Vulnerability Management, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Chris Stettler, CIO, Euclid Systems Corporation

Valued partners for the 2021 HMG Live! Washington, D.C. CIO Executive Leadership Summit on May 11 will include Auth0, BetterCloud, Darktrace, Forescout Technologies, Globant, Horizon3.ai, Illumio, Ivanti, PagerDuty, Okta, RingCentral, SafeGuard Cyber, SIM Capital Area Chapter, Skybox Security, Sonatype, and Zscaler.

To learn more about the 2021 HMG Live! Washington, D.C. CIO Executive Leadership Summit on May 11 and to register for the event, click here .

HMG Strategy will also be hosting its 2021 HMG Live! Portland CIO Executive Leadership Summit on May 25. Timely topics explored at this event will include the unique insights that female technology executives can offer in terms of reimagining the business and fostering a more inclusive and connected culture, and how CISOs can best communicate looming cyber threats and articulate where funding is needed most with the CEO and the Board.

Prominent technology executives speaking at this event will include:

Selim Aissi , SVP & CISO, ICE Mortgage Company

, SVP & CISO, ICE Mortgage Company Richard Appleyard , PhD, President, Portland SIM; CIO, Oregon State Police

, PhD, President, Portland SIM; CIO, Oregon State Police Nishant Bhajaria , Global Head of Privacy Engineering and Analytics, Uber

, Global Head of Privacy Engineering and Analytics, Uber Stephanie Franklin-Thomas , VP, CISO, ABM

, VP, CISO, ABM Jimmy Godard , SVP, Program Manager, Global Technology & Operations Bank of America

, SVP, Program Manager, Global Technology & Operations Bank of America Reet Kaur , CISO, Portland Community College

, CISO, Portland Community College John Kochavatr , VP, Information Technology and Supply Chain, Portland General Electric

, VP, Information Technology and Supply Chain, Portland General Electric Robert Mansell , Principal Technical Fellow, Catalyte

, Principal Technical Fellow, Catalyte Dr. Lee David Mulligan , SVP & CIO, Asante Health System

, SVP & CIO, Asante Health System Deb Muro , CIO, RN, CHCIO, El Camino Health

, CIO, RN, CHCIO, El Camino Health Michelle Soares , VP of Technology, Portland Trail Blazers

, VP of Technology, Portland Trail Blazers Christa Stout , SVP Innovation & Technology, Portland Trail Blazers

, SVP Innovation & Technology, Portland Trail Blazers Cara Turano , Chief Operating Officer, Technology Association of Oregon

, Chief Operating Officer, Technology Association of Oregon Saby Waraich , Director of Marketing, Portland SIM; CIO, Clackamas Community College

, Director of Marketing, Portland SIM; CIO, Clackamas Community College Kate Winkler, CEO, Ruby



Valued partners for the 2021 HMG Live! Portland CIO Executive Leadership Summit to be held on May 25 will include Auth0, BetterCloud, Darktrace, DataStax, Forescout Technologies, Globant, Horizon3.ai, Illumio, Ivanti, OutSystems, PagerDuty, RingCentral, SafeGuard Cyber, SIM Portland, Skybox Security, Sonatype, Starburst, and Zscaler.

To learn more about HMG Strategys 2021 HMG Live! Portland CIO Executive Leadership Summit and to register for the event, click here.

HMG Strategys 2021 HMG Live! Denver CIO Executive Leadership Summit will be held on May 26. Timely topics explored at this event will include successful approaches used by CIOs and technology executives to lead their teams to a brighter future; the unique insights from top-tier tech executives from the public sector about designing citizen-focused digital experiences; along with how advanced technologies are enabling competitive differentiation and speed to market.

Top-tier CIOs and technology executives speaking at this event will include:

Bhavani Amirthalingam , SVP, Chief Digital Information Officer, Ameren

, SVP, Chief Digital Information Officer, Ameren David Bessen , Director and CIO, Arapahoe County Government

, Director and CIO, Arapahoe County Government Rodney Fullmer , CTO, Global Services, Arrow Electronics, Inc.

, CTO, Global Services, Arrow Electronics, Inc. Chandy Ghosh , COO & General Manager, Inteliquent, Inc.

, COO & General Manager, Inteliquent, Inc. Jeffrey Grayson , CIO, Xanterra Travel Collection

, CIO, Xanterra Travel Collection Emily Heath , Chief Trust & Security Officer, DocuSign

, Chief Trust & Security Officer, DocuSign Stephen Katsirubas , CIO, Hunter Douglas

, CIO, Hunter Douglas Brian Krail , VP IT Services, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts

, VP IT Services, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts Pam Kubiatowski , Sr. Director of Digital Transformation, Zscaler

, Sr. Director of Digital Transformation, Zscaler Sam Masiello , CISO, Gates Corporation

, CISO, Gates Corporation Jeff Miller , CIO, Honeywell Quantum Solutions, Honeywell

, CIO, Honeywell Quantum Solutions, Honeywell Mark Pfaffinger , CIO, Larimer County

, CIO, Larimer County David Politis , Founder and CEO, BetterCloud

, Founder and CEO, BetterCloud AJ Rodrigues , General Manager IT Transformation, Delta Airlines

, General Manager IT Transformation, Delta Airlines Jenny Schiavone , CMO, City & County of Denver

, CMO, City & County of Denver Mike Wade , SVP, Global Technology and PMO, Terumo BCT

, SVP, Global Technology and PMO, Terumo BCT Steve Winterfeld, Advisory CISO, Akamai



Valued partners for the 2021 HMG Live! Denver CIO Executive Leadership Summit held on May 26 will include Auth0, BetterCloud, Darktrace, Forescout Technologies, Globant, Horizon3.ai, Illumio, Ivanti, OutSystems, PagerDuty, RingCentral, SafeGuard Cyber, SIM Colorado, Skybox Security, Sonatype, Starburst, and Zscaler.

To learn more about HMG Strategys 2021 HMG Live! Denver CIO Executive Leadership Summit and to register for the event, click here .

To learn about HMG Strategys upcoming CIO and CISO Summits, click here .

HMG STRATEGYS 2021 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE AWARDS

The HMG Strategy 2021 Global Leadership Institute Awards honor exemplary technology leaders and leadership teams who are delivering exceptional value to their organizations. This award recognizes those who have reimagined and reinvented themselves to place their organizations on the fast track to groundbreaking transformation in dynamic times. Technology executives and their teams who receive these awards are being recognized for accomplishments in the following areas: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Leading into the C-suite; Creating New Go-to-Market Business Models; Modernizing Enterprise Architecture; and Building a Culture of Trust.

At the 2021 HMG Live! St. Louis CIO Executive Leadership Summit on April 20, HMG Strategy recognized the following technology executives for their exceptional contributions to their organizations and to the industry:

Peter Hogan , CTO, Post Holdings

, CTO, Post Holdings Matthew Modica , VP & CISO, BJC Healthcare

, VP & CISO, BJC Healthcare Dr. Nalini Polavarapu, Head of Data Science - Customer Centricity, Bayer Crop Science



To learn more about HMG Strategys 2021 Global Leadership Institute Awards and to nominate a deserving executive, click here.

UPCOMING WEBINARS & DIGITAL ROUNDTABLES

On May 12, HMG Strategy will be hosting a digital roundtable powered by Code42 on Tackling Insider Risk Without Slowing Down the Business. In this interactive roundtable discussion, speakers Max Chan, CIO at Avnet, Greg Petersen, Senior Director of IT Security at Avanade and Mark Wojtasiak, Vice President of Portfolio Marketing, Research and Strategy at Code42 will explore how the transition to a work-from-anywhere environment has given rise to an increase in insider risk. Well also explore the steps that CISOs and CIOs can take to address these risks without slowing down the business.

To learn more about this roundtable and to register for this interactive discussion, click here.

On May 13, HMG Strategy will be hosting a digital roundtable powered by SafeGuard Cyber on Tackling the Security Gaps in Your Digital Ecosystem. In this interactive roundtable discussion, Otavio Freire, CTO and Co-Founder at SafeGuard Cyber, Christopher Hetner, Former SEC Chair and Senior Cybersecurity Advisor to the SEC, Shadaab Kanwal, Executive Leader of Digital, Data and Analytics Services at Charles Schwab, Ajoy Kumar, Head of IT Risk Analysis and Reporting at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation and Jennifer Showers, Global Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer at InvestCloud will discuss the security and compliance risks posed by new communications channels and how best to address them.

To learn more about this roundtable and to register for this interactive discussion, click here.

To learn more about HMG Strategys distinctive executive roundtables and webinars, click here.

ABOUT HMG Strategy

HMG Strategy is the world's leading digital platform for connecting technology executives to reimagine the enterprise and reshape the business world. Our regional and virtual CIO and CISO Executive Leadership Series, authored books and Digital Resource Center deliver unique, peer-driven research from CIOs, CISOs, CTOs and technology executives on leadership, innovation, transformation and career ascent. HMG Strategy also produces the HMG Security Innovation Accelerator Panel, a new webinar series thats designed to connect enterprise CISOs and security leaders with the most innovative cybersecurity companies from across the world.

The HMG Strategy global network consists of over 400,000 senior IT executives, industry experts and world-class thought leaders.

To learn more about the 7 Pillars of Trust for HMG Strategy's unique business model, click here.

Tom Hoffman

203-221-2702

TomHoffman@hmgstrategy.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/771b09cf-ef58-48e1-8374-637334b52b0d




The top diplomats of South Korea and Britain have agreed to reinforce cooperation on equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, climate change and the expansion of bilateral exchanges during their talks near London, the foreign ministry said Friday.







The agreement came during a strategic dialogue between Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong and his British counterpart, Dominic Raab, in the London suburb of Kent on Thursday, the day after a Group of Seven ministerial session ended.







"The two ministers shared the view that beyond bilateral cooperation, the strengthening of international cooperation, including at the G7 level, is crucial to address pending global issues, including climate change and responses to COVID-19," the ministry said in a press release.







"They agreed to make joint efforts to strengthen international solidarity and cooperation for the equitable distribution of vaccines and to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic," it added.







The two sides also agreed to strengthen collaboration to ensure that South Korea and Britain can successfully host their respective global forums  the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) summit set for May 30-31 and the U.N. Climate Change Conference slated to take place from Nov. 1-12 in Glasgow.







In addition, they agreed to continue strengthening their countries' cooperation in the post-Brexit era by faithfully implementing a bilateral free trade agreement signed in August 2019. (Yonhap)


China says the upper stage of its Long March 5B rocket that launched the core module of its space station will mostly burn up on re-entry, posing little threat to people and property on the ground.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbing said Chinese authorities will release information about the re-entry of the rocket, expected over the weekend, in a timely manner.

He said China pays great attention to the re-entry of the upper stage of the rocket into the atmosphere.

As far as I understand, this type of rocket adopts a special technical design, and the vast majority of the devices will be burnt up and destructed during the re-entry process, which has a very low probability of causing harm to aviation activities and the ground, Mr Wang said.

The largest section of the rocket that launched the main module of Chinas first permanent space station is expected to plunge back to Earth as early as Saturday at an unknown location.

The core module of Chinas space station (Guo Wenbin/Xinhua/AP)

Discarded rocket stages usually re-enter the atmosphere soon after lift-off, normally over water, and do not go into orbit.

Chinas space agency has yet to say whether the main stage of the huge Long March 5B rocket is being controlled or will make an out-of-control descent.

Last May, another Chinese rocket fell uncontrolled into the Atlantic Ocean off west Africa.

The Communist Party newspaper Global Times said the stages thin-skinned aluminium-alloy exterior will easily burn up in the atmosphere, posing an extremely remote risk to people.

The US Defence Department expects the rocket stage to fall to Earth on Saturday, but the Pentagon said where it will hit cannot be pinpointed until within hours of its re-entry.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said US Space Command was aware of and tracking the location of the rocket.

The Aerospace Corporation expects the debris to hit the Pacific near the Equator after passing over eastern US cities. Its orbit covers a stretch of the planet from New Zealand to Newfoundland.

The Long March 5B rocket carried the main module of Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, into orbit on April 29.

China plans 10 more launches to carry additional parts of the space station into orbit.

The roughly 100ft stage would be among the biggest space debris to fall to Earth.

The 18-ton rocket that fell last May was the heaviest to fall uncontrolled since the former Soviet space station Salyut 7 in 1991.

Chinas first space station, Tiangong-1, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 2016 after Beijing confirmed it had lost control.

In 2019, the space agency controlled the demolition of its second station, Tiangong-2, in the atmosphere.

In March, debris from a Falcon 9 rocket launched by US aeronautics company SpaceX fell to Earth in Washington state and on the Oregon coast.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/07/2021



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Andrew Kenton has accused his ex Amira Lollysa of "outright" lying about being pressured to have a baby right away and receiving a notification he was back on a dating website shortly after their breakup.Andrew essentially conducted a Tell-All of his own by recently responding to Amira Lollysa's shocking Season 8 Tell-All allegations , including that they broke up because Andrew allegedly demanded she get pregnant immediately after her move to the United States."The breakup had absolutely nothing to do with that," Andrew claimed in a lengthy video interview with In Touch Weekly."I do get a little offended when it comes to that particular [accusation]."On 's Season 8 Tell-All that aired on TLC last month, Amira participated via videochat from France and claimed, "The last day of my quarantine in Serbia, Andrew decided that I have to get pregnant as soon as I arrive in the U.S. Otherwise, he's not going to get married to me."Amira said that while she wants to have children, she didn't want to be under such pressure.But Andrew, a daycare owner and operator from California, insisted, "I'm rich with kids in my life and that had absolutely nothing to do with children.""The real fight actually manifested the day of when she was supposed to get on the plane," Andrew recalled."I was basically given a phone call by production and they were telling me, 'Oh Andrew, we can't pay Amira because she's asking for money and she has this agent who is... emailing in and saying that she wants money if she's going to continue to film and do this thing.'"Andrew said it was "heartbreaking to literally hear that on the day she's supposed to get on a plane."Andrew therefore claimed the "nature" of their "final fight had nothing to do with kids.""But [it] had everything to do with the fact she had acquired representation without really ever talking to me or anybody else," Andrew told In Touch.Amira also told cameras during the Tell-All that shortly after she left Serbia -- where she quarantined for two weeks with the hope of then flying to America to reunite with Andrew amid the coronavirus pandemic -- she learned that Andrew was already trying to move on."I come back to France after Serbia's nightmare and I see he's back on the dating site where he met me," Amira told the Tell-All host Shaun Robinson , who then replied, "That was fast."Amira claimed she had received a notification about Andrew's activity on the dating website, and she vented, "That makes me sick!"Andrew, however, said that information was wildly misrepresented."I was on the dating site weeks after she returned to France," Andrew alleged, "and so, her presenting it as 'so quickly' is a misrepresentation, but also the way in which she found out about it was a misrepresentation."Andrew claimed he had told production that he was on the dating website again and Amira never had access to that email exchange."For her to claim she received any notification is an outright lie," Andrew said."It was from production feeding to her essentially that I was on the site, because I was open about that with them. I'm not on the site anymore but I was for a very brief period of time after the breakup."Amira then revealed on the Tell-All that she was left heartbroken from her relationship with Andrew and it took her some time before she could begin dating again."But now I am finally happy again and I am in love with someone!" Amira gushed. "I think this man is the love of my life. I think he's my Mr. Right... He's from the U.S."Amira and Andrew were definitely on bad terms when they filmed the Tell-All event.Amira even refused to participate as long as Andrew was in the same room. Andrew seemed desperate to talk things out with Amira and share his side of the story, but Amira stood her ground.Amira told producers at the time that she was "scared" of Andrew because he had yelled and screamed at her and their relationship had been "toxic."Amira said Andrew didn't deserve her attention, adding, "I will not give him the pleasure to control me again ever in my whole life. When he talks to me, he makes me feel guilty about everything."Andrew therefore stormed off the set and said he wouldn't speak his mind if Amira wasn't willing to listen to or engage him.Amira said she last talked to Andrew when he had asked for the engagement ring back. Amira claimed not only did she return her diamond ring, but she also sent gifts to him and his family members and they allegedly never said "thank you.""If she was expecting a 'thank you' for that, I am willing to talk," Andrew told the magazine. "We were willing to communicate; she was the one that didn't want to communicate in that regard. So it's very confusing."When asked why he believes their storyline on portrayed Amira in the more positive light, Andrew replied, "I think that I ultimately do look more villainous and come off as more aggressive.""To a viewing audience, it's an easier thing to assume me as a villain than it is to assume her as a villain... It becomes easier to assume I'm the one perpetrating all of these things," Andrew said.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage!
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexicos lower-emitting oil and natural gas sites would no longer be exempt from proposed ozone regulations under the final proposed rules unveiled by the state Environment Department on Thursday.

NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said public input and emissions modeling drove the major change from the agencys draft rules introduced last summer.

From a science-based perspective, as well as a public health perspective and an environmental perspective, it was the right thing to do to focus on including those wells in our rule, Kenney told reporters.

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All operators would need to calculate emissions and have a professional engineer certify that data under the proposal.

Oil and gas companies would need to find and fix equipment leaks at least once a month, and fix the problems within 15 days.

NMED and Environmental Protection Agency data from Permian Basin flyovers in 2020 showed that oil and gas storage tanks and flares were leaking at higher rates than in 2019.

Its clear that self-policing is not the answer, Kenney said.

The proposed rules target industry equipment that emits volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides.

The pollutants are the main ingredients in ozone, a gas that worsens respiratory issues.

American Lung Association data released last month shows that Eddy County is one of only two rural U.S. counties to rank in the top 25 most polluted places for ozone pollution.

Lea, Sandoval and San Juan counties also earned failing grades for ozone pollution.

NMED attributes the states ozone problem to oil and gas extraction, and vehicle emissions.

Texas and Mexicos drifting pollution also contributes to New Mexicos high ozone levels.

NMED estimates the rules would reduce the ozone-causing pollutants by about 129,000 tons each year  an emissions reduction equivalent to taking 8 million cars off the road.

The rules could also reduce as much as 425,000 tons of the greenhouse gas methane.

Enforcing the rules at thousands of well sites could be a balancing act for the agencys seven inspectors.

Were not just going to throw our hands up and say we cant do anything, Kenney said. We need to invest in the technologies that ensure compliance.

The states enforcement efforts may include more flyovers with EPA, infrared drones and vans that monitor industry pollution at ground level.

Data from the Energy, Minerals and Resources Departments new gas capture requirement could also help NMED determine whether an operator is following the rules.

Operators who dont comply could be fined.

Exceptions for low-emitting stripper wells and other sites had drawn criticism from environmental groups before the NMED reversal in the final proposal.

Nathalie Eddy, an Earthworks field advocate for New Mexico and Colorado, said the revisions promise a greater level of protection for communities near production sites.

Swift and bold action on a strong final rule is necessary to rein in dangerous oil and gas pollution that puts community health and our climate at risk, Eddy said.

Bigger polluters would face more stringent requirements.

Control devices, enhanced leak detection technology and shorter repair deadlines could be mandatory for those operators under the proposed rules.

Oil and gas companies have provided state agencies with input and technical data about emissions and current technology since NMED began the regulatory process nearly two years ago.

Leland Gould, chairman of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, said industry experts will work with NMED to encourage greater innovation and cost-effective solutions, consistent with other regulatory requirements.

New Mexico should be a leader in responsible energy development, Gould said, And an appropriate regulatory framework will allow oil and natural gas to continue to deliver enormous fiscal and economic benefits to all New Mexicans, while reducing emissions, safeguarding natural resources and improving our environment.

The regulations would apply to 50,000 wells, and oil and gas sites on federal, state and private land in the high-ozone counties of Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Lea, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan and Valencia.

NMED doesnt have authority to regulate operations on tribal land.

An NMED board will consider the proposed rules some time this fall.

If approved, the regulations would likely go into effect in spring 2022.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
TEL AVIV - Tension is rising in East Jerusalem where police last night arrested 15 people after clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah. The officers, according to media reports, intervened after the respective groups hurled stones and other objects at each other.



All those arrested are Palestinian, the reports said.



Tension in Sheihk Jarrah has increased over the past week due to a threat of eviction concerning Palestinian families residing there at the end of a long legal battle with a right-wing Jewish group that wants to acquire ownership of the homes. Lawyers representing the Palestinian families have filed a case in the Israeli Supreme Court.



The situation is complicated by the fact that Monday is a national holiday, Jerusalem Day, during which Israel celebrates the reunification of the city after the eastern part was captured during the Six-Day war in 1967.



From Gaza, Mohammed Deif, head of the 'Brigade Izz ad-Din al-Qassam', the military wing of Hamas, was quoted by local media as saying that Israel "will pay a heavy price" if it will proceed with the eviction of the Palestinians in Sheihk Jarrah.



Due to the ongoing situation and ahead of Ramadan Friday prayers at the holy site known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, more police have been deployed across the city.
MADRID, Spain, May 06, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XPO Logistics, a leading global provider of transport and logistics solutions, has been named one of the Forbes 50 best companies to work for in Spain for the third straight year. The 2021 recognition, announced in the May edition of Forbes magazine, is based on a survey of over 2,000 companies with more than 500 employees in Spain, using criteria such as employee well-being, job satisfaction and environmental commitment.



Additionally, Sara Resa, XPOs human resources director in Iberia, has been named by Forbes as one of the 22 best women human resources leaders in Spain.

Malcolm Wilson, chief executive officer, XPO Logistics Europe, said, "Were very pleased that our colleagues in Spain rate their work experience at XPO so highly. The pandemic required many new protocols to ensure the safety of our global team, which is always our foremost priority. Our people have our full support as they deliver on our commitment to customers.

XPO has been named as one of the worlds most admired companies by Fortune magazine every year since 2018, and as one of America's most responsible companies by Newsweek magazine.

About XPO Logistics and XPO Logistics Europe

XPO Logistics, Inc. (NYSE: XPO) provides cutting-edge supply chain solutions to the most successful companies in the world. The company is the second largest contract logistics provider and the second largest freight broker globally, and a top three less-than-truckload provider in North America. XPO uses a highly integrated network of 1,621 locations in 30 countries to serve more than 50,000 customers. Approximately 140,000 team members, including 108,000 employees and 32,000 temporary workers, help XPOs customers manage their supply chains most efficiently. The company's corporate headquarters are in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA, and its European headquarters are in Lyon, France. XPO conducts the majority of its European operations through its subsidiary, XPO Logistics Europe, which trades under the stock symbol XPO on Euronext Paris  Isin FR0000052870. Visit europe.xpo.com for more information, and connect with XPO on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Media Contact

XPO Logistics Europe

Anne Lafourcade

+33 (0)6 75 22 52 90

anne.lafourcade@xpo.com

Media Contact

XPO Logistics, Inc.

Joe Checkler

+1-203-423-2098

joe.checkler@xpo.com
May 06, 2021 2:00 PM

Read Time: 3 minutes

Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) has appointed Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH, as executive director of equity, diversity, and inclusion. In this role, Okuyemi will oversee efforts across HCIs research, clinical care, community engagement, and education programs to actively counter racism and promote a culture of belonging, a key strategic priority for the cancer center.

Okuyemi has had a distinguished career as a National Institutes of Health-funded researcher advancing work to eliminate health disparities and improve health in refugee and underserved populations. Okuyemi joined the University of Utah in 2017 as professor and chair of family and preventive medicine. Okuyemi has served as HCI senior director of diversity and inclusion and HCI Research Executive Committee member since 2017, roles in which he has overseen equitable access to clinical research as part of the leadership of HCIs NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center.

This new role expands his oversight to include equity, diversity, and inclusion across the full spectrum of the HCI mission, spanning bench to bedside research, clinical care, population health sciences, and student training programs. Okuyemi recently co-chaired HCIs Commission on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The commission was established in 2020 to advise HCI leadership on priority recommendations to enhance a more just, equitable, and inclusive environment at HCI. The commission explored areas including clinical policies, training, hiring and retention practices, safety, and culture.

We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Okuyemi take on this expanded portfolio at HCI, where he will continue to be a leader in our quest to achieve transformational change toward a diverse, equitable, and inclusive HCI community and society, said Mary Beckerle, PhD, HCI CEO. The values of equity, diversity, and inclusion are integral to our pledge to put the patient and community first as we strive to reduce the cancer burden in our state and region and deliver a cancer-free frontier.

Okuyemi is a national leader in training and mentorship. He currently co-leads a National Cancer Institute training grant dedicated to enhancing pathways for underrepresented junior high, high school, and undergraduate students to pursue careers in biomedical research. The program also supports scientific training for junior high teachers. In his prior role as director of cancer health disparities at the University of Minnesota, Okuyemi was one of five principal investigators awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to establish the National Research Mentoring Network, a nationwide consortium of biomedical professionals and institutions whose goal is to provide trainees across the biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences with evidence-based mentorship and professional development programming.

I am delighted to see HCI taking this critical step as we recognize that issues of systemic racism, and all forms of discrimination against employees, trainees, or patients must not be tolerated. I feel honored to have been asked to serve in this role and look forward to working with everyone in the HCI community as we strive towards an equitable and just society, said Okuyemi.

Okuyemi earned his medical degree from the University of Ilorin in Nigeria. He completed his family medicine residency and master of public health degree at the University of Kansas Medical Center and his public health research fellowship at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta. Okuyemi begins his service as HCI executive director of equity, diversity, and inclusion effective immediately. He will report to the HCI CEO in this role. Dr. Okuyemi will also retain his role as senior director and member of HCIs research leadership.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has come under criticism for accusing the country's foreign service officers of harbouring "colonial mindset" and "callousness" while appreciating their Indian counterparts.

Addressing the envoys virtually on Wednesday, Khan showed anger at what he called shocking callousness of Pakistani diplomats abroad towards fellow Pakistanis. He also accused them of having a "colonial mindset" in their dealing with Pakistani nationals.

Khan said: Indian embassies are more proactive in bringing investments to their country and they also provide better services to their citizens.

At least three former foreign secretaries of Pakistan took strong exception to Khan's remarks.

Deeply dismayed at the unwarranted criticism of the Foreign Ministry, tweeted Tehmina Janjua, the first woman foreign secretary in the history of Pakistan.

Offcrs displaying colonial mindset? Far from it. Only during Covid, offcrs volunteered to be with community in Wuhan, embassies looked after stranded Pakistanis, distributed food. Systemic issues need to be addressed for quality consular services. Cannot be done through tweets  Tehmina Janjua (@TehminaJanjua) May 5, 2021

She said that Khans remarks showed a lack of understanding of the Foreign Service.

There seems to be woefully inadequate understanding of Embassies consular work, the acute resource constraints, and the role of multiple departments which (are not) under the control of Ambassadors, she said. Former foreign secretary Salman Bashir also joined Janjua in defending the Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP).

Sir respectfully, your ire and critique of the foreign ministry and envoys are misplaced. Usual services to the community are essential in the domain of other departments that handle passports and consular attestation etc. Yes, the missions should keep their doors open, he tweeted.

Bashir said that the FSP and the Foreign Office have always delivered and it deserves encouragement and support.

Public critique demoralises the best and brightest. Pakistan needs functional institutions. That is where we need to focus. Do set up a task force to come up with positive recommendations, he said.

Also read: Pakistan government surrenders before radical Islamist party, announces resolution to expel French envoy

Bashir was especially angry at Khans appreciation of India foreign service for serving their nationals abroad.

Indian media rejoices over PM's critique of the FSP and approbation of Indian Foreign Service. What a comparison! tweeted Bashir.

Jalil Abbas Jilani, another former foreign secretary joined the chorus to oppose Khans remarks.

Hon PM sir, wish you were properly briefed about working of Missions. Services like attestation of degrees, marriage certificates, licenses etc are referred to HEC (Higher Education Commission), Interior or Provincial government for verification. You dont get a timely response. Hence delays. Blaming envoys unfair, he tweeted.

Meanwhile, the Dawn newspaper reported that the prime ministers comments led to angst and demoralisation among the officers of the foreign service.
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Since 1949, our country has recognized the month of May as Mental Health Awareness Month. Each year, the Mental Health America organization adopts a new theme in order to promote public awareness of mental health issues. In line with this years theme, You are Not Alone, the Metropolitan Court, with its criminal justice partners, has joined with the New Mexico Behavioral Health Services Division (BHSD) and the University of New Mexico to develop and implement a program to provide support to individuals with mental illness who enter the criminal justice system.

Our program, the Forensic Navigation Program, a first-of-its-kind in our state, will work to transform how we respond to people with mental illness charged with crimes. The program will start by assisting those charged with minor crimes, called misdemeanors. The program has the ultimate goal of moving those individuals from the judicial system into community-based treatment.

The project will initially focus on individuals diagnosed as mentally incompetent to stand trial yet who repeatedly enter the judicial system at the misdemeanor level. These charges are often for such things as shoplifting or trespassing.

Currently, if the government charges a person with a misdemeanor, and the court finds that due to a mental illness he or she is mentally incompetent to stand trial, the court must dismiss charges. This is because due process and our state law requires that a person must fully understand their criminal charges and the legal process before a conviction and punishment can occur. Individuals in that situation who have repeatedly had charges filed and dismissed have frustrated the courts and the community. Through implantation of the program, we hope to see some positive changes.

Our project will start small by focusing on a handful of repeat offenders who have frequently appeared on the Metropolitan Courts mental competency docket. We intend the program navigator to intervene and help guide these individuals to connect to already existing community support systems. Typically, these individuals have resources available and are often involved in services at some level. However, due to problems with such things as housing, transportation and addiction, mental illness symptoms become exacerbated, leading to criminal activity. The navigator will assess the situation and try to ensure that individuals get basic needs and treatment. This may be as simple as facilitating transportation to a doctors appointment or filling out an application for housing services. If a person does not have any services, the navigator will work on making connections and ensuring one-on-one support in developing a treatment and social improvement plan.

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This program will not impact or change existing laws. We will just make an effort to navigate people with mental illness away from the criminal justice system. We will rely on government agency collaboration and individuals for making this pilot program successful. The program is completely voluntary. However, we have found that often those with mental illness are just as frustrated as the justice system with the situation they are in of repeatedly getting arrested. In following the Mental Health Awareness month theme, we will try to make sure they do not feel alone and offer to help where we can.

Judge Maria I. Dominguez was appointed and elected to Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courts Criminal Division bench in 2008. She was elected chief judge of the states busiest court in August 2020. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the judge individually and not those of the court.
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then variable clouds overnight with still a chance of showers. Low around 70F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
A suspect behind a 3-year-old girl abandoned in an empty house to death in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, in February, surnamed Seok, enters the branch of the Daegu District Court in Gimcheon in the province for her first trial on April 22. Yonhap



Prosecutors on Friday demanded imprisonment of 25 years for a woman from Gumi, southeastern South Korea, on charges of abandoning a 3-year-old girl in an empty house and causing her death.



The 22-year-old woman surnamed Kim was arrested on Feb. 11 after the corpse of the 3-year-old was discovered the previous day at her home in a multiunit house in Gumi, 260 kilometers southeast of Seoul.



Kim was accused of abandoning the child, leading to her death, after she moved out of her home last August to remarry.



In the court hearing held at the branch of the Daegu District Court in Gimcheon, near Gumi, prosecutors said Kim deserves stern punishment for inflicting unimaginable pain on the 29-month-old child who died on a hot summer day without taking a sip of water.



In response, Kim offered an apology over her crime and said she will accept any punishment from the court. The sentencing hearing is slated for June 4.



At first, the dead girl was believed to be Kim's daughter, but she was later found to be her younger sister.



The case took a bizarre twist in early March, when it was discovered through DNA tests that Kim's 48-year-old mother surnamed Seok, who lived on a different floor of the same multiunit house, is the biological mother of the dead girl.



Prosecutors and police suspect that Kim and Seok each gave birth to baby girls around the same time, and the elder woman may have switched the babies so her baby would be raised by her adult daughter. They have yet to discover the whereabouts of Kim's missing daughter, let alone whether she is alive or dead, in the face of stubborn denials by Seok.



Seok has also been indicted on charges of attempting to abandon the body of her 3-year-old daughter in February and abducting her granddaughter of the same age years ago. (Yonhap)


North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, speaks to Jo Yong-won, left, secretary for organizational affairs of the central committee of the Workers' Party, during a performance by the art groups of servicemen's families from the Korean People's Army at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang, Wednesday. All spectators, excluding Kim, his wife Ri Sol-ju and a handful of high ranking officials, wore face mask while watching the performance. Yonhap



By Kwon Mee-yoo



North Korea is expected to receive COVID-19 vaccines in the second half of the year through international vaccine organizations, to help it deal with the ongoing pandemic.



According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Edwin Salvador, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Pyongyang, said the organization will cooperate with the North to comply with the technical requirements to obtain the vaccines.



The Global Vaccine Alliance, or Gavi, gave confirmation of this to the RFA, adding that delivery would be dependent on the supply situation worldwide. It also mentioned North Korea's lack of "technical preparedness" as reasons for any delay in the shipment of vaccines in addition to the global supply shortage.



North Korea is a member of the COVAX Facility  the global vaccine distribution program led by the WHO and Gavi  which assigned 1.99 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Pyongyang.



The first batch of 1.7 million was expected to be sent from the Serum Institute of India, which manufactures the AstraZeneca vaccine, by May, but the delivery is expected to be delayed after India prioritized domestic needs due to a second wave of the coronavirus that seriously impacted the country.



"The North has to meet technical preparation standards such as having an inoculation plan with an order of priority, and organized transportation details before receiving the vaccine," an official from South Korea's Ministry of Unification said in reference to the delay in providing vaccines to North Korea.



Pyongyang has continued to claim that it has had no confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, but it has taken extreme measures against the pandemic since early last year such as completely closing all of its borders.



Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a performance given by arts groups comprised of family members of servicemen from the People's Army at the Mansudae Art Theatre in Pyongyang, Wednesday. All the spectators, excluding Kim, his wife Ri Sol-ju and a handful of high ranking officials, wore face masks while watching the show.



Amid the supply delay, North Korea's official newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, reported earlier this week that the COVID-19 vaccine was "far from a panacea" and urged its people to brace for a fight against the protracted pandemic.



"Some vaccines, which had been considered highly effective, caused severe side effects, including even death, leading many countries to stop their use. A person can be infected with the coronavirus even after getting vaccinated," the paper wrote.


Libya: Italian trawler machine-gunned, captain hurt Libyan navy says only fired warning shots

(ANSAmed) - PALERMO, MAY 7 - A trawler from the Mazara del Vallo fishing fleet in Sicily was machine-gunned by a Libyan motorboat Thursday and its captain wounded, the captain's son told ANSA.



He said he did not yet know the condition of his father, Giuseppe Giacalone.



The Aliseo trawler was fishing off Benghazi.



The Libyan Navy, which controls the coast guard, denied firing on Italian trawlers and said it had fired warning shots into the air against vessels which had allegedly trespassed into Libyan waters. (ANSAmed).




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MINNEAPOLIS  A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyds arrest and death, accusing them of willfully violating the Black mans constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air.

A three-count indictment unsealed Friday names Derek Chauvin, Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Chauvin was convicted last month on state charges of murder and manslaughter and is asking for a new trial. The other three are set for state trial on Aug. 23. Its not clear what will happen in this case, but generally the state charges play out before federal charges do.

The indictment sends a strong message about the Justice Departments priorities. Floyds May 25 arrest and death, which a bystander captured on cellphone video, sparked mass protests nationwide that called for an end to racial inequalities and police mistreatment of Black people.

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When President Joe Biden was elected, he promised hed work to end disparities in the criminal justice system. The indictments were handed up about a week after federal prosecutors brought hate crimes charges in the death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and announced two sweeping probes into policing in two states.

The Rev. Al Sharpton said the federal charges against the officers show the Justice Department does not excuse it nor allow police to act as though as what they do is acceptable behavior in the line of duty.

What we couldnt get them to do in the case of Eric Garner, Michael Brown in Ferguson, and countless others, we are finally seeing them do today, Sharpton said.

Floyd, 46, died after Chauvin pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck, even as Floyd, who was handcuffed, repeatedly said he couldnt breathe. Kueng and Lane also helped restrain Floyd  state prosecutors have said Kueng knelt on Floyds back and Lane held down Floyds legs. Thao held back bystanders and kept them from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.

Lane, Thao and Kueng made initial court appearances Friday via videoconference in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, and remain free on bond. Chauvin is held in state custody as he awaits sentencing on the state charges and hasnt yet appeared in federal court.

While all four officers are charged broadly with depriving Floyd of his rights while acting under government authority, the indictment breaks down the counts. A count against Chauvin alleges he violated Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure and from unreasonable force by a police officer.

Thao and Kueng are charged with violating Floyds right to be free from unreasonable seizure by not intervening to stop Chauvin as he knelt on Floyds neck. Its not clear why Lane, who held down Floyds legs, is not mentioned in that count, but evidence in the states case shows that Lane had asked twice whether Floyd should be rolled on his side. All four officers are charged for their failure to provide Floyd with medical care.

Chauvin was also charged in a second indictment, stemming from the use of force and neck restraint of a 14-year-old boy in 2017.

Chauvins attorney, Eric Nelson, argued during his murder trial that Chauvin acted reasonably and Floyd died because of underlying health issues and drug use. He has filed a request for a new trial.

Nelson had no comment on the federal charges. Kuengs attorney also had no comment. A message left for Thaos attorney wasnt immediately returned; Lanes attorney was unable to talk when reached by The Associated Press, and messages left later were not returned.

Ben Crump and the team of attorneys for Floyds family said the civil rights charges reinforce the strength and wisdom of the Constitution. We are encouraged by these charges and eager to see continued justice in this historic case that will impact Black citizens and all Americans for generations to come, the attorneys said in a statement.

To bring federal charges in deaths involving police, prosecutors must believe an officer acted under the color of law, or government authority, and willfully deprived someone of their constitutional rights. Thats a high legal standard. An accident, bad judgment or simple negligence on the officers part isnt enough to support federal charges; prosecutors have to prove the officer knew what he was doing was wrong in that moment but did it anyway.

The indictment in Floyds death says Chauvin kept his left knee on Floyds neck as he was handcuffed and was not resisting. Thao and Kueng allegedly were aware Chauvin had his knee on Floyds neck, even after Floyd became unresponsive, and willfully failed to intervene to stop Defendant Chauvins use of unreasonable force. All four officers are charged with willfully depriving Floyd of liberty without due process, including the right to be free from deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs.

The other indictment, against Chauvin only, alleges he deprived the 14-year-old boy, who is Black, of his right to be free of unreasonable force when he held the teen by the throat, hit him in the head with a flashlight and held his knee on the boys neck and upper back while he was prone, handcuffed and not resisting.

According to a police report from that 2017 encounter, Chauvin wrote that the teen resisted arrest and after the teen, whom he described as 6-foot-2 and about 240 pounds, was handcuffed, Chauvin used body weight to pin him to the floor. The boy was bleeding from the ear and needed two stitches.

That encounter was one of several mentioned in state court filings that prosecutors said showed Chauvin had used neck or head and upper body restraints seven times before dating back to 2014, including four times state prosecutors said he went too far and held the restraints beyond the point when such force was needed under the circumstances.

Bob Bennett, an attorney for the teenager, said the familiar behavior from Chauvin showed Floyd wasnt his first victim.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is prosecuting the state charges, said the federal government is responsible for protecting the civil rights of every American and federal prosecution for the violation of George Floyds civil rights is entirely appropriate.

Chauvin was convicted on state charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Experts say he will likely face no more than 30 years in prison when he is sentenced June 25. The other officers face charges alleging they aided and abetted second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Any federal sentence would be served at the same time as a state sentence.

At the White House on Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden didnt have a direct reaction to the indictments. She added that the Floyd case was a reminder of the need to put police reform in place through our legislative process.

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Balsamo reported from Washington.

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Find APs full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
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Voltexdesign.com scored 86 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 4.5/5.0 Stars by Social Team

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voltexdesign.com is very popular in Facebook, Twitter and Delicious. It is liked by 4 people on Facebook, it has 3 twitter shares and it has 67 twitter followers. Furthermore its facebook page has 5553 likes.

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PAGE TITLE Sale of design furniture and lighting of major brands Artemide, kartell, fatboy, flos DESCRIPTION Specialist of design furniture and lighting of major brands (Artemide, kartel, flos, foscarini, fatboy ), Voltex advises you about the purchase of contemporary furniture, table lamps, floor lamps, mobilier exterieur, decoration de jardin, tabourets KEYWORDS fatboy, mobilier, design, artemide, kartell, lampes, lampadaires, lustres, flos, mobilier exterieur, decoration de jardin, outdoor furniture, furniture, foscarini, stools OTHER KEYWORDS



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FACEBOOK PAGE LINK FOUND FACEBOOK PAGE www.facebook.com/pages/Voltexfr/36125304548 DESCRIPTION luminaires et mobilier design www.voltex.fr LIKES 5553 PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT 8 PAGE TYPE Retail and consumer merchandise TIMELINE PAGE TIMELINE

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TWITTER PAGE LINK FOUND TWITTER PAGE twitter.com/#!/voltex_fr DESCRIPTION Voltex vente en ligne luminaires et mobilier design ACCOUNT CREATED ON 28 Aug 2009 LOCATION paris TWEETS 172 FOLLOWERS 67 LISTED 2
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  New Mexico Gas Co. has established $1.2 million assistance fund to help certain residential customers and small business owners who are behind on bills because of the pandemic.

Residential customers can apply for assistance through the companys Heat New Mexico program. This residential assistance program provides qualified residential customers with a one-time payment of $150 toward their natural gas bill, according to a news release from the gas company. Information can be found at www.nmgco.com/en/assistance.

On the small business side, qualifying small-business owners who qualify will be eligible for a one-time credit of $250, according to the release. Small-business owners can apply online at www.nmgco.com/SmallBusiness/CovidRelief.

The gas company also reopened its 22 payment centers across New Mexico on May 3, providing customers more options for paying their bills, according to the release. NMGC is encouraging customers who have fallen behind on their bills to contact the company to enter into a payment plan that fits their needs.

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A rejuvenated Richard 'the Black Cat' Simard has journeyed across the continent and braved many obstacles to land back in the eastern Ontario-Quebec circuit, which he's now content to call home.

When I started, I never thought Id make it that far because I have no family in the business, the first-generation horseman recently told Rideau Carleton Raceway's Graeme Mitchell. But like I said, Im a hustler and Im a worker. I never give up. Ive left with my bag not knowing if Id have a job, if Id have food on my table next week. You keep trying. I guess Ive been everywhere [and] Ive always survived. Its a tough business not made for the weak people. If youre weak, dont go into the horse business [laugh].

Simard has driven in nearly 40,000 races and won close to 6,000; hes just 31 wins away from the milestone, and has earned $32,803,701 in purses from a career spanning almost 40 years. Although the numbers speak to Simards success, the veteran horseman at many times hit a groove just before hed be forced to start from scratch.

When Blue Bonnets [in] Montreal closed the track, I went bankrupt, Simard said. And then I moved to Florida [because] if Im going to be broke, Im going to be broke where its warm. When you move on from one track to another, you lose business. I came back to Rideau in the summers and [as] youd get back in business, the fall was coming and I was going back to Florida. So thats what chilled my living, but that was my choice, no? At Windsor, I was the leading driver there. I moved, that track closed. I went to Montreal, I was doing good again; the track closed.

Racetracks closing stymied Simards living on numerous occasions, but he also has bounced back from several racing accidents and has broken almost every bone in his body at least once. Simard remembered one accident, which happened at Flamboro Downs on a snowy night.

I was driving for Kevin McMaster at Mohawk, and he asked me to go drive one on Sunday at Flamboro, Simard said. And that night  that horse never made a break in his life  I left to the front, and I felt him slip. I lost him and everybody ran me over. I dont even remember hitting the ground; I was knocked out before I hit the ground, a horse behind me hit me. It was two weeks I didnt even remember my name. I remember going to [the] hospital in Toronto, and the lady that was the doctor told me Im sorry to tell you, Mr. Simard, but we just checked all your broken bones and the x-rays I dont think youll make it to 50 without being in a wheelchair. And now Im 62 and its going to be my best year.

At 62, Simard sits second on the driving standings at Rideau Carleton Raceway, which stopped racing on March 28 in accordance with the third Ontario shutdown. From 64 starts, Simard has won on 16 occasions and sits just behind Guy Gagnon. The new wind for the Les Cadres horseman also comes as he has taken action to care for whatever of his body has not been broken by injuries.

I go to massage therapists twice a week when Im racing, try to keep me in shape, Simard said. I will give you 150 percent every time I sit behind one. My body couldnt handle it before. A couple of years back, I was in pain every night I drove. Before the pandemic, I was going back to the gym. And I stopped smoking  that really changed my life.

With his newfound strength, Simard has also taken up training for Quebec's Orlando Stables. He doesn't plan on moving his tack any time soon, and he's also conditioning some young horses with high prospects.

I took that job two-and-a-half years ago, Simard said. Everybody said You wont last two weeks and its going to be three years in August. This gentleman has had horses the last 50 years, and all he has is his own breeding. But he goes with the best studs around, he keeps his same mare. This year I have another colt Im breaking from a different mare. Theyre all well-bred horses, theyre all trotters. Hes not in a hurry. Hes just dreaming of getting that world champion....I live on the farm, its like a pension plan for me. Thats why Im not in worried about moving everywhere else. But the thing is, if we cant race, hes going to give up. If he gives up, that makes me out of a job, too.

The old horses that hes had for years, theyre all trotting in [1:]58, [1:]57, Simard also said of Orlando Stables horses. I can move anywhere and know I can make a living with those horses. But this year I have two two-year-olds that really impressed me up to now. The babies I have are all staked [at Mohawk] and I have a filly thats down there so I might go down to drive them. But Im not going down there. Im staying right where Im at.

Graeme Mitchells full interview with Richard Simard is available below:
Two renowned systems integrators have improved their ability to more effectively specify and design advanced physical security systems, using the dedicated tool, AXIS Site Designer.

AXIS Site Designer

AXIS Site Designer is a unique and free web application from Axis Communications, a market renowned company in network video solutions, which makes the specification and design of complex security systems quicker and easier.

Having recently deployed the solution, two of Axis partners, Southern Fire & Security Ltd. and Acctive Systems, have been able to evidence a more sophisticated process and have won clients as a result.

Security devices and sensors

As physical security technology continues to advance, in order to keep up with the ever-evolving threat landscape, coupled with more security devices and sensors being added to IT networks, the task of specifying such systems has become more complex.

The principal challenges for those working in the industry are to be able to properly illustrate to buyers the capabilities of such devices and also to demonstrate how they can work together to secure a site. This web application holds the solution.

Powerful and versatile design tool

AXIS Site Designer revolutionises the specification and design process

AXIS Site Designer revolutionises the specification and design process, by allowing an entire solution to be mapped out to the finest detail. The powerful and highly versatile tool removes any guesswork or element of trial and error, making it easy to create the right system to fit the exact operational requirements and needs of a prospect or client.

The application even allows floor plans of the target site to be added, and virtual placement of cameras and devices enables viewing of the coverage they will provide, once installed.

Partner with Southern Fire & Security and Acctive Systems

Sean Mcnaboe, Axis Communications Key Account Manager, explains The benefits of AXIS Site Designer are numerous. It helps streamline design workflow, simplify demos of security products and accessories, and even generate quotations and change items in a bill of materials within minutes.

Sean Mcnaboe adds, Axis has been working closely with two partners, Southern Fire & Security and Acctive Systems, to help them drive their businesses forward while meeting, and often exceeding, the evolving requirements of customers.

Security and surveillance systems specification

Southern Fire & Security has recently taken on the specification of security and surveillance systems for several high value properties around the London area, so being able to accurately specify dedicated solutions is critical to secure ongoing business.

Acctive Systems, a renowned integrator of electronic security systems, needed a method of specifying security systems that would allow it to demonstrate an entire setup and its component parts via digital means.

Efficient designing of surveillance systems

AXIS Site Designer is an empowering leap forward in the design of surveillance systems

Steve Wilson, Director at Southern Fire & Security, explains Being able to make only basic recommendations around the use of appropriate technologies has been a key challenge for us. Its very difficult to plan some of the more involved projects in detail, so we desperately needed a way to be able to visualise an entire estate and how a solution would operate.

AXIS Site Designer is an empowering leap forward in the design of surveillance systems, allowing for greater speed and efficiency, and enabling more effective management of any project.

Enhancing customer satisfaction

High quality designs and other outputs create a level of professionalism that is a major plus point when vying for business, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and pointing towards greater revenue prospects.

Gerry Numa, the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of Acctive Systems, said AXIS Site Designer delivers everything we anticipated, and more, setting us ahead of our competitors when it comes to slick, professional looking project design. I would encourage other businesses to reach out to Axis to find out how the application can benefit them too.
Denton, TX (76205)

Today

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous during the morning hours. Locally heavy rainfall possible early. High 82F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Rain showers early with scattered thunderstorms arriving overnight. Low 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
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DENVER  A Republican lawmaker in Colorado was reprimanded Thursday after calling a colleague Buckwheat during debate on legislation  a racist term that provoked outcry from Democrats at a time when America is confronting its history of discrimination.

It wasnt clear who state Rep. Richard Holtorf was directing the remarks to Wednesday during debate on a stimulus measure. Holtorf, who is white, quickly said he was using the word as a term of endearment, furthering angering Democrats, before he apologized.

Im getting there. Dont worry, Buckwheat. Im getting there, Holtorf told someone in the chamber. Thats an endearing term, by the way.

A lawmaker shouted at Holtorf, and his remarks provoked a temporary break in legislative business. Democratic Rep. Leslie Herod, who is Black, rushed to the podium to confront him. Video of the remarks spread widely on social media.

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Buckwheat was a Black child character in the Our Gang or Little Rascals, serials of the 1930s, and is widely considered a racial stereotype. Holtorf told The Colorado Sun that he wasnt aware of the racial connotations of the term.

Democratic House Speaker Alec Garnett told a silent chamber on Thursday that hed had a long conversation with Holtorf and with lawmakers who were offended by the remarks.

Im thankful you agree to do your part to reset the decorum of this session, Garnett told Holtorf before declaring that discriminatory remarks, whether intentionally launched or carelessly said, have absolutely no place in this House.

Yesterday, the decorum of this institution was grossly breached, Garnett said. Im sorry to say this is not the first time this session, but Im speaking today to make sure it is the last.

Garnett said hed spoken with a lawmaker, whom he didnt name, and I heard last night how this one word took a member of this body back to a place that they thought they had outlived, adding that the word took them back to a place that they hoped would never reappear, to feelings of a darker time.

A chastened Holtorf apologized again from the podium Thursday but didnt didnt directly refer to his comments.

I hope you all understand that I see all of you as my brothers and sisters, all created by God and all equal, Holtorf said. You all have my sincerest apologies.

Holtorf was appointed to represent a district in the Eastern Plains when Republican Rep. Kimmi Lewis died of cancer in 2019. He was elected outright last year.

In February, Holtorf clashed with Rep. Tom Sullivan, a suburban Denver Democrat and gun control advocate who was speaking about the loss of his son, Alex, in the Aurora movie theater shooting in 2012 that left 11 others dead.

You have to let it go, Holtorf told Sullivan at the time.

Sullivan shouted at Holtorf when he made his remarks Wednesday.

Words matter. (FULL STOP), Sullivan tweeted Wednesday. We MUST NOT accept the use of racist language.

Herod, the Black lawmaker who confronted Holtorf, is a rising star among Colorado Democrats and has long fought racial injustice.

This is what I have to deal with Every. Damn. Day., she tweeted.

In April, Democrats in the Colorado House criticized another Republican lawmaker for making a joke about lynching before saying an 18th century clause in the U.S. Constitution designating a slave as three-fifths of a person was not impugning anybodys humanity. The lawmaker, Rep. Ron Hanks, who is white, said his comments were misconstrued and that his point was to kind of talk about the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787, not 2021.

He made his remarks during debate on a civics education bill.
Migrants: Johansson in Ankara for talks on EU-Turkey pact 'Following visit a month ago by von der Leyen, Michel'

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, MAY 7 - EU commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, is visiting Turkey on Friday. She will meet with the vice president, Fuat Oktay and the ministers of foreign affairs and interior, Mevlut Cavusoglu and Suleyman Soylu.



"The talks will focus on the management of migrants, including the implementation of the related aspects of the declaration EU-Turkey", from March 16, 2016, Brussels said, stressing that the mission follows up on the meeting a month ago in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the presidents of the European Commission and Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, which was very much discussed due to the so-called 'sofagate' snub when von der Leyen was left without a chair at the summit with the two male leaders.



Ankara stressed that the agenda of the visit includes "dialogue on the liberalization of visas", another key theme for Turkey. (ANSAmed).




LILBURN, Ga., May 07, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Learning Care Group is proud to honor Darla Heeter from its Childtime location in Lilburn, GA, as this years recipient of the companys prestigious Teacher of the Year award.



Heeter has been selected in recognition of her remarkable work in inspiring a love of learning in children of all backgrounds and abilities, helping prepare them for future success. She was chosen from more than 18,000 early education teachers nationwide from the Learning Care Group portfolio of schools  Childtime, Creative Kids Learning Centers, The Childrens Courtyard, Everbrook Academy, La Petite Academy, Montessori Unlimited, Pathways Learning Academy, Tutor Time, U-GRO Learning Centres, and Young School.

Heeter, a Georgia Pre-K Lead Teacher, is being honored for her excellence as an educator and for her outstanding work in building strong partnerships with families to support childrens developmental journey.

Darla does an amazing job personalizing the learning experience for each child to support their unique developmental needs, said Anne Manousos, Senior Division Vice President for Learning Care Group. She delves deeply into our teaching resources to create highly effective lesson plans, empowering and inspiring her students. Shes wonderfully supportive of her fellow teachers and collaborates closely with parents, sharing best practices and strengthening the bond between home and school. Were honored to have Darla represent us as our Teacher of the Year.

A lifelong learner, Heeter is deeply committed to her profession and especially passionate about providing nurturing support that encourages children to develop positive behaviors. She has made a profound impact by leveraging the companys Positive Behavior Support program and resources, including its proprietary myPath app, with her own students, as well as in mentoring colleagues in creating plans that help children build positive behaviors in the classroom, and in life.

About Learning Care Group, Inc.

Learning Care Group is a leader in early childhood education, with more than 50 years of experience in inspiring children to love learning. Headquartered in Novi, Mich., the company is the second largest for-profit early education and care provider in North America. Learning Care Group provides early education and care for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years through ten unique brands: Childtime Learning Centers, The Childrens Courtyard, Creative Kids Learning Centers, Everbrook Academy, La Petite Academy, Montessori Unlimited, Pathways Learning Academy, Tutor Time Child Care/Learning Centers, U-GRO Learning Centres and Young School. It operates more than 950 schools (corporate and franchise) across 37 states, the District of Columbia and internationally, and has a capacity to serve more than 132,000 children. Learning Care Group supports child development for infants to school-agers through a comprehensive, research-based curriculum in a safe, nurturing, and fun school environment. It empowers children to be ready for school, instills a lifelong love of learning, and provides a foundation for the future. Learning Care Group also offers early education and child care programs for organizations, including onsite locations, as well as corporate partnerships and back-up care programs in its community-based schools. For more information, please visit www.learningcaregroup.com

Contact: Lydia Cisaruk  Director of Communications, Learning Care Group; (248) 697-9140; lcisaruk@learningcaregroup.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dc8c0868-5f06-4e2c-a6b5-234395f94f87
ROME - The ship Alan Kurdi of the German NGO Sea-Eye on Wednesday left the port of Olbia, in Sardinia, for Spain, after it was released from an impoundment ordered by Italian authorities.



After seven months docked at the port of Olbia, the ship Alan Kurdi, owned by the German NGO Sea-Eye, left Sardinia on Wednesday afternoon and is now headed for the port of Burriana, in Spain. The ship conducts sea rescues of migrants crossing the Mediterranean and it docked in Olbia last September, after an odyssey at sea and the resulting political controversy. When it docked it was carrying 125 people, all of whom were received at the quay by military, civil and health authorities and provided with medical treatment and refreshments. Just a few days later, the ship was impounded.



Impounded for six months On October 9, the ship was inspected by the Coast Guard in Olbia, which found issues related to navigational safety identical to those found shortly prior in a similar inspection at the port of Palermo, which led to the impoundment. A few weeks ago, the regional administrative court (TAR) granted authorisation for the ship to leave Olbia to travel to Spain, where it will undergo work to resolve the safety problems.



The court's decision According to a statement by the organisation on April 11, the Italian judge established that the ship did not need to be impounded any longer because Sea-Eye was enduring "serious financial damages due to the detention" and that "further damages of a complex nature" could occur without an authorisation to transfer the ship to Spain, where it could undergo routine biennial inspection and maintenance work in a timely manner. At that time the organisation criticised Italy, claiming that the rescue ship's impoundment was "irresponsible because politically motivated" and that "discussions over technical outfitting and certificates only serve to distract from the humanitarian crisis underway in the Mediterranean".






Press Release

May 7, 2021 De Lima hits Duterte's claim vs PH arbitral win over China Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has decried Mr. Duterte's claim that the country's arbitral victory against China's claims in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) is merely a piece of paper that he can just throw away in a trash bin. De Lima, who was part of the Philippine delegation who argued the Philippines' arbitration case against China over the WPS before The Hague during her stint as Justice Secretary, said that Duterte is practicing the strategy of subservience when it comes to dealing with China. "We understand that calibration is the other name of diplomacy. But where is calibration in Duterte's statement that our victory in The Hague is a worthless paper?" she asked. "What he is doing in our relations with China is not a strategy of deterrence, but a strategy of subservience and servility. Ito ay kataksilan sa Konstitusyon at sa sambayanang Pilipino," she added. In his pre-recorded briefing that aired last May 5, Duterte said the ruling affirming the Philippines' sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the WPS is just a piece of paper that he can throw in the waste basket. In 2013, under the administration of President Benigno S. Aquino III, it may be recalled that the Philippines challenged China's legal basis for its expansive claim before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands, and won the case in a landmark award in 2016 after the tribunal invalidated Beijing's assertions. In a landmark ruling on July 12, 2016, the Hague-based PCA found no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to a "nine-dash line" in the WPS but China refused to honor the ruling. In his recent address, Duterte also claimed that calls for him to bring current developments in the WPS to the United Nations to continue the fight is "a waste of time and at the same time disrupting the good relations of China and the Philippines." In contrary, Duterte in his first speech before the United Nations General Assembly in September 2020, said the Philippines rejects any attempt to undermine the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The lady Senator from Bicol said that the one that belongs to the trash bin is not the country's arbitral win over China but Duterte's fake independent foreign policy. "Makasaysayan ang naging tagumpay natin sa WPS. Ang bagay sa basurahan ay basura din gaya ng independent foreign policy kuno ni Duterte. History bears witness to the fact that he's merely parroting China's official position on the WPS ruling," she said. Ultimately, De Lima said that "ang mahalaga lang naman kay Duterte ay ang masunod lagi ang kagustuhan ng China, kapalit man nito ay ang pagsuko ng ating teritoryo at pagkamkam sa kabuhayan ng ating mga kababayan." This April, De Lima filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 694 urging the government's Executive branch to exert all legal and diplomatic actions on the Chinese government in asserting Philippine sovereign rights in the WPS. De Lima is also among the 11 Senators who recently filed SR No. 708 urging the upper chamber to "condemn in the strongest possible terms" the illegal activities of China in the disputed waters.
Published on:

6 May 2021



Prison protests were taken to the extreme in the 1970s and 1980s Prison protests were taken to the extreme in the 1970s and 1980s

For almost thirty years (1969-1998) Northern Ireland was gripped by violent conflict. Republicans wanted an end to British rule and Unionists and Loyalists wished to preserve their citizenship and place in the United Kingdom. Bitterness and animosities intensified on both sides and reciprocal atrocities spiralled. Almost 4,000 lost their lives, thousands more were injured, and the economy and social fabric were torn apart.

Those convicted of paramilitary offences came into the prisons in their hundreds and then thousands. Insisting they were soldiers, they behaved differently from ordinary prisoners. They were at first mainly members of the IRA, but significant numbers of Loyalists soon followed. Both factions rejected the legally established prison rules which they said criminalised them and their cause. They particularly objected to the requirement that all should wear a uniform and perform prison labour. The resultant standoff launched a series of bitter struggles.

In the search for peace, significant concessions had been made on prison rules in the summer of 1972. These conferred special category status on people who had committed crimes of a paramilitary nature. The various privileges associated with this status met most of the paramilitaries demands. Amid continuing violence, the UK government decided to withdraw the 1972 privileges from all whose offences were committed after March 1976. After due process and sentencing, the people convicted after this date began to arrive in the prisons a few months later. Their rejection of the ordinary prison regime initiated almost five years of intense protests.

Most of the newly arrived Republicans refused to wear the uniform (Loyalists accepted it). No other clothing was permitted and so protesters went semi-naked, covering themselves in a blanket: this was the strip strike.

Extreme measures

It eventually became clear that this approach put no pressure on the authorities. With this realisation, the dirty protests commenced. This new form of action was so extreme, entailing such an astonishing degree of self-inflicted hardship for the participants, that even the hard-line secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Roy Mason, gave it grudging acknowledgement as a brilliant stroke.

The authorities and the protesters settled in for the long game. Months and years of close and semi-naked confinement followed. Cells were less than 100 square feet, and the protesters smeared every hard surface with excrement, into which they worked particles of rotting food. Urine was used to dilute the mixture before it was spread.

Beyond most peoples imagining, this world of faeces-handling, unremitting stench, and contamination was frequently shared with a cellmate. There was no cell sanitation, so each performed bodily functions in front of another. They slept on mattresses on the floor because their organisation decreed that they should destroy all cell furniture. Even the mattress covers were torn apart to spread the foul mixtures.

There were short, out-of-cell periods. The law stipulated a minimum amount of exercise. In addition to this, there were trips to the visiting room and periodic extractions for medically mandated washing and haircutting. These were resisted with varying degrees of force, and there were regular tussles and sometimes violent battles with staff. Both sides alleged brutality.

This was the nightmare of the dirty protest in the Maze prison, outside Belfast. It lasted for 40 months and was the most remarkable campaign in any prison anywhere, certainly in the 20th century, and possibly at any time. It was the springboard for the better-known 1980-81 hunger strikes and created an indirect but certain path to the protracted peace process that began in the mid-1980s, after the collapse of the hunger strikes.

A peace deal

What was it all about? There were of course explicit and covert agendas. Physical force republicans, going back to the 1860s, always insisted that they were not criminals. They had no kinship with murderers, robbers, rapists, thieves, blackmailers, and the rest of that unholy tribe. Charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced, criminals was exactly what British and Irish governments insisted they were. Democratically enacted laws and rules determined their treatment, not fanciful and self-serving proclamations.

From the ordeal of the dirty protests, a core group emerged who had, beyond question, demonstrated remarkable qualities of will and endurance. They had also undergone intense  apparently lifelong  bonding and arrived at a commonality of beliefs. Many had joined the dirty protest and left; others had never taken part: exact numbers are elusive. But those who had seen it through acquired among the followers of their cause, and broader ranks of sympathisers, a reputation for fidelity and self-sacrifice. This was the prerequisite for the hunger strikes.

When the final strategic compromise had to be delivered in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the approval of this core was essential. They gave it, thus helping to deliver the peace that for a generation they had resisted. The qualities that had been manifest in the dirty protests found another purpose.

This opinion piece was originally published in The Conversation on 6 May 2021.

More information

Professor Sean McConville's latest book provides one of the most comprehensive accounts of the Northern Ireland troubles to date. Read more about Irish Political Prisoners 1960-2000.
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SANTA FE, N.M.  Taos is working to expand its digital economy, with help from a partnership with a national nonprofit.

Taos was one of 18 small cities and towns selected to participate in the Rural Innovation Network, a program pioneered by Vermont-based nonprofit Center on Rural Innovation. Mark Rembert, head of the Rural Innovation Network, said the program is designed to help rural communities identify opportunities and gaps in their digital economies, with an eye toward diversifying their economies as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.

I think the pandemic has reinforced how important diversification is, Rembert said.

In Taos, that means a mix of programs, from creating a photo essay of rural entrepreneurs, to working with University of New Mexico-Taos and other stakeholders to establish UNM-Taos HIVE, the regions first hybrid business support center and coworking space.

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Rose Reza, program specialist for UNM-Taos HIVE, said the facility, slated for a soft opening in June, should help Taos grow its technology ecosystem and reduce its dependence on tourism.

Tourism is important to our economy, but when 70% of your population is directly or indirectly impacted by tourism, there has to be alternative pathways for their own stability and their own future, Reza said.

Unlike many rural communities, Taos had a robust network of remote workers even before the pandemic reached New Mexico. Rembert said just under 12% of Taosenos worked remotely, compared to 5.1% on average across the Rural Innovation Network.

Theres already entrepreneurs there, theres already talent there, Rembert said.

However, Reza said the community also had a number of businesses that lacked functional websites, which made it difficult to adapt to the effects of the pandemic.

Moreover, Reza said the rural community has lost IT and other remote tech jobs to larger cities like Phoenix and Denver, which makes it harder for the city to retain younger residents.

These are jobs that our community should be first in line to take advantage of, she said.

Reza said the partnership opens up a number of new opportunities for her organization and its partner communities. Rembert said CORI recently completed a photo essay of local entrepreneurs in Taos, the first in its series, designed to shift narratives about rural America. A partnership with Udacity, a digital workforce training program, will offer workers classes in digital marketing, data analytics and website development.

In addition to the usual coworking amenities, Reza said Taos HIVE is working to provide mentors who can help the program grow in the future. She said shes optimistic that the programming will dovetail with Taos-HIVEs larger goal is to help the community develop pathways out of poverty.

Its an opportunity to engage, its an opportunity to inspire and its an opportunity to influence, Reza said.
English Lithuanian

The leading tour operator in the Baltic States Novaturas from the middle of May resumes flights to Greek islands. The largest flight program is planned from Lithuania.

The Greek islands historically have always concluded a significant part of Novaturas summer holiday program group wide. In 2019, more than 35 thousand people from all the Baltic countries went on holidays to the Greek islands, and Greece program accounted around 17% of the entire summer holiday season. Starting from the middle of May, planes from Lithuania will take off to the islands of Crete, Rhodes and Corfu, and in autumn the island of Kefalonia will join the assortment of Greek holiday destinations. The biggest number of flight - 4 per week will be operated to Cretan resorts. From Latvia flights to Crete and Rhodes are planned in May, and in autumn - to Corfu. Travelers from Estonia will fly to Crete and Rhodes from mid-May, and from autumn to Corfu and Kefalonia.

"Last year, when the restrictions were lifted, Greece was the first country that welcomed our travelers for summer holidays. We believe the Greek islands will be on great demand this year as well, especially Corfu - so called Greek Hawaii island - which is exclusively only in our Greek destinations portfolio. Travelers have already tested the sefety of holidays on Greek islands last year, and many of them have just patiently waited for this destination to be opened this year, says Audrone Keinyte head of Novaturas group.

The Company strongly recommends for travelers to purchase medical expenses insurance that covers the cost of treating diseases, including the ones caused by the SARS viruses. In case the travelers are tested positive during their vacations the Greek government will cover the expenses of accommodation, meals and medical expenses if needed. Travelers who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, after 14 days since the last vaccination and have it proving documents, are not required to undergo COVID-19 tests and are not subject to the obligation to self-isolate when returned to Lithuania.

About Novaturas Group



AB Novaturas Group is the largest tour operator in the Baltic States, offering summer and winter package holidays in more than 30 destinations worldwide and more than 100 sightseeing routes. In 2019, the group served more than 293 thousand customers.
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Copyright  2021 Albuquerque Journal

A newly formed New Mexico startup is using NASA technology originally designed for lunar missions to offer consumers a lightweight portable option to boost cellular coverage anywhere on Earth.

The booster comes from conductive material woven into fabric. That allows it to be folded up, stuffed in a backpack, or stored in a vehicle and then stretched out to augment reception when a user hits a dead zone.

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And it doesnt require any power, said Joshua Benavidez, chief technology officer for ORC Tech LLC, or Optical Radio Communications Technology, which Benavidez launched last fall with help from the New Mexico Startup Factory.

You dont need batteries or any electrical outlet to plug it in, Benavidez told the Journal.  If youre hiking, on a family road trip, or you just work in remote areas, this gives you a way to communicate in any given situation.

ORC Tech licensed the technology from NASA Johnson Space Center, which designed it as a collapsible, lightweight, portable device for space missions to supplement weak spots encountered by an astronaut crew. NASA has fully proven the technology, but ORC Tech must still design a specific prototype for cellphones and other mobile devices.

Sandia National Laboratories will help with that through the New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program, which allows the states two national laboratories to assign lab resources, scientists and engineers to provide technical assistance to small businesses at no cost to them.

And once a workable prototype is ready, likely by late summer, the company will set up operations at an industrial park at Ohkay Owingeh, north of Espanola, thanks to a new agreement with the Pueblo-owned development company Tsay Corp., which agreed to invest in ORC Tech, said Tsay Corp. President Ron Lovato.

It would be the first technology-based manufacturing facility to go into the industrial park, Lovato said. Weve been trying for 10 years to attract industry into the Espanola Valley, and weve been successful with retail and service sector businesses. Now, were taking a little different route here to get in early as a venture investor in the company, basically putting our money where our mouth is, so to say.

The Startup Factory, originally launched by the New Mexico Angels and now run independently, works to pull potentially marketable technology out of the states national labs, research universities, and institutions like NASA. It works with local innovators and entrepreneurs to help build technology-transfer-based companies, providing the business acumen and early-stage capital to move them forward.

Sometimes it takes a community to build a company, said Andrea Garcia, the Startup Factorys company creation specialist. ORC Tech is a great example of how we engage with local programs and resources to keep economic development and investment opportunities in New Mexico while building infrastructure and executing a product development strategy.

Benavidez, a New Mexico Tech student with a background in engineering and physics, identified the technology while participating in a NASA entrepreneurial program to build skills in commercializing science-based innovation. He then sought assistance from the Startup Factory, which helped him license the technology from NASA and launch ORC Tech with an initial investment for an undisclosed amount.

The Startup Factory connected Benavidez with Sandia, which assigned electrical engineer John McVay to work with him through Sandias newly developed Stitched lab, which stands for Sensors and Textiles Innovatively Tailored for Complex, High-Efficiency Detection. That lab uses precise, computer-controlled embroidery to fix things like wire, tubes or optical fibers to fabric-like materials to create customized, imbedded sensors.

Industry, for example, uses that process for heated car seats, imbedding a resistive wire sensor into the seating material, McVay said.

At the Stitched lab we look at how we can use technical embroidery for different applications, McVay told the Journal.

In this case, the lab will use conductive thread, or a conductive metal ink, to develop a cost-effective way to manufacture ORC Techs radio-frequency-boosting fabrics.

Students in Sandias summer internship program will work with McVay to first create a prototype conductive fabric using computer-aided design, and then move to the Stitched lab for technical embroidering.

Well test and measure performance of the designs, and then go back to iteratively improve on it, McVay said.  We hope to wrap it all up before the interns leave at the end of the summer.

Part of the process is developing the right shape for the cell-coverage booster, which much be designed to optimally capture and direct weak radio frequency signals to the cellphone.

The conductive fabric will bend the weak signal in a dead zone and focus it on the point where the cellphone is, Benavidez said.

Cellphones are only the start. The technology can later be adapted for use with laptops, satellite and WiFi internet receivers.

New Mexicos startup ecosystem is helping to speed ORC Techs march to market, Garcia said.

And both Ohkay Owingeh and Sandia are benefitting.

Through this project, well gain more knowledge and experience in technical embroidery at our Stitched lab, McVay said. And it will provide hands-on learning for our interns  all while helping a local business. Its benefitting all of us.
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Today

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 66F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low 66F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Event

The Consulate General of Ireland in New York and the African American Irish Diaspora Network are delighted to announce the virtual launch of the Frederick Douglass Way in Dublin.

In August 1845, a 27-year-old American man, designated by his government to be a fugitive slave, arrived in Dublin. He had intended to stay in the city for four days, but the warmth of the welcome he received meant that he stayed in Ireland for four months. He described his time in the country as transformative and the happiest time of his life. Professor Christine Kinealy, author of 'Black Abolitionists in Ireland', has created the Way, which will allow Dublin natives and visitors alike to follow in the footsteps of Frederick Douglass and retrace his visit to Dublin in 1845.

Join us as we follow Fredericks footsteps in Dublin and visit the venues where he spoke and met with Irish abolitionists and, for the first time in his life, felt truly free.

Register for the Virtual Launch of the Frederick Douglass Way, Fri 14 May 2021 at 1pm EDT on Eventbrite.
Two people have been arrested after a firearm was seized by gardai in Dublin.

The seizure was made following a search operation in Palmerstown on Thursday night.
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JERUSALEM  Israels opposition leader on Thursday called for a unity government and vowed to find common ground among the ideologically diverse parties seeking to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Yair Lapid issued the appeal in his first speech since he was tapped by Israels president on Wednesday to form a new government.

I believe in the good intentions of my future partners, Lapid said. They are different people with different views, but the fact that someone doesnt agree with us, doesnt make them an enemy.

President Reuven Rivlin gave Lapid four weeks to try to form a new coalition government after Netanyahu failed to meet a midnight deadline the previous day.

Lapid will have to bring seven parties with vastly different ideologies into a single coalition. But He has expressed optimism he can pull off the task and make history by ending Netanyahus record-setting 12-year term in office.

Netanyahu has left the country deeply polarized, in large part because of his ongoing corruption trial. Four consecutive elections over the past two years  the most recent in March  have ended in deadlock.

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Lapid has vowed to break the stalemate and heal the bitter divisions in Israeli society. He also wants to address deeper economic and social problems.

From my first day in politics, thats been my wish, its my mission: To find the shared good. To take Israeli society from disagreement to agreement, Lapid said.

Lapid, 57, entered parliament in 2013 after a successful career as a newspaper columnist, TV anchor and author.

His Yesh Atid party ran a successful rookie campaign, landing Lapid the powerful post of finance minister. But the coalition quickly crumbled, and Yesh Atid has been in the opposition since 2015 elections.

The centrist party is popular with secular, middle-class voters, has been critical of Netanyahus close ties with ultra-Orthodox parties and has led calls for the prime minister to step down while on trial.